#anyway. late (because oops i worked on this for three hours instead of two and now its technically the 20th) inscryption bday art. yay
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only her name was inscrybed.
#alternate caption: woops! game's haunted#anyway. late (because oops i worked on this for three hours instead of two and now its technically the 20th) inscryption bday art. yay#kaycee my beloved... ive never posted inscryption art before have i lol. lmao even#shes got the act iii empress card cause its about her <3 was gonna do her deathcard but the idea of using the traders dialogue about her as#the caption was too powerful. also this card has less writing on it lmaoo#also nobody mention how weird the skeleton hand looks. i have never put effort into hand bones before. i was struggling.#kaycee my favorite girlboy#kaycee hobbes#inscryption#inscryption kaycee#zoracontent#zora arts
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Jason Chaperons Damian's Field Trip
Damian and Jason in the Batcave trying to murder each other
Jason: I'm going to kill you demon brat!
Damian: Ha! I'd like to see you try Todd!
Fighting continues for the next two days
Bruce: That's it! Jason, Damian, no more fighting. You two are going to bond even if it kills you!
Jason: Again?
Bruce: Not the time Jason!
Damian, rolling his eyes: And how exactly do you expect me to bond with this barbarian?
Bruce: A trip to the art museum.
Damian and Jason look confused.
Bruce: Damian's class is going to the Gotham art museum next Friday. I was going to chaperon, but since you both decided to try and stab each other in public I have some PR matters to attend to. So, Jason will chaperon.
Damian: That is absolutely ridiculous father. Is it not enough that I am already forced to see subpar art with snot nosed brats? Now I have to take the zombie?!
Jason: Watch it brat!
Damian: Tt
Jason and Damian glare at each other.
Bruce: No, your brother is taking you to see world renowned art with your peers.
Jason: C'mon Bruce, world renowned? It's the Gotham art museum.
Bruce, glaring: Fine. Country renowned.
Jason raises his eyebrows.
Bruce: Don't push it. I'll call the school and let them know that you're taking my place.
--> The Next Friday <--
Jason: Damian! Get your ass down here!
Damian: I am right beside you Todd.
Jason: Where's your tie? And your blazer? Where's your backpack?
Damian: Calm down Todd. I have never been late for school and I do not plan to deviate from that today.
Jason: Whatever. Just be ready in the next five minutes, I want to get coffee first and we are not going to be late.
Damian: Pennyworth has already brewed a pot of that infernal drink.
Jason: And Tim has already called dibs on the entire pot. That kid is scrawny, but when it comes to coffee he's vicious.
Damian: Tt.
-------
Damian: STOP THE CAR RIGHT NOW TODD!
Tires screech as Jason whips into a parallel parking spot in front of the school. Damian's entire class watches this happen. They look terrified.
Damian, jumping out of the car, cursing in Arabic: Are you trying to murder me?!
Jason, casually getting out of the car with a Frappuccino, shrugs: I told you we wouldn't be late.
Damian: WE ARE THIRTY MINUTES LATE!!
Jason, shrugs: Oops.
-------
Teacher: Ok class! This is Jason Todd, he is Damian's older brother and he will be helping out on the field trip today. I expect you all to be on your best behavior today! Now Mr. Todd, would you like to tell us a little about yourself?
Jason, feet on a desk not paying attention, glaring at Damian.
Teacher: Mr. Todd?
Jason chokes on Frappuccino, stands up.
Jason: Uh, yeah, sure. Um, my name is Jason Todd, feel free to just call me Jason. Uh, what else?
Teacher: Maybe give us a fun fact about yourself?
Jason: Sure, sure. Uh I recently spent some time down under.
Teacher: Oh, in Australia?
Jason: Yeah, let's go with that.
Damian facepalms
-------
On the bus, kids screaming and throwing things at each other. Damian and Jason sit at the front near Damian's teacher. Jason has his eyes closed and looks tense.
Teacher: Uh, Mr. Todd? Jason? Are you alright?
Jason: Just peachy.
Damian: Pull it together Todd. You are embarrassing me.
Jason: Listen demon spawn, I'm trying to keep it together and not maim a rich brat. So why don't you shut up.
Damian: Tt. Everyone knows you are too cowardly to maim a child. However, I do admit that the loud and confined environment could cause stress... Here. Take these.
Damian hands Jason headphones. Jason looks confused.
Damian: Grayson claims that music can have a calming affect.
Jason: ...Thanks brat.
-------
Teacher: Ok class we are here! Remember to stick with your groups. Group one is with me. Group two is with Mrs. Smith. And group three is with Jason.
Kids break into groups, each group has seven kids.
Jason: Group three over here!
Damian rolls his eyes as the other six kids approach.
Jason: Be nice. Ok kiddos, we're starting at the uh American Rural Avant Garde exhibit. What the fuck is that crap?
Teacher: Oh my! Um, Mr. Todd. We do not encourage such strong language.
Jason: Wha- oh! You mean crap, so teach' that's my bad.
Teacher: Uh, no I uh-
Jason: Anyway c'mon demons let's go look at shitty art.
Teacher, chanting under their breath: The Wayne's donate a lot of money. The Wayne's donate a lot of money.
-------
In the cubism section.
Kid 1: Mr. Todd! When's lunch?
Jason: Call me Jason kid, and it's only ten? Lunch isn't until one.
Kid 2: But I'm hungry!
Kid 3: And this is boring!
Jason: It's not that bad, look at this thing! It's- oh shit is that a Picasso?
Kid 4: Uh, yeah?
Jason: Fuck that asshole, let's go get ice cream.
Damian: Todd! That is not in the schedule, we can not skip a section just because you dislike the artist!
Jason: See, that's were you're wrong baby bird. I'm in charge and I say that Picasso is an asshole and we're skipping his shit.
Damian: We are already in trouble with father, if we exhibit bad behavior he might force us to spend more time together.
Jason: Look kid, Bruce sent me here because he wants us to bond. The greatest form of bonding is breaking rules and skipping school. So, really, by skipping we're actually doing what he wants.
Damian: Tt. I suppose that sounds accurate.
-------
Jason: Time for lunch kiddos.
Kid 2: But we just finished our ice cream break?
Jason: No, we just finished the seeing the museums second floor. Right?
Kid 6: No we-
Jason: No no, we finished the second floor. The whole ice cream thing, that's our little secret. Right?
Kids: Ohhhhh
Jason: Now you're getting it!
-------
Damian glares at his lunch
Jason: What's wrong kiddo?
Damian: Tt. It appears that I might have, accidentally, taken Drake's lunch instead of my own.
Jason: And? What's the problem?
Damian: Drake, packed that abomination that he calls a sandwich.
Jason: Oh, god. He packed a peanut butter pepperoni sandwich again?
Damian, looking at the lunch with complete disgust: Yes.
Jason: Here, take my PB&J.
Damian: ...
Jason: Timbits taste in sandwich's is a crime against humanity. But I'm not vegan, so if worst comes to worst I'll eat it.
Damian: ...Thank you Todd. I- I did not think you cared about my dietary choices.
Jason: Just because we fight sometimes doesn't mean I won't have your back kid. Yeah, I guess being vegan is a choice, but it's a choice that I'll always support.
Damian quickly hugs Jason before taking his sandwich and pretending nothing happened.
Damian: I appreciate the support. Thank you, brother.
Jason: No problem baby bird.
-------
Jason: So, we have an hour before we have to get back on the bus. And, uh- oh shit! Ok, so apparently we had an assignment. Uh, the instructions say to draw your favorite work and write why you like it. What the fuck kind of bullshit assignment is that?
Jason: Uh, ok we're doing a speed draw. Everyone just pull up your favorite work on the museum website and try your best.
--> 40 Minutes Later <--
Jason: Ok, hand me your sheets and let's head to the bus.
Damian, hands his assignment in.
Jason: Whoa, huh.
Damian, looking nervous: What Todd?
Jason: Nothing, just this is a really good drawing kid.
Damian blushes: Of course it is.
Jason smiles and ruffles Damian's hair: Good job brat.
Damian smiles and heads to the bus
------
Both in the car, about to drive back to the manor.
Jason: You know, I actually sorta had fun today.
Damian: Your presence was... enjoyable.
Jason: We're never telling that to Bruce, right?
Damian: Obviously, if father thinks that his plan worked he will be completely insufferable.
Jason: Agreed. Y'know, sometimes field trips go long.
Damian: Oh?
Jason: Yeah, I mean, it wouldn't be too weird if we were an hour or so late getting home.
Damian: If we were to be late getting home, how would we spend that time?
Jason: There's a cool arcade that should be open right now.
Damian: I do not believe that I have ever been to an arcade.
Jason: Well, that needs to be fixed right now. You down baby bird?
Damian: I- uh I am down, is that the correct usage of the term?
Jason: Hell yeah.
---------------------------------------------------
Based on this headcanon.
#also the peanut butter pepperoni sandwich is curtesy of my brother#he got dared to eat one in high school and decided he liked it#his wife was v disappointed when she realized he still eats them#batman#bruce wayne#incorrect batfam quotes#damian wayne#robin#jason todd#red hood#field trips#brotherly bonding#batbros#mypost
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Thrill
Shigaraki Tomura x f!Reader
WARNINGS! +18, lemon/smut, heavy NONCON!, Forced! , implied cheating, dirty talk and degradation, unprotected, yandere-ish
The sound of the sharp knock resonating off the walls of the otherwise completely silent apartment had you almost jump out of your own skin, a cold sweat immediately beeaking out all over your back despite the heavy warm blanket you were under. You muted the video even though you assumed it was already too late for the unwelcome guest not to have heard it. Another sharp knock and you knew your assumption was right. Either way you quietly slipped out from under your blanket, feet meeting the cold floor and worsening the already cold shivers rolling down your spine, no one had business visiting you at 3 in the morning. Reaching up you looked through the peep hole. The silhouette of a familiar person with light hair was visible but mostly blocked by a smear of something dark across the glassy cover making it extremely difficult to make out the face.
This time instead of the sharp knock, fingers almost gently rapped over the wooden door as if the person knew you were standing right on the other side, the rapping playing a familiar and serie rhythm. Eerie because you only knew one more person who knew this rhythm.
Your hand rose and your fingers wrapped around the doorknob all on their own accord. The rude knocking was his way of respecting you actually, cause you knew as well as he did that this flimsy door could not stand in his way if he had decided to come in already. Chills from your cold feet on the floor made the whole experience worse than it needed to be. With a quiet shaky intake of breath and a shake of your head to regain your stoic composure you pulled the door open slowly, enough space so that your whole frame was in the doorway and not more, one hand still on the door for emotional support.
And surely you needed that.
He was way more terrifying than you remembered him from last time. His white hair glowing and almost reflecting the moonlight that seeped inside the corridor from the window at the end, the white light engulfing and giving his form a ghostly appearance, with bright crimson eyes staring at you expectantly. And that was not the only crimson in the mix. A big splash of red was covering one whole side of his face as it had either dripped down from his own head, which was likely cause strands of his hair was also still dripping with crimson, or had sprayed onto him from some other poor soul, down his neck, disappearing in the black of his shirt, making it look even darker, all the way down to his left hip. He was leaning his bloodied hand on the doorway, looming over you with his nonchalant yet completely insane face, lips slowly parting into a smirk, knowing by the pale look of your face that he absolutely had not given you a choice for this surprise meeting.
"May I use your shower."
Your jaw went slack staring at him with an open mouth as you clutched the door unable to answer what wasn't really a request.
"Of course, what a dumb question."
He pushed off the wall and gestured for you to get out of his way as he pushed the door wide open, stomping right past you. Feeling way out of your comfort zone you glanced left and right in the corridor before succumbing to your fate and closing the door behind you, staring at the muddy bloody shoe prints going to your living room. You followed them and watched him kick his shoes off in the middle of the living room on the creme carpet, lean in to look at the pictures over the chimney, scoff then make his way over to the kitchen.
"That's not the bathroom-..."
He totally ignored you as he went to the fridge grabbing a cold beer, all the while making sure he smeared everything with the blood on his hands.
His eyes glanced sideways towards you as he chugged the bear in one go, putting the bottle on the very edge of the counter.
"Ahhh."
His eyes locked onto yours, beginning to show a slight bit of annoyance. And as his mouth split open into a wide grin he tipped the bottle over the edge. It hit the floor with a noise that sounded way louder to you than it should've before it shattered on the kitchen tiles.
"Oops. My bad."
Your eyes snapped onto him from where they previously were glaring at the broken bottle on the floor, grinding your teeth together in annoyance.
"The bathroom is the other way."
"I know."
You hissed out from your clenched teeth and he waved his hand dismissively, stepping over the glass and walking towards your bedroom. Of course he was going to use the master bathroom. What else. He stopped in the doorway to the bathroom and looked at you.
"Join me."
You crossed your arms over your chest this time glaring at him directly.
"I see no need for that. You're a big boy."
He faked a pout before shrugging his shoulders and stepping into the bathroom.
"Well I thought you wanted me gone as soon as possible. Apparently not, so I'm gonna take my time then."
You shook your head and sat on the edge of the bed, every single muscle in your body rigid from stress. How long could he take anyway?
Apparently too long.
An hour of chewing your lower lip and tapping your foot nervously later, you decided to check up on him. You knocked on the door but got no reply. Three times. So you opened the door slowly and carefully to peak inside. Unlike what you had imagined the bathroom wasn't filled with steam from the shower. But sure enough he was standing under the running water. You stopped yourself before you could rake your eyes down his body you went to close the door.
"Come on now, it's nothing you haven't seen before."
"Shigaraki."
You whispered in a scolding tone but didn't close the door, instead staring at his eyes.
"Eh? What happened to Tomura? Or the one I like more, Tomuooo~"
He attempted to mimick your voice with a whiny needy tone and remembering exactly what he was talking about you flushed bright red stammering.
"Oh my gosh... fuck off..."
He laughed, the sound taking you aback not recalling ever having heard him laugh.
"Fine, but seriously. I need your help."
He turned around to show you the half ass cleaned wounds on his back.
And of course you had to inspect so you stepped inside to take a closer look at the gashes. Two long angry stripes across his middle back, not bleeding anymore but spots of dried blood still sticking around them.
"No way I'm gonna blindly scrub at those. They hurt like a motherfucker."
You heaved a sigh finding the reasoning legit. After all you were used to seeing such wounds yourself. You grabbed a towel for the lack of a better option, finding out that he was too far inside the shower for you to reach. Not wanting to hear his retort on telling him to get closer you decided to step in and that's when the cold water ran over your hands and slid all the way down your arm inside your sleeve.
"Shit! Why so cold?!"
"Why not. Not how he likes it?"
You clicked your tongue annoyed and pressed the towel to his back a little too harshly making him hiss and glare at you from the corner of his eye. If you were completely honest it was a terrifying glare but you didn't budge and instead started to scrub away at the skin lightly enjoying the silent tease-less mood. Not for long though.
"Speaking of him. Where even is he?"
'As if you don't already know.'
You bit back your retort and settled for somthing else.
"We were and are not going to be speaking of him."
As if to emphasize, you scraped the towel a little harder over his skin and watched as his shoulderblades rolled and rippled right under the skin but he ignored it.
"We're not? Having a naked man in his shower makes you feel guilty?"
Your nails dug into the towel and you paused.
"Shut it."
"No. He is away working, not even dreaming of his little fiance being unfaithful to him. Trusts you a little too much, huh?"
"I said shut it!"
You growled and slammed the towel onto his back, right into the gashes. His shoulders twitched angrily and he reached back and grabbed you right before you could storm off angrily. A loud surprised gasp left you as your back got slammed into the wall, cold water from the shower pouring over you and soaked you to the bone in a matter of seconds.
"And I said no."
You tried to wriggle out of his grasp or wiggle away from under the onslaught of cold water to no avail.
"Fuck! Let me go!"
His hands grabbed at your wet heavy hoodie ripping it enough to make space to slip it off your shoulders and expose your chest then let it hang around your waist. With your hands still inside the sleeves you felt bounded by the tight heavy cloth unable to do anything but struggle in vain.
"He has no idea his fiance, the love of his life, is secretly a villain fucker, does he?"
"I am not!"
"The love of his life? Cause we both know you ARE a villain fucker."
"Stop!"
"Stop? But you don't really want me to, do you?"
His fingers wrapped around your neck tightly, pressing you harder into the wall forcing a squeak out of you before he shut you up by pressing his lips onto yours and his tongue shoving into your mouth, making you turn your head to the side with a cough.
"You don't want me to stop cause he doesn't screw you like I do,"
His fingers tangled in your wet locks like snakes slithering through the grass, tightening on your scalp with a fist full of hair and forcing your face back towards himself and running his lips over the side of your mouth.
"He doesn't grab you and force you down in your place like the little whore you are-"
"We were on a break! It was one time!"
"It was not one time."
He pressed you into the wall harder with his body, freeing his hand and grabbing your panties. The flimsy fabric turned to muddy dust and washed away down the drain. His hand immediately replaced it and cupped your heat roughly. And for once you were glad for the running water, you could not stand his comments on the moisture gathered between your legs otherwise.
"To your credit, you did try to be a good girl. You just couldn't stay away from me. It must be thrilling, huh?"
You pursed your lips staring at the ceiling trying not to focus on his fingers running all over you, as if he couldn't decide what to touch first. They ran from your sex to your hips, back to your ass then over your breast, pausing to enjoy the erect nipple rolling it harshly between his fingers, making you bite your lower lip.
"Tell me. Which one is your derive? Is it the thrill of being used like a fucktoy by a villain and not knowing if I would dispose of you afterwards?"
He slipped his hard cock between your thighs, tugging your hair down to expose the length of your neck to him, leisurely kissing sucking and nipping on the soft skin as you shut your eyes and opened your mouth to breath cause the water was now angled right in your face.
"Or are you thrilled by cheating on the poor fucker with his enemy and not getting caught?"
You started thrashing your arms and managed to free one before he pulled you over and slammed you back into wall by your neck again making you Yelp and cling to his wrist tightly.
"Is this really how you want to go? Half decayed and well fucked in his shower? And imagine he is the one who will find your body too... tragic."
He was bluffing... he was definitely bluffing... right?
"Is it?!"
He roared in your face, his voice echoing off the walls and you found yourself trembling in his hands, shaking your head no.
"Then be a good bitch like the horny little slut you are and cooperate."
You felt as if his words smeared over you and make your skin tingle with filth. He was right, you were not used to this kind of treatment. And your quivering legs and throbbing pussy was evidence enough that you did in fact find this thrilling.
Sensing your submission he freed your other arm from the hoodie, throwing it away before leaning down to hook his arms under your legs, picking you up and positioning you over his cock, the tip proding between your folds and poking at your hole. And unceremoniously thrusted himself all the way in, by letting you drop down onto his lenght. You gasped at the sudden stretch, arms flying from the wall to wrap around his neck to hold yourself steady as he stepped away from the wall, hiding your face in the crook of his neck.
"Mmm your tight cunt never ceases to impress me. Does he fuck you at all?"
"... please stop..."
He chuckled and grabbed your ass with your legs draped over his arms and he started moving you over his cock, the position had you unable to do anything except cling to him tighter and clenching constantly around his dick from the hard angle, moaning into his neck. You could see the goosebumps on his skin and it oddly managed to give you a satisfying feeling.
Untill all sense was drawn out of your head as he started thrusting into you while he moved you up and down, drilling into you deeper and deeper each time. You screamed as your whole body went rigid and hard shivers ran down your spine, your toes curling as you came hard with his cock still screwing into you roughly, your scream drowning out into a quiet gaping mouth.
"Fuck... you used to be way harder to please. Missed me a lot, yeah?"
His nails dug threateningly into your hips but you refused to reply.
He pressed your back on the wall again, moving your legs all the way up over his shoulders, not bothering to pull out while changing the position.
"Still stubborn I see. No problem. I know how to deal with you."
"You're a one night stand gone wrong!"
You spat as you glared at him. Should not have said that. Should. Not. Have.
His fist found its way back into your hair and he pulled it up to expose your neck again.
"Is that right?"
He leaned all the way over you as his hips picked up a bruising pace, slapping against your ass with each thrust with a loud sound. His lips latched onto your neck and he started sucking on the skin. Shocked you went to push against his shoulder and he tightened his fist in your hair, forcing you to grab his arm instead from the pain burning on your scalp.
"What are you doing?! Stop!"
He changed the spot and started sucking another deep purple mark on the other side, before moving lower and sinking his teeth into your chest.
You yelped loudly digging your nails into his shoudlers and in return he move his mouth again biting your other breast.
"Fuck! Fuck! Stop! He will see those!"
"That's the point you dumb cunt. And that's not all either."
Feeling your distress had you clenching around his cock again he moved his hand and started rubbing your clit roughly as you squirmed and struggled.
"I'm going to cum soon with your dirty pussy milking me like that..."
Your breathing was ragged and you were moaning on each thrust and he absolutely loved the way your face scrunched up im horror from the realisation. He leaned in to whisper into your ear.
"That's right. Now tell me, are you a dirty little whore?"
"Please! Please don't!"
You were now half sobbing as you pleaded and gripped onto his shoulders.
"Answer me then. Are you a cheating filthy fucking whore?"
"I am! I'm a cheating whore! Please!"
"Oh but you're not any whore. You are mine. Your thirsty little cunt is all soaked for me alone. Right?"
"Yes! Only for you!"
"Do you think of me when he fucks you?"
You hesitated and he did not like that, delivering a harsh wet spank on your ass.
"Ah! Y-yes!"
"Yes what?"
You were now definitely crying, tears streaming down your face as guilt and pleasure mixed into your system, clinging to him desperate for some little comfort.
"Y-yes I think of you.. when he... when he fucks me..."
"So you missed me a lot, didn't you?"
"I missed you a lot..."
"Address me properly."
"I missed you a lot Tomuooo~"
And with that he rammed himself into you one more time, warmth exploding in your lower belly as to your horror he spilled his load inside you. Your whole body went limp, dread and fear gripping your chest and your throat. He turned off the tab and it was all silent except the sound of the last few droplets hitting the tiled floor before the silence was broken by his evil chuckle.
"Good, cause I'm far from done with you."
#tomura shigaraki x reader#Shigaraki x reader#tomura shigaraki#shigaraki x reader lemon#shigaraki x reader smut#bnha smut#mha smut#bnha lemon#bnha#mha
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Keyed Up
@lilacyenneferâ
@write-it-motherfuckersâ
^ Thanks to these two blogs for the prompt. It got the writing motor going! And kudos on the gif to the owner, it is not mine! Nor are Tig and the Sons, which IÂ voluntarily relinquish to Kurt Sutter and his brilliant, twisted mind!
Warnings: Language and a lot of not-so-subtle TigÂ
Story based on this prompt below :Â

Living in Charming wasnât Plan A. By God, it wasnât even plan H. Yet, thatâs where Y/Nâs been living for the last year and a half and it has been most probably the best year ever. Between working 2 jobs and handling, well, letâs be fair, an entire kindergarten of adult bikers, lifeâs been busy but quite bright and fulfilling. Handing up hanging around the Sons has been a series of happy coincidences that went from meeting them at the diner you worked at to helping bartending on busy weekends at the Clubhouse to them bluntly asking that you helped with bookkeeping. Starting first with the garage, you became quite aware of what was going on around the lot but got no details. But when you started doing the books from the club, they couldnât hide you their activities anymore. Instead of fleeing, like they thought you would, you actually found a way to possibly care about them anymore. Instead of the whole thing scaring you, it actually got you very protective of them and more scared of them getting hurt than you getting mixed in the very bloody scene they played on.Â
One Son brought a side of you that you didnât know existed, before meeting him : something along the lines of a momma bear with her cub or a giant mountain gorilla with his offspring. The question remained though as to which came first? Did you start worrying about Tig more because of much he knew just how to put himself in the worst possible scenarios? Or did you over exaggerate the actual amount of danger surrounding the man? One way or another, although you always made sure everyone was alright, you paid extra attention for any kind of scratches or heavy bleeding on Tig.Â
- Weâre off on a run for a couple of days, Sweetheart, will you be able to come keep an eye on the garage, Jax asked you.Â
- Of course, have some books to finish up anyways and itâs gonna be so damn peaceful without all of you around to bother me!Â
- You do know youâre faking bothered and youâre not even good at it, right ? Tig asked you, smirking while making you blush slightly.Â
- Itâs not because Y/N answers your every needs and calls that youâre not a bother, Jax replied, rolling his eyes at the obvious manoeuvre Tig was trying to pull.Â
- No, itâs because Iâm Y/Nâs favorite, he answered back, putting a very confident arm comfortably around your shoulders, pulling you to him, while your face felt so hot, an egg couldâve fried.Â
You quickly got up, mumbling something to do on the something about something that you promised to something and disappeared in the other room. The boys were left chuckling about it and Tig was left wth a tingling all along his arm, where he held you.Â
When the boys left, you finally showed yourself again to say goodbye and tell them that everything was under control.Â
The hours and days ticked by painfully slowly while the Sons were off doing God knows what with God knows who. You managed to close a lot of books that were piling up but deeply missed the ruckus that the boys brought around the clubhouse : it made it alive.Â
You did have many very decent qualities to you, but being the kind of person that always had a phone around in case of emergencies wasnât one of them. Which meant, it often stayed on your bedside table or on the kitchen counter for the entire day, because ou forgot it there that morning. You always said it made you mysterious but for most, it just made you impossible to reach. Calendars have always been a big mess as well. Never fully knowing which day it is, you still always found yourself at the right place where youâre supposed to be.Â
Leading to that evening. It was engraved in your memory that the boys were coming tomorrow therefore, obviously, they couldnât be coming tonight, right?Â
You went out with friends for an old-fashioned diner-movies-gossiping, which basically always ended in : When are you and Tig finally get together? And you desperately changing the subject, blushing and babbling about him being just a good friend, nothing more, just like the others. our friends laughing that you could actually believe yourself.Â
The thing is, tomorrow would not be the day the boys arrived home because tonight was. And your cellphone may have been beeping and lightening up and ringing, the fact it was tuckered under a pillow on your couch made it absolutely impossible for you to notice it.Â
You came home fairly late that evening, fiddling with your keys when you heard loud noises coming from the inside of your house. Panicked, you took a flower pot from your porch and slowly unlock the door and opened it. Peeking inside, you waited for indications as to where the sound was coming from. You heard nothing for a while and decided to go in slowly to try and found out what was going on. And then, coming out of your bedroom door with a baseball bat in his hands stood⌠Tig. Fucking. Trager. You put the flower pot down and opened the lights to see him bleeding from his arm and with a scratch on his head.Â
- WHAT THE HELL TIGGY??Â
- WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, WEâVE BEEN TRYING TO CALL YOU FOR 2 HOURS STRAIGHT, I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD. WHAT DID WE SAY ABOUT YOUR CELLPHONE??
You blushed slightly, realizing your phone was left at home and the boys were actually worried about you. You took it from under the pillow and threw a shy smile at Tig.Â
- Oops⌠Hey! Wait a minute. How did you actually get in?
You pushed pass him, ignoring the bleeding he had on his arm for another minute while you went to look at your bedroom window. You turned back at him and sighed, rolling your eyes in *faked* annoyanceÂ
- You have got to stop breaking into my house.
He smiled coyly at you.Â
- I wouldnât have to if youâd just give me the keys, while throwing you a flirty wink.Â
You grabbed his unhurt arm and dragged him to your bathroom where you could deal with his injuries. You forced him to take a seat and took upon yourself to find something to treat him. While you looked for alcohol swabs, he took his sweet time detailing your face, your eyes and your body in the nice clothes you decided to wear to go out. When you turned around, you saw his eyes glued to you and couldnât help your blushing. You dealt with his minor injury quickly and threw all the stuff you used away. While your back was slightly turned to him, he grabbed your waist and pulled you on his lap. Feeling his breath on your neck and on the soft skin right behind your ear made you both giddy and very nervous.Â
- Iâm not kidding, if youâd just give me that key of yours⌠he murmured, lips close to your ear
- Tiggy, you just threw yourself through my bedroom window, I donât think giving you the key would be safe, you mocked, trying to keep some kind of composure.Â
- What if instead of crashing through your window, I wanted to come crash here, sometimes, he insisted teasingly, while you felt his nose in the crook of your neck and his hand on your thigh, making you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
- Tig⌠you breathed out.
Hearing his name being said so close to a moan made him turn your head towards him and pull you into a steamy kiss. After a while (couldâve been a minute, couldâve been three hours, you really did suck with time), the two of you pulled away to try and catch a breath. You stood up, turned around and left the bathroom. Tig, left alone with wide eyes, started freaking out, thinking he went too far, too fast, again. But this time, he bit his tongue for pushing away someone he truly cares about. Panicked and wild-eyed, he gets up and starts following you to explain but bumps into you when he gets out of the bathroom.Â
Standing there, with a crooked smile on your face, you grabbed his hand to pull him into another kiss while discreetly slipping your key in the hand you were holding. You felt him smile against your lips while he grabbed you to pull you even closer to him.Â
Nothing needed to be said. He had your key and you had no certainty that he wouldnât still break into your house just because. But you sure wouldnât have it any other way, because he may had your key now, but you had him and itâs all that mattered.Â
#tig trager#alexander trager#sons of anarchy#sons of anarchy story#tig trager x reader#tig trager imagine#tig trager one shot#felt inspired#my story#soa#tig trager imagines#tig imagine#tig one shot#tig trager fanfiction#beeroses writing
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If youâre taking requests, maybe something about Doux finding the reader absolutely delirious from lack of sleep? I may or may not have gotten literally any sleep last night and although I managed to get through my morning routine pretty efficiently I FEEL my body just wiping out. I will be comatose within the hour.
Sleep, Darling | Hisirdoux Casperan x Reader
Plot: youâve been awake for too long and it is not doing you any favours. Thank god for punk wizards who care about your wellbeing, amirite lads? (Also, the pure Irony that this is getting posted at like, 2:40 am where i am, rip me i guess)
Word Count:Â 2,292
Warnings:  A bit of blood is mentioned in passing, the reader isnât human and probably has adhd or smthn. Also, Friends is mentioned, like, the tv show, so thatâs a thing!
A/N:  if you look closely, you can actually see me projecting onto this one. I hope you got some sleep anon.
Tags:Â Â @furblrwurblr @einahpetsyarcip @sorrels-scribbling @anxious-stitcher @alive-and-afraid @animedweeb333 @douxiesdamsel @saroski05
Time isnât real. Â Itâs a social construct made to bring order to the general chaos that is human existence. Â That was why you were up at 5 a.m for the second, maybe third, night in a row. Â Was it healthy? Â Probably not, but you didnât need sleep, you needed answers. Â Answers to what? Â Who knows at this point, honestly.
You couldnât say you were surprised when you finally noticed the late, or early hour. Â You just shrugged it off and went âfuck it, all-nighter,â which was fine for the moment. Â But timeâs a bitch, and that moment was over pretty fast. Â By noon, you were ready to collapse. Â The three cups of coffee did not help. Â Instead, they made you vibrate at a frequency that could quite possibly break glass. Â As much as this sucked for you, it was worse for your lovely friend and co-worker, Hisirdoux Casperan.
Now, our boi Douxie was and is madly in love with you, but shhh, itâs a secret. Â You also love him, and thatâs a secret too. Â Neither of these secrets are well kept, and the only reason you arenât together is general stupidity. Â Literally, anyone else who watches the two of you interacting can tell that you're in love. Â Hell, half the town assumes youâre together already. Â The other half keeps trying to get you together. Â It is not working very well. Â But thatâs all a digression. Â What you really need to know is that Douxie loves you and watching you suffer from a lack of sleep was Not A Pleasant Experience. Â You were delirious, shaky, and constantly off-balance. Â You could work well enough, but it was clear that your health was not in the same zone.
The final straw came when you cut your hand on broken glass. Â Youâd dropped a cup, and instead of using magic, youâd tried to fix the mess by hand. Â That plan did not work, and you received a bloody slash across your palm for your troubles.
âAh. Â Fuck,â you said, thinking you were whispering but instead speaking at a normal volume.
âWhatâs wrong, love?â
ââS nothing, Iâve got it,â you did not got it, especially not in this state, and Douxie had the good sense to figure that out. Â The blood was a pretty good hint though.
âOh, fuzzbuckets.â
âI told you, Iâm toooootally fine, there is nothing to worry about.â
âHere, (Y/N), let me help you-â
âNo, no, this is, this is-â it was then that your sleep-deprived brain decided to cut off your train of thought and replace it with another, more chaotic train. Â You stopped talking and just stared at Douxie for a solid minute. Â Or at least it felt like a solid minute. Â Time isnât real, remember that.
â(Y-Y/N)? Â You alright there, darling?â
âYouâre really cute, did you know that?  Like⌠really cute.  Steve was right, you could be a model.â
âI-â
âAlso, just gonna put it out there, I freakinâ love it when you call me darling. Â Like, I know you call most people darling, but it makes me feel special. Â Donât ask why, it just does.â
Douxie wasnât planning on asking why. Â He wasnât really planning on anything. Â Your sleep-deprived half-confession had turned him from a capable individual into a blushing mess in less than a second. Â You always had that effect on him, but it looked like your exhausted state was giving you a bit of an edge.
âOh, sorry, I made it weird. Â Anyway, do you think if I brewed my next coffee with Monster instead of water it would wake me up? Â Because Iâm still tired, and it isnât fun.â
âI- you- Iâm-â
âI think I might try it, honestly.â
âOk, how about you donât do that,â Â Archie said, swooping in, literally and figuratively, to save the day, âDouxie, can you please get (Y/N)âs hand patched up? Â It looks quite painful and theyâre dripping blood onto the carpet.â
You were, in fact, dripping blood onto the carpet. Â That wasnât good, âOh, thatâs- Iâm sorry.â
âDonât fret, just go do something about that hand,â with that, Archie smacked Douxie upside the head in an attempt to snap him out of his flustered state. Â It was super effective!
âAhh, yeah. Â Câmon, (Y/N), letâs,,, go,,, fix,,, that.â
âOk,â  you stood, too tired to protest, and followed Douxie into the back of the bookstore, which was literally just his apartment. Â
It was a nice place. Â Very cozy, very him. Â It made you want to curl up and take a nap, but to be fair, literally everything made you want to curl up and take a nap at the moment. Â Regardless, his home made you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside and you never wanted to leave it. Â Maybe it was the interior decorating, but you knew it was because your favourite person lived there. Â What you didnât know, or didnât realize, was that youâd just spoken your entire thought process out loud and Douxie heard every word of it. Â Once again, the boy was a blushing mess. Â If you were awake enough to process things, you would have found it cute. Â Or youâd be dead from embarrassment, that one is a bit of a toss-up.
Fighting through his flustered state, Douxie pulled you into the bathroom and collected a first aid kit from under the counter.  While he focused on getting things done, you curled into a ball in his bathtub.  For some reason, your exhausted brain decided that sitting on the edge of the bathtub simply did not Vibe⢠but sitting inside the tub was better than nothing, and so you just,,, curled up there.  Douxie was only a little surprised to see you there.
â(Y/N)?â
âDâyou remember that time on Friends when Winona Ryder played a closeted lesbian? Â That was a fuckinâ trip, man.â
â(Y/N), darling-â
âThat whole episode is just- itâs just strange.â
â(Y/N)-â
âHehe, Stranger Things.â
â(Y/N), love, I need to see your hand.â
âOh, fuck, yeah, I forgot. Â Here,â you sat up, extending your hand out to the wizard. Â He took it, sitting on the edge of the bathtub which was fine for him to do, I guess. Â Not you though, you were stuck in bathtub jail for sleep deprivation crimes.
You squinted up at his face as he tended to the nasty scratch youâd given yourself. Â You didnât have the capacity to focus on what he was doing, so instead you focused on him. Â He was pretty, as youâd said before, but that was always true. Â At that exact moment, his brows were furrowed in concentration, his eyes concerned and his jaw set. Â His hands were steadier than yours could ever hope to be, especially since you hadnât been sleeping. Â Overall, he looked kind of mad, so you sunk down into your bath-prison, silent and waiting for him to finish so you could get back to work.
Douxie was not mad at you. Â He was upset that you hadnât been sleeping, but he wasnât mad. Â He was just worried for your health. Â Your wizard did not appreciate seeing you shaking and sleep-deprived. Â He didnât appreciate it when your current state led you to injure yourself, either.
He wrapped up your hand and gave it a small pat, âDone. Â Now, come on, youâre taking a nap.â
His voice surprised you. Â It was gentle, calm, not at all angry like youâd suspected. Â You found yourself so lost in it that you didnât realize what heâd said until he said your name, trying to snap you out of whatever haze you were in.
âOh, wait, what? Â No, shit, I have to get back to work-â
âNo, you need sleep.â
âSleep is for the weak, I need to go-â you stood and almost fell over. Â You probably would have broken something if Douxie didnât catch you. Â You hadnât exactly expected to end up in his arms today, and despite the heat rising in your face and neck, you were not complaining.
â(Y/N)-â
âIâm sorry, Douxie, I-â
âYou need to sleep. Â Please, (Y/N), donât make me use a spell on you.â
You froze for a second before a smirk crept onto your face, âYou wouldnât.â
âI-â
âYou wouldnât use a spell on meeeeee-â the smirk grew into a full smile as you let yourself go limp, forcing him to move his hands to support you better and pull you closer to him. Â Was that your plan? Â Maybe. Â Was it part of a second, bigger plan? Â Also yes.
âYou wanna bet?â
âSure.â
âI-â and then he went silent. Â There was a moment of tension where you just stared into each otherâs eyes, holding your breath to see what the other person would do. Â Your gaze fell to his lips as his fell to yours. Â For that moment, your thoughts began to wander far out of your control. Â Douxieâs mind was also running rampant but in a different direction. Â You were right, he thought. Â He couldn't use magic on you. Â As far as he knew, you were a human. Â Just a mortal being who crawled their way into his life and stayed there, improving the quality of it greatly. Â If there was even the slightest chance that a spell may have negative side effects, which most sleep spells did, he wouldnât dare risk it, especially not on you. Â He sighed, tightening his grip on your waist, âYouâre right.â
âWhat?â Â Oop, plan going sideways, PLAN GOING SIDEWAYS!
âIâm- not going to use magic on you,â he helped you to stand, and moved to take a step back before you grabbed his hoodie and pulled him back to you, ignoring the sharp sting in your hand.
âOk, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hang on there wizard boy-â you took a moment to pull yourself out of the bathtub entirely, âYou canât give up that easily.â
âWha-â
âCome onnnnnn, make it fun, make it exciting. Â Put a spell on me or whatever, just-â you went quiet for a second, but for once you werenât distracted. Â Just quiet. Â You had to face facts. Â Your plan had failed, and now you had nothing but the truth.
â(Y/N)?â
âJust make my brain stop. Â For just two seconds.â
âWhat?â
âPlease. Â Iâm running on a motor and I canât stop myself. Â I havenât slept and I have no choice in the matter.â
â(Y/N)-â
âLook, just, take away my free-will if you have to.  Knock me out, magic or otherwise, I just want five seconds where Iâm not on hyperdrive,â you were standing on your own now, though Douxieâs arms were still wrapped around you and you hadnât let go of his hoodie, âPlease.â
The bathroom was silent for a minute. Â It took that long for Douxie to process what youâd just said. Â You feared, for that moment, that youâd said too much. Â You hadn't. Â Not to him, anyway.
âCome on.â
âWhat?â
âCome on,â he said, picking you up, effortlessly sweeping you off your feet.
âWait, what!?â your voice was slightly more frantic, surprise lacing through your words.
âThereâs more than one way to get a person to sleep.â
âOh-?â
He didnât respond to your question, instead, he carried you out the door and into what you could only assume was his room. Â You had no choice but to wrap your arms around his neck and cling to him for dear life until he set you down on the bed.
âStay here, okay? Â Iâm going to make you some tea-â
âWait!â you stopped him, grabbing his wrist as he turned to leave, âIâm⌠Iâm sorry.â
âYou donât need to be sorry, my darling,â he sat in front of you on the bed, âYou just need to get some sleep, okay?â
âBut what about-â
âIâll cover your shift, you donât need to worry.â
âI-â
âJust rest, for now, love. Â Please.â
âOk,â your words were a whisper, something that Douxie could only just hear. Â The next thing though, he didnât have to strain to hear at all, âYeah. Â I meant what I said earlier, by the way. Â Youâre so pretty, it isnât fair.â
He laughed at this, at you, finally seeing some humour in your shenanigans. Â He relaxed now knowing that you may actually get some much-needed rest. Â He stood, kissing your forehead and tracing the side of your face with a hand, rough from guitar strings and 900 years of sweeping.
âWorry not, love, youâre pretty too.â
âHey, wait-â
âDonât âhey, wait,â me. Â You are. Â Now lie down, Iâll be back in a second.â
A smile crept onto your face as you followed orders. Â Your emo wizard man thought you were pretty. Â And he cared enough about you to let you sleep during work hours, in his home, no less. Â You let yourself relax into the bed, grinning once again. Â It smelled like him, like thyme and peppermint, lemongrass and sleep. Â It was nice, comforting. Â You could only vaguely think of Douxie as your brain finally took a fuckin breather. Â It was everything you needed, honestly.
By the time Douxie came back, you were long gone, lost to your dreams and finally asleep. Â He sighed a smile that matched yours on his face. Â He placed the cup of tea on the bedside table before grabbing a blanket out of his closet and draping it over you. Â You looked so peaceful. Â Good. Â You deserved some peace every now and then.
He took the cup and left you, brushing a strand of hair out of your eyes as he did. Â After making his exit, he placed the still-hot tea on the counter, disregarding it for now before returning to the bookshop.
âHow are they?â Â his familiar asked, tail twisting in concern.
He gave a final fond look at the door before returning to business, âTheyâre just resting.â Â And for once, you were.
#hisirdoux x reader#hisirdoux casperan x reader#douxie x reader#douxie imagine#hisirdoux imagine#angst#fluff#hisirdoux#hisirdoux casperan#douxie#toa douxie#toa hisirdoux#tw sleep deprivation
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You saying more childhood AU is possible with the right prompt is just...
More Tess. All of the Tess. Tess the morning after the party, lives in my brain rent free. The teasing. The knowing looks. The Jamie and Dani being so in love and unashamed and also oops we forgot the roommate. And Tess being the wonderful person she is and not letting them get away with anything.
Itâs the fact that they think theyâre subtle, that really gets her.Â
Not that Tess is upset to find Jamie crashing with them the week following graduation. Of course Jamie is crashing with them. Where else would she go, now that Dani âitâs important to grow up and change and learn who you really are, or some such bullâ Clayton has finally snapped up the hot gardener of her dreams? Honestly, if Dani let her walk out that door--especially after that first night, which, hello, gardener; these walls arenât half as thick as they apparently think--sheâd have forfeited all rights to sanity, and Tess would have no choice but to make her move instead.
No, she isnât upset to find Jamie still here the following morning. Or at all. She loves Jamie. Whatâs not to love?Â
Honestly, so much to love. If she didnât love Dani even more, she might have to really test the bounds of this friendship. Particularly when she opens her bedroom door to find Jamie--hair rumpled, dressed in a half-unbuttoned flannel and a pair of boxer shorts--at the kitchen counter. Like, warn a woman.Â
âWarn you about what?â Jamie looks blank, her hands prying open each cupboard with evidently-mounting disappointment. âYou really donât have any tea?â
âWarn a woman,â Tess repeats, hip-checking her gently out of the way and scrounging the supply of English Breakfast out from behind the stoner snacks. âBefore you turn up in her kitchen looking all sex-rumpled. I havenât even had coffee, Taylor, Jesus.â
Jamie blinks, taking the box from her hands. âO...kay. How was the rest of the party?â
âNot nearly as engaging as your night,â Tess informs her pleasantly, delighted when Jamieâs sleep-muddled expression lights up with embarrassment. âBut an extravaganza in its own right all the same. Whereâs my girl? I know you railed her into next week, but it seems bad manners to leave you to breakfast alone.â
âI didnât--we--â
âThin walls,â Tess sing-songs. âLike paper. Or, what, youâre English--parchment?â
âWe have paper,â Jamie deadpans. Tess pats her shoulder, working around her to fill the kettle.Â
âGood fortune really does smile upon you. Ah! Sleeping Beauty arises!â
Dani, looking only slightly more functional than Jamie, is emerging from the bathroom with an expression that suggests she, at least, is very aware of the acoustics of their apartment. Itâs so tempting to tease her about it--Dani has this truly adorable habit of looking like she might combust if pushed too far, the red of her face complimented nicely by the gold of her hair--but Tess figures some things can wait. Lord knows theyâre going to walk right into it soon enough.
But like--so soon. Like, she goes off to take a shower, and comes back to find they still havenât left the kitchen soon.
âSeriously?â She laughs, watching them leap apart. Itâs too clear Dani has forgone the idea of coffee and bacon for the much-more-invigorating art of pushing Jamie against the refrigerator. Not that Tess can blame her.Â
âWe--were just--â
âRight in front of my cereal,â Tess says gravely, shaking her head in faux-disappointment as she stretches over Jamie--whose hands are still rooted to Daniâs hips, the hem of Daniâs shirt dropping hastily back over her stomach--to retrieve a box of off-brand Lucky Charms. âNo shame.â
Theyâre both making noises of disagreement, as though Tess hasnât had her share of groping in the kitchen experiences to call on. She snorts.Â
âLook, far be it from me to stop your, ah, young love in its tracks. Just. Keep it out of my bedroom, is all I ask. Unless...â She wiggles her eyebrows. Jamie clears her throat so violently, it sounds as though she might fracture something.
âShower. Should. I.â
���That sentence normally goes in the other direction,â says Tess helpfully. Dani swats her back, grinning.Â
âGot that out of your system yet?â
âOh, not nearly.â Tess beams. âBy all means, Clayton, show her where the shower lives.â
âI know where the,â Jamie begins to protest, but Dani is slipping both arms around her middle, pressing against her back to urge her toward the bathroom.
âThatâs her polite way of saying if I donât go with you now, sheâs going to spend the next half hour fishing for details.â
âYou still owe me those,â Tess calls after them. âEvery last filthy one.â
***
They think the shower is noise-cancelling, too, Tess realizes about four minutes later. Jesus, these beautiful useless idiots.Â
***
Itâs the lack of subtlety masquerading as Chill, really. The fact that every single time Tess leaves a room, she can count slowly to ten, poke her head back out, and find theyâve picked right back up where last she interrupted.Â
Step into the bedroom to change her clothes? Come back out to find Dani straddling Jamie on the couch.Â
Take a quick smoke break on the stairs out front? Glance through the window to find Jamie shirtless, the unmistakable tread of scratches running down her back beneath her bra.Â
Offer to run out for lunch? Spend an extra five minutes idly counting clouds, because fuck only knows the sounds Dani is making isnât karaoke.Â
âYou two,â she announces, tossing the pizza box onto the counter with a flourish, âare going to break something if you keep this up. I mean, youâre at least taking hydration breaks, I hope? Do I need to bring you a power bar?â
Jamie has the decency to look slightly ashamed of herself, though thereâs a definite grin beneath the hunched shoulders. Dani, selecting a slice of pepperoni-and-banana-peppers, shrugs.Â
âConsider it payback?â
âFor who?â Tess demands, delighted. Dani raises her free hand, ticking her fingers down toward her palm.
âTyler, whose butt I saw like ten minutes before you introduced us. May, who you used to desecrate the kitchen floor. Carlos and Beth--â
âLiz,â Tess interrupts, âshe goes by Liz these days.â
â--Liz, with whom you conveniently forgot I needed to shower before my presentation and took up the bathroom for three hours--â
âOkay, okay,â Tess snorts, groping for a dishtowel in some shade of off-white to wave. âTruce.â
âAnd thatâs just this apartment,â Dani says cheerfully. She tilts her head to look at Jamie, whose face can best be described as aghast. âBack in the dorm, she used to sneak girls in after I was asleep.â
âYou were a sound sleeper!âÂ
âNo one is sound enough to ignore a bed frame breaking, Tess.â
âI...avoiding college was the right choice,â Jamie says weakly. Tess bats her eyes.
âYouâre saying youâve never dreamed of breaking a bed frame with me, Taylor?â
Jamie darts a look around at Dani, her eyes just shy of screaming. Tess is having the best time of her life.Â
***
âTell me honestly, though,â she says. Jamie gives her a sharp look, uncertainty obvious even as she reaches to accept the joint Tess is passing her way.Â
âReally donât think Dani wants me giving you a play by play.â
âDani, beloved of my soul, was fool enough to schedule a doctorâs appointment while you were still in town. She knows what Iâm about.âÂ
To Jamieâs credit, she doesnât choke this time. She puffs once, twice, holding the smoke in her lungs an impressively long time before craning her head back and exhaling. "What am I telling you honestly?â
âYouâre going to keep an eye on her, right?â
Jamie looks surprised. âYeah. Not that she needs it, mind. Just. Yeah. Always.â
Tess sighs. âShe doesnât need it, but you know as well as I what that woman is like. Too good. Too fucking good for her own good, you know? Forgets, sometimes, that she can come first, too.â
Jamie offers a smile nearly wicked in its amusement. âOh, I take care of that.â
âYes,â Tess drawls, âdarling, I can tell. You know, really relieved she never brought anyone home before now. Iâm not sure my beauty sleep could have taken the abuse.â
Jamie laughs, leaning back and pulling a throw pillow into a loose embrace. âShe doesnât need anyone taking care of her. But...â
âBut you canât help wanting to, anyway,â Tess guesses. When Jamie nods, she takes another hit, lets the smoke burn in her chest. âShe has that effect on people. Our girl would take a bullet for anyone, and itâs...impossible not to love her for it.â
âSheâs the reason,â Jamie says softly, âI didnât run. Reason I did a lot of things, some of âem really, really stupid. Sometimes I think everything Iâve ever done can be traced back home to her, one way or another.â
âThat, my dear,â Tess says, âis what fools and songstresses alike call love, I think. Just...do me a favor, keep her from killing herself for those kids.â
Jamie nods. âI will. Promise.â
âGood,â Tess says lightly. âI like you, Jamie. Youâve got the hands of a sinner and the smile of a saint. Iâd really hate to have to track you down and kill you for doing her wrong.â
***
For all the sex, and all the blushing that follows, itâs late nights like this one that really say it all. Nights where cards fade into lazy conversation fade into this: Jamie, asleep on the couch, her head resting in Daniâs lap. Dani, looking down at her like sheâs never felt so at home in her own skin.Â
And Tess, watching them both, astonished by the lack of fear in the room. The lack of distance. The lack of uncertainty.Â
Dani, who has always been a nervous sort, whose panic attacks are so predictable on bad weeks, Tess came back from that first Christmas break with a laundry list of coping methods to offer--looks perfectly at peace. Her fingers stroke back Jamieâs hair, tracing her forehead, her nose, every brush of contact only seeming to sink Jamie deeper into dream. Dani has never looked like this before.Â
âYouâre happy,â Tess says quietly. Not a question. Not a challenge. Dani smiles.
âPart of me thought sheâd get sick of it, you know. Waiting for me.â
âWho could get sick of you?â Tess asks, and means it. No one in the world stacks up to Dani, on a list of favorite people. No one in the world ever could. If Jamie really did fall ass over teakettle for this woman when they were barely old enough to know what love was, she couldnât be blamed for it. Not for a second.Â
âYouâll invite me to the wedding, of course,â Tess says, when Dani--eyes closed, fingers still tracing aimlessly--says nothing for a while. One blue eye emerges, her nose scrunching up.Â
âJumping ahead, arenât you?â
âSheâd do it here and now, if you asked. Shit, I could get ordained, do it for you. Always thought Iâd look nice in a little suit.â
âYouâd be gorgeous,â Dani says, without a hint of deprecation. Tess blows her a kiss. âAnd...yes. If and when, I canât imagine doing it without you.â
âAs officiant?â
âI was thinking maid of honor,â Dani laughs. Tess leans back, smiling.Â
âThatâll do.â
The silence creeps in again, the sleepy indulgence of post-midnight living that feels so perfectly suited to the college experience. Nothing else, Tess suspects, will ever be quite this again--the quiet feeling like peace, the weariness feeling earned, not crushing. Jamie breathes out in her sleep, one hand drifting to gently grasp the hem of Daniâs shirt.
âGonna miss you,â Tess says softly. âAnd this one, too.â
Dani smiles, a hint of sadness in her eyes. âIt wonât be the same again, will it?â
âNope.â And maybe thatâs a good thing, she thinks. Maybe thatâs exactly how it should be. Growing up. Changing. Learning who they ought to be. âBut youâll call.â
âAnd write,â Dani agrees.Â
âAnd send me pictures of your hot gardener,â Tess adds. âLord knows, itâd be a crying shame to forget that.â
Dani laughs. âNever.â
âYou did good, Clayton. Took you a minute, but--you did good.â
She lets the silence settle for real, lets Jamie sleep and Dani doze, lets herself sink into the armchair. They arenât subtle, itâs true--sheâll probably wake tomorrow to find theyâve opted for a quiet round of the most wall-shaking sex sheâs ever heard in Daniâs room--but that feels right, somehow. Good, to see Dani refusing to make herself small. Great, to see Dani refusing to temper an emotion this grand.
âI love you idiots,â she says softly. âYouâre going to be just fuckinâ fine.â
#fanfiction#ficlet#the haunting of bly manor#dani x jamie#damie#AU one-shot#welcome back Tess I've missed you#love an OC I enjoy almost as much as the canon kids
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Shibuya Honey Toast
a/n: finally updating, i ended up writing more then i thought i was going to. i just kept typing, it's not much longer than usual but i try to keep the written chapters a little short.
warnings: none
words: 1.9k
Masterlist
You turned off your phone and quickly got dressed, it was fifteen minutes before you had to meet the guys and it was a ten minute drive and even longer walk so you were hoping you could convince Shinsuke to give you a ride there so you wouldnât be late. You made your way downstairs to where your grandma was in the kitchen cooking something. âHey grandma, is it okay if I go out with some friends today?â
She stopped her actions of kneading dough to turn around, âSure Boo, where are you going?â she asked as you walked around her to pick some of the fruit next to her off of the counter. âWe were going to go to that new ramen place that opened up, I also need a ride. Do you know where Shin is?â She pushed the fruit and the cutting board towards you and motioned for you to start cutting the fruit, âGran I told you I have to meet with my friends I donât have time to help you today.â
She waved her hand dismissing your statement and motioned to the fruit, âShinsuke is in the shower sweetheart. He just got back from being in the field he wanted to get the dirt off. You have time to kill, help a poor old lady out.â You rolled your eyes sending a text to the group chat that you were going to be late and had to help your grandma before you could leave. âYou arenât some helpless old lady, Iâm pretty sure I saw you doing chin-ups in the garden the other day. What are we making anyway?â
She turned around and continued to knead the dough on the counter, âI decided to make Shibuya Honey Toast. That used to be our guysâ favorite so I thought Iâd make you guys some.â You nodded and continued to chop up the strawberries in front of you. âYou know itâs been a while maybe five years since I last helped you make this, but from what I remember of other people making this, they donât usually make their own bread for this.â
She tutted at you as she shook her head, âYou know my policy Boo, if itâs not made by hand itâs not made from the heart.â You both laughed and fell into silence while you finished doing your current tasks. About five minutes later Shin came downstairs asking how everything was going. âWell I just put the bread in the oven to bake and Boo here just got done cutting up all the ingredients we need after the bread is done baking. They need a ride into town to meet with some of their friends, do you think you could do that please?â He nodded and walked over to the fridge grabbing a bottle of water when someone knocked on the front door, âIâll get it.â Shin said, running to the door. A few minutes later he came back into the room with three six foot rowdy teenage boys, two of which were too busy arguing.
âOsamu, Asumu, Suna? What are you guys doing here? Youâre supposed to be eating ramen by now, not at my grandmaâs house.â You laughed as you walked over to greet them, hugging Atsumu and Osamu, and giving Suna a crisp high-five. You ushered them over to the kitchen table asking if they wanted anything to drink. Atsumu was the one to answer your question as you got their drinks from the fridge, âWe were on our way to the place when you texted so we turned around and came here instead.â
You nodded and turned your head to glance at your grandma who was leaning against the counter with a smirk and her arms crossed, âSo which one of the twins is it Boo?â You groaned, covering your face with your hands. âNeither of them Gran.â You said at the same time as Kita said âGive her a break Gran.â
Atsumu raised his hand signaling that he had a question, âY/n, why did she call ya Boo?â You groaned again, was it embarrassing Y/n day? âWhen they were a kid they were obsessed with trying to scare people so they would hide around corners all the time and yell âBoo!â all day. It was just the cutest thing. Not to mention that their first word was Boo.â After explaining the reasoning behind the nickname all three boys turned to look at you, âYou guys want food? I think Iâll make us lunch since we ended up not going out to lunch. Why donât you guys go watch Tv in the living room or something, what do you want?â You got up walking to the counter to start taking out ingredients. âWhy donât ya make Onigiri? And ya know what? âSamu can help ya with it, it is his specialty after all.â
You agreed and began to cook the rice, everyone except for Osamu went to the kitchen. On her way out your Grandma stopped by you and whispered, âSo itâs the grey haired twin huh?â and went to the living room after winking at you. You turned to Osamu who was rolling up his sleeves to help you cook and walked over to the fridge, âDo you want to fill them with anything? We could do tuna mayo, umeboshi, I think we might have chicken. We could also do multiple so we have a variety and they could choose.â You looked up from glancing in the fridge and saw Osamu giving you the tiniest of smirks. âIâm rambling arenât I?â You asked and he nodded, âOops. So what do you want to do?â
He shrugged, âLetâs just do all three, âTsumu is a pig and will eat anything we put in front of him.â You raised your eyebrow in an accusing manor, âAre you sure itâs Atsumu thatâs the pig? I havenât known you for long, but Iâve seen you eat.â He rolled his eyes and began to mince the chicken you handed to him while you got out the umeboshi and the ingredients needed for the tuna mayo. âCan you hand me the soy sauce, mirin, sugar and sake?â Osamu asked after he was done cooking the chicken. You brought over the needed ingredients and peered over his shoulder as he added all of them into a pan.
âWhat are you doing?â He asked looking over at you and nudging you with the arm he was using to stir the chicken with. âYou look ridiculous standing on your toes like that.â You shrugged falling back onto the flat of your feet, âSorry not everyone can be over six feet tall. Iâm done making the tuna mayo so right now Iâm just waiting on you. So I was watching you cook.â He gave a soft chuckle before telling you that that was a weird thing to do. âI donât think itâs weird. I like watching people do what theyâre passionate about. You see them get in this sort of zone where they donât think about anything but that thing. I loved watching Toru play volleyball because it was his whole life, I can tell itâs the same thing with Atsumu and with you itâs cooking.â During your little speech you sat yourself on top of the counter.
Taking the chicken off the stove and setting it on the counter Osamu leaned into you, âSo when do I get to watch you do something youâre passionate about?â You were about to respond when you heard a cough from the kitchen entrance and he quickly moved away from you and you slid off the counter. âNow Y/n what have I said about sitting on the counter?â Your grandma said walking in to take the fully cooked bread out of the oven to finish making her shibuya honey toast. âYou told me not to.â You mumbled as she said âI told you not to. So what was that I walked in on.â You stopped forming the onigiri that was currently in your hands, âGran can we not talk about it, please?â She waved you off with a âYeah sure, just saying you guys would make a cute couple.â You pinched the bridge of your nose and sighed.
Osamu looked between you and your smirking grandma and cleared his throat, âI agree with your grandma, I think weâd be a cute couple.â You whipped your head towards Osamu, he shrugged and mouthed âwhat?â. You gave a silent laugh and shook your head finishing the onigiri at the same time Gran finished the shibuya. Setting everything on the table you called to the boys in the living room to come eat lunch.
A few minutes after sitting down to eat Atsumu broke the silence, âWhat happened, why are we all quiet?â You and Osamu mde eye contact at the question and had a silent conversation before Osamu spoke, âWeâre eating âTsumu, some of us donât like to talk with our mouths full, pig.â Atsumu scoffed in offense, âExcuse me, Iâm not the one who eats constantly.â It wasnât long before they started a full blown argument. Everyone watched for a few minutes before Gran broke it up and told them to sit down and eat or get out. After the argument was done Atsumu and Osamu sat back down, previously ready to jump across the table to attack each other. Everyone sat down and finished eating, making small talk here and there. You went to go do the dishes when your Grandma shooed you away insisting she had it. âGrandma Kita let us help, we made the mess.â Osamu tried to convince her to let you guys do it but if you know anything about your Gran itâs that sheâs stubborn. âHon go have fun, pick fruit in our field or something, and please call me Grandma Yumie, youâll be family soon enough.â She replied, turning around and starting to clean.
You turned around, hand on your forehead walking out of the kitchen with Osamu following you, âI swear to god Iâm actually going to put her in a home. I apologize for her behavior, Hajime has to go through this every time he visits or sees her.â He nodded as you guys exited the house to the back where Shin, Suna, and Atsumu were.
Shin was in the middle of trying to convince Atsumu to do something productive while he was here. While Shin did work in the field earlier this morning there were still a few things that could still be harvested. It didn't take long for him to convince Atsumu seeing as how he practically worshipped the ground Shin walked on, Suna however wasn't really jumping for joy at the idea of doing field work. After a bit of convincing and a lot of bribing and promises of chuupets he finally agreed to help for a few minutes.
The rest of the day was spent picking various fruits and vegetables while laughing and making fun of each other over old stories you told each other. After a few hours everyone had to go back to their respective homes and call it a night.
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meet me halfway (across the sky)
summary: Video calls back home were a rare treat for Apollo, considering how busy his life in Khuraâin could be. Catching up with Trucy, Athena, and Phoenix was one thing. Getting a sudden call from Klavier was another. And talking to Klavier every day for hours about everything they never knew about each other was possibly the most unexpected thing of all.
word count: 12k | read on ao3
a/n: For @klapollo-week, day five of seven (prompt: "parallels"). All seven of my fics take place in the same continuity! However, each can be read as a stand-alone, with the exception of day seven being a sequel to day five.
Mild spoiler warning for Spirit of Justice, along with implied spoilers for Dual Destinies. Fic title is from the song Meet Me Half Way by Kenny Loggins.
âUh, Mr. Wright, youâre way too close to the screen. Can you sit back a little?â
âOops - sorry, Apollo! Still not used to this kind of technology, heh.â
âSheesh, Daddy, you make yourself sound ancient - â
âAh! Did you guys start already? Attendez-moi!â
Chuckling, Apollo leaned back in his seat and waited while the three of them rearranged themselves in front of their webcam. Heâd missed this, this camaraderie that he didnât quite have with his current companions in Khuraâin. There was something immensely comforting about it, about every time he managed to schedule a video call with everyone back home. It didnât happen as often as they wouldâve liked, given how busy they all were, how tricky the time difference could be, but when it did, it was the best part of Apolloâs week.
âHey, guys,â Apollo said, waving sleepily. âWhatâs been going on?â He leaned closer, peering at his screen. â...Athena, why do you have a banana sticker on your forehead?â
âWhy donât you have a banana sticker on your forehead?â Athena retorted, peeling hers off with a flourish. âAnyway, everythingâs been sehr gut! Weâve had, hm...I think four clients since we last talked? All acquitted, of course!â
âAnything interesting?â Apollo asked. âIâve had twelve clients, myself.â
Phoenix frowned. âIâm...not so sure thatâs a good thing. Are you getting enough sleep? I canât imagine you having that many cases and not mixing them up. Keeping track of evidence alone must be a nightmare!â
âItâs been...a process,â Apollo said diplomatically, trying not to think about the dozens of folders he had on both his desktop and his actual desk that needed to be sorted in a way that made some semblance of sense. âDonât worry about me, Mr. Wright, I-Iâm fine!â
âFamous last words,â Trucy huffed. âPolly, you need rest! We want you back home in one piece, after all.â
âAt least Iâm not accepting odd jobs anymore,â Apollo chuckled. âI donât mind helping someone set up their internet or move their couch every now and then, but I canât do everything.â He startled suddenly at the sound of his phone going off. âOh - sorry, one sec.â His brows knitted together when he read the call display: Klavier Gavin.
âApollo? Is something wrong?â Athena asked, concerned.
âI - uhâŚâ Apollo hesitated, unsure of what to do. âIâm gonna mute myself for a second, hang on.â He did just that, then answered his phone. âGavin? Are you...wait. Did you call me by accident?â
There was a long, lingering silence. Then, âAch, I only just realized what time it is where you are. I shouldâve texted first, ja?â
âYeah, probably,â Apollo said, laughing awkwardly. âIs this, uh, urgent? Itâs just - Iâm in the middle of a video call, soâŚâ
âNein, nein, not all!â Klavierâs voice was too loud, too sharp. Apollo didnât need to see his face to know what that meant. âYou know what? Forget I called, itâs nothing.â
âHey, no, donât do that,â Apollo protested, frowning. âIf you wanna talk for whatever reason, we can - â
âI have somewhere I need to be, anyway, so, er - Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Forehead.â Klavier quickly hung up before Apollo could get a word in edgewise. He stared at his phone, perplexed, before unmuting himself. The others looked as confused as he was.
âWhat happened?â Phoenix asked.
â...Prosecutor Gavin called me?â Apollo shook himself a little. âIâll get back to him later, so - anyway, what were we talking about?â
_____
Three days passed before Klavier responded to the inquiring text message Apollo had sent him after heâd finished talking to the others. He still didnât seem ready to talk about it - whatever it was - but he did suggest they do a video call of their own, to which Apollo agreed. Something about Klavierâs behavior was bothering him, and he was more curious about it than he expected to be.
âForehead? Youâre staring, achtung. I know Iâm handsome, but you should really keep those eyes of yours under control. Theyâre going to get you in trouble someday, Iâm sure of it.â
âI - â Apolloâs eyes narrowed. âReally, Gavin? Thatâs how weâre starting this?â
âIt was you who started it,â Klavier said petulantly, his tone not unlike a five-year-oldâs. But really, Apollo couldnât stop staring - not because of Klavierâs looks; heâd long made peace with how attractive he thought Klavier was and how much he didnât want Klavier to know, but because of how tired Klavier seemed. Apollo had expected him to be in his usual âuniformâ, his silver jewelry and perfect makeup and impeccably styled hair. Instead, Klavier was wearing an oversized sweater, his hair up in a loose topknot, his face completely bare. He still had that lazy, slightly flirtatious smile on his face, but he was slouching quite a bit, his arms loosely wrapped around his propped-up knee. With his cracked lips, acne scars, and hunched shoulders, he looked more human than Apollo had ever thought possible.
âHowâve you been?â Apollo asked, ignoring him. âIâm surprised you called. I havenât heard from you in, like. Three months? Four? I swear, Iâm losing all sense of time here.â
âWell, itâs not like we had a habit of talking in the first place, ja?â Klavier pointed out. âBut...to borrow a phrase, Iâm fine, though the courts have been so boring without you here. I almost miss the ringing ears I got after every single one of our trials.â
âHar, har,â Apollo drawled. âCongratulations, you and everyone else have broken me down into exactly two personality traits: sarcastic and loud. Are you proud of yourself?â
âYou forgot âobliviousâ,â Klavier supplied helpfully.
Apollo blinked. â...to what?â He blinked again. âWait - â
âToo late,â Klavier interrupted gleefully, beaming. âYouâve proven my point beautifully.â Apollo glared; not five minutes in, and he was already prepared to hang up. âAnyway, Iâve been sehr gut, for the most part. Work has been keeping me busy. You?â
âIâm pretty settled here by now,â Apollo said, shrugging. âItâs rough, yâknow, trying to rebuild an entire legal system as the only defense attorney in the country, but, uh...at least Iâm not completely alone. And as nerdy as it sounds, Iâm actually really liking the work. Not the stress - that, I could do without - but the fact that I get to be a part of this big...thing. Itâs exciting, I guess.â
âItâs not that nerdy,â Klavier reasoned. âNerdy is reading law textbooks at night, under the covers. As a child.â
â...is it weird that I actually did that?â Apollo asked, wincing.
Now it was Klavierâs turn to blink, stunned. âWait, really? I was talking about me.â
âOh.â Apollo shifted in his seat, surprised. âNever wouldâve guessed. I mean, obviously, I know you became a prosecutor at seventeen, but I just assumed you were a musical child prodigy and...I dunno, switched career paths at some point.â
Klavier let out a soft laugh. âAgain, you flatter me, Herr Forehead, but Iâm not a prodigy of any kind. Just some good old-fashioned hard work, you know?â He then frowned very slightly. âThough...Iâll admit, Iâm not sure how much of my standing at the prosecutorâs office also came down to good old-fashioned nepotism. After all, KristophâŚâ He trailed off, unwilling to say more.
Apollo shuddered. Even after all this time, he couldnât get his former bossâs maniacal laughter out of his head. âRight, um...oh, have you had any interesting cases lately? Athena was telling me she had a literal gravedigger as a client - no prizes for guessing where the victimâs body was discoveredâŚâ
The next hour seemed to fly by surprisingly quickly, with the two of them exchanging light-hearted anecdotes about work. As it turned out, theyâd both had many interesting cases since the last time they spoke. It wasnât until Apollo could barely keep his eyes open that he realized what time it was.
âAch, donât let me keep you,â Klavier said when Apollo yawned for what seemed like the hundredth time in a row. âYou have work in the morning, Iâm sure.â
âWait, but - â Apollo yawned yet again â - but we never got around to...whatever it was you were calling about the first time. Your so-called ânothingâ.â
Klavierâs expression sobered instantly, his mouth pulling back into a hard line. âIâm not going to bother lying to you, Apollo. But Iâm not interested in telling you, either. So letâs leave it at that, ja?â
âI...oh.â Apollo nodded, feeling somewhat chastised. âFine. Fine, we donât have to - but if you wanna, yâknow, catch up again sometime, let me know, okay? Iâve got time to talk. Er, I think.â
Klavier laughed, surprised, though his eyes were still wary. âDo you actually...miss me, Forehead?â
âYou really know how to ruin a moment, Gavin,â Apollo sighed, shaking his head. âAnyway, talk to you later...maybe. Havenât decided on whether I actually want to anymore, jerk.â
Klavier continued to grin. âAuf Wiedersehen, baby.â Apollo tried not to think about how the last word had made him shiver.
Weeks went by before Apollo heard from Klavier again, a few days after heâd had a two-hour long call with Trucy. Apolloâs voice was a bit hoarse from all the talking heâd done - not to mention how angry heâd gotten in court just yesterday after a particularly smug witness tried to take over the entire trial - but nevertheless, he was surprised at how happy he was to see Klavier, a feeling he was mostly unfamiliar with.
âDo you have a cold?â Klavier asked. âYour voice sounds a bit strained and raspy.â
âMy brain feels strained and raspy,â Apollo groaned. He then paused; for some reason, the exchange sounded familiar, but he couldnât quite put his finger on why. âItâs nothing, I just got pissed and yelled at someone in court yesterday. Not my finest moment, Iâll admit.â
âBut isnât yelling your default?â Klavier smirked. He looked more relaxed than last time, the tension in his face less noticeable. âI hope the rest of the trial went well, at least.â
âOh, it didnât,â Apollo said, snorting. âBut...pastâs in the past. I have too many cases to deal with to bother worrying about one crappy witness. My client was acquitted, I got the real culprit, you know the deal. Itâs all starting to blur together, to be honest.â
âIt sounds like you need to get out more,â Klavier suggested, not unkindly. âIs there any sort of...nightlife in Khuraâin? Recreational activities, maybe? Donât make me bother Fräulein Detective and get her to drag you to a bar every now and then.â
âWe go out to eat or drink sometimes,â Apollo replied, shrugging. âBut...I dunno. I donât really have the time to take up a new hobby or whatever. My free time is for eating, sleeping, and catching up with people back home.â
âFair enough, though you really should lighten your workload,â Klavier said sagely. âItâs not like you took cases every day when you were here, ja? I know Khuraâin needs your help, but what good are you to them if youâre burnt out?â
Apolloâs eyes widened slightly, stupefied. Then, he tried - and failed - to stifle a laugh. âOkay, Dad. Sheesh, you sound like Mr. Wright trying to give me a pep talk.â He sat back in his seat, loosely running his fingers through his hair. âFine, then, question for you - whenâs the last time you took a day off?â
âI went to visit my parents last Saturday,â Klavier answered after taking a moment to think. âThey needed help cleaning and packing away some of...some of his things.â He visibly swallowed, though he tried to hide it with a sharp cough. After some consideration, Apollo decided not to comment on it.
âThatâs hardly a day off,â Apollo retorted instead. âI mean, itâs technically not work, but - wait. Do you usually work on weekends, too?â
âNatĂźrlich,â Klavier replied, confused. âDo you mean to say you donât?â
âNo, I - I work on weekends more than I should,â Apollo admitted. âBut itâs kinda hypocritical of you to tell me to get out more when you donât have much of a life, either, yâknow. Also, are you seriously telling me you donât have, like. Other things to do? People to see, places to be? Not that spending time with your parents is a bad thing, I-I mean, itâs cool that you do, itâs just...well.â
Klavier averted his eyes, reaching across his desk to pick up his mug of tea. He took his time with it, drinking at a leisurely pace, before finally speaking again. âDo you actually care to know, Forehead? Or are you just asking to ask?â he said evenly.
âIâŚâ Apollo found himself caught off-guard by both the question and his own answer. âNo, I actually wanna know. âCos itâs just - itâs not what I imagined. Iâve seen all the headlines and photos and stuff, soâŚâ
âAh.â Klavier smiled ruefully. âFrom the early Gavinners days, I take it? Back when I had Daryan around to be my bad influence? Nein, thatâs not exactly my style anymore. I already feel too old for that kind of scheisse. Now, I do these things out of obligation, you know? Work parties, family events...nothing too wild. Not when Iâve been involved in too many scandals. Better to lay low than to put myself out there again, ja?â
âI...I see.â Apollo went quiet for a moment, ruminating. He couldnât help but notice Klavier had neatly avoided the word âfriendâ; he was starting to wonder how many he actually had. Honestly, he couldnât remember the last time Klavier had ever mentioned anyone outside of people that Apollo himself already knew.
âYouâre staring again, Forehead.â Klavier leaned closer, resting his chin in his hands, a wicked grin plastered across his face. âThereâs no one nearly as pretty as me in Khuraâin, I take it? Donât worry, Iâd be surprised if there was.â Apollo said nothing, instead lifting a hand from his own mug of honey lemon tea to flip him off. Klavier merely laughed in response, delighted.
_____
After that, the gap between video calls went down from a few weeks to a few days. Neither of them knew why, but somehow, theyâd come to a silent agreement that they were going to talk once or twice a week about nothing in particular. However, Apollo still hadnât quite figured out why Klavier had called him the first time. Initially, he suspected it had something to do with Kristoph, given that the Gavins were finally starting to pack up his things. Maybe Klavier had visited him recently, or maybe heâd reminisced a little too long about their shared childhood, whatever that looked like. But when Apollo had asked, Klavier had simply shrugged it off.
âItâs no secret that even thinking about thinking about Kristoph puts me in a foul mood,â Klavier had replied. âBut I havenât seen him lately, nein. Iâm done, Iâm - I just want to move on with my life, without his shadow lurking in the darkness.â
Not all their conversations were so heavy, though; once theyâd finally caught up on everything theyâd missed out on over the last several months, their topics turned mundane, even silly. Apollo never expected to spend one of his precious free Saturday mornings arguing with Klavier, of all people, about breakfast, of all things, but here he was.
âYes, Iâve had instant ramen for breakfast, what of it?!â Apollo had exclaimed defensively. âAdd an egg, some bacon bits...whatâs your problem?â
âMy problem is your sodium intake,â Klavier had protested. âBitte, tell me you eat actual fruits and vegetables from time to time. Tell me you have some semblance of a balanced diet and your stomach hasnât just turned into a toxic wasteland.â
Apollo wasnât sure why he was talking to Klavier so often, so suddenly, in all honesty. Part of him supposed it was because Klavier just happened to be there - after all, he seemed freer to talk than Phoenix, Trucy, or Athena, and he wasnât bad company when he wasnât not-so-stealthily insulting Apollo in court. But another part of him, the part he desperately wanted to ignore, felt oddly comforted by Klavierâs probably-fake accent and his too-wide smile. Klavierâs presence in his small, chilly Khuraâinese bedroom almost made him feel like he was back home.
âHave you seen the others lately?â Apollo asked one evening, bundled up in the thickest blanket he could find. There was a draft coming in from somewhere that he had yet to take care of, and neither Datz nor Ahlbi were too interested in checking it out, either. âOr...I dunno. Watched any of Trucyâs shows?â
âIâve only seen them around at crime scenes and the courthouse,â Klavier replied. Apollo couldnât stop himself from sneaking a peek over Klavierâs shoulders at his surroundings in curiosity. For once, Klavier was sitting on his bed instead of at his desk or in what was presumably his home office. Unsurprisingly, he seemed to have a huge, ostentatious-looking bedroom that was probably bigger than Apolloâs office. âThings have been...busy at the Gavin estate. I don't have much time to socialize with colleagues.â
âBusy?â Apollo echoed, sitting up. âMore cleaning, you mean?â
âMy parents arenât retired, but sometimes, they act like they are,â Klavier said wryly. âThey want to remodel so many rooms - the kitchen, the conservatory, my old playroom...so Iâve been going home quite a bit these days, helping them with the little things. It was nostalgic, seeing all the toys I used to play with. Feels like a lifetime ago, achtung.â
âWhat was your thing?â Apollo asked. âBeanie Babies? Barbie Dreamhouses? Legos? Wait, let me guess - you had one of those Fisher-Price piano playmats, didnât you? Donât even lie to me.â
âI would never own something so tacky,â Klavier protested; he almost seemed offended. âNein, Mama was all about wooden toys - blocks, cars, dollhouses, kitchen sets - itâs very aesthetically pleasing. With the occasional soft toy, ja, but we never had plastic.â
âInteresting,â Apollo said, humming. âSame here, no plastic for us. Only, uh - not for the same reasons. More out of...necessity.â
âOh.â Klavierâs expression softened. âJa, I suppose in your...situation, you wouldnât be able to get new things easily.â He then smirked. âNow Iâm trying to imagine you and Herr Sahdmadhi as children. I canât picture either of you with dolls or teddy bears.â
âTry actual frogs and actual bunnies,â Apollo said, sinking down further into his chair. âWe were outdoorsy kids, believe it or not. Scraped knees and sunburns and all. But now, uh, good luck dragging me away from air conditioning and indoor plumbing. You couldnât pay me to abandon my weighted blanket.â
âPicky, picky,â Klavier teased, grinning. âI donât blame you, though. Iâm too comfortable with being comfortable to like change. Though...I suppose thatâs not really up to us, is it? Changing?â
âHow philosophical of you,â Apollo drawled, rolling his eyes. âItâs not that deep, Gavin, Iâm just saying Iâm not interested in sleeping outdoors again anytime soon. One instance of me waking up with ants in places that you definitely donât want ants was enough.â He then chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully. âAnd honestly, who does like change? Itâs like when I get a new client, right, and every time, something changes on me. Evidence, circumstances, logic...hell, itâs your fault sometimes!â
âWhen did this become about me?â Klavier chuckled, still smiling.
âIsnât everything?â Apollo shot back. âItâs like you have this...this uncanny ability to turn any normal conversation into an opportunity for you to wax poetic, just so you can sound cool. If you ask me, itâs more dorky than anything else.â
Klavierâs mouth dropped open. â...Apollo Justice, are you calling me a dork?â
âMaybe I am, Klavier Gavin. What are we, Prosecutor von Karma?â Apollo snorted. âSorry, Gavin, but between you and her, I think I know which one of you is actually German.â
âIâll have you know that Iâm very German,â Klavier protested, wagging an accusing finger at his screen. âBoth of my parents grew up in Germany; they only came to the States so they could get their masterâs. They had me learn German by watching Janoschs Traumstunde and Die Sendung mit der Maus, and Mama taught me how to make spätzle and schupfnudeln and reibekuchen - ah, and my favorite dessert? Bienenstich.â
Apollo held his hands up in surrender. âOkay, okay, I believe you. I just think your accentâs a little...questionable. You sound like someone who got too overconfident in their dedication to Duolingo.â
âAch,â Klavier said, laughing. âAnyway, do you mean it? Am I really...dorky?â
âWow, youâre even more hung up on that than I thought,â Apollo teased, biting his lip to stop himself from laughing as well. âThough I guess I shouldnât be too surprised. Image is a big deal to you, after all. Yes, Gavin, youâre a huge dork. How can you not be when you say shit like - like âtell me you share my angst, Herr Foreheadâ - â
âAnd you think my accent is terrible,â Klavier mused, sighing. âSo sue me, I like to embellish. I like a little romance in my language - it makes life more interesting, you know? Though I suppose you wouldnât understand, being the kind of person that you are. You wouldnât know romance if it asked you to dinner.â
âUgh, that reminds me.â An involuntary shudder went through Apolloâs entire body. âI had a client ask me out a few weeks ago. Like, seconds after I got him acquitted. As if that was all he was thinking about while the judge declared him not guilty.â
Klavier went still. â...really? What happened? What did you say?â
âI said no, obviously!â Apollo exclaimed, loud enough that he briefly wondered if heâd accidentally woken up his neighbors. âHe wasnât a murderer, but he was still a shitty person. Besides, shitty or not, itâs kind of an unspoken thing to not date clients and co-workers, isnât it?â
âJa, of course,â Klavier said, waving a hand aimlessly. âIâm just...surprised.â
âThat someone was interested in me? Thanks, Gavin,â Apollo drawled, rolling his eyes.
âThat someone thought it was a good idea,â Klavier corrected, mouth twisting into a slight frown. âYouâre perfect...ly acceptable, Forehead. As a, ah, person to go on a date with, I mean.â He cleared his throat; it seemed to get stuck quite often these days. âAnyway - surely, he didnât think you would agree!â
âI dunno what he was thinking, if he was thinking at all in the first place,â Apollo sighed, shivering once more. âAt least Ema got a good laugh out of it.â
Klavier straightened up, his expression quickly returning to normal. âHow is she, by the way? I can only imagine that Khuraâin is completely covered in luminol by now.â
âSheâs adjusted pretty well, though sheâs used to living overseas,â Apollo shrugged. âHer Khuraâinese needs some work, though. Er, not that mineâs much better, Iâve been gone for too long. Itâs coming back to me...slowly. Very slowly.â
âSometimes I forget that you speak another language, too,â Klavier remarked. âConsidering your grasp of EnglishâŚâ
âMy English is fine, thanks,â Apollo huffed; it seemed like he couldnât go one conversation without wanting to stick his tongue out at Klavier like they were unruly children on a school playground. Or, alternatively, flipping him off like they were fighting over the last parking spot. âJust âcos I donât get all fancy with it - â
âHere we go again,â Klavier sighed, dropping his chin into his hands. âAnd you say I make everything about me, hm?â
âTwo-way street, Gavin. Two-way street,â Apollo said, leaning back in his chair with a smirk. âBesides, thatâs...itâs kind of our thing, isnât it? Poking at each other until someone gets legitimately pissed? Usually me, but still.â
âI didnât know we had a âthingâ,â Klavier said, cocking his head in curiosity. âTell me more about this âthingâ of ours, bitte.â
âSee? There you go again!â Now Apolloâs neighbors were definitely awake; he didnât have to look out the window to know that their lights were coming back on. âYou canât go two seconds without being...smarmy about something. Itâs like a bad habit of yours, and I know a thing or two about bad habits.â
âWhatâs yours?â
Apollo blinked. Klavier had asked so suddenly, so immediately, that heâd barely heard what heâd said. âHuh? What do you mean?â
âYour bad habit,â Klavier elaborated. âI know you were talking about spotting other peopleâs tells, but Iâm more curious about yours. Youâd think that, since I get on your nerves so easily, Iâd be able to see it myself, butâŚâ He shrugged, still smiling. It was one of those indiscernible expressions of his that frustrated Apollo so much, the kind of bland, indifferent smile that seemed to mean anything and nothing at the same time. The kind of smile Klavier had in court as he reviewed the facts of the case, or when he ran into Apollo at a crime scene, or even when he talked about not talking about his brother.
âI...I, uh, never really thought about it.â Apollo hummed, thinking it over. âMessing with my hair, I guess? Iâve definitely, literally pulled my hair out before whenever Iâm, like. Nervous. Stressed. Worried. Or, yâknow, all of the above. I even had a crooked hairline in high school âcos I used to do it all the time.â
Klavier lifted his head from his hands, looking at Apollo in awe. He was quiet for so long that Apollo almost asked him if his internet connection had cut out, only to watch Klavier fuss with his bangs, then push them back completely, exposing his hairline, near-identical to what Apolloâs used to look like. It was only then that Apollo realized heâd never seen Klavier with his hair completely up. Of course, heâd seen Klavier do ponytails, braids, even space buns if he was feeling particularly stylish, but his bangs were always swept over his left eye. Now, he could see why.
â...oh.â Apollo wasnât sure what to say. âI...I see. Is that, uh, recent?â
Klavier nodded shortly, then briefly turned away to grab a hair tie from his bedside table. He held the hair tie between his teeth while he gathered up his hair and twisted it into a neat knot; Apollo tried not to stare at the fullness of Klavierâs bottom lip, sticking out in a perfect pout, as he did. âCan I tell you a secret, Herr Forehead?â
âOh - er - okay, abrupt change of topic there,â Apollo muttered, more to himself than to Klavier. âI guess so. Whatâs up?â
âI...havenât decided how I feel yet about my parents remodeling our family estate.â Klavierâs tone was casual, but Apollo knew by now that it meant nothing. âI know why theyâre doing it, I just donât know why theyâre doing it now. Nothing has changed, you know? Theyâre still working, Iâm still working...Kristoph is still in prison.â
âWell, I donât...know your parents or anything,â Apollo said carefully. âBut i-it could be, like, a healing process thing. Starting fresh and all that, you know? But maybe itâs really not that deep. Maybe they literally just felt like, hey, nowâs the right time to renovate. You could ask âem.â
âAh - nein, I couldnât inconvenience them like that,â Klavier said, chuckling awkwardly. He was already starting to mess with his hair once more. âIf I expressed anything other than my complete support, they would stop immediately. And theyâve already sacrificed so much for me, I would never...I canâtâŚâ
âGavin,â Apollo said softly.
âItâs just a few rooms.â Klavier inhaled sharply. âWhat does it matter? Itâs not like I live there. If Mama wants to turn our playroom into a crafting room, it...it makes sense.â
Their conversation, understandably, didnât last too long after that. Apollo crawled into bed, still wrapped up in his blankets, with over a dozen trains of thought trekking through his mind, more of them about Klavier than he wanted to admit. Heâd never thought of Klavier as an inherently private person - at times, he seemed almost too open to speaking his mind - but now, he could see that in some ways, he had been completely wrong.
_____
Unlike before, a few weeks passed before they had another video call. Klavier was wearing a muscle tank this time, his hair scraped back into a messy bun, his bangs perfectly placed. Apollo found himself more than a little distracted by the broadness of Klavierâs shoulders, by the length of Klavierâs neck. âEntschuldigung for last time,â Klavier said smoothly, by way of greeting. âLetâs not have me treat our conversations like my therapy sessions, ja?â
âItâs fine, Gavin,â Apollo reassured him. âOne comment about how youâre feeling is no big deal. If you wanna talk, then...talk. Honestly, Iâm a huge law nerd, and I could talk about Khuraâinese legal practices all day, but, uh, I could definitely use a conversation or two thatâs about something completely different.â
Klavier nodded, seemingly thinking it over. â...I like your hair.â
Apollo raised an eyebrow. â...and I like your shirt. What, are we on a shitty speed date? Câmon, you can do better than that!â
âAch, you didnât let me finish,â Klavier protested, chuckling. âI just meant...I like your hair like this. It looks...soft. Less severe. Something that would be nice to touch, you know?â
âI...oh.â A pleasant tingle went up Apolloâs spine. Klavierâs voice was low, warm, especially through his headphones. He brushed his hair back behind his ears, ducking his head slightly so Klavier wouldnât notice the heat rising in his cheeks. âTrucy introduced me to some new hair products a while back. Said it was stuff she uses to make her hair look extra shiny under the stage lights. Er, n-not that thatâs why Iâm using it, just...itâs nice to treat myself every now and then.â
Klavier suddenly perked up. âSpeaking of treating yourself, that reminds me - you know the best way to help you with all that stress and tension youâre dealing with? A gut massage. Surely, there are some facilities like that in Khuraâin, ja?â
Apollo fixed Klavier with a withering look. â...Gavin, we just had a revolution here, like, six months ago. Getting a massage and a facial is hardly anyoneâs priority right now, believe me. Itâs not like the legal system is off in its own little world, yâknow? The economy, the sociopolitical orderâŚeveryone considers themselves lucky that they can go about their day-to-day lives, but luxury goods and services? Not here, not yet.â
âShame, though I canât fault Khuraâin for having its priorities in order,â Klavier said, frowning slightly. âWell, if I ever get bored enough and feel like hopping on a plane, maybe Iâll come visit and give you a massage myself.â
âIâm not paying for your ticket,â Apollo retorted, his cheeks reddening once more. âAnd are you even qualified?â
âI always massage Papaâs shoulders whenever I go to my parentsâ house,â Klavier mused thoughtfully. âHe gets sore from all the gardening he does. You should see our estate garden; itâs like something out of a fairytale.â
Apolloâs nose twitched. âIâm, uh, Iâm sure it does. Hey, so - tell me about your parents. Youâve mentioned them a bunch of times, but I donât actually know that much about them.â
âHigh school sweethearts,â Klavier said with an almost dreamy smile on his face. âThe old-school kind, slipping love letters into each otherâs bags between classes and all that. Now, theyâre both college professors at the same school. They both act like practical, no-nonsense people, but the truth is, they're both romantisch at heart.â
âAnd then passed that on to you,â Apollo nodded. âMakes sense. They sound adorable, actually.â
âI never had a high school sweetheart of my own,â Klavier sighed wistfully. âI canât imagine how...all-consuming that must feel. To be so young, to be so sure that this one person, the only person youâve ever loved, will be the only person youâll ever love.â
âI guess thatâs where we differ,â Apollo said quietly, shifting uncomfortably in his seat, surprised at himself. He wasnât sure where his comment had come from, why heâd blurted it out loud without a second thought. âI, uh, I had...something like that. Someone like that.â
â...oh.â Klavier furrowed his eyebrows, confused. âWhat happened?â
Apollo ducked his head, unable to look Klavier in the eye. â...you know what happened to him.â
Klavierâs eyes widened in realization. âAch - Apollo, Iâm so - â
âDonât, I - donât,â Apollo insisted, a lump forming in his throat. âItâs not, uh. Itâs not something I really wanna talk about.â
Klavier seemed unable to speak for a moment, his eyes shining with pity. Apollo hated it, hated how genuinely sorry Klavier looked, as if he had anything to do with it at all. Klavier opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. â...Iâve written songs about my parents, actually. Not that youâll find them on any Gavinnersâ albums, just little love ballads that I played at their anniversary parties and vow renewal. They were big hits with my extended family - the one I wrote when I was ten years old is an absolute classic.â
âIâm sure it was,â Apollo chuckled, shaking himself out of his thoughts. âHow about now, you write anything recently?â
âBarely a tune since the Gavinners disbanded,â Klavier admitted. âI havenât felt all that inspired lately. Maybe someday itâll come back to me, but right now...nothing. Nichts.â
âGood luck, I guess,â Apollo offered. âBy the way, whatâs with the tank top? Is it that hot over there already?â
âIâve always been hot, Forehead, I donât know what youâre talking about,â Klavier said, grinning victoriously at the almost too obvious bait.
Apollo groaned, dropping his head into his hands. âI will hang up on you someday, Gavin, donât think I wonât.â
_____
The gap between video calls quickly dwindled down from a few days to no days at all. Text messages were constant, to the point where Apollo had to sheepishly ask Nahyuta how to upgrade his phone plan. Even phone calls started to increase in frequency; Apollo was starting to think he heard Klavierâs voice more often than he heard Emaâs, and they often spent entire days in each otherâs presence.
âHow do you feel about peaches?â Apollo asked, his phone carefully sandwiched between his ear and his shoulder as he deftly navigated his way through the farmerâs market, nearly tripping over a stray dog as he did so.
âGreat emoji,â Klavier replied semi-seriously, though Apollo could tell he was trying not to laugh. âAlthough...Forehead, if this is your subtle way of asking me for my opinion on Call Me By Your Name, Iâll have you know I never learned how to play Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suo fratello dilettissimo. Now, Zion HĂśrt Die Wächter Singen, on the other hand - â
âNeed I remind you, I only speak English, Khuraâinese, and college-level Spanish?â Apollo interrupted, shaking his head. âAnyway, peaches are basically a delicacy here. Sucks for me, since Iâm allergic to stone fruit.â
âSame, I can only eat them cooked. I love a good cherry pie,â Klavier hummed. âDid you remember to get kale this time?â
âYeah, I got a huge bundle of it right here,â Apollo said, jostling his wicker basket loudly enough so Klavier could hear. A few market patrons turned to look at him strangely. âThanks again for the tip, by the way. Iâm still getting used to cooking stuff thatâs not instant or frozen, so roasting vegetables is a total game-changer.â
âGlad to hear youâre eating actual fruits and vegetables now,â Klavier replied, chuckling. âSo, I had a case go kaput today. Thought you might want to hear about it.â
âObviously!â Apollo said, lighting up. âWhat did you do?â
âAchtung, why do you think it was my fault?â Klavier protested, his laughter warm in Apolloâs ear.
âIsnât everything?â Apollo shot back, laughing as well. âSeriously, what happened? Canât be as bad as...literally anything thatâs happened to me.â
âNein, not quite,â Klavier agreed. âDonât worry, I wasnât up against Athena or Herr Wright. Some rookie, I think; I was going to go easy on them. That is, until the defendant, apparently overcome with guilt, decided to bring their own decisive evidence to prove that they did, in fact, kill the victim.â
âNo!â Apollo exclaimed. More market patrons turned in his direction, glaringly so. He shot them apologetic grimaces, then ducked behind a watermelon display. âReally? Like, are we talking fingerprints, photographsâŚâ
âEverything, Forehead, everything. I couldnât have convicted them better myself,â Klavier remarked. âObviously, I take no joy in celebrating crime, especially murder, but ach, I consider that one of the highlights of my career. The only thing that wouldâve made it better was if you were there. I can picture your dumbfounded expression now.â
âYouâre terrible,â Apollo informed him, with no real bite behind his words. âBut...not gonna lie, thatâs kind of incredible. I feel bad for the defense, though. Iâve been screwed over by clients before, but usually not that badly.â He then heard a sharp wuff somewhere by his feet; he glanced down to see the dog heâd nearly tripped over before was now sitting on top of his toes, looking up at him with literal puppy-dog eyes. â...uh, hello. Did you need something?â
âWhatâs that?â Klavier asked.
âOh - sorry, not you, Gavin. A stray dog just came over to say hi, I guess.â Apollo crouched down, taking care not to tip his basket. âHey, buddy. Iâm not the one to beg for food, if thatâs what youâre looking for. All I can offer is, like, a belly rub.â
âWait, switch to video, I want to see this,â Klavier pleaded, laughing again. Sighing, Apollo turned on his camera, then aimed his phone at the dog, who was now rolling over onto its back, its tail thumping enthusiastically against the cobblestone. âAh, what an adorable hĂźndchen! Go on, Forehead, donât make him wait.â Sighing yet again - at Klavier, naturally, not the dog; he could never begrudge the dog - Apollo carefully set his basket down, then began rubbing the dogâs belly, smiling at the adorably goofy look the dog gave him in return, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, his eyes closing in utter bliss. âHold still for a moment, bitte? I want to make this my contact photo for you.â
âGavin, I swear - â
âUh, Apollo? What are you doing?â
Apollo startled at the sound of a new voice; his eyes widened when he looked up and realized who it belonged to. âEma! He-e-ey, wh-what are you doing here?â
âI could ask you the same thing,â Ema replied, raising an eyebrow. âWhy are you petting a dog while video-calling Gavin at the farmerâs market?â
â...because I can?â Apollo offered meekly, straightening up. He quickly hung up on Klavier before Ema could attempt to talk to him, silently noting the need to send him an apology text later. âHey, um - th-thereâs a discount on tangyuan today, you wanna go all out and split the cost with me?â
Ema continued to eye him suspiciously. âSure. But please donât insult my intelligence - you canât just distract me with snacks, you know.â
âI know, I know,â Apollo sighed, giving the dog one last pat on the head before leading Ema across the market, towards the aforementioned snack stall. âWe just...we talk sometimes. Whatâs the big deal?â
âNothing, if you guys just do video calls every now and then,â Ema said. âBut here you are, shopping for produce and chatting with Gavin at the same time. Itâs...a little domestic, donât you think?â
âD...domestic?â Apollo echoed, scratching the back of his neck.
âI just didnât think you and Gavin had that kind of relationship, thatâs all,â Ema continued, shrugging as she popped a grape from her own basket into her mouth. âListen, I couldnât care less about that guy. But youâre my friend, so...I have to ask. Is something, yâknow...going on there?â
âWh - no, no, no, o-of course not!â Apollo ducked behind Ema the second he felt the glares of the market patrons turn to face him, again. He was starting to think he wasnât going to be welcome back for a couple of weeks, at least. âI - he - weâre friends! Itâs kinda new, b-but weâre friends. Just friends. Heâs, like...pretty decent when heâs not being obnoxious in court. Or at a crime scene...or just in general.â
Ema snorted, reaching over to steal a strawberry from Apolloâs basket next. âI think itâs time you hop off that bicycle of yours, Apollo, because youâre obviously backpedaling.â
âTortured metaphor, but okay,â Apollo muttered, glowering at her.
âHowâd you guys end up talking in the first place, anyway?â Ema asked, chewing noisily. âI canât imagine you were the one to initiate it.â
âIt...Iâm not sure, actually,â Apollo admitted, slapping her hand away before she could steal his entire carton of freshly-picked strawberries. They were probably more expensive than all the vegetables heâd purchased, combined. âGavin called me a while back, seemed embarrassed about it, and then hung up. I asked him later what was going on, we started doing video calls and stuff, and then it turned into a thing, butâŚI never figured out why he called the first time. And I donât think thereâs any point in asking.â
âFair enough, though I gotta admit, Iâm still curious. For scientific purposes, of course,â Ema added, humming to herself. âMaybe he...no, thereâs no way.â
âYou know something I donât?â Apollo asked, nudging her. âWhat happened to âI couldnât care lessâ?â
âBelieve me, I really couldnât,â Ema retorted, elbowing him back. âSurprises me that you have enough to talk about, though. I mean, itâs Gavin.â
âHey,â Apollo protested; suddenly, he felt weirdly defensive of Klavier. Again, it wasnât a feeling he was too familiar with. âWe have more in common than you think. Itâs not all just - just guitar riffs and hair tosses with him.â
âIf you say so,â Ema sighed, clearly uninterested in pursuing the topic any further. âCâmon, letâs pick our flavors already. And if you short me on black sesame, I will be taking those strawberries of yours.â
Later that evening, Apollo was cocooned in his usual plethora of blankets, poring over the evidence for three separate cases - honestly, the autopsy reports were starting to blur together, which explained why, for a moment, he thought one of the victims had somehow ended up with a bullet hole in their stomach from being stabbed with a blunt object - when his phone went off. He immediately perked up when he read the call display. âGavin, hey. Sorry again about earlier, you know how Ema is.â
âKeine Sorge, you already apologized,â Klavier replied. âThatâs not why I was calling, in any case.â
Apollo frowned slightly, putting Klavier on speakerphone and nestling his phone among his files. âOh? I, uh, I thought you were just calling to chat.â
âJa, we can talk about whatever we feel like after, itâs just - I had a question for you.â The deep breath Klavier took before speaking again made Apollo nervous. âAre you homesick?â
â...huh?â Apollo wasnât sure what heâd been expecting, but it certainly hadnât been that. âWell, I mean. Yeah. Yeah, obviously. Khuraâin was my home once, so itâs not like Iâm in a completely new place, but itâs...yeah, I miss being back home, traffic jams and heatwaves and all. Why do you ask?â
âNo reason,â Klavier said innocently, in that sort of tone of voice that made Apollo want to reach through the phone and strangle him. âYouâll find out soon enough.â
âThereâs either no reason, or a reason that Iâll learn soon enough. Pick one, Gavin,â Apollo drawled, rolling his eyes good-naturedly. All he got in response was warm, throaty laughter that sent pleasant tingles down his spine. âFine, donât tell me. So, whatâre you up to?â
âJust got back from my morning run.â There was a rustling of sound on Klavierâs end that suggested he was still walking around somewhere, presumably inside his apartment. Apollo could only imagine how sweaty he still was, how his skin glistened in the mid-morning sun - and now, he realized belatedly, he wasnât sure if it was something he should be thinking about at all. âYou know, after all this time - I still hate it. Running, I mean.â
âThen why do you do it?â Apollo said, trying not to laugh. âThough to be fair, I feel the same way. Athena used to make me run laps around the agencyâs neighborhood sometimes âcos I need to âimprove my cardiovascular healthâ or whatever. Never got any good at it.â
âI do it because itâs good for me, but achtung, I wish I actually liked it,â Klavier sighed. âThe fresh air, the endorphins, itâs all gut and well, but you know what I canât stand? Sweat-soaked hair. Sore ankles and stiff knees. Donât get me started on the sunburns, ach.â
âOkay, old man,â Apollo chuckled. âYou sound like a guy twice your age, you know that?â
âIâm not the one who once said they were starting to prefer blander foods over spicy foods - calling me an old man, mein Gott, the disrespect - â
A few hours later, Apollo was fully curled up beneath his duvet, head resting on his pillow, eyes closed, with his phone tucked under his ear. Neither of them had spoken in a little while, though Apollo could hear Klavier humming under his breath while he worked on clearing out his email inbox. â...you really should take a day off, Gavin.â
âYou first,â Klavier said without missing a beat. âDonât trick yourself into thinking you have to take every case in the country, ja?â
âSame to you,â Apollo mumbled; he was starting to drift in and out of consciousness. âYouâre working, like...stupidly long hours. Itâs not like youâre the only prosecutor in the district.â
There was a long pause. âMama said that to me the other day. She told me I should live a little.â
âAnd sheâs right,â Apollo yawned. âAnyway, Iâm not gonna get into this again. And itâs not like you have to do anything major, just...take a day off. Go get a massage or whatever. Hang out with friends, go on a date, I dunno.â
âGo on a date, right,â Klavier drawled sarcastically. âEasier said than done, ja?â
âWhat, is it the fame thing?â Apollo asked, eyes snapping open in curiosity.
âItâs the, ah. âTrusting peopleâ thing.â Klavier let out a quiet laugh. âAfter convicting mein Bruder, after convicting someone I thought was my best friend...whoâs to say any future romantic partner of mine wouldnât end up facing that same fate?â
â...oh.â Apolloâs face softened; part of him wanted to see Klavierâs expression, while another part of him had the feeling it was better this way, to only hear the slight rasp, the slight crack in Klavierâs voice as he spoke. He could only imagine the noticeable twitch in Klavierâs eyes, the forced smile on his lips, that heâd seen a surprising amount of times over the past few months. âI see. I-I get it. Not like Iâm any good at trusting people, either.â
Klavier went quiet again. âApollo?â
âI...oh. Yeah?â He couldnât remember the last time Klavier had called him by his actual name.
âBe honest with me, ja?â Klavier murmured. âWhen we talk every day, when we text and chat and send each other silly things...is it something you actually like doing, or...or are you just bored?â
Apollo snorted. âOh please, you know my schedule. I couldnât be bored if I tried.â He nestled deeper into his pillow, yawning. âNah, youâre...weâre friends. Talking to you is like...part of my routine now.â
âYou mean it?â Klavier asked. He sounded so uncertain that it made Apolloâs heart ache.
âI donât send stupid memes to just anybody, you know,â Apollo teased. âAnd look, Iâm not pretending like this isnât weird. If you asked me a year ago if I could see myself talking to you on a daily basis, I wouldâve said, yâknow, ânever in a million yearsâ. But things are different now, so...yeah. Youâre not so bad, Gavin.â
âAh, danke. What high praise, coming from you,â Klavier drawled, laughing. âBut really, Iâm glad to hear it. I...wasnât sure if I was bothering you. When I called that first time, I suppose I had my answer. Then after that, I never really knew for sure.â
âNow you do,â Apollo affirmed, biting his bottom lip to stop himself from smiling too much.
âNow I do,â Klavier echoed, satisfied. âSo, how about you, Forehead? Any clients ask you out again recently?â
âNo, thank god,â Apollo said, shuddering. âBesides, Iâm, uh. Iâm not exactly looking to date right now, either. Iâm...Iâm pretty good with how things are going at the moment. Maybe after I get back. Thinking about thinking about dating, I mean.â
âSmart.â Klavierâs voice was so clear, so warm, that it almost sounded as if he were in Apolloâs bedroom, too. Apollo briefly wondered what it would be like to have Klavier visit, to wander the farmerâs market with him, to take evening walks along the river and watch the fireflies together, to go through an endless number of cases with him by his side. He had to admit, it didnât sound half-bad. Better than half-bad, really, not that he was going to say so out loud. âLong-distance is never easy. The time zones, the uncertainty, the inability to truly be together...I can only imagine.â
âRight,â Apollo hummed, his eyes drifting closed once more. âI can only imagine.â When he woke up the next morning, he found a text message waiting for him - a screenshot of Klavierâs home screen; its background was a photo of Apollo and the friendly dog. sehr sĂźĂ, Klavier had texted, and the hĂźndchen isnât so bad, either. It was too early, in Apolloâs opinion, for his heart to be racing this quickly.
_____
Almost four months to the day since they started talking, Apollo arrived at the post office with a delivery slip in hand, visibly confused by its earlier presence on his front door. âWas this really meant for me?â he managed to ask in his steadily improving Khuraâinese. âI never ordered anything from the United States. Just paying customs would make me broke!â
âIt really is for you, Mr. Justice,â the receptionist replied. Apollo watched, stunned, as she dragged a crate-sized package out from behind her desk. âYou must have people who really love you back home, sir.â
âI...w-wow.â Apollo didnât know what to say. âEr, do you have someone who can help me bring this back to my office?â
Twenty minutes later, Apollo was sitting on the floor of Justice Law Offices, embarrassingly sweaty and sore from how much effort it had taken him and one of the post office employees to haul his delivery here. Groaning, he reached for his pocket knife, then carefully sliced through the tape, unwrapping the enormous package layer by layer. When he finally reached its actual contents, he sat back on his haunches, stunned by the sheer amount of items inside.
The package consisted of two sturdy boxes; one was labeled with Emaâs name, so Apollo took it out and set it aside. He then opened the one that bore his name, only to find it was packed surprisingly tight. Boxes and boxes of his favorite snacks that were too expensive to import to Khuraâin, well-loved copies of his favorite manga that had clearly been taken from his apartment back home, thick stacks of the most obnoxious California-themed postcards known to humankind with handwritten notes on their backs - before Apollo knew it, his eyes started to well up with emotion. Finally, at the bottom of the box, cushioning the other items nicely, were a few of his sweaters and hoodies, some of which still had a few stray Mikeko hairs on it.
âOh,â Apollo said faintly, wiping his eyes hastily despite being completely alone. Then, he frowned. âWait, what isâŚâ He pulled out the only item of clothing he didnât recognize, an unusually large hoodie in a familiar shade of purple with an embroidered rose on its breast pocket. Stuck to its left sleeve cuff was a sticky note; Apollo peeled it off and began to read what was on it.
herr forehead,
wear this the next time you go out, just in case you run into that hĂźndchen again. It smells just a little bit like my parentsâ dog - and like me, if youâre into that sort of thing.
alles liebe, klavier
Later that day - well into the evening, really - Apollo was eating dinner at his desk, rummaging through a hefty stack of police reports, when his laptop pinged, reminding him he had a scheduled video call that was about to start. Grinning, Apollo turned on his webcam, his heart pounding in anticipation. âHey, Gavin. So, what do you think?â
âWhat do I think about - oh.â Klavierâs mouth fell open. âYouâre...I didnât think you were actually going to wear it.â
âIs, uh...is that a bad thing?â Apollo asked, suddenly nervous.
âNein, nein, not at all! You look...achtung, you look good,â Klavier said hoarsely, swallowing. He then cleared his throat; his cheeks were flushed pink, much to Apolloâs delight. âBitte, stand up for me? I want to see how long it is on you; itâs amazing you havenât completely disappeared inside of it.â
âAsshole,â Apollo said affectionately, getting out of his chair and taking a few steps back so Klavier could see. He smoothed out the front of the hoodie, realizing belatedly that its hem only just grazed the tops of his bare thighs. âEr, donât mind my legs. I-Iâm wearing shorts underneath, I swear!â
âI donât mind at all,â Klavier replied, cocking his head. His eyes were darkening, shining with something that Apollo couldnât quite identify. âHave you worn it outside yet?â
âNah, not yet. I was actually planning on wearing it to bed since itâs kinda cold, and this thingâs the biggest thing I have,â Apollo admitted, sitting back down. At Klavierâs exaggerated eyebrow raise, he groaned. âShut up. Donât make it weird.â
âI said nothing,â Klavier teased, dropping his chin into his hands. âSo, did you like our care package? Trucy reached out to me on the same day you ran into that hĂźndchen and asked if I had anything to contribute. I also sent Ema some old Gavinnersâ merchandise, in case you didnât know.â
âOh, I heard about it from her, alright,â Apollo chuckled, brushing his hair out of his eyes. âAmazing how you manage to continue torturing her from several continents away. Maybe thatâs your real talent.â
âTo be fair, I was also the one who got her the beaker shot glasses and the glow-in-the-dark periodic table blanket,â Klavier pointed out, laughing as well. âI think all would be forgiven if she knew that was me.â
âSo she gets new stuff and I get hand-me-downs, huh? I see how it is,â Apollo said, tucking his knees into his chest and yawning. âSeriously, though, thanks. This thing smells like that cologne of yours I donât like.â
âAnd the backhanded compliments continue,â Klavier said, amused. âI hope you feel a little less homesick, at least.â
âOh, Iâm more homesick than ever,â Apollo snorted. âBut I appreciate the care package, really! Having all this stuff here is amazing. Itâs just...well. Stuff isnât, uh...itâs not exactly a substitute for people, yâknow?â
Klavier nodded thoughtfully, his smile sympathetic. Apollo took a moment to look at Klavier, to really look at him, and see how he was doing. He looked good; his skin had a glow to it, and his eyes and hair seemed to shine a little brighter than they had the very first time theyâd talked. Klavier was bare-faced more often than not - aside from his tattooed eyebrows and eyelash extensions - though he seemed to be experimenting with his hair here and there, occasionally sporting different styles of ponytails, braids, and updos. It almost made Apollo forget how sullen heâd looked four months ago.
âIs that why youâre staring again?â Klavier asked, smirking. âAre you finally ready to admit you miss me, Forehead? That you miss my charming personality and my devastatingly good looks?â
âSo what if I do?â Apollo huffed. He then frowned at Klavierâs wide eyes. â...what?â
âNichts, itâs just - you do realize you just said you actually miss me, ja?â Klavier said disbelievingly. âDo you really mean it, or...or are you just saying that?â
âI-I...well.â Apollo shot him a small smile. âYeah, Gavin, I miss you. Thought that was, uh. Kinda obvious by now.â
Klavier grinned victoriously; he looked seconds away from pumping his fist into the air. âAchtung, I knew it!â
âAnd the dorkiness continues,â Apollo said mockingly, rolling his eyes. âI mean it, how did you convince an entire generation of teenagers that you were cool? You go around saying crap like âletâs rock with these documentsâ and âyou have to get on up in order to get on down to prosecutingâ - are you an internationally-renowned rockstar, or an awkward dad trying to connect with his teenager through the power of classic rock? Whatâs next, Gavin, you gonna go buy a lawnmower and some cargo shorts? Fire up the grill and wear a kitschy apron?â
âMein Gott, youâre vicious sometimes,â Klavier sighed, his eyes sparkling with mirth. âIch vermisse dich auch, by the way. I think I've been...a little more obvious than you.â
âMaybe,â Apollo hummed. âBut hey, Iâll take it. Itâs nice to feel appreciated for once.â
âWhen do you think youâll be coming home?â Klavier asked.
âIâm, er...Iâm not sure,â Apollo said hesitantly, leaning back in his chair. âI didnât think I was gonna be sticking around for this long to begin with, and now itâs...itâs gonna be the rest of the year, at least. Maybe even another year on top of that.â
âYou...you think so?â Klavierâs voice was small. Nothing about his expression seemed remotely cheerful now.
âItâs not like I can leave whenever I want to,â Apollo shrugged, sighing. âKhuraâin needs more defense attorneys before I could even begin to consider it, and thatâs not gonna happen overnight. Not with their deeply ingrained feelings towards âem.â
âWait - youâre not still in danger, are you?â Klavier asked worriedly, his voice suddenly filling with urgency. âNo threats, no death sentences - â
âI-Iâm fine, Gavin, donât worry,â Apollo reassured him. âIt was a little touch-and-go there for a minute, back at the beginning, but everythingâs fine now. Trust me, if something was going on, you wouldâve heard about it earlier.â
âGut,â Klavier said, satisfied. âAfter all, if something were to happen to youâŚâ An odd expression flitted across his face, too quickly for Apollo to catch, though he had his suspicions. âWell. Trucy would be devastated, natĂźrlich.â
âRight...just Trucy, huh?â Apollo murmured, chewing his bottom lip thoughtfully. âWhat about...oh, I dunno. Athena would be upset for sure. Canât forget Mr. Wright, either.â
âNein, definitely not,â Klavier said, clearing his throat. He paused before speaking again. âForehead, do you ever wonder what Herr Wright really thinks of you?â
âSure, all the time,â Apollo admitted. âWe didnât, uh...well, letâs just say we didnât start off on the best foot, you know that. Why?â
âBecause I do, too,â Klavier confessed. âAch, I want to go the rest of my life not thinking about mein Bruder and all the lives he ruined, all the lives I helped him ruin, but - â
âGavin, thatâs not what happened and you know it,â Apollo said gently. âAnd Iâm not exactly sure how Mr. Wright feels about you, but I seriously doubt he still has a problem with you. He probably just feels a little, yâknow, awkward. You guys went seven years without knowing the whole truth, after all.â
âIch weiĂ, ich weiĂ, itâs justâŚâ Klavier laughed bitterly. â...Iâd like to go at least one day without worrying about what someone else thinks of me. Just one.â
Apollo suddenly found himself wishing he could reach through the screen and pull Klavier into his arms; it wasnât the first time, and he knew it wasnât going to be the last. âWell, you donât have to worry about me. You already know what I think about you.â
âDo I really?â Klavier teased, though he still looked somewhat worried.
âYeah, sure,â Apollo replied, smirking. âYouâre the most insufferable person Iâve ever met. And, uh...I wouldn't have it any other way. I think.â
Klavier laughed, shaking his head in amusement. âYou have a way with words, Forehead, you really do.â
âThanks,â Apollo drawled, chuckling. âSo, todayâs case went about as well as expected - meaning it didnât go well at allâŚâ
_____
Khuraâin was beautiful year-round, Apollo mused as he walked alongside the riverbank, but it was especially picturesque in the height of spring, during the month of May. Heâd woken up unusually early today, especially given it was one of his very rare days off, not to mention the fact that heâd stayed up late last night, talking to Trucy, Athena, and Phoenix. For whatever reason, he had felt like taking his breakfast - anpan and a warm thermos of green tea - outside, while the sun was still rising. It was a peaceful backdrop for the start of what he hoped would be a peaceful day.
Yawning and stretching, Apollo dropped down to sit in the long grass, the worn-out toes of his boots grazing the waterâs edge. He lifted his saddlebag off his shoulders and set it aside, raking his fingers through his hair. It was getting quite long in the back, he noted, but he didnât care enough to cut it. Before he could take his first bite of his anpan, his phone started to ring. â...Gavin? Whatâs up, arenât you going to bed soon?â
âI just wrote a song for the first time in ages, so Iâm too alert to sleep at the moment,â Klavier admitted, his voice deeper and raspier than usual, sending shivers up Apolloâs spine. âIâm surprised youâre awake, too. It was only when I started calling you that I realized you were probably still in bed.â
âFelt like catching the sunrise for once.â Apollo turned on his phone camera, then switched it to the rear-facing one so Klavier could see what he was seeing. The entirety of Khuraâin, it seemed, was momentarily bathed in a warm, yellow-orange glow. âNice, isnât it?â
âItâs wunderschĂśn,â Klavier remarked, awed. âAlmost makes me wish I was in Khuraâin.â
âI wish you were here, too,â Apollo said quietly. His eyes then widened. âEr, I-I mean - â
â...Apollo?â Groaning internally, Apollo fumbled with his phone, reluctantly switching to his front-facing camera so he could shoot Klavier a nervous smile. He could see now that Klavier had turned on his camera, too; he appeared to be sitting on his bedroom floor, leaning up against a window, his face illuminated by moonlight. Somehow, his blue eyes were even brighter in the darkness, the angles of his jaw and cheekbones sharpened by the shadows. Apolloâs breath hitched as he was momentarily rendered speechless. âAchtung, you still manage to surprise me after all this time.â
âI-I said nothing!â Apollo said hastily. âYouâre - I - i-itâs early, I donât know what Iâm saying!â
âIf youâre planning on staying for even longer, I really should come and visit, ja?â Klavier continued, his grin equal parts sleepy and teasing. âFor one thing, I can finally make good on that massage I promised you, get all that stress and tension out of your body. I could also bring you more of my clothes, since you seem to really like that hoodie of mine.â
âWhat would you even do here, anyway?â Apollo asked, momentarily looking away so Klavier wouldnât see how red his cheeks had gotten. âThereâs no nightlife, barely any recreational activities...not to mention the wi-fi kinda sucks. Besides, itâs not like youâre allowed to prosecute in Khuraâin.â
âLet me be your co-counsel,â Klavier offered. âAfter all, if Herr Blackquill can help Athena, why canât I help you?â
âThat...would be kinda interesting, actually,â Apollo admitted. âAnd where would you stay?â
âWIth you, natĂźrlich,â Klavier replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. âAfter all, if you want me there, I should be as close as possible. Iâd make the perfekt roommate, you know. I can cook for you, clean for you...itâd be domestic, nein? Like Iâm your stay-at-home husband or something.â
Apollo shivered again. Despite his distaste for his lyrics, Klavier certainly had a way with words. âYou wouldnât be...I dunno, bored out of your mind? Things are definitely slower here compared to California, you know.â
âThe change of pace would be nice,â Klavier said diplomatically. âAnd I certainly wouldnât complain about the company.â
âWell, uh, sorry to break up your super-specific fantasy, but I think Iâm actually pretty close to getting out of here,â Apollo said, trying not to linger too much on his own mental picture of what Klavier had described. âAnother few months, maybe? Six, at most. And since itâs sorta unknown, I wouldnât recommend booking plane tickets anytime soon.â
âReally?â Klavier perked up. âYouâre coming home? Have you told the others?â
âYeah, I talked to âem last night,â Apollo said, setting his phone down by his bag so he could finally take his first bite of anpan. âItâll be weird once I return, thatâs for sure. Iâve been in Khuraâin for exactly one year, right down to the day, but...well. Itâs definitely grown on me, even with all my...my mixed feelings about it. Though I, um...I guess those mixed feelings are more about a person than a place, and heâs...heâs, well...you know.â He swallowed thickly, reaching for his thermos and taking a generous gulp of his tea.
âAny regrets?â Klavier asked softly.
âAbout Khuraâin, or dâyou mean in general?â Apollo asked, his sarcastic tone betrayed by his nervous laugh.
âHowever youâd like to interpret it,â Klavier said, gesturing aimlessly. âI can be generous sometimes.â
âYeah, real philanthropist, you are,â Apollo retorted, chuckling. âWell, you know Iâve had days where, like. I feel like I shouldnât have stayed behind, after all. Like Iâm way in over my head, and..like Iâm not...not good enough. Like Iâm just winging this whole thing, which is scary, âcos itâs like the entire countryâs future is in my hands, and I canât just - I canât improvise. I canât make it up as I go along, I-I have to know it. Do it, be about it. Make it my whole life, you know?â He stopped to take a breath; the sympathetic crinkle of Klavierâs brow was more welcome this time. âBut no, I donât regret sticking around. I just wish Iâd gotten some closure.â
âClosure?â Klavier echoed.
âYeah, thereâs...Iâve got stuff I wish Iâd been able to do or, or say before I ended up living here for twelve months,â Apollo confessed. âItâs not like I knew I was moving here when I did, so...itâll be nice to head back home and settle in and...and get all of that out of the way.â He took a few more bites of his anpan as they ruminated in their shared silence. âHow about you? Any regrets about, well, anything?â
âMe?â Then, to Apolloâs surprise - though maybe not to his surprise, given all that had been said and done between the two of them, just the two of them - Klavier let out a bitter laugh. âAlways.â
Apolloâs face softened. âWanna talk about it?â
âNot particularly, nein,â Klavier said, visibly shuddering. âJust once, Iâd like to not drag our conversation down. Ach, and I used to think you were the buzzkill. Now look at me, ja?â
âDonât worry about it, Gavin,â Apollo insisted. âI get it, you - you feel things really intensely. I know that now, and, uh. Well, I do it, too. And we hold it all in and we donât say anything âcos thereâs bigger things to worry about, a-and then itâs like...like a dam breaks. Like everything just comes rushing at you all at once. Thereâs no way of stopping it, as much as you want to, and when itâs finally over...you never know how to feel about it. Because itâs not cut and dry, i-itâs not black-and-white, itâs just...it just is. So you move on, âcos thereâs nothing else you can do about it, and you keep going. And then it starts all over again.â He let out an awkward laugh. âOr, uh, or maybe Iâm just describing what a trial feels like.â Apollo glanced back at his phone, only to see Klavier staring at him in wonderment. â...er, too much?â
âNot at all, itâs just...youâre always full of surprises,â Klavier murmured; he almost sounded impressed. âThat was incredibly astute, especially for you.â
Apollo wilted. â...thanks. Glad to know you think so highly of my intellect.â Still, Klavierâs warm laughter managed to get him to crack a smile. âSo, you said something about writing a new song? Howâd that go?â
âI had a burst of inspiration, you might say,â Klavier said, nodding. âLike my muse sat beside me on the piano bench and hummed a melody in my ear.â
âThat sounds more creepy than anything else, but okay,â Apollo snorted. âCan I hear it?â
âNein, not yet,â Klavier replied mysteriously. âWhen the time is right, ja? Besides, itâs...itâs a bit personal.â
Apollo shifted slightly in his spot. âPersonal, huh?â
âItâs about...someone who means a lot to me, and something Iâve been meaning to say to them,â Klavier said carefully. âBecause...Iâve been looking for closure, too. And possibly, if I do it right, I might also get a new beginning. Does that make sense?â
âItâs a little cheesy, but, uh, yeah. Makes sense.â Apollo pulled his knees into his chest, resting his chin on top of them with a quiet exhale. âDo I know this someone of yours?â
âJa, definitely,â Klavier murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. âAnd theyâre not mine, but...I want them to be.â
âI...I see.â Apollo felt his own pulse pounding in his ears, so loudly that he could barely hear his own voice. âHey, Gavin, I - I wanted to - thereâs something Iâve been wanting to say, and...and IâŚâ
âWhat is it?â Klavier asked, sitting up, hopeful.
âWell, I...no, n-never mind.â Apollo cleared his throat. âProbably should, um. I should probably save it for when we see each other in person.â Klavier leaned back, disappointed. âAnyway, you, uh, you should probably sleep now if you wanna be awake enough for work. Unless you take the day off like I did.â
âI might actually consider it,â Klavier chuckled. âAnd weâll talk tomorrow, ja? Or later today for you, I suppose.â
âDefinitely,â Apollo confirmed, nodding.
Something in Klavierâs eyes seemed to shift then, something Apollo couldnât quite understand. It happened more and more with each passing day, with every conversation, and Apollo wasnât sure if he was ready to figure out what it meant, if it meant something other than what he hoped it meant. âDu siehst wunderschĂśn aus in diesem licht.â
Apollo blinked. âSorry?â
âNever mind,â Klavier said, a sleepy grin stretching across his face. âGuten Morgen to you, Herr Forehead.â
âAnd goodnight to you, Gavin,â Apollo replied, waving briefly before ending the call. He sat in silence for a few minutes, finishing his tea and enjoying the sunâs warmth. Then, he stood, stretching his arms over his head, and smoothed out the creases in his pants and what was now his oversized purple hoodie. âSomeday,â he mumbled to himself, slinging his bag over his shoulder and turning back in the direction of the bazaar. âJust...not yet.â
_____
a/n: Welcome to my fifth entry for Klapollo Week 2021! Continuity-wise, this is the second of seven fics, but again, there is no need to read the others to follow each fic on its own. However, as I mentioned in the top notes, day seven is a sequel to this one, so look out for it! This is the second-longest fic of all my Klapollo Week fics, and for good reason - I could've easily included an endless number of random conversations and made this fic twice as long if it weren't for the posting deadline. One of my favorite things about writing Klapollo is their back-and-forth, so I love writing fics where they simply just...talk, and hang out. And I know it's definitely a concept that's been done before, but someday, I wanna write my own version of "Klavier visits Apollo in Khura'in and they fall (more) in love". That might end up being my longest Klapollo fic yet đ
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Likes and reblogs would be much appreciated. Hoping youâre all safe and healthy and doing well â¤ď¸
#KlapolloWeek2021#klapollo#kyodoroki#klapollo fic#ace attorney#ace attorney fic#myfic#long post#not sure if this one or day seven is my favorite#i definitely wanna write an extended version of this in the future
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Love Doesnât Do Encores Ch9 Travels To Hulbury
(This chapter will contain a small time skip of events as well as a past fight between y/n and her mother in the story.)
You swore you needed both a doctor and a nice bed to sleep away the pains of soreness racking your body.
Ever since you four left Turffield it had been like the time you left Motostoke except a bit longer. Walking, camping at night, taking time out for resting between walks and gathering food. Mostly from berry trees or snacking from whatever nonperishable foods Leon had given you. Some night Victor managed to make one form of curry or another. Mostly bean or apple curry which you didn't mind too much but the apples tasted a bit strange in the curry sauce, so you fed them to your sobble which you noticed had now taken a habit of laying in your lap any chance you were sitting and expected to be fed whenever you held any kind of food. Oops. You might have ended up spoiling it a bit. Oh well. You didn't mind too much. It's smiles and noises were pretty cute, and at least Gloria was able to add a few more curry entries to her book. After what had happened at the pokemon Nursery back in Truffield you decided to fill in Gloria and Hop about the mysterious band of rock star wannabes, but they seemed to be as confused as you were about who they might've been working for and who they were. Hop even suggested that maybe the eccentric costumes were disguises to they're real identities, which seemed a bit farfetched but hey. You were transported into the video game world of pokemon, traveling along with a few of the characters, and for all you knew could still wake up at any moment to your mother scolding you for being late for college. It wasn't really too out there to rule out yet. While you four traveled every so often you'd rest and Hop and Gloria would scamper off to have a battle or more likely try to catch some new pokemon from where you were at. So you weren't all too surprised to find out Gloria caught herself a wild Dottler and Hop's Grookey evolving from the....seventh or eighth day now as you four traveled. You lost count or couldn't remember how many days had past after seven or eight. You were mostly tired now a days with a heaping dab of soreness in your back and neck from your uneasy sleeping scheduale and the rocky ground poking you from the floor of the test. Or the fact the only thing you had for a pillow was your backpack, but you never complained. If it meant getting to Hulbury faster then you could deal with it. It was like when your mother insisted you stay up a few extra hours to study or when you had to work late at the radio station after that. You yawned more, movements slowing a bit, and you had gotten noticable bags under your eyes. Buuut the three teens must've noticed because on what was the ninth day Gloria decided to point it out to you.
"Hey, Y/n. I really didn't want to say anything but are you feeling ok?" She pointed at your face. "You've been yawnin' ever since we left Turffield like a week ago. And you've gotten bags under your eyes big enough to carry luggage for a full week's vacation. "
In response you yawned again before looking to her. "M' fine. Jus a bit tired I guess." You stretched out your back as you walked making it pop. "Haven't really gotten much sleep just laying on the ground like a rock."
"Hey. I have good news." Victor all of a sudden held up his phone. When did he pull that out? And held it up to all of you. "There's a small town up ahead about another day's walk. It has a convenience store, hotel, and a few other things." He looked at you. "I think we should stop by. We can restock up on supplies and rest for the night at the hotel. That might help out Y/n's situation and prevent her from dropping from exhaustion anytime soon."
"Hey. I-I'm not that tired," you lied stiffling another yawn....But the promise of a bed tho- "But you're right about needing some more supplies. I don't know how much food and necessities we have left, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to stop by and restock."
The food Leon lent would only last so long anyways. It was best for all parties involved. So it was decided the four of you would stop by the upcoming small town. It took another day and night of walking and resting (giving you another night of uncomfortable sleep) and then shoving off he next morning for the town. It took half the day but the four of you managed to happen upon the small town. And you do mean small. It couldn't have been much bigger than Postwick actually. There was around maybe twenty buildings and most of them were homes or doubled as homes as well as stores. As the four of you walked through the small town a few people walked by or waved, and you could hear a few children laughing. It certainly was very peaceful wasn't it? The peace made you even more tired- You were shaken awake when your sobble chirped loudly and smacked you with it's tail, making you stumble as you walk and if it weren't for the two boys catching you you would've faceplanted the road again. Which ended up in the three kids making up a decision for you.
"Let's go find the Inn first."
The inn turns out was one of the first buildings you came across when you took the small side road off of Route 5 here and the only building in the town that had three stories. It was more like a tall house than an Inn when the three of you entered, Gloria helping to steady your sleepy self. The inside looked very similar to Professor Magnolia's house. Very homey and welcoming. The elderly lady looked lightly surprised when the four of you came in with you fighting to keep awake for a little longer. Ok. So maybe the little sleep over nine or ten days was starting to get to you a little bit you haven't been this tired since studying for college entry exams in highschool.
"Oh my. Are you children alright?," she ended up asking lightly standing from her seat seeing you lightly sway a bit.
You waved her off. "I'm fine. Just really tired."
"We'd like to book two rooms please with double beds," Victor explained to the lady throwing you a worried look. "Do you have any available?"
"Oh. Yes, we do. Come. I'll show you to your rooms. By the looks of your friend there, she's in dire need of a good rest." Whelp. No arguement there. Luckily the rooms she had the four of you follow her towards a long hallway a little aways from the front desk before stopping and opening one door. "Here's the young mens. Bathroom's through the door on the left. And as for the two young ladies." She turned to a door right across from Hop and Victor's room and opened it. The room was pretty much as you suspected. A simple large room with two beds on each side of it, a shelf, window looking out onto a field, Tv, and a white door that you supposed led to a closet. "This'll be yours." She pointed at the door. "The bathroom is through there. We also have a laundry mat attatchment in the adjacent building to the left if you youngsters need it. If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to ask."
"Uh yes actually. Do you happen to know where your town's convenience store is?,'' you heard Victor ask but you were too busy to deduce what else was said.
You managed to stay awake enough to take a quick shower and change before walking to the closest bed to you and just flopping face first on it. The soft cushions hugging your tired and sore body, and it was natural for you to fall asleep almost as soon as you hit the mattress. So it was no wonder that by the next time you woke up it was night time. Confused and dazed you managed to sit up blinking confused at the darkness around you, the only source of light coming from the moon shining through the window outside. Vaugely in the dark you could just barely make out Gloria's sleeping form on the other bed on the other side of the room. Her baby toxel at the foot of her bed. Your body was still tired with it being night so it was easy for you to fall back into slumber when you slowly laid your tired self back down, barely registering your sobble squirming next to you as you fell back asleep. And came to a strange sight. A sight you witnessed before in your life. One you were all too familiar with too. ....You...You were back in your room. Well a younger you at least. You were about sixteen then just minding your own business sitting there and playing games. Couldn't remember which one just that you were enjoying yourself playing and sitting on your bed playing the day away. Until younger you looked up at footsteps approuched your room, the next thing your younger self knew your door flew open with a bang and it started the younger you so much you ended up dropping your old switch on your bed jumping from the sound. And there she was. Your mother standing there with an angry scowl on her face.
"You're playing those stupid games again!?," she snapped at younger you, stomping over and quickly wretching the switch from your bed.
In an instant your hand was reaching out for it. "HEY! Give that back."
But instead of that, your mother only held it up higher with her angry face. "Is THIS what I work to provide for you!?"
You had stopped. Frozen in surprise at the words foaming at your mother's mouth and the game she waved at your face.
"Is THIS what you think is fair to me!? I work day and night to provide a roof over your head, food in your stomach, and clean running water for all you do is to sit on your behind and play these mind rotting things!? To make the electricity bill higher than Mount Everest with you staying up all night playing this day in and out!?"
"M-Mom! C'mon! I'm sorry," younger you backpeddled.
"You should be! I'm not raising you to be lazy and unresponsible!" The game was tossed back onto the bed with a small thump before she pointed at you. "Work and studies should be your number one priority right now! I don't want to catch you slacking off wasting time again! Do I make myself clear?"
Younger you looked at your mother's angry face for a long moment before looking away and nodding. "Yes, Mom."
"That's good. Make sure it doesn't happen again. Alright, Y/n?"
.....
...........
"Hey, Y/n!," a distant girl's voice called, "Are you awake?"
"I dunno. Maybe we should just let her sleep? She was really tired when we got here yesterday," a young boy's voice said worried.
"Hop's gotta point, Glory. Let her sleep in. She'll need all the rest she can get for traveling."
"Ah. You guys are no fun."
Silently the world of younger days faded away to black and the voices became murmers in the dark abyss that was sleep until you finally woke up from your now dreamless slumber. Which wasn't too long. You slowly woke from your sleep and was greeted with the sunlight making your tired eyes blink as you rubbed them and blinked at the surroundings around yourself at the simple room that wasn't your younger self's from the dream. What the-....Where were you? Did you finally wake up from the pokemon world dreamland you formed up? Were you back home? Did you move into the college dorms and forgot you did? Is that why this room looked strange to you? That hope was all but dashed in a moment when movement under the blanket next to you caught your attention and you looked. A small lump under the blanket the size of a small cat moved around until it moved towards the end of it near your arm and your sobble poked it's head out blinking tiredly and gave out a yawn crawling the rest of the way out. You gave a sigh, shaking your head before smiling and holding out your arm and letting the sobble crawl into your hands. You were still tired but rather than go back to sleep, you opted to tossing the blanket off yourself and got up with your sobble in your hands holding him up to your face.
"Well, I guess it's time to start the day huh?"
You managed to get a few things done. Morning shower, got dressed, and made your first stop the  laundry mat across from the hotel after asking the elderly woman at the front desk for directions. Just something to do to help take your mind off the strange dream that had happened. You had started to wonder where the three children had run off to now but it was only after you were coming back with your now cleaned clothes and your sobble curled upon your shoulders did you run into them. Or Hop at least. He was just walking past the door when you opened it and almost ran into him. Thankfully stopping at just the right moment as he paused and blinked.
"Oh. Hey, Y/n!," he greeted with a smiling and shifting the box in his hands, "Glad to see you're awake now."
"Hi," you greeted back before raising a brow at the box he held. "What's that you're carrying?"
"Oh this?," he asked holding up the box and you nodded. "The old lady needed help clearing out her old storage room. She offered to pay me to help out so Im taking this to the broom closet down the hall here. Glory and Vick are doing some Pokejobs too." The confusion must've doubled on your face because he seemed to take notice. pokejobs?? What the heck are pokejobs?! "OH! Right. There's no possible way you could've known what those are. I keep forgetting you're not native to Galar. Pokejobs are jobs people upload into the rotomis."
".....Say what?," you asked still totally confused to what Hop was even saying.
He sighed. "Pokejobs. How do I describe them?....It's kinda like how newspapers have ads. If someone has a job they need help with they send a post to their rotomi profile, then if someone wants to make some money they can look on the Pokejobs Rotomi Forum for a job in their specific area. There was a few listed in the Rotomi at the town's covience store." He held up the box again. "Like this one. We figured it wouldn't hurt to make a little bit of money in case of emergencies too."
"That...sounds like a great idea. But where are the other two now?"
He shrugged. "Glory took a job that involved babysitting and I think Victor's helping someone here with a garden."
Well that sounded like a good way to earn a bit of money while you were waiting. As to pass the time you decided to help Hop once you had finished returning your clothes to your bag. The elderly woman seemed rather grateful for the help provided. In the manner of speaking it wasn't too difficult work. Most of the boxes were pretty light mostly filled with cleaning supplies or old blankets. That explains why she was having Hop move them to the big supply closet down the hall. When you asked about it she explained she had wanted to turn it into another bedroom for the busier traveling seasons, makes sense. One extra room to rent means one extra way to make some money. You helped rehome the boxes and cleaned it out by dusting and sweeping to pass the time away. When it came to paying you declined the money offered and made sure Hop received it instead. After all it was originally his job, you just helped to pass time, and it'd be wrong to piggyback on his hard earned money after all. But you did however accept the free room service for later when she offered instead. Free food was a reward you had no trouble accepting, especially considering you hadn't eaten anything since you woke up and all the exercise you had done in helping to clean out the room. Hop though was thankful for your help and expressed so as much. It was when the two of you were heading out did you finally bump into said twins. Gloria was carrying two large paper bags but you had to do a double take when you noticed Victor looked....well remember how dirty you were after being bowled over by Milo's wooloo? Victor looked like he got ran over by ten wooloo during a sand storm.
"Whoa. What happened to you?"
He grabbed his hat and shook the grey beanie out letting dirt fall to the ground. "Well. As it turns out the ad for 'helping to remove unwanted weeds and debry from the garden' also happened to include a wild munchlax who didn't want to leave. I had to half wrestle half chase the thing out."
"Oh wow. Glad to see you got paid tho."
He huffed but Gloria smiled holding up the bags in her hands. "But on the bright side we managed to stock up enough for the rest of our trip to Hulbury! Glad to see you're up and feeling better too, Y/n!"
You nodded. "Yeah. Feeling better thanks-"
"OH! That reminds me!" You were cut off when Gloria suddenly shoved one of the bags into your arms as you blinked. The inside held food and other things you'd have to use in order to get to Hulbury. She went digging through the other bag, eventually pulling out a rolled up, sleeping bag looking thing that must've made up half that bag's weight. "Here! I noticed you probably weren't sleeping well cuz you didn't have one of these here. Turns out the convience store is also a supply store, so I was able to get you one of these."
You slowly took the rolled up sleeping bag from Gloria and gave it a look over before looking back to her. "I-...Thank you. But you didn't have to get me this. I would've been fine without it."
"I know but you would've just kept getting bad sleep if I didn't, and it won't hurt me from what I earned from winning against Milo's anyways. Besides, I can now call it even from when you saved our hides back in Postwick."
You smiled and decided to accept this gift with a nod. "Alright. We're even. But have you decided when you wanted to leave yet?"
"First thing tomorrow morning. After seeing you stumble 'round like a zombie with a headache, we decided to let ya sleep in since you were so tired. But since it's getting later anyways, we figured we'd spend one more night here and leave early in the morning."
"Oh that's a great plan cuz Y/n got us some free room service from helpin' out around here."
Gloria's eyes widened at her friend's words. "Wait. REALLY!?"
"How about we let Victor get cleaned up first before we do anything?"
The four of you did just that for the night. Packed away all the goods they brought back with them. Hopefully it'll last enough for the rest of the very long walk to Hulbury. And after everyone was done packing their share and Victor was cleaned up, you ate. No surprise it was more curry but you chose to accept that at this point that curry was a very important part of Galar's culture and hey. Free food was free food. Nothing to complain about here. And if Gloria could fill in more of her Curry Dex book then it was good enough for you too. Luckily it seemed with the new sleeping bag things might get easier for you when you all start traveling again. Which is exactly what happened. The very next morning the four of you set off as soon as Victor paid for the two day stay at the front desk, and it was back onto Route 5 the four of you went walking. And walking and walking. It was basically the same as before until night came and the four of you set up camp in a small clearing, giving you the chance to use the new sleeping bag Gloria had gotten you. And it worked like a charm. You still had to use your arms as a pillow but otherwise it was much more comfortable to sleep now. And then the next day the four of you were at it again. This time listening to Victor's adventures traveling around since he had started his own journey at least a year before Gloria's. Mentioning of all the different places and events around Galar he had been so far and you were impressed at his tales of capturing so many wild shiny pokemon in his photos, going so far to show you all a few places he took photos of. One being the giant clock tower back in Motostoke.
"So does that mean you've been to Halbury before?," you asked curiously glancing at the pictures in his hands.
He nodded. "I've been there once, but not for long. I did see the Hulbury Water-Type Aquarium and Research Center. They have every water type pokemon you could imagine, some of them are from different regions as well. That's where I got most of the photo's of water type pokemon I gave to Glory. Nessa was a huge sponsor for it's development. It's also a research department to study water-types as well as their environments and biology." He hummed and looked up. "I think it's also where most Professors get their sobbles for starting trainers."
You gave a look to your sobble. "You hear that? Looks like we're heading to your home town." In response it smiled and gave a small chirp. "Does that mean you've seen Nessa before?"
He shook his with a sigh as you all walked. "Sadly no. But I've heard she's so busy between her modeling and gym leader duties she'll only do one gym battle a day due to her busy schedules, and that's considering if there's nothing important going on for her."
"So depending on the time and amount of trainers heading for Hulbury right now, we could end up waiting longer than we did for Milo's gym battle."
"Ah man!" Hop leaned back putting both arms behind his head. A habit you learnt he did whenever he was annoyed or thinking about something. "That could take forever then....but considering Nessa's Gym would've been one of the farthest from the Turffield Stadium, I'd like to bet not a lot of people would go for hers first and instead went back to Motostoke to challenge Kabu or someone else who was closer....Hm. I wonder if that's why Mr. Milo suggested we go see Nessa after our battle with him. We haven't run into any other Gym Challengers yet. Route 5 is less trafficked."
"Or those rockstar blokes," you thought as you gave another look around at the half field half forested areas you four were traveling past. But that was probably a good thing you hadn't seen them. You wouldn't want them causing you more trouble.
"There Hop goes all smart again!"
"H-Hey! Im just makin' an observation!"
"Well make an observation on that map. How much longer until we get there?"
Hop answered that after pulling out his phone and turning it on, pressing a few buttons. "...About two and a half weeks left."
This...Was going to be a long trip.
And you weren't wrong. Most of the trip was the same day in and day out. Eat, sleep, make camp, walk lots, stop for breaks, maybe a battle would happen every once and a while between Hop and Gloria or maybe they'd try to catch a pokemon every now and then. And you watched her start to carry around that baby Toxel more, usually in her arms like a cat but sometimes in her bag too with his little head poking out looking around. Victor making the comment that now the both of you would be pokemon taxis. It took quite a while of this old routine before you four even got to another town, with a train station. Breaking out of a small wooded area there was clearings now of flat land and Route 5 lead you all to a crossing across the railroad tracks and lead into a small town...Well you weren't sure if you could call it a town persay. It was more like a few homes a little bit a ways from the obvious train station the four of you took refuge in for a break. Â In the mean time Victor took out his phone once more and decided to flip through the rotom phone he had on your four's location.
"......Hey!," he shouted making you all look at him as he held up the phone all towards you. You leaned closer to get a better look at the screen he pointed to. "According to the map we're a four day walk away from Hulbury. Nearly there!"
"Oh thank Arceus!," Gloria sighed, "I was getting so tired of just walking around like a migrating murkrow."
"And you wonder why I was worried about you rushing into your journey."
"Hey!"
The next few days weren't very eventful or memorable. Just the same rinse and repeat scenarios your small group had been experiencing for the past month or so, until you FINALLY saw it. Well smelt it first would be more accurate. You all were walking up a steep hill that the path was connected too and that's when you smelt something like salt air. You had only been to a beach a few times but there was no mistaking it. Saltwater. And then you heard a very loud horn. It was loud enough to startle your Sobble into ducking behind your head and you perk up. If one had to guess, you would've said it sounded either like a train's whistle or a boat horn. Blinking as shadows flew overheard, you realized they were wild wingulls. ...Wait. Weren't those bird pokemon always like close to water?? You blinked. Shaking your head and hurrying your pace up the hill until the four of you finally made it. From the high point the view was high enough to let the four of you look a good ways ahead and still far but much closer now, maybe a day's travel. What was unmistakenly the glistening blue of the ocean as far on the horizon as you could see, that lead to the coast that clashed with the beginnings of it. The horn you heard was most likely one of the many boats you could faintly make out on the glistening blue and the unmistakable town that was nestled up against it all. It wasn't too big by the looks of it. Definately not Motostoke size, but it was definately bigger than Turffield and Postwick and you could make out the unmistakable structure of a stadium way over there.
Victor pointed with a smile towards the faint town. "There's Hulbury! We're nearly there!"
"Good. Let's get stepping before it gets too dark. If we hurry we'll be there by tomorrow."
And indeed you all were. Traveling until it was sundown, and you decided to set up camp for the night, only to pack up quickly and leave at the first sign of light the very next morning. It was somewhere around ten in the morning when you all finally made it. Seeing the town and beautiful ocean coming into view and getting closer, and closer the more and more you walked. Until you all finally arrived. First walking under a bridge connecting between two large hills, on top of one hill leading to a train station, the familiar pink building of the pokemon center greeted you next as the dirt path of Route 5 changed into concrete streets. Another loud horn shot off to the right of you and as you all looked over there was a giant port with as you suspected lots of ships and boats. Bigger than in game you imagined too. You inhaled a long sigh, the taste of salt on your tongue. If it wasn't for the many boats near the port and other people, you wouldn't have minded just standing there for a moment in the road. But since you didn't want to waste anymore time you sighed and turned to Gloria.
"So." She looked at you and blinked. "What's the plan here?"
"We go to the gym-"
"We head to the hotel-"
Both twins looked at each other for a moment, before Victor cleared his throat.
"I think we should head to the Hulbury's residential hotel first. Just in case one of you have to wait for a gym battle to open we'd have somewhere to stay tonight."
"Well I think we should head to the gym before anyone else gets here," she countered back one arm holding her Toxel and the other placed onto her hip. "It's still pretty early in the morning. If there's a chance no one got there yet one of us could get a spot! Right Hop?"
"Actually, personally I'm kinda hungry and wanted to check out that famous resturaunt Hulbury's supposed to have." he mumbled but got ignored by the scowling twins.
You sighed again shaking your head. Teenagers. "How about this?" You held up a hand catching the three's attention. "We'll split up." You suggested. "If we do that we can get things done faster. You two can check out the gym and your brother can get us situated for the night because personally I'd like to take a break from camping. Then we can meet back up and get some breakfast..." You looked up towards the sky. "Or lunch depending when we're done."
Victor hummed. "...That doesn't sound like a bad idea actually and it could actually save us time. Now that I think about it, we're probably low on supplies anyways. While we're doing that Y/N can take a list of what we need and get it from the local super market here."
"I like that plan! We can meet up at the Light house."
And so it was agreed. After going through your invintory, and having Victor quickly scribble down a list of things you all needed, the four of you split off. Victor heading in the same direction as the other two with his phone's map out (you guessed the hotel and the stadium must've been down the same road) and you towards the docks list and borrowed money in hand. In all honestly you were just as hungry as the others but that could wait. It didn't take you too long to find Hulbury's local convenience store, it didn't take you all long as well to fill up the considerably large bags of travel foods and start carrying them off back off towards the direction of the light house. ....Only...there was one problem. You had absolutely no idea which direction the lighthouse was in, and with the giant bags of supplies to be split between the four of you obstructing your view, it made it harder to see by all accounts as you tried peeking around and over the large bags. Stumbling a bit and almost bumping into a few people walking past you, they gave you an odd look before carrying on. Certainly didn't help when your sobble gave a small chirp before literally climbing into one of the bags to which you panicked a little. The last thing you needed was him eating the food you just bought especially since it wasn't bought with your money!
"Hey! Bad pokemon!," you shouted jiggling the bags a bit, "You get out of there right now! You're not supposed to be in there!" The sobble peeked itself out over the edge of one of the bag's hearing it's master's voice as you frowned, and you didn't see where you were walking as you walked. "I'm serious! You can't just crawl in there! Out no- Oof!?"
"HEY!?," shouted a woman's voice.
You rammed into something or someone solid and you stumbled back, by some miracle not dropping the bags, and up righted yourself for a moment. Blinking you turned sideways to look at who you bumped into and were met with another woman who was looking at you with a bewildered look like everyone else who saw you walking around like this. The woman had a dark skin complextion with dark black hair with pretty blue streaks and eyes that were bluer than the ocean. What looked like a sports uniform adorned her bodyShe blinked at you as you stared before you seemed to blink and shake your head.
"Oh. Sorry about that, Miss," You apologised shifting two off the four bags in your arms. "I didn't see you there."
"Uh..Yes, I could tell." She ran an eye over the two bags in your arms and the other two hanging off your elbows. "That's a lot of groceries you're carrying there." Her eyes stopped at the little blue pokemon poking out of the top of one of the bags as it shoved a blue berry into it's mouth.
"Oh. It's not just for me actually. I'm traveling with some others and we needed this stuff." You followed her gaze and you gained a frown when you saw the sobble shove another berry into it's mouth. "HEY!" It fell back into the bag startled with a chirp....but slowly peeked the top of it's head and eyes back over to look at your scowl. "I said NO. Now you get out of there right now! If you're hungry I'll get you something else."
"Oh. Is this little one yours?," both of you looked over as the woman attempted to reach out and pet the sobble. Which resulted in your sobble giving off a sound of fright and immediately scuttle out from the bag in a hurry.
"HEY-" You leaned your head back as it jumped on your head and clung to your hair giving the other woman wide eyes of worry. You grumbled...but sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Sorry 'bout that. He's not used to strangers I guess."
With a smile, the woman placed a hand on her hip and studied the two of you. "Most sobble are, but it seems this one has become very attatched to you."
You blew the sobble's tail from your face. "Believe me you don't know the half of it. Say. Could you tell me where I can find the lighthouse? I'm supposed to meet my friends there."
"Sure. I was actually heading towards the stadium actually. The light house is right next to it," she gestured to your bags. "I could even help you if you'd like."
You gave a relieved sigh. "Really?! Yes, thank you. That'd be a huge help."
You happily let the woman take two of the bags you were carrying and you followed her as she motioned for you to follow her. Gloria and Hop were most likely already waiting for you as they had first gone to the stadium and possibly Victor if he hadn't gotten side tracked or anything. As the two of you walked you took the chance to look around at the town. Seemed like the beach down you had gone to before the few times you went to the beach. As you glanced at the woman helping you out you couldn't help but...notice something. Did she seem familiar to you somehow?....You shook your head. Nah. Must've just been your imagination. She must've just looked like someone you've seen before. That's all. The both of you walked from the docks, past what looked like a resturaunt of some sort, back towards the Pokemon Center before taking a right and heading down the same path the teens took when the four of you parted ways. From that point the two of you walked down a road with houses on one side and a fence overseeing the ocean on the other. There was a LOT more houses than you remembered in game so it took a good twenty minutes before you even saw the stadium as both of you passed a flight of concrete stairs leading up the hill towards the train station. You looked up and at the stadium as it's shadow loomed over you as you both walked past it. Unlike Milo's stadium this one seemed rather quiet right now even if it was as HUGE as his was. The gym leader mustn't be battling anyone right now where ever she was. As you two continued to walk past it, you blinked seeing a tall structure up ahead which was unmistakably a light house, letting you sigh in relief. FINALLY!! You sighed in relief at seeing the structure and sped up your pacing a bit as the two of you rounding the corner the path lead towards the lighthouse and that's when you noticed the figures standing there. One or two strangers were there taking a picture next to the statues or the ocean view, but there was three you recognized easily as the twins and Hop. They all seemed happy to see you at first. But soon those happy faces turned into suprised and shocked ones the closer you walked. Victor even shaking his head and blinking as you approuched.
"Uh...Hey, Y/n. Whatcha got there?"
"Our supplies," you replied arms all sore and tired from the long walk over. Victor blinked as you shoved the two bags you were holding into his arms. "Here. Take these. Im beat." They continued to stare at you even as you turned to the woman and take the other two heavy bags from her. Your brow rising as you turned and saw their wide eyed looks. "....Are you three alright? You all look like you've seen a ghost."
"...Y/n. Do you even know WHO that is?!," Gloria asked pointed towards the woman and you turned to look at her again..before shrugging.
"She helped me out. Thanks by the way."
She nodded. "It was my pleasure."
"Don't you even know who that is!?" Gloria groaned at your utterly confused face as you blankly stared and as a result pointed right at the smiling woman next to you. "You literally don't know!? THAT'S NESSA!! Like the Gym Leader Nessa! The person we traveled all the way here to see!"
You blinked before looking back to Nessa as she glanced at you. "...Oh. Thanks for the help again. It was very nice of you."
She nodded again. "Your welcome. And you." She glanced over to Gloria who still stared in disbelief at her. "You must be a gym challenger right? You're one of the ones endorsed by Leon right?"
Gloria stared at her a little longer before Hop nudged her making her flinch. "HUH!? I mean- Y-Yeah! O-One of them." She gestured to Hop next to her. "And he's the other one."
"Hello, Ma'am." Hop smiled and waved. "I'm Hop and this is Gloria. You uh...Weren't at the stadium when we went there."
"My apologies," Nessa apoligized as you turned back to her. OH! Now you could recognize her easily. She was on the cover of that magazine Gloria showed you and you vaugely rememebered seeing her back at the entrance ceremony. "But I just got back from a boating shoot and I've already promised someone else a battle for later today. But I must say, you've become something of a hot topic among the gym leaders."
"Wait. We are?"
She chuckled. "Are you kidding me? Leon never stops talking about how awesome his little brother is and how he's just the smartest kid ever to come out of Postwick."
Hop coughed and scratched at his head in embarrassment. "Well...I wouldn't say that."
"I mean. He's not wrong. You're pretty smart."
"Glory! Don't embarrass me like Mum please!," he begged red faced.
You decided to help give him a break. "I had no idea he spoke so highly of Hop." You spoke to Nessa. Although you wouldn't be surprised considering how hyped up Hop got about Leon, and how loving Leon was to them.
She chuckled again before reaching behind her and pulling something out of her pocket. Well two somethings. "Here you go, Ms. Famous. I already heard about you, so you should learn more about me too." She held out what you made out as cards to Hop and Gloria as the two wide eyed teens took them in disbelief.
"OMG! Another League Card!! Thank you so much, Ms. Nessa! Does this mean you'll be able to battle one of us tomorrow?"
She nodded. "Sure. Just speak to one of my staff at the stadium and we can schedule a battle in the next two days for you guys." She then pointed behind her. "But I had better head to the stadium. I can't delay my sheduled battle anymore than I've already had."
You nodded in understanding. "We understanding completely, Miss. Thanks again for the help."
She nodded towards you. "I love fishing, but I love pokemon battles even more and I'm itching for a battle with you. Hopefully we'll get to battle real soon." With a wave towards Hop and Gloria Nessa turned on her heel and began to walk away.
You waved back before turning back to the three teens staring back at you. ".....What?"
"HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW WHO THAT WAS WITH YOU!?,'' Gloria shouted gesturing to where Nessa walked off to which you shrugged again.
"Sorry? I was a little busy with something more important at the moment and I guess I wasn't paying too much attention to her. But she seemed very nice. But how did your guys' lil trip go?"
"I managed to book us a hotel here for a couple nights," Victor answered before gesturing his head over towards the other two. "And they're all set up to fight, but someone already beat 'em for a spot today."
"Oh. Who?"
"The Mareep Head!," Gloria huffed one hand one her hip and the other waving the small League Card in the air. Mareep Head- OH! She must've been referring to Bede. He must've been the one Nessa was rushing off to battle then. "We just waltzed on in and there he was acting all smug like he jus' won the whole challenge already. He even asked if I "Got Hatenna's good side' on camera. Psh! He's such a stuck up mudbray!"
You could only nod juggling the groceries in your arms. "I...see. Well since there's nothing we can do right now for the moment, why don't we just go back to the hotel Victor mentioned and take care of these?"
Victor nodded in agreement tugging his own bags along as you both turned with Gloria mumbling behind you all the way to the hotel.
#pokemon swsh#pokemon shield#pokemon sword#pokemon piers#pokemon sword and shield#piers x reader#pokemon piers x reader#reader x piers#Reader
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Hi! Can you write a little blurb about Rafe?? Maybe like his reaction to you deep cleaning your guysâ apartment and maybe you found a number or something? And he reassures you that itâs not what you think?? Idk something like that. You donât have to if you donât want to, thank you!
Wires Crossed Rafe x Reader
A/N: Lovely anon Iâm sorry this took two days to finish up! Thank you so much for being the first person ever to ask me for a blurb! I had planned for it to be done way sooner, but uh I got a bit carried away. I am not good at writing anything small so oops! This is lowkey no longer a little blurb as requested but a full imagine/fic I hope you like this little adventure!Â
Warnings: Swearing, mentions of past drug abuse, baby angst, fluff, domestic Rafe. Non-canon Rafe IE he isnât a murderer. Probs out of character a bit cause I lowkey usually write the psycho mean Rafe so this was a challenge but I enjoyed it!
Word Count: 3k+
It was no surprise you were up before Rafe was. Youâd always been an early riser. However, when you awoke right as the sun just began to kiss your cheeks through the blinds, you knew youâd be waiting quite some time for your sleepy boyfriend to join you for the day. You look up at Rafeâs soft face. Mouth slightly ajar as faint hums of breath leave his lips. He looked so saintly at this moment. You didnât want to disturb him, so you attempted to slip from his arms, but the motion caused the boy to stir. Curse his light sleeping, you thought. The boy's eyes softly fluttered open and gazed down at you as he instinctively pressed a kiss to your forehead.
âGood morning, angelâŚâ his voice slurred in its sleepy tone. âWhere are you going so early this morning? Itâs barely evenâŚâ He glances at the clock sitting on the nightstand. âBaby⌠itâs barely even 6:30am, donât leave me yet.â He whines as he wraps his arms back around your torso.
You giggle at the pout on his face as he reels you in burying his face in your neck. You can feel his breath on your skin, tempting you to lay here with him for a moment longer. However, you knew if you didnât get up now, youâd be late for the events Rafe had planned for the day.
âI didnât mean to wake you, babe, I was just trying to prepare for today. Seeing as you havenât told me any of the events you had in store. I need to be ready for anything with you.â A light giggle escapes your lips.
â Just close your eyes again love, you can drift back off for a while, and in another hour or so, you can join me, okay? Just because Iâm up doesnât mean you have to be.â
âBut baby doll, I want to make sure you are rested for the day I have planned. You know me and the boys can get a bit chaotic, I donât need you getting worn out because of us.â
Itâs true whenever Topper and Kelce visited from the Outer Banks, you were sure in for a rush of excitement that often ended up tiring you out. Unfortunately, you were the type of person who once you were awake, there was no way for you to fall back asleep. Even if you are comfortable and safe in the arms of your love.
The boy was drifting back to sleep, and you used this as your opportunity to free yourself from his loving grip. One more sleepy glance and sigh, leaving Rafeâs lips. He knew he has lost this battle.Â
âLooks like youâre the one who will need the rest babe, just sleep a bit more I will be out in the living room when you are ready to get up.â You whisper to Rafe placing a soft but chaste kiss to his lips. âSweet dreams, my sleepy boy.â
He smiles as you pull away, âIâll be dreaming of you, angel.â With that, it was not long before Rafe had fallen back into his slumber. You raise from the bed as softly as you can silently leave the bedroom, closing the door with a subtle click. Today was shaping up to be interesting if Rafe was this lovey-dovey in his sleepy state.
Looking around your small apartment, you began to realize that neither of you had cleaned for days. There was glassware and other miscellaneous dishes piled in the sink. Books and papers spread across the breakfast bar from your late-night study session. But the worst culprit was the living room. There were clothes on the floor next to the almost toppling hamper and throw blankets splayed across the back of the futon.Â
Itâs not that you and Rafe were messy, quite the opposite usually, but as of late with everything going on, you both let your daily tasks slip your minds. The small one-bedroom apartment looked as if a tornado blew through it, and thus you found your distraction to keep you occupied until Rafe was ready to go to brunch. Topper and Kelce were visiting from the Outer Banks, and you couldnât have them see your apartment in this state. Even if they were used to more luxurious accommodations, you didnât want them to feel uncomfortable in your home. These were Rafeâs best friends, after all, you had to remind them that you could hang with the best of them even if you lacked the money they had.Â
Even though you had been with Rafe going on 3 years now, you worried you werenât good enough for him. So you always went the extra mile to impress the people in his life. Even though you didnât have to. Rafe loved you for you, and you found each other at the right time. You saved Rafe from his downfall of addiction. Taking him in when his father kicked him out. Saving him from himself and ultimately helping him grow as a person. He uplifted you and motivated you to work towards your dreams that you once believed would amount to nothing. He proved to you that you were worth more than the words of hate that your mother spewed to you daily. He pushed you to achieve the best, and now you are going for your degree in criminal justice. The final push you needed to go for your goal was witnessing Rafe break down when his father was sentenced for murder. That nearly sent the boy over the edge, but you pulled him back, and that was when Rafe knew you were the one. You two were like a puzzle that just clicked, fitting into place so perfectly it was frightening for both of you.
Sighing at the chores in front of you, you decide to tackle the kitchen first, cleaning the dishes while simultaneously getting water everywhere. This is why Rafe was in charge of the dishes. You always seemed to make more of a mess than you planned to. Rafe would always joke that you werenât meant to be a housewife. After cleaning up the dishes and mopping up the new mess you created on the floor, your first task was done. Before wiping down the counters, you cleaned off and organized your notes and books from the breakfast bar. These were the times you really wished you had a house with its own study, much like Rafeâs childhood home. It was evident with the two of you living together for so many years that you started to run out of space. As you cleaned, things began to feel better, the atmosphere calmer.Â
You threw on a pot of coffee so it would be ready for when Rafe woke up, knowing he needed his caffeine before facing the day. Letâs just say if he didnât get his morning cup, he was the poutiest and grumpiest of bears all day. You giggled to yourself, thinking back to the first time Rafe stayed over with you. You never drank coffee. It wasnât your beverage of choice, but boy did you quickly invest in a small coffee maker when you saw him without caffeine. He stumbled out of your bedroom, groggy rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and subconsciously raided your cabinets for a mug. The shock on his face when you told him you didnât drink coffee still makes you chuckle. He whined at you like a child until you took him to the nearest Starbucks. He was cute when he was grumpy, but boy did his childlike manner know how to get under your skin. This boy was no morning person.
Out in the living room, you started to gather up the throw blankets and folded them neatly, placing them inside the ottoman next to the futon. Sighing, you knew you had to attack the mountain of laundry next. You gathered the near toppling hamper and dragged it to the door so it would be ready to run down to the laundromat, but you couldnât leave the excess pile on the floor. You grabbed an empty basket and started throwing clothes into it. A mix of sweatshirts, pants, polos, and crop tops quickly filled the small wicker basket The remaining items left behind are a pair of your jean shorts followed by a pair of Rafeâs khakis.
You picked up Rafeâs tan khaki shorts, and they feel heavier than normal. You dig your hand into his pockets and pull out the spare apartment keys that hung on a lanyard. Setting them on the table, you notice a torn piece of paper had slipped to the floor. You pick it up and see a number scribbled out on it. That was odd.
Why did Rafe have a random number in his shorts? Why didnât he just keep it on his phone if he needed it? Whoâs number was this? Was he using again? Your head spiraled, and panic set it. There was no way heâd hurt you, right? Not after everything youâve two have been through. He loved you, right? You loved him.Â
You knew better than to panic, but those three little words swallowed your heart when you thought of Rafe, and if there was any chance, he didnât feel the same you had to know. Against your better judgment, you pull your phone off the charger and start to dial the number. Hesitating before pressing send.
Ring
Ring
Ring
Click...
âHello?â
You gulp at the sound of a sickeningly sweet voice that answered the phone.
âUhm yeah hi, sorry, but w-who is this?â
âThis is Stacey, who is this?â The sweet voice sounded just as confused as your thoughts were.
âI found this number in my b-â you pause before finishing your sentence. Instead, opting for asking what you need to know.
âDo you know Rafe Cameron?â You blurt out the string of words connected by one fast breath.
âOh! Rafe! Yes, of course, I know him. Heâs such a cutie!â The voice rang out with a giggle.
âWe spent some wild times together back in the day, but anyways I never caught your name or why youâre calling actually.â She spoke a hazed tone to her voice.
The line was silent. You didnât know what to say or think anymore. Only one thought rang in your head. Rafe was cheating on you.
Before Stacey could speak again, you hung up the phone. A mix of hurt and angry tears slipping from your sockets. You couldnât believe he did this. All the times he told you you were his only one had all been lies. Nothing made sense, and throwing 3 years of a relationship down the drain hurt more than you could have ever imagined.
You loved this boy with all your heart, and he shattered yours. Your emotions took over as if you were on autopilot. You watched your actions unfold from within. You picked up the basket of clothes and stormed into the bedroom. The doorknob hit the wall startling the sleeping boy, but before he could realize what was going on, you dumped the clothes onto him in a huff.
âDid ya lose something, babe?â You seethe through your teeth.
The groggy boy wiping sleep from his eyes stutters out, barely coherent words.
âWh-What? Whatâs going on? Baby, are you okay?â
You scoff at Rafe, âAm I okay? Ha! Iâd be a lot better if I had never found this fall out of your pocket this morning, asshole.â
You ball up and chuck the torn paper at Rafe, who looks from your beet-red face back to the paper. Eyes going wide at your discovery.
âYouâre such an asshole, you know that? I canât believe after everything youâd stoop so low Rafe Cameron.â
âI really fucking thought youâd changed, that you werenât some arrogant prick who begged the world to praise the ground you walked on, but I guess I was wrong. Can take the boy from the Kooks but canât take the Kook out of the boy.â You spat your words out.
âN-no baby, you donât understand hold on just let me explain!â
âExplain what? That you cheated on me with some bitch named Stacey? That you held my heart in your hand and knowingly crushed it just to get your rocks off? Pathetic Rafe truly and utterly pathetic!â
Rafe was visibly upset, looking at you through glassy eyes. He didnât want you to be hurt. Thatâs the last thing he wanted, but there was no way youâd listen to him that this was all just a big misunderstanding.
âBaby doll, please just take a few breaths. This is not what you think.â He sweeps his arms up and pulls your hands into his. You sit on the edge of the bed, avoiding his gaze.
âI swear to you I would never in my life do anything to hurt you. Babe, how could I? I love you more than anyone on this godforsaken planet.â
You looked over to Rafe, the anger you held, turning to pure sadness. You didnât know what to think, so all you could do was listen.Â
He rubbed circles with his thumbs on the backs of your hands. Holding you tight. âYouâre my person, baby doll. My only person. You came into my life when I was so lost. You picked me up when my father kicked me out. You got me to get clean and was with me through all the relapsing and withdrawals. You never left my side. Always faithful. I would never dream of breaking your heart when youâre the one who found mine.âÂ
You sigh a shaky breath and look into your beautiful boyfriend's eyes, still just as lost, but you knew what he said was real. The warmth in your heart grew once more. Leaning into his touch, you speak with a sheepish tone.
âIf this is a misunderstanding, then tell me the honest truth, Rafe. Who is Stacey, and why did you have her number?â
Rafe cups your face with his hands and looks you straight in the eyes.
âY/N, I love you, okay?âÂ
He waits a minute, and getting no response from you, he continues.Â
âStacey is one of Sarahâs old friends from the Banks. We hung out a bit back in the day, but that was years ago. She was a big partier and a bit of an enabler. We would both do lines together and raise a bit of hell, but honestly, that's all our friendship was.â
âOkay... why are you talking to her now?â
âWell, baby, Sarah gave me her number because Stacey runs a well known... uh, business.â The hesitation in your boy's voice makes you wince. Was he lying again?
âAnd what kind of business are we talking about? Rafe, you told me youâd be honest. I-I canât take the lying, please just be straight with me here.â
Rafe sighed as he was about to come clean, but luck was on his side. You hear the rough knock knock knock come from the front of the apartment. Your guests were here. You knew this was his escape plan now, hoping you wouldnât bring anything up in front of his friends. Usually, heâd be right, but this time you werenât letting him off the hook. Not with how hurt you were feeling.
Rafe and you both stepped towards the door, opening it to see two smiling faces. Topper and Kelce looked strangely eager.
âMy boys! You couldnât have come at a better time!â The shirtless and sweat-panted boy spoke ushering his friends in.
They exchanged hugs and a few quick whispers as you stood back arms crossed.
âSo, do you two know about Stacey?â The words fall out of your mouth.
They look at her and back to Rafe, concern in their eyes.
âUhh, I mean, we know Stacey from back in the day,â Kelce spoke openly.
âYeah she was pretty cool, I wonder what sheâs doing nowadays. Donât see her around the Banks anymore, really.â Topper adds.
âOh, Iâll tell you what sheâs been up to. Her and Rafe have been talking ainât that right handsome?â
Rafe sighs, eyeing the boys. Before he could speak again, you spoke up.
âSo to continue our conversation, Rafe, what business is Stacey in, and why you have any interest in it?âÂ
The two boys are wide-eyed. âY/N really, there is something you're missing here.â
âYeah, a real misunderstanding!â
âOh, not you guys too! I canât believe this. Why donât you see whatâs happened is wrong?â
âBaby doll, can I just say one more thing before you make up your mind in what has happened?â
âFine... this better be good, Cameron.â
Rafe quickly turns to his boys, huddled up like they were having a meeting. Mumbles exchanged. Through the hushed tones, you managed to catch Topper asking Rafe if he was sure this was the right time and him replying he had no choice he couldnât lose you.
Rafe turns around and looks you in the eyes, his hand hidden behind his back.
âY/N, you mean the absolute world to me. You are my everything. You balance me in ways I never knew possible, and every day I wake up, I realize I love you more and more. Iâve grown so much with you in my life, and I wouldnât beg for it to change. I want our lives to continue to keep growing together. I want our adventures to bring us to crazy places. I want to wake up every day with no doubt in my mind that you are truly and perfectly my girl. Forever. So please listen to me when I say, everything you are feeling right now is so incredibly false. I would never do anything to intentionally harm you. I love you so damn much Y/N, and thatâs why I need to know...â
There is a pause as Rafe swiftly drops to his knee. Your mouth hangs open in complete shock. You are stunned at the sight in front of you as he brings his arm out front and opens up a small black velvet box. Inside, a dainty silver band holds a shining crystal clear diamond. Topper and Kelce beam behind the boy kneeling anxious for the next words that fall from his lips.
âWill you marry me?â Rafeâs eyes glass over once more, but not from hurt like earlier but with pure and resounding love for the girl in front of him.
Tears begin to slip from your eyes. You canât believe you ever thought Rafe would take away all you have built together in the last three years. You felt the guilt in your stomach whirl. Unsure if you can accept the love and admiration coming from the boy you love knelt in front of you.
âRafe... I am so... so incredibly sorry.â You sob out hands covering your face.
Rafe is up in seconds encasing you in his arms, laying a kiss on your hairline.
âShh baby doll, itâs okay, I promise. Iâm here. Itâs okay, love. Donât be sorry. I know it looked suspicious. I just wanted to surprise you.â
âI-I still donât understand.â
Rafe chuckles a bit before explaining.
âMy love, Stacey is an old friend from Outer Banks. She and Sarah are still pretty tight. And she happens to be in the business of custom jewelry... she makes some of the best work on the east coast.â
Realization dawns on you once more at how terribly you read the situation.
âI was in contact with her cause I wanted to make my girl a custom ring that was one of a kind, just for you and no one else. Thatâs part of the reason the boys came up. So they could deliver the ring to me.â
âI canât believe I was so worked up, oh my god baby. Iâm so sorry I never wanted to be the jealous girl, but I was just so, so heartbroken at the thought of losing you... I canât lose you, babe.â
You stand silently inhaling the scent of the love of your life who you screamed at for trying to surprise you with the best gift youâve ever received.
âSo... does that mean she said yes or?â Topper and Kelce chuckle trying to defuse the awkward tension in the room.
You erupt into laughter, and so does Rafe. You wrap your hands around his neck, pulling his lips down to yours.
âForever and always, baby... yes, Iâll marry you.â At that moment, you encompass him in a deep kiss, not caring you had company in the room. You were hungry for his love and embrace more than ever before.
You couldnât wait to live the rest of your life with Rafe, and who knew what the future held for you both. One thing was for sure you would tackle it together face on because nothing mattered to you more than the bliss you felt for your one true love.
#Rafe Cameron#Drew Starkey#rafe cameron angst#rafe cameron fluff#rafe cameron x reader#rafe cameron x y/n#rafe cameron outer banks#rafe cameron obx#rafe cameron oneshot#rafe cameron blurb#rafe cameron imagine#outer banks#obx#obx netflix#outer banks netflix#outer banks fanfiction#rafe cameron fanfiction#obx fanfiction#obx imagine#obx blurb#obx one shot#outer banks imagine#outer banks blurb#outer banks one shot#blurb requests#drew starkey fanfic#drew starkey fluff#drew starkey angst#outer banks fluff#outer banks angst
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Marichat!!!

Fairy Lights and Flower Boxes
Sorry this is so late! Anyway, I need sleep, so hereâs something quick âcause I donât know if you mean a doodle or a fic!
P.S. the fic is after ChloĂŠ has apologized, become nicer, and actively tried to help take down Hawkmoth and Mayura, even as a civilian.
Edit: I kinda forgot about Kagami so just assume she fell asleep or smth idk. Also fixed my spelling :/
~
âGirls night!â Alya had decreed as soon as she walked into class and saw Marinetteâs dead expression.
And that was why, at 8pm, Alya, Kagami, ChloĂŠ, Sabrina, and Juleka were in Marinetteâs room, engaging in a heated debate over who the better hero was: Chat Noir or Misterbug. The six girls had become quite close since Juleka and Sabrina figured out all of their identities, and accidentally told them all that they knew they were a hero in a group text instead of four individual ones. (It was 3am when they finally cracked it, okay? Everyone makes mistakes when theyâre tired!)
âMisterbug is clearly better!â Marinette said, slamming her hands on the table.
âYouâre only saying that because he doesnât make cat puns,â ChloĂŠ remarked, met by murmurs of agreement from the other girls.
From Sabrinaâs shoulder, Trixx chimed in, âHey, I like his puns! Chat Noir is definitely better!â
âNo way! Not with that stinky, cheese-eating kwami of his!â Tikki said, wrinkling her nose as she munched on a cookie.
âIs it not pointless to debate such things? They are the same person under the mask, after all.â Longg, in a flash, stole Tikkiâs cookie and returned to his perch on Alyaâs head. He winked at the bug kwami and ate it.
âHey, Longg, be careful! You know I love you, but that does not mean that I want crumbs in my hair!â Alya said, already trying to get any crumbs out.
Mullo squeeked, hiding behind ChloĂŠ as Sass chased him. âHey, leave him alone!â Pollen said, flying between the two kwamis.
âAw, youâre no fun,â Sass said, slithering back to Juleka as Mullo stuck his tongue out at him from the safety of ChloĂŠâs sleeping bag.
There was a tap on the window, and Marinette walked over to open it, telling the kwamis to hide.
âCome on in, Kitty,â she said as she opened the window. The cat squeezed inside the opening that should have been too small for him to fit through, seeing as Marinette had barely opened it, but through the physics of however the fuck cats work, he fit, seemingly with ease.
âPrincess,â he said, bowing and kissing her hand as she giggled. He turned, noticing the others, who were all regarding the interaction with suspicion. âAm I missing something, or did you just not invite me?â He pouted while giving her puppy eyes.
âItâs a girls night, dummy,â Marinette said as Alya threw a pillow in his face.
âWell then, can I join?â
âHmmm...â ChloĂŠ trailed off, seemingly lost in thought. She looked around, and the others nodded, knowing her well enough by now to predict exactly what she was going to say. âOnly if we can give you a makeover.â
âAnything to spend time with my Princess.â Marinette blushed deeply, which was not lost on the others. âBy the way,â he said, shaking flowers out of his hair, âwhatâs with the flower box?â
âI needed a little garden of inspiration, okay?â she said as the others hid their laughter.
2 hours later, Chat Noir, the hero of Paris, had on bright red lipstick, some black eyeliner, and some black eyeshadow, blended into green at the edges. (The girls had somehow managed to cover his mask in concealer. Donât ask how.) He had a tiara on his head, and Marinette had shoved a frilly, sparkly pink dress at him to put on over his suit. He had just finished putting on knee-length, silver, extremely high-heeled boots on over the normal boots his suit came with when he heard a crash.
âWhatâs going on? Is everything okay?â he said, trying to turn around but tripping on Alyaâs sleeping bag as his heels got twisted in it. âOw.â
âIâm okay,â Marinette called from her position by the window, tangled up in fairy lights. Sabrina and Juleka giggled, took a picture or two (or three...or ten...) and then went and helped her up, untangling her from the lights. The girls strung them up by the window.
âHey, can I get a picture for the Ladyblog?â
âBut of course! I couldnât deprive all of Paris from seeing me look this fabulous.â Chat Noir posed over dramatically while Alya took some photos. (The rest of the girls may or may not have photobombed one of them, resulting in a subsequent photo of Chat Noir laughing maniacally as the girls fell on top of each other in a large pile on top of Sabrinaâs sleeping bag.)
âHmm, maybe one with some fairy lights in the background would look nice,â Longg mused, having snuck up into Alyaâs hair, hidden from Chat Noirâs eyes.
âThatâs a great idea! Hey, Juleka, ChloĂŠ â could you hold up some fairy lights for me, please?â
âHey, watch the claws!â Chat whined after ChloĂŠ tripped on Julekaâs foot, tangling up the fairy lights in his claws.
âOh, here, let me help you,â Marinette said as she sauntered over. âLittle Kitty got caught in a mousetrap?â
âOnly one set by the best, Princess,â he winked, nodding at where the mouse miraculous had previously hung on her neck while they had fought Kwamibuster.
She blushed lightly as she set to work untangling him, only to be stopped by the lights twisting under someone elseâs control, wrapping her and Chat closer together until they were nose-to-nose.
âHey!â
âOops,â Sabrina said, fist-bumping ChloĂŠ. âHow utterly careless of me!â
Marinette tried to back away, but Sabrina tightened the lights even more. She could feel his breath on her face, and his lips brushed hers as he spoke. She turned bright red.
âWell, this seems like...quite the situation weâve found ourselves in, huh, Princess?â
âOh, shut up and kiss me, you silly cat.â
âWhatever you say, Princess.â He closed the gap between them.
The kiss was passionate, and when they pulled away, they were both bright red, and Marinette had gotten some of his concealer on her face and some of his lipstick on her lips. As they gasped for breath, Alya said, âYes! I got it all on camera!â
âAlya!â
âWhat, Marinette? Is something wrong?â The journalist had an innocent expression on her face, before the two tangled-up teens started laughing, turning back to face each other.
âSo...â His voice trailed off, and he gulped, looking away. âWould you want to, uh...go on a date tomorrow night?â
Her eyes lit up at th prospect. âOf course! Iâd love to!â
âIâll pick you up on your balcony at 6?â
âSure.â
âDress casually, okay? And maybe something to hide your identity, like a baggy hoodie.â
She rolled her eyes. âI know, Kitty. I am your Mouse-inette, after all, no?â
âYeah.â He looked her in the eyes. âYeah, you are.â
He pulled her into another kiss, and after they pulled away this time, ChloĂŠ said, âIs this how you two lovebirds are going to act all the time? Iâm starting to regret this.â
Everyone laughed.
âWhat? I was being serious!â
The two rolled their eyes, and were about to kiss again before they were quickly untangled and pulled apart by the girls.
âSo...â Alya butt in. âTruth or dare?â
#ladybug#miraculous ladybug#cat noir#chat noir#adrien agreste#marinette dupain cheng#adrienette#ladrien#ladynoir#marichat#miraculous#ml#ml fic#ml fanfic#ml fan fic#ml art#ml fan art#ml fanart#ml au#chloe sugar#alya sugar#sabrina sugar#juleka sugar#adrien sugar#chat noir sugar#cat noir sugar#mouse!chloe#snake!juleka#fox!sabrina#dragon!alya
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Loverâs Games: Rook
#rose's writings#twisted wonderland#twisted wonderland headcanons#twisted wonderland scenarios#twst#twst rook#rook hunt#red roses
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//do not reblog//
so hereâs the thing
my supervisor is the most unfortunate person in the world.
Their list of accidents, injuries, and ongoing health problems are almost beyond belief. If I hadnât been there to see it Iâd be pretty incredulous. Iâve never met someone who has been concussed so many times. Theyâve passed out in front of me twice. Last year before Christmas their home was robbed and they were injured by the thieves
This has mean, naturally, that they miss a lot of work
HOWEVER they always provide doctorâs notes (and police reports) as necessary. They provide every possible documentation of their latest misfortune, they always call in as soon as possible to let the store know whatâs going on. They push themselves to come into work even when the doctor is telling them not to and they work their hardest and do their job well
Management does not like my supervisor. They did not like them even before the absences due to illness and injury. Most of the managers are very petty and unprofessional people who pick on every little technicality with some people, while others can disappear from work for three days with no consequences. (Iâve left work early due to illness multiple times but didnât want to bother paying for a doctor to tell me I have a cold. No repercussions. No even a warning)
Management did their best to make my supervisorâs life hell. Doctorâs note? No, you handed it in too late we canât accept it. The doctor emailed it to us directly this time? The image was blurry so it doesnât count. Yes your head is swollen and bruised but did you really have a concussion? Okay yes this note covers these three days, but not the fourth day, so three days suspension for you. You want to use your sick pay? Oops we used you vacation days instead. You were being tested for covid and should have gotten leave and sick pay? No, not for you.
I could write six paragraphs about this. (then another six about how theyâre making people come into work while theyâre still waiting for covid test results!)
Last week my supervisor cut themselves seriously at work. It wasnât something safety procedures could have prevented. The cut was bad enough I got woozy just hearing about it. A doctorâs note was produced. Several employees were witness to the accident.
They fired my supervisor anyway.
Supervisor was called upstairs just after I came to work and . . .
never came back down
After an hour I looked for them then texted them and they told me they were fired. And escorted off the premises! Insulting overkill. The managers didnât tell me. Several of them walked by me afterward and not one of them even greeted me. All of management knew! The Horrible Coworker knew! They fired my supervisor even though technically they had no actual grounds, then they couldnât even be bothered to inform me, the assistant who runs the shop in their absence???
Right before Thanksgiving! Even if my supervisor was absent every other shift that would still be better than not having them at all? Because they are not hiring a replacement they have no plans to hire one. Their solution is to âhave Barbara do everythingâ and maybe eventually hire someone. Even if they have no consideration for my supervisor being a single parent, broke, plagued with health problems, now with no income during the holidays, they excused themselves that it was âinevitableâ and ânecessaryâ
Even if youâre being stone cold about this then if you were PROFESSIONAL you would make sure there was someone to replace them instead of dumping it all on one employee! Now itâs just me and the Horrible Coworker. When my supervisor was there we worked together really well and kind of kept each other sane. If they were professional they would have hired more workers MONTHS ago so if anyone called in weâd have people to cover shifts. This was just management finally wrangling an excuse to get rid of my supervisor.
I hate this place. They want me to be supervisor. I told them I donât want to and that Iâm looking for another job. They keep telling me âitâs fine itâs okay itâll all work outâ. No. You fired my supervisor like this and thatâs why I want to leave. I canât stand working with this people.
sorry if this is incoherent Iâm really upset. Thereâs a million other things management has done and Iâm overwhelmed with how unfair and petty it all is and the fact that I canât do anything about it. The last two days I see notes and projects my supervisor left behind and I get upset because it reminds me Iâm alone with no one to rely on during the holiday rush. Iâve given the managers a lot of attitude but unfortunately also started crying. Crying while wearing a face mask is not a fun experience.
So thatâs whatâs been going on
(PS my supervisor was in contact with corporate about a lot of this and got some of the issues partially rectified but management kept making excuses and brand new rules that werenât written down anywhere and increasing their pressure on my supervisor for making them look bad)
#a butterfly obsesses#//do not reblog//#//long post//#sheesh this is a lot longer than I thought it would be I'm used to the issues so laying them out is kind of a new perspective/
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Insect Poison Update #1
Before you check out this post, please remember that the fight against police brutality is still happening, and education is critical. All proceeds from this shop are still being donated to the BLM organization and will continue to be. More designs have been added since the original post was made, so be sure to click the link to find something you like.
If you donât know what Iâm talking about, feel free to jump over to my WIP introduction! I should mention that Aaron Bennettâs has been changed to Jack Bennett because I had a cool title idea for chapter 2 and needed to change his name for it to work.
So, I managed to spit out the first chapter in a couple days! Itâs been difficult, but also way more fun than I was used to writing being (probably because Iâm writing something I actually enjoyâwho knew I was capable??). I wrote every day for five days in a row, counting today, which is wild and something I havenât done since my NaNoWriMo days (AKA the first time I wrote this book).
Chapter 1 of the book is basically an intro to Robert and Ramonaâs dynamics as (twin) siblings and a short look into how their mother interacts with them. I know the prose for this chapter could use some more work, but I think thereâs a lot of character here that I liked exploring.
The chapter has three scenes: a scene where the twins are at the lake together, a scene where theyâre eating dinner with their mom, Emily, and their older sister Lori, and one where theyâve stayed up late to eat cookies their mom baked for Church on Sunday.
(oop this update turned out a lot longer than I thought it would be) (CW for like, one teeny mention of drugs)
Scene 1: overhand throws are superior
In this scene, Robert and Ramona leave the house to go to the lake at the end of the street, which theyâre not supposed to go to by themselves. They get into a bit of an argument that ends with a pair of shoes in the water.
The lake wasnât big or clean or pretty, but they didnât care much about those things. They didnât mind the algae that tugged at their ankles or the rocks that are so sharp they gave off the impression of wanting to cut you open. It was all theyâd ever known.
Since they werenât supposed to be at the lake, they also werenât wearing their swimsuits. They swam in their T-shirts and shorts, with Ramonaâs sweater lying where the sand and the grass met. Their shoes were tucked underneath it, as if anyone would want to steal their too-small shoes with cracks in the rubber and holes in the fabric. As if their appearance wasnât protection enough.
The water was cold enough to bite. It made their jean shorts cling to their legs, and they swam stiff and tight so they didnât have to feel the friction. They did that for two hours; they were rebel children, breaking all the rules.
^ this part was overall just pretty fun to write, and the last sentence is definitely my favorite because of what happens next:
âMomâs going to be so mad when we get home,â Robert said, treading water and staring his sister down. He didnât see himself in her face the way everyone else did. Maybe it was because he spent more time with Ramona than he did with mirrors. Maybe it was because she wore her hair in two, rust colored braids and his was short and brown and untameable. Maybe it was because he almost never liked Ramona, but usually, he liked himself.
âMomâs going to be mad,â he said again. She wasnât going to be, but Ramona played along anyway. She kicked her legs a little faster, trying to keep her chin above the water like her brother could.
âToo bad,â she said, âweâre already in the water. She canât do anything.â
The twins knew their mother wouldnât be mad. She wouldnât be mad if they were there for four hours. She wouldnât be mad if they waltzed into the house dripping wet from their hair and clothes, right onto the freshly mopped kitchen floor. Sheâd mop it again without a second thought. Sheâd ask them how their afternoons went.
I love this part because I got to explore how Robert and Ramona almost want to get in trouble if it means someone will pay attention to them. They want to get caught and be told no about something, but their mom is so absent minded (and high) that they can get away with whatever they want. In this chapter and probably further ones, we get to see them test exactly how far they can go.
Hereâs the part where the fight gets introduced: Ramonaâs ready to leave and Robert isnât, but he also doesnât want to stay by himself (even though heâd never admit that). He tells Ramona to give her the sweater sheâs holding, presumably to dry himself off a little. Instead, he tosses it into the lake.
Sweatshirts werenât exactly known for being aerodynamic and eleven year old boys werenât exactly known for their underhand throws, so it didnât go far. It landed pathetically into the shallow part of the water where their older sister used to take them to catch tadpoles in the spring (they would bring them home in buckets and tupperware and try to have their very own front yard aquarium. Their mother always spotted them and made them march back to the lake and dump dozens of them back into the water).
âRobert!â Ramona yelled, stepping into his space. He put his hands behind his back and stepped even closer. âGo get it!â
âItâs your sweater,â he said. He smiled and bent down to pick up a rock, mostly because it looked like the sort Ramona would bring home and put in a box with three dozen others. He forced his hand into his wet pocket and let it sit there, wrist deep in clinging fabric with a rock clenched in his fist. Later, on the way home, heâd toss it into the grass and never think about it again.
We can see here that Robert is a little unhinged and manipulative, and really wants to get a rise out of his sister and see what sheâll do. Her response is to be even more unhinged and manipulative:
Robert watched as she sat down to put on her shoes. He saw her stand up and toss his sneakers right into the water, one after the other, socks still tucked inside.
Eleven year old girls werenât known for their underhands, either, but their overhands could be surprising if they put some energy into it. The shoes sunk into the bottom of the lake, and the twins stared at one another as if to agree, just this once, to end the fight before things got worse.
Ramona didnât smile. She took no pleasure in being wicked. Still, sheâd be the first to admit that she took more than a little pleasure in her brotherâs silence.
Scene 2: pork and potatoes and corn.
Time for dinner! This scene was fun and mildly uncomfortable to write.
Emily Bennett was nothing if not a creature of habit. She thought this was her greatest secret, something to hold close to her chest, but the things she tried to hide were always smeared down to her sleeves.
âJust in time!â She said, her smile wide enough to call a canyon. She still had silverware in her left hand and a stack of cups in her right, and stared at the next seat in line instead of looking at the twins. Her mind was only at rest when her body was in motion, and even then she struggled to drown out the noise. âWeâre having pork and potatoes and corn. Go get your hands washed so you can eat, and let your sister know itâs dinner time.â
And a little later:
You kids are so quiet these days,â she said, setting her glass on the table. Condensation was already forming on the outside of the glass. The twins took turns shifting in their chairs, trying to escape from a heat that didnât seem to bother their mother or Lori. âWhat have you been up to?â
The three of them looked at each other, trying to decide who would take one for the team. When eyes settled on Ramona, she spoke up. âI re-organized my rock collection this morning,â she said, and took a bite of mashed potatoes to avoid saying anything further.
âOh, thatâs nice honey. Youâll have to show me later.â
Ramona had no intention of showing her mother the newly cleaned and sorted rocks, and Emily had no intention of looking. They were simply humoring each other.
âMhm. I think I might have found some amethyst.â Ramona was thought amethyst was her motherâs birthstone (it was, but after no comment from her mother about it, Ramona was sure sheâd gotten it wrong).
âHowâs the corn?â Emily asked, taking a bite of it and following it immediately with large gulps of water. The glass was half empty.
Lori spoke up. âGood. Same as always.â She wished, for a moment, that she could rewrite the sentence in her motherâs mind. Itâs good, mom. Did we get it from the store or the farmerâs market? Could you show me how to cook it the way you do? She didnât bother with these types of questions because Emily never taught her things when she asked. Lori couldnât recall the last thing her mother had taught her.
I canât really describe it, but the family dynamics are exactly how they need to be. I want there to be a certain feeling of tension and uneasiness when everyone is in the same place, but a tension theyâve all gotten used to.Â
The last scene is when the twins are stealing cookies and getting ready for bed, which Iâm not sure is totally necessary but I think it further shows their dynamics so it can stay for now.
âIâm tired,â Ramona said, trying to dip her cookie into a glass of milk sheâd almost finished. âI think Iâm going to go to bed.â
âIâm not tired,â Robert said, popping open a tupperware dish and reaching into it carefully, like the cookies might disappear if he moved too fast. âWant another one?â
âWe have to leave some, otherwise momâll notice.â
âShe wonât do anything about it,â he said, pushing the bowl across the table to her, âyou can have some more.â
âI donât want anymore. I want to go to bed.â Ramona stood to rinse out her cup at the kitchen sink, the tile cool and grounding under her feet. Robert left his glass on the table and the cookie bowl with the lid half on.Â
âFine, Iâll just go to bed, too.â
Not to continue telling every bit of psychology surrounding the charactersâ actions, but this part is interesting because again, both of them are aiming to get caught and get into trouble, but they refuse to do it without the other. Robert starts everything and Ramona finishes it before it gets too far.
The chapter ends with them getting ready for bed and Ramona hearing her dadâs truck pull into the driveway, meaning heâs home for a weekend before his next set of deliveries and destinations and whatnot. I think I want this to be the inciting incident, but I have to work on it more and figure out what I actually want to happen here.
Overall, the chapter clocked in at 2802 words, and I think after I go back and add some more description and imagery (which is definitely where Iâve fallen short so far), it should end up around 3000-3200. I really enjoyed writing this chapter (I think this book is by far the most exciting project for me, and is going to help me figure out what I want to write from now on), and I want to talk more about how my process is going, but I think thatâll be a separate post where I talk more about process and music and all those little things that go into a writing session for me.
If you have any questions about the story or characters, want to get added to the taglist, or just have anything to say about it in general, make sure you do that in an ask so I can be sure to see it! My notifications are sketchy but Iâve never had an issue with ask notifications.Â
Taglist: @coffeeandcalligraphyâ @alicewestwaterâ @fliiik-artâ
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Tadaxel fic for Tadashiâs birthday! đđ¤đł
And I OOP- I did it. Sorry. No actually Iâm not, it was a nice change of pace to write this. I think I might do more CharacterXCharacter fics from now on! I was getting a âlil bit tired of always doing Main10XScholar fics. Donât get me wrong though, I love Scholar! I just needed to change it up a bit. (And like promised Olivier is in it too whoops.) This fic is almost 3k words long! ...God, what am I doing with my life? Anyways, have a nice read! đđ
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Autumn was starting. The days were getting slightly shorter as time went on and the weather colder and colder. Knowing his friends, Tadashi had warned them about one thing.
âDonât plan a birthday party for me. I donât have enough time to celebrate it this year.â
Homework and âstudent-body-president-dutiesâ were kicking in so the *one* area from which Tadashi decided to take time away from was his birthday. Everyone found that line of reasoning ridiculous. He always had time for others and for work but never for himself. It was almost as if he loved suffering. The worst part of it was that his birthday conveniently fell on a Saturday this year. It was the perfect moment to celebrate it, Ellie especially was jealous of how lucky Tadashi got and yet he still decided to âCaNcELâ his birthday. Ellie didnât have that luxury, her birthday was always during the exam period of the year: in June.
Alistair tried his best to dissuade him and get him away from his desk, the place where he spent most of his day. His BIRTHday. Tadashi didnât budge. Only when the sunset was setting did he finally decide to step back. Time went so quickly and all he did was working on assignments. He had one last thing left for the day: go shopping. Something that he had ever rarely done thus far. It was about time to learn how to, until now Tadashi was always sent âshoppingâ with a butler to âhelp himâ choose. In reality, all Tadashi did was try on the clothes they ordered him to wear. In the end, all he had for his casual wear was white shirts, ties, dark colored pants and mostly brown shoes. Even if he wonât celebrate his birthday with his friends, he still wants to go out and buy something for himself. More precisely: a set of clothes that wasnât dictated by his father.
Since a while back, Tadashi always felt like there was a disparity between his taste and those of his classmates. His casual clothes didnât even look all that âcasual.â When he would go out with his friends, he looked like a coworker taking a break with his colleagues. But last week, reality had slapped Tadashi in the face: he can dress how he wants to. Or more accurately, Olivier had slapped him in the face with this revelation. He was having a conversation with him about the fashion department for some reason, then, Olivier took off his cat mask and looked at Tadashi straight in the eyes. He said:
âTadashi. Youâre free now. You can dress however you want to so please do it. Iâm begging you.â
Tadashi was confused. This was coming from a guy who wore a black suit all the time instead of the school uniform. Actually, Tadashi was pretty sure that this was the very first time he saw Olivierâs face. He looked ugly but in a really cute way, he was like slightly above average with a sprinkle of misplaced handsomeness here and there. It was as if God didnât really know what to do with him and used the ârandom traitsâ button. Anyway, Tadashi wondered how he was a senior and yet Olivier, who was supposed to be one year above him, was still coming to school. So instead of answering what he was asked, Tadashi used his remaining braincells to try and get a response to his urgent question.
âHow come youâre still here? Did you get held back a year or...?â
Olivier covered his face with the mask again and closed Tadashiâs mouth with the palm of his hand.
âSssshhhh. Listen. Iâll only tell you this because I blindly believe that you wonât ditch on me but... Iâm actually not a student here. Iâve never been. In reality, Iâm a programmer in my twenties. My hobby is to pretend to be a teenager in Arlington, Lady A owes a big debt to my family so she canât do anything about my presence here. All you have to do is to not tell anyone, okay? If the students find out, Iâll be kicked out for sure. But as far as they know Iâm just a weird student whoâs been held back in my senior year for 2 years in a row. There will come a day when I wonât be able to fool them anymore but for now, please just play along.â
âOkay.â
After that day, Tadashi pondered a lot about what Olivier had told him...
...
......
.........
âYou can dress however you want.â
Yes. That was the one truly important thing he had taken away from this conversation. Thank you Olivier for your wisdom. Tadashi had made up his mind: the day of his birthday heâll go shopping alone. And thatâs what he did.
The curfew was in about 2 hours, in normal circumstances, the custodians didnât have the right to let the students go out so late... however, if Tadashi had learned *one* thing from his family, it was the use of Privilegesâ˘. So using his âIâm the student body presidentâ card, he managed to step out from the school grounds and promised to come back as soon as he could.
He decided to go check out the most basic stores first just for curiosityâs sake, such as: H&N, Sike, Levyâs, Kalvin Clein, Badidas, etc. Until last year, all he would get was tailored suits and other âprofessionalâ bullshit a teenager shouldnât have to wear. Now he was finally free to go wherever he wanted, and itâs in the middle of those shops that he came across the one person in front of which he didnât want to look stupid. A black hoodie on and his hair in a ponytail, he was looking straight at Tadashi.
â...What are you doing here?â
Tadashi instinctively switched to his "fake offended" look.
âUm. Shopping? Like you are?â
Axel glanced at the salmon pink shorts Tadashi was holding, not at all convinced by his try-hard witty remark.
âOh? So uh, were you aware that itâs fall already or are you buying your summer clothes in advance? âCause those pink shorts ainât gonna cut it to keep you warm buddy.â
Tadashi looked down at this random piece of clothing he was holding and hurriedly put it back while averting Axelâs gaze. He had already made a fool of himself from the very start of their encounter. Seeing that he was clearly embarrassed from the mocking comment, Axel dropped the act.
âNo but seriously, why are you shopping alone at this hour? Itâs your birthday, go have fun with your friends.â
Thinking about it now, from an outsiderâs perspective his actions must look pretty dumb. Begging your friends to not celebrate your birthday, working all day then going shopping alone in the evening for some reason? Every single one of his decisions made sense in his mind but not in the eyes of others. In the end, he had worked himself to exhaustion all day, then he went shopping alone at the brink of the night. Understandably, his actions didnât seem to make any sense.
âI... I wanted to buy some clothes by myself without the help of anyone else.â
Axelâs confused face turned to bewilderment the moment Tadashi uttered those words.
â*What?* Dude, you sound like youâre twelve. Come on, itâs not like itâs your first time choosing your clothes for your... self... Oh boy. Donât tell me...â
At Axelâs realization, Tadashi looked down in shame hoping that this moment would come to pass as quickly as possible. Thatâs right, just make fun of me and get over with it. But instead of mockery or a mean joke, Tadashi felt a strong grip on his shoulders.
âTadashit, listen. Even *I* canât make fun of this. We have to fix this problem as soon as possible and weâll definitely celebrate your birthday tomorrow, okay?â
Tadashiâs mind immediately rushed to all of the tasks he had to fulfill tomorrow.
âBut-"
âShush. No buts. Iâm gonna help you buy two or three outfits, weâll start from there. But eventually, youâll have to replace all of your horrible wardrobe, okay?â
When Axel finally let go of his shoulders, he then grabbed Tadashiâs wrist and started dragging him out of the shop they were in. Tadashi was mildly fighting back, one part of him not wanting to get help from Axel of all people, another part of him curious of what kind of advice Axel could give him.
âH-hey! Where are you taking me?â
âTo Never 21, hopefully theyâll have something that suits you Tadashit. Even if youâre planning on changing up your wardrobe, weâll start with some really basic clothes though. For example, I feel like something simple and dignified would fit you, you get me?â
âUh... what?â
Simple and dignified? What does that even mean?
Upon entering the shop, Axel finally let go of his wrist and started looking around in search of something âsimple and dignified.â Tadashi hesitantly followed him, not knowing what to do. He felt like a kid again, the kid who would stand next to the butlers and wait for their decision. That is until Axel picked up a light blue shirt and showed it to him.
âSo what do you think of that one? It has a cute little logo on the chest pocket or... whatever those are called.â
â...Youâre asking for my opinion?â
Tadashiâs face subtly lightened up as he remembered that this situation was not at all the same as before. He was shopping with a friend, not a butler who gets commands from his father.
âDuh. Youâre the one whoâs gonna wear this, not me. Frankly, I think that itâs still too tame but you donât want to stray too far away from what you usually wear, right?â
âHm. Actually. Can you dress me up in different styles? I want to see what fits me and what doesnât. You seem much more well-versed in fashion than me, I think that Iâll really need your help.... Please?â
Thrown off by Tadashiâs honesty, Axel couldnât even take a jab at him. In fact, being able to communicate with him without bickering was quite refreshing. Actually, it was about time for them to stop quarreling for every single thing.
"...Alright. Letâs do that. But just so you know, weâll probably be late for the curfew. Oh. And you owe me.â
Like promised, Axel dressed Tadashi up in a lot of different outfits. Surprisingly, a lot of things fit him. Even the most unlikely styles, like the âhippie styleâ weirdly enough. Or rather, âbohemianâ as Neha calls it.
âHuh. I was planning on making fun of you but you know what? You look good.â
Tadashi felt confused because of the unexpected, but genuine compliment he got. So all he could do was smile awkwardly while looking down at the floor again.
âYou think? But Iâm not a big fan of this... âstyleâ to be honest. Iâd rather take the one I tried a bit earlier, the one with the pink-ish shirt.â
âFair enough. Letâs buy that one then.â
Axel couldnât help but notice that Tadashi may or may not secretly really like the color pink. Maybe it was a subconscious choice, but he would always pay attention to pink, yellow, and green colored clothes. Maybe because he never got a chance to wear bright colors before? He would always be in black and deep blues so he most likely yearned for more lively colors. Thinking about it now, it was obvious that his clothes were always dictated by his fatherâs tastes. Despite the fact that they used to fight a lot, especially last year, Axel felt a big amount of empathy towards Tadashi and quite a bit of respect for being able to stand up to his father after all of those years of getting manipulated.
At the counter, Axel impulsively decided to take out his credit card.
âIâll pay for that.â
Tadashi looked up from his own wallet, surprised.
âWait, really??â
âMh-hm. Itâs your birthday today and I didnât really prepare anything so...â
The cashier folded the clothes, pu them in a bag and handed them to Axel. Axel in turn, handed the bag to Tadashi.
"There you go... Happy birthday, Tadashi.â
Even if he would never admit it, the sincerity in in Axelâs voice made Tadashi feel soft for half a second. His voice didnât sound annoying when he wasnât joking around and making stupid comments. Actually, this may have been the first time Tadashi realized that Axel had a pretty voice.
âUhhh... Th-Thank uh. Thank you.â
Whatâs going on? Axelâs voice is pretty? No no no. It sounds annoying and condescending, not pretty. Absolutely not!
While Tadashi was having a crisis and fighting back against himself, Axel was already plannig on moving to the next shop. Like earlier, he tried to grab Tadashiâs wrist and drag him to their next destination. However, his aim was bit off as he did not look down before seizing his target. Tadashi was thrown off once again.
âUh. Axel...? Thatâs my hand.â
Axelâs gaze finally went down to where he was grabbing. Seeing that it wasn't Tadashiâs sleeve but his hand, he immediately let go.
âAh. Damn, sorry dude uhh... I didnât mean to hold your um...â
The poor boys looked down in shame at their mistake, or rather âaCcidEnTaL hAnD hoLdiNg.â Axel started feeling the same kind of emotional distress Tadashi was fighting against earlier. Whatâs happening? Why is it so awkward? If something like this happened at school, they would already be in the middle of cursing at eachother.
âUm. Anyway! Just follow me, okay? I shouldnât even need to drag you in the first place. Letâs go.â
They tried to ignore that incident as best as they could and moved on to the next shop. In the end, they bought more than 3 outfits. Even Axel picked up some things for himself with Tadashiâs help. Everything was going well until they looked at their phones, remembering the thing they had forgotten.
âUgh. Shit. Dashi, itâs already 5 minutes past our curfew. But youâll cover for me, right?â
âDude, of cour- Wait. Did you just call me Dashi?â
Axelâs mind had clocked out entirely. He looked at his right, desperately trying to look unconcerned.
âUh. No?â
â... Yes.â
â...â
Axel couldnât ignore Tadashiâs pressuring gaze. His grey eyes were really convincing when needed.
âOkay fine. But it was only because Raquel often calls you that.â
Satisfied of his win, Tadashi started walking on ahead towards the nearest restaurant with a little smirk on his face.
âUh-huh. Sure, Axel.â
âHey! Donât give me that all-knowing look! Or else Iâll go back to calling you Tadashit.â
âOh please, youâll do that tomorrow whether I want it or not.â
Tadashi passed the door and sat down next to a window, followed closely by Axel.
âDude, didnât you hear what I just said? Itâs past our curfew, weâre already late and instead of hurrying back you sit down in a restaurant?â
Waiting for an answer, Axel stood there dumbfounded as Tadashi gently shot a smile at him and placed his wallet on the table, already waiting for the the waiter.
âSit down, Iâm treating you for your help today... Thank you, Axel. Really.â
Axelâs annoyance was short lived. He really couldnât do anything in front of this guyâs demanding look. Is that how he always gets everyoneâs favors? By looking people in the eye and smiling? As much as he hated it, Axel was starting to understand how Tadashi was so convincing: it was his stupid, dumb, frustrating... pretty grey eyes. Screw him and his âI know what I want and Iâll get itâ look. Screw the curfew, the custodians, all the people who always got fooled by this gaze. But most of all, screw himself for getting tricked too. Goddammit.
Axel sat down with a slight blush on his face that he was trying to hide under his hand as he placed his mouth on his palm.
âYouâre welcome. But fuck you.â
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Annnnnd done! I think this one was pretty fun! Not only to write but to read too. Please tell me what you think! I miss the funny comments you guys always left tbh đ My favorite part was the aCcidEnTaL hAnD hoLdiNg. Thank you for reading đđ
#sweet elite#se#tadashi nakano#axel#fanfics#fanfiction#birthday#tadaxel#yes Iâm late again#but at least itâs only a couple of days this time!
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The Hourglass
Previous Chapter Thirteen: Trust in meÂ
Happy Monday. This completes day thirteen of whumptober: breathe in and breathe out. Enjoy!
Chapter Fourteen: Moments in TimeÂ
âSay hello to your new guardians.â
Peter pulled down the sleeves of his shirt and gave a withered glance at Tony who greeted them with a smirk in the lobby of the hospital. He ignored the flip in his stomach. This was a different Tony All that mattered was finding the truth and if he was a bit giddy from escaping the hospital, well, he wasnât going to complain.
âHell, Tony. You work fast when you want to.â â¨â¨
âWhat can I say,â He said saddling up to them and throwing his arms around each of their shoulders. âIâm the kind of person who canâŚââ¨â¨
âStuff it?â Rhodey added helpfully.
âFuck off?â Peter said to which Rhodey laughed.
âI can offer my support and guidance to this wrecked youth in need. You imbeciles. Itâs not too late to take you back.â He said with a side eye at Peter as Rhodey and him continued to laugh together.
âWe have to keep him. I mean he looks so good in the plaid and all.â Rhodey shoved them all so they wobbled over each otherâs legs and barely missing the spinning doors. Peter remained squished between them the whole trip to the car. His cheeks hurt from smiling.
-
Unlike so many years ago they arrived at the apartment with the gloom of impending doom. Though he still had a flash of apprehension, this time was fresh. He almost expected to see the door split in two on the floor and broken kitchen table, but there wasnât a single scuff mark or dented piece of furniture in sight. Not even the fabric of the couch, less faded green than he remembered, was worn from use.
At the hospital it was difficult to believe the he had time traveled but the apartment it was obvious. The rubber pile in the corner turned out to be a clear inflatable seat with glitter. Behind it was a sturdier, more expensive looking chair pushed into the corner. The influence of Rhodey and Tony and their youth, he assumed, was abundant. He often wondered how long they lived in this space.
They settled around the table Peter had last seen in pieces. He grabbed the cups out of the cupboard to pour water.
âWhat?â He said as he set them down on the table. They eyed each other before Rhodey spoke. Â
âHow did you know thatâs where the cups were?â
Peter looked down at the table clenching his fists in his lap. âOh, uh, well. Thatâs just how it was at my house and I assumed the same here. Itâs a fairly common cupboard design about 45 percent of people have the cups to the left of the stove.â â¨â¨
They stared at him and shared another look. Peter watched as Rhodey shrugged.
âAlright.â Tony said clapping his hands to gather them around. âI need to fill you in on the cover story and just make sure everythingâs okay with you. This is not an actual kidnapping no matter what my compatriot says.â â¨â¨
âYou thought it sounded cool as well.â Rhodey crossed his arms in front of him.
âOf course, it sounds cooler. Anyway, I want to preface this by saying I can undo any of this if you want. You also donât have to sign them now, although if someone comes sniffing around it would be better.â
He shifted through the stack of papers laid out on the table and began describing the plan. Tony hadnât been joking when he mentioned guardians earlier. The guardianship, as far as he could tell from reading through the papers was as legit as his driverâs license. Peter signed his name wondering how legal this all was. Tony was putting the papers away in a matter of minutes.
When he asked how everything wrapped up so quickly Tony said: âIâm rich, kid, and money buys this type of stuff way too easy to be okay with but it does have its advantages. Case in point here.ââ¨â¨
âYou were right to be worried. The CPS was looking for you. Along withâŚââ¨â¨Someone kicked Peter under the table.
âOw!â
âOops that was meant for Rhodey.ââ¨â¨
âOw, damn Tony.â
The two devolved into bickering from there and Peter never learned what Rhodey was going to say.
-
The brush moved up and down the wall. It repeated the same motion over and over leaving a trail of evidence on the vertical surface until it dried. He knew what room would be his before they walked him down the hall. There was the bed and dresser but was void of all the decorations that had been hanging when Peter lived there before.
âWeâve just never gotten around to decorating. So, itâs up to you, honestly I couldnât care less so go all out.â
Peter requested blue paint and bedspread but gave no more direction than that. All three of them dressed in old t-shirts so the painting would go quicker. Peterâs thoughts wandered after the first wall. With every new stroke of paint, he wondered how and if he was changing the future. The possibilities confronted him with every decision no matter the size. He could be changing everything. The time space continuum could be irrevocably destroyed by him eating a bowl of Wheaties in the morning. Not that the apartment was stocked with any healthy cereal.
The worst aspect was the secret voice in his mind that wanted to change everything. He wanted to storm out and never return to the apartment. He longed to stay wrapped up in his new comforter and never leave. He wanted to go see May. Longed to stare at her smile and wrap his arms around him. Would she recognize him somehow in the deepest parts of her? Would their connection transcend time and reality? What was the right choice?
The answer scared him.
The impossibility of the situation was precisely why he was staying inside the apartment as much as he could. This afternoon was paint day.
âWhy the long face, Peter?ââ¨
âGo away Tony.ââ¨â¨
âWell, heâs got a point. You look like you wanted to paint it with lavender and we wouldnât let you. I knew that lilac wouldâve been perfect.â â¨â¨
âShut it, Rhodey.â He said with a reluctant smile. Tony stepped toward him and with a flick of his wrist, pointed the paint brush at him. Peter wiped his sleeve along his chin.
âPoint to you, Honey Bear. I need to step up my game.ââ¨â¨
âWhat-what do you mean?â Peter dipped his paintbrush into the pot, making sure to wipe one side off before dabbing it into the corner of the wall.
âWeâve got a small bet going to see who can make you smile more. Believe me, kid. Itâs harder than it looks. Here I thought I was king of moody but you might take the cake.â
They gave each other high-fives as Peter deadpanned. He should be mad they were betting about him. They were laughing and he agreed, it was ridiculous. Their attempts were absurd and stranger still, it was working. Tony rubbed in the point he won from Peterâs smile. Before he could celebrate Peter jabbed him with the paintbrush staining his shirt with a blue dot. He turned to Rhodey and with some extra strength and a precision throw launched the paintbrush at him.
Both exclaimed and an all-out war ensued.
The room was painted⌠eventually.
The paint never came out of their clothes.
None of them cared that much.
-
âDid you hear that our esteemed guest. Itâs movie night, although I wouldnât get too excited because itâs Tonyâs turn to pick.
âYou guys watch without me, Iâm not feeling it.ââ¨â¨
Peter found out within days of living with their younger versions that Tony was right. He was the king of moody and he was wearing the crown tonight. Only with the promise of cookies and popcorn had he emerged from his room wrapped snug in one of his blankets. Tony snatched the cookie tin away from Rhodey and, with crumbs on his mouth, refused to watch any movie his friend suggested.
âBut we didnât celebrate Christmas Tones. Pllleeease.â
âYou know I donât like it.â â¨â¨
They sat, arms crossed, staring at each other. Peter shifted his weight between them. He was on his way to make popcorn at Rhodeyâs request but Tonyâs refusal had put a stop to the plans. He risked a glance at Tony who was still staring daggers at his friend.
May and Ben had seen how Peter struggled with the holidays in the beginning years of living with them. While they never forced cheer on him, they created traditions Peter could find a sense of newness in. Instead of baking gingerbread cookies, they cooked pfeffernusse. Rather than hanging stockings, their faux fireplace was lined with t-shirts they decorated and sewed up at the bottom. Sometimes Christmas wasnât about Christmas as much as it was about just being with people. Peter had an idea. It just so happened to involve a movie heâd watched with them twenty-five years into the future.
âHow about we watch some good old classic horror films. House of Dracula?â
The suggestion was unfair in some ways because he knew Tony only watched horror movies during the holidays. Their conversation at the hospital shed some light on the reason why he refused to watch family films at this time of year. Peter decided not to question if this was a previous tradition or if he was the one to introduce it.
Two hours later found Rhodey snoring â heavy breathing, he insisted â on the couch. Peter and Tony carried the empty dishes into the kitchen. Peter began washing and Tony leaned against the island counter, water in hand.
âHey, Peter?â Tony handed him the glass but didnât move away from his side.
âHmm?ââ¨â¨
âHow did you know I liked to watch horror movies?ââ¨Peter froze for a moment and began scrubbing again. He forced himself to laugh.
âI didnât. I picked something not Christmassy but still a movie so Rhodey would be happy.ââ¨â¨
Tony hummed. âYouâre a strange kid. You know that?â
âSo Iâve been told.â He scrubbed harder.
âYou know I didnât mean it that way.â
âDo I? I donât know you. Not really. I donât think I ever did.â The frustration was hot on the back of his neck. Peter rinsed the brush and began scrubbing anew. Â âWhy do you watch horror movies at Christmas anyway?â
Tony contemplated his words. Timed slowed in that moment. The water dribbled down his wrist and into the sleeve of his sweatshirt, Tonyâs foot tapped against the cabinet, and the snores from Rhodey wafted into the room. Finally, he stopped tapping his foot and turned toward Peter.
âIt was something my mom and I did. I, uh, didnât get along with my dad and used to get scared too easily. We would watch them together to conquer that fear I had. Itâs stupid but I just never associated Christmas with Christmas growing up.ââ¨â¨
âItâs not stupid and, if it means anything, I understand. When I lived with my aunt and uncle we never really celebrated in a traditional sense. Iâm sorry I snapped.â
Tony shrugged. âItâs nothing I didnât deserve. Iâm trying not to push but I am me so bear with it while I practice.ââ¨â¨
Peter chuckled. Tony had no idea how pushy he was sometimes.
-
Peter choose the wrong one.
It was such a small detail; one he barely noticed was absent on his second introduction to the apartment. Tony had given him a magazine and instructed him to pick any phone he wanted for the living room. He dropped it on Peterâs desk and hurried off not answering his questions about what happened to the last one. Peter gathered from Rhodey that someone, he wasnât going to snitch, had thrown it out the window.
Yes, out their multistoried apartment window.
Peter flipped through it and then heâd seen the one. It was so cool complete with clear plastic and these colored innards. The neon fidgets inside would move when you were on the phone convinced him so heâd ordered it without a second thought. Â
It wasnât until he awoke in the middle of the night sweat soaked through his shirt that he remembered. Â He stumbled to the office and rummaged through the papers in hopes of finding the receipt. Of all the times for someone to organize. Â
Damn it.
The phone in the future wasnât clear with neon accents. It was a hamburger. The phone was in the shape of a hamburger. Would this food shaped communication device be the difference between life and death?
He didnât know.
It was his fault.
He backed up into the hallway until his back hit the wall.
Peter barely noticed the shaking of his hands but could feel the pins and needles of each breath he took. His breath stalled and built up the pressure in his chest begging to escape out. His fingers tingled. Peter lost track of time.
âBreathe in and breathe out.â
âWeâre here⌠sitting right beside you, Peter.â
âYou are here in our apartment. You are Peter Parker. Iâm Rhodey. Thatâs Tony and we are going to be okay.ââ¨â¨
Peter came back to himself in slow increments. His back was pressed against the wall. There was cramp in his legs from curling them up to his chest. He stiffened and then relaxed. Two bodies were pressed against each of his shoulders. His head was bent up, resting on Rhodeyâs shoulder and his hand was tucked into Tonyâs palm between their bodies on the floor.
He didnât remember his mission or how angry heâd been. All he could think about was the fact he might have ruined it all. He might have taken their future away and it was all his fault. What would happen if he ever went back to the future and these solid presences were no more all because he made a mistake?
Rhodey shifted in his sleep. Peterâs head fell more fully on his shoulder. He breathed in the minty scent and some of the anger he dragged back with him from the future chipped off his heart. Did the truth matter from the future when the Tony and Rhodey from here and now were beside him, comforting him?
Peter closed his eyes and slept.
Thank you!
Next Chapter Fifteen: Down Once More
#whumptober 2020#whumptober2020#no. 13#breathe in and breathe out#breathe in#peter parker#rhodey#james rhodes#tony stark#marvel#avengers#spider man#fic#fanfic#ao3#AU#time travel#avengers AU
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