#I’ve been a GL for like 6 years now? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

feuqueerfire · 1 year ago

Text

July 2024 Movies/Shows Wrap-Up

A little monthly (spoilery!) wrap-up of all the shows, movies, and shorts I’ve watched or am watching in July 2024, general thoughts, and ranking of them all.

Recommendation of the month(s): Lovely Runner and My Stand-In were both popular in their circles and I'm glad I liked them both.

Ranking

Lovely Runner = My Stand-In

Blank S1

Longlegs

Dropped: Wandee Goodday after ep 8 (rip)

Currently Watching: Century of Love

Strangely, every single thing I watched this month has been a 2024 release. doesn't have often at all.

Average Rating: 6.1/10 (the top 3 pulling up the ratings of the bottom 2)

MDL Updates - Added to Watchlist:

A section because I’m curious about how many shows I decide to add to my Watch List a month and also the ratio of watching them:adding them.

Title MDL (year) - (date added to Considering or finalized to Watchlist): initial reaction

Blank - Season 2 - 240704

Bad and Crazy (2021) - 240725: I had this on my watchlist before it was even released actually because I was on a Wi Hajoon binge in fall 2021. Ended up removing it sometime first half of 2022 it seems like because I got spoiled about the characters being [redacted] and wasn't sure if that's a trope I liked. But have watched some more Wi Hajoon and Lee Dongwook shows since then, so honestly, I think I'll probably like it. + I got an iQiyi 7-day VIP trial code, so I'll probably watch it on my commute using that.

Century of Love (2024) - 240727

The Boyfriend - 240731: Started getting a bunch of DaiShun/ShunDai tweets on my timeline after I liked 1-2 of their tweets so now I'm really curious about them. Have never watched a reality dating show and generally don't have any desire to but idk... maybe I'll watch it. but unlikely if they break up before i get around to watching this or something lol

To Watch List At Start Of Month: 62

To Watch List At End Of Month: 64

Removed from To Watch List:

Title (Year) - (date removed): reason

Currently Watching

Century of Love

Country: Thailand

Release Dates: Jul 10, 2024 - Aug 8, 2024

Watch Via: Youtube

Watch Dates: July -, 2024

Rating: TODO/10

Overall: - caught up: ep 7 -

tags: century of love

Also Appears In: Century of Love Ep 1 - 8 Live Blogging

Completely Watched

Blank - Season 1

Country: Thailand

Release Dates: Mar 2, 2024 - Apr 7, 2024

Watch Via: Youtube

Watch Dates: July 1 - 4, 2024

Rating: 6.5/10

Overall: A dramatic, intense, first half of an age gap GL and though the plot is ridiculous sometimes (mother, father, and daughter all in love with Khun Nueng at different points in life), I was invested. The acting was good, the storyline was good, I'm into the age gap and honestly expected it to be a little worse based on how people were talking about it lol. I loved getting to see Nueng play a character which I'm more accustomed to seeing in male love interests (or at least in the YA fantasy I used to read as a teen lol): she's callous, she's closed-off, she doesn't show her emotions/weaknesses and will be publicly cruel while having a heart-of-gold and breaking down in private. I'm looking forward to the next part.

tags: blank the series

Also Appears In: Blank S1 & S2 Live Blogging

omg, look how many shows I'm watching at once, haven't been in the middle of 4 shows since April 2022 but back then, they were all like short-ish shows (or Reincarnation Love is just 1 very short video and Ingredients is like multiple very short videos). This time, I have to be in the middle of My Stand-In and Wandee Goodday since I'm watching 2 on-air shows for the first time. The Lovely Runner thing is causing it to bulk up since I've paused that show until like July 8 but am planning on just straight binging that as usual when the time comes.

Lovely Runner

Country: South Korea

Release Dates: Apr 8, 2024 - May 28, 2024

Watch Via: Viki (paid)

Watch Dates: June 25 (Ep 1 only), July 6 - 11

Rating: 7/10

Overall: A fun show with a fun concept and great acting + romance. It was funny and delightful most of the time, there was a kind of killer/suspense aspect but that wasn't really ever the Focus, Sunjae being killed was the focus; similarly, they didn't thoroughly explain the time travel because the mechanics wasn't the focus, Sol going back was the focus. I liked Sunjae and Sol together and it was fun seeing how Sunjae was slightly different in the different timelines lol I liked seeing the couple on high school, college, as idol!Sunjae and actor!Sunjae. It did feel a bit like consistency was lost in their relationship but that was the point i guess. It was a very romantic concept, the way they were falling in love in every timeline. Everything about it was good and I was engaged, I just don’t think I’d think about it much though.

tags: lovely runner

Also Appears In: Lovely Runner Live Blogging

My Stand-In

Country: Thailand

Release Dates: Apr 26, 2024 - Jul 12, 2024

Watch Via: iQiyi, so ;>

Watch Dates: June 25 - July 13, 2024

Rating: 7/10

Overall: How does Ming live knowing he never faced Joe's original body while having sex?! A permanent body switch should have more despair, Joe is just stuck in this random guy's body forever while his own body was cremated... horrific omg. I knew going into the show that Ming is supposedly a terrible person who treats Joe shittily and Joe keeps going back to it and I think that preparation helped me really enjoy the show. The show redeems Ming by the end but it doesn't necessarily pretend that Ming actually treated Joe well back then, Ming's shittiness was the point. It's a fun show and I was excited to see Ming realize how much Joe truly meant to him rather than his crush on Tong (also, fuck Tong's attempted redemption!). I found Ming and Joe so cute together man, like when the times were good, they were soooooo good. Overall, a good show, definitely one of the better BLs this year and one where I wasn't disappointed compared to the hype.

tags: my stand-in

Also Appears In: My Stand-In Live Blogging Eps 1 - 10, Ep 11, Ep 12

Longlegs (2024)

Country: USA

Release Dates: May 19, 2024 - Jun 21, 2024

Watch Via: at the theatres

Watch Dates: July 13, 2024

Rating: 5/10

Overall: Was hoping for more since it's so hyped. Didn't find it to be scary nor haunting, and the mystery aspect/the reveals felt anti-climactic. We did miss the first few minutes of the movie though and I wanna watch it, so that's on my list.

Okay, I've finished Lovely Runner, My Stand-In, and the Mistborn trilogy, so some of my unfinished stuff/series I was in the middle of has finished. Next up: Wandee Goodday (catch up + finished) and Blank Season 2, after that I can start watching shows that I haven't been in the middle of for weeks lol.

Wandee Goodday

Country: Thailand

Release Dates: May 4, 2024 - Jul 20, 2024

Watch Via: GMMTV Youtube (free)

Watch Dates: June 1 - DROPPED, 2024

Rating: -/10 but maybe a tentative 5/10

Overall: I was so excited for this based on how people were talking about the first 4 or so episodes, which I also thoroughly enjoyed once I started watching. But in the middle it felt character motivations and actions were inconsistent and I was confused about certain narrative choices (the kiss...) and so didn't really feel the urge to keep up week to week after ep 8. I was gonna binge eps 9 - 12 at once but I realized that I actually do not care because most things I've read about those few episodes made me dread watching it and I don't think I'd enjoy it. I saw a few gifs

tags: wandee goodday

Also Appears In: Wandee Goodday Live Blogging Eps 1 - 5, Ep 6, Ep 7, Ep 8,

Century of Love watching while on air. Watched a new thing after a while (nothing from July 14 to July 26). During that time, I had 0 on-air shows which is different from toward the beginning of the month but now I'm back to 1 on-air show.

On Air after MSI and Wandee - written on July 2:

idk if I should even watch another on-air because I think Wandee's kinda falling apart toward the end despite a strong start and this is not the only BL to have done this, esp for GMMTV recent BLs according to other people, so I'm... Caution.

but I think catching up on ep 10 with 2 eps left to go like MSI is pretty fun, instead of catching up at ep 5 like Wandee

there are a few candidates that I'm looking at. Ideally, it'd be a Saturday or Sunday show because I'm working (during the weekdays and often in person, so can't even watch it during breaks/lunch) but most shows tend to be on weekdays.

My Love Mix-Up! TH: Friday - BL - Aug 23 (12 eps): Before the show started airing, I was thinking I'd start this one and maybe watch all the way from ep 1 since I usually start from ep 3-4 at the earliest but uhhh I'm not hearing great reviews, so not a good on-air choice. Verdict: ❌

The Secret of Us: Mondays - GL - ends Aug 12 (8 eps). It'd be my first GL and the reception for the first 2 have been very good. However, I can't actually do this because it doesn't come on Youtube w/ subs until Thursday lol and idk if the illegal sites have subs (I think Netflix has subs but that's on Tuesdays). I wanna watch an on-air GL someday but unfortunately don't think it'll be this one (and Loyal Pin is 16 eps, that's too long unless I start on ep 12 lmfao). Verdict: ❌

Century of Love: Wed/Thursday - BL - ends Aug 8 (10 eps). Watching this could be cool with 2 episodes a week, so the wait won't be as long until next episode and we'll get double the length per week. It hasn't been released yet, so I'm Very Tentatively putting this on the watchlist because idk why I like seeing DaouOffroad clips/pics on my twitter these days even though I haven't even watched Love In Translation smh. The trope of loml-reincarnated-into-a-man D: is doesn't specifically call to me but I'm not opposed to it at all. honestly I could get into it if done well or done toxic in a delicious way because I don't remember First Love, Again at alllll. anyway, we'll see with this one. || Okay, people seem to loveee it so far and I've also grown more and more curious, so this one seems to be the next one, hoot! ✅

Love Sea: Sunday - BL - ends Aug 11 (10 eps). I like ForPeat, the gifsets I've seen are Appealing lol and I've heard good things about the first 3 eps, though 4th ep was a mixed bag. ❌ This will end when I'm away on vacation (and not watching shows) and I don't want that, either end before or continue going for couple weeks afterwards

The Trainee: Sunday - BL - Sept 15. It's a Sunday show, which is desirable for me but it ends in September, so I think I'm gonna consider watching one of the above shows that end in August first, and then if the reception to this show is still good, I'll maybe jump in for the last 3-4 episodes. Then again, maybe not, because one apparently can never be too wary of GMMTV shows falling apart in the last quarter or third. ⏭️ maybe the last few episodes but not before like ep 8 or smth

4 Minutes: Friday - BL - ? (? eps). This is one of my most highly-anticipated shows and so I'm tempted to watch it as it airs, especially to avoid spoilers but I think I do enjoy shows where I binge watch almost the entire thing and then watch the last episode live. so idk what I'll do. I'll have to mute everything and everybody on Twitter fr. ⏭️ but a few episodes will need to be out first

I have a 7-day iQiyi VIP voucher, so I'm planning on watching shows that way and I hope I can download shows to watch on my commute and stuff. I have to use the code by Sept 1. I'm eyeing shows that are exclusively available on iQiyi:

Bad and Crazy (can watching during commute)

Deep Night (too risque too watch during commute)

Love Sea (too risque too watch during commute)

Meet Me At The Blossom (tentatively because it's not yet finished and isn't on my watchlist yet)

I Hear The Sunspot (tentatively because it's not yet finished and isn't on my watchlist yet + it won't be over by the time I get to use the code hmm)

Love In Translation (tentatively because I'm more likely to watch this if I end up really liking Century of Love)

To Watch This Month - from July 1:

On-Air: pick up a new one maybe ✅ (CoL)

Finish On-Airs: Wandee Goodday ✅ and My Stand-In ✅

South Korea: I can watch most of these on my commutes. Lovely Runner ✅, Through The Darkness, She Makes My Heart Flutter, Method.

Thailand: Blank S1 ✅ & S2, a recent GMMTV BL (Cherry Magic), an older one (ITSAY)

Next Month - rotation of some counties with a few shows: Philippines (Gaya Sa Pelikula, Rookie/Sleep With Me), South Asian (Monkey Man, Jab We Met), some Japanese (Favouritism of the Gods, I Became the Main Role in a BL Drama)

✅: watched this month, ⏸️: currently watching, ❌: not watching in this iteration/section of country, ⏭️: moved to next month/ran out of time

#general bl #tracking #wandee goodday #my stand-in #blank the series #lovely runner #century of love

3 notes · View notes

greeneyezblackheart · 2 years ago

Note

Hey, Sis,

So, I've been thinking about putting together a bucket list. I had one a long time ago and my ex saw it and helped me to cross some of those off. He took me horseback riding for my birthday. Of course, we didn't have a guide and we needed one cause the horses knew we didn't know what we were doing and mine stopped to eat grass and i told him to go and he tried to buck me off. Needless to say, we had to change horses. But that was cool. I'd like to do it in a situation where I had a guide, or someone could teach me a thing or two first.

He took me to The Grand Canyon. We didn't get to stay long but I definitely saw it. Well, part of it, lol. I definitely want to go back and see a different part or look at it a bit longer. And he helped me with a few others.

Anyway, I had been thinking about this - before I even met you and learned of your love of cherries - but I have ALWAYS wanted to try Cherries Jubilee. I mean, always. I absolutely LOVE Bananas Foster - it is my all-time favorite dessert. We have a Cajun restaurant here that makes it, but it's mostly ice cream, lol. I've had it once where there was a lot more banana and a lot more Foster and that was good too. But I am putting Cherries Jubilee on my list. I know of no one who serves it. So ... I will probably only get it if I ever go on a cruise that offers it, or I make it. But I'm going to work it out.

That leads me to going on a cruise. But it has to be the right one to the right place, because I am not rich. I am not married to Izzy Stradlin unfortunately. I will get to go on one cruise. And really, did he ever have to go on a cruise? I mean, he probably had a yacht chartered once or twice. What am I saying? Probably a lot of times. I think he once performed at a wedding in St. Tropez and another one in Spain, so ... I digress. Sorry.

So:

Cherries Jubilee

Cruise

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Graceland / Memphis

Washington D.C.

(I didn't go on the 8th grade trip - sure wish I had cause it would have been much cheaper with the whole student discount/8th grade program the government works out with the schools. Did you go on it?)

Oh ... I think I want to try Caviar one time. Not a lot. Just once.

Hmmm ... a couple I will not share here, lol. But I still think they are very necessary and worthwhile endeavors!

So, these are not goals, but just things to check off.

Have you done any or all of the things on my bucket list above? Have you had Cherries Jubilee, and if so, where?! Actually, I'm pretty sure you've been to Graceland - and I know you have been to Memphis. Just unsure of the rest!

Love,

Your Sis xoxoxo

I have done three of the things on your bucket list: Graceland twice, two cruises, and Washington DC.

The DC trip was my 8th grade class trip. I would love to go back now because I feel like I didn’t appreciate it as much back then as I would now.

I have been to GL twice, once when I was 17 and another time probably about 9 or 10 years ago with Eric. Of course, I’ve been to Memphis, I’m still here. 😆

One cruise was when I was 8. My mom and stepdad took my sister (who was 18 at the time) and her boyfriend and me on the Disney cruise/Bahamas for my sister’s graduation present. I got a cruise for MY grad present too, but ours was a bit different: a three day cruise to the Bahamas (on a smaller cruise ship, where I was seasick the first night), then 4 days in Orlando for all things Disney. Just me, my mom, and my 6 month preggo sister. Fun fact about the Disney cruise when I was 8: they thought it would be funny to feed me escargot, so they ordered me a dish, told me it was PORK, and I loved it so much, they ordered me a second dish. I did not find out until much later that escargot = SNAILS lol. I was not as grossed out as I probably should’ve been, and I’ve had it a few times since then. I still love it. Go figure.

I have also had caviar. I love that too. Goes great with smoked salmon and cream cheese on some fancy ass crackers.

Never had cherries jubilee, but it sounds yummy.

The R&RHOF would be fun. I love doing that kind of shit.

🖤🖤 Shells

#my friend A 🍒#shells rambles 💬#bucket list convo

4 notes · View notes

endlessbittersweetdreams · 3 years ago

Text

"Broken & Beautiful" Chapter 6

It’s been nearly a week since my heart was broken in the basement of 22W. Broken? No. More like shattered and run through a figurative blender set on puree. I don’t know how long I spent crying on that floor, but I finally managed to pull myself up and make my way home. There was a part of me, as hurt as I was, that kept listening for the sound of Jake’s footsteps behind me. Walking home with him has become such a regular thing that I miss it, even though I know it was all part of a scheme to get me into bed.

I wonder how long he was planning it. Did it all begin the night he showed up at my apartment with my medication? Or maybe it started before then, and my vulnerability had been the open door he needed to weasel his way into my life and break down my defenses. Whatever the case, he’s made a fool out of me. I thank my lucky stars that I didn’t give in. As hurt as I am now, I know that I would be leveled if I had spent the night with him and found out that I meant nothing to him.

As you can imagine, this week has been especially hard for me. I called in sick the day after, feigning food poisoning. I spent most of the day in bed, wrapped up in a blanket and listening to music. Every now and then I’d scroll through my text messages. There were a few from my friends. Even Tess reached out to me, wondering how I was feeling and if she could bring me something. But I didn’t receive a single text or phone message from the one person I wished would reach out to me. The wounds that Jake has inflicted are still open and painful, but even now I still hope that he’ll give me any indication that he regrets what happened; that he didn’t mean any of it. I long for an apology that I know will never come.

On day two, I grew tired of wallowing in sorrow and I decided to be angry instead. With the exception of anything work-related, I’ve done my best to shut Jake out. Not that he tries to make conversation with me. Either he simply isn’t interested in doing so, or he’s realized that I am going to shut him down completely. I avoid going to Home Bar with the group if he’s included because it’s hard enough working with him. I’ve even contemplated asking for a transfer to the barbecue place. But I’ve decided not to, because I love this job too much and I won’t give him the satisfaction of pushing me out of this place. And besides, I’m resilient. I’ve been through far worse and I can still hold my head up high.

It’s late Friday morning, and I’m sitting on a bench in Central Park. The sun is shining and people are milling about as I sip my vanilla caramel blended coffee. I’m reading The Lord of the Rings this time, having decided that the love story in Pride & Predjudice isn’t suitable for my mood right now. I’m in the middle of reading the Hobbits’ journey through the Shire when a familiar voice captures my attention.

“Well, hello there.”

I look up from my book and find Simone smiling down at me, looking as poised and elegant as ever. I’m a bit startled, to be honest. Simone and I have worked together for two years, and she barely even acknowledges me. There have been times when I wonder if she even knows that I exist. I give her a small smile in return. “Hi.”

She gestures to the cup I’m holding in my hand. “I see you have a weakness for blended coffees, too.”

Wait. Is she actually trying to make conversation with me?

“Yeah. My coffee maker broke down, and I felt like treating myself.” I take a sip, trying to hide my nervousness. This woman intimidates me, and I’m pretty sure she knows it.

“Do you mind if I sit down?”

I stop sipping on my coffee and then bookmark the page that I’m on. “Please do.”

She takes the seat next to me and then leans her head back, closes her eyes and breathes deeply. “Doesn’t that sun feel wonderful?”

“It does.” Another sip of coffee. Another glance at anything and anyone other than Simone. What does she want?

“I’m glad I ran into you. I’ve been meaning to ask: how are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. The food poisoning didn’t last that long. And if you’re talking about my little incident, I’m better.”

“I’m happy to hear that.” A brief pause, and then: “But that’s not what I’m talking about.”

I know what she’s alluding to, and I fight the urge to squirm in my seat or run away. “I don’t know what you mean.” Please go away! Please go away!

Her voice is gentle, and I pick up no hint of patronization. “I’m talking about you and Jake.”

“What about us?”

She pauses, as though she’s choosing her words carefully. And then she says, quietly “I know about the other night.”

Gulp. “What other night?”

“I know he hurt you.”

Now I’m feeling defensive. “What? Were you there? Were you listening in?”

“No.”

I blink a few times when I realize what she’s getting at. “He told you?”

“Yes. He didn’t give me the details, but ...”

I know Jake and Simone are close, but I never even considered the possibility that he’d talk to her about this. Why would he? It’s not something that he’d brag about. And why on Earth would Simone tell me this? I seriously doubt that she’d betray his trust like this.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because he regrets it. I can tell. I’ve known him for so long, I can read him like an open book.”

My heart softens a little. But I’m not ready to let it go just yet. He hurt me. Badly. I’m about ready to tell her that Jake can take a flying leap, but her words stop me in my tracks.

“I also want to ... explain something to you.”

“Go on.” Why am I still sitting here, listening to all of this? Am I a glutton for punishment?

And then, she drops a bomb on me.

“There is something you need to know about Jake. He can be extremely guarded, as you well know.” I nod in agreement. “But what you don’t know is ... he is also ... damaged. There are things that you don’t know. Things only he can tell you. But he’s so badly damaged, and he’s so guarded, that he tends to ... push people away.” She gives me a sympathetic look. “People he cares about. People who get too close.”

“Why would he do that, though?” None of this makes sense.

“Because he doesn’t want to hurt them. He doesn’t want to hurt you.”

I scoff and shake my head. And now, I‘m pissed. “So what you’re telling me is: Jake actually cares for me and he doesn’t want me to get hurt later on. And so, he might as well hurt me now. Is that what you’re telling me? That he’s ... what? Trying to protect me?” She remains surprisingly calm as I suddenly stand up and look down at her. “I don’t know why you told me all of this, or why you even came here. But tell Jake that I don’t need him to protect me. And if he regrets what he said, then he can man up and tell me himself.”

I don’t give her a chance to respond before I walk away from her. There are too many thoughts and too many emotions brewing inside of me, and I need to find a quiet place to think.

I’m in the middle of cutting up lemons when I think about my conversation with Simone. Again. No matter how hard I fight it, my mind keeps going back to what she said and the questions the conversation has brought. Does Jake actually care about me? Is he really just trying to protect me? Am I misjudging him, or have I been right this entire time? I wish Simone had never dropped this bombshell on me, because now I’m confused.

I take another lemon out of the bowl and cut into it when I see Jake in my peripheral. He sets a cutting board down on the bar and begins to cut up some limes, and I can feel the tension rise up in me again. He’s the last person I want to be near. Yet here he is, standing next to me. The audacity! I think about merely gathering everything up and moving away from him, but decide against it and try to pretend that he simply isn’t there. Just as long as he stays outside of my personal bubble, I should be fine.

I’m about to cut into my sixth lemon when he speaks to me. It’s just one word, but it’s enough to increase the level of my annoyance.

“Hey.”

I don’t respond, jaw clenching as I slice up the yellow fruit. Does he honestly think we can go back to business as usual, after the way he spoke to me? Who does he think he is? I’m not in the mood to talk to him, and I make my point by increasing the amount of space between us. There’s a brief moment when I think he’s got the message. But then he’s near me again, and his voice has an almost soothing quality to it when he speaks again.

“I’m sorry.”

I don’t even pause long enough to look at him. “I’m sorry.” Is that all he has to offer? Some lame, generic, two-worded phrase that he thinks he can pass off as an apology? A simple “I’m sorry,” isn’t going to cut it. Not when he made me feel cheap and worthless. He hasn’t even acknowledged how deeply he’s wounded me.

There’s another moment of silence, and now I can tell that he’s bent down a bit so he can look me in the eyes if I give him the chance. “What I said was stupid and cruel, and I didn’t mean any of it. Forgive me?”

I remain quiet. Though I won’t deny that these are the words that bring my boiling blood down to a simmer. I’ve spent nearly a week hoping that he’d say these things to me. As moved as I am by the apology, I still want to know why. If he didn’t mean what he said, why did he say it? Is Simone right? Was he just trying to protect me in his own very damaged way? Or is this part of a game, too? I don’t know what to believe anymore and --

“Shit!”

I allowed myself to become distracted for the briefest of moments, and now I’m paying for it with a cut on my index finger. I don’t think it’s deep, but it hurts. I drop the knife onto the bartop and immediately apply pressure to the wound with a clean bar mop, and Jake is at my side in an instant. Neither of us knows how badly I’m injured, and so he instructs me to keep pressure on the wound and elevate my hand. I do as I’m told and allow Jake to pull me by the hem of my apron as he barks at Will to clean up the area and finish the lemon cutting.

Jake leads me to a room near the kitchen that has a small sink, two chairs and a First Aid kit. Once I’m seated, Jake grabs the First Aid kit and wets down a cloth with water and a little soap. He sits across from me on the other chair, pulls on a pair of gloves from the kit, and says “Give me your hand.” I obey without hesitation and watch as he very gently cleans the area and then inspects the wound. “Doesn’t look like it’s deep enough for stitches.” He carefully applies a bit of antibiotic ointment and then covers the wound with a bandage.

Even though Jake’s task is done, he is still holding my hand in both of his. The rational part of my mind is telling me to pull my hand away. But the irrational part - the one that wants him, even now - enjoys the feeling. He looks at me with those piercing blue eyes of his, and I melt.

“I meant what I said, Lilah,” he says. “I’m sorry.”

I stare at him, studying his face. I can’t find a trace of insincerity. Only the pleading look of a man who knows he’s hurt me. “I know,” I answer, and then I choose my words carefully. “But it’s not enough, Jake. I want an explanation.”

“Lilah, I --”

“Is everything okay in here?”

Jake and I turn to look at Will, who’s standing in the doorway. His eyes fall to our hands, and we immediately pull away like we’re two naughty children who’ve just been caught. While Jake tosses the gloves into the garbage and puts the antibiotic back in the First Aid kit, I tell Will that “Everything’s fine,” and then brush past him.

Will lingers in the doorway for a few seconds, watching Jake suspiciously, and then follows me back to the bar area. I step behind the bar and go back to work, not the least bit surprised when he asks me “Is there something between you and Jake?”

I look over at him, seeing the concern in his eyes. Like everyone else in this restaurant, Will is perfectly aware of the reputation Jake has. I know he’s just looking out for me. But to be honest, I’m not ready to answer his question. I just give him a look - one that tells him I don’t want to talk about it - and he leaves without another word.

@anastacia-lynn

@mypsychoticlove

#jake x oc sweetbitter #jake sweetbitter #sweetbitter jake #sweetbitterstarz #tom sturridge sweetbitter #tom sturridge

14 notes · View notes

youngjusticeslut · 4 years ago

Text

The Clipboard (Part One)

Fandom: Young Justice Links: FF.net // AO3 Characters: Roy/Will Harper, Jade Nguyen, Lian Harper, Artemis Crock Rating: T+ Word Count: 4k Disclaimer: 99% of this was written before watching the not currently released Episode 6. Any similarities or characterization that may correlate to Episode 6 are a complete coincidence. There are no spoilers for YJP Episode 6. Summary:

“The clipboard? I thought you were joking.”

Jade returns to the cart, enthralling Lian, who squeals. “I think you’ll need it.”

“I’m not really a clipboard kind of guy. Besides, isn’t this what our phones are for? Pretty sure between that and a computer, I can get things organized.”

“Just trust me.”

Or, the story behind Will's favorite clipboard. A two-shot.

Will is on edge.

There are too many things that still need to be done. The contractor is running behind, far too much paperwork needs to be filled out, and if he doesn't make sure to restock their apple juice supply, there will be a very cranky baby on his hands. A million different thoughts are running through his mind—but he is happy.

He has a purpose now. A growing business. People to come home to at the end of the day. No matter how stressed he is, he knows the moment he steps through the door, his daughter would call out for him and demand to be picked up. Artemis usually makes sure the fridge is stocked, and if Jade is there—and in a good mood—she might tease him, or give him a kiss when Artemis has her back turned.

It’s a controlled type of chaos. Way better than the epic mess his life had been a year prior. Sure, not every day is perfect. Some days are worse than others. On the whole, however, he’s better off.

This morning, Will wakes up before anyone else, already with a to-do list and the edge of a headache creeping into his temple. He starts the laundry first—all four of them only have about a backpack’s worth of clothes to their name at the moment. The rest of their belongings are still in moving boxes, and unpacking is slowly becoming a more pressing urge that he doesn’t yet have time for. Lian’s clothes take priority in the wash, but he tries to shove in a couple of Artemis and Jade’s more pressing things. There’s just enough room for him to throw in one of his shirts, and that’s good enough for now.

Just as he starts the washer, Lian wakes up, crying for breakfast. Jade gets to her before he does, and they mumble out quick ‘good morning’s’ to one another before getting ready for the day. He makes eggs, Jade gets her dressed, and within fifteen minutes Artemis is awake and trades places with him so he can at least brush his teeth and put on his last clean shirt.

Then disaster #1 of the day hits. He returns to the kitchen, only to be accosted with what he can only describe as a cannonball of oatmeal.

“No!” Lian shouts. She isn’t even two yet and she’s already reached the ‘terrible’ phase. He doesn’t know if it’s her disposition, if she hates him, or, as Jade fondly likes to remind him, her genetics, but the kid has it out for him.

“No throwing oatmeal at Daddy,” Will hears Artemis scold as he wipes the mush out of his eyes. He feels Jade’s smirk without even having to look at her, and the sigh lodged in his chest is just itching to come out. There goes his last clean shirt.

Will grabs a mug and pours himself a generous amount of coffee that Artemis, bless her, had managed to brew in his absence. He sits down at the table and runs a hand through his hair, dismayed to find that there is a generous amount of oatmeal smeared in there as well. Jade snickers. He glares at her over his mug.

“Take a picture if you find it so amusing.”

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” Jade trills, taking a bite of her eggs.

“I’d like to see you be so chipper after getting a fistful of oatmeal to your face first thing in the morning.”

She shrugs. “I’ve had worse things on my fa—”

“Okay then!” Artemis all but slams down a bowl of cereal on the table, sitting down next to Lian and shooting them both a glare. “There is a baby here. Keep that shit to yourselves.”

Jade tickles under Lian’s chin, making her giggle. “I’m sure she doesn’t mind.”

“Well, I mind. It’s way too early to hear you talk about your sex life.”

“Comes with the territory, Sis. Trust me, that isn’t nearly the worst thing Harper’s done. One time, he woke me up by—”

Will snatches Jade’s plate away, his cheeks hot with embarrassment. “You’re done. Leave.”

“I think you’re a little far past modesty now. The walls are thin, Red. Pretty sure Artemis hears everything, ” she says, pouting.

“Out.”

Jade stands from the table, but she doesn’t leave. Instead she leans down, her breath hitting Will’s ear and sending shivers down his back. “Just so you know, my eggs were dry. And they needed more salt.”

He scowls. “Are you serious?”

Jade laughs, the vibration washing over him in a way that reminds him exactly just how stressed he is. “She’ll never believe you that this isn’t a sex thing,” she says, and then straightens up, shooting him a wink.

“You little—”

“I’ll go check on the laundry.”

As Jade leaves the kitchen, Will angrily stammers, unsure of what to say, and all too painfully aware of his sister in law’s presence at the table. Lian hums to herself as she keeps eating her breakfast, filling the silence with her high-pitched voice. Once he’s calmed enough to regain his bearings, he clears his throat. “For the record, that was not a sex thing.”

Artemis nods, leaning back in her seat. “Sure.”

“It wasn’t,” Will insists, almost desperate.

“Whatever you say. But she’s right, you know. The walls are thin.”

Great. So she really can hear everything. And Jade, that little, conniving— She probably knew, and had done so on purpose. Given everything Artemis knows about the two of them, he really shouldn’t be embarrassed, but he can’t help it. “Bring it up with your landlord, then.”

“You’re my landlord.”

“And where’s my rent check?” Silence. Even Artemis knows that his generosity has a limit, and it’s probably best not to mess with him this early in the morning. “Next time, use headphones.”

Artemis rolls her eyes, an exact approximation of the same eye-roll his wife likes to give him. “Fine. What’s got you in such a pleasant mood today?”

“You mean besides my endless to do list and every female in this house ganging up against me?” He says it lightly, trying to minimize the actual annoyance he feels. He isn’t really mad at them. He can’t be. It’s just a lot to deal with at such an early hour. “Nothing, I guess. Just tired.”

Lian, the cause of his exhaustion, grins and smacks her hands on her tray table. She’s gotten better at sleeping through the night, but last night she just didn’t want to fall back asleep. He and Jade had traded off making attempts until she finally succumbed, around four. Two hours later, he was back on his feet.

Again, he isn’t mad. Just tired, covered in oatmeal, and apparently a little snippy.

Will ruffles Lian’s hair, which earns him a grin. He smiles back in return. “Come on, let’s get you into a bath.”

“I got her.” Artemis finishes off her cereal and unbuckles Lian from her high chair. “You got your to-do list, remember?”

On one hand, he shouldn’t take Artemis up on her offer. He knows she has her classes, and homework, plus the hero stuff, and he really should take the thirty minutes to spend time and bond with Lian. Maybe then she wouldn’t be so violent with him all the time. On the other hand, his list is really, really long and all over the place. Plus, he doesn’t have any clean pants to change into after Lian will no-doubt barrage him with an eternal amount of splashing.

The list wins.

He kisses Lian’s head and then heads for the room that’s supposed to be his home-office. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a great sister in law?” he calls back.

“You’d be the first!”

—

Six hours later, Will's list is only in slightly better shape. He’s been on the phone with the contractor for two of those hours, and driving back and forth between Home Depot and the new Bowhunter Security space for three. Between the running back and forth and the minimal hours of sleep, he’s completely spent.

Honestly, he doesn’t know how he did it, a year, two years ago. Running for days on two hours of sleep, fighting goons, tracking down Roy. It seems impossible to him now. How on earth did he manage that?

He laughs to himself, a half snort, half scoff. Right. Heroin.

At least their couch was delivered. Will lies down on it, deciding to reward himself for his efforts with exactly ten minutes of rest. The headache is in full-swing now, and he really wishes he could take a painkiller. He’d gone off all potentially addicting substances—a precaution. He’s too scared to take a Tylenol now, worried that it would snowball him right back to square one. The price of being a good father. Worth it, he supposes.

Maybe if he stays still enough, just for a few minutes, the headache will go away on its own. Once it does, he’ll somehow muster up the energy to go to Staples, buy all of the office stuff he’s been putting off buying for weeks. Oh, and the grocery store. If he doesn’t get that apple juice, Lian will throw another tantrum. By then, Will’s headache will turn into a migraine, and then he’d turn from snippy to full-on angry, which is just an open invitation for both Jade and Artemis to mock him, mercilessly. He’d rather avoid that.

Just as his headache starts to fade, he hears footsteps. Speak of the devil.

“Sneaking in a catnap?”

Will debates feigning sleep, but really, what’s the point? She’d figure him out in a second anyway.

“I wish.” He removes the pillow covering his face and sighs, looking at his wife. “Lian napping?”

“I wish,” Jade repeats back at him with a grin. “Out of all the things she could get from us, she had to choose insomnia.” He snorts.

The couch shifts as Jade takes a seat by his head. When she first came back with Lian, it took time for them to regain their closeness. Before, they never had a problem. Somehow they always found themselves tangled up in each other’s business. Fighting side by side, relying on someone for the sake of survival, that’s what happens. She has more barriers now, putting distance between them at home. She doesn’t even sleep next to him, if at all, most nights. It’s a work in progress. So this closeness, he wants to savor it.

“You look like you’re in pain.”

Will shakes his head. “I’m fine. Just a headache.” He reaches out for her hand, taking her slim fingers in his own. It’s rare that they have a moment alone like this. Usually Lian is with them, or Artemis. More often than not, they’re on their own. She may drive him up a wall, but he misses her.

Jade doesn’t pull her hand away. Maybe she misses him too.

“What’s left to do today?”

“Just errands. Staples. The grocery store. Maybe pick up dinner, give Artemis a break from cooking.” It’s late afternoon, and if he wants to get any of that done, he needs to start soon. As much as he hates to break apart, the weight of it all sits on his chest and he forces himself to sit up. He still holds Jade’s hand, though. Just a couple more minutes wouldn’t hurt.

“Seems like a lot to do on your own.”

“It’s fine. Nothing I can’t handle.”

Jade hums to herself. She has a few different types of hums. This one means that she’s mulling something over. Will knows her better than to press and waits for her to finish.

“Alright, let me just get Lian ready.”

He raises a brow. Jade? Coming with him to run errands? That’s unusual, even for her. Jade doesn’t like going out in public together. On the rare occasions they do go out as a family, it’s somewhere private, or secluded. Sure, the average civilian isn’t likely to recognize either one of them, even if they’re together. But Jade takes extra precaution when it comes to Lian. He can respect that.

Jade waves him off, noticing his concern. “It’ll be fine.” She pulls her hand away from his. “Five minutes.”

When she’s gone, Will has to blink a few times and try to remember whether he dreamt the conversation or not. Jade, going to Staples with him. Well, this is surely a new development.

—

Never, in the entire time that Will’s known her, could he have ever imagined Jade to spend two hours with him strolling up and down the aisles, debating which type of printer paper he needs to buy.

She does, though. Jade’s patient, and funny, and insists he needs to get the cheesiest purple picture frame to put on his desk at work. You know, for a picture of Lian. It’s so silly and painstakingly normal, and before he knows it, his headache is gone and he is actually having a good time. At Staples, of all places.

This is the version of his wife that he loves the most. No front, no costume or mask. Her teases aren’t laced with an edge of poison, and her smiles are just that— no coyness or smirk to be found. Even Lian is different. With both her parents in a good mood, she’s oddly well-behaved, and only makes a grab for the scissors in the cart twice. It’s peaceful. Nice.

It’s a little unnerving, if he’s being completely honest.

“Alright, we have paper, a new printer, folders, notebooks…” Will picks up his phone as it dings. There’s the shipping confirmation. “Desktop computers will be delivered on Thursday. Office supplies are good, and we have all the pens we could ever want on backorder. Anything else?”

“Business cards?”

“Just need to design the logo, and then I’ll order them.”

Jade stops pushing the cart, and pauses by a shelf. She grabs a clipboard off the rack, holding it out to him. “Here.”

“Seriously?” Will takes the clipboard from her and inspects it. It’s just a basic, brown clipboard with a metal clip. Nothing special about it. “Why do I need this?”

“To keep track of your things. Nothing says you mean business like a clipboard.”

He sets it back in it’s spot on the shelf. “I think you need a little air. The halogen lights are getting to you.”

“Alright, fine. I think you’d look sexy with a clipboard.”

Sexy, huh? Will mulls over the idea. A suit and tie is sexy. Holding a clipboard… gives off health inspector vibes. Not his style. “I just don’t think it’s for me.”

Jade shrugs and turns her attention to Lian. “Your daddy is making a mistake, little red.”

Lian nods. “Dada.” Then she reaches for the scissors again.

“No, Lian,” Will sighs, pushing the scissors further out of reach. He hears a snicker and immediately looks at his wife, who clearly finds this entertaining. It isn’t. It terrifies him that one day, their daughter will be able to walk and access all the weapons that are currently stored in their home. “Can you at least pretend to care and keep her away from sharp objects?”

“Ouch. That hurt, Will.”

“Sorry.”

Lian starts to whine, eagerly trying to reach in the direction that he’d pushed the scissors. It’s a warning whine, one that signifies that if she doesn’t get what she wants, she’s going to erupt into a fit of tears and wails that he wants to avoid at all costs.

Luckily, before he can scramble to some kind of solution, Jade pats her head and looks her in the eye. “No scissors,” she says clearly, staring her down. Lian stares back, and then huffs in defeat. As condolence, Jade offers up a pacifier, and Lian deems it an acceptable compromise. She calms down immediately.

Will watches the entire thing, jaw slightly agape. See, this is why Lian hates him. He can’t figure out how to stop a tantrum, and it only takes Jade thirty seconds, flat. “She hates me,” he sighs, dejected.

“Lian doesn’t hate you.”

“She threw oatmeal at my face this morning.”

“She was doing you a favor, your skin has been looking dry lately.” At his deadpan stare, Jade only grins. “It’s the stress.”

Will shakes his head. “Great. Add a skincare condition to the list of things I need to worry about. Put it towards the bottom, it should fit in nicely between ‘thinking how I’m going to afford college for my daughter’, and ‘global warming’.”

“What if Lian doesn’t want to go to college? Neither of us did, and we turned out fine.”

He grimaces. He’d never admit it out loud, but she has a point. They turned out well enough, you know, for a clone turned dad turned businessman and an ex-assassin. It’s on the tip of his tongue to make a joke about it, but he holds himself back at the last second. Neither of them wanted Lian to end up like them.

“Well, if she doesn’t want to go to college, she can work at Bowhunter. Assuming that Bowhunter is still alive and I haven’t run it down to the ground,” Will mutters, grabbing a few rolls of tape off the shelf and tossing it into the cart.

“Pity, party of one.”

“I’m serious. What if we can’t do this, Jade? It’s not like we know what the hell we’re doing.”

“What’s all this ‘we’ business, Red? This is your company.”

“You paid for it.”

He isn’t exactly proud, taking Jade’s money—hard earned, as she liked to remind him—to start Bowhunter. But he supplemented from Ollie, a little from Dinah, and even Dick pitched in. All loans, by the way. He’ll pay everyone back, with interest, as soon as he gets himself back on his feet. In truth, Jade is his main source of income nowadays. It makes him itchy.

Don’t get him wrong, it has nothing to do with Jade being the breadwinner. But when the bread comes at the expense of less than morally decent means, to say the least, it drives him a little crazy.

“Be that as it may, I’m just an investor. An invisible one, at that.” Jade scoots a few inches away from Lian, who’s now entertaining herself by trying to grab onto her mother’s hair. Instead, Jade gives Lian her fingers to play with—a temporary solution. “Bowhunter is yours, Will.”

There aren’t many things that Will has that are solely his. His very being is the product of someone else, a life he has to remind himself that he didn’t steal of his own accord. Slowly, he’s accumulating more things. His own name. A wife, a daughter. And now, a company.

Will rubs the back of his neck and smiles, unable to help it. “Yeah. I guess it is.”

“And you’re not going to run it to the ground. You’ll do fine.”

“How do you know that?” A younger him would have hated how he sounded just then. So quiet, and meek. But after everything he and Jade went through, he can’t hide anything from her anymore. All those nights she helped him through withdrawal, their marriage, washing Jade’s clothes after Lian had thrown up on them, they’d done it all together. He needed her.

Jade just smiles. “I don’t.”

It’s not the answer that Will wanted to hear, but it makes him feel a little better anyway. “You’re such a help.”

“I try. Better get a move on if you still want to hit the grocery store before it gets dark.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Maybe if we put Lian down early enough, she’ll actually go to sleep.”

“No sleep!” Lian pipes up. Her fingers finally manage to grab onto a fistful of Jade’s hair, and she yanks the ponytail with all her might. To her credit, Jade doesn’t make a sound. She doesn’t even grimace at the pain. The sudden yank has dislodged the baseball cap from her head, but Jade doesn’t seem to mind. No one’s in the aisle, anyway.

Jade grins at Lian, shaking her head. “Little monster,” she says, far too affectionate for the words to have any real malice.

Will bends down and grabs the baseball cap off the floor, and the pacifier that Lian had lost in the commotion. He hides a short chuckle at the sight of his wife, her ponytail completely askew, nodding along as Lian continues to babble complete nonsense to her.

“Alright, give your mom a break,�� Will chides, gently prying the baby’s fingers away from Jade’s hair. “She’s an assassin, you know. I wouldn’t recommend messing with her.”

Before Jade can do it herself, he risks a bold move and fixes her ponytail, letting his fingers linger in her tresses for a few seconds longer than they should. To his surprise, she doesn’t stop him. Jade just watches, mildly amused.

Once he places the cap back snugly on her head, she raises a brow. A wordless question.

Will shrugs. “A husband’s got to be good for something. You know, aside from the legal benefits.” He takes the shopping cart from her and places a hand on Lian’s head so she stops fussing. “I think we’re good here, let’s go.”

“Hold on. You forgot something.”

“Jade, I’m not getting the glitter pens. I don’t care how funn—” Will hears her throw something before he sees it, and he quickly whirls around and catches it before it comes anywhere near Lian. He’s too impressed that his reflexes are still on point to really be annoyed, but he shoots her a glare anyway.

She shrugs. Will shakes his head before looking down to see what he caught. “The clipboard? I thought you were joking.”

Jade returns to the cart, enthralling Lian, who squeals. “I think you’ll need it.”

“I’m not really a clipboard kind of guy. Besides, isn’t this what our phones are for? Pretty sure between that and a computer, I can get things organized.”

“Just trust me.”

Will’s eyebrow twitches. When Jade says ‘just trust me’, it usually precedes a bad idea. A horrifically bad idea, like letting her take the fall for being ousted by the Shadows, and then having to spend the next several hours sewing up the gaping wound in her abdomen. Or taking their infant daughter along with them on a covert recon mission to an exceedingly dangerous Tibetan monastery and nearly getting all three of them killed.

Just trust her. Sure.

He throws the clipboard in the cart anyway. It’ll probably sit on a desk, somewhere. Maybe one of his employees—whom he has yet to hire, add that to the list of things he has to do— will use it.

“I’m proud of you,” Jade says suddenly.

Will turns back to look at her. She’s leaning against the shopping cart, watching him with a rare softness in her gaze. Lian’s fingers are dangerously close to Jade’s hair again, threatening to mercilessly grab it a second time, but Jade’s attention is solely on him. There’s an openness, a vulnerability there that he’s only seen maybe a handful of times in the years he’s known her. He swallows, unsure of how to respond.

His wife smirks, and her face hardens. She’s Jade again. “Cat got your tongue?”

Without waiting for a response, Jade steals the cart back and pushes it further down the aisle, leaving him behind. He stares after her, wishing he were able to linger on that expression, to hold it in his memory and lock it down. He can’t, though. She’s far too good at slipping through his fingers.

Will follows after her, catching up in a matter of strides. “In a way.”

62 notes · View notes

pair-annoyed · 5 years ago

Text

Anime I Watched This Summer

Summer 2020 has officially come to a close. It’s fall in Animal Crossing and the trees are beginning to turn. Much like quarantine, I spent a lot of my free time watching anime when I wasn’t stressing over starting college. Now that the school year has begun, I thought it would be nice to reflect on everything I’ve watched!

These Anime were seen between 6/14 - 8/31 (my Birthday!) and are listed in chronological order.

They will be rated on a 1-10 scale; 1 meaning complete garbage, 10 meaning masterpiece. I will offer my thoughts on what I did/didn't like about each show!

1. Bakemono no Ko - 8/10

This was such a great way to start out the summer! I love the dynamic between Kumatetsu and Ren. Overall its a little cliche, but it’s also very wholesome. It’s by the same studio that made Wolf Children (which I loved!). so I knew it was going to be good. My favorite aspect of this movie was its backgrounds and world building!

2. Wan Sheng Jie - 9/10

Oh my gosh! I know that this is technically a donghua, but its on MAL, so it counts. This show quickly became my favorite slice of life of all time. I adore the art style and all of the characters. The comedy, plot, and design blends so well together. Everything in Wan Sheng Jie feels warm and comfy. It’s also confirmed for a second season! After seeing its cliff hanger ending, I’m so anxious for what comes next!

3. Dororo - 7/10

I’ll be honest, I’m a sucker for studio MAPPA. I really liked the historical aspects of Dororo. From the outfits to the ways characters behave, its grounded in the constraints of feudal Japan. I would have given this show a higher score if it was a little more grounded in science. I feel like more time should’ve been given to the demons and antagonists of the show. Our MC was so over powered, which made the final fights of the series more lack-luster. I think its less of the anime’s fault and more because the original source material is from the 60s. That being said, I loved this show! It was cute and action packed. Though it isn’t perfect, it holds its own.

4. Bungou Stray Dogs - 5/10

The concepts and action are misconstrued in Bungou Stary Dogs. This is one of those shows that I chose to watch because it was all over Tumblr. The powers themselves are cool, but I can’t understand why this series is so praised. At it’s core its predictable and basic. The fights seemed low stakes and low energy. None of the humor really felt like it belonged. It tried too hard to be something it isn’t. I don’t think I’ll watch beyond this first season.

5. Kami no Tou - 4.5/10

First off, fuck Rachel, me and my homies hate Rachel. I really really had high hopes for Tower of God. It paves the way for Webtoon adaptations in the future. Its such a shame that this adaptation SUCKED. I have not read the source material, I’m going solely based on the anime. It wasn’t good? It was horrible. I hate Bam, I hate Rachel. I think all the characters expect Rak were awful. Please don’t make a season 2. Please. If you’re interesting in Tower of God, just read the webtoon.

6. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun - 7/10

Shoujo anime is my guilty pleasure. I especially liked the way Gekkan Shoujo tackled Sakura and Nozaki’s relationship. Besides just the main characters, even the side characters were enjoyable! It was a fun and creative show. My only complaint is how dense Nozaki is, but I also absolutely love that part of him.

7. Jojo no Kimyou no Bouken (Parts 1-2) - 6.5/10

Jojo is not the saving grace of shounen anime. It isn’t something super revolutionary and it certainly will never be a 10/10. Part 1 was so slow and boring. Jonathan was just mediocre at best. I definitely liked Joseph a LOT more than Jonathan. Part 2 overall was much easier to watch than part 1. The fights are good, but there’s just something about Jojo that I can’t get behind. Although I’m completely bashing this series, I’m going to keep watching it. At this point, I wanna know what a stand is.

8. Clannad - 5.5/10

I was expecting Clannad to be sad, but instead I got a cute, slice of life, romance. It wasn’t unenjoyable, but it was also a pretty slow-burning show. I loved watching Nagisa and Okazaki slowly fall in love with each other. It was funny at times and sad at other points. I am currently watching Clannad: After Story (which I’ve heard is heartbreaking), so I’m hoping to get some catharsis out of that.

9. Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai... - 6/10

This show is only 12 episodes, and yet it still has filler episodes for some reason? I’m a person who doesn’t typically watch isekai because the genre is so over done. However, when it’s done in a very specific way it’s really fun to watch! This show was definitely a lot of fun, it’s also cute and has so many interesting character-character interactions. The ending is painfully cliche, but I think it adds to this shows charm.

10. Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen - 8/10

I loved Love is War so much! I love their weird romantic dynamic. I love the characters, and I love the animation. It’s over the top and executes it humor masterfully. The entire show fills you with anticipation for the two main characters. Kaguya is my favorite character. Although I haven’t seen season two yet, I most certainly will! I’m so upset I hadn’t seen this show sooner.

11. Great Pretender - 8.5/10

This show is so colorful and bubbly. The animation is so smooth and they are able to tackle so many different kinds of things given its plot. The whole show itself just feels like summertime. It came out not to long ago, so some people may not be familiar with it. On top of the show itself, the music is great, with a Jazzy OP and and ED that features Freddie Mercury

12. Steins;Gate 0 - 8/10

I loved the original Stein;Gate so much! So it’s no surprise how much I liked the second season. It builds significantly off the first season in a sort of “off shot” OVA kind of way. The events of Steins;Gate 0 don’t actually happen, but that doesn’t stop it from being meaningful. The big “twist” was predictable and a bit of a let down, but I still enjoyed this. Granted, I’m bias.

13. Seishun Buta Yarou wa Yumemiru Shoujo no Yume wo Minai - 9.5/10

I sobbed. So much. This movie was phenomenal, it was such a trip. Having watched the original series, this tore my heart apart. It gets a high score for being able to take the characters I love and creating a wonderfully emotional experience. If you haven’t seen Bunny Girl Senpai, please watch it, and then watch this movie. You won’t regret it!

14. Hotaru no Haka - 6/10

Grave of the Fireflies made me stop watching anime for a while. Studio Ghibli created something grim, something that leaves the viewers feeling hollow. Its a movie about WWII from Japan’s perspective. As an American, all I could feel while watching this was immense guilt. I will say though, that some of the movies main plot could have easily been prevented if the main character had swallowed his pride. His younger sister was also my least favorite character. I get that she’s a kid and that kids are fussy, but you would think that during wartime, she’d be more understanding and at least try to eat the things she dislikes.

15. Yagate Kimi ni Naru - 9/10

This was a great way to end the summer. This is more that just GL romance, its a love story. Its about growing up and learning to understand your feelings. I related to Yuu so much, which made this more emotional than I expected. It’s really unlike another romance anime I’ve seen. I hope it gets confirmed for a second season. If not, I’ll be reading the manga.

Seasonal Shows: (Things that are still airing as of 9/5/2020)

1. The God of High School 7.5/10

Another thing done by studio MAPPA. Are you surprised? I absolutely love the action in GoH. The plot however, is all over the place. The story seems fragmented and hard to follow. Like Tower of God, it was poorly adapted. I’m giving it such a high score, because it’s SO much more enjoyable then Tower of God.

2. Enen no Shouboutai: Ni no Shou - 4/10

My thoughts on season 2 are about the same as my thoughts on season 1. The only difference is that this season has more Jojo references. I’ve rated it lower because its so repetitive. I’m so sick of watching it, but I’ve got to see it through the bitter end.

3. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season - 8.5/10

All I’m going to say about Re:Zero is that I love it. I can’t give an accurate review of it because I’ve been hyping this season since it was announced. If you’re into non-typical isekai, watch Re:Zero, its so enjoyable!

1K notes · View notes

crispyjenkins · 5 years ago

Text

dream clouds, ghost ground (real friends, dead hometown)

an accidental jangobi au

( and also @batsutousai and @the-mandalorian-clone-lover but it won’t let me tag you :(

i uhhhhhh plotted this from my prompt roster without rereading the actual ask, so this is completely out of timeline for the anon’s prompt? and i didn’t realise until i was halfway through?? so here’s this??? i already have ideas for a sequel???? (and it’s 3157 words gl)

some context: there’s no age-out, but obi-wan is still sent to the agricorp and stays there. yarael poof inspects the facility 7 years later, and obi has visions of korda 6/galidraan and finagles themself onto the rescue mission of the true mandalorians. cue chaotic, still-has-the-impulsivity-that-got-them-kicked-out obi-wan. who is also nb just for funsies.

title from start//end by eden

Obi-Wan Kenobi is not as Yarael had expected, but then, he had never met them while they lived in the Temple.

The young Jedi breaks away from their group of friends on the other side of Bandomeer’s main greenhouse as soon as they catch sight of Yarael, the other novitiates trying and failing to hold Obi-Wan back from running through the dark green garden beds right up to him. They don’t seem to care that they’ve interrupted Master Fodvam’s tour of the facility, and ignores her to glare at Yarael with a fire in their eyes that he vaguely remembers as being the cause for their failing the initiate program. Stocky and toned with dark freckles on every bit of exposed skin from working the desert Enrichment Zones, Obi-Wan glares up at Yarael with a set to their lips so very like Master Yoda (and Qui-Gon Jinn, for that matter) that Yarael raises a placating hand to the Kubaz master at his side and smiles back down at Obi-Wan.

At first flush, he might have thought Obi-Wan approached him to beg to be allowed to return to the Temple and become a knight —it would not be the first time an old initiate had done so, though they usually attempted such an action much sooner after their reassignment— but instead, Obi-Wan wastes no time in demanding, “You have to go Korda 6, the lives of thousands depend on it.”

“And why is that, young one?” Yarael returns calmly, though Obi-Wan must be pushing seventeen standard; everyone is young to him these days.

Master Fodvam sighs, reaching out to put a hand on Obi-Wan’s arm, but they shake her off. “Obi-Wan,” she admonishes softly, for all the good that does.

“There’s going to be a genocide,” Obi-Wan insists over the sound of their friends trying to call them back across the greenhouse, “Death Watch is going to kill the Mand’alor and slaughter the True Mandalorians, and no one here will listen to me.”

Curious about their absolute certainty, Yarael gently pushes against their mind, but has to jerk away when the Jedi shoves him right back out, Yarael’s second brain fizzling like it had been shocked by a bad power coupling. Perhaps Master Yoda had been too hasty in handing this one over to the Council of Reassignment, when even though Yarael can sense their fear and hurt, their lingering doubt in the Jedi Order, Obi-Wan has not a single crack in their shields. Not a single doubt in themselves.

Master Fodvam shakes her head, but it appears more out of a helplessness than disappointment. “Master Poof,” she says, “Novitiate Kenobi has spoken of this premonition for the last standard tenday, and I’m afraid none of the masters here are versed in the Unifying Force.”

“At all,” they stress.

Interesting indeed, that Master Yoda would nominate Obi-Wan for the Agricorp over the other branches, then, for surely they would have shown precognition as a crècheling. “Novitiate Kenobi, you clearly have complete faith in such a vision.” Yarael doesn’t try to enter their mind again, but does open his senses between them, benignly inviting Obi-Wan into his own instead. “Show me.”

Obi-Wan is bewildered for all of a moment, eyebrows pinched, but then they blink in understanding and snap their eyes closed. A flurry of images is all but shoved into Yarael’s lower brain, a confusing mash of forests and armor and blasterfire, but, yes, there is Vizsla, and there is Mereel, and there is a Mandalorian in blue armor leaving Mereel to die on the battlefield.

“How are you sure this is Korda 6?” Yarael asks, opening his eyes to Obi-Wan’s mentally-drained expression, tanned skin sallow under the freckles.

“I’ve heard some of the mission report,” they say, and let Master Fodvam gently support them where they had pushed her away before; Yarael will certainly have to teach Obi-Wan to strengthen their mental stamina. “Every night for the last tenday I’ve seen this battle, I’ve seen ten different ways it could go, and all of them end with the True Mandalorians’ slaughter, unless we do something.”

The Quermian looks Obi-Wan up and down once more, reaching as far into the Force as he can manage, and he doesn’t have a lifetime seat on the High Council for nothing.

“Then we’ve not a moment to lose, do we?”

If Obi-Wan is surprised Yarael insists on taking them to his ship to join him for his update to the Council, they don’t show it, and don’t appear nervous at all as the holocall connects. In fact, they stand off to the side with their arms behind their back and a serene expression on their face, right until Master Rancisis admits a contingent of Jedi had just left to help a planet deal with a violent insurgence of Mandalorian commandos, led by Jango Fett.

And then Obi-Wan only blinks before turning his gaze up to Yarael. “Then we are too late for Korda 6. We must make for Galidraan.”

The holo of Master Rancisis flickers as he winds and unwinds his appendages until he finally says, “We did not tell you the planet’s name.”

On Rancisis’ left, Master Yoda taps his cane against the floor. “Clear it is, that truth in Novitiate Kenobi’s visions there is. To what extent, we do not know, but great pain I sense if act quickly we do not.”

After meeting each of the other coucilmember’s eyes, Master Rancisis leans forward in his seat and points one undulating finger at Obi-Wan. ”You will go with Master Poof to Galidraan, Novitiate Kenobi; if you leave now, you may make it in time to prevent the Jedi from having a hand in this massacre.”

Obi-Wan checks with Yarael first, their deference almost endearing as they look up at him for confirmation; Yarael cannot help a small smile, and if the Council has not guessed his intentions by now, then they are as blind as a naked womp-rat. “Well, Novitiate Kenobi?” he prompts, “Are you prepared to see this through properly?”

Obi-Wan drops their shoulders to raise their chin instead. “To be truthful, Master Poof, I would have been disappointed to be left behind.”

Obi-Wan is already at the hatch of Master Poof’s cruiser when they finally land as close to the coordinates the Council had given them as they dare, and Obi-Wan sorely wishes they had asked Master Fodvam for a blaster before leaving Bandomeer. Nothing can be done for that now, and there is the more pressing matter that Master Poof had been unable to contact the Jedi already planetside, but perhaps they shouldn’t have expected the Force to make it easy on them.

As soon as the cruiser is settled, Obi-Wan elbows the control panel for the landing hatch and drops right down into the snow; they’re not quite dressed for this weather, not coming straight from the desert Enrichment Zone, but they can hardly feel the cold over the cloying, suffocating fear that saturates the air until even the trees tremble with it. And they might be stronger in the Unifying Force than anyone else in the Agricorp, but Obi-Wan hasn’t been wrist-deep in soil for seven years to come out of it without feeling the Living Force just as strongly.

Run, the trees tell them, and they do, pushing themself up onto more compact snow and taking off for the True Mandalorian camp. Master Poof calls after them, but they don’t slow until they reach the top of the nearest ridge, a sheer drop on the other side right into the camp, and Obi-Wan is forced to look out over their worst vision come to life.

The Mandalorians stand as one facing the opening to the ravine on Obi-Wan’s right, where the Jedi spread out among the tents as Master Dooku reads them a list of false wrongs, and Obi-Wan knows the Mandalorians will not surrender. Mand’alor Mereel’s son stands before Dooku in newly-painted blue and red armor, raising his blaster as Dooku ignites his ’saber, and Master Poof halts abruptly at Obi-Wan’s side and lifts a four-fingered hand, but he won’t be able to Force-suggest anyone in beskar, and—

And he has a lightsaber hanging from his belt.

Obi-Wan had not failed their Jedi training, they were bright and talented and wanted absolutely nothing more than to become a Jedi Knight, but their temper had seen Bruck to the Halls of Healing, and their impulsivity had seen them to the Agricorp despite the potential they had shown in their seven years in the crèche.

Their temper, they have control over that now, Obi-Wan is rarely even angry these days, but their impulsivity has been the, ah... cause for many of the Bandomeer masters’ grey hairs, so to speak.

So Obi-Wan does not think before grabbing Master Poof’s ’saber, barely able to even lift the hilt almost as long as their arm, and leaps from the crumbling snowbank with as much Force behind their feet as they can muster. Sound snaps to silence in their ears, vision narrowing on the scant yard between Jango Fett and his death, as Obi-Wan yanks the Living Force around themself and hauls it up right from the ground, grabs it by the roots of the nearest tree until it sings.

By a miracle of the Force, Obi-Wan lands perfectly between the new Mand’alor and the Jedi, igniting Master Poof’s unusually-yellow lightsaber just in time to deflect Jango’s first blaster bolt right into the ground — the ground that shakes and splits, exploding snow into the air to make way for the evergreen roots that surge through the cracks and grab Dooku’s entire arm, sending his ’saber flying.

Obi-Wan inhales once, twice, before allowing their other senses to flood back to them, and the Force sees fit to immediately make them aware of Master Poof stumbling down the bank after them with his upper hands raised in surrender.

“Peace, Jedi!” he shouts, successfully pulling the gaze of everyone in the ravine away from Dooku’s limb held aloft by mud-slick roots and to himself instead. “We have been misled,” he presses on, almost seeming to glide over the packed snow to stand at Obi-Wan’s back and place a palm between their shoulders, “These Mandalorians know nothing of what you speak, Master Dooku, we are both being played by the Governor of Galidraan.”

Jango Fett growls over his external comms, close enough to make Obi-Wan shiver. “What the kriffing fuck is going on?” he snaps, not bothering to drop his blaster as Obi-Wan glances at him and can just see the shadow of his eyes behind his visor.

“Death Watch had the governor call the Jedi here under false pretences, your grace,” Obi-Wan says, and doesn’t know what to make of the way the Mand’alor twitches at their voice. They can feel their shoulder weakening from hefting such a massive hilt, unwieldy even gripped at the balance point, but Obi-Wan refuses to let their arm shake, not with both sides holding them under such scrutiny; Maker, maybe they should have changed into Jedi robes instead of their dark tunics and kama? It gives them a silhouette neither wholly Mandalorian nor wholly Jedi, and certainly only adds to the confusion.

Nothing to be done about it now.

“The governor lied to the Mandalorians about their targets, to perfectly set them up for a Jedi arbitration,” Master Poof explains. “And of course knew that the Mandalorians would never surrender to the Jedi.” He looks slowly around at both parties, letting his words sink in until the Jedi are shutting their lightsabers off in disgust.

The Mandalorians don’t put away their blasters, obviously, but they do lower them enough to be an act of good faith; only when Jango lowers his own does Obi-Wan power down Master Poof’s ’saber, and is all too happy to hand the weighty thing back to him with a shallow bow.

Master Poof smiles in amusement, clipping the hilt back in its rightful place on his belt, before calmly nodding to Dooku. “Novitiate, you may release Master Dooku now.”

Startled, Obi-Wan immediately calls on the Living Force to pull the roots away from the man and coax them back into the ground, hoping they hadn’t damaged anything enough for the evergreen just up the ridge to suffer.

Dooku massages his red wrist and eyes Obi-Wan carefully, the clouds of breath before his lips casting strange shadows over his face in the dying sunlight. “I was not aware the Agricorp was still teaching Consitor Sato to its novitiates. Nor so... successfully.”

“... Master Fodvam would appreciate it if you didn’t mention that to the High Council.”

“I am on the Council, Novitiate Kenobi,” Master Poof chortles, but turns back to the Mandalorians still effusing bewilderment before the new Mand’alor can decide they really are all better off dead. “Mand’alor Fett, I presume?”

Jango shifts subtly, still close enough for Obi-Wan to watch his eyes dart to the Quermian. “For all of a week, jetii; how you are aware of this already does nothing to convince me to trust you. Any of you.”

Master Poof just smiles serenely. “There is little one cannot gather from the Force upon first meeting, your grace. However, you are correct, and I would not be aware of Jaster Mereel's death if my companion had not told me of it.”

Jango doesn't get the chance to ask him to clarify just what that means, the girl padawan at Dooku's side cutting in rudely,

“And Master Poof, just who is your companion?” as if she can’t tell from Obi-Wan’s attire that they were a Jedi Knight washout.

So maybe Obi-Wan doesn’t have complete mastery of their temper just yet, but they don’t get to snarl back before Master Poof answers cheerfully, "They are my new apprentice!"

Oh.

“Master Poof...?”

“I cannot very well leave a novitiate so strong in the Unifying Force untrained, can I?” Master Poof shakes his head. "As the matter stands, our duty to Galidraan is not yet complete: the governor has pulled both the Jedi and the Senate into his personal affairs, and has allied with a known terrorist group. Master Dooku, might I suggest we make to arrest the actual perpetrator of these crimes?”

“Vizsla will be there,” Jango interrupts. “And he must know his plan has failed by now, you'll be walking right into a trap.”

Obi-Wan raises a brow. “A trap meant for you, your grace. When we engage Governor Martinet, it would be unwise for the True Mandalorians to still be on planet.”

“Why do you keep calling us that?" he snaps, the blue-armoured Mandalorian at his side grabbing his shoulder to hold him back from... striking Obi-Wan? From removing his helmet? Obi-Wan isn't sure.

They are sure that, if the Jedi succeed in apprehending Vizsla, the New Mandalorians will make themselves known much earlier. “One day, soon, you will need to make the distinction between yourselves, and those that will use ‘Mandalorian’ as a ploy for cultural reform, as claim to an identity that is not theirs,” Obi-Wan says, finding Jango’s eyes behind his visor once more. “The Children of the Watch will choose ‘True’ as that distinction of your people in retrospect, some fifty years from now.”

The Mandalorian holding Jango’s shoulder tenses. “Are you some sort of prophet, kih’jetii?”

“Hardly,” they smile, because the Force promises to back off a little after this mess is all said and done, whenever that may be. “But the Force decided I was the most likely candidate to make it here in time to stop a genocide, though I’m not sure if it knew how much information I actually needed. Irregardless, everything from today is now changed from any visions I had seen of it, I’m no more a prophet than you are.”

Jango twitches again strangely, and his companion tightens their grip on their blaster.

“Novitiate Kenobi is right,” Poof interjects gently. “You should take your people to regroup and recover, your grace, you will be of no use to the galaxy dead.”

“Wait,” Jango grits through clenched teeth. “It would... be unfair for us not to aid you in this, not when this was our disaster, too.”

“There is no need for that,” Dooku says regally, Force-calling his ’saber back to his hand. “This has become a Senate matter, and to involve yourselves further would be an unnecessary risk.”

“So you... want us to just leave?”

Dooku raises a single eyebrow, expression blank otherwise, but Obi-Wan still shudders at the dark anger in the man, the rage that had hit its boiling point upon first meeting Jango and believing he had slaughtered almost two hundred innocent activists. The Force warns Obi-Wan about that darkness, the way Dooku has not yet released it; it also gives them hope, though, that the master can be pulled back into the light, with a little persuasion and lots of tea.

The conversation has moved on without them when Obi-Wan tries to focus back on the crisis at hand, Jango’s commandos already starting to pack up the camp while Dooku and Master Poof quietly discuss the Jedi’s next moves. Neither seem to have realised Obi-Wan hadn’t been paying attention, which is just fine by them: Master Fodvam is already at wit’s end trying to keep them focused on anything but plants, somedays.

A heavy gaze pulls their own to look up, across the camp to where Jango oversees his people’s retreat, but Obi-Wan knows the Mand’alor’s attention is on them alone. Obi-Wan gazes right back, refusing to the first to look away, and is somehow thrilled rather than disappointed when Jango does just that.

He does not say goodbye, but that’s alright, Obi-Wan knows they’ll be meeting again soon.

Following a stomping Jango up into Jaster’s old ship, Myles won’t stop laughing at him.

“‘The one who will speak of the truth,’” he quotes gleefully, just as jovial in his punching of Jango’s sides as he attempts to unbuckle his helmet, and he doesn’t back down even when his Mand’alor growls at him. “Kriff, who knew that witch would end up being so literal?”

“I told you I don’t believe in that osik,” Jango snaps, trying to shove his best friend off of him. “I don't believe in that old hag's ‘prophecy’ any more than I believe in Jedi competence.”

“Ah ah, Jang’alor, you shouldn’t speak of your ba’buir like that, what would Jaster say?”

Jango finally gets his helmet off and yanks his hood down so he can get right in Myles’ face to snarl, “That adiik is not the future of Mandalore, kriff whatever the fuck Jaster’s buir says! One dream and one crazy old enby witch spouting oracle nonsense does not make Obi-Wan Kenobi my destiny.”

Jango doesn’t need to see Myles’ face to know it lights up in victory. “Nobody said their full name, Jang’alor.”

“Finish that thought and I’ll throw you out the airlock.”

Mando’a:

Mand’alor — “Sole ruler”, contended ruler of Mandalore.

jetii — “Jedi” sing, pl. jetiise

kih'jetii — “Little Jedi”, highly offensive

osik — impolite form of “dung”, shit

ba'buir/e — “grandparent/s”, gender neutral

adiik — a child aged from 3 to 13, used here as an insult

Cansitor Sato — Traditional High Galactic for “Plant Surge”, a Living Force-related technique of controlling plants (usually vines) to ensnare or slow an enemy; in legends, this was taught to Agricorp members as well, headcanoned here to be usually only taught to master/older members.

Novitiate — personal headcanon for the form of address for non-master members of the Jedi Corps.

206 notes · View notes

eberles · 5 years ago

Text

On The Course

Rafe Cameron

if this gif is yours, lmk and i’ll tag you!

A/N: this is the longest thing i’ve ever written coming in at 3.8K!! it’s set the summer AFTER the show so like a year later basically and rafe isn’t a murderer obv, it’s also loosely based on A Cinderella Story - the one with Hilary Duff, okay enjoy :)

Warnings: mentions of parent death, brief mention of toxic living environments, swearing, lots of dialogue (idk if that needs a warning but)

You never had many friends growing up, or any really. Except JJ, he was always there for you, your very best friend and even though he offered all the time for you to hangout with the other pogues, you always declined. Of course, you went to school with them and had classes together and sure they were nice, but you never actually felt welcome. JJ was the first friend you made when you moved to the Outer Banks after your parents died. It’s been 4 years since then and living with your ugly aunt and her horrible twin daughters was the last thing you ever wanted for yourself. The only upside of moving to Outer Banks all those years ago was meeting JJ.

Everyone assumed you were dating and both of you had considered the fact, but quickly decided that it wasn’t meant to be for the two of you. JJ liked to be a playboy and he wasn’t really your type anyways. for years you watched him get with girl after girl while you sat idly by watching and looking out for him, never having a guy of your own to trot around with. You never minded it though, being by yourself gave you a sense of comfort and with your current living situations, your cousins made it difficult for you to have many friends or otherwise anyways. JJ always made you feel better about it though and assured you that you didn’t need a man to be happy because of how independent you were and how ‘one day you’re gonna get out of here and meet the guy of dreams, the one that lives up to your standards.” You would always shake your head and roll your eyes at him when he said that, but he believed it. At least the getting out of here part. JJ knew from the moment he met you 4 years ago that you weren’t destined to be on a little island like Outer Banks and you had bigger things coming to you. For now, this was home and you were making the best of it.

“JJ, please talk to your boss. I need a job, I have to get out of my house this summer.” you begged JJ one sunny afternoon, knowing that school was ending in a few days.

“Y/N, you’re gonna hate it. Trust me, you don’t wanna serve a bunch of rich pricks.” JJ sighed, looking over at you briefly and noticing you had your best puppy dog look plastered onto your face, the one you always knew got him to cave. “Fucking fine, i’ll talk to him.”

A few days passed and you were finally done with school. This was your last summer before heading off to college and as much as you didn’t want to spend it working, you knew your aunt had no intention of giving you any money for college. So here you were, serving your first day as a cart girl at the most prestigious country club on Figure 8. The course was fairly slow today and you had a small training session for the first few hours of your shift, but it wasn’t all that hard. Drive around, serve drinks, get tipped. As you were riding around on your little golf cart you noticed none other than Rafe Cameron flagging you down.

“Hi, what can I get for you?” you refrained from immediately rolling your eyes at him and forcing a smile onto your face as you climbed out of your cart.

“I’ll just get a beer, thanks.” he pointed to his beer of choice and watched as you poured the beverage slowly into the plastic cup. “I haven’t seen you around here before.”

“That’s because I just started.” you stated pointedly, handing Rafe the drink and giving him a small smile. “Can i get you anything else?”

“Do you know how to golf?” Rafe was speaking before he could stop himself and you were taken aback by his question, let alone his politeness towards you. You’d never actually come in contact with the boy in front of you, but you’d heard horror stories from JJ surrounding the summer before. You shook your head no, not moving back to your cart just yet curious to where this was heading. “Do you wanna give it a shot? I can teach you.”

You knew you shouldn’t, JJ would scold you up and down for it, after previously warning you Rafe was an often golfer and that you’d probably see him quite a bit, but this wasn’t the Rafe you were expecting. Not after JJ’s multiple stories of Rafe beating him and the other pogues up and constantly giving them a hard time. However, you couldn’t stop yourself from agreeing to Rafe’s offer. Moving closer to him and grabbing the club from him you did exactly what you’d seen in the movies: knees spread, club down, aimed at the small golf ball and raising your arms back only for them to swing the club right into the dirt.

“Damn, you weren’t lying.” Rafe chuckled, taking a spot behind you making sure it was okay that he helped you first. Rafe was a good 6 inches taller than you, but when he came up you could still feel his breath hitting your ear causing your heart to beat out of your chest and goosebumps to erupt all over. He wrapped his arms around yours, placing his hands over yours adjusting your grip on the club. “Ready? One...two...three.”

“Oh- oh my god! I did it! Well you did it, but I did it!” you turned around in Rafe’s grasp jumping up excitedly after watching the ball move this time. Before Rafe could react, realization hit you that you were at work and not making a very good first impression. “I have to go, I'm sorry.”

You ran back towards your golf cart, jumping in and driving off checking in on the other golfers. Rafe had a big smile on his face watching the cute new girl drive off. He felt a sense of home building in his chest after your small interaction and he wasn’t sure what was going on. No girl had ever affected him the way you did and he didn’t even know your name. Yet.

“Dude, what’s got you blushing?” Topper asked, joining him on the course and snapping Rafe out of his thoughts about you.

“Have you seen the new cart girl?”

“Yea she’s cute but she’s a pogue.” Topper stated and Rafe looked at him skeptically not wanting to believe the words. Rafe was almost positive he’d never seen you around before and definitely not with the other pogues. Granted, the way everything happened last summer he never saw the pogues anymore, choosing the high road and turning himself into a better man so he could eventually leave Figure 8 on his own.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

“Y/N!” you turned around hearing JJ calling your name. You just entered the cut after having to walk home from your first shift at the country club. “I’ve been texting you for hours.”

“Oh sorry JJ, my shitty phone died.” you shrugged letting JJ catch up with you before continuing your walk home.

“How was your first day?” you knew JJ would ask, but you hadn’t quite figured out what you were planning on telling him. Do you bring up your weird but pleasant interaction with Rafe?

“It was good! It was a pretty slow day, perfect for learning.” JJ hummed in response, looking at you quizzically not fully believing you didn’t have anything more to say. You decided to keep it short, not looking forward to JJ mocking your newfound connection with his enemy. You felt bad enough about it without having him breathing down your neck. JJ walked you home, the two of you making small talk for the rest of the short distance to your house.

“Charge your phone, how else will I annoy you?” you rolled eyes, laughing at what JJ said, pushing on his chest.

“Goodbye JJ, Y/N has things to do.” your aunt spoke, catching you off guard as you were saying bye to JJ outside your house. JJ gave you a sympathetic look before walking off, never wanting to leave you alone with them. “Y/N, I’m going out of town tomorrow. I’ll be leaving you this list to work on while I'm gone. I expect everything to be finished. You will go to work, come home and work some more. Zero play time and in the house everyday by 6 pm, missy.”

“Okay but there’s this one event the country club is having and it’s a night shift for me.” you followed your aunt around the small house, hoping she would let you out of the house for Midsummers knowing the tips would be great.

“Well that’s not going to work, now is it?” she huffed, shoving the 7 page list into your hands and storming off, her heels clicking with every step. “One page for everyday, don’t miss anything.”

The next day your aunt left just like she planned to, her twin daughters staying behind to ‘keep an eye on you’ but really, they were just going to annoy you the whole time. The only thing you could really look forward to anymore was going to work and hoping the customers were nicer than your cousins.

“Y/N, we’re coming with you today!” the twins spoke at the same time with fake chipper voices.

“Great.” you deadpanned, turning away from them and making your way towards their shared car and climbing in the back seat. The drive was short and they talked the whole way there so you practically jumped out before the car stopped moving noticing your arrival. You were feeling giddy to be at work today secretly hoping you would see a certain kook boy again. You didn’t know much about him, only the awful things JJ had spoken about him briefly but didn’t see that side of him only enticing you to know more.

After a few hours driving around the course serving drinks to mostly middle aged white men you finally noticed Rafe with a few of his friends. You wanted to talk to him again, but having his friends around made you unsure about the situation so you decided to play it cool.

“Did you guys want drinks?” you stopped on the path behind them before getting off the cart and making your way to them.

“Rafe, is this your cute cart girl from yesterday?” Topper laughed, hitting Rafe’s back pushing him towards you and you noticed a blushing Rafe shoot a quick glare in his direction.

“Hey, how’s your second day going?” Rafe moved closer to you and the cart hoping to get out of ear shot from Topper and Kelce.

“It’s been good, lots of older men come around here I’ve noticed.” you laughed handing Rafe the same drink as yesterday since you remembered the specific beer he wanted. “It makes for good tips though so I can't complain.”

“Yea these guys might be old but they’re rich as fuck.” Rafe sipped his beer, smiling at you and apologizing for his friends being stupid behind him. “Hey so I never got your name-”

“Hey Y/N!” you turned, hearing your name being called and saw JJ running towards you. You mentally cursed because of course this was the one time he would ever step foot on the course to look for you. Rafe looked at you confused even though Topper previously told him you were technically a pogue yourself. “Y/N, your cousins are inside and they’re driving me crazy. I needed a break. What’s going on here?”

“Oh JJ, I’m sorry about them, they insisted on being here for my whole shift.” you ignored JJ’s last question, putting all the attention on your cousins, hoping it would deflect from you and Rafe chatting.

“You okay?” JJ asked in a hushed tone, glaring at Rafe and you laughed nodding your head yes. “Okay I guess I’ll go back inside then. Be careful.”

“So your name’s Y/N?” Rafe stood back a few feet while you had your short conversation with JJ and returned to your side once JJ started walking away. “I’m assuming since you know Maybank that you already know who I am.”

“Well I know of you, but if we keep meeting like this maybe i’ll be able to find out more.” you were feeling brave all of a sudden, hoping putting yourself out there would get your somewhere with Rafe. Everything felt natural with him, and you didn’t want to let that feeling escape you by ruining it.

“Why don’t you give me your number and then it won’t have to be exclusive to only here?” Rafe smirked, pulling his phone out and placing it in your hands. You laughed, typing your phone number in quickly and returning it back to him.

“I should really get back to work, Rafe but I’ll see you around yea?” you climbed back into your golf cart as Rafe smiled and waved bye to you.

The next few days passed and you hadn’t seen Rafe at the club, but you had been texting quite a bit. Just in a few days of talking you felt like you were already learning so much about him and his life. He told you everything from who his friends are to how overbearing and controlling his father was. He explained that he went to college at Chapel Hill for a year before dropping out and his father never forgave him. You shared your deepest feelings with him about your parents deaths and how your aunt and cousins were Satan's children. You told him you couldn’t wait to get out of Outer Banks and go off to college at the end of the summer. He understood you and you meshed together so well just after a few days.

i haven’t told my dad, but after getting my shit together this past year i started applying to schools. my first choice is princeton.

princeton?! rafe, no way! that’s where i’m hoping to go.

You couldn’t deny the fast connection you felt with rafe, everything in your body was telling you that you belonged together. Rafe told you he was looking forward to seeing you at the Midsummers event tonight, but you had to break the devastating news that there was no way you could go.

curfew is 6 pm cameron, get with it😂

jesus, i’m sorry i didn’t know you were 7

You laughed at the text on your phone when a tapping noise on your window startled you. You dragged yourself out of bed to see JJ standing on the ground below you.

“JJ, what are you doing?!” you whispered after opening the window and sticking your head out.

“I'm coming up!” JJ whispered back, scaling the side of your house next to your bedroom window. Lucky for him there was a small rock wall giving him the perfect entrance. “I'm breaking you out, you’re coming to Midsummers.”

“JJ, I can't! They’ll kill me if I leave!” JJ gave you a look as if to say ‘stop being a baby.’ It only took a few more seconds of convincing from JJ for you to agree. He successfully helped you out your window and down the rock wall without your cousins noticing you had left for the night. JJ borrowed John B's van and left it parked a few houses down so the twins wouldn’t be suspicious.

“Thanks for this, JJ. You’re the best.” you smiled wide, feeling free for the first time in a while. It was nice getting out of the house while it was dark out.

“As much as I want to take credit, I can’t. This was Rafe’s idea.” you looked at JJ with wide eyes, completely caught off guard.

“What?!” you all but screamed, not sure why JJ would ever talk to Rafe about you. Especially since you hadn’t even told JJ that you and Rafe were talking almost constantly.

“I’ll try to forgive you for not mentioning your budding relationship, but yea. Rafe came to me and apologized for everything last summer and although I don’t forgive him. He does talk pretty highly about you and I can't deny that.” JJ explained and you couldn’t have been more proud to call him your best friend in these moments.

Once you arrived, JJ snuck you in the back and you couldn’t help but take a peek out and notice Rafe standing by the bar dressed in a navy colored suit with his dad who looked like he was scolding him for something. He looked good, really good. JJ pulled you into the locker room handing you a uniform with a white shirt and a black vest to put over it and informing you that you were on drink serving duty. You made your rounds looking over at Rafe every so often wanting nothing more than to approach him. You noticed Rafe's dad pulling him away from the crowd with a yank to his collar and watching as he stood in front of him yelling and pointing a finger in his face. Your feet were moving before your brain could process it and before you knew it you were in front of the two.

“Hi, can I get you guys anything to drink?” you put the sweetest smile on your face, hoping it wouldn’t be obvious that you were trying to distract Rafe’s dad. Ward cleared his throat before looking at you and ordering a whiskey on the rocks with a fake smile on his face. Rafe took the opportunity to make a break for it while you wrote down his fathers drink, exactly what you hoped would happen. After returning to Ward with his drink you went looking for Rafe only to find him back inside the club.

“Oh look who it is, my savior.” Rafe teased, watching you approach him before pulling out a chair for you to sit next to him. “Thanks for that by the way, you didn’t have to.”

“Of course I did, I understand family issues all too well, Cameron.” you laughed, taking the seat beside him.

“I’m surprised to see you here, so much for that curfew huh?” Rafe smirked, eyeing you from across the table.

“Funny enough, JJ came up with this super smart plan to sneak me out. Usually he’s not that on top of it, but I guess something changed.” you joked and reached for Rafe’s hand across the table. “Thank you for talking to him, you have no idea how much it means to me.”

“I know it sounds weird, but I think I would do anything for you.” Rafe blushed, squeezing your hand in his and putting his head down to hide the pink tint on his cheeks. You pulled your hand from his and reached up to lift his face to look at your before moving in closer to him. Your lips brushed his softly before he pulled you closer by your waist and your lips molded to each other and you melted into your first kiss with Rafe.

“Uh, sorry to interrupt but Y/N your aunts outside.” you pulled away from Rafe hearing JJ’s voice and you couldn’t believe what you heard. You looked between the boys with a horrified expression on your face and walked passed JJ outside to where your aunt and cousins were standing and causing a scene.

“Where the hell is she?!” you frowned, running up to them, hoping you could get her to leave without losing your job.

“There you are! You ungrateful piece of trash! How dare you sneak out with this scum of a boy!?” with each word your ugly aunt used her finger to push on her chest and you felt the anger bubbling up inside of you.

“Don’t touch me! And don’t talk about him like that. I’m 18 now, you can’t tell me what to do anymore!” you pushed her hand away, yelling back in her face with JJ and Rafe watching you from a few feet away, everyone else at the party enjoying the show.

“I sure as hell can if you’re living under MY roof!” you could hear your cousins laughing from behind her and that only fueled more anger in you.

“Don’t worry about me, because I'm moving out.” you finally had it, you couldn’t take dealing with her for another second longer. Unbeknownst to you, Rafe and JJ were sharing knowing looks at each other as the scene unfolded in front of them.

“And where do you think you’re gonna go?”

“With us!” JJ spoke up, and you felt him take a place at your side with Rafe following his actions on your other side.

“Good luck with that. They’ll be tired of you soon enough, don’t come crawling back.” your aunt scoffed, rolling her eyes at the two boys and retreating back to her SUV, “Girls! Here! Now!”

You felt tears start to roll down your cheeks and you laughed feeling both the boys wrap their arms around you. “Everything’s gonna be okay now, y/n.”

“Jeez, I don’t know what to say. Thank you guys for being here.” The rest of the party goers were clapping at you standing up for yourself and finally being free of her even though they didn’t know you or your situation.

“You don’t have to thank us, Y/N.” Rafe smiled as you pulled him into a tight hug feeling safe as his arms wrapped around you.

••epilogue••

Summer was officially over and you were sad to be moving on, but you could easily say this was the best summer of your entire life. After the screaming match with your aunt you moved in with JJ and John B and yes it was tough adjusting to living with boys but it was amazing. You were finally getting close with the other pogues Rafe’s sister Sarah and you just wish you hadn’t waited 4 years for it to happen.

Rafe did some digging with a private investigator and found a savings account in your name for your full college tuition that your aunt had been hiding from you. Everything was falling into place for you and speaking of Rafe: you guys were officially dating and going two months strong. You felt the happiest you ever had in your entire life and he was partly to thank for that.

You wound up going to Princeton together and lived happily ever after. At least for now. Hey, you’re only a freshman.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#rafe cameron #rafe cameron imagine #drew starkey imagine #outer banks #outer banks imagine #rafe cameron blurbs #rafe cameron x reader

299 notes · View notes

krsnbgirl · 5 years ago

Text

Fly High! || Kageyama x Fem!Reader || Part 11

Summary: You wake up to find Kageyama delivering the food that the rest of the managers reserved for you. While eating, you get to see the rare side of soft Kageyama and the small time frame you have with each other, it shows that both of your walls are slowly coming down. Then after having a late start to the day, the boys show how much they’ve missed you and as the day goes on, some priceless moments are finally captured through your infamous Polaroid.

Pairing: Kageyama Tobio x Fem!Reader

Genre: Rom-Com, Slice of Life, Sports, Fluff

Warnings: Light Cursing

Word Count: ~2.9k

Taglist: @misnmatchedsox @monviemoo @love-beyond-words @bbecc-a @live-2-fangirl @2busyfangirling @ifeelblueming @tobiosbbyghorl @vanillakylee

Author’s Notes: Happy December everyone! Sorry for the late update, I wanted to spend some time away from social media and completely be immersed in spending time with my family over the holidays. But now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s back to regular weekly updates until Christmas comes around, hahaha This week’s chapter feels like a filler and a bit on the shorter side. I just wanted to get something out for y’all because I noticed it’s been maybe two weeks since the last update? ^^; Sorry about that~ As always, the story is crossposted/updated on AO3! Hope all of you lovelies have been staying safe and taking care of yourselves, love you guys! Taglist is still open <3

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || Part 5 || Part 5.5 || Part 6 || Part 7 || Part 8 || Part 9 || Part 10 || Part 11 || Part 12 || Masterlist

Kageyama sighed as he eyed the bento box in his hand. It was packed and given to him by Shimizu once he followed her, Sugawara, and Daichi into the kitchen when everyone parted ways. After the food was ready to be delivered, the boys slapped his shoulders in encouragement and he watched the third years leave him to fetch the laundry baskets. ‘I...somehow feel...as if everyone was in on this…’ He thought to himself as he entered the girls’ building and towards the classroom that had its door slightly ajar.

“Sorry for the intrusion…” he said softly as he slid the door open and made his way inside.

He scanned the room and noticed the small bundle of blankets in the corner across from him. Making his way over, his gaze softened once he stopped next to the sleeping figure. You were curled up in a small ball with your arms tucked into your chest. Your phone was next to you with one of your playlists on its screen and he quietly kneeled down next to you. Without knowing, he began to admire your features. Kageyama thought you looked more peaceful with your face relaxed. You looked more innocent compared to your usual expression with your eyebrows scrunched up in focus or the permanent scowl you directed at them during games. He reached out and touched your forehead, sighing in relief to find out that you didn’t have any temperature.

Setting your meal next to him, he frowned as he tried to figure out the best way to wake you up. Nishinoya warned that if you didn’t get enough rest, you’d be cranky and probably lash out at him. If he was too soft on you, then you wouldn’t feel a thing because you were a heavy sleeper. With a sigh, he followed his gut and leaned over you. He didn’t know how to deal with waking up a girl so Kageyama decided to go with the soft approach. His mind flashed to your exhausted look on your face from the night before and pursed his lips. With the chance to sleep in, he hoped that it helped you feel a lot better after taking care of the team. Sitting on his knees, he rested his weight on his left arm and gently shook your shoulder with his right hand.

“(Y/N), it’s time to wake up. Shimizu-senpai asked me to bring you food.”

He waited for a couple of seconds for you to respond, but without any movement, he decided to shake you a little harder.

“Oi, you shorty. Wake up,” he said louder.

You groaned and swatted his hand away from you. “Five more minutes mom, I don’t feel good…”

“This girl-Oi, little miss sleepy head. Wake up or else I’m going to kill you.” Kageyama hissed as his patience wore thin when he saw you turn over and hug the blanket tighter. With a blank expression, he gave up trying to be gentle and began to relentlessly shake your shoulder.

“Hnng…wha…?” you murmured sleepily and now aware of someone shaking you awake. “What in the…”

Kageyama paused and watched you sleepily rub your eyes. It was a rare sight to see you with your walls down while he waited for you to fully wake up. With your hair slightly disheveled and a small pout on your lips, Kageyama quickly sat back on his knees and looked away. ‘Am I even allowed to see her like this?’

You mentally tried to gather your thoughts as your surroundings became more clear to you. Annoyance started to bubble up inside you from being woken up so harshly. There was still a light ache in your head and mentally decided to lash out at whoever decided to disturb your peace. Pushing yourself up to your elbows, you glared at the person and Kageyama immediately gulped when he met your gaze. He immediately shifted his gaze elsewhere and waited for you to say something. You were surprised to find that it was Kageyama next to you rather than Nishinoya and immediately relaxed your features.

“Tobio?” you asked sleepily.

He turned back to you and you sat up, mentally cheering that your body didn’t feel as heavy as before. You turned your body to face him and raised an eyebrow at him.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at training right now?” you asked tiredly and reached for your water bottle.

“I would be, but someone took too long to wake up,” he grumbled and shoved the bento box into your lap.

You choked on your water and smiled sheepishly when you put down the bottle. “Sorry, waking up is pretty hard for me if I don’t have a set time to be up.”

“Shimizu-senpai told me to give that to you.” he nodded towards the food sitting in your lap.

You smiled when you opened it and let out a happy sound. “She remembered that I liked my rice with egg. It’s always my go-to for breakfast.”

He watched as you quickly added the soy sauce and furikake seasoning on top before mixing the raw egg and its toppings with the rice. As he watched you dig into the food, he relaxed when he noticed that your energy was slowly coming back.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked.

You swallowed the food you were eating and looked up in thought. “A little better, I might try to freshen myself up to see if that helps.”

“...so you’re not going to be there today?” Kageyama asked as he changed his sitting position. He leaned against his hands behind him and his legs were crisscrossed in front of him. He thoughtfully looked at you and tried to imagine what training would be like without you there to give him critiques or yell at the rest of the team.

You shrugged and said, “We’ll see. I might rest until you guys finish lunch. Then by the afternoon, if I’m feeling better, I’ll see you guys at the gym...hopefully.”

He sighed then glanced at the clock and you smiled at him, thankful that he took some time to check up on you. Your gaze followed his and realized that the practice matches were about to start.

“You better hurry or else Coach Ukai will yell at you.”

Kageyama grunted and stood up from his position. Straightening out his practice clothes, he lightly bonked you on the head before making his way towards the door. You watched as he lazily waved at you.

“Says the one that’s currently sick. Take better care of yourself, baka.”

With a laugh, you nodded and he walked away. Your gaze softened and smiled to yourself while biting the tip of your chopsticks. It surprised you that Kageyama was the one to bring you the meal you missed and was probably forced to. Even if that was the case, you were glad to see that he didn’t seem as closed off as before. As you finished up your food, you knew that one more nap and a shower would bring you back to normal. So once you put the bento to the side, you chugged the rest of your water then grabbed what you needed before heading towards the showers to finally kick start your day.

“(Y/N)-chan, welcome back!” Kaori greeted you when you walked into the kitchen.

You smiled at the managers who were finishing up with cutting watermelons for all the boys at the camp. The other girls were happy to see that you were back to being your energetic self after seeing the drastic change in your personality just a couple hours prior.

“I hope there wasn’t too much chaos while I was gone for the first half.” you said and bowed to them before straightening back up and sheepishly rubbed your neck.

“Nah, but your boys have been losing. Although, their spirits don’t seem to die either way.” One of the managers from Shinzen informed you.

You shrugged and walked to where Shimizu and Yachi were cutting some and immediately began to help them out.

“It was to be expected, haha. We’re trying a lot of new and different things so it’s just a matter of getting it in their bodies.”

“How are you feeling, (Y/N)-chan?” Shimizu asked.

“I feel better. The food was amazing this morning, by the way. I’ve been drinking a lot of water and sports drinks once I was completely awake too.” you chirped and gave her a cheeky smile.

“That’s good, the boys were worried about you this morning.” Yachi chimed in.

“Eh? Really?”

Shimizu nodded and passed you a tray that was filled with the last of the watermelon. “They were down at first, but they wanted to train even harder today to show you that they’ve been working hard.”

“I’m assuming they’re doing it for some extra praise?” you smirked.

The others nodded and the three of you laughed while you made your way towards the gym. You giggled behind the rest of the girls as the manager from Ubugawa announced that they’ll be given watermelon during their break. You peeked behind Shimizu’s shoulders to find the Karasuno boys out of breath. A part of you was worried because of how many times they’ve been running up the hill, but another part was glad to see that they were pushing themselves to be at their very best. All of the boys made their way outside as the managers stood by the door so they could take one on their way out. You stood at the end of the line and waited to see who would spot you first.

“EH?! (Y/N)-CHAN!” Hinata exclaimed when his eyes landed on you.

With that saying, the rest of the boys zeroed in on you and before you knew it, they were racing towards you with bright smiles.

“We missed you!” Daichi said and ruffled your hair before grabbing a slice.

“It was a little quiet without you reprimanding Kageyama and Hinata for their antics during breakfast this morning.” Sugawara chuckled.

“I’m glad to see you’re feeling better, (Y/N)-chan.” Asahi smiled.

After the three boys left, Nishinoya, Tanaka, Ennoshita, and the rest of the second years went up to you for their share.

“Glad to see you’re up and running, (Y/N)-chan.” Nishinoya grinned and squeezed your cheek.

“What can I say? You know how I can be sometimes and hey- stop that hurts y’know?” you huffed and swatted his hand away as he laughed and grabbed his slice before walking away to find a spot to sit.

“Did you enjoy your little breakfast delivery?” Tanaka snickered and wriggled his eyebrows at you.

With a slight kick at his ankle, he winced and you smiled innocently. “Did you know that Shimizu-senpai is out of your league? Don’t test me today, Ryu-nii.”

He laughed and turned towards Nishinoya before walking off. “Oi, she totally enjoyed her morning!” Turning back to you, he clicked his tongue and pointed finger guns at you, “Don’t worry about that, I’m completely aware of that kid. I’m gonna make her fall in love with me either way.”

“I’m sorry for that, (Y/N)-chan. But we are glad to see that you’re doing okay.” Ennoshita said.

“Of course, I can’t let Shimizu-senpai and Yachi-chan do all the work when it comes to you guys.” you smiled and you immediately rolled your eyes when you saw who was next.

“Oh, so you didn’t die?” Tsukishima snickered while he grabbed one before immediately walking away.

You raised your fist at him and mentally cursed him in your mind for being such a smartass. ’Just you wait until I beat your ass when I get a chance to spike a ball past you, you salty prick.’

“Why this mother-”

“Don’t mind him, (Y/N)-chan. But I hope you’re feeling better.” Yamaguchi said hurriedly with a sheepish smile before getting his slice, trying to catch up to the blonde.

“Glad to see you’re doing a lot better. I missed seeing you this morning.” Hinata smiled before making his way towards Kenma and Lev on the hill after being pushed out of the way when he made your presence known.

“Are you sure you should be doing this?” Kageyama asked as he took the last slice and bit into it.

You shrugged and held the tray to your side. “I mean I feel fine and if it makes you relax, I’ll take it easy today.”

He narrowed his eyes at you and you held out your pinky in response. “Pinky promise.”

With a sigh, he reluctantly linked his pinky with yours, still doubting that you were at your best. You simply gave him a playful salute and smirked. “I won’t let you down.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.” he grumbled before walking off.

‘It’s like he’s trying his hardest not to show that he cares.’ You laughed to yourself before walking back to the kitchen to refill your tray with more watermelon.

“Oh? You brought it out, huh?” Yachi smiled when her eyes landed on the Polaroid camera you brought along to one of the practice matches later in the day.

You smiled as you set it down beside your things on the bench. You quickly put your hair up in a bun and began to fill it with a new packet of film.

“I figured I could show the boys how hard they’ve been looking with some action shots.”

“It’s true, this is the most motivated I’ve seen them. It’s quite scary because collisions like the one that happened yesterday could happen again. If that happens, then those types of accidents can lead to major injuries if they’re not careful.” Shimizu added while looking over their notes to summarize their current statistics.

You hummed in agreement and as the boys filed out of the gym for their punishment, you knew it was the perfect time to get some candids of the boys. You stood by the door as they stretched their legs and took one of the third years together. Then when the boys reached the top, you took one of all their silhouettes standing together. And once they slowly made their way down the hill, you smiled to yourself as you managed to get one of Nishinoya jumping onto Tanaka’s back. The flash took them by surprise and Nishinoya smiled widely.

“You brought the camera!” he grinned and jumped off of Tanaka.

Walking up to you, he snatched it from you and smiled cheekily while playfully shaking it. “My turn to take some pictures.”

Without getting a word out from you, he ran away and you could only sigh in disbelief. ‘He really never runs out of energy, huh?’

You looked back towards the hill to see that most of them were about to come back and hurriedly picked up the bottles of water Shimizu set against the wall near the entrance. Grabbing as many as you could, you began to hand it out to the rest of the boys.

“Good work today, you guys!” you cheered as they grabbed their bottles and tried to catch their breath..

A chorus of ‘thank you’ surrounded you and you pouted once Daichi ruffled your hair.

“What do I always say about the hair?” you whined.

“Not to touch it, but we still do because of that reaction of yours” Asahi chuckled and smiled in thanks as he grabbed his bottle from you.

You turned around as they walked past you, slowly making their way into the gym, and someone tapped your on the shoulder. You smiled to see that it was Kageyama. He tiredly wiped his face with his towel and you held out his water bottle.

“Good job today, Tobio.” you said while he wrapped his towel around his neck.

“Thanks.” he murmured and grabbed the other end of his bottle. You rocked on your heels as you waited for him to compose himself and took a sip of his water.

“Do you mind if we practice after dinner?” he asked as he looked down at you with a hint of a smile on his face.

You shook your head and said, “I don’t mind as long as you’re down for a rematch.”

He raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Oh? Someone doesn’t like to lose.”

With a cheeky smile, you shoved his bottle towards his chest and said, “I need to get my revenge on the prodigy y’know?”

“AHAHA I GOT IT! TANAKA I REALLY I GOT THAT!” Nishinoya exclaimed.

The two of you snapped your heads to the right to find Nishinoya holding your Polaroid in his hands with Tanaka standing behind him, laughing his head off. Kageyama just blinked, still trying to process what happened, as you stomped over to them. Snatching the camera out of their hands, you plucked whatever pictures Nishinoya took out of his hands.

“Stop fooling around, you shitheads!” you yelled and jabbed both of them in the stomach.

They fell to the ground in pain but burst out laughing once more. “It was too cute not to capture! We never get to see soft Kageyama!”

“Shut up right now Yu-nii.” you hissed.

“C’mon you can’t deny it once you see the photo.” Tanaka added.

Sugawara called out for them to come back inside and you sighed to yourself as you shuffled through the photos. Tanaka and Nishinoya nudged your sides when they passed you, still trying to tease you as much as they could. You snickered when Sugawara slapped the back of their heads before turning your attention back to the photos in your hands. One was a selca of Nishinoya and Tanaka, another was of Tsukishima flipping off the camera with Yamaguchi simply not knowing what to do in the background, another was of the third years smiling widely at the camera, the second to last one was of Hinata flashing a wide smile and holding up a ‘V,’ and the last one was of you and Kageyama.

You bit your lip while you tried to stop yourself from smiling so widely. Nishinoya had caught the moment of you and Kageyama smirking and smiling at each other. Kageyama’s facial expression was the closest anyone would see to him for smiling and there was a joyful look in his eyes. Meanwhile you were looking up at him with your dimple showing and you knew you had let your emotions show too quickly. ‘I guess Yu-nii can be useful with that camera sometimes.’ you thought to yourself before putting all of the pictures into your bag and made your way towards the kitchen to help with dinner.

#fly high!#haikyuu!!#haikyuu #Haikyu!!#haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu series #kageyama #kageyama tobio #kageyama x reader #kageyama x fem!reader #kageyama x you #kageyama x y/n #kageyama series #kageyama fluff

34 notes · View notes

rigelmejo · 4 years ago

Text

February Progress Update, March Goals:

(Updated as it’s now the end of the month) How February went:

Chinese novel chapters read in February (so far): 27 (a huge amount! Last month’s was 8. This month - 4 were Guardian, the rest are 寒舍)

Chapters I studied with Listening-Reading Method: 2 (Catch me barely doing L-R and just reading Guardian instead...)

Chinese shows watched: 6. (I expected this number to shoot up and I was right! Word of Honor - tian ya ke adaptation - is airing and I am watching the raws first then the English subs as they release. I’m also maybe going to start Anti Fraud League since I finally finished ep 1. YouTube recommended me another Zhen zhehan drama - he plays Zhou Zishu in woh. It’s called Demon Girl and I’d had it in my list to practice anyway with when I got bored since it’s set 1920-1940s, one of my fave drama settings, featuring a demon heroine in which demons are like mutants who live among us. Which happens to be my LITERAL favorite story setup - mutants/monsters/etc sci fi or supernatural setup in which the story uses it to tell fantastical tales while also commenting on real social issues. Some stories do it better than others - In The Flesh and Bureau of Transformer do excellently, Love and Redemption and Guardian do some fascinating stuff with it, Heroes touches on it only a little compared to Xmen which is known for it, and Merlin often failed to commit to a strong message. But regardless - if a story has this Setup I will ultimately wanna see. So that show definirely has 3 selling points now: my Fave story setup, a heroine as the lead, and an actor I like as the other lead. I also found Mystic Nine and LORD Critical World in HD on a chinese site so I’m very tempted to just watch them in chinese only since it’s more convienient then the english sub links I have for the shows. An interesting update: trying to watch a show this month was easier than in the past - last month I could barely watch Any shows, and before that I distinctly remember shows being harder to catch the details. I watched Anti Fraud League ep 1 fully this month and caught all details roughly without pausing - and like 3 sentences of exposition on main character Mi Huo I paused and replayed the scene just to catch all the chinese subtitles and clarify I understood correctly. I think I got about 90% of the details - because I was a little vague on some word meanings and just guessed on those. And grasped 100% of the overall plot. which is well beyond where I was at month 10-11ish last time I tried watching shows. Also yay! A detective show felt as easy as watching a fluff romance which is so great, because I like this genre much more! Although I am going to give a grateful shout out to Granting You A Dreamlike Life because... while the shows first 15 eps I did watch are Not My Thing, I watched it like 8+ months into learning and it was both a challenge and easy enough TO watch and keep watching. Which made it great for improving. I really think it helped a lot. And I also think... at this point I probably could rewatch guardian without eng subs and be fine. When I watch shan he ling today I guess I’ll find out if I can handle a wuxia plot though without eng subs lol)

Japanese Audio listened to: 14 (no change, this is since start of year)

Personal books read: 11 (since 2021 started - so 6 books in February. I have been reading SO MUCH lately, I’m really excited? I’ve been meaning to read so many of my books I just hadn’t gotten around to it. This is also likely to increase as I’m about to finish dmbj 2 next time I pick it up).

Some other things:

@a-whump-muffin u inspired me and sometime soon I will be trying to play KH in japanese again, and looking at ur super amazing grammar guide u made ToT (I might try nier automata if its bearable just because I’m playing all the drakengard/nier games right now but... the language is a lot more sci fi so i’m not sure that’d go well... also i want to check if my final fantasy type-0 has japanese language settings...). But like... I am definitely up for looking at a grammar guide, and looking up words on my phone as I play. Now that’s a study method i could DO maybe ToT and also like!!! ultimately i want to do it anyway!!! i just figured it would be drowning and chickened out! but like. to study doing what u wanted to do anyway in the language??!!! wowwww ;-; i mean that’s basically why i’m reading chinese but u get the idea

Other japanese updates: I’m still listening to quickleur I just haven’t done any listening lately (u can tell by the L-R status above lol). It did help a lot though even the bits I listened to, as far as refreshing my mind on particles and verb endings. And the explanation on sentence structures u gave @a-whump-muffin !! (who is god tier if ur studying japanese they are <3 <3 )

Part of the ‘personal books read’ goal - I’m counting any textbooks I read in that category, in the hopes if I frame it in my head as reading for personal interest instead of studying, I will do it. Ideally I would LIKE to read my DeFrancis Chinese books, Chinese Nature Method grammar book, Chinese Sentence Patterns book, 2 books I just ordered, my japanese reading books (the 1st one a good refresher the 2nd one literally could be... my textbook for years its got so much). Those chinese books in part because WOW I am so used to so much grammar in context when reading, but when I go to produce language I’m a hot MESS. And I think just like... I really should read those books and fill in the gaps in my understanding and like solidify the correct understanding of what I can comprehend. Sometime.... I ALSO should read my Alan Hoenig chinese characters book. But will I???? AHA. I forgot to mention in my last reading post - but brute forcing learning the hanzi has been going fine actually. I was concerned just looking up hanzi when reading, that I would struggle to learn the new ones. But I can confirm that reading has gotten easier, and I’ve picked up a LOT of hanzi I was previously brute force looking up repeatedly while reading. So like... as long as this keeps working, I’ll keep doing it. I’m very lazy and the path with least resistance and mental exhaustion is what I’ll keep doing, if it works, even if it might be slower. (Although I do think the hanzi books I have are very useful and have helped me speed up progress when I used them).

I learned how to make gifs this month and I’m overwhelmed with all the stuff I could try to do? Idk its very cool i’m very excited about it.

Goals for March:

Basically, we’re sticking to the quite steady study plan I’ve had the past few months, which has boiled down to: read chinese, L-R, listen/watch if desired, do something listening related in japanese if desired. It’s not well rounded or anything but I’m making steady progress and its easy to keep doing.

Anything in bold is what I’m doing right now/likely to do (although we know how often I just derail).

Read chinese novels. (This can include Guardian. Currently includes: hanshe, guardian. On hiatus: Tian Ya Ke).

Listen-Read Guardian. (Reading guardian in Any way is the priority so if this happens yay, but if it doesn’t I’ll be happy if I’m still working through guardian and just postponing the listening part).

Optional. Play video game in japanese, use a dictionary and grammar guide when confused af. This one’s imminently likely just because the instant I get Nier remastered I’m playing it, and also playing Nier Automata etc games, so like... the opportunity and desire to play the japanese versions of games I want to do that with WILL hit me.

Optional. Watch chinese shows. This one’s also likely because a priest novel drama adaptation just dropped (Word of Honor, shan he ling, tian ya ke/Faraway Wanderer’s adaptation) and I don’t want to wait for the english subs.

Optional - unlikely (I’m not in the mood to listen to stuff lol). Audios. Keep listening to Japanese Quicksleur when there’s down time (like playing games), and Chinese Spoonfed audio if I feel like it.

Personal. Keep reading while I’ve got the motivation to. I am really enjoying getting through all these books I’ve wanted to read for so long.

BELOW I will eventually link a list of story recs (also see tag rec list for more):

Poyun 破云 (recced)

Poyun 破云 2

一级律师 by 木苏里 (recced)

盗墓笔记 series

默读 by priest

他们的故事 by 一根黄瓜丝儿

寒舍 by 夏灬安兰 pingxie supernatural au

818 (pingxie)

鎮魂 by priest (chapter 4)

天涯客 by priest

Qi Ye 七爷 by priest

六爻 by priest

FGEP

犹记斐然 foxghost rec

一受封疆 foxghost rec

女主大人我错 gl

将军府小妾生存报告 gl

夜半衣寒 by 夏灬安兰 pingxie (can u tell i like this author)

(瓶邪同人)所谓一切发生在网配+番外 (writer and radio voicer pingxie au)

死亡万花筒 kaleidoscope of death

将军府小妾生存报告

女主大人，我错了

魔女霓裳

公主饶命 GL

民政局领到了媳妇

In progressing difficulty, books I want to read and should be ready to read now, a la foxghost’s recommendations:

那些風花雪月 by Gong Zi Huan Xi (took 14 months of study before I tried to read this, did try, did not click with me lol)

不正當關係 by Gong Zi Huan Xi (foxghost said this was the same difficulty as the story above, so I’m probably ready for this one too).

*SCI 谜案集 by ErYa (I’ve heard this somewhat easy to read, is a good story, and since its case-centered I think it would be a good intro to later reading books like Silent Reading by Priest)

龍圖案卷集 by ErYa (There is an audiobook on Ximalaya!)

黑風城戰記 by ErYa (sequel to novel above)

Then the recommendation says you should probably watch a lot of shows for some vocab (I sort of do so I’ll see how that helps me out), and you can start tackling xianxia, like Priest’s “六爻, and then 鎮魂, then 殺破狼, and pretty much any other of GZHX’s works.” I would guess this point is when Tian Ya Ke would be more my reading level, when 六爻 is, at the beginning. I would guess after 鎮魂 is when I could try to tackle Can Ci Pin. Sha Po Lang is steampunk and fantasy, so I would guess it has some of the sci fi type words - so if I’d be ready for that, I might be ready for Can Ci Pin at the same time.

#march goals #march study plan #february goals #study plan #february progress #rec list #march

4 notes · View notes

feuqueerfire · 1 year ago

Text

April 2024 Movies/Shows Wrap-Up

A little monthly (spoilery!) wrap-up of all the shows, movies, and shorts I’ve watched or am watching in April 2024, general thoughts, and ranking of them all.

Recommendation of the month(s): idk, had a bunch of shows that I rated pretty well but they each have big caveats lol.

Ranking

The Good Bad Mother (2023) = Utsukushii Kare S2 (2023) = 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) = The Warp Effect (2023)

I Hear Your Voice (2013) = Rewatch: ? Utsukushii Kare S1 (2021)

Jazz for Two (2024) = Utsukushii Kare: Eternal (2023)

Some More (2018)

Watching: 23.5

I managed to watch some shows that I’d been really anticipating for quite a while and were released early last year: Utsukushii Kare S2 + movie and The Warp Effect

Average Rating: 6.5/10

MDL Updates - Added to Watchlist:

A section because I’m curious about how many shows I decide to add to my Watch List a month and also the ratio of watching them:adding them.

Title MDL (year) - (date added to Considering or finalized to Watchlist): initial reaction

Jazz for Two - 240411: New kBL that seems fine

Love is Better the Second Time Around - 240417: i'm fond of the second chance/post-breakup romance trope, hopefully I’ll like this one

Blank - 240417: Only season 1 is out for now and apparently it ends on a cliffhanger, so idk if I should be adding it to the watchlist quite yet but I want age gap GL (w dubious morality? idk what the discourse is about tbh), so I’ll add it and hope S2 is released in May as expected and turns out well

My Beautiful Man: Eternal (2023)

Unknown: I’d been keeping an eye on it since it started releasing and it got pretty high praise all throughout. I think I can get into the we’re-not-biological-brothers-but-we-grew-up-together-as-brothers dynamic

Deep Night: I’ve enjoyed First Piyangkul in shows before and am curious about the host club setting in this. This show is such an interesting case because on reddit and on Tumblr, everybody seems to love it and MDL has some mixed comments but mostly positive there too and yet the MDL rating is 7.5, I wonder why the discrepancy.

23.5: FINALLY

I Became the Main Role of a BL Drama - 240417: The Conversation podcast mentioned in their 2024 Winter Lagniappe and seems like it's a celeb-related show? they’re actors?

To Watch List At Start Of Month: 64

To Watch List At End Of Month: 64

Removed from To Watch List:

Title (Year) - (date removed): reason

Nothing this month

Completely Watched

The Good Bad Mother (2023)

Country: South Korea

Release Dates: Apr 26, 2023 - Jun 8, 2023

Watch Via: iQiyi (so, ;>)

Watch Dates: Apr 1 - 3, 2024

Rating: 7/10

Overall Impression: Lee Dohyun <3 My reason for watching but the show is bigger than just him. It was so addictive and entertaining, watched the whole show in like 2 days and 2 hours. Impressed by the acting of Lee Dohyun and the mother and Mijoo's actors. The show was mostly about the mother and son relationship, with the revenge plot + the Mijoo/Kangho romance arcs in the background. I deeply wish that Kangho hadn't apparently forever loved and understood his mother and did everything for her and sang her favourite song while studying for the Bar or whatever. He went low-contact with her in Seoul even before he discovered the stuff that made him break up with Mijoo, so I think the reasons behind that and the hurt and betrayal that caused him to take such an action should have been focused on more. We got fleeting moments of him being angry or her saying she's bad but it was all explained away or he understood or whatever. Anyway, idk, I think if that relationship was more clear + the ending of the revenge arc was more solid, I would've rated it higher because I did enjoy this but some things bothered me significantly.

Also Appears In: The Good Bad Mother Live Blogging

I Hear Your Voice (2013)

Country: South Korea

Release Dates: Jun 5, 2013 - Aug 1, 2013

Watch Via: Viki (paid, so ;>)

Watch Dates: Apr 3 - 11, 2024

Rating: 6.5/10 [May 12, 2024 Update: Decreased by 0.5 stars when rerating shows I've watched in 2024: 7 -> 6.5]

Overall: Noona romance + mystery + courtroom + sliiight supernatural with mind-reading, it has a bunch of things I liked. It's from over a decade ago but enjoyable nonetheless. I liked it, though Hyeseong and Sooha were quite cute but I wish 1) the episodes were a bit more condensed to be 14-16 episodes and 2) the fucking love triangle wasn't so prominent (though I get that they probably did it because Sooha was underage at first). Not life-changing and kind of overstayed its welcome for me, esp because I was barely watching 1 ep a day in the middle there.

Also Appears In: I Hear Your Voice Live Blogging

Jazz for Two (2024)

Country: South Korea

Release Dates: Mar 26, 2024 - Mar 29, 2024

Watch Via: iQiyi (paid, so ;>)

Watch Dates: Apr 11 - 12, 2024

Rating: 6/10

Overall: Nobody in this drama asks before kissing lol not Doyoon, not Seheon, not the little kiss that Seheon's brother gave to sleeping Taejoon, and the other two, Juha and Taeyi, are experts in being creeps and having internalized homophobia that they direct outwardly to the guys they like as well (Seheon's brother fits here too lol). Yet, I enjoyed it a fair amount, the story was coherent, the acting was fine, I was endeared by Doyoon (is he the Omega X kid?), and the dynamics were enjoyable, if iffy on certain counts. Not super attached though.

tags: jazz for two

Also Appears In: Jazz For Two Live Blogging

Some More (2018)

Country: South Korea

Release Dates: Nov 7, 2018

Watch Via: Gagaoolala (paid, so ;>)

Watch Dates: Apr 13, 2024

Rating: 5/10

Overall: It was fine ig but I did skim through the latter half.

Ah, my exams are done (for this semester or forever? who knows), so I can finally start some new shows. Dunno whether I want yaoi with Utsukishii Kare rewatch + S2 and movie or to watch The Warp Effect. They’re both early 2023 shows that I’ve been meaning to watch but it’s been so long of me anticipating them before their release + wanting to watch while releasing + meaning to binge them after release that the expectations are a little high and I keep putting off watching them oof.

And then I got a bunch of Love for Love’s Sake tiktoks on my FYP and the edits for that show are really good, so I’m tempted a bit to rewatch that because it’s on my To Rewatch list anyway but I’ve decided no.

Rewatch: Utsukushii Kare (2021)

Country: South Korea

Release Dates: Nov 18, 2021 - Dec 23, 2021

Watch Via: Viki

Watch Dates: Mar 23, Apr 17 - 18, 2024

Rating: 7?/10

Overall: Ahh, idek why I wasn't Gripped by this rewatch, like I like the characters and dynamics but it wasn't keeping my attention as much, maybe because it's a rewatch? Maybe my original rating of 6.5 was correct and I shouldn't have bumped it up to 7 but who knows, maybe I'll be reintroduced to the brainworms after watching Season 2 because I found ep 6 really engaging and was into it and S2 + movie will have new, unfamiliar stories for me.

tags: utsukushii kare

Also Appears In: Utsukushii Kare, Utsukushii Kare (S1, S2, Movie) Live Blogging

Utsukushii Kare Season 2 (2023)

Country: South Korea

Release Dates: Feb 8, 2023 - Mar 1, 2023

Watch Via: Viki

Watch Dates: Apr 18 - 19, 2024

Rating: 7/10

Overall: This season is about Hira and Kiyoi's relationship. They didn't become boring after getting together, they didn't magically end up being a perfect happy well-adjusted couple after getting together, nor were there random issues thrown just because; the struggles and hurdles are true to their characters and dynamics. I liked the themes and dynamics it explored and their character + relationship development and progression. I also smiled a lot and lost my mind a little at certain moments. Strong writing, strong characters, strong acting, what a relief.

tags: utsukushii kare

Also Appears In: Utsukushii Kare (S1, S2, Movie) Live Blogging

My Beautiful Man: Eternal (2023)

Country: South Korea

Release Dates: Apr 7, 2023

Watch Via: Viki

Watch Dates: Apr 19, 2024

Rating: 6/10

Overall: Great, fun, though not as emotionally invested as Season 2 because they're in a better place in their relationship in this movie (even if it's not necessarily Perfect). It was interesting to have new people in their lives like Anna and Noguchi and how their stories influenced them. I'm happy with where we're leaving off the characters after ~6h of show/movie but lowest rating so far because it felt like we spent too much time on stuff like Anna’s story or the random kidnapping.

tags: utsukushii kare

Also Appears In: Utsukushii Kare (S1, S2, Movie) Live Blogging

The Warp Effect (2023)

Country: Thailand

Release Dates: Dec 12, 2022 - Feb 27, 2023

Watch Via: Youtube

Watch Dates: Apr 20 - 26, 2024

Rating: 7/10

Overall: A unique and enjoyable show, it was so fun to see all these characters in their specific situations and how they deal with them. The characters were all compelling, it's wild how I was into all their storylines. how charming each character/their story was, and how the story juggled them. It also made me see a bunch of actors in new lights, New most of all, as they acted in a role outside of their usual wheelhouse. I think the most frustrating part for me was how it seemed like although they were getting at it, they never quite acknowledged that what Alex did to Jean that night was rape. It made me quite angry actually, especially how Alex's actions didn't feel like it actually took Jean's feelings and trauma and requests into account. I was at least glad that in that timeline, Jean doesn't get back with Alex.

tags: the warp effect

Also Appears In: The Warp Effect Live Blogging

GMMTV 2024 Part 2 Showcase happened and it was very intriguing, I’m excited!

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

Country: USA

Release Dates: March 31, 1999

Watch Via: TV

Watch Dates: Apr 23 , 2024

Rating: 7/10

Overall: Watched it with my sister impulsively because apparently Heart Breakers is loosely inspired by Taming of the Shrew/10 Things I Hate About You and I wanted to understand all the stuff that referenced that movie. It’s a fun one, I thought Kat and whatever the guy’s name is were cute, even though I thought the resolution was much too easy.

Change2561 Changing Project Lineup 2024 happened and oooh, it had some gems, I’m sooo excited for Goddess Bless You From Death now!

Also last night I created a list on MDL for Upcoming shows without release dates (mostly BLs, some GLs, a non-QL here and there) and it now has 33 shows. I hope most of them are released by this year please

Currently Watching

23.5

Country: Thailand

Release Dates: Mar 8, 2024 - May 24, 2024

Watch Via: Youtube

Watch Dates: Apr 27 - ONGOING, 2024

Rating: -/10

Overall: Started it when 8 episodes were released.

tags: 23.5 degrees

Also Appears In: 23.5 Degrees Live Blogging

I think I'm just in more of a mood to watch intense/thriller stuff and would binge if I was watching that was more that route because I've been watching one ep of 23.5 a day and while it's fun, I'm not dying to watch the next part or next ep. The Warp Effect was kinda like that too, I was watching 1-2 eps a day for a while. Been a while since I binged stuff quickly (The Good Bad Mother in 3 days at the start of the month). Hopefully I can make sure I keep up with the rest of the episodes as they release and don’t get distracted with other shows.

Posts Created This Month:

GMMTV 2024 Part 2 Showcase

Change2561 Changing Project Lineup 2024

#general bl #tracking #jazz for two #the warp effect #utsukushii kare #gmmtv 2024 #change2561 2024 #23.5 degrees

4 notes · View notes

let-it-raines · 6 years ago

Text

Catch Me If You Can (10/?)

298 days. That’s how long Killian Jones was away from a baseball field. It’s less than a year, only part of a season for him, but it might as well have lasted a decade as he alternated between physical therapy and spending an excessive amount of time sitting on his couch.

But then he came back and won the World Series.

It’s something no one saw coming, and it’s certainly not something anyone who knows about his arm would predict. Now it’s a new season with new possibilities, and anything could happen. On-field reporter Emma Swan will be there to cover it all even if she is not his biggest fan right now.

Asking her out live on-air will do that.

Rating: Mature

A/N: Happy Day, you guys! I’m giving you a quick update here! I hope you enjoy!

Thank you to @resident-of-storybrooke for being a really awesome beta❤️

Found on AO3: Beginning | Current

Tumblr: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

Tag list: @royalswan @shey-starsfury @sals86 @iam2307 @ashley-knightingale @karenfrommisthaven @skyewardolicitycloisdelena91 @scientificapricot @captswanis4vr @emmas-storybook @ultimiflos @jamif @idristardis @nikkiemms @resident-of-storybrooke @tiganasummertree @wellhellotragic @bmbbcs4evr @onceuponaprincessworld @jennjenn615 @mayquita @captainsjedi @teamhook @kmomof4 @ekr032-blog-blog @ultraluckycatnd @cs-forlife @andiirivera @jonirobinson64 @mariakov81 @galaxyzxstark @qualitycoffeethings @thejollyroger-writer

-/-

Emma: Do you know if we’re getting food on this flight?

Killian:It’s seven thirty in the morning.

Emma: And your point? That’s breakfast time.

Emma: I usually stock up on snacks because I am a bottomless pit, but I didn’t have time to this morning. Do you have anything?

Killian: I have an apple. I can very clearly see that Rob has a box of Wheat Thins in his backpack though. You want me to smuggle some for you?

Emma: How would that even work?

Killian: Easy. I steal the box from Rob and then chunk it three rows up to you.

Emma: That won’t be obvious at all.

Killian: I’m very stealthy, love.

“It’s not even eight in the morning,” Robin groans, reaching for the lever on his seat to recline back in the very little space that they’re given. “Who in the world are you texting that much?”

“Liam,” he lies, heat rising to his cheeks. He has texted Liam this morning, but he’s most definitely not texting his brother right now. It’s a half-truth, really. “He’s trying to nail me down for some dinner plans once we get back home. I haven’t gotten to see them much lately, and he and Elsa always get antsy whenever that happens.”

“You’re pretty much their third child.”

“I feel like I’m their third child but also your second.”

“No,” Robin huffs, reaching down into his bag to grab his crackers, “that’s most definitely Will.”

“I can hear you,” Will mumbles from the seat in front of them as he stretches out and snuggles further into his pillow. Will could sleep on any plane at any time. It’s damn impressive. “And I’m not a child just because you all feel the need to baby me, Professor Jones.”

“So not a child but a baby then?” he teases.

Will sticks his middle finger up in between the seats, not even bothering to open his eyes as he murmurs, “fuck off.”

“I love you too, man.”

“Don’t worry,” Robin placates, a smirk on his face, “he’s only mean to you because he likes you.”

“That’s a load of bullshit.”

“For me, yeah, because I say things when I feel them.” Will pops his head in between the seats, his eyes widened but sleep heavy now. “But I think Emma is so pissy toward you because she does actually think you’re hot.”

Woah. Where did that even come from?

“Is that what she said?” he questions like he’s a fifteen-year-old boy worried about Chrissy Stephens liking him back and not like a grown man who knows that the woman he fancies is also interested in him.

What a world that he lives in that Emma Swan is interested in him.

That or she’s been very good at faking it for the last two weeks. God, he hopes that she hasn’t been faking it, but that seems like a hell of a lot of effort when they’ve talked nearly every day. Sometimes it’s just a few texts, a passing word in the hallway, an interview or a press conference question. Other times it’s a phone call late at night or Emma dropping by his place for an hour to eat dinner. He can tell that she’s still terrified by the whole thing, nervous energy practically radiating off of her when she first starts talking to him, but once they get into the groove of things, he believes that she feels comfortable.

Her wanting this and being willing to try is beyond his wildest dreams, and a part of him still thinks he’s going to be hit in the head with a baseball and wake up from whatever kind of concussion-induced dream that he’s under.

So much shit has gone down in his life, things from years past still haunting him, and he’s clinging to this good thing even if it’s far too early for any of that. He hasn’t done this relationship thing in a long time, and he’s still not entirely sure that’s what it is. They haven’t talked about it, and he imagines Emma is not going to be the person to bring it up first.

If ever.

They could be getting married, and she still might not want to discuss things.

Woah, woah, woah. That is thinking too far ahead for about a million different reasons. He is not going there.

Will’s eyes narrow at him, thick brows pushing together all the while Killian can practically feel Robin’s stare covering every inch of him. “Why do you care?”

He shrugs, his fingers fidgeting with the window shade to let some light in before immediately shutting that away. “I like to know what’s being said about me.”

“She’s sitting right up there. Why don’t you ask her, Professor Jones?”

“Because that sounds like a dumbass idea that will get me in all kinds of trouble.”

“It’s true,” Robin sighs. “You should not be talking to Emma Swan about anything other than baseball.”

His heart drops into his right calf at that. He didn’t know that was possible, but it is. Why would Robin think something like that?

“Why not?”

“Because you don’t want to piss her off anymore. She could flip the narrative on you so quickly that you’d get whiplash and all the sudden you’d be back to who you were four years ago.”

His defenses rise, words on the tip of his tongue at the ready to defend Emma. He doesn’t like that Robin thinks she would do that. They’ve all spent time around Emma. They know that even if she can be a little guarded, she’s got their best interests at heart. Even when they’ve screwed up, him especially, she’s never done anything to wrong them.

“That wouldn’t happen. She’s a professional. You know that. She’s not going to pull shit like that,” he says quietly, wondering how in the world he can change this conversation to something else so as not to show all of the metaphorical cards in his hands. “Can I have some of those crackers, Rob?”

Robin eyes him for a moment before handing him the box. Killian doesn’t even really want these, but he’s thankful for them as the conversation dies down and Will goes back to sleeping after under two minutes of trying and Robin keeps watching his movie, typing a long text to Carol for something having to do with Roland. He doesn’t want to pry, so he tries not to look, reluctantly eating the Wheat Thins before snapping a picture of them and sending it to Emma.

Killian: I can throw these across the plane if you’re ready to catch them.

Emma: Hit me with your best shot.

Emma: Not really.

Emma: Please don’t throw food on the plane. I saw that there are snacks in the back, and I’m going to pilfer them.

Before he knows it, he sees Emma’s blonde head rise up as she gets out of her seat and walks down the aisle past him. She doesn’t look at him, her eyes staring straight ahead, but that doesn’t keep him from looking as she sweetly asks a flight attendant for a packet of cookies. It looks like she’s learned since the last time they flew.

When she comes back toward him, he turns in his seat and goes back to flipping through the movies, pretending like he wasn’t just staring her down. Hopefully she didn’t notice that. She may like him, but everyone has their limits.

Emma: The red-headed flight attendant thinks you’re hot.

Killian: I’ve been reliably told that you think the same thing, and I care much more about that.

Emma: Who told you that?

Killian: You’re not the only one who can have sources.

Emma: At least mine are reliable.

Killian: So you don’t think I’m hot?

Emma: I didn’t say that.

Killian: I knew you thought I was sexy, Swan. You flatter a man.

Emma: Shut up and eat your Wheat Thins.

-/-

Fuck.

Fucking hell.

Small pinpricks of pain are spreading down his arm while his shoulder stings. Someone might as well be out here stabbing him with a knife. It would likely be less painful than this.

Not again.

Not tonight.

He’s been doing so well, his shoulder not bothering him, all of his physical therapy working to keep his muscles strengthening and his body in check, and then shit like this happens. There’s no way he can make it past the inning, and even if he wasn’t about to call it, he knows that Al is going to pull him off the mound in no less than three minutes with how many runs he’s giving up.

It’s…not good. They’re down 2-8 in the bottom of the fourth, and he might as well be dying out here under the Florida sunshine and the humidity that has his bones weighing twice their normal weight. Spring Training never prepares him for this when it’s this muggy outside.

He might as well be in a damn swamp. Tropicana field sounds so cheery, so pleasant, but he’s dying inside. Why the hell do teams agree to name their fields things like Tropicana and Minute Maid? How much exactly are they getting paid to suffer like that?

How much is he getting paid to suffer like this?

Taking a deep breath, he tries to focus on what’s in front of him. That’s all he can do when his body is failing him like this, and with a quick windup, he releases the ball from his grip and watches it fly right into Will’s glove.

Strike three. Byrd’s out.

Immediately, he jogs to the dugout, opening the small gate and going straight for the water cooler, gulping down a cup before pouring himself another one and covering his head to try to cool himself down. He’s so damn mad at himself for playing like this, for having a body that’s failing him when his body has always been his livelihood and the thing he maintained with precision and dedication, and all he wants is to punch every single member of the Rays even though none of them have ever actually wronged him.

Anger takes its way out in strange places.

“You’re done, Jones,” Al tells him, his voice clipped.

“Good.”

He tosses his cup to the ground in annoyance and turns to make his way to the bench, figuring he’ll suffer out here for a little while longer, only to see Emma standing with her bottom lip tugged between her teeth and her phone in her hand.

Right.

She’s sitting in the dugout with them tonight recording videos and doing fun little segments for her Instagram and Twitter, and he’s probably looked like an ass in all of them.

Because he is an ass.

“You okay?” she mouths.

He doesn’t respond with more than a shake of his head no before he’s turning away and heading toward the tunnels that will take him back to the locker room so he can get this damn shoulder massaged and have Archie yell at him once again for trying to keep all of this under wraps.

-/-

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Killian sighs into his phone as he runs the towel over his waist, drying his body as much as he can before knotting it over his hip. His brother doesn’t seem to understand that people are busy and life is busy and maybe he wants to shower for fifteen minutes simply so everyone will leave him alone.

It’s been three hours since he left the field after the game, and it’s still not enough time to let him simmer in his thoughts.

“Are you sure because you kept grimacing and – ”

“I know what happened, Liam. God, I…” He runs his hands through his damp hair, water droplets falling over his face and tracing the lines where the beginnings of a sunburn are forming. “My shoulder hurt today. You know it, and I know it. There’s no point in denying it. I just don’t want to talk about it anymore when I already got my ass handed to me by Archie and Al.”

“I’m worried about you,” Liam laments, the sound of his television in the background. The girls should be asleep by now, so it must be Elsa sitting quietly listening in to their conversation while she pretends that she isn’t. He doesn’t know why she does that when she and Liam don’t keep anything to themselves when it comes to him, their honorary third child. “You have been nothing but healthy you’re entire life, and then I convinced you to go sailing with me and – ”

“Please do not blame yourself for that accident anymore.”

“Why not? I’m the one who insisted we go on the weekend trip. I’m the one who – ”

“For fuck’s sake, Liam, it’s not your fault. The drunks who ran into us are the only people who have any kind of fault. We probably should have died that day, and we didn’t. I just got a fucked-up arm. I’ll take that over anything else. You don’t have to act like you’re my father taking responsibility for all of my actions.”

The moment he says the words, he regrets them.

How could he not?

Comparing Liam to their father is the absolute last thing that he wants to do. Liam, even with his faults and his judgmental ways, is nothing like Brennan. Brennan Jones never cared unless it benefitted himself, and Liam cares because it’s what good family does. It’s what people who love each other do.

His brother is the greatest man that he knows, and yet here he is taking all of his anger out on him because he can’t always play the sport that he loves like he used to.

“Our father never took any responsibility for our actions.”

“God,” he groans, running his hands through his hair again and yanking at the strands, “I don’t know why I said that. I just – ”

“You’re angry right now.” The way Liam says the words calmly, like they’re talking about the weather or a lunch up on the rooftop of his building, weirdly calms him down and makes his heart beat a little less erratically. “I would be angry too if the accident had kept me from doing something I love the way I had done it before. You got hurt, and I got a small scar on my knee. It’s not fair, and you can be angry. Just…don’t let that anger ruin your relationship with others.”

“I hate that you’re so wise sometimes.”

“It’s only some of the time,” Elsa pipes in, confirming his thought that she was in there simply listening in. “He’s an idiot most of the time, actually, and it drives me insane that the girls think he is the smartest man alive.”

“Hi, Els,” he laughs, opening the door to the bathroom to let some of the steam out and walking back into his hotel room. “You should really announce yourself before you start listening in on a conversation. I know you’re there.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want you to think I’m too nosy.”

Killian barks out a laugh at that because there’s no other word he could describe Elsa as other than nosy at this moment. Compassionate and kind also come to mind, but right now she’s nosy.

Shuffling through the room, he sits down at the edge of the bed, the mattress dipping down underneath his weight, and picks up the remote to turn the television if only because he wants some background noise, so he doesn’t get too lost in his own thoughts.

“You and my brother are a packaged deal, darling,” he sighs, “and Addy and Lucy. I know that you are all far too much into my business.”

“It’s only because we care, little brother.”

“Younger, you asshole.”

“Language,” Elsa scolds.

“I’m twenty-eight years old and sitting in a hotel room by myself. I think I can say the word asshole.”

“Sorry, force of habit.”

“You’re such a mom,” he groans, falling back against the mattress, his towel coming undone the slightest bit.

“I did not push those two children out of my vagina to go by any other name.”

“Oh my God, stop. I don’t like to think about how those two were created.”

“Killian, childbirth is natural.”

“I’m talking about the creating, not the delivering.”

Liam and Elsa both start coughing before their coughs turn into laughter, the two of them sputtering and bickering back and forth with each other, and he sits up on the bed and starts mindlessly flipping through the channels until he finds a Dodgers game. Why is he watching baseball when he’s trying to get away from it all?

Because it is his life.

“You know, little brother,” Liam chokes out, emphasizing the little because he is, indeed, an asshole, “if you had a girlfriend, you would probably feel more comfortable talking about sex.”

“I am perfectly comfortable talking about sex. Just not yours.”

“I know but – ”

There’s a knock at the door, and he feels like he’s saved by the bell (or the knuckles) at the sound, not really wanting to have this conversation with Liam even if he goaded them into it and if it’s more pleasant than talking about his shoulder.

“Hey, guys,” he starts, already getting up and tying his towel a little tighter around his waist, “there’s someone at my door. I have to go. I’ll call you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Let us know if you need to talk,” Elsa sighs, quietly echoed by Liam. “We love you.”

“Love you guys too.”

He hangs up the phone and places it on his dresser before crossing the room and looking through the peephole to see who is knocking on his door.

It’s Emma.

She’s standing just outside his door in an oversized white sweater and a pair of leggings, her hair pulled up in a messy bun, and he can tell by the way that she’s unable to stand still that she’s anxious. Immediately, he twists all of the locks and swings open the door, catching it before it slams into the wall.

“Swan,” he smiles, already reaching forward and tugging her inside, looking from side to side in the hallway to make sure no one is around.

“Hey, so I – ”

He stops her before she can finish her sentence, closing the door behind them and quickly dipping his head down to slide his lips over hers, just the barest hint of a touch in greeting but enough to make all of his body begin to stand at attention.

“Hi,” he whispers when he pulls back.

Emma’s lashes flutter as she looks up at him, a little redness of her cheeks. “Hi. I’m guessing you don’t mind that I dropped by then.”

“Truthfully, I’m very upset about it.”

“You’re a liar,” she laughs, adjusting the bag that she’s holding. Wow, he didn’t even notice the bag. His mind is all over the place tonight. “You’re also not wearing any clothes. Why are you not wearing any clothes?”

A shiver runs down his spine as Emma’s eyes glance over him, very obviously cataloging his body in the same way that he’s done to hers in the past. The room is more heated, the steam from the bathroom permeating into the bedroom, and he knows that it would be so damn easy to step a little bit more into Emma’s space and capture her mouth with his as his hands explored her body the way that her eyes are exploring him. It would be so damn easy to forget about the difficulties of this day, to forget about the ache in his shoulder, and let his body do all of the talking that it couldn’t do today.

He could prove that his body still works, that he can still do good with it, that he can still bring himself pleasure, bring Emma pleasure.

…but he can’t do that. Not yet.

It’s not the right time when he’s riddled in self-doubt and frustration, and even if Emma was ready, he wants to do this right. He doesn’t want to use her and his affections for her to make him forget everything for a night.

They need more time to get to know each other.

When the hell was the last time he wanted to get to know a woman well before he slept with her?

Why would he even ask himself that question when he knows the answer?

“Well, darling,” he finally sighs, backing up from her to give himself room to breathe all the while he makes sure to flash her a grin, “I did this thing called showering, and I don’t often do it with clothes.” “That’s smart. It’d probably get a little messy like that.”

“Most definitely. What’s in the bag?”

“Oh,” she gasps, her shoulders shrugging up the slightest bit as her eyes light up, the darkness turning back to light green. “So, I didn’t mean to be presumptuous or whatever by coming here, but you didn’t seem to have the best day, and I figured I would bring you, like, a snack or whatever to help you out. Then I thought maybe I could stay for a bit, but if you want to tell me to fuck off, I can be back in my room in a minute.”

How in the world does he find everything she does so charming? He was in a piss-poor mood, still is, and even though he wasn’t exceptionally friendly to her when she was doing interviews in the locker room, she’s being more than kind to him.

“Love, the absolute last thing I would do is tell you to fuck off. I’m glad you decided to come see me even if I don’t know how you know my room number.”

She winks before turning around and placing the paper bag down. “You’re not the only one who knows how to charm people to get information.”

“Apparently not. What kind of spoils have you brought me?”

“Totally ignoring the fact that you said spoils,” she laughs, pulling out a bag of salt and vinegar chips and then several snack cakes. And then one banana which doesn’t seem to fit at all. “But I raided a vending machine and also the hotel front desk for the banana, and figured maybe we could pig out a bit since I know for a fact both of us are going running tomorrow.”

“Do you have strawberry short cakes in that pile?”

He steps closer to her, and she holds up a package of Pop-Tarts, strawberry flavored. “Is this close enough?”

“Only because we’re in a pinch.” Killian takes it out of her hand, and tosses it over to the bed before picking up his bag of clothes and sliding it into the bathroom. “I’m just going to put on some pants and then we’ll – ”

There’s another knock on his door, and this time he’s not saved by the bell. He doesn’t want this conversation to end. Emma stops what she’s doing, dropping the chips she’s holding back onto the desk, and she turns to look at him with wide eyes and parted lips, panic written across all of her features.

“What do we do?” she whispers, her voice probably echoing from here all the way back up to the east coast.

“I’m just going to ignore it,” he says quietly, stepping back over to the door to look to see who it is. “Oh shit.”

“What?” Emma whispers, stepping closer only for him to hold out his arm in front of her.

There’s another knock, this time really more of a pounding, and then Ariel’s voice comes through the wood. “I know you’re in your room, Killian. Open the door.”

Emma’s eyes widen even more, and if he wasn’t currently freaking out over what to do, he’d laugh at the comic relief over the whole thing. “Get in the bathroom, love.”

She nods her head, quickly picking up the food she brought in and scrambling into the bathroom, closing the door behind her at the same time that he opens his hotel door, his hand furiously scratching at his ear.

“What, A?”

“Well, that’s a way to greet me.” She immediately moves past him and into the room, never one for understanding personal space. “Why do you have a package of Pop-Tarts on your bed?”

“I got it from the vending machine,” he lies, closing his door behind her and walking back over to his bed. “I was hungry but didn’t feel like ordering anything in. Why are you here? Where’s Eric?”

Ariel rolls her eyes and stretches out onto his bed, picking up the remote and immediately changing the TV from the game he was watching. “Believe it or not, I am capable of being in a separate space than my husband.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

She simply waves him away. “Whatever. I just wanted to check on you. I know you get all moody after losses, and you didn’t come join everyone for dinner. Also, can you put some clothes on while we have this conversation? I love you, but I don’t need to see every bit of you.”

“You’re the one who came barging into my room,” he groans as his mind runs through about fifteen scenarios on how to get Ariel out of his room, “but fine. I’ll go change.”

Killian steps away from his bed and walks the few steps to the bathroom door, quietly opening it up and immediately shutting it behind him in case Ariel for some reason decided to move behind him.

This is by far the weirdest thing that has happened to him this year. He’s hiding his girlfri – he’s hiding Emma in his hotel bathroom.

And she’s sitting on the countertop with her legs crossed over each other eating the bag of chips like that’s not the loudest food she could have chosen.

“What are you doing?” she hisses. Putting the chips down.

“Ariel has requested I put on some clothes.”

“But there’s no place for me to move in here so you can do that.”

Killian rolls his eyes at her flustered movements and far too loud hushed voice. It’s what has him turning on the sink before he leans forward and presses a kiss to Emma’s cheek. “I can slip my sweatpants on under my towel. I promise I’m not going to scar you.”

“You wouldn’t scar me. I just – ”

He reaches down to his bag, grabbing a pair of pants and pulling them on underneath his towel, his mind fighting with him to think of every delicious and dirty thought about having Emma in the shower, and tugs them up before dropping his towel to the ground and finding a t-shirt to wear. How is his bag so disorganized?

“What was that now, love?”

“Nothing,” she hisses, blushing. “How long am I supposed to stay in here? I’m kind of freaking out.”

“You’ve got food, water, and a bathroom. I think you’ll be good for a week or two.”

“Asshole.”

“I try.” He flashes her a grin before leaning forward and quickly gliding his lips over hers and tasting the salt and vinegar of her kiss. Damn does he love that he can do that. “I’ll try to get her to leave as soon as possible, okay? Be quiet on your chip eating.”

Emma scrunches up her nose before sticking her tongue out at him and grabbing another chip with one hand while the other turns the faucet off. He sighs, amused and exasperated all at once, before opening the bathroom door and stepping out only to find Ariel eating the Pop-Tarts.

He kind of wanted those even if there are a million better ways to consume five hundred calories.

“Why’d you turn your water on?”

“Didn’t want you to hear me pee.”

“Fair enough.” She shrugs her shoulders and pats the spot on his bed next to her. He takes the small desk chair instead. “Tell me why you’re in such a bad mood.”

“I’m not.”

“Liar.”

“I’m not a liar.”

(He is a liar.)

“Okay,” Ariel murmurs as she takes another bite, “so if you’re not in a bad mood, would you at least like to explain why you didn’t come to dinner?”

He swivels in the chair a bit, his legs antsy to tap and stay moving, but that’ll make him seem anxious to Ariel. That’s the last thing that he wants when he is, indeed, anxious for her to get out of the room.

“I – I felt like I let everyone down today,” he admits, leaving out his own self-loathing about his injury. Half-truths. He’s always speaking in half-truths. “I played a shitty game. I was in a bad mood. I was awful company and didn’t want anything to do with anyone. So, I kind of figured I’d come back here and work that out on my own instead of making everyone else miserable.”

“Killian Jones, you know for a fact that we are not miserable around you. At least Eric and I aren’t. Neither are Robin or Will or even August. The only person who would take issue with you being all pissy is Arthur and that’s because he’s got his own set of issues.”

He scoffs and closes his eyes as he stretches his legs out. She’s right. He knows that she is because she’s always right. She’s basically another version of Elsa in that aspect.

“I know. I’m…you know how I get, A. I’ll be fine. Tomorrow, I’ll come to whatever team-mandated meal you arrange.”

“That’s all I ask.” She rises from the bed, picking up the Pop-Tart she hasn’t eaten, and walks over to him to briefly press her lips against his temple. “I’m going to let you wallow, okay? But tomorrow after you’ve finished your practice, we have to talk about your calendar for the rest of May and June. I’ve got some charity stuff lined up for you.”

“I will be at your beck and call.”

“As you should be. Text me if you need anything, okay?”

“Will do.”

Ariel nods her head and smiles before walking out the door, letting it slam shut behind her. Letting out a sigh of relief, he places his face in his hands and simply takes a moment to breathe and let his mind stop racing about how horrible of a human being he is for lying to everyone.

He’s the worst, isn’t he? He has to be.

When he’s finished with his little pity party, he sits up and raises his fist to the wall, banging on it to let Emma know that she can come out of the bathroom.

The door clicks, and she emerges, flipping the locks on his door and then walking toward him, stepping into his space until he’s pulling her in by the hips to stand in the open space between his legs, his head resting against her stomach.

Maybe he’s not quite finished with his pity party.

“So,” Emma hums, her feet moving into his line of vision as her hands scratch at that back of his head, which may very well be the best fucking feeling in the world, “apparently everyone in the world knows you’re in a bad mood, and you don’t want to talk to any of us about it.”

“Do you want to talk every time you’re in a bad mood?”

“Hell no.”

“Exactly.” He leans back in the chair, the loss of her touch immediate. “I think I just…you want to watch a movie with me or something?”

“Can I pick it out?”

“Yeah, Swan, you can.”

They settle down onto the mattress, pulling the thin sheet that’s at the bottom of the bed over them instead of settling under the covers, and Emma tucks herself into his side so that her head rests on his collarbone and her hand is covering his stomach, a leg tucked between his. In all of the time they’ve spent together in the past two weeks, he thinks this is the most comfortable she’s ever been around him.

He likes it.

It’s…refreshing. He keeps thinking that, thinking about how this is so different than how he’s been the past few years. If he was with a woman, it was to sleep with her, to scratch an itch. It was not to settle down and watch Men in Black because despite insisting that she wanted to pick the movie, Emma refused to let him pay for them to rent a newer movie.

And obviously he wants to sleep with Emma, his mind racing with thoughts of what exactly that would be like to do to her, but he’s good just like this.

This is by far the best part of his day, and Florida isn’t seeming like such a hell hole anymore as his fingers play with the wisps of her hair that have fallen out of her bun and her hands toy with his mom’s ring that’s fallen outside of his t-shirt. He doesn’t even think she realizes that she’s doing it.

“The ring was my mom’s.”

Emma stops her movements, her fingers stilling, before looking up at him, her face only lightened by the glow of the television now that the sun has set, and everything is covered in darkness. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to mess with it.”

“Swan, it’s fine,” he promises, reaching down to take her hand and place it back against his chest and against the ring. He smiles a little, the left side of his lips curving up, to try to reassure her of the fact that it is fine. He doesn’t mind. “I simply figured you wanted to know why I wear a ring around my neck. Wouldn’t want you to think I’m secretly married.”

“Well, I wasn’t thinking that until right about now.”

Later. He’ll tell her about Milah later. He can already tell that he’s about to tell her too much about his family tonight. She doesn’t need to know about his ex-girlfriend too.

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“I know.” She pats his chest and readjusts herself so that she can look at him a little better. How are her eyes so green? “So, tell me about your mom. If you want to.”

“Her name was Amelia,” he starts out, scooting down a little further so that he and Emma are nearly eye to eye, “and she was just…she was amazing. I have a terrible memory, so I don’t remember much, but I remember that she had this red hair that would make Ariel jealous and this big belly laugh that kind of reminds me of Liam. I don’t – I guess I never thought about it before, but she was really into baking, which is probably why I eventually came around to it. That’s likely the only thing I got from her other than the red in my beard.”

He knows that it’s not true, that he is more like her than he’s willing to admit, but it’s not what he usually thinks about. It’s not what Liam talks about either even though he was seventeen when she died.

“How did she – ”

“Cancer,” he murmurs, tracing Emma’s pointer finger until he lifts their hands and treads his fingers through hers, squeezing their hands together. “It was very sudden, not a lot of time to say goodbye, you know?”

Emma presses forward and brushes a kiss to his knuckles. He’s sure it’s because no one ever knows what to say that, and Emma is likely no exception. “She would be so proud of you, I think. I know that’s probably overstepping my boundaries to say that, but I don’t see how anyone could not be proud of you for working so hard to achieve your dreams and for being so good to your family.”

Maybe she’s the exception then.

He’s not sure that his mom would be proud of him, not lately.

“Thank you, darling. I’m not sure if that’s true, but thank you.”

Emma’s brows pinch, her lips pursing. “How could that not be true, twenty-nine?”

Because he’s a self-loathing bastard who can never seem to bury his demons even when he needs to.

“Do you want to know part of the reason why I was in such a shitty mood today?”

He can’t tell her the full truth, but the half truth seems okay today.

“Only if you want to tell me.”

He gulps, nodding his head and inching further down to bed to tangle his legs with Emma’s and nearly brush his nose against hers. He’s twenty-eight, but there’s something akin to a childlike belief running through him that nothing can invade the quietness of this hotel room right now.

“I haven’t spoken to my father since I was nineteen years old,” he admits, bringing their hands up to rest between their chests. “That seems like a shitty thing to do when I was only down to one parent, but my dad is an asshole, you know? He was the one who signed me up to play little league ball, and every single day I was outside running or practicing my batting or pitching once I changed to that track. He pushed me so damn hard, which I always thought was a good thing, until I’d lose a game or be a minute slow on my run and he’d make me do everything all over again. I was eleven, and the man had me on a meal plan to make sure I was developing with the sole purpose of playing ball.”

He takes a breath, blinking away the tears that aren’t there but might as well be.

“He became obsessed. Completely and totally obsessed. And since Liam was long gone from the house, he was my only influence. I did what he said when he said it and played it off as it all being part of the game that I loved. But he pushed and pushed and pushed until I hated waking up every day. He screamed at me, calling me a pathetic fucker, told me that I was ruining his life by not being good enough. It was just this constant stream of hatred spewing out of his mouth, and when I got to Vandy, he started betting on my games, started taking bribes and offers and so many things that could have taken the game away from me forever. He’s a piss poor excuse for a dad, and it took me nineteen years to realize that I didn’t have to be subjected to his shit. So, I just…I cut him off. Liam and I both did. And today I – I was mad about how I played, and I took it out on Liam by saying he was not my father and some other stuff. That always kind of spirals us, and that’s why I was so annoyed when you first got here.”

That was too much.

That was far too much.

Killian should have kept his mouth shut, should have never let all of that out even if it’s skimming the surface. Emma likely already thinks he’s insane, that he’s got enough issues, and he just revealed so many more.

Good things in his life do not stay, and Emma is most definitely a good thing.

And he’s not even telling her about his arm.

“Your dad is a fucking asshole,” she spits, untangling their hands and running her palms up over the skin at his neck until she’s softly gliding her thumb underneath his eye. “I can’t imagine how much that has to mess you up in your mind. He took something you loved and twisted it. He was not what a parent should be, and you have every right to be upset about that. I’ve never met Liam, but I know that he loves you and that he understands how you tick. I’m sure he’s not mad at you for being upset with him when he understands your anger was coming from something else.”

Tell her, tell her, tell her.

His mind is screaming at him, but he can under no circumstances tell her everything. Not about Milah, not about his arm, not about all of his thoughts and feelings.

In time.

He’ll tell her in time.

They’re so early in this thing that they’re doing, and even if it’s been awhile for him, he knows that two weeks in is not the time to dumb every bit of baggage that he’s carrying.

“Thank you, love,” he sighs, closing his eyes and pressing forward to slowly guide his lips over hers, another silent thank you for simply being here. It’s nice to have someone on the road with him. Honestly and truly. “I’m sure this is not how you imagined this night going.”

“What?” Emma laughs, a tentative smile curling on her lips. “You think I didn’t come in here expecting you to tell me about your shitty dad as we watch Will Smith kill some aliens? I feel like that’s a pretty normal night.” “So this is normal for you then?”

“Staying in bed as much as possible?”

“Absolutely.”

He hums, inching closer and closer to her so that their foreheads brush together and his nose is pressing into her cheek as he speaks. “I think I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

#catch me if you can #cs fic #cs ff #captain swan fic #captain swan

95 notes · View notes