#my face when i try to install a new thing on the computer and update my learnt in 2014 gif skills but it doesnt work | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

heymeowmao · 2 years ago

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2023.03.08 - https://weibo.com/l/wblive/p/show/1022:2321324877116570206653

Happy holiday!!! (International Women’s Day)

BGM: Chong Zi OST - Heavenly Light (天光)

LYN: Today we’re on a new computer and I had to re-install everything, so if we face some technical difficulties please understand. This is a new computer... and... yeah. If it freezes or some other issues come up later please be magnanimous.

C: The video is so clear. LYN: Right? It’s a new computer. You know that no matter what I do I have to have the best equipment for it. I can’t just be satisfied with I have- I still need to upgrade my equipment and improve your viewing experience. I’m thinking about these things every day. if I’m going to do something then I want it to be exquisite. I was using my laptop to stream, but it’s been freezing for the past few streams. I doesn’t really matter if the video freezes, but sometimes even the beauty filters dropped. If I streamed and the video froze and the filter dropped, how much do you think that would hurt my market value? I don’t mind for everything else, but I couldn’t stand the filter dropping. So I decided there was a need to update my equipment. C: Ning-ge, this filter looks like it’s overcompensating. LYN: It’s not on! How can you say that about me. I don’t have a beauty filter on... just a little blur. So that I look decent. C: It’s kind of fuzzy. LYN: No way. C: It’s super hq. LYN: Right?? Someone even said, “Ning-ge, it looks like you’re going to crawl out of my computer.” The 3D effect is very perfect. C: The background is blurry though. LYN: That’s what we’re going for- the focus! I can’t with you- if I even try to upgrade a little bit, you all can’t stand it. You can’t take it if it’s too high quality??

C: It’s like I’m wearing VR glasses. LYN: No, it’s not THAT exaggerated. As long as you’re watching with a pleasant temperament and you’re comfortable, nothing else matters.

C: What should I say? LYN: There’s nothing that says you HAVE to make comments in my stream, but if you want to say something you can. As long as it’s not cursing or nonsense, it’s fine. Whatever you want besides is all good. LYN: Today’s a holiday, so I thought I would come stream. Since many of you are female, right? :) I could meet with you and... maybe this also counts as a holiday bonus. But it’s possible I could have disrupted your plans. If you’re going out or you’re busy, you can go about your business. I have time in any case, so I’m just going to stream and chat a little, nothing else.

C: Ning-ge, you’re dressed like a security guard. LYN: I look like a security guard?? /sigh/ Friend, I just want to point one thing out- (this is) Prada. You just don’t understand fashion, there’s no way we could have any discussion about it. I can’t talk about this too deeply with you- you don’t understand fashion. LYN: The other possibility here is that it could be a nice brand, but when it’s ON ME I make it look like security guard clothes. I just look like a security guard, is that it? Well, even if I WERE one, I’d want to be the head/leader. We have to strive for the best, no matter what job you’re doing. X’D

C: It’s so HQ you look like you’re photoshopped in. LYN: This is why you can’t have nice things. The video quality was just alright before and you found it comfortable. Today we’re a little higher in quality and you’re not used to it. It’s more focused to the background is blurred, and you can’t take it. /sigh/ C: You look like a cutout. LYN: Uhm.... LYN: I have a green screen. Right now I’m by the sea. Just to show that I am at home and earnestly streaming for you, I set-up a green screen. The bg is fake. I’m at a roadside bbq stand right now. I’m eating bbq by the sea. LYN: /pretends to talk to someone offscreen/ Hey, give me a skewer. You can grill it first, I’ll eat it later. I’ll eat it after I finish streaming. C: I can hear the sound of the waves. LYN: XD - /tries to play a track called “Waves (海浪)" but can’t figure out how to work his new computer/

C: Desktop computer? LYN: I was using this laptop before /points at it in the bg/, but it’s been unstable. I think after turning it on and connecting it and everything else the CPU “exploded”. So I decided to use the desktop since it would be more stable. It looks a little different from when I stream on my laptop but you’ll be fine when you get used to it. C: What does “CPU” mean? LYN: “CPU” is... the energy you use to process. Your brain has it too. Sometimes when you’re listening to someone talk and you can’t figure out what they are saying- at times like those your brain CPU is burning. It’s how you process- people and computers both have it. C: CEO. LYN: “CEO” is in a company. The president is usually called the CEO.

C: Ning-ge, I’m going to be in my third year of junior high soon. I feel so much pressure. LYN: Why do you feel pressure? Junior high... is ok, right? Then you take the high school entrance exam, so... do well. If you get into a good high school, you can get into a good college, but it’s really nothing to be too nervous about.

LYN: It’s International Women’s Day, so let me sing a song for all the women who are here. Is that ok? Are there very men- my brothers- in the stream now? Don’t mind it, alright? I’ll sing a song for all the women to celebrate the holiday. What should I sing...? How about... “山下的女人是老虎” (Women Are Tigers)? Is that good? Or... “三十岁的女人” (Thirty Year Old Women)? ~She’s a thirty year old women, who hasn’t married yet.~ No, that’s too much. What should I sing?? - /brainstorming/ LYN: 大女人 (Big Woman)? That will work.

LYN: /out of breath/ I’m dizzy. // I’d like to wish everyone a happy holiday. C: It feels like you just ran 1km. LYN: I’m sweating. This is tiring.

C: Ning-ge, your face today is so three dimensional. LYN: What are you saying? When you normally see my face are you just seeing a (flat) pancake? My face is a pancake? The kind you can roll a spring onion in and eat?? I have always been very three dimensional, okay? It has nothing to do with the beauty filters. I am naturally three dimensional. C: It’s mostly because of the background. LYN: The background is blurry so you feel like I stand out? /sigh/ Fine.

LYN: I keep seeing the song “烏梅子醬” (Dark Plum Sauce). You were telling me about it in my last stream, too. I’d never heard of it. But recently I’ve been scrolling through the micro-video platforms and I always hear this song. // There’s no accompaniment. Then, I can’t sing it for you sorry. I was planning on it. C: My mom wants to hear “愛情的故事“ (Love Story). LYN: Then play it for her. You don’t have a mobile phone or computer at home you can play it for her on?

C: Lao-da, the director said he had shot a very amazing scene- what is it? LYN: I don’t know either. I didn’t see it. An “amazing scene”? Every scene in this drama is amazing, I’m not sure which scene in particular you are referring to? There are so many things I have never done before. Every scene in this drama is like a challenge to me because I’d never shot something like this before. There are some things- like dying- you have previous experience for. Once you’ve died so many times, you learn how to act and can eventually just adjust accordingly for each situation. But the thing is you have to have some basis for it. With this drama I’m facing a lot of things I had never shot before. While shooting for this drama I am really starting to feel the impression that acting is an endless skill. - C: Ning-ge, your face is red. LYN: It’s because of the song I sang earlier. It has nothing to do with the drama situation. I just got a little too into it earlier, with “Big Woman”. What are you talking about- how could my face be red? The beauty filter is on so high, there’s no way you can tell that my face is red. That’s nonsense. - C: Is the bath water cold or not? LYN: It’s alright. Normally it’s- OH?? What bath water are you talking about? My house has a hot water heater- the water isn’t cold. - C: Ning-ge, your face really is so red. LYN: It’s not red! It’s because the filter is set to the normal color. Sometimes with my previous streams people would say that I was so white I looked dead. It was too bright, so I thought “Ok, forget it then” and brought some color back. Maybe if my face looks a bit redder I’ll look more lively and young. And if I look young, along with the blur filter, there could be the possibility that some school-setting scripts come to look for me. XD On the off chance that someone wants me to act as a junior high school-er or something.

LYN: I’m joking. But there really was a script before that asked me to play a college student, which I could not live up to either. “This role is that of a college student. We start of on a college campus. We follow him starting after he graduates from college and what comes after, but it starts off in the college setting.” I told them, “I’m not very suitable... I can’t even convince myself that I’m a college student.” C: It’s acting, though. LYN: I wouldn’t even be able to act that out. I just couldn’t get past this hurdle, in my mind. They were very nice about it though, and came back with, “Then, how about we make you a PhD student? It’s a few tiers after that of a college student- so then the role and the age of your face match up.” I replied, “There’s no need, thanks.” I just couldn’t get past it, myself. So it’d be a joke if I played as a junior high school student. C: You can play as someone who was held back. LYN: How low would this character’s IQ have to be in order to repeat enough years to match up with a face this old?? They repeated the sixth grade for 18 years??? They just never graduated elementary, and stayed there for 18 years. The school principal has even changed three times in that time! Even the homeroom teacher��s kid would be attending school. That’s not going to happen, I’m too old.

C: Ning-ge, you look 25 at most. LYN: You don’t need to be so polite. It’s your holiday today, don’t tell me nice things. Today I’ll tell YOU nice things. You don’t need to say anything nice to me.

C: What about time-traveling back to your school days? LYN: Time-traveling is okay... I know what you’re talking about- something like Goodbye Mr. Loser, right? He traversed back into his school days. I mean... if the actors around me are also around my age then that would be fine. But if I went back and all the students were played by actual 16-17 year olds and here I am at 30+, I wouldn’t be able to take it. LYN: The most romantic thing I can think of doing is buying a computer with you. When we’re old we can’t go anywhere. Then we’ll stay at home and play on the computer. (Altered lyrics to 最浪漫的事 (The Most Romantic Thing))

LYN: BYOL has let me know it’s time to start voice acting. But this drama was shot with original audio, so for the voice acting we’re only going in to supplement small parts. Parts where there was noise interference or a line of dialogue wasn’t said well or clearly- those parts will be voiced over. So in the next few weeks... if I wrap up early I’ll probably go to do the voice acting for BYOL. I was thinking of going today but I have to get into hair and makeup at 6a tomorrow morning... so I’d have to wake up at about 5:15a. I thought about it and decided not to go into the studio today and come back to stream instead. I won’t stream for too long though, because I have to wake up very early tomorrow. I have some scenes I still have to do homework for as well. I won’t stream too long. C: I hope one of your dramas airs soon. LYN: I’m not in a big rush. I feel more at ease when I have projects in stock. If they all air at the same time and I have nothing in stock I’ll feel uneasy. I’m not in a rush. To be honest- and this can come across as arrogant, but it’s just my state of mind- since I stream then even if my dramas don’t air, my fans still won’t forget me. My antis won’t forget me either. They will let me uninterruptedly appear in front of the public’s eyes, so that you can’t forget me. They all say artists need exposure, right? This is also a type of exposure.

LYN: I think the closest dramas to air would be ALZ and TXJ. I think it’s possible that these two dramas I participated in will air first. I don’t know about BYOL... and then it’s YNGS. I told you about how I wrapped a little early today- and I went to the editing room for YNGS. After I saw what was going on, I- let me think of how to say this... Ning Yuanzhou is a character I really like a lot. The love I have for this character is hard to put into words. This role is too abundant. Including all the other actors, the director, and crew- it’s a drama I really, really like. I think the role of Ning Yuanzhou is the best opportunity I met with at the perfect time. I was easily engrossed in the story and I really like the character a lot.

LYN: It seems like many of you mention sometimes, “Ning-ge, why do you never mention YNGS in your streams? Is it because you don’t like the drama?” No. I love YNGS so much, I’m crazy for it. I don’t want to mention or talk about it because in the process of filming for it I was looked down on by a lot of people. The so-called passersby or the people who said that they know me or don’t- didn’t think I deserved or was worthy of the role, and I can understand. I’m not worthy. You were right. But during the process I was ridiculed so much. Sometimes I couldn’t understand. But my mind runs a mile a minute and later I ended up thinking it through- it’s actually a good thing. LYN: No one is anticipating the role of Ning Yuanzhou or YNGS at all and that’s the best situation, to me. I really hope that all the people who thought I wasn’t good enough for the drama maintain that way of thinking. Because their expectation of me in that role is already extremely low. “LYN is ugly. LYN isn’t worthy.” LYN this and that- everything negative. Their expectation for me is already so low that it can’t get any lower. Very rarely are there roles that people have such low expectations for. The interest in this drama is high, but the interest in me is low- and I think that’s a good thing. Even if I have the slightest sliver of a highlight in this drama, it will light your eyes. If I give them the slightest bit of surprise, they will suddenly think that I actually have something worth watching for. Do you understand this logic? LYN: So that’s why I don’t want to mention or bring up YNGS- because I want them to maintain their low expectations. It’ll be at least a year until it’s able to air so I want them to keep their expectations for me low. When the drama airs I’m sure they’ll watch it- even the antis. At that time I hope I can give a small surprise. Ning Yuanzhou. 500+ scenes, almost 600. It’s the most abundant role I’ve acted in since I first became an actor. Everything I could have wanted, the crew gave to its utmost ability. This includes styling and wardrobe, and props. I am satisfied with everything. That drama... you can wait to see it. The reason why I’m saying this now is because I want to tell my fans- my own people- I have never disliked the drama YNGS. l I have never been disappointed in this drama. Just the opposite- I am full of affection for it. I really love the character of Ning Yuanzhou- you’ll know when you finally watch it.

LYN: I went to the editing room and saw about the first six or seven episodes? It’s a rough cut, though. Nothing is fixed. They’re just putting the general sequence of events together and will go through more thorough editing later. I was watching bits of the first few episodes. After I watched those clips I went home and laid on my bed- I couldn’t sleep. I was so tired, but I couldn’t fall asleep. I won’t say anything more. - C: You’re trending at #32 today. LYN: In the hot topics or the entertainment section? I don’t believe I have the qualifications to be trending. I’m not worthy. - C: Were you stunned by your own handsomeness (so you couldn’t sleep)? LYN: I wasn’t stunned by myself. I have a mirror! I know what I look like in the mornings- it’s not enough for me to be stunned by my own good looks. I’ll just tell you a small detail. When I was watching the clips, one of the producers were there, too. I’ll only share my own reaction, and you can analyze what it means on your own. I watched the first episode and I asked, “Could we not add the beauty filter so aggressively?” Because nowadays if a drama is too forward with it’s editing people are going to roast it, saying, “Look at this drama! They added so much filter the actor’s skin looks too good! So clean. So handsome. It’s too fake. It’s not realistic.” And they ended up telling me they didn’t do anything to the video. They only arranged the clips, and hadn’t touched up the coloring or done anything with the video. What I was seeing was just the result of what was filmed on site. I said, “Oh~ Is that so~? :D” C: So you WERE stunned by your own handsomeness. LYN: Honestly, I did give myself a bit of a surprise. LYN: How despicable. You caught me bluffing. XD In any case, I want to tell everyone that I really enjoy YNGS and the role of Ning Yuanzhou. Of course, even if you’re not my fan I hope you can also anticipate this drama, alright?

LYN: Eh? Where did- did the location change? For the laugh track... /working out the buttons/

C: Ning-ge, you don’t like Wei Shao (his character in Zhe Yao)? LYN: Tsk. What nonsense are you saying?! How could I not like the role? Don’t you dare spread this false rumor, because my director like to surf the internet. XD Director Deng Ke likes to surf the net, what if this gets around and he sees?? What the heck- what do you mean I don’t like Wei Shao. What nonsense. Later if they end up deleting my scenes I would have come here for nothing! LYN: ZY is really good! I like it a lot!! I had some choices, but chose ZY in the end precisely BECAUSE it was good. I remember when I saw the script- I was still shooting for the other drama- I was in hair and makeup. You have to find the time to look at scripts, still. So I was getting my makeup done and reading the script and after three episodes I was hooked. I started reading it like a novel. I think the ZY script was excellent. How can I not like it?? I’m shooting for it right now. It’s great. LYN: Wei Shao is a character I like a lot. It’s a role that is hard to grasp. To me as a rookie actor, this role is full of challenge. Very many challenges. A lot of the situations are testing my limits. It is certainly adding to my experience as an actor. C: Tell us about it. LYN: How about I tell you about one small detail? For example earlier, when I told you about playing out a death- how when you play it out often enough... you start to understand the basics of what goes into it and can play with each method of death. Like, if I know I will die by gunshot- usually they play out like this: /demonstrates getting shot/ and they open a wound here, and then you’re on the floor and dead. There’s a certain logic that you know you have to follow. But for this drama there are some situations where I find myself having to go online and find reference material for. I have to go learn. For example, I would search: “Most “XYZ” scene in a Korean drama that “XYZ”.” I need to search, to see how other people do it. There were a lot of things for this drama that I had to search for material for. I have to learn. Even though I have an acting coach, they still can’t teach me how to do THAT. C: Did you learn how? LYN: I- I’ll learn slowly. - /clears his throat/ LYN: There’s growth with every drama. LYN: Let me drink some water. Cheers.

C: Ning-ge, don’t be corrupted by bad examples. LYN: /laughs/ Where is this coming from? Friend- are you naive, or do you think that /I/ am naive?? How could I be corrupted? I’m THIRTY+ YEARS OLD. I’m not some 17-18 year old momma’s boy who just debuted and are just entering into society. I’m not- I’m already 30+ years old. How could I learn anything and be corrupted by it? XD LYN: I just said I couldn’t even pass for a college student and now you’re telling me not to be corrupted... C: Right! Ning-ge, you’re a 300+ month old child.

C: Lao-da, do you still remember The Truth? LYN: ? I didn’t know I had the ability to erase that memory from my mind. I said that everyone’s brains had CPU- did you think that was true and I could accidentally delete what I stored there?? Of course I remember. On top of that, the actors I see every day were the guests on it. How could I forget it? But, what are you trying to get at?

C: What about Luo Mingxi (ALZ)? LYN: Are you pretending to be reporters, and you want to interview me now? You’re testing if I have what it takes as an actor, to have something to say in response to your interview questions? LYN: I really like the role of Luo Mingxi. It’s amazing. // Actually the role was alright. I had fewer scenes, is all. Also it’s been almost two years- I shot if about a year and a half ago, right? After Luo Mingxi I filmed a bunch of dramas already... I really like the role, and had about 300 or so scenes. I saw a bit when I was voice-acting, and although I was only seeing my own parts, I think... I just hope that the viewers don’t curse me out for being ugly. They’re not there to see me, though. They just want to see the male and female leads. I’m just there for the fun of it. LYN: There’s an interesting facet to Luo Mingxi, though. When I went in to do the voice acting for the role... even though while shooting the drama we don’t shoot scenes in sequential order, for voice acting usually we start from episode one. When I was done one of those days, there were still five or six episodes left and they were in a rush to have me complete my part. I don’t know what happened- but it just so happened that I had a sore throat in the days following. I still had five episode’s worth of lines to read. But my voice was hoarse, so how could I do the voice acting?? Not like this- /speaks in a pinched voice/ it wasn’t hoarse like this. If I could control my breathing I could still give it the lightness it needed. My voice was hoarse for five or six days, but I still went to try if I could do the voice acting. They were in a rush, so I would try. If I couldn’t do it, then we would put it off. I did two episodes’ worth and found out... it was the exact feel we were going for! LYN: I’m not trying to praise myself in saying that. I just thought that my sound plus the character really suited each other and I was wondering why. It was because in the later episodes Luo Mingxi was quite ill. He was sick and would cough at any time! /says a line/ It was really fitting!! It seemed like things happened at the right time and place. After I finished the voice acting I was so hyped up about it. It was too well suited! In the later episodes he’s quite ill and coughs a lot- his lungs are in bad shape- and it was just really quite coincidental! It’s the fortune found in misfortune. My voice was hoarse but it ended up being a good thing! LYN: When I voice act, it comes out bright and with strength. I don’t like to make myself sound too breathy, because people online are always complaining that actors sound weak. So in the earlier episodes for Luo Mingxi, I pretty much treated it as if I were voice acting for Zhang Fei (ancient Chinese warrior). Like a general in the Three Kingdoms. /demonstrates/ Because I was afraid of people saying that my lines were weak so I aim for Zhang Fei every time I am voice acting. XD /demonstrates again & laughs at himself/ /again/ They’re all like this, so it sounds cool. But in the end my voice was hoarse. Zhang Fei is also always half-yelling, right? But by the end it was okay for Luo Mingxi to sound hoarse because he’d already been shouting for 36 episodes. That just goes to show he was man enough.

C: Ning-ge, I thought you said LMX was a sick & crazy? We were looking forward to it! LYN: Let me clarify- he’s not sick & crazy, he’s sick & weak. He still has a wild heart but his body is weak. Sick & Crazy is different- like Bai Choufei. LMX is not a bad guy, and hasn’t done any bad things. I know that people are more sympathetic to the “sick & crazy” kind of character, so the kind I interpreted was sick, mentally. C: How is the mental sickness expressed? LYN: When he says things he’s kind of rude and impetuous. No matter what he says, it’s like this. A mental illness, but not an illness that borders focuses jealousy/obsession. Just.. mentally ill. [t/n: I confused myself, srry. >.>]

C: Ning-ge, you’re dissing LMX? LYN: There’s no way. I really like the role. LYN: Let me put it like this- a lot of people ask me if I like a role or not. I wouldn’t accept the role if I didn’t like it. I like every role I’ve accepted. If I don’t like the role I could have rejected the script and held a concert instead. I could hold my concert, or go on a variety show. There are many ways I could survive without a drama role. It’s because I like the role, the script, and the production team that I choose to take on the project. I only accept the project when I really like the role to begin with.

C: Talk about Jiang Junhao (BYOL). LYN: Jiang Junhao... there’s not much to say. It’s not because I don’t understand the character, but because I’ve asked director before, “How should I play this role?” Before I entered the crew I saw the script and knew the general summary of events, but you still need to discuss with the director what their expectations of the character are. The director just told me, “Be how you are when you’re streaming.” I said, “That’s not good, right? That would be too simple.” When I’m streaming I’m plain as day. I was thinking, “Shouldn’t I create some trouble for myself? Are there any psychotic tendencies I need to add to the character?” The director replied, “No. Just be how you are when you stream. Chatty and humorous. Your profession is as a blogger. But the caveat is you had to have learned how to be a cook.” I was thinking... other than me I don’t think there’s anyone in this industry that could replace me for this role. I don’t know about anything else, but there’s no one else in this industry who could replace me for the role of Jiang Junhao. I fit the character so well. He’s a blogger/streamer, he’s a cook- on these two alone It’s right up my alley. I’ve been doing these two things for 30+ years. (?) I went to culinary school for two years to learn how to be a cook. I was a cook for three. I’ve been streaming for 10+ years. I fit the bill. LYN: When you watch Jiang Junhao it’s possible you could see me as when I’m streaming. Because it is. But now people are probably wondering, “Isn’t acting as Jiang Junhao basically acting as yourself? Then you don’t understand the character at all.” Actually, that’s not the case. Even the me that you see when I’m streaming, is not the real me. /giggles evilly/ LYN: BYOL was something I filmed happily. Tao-jie was so good to me, she’d lead me around everywhere. XD When I’m shooting a drama usually I will take it quite seriously- not because I’m being professional- I just put a lot of importance on each and every scene. I’m not very good at affectionate/emotional scenes- I’m not good at acting all flirty. But that drama needed me to be able to handle it well, so Tao-jie helped me a lot in that aspect. When we first started shooting she thought I was too nervous couldn’t relax. She can tell, since she is my senior after all. I WAS nervous when working with her. But she- for example in the next scene we would have to have a confrontation. She’d tell her group, “Look carefully. Watch how I’ll lead him.” She’ll lead me and make it fun, so that the scene is completed successfully and with feeling. It was really fun to do my scenes with her. She’s very enthusiastic, very nice. /amused at the fact she was telling her group to watch how she handles him/

C: ZY is made up completely of emotional (affectionate/sentimental) scenes. LYN: Em... yeah. I said I wasn’t good at it, not that I couldn’t do it. I mean... the only reason I was able to make a little name for myself is exactly because of my emotional scenes, isn’t it? I just have trouble letting go- I’m a pretty shy person. Weren’t some of you afraid that I would learn bad things?? It was just a little.. out of my expectations. So when I first started doing emotional scenes I will be shy. C: Are you shy in ZY? LYN: How could I not be?? Just because you see me being chatty in my streams and assume that I am open to everything. I’m actually just a shy boy. When I’m facing her (SZE) every day I will feel shy, too. Well, it’s not a matter of being SHY per se- just that if you’re going to be doing affectionate scenes with someone everyday and you don’t even feel an ounce of shyness/shame then... there’s something not quite right there. If I wasn’t shy at all then the other actor will be thinking there’s something wrong with me! “You’re so cool with this. It’s not affecting you at all?” That’s not right. You still have to respect the actress. Work is work.

C: What about Zhuo Bufan (TXJ)? LYN: Zhuo Bufan... I really like. XD Zhuo Bufan... it’s like this. Since there are many people who probably aren’t my fans watching this stream- /changes the subject/ Let me see if I’m still trending. There should be people who are just passing through and have entered my stream to check it out. Zhuo Bufan is the name of a role I acted in Tian Xing Jian (aka Heroes (but a different one than SYXSSYX)). I play as a swordsman, but the setting is... the early Republic of China. At that time there are already the typical “normal” hairstyles and the more historical Qing dynasty style. I play a Miao swordsman- from around Sichuan. The character’s setting is that all he wanted in life was to be the best swordsman and to establish his sect. It’s called the Rong Tian Sword Sect. But these were turbulent times- at the beginning of the Republic of China- and firearms were already introduced to the country. He’s still striving to be the best swordsman in the world and right when that happens- there are guns. Someone who has no fighting skills at all can just grab a gun and take out a whole bunch of martial artists. It’s a frustrating time, for him. But the character is set in his ways- he’s only wanted this one thing all his life. The story is good and the filming is realistic. The one thing is Sichuan gets pretty hot... and there was no such thing as ‘sunscreen’ in the early Republic. People back then didn’t care about your visuals. There was no one back then going online to call other people ugly. Zhuo Bufan didn’t have to worry about walking the red carpet and getting caught on camera without makeup. He’s never had that pressure, so he doesn’t have sunscreen and as a result he’s quite tanned. LYN: For the drama they could only apply foundation no.13 on me. I bet many of you have never heard of it. My fans have, but everyone else here might not. Foundation in shade no.13 is... quite hard to find in China. No one here really uses it. It’s typically sold in places where there are larger populations of people with a darker complexion. It’s difficult to find in China because no one needs the shade. Anyone who is applying foundation is not going to make themselves darker- don’t you use it to brighten your natural skin color? So they put No.13 on me, and that’s fine, but the problem is that I am quite pale to begin with. Most of you are girls, so you know that makeup will smudge. After they applied it all over, as we filmed the makeup would smudge/melt. Some parts had the foundation and some parts didn’t, after a while. Normally it goes away the fastest for me around here- /points to around his mouth/ and my eyes. Do you know the gingerbread man? Let’s look it up together. This is a gingerbread man.

LYN: This counts as cute, even! Let me see if there’s a better picture that describes how I looked... Definitely not this one, though. This is... a frog man.

LYN: Oh, this one. This is really similar. Eyebrows like Crayon Shin-chan and face like a gingerbread man.

LYN: After a week of shooting for this drama I had already given up on my looks for it. I used to tell the makeup artist, “[drops a whole beauty routine to make his eyes look bigger (including shadow, eyeliner, as well as curling the eyelashes) and face look smaller (shading on the jawline)].” That’s the speech I usually use when facing a makeup artist. After a week in the TXJ crew I gave up on all that. I didn’t say anything- I shut up. I just go in to the makeup room and told them they could start. When they were done I would look at myself in the mirror- “Yeah, that’s dark enough.”- and then leave for the set. LYN: After a week I gave up. For this drama, I didn’t need to be too picky about visuals. All I needed was to do what it took to fulfill the expectations of the role. With makeup the reason why you put on a light base and make the eyes dark is for the contrast. But when my whole face is dark, what color of eye makeup should I use?? If I’d still applied eyeshadow I’d be a panda. You wouldn’t be able to see it at all. So I pretty much didn’t have any (aesthetic) makeup on, and after that much foundation my face was pretty much flat anyway. So I gave up.

LYN: But, I never considered TXJ as a drama you should be watching for visuals. I know what style it is, and I accepted it. But how funny is it... that when I was shooting for YNGS I was being called ugly? They released so many bad picture of me online, where my expression is pretty much like this: /makes all sorts of unflattering facial expressions/ There were so many of them like this and when I saw them I thought to myself, “OMG- aren’t these pictures pretty much what ZBF looked like?? This pictures look a lot like ZBF!” Even if I thought that the role was a bit dark (in skin color), I never thought it was a problem. Up until the point I was shooting for YNGS and all the ugly pictures came out- then I realized it /was/ a problem. Why? Because the moment when TXJ finally airs it will prove that those so-called “ugly” photos are not ugly at all. Those photos just show that’s what I look like normally! I look exactly the same in the drama! When TXJ airs it will prove that no one was trying to take ugly pictures of me on purpose and with ill-intent, nor were they photoshopped to look so bad. It’s just what I look like! That’s the biggest pressure ZBF has given me. It’s just going to prove that the so-called “blackmail” against me is just the honest reality! LYN: I really like ZBF the character and the drama itself. When I was voice-acting for it and saw myself in the clips I realized it’s something I really wanted and needed to film. It’s not a drama you see a lot of. It’s quite unique. It’s the stepping stone into my future in that style of drama. I really like ZBF and the drama, but... I don’t really want it to air too soon. I need a different drama- one in which I look halfway decent in- to push it back a little. BYOL or ALZ could air first- just to shift TXJ far back enough that people won’t associate the ugly photos of me directly to this drama. So people can see me looking good in other dramas first, and they will think, “LYN doesn’t look like in the photos. He actually looks pretty decent.” Then when TXJ airs after them, it won’t make a difference because my image in those previous dramas has already created a good base for me. When they see the foundation no.13 they will think I needed to be dark, for the role. I was on the chubbier side on purpose. “He’s doing it for the role.” Now it has a different interpretation! So that’s I hope a different drama can air first.

- /segues into song with no further comment/ -- Be Earnest While You’re Young (意气趁年少) - /cuts off halfway/ LYN: I thought I was playing the song, but it ended up being the accompaniment so I just decided to sing a few lines.

LYN: ! Oh, no. I suddenly thought of something. I just changed my computer, so all the videos I had downloaded before are gone. I forgot to copy them over. My neighbors are fighting but I have no way of saving them, now. What should I do? Let me play you an MV, then. I can only play an MV- for a song- but none of those funny fan-made clips. C: Make the female celebrity stand-in. LYN: Don’t even mention her to me. I “fainted” today and she didn’t even try to save me. She made me lose face in front of the public. The thankless wretch... and I still have to give her a sausage everyday... LYN: Hold on, let me just play the MV. /adjusting/ Ok. Watch the MV. I’ll use the restroom.

-- Break #1

C: Ge, you have to sing a few more OSTs for ZY. LYN: One is enough. For my own dramas I sing at least one, most of the time. // I think I’m singing two for YNGS, though. :)

C: This music is too loud. LYN: It’s too much? Then I’ll ply a song by LYN for you. (LYn - My Destiny)

C: Talk about Hei Yanjing. LYN: Hei Yanjing was a really early drama. The thing I regret about that role is that we had someone come do voice acting for it, it’s not my original voice. But of course, I am very thankful to that laoshi (Liu Sicen/刘思岑). Because at that time I really didn’t know how to act, and I still don’t. It was only my second drama role, so pretty early for me. I wasn’t mature enough in many ways. So I’m very thankful to that voice actor, because he really helped to complete that character. I think that the voice actor played a huge part in Hei Yanjing gaining so much love. Thank you. C: I always thought that was your voice. LYN: That’s why- he really understood the character, to be able to voice act for it. /reciting lines/ Of course, he’s always going to be more professional than I am. - /reciting more lines- “Do you know why they call me “Black Blindman”, and not just “Blindman”? It’s because I have an ability other people don’t know about.” “What is it?” “I can take away your eyes. :)” C: You remember the lines! LYN: There aren’t that many! I had considerably less screen-time in that drama (compared to others). But I had fun shooting for that drama, too. Because I didn’t have to keep touching up my makeup. Like I was saying earlier, “This is how I’d like for the eye makeup to be...” etc. etc. I was wearing the shades most of the time, so I’d get into the makeup room and they’d put some foundation on me and I’d be done! :D Once the shades are on there’s no one who doesn’t love me and I’m out the door. LYN: The makeup for that was pretty dark, too. I remember there was one scene I took off my jacket and started swatting the bugs away- my arms were so white they looked like tube lights.

C: Wei Chengfeng. LYN: That was my first drama role and I acted very average, quite bad. It was my very first drama debut and it was with HZT. And you still say I have resources? “LYN- you were partnered with HZT on your debut drama. What can you say to prove you don’t have resources? There MUST be someone backing you.” My old fans all know how I got that part. The new fans might not, but you can go look it up online. I had fun shooting that drama, and I got to know a lot of good friends, even though I may not communicate with them very often. It was a great drama. But I really didn’t know how to act for that one; I couldn’t even speak Standard Mandarin properly. LYN: In order for an actor to show their potential and what they can do, depends a lot on the director. There’s another thing in this industry- it’s called “30% acting, 70% editing”. I don’t know if you’ve heard that before? It means that 30% of the drama depends on the acting, and 70% depends on the editing. I think the editing really helped me a lot, so that’s why you think the character is decent. It’s not something that cannot be said, because it’s the same for singers. There are many singers who might not quite sing on tune, but there’s always editing and they can fix the sound. It’s a normal working process. Just like planting strawberries. At the very start you didn’t have strawberries that are as big as they are now- they started off very small. After years of selective development, that’s why you can see the big strawberries you do. Each industry is the same and technology/development just helps us to improve.

C: Ning-ge, did you get a signed autograph from SZE yet? LYN: Oh, right. A couple of streams ago I told you that after a month of working with Zu’er I would introduce myself to her as also having participated in this drama, and ask her for her autograph... I was chatting with the director the other day and calculated that today would be the 36th day since filming started. Let me think... 36 days is more than a month.. so tomorrow, friends, I promise. I have a full day of filming with Zu’er tomorrow. When I get on set I’ll tell her what’s up. I will unresolved tell her, “Hello. My name is Liu Yuning. We are participating in the same drama. Here my name is Wei Shao. But, in my eyes you are a celebrity. Could you write me an autograph? I’ve already had my assistants prepare the photo. Could you just write, “To: Liu Yuning. Let’s hit it big time! (大红大紫)” and then add your signature? Is that okay? Then, I won’t leave this drama with any regrets.” LYN: Friends, I’ll do what I say. I’ll ask her tomorrow on set. If I am successful, I will post on weibo to brag about it. “See, I have a celebrity’s autograph. But you don’t.” XD Also, it’s personalized~ But of course, I don’t know if her studio allows their artists to give autographs out to nobodies. I don’t know. We’ll find out tomorrow and as for the result you can check my weibo. Or maybe the next time we meet I could tell you if I was chased away by her staff or was escorted out by drama security. There’s no saying which way it will go. Either way, I’ll ask her tomorrow and see how she reacts.

C: Why don’t you want Daimi’s autograph? LYN: The actress Daimi has a poor (human) personality. She watched her manager faint and didn’t even try to save him. If she makes the big leagues one day, that video will become material to use against her. An ungrateful artist. C: She has a poor character (人品 -> 狗品). LYN: Her breed (品种) is pretty decent, though. [t/n: Chinese puns] - /starts singing because he said Daimi was “cold-hearted” and it reminded him of a song/ C: You even kicked her bowl. LYN: She doesn’t drink from it. She’s spoiled. /thinks about it and laughs/ Yes. I kicked her bowl. She didn’t even try to save her manager, so I’m going to smash her food bowl (literally). She doesn’t get to eat. If she doesn’t even care about her manager, then I’m going to smash it to pieces.

LYN: Anyway, I’ll try to ask for SZE’s autograph tomorrow, and you can see if my efforts will pay off. First, I’ll ask for her autograph. Next, I’ll sell it. I’ll put it on the market and cruelly make a killing off of her. C: Raffle it. LYN: Why should I? There’s no way. C: If you put it like that, she’s not going to sign it for you. LYN: That’s possible.

C: Bai Choufei. LYN: BCF.. actually, I’ve talked about him quite a lot. I think... towards this character... how should I put it? I can’t say I put a lot into it, because I really didn’t. I just think that as for this character, I was particularly engrossed in it. A lot of the things I did weren’t rational. This is a drama and role that I will never forget. I’ll never forget it. It almost... honestly it almost made me give up on acting. [t/n: the water scene?] C: It wasn’t that bad was it? LYN: I don’t know- there’s nothing much to say about it. I can’t get too far into detail about it anyway. I really loved the role and I don’t think I will meet another like him. It really was an excellent role, and I don’t think I’ll find another like it. Of course, I have been introduced to good scripts and good roles. At the time, I thought I wouldn’t find anything else like him. But then, YNGS came. It was different kind of good. Later I got the role of Wei Shao and I thought, “Oh? This is also okay.” It’s also another different kind of good.

LYN: After this experience I came to know that there is no ending point in life. As long as you keep moving forward, it doesn’t matter in what direction, it’s all forward. As long as you keep going- left or right- it’s still forward. Everything you face on this path could be even better than the thing that came before it or can replace what you had originally thought was the highlight of your life. LYN: After I finish filming for every drama I will have different thoughts about it. After Hot-Blooded Youth I didn’t think I would continue to be an actor. Not because I wasn’t passionate about it or because I didn’t like it, but because I didn’t think I would get another chance. It didn’t air very well, honestly. Then after Ultimate Note, I still didn’t think I could be an actor. I just thought I could be a person who acts. I could be in dramas. It was after The Long Ballad that I told myself, “I want to be an actor.” After that drama I really wanted to focus on being an actor, and I thought of it as my profession. After Heroes I set myself a goal, which was to be an outstanding actor. I haven’t reached that goal yet, but I want to be an outstanding actor, good actor, a (f*cking) awesome actor. [t/n: he almost said “牛逼” but caught himself on the “牛” X’D]. That’s what BCF has brought to me- a direction to continue in.

LYN: I didn’t used to understand when people would say that actors became invested/engrossed in the role. That’s just because I didn’t know the difference between being invested and not. I didn’t graduate from a class and I never officially learned acting. When I was doing The Long Ballad (CGX) I didn’t have any technique- I relied on my feelings alone. How could I know any techniques, back then? Acting is separated into two kinds: technique and feelings. There’s no way of saying is which is right and which is wrong, because they’re both good. There are some very good actors who rely on technique alone, and others still who rely on feeling alone. So there IS no right or wrong. But at the time I didn’t know any technique so I can only rely on my feelings. LYN: Later when I was acting as BCF I had already learn how to do a bit of both. Thinking back on it now, it’s a role that I invested myself in pretty deeply. I was almost mad with it. When I was acting I didn’t think that I was still LYN. Sometimes you lose your sense of rationality. I didn’t used to understand but after that drama I did- there are times when you think that you are not yourself. It’s a strange and rare feeling. LYN: I have a lot of feelings for the role of BCF. I’m not talking about what I sacrificed for the role or how much effort I put into it- that’s not what I mean. I just mean that I gave him a lot of my feelings. At the time I thought it was a really excellent role. I don’t dare say that I acted well, but I was so into the character I couldn’t be more absorbed. Then later when it aired, I was cursed at. When it aired people all said the drama wasn’t good, and it was ridiculed, and this and that. I started talking about acting precisely because of this drama, and the role, and certain events surrounding it. I’m not able to control myself when talking about this drama because I think really highly of that role. I didn’t want or expect for the character to be popular, and it’s not as if I would be unable to accept it if people didn’t like it. In my eyes I had put a lot of heart into the character so in light of all the negative reviews about it, I couldn’t accept it- or rather, it was difficult for me to bear. LYN: That’s why sometimes when people bring up the character of BCF and say that they don’t like or understand him, I will lost control over myself. Thinking back on it, it’s just hard for me to hear. It has nothing to do with the fact that the drama wasn’t popular. That is... when you put a lot of effort into something- much more than you had ever given something before- and then find out that people have negative views of it or can just easily brush it away... it’s difficult to bear.

LYN: I still remember that right when the drama was ending- it was almost to the finale- it ended up on the hot search. The topic- you all know it- was “Say Lunatic, Who Is a Lunatic” and they used the clip where I was fighting with Su Mengzhen. It ended up trending at #2. I’m not hot and I don’t have any popularity so being part of a trending topic is difficult for me. Of course, it’s not as if I’ve never been trending before- it’s all superficial. Something like, “Singer Fails to Kick a Bowl” or “Internet Famous Singer Liu Yuning Fails to Kick a Bowl”. But for something with actual substance is difficult to get trending. LYN: I saw the comments- because my group will send it to me, to let me know. They told me this topic was trending and wanted me to check it out, because it was about me. I used my staff’s phone to look at the comments, to see what they were saying. About 70% of the comments were praising me! They were saying, “LYN can act like this? I don’t believe this is him. He’s not bad!” In that moment... I cried. Not sobbing and wailing, but I just had an indescribable feeling in my heart. One of the Long Ballad producer jiejie-s also sent it to me, telling me, “Look. You’re trending!” and I thought it was a perfect end for my experience with the character. Because this drama really made me too sullen. I myself felt that way. It had nothing to do with what the public, internet, or comments thought of me. That’s why I like to thank Orange Entertainment (橘子娱乐), because they were the ones who made the topic. It was a perfect ending for the role. That’s why I don’t like to talk about BCF too in depth- I could leave it on that high note. LYN: Everything added together had me feeling sullen, I don’t know why. But even now, there are some fans of Su Mengzhen who come to curse me out. Which goes to prove that even though I said I was engrossed in the role, there are people who are much more into it than I ever was. There are still people now who can’t let it go. But the funny thing is that Chen Chuhe and I have a very good relationship! We had a meal and I even took my clothes and bracelet off to give them to him. Based on that, how good do you think our relationship is?? We’re such good friends we can wear the same clothes! And yet there are still fans of SMZ out here cursing me. They’re not hating on BCF, either. They hate LYN.

C: Have you seen the source material for Zhe Yao? LYN: What are you trying to get at? If there was an actor who is in a drama based off of an original piece of work, and the actor says they did not look into the source material, would you think this actor does not respect his work? You wouldn’t, right? Probably not? It’s unlikely, right? Even if I did see the source material, I wouldn’t tell you. You- I’ll just say I never saw it. LYN: I’m not trying to compliment myself, I just want to share- but I will easily find methods to help me solve problems. This drama for example, or any of the others roles I have played that have source material, whether that’s a manhwa or novel adaptation. Other actors probably also use these methods that you may or may not know about, but it’s always good to learn. When I play a new character, I might not have a lot of time to get to know the source material. So instead I will go online and look up analyses/judgement made about the character by fans of the book. I want to understand how they see him. Secondly, I want to know what attracts them to the character, or what part made them like him. If I know what attracted these readers to the character in the first place, I will remember that facet of the character. If there’s a single thing that all readers can agree attracted them to the character, then it’s my job to make sure that this thing is well-executed in the drama. LYN: For example, even though he’s a skilled martial artist, he never once raised his hand to his Lady. Then I have to remember I can never raise my hand to her in the drama. Even if I lightly push her, then that’s still a problem. It’s just the logic of it- I want to know the readers’ understanding of the character and why they like him. Like how even though Wei Shao is callous and rough out in public, but actually he’s afraid of his wife. He might be tall and mighty at 1.9m, but in front of this small girl he’s scared and helpless. If this is something that attracted the readers, then I have to remember it and make sure the drama doesn’t lose it. LYN: I don’t have a lot of time to look at the source material, but I will find time to understand what the people who have seen it like about it. I’ve done this for each of my character so far. I find myself on some old platforms, reading forums on the character. SYXSSYX was released quite a while ago, so I found myself on old forums reading about the readers’ opinion of him. “I wanted to be proud and stand alone in the world, but why did I have to bear the humiliation of hiding in the mud?” That is the opinion many have of him. LYN: Sometimes when I haven’t seen the whole script- or even if I have- and formed my own understanding of the role, I will still go out to find out the general public’s opinion of the character as well. Because I will never understand the role as a true artist would, or even as someone who has read the source material over and over would. I can never be as accurate, as advanced, or as in-depth. So I will use these methods to help me make the character more complete.

C: Does Wei Shao love Xiao Qiao? LYN: This is obviously a test. If I said “He does” or “He doesn’t”, neither would be the correct answer. But as to whether he really does love her or not, let’s all find out when the drama airs. You have to buy a VIP membership and support the drama. Alright? Thank you. LYN: It looks like a simple question, but it can very easily be a trap. “Does Wei Shao love Xiao Qi”? First off- they’re the male and female leads. If the ml DOESN’T love the fl, how could it be considered a young adult novel? So you can only say he does. But that’s not right either. It’s not that simple, because their families are enemies. Let’s not forget that. If you say they love each other, that’s also strange. So how can I answer this question...? I will, but it won’t be right now. I’ll answer it when a reporter is interviewing me. As for whether he loves her or not, I hope everyone can find the answer in the drama.

C: Ning-ge, do you end up having kids in this drama? LYN: I cannot reveal that information. If you can’t wait, then you can go read the novel first. The drama does have some changes, after all. If you film it exactly as it is in the novel, then that’s overstepping our bounds. So whether they have kids or not... is not something I can reveal. Even if I say that everything we shot is supported by the novel, I still can’t tell you the details. But what I can tell you is, “In ancient times there was a spiritual beast. Its name was FeiFei, and looked like a fox and had a big white tail.” So.. why don’t we call Wei Shao’s child “FeiFei”? I’ve heard that anyone who took care of the beast would live carefree. I want WS’s kid to be named FeiFei so that his wife and child can both life without worries. LYN: That’s from the original novel. C: Wasn’t it “Meng-zi”? LYN: That was my name. If I had a daughter I would name her “Meng-zi”... or maybe “Zhang Fei”.

LYN: What time is it, let me check. It’s already 11p. It’s... about time, then. We’ll see. I’ll stream a little longer. I still have to remove my makeup and go over tomorrow’s scenes. I need to be in to hair and makeup at 6a tomorrow... so I have to get up at 5a. Wash my face, shave my beard, apply a face mask, drive to set... It’ll be around a little past 6 by then. I’ll get up at 5a tomorrow.

C: Ning-ge, why would your daughter’s surname be “Zhang”? LYN: What, her nickname can’t be Zhang Fei?? Her surname would be “Liu” but her nickname would be “Zhang Fei”. Is that not okay?? C: Call her Liu Zhang Fei. LYN: I said it’s her nickname, those don’t come with surnames attached. Then, why don’t I just call her “Liu Guan Zhang”? That’s all three from the Oath of the Peach Garden (Liu Bei - Guan Yu - Zhang Fei) and would make my daughter sound fierce, wouldn’t it? “Liu Zhang Fei”- then what, Guan Yu isn’t worthy of being included?? I might as well just call her “Liu Guan Zhang”, in that case. C: /suggesting names/ Lu Zhishen / Liu Wusong. LYN: I hope when you have kids, you name them that. All the suggestions you are giving me, I hope you take into consideration for your own children as well.

C: Have you set your next drama yet? LYN: I haven’t. I don’t have any work to do. I don’t have that much work, and how could I? Do you think the industry owes me? I don’t have anything lined up. I’ll just focus on the drama at hand first and everything will be fine. We’ll think about the next drama when it comes time to do that. C: You still haven’t accepted one yet? LYN: Are you getting angry on my behalf? That’s nice- you must be a career-fan and are just worried that I don’t have a job. It’s only been a month since I entered this crew and hearing that I don’t have my next project lined up makes you anxious for me, is that it? LYN: Thank you for worrying about my career, but I hope you can have the same expectations for yourself. You want me to become someone with a professional mindset and I am working hard to do that; at the same time I hope you can have the same mindset in your life. We will improve together, alright? I hope you all do well. At this time I’ll wish all the female friends watching a “Happy Holiday!”

C: You’re preparing to end the stream? LYN: No way. Let’s set a time- 11:30p. I’ll stop streaming at 11:30p and save half an hour for washing up, reviewing the script, and then sleep.

LYN: The reason I decided to stream today was because it’s March 8th and a lot of women are celebrating the holiday. I had two choices today- 1) voice act for BYOL, and 2) stream. I chose to come stream.

C: Sing a few more songs. LYN: This is my song-fan, isn’t it? I have to get up early tomorrow, so I won’t sing. In case I’m in a bad condition tomorrow. I might sing one or two in the spur of the moment, but don’t keep making me sing. I still have work tomorrow. :(

C: Ning-ge, you’re trending. LYN: ... I don’t believe it.

C: What do you mean by “streaming regularly”? LYN: I mean what I say- regularly. I’m already doing much better than I was for the previous drama, right? As long as I can I definitely will stream, because I like to stream. But there are times when we wrap for the day- like the other day, when I went to sing the OST for Wonderland of Love because I had done a cameo in it. I went to finish the voice acting for those scenes as well. When I wrap for the day I still have other work to do. Please don’t forget that I am a singer. I have a whole bunch of OSTs that I still haven’t recorded yet. Thankfully some of them they are not in a rush for so I can bide my time. I can wait for a day when I wrap early and am in a good condition to sing. I don’t want to record an OST when I know that my condition isn’t good enough. If I want to do something, then I have to be responsible for it. LYN: Even though I wrap early... I’ve found that some people/things aren’t ideal. Like how on some apps I can find my filming schedule- when I start and when I end- as clear as day. What are you doing? Monitoring me?? It’s not a problem, I just don’t find it an ideal situation. I don’t mind but I also don’t quite feel comfortable with you knowing what I’m doing at every minute. It feels like I’m being monitored. I’m uncomfortable especially because it’s a kind of monitoring that I can’t even report to the police. So try not to do that. LYN: Another thing is that when I wrap early- for example at 6:30p- a lot of people will start to fantasize. “Ning-ge wrapped at 6:30p today. Then.. doesn’t that mean there’s a possibility he will stream tonight~~? :D Alright. Then I will prepare the duck neck, duck tongue, duck intestines, and duck feet and wait for him to come stream.” Then after they prepare all that, I don’t end up streaming. “It’s alright. He’s probably busy. I will eat all the snacks.” Then the next say I wrap at 7p and the whole thing starts again. “Will Ning-ge stream TODAY? The news is that he wrapped at 7p. That’s okay, because he’s streamed at 10p before. Let me prepare all the snacks~!” And I don’t stream again. Once or twice is okay. But after the fifth or sixth time they will start thinking, “LYN, what’s wrong with you?? I anticipate your streams every day, but you never come. Where the heck did you go?? You wrap so early every day. Didn’t you say you like to spoil your fans??? Didn’t you say you would stream more regularly? Didn’t you say you could never leave your fans and are so thankful to them? Then, why aren’t you streaming??? Didn’t you know that because you aren’t streaming, I’ve gotten fat?!” They look in the mirror and see they’ve gotten fatter and blame me for it all. It’s all a possibility, friends. That’s why this is so complicated. LYN: I just want to explain- I don’t really have my own life anymore right now. I don’t have a life. After acting work, I have other work to do. There’s voice acting- because I figure if I’m going to act I want to do the voice acting for myself as well, to make the character more my own. So I could only take 2-3 hours out of the day for voice acting. It’s not as if I could take a whole week to finish off the voice acting for the whole drama. I have to do it in segments, two hours here and there for two-five episodes at a time. I also have OSTs. Other than acting, I have other work and if I’m particularly tired that day and I’m not suited for voice acting or singing the OST, I will come back to stream instead.

LYN: Sometimes there’s a group meal, and I’ll go to eat. It’s a business meal, and we’ll use it to communicate among actors and director(s). It’s also a nice way to relax, because we’ve been working all day. It’s nice to take a night to have a meal, chat, and relax. It’s a necessary process for us to continue filming amicably. So sometimes when we wrap early we’ll all go out to eat. We’ll get to know each other so filming can go smoothly. It’s a normal process and it’s not as if I am OBLIGATED to go, but I WANT to go. I want to get to know the other actors. For example, if I am supposed to be good friends with someone, but in real life we can’t stand the look of each other- it’ll be a hard time acting. But if the two actors are friendly in real life, then when they’re filming for the drama they don’t even need to act too hard- they’ll already have that familiarity with each other. Let’s say I’m supposed to be friends with this guy for 30-40 years, or these group of guys have been through thick and thin with me before, and I meet them and the first thing I say is, “Hello.” It lacks familiarity and it’s hard to act, even though you can force it. But if it’s natural to the actors, it will also be comfortable to watch for the viewers. That’s why when you’re shooting a drama with someone you want to get to know them.

C: What about acting as enemies? LYN: Enemies? Then I can only hate that actor when I see them, I guess. When I’m filming the drama I tend to get absorbed in the character. If for example, I have an enemy that day, I’ll be in a bad mood even looking at them. When we’re all on set and I see them I’ll- /glares, huff of dismissal/, /superficial greeting/. I won’t like seeing them. And then after we’re done shooting for the day- /says goodbye to them happily/. I’ll be more relaxed. LYN: For a period of time I always had this actor who was acting against me- he always brought me trouble in the drama. It’s not Wei Shuyu. He kept creating obstacles for me and acted really pretentious about it. But in real life, he was very nice. For that period of time though (when he was my enemy), I was always in a bad mood when I saw him. When I actually had scenes with him I was even more unhappy about it. When we stopped filming, I still ignored him. His character was so annoying, so evil. And then one day I was thinking that it was untoward of me to act that way to him. So after we wrapped for the day I sent him a message and said, “Hello. This is Ning-ge. I might be cold towards you during the day, but I don’t have anything against you personally. I’m just absorbed in the role. You’re also an actor, so you can understand. I don’t have anything against you personally. I think you’re a great actor and are very serious about acting and I appreciate that.” I sent him a message like that, because I didn’t want him to misunderstand me. I rely on my good reputation, right? I didn’t want him to go around saying, “I worked with LYN on my previous drama and he kept giving me dirty looks whenever he saw me. As if I owed him something. I felt like he was okay with everyone else, but just not me. LYN sucks.” LYN: I just needed to explain that I didn’t have anything against him, personally. It’s just that his character was all over my wife. Tell me, who wouldn’t find him annoying?? XD The drama has its female lead... and they got together so in my eyes, the guy’s all over my wife. Who would be able to take that? Friends, why don’t you try thinking of it. Many of you are women, so if there was a woman all over your husband all the time, would you be able to take it?? No matter how good your personality is, I’m sure you’d be going crazy too. - [t/n: at first I thought this might be about Zi Chuan.. but since he mentioned his wife is the FL, maybe it’s about YNGS and he had beef with Chang Huasen?? (There is a confrontation there, from the clips, and I want to see it.) That’s hilarious to me.] C: Is it Wei Shuyu? LYN: It’s not. In that drama, Wei Shuyu and Leyan were childhood friends. Leyan liked Wei Shuyu. Rather, I was the one who stole her away. I was the annoying one.

C: Mr. Streamer, when are you going to sleep? LYN: /laughs/ Are you too into your role? You called me, “Mr. Streamer”. Why didn’t you call me “Cook”? I have a name. We’re close, so you can call me.. If you’re older than me call me “Xiao Ning” and if you’re younger “Ning-ge” is fine. You can even call me “Liu Yuning”. Don’t call me “Mr. Streamer”- that makes me feel like I’m at work or something.

C: Ning-ge, you’re trending at #29 now. LYN: Oh? I don’t believe it. I need to go take a look. // Let me look at the comments. C: Ning-ge is the best. I love him. C: Liu Yuning is always full of ceremony. As expected, he came to stream today. He never disappoints his fans. LYN: That one seems more like a moral kidnapping. If I didn’t stream today you’d be disappointed, is that it? Don’t be like that. C: I’m happy tonight because of you. I feel like your dialogue and posture have changed a lot. LYN: ... I suddenly realize that I’m not sitting up straight. I should... sit up. ~My dialogue is also improving.~ LYN: After being complimented by my fans I have to live up to their expectations. So in the next fifteen minutes of my stream I will communicate to you as if I am delivering my lines. How does that sound? I’ll let you experience how I recite my lines- in the guzhuang style, of course. - C: Did you see me say that BCF was very good? LYN: What does BCF being good or not have to do with you? It’s a character that /I/ acted as. It has nothing to do with you. All you need to do is watch. C: You don’t need to be like this. LYN: Do I need you to come tell me what to do?? Do you really think you can control me? C: Why are you speaking so fiercely? LYN: I set my character as a fierce one. Now I’ll set it as someone more gentle. My apologies. -- C: I have work tomorrow, so I should go rest now. LYN: If you want to rest, I have nothing to say to that. But, I hope you can subscribe to my weibo before you leave. When I stream next, we can meet again! Thank you! --- C: This style of speaking is peculiar/eccentric/mystifying. LYN: Peculiar isn’t like this. ~~Peculiar is like THIS.~~ - C: Is this what you call an “innocent man”? LYN: /sigh/ Not as innocent as you. You must be the most innocent woman in the world. I am not innocent. - C: How greasy. LYN: Let me tell you- the most important thing to being “greasy” is that you need- no, never mind. - C: Can you go back to normal? LYN: You want me to go back to normal? Did I say something wrong earlier? LYN: /bursts out laughing/ Oops. That was a bad take. Let me go again. LYN: You want me to go back to normal? Did I say something earlier... that offended you? If I did, I- I apologize.

C: Pinched tone. LYN: Pinched..? I can’t. I heard something fun recently. Let me try to find it and then I’ll try it for you. Hold on a sec. // I found it, I found it. Let me look for the lines. - /recites with the help of the sound modulator/ LYN: Does it count? C: Nope. LYN: I- C: Not at all. // Is this a Dongbei ver? LYN: /LOL/ If you wanted me to try the kind that girls do, like /example/, then I can’t do it. LYN: ? Oh, you like that? /does it again/ That’s just speaking with a nasal tone.

LYN: Another thing is! I discovered this problem during my last drama. People are going online to sell the chance at getting pictures with me. I heard that someone was selling the opportunity to get a one-on-one picture with me. During BYOL people were selling this chance for 8,888RMB. What an auspicious number, too. Apparently there’s someone you can contact for this drama as well. Maybe it’s because I was being ridiculed for being ugly, but the price has gone down. Now they’re selling for 7,777RMB. Just a little cheaper. My market value has dropped. LYN: But what I want to say is, first of all, I don’t think I’m worth that much money. I don’t even think I’m worth that much! If someone were taking a cut of that money, then I would rather cut out the middleman and take the revenue all for myself. Alright? You’re likely to be scammed by the middleman. Let’s say they contacted me and asked if I could take the photo and I declined- then your money would likely not be refunded. You’re likely to be tricked. I’ve heard that people HAVE been tricked by this. Even if it wasn’t the full amount, and you just paid a deposit- you’d have to give 88RMB, at the least. They’re not able to follow-through will the request, so your deposit is just gone isn’t it? LYN: Through this experience I want to tell you- no matter what drama crew I am in, I will not take private photos with anyone. I don’t care who comes to ask for one. That way, there’s no one who can act as the middleman and scam you out of your money. Okay? Please don’t be tricked by this. What I can do is make sure that I reject anyone- anyone who is capable of setting up this kind of scam. I will reply to them, “I can’t take any photos because I am working, and wearing the drama’s makeup and clothes. I have to keep them a secret.” I’ll use this as an excuse to reject any photos. This way, none of my friends will be tricked. If you see anything online that says you can spend X amount of money for a photo with me, don’t believe it.

C: Then, Ning-ge, since we’re on the topic. How much does it cost if we cut out the middleman? LYN: It’s free for a photo with me. Who do I think I am? But the thing is, I won’t take any photos. I don’t have time.

C: Sell some personalized autographs. LYN: Normally I don’t give those to anyone. Many friends have asked for an autograph and I gave it to them. If you’re familiar to me and ask for an autograph but I don’t give you one I feel like that’s being pretentious. I’ll give autographs to my close friends. But they’re rarely ever personalized. Not to say that I never write any, though. But all the personalized ones you see online are fake. When I write a personalized autograph it will be to someone trustworthy. Like SZE. If she wants a personalized autograph then I will definitely give her one. But for everyone else, when we’re lacking a layer of credibility, I won’t give. C: Last time I bought a personalized autograph I was tricked. LYN: That’s why. Don’t be tricked by those claiming to sell autographs and 1:1 photos. They’re unreliable. I’m always on set- where would I even find the time to take photos with people??

LYN: Also, my record- I only created 8,000 copies. Later I saw that people were selling it online, and many of you bought it. That’s your freedom to do so, so I can’t say anything. But I don’t think it’s a particularly right thing to do. So... try not to. It’s not because I’m afraid of not getting the revenue- I can’t make much off records anyway. Honestly, when have you ever seen me to something for the profit? Even with my brand collaborations- only buy the product if you have a real use for it. Normally, I wouldn’t sell my record just to make a profit. That’s WHY I only had 8k copies made. Later, I don’t know where they got the EP from. I’m guessing it was the factory who helped me produce them in the first place. They probably started making and selling it on their own. Really immoral.

C: What’s a personalized autograph? LYN: A personalized autograph? I don’t even know. I’ll find some time to get to know about it. - [t/n: Literally, the signed photos where people write “To: [NAME] + Message. Signed, XO”]

C: Isn’t that copyright infringement? Why didn’t you sue? LYN: What’s the use. It’s not like they made very many, because honestly the market’s not there. XD They didn’t make much anyway, so it’s not worth suing and paying for a lawyer. LYN: There was a group of fans, wasn’t there? Because they were unable to buy a copy of my record, they stopped being my fan. I’m afraid that if I tried to say anything the fans would shoot back with, “Ning-ge, you didn’t give us a chance to get an official copy. So we’re going to buy a pirated version. Even so, you’re still going to scold us? Then what’s the point of liking you??” “Isn’t the point of chasing stars for the happiness? Stop trying to control us.” I thought about it and decided it wasn’t worth it. Every interaction has a scale, and I didn’t think this was something worth judging you for. C: They really stopped being your fan? LYN: They did. Because they couldn’t attain a copy of my product. This is truly “a fine line between love and hate”. They were unhappy because they couldn’t get a copy of my record, and said that I couldn’t be trusted. Because originally I had said I made the record for my fans. They couldn’t get a copy and were unhappy so they stopped being my fan. I can accept it, because it was their decision. I just.. hope they’re happy.

C: I didn’t get a copy but I still “si” you. LYN: ?? They wrote the character “si (撕)” for “tear apart”. You must mean you still “fen” (粉 like) me, right? You mean you didn’t get a copy of my album but you still like me, right? It’s strange if you say you didn’t get a copy of my album, but you still tear me apart??

C: The new fans have missed out on so much. LYN: New fans, really... honestly you haven’t missed much. I also like to scroll through videos, right? The other day I saw a video of my from a few years ago- from the variety shows and stages I had attended right when I first debuted. I understand now that the reason I never made it big at that time was because I was too ugly. I was really too fat in 2018. My face was just so ROUND. I didn’t look very smart. A profile shot of me made it seem like my face was just a baozi. At that time though, neither I nor my studio thought that I was fat. But looking back on it now, I was just a baozi. C: Then that just means you have 5+ year visual-fans. LYN: I wasn’t truly fat back then, and I’m a lot thinner now than I was at the time. I have a lot of new fans and honestly the past year to a year and a half is when I’ve been at my best. That includes mentally, as well. It’s also been the highlight of my professional career so far. The new fans are actually quite lucky. You didn’t have to go through all those lonely and weary years with me. You didn’t have to stay up at night crying with me, and didn’t have to withstand the pressure with me. When I first debuted I was just a street busker who suddenly turned into a celebrity. I was under so much pressure. People may tell me that I finally made it in life, so what was there to be pressured about? But it’s not the case. There was a formless pressure from everywhere that made me emo in the middle of the night. The word “emo” didn’t even exist back then! There probably was, but it wasn’t as widespread as it is now. I couldn’t even sleep at night and there was no one to confide in. So I'd start a stream in the middle of the night- no video- and just talk to my fans. That’s what I did when I first debuted. I was so emo I almost went crazy.

C: As just a passerby, I often come in to watch your streams. LYN: That’s nice- there’s no passerby or not, here. It’s fine as long as you know me. I always come to stream because I hope- even if you don’t like me, including those of you who are watching my stream right now; I know many of you aren’t my fans- that you have can come to listen to me talk and watch me for entertainment. I am sitting here with a microphone just chattering along, but I know that in this stream there are so many people are better than me, whether in terms of profession, education, or intelligence. I am thankful for the fact that you can sit here and listen to me talk. You don’t look down on me, and I’m grateful. I know that there are many people who are better than me in many ways, but you’re watching me all the same. LYN: You may come to know the name “Liu Yuning” and then later come across it again. You may think “Oh, LYN. I watched his stream. This is LYN’s song/drama, let me check it out.” You are all my customers and there’s still the possibility you come back for more. That’s why I have to stream, because so many people are watching. You may not all be my fans, but you’re still watching. I’m sure that when my dramas air, you’ll take a look. You might even open a VIP account for me. I have Youku, Tencent, and iQIYI dramas coming up. You can... create a membership for each one. XD

LYN: Alright, it’s about time, friends. I need to clean up and get my things together for work tomorrow. I need to sleep so that I can be in a good condition tomorrow. Why? So that the first thing I can do when I get to the set is muster the courage to ask SZE for a personalized autograph. I need to nail that interaction, so I can’t be nervous about it or make any mistakes that would affect the success rate of the request. I need to rest early, and take a bath so I can be ready to ask her for this autograph. That’s my most important mission for tomorrow. The scenes don’t even matter. I don’t care what I’m shooting- asking for her autograph is the most important thing. LYN: Then, I hope you all had a relaxing, happy, and wonderful night. It was great to have you and... I hope you had a nice night. I’ll see you again in the next stream. Goodnight, everyone.

Update: Mission Success

#Liu Yuning #lyn livestream #(2:53:47)#my only takeaway:#um.. does zy have spicy scenes #what did lyn have to learn from the internet that his acting coach cldnt/wldnt teach him #XDDD

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bitchassbucky · 4 years ago

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Word Count: 1.4k

Warning/s: toxic relationship dynamics, dark!bucky x dark!reader, stalking, coercion and lying, manipulative tendencies, injuries and blood mention, food was mentioned for a bit

A/N: WE ARE GETTING THERE, BABES WHEW OKAY

follow the CTRL series:

i - .exe

ii - .avi

iii - .raw

iv - .png

v - .zip

CTRL playlist CTRL moodboard

A month had passed since your not-date date had happened. You tried to forget the rest of the day, only focusing on how he looked and talked to you that day. How he smiled, trying to play off the ‘cool guy’ narrative.

You suddenly grew cold, noticing how your conversations became sparse—dry in between. Fewer texts and long waits. It made you nervous, sad, and a little bit annoyed. You barely see him around the office too—has Bucky been avoiding you?

His office is a bit out of the way for you to accidentally stumble in, anyway; the days you’re in the office were unsynchronized. Would it count as a punishable offense if you mess up with your company-approved laptop?

Saying you missed Bucky is an understatement: the bottle of cologne that smells like him sits empty on your dresser. The pictures you took of him taped loosely on your corkboard. Bits and pieces of papers he gave you tacked on it haphazardly.

Can someone die from loneliness?

Is this what being in love feels like?

Suffocating, consuming, your chest feels heavy, and your stomach is in knots.

—

Another month, another throng of employees needing new passwords. There are literal posters around the floor reminding everyone to use a password manager. Bucky can’t believe that he has to work with idiots around him. When he took up computer science as a major in college, he imagined himself hacking into… government intel, or something. Not looking after dimwits that don't know how to install an update.

His text messages are red with notifications—bank updates, deliveries, and you.

For some reason, Bucky can’t bring himself up to return your messages. Hi’s, hey’s, and how are you’s littered his text chain. Is he a bad person for not replying back? He can always just make up an excuse, right?

When you told him that you liked him, kissed him like you meant it, his fondness dispersed into thin air. The easy is never worthy and the worthy is never easy, as his father told him.

A ding from his phone brought him forth, another text from you: coming up right now, can we talk?

Now, he can’t come up with an excuse.

—

Bucky heard you before you come in, knocking on his door like the first time you met.

He clears his throat, calling out a come in! before rolling back from his cluttered desk. Tickets were few and far in between, he knows he can spare you at least 20 minutes but he just doesn’t want to.

“Hey,” you said, your head poking into his office. You weren’t entirely sure why you came up here in the first place, you really, really, really just wanted to see him again.

Bucky chuckles, pulling the door open for you. “What’s up? Is everything okay?”

You breathe out a little, shaking the feeling sinking deep inside your stomach, “yeah. Yeah, everything’s fine.” Stepping into his office, you eye his desk. He’s been busy. Papers and files are piling up on the left side of his desk, half of his setup is covered with those post-it notes. Several mugs littered his small space.

Huh, “Sorry, I can come back some other time.”

Turning on your heel, you pivot a little to grab the door when Bucky grabs your upper arm, “don’t go—”

He realizes the implications if someone were to see the two of you and so he lets go, much to your discomfort. You face him, either way, you’re sure he’s not gonna let you go that easily.

“Sorry, it’s just- I missed you.”

And there it was. I missed you.

He was thinking about you.

“I was just gonna drop off some files… But,” you rake your brain for a coherent train of thought, “I missed you too.”

A smile of relief overcomes Bucky’s features, his eyes crinkling just the way you like. His steely blue eyes hidden beneath his lashes.

“I have uh, a thing later… Dinner with friends—do you wanna come?” You make a show of peering over his shoulder and onto his desk, “unless you’re busy?”

“I’d love to come.” He says, tucking his pointer finger underneath your chin, flicking it forward so you’d look at him, “what time is it?”

“Come by around seven. I’ll text you my address.”

Bucky doesn’t need your address. He already came a dozen times by your building, trying to build up the nerve to knock on your door and kiss you silly. Like in those movies you watch late at night.

But he’s conflicted, no?

Are you really as good as they come?

—

At six-thirty, you already sent the text: take the east street, beige apartment block. I’m on the third floor, second door to your right. :)

At six-fifty five, Bucky’s already there, his car idling on the sidewalk. He’s… nervous. Why is he nervous? It’s just dinner. A small get-together with friends. Speaking of friends, he didn’t see any unfamiliar cars parked on the block. Maybe it’s not work friends?

Letting out a sigh, Bucky fetches the small bouquet of flowers and wine he brought, just in case. He doesn’t wanna be the only one showing up empty-handed.

On the dot, Bucky knocks on your door. He plasters on his best smile as you open the way, revealing yourself.

God, you look gorgeous. Why did he stop hanging out with you in the first place?

Oh, right.

“Aw, flowers and wine? You’re too sweet!” You chirp out, stepping out of the way to let him into your apartment. Taking the gifts from his hands, you put them away while Bucky busies himself checking out your place.

It’s weird seeing your place in real life. Bucky noted the hint of lavender in the air, coupled with a smidge of coffee brewing. He’s so used to seeing parts of it but not everything-everything. He careens his neck to look down the hallway, catching a glimpse of your bedroom.

“If you’re lucky, you can see it tonight.” A peal of boisterous laughter comes out of you, lightly kicking his foot with yours, “I’m kidding. It’s off-limits for visitors, sorry.”

“Right…” Bucky looks around, shifting his weight from the balls of his feet up to his toes. “Am I too early? I can help you set the table.” The table is halfway finished and you’re stirring in cheese into a sauce. Roux, perhaps.

“No, it’s okay…” You trail off, lowering the heat before facing Bucky, “I lied.”

“What?”

“There’s no dinner—I mean, there is. Just not with friends.” You bite your lip, looking down on your shoes before tearing your gaze away from the floor to meet Bucky’s eyes.

“You lied? Why- why would you lie about that?” Annoyance and frustration all seep out near the surface. His jaw ticking as he gritted his teeth.

“Are you mad?”

“Are you mad?” Bucky asks back in a mocking tone, bringing his fist down the dinner, “you—you’re crazy. I knew it, I knew you’re crazy. Lying about dinner and what, trying to get me alone? Jesus, what--” He lets out a mirthless laugh, the one that sends chills down your spine.

You stood there, frozen at your spot. You’re hurt. He called you crazy. He called you crazy when he’s the one who spied on you for weeks on end.

When he’s the one who watches you at night.

When he’s the one who left those notes on your desk.

The one who sent those texts and left calls and voicemails.

“Fuck you.” Your words rang empty as Bucky walked out of the kitchen in long strides. The dinner long forgotten.

You calmly watch him turn the doorknob open, failing when the adjacent locks prevent him from opening the door. Two deadbolts and a chain lock. Never would you have thought that the threat would be coming inside your home.

“I’d think twice before leaving without dinner.”

—

Bucky stirs awake. The sound of cutlery on plates grating on his nerves. His head is throbbing. His right temple feels tight and tender, there’s something hard and crusty covering the right side of his face. He can suddenly feel the weight of his left arm, leaning over to compensate for the sudden pain.

He wasn’t aware that he had closed his eyes; the lights suddenly glaringly bright.

Right, the dinner.

The dinner?

Wasn’t he supposed to—

“Thank fuck. I thought you were dead.”

God, he hopes he is.

#bitchassbucky writes #dark!bucky x reader #dark!bucky x reader smut #dark!bucky x reader angst #dark!bucky x reader fluff #dark!bucky #dark!bucky barnes #dark!bucky barnes x reader #dark!bucky barnes x reader smut #dark!bucky barnes x reader angst #dark!bucky barnes x reader fluff

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footballfanfictions · 4 years ago

Text

The thrill of the chase - Chapter One

Pairings: Mason Mount/OC, Ben Chilwell/OC

Warnings: None for now but you know me, I like a little smut here and there...

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

"If I have to edit and upload one more post about golden boy, I'm going to scream" I groaned, rubbing my temples. It's not even 10am on Monday morning and I already want to quit my job.

Brianna is sat on a chair, flipping through a magazine opposite my desk, and although her job doesn't require her to be in an office, she spends most of her time here.

"At least your job involves more than just washing and folding sweaty socks with your dad." She mused.

I rolled my eyes at her. She didn't quite get how annoying it is to be a graphic designer and social media manager that is only given the same images to work with over and over. My eyes flick back to my computer screen and the grinning Male on it. He isn't completely unattractive but him being a footballer and what all the praise he has been getting lately must be doing to his ego was enough to put me off. I would go as far as to say I disliked the guy.

"So if you don't like Mason, who do you watch from this window?" Bri was suddenly up on her feet and standing at my office window. It was floor to ceiling and had a good view of the training complex and sliding door access. The office had used to belong to Jose Mourinho both times he had been the manager here, shunning the actual managers office for one where he could see the pitches clearer. The first team trained about 5ft from where she was standing and if one of them were to look up from their drills they would see her staring out at them.

I pulled her away from the window by her arm.

"I don't sit here looking out of the window all the time, I have a job to do"

Occasionally, if I was on a particularly boring phone call I would let my eyes wander over to the window just to see what they were up to, but never watched any one player in particular. I didn't even know who some of the new faces were.

"Personally I think all the ones around our age are really hot -" Bri then started listing the names off and it sounded like she named the entire 23 man squad by the time she was finished.

We were then interrupted by a knock on my office door and Bri's father Dave stuck his head round it and said "sorry to interrupt girls but Bri and I have some kits to organise." He looked more amused than angry, being pretty used to his daughter avoiding her duties by now. "You wouldn't mind bringing us two of those fancy coffees of yours would you Katie?" He asked.

One of the other perks of having Jose's old office was the coffee machine. He had it installed and compared to the muck that came out of the cafeteria's coffee machines, it produced gold.

"Will do." I replied as Bri scurried over to her father and out of the door.

I decided coffee delivery was a good way to get out of having to stare at all the social media channels for a few minutes.

Once the coffees were made I tipped them from the plastic cups into two mugs from the cupboard beneath the machine, it felt nicer to take them to my friend and her dad that way.

It was tricky negotiating opening my office door with each hand occupied by a steaming hot mug, but I managed to nudge it open with a combination of my elbow and the heel of my shoe. I was just praising myself internally for getting the door open when something knocked into the side of me, tipping the contents of the mug into my right hand over whatever it had been.

"Oh shit, I'm so sorry."

I looked up from the hallway carpet which I was worried was stained with coffee, into the smiling face of someone wearing a training kit.

"No that was me, shit sorry. Have I just poured boiling hot coffee all over the star striker or something? Marina will kill me." I put both of the mugs down on the floor and ran back into my office, coming back out a few seconds later with a wad of tissues. I tried to dab the stain on his top with the tissues but they were pretty useless and he knew it too because he put his hand over mine to stop me.

"Don't worry about it love, I'm not star striker, I'm just the left back."

He didn’t seem mad about having coffee thrown all over him. Being a footballer I was half expecting him to throw a fit and go all ‘do you know who I am?’. But he didn’t. Instead, he gave me the nicest smile.

“Please let me get you another training shirt at least? I was just heading to the kit room with the coffees.” I balled up the wad of tissues and put them in the bin in the hallway just to the side of us and picked the mug that I hadn’t dropped back up. Brianna would have to go without and it served her right really for avoiding her job for most of the morning.

“Alright then.” He agreed. “Lead the way, I haven’t been here long, so not sure where to go if I’m honest.”

“Oh right yeah, of course.” I pretended like I knew who he was and that he had only just signed, unsure of whether he could actually tell that I had no idea. He probably did know that as I asked if he was the star striker, when in fact he’s a left back.

He followed me silently down the corridor to the kit room. I knocked once before entering.

“Is that you Katie?” Dave called from inside.

“No, it’s Starbucks” I laughed.

He opened the door, a pair of socks slung over his shoulder.

“Cheers love, come in.” He said.

I looked back at the footballer behind me and gestured for him to follow.

“I had a bit of an accident on the way here Dave and ended up pouring Brianna’s all over…” I was about to ask his name when Dave cut me off.

“Ben Chilwell! I was so chuffed that you’d signed. It’s about time we got an English core to this team back. God Katie did do a number on your shirt didn’t she?” he laughed, clapping Ben on the back, before he went over to a stack of the blue and white training tops.

Ben. Yeah he looked like a Ben. Undeniably he was quite handsome. I saw Brianna out of the corner of my eye, she was sat gawping at him with her mouth half open.

I tried to gesture to Brianna that she needed to put her tongue back in her mouth. She seemed to get the hit and straightened the way she was sat, playing it cool. I tried not to laugh.

Dave passed Ben a fresh shirt, and I got a whiff of the freshly laundered scent as it passed in front of me.

“Thank you so much.” Ben said, accepting the new shirt gratefully. “I’ll try my best to watch where I’m going in the future.”

He gave us all a smile and apologetically said that he needed to get back to training before he left the kit room.

“Blimey!” Brianna sighed once he was gone.

“What?” I asked.

“Sorry that you have to hear this dad, but bloody hell he was fit. I’m disappointed that he didn’t want to change here.” we both started laughing and Dave shook his head, muttering a ‘you two’ under his breath before going back to matching the socks up.

“I’m going to go too, do you want to get lunch later Bri?” I asked, hoping that she would want to walk to the shops with me. I needed a few things and I wouldn’t have much time after work to go.

“Only if we’re getting it here because I want to be in the canteen when they all come in from training.” she was gazing toward the tiny window in the kit room dreamily as she spoke.

I rolled my eyes but agreed.

I spent the walk back to my office wondering if Ben Chilwell actually was as fit as Brianna was making him out to be.

Sitting back down at my desk, I logged back into my computer. I had new emails sat in the inbox. One of them happened to be pictures of the new players for me to edit. I had an edit of every player in the team that I had ready for match days. On a match day I would be in charge of adding time stamps for any goals and then uploading the goal scorer’s picture. Recently, more often than not I had been having to upload the same few pictures of Mason Mount and it was getting a bit boring. The fans loved it though, he was our most retweeted player and often I would read the social media comments, all singing his praises. Especially the young women.

———————————————————————————————————

By the time it got to lunchtime I was sick of photoshop. My program wasn’t running very smoothly, probably in need of an update and I had grown more and more frustrated as the morning went on, having to restart it twice.

Brianna came to my office just before 1 and waited for me to finish off my last edit and lock my computer.

“Good morning?” she asked. “Because no offence you look mega stressed and we don’t need that kind of vibe if we are going to be around fit footballers for the next hour.”

I wanted to eye roll for the millionth time but I cut her some slack. She had recently had a really bad break up and her ex had been a proper bellend. Unfortunately for Bri, she didn’t have the greatest amount of luck when it came to guys. Her ex had broken up with her for another girl and had then continued to hook up with Bri, who had stupidly let him until I had convinced her what a bad idea that was. She was clearly feeling really lonely.

“Someone will come along you know, it doesn’t have to be a footballer.” I said, putting my hand on her arm and squeezing reassuringly.

“But Liam supports Chelsea, so how mad would he be if I got off with one of his favourite players? He’d be begging me to take him back then.” she smirked.

“That’s not what you want though right? To get back with him I mean.” I opened the door and we started to walk down the hallway towards the canteen while we chatted.

“No, I just want him to feel the sting of rejection and know how it feels for once.” she shrugged.

When we reached the door to the canteen there was a young lad with mousey brown hair kind of hanging around. His face lit up at the sight of us and I was slightly taken aback by it.

“After you.” He said, opening the door for us. He had a really strong Scottish accent that I hadn’t heard before. I guessed he must be part of the youth team. He’d probably end up out on loan after loan and we’d never see him again.

“That was strange.” I mumbled to Bri.

She shrugged, walking over to the back of the queue to get food. I followed her and grabbed a tray for myself.

I reached into the chilled drinks cabinet and picked out an iced coffee placing it on my tray.

“Glad to see that isn’t a hot coffee!”

Turning my head to the side, I saw that it was Ben again, standing behind me in the queue and then just behind him, my favourite person of all, Mason Mount.

“Yeah I’m on a final warning about spilling hot drinks over footballers so I’m only allowed cold coffees from now on”. I joked.

“I’m sure Benj will keep you warm in the winter.” Mason piped up.

I tried not to curse under my breath that he was butting into our conversation.

“Mate.” Ben said to Mason, shaking his head.

“What? she is fitter than you said.” Mason bantered back, looking at me rather than Ben.

“Thanks but I don’t need validation from you.” I bantered back, before moving along to the next chiller and picking out a caesar salad and an apple.

I heard the word “feisty” from behind me, but couldn’t tell which one of them had said it as I caught Brianna up in the queue.

She gave me a puzzled look and I shrugged, simply mouthing the word ‘boys’.

As employees we didn’t have to pay for any of our food which was a nice perk of the job and saved me a lot of money in eating out and packed lunches.

We took our food over to one of the tables that we usually sat at whenever we used the canteen and we were joined as usual by some of the other members of support staff.

Brianna was filling them in on my mishap with the coffee that morning while I scrolled through twitter on my phone. I liked to check how our social media platforms looked from the perspective fo the intended audience.

“You’re such a workaholic” Bri scolded me.

I looked up and apologised, tucking my phone away into my pocket.

“You two are polar opposites” Jane, one of the physios said. “I do agree with Brianna to an extent about some of the new faces. If I were a few years younger…”

Jane was a bit like our work mother. She was in her mid 50s and happily married with two teenage boys of her own to contend with. Because she had never had any daughters, she took particular care of me and Bri and loved to join in with our girl talk.

“I don’t think it would be worth the hassle personally” I shrugged.

Jane grinned. “You’re so sensible Katie, and probably right. Young men with too much fame and money probably don’t make the best partners. I tried to say that about my Martin too, back in the day. He was in the army and you know what they say about them!”

We both looked at her waiting for her to give us the answer.

“You know, a girl in every base town.” she laughed. “I tamed him though. Maybe don’t write them off completely.”

I wasn’t sure that I wanted to attempt to find a partner at all. I had been single since things that fallen apart with my ex when we both left uni. At uni we had a lot more time for each other, despite the different schedules and studying. When I had started working for Chelsea I put everything that I had into my job, desperately wanting to make a good impression. Hundreds of people had applied for the position and I wanted to make them feel like they had made the right choice in hiring me. So long days in the office turned into long days and evenings in the office, especially when Chelsea had late kick offs. I just found it easier to be in my office with the radio commentary on, sending out the tweets as the goals went in.

“Katie, are you listening? You zoned out a bit again.” Jane said, waving her hand in front of my face.

“Sorry just thinking about my to do list” I mumbled, trying not to admit to them that I had been thinking about Rory again. Sometimes it isn’t the person that you miss, just the feeling of having someone.

“I was just making you aware that are three young men constantly looking over here.” she said, trying to keep her voice low.

I was curious so I looked, there were a few of them sat at the furthest table, but none of them were looking in our direction.

“Who?” I asked.

“Oh I don’t know the names, I just deal with the injuries.” she shrugged.

“Well that’s helpful then” Bri said, pouting. “I wanted to know which ones fancied me so that I could target my flirting.”

———————————————————————————————————

Ben

“Go and talk to her.” Mason encouraged me.

I shook my head, trying to focus on eating my food, although I hadn’t really been able to. I had just been using my fork to move it around my plate aimlessly.

“No.” I mumbled. “I barely even know the girl. She spilt her coffee on me then got me another training shirt.”

“Oh yeah.” Mason smirked. “Did she help you put it on too?”

“She got you a new training shirt?” It was Billy that spoke now. He looked really nervous and was pretty much doing the same as me, forking his food around rather than actually eating it.

“Yeah from that room with all the kits in” I responded.

“Oh.” he said quietly, looking down.

I caught on then. Billy had been ahead of us coming off the training pitch and I had seen him wait and then open the door for the girls with a big grin on his face. I had thought he was just being polite, but I now realised it was more than that. He had waited on purpose and obviously liked one of them.

“It was the brunette one. The little blonde was in the room too but it wasn’t here that me and Mase were talking about” as I explained I watched Billy brighten back up again. It was the other one that he fancied, not Katie, and for some reason I was relieved.

Mason caught on then too.

“Hang on, do you like that one or something? The kit man’s daughter?” Mason asked him.

He had raised his voice a bit in excitement so I gestured for him to speak quieter.

“Yeah only for the last few years, you know.” Billy responded, blushing a bit.

Mason would probably take the piss out of him for the rest of the afternoon and god forbid if Tammy or Jorginho found out, poor Billy would absolutely never hear the end of it.

“Have you ever tried to tell her?” I asked him.

“Only once, but I chickened out because I heard she had a fella” he shrugged.

“When was that?” I pressed.

“Couple of years ago, but then I kept being sent out on loan so couldnae’ really have asked her out any way” he sighed and put his fork down at the side of his plate.

I decided then that I was going to make it my mission to get Billy to ask that girl out. The worst she could say was no and he wouldn’t be any worse off than he was now. I could even use it to my advantage and casually speak to Katie about the two of them.

I looked over at her table again, she looked a little sad.

I had promised myself that I would focus on my career for a bit and not get involved with any girls for a bit, but here I was on day bloody one simping over a girl I’d only just met. I cursed myself for it.

#ben chilwell #mason mount #football fanfiction #football fanfic #billy gilmour

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page150 · 4 years ago

Text

The Stain 🧼 Peter Parker x Reader

Request: None

Pronouns: None stated

Word count: 3430

Warnings: Mentions of glass shards

It was huge. Right above the famous Spider-Man logo and neon pink. Neon pink!

You stared at the stain in horror. In a few hours Peter was supposed to be on a stage in front of hundreds of people to accept an award and you had gotten a neon pink stain on his super suit.

You had been in the lab to start working on a new project, but Tony and Peter always left it in a mess. After spending two hours getting it organized you started working. It was hard to focus, though. The lab smelled bad and no matter how hard you complained about the darkness Tony didn’t want to install better lights.

You were mad you always had to clean up after them and that now you were starting late. It was just too much and when you added 35 ml of chlorine to your formula instead 30, the test tube you used exploded. Chunks of glass flew everywhere and just missed your face. Luckily you had ducked just in time but when you looked down you sighed at the spots of pink that were forming on your lab coat.

“Just what I need,” You mumbled. “I’ve always wanted to look like a pink dalmatian.”

But when you looked down to start picking up the large pieces of glass you felt the world stop as you realized some of the formula had splashed onto Peter’s suit which had been crumpled up on the floor.

“Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, no!” You shouted. You took off your googles and with a shaking hand picked up his suit. Uncrumpling it lo and behold, a bright pink stain where everyone could see it. You sat back down at the table and placed your head in your hands. This couldn’t be happening. Peter and Tony had spent hours customizing the suit and you ruined it.

Regular dye wouldn’t have affected the suit but this wasn’t dye. It was a combination of chemicals, the wrong combinations of chemicals. A 5ml difference doesn’t seem like a lot but in this sense it was everything. The formula could have made that area of the suit weaker or caused something to short circuit. You wanted to continue to sit there in your misery, allowing yourself to snowball the situation but there was still the ceremony to worry about.

You looked at your watch. The award ceremony was at 6 and you still needed to get dressed. It was 1:00pm on Saturday and you had 5 hours to get that stain out if you wanted to get to the place on time. You sat up and groaned.

“I have to- I have to call him. But he’s going to be so mad at me. This is so so so bad, stupid!” You whispered to yourself. You fought the urge to smack yourself on the forehead and picked up your phone. Dialing the numbers you thought about what you would say.

“Oh hey baby, you know that important event tonight that you have to dress up nice for. Well I ruined your suit! Yes, your super suit that you and your mentor worked on and you were super proud of.” That wouldn’t work, but before you could come up with another idea Peter answered the phone.

“Hey, baby!” He chimed. His voice instantly made you relax a bit.

“Hey, babe. Are you busy?” You replied nervously.

“Actually I am. I was just about to call you for a favor. I’m with Steve and training’s going a bit longer than expected and I still have to practice my speech. Can you put my suit and my tux near the front door. Tony said he’ll bring it to the place.”

“NO,” You shouted. “I- I can bring it when I arrive.” You felt your heart beat faster. If Tony came to get the suit now you wouldn’t have time to get the stain out. Peter sounded like he was thinking about it and you were hoping he would say yes. His voice came back over the phone.

“Okay then! I’ll send you the address once I’m done working out. I love you.”

“I love you too,” You mumbled out. Once you heard the ending click of the phone call you shot up.

The suit wasn't like a regular suit made out of just fabric. It was more like fabric that covered plastic that covered hundreds of wires. It wasn’t something that could be just washed out. To deep clean it you had to specifically get the fabric part off and you had no clue how to do that.

You grabbed the suit and ran up the stairs to the living room.

“Hey Jarvis!” You called out. Sprinting into “your room” you sat down at the computer and started doing some research. Your room was really one of the many spare rooms Tony had in the building that he let you sleep in when things ran late.

“Yes y/n?” Jarvis replied.

“Call Ned please and tell him it’s urgent. Oh! And can you set an alarm for 4:30pm. I was going to leave later but I have to get Peter’s suit to him at 5. Before the award ceremony starts at 6.”

“Of course. I’ll pair him to your computer once he answers.”

“Thank you!”

A few seconds later Ned’s face popped up in the corner of the computer screen. Before he got a word out you unloaded everything onto him. You told him how frustrated you were because you were having a bad day, how the suit was now stained and that Peter doesn’t know about it. When you finished he stared at you in shock.

“Wow y/n,” He gasped. “That’s uh, a lot.” He noticed your worried expression and gave a small smile.

“But, I can help! I’ve even helped him with some updates to the suit. We’ll get the stain out, you’ll get dressed, and then you’ll deliver the suit to him and everything will go fine, okay?”

You took a deep breath and nodded. Ned and Peter were both really good at calming people down.

After a few minutes of brainstorming ideas you moved to the kitchen and had Ned on a tablet, propped up against a leftover cereal box.

“Okay so I don’t think the formula will affect the internal composition of the suit, so that’s good. All we have to do is worry about getting the stain out and I already helped you disconnect the fabric from the plastic.” Ned chatted through the device. He watched as you came back into frame with the blue and red fabric.

“Yeah, I checked the wires and everything seems fine. I had Jarvis pull up some of Peter’s available notes about the suit but most of them are private. It’s been in the washer twice and the stain hasn’t budged so we’ll have to go with plan B.” You explained.

Plan B was to use fire to remove it. Fire should break up the molecules in the compound and have them float to the top of the fabric. Then all you would have to do is scrape off the remaining bits and then the suit was going to be fine. You placed a fire extinguisher and a bucket of water on the table.

“Jarvis, please put 911 on speed dial.” You yelled. Natasha’s old mini flamethrower was placed firmly in your hand and even Ned had backed away from his camera.

Flipping the switch, fire shot out from the tip and ran against the fabric of the suit. The stain seemed like it faded through the smoke but to your surprise once you turned off the flamethrower it was still there.

“Maybe once I start scrapping it it will go away.” You thought to yourself.

You grabbed a butter knife and began violently scrapping the neon pink imperfection. No matter how many times the silver knife went over the fabric, nothing changed.

“Look!” You cried. You held up the suit to Ned and he stared at it questionably. “I’m running out of time Ned!”

You sat down in anger, your head heading back in your hands.

“It’s okay y/n we still have time. How about you go get ready and when you come back we can try something else. I’ll even come with MJ to pick you up so we can get to the ceremony at 5. I think you would rather want to ride with us other than some random chauffeur.” He reassured.

“Thank you so much, call me when you get here and Jarvis will let you in.”

He said okay and hung up, leaving you in silence. You had to get this stain out before Peter saw or he would be furious. He would be embarrassed, humiliated. A superhero that can’t even have a clean suit, the news would eat him up! In a way you knew that you were overreacting but you were so stressed and this was another problem, YOU had to deal with.

You took a shower and slipped on the outfit that someone had arranged for you. You did your hair and even though you realized how good you looked you couldn’t seem to get excited. Suddenly Jarvis spoke, “y/n it is 4:30pm and I have just allowed Ned and MJ to come into the building. You have 30 minutes to get to the award ceremony at 5. Leaving an hour before it starts.”

“Thank you Jarvis!” You replied. When you left your room and headed back into the living room you saw Ned and MJ coming out of the elevator. The theme of the ceremony was black and white and Ned was wearing a cute black tux along with his “formal” fedora. MJ was wearing a gorgeous white dress that had a slit in the middle of her stomach. Her heels clapped against the floor as she ran towards you, embracing you in a big hug. Feeling her warmth and remembering what you had done made you almost want to cry.

“How are you doing? Well Ned told me how you’re doing but we’ll get the stain out.” You let out a long sigh.

“I don’t know what to do MJ. I wish I could go back in time and just forget about my stupid project.”

“It wasn’t stupid. It’s practically his fault for leaving his important suit on the floor. He’s always been gross. One time his room was so messy when we came over he had to make a web hammock attached to the ceiling so we could have somewhere to sit.”

You felt a smile creep onto your face, but you still didn’t feel completely better. In your head it made sense that it wasn’t your fault but you still felt like it was. In a way though, MJ had given you an idea.

“Wait! MJ, can you get the car running? This should only take a second.” Ned tossed her the keys and she walked back to the elevator. “Ned can you get the suit off the table and come with me to the lab? I have an idea!”

“To the lab? Cool!” Ned exclaimed. He grabbed the suit and followed you into the hallway to the lab. You punched the code in while Ned was ooing and awwing at the super suit in his arms. The door opened and you both went into the lab. The dim lights went on and on the floor was what you needed. You handed Ned some goggles and a lab coat and you put one on yourself.

“Peter and Tony don’t like to wear these but Tony always sets his clothes on fire so I think we need them.” You explain. You and Ned walked over to the table you had been working on earlier.

“This is where my test tube exploded. We don’t have much time but I think I know how to get the stain out. Can you place the fabric on the table?” Ned laid it on the table and backed away.

“If you're doing what I think you’re doing you’re either a genius or a future hospital patient.” He joked.

You felt a smile form on your face as you poured another 5ml of liquid nitrogen into a test tube.

“I added an extra 5ml to my formula last time and the glass bottle exploded. I think if I add another 5ml to the stain the molecules will have more space to dissolve, making the stain turn into a fume that will disappear.” You said excitedly.

“And if that doesn’t work what will happen?” Ned questioned.

“I have no clue.” You replied. And with that you fastened your googles, tightened your lab coat, and poured the liquid onto the stain. A loud hiss was made and to your surprise pink smoke started to rise from the fabric. It went on for a few seconds until the hissing stopped and you waved your hand over it to clear the smoke. Setting your googles on the table you peered down at the fabric.

There was no stain! You leaped up and Ned ran over to give you another hug.

“I can’t believe that worked!” Ned exclaimed! “I thought we were just going to have to lie to him. I already came up with two in my head!” You laughed at him and picked up the suit.

“Okay, it’ll dry in the car and you can reattach it to the plastic. We have 20 minutes to get to the ceremony!”

The both of you quickly took off your equipment and ran up the stairs, to the elevator, and out to the car that MJ had been waiting in. Once safely inside she drove off, fast enough that if you looked out the window for too long you would get sick. The minutes seemed to be passing by at twice their speed but you got to the ceremony with 5 minutes to spare and Peter was waiting for you at the entrance.

“Hey, baby! I got worried you forgot to get here an hour early. Wait are you okay?”

You thrusted his suit towards him and finally took a break. You rested your elbows on your thighs and tried to catch your breath. You had ran to get the suit to Peter and when MJ and Ned caught up they were also out of breath.

Peter stared at the 3 exhausted people in front of him, confused. “Uhh, hey MJ, hey Ned. What happened?” He slowly rubbed your back and worried you were going to throw up. “It’s okay, y/n, you got here on time. Everything’s okay, heck even if you came a hour late I think it would be hard for me to get mad at you.”

You gave a small smiled and stood up straight. He was so perfect. Peter gave you a smile and kissed you. You forgot about the suit, and the mess, and everything. It was like you two were in your own little word until Tony came in.

“Y/N, MJ, Ned! I’m glad you made it. Thanks for bringing the kid his suit. Of course he forgot it.” Instead of messing with his hair like usual, he gave him a pat on the back. “Where’s the tux?”

You felt your heart fall to your shoes. You forgot the tux! You had been so focused with the suit you-.

“Here you go.” MJ stated. She handed him the tux in its protective covering. “He was so busy doing the smooching I couldn’t hand it to you.” She gave you a wink and you grinned even more.

“Great, great!” Peter beamed. “I’ll put the tux on and meet you guys back here. Then I can show you around.” He gave you another kiss on the cheek and went with Tony to the dressing rooms. Once they were gone you turned to MJ.

“You’re a lifesaver MJ! And thank you Ned, I really couldn’t have done this without you.” You thanked. Both Ned and MJ gave you a smile.

“Don’t worry about it! I got to go down to the lab! And I’m at a ceremony with The Tony Stark!” Ned exclaimed. His hands were waving around frantically and kept going up to adjust his fedora.

“You’re welcome y/n, but I think you should tell Peter the truth. Maybe not all of it but if the lab is too messy for you to work maybe he can do something to fix it.” MJ added. You hadn’t thought about that, but this whole situation was a big wakeup call.

“I will,” You decided. “ Once the ceremony ends I’ll talk to him. Now, I just want to relax, though.” You all laughed and sat down in the chairs that were placed in the lobby.

The ceremony went great. Peter wore his tux and kept sneaking over to show you some new moves he learned. When the ceremony actually started he put on the Spider-Man suit in secret. The crowd was so loud when he came onto the stage you would have covered your ears, but you were too busy clapping with everyone. After it was over, Spider-Man “had to leave” but Peter returned. You pulled him off to the side.

“Can we talk?”

Peter looked at your worried expression and led you to an area where there weren't a lot of people. “Of course. I knew you looked bothered.”

You let out another sigh and pulled up the picture of the suit with the stain on it on your phone to show Peter.

“I ruined your suit earlier. I was in the lab working on something and I couldn’t see. I added too much of a chemical to my formula and the test tube exploded. Some of the formula went onto it.”

Peter looked at the picture while you looked at the floor. You could feel some tears forming in your eyes.

“I’m really sorry. I was able to get it out, but I still should have cleaned better before I started and I get I’m sorta new and I shouldn’t expect you to change how you and Tony work for me but it’s just so messy and dark and I can’t focus and-”

“Darling it’s okay, it’s okay, don’t cry.” Peter reassured, he pulled you into a hug and started to rub your back again in a circular motion. “I can’t believe you got the stain out. I wouldn’t have known what to do if I had gotten it there.” He joked. “But, you could have told me, I would have gone home to help you.” This time he let out a sigh. “It’s not your fault, though. I definitely should have put it back in its case.” You nodded and let out a small laugh. With each breath you could smell some of the cologne Tony probably sprayed on him. It was a good decision.

“I’ll clean up better and Tony will just have to manage. I’ll talk to him about it, okay? But the suit looks amazing, babe. You did a good job. I don’t think the logo has shined that bright since I got it. Plus Karen even told me that it felt fresher.”

You pulled away and looked at his eyes. “You’re the best, you know that?”

He flashed his famous smile, “I can’t be The Best if you're around. I can’t even compete.” He said sincerely.

“And neither of you two are the best in general because I am.” Tony added. You rolled your eyes at his comment. “How much of that did you hear?”

Tony frowned and shook his head. “Enough to wish I had left with Pepper when she said she was headed toward the Bar. And by-the-way neither of you get any ideas. I already notified the bartender I have four underaged guests that can only be served water and caprisuns.”

“What type of caprisuns?” You asked.

“Lemonade ones are the best.” Peter added.

“I don’t know ones.” Tony mocked. “But anyway y/n I hear your concerns and that was good problem solving skills you had. The suit did look great. I’ll work on getting you your own section in the lab. It’ll be nice and bright and you can keep it however clean you want it. So, you’ll be close to us while we’re working and I won’t have to listen to you and Peter compliment each other 100 times a day.”

You and Peter laughed and you felt his arm go around your waist. “That sounds great Mr. Stark, thank you.” You chimed.

Tony had already started to walk away but you heard him call out, “Stop calling me Mr. Stark and I’ll buy you your own building to work in.”

With that Peter grabbed your hand and you left the quiet area to where the after party was, to meet up with MJ and Ned.

Author’s Note: Wow first Peter Parker imagine and it’s my longest one. Is this a sign? jk anyways I hope yall enjoy this! I might rewrite it and change it to first person because I keep getting confused lol. I think I should start getting into Marvel as this was really fun to write. Please like, follow, and remember requests are open! I hope you have a wonderful day ~c’ k

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shintorikhazumi · 4 years ago

Text

“CABBAGE”

A/N: First, I wanna apologize to the Diakko day mods that reviewed a completely different fic for me that was supposed to be my entry, but then... boom new diakko day entry. I’m sorry ;-;, I just couldn’t figure out a flow that would still have what I had in mind. Uwu, sorry for using up your precious time.

Soulmate, non-magic? AU. Cliche stuff, common trope. STILL. I’m using it. Fun fact, I slaved away for this for two/three days hoho~ peak procrastination, don’t encourage it. Also on ao3, but I have a habit of posting full chaps on tumblr. Teehee. This is... long... (could have been a crazy multi-chap, ey?) but I guess that’s what you get for trying to fit a full story with an AU setting that needs to be established. Sorry if it feels slow with regards to reaching DiAkko, but don’t worry, from when they come along til the end, you’ll have loads of them. Sorry for the pacing tho :((( I also apologize in advance if there are some OOC bits that y’all might not like. Not too confident in it, but hope you all like it. I DID NOT BETA READ THIS ANYMORE BECAUSE I’M TIRED OF THE LENGTH OF IT LMAO. Anywho...

Happy DiAkko day! Enjoy?

~Shintori Khazumi

It was a normal thing, really. She had grown up with a thin chain slung around her neck, attached to another tiny metal thingy resting against the skin of her collarbone. On cold days, she would keep it in her pocket because god knows how weirdly tingly and-or painful that felt on bare skin. Sure she could have chosen to just wear it so that others could see it- actually, wasn’t she going against society’s rules when she hid it? She was, wasn’t she. Heck, it surprised her now that she’s realized it. Why hasn’t she been arrested yet? This is a crime isn’t it? Her mom, her dad, would they get to say their farewells once she got incarcerated-

“I can see it on your face, that you’re thinking about something totally stupid again.”

“Shut up, Sucy.”

“Just saying.” Sucy shrugs, going back to working on their chemistry lab activity. “I mean, I kinda just want you to focus on what we’re doing. Unless you want me to slip in some stuff in your project there.” She grinned in that evil little way the brunette had come to know her for.

“If I know you, which I do, you’ve probably already done that.”

“Akko! I can’t believe you’d accuse me of something like hurting my friends.” Sucy really couldn’t sell the ‘feigning shock’ act as her monotone words did little to convey emotion, and that forced gasp was probably just everyone else’s normal manner of breathing. Which was scary, now that she thought about it. Did that mean Sucy’s normal breathing was even less obvious? Oh god, now that Akko thinks about it, she would sometimes joke in her head about how she often wondered whether or not Sucy was actually dead during sleepovers.

‘I mean, come on! She sleeps like a corpse in a coffin! And she always looks so pale-’

“I knew you were thinking about something stupid again.” Once more, her thoughts were brought to a halt by that lazed, snarky voice that could only belong to her best friend who shared her mutual desire to strangle one another.

“I was just wondering if you were undead or something.”

“Screw you.”

“Wish I’d find someone to do that...” Akko muttered under her breath, to which Sucy sighed. She had heard it, and immediately knew what the Japanese was about to get hung up on. Again. Like she always did.

A hand reaching over to pat her back in consolation, but Akko felt a little worse, feeling that small, hard material lightly tapping the area along with the rest of Sucy’s hand. Sucy chuckled, sympathetically. “I know you’re constantly in a state of heat, Akko-” Or not.

“I am not, you bitch!”

Sucy could stand to ignore that. “-But really. Are you really that obsessed with finding your soulmate? We’re all young and all that jazz that those old hags keep yapping about. You have a lot of time, you know?” She smiled a sincere smile this time, trying her best to comfort her friend. “And besides, even though it’s something written on official print that most people find their soulmates at sixteen, most isn’t all.”

Akko felt a little better. Sucy could be an asshole, but as a best friend, she really knew what to say to Akko sometimes.

“-That’s basic English that even you can understand.”

She takes it back. She takes some of her heartfelt gratitude back. “I hate you.”

“Aww, I abhor you with all of my non-existent heart as well.” Sucy smirked, swatting Akko’s attacking hand away. “Muah~” She threw in a wink for good measure.

“Ughh, oh gosh... Professor Croix!” Akko bemoaned to their supervising teacher. “Can I please use the emergency shower? And eyewash. I think Miss Manbavaran got her unholy sappiness spilled all over me.”

Croix sighed, rubbing the spot between her eyes with her thumb and index finger. Not this again. “Can’t you two ever pipe down in my class?” She sighed. “PLEASE?!”

“Nope.” -Was the deadpanned response.

“I now see why you guys are friends.” Croix groaned, walking over to their table. “You little shits just won’t give me a break. And yet, you’re so behaved with Chariot.”

“Hey! Sensei, cursing your students is bad!” Akko scolded, before adding, “Besides, this and that are separate matters. Prof Chariot is just sweet and so nice, you can’t bear the weight of guilt of hurting her. Right?” Akko turned to Sucy who just nodded.

“Shut it, Kagari. That is not a valid rea- wait... maybe it is.”

“See?”

Her head was starting to hurt. Just why had she decided to be a teacher in place of any other job involving chemistry? Really, there were so many other things she could have done!

Just as she was about to return the verbal jabs, a gentler voice inserted itself into their conversation. “Umm... guys, professor, the other students are being distracted by your... um... exchange.”

Three pairs of eyes blinked, before two widened in apologetic shock, while the other seemed to gleam in pleasure. “Sorry, Lotte.”

“Sucy, please try to look even the slightest bit sorry.”

And disappointment replaced them right away.

“Tsk.”

“Sucy... we will be having a talk back in our room.” Akko heard that audible gulp, reaching for her friend’s hand under the table, squeezing support.

“Don’t die.” She whispered.

“You too, Akko.”

“Noooo! How? I don’t even live with you two!”

Lotte was about to respond that Akko always stayed over, anyway, but the frantic screams of their teacher took the words far away from her mind.

“Akko! Akko! Your solution is bubbling! Wait, that’s not supposed to do that-” Croix’s concern was justified as in a matter of a split second, everyone in their immediate circle was covered in some bright pink substance. “SHOWER, EMERGENCY SHOWER-”

“W-we won’t all fit, Professor!” Lotte had begun tearing up, wondering if she was about to die from whatever toxic chemical their beloved dunce must have mixed in. Maybe if she prayed to something somewhere out there, the spirits of nature would take hers and maybe she could live as some kind of forest sprite in some alternate magical world, and crap, she was becoming delusional.

“Hoho~ What a nice outcome~.”

“Manbavaran!”

“Relaaaax, I switched out all of Akko’s components for some of my stuff. It was a precaution.” She smiled, unbelievably innocent-looking. “...and maybe added a little surprise.”

“Su.CY!” Akko lunged forward before being stopped mid-air, caught by the collar.

“Akko. Sucy. I’ll see you in the office later.”

“...your office?” They seemed amazingly unfazed. They’d probably been so used to being there that they must see it as a lounge of sorts. But no, Croix wasn’t going to be defeated by teenage rascals that were the cause of her hair prematurely turning white. No.

“Nope.”

“Th-then, Finneran’s?” They weren’t completely scared of the aforementioned teacher. She just gave them such an earful, sometimes they’d joke to Lotte about needing hearing aids at some point.

“No.” Croix’s smile grew despicably wide and dark. “Holbrooke’s.”

Lotte sighed in sympathy. Well, she’d expected this development sooner or later. “I’ll wait for you by the usual bench.”

//-//-//-//-//

A week of suspension. One week off school, no school or class-related updates allowed from classmates, and only check-ins and work drops from teachers. That was... surprisingly light after all the trouble they’d accumulated over the past first month of the semester. Or maybe it was because it was just the start of the school year that the headmistress really wanted as little to go wrong as possible. Preferably nothing would go wrong. Or it could also be the fact that they were in their senior year, and the teachers really wanted all their students to graduate.

But you could never tell with a group as rowdy as the ‘witches’ of Luna Nova International Institute. They were rightly labeled as such with the cursed terrors they had inflicted, every incident they’ d caused all over the school premises and beyond.

If it wasn’t Akko and Sucy, it was Jasminka somehow being able to sneak in and out of the classroom and buy out the entire snack section of the cafeteria, and making it back to class without anyone noticing. With her size, it was some kind of scary magic trick. If it wasn’t that either, then it was Constanze constantly installing who-know’s-what in the schools’ computers. It it wasn’t her, then it was Amanda and Hannah pulling at hairs, or cutting at each other’s necks, then the next thing you know they’re either making out in public, or making out in public... with Barbara. There was also Lotte when she was in her wild states of fangirling after a new Night Fall release. People tended to keep a safe distance from her during those times. (She’d once shaken a girl unconscious out of her sheer excitement at the mention of, ‘Oh, I read the latest release too’.)

Never a dull day with them.

Scarily so.

Holbrooke had smiled at them kindly as always, but there was just a little something else behind it that felt like Akko and Sucy were about to die on the spot.

“Please. I beg of you. Your first two years, we tried to overlook all your mischief as it did not pose any threat to the masses, only towards you and your friend group... well... physical harm or threat, at least. I don’t know how many people are psychologically scarred because of you.” She had said that, but they didn’t know if it was a joke, a serious statement, or both.

After being given twenty blank pages to write their usual apologies on- they shared a laugh, thinking back on when Amanda got fifty-, the pair made their merry way to the bench just by the school gate where Lotte sat, chatting alongside and excited Barbara, a Hannah with a fond smile directed at her life-time partner, and Amanda who was carrying both their bags for them, waving goodbye to Constanze and Jasminka who looked like they were just leaving.

“Aww, didn’t get to catch my little friend.” Akko pouted, wanting to hug Conz as she always did. She was so cute. And soft. Like a plush. Always calming Akko down.

“She’s gonna shoot one of her tiny lazers at you again. Those actually burn.” Amanda reminded, laughing as she remembered what Lotte told her about why they were late. “And I heard you two got some quality time with the big woman upstairs?” Her grin widened. “How many?”

“Twenty.” They responded in synch, hands aching from the memory.

“Heh... not bad. Doesn’t beat my record though.” She cackled, slinging an arm over Hannah’s shoulder, Akko not missing the glint on her left ring finger. How nice.

“Don’t egg them on, idiot.” Hannah sighed, peeling the limb off her. “And you all got nothing on these two.” She pointed a thumb to the still excitedly conversing pair. “They wrote a fucking novel for their apology. Literally. But the teachers were so tired of reading that they weren’t made to write apology notes anymore.”

“Hey! Cleaning the bathrooms aren’t the best either!” Barbara, now done with her talk with Lotte, turned to pinch the ginger’s arm.

“I mean, we all have cleaned them at some point.”

“True, true.” The group nodded in consensus.

“...”

“This is not a very good fact.” Barbara pointed out, and they all laughed, the ones seated slowly getting up, everyone ready to go home.

As they exited the gate, they all waved their goodbyes, Akko and her two best friends heading one way, and Amanda and her girls the other. Just as the sun was setting at that hour in the afternoon, red eyes caught the reflected glimmer of light against the three bands on each girl’s ring finger. Those same eyes traveled to similar hoops donned by the pair walking quietly in front of her, hands brushing by one another.

Really. She was happy all her friends had found their destined ones. Some partners may look to be as mismatched as Sucy and Lotte, and some cases were as rare as the three-way between the snarky British girls and their American idiot, but... the system had worked some magic in perfectly matching people, it seemed. They all seemed happy with who they had.

Akko didn’t know if this was some kind of spiritual occurrence like fate or the likes, or if this was just one ginormous scientific experiment on billions of guinea pigs across the globe, but... Akko wanted in on it too.

Placing a hand over where her heart was, she felt for the metal against her chest, clutching it through her uniform blouse.

Just when would her “soulmate” come?

//-//-//-//-//

Their first stop, as per usual, was the small apartment complex that Lotte and Sucy lived in. When their parents had discovered that these children had found the one meant for them, they were more than willing to help the girls move in together, and get used to a life-long companionship. They trusted them as they were both capable and level-headed, and Akko was so happy that her friends were happy. She always was.

Lotte invited her in. As always. And Akko should’ve accepted like she always did as well, but somehow, today... she just didn’t feel like it. So she made a random excuse, something believable enough, like how her parents had asked her to make dinner because they’d be home late, and the Fin just had to let her go, even if she felt something was off, and that the brunette might just be lying.

There had been a time when Lotte and Sucy had just gotten together that Akko seemed to distance herself from her best friends. They soon found out it was out of her concern that she might be intruding on their relationship, or bothering them, taking away from the time the pair could spend alone together as a couple. Obviously, they had never seen Akko as a nuisance, and were saddened she would think of such things.

With a talk, reassurances, and clarifications in place, their bond as friends became ever stronger, and more trusting.

But Akko still wanted to be considerate. Out of love.

...and maybe a little envy that made her want to distance herself from the sight of people with fulfilled partnerships.

Maybe she was just a sore, lonely loser who couldn’t truly be happy for her friends.

Who knows.

After jogging the rest of the way home, a simple five-minute distance away from the apartments, she reached that familiar wooden gate, the name plate “Kagari” shiny and clean, like her mother liked it. Pushing the swinging portion open, she walked up the driveway, smiling at her share little garden with her Mama. Looks like the vegetables were growing up healthy. Maybe she could try some new dishes out and have her friends give her feedback. The usual agenda.

“I’m home!” She called out in the foyer, shoes slipping off and set neatly to the side. A habit strongly instilled in her since childhood. “Mama?” The scents of vegetables and meat, and was that... cookies! Her mom was baking cookies! “Mama!”

Padding down the hall and entering the open living room, she found her father splayed out, snoring on the couch with a newspaper covering his face. Giggling to herself, she continued her way into the kitchen, spotting the one she’d been looking for, ear buds in and swaying to some music only she could hear. Akko smiled. Her mom was so youthful, she was such a girl. With her bright pink apron and bunny slippers, and impeccable manners and home skills.

“Ma~ma!” She called, hugging her mother’s waist from behind.

The older woman yelped, spatula flying into the air, but with Akko smoothly catching it and licking off some of the sauce on it. She tried not to look into those disproving eyes, and simply released her mother and went to wash the utensil.

“Akko...”

“I said I was home! You didn’t hear me, mama. This is revenge.” She grinned cheekily, her mother sighing before a fond smile played on her lips.

“Fine, fine. But just this once, okay?”

“Hai~” Akko gave a mock salute, enjoying this moment with her mother as the her co-brunette rolled her eyes fondly. Akko walked up to her, kissed her cheek, and attempted to “appease” her mother by offering her exemplary culinary services- or so her dad had once claimed. “Let me help you out?”

Unable to keep up the annoyed act longer, her mother slipped into giggles, turning to gather her daughter into her arms and pepper kisses all over her hair. “Thank you, baby. Please chop me up some of the veggies in the bag by the sink.”

“Roger!”

And they shared another laugh at the voice coming from the other room, screaming a sleepy, “WHO’S ROGER?! ANOTHER BOY-”

The usual always felt so good.

//-//-//-//-//

Dinner had been fairly uneventful. Her cousin- the relation fairly distant- who currently lived with them wasn’t home still, just like always. She knew he was always busy at school, and with the little business her father had him manage, so that was a normal thing as well. She had ended up just confessing to her parents what she’d done in school this time, in hopes that her being honest instead of them finding out via a phone call from school first would ease the inevitable punishment awaiting her.

It... kind of helped. Kind of.

Her father had laughed so hard, clearly amused at her and Sucy’s antics. Her mother sighed deeply, not knowing if she should even still be disappointed anymore. Akko and school accidents and incidents weren’t uncommon at all, after all. It wasn’t a surprise. Really, the biggest school-related surprise they’d gotten was the fact that Akko wanted to take a science-related course instead of an arts one. They knew it had always been her dream to be a performer. So why was she taking that when Luna Nova offered the Arts as well. It was something they would forever wonder about.

Akko was usually so open and honest with them in just about everything, but this was one thing she would never clear up with them. And they could never understand why. There was definitely a deep reason behind it. But why did she have the need to keep it to herself? They worried, but they also believed in her, that she would tell them if she needed to. She was that kind of child.

They hoped.

Kissing her parents good night, She walked away from the kitchen banter of who should wash the dishes between the two adults, and trudged up the wooden stairs to her room. Akko had offered, but they said she should just rest up. She looked like she had a long day. Besides, she had a week to help out at home. Akko shivered at the thought of being worked like a mule. That was a joke of course, but her mama could be so Spartan sometimes.

Her door clicked close, and she immediately found herself face-first in the soft covers of the lower bunk of her bed, lights of the room still down. Originally, the Kagari’s had been expecting twins because of how large Akko’s mother’s stomach had been. Apparently, they were simply blessed with a very healthy baby. (She was a fair bit taller than her mother, and had a good height for a Japanese woman). As Akko grew up, however, she insisted to keep the bunk as it seemed like it could be useful to turn into her own little fort. Plus, sleepovers wouldn’t be much of a problem in terms of space.

Flipping onto her back, she stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars pasted onto the top of her ceiling. It was fairly high up, with this side of the house being designed a little differently, the roof of Akko’s room forming a dome. This was at her request as a child after attending one of Professor Chariot’s public lectures on stars as a child. Akko had since then been hooked to them, the fading glow of the stickers allowing her sights of the constellations she’d painstakingly formed, sticking each point one by one with the help of her dad and a ladder.

She had been saving up lately to buy one of those small, portable planetarium projectors. She didn’t want to outright ask her parents for one, and she had taken a few secret part-time jobs to make up for the amount she needed. Little by little, she was getting close to her goal. She’d have one someday. One day.

Her eyes felt heavy all of a sudden, an arm moving to rest over them as her breathing slowed, thoughts drifting to stars and constellations, and myths, and tales, and fate, and...

Her world shut down.

//-//-//-//-//

“Atsuko. Atsuko, get up. Akko. Wake up, bloody hell, you sleep like a log!”

“Mmrrnghmm... eh?” Blinking her eyes open, she spotted a young man, brown hair just like hers, dressed in a cardigan and slacks, looking ready to go out on some date, or the like, or maybe he had more business as usual. “Andrew.”

“Akko.” He responded dryly. “It’s eight in the morning. I know it’s the weekend, but really, sleeping in isn’t a good habit.”

Rolling over to shield her eyes from the intrusive sunlight and man, she waved him away sloppily, ready to get back to rest, body feeling heavy for some reason.

“Akko!”

“You really do take my mom’s place when she isn’t around, Andrew.” Akko complained, sitting up, if only to get Andrew to pipe down. “Alright, I get it.” She rubbed the sleep away from her eyes, stretching her body out and taking in a breath of fresh air. “But if you’re here, I’m figuring my parents are out?”

She received a nod, followed by an explanation. “They said they had a picnic date planned for the whole day.”

Akko pouted. “Aww, and they didn’t think to take me along? How mean~”

“They tried to wake you up, believe me.” Andrew scoffed. “You could sleep through world war two without problem, however.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Get out, please.”

“Later.”

“I’m asking nicely.” Akko whined, slipping out of her bed, realizing she hadn’t changed out of her uniform last night.

“After I tell you about our plans for today.”

A well-shaped brow raised in suspicion at the words. “Our plans?” Akko voiced. “What do you mean. ‘our plans’? I don’t have any plans of spending time with you today, as far as my knowledge tells me.”

“Not that you have mu-” Andrew was about to throw in the usual insulting jab, playful banter, but refrained. He did actually need Akko to go with him.

“Hmm?” The lack of a biting response didn’t sit quite well with Akko. Something was up with her cousin, and she was sure that she was about to find out just what.

There was an awkward pause in the air before the older boy cleared his throat; maybe he should begin with getting on her good side. “L-lovely weather we’re having today.”

“Just tell me what you want from me and leave.”

“We’re going to the mall, please help me.”

“Why?”

“...”

“Why?” Akko pressed. If Andrew wasn’t going to give her a good enough explanation, she wasn’t going to move a single inch.

“...It’s Denise’s birthday soon.” He confessed, and Akko actually backed off.

“Oh.” She immediately understood what Andrew wanted without him having to expound on his earlier statement. Really, he could be such an adorable dork sometimes, especially when it came to Denise.

Denise was Andrew’s set partner. She was a kind person, gentle, lady-like, intelligent, mild-mannered, but strong-willed. She was great. Too good for Andrew, Akko would tease at times. But really, they made such a good match. She liked Denise; she was sweet to Akko, exchanged treats with her, as well as tutored her from time to time, being in the same school and all. She also kept Andrew busy and out of Akko’s hair, so she was perfect! So if not for Andrew’s sake, Akko should at least do something nice for her friend.

“Give me half an hour. I’ll be ready by then.”

Andrew breathed a sigh of relief, offering Akko a grateful smile. “Thank you. I’ll see myself out then.”

“Finally!”

With a childish sticking of the tongue out at each other, a habitual thing they had formed, Andrew had closed the door to Akko’s bedroom, not forgetting to lock it behind him for privacy’s sake. Akko was thankful.

Instead of getting up, however, and preparing for the day with Andrew out of the room, Akko lay back down on the soft mattress, eyes trained to the top of the room again. As she saw her little clusters of stars and constellations, red ribbons connecting points one to the other, always to be linked even if they were far apart, never to be broken, her regular intrusive thoughts had begun making their way to the forefront of her mind again.

Fated people... soulmates, huh. Weren’t those terms just glorified ways of saying everyone was in some kind of arranged marriage they could never get out of? Wouldn’t there be at least one person averse to all this? Maybe? But why... did all the people she’s known, who’ve met their match-why did they all seem content?

Feeling for that familiar metal piece under her clothing, she pulled it out by the chain, observing it as it glinted against the morning light. Her finger traced over the engraving on the outside, admiring the workmanship, but frowning at the words.

She thought back on it all. How all this destined person stuff all started out, as the history books told them. Before the records of History ever existed, they said that the leaders of the ancient world had gathered together, seeing the ‘sorrow of the world’, and came to a decision of what to to do to make the world better in that regard. They decided that ‘LOVE’ was the answer, as cheesy as it sounded. And so a system was put into place that would overcome barriers and seas, both literal and figurative, of difference, and bring to mankind the meaning of true joy- Akko always found it incredibly sappy and cringey when it was laid out like that.

Like any system, there were the finer details that made it all work one way or the other. It is said that people are born issued with a ring to be worn on their person on all times. It was a mystery as well, how one could never seem to outgrow the ring. Like it was made to grow alongside you. It was made out of metal, however, and it made things all the more perplexing. Who knows what magic goes on behind all of this? No one knows who makes the rings, or who created this system; nor does anyone know who assigns partners to each other. All they’ve known are the facts that the rings were created, containing words that served to be a hint to who your soulmate is supposedly. When you meet that person, you’d just know. The words, they’d just make sense. It didn’t matter if it never did all your life. One day, everything would just click, apparently. That was how the words were chosen, they said. Then these rings would be distributed to countries and the government would be responsible in ensuring that they got to their rightful owners.

Honestly, this whole thing sounded like some deep cult-ish shit, and Akko was quite shocked that she- along with possibly millions, or billions- had never questioned it before. After all, it was the usual; as always, the norm. It could be something of a mysterious world movement that no one knew of, but with it simply claiming to have the goal of ‘bringing happiness to all citizens’, people hardly seemed to mind where it took them.

Akko remembered the first time she ever found it weird. She was in the fourth grade, and that day, they had learned the importance of the words on the rings. ‘Hints to finding your one, true love, their teacher had claimed, trying to rouse excitement from the students at the prospect of soulmates.

And while every other little girl squealed in joy and giddiness upon reading the words written on their rings, Akko had a look of distaste on her face at the sight of her words, immediately hiding the item from possibly prying eyes of her classmates who had already began to compare words with others.

She hated it. She had then ran home to tell her mother about it.

“Mooommm! Mom!”

“Akko? What’s wrong? You’re all sweaty and you still have your outdoor boots on-”

“Why does my word suck so much?”

“Huh?” The woman was lost for words, confounded by a simple question.

“Why does it suck so much? My word! I mean...” Holding her ring out for her Mama to see, Akko continued on her rant. “What the heck does cabbage even mean?! IS HE A FARMER?! DOES MY SOULMATE LIKE CABBAGE THAT MUCH?!”

“Ah... well...”

“Why couldn’t it be something cool like yours and dads. ‘Eyes like rubies’, and ‘Rider from the north’ just sounds so badass and romantic! And then there’s me with CABBAGE. Sure, the ring is pretty and all, but... WHAT IS CABBAGE?!”

“I... don’t know, sweetheart.”

Akko had felt so frustrated with her word, that she wanted to cry. “My soulmate sucks!”

Thinking back on those times, she sure was such a child. It wasn’t her soulmate’s fault that the government or whatever authority or higher power decided to describe him or her that way. If anything, her partner is a victim of slander. Even Sucy had it better with the description. Akko chuckled mirthlessly. What are those people thinking. Ah, her head was starting to hurt from overthinking all this.

“’Bring happiness to all citizens’, my ass. With a hint as weird and cryptic as this, how am I supposed to be ‘happy’ like everyone else?” Akko sighed once more, unclasping the chain from behind her neck, and taking her ring off, hanging it over her eyes, watching it dangle in the air, the elegant cursive of ‘cabbage’ pissing her off a little more than it should.

Along with the ring came a handbook of sorts. Akko’s sat atop her bedside drawer. In it were more rules, guidelines, and information to be taken note of, but they could only be read at certain ages, sections sealed off by some kind of technology that only unlocked come one’s birthday. An example of a rule was related to how to wear the ring. It didn’t seem to be a heavily imposed rule as Akko had done away with it all her life. It was that rings should be worn on your right ring finger so long as you hadn’t found your assigned partner, moving it to your left once you have. Akko had been ashamed of her word and had always carried it around her neck, hidden underneath her clothes. Her mother had scolded her for it in the past, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want to get teased by the other children for having such a strange hint. She had believed that it would give her a hard time.

And it still did. With it being so vague and odd, there was no way this hint made much sense to her, at all. Would she ever find the person her whole being was linked to for a lifetime?

Besides the rules came soulmate-related explanation for the rings and words. An instance of this would be that the meaning behind the words would only be revealed to them once they entered fourth grade. She never understood the significance of that. Why couldn’t one just read through everything and understand it all at once? Well, not that it mattered. She would soon be turning eighteen, and opening a section that made her feel just the slightest bit bitter.

[What to do if you haven’t found your soulmate yet.]

Sucy may have told her that each person had their own time, and that she was still young, and had plenty of years to go searching. But when everyone else around you had already found theirs by the “normal” designated time, you’d start to feel quite isolated and lonely, right? She was already different from the rest with the weird-ass word she was stuck with, and now she wasn’t even close to being on the right track to finding the person it was pointing to.

It was frustrating.

Three knocks and a voice followed suit. “Akko? Are you ready? It’s been about twenty-five minutes, but I didn’t hear any noise coming from your room. Are you actually okay?”

Right. Andrew.

“I’m fine! Sorry, I got lost in thought. Be right out! Maybe in fifteen! My bad, really.”

“It’s fine, I’m the one requesting a favor, after all!” Andrew responded through the wood, and Akko felt his presence leave her immediate area.

Hopping off her bed and grabbing her towel, she made her way to the bathroom. Maybe a cold shower would help her stop thinking about all of this for a few. She really should stop questioning the whole system of practically the whole world. It wasn’t good for her sanity.

Turning on the shower and soaking herself, her assumption of her endangered mental health was confirmed.

“AH, I FORGOT TO STRIP!”

//-//-//-//-//

“You sure took your sweet time getting ready.” Andrew commented, locking the door behind them and tossing the keys into his pocket as they got to walking. Opening the gate for Akko with a bow, they shared a laugh, going on their merry way down the street.

As often as they got on one another’s nerves, they undeniably enjoyed each other’s company. It was nice. Akko liked it to an extent. The conversation was fun, the exchanges never dull, it was time spent well. What she didn’t like about hanging around with Andrew were all the stares and glares she got from people around. Much like now.

It would’ve been great if it ended with just observation, but there was always that one brave (or maybe stupid) soul who would come up to the pair to ask if they were an item. The brunette pair would then proceed to do their usual schtick of jumping a meter away from each other, and pretending to gag whilst glaring.

“NO WAY. WITH HER/HIM?!”

And despite the denial, instead of feeling joy at the availability of Andrew- Akko assumed it was him that people always wanted to confirm about anyway- there was no delight, only some form of fear. The creeped-out kind maybe?

Continuing their walk, Akko slapped Andrew’s shoulder, hard. The boy looked like he could bite her.

“Ugh... it’s already such a pain in school when we have joint functions and people mistake us for a couple. I was hoping it was obvious we were related.”

Andrew scoffed at the statement. “I’m sorry, but I’m actually quite pleased I don’t look to be related to your ugly face.”

He deserved the stronger smack, Akko would say.

“AKKO! That hurt!”

“You know what else hurts? The fact that people can’t seem to get it in their heads that not every guy and girl walking next to each other are partners. Damn, and I used to think it was a good thing that I could use you to get out of awkward confession situations.” Sometimes people did that, despite the entire ‘destined partner’ situation. “Weird times.”

“You actually get confessed to? Hahaha, why? Guys must need glasses.”

The tall lad flinched at the held up fist. “I’m kidding. You’re actually growing up to be quite pretty Akko.”

Eyes wide one second, then smiling sweetly the next, a chill ran up Andrew’s spine at Akko’s reaction... that suddenly morphed into disgust, a hand pinching his side. “Ew, I kinda liked you better when you weren’t so gross and cheesy.”

“Ah- h-hurts, that, Akko, that stings, ouch! Let go! I was trying to be nice!” Andrew retaliated with his own pinch to Akko’s slightly rounded cheeks. “Let go!”

“You lwet gfho!” They released their holds at the same time, rubbing the sore spots on their bodies. “Why were you suddenly being all weird?”

“...ate...etter...man...”

“What was that?” Akko couldn’t understand any of Andrew’s incoherent mumbling.

“...My soulmate told me I should really try to be a better gentleman... to you...”

“Haha, she’s right about that! You’re such a dick!”

“Oi!”

Before Andrew could physically get back at her, Akko made a dash to the mall entrance across the street right as the street light turned green for pedestrians. “Loser has to buy the other ice-cream!”

“That’s cheating!”

“Maybe!”

//-//-//-//-//

“See? You’re all out of energy now because of how rowdy you were earlier today.” Andrew scolded, hands on his hips, a paper bag with the chosen gift in it, slung around one wrist.

“Y’think so? This is usually... hah... nothing... to me.” Akko panted, plopping down on one metal chair by the ice-cream bar. “Weird.”

Andrew sighed, deciding to cater to Akko’s needs since she was nice enough to help him out today. “I’ll get you a water. What flavor of ice-cream would you like?”

“Matcha-Vanilla~” Akko drawled, now slumped against the table, liking the cool surface against her somehow, heated cheek. “Go forth, my peasant!”

“Noted, your eminence.”

“Mm, mm!” Akko nodded in approval, arms going under her head to cushion it. Her eyes were getting heavy. Did all that walking around really make her that tired? Her head was starting to hurt, and her body still felt heavy. Just what-

//-//-//-//-//

“Akko. Akko! Atsuko!”

‘...Andrew?’

“Tsk. Should I call an ambulance?”

‘Andrew...’

“Excuse me, are you in need of any assistance for your friend? My family owns a hospital nearby and we could take her there.”

Akko felt Andrew’s hand supporting her suddenly tense. “Geh- Cavendish...”

“My, Sir Hanbridge. Date?”

“Cousin.”

“Hmm...”

Oh? Someone... A lady? What a nice voice. Somehow it was comforting to Akko. It felt warm, it felt kind, it felt gentle. For a voice to feel something rather than sound like something, Akko must really be out of it.

Hands.

Careful, tender.

“A-An... wha-”

“Akko! Don’t talk. Just rest.”

“Akko, huh. Is that her name? Miss Akko?”

“mmrm?”

“You’ll be alright.”

That voice. Akko wanted to believe it. Who...

Soft. Soft. Akko was leaning against something soft.

“You’’ll be alright.” Was said again.

“Akko, you’ll be alright.” Ah, Andrew. But somehow, Akko would rather hear those words from the other person currently holding her in her arms. She felt bad. Not just in the sick kind of way. What was she supposed to do again? Oh right, she was helping Andrew. Where was she? Was she causing trouble? Ah, what if she was bothering this sweet-smelling, comfortable-feeling, gentle-sounding lady.

‘Hey... you...’ Hmm, her voice wasn’t quite working like it should. Maybe she should try to express herself again. Clearing her terribly scratchy and dry throat, she managed to croak out a single word.

“So...rry...”

“It’s alright.”

//-//-//-//-//

White ceiling, the absence of sticker-stars. Dim lighting, the low thrum of the air conditioner unit, and the occasional sound of something dripping. The scent of antiseptic.

Her right hand felt uncomfortable, like something was stuck in it. She lifted it up, seeing a slim tube running out of some secure, clear tape.

“You’re in the hospital, idiot.”

“Never a quiet moment with you, Andrew.”

A sigh. “I was worried.”

“...Mm. I’m sorry...”

“You didn’t tell me you were feeling unwell.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Don’t lie.”

“Couldn’t tell.”

“Akko!”

“Say, Andrew. Who was with you earlier?”

“Don’t change the subject, Akko- huh?” Reprimanding words died on the boy’s lips as the question sunk in. “Ahhh.” Recollections of earlier events came in. “The daughter of the owner of this place.” He threw in a few other details he thought Akko would want to know. “High-class lady. This place does too.” He decided to humor her queries, knowing she didn’t want to argue with Andrew anymore. He didn’t either, not when she was like this. A time and place for everything.

“Hmm...” Akko hummed, sitting upright and looking out the window. Andrew panicked, stepping forward, but Akko shooed her cousin away. “She sounded nice.” Akko commented. “Was she pretty?” Somehow her mind wanted to know. Her heart was clenching in some unknown need to know more about a voice she barely registered, a touch she fleetingly felt.

“You could say that. I guess to most, she’d be considered gorgeous?” Andrew mused. “Weird hair though.” Was added as an afterthought.

“Heh...”

“Curious?” He didn’t say it in a teasing town, only genuinely inquisitive at Akko’s not-so-subtle expression of interest in someone she barely even met.

“No? Not really.” She responded, everything becoming still. “Can I go home?”

“Once your tests come in.”

“How long have I been here?”

“Overnight.”

“Mama and dad?”

“Dropped by while you were asleep. Uncle was sobbing buckets, but Auntie dragged him out because they both had work. They paid off the bill and said they’ll see you when we all get home.”

Akko sighed, dropping back against her pillows. “I can’t believe I’ve caused so much trouble in a span of, what, three days?” Covering her face with one of the pillows, she screamed lightly into it, the muffled sound concerning Andrew. “I have to apologize a lot to them. Have to make it up to them... I even had them spend a lot of money on -ow! Andrew!”

Retracting the hand he used to chop her head, Andrew huffed. “Stop that. Your parents love you, you’re not a bother. Shut it. If you really want to make it up to them, get some rest right now as we wait, and get better soon. I suggest you make some dinner if you’re well enough.” He knew she often had insecurities, and tried her best not to bother people so much. He’d observed it from her relationship with her two best friends. She really was just a ball of energy that she couldn’t help but cause scenes, though. People hardly minded, anyway. If only she realized.

“Duly noted.”

Andrew nodded, walking over to the bed and sitting at the edge, whipping his head about to glare at the owner of the leg that had just attempted to kick him off.

“You’re making the foam awkwardly sink. It’s uncomfortable. You’re inconveniencing the patient’s recovery.” Akko grinned, trying to get rid of the stuffy atmosphere that had settled by stirring up another banter session.

“Could you settle down for once?”

“I mean, I could.”

“Unbelievable.” He chuckled. “Fine, fine, I’ll give you your space. I’m going to the store. Want anything?” He offered, since the ice-cream he initially was supposed to treat her to as thanks was long since forgone on some cemented floor, probably already cleaned up by the workers of the shop.

“Orange juice.”

“Coffee? Understood.”

“Ass.”

“The good ass genes run in our family.”

“Oh my gosh, you did not just say that.” Akko guffawed, waving her hands, eyes sparkling with pride at the crude joke of her prim and proper, perfect-gentleman cousin.

“I did not just say that.” Andrew smirked. “Now rest before your fever comes back from all that tension you release. Good thing you’re off school for a while.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“I’ll be back in fifteen.”

“Hai~”

“Don’t disappear.”

“...”

“AKKO!”

“I won’t, I won’t!” She giggled, dropping the tease. “Now scram!”

“I swear to god...”

And with that, she was alone again.

Great. More time alone with her thoughts. And what better way to occupy that blank space that was her mind then to fill it with all her doubts, insecurities, and questionings.

One particular question stood out at that moment.

“Who... was the owner of that voice...” Along with that single question came a wave of interconnected ones that Akko could not understand. Why was there this sudden desire to just... know.

What did she look like? How tall was she? Was she fair-skinned? Tanned? Long hair? Short hair? Curled or not? How old was she? Were they the same age? Was she an older lady? Was she maybe in the same grade? From the haze that was her memories, it seemed Andrew knew her? An acquaintance? Why couldn’t he give Akko more details besides insulting that woman’s hair? Where was she from? She had an accent. British? Scottish? Did she live around these parts? Why...

Why was Akko so curious?

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Andrew, you know you can just, like... come in, right? You know I can’t even get up to open the door for yoouuu...huuu...” With the door swinging open to reveal the person on the otherside, Akko could only hope that she did not appear to be the stupid-looking gay dance she most probably was. “-...huuu...who...?”

‘Beautiful.’

“I apologize for the intrusion, but I just wanted to check on you. Oh, you may not even know me, I’m sorry. I should probably introduce myself, isn’t that right? Oh blood hell, Andrew, telling me to check on someone I barely know because you want to go off somewhere...” Akko heard her mutter that last bit under her breath before watching this gorgeous lady seemingly recover her senses. “-Ah, apologies, um... sorry! Wow, I suppose I’m saying that too much, aren’t I? We didn’t exactly ‘meet’ earlier, but... I don’t know, I was probably meddling in issues not concerning me, but... I couldn’t help but want to help you out. It was an automatic reaction as someone who has wanted to be a healthcare professional all my life, and I was so used to it, and then it just so happened to be Andrew and... well, you and- and I-” Fair skin, lithe, fairly tall frame, a melodic voice, gorgeous blue eyes hidden by long lashes and ...strange hair, due to an immediate bow upon spotting the confused gaze of the patient; this person was...

“You’re rambling, miss.”

Said Miss bristled, expression flustered and eyes darting about in her embarrassment. “S-sorry.”

Akko panicked at the saddened apology. She just made a pretty girl sad! “N-no! I-” Their eyes met and then it was one of the most magical and equally painful moments of Akko’s life, she concluded. “Hi.”

“Hello.” The girl nodded back in acknowledgement.

“Akko.” She blurted out. Then just like that she witnessed a world wonder contained in such a small room, in just one girl. There was just something in the way her eyes lit up that pleased Akko very much. It was as though she was the catalyst for such a breath-taking phenomena. Blue stars, passionately burning, brightly so, like her favorite celestial bodies. “...Rigel...” She murmured.

“Huh?”

“Oh? Huh? Eh, um...” Arms flapping about, she tried to graps control of the conversation, not knowing where it was going anymore. “Uh, my... name! My name is Akko! Ahaha, sorry ‘bout that.” --She scratched the back of her head sheepishly with the hand not attached to the IV tube.

“Miss Akko... Rigel?” She tilted her head, and by gods that was the cutest thing Akko had ever seen in her life. But Wait-

“Oh! No, nono... no hahaha.” She laughed, waving her hands in front of her, realizing that what she said had been mistaken as her name.

“I... My name is Kagari Atsuko, but you can call me Akko.” She clumsily reintroduced herself.

“And Rigel...?”

‘Is a blue star that is put to shame when in comparison to your ethereal ocean eyes-’

“Oh, it’s just... just a star I like, hahaha...ha..ha.” She needed to save this dying interaction, fast. She didn’t want this goddess of a lady to walk away just yet. Who was she? Why was Akko panicking so badly? Why was her heart running miles per second? Where did these confusing feelings stirring from her chest come from? Could this just be... Was this girl... Was she... could she be who Akko thought she was? She didn’t even know her name yet, but the way she made her feel, it was like some universal, natural phenomena that could only make sense in the context of... that. Who was she? Who was she? Who-

“Diana.”

Diana, apparently.

“Diana.” She tested, the name unfamiliar, but incredibly welcome and sliding off her tongue so naturally, and with ease. Like she was meant to know such a name all her life. “Nice to meet you.”

She patted herself on the back for a good greeting, with good manners, even happier when she received a soft smile in return.

“The pleasure is all mine.”

“No, no, the pleasure is mine, I mean... pleasure, I’m... feels good to meet you, I mean, because you saved me and all, from what I can understand, so pleasure, good feels- no- what am i saying?! I’m sorry, Diana, er miss? Diana? Miss Diana?”

“Diana is fine.”

Diana was indeed SO fine.

“Th-thank you for being so beautiful.”

“What?”

“Tha-thanks for saving me, I mean, helping Andrew out in saving me, but that means you saved me too, so I just thought I should properly thank you and all that and express gratitude because that’s the right thing to do, amiright? And of course I’m right so thank you, Diana, thanks for everything, and the hospital and the room and all, oh but you don’t own it, but your family does, so does that mean you own it-”

“Akko.”

“Yes?!”

“You’re rambling, Akko.”

Akko was a burning hot mess of foolishness, but if it prompted such heavenly giggles from such an angel- no a goddess, alongside her name that sounded divine coming from soft pink lips- that she was absolutely not staring at- then she hardly minded at all.

And then there was silence.

“So...”

Diana awkwardly shuffled on her spot, the tip of her shoe tapping against the floor impatiently, hand fiddling with a button on her shirt. It took so much willpower for Akko not to direct her eyes there.

“I guess I’ll get going.”

“A-already?”

“Eh?”

“Ah... I mean... if you have... stuff to do, I guess... I... shouldn’t be stopping you or anything of the sort, right?”

Akko didn’t like that frown, however miniscule it was, on Diana’s face.

“I... I’m a little busy, I apologize.” She spoke softly. Akko’s heart clenched, and she cursed her insensitive ways. “But... I can come back tomorrow? If you’d like?” -And it leaped up in joy just as quick. More time! More Diana! More getting to know her!

“Y-Yes! Of course! I’ll wait here for you! Pinky swear! I- woah...” The world was suddenly spinning, and Akko had to lean back for a moment, vision swimming in color.

“Akko!”

Said girl was beginning to get addicted to the feeling of Diana’s presence by her side. That was not necessarily a good or bad thing. She couldn’t get attached to her, not when she knew nothing about her. She couldn’t... be acknowledging these feelings blossoming out of nowhere without confirmation of whether or not this person was meant to be hers, and she was meant to be with as well. But she was addicting, Diana. A strong drug. Just one whiff and she was high on her existence.

“Geez, you should be resting. I’m sorry for bothering you, and keeping you up this long.”

Akko heard none of those words. Akko was curious. So Akko just had to check. Hands weakly grasping Diana’s cooler ones, fingers roamed, feeling around until they touched even colder metal... on Diana’s... left... hand.

“Akko?” The concern was palpable in her voice, Akko’s senses blurring the world out as her hands dropped to her side.

Frustrating.

She somehow hoped what she’d been experiencing these past few minutes were the signs of her finding her soulmate, but it seemed as though she may have been wrong. Maybe it was simply infatuation, or a shameless lust overtaking her in her weakened state.

It shouldn’t be this frustrating.

It shouldn’t be this painful.

She shouldn’t have been so impatient and jumped to subconscious conclusions.

Diana had already found her soulmate. Just like everyone else.

Everyone but Akko.

//-//-//-//-//

When she came to, it was dark. She felt much better than she had yesterday, and earlier on today. Turning to her right, she saw Andrew seated on a chair, back facing her as he was conversing with someone.

“I wonder what got into that girl? Her new friend seemed worried.” That voice...

‘Mama.’

“You mean Diana?”

Akko flinched at the name.

“Is that her name? My, she was so cute. If you weren’t already matched to someone, Andrew, I think you’d look good together.” Akko felt a twinge in her chest, only slightly soothed by the sound of Andrew choking on something, his drink maybe. Tea? Coffee?

“I’d rather not be involved with her like that.” Andrew responded after composing himself.

“Eehh-”

Akko couldn’t listen any longer. The pain of everything was just starting to come back. She just wanted to get away. Away from this place that kept reminding her of her chance encounter. She just wanted to go home. She just wanted to hug her mama.

“Ma...ma...” Her voice warbled. “Mama...” She tried, louder. Somehow her voice was so weak, the thought of it not being able to reach the person she trusted the most in the world, hurt. “Ma... ma... mama! Mamaaa...” Slowly, she regained her voice, cracked and unsteady. And finally she was heard. “Mama!”

“Akko!” Before Akko could even blink again, the woman was at her side, a hand brushing bangs away to clear her warm forehead, a refreshing kiss planted there. “Akko, my baby.”

“M-mama... Mamaaa...” She moaned out, engulfing the woman in her tight hold, sinking into a familiar scent. “Mama...”

“Yes, Yes. I’m here. I’m here, Akko.” She cooed, hands combing through chocoloate-colored tresses.

“Mama.”

“Yes?”

“I wanna go home.”

“Eh? But you aren’t okay yet-”

“Please. Let me go home...”

She felt her mother pull back. She couldn’t face the eyes seeking hers. “Akko? What’s wrong, sweetheart? You’re not feeling well, and yet you want to go home before you get better. Is something the matter?” Akko couldn’t lie to those.

But she could try.

“I just think I’ll be able to rest better at home. My... my fever isn’t that bad.”

“But you were just crying out for me...”

“I was just... feeling lonely. Please, Mama. Let’s go home.” She couldn’t say it was because she didn’t want to meet a certain lady, weird blonde hair and enchanting blue stars never leaving her memory. “Please...” Because more than the pain inflicted by her sickness, she couldn’t stand the squeezing of her heart, its labored pounding more burdensome than the throbbing in her head. “Please, mama.”

“Akko...”

“Don’t be such a selfish brat.”Andrew scolded, eyes burning into the Akko’s skin. “Didn’t you just say you didn’t want to cause anyone trouble?”

Akko deflated in her mother’s embrace, and the elder boy sighed. He really hated seriously hurting Akko, especially emotionally. “But... We can leave first thing in the morning tomorrow, if you prove to be alright.” He turned the other way, hiding his expression from the girl. “So just get better.”

“Andrew...”

“Get better soon.”

//-//-//-//-//

It was against institutional rules to be running about in the building at any given time. Crowded or cleared, the halls were not made for such dangerous sport. Workers constantly made their way through these corridors; some pushing wide carts carrying planned food and beverage for every patient in the hospital; some nurses walked along with important, and sometimes painstakingly prepared medicine and treatments for patients that Diana threatened to compromise should she bump into them. In other areas she could risk bumping into one of the sanitary maintenance people, infectious waste at the risk of being spilled all over.

And Diana grew aware of all these things, surrounded by them from a tender age. Yet at this moment, she was in complete disregard for them, her footsteps rushed and padding softly against a marbled floor. Her eyes scanned every plaque above each door she passed, counting off the numbers, and reading the letters, her trip on autopilot.

One more corner, just the end of that corner. If she rounded that, then walked past three more rooms- She was feeling a regretful that she couldn’t come by earlier, the colors of the afternoon sky telling her just how close she was cutting it to the end of visiting hours. Curse all the school-transfer procedures she had to sit through. They didn’t need to take that long, did they? But she had made a promise of sorts. She had promised her new... friend, Akko that she’d come by and see her. She must not keep her waiting. She didn’t quite understand what it was that made her so happy about the prospect that the other girl actually wanted to see her- Diana assumed as such with how she was acting yesterday. Really... it was amazing.

Diana herself couldn’t deny that she saw something different in Akko, a substance far beyond what others could offer her that suddenly shifted the usual motions of her world upon meeting this girl. All her life, so many people came along trying to woo her, claiming that she was the one defined by their flimsy phrases that never moved her heart. ‘Beautiful lass’, ‘doctor’s daughter’, titles among other things. She had even found out a few faked rings that had been promptly reported to authorities for the grave sin committed. Thus, Diana could trust no words written on silly little rings; only the one written on her own, worn about her left ring finger.

She hadn’t found her soulmate, no. And maybe this was against the universal rules of whatever matchmaking system had engulfed society, but Diana did not want to be caught in a trap of a forever she could not escape unless she was absolutely sure that this was it. Maybe it would be unfair to her soulmate; maybe it would throw them off; maybe they wouldn’t realize right away; but if there was one thing Diana believed in that was rooted in this entire system, it was that if you met the one meant for you, you would know.

Her mother told her so. And Diana trusted her mother’s words above all other words.

One more door, one more plaque. Diana readied a hand to knock against closed-...open? The door was... open. Did Akko have visiting doctors? They sometimes left doors open for quick checks to save time during rounds. But no, that did not seem to be the case. She was surprised to see one of the cleaning personnel of the hospital folding up the sheets of the bed, passing it to his companion before they changed the covers.

Approaching an elderly male of the pair currently clearing the room out of any trash possibly left behind, Diana respectfully inquired, “Um sir? Where is the occupant of this room?”.

“Hmm? Ah! Young Miss, what are you doing here? Oh, were you perhaps the friend of the little girl staying here recently?”

“You... could say that.” Diana muttered, unsure.

“Oh, then she must have just forgotten to tell, you ey? Already left, y’see. The little miss, along with her mother and some fine lookin’ gentleman. Do you think that could be ‘er soulmate? Ah~ young, concerned love.”

Diana tasted an inexplicable bitterness in her mouth, heart squeezing. “Y-young man?”

“Mm-mm! Handsome fella, looked kinda familiar, but maybe I’m just getting it on in years.”

That... couldn’t be, right? While Diana wasn’t one to be guided purely by feeling, priding in her rationality, she just knew that that couldn’t be. After all... Akko was the only one she’d ever felt this strongly for in the lifetime she’s lived so far. She’d swear on her family’s motto of ‘affection’ that she’d only offer her fullest romances to the one the universe had destined for her, corny as that may sound.

She just knew it. She just knew it was Akko.

So who-

Andrew.

She suddenly chuckled. Of course. Who else could that young chap accompanying Akko be? He was the one who came with Diana to the hospital, he was the one who had told her go take that first visit. So of course, logically, without a doubt, the man that Akko should have been with was Andrew. Of course.

And there was nothing to worry about, soulmate-wise. Diana knew Andrew already had someone. She’d met up with them constantly at banquets. There was no obstacle, no other person for Akko. Right?

Akko... Akko who wasn’t here. In this room. Gloom encompassed her heart as she stared at the room dimming bit-by-bit as the staff turned off the lights. They told her that they should get leaving, and Diana nodded, informing them she’d just do one last look over the room for any possible missed items, then she’d lock the room herself, to which the workers reluctantly agreed, unable to go against the owner’s daughter. Well, she was known to be a good kid, so nothing should be wrong with that.

Diana, now left alone, remained stood by the doorway that served as the only light source to the room for a few more seconds. It wasn’t like constantly looking into it would magically make the one she was seeking appear, huh? With a deep exhale, she closed the door behind her, frown tugging at the edges of her mouth.

“You said you’d wait for me.”

//-//-//-//-//

Scritch. Scratch. A line, then two. A squiggle, a letter. A bubble from brew-

...huh?

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping me with my homework?” Akko frowns at her companion currently mixing questionable substances on her floor-table in her room. “That is why you’re here, right?”

“Course not. What fun would that be?”

“Should’ve known better than to invite you over.” Akko muttered under her breath, getting back to the unending pile of chemistry homework she was sure Croix assigned to them out of spite. “And how did you finish this all, anyway?”

“I’m smart like that.”

“You’re mean like that. Why can’t you help me out at least?”

“I believe that learning for yourself is the best teacher.” Sucy replied, emotionless as always.

“No you don’t.”

“True.”

“Hah...” Akko gave up. Forget getting help from Sucy. That wasn’t a possible feat, now that she thought about it clearly. The girl was just bored out of her mind so she easily agreed to come over. Akko was sure of it. Without Lotte in the house, and on their fifth and final schoolday away, Sucy- who had slowly gotten used to the concept of companionship- must have just wanted someone around, regardless of whether there was flowing conversation or not.

“Akko?” Andrew’s voice came from behind the door. Finally! A distraction! Wait, wasn’t Akko avoiding Andrew lately? Why was she avoiding him lately? “Akko?”

“Come in!”

“...huh? You’re actually letting me in?” The muffled voice asked, door now ajar. “Hey Akko, so... about what I’ve been telling you all week...” He began, looking nervous, and Akko had to wonder why. “So my friend, Diana, she-”

Ah. Right.

That’s why.

Quick on her feet, Akko gunned for the door, pushing it forcefully, and locking Andrew out, the boy’s yells the only things making it through the barrier.

“Akko! Akko! OH, COME ON! We’ve been at this the whole week!”

“And I told you this whole week, I don’t wanna hear it!!!” Akko hollered back.

“But WHY?!” Andrew’s exasperation oozed out of his voice. “Just give me a reason! Give her a reason! From what I’ve heard, you seemed to have hit it off pretty well?”

“Says who?” Akko asked.

“Diana!” Andrew didn’t like yelling, but Akko was being so hard-headed after he mentioned his blonde acquaintance. “Just what happened between you two?”

“Nothing! Nothing happened!!!”

“Then why does she keep bugging me about you, and why are you avoiding her like the plague?!”

...Why was Akko avoiding Diana? Was there any reason to? They’d met just the other day, had the most awkward conversation in her life to date, and then Akko felt something. Something she shouldn’t have, and let her hopes up, only to drop them lower than where they already were; and none of that was Diana’s fault. If anything, Diana could have proven to be another great friend she’d make along the way in life, y’know?

Akko didn’t know. She didn’t know what was going on; within herself, within her mind and her heart, in that one moment frozen in time between her and Diana, in a silent hospital room.

“I don’t know, Andrew. I don’t.”

Sucy’s potion stopped brewing.

//-//-//-//-//

“MY MADLADS! I MISSED YOU UGLY FACES!”

“Ugh, Amanda.”

“Oi!”

Akko grinned, messing up Amanda’s fiery mane in comfort from being rejected by Sucy. “Missed you too, Amanda.” A high-five rang out through the school lobby, the two energetic troublemakers missing that burning feeling on their palms.

“But man, you guys sure missed a lot. Who knew a week without y’all could turn the school upside-down.” Amanda whistled, their small group of eight finally assembling complete as Jasminka and Constanze walked up.

The small girl gave Akko this look that she completely understood, giving the girl a big thumbs up, and receiving a smile and nod. Jasna held out a lollipop which Akko gratefully accepted, and they all made their way to the corridors.

Suddenly registering what Amanda said a few moments ago, Akko’s interest was piqued. “What did you mean by turning the school upside-down?” She wondered just how much a school could change for her who was out for a week.

“Oh, well, maybe I was exaggerating a tiny bit.” Amanda chuckled, scratching her cheek. “Just that, some new girl came along and now everyone is all head over heels for her somehow.” Amanda fake-cried, sniffling up some. “She even stole my babes! Along with all my popularity!!!”

That earned her two smacks to the head from two certain British girls. “We already told you, she was our childhood friend! Of course we’re inclined to keep her company and show her around!” They defended, scoffing. “Besides, you didn’t mind ogling her at all the other day, huh? You should feel grateful we let you in our dorm the other day.”

“B-babies...”

“Oof. You brought that on yourself, hot stuff.” Sucy grinned, wickedly. “But now I’m curious. If she could even catch Amanda’s eyes then...”

“Total hottie.” Jasminka commented through a mouthful of chips. “Everyone can vouch for that.”

“Woah, even Jas...” Akko laughed lightly. “Alrighty, let’s meet this new kid in town then! Where is she and what’s her name?” Just as they were about to pass the headmistress’ office and head for their homeroom, a hand tugged at the brunette’s collar, along with Sucy’s.

“Wait a second, you two. You’re supposed to report to Professor Holbrooke first, right?” Lotte, ever the dutiful friend, reminded.

“Ah dang, right.” Akko scratched her cheek, throwing Sucy a beckoning glance. “Guess it’s better to just get it over with.” She shrugged.

“Whatever.”

“See you all in class!” Akko waved goodbye, smiling as Lotte left a peck on her pale friend’s cheek, enjoying her rarely flustered state. Her heart warmed when Lotte gave her one two, patting the blonde’s hair fondly. “Thanks, Lotte.”

“Anytime.”

With their friends out of sight, they faced the suddenly intimidating doors.

“Now or never.”

//-//-//-//-//

“I’m glad we got excuse slips for being tardy to class. I do not want more yelling. Though I guess Prof Chariot wouldn’t do that, huh.”

“What did you say? I think I’ve gone deaf.” Sucy complained, rubbing her pained ears. “Finneran yaps like a bitch.”

“OI! Don’t let her hear you say that!”

“Don’t worry, I’m not up for more ‘counseling and healthy reminders’.” Sucy mockingly mimicked the strict teacher. “Christ, that woman must be senile.”

“Shhh, we’re almost at the classroom.” Akko hushed her bestfriend, door coming into view. She could hear a Professor Chariots distinct voice posing a question to the class, and there was a quiet that Akko knew was due to no one knowing the answer, not very uncommon.

But then there was one. A voice very uncommon, but somehow familiar, attracting, pulling her in. With her curiosity getting the better of her, Akko slid the door open, planning to softly sneak into class, forgetting that the room’s backdoor had a tendency to-

SCRREEEEECCHHHH

...that.

“H-hi? S-sorry we’re late?” Akko tried, dozens of eyes now resting on them, most surprised. But one pair stood out the most. ‘She looks good in our uniform.’ Akko’s jaw hung slack, a fight or flight response hesitantly building up within her. Her legs tensed, ready to bolt or stay rooted depending on the next move the one she was staring at made. “...Rigel...”

“...Akko.”

Then a hand reached out, and she was gone. Like the wind.

//-//-//-//-//

It had been a difficult week. Amanda was definitely right when she said things had been turned upside-down. Akko felt like she was too. So Hannah and Barbara’s childhood, hottie, transfer student, best friend just so happened to be Diana. Diana, Akko met her in the hospital and became enraptured with, Diana.

This posed a problem, along with unbearable tension within their group. Akko would always want to run away, and Diana would always seek after her. After awhile, the blonde grew weary, and just distanced herself, her childhood bestfriends obviously sticking by her side. Amanda had girlfriends to attend to. And Constanze and Jas usually followed Amanda. So now, it was just Sucy, Lotte, and little ol’ Akko. Like old times.

“Akko, just why are you avoiding Miss Cavendish? How do you know her?” Lotte asked on their way home. “Please? Tell us? I can’t stand to not spend time with the other girls anymore just because you two are at unknown odds. You’re a kind person, Akko. And Miss Cavendish is as well, from how I’ve gotten to know her lately.”

“Lotte, you... you wouldn’t get it.” Akko sighed. She was tired of entertaining Diana-related questions. All the ‘why don’t you two get along’ interrogations wearing her down thin: with Andrew at home, and Hannah and Barbara indirectly hounding her in school at every chance they’d get, trying to fish out for an answer that Diana couldn’t give to them herself, apparently. Not that Akko blamed her. She must just be as confused as everyone else with regards to Akko’s averse reactions.

“M-maybe I could try?” Akko missed the shift in the Fin’s tone, irritation over the week threatening to make her lose self-control and lash out. But no, she couldn’t do that. Not too sweet Lotte. She still had her senses intact.

“No, I’m sure you wouldn’t.” She firmly stated through gritted teeth, not looking at Lotte as she replied, so unlike her.

“I-I-”

“Akko, Lotte just wants to understand you.” Sucy stepped in, feeling that change in the air that she didn’t quite fancy. “Why can’t you just tell us? I know I may not act like it a lot, but aren’t we your best friends?” Akko held back a hiss behind pearly whites. She didn’t want to be a bad person. She had to be considerate of people’s feelings. Like always. Everyone was just curious. They were all just confused... but then Sucy had to just say, “Don’t you trust us?”

And Akko couldn’t hear that.

“I trust you! I do!” She whipped her head about, pointing a finger to them one-by one. “But you guys, you wouldn’t get it because you have your soulmate by your side constantly, okay?!”

“Akko...” Lotte’s eyes widened.

“I... I’ve been waiting a lot, and I know you said I’m being impatient. It doesn’t have to be now.” Akko huffed. “But do you know how it feels to look at all of you, all happy with someone who can love you completely? Understand you completely? I don’t have that! Not yet! And sure, somewhere down the future road, I might.... and it’s stupid of me, but I’m a lot more jealous and selfish than I look, okay? Everyone has nice words, and has met the person those words described perfectly, at the designated time, normally, as the book says.”

“Akko, the book doesn’t completely control everything-”

“And here I am, always subconsciously looking around, because maybe my person is out there too, y’know? But how the heck do I know?” A hand reached for the chain on her neck, ripping it out of her shirt so hard, it broke, the ring flying onto the ground. “Stupid! Stupid chain! Stupid Ring! Stupid words! Akko marched the few steps to the item, bending and snatching it off the ground, hand going in too hard, too fast that she scraped her knuckles badly in the process, the area quickly leaking red. “Sh- damn it, stupid- gaahhh!”

“A-Akko.”

Lotte stepped back, retracting the hand that had been reaching out for the heated Japanese girl, stomping at the ground. This... wasn’t an Akko she knew. How many years of pent up frustration was going into this session?

“You guys,” Her eyes were scary, sharp and menacing. Sucy jumped in front of Lotte at the sight of Akko’s bloodied knuckles coming their way at eye-level. But then it stopped. “You haven’t seen it, right? My words.”

They couldn’t even react.

“Cabbage.” Akko spat. “Goddamn cabbage. How am I supposed to know what that fucking means. How are you guys supposed to understand when... I can’t either... these words... myself... why I’m so impatient... what I’m feeling... Why... I thought it could’ve been Diana, but...”

“...but what, Akko?” Lotte hated how scared she sounded, seeing Akko flinch, knowing her friend noticed her fear. She knew how afraid of hurting her friends Akko was. This was all just a shock. That’s all. “What’s... what’s with Diana, Akko? Diana and you?” She posed the earlier question for the last time. Was Akko hinting at what she thought it was?

“She wears it on her left.”

//-//-//-//-//

Orange juice didn’t taste as good when you drank it alone on the stairwell leading to the roof. It would have been better had she been able to stand under the cloudy mid-day sun, the refreshing breeze taking her mind off things. But then it just had to rain, hard, and that ruined all her plans of clearing her mind via the healing powers of nature. Maybe she shouldn’t have told Sucy and Lotte to stay away and give her space. Having no one to talk to really sucked. More so than the strange word on her stupid government-issued ring.

“Ahhh, should I just go and apologize to everyone?” She muttered, squeezing the juicebox she thought she’d emptied, but did not know had bits of liquid left. The purely concentrated citrus then spilled onto her exposed, skinned knuckles, making her hiss in pain. “Tsk, stupid. Grrr!”

“Ah-!”

“Ah?” The yelp caught her attention. She was alone in this place, right? “Hello?”

No response.

“Anyone there?” The only ones replying to her were the winds that howled behind the metal door that led to open roof. Those sounds were starting to sound like how she’d imagined ghosts would in the dead of night. “Helloooo~”

Still nothing.

“Maybe it was just my imagination?”

“STAY AWAY!”

Okay, that was NOT her imagination. That was a girl. Looking around for some kind of weapon, Akko readied herself to beat up whatever girl-harassing creep she’d find once she rounded the bend in the stairwell. Holding up a sturdy wooden broom, she tiptoed down, steps making no sound.

On three, she’d jump and smack the living shit out of whoever was there. One... two...

“Akko, please save me!”

And she slipped and fell in her surprise; her back was going to hurt like hell over the next few days. Alas! She must stay vigil! Save whoever this damsel in distress was- Diana... It was Diana. Diana Cavendish, as she’d learned the girl’s name, and a few other trivial details about her, over the course of their time not together. (Akko also denies any and all claims that state that she spent a lofty amount of time observing the taller girl. She didn’t know things like how she was Scottish, or how she loved horses and anything that looked like a unicorn, and that she was intelligent, and smelled like vanilla and mint.)

“I’ll save you?” She managed in her ruffled state. Before she could process anything more, the girl had clung to her, both now laying on the floor; one in an utter state of bewilderment, and the other... dealing with whatever it was she got going on before Akko had found her. “Umm... Diana?” She tried, forgetting her phobia of the girl over the past few days, and rubbing her back gently to gain her attention. She was shaking like the leaves outside in the storm. Just what had happened. “Diana? What’s wrong? What am I saving you from?”

There were no signs of any bad guys, as far as Akko could see. She was grateful for that. She wasn’t sure she could defend them in this position.

“Miss Cavendish? Heir to a billion-dollar hospital? What’s up?” She was trying to be nonchalant in an attempt to possibly calm the girl, and it worked somewhat, allowing her to see that beautiful face, tear-stained and all. “H-Hi.” How lame.

“Akko... the... there... it...”

“Hmm?” She lent an open ear, looking around, still not seeing any signs of danger. Then a well-manicured finger came up and pointed to one of the panels of the hallway’s windows. Akko squinted, not seeing anything. Had Diana seen some kind of floating ghost outside? Or was she seeing it inside, and Akko didn’t have the sixth sense for it? Did Diana have some kind of sixth sense? “What exactly...”

“B...”

“Buh..?”

“Bee.” She squeaked.

Akko gawked.

“Bee.”

“B-bee.”

“Bee?”

“Bee!”

“B-”

“Akko, please just get it away! I’m scared!”

“Y-yes, ma’am!” She scrambled to her feet, but not without gently seating Diana up, even if it was on the dirty corridor floor. Opening the window and grimacing as strong winds blew droplets of water into her face, Akko shooed the poor insect into nature’s claws of death. “Sorry, buddy. Princess doesn’t seem to like you.” Blowing it a kiss, she shut the window, wiping her face on the sleeve of her jacket.

Now... to face a larger problem... or not face it. Maybe Akko should get running again.

She should.

“Well, this was nice and all that, but I guess I should get- ouch!” Diana had caught her hand in alarm, accidentally pressing against her open, yet-to-heal wounds.

“M-my apologies!”

“It’s f-fine. It’s okay, please let... let go.” Akko didn’t like the way her heartrate spiked in Diana’s presence. It grew even more erratic, wildly jumping every which way in her chest as her hand was held more gently, blue eyes scrutinizing the reddened skin, the heiress didn’t seem to have any plans of releasing her. “Diana?”

“May I... May I treat you? That blue sparkle was redirected from her knuckles to her own dark reds. They were so hopeful and compelling that Akko, despite thinking that avoiding Diana would kill whatever held-back, buds of feelings she hoped to dash, just couldn’t help but consent, cursing the way her chest lightened, heart soaring.

She was absolutely doomed.

//-//-//-//-//

It was a quiet affair.

Torturous. No one said a word. To be fair, they’ve only had two somewhat proper conversations so far, so not knowing how to break the ice shouldn’t be that odd.

But it was, and Akko couldn’t take it. Diana had just finished cleaning Akko’s wounds under the sink in the infirmary, and was now dabbing them gently with antiseptic. She was so careful, touches feather-like soft. Akko barely felt anything, much less pain. So maybe she could start with talking about that. Maybe.

“You... You’re hands are real nice.”

“H-huh?”And down fell the cottonball she’d been holding.

“I-I mean... you’re really good at this. Tender and all that. You’d... make a good doctor.” Akko commented off the top of her head, running out of things to say, as she always did when faced with one Diana Cavendish. “A pretty doctor. Patients would... probably feel healed just from your... face. Or something.” Smooth, Akko. Smooth. Could Diana, like... at least help her out a little by responding? “Please say something.” Akko begged in a whisper.

“O-oh, I... thank you, Akko. Thank you for the compliment. I...” Momentarily lifting her eyes and meeting Akko’s gaze, the blonde averted hers, a thin touch of red spreading up to her ears, not unnoticed by the injured Japanese. “I appreciate your words.”

Akko hummed, not trusting her mouth to communicate properly anymore.

“I think you’re... face is a healing balm as well.”

Akko felt herself blush as well, head tilting up so she could face the ceiling. It was one of the most brainless compliments she’d ever heard in her life, and she knew she just said something along those lines as well. And yet it made her heart flutter like nothing else had before.

“Don’t mention it and... thanks.”

//-//-//-//-//

You never know when an event becomes a catalyst for reality to undergo great changes. Their little bandaging session had returned the next day. Akko was quite clumsy with these types of things. Each time she’d gotten hurt in an accident, she’d always ask Lotte to do it... but today... all their friends, and even the classmates they’d unintentionally dragged into their awkward little world, were staring in awe as Kagari Atsuko stood in front of Diana Cavendish’s desk, inviting her out to the infirmary.

“I-I’m just having her help me with my bandages! Don’t get the wrong idea!” Akko yelled as she guided Diana out, unknowingly holding her hand all the while. No one commented on it. Not even Barbara and Lotte who were exchanging curious little smiles. Something was changing. And it was a good change.

Reaching the infirmary, Akko headed straight for the sink, rinsing her knuckles under clean water while Diana gathered what she needed. Once done, they met by some chairs placed about the room and took a seat, the blonde girl looking over Akko’s hand.

“Come tomorrow, you might not need to bandage it anymore. Just apply some ointment. I think the nurse can recommend something.” Diana stated, looking up to smile at Akko who flushed at the attention.

“O-okay. I got it.”

“Great.” She then got to work, applying what needed to applied, and wrapping the clean white bandage after. Diana did this in her usual silence, focused. Sort of. There was one thing that had been nagging her for quite some time now, ever since she got to take a better look at Akko, now that they attended the same school. It was a unnerving, however. It hadn’t been long at all since they... ‘got along’, and Diana didn’t want to present something that might cause them to drift apart again. But it was eating at her, the need to know about it. It would determine how she’d interact with Akko from now on. It would show her what kind of relationship she was allowed to pursue. She needed a confirmation. She braced herself. Trying shouldn’t hurt. She could change the subject after testing the waters.

“Akko.”

“Hmm?” Was the casual-sounding hum.

‘She’s calm. Calmer around me.’ That little detail made Diana happy. So happy. This was progress. “May I ask a question?”

There was a pause, and Diana considered backing out. It appeared as though Akko was thinking about it deeply. Before Diana could take it back, Akko responded, “Sure. Ask away.”, and the heiress breathed a relieved sigh. “What did you wanna know?”

“Well, um... I just happened to notice that... you don’t...” Diana was really hoping this wasn’t a sensitive subject. She’d finally managed to close the gap between her and Akko. Sure it was by unconventional, and very strange means- unintentional, above all. She had just been worried about the girl upon seeing that her friend group was all gathered in the classroom except her. So Diana had gone searching, and was planning to offer to stay away from her friends for Akko’s sake. She was glad that things turned out the way it did, though.

“Diana?”

“Um... Akko.” She finished her job, smiling at the neat covering on her.. friend’s... hand. (They were friends now, right? At the very least...)

“Yes?” Akko seemed to notice the hesitation, and her instincts guided her to take hold of Diana’s trembling hands, encouraging her to continue.

Well this was new, Diana thought. Now or never, she supposes. A deep breath, and the floodgates opened.

“I just wondered... why... don’t you have a ring? Did you somehow lose it? Is that possible? But how? Wouldn’t you get in trouble with... everyone, I guess? Have you found your soulmate or not? If yes then I should probably just say goodbye here and, oh but not in the way you think, you might not get what I mean, but I still want to be friends-”

“Diana.”

“Yes?”

Akko’s cheeks puffed up, trying to hold it in, but ultimately failing as she burst into giggles, instinctively tucking a stray strand of hair behind Diana’s ear as she leaned forward to bump their foreheads together.

Ah, screw fate and it’s ways. Screw Diana’s soulmate that existed somewhere out there. In this one moment, she just felt so at peace, and in place, she’d deal with all the raging storms in her mind later. For now, it was just the two of them, hanging out in an infirmary, the smell of antiseptic on them, stupid words be damned.

“You’re rambling.”

//-//-//-//-//

It had been a few weeks- maybe just shy of two months- of friendship (?) with Diana, and Akko had never felt more alive in all her years. They had even spent her birthday together! Well, everyone else was there to, but... Anyway. The afternoon the question had been dropped, she had ended up explaining to the Scot her story with the ring, leaving out the detail of what it had written on it. That was a little too embarrassing for her to share yet. Baby steps.

She’d never dare ask about Diana’s ring, and she appreciated that the girl never brought up any soulmate talk that involved herself. Akko felt that it helped her cope with this one-sided love a little longer. She would no longer deny this attraction. She was so undeniably into Diana, it was crazy. She didn’t understand how teenage hormones and falling in love worked, but somehow she just knew. She felt a little apologetic to her soulmate, no longer feeling the need to search for him and her, the section of, [What to do if you haven’t found your soulmate yet.] remaining untouched. But well... things happen sometimes.

And sometimes, you become so much of a fool that you invite the girl you are in love with, who already has a soulmate, to your house, to your room, just so she can be the first to see that portable planetarium projector you were finally able to get your hands on for an affordable deal. You wouldn’t even cry at losing months worth of saved allowance and work wages. It was all worth it, to see her entire being practically glowing in awestruck wonder as you lay on your backs on the cushioned floor, having the chance to flaunt years of star study to your crush. The impressed gazed directed at you felt so good. You could get used to this. Especially when the visage of wonder glimmering in the dear girl’s eyes was outright precious.

A Diana in awe was cute.

So much so that Akko was in awe.

“Hey Diana...”

“Hmm?”

“Do you believe in magic?”

What a strange thing to ask in that moment. That’s what Diana thought. Akko thought the same. Just what had gotten over her. Yet she still wondered, thoughts flying far off into space, just as they always did when she gazed upon the stars in the night sky- or her ceiling’s artificial one.

‘What are you saying, Akko?” Diana chuckled, right hand reaching out to grasp Akko’s, fingers lacing together. She felt her heart flip as it was squeezed tight, unaware of the inner turmoil Akko was enduring at the lack of presence of a ring on that hand. Their eyes remained trained to the glowing heavenly bodies above, stories of the past, of fate, and the like, written all over.

“Do you believe in other worlds, Diana?”

“Well, many studies propose that they indeed exist.” Diana responded.

“What about alternate universes? A completely different you out there, living a different life.”

Diana turned her head to face Akko, the brunette still facing upwards, eyes glistening with unshed tears, barely noticeable in the dim lighting; but Diana always noticed. Because it was Akko.

“Don’t you think that somewhere out there... there could be another version of us; maybe a clumsy me, and a fantastic you, saving the world with strange words not understood by the rest of the world?”

“Maybe...” Diana breathed out in a whisper, oxygen effectively stolen by the tear that slipped down shapely cheeks. The moment felt so fragile, she was afraid if she made a move, it would shatter into a million pieces, never to see the light of day.

And god forbid it happen. Diana wanted to boast this tender feeling out under the brightness of the sun, for the world to witness.

“Why do you ask?”

She listened in agony at the choked intake of air, followed by the frailest of whispers. “Because maybe... the impossible for the Kagari Atsuko here... is possible for the Akko there.”

The heiress pondered those phrases a moment. “...Impossible, like?” Diana replied in equally hushed tones, something hopeful in her pitch.

‘Like you being meant for me, and I for you.’

But Akko couldn’t just say that.

“As impossible as using magic here, maybe?” Akko laughed in a normal, in-house voice, volume not too loud, but no longer a whisper. She should just bury her illegal thoughts deep down.

“I guess so.” She deflated. What had she desired to hear anyway? “Magic does seem like an unattainable power, some unimaginable, impossible concept.” Maybe she should get ready to leave soon. There was something heavy weighing in the atmosphere and in her heart, and she did not wish for a memory as sweet as this to turn sour due to her mood.

“You think so?” Akko’s steadying voice kept her rooted in place. “What if it isn’t so impossible after all?”

“How so?”

“Well, don’t they say that when people put their minds to it, when they truly desire and wish for it with all their hearts... like how the song goes, y’know? ‘When you wish upon a star your dreams come true’, or something.”

“Like the law of attraction and manifestation?” Diana supplied. “If you think positive things, positive things will come to you. Your reality becomes better. Like that?”

“Hmmm...” Akko tapped against the back of Diana’s hand, still entwined with hers, with her index thoughtfully. “Yes, but no. Kinda, but not really...? I don’t know how to describe what I’m thinking at the moment based on existing principles. Not too good at remembering. Heck, is there a quote that already exists?”

“Why not make your own, then?” Diana proposed.

“Heh... good idea. Let me think.”

“Take your time.” Diana enjoyed the little sounds Akko made as she thought.

“Oh! I got it!”

“Hoh? And what would those words of wisdom be, Miss Kagari?”

“Ready the papers, Miss Cavendish. We’re about to make the headlines with this!” They both giggled at their antics. “Drum roll, please! Dugudugudugudugudugu....dan!”

Diana nuzzled into Akko’s shoulder, enjoying all these little sound effects, the brunette’s voice calming her gradually, lulling her to sleep.

“Just what are these magnificent words, dear Akko?” Diana was far too drowsy to notice the splash of color painted across her companions face, the shyness melting into tenderness as she felt her warmth shift closer.

“A believing heart is your magic.”

And sleep was nearly robbed of her, eyes widening in the dark, unseen by Akko as the thumb on Diana’s free hand now brushed over the engravings on her ring. It was for sure now.

“You really are... the one.”

//-//-//-//-//

Something was off about Diana today. Was it her hair? No, impeccably styled as always, that couldn’t be it. Was it her makeup for today? No, it wasn’t that either. It was still that natural looking glow that brought out her innate beauty in all the best ways possible. Akko continued to check off boxes on her mental list, trying to figure out just what it was that was bothering her about Diana’s appearance today. Was it her clothes? But that was the uniform they wore daily! Did she... get any new jewelry? Hmm, she didn’t seem the type to wear any at school.

Then...

Was it the ring that painfully reminded Akko that the person she might be in love with was already meant for someone else? No, that couldn’t be it either. Last Akko checked, the ring was snugly fitted, definitely on... huh? The ring was... gone? No? Akko scanned Diana’s smooth looking left hand. No it wasn’t there. Not on the left, and her eyes couldn’t help but guide her hopeful soul to... ah. It really wasn’t on the left, but on the right.

Huh? That wasn’t right.

This confused Akko. Enough to make her approach Diana’s seat during lunch, tapping her attention away from her conversation with Lotte and Barbara.

“H-hey Diana, I have a question... “

“Yes?” Said girl gave Akko her full attention. There was something different about the way she smiled at Akko today as well, it seemed. Odd. Nice. But odd.

“So like... uh... W-Why is your... your ri-” Akko could feel droplets of sweat forming on her brow, threatening to trickled down the side of her face if she so much as twitched.

“Ri?”

“Why’s your ri- r....r-r- Right ear larger than your left?!”

Dainty hands shot up to cover her ears, blushing shocked and mortified. “WHAT?!”

Whoops, Akko messed up. “HAHA AHA.. KIDDING! Nah, I was messing with you!” The brunette forcibly laughed, patting Diana’s back in uneasy comfort.

“Akko, that wasn’t very nice.” Lotte scolded, and the said girl nodded, sighing.

“I know. Sorry guys.” She apologized properly, looking to Diana in particular. She received a gracious smile and a pat on the cheek, the skin underneath the ringed-hand warming speedily.

“It’s alright.”

That kindness allowed her to gather bits of courage to finally state her inquiry. Diana would answer her just fine, right? Akko had to when asked about the whereabouts of her ring. It was fair trade?

“I was just wondering, because I recalled you wearing your ring on your left hand until recently. But now it’s on your right. I guess you could say I was just curious?”

“Eh?”

“Is that so, Diana?” Hannah questioned, eyes wide. “But why would you move it in reverse? Now that you’ve actually found- mrrrpmmphhh.”

Akko shot a puzzled glance at Hannah and Barbara, the latter clasping a hand over the ginger’s mouth.

“N-nothing. You didn’t hear anything.” She covered. “You heard nothing, are we clear?” She threatened, and Akko actually shivered.

“Holy crap, your women can get so scary, Amanda.” She mentioned to the redhead seated in front of the other girls.

She heard her release a heavy sigh before getting up from her seat and turning to face the group. “It’s because you two are such a pain, that’s why. Just get it over with, Cavendish! What’s holding you back? It’s as simple as this, see? When you have a dense mofo like Akko, you just gotta give her a little push. A literal one.” And that was the only warning they got before Diana felt soft, slightly chapped lips barely missing her own, brushing against the corner of her mouth.

Akko removed herself so fast, they all worried she’d get whiplash. “S-s-s-s-s-sorry! Sorry Diana, I didn’t- it was... AMANDA!”

“I was helping.”

“You little...”

“Rather than giving me your attention, shouldn’t you talk it over with miss salad head over there?”

Akko blinked, the cogs in her mind slowly spinning, then clicked. “Did you just... insult... ah, screw you!” Akko yelled, blush burning so hot, it was hard to keep her eyes open.

Heeding Amanda’s advice nonetheless, she turned to an equally red Diana, unable to meet her eyes. Akko didn’t think her face could get any hotter than it felt right now, but at the sight of Diana’s tongue quickly swiping across her lips, Akko’s face might as well be venus.

She should at least try to say something, right? Something comforting... or witty... or clever.

“Sorry...” That would work.

“It’s alright.”

//-//-//-//-//

She stared at her invitation. Wow. Did Andrew really take her to shop for Denise’s birthday gift months before it happened? The neat script spelling out, ‘You are cordially invited’ underneath the older woman’s name with the date of the ball kind of set her nerves on fire.

She was not one for formal events. But then Denise had been nice enough to hand it in person, looking like she’d be willing to beg for Akko to come. Andrew stood behind her menacingly, a pressuring force looming in the room.

But really, how was she supposed to do this? Sure she had experience with the arts and dancing. She had wanted to be a performer at some point in her life before deciding on her current course, keeping the arts as a hobby. That covered her bases in terms of the ballroom dancing part. But as for etiquette and all that jazz, Akko had no clue. She was just a normal girl, living a normal life, having met amazing people, and... the love of her life.

She groaned in remembrance, pulling out a slip of paper, an extra entrance voucher. ‘Bring a plus one’, Denise had said. Well... that wouldn’t be a problem, Akko supposed. Maybe... She could always ask Diana.

The thought of the girl set flurries of butterflies wild in her stomach, face warming up along with her heart. She fiddled with the band situated around her left ring finger. She was still getting used to it, the metal feeling awkward in that spot. That’s just what she gets for never wearing it all these years. Kind of a nuisance, if she were being honest; but... at the same time... it was a reminder that...

[“So you’re... my soulmate...”

“Looks like it.”

“Did you... know about it?” She watched fluffy hair bounce along with the bobbing of a shy girl’s head. “How long...?”

“I had a feeling right from when we met... then confirmed it after you first showed me your planetarium.”

“...that’s a few weeks back.”

“You’re just so slow.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. It really is now.”]

“AAAAHHHH!!” Akko hollered, ridding herself of the embarrassed tension in her body. “Hnnnggghhh...” Holding in all her squeals, she flew onto her bed, hugging a pillow tight and rolling about. Maybe she should call Diana right now, if only to hear her voice. Oh, and she should just pop the question while she’s at it, the invitation.

A few rings, one, two, three fo-

[“Hello?”]

“Did you know I love your voice? It was the first thing I fell in love with, ever since you saved me from the clutches of death.” She couldn’t hold back the adoration she felt for the Englishwoman any longer.

[“Oh my god, Akko. Did you really just call me so you could be such a sap?”] Her giggle was always the best, Akko reveled.

“No~, or kind of yes, but not entirely.”

[“Is that so?”] Diana teased through the line.

“Don’t believe me?”

[“Of course I do! After all... it’s my magic.”]

“Who’s the sap now.”

[“I learned only from the best.”]

“Amanda?”

[“YOU, you idiot!”] Akko laughed at the reaction, squealing inwardly in delight. Diana’s laughter alongside hers died down, the phone going silent for a bit. And then, [“You’re the best.”].

Akko just couldn’t handle it.

“I love you.”

[“I love you too, sweetheart.”]

“I love you, I love you, I love you.”

[“I love you more.”]

“I love you! I love you! I love you!”

[“I love you more than anything in this world.”]

Akko was not crying.

“I love you... be my plus one?”

[“...”]

[“Always.”]

//-//-//-//-//

“My baby... so grown up now and looking all gorgeous.” Mrs. Kagari wiped a tear from her eye, admiring her daughter in a russet-toned gown, sleeveless, with a low dip in the back, fitting, and at the same time, flowing off her frame and onto the floor. It was simple, yet elegant. It matched well with Akko’s hair; usual bangs side-swept, signature ponytail gone, her long brown hair slightly curled and hanging off on one shoulder, exposing the other. All this topped with a little make-up, and even Andrew commended this picture of Akko that could pass as part of high society.

“Shall we?” He held out an arm for her to take, door open with a car waiting right outside. Akko’s father sobbed loudly, holding onto his wife for dear life.

“M-Mama! MY BABY! MY BABY IS BEING TAKEN AWAY BY SOME RICH YOUNG BRAT WHO JUST LOOKS GOOD, AND IS A LITTLE SMART, AND OWNS A HOSPITAL.”

“Well, don’t those sound like amazing specs.” Akko’s mama laughed, consoling the poor man. “You sound like a father sending his daughter off to meet her groom.”

“I AM.”

“But Diana-chan is so cute, though?”

“Man or woman, whoever takes my baby away from me and ends up hurting her... they will never see the light of the afterlife.”

Diana felt a chill run up her spine as she waited in the car.

“Oh, hush you. You’re overreacting.”

“AM I?!”

“Byebye, papa. I’ll be home soon. Love you~ Love you more, Mama!”

“Ah- bye, my darling daughter, my baby, my sun, light of my world, my angel!”

“You can stop embarrassing her now, darling.”

//-//-//-//-//

“Akko, don’t be so stiff.” Diana whispered into the girl’s ear, a hand caressing the small of her back to ease away the nerves. “You’ll be fine. Just think of it as any old party.”

“E-e-e-easy for you t-to say. You g-grew up with th-this.” Akko retorted, a hand with some champagne shakily approaching her lips.

“Really, you’re too high-strung.” The blonde sighed, pointing to Akko’s best friends. “Look at Lotte and Sucy, they look normal.”

Akko glared at her best friends who seemed to be enjoying themselves without a worry in the world. Oh, golly, what a treat. Maybe she shouldn’t have offered their extra tickets to them so she wouldn’t feel as bitter.

“Hey.” A flick was sent to her forehead. “No mean thoughts.”

“I wasn’t-”

“Di.A. NAAAA~” Here came a wild Denise, flying through the air to hug an alarmed Diana, barely catching her. It would appear as thought they were good friends, and Denise, not knowing anything about the relationship between her two dear bosom buddies, had sent them each an invitation with the hopes of bringing a plus one to introduce to her (so she could tease them about it), all the while, being kept in the dark that their plus one just so happened to be each other.

Which also explained the extra tickets that had gone to Lotte and Sucy. Akko was afraid it would be rude to just hand them away, but Diana reassured her it would be just fine. They both knew how kind-hearted and open-minded Denise was anyway.

“M-miss Walsh... please let me breathe.”

“Diana~ It’s Denise!”

“D-Denise... please... my airways...”

With greetings out of the way (Akko being squeezed to death as well, to be fair), the announcement were made, and the party commenced, music playing as the floor opened for the dances.

...

Akko swore she was a good dancer. Really! She was the ace of their studio. She could dance almost anything after learning it over the course of a few weeks at most, and so few days at the very least. So she couldn’t understand just how she’d suddenly acquired two left feet, constantly, and clumsily stepping on poor Diana’s feet.

One step. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

Another miss. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

“S-sorry!”

“...”

“Oh my gosh, I really am sorry!”

“I-it’s quite alright...”

“...”

“Wanna get some fresh air?”

“Pleasured.”

//-//-//-//-//

The Walsh’s family gardens were certainly award winning, Akko admired. As someone with a hobby in that field, this was a dream come true, to see such stellar workmanship. With flowers o’er the earth, and stars up above, the moon reflecting ripples into a still, small lake just a few yards down, it was the picture of beauty.

Yet nothing could compare to Diana by her side. Akko admired the way the woman’s gown clung to her curves in all the right places, how midnight blue reminded her of the skies they were under, and the dear stars in the heiress eyes sparkled ever brighter. How the earrings that dangled sparkling silver matched Akko’s own, only in gold, how her hair was fixed to the side as well, a portion of her bangs tucked neatly behind her ear, held back by a pin Akko had gotten her recently.

Akko was transfixed, as though she were under a witch’s spell. A very gorgeous, kind-hearted, hardworking, and sincere witch. A woman she loved with every fiber of her being, with the entirety of her heart.

She watched the moonlight caress ivory skin, glistening under its kind rays. Akko wanted to do so as well. Touch it, and know she was real and not just a figment of her imagination.

“I love you.” She murmured, reaching forward, arms wrapped around a slim waist, lips pressing against a bare shoulder. “I love you.”

Diana hummed, hands resting over Akko’s latched on to her abdomen. “Dance with me, Love.” She beckoned, leading them to sway under the night sky, the crickets and the breeze playing them a song of romance solely for their rapture.

The moon as their only witness, they vowed silent words, moving along the area, spinning, swaying, dancing, laughing, smiling, crying.

Akko never felt as lucky as she did in this moment. She was beyond fortunate. This moment she’d never forget, a memory never to be destroyed all her life, reminding her that she was blessed.

Blessed, and still a little foolish.

“I still don’t get it, you know. Why ‘cabbage’?”

Diana laughed into the tranquil night. Slapping Akko’s bare arm in fondness. “Did you really just ask that? Now of all times? With a romantic mood set up like this?” She shook her head in disbelief. “You are amazing, Kagari Atsuko. I love you to death, really I do... but are you seriously still hung over that?” She inquired, spinning her fated partner about, bringing her back in close. “Does it have to make sense? Isn’t it enough to know that you’re meant to be mine, and I’m forever yours?”

Akko returned that tender smile, leaning up to place a kiss against Diana’s throat. “Well, yeah, I guess; but... like... doesn’t that defeat the rings’ purpose, then?”

“Does it matter?”

“...It doesn’t. Not anymore. Not when you’re by my side, because that’s all that matters.”

“Great answer.”

“Diana?”

“Hmmm? What is it now?” Diana asked, amused that the peaceful mood didn’t look like it would settle back down anytime soon.

“For ruining the moment.... sorry.” All Akko’s laughing refuted that statement. Diana knew they both didn’t regret it one bit. Not at all. So with a smile only meant for her world nestled in her arms, leaning down and closing the gap bit-by-bit, what else could Diana reply with except,

“...It’s alright.”

And they saw stars.

//-//-//-//-//

This... was an unexpected development.

“...Wanna come over?”

“I’d love to.”

Cold, soaked and dropped off by the Cavendish’s service car, they made their way up the drive way, Akko fumbling for her house keys in the wee hours of the morning.

“Sorry, I really didn’t expect it to rain when I invited you out.”

“It’s fine, it wasn’t something within our control at all. The night looked perfectly clear, too.”

Flipping on the lights by the threshold, Akko guided Diana in, drenched shoes flying off, but immediately retrieved and set to the side to drip properly. They’d have to clean and dry those tomorrow better, but for now, a bath of warmth was in order.

Akko had insisted Diana take one first, but ever the gentlewoman, Diana did not move an inch until she was absolutely certain Akko would be alright. Her strongest argument stood to be, “Just who was it that I had to take to the hospital upon our first encounter.”, and Akko could only pout, begrudgingly accepting her defeat and warming herself a bath, but not without leaving Diana a towel and a temporary change of clothes so she wouldn’t get chills.

As Akko tagged Diana with a kiss to the lips, switching places after drawing the girl a fresh warm bath, she made her way to the kitchen, deciding to make them some vegetable soup to warm them up from the inside. Would Diana like that too?

Choosing and gathering her ingredients, she began prepping, chopping up everything as her water in the pot was brought to a boil.

It didn’t take her long at all to finish. By the time the food was ready, Diana was back downstairs, clad in one of Akko’s oversized shirts and pajama bottoms. It did strange things to Akko’s dear heart. On Diana’s part, just the sight of her future wife (she was a woman with a vision for tomorrow) preparing her a meal, fresh from a bath, in their own little world... How could she not fall deeper in love? So in love that she could just kiss her!

And she did just that.

Walking up to the shorter girl, Diana coaxed her into warm arms, a hand making its way into brunette strands, entangling them around her fingers, ring shining amidst them. This was bliss. This was everything to her.

This was everything to Akko. Everything she’d hoped for and wanted, and even more.

“I love you.”

Soft. A little salty, maybe the soup’s seasoning. Warm and gentle, yet pressured and emotional. Tenderly passionate, and passionately tender, their lips danced a song that they’d forever remember.

And as they sat down to eat, seated in front of each other, they motioned for cheers with their chopsticks, a leafy green clipped between one pair.

And that’s when Akko realized that it all made perfect sense.

The rings weren’t wrong, and the words would always be right.

“Ah...

Cabbage.”

~end.

A/N: Can you believe it? All that, just so I could say in the end, “Cabbage”. Honestly, Akko is so slow. Somehow I’m not quite satisfied with this, and maybe I should’ve gone with a different approach or piece, or simply edited my original plan to fit safely within the guidelines, but... Idk. Maybe I’m as much of a fool as Akko, that way. Was it worth the thousands of bothersome words to read? Haha. Feedback is appreciated, as always. Hope you enjoyed.

~Shintori Khazumi

#heliishly long oneshot #I'mdying #diakkoday #diakkoday2021 #Little Witch Academia #lwa #diakko #diana cavendish #kagari atsuko #andrew hanbridge #Sucy Manbavaran #and all the other girls but I'm too lazy to tag #romance #soulmate au #cabbage #srsly #this could be a multichap

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tarklesbehindthescenes · 4 years ago

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Hi, Tarkles! I've got a rarepair request for you. G1!Megatron/Ratchet. Any length you like and any circumstances you like, but maybe how they might end up getting to know each other. I hope that was specific enough, sometimes I'm not sure the amount of detail folks might need. Have a great day!

Ho-kay! So I went a little overboard! Word count capping at 1,360. Hope this falls in line with what you requested!

The Decepticons were a crafty bunch. Everybody knew this. Despite not having the smartest bots among their ranks, they made do with what they had or could get their hands on. Today was a case where they had to steal what they needed. Megatron sat within his quarters in his desk chair, optics offline, head resting on his right fist while his left tapped its fingers against the arm of the chair impatiently. Just how long were his soldiers going to keep him waiting?

Soundwave’s voice cut the silence through Megatron’s commlink. “Blitzwing and Skywarp inbound with the target.”

“About time,” the warlord grumbled in return. “Send them straight to me.”

Within five minutes, Blitzwing and Skywarp knocked at Megatron’s door, then stepped in once he bade them enter. Megatron flicked on his optics and turned his chair to see a furious and chained Ratchet gripped between the triple changer and grimacing seeker.

The commander raised a brow. “What is wrong with you, Skywarp?”

“Nothing, mighty Megatron,” Skywarp grunted through gritted teeth, shifting his legs with notable discomfort so they pointed slightly inward.

Blitzwing cleared his throat and gave Megatron a brief salute. “Target captured, sir!”

“You have ten seconds to explain why these brutes made a mess of my medbay and abducted me!” Ratchet snarled at him, staring with absolute loathing. Such a fiery temper. If Megatron had been in a better mood he would have been amused by it.

Instead he addressed his soldiers. “Remove his binds, then leave us. Skywarp, you will return to your duties. Blitzwing, you stand outside the door and keep guard.”

Skywarp threw Ratchet a wary look and winced when the medic returned it with a piercing glare. So it was up to Blitzwing to carry out the order while the seeker beat a hasty retreat. Once Ratchet was freed, Blitzwing stepped outside and shut the door behind him, leaving them alone.

“Well?” Ratchet demanded.

“I will get to my reason in a moment. You were unharmed, correct?” Megatron checked, remaining in his seat.

The Autobot before him huffed and placed his fists on his hips. “Aside from some mild aches, no. I sustained no injuries. Why?”

“Because this meeting—”

“Kidnapping.”

“—is happening under a white flag.” The Decepticon commander finished.

The ambulance scoffed with a roll of his optics. “And what are the terms of this ‘meeting’?”

“You solve my medical issue, we will return you to your team unharmed.”

Ratchet squinted. “You want me to fix you? You’ve got Hook. You’ve got Soundwave. Get one of them to do it.”

Megatron glowered in return. “Do you think I would have my mechs bring you here if I hadn’t expended my resources already?” He hissed. “This is beyond their knowledge. Will you assist under these terms or won’t you?”

There was a thick silence that fell between them as the medibot thought over the request. Just as the warmonger was about to lose his patience, Ratchet huffed and lowered his arms to his sides. “Alright, what’s wrong with you? Aside from everything about you.”

“The humor in your sarcasm is lost on me,” Megatron said. “I find my stabilizers are not functioning as they should. It is not a matter of a broken part. Hook and Soundwave both confirmed that.”

Ratchet made a gesture to encourage Megatron out of his chair. “Get up. Let’s see it.”

“I said solve it. You do not need to see it.”

“Do you want my help or not?” He snapped back. “Let’s get one thing clear, Megatron. You summoned me here as a last resort. You have confidence that I know what I’m doing. And I do. Nobody does a medical job the way that I do it. If you want my help, then you will do things my way.”

This no-nonsense attitude was irritating, but at the same time Megatron had to admire it, if only slightly. The other Autobots all talked tough, but when it came time to combat him, few of the warriors had the nerve to face him alone or bark out orders at him like Optimus Prime did. Their cranky medic, however, clearly cared little about Megatron’s capabilities and stood right next in line to Prime in that aspect.

With reluctance, Megatron got to his feet and wobbled a bit. He put his arms out at 45 degree angles to his sides, working to keep balance as he took a few steps forward. He wasn’t able to walk straight in the slightest, teetering from side-to-side before finally tripping on himself and collapsing on his side with a surprised shout.

This appeared to attract Blitzwing’s attention as he came bursting back into the room. “Megatron?!” He yelled.

The commander shot him a furious look as he struggled back to his feet. “Did I give you permission to come back in?!”

The triple changer shrunk back a little, looking confused.

Ratchet proceeded to grab Megatron’s arm and guide him toward the door. “Yeah, there’s something janky, all right.”

“What are you doing?” The warlord demanded.

“You don’t expect me to fix you with no tools, do you?” The medic pointed out. “Where’s your medbay?”

Humiliating as it was to be paraded for his army to see in this condition, he had to admit it was a necessary evil. He should have just put himself in the medbay in the first place, all things considered. What tugged at Megatron’s mind, though, was the fact that as they traveled, it wasn’t Blitzwing helping him stay upright. It was Ratchet.

When they entered the medbay, Ratchet threw his gaze around it with growing frustration. “Hook leaves his work space in this condition?”

“No,” Blitzwing answered. “It’s the other Constructicons whenever he’s not looking. Just to annoy him the next time he enters.”

Ratchet muttered under his intakes as he deposited Megatron on an empty table before he began looking around for the needed tools. “Take off your helmet,” he barked over his shoulder.

Before doing so, Megatron shot the triple changer a warning and dismissive look. Blitzwing took the hint and scampered out of the bay, shutting the door behind him again.

“It’s a wonder you Decepticons have even lasted this long,” Ratchet continued to gripe. “You need to get yourselves a bot with real medical training!”

“We’re a little spread thin, at the moment,” Megatron grunted. “Even back on Cybertron.”

“All I hear is an excuse.” The ambulance returned to Megatron’s side and opened up a panel in the back of his head and plugged in a cable attached to a handheld console. With deep concentration, he made use of the console in silence until he finally said, “Aha. Yep. That would do it.”

“What? What would do it?” The Decepticon leader asked, turning his head to try and see.

Ratchet just forced him to face the front again before removing the console and walking to one of the few computers in the room. “Your BIOS isn’t playing right. It isn’t shooting the right hardware address for your systems to find the stabilizers. Just needs an update, that’s all.”

Megatron stared at the back of Ratchet’s head. He made it sound so simple. Like it should have been found immediately. “Why didn’t Hook or Soundwave figure that out?” He scowled.

“Because they didn’t go to medical school and haven’t been doing repairs like this for twelve million years. You need to know where to look.” The medic returned to standing behind Megatron and plugged the console back into his head. Words flashed across Megatron’s vision telling him to standby as an update was being downloaded and installed. Approximately thirty minutes. “There.” Ratchet said. “We’ll just give that time to put itself in.”

The room fell silent as Megatron processed the new information he’d obtained about the Autobot medic through this ‘meeting’. The attitude, the confidence, the disregard of factions simply to provide aid to a bot in need. And… he’d put fear into the spark of one of his seekers. How? This medibot was certainly drawing the warlord’s interest. Perhaps… he should ‘meet’ with Ratchet for any future health issues Megatron develops.

Yes.

#Asks #AO3 #short story #I had fun with this #Transformers #MegaRatchet #Megatron #Ratchet #G1 #maccadam

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vennilavee · 5 years ago

Text

to build a home - ch 2

a girl in a bar

attack on titan masterlist

ch 1 - beyond the drapes

Pairing: levi x reader (attack on titan)

Summary: a modern au where you and levi both work for the Survey Corps, a non-profit organization with a mission to help the youth of the Underground District.

Warnings: cursing, lots of suggestive themes, alcohol

Word Count: 5528

A/N: idk i love him. enjoy!!

***

“Okay, so everything was submitted yesterday,” You say, reading down your list of updates, “We’re just pending approval on those three grants, those four project plans, and those two proposals. Everything’s taken care of.”

“Yeah, Erwin, don’t you know? You’ve got a team of rockstars, I mean, what would you do without us,” Hange says, “This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time!”

“Your definition of fun needs to be revisited,” Levi mutters under his breath but he still earns a glare from Hange.

“As if you would know fun if it bit you in the ass, shorty-”

“And you would?”

Erwin sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, “Alright, it sounds like we’re ahead of schedule. Thank you for all of your hard work this month, and be sure to relay that message to your teams as well.”

“Hey Erwin,” You say, sickly sweet. It’s the same tone you use when you speak to your rich donors. And Levi already knows what you’re about to ask before you ask it.

“We’ve been working so hard the last month,” You say with a smile, “Let’s have a happy hour this week? Or a night out? We’ve all been working overtime, including you. You deserve a relaxing night…”

Levi rolls his eyes. Of course Erwin would say yes- when has he ever said no to a night of drinking disguised as team bonding?

“Yeah, okay. Are the rest of you okay with it?” Erwin asks, looking at Hange and Levi.

“As long as you’re footing the bill,” Hange winks at Erwin.

“A night at a crowded bar with the interns? Can’t think of anything better,” Levi deadpans and you glare at him.

“They deserve the night, too! They sure have been workin’ more than your sorry ass. Haven’t seen you stay late even once in the last week!”

“Haven’t seen me stay late- we literally leave together. In the same car. Are you feeling okay today? Something crawl into your head and die there?”

“Shut up, Levi,” You grumble, but don’t bother to conceal your laugh.

“Levi, why don’t you go and tell the new hires that we’re having a get together on Friday? Does the Stallion work?” Erwin says with a teasing grin and you swear smoke is coming out of Levi’s ears.

But he agrees anyway, because that’s what he does.

***

“Why does he want me to tell them?” Levi grumbles, “They like you better anyway, as they should.”

“They like you just fine, Levi,” You say, touching his arm gently before letting your hand fall to your side, “C’mon, I’ll come with you. I’m sure they’ll be excited to unwind.”

Levi looks on ahead as you both continue down the hallway but he returns your touch with a small graze of his fingers against your elbow. You walk in silence with your notebook in one arm as you head to the common area, where most of the new hires are.

“Oi,” Levi calls and heads turn towards him as abrupt silence falls amongst them, “The Stallion on Friday. Be there, or don’t.”

“Well when you put it that way, they’ll definitely want to come,” You mutter, “What Levi means to say is that Erwin is organizing a night out at the Stallion to celebrate the end of a very long month. We know how hard all of you have been working and want to show you our appreciation. You can let either Levi or I know if you’d like to come.”

All of them start tittering amongst themselves, the air in the room changing. They’re clearly excited for a night out to relax and you can see smiles of excitement on their faces already. You wonder what they were discussing so intensely before Levi had announced your arrival.

“And everything’s on us, so don’t worry about that,” You add as an afterthought. Levi sends them a look to let them know not to take advantage of that. A collective gasp echoes through the room.

“Wow-”

“Really?”

“I can’t believe it!”

“We hope to see you all on Friday,” You give them a warm smile before letting them return to their devices and walking away from them with Levi.

“Look at how much they appreciate being appreciated,” You murmur, “I know most of our work is done for the Underground kids, but I think we do good work here, too.”

Levi hums, taking your hand in his and rubbing your thumb before letting go.

“I knew you noticed it, too,” You smile at him.

“I did no such thing,” Levi says.

You shake your head fondly before you stop at your office to finish off the remainder of your afternoon.

“Busy rest of the day today?” Levi asks, eyeing your shoulder and the newly installed standing desk. Subconsciously touching your shoulder, you shake your head.

“No, just meeting with Eren, Mikasa and Armin later today. They wanted to discuss some of the youth sports programs and how we can increase engagement,” You reply, “Shoulder’s okay, Levi. I promise.”

He narrows his eyes at you for a moment and nods, heading back to his own office to finish up some paperwork. Maybe he can finish quickly and take you home early today. Levi is lost in his own thoughts, but not so lost that he misses the two pairs of eyes watching him leave your office.

***

“I’m telling you, they’re definitely together. Something is up there,” Jean insists in a harsh whisper, “I mean have you heard the way she talks about him?”

“She talks about everyone like that, idiot,” Eren hisses, glaring at him, “She doesn’t even talk about Captain that much to begin with!”

“I saw him leave her office just now!” Armin blurts out with a gasp and everyone goes quiet.

“So? They’re our superiors, it’s not weird for them to be meeting with each other,” Eren replies.

“Have you ever heard anyone other than her call the Captain affectionate?”

“Well, no, but… Maybe she was just saying that!” Sasha protests.

“Nobody would just say that,” Jean scoffs, “Do you hear Hange say that? Or Erwin?”

Eren doesn’t have an answer for that.

“Maybe they’re keeping it under wraps because Erwin forbids office relationships,” Armin says in a hushed whisper and Jean nods in agreement.

“Maybe they’re trying to keep it a secret. We should stay out of it,” Mikasa chimes in.

“If they’re trying to keep it a secret, they’re doing a pretty shitty job about it,” Jean mutters.

“And I’m sure they’re more careful around Erwin and Hange if they’re even together,” Eren considers, “There’s only one way to find out. On Friday, we have to keep our eyes peeled.”

Everyone nods in agreement, while Mikasa rolls her eyes.

“Let’s start a betting pool,” Connie suggests and murmurs of consensus float amongst them.

“Let me get this straight,” Mikasa begins, “You all want to start a betting pool between our superiors to see if they’re dating or not.”

“Exactly,” Connie says with a wolfish grin, “Where’s your sense of fun, Ackerman?”

“You and I have different definitions of fun,” Mikasa mutters, “But I’m in.”

“Mikasa, Eren and I have a meeting with her later today,” Armin says thoughtfully, “Let’s see what we can gather. But I think Friday will be the day we’ll be able to investigate.”

***

Armin sees no sign of Levi in your office. He only sees a few photo frames with you and the rest of the senior members of the team. There’s two photo frames he’s unable to catch a glimpse of as it’s at the corner of the desk where only you can easily see it. There is a single crystal sunflower near your computer, safely kept in a box but that can’t mean anything. It’s been there since forever- you must have purchased it on your own when you started working here, Armin deduces confidently.

Unless it was a gift from a long time ago. Unless you and Levi have been dating for years, which is why this sunflower has been sitting on your desk perfect and poised all this time. That can’t be possible- there’s no sign of it. Even when they were interns, which was only a few years ago, there was no sign of it.

Was there even any sign of it now?

“I like this,” You say, pulling Armin out of his thoughts, “I think it’s a good point to make, that we have to advertise to these kids in a way that’ll intrigue them. Which is why we brought you in. I guess the next step would be scoping out methods of advertising that would work… You three up to the task?”

Eren and Armin nod their heads in determination but Mikasa doesn’t look convinced.

“Isn’t Captain from the Underground? Wouldn’t he be better suited for something like this?” Mikasa asks.

“How do you know that?” You raise an eyebrow, an edge of protectiveness showing itself.

“Everyone knows that,” Mikasa says easily.

You suppose that’s true.

“Hmmm,” You muse, rubbing your chin, “How do you feel about working with Levi on this? You’re right, Mikasa. That he’d be better suited for something like this rather than me.”

“She meant no offense by it-” Armin protests.

“None taken,” You give her a small smile, “Takes balls to challenge your superiors. I can appreciate that.

“Why don’t you three and whoever else you see fit come up with a proposal and send it my way in the next week or so? I’ll review it and you can present it to Levi,” You suggest and Armin’s eyes are as wide as saucers.

“Present to Captain?” Eren sputters.

“You can do it. If you can present it to me, then you can present it to him,” You say with a smile, “I have full confidence in you.”

Mikasa adjusts her scarf, pulling it further up her face but you don’t miss the flash of excitement in her eyes. It seems like she likes a challenge.

***

By the time Friday rolls around, Erwin had encouraged you all to go home early and get the weekend started early. Levi protests, telling him that there’s still a mountain of paperwork to do. Which isn’t entirely untrue, but it can wait until the following Monday.

“Don’t complain about being able to go home early, stupid,” You mutter, elbowing his side.

He just rolls his eyes in response.

“I’ll see you all there at 9:30,” Erwin says, giving you all a look. The thinly veiled threat is there- don’t be late or else.

You and Levi are usually some of the last to leave the office. You both have a habit of cleaning up your offices as the day ends, before you leave. You clean up your papers, put away your pens and store your laptop in your backpack as you give your desk a once over. You’re gentle with your shoulder, not wanting to irritate it further as it had only just started calming down.

You’re about to reach for something under your desk when Levi walks into your office and stops you.

“You’re trying to injure yourself aren’t you,” Levi mutters, shooing you away and crouching, “Stupid.”

“Thanks for your concern,” You mumble, “Ass.”

Levi turns from under your desk, still crouched and looking up at you through narrowed eyes. A smirk curls on your lips and he rolls his eyes at your antics.

“I could get used to the way you look right now,” You say with a wink.

“You already are used to it,” Levi drones on, “You forget about this morning?”

“No,” You murmur and trail a finger over his chest when he stands up straight, “Been thinking about this morning all day.”

Levi catches your finger with his larger hand and your breath hitches as you peer at him curiously.

“C’mon,” He tugs your hand along, “Let’s go home then.”

***

Your shoulder finally feels healed enough that you can drive without experiencing discomfort. Your hand immediately settles over Levi’s thigh when you put the car in drive, randomly squeezing.

All the signs are there. You’re in a mood today. He thinks maybe you miss him more than you’re letting on, despite living together and working together. The two of you haven’t had a chance for alone time or a date in quite some time, and he knows you’re looking forward to tonight for that very reason.

While it’s not exactly a date, it’s still a chance to be out and enjoy each other.

“Those kids are up to something,” You break the silence softly.

“They’re always up to something,” Levi says, peering out of the window. It’s an overcast and slightly chilly day, the sun nowhere to be found. You hum in agreement, moving your hand to find his. He watches your entire body relax once you slot your hand in his.

“I saw them watching us,” Levi continues, “Watching me leave your office, specifically.”

You laugh at that, “Maybe they’re trying to figure out which one of their bosses is sleeping together.”

“You and Hange, right? Knew it,” Levi says, pulling another laugh from you.

“Nailed it.”

***

One of Levi’s favorite rituals with you was the art of undressing each other after a long day. As soon as you both wash your hands and remove traces of the day from your faces after coming home, your hands are flat over his chest, fingers playing with the buttons of his shirt.

With each button that comes undone, you press a kiss to his newly exposed skin. He only watches your fingers move slowly, as if they’re moving through honey as you touch him.

He stops you once you push his button up and undershirt off of him and toss it into his hamper. Levi’s hands are on your cheeks, sliding down the side of your neck, and he finally, finally presses kisses to your aching lips.

Levi pulls away for a breath, thumbing at your cheek and you lean into his touch with hooded eyes. He runs a hand under your top, drumming along your sides before pulling your top off.

“I missed you,” You say feebly, your heart in your throat. How can you miss someone in this way- someone who you’ve given your heart, mind and soul to? How can you miss someone when he’s standing right in front of you, when you wake up beside him, when you go to sleep beside him?

You don’t know. You just miss him.

“I know,” Levi murmurs, “I know.”

He lifts you up in his arms, dropping kisses to your neck and walking you to the bed. Letting you down gently, he slots himself in between your legs and his touch tells you everything he doesn’t say.

Levi melts into you as your legs wrap around his waist, his breaths soft against your skin. Your touches are urgent, fleeting on his arms, seemingly trying to claw yourself to him.

He’s been neglecting your needs. He had needed some space over the last week- sometimes things became heavy for him. Especially around this time of year. The death anniversary of his mother had been several weeks ago, but you had understood his need for space. As you always did. Space for him meant keeping to himself and staying at home, and you’d always be by his side. Even if he didn’t ask.

“Thank you for coming back to me,” You murmur, as you always do around this time of the year. You press a gentle kiss to his chin. You knew he was starting to come out of it when he had woken you up in your favorite way this morning.

“I know it seems like I’m far away,” He replies, nosing at your neck, “I’ve been neglecting you.”

But you’re already shaking your head in disbelief.

“No,” You say firmly, cupping his cheek, “No. You know you never have to justify why you need what you need. If you need space, you need space. Don’t do that.”

No matter how many times you say it, he still needs to hear it. His slate grey eyes are wide and he ducks his head quickly, arms around your head as he swallows your words, your understanding with another kiss.

Words melt into soft breaths, sighs and quiet laughs within the four walls of your bedroom after that.

***

You had coaxed Levi into an afternoon nap with you and he had fallen asleep with his contacts still in his eyes. No wonder his eyes were burning now. Stupid contacts.

Levi tries to get up from bed without disturbing you and it seems like he is mostly successful. You turn in your sleep, curling into his pillow before settling back in.

He goes to the bathroom and stares at himself in the mirror before prying his dried out contacts from his eyes and grabbing his glasses from the first drawer of the nightstand next to the bed.

Much better.

He sees you waking up now, watching him with lazy eyes and a hazy smile. You carelessly throw your arm across the bed, indicating that you want him to come back and lay with you.

“Move over,” Levi murmurs and settles next to you, pulling the covers up over you both once more.

“Wow,” You say with a gasp, voice thick with sleep, “Wear glasses more often, huh?”

“Shut up,” Levi mutters, avoiding your gaze.

You just smile and draw patterns on his arm, pulling him in for another slow, languid kiss.

“I mean it,” You say, “I mean, if I was just a girl in a bar, I wouldn’t stand a chance.”

That pulls a small smile from him and it makes your heart burst.

“You have it the other way around,” He says, grey eyes filled with an emotion you’re all too familiar with. You run your fingers through his long strands of inky hair as they fall to his face when he leans in closer to you. A lazy silence falls between you, only lending way to more firm yet gentle touches.

***

Levi had done your hair for you, after you had claimed that your shoulder was hurting again. He had rolled his eyes, knowing that you just wanted him to play with your hair.

“I don’t blame you, I do your hair better anyway,” He had scoffed. And he was sometimes right- Levi was well versed in taking care of your hair. Which surprised you.

He had kissed you a few times before you both had headed out for the night, unable to resist your glossy lips- “Levi. We’re gonna be late and Erwin will-”

“Stop talking about fuckin’ Erwin and let me kiss you.”

“I’m not talking about fuckin’ Erwin, but I mean should we? Is that something we need to talk about-”

“You’re insufferable,” And he shuts you up with a searing kiss as your back is pressed against the front door.

And now you’re at the bar with Hange, ordering a round of drinks for the four of you. The newbies wouldn’t be arriving till about thirty minutes later. Erwin had told the four of you to meet a little earlier to have your own intimate toast.

You bring two drinks in your hand and slide into the booth across from Levi and next to Hange. Sliding a drink over to Levi, you take a sip of your own and you feel his foot nudge yours in thanks.

“Cheers to us,” You begin, “For being awesome, especially me.”

“Oi, Levi, get your woman,” Hange says, earning herself a hearty glare from Levi.

Erwin rolls his eyes fondly with a quirk of his lips, “Yes, we’ve done some great things individually and as a group over the last few months. And years. Think of where we’ve started. How far we’ve come and how far we have to go.”

“I’ll drink to that, boss,” Hange says, raising her glass.

“Hange, you’ll drink to anything,” Levi says but raises his glass as well.

“Cheers, Erwin. To many more successes and many more years together,” You murmur, eyes flashing to Levi for a split second. You meet his eyes over your glass. He’s always been able to read you easily, and the openness of your heart still startles him even now.

He hopes he can get a few minutes alone with you at the bar. Or in a booth. Levi wants to show you that in a bar full of strangers, he’ll always pick you. Without hesitation.

***

It’s only about an hour into the interns arriving, and you and Hange already have the second round of drinks ready for them. Your smile is loose and wide, laugh loud and uninhibited as you hold your second drink in your hands. Or is it your third?

You’re chatting with Jean and Connie, head thrown back in laughter at something Jean said. You seem to have a soft spot for those two, as Levi recalls. You tug on your necklace, as if you can feel Levi glance over you. It’s a necklace that he had given you for one of your anniversaries and it’s one of your favorites.

Those kids are up to something, Levi can sense it in their careful but curious gazes. He pays them no mind, instead turning his head to speak to Mikasa and Hange. Levi catches Mikasa looking around, her line of vision always falling to Eren.

Levi very nearly asks Mikasa if she’s bored but refrains from doing so, hearing your chastising voice in his head. Telling him not to embarrass her.

So he stays quiet and instead entertains Hange’s thought that him and Mikasa may be related.

***

“Hi,” You murmur, sliding into the booth with Levi right behind you. The booth is slightly hidden from the rest of the bar patrons. Not that either of you were trying to hide. You were just looking for some quiet. You wrap your arm around his, your chin over his shoulder as you lean against him.

“Hi,” Levi repeats, “Found time for me, huh?”

“Don’t be like that,” You whisper, nudging him gently. He can smell alcohol but mostly just the scent of your perfume.

“Be like what?”

“Mean,” You mumble, “Be mean to me.”

“Oh, alright. I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Levi says and your eyes glow bright at the pet name, a smile pulling across your lips.

“Are you having fun?” You ask softly, tugging his hand into yours, “Will you have my drink? I can’t finish it.”

Levi nearly scoffs, a memory of the first time you had asked him to finish a drink for you bubbling to the surface. He had looked at you like you had four heads- don’t you know how disgusting and unclean that was? It took him a while to learn that you ask him things like that out of comfort with him.

“It’s a whiskey based drink. I think you’ll like it,” You continue, fingers tracing the slopes and planes of his face.

So this was how you were feeling tonight. Touchy. Maybe a little needy. You pull your hand away offering him your drink.

Levi takes the drink from your hands and sets it on the table. You’re about to say something but he cups your face with both hands, pressing his forehead to yours. You hold his wrist with your hand, eyes wide and soft.

He kisses you deeply, without a word or a shared breath between you. You gasp in surprise but he deepens the kiss, as if he’s trying to melt into you.

“I fuckin’ love you,” Levi murmurs, “You know that? I fuckin’ love you.”

“Levi,” You breathe, “I know and I love you. I told you I wouldn’t stand a chance. I’m just a girl in a bar.”

The pads of your thumbs press against the back of his neck, rubbing slow circles. He likes the look on your face, dark eyes filled with ease and trust.

Both of you pretend to not see a stoic but interested gaze looking in your direction.

Mikasa had seen you and Levi duck out from the crowd with a drink in your hand to a quieter booth. She watches you pull him next to you and lean into him, but Mikasa turns her head away when she sees Levi duck his head to kiss you. She doesn’t want to intrude on a clearly intimate moment, but she can’t help but agree with Jean.

If you both were trying to keep your relationship a secret from Erwin, you were doing a pretty shitty job of it. Mikasa wrestles with telling everyone about her findings, but ultimately decides against it. For now. She’d wait to see if anyone else picked up on anything going on between you and Levi.

“Those kids have a bet going on with us,” You inform Levi, once you see Mikasa watching you briefly from across the bar.

“Do they?” Levi hums, pressing a kiss to your neck as you rub his chest.

“Yeah,” You say breathily, “Half of them think we’re dating in secret, and the other half think that we’re not dating at all.”

Levi pulls away with a raised eyebrow, “They don’t have anything better to do?”

“They’re curious about their incredibly good looking superiors,” You say with a smile, “Can you blame them?”

“So let’s give them something to be curious about,” Levi murmurs and dips his head again for another searing kiss. You briefly think about how comfortable he’s become with you and with kissing you in public like this. It doesn’t happen often, but you’re not one to complain when it does. You pull away first, thumb running over his bitten, gloss stained bottom lip.

“We should head back,” You murmur, “Before Erwin thinks we left him alone with the kids.”

Levi nods, taking the now empty glass and holding out his hand for you. His hand is light on your waist as you both walk back to your group, and his eyes are as scorching as ever when he sees Jean and Connie looking at you both with wide eyes.

You and Levi part ways- you going to talk to Sasha, Jean and Connie and Levi sitting with Erwin, Eren and Armin.

Eren and Armin already looked tense, sitting with Erwin, and it increases tenfold when Levi sits with them too.

Levi sees you dancing with Sasha to the beat of the music while Jean and Connie look awkwardly around. And then you take their hands and try to get them to dance with you, and Levi shakes his head at your antics.

Poor kids. They look flustered.

“What’s the matter with you two? You look like you’re constipated,” Levi comments to Armin and Eren and they both stammer in response, trying to hold a conversation with their boss and their boss’s boss.

They both relax when they pull a smile from Erwin.

***

You and Levi are the last ones at the bar, as Hange had only just left and Erwin had entrusted the both of you to make sure that the new hires got home safely. Before Levi could protest, you had agreed and heard him curse under his breath. All Levi can think about is you, in those tight jeans, your glossy lips, your heels and his button-up.

He’s had a few drinks by now, and it’s not his fault you’re so pretty.

Levi just wants to take you home and show you how pretty he thinks you are, but instead you had agreed to babysit the interns. Of course, he’s going to grumble about it.

“They’re all grown adults. They can fend for themselves,” Levi complains, without any real heat behind it.

“Oh, now they’re adults? They’re not kids anymore?” You tease, nudging his shoulder.

“Shut up,” He replies, nudging you back.

You and Levi manage to coordinate cabs for them- you call Sasha, Connie, Jean a cab since they live in the same apartment building and Levi calls Armin and Eren a cab, since they’re roommates. Mikasa lives closer to you and Levi, so you decide to take a cab to her apartment building and then take a cab from there back home.

“Text us when you get home,” You say sweetly, waving at both sets of cabs and they all chirp promises of agreement.

The cab that Levi had ordered for the three of you is on its way and you stand under the light of the streetlamp, making smalltalk with Mikasa. You learn that she enjoys the outdoors and hiking quite a bit, and you suggest a few places she might like.

“There’s also Claw Mountain, in Wall Maria,” Levi muses, “We went there once, remember?”

“Yeah! You can see Wall Rose and Wall Sina from there,” You reply.

Mikasa quirks an eyebrow at you both but says nothing. She nestles herself against her red scarf when a breeze of wind threads itself in the spaces between the three of you and you shudder lightly. Mikasa contains her gasp when Levi wordlessly pulls his jacket off and wraps it around your shoulders. You smile at him in gratitude and to Mikasa’s surprise, he returns your smile.

Mikasa can’t think of a time where she’s ever seen him smile like that.

Once the cab arrives, you sit in the middle of Levi and Mikasa. You can’t resist leaning into him as his arm wraps around your shoulders. Mikasa’s eyes are nearly bulging out of her head at the small but meaningful action. There’s no way you two aren’t together, and there’s no way that either of you are actively trying to keep it a secret.

You’re looking at Mikasa knowingly, with a quiet smirk and she thinks you already know about the bet. You say nothing, instead yawning and asking Mikasa if she has any plans for the weekend. As you hold a quiet conversation with her, you’re rubbing absent-minded circles against Levi’s inner thigh. Your hand is covered by his jacket and Levi thinks he’s about to lose his mind. Is this cab even moving? Could it be moving any slower?

Levi lets out a breath of relief when they arrive at Mikasa’s apartment building. She bids you goodbye and waves. You stay in the cab until she gets up to her apartment, waiting for a text from her. Once you receive the text from Mikasa, you tell the cab driver that you’re good to go. You tilt your head onto Levi’s shoulder with a soft sigh.

His face is as expressionless as ever, but he’s just so impatient.

Levi nearly pulls you out of the car in one smooth action, leading you home with a hand at the small of your back after he nearly throws his credit card at the cab driver.

He hears your laugh from next to him and shoots you a glare with no heat behind it. Obvious impatience is not something you see often on him- it’s only fitting that it’s due to you.

Your movements are slowing down, clearly an indication of your feet beginning to hurt. Levi immediately picks up on it, wordlessly scooping you into his arms to walk into your building. You remember the first time he had carried you home when your feet were beginning to hurt. You were about to slip out of your heels and walk barefoot when he had looked at you with disgust. He had told you that he’d carry you home for his own sanity. After all, he wouldn’t be able to sleep well knowing that you had willingly dirtied your feet.

Your arms loop around his neck, fingers lightly scratching at his undercut.

You’re smiling at him softly and he breathes out a grumpy “What you lookin’ at?”

“Nothin, just my stupid boyfriend,” You reply with a gasp when he threatens to drop you.

“Boyfriend? That’s all I am to you?”

“How about soulmate? Or other half?”

“I think you mean better half,” Levi mutters, somehow swiping into the building and walking to the elevators easily. He earns himself a particularly hard scratch to the back of his head and a playful glare from you.

Levi holds you easily, without breaking a sweat. You trace over the collar of his shirt, dipping your fingers under to press against his necklace. Pulling your hand away, you push his glasses up his nose before they slide down. He’s incredibly handsome with or without glasses, but you can’t seem to tear your eyes away from him.

“You’ve got a staring problem,” Levi tells you and you scoff.

“Sorry for admiring my incredibly handsome better half,” You roll your eyes.

“Tch.”

It’s when you’ve both finished your skincare routines, you’re both in sleep clothes next to each other in bed and your legs are barely touching. It’s when he sees a smokey sort of fatigue curling up in your brown eyes. It’s when a sliver of moonlight reflects off of your brown skin that he pulls you into his side and tells you that you’re the best part of him. That you’re his better half.

Levi doesn’t say it so much as he shows it.

#levi x reader #levi ackerman x reader #levi ackerman #aot imagines #snk imagines

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