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antilocaprine · 3 years ago

Note

Since your last prompt made me sad. For the kissing prompt: 41, because the world is saved.

(Kiss Prompt List)

I will admit this one got completely away from me - it absolutely does not need to be as long as it is, but here we are. Also it definitely starts out very angsty, but it does get better. Please mind the tags. Also check out the full collection on AO3 as I add more of these to compile them in one place.

41: ...because the world is saved.

The car wasn’t even going that fast, and that was the dumb part. Benrey should have had plenty of time - but he panicked.

He never used to panic, not before the resonance cascade and fighting through a collapsing facility and Xen and dying over and over again. It was run-of-the-mill at the time. Get up, aggravate someone for fun, wander around, drink soda, die, heal, get up again. Normal Tuesday things.

But then he dragged his battered body up out of the murky goop in the Xen cavern to find himself alone and realized he was tired. And he missed the weird group of humans and human-adjacent people he’d been hanging out with. He wasn’t used to missing anyone or anything, so it was a novel experience, and he decided to chase the feeling - which led him to the most cliche suburban house on the outskirts of a New Mexico city and a very frazzled-looking Gordon who opened the door to a background of screaming, stared blankly at Benrey, said “Oh good, you’re back,” and handed him a shrieking armful of toddler.

So Benrey met Joshua, and found out Gordon had no hard feelings, and things had been…well, nice since then.

But not today. Today, they were in the city for some movie that Benrey could barely remember because he’d spent most of it in a poking war with Joshua to keep him entertained. The kid must have gotten the gist of it, though, because he was running ahead and then back on the sidewalk, yelling about superheroes and explosions in the deepening dusk. Gordon strolled along behind him and Benrey slouched beside Gordon, licking at the ice cream residue that was drying in a line down his wrist.

“Dude, just get a napkin,” Gordon said.

“nuh, this is, uh, seconds,” Benrey explained. “it’s…i’m saving it for later.”

Gordon eyed his arm. “You’re licking it now.”

“yeah? now’s later, from the ice cream, b’cause we had it, uhh, a while ago.”

“It’s been ten minutes. Joshua still has his co- JOSH!”

Benrey jolted from the force of terror in Gordon’s sudden shout, and he looked up to see Gordon lunging for the sidewalk’s edge, where Joshua had just stepped into the street, eyes fixed on something colorful on the center line.

The world slowed down. Benrey’s ear flicked as tires rushed over asphalt up the lane - a car was coming. It wasn’t late enough in the evening for everyone to have their headlights on, but it was dark enough that they should. However, there was no play of light across the street. This car’s headlights were off.

Joshua’s heel connected with the edge of a pothole and he started to stumble. Gordon was running, leaning forward - he was going to be horizontal in a moment, and he also wasn’t going to be able to reach Joshua in time. Benrey could tell that like he could tell the flavor of ice cream he’d been eating. He knew.

It was an easy enough decision to make. Benrey wasn’t human - he could move faster, jump higher, phase in and out of solid objects. This was a problem with a simple solution.

To an outside observer, it probably looked like Benrey flickered as he moved from the sidewalk to the street, scooping Joshua up in the middle of the lane and turning to bring him back. The car was still feet away, and it wasn’t even going that fast -

But they were on a corner, and now there was a truck coming around the curve, accelerating as it drifted over the center line, and Benrey wasn’t expecting that, he wasn’t ready for it, and Gordon was still advancing - if he kept coming he’d be hit by the car, and Benrey and Joshua would both be hit by the truck, and - and -

Benrey panicked, and threw the kid.

Joshua sailed through the air and collided with Gordon, who slammed to a halt and started to go over backward as he fumbled to catch his child. The truck clipped Benrey’s shoulder and sent him spinning right into the path of the car, which promptly ran him over.

Tires screeched, people screamed, and Benrey looked up at what was probably an axle - and then something heavy rolled onto his head and he didn’t see anything at all.

* * *

Benrey woke up in the dark. It was cold, but not frigid. He was laying on his back, and all his parts felt like they were attached. On the whole, he’d woken up in worse places.

Then he tried to sit up, and immediately slammed his head on a hard surface approximately six inches in front of his face.

“owww,” he whined, and his voice echoed off metal walls in every direction. Wherever Benrey was, it was cramped and closed-in and solid stainless steel.

He’d still woken up in worse places.

It took him a few minutes, but eventually he was able to clip through the metal and into the closest open space. Benrey found himself in a dim room furnished with stainless steel tables, drains on the epoxy floor, a splashguard around the edge of the room, and a whole wall of three-foot-by-two-foot drawers, one of which he had just clipped out of.

Benrey stood up and tugged on the door next to his. It slid open to reveal an elderly woman who was clearly dead.

“gross,” Benrey said, and closed the drawer with a clang.

Something clattered outside. Benrey frowned and walked over to peer through the window on the swinging door. A very young man was sitting at a desk in the hall, a lunchbox open next to his elbow and his mouth full of what looked like chicken salad sandwich. He stared at Benrey, who waved at him through the little square window.

When he didn’t move, Benrey pushed the door open. The guy’s eyes dropped, then sprang back up to Benrey’s face and he made a choking sound. The ID badge clipped onto his shirt had a big line of colored text along the bottom that read “INTERN.”

Benrey glanced down as well and frowned. “oh, yo, what? why’m’i naked?”

The intern wheezed, his face turning an alarming shade of red.

“d’you know where my clothes are?” Benrey asked him.

Still coughing, the intern raised a shaking hand and pointed back into the room, to the wall opposite the one Benrey had climbed out of. The drawers on that wall were much smaller, with precise labels on them. Benrey walked over and ran his finger down the rows until it stuttered over a drawer marked “Freeman.” He yanked it open fast enough that it dropped off the rails, and he struggled to push it back in for a moment before abandoning it as a lost cause.

In the space inside, there were several bagged items. Benrey pulled them out one by one - his blood-soaked pants, his blood-soaked shirt, his blood-soaked hoodie. Well. Technically it was Gordon’s blood-soaked hoodie, but Benrey wore it better. Underwear, shoes - oh, hey, wallet, that’s nice. The cell phone had blood on it, but he wasn’t sure if that would count as water damage or not. It was scuffed and cracked, but the screen powered on when he pushed the power button. Score. But the clothes were unsalvageable.

He padded back across the floor and pushed the door open a little again. The intern froze with the desk phone up to his ear and his finger hovering over the keypad.

“bro, d’you - you didn’t wash my stuff? that’s not good service, man. zero stars.”

The intern made a slightly hysterical noise, then clapped his free hand over his mouth. Benrey frowned at him, then glanced over his shoulder. He supposed he could just take someone else’s clothes. It wasn’t like they were going to use them. But that felt like it would make Gordon yell at him, and not in a good way. Not the fun kind of yelling, with a smile hidden in it.

“you got more of those?”

The intern swallowed and rasped, “There’s…spare scrubs in the changing room?”

Benrey raised his eyebrows. The intern pointed to another door next to the one Benrey was looking out of. It was smaller, and the room on the other side was dark.

“But - after you do that, you have to sit down and wait for a doctor, okay?”

“whuh?” Benrey let the door to the hall swing closed and opened the changing room door.

“Sir, you - you need to wait for a doctor after you get dressed! You should be evaluated for -”

“myuh, sure,” Benrey muttered, flicking coathangers. He pulled on a loose pair of plain blue scrubs, and found some soft shoe covers that could work as shoes in a pinch. He wiggled his toes against the grippy rubber and snorted.

“Sir?” The intern sounded like he’d opened the hall door. “Sir, do you need help?”

“nope,” Benrey replied, thumbing through his phone’s contacts. Gordon’s phone went straight to voicemail. He called the home phone, and it rang until the answering machine picked up. Benrey hung up and stared blankly at the wall.

He was pretty sure that Gordon and Joshua had been out of the way of the car, but then again, he had thought he was out of the way of the car. And yeah, okay, he would have been if it weren’t for the truck, but he should have noticed that earlier. Could he have missed another hazard? Possibly.

Fuck.

Benrey called Tommy.

Tommy answered on the second ring without a greeting. “Are you back? Where are you?”

“uh.” Benrey looked around. “morgue?”

Tommy swore viciously in a language Benrey didn’t recognize. “You gotta - you have to get to the hospital. The one on - with the - the bird statue, it’s, um -”

“i know where it is,” Benrey interrupted. Tommy was bad with locations when he was under pressure, and the tense tremor to his voice suggested that was the case. “dunno where i am, but i’ll, uh…find out, i guess.” He swallowed, and forced himself to continue. “is…Gordon…”

“Gordon’s fine - well.” Tommy paused, and there were voices in the background mixed with a tinny announcement. He was on some kind of public transport - a bus or train or something. “It’s, um. It’s Joshua. He hit his head and, um.”

An icy hole yawned open in Benrey’s chest. “is he…?”

“Oh! No, he’s, he’s alive, but it’s - he’s hurt,” Tommy stuttered. “You should - you might be able to, um -”

“yeah,” Benrey said, eyeing the winged logo on the bulk scrubs. “i’ll find them.”

He ended the call and closed his eyes, focusing. The morgue was underground, but the logo on the scrubs suggested he was in the right hospital, which made sense. He couldn’t hear Gordon or Joshua, so he’d have to go looking for them. And that meant he didn’t have time to wait around and talk to any doctors about his “miraculous recovery.”

“Sir?” The intern tapped on the hall door. Benrey pocketed his phone and clipped through the wall.

Being in scrubs in a hospital was actually super useful. Benrey kept his head down and kept moving, listening in each wing for familiar voices, and no one bothered him, even when he ended up in an area of the hospital where no one was in scrubs the same shade of blue he was wearing.

After a few more minutes of aimless wandering, he remembered some snippet from a TV show about how hospitals were grouped by age - so all he had to do was find the kid’s section, and he’d find Joshua. He listened for children, and almost immediately heard little voices on another floor in the wing across an open quad, green lawns criss-crossed by concrete paths and studded with fountains. Benrey padded through the open area, ducking under the shadow of the colossal bird statue on the roof, and slipped through the door behind someone in a white lab coat. He was used to following white lab coats. Being in a hospital was surprisingly homey.

Once he got up to the right floor, Benrey tilted his head to listen again. Immediately he zeroed in on a familiar voice, speaking with a very unfamiliar edge of desperation.

“Well then, what DO you know? Because it sounds to me like you don’t know ANYTHING right now!”

“Sir,” a calmer voice replied, as Benrey trotted down a hall full of single-occupant rooms with lots of beeping machinery. “We’re hoping to avoid surgery, but he needs time for the swelling to go down. The medically-induced coma is necessary for that. I understand that it’s frustrating to wait, but right now, that’s all we can do.”

Benrey rounded the corner and saw Gordon with his back to the corridor wall, glaring down at a diminutive dark-haired woman who was giving him a sympathetically no-nonsense look. Benrey idly noted that Gordon was a fucking mess - his clothes were disheveled with dirt and possibly blood, one knee of his pants was torn, his hair was coming out of its tie, his hand was bandaged, and his prosthetic had a bright silver line where the coating had been scraped off.

“If you can’t keep a calm environment for your son,” the doctor said, “you’re going to have to leave the room and wait in the common area for news.”

“No,” Gordon exclaimed, then visibly tempered himself, blinking reddened eyes. “No, I can - I’ll be quiet. I’m sorry. I just -” He squeezed his eyes closed, and his shoulders shuddered for a moment before he took a shaky inhale. The doctor placed a hand on his arm and squeezed.

“We’re doing everything we can,” she said. “The best thing to do right now is wait.”

Gordon’s head was still down, but he nodded. Behind the doctor, Benrey slipped into the room and set his back to the wall, hoping the doctor wasn’t planning to come back inside.

“If you need anything, go to the nurse’s station or hit the call button,” the doctor said, and Benrey huffed out a relieved breath as her footsteps receded. He didn’t look at the bed yet. He didn’t want to see. Gordon was coming back inside, anyway.

Benrey reached out and tugged Gordon away from the door, clapping a hand over his mouth. Gordon jolted, his bloodshot eyes going wide for a moment before they focused on Benrey, and then Gordon crumpled.

“oof,” Benrey huffed, and set his feet to support the sudden influx of weight as Gordon collapsed onto him, his arms coming up around Benrey and squeezing so tightly that he squeaked.

“You motherfucker,” Gordon gasped, his voice ragged and shaking. “You stupid motherfucker.”

“hey,” Benrey said mildly, rubbing a hand up and down Gordon’s back.

“You fucking -” Gordon pulled back and straightened up, reaching up with one hand to pull his glasses off and scrub the back of his hands across his wet cheeks. Benrey cleared his throat uncomfortably. Gordon’s prosthetic tightened on Benrey’s arm, like he was afraid Benrey would disappear if he let go.

“are you…okay?”

Gordon gasped out a weak cough of laughter, shaking his head and squeezing his eyes shut. His lips were pulled back in a grimace. “Fuck,” he whispered, then shoved his glasses back on and looked down at Benrey. “I’m - it’s better, now that you’re back,” he said.

Benrey reeled. “uh.”

“Took you a while,” Gordon told him. Benrey looked around for a clock, then realized that wouldn’t help. He pulled his phone out and Gordon made a pained sound at the bloodstains and cracks.

“oh dang,” Benrey said. Almost two days had passed. “was i - did you not change?”

“My kid is in the hospital and you were - “ Gordon swallowed. “Of fucking course I didn’t change. That would - I’d have to leave, and what if -” He cut himself off and pressed his lips tightly together.

And, well, it was probably time. Benrey turned his head and looked at the bed.

It was both better and worse than he’d expected. Better in that Joshua didn’t look scuffed up at all - he was clean, with no trace of blood and only minimal bruising on one cheek. But then Benrey looked at the the machines hooked up to his little arms, the plastic array over his lower face with a tube going down his throat, the hiss and puff of a ventilator pushing air into his lungs -

Benrey ducked his head into Gordon’s chest and breathed. Gordon’s arms came up around him again, and this time Gordon was the one patting Benrey’s back.

“I know,” Gordon rasped. “It looks - bad.”

“what’s - wrong with him?”

“Brain swelling,” Gordon said. “He - we both fell, and I couldn’t - I didn’t -”

“s’not your fault,” Benrey said, knowing that as much as he knew anything. “i, uh. i kinda. panicked. shouldn’t have -”

“If it’s not my fault, it’s not your fault.” Gordon’s voice was firm for the first time.

Benrey chuckled weakly. “yeah, okay.” He pulled himself away from Gordon and tangled their hands together, dragging him closer to Joshua’s bedside.

“They’re hoping the swelling will go down on its own,” Gordon said, reaching out to push a curl out of Joshua’s face. “They say they don’t - they’d rather not do surgery.”

Benrey hummed and reached out, letting his hand hover over Joshua’s chest, rising and falling with slow regularity as the machines hissed. He moved his hand up to Joshua’s head and let his palm settle gently against the wild mess of curls. There at last he found evidence of their close scrape - there were particles of dirt in Joshua’s hair.

“can i try something?” Benrey asked, not making eye contact with Gordon. He wasn’t sure it would work, but Tommy was the one who had suggested it, so it might. He’d done similar-enough things before, though always for more obvious injuries like cuts or bullet holes. He wasn’t sure it would work with something like a brain bleed.

Gordon’s grip tightened on Benrey’s hand again. “Will it hurt him?”

Benrey shook his head sharply. “nah, it’ll just…work, or, uh. not.”

“Then sure, I guess.” Gordon sighed. “As long as it won’t make things worse.”

Benrey gave a tight nod, and then stood still, working his jaw. He had to concentrate, fix up an extra-strong dose. If this didn’t work, he didn’t know what he was going to do. Worse, he didn’t know what Gordon would do.

Finally, he took in a deep breath, then leaned over Joshua and tugged the edge of the tube over, opening Joshie’s mouth just enough to sing a burst of brilliantly vibrant teal green sweet voice down his throat. He kept the tone going until he became almost light-headed - he didn’t need to breathe all the time, but he’d gotten used to it, and pushing out that much energy at once was a lot when he was still rebuilding his own body. Benrey ended up sagging against Gordon’s side, letting Gordon take his weight and bring a hand up to steady him as he gasped and watched the monitors.

Something chirped, and the small screen connected to the electrodes on Joshua’s temples flashed green. Gordon made a broken sound and squeezed Benrey tighter against his side.

“Mr. Freeman?” Benrey flinched at the voice from the doorway. Gordon shifted to look over his shoulder and said something over Benrey’s head that he missed. Joshua’s eyelids had just fluttered.

The nurse stepped into Benrey’s field of view, busily checking the readings on the machines and making sure all the tubes and electrodes were connected. When she looked up at Gordon, she was smiling.

“This is a very good sign. Mr. Freeman. It looks like the intracranial pressure is dropping, which means the swelling is going down. Let me go call the doctor and we’ll see what our next steps are. But between you and me, I think we might be able to wake him up before the end of the day.” She patted the bed and gave Benrey an odd look before she left the room.

“did it…worked?” Benrey asked blearily. He may have used a bit more energy than was advisable so soon after waking up. He felt the bones of his hands trying to poke through, and pushed them back. His ribs emerged from his torso as a result, but that was fine - it was under the scrub top, so no one could see.

Gordon’s voice was choked when he replied. “Yeah, buddy - I think it did. Are you -”

Benrey’s knees buckled as he abruptly lost the connective tissue of his legs, and Gordon scooped him tighter against his side.

“What are you - no, no - hang on, what’s happening?” His hands worked to gather Benrey up and deposit him in the uncomfortable chair next to Joshua’s bed. Benrey felt a little floaty, which might have been the fact that Gordon had just picked him up like he weighed almost nothing - and might have been because he actually weighed almost nothing, since he kept losing body mass.

“s’fine,” he said weakly. “m’fine, i just…lotsa…tired.”

“Shit,” Gordon hissed, and pressed his broad warm palm to Benrey’s forehead. “Did you kill yourself keeping my kid alive?”

“no-uh,” Benrey protested. “i just. need a minute.” He brought one hand up and linked his fingers with Gordon’s again, tugging their joined hands into his lap.

Gordon straightened up when the same slender dark-haired doctor bustled in, but he left his hand linked with Benrey’s. Through half-closed eyes, Benrey watched the doctor pause and squint at him.

“Who is this?”

“He’s family,” Gordon said with no hesitation.

The doctor’s eyebrows went up, but she didn’t protest. Instead, she launched straight into a full examination of Joshua, checking the machines, shining a light into his eyes, and speaking rapidly to Gordon, who seemed to be keeping up only marginally better than Benrey was.

Eventually she stepped back and tucked her hands into the pockets of her lab coat. “Well, I’d say this is an example of the power of the young,” she said. “It looks like your son is well on his way to recovery. The swelling has definitely gone down, though we’ll have to get some imaging to make sure and check for residual issues. But I’d say we’re out of the woods.”

Gordon laughed weakly and ran his free hand over his face, leaning his hip back against the chair he’d poured Benrey into. “Does that mean - can you wake him up?”

The doctor gestured, and the nurse from earlier came in. “We can remove the intubation, and he should wake up on his own.”

Benrey closed his eyes and drifted for a few minutes, listening to the busy sounds of the nurse disconnecting what sounded like half of the machines and coiling up the tubing.

“Push this button when he wakes up, or if you have any questions,” she said, then her footsteps tapped out of the room and off down the hall.

“Benrey?” Gordon asked, and Benrey dragged his eyes open. “You okay, man?”

“mmhmm,” Benrey hummed languidly. He felt relaxed for the first time since he’d been licking ice cream off his wrist on a city sidewalk.

Gordon’s eyes raked over Benrey’s face, and he seemed to come to a decision. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.” He carefully unlinked their fingers and cast a quick glance at the bed before hurrying out of the room.

Benrey rolled his head sideways and stared at Joshua. He looked much better without the tube down his throat, though he still had the electrodes stuck to his temples and the tube in his elbow and a little tube under his nose that smelled like cold oxygen. He was terribly small in the hospital bed, the white of the sheets washing him out and making him look ashen.

“Here,” Gordon said, and pushed a chilly cylinder into Benrey’s hand. Instinctively, he tipped his head back and drained the bottle of soda without even checking to see what it was. Gordon wasn’t going to poison him.

“Wow, that was - okay, then. Want some food? I have chips and Oreos, so - no, don’t eat the plastic -” Gordon sputtered. Benrey grinned and kept crunching. He needed a lot of materials to rebuild himself if he didn’t want to end up back in the morgue - and then there would definitely be questions.

“thanks, that hit the spot,” he said, tapping at his ribcage, which made a hollow sound.

Gordon made a face. “Doesn’t sound like enough if you’re still a xylophone. Want more food or more soda?”

“chips please,” Benrey said, and Gordon handed him the bag with a resigned look as Benrey stuffed the whole thing in his mouth, packaging and all.

When he looked up again, Gordon was watching Joshua, his gaze distant. After checking to make sure he actually had leg muscles this time, Benrey heaved himself to his feet and leaned into Gordon, who tangled their fingers together again.

“How’d you find us?” Gordon asked.

Benrey shrugged. “i was in the basement. called your phone, but it was off. called Tommy, he said where you were. the, uh, logo’s the same, so…” He trailed off, plucking at the scrub top. Gordon sighed again and wrapped him up in a hug.

“I’m really glad you’re here, man.” His voice was muffled where he spoke into Benrey’s shoulder. “Thank you for - for helping him.”

Gordon’s arms were so tight around Benrey that he felt his ribs creaking. He wheezed and patted Gordon’s shoulder. “okay, okay. s’not like i saved the world or anything.” He wasn’t the type. That was Gordon’s job, after all.

Laughing, Gordon pulled back and grinned down at him, the exhausted lines of his face crinkling around his eyes. “Are you kidding? You saved Joshua, and you got yourself back, again,” he said, his green eyes shining. “He is my world, and you - the two of you - you’re all the world I need. So yeah - yeah, you did.”

Benrey stared at him, pink sweet voice welling up in his throat. What the fuck was he supposed to say to that? He’d never been anyone’s world. More often than not, people wanted him out of their world.

“oh,” he said, and looked back at the bed to break eye contact.

Gordon’s lips pressed against the side of his face, and Benrey huffed out a burst of coral pink and robin’s egg blue sweet voice in surprise. Gordon chuckled into Benrey’s hair and kissed his temple again. He took a breath like he was going to say something - but then the sheets rustled, and Joshua opened his eyes.

Gordon immediately darted to lean over him, pulling Benrey with him. Benrey glanced around and found the right button to push to call the nurse, and the room quickly filled up with medical personnel.

Later, when Joshua had been cleared by a very confused MRI tech who said he’d never seen cranial inflammation completely disappear like that, Benrey dragged another chair into Joshua’s room while they waited for his observation period to be over so he could be discharged. Gordon smiled tiredly at him when he scooted up next to him so they were both leaning their elbows on the bed, watching Joshua’s chest hitch in a much more natural rhythm in sleep.

Gordon didn’t say anything when Benrey put his head down on his folded arms after a few minutes. He’d sourced a few more vending machine snacks, and Tommy was still on his way back from the same conference that Dr. Coomer and Bubby were presenting at, so he’d promised to bring more food. In the meantime, Benrey was exhausted.

Gordon’s hand came down on Benrey’s head and ran over his crown, his fingers scritching Benrey’s scalp. “You wanna take a nap, buddy? We got time for that.”

“hmngph,” Benrey replied, and Gordon chuckled.

“I’ll wake you when Tommy gets here.”

“or if Joshie wakes up,” Benrey mumbled, eyes closed.

Gordon’s hand stilled, then squeezed the back of his neck. “Yeah, okay,” he said, roughly. “I’ll wake you if Joshie wakes up.”

Benrey dozed off the the regular beep of the heart monitor and the feel of Gordon’s lips on his cheek.

#hlvrai #my words #kiss prompts #snippets #askbox #swearing #child danger #traffic collision #hospitals #morgues #waking up dead #angst with a happy ending #the unnamed intern is my favorite #todaytomorrowgiraff #i am almost done with these #i've gotten so many it's crazy

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justplainwhump · 3 years ago

Text

Ich habe 605 Mal im Jahr 2022 etwas gepostet

Das sind 152 more posts als 2021!

220 Einträge erstellt (36%)

385 Einträge gerebloggt (64%)

Blogs, die ich am häufigsten gerebloggt habe:

@justplainwhump

@angst-after-dark

@ocean-blue-whump

@hackles-up

@ashintheairlikesnow

Ich habe 479 meiner Einträge im Jahr 2022 getaggt

Nur 21% meiner Einträge hatten keine Tags

#bbu – 130 Einträge

#self reblog – 84 Einträge

#pet whump – 52 Einträge

#lady whump – 50 Einträge

#ira white – 50 Einträge

#dany – 37 Einträge

#whump – 35 Einträge

#mark and gemma – 33 Einträge

#timezone reblog – 26 Einträge

#gemma sinclair – 24 Einträge

Longest Tag: 63 characters

#also the many many glimpses at how layered this entire world is

Meine Top-Einträge im Jahr 2022:

Dressing Room

For the anon who asked for the prompt “poke and prod at my muse’s injuries”, and dedicated to @whumpymirages , you know why.

Referenced Ridley, Leo and B are @hackles-up s characters. Felicity works for Ridley, and it shows.

Dany isn’t in a good place.

[Dany Masterpost]

Content - lady whump (female whumper and female whumpee), noncon stripping, noncon touching (not sexual, but uhh.. getting there), bruises, references to noncon (male whumper), slut shaming and humiliating language, overall pretty heavy humiliation, mention of a shock collar, references to noncon marriage. This is somewhat darker than the warnings may make it seem. Let me know if I should add something.

"Spin", Felicity commands, her finger drawing a lazy circle in the air. There's a glass of champagne dangling from her other hand, that she takes small sips of sometimes, when she's not busy smacking her lips or talking shit. Which means, she doesn't drink too much. She is, however, certainly enjoying herself. I'm standing on a little, circular platform in the middle of a huge dressing room. There's nothing but shades of white around me, or, more correctly - diamond white, ivory, champagne, eggshell, pearl and blush, as I couldn't help but overhear, when Felicity was talking about me to the dressmakers. Diamond white makes her look sickish, it's gross. Oh, I wouldn't go with champagne, it's so conventional, we need her look to be special.

"Danielle." I hate the condescending tone my name has in her voice. "Spin, bitch. I'm doing my fucking job here, and I won't have your bitching around ruin this wedding. It's going to be perfect."

I can't help but think about wrestling that glass from her hand, smashing it on the ground and burying the remains into her neck. She'd bleed, quickly and violently, red pooling on the light wood, perfectly contrasting the eggshell. I'm pretty sure of it.

With a sigh, Felicity puts the glass aside and reaches into her purse for the little, plastic controller. It looks hilarious in her perfectly manicured hand, next to dangling golden bracelets and expensive rings. A token of brutality, framed in elegance. "You really leave me no cho-"

"No" The tailor all but falls into her arm. "Noo! No, miss, don't shock her, please! This dress is Vera Wang, she'll tear it if she spasms, don't!"

I chuckle dryly. Yeah. Don't endanger the goods. The dress is worth more than me, after all.

Felicity exhales sharply through her nose, clearly annoyed by a little employee trying to tell her off. "Fine", she hisses. "You know what else is on the table, Danielle. I'm pretty sure Mr Lordin laid out in detail how he is going to discipline you, if you go on sabotaging this project. Discipline you, or this horrible, gross guard dog of his."

I blanche, probably matching the color of this fucking dress even better now. She's right. Ridley did go into detail. I can't. I can't risk B's life just to keep up some stubborn pride in front of a ridiculous marketing assistant like Felicity. With my jaw clenched, I spin.

"Stop", she calls. I obey, and I hear her step onto the platform behind me. She's clicking her tongue dismissively. Without further warning, her hand is on my shoulder, fingers digging into a fresh bruise. Pain bursts through me, fresh and reignited by her fingernails, dull and memorized in the shape of Leo's fine leather shoe.

"Please," I breathe. "Please, don't."

My knees give in under her relentless grip, and the only thing hindering my fall is the tailor steadying my side while gathering the dress. "The seams", he whines. "Careful!"

"This looks horrible", she says, fastening her grip. I can't help but wince again. She doesn't care. "It's fucking black. The wedding is in mere weeks. How can you still gather such ugly bruises, you should know better, really. Especially with that pale skin color."

I can't reply, can barely breathe. Tears are welling up in my eyes.

With a final sigh, she lets go. "Take it off," she tells the tailor. "Too much back. Even if that ugly thing heals in time, can't have these other scars show either." I hold back a shivering breath, when she runs her fingers over the ends of the whip marks between my shoulder blades.

"There isn't much opportunities with a high back," the tailor hurries to say. "Out of style, but... Let me see what I can do." A second set of fingers dances over my back, as he undoes the buttons and slides down the dress, carefully aiding me to step out of it and then vanishing towards his storage.

They don't care I'm shivering in my underwear. I'm a thing, meant for a rich man's pleasure. Nothing-

Felicity's fingers are unclasping the strapless bra and I freeze. "Let's have a look at the whole package then, shall we? I gotta know what I'm working with." Her breath on the back of my neck suddenly feels hot. Menacing. I barely hear the soft lace hit the ground, when she drops the bra to the ground. "Spin," she says again. Calmly, this time.

I obey.

She didn't even step back. She's right in front of me, a lot shorter than me, but she isn't looking at my face anyway. She's looking at my body, at my breasts, my belly, my thighs, and there's a contempt smirk on her face. "What a whore," she mumbles. "And I used to be jealous of you. You really are nothing but a dumb little slut, aren't you?"

She rests her index finger against the shock collar, the other hand idly playing with the remote. I won't give her the pleasure of using it, I swear to myself. This isn't a fight I need to win. She's nothing. She doesn't matter.

With a soft hum, she runs her finger down, following a line of dark purple hickeys, on top of a green and blue one. "Disgusting," she says conversationally. "For someone with such a foul mouth, you sure play submissive when he fucks you, don't you?"

I shiver, when her finger prods at my breasts, follow the long finger-shaped bruises. "But that's all you're good for. I can accept that, you know. I run his business. You? You're not his fiancee. You're his fucktoy." Her eyes narrow, my only warning before she pinches and twists my nipple and doesn't let go.

Pain floods me, fueled by humiliation. I cry out, try to back away. "Gosh. Your tits are a fucking mess. He bites you, doesn't he? Yeah, I wouldn't be into that."

My knees threaten to fail. Weakly I put my hand on her arm. "Pl-" No. My head is foggy with pain. I don't want to beg. Not her.

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55 Anmerkungen – Gepostet 19. Januar 2022

(A BBU Concept)

Radical pet lib cells, determined to show the cruelty of WRU by doing everything that happens to trainees to pet owners, documenting and filming it.

A proof, that everyone breaks under such methods, even those convinced they're so much better than pets.

Oddly enough, some people think this casts a horrible light on pet lib - but some others are convinced it's a necessary price to pay to really unveil the horrors of the pet business...

(Thanks to @whumpymirages @gottawhump @painful-pooch @whumper-in-training for making this a whole thing in my head)

66 Anmerkungen – Gepostet 23. Februar 2022

Assignment

WRU Senior Handler Alan Nguyen tests the boundaries of his his new trainee.

References some of @ashintheairlikesnow s characters in the first part, and is heavily inspired by her facility whump.

[Angel's story]

Contents: BBU, noncon fingering, implied and frankly discussed noncon, romantic pet, institutionalized whump, shock collar, whumper pov.

Alan Nguyen skimmed through 002238's intake paperwork on his tablet. The file was larger than the average, classic indications for the cases of assisted walk ins. Lot more vetting necessary with these involuntary acquisitions. But also, lot more money to be made.

He raised a brow at Alex Nadler from Client Relations. "I see how she's a high security case, but I don't see how I come in. All romantic positions, no pain training, no specialty training, can't get more vanilla than that. Inability to say no, or 'quantum' - now that's a weird one, but still, give them a shock collar and even our interns could get this stuff out of her. Genital piercing. Well, Alex, I won't do that myself either. None of this matches my pay grade."

Alex cleared their throat, obviously uncomfortable. Good. Alan liked making people uncomfortable. He folded his arms and waited patiently.

"The client said he wanted only our best romantic handler on this case. According to client satisfaction, that's you, Mr Nguyen."

"That's me, but I don't do one-on-one training any longer. I oversee. I don't get in close."

Alex exhaled slowly, before they replied. "The Director says you do."

"The Director has another special friend who can do this instead of his actual job."

"You know as well as anyone that he only takes males. You're the best call for this one."

"Fine," Alan snapped and picked up the tablet. "I'm better than him anyway."

Alex granted him a thin smile and Alan replied in turn, before he added. "I want a junior handler in on this."

"There is one. Tyler Parker. He's gone over some of the basics with her already, while you were out on vacation." There was a small rebuke hidden in the emphasis on the last word that Alan chose to ignore. He was under no obligation to answer his phone on his holidays, not with how hard it was to find a timeslot just for him and his husband in Jeff's busy university schedule.

"Good. I want to meet him, before I see the pet."

Handler Parker was pretty much exactly as boyish as Alan had expected from someone called Tyler. Tall, broad shoulders, shaggy haircut and a stubble that definitely wouldn't have been allowed for a handler, when Alan had been his age 20 years ago.

"Handler Nguyen, Sir." Parker's back had straightened when Alan entered the observation room. Good start, at least, Alan supposed. "It's an honor, being assigned to you."

Alan nodded. "Thanks." He dropped the tablet on the desk and opened the training report. "She your first trainee?"

"Third. But first one in high security."

Alan tilted his head in acknowledgement. "You'll find out, it's the same work here, just more of it because there's less staff to help out." He pressed a button to fill the screen with the video image of the trainee in the neighboring training room. She was sitting still on her knees, hands open, oversized white tee loose around her body. Long blond hair fell around her shoulders, slightly unkempt. Her neck was a little reddened around the shock collar, yet apart from that she seemed physically unharmed, even fit.

Her brown eyes were boring into the camera, staring directly at them, from an otherwise calm face. Alan smirked. Probably alerted by the little red light turning on. He didn't particularly like the trainees to know when they were being watched. They should know they always were. But he did like what he saw in her gaze nonetheless. Determination, shrouded in obedience. When directed properly, that determination would be her undoing.

"What did you do with her so far?"

Parker's gaze flicked to the records in front of Alan and then back to his face. Alan smirked, but stayed silent.

"Um. According to the handbook, Sir. Stages 1.1 to 1.4. We went through the positions, all of them. And I... I went through some of the other basics, too. She... She took to it very eagerly. Quick to adapt."

"I take it by that you mean, you've fucked her?"

Parker nodded nervously, and Alan hid a smirk. That kid better dropped the shame about his job, or even his mind wiped trainees would be able to outsmart him.

"File says she's been sleeping around before. Any information on preferences?"

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66 Anmerkungen – Gepostet 28. Juli 2022

Searching for recommendations! ("Mundane BBU")

Hi everyone! These days, I'm very much into BBU stories that focus on the mundane sides of the universe (handlers "just doing their job", owners who aren't rich sadists but still maybe horrible, people who stumble upon pets and don't know what to do, the whole array of little things that spread around the WRU ecosystem in a world that is still so similar to ours).

Please reblog or comment, if possible with direct links to masterposts or your favourite piece of writing, so this post can double as a little collection! Your own writing, but also, I'm especially happy to see you gush about others!

Nsfw is fine for me, maybe add a note for it to warn others interacting with this!

I'm excited!

77 Anmerkungen – Gepostet 2. Mai 2022

Meine #1 des Jahres 2022

Match

Handler Tyler Parker learns that he can't just leave his job behind.

A part of Angel's story.

Cw for BBU, referenced institutionalised whump, whumper (who doesn't get it) pov, very shortly and clinically referenced noncon (BBU romantic training), some oversimplified views on relationships. Guilt and shame.

Tyler's colleagues at WRU hung out together after work, too. The week before the game, he overheard them make plans for barbecue, who'd buy beer, who could make it from work and who had special assignments that kept them busy at the facility. He'd even been invited himself twice, first by Carly who mostly trained romantics for female prospectives and shared Tyler's taste in folk punk, and later by his superior handler Alan Nguyen. He'd declined both.

Tyler prided himself in having his own friends, not having been fully absorbed by the company that paid his bills. He was going to be at a sports bar with a bunch of old friends from college. He was looking forward to it, sharing old stories from a life before WRU, maybe even becoming a bit more grounded again.

At lunch, when he'd told her about his plans, Carly had looked at him with a hint of pity. Her friends dropped out when they'd found out she wasn't actually an accountant. Tyler doubted his would. Some of them had ended up in law enforcement, others in private security, he wasn't the only one with a somewhat suspicious employer. He'd told them, that he worked security in a high profile research lab. Nobody had ever asked.

He'd be fine, he told himself. His friends weren't like Carly's and he wasn't like her either.

"Oh, but you are," she'd said and patted his shoulder. "You're at facility 002. Involuntary acquisitions. Trust me. We're all sickos."

He wasn't. Tyler Parker wasn't a sicko. He was a great midfield soccer player, he still was a singer in his old band, he even took psychology classes besides his work. His job was his job, but he didn't take it home with him.

"Buddy, you really need to get laid," Mal said and leaned in over the sticky table to grab another chicken wing. "You're all work and no play. I mean, yeah you do your workout and show up for soccer, but when's the last time you've had some pussy?"

5.29 pm. PIV. Position 35. Trainee restrained to table. Very receptive. Denied orgasm.

"Well what about you?" Tyler shot back, taking a swig of his beer to drown the memory. "Last time I checked it was just you and your right hand."

The others snickered.

"Well, you haven't checked in a while. Going steady with Emma now. Met her on that dating app. You ever tried that?"

"Dating apps, I don't know..."

"Drop the act! You do have one," Tara chimes in. "We made you a profile, remember? Did you ever check it?"

"I do," Tyler admitted and pulled out his phone. He'd swiped through that app at work, sometimes, even had some nice chats that went into nowhere. He hadn't used it however since he worked high security, where they had to check in their private phones for their shifts. Better that way, the potential of any footage -

Work. Why did he think about work again? His friends were right, probably. He should find himself some distraction. Wouldn't hurt trying. With some taps, he opened the app and pulled up his eyebrows dramatically. "Let's take a look at the market then."

With an excited squeal, Tara squeezed in between Dave and Tyler on their side on the booth. "Show me!"

She took over his phone and he let her, all four of them looking at the small screen, and Tara swiping. Tyler felt himself relax, shoulder to shoulder with his best friends, a cool beer in front of him, the game commentary from the TV screens a soft background noise.

"Undercut?" Tara mumbled. "Nah, that's my taste, not yours, off you go. Too thin. Nope. Too pretentious. Bye. Hmm, this one?"

A short girl with an even shorter dress on a boat, intense blue eyes, blond locks flying in the wind.

All Tyler could see where blond locks fall over a white tee in a white room, his hand curled up in that hair and -

"No," he said decidedly. "Not uh. Not blonde."

"Really? Thought you liked them." With a shrug Tara swiped left. "I mean, your call, it's your sex life we're going to fix here."

She went on. No freckles, Tyler added, thinking of the freckles littering 238's smooth skin.

To their collective surprises, two or three girls turned out a match, and with Tara's aid, Tyler did send them some sincere-yet-flirty messages.

He had just stepped to the bar to order another round, when he heard Dave whistle. "Gosh, this one must be the woman of his nightmares, then."

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83 Anmerkungen – Gepostet 24. Juli 2022

Hol dir deinen Tumblr-Jahresrückblick 2022 →

#tumblr2022 #Jahresrückblick #Mein Tumblr-Jahresrückblick 2022 #Dein Tumblr-Jahresrückblick #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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theaviskullguy · 4 years ago

Text

Ink and Petals

@dapple-dualies-propaganda here's the au

Tattoo artist! Rider x Florist! Goggles

hope you enjoy!

---------

When was it not busy at Squid ink?

It was one of the top Tattoo Parlors in Inkopolis. and it was also on a pretty busy street. So, it got a lot of customers. Also the fact that one of the artists was a famous turfer.

Rider hadn't formerly retired, but he had eased out of playing Turf Wars. He had found other interests outside of the sport: Theater, art, reviewing old movies online... He still did Turf from time to time, albeit the adult league. He was too old for the more popular teen division.

So, he found a job as a tattoo artist. And he rather loved it. Not only did most of his friends consult him for tattoo advice (from where the best places are to good designs), but he also knew some gossip. One of his regulars had beef with her neighbor because he has a pet raccoon who keeps stealing her trash and Rider could NOT wait to hear more about this story.

Another thing was, well, Rider had seen some shit. From people covered head to toe in tats, to people eagerly wanting their first tattoo, even to shyer folk who wanted one to defy controlling parents or to mark something important.

None of that prepared Rider for the news he got when tattooing one of the customers. More specifically, Gloves.

You see, Gloves had been coming in for the past few days. They had wanted a pretty complicated butterfly tat, so for the last 3 days Rider has been exchanging stories with the resident enby about... pretty much anything.

This is how this exchange happened;

"So you remember Goggles, right?" Gloves asked.

Rider rolled his eyes. "What, you think I'd forget the guy who kept pulling down my pants?"

"Oh ha ha. Anyways, apparently he works at that flower shop now."

"...He what?"

"You heard me!" They said. "I went there yesterday to get something for a project and there was Goggles! He misses you, 'ya know!"

Rider was just. quiet. He hadn't talked to his crush in a while, contact dwindled when Rider stopped doing Turf as much. Never once did he think Goggles would miss him, but that was probably the self hatred talking.

"...I'll think about it." Was all Rider said.

The conversation continued like nothing happen; Gloves saying multiple cursed things and Rider sharing interesting stories he heard on his job. Time flew by and soon, the tattoo was done; a butterfly with the bi colors on one wing and the nb colors on the other. Rider was quite proud of it, and Gloves seemed to like it. They waved, and left the store, humming to themselves.

Rider looked at the clock. His shift ended in just a few minutes. He knew he had no other appointments that day, so he took to watching old recorded matches in his phone.

Those were over a decade ago. Yet he still remembered everything. His favorite part was still learning he won a match by such a small margin. It was just... amazing.

He sighed. Rider missed those battles. But he has to say, he missed his crush a bit more.

He clocked out, saying goodbye to the other employee-Cherry (business relationships were easy to maintain when your coworkers were your siblings), and headed towards the flower shop for more reasons than one.

Army had a performance the next day. And yeah, Rider knew it was romantic, but platonically giving your best friend flowers was always nice. Plus, he wanted an excuse to see Goggles again.

He looked into the shop-the blue inkling was nowhere to be seen, but then again neither was the front desk. So, Rider shrugged and stepped in.

The floral scent was strong, but not overwhelming. Plenty of blossoms lined the stands, along with tags of what the flowers were and what they meant.

Rider looked around, trying to remember which flowers Army liked again, when he heard a familiar, youthful voice.

"Hi! Need any help?"

The inkling turned around. Goggles had definitely changed since Rider last saw him; his tentacles were longer and in an actual bun, for once. His blue eyes still had that clarity, and he still had that goofy smile. Though he didn't seem to recognize Rider.

"Uhh... I'll be fine. I'm just trying to remember what flower my friend likes the most." He said, hoping his accent didn't give him away; there weren't many in Inkopolis with an Australian accent.

But, Goggles didn't seem to notice or care. "Oh, okay!"

Rider internally breathed a sigh of relief. That would have been awkward if Goggles recognized him.

He looked around the shop, before spotting a bouquet of lilies. He knew Army liked lilies. If they weren't his favorite flower, it'd be close enough.

Rider took a few of the bigger ones, and a few white roses for variety, and took them to the counter.

Goggles smiled. "This a special occasion?"

"Not exactly. Just, my friend's doing a performance for a musical and I wanted to get him something for it." Rider explained.

"What musical?" Gogs asked, arranging the flowers with a sheer, white ribbon tying them together.

"Hadestown. He got Eurydice."

"Oh! I went to go see it last night! Army's amazing at that role. He's your friend, right?"

Rider internally panicked, but calmed down after remembering he wasn't Army's only friend. "Yeah. We've been friends for a while now."

"Well, tell him I said hi!" He handed the bouquet to Rider. "On me, alright? It's for a friend anyways!"

Rider nodded. "Thanks, mate."

"You're welcome!"

------

A few weeks went by. Rider occasionally stopped at the flower shop and got flowers for...well, no real reason. He'd use them to add color to his house, or give them to friends. He just wanted an excuse to see Goggles.

He'd talked to the blue inkling a bit more, too. He'd gotten into the business since, well, he really liked flowers, and he wanted a job where he could just...relax! He still did Turf, of course, but the Adult league was more serious than the teen one, and he just wanted to have fun instead of be expected to take a game seriously.

He still didn't recognize Rider. The yellow-green inkling was a bit hurt by this, to be honest.

Though, it was a bit startling when Goggles actually walked into Rider's work. And Rider was assigned to give Goggles his first tattoo: A blue jay on his shoulder, taking off from a branch.

This time, it was Goggles' turn to ask questions as Rider worked.

"Sooo.... you've been coming into my shop for a while and I still don't know your name!" The blue inkling stated. "I mean, you can probably recognize me though!"

Rider shrugged. "Well, who can forget Goggles of the Idiot Blue team?"

Goggles giggled. "You do know me! I still don't know you!!"

"...I can assure you, we've met before that day I got Army flowers." Rider said.

"Ooh! Can I try and guess who you are?"

"Ehh, why not."

"Okay! Umm..." Goggles thought for a moment. "Clams facemask?"

Rider shook his head. "Nope."

"Inkfall?"

"Wrong."

"Eging Jr?"

"Not even close there."

"Stealth Goggles?"

"Getting closer, I'll give you that."

"....Rider?" Goggles asked.

Rider chuckled. "Took you long enough, idiot."

Goggles smiled wide. "I finally found you! Hi Riri!"

"Hey, Gogs. It's been a while."

"Yeah! I'm a bit surprised I didn't recognize you, since we were pretty close!" Goggles stated.

Rider shrugged. "Well, I'm not the most memorable person anyways."

"Riderrrrr don't say that!" Goggles said. "You're still really popular!"

"To some people, maybe. Not everyone."

There was a tense silence, other than the hum of the tattoo needle as it made the drawing.

"....So." Goggles started again. "How's life?"

"It's...well, better than it was." Rider said. "Got my own place, for one. Though it gets a bit lonely.. You?"

"I'm still living in an apartment. I really want a roommate!" Goggles proclaimed. "Maybe we could move in together?"

"..I'll think about it, Gogs. Though it might be fun being your roommate."

"Really? Thanks Rider!" Goggled smiled.

The conversation grew more casual. Rider enjoyed it; turns out Goggles had his fair share of gossip. It was kinda cool.

And as the next few days passed, Rider looked forward to each of those sessions. His crush seemed to go from "this person would be fun to date i think" to "hOLY MOTHER OF THE GODS IM IN L O V E", and it didn't help that during those meetings, Goggles had to be shirtless.

The days turned into weeks and months. Goggles moved in with Rider, and the two became incredibly close friends.

And, it came to a head near valentines day. Goggles' shop was very busy, as expected. Luckily, Squid Ink wasn't as much.

So, on his day off, just before Valentines, Rider headed to the flower shop and got a bouquet of roses. Cliché to confess on Valentines day, Rider knew, but he's a pining gay cut him some slack.

And Rider came home right as Goggles was leaving for his shift. So, that left Rider with a good 3 hours to practice his confession.

"Alright, Rider. This has to be CASUAL. 'Hey, I've liked you for over a decade but just now had the confidence to confess!' No, too creepy sounding. 'Yo, Gogs. I really like you and maybe we could go out to dinner sometimes?' ...Too casual."

....Yeah, this went on for a while.

Rider groaned, collapsing his his bed. "I wish feelings were fucking easier...I should just call Army."

So, he grabbed his phone and selected the contact, Veronica Sawyer Kinnie

"C'mon, Army... pick up."

And not one ring later, "Rider, what is it?"

"...I need romantic help. Please." Rider asked.

"Look, just because I'm married to Aloha, doesn't mean I know how I ended up here."

"Yeah, I kinda know that." He stated. "Still. I really need some help."

Army sighed. "Who is it? It's totally that one person with the raccoon story-"

"Actually, no. It's, um.... It's Goggles."

The octoling on the other end of the line could be heard sighing. "Still a morosexual I see."

"OI! You're the one who married a fuckin himbo!"

".....Touché. Still, there's a difference."

Rider huffed. "Just... give me some advice. I wanna confess to him tomorrow but I've got no idea how. I'm giving him roses, but like, there's gotta be something more I could do, y'know?"

"Have you tried asking Prince?" Army suggested. "He is the one with the obsession with rom coms and romance novels."

"This is his exam period, Army. I'm not about to potentially interrupt a cram session by asking for romantic advice!"

"Fair enough. I'd say...well, just rip off the band aid. Like... 'Hey, Goggles, I really like you and was wondering if you'd like to be my boyfriend.'"

"...Thanks, Arm. I'll, uh, give it a try."

-------

Rider couldn't sleep that well. Mainly out of anticipation.

He was gonna confess to his crush of...over a decade, at least. He didn't fuckin know what was gonna happen!

Like, would Goggles reciprocate? Would he hate Rider after it? WHAT THE FUCK WOULD HAPPEN-

He sighed. He needed to get his mind off this shit.

Rider looked over to his bedside clock: 5AM. 5 hours before his shift. 5 hours to get his shit together and plan for confessing to the world's cutest but also dumbest man later that night.

C'mon, Rider. Think. Army said to rip it off like a band aid, but Goggles might find that a little sudden and out of the blue. He could write a letter and leave it for Goggles when he went to his shift (The flower shop was closed on Valentines day). That would be a safe option.

Rider sat up, and got out a piece of paper and pencil, writing a note.

"Hey, Goggles.

There's something I've been wanting to tell you for a while. I really, really like you. As in, a crush.

I totally get it if you don't like me back, or think I'm weird, but hey, I was wondering if you'd wanna go out to dinner or something. Probably not tonight cause of Valentine's day but maybe tomorrow night or something.

-Rider"

Quickly, he folded it and wrote Goggles' name, putting a little heart sticker on it. It was corny, but hey, Rider had to use up those stickers somehow.

Rider attached it to the roses, and kept it on his desk.

And so, the morning went as normal. He had breakfast, got out of his pjs, put his hair up... the usual.

But as Rider left to go to work, he left the note and rose on the table, and left the house quickly.

During the day, he nearly forgotten all about it; He caught up with the gossip-Apparently the neighbor with the raccoon and the regular were now dating. So that was a nice little end to the story.

Squid Ink wasn't AS busy-probably because it was Valentines day, people were spending it with their lovers, not getting inked up (unless they made the appointment when single)

And it was near the end of Rider's shift when he heard his name mentioned. Probably someone making an appointment before he heard the familiar voice of Goggles going "Okay!!"

The blue inkling walked over to his station. "Hi Ridey!!"

"...Hey, Gogs. Getting another tat?" Rider asked, trying to keep his cool.

Goggles nodded. "Yeah!!!"

"A'ight anything specific in mind or-"

"Can I get just a simple quote one?"

Rider nodded. "Where do you want it?"

Goggles pulled down the collar of his shirt slightly. "Right here, please!"

"Okay. Just try to keep holding that down so I don't mess up.

-----

And so, tattoo conversations ensued.

The quote Goggles had wanted was a simple Pride one, that said "love is love". It was discreet, but a bit of it could be seen poking out if Goggles ever wore a v-neck.

"So, any plans for tonight?" Rider asked, trying to keep things subtle. Maybe Goggles hadn't read the note yet.

The blue inkling nodded. "Kinda! I had mental plans buuuuut nothing serious."

Rider raised an eyebrow. "Who with?"

"..I m-mean, I still have to ask him.." Goggles' face turned a shade of blue, and he averted his gaze.

"....Can I guess who he is?"

"If ya can!"

He smiled. "Does his name have an R in it?" Rider had a guess it was himself, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

Goggles nodded. "Yeah!"

"Got an accent?"

"Yep!!"

"Is he doing your tattoo?"

"....y-yeah?" Goggles sheepishly smiled. "I'm n-not that discreet, am I?"

Rider chuckled, but on the inside he was screeching. "Honestly? I had no clue myself."

"Really? I've been dropping the most obvious hints!"

"...Like what?" Rider asked, now a bit curious.

"Welllll I've been picking movies you like during movie night, I've made sure to get your drink on coffee runs, Oh! And I offered to cook dinner that one time!" Goggles stated.

"...Damn. I'm just oblivious then." The former dynamo user laughed, before turning off the needle. "There. It's all done." Rider held up a mirror for the blue boy.

Goggles' face lit up. "Whoa! It looks amazing!!! Thanks Riri!"

Rider smiled. "You're welcome. Now, uh, ...did you read my note?"

"..Y-yeah, I did. And, um...I like you too Rider!!" The blue man pressed a small, quick kiss to Rider's cheek.

Rider blushed. "S-so, you'll let me t-take you out?"

Goggles nodded. "Yeah!!!"

"I...thanks, Gogs."

"You're welcome Riri!!!"

----------

aAAAAA RUSHED END

but like. hope yall enjoy!

#Galax Writes #tattoo artist x florist #splatoon #coroika #coroika rider #coroika goggles #goggles x rider

51 notes · View notes

mooswords · 5 years ago

Text

Home

Pairing: kuroo tetsuro x reader

Word count: 3k

Tags: red string of fate au, historical au

Ramblings: part of the lost collab, all based on the prompt ‘only when you are lost does the red string of fate appear’ organised by the lovely @yacoka who is a wonderful writer and an even better friend 😚 also a big thank you to remy for beta-ing <3

---

You stare in exasperation as the red string fades into sight, the familiar warmth wrapping back into existence around your finger. It was only visible when one of you was feeling lost, and you certainly knew where you were. Tetsuro was only meant to be coming home from town - how did he get lost?

You pluck at the string.

Seriously?

An answering pull against your pinky.

Shut up.

Rolling your eyes, you turn back to the horse in front of you.

“That man, eh?” You scrub the brush along a thick-boned leg, scrunching your face away from the cloud of dust that puffs out. “Probably one of the smartest people this side of the island, knows the stars like the back of his hand, but can’t even find his way across his own fields.” You huff, watching as the string disappears again. “The cows know their way home better than he does, honestly…”

Bess rattles her head, mane flying, and you sigh. “Ahh, you’re right, I guess we love him anyway.”

“You guess?”

You start, twisting at his sudden presence.

“Stop! Doing that!” You huck the brush at him and he ducks, grinning.

“Hear that Bess?” he sings, sidling up to the horse and scratching her forehead as she noses at his pockets. “She loves me.”

“And I married him too,” you lament. “What was I thinking?”

“Something I ask myself every day,” he says softly, eyes alight. You mellow, as you always do for him, and wonder if you will ever get sick of that look.

“How’s town?” You ask instead, snagging a new brush.

“Good. Got offered a job.”

“Oh, who with?”

“Nekomata.”

You hum. “Down at the docks?”

“Not... exactly." You flick a look up when he doesn't elaborate, only to find him determinedly pulling Bess' forelock into a crude braid.

"And?" you prompt.

"He wants me as the navigator." He swallows, fingers still twisting in the coarse hair. "For an expedition.”

“Really?” You scrub at a particularly stubborn splatter of dried mud. "I thought he had given up on all that. What’s he planning?”

He doesn’t reply for another long moment.

"Depends on how quick the ice melts."

You tear your eyes away from your work; he looks wary. "But with what he mentioned to me, we’d be away… a year? Maybe longer?"

“Oh,” you breathe. Really, for a sailing expedition, that’s short. But it’s still a year. You're thinking of money, and supplies, and who will take over teaching his students while he’s gone, and he’ll definitely need a new coat, and oh that's such a long time-

“I don’t have to decide immediately.” You pull your gaze back into focus. He still looks nervous, but you know him - he might not always be the most expressive person, but he wears his passions with pride. And there are few things your Tetsuro loves more than the stars.

“You should go."

“Really?”

“Yeah.” You bite your tongue and start sweeping the brush along Bess’ broad back again. It’s not till he gently pulls your hands to a stop you notice how they shake.

“I don’t have to go,” he offers softly.

You sigh, not quite able to focus any higher than the hollow of his neck. “No. You should.”

His fingers are light under your chin, and you reluctantly let him draw your gaze up.

“Are you sure?”

And you are. Despite your reticence, you are; because at heart, he’s always longed to explore the world. You remember sitting with him in the summer, feet dangling in the creek and listening to his rambling dreams of travelling to the far corners of the world. He loves teaching - weaving stories from geography homework, gently coaching the younger kids through their sums - but you’ve caught him many a time just staring out at the sea, eyes unfocused and longing.

"I’m sure," you tell him with a genuine smile. "It just means I'm going to have to do all your chores while you're away."

He tsks, but there's already excitement building under the mock-glare. Giving Bess a final pat, he meanders back to the house. You listen to his cheery whistling and tell the pang in your heart he'll be fine.

He always comes home.

“Have fun. Don’t kick Yaku overboard, OK?”

“What’s this, huh?” The string hums as he twirls a finger through it, his voice low and amused. He twists it into a bow around a lock of your hair, an achingly familiar action that has the string glowing brighter against your skin. “You can’t be lost without me if I haven’t left yet, sweetheart."

He frowns, and you etch the image into your memory - it will be months till you see that pout again.

“Oh, hush you.”

Eyes bright and fond, he grins down and pulls you into his chest. For once, you stop thinking about tomorrow and just enjoy this final moment with him; the gulls’ cries tearing across the sky, the winter sun across your back and stiff breeze sweeping through your skirts. He is constant and unshakable, heartbeat steady in your ear, his chin pressed against your hair.

You draw back and poke him in the cheek.

“You come home, you hear me?”

The string continues to flutter between you, dancing in the seaward breeze as he presses a sweet kiss to your lips.

“Always.”

The second plate stares back at you.

Right. Of course.

You press your lips together and return the other plate to the shelf for the third time this week. Your lonely plate looks pitifully small on the uneven table, and the red string that sinks down to drape across it only adds to the ache in your heart.

You grip the string tight and try not to cry.

The drumming rain is muffled as you duck under the barn’s eaves. Shaking the water from your eyes, you peel off your now sodden coat. In the flickering lantern light, you can see how the heifer is huffing, swollen belly already heaving.

Crooning to her, you run a tired hand over the heifer’s rough hide and crouch down.

You shove wet hair off your face and sigh. The late nights and bad weather were only exacerbating an already stressful time of year, and of course this had to be the year your entire herd was calving. You wearily draw a pail of water and tsk as you grab the last towel off the side of the stall - it seems tomorrow will have to be a washing day too.

There’s a wet nose. There’s also a tail.

“That’s… not right.” you mutter, stumped.

It hits you a moment later - twins. She’s having twins.

“Ohh… uhh…” You know you can’t panic, but your thoughts just continue to speed up, desperately flicking through your memories because you know how to deal with a breech birth, but twins? Where do you even begin? There are two calves in there, and that's twice the number of things that could go wrong. Think. It’s only a few minutes over the hill to the Kagayama’s, maybe they-

The gentle tug at your hand startles you. The string is there, looped around one of the cow’s ears and floating out into the pouring night. Another tug comes, a little firmer this time.

You suck in a breath.

You send him a grateful tug back and get to work.

It’s messy and stressful, and the deep ache in your arms will definitely be worse tomorrow, but there's a pile of knobby legs and liquid eyes in your lap that more than makes up for the pain. You snag the old towel off the straw and gently wipe the nose of the first calf before helping it struggle to its feet. The cow blinks around and lowes softly. You grin and quickly swipe at the other calf, blowing gently on its nose till it snorts.

Your eyes are heavy, and you are already compiling a list of the thousands of things to do tomorrow. But with pride singing through your tired bones, you are content to sit, half-wishing he was here with you to listen to the rain beat down on the tin roof and proudly watch the calves take their first, wobbling steps.

“Endeavor."

“E-N-D...” Natsu scrunches her nose and you nod encouragingly, “E…”

The string appears. It’s sudden; not the usual fade-in of realization, but a tidal wave of colour that has it crashing into existence all at once.

“-A-V-O-R. Endeavor.”

You clear your throat, pushing past the lump. “Correct. Let’s have an early lunch everyone.”

The clatter of chairs is immediate, and you wait for all the kids to race out the door before sinking shakily back against the desk. You rub the string between your fingers - it’s hot and trembling, swaying drunkenly as if buffeted about by the wind.

You pull at it, questioning.

You pull at it again.

Again.

There is no reply but it stays, curling in the corners of your vision for the rest of the day.

The next morning it is still there. You bite your lip and bundle his old coat around you to go collect more firewood.

Day four. You stare into reflected, apprehensive eyes for too long before shakily wrapping the everpresent string into a bow around your hair. For some reason, it doesn’t feel the same as when he does it.

Yachi reads you off your total and you freeze, hand clutched around the small bag of flour. She looks at you oddly as your hair falls free around your shoulders.

There is a soft tug against your finger, faded by distance and ringing with reassurance, as the string finally, finally disappears from sight after the longest eight days of your life.

“Is everything OK?” she asks, mystified.

You dash the tears and drop the coins into her hand with a smile.

“Everything is perfect.”

The string fades in for the third time today and you snort. You’d like to imagine you can feel his annoyance even halfway across the world.

You give it a sharp tug for good measure.

Lost again, huh?

He pulls grumpily back, and you bite back a giggle.

“How’s that pain-in-the-ass husband of yours doing?” Ukai Jr. asks from behind the bar.

The string bleeds away.

You think of a ship navigating the perilous ice, of unknowable depths and old sailor's tales, of the maps you watched him plot that stretch into expanses of blank parchment.

You think of jokes thrown across candle stubs and empty plates, of a crew that have become more of a family than either of you have ever had.

You think of the furrow he gets between his brows when he’s puzzling something over, his poorly hidden glee at the sight of the open sea.

The string fades in again, and there’s a pull from his end before you can do anything.

Don’t.

You grin. “He’s doing just fine.”

You wake to birdsongs. The sun is just peeking over the hills, the red string curled quietly on his pillow. You send three tugs, watch the string ripple out the window and imagine it stretching out, out, out across the seas to him.

Today was usually a day just for the two of you; no chores, no work. Just sunshine and bad jokes and the simple enjoyment of being together. One time he had pulled you along to the neighbouring town's county fair. Last year, you had taken him to the waterfall for lunch.

It was meant to be his choice this year.

You twine the string around your fingers as you wait. It glows softly in the morning light, a physical manifestation of how deeply lost you feel on this special day. He's not gone; he's still here in the scuffed shoes tucked under the bed, in his notes piled high on the desk, but they're not quite the same as hearing his hisses from the kitchen, or being able to sink into warm arms at the end of a rough day.

His returning tugs are delayed, aching and soft - one, two, three.

Sighing, you force yourself out of bed - the cows aren’t going to feed themselves.

Happy anniversary, love.

Most days the string isn't visible at all. And that's fine. Really, it is. It means he's not lost, and no news is good news, right?

Anyway, you’ve become quite content in your own company. He’s been gone long enough that you’ve found your solo rhythm and it's by no means easy, but you manage to keep busy enough.

And yet, the string is a double-edged sword - a reassuring and tangible connection between the two of you, but one that fills you with longing heartache all the same. There are days when you so keenly feel his absence; days of no special importance, but days where his company would just make the monotony more interesting. The mundane days, where you find yourself wanting a hug and instead having to settle for imagining the blur of red in your periphery.

You can lose minutes simply staring at your hand, trying to will the string back into colour. Wishful thinking isn’t something you can afford to indulge too often, but some days, if you focus hard enough, you think you can feel the invisible string pressing around your finger.

Some days, wishful thinking is all that keeps you going.

“Hello, sorry.” You ignore the cheeky pull of the red string. He knows how you hate admitting you need help. “I’m a bit lost. Do you know where the blacksmith is?”

The man points up the road, explaining you need to go up past the post office and take a - twitch goes the string - and then follow the path that - another pull - and you should be there. Oh, but don’t - tug - because that will take you out of town.

You bite your tongue and thank the man, fond exasperation simmering in your chest. You might desperately miss him and his stupid antics, but you had almost forgotten how relentless his needling could be.

As you lead Bess away, you pull sharply on the string. Much to your dismay, it doesn’t deter him in the slightest - an incessant barrage of tugs pull against your pinky, singing with his amusement from half a world away. Huffing out a sigh, you carefully flip the string around your hand. It’s smooth in your grip as you wind it around your palm and close your fingers over it-

And yank the string sideways.

Silence.

A single, pouting yank back.

Pushing down the smile tugging at your lips, you stop infront of the woman sweeping the front step of the post office.

“Hello, sorry. I’m a bit lost. Do you know where the blacksmith is?”

A laugh is pulled from you, glee ringing through the air. Hinata’s hand is sweaty in yours, and you grip it tighter as you swing round and round to the music echoing across the field. The wedding party is still holding strong, even this late into the night, and the chatter and music is rvight at home in tonight’s warm summer breeze.

The song ends to cheers and you yell with them, high, unfiltered joy singing through your body. You drop into a chair, watching Hinata pull a giggling Natsu off the sidelines and head back out as the band striking up another well-loved tune.

The ever-present twinge of sea salt mixes with the sweet scent of the apple blossoms floating over from the orchard and you are content. The food was fresh and plentiful, Kiyoko looked gorgeous. And, you think smugly, Suga had cried before Tanaka did, so now Kinoshita owed you a beer.

The music slows, and your finger aches at the sight of everyone else partnering up. You had promised yourself you weren’t going to let memories overshadow your fun tonight. There’s too much love around for you to fully feel his absence anyway, but you still catch yourself missing him above the crowd, searching for the wink he’d send across the room before returning to his own conversations.

Someone clears their throat. The string curls and sways between bodies as Takeda smiles down at you, eyes crinkled in understanding.

“May I have this dance?”

You push hurriedly through the crowd, ducking between market stalls and wagons. There’s no string to follow, but you don’t need it to find him today. Asahi scrambles for the bolts of cloth you knock into and Suga yells something that gets stolen by the wind as you continue to run heedlessly towards the docks.

Lev is on the dock already, only just visible through the small crowd gathering. Yaku yells directions from the ship, and you can see Shibayama sitting up on the boom, Kai pulling the jib down, so where is-

There.

He’s talking with Nekomata, gesturing up at the mast. You know it’s probably important, that there are things to be done on the ship before the crew can leave, but he’s been gone 402 days and you’re calling his name before you can stop yourself.

He twists around, and for the first time in over a year you watch his face split wide. The crowd parts for you as you’re darting forward and he vaults over the side of the ship.

There are yells and whistles behind him but you couldn’t care less as you are swept into a tight spin, stumbling with him as you laugh. His salt-crusted shirt is coarse under your fingers, and when he kisses you he tastes like the sea; like salt-spray and dry rations and freedom.

As soon as your hands find his cheeks you pull back sharply. There's a scar, a puckered pink line that cuts across his cheek and up into his hairline. He watches you carefully as you trace it with a feather-light touch.

“I thought I told you to have fun,” you admonish gently.

“Who said I didn’t?”

You tsk. “What am I going to do with you?”

He grins, wilder than you remember, twisted a little by the scar, but full of familiar trouble. “Kiss me again, hopefully.”

(How you’ve missed that grin.)

“Can’t imagine why I’d do a silly thing like that,” you say, even as you press your own grin to his.

Maybe he’s still a little wobbly on his feet, and he’s definitely thinner than when he left, but when he twines your hands together - no string in sight - your heart settles.

He’s home, and you can’t really ask for anything more.

#kuroo x reader #kuroo tetsuro x reader #haikyuu x reader #this is queued btw

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good-rwbyaus · 5 years ago

Note

AU where instead of Jaune having a semblance that turns him into a harem protagonist, his semblance let’s him turn OTHER people into harem protagonists.

// Yes. Good. Time to suffer Blake. 8D - mod lilac

Title: JAUNE IM GOING TO KILL YOU

“You! You did this!”

Oh crap. The last person he wanted to see was here, and here he was still stuck in a hospital bed from the Battle of Beacon, unable to escape or run away. He couldn’t help sweating as the dark-haired faunus approached, hand pressed against her abdomen, and then leaned forward without doing anything.

For a moment, he hoped. And then the hands around his neck proved that hope was nothing more than a four letter word for lie. Immediately, the other girl started tightening her grip and shaking him against his bed, head banging against his pillow.

“When I said it might be interesting to become a Ninjas of Love protagonist, I didn’t mean you using your Semblance on me in real life,” Blake screamed angrily, “Do you know what sort of month I’ve had because of you?”

“Acck. Blake. I need to breath. Blake,” he said as he patted the other girls’ arms to mark his submission. He wasn’t actually getting hurt, but as he knew from living with seven older sisters, sometimes the feeling of getting revenge justice was enough.

Otherwise, if they don’t think you’ve suffered enough, that’s when your life gets miserable.

“I thought everyone around me was going crazy! Everyone proposing to me out of the blue,” Blake screamed, “And they were!” She loosened her grip on Jaune’s neck as she took deep breathes, “Then Pyrrha came to visit me, and since she still seemed sane, I told her what’s been happening to me. Guess what I found out. Apparently Jaune Arc has a semblance that turns people into harem protagonists!”

“What did I do to you to deserve this?!” Her hands twitched again as if ready to go for another round of strangle the blond.

His hands immediately went up to prevent such a thing from happening.

“Blake. If you choke me to death, this is going to keep happening.”

“Jaune. If you don’t stop it now, I will throttle you and then run home to Kuo Kuana.”

“It can’t be that bad. What, you got proposed to by three or four peopl-”

Blake’s eyebrow and ears began twitching.

“...I take it that’s not what happened.”

“Three or four?!”

“...Maybe you want to tell me what’s going on before you extend my hospital stay,” Jaune asked carefully. The girl glared at him before taking a deep breath.

"It all started with Sun...”

=================

Sun:

“Hey Blake. I was thinking about you, and I got you this,” Sun smiled, rubbing his head sheepishly. An amethyst necklace, beautifully displaced inside a red package, laid in his other hand, shining brilliantly.

The sparkle - the shine - they caught her eye immediately. It glittered and caught her attention in a way that really tickled her, but she couldn’t help but glance at the package the necklace was in. And that dropped cold water onto her appreciation. She frowned.

She lifted her gaze to meet Sun’s.

“Sun?”

“Yes?” Sun asked excitedly.

“Did you steal this?”

Sun averted his eyes as he continued speaking confidently.

“Why I’d nev-”

“The security tag is still on it.”

“-er think about giving you something I haven’t stolen myself.”

Blake just glared at the boy who quickly excused himself.

=================

“I didn’t think much of it at first,” Blake said, “But random people started - out of the blue might I add - propositioning me while the Vytal Festival was going on - especially Shade Academy. I just thought they were an overly forward bunch cause they were part of the whole “live hard, live free” crew. ”

Blake stared darkly at Jaune, who just slid lower into his hospital bed.

“But then my team got involved.”

=================

Ruby and Yang

“Blake~”

“Blake!”

“Ruby? Yang?” she turned around for just a moment, only to be immediately accosted by the two sisters. Ruby hung to her right arm, and Yang hung onto her left arm. They spoke at nearly the same time.

“You’re looking incredibly dashing today, Blake, “ Yang said with a wink.

“You’re so pretty today,” Ruby said in awe, “That is not to say you’re not prett-” The awkward girl trailed off before finding a way to quickly change the subject.

“Stop copying me, Yang,” Ruby said with a pout.

“I said it first,” the other girl grinned.

Uhhh. What was going on? First Sun, then the random people, and now Ruby and Yang.

“So what about going on a ride with me and Bumblebee through the town?”

“No, Blake’s going to go with me to Vytal’s Weapons Exhibit, not on a boring ride with you.”

“What’s so great about looking at a bunch of old weapons?”

“You take that back! Can’t be any worse than just driving around boring Vale.”

“Wel-”

Maybe she should stop this before things get worse.

“I already have plans - uh - to stay in Beacon and curl up near the fireplace and read an interesting book that I recently purchased,” Blake said carefully as she lightly twisted out of the sisters’ grips.

Ruby glanced over at Yang, and Yang at Ruby.

“Why does that sound really similar to the words you said to us on the first day we met?” Ruby said.

“Well, she was probably just saying that just to get rid of you.”

“No, she was telling you to go away. She liked me when we first met, “ Ruby said smugly as she pointed her thumb at herself.

“Let’s ask then. Hey, who were you telling to g- No. I thought of a better question. Who do you like more, Ruby or me?”

As a connoisseur of horrible romance novels, she knew that question was a horrible trap. She needed to use all her tactical skills to escape this situation.

Step 1. Stall.

“I-I-I like you both,” Blake stuttered out, already seeing the dissatisfaction on both girl’s faces.

“That’s a copou-”

“C’mon, Bla-”

Step 2. RUN.

She then created a clone to distract them as she crashed out of the nearby window. A pair of affronted screams could be heard as she ran for the treeline.

Sorry, clone.

=================

“I’ve been camping in the Emerald Forest to avoid them,” Blake said frazzled, “Do you know what it’s like to be the subject of sisters trying to compete for affection?”

“Uhhh yeah,” Jaune laughed, “I have seven older sisters, you know.”

“Why would you do this to me then?”

“Ahaha. Sorry, but you were the one who expressed interest in the life of a harem protagonist.”

Blake’s gaze moving between his pillow and his face probably wasn’t a good sign.

“Uhh. So that’s it?” Jaune said quickly.

“No! It affected my entire team!”

=================

Weiss:

“Uhhh Weiss. You didn’t have to prepare all this,” Blake said, not quite able to stop her drooling. In the middle of the Emerald Forest was a small seafood banquet, and to someone that had been living with her own subpar cooking skills for a week, it was a godsend.

“It was my pleasure. It’s been a long time since we could just sit together like this,” Weiss said daintily, sipping her tea on the table she prepared, complete with cloth drapings.

“Yeah, especially since Ruby and Yang seem to have gone insane.”

“How so?”

“The last time I went back to Beacon, Ruby tried feeding me her home cooking, and I nearly died from the taste. Yang taunted her because her own cooking was miles better, and now Ruby’s on a quest to improve her cooking and making me the taste tester.”

Weiss winced sympathetically before smiling. “Well, you’re here now. Just take a seat and just enjoy the food.”

“Thanks,” Blake said as she sat down, grabbing a couple dishes and devouring them as fast she could endure.

It was then she felt a peculiar feeling against her calf. Thinking it was just a bug, she just swung her leg, and the sensation went away.

But after a couple more seconds of dining, she felt it reappear - and it was now on her knee now.

Immediately, she lifted her head from the dishes to stare at Weiss, who had an innocent smile on her face as though butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

“Weiss?”

“Yes, Blake?”

“Is thaaaa...”

Warning bells started ringing in her head; that foot now on her thigh was reaching just a tad bit higher inch by inch. And immediately, she stood up, face burning like it’s been out of the sun.

“SorryWeissIrealizeIhavetogocatthefeedBye!” she spilled out in a panic as she ran like a Goliath was after her.

As she entered into the woods, her ears caught Weiss’s parting words.

“Wait Blak-. Does that mean Blake isn’t into this sort of stuff then?”

=================

“As it so happens,” Blake said rubbing the space between her brow, “a couple of my Ninjas of Love books have gone missing from underneath my bed mattress. The one with that dinner scene in particular.”

“Sounds like you read some really raunch-”

Blake slightly reddened and sent Jaune a glare.

“Uhh, sorry. So that’s gotta be it then.”

“No. Because guess who also has a sister?”

“Weiss has a sister?”

Blake sighed.

=================

Winter:

“I wanted to see the girl who had my sister’s affections,” the white-haired girl who looked a lot like Weiss said calmly. She had cornered her inside a cave, out-maneuvered her to the point where she had to hide - and still found her.

Winter’s hand lifted her chin. “You really....are pretty.”

Her face burned red at the affectionate gesture.

Shadow.

Run.

=================

“That doesn’t sound like a confession though, “ Jaune said skeptically.

“With the way my month’s been going,” Blake said dryly, “you really want to bet on that?”

Jaune shook his head laughing nervously.

“No bet. No bet,” Jaune waved his hand.

“Besides she was part of the cavalry during the Battle of Beacon.”

=================

Adam:

“Adam, I’ve never thought about you that way,” Blake choked out, the pain through her gut making her curl onto the ground.

“What! You can’t deny me. You’re mine. And you always will be. And if I can’t have you....”

Her once mentor’s blade shimmered in the flames, pointing towards her neck as she struggled to ready her Semblance.

“Hey! Someone’s trying to kill Blake!” someone screamed out. It sounded a lot like Yang.

A blur of fire and ice practically detonated the spot Adam was standing in, sending him to the wall opposite to her charred worse than Ruby’s cooking. Familiar figures dropped in through the roof, took one look at her, and then charged towards her assailer with unmatched ferocity.

Adam proceeded to get his ass beat by the rest of Team RWBY, Sun, Winter, and Cinder.

=================

“Wait wait wait. Cinder? How does she enter into the picture?” Jaune said incredulously.

“Apparently she’s the mastermind behind everything,” Blake shrugged, “According to her confession, she took one look at me and realized all the wrongs she’d done and wanted to work hard to atone.”

Jaune couldn’t help but stare disbelievingly at that.

“Winter’s boss couldn’t believe it either,” Blake pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I guess all’s well that ends well. You got saved, Vale’s still standing. All of us are alive,” Jaune laughed.

“Yeah, except for this little problem of me having a harem!” Blake growled.

“Wait. Where’s Blake?” said a voice outside the room.

“She’s awake?!” said another voice.

“She shouldn’t be walking around like that. Should be resting with the best medical care Vale could offer.” said a third.

“Crap. They’re here,” Blake said frantically, glancing over at a nearby window. “Fix this, Jaune, or you’re not going to like what happens next.”

Opening the sliding window, the girl dove through and quickly skedaddled towards the treeline of the forest that was becoming her home.

Meanwhile....

Jaune felt a foreboding feeling as his room door slid open, and the stares of three panicking members of team RWBY settled on him.

“Jaune, have you seen Bla-” Ruby said before her gaze locked onto something at his side.

Jaune glanced over to see what Ruby was looking at - the open window.

“So, Jaune, what do you think you were doing with Blake alll alone?” Yang said with a smile that wasn’t a smile.

“Ehehe. Nothing. I’ve just woken up. I didn’t even see her today.”

“Really? I don’t think you’re telling us the truth,” Weiss said calmly, “Ruby?”

“Yes?”

“Close the door.”

Sweating, Jaune clandestinely started pressing the nurse call button under his sheets, hoping someone would come before these three had their way with him.

#Anonymous #rwby au #rwby #blake belladonna #weiss schnee #ruby rose #yang xiao long #sun wukong #jaune arc #mod lilac #rwby fic #blacksun #ladybug #checkmate #bumbleby

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anxiousbean33 · 4 years ago

Text

The Black Sails - Chapter 3 : We're Going on a Trip in Our Favorite Rocket Ship!

Notes: Funnily enough I planned out this whole thing for the farm and all this fancy stuff and a chapter name and it turns out that I have to save it all for probably chapter 5? Also I edited the prologue on ao3 I haven't done it here though. I dunno if @sitting-around-and-fantasizing still wants a tag but here ya go lemme know if ya dont want me to do this next chapter

Summary: Trade to Smp has been cut off due to threats from the Black sails, and raids on the towns that continued trading. Food sources are being limited, with the increasing amount of refugees, they are running out quicker than normal. They figure out a plan of where to go to gain a stable food supply.

Word Count: 1894

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30826130/chapters/78001871

H paces back and forth throughout his room. With L’Manburg being raided, Smp just lost their main source of food. The dream team was too busy helping people get to safety to realize the black sails were targeting the farmers and burning any house they could find to cause chaos. H knew he would have to talk to Eret about trying to find the rest of the heroes of old, but how would he bring up that things have gotten so bad that they need to regroup. Looking back on the maps, he tried to find any farms nearby that they could go to, and set up guards to protect them from the black sails. Skyblock Farms… that is the farm closest to Smp that has so far managed to stay neutral in this war.

Eventually, he stands up and walks down the hall to Erets room, he knocks on the door, and walks in not waiting for Eret to reply, “Eret we have a big issue, as you know L’Manburg got destroyed yesterday, and so we need another place to get food, we could find a place and have some of the few survivors but most of them have injuries. It would be best to go to this other singular farm, in between our kingdom and the fallen kingdom, named Skyblock Farm. So far the people there have stayed neutral in this war. Going to them for help would be our best bet. I was thinking you could send me and the dream team, we would probably be the best fighters for it. What do you think?” H states looking into Erets completely white eyes, due to them just waking up and not even being in their king outfit.

“H I am going to be real, I don’t know what you just said.” Eret responded with a blank face, “I trust you, if you want to do whatever is cool, just like leave a note or something. I’m too tired to think right now, but if you need me, I will be more awake in like an hour or so, talk to me then.” Eret says getting out of bed for the first time that morning.

“Oh sh- you were still asleep- sorry, my bad. I'll just head out now,”

H sighs walking back down the hallway, he eventually walks to the courtyard. H pulls out his notebook and starts to write more notes about the current situation. Just a few days ago, Hypixel sent a letter declaring Hypixel Fighting Arena’s new ally ship with SMP. Although Hypixel is unsure if the main farm Skyblock is going to drop out of the business deal with Hypixel, as they have not gotten any information what's happening there, hopefully they are able to gain their ally ship and also obtain fighters from the arena. H looks up from his notebook, hearing someone walk down the hallways towards him, looking towards the entrance. He sees Karl walk in, “H there you are! Eret said you had some sort of plan on how to deal with this whole food situation?”

“Ah right! I was thinking that- actually I dunno if you've heard yet, but we have allied with HFA, uhh Hypixel Fighting Arena, and so I was thinking we could head to Skyblock and see if the farmers want to ally with us as well.” H responds while shuffling through his notebook and handing it to Karl when he gets to a certain page. “Skyblock is a pretty big farm, as you can see here their main produce is carrots, potatoes, and cows. It would be great to convince them to join us before they declare full neutrality or get an alliance with Black Sails,” showing Karl specific sections of the farm.

“H! This is great! We could send you, Dream, George, and Sap- wait no, Sapnap is on location duty, and is helping people find a place to live… uhm, so probably just you, Dream, and George? Unless you or the others know someone else who would be able to go?” Karl rambles, still looking through H’s notebook, shocked by all the thought and effort put into it, “H how long did it take you to do all of this? This is some heavy research and can really help us, is it okay if I take this to Eret? They need to see this.”

“Oh thanks Karl, but not, yet I still need to add a few things to it, I'll show them later. And it took me a bit, but it was over the span of like a week. I won't overwork myself Karl, don't worry. I can go get Dream and see who is able to come bye Karl! Thanks for letting me know,” H says walking towards the main room of the castle, wondering how to bring up to Eret that he is Bomb, one of the revolutionaries that he worked with in the past. Sighing, he turns around and walks towards the exit again, hoping to find Dream.

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

“Tubbo! Tommy! Get off the roof!” Puffy yells, “Dream, go get them off the roof!”

“I don't think I will do that actually, it took too much work getting them up there in the first place,” he responds, shoving his hands into his hoodie pocket.

“You did WHAT! Dream, you are supposed to be the responsible one. You are literally one of the king's heroes, and you put your cousin and his friend on the roof!”

“We actually asked him to Puffy! We like it up here!” Tubbo shouts interrupting the current conversation.

“Dream. Get them down. Now.” Puffy says glaring at Dream. She starts walking inside, “I'm giving you however long it takes to go to the medic, check on Will, and come back. If they aren't down by then, you better start running.”

“Ok, you two fun is over, get off the roof, or we will be chased down by an angry Papa Puffy, and trust me Tommy, you don't want that.” Dream then pulls the lever that he hid in the bushes, causing the pistons to move and reveal a hidden ladder. Tubbo then starts climbing down while Tommy sits with an angry look, eventually following after Tubbo not wanting to stay on the roof by himself.

“Dream! There you are!” Someone else shouts, Dream turns around to see H walking towards him with George, and each of them have a bag, “Dream, we need your help, we're heading to a farm to see if we can ally with them. Can you get ready by the end of the day?”

“Uhhh how hard of a thing do you think this is going to be, I’m stuck with these two gremlins for the time being as Jordan and Puffy are heading to help with the people who came last night, and Phil is staying with Wilbur after he got hurt. They would probably have to come with us,” Dream says while grabbing Tommy and Tubbo. “Oh and by the way, H, George, this is Tommy and this is Tubbo,” He says, holding onto Tommy and Tubbo by the arms and pointing his head to the people he was talking about.

“No yeah, for sure, it's a two-day trip on horseback, but there has been no sighting of black sails in that area in around 2 days, so we should be clear for the entire trip, and when we get there is just going to be talking to farmers, so taking them with would be fine.”

“Sweet. You two go pack for the trip, we can probably help teach you more stuff with your magic on the trip as well, Tommy.” Dream says walking over to a notepad, writing a note for Jordan, Puffy, and Phil, “Hopefully they don't get mad at me for this.”

“POGCHAMP! We’re going on a hero's quest with Big D, and Gogy!!” Tommy shouts, dragging Tubbo to their room.

“Tommy, are you sure this is a good idea? Your mom is still missing and Wilbur is hurt, us leaving on a big quest may not be the best…” Tubbo whispers worriedly. Tubbo had never been on a quest with his cousin before but he usually came back bloody and bruised and Tubbo was terrified of something happening to him or Tommy, as they just found out Tommys power is controlling electricity yesterday.

“Cmon big man, we’ll be fine! If anyone gets in our way I can just shock them back! Hah! Ya!” Tommy responds, pretending to punch things at the end, “But seriously Tubbo it's gonna be fine, we have Dream, George, and H. I think we will be fine. Plus, we can look for Mumza on the trip!”

“Hey you two ready?” Dream shouts from the other room, “Cause we're leaving now, you better get over here before we leave without you!”

Tommy and Tubbo stare at one another and then shout “RACE YA!” scrambling out the door tripping over items and each other.

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

“You got this Will just one step at a time, be careful you are still burnt.” Phil says holding onto Wilbur on one side while Puffy helps on the other one.

“Thanks for helping me Puffy, you didn't have to do that. I never thought I would say this but I actually am excited to see Tommy again,” Wilbur says while watching his feet, hoping his legs won't give out on the 5 steps he has to do before the door, “Less excited for him to be around Tubbo as that would be very chaotic.”

“Hey… Uhm… I'm sorry to interrupt… but uhm..” Phil turns around and sees a really tall kid standing there, he has black and white hair, he looks like a hybrid and also has an ender eye on a necklace, which is probably his gem, “Sorry I don't talk to people that much… but uhm… I saw H and George walk over here to talk to Dream… and they left on a quest to go to this farm… I think?”

Puffy stared blankly at the kid, “Kid please tell me that Dream did not just go on a quest and leave Tommy and Tubbo alone at the house,” Looking more concerned as she talked.

“Uhm he didn't? I think… My name is Ranboo… but I think he took them with him?” he replied.

“Oh no. This is not going to end well… Uh Ranboo right? You said you know where they went? Puffy, you stay here and tell Jordan what happened when he gets back, I can go with Ranboo and go after Tommy?” Phil says helping Wilbur up the last step. “Hopefully they haven't gotten into trouble already.”

“Yea I can take you to them I know the general direction they went, I do have a bad memory though so let me get my memory book real quick!” Ranboo replies, running off towards the park nearby to grab his book where he set it down.

“Oh god why did Dream think this was a good idea…” Puffy sighs, walking Wilbur to the couch and helping him sit down.

“When I said I didn't want to deal with Tommy and Tubbo, I didn't mean I wanted them to not be at the house.” Wilbur says laughing, “Why am I not surprised that they begged Dream to drag them along.”

#mcyt #fanfic #philza #tommyinnit #tubbo #captain puffy #captain sparklez #wilbur soot #ranboo #dreamwastaken #georgenotfound #hbomb #my au #kingdom of darkness au

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i-think-i-love-ya · 5 years ago

Text

Oh My God, They Were Roommates - Part 3

Fuck Buddy Housemates - Masterlist

Jaebeom x Cis!Female Reader/OC

Words: 1406

Tags: Oral (Female receiving), Fingering, lil bit of nipple play, Sex while others are listening, unprotected sex, orgasm denial, cum swallowing.

A/N: IM SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG I WAS ✨UNMOTIVATED✨ but the next part will be posted tomorrow to make up for me being lazy

“I’m home!” You walked in with two drinks from Starbucks.

“Hey.” You heard Jaebeom’s voice coming from the living room.

When you walked in he was on the phone.

“Oh yeah, I guess you never met my housemate. She’s cool. She supply’s me with caffeine all the time.” He said into the phone, taking the latte from you.

He went silent for a second.

“Uhh. I don’t know….” he said, looking at you.

“What?”

“He wants to meet you.” He said.

“Okay… Put him on FaceTime.” You said moving to sit beside JB.

So he hung up the phone call to switch to FaceTime.

“His name in your phone is ‘skkrt skkrt’?” You laughed because that was absolutely ridiculous.

JBs friend answered the phone call and you waved at him.

“I’m BamBam. Nice to meet you.” He smiled into the camera.

“My name is yn.”

“Dude you didn’t tell me she was hot.” Bam said, directed at Jaebeom.

You turned to him.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell your friends I’m hot.” You said shaking your head. “That’s just unacceptable behaviour.”

“I should have never let the two of you meet, too much chaotic energy in my life at the same time. Anyways my phone is dying so you hold this while I go get a charger.” JB handed you his phone while he went upstairs to find his charger.

“Hey uhh yn, you kinda look like you were attacked. Tell your boyfriend to cool it on the marks.” BamBam giggled

You pulled up the collar on your shirt.

“I don’t really have a boyfriend.” You said.

“Girlfriend then?” Bam asked and you shook your head.

You pointed upstairs and Bambams jaw dropped to the floor.

“You two aren’t together are you?!” He whispered even though there was no way JB could hear him.

“No… we have an arrangement.” You explained.

“Is the arrangement that he rearranges you?!” Bam asked

You burst out into laughter because you couldn’t deny that’s exactly what JB was doing to you.

“What’s so funny?” JB asked, charger in hand.

You shook your head

“Nothing. Here.” You handed him back his phone and said bye to BamBam.

“Dude… Nice.” BamBam said with a thumbs up when you left the room.

JB looked at his phone confused.

“She told me about your little ‘arrangement’. Her words.” Bam explained

“Oh… haha yeah.”

—

You heard a knock on your door and Jaebeoms head poke through.

“Can I hang?”

You waved him in and pulled the other chair up to your computer desk.

“Whatcha doing?” He asked

“Playing Among Us with friends.”

“Camera on?”

“Nope.”

”Mic?”

“Only during discussions so we don’t have to type.” You explained.

JB made a humming noise and leaned back in the chair to watch as you killed someone in the med bay and vented away before anyone could see you.

“So you uh told BamBam about our situation.” He said after a while.

“Yeah… should I not have? Sorry I probably should have asked first.” You said.

“No it’s alright I have no problem with people knowing. I wasn’t telling people cause I wasn’t sure if you wanted to.” He explained.

“What did he say?” You asked laughing

JB imitated BamBams face after you had left the room and put his thumb up.

“He’s seriously reconsidering living alone.” He said laughing.

You laughed into the mic that you had just turned on for discussion time and all your friends asked what was so funny.

“Oh JB is here beside me, say hi.”

JB leaned into the mic and said hi to all your friends, then covered the mic and gave you a small kiss.

You were about to tell everyone you had to leave but he stopped you and told you to keep playing.

After voting someone off you turned your mic back off.

“So… you told your friends about us?” JB rolled his chair closer to you and started kissing your neck.

You nodded, moving your head to the side to give him more access.

His hands slid up your shirt to play with your nipples.

“Haha… I’ve seen you shirtless so many times yet I keep forgetting you have pierced nipples.”

You shivered as JB’s thumbs slowly circled your nipples.

“I uhh… normally push your hands away. My nipples are very sensitive. Too sensitive.” You said

JB hummed. One of his hands left your chest to slide down your body. You were wearing a skirt so all he had to do is push your panties out of the way to expose you.

“Damn baby… already so damn wet.” You moaned as his hands toyed with your breast and pussy simultaneously.

You lifted one leg over the armrest of your chair to make it easier for him. JB slid two fingers inside right as soon as a meeting was called.

You turned on your mic to hear the discussion until one of your friends asked why you weren’t saying anything.

“I… have nothing to add. I was in the middle of doing a sca- ahhh.” JB angled his fingers hitting your g-spot.

“I’m fine. Stubbed my toe.” You kept quiet and held in your moans until everyone decided to skip the vote.

Turning off your mic you leaned back in the chair. You moved your character to security so it would look like you're busy. There was still another imposter so they could do the work.

JB got down on the floor and made his way under your desk. He pulled off your panties and started eating you out.

Another body was reported so you turned back on your mic but also sent a message into the chat that had all your friends screaming.

JB could hear that under the desk and asked what happened.

“Just let my friends know what you’re doing.”

JB hummed and kept licking. You were the last imposter since the other one was voted out and you had to win.

Your orgasm was also getting very close and you just had to kill two more people so you sabotaged the oxygen and won that way.

You screamed out as JB lightly ran his teeth along your clit and made you cum.

He hit his head on the desk coming back up and told you to stand up. JB sat down on your chair and pulled you down onto his cock.

You started a new game of Among Us and you were a crew mate this time.

“You aren’t gonna move” you asked.

“Naw… you’ll get to cum again if you win this round.” He said lightly scratching at your thighs.

During the first discussion Jaebeom heard someone ask what he was doing to you now so he leaned towards the mic.

“She’s sitting on my cock. She won’t get to cum till the game is over.” He sat back and heard the chorus of screams and squeals through your headset.

JB filling you up was so distracting that you couldn’t focus on your tasks so the crew mates ended up losing this round.

You told your friend bye and logged out of your computer. JB pushed you onto the desk when you took off your headset.

“W-wait… not here. You might hit my tech.”

So without removing himself from inside you, he lifted you up and carried you to your bed. He put you on your hands and knees and began fucking you.

You could barely hold yourself up as he was pulling you back into him with so much force.

You started clenching around him more and more so he could tell you were about to cum.

He pulled out and walked over to your head.

“Open.”

You opened your mouth and he rested his cock on your tongue. He began pumping his cock until he came in your mouth.

You sat back on your feet as he pulled his pants back up his thighs and started leaving your room.

“You're just gonna leave me hanging.” You were pouting.

He turned back around and walked up to you.

“Yup. You lost the game which means you don’t get to finish.” He had a smug smirk on his lips.

“And yn,” he grabbed your chin and turn your face towards him, “you don’t cum tonight at all… not even by your own hands.” JB left your room.

When you heard the door close you threw your face into your pillows and groaned.

#OMGTWR #got7 #got7 smut #jaebeom #im jaeboem #jaebeom smut #writing #mine

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ground-todo · 5 years ago

Text

bakugou trying a new food combination with his s/o — headcanons

PAIRING — bakugou x gn!reader

GENRE — fluff, slight crack?

WARNINGS — some swearing, and idk if I should add this but uhh very random (but good!) food combo

MASTERLIST

it happened when you and Bakugou were studying in your room for the upcoming quiz

you were 2 hours into your study session, when you were able to understand the lesson slightly but you still couldn’t answer all of Bakugou’s questions

seeing you stressed out over the lesson, he decided to play nice boyfriend and gave you a 10 minute break

you were happy when he told you that, giving him a peck on the cheek and ran to your cupboard to look for something to munch on since studying always gets you hungry

when you opened your cupboard though, there was only chocolate powder

you forgot to buy snacks

“what’s wrong?”

“oh nothing!” you would reply while thinking of what and how to eat with only the chocolate powder present in your cupboard

then you remembered something your mom would do at home

after a meal, she would take out some chocolate powder and placed a generous amount of it on top of her rice

you unknowingly forgot about that until this very day, since you got yourself pretty hungry and craving for a snack

‘there should be rice in the common room kitchen’ with that thought in mind, you rush downstairs to get two bowls of rice

Bakugou was caught off guard, were you really that hungry today?

after about five minutes, you got back in your room with your boyfriend looking at you with the ‘what the fuck’ face

“did you forget your sides?” he would ask with a raised eyebrow

you just shake your head in disagreement and placed the bowls infront of him on your desk then you took the chocolate powder and placed it on the desk as well

“what—“

before Bakugou could even complain, here you were topping the rice with spoonfuls of the choco powder

he was not impressed

we all know the man is a chef and he just thinks that what you are doing now in beyond ridiculous

when you grabbed a spoonful of the food and motion for him to eat it:

“no.”

“come on Katsuki!! it will taste good I promise!!”

“no.”

“pleasee??”

“why don’t you eat it first so I know that it isn’t fucking poisonous?!”

you did as he said and ate what was on the spoon, a rush of childhood happiness ran through your veins as you were finally able to eat what your child self craved for so long

Bakugou was surprised with how you reacted

he thought you would cough out the powder and try to get the taste off of your tounge but no

you’re actually enjoying it?? what??

surely it wont be that bad if you handled it so well

and so he takes another spoon and scooped some of the food from the other bowl

he kept it in front of him, still pretty skeptical even though you already proved that it isn’t bad

“go on, try it!”

he had second thoughts and said “no.” yet again

you were kinda sad that he isn’t eating it, but then you remembered something Kirishima taught you to use against the egoistic pomeranian

“Hm… I guess I’ll just ask Kirishima to try it.” you say, trying to pick up the bowls but Bakugou wasn’t letting you do just that and ate the spoonful

you could hear how angry he was by how he clamped his teeth on the spoon, almost breaking it

it actually isn’t that bad??

Bakugou had a soft neutral expression on his face as he munched on the food

you also took another spoonful to much on as you waited for his response

“it’s too sweet.”

“eh?? but it’s chocolate, of course it’s sweet!!”

“you could’ve used dark chocolate or add some spices you know”

“it’s supposed to be sweet, Katsuki!!”

“yeah yeah whatever dumbass”

but did he actually liked it??

you really wanted to ask but if he’s still eating it then that would probably mean that it’s good…right??

although Bakugou doesn’t really have a sweet tooth like you, he thinks this chocolate or rice thing is pretty acceptable

he won’t admit it but he really likes how the rice neutralizes the sweetness of the chocolate powder

heck, he could have this as breakfast if he wasn’t feeling like eating a full meal and make a drink

after that day, you would find him entering your room at random times of the day after his training session to get the chocolate powder from your cupboard and eat it with left over rice in the fridge

his usual excuse would be “I wanted something sweet after my training”

you would join him though, because you get to tease him about how ‘unlikely’ it was for him to take on your food combination and have it every couple of days

he would only eat it around you though just cause he doesn’t want anyone else to try your couple food

oh and one last thing

“wanna try eating rice with chili powder?”

“KATSUKI NO”

A/N — this was definetly inspired by that one time when my mom pulled out the chocolate powder and did this. 10/10 would recommend! I wanted to do a scenario for this one but I don’t have the motivation to do so ;0; this is a pretty unusual hc though but oh well I just wanted to get this out of my system hehe 🤧 reuploaded this cause TAGS

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neo-shitty · 4 years ago

Note

toffee!

hehe glad i could make you laugh, oooh that sounds awesome! yeah id love to be tagged it sounds great :)

YES the differences are so fucking weird. like, they do know they're the same age right? i feel like its just an exagguration of how much the persons role in the group matters, like we see chan being held up as such a mature, old leader while jungkook who is literally the same age, is still babied etc. like enha hyung line is basically the same age (if a bit younger) as chenle and jisung but somehow the rules are different?? as you point out, still legal but still bizarre. hehe yeah, i mean where else are we going to rant? quora lol. mmm, hopefully more people can just write less smut abt people who are barely adults

ah, no prob it didnt take long. yeah i think thats right (i keep forgetting you know my url lol) mmhmm :( i think if that happened irl there would be some major trauma going on. knock wood it never happens to you or me lol (/hj)

hehe same! oooh glad Redemption For Cheese was realised! yess we cant rllycomplain that theyve written/produced too much good music lol. yeah, ive dragged him into being a stay so *dusts hands off* mission accomplished. mmm yeah, they tend to have a certain vibe but tbh it couldve worked if they were any other group but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ahh ur one step ahead of me on the stages of listening to ssick i think, still not convinced but thats okay! hehe, it had to be said. yesss the itch in the back of my brain is very satisfied by sorry i love you, felixs vocals deserve to be appreciated! (side note i feel like hes trying to sing more like his speaking voice, sorta husky, but tbh i wouldnt be mad if he sang like in glow, his sweet honey vocals made my life lol. but i think ive heard him say he doesnt like singing like that cos it makes his normal voice less husky, so what can you do)

> YES SOMEONE SAID IT. seungmin rap KING, he sped thru that rap like it was nothing, he deserves more rap lines. i do like how they gave minho some melodic rap lines this comeback, my guy deserved to show off those skills that made him not be eliminated (flashbacks to stay collectively wanting to murder jyp) and we already know changbin can sing, my man murdered masked singer. hyunjin can obviously sing as can jisung and felix, and i want to hear chan rap more! i feel like he started as part of 3racha (as a rap unit not producing) and then just became a vocalist (which im fine with, but it could be nice to hear him flex his rapping skills) and was partially replaced by hyunjin. anywayyy

back to album talk. lmaooo sad music to twerk to PERFECTLY describes silent cry. yes secret secret is and will always be, a masterpiece. hehe glad i could make you laugh :) i just felt like they have similar vibes. putting off skz stuff bc of not having time to cry IS the kpop stan life summarised. oh my beloved track, red lights. ahh thats okay, we can have different opinions, but by god the lyrics are *chefs kiss*. *banging on table* TWISTED AU TWISTED AU TWISTED AU. yess id love to see ur take on it! sdfghjkl it would have been glorious

no no! not stupid, just able to predict my brainwaves. ooooh thats so cool! makes me want to go there (wherever there is lol) yeah the waves are pretty good here, but none of my familys a surfer, so we dont rlly enjoy the full potential lol. YES moving on to gone away, it is indeed a heartwrenching track, but the vocals and the bloody key change? makes me want to brave being sad just to listen to it. mmm yeah, good point :( i feel like ive just gotten used to overthinking so much so that it doesnt matter what mood im in, ill do it anyway, so might as well just do what i feel like doing anyway.

yeah i think ur right! it is quite comforting knowing that all the tracks will get the love they deserve. i feel like also people assume kpop is just one genre which is utter bs. there are so many different vibes and feels and songs, i couldnt get into kpop (of which i thought only the bright cheerful present day bts stuff existed smh) until i heard gods menu so... idk where i was going with this but yeah. :)

YES FUCK YG, theyre literally on the brink of being kicked out of the big three and they are holding their salvation hostage without letting them do ANYTHING. idek what thought process goes thru their minds but arghhh its so infuriating. yess lisa's cb will be awesome but ot4 is the gold standard here.

hehe, glad u could get to this point. no no! u dont sound like a cult member at all lol yeah, i loooove some of their songs but the whole 23 members thing is getting to me. thats prob a common problem with nctzens but what can i say? im a simple girl with a limit to how many korean boys i can give my money to. atm im just trying to get into ateez and finish memorising enhypen's faces. also kard is kinda sucking me into their fandom atm, as well as eric name lol. ah what can you do? ooh thats good!

hehe i love it too! its exactly like online penpals, that was rlly well put. aww ty! hmm im okay, recovering from a bad case of rsv so thats fun. im doing okay mentally, starting therapy soon (after having to convince my mother that its not just smth i can brush off). physically i wont go into, basically i should be doing stretches to help but they dont completely fix it so my lazy ass doesnt do them, plus i got told recently im going to be stuck with this condition for the rest of my life so thats fun! ah, before you type smth dw abt me ill be fine. the weather atm is cloudy but warm, its been raining on and off today which is good for the garden. uhh i just finished reading sunburnt veils and im in the middle of prom theory which is rlly good. ummm ive got a concert tonight? that i may or may not be able to sing in (bc of the whole rsv thingo) and uhhhh idk. my dog is cute? im drinking tea rn? ive got a school dance coming up?

wbu? hows ur day going, how are you? whats the weather like on ur end? done anything interesting lately? found smth that makes you rlly happy? just any random thing youve been dying to tell someone?

no no! dont apologise, i love these exchanges. i think im happy to continue them for a long time :) on the other hand, if you get tired of them, feel free to just not answer at any time. goodness gracious this was a long ask haha hope it isnt too annoying

<3 w.a. 🐺

sorry it took me a bit to reply, i was fixing my theme ;n;

yeah, i figured it was because of the roles too. my friends and i still get taken aback when 3rd gen idols are the same age as 4th gen ones. in my head it doesn't add up sometimes. PLS THE RANT AT QUORA SKJDK tbh tho it's just going to be normalized as the years pass? esp that the boys are growing older and the amount of explicit fics will just increase. i might have to start blocking tags.

i had to look up the previous ask to remember what we were talking about xd i hope the events in champagne problems never happens to anyone. realistically, it probably happens a lot. damn i really won't wish that pain on anyone. dragging your brother into being a stay i whEEZED JFKSA additional noeasy music enthusiast o.o and ALL I CAN SAY WITH YOU GUSHING ABT FELIX IS AHA WHIPPEEEED OML can't blame you tho, i also want to hear felix sing more in other shades (if that makes sense HAHA) i really hope they'll do the role exchange in the next comeback :( or like in the near future bc i know they can do it :( the day i hear seungmin rapping it i will respectfully pass away. minho was given more lines this comeback thank fUCK i could rmb my irl being vocal abt her frustration. i don't get why minho barely has center time/lines in title tracks??? like the line distribution in the past eras just made me ???? if seventeen can balance lines with 13 members why cant a group of 8 do the same? moving on. i haven't watched the stray kids show simply bc i don't want to cry HAJS but i've seen clips. imagine if skz debuted without minho and felix?!?!? i rmb another irl catching bias feels towards changbin bc of the masked singer only to find out that the man's a rapper. i love how skz's vocals were highlighted this comeback :c there were a lot of mellow tracks! i find it cute when chan sings/raps bc it gets kinda obvious that he's a foreigner? the accent (im not even sure if it's the accent) it just shows. "putting off skz stuff bc of not having time to cry IS the kpop stan life summarised." CORRECT.

abt the twisted au o.O i'll inquire my irl if she wants to write it or not. if she doesn't want to, i'll do it. i miss writing twisted aus <3___<3 and i also miss going to the beach with my friends :' ) but it's starting to get cold here and i don't think i'll be able to enjoy the beach as much as i would if i went beaching in the summer. so maybe next summer? gone away really has an sm-ballad vibe. the thing about skz being a self-producing group, their songs don't sound like typical jype songs? and i just appreciate that bc in all honesty im not a fan of jyp groups at all. PLS the overthinking. i wish i could mute overthinking.

anyone who assumes kpop is just one genre obv hasn't listened to a single track. if kpop was just one genre why do i like some tracks more than the others??? oh you've only recently become a kpop stan? tbh im not a fan of the bright songs of bts either. i liked their older ones *chefs kiss* really matched high school vibes. yg has good artists and they're just wasting the talent ~.~ that strategy they have will get tiring eventually. people will stop waiting on blackpink and move on to newer more active groups ://

HAHAHAH yeah the 23 members is pretty overwhelming! it was the reason i didn't bother stanning before quarantine started. i don't regret stanning tho, met my ult bias in that group <3___<3 i don't really purchase albums unless i like the tracks xd ohhh getting into ateez just in time for the comeback! let me know what you think about them! i was fond of them at some point but grew out of it. good luck with memorizing enhypen! it took me a while to distinguish to people there XD i haven't checked out kard yet but chan plays their songs during lives and they're sexc hype music me likey *u*

i had to look up rsv im sorry. i'm glad you're recovering! please rest more and don't stress yourself out. bro i wish i could go to therapy too bc i have weird issues i can't justify and i need a professional to tell me what's the reason behind it. stuck with what condition btw? what happened? i'm sorry in case i just forgot. yesterday was a bit rainy for me too :(( it's not the type of rainy that makes me anxious so B) oh concert! good luck and i hope you'll be able to sing but i also don't think it's best for you rn :c what's your dog's breed? and yes i just finished drinking tea too. AAAAA i miss school dances :(( the last one i was supposed to have was cancelled bc of covid.

i was less productive today and i'm teetering between being mentally stable and becoming a hermit again. i'm anxious with a lot of things atm so like : D not the best state. today it was a bit sunny but not hot hot which was nice. i changed my theme today bc i couldn't wait for sept. 1st. and no i haven't found anything that makes me happy HAHAHA shit like that's hard to identify. don't have anything to say too, i'm just thinking about why i'm procrastinating too much atm T_T and i'm listening to this rap song atm and one of the rappers sounded like han.

it isn't annoying! i enjoy the long exchanges but i do admit it takes me awhile to type down a reply. so if i get more busy, it'll prolly take a bit longer for me to reply.

#toff.asks #wild anon 🐺

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darkestwolfx · 5 years ago

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Home on the Range - Re-Review #47

Just a quick note to say, I know I am super behind on replying to everyone! I will aim to go and do that now! Thank you all so so much though, I really do appreciate it. Hopefully work will slow down in a bit and I can be a little more active here.

Anyhow, let’s move onto how awesome this little house is!

Of course International Rescue have a training zone. The Gecko Gloves sound pretty useful as well. Gordon could have done with them in ‘Weather or Not’.

“Maybe I should take the lead for a change?”

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea.”

“Hey- What are you doing? That’s not what I had in mind!”

“Me next!”

Of course they’re the sort of brother’s that work together to throw each other around. That little look between Scott and Virgil was priceless. They really are a dream team.

“MAX, go and shake things up a little bit.”

Key word there MAX being “little”, not deathly. Seriously, you nearly took out three brothers!

“I can’t! He’s out of control!”

And that is the harbinger of doom for this episode.

Virgil saving Scott like a good brother.

And I love how Gordon somehow managed to make it all the way to the top!

Also, maneuver 17? We haven’t heard of it before, but they know what it means, and good for it too or we might have been spending a full twenty-two minutes looking at this wall of death.

“What a lovely place! I can see why you come here every year.”

“Nice hof your Father, to build this little ‘ome haway from ‘ome.”

A perfect sentence to give to Parker.

“Actually the Ranch belonged to the boys Mother. It’s been in her family for generations.”

A hint of Lucille! How lovely.

You know when you turn the TV on and you’re sorely disappointed? Yeah, Gordon was the epitome of that!

“Uhh, it’s her again! How many times do they have to play this thing?”

Her being Kat Cavanough - reporter from ‘Falling Skies’.

And more hints of Lucille!

“Do you remember when Mom used to take us all horseback riding?”

“Especially when Gordon was facing the wrong way. I think there’s a picture here somewhere.”

“I don’t really have much to add to the conversation.”

This is such a sweet moment! Of course Alan is younger and doesn’t have the same memories. Must be hard though, to be surrounded by brother’s who can have a conversation you can’t join in with.

Alan going out to watch Shadows take off was adorable! I mean, this episode really felt like they were trying to push Kayo and Alan, but then... I don’t really know what happened with TAG love interest story lines, save Penelope and Gordon.

“Sherbet, wait here and... guard FAB One.”

I love how the guarding idea was an afterthought, but Bertie takes it seriously! Parker and Lady Penelope having hard hats as well was genius.

“Seems hare hintruder ‘as vanished hinto thin hair.”

And sit on a rock Parker... anyone else getting flashbacks to ‘Tunnels of Time’? Just don’t touch anything, Parker. Although he did help them to find Kat! Really, what was she trying to achieve, silly woman.

A full family team up! Here we go.

“Thunderbirds are- Oh come on!”

Best launch ever. Just putting it out there.

P.S. Don’t look so down Scott.

“So, if all our ships are grounded, how are we going to get to the rescue site?”

“Fortunately, we still have some vehicles that are completely self-contained.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me! We’re actually taking Dad’s old hoverbikes?”

“They’re like the oldest things in here.”

“If these get us where we need to go then they’re gonna be our new favourite rides.”

They took a bit of ‘Jeff Tracy Fixing’ but they did actually work!

“Thunderbirds are go.”

Sort of.

It’s the old hoverbikes! The original get-around vehicles of TOS, seen in a great many episodes! They look a bit worse for wear here though, but hey.

“Since EOS isn’t affected by the malfunctions, I’ve downloaded her to a local memory bank.”

John’s coding is superior! That is what this episode teaches us! He really could take over the world...

“Hello John. You’ll be pleased to know all systems on Thunderbird Five are operating normally.”

“That’s a relief. Now, I need you to do a full system sweep. Look for anything unusual in the Z-Band Network.”

“One anomaly detected.”

“Looks like one of the transmitter nodes has been modified.”

Brains telling John to stay put was one of the best calls anyone could have made. They could have really ended up with everything stuck.

Their jet packs work on tech? I thought they were self-contained, but okay, Virgil is the expert and I bow to his superior knowledge.

“You know who I am, don’t you?”

“Yeah I do. And we know what you’ve been saying about us.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t just leave me here to rot.”

“Right now, you’re someone in a tough spot who needs help. Who you are and what you’ve done doesn’t matter.”

Brilliant attitude Scott! Many people struggle to do that.

“The Mechanic! Wait, it could be a holographic drone.”

No such luck.

Parker actually taking apart FAB One! I never thought I’d see the day.

“You’re risking your life to save mine. All of you.”

“You know that’s what we do, right? It’s the Rescue part in International Rescue.”

“Even when I was out to ruin you?”

“I’ll try not to take that personally.”

No one would blame you if you did, Scott. Gordon (and probably Alan) would have if he was down there. And that rockfall must have hurt! It was a really good improvised rescue though considering they couldn’t get their proper equipment there.

“See that wasn’t too bad.”

“Easy for you to say little brother.”

“It’s a glitch in the security log.”

“Someone was covering their tracks!”

“And that someone is still here in the compound. Grandma went looking for Brains. They could both be walking into a trap. I have to warn them!”

“John, wait! Then you might get caught in it as well. Let me try something. There. I now have a subroutine nested in the transmitter room server.”

“Is Brains in the room?”

“Yes, but so is The Mechanic.”

“The Mechanic?”

We really should be worried by how easy that was for EOS (and John) to do.

“You’re trying to build a laser.”

“Not trying. I already have.

EOS’ message was a classic! That little Scooby-Do moment was hilarious.

“Short version, The Mechanic is here.”

Those faces! Well, I suppose that’s equal to or worse in a way than The Hood breaking into Tracy Island. It also means that both of their homes have been broken into. I thought Kayo was meant to be doing all the security stuff.

“Your former employer tried a similar tactic once. It didn’t work out very well for him either.”

This confrontation was one of the best scenes I’ve ever seen.

“You need to work on your intimidation techniques, Grandma.”

“First of all, only family get to call her that. And second, EOS we need to separate the machine from the man.”

“With pleasure.”

John going in with a super back-up plan was completely awesome. EOS is super dangerous. In ‘Earthbreaker’, The Mechanic got the better of her, but she’s definitely evolved in order to be able to put a stop to him in this episode. So, that begs the question, is there anything she cannot overcome? I really loved this episodes use of John and EOS tech, as well as Brains and MAX’s relationship, and the ever continuing Brains and Mechanic battle. Even Grandma got her moments!

“You’re not welcome here.”

“Oh MAX, you’re a hero!”

Question: how did they not realise The Mechanic’s ship was in there?

Moving on.

“If there’s anything you want to know about us, all you’ve got to do is ask.”

“Really? Anything?”

“Well there are somethings we have to keep secret. Otherwise people like The Hood and The Mechanic will use them in bad ways. There may be a lot of mystery around International Rescue, but really we’re just a regular family.”

“Hey, that’s my chair!”

“No it’s not! I was here first.”

Yeah, definitely just a regular family.

“You want to hear a real story? Let me tell you some of the things Gordon says in his sleep.”

“Oh no you don’t!”

“Watch the hair.”

“Come here!”

“Oh, you’re a lot stronger than you look, Fish-boy!”

And you know what, I agree that that’s as good as place to leave it as anything. This is an absolutely amazing episode, definitely the peak of Series 2.

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miracle-sham · 5 years ago

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Plan D for Dicey.

| {MaribatMarch2020 – Week 1, Day 6: Unconventional Weapon} |

| [Ao3 Link] | | [Masterlist Link] |

| Triggers/Warnings: D&D typical Violence, kidnapping/imprisoning of Player Characters, Explicit Language/Swearing, (Also not so much a Trigger/Warning but this a gen/platonic fic). |

| The Wayne (bat)family attempt to play their first streamed session of Warriors and Warlocks. Unpredictably, things go surprisingly well. |

| Word Count: 4323 |

==–==

| A/N: So firstly, I got really carried away writing this so it's being posted a day late. Sorry! But fun fact, this means I'm posting this on my birthday, so wooh! Also if you can't tell yet, I'm a massive D&D geek (been playing for roughly five years now but I still fell like a complete noob whenever I play or DM :P). And DC has its own version of D&D (W&W/Warriors and Warlocks) and upon reading Day 6's prompt, my immediate thought was the improvised weapons mechanic from D&D. Also also, I originally intended for this fic to be MariTim (hence the tags) but I got caught up in all the platonic fun of the family playing D&D I kinda forgot to write in the shippy bits? |

| A/N cont.: Writing this was actually a massive challenge because at the start of this I had absolutely zero idea on how to write a D&D session as a ficlet. So this might be a bit more clunky and unrefined compared to my normal work (or that could just be my self-doubt talking). As I mentioned earlier, I got really carried away writing this because I love D&D so much. I would have written more but this ficlet is long enough and late enough as is. But if I were to continue this ficlet in additional parts, I definitely can already think of so many ways to improve writing this sort of fic (and maybe next time I won't forget to add in shippy stuff). Anyway, thanks to those who read these A/Ns, and I hope you guys enjoy reading this! |

| If you want to be tagged in future oneshots/fics, or a specific Au, then comment or send me a DM/ask! |

| Also side note, Don't Like? Don't Read. Also also, please do not criticise any of my writing. This was written for fun and receiving criticism, even in a compliment/criticism sandwich, is the exact opposite of fun. |

==–==

Marinette, with Tikki on her shoulder, bursts into the Wayne Manor games room, barely able to contain her excitement. As the first in the room, she can't help but glance across the square conference U-table already set up with everyone's character sheets, dice equipment, other equipment, and snacks and drinks. Bounding over to her designated seat (right side, place nearest to the DM's section of the table), she pulls her chair out and sits down.

The rest of the Wayne (bat)family, including Steph but sans Alfred and Barbara, slowly filter into the room and take their designated seats. Jason takes his seat next to Marinette whilst Dick takes the seat directly opposite. Steph nabs the seat beside Jason, Damian stakes a claim to the seat next to Dick (despite it already being his designated seat), Cass sits down in the seat beside Steph, leaving Bruce to take his seat next to Damian.

Tim's the last of the family to enter. He slips into his seat, the DM's seat—as he is the most experienced Warriors and Warlocks player at the table—and grins downright ferally at his players.

He looks up at the cameras and recording equipment that is set up in the middle of the open space in the square U-table. “Hello and welcome to Plan D for Dicey, the first-ever Wayne Family Warriors and Warlocks fifth edition stream. We weren't quite expecting so many people to petition that we stream our sessions after a few people—” Tim fake coughs twice, “—Dick and Marinette—” Tim fake coughs twice again (whilst Marinette and Dick both grin and wave cheerfully at the cameras), “—rambled about their characters and some highlights from previous sessions, on Twitter. So we decided to give this a go and see how the session pans out whilst being streamed. So as a word of warning, prepare yourselves for the Venators, probably one of the most dysfunctional parties in W&W to miraculously band together.”

As soon as he says this, the rest of the table burst into grins and cheers (excluding Bruce who despite also smiling, looks like he's just aged five years). Marinette's side of the table all high five each other in their excitement.

Tim pauses for a second. “For anyone unfamiliar with who I am, I'm Tim. And as you can probably tell from the table set up, I'm the Dungeon Master for this campaign. That's because I've been playing W&W for just over five years now and have had experience DMing before. But for the rest of the players here, this is their first campaign and by extension first time playing. So before we begin our session, first let us introduce our players and their characters.” He nods to Marinette's side of the table.

She immediately slaps her hands on the table, pushes her chair out and stands, she waves at the cameras again. “Hi, I'm Marinette and my character is Nella Septa-Punctata. She's a Protector Aasimar Celestial Pact of the Chain Warlock, and she has a Sprite Familiar called Tikki. Nella's Chaotic Good and a little anxious but she tries her best to be a kind and heroic adventurer.” She then sits back down, scraping her chair back in again.

Jason raises an eye at Marinette's antics but shrugs. “I'm Jay, I play a Winged Variant Feral Tiefling Gunslinger called Rehodros. He's Chaotic Neutral, verging on Chaotic Evil at times, and he only joined the Venators because they helped save him from backstory related stuff and he ended up getting reluctantly attached to them.”

Deciding to also stand up from her chair as well as slap the table with both hands, Steph smirks at the cameras. “I'm Stephanie, my character's Speilsol Leyer, and she's a Chaotic Good Variant Human Ancestral Guardian Barbarian with the Tavern Brawler Feat. She lives for beating up bad guys and doing good, even if it goes against the law.”

Cass decides to take things one step further and moves to sit on the back of the chair, balancing it carefully as to not let herself fall. She waves at the cameras. “Hi, I Cass. Play Balabitara. Neutral Good, Kalashtar Shadow Monk.” She then sits back down on the chair normally.

With one half of the table introduced, Tim nods towards the other side of the table.

Dick winks at the cameras, “I'm Dick and I play Niriwyse, a Chaotic Good Eladrin Glamour Bard who's along for the ride and just wants to have a good time.” At that, he wiggles his eyebrows.

Scoffing, Damian glares at the cameras. “I am Damian and my character is Rokian. He is a Firbolg Circle of the Shepherd Druid and is Lawful Neutral in the sense that he believes the only laws that should be obeyed in the world, are that or the laws of nature. He begrudgingly joined this party of adventurers after they saved an animal friend of his.”

This leaves Bruce as the only one to have not introduced himself and his character yet. He smiles his Brucie Wayne smile at the cameras. “My name's Brucie and my character is called Chirop. He's a Chaotic Good Bugbear Swashbuckler Rogue. He comes across as very gruff, but he's just a big old teddy bear at heart.”

Tim coughs under his breath. “Alright, with our introductions over, let's get on with the show.” The lights in the room suddenly dim and turn a dark red shade whilst creepy echoing organ music begins to play from hidden speakers. “Last session, our brave party of seven adventurers were captured by the evil Lich Dreldaz whilst trying to rescue the beautiful princess Theophania—”

“—Timothea!” Corrects the rest of the table.

Rolling his eyes, Tim continues. “—from the cursed castle in which she has been trapped in, by Dreldaz.” He pauses, steepling his fingers as the dim red lighting becomes a dark grey shade. “The Venators awaken, only to find themselves shackled to the walls, in individual stone brick cells and stripped of any and all equipment bar the clothes on their backs. From what you all can immediately tell upon waking, these cells are small, cold, dark and dingy. What do you do?”

The seven players all exchange glances between themselves.

“I'd like to look around my cell, see if I can find anything or if I can get an idea of what the cellblock we're in looks like?” Jason announces after a few seconds.

Tim nods. “Roll a perception check, please.”

Jason narrows his eyes Tim. He reaches towards the red and black dice set beside his character sheet and picks up the D20. He shakes the dice in his hands before rolling it into the dice box. It lands on a 7. “Alright so because I don't have my gear any more, that means I don't have my eyes of the eagle right?”

“That's right,” Tim responds.

“Mmk, that's a seven then, plus my perception modifier… Fourteen total.” Jason glances up at Tim once he finishes calculating.

Humming, Tim glances down at his Mysterious™ DM notes. “With your Darkvision, you manage to make out that there are two small barred windows on the walls adjacent to the wall with the cell door. The door luckily has a barred window in it too, but you're too far away to glean anything from peering at it.”

Marinette purses her lips and double-checks her character sheet. “Is there anything magical about the darkness in these cells?”

“Roll an Arcana check to see.” Is Tim's response.

She reaches over to the pink and gold dice set beside her character sheet and picks up the D20. She shakes the dice in her hands before rolling it into the dice box. The D20 lands on a 16. “Sixteen! Wait, plus my arcana modifier, uh…” She scans her sheet for the relevant modifier, “plus six, so that's uh… oh heck maths, uhh I think that's twenty-two total? Yeah.” She nods to herself at calculating the maths.

Jason snorts and addresses the cameras. “This is why you should stay in school kids!”

Huffing, Marinette elbows him in the side. “Fight me!”

Not evening flinching at the elbowing, Jason pats her on the top of her head. “Friendly fire, Mari! Friendly fire!”

Tim waits for silence with his best poker face on. “As far as you can tell, there is nothing magical about the darkness!”

“Really?” She furrows her brows. “Alright then.”

He smiles in response.

Dick glances down at his character sheet then up at Tim, he taps his fingers against the table idly as he speaks. “The walls of the cells are stone? So I can use my Cli Lyre to cast Stone Shape and create a hole in the stone where the metal shackles connect, which would free me, right!”

Clicking his tongue, Tim shakes his head. “Nope, you don't have your Cli Lyre on you right now, so you can't cast any spells from it.”

Cursing under his breath, Dick frantically scans his character sheet for anything. He reaches his spells and freezes and slaps the spell sheet (and by extension, the table). “Ah hah!” He crows, “I will cast Knock on the shackles!”

Tim raises an eyebrow, then looks down to flip through his spell cheat sheet. “When you cast the spell, it makes a loud knock that's audible for up to three hundred feet. Are you sure you want to cast this?”

Dick falters and furrows his brow, then glances around the table at the rest of the party. “I think I'll wait and see if anyone else has a way to escape this first? Wait we can all hear each other speaking from our cells, right?”

“You can indeed.” Tim answers.

“I got nothin',” Jason admits, putting on his Rehodros voice, which is just his normal voice but deeper and with a raspy—almost hissing—clipped tone.

Steph, using her Speilsol Leyer voice (which sounds like she's putting on a weak German accent), shrugs. “I could try breaking the shackles? I'm strong enough to do cool things like that?”

“But that will also be fairly loud.” Bruce points out, speaking with a gruff tone of voice (which is significantly different from his gravelly Batman tone of voice) for Chirop. “If I had my lockpicks, it would be easy to escape stealthily. But without them, I can't see a way for me to get out of these shackles.”

Damian wrinkles his nose. “I might be able to summon creatures, elementals, or fey but what I get is determined by the DM and may not be entirely helpful. However, I could try wildshaping?”

Tim smiles cryptically and the lighting behind him changes from dark grey to lime green. “You could.”

Damian nods. “Alright then, I will use my wildshape ability to transform into a spider.”

The lime green light fades to flickering orange-red light. “As you try to use your druidic abilities to magically assume the shape of a spider, you feel a burning sensation around your wrists, right where the shackles are. You are unable to transform and take…” Tim pauses as he pulls out his black and red dragon dice and rolls a D6 behind the DM screen. “Five points of fire damage.”

Cursing under his breath in Arabic, Damian glares at Tim. He crosses out his current hp and writes down the new amount.

Jason taps Marinette on the shoulder. “What about Nells, Mari? She got any tricks up her sleeve to escape?”

Marinette startles at that, having been chewing her lip and staring intently at her character sheet since her arcana check. She licks her lips then glances up. “I might…”

She taps a small stat block card with a pencil and turns to Tim with an intense stare. “Is Tikki nearby?”

At that, Tim grins widely and raises a finger. “That,” He says, flipping through his notes, “is a very good question.”

“Because on my notes, here it says that last session Tikki was invisible when we all got captured.” Marinette picks up her session notes journal and shows it to him.

“Would you say Tikki followed after you when you got caught?”

Marinette tilts her head to the side and Tikki whispers in her ear. Of course, the cameras inability to record kwamis means it just looks like she's thinking instead of listening to a flying red bug deity. “Yep, I would say that. I would also like to telepathically communicate with Tikki and ask if she can come and pick the locks because we gave her a spare Thieves' Tools kit last shopping session in case she needed to pick the locks during an invisible scouting mission!”

“Indeed you did, so Tikki flies over to your cell and will try to pick the locks on your door first. So roll a d20 and add Tikki's Dex bonus.” He instructs.

Marinette nods and picks up the dice, cupping her hands underneath it so Tikki can shake then roll it without it looking suspicious on camera. Tikki shakes the dice and drops it as Marinette separates her hands. The dice lands in the box and rolls a 16. “Plus Tikki's Dex mod, that's uh…” She scrambles for the Sprite Familiar statblock card, “Plus four, so dirty twenty!”

“That's enough to pick the lock. Do you want Tikki to enter the cell and try to pick the lock?” He asks.

She nods and repeats the roll with Tikki, this time rolling an eleven. “With mods, fifteen.” Tikki then returns to her place on Marinette's shoulder.

“Tikki barely manages to get the locks open. The shackles open and you land on the cell floor.”

Marinette punches the air. “Wooh! Freedom!”

Cass then waves her hand in the air. “Shadowstep out?”

Tim cocks his head to the side. “As you don't have Darkvision, you can't see outside your cell but you manage to use your shadowstep ability to escape the shackles. Then by peering out the barred window in the door, you manage to shadow step into the cellblock corridor.”

Marinette and Cass share a high-five.

“Let's go free everyone else!”

==–==

It takes them ten minutes to finish freeing everyone else, and start making their way out of the dungeon cell block. The Venators now make their way through the bowels of the castle, searching for the armoury in which all their belongings have been stored.

“As you push open the grand oak doors, the faint scent of sickly sweet rotting food and fire hits your noses. The doors reveal the next room to be a grand dining room with a long oak table, set as though prepared for a grand feast expecting many a guest. It's adequately lit but the two corners of the room above the door seem to glow with a dim greenish glow.” Tim pauses in his description as lighting changing to a dim greenish light behind him; he rolls a D8 four times (6, 7, 2, 4), behind the DM screen, followed by the rolling of a D20 four times (3, 19, 13, 18).

“Oh god…” Dick mutters,

Jason huffs. “What are you going to torture us with now, oh great DM?”

Tim smiles cruelly. “Four rays of fire are shot towards the party from somewhere within the dining room. First attack is an eight versus Chirop's AC?”

Bruce sighs in relief. “That's a miss.”

Tim continues to smile. “Mmk, the rest of the attacks are, twenty-four versus Balabitara's AC, eighteen versus Niriwyse's AC, and twenty-three verses Rokian's AC. I assume those hit.”

Damian narrows his eyes at Tim, whilst Dick winces and Cass pouts.

Tim rolls a D6 nine times, behind the DM screen. “Balabitara takes four points of fire damage, Niriwyse and Rokian both take eight points of fire damage.”

The three all jot down the damage taken.

Still smiling, like the truly evil DM that he is, Tim clasps his hands together. “Two skulls, enveloped with green flames, descend from the ceiling. One hovers over the grand table and the other hovers but the top of the opened doors, giving itself cover.” He pauses, then grins. “With the surprise round over, everyone roll initiative!”

Out of habit, all seven players, and Tikki, roll their D20s in almost perfect sync. Dick rolls an 18, Cass rolls a 9, Jason rolls a 14, Bruce rolls a 16, Steph rolls a 17 with advantage, Damian rolls a 2, Marinette rolls a 10, and Tikki rolls a 14.

“Twenty or above?” Tim asks.

“Twenty three,” Bruce announces.

Jason rolls his eyes. “Twenty-one.”

Dick grins, “Twenty one as well!”

Tim scribbles down the rolls on the initiative table. “D'awww, you both rolled twenty-one. Anyway, fifteen or above?”

“Tikki rolled an eighteen.” Informs Marinette.

“I got nineteen!” Steph exclaims.

Jotting down those rolls as well, Tim asks “Alright, anyone ten or above?”

Cass signs her roll, ‘fourteen.’

“Thirteen.” Marinette answers.

Tim glances at the initiative table, then at Damian. “And you Damian?”

Damian scoffs. “Three.”

“Okay.” Tim then rolls a D20 twice. “Chirop! You're up first!”

Bruce looks slightly bewildered. He clears his throat. “Can I grab the nearest sharp pieces of cutlery and sneak behind a chair?”

Tim nods. “Roll stealth.”

He rolls an 18. “My stealth modifier is plus thirteen, so thirty-one to stealth.”

Tim whistles, “To the rest of the Venators, it looks like Chirop just vanishes into thin air.”

“Are any of the enemies close enough that I could move into melee range?” He questions.

“There's one floating Flameskull hovering five foot in the air, with your Long-Limbed trait, it's well within reach,” Tim informs.

Bruce narrows his eyes. “I would like to stab the Flameskull with the sharp cutlery, knives are preferable.”

“Roll to hit. As knives are close enough to daggers, I'll say you can get away with adding your proficiency bonus as well.”

Bruce rolls, with advantage, a 19. “Plus my modifiers, that's twenty-eight to hit.”

“That hits.”

Bruce rolls for damage, 2. “That's two, so seven.” He then rolls for Surprise damage, 8 (5, 3), and Sneak Attack damage, 24 (6, 2, 5, 6, 5). “That's a total of 39 piercing damage. Then I'll use my bonus action to stab it again,” He rolls a 16, “Twenty-one to hit.”

Tim puts on his best poker face. “That also hits.”

“Then that'll be…” He rolls a 1. “One damage from the second attack.”

“The Flameskull you hit screeches in fury as it crumbles to bone dust.” Tim then proceeds to make a horrific screeching sound, for immersion of course.

“What the fuck, Timbo?” Jason asks, wincing.

Dick cringes. “At least you aren't right beside him! My poor ears!”

“Rip us closest seats.” Mumbles Marinette, wrinkling her nose.

“Rehodros, you're up next!” Tim announces gleefully, ignoring his suffering players.

Jason narrows his eyes at Tim, “I want to run over to the table, grab any food on the table that's not rotten, and yeet it at the nearest Flameskull.”

Tim hums, “Okay, the only non-rotten food you can find, is a block of aged cheese and a bowl of hardened sugar cubes.

Snorting, Jason cracks his knuckles. “Oh, I have to pick the block of aged cheese.”

“Roll your attack then. But make sure you only add your Dex modifier to the attack as you're not proficient in improvised weaponry.”

Jason rolls to attack and also gets a 19. “Twenty four to hit.”

Tim snorts. “Yeah, that definitely hits, go ahead and roll damage.”

Jason nods and rolls a 1D4, managing to get max damage. “Four! Wooh! Plus my Dex mod, that's nine damage!”

“You lob the cheese at the Flameskull, managing to cause a couple of cracks to form on its skull. It turns it's furious gaze to you, intending to intimidate you but the effect is somewhat hindered by the melting cheese covering half of its skull.” Tim flips through his notes and marks down the damage taken.

“Okay, then I want to grab the bowl of sugar and using my extra attack to throw that at the Flameskull, in the jaw.” Jason smirks and switches to his Rehodros voice, “You look like you've got a sssweet tooth, bonehead!” He rolls to attack and gets a 12. “Seventeen to hit?”

“That will hit.”

Jason rolls a 3 on the D4. “That's eight damage total.”

“As the bowl of sugar starts to melt from the heat of the fire, the sickly sweet scent of hot sugar begins to emanate from the Flameskull. The Flameskull does not look happy.” Tim pauses to glance at the initiative table. “Niriwyse! You're up.”

Dick glances down at his spell list and beams. “I'm going to cast Vicious Mockery. And say,” he puts on his Niriwyse voice, which is just his voice but higher pitch and with a British Estuary accent, “Green is so not your colour!”

Tim hums, then flips through his notes. “What's the spell Save DC on that again?”

Quickly checking his spell sheet, Dick answers, “DC 16.”

“Mmk,” Tim responds non-committally, before rolling a D20 twice from behind the DM screen. “That, unfortunately for you, is a nat 20. Which means it takes no damage and suffers no disadvantage. The Flameskull turns to you briefly, to cackle in your face, before turning its attention back to Rehodros.”

Dick frowns. “Aww that failed, welp I'll use my bonus action to give Speilsol Leyer inspiration.” He clears his throat and puts on his Niriwyse voice to sing. “Let's get down to business! To defeat, this skull! Did they order heroes, no they asked for none! We're the saddest party you'll ever meet! But you can bet before we're through, Flameskull, we'll make dust out of you!”

The rest of the table burst into cheers and groans.

“Beautiful, Speilsol Leyer, you get 1D10 bardic inspiration,” Tim confirms. “And now it's your turn. Show the audience what you've got.”

Steph giggles. “Okay, okay, I've got a really dumb idea.”

Tim raises an eyebrow at her.

“So, firstly, is there anything on the walls, like paintings? Wall sconces? Y'know.” She asks.

“There's a painting of a naked elven lady on one wall, and a taxidermied fox head on the other,” Tim informs.

Steph bounces in her seat. “Cool! So I'm gonna rage! Rip the taxidermied fox head off the wall, then run and leap up into the air to bludgeon the Flameskull with the fox head!”

“Right. Make an athletics roll.”

Rolling a D20, she gets 13. “Twenty one!”

“You manage to jump into the air with expert grace. Roll to hit.”

She rolls a 16. “That's a twenty-four to hit because I've got the Tavern Brawler Feat so I've got proficiency with improvised and-slash-or unconventional weapons!”

He snorts. “That'll definitely hit, roll damage.”

Steph picks up her D4 and rolls it, getting a 3. “Do with my strength modifier and Rage damage, that's ten damage! And uh, that's the end of my turn!”

Tim scribbles down the damage taken, he then checks his notes quickly. “The sugary cheese-covered Flameskull starts to cackle madly. It casts fireball on the party, everyone make dexterity saving throws.”

On cue, everyone in the party rolls their D20s. Tikki rolls an 18, Damian and Marinette both roll 16s, and Dick rolls a 4.

Before Bruce rolls his dice, he proclaims, “I'd like to use evasion!” He then rolls and gets a 5. “Fourteen total.”

“Evasion too!” Cass declares with a smile, she rolls her D20, getting 18. She then signs her result, ‘twenty-seven

“Shit!” Jason mutters, staring at his roll of 2.

“Nat one?” Tim questions.

Jason shakes his head. “Natural two, so seven total.”

“I also got seven,” Dick adds.

“Seventeen,” Damian announces.

“I rolled a nineteen and Tikki rolled a twenty-two.” Marinette pipes up.

Steph frowns at her roll of nine. “Eleven…” She glances at her character sheet again. “Wait, no! I get advantage on dexterity saving throws!” She shakes the dice in her hands and blows on it for good luck, then rolls it into the dice box. It lands on an 18. Fist pumping the air, she cheers. “Yes! Dirty twenty, fuck yeah!”

“Alright. Niriwyse and Rehodros both take…” Tim rolls a D6 eight times, behind the DM screen. “Twenty-three fire damage. And everyone else except Chirop and Balabitara take half that, so eleven damage. And of course, Chirop and Balabitara take no damage whatsoever.”

“Wooh,” Bruce cheers.

“Wait a second!” Jason interrupts, triple-checking his character sheet, “I've got fire resistance!”

“Then you also take eleven damage instead of the full twenty-three.” Tim corrects. “And that's the end of the Flameskull's turn. Tikki's up now.”

Marinette tilts her head to the side as Tikki whispers in her again. “Tikki is going to hold her turn.”

Tim nods. “Okay then, it's Balabitara's turn.”

Cass smiles sweetly. “Jump and punch?”

“Roll an athletics check then, please.”

She rolls a 13, and signs her results, ‘eighteen.’

“You barely manage to leap within melee range of the Flameskull,” Tim narrates. “Roll to hit.”

She rolls her dice again, rolling a flat 17. Again, she signs her result, ‘twenty-six.’

“That will definitely hit.” He acknowledges.

Cass then rolls damage, gets a 4, and signs the total, ‘nine.’ She glances down at her character sheet, and then back up at Tim. “Second attack?”

Tim nods again, still jotting down the damage taken. “Go ahead and roll.”

Rolling again, she gets a nine, so she signs the result, ‘eighteen.’

He hums, “That'll also hit, roll damage.”

She rolls and gets a 3. ‘Eight,’ she signs.

Tim chuckles, “As you punch the Flameskull twice, the skull shatters and turns into sugary and cheesy skull dust.”

Cass grins and fist-pumps the air as the rest of the table breaks into cheers.

“Everyone breathe a sigh of relief! Encounter over.” He comments. “And I think we've reached our halfway mark, so we'll take a quick five minutes break to grab something to eat and drink, and we'll continue on after the break.”

==–==

| Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this little oneshot! Comments, likes, and reblogs are much appreciated! |

| @maribat-march2020 | | @vixen-uchiha |

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unbelievableholland · 5 years ago

Text

Season of Reunions Part 3: The Hollands

<<Previously Next>>

Pairings: Mob!Hollands x sister!Reader

Warnings: none i think

Words: 2,137

A/N: Okay, so I changed my mind. I edited it as fast as I could so I can start on part 4 tomorrow🤣 Also, to anyone who wants to be in the tag list, just tell me and I’ll add you! Requests are also open.

Summary: You Y/N L/N, were adopted by 2 mysterious agents. You knew you were adopted and you never though about your original family. Being content with the life your parents gave you, why would you? That was, until your parents are killed and you’re left to fen for yourself and with a lot of questions unanswered.

(Moodboard made by me. Pictures from google and Pinterest. Credits to the original owner ❤)

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Jo is uhm, let’s say speechless. I mean come on; she’s trained for this kind of stuff. She should not have slipped like that. You knew this. You thought it would be hard to trick her but it was fairly easy.

“Jo?” she just stared at you. She knows that you got her. She has no choice but to tell you whatever it is she knows.

“Jo, there’s no point in lying. Please, I just want to know the truth.”

As you said this, she moved over to your bed to sit down and tapped the cushion next to her. She looked less freaked out now. Like she was actually going to tell you. You hope she would, it was about time anyway. You’ve waited long enough.

So, you move to sit next to her. Looking at her expectantly.

“Are you sure you want to know? If I were you, I’d be pretty overwhelmed” You know she’s stalling, but you also know that she’s just looking out for you. The adoration you have for her for looking out for you even though she knows that this is what you want. She is still giving you a chance to back out so you wouldn’t get hurt.

“I’m sure Jo. Please.” You look at her with pleading eyes. You wanted to know the truth. The reality of your life.

“Okay.”

She continued to tell you about your parents. How they were part of this mob. How you were part of the same mob.

Huh, I guess that explains the mob part.

“Your parents were good people. Your real parents as well. The parents you know, were the ones to take you in when your biological ones, didn’t want to keep you. Well, technically, they wanted to keep you, but your brother didn’t.”

Excuse me, what?

“wait, first off, I have a brother?” Currently, you have more than one question. You have a lot, but there’s time to ask later.

“Yes, you do. You have four actually. One of them you met earlier at the park and—”

“WHAT?! Paddy’s my brother?!” Jesus Christ. This is so fucked up.

“Yes, yes, he is but please, stop talking and let me explain. Your real family isn’t a normal family, or a random part of the mob.”

She stands up and went to open your gym bag near your walk-in closet and takes out the notebook. Your eyes widen at the sight. I guess now you’ll finally know what that’s about.

Jo takes a deep breath.

“Okay so, I won’t read you the whole thing if you’re not ready, but it’s basically your mother and father’s writing to explain who you truly are to you. I sneaked in when you were changing to put this in your gym bag because I wanted you to find out the truth yourself. I knew that your brothers are here and I didn’t want you bumping into them without knowing who their true identities.”

A small smile is on your lips. You’re happy, but you’re also nervous as fuck. The concept of having a family and having met one of your brothers earlier made you happy, but why didn’t they want you?

Jo opens the notebook and removed the ring/necklace from the back of the cover. She held it up with her thumb and index finger in front of you.

“Now this, this symbolizes your place in the mob. Your real mom didn’t want you to completely disappear from their family. SO, hoping that one day, you might come back, she gave the ring to your adoptive mother. Of course, without your Father and brother knowing.”

You’re nervous to ask these questions, but you might as well.

“Why didn’t my father and my brother want me? What’s our place in the mob?” You didn’t want to prolong the questions, so you just decided to be straight forward.

“Uhm, your father… your father wanted you— but it was your eldest sibling that didn’t want you. His name is Tom. He uh, he’s the mob leader now. Your parents left the mob a few years after they gave you away. They’re in Italy. Don’t worry, they kind of just, retired. Obviously, Tom took over. He was the one who told your father that you would hold them back. That you wouldn’t be able to protect yourself and that you’d be a weakness to the entire mob. Your mother couldn’t do anything about it so they gave you to the agents she trusted the most to raise and protect you.”

She positioned the ring so that you can see the letters engraved on the inner part of the ring.

“Holland. That’s your actual last name.”

You… couldn’t bring yourself to be mad at anyone but Tom. You haven’t met him or seen him even, but you’re already mad at him.

“You keep in touch with them still, right?” You’re not sure where you’re going with this, but you have to trust your gut.

“Uh yeah. It’s my job actually. I’m kind of their personal assistant.”

“So, you guys are close?”

“Yep. We’ve known each other for years. Your family and I are family friends, but they don’t know that I’m the one taking care of you.” You love how she’s gentle with you while talking. She isn’t stern or strict. She’s calm and sweet.

You stand up and wear the chain of the ring around your neck. Looking at Jo, you extend your hand to her to help her stand up.

“Take me to them.”

Jo looks at you incredulously.

“Now?? Are you crazy?!”

“Yes, yes I am. You say you’re their family friend, so going to them on your day off could just mean you want to hang out, right?” You turn around and leave the room.

Knowing that there’s no stopping you, she agreed.

Taking a deep breath, she walks out your bedroom to follow you.

“Right”

The walk to the car was tense. While you’re not scared or nervous, Jo is shaking.

“Jo, you’re shaking like you just drank 12 cups of coffee.”

You try to ease her up a bit while opening the door to the car and sitting on the front seat.

“OF COURSE I AM! They’re the biggest mob in London and we’re just going to drive to their house unannounced?!” Wow. She’s really freaking out.

“uh yeah? Look, they won’t know who I am. You can just introduce me as, a sister or uhh, a cousin. Oh btw, where do they live?”

Saying this, you hold the necklace and put it under your shirt to hide it. Jo starts driving. Her knuckles turning white around the steering wheel, trying hard to keep it together.

“okay, they uhm, they live in Kingston. About a few minutes away from here so if there’s no traffic, we’ll get there soon”

You have to admit, whatever you’re doing right now, you haven’t thought through, but you guess you’ll just have to go with it.

“Why are they here? If they live in Kingston, why go here? I mean, if they wanted to go for a walk, there are other parks near their area.”

Jo sighed. She didn’t want to lie anymore and figured she should just be honest.

“The have— well, I guess, had— business here. Being a mob and all”

And that, you didn’t want to think about. So, you just nod your head.

The drive there wasn’t long. Even though the London traffic is usually such a bitch, it isn’t today surprisingly. Maybe the universe is finally on your side.

In an instant, you know that you’ve arrived. If the big ass mansion isn’t already a big giveaway, maybe the hundreds of guards and the enormous gate is.

Jo seem to be visibly shaken. You notice her grip on the wheel getting impossibly tighter and the beads of sweat on her forehead as you pull up to the gate. A guard waiting by the gate signaled Jo to roll the window down.

“Miss Jo? I thought you were on leave?” whoa. Even the guards know her. She must hold high power over them if they talked to her with so much respect in their tone of voice.

“Yeah I was. I just figured I’d visit the Hollands since I don’t have anything to do”

With a nod of the guards’ head, they opened the gate and let you in. This is where you start to get confused.

“Why did they just let us in? Didn’t they see me?” Oof. If they let Jo in with a person they’ve never seen before, they don’t really seem like good guards.

“They learned a long time ago not to question me, or the Hollands.” BIG OOF.

What?

That’s probably the scariest sentence to EVER come out of Jo’s mouth.

You look at her. Dumbfounded.

“okay” c’mon. What else were you suppose to say?

Once she parks the car, her entire demeanor changed. It was like a was very… serious, all of a sudden. She held herself pretty well.

You look around and see that this place is so much bigger than your house. It’s beautiful. The architectural design is very contemporary and the trees and flowers everywhere makes it looks like some sort of castle in the woods from a Disney movie. It’s very clean and well kept. There are a lot of cars and motorcycles. All of them seemed super expensive. You let yourself get lost in the beauty of this place too much that you forget that you were about to confront your family. Your real family.

Jo interrupts your daydreaming and leads you to the front door.

“Y/N, are you sure about this?”

You turn your head to the door and put on a determined face.

“Yup”

Jo raises her hand and knocks on the door. After waiting a few seconds, you hear someone on the other side of the door before they open it. A curly haired boy with brown eyes and hair color the same as Paddy’s.

“Jo!”

“Harry!”

I guess his name’s Harry.

Jo and Harry hugs for a few seconds before he pulls back.

“Tom! Jo’s here!”

“Sorry, you know my brother. Always busy” he chuckles and lets you both in.

2 out of 4 brothers down you figured.

Harry leads you to the living room and sits down the couch before calling out to you guess, two more of your brothers— Paddy and Sam— telling them that Jo’s here.

“So, Jo. Who’s this?” Harry points to you then looks at Jo.

For some reason, you feel… hurt? Like, do they really not remember you? When you think about it, you do look like them. Same facial structures, same curly hair, even your facial features are alike.

“This, is Y/N. I’m babysitting her and figured I’d take her with me while visiting you guys outside of work. Y/N, this is Harry” She introduces you and gives you a reassuring look.

You hold out your hand and Harry shakes it. Once you’ve pulled back, Paddy and Sam have already made there way down and introduced themselves. Once again, Jo introducing you as someone who she’s babysitting. Which, isn’t technically a lie.

Finally, Tom comes down. He greets Jo and they hug. Just like what all of them did.

But then he looks at you. It looks like he recognizes you. He studies you for a minute, but Jo sees this and again, introduces you to him like how she introduced you to your other siblings. Unlike Paddy, Sam, and Harry, he completely ignores you and converses with Sam.

Ouch.

Jo looks at you reassuringly. After that, they talk. A lot. Like you aren’t even in the room. They look happy, like family. When no one was talking to Jo, you ask her where the kitchen is so you can grab some water. She points to where it is and you quietly make your way out of the living room and straight to the kitchen.

When you got there, you grab a glass of water. You decided to just sit on the stool in front of the kitchen island rather than going back there where, you don’t feel like you belong.

You know you wanted to go here, but not just because you wanted to know the truth. You wanted to know what your family is like, and maybe tell them who you actually are.

Seeing them like that though, happy and content, you feel like you don’t really want to get in the way of that. Sighing, and chugging down the rest of the water, you get down from the stool, turning around and placing the glass on the sink. Just then, you hear a voice, that sounds very much like Toms.

“I’m not stupid. I know who you are, Y/N”

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Tag List:

@spideylovin @used-avocado @marvel-is-marvellous @annoylinglyaries

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chaoticslinkys · 5 years ago

Text

First Rain

I made this a while ago and I keep forgetting to post it essentially its just when the slinkies first experience with rain, its kinda long so I put it under a read more.

Somehow you wake up well before your two bedmates, which is definitely rare on your days off but their probably still tuckered out from your guys outing at funland yesterday. Somehow they managed not to destroy anything, but that might’ve because you told them no kisses if they break something this time. You decide to get a start to the day seeing that it’s 9 but also mainly because your hungry, but to do that you have to get out of their grip first. Ever since Spinel and Spince started sleeping with you, you realized that they have a habit of wrapping you up in their limbs with you sandwiched between them. You didn’t mind one bit, in fact ever since they’ve started doing that your sleep has been amazing, only issue you have with it is when you have to get up. When you finally manage to get up and out of bed as your stretching you notice that they immediately snuggle into each other bringing a smile to your face, you decide to take a picture on your phone to save the moment ( and to tease em later but they don’t need to know that).

On your way to the kitchen you look outside and notice the dark grey sky and realize it's going to rain at some point in the day, declaring today an inside cuddle day you move to get some breakfast started for the three of you. As your finishing up you feel a pair of arms wrap around your middle and a body and gem press into you from behind

“Morning” Spince whispers into your ear with his accent heavy from having just woken up

“Morning sleepy head, she still sleeping” You ask him

“Nah she’s up, should be out in a bit though” he replies before yawning

“Good, now set up the table for me will you” giving him a peck on the cheek before moving back to get everything off the stove

“Sure thing sweets” he replies before giving you a peck back and moving to set the table, right as he lets go of you Spinel walks in yawning before moving to hug you from behind just like Spince was not long again and nuzzling into your neck

“Good morning to you too sleepy head” you tell her while turning in her arms to hug her back

“Morning” you feel her mumble into your neck

“Alright sleepy head I made pancakes and I wanna cuddle today so let me go so we can eat” you tell her, she immediately perks up because she fuckin loves cuddles and pancakes

“Yeah Spins stop hogging y/n” Spince calls out from his place at the table

“Shush let me love em” She hisses while tightening her arms around you making him laugh

“Alright you two no fighting I’m hungry and I wanna cuddle and if you two start fighting I’m leaving this house to go find someone else to cuddle with” your warning shuts them both up immediately making you snicker. You give Spinel a peck on the cheek as you drag her to the table to sit.

After breakfast they help you wash the dishes before you drag them to the couch proclaiming “Since today is so cloudy im making today a movie and cuddle day since this weather makes me sluggish” you say as you push em down on the couch before running off to gather blankets and snacks

“Doll are ya actually making today a cuddle day or are ya just messing with us” Spinel questions when your halfway to the bedroom

“Yup, weathers gloomy so I wanna cuddle with you two all day while watching movies” You call back “Alright sweets, I am loving today already” You hear Spince cheer once you make it back to your shared room making you snicker, you gather up the blankets from bed before making your way back to the living room. You dump the blankets on top of them earning you a grunt from Spince and a yelp from Spinel before moving again to get snacks from the kitchen, no sweets though because your trying to keep them in one spot today.

By the time you make it back to the living room they’ve both already covered themselves in blankets while leaving a space for you between them as well as set up the TV to watch movies. You set the snacks on the table in front of the couch before squirming your way under the blankets and snuggling up between them. “Alright what are you two in the mood to watch” you ask them as you grab the remote from Spince’s lap.

“Can we watch some animated movies I really liked those” Spinel perks up “Yeah! I love those they always have pretty colors” Spince adds on

“Alright animated it is then” you say as you snuggle in between them while scrolling through your playlist.

Halfway into the fourth movie your falling asleep with your head on Spinels lap and your feet on Spince’s lap. You honestly didn’t want to fall asleep but with Spinel running her hands through your hair and surrounded by their warmth it's impossible to not fall asleep.

Although not long after you fall asleep you wake up to Spinel shaking your shoulder and whispering nervously

“Doll wake up somethings wrong” she tells you while looking around

“What, whats wrong” you ask her as you sit up and rub your eyes

“Cant you hear it its so loud” Spince whispers from his crouched position next to the couch. As you start listening closely you realize that its raining, and its raining hard. Instead of answering them you decide to have a little fun with them and stand up from the couch. As your making your way to the door you can hear Spinel whisper shouting to you. “Y/n, where the fuck are you going, don’t go to the door we don’t know whats out there” As you reach out to open the door you hear both Spince and Spinel shout out your name. You decide this is to much fun and continue to just pull the door open and step out onto the porch. As your walking out you hear both of them running towards you to pull you back in. When you hear them reach the door you turn around and meet their panicked faces with a grin.

“DOLL/SWEETS WHAT THE FUCK” They both yell out at the same time while pulling you into their arms. At that point your just laughing so hard your wheezing while their giving you the most concerned yet confused look.

“Uhh y/n why are you laughing after running towards you know, danger” Spince questions you as both him and Spinel tighten their hold on you

“Because were not in danger, look” You say as you turn to look out towards the front porch

“Um y/n why is water falling from the sky” Spinel asks you while turning to face outwards as well “Its called rain and it happens when the clouds carry to much water and they need to drop some of it” you explain to them

“Sooo, were not being attacked then” Spince whispers into your ear making you giggle

“No, slinky we aren’t being attacked its just raining really hard” you respond while getting out of their arms. You start walking towards the edge of the porch and they start freaking out when you move to step into the rain

“Alright alright relax you two look its not gonna hurt me its just water see” you tell them while sticking your hand out into the rain “see perfectly fine” you turn to look at them and realize their both still tense and nervous. You think for a moment and come up with an idea that might make em both relax. “Alright slinkies give me your hands” You tell them while reaching out for them “What, Why?” they both question at the same time making you snicker “Just trust me alright this is gonna get you to both relax and i have a feeling your both gonna like it” you tell them while reaching to grab their hands. Once you start pulling them out into rain they seem nervous but when the first drops fall on them they start to relax and just get this look of pure amazement on their faces that just fill your chest with warmth and brings a soft smile to your face. Although its raining so hard your soaked in seconds, but you really don't care considering you love the rain and your too preoccupied looking at your slinkies being amazed by rain. You decide to get them a little more into the rain by running towards them and jumping in a puddle near them making them jump from surprise “Sweets what the hell” Spince asks while he and Spinel shake out some of the water from their loose hair

“Yeah doll what was that for” Spinel asks as well “Well ya see the point i brought you out here for was so you can see just how much fun you can have in the rain, and one of the things you can do is jump in puddles” you tell them while you stomp in the puddle your in “another is just a more intense way of playing tag” as you say that you stare at them before jumping at Spince and yelling out “TAG YOUR IT” before booking it “HEY I WASN’T READY Y/N” He yells out before chasing after you while spinel is just laughing but not before Spince turns around and tags her while she’s distracted

“HEY” She yells out before running after the two of you. The game goes on for about 20 minutes until they both decide to team up to catch you. They end up cornering you and as you try to get away they wrap their arms around you and smoosh you between them, Spinel behind you and Spince in the front

“Tag, we win” they whisper into your ear making you shiver in response “Hmm i guess you two did” You hum back. You would move to go back inside the house but honestly you feel too comfortable and safe just being hugged between the two of them, especially considering since they started humming and swaying. As this goes on you lay your head against Spinces, chest right above his gem, and he rests his head on top of yours while Spinel rest hers on your shoulder. Your starting to get really sleepy when you sneeze, scaring the shit out of both of em. “DOLL YOUR GONNA GET SICK CUZ YOUR COLD” Spinel yells out after recovering from her scare “OH FUCK YOUR RIGHT LETS GET HER INSIDE” Spince yells out while picking you up and running towards the house.

“Ill be fine you two ive spent time out in the rain before” you tell them while laughing from how much they over react. Although you think its sweet how concerned they are for you.. “Yeah right doll, we aint risking ya getting sick” Spinels snorts out as she closes the door behind her.

“Pft i dont get sick that easily” you huff out as Spince drys out your hair with a towel and Spinel is going through your drawers for some dry clothes “And plus we gotta get ya warmed up Sweets we really don't want you getting sick we heard that its not a nice feeling when humans get sick” Spince tells you.

“Fine, fine, but i want cuddles to get warmed up then” you give in “We can do that doll” Spinel tell you as she hands you dry clothes. After your changed you hop into bed and they follow right after you taking their place on either side of you before wrapping you up in their arms

“Good night slinkies i love you” you whisper after you get comfortable between them

“Good night love ya too y/n” you hear them whisper back as your falling asleep making you hum. Although, needless to say you ended up getting sick the next morning and lets just say they said “i told you so”.

#spinel #male spinel #spince #spinelxreaderxspince #SKy made this

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trulymadlysydney · 6 years ago

Text

Somewhere In Time: Four

“Sometimes when I look at you, I feel I'm gazing at a distant star. It's dazzling, but the light is from tens of thousands of years ago. Maybe the star doesn't even exist any more. Yet sometimes that light seems more real to me than anything.”

― Haruki Murakami, South of the Border, West of the Sun

Previous Chapters HERE

tw: Death, Loss of Parent

***Please Do Not Repost Without Permission***

12:02pm, October 5th, 1989

“Uhh, earth to Roni.”

A shrill voice followed by a few obnoxiously bubbly giggles brings fifteen year old Roni out of her own mind, and she looks up with a hot face. She uses a finger to push her thick-rimmed glasses up her nose, but she knows the voice before she even sees who it belongs to.

Lainey Prescott, one grade above Roni and just about the bane Roni’s existence.

She stands no taller than Roni, her two best friends Olivia and Janet standing on either side of her like her little minions. With their matching pink fingernails and Pom Pom hair accessories, they look like little clones. Roni has to fight the urge to roll her eyes.

This happens nearly every day during free period. They come up to bother her, get their little digs in wherever they can, and then continue walking their laps around the track because they’re “working on their figures.” Roni has tried everything to put an end to it, even going so far as to sit in the dirt under the bleachers, but they’ve always ended up finding her. So now Roni sits out in the open, expecting it almost every day and thanking her lucky stars when it doesn’t happen.

“Hi, Lainey,” she mutters.

“Hey, super cute high-waters today, Ron!” Olivia and Janet snicker behind Lainey, who looks incredibly pleased with herself. “Whatcha reading?”

Roni sticks her finger between the pages of her book to mark her place and averts her gaze, ears growing hot. “Nothing.”

Olivia speaks up. “I bet it’s another one of those sci-fi books. We all know she gets off on weird shit like that.”

Olivia’s words feel like a blow to the chest, but Roni keeps her composure and swallows around a lump in her throat. Lainey doesn’t seem to notice when she nudges Roni’s sneaker with her sandal. “No seriously, what is it? Looks cool.”

Roni looks up sheepishly. “Do you really care?”

“Totally, babe.”

Roni lets out a sigh, somehow taking the bait. “It’s called Timescape,” she explains. “It’s set in two different time periods: the sixties, and the nineties.”

“Wow,” Lainey says, “The future. So cool.”

Roni licks her lips in hesitation before continuing. “Anyway so, everything in the nineties goes wrong, and this scientist guy is trying to contact the past so that he can prevent whats happening and essentially stop it in its tracks.”

Roni hears Janet mutter an “oh my GOD, so like time traveling? ” to a ridiculously giggly Olivia, but Lainey doesn’t acknowledge them. She instead raises her eyebrows. “Wow, tell me more, Ron.”

Now Roni knows for a fact that the girls are making fun of her, and she’s about to say something when Lainey adds, “I mean, it must be super interesting. You’ve been sitting over here reading out loud to yourself. Did you know you did that?” She laughs over her shoulder with the other girls before continuing. “It’s adorbs. I’m sure any guy would find that super cute.”

“Lainey—“

Lainey cuts Roni off, as if this thought has just occurred to her. “Hey, speaking of, you don’t have a boyfriend yet, right?”

Roni sighs. “I don’t.”

You know I don’t, asshole.

Lainey giggles. “Awww, it’s okay, I figured as much. But listen, my parents are out of town this weekend and I’m throwing a party. It’s gonna be a boy-girl party, and you’re invited. I’m sure we could find you a guy there.”

“Yeah,” Janet adds, “and it’s BYOB. Bring your own Book.” Her stupid joke coaxes a cackle our of Olivia, and Roni rolls her eyes.

It wasn’t even that clever.

“Yeah, you can show us all your super cool time traveling tricks.” Olivia snickers. “Or at least spew out more time traveling facts. That’ll be a hit.”

Lainey smirks. “Totally. You should come.”

What Roni wants to do is tell them to fuck off. She wants to tackle them to the ground, rip the pom poms out of their hair and shove them down their throats until they’re all blue in the face. But she can’t do that, because there’s more of them than there is of her, and frankly they scare her.

So she clears her throat. “Guys, I don’t think—“

“Oh come on,” Janet groans. “What, do you have to ask your mommy for permission?”

Roni’s heart stops the moment the words leave her mouth, and even Lainey and Olivia shoot Janet an incredulous look, as if even they can’t believe she’s just said that.

Janet looks back at them, completely oblivious. “What?! You know she probably does.”

“Janet,” Olivia says quietly, “you know her mom died.”

Roni doesn’t know why people do that; say “died” around her like it’s a filthy word. She’s noticed that everyone does it, including her own grandmother, and it makes her feel sick to her stomach every time.

Janet’s mouth forms a wide O shape as the realization dawns on her. “Oooooohhhh. Shit. My bad. But she doesn’t care.” She turns back to Roni. “You don’t care, right? Like, you know we’re just joking around.”

Roni feels her eyes welling with tears and she wills them to stop, please stop— at least until the girls walk away.

“Please leave me alone,” is all she manages to say.

Lainey’s perfect smile returns to her face, only far more nervous than before, and Roni can tell she’s trying to do damage control. “So anyway.” She glares at Janet before smiling sweetly. “The offer still stands. You better be there, girl.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Roni mumbles at the ground, vision now completely blurred with tears.

“Sweet! Catch ya on the flip side.” Lainey waves her perfectly manicured fingers in Roni’s direction before she and her minions turn on their heels— each executing a perfect hair flip as they proceed on their way.

When she’s sure they’re out of ear shot, Roni lets out a quiet sob, reaching up to rub at her runny nose with the back of her sleeve. How girls can be so cruel, she’ll never know. But these three in particular have tormented her since elementary school, and it’s exhausting.

She doesn’t know why they do it. Why they can’t just leave her alone. She’d never spoken a word to any of them before it began, always minded her own business, and still they were relentless. Even after her mother passed, they kept it going. In fact, it almost seemed to get worse.

But Roni is not about to let them see her cry. Not today. So she stands, flings her backpack over her shoulder, and walks off.

She doesn’t have a destination in mind, all she knows is that she needs to get far enough away from them as possible— even if that means hiding out in the girl’s bathroom until the end of free period (Which she’s also tried doing before. It didn’t work. They always found her).

She makes her way back into the building, heading straight for her locker. The halls are surprisingly quiet, which doesn’t surprise Roni. It’s a gorgeous day out. That was the whole reason she was even outside in the first place. But then Lainey and her friends had to go ruin it, and now Roni isn’t even sure what else to do except grab some things from her locker and wander aimlessly for the next thirty minutes.

Roni rounds the corner and nearly bumps into someone exiting the boy’s bathroom. She’s about to say something snarky when she realizes who it is.

Staring back at her with an apologetic smile lighting up his entire face, is Oliver Ward.

Oliver is one of her friends, she guesses. A grade older than her, he’s not exactly considered popular but he has more friends in general than Roni does. She doesn’t talk to him as much as she should, despite the fact that he’s always treated her with more kindness than most people at this school. He softens once he recognizes the person he’d nearly taken out.

“Roni! Hey!”

Roni reaches up to wipe at her nose and half-heartedly reciprocates his smile. “Hey.” It comes out rather unenthusiastically, and she diverts her gaze from his. She doesn’t mean to come across as so pathetic, and she definitely doesn’t want him to know that anything is wrong. But the way his face falls when he hears her response lets her know that he is most definitely on to her.

“Have you been crying?” His question is right to the point, and it makes Roni want to start crying all over again.

“No,” she lies.

“You have,” he says, his voice softening. “What happened?”

Roni knows there’s no use lying to him, so she shrugs. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

Oliver scowls. He knows what that means. “Did Lainey do something shitty again?”

Finally, Roni looks up and gives Oliver a weak nod. “I don’t know why she won’t just leave me alone,” she admits. “I leave her alone.”

“Oh, Ron,” Oliver coos. “Fuck her. Why don’t you tell someone?”

Roni shrugs again. “That would do more bad than good, Ollie, you know that.”

Oliver tries his hardest not to smile at the nickname she’s given him. Nobody’s called him Ollie since the first grade, and he doesn’t have the heart to tell her that he’s always hated it. Because for some reason, when she says it, he doesn’t hate it at all.

“I dunno,” Oliver says. “It might finally put an end to her shit.” He nods his head towards her. “Where were you headed?”

Roni sniffs pathetically. “Anywhere. Just trying to kill time I guess.”

Oliver smiles. “You can come with me! I was just gonna finish up some homework in the library, so I don’t know how interesting it’s gonna be. But at least you’ll have some company!”

Roni eyes Oliver, weighing her options. On the one hand, she doesn’t want to tag along; be his little sidekick while he finishes up his work. The last thing she wants is for him to feel the need to entertain her. But on the other hand, she figures it’s better than moping around without any direction feeling sorry for herself. And besides, the way Oliver grins at her so full of hope and light, makes it hard to resist.

So Roni giggles and nods. “Okay.”

“Cool.” Oliver beams, nodding over his shoulder to signal Roni to follow him. As they begin walking, he launches right into casual conversation. “So, what’cha reading?”

Oliver is the kind of person who can hold a conversation with just about anyone and make it feel completely natural. Roni hasn’t talked to him too many times, but each time she does, she thanks her lucky stars that he’s so good at keeping conversation going because otherwise she knows they would be screwed.

However, her ego is still a bit bruised from Lainey’s words, and she’s not too keen on sharing any more information about this book with anyone else. “It’s nothing.”

“What? It looks really cool. What’s it called?”

Roni can feel her cheeks growing hot, and she refuses to look at Oliver when she answers him. “Timescape.”

“Ooooh! That sounds cool. Is it about time?” Not a hint of sarcasm is attached to his words, and although Roni can’t see his face she knows he’s genuinely interested. The thought lifts her spirits just the tiniest bit.

“Kinda,” Roni says. “It’s like, time travel stuff. Someone in the future is trying to go back and warn people in the past about like, these catastrophic events happening in the world. It’s actually really cool.”

Oliver whistles. “No kidding! That sounds rad.” They round the corner and open the large doors into the school library. Oliver lowers his voice as they make their way to a small round table with empty seats. “Think I could borrow it when you’re done?”

Roni nearly stops walking. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah!” Oliver smiles at her, slinging his backpack off of his shoulders and onto the table. “Hell yeah. I’d love to read it.”

Roni realizes she’s been smiling because her cheeks ache, and she tucks her bottom lip between her teeth to hide it. She clears her throat. “I mean yeah, if you want to.”

“Sweet!” Oliver starts unloading the contents of his backpack before pausing and looking back at Roni. “I mean like, no rush or anything. Finish it on your own terms. Don’t like, freak out trying to get it to me.” Roni notices the slight red tint to the tips of Oliver’s ears, and for some reason it’s beyond endearing. She giggles, taking her seat beside Oliver.

“Don’t worry, I’m a fast reader anyway.”

Oliver smiles, seemingly relieved. “Well that’s good.”

There’s a silence that doesn’t necessarily feel awkward, but it’s charged, and now it’s Olilver’s turn to clear his throat. He turns his attention to the textbook in front of him, opening it up and flipping through to find a specific page. He effectively changes the subject, but it feels more like a bookmark has been placed on the tension that Roni just experienced. She doesn’t necessarily hate it, she’s just never felt it before. Not with Oliver Ward.

“So anyway,” he says, “Are you any good at chemistry? I’ve been stuck on this one problem for ages.”

-----

8:19am, January 2nd, 1925

Roni wakes earlier today, refreshed and optimistic after spending a good bit of the previous night dancing and laughing with Harry. She feels much more at peace and surprisingly less disappointed to wake up in 1925 than she was yesterday. In fact, she’s optimistic at the prospect of what today might hold, and she’s feeling thankful that she’s here with Harry instead of with any other guy. She does however, feel a pang of guilt at the fact that she’s made Harry spend yet another night on his couch. She decides she’s going to work something out with him; maybe they switch off the bed every other night she’s here-- for however long that may be.

With a long stretch that cracks her entire body, she rolls out of bed-- careful not to move too quickly since she’s already seeing stars. She adjusts Harry’s boxers around her waist, combing her hand through her hair and preparing herself to find Harry cooking breakfast again. Maybe she can even help him. She smiles to herself at the thought.

Roni tries not to think about last night. How good it felt being so close to Harry, and how wonderful he had smelled. She refuses to acknowledge the tension that had singed the air, the way he’d watched her and clung to her every move, and the way he’d laughed not at her, but with her. The night had been Roni’s first taste of normalcy in the past few days, and she’s beyond grateful to Harry for making that a possibility-- tension or not.

The closer to the door she gets, however, she notices she doesn’t smell or hear anything. In fact, it sounds almost completely silent in the other room. Harry hadn’t mentioned having to work today.

That’s odd.

She pushes the door open as quietly as possible , deciding that Harry must still be asleep. She doesn’t want to bother him and she figures she can sneak a shower in before he wakes up— effectively minimizing any awkward encounters that involve her in a towel.

And then she sees it.

Roni stops dead in her tracks at the sight before her. There’s Harry, splayed out and sitting so ungracefully-- legs spread wide and toes curling into the carpet beneath the pooling fabric of his trousers, and a hand wrapped tightly around his cock.

His bottom lip is tucked between his teeth, eyes closed in concentration as his hand pumps up and down, slower towards the bottom of his shaft and more rapid jerks of his wrist the higher up he gets. When Roni hears him muttering a curse word under his breath, her blood runs cold.

She can’t help herself. It feels like a train wreck or some other disaster that she can’t help but watch. He’s so much longer than she would have guessed. Not that she’d given it any thought in the past few days, because truth be told she really hadn’t. If she’d had to guess, she probably would’ve at least been a bit generous with her assumptions, sure, but never this generous. He’s so well endowed she can’t tell if she wants to drool over it or just shake his hand and congratulate him.

The whole vision is just so… beautiful in an odd way, and Roni’s mouth waters when she spares a thought for what he must taste like.

Get it together, Roni. Fuck.

She turns to head back into the bedroom to leave him to it, but her ears perk when she hears him mutter another curse word and a few other filthy things that he would probably say if he were fucking up into someone.

No fucking way.

She’s not doing this right now. There’s no way she’s going to indulge in any of this, and she knows she really needs to close the door and get back in bed. Never mind the fact that she’d had the same idea as Harry last night once she’d gotten in bed, and had to physically stop herself from doing anything to ease the dull ache and wetness between her legs. She’d settled on squeezing her thighs together every now and then to see if that would relieve any pressure (it didn’t) and had simply gone to bed telling herself she was absolutely batshit crazy.

She wasn’t going to get herself off in this boy’s bed, and she certainly wasn’t going to entertain any crazy fever dream fantasies about him either.

But now here he is, doing the exact same thing that she’d been so tempted to do, whimpering out what sounds like maybe the filthiest dirty talk she’s ever heard, and she feels like she’s going to pass out.

Harry’s head falls back against the couch, and his eyes flutter closed as an almost inaudible sigh passes his wet lips. “Fuck, you’re so tight,” he mumbles. “Soaked for me, aren’t you?”

Does this happen often? Who is he thinking of? Who, in his mind, is fucking him so good that he’s practically crying alone on his couch? Roni feels a brief pang of jealousy followed by guilt and a mental slap to the face to remind herself to get it the fuck together.

Roni allows herself a few more moments to watch him tease himself, watching his swollen cock drip with his pre-cum, and she can’t help but to lick her lips when she sees the way his lips curl around his teeth. With eyebrows furrowed, Harry slaps a hand across his mouth to mute his pitiful whimpers. He’s close, and Roni decides that now is as good a time as any to go back into the bedroom and grant him his privacy.

Silently closing the door behind her, Roni lets out all of her air in one long exhale and stares at the wall opposite her. Try as she might (or might not), she can’t get the image out of her brain. How is she supposed to face him later? Is this even something she should bring up? How would she even start that conversation? And what kind of response would that warrant from him? Surely he’d think she was snooping, and probably be mad at her for invading his privacy.

Roni presses the heels of her palms to her eyes, willing the image of him getting himself off to completely exit her brain. She takes a few minutes to breathe, pacing around the room to get this strangely nervous energy out of her system, before sitting down on the bed with another long sigh. She knows she’s got no choice but to wait it out now, and for some reason it makes her anxiety a million times worse than it was before.

It’s a few minutes later when Roni hears the bathroom door close, and finally she feels brave enough to make her way back into the living room of the apartment. She moves slowly, still, as if afraid to make too much noise, and bites at her lip as she makes her way into the quiet room.

No one would ever guess that the events of a few minutes ago had even occurred. The couch looks completely untouched, the little blanket Harry’s been using at night folded up and slung neaty across the arm. The air does feel unmistakably hotter in here (or maybe that’s just Roni), but otherwise everything is perfectly still and normal.

She makes her way unsurely into the kitchen. Should she make herself at home and start cooking? It would be a nice gesture on her part, and a somewhat wordless apology for the slight invasion of privacy. Even if she wasn’t outright apologizing, it would definitely clear her conscience.

Roni reaches up to open one of the cabinets to see if there’s anything available to make for breakfast. It blows her mind that Harry doesn’t have a simple pantry in his apartment, although she’s not even sure a pantry would fit given the size of the place.

She frowns when she’s met with stacks of plates behind the cabinet door. Where the hell does Harry keep his food anyway?

The refrigerator in the corner of the kitchen is no bigger than a box, and when she opens it she’s met with even less food than she’d been expecting. Does Harry even eat?

“Oh! Morning!”

Roni turns with a start when she hears Harry’s pleasant greeting, his tone now a stark contrast to the desperate whimper it was just minutes ago. Roni’s entire body shivers at the memory.

“Hey!” she greets as normally as possible. “Morning.”

Harry walks over to pour himself a glass of water. “Sleep alright?”

“M-hm!” Does he know that she knows?

“That’s good.” Harry smiles, completely innocent. “You’re up earlier this morning. Did I wake you?”

“What?” It takes Roni a moment to realize he’s not referring to that, and she laughs nervously. “Oh, no, you’re good. Just like, my natural clock I guess.”

“You’re getting more used to being here.” Harry grins. “Wonderful.”

Roni smiles at him a tick too long, and she turns her attention to the cupboards. “Anyway,” she says, “Can I help with breakfast?”

“You don’t have to do that!”

“I want to!”

“You’re a guest.”

Roni shrugs. “Not really. Not anymore. I told you I’ve gotta earn my keep around here.”

Harry chuckles, shaking his head at her. “Alright.” He blows his messy morning hair off of his face and glances around the kitchen, pondering what to even suggest. “Well, I haven’t got much.”

“Eggs are fine again!” Roni suggests, before a thought pops into her mind. “Actually, got anything to make pancakes?”

Harry beams. “I think I do.”

“Perfect! Pancakes are my specialty.”

Roni and Harry set to work then, falling comfortably into step side by side as they weave their way around the kitchen. They launch immediately into conversation as they work, and it all feels so disgustingly domestic and comfortable that Roni almost forgets there’s anything abnormal about her situation. (She also temporarily forgets what she just saw on the couch minutes ago, although every time she catches a glimpse of his hand she is so painfully reminded.) They discuss buying Roni new clothes, since she is going to be here for the foreseeable future, and Roni asks several questions about what to expect when entering the roaring 20s. Harry answers her, “lots of lions” and when she doesn’t understand right away, he giggles through his explanation of, “‘Roaring.’ Get it? Sorry.”

It’s when they’re sitting at the table side by side, shoveling pancakes into their mouths, that Roni shifts topics.

“Your eye looks better!”

Harry chuckles. “It does, doesn’t it? Just got a look at it in the mirror. The swelling has gone down significantly.”

“Thank goodness,” Roni nods. “We have to be looking our best tonight, after all. We’re still on for dancing?”

Harry smiles around his glass of milk as he sips, and there’s a brief moment where he forgets to wipe his milk mustache off in which Roni completely melts. “‘Course we are,” he says with a nod.

“What kinds of places are we going? Like are we just gonna go bar hopping? Or like… what’s the plan? What should I prepare for? Should I wear comfy shoes?”

Harry makes a face, not answering her right away. He opens his mouth, then closes it again. He takes another sip of milk, and now Roni is wondering if she’s said something wrong, because his entire demeanor shifts. “What? Is that not how it works here?”

Harry won’t even look at her, but the smile on his face hardly falters-- if anything it just looks a bit more regretful. “No,” he says. “It’s not that.”

Roni frowns. “Well, we don’t have to go if you don’t want to! We can just--”

“It isn’t that either.” Harry finally looks at Roni with embarrassment. He hesitates to speak, until she presses him with a look. He sighs. “Veronica, I have to tell you something.”

Roni hates those words. Any time someone has said something to her along those lines, it is almost always followed by bad news. She leans closer to him. “What’s wrong?”

“I… don’t have enough money… to take you to several places. I can only afford one, and it’s only because I know the guy who owns it.”

Roni still doesn’t understand, so she shakes her head and places her hand on Harry’s arm reassuringly. “Harry, that’s not a big deal, I don’t mind if--”

“No, listen. Please. I have to tell you this because it’s gone on for too long, and I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to hide it from you.”

Roni swallows, preparing herself for the worst. Harry’s got a wife and child living somewhere else that he has to support, and they don’t know about this apartment. Harry is sick and dying and only has enough money to pay his medical bills for the next couple of months until he shrivels away. Harry has--

“I don’t have a job.”

Oh.

Roni blinks back at him, trying to find the proper words to go about responding to him. She isn’t mad by any means, but he’s looking at her like she should be. His cheeks burn red, and his skin under Roni’s hand feels hot to the touch. He licks his lips, raising his eyebrows expectantly at her, and she realizes she’s just been sitting here with her mouth open. She shakes her head, and speaks with as much gentleness as she can conjure up.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t. I don’t think I anticipated you being here as long as you are-- which, I’m so happy that you are, by the way-- so I didn’t think it would come up. And now I want to take you out and buy you clothes, and I still very much intend to do that, because I do have money left over for that. But I just can’t do it to the extent that I would like to. And it’s awful, because I really would love to show you around, take you to several dance places, etcetera etcetera, but…. I can’t.”

The amount of sadness in Harry’s eyes makes Roni’s heart feel heavy, and she gives his arm a squeeze. “Harry,” she sighs.

“Are you disappointed?”

“Of course I’m not disappointed. If anything, I’m disappointed in myself. I’ve been so selfish this entire time--”

“Don’t do that.”

“--But if I’d known, I could’ve helped!”

Harry chuckles, and it’s the first time in a few minutes that he seems like himself again. “How on earth could you have helped?”

“I don’t know,” Roni shrugs, “but we would’ve found a way. You’re doing so much to help me, I can’t just sit here and let that happen without returning the favor!”

“There’s no favor to return,” Harry says with a smile. “It’s my pleasure.”

Roni sits back in her chair, already brainstorming and completely ignoring his words. “Lets see,” she says, drumming her fingers along the table top. “I don’t need clothes--”

“Yes you do.” Harry snorts. “You’re practically swimming in mine.”

“Yeah but--”

Harry holds up his hand to stop her. “I’ve got that part covered, Veronica. I promise you.”

Roni rolls her eyes. “Fine. One outfit--”

“Two.” Harry cuts her off again, his cheeky smile fully returning to his face. “At the very least. You need one for tonight and another for anything else.”

“But--”

“I’ve already got it all sorted. You’re not going to persuade me otherwise.”

“So you’re just gonna blow the last of your money… on me?”

“Not the last of it!” Harry shrugs, then laughs when Roni scoffs. “Love, I didn’t tell you this to worry you. I’ll find another job sooner or later. I just told you so that you wouldn’t be let down when I turn out to be a rather disappointing date.”

“You’re not disappointing.” Roni frowns. “We’re gonna get you a job, alright?”

“I believe you!” Harry says, popping another piece of pancake into his mouth.

“Starting today.”

“Today?!” Harry speaks through a mouthful and swallows a bit harder than he’d intended. “No, love, today is about finding you clothes--”

“And finding you a job.” Roni grins brilliantly at him. “We’re doing both at the same time.” When Harry narrows his eyes at her, she only giggles and echoes his own words back at him. “You’re not going to persuade me otherwise.”

Harry rolls his eyes, but his dimpled smile has returned full force. He shakes his head and takes another bite. “You’re something else, aren’t you?”

“Yep,” Roni pops the ‘p’ at the end of the world before taking a sip of her milk. “So hurry up and finish breakfast. We’ve got a busy day ahead of us.”

----

It’s three hours later when Roni and Harry find themselves downtown, after an hour of cleaning up their messes in the kitchen and Harry awkwardly explaining to Roni how the shower worked. They’d wasted no time in buying Roni the appropriate outfits, and she’d changed in the restroom at a high end cafe. (The looks she’d received were actually quite hysterical-- dressed in Harry’s clothes and entering the women’s restroom only to emerge wearing a brown dress, stockings, and brand new shoes.)

Roni’s first time stepping out of Harry’s apartment and into the daylight had been surreal. She’d felt dizzy several times, especially when comparing the shops and restaurants along the streets now to the ones of her own time. It wasn’t that she didn’t know her way around; she knew this city like the back of her hand. But seeing everything-- and everyone-- so different is a feeling unlike anything she’d ever experienced in her life.

But now here she is, dressed the part and feeling a hundred times more confident and present than before. She and Harry had visited numerous businesses for him to apply to, and each one had given them roughly the same answer. Promises to call seemed to only crush Harry’s spirit, which Roni understood. But she’d remained as positive and enthusiastic about the entire process as she could, and now here she is-- encouraging him to just pop into one more store with her.

“What if they’re the ones that are gonna offer you a job, you know?”

“Or they’ll just promise to call me,” Harry says with a shrug. “You know how those things work. They promise to call and they never do.”

Roni is about to launch into an entire spiel about how Harry is only going to attract what he puts out there and he shouldn’t be going into this with a negative attitude, when something catches her eye.

“Oh my god.”

She stops dead in her tracks, and it takes Harry a moment to notice she isn’t behind him. He turns to see Roni staring in disbelief at one of the little shops along the strip. He follows her gaze to understand what she’s so struck by, but it only confuses him more. “What, the tobacco place?”

“No, the book store.” Roni feels like crying and she doesn’t even know why. It’s not a particularly emotional moment by any means, but it’s strange and surreal and the only thing her body can think to do with all of the unusual feelings she’s feeling is to expel them through tears.

She doesn’t end up crying, not really, but she does have to blink the mist out of her eyes to make sure she isn’t seeing anything.

The sign above the book shop is the same one she’d gotten so used to seeing nearly every day of her life in the 90s, but now it’s got a fresh coat of paint and it’s bright and shiny rather than weathered with time. It reads, loud and proud in white paint: The Little Read Book, and Roni laughs in disbelief.

If Roni remembers correctly, the shop was opened in 1920-- which technically is five years ago-- by Eileen’s grandmother, and Roni realizes that that means Eileen isn’t born yet, and won’t be for another ten years.

“Harry,” Roni says quietly to a patient Harry who’s been waiting for her to say something, “I work there.”

“What?” Harry scoffs, glancing from the shop to Roni’s awe-stricken face. “What on earth do you-- oh.” It finally dawns on Harry, only now he isn’t sure at all what the proper way to respond to this situation would be. He clears his throat. “You don’t say? Well, that’s interesting.”

Without thinking, Roni grabs Harry’s hand and yanks him with her as she makes her way to the shop. “We have to go in,” she says, completely unaware of the way Harry is blushing at her small hand in his.

A familiar bell rings the moment Roni opens the door, and out of habit she wants to call out a greeting to Eileen. The shop smells exactly the same, and it’s organized almost identically to the way it looks in the 90s. The difference is on the walls- there are significantly less photographs covering them, and the ones that are tacked to the green wallpaper are fresh and not yellowed with age.

A few customers walk among the shelves, talking quietly to themselves, and faint jazz music plays from the radio behind the front desk. The radio is still there in Roni’s time, but it has long since stopped working, and seeing it in all its glory is something so surreal that Roni gets dizzy all over again.

“May I help you?”

Roni turns her attention to a girl much younger than her rounding the corner carrying an armful of books. Roni’s knee-jerk reaction is to go help the girl but she refrains-- reminding herself that she does not, in fact, work here at the moment.

The girl plops the pile onto the desk and Roni gets a glimpse of her nametag. It reads “Daisy” in a plain blue font, and Roni wracks her brain trying to remember if she’s ever heard this name before and if this person holds any significance in Eileen’s life.

It’s Harry who speaks first. “Hi, I was wondering if you had any available positions open?”

The question takes both Daisy and Roni by surprise, and Roni can’t stop her jaw from falling practically on the floor. Of course it makes sense for him to work here, and she wishes she’d come up with the idea herself. She’d been so shocked to see this place in the context it’s in now, that she’d forgotten all about the task at hand. A pang of guilt strikes her belly for a brief moment.

Daisy blinks back surprise, a pleasant smile growing on her face. “Really?”

“Yes ma’am.” Harry beams, “I’m looking to start as soon as possible.”

Daisy eyes Harry for a moment, stopping briefly on his still faint-purple eye, before leaning against the counter and grinning. “What’s your name?”

“Harry,” he replies, holding out his hand. “Styles.”

Daisy shakes his hand with a smile before turning expectantly to Roni, and now Roni suddenly feels put on the spot.

“Uh,” she stammers, reaching to shake Daisy’s hand. “I’m Roni.”

Daisy makes a face, cocking her head to one side. “As in Ronald?”

Harry snorts, and Roni sighs. “No, Veronica. Sorry, I should’ve been more clear.”

“No!” Daisy says, “It’s just a unique name. I’ve never heard anything like that before. I like it. Are you interested in a position as well?” Her bright beautiful smile returns back to her face, and it’s the first time that Roni’s really looked closely. She can clearly see the almost chilling resemblance to Eileen now, and it makes her feel woozy.

It takes everything in Roni not to explain the situation, but how would she even start?

Actually, I do work here, but not right now-- seventy-four years into the future, and I can give you my official employee reference for you to hire Harry!

Roni sees Harry smirking at her as if he’s thinking the same thing she is, and she giggles nervously. “No. Thank you though.”

“Alright, but if you change your mind, I’m always hiring!” Daisy makes her way behind the counter to organize the books as she speaks. “My name is Daisy Hartford. I actually recently took over the business with my husband Lawrence. My mother opened the shop five years ago, but she gave the business to us when we got married last summer.”

Roni tunes Daisy out as she comes to the realization that Daisy is Eileen’s mother. It feels so strange to see this young girl, likely no older than nineteen, running a business that Roni knows by heart, and speaking of her mother and her husband so candidly. She doesn’t know that she’s going to have four children, and that one of them is going to be Eileen. She doesn’t know that Eileen is going to take over the shop one day. Hell, she probably doesn’t even know that the shop is going to make it another seventy-four plus years. She doesn’t know any of this-- but Roni does.

Daisy continues rambling, bringing Roni out of her thoughts. “I love it, but I could use all the help I can get. Especially once we start having little ones running around, do you know what I mean? I’m sure the two of you understand.”

Harry’s smirk only deepens while Roni feels her face is on fire. Her voice is so quiet that even she has a hard time hearing herself. “Oh, we’re not--”

“Well” Daisy unintentionally cuts Roni off, smiling sweetly. “I’m sure I don’t need to bore you with my story.” She turns to Harry with a pointed look. “Mr. Styles. Have you any experience working with books?”

Roni can almost hear the panic bells going off in Harry’s head, but his exterior remains cool and collected. “I do not,” he says, “But I am a fast learner.”

“Excellent.” Daisy flips nonchalantly through a book before setting it aside. “And your current employer is whom?”

Harry swallows, his ego clearly slightly bruised. He fidgets with his fingers when he talks, drawing Roni’s attention to the fact that even she’s fidgeting with her ring out of pure nervousness. “I don’t have one, ma’am. But my previous employer was Milton and Sons. I made shoes.”

“Oh, how funny! I’ve got a pair of Miltons on right now!” Daisy kicks out her leg a bit to show off her shoes, and it makes both Roni and Harry giggle.

“Those are quite nice,” Harry says. “I’ll bet I made them.”

“I’ll bet you did!” Daisy beams, before realizing that this is still a job interview-- albeit a very lax one. She clears her throat and settles herself down. “Alright, alright. Next question. Why The Little Read Book?”

It’s another one of those moments where Roni wants to jump in, and Harry can see her internal struggle. “Well,” he says slowly, “A dear friend of mine recommended this place.”

“Did he? What’s his name?”

Harry’s lips twitch. “Ronald.”

Roni nearly chokes, but Harry remains completely serious as Daisy thinks long and hard. “Ronald…. Mr. Whitley? He comes in here quite often.”

“Maybe,” Harry says with a shrug. “I’ve never caught his last name before. But in any case, Ronald has been coming here for years now. He speaks very highly of this place. Says it feels like home to him. And I can see why. You’ve got a remarkable business here, Mrs. Hartford.”

Daisy beams. “Thank you! That’s lovely to hear.”

After a few more questions that almost all lead into a conversation of some sort, Roni, Daisy, and Harry feel like three chums just hanging out and having a chat. Which was something Eileen had constantly told Roni about Daisy.

“My mother could befriend a rock if you gave her enough time,” Eileen would say. “She would hold conversation with just about anyone. Everybody loved her, and with good reason.”

Now that she’s meeting her, Roni would have to agree.

“Well, Mr. Styles,” Daisy says through a sigh. “I suppose I’ve just got one question left for you, and it’s the most important one.”

Harry nods. “Shoot.”

“When can you start?”

Roni can tell that Harry wants to leap up in the air and celebrate. She knows how much this means to him and, frankly, she’s feeling the exact same way. She beams at Harry, expectantly awaiting his answer. While he remains as calm as possible, there is no denying the dimple on his cheek showing just how happy he is.

“Tomorrow?” Harry raises his eyebrows questioningly.

“We’re closed tomorrow.” Roni and Daisy say this at the same time, and when Daisy shoots Roni a look of confusion, Roni fumbles over an explanation. Truth be told, it was merely force of habit. But that isn’t something she has time to explain to Daisy, so she shrugs.

“Sorry, I’ve just-- tried to come in here a few times on Saturdays and Sundays and always realized you were closed. Made that mistake too many times. Ha. Sorry.”

This is a tradition no longer kept in 1999, but Roni remembers the days when both Saturdays and Sundays were off days. In 1998 Eileen had decided to open up Saturdays for business, keeping Sundays blocked off because “I’m a God-fearing woman, Veronica.” But still, it is Roni’s knee-jerk reaction to respond the way that she just has, and she’s thankful that Daisy bought her explanation.

“Right,” Daisy giggles. “Well, in any case, Mr. Styles, are you free to start Monday around eleven?”

Harry nods. “Monday around eleven sounds great.”

“Wonderful! I can’t wait to work with you.” She turns to Roni. “And I’m sure I’ll be seeing much more of you in here, Mrs. Styles.”

Roni opens her mouth to say something but is cut off immediately by Harry taking her hand and tugging her towards the door. “Right, lovely to meet you, Mrs. Hartford. I’ll see you Monday at eleven, and not a minute later!”

The door closes behind them and they’re back outside, squinting at one another in the sunlight. Harry’s smiling like an excited little boy, and after a moment of watching him, Roni presses him with a nudge. “Well?”

“Veronica,” Harry says softly, “We fucking did it.”

It’s the first time Roni’s heard Harry (knowingly) curse in front of her, and it makes her giggle at his unfiltered excitement. She takes both of Harry’s hands in hers and squeezes, beaming up at him before just giving in and wrapping her arms around his torso. She gives him a tight squeeze and leans affectionately into him.

“Hell yeah,” she says, “We fucking did.”

----

“Harryyy,” Roni whines from the bathroom.

“Yes, love?”

Roni sighs loudly, and the noise makes Harry chuckle to himself from his spot on the couch. “You can’t laugh, okay?”

“Why would I laugh?”

“Because.” Roni opens the door a crack, barely peeking her head out to look at Harry. “I need help.”

It’s a few hours later and Harry and Roni have found themselves back at Harry’s place to freshen up for the evening. Roni had insisted she’d be fine changing in another public restroom, but Harry had refused-- saying that he needed to get changed into something “spiffier.”

The outfit Harry had bought for Roni seemed nice enough, but now that she’s actually trying to do up the buttons in the back while keeping the sash tied correctly, she’s realizing just how complicated the entire outfit is. It doesn’t help that the only bra she has is the one she’d been wearing the night she arrived, which is very modern in comparison to the rest of the dress. Try as she might, there is no way she could manage getting the buttons all done up herself. So she’d swallowed her pride, and now here she is-- pitifully asking Harry for help.

Harry looks lovely, of course, and it’s the nicest Roni has seen him dress the entire time she’s been here. He’s in a gray suit buttoned up the front, and a nice pair of leather shoes that, admittedly could use a bit of a shine but are altogether so handsome and so Harry. He completes the entire ensemble with a little gray cap on his head-- because of course he does-- and Roni suddenly feels self conscious when he looks at her.

He smiles knowingly, rising to his feet and heading towards the bathroom door. “Too advanced for you then?”

Roni pouts, stepping out of the bathroom in the half buttoned, half tied mess of a dress. “I just can’t get the buttons done,” she huffs. “And the belt won’t stay tied!”

Harry snorts, picking up the ribbon that droops around Roni’s waist. “It doesn’t go there.”

Roni rolls her eyes. “Well that would’ve been nice to know ten minutes ago.”

“Alright, alright,” Harry says through another laugh. “Turn around.”

Roni complies without thinking, and Harry’s breath catches in his throat the moment she does.

It’s the first time he’s seen a woman’s bare back in, god, he doesn’t even know how long. She’s gotten the buttons done up herself all the way to the spot just before her back dips into her bottom, and Harry subconsciously licks his lips at the involuntary thought of what lies beneath the southernmost button. The lace of her brassiere clings delicately to her back, and although Harry has seen a decent amount of brassieres in his lifetime, he’s never quite seen one this intricate. He would give anything to unlatch it and place his lips to the spot on her skin where it rested, but he knows he can’t. He knows he’s got a job to do here, and she’s waiting.

Harry doesn’t realize he’s been staring for so long until Roni speaks. “What, did I mess it up?”

“Yes” Harry says, praying that Roni doesn’t notice the audible crack in his voice. “But it’s okay. Nothing I can’t fix.”

With shaky hands Harry works to fasten the buttons up her back. Roni sighs, seemingly unaware of the way Harry trembles behind her. For some reason the fact that this is completely normal to Roni, in a time where it’s scandalous for any unwed woman to present herself to a man this way, is making this all the more sexy to him. He licks his lips, focusing on getting this done as quickly as possible so as not to make it weird, while also savoring the moment as much as he can.

He can feel the heat from her skin, and he can smell his shampoo in her hair, and he closes his eyes to allow the scent to fill his nose. Should he say something? Is he being weird by not saying anything? Can she feel how absolutely tense he is as he tries to focus on not touching her for too long? He’s completely short-circuited, and he gulps trying to come up with something to talk about.

When Harry’s finger accidentally grazes a spot on Roni’s back, she jolts, starling Harry.

“Sorry, sorry!” Harry blurts. “Did I hurt you?”

“No, no, it’s just-- your hands are cold.”

“Oh.” Idiot. “Sorry.”

“No,” Roni says again. “It felt… good.”

“Oh.”

Can he say anything other than oh?

Harry watches as goosebumps prickle Roni’s skin, and he moves slower now, taking special care to brush his fingers against her back occasionally. If she said it felt good, it’s all he can do to keep her feeling that way. She swallows and audibly exhales, and the goosebumps never fade or shrink.

Harry doesn’t know why it happens this way with her. Everything is always so friendly and normal, and then the most casual and mundane thing sets him off. He knows she feels it too, because even over her shoulder he can see her eyes nervously darting around with every controlled breath she takes. She, too, looks like she wants to say something and can’t find the words, but Harry doesn’t mind. The higher he gets with her buttons, the slower he goes.

With a shaky hand, Harry reaches up to gather Roni’s hair in his hand and gently brushes it over her shoulder and out of his way. She shivers when he does this, and it makes him smile to himself. If ever he should be lucky enough to be this close to Roni again, he needs to remember that she likes to have her hair played with.

When he finally reaches the top button, he takes his time fastening it. He doesn’t realize that he and Roni are both holding their breaths until both of them let it out in a sigh. He closes his eyes briefly, willing time to stop just for moment so that he can savor this longer, but he has no time to linger on the thought before Roni is spinning around to face him.

“Does it look okay? Like seriously, do I like… fit with the times?”

She looks genuinely worried, and her eyes scan his for any sign of humor in his response.

How can Harry tell her that she looks like a dream? She looks like everything he’s ever wanted and so, so much more. Of course he’d gone a tad over his planned budget in buying her this outfit, but seeing her here, wearing it and looking like that makes it all worth it. Were dresses like this supposed to fit this way? He’s never seen a dress look so good on anybody before, and he doesn’t know how on earth to tell her that without frightening her off.

So he keeps his composure as much as he can, smiling mischievously down at her. “Not yet.”

He reaches for the tie that Roni had mislabeled a belt and, feeling bolder now, unties it from around her hips. She squirms a bit in his grasp but she isn’t smiling, not yet, and Harry realizes that fitting in is something incredibly important to her.

“Right, hold still.” Harry loops the tie around the back of Roni’s neck, brushing her hair up over it and smiling when he notices the goosebumps on her skin once again. He watches her face closely as he ties the tie in a loose knot in the middle of her chest. She won’t look at him anymore, but there’s a hint of a smile gracing her pretty lips, so he knows he’s got her where he wants her. He secures the knot and takes the two loose ends of the tie in his hands, yanking her gently closer to him.

Roni stumbles and gasps softy, before glaring up at him. “Hey, careful! I could’ve--”

She trails off when she sees the way he’s smiling at her, and she softens immediately. Her eyes hold an almost indiscernible worry, and if Harry had blinked he would’ve missed the way they darted down to his lips for just a split second.

Harry smirks. “Now you look perfect.”

Roni giggles nervously, a red tint glowing from her cheeks as she averts her gaze. She seems to come back to her senses slowly, and Harry is pleased with the effect he has on her.

“Thanks,” she says softly, stepping back and out of the circle of his arms, “For… helping me. I don’t mean to be so helpless it’s just…. You know.”

Harry nods. “I do know,” he says with a reassuring smile.” He places a hand on his belly. “I also know that my stomach has been growling for the last hour, and I’m itching to show you off on that dance floor.” He offers her his arm, grinning smugly down at her. “So. Shall we?”

---

The New York air is much colder now, and Roni leans closer to Harry for warmth as they walk. She’s significantly less afraid now that she looks the part, even going so far as to give passersby a few polite head nods and a quick “good evening!”

Harry grins down at her, squeezing her arm with his own. “You’re a proper lady now, aren’t you?”

Roni takes on her best posh accent, making Harry snort when she talks. “Well I look the part, darling, but now I’ve got to act it, haven’t I?”

Through residual giggles, Harry shakes his head. “You had me up until the accent.”

“What a shame,” Roni says, making her accent even thicker and giggling to herself. “I’ll have to work on that.”

A clocktower in the distance chimes six o’clock as Harry and Roni finally approach their destination. It’s busier than Roni had anticipated, but then again it is Friday night. This seems like the place to be, and if this is the only place Harry can take her tonight, he definitely picked a good one.

Harry talks briefly with the host at the front desk, who he’d mentioned to Roni that he was friends with, but Roni doesn’t even pay attention to anything being said. She instead takes this time to really study the place. Several round tables surround the large dance floor. If Roni remembers correctly, this building is a roller rink in her time, and it’s so strange to see it as something so drastically different now.

It’s also strange to see how many people are smoking indoors here, and Roni coughs when a woman walks by and wafts cigarette smoke into her face.

They’re seated shortly at a smaller table in the corner, and when the host returns back to his post, Harry beams at Roni. “So? What do you think?”

“It’s cute!” Roni says. “It’s weird because I’ve been here but you know, like… in the 90s.”

“Yeah? Is it pretty much the same?”

“Not at all,” Roni laughs. “I mean the big dance area kind of looks the same I guess. But it’s a huge roller rink.”

“A what?” Harry scrunches up his face, but doesn’t even give Roni a chance to answer him. “Oh, like for roller skates?”

“Yeah!”

Harry looks out at the dance floor thoughtfully. “Gee. So that area is just filled with people roller skating, huh? That’s odd to think about.”

The waiter approaches, quickly shifting both Harry and Roni’s attention. He informs them that his name is Stanley, goes over a few of the food specials for the evening, and then asks them what they’d like to drink. Harry orders a lemonade, and then both he and Stanley turn to Roni expectantly.

“Yeah, uh, I’ll take a rum and coke, please.”

If a record-scratch silence was such a thing in these times, it would have happened at that exact moment. Stanley, the people at the next table over, and even Harry all stare at her as if her order is the most scandalous thing they’ve ever heard. Roni stares back blankly, trying to gather what on earth the problem could be, before finally looking to Harry for help.

Harry catches on quickly, laughing dryly and leaning across the table to place a hand on Roni’s. “She’s joking, of course,” he says. “She’ll just have a coca-cola. Please. Thank you so much.”

Stanley lingers a moment, as if processing what just happened, before turning slowly on his heels and making his way to the kitchen.

When Harry is sure the waiter is out of earshot, he leans across the table with a serious look. “Don’t do that,” he hisses quietly.

“Do what?!” Roni asks incredulously. “Order a drink? What, are women not allowed to drink here?”

Harry chuckles. “Actually no one is.”

“What the fuck?” Roni says, biting her tongue the moment it escapes her lips because she knows she shouldn’t be cursing like that in public. Not here at least. She glances around to make sure no one heard her, then lowers her voice. “Why not?”

Harry grins smugly. “You mean to tell me the prohibition isn’t something significant in the future? Like it just… ends?”

Roni rolls her eyes. “Oh god,” she says. “The prohibition. Forgot about that.”

“Ah.” Harry nods. “So you’ve heard of it.”

Roni pouts. “Yeah, and it sucks.”

“You’re telling me,” Harry says through a laugh.

“I guess just a coke is fine though,” Roni admits. “Probably don’t need anything making me more disoriented me more than I already am.”

“That’s the spirit.”

Roni sighs, glancing around the restaurant again in another attempt to take it all in. When she catches the eye of an older lady a few tables over, she notices the woman is frowning at her, and she shifts in her seat. “Are people staring? They’re definitely staring. Did you button me up wrong?”

“I didn’t,” Harry says. “Maybe they’re staring because of how beautiful you look.”

Roni’s cheeks grow hot and she rolls her eyes, but she can’t suppress the smile on her face. “Harry--”

“I’m serious!” he says. “That dress is divine. I must say, whoever picked it for you has excellent taste.”

“Hey, I picked it out, too.” Roni sticks her tongue out at Harry.

“Maybe so,” Harry says with a shrug, “But of the two of us, I’m the one with the fashion sense here.”

Roni opens her mouth to protest, but Harry only rises to his feet and holds his hand out for her. “Anyway,” he says, “care to dance?”

At first Roni feels awkward on the crowded dance floor. Everyone around her seems so experienced, and there she is stumbling around like she’s never even heard music before in her life. She accidentally bumps into several people, and Harry always calmly apologizes for her before jumping right into the impromptu dance lesson he’s giving her. Of course she feels bad, but he’s so encouraging (and went through all the trouble to get them here), so she puts on a brave face and soldiers through it.

By about four songs in, however, Roni’s insecurities wash further and further away with every smile or word of praise Harry gives her, and suddenly it feels like they’re the only two in the entire building.

The familiar opening chords of The Charleston begin booming from the orchestra, and Harry and Roni immediately exchange open-mouthed grins. “You know this one!” Harry yells over the music, already beginning to tap his feet.

“No I don’t!” Roni giggles, already being swept off her feet by Harry.

Once again they’re laughing like children, stumbling over one another while Harry shouts incoherent commands at her.

“Remember? Left, kick, left--- Veronica, focus!”

“I can’t! Not with everyone around!”

Roni finally allows her giggles to get the best of her, letting go of Harry and hunching over to clutch her belly. Harry watches her, an endeared smile on his lips, before reaching to take her hand again. “Veronica--”

“Wait!” Roni stands up straight. “Wait, it’s my turn. Let me show you how it’s done. Ever heard of this one?”

She starts half-jumping, half- running in place and Harry lets out a loud cackle. “What on earth are you doing?”

“It’s called the running man!” Roni calls back. “All the rage where I come from!”

Harry’s face grows redder by the second from laughing so hard, and he lets out a hacking cough. “Oh my god, you look ridiculous!”

“Yeah? Like that one? How about this one?” Roni places her hands on either side of her face, framing her head and moving her hands from her cheeks to her chin and top of her head. . “This one is called Vogue-ing.”

Harry wipes at his eyes, clutching his stomach. “Veronica,” he says through a wet laugh, “Please, no more.”

“And here’s a classic!” Roni goes completely stiff, bending her arms at the elbows and moving robotically. “They call this one the robot!”

“God,” Harry shakes his head, face now beet read from laughing. “You’re so bloody weird.”

“You aren’t gonna try it with me?” Roni asks. “I try your weird dances with you!”

Harry rolls his eyes, but he knows she’s got a point. “It’s not the same.”

“It doesn’t matter!” Roni calls back. “C’mon, just try the robot one time.”

Harry glances nervously around before deciding to just completely throw caution to the wind and join her. He goes stiff as well, mimicking her movements in the most forced and uncomfortable looking way.

Now it’s her turn to laugh, and she lets out the most adorable cackle Harry thinks he’s ever heard. “Ha! You’ve got it!”

“Do I look absolutely mental?” Harry asks through a grin.

“Absolutely, babe,” Roni says with a nod.

“Good!” Harry starts moving faster, knowing damn well he isn’t doing this dance correctly at all, until Roni can’t even dance anymore. She’s nearly on the ground with how hard she’s laughing, and both she and Harry completely ignore the dirty looks from everyone around them who’s actually taking their dancing seriously.

Harry is completely out of breath by the end of the song, and he genuinely feels he’s going to be sore tomorrow.

But if it meant seeing Roni this happy and full of laughter, he’d take her out dancing every single night.

---

“So what was it like?”

Roni turns to Harry. “What?”

Roni and Harry are walking home side by side, and Roni is carrying her shoes-- even though Harry had informed her several times how filthy the ground was. When they’d finally decided to stop dancing and sit down for dinner, they’d launched immediately into conversation, covering just about any topic under the sun. Harry marvels at how easy it is to talk to Roni, and he reckons he could sit and listen to her talk about absolutely nothing for days on end.

“The moment you traveled back. I know you said it was a lucid dream of sorts, but what was it really like? Was it like you were flying?”

“No, not really,” Roni says, and she takes a moment to think of how to explain this to him. “It was just like walking. But I couldn’t walk fast enough. I wasn’t being threatened or anything. I just knew I had somewhere to go and I didn’t think I’d get there in time.”

“Where were you trying to go? You’d mentioned something about the 1980s… is that correct? Something about your mum?”

Roni smiles sadly at him. “You remember me saying that?”

“‘Course I do.” Harry notices the sadness of Roni’s features, and he lowers his voice. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s okay,” Roni says wistfully. “I wanted to go to 1985. That was the year I lost my mom. In a car accident.”

“Oh, Veronica,” Harry coos. “I’m so sorry.”

“Cars were… well, are a lot different where I come from. People drive like assholes. Pardon the language.” Harry smirks to himself. Since when does Roni feel the need to apologize for her language? He doesn’t have time to tease her, however, and he figures now is not the time. So he lets her continue.

“So mom was driving to work one morning. And this guy fell asleep at the wheel. A trucker. He’d been driving all night.” Roni seems lost in her own thoughts, and Harry hangs on her every word. “And it sucks because… it was just like any other day, you know? We just said a normal goodbye. She was planning on ordering pizza that night when she got home. I asked her to take me to the pool, and she couldn’t. She was working overtime so that she could pay for this stupid class trip for me.” Roni shakes her head bitterly, and Harry wants to say something, but he decides to let her sort through her own thoughts.

“I just thought that… maybe if I could go back to that day I could stop her, do you know what I mean? I thought I could maybe warn her not to leave. She would’ve listened to me.” Roni chuckles softly to herself. “I was always good at persuading her.”

They round the corner, beginning their ascent up the steps to Harry’s apartment. He finally speaks as he fumbles with his keys. “You know you can’t give up, right? You’ve proven that time travel is real, now it’s just a matter of perfecting the specifics.”

Roni shrugs as Harry pushes his creaky front door open for her to walk through. “I suppose,” she says, “I just don’t know if I want to risk going to another unfamiliar time period. I’m not sure anyone else would be as kind as you.”

Her words tug at Harry’s heart strings as he locks the door behind him. “Can I say something?”

Roni kicks off her shoes. “Of course.”

“I’m really glad you showed up here.” When Roni shoots Harry a look that says “don’t be cheesy,” he giggles. “I mean it! You’re somebody that I feel very, very lucky to have met. You’re an incredible person.”

“Oh stop it.” Roni and Harry make their way through the living room, while Harry begins unbuttoning his jacket and Roni fumbles to untie the neck-tie that has been itching her skin all night.

“I’m serious,” Harry says. “You’re intelligent. And witty.”

Roni smirks at him. “Alright fine, keep going.”

“And funny,” Harry adds with a pointed look. “Gosh, Veronica, no one makes me laugh as hard as you do, you know that?”

“The feeling is mutual, dude.” Roni frowns down at the knot that she still hasn’t been able to get untied, and Harry keeps talking.

“You keep me on my toes, but in the best way.” Harry wiggles out of his jacket, placing it neatly over the back of a chair. “I never know what to expect from you.”

“Good,” Roni says, distracted and still scowling at the stubborn knot. “I want to keep it that way.”

“You’re unlike any woman-- no, any person in general, I have ever met in my life. And I’ve met a lot of people, you know. You’re someone special. I feel like you were meant to come into my life, even if you came from the future. And--” Harry trails off when he notices her struggling. “Do you need help with that?”

Roni frowns up at him, finally giving up. “How tight did you tie this thing?!”

Harry laughs, making his way over to her. “Alright, c’mere. Let me see.”

It feels good to be this close to Roni again, and although they’d spent the last roughly three and a half hours dancing closely, this feels so much better. Harry feels the same nervous energy he’d felt while tying this thing, but somehow he’s more confident about it now, and he doesn’t shy away from standing so close to her.

“You can keep going on about how great I am if you want,” Roni teases.

“Oh can I?” Harry asks. “Thank you for your blessing, madam.”

“Anytime!”

Harry smiles, working at the knot gently and really searching to find the right words in his mind. “Suppose everything I’ve been saying is rather sappy, innit?”

“I don’t mind.”

Harry’s heart pounds at her words, although he isn’t exactly nervous. “Well, may I say something else sappy?”

“We’ve made it this far, haven’t we?”

“Fair.” Harry smiles. Admittedly, he’s got the knot figured out and could easily side the tie off with no problem. But he likes having something for his fingers to fidget with, and he definitely likes having his fingers so near her body. “On top of everything else I’ve said, you are… undoubtedly… the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.”

Roni’s mouth falls open so subtly that Harry would have missed it if it wasn’t for the almost inaudible gasp that accompanied the movement. He doesn’t look at her eyes, he instead focuses on the knot-- which he is now halfway done with.

“Harry.”

“Pardon me if I’m being too forward, Veronica. I just think it’s high time that I let you know that. You deserve to be told that every day.”

Harry shakes the knot a bit, effectively loosening it so that it practically slides off. But he doesn’t let go of the fabric, holding it loosely on either side of her neck. He swallows and she lets out a shaky breath, eyes darting frantically along his face as if she can’t decide on a place for them to land. The mood in the room has shifted entirely just from his one confession, because they both know that his words hold so much more depth to them. He isn’t just complimenting her to fill the silence. He means it, and he means so much more by it.

“Can I say something as well?” Roni says quietly, and Harry only nods. “You’re… the most wonderful person I’ve ever known, Harry. And I wish… I wish I’d met you sooner.”

“I consider myself incredibly lucky to have met you,” Harry says. “And I... I don’t know how long you’re going to be here with me for. But I already wish I had longer with you. And I wish you were mine.”

Roni licks her lips as their eyes finally meet. They both wear looks of confusion, a bit of fear, and so much yearning that it would make Roni sick on any other day. But now she’s here, and she’s feeling something she’s honestly never felt in her life. She smiles, reaching up slowly to cup his cheek and run her thumb over the spot where his dimple lives.

“I wish that, too,” she says breathlessly.

Finally. Finally it’s the moment they’ve both been waiting for for so long. Harry tugs lightly on the tie, pulling Roni in so close that their faces are practically touching. It would be so easy for them to just do it, just tilt their heads the slightest bit and kiss already. Roni feels jittery and shaky, and Harry reaches up to take the wrist of the hand that cups his face.

They’re so close that Roni can feel the warmth radiating off of his skin, and she swallows down all of the words that she’s dying to say. She licks her lips, only briefly giving in to the “what if’s” swimming around in her brain, and she removes her eyes from his swollen pink lips. She scans the dip of his cupid’s bow, the little mole on the corner of his chin, the point of his nose, and finally his green eyes that match the intensity on his face. Memories of the image she’d woken up to this morning float back into her mind,-- images of him, naked and swollen and whining-- and this time she lets them linger for a moment. Enjoying the way the sight had made her feel. Enjoying the way that that same hand feels now against her wrist.

“Harry,” Roni whispers.

Harry bumps his nose to hers, lips so close that she can practically taste them. “Yes, love?”

Roni wants to stop herself from saying what she’s about to say. More than anything she wants to give in to this boy who’s standing so close to her, she wants to fasten their lips together and taste him. She wants to kiss his neck, and she wants him to kiss hers. She wants to touch him, lick him, bury him inside of her until they pass out from exhaustion. And she wants to wake up tomorrow and do it all over again.

But instead, she says something she almost instantly regrets.

“I can’t.”

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