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iwadori · 3 years

Note

Hey! I really liked that atsumu x reader fic where reader's Kita's sister. Could we get a similar fic but instead it's Kuroo dating kenma's equally as socially awkward sister/team manager?

Dating your Brothers teammate PT 2 (Kuroo)

Part One Part Two Part Three

Word count: 1.8K

Genre: angst, fluff

You were a first year in Nekoma high school

You kept to yourself, since you found it hard to make friends

You spent your time in your classes, the library or joining your old brother’s (kenma) practices, although when you did attend you didn’t socialize with all your brother teammates you either sat with a book on in your hand or (if you were lucky) played on Kenma’s nintendo swtich.

When Kuroo first saw you, he thought you were the prettiest girl that he ever laid his eyes on. He was speechless, to say the least. Kenma introduced him and you first as when you started in your first year, since he knew that you two should at least be acquainted with each other as you were all going to be walking to school together.

You found Kuroo very annoying (and that was an understatement) his debonair smirk, his wild wild bedhead and all of his continuous chemistry puns were things you found attractive annoying about him.

Sometimes when you attend practice, you could tell that Kuroo was trying extra hard in an attempt to ‘show off’ to you, but you took no notice since you knew what type of guy Kuroo was (well you thought). Kuroo was a heavy flirt (well everyone he laid eyes on) he also was a giant dick. To you, he was a your average stereotypical teenage boy.

One day, Kenma fell ill with a cold so it just left you alone to walk to school. However, when you left your house, you see the last person you want to see.

“Kenma’s not coming today” you whisper softly, but loud enough for him to hear.

“Yeah I know” he smiled

“So then why are you here?” you ask

“Well I’ll have you know Y/N, I’m here to see you.” he said as you start walking

On your route to school, you don’t say much just letting Kuroo talk about things or asking you questions to which you just nodded or shook your head in reply. As much as you’d like too, you didn’t know how to properly talk to someone like Kuroo, knowing the types of conversations he’s used to having with people, especially other girls.

Reaching the gates of Nekoma, before you could step inside Kuroo pulls you to side and puts his hands on your shoulders “Y/N” he says,

“Yes Kuroo?” you look up at him

“I just want to say I like you..” he says waiting for a response from you

“I-I ...umm” You didn’t really know what to say, although you did find him annoying beyond relief there were some redeeming qualities about Kuroo that you could think of. But would two even work properly?

From your lack of response Kuroo continued, “I’m sure you don’t trust me right now, but Y/N don’t worry I’ll make sure I’ll prove to you that I’m a good guy for you.”

You couldn’t do anything but nod, since you didn’t really know what to say to that. Just then, the bell rings and you were still frozen in place, only snapping out of your trance when you hear Kuroo shout from afar “Don’t worry Y/N im going to do my best to woo you!”

Over the next month, Kuroo is doing his extra best to get you to fall in love with him doing things like: walking you to your lessons, carrying your books for you, bringing you lunch and spending everyday complimenting you to your face and to his friends.

His actions made you swoon, you did feel more comfortable around him, although you haven't confessed your feelings yet, you were planning on to at the date that you reluctantly accepted to go on. You were going to have dinner first at this nice restaurant that you showed interest in ages ago and you were planning to watch a sequel to *insert favourite movie here* since he knew that you really liked the first one.

Before leaving out to the date you looked in the mirror giving yourself a once over. ‘Wow I look hot’ you thought smiling, you were kind of excited to see Kuroo and hear what he had to say about how you looked today. When you were leaving you were startled by Kenma who said

“Where are you going Y/N?” he asked with his eyes focused on his game

“Oh, to the library” you lied your cheeks heating up.

“Sure, you are...” he said

“Bye Kenma” you say putting your hand on the door knob

“Oh Y/N” he calls

“Mhm”

“You look nice today” making you smile wide giving your brother a ‘Thank you’ before finally leaving.

On the way to the restaurant, you had a pep in your step, you felt the happiest you’ve ever been in a while. You stood outside the restaurant and took a few deep breaths to calm the sudden surge of nerves that washed over you. You counted to 10 and walked in the resturaunt freezing at what you saw, there was Kuroo looking as handsome as ever but next to him was a beautiful girl who was tall and had long hair, pretty eyes and a great body who also reminded you of someone you knew (but you just couldn’t put your finger on it.)

She exclaimed “Tetsu!” and pulling into a hug, her boobs pushing against his chest making you cringe. You didn’t know what to do, you couldn’t compete with this European-looking supermodel, especially she already looks really friendly with ‘Tetsu.’

You storm out the restaurant a bit too aggressively, causing attention to yourself making Kuroo look at over to you, cursing himself for knowing how the situation looks to you. He chases after you, but sadly you were already gone.

When you got home, you rushed upstairs to your room with tears in your eyes. You knew this was stupid in the first place ‘Trusting a guy like Kuroo Testurou, how stupid can you be.’

Kenma came into your room, never asking or caring to know what happened as he knew that once you were ready to tell him you would. You and Kenma have always been close, as you’re both as quiet as each other you never felt the need to be surrounded by a bunch of people since both of you were just what each of you needed.

You managed to forget the awfulness of your ‘date’ getting distracted by trying to win in a game of Murder Mystery on roblox and also having fun trolling 6 year olds with your brother. The night was basically ended and before you dozed off to sleep and Kenma went to his own bedroom he said “At least talk to him Y/N” leaving your room not waiting for a response.

As you slept, you thought about what Kenma said ‘what more is their to say to Kuroo?’ You did think about all the possibilites of what could’ve really happened with Kuroo and that girl. Maybe they’re just friends? You didn’t want to think about the possibility of you being wrong. You were never wrong. So you just slept with the assumption of Kuroo being who you thought he was in the first place. A womanizing dick.

As lonely it was, you didn’t tag along with Kenma to the gym and you made sure to wake up earlier so you didn’t have to walk to school with your brother and your boyfriend his best friend.

Kuroo really wanted to talk to you again but you were heavy on the ignoring him. He even asked Kenma for help, but even though your brother was definitely always going to be on your side no matter what, he didn’t want to be in between his bestfriend and his little sister.

When you were walking home from school one day, you were stopped by the pretty girl that was with Kuroo on your ‘date.’ “Hi, my name is Alisa Haiba” she said smiling

‘Haiba’ you thought ‘Where do I know that surname?’ until you realised, “Oh your L-”

“Lev’s sister, that knucklehead is my brother” she laughed

“So what do you need me for?” you ask

“Me and Kuroo are just friends, I know you probably won’t believe me but me and him are NOT dating or anything romantic, he’s as much as a little brother too me then Lev is” she said

“Oh ok, thanks” you didn’t have any more to say and with this newfound information, you did feel more inclined to give Kuroo a chance, and that is if he even wanted one after all the ignoring and avoiding you’ve been doing. Now you feel stupid.

You thought back to all your times with Kuroo, making you smile. You knew what you had to do, you couldn’t shy away from this anymore, you thought about the scenario of him completely rejecting you and to be honest you were content with that as if ‘you don’t ask you don’t get’ or whatever the saying is. Since it was Friday, you knew that Kuroo would be at Kenmas playing smash bros on their switches (and that’s when you would usually spend extra time at the library to avoid him.)

So, you rushed to your house, dramatically opening the door exasperated. “Kuroo!” you shout, not even looking to see if he was there, to your horror there was the whole team over tonight who were quite humored by your shout.

You went red and then shyly whispered “May I speak to Kuroo please?” looking up at him “that’s if you wanted”

“Umm...sure” he said getting up to follow you into your room.

Kenma gave you a reassuring smile that read ‘Everything's going to be ok.’ You led Kuroo to your bedroom and sat on your bed fidgeting.

“I’m sorry”

You both say at the same time, making each other laugh he waits for you to speak, “Kuroo, I’m sorry for misreading the situation and ignoring you and making you out to be a complete dick, I know I’m probably a bit too late but I’d love to ask you on a proper date... one that I won’t run away on this time”

“Y/N, it’s fine. I’m sorry for not actually explaining the situation as I know what it looked like. And yes, I will definitely take you up on that date... that’s if you’ll have a ‘dick’ like me” he jokes

You playfully shove his arm, making you both laugh. You spend the rest of the night with Kuroo in your room catching up on all the things you’ve both missed out on in the time when you were ignoring him.

The date you went on was better than you imagined, Kuroo was definitely a great guy (making you feel even more stupid for assuming differently in the first place.) You developed an amazing relationship with Kuroo, which lead you to eventually become mrs Y/N Kuroo and having Kenma and Kuroo be able to officially call themselves ‘real brothers’

AN: I really actually enjoyed this one, so I hope you do too. <3

#haikyuu x reader comfort #haikyu angst #haikyu x reader #haikyu scenarios #haikyuu fluff #haikyu fluff #haikyu headcanons #kuroo x reader #kuroo headcanons #kuroo scenarios #kuroo angst #kuroo fluff #kenma x reader #kozume kenma #signedwithane😌

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justauthoring · 3 years

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You’re Stuck With Me Now

Prompt: He’d never leave you again.

A/N: is my return to writing (after a short break) oikawa? yes it is. honestly, i just love this boy so much and ive been rewatching haikyu and i can't... my heart.

ALSO HAPPY BIRTHDAY OIKAWA TOORU <3

Warnings: past implied abuse

Pairing: Oikawa Tooru x F!Reader Please don’t plagiarize my work!

“Come on, Y/N-Chan, it’ll be fun.”

With a quirked brow and look of disbelief up at your boyfriend, you roll your eyes. “You know I don’t really like parties, Tooru,” you mumble, taking a bite out of your lunch just as Oikawa lets out a whine of disappointment.

He’d already spent a majority of your lunch break, which the two of you were lucky to have together, begging you to come out tonight with him to Mattsun’s party. He’d spent the entire weeks’ lunches trying to convince you to come with him, to no avail everyday, and now, the day of; he was even more desperate for a yes.

“But it won’t be any fun without you.”

And his pout is almost convincing enough, eyes droopy at the edges with a certain puppy-dog look. The corner of his lips are flipped downwards, but he looks positively adorable (as he usually does - his group of fangirls aren’t for nothing). But, you’ve held restraint all week to this point, and by now, this really isn’t anything new.

“You say that every time, babe,” you counter, pointing your chopsticks at him with a quirked brow. “And every time I come with you, you end up leaving me to mingle off with Hajime.”

His shoulders slump.

“Is Hajime coming tonight?”

“...Yes.”

“Then,” you nod, satisfied, “you won’t be alone.”

“Bu-But!” He all but whines, and before you know it he’s suddenly sidled up behind you, arms curling around your waist firmly to press you flush against his chest. You let out a squeak in response, whining yourself when your delicious lunch is suddenly before you and tauntingly not within arms reach.

Oikawa is fast to pull your attention on him.

“He won’t be there till later!”

“So I’m just entertainment until he gets there?”

“Of course not!”

Oikawa looks positively betrayed at your assumption, and the look on his face is enough to have you giggling. Shifting in his grasp, you move so you’re facing him, brushing back a few strands of his unruly hair that no matter how hard you try is never ever neat, before meeting his eyes with a soft smile. “Honestly, Tooru,” you whisper gently, “why do you want me to go so bad? You usually don’t care this much.”

“Because,” he shrugs, “I like having you with me.”

And that, unfortunately, is the zinger.

His words all but melt your heart and with a heavy sigh, you realize there’s no possible way that you can say no when he goes ahead saying something so sweet like that.

“I’ll go.”

The way his eyes practically glow is enough to make you smile though.

“Really? Yes!”

However, now that you’re here, cramped in a house of drunk, loud teenagers, you’re suddenly wishing you’d had a bit more self restraint when it came to your boyfriend. As per usual, an hour into the party, Iwaizumi arrived and now even further convinced your boyfriend is more in love with his best friend then you -- you’re completely alone.

“’I’ll be right back’ my ass,” you mutter to yourself, taking a drink from the cup in your hands, instantly regretting it at the bitter taste that goes down your throat.

It wasn’t that you didn’t have any friends, you just weren’t entirely comfortable in social situations. It’s a wonder how you got along with Oikawa so well, but the two of you seemed to just mesh really well together. And of course, he’d been there for you in a time no one else had, and had helped fix you from the person who made you so nervous and skittish around others in the first place. It’s because of him that you’re even able to stand in a room so crowded, even if you’re not really socializing.

It would’ve been nice to have him to talk with, though. Iwaizumi too.

Pulling out your phone, you send a quick text to Oikawa, hoping that he’ll see it and at least drag you along for whatever Iwaizumi and him got up to in parties like these. It’s because of this that you don’t notice the shadow that falls next to you, not until a hand swipes your phone right out of your own and a voice you’d hoped you’d never hear again speaks;

“Oikawa Tooru, huh?”

Your heart practically drops.

“Figures you’d find someone in volleyball again, you did always love it.”

“H-Haru...”

He smirks down at you, and your lips part when he pockets your phone without a care in the world, his grip moving to your wrist where he tugs you towards himself. “Never thought I’d be able to find you again, Y/N, after you so abruptly moved schools. In your third year no less.”

You pull back on the grip he has on you, trying, to no avail, to get away. “What are you even doing here?”

“I play volleyball, remember?” He quirks a brow, speaking to you like you’re a child. “I know some of the boys here.”

How unlucky can I get...

Digging the heels of your feet down, you use all your strength to fight back the pull Haru tugs on your wrist. It’s clear he’s trying to get you to go somewhere with him, maybe even leave and that's the absolute last thing you can let happen. Haru still has such a pull over you, as much as you hate to admit it, and if you’re alone with him, there’s no telling what would happen.

And you’re terrified to find out.

“Let me go,” you hiss, “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“It seems you’ve forgotten your place, Y/N,” he growls down at you, grip turning bruising as you let out a cry in response, unable to stop yourself. “I’ll give you credit, it was brave of you to think you could get away from me, and finding you was hard. But now that I have you, I plan to remind you just exactly why you’re with me.”

Eyes widening, it suddenly feels like you can’t breathe.

“I mean, after all,” and his eyes gleam, turning dark, “you can’t live without me, remember?”

Your frozen state allows him to gain the control. Before you know it, you’re being dragged through the familiar halls of Mattsun’s house that feel like a blur and unfamiliar in your panic. You don’t even notice where you are, and barely hear when Haru suddenly announces “this’ll do” and then you’re being shoved into a room and the door is slammed behind you.

You fall to the ground with a loud cry, Haru shoving you.

When you turn to face him, staring up at him, he’s blocking the door, staring down at you expectedly.

“What are you waiting for?” He huffs, “take off your shirt.”

Hands shaking, you push yourself up into a sitting position with shaky muscles, not trusting yourself to stand in that moment as you stare up at him. Everything had moved so fast, and your heart feels as if it’ll break when you realize despite how much better you thought you’d been getting -- none of it meant a damn thing when faced with Haru himself.

You were scared, terrified, and it felt like back then all again. You had no control. You had no strength.

A harsh kick in the stomach has you doubling over, and clutching your sides, Haru crouches down before. “No one’s coming to save you, Y/N. Not even your boyfriend,” he taunts, smirking at you. “I’m pretty sure I saw the infamous Captain shoving his tongue down another girls throat.”

Eyes widening, you stare at your lap. “No,” you mumble, voice breathless, croaky. “Tooru wouldn’t--”

“It’s true. He’s not here, is he?”

Swallowing thickly, you meet Haru’s gaze.

“So, see, at the end of it all, all you have is me, right?”

And you hate the way his hand against your cheek feels like comfort compared to all the pain.

Shaky fingers reach for the hem of your shirt, just as the door slams open.

It’s Iwaizumi.

His eyes widen at the sight of you, flickering to Haru before focusing back on you. “Oikawa!” He calls, voice booming, tone dark, and it’s then you see how angry he looks. “I found her!”

In the next second, Oikawa is bursting pass Iwaizumi. He stills at the sight of you, tear-stricken, face pale, eyes wide with fear, and then Haru, crouched before you, look positively smug about the entire situation. And there’s a moment of pause where nothing happens, and Haru moves to stand, lips parting; “sorry, but it looks like Y/N--”

But he never gets to finish before Oikawa’s punching him straight across the cheek so hard he falls to the ground with a loud thud.

In the next second, he’s in front of you.

“Shit, Y/N. I’m so sorry,” and you don’t miss the way your name lacks ‘chan’, meaning Oikawa’s serious. “I didn’t mean to leave that long. Fuck. Are you okay? Where did he hurt you? Show me, and I’ll--”

But your hand is grabbing his own frantic ones and when Oikawa meets your gaze, he’s shocked at the soft smile on your lips.

“Y/N-Chan?”

“You came,” you whisper, voice soft with astonishment and adoration. “You came for me.”

And, shoulders easing, Oikawa nods.

“Of course I did.”

Squeezing his hand, to the point Oikawa is blinking in response, lips parting in worry. You stare into his eyes, imploring; “please don’t leave me like that again.”

And guilt settles deep within his chest, hating himself for what happened, blaming himself for it as well. But he knows that’s not what you mean, nor what you think; you just want a guarantee he’s there for you. And if there’s one thing Oikawa can promise, it’s that.

“You’re stuck with me now, yeah?”

He grins, trying to make you smile, make you laugh and everything ease when he succeeds, that giggle of yours he loves filling the silence of the room.

“I’m good with that.”

#Haikyuu #Haikyuu imagine #Haikyuu x reader #Haikyu #Haikyu imagine #Oikawa Tooru #Oikawa Tooru imagine #Oikawa Tooru x reader #Oikawa Tooru angst #Oikawa imagine #Oikawa x reader #imagine #imagines #my fics

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sailorhyunjinz · 3 years

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~��𝕋𝕒𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕡𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦 ~

Part I

All picture rights to their respective owners.

ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥: Photographer!hyunjin, fem!model!reader, manager!Bangchan, stylist!Jisung, agedup!straykids, SMUT IN LATER PARTS, fluff, character driven story, strangers to lovers, summer au, mentions of insecurity, love at first sight.

𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕕 ℂ𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥: 3,5 k

ℕ𝕠𝕥𝕖: I have never written a series before so please understand if it’s lacking heh... and yes the title does relate to the kooks song with the same title so do give it a listen because it’s really good and fits the story c:

also this starts slowly LMAO MORE FUN THINGS ARE COMING UP I SWEAR <33

If you have any feedback I’m more than happy to receive it! <3

Taking pictures of you - MASTERLIST

ONE｜TWO｜THREE

Working as a model was not easy. The complaining managers and the expectations by others was too much to handle. Heck, even getting to the shooting locations was a hastle most of the time.

You tilted your head against the window in the backseat of the taxi. It was a calm august wednesday. The late summer breeze made it’s way into the cab thorugh the window that was opened on the drivers side. Your phone screen lit up, multiple notification from Instagram.

“omg! slay bbygrl”

“her face is crazy pretty”

“beautiful”

You’ve heard these words too many times. If you’re told the same thing over and over again they eventually mean nothing. You scrolled through the other comments on your latest instagram post, a photo from your last photoshoot. A picture of you lying in a bed of white flowers, your skin glowing and your body covered by a white sheer dress that accentuated your neck. It’s not a bad photo but was I really worth the attention? “There are a thousands of other girls way prettier than me.” you though and with a sulken expression you watched life run by outside the window.

15 minutes later you arrived at your agency. You smiled your model smile at the taxi driver to which he smiled back and responded: “My pleasure, miss y/n”.

A big shadow was cast from the building in which the modeling agency was. The beige renaissance building was surrounded by green bushes and a black fence. The big oak entryway had golden lion knockers and an ingraved golden sign. “Eccellente Modeling Agency” it said with bold black letters, contrasting nicely with the gold plate. You rang the doorbell next to the sign and in a matter of seconds the oak gates opened with a loud creak.

“Y/n!! You look stunning as always!” said your manager Bangchan as he hugged you. The smell of his aftershave violated your olfactory sense as usual, making you scrunch your nose. He was always dressed business casual, his white polo shirt and light brown dress pants being a good example but today his poloshirt had a great amount of buttons unbuttoned.

The both of you made your way into his office. A room with a high ceiling and a chandelier worth more than your career. You sat down in the leather couch across the desk, Bangchan sitting on the other side of it.

“Give me a moment.... Just pulling up some files for the new photoshoot I’ve planned! I promise, you’re not gonna be disappointed.” he says smiling, the desktop screen reflecting in his brown eyes.

He turns his computer screen towards you. Your eyes scan the pictures that pop up.

“May I present to you the profile of Hwang Hyunjin. One of the most renowned photographers of this age”. Bangchan looks at you, reading your expression.

The pictures are truly beautiful. Everything, from the outfits to the lightning was perfect.

“Bangchan, you’re insane” you say, smiling widely as you made eye contact with the dark haired manager. “These pictures are so stunning!” you squeal. “How did you even get in contact with him?”

“Nothing for you to worry about y/n, I have my contacts. I’m a manager after all”. He scoffs whilst scrolling through the profile. The next picture getting better than the previous one.

“So... when is the shoot and what concept have you planned?” you say whilst your eyes are glued to the computer screen.

“Mr, Hwang works for a multitude of companies but Styliz needed a model for their new pastel collection which I immedietly snatched onto. We all know how beautiful you look in pastels y/n” he said attentively to which you smiled, adoring the interest he has for his work.

“Oh.. I also cheked your schedule and you seem free tomorrow so how about then?” he added.

“Yes! I’d love too” you said with a small nod.

“Not that you have much choice, Mr Hwang’s time is worth gold y/n” he laughed and reached for something in his cabinet drawers.

“Here, take this” he said while sliding over a light grey business card.

‘Hwang Hyunjin, Photographer’ was written in dark grey letters. A black border decorating the edges of the card.

♡

The morning sun shined thorugh the curtains blinding you temporarily. You felt after your phone on the nightstand with you hand, your eyes still closed. ‘8:05 am’ the screen showed against the background picture of your family.

You missed them, moving to a different city across the country at the young age of 18 was scary. You’ve aged, that’s for sure but you still missed them dearly. Dragging your lifeless body to the shower you hope for a day with happiness whilst the warm water hits your bare skin. It was a big day after all. A photoshoot with photographer Hwang Hyunjin. “Me... on Hyunjins work? It must be a dream...” you thought, grabbing the towel hanging on the cold, silver rack.

You dryed off your thick hair with a light pink towel with one hand whilst the other hand held your phone. “I have to look at his photos again” you thought, tapping on the Instagram icon and typing “Hwang Hyunjin” in the search bar, hoping and praying that his work was published on the social media platform.

“@ photographerHwang” was the first result to pop up and you tapped it instantly being just as surprised as you were yesterday of the beauty that his photos carried. Bumping into the table on your way to the kitchen you noticed a different photo on his feed. It didn’t look like any of the other photos because it was a selfie. You dropped your towel on the floor. No... it can’t be him... or could it?

His face looked like a work of art. Not only was the photo nicely edited with warm light emitting from your screen but the person was even more eyecatching. “It’s probably one of his models” you though as you placed your phone on the kitchen counter and grabbed a carton of milk from the fridge.

But what if it’s really him?

♡

You threw on a grey hoodie and biker shorts before you flew out to the taxi waiting for you outside the apartment.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting sir! Here!” you said while panting, quickly pulling up a text message you got from Bangchan sharing the location of the photoshoot.

“Please, Miss y/n! No need to apologize” laughed the middle aged taxi driver softly. You were now on your way to the shoot.

Your brain was scattered. One part of you hoped that Mr Hwang really was the boy you saw on his instagram. His long, blond locks slightly covering his sharp jaw. His skin clear as day and rosy lips plump like two rose petals. The other part shut everything down, convinced that it’s one of his models that happened to be to your liking.

You opened his instagram page again.

“He must be famous for his perfect features...” you said under your breath, staring at his lips.

The whole taxi ride was filled with thoughts of him, whoever he was.

“Soon there miss y/n” the taxi driver said after 10 minutes of driving. The taxi slowed down and looking outside the window you saw Bangchan standing infront of a building that looked similar to the agency building. You waved slightly and he waved back at you.

You turned around to the driver and said; “Thank you so much sir”, giving him a generous tip and exiting the vehicle. A warm breeze latches on to you, making your hair flutter in the motions of the wind.

“Y/n! Perfectly on time” Bangchan said and hugged you.

You hugged him back, asking him about his day so far to which he responded;

“Good but going to be even better after this legendary photoshoot is done and we have the most perfect photos taken by the most influential photographer!” he sounded like a little child in a candy shop.

Your ears heated up due to his words and you smiled slightly.

“Let’s go to the second floor and get your outfit and makeup ready. A introduction with Styliz manager won’t be needed since he already knows your delightful personality” he laughed at his corny remarks and you did the same.

“You seem even more excited than me” you remarked, pressing the elevator button.

“When you see the end result you will be floored” Bangchan said and winked at you.

The elevator clanged. “Second floor”. The metal doors slided open. The eyes of a dozen stylists and makeup artists caught onto you. A slightly potbellied man in a navy colored suit approached you.

“Y/n! I’m so happy to see work with you again.” His voice was hoarse due to his age but his personality being the total opposite. You knew him well since Styliz’s chief was one of the first to offer you a modeling job in a foreign city, you only being a teenager with a big dreams at the time.

“Mr. Styliz! It’s lovely to meet you again” you smiled and sat down in a makeup chair, a girl with blond hair and big hoop earrings starting to brush powder across your nose. You saw Bangchans figure leave behind a door in the reflection of the mirror.

“Mr. Styliz, might I ask you a question?” You regretted the words as soon as the came out of your mouth. You didn’t need more information about the mysterious boy you saw on Hwang’s instagram page but you simply had to know who is was.

“Well of course y/n” said Mr. Styliz, his warm breath touched your cheek as he stood right by your side, smelling of morning coffee and looking at you through the mirror.

“Could I please get more information about Mr.Hwang?” you said, making eye contact with the old man.

“y/n, you’ll meet him soon! Then you can ask him how much you would like about his life but I must warn you... He is quite the secretive type”. The coffee breath was accentuated as he laughed.

You tried to play along, laughing a fake laugh as the hair designer started to brush out your locks. A wave of embarrassment washed through you.

The lights of the makeup mirror were getting hot, tiny sweat drops beading on your forehead which the makeup artist wiped off.

“We are done, Miss y/n” said the makeup artist, her earrings reflecting the light in the studio. You thanked her and saw Bangchan standing at the door where the cameras were.

“y/n, not much time left. Please go down the hallway and into the second door on your left, the stylist is in there fixing your outfit”. One reason as to why you loved Bangchan as your manager was his calm temper. Even in a time crunch, he always made sure to talk to you in a serene tone. After years in the modeling industry you still couldn’t get used to the ill-tempered staff. Too many times you had been forcefully dragged down corridors and streets whilst they muttered swear words at you. Even thinking about it sends shivers down your spine.

Your shoes tapped the white linoleum as you made your way down the narrow hallway, knocking on the second door to your left just as Bangchan said.

A familiar voice said; “Come in!” to which you turned the golden doorknob on the white wooden door. The tall figure was rummaging in a big plastic container filled with clothes but upon your arrival the figure greeted you with warm eyes.

“No way!! It’s y/n!” screeched Jisung. He pulled you in to a hug, his belt buckle hit your stomach through the grey hoodie.

Jisung was a stylist and worked closely with Mr. Styliz therefore you’d gotten close to him. Not only did you like him for his exquisite fashion sense which had a whole different concept each time you saw him but also for his friendliness, always being polite.

“I’ve missed you so much Jisungie” you said with a pout.

“I though it was onesided but I guess not haha”

“Don’t be silly! How could I not miss that smile of your Sungie?” you hit him playfully on the arm to which he blushed.

“Go behind that and I’ll throw some clothes for you.” he pointed at the wooden divider standing in the corner of the white room filled with clothes racks and colorful clothing.

You started undressing behind the divider and suddenly a pile of clothing was thrown on your head over the divider. You heard Jisung snicker at the yelp that came out of your mouth as you drowned in the clothes

“Jisung, you are so dead when I’m done” you said whilst putting on the last details to the outfit.

“I’m sorry i’m sorry i’m sorry” he said pleadingly while laughing hysterically.

You stood on the podium infront of the full lenght mirrors in the room as Jisung observed you and pinned the clothes slightly.

“Not gonna lie, it’s looks really good on you. The pastels matches perfectly with your skintone.” Jisung looked on the pleaded white skirt you had on.

You looked in the mirror and shook your head in agreement. The pastel purple sweater with the white collar poking out made you look youthful and innocent. You had on patent mary jane shoes in the same purple color as your sweater. The white kneesocks were slipping down as you moved slightly, almost looking like a school girl as you bend down to lift the socks up.

“Do you like it?” Jisung looked at you through the reflection on the mirror, standing on the floor making him a head shorter than you.

“Yea! You’ve never given me a bad outfit Sungie, they’re always adorable. My favorite stylist but don’t tell that to Bangchan” you smirked to which Jisung laughed.

♡

“y/n, Jisung did a great job! You fit the concept to a tee” Bangchan stood infront of two wide dark green doors which led to the photostudio. He smiled shyly and pushed the doors open, a bright white light blinding you as you stepped in.

You squinted and held your hand infront of your eyes as you entered the studio, the air stuffy from all the white boxlights that have been working for a while.

“Miss y/n is here now, Mr. Hwang” Bangchan announced.

Your eyes felt blurry and the lights created a bokeh effect, your vision feeling like a filter. The first thing you saw was him. Hwang Hyunjin.

The shock froze your feet in one position. It was him. The selfie was Hyunjin. And he was hotter in real life.

A tall, slender figure stood on one foot, the other one behind his leg with the tip of the shoe pointing towards the floor.

“Are you ready, miss y/l/n?”.

His voice was sweeter than honeysuckle, you melted upon hearing him speak. Bangchan looked at you confused when you didn’t move, just observing the presence of the blonde boy infront of you.

“y/n?” Bangchan had a worried expression on his face as your face broke out in a massive blush.

“yeah..uh-mm..yes” you only managed to get that out before you were infront of the camera.

His willowy fingers wrapped around the black Canon camera, it fit perfectly in his hands as if it was made for him. You gulped upon seeing the veins that ran up his exposed arms, the white shirt bunched up by his elbows.

“Everything good miss? You seem distant” he said in that raspy but sweet voice.

“Uhm...yeah totally..” you looked awkward with your hands by your side as you saw Bangchan observing you with a confused gaze.

“Please tilt your head to the right and stand broad with your feet” Hyunjin commanded to which you complied. The flash of the big studio lights didn’t effect you as much anymore since you were used to this but what did effect you was how concentrated Hyunjin looked. Like a true photographer. It was obvious that he enjoyed his job by the way his eyes shined when he looked at the monitor and corrected every detail. Luckily you could stare at his figure all that you wanted since it looked like you were keeping eye contact with the camera and not him. Glancing over to the left of the photographer you saw Bangchan smiling his bright smile, signaling that he’s proud over you.

Flash

And another flash before Hyunjin looked at the monitor displaying the photos he just took, a smirk crept onto his face.

“Good job y/l/n. Could you please grab that chair over there and sit on the edge of it?” he said whilst pointing towards a small wooden stool. Reacting instantly to his soft voice and gestures you pulled the stool towards the x on the ground, making sure you were in frame.

“One leg over the other” Hyunjin said without even looking towards you, his pale veiny hands were now twisting and turning some buttons on both the camera and monitor. You shook your head up and down slightly in agreement before doing as told and as Hyunjin turned back his chocolatey brown eyes landed on yours. Now it was impossible to hide your burning cheeks, Hyunjin noticed since he laughed stiffly before grabbing the camera off the camera stand and going down on one knee to capture an angle from below. Numerous amounts of sparks from the big box lights were emitted and after every spark Hyunjin turned around to the screen which displayed your figure. Staring at him you smiled slowly, feeling your heart beat faster. Why do I feel like this by just looking at him? Your head was clouded with millions of other thoughts. Just as you started tuning out the room Hyunjin clapped his hands hard, the sound ringing in your ears. You jumped slightly which made Bangchan laugh.

“All done! Nice work everybody” Hyunjin announced loudly before bowing down to the other staff members in the room and to you as well. You returned his gesture by a slight bow of the head and quickly scurried of to Bangchan, your face hot.

“Are you sure you’re not ill?” Bangchan said softly before putting the back of his hand towards your forehead. Shaking your head from side to side you pushed his hand away.

“No, I’m fine... just so hot with the box lights you know?” you laughed fumblingly, not knowing where to rest your gaze.

You felt someone tap you on your left shoulder and you almost fainted when you turned around. Hyunjin was standing three footsteps from you, the scent of his cologne making you swoon. He smiled as he saw your shy expression and sparkling eyes.

“I though that it must have been hot, here have this”

He casually held out a waterbottle which you received with both hands as a gesture of thankfulness.

“y/n, I’m just gonna head off to Jisung to discuss something. Meet me at the changing rooms in about 10, ok?” Bangchan said, slightly leaning towards your ear.

“Yeah, see you in 10!” you said while the managers back disappeared through the broad doors of the studio. Turning back to Hyunjin his blond locks were draped infront of his eyes and as he spoke he tucked those light pieces behind his ear, revealing his small silver hoop earrings.

“I’m gonna pack up the cords now but it was a pleasure to work with you, miss y/l/n”

The corners of your mouth went upwards at his formality.

“Please, call me y/n” you said quietly, being too shy to look him in the eyes.

“Sure, see you around y/n” Hyunjin said as he lifted up his hand to shake yours. His lanky fingers were filled with bold rings, many of which were designer. A slight panic rushed through your mind as you didn’t want to scare him away with your clammy hands. The sweaty hands and the churning of your stomach was all due to Hyunjin nearness. Hesitantly you streched the tips of your fingers against the blond haired boy and his hand emitted warmth when being met with your fingertips. He smiled before turning back, his eyes forming into half moons as charming dimples errupted on his lean cheeks.

You bowed to the other staff members on your way out of the building on your way to meet Bangchan and Jisung in the changing room. The waterbottle in your hand almost slipped as you took another clunck of the fresh water and that’s when you noticed something. Stopping in the hallway where the stylists room was located you inspected the waterbottle and saw a black marker scribble on the wrapper around the bottle. Upon removing it your heart stopped. Your knees could give up at any moment from the sheer shock. Am I losing my mind? A number was loosely doodled on the white plastic wrapper and underneath it there was a message.

Call me

// Hyunjin

𝕋𝕒𝕘𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥

@vogueinnie @that-anxious-bisexual @putmetogetheragain13 @hyunsluvv @lawleighette @meow-minho @minaamhh @ohmysparkle @hwangi @rindomo @fleeingreality @nycol-ie @jisungsplatforms

247 notes · View notes

calamitykaty · 3 years

Text

Soulmates

Reggie Peters x Fem Reader

Word count:3000+

A sweet fic for my sweet soulmate @alexpjoyner

Y/N sat tucked away in the corner of the coffee shop, her glasses perched at the tip of her nose and her eyebrows pinched together making her worry lines stand out. The yellow #2 pencil that was in her left hand was being gnawed at by her teeth. The small circle table was littered with textbooks and loose-leaf paper, coffee stains evident on her English assignment.

Her attention was broken by the loud laughter that followed a set of rowdy teenage boys. Her eyes briefly met the eyes belonging to the leather-clad boy, Reggie, before she let them fall back to her assignment, a light blush dusting her cheeks.

She knew all about Reggie, everyone did. He was only the overly confident and extremely handsome bassist for Sunset Curve, and he happened to attend her high school. Y/N like to think that she wasn’t just part of the status-quo but she too had a school-girl crush on Reggie.

“Hola, Chica!”

Y/N dropped her pencil into the fold of her book and closed the cover as her best friend, Rose, pushed her papers back towards her and sat down.

“I know I’m pretty but why are you blushing?”

“I’m not blushing…”

Rose let her eyes roam around the small room before her eyes landed on the most likely culprit.

“I don’t know why you don’t just talk to him, y/n.”

Y/N tucked a stray hair that had fallen into her face back behind her left ear with one hand while the other pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. She glanced over at Reggie, his back facing hers and his hands gesturing excitedly as he explained something to his bandmates, though from the looks on their faces they weren’t nearly as enthused as him.

“...because...he’s him...and I’m,” Y/n threw her hands up, gesturing at herself, “I’m me.”

Rose rolled her eyes at her friend’s explanation or lack thereof. “Okay, one-” Rose held up her pointer finger, “he’s not nearly as cool as you seem to think he is and two--” she lifted her middle finger, “you being you is the best, you’re smart, you’re funny, you’re pretty---”

“And you’re obligated to say those things as my best friend so….” Y/N huffed out stubbornly.

Rose’s lips were stretched into a tight line as she pushed her chair back against the beige tiled floor, her eyes set on the group of noisy boys.

“W-what are you doing?” Y/N asked, panicked.

Rose ignored her friend and let her feet carry her over to the boys. She propped her left elbow up on Bobby’s shoulder. The brown-haired boy looked up at her from where he was seated and smiled, “Hey, Ro!”

“Yeah, Ro, hey!” Luke chortled, his eyebrows dancing and his eyes locked on Bobby. Alex jabbed his elbow into the shaggy-haired boy’s ribs, eliciting a quiet “Ow!”

“Anyways,” Rose rolled her eyes, “I’m gonna bring a friend to watch your band practice tonight.”

“Are you asking or?” Alex probed.

“Not really!” Rose let her elbow drop from Bobby’s shoulder and sauntered back across the cafe to Y/N’s table.

“They said you can come to band rehearsal tonight,” Rose said matter of factly, sliding back into her chair.

Y/N shook her head vigorously, “No, nope….No! Absolutely not!”

“You have to! They’re expecting you and it would be rude if you didn’t show.” Rose half-shrugged and burst into a fit of giggles at the scowl that Y/N shot her way.

‘“Stop meddling in my life….” Y/N grumbled, her arms crossed tightly across her chest and the tops of her ears tinged pink. She gathered her papers into a neat pile and placed them inside the textbook before dropping everything into her backpack.

“So...this means you’re going, right?” Rose drummed on both of her knees excitedly.

Y/N pushed her chair back and slung her backpack over her left shoulder before sliding the chair back in. She purposefully ignored the question until they both stood outside of the cafe. She stopped and turned to Rose, staring at her with a deadpan expression as the girl bounced on her toes.

“What time?”

Rose lunged at her and wrapped her arms around her shoulders, squealing “7pm! It’s gonna be great!!!”

Several hours later, Y/N found herself standing outside of Bobby’s detached garage. She was an hour late and she could hear the four teens already practicing inside. She nervously wrung her hands together and took a deep breath, slowly exhaling before she pulled the doors open. She could feel her ears burning as all four boys stopped playing at separate times and stared at her. Her eyes quickly darted to Rose who was perched on top of the sofa.

Rose hopped off of the sofa and skipped over to Y/N, throwing her arm around her shoulders and pulling her into the garage.

“Boys!” Rose chirped, “this is Y/N,” she dropped her arm from Y/N’s shoulders and held both hands out showing Y/N off like a prize on The Price is Right. Y/N awkwardly threw her right hand up and waved at the four boys.

“I’m Lu--”

“You don’t have to introduce yourselves, I know who you guys are!” Y/N rushed out as Luke began to introduce himself. She could feel the red of her ears move down to her neck as the embarrassment moved through her body. She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked over at Rose, pleading for her to save her.

“You guys can continue, we’ll just be over here ignoring you!” Rose pursed her lips and grabbed her elbow, pulling her over to the sofa.

Y/N sunk down into the soft cushions of the sofa and bobbed her head as the boys started from the second verse of Now or Never. She tried her best to keep her eyes on her lap but every now and then she would look up and let her eyes gravitate towards Reggie who would shoot her a wink.

“Someone can’t keep his eyes off of you,” Rose sang out to Y/N.

“Shut up!” Y/N hissed quietly and threw her elbow into Rose’s side.

“I’m just sayin’” Rose wiggled her eyebrows at the girl, drawing a rosy blush to Y/N’s cheeks.

Y/N looked over at Reggie as he set his bass guitar down into the stand before he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“Go talk to him!” Rose urged and pushed against her friend's shoulder.

“About what? I hardly know him!” Y/n argued, stubbornly.

“Reg!” Rose called out, grabbing the boys attention. Reggie turned around and lifted his eyebrows at Rose in question.

Rose looked over at Y/N before looking back at Reggie and smiling, “did you know that Y/N holds the top score on Centipede at The Basement Arcade?”

Reggie furrowed his brows and crossed his arms over his chest, “that can’t be true! I just took that spot last week!”

“So you’re the RP that keeps fighting me for the top spot then?” Y/N narrowed her eyes at the boy but couldn’t stop the laugh that followed her question.

Reggie let his arms fall to his sides and looked at her with his mouth agape, “ I challenge you! I challenge you to an arcade face off tomorrow at 6pm!”

“Okay?” Y/N agreed unsurely.

“It’s a date then!” Reggie declared before walking over to the sofa and holding his hand out to Y/N. She hesitantly placed her hand in his and laughed as Reggie gave it a firm shake.

“Okay...yeah. It’s a date.” Y/N agreed and let her hand fall back into her lap.

“Looks like my work here is done!” Rose teased and pulled herself up from the sofa. She grabbed Y/N’s hands and pulled her up as well.

Y/N said goodbye to each of the boys and was nearly out of the garage when Reggie called out

“Wait! What’s your address? I’ll pick you up!”

-------

They were surrounded by flashing lights, the sound of buzzers and pinball paddles being jammed harshly filled the room of the small arcade. Y/N looked over at Reggie as he lunged the small orange basketballs as fast as possible towards the hoop, his brows furrowed as he concentrated. A small frown formed on his face as the balls continuously hit the rim and bounced back towards him.

The clock counted down the last 15 seconds and Reggie picked up the pace, throwing the balls at increased speed in hopes of getting several more points. He hadn’t even noticed that Y/N had stopped tossing her basketballs a good 45 seconds before him or that she had sunk nearly every basket that she threw or that she was easily beating his score before she bowed out to give him a chance. She had already beaten him at air hockey, overtook his top score on Centipede, and embarrassed him at skeeball.

The buzzer on the machine rang out and Reggie anxiously looked at his score before leaning over to look at hers.

An ecstatic smile lit up his face and he threw his hands in the air above his head in triumph and shouted “FINALLY!”

Y/N burst into giggles at the boy, her right hand instinctively covered her mouth. Her bottom front teeth slightly over-lapped and she had always been insecure about it.

Reggie cocked his head and watched the girl as she laughed. His eyes held adoration at the way her nose crinkled at the top of her bridge and the way her cheeks pushed against her eyes so that they were just barely open. Without a moment of hesitation, he grabbed her hand in his and lowered it from her mouth, his palm felt hot in hers and his fingers slipped into the spaces between hers like a perfect puzzle.

“I like your smile.” The words pushed against his lips with confidence but his red-tinged ears that accompanied his rosy cheeks gave his nerves away.

He reached down with his left hand and grabbed the bucket that held their tickets before he tugged y/n towards the counter to turn the tickets in.

“You could have told me you were so good at arcade games so I wouldn’t be out here embarrassing myself on our first date, ya know.”

Y/n watched as the teenager behind the counter ran their combined tickets into the ticket counting machine. She looked over at Reggie and smiled, “ I didn’t expect you to be so bad, honestly. Maybe next time we just go play with puppies at Bonnie’s pet store, I’m positive you’d be great at that!”

Reggie dropped her hand in favor of placing both of his hands over his heart, a look of shock on his face at her words before he burst into laughter.

“350 tickets, you can choose from these three sections.” The red-headed teenager pointed at the different things they could choose from.

Y/N bounced on her toes and pointed at the small stuffed horse that would take 300 tickets. She pulled it to her chest and looked over at Reggie.

“You can have the rest!”

Reggie picked a multi-color friendship bracelet, a Rubik’s cube keychain, and a few pixie sticks. He shoved everything but the bracelet into the pocket of his leather jacket before he reached out for her left wrist. His bottom lip was tugged into his mouth, held by his top teeth as his fingers carefully tied the bracelet around her wrist.

“Your hand is cold...” Reggie stated absentmindedly as he tugged the knot securely, “you wanna grab a hot chocolate?”

Y/N pulled her wrist up to her face and examined the colorful bracelet before letting her arm drop back to her side and nodding, “yeah, that sounds good!”

The pair trekked outside and down the block where Rick’s pop up stand for hot chocolate was set up under a streetlamp. Y/N admired her winnings while Reggie quietly hummed a tune to himself that she had never heard before.

‘What is that?” Y/N finally asked as the boy started the song over for the third time.

“What’s what?” Reggie asked, his eyes darting around for what he was supposed to be looking for.

“No,” y/n giggled, “the song, what’s the song that you’ve been humming.”

“Oh...that...” Reggie’s right hand ruffled through his hair nervously.

“Two hot chocolates, please!” Y/N quickly placed two dollars down on the cart before Reggie could. Rick shook his head at the two teens and poured two cups of hot chocolate with whipped topping into two styrofoam cups and handed them over with a “you kids have fun!”

“So?” Y/N looked up at Reggie expectantly as they made their way back towards the arcade.

"Promise you won't laugh?"

"I promise to try to not laugh," y/n compromised.

“I guess I can settle with that,” Reggie nodded and took a deep breath in before he quietly sang out the chorus that he had been humming.

Home is where my horse is

Riding through trees by the river

Feel that summer breeze, a smile gettin’ bigger

Home is where my horse is

Don’t need a house or a roof

I just lace up my saddle, lace up my boots

Cuz home is where my horse is

As the last word hung in the air, Reggie quickly brought the cup of hot chocolate to his lips and took a large gulp. Y/N hadn’t laughed so he took that as a good sign as he finally let his head turn to the left to look over at her.

“Sunset Curve goes country, I can get down with that movement, “ Y/N shrugged.

“R-r-really?” Reggie sputtered out, hot chocolate dribbling down his chin as he did so.

“Yeah, I mean..it’s kinda catchy.” Y/N said and began to hum the song to herself, “see, already stuck in my head!”

“You should come to the next band rehearsal and help me convince the other guys. That’s what I was trying to sell them on at the cafe the other day.”

Reggie threw his cup into a trash can at the edge of the sidewalk as they walked by. His rosy cheeks became inflamed when the cup hit the rim of the metal can and tumbled to the ground.

“Careful, if you keep making shots like that I may have to start calling you Jim McIlvaine,” Y/N joked as Reggie sheepishly chased the cup down the sidewalk before tossing it into the trash can.

“You can call me Larry Bird, though,” she said as she effortlessly tossed her cup into the trash can as she walked backwards. Reggie poked his bottom lip out and pouted as he jogged to catch up with her.

“Something tells me you let me win that last game in the arcade.”

Y/N shrugged her shoulders and let a playful smile play on her lips as she said “maybe you just had a sudden rush of NBA prowess in you back then and now it’s gone.”

Reggie slowed his pace as his 1992 silver honda civic came into view, the last car that sat in the arcade parking lot. It was only going to be a ten-minute drive for him to drop Y/N off at her house and he wasn’t quite ready for the night to end. He absentmindedly tossed his keys into the air and caught them several times before stopping at his car. Reggie leaned his back against the passenger's side of the car and looked up at the sky. The lights of the parking lot polluted the view of the stars.

Y/N stood in front of Reggie with her left hand wrapped around her right wrist and her eyes focused on Reggie’s black boots.

“I had fun tonight.” She finally said and looked up at the same time that Reggie let his head fall down from the stars, both of their cheeks were glowing with a red hue as their eyes met.

“I did too,” Reggie agreed, “actually, this is probably the most fun I’ve ever had with anyone outside of the band.”

“You’re not just saying that, right? You actually mean it?” Y/N implored.

Reggie cocked his head to the side with his brows pulled forward, the line between his brows crinkling.

‘Of course, I mean it, why wouldn’t I?”

Y/N let her eyes fall back down to Reggie’s boots as she shrugged, “I dunno, I mean…” she hesitated, slightly embarrassed about being vulnerable in front of him, “you’re...you’re in a band and you’re cool.... I mean...I hang out in the library and people watch. We're practically from different worlds."

Reggie pushed himself off of the car and closed the distance between the two. He took both of her hands in his and let his fingers fall into the spaces between hers. Y/N felt her heart pounding against her ribcage and prayed that he couldn’t hear it.

Reggie smiled softly at her before letting his eyes fall down to their intertwined hands for a moment while he gathered his thoughts.

“I know we don’t know each other that well yet,” he paused to swallow his nerves and licked his dry lips, “but I wish you could see yourself the way that I see you right now in this moment. Because when I look at you, it’s like finding a four leaf clover...like I’ve been searching for you for an eternity and I can’t believe how lucky I am when my eye finally catches you.”

Y/N slowly tugged her hands free from Reggie’s, the boy was taken aback by the response and opened his mouth to apologize only to find that his words were cut off by her lips crashing clumsily against his.

“I-I’m sorry!’ Y/N stuttered out as she pulled away. Reggie placed his hand on the nape of her neck and pulled her lips back to his, the kiss slower and with more intention than the first. Both teens pulled away with heaving chests and flushed cheeks.

Y/N looked down at her watch and looked back up at Reggie, “you know...we do have half an hour before Bonnie’s closes…”

Reggie moved aside and opened the passenger door for her before quickly running around the car to get to the driver’s side. He turned the key several times, the ignition switch fighting back against him before the engine finally turned over. He pushed the cassette the was popper slightky out of the slot back into the player and turned the volume up.

“you listen to Make Out Monday?!” Y/N exclaimed with excitement as the words I'm kissaphobic don't wanna get too close to you… floated through his partially blown speakers.

“They're my favorite band!” They both said at the same time and burst into laughter. Y/N reached forward and turned the volume up a tad bit more. Reggie drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as he drove and harmonized with the vocalists while Y/N threw all abandon to the wind and sang off-key alongside him.

They made it to Bonnie’s with fifteen minutes to spare and rushed towards the pet store. Y/N quickly made her way to the counter and signed the puppy form that would allow them into the puppy play area.

Reggie watched as several puppies rushed over to Y/N, the girl fell onto her back and laughed as they nipped at her fingers and nudged their cold noses against her skin.

Reggie found himself staring at her with a lopsided smile, adoration in his eyes and a sleeping puppy on his lap.

Y/N couldn't believe that what started as a hesitant agreement to an unofficial date had turned into the best night of her life. They didn't know it then, but that date would be the start to a life long love affair.

@straywonpil @siennanoelle01 @choppedhoundsludgeclod @cool-ultra-nerd @hxney-bunches-x @crybabyddl @sorryyoureoutofmyleague @dream-a-little-bigger-x @kcd15 @all-in-fangirl @ifilwtmfc @onlygetaway @iainttakingshitfromnobody @angryknighttreeprune @bathtimejish @lanasfandoms @miranda0102 @emotionalbruv @aliandthephantoms @multifandombabies @kinda-really-lost @5sosmukefan @alexpjoyner @mo-d3ans @hannahhistorian92 @sunsetcurvenotsunsetswerve @i-should-be-writing-my-own-fic @sunflowerbecca @vicesvsvirtuesfanfic @n0wornever

#Reggie peters #reggie peters x reader #julie and the phantoms #jatp #jatp fanfic

419 notes · View notes

ambria · 3 years

Text

everytime // Sirius Black

Sweetener x Marauders

play ‘everytime’ by Ariana Grande <3

pairing: sirius black x reader

word count: 2.3k ✨

warnings: angst, fluff at the end, mentions of drinking, under-age drinking, partying, depression?, mentions of drugs and drug use, someone trying to take advantage on the drunk reader, crying? Let me know if I missed something.

This also might have a few time jumps

A/N: I wrote this in 1st person but I feel like I should make these in 3rd so that’s what I’ll start doing. But this is also my first time making a one-shot fic so cut me some slack if it’s trash. But I hope you enjoy!

I get tired of your no-shows

Taking in the warmth through my fingers I look at the door once more before glancing at the clock.

He’s late. Again

I take a deep breath to cool down my nerves and sigh. I sip the rest of my butterbeer before looking at the entrance once more and packing my stuff and walking out. I look around once more before giving up and walking back to the castle.

You get tired of my control

As I’m walking back I start to get more irritated by the step. This isn’t the first time he’s done this. Always too busy to hang out because of him with his friends or too busy because of pranks. The missed dates and the interrupted times. All for his friends. I’m clearly not a priority in his life and that has to change or I’m not going to be in it.

Walking through the castle I collect my thoughts on how I’m gonna approach this situation. But since I’m so pissed off, I’m gonna take an angry approach.

I walk up to the gryffindor common room and say the password before walking in.

As I stepped into the common room, lo and behold, the marauders spread on the couches talking loudly and laughing. Seeing that made my blood boil. As I walk over I catch the attention of the brunet,

“Y/N!!!!! Hey!!!” The Potter boy called out. I gave a weak smile. Which caught the attention of my boyfriend.

“Hey, babe.” He smiled at me. I internally roll my eyes and keep an emotionless face on. At this point all the attention from the boys is on me.

“Hey. Can we talk?” In the corner of my eye I can see Remus and James glance at each other and look worriedly at Sirius. Yeah. They know better.

“Uhh. Sure. About what?” This time I rolled my eyes. I ignore his question and grab his hand before dragging him up to his dorm.

We enter and I close the door before leaning on it. He goes and sits on the foot on his bed.

“What do you want to talk about? We were in the middle of planning.” Bouncing his knee, I can tell he’s getting impatient and just wants this to hurry up and be done with this. I get even more annoyed at this.

“What do you want to talk about? We were in the middle of planning.”- I mocked him- “This is exactly what I’m talking about! You’re always busy! Doing this and doing that!” I start to raise my voice. My face starts to heat up due to my anger. I try to calm down but it doesn’t seem to be working.

He opens his mouth to say something but I cut him off,

“Where were you today?! I was waiting for you! For our date that YOU literally planned!” His eyes widened with realization and looked at me with a guilty face. But I’m too pissed off to care.

My eyes start to water with tears of frustration but I’m nowhere near done,

“Everytime I want to hang out you’re always busy with your friends and pranks! You never have time for me anymore!” At this point tears are streaming down my face and Sirius doesn’t look that far behind.

“This is the third date you missed! Because you forgot! I’m done with being second best. Im probably not even that!” He has his head down, hands on his knees.

“I—I-I” he stutters out what I think is going to be some wack apology. But I’m done. I can’t do it anymore.

“No. I’m done.” As soon as I said those words his head shot up fast and looked at me with wide eyes.

“No-” he goes to protest but I cut him off again.

“No I can’t do this. Not anymore. This has gone on for too long. You need to fix your priorities. I hope you don’t treat another girl like this. I’m breaking up with you, Sirius.” I don’t wait for a reply and I simply walk out of the door and walk back down to the common room, wiping my tears.

They keep telling me to let go

As I make it to the common room I notice the boys are still there. They see me and go to talk but a loud sound cuts them off. Items getting thrown around, is what I guessed it to be.

We all freeze and guilt washes over me. It’s Sirius.

But I don’t really let go when I say so

I turn my head to the staircase with a sad expression before brushing it off.

I had to. I deserve better. I thought to myself.

I look over to the boys to see that they have worried but knowing expressions on their faces. I gave them weak smiles and walked away to my dorm.

I keep giving people blank stares

Drama travels fast around here at Hogwarts. So it wasn’t long until word got out that infamous Sirius Black was single again and back on the market.

My friends are starting to get worried about me because of my reaction to the breakup, or lack thereof. I know how to keep my emotions buried. I know it’s an unhealthy coping mechanism but I refuse to be sad over a boy who treated me like shit.

I’m so different when your not there

What they don’t know is that I cry myself to sleep. Everyday. I close my curtains around my bed and put a silencing spell around it and sob. For hours. It’s pretty sad.

But I keep my neutral face on for everyone else. From what I know Sirius isn’t doing much better. He’s just more open about his broken heart. Lily tells me he mopes around and doesn’t speak much anymore. Let alone prank anyone.

Everytime she tells me about him being sad it makes me want to run out the room and find him to cuddle with him and kiss him and apologize profusely for the break up.

But I remind myself that it’s not my fault and that I deserve better.

It’s like something out of Shakespeare

Because I’m really not here when you’re not there

I tried to fight our energy

It's been three months since the break up and I have developed some pretty bad habits.

I’ve secretly been drinking to numb the pain. I know it’s not healthy but I can’t seem to stop.

Once all my roommates are sleeping I drink by myself on my bed. It helped in the beginning but now I can’t stop.

I’ve perfected my fake smile so no one could tell the difference. Well one person did, but I was unaware.

I’m in a deep depression and I have no one to talk to. None of my friends know, I can’t tell them. They won’t understand.

Meanwhile,

“Pads, you can’t keep moping around. She’s moved on, you should too.”

“No, I can’t. I still love her.” Sirius said but due to him being face first on his pillow it came out muffled.

“Well then you’re going to have to work your way to get her back. Show her you’ve changed.” The werewolf suggested to his friend.

“Really?” He picks his head up to face his friends, red and puffy eyes with a hopeful expression.

They nod.

But everytime I think I’m free

As the weeks pass I start to receive notes and letters with little flowers attached to them. I know they are from Sirius but I can’t seem to open them and read. It’s too hard and I’m not ready yet.

You get high and call on the regular

Once I reach my empty dorm I run to my trunk and collect all the saved letters. I place them on my bed and chuck my shoes off before climbing on my bed while getting comfortable.

I sort the letter from how I received them. I slowly open the first one,

Dear y/n,

Looking at us now I regret a lot of things.

I don’t blame you for not seeing us together in the future.

I was horrible, but for you I am willing to change. No. I will change.

You deserve so much better and if you let me I could be that person.

But I have to fix myself in order for that to happen.

If you're willing I would love to have another chance.

forever yours,

Sirius

As I finish reading my eyes are cloudy with tears. I continue to read all of the letters.

And by the end of it I’m sobbing.

I get weak and fall like a teenager

I knew it was a bad idea to read those letters. Because after that I am ready to run back into his arms and express my love. But I can’t until I know that he’s changed.

I deserve better. I keep telling myself that.

Why, oh why does God keep bringing me back to you?

Everytime I see him now I try to avoid him. Everytime he’s in a room, I leave. Everytime class is over I run out before he gets the chance to talk to me.

Because I know if I take one look into his beautiful stormy gray eyes I will fall all over again. And that can’t happen.

I deserve better.

I get drunk, pretend that I’m over it

It’s Friday night and today is the big Gryffindor party. Being stressed with liquor and drugs is not a good combo but I haven’t been safe these past couple of months.

I’m in my dorm room getting ready. I decide on a natural glam look with a bold red lip and a black satin body con dress with some black heels.

As I’m walking down the stairs, I can hear the music blasting and the red led lights are turned on. I part from my friends and immediately head to the liquor table. As I’m walking I fail to notice the pair of eyes following my every move.

I take a plastic red cup and I fill it up with the hardest liquor I could find on the table. After downing the cup I refill it and make my way over to my friends who are currently in the corner smoking what the muggles call ‘weed’. It’s strong but it helps me relax. Who knew muggle were so helpful.

Self-destruct, show up like an idiot

About an hour into the party everyone was either high, drunk or both. Which I was. Again me with my unhealthy coping mechanisms.

I ended up dancing in the middle of the room with a huge group of people. I feel eyes on me but I’m too drunk to care at the moment.

As I’m dancing I feel someone come up behind me and grab my hips. I turn around to see a random 7th year boy. He begins to trail his hands on my body.

He leans down to whisper in my ear,

“How about we go to my down, sweetheart?” His hot breath makes a shiver run down my spine, and not in a good way.

I began to shake my head while saying no but he clearly didn’t get the message because he gripped my wrists and tried to pull me with him. But because I was too drunk I couldn’t defend myself properly.

As I continue to struggle I see a person step in front of me, glaring at the boy,

“I suggest you let her go. Now.” I heard a familiar voice, I couldn’t tell who from my drunken state. Once the person turned around a smile involuntarily appeared on my face,

“Siri! Hi!” I giggled as he guided me away from everyone.

“Hi. Let’s get you somewhere safe.” He picks me up bridal style and starts to carry me up to the boys dorms and to his room.

I yawned and cuddled up into his chest,

“I’m still mad at you.” I mumbled. He set me down on his bed and goes to his trunk to take out some clothes,

“I know.” He said, sadly. As he’s helping me I go on a mini rant,

“You know you treated me horrible. I just wanted my boyfriend but you never made time for me. You missed dates, you cancelled on me a lot. And whenever we had time together alone you had to leave early. I just wanted you to give me your love and attention. But I was never a priority. I miss you so much, Siri.” After he tucks me into his bed he kisses my forehead and responds,

“I miss you too, baby.” He goes to walk away but I grab his hand. Which makes him turn around and give me a questioning look,

“Please stay.” I pout. He smiles and climbs into the bed with me. I turn to look at him,

“Cuddles?” I ask him with puppy eyes.

“Cuddles.” I snuggle up next to him with my head on his chest and my legs bunched up with his. He puts his chin on top of my head and begins to play with my hair.

“You know, I still love you. And I’m willing to give you a second chance, Siri.” I can’t see him but I can tell he has a huge grin on his face.

“I love you too, pup. Go to sleep. We’ll talk in the morning.” I start to drift off but before I do fully I feel him kiss my forehead again and whisper ‘I love you’ one last time before the darkness engulfed me.

Why, oh why does God keep bringing me back to you?

****

Taglist: @blackpinkdolan

If you want to be added to my taglist for this series message me or comment under the post.

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linnoya-writes · 3 years

Text

ZUTARA - the Trials and Tribulations that come with finding “The One”

I don’t think it was a coincidence that the two most mature kids in ATLA had various potential “suitors” throughout the show—people they were officially “together” with, people they went on dates with, people they connected with, and people they fell smitten over-- and yet, those feelings would always fall short of that “once-in-a-lifetime” romantic, magical element.

It really made me believe that ATLA was setting up a wonderful example to young viewers about the real-life hardship of finding “true love,” demonstrating that sometimes... it takes a lot of trial and error and experience to eventually get to that person who’s deemed The One.

Zuko and Katara were two characters who had to mature to an outstanding degree in a time of war, and we notice them trying to make connections with people all around them. We also notice how, in spite of the many “potential suitors” they have in their own individual story arcs, the two of them always seemed to “bump into each other” along the way, noticing each other’s character development every single time.

In the show, they build connections with people, but never seem to find someone who carries all that they need for a partner. I could also say that they never find someone who “sees” them in their fullest, complex selves... until it’s the two of them!

Let’s review the suitors for Katara:

1) Haru-- While fans like to speculate that Katara may have had a “thing” for Haru, I personally think she saw him as someone she connected with easily because of his bending ability… in the same way she immediately connected with Aang the moment she found out Aang was a bender. Katara didn’t grow up around other benders, and so it would make sense that she would cherish the idea of bonding with other benders. Haru and Katara had their connection with bending, but it’s pretty clear that Haru’s shy nature and his sensitive personality wasn’t something Katara was looking for in a love interest.

2) Jet-- We do know that Katara falls very smitten with Jet, and here we get to see the kind of person she tends to cling to: someone who’s a strong capable leader, courageous, tall, athletic, someone who makes her feel like she can use her talents and brains, and who supports fighting for justice. Of course, Jet also carries his sense of justice too far with his cruelty and malice, which Katara immediately says she will not support in a partner.

3) Aang-- Yes, we see Katara having a long-term connection with Aang in the show, and this relationship turns from a motherly/child relationship gradually into something that could become a romantic partnership. We also know from the beginning that Aang has deep feelings for Katara, and he tries really hard to get her to see him as a potential boyfriend.

However, there are various “hints” throughout the show that Katara wasn’t completely “taken” with the idea of being with Aang (ie. her behavior in the episode “The Ember Island Players”) and based on what we know about the two characters… there would be problems with their relationship down the road: Katara is a proud meat-eating Watertribe girl and the last Waterbender of the SWT determined to bring back her culture/heritage after the War. Being with Aang-- a proud vegetarian who can’t really handle Watertribe food and customs—might make her have to decide if she is willing to give up part of her heritage for her partner. She would also have to give up her own individual goals in the post-war in order to be at Aang’s side, as his voice of reason. There are many instances in the show where Katara had to be the mature one and set aside her own emotional needs in order to tend to Aang’s needs, and this imbalance would eventually make her realize how she needs a partner who can see her as a complex human being, rather than just a “coddler”… a partner who can be the pillar that she can lean on whenever she needs to let out her emotions and rage.

Now, let’s look at all of Zuko’s suitors:

1) Mai-- With Zuko, we learn he had a childhood crush on a girl, and that crush is returned, but after 3 years being banished… there’s no real evidence that either of them “ached” for the other during that time and distance apart. Zuko and Mai did have their moments together when he returned to the Fire Nation, and while Mai does care about him, the relationship was emotionally lacking, and it’s clear that Zuko cannot be with Mai in his fullest, most open self.

2) Song-- During his time as a fugitive, you begin to see just how self-conscious Zuko is around kids his age. Of course, the last thing on his mind is finding a girlfriend, but he demonstrates how awkward he is as a teenager (and I don’t just mean because he’s a Fire Nation fugitive in Earth Kingdom territory).

When he meets Song, his focus is only to get his Uncle healed, not paying mind to the hospitality this family has given them. He acknowledges Song’s kindness and her family’s suffering because of the Fire Nation, and it emotionally hits him when he finds out she’s been hurt. And yet, despite her being a healer, Zuko doesn’t let Song touch his scar. Zuko isn’t thinking about relationships. He’s on the run with his Uncle and is only thinking about survival. Song wasn’t necessarily a “love interest” for Zuko, but this is the first time we as viewers see a kind, sweet girl try to have a connection with him, and how Zuko—perhaps in any other circumstance—may have developed feelings for her.

3) Jin-- When Zuko and Iroh make it Ba Sing Se, there’s plenty of time to “lay low” without feeling like anyone is after them, and we have another chance at seeing Zuko making a connection with a girl. With Jin, there is a definitely crush from the girl to Zuko, and she doesn’t even acknowledge the boy’s scar. Zuko is awkward, almost uncomfortable trying to be a normal teenager when it’s clear his life has been so different. He still does a sweet gesture to try and make Jin happy (risking his own safety as a Fire Nation fugitive), but it isn’t enough to have Zuko say that he wants to see Jin again after that date. However… we do learn that Zuko likes dating, of having a connection with someone, even if that connection is not meant to last more than one date.

**My personal take with Song and Jin and is that these two girls had that sweet, nurturing, caring trait that Zuko desired, but they still lacked a certain type of passionate, fierce attentiveness that Zuko also needed in a partner to really “reach” him fully as a person.**

So, with all of these potential suitors... why Zutara?

The ironic thing here is that Zuko and Katara had run-ins with each other since the start of the show. They were on opposite sides of the war, fought each other, saw their bending abilities develop more powerfully each time, had a chance to talk and have a mutual connection… and also went on a private mission that nobody else wanted them to do. Zuko and Katara had opportunities throughout the show to really “see” each other as complex characters… but the beautiful thing was that this was all happening *without* any romantic implications.

With their minds preoccupied on bigger things through the war, Zuko and Katara’s interactions were forming the foundation to a life-long understanding and friendship, and... had the show continued… had the two of them finally had a chance to set aside some time in their lives to start dating people in the Post-War… it wouldn’t have surprised me if, one day, they would’ve just exchanged a glance as Fire Lord and Master Katara, and realized… “woah.”

And it really does bring together the dreams and the realities of a good romance: Sometimes it just takes a lot of patience, and time, meeting a lot of “potential suitors,” before you discover the person who’s meant to be The One.

#zutara #zutara meta #relationship meta #zuko x katara #zuko #katara #avatar the last airbender

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amor-immortalem · 3 years

Text

I Think I'm OKAY

genre: Angst, hurt comfort

length: two parter

warning(s): Feelings of abandonment, self-depreciating thoughts, suicidal thoughts (briefly), feelings of not being good enough, feelings of being unneeded and unloved

A/N: its just been a day guys. And Ive been think about this all day so I just wrote to get tge thoughs out of my head.

this takes place a few months after the epilogue of Everything Undesired where Azalea is still coming to grips with the fact that she's not her father's heir like she always thought she had been. Mammon and Arella really did try to make time for her but things just never worked out in their favor and it ended up giving their daughter abandonment issues.

She’s lost. Not physically but mentally- Azalea doesn’t know where to go or what her purpose is. Ever since her older brother returned from where ever the hell he’s been her whole life, she’s felt more alone than ever before. From her parents being busier than ever helping Cyrus readjust to life here in the Devildom to her twin brother being curious enough about their new older brother to spend all his time trying to get to know him, no one has time for Azalea any more.

Whenever she tries to reach out to either her parents or her brother she gets blown off. It’s always ‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t make it.’ or ‘I’m sorry, I forgot that was today.’ Forgot? How does one just forget about their child? And Azalea is sorry too. She’s sorry for existing. Maybe everyone is just tired of her. Maybe they didn’t need her anymore? After all, she was just her father’s back up plan. A back up plan. Yeah, it sounded as bad as it hurt- to think that’s the only reason he kept her around all this time. Despite how she might try, all she could ever do is fuck up. Why would her parents ever need a child like that?

She feels abandoned, unneeded. All she ever wanted was to make them proud- she pushed herself to maintain the perfect grades just for their praise. Hell, she’d even forced herself to take advanced placement and honors courses just for their approval but they hadn’t even noticed. And it’s not like she hadn’t tried to show them. The last report card she got in her last year of middle school had a note attached to it stating that when she entered RAD, she’d be welcomed into the advanced courses but of course they had been too busy to even look. Both of her parents assumed nothing had changed so they just didn’t need to see something they had seen hundreds of times already.

Why did they stop loving me? The half-demon thinks to herself, Was it all the fights? Was I not good enough for them? I wish I could make them happy the way my brothers do. I wish I was perfect like them, maybe then they wouldn’t have forgotten about me. Maybe I would still belong. What did I do wrong? Azalea can feel the tears dripping down her face. I’m crying? Again? Pathetic. People like me don’t cry.

She hurriedly wipes them away as she looks up at the stars that dot the night sky of the Devildom. She’s pretty high up on a rooftop. She wonders if a fall from this height might kill her or would it just leave her badly injured- the idea’s tempting. She’d come up here to clear her mind and sort out her feelings with how things had changed- how everything she thought she was meant to be had been ripped away from her, but it had just made things worse. She thought she was okay with all this change but after trying for months to find something new to do with the rest of forever, she found out the only thing she was ever any good at was getting into fights. Sure, she’d taken up sports on her uncle Beel’s suggestion but that led to even more pain when time after time, neither of her parents could be bothered show up.

Her phone lights up with a text from her father.

Dad:

Why weren’t ya at dinner today?

Azalea:

Why weren’t you and Mum at my meet today? Ya know like you promised ya would be?

Dad:

‘Zay c’mon don’t be like that. We said we were sorry but something important came up and we couldn’t make it

Azalea:

Sure whatever you say old man

Its what you always say

It's always something more important ain’t it?

Something more important than me.

Dad:

Azalea

Azalea:

Shove it old man. I don’t wanna hear it right now.

She always gets the short end of the stick. For parents that claim they care about her, they sure had a shitty way of showing it. As the family’s resident trouble maker, she’s not good enough for them. Whatever, she doesn’t even need them anyway. She deserves better than a family that doesn’t care. A family she no longer has a place in. And that was fine by her. Now that she’d finally admitted it to herself, she found it would be easier to ignore her entire family and live life depending on only herself.

With a shuddering huff, the girl shuts her D.D.D off and shoves it in her jacket pocket. She leaves the roof top, still in tears headed for the House of Lamentation.

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“Arella, I have to go and find our daughter.” Mammon sighs as he gets his jacket on.

“She’s still upset about the track meet, isn’t she?” The black-haired human frowns “If you’ll give me a moment, I can ask Aurelius if he’ll watch Mahlon and I’ll go with you. This is something we should address together.”

“I don’t think we got the time to waste, Hon. She stopped respondin’ ta my texts and isn’t answerin’ her phone. If I don’t go now, she might so something to herself. I’ll be able to cover more ground quicker if I fly since she could be anywhere- even up high where we wouldn’t be able to see her that easily.”

“Then go on, I’ll talk to her when she gets home.” Arella nods as her husband leaves.

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She enters her room through the garage door entrance. She really didn’t need to considering Azalea was the only one home currently. She knew Aurelius and Zulima would be gone for the rest of the weekend but still she locked her door to prevent any unwanted visitors- mainly her parents as she knew they’d probably come looking for her after the message she’d sent to her father earlier.

She looked over at the stack of unopened akuzon boxes- all gifts sent to her by her parents as ‘apologies’ for various things. Yeah sure, gifts were nice when they were for things like birthdays or Christmas but not when they were used as a way to placate her feelings when her parents missed things like track meets or science fairs or school functions that they promised they would be there for. It felt like a shallow apology so Azalea never opened any of them. They were starting to collect dust now.

Just because greed is her sin doesn’t mean its satisfied by material objects alone. There was more to it than that. Her sin specifically manifests with being greedy for healthy interpersonal relationships- things like money or material objects only did the bare minimum to help keep it under control and satisfied. She wanted her parents’ attention and only that so when they failed to keep their promises, it hurts her deeper than either of them understands- Azalea doesn’t even have the words to describe how it hurts her.

As she plops down on her sectional and flips on the projection of stars and constellations from the human world to calm herself down, she thinks about the way her greed is eating her alive as she turns on some music- a song her friend from the human world showed her called ‘I Think I’m Okay’. It was a song she really related to for some reason. As the song plays on loop, she thinks about how when she was younger- before her youngest brother was born- she was always of healthy weight and body condition. Nowadays with the lack of ability to satisfy her sin, she was just skin and bone. Despite eating constantly, she always feels like she’s starving and she’d be lucky if she weighed in at 90 pounds soaking wet- all of it coming from the weight of her bones and muscle. Her body is just burning through everything too fast and at this point Azalea doesn’t know whether or not she even has the energy to waste to transform into her demon form anymore.

The half-demon hears a faint knock at the door. Maybe if she doesn’t answer then whoever it is will get the hint and go away. As she watches the door open, a scowl appears on her face. Of course her father would pick the lock on her door. She doesn’t know why she’s even surprised right now. He never knows when to leave well enough alone.

“We need to talk...” Mammon says as he sits down on the couch next to her.

“I don’t wanna. Get lost.” the teenager rolls on to her side away from her father.

“Too bad. I’m not leavin’ until we do.”

“Then prepare ta die in here cuz I refuse.” She can’t let him fool her into accepting his apology when she knows full well he doesn’t mean it.

“You really are just like your ma sometimes- stubborn as all get out.” He sighs. “I see ya never opened yer packages. Why?”

She continued to ignore him. How can she get out of this? Maybe if she closed her eyes, she could fool him into thinking she was asleep.

Just get frustrated and leave already. It’s what ya always do when I won’t talk to ya.

She waits an hour, two, three but still he doesn’t leave.

Man is this getting annoying! Why won’t he just give up and go home already?

“Well, since ya won’t talk, I will. Ya know, Mom and I really are sorry we couldn’t be there this afternoon... I know you’re upset about it but we got called to an emergency meeting at the castle and we... kinda... forgot what time it was by time we were done. I know we don’t have a lot of time to spend with ya anymore but things are just so crazy right now... it’s difficult and when ya act like a brat like this it doesn’t make things any easier.” And Mammon realizes too late that he’s said the wrong thing and put his foot in his mouth.

“Right... cuz that’s all I am is a spoiled brat...” Azalea can’t help the way her voice quakes. “I’m a brat because I asked for you and mum to pay attention to me over the boys just this once and you two let me down and now, I’m getting blamed for being as upset as I am. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.”

“Azalea, that’s not what I meant and you know that,” Mammon places his hand on her shoulder to turn her over and is shocked when all he feels is bone and muscles that are beginning to atrophy. “What are you doing to yourself? Yer nothin’ but skin an’ bone, Baby.”

“I’M NOT THE ONE WHOSE DOING THIS TO ME!” she roars as she hops up from the couch. “IT’S YOU TWO. YOU’RE THE ONES DOING THIS TO ME!” and then her voice suddenly drops. “But you would notice that if you spent more than five seconds with me. My greed is eating me alive and it’s your fault. I’ve tried for months to get you or Mum to spend time with me and I get forgotten about every time because something ‘more important’ comes up or you also make plans with Aurelius or Cyrus and choose to do that over spending time with me. It’s either that or you both choose Mahlon over me and it’s literally killing me. I get that they all need you guys too and I’m not more important than them but it feels like they’re more important to you than me. And I hate it because...” She lets out a sob as she sinks to her knees, “Because you two are the most important people to me.”

Mammon looks at his daughter with a horrified look on his face. His only daughter feels like she’s not important to them but she was right in a way. Both he and Arella had been choosing her brothers over her- not intentionally but he can see why she would come to that conclusion. This was a very crucial time in her life having had everything she thought she was taken away and she was lost with no clue where to go. He and her mother should have been right by her side, helping her find a new path in life this whole time but instead they got so wrapped up in work and other things that now their daughter was suffering the consequences.

“No, baby that’s not true.” The demon says as he wraps his little girl up in his arms. “You are so important to us too.” He rubs her back as he rocks her back and forth, “We love you so much and I’m so sorry we haven’t made ya feel like that. We’re gonna do better from now on. I promise, okay?”

Azalea is hesitant to nod. How many times had she heard the word promise and then had that promise broken but even now as she’s wrapped up in her father’s arms, she’s starting to feel the overwhelming weight of her sin slowly start to go away. She just rests her head against his chest as her puffy teary blue to gold eyes start to slip closed ever so slowly.

“Sweet dreams, Princess.” He says as he runs he hand through her hair and places a kiss to the top of her head.

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Find more on my masterlist

#obey me next gen #obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me swd #obey me! shall we date?#obey me angst #obey me mammon #mammon angst #om! mammon #obey me oc #arella #azalea

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miraculouswolf99 · 3 years

Text

Shadow Fox

"Good morning, Adrien," Lyon greeted, walking up to the model outside the school.

"Hello, Lyon," Adrien smiled at his Greek friend.

"You waiting for someone," Lyon asked him.

"Would I sound too much like Cat Noir if I said you," Adrien smirked.

"Cat Noir's got nothing on you, Sunshine Boy," Lyon snickered.

"Ironic," Adrien thought.

"Hello, boys," Vallia approached them. "You two flirting with each other again?"

"Maybe," Adrien smirked.

"It's so obvious as well," Lyon shook his head. "How is it that so many people in this school still think Adrien is straight?"

"You were the one that pointed out their lack of common sense when we first got here, brother of mine," Vallia says.

"Oh, right," Lyon accepted her logic.

"At least Marinette was already dating Luka when you two started flirting in public like this," Vallia said.

"I was so blind to her crush," Adrien sighed. "I must have looked so insensitive to her."

"Adrien, crushes are pretty much a blind spot to all guys," Lyon tells him. "I know some girls back home had crushes on me that Vallia had to point out for me."

"It's true," Vallia giggled. "You can't exactly be rich, good-looking, and not expect people to get a crush on you."

"Celebrity crushes are the worst," Lyon shook his head.

"Don't I know it," Adrien out his head in his hands.

"Awe, poor kitty," Lyon playfully patted his head.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, wolfie," Adrien slapped his hand away lightly.

"You are so lucky that I don't have archery practice today," Lyon playfully glared. "Otherwise, you'd know the exact consequences of calling me wolfie."

"Oh, I almost forgot," Vallia says. "Have you guys seen the latest post on the Ladyblog?"

"Vallia, you know I do not care for blogs," Lyon reminds her. "Most people with blogs like that believe that it gives them actual rights as 'real' reporters. Please, most blogs are basically just wannabe reporters throwing around their opinions."

"You never hold back when stating your own opinion, do you," Adrien asked.

"Why should I," Lyon raised an eyebrow. "Free speech exists for a reason."

"Point made," Adrien shrugged.

"Take a look," Vallia showed them her phone.

New Lead On the Identity Of Ladybug was plastered as the lead story on Alya's blog. Adrien and Lyon looked at each other before returning to the story. It was some theory story that seemed to be more like a conspiracy theory as she compared old photos of Hippolyta, Joan of Arch, and some statue that she seemed to us an app to add ladybug style armor to as a basis for her theory that the current Ladybug was also a heroic person under the mask. She was guessing volunteer workers, teaching assistants, and any other female teenager that liked to help people.

"I thought Ladybug told her months ago to stop trying to find her identity," Lyon did not like what he was seeing.

"Did being akumatized into Lady Wifi not teach her anything," Adrien pinched the bridge of his nose.

"From what you guys told us, that was more Chloe's fault," Vallia reminds. "Yet Chloe didn't even have a reason until Alya went a little too far when she thought that brat of all people was Ladybug."

"May the gods help that girl," Lyon shook his head. "I have never been so happy that there is no god or goddess of blogs."

"Hephaestus is the god of technology," Vallia reminded.

"But a blog on its own is not technology," Lyon countered. "It may be created with technology, but that is not part of his domain. The internet is a thing all on its own."

"Maybe Marinette can help Alya by being the voice of reason," Adrien suggested. "She usually is."

"She shouldn't have to be," Lyon says.

"Alya, Ladybug has repeatedly told you not to look for her identity," they heard their favorite bluenette's voice.

"Speak of the devil," Adrien said. "Or rather, speak of the angel in this case."

"Relax, Marinette," they hear Alya's voice. "It's not like I gave any specific people to look at."

"Alya, you are endangering her family and friends by trying to figure out her identity and putting your 'clues' on the Ladyblog," Marinette says.

"Hawkmoth won't attack her family or friends," Alya waved her off.

The two girls approached the school, consumed by their conversation. They hardly noticed the other three walking up to them.

"What even makes you think that Hawkmoth wouldn't attack her family," Lyon asked. "There doesn't seem to be anything he wouldn't do."

"Hawkmoth did akumatize a baby," Vallia pointed out. "Poor little August."

"Well, Hawkmoth didn't attack Lila," Alya reasoned. "And if he didn't attack Laydybug's best friend, he wouldn't attack the rest of her friends or family."

"Ever consider that Hawkmoth didn't go after her because he knew she was lying," Lyon asked, in his scary calm voice.

"What is your problem with her," Alya glared at him. "What do you have against Lila to accuse her of lying without proof!?!"

"My proof is that she was stupid enough to broadcast her 'friendship' all over Paris on your blog," Lyon crossed his arms. "Anyone that publically says that they are best friends with a superhero is like asking for villains to attack them. It's pretty obvious she is claiming so to get attention."

"How dare you accuse Lila of that," Alya yelled at the Greek, not that he seemed to care. "She would never lie."

"Except that she has," Vallia says. "Pretty much since the day that she got here and every day since then."

The Greek twins then walked away without another word. That was another thing that Adrien liked about them. They took no nonsense from anyone and would tell you if you were doing something, or were about to do something, stupid.

And they certainly took no nonsense from Lila. But they especially did not after she told a lie about Clara Nightingale stealing some of her dance moves from her. It was well known, since Clara's last visit to Paris, that the pop star was very good friends with the twins so they automatically knew that was a lie. And they made their anger very well known. They didn't care if it got them some glares in return, but they always made people know that they believed that Lila is a liar. Which was true, but not everyone knew that.

"You can't say that those two are not blunt," Adrien commented to Marinette.

Marinette giggled in agreement.

The two walked into the school before Alya could go on another of her "defending Lila' rants. They got old very quickly.

It had just been the end of the school day when the Akuma Alarms started to go off. Lyon and Valiia did a disappearing act while Adrien and Marinette both made bad excuses in order to get away from everyone to transform.

"Tikki, spots on."

"Plagg, claws out."

"Frostbite, freeze over."

"Flutter, wings up."

Ladybug, Cat Noir, White Wolf, and Beautifly were soon all heading toward the newest villain that Hawkmoth created.

"What in the name of Zeus," Beautifly swore.

In front of the four heroes was a psychedelic killer clown. With the poofy red and orange jumpsuit, giant black shoes, red and orange clown/Santa hat, and purple skin, he looked like the long lost twin to the Ghost Clown from Scooby Doo. And he was also very unnerving to look at. His weapon seemed to be a giant clown horn.

"I have never liked clowns before, and this is not helping," White Wolf stated.

"You're afraid of clowns," Cat Noir raised an eyebrow under his mask.

"Not afraid of them, I just don't like them," White Wolf corrected. "I find them to be creepy and weird-looking."

"Looking at this guy, I am actually on Wolf's side for this one," Ladybug says. "Not that I am surprised that Hawkmoth made a clown akuma, at all."

"One was bound to show up eventually," Beautifly crossed her arms.

"Lucky us," White Wolf complained.

"I'm guessing he is either a birthday clown who got upset, or maybe a class clown that got in trouble for his jokes, or someone pranked with no sense of humor," Cat Noir guessed.

"Those are actually some really good guesses," Beautifly says.

"Fight enough akumas, you get good at figuring out what type of person they were under the mask," Cat Noir said.

"Good thing they don't have attached glamours like we do with our miraculous," White Wolf says. "That would make things a lot more difficult."

"Chloe's first time as a villain was certainly easy to figure out," Cat Noir said. "All that changed about her was putting her in a Ladybug suit with reversed colors. He was a lot more creative with Stormy Weather and Evillustrator."

"What else can you say about those with purple skin," Ladybug giggled.

"I may like the color, but purple skin is not something I would ever like to have," Beautifly says. "I'd look like a human lavender flower."

"He looks ridiculous I'll give him that," White Wolf looked at the clown.

"I am Jokester," the clown yelled. "If others can't appreciate my sense of humor, I will make them laugh."

"I think Cat Noir may be right about the prankster getting into trouble theory," White Wolf said.

"Finally, someone sees my genius," Cat Noir laughed.

Jokester brought out a cliche clown horn. He aimed it at the heroes.

"Heads up, guys," Beautifly warned.

She used her wings to fly up and out of the way. The other three jump out of range as the clown blown the horn. Out came a sound blast of yellow sound waves. While it missed the heroes, the sound did wash over some civilians that were farther back on the street from them. They all started laughing immediately.

"I am suddenly reminded of the Joker," White Wolf commented.

"Even with all the crime, I still actually have always wanted to go to Gotham," Cat Noir said.

"Don't let him hit you with that sound wave," Ladybug called to them.

"Where's the songbird miraculous when we need it," Beautifly tried to joke.

"We'll see how this plays out, Fly," White Wolf tells her.

They all dodged another sound blast sent their way. White Wolf landed on the roof of a nearby building. He notched an arrow in his bow, letting it fly at the akuma. The clown dodged the arrow, letting it freeze the ground where it hit.

"Anyone want to take a bet on whether the akuma is in the horn or not," Cat Noir calls out, dodging a blast sent his way.

"At least it isn't hidden on a ship like Captain Hardrock's was," Beautifly says.

"Please don't mention her," White Wolf requested. "My ears still have a slight ring to them from her sound cannons."

"Not the quietest akuma we've ever faced," Cat Noir agreed.

"Try and surround him," Ladybug ordered. "He might get confused and not know where to aim the horn."

"Good idea," Cat Noir agreed.

The four separated, going in different directions. White Wolf kept the most distance so that he could properly aim his arrows at the clown. Beautifly stayed off the ground, her wings fluttering so that she could easily fly out of the way. Ladybug and Cat Noir were on opposite sides of the clown, both with their weapons out and ready to strike. Altogether, they formed an X around the akuma.

"You should surrender," Ladybug tried talking to Jokester. "Whatever Hawkmoth is telling you is a lie. He can't offer you anything real."

But the signature butterfly outline appeared over the clown's eyes.

"Do not listen to this teenage heroine," Hawmoths tells the villain in his head. "She only wants to take away your new powers and prevent you from spreading laughter and fun. I can help you spread real fun all throughout Paris while she can not."

"I could not agree more, Hawkmoth," Jokester replied.

He aimed his horn directly at the ground. Beautifly had seen this before when an enemy would aim their weapon right at the ground.

"Get out of the way," she yelled.

She immediately flew up, further off the ground. The three heroes on the ground followed suit by jumping or using their weapons to get onto rooftops. Jokester blew the horn right at the ground. The sound wave came out like a sonic boom as it boomed out in all directions on the ground. A few more dozen people all started to laugh uncontrollably. Jokester shot into the air and started flying just like when Rose was Princess Frangrance doing the same thing with her perfume gun.

"I hate it when we have to chase them," Cat Noir complained. "Can't they ever make it easy for us."

"Trust me, if I had it my way, Hawkmoth's lair would have a giant Las Vegas sign on it with 'come arrest me' spelled out in neon," White Wolf tells him.

"This is why I like having wings," Beautifly giggled.

She took off, flying after him. The rest followed after her. White Wolf aimed another arrow at the clown, firing when they jumped to another roof. But Jokester managed to dodge it and who knows where the arrow landed after that.

"I need to practice my aiming while I am running more often," Wolf said.

"What I would give to be a flying cat," Cat Noir says.

"I will have to look to see if there is a jaquin miraculous," Beautifly giggles.

"A what," Ladybug asked.

The butterfly hero flew faster, getting in front of the clown. She launched her razor flower at him. Jokester was forced to head back to the ground. He landed on a random street somewhere by Le Grand Paris.

"I will make you, heroes, see the joy of laughter," Jokester yells.

"Laughter is overrated," Wolf stated, firing another arrow.

He blew his horn at the arrow, blocking and destroying the arrow. They all then jumped out of the way as the sound blast almost got to them after destroying the arrow.

"Even with four of us, he has us on the ropes," Beautifly says.

"If we end up laughing non-stop, we won't be able to call upon our power or detransform because we wouldn't be able to form words properly," Ladybug said.

"Even separately, the sound wave is too big," Cat Noir noticed. "He needs to be distracted away from us so we can get the akumatized object."

"So we need an allie," Wolf said. "The stag or python miraculous might be able to help us. Or maybe even the songbird."

"Sonic scream, sound shriek, or paralyzing," Beautifly listed the powers of the three miraculous. "Any of those could help us."

Ladybug was about to respond when she saw Alya off to the side. She was on her phone, as usual, most likely filming the fight for the Ladyblog. Her blog had recently opened up to Lyon and Vallia's homeland of Greece because of White Wolf and Beautifly joining the battle against Hawkmoth. Google translate was probably very useful to them.

"I know what to do," Ladybug says. "I'll be right back."

With that, she left. Cat Noir was the first to get what she was doing when he saw that Alya was there as well.

"We better handle the clown gone wild until she gets back," Wolf says.

They separated again, dodging more sound blasts.

Ladybug destransformed into Marinette before she headed into Master Fu's building. She had a feeling that he was expecting her, like always. How he did that was a little creepy, but what did she know about Guardians of the Miraculous.

"Master Fu," she greeted when she came in.

"Come on in, Marinette," Fu says.

"I need the fox miraculous," Marinette tells him. "The illusions it can create will be the best distraction for this akuma."

"Of course," Fu said.

He went over to his phonograph and punched in his code. The miracle box soon rose out of it. He picked up the box and put it in front of her.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, pick an ally you can trust to fight alongside you on this mission. Choose wisely; such powers are meant to serve the greater good. Once the mission is over you will retrieve the Miraculous from them," he tells her.

Marinette immediately picked up the foxtail necklace. But then she hesitated when she looked at it.

"Marinette," Wayzz asked, concerned.

"What is it, dear child," Fu asked her.

"You know that I usually give this to Rena Rouge, right," Marinette started.

"Yes. And if I am correct, she is your best friend, Alya, correct," Fu guessed.

"Yes, she is," Marinette didn't even try to lie. "But... you know that Alya also is the creator of the Ladyblog."

"I mean no offense, but blogs are still quite foreign to me," Fu admitted. "But I do understand what you are talking about."

"Alya is a good reporter," Marinette started. "But she sometimes does not know when to let a story go or if a story will have unexpected consequences. Alya has been trying to figure out my identity. She's almost been obsessed with finding it pretty much since Ladybug's first appearance. The search was what started the events that caused her to be akumatized. I have told her to stop, but she hasn't."

"And you are worried that Alya will find your identity if you continue giving her the fox miraculous," Fu guessed.

"No, I'm worried that she will put us in danger when she figures it out," Marinette says. "She keeps saying that the people deserve to know who I am, who all us heroes are, even when that puts us all on Hawkmoth's radar. She's convinced that he won't attack us because a liar has been telling her that she is 'Ladybug's' best friend and she believes her. She thinks that since Hawkmoth had not attacked 'Ladybug's best friend' that he will not attack Ladybug."

"I see," Fu says.

"I have even told her, as Ladybug, to stop looking for my identity," Marinette continued. "Multiple times, I add. But she is still looking. Alya is a great friend, but she tends to listen only when it is something she wants to hear. I am not sure if I can trust her enough with the fox anymore."

"Heroes are not always set in stone, Marinette," Fu tells her. "Not even the ladybug and black cat are only compatible with one person. I trust that if you know when there is a good fit for a temporary hero, then that person will indeed be a good one."

Marinette seemed to calm down after that. But that also slightly made her curious about who else would be compatible with her miraculous. When they did that accidental miraculous swap and she became Lady Noir, she and Mister Bug actually did pretty well. Even if they did not have much practice with the powers that they literally had for less than fifteen minutes.

She quickly left and transformed, jumping over rooftops. She had to think of someone that could be a good match for the fox miraculous. She knew that Alya loved being Rena Rouge, but this was also a chance for her to see that her actions had consequences. To teach her that there are some things that are not worth a story. Also, do not believe everything you hear. That second one was more a jab at Lila than anything else.

The more Ladybug thought about it, the more she was thinking of a personality that would match the fox and its powers. Alya was hard-headed, stubborn, and liked to charge in. That was not the type of personality that would match with subtle illusions and an animal that is known for being sneaky and quiet. A fox should be sneaky, know when to observe before taking action, and should also know what will work best when in the shadows.

And now that she really thought about it, there was one person she knew that would be a far better fit for the fox.

Ladybug landed right near a very familiar boat on the Seine. Her Ladybug luck must have been working because the exact person she needed was right on deck.

"Juleka," Ladybug called, jumping onto the boat.

"L...Ladybug," Juleka stuttered, shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"I need your help," Ladybug stated.

"M...My help," Juleka looked even more shocked. "What can I do? I'm not cut out to be a hero."

"You are more capable than you think, Juleka," Ladybug pulled out the box. "Juleka Couffaine, this is the miraculous of the fox, which grants the power of illusion. You will use it for the greater good. After the battle is over you must return the miraculous to me. Can I trust you?"

Juleka was a lot of things. She was shy, sweet, kind, had a good head on her shoulders, and had a dream to become a model. She never would have imagined anything like this ever happening to her.

"M...Me," she was beyond shocked at this point. "I...I'm no hero, Ladybug. And... what about Rena Rouge?"

"Rena has... lost my trust," Ladybug admitted. "She has been permanently retired and won't be returning."

"Oh," was all Juleka could say.

"Juleka, there is no bravery without fear," Ladybug tells the shy girl. "Being a hero does not mean being fearless and always jumping into danger without a second thought. It also means being careful and going in with a strategy. You are naturally quiet and observant, a perfect match for the fox miraculous."

"I'm not a hero, Ladybug," Juleka was still reluctant.

"We all have a hero inside of us, Juleka," Ladybug gave her a reassuring smile. "You do not need to be fearless to be a hero."

Juleka looked at the box that Ladybug was offering her again. She wanted to be confident, to be able to stand up to people if she has to, to put herself out there more. Now, she was being given that chance.

"Okay, Ladybug," she took the box and opened the lid.

A ball of light came out, flying around the goth girl. To her credit, she did not stare at the ball of light and exclaim "what is that thing" like Alya did.

"Hello, there," Trixx greeted, not showing how surprised he was at not seeing Alya.

"Rad," Juleka gasped.

"Not easily shook, is she," Trixx asked Ladybug.

"Guess with magical superheroes around, these things are being seen as more normal," Ladybug shrugged.

"Alright, then," Trixx turned back to Juleka. "My name's Trixx, and I will be your kwami."

"Kwami," Juleka was not as informed as Alya had been.

"I'm what gives my holders their powers," Trixx answered. "I am the kwami of illusion. To transform, you say 'Trixx, let's pounce.' Detransform, it's 'let's rest.' To call my power, play your flute, think the illusion you want, and say 'mirage."

Juleka put the necklace on, but she still looked nervous about doing this.

"You'll do great, Juleka," Ladybug smiled at her. "I know you will."

Juleka nodded. "Trixx, let's pounce."

Trixx was pulled into the necklace and Juleka transformed. Ladybug immediately noticed that her hero outfit was a lot different from Alya's.

For starters, her colors are midnight black and dark purple. Her torso was similar to Rena's but was dark purple where it was normally white and black where it would have been orange. But that was where the similarities ended. Over her torso clothing was a black leather jacket with streaks of purple on it. She also wore knee-high black boots that had no heel and matched the dark purple gloves on her hands. Behind her was a real fox tail instead of Rena's fabric one. The same difference was the real fox ears coming out of the top of her head. Her hair remained mostly the same but grew to where the tail started to come out of her. Over her eyes was a dark purple mask. Her flute also changed to purple and black and was strapped to her back.

"Wow," Ladybug gasped. "This might actually come in handy if we ever have another akuma at night to deal with. There would be plenty of shadows that you could blend into."

"This feels so awesome," Juleka looked at her costume.

"So, what will I call you," Ladybug asked.

"My name can be... Shadow Fox," Juleka chooses a hero identity.

"Cool," Ladybug smiled at her.

*****

Meanwhile, back at the battle, the three other heroes were trying their best to keep other civilians from becoming laughing messes. They already had to save Alya three times because of her need to film the fight even when it was a risk to her safety.

"Alya," Beautifly yelled in warning.

Make that four times.

The butterfly hero dived down and picked up the blogger. She just managed to fly out of reach of another sound blast from Jokester. She set Alya down on the roof of a building further from the fight.

"Hey, I need to be closer to the fight," Alya protested where she was put down. "I would never be able to get a proper video from here."

"Your life is not worth a simple video," Beautifly scolded. "Either stay away from the fight or just learn to dodge on your own. We can not keep saving you. It distracts us from defeating the akuma."

"I need this for my blog," Alya continued to protest.

"A blog post is not worth your life," Beautifly snapped at her.

She flew away before Alya could attempt to argue more with her. She saw Cat Noir and White Wolf standing on opposite sides of Jokester, hoping for at least one of them to get a hit in.

"Take this, Mr.Big-Nose," Cat Noir yelled, jumping at him while spinning his staff.

Jokester focused his attention on Cat Noir, raising his horn to make him laugh as well as blast him away. White Wolf fired an arrow when he was distracted. And this one finally met its mark. The arrow hit the horn and ice erupted around it, encasing his hand and the horn at the same time. That lead to the akum only being able to jump out of the way of Cat Noir's strike.

"Finally," Wolf says. "There is no worse feeling to an archer than constantly missing their target."

Cat Noir had to laugh at that, making the wolf hero playfully pout.

"Aw," Cat Noir looked at him. "A pouting wolf. How adorable."

"Call me adorable one more time and I will shove an arrow so far up your..." Wolf started.

"Don't want to be called adorable, then don't pout like that," Beautifly smirked, interrupting him.

"My quiver literally never runs out of arrows, you really want to tempt me," Wolf shakes his bow at them in a threatening manner.

"You're still cute, Wolfie," Cat Noir winked at him.

"Do not make me shoot you, Kitty," Wolf playfully threatened.

"You two are made for each other," Beautifly giggled.

"Am not," the two heroes could not hide their blushes.

"Someone needs to tell that Ladyblogger to take down that LadyNoir ship name," Beautifly giggled again. "Because that is obviously not happening."

Both male heroes were really going red, but their fun moment was ruined by Jokester.

"I will make you laugh if it is the last thing I do," he yelled.

"You'd think a clown would appreciate our senses of humor," Cat Noir commented.

The ice around the horn began to crack.

"Oh for the love of Hades," Wolf swore.

They all shot in different directions when the ice exploded with a sound blast that would have directly hit them.

"Looks like I need to layer on the ice," Wolf notched another arrow.

"Someone call for back-up," Ladybug's voice called.

Not even a second later, a black figure shot at Jokester and hit him with... was that a flute? The clown was knocked right into a nearby wall.

"That was the akuma I just hit, right," the figure asked, her voice telling them that she was female.

The rest of the team got their first real look at Shadow Fox.

"That is most definitely not Rena Rouge," Cat Noir immediately said.

"You can call me Shadow Fox, kitten," Shadow responded.

"This is an interesting development," Wolf commented.

"Indeed, it is," Beautifly agreed.

Alya, who had finally managed to get close to the fight again, was unbelievably shocked, not to mention angry.

"I'm Rena Rouge," she thought, angrily. "I was right here, why would Ladybug give someone else the fox miraculous. She doesn't even look like a fox."

The three did a quick look, up and down, of Shadow Fox. She was certainly a lot more different than Rena Rouge in terms of looks. And the way that she was able to just shoot at Jokester and nail like that meant that she was comfortable with being quiet even when attacking.

"That was a good hit," Wolf complimented. "Probably one of the few that have happened in this fight."

"Uh... thanks," Shadow said.

"I'm more happy about there now being three heroes with dark-colored outfits compared to the two with bright colors," Beautifly remarked. "We outnumber them, now."

"Finally," Cat Noir cheered in agreement.

"I resent both of you," Ladybug pointed at them, playfully glaring as well.

"At least the two of us stand out more," Wolf smirked.

Jokester than started to get up. He noticed that there were now five heroes against him instead of just the three he had been fighting.

"Oh, look," he gave them a creepy smile. "More people to join in my plan of spreading laughter. Goodie."

"This guy is really creepy," Shadow stated.

"See, she agrees with me," Wolf said.

They all dodged another sound blast.

"Okay, time to end this," Ladybug says. "Lucky Charm."

She threw her yo-yo into the air, calling whatever object that was going to appear. It came in a flash of light as usual and then fell into her hands.

"You have got to be kidding me," Beautifly said, looking at the object.

It was one of those ridiculous fake clown flowers. The ones with a small pump at the end of a tube to squirt water out of the flower.

"What in the world am I supposed to do this," Ladybug looked at it.

"You better figure it out quickly," Wolf called out to her.

He was running across rooftops along the street, continuously firing arrows at the demented clown. But none of the arrows met their mark because they were all destroyed by Jokester's sound blast.

"I'll try and give us some more help," Beautifly says. "Nature's Heart."

Her razor flower spun around her, landing on her hand in front of her. Out of the center of the flower appeared a blossom. This one was oddly known my Shadow Fox.

"That's a water lily," she said, making Beautifly look at her. "I grew up near the water, so I have a lot of aqua facts up my sleeves."

"Okay," Beautifly says. "Then I know exactly what this does. And it does make sense. Sound can not move through the water. Everyone out of the way!"

The butterfly hero took the flower and raised it in front of her. Jokester barely had time to look at her when a powerful torrent of water came shooting out of the flower. She loved her ability to call enchanted flowers, even if she never knew what she was going to get.

Jokester shot another sound blast, but the water was too powerful for it. The sound blast was now acting more like a shield as it tried to keep the water at bay. The heroes all stood on different roofs to avoid the torrent.

"I have never loved flowers more than right now," Cat Noir said.

"That's my partner for you," Wolf grinned.

Ladybug looked around, using her Ladybug vision to work out how to use what she had. Shadow Fox was the first to flash in her sight, then the water gun flower, then White Wolf's bow and arrows, and finally Cat Noir. She now had a plan.

"I can't hold this for much longer," Beautifly shouted.

Ladybug quickly made her way over to Shadow Fox.

"When Beautifly stops her attack, that is when you need to call your illusion," she tells her.

"But... what do I even create," Shadow asked, holding her flute tightly.

"Trust in yourself," Ladybug says. "You'll know what to do."

Shadow Fox nodded, holding her flute. Ladybug then went over to White Wolf and Cat Noir to explain their parts of the plan.

It was not long before the water stopped coming out of the lily that Beautifly was holding. She looked at it, frustrated for a second, before having to take off again as a sound blast nearly hit her. When Jokester went to fire his horn again, Shadow Fox put her flute to her lips and played the tune that activated her power.

"Mirage," she whispered, throwing the ball of light.

In a flash, there were many copies of the heroes along the rooftops. And no two groups were in the same positions, so Jokester could not work out which was which based on how they looked.

"NO," Jokester yelled, confused on where to fire.

Having been looking up, at all the copies, Jokester did not notice the flower that Ladybug had managed to sneak in front of him. When he stepped onto the pump, the flower squirted water right into his face, further distracting and confusing him.

Hidden in two different alleyways were Cat Noir and White Wolf as they waited to do their parts. When Jokester had his back to White Wolf as he was trying to blast all the copies while still trying to wipe the water off of his face and out of his eyes. The icy hero came out as quietly as he could, raising his notched arrow. Aiming as carefully as he could, he fired. The arrow sailed through the air, making contact close to the bottom of the horn, freezing it and knocking it out of Jokester's hand.

"My horn," he cried. "I need that to spread laughter."

Ladybug was quick to jump out of her hiding place and use her yo-yo to wrap around his legs and trip the villain.

"Cat Noir, now," Ladybug yelled.

"Cataclysm," the black cat called, his hand bubbling with black energy.

He jumped up, touching the frozen horn with his hand. The horn instantly turned to dust, falling into icy pieces. A black butterfly flew out of the remains.

"No more evil-doing for you, little akuma," Ladybug opened her yo-yo and threw it at the insect. "Time to de-evilize."

Ladybug released the butterfly, the creature now being white. She then threw the fake flower into the air, letting her Miraculous Cure sweep over the city. As the swarm of ladybugs vanished, three of the heroes started beeping because of the timers on their miraculous for using their powers. Ladybug and Shadow Fox were left with four minutes and Beautifly had three left. Cat Noir was probably close to having four minutes left but White Wolf did not use his power so he was not on a timer.

"LADYBUG," Alya shouted, running toward them.

"And... that is our cue to leave," Wolf stated. "I am not getting involved in this."

"Me neither," Beautifly agrees. "I'd rather fight the spirit of one of the furies."

The Greek heroes flew/ jumped away. Cat Noir then looked at Ladybug.

"I don't really know why she is angry, but I'm not getting involved in whatever happened that made her so mad," he tells her.

"Can I come with you," Shadow asked before he could leave. "I can hide and give you the miraculous so that you don't find out who I am."

"I'm cool with that," Cat Noir responded.

The two quickly left as well and Ladybug was left alone with the blogger.

"Yes, Alya," the hero knew that this conversation was going to happen.

"How... How... You replaced me," the Ladyblogger managed to get out. "I was right here, how could you replace me?!?"

"Because, Alya, you have lost my trust," Ladybug stated.

"Lost your trust? But I didn't do anything," Alya protested.

"Really? Because I recall telling you, multiple times, to stop trying to figure out my identity," Ladybug crossed her arms. "And yet you continue to try. I saw your latest blog post. That not only puts me in danger if your theory is even correct, but it also puts innocent girls in danger that anyone thinks could be me."

"The people deserve to know who is protecting them," Alya argued.

"And does that fact that my friends and family will be targeted by Hawkmoth mean nothing to you," Ladybug glared at her.

"Hawkmoth will not attack them," Alya tries to argue.

"And what reason do you have to think that," Ladybug was not going to back down. "Do you have him on speed-dial? Do you have a video of him saying that he would leave them alone? What proof do you have that he will not attack my family and friends?"

"Well, Lila is still..." Alya was interrupted.

"Her again," Ladybug shook her head. "I told that girl months ago to stop saying that she knew me and that we're friends. It was annoying then and it's annoying now."

Alya was undeniably shocked.

"But... she said..." Alya was interrupted again.

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear," Ladybug says. "The only way that me, Cat Noir, White Wolf, Beautifly, and any other hero in Paris knows Lila Rossi is when she has either been akumatized, been chased by an akuma, or has been the cause of one. Neither me, nor any other hero, is friends with her and she needs to stop lying by saying that she is."

"You're just saying that to protect her," Alya was in denial at this point.

"This is why you no longer will be given the fox miraculous," Ladybug remains glaring at her. "You are so in denial about the truth unless it suits you and what you believe. You go running head-first into danger, not caring about your safety or how it distracts me and the other heroes when we constantly need to save you. You also only ever publish what gets you more views on your blog. Lila Rossi's video, your theories about who I am, and I noticed that you still have not taken down that story you posted that accuses Cat Noir of stealing the Mona Lisa. That was a villain called Copycat, who was akumatized to look just like Cat Noir. We told everyone that, yet you still have not taken that article down or posted an apology to him."

"But... But... I..." Alya was speechless, for once.

"There is more to being a good journalist than clickbait articles," Ladybug got her yo-yo out again. "Looking for facts is also a big part of being a reporter. Maybe you need to think about that. Bug out."

Ladybug then swung away to retrieve the fox miraculous that Shadow Fox gave to Cat Noir.

#ml salt #alya salt #lila salt #original heroes #original akuma #original miraculous #original character #miraculous #miraculous ladybug

209 notes · View notes

nurvuss · 3 years

Text

I Watched the First Episode of Every New Spring 2021 Anime Airing on Crunchyroll

Hey, are you like me, and feeling like you're not getting the most out of your Crunchyroll subscription? Sure, there's stuff on there that you know you like. But whenever I look at the big long list of simulcasting shows, my eyes glaze over and I don't even know where to begin.

I wanted to change my habits and see if there were any shining gems that I should be watching. So, as per the title, I watched the first episode of every new Spring 2021 anime on Crunchyroll. And guess what? There’s a lot of crap! But indeed, there’s some stuff that’s worth your time.

Some clarification: I've only watched shows that began their first season in April 2021.

Backflip!!

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The Lowdown

As Futaba Shotaro comes to the end of middle school, his interest in baseball has begun to wane. Soon he notices the Ao High Boys Gymnastic Club and becomes enthralled, especially after seeing them perform. Once he learns they're down two members, he chooses to sign up and pursue the art of gymnastics. The club is also joined by Misato Ryoya, a star solo gymnast looking to expand his technique through teamwork.

Our Thoughts

Pretty formulaic shoujo sports anime: you've got your himbo, your thug, your ladies' man, your stoic guy, with Shotaro rounding out the cast as the shy and awkward audience surrogate. It looks wholesome enough, and the choreographed routines employ CG in a way that's quite convincing without being hideous.

Who It's For

Fans of FREE, or Yuri!!! on Ice, or any similar shows about cute boys who succeed at athletic feats.

Borscht Rating

Burning Kabaddi

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The Lowdown

Legendary high school soccer star Yoigoshi Tatsuya has given up on sports! That is, until he's blackmailed to join the high school kabaddi team, under threat of his online persona being leaked to the entire school. Although Tatsuya initially writes kabaddi off as stupid, the unexpected happens as he begins to have fun.

Our Thoughts

Kabaddi is kinda like competitive tag, or dodgeball but with your body instead of a ball. Burning Kabaddi is basically the shounen alternative to Backflip!! above, replete with nosebleeds, pratfalls, and dudes punching each other. The main cast don't seem to like each other very much; that probably changes as the show goes on but at first blush it's a dynamic I always find annoying.

Who it's For

Fans of Haikyuu!!? Maybe?

Borscht Rating

CARDFIGHT!! VANGUARD overDress

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The Lowdown

The newest series based on Bushiroad's collectible card game, featuring character designs by the beloved collective CLAMP. Petit middle schooler Yu-Yu just doesn't know how to say no. As his older students dress him in drag to use as live makeup practice, he suffers a panic attack and flees into the streets. After being accosted by a pickup artist, he's befriended by Megumi, who invites him to witness a Cardfight match at the local abandoned amusement park. However, Yu-yu is too shy to tell Megumi he's actually a boy…

Our Thoughts

What an unexpectedly weird concept for a show about a card game. Our hero spends the whole episode in drag, whimpering and simpering at the sight of any conflict. Then they show off the latest series of cards, which all seem to be giant buff knights with names like "Bad Steve" and "Violent Bruce". Your guess is as good as mine.

Who it's For

Cardfight!! lovers, Japanese gender studies majors, or the most desperate fujoshi.

Borscht Rating

Cestvs: The Roman Fighter

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The Lowdown

The year is 54AD, and Nero has taken the throne as the youngest emperor of Rome. At the bottom of the population, Cestvs is a young slave training to be a colosseum boxer. Reluctant, his only choice is to fight or die.

Our Thoughts

Seeing Nero depicted as a gentle little twink is pretty funny. It's also pretty funny that the central character is named after a Roman boxing glove. The animation style transitions to some very uncanny CG when a major fight takes place, and I didn't like that one bit! This seems like a pretty average tournament anime but with a historical setting. It's currently unknown if any of these dudes are fucking each other. I'm gonna say probably.

Who It's For

The venn-diagram of Greco-Roman history buffs and lovers of tournament series?

Borscht Rating

Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro!

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The Lowdown:

Hachioji Naoto is a nerdy, introverted student who spends his time studying and avoiding socialising. When pages from the fantasy manga he's drawing fall out of his bookbag, they catch the attention of a younger student named Nagatoro Hayase. Nagatoro begins to tease Naoto for his otaku interests and awkward demeanour, peppered with some suggestive flirting.

Our Thoughts:

What would you do if a younger girl flirted with you? Would you cry? Piss your pants maybe? Maybe shit and cum? Don't Toy With Me… attempts to barely conceal its BDSM fantasy with its comedic elements, but it's incredibly apparent as Nagatoro always wipes away Naoto's tears as a sort of aftercare. It's like a lighter, comedic version of Aku no Hana, but lacking any of the ponderings or danger that made that work so special.

Who It's For:

People who search Pornhub for "bratty sister femdom".

Borscht Rating:

86 Eighty-Six

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The Lowdown

The Republic of San Magnolia and the Giad Empire, have been at war for nearly a decade. Using advanced military technology, the frontlines are fought by giant mecha drones called Juggernauts, controlled remotely by Handlers. Major Vladilena Mirizé is one of the military's most talented Handlers in the 1st District, and one who is constantly teased by her peers for the humanity and empathy she shows her squadron. The government line is that drone warfare has kept casualties to zero, but unbeknownst to the public these "drones'' are piloted by 86ers—the lowest class of citizens, forced to live in military internment camps in San Magnolia's 86th District.

Our Thoughts

This is incredibly my kind of thing. We've got a dual narrative being set up here: Vladilena as the kind, reluctant officer of a fascist regime, and the Bad Company-esque antics of her new ragtag squad, Spearhead. The first episode is split pretty evenly between the two, with each story converging at the end as Vladilena "meets" Spearhead for the first time through her comms station. It's an explosive and enticing first episode, and I can't wait to watch more of it.

Who It's For

Fans of Fullmetal Alchemist, Psycho-Pass, Gundam, or any number of anti-imperialist war stories.

Borscht Rating

Fairy Ranmaru

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The Lowdown

In a quiet corner of the city sits Bar F, a modest drinking establishment staffed entirely by five hot young men. Unbeknownst to the general population, these men are a crack team of fairies sent to the human world to gather the latent energy of "attachment". They do this by solving the problems of young women, taking their hearts in the process.

Our Thoughts

Hubba hubba, a little something for the ladies! It's Weiẞ Kreuz with a bar instead of a flower shop, fairies instead of assassins, and some pretty revealing outfits. There's definitely a little Persona 5 inspiration here too, from the punctuating phrase "Take your Heart!" to many of the visual cues. Make of that what you will.

Who It's For

Fans of Weiẞ Kreuz, slash fic authors.

Borscht Rating

Farewell, My Dear Cramer

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The Lowdown

Onda Nozomi was once the star player of her middle school football team. Completely unmatched, she no longer plays as there's no opponent she deems to be on her level. Meanwhile Suou Sumire far outpaces her teammates, causing her frustration. By a twist of fate, these two girls find themselves joining the scrappy Warabi Seinan High School FC as they begin to learn the value of teamwork and friendship.

Our Thoughts

I don't know sports. And I really don't know football. I had to look up what the title meant, and now I barely know who Dettmar Cramer is. I'm really not the best person to judge this, but it seems like a pretty good female-driven sports anime.

Who It's For

Fans of Ace o Nerae! or other sports manga/anime about those ever burning bonds between young teammates.

Borscht Rating

Gloomy, the Naughty Grizzly

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The Lowdown:

Pitty lives with his pet Gloomy, a massive pink bear. Can a boy and a bear truly get along?

Our Thoughts:

This is a series of minute-long gag episodes in which Gloomy mauls Pitty and blood squirts everywhere. It's definitely meant to be a morbid parody of Sanrio or San-X; it might be a Rilakkuma parody in particular? Gloomy is the kind of thing you might laugh at if it came on in between shows, but it's pretty slight to go through the trouble of putting on.

Who It's For:

Gag anime fans with one minute to spare.

Borscht Rating:

Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway

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The Lowdown

After a night of drinking in Tokyo, slovenly salaryman Yoshida encounters a teenage runaway sitting under a lamppost. She offers to sleep with him in return for letting her spend the night in his apartment. Yoshida refuses her offer but allows her to stay. The next morning the girl, Sayu, reveals she's travelled all the way from Hokkaido, sleeping with random men in return for lodging and money. Feeling responsible for her safety, Yoshida agrees for Sayu to stay indefinitely in return for handling household chores.

Our Thoughts

This is kind of the inverse of Koikimo (see below), but without a scumbag character and from a male perspective. It's not nearly as nauseating as that show, but it's still a fantasy about living with a busty teenage girl.

Who It's For

Libertarians.

Borscht Rating

I've Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years And Maxed Out My Level

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The Lowdown:

Office lady Aizawa Azusa dies of overwork in her early 20s, and finds herself standing before a lecherous goddess. Allowed a wish as compensation for her untimely demise, Azusa wishes for an endless life of leisure. The goddess reincarnates her as a 17-year-old immortal witch in an RPG-coded fantasy world. Thrilled, Azusa lazes about, brewing potions for her neighbouring villagers, and kills a small amount of slimes each day to supplement her income. After doing this every day for 300 years, she inadvertently finds herself at Level 99. Her peaceful life is soon upended as adventurers and dragons come from miles around to challenge the legendary witch.

Our Thoughts:

I'm not really an isekai fan, and that goes double for series which aren't set in an RPG, yet use RPG mechanics. Levelling up, grinding stats, min-maxing, as if it's a part of the fabric of the setting. I don't get it. I like watching numbers go up as much as the next dork, but I don't need to watch numbers go up in absolutely every piece of media I consume. Just play a fucking video game, Jesus Christ almighty.

I thought this might be setting up a fun series in which a layabout is reluctantly called upon to undertake a dangerous quest, but I don't think that's what's going on at all. When the red dragon Laika wrecks Azusa's house, she transforms into a cute young girl and the two begin living together, teaching each other the pros and cons of hard work and slothfulness respectively. The trajectory of the series might be as laid back as its protagonist in the end, which, ultimately, would be fitting.

Who It's For:

Isekai fans, slice-of-life fans. The twain have met!

Borscht Rating:

Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood

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The Lowdown

In alternative history Japan the Meiji Period continued well into the 1930s, and the ongoing Tokugawa Shogunate has brought technological prosperity to the nation through a magical energy source called the Dragon's Vein. Sawa Yukimura runs a bookshop where she lives with her little sister by day, but by night she's an assassin for Nue, the shogunate's secret police. As the terrorist group Kuchinawa deploys transforming beasts in an attempt to topple the shogunate, Nue springs into action with their own abilities.

Our Thoughts

There are a lot of concepts competing here, and a few too many flashy transformation sequences for my taste, but I'm really into it! Nue are made up of sex workers and street musicians, often overlooked and therefore easily able to blend in. There's a supernatural Standalone Complex vibe to how the team operates, and they're almost assuredly on the wrong side. Worth a shot!

Who It's For

Fans of alternate history science fiction, Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex, Demon Slayer.

Borscht Rating

Koikimo: Koi to Yobu ni wa Kimochi Warui ("It's Disgusting to Call This Love")

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The Lowdown

Amakusa Ryo is a womanizing salaryman concerned with nothing but his own base desires. As he slips on the train station stairs one morning, he's saved by the swift action of Arima Ichika, a kind-hearted high schooler. When it turns out Ichika is friends with Ryo's younger sister Riou, he decides she's his soulmate, and begins to pursue her no matter how many times she refuses him. Comedy ensues!

Our Thoughts

Yeah, OK groomer.

Alright look, Korikimo is written by a woman and told from Ichika's perspective, so this is obviously meant to be a lighthearted "older man" shoujou romance. As an older man, all I saw were the adventures of a paedophile and the teenager he's stalking. Fuck off.

Who it's For

There's probably other stuff like this, right? If you like that, here you go.

Borscht Rating

Let's Make a Mug, Too

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The Lowdown

After the death of her mother, Himeno and her father relocate from bustling Tokyo to quiet Tajimi City in Gifu Prefecture. The former salaryman opens a quiet cafe using the remarkable mugs made by his late wife, while Himeno follows in her mother's footsteps and joins the school pottery club. Although her first project ends in disaster, Himeno makes fast friends with the eccentric pottery enthusiasts who make up the club.

Our Thoughts

It's no Eizouken, but I guess it's probably not meant to be. I'm not a big iyashikei genre fan, but if that's your thing, you might enjoy the wholesome non-adventures of three girls trying to make a mug. It's worth noting these episodes are only about 12 minutes long, with the remaining runtime segmented into live action episodes where the voice actresses tour Tajimi and unconvincingly pretend to be interested in Gifu's famous mino-yaki pottery. I think this must be a tie-in with a local tourist board.

Who It's For

People who enjoy stuff like Aria, actually.

Borscht Rating

OddTaxi

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The Lowdown

In a Tokyo populated by anthropomorphic animals, a solemn walrus named Odokawa spends his nights driving his cab around the bustling metropolis, spending his free time drinking with his pals. Odokawa soon finds his quiet life disrupted by a caper involving a missing girl, some crooked cops, and the animal yakuza.

Our Thoughts

A deft blend of working class slice-of-life with mystery, cute animals, and striking visual design. OddTaxi might be the sleeper hit of Spring 2021.

Who It's For

Fans of existentialist film noir with absurdist comedy, Polar Bear Cafe, walrus lovers.

Borscht Rating

Osamake: Romcom Where The Childhood Friend Won't Lose

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The Lowdown

Suehiro Maruo Sueharu Maru has his heart set on Shirokusa Kachi, the hottest girl in school. When she begins dating a young actor, Sueharu confides in his childhood friend Kuroha Shida, who's openly in love with him and he rejected in the past. Kuroha suggests the two get revenge on Shirokusa by pretending to be in love. Will Sueharu fall in love with Kuroha for real, making her dreams come true?

Our Thoughts

Give me a fucking break.

Who It's For

I don't know and I don't care.

Borscht Rating

SD Gundam World Heroes

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The Lowdown

The newest instalment of the SD Gundam media-mix franchise. In a world populated by super deform mecha, a burning meteor lands in the middle of Captain City. From it launches a terrible mechanized beast: Naughty Lion. When the police are powerless to stop it, a crack team led by Zhuge Liang Gundam and Liu Bei Gundam sorties to bring Naughty Lion to justice. When the beast stops rampaging, it transforms into Sun Wukong Gundam, a youthful amnesiac mecha horrified at the destruction he wrought. The Three Kingdoms Gundams welcome Sun Wukong into the fold to make sense of this mysterious event.

Our Thoughts

I'm an 80s kid, I know a 30-minute toy commercial when I see one.

No, seriously though, I'm aware of SD Gundam's merchandising—they're cute designs, and I even used to have a bunch of the gum rubber mini figurines. I've played the SD Great War Super Famicom games, they're fun! This is a vehicle to get kids hyped up about the latest toys, which are...based on a hodgepodge of Journey to the West and Romance of the Three Kingdoms this year? There's even a little SD Guan Yu Gundam with a big long beard!

I kinda wanted to like the idea of a bearded robot, but the mechas are super busy and overdesigned. I guess there's only so much you can do to make your next series of toys bigger and better, so these guys are all decked out in gold accents, capes, horns, and antlers, and half the time I couldn't parse what I was seeing.

I'm so glad I don't have to watch any more of this.

Who It's For

Very, *very* young mecha fans.

Borscht Rating

Seven Knights Revolution: Hero Successor

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The Lowdown

Long ago, the Dark God Nestra ruled the world through fear. Standing against him were the Seven Knights, seven brave warriors chosen by the Light Goddess Serrass. With their powers combined, Nestra was defeated and the lands returned to peace. Hundreds of years later the wicked Physis Cult seeks to revive Nestra, summoning undead beasts to ravage the countryside. With the Seven Knights long dead, the Granseed Academy has risen to train the next wave of heroes to combat this threat. Using special cards, the students of Granseed are able to call upon the power of the Seven Knights to guide them in battle.

Our Thoughts

As soon as the opening started with its transforming heroes and lovingly depicted weapon cards, I realised this must be based on a mobile game. Indeed, this is based on a free-to-play gacha from Korean developer Netmarble. Even before I was able to confirm this, Hero Successor failed to draw me in, eschewing details on the nature of its world in lieu of a glamourised marketing push for its source material. What's here is incredibly slight, and likely to be of little interest to anyone who isn't deep into this game.

Who It's For

Seven Knights whales, I guess.

Borscht Rating

Those Snow White Notes

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The Lowdown

Sawamura Setsu mourns the death of his grandfather Matsugorou, a talented shamisen player who refused to pass his secrets on. Not knowing what else to do, he leaves his remote village for Tokyo, taking nothing but his shamisen along with him. Soon he finds himself wrapped up in the complicated life of aspiring actress Yuna and her scuzzy rockstar boyfriend Taketo. When Setsu opens for Taketo's band, he stuns the audience with the raw emotion of his playing. However, his heart is still tumultuous.

Our Thoughts

An entertaining first episode of a speciality music series, which is the kind of thing I have a place in my heart for. I couldn't shake the feeling of some latent misogyny that suggested the role of a woman is to inspire a tortured artist, but I might be wrong. The final few minutes take a twist by introducing Setsu's weird, horny mother who seems to have her own personal SWAT team, and it looks like the series becomes a more conventional high school anime from episode 2 onwards. Don't know about that!

Who It's For

Fans of Kids on the Slope, Sound of the Sky.

Borscht Rating

Tokyo Revengers

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The Lowdown

Former delinquent Takemichi is unsatisfied with the way his life turned out, living alone in a paper-thin apartment and working a minimum wage job under a boss who doesn't respect him. When watching the news one evening, he learns that his highschool sweetheart Hinata was killed, alongside her little brother. On the way to work the next morning, Takemichi falls in front of an oncoming train and wakes up 12 years in the past. Armed with foreknowledge, he attempts to turn his life around and save his onetime lover.

Our Thoughts

This is drawing from a lot of sources; the whole train sequence is lifted straight from Gantz, while the story itself initially seems like a Life on Mars kind of deal. In fact, Tokyo Revengers sees Takemichi jump back and forth between the present and the past, seemingly making small changes until he achieves his desired outcome. It feels like a very video gamey depiction of time travel, and one that's not super interesting.

Who It's For

Steins;Gate fans, maybe? Delinquent manga (Shonan Junai Gumi, Crows, etc.) fans, maybe? It's pretty self-serious compared to any of those.

Borscht Rating

To Your Eternity

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The Lowdown

An immortal being in the form of an orb falls to earth and becomes a stone. Years pass, an ice age sets in, and a white wolf stumbles onto the tundra and dies. The orb, able to take the form of anything that leaves a strong impression on it, transforms into the wolf and slowly learns how to use its newfound ambulatory body. The creature treks back through the tundra where it meets a boy living alone, after the rest of his village left in search of a better life. The boy recognises the wolf as his beloved pet, Johann, and the two begin living together in the harsh, lonely wastes.

Our Thoughts

I'm being a little coy with the synopsis here, and there's a major shake-up at the end of this debut episode. This one's based on a manga by the critically acclaimed Yoshitoki Ooima (A Silent Voice), and it's a depressing, compelling, and exciting start to a series. Lots of potential here!

Who It's For

Fans of NieR, Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, Last Exile, Kino's Journey.

Borscht Rating

So, there you have it. I'm hoping this will be of use to anyone who experiences a similar sense of dread when faced with so many choices. Maybe we’ll do this again during the Summer 2021 anime season.

Also, please don't get mad at me if I'm snarky about your new favourite show! It’s just TV and I'm a big idiot anyway.

39 notes · View notes

lilxberry · 3 years

Text

The Glitch: Chapter One

Synopsis;

Wanda certainly had attracted the newest Avenger. Y/N’s usual overconfident façade seems to easily drop when around the Sokovian witch.

(A/N: Your powers are kinda like Fives’ from TUA but it acts a lot quicker and it has the visual of an actual glitch. Kinda like Penelope Von Sweets in Wreck-It Ralph.)

_______________

Warnings: Language. Violence. That’s pretty much it for this chapter.

Words: 1,022

Pairings: Avengers x reader, Wanda Maximoff x reader (later chapters)

CHAPTER 2 >

____________

Y/N never thought she would be in an elevator, on her way to officially join the Avengers. It all came about when a bank robbery took place as she was waiting to transfer money into an account. Just your average trip to the bank, right?

--- flashback ---

She had just gotten to the front of her line and about to start her transaction with an employee when the group of men stormed into the bank with an array of firearms.

‘You gotta be fucking kidding me!’ She thought as she huffed out a breath of annoyance.

As everyone scrambled to lie on the floor as instructed by the men, Y/N proceeded to to pull the hood of her jacket up and shove her hands into her pocket, back facing the criminals.

“I said get on the ground, you dumb bitch!” She could hear the irritation and lack of patience within his voice. She rolled her eyes before dignifying the asshat with a response.

“Why don’t you fuck off so I can finally speak to my financial adviser, nob gobbler.”

At that point, the men had become miffed beyond belief. The man closest to her stomped his way over, ready to sweep her legs from underneath her and pin her to the floor. But before he could advance on her position further, she had, what could best be described as ‘glitched’, away before him, shocking and frightening the people surrounding her.

Before they could comprehend what had just happened, she let out a whistle, notifying the men of her new position.

She had placed herself upon one of the desks, sat with her legs crossed over one another, wiggling her fingers in a mock wave. A simple, little smirk strewn across her soft features.

As soon as the men began to raise their guns, she had glitched again, only too reappear, just as quickly as she had disappeared, behind one of said criminals.

She kicked his legs out before knocking him out with a quick, sharp punch to his temple. Y/N after, glitched away to a new position within the building hastily, continuing to confuse her self-appointed foes.

Her second target had speedily turned and raised his weapon, only to realise she had switched out his weapon. “Woah. cool mug man!” She proceeds to flip the pistol she had swapped out in her hand as she glitched to stand behind him, landing a unmerciful ‘WHACK!’ to the back of his head, unsympathetically smacking him with the butt of the gun.

She continued to swiftly take out the armed men, leaving her with her final opponent and too many one-liners she never got the chance to use. She flashed him a sinister smirk, showing the man no mercy. “You wanna do this the easy way or my way, hun?”

His eyes flitted across the room, noting his fallen compadres' and the hostages who watch the young girl in awe.

He threw his weapon on to the floor and raised his arms to convey his surrender. “Good choice,” she quipped before she delivered a round house kick to the jaw, instantaneously knocking him out .

As the last bank infiltrator fell to the floor with a harsh thud, the hostages ran towards the buildings main entrance without delay .

Once the bank was void of civilians, Y/N quickly glitched outside to an alleyway a few buildings away. She had quickly rid herself of her hood and peered around the corner in the direction of the bank, closely watching the scene before her.

In the corner of her eye, she spotted a certain wall crawler sporting iconic red and blue spandex crawl his way out through one of the side windows on the bank and make his way up towards the roof.

‘Must’ve realised it’s been dealt with.’ She shrugged her shoulders ever so slightly before heading back further into the alleyway before glitching back to her apartment.

Meanwhile, as she made a clean break for her home, the spiderling had a million questions whirling through his head.

The main thing being, ‘Who was that?’

--- end of flashback ---

_______________

“Do you have any questions before we step out of the elevator?” Fury asked the newest recruit to join the team.

“Yeah. Will there be snacks?”

“Is that really the question you want to be asking right now?” His voice rises in pitch, expressing his disbelief and quite possibly, amusement, at her inquiry.

“Yes.” Her face stoic, void of any humour at the situation. “You interrupted my lunch.”

Fury returned his gaze forward towards the elevator door, observing her through her reflection in the metallic surface. He noticed the girl tends to fidget quite a bit, making sure to make further observations of her behaviour in the coming weeks.

A small silence resurfaces as they pass more floors before the inevitable opening of said elevator doors slide open, revealing a large living space with a crowd of people.

‘HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT.’

Y/N’s mind whirls a hundred miles a minute as she and ‘patches’, her nickname for Fury, advance towards the lounging Avengers. Fury claps his hands together loudly, the sound cutting through the air and drawing the attention of Earths mightiest heroes towards the pair.

“Who the hell is that?” Tony is the first to speak as he motions towards the female at the S.H.E.I.L.D directors left. Everyone looks Y/N up and down with narrow eyes, except for one. A teenaged boy. A kid.

“Surely you can show some respect towards the newest Avenger, Stark.”

Everyone’s eyes widen in most notably shock and surprise. Again, all except for one set of deep brown eyes, a knowing gaze paired along with a sweet and welcoming yet almost excited smile.

“Hey. I’m Y/N and I guess I’m your teammate.” She raises her pointer and middle finger up towards her forehead, giving them a faux salute, all the while smiling at the team cheekily.

The Avengers shared quick glances with each other, all wondering what is now in store for them with a new addition to the team.

“Soooooo, got any snacks?”

_______________

So, I guess I’m writing a Marvel series rn. That’s cool.

My updates may be slow with chapters for this series as I want to keep alternating between my fandoms and stories.

I don’t want to focus my all on to just this one project, if that makes sense.

Either way, I hope you enjoy. Please like if you do so I know to continue this.

As always, constructive criticism and requests are welcomed.

And finally, who would you like to see as the main love interest of this story??

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ficforce · 3 years

Text

After You, No, After You

Konro and Benimaru x Reader SFW

“Stay still, Waka,” Benimaru grumbled under his breath as the woman’s fingers combed through his hair at the back of his head and he gave a grunt as he felt the strands pulled from his scalp, “Sorry, it’s really stuck in there… you’re gonna have to wash it out. It’s practically syrup.” The twins were hiding behind Konro as they watched her try to get the gooey remains of their sweets out of the Captain’s hair – they swore it was an accident. With a sigh, she stood up and patted the dust off of her pants, “Maybe it’s a good thing, you’ve been working pretty hard this week – take a break, Waka, a decent bath might do you some good.” Her hand reached down to pat his shoulder but at the last moment the man avoided the touch, he got up and stalked past her mumbling about not being a little kid. The twins ran off after him and Y/N watched after him in confusion before looking to Konro, he couldn’t help but defend him, “He’s been a little frustrated lately.” “I know…” she sighed, “It feels like he’s mad at me though. I guess I baby him a little, even though we’re not that far apart in age. He just has so much to deal with and sometimes I think it really gets to him. Not that he would ever admit it.” All she wanted was to make things a little easier on him, feeling Konro’s hand on her arm she turned her gaze up to his, “Is this where you treat me like a kid?” He smiled at her question and gave her arm a comforting squeeze, “You’re too grown up to be treated like a little girl, Y/N.” Konro couldn’t ignore that she was a grown woman any more than Benimaru could, he had seen crimson eyes follow her around too often to ignore, the walls were thin in the Guardhouse and the Lieutenant wasn’t deaf to the younger man moaning her name quietly in. It wasn’t so different from the way Konro looked at her or fantasised about her…

“I think he wants you to see him as a man rather than someone to look after – so he takes it personally when you try to soothe him like that.”

Her fingers locked together and she tried to keep her voice steady, “…You make it sound like he, ya know… likes me.” “Would that be so bad?” She noticed that he was having trouble keeping eye contact with her now and he shifted his body slightly away until his hand fell back to his side, “Waka’s really grown, he’s reliable and you know the cold attitude is just for show – you’d make a good pair.” Konro didn’t say much more than that, he made his excuses and headed out. Did Benimaru like her? They worked well together, she was a fire soldier third generation and had started off as a regular Hikeshi, her abilities didn’t kick in until after her twentieth birthday. She got on with her Captain and wasn’t afraid to pick on him, though not many Asakusians were afraid of him unless they were up to no good, he always invited her for drinks and when he decided to gamble – which he was bad at – he relied on her intuition. Her fighting style was basic, trusting her ability to get the job done but Benimaru still insisted on training with her every now and then, he wasn’t gentle and she was always bruised afterwards. He complained when she pet his hair after a few too many drinks and he didn’t like when she tried to tell him to take a break, eat something or drink something. All she wanted to do was thank him for all his hard work… it was a way to stay close to him too. Konro’s words gave her butterflies and Y/N wondered if he was right. Konro was always right, she looked up to him and admired him. He always seemed to be the one to help her get control of her fire when she lost control because of her inexperience, Y/N knew he could be dangerous and that he wasn’t one to shy away from a fight; he just tended to be smarter about picking them. He always made her feel warm. Her heart often fluttered at the sight of Konro in the same way it did for Benimaru… wouldn’t it be nice to have both — - “Y/N!” Her head tilted up toward the smokey sky at the call of her name, Benimaru was above on his matoi and he pointed south, “There’s a couple of kids hiding down that alley.” “On it, Waka!” Y/N ran off, she was careful to avoid the stray fireworks whistling through the streets from the warehouse that had caught fire. There was no Infernal this time, just a couple of idiot teenagers who had caused flames to spread over half the block, “Anyone down here?!” Crying could be heard coming from behind a tower of crates, “Hey, it’s okay, come one, let’s get out of here.” Y/N took the toddler from the little boy who had been trying to look after her, “Hold onto my coat and stay close.” A loud bang made her jump and a wall of fire blocked the three of them into the alley. The boy buried his head into her side and she tried to keep the little girl from the heat. “Y/N!” “Lieutenant!” Through the brief gaps in the yellow and orange flames, she caught glimpses of the man. “I’m… I’m gonna try to part it so I can hand the kids through!” If she had been alone she would have just run through the blaze but the children would be burnt, her eyes illuminated as she concentrated on pulling the fire apart until there was an opportunity to thrust the toddler into Konro’s arms. The man called the boy to run through, giving him enough courage to brave the flames and join him. Konro handed both of them to another Hikeshi and told him to get them out of the danger zone, the space closed and he lost sight of her, “Y/N… Oi! Come on!” She wasn’t paying attention to her powers and the blaze began to spread up to the roofs of the other houses, “Get it under control!” The Hikeshi panicked as she watched it spread because of her, Konro’s call made it worse as she could only imagine how disappointed he was at her failure. “Forget controlling it, Y/N, just run through!” Konro let out a relieved breath as she appeared through the flames in one piece, her clothes let off a few billows of smoke but otherwise, she was fine, “We’ll deal with this, head to the river and make sure the civilians are safe.” Later, when everything was put out and rebuilding had started,

Y/N was surprised when Benimaru sat down beside her and shoved a box of mochi onto her crossed legs, “You look like a kicked dog.” “Rude.” Once she had opened the box he dived straight in to grab one, she noted it was the least sweet one in there and tutted at him, “Did you get this because you wanted that one or because you were a brat earlier?” He shrugged one shoulder, “Who cares - why you looking so miserable?” Benimaru chewed his mochi as he waited for her to tell him, she was usually straight forward with him but as he swallowed he realised she hadn’t touched the snack and she was yet to answer him - that wasn’t so usual. “Is it because you made that fire way worse?” “I wasn’t good enough, I had the kids and I panicked… I screwed it up and the Lieutenant had to deal with my mess.” Y/N dropped her head into her hands, she felt utterly defeated and it was all because she caused trouble for Konro, “I’ll be better next time, I’ll work until I pass out if I have to.” “Good.” The Captain took the box of mochi from her lap before shifting himself on the mat and resting his head on her thigh, “Is it your lack of skill or disappointing Konro that’s got you down?” He looked up at her and smirked, Y/N’s expression was surprised at his position on her lap but she didn’t seem like she would push him off, “You like him, right?” Y/N’s eyes widened a little and she cleared her throat before answering, “O-of course! He’s my Lieutenant and… and everyone likes Konro…” “Don’t play dumb, Y/N, you know I mean,” the man picked up a piece of mochi and shoved it in her mouth, “He likes you too, he’s just being a coward. If you like him you should tell him… Konro will look after you, he’s not mad that you lost control earlier - he was just worried.” He closed his eyes then, “You’d make a good pair.” His words parroted what Konro had said that morning and Y/N could sense the same unusual discomfort in Benimaru that Know had had earlier. It was as if they wanted to support the other but were giving up something they wanted to do it. “Benimaru…” his eyes opened at the sound of her voice, she couldn’t help but think that he had a beauty to him, his crimson eyes always caught her attention, “Konro said the same thing about us.” “Tch!” He sat himself up and pushed his hair out of his face, “Course he did - that idiot! You don’t even look at me the way you do with him, Konro’s a better man, ya know, you should just tell him.” Benimaru got up and headed out before she could find the words to answer him. Benimaru had as good as told her that he had feelings for her but in the same breath told her to be with Konro. Y/N exhaled loudly and tried to calm her beating heart - did this mean they both liked her the same way she did them? Did she have to choose? Of course, she did… It wasn’t likely they would want to share, if she chose one over the other it could change everything, either they would resent one another or she would lose someone she adored, “Fuck.” — - The next three days were busy with rebuilding and preparation for a festival, they were fortunate that no Infernals appeared and the fireworks disaster wasn’t too catastrophic, it gave her a chance to practice and Y/N was taking advantage of it. Feeling her lungs squeeze painfully the Hikeshi fell to her knees in exhaustion, it was getting harder to take in air and her limbs were shaking from overusing her ability, it wasn’t time to give up so she forced herself back up straight and glared at the metal barrel she had started a fire in. She kept it up until her knees gave out and she tasted dirt in her mouth. Her vision blurred and she couldn’t even move her arms under her to get up, she knew she’d burned herself out but she figured it would pass soon enough. Y/N wasn’t sure when she had passed out so she was confused when her eyes opened and the world was moving, the ceiling and walls were passing by and as she blinked groggily up she realised that Konro was carrying her through the Guardhouse, “‘m not done…” “Yes you are,” he murmured back, “You’re out of firepower, Y/N,

don’t force it.” Konro adjusted her in his hold and slid the door open with his foot, he placed her down onto the futon in his room and then headed out briefly to grab a damp flannel to clean the dirt on her face. He could see she had pushed herself a little too far. “She okay?” Y/N turned her head to the man leaning against the doorway, her eyes couldn’t focus on Benimaru so she let them slip closed again. “Burned herself out, Waka. You should sit with her for a while…” Benimaru looked away from them, “You’re better suited.” Her head was pounding and she felt like something was pressing down on her, Y/N really wasn’t in the mood to listen to then argue who should sit with her and it was out of character for them. She’d been agonising over the situation for days - Benimaru liked her, Konro liked her, and she liked them both equally but for different reasons. In the end, she decided she would be better off not choosing. “I don’t want either of you!” The Hikeshi sat up from the futon, batting Konro’s hand away as he tried to get her to go back down, she then forced herself up onto her feet, wobbling as her oxygen-starved muscles protested, “One of the things I admire about you both is the way you go for what you want - how you fight for it. You both told me that the other likes me and you’re trying to push me onto the other like I’m not worth the effort!” That’s what really bothered her, the fact they were willing to give her up. Konro and Benimaru were close and she understood them not wanting to hurt each other but she wished they would see it from her point of view too. “If I’m not worth fighting for then don’t bother! I don’t want reasons why you’re not good enough… I want you to tell me why I shouldn’t throw you both out of here right now!” “It’s my room.” “It’s literally Konro’s room.” Heat flared up inside as her temper rose, it hadn’t been intentional on her part to call up her flames but as they were too weak to do more than make her too hot it didn’t cause the men too much of an issue. The issue was that her body lost all strength in it and she fell, luckily, into Konro’s arms, “Y/N!” He got her back on the futon and sighed, “I get what you’re saying, Y/N, we didn’t expect to both fall for the same girl and in the same way.” “It’s not like we can share you either.” Benimaru pushed his hand through his hair and sat down beside her, “I want you to be happy and I think Konro would make you happier than I could, I want him to be happy too… you deserve at least that, Konro.” “Beni…” the Lieutenant’s voice was soft and he wanted to argue with him but his voice was momentarily silenced. He felt the same way, he wanted Benimaru to steal a little bit of happiness too. Y/N managed to get her vision to focus on them, they were pretty dumb when it came to these kinds of things, if they couldn’t fight it then they tended to struggle, she reached out and grabbed them, catching Benimaru’s pant leg and Konro’s sleeve, “Why can’t we share?” She smirked as they did a double-take of her, “It’ll take two of you to handle me anyway.”

#sagamiya konro #shinmon benimaru #fire force #reader #enen no shouboutai #enn enn no shouboutai #garth ennis

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notmrskennedy · 3 years

Text

Professor, pt 1

A/N - so i heard from like four of you which is enough to warrant me posting drafts that weren’t supposed to see the light of day - ANYWAY this was originally written in third person and let me tell you it takes a ridiculous amount of effort to change tenses like holy hell.

(Technically the prequel Friendliness but can stand alone if you really want it to. There’s a part two to this so watch out for that tomorrow.)

Summary - Spencer meets a professor and falls in love for a few hours

W/C - 2k

Warnings - none-ish? there’s a small smattering of violence and horrible changing of the tenses

-----

Spencer can’t help the irony that he’s in a freshman college class for the first time ever while protecting one of the students. Who knew that a tiny club of DnD players could incite so much rage out of an un-sub? So here he was, trying to blend in—even though he’s 25, he still looks 14 and there’s really no real reason why he should be worried about being caught—in order to protect a freshman who was more pimple than male specimen.

Joesph—the poor kid in question—takes a seat in the front row and Spencer’s obligated to sit within tackling distance, though he hopes it won’t come to that. Hopefully, Morgan will have the kid the un-sub goes for and Spencer can just enjoy being in college again. The painfully familiar auditorium seats, the stale air, and bad fluorescents feel more like home than he cares to admit.

College hadn’t been all too unpleasant. High school he’d gotten picked on mercilessly. College, however, had meant getting doted on by hot sorority girls and earning the protection of frat boys—they’d picked up rather quickly that he knew football strategy better than they did after Spencer had hustled a TV and 400 dollars from them. Sure, he didn’t drink, but every single drunk teenager had welcomed him with open arms and lots of ginger ale.

There’s chatter and for the ten minutes before class starts, Spencer is torn between trying to figure out which song is quietly playing around the room and watching for a particularly rage-filled college student serial killer. Instead, he just finds too many bored faces. Most of the kids are drinking coffee like the best of them and he’s itching for his next fix just looking at it.

The first two rows: a terrible vantage point to be profiling, but a beautifully defensible post. He watches absently as one of the TAs, who looks a little younger than him, organizes three stacks of papers on the front desk and flips through several different pages on the podium. His attention is focused solely on you for nearly a minute too long—he can hear the voice in his head chastising him for how often he gets distracted by pretty people.

You look of the fragile sort, the in-the-lab kind of future scientist. There’s something about you that’s captivating. It might be the way you keep reorganizing the papers to perfection or maybe it’s the way you study the room so closely. And while he thinks that you might not be able to physically stop someone, you sure look like the kind of person that could crush him in chess.

He’s 25 and is considering chess as a marriage proposal.

Joesph shuffles his books around in the seat in front of Spencer and you, the beautiful TA in question, hold a watch up as you move to the centre of the room. Class is starting. Class is starting and he’s hopeful the professor never actually shows up.

He notices your watch is on your right wrist—are you left handed?—as you smile widely and clap her hands together. First day jitters seem to keep everyone silent, waiting on baited breath for you to start. Spencer would stay on baited breath for the rest of his life for you. You were utterly captivating after all—he could see the drool from several students’ mouths a few seats over.

“This is Anthropology 101,” you announce. “If this isn’t your class, you’re free to leave. Or stay if you want. Did you guys know that anxiety disorders affect more than 40 million US adults? Or 1 in 5, I guess, if you want the easier pill to swallow.”

Spencer’s heart jumps into his throat and he wants to raise his hand just to ask you to marry him.

“Anyway,” you sigh, leaning back agains the front desk, “I spit out a lot of facts. Usually something that begins with ‘did you know’ won’t be on the tests. I try to be fair. Which brings us to ice breakers.”

The class collectively groans. You scoff.

“Oh hush, I’m the only one doing the ice breakers so chill out. Jeez.” Spencer waits patiently for your soft breath and then your further announcement of, “I’m officially Dr. Y/N Y/L/N, but that’s like only if my boss comes in or for any emails you send. You can call me Y/N because that’s like normal. I got my doctorate in forensic anthropology a year ago and I’ve been teaching since I started grad school three years ago. You’re in safe hands, I promise.”

He almost kicks himself. You’re the professor. How many times had he been nearly kicked out of a classroom when he was in grad school for saying he was the professor? How many times had he been 18 and trying to get an ounce of respect for himself?

You continue, waving your hands about like you could pull your ideas back down to earth. “Um—a fun fact about me is that I am not welcome in certain parts of the world for ‘violating’ what are called exhumation laws, which is silly in my opinion. I had the legal right to carry that head on the plane and—and I hope you did the reading because there’s a first day pop quiz.”

The entire class lets out one simultaneous frustrated whine that alights something almost wicked in your eyes. You wave over two students from the other end of the front row and they begin passing out test papers as you explain.

“You’ll have a total of fifteen minutes to answer ten questions. We’ll start on my mark. If you have any trouble, give me a shout and I’ll help you out. After this, we’ll go over the syllabus and if you’re lucky, leave early.”

Spencer’s passed a test and immediately notices there’s no place for a name. Just a bolded “Student #21” at the top. Another girl raises the question and you snicker. “I like puzzles,” is the only answer you give before the time starts.

Question four: what are the top three songs you’ve been listening to? Please list.

Question six: why are you taking this class?

A: This is a requirement

B: I heard it was easy

C: I heard the professor was hot

D: I really enjoy anthropology! (liar)

Question nine: Creationism or Evolution?

Question ten: Quickly. If you were going to have dinner, would it be with Bill or Hillary Clinton?

Spencer can’t hide the grin he’s got the entire test. It’s all ridiculous get-to-know-you questions. He can tell what merit you’re getting out of them. There’s one judging study habits, one judging religion, feminism, politics—you’ve created her own little innocuous questionnaire. Spencer was sure the students would just think you were strange, but he saw the cleverness.

Spencer also notices that once you notice him, you don’t stop noticing him. He wonders what you see. You’re so obviously profiling him that it hurts. Do you see the FBI agent? The scholar? The doctor? The drug addict? The man in a boy’s skin?

Your timer beeps and you shout for pencils down. Your makeshift TAs are dispatched to collect the papers and you make the stacks perfect when they make it to the desk. You move to the whiteboard, a set of papers clutched in your hand, and lean against it to address the class.

“Test go alright?” your grin is contagious and Spencer can’t help but mirror it. You glance at Spencer, turns back to the class, and tuck your hair behind your ear. You let the class chatter on for a moment, setting the papers down on the table, and readjust the undone cuffs of your white button down. He never thought that a sweater vest and jeans could look so hot.

You smirk and check your watch one more time. “Let’s talk about tests because I know you all have questions. Everything on the test is either written on the board, on the notes, or in the study guide—if you fail after that, come to office hours. I’ve got Advil for the hangovers.”

Thankfully, Joesph is one of those students who has to speak to every single one of his professors. Spencer waits patiently behind the kid, trying to keep the smell from the lack of deodorant just out of range.

He keeps a hard gaze on all of the students moving in and out of the auditorium. There’s nothing to see, just a lot of students with a lot of normal college apathy. No anger, no serial killer, no one to tackle.

“Sometimes the BO is worse than a corpse’s expulsion of gas,” you joke from your place atop the desk. Spencer looks up, and furrows his eyebrows as his brain processes. Your face falls for a split second, but your curiosity replaces it just as quickly. Joesph’s jaw hits the floor, stumbling for some way to explain himself or maybe some half decent way to insult the pretty professor.

Spencer laughs, probably a little more than he should have, considering he wasn’t supposed to out himself as an FBI agent. You tuck your hair behind your ear again and, for someone younger than 25, you are surprisingly wide eyed with perception and curiosity.

“Do you like puzzles, Doctor—“

“Reid,” he supplies, trying to swallow around the lump in his throat. “Spencer.”

You raise an eyebrow, chewing on your bottom lip in contemplation. You turn your focus back to Joesph—a boy worse at talking to those scoring higher than an 8 than Spencer was at the same age. “So, Joesph, why does the good doctor need to be within tackling distance of you?”

Joesph flounders, turns to hide his blush, and yelps like God himself has come down to kick him in the ass. Spencer takes one good look at the 18 year old girl charging towards a pimple of a boy and he launches before he can give much consideration to how much its going to hurt.

But between the noticing and the launching, he makes a list: she’s got so much black eyeliner that Emily’s high school yearbook photos would be jealous; she’s about to inflict about a 9 on the pain scale if she’s left to her plan; there’s obviously no plan other to scratch Joesph’s eyes out; her nails are the size of tiger claws and Spencer desperately wishes he had a better pain tolerance; there’s no weapon.

The tackle takes seconds. It’s a practised movement. Roll. Knee. Handcuffs. The girl is screaming and crying and kicking and biting. His arm’s on fire and she’s struggling enough that it’s taking more than ten seconds to get the handcuffs on.

It’s calculated as he presses his knee harder into her back. She yelps and stills long enough that Spencer closes the handcuffs on her tiny, sliced up wrists. The cutting explains some things…

“Hence the tackling distance,” You sum up, bending down just slightly to look the killer in the face. Your nose wrinkles. “You had very distinct ideas on the cultural value of suicide.”

Spencer shakes his head, hauls the girl to her feet, and beckons for Joesph to follow. The entire world falls out of view as he manhandles the girl into an easy walk. The students step to the side to gawk, and he’s thankful for the wide berth. If someone got hurt, the paperwork alone—

“It was nice meeting you, Dr. Reid!” you call and he glances back over his shoulder. You’re waving around the stack of papers in your arms, utterly ridiculous, terribly adorable. He hopes his smile is more suave than love sick, but the fleeting flirtation is especially over when Miss Unchecked Rage kicks out as Joesph comes into her line of sight.

Spencer throws his whole weight into keeping her down. There’s no room to fall in love after a day. Especially with someone on a college campus halfway across the country from him. There’s even less room to manoeuvre Miss Eyeliner even without Joesph waddling into her eye line every few seconds. Seriously, he thinks, how hard is it to keep behind me?

#spencer reid #dr spencer reid #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid x reader #reid #reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #Criminal Minds #criminal minds fanfiction #spencer reid fanfiction

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spooky-z · 4 years

Text

[1/3]Bombshell Dupain-Cheng: YSSMIAC

Masterlist Maribat by @ozmav

Bombshell: The AU // 0, 1, 2, 3

Ships: Lukadaminette, Jondrien, Chlolix, Feligami, Kimax

Warnings: Language

2.6K

Chapter title: you should see me in a crown

You should see me in a crown Your silence is my favorite sound Watch me make 'em bow One by, one by one

Here's: Marinette and Kagami didn't expect the transformation to be so outrageously obvious.

Of course, Diana had warned the teenagers that it could happen, but- again, they didn't think it would be so drastic. The growing pains had been, well, a pain. A brutal one.

If Marinette was being bitter, she would blame Tikki for this happening to her and her miraculous partners, but she knew for a fact that it was not the fault of the kwamis for this lack of information.

It was the first time since the world was created, that the miraculous were given to literal children. So, for that reason the side effects were something unknown. But they believed that they had already discovered all the effects after five years wielding the jewelry.

Diana was able to destroy any idea they had about it, since none of them noticed the biggest and most obvious side effect of the miraculous:

They were trapped in underdeveloped bodies for seventeen/eighteen-year-olds teenagers. And that wasn't just because their genetics made them look more youthful, no. The active use of Ladybug’s cure was slowing the aging journey of the other heroes, as they were the hardest hit by healing magic.

So, when Diana - Wonder Woman - invited the miraculous female team to Themyscira to correct this problem with the Amazons, Marinette, Kagami, Chloe and Alix did not hesitate to accept.

The men's team had already been invited by Arthur Curry - Aquaman - because men were not allowed on Themyscira, but also because training with Arthur would be more ideal for them than that of the Amazons.

Zatanna encouraging and assuring the heroes that she would maintain a blocking spell throughout Paris to prevent Hawkmoth from acting.

They left their homes with an excuse to travel the world. Adrien was a little more difficult to get out of Gabriel's claws, but in the end, with Bruce Wayne's call, Adrien was able to leave Paris alone with friends. They were ready.

That's when Marinette suffered.

Starting with all the miraculous having to be resigned in order for the effect of magic to expunge faster, the box being kept safe in Themyscira. And then with the infernal training that the Amazons put them through.

Before, Marinette and Kagami prided themselves on being the most agile and sharp in the fights against akumas, but being in Themyscira showed that they did not even reach the feet of the youngest warriors in the island.

So, it was already clear that if Kagami and Marinette were having problems, Chloe and Alix felt death touching their souls with affection.

(The boys also suffered in those months in Atlantis. Arthur was not at all merciful in teaching them.)

Anyway, when the two and a half month mark reached, the physical changes were simply too glaring to go through a simple growth spurt.

Marinette never envied Chloe and Alix so much for not being predisposed to be tall naturally.

Of all four, Marinette grew the most in height without the influence of the miraculous. She may or may not have cried when she reached 5'11” with Kagami and Hippolyta said she would still grow a few inches.

She didn't care much for stretch marks on her joints, but she complained about the growing pains. Kagami was not very vocal, but the grimaces of pain she let out did not let anyone be fooled.

But even with the pain, the teachings and the struggles, Marinette was happy that they were finally having the right mentoring to guide them. Fu had left very early, much of his knowledge was not passed on.

○○○

After almost struggling to free Marinette from Chloe, they left the blonde sleeping on the brunette's bed while she showered.

Alix ate a croissant, Damian and Luka talked about strategies against Hawkmoth and Plume.

"I already talked to Zatanna and she will release the blocking barrier in three days, just so Hawkmoth doesn't suspect anything." Damian looked at Alix, attracting the young woman's attention. "It would be very suspicious if the barrier was broken just on the same day that Dupont's classes returned."

Alix nodded in agreement. "Did she say anything about tracking the miraculous?"

Luka sighed despondently. "No. She will probably only make it when they are active, meaning- “

"We will have to wait for Plume and Hawkmoth to attack again to get any leads."

Marinette came into the room, fully dressed - a black skater dress with the pattern of delicate cherry blossoms, reaching a few inches above the knee, v-neck and short sleeves; white liner socks - and dry hair stuck in a messy bun, leaving the bangs framing the pretty face.

Luka and Damian swallowed at the glorious sight. She managed to be strong and cute at the same time. And it destroyed them so good.

"He should attack as soon as he feels the barrier is gone." Alix replied and it took both of them out of inappropriate thoughts. Marinette's knowing look showed that she knew exactly where the boyfriends' minds ran.

"And that is why we will be making a war council in half an hour." She reached for the pair of white sneakers on the shoe rack and tucked them in her feet, the laces already tied. “Everyone has already been warned. I will be delivering the miraculous and we will make plans on how to take down Hawkmoth for good.”

"... But first we have to wake Chloe." Luka points. "Who's going to be the unlucky one?"

○○○

After managing to wake Chloe without resulting in a murder, they were quick to leave Marinette's home for Fu's massage parlor, the current headquarters of the miraculous team and where Zatanna had lived for three months when they were away.

"We are here, losers!" Alix announced pompously.

Upon arriving, they found Adrien talking to Jon in a corner; Max, Tim and Barbara on the computer browsing documents that appeared to be important; Félix and Kagami sat at the big table - which Adrien insisted on calling the round table and Marinette found it unnecessary - analyzing a detailed hologram of the streets of Paris.

No sign of Kim or Zatanna yet.

The entry of the five drew everyone's attention; Tim and Felix's eyes doubled in size as they focused on Marinette.

"What the hell, Mari?!" Tim choked on his words.

"This is what I call transformation." Barbara commented amusedly.

“Everyone has undergone drastic changes, Drake. I'm sure you didn't react that way when you saw the others.” Marinette replied.

"Of course not! Nobody came here looking like an Amazon.”

Kagami coughed against the fist, eyebrow raised.

"Okay, I take back what I said." Tim raises his hands in surrender. "But you have to agree with me, Marinette is the most surprising change here."

Adrien nodded frantically in agreement. “When you showed up at school earlier, everyone was shocked. I hardly recognized you.”

Max and Felix scoffed. "Yes, we noticed the warm looks you were shooting at Mari." Max pointed out causing Adrien to choke in embarrassment.

“Oh, is that so? Interesting." Damian murmured, a frankly murderous look on his face. He had already taken the seat next to Felix.

"What? No! You got it wrong.” Adrien stammered, his cheeks red.

“Okay, Adrien. I'm not jealous." Luka said. The malicious curve in the corner of his mouth making it clear that the musician was loving seeing the model turn into a hot mess in front of everyone.

"Luka!" Adrien groaned painfully and turned to Jon. “You know it's not true, right? Everyone knows that I only have eyes for you.” He pouted.

The brunette put his arm around the blonde's waist, bringing him a little closer. “Of course, I know dear. I totally trust my charm.” He winked seductively; Adrien's blush only growing in intensity.

The two of them seeming to forget that their friends were there.

"Ugh, nobody deserves to watch these two making out with their eyes." Chloe moaned on the chair, still drowsy and irritated at being woken up.

"Think on the bright side!" Marinette said happily.

"What would it be...?"

"At least this time they are dressed and aware that there are other people in the room." Kim replied upon entering.

"... I think we better split them up before they really forget we're here." Kagami pointed a finger at the two boys who had started a kiss in a way that, in her opinion, should be inappropriate for people under fifty.

"Does anyone have a spray bottle?" Damian asked.

And Marinette stopped to analyze the physical changes in her team.

So, the fact was: yes, Marinette was the person with the greatest physical change among the miraculous group. Because in addition to the height, she got muscles (which she didn't have before). It wasn't something like a body builder would be, but it also made it clear that she had a pretty intense exercise routine.

Kagami had also grown a lot, losing to Mari by just a few inches. Even before wielding the dragon's miraculous, she had already developed some muscle due to the intense fencing routine; so, the only things that had changed was the increase in body mass around the shoulders, biceps and calves.

Alix didn't grow much, just two inches from what she was before, and the muscles in her body hadn't been developed as visibly as the two asian girls. She had a better definition, elasticity and mobility had improved dramatically.

Chloe was the only one of the four parisian heroines who had no visible change. She remained thin and flexible, with no pronounced hard muscles. Diana had said that the blonde's body was the type that hid her power. The deceptive, fragile type, but who was agile and fatal. Which suited Chloe.

Of the boys, the shock had been Damian. Damian, who, like Marinette, was one of the smallest on the team - followed by Alix and Max - reached his desired height of 6’3”; surpassing both Bruce and Jason, the tallest in the Wayne family.

But that didn't surprise Marinette or Tim, since Damian's parents were both quite tall. They hoped that eventually Damian would start to grow like a weed.

Anyway. While Damian did not grow muscle mass like a brick house like Jason, his shoulders grew broad and powerful, biceps pronounced, muscles lean and defined. He achieved a perfect match between raw power and agility.

Luka surprisingly hasn't changed much. He put a few inches more - taller than Marinette by just an inch, but smaller than Damian by four - but his muscles didn't grow. They just became more defined. And Marinette understood that.

Among all of them, Luka, Alix and Max were the ones who least physically attacked akumas; sometimes they even stayed out of the fight, as their powers were only for a very critical situation.

Adrien somehow still had room to grow. You see, it wasn't like he was short before; for a twelve-year-old boy - before wielding the ring - he was already quite tall, so even with the magic interfering, he still had a decent height for a teenager.

Then discover that there was still room for him to reach Damian? That was surprising.

Unlike Luka, Adrien gained muscle mass. The blonde, over the years, showed that there was no mercy when it came to eating. He never refused food, always chewing what he could as if there was no tomorrow, since at home, his diet was strict. But even with that, he never gained weight.

Always the same skinny boy as always. So skinny that Sabine had made it her life's mission to fatten the Agreste boy. (Which did not work, but it did not diminish the determination of the Chinese woman.)

Then, without the interference of magic, Adrien grew up.

The boy who was once skin and bone, now looked like the blonde version with green eyes of Kim. He didn't get uncomfortably muscular, but the muscle tone he got was insane. Even wearing a hoodie that was supposed to be 2x bigger than its ideal size, it was possible to see that some corners of the seams were stretched on the shoulders and chest.

Gabriel probably burst a vein when he saw his son's transformation. The more youthful Adrien looked, the better it was for him to sell the image of "teenage prince".

Kim was the least surprised, as he was already big even for a teenager. In addition to his shoulders - which became broader - he grew a few inches, bumping head-on with Marinette and Luka. The chest remained strong and his body seemed to have no problem staying flexible.

Félix followed the same path as Luka - which Marinette secretly thanked, since finding a bodybuilder Félix would be beyond strange -, remaining tall and elegant. Lean, well-defined muscles. He remembered Chloe's changes. Silent, but fatal.

He was also in the race for whoever got higher with Adrien and Damian.

Max, on the other hand, must not have grown more than five inches. His muscle tone did not grow at an alarming rate either, remaining mostly thin, but looking agile. Like a person who runs five miles every morning without losing his breath or sweating.

Which was good, since Max was never a fitness person and everyone knew it. If he appeared like a damn monster truck out of nowhere - like Marinette, Kagami and Adrien - it would make people ask even more and they didn't want to attract more attention than they were already getting.

All of this, of course, without pointing out the other obvious changes that puberty brought.

The lack of baby fat, sharp jaws, developed curves, deep voices... Marinette managed to get used to her new height, but was not finding peace of mind with the new weight of her chest.

She clapped her hands to get everyone's attention and smiled.

"Let's start?"

And everyone, including the two lovebirds, sat around the table.

They would only leave with a solid plan against Hawkmoth.

BONUS:

"Wow, did you see how some of Ms. Bustier's and Ms. Mendeleiev's students looked different?" Lila heard extra #1 gossip with extra #2.

"I saw it, girl!" Extra #2 responded. "Everyone is saying that they joined a gang."

"Oho, do you believe that?!"

"Well, won't you say that you didn't find Agreste's new appearance strange?"

Lila jumped when she heard the name of one of her enemies. She moved closer to the two girls to hear the conversation better.

It could be something she could use against the ice king.

“Did you see Dupain-Cheng?! That was insane!”

The Italian bristled when she heard Maribrat's name. Still confused about what the two girls were talking about.

She had decided not to go on the first day of school to make a flashy comeback, so what had happened, she didn't know.

"And Adrien?!"

"I know!"

And that was it! Lila needed to know in detail what was going on.

"Excuse me, girls..." She sweetened her voice as much as she could. The two girls looked at her confused. "I wanted to first apologize for listening to your conversation and also to ask what you were talking about..." The ‘poor woman’ expression stuck to her face.

The two girls were even more confused. "Didn't you come yesterday?"

"No. My flight from Achu took longer than expected and I just arrived today.”

"Ah..." Extra #2 waved. “Is that- Ah! In fact, just look back and you will understand!” She said hastily.

Extra #1 looked over Lila's shoulder with a haunted expression. Waving violently.

And when Lila turned... What the fuck was that.

[tag list]

@nightstarblue @dreamykitty25 @phantomroseo3 @avengerthewarrior @guessmyname17 @luveverything12 @wannajointhecrabcult @chocolate1721 @polyvirnl @enchanted-nerd @sandraf0612 @multi-fandom-freak0221 @rosalineandrosemary @jessigurl-design @saays-bitch @xxmdsxx @nicknnie @iamablinkmarvelarmy @damianette-is-life

#maribat #bombshell au #lukadaminette #chlolix #feligami #kimax #jondrien #gaydrien #not salt yet #buff!marinette #miraculous ladybug #ml x dc

381 notes · View notes

renjunfromthestars · 4 years

Text

work too much

Pairing: Mark + reader, Established relationship, Med School/Doctor!Mark (I can’t stop thinking about this omg)

Genre: Fluff, angst if you squint, and it’s me so a little bit of crack LOL

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1.4k

Summary: It’s the middle of Pandemic; there’s been a lot of changes to your life, but Mark is one of the only things that have always been constant, and you’re thankful for that. But Mark in typical Mark fashion is stressed and tends to over work himself, so you always try your best to support him in your own way

Can be read as an extension to more than or as a stand alone

Notes: proof read? ofc not. but I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again...Mark is a little awk and always works so hard (poor bby), so imagining him as a super stressed pre-med major (now Doctor!!) still absolutely wrecks me thank you goodbye

---

When the pandemic hit, it was simultaneously a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because online school definitely saved your grades (chegg also played a supporting role in this). And a curse because you and 7 million people suddenly found yourselves in a pandemic, and a pretty serious one at that.

When the news first came out about a small viral breakout in China, you didn’t think much of it. You were scared shitless when news of a recurring Ebola epidemic came to your attention, WebMd-ing every symptom and prevention technique so obsessively to the point that Mark had to confiscate your laptop for a second.

“Objectively it’s a really serious viral disease, but your chances of getting it are astronomically low. A vaccine was already developed since the first serious breakout in 2014. Plus, most of the cases are in Africa, and it’s very contained-” Mark stops. “Are you even listening?”

“I am,” you protest. “But I’m still going to be scared no matter what you say.”

Mark sighs, sitting back down on the couch after gently placing your laptop on the coffee table.

He ruffles your hair playfully, and your frown only gets deeper. “You silly, silly girl. Take my word for it, you’re fine.”

To be honest, you really should, but anxiety doesn’t discriminate, not even when you have a very knowledgeable boyfriend in medical school.

When you snuggle into his side and wail jokingly (or are you?) about being afraid of dying for the 4th time that week, you can almost see the defeat flash in Mark’s eyes. Yet, he doesn’t complain, and tells you things are going to be okay while wrapping his arms around you comfortingly.

For Mark, you’re eternally thankful.

When the pandemic hit, you didn’t really mind quarantining. You had the necessities: toilet paper, a Netflix subscription, and Mark, not necessarily in order of importance of course. The early months of the pandemic gave you a perfect time to recharge from all the grad school craziness. What really drove you insane were the lack of people taking social distancing and quarantine orders with a grain of salt. Mark scolds you when you say it’s just another form of natural selection, that you like to think that those kinds of people peaked in high school.

Mark on the other hand, is having the opposite experience, Because of the severity of the virus, he graduated from Med school a whole two months early to join other health care workers in the fight against covid. Mark is a smart guy; he’s cautious and plans accordingly-but you’re not going to lie- Mark being in the hospital scares you.

Although he doesn’t like to talk about it, you can tell things are stressful for him from the way his shoulders droop when he thinks you aren’t looking. Dark circles around his normally twinkling eyes, and you’re not even exaggerating when you think you see a white hair or two.

Mark doesn't like to talk about it and you understand, instead showing your support through your actions; you time dinner so that it’s ready right when he comes home, and are sure to give him time to recharge on his own. Mark also has trouble sleeping at night because of his work schedule, so you ordered a white noise machine in an attempt to soothe him. It works, but the poor boy still looks stressed in his sleep, with his eyebrows slightly furrowed and tense. You consider asking him to take some time off from the hospital, but Mark has a big heart and you believe in him. It’s a big part of why you and Mark get along so well, you think,--you have an uncanny ability to know what the other needs, even if they aren’t necessarily aware of it.

“Are you mad at me?”

You’ve just switched off the light. At 8:30, it’s a little early for most people to go to bed but you don’t mind it- you know he’s exhausted, and you don’t want to pressure him to stay up. If it were up to you, you’d be watching Netflix all night.

When you turn to look at him in the moonlight, he looks so worried that you feel your heart tighten a little.

“Of course not,” you frown. “What makes you say that?”

Mark scratches the back of his head. “It’s just that you haven’t really been talking as much to me lately. Because of the extra shifts I’ve been taking at the hospital lately, I know I haven’t been spending as much time with you, and I feel bad about it, I really do, so I understand why you’d be mad-”

As he rambles on, you deadpan a little. He seems so tightly strung it’s almost comical. When he notices you sighing, he almost combusts.

“I’m really, really sorry (y/n). I promise I’ll make it up to you at a later time. You’re so important to me, I don’t want you to feel like I’m taking you for granted-” He stops when you reach across the covers to cradle his face.

You lean in to kiss him, and he’s so confused that it takes him a moment to close his eyes.

His lips are a little chapped, but you don’t mind, instead making a metal note to buy him a little watermelon lip smackers later, and yes-lip smackers because imagining professional Doctor Mark using lip smackers is hilarious to you.

When you pull away, you’re nose to nose, foreheads touching. You’re both silent for a moment, a quiet understanding passing between you two.

“I love you so much,” he whispers.

A smile begins to spread across your face. You know you shouldn’t tease him, but you do anyway.

“I know you do.”

“Tell me you love me too,” he almost whines, and you can’t help but stifle a laugh.

“Don’t laugh, this is a serious matter,” he grumbles, wrapping his arms around your waist.

You give in, pecking him on the lips once more.

“You silly, silly boy. Of course I love you too. You don’t even need to ask.”

Mark closes his eyes, and when he mumbles something about not knowing what he’d do without you, your heart nearly melts.

You close your eyes too, and as you both slowly drift to sleep, you think about how life's going good despite it’s new changes—pandemic and all. You have Mark, and that is something that will never change.

Bonus

Mark scratches the back of his head, glances at you, the little neon green tube in his hand, and then back at you. All you do is just beam at him.

“And?”

“Of course I love it, but uh, isn’t it a little girly?” he says sheepishly.

You pinch his ear playfully and he turns the slightest shade of pink.

“Don’t disrespect the lip smackers, it comes highly recommended not to mention coveted among almost every teenage girl.”

“But I’m not a teenage girl,” he mumbles, and you spring into action, mustering the most disappointed face you can.

They should honestly give you a honorary degree in acting, because when Mark looks at you, he might as well act like you just told him your dog just died.

He uncaps the little stick and quickly applies it all over his lips, rather intensely. When he looks back up at you, he flashes you the most awkward smile and thumbs up you’ve ever seen in your life. With his lips unusually pink and waxy from the over application, he looks like a clown, so what other choice do you have, but laugh.

Mark catches on pretty quickly, and kisses you in retaliation; he tastes like watermelon.

“You’re an evil, evil girl,” he murmurs, “But I love you anyway.”

“All jokes aside, you’re going to actually use it right?” (you used your own hard earned money to get this for him, a whole two dollars and twenty five not including tax )

“Of course I will. I love everything you give me.” (You know this is a lie, he doesn’t like it when you give him a smack on his butt.)

220 notes · View notes

rubix-writings · 3 years

Text

Punisher Pt. 4

Fourth part of Punisher. This is a Chicago PD/Fire imagine with an original character. I don’t own any of the plot points or characters from the show. Also, it doesn’t follow any particular season or sequence in the shows.

Series Summary: Josephine (Jo) never expected to find support and pure love when she left Los Angeles. She ran away to Chicago and was content with living an insignificant, hidden life. But everything changes when she walks into Molly’s to get a job.

Josephine (OC) x Jay Halstead

The italicized lines are internal thoughts of the character.

Warnings: language, mentions of drinking, blood, mentions of violence/attack, long (!)

“Jo, can you get that order ready? I have to go do inventory in the back,” Hermann asks. His silver eyeglasses are perched on the bridge of his nose, the reflection of the paperwork on his clipboard plays across his lenses. I nod and start to pour a few glasses of wine to take over to the table in the back corner. A few weeks passed since my first day and Hermann and Stella have started to trust with a lot more responsibility around the bar. It’s been great getting closer with the regulars and I’ve even stopped by the firehouse to have lunch with everyone a few times. I pick up some empties on my way back to the bar and start to wash the used glasses. It was a pretty quiet night and the crowd has only thinned out as the night went on.

“Hey Jo, how’s loverboy?” Emily insinuated. I met Emily and Silvie during one of my first shifts and they really latched onto Jay’s and my relationship, or lack thereof. We ended up having a few drinks after my shift on the same day Jay dropped me off at Molly’s. The way I feel when I’m with Jay is new, something I’ve never experienced before. When Jay is around I feel….. Safe. It’s like I can fully be myself, there are no eggshells to tiptoe around.

“He’s at the table near the door, why don’t you go ask him?” I ask.

“Oh please, you must have noticed how Jay likes to hang around Molly’s, but really only during your shifts,” Emily whispers.

“And how he’ll stay late on the nights you’re closing up,” Silvie lowers her voice to match Emily’s. I pause cleaning and lean onto the bartop in front of them.

“You guys just described yourselves,” I whisper back.

“That’s not true, we are here… an average amount,” Emily fights back, but not really believing it. Silvie says nothing, but I can tell by the way her eyes are moving that she’s trying to do the math. I smirk and say nothing. They’re not wrong about the amount of time Jay spends at the bar. Sometimes he comes in with a few members of the Intelligence Unit or with Will, but he always spends time at the bar to talk. And then there are the times he’s come in alone and sat on the same stool all night to ensure his spot is saved. But I’ve tried to not think about it if I’m being completely honest. A part of me feels like I’m crossing a line I’ll never be able to step back, I’m supposed to be hidden, flying below the radar. I’ve really tried, people have offered to hang out on my days off or grab drinks and I always turn them down. I could never live with myself if any of these people got hurt because of me. I keep telling myself that I have everything exactly how I want it, but that is a big fat lie and I have no interest in fixing it.

“Hey Jo, can I close out?” the breath in my lungs immediately dissipates. Jay really is punch you in the gut kind of beautiful.

“Yeah, course,” I move further down the bar to the register. “How’s Will doing these days?”

“He’s good, the long shifts are killing him, but other than that he’s good.”

“Well maybe you shouldn't keep him out this late,” he smirks and hands me his credit card.

“Yeah, probably shouldn’t. He’s just being a good brother,” I hand Jay his receipts to sign.

“Will you come around tomorrow?” Really smooth, that didn’t sound too eager at all.

“Can’t sadly, I pulled the short straw of late shift patrol.”

“Wow, how’d you get so lucky?” He hands me back the signed copy.

“It’s a gift I guess. At least I’ll be with Adam, you remember him right?” Adam Ruzek, probably one of the tallest men I’ve ever seen. It’s hard to forget him since he acts like a teenage boy trapped in a man’s body. I smile and nod at Jay’s question. “Yeah, so at least I’ll have someone to talk to.”

“How are him and Kim doing, still on the outs?”

“Yeah. Hey don’t let me regret spilling that to you,” he taps his knuckles on the wooden bartop.

“First, I’m offended. I’m an excellent secret keeper. Second, maybe it should be harder than a couple of beers for a detective to start disclosing secrets,” I shrug.

“It’s called confiding actually.”

“Oh is that right,” I smile.

“Yes. I’m sorry, I have to go. I’ll see you around Jo,” Jay starts backing away towards the front door.

“Bye Jay.”

Is it too serious to tell him to stay safe? The words were on the tip of my tongue, ready to be dropped, but it never came. I look to the girls at the other end of the bar who give me a look of victory from Jay’s and my interaction. I simply roll my eyes and get back to work.

****

My eyes are barely staying open as I park my car in front of my apartment building. That’s right, I have a car. A real shitty one to match my apartment. It does provide some comfort knowing that it’ll never get broken into. The frigid air does very little to wake me up, my body is deeply craving sleep. Between the double shift today and the closing shifts the nights before, I haven’t gotten enough sleep to say the least. My feet slowly trudge up the creaking stairs, for some reason someone years ago thought it would be a good idea to paint them white, but never did any touch ups and just left it to chip and fade over time. The ceiling in my apartment was “fixed” a week ago, but by the looks of it I wouldn’t be surprised if it dropped again.

“Time for sleep,” I smile lazily. I plug my phone in to charge and go to the closet to hang up my coat. My bed has never looked so inviting, hell my water ruined coach looks like a good place to sleep right about now. I start to brush my teeth when I hear a muffled yell. I pause and wait for it to reoccur, but after a few seconds I start to believe it’s my tired mind playing tricks.

“Help….please,” it’s so faint that if you weren’t looking for it you’d miss the outcry. A loud crash follows which causes the adrenaline to course through my veins and bolt out of my apartment. A woman lays in the hallway, I look to the stairs and the vibrant blood clashes with the white stairs and banister. She groans and tries to move.

“Hey, don’t move,” I say as softly as I can. I take off the hoodie that I always wear under my coat and start to push it under her head as a makeshift pillow. Her eyes flutter closed, but she doesn’t try to move anymore. I start to get up from my knees and her hand quickly snatches my forearm.

“Please don’t leave me,” her voice is hoarse. This is the first time I really look at her face that’s covered in blood and cuts. Her eyes are hollow and tired. I look down to her hand that’s also covered in blood, there’re cuts across her knuckles. She fought back.

“I’ll be right back, I just need to get my phone. Just relax, you’re safe,” I had no place to tell her how to feel, but once she loosens her grip I take full advantage and run to my phone to call 911. As I’m explaining the events to the dispatcher I take the rolls of gauze and first aid kit from my apartment with me to the hallway.

“What’s your name?” My voice is calm, I start to try and wrap the injuries bleeding the most.

“Eve,” her voice faint and weak.

“Hi Eve, I’m Jo. You’re not alone okay? I’m not leaving you,” she nods slightly keeping her eyes closed. “The police are coming.” Once I finish wrapping the wounds on her face, I start to look over the rest of her body to see if anything needs immediate attention. Her upper arm was slashed and she was stabbed in the leg which is basically gushing. They might’ve nicked the artery. As fast as I can without putting her in too much pain I wrap up her arm and start pilling on copious amounts of gauze to her leg wound. The bright red liquid stains the used gauze and my hands as it can’t be stopped by the gauze alone. I start to undo my belt and wrap it above the wound.

“Eve, this is going to hurt, but I need you to stay still so I can stop the bleeding okay?” she groans in response. Her skin is almost as pale as the white wooden floor. I leave her for one last time to get a wooden spoon from my kitchen. I start the tourniquet and try to push away Eve’s cries of pain. “I know, I’m sorry,” she doesn’t respond. Once the tourniquet is in place I get more gauze to put pressure on the wound.

“Police! Call Out!” I’ve never felt so relieved to hear those words.

“Up here! Hurry!” I shout back.

“Holy shit.”

“Jo?” My head snaps up to Jay’s face.

“Jay, help her,” my exhaustion slowly defeating the adrenaline in my body.

“I got this Jo,” Adam moves to put pressure on the leg wound. I slide back to lean against the wall.

“Jo, what happened?” Jay’s face directly in front of mine. I’ve never seen his eyes this close up before, there’s so many blues thrown together.

“I heard her yell for help, I think she fell down the stairs,” Jay follows my gaze to the stained stairs behind him. “Her name is Eve,” he nods and pulls away to talk into his radio.

“Eve, Eve, can you hear my sweetheart?” Adam yells to Eve, she winces in response. “The ambulance should be here in a minute, just hold on okay?” Eve’s eyes flutter open and frantically look for me.

“Hey, I’m right here. I’m not leaving,” I walk and practically collapse on the other side of her. Her bloody hand finds mine like it’s her only lifeline.

“Ruzek, I’m going to clear the rest of the building. Jo stay with Adam,” normally I would fight and tell Jay to not go alone, but my body is gradually fading.

“We’re good man, go,” Adam urges. “Jo, you okay there darling?” his voice sounds morphed in my mind.

“Yeah I’m fine,” Adam reaches for his radio, I watch him talk but nothing comes out of his mouth. I shake my head to try and get my mind straight.

“Paramedics!”

“Up here guys!” Adam yells back. “Eve, the medics are here, you’re gonna be okay.”

“What do we got?” One medic asks, Adam takes it upon himself to explain the prior events as best as he can from the information I gave him earlier. I release Eve’s hand and move so the medics can help her, she seems to understand because Eve doesn’t fight me moving away. It felt like an out of body experience watching them try and save Eve.

“There’s a blood trail leading a few floors up, went into the apartment it started from but it’s empty. Cars are on their way to secure the scene,” Jay is back, but I don’t look at him. “Hey Jo, why don’t you sit down?” Jay grabs my arms and gently leads me to a clean stair to sit. “What’s the ETA on that second ambulance?”

“Two minutes,” one medic answers while removing my sweatshirt from under Eve’s head to get her on the back board.

“Second ambulance?” I ask.

“Yeah, just to check you out really quick. You might be going into shock,” Jay responds softly.

“I’m fine, just really tired,” my voice is barely above a whisper.

“Just in case, okay? Here,” Jay takes off his CPD bomber jacket and wraps it around my shoulders.

“Jay give us a hand,” Adam calls while grabbing hold of one side the back board that holds Eve.

“Yeah. Stay right here, I’ll be right back,” Jay rubs my back before getting up from the stair and helping get Eve down the stairs to the ambulance. I rest my head against the wall as my body enters full crash mode. I just want to sleep. “Jo, come on let’s go get you checked out,” Jay helps put my arms through the correct holes of his jacket and leads me down the steps to outside.

The steel of the ambulance is cold against my butt. A woman with red hair and bright green eyes starts taking my vitals. The blue and red lights of the cop cars light up the entire street. People are bringing a ton of equipment into my apartment building, whoever was sleeping in the building isn’t anymore.

“Well everything looks good. Her body is crashing from all the adrenaline, so she’ll need some good rest, but other than that she’s fine,” the medic tells Jay.

“Thanks Terry,” Jay replies before taking a seat next to me. He hands me a water bottle, I accept it with my blood stained hand. I should be acting more freaked out about the blood, but I’m too tired to lie.

“You did a great job in there. You a nurse or something?” Terry asks me.

“Um, no,” I leave it at that. Like I said, I’m too tired to lie. A guy that’s mildly balding with a thick beard appears from around the corner of the ambulance. He has a massive camera balanced around his neck.

“I need to take photos,” he says plainly.

“Photos?” I ask confused.

“C’mon man, can’t you give her a second to breathe?” Jay defends.

“You know the protocol Detective,” there’s no life in his words. I place the water bottle on the ambulance steel and take off Jay’s jacket. The man positions my hands to take photos for evidence. After he’s satisfied with the photos of my hands he starts to circle and take pictures of my clothes, the fact he does it silently makes me uncomfortable. I think Jay feels the same way since he wraps me again in his black jacket and tells the rude man that’s enough. Jay leads me back to my apartment. The building is full of officers and lab techs, the whole place is a crime scene. Jay and I don’t talk till we get inside my apartment. A part of me is embarrassed that he has to see my shitty apartment, but it’s quickly pushed away.

“Do you know her?” Jay asks.

“No, but I don’t know anyone in this building,” I answer honestly. “I try to keep to myself.”

“You can wash your hands,” I nod and move to the kitchen to start scrubbing the dried blood from my hands. “Maybe, you shouldn’t stay here tonight.”

“If you’re worried about the noise, I’m way too tired to care. Besides, this building has never been safer with all the cops crawling around,” I try to joke.

“I have an extra bedroom Jo, it would be no trouble,” he pushes.

“Thank you, but I’m fine. I promise,” the skin on my hands is just about raw once all the blood is off. I let my hands stay under cold water to try and ease the pain. “Um, will you let me know what you find out about Eve? Let me know if she’s gonna be okay.”

“Yeah. I’ve heard you’re a good secret keeper.”

“Thanks,” I hand him back his jacket. Jay smiles and hesitantly moves toward the door.

“Before I go, at least take this,” he hands me his business card. “Call me if you don’t feel comfortable staying here, I’ll come pick you up.”

“Okay, yeah,” my fingers run over the raised lettering across the card. Without another word, Jay leaves. I lock the door and make my way to my room to finally get some long overdue sleep. I don’t look at the time, I know that won’t help me. The muffled talking and walking from outside my apartment gradually lull me to a deep sleep.

A slight vibration slowly brings me out of my nightly slumber. I never plugged my phone in to charge after the events of last night, it’s settled next to me by my pillow. I have three missed calls from Hermann. It’s almost noon, but I’m still tired. I call back Hermann knowing he’s probably freaking out since I haven’t answered.

“Hey kid!” His immense energy brings a smile to my face.

“Hi Hermann, everything okay?”

“Yeah, we’re good. I heard about last night, how are you?” Of course he did.

“Yeah I’m good, still trying to wrap my head around it, I guess.”

“Of course. How about when you’re up for it you stop by Molly’s I want to ask you something.” “I can be there in an hour,” Hermann and I exchange our goodbyes. I groan spills out of my lips as I stretch my arms above my head. Once I finally move from my bed, I immediately go to shower, something I probably should’ve done last night. The boiling water feels euphoric against my skin and the steam cleans out my mind. I need to come up with a story with details to explain last night. There’s no way that people won’t push like they did last night, I was given space because of the tragic event. A dull pain flows down my legs as I clean the new bruises on my knees. I didn’t realize how hard I slammed my knees on the hardwood in the hall last night. Once I pull myself from the warm confides of the shower I have to rush to put on jeans and a sweater before being late to meet with Hermann. I don’t have time to blow dry my hair so I throw it up in a bun before grabbing my keys and running to my car. The hallways and stairs are covered in black dust from fingerprinting, it’s surprising how quickly they cleaned everything up.

Luckily, there’s a free spot not too far from Molly’s. It’s decently full for a Saturday afternoon. The inside heat is slowly thawing my frozen hair and face from the freezing wind.

“Jo, you want a cup of coffee?” Hermann is the only one behind the bar and I’m very grateful for that.

“Yes please,” I sit at one of the stools and welcome the hot cup of coffee.

“How’re you doing?” Hermann comes around the bartop to take the seat next to me.

“I’m good, still a bit tired if I’m honest.”

“Yeah, what happened last night must’ve really taken it out of you.”

“I didn’t realize that all first responders are such gossips,” I take a sip of the hot coffee.

“Oh the worst,” he laughs. “I’m not good about beating around the bush so I’ll just go right into it. I have an apartment above my garage. It was meant for my mother-in-law but she had to move into assisted living.”

“That’s - good for you?” I’m confused.

“I think you should move in there. It’ll -”

“Oh Hermann I don’t think so, I have a place.”

“I know, but it’s a scene of a crime. They still haven’t found the person who did that to that poor girl. You can pay rent if that makes you feel better, and we don’t even have to see each other. It’s that separate from the main house. Look from what Jay said I don’t think it would be good for you to stay there,” Hermann’s eyes grow wide as we realizes he gave away his source.

“Jay? Was this his idea?” Hermann stutters trying to find a way out of the hole he dug for Jay. “Great, I’ll see you tomorrow Hermann. Thanks for the offer,” I abandon the rest of the coffee and get up to leave Molly’s.

“Hey kid, it may not have been my idea but we would love to have you,” Hermann expresses sincerely. The anger that was boiling inside of me settles at his kind words for a moment.

“Thanks, I’ll let you know,” he nods and makes no effort to stop me from storming out of the bar this time. Once I enter the cold streets I’m met with a few members of the Intelligence Unit including the perpetrator himself, Jay Halstead. I exchange short greetings with each one before they head inside.

“Hey how are you doing?” Jay says once everyone is gone.

“Fine. I would ask you the same thing, but you must be tired since you’ve been so busy,” Jay furrows his brows.

“What? What are you talking about Jo?”

“I just had a really interesting conversation with Hermann. About my living situation. That you instigated,” I start to walk towards my car, ready to leave Jay without another word.

“Jo, please. Let me explain -” I spin around so fast it almost makes me dizzy.

“No. Do you think that shitty apartment in a horrific neighborhood was my first choice? But I’m doing this on my own for once.”

“You don’t have to do this on your own.”

“Yeah well I also don’t need people making my choices for me. Goodbye Jay,” I turn and walk towards my car. Never in my life did I wish I was getting into a Lexus more than right now.

Tags (hopefully I did this right!) - @whit85-blog

#Chicago Fire #Chicago PD #chicago one #chicago fire imagine #chicago pd imagine #jay halstead #jay halstead x reader #jay halstead x oc #punisher

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