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tinybirbwrites · 2 years ago

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The Ultimate Strategy (Astarion & Reader)

This is very silly. Set rather early on in the game. Nothing romantic, just silly and fun. Gender neutral reader, no use of y/n, sort of implied player!reader. Sort of graphical description of someone being set on fire? Not too graphic but it happens. 1,6k words.

People would often think you’re stupid—Astarion could tell by the way they looked at you or talked to you. He himself thought you weren’t the brightest of the bunch when he first met you. Ohh, but you weren’t stupid at all. Yes, maybe some logical thinking and some puzzles proved a challenge for you, and sometimes the subtext was too hidden for you to see, but you could read people quite well. You could tell when they were trying to fool you; there was always that little knowing smile on your lips and that glimmer in your eyes when you knew exactly what they were trying to do, and yet you went along anyway to humor them, only to beat them at their own game.

Sometimes Astarion wondered whether you were a master diviner, someone who dreamed about the future every night, because he swore some things you knew shouldn’t be possible. He would see you buy or collect some strange item and think “how unnecessary,” only to be proven wrong a little while later.

“Humor me,” he said to you one morning, making you look up from your bowl of leftover food from the evening before. “Why are we collecting these?” Astarion gestured over to the big pile of barrels, each either containing oil, smokepowder, or firewine. Quite hazardous, which is why it was being kept far away from Karlach’s tent. You had insisted on collecting each explosive item you could find and carry it back to camp, and because everyone had grown to trust you, no one argued. Because, just like Astarion, the other companions had also noticed your futuristic insight and fondness for ridiculous yet clever strategies.

You beamed at him. “I’m so glad you asked, Astarion.” Putting your bowl down for the time being, you instead took a stick and drew some lines into the dirt. “Using your wonderful imagination for a moment here, you would see that this,” you tapped the middle of your drawing, “is the place right outside the grove. You know, where we first encountered the goblins that were attacking the tieflings and humans outside the gate.”

He tilted his head, then went to stand directly behind you to look over your shoulder. “I can sort of see it. What about it?”

“Well, my dear friend,” you turned your head and grinned up at him, waggling your eyebrows. “What if I told you that there will be a big confrontation, and we could easily solve it with the right means.” You nodded towards the barrels. “Just imagine; the whole field, full with explosive barrels. One little bolt of fire and they all go boom.”

Astarion imagined it, and yeah, okay, that sounded like fun alright. “And who are we blowing up, exactly?”

“The goblin army, of course,” you said, as if it was obvious. Noticing his frown, you quickly explained, “Everyone keeps talking about ‘the big goblin problem’ this and ‘the goblin camp’ that. Obviously there will be a confrontation at some point, and I just wanna be prepared for it. We’ll probably find out more once we go to the goblin camp ourselves.”

He raised an eyebrow, partly impressed, partly doubtful. “And, what? We just put barrels all over the field and hope they won’t notice and just walk right into the trap?”

You pursed your lips. “Okay, good point. Either we bury and hide the barrels, or we, uhh… Maybe we could put some illusion spell on them? Surely Gale knows a way.”

Astarion stared at you for a moment. “You’re only thinking about this now? You honestly thought the enemy wouldn’t notice—” he looked over at the pile and roughly estimated the quantity, “thirty-something explosive barrels standing around an open area?”

You cleared your throat and put the stick away to keep eating. “... Maybe. But, hey, thanks to you, we can prepare for it now. Thanks, Astarion.”

He could have made more indignant and snarky comments, could have teased you more, and usually he would have. But your smile was so earnest and genuine and bright, all he could do was make a small noise at the back of his throat and shake his head.

Turned out that Gale did indeed know some good spells to disguise the barrels, by putting an illusion on them to make people think they were something else, like a bush or a piece of wood or a big rock. After a few hours of setting everything up, you declared a job well done and that you all would infiltrate the goblin camp the very next day.

Again, things worked out more smoothly than Astarion thought.

You’d revealed the grove’s location to the drow, Minthara, much to the other companions’ shock. When Karlach took you aside to question your decision, you had assured her that everything would be fine. “I planned for this, remember? It will all work out, trust me. They won’t step one foot into the grove, I won’t let them.”

Astarion personally didn’t really care either way—he had absolutely not grown fond of the tiefling refugees or any of their thieving children, thank you very much—but he was very much invested in your strange plan at this point.

So when the time came, tieflings and druids warned about the goblin army (with most of the refugees actually preparing for the fight, while the druids hid away like cowards inside the caves) and everyone stood up on the hill by the big horn, and you watched as at least a hundred goblins, big and small, together with their blood hungry pets marched up to the gate, you were confident. Perhaps even a little smug.

Minthara was on higher ground, the hill near the middle of the field, and Astarion remembered how you had insisted on carrying several barrels up there as well, fretting about their exact positions. Again, he was convinced you must have somehow known about this. This couldn’t be just a lucky guess or coincidence.

Some of the goblins even carried little explosive barrels on their backs, which were lit up like a bomb as they ran towards the gate to blow it up. Before they could get any closer, you had already given Astarion the order to shoot the fucker down and let it explode next to one of your own hidden barrels.

He held his breath, and everyone watched as the chaos unfolded so very beautifully. It was a wonderful and perfect chainreaction; one barrel exploded, immediately setting off the next, and then the next, the fire and explosions taking all of the goblins with it. Before Minthara could react, you quickly told Gale to throw a firebolt at one of the hidden barrels near her position as well. It hit, and Minthara was soon blown off the hill and hit the oil-covered ground. She screamed as she was burned alive, trying to put herself out and sort of succeeding.

“Karlach, Wyll, can you take her?” you asked.

“Thought you’d never ask,” Karlach growled, taking her greataxe in hand.

“With pleasure,” Wyll nodded, drawing his own weapon. Again, under your command, they drank a Feather Fall potion to jump down, and Gale used some spells to put out the flames so neither of them would get burned to a crisp. They were resistant to fire, but not immune, and everyone knew you didn’t want your friends to get hurt.

With fresh burns and wounds all over and her ears ringing from the explosions, Minthara could barely put up a fight. She tried, of course, and she did better than most in her position would have been able to. But with both Wyll and Karlach, still at full health and energized, she didn’t stand a chance. Merely a minute or two later, Minthara was dead. The tieflings cheered loudly, some patting you on the back while Astarion did his best to avoid the praise. The gate was opened to let Wyll and Karlach back inside, and you laughed as you were hugged and picked up by several people (sadly, Karlach still couldn’t touch anyone, otherwise she would have probably done the same).

“That was incredible!” Zevlor laughed. “We barely even had to do anything, and not one of us got hurt!”

Later on, as you cleaned up the battlefield a little with some others, looting the goblin corpses, you eyed Minthara’s armor, then looked up at Astarion with a critical eye.

“What?” he asked, crossing his arms defensively.

“Do you think this would fit your frame?” You gestured at the armor—it was rather beautiful, golden and dark gray, the shapes of the plates reminiscent of spiderwebs, fitting for a Lolth-sworn drow like her.

“Maybe,” Astarion said slowly. “Why? You want me to wear it?”

You shrugged. “I think it would suit you nicely. If you want it, it’s all yours. Maybe Dammon could modify it a little if it doesn’t fit, before he leaves the grove.”

Astarion looked down at what he was wearing now—armor mostly made out of leather, good for stealth, but not the most fashionable, in his humble opinion. Then he looked back to Minthara’s corpse, humming thoughtfully. “Oh, by the Hells, why not? But I want it thoroughly cleaned, I can still smell the smoke and oil all over it.”

You grinned. “It looks so good, right? I kept eyeing it when we first met her.”

Reluctantly, Astarion relented. “Well, you’re not wrong.” Hesitantly, he asked, “You really think it will suit me?” He wasn’t self-conscious about his looks, of course. He just hadn’t seen his own reflection in quite some time, and he barely had any idea what colors suited him now. Though he supposed he was doing something right, because most people still swooned when they saw him—including even you.

You nodded eagerly. “Yes, trust me. Gold, silver, black, red, blue… all of it would suit you. I think you could make any color work, if done right. But this armor is just… perfect for you.”

Astarion did not blush—he wasn’t even sure if he physically could. But whatever the case, Astarion didn’t blush, ever, for anyone or anything. Absolutely not.

#bg3 #bg3 spoilers #astarion x reader #astarion x you #reader insert #gender neutral reader

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danses-with-dogmeat · 4 years ago

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(So sorry for requesting someone from the dlc of nv!) could you write a reaction/headcanon thing where Joshua Graham (fnv), Benny (fnv), and Hancock (fo4) having a crush on Sole/Courier and how they would go about confessing to her? Love your writing btw!

Benny, Joshua Graham, and Hancock having a Crush on F!Six/F!Sole (Headcannons)

Daaaaang, what a lineup you’ve constructed here, Anon! I thank you and applaud you. This was incredible to write! I love all these dudes, and I’m so glad I got to look a lil more into the Ben-man since I really didn’t give him the attention he deserved in my couple play-throughs of NV (holy shit is he a blast to write for), and I’ve never had any interactions with Joshua in-game, but I adore his character, and ugh, my beautiful chaotic good ghoul boi Hancock... ‘nuff said.

If any of y’all want to see anyone else for this prompt, just lmk! ❤

Links to Parts 2, 3, 4, & 5 of the Crushing Companions Headcannons can be found below!

Benny:

He’s as surprised as anyone when he finds out about his new-found love for the woman he very nearly executed. It would take him a long time to realize that his thoughts towards her had changed from tentative respect and… well, fear and uncertainty; to hesitant curiosity, to flirtatious interest to... what in the goddamn? Actual attraction? Love?! For the courier… what in the weird 1920s catch phrase was wrong with him?! Oh well, might as well see where this hotsy-totsy jitney is drivin’ em.

Once he realizes his feelings, the Ben-man would be one frustrated cake eater. The suave, flirty tendencies that he's always had now working against him as Six sees them as just another asset of his personality, when, in reality, he really is trying to flirt with her. Figures...

Benny doesn't aim to offend, but his natural tendencies are very sugar daddy-esque; always gifting Six little things, and paying for her food and drinks wherever they go, giving her money to gamble, and parading her around on his arm, showing her off like the dynamite kitten she is. He never asks for anything in return, but he's hoping his gestures might give Six the hint she needs to realize the sincerity of his feelings for her.

He loves to compliment Six every chance he gets, he's just a smooth talker, okay? And it wouldn't just be on her appearance either (though, those types of compliments would certainly be frequent), he would be sure to comment positively on her personality traits as well. Her strength, her dedication, her resolve, her kindness, her ability to forgive (people for shooting her twice in the head), her passion, her positive outlook on life… you get the idea.

Once he realizes that Six isn’t pickin’ up the clues he’s layin’ out for her, he decides to take it up a notch. Benny plans to tell her outright, to be direct, that's how he likes to operate, after all. So, the chairman takes his lady out for a nice dinner, maybe sees a show, invites her back to his room, and… can't quite seem to get the words out. There they are, sitting on the edge of the bed, she's looking fine as ever, and he's told her that a dozen times throughout the night, he's looking deep into her eyes, the words he longs to say hanging on the edge of his tongue, and yet, he just can't bring himself to say it. This shouldn't be so hard, what did he have to lose? If Six wanted him in the ground, she woulda tried it already, right? They were on good terms, the two of them, and that wasn't about to change cuz he tells her he likes her, right? That'd just make it better, wouldn't it? But… if she didn't return his feelings… why the the hell did that scare him so much?!

Benny would stand up from the bed, leaving a surprised Courier to remain seated uncertainly as he began to pace around the room. He'd try to say something to her on a few occasions, starting a little differently each time, before stopping dead in his tracks in the middle of the room, bringing his hands to his temples as he tries to clear his head enough to tell them the truth. He aims to keep it plain and simple now. Just out with it, Benny boy, no need to complicate. He'd sit back down, the words running away from his mouth again as he reached out for her. As her gaze dropped down to watch his hand clasp hers, she seemed relaxed, and he took that as a good sign. Benny did often hold her hand, or offer her the crook of his elbow when they were strolling around town, so this shouldn't be overstepping anything. But somehow it felt so… intimate. Instead of chasing down the words he wanted to say, forcing them out in the least eloquent way, he'd decide to take another physical step. One minute they were touching hands, now… Benny leaned in, catching her off guard as her eyes snapped back up just in time to see him coming before his lips crashed into hers. At first, she'd be surprised. In her experience, Benny was all gab, all flirting and smooth talking, tender touches that turned into nothing, but now... This didn’t seem so innocent to her anymore. There was too much earnestness in his touch, too much apprehension in his actions leading up to this, too much desperation as his mouth moved insistently against hers. It didn’t make sense. Perhaps he was finally trying to cash in all of the caps and attention he had been pouring into her since they had reunited. What was he thinking? That he can just throw a few cheap trinkets her way, a decent dinner and a little show, and now she owes him sex? Nuh uh. She doesn’t roll that way. Six would push him away gruffly, prepared to berate the conman for his rudeness before noticing the hurt in his expression as her hands pressed against his chest, his dark eyes forming pools of regret beneath upturned brows.

Finally, her pleading look would coax the truth out of him, unwavering in its sincerity as she silently begged him to explain himself, if only so she could do the same about her gruff refusal of him.

"Look baby," he'd say, "I know you don't wanna hear this, but the Ben-man here's got a real shorty doo-op for the dynamite ditty on his duvet." Six would be at a momentary loss for words at his confession, but lucky for him, she's grown pretty fluent in Benny-slang-bullshit-namese and manages to figure out what he's aiming at.

Truth is, Benny doesn't see a reason she'd ever wanna be with him, no matter how he looks, what he wears, what kinda power he's got, where he lives, how many folks he's got working for him, no matter what he can do for her; because he'll still always be the one who hurt her. Who shot her. Who very nearly murdered her. Why she wanted anything at all to do with him, Benny would never know. But when she smiled coyly at him, her eyes shining with a mischief her mouth would later come to echo, he would get the distinct impression that she did in fact, not only want something to do with the chairman, but she wanted a whole lot to do with him.

She would really have to explain it to him, cuz he would have a hard time grasping the fact that she wanted him in her life at all, but as her partner? Her lover? Her main squeeze? He didn't understand, but gee-willies, he didn't mind one bit.

Joshua Graham:

It takes him a long time to realize the depths of his feelings for the courier, and even when he does, he would try to deny them. But how can he walk beside this person, who so selflessly aided him in his time of need, who helped him of her own accord, without anyone to command her to, without faith to guide her, and only out of the simple kindness of her own heart, and not have strong feelings towards her?

Though he initially has difficulty accepting how he has come to feel for her, his actions make it relatively obvious. The way Joshua always insists on being at Six’s side, relentlessly defending her, always listening to what she has to say, seeking her feedback in every situation; the way he opens up to her about his past, presenting to her the many mistakes he has made over his life for her judgment… all of this he does even before he really realizes how he feels. It is when, after she aided him in his endeavor to rid Zion of the White Legs, even though it was hardly her fight; and after he told her of his checkered past, his own side of the story regarding Caesar and the Legion, and she remained by his side, that he knew he was in love with her. When he poured himself out in front of her, and she chose to forgive him, as God once had, it made him feel that divine sense of significance all over again. But this time, it wasn't the harsh burning of his past sins encasing him in their blistering glory, it was a soft and gentle embrace, a kind word that sought to save him from whatever remainder of his sins were left inside him. That sought to show him a love that he wasn't familiar with, one that he thought he would never be able to achieve. How could he be worthy of worldly love after all he's done? He thought he was beyond fortunate to have the Lord on his side, thought God's love was all that he could possibly be entitled to, and only in exchange for his lifelong devotion. Now though, he dared to believe that he could have more… but only if that's what Six wants.

He has a hard time believing she could want that. After all, it wouldn't be easy to love him, he knew this, he certainly had been struggling with it his whole life, so how could he expect it from someone like her? The former legate would be content to simply let his love for her be enough, not expecting anything in return, not needing it. But over time, it would be more and more difficult to continue traveling at her side without being able to express how he truly feels. In the end, he decides that she deserves to know the truth. Then she can make her own decision, but he cannot go a moment longer holding this secret inside him.

He waits for the pair to be somewhere secluded, somewhere in nature, the divine beauty of the landscape giving him the courage and support he needs to be honest and vulnerable. They would sit somewhere peaceful, gazing out over the land below as he asks if he could tell her something important. He could feel her uncertainty at his question, knowing it wasn't often that he simply offered to open up like this, but he pressed on with it once she agreed to hear him out. Joshua's not one to beat around the bush, he would tell her outright that he wanted her to know that his feelings for her had grown to be more than platonic, but he would assure her that he didn't intend for their relationship to change. He just finally needed her to know the truth about the feelings he's been harboring for so long.

To that, she would voice her own concern, curious as to why he thought they shouldn't change their relationship, especially if they felt the same way about one another.

The missionary's stark blue eyes would widen as he turned his attention from the horizon to meet her earnest gaze, noting the utter sincerity shining in the depths of her enchanting eyes. He would curse the bandages upon his face, as they concealed his softened expression. His parted lips forming a veiled smile beneath the linen material as he felt his heart thudding in his chest at her words. She feels the same way? Why? How had he not considered this outcome?

Seeing his struggle in response to her news, Six would need to take the initiative for a moment, reaffirming her words as she leaned in to lightly press her lips against his own, bandages be damned. He expected to feel pain at the pressure against his flame-torn flesh, but her contact was so delicate, so soft, that he hardly noticed the feeling of it. Instead, he relished in the sense that she was willing to press forward, to try, to give an effort to be with him even given the scars that littered both his flesh and his past.

Hancock:

Poor Handcock's behavior would actually be rather contradicting. As his flirty, cocky, and cool exterior would melt away into a nervous ball of insecurities that would rival even that of Travis Miles. Rather than becoming more flirty and forward, he would become more reserved towards Sole, his compliments would be less frequent but much more meaningful, and his physical contact with her would be nearly obsolete, as he would be afraid of revealing his true feelings and unintentionally pushing too hard.

Truth is, Hancock's been with loads of partners, and has been in more than a few relationships, though none had been particularly serious. But now, Sole comes along, and she's just… perfect, she is everything Hancock could ever hope to have and so much more than a ghoul like him had any right to. She shares so many of the same values as he does; she's selfless, and caring, and brave, and he already cares about her to the point of being in love, and they're not even together… that's never happened to him before. With this knowledge that he cares about her so deeply, that he needs her in his life and couldn't possibly live without her, he becomes so damn nervous around her that he's afraid to fuck it up before they even get the chance to be with one another. But… he supposed he could stand for simply bottling up his feelings, resigning himself to just spending time with her as her traveling companion, as her friend, and nothing more. If it meant keeping her in his life, then he could do that. Couldn’t he? He may just have to. Unless...

Though Hancock truly does have issues with his own self esteem, he eventually decides to let himself trust in Sole's judgement. He may not think of himself as being worthy of her, but if she assures him that he is what she wants? He'll believe in her choice, and be absolutely over the moon at her decision to give him a chance.

Even before they're together, the ghoul would do most anything for Sole. He's a fantastic listener, so if she mentions something that she may want, he'll store that away, keeping it in mind as they travel, and actively searching for whatever it might be so he can gift it to her at the right time. And he loves simply talking to her. About anything and everything: their interests, their past, where they think their future will take them, politics, religion, beliefs, history. All. Of. It.

It would be in a moment like this, just before the pair turn in for the night, after some deep conversation between them as they settled in, that Hancock finally does get the courage to confess. Sole will have to be patient with him, as he would do it in some roundabout way, afraid to be too direct in case she rejects him outright. He would begin by talking about how far they've come, and what it means to him to have her in his life, how lucky he feels to be able to travel the Commonwealth with the likes of her. As her confused expression set in, Hancock would nervously try to speed up the confession, often repeating a lot of what he just said in an attempt to let her know how much he cares for her. When that failed to get the point across, he would begin to compliment her relentlessly, saying all that he sees her as, how incredible she is, how gorgeous, and lovely, and kind-hearted, and strong; as she looks on with bewilderment, wondering to herself where he was going with all this as a flustered smile lights up her blushing, pink face. Man, he sure knows how to make a woman feel special... but he says this kind of stuff with lots of people... doesn’t he?

When Sole finally cuts him off again, asking gently if he has an ending in mind, he would sigh deeply. Having failed at his attempt at being somewhat subtle, Hancock would finally find the courage to admit to her what he was trying to say. What he's been trying to say for ages now. It would be a simple confession, his words inviting any form or response without demanding any kind of direct reciprocation. He would simply state that he's in love with her, and that he felt like she had a right to know it. He'd harness the courage to look her in the eyes as he told her the truth about his feelings; but afterwards, he couldn't hold her gaze, instead he would opt for the security of peering down at his own lap as he sat beside her, picking nervously at his nails without realizing it.

He hardly expected any kind of response. If he was lucky, she would nod, thank him for telling her, and say goodnight, turning her back to the sofa he had agreed to sleep on, and they would resume their travels in the morning without really acknowledging what he had said the night before. But hey, at least he was able to get it all off his chest. If he wasn't lucky… well, she might send him away now, for good. And he wasn't sure if he could cope with that shit.

He never could have expected her true reaction though, as she brought a hand up to smooth over his roughened cheek, drawing his attention back up to her gaze, before she brought her head forwards slowly, closing her eyes as Hancock's widened at her action. The ghoul always adored Sole's lips, but he never could have fathomed how soft they would be against his own. The feeling of her mouth on his was intoxicating, and he couldn't help but deepen the kiss, his mind demanding to know why it took him so damn long to tell her how he felt if this was going to be the outcome.

Part 2 (Arcade, Butch, Piper, Preston, and Veronica)

Part 3 (Benny, Butch, & Danse with M!Six/M!Lone/M!Sole)

Part 4 (Danse, Deacon, & X6-88)

Part 5 (Gage, MacCready, & Maxson)

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dyns33 · 4 years ago

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Only Lovers Left Alive 2

So I did a part 2 of my little imagine about Adam x Eve x Reader

Since @jane-3043 and @quirkiest-turtle asked about it, I’m tagging you guys, I hope you’ll like it.

"Adam..."

"No."

"Darling."

"You were wrong. It doesn't happen often, but this time you were wrong, recognize it Eve, and let's move on."

"You're as stubborn as a mule. So is she, and that's why we can't find her."

"She doesn't want us to find her. She doesn't love us, she's afraid of us because of your fucking sister. We have to stop now."

"I know you miss her, as much as I miss her. We have to find her, at least to have a conversation. I don't like seeing you in such pain."

Adam's only response was to growl, as he picked up his guitar to escape another argument with his wife. This made her laugh, because according to Eve, it was more proof that she was right.

Their little Y/N was like him, she preferred to run away from the conflict and refused to talk about her feelings.

The poor darling didn't think they loved her, and in return, her departure had deeply hurt the vampire, who didn't think she loved them either. Fortunately, Eve was there to make the connection, even after almost two years.

This game of hide and seek was beginning to drag on, if they counted in human years. For them it wasn't that long, but the longer they waited, the more they risked losing Y/N, forever.

Of course, she could totally refuse their immortal gift, whether she shared their feelings or not, and they wouldn't force her. They would mourn her loss for several centuries, Eve would travel to forget and Adam would sulk in his lair, refusing to ever trust a zombie again.

In a way, he had already started, right after their Y/N's disappearance, and despite Eve's attempts to keep him positive. It was only to please his beloved wife that they continued their search.

And a little because he was worried about the human. How was she doing ? Was she happy ? Still alive ? Had she found a new companion ? Had one of the others attacked her after Ava had the good idea to say that they had taken a little feeder, just to get revenge because they throw her out ?

She drank Ian. It was all her fault. As always. He should have killed her, even if Eve didn't agree.

Now he had to use a computer to post his music online, because he would never find another human like Ian, and they had to find a way to locate Y/N, or at least contact her.

"It would have been very handy if you had her phone number." Eve noted.

"She knew when she could come. At night."

"What if she couldn't ?"

"Then I was waiting for the next night."

"My love, you are beyond recovery. If I had known, I would have asked her and we wouldn't be in this situation."

"Without this selfish little leech you call a sister, we wouldn't..."

"I know. Let's see if we can find her on a social network."

They would have found her a long time ago if that had been possible. It was as if she had voluntarily disappeared, that she knew they were going to look for her and that she didn't want to be found. Eve sometimes wondered if Adam was not right, if they shouldn't stop, because if it was her choice. They had to accept it.

But maybe it wasn't. They wanted to be sure. They really wanted to know if she was okay.

They also wanted her to know that she had no reason to be afraid of them. They knew she would keep their secret, that she wouldn't put them in danger. She would have done it a long time ago.

Like every night, Eve was on the computer to find a lead, while Adam was trying to create new music on his guitar.

"Something cheerful" his wife had begged him. "More cheerful the previous ones anyway." Adam wasn't sure what that meant.

They hadn't drink yet. After Y/N left, it had been a bit complicated, but they had made an arrangement with a nurse at a hospital, who hadn't asked anything with all the money they had offered him, deciding that artists had strange tastes and it was okay to donate a little blood every week. As long as they didn't ask for bodies, it wasn't a crime.

After Y/N left, they were not often hungry anyway. Something was missing. They weren't in the mood. Same for the music. Less than five songs in two years, it was not normal for someone like Adam.

Someone knocked on the door.

Despite Eve's staring gaze, he didn't move, pretending he hadn't heard anything. It was probably a mistake, or even some stupid fan who wanted to see him, again. Who else could come and disturb them so late ? One of the others ? Ava ? Another reason not to open.

The intruder insisted, several times, even though they weren't really knocking hard. It was almost shy on the contrary. Hesitant.

Eve decided to go see, even though her husband tried to stop her by grabbing the end of her kimono. Waste of time, it was impossible to stop Eve from doing anything.

Considering that this was not his problem, Adam therefore continued to play the same notes on his guitar over and over again, while still straining his ears in case a stupid zombie had come to break into the house and therefore decided to attacking his wife, even though she could very well defend herself on her own.

He heard the door open, but there was no cry. No claim. No words. In fact, there was absolutely nothing. Nothing. Even Eve didn't speak.

This silence. It was not normal.

In the living room, he slowly put his guitar down on the sofa and instinctively sniffed the air, thinking he would detect blood, alcohol, or gunpowder.

He smelt something else.

He knew that scent. Her scent.

In less than a second, he appeared next to Eve in the hallway. His wife was frozen, not breathing, as she looked at the person standing outside, in front of them.

Y/N.

She had hardly changed. Still beautiful. Visibly embarrassed, but not daring to move or lower her eyes, as they stared at her silently.

"I… I…" she stammered before biting her lip, unable to say anything else.

And she didn't need to. Her eyes spoke for her. Y/N was scared, but she wasn't terrified. She feared their reactions. She was sorry. She was happy to see them. She loved them.

It was when she closed her eyes, sighing like she was going to cry, that something happened.

Adam was the first to throw himself on her, his lips pressing against her mouth never to leave her, pulling her inside, as Eve kissed her cheek, her neck, her shoulder, the rest of her body, until she could take her husband's place, who hissed a bit but pried on Y/N's clothes.

She was there, she had come back. She was theirs again.

They spent the night covering her with kisses and caresses, never leaving the bed except to close the curtains when the sun was about to rise.

Despite the hunger, they did not bite her. Not because they were afraid her blood might be tainted, they could smell that she was still as pure and delicious as before. Besides, Y/N wouldn't have said no, she wouldn't have taken it badly. But they wanted to prove to her that they didn't want her for her blood. She wasn't a zombie, or a feeder. She was their precious Y/N.

Tired and sweating, their three bodies entwined, their heads resting on her chest, they slept peacefully listening to her little heart beating.

Then, the next evening, they spoke.

Mainly Eve, who asked a lot of questions in her calm reassuring voice. And Y/N, who answered.

Adam was listening.

She explained why she had left, but also how she had immediately missed them. She thought of them every day and had to fight with herself not to return home. It was not easy.

After several months, she worried about them, she hadn't thought that they could run out of blood after she left and she didn't want them to starve.

Several times she had passed the house again, often during the day so that they would not spot her. Sometimes at night, hoping to see them.

Y/N was also curious to know if they had taken someone to replace her. It would have reassured her to know that they had a reliable source of uncontaminated blood, and at the same time, the idea made her sad and jealous.

Her optimistic side, which made her look like Eve, kept telling her over and over again that she had to go back to see them to discuss. The rest of her being, shy and proud like Adam, refused again and again.

This inner struggle had lasted for two years, and last night she had found herself outside the door.

"I… I wanted to see you. At least one last time. I had no idea how you were going to react."

"We missed you terribly, my dear. Both of us. Adam was even sadder than he was when Paganini died."

"He has something to do with violin, right ?"

"If I could move, I would kiss you." Adam purred, rubbing his cheek against her stomach like a lazy cat.

"So... are you okay with me coming back ? Like before ?"

"No."

"Oh. I see..."

"No my love." Eve sneered tenderly, hugging her. "Of course we want you to come back. What Adam means is that we don't want to make a proposal to you. A... radical change."

The young mortal was not stupid, and immediately understood what the vampires meant. Her little heart pounded as Y/N stared at the ceiling in silence, considering their offer, all that involved.

"But for the blood ?"

"We have a sure way for now. And if that doesn't work anymore, we'll find something else. We've always found something."

"What if you get tired of me ?"

"That will never happen. It would rather be you who may not bear us anymore, especially our grumpy Adam..."

"Hey."

"... And if you want to leave, we won't stop you, you will always be free to come back later if you want to. But we love you, and we want to have you until the end of time."

"Really ?" Y/N asked timidly.

And while asking the question, she turned to Eve, who understood that it was not to her that the human was talking. Eve had already told her that she loved her, several times. This was not the case with the other vampire half-asleep against her. Eyes still closed, he couldn't see his wife looking at him, but he sighed.

"The best song I wrote last year is called 'My Poor Broken Heart' and..."

"Adam."

"And I never wrote a song for anyone other than my wife before that. Never."

"Adam."

"What I mean... is that... I... Fuck..."

"I love you too." Y/N said calmly. "I love you both. I would love to stay with you."

"Oh, my two shy idiots !"

This time Adam found the strength to move to place several kisses on her neck, as Eve kissed her on the forehead.

They did not transform her right away, to enjoy her warmth for a while. Adam also asked to record her heart beats. For a "project". Eve was sure he was just listening to it when he was melancholic or couldn't fall asleep.

It was also necessary to store enough blood before, because newborns needed a lot of food to regain strength. It was exhausting to die.

Y/N also had time to collect her things from her apartment. To do this at night would have attracted attention. But they decided not to sell it, in case she wanted a private space at some point, even though they hoped she would never need it.

When she was finally ready, having said goodbye to her old life, her family, her friends, her job, the sun, Adam and Eve laid her down on their bed, whispered poems in her ears, then drained her of her blood.

#adam only lovers left alive #adam olla #adam olla x reader #adam olla x eve olla x reader #eve olla #eve olla x reader

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honeybrucie · 4 years ago

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Tiny Vol. 2: Kal + Will

you can read the first instalment of Tiny here!

A/N: I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!! All the love for our sweet bear and Henry of course! And baby Will my new fave 😍

Warnings: Premature labour, a LOT of fluff

as a family of three, you, Henry and Kal were the dream team

Kal had of course taken to you the moment you’d met him

a lot of the time Henry claimed you were more loving towards the big bear than him; “I’m your actual boyfriend, remember?”

Kal naturally being part of your inevitable wedding

hell, he was likely part of the proposal, as role of The Distractor, while Henry would wait on bended knee behind you

Kal knew that he didn’t have a place on the big kingsize bed, but that never stopped him from standing by the closed door of the bedroom whenever you and Henry were occupying it, waiting for either an invitation for cuddles, or for your day to start so he could have some company

and any available snacks, of course

On Henry’s birthday, just over a year into your marriage, you’d bribed the Akita with an extra large prime rib steak in the kitchen so that he could stay content downstairs, while you kept Henry more than content upstairs

It was only 3 weeks later that Kal started to press his large head onto your stomach

at first it was endearing, but over time he became persistent and Henry often had to get him to heel so that he would keep out of your way

it was only one missed period later that you realised your fluffy companion might have been onto something

with a fairly tame schedule for now, you and Henry had stopped “not trying” for a baby, deciding instead to just let it happen when it happened

and somehow Kal had been the first to find out that it had indeed, happened

over the next few weeks and months, it wasn’t just your large, concerned husband that was protective over you, but your bear of a dog too

by the time you were showing, Kal was in full guard dog form, growling at anyone who expressed any form of interest towards your growing belly

even Henry was on the receiving end of a warning growl now and then

but most of the time, Kal knew that Henry was likely safe, based on the look of love he often saw on his owner’s face towards you, and the special little moments his two humans have together with whatever is blooming within you

any strangers that get close to you would face the wrath of Kal because if whatever is happening gets this much love and attention, then it must be special to his Henry and his Mama

Kal hangs around you a lot, favouring you over Henry, especially in your last trimester

which makes Henry pout because damn it, Kal is taking his place most of the time

“Only because i’m carrying a little you.” you’d reassure your husband “he’ll be back to his Henry-loving ways after baby’s born.”

Kal often lays his big head on your bump when Henry isn’t there because he knows you’ll let him get away with it

but if Henry spots him he receives a “Kal, off!” just for your goofy husband to rest his own head there instead, chattering to the baby about things that sometimes have you falling asleep

his voice is soothing, yes

but his video game talk is just the perfect soundtrack for a nap

you get slower and slower as you enter the last few months

soon its just Kal and Henry going for walks together at the park

your bear always whined to you, pawing at your lap as you curl up on the sofa, while Henry would attempt to nod him over to the door

“Mumma can’t come today, she’s staying here with the baby. But she’ll call us if anything happens”

You get a soft kiss on the lips from one member of your family, and a lick on the hand from the fluffier one

Did you know it was Kal who saved the day, the morning you went into early labour?

you’d winced at a small twinge of pain, and then groaned out loud, taken by surprise as you had just been peeling some apples to be made into a stew

the sun was rising slowly, glinting the dewy grass out in the garden, your favourite view from the kitchen window

Henry was in his study, a floor up, with headphones on, completely oblivious to what was happening downstairs

clinging to a table, you’d started to feel tight pain across your belly, issuing you with a mild dose of panic

of course, as Kal has been by your side for the past few months, he’s right there in an instant

he rushes over to you, sensing that something is wrong, watching you as you attempt to sit down on the floor to try and take control of the pain

he had pressed his big head to yours, nudging you as if to ask what he should do

“Get henry, go get Henry, Kal”

you didn’t have to tell him twice

he’d bolted to the study seeking out henry, knocking over everything he flies past, running as fast as he possibly can within the confines of the walls in the house

he was loudly barking the whole time, knowing that right now you are in jeopardy and that his Henry is your only saving grace

he’d burst into Henry’s study nearly knocking the door off its hinges, almost jumping onto Henry’s lap

immediately Henry knew that something was wrong

normally a gentle giant around the house, Kal is bumping into things trying to reach his master, to get you the help you needed from Henry

“Kal, Kal show me where, what’s wrong. Is it Y/N? The baby? Mumma?”

He received a large bark in return, before Kal was rushing back to the kitchen to show his Henry where you were

Henry had raced behind Kal to where you were, panicking as he heard you call for him weakly

he eventually found you, sitting on the kitchen floor and clutching your belly in pain

Kal had stood by the door, watching Henry take over, his muscular form lifting you up and holding you close to get you to safety over on a soft chair

“it’s too early love, it’s got to be false contractions”

“they don’t feel false”

Kal had watched as Henry made a couple of calls, with sweat collecting at his brow

He had then spent a few moments with you, counting and calculating timings on his watch while you’d cried “it can’t be time, he’s not ready Henry”

Kal watched his Henry take your hands and stay close to you, trying to keep calm on the surface while making you a myriad of promises

just 10 minutes later, Kal had been left in the house alone

his only hope was that you and his Henry will be okay when you return

he’d had a strange few days at a friend’s house

their garden was smaller and they had a cat, but Kal hadn't minded them too much

he had still been concerned about where his Henry and his Y/N went so suddenly

and why did you not want to take him with you?

On the Tuesday, Kal hears the words “You’re going back home today, to see your parents! And they have your baby brother waiting there too!”

Kal was delivered back home that afternoon, and comes bounding into the house, making a beeline for Henry who was waiting by the front door to greet his furry friend

You had stayed upstairs in the master bedroom with Will, making sure he was safe from the inevitable commotion downstairs

You’d heard Henry embrace Kal, talking to him like an old friend whom he hadn't seen in years

Kal was so riled up from being away for so long, and Henry still in a lovestruck daze from the last 72 hours

“I know we were gone so suddenly, but everything is okay. We’re back now, and we have someone special we want you to meet” you can hear your husband speak excitedly to the bear

Kal had whined in retaliation, as if to ask "why did you leave me, Henry? What could have possibly been so important?”

“Kal” and it’s Henry’s no nonsense voice that you’d recognised this time; “Your baby brother is upstairs with Mum but he is very little. Very, very small. And you’re a big bear. So we’re going to be calm. Okay? Calm and gentle bear, good boy.”

Henry's footsteps and the tinkling of Kal’s collar were becoming clearer and clearer before the door to the master bedroom creaks open

and there stands Kal in all his fluffy glory

Henry is right by him, watching over every move Kal makes, with baited breath in case he decides to make a running leap towards you and your tiny bundle of joy

Henry had looked up to you with a gentle grin, ensuring the door was left open in the event of any sporadic movements, particularly if Kal wasn’t interested in this new person after all

“Knock knock, Kal’s promised to be good if he wants to see his brother”

Kal wants to jump up onto the bed but he knows he can’t, no matter how curious he is

so he just waits patiently by the bed, because whatever you were holding seems important, especially given that Henry is being very stern with him

maybe this is the special thing that his Henry and Y/N had loved so much

he looks up at you as you lean down enough for him to see the baby’s little face

“Kal, this is your baby brother. This is who all the fuss has been about. he’ll be able to play with you some day, when he’s a bit bigger.”

Kal blinks, taking the situation in

A new smell, a new person

A new, tiny Henry

At this realisation, he fondly rested his head in your lap right next to Will, receiving praise from Henry “easy boy, good boy Kal”

Kal makes an oath there and then to protect his tiny Henry

He sniffed a blanketed foot carefully, nuzzling it before staring at your sweet baby’s face

You look up at Henry briefly, and he’s already watching you as the rest of the scene plays out

“I think our boys are going to get along just fine” you murmur, basking in the fond greeting between Kal and baby Cavill

only for it to end a moment later when your son squeaks the quietest noise, causing Kal to back up quickly, shocked by the sound

“Ohh, are you saying hello to Kal honey? He is so gentle and fluffy isn’t he?” you’d cooed to the fidgeting bundle in your arms

“i think it’s Kal who needs to watch out around here now” Henry comments with a grin

Whenever Henry goes out to play fetch with Kal in the huge garden - it may as well be a football field - you’d watch carefully from the balcony window while cradling Will, pointing out his how his Daddy throws a ball or a stick, and how clever Kal is for fetching and returning it

whenever your older boys are done, they both scramble to be first back to see you and the youngest of the Cavill pack

Will is often found snoozing, giving Kal the perfect excuse to curl up right alongside his crib him to protect him, should anything threaten his soft sleepy snores

And if Will is sleeping in the crib in the master bedroom right beside you and Henry, Kal paws at the door until he is let in, taking his rightful spot curled up beside his new best friend

If you or Henry, or a loving relative or friend is holding him, there is Kal right by their side, as if to stake his claim; “this is my baby”

In the middle of the night when Will starts crying, Kal is there first to check on his tiny Henry before he runs for immediate assistance

cue Henry having tripped over Kal in the middle of the night several times now, as Kal had rushed to the master bedroom and Henry having rushed out of it in the dark

Usually the consequences involve Henry taking a bump to his shin or his head, with you having to get up, turn the light on and fetch a crying baby Will

So yes, Kal is in the nursery a lot of the time and yes, you need to install a couple of night lights in the hallways so that Henry doesn’t ultimately fall down the stairs or continue to injure himself via a fluffy Kal on a rescue mission

Henry always exclaims the next morning “I can’t believe he’s always in the room”

Which makes you laugh, replying “You’re just jealous he loves Will more than you now. I have to say Will is taking the badge for favourite Cavill of the month in this household”

Will sleeps a lot, and when Kal eventually gets bored, he sticks his big head into the crib, panting and waiting for his tiny Henry to pay him some attention

when you catch him, you rub his big head, letting him sit on the bed while you cradle a snoozing Will

however if Henry catches Kal with his head in the crib? Kal is out of the nursery for the rest of the day

“He can’t stick his head in like that, I’m not having him hurting Junior, accident or not”

So you need to unite your parenting tactics to train your dog before you use them to parent Will

When he’s not in his crib, Will is in one of the new moving cribs that Henry had researched to death before ordering and consequently building himself

That was an especially hot day in your pregnancy, and it was in December

Kal often just lays and watches his little best friend in it for as long as he likes, as he soon realises his large Henry will allow him to do that

sometimes you see Will laying in the crib with lots of dog toys around him

courtesy of Kal, of course

typically, Henry will be around to supervise, always thanking Kal on Junior’s behalf, engaging his two dependents in conversation; “oh look another toy, Will. Thank you Kal”

Kal would already be out of the room to fetch another toy while tiny Will is taking a hardcore nap

feeding and putting weight on is hard work!!

Henry definitely gets a few stares at the park now; a big beefy man, pushing a high-tech stroller, alongside an absolute unit of a dog

Kal is obedient as always, walking nicely beside the stroller with his two Henrys

he’s not even tempted by puddles or ducks or squirrels

his focus is on his best friends, especially the one wearing their brand new sweater to signify his move to newborn sized clothing at the age of 9 weeks

he loves watching his Henry and his Mama celebrate his tiny best friend, no matter how small their achievements - or sweaters - are

Kal is always gonna look out for his large Henry and his new tiny Henry, who both have the same dark curls and sparkly eyes

He is just the most wonderful big brother you could ever have wished for your little boy, and you’re sure they will get into heaps of laughs and trouble when Will grows up to become a rambunctious toddler, with peels of giggles coming from wherever the two will be playing together

Kal has the patience of a saint, and it’s why you don’t worry at all when you find out a couple years later, that there will be two more little Henry’s for him to play with and guard, with his whole fluffy being

---

let me know what you think / any questions / any requests HERE

#Henry cavill x reader #henry cavill fan fiction #henry cavill x you #henry cavill fluff #dad!henry cavill #kal cavill #Kal + Will vibes #it's tiny will cavill's world we are all just living in it #cavillary

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bonjour-rainycity · 4 years ago

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Late in the Night | Part Two

Previous Part

Pairing: One-sided ( or is it ;) ) Legolas x Female Reader

Rating: G

Word count: 1416

Warnings: None

A/n Okay friends, oops. I wrote the first chapter in the first person and suddenly decided that I want to do the rest of it in the third. This is why I usually outline my fics but this one I wrote on a whim — whoops! Sorry about that. Maybe one day I’ll go back and fix it, but for now I’ll just leave it as is. And also, I’m taking a lot of setting and characterization liberties with this story because it’s just something I want to have fun with rather than extensively plan out. Hope you don’t mind :)

Legolas’ POV

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.

As he walks, Legolas berates himself, and as he berates himself, he continues to walk.

Because really, there’s no break from either.

He replays the moment from the night before over and over in his head and just can’t work it out. Something he said seemed to have damaged his relationship with Y/n. She was still friendly to him, but distant. Something he did or said or a facial expression he made, maybe, seemed to take all the warmth from their interactions, the warmth that she usually reserved just for him.

Or, he thought she did.

Maybe he was reading too much into things. Maybe there was never any special look just for him, or a softness in her voice when she said his name only, or a light in her eyes when he made her laugh. Maybe he was completely wrong, and they weren’t teetering on the edge of something more than friends.

Doesn’t she know that elves take things extremely seriously, and he wouldn’t have offered to bring her home with him, introduce her to his father and his people, and help her build a life in his homeland if he didn’t….if he didn’t….

But it doesn’t matter, he grumbles inwardly. Because it’s obvious she doesn’t feel the same way. She must have realized the gravity of what it meant when I offered, and is now trying to tell me she doesn’t want that.

But even as his head tries to convince him to let her go, to let the tenderness he feels for her fade away, his eyes find hers. She notices his gaze, and raises a questioning eyebrow. It’s accompanied by a kind smile, but that’s the smile she gives everyone. Foolishly—possessively—immaturely, he wishes to see his smile again.

He tears his eyes from hers, trying to pull himself out of his own head. Instead, he turns his focus to his senses, exploring the area around them, doing his part to keep his companions safe. After all, it’s nearly sunset, and as the light fades, so does the eyesight of many. His ears pick up on something far in the distance, and he jogs to catch up with Aragorn.

“Are you sure about this?”

Aragorn falls into step with his friend. “I have considered the risk extensively, and there is no avoiding it. We need to resupply, and I fear not only for morale but for physical health if we don’t all get a proper meal and rest safe from the elements. Besides, it’s a sizable but remote human village, quite isolated from the rest of the world. By the time news of our presence travels, we will be long gone on an alternate path.”

Legolas nods, accepting his wise friend’s assessment. Even to him, the idea of an actual rest holds great appeal — he can’t even imagine the pull it will have for his friends.

Eventually, the others begin to notice that, rather than going in a wide berth around the rising smoke that hints at a town, they head straight for it. Legolas can physically feel their excitement, and can’t stop from feeling a bit giddy himself.

Aragorn calls for a halt in the woods near the town’s gate, and the group gathers close. They are still concealed, and Legolas wonders if Aragorn has changed his mind, if he’s going to make them go back?

But thankfully, Aragorn has no such intentions. In fact, he has a very different sort of plan.

“Right,” he starts, fixing them all with a level stare. “We cannot enter all ten of us at once, that would be too conspicuous. Instead, we shall go in smaller groups that still make strategic sense. There is to be no interaction between the groups, except for pleasantries that you would exchange with anyone else. We will take staggered entrances and leave the same way, meeting up tomorrow morning a mile west. I know this town, and it has two small inns — we will split ourselves between them. Gandalf and I will go first to the inn on the West side of town. After half an hour has passed, Frodo, Sam, Pippin, Merry — you all will join us. Shortly after I leave, so shall Boromir and Gimli, but to the inn on the East side. After a good amount of time has passed, Legolas and Y/n, you join them.”

The companions grin, finding excitement in Aragorn’s game of deception, but Legolas feels a sense of unease grow in his stomach. He has not been alone with Y/n since last night, and a tension has obviously arisen between them. He turns his head to find Y/n avoiding his gaze, but she does not protest to Aragorn’s grouping of them, so neither does he. Perhaps their time alone will give them the chance to sort out whatever he’s done to upset her.

As decided, Aragorn and Gandalf leave first, followed closely by Boromir and Gimli. Y/n sits on the ground chatting quietly with Pippin and Merry, while Legolas joins Sam to guard Frodo, as they know Aragorn would want them to do. When enough time has passed for the hobbits to leave, Y/n waves them goodbye, wishing them sweet dreams in a warm bed.

The silence of the night that Legolas had become so accustomed to is marred by the harsh nosies of the human town. It doesn’t seem to bother Y/n, who raises herself from the ground and peeks curiously through the trees. “You know, it’s the first time in months we’ve all slept apart from each other.” Legolas finds himself perplexed as Y/n shakes her head, rolling her eyes. “Gosh, I sound so codependent.”

But Legolas just smiles, knowing well the sort of bond that forms between those who fight together. “No, I understand. It will be strange. But it might be nice to have a room all to yourself. None of Gimli’s snoring to worry about.”

Y/n snorts, crossing her arms and regarding Legolas with the smile he had been aching to see all day.

But as quickly as it appears, it fades from her face, replaced with a contemplative set in her brow. She looks conflicted, but he can’t for the life of him figure out why. She doesn’t take her eyes from his, and he’s too captivated to look away. Legolas takes a step forward, the darkness and her eyes and just her calling to him, asking him to come closer. Is he imagining the spark of hope in her eyes? Valar, he prays not.

Somehow, he finds himself standing right in front of her, when just seconds ago he’d been at least a yard away. Y/n tilts her head up to look at him, and the way the moon sparkles in her eyes and lights the soft curve of her cheek — he feels his hand raise, he wanted to brush his fingers and see if it’s as smooth as it looks. He wants to hold her in his arms, and beg her to forgive him for whatever wrong he committed that kept her warmth from him that day.

Y/n worries her bottom lip, still looking up at him with those wide, guarded eyes. He sees something shift in them, and knows a decision had been made, but what?

“Legolas, I need to—”

Crack!

Legolas has his bow nocked and whirls around before he even has time to fully register the sound.

He notices the squeak of hinges that accompanies the sharp smack of the wood, and lowers his bow, feeling startled still, despite the innocent nature of the noise.

“It’s alright,” he mutters to Y/n, who has only just pulled her knives from their scabbards. Absently, he feels worry for his human friend, who, with the slow reflexes that are a fault of her kin, could have already been killed, had the threat been serious. “It’s just the gate.”

“Oh.” She blinks, and puts her weapons away somewhat stiffly. “We should go, shouldn’t we? No sense in standing around in the dark longer than necessary.”

Legolas turns his head back to her, and knows the moment has passed. The certainty he saw before has vanished, and the wall between them risen again.

He returns his bow to his back, trying to ignore the crushing disappointment he feels. “Right. After you.” He waves her forward, and they start on the path to the gate.

A/n So now we’ve got a look into Legolas’ head! What did you think? Likes, comments, and reblogs make me so so happy, and let me know if you would like a tag :)

Masterlist

Next part

Tag list: @angelic-kisses13 @lainphotography @anangelwhodidntfall

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scathecraw · 4 years ago

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BBRae Week 2021 - Day 3: Into The Woods

“Summer camp has been so much fun, Rachel. Teether hasn’t cried once since the day after you dropped us off, and Tommy got first place in the obstacle course. You were right, we should have done a camp last year, too.” Melvin chattered excitedly on the office phone while Rachel listened patiently. “They’ve made a bunch of arts and crafts, and the woods here are so cool. They’re really old, and Gar knows so muchabout all the trees and animals and bugs.”

“And who is this Gar, Melvin? A new friendof yours?” Rachel’s emphasis was obvious, and Melvin’s blush was practically audible.

“NO! He’s a counselor. He’s really nice, but he’s really old. Like, 50 or something. You’ll meet him on parent’s day next week.”

Rachel didn’t remember anyone older than the director, a middle aged woman she had spoken to when getting them enrolled and again during drop-off. She suspected Melvin was fibbing to cover her embarrassment, but she brought it on herself by teasing the preteen. “I’m sure I will. Does this mean that you’re going to drag me out into the forest when I come? I thought it was going to be an afternoon of arts and crafts and then some campfire songs, not a forced march.”

“Duh. Arts and crafts are lame. Gar said that next year he’d show us how to whittle, which sounds better than making lanyards.” There was muffled adolescent shouting, and Melvin covered the receiver and yelled back. “I gotta go. We’re going swimming. I’ll call you on Friday. Love you, bye.” She hung up before anything could be said back, and Rachel was left with dead air while Melvin sprinted after her friends, untied shoelaces flailing behind her.

Arriving at the aforementioned “Parent’s Day”, Rachel wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The camp had at first seemed like a good way to get the three adopted children outside instead of rotting their brains, but the sheer noise of a few dozen milling, clamoring kids and groups of socializing parents made her wonder what she had subjected them, and by extension, herself, to. She was late, which probably didn’t help the situation, but she looked around the chaos in an effort to find her own three chaos engines. Instead, she was spotted.

A wild, dirty missile made a high-volume impact with her legs, nearly toppling her and babblingso fast that even Rachel’s practiced ear couldn’t discern what he was saying. She was wobbling and about to fall over when a firm hand caught her upper back and helped her regain her balance. “Teether, dude! I said you could go get her, not try to body slam her.”

Rachel finally planted her feet, acknowledged Teether with a gentle hand on his head, and looked up. And up. They both froze for an instant, but the tanned, blond man recovered first. His slack jaw snapped into a smile, and he said “Hi. You must be Rachel. I’m Gar, one of the counselors here.”

His hand was still on her back and heat radiated from it like afternoon sun. Her face had never fallen into the silly expression his had, but unconscious thought raced before she could regain her composure. ‘Definitely not fifty,’ she thought. “Hello. Yes, I’m Rachel, Teether’s mother.” She peeled Teether from her leg with practiced ease, and he sprang off of her and ran.

Gar realized that his hand still rested behind her, almost possessively, and retreated to a more respectable distance. He chuckled, nervously. “Heh. Um, Melvin and Tommy are with their friends, still, but we should probably get them. Ms. Waller asked me to show you around – she said you had just moved to the area?” It wasn’t a question, but he phrased it like it was. They began walking back towards the milling crowd of parents, children, and quite possibly enough noise to drown out a jet engine.

“Yes, it’s our first summer here. She mentioned that most of the kids made this an annual activity, but I didn’t think we’d be so strange as to warrant a personal detail.”

“Oh it’s nothing like that, it’s just that there’s not really many other summer camps around, and ‘cause we go from K-12, we get pretty much everyone. A lot of the other parents already know everybody. You’re not strange, just… new.” His eyes never left her, even as they began walking.

Back with the crowds, Melvin and a gaggle of similarly aged girls watch the two of them. One of them nodded decisively and turned to Melvin. “Okay. They’re too cute together. Look at how awkward they’re being.”

Anotherhuffed a little. “They’re just staring at each other. They should be holding hands or something, right?”

Melvin’s eyes narrowed critically. “It’s been like 10 minutes and they aren’t kissing yet. Gar’s probably too much of a nerd to do anything. We need to do something to make sure they know how perfect for each other they are.”

“Like what? They aren’t going to start making out in the middle of the crowd.”

An evil smirk crept across Melvin’s face. “Maybe not in the middle of the crowd, but what if they were all alone in the woods? Then they’d have no excuse not to!”

A look of awe crossed her companions’ faces. “That’s evil. I love it.”

But the smirk fell, half-formed plot evaporating. “But how could we get them out there alone? It can’t be anything serious, or else Rachel will ground me forever, and I bet she won’t even go unless we can trick her into it.”

“Could you just tell her you feel sick?”

“No.” Melvin shook her head slowly. “Then she’d either stay with me or just take me home early.”

One, heretofore silent, chimed in. “I think I know what we can do. But Mel, you’re going to have to make a lanyard.” She giggled at the disgusted look, and said “C’mon, we only have like 15 minutes before they start wondering where we are.”

Across the crowd and a million miles away, Garfield and Rachel were, in fact, being tremendously awkward as they watched the kids run and play. Gar fumbled his words and couldn’t decide to stare at her eyes, the curve of her neck, or decidedly anywhere except her. Rachel was the opposite. She answered in short, monosyllabic whispers and swallowed, trying to ease her desperately dry throat.

“So, uh, you said you just moved here! Do you have a job, er, of course you do, unless you don’t! That’s fine, too! Nothing wrong with… that. Yeah.” He trailed off, before gamely trying again. “So what do you do when you’re not, y’know, coming to summer camps?”

Rachel took a deep breath and centered herself. Gar started. “I’m not, like, annoying you, am I? I’m sorry, I tend to blabber -”

“No. I’m just… a little off-kilter. I’m a curator of antiquities at the museum.”

“That is so cool. Gar’s eyes were like dinner plates. “I love the museum! I always wanted to volunteer there, but I never feel like I have time between summers here and planning classes during the year.”

“Oh, you’re a teacher? Grade school or high school?”

“High school and occasionally some classes at the community college. I figured I was already teaching AP and college bio isn’t much different. I’m sure the kids get tired of me after the sixth year, though, heh.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, uncomfortably warm even for a summer afternoon.

“I suppose they wouldn’t let you teach so many years if you weren’t good at the job. Not that biology is my area of expertise.” She clarified, hearing his unspoken question. “I studied history and preservation, so a natural history museum is certainly a big change.”

“Wow, I bet. Still, nobody does what they expected to when they were in college. I got a bachelor’s in Environmental Science, but it turns out most of those jobs are just telling corporations what they want to hear.”

Rachel leveled him with a newly assessing gaze. “Believe it or not, so are quite a few jobs in archaeology. It’s what put me off of the field.”

“But hey, teaching led me to Jump and to Lake Titan Camp, so I can’t complain.”

While the two nominal adults conversed, a far more intricate conversation was happening in the craft cabin. Kole, a pink haired co-conspirator of Melvin’s, was creating a half finished lanyard in pink and purple while the rest strategized. “Okay, so I need to throw her off so she’ll agree. The pink and purple color scheme is good – pink for me, purple for her, but I need something to knock her off her game.”

“You could tell her something that surprised her, maybe. But what?”

Realization dawned. “Okay. This is a little mean, maybe, but I was planning on talking to her about it anyway. I know just what to say. Kole, how’s the lanyard coming?”

“I’ve got it to the perfect length. Just long enough that you might ‘Need a little while to finish it, pretty please.’” She held up the dangling lengths of string. “Everything ready? We’re running out of time.”

“Now or never. Let’s go.” Melvin took a deep breath and led them to the doorway.

Garfield and Rachel were deep in conversation. The initial awkwardness had faded, and while there were still sparks flying whenever they made eye contact, it was more a static buzz than the almost painful live wire sensation of their first glances. At some point they had migrated closer to where Teether and Tommy’s two groups had merged into a supercrowd of children all making noise, forcing them to stand closer to one another to be heard. They were in this huddle, all focus on each other except for both of their frequent check-in glances to the children. Rachel had dipped her toe into a hint of vulnerability to test the waters, quietly and without fanfare explaining that she had adopted all three of them from the same orphanage she had found herself aging out of.

Gar reciprocated. “That’s really incredible. I was adopted pretty young by some family friends. I know how complicated that sort of relationship can be, but it’s doing something amazing for all three of them.”

Melvin, seeing their closeness, hesitated, just a bit. She was messing with fate, a little. But she was certain it was for a good cause. And it was now or never, they were already cutting it close to “Shared Activity Time” for her age group. “Umm. Rachel.”

“Yes, Melvin?” Rachel saw that Mel was nervous. Melvin was never nervous.

“I want to finish a project for you, but won’t have time later. So, uh, I need you to find something else to do. During the Activity Time, I mean. I just want to finish making this. Please, M-mom?”

Time stopped for Rachel. She had adopted them six years ago, and there had never been a time when Melvin had consciously called her “Mom”. Forms asking for “Mother’s Name”, sure. Mother’s day celebrations, absolutely. Even a few mostly-asleep, teary pleas, but never, never while Melvin was in control of her faculties.

But while time had stopped for Rachel, it marched onward for everyone else. Melvin held her breath and waited for long, tense seconds, but Rachel didn’t seem to be coming back to her senses, so she hurriedly spat out “Okayloveyouseeyousoon,” and fled back to the safety of her friends.

Gar, too, was frozen. Not to the same degree, nor for the same reasons, but he felt like he had intruded on something intimate that he had no business being a part of. He looked around, helplessly as Rachel gaped. After several seconds of silence, he couldn’t not do something. “Uhh. Rachel? You… okay?” More frozen immobility. He waved a hand in front of her face. “Rae? You there? Do I need to get a doctor?”

She seized his hand. “Did… did she just call me “Mom”? Or did I have a stroke?”

“Yeah, ouch. She did. I’m guessing this was new?”

“I… Yes. She’s never… What… what do I do? Was she angry I didn’t answer? Where did she go?” Rachel began looking around for her.

“Whoa, slow down. She’s with her friends. She wasn’t mad, it seemed like she was nervous, but not scared. And what you do is let her come to you and talk to her like you always do, and just make sure she knows you’re okay with it. As long as you are okay with it, right?”

“Of course. I just thought...” Rachel trailed off.

“Then there’s nothing to worry about! She loves you and just told you how she feels. That’s a good thing. Let’s give her a chance to do whatever she’s doing. The rest of the kids are about to go do an activity, so we have time.”

“I think I need to get away from the crowd for a minute. I can’t believe I’m asking this, but is it alright if we just go for a walk?”

“Of course.” Gar’s grip had at some point shifted to be holding her hand back, and he led her down a dirt path towards a grove of trees. “This path is quiet and not too hard.” Her sudden harsh look had him follow up. “You’re not really wearing the shoes for hiking, Rae.”

“Hmf. And since when did I say you could call me Rae, Garfield?”

He looked stricken. “I am so sorry. I dunno what I was thinking, Ra-chel. Rachel.”

She narrowed an eye. “Rae is… acceptable, as far as diminutives go. Just don’t make a habit of it in public.”

“Cross my heart. Hey, at least being a little mad at me put your mind off of Melvin, right?”

“And now it’s right back. So very helpful,” she deadpanned.

“Easy come, easy go, right?” His smile grew a little. “I don’t wanna pry or anything, but is it really that surprising? She said you were her mom like, a dozen times during camp.”

“I suppose not. It caught me very off-guard, though. Teether and Tommy sort of switch between Rachel and Mom, but Melvin’s never really seemed like she even wanted that sort of, I don’t know, ‘Official’ title for me.”

“Listen, the whole ‘mom’ thing isn’t as scary as you’re making it out to be. You’re already giving her the kind of love a mom is supposed to, and she loves you. She talks about all the time with stars in her eyes. Being adopted doesn’t make her less your daughter. Rita Farr isn’t any less my mom for taking me in when I was eight, and Marie Logan isn’t any more or less important to me just because she’s not around.”

Rachel took a breath and sighed it out. “Thank you. That does make it easier.” They walked in silence for a short time. “Wait, Rita Farr, as in the movie star? As in, the philanthropist and art collector, married to Steve Dayton?”

He blushed a little. “Whoops, probably shouldn’ta dropped that so casually, I guess. Yeah. Steve and Rita adopted me when my parents died. It’s not always easy, but I love ‘em.” He watched her reaction carefully, hoping she wouldn’t suddenly start treating him differently for having such well-known parents.

Rachel schooled her face after having that bombshell dropped on her. “Well, if we ever meet we’ll be able to talk about some historic pieces she has that I wrote papers on.”

A beat passed, then Gar’s loud laugh broke relative silence of the forest. “Aw man, she is gonna love you.”

And just like that, the tension was broken. All the concern, the lack of balance, everything fell away, and the static buzz of easy conversation punctuated by something just a little too close to intimate for an average friendship was back.

They wandered together down the shady paths, miles away and only a few trees distant from the campground. Rachel didn’t notice the distance she had walked on the formerly dreaded forest hike, and Garfield forgot to try quite so hard with his jokes and wise cracks. They walked, hand in hand and only somewhat realizing how close they were to one another, shoulders nearly touching.

The spell was eventually broken, as they always are. They rounded a final bend, seeing in the distance the campground they had left, what, less than an hour ago? And the reality that they had left behind when they entered the sun-shafted canopies woke them up, and they found that really, their hands were quite slick. Had they been clasped together the whole time? And Rachel, especially, was starting to sweat from the heat and the walk. Garfield was suddenly nervous, after all, he never talked this much, not without making a fool of himself.

But even after emerging from that hazy dream, they held on, gently rising out of the fog and into the real world so no sudden movements could disrupt the memory, the closeness that two almost strangers that fit together like complementary puzzle pieces had shared.

It wasn’t even fully dispelled when their hands slipped apart to be wiped on cargo shorts or dark jeans, though the almost hidden flight from behind a few low-branched trees of blonde hair and untied shoelaces and quiet giggle quickly sobered them.

Garfield turned. “Was that -?”

“Melvin. Oh, that little brat, she is too damn smart for her own good. I would put money on her scheming to get us alone.” Rachel fumed and her face tightened into a mask of cold anger. “I can’t believe that she would manipulate me like this! How could she – How could she finally call me -” and the mask broke, shifting from anger to near tears in seconds.

Gar panicked. “Whoa, hold on, no. She’s not that cruel, I know it and so do you. We’re probably missing something. You just said you can’t believe she would do this – she probably didn’t. Rae I promise you, there’s got to be an explanation that makes sense.”

Rachel took a deep breath, followed by another, centering herself. “I am going to get to the bottom of this. Where would she be doing this “project” she made up?”

“The craft cabin. I’ll take you there, but I guarantee you it’s not as bad as it might sound.”

It was like the crowd parted for them without even reacting. No one looked at the worried counselor or at the steely featured parent, but nonetheless they found their path almost unimpeded. Gar held up a hand just outside the door. “Let me get you two some privacy. Please.”

“Fine. Do it.” Terse and unhappy, Rachel’s displeasure was apparent in her voice, and it made Garfield wince.

He opened the door to see five preteen girls, huddled and tittering. At least until they saw him and his serious frown. Then their eyes went wide, and they looked to Melvin in a panic. “Out, girls. Clear the room. Not you, Melvin.” He stopped her when she tried to take shelter in the middle of the pack. He turned to follow them, and glanced back almost pityingly, then shook his head and exited.

The girls all ducked their heads when they saw Rachel just outside the cabin and hurried off, racing to be the first around the corner and away from the ticking time bomb.

Garfield simply nodded, and left her to it. Rachel entered the cabin and saw Melvin almost trembling, and it broke her heart. She had worked up a head of steam on the walk and the wait, but seeing her precious daughter actually afraid stopped any real anger and left only a bitter emptiness.

Rachel wasn’t quite sure what to do with her hands. She settled on a vague, open armed shrug gesture. “Why, Mel? Was it just a prank? Just a way to manipulate me?”

Tears brimmed in Melvin’s eyes. “No, I just wanted to give you guys a chance to talk alone. I’m sorry I lied, I really did try on the lanyard, but I’m just bad at them so I had Kole do it. I’m sorry, I am.”

“What? What lanyard? Melvin, I don’t care if you had a friend help with a lanyard! I just can’t believe that you would call me your mom, just to trick me into talking to someone. I can’t tell you how badly that hurts me. I… I love you too much for that.”

“What!No, nononono, Mom, I promise that wasn’t a trick. I promise. I was gonna talk to you about it, but I just – I thought that if I – I thought that maybe if I just did it you’d just let me and maybe you’d talk to him and then it everything would be perfect. I promise. I love you, Mom. I do. And I was just trying to maybe make you not spend all your time watching me and talk to him. He’s really cool, and I could tell you like him, and he’s completely in love with you, and you’re perfect for each other. I was just trying to help you be happy!” She sobbed, breathless.

Rachel froze, then instinctively wrapped her daughter in her arms and let her cry. “Mel, you don’t need to worry about me. I am happy, I promise. I don’t need you to try to trick me into being happy. Hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to say I’m not mad, but I get it. You don’t have to trick me into talking to, what did you call him, “really old, like 50 years old” guys? If we talk, we talk. That’s how adults work.”

“No, it’s not! I’ve never seen you go on a date, and you just ignore people when they try to talk to you. I know it was dumb, but I had to try something ‘cause otherwise you’d just give him that serious face until he ran away, and he’s perfect for you if you’d just give him a chance!”

“Mel. Mel, okay. I promise. I will give him a chance. But you don’t need to be worried about me. I don’t need a twelve year old playing matchmaker. You should be doing kid things, not bad romcom plots.”

“*SNRK*. They’re not bad. They’re sweet. And you like them, otherwise you wouldn’t have so many of them.” She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and glowered.

Rachel internally cursed Kori. “If you say so. Now let’s sit here for a minute, then we can go wash your face and you can go hand out with your friends. And I will have a talk with Garfield, and you will not stick your nose into my dating life. Understand?”

“Yes, mom.”

It still startled Rachel to hear that coming from Melvin, but it also warmed her heart. She hadn’t even known she wanted it until it happened, but it was like a spoken guarantee that she really was doing things right, and her little family really was working.

They sat together and Melvin showed her the lanyard that she had made via Kole. Rachel put it on the silver chain she wore around her neck and let it rest beside her heart promising mostly to herself that it would be kept safe at home. Then, when Mel had calmed down, they headed to the bathroom where Mel cleaned the tear tracks from her dirt-smudged face and rinsed her red rimmed eyes. Rachel gave her a final kiss on the forehead, and sent her off.

Gar found her standing there, staring off into space against the wall of the concrete shack. He leaned against it and slid down to sit around the corner and next to her. “So.”

“So,” she said back.

“Not saying it just to confuse you?” He glanced at her, gauging her reaction.

“No. But she wasn’t against confusing me.”

His eyebrow cocked. “Not mad?”

“Still mad. Still going to be grounded, probably. But she did it out of love.”

“Y’know, I don’t want to say I told you so, but...”

“But you totally want to say ‘I told you so,’” she finished for him.

“Yep. So what now?”

“Now, I guess I do what I was going to do before we had all this to deal with,” she said, the soul of nonchalance.

“What’s that?” he said, and when she didn’t respond, he stood up and looked around the corner. “Rae?”

“This.” with only his head around the corner, she turned and kissed him, gentle and sweet, and far too short for either of them. “I’d like to go out sometime. I want to take you to a behind the scenes at the museum, and I’ll let you choose the restaurant.”

His head spun and his eyes were out of focus. His thoughts were like molasses and he could barely get out the word “Okay.” before she was gone, a little bounce in her step.

AO3 FF.net

#bbraeweek21 #bbrae #fic

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the-fixation-zone · 5 years ago

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I wrote another character study bc it’s good practice or whatever. my prompt was a game me and my friends used to play on road trips or whenever there was a lull during a hangout :)

---

Passing Time

“Million dollars but….” Sokka starts.

In the chair next to him, Zuko groans.

“What? You love this game Zuko, don’t try to deny it.”

“You’re going to be called soon, I don’t think we have time for—”

“Million dollars but! Every time you drink water it’s vanilla pudding instead.” Sokka tilts his head to look at Zuko with a grin. Zuko groans again but a small smile starts to form on his face.

“Sokka, that’s fucking disgusting.” Zuko wrinkles his nose, his eyes getting that faraway look as he imagines it. “No deal.”

“Really? What if it was…two million dollars?”

“Nope.”

“Two point five mil?”

“…maybe. I’d think about it. Would soda turn to pudding?”

“Hm.” Sokka scratches his chin. “Clear soda would.”

Zuko takes a moment to think about it. “What about tea?”

Sokka ponders this, wondering how mean he wants to be to his friend. “…safe, but it’ll always be a little bit too sweet.”

Zuko scrunches his mouth to the side of his face but nods. “Then yeah, sure. Two point five million dollars but all water and clear soda is vanilla pudding, and tea is too sweet. Easy money.”

Sokka snorts at his abrupt turn-around but doesn’t say anything.

“Alright. Million dollars but…” Zuko narrows his eyes. Sokka anticipates. “But all your underwear is made of spaghetti.”

“Easy, deal. Going commando is cooler anyway.”

Zuko sputters, his cheeks going a bit red. “TMI dude, gross. You’d just not wear underwear for the rest of your life for a million dollars?” Shaking his head, Zuko tuts at Sokka. Sokka makes a face at him.

“Okay, okay well fine Mr. Prissy Pants. Would the spaghetti be cooked?”

“Yeah. But al dente, so they keep their form. Mostly.”

“Yeah, gross, I’m gonna need more than a mil for that.”

“Two million?”

“Higher.”

“…three?”

Sokka considers a life where any time he felt like wearing underwear it would come at the price of feeling slightly sticky in his nether regions. Then he thinks of the perks three million dollars could afford him. “Yeah. Yeah, that’d do it. I think if I had three million dollars I could buy a lot of people’s silence.”

Zuko snorts. “Man, it’d take at least ten million for me. You’re so easy.” Sokka punches him on the arm, laughing. He’s not wrong, though; Sokka would put up with a quite a bit for very little. A nurse comes out of the double doors to Sokka and Zuko’s right; both of them pause their game to see if Sokka’s name will be called. Someone named Junie Park is called instead.

“Weren’t we here before her?” Zuko asks, looking suspicious. Sokka shrugs. He’ll get in when he gets in, he’s not too pressed.

“It’s fine. Million dollars but… there’s always a turtleduck following you. You cannot escape it. It doesn’t come up to you ever, just follows from a distance.”

“A little turtleduck companion? Yeah, duh, I’d pay for that.”

“Well, what if it seemed vaguely menacing?” Sokka taps his fingers against the chair’s armrest; it’s made of a weird hard plastic, the kind that lends itself to being brightly colored, and it makes a satisfying sound when he drums his nails on it. “Like, what if it had a Vibe?”

Zuko looks at Sokka like he has three heads. “I. Would pay. For that.” Sokka laughs and lets it go.

“Alright, alright. Lemme go again, that was too easy for you.” Zuko purses his lips but doesn’t say anything. “How about… okay million dollars but you have tennis rackets for hands?” Sokka mimes this with his hands, reaching towards Zuko’s face. “Deal? No deal?” Zuko bats Sokka’s hands away with a huff of laughter but appears to be thinking about it.

“Five million. I need to hire a research team to invent the necessary accessibility accommodations.” Zuko nods decisively.

“You think you need five mil for that?”

“…no. But it’d also be, like, inconvenient.” Sokka cannot argue with that.

The same nurse comes out and calls another name. It is not Sokka’s. By the time it is, Zuko and Sokka have gone through a range of situations they’d allow themselves to be subjected to for a million or more dollars. The last one is so outlandish they nearly miss the call entirely, they’re laughing so much. The nurse has to call his name twice before either of them look up, and she’s giving them a Look when they finally do. Zuko gets up first, offering his arm to Sokka who’s still doubled over. Giggling, they follow the nurse to Sokka’s dentist’s room, down the hall and to the left.

The giggling stops when Sokka finds out he has three cavities.

#this is not part of the two pages that i wrote today this is an additional page #yay me!#fanfic #my work #zuko #sokka #zukka #avatar the last airbender #dentists #idk if that's even a viable tag but whatever #writing #prince zuko #idk if he's a prince in this au but like he could be #i miss playing this game with my friends :(#also idk when it's appropriate to make read mores ur just gonna have to struggle with me!!!!

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readbyred · 4 years ago

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“Pathetic” Ted Spankoffski x Reader

a gender neutral, reverse hurt/comfort fic

warnings: cursing; mild sexual comments; a very tired dyslectic author

Lately, things haven’t been going so well for Ted. Charlotte broke things off for good and it was far from pretty, the atmosphere was crushing to be honest. And so with time he latched onto Paul more and more, using his best friend as a distraction from his own life and failiures. Unfortunately his companion seemed to be a bit distracted and not very eager to spend time, at least less so than usually. Ted pinned the fault on a crush of his, Emma, one of the baristas at a nearby caffee. She was hot and would be great if onyl she didn’t speak, or at least that’s what he told Paul. His friend didn’t seem to agree for some reason. But that’s how it was, in Ted’s opinion. She always got offended for so many small things and tried to make him out to be the bad guy of every confrontation. But it wasn’t Ted’s fault that their uniform shorts were so short and besides one or two comments were just a given considering how good her and her coworkers looked in them. But she always had something to say, a name to call him or even a complaint to make, if her boss was around. But even then it was all fun and games. Until one day it wasn’t.

It all started “innocently” as he considered it. He spotted Paul using the stairs on the opposide side of the building. Some time ago his friend had stopped using the ones by Ted’s office, for one reason or another. And so they made their way together, Ted trying to get some information out of him as to how things with Emma were. Finally after a conversation more painful than pulling teeth Paul announced that he was going to ask Emma out. It was a big step and it surprised Ted but after some teasing he promised not to blow this. So far so good and it wasn’t until they stood in the line, inside the cafe, that it went downhill.

It was meant to be a harmless comment, he knew Emma found them at least a bit funny too, for sure. Nothing bad, he just asked whet else could she do for a tip if she didn’t want to sing. She already looked very annoyed, he never expected her to appreciate his humour and so he nudged Paul saying that he might give her a different tip if she didn’t want his money. That, for reasons unknown to Ted, crossed the line and Emma whipped around to face them frustrated. She turned to Paul to announce that although she liked him around if his friend was going “to come around only to be a gross creep” then they might as well just go to starbucks instead, since she “didn't go to this shitty job to get harassed”

Ted didn’t even get to say that technically, he wasn’t doing anything wrong because Paul who was now done with awkwardly apologizing to his very pissed off crush, dragged him out of the Beanies, furious. They didn’t talk and to be honest Ted started to feel a bit anxious inside, like a child feels when they tip off their parent in public and know what will await them home.

But that was just how he was! A sleazeball, a jerk, a horny bastard at best. He didn’t want to accept that same persona that was now basically his whole self could have gotten him in trouble with his best friend. And he was never a fan of feeling guilty in general so as soon as he realised that Paul wasn’t going to address it he turned to the first person that asked what happened.

It was Bill who questioned the situation first and although he asked Paul what was up the younger man seemed not to be in the mood to talk and so there was Ted, ready to offer his, very objective, point of view. Leaning on the wall of Bill’s cubicle he announced, trying to sound like he didn't care that he obviously did something bad.

“His grumpy barista got pissed for no reason” chuckling nervously he exclaimed glancing over at Paul working on his computer and ignoring him “it’s not my fault she’s so stiff, alright? And there are many more girls than her, it’s her loss, ey?”

No response. Bill seemed to glance at Paul pitifully.

“Oh, come on! You can do better anyways! And as your best friend I-”

“Can you shut up?” Paul didn’t raise his voice but he as well might have, the tone he was using was way worse. He fully turned to face his older coworker, and for a very long time in a while Ted was, in fact quiet. As he spoke however he became more visibly frustrated “Can you finally stop following me around when I don’t want to be followed, trying to insert yourself into EVERY conversation i have and ruining everything with your gross comments? Why can’t you take the hint? We are not friends, you- you’re just this guy, a guy from work that’s just there when no one wants him to and is just too... pathetic for anyone to directly tell him that''

Ted’s face went blank as Paul let out his years worth of frustrations.

Ted often heard those words. “Pathetic” yes, he was familiar with the term more than anyone. It was alongside such titles as “annoying” “sad” “lonely” “disposable” “a nobody” something he heard often. Sometimes from Sylvia who worked on the top floor and had no real fun qualities besides looking hot (in his opinion). Other times from Emma who would be a decent friend if she wasn't so annoyingly ‘horny for Paul’.

Most of the time he said them himself though. It was normal, you know. A truth he accepted without any brooding except for those lonely nights in his apartment where he drank and let his emotions out. But it hurt no less to hear such remarks be thrown at him from someone like Paul. Someone who, despite his flaws seemed to be genuinely liked by people around him and wanted around. But if Paul wasn't his friend did he have anyone else at all? Not only in his job but in general. After all he didn’t have much besides his work life.

In his youth he was a nerdy little kid that quickly bloomed into a bitter, insecure adult, no magical glow up or ‘it gets better after high school” crap. When he got this job sometime after college, still a mess after that happened a few autumns earlier, he thought he found his place.

Even if he never felt very wanted he liked it here a lot. Only now had he realized he might have been the only one to see it as such. Was he just as sad as everyone apparently saw him as?

That moment made him way too conscious of his own existence and choices, it was no longer a matter of convincing himself that it's all in his head now that the truth was out and clear, the words hanging in the heavy air seemingly for the whole world to see.

And to be fair he had no arguments against the claim, because how sad that was to consider his coworkers, coworkers that apparently hated his guts, the closest people he had?

Because sure, Bill was stiff and boring but there was a certain dose of fun in their usual banter. Sylvia always knew all the gossip from the office and wasn’t all that bad at times. Melissa was always fun to hang around and even brought him lunch on a few ocassions. Even the intern that joined merely two months before, (Y/n), was someone he accepted as a friend. Not to mention Paul and Charlotte, two of the closest people he had, both of which didn’t want him around. And from what Paul said no one else did either. He had no reason not to believe it.

It took him only a few seconds to get it together when Paul finished.Ted always had a habit of getting very obviously defensive when his ego was hurt.

“Okay, whatever!” he shrugged angrily “Well, it’s not your problem then! I know when I’m not wanted”

He made his way to his office, away from Paul and Bill and all those people who he considered to be his friends.

The whole day was a bit messy, ever since (Y/n)’s foot stepped into the office they were sent on endless errands by their superior, Mr Davidson. Whatever happened up above in the chain it created one hell of a mess in the documents and so (Y/n) along with Melissa were the busiest they’ve been in a while.

Hence when they finally found time to get some well deserved coffee most of their friends were on their way back to CCRP.

That led to a lot of confusion when after stepping onto their floor they were met with an unusually tense atmosphere. They must have missed something important, they thought.

It wasn’t a long time ago when they joined the team and they never felt like the new person they were and all the efforts at staying purely professional faded with first friendships. And as much as they tried to,they became fond of their coworkers quickly. And so the current mood around them concerned (Y/n).

This wasn’t snooping around, they told themselves approaching Bill to ask what was up. He was a nice man, older than them and equally unskilled in the tech field but overall a very sweet man. If there was something to be concerned about he’d tell them for sure.

The day was almost over, one hour was left until Ted could go home and drink himself to sleep. But for now he just sat in his chair, staring blankly on the screen of his computer displaying a familiar black and orange webpage he was unusually uninterested in, mindlessly squishing his old and used up stress ball. The busiest hours were over and all files seemed to finally be back in place and safe and so he didn’t have much more to keep himself busy with.

He was angry, upset and hurt. Already keeping so many negative emotions inside, those new ones threatened to spill over the edges of the walls he built over the years but so far he managed to keep it together as much as he could.

And that’s when someone knocked on his door.

“What?” he sounded just like he felt, his own voice betraying him greatly. The person on the other side must’ve taken it as an invitation because soon they revealed themselves to be (Y/n). It wasn’t the last person he wanted to see, sure, but it was only because he didn’t want to see any of them equally. Maybe Paul a bit more than the rest “What do you want?”

“I heard what happened and-” they began, watching him carefully. Ted felt even more miserable under their gaze, truly pathetic and judged with his emotions on display. But there was no more space left for him to push them further down and ignore.

“Great, you came here to tell me how much you hate me too, or what?” he scoffed giving them a bitter look “Because I ‘acted like an asshole’?”

“You did from what I know” they responded. It wasn’t something he didn’t expected to hear but he felt even worse hearing it come from (Y/n). They were someone he had his eyes on for some time but never got to try anything. First, because he was with Charlotte and, as much of a jerk as he considered himself to be, he would never forgive himself for being just like Sam. Later when she ended things it was just too painful to jump back into ‘his game’ as he called it. As he always believed, he wasn’t able to fall in love. He did so once in college and never again. It was easier to believe than to face his fear of rejection and not being enough again. Sure, he didn’t exactly love (Y/n) and even if he could do it at all he probably wouldn't, knowing them for two or three months tops. Those sorts of feelings though, weren’t distant at all and their arrival was, at this point, almost inevitable. And so to hear them stand against him, even if rightfully so, hit him in a way he never anticipated. Hence his confused expression when they added “But I came here to check on you, you’ve been locked in here awfully long...”

“I was busy” he barked back quickly returning to his defensive tone. They sometimes asked him things like this one for no apparent reason as to why would they want to know that. He never fully gave in, only sometimes in passing throwing one or two passive-aggressive remarks referring to his situation with Charlotte and such.

“Bullshit” they raised their eyebrows looking down at him. If it wasn’t for the fact he felt anything but up for joking he’d point out how unusual it was to hear them curse. Unamused they added, awaiting his response “Your screen reflects on the glass behind you. So?”

“’So’ you can leave” with Paul’s words still vividly playing in his head he avoided their gaze. The possibility that they thought of him so lowly seeming very overbearing and terrible all of a sudden “I’m fine, alright? So what else you came here for”

“You know acting like this never worked on me, right?” they took the seat opposite to him, still acting very unbothered by his aggressive demeanour, maybe a bit impatient.

“And why do you even want to know that, huh? I mean really, (Y/n), I know you’re new around here but you really don’t have to kiss ass to-”

“Get over yourself, will you? If you’d like to know I was worried” their frown was gone almost as soon as it appeared as they went one, seemingly letting their words fall from their mouth freely “And yeah! You cross many lines, I’m not surprised Emma was mad, whatever you said to her. But you’re still someone I care about, as a person. And you’re not that bad most of the time, you know?”

“If you really want to have a place to stay over the weekend it wouldn’t hurt to ask more nicely, you know” Ted jumped between acts and masks, desperate to find one strong enough to hide whatever that was that made his expression soften.

“Look, I came here on my own but if you want things to go back to how they were you’ll really need to drop the act” they sighed, gaining a bit more of a serious tone.

“And you tell me that? It was Paul who decided to call me a lonely pathetic asshole” Ted knew well only one of those things actually came from Paul but if there was even the smallest possibility to have someone disagree with what he and others thought of him he’d gladly take it, even if it wouldn’t be honest. But what was more pathetic than fishing for a surely insincere ‘oh no, you’re not!’?

“And he regretted it right after, I spoke to him, really. I’m not going to try to make you shake each other’s hands and apologize, you can do that on your own if you want to. I’m just saying you both screwed up, there isn’t one person to blame”

“Okay, (Y/n)” he sighed “That’s cool of you to try and be moral like that but I don’t need to talk or make up with anyone so you either want to cheer me up my way or you can get back to work”

He let his eyes travel up and down their body freely, assured by their earlier statements and a bit relieved that they didn’t share Paul’s opinion. He looked back up when they stood up, torning to the door. Just before he could mentally curse himself out for ruining it they stopped.

“Tell you what, it’s Friday. I’ll make something up to get out of softball practice and we can go grab a drink” they said grabbing the doorknob “That’s the closest I’ll get to doing it ‘your way’. What do you say?”

“Wait really?” it was rare to see him truly surprised like that but it was the last thing he was expecting to come from them.

“Yeah, I can show you a cool place” they smiled walking out and turning back for the last time “come by my desk in an hour and we’ll be good to go”

The door closed leaving him alone again in a much brighter office.

Ted felt a small smile form on his face, a geniuine one too. Things were awful and he didn’t even want to think about how (Y/n) made him feel or how awkward things were going to be in the office from now on. But even if nothing was alright yet, it seemed that he was getting a bit closer to ‘okay’ and that was more than enough.

tag list:

@stopgettingonmynerves

@joeycupcakerichter

#tgwdlm #tgwdlm x reader #ted spankoffski x reader #tgwdlm ted x reader #i need sleep #tgwdlm ted #x reader

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riversofmars · 4 years ago

Note

Hi there!! I just want to say that I love your writing so much <3 and I have a prompt if you want one? Some hurt/comfort for River/13 where one of them gets hurt during one of their adventures and the other one looks after them ??

Thank you for two brilliant prompts! I haven't done hurt/comfort in a while so this was good! Plus, love the idea of exploring more things that were implied but not actually shows in canon (got another fic brewing for that as well but more on that another time!). Anyway, I decided to do a follow up from Companion Piece and River getting home to Luna University, shortly before heading off to the Library. You don't have to know Companion Piece to follow this though, it's all self-explanatory. Turned out more emotional and angsty than planned but I hope you like it! <3

Rating: G

Word Count: 2700

Read on AO3 or below

Every Second, For Eternity

“There we go…“ River sighed, exhausted. “Last one…“ She closed the door of the type 70 TARDIS she had borrowed. Well, borrowed implied she would return it, she had no intention of doing that. Stolen, maybe? Probably more accurate… but then, was it really stealing if the owner had no use of it anymore? The Clocksmith was dead and the Nine had stolen it himself, so River considered keeping it fair game. Particularly since the Nine had done God knows what to her Vortex Manipulator.

“Home, I think…“ She mumbled into the silence of the control room. The TARDIS was certainly not as responsive as the Doctor’s but she still considered it alive and worth talking to. Particularly since she had no-one else to converse with now. She missed them already, all the Doctor’s lovely friends and companions she had had the brief pleasure of meeting. Being able to put faces to names had been a delight but they all needed returning to their time periods before the timelines took damage.

“Does feel like a bit of a farewell tour, doesn’t it…?“ River slowly worked the controls and launched into the vortex. Perhaps it was the aftereffects of the torture the Nine had put her through, but she thought, for the first time in her life, she could feel her age in her bones.

I feel like I’m almost at the end now… They had been her own words and they hit home. She had gotten a sense of it when she had been in the Matrix and spoken to the Doctor, a Doctor that didn’t even know her… No matter where and when they were in their timeline, no matter which face they wore, she loved them all the same. Another adventure, running with the Doctor, ticked off the list. How many more adventures did she have left in her? She couldn’t be sure. Her body was starting to ache all over as the last traces of adrenaline wore off.

“Now, you don’t go anywhere…“ She told the TARDIS as they landed and slowly made her way to the door. Exhaustion was taking her over. She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept… Must have been in that hotel in Stagmore where she’d bolted early upon the Doctor’s arrival and forgot to pay her bill. Mustn’t forget to transfer some money , she thought to herself, hoping she could remember the correct temporal coordinates.

The TARDIS’s door opened to the familiar surroundings of her flat on the Luna University campus. Home at last. Or the closest thing to it, anyway, when your real home was out among the stars, travelling, doing whatever the hell they wanted… One of them was probably just collecting his friend from a space station, or so she hoped. Not everyone had wanted a lift home from the space station the Nine had kept them captive in. Only an insane kleptomaniac would attempt to make a collection of the Doctor’s companions…

“Nice cabinet.“ A voice greeted her and River looked up, surprised, but only for a moment.

“Oh, you know, actually working chameleon circuit…“ River smiled softly as she regarded the woman leaning against a TARDIS of her own. Fortunately, River’s living room was rather large to accommodate the Clocksmith’s TARDIS and that of her spouse.

“Hello, River.“ The Doctor replied, pushing herself off the blue box.

“Hello, Doctor.“ River hummed, delighted but exhausted as well. She tried her best to sound upbeat as she teased: “Did you get yourself a chameleon circuit of your own or has the universe finally answered my prayers?“

“You like it?“ The Doctor grinned, taking a twirl, and River chuckled:

“Like is not the word…“ She winked and was going to saunter towards her but she found herself stumbling. She grabbed onto the couch for support. Her legs were about to give way.

“River, are you okay?“ The Doctor’s face fell when she realised something was wrong. She rushed forward and put her arm around her wife’s waist, steadying her.

“I’ll be fine in a minute…“ River took a deep breath. She didn’t like to show weakness, not even in front of the Doctor, but her body was betraying her. She had underestimated the toll recent events had taken. She had been to Gallifrey, faced off against renegade Time Lords, been drawn into the Matrix, cast out into the Vortex, and all that just to be kidnapped and tortured for information on the Doctor’s friends… it had been quite the adventure… Slowly, she was beginning to realise how much her body ached all over.

“I don’t think so, what happened to you?“ The Doctor sensed that something was very wrong. She pulled her sonic from her pocket and scanned her wife. Her eyes widened in alarm. “Your muscles, your joints, every cell in your body, good God, River, what happened to you?“ She exclaimed and the momentary panic in her voice made River realise the seriousness of her situation. It was as if all the muscles in her body had fallen asleep and were waking up with pins and needles, very very sharp, painful needles.

“The Nine really knows how to take the fun out of torture…“ River winced, she needed to sit down.

“The Nine?“ The Doctor echoed confused and concerned. She helped her around the sofa and to sit down.

“Ah, well, good to know I wiped everyone’s memory properly… and the girls kept my secret.“ River chuckled despite her discomfort. The fact that the Doctor didn’t know about her encounter with the Nine meant she hadn’t endangered the timeline and everything had worked out just fine… apart from the piercing pain she was in.

“The Nine… you mean when he was kidnapping my old companions? You were there too?“ The Doctor realised what she was talking about. These events had been lifetimes ago and she had only been told about them in retrospect.

“Jaime, Bliss, Charly, Ramona… Leela, now, let me tell you, wiping her memory was a challenge I enjoyed…“ River gave a chuckle but ended up wincing. “Returned them all to the right time and place… I take it you picked up Liv and Helen? Were they okay in the end?“

“Yeah I got them, they were fine.“ The Doctor nodded and River smiled:

“That’s alright then…“

“Whatever you were doing, you wore yourself out.“ The Doctor said, brushing her wife’s frizzy hair back.

“You’d be exhausted too if you’d had to get hallucinogenic lipstick on all your companions’ lips… you collect them like strays…“ River smirked, teasingly.

“River!“ The Doctor exclaimed but River shushed her:

“Fine, fine, that wasn’t really a hardship, more likely the Nine’s delightful torture machine has taken more of a toll than I realised…“ She trembled, she could hardly move but tried her best to put on a brave face.

“Oh River…“ The Doctor’s heart broke at the sight of her and she gathered her into her arms.

“I’ll be fine…“ River retorted weakly but she didn’t resist the caring gesture. It felt good to be held, to be close to her.

“You helped save them all…“ The Doctor mumbled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Thank you.“

“Well, I was largely responsible for them being there in the first place… I had to give him some names… just made sure they were the right ones to stage a breakout.“ River explained weakly. She winced as she tried to get more comfortable.

“Very resourceful.“ The Doctor nodded approvingly and River smiled too:

“Yes, they are. Your friends.“ An unbidden sob escaped her throat.

“River…“ the Doctor’s voice was full of concern and she scanned her again. “Let’s get you to bed…“ She suggested and helped her up. She needed rest. There wasn’t much to be done. Her body needed to recover from the trauma, like sore muscles after intense exercise but infinitely worse. The fact that River didn’t protest made her realise just how much pain she was in. Under normal circumstances, she never would allow herself to be told what to do.

The Doctor helped her up and supported her as they slowly made their way into the adjourning bedroom. The Doctor only briefly registered the pictures on her bedside table: Photos of her parents, her adoptive brother, and one of them, together, at the Singing Towers. The Doctor smiled at the memory of happier times as she helped River into bed.

“I’ll be right back.“ She assured her wife and went into the bathroom, only to return with a glass of water and a wet flannel.

“Do you remember it?“ River mumbled as the Doctor kicked off her boots and climbed onto the bed next to her wife. She placed the flannel on her head and pressed the glass to her lips, encouraging her to drink.

“Remember what?“ She asked softly, brushing River’s hair back that was sticking to her brow with sweat.

“What I said in the Matrix.“ River answered before taking a sip of water.

“I didn’t use to remember, too much interference in there… I didn’t remember it for a long time after…“ The Doctor admitted, searching her mind for the memory.

“Funny… so that wasn’t your first meeting with me either…“ River mused as the Doctor placed the glass on the bedside table. “Every time I meet one of your younger selves, I wonder itf that’s it, the first time, for you…“ She carried on to explain, watching her through heavy eyelids.

“You know which ones of my faces you can be honest to…“ The Doctor replied and sat up against the headboard.

“I do… but then, I also know you lie, so…“ River managed a half-smile and rested her head on her wife’s lap.

“I remember it now, looking back, all those times we met but I didn’t know who you were… I remember it now.“ The Doctor smiled, hoping to distract her from the pain she could so clearly see painted on her face.

“In the Matrix, when we exchanged places… it’s a funny old place, isn’t it, the Matrix and the Vortex… makes you see things…“ River hummed thoughtfully, trying to recall the events as best as she could.

“River, you’re exhausted, you need to rest…“ The Doctor tried to soothe her but River felt the need to keep talking, to work this out for herself, before she could think about closing her eyes.

“I could feel it… like I was almost at my destination… I thought that was it, genuinely, that I would die there and if not there, soon…“ She couldn’t quite explain it, how she had known, but she could feel her journey coming to an end.

“You’re safe now.“ The Doctor stroked her hair, hoping he would drop off into sleep and not face more emotional upheaval. She had to focus on getting well.

“I always feel safe with you…“ River smiled and forced her eyes to open properly, to be able to look up at her. “How much time have we got left?“ She asked the most burning question on her mind.

“We’re time travellers River, time is for other people…“ The Doctor replied, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“Doctor…“ River protested weakly.

“How many seconds in eternity?“ The Doctor retorted airily. River was in no condition to be having this conversation.

“Says the immortal…“ River huffed. “I can feel it, Doctor, my time is running out… I saw that there was a fixed point, something I’m heading towards…“ It was an unsettling thought that wouldn't allow her to rest.

“River, you really ought to get some sleep…“ The Doctor instead but she wasn’t having it.

“This isn’t it, is it? The last time?“ River’s voice was distraught and weakening. “I used to think Darillium would be the end…“

“That was one hell of a night…“ The Doctor interrupted softly.

“It really was…“ River smiled at the memory of it. “You won’t leave, will you? If I fall asleep…“ She was struggling to keep her eyes open now but she didn’t want to go to sleep. She didn’t want to wake up alone as she had done so many times.

“Someone’s got to look after you…“ The Doctor smiled, she had no intention of leaving her until she was sure her wife would be okay. “And you’re not gonna die, now, either. As if the Nine could take credit for that. No. I know that for a fact, you have adventures to go on yet.“ She kissed the top of her head again and adjusted the flannel.

“That’s good to know… Mind you, there is this place I’ve been meaning to go…“ River hummed, feeling a little more relaxed.

“Yeah? Where is that?“ The Doctor asked, hoping to help her focus on something positive, something to look forward to.

“Biggest Library in the universe… I’ve had the invitation to an expedition ages ago and kept putting it off…“ River answered softly.

The Doctor remained quiet, she didn’t know what to say. Either response would feel wrong. If she encouraged her, she would be encouraging her to go to her death, she couldn’t do so with a steady voice, with conviction, she couldn’t bring herself to say it. And at the same time, she couldn’t tell her not to go. She would be endangering causality, damage her own timeline, damage her relationship with River, at worst, destroy it, and she couldn’t allow that to happen. So she remained quiet, her hearts weighing her down on the bed as they grew heavy.

“There’ll be stories there, the stories about us…“ River gave a faint smile.

“I dread to think…“ The Doctor huffed, entangling her fingers in her wife’s hair.

“Why?“

“Stories are just that, they’re stories, they’re not…“ The Doctor broke off. Stories couldn’t compare to reality, much like a consciousness in a computer couldn’t compare to the real person…

“We’re all just stories in the end…“ River threw the Doctor’s own words back at her, knowing she wouldn’t be able to argue with herself. And when she didn’t, she carried one: “And we've had some amazing stories…“ She smiled as she closed her eyes. “We’ve come such a long way… Kovarian, the Silence…“

“I’m so sorry about what they did to you…“ The Doctor interjected softly, her hearts aching at the memory of what had been done to her. River’s childhood had been taken from her.

“It’s not your fault.“ River sighed, shaking her head as much as she could while lying down.

“It happened because of me…“ The Doctor insisted.

“And if it hadn’t, I would have never met you.“ River interrupted weakly. “Every part of my story… I’m grateful, for all of it, every last bit, every detour, every adventure… no matter how terrifying, no matter how painful, even all those times you didn't know me…“

“I’m sorry… for the times I didn’t know you.“ The Doctor sighed. She could only imagine how painful it must have been for River to see that lack of recognition and feeling in her eyes.

“So many first times… and still not the right one.“ River mused, tiptoeing the edge of sleep.

“One day… but not too soon.“ The Doctor mumbled.

“Will I see you there?“ River asked softly.

“Where?“ The Doctor frowned and River hummed:

“The Library?“

“Maybe…“ The Doctor answered, trying her best to keep her emotions out of her voice. “If you invite me…“

“As if you could stay away…“ River whispered, slowly drifting out of consciousness.

“Never when you call.“ The Doctor answered, caressing her cheek as River’s breaths grew more even, deep and slow. She looked exhausted and spent but peaceful nonetheless. River Song was formidable, strong and true. Her journey was nearly at an end and it broke the Doctor’s heart as she held her wife. “I love you.“ She spoke into the silence of the flat. No-one, not even the Doctor knew what the future had in store for them. For all she knew, the universe could end tomorrow or it could stretch out for all eternity… whichever it was, the Doctor knew her love for River Song would pass the test of time. Every second, she would hold her love close, every second, for eternity.

#Doctor Who #fanfiction #prompt #river song #thirteen #thirteenth doctor #space wives #femslash #whump #hurt/comfort #general #yowzah #river x thirteen #river x the doctor #companion piece #angst #mild angst

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yazthebarbie · 5 years ago

Text

Alewife

draco malfoy x reader

(based off of the song alewife by clairo)

it was your duty to take care of your childhood best friend. you knew all he went through and knew you were his safe space. when your mother gets ill things begin to go downhill for you, but you keep up appearances as to not worry draco. eventually, you break.

(reader is slytherin, can be based in whichever year you’d like, very angsty but w kinda fluffy ending!) (this is also the first imagine i’ve written in years, and the first i’ve written on this account. so i apologize if my writings’ a bit rusty or there’s some errors.) words: 1.4k

tw: lots of tears, cussing, anxiety attack, mentions of self harm (hitting, scratching)

With tired eyes you watched your companions goof around and gossip about the latest drama. It wasn’t just the Slytherin table with positive energy that day, the entire Great Hall was bustling with energy. Nothing in particular was going on, but it just seemed like life was going great fro everyone. Maybe it was because winter break was coming up, or for once their school wasn’t under attack from the powers of some evil. But either way, everyone was happy.

Aside from you.

Every so often you would give a half-hearted laugh at the occasional joke, or nodded when someone asked you a question. But lately it was getting harder for you to keep up the act. Inside, you were tired beyond imagine. Ever since your mother had fallen an ill to a mysterious unknown illness a month ago- life had taken a dark, dramatic turn for you. She wasn’t getting better at all. Each time you received a letter from her, it seemed her handwriting got shakier and her normally precise letters were loopy and falling off the lines. It was clear something was desperately wrong but there was nothing the healers could do about it. They didn’t have to tell you, you knew that your mother didn’t have much time left to live. Every little part of you hoped that somehow she’d be able to pull through the rest of the year so you’d be able to enjoy the winter and summer holiday with her before anything drastic happened.

The sound of deep laughter felt like music to your ears. Draco was messing around with Blaise and Theodore, all of them in a stitch of laughter over something you weren’t sure of and couldn’t remember.

Lately, Draco seemed to be beaming. With you by his side, winning the latest Quidditch game, and Potter not being smothered with attention for once, he was very content with the way things were going. You admired the way his platinum blonde hair messily rested at his ears, shaping his face nicely. His jawline was sharp and accentuated from the angle you were facing him at. The rosy tint to his cheeks complimented the paleness of his skin. Every few minutes he would squeeze your hand, a good sign. Seeing him happy, made you happy. Even if it was for a second. It was extremely rare seeing him smile so much in public, you didn’t want to ruin that for him and burden him with your issues.

Your beloved snow white owl, Hydrangea, dropped a letter in front of you. Straightening your back with a smile, you picked up the thin envelope with excitement. You hadn’t expected mother to respond this quickly.

As you began to read, your originally joyful expression became crestfallen. Your face twisted and it looked like you were in pain.

“Are you okay, Y/N?” Daphne asked, noticing your face first as she was sitting across from you. Her question caused the rest of your nearby table mates to divert their attention and look at you, including Draco who sat at your right side.

You swallowed, eyes flickering to Draco nervously before cracking a small smile, “Yeah I’m fine, my stomach is killing me with these cramps, though.”

The response seemed to satisfy everyone’s nosiness and they went back to their mindless chatter. Draco, however, looked at you strangely. That boy knew you like the back of his hand and he wouldn’t fall as easily for an excuse like that. Part of you hoped he didn’t remember you had already had your period last week.

“Speaking of, I have to go to the bathroom,” You faltered, shakily getting out of your seat. Before anyone could ask anymore questions, you were already out the Great Hall. The speed walk pace shifted to a full on sprint as your feet carried you through the Slytherin common room and into your dorm.

Everything was happening all at once. Thoughts, worries, fears- all violently shaking and interrupting each other. Reality didn’t seem real at this point, it was like life had stopped but was flying by you at the same time. Tears blurred your vision as you slammed the bedroom door behind you, falling to your knees. The news finally seemed to come crashing down.

“We send you our condolences and are deeply sorry for your loss,”

Those words on the paper weren’t real, there was no way. It wasn’t supposed to happen this quickly.

“Your mother, M/N L/N, passed away early this morning at 3:37 AM.”

You started choking violently at your lack of breath. Her last moments and you didn’t even get to spend them with her.

“She asked us to tell you something that wasn’t stated in the will.”

Her last words.

“I love you so, so much N/N. Please do not cry, be happy. I hope I was a good mother to you. You were the best daughter I could ever ask for and more. I am okay with going now, because just knowing I had you in my life while I was here is enough for me.”

You’d never felt your heart physically break in half before up until today. You felt like you had failed her by not being there. You wanted to go home early to spend time with her but she had reassured you she would be fine until you came home for winter break.

Fuck, fuck. This was all your fault wasn’t it? The more you smacked yourself, the more the pain reminded you this was real.

“Y/N? Where- holy shit,”

You looked back and your eyes made contact with a pair of blue-grey ones. Draco stood over you, frightened and concerned at what he was seeing. Pulling out his wand, he mumbled a spell to lock the door from unwanted intruders before kneeling down next to your shaky body.

Despite the other emotions you were going through, you felt embarrassed. You’d never broken down like this before, especially not in front of the boy you’d tried so hard to be strong for all these years.

His arms gently wrapped themselves around you, lifting you up from off the floor and onto your bed. “Don’t move, okay?” He rushed into your bathroom, coming back with a soaked hand towel. You were confused until he lifted one of your arms, softly rubbing the towel against your forearm. That was when you noticed the blood trickling out of your skin. You hadn’t realized you were in such a deep state of panic that you had begun scratching yourself.

When he went over a particularly deep scratch, you took in a sharp breath. Draco looked up at you quickly, pulling the towel away from your skin. “I’m sorry, am I hurting you?” He whispered, almost as if he spoke any louder you would break into a million little pieces.

You barely shook your head, too busy staring into the distance as salty tears rolled down your face. For a second you glanced at his face and saw the heartbreak in his eyes.

After tending to your wounds, Draco almost hesitantly wrapped his arms around you. Not as if he didn’t want to- but he wasn’t entirely sure how. He was acting partially off instinct, and partially off of how you would comfort him in the past. He cleared his throat and gathered up the courage to ask the question you knew was looming in the air.

“What happened?”

At this you began to cry again, pointing towards the letter soaked with tears on the floor. Using his wand to bring it over, he read it. Not once, not twice, but three times. It took him a second to process the shock of it all himself. You knew your mom was like a second mother to him. In fact, she was the one who brought you and Draco together in the first place.

Draco’s grip around you tightened as he set down the envelope. “I’m so, so sorry, love.”

You wailed into his chest, squeezing him like he would disappear if you didn’t. His hands rubbed comforting circles in your back. The smell of his expensive cologne and peppermint breathe put you more at ease, you choked sobs slowly turning into into small sniffles. He whispered sweet nothings to you, telling you that he would stay by your side and he wasn’t going anywhere.

“I’m here, darling. I’m right here.”

He was all you had left now.

You weren’t sure how much time had passed, but it felt like hours of you just laying on his chest. All the crying had worn you out, and your eyelids began to flutter.

“Draco?” You mumbled in a disoriented state, into his now damp shirt.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

As you drifted into slumber, feeling safe in his arms, he replied.

“I love you, too.”

#draco malfoy #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy x y/n #harry potter #hogwarts #draco malfoy fanfiction #draco malfoy x slytherin!reader #draco malfoy x fem!reader #draco x reader #draco x y/n

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cheeriecherry · 5 years ago

Note

Ohoh. Loud boi (mic) and Dabi HC?

Hecc yeah! I’m assuming you mean dating HCs but if not,,,,,here’s some dating HCs :D

Headcanons requests are open!

----

Loud Boi|Present Mic|Yamada Hizashi

-He’s not shy about liking you, not even a little bit. He’s busy af so you guys probably meet at a work event, for any of his three jobs (I don’t know how he does it, like when does he sleep).

-He probably thinks you’re pretty the moment he sees you, but doesn’t chalk it up to being something more. Lots of people are attractive, and he is a man with eyes so....

-That doesn’t stop him from coming over and talking to you, though. He’s pretty good at remaining outwardly calm and making small talk, regardless of the flips his tummy is doing. And he’s a friendly person with a lot of charisma and energy, so other’s are naturally drawn to him.

-You hang out for the remainder of the event, chatting about this and that and the other thing, and it’s a pleasant time. Neither of you really expect to see each other again, even though the connection is there, but somehow he still manages to forget to ask for your number.

-Lucky him though, because the very next function he attends, he sees you. It’s a little fancier this time, some kind of charity ball, and oh boy the moment he lays eyes on you, he is Looking. You look good asf, even though you’re sitting at one of the tables doing literally nothing.

-He makes his way over to you, dodging in between dancing bodies, and finds a seat across from you. Your conversation flows just as easily as last time, and he finds comfort in the fact that you seem interested in him. Throw in a couple flirts here and there, and it’ll solidify his confidence. You guys definitely dance a little before the evening is over (probably badly), and he actually remembers to get your number this time.

-So you text back and forth over the weeks, keeping each other updated on your lives and making promises to hang out again soon. You try your best to make yourself free whenever he has time off, because you know with his chaotic schedule that he doesn’t get much down time.

-Anyways, your hang outs get more and more tense, but not in a bad way. More in a ‘we both know there’s feelings here so what should we do about it’ kind of way. He’ll linger a little longer at your door when he’s saying goodbye, hold you a little longer in a hug. It would be best to just take the leap and kiss him! Not anything big, just a peck on the cheek or the corner of the mouth.

-It results in one red boi. One red boi with a goofy grin. He is not immune to affection from the person he likes, as cool as he tries to play it off. He really wants to kiss you again after that, but he worries that he might not be able to stop if he does. So he smiles warmly and heads off with the promise of a date later in the week.

-Once you guy get into the swing of things and start getting more serious, is when he really lets himself be known. That is, not keeping up his energetic front 24/7. Don’t get me wrong, he’s an extroverted and fun person, but he still gets tired and sad and grumpy sometimes, and once he’s comfortable around you he’s not so worried about letting those parts show.

-Give him hugs and kisses and casual affection all throughout the day, whenever you can! He likes having you nearby, and having your hand on his shoulder or your arms wrapped around him helps him be less all-over-the-place. You ground him, in a way.

-He’ll return the affection tenfold, and is always happy to see you when he comes home. No matter how tired he is, he’ll find you and scoop you up and pepper kisses all over your face. Even if you guys fight about something, he’s always gonna make sure to kiss you before bed and tell you goodnight.

-He can tell when you’re upset about something, and most of the time he’ll let you be and sort it out on your own. But if it’s something that’s persisting, or that he thinks involves him, he’ll want to try and talk it out like adults. Especially if you’re stressed or anxious about something, he’ll want to be there to help you. He’ll respect your need for space if you want it, but he’ll let you know every now and again that he’s there if you need him.

-He likes going out to do things, go on adventures, and such, but his favourite dates with you are where it’s just the two of you. Could be at home, could be on a hike, could be at the movies, as long as it’s you and him. Maybe don’t take him on a hike though, because you know how he is about bugs.

-Speaking of bugs, you will always have to be the one to put the spiders outside. Even if you’re sleeping, he’ll wake you with a shriek and alert you to the problem (he feels bad afterwards when he sees your drowsy expression).

-Probably feels like things are crawling on him afterwards, so calm him down with a couple kisses and cuddles.

-Deadass a cuddlebug. He’s not so into PDA beyond holding hands and linking arms and chaste kisses, but when it’s just the two of you, or you and a couple of his friends, he’s all for it. Stick your legs across his lap, lean against him, fall asleep curled up on the couch together.

-When it’s just the two of you, cuddles almost always turn into kisses. He doesn’t even try to hide the fact that he’s addicted to you and can’t get enough. Depending on his mood, the way he kisses you will vary greatly. If he’s calmer, or sad, or upset about something, his kisses will be softer and slower and more comforting. If he’s energetic or excited, so too will his kisses be. Frustrated? Kiss the pout right off his face. The best kisses are when he’s just feeling extra in love with you; they’re deep and sensual, and he cradles your jaw and holds you close against him.

-A v good boyfriend! He’s perceptive and easy to get along with, fun and willing to try new things, and mature enough that he’ll want to sort out any arguments or stressors before they get too big. He can be loud sometimes, and your tolerance varies depending on what your mood is, but he’s pretty good at quieting down when he sees you’re getting a little frazzled. He’s protective of you, but not suffocating, and absolutely wants you to have freedom and your own life that doesn’t revolve around him: he just hopes you’ll let him be part of it. He loves and cares deeply, and shows it wherever he can, and by the time he tells you he loves you, he’s in it for life if you’re agreeable.

Dabi

-OOf. Okay, I love Dabi, I love him a lot, but he’s a tricky guy to peg down. Definitely doesn’t pay you any mind the first couple times he meets you. You either annoy him, or you’re invisible, so you’ll have to do something to stand out in a positive light.

-For him, actions stand out so much more than words, so if you tell him you’re gonna do something then you’d better do it. His respect and trust aren’t easily earned, but they’re easily lost. What you’ll need most if you’re trying to date him is patience. The only way he’ll believe that you’re really interested in him is to prove it to him by sticking around.

-It’ll start out with a flimsy kind of friendship, a ‘work buddies’ kind of thing. You get sent on missions together, get to see each other in action, get to complain about blood on your clothes afterwards. Tell him stuff, even if he doesn’t always talk back he’s almost always listening. Despite his aloof exterior, he pays attention when people talk (if not to know what’s going on, then definitely to tell people when they’re being stupid).

-Once your friendship upgrades from ‘work friends’ to ‘someone i’d actually hang out with on purpose’ it’s over for you. Once he’s good and comfy, and contrary to popular belief, this man does not shut the fuck up. Sarcastic quips and bad jokes wherever he can lay them, small and slightly rough affectionate gestures (a gentle shove here, some hair being ruffled there). Expect to find little gifts outside your door often, tokens from him that he saw and thought you’d like (usually stolen, but not always).

-Surprise him one day when he’s lounging around by looping your arm over his shoulders and planting a kiss on his cheek. It might shock him enough that little flames erupt around him, which is both endearing and worrying, considering the fact that his quirk hurts him.

-He’s quieter for a few days after that. He’s not ignoring you, he’s just thinking really hard. About feelings. Eventually he’ll tug you outside to walk around the block with him, and he’ll just lay it on you; he likes you, you like him, you’re his now, and he’s yours.

-He doesn’t fuck around with feelings, doesn’t like any of those games where you dance around each other or try to make each other jealous. If you’re mad about something, tell him. If you’re feeling a little neglected or underappreciated, tell him. He might sigh and pretend to be annoyed about it, but he’ll pull you down onto the nearest couch and hold you tightly until you feel better.

-He doesn’t care about PDA. If he wants to cuddle you and pet your hair when the rest of the league is around, then guess what? He’s doing it. Even if you’re a little embarrassed, he’ll just let you hide your face in his shirt. Screw what other people think, he likes you and he’s not shy about it.

-He is careful about who he shows off your relationship to, though. He’s fine with the league because for the most part he trusts them and considers them companions (or at the very least, people who have the same goal as him), but out in public? He’s already gotta be careful where he goes, being a wanted criminal and all, but he knows a lot of other villains who’d use you to get to him, or who would sell him out and get you hurt in the process.

-He’s pretty low energy, so napping together is a thing. Even if you don’t sleep while he does, please lay beside him for a while and pet his hair. It’s very rare that he gets any kind of positive touch, let alone prolonged positive touch. You’re basically his only source of oxytocin.

-He’s extra affectionate hen he wakes up from a nap, and less abrasive about it. As soon as he comes to and stretches, he’s looking around for you. If you’re still beside him, he’ll press soft kisses all over your face.

-His kisses tho. You never would have expected this guy to have such gentle kisses, yet here he is. It’s an intimate thing for him, and probably the only way he knows how to comfortably express his love for you. He’s not verbal about his feelings, so he pours them into his kisses and hopes you get the message. The only time he’s ever rougher or desperate about things is when he’s riled up in some way.

-He’s a bad boy, but such a good boy, ya feel? it’ll take time and persistence to get on his good side, let alone get on his feelings radar, but once you do? Treat him with honesty and maturity, and he’s with you for life. Deadass the boyfriend who would kill for you, and will protect you til his dying breath. Some might consider you one of his weaknesses, but you’re actually one of the reasons he fights so hard to change the world. He’s loving in his own way, and would never willingly hurt you or lay a hand on you, even if he’s livid about something. 10/10 would smooch!

#dabi x reader #present mic x reader #yamada hizashi x reader #bnha x reader #mha x reader #bnha headcanons #mha headcanons #deadlyelixir

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icharchivist · 4 years ago

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Oh my god Oghren... Who okayed this character I had blocked him out of my memory ugh... At least he's a good tank

oh boy yeah.. yeah. A mess of a guy huh.

the thing with Oghren is that while i mostly dislike him as a person i don't... mind him as a character?

Oghren is a mess, on a pure "would i like to know this character irl", i have a strong no. I don't like his personality, and everything about him in his early arc irks me a lot, his banters are abhorrent, and the way he talks to any of the girls of the team is The Worst Thing.

But with a closer look, i think he's meant to be that disgusting for everyone. Like.. i think his character's type exist a lot in fiction except you're supposed to find it quirky, while with Oghren it doesn't hold punch into making sure you think of it as "he's being gross, fullstop.".

I also think that he serves as a representation of the failure that is the system going on with Orzammar. He is the embodiment of what his caste was supposed to represent, he fulfilled the society's expectation on him, and was punished for it. He was married to a Paragon, the greatest honor of his culture, and only ever lived with the downsides. Imo Oghren is specifically a character who exceled in the society's expectation put on him, only to take the bitter backhand of being told he's not wanted by the same society that encouraged it.

He's a total mess when we meet him, between the trauma, the alcohol, the misogyny and everything, it's really hard to defend or root for him and i don't think it's intended to.

but personally, i've never regretted maxing his friendship still, and i think his involvement in Awakening really show his growth and the fact that what makes him this unbearable are stuff that are acknowledged as flaws he needs to grow out of and personally i am set to help him out (i have a huge "i can fix them" syndrome with da and it's incurable 😔)

Like don't get me wrong he's by far my least favorite companion in all the games lol, and he does irk me sO bad, it's just that i kinda see what he is supposed to bring up?

like yeah i'd love to leave characters like him out of the fiction i consume but if they have to be included i think Oghren is an interesting look if only about the society that raised him rather than just himself.

maybe i give the writers too much credit lmao, i tend to do that a lot, but idk i guess i've just... grown to not hate him?

i'm just rambling though, you're feelings are totally valid, it's just that i OverThought Too Much About DA and my whole approach to my hyperfixations is often "i'm going to overthink the hell out of tHAT" and i had an interesting convo with a friend about Oghren ways back when that made me take a closer eye.

obviously not something you have to do esp since it's super annoying with him in particular to try to get past the gross layers lmao

but yeah, either way, good tank. Still the chara i use the least but yeah good tank DKLFJDKLFJ

#sorry sorry oops #i have a bad habit to overthink everything and especially overthink things i dislike at first #bc i'm just like 'okay let's try to make sense of why i dislike it this hard'#and sometimes it backfire in me liking the charas bc suddenly i overthought myself into liking them #I do like Oghren a bit more than probably the average fan lol even if i don't care strongly for him either #but also i'm easily tricked by the 'now this chara is your friend' because oh... they're my friend.......#coughs anyway. I have many thoughts. but i haven't thought in dao in such details in so long so jdhfjlkdjf #ichareply #nuga nareul #ichafantalks da

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prompt-master · 4 years ago

Text

THIS BITCH FUCKING DYING XD XD X'D

This is a lighthearted comedy fic, but I’m going to give a warning for mention/talks of suicide and death.

Now this may be a shocking sentiment to share; but being in a killing game fucking sucked, even if you were Momota Kaito. As ludicrous as that statement appears, heroes had a tough time in tragedy too. Kaito found himself feeling disappointed more often than he would like at the sight of his companions distrusting each other. How were they supposed to work together and escape if people were “scared” that they would be “murdered”?! Kaito believed in trust to the bitter end and he would see that philosophy through. To point the finger at others and accuse them of murder is simply what the mastermind wanted him to do, and if Kaito was anything he was not a loser.

But that’s part of what made his sidekick so incredible! No hero was complete without his supporting role! Of course, Shuichi was much more than a supporting role. In many ways he was the protagonist of his own world (Kaito is still the hero of this story, make no mistake). Even though Shuichi relied on the motivation of others to see himself through, he was probably one of the most capable men he’d ever met. His intinution and detective skills were essential to each trial when his thoughts weren’t fogged up by mental recoil. And despite his reclusive demeanor, he was a good friend to have that everyone wanted the best for. Shuichi was Kaito’s sidekick and it showed! For his sidekick had to stand on his own as one of the best!

...Well, maybe sometimes Shuichi didn’t have a leg to stand on because he didn’t look so dependable laying face-down on the ground.

“Shuichi! Are you- what are you doing?”

Shuichi was down on the ground in front of his Ultimate Lab with his foot stuck propping the door open. He didn’t lift his head up when Kaito called out his name, instead opting for a string of gibberish and raising one hand off the ground.

“No, seriously. What are you doing?” Kaito propped the dizzy detective up against the wall, catching him as he nearly swayed back down to the floor in response. Kaito took note of his flushed face and unfocused demeanor. There wasn’t...booze in this killing game right? That would suck. A killing game and booze wouldn’t mix well. Although some may disagree and say a pint is just the pick me up after watching one of your friends be slaughtered.

“M-Momota-kun…” it seemed Shuichi was gathering his bearings again. He braced himself against Kaito by gripping his sleeves.

“Alright, c’mon Shuichi. Let’s get you to the others. I’m sure they can help us out somehow!”

“Ah but...first things first…” Shuichi looked up at Kaito with a determined resolve in his eyes typically reserved for class trials.

“If I die, it’s a suicide.”

Huh?

HUH?!

WHAT?!

“Shuichi?!” Kaito shook Shuichi by the shoulders until he looked ready to pass out and keel over for good, “Why would you do that?! You have so much to live for!”

And Shuichi had the damn nerve to look exasperated by the panic, “Ack- Momota-kun please calm down it was an accident!”

“How do you accidentally kill yourself?!”

“Well it happens all the time really but-”

“That’s not reassuring coming from you! Just-” Kaito took a deep breath to steady his frustrations, “why the hell are you dying?”

“It’s- haha, well uhm, it’s a bit of a funny story you see-” Shuichi stopped his ramblings at Kaito’s unimpressed glare, Shuichi sighed and slumped over with a sense of shame and embarrassment, “I was in my lab familiarizing myself with the various poisons in case anyone tried to use one, but ended up dropping a bottle of powder on the floor and inhaling quite a bit.”

“T-that sounds pretty serious…” Kaito mumbled. “How do you treat a toxic inhalant?...How do I help you..? Just say the word and I’ll be there, sidekick!”

Shuichi closed his eyes and rested against the door. After a moment he said “At this rate, people will assume you killed me since you were with me all this time. So, to prove that it was a suicide-”

“Shuichi I asked how to save you not how to solve your murder.”

Shuichi tilted his head with a fog of puzzlement in his eyes, “...but solving murders is what I do?”

“Well don’t do it right now! I’m trying to prevent your death!”

“Hm.” Shuichi seemed to have to rethink his evaluation, but the situation hadn’t changed. “This is a killing game, Momota-kun. I don’t think surviving or saving is on par with the course of action the mastermind planned out.”

“W-well if there’s a poison, there’s an antidote right?”

Shuichi shook his head, “No, there’s probably enough materials to make one, but... I’m not a chemist.”

“Let’s ask Iruma to make one then!”

“She’s not a chemist either.” Not to mention Shuichi didn’t trust any sort of edible concoction Miu put together. He wasn’t sure what she would create, but he did know it would make him want to die even faster.

“Ok then, let’s ask Harumaki!”

“Wh- Momota-kun, Harukawa-san kills people!”

“Yeah, so maybe she knows how to unkill people too! I’m pretty sure she can do basically anything.”

Shuichi, with his head now in his hands, decided that it would be easier to simply go along with Kaito’s antics. His body felt weak and gross and his head was splitting, which was a shame because in all honesty that powder had smelt nice. If only it didn’t leave his lab in need of a quarantine. It could’ve been a good candle scent. Or perhaps Shuichi was just veering into delirium. Dying will do that to you.

He was definitely veering into delirium because one moment he was staring down at his hands and the next he was being carried by Kaito. The worst part of it all was that it didn’t match his daydreams of being romantically carried bridal style by his crush. Instead he was a heavy sack of dead weight plopped against Kaito’s back trying to keep his nausea down as Kaito descended a set of stairs.

“Wh-what’re you doing?” Shuichi mumbled upon realizing that he couldn’t remember Kaito’s plan. If he had one.

“We’re going to get you help!” Shuichi thought it was a pretty bad idea. It would just make the trial even more confusing and he wouldn’t be able to clarify since corpses don’t make for good witnesses. Even if he wanted to voice that though, he ended up in a nasty coughing fit that left him gasping for air.

“Dammit!” Kaito hissed out, “If only Tojo was still here!”

That Shuichi agreed with. If Kirumi was here she would somehow manage to create a cure even though that was absolutely not in the job description of a maid. Her backstory concerned Shuichi quite a bit.

“There he is!” Kaito yelled out, picking up his pace from a light jog to a full run.

“We’re...w-w’re going to ask him for help...?” Shuichi mumbled, before letting out a loud groan, “no, that’s okay...j-just let me die then.”

“Oi Monokuma!” If it weren’t for the imminent danger that would result from it, Kaito would be throttling Monokuma until something broke. “You have to help Shuichi, dammit! Give him a cure or some shit!”

Monokuma tilted his head, looking up at Kaito with pseudo-innocence, “are you stupid or something?”

“Wh-” Kaito nearly lost his anger in confusion, only for it to come back tenfold, “you have to help him!”

“No I don’t, lol.” Monokuma shrugged, “I think the bastard dropping dead would be great! Honestly any of you mistakes would do, he’s not special or anything.”

“He’s our detective!”

“Yeah, you lot are screwed without him, huh?” Monokuma let out a cackle, curled in on his stomach like Shuichi dying was the highlight of his day. “Sounds so beary hopeless to be without a protag, huh! Man we’ve lost two protags in one show, that’s a new record! Someone write that down, I want a medal!”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about…” Kaito shifted Shuichi higher up on his back, ignoring the mumbles in his ear of what evidence to use in the trial, “but don’t start planning yet! Shuichi isn’t dying on my watch!”

Monokuma nodded, “yeah, you are stupid.”

“Fine then I’m going to Harumaki! She was my first plan anyway since you’re so useless!”

“Useless?” Monokuma’s voice wobbled, his head tilted down like a child being told to apologize for wrong doing, “and after all I’ve done for you too...I don’t have to provide you lot with food and shelter, you know.”

“Ahh shut up! We don’t have time for your weird feelings!”

The world became another dizzying blur as Kaito ran off yet again. “Don’t worry Shuichi! I’m taking you to Harumaki! She’ll have everything figured out!”

---

“You inhaled a toxic powder from your lab?”

Shuichi nodded.

“And you’ve gotten no treatment this entire time?”

Shuichi nodded.

“How are you not dead already?”

Shuichi shrugged.

Maki sighed and pinched her nose, wondering how the hell these two idiots got themselves into such a mess, “Saihara, I always thought if you were going to die it would be from murder and not from some bullshit like this.”

Which was a fair assumption really. Being the detective among them, the group learned to rely on Shuichi’s deductions to solve the murders. Without him, there would be a lot of chaos that the killer could use to trick everyone. Wait. Why has no one tried to kill Shuichi again? Shuchi couldn’t tell if he was a lucky man or not, but considering he was currently dying on his crush’s back it’s safe to say he leaned towards unlucky.

Maki turned to Kaito, glaring at him in a way that said she wanted to help but the situation sucked to do anything, “what exactly do you want me to do about this?”

“Save him, of course!” “I’m not a doctor. I’m the opposite. I kill people.”

Shuichi wished desperately that he could say “I told you so”

“Look Harumaki, we can’t just let him die like this! We’re his friends so we have to do whatever we can to help him! Not just for us, but for Akamatsu too! She wanted him to live!”

Harukawa’s steel glare seemed to melt a little at that.

“So we need a plan!” Kaito said, “and the plan is to save Shuichi!”

“That’s not a plan, that’s a goal. And it’s a stupidly impossible goal too.”

“Nothing is impossible!”

Shuichi wondered if he could just close his eyes and die to avoid all the yelling he’s had to endure today.

Another voice joined the conversation with a loud cry of “what’s impossible!?” It was none other than Iruma Miu, confidently placing herself into the scene when no one asked her to. Kiibo was with her, following at a much slower pace with an expression that screamed second-hand embarrassment. With her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face, she ensured all parties had their eyes on her before speaking again.

“Because this hard-headed freak is right! Nothing is impossible with my beautiful plump brain around! What is it you’re looking for? A new way to pull off a fictional r18 move? I knew you three were depraved, but don’t worry Mama Miu has got it covered-”

“No, you idiot.” Maki cut her off without a drop of sympathy. Shuichi didn’t have any sympathy either though, so really it was just relatable. “Saihara is dying.”

“Eh? What?” Miu’s voice fell into a submissive whimper. She curled in on herself and fiddled her hands together. “That doesn’t sound good…”

“Yes dying is usually not good.”

Kiibo worriedly hovered near Kaito, trying to get a good look at Shuichi, “is he ok?”

“No. Because he is dying.”

Miu seemed to have panic in her eyes, “he can’t die! Not yet anyway! Who killed him huh?! Who’s trying to escape?!”

“Iruma!” Kaito ignored her questions, “you can save him, right?! He was poisoned, and you always say that you can do anything!”

“I-I mean yeah I can but… but I don’t know anything about biocompatibility... I honestly just put things in the body and hope it works…I would need more time...”

“Then what about you Kiibo?! Maybe you can...I don’t know- analyze the poison and come up with a cure!”

“My algorithm doesn’t do that...I could do a Google search if we were given WIFI access though...”

“Dammit does anyone have an idea to save Shuichi?!”

“Oh! Oh!” Miu raised her hand, “I’ve seen people induce vomiting in movies to stop poison! That’ll work, yeah?!”

Maki, realizing that this conversation was going to draw out far longer than to her liking, pulled out a chair and sat in it, “first of all: do not do that. Second of all it was an inhalant. I don’t think that will stop his lungs from shutting down any time soon.”

“I know!” Kiibo turned to Miu with a determined look, “Iruma-san! Repurpose my wiring so that my hands function as a defibrillator!”

“Did you not hear what I just said?” Maki asked.

“Well it might stop Saihara-kun from dying if his heart stopped!”

“There’s nothing we can do.” Maki stressed, “we just have to lay him down, monitor him,, and hope he lives”

“Harumaki that’s the same as giving up!”

“Hey hey!” No. God dammit. Sure, let’s keep complicating the dialogue. Shuichi was having a very bad day. Could this poison just finish him off already instead of leaving him on death’s doorstep? Fucking rude. Ouma Kokichi, hearing the glorious sounds of frantic arguing, skipped over to the group with a peachy look on his face.

“What’s wrong with you all? You’re acting like somebody died.” Kokichi did a dramatic gasp, covering his mouth with his hands, “did someone die?! Did someone finally kill Keeboy?!”

Kiibo stopped debating with Miu to give Kokichi an unimpressed look, “seriously?”

“Nishishi- yeah, I guess that would be too lucky.”

“Can you take something seriously for once in your life?” Maki glared, “because somebody will die if we can’t figure this out. Saihara inhaled a toxic powder and we aren’t sure how much time we have left to save him.”

“Ehh?” Kokichi’s face turned from confusion to worry. He’d clearly thought Maki was messing with him until he saw Shuichi’s half conscious body draped over Kaito looking very much like a victim of poison. Just as quickly as his expression changed it turned into an over exaggerated ploy they’d all seen a million times. His eyes filled with tears, his lip quivered, his nose started to sniffle. With a hiccup in his voice he began to whimper, “one of you guys is trying to kill my Saihara-chan?! I thought you all were preaching about friendship and trust and ending the killing game!”

Kokichi tilted his head back as he fell into a full on sob. A loud childish ear-breaking wail resounded as tears poured from his eyes with practiced ease. “You guys are so awful!” he yelled in between his sobs, “how could you do this?! Saihara-chan can’t die!”

“Would you shut the fuck up, flat ass!’ Miu yelled.

And just like that Kokichi’s sobs had turned off. A complete 180 from his previous demeanor. It was like he hadn’t cried at all. His eyes weren’t red and puffy, his nose was dry, and his body was relaxed and poised. He stared camly down at his fingernails, examining them as though this situation was nothing more than a slight inconvenience to his day. “I’m serious, you know. I would never joke or lie. Saihara-chan can’t die, this game wouldn’t be the same without him.”

Kaito nearly asked Kokichi what he meant. Did he care about Shuichi? Did he care about their survival? Was he finally coming around?

“Oi Monokuma!” Kokichi yelled. Monokuma bounced into the scene as though he was on Kokichi’s beck and call. “Hey did you know that Saihara-chan is dying? Like right now? And we’re all just watching that?”

Okay. Maybe he wasn’t starting his redemption arc then. Maybe he’s still the same piece of shit Kokichi.

“Ouma, what are-”

“Of course I know! It’s pretty funny, huh Ouma-kun?”

Kokichi laughed along with Monokuma, as though they were cut from the same tree. But then suddenly he was back to that semi-disappointed demeanor. “Yeah. Saihara-chan is dying. And doesn’t that really suck? This game is going to sooo be terrible without him. In his trial I bet we’re all going to die because these morons can’t think without him. You know that too, don’t you, Monokuma? WIthout Saihara-chan your show is going to be cut off in this most annoying and unentertaining way. Ahhh I can’t believe this is how the game ends. After all that build up too. I don’t think I even want to be a part of this any more honestly. I’d much rather pig breath die.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

Monokuma seemed taken aback by Kokichi’s analysis. He pondered it for a moment, nervously looking around and imagining all the lovely executions that would go to waste if Shuichi died right now. With a sigh he pulled out a very suspicious bottle from-...actually where did he pull that bottle from? Not important. What was important was that there was finally a cure in front of them, the one they’d been asking for all this time.

“Give him this and the brat should be good as new!” and with that Monokuma popped away.

Kokichi, holding the vial, smiled brightly at the others, “Here you go! Don’t let Saihara-chan die again okay! I don’t care if any of you others do but Saihara-chan is very special m’kay?”

…

...

“So you mean…I really could have asked Monokuma for a cure?! The bastard was just lying to me!?”

#danganronpa #drv3 #ndrv3 #drv3 spoilers #ndrv3 spoilers #shuichi saihara #kaito momota #fanfic #fan fic

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heyitssmiller · 5 years ago

Text

Chop It Like It’s Hot

Chapter 8: Penne for Your Thoughts

Food and shenanigans. Need I say more?

Tag List: @peanut-in-the-goal @whataboutmyfries @raxelle-nite-in-gale @heyoitslysso @spookydiyharrypotterbat

Chop It Like It’s Hot Masterlist

@lumosinlove

“When you said you were cooking for an entire hockey team, I thought you’d stick to the basics. Maybe a salad appetizer and something easy to make that feeds a lot of people.” Dorcas looked around at Leo’s countertops, which were covered in flour, measuring cups, and homemade pasta. “This seems a little overboard.”

Leo rolled out more pasta dough and mentally took note of the different kinds he’d made so far. Linguine, fettuccine, penne, pappardelle, farfalle…

“Leo.”

“I just want it to be good, ok?” He finally looked up from his dough and rolling pin and stopped cooking for the first time in several hours. “Besides, this is a good outlet for me. If I focus on cooking, I don’t have to focus on-” He cut himself off, then added lamely, “Anything else.”

Dorcas sighed. “That’s not how you face your problems and you know it. Talk to me.”

Leo didn’t even fight back about talking about his problems. That was Dorcas’ first clue about how bad this was.

“I can’t do it.” He rubbed at his forehead in frustration. “I can’t be ok with being just friends. I can’t be ok with taking a step back and distancing myself. I can’t be ok with trying to get over them. And I don’t know where that leaves me.”

“I only see one other option here. Talking to them.”

“They’re already perfectly happy together-”

“And who says they won’t be with you?” Dorcas demanded. “You’re only imagining two possible outcomes – talking to them and being rejected, or not talking to them and keeping this a secret. But they could also be in the same position you’re in right now. The only way you’re going to know is if you talk to them.”

“I don’t think I can do that, either. Even if they feel the same, that doesn’t change the fact that they are in love with each other. I can’t get between that.” He laughed dully, and the sound tore at her heart. “My mama would kill me if I became a home-wrecker.”

“Who said love is only between two people? Leo, I know you know this. So why is it so hard to grasp now?”

She could see the second he began to shut down and sighed. “I’m going to hug you now, okay?”

“Okay.”

Dorcas wrapped her arms around him and glared at the wall. She was ninety percent sure Logan and Finn both felt the same way and clearly none of them were going to bring it up.

So now it was her turn. And she didn’t hold back her punches.

Those two hockey players were going to get a severe talking-to tomorrow.

“You guys have to promise to be more well-behaved tonight.” Logan told the team as they drove to dinner. Next to him, Finn was nearly bouncing out of his seat in excitement. “Please.”

He got several grumbles in response, but no teasing – which was a surprise.

“So are you two finally going to ask him out?”

And there it was.

“Are you guys finally going to mind your own business?”

“Nope!”

“It’s not like we don’t want to.” Finn sighed. “We just don’t know if he’s interested.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

“He’s cooking your entire hockey team dinner. That’s dedication right there.”

“Also did you even watch the episodes of your show?”

“You just had to go and run your mouth.” Logan groaned, shooting Finn a look. He just shrugged apologetically as their charter bus pulled into the parking lot.

“Do you know what’s for dinner?” Someone asked from the back of the bus.

“He said it was a surprise.” Finn responded as they all filed out of the bus and inside the restaurant that had been kind enough to host them.

Leo and Dorcas were standing in front of several tables covered in food, which took Finn back to three months ago. He smiled broadly and waved at the two of them. Leo waved back and waited for everyone to settle down before explaining dinner.

“I figured a build your own dinner was probably the best idea for so many people. I hope pasta’s alright with you guys.” Leo said, then began pointing to each variation of noodle as he explained, “We’ve got regular noodles, gluten-free noodles, and then some cauliflower noodles for y’all to choose from. Then we’ve got sauces and proteins to choose from, including some vegetarian and vegan options. Everything is labeled, so go ahead and grab a plate and help yourselves!”

Everyone clambered to get in line and grabbed portions that were way to big for the day before a game. Their nutritionist watched on in horror.

Finn was watching Leo talk to Loops when Logan nudged him with his elbow. “Finn, look.”

“Hmm?” He asked, turning back around to look at what Logan was pointing to. There in front of them was a pot full of creamy white sauce, bacon, and sausage with a little label that read: carbo’hara.

Finn melted.

He’d told Leo that joke during their first conversation and how he and his brother would have it the night before every hockey game as kids. And he had remembered.

“Logan.” Finn said, not bothering to hide the yearning in his voice.

“I know.”

Dorcas was watching all of this with growing frustration. Were they blind or were they just stupid? All of this could be solved so easily with a single conversation, but none of them were willing to take that first step.

She really shouldn’t get involved. It wasn’t her business. But-

“It’s painful to watch, isn’t it?” A stranger’s voice asked. Dorcas turned to look at a girl with blonde hair and mischievous brown eyes. She stuck her hand out.

“I’m Marlene. And I just want to say that I am so sorry you’ve had to deal with the three of them for months now.”

Dorcas smiled and shook her hand. “So you’ve noticed, too?”

“I think everyone has.”

“True.”

“You’re thinking about interfering?”

Dorcas shrugged. “It’s either that or waiting for them to get their acts together.”

“And who knows how long that’ll take?”

Dorcas laughed, looking appraisingly at her new companion. “I like you already.”

The other girl grinned. “I told Leo when he was in Gryffindor that he should introduce us. He said it was a terrible idea.”

She smiled back. “He was right.”

“So I’ll take Leo, you take the other two? I’m assuming you’ve been trying to talk to Leo but haven’t had any luck.”

“He’s being really stubborn about the whole thing.”

“From all the complaining I’ve heard from the team, so have Logan and Finn.”

Dorcas rolled her eyes. “After dinner I’ll talk to them. Normally I wouldn’t interfere, but this is ridiculous.”

“Agreed. Good luck.”

“You too.”

“Hey,” Marlene spoke up, “Can I have your number? You know, for meddling purposes.”

Dorcas grinned. “I really hope that’s not the only reason you’re asking for my number.”

“Guess you’ll have to see.” Marlene said with a wink.

Oh, boy.

Dorcas was in so much trouble.

But she had other things to focus on right now.

She marched over to Finn and Logan and stated firmly, “You two. We need to talk.”

A dark-haired guy in glasses sent her a wide-eyed stare. “You’re terrifying.” He looked to his teammates. “What did you guys do?”

“Now.” Dorcas said, ignoring the others entirely.

“Rest in peace.” Glasses guy said solemnly as Logan and Finn got up nervously. “It was nice knowing you.”

Logan shared a worried glance with Finn, but they both followed her to a quiet hallway where she turned to glare at them.

“Are you two actually interested in Leo or are you just stringing him along? If it’s the latter I won’t hesitate to punch you.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Logan asked, then frowned. “Fuck, does he think we’re stringing him along?”

“So you are interested?”

Finn looked confused. “I thought that was obvious.”

“What’s the holdup, then?”

“We’re not sure he’s interested.” They shared a sad look. “He’s never given us any reason to think so.”

Dorcas pinched the bridge of her nose. “Oh my god, you three are so stupid. It’s not that he doesn’t like you, trust me – he’s terrified. Think about it. He likes two guys who are already in love with each other, which would be daunting for anybody. And he’s worried that if one of you didn’t feel the same he’d come between the two of you and ruin everything. Not to mention that if he got rejected he’d be rejected not once but twice.”

They stared at her, then turned to stare at each other.

“Fuck.” Finn stated simply.

“Fuck is right.” Dorcas agreed. “Now what are you going to do about it?”

***

“You were so wrong when you said introducing me to Dorcas was a bad idea.”

Leo laughed and turned to face Marlene. “Hello again.”

“Hey, cooking guy. Anyways, I’m in love.”

“Oh, really?”

“She’s awesome. And terrifying. And I really want to take her out on a date.”

“If you hurt her-”

“Oh my god, are you giving me the shovel talk?”

“No. All I’m saying is that we had entire class of knife skills in culinary school. She knows how to properly butcher things. You hurt her, you’d better prepare for the consequences.”

Marlene blinked, then broke into a dopey grin. “Fuck, that’s so hot.”

Leo laughed, shaking his head a little as he grabbed an empty pot and brought it back into the kitchen to clean. Dinner had been a huge success – almost to the point of them running out of food. Leo had noticed the nutritionist shooting him glares all night and made a resolution to send him an apology letter. He just hoped it didn’t affect their playing too much tomorrow.

He was scrubbing the pot down when another pot was set down on the counter next to him. Marlene shoved his shoulder to get him to move to the side a little. “Figured you could use some help.”

“Thanks.” He said with a smile as she grabbed a sponge.

“So,” She started, and that’s when Leo knew he was in trouble. “I know Dorcas talked to you earlier. And I’m sure you don’t want to hear any more of that, but I wanted to let you know that no matter what happens, it’s going to be okay. I mean, yeah, it might suck for a while, but at the end of the day wouldn’t you rather know than be left guessing forever?”

Leo stopped cleaning out his pot and looked at her, surprised at the turn this conversation took.

She shrugged. “Just a thought.”

He’d never really considered it that way before.

There was a knock on the doorframe, which startled them both. Leo turned around to see the head coach standing there.

“We’ve got to head out soon to get to our hotel at a decent time. Thank you so much for dinner! My guys will be talking about this for months.”

“I’d be happy to do it again sometime.” Leo said, then winced. “Maybe something with a more controlled portion size, though.”

The coach laughed. “That might be for the best.”

After all the goodbyes, Logan and Finn were the last two inside, seemingly reluctant to leave. Leo took that as a good sign.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, right?” Logan asked, green eyes hopeful. “At the game?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” The bus driver honked the horn, clearly fed-up with waiting. “You’d better go before they leave you behind.”

Logan and Finn gave one last wave before heading towards the door while Leo began making his way back to the kitchen.

“Hey!” Logan called suddenly. Leo turned back around to look at them. “Can we take you out to dinner tomorrow? After the game?”

Leo’s stomach churned at the wording. He gathered up all his courage, took a deep breath, and asked, “Is this a date?”

Finn and Logan beamed. Leo’s heart skipped a beat.

“I sure hope so.”

#lumosinlove #sweater weather #coast to coast #finn o'hara #logan tremblay #leo knut #o'knutzy #chop it like it's hot

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