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owlseeingchaos · 1 year ago
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Welcome to the blog!
I'm Owlkhemy (she/they preferred, but no real issues with anything else)!
As I've stated back on my main @owlkhemy, I don't like to get too fandomy on main. So here's a non-main blog for me to fangirl in! Yay!
As with my other blogs, general warning here for the bucketloads of swearing I tend to do. Also a warning that some of my interests get a little... dark or heavy on occasion, so I'll do my best to tag them accordingly. If there's something I've forgotten, please let me know! I love tagging stuff properly.
A long, loooong list of all the stuff I'm a fan of is below the cut. I'll be updating it as I go along and inevitably add things I've forgotten. I'm willing to talk about any of these, so feel free to pop into my askbox!
(Anything with a blue asterisk is something I haven't actually read/played/watched all of, so please be patient with me if I get something wrong. In most of these cases, I've done a thing I like to call "consuming by proxy" - I've read a wiki extensively or watched a Let's Play or something.)
The "current fandom nonsense" indicator in my blog description is which one you're probably going to incessantly see for a while.
Queue is set to 4 posts a day. Initially I was going to say "hopefully it's enough", but more and more I've come to find that I actually don't do enough browsing on here to keep up with much more than that...
You will very quickly find out which characters are my favourite in everything. For the sake of your sanity, don't question why that might be too much in most cases...
The Long-Ass List of All My Interests!
Video Games:
Super Mario Bros. and its various subseries
Sonic the Hedgehog (I've only played the Genesis games, Heroes, Colors, Unleashed, and the "Storybook Series")
Crash Bandicoot, particularly the Radical games and Nitro-Fueled
Namco arcade games (my top four are Mappy, Sky Kid, Phozon, and Bosconian, so I'll probably focus on those)
Petz, especially Petz 5. I have a sideblog for my Petz nonsense, @hydrargyrykennelz .
I also like Petz Dogz/Catz 2. I had Petz Dogz 2, but they're literally identical except for dogs or cats.
Pac-Man, especially Pac-Man World (mostly PMW2, PMW3, and World Rally, which I've played more of than the first PMW)
Undertale* and Deltarune (and Undertale Yellow*)
Minecraft
Spyro the Dragon (I've played the demo of the original and Ripto's Rage, most of Enter the Dragonfly, and quite a bit of A Hero's Tail)
Star Fox, probably mostly 64* (it's on the list! I Will be playing it at some point! I practically have to or else I'll die at this point /j)
Yume Nikki* (also on the list; done extensive wiki reading and watched the occasional gameplay clip)
Bejeweled, especially Bejeweled 3, though I've also played Stars
Kirby* (I've played a bit of 64)
The Legend of Zelda (I put 5-10 hours into my roomie's copy of Tears of the Kingdom and have plans to play Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask)
No Straight Roads* (also on the list; I've done a good amount of wiki reading)
Team Fortress 2* (also on the list, but not an urgent one; wiki reading)
Speedy Blupi/Eggbert, which I played constantly as a kid
Bendy and the Ink Machine* (did extensive wiki reading)
Cuphead* (wiki reading, plus i was really into Casino Cups)
Cult of the Lamb* (watched a playthrough)
Dislyte (I've long stopped playing but it's very interesting still)
Pikmin (watched playthroughs of all of them except Hey!, have played Bloom)
Web Series:
ENA
Happy Tree Friends* (I've only seen a few episodes, but I did read the entire wiki at one point)
I have passing interest in analog horror, even though I'm both an absolute scaredy-cat and dysprosophobic
Webcomics:
Awful Hospital
I read all of Poppy O'Possum before it was cancelled
I also used to be a pretty avid reader of Handplates
Other internet stuff:
I also have a passing interest in lost media
I spend a lot of time on TV Tropes (unfortunately), mostly to absorb random facts
I am a furry (and, if you want to get more specific, also a scaly and a feathery)
Other stuff in general:
Gravity Falls remains the only show I watched as a child that still has a bit of a grip on me, so the occasion content from that will pop up here.
Real life:
Science. I'm literally about to get my bachelor's. Emphasis on biology and chemistry, because physics and I have a mutual respectful hatred of each other.
Birds, especially owls (as my various usernames would suggest)
Insects and arachnids
Opossums
Really, just wildlife in general, actually?
Space.
Photography
Art
Music
Writing
I haven't read any books in a hot minute, but I like fantasy and sci-fi
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alinathinkstoomuch · 14 days ago
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THOROUGHLY DEALT WITH
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18+ MDNI
pairing: aaron hotchner x reader summary: you're angry with aaron for missing an important event, so naturally, he fucks the anger out of you. warnings | an: UMMMM ok so! p in v sex, fingering & oral (f receiving) spanking, drooling, overstimulation, masturbation, light d/s elements, choking & mirrors (can u tell i have my favs) somnophilia mentioned, errthang consensual, age gap, just filth yalllll word count: 4.2k… i wrote this when i was ovulating,, my cycle unfortunately decides what content i post LOL
✧ masterlist
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You began with his shirts. The infuriatingly pristine, colour-coded, pattern-matched shirts hanging in your closet. The one you once shared. After tonight, however, you’d have ample room for your winter coats.
It felt harsh, thinking that way. And perhaps, once the adrenaline had ebbed, you’d be curled up among those coats, using the sleeves as tissues. But for now, you let the mindset of pure rage, slight dramatics and fury take the lead.
You knew what you were stepping into, a relationship with a man who might as well have been the crown jewel of the FBI, given how seldom he was home. And you bore it with grace. You never demanded much, only ever asked for compromise when it mattered, when it truly mattered.
So one by one, the shirts sailed over the bannister, landing in a crumpled heap by the entryway. Cotton casualties of yet another one of his spectacularly poor decisions.
He’d missed it.
The one thing you’d asked him not to miss. Not a work dinner, not some meaningless social obligation, but your event. The one you’d planned for months, circled on the calendar, reminded him of over and over. The one he looked you dead in the eye and promised he’d be there for.
What did you get instead? A text.
I’m sorry. Something came up.
Something came up, indeed. The collapse of your relationship, for starters.
Okay, maybe that was the dramatics talking. Maybe you didn’t want it to end, but you wanted—no, needed—him to take you seriously. Because how dare he? How dare he treat your life like the flexible one? As if your moments were optional, but his moments, ones that revolved around blood, caution tape, and sirens were the ones that ever mattered.
And the worst part of it all was the fact that despite all your anger, you still missed him in a way that language couldn’t quite capture. He’d been out on a case for two weeks, and even before that, he was barely home, glued to that damn bureaucratic chair in his office like it deserved more of him than you did.
You’d spent the last eight hours convincing yourself you were done. Done making excuses for him. Done watching your life conform to his schedule, his job, him in general. But your body, the ultimate traitor, didn’t seem done with him at all. Not when your hand drifted between your legs in the shower, picturing the way he used to pin you there, palm flat against your sternum.
Not even now, when you were supposed to be standing your ground. You still found yourself wishing he’d walk through that door and press you against it, like he needed it just as badly as you did.
Maybe that’s all this was. Maybe all you needed was a good fucking.
And you knew that was exactly what you would’ve gotten, had he shown up like he promised. He would’ve started in the car, hand gripping your thigh, maybe even slipping under your dress, getting you all worked up before you’d even made it home.
Then he would’ve railed into you, bent you over the piano in the foyer, lights blazing because of course he’d want the neighbours to see exactly how he rewarded your hard work. But no. You went home alone. Worked up, pissed off, with every intent of emptying your wine stash. Which you did.
And now, you stood at the top of the stairs, breath uneven as your pulse pounded in your throat. And that’s when you heard it.
His car in the driveway.
Shoes. Yes. Shoes seemed poetic. Fitting. The perfect thing to hurl at him with all the grace of a woman scorned and denied an earth-shattering orgasm. Actually, orgasms—plural. Because he wouldn’t have stopped at just one. He would’ve teased the first out of you, held you at the edge until you begged, then made up for it with two more. Rewards for being so damn patient.
You turned on your heel and marched back into the closet, snatching the nearest pair of his smug little leather loafers. Polished, arrogant things, much like the man who owned them.
By the time he stepped through the front door, you were already back at your vantage point, arm cocked, waiting until he turned to launch the first shoe.
It missed his head by a fraction and slammed into the doorframe with a satisfying crack.
He froze, jacket slung over one arm, briefcase in hand, tie loosened and all.
“Hi, honey,” you called out, your voice sweet enough to rot teeth. Then came the second loafer which landed just short of his feet. “Figured I’d give you a hand with the packing,” you added, gesturing to the shirts across the entryway. “Consider it a head start. I assumed your schedule wouldn’t allow for sentimentality.”
He set his briefcase down first, then his jacket, but you didn’t stay to watch the performance. You were already halfway down the hall, disappearing into the closet like a woman possessed, and thoroughly, furiously sexually frustrated.
You grabbed as many of his jackets as your arms could carry, yanking them from the rack with such force—hangers still hooked—you were genuinely surprised the bar hadn’t come crashing down with them.
You heard him then, just shy of the dressing room, steps clear as day. You paused in the hallway and dropped the pile right where it met the doorway, letting the expensive fabric fall into a heap like a makeshift barricade.
Then, back into the closet you went. You reached for what was left, another jacket, two more blazers, and his beloved cashmere sweaters. You snatched them from their hangers like they were the ones that were responsible. And with your arms full again you turned, only to find him standing there. So close that you nearly walked right into him.
“Unless you’re here to carry these to the curb, I suggest you get the hell out of my way, Aaron.”
His eyes dropped briefly to the pile in your arms, then back to your face. “I’m not leaving.”
“Like hell you’re not—”
“Just put my things down and we can talk about this,” he said, with that infuriatingly calm voice that made you want to scream, in two very different ways. “I know I made a mistake.”
You scoffed and stepped closer, close enough to breathe him in. Not the crisp, clean scent you were used to in the mornings when he’d leave for work showered, shaven and put together.  No, this was him at the end of the day. The faint remnants of cologne clinging to his skin, mixed with something more worn-in, and when he exhaled, you caught the faintest trace of bourbon on his breath. Rossi’s doing, no doubt.
Probably his way of trying to calm him down.
You’d heard Dave refer to you as a ‘fiery one’ more than once, always with a little too much amusement in his voice. He’d even joked, right in front of you, that Aaron wouldn’t know what to do with a woman like you. Said he’d fold if you ever gave him real attitude. Clearly, Rossi had sensed what kind of storm Aaron was walking into tonight and had handed him a glass like some kind of offering from the gods.
“So not only are you incapable of being unselfish for one night that doesn’t revolve around you, you also seem to have a stunningly poor ability to follow basic instructions,” you snapped, voice rising in a way that was rare. “Are you absolutely certain you went to FBI school, or did you half-ass that the way you half-ass everything else you claim to care about?”
“Are you done?”
“Not even fucking close. But go ahead, interrupt again. You’re great at that, right?” You shoved the pile of clothes into his chest, hard enough to make him take a step back. “Talking over people, brushing them off, missing everything that actually matters until it’s already too late.”
He stood there for a second, holding the clothes before letting them drop to the floor without a word. You let out a bitter laugh at the sight and moved to shoulder past him, but his hand shot out, catching your wrist.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?” you hissed, turning back to face him. “Don’t walk away from the man who didn’t show up? Don’t stop screaming because it’s the only thing that gets through that thick, federal skull of yours?”
“Don’t do this. Not when you want me more than you want me to leave.”
“What? Are you—are you actually insane? Delusional? Is this the sleep deprivation talking? Because if so, you can take that smug little fantasy and get the hell out of my house.”
He let go of your wrist, but only to step behind you. His hands moved to your hips, turning your body to position you in front of the island in the centre of the dressing room.
“You want me gone?” he asked.
You cocked your head slightly to the right, catching his reflection in the mirror ahead as he began to undo his tie.
“Say it,” he murmured, eyes meeting yours in the glass. “Say it while I’m inside you.”
You didn’t move. Didn’t speak.
Not because you lacked words, lord knows you had plenty. And he hadn’t even scraped the surface of the venom still burning at the back of your throat. But your body—traitorous, wretched thing—had already betrayed you.
You were supposed to be holding your ground. Not standing there, spine taut, with him behind you, visibly restraining yourself from folding over the island and handing him all your anger, gift-wrapped in a neat little bow that read please, fuck me senseless.
His fingers brushed your waist, and your lungs locked up. Your throat was so dry your heart had taken to skipping two beats at a time, just to remind you to swallow.
“I missed one night,” he continued, his fingertips now trailing up the length of your forearms. “But I haven’t missed this. Not once.”
You let out a flimsy exhale, turning your head to meet his eyes in the mirror once more. “You think this makes it better?” You knew it did. Maybe this wasn’t the kind of answer that made sense in a normal relationship, but nothing about you and Aaron had ever been normal.
“No,” he answered like the gentleman he was pretending to be, knowing exactly what was coming. “But I think you want it anyway.” And then his hands dropped from your arms completely. “So…what’s it going to be?”
Your hands moved before your mind did, bracing yourself against the island, knuckles whitening as your spine arched over the marble.
He hummed in approval, hands moving to your neck, brushing your hair aside. “That’s what I thought.” You felt him press into you, the weight of him flattening you against the surface as his fingers found the zipper of your jeans.
“This doesn’t change anything,” you lied, needing to put up some kind of fight.
He stilled for half a second, then let out a quiet laugh. “No?” he mocked, dragging the denim down your thighs until it was bunched at your knees. “Then why are you shaking?”
“Because I can’t fucking stand you,” you spat, forehead pressing to the marble, breath fogging against it as you tried—really tried—to remember why you decided his wardrobe would look better scattered across the entryway.
You heard him click his tongue behind you.
“Honey,” he drawled, his voice so pleased and full in all the ways that you were seconds away from being.“You’re so wet your underwear’s turned three shades darker.” And just to prove your point, his thumb dragged slowly over the soaked fabric making your body jolt, forehead nearly smacking the marble with the force of the reaction.
“Step out of the jeans for me,” he murmured, tapping your right thigh first, then your left.
You kicked the material off one leg at a time, your balance swaying as you did, hands tightening around the edge of the island for strength because it was the only thing keeping you upright.
His hand slid up the backs of your legs again, brushing that spot where your ass met your thighs. Then, without a word, his fingers slipped underneath the gauzy material of your panties.
You sucked in a breath as his middle finger dragged through your folds.
“Do you remember what had you so pissed off in the first place?” he questioned, like he genuinely expected you to form a coherent sentence right now.
“Yes,” you groaned into the counter, hips bucking shamelessly against his hand.
“So greedy,” he tutted, pulling his finger back just enough to watch your hips chase it. “Want me out of the house. Throwing my things out like some scene from a bad divorce. But one finger and you’re already a whiny little mess?”
A strangled noise tore from your throat, something between a curse and a moan, as your hands gripped the counter tighter.
“How many times did you touch yourself while I was gone, hm?”
“I—fuck, I don’t—”
“You don’t know?” He pushed a thick finger inside you, making you hiss at the stretch. “That’s not a real answer. Try again.”
You bit down on your lower lip hard enough to sting, eyes fluttering shut as your body betrayed you all over again.
“I asked you a question.”
“Three,” you gasped. “Maybe four.”
He let out a low, satisfied noise. “Maybe? You lost count?”
“D-Don’t flatter yourself.”
“Oh, I don’t need to,” he laughed, adding a second finger. “You’re doing it for me.”
Your right hand curled into a fist, accidentally knocking a bag off the side in the process. “I hate you,” you mewled, the words barely making it past your throat.
“Liar,” he whispered, lips ghosting over your spine as his fingers worked deeper, curling just right. “You don’t hate me. You hate that I know exactly how to make you come before I’ve even unzipped my pants.”
Your mouth was parted against the marble, and when a moan caught in your throat, you managed to drag it back down just barely. Coaxing it into a shaky breath instead, trying to cling to the last scraps of pride you had left. Because he was right. Infuriatingly right.
“Well?” you hissed, breath catching. “Are you going to unzip your pants, or are we still pretending your fingers are doing anything I didn’t handle on my own while you were gone?”
Your heard an unbothered chuckle from him first and then felt the sharp sting of his palm landing against your ass, second. The impact was muffled by the fabric of your underwear, but the message landed all the same.
“That’s sweet, dear. But I don’t remember hearing you make these kinds of noises the last time you decided to take care of yourself…right next to me.”
You jaw clenched.
It had only happened once. You thought he was asleep—clearly, he wasn’t. He’d gotten in late from work, and you hadn’t wanted to bother him, so you took matters into your own hands… literally.
In hindsight, it explained the sudden burst of sex drive the next morning. You’d woken up to his mouth between your legs like he was trying to make a point that he could always make you come harder.
His free hand fisted in your hair, tugging your head to the side as he angled your face toward the mirror. “This isn’t how you sounded then, is it?” he taunted, fingers slipping out of you just to circle your swollen clit instead.
You gasped, body jerking at the sudden change in pressure.
“And just for that—” his hand stilled, the contact vanishing altogether, “—you can wait.”
You took the chance to catch your breath, heart pounding as you clenched around nothing, blinking back the tears gathering in your waterline like they’d scheduled a meeting.  
Glancing at the mirror you saw his hands work his belt free and you were tempted. So incredibly tempted to prove him wrong, to reach down between your legs and finish what he so cruelly started. Just a few strokes, that’s all it would take. But before you could even move—
“Don’t.”
You stilled. Every muscle locked.
“Put one hand between your legs,” he continued, the sound of his belt sliding from the last loop sharp in your ears, “and I’ll bind both behind your back. You won’t come tonight. Or tomorrow.”
Your chest rose and fell rapidly, barely managing to pull air in. The fabric of your top clung to your skin, sticky with sweat and a rage that seemed to be dissipating by the second. All that remained in its place was a desperate, aching hunger for him.
You pressed your thighs together without thinking, chasing some kind of friction, some kind of relief, but Aaron’s hands were already on your hips. His fingers slipped beneath the elastic of your underwear, tugging them down your legs.
You knew it was his favourite part, especially when he had you bent over nearly every surface in the house. He loved watching the strings of your wetness peel away with the fabric, loved when it dripped down your thigh.
Once you were free of the only barrier between the two of you, you braced yourself flat against the counter, arching your back just enough to let him swipe his thumb through your pussy, allowing him relish in your wetness like a ritual he never dared to skip.
“Still want me to go?” he asked, though his voice carried a gentler note.
You turned your head, eyes back on the mirror. “Just fuck me,” you whispered—no, begged. “Please.”
He leaned in, bending over you to press a kiss to the inside of your forearm. Then another, trailing lazily up the length of your arm to your shoulder. Behind you, you felt his hand move between your bodies, hearing the rustle of fabric as he pushed his boxers down.
He aligned himself with you, dragging the thick length of his cock between your thighs, letting you feel everything. Every vein, every throbbing inch, the obscene heat of him paired with the wet slip of precum he spread over you.
You keened out a moan, barely managing to keep yourself upright even with the counter beneath you, legs beginning to shake with the effort it took to stay still.
“I’m sorry I missed it,” he murmured, voice rasping just below your ear. “I wanted to be there. More than anything.”
“I know,” you breathed just as he guided your hips, braced his feet, and buried himself inside you in one devastating thrust. The stretch sent you spiralling, tears spilling freely down your cheeks as your forehead found comfort in the marble once more.
He didn’t give you time to adjust. He pulled out just enough to make you clench around the absence, and then slammed back in harder.
One hand slipped under your shirt, calloused fingers grazing your nipple while the other found its way back to your slick clit. All that came from your mouth were broken, pathetic sounds. Half-moans, half-sobs, every syllable caught between nonsense and pleading.
“A-Aaron, oh my f—god—oh—” Your voice wavered as he hit that spot again, and again, and again, until you were shaking with every thrust.
Drool slipped past your lips, a thick string trailing down to the countertop, followed by more, clinging to your chin, catching in the strands of your hair as you trembled under the weight of his body.
You felt Aaron release your nipple before his hand moved to your neck, his palm firm against your throat, holding you in place just as another string of spit slipped past your lips, landing on his hand.
“Look at you,” he grunted, tightening his hold as his hips lurched forward again. “Dripping from both ends.”
“Please don’t stop—I’m—I’m—”
“You’re close,” he chuntered, breath hot against your skin. “I can feel it, baby. You’re squeezing me so fucking tight, I don’t think I can last much longer.”
Your whole body locked, spine arching violently off the counter, eyes rolling back as the coil deep in your belly finally snapped. Your mouth opened in a silent scream, nothing coming out but air, tears, and barely intelligible sounds that might’ve been his name.
But Aaron didn’t stop.
Not even when your legs gave out beneath you, not when you slumped forward against the marble, sobbing through the aftershocks that tore right through you. He held you up, one arm wrapped around your waist, the other sliding up your back, fucking you through it, slow and deep now, like he needed to feel every last twitch and tremble your body offered him.
You could feel his rhythm start to falter, each thrust getting sloppier, his hips stuttering against you. Then, with a muffled moan into your shoulder, he pushed into you one final time and stilled, cock pulsing as he came. His grip eased, but his whole body shuddered against yours like he’d been hanging on just long enough to make sure you came first.
He made sure you were completely filled before he pulled out slowly, causing you to whimper at the emptiness. You barely managed to brush the damp hair from your face, to wipe away at the trail of drool on your chin, before his arms were around you again, this time gently guiding you down to the floor of the dressing room.
“Aaron,” you panted, landing on a pile of clothes you’d thrown there earlier. Soft cotton, rumpled cashmere, the ghost of his cologne clinging to it all. “What…what are you doing?”
“Shh, honey.” He knelt between your legs, his knees cracking on the way down.
“Sure this is good for your old man frame?”
He spread your legs open, fingers moving to push his come back inside you. “If I throw my back out eating your pussy, I’ll die a happy man.”
Your breath caught, hips jerking instinctively at the contact. “Jesus—Aaron—”
He lowered his head, mouth hot and wet as it latched onto your cunt, tongue dragging through the mess he’d just pushed back into you like it was the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted.
Your hands shot to his head, fingers tangling in his hair, undecided if you were pulling him closer or trying to push him away. “I don’t think I can go again, baby,” you gasped, your thighs twitching from the overstimulation.
You heard a sloppy, muffled, “You can,” just as he sucked your clit into his mouth, hard enough to make your vision white out for a second.
“Motherfuc—” Your legs locked around his head with such force that it had to be uncomfortable for him, maybe even a little painful. But when you opened your eyes and looked down, he didn’t look bothered in the slightest.
You caught the way his hips were grinding slowly into the rug beneath him, telling you this might not even be for your pleasure anymore but for his.
“I really, really don’t think I can come again,” you cried out, hips lifting into his mouth. “Please, Aar—”
Your voice broke off as he groaned against your pussy, loud and filthy. The vibration of it paired with the way he lapped at you, coaxed that familiar feeling, winding tight in your abdomen.
You shook your head, back arching, mouth open but no sound escaping as he sucked your clit into his mouth and circled it with his tongue over, and over and over again.
“Aaron, I—fuck—I’m gonna—”
The words dissolved into a sob as the pressure inside you reached its peak, crashing over you with a dizzying force. You came again, harder this time, legs spasming, hands clawing at the rug and his hair, tears slipping down your temples as your body convulsed under him.
You felt his mouth finally ease up, the warmth of him pulling away only for a moment until he was crawling up your body, bracing himself on his elbows as he hovered over you.
He scanned your face, watching the way your chest heaved, the way your eyes were still screwed shut as you tried to come down from the high he’d dragged out of you. He didn’t say anything, just let you come back to him on your own terms because he was generous like that.
Your fingers slowly loosened their grip on the rug, the tension bleeding from your limbs. Finally, you blinked up at him, dazed and thoroughly fucked-out.
“Think I went to heaven.”
He huffed a laugh, forehead dropping to yours. “Yeah?” he murmured. “Were they impressed?”
You let out a weak laugh, your hands dragging up from the rug to rest on his shoulders. “I’m still mad at you. Just… now I can do it with a clear head rather than a—”
“Horny one?” he supplied, earning a nod from you.
“Mhm. Was this your idea of an apology?”
“I mean…” He looked down at you, then at the mess around the closet. “It stopped you from throwing any more of my clothes, didn’t it?”
You snorted. “Temporarily.”
“I’ll take it.” He leaned down to press a lazy, unhurried kiss to your cheek. “Now, come on, let’s get you cleaned up. Then you can go back to yelling at me properly.”
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dysfunctionalcrab · 4 years ago
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babysitter
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pairing: georgenotfound x reader
pronouns: gender neutral
description: george is left to babysit your niece
warnings: mentions of a future family? just in case that makes you uncomfortable.
[y/n/n] - your nieces name
[y/s/n] - your siblings name (gender neutral too)
note: i’m not too sure about this imagine, please a like or reply if you actually enjoyed! - niss
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you woke up to the sound of your alarm blasting your ear off, if you hadn’t turned it off right there you probably would have gone deaf.
george was sleeping like a baby beside you, you could hear his quiet snores. you were surprised he didn’t wake up to the sound of your ear-piercing alarm.
turning on your phone, you glanced at the time that read 12:30. you sighed in annoyance as you registered that you only had half an hour before you had to be on your way to university. so you got up and began your normal morning routine, brush your teeth, shower, have breakfast and finally get dressed. however, as you were packing your bag, almost ready to go, you received a notification from your [sibling]
[y/s/n]: we’re 5 minutes away!!!
[y/s/n]: thank you so much for agreeing to do this :)
fuck.
it completely slipped your mind. you had promised to take care of [y/n/n] for today, your 7 year old niece, while your [sibling] was at their job interview. regardless, you texted them a quick ‘no problem’ before rushing upstairs to wake up george.
he was still sleeping, but now he was completely hiding under the covers with one arm sticking out. you hated to interrupt his beauty sleep but this was more important. you began to shake him awake.
“babe,” you shook him
“wake up,”
“george,” you removed the covers off his face
“wake the fuck up!” you started poking his sides. usually, you would be a little less... harsh, but you were panicking.
finally the boy rose from his slumber, groaning and stretching all his limbs. he blinked a couple times before meeting your eyes
“good morning,” he said softly, as if he completely just disregarded your tone of desperation and worry.
you pulled him by his arm and he sat upright,
“you need to get up right now,” you told him
“what’s going on?” he questioned, clearly confused as you weren’t giving him any context
“you need to take care of [y/n/n] for today, i have classes today, and i need to leave in 5 minutes and [y/s/n] has a job interview and there’s nobody else to take care of her,” you rushed out all in once sentence.
“are you serious?” he narrowed his eyes at you. “you know how bad i am with kids, especially [y/n/n] , she hates me,”
that was partly true. unfortunately, your niece wasn’t exactly fond of george. ever since you even started dating,m, [y/n/n] acted cold towards your boyfriend, it only got worse when you moved in with him. she always refused to play a game if george was going to participate, or never accepted any high fives or hellos from him. you felt sympathy for george. this child despised him and now you were asking him to look after her.
“please, i’m begging you,” you looked at him with pleading eyes. his eyes softened up after recognising the urgency of the situation.
“fine,” he agreed. you sighed out of satisfaction that you didn’t have to stress out [y/s/n] over finding a new baby sitter.
“thank you so much,” you pressed a small kiss to his lips appreciatively.
right at that moment, you two heard the doorbell ring. you urged george to get ready as fast as he could while you went down stairs and greeted your [sibling] and your niece.
“auntie/uncle [y/n]!” [y/n/n] yelled as you opened the door, immediately rushing into your arms. she looked a lot taller than the last time you saw her
“how’s my favourite girl?” you picked her up and swung her, before placing a little kiss on her head
you gave your [sibling] a quick hug. they handed you a bag full of toys, teddies and colouring pens, along with a spare set of clothing just in case [y/n/n] got a little messy throughout the day. and some quick reminders about her favourite foods or how to get her stop crying. you’d looked after her before, so all of it was pretty familiar to you
“again, thank you so, so much, you have no idea how much you’re helping me.” they told you. your [sibling] gave [y/n/n] a kiss on the cheek and told her to be a ‘good and kind little girl’ before finally exiting the household.
george, at last, made his way down. wearing a decent pair of jeans and a hoodie, giving an awkward wave to [y/n/n]
you checked the time and knew you had to get going. you had to explain to her that uncle george was going to be the one looking after her today. and after one whole tantrum, you managed to convince her to be a good girl by promising to give her a big reward afterward.
finally, you kissed [y/n/n] and george a goodbye , then shut the front door behind you.
george and [y/n/n] stood opposite each other. there was an uncomfortable silence in the air. george felt so...he didn’t even know. what do you say to a child who hates you? [y/n/n] tightly clutched her bag of toys.
“so, [y/n/n],” george cleared his throat, he bent down to her level. “i hear you like toy story?”
[y/n/n] pouted “i don’t like you” she said, and stomped away.
george sighed. this was going to be a long day.
and it was.
-
it started off with [y/n/n] innocently using her colouring pens and drawing random things, you know, as children do. but when she ran out of paper, she made her way to your office, where all your uni work was. she grabbed the closest piece of paper that was sitting on your desk, deciding it was going to be the next canvas for her art. this paper just happened to be a very important assignment.
when george caught her in the act, he had to physically tear her away from your office, in defiance of all her kicking and screaming.
-
then, when george accidently left the door to your shared bedroom open. [y/n/n] waddled in without him noticing, she started playing with all of his devices. his computer, his microphone, and somehow she got a hold of his headphones, and took out the battery. george didn’t realise until he noticed the cover missing. he tried to ask her nicely where she threw the battery. but she insisted that she wasn’t going to give it back unless he stopped being ‘mean’
-
when lunch time rolled around, george put a pizza in the oven, he remembered clearly that [y/n/n] loved pizza, specifically pepperoni. nothing could go wrong here.
but when he called her to the kitchen so she could receive her lunch. she just stared blankly at the pizza, and then at him. she crossed her arms
“[y/n] usually makes a smiley face with the pepperoni”
george just felt all his will to live just disappear
-
coloured pens and toys were spread out all across the living room floor, [y/n/n] was sitting in front of the tv, george put on one of her favourite shows which thankfully distracted her for a bit, allowing him to relax. he pulled out his phone and texted you
to [y/n] <3 : help me please
to [y/n] <3: i cant take this anymore, i’m literally dying rn
to [y/n] <3: come home quick
he exhaled heavily, throwing his phone to the side. he was so exhausted.
[y/n/n] was roleplaying with her toys, making them move around and doing squeaky little voices. george smiled at the innocence
“purple bear doesn’t play with us anymore. princess giraffe, mr. george took her away from us,” she spoke in a high pitched voice
george’s ears perked up. how funny that she had a teddy named ‘mr. george’. curiously, he watched the little girl.
“koala george, is a meanie, he stole purple bear and now they don’t want to hang out with us!”
it didn’t take a genius to find out what [y/n/n] was displaying through her role playing teddies.
that was why she didn’t like george. before they got together, [y/n] mentioned they almost spent every weekend with [y/n/n], playing with her and having fun with her.
she felt abandoned by [y/n] and felt as if george had taken them away from her .
george felt at fault as he noticed the girls eyes started to water.
“does purple bear love us any more?” she continued to play.
george decided it was enough and he switched off the television. he joined [y/n/n] on the floor and grabbed the teddy that was supposedly ‘koala george’
“[y/n/n]” he spoke softly. the little girl looked up at him expectantly. he held up the teddy.
“is this supposed to be me?” he questioned her.
“that’s a koala bear,” she answered
“no-, [y/n/n],” he said. he thought about how to ask her, and just chose it was best to be flat out with the child,”
“did i steal auntie/uncle [y/n] away from you?”
the question took her by surprise. she gazed at him with big wide eyes. she thought about her answer and grabbed the purple bear, which was supposed to be you.
“they don’t play with me as much anymore, they’re always with you, because of you, they don’t love me anymore,” she pulled a face, it wasn’t angry, it wasn’t annoyed.
it was a genuinely sad face.
george was sure he physically felt a pang of guilt in his stomach. he never even comprehended the fact that a child could feel so rejected.
“listen... [y/n/n],” he said gently. he thought about his words. comforting someone wasn’t exactly his strongest point, particularly not a child who detested him “[y/n] will never stop loving you, okay? they love you very much, and i’m sorry you feel like i stole them ”
[y/n/n] continued to listen.
“but don’t forget that [y/n] has so much love to go around! look, they love you, and they love me, they love grandma and grandpa too! they will always love one another even if they can’t see each other often,”
[y/n/n] stayed silent. she fiddled with the purple teddy, folding its ears and patting its head. she loved that bear. it was actually gifted to her by you, when she was first born. she brought it to her chest and hugged it. george tried a different approach.
“listen, how about- this weekend, we can all go to the park together, and have a picnic. you, me, [y/n], and your parents too,”
she continued to just stay silent. george didn’t know what to expect, she was unpredictable, was she going to throw another hissy fit? or start to cry? he wasn’t sure
“can we also get ice cream?” she asked
george smiled and felt himself relax. thank god. “all the ice cream you want,” he told her
[y/n/n] stood up and giggled. like her whole entire mood did a whole fucking 180. “okay! let’s go play dress up now!”
———
7:45 pm. you finally arrived home. you were tired out of your mind. [y/s/n]’s interview was delayed by two hours and was currently half way back home, meaning you had enough time to spend with [y/n/n]
you unlocked the door, expecting to see a giant tsunami of toys and colouring pencils and pens, but what you saw was the most heart warming thing ever.
george was sleeping on the couch, his head resting on the armrest. he had a couple pink bows in his hair, his lips were painted a hot pink, he was wearing a couple sparky bracelets and a purple floral necklace.
in his lap, [y/n/n] rested her head, she was wearing a fairy costume with matching pink bows and sparkly bracelets.
you quickly snapped a photo of this wholesome moment. because, who wouldn’t? you spent a few minutes just watching the two sleep, they were probably just as tired as you.
moments like these made you really appreciate the people you had in your life. the people you love so dearly much.
you didn’t want to disrupt the ambience but you felt it was better for your [sibling] to collect your niece when she wasn’t covered in glitter and an overload of pink accessories.
you quietly woke george up,
“baby, wake up.” you shook him awake, gently. in a very different way than you did this morning. he opened his eyes. and immediately smiled upon seeing your face. you ran your thumb across his cheek
“it looks like you two had a lot of fun,” you teased.
he quietly chuckled. “she’s okay,” he told you. looking down at the little girl sleeping in his lap.
you slowly and carefully picked her up, removing any accessories you thought may seem uncomfortable to sleep in. she was a heavy sleeper.
you carried her upstairs, tucking her into you and george’s bed and placing a kiss upon her forehead. you turned back to george and rushed in for a bear hug
“thank you so much for doing that,” you said. “i love you so much, i know it probably wasn’t easy, she can be quite the handful,”
george chuckled. “handful is an understatement,”
“you’d better be willing to dress up like that with our own kids one day.” you stated, hugging him tighter.
his face broke out into a small smile, having thought of an image of you two playing with you future kids. he kissed top of your head and then your nose
“maybe one day”
———
masterlist
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nanamixxkento · 4 years ago
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Always (Nanami x Female Reader)
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Rating: General
Content Warning: mentions of blood/injury.
Word Count: 2,827
A/N: I’m open for Nanami x Reader writing requests.
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He was late.
It wasn’t uncommon for Nanami to work overtime but he’d never been this late. The hours ticked by sluggishly, until you were pacing your living room with your heart in your throat and your phone in your hand.
You knew something was wrong. You knew it when you didn’t receive his customary text to let you know he was heading out or working overtime today.
And now you felt it. He was not answering his phone.
The worry got the best of you.
Scrolling through your contacts, you sought out a different number.
“Hello?” Gojo answered on the third ring, nearly making your knees give.
“Gojo,” you breathed, voice wavering. “Thank god you picked up!”
“Y/N? Are you okay?” He immediately sounded concerned, no doubt hearing the anxiety in your voice. “Where are you?”
“I’m fine, I’m at home,” you quickly reassured. “But I don’t think Ken is. He’s late Gojo, he’s so late. And he’s not answering his phone and I haven’t heard from him all day.”
Gojo swore softly. “Give me five minutes, I’ll find out where he was sent and get back to you.”
You went back to pacing, now with a slightly more hopeful note in your chest. With Gojo on Kento’s case, surely you’d at least be able to relax knowing where he was.
However, another anxious thought found you before then. What if ... what if Kento was so hurt he couldn’t attend to his phone? What if he was dying?
Your breath hitched with oncoming tears. That couldn’t be happening. So lost in your grief you nearly jumped when your phone rang again.
“Yes?” You answered wobbly.
“Y/N, I know where he is. But I ... I’m not anywhere close, I can’t go check on him. I asked Ichiji to stop by and he’s on his way—“
“Where is he?” You demanded, now scared.
“Titan High, but it’s too dangerous, don’t you dare try to go there Y/N!”
It was too late, you’d already made up your mind. “Sorry, Gojo but I have to find my husband. Thank you for your help.”
“Y/N—!”
You ended the call, dashing to grab a coat and your keys. If Kento was hurt, if he was grievously injured, like hell you were going to sit around and wait for him to die or be rescued. You didn’t care what happened to you then, as long as you could be with him.
Outside, it was raining relentlessly, the skies the darkest grey. It rendered your vision awash with fuzzy colours but you couldn’t slow down, stomping the pedal and whizzing through the streets with your map giving instructions in the background.
Titan High was on the other side of the city, and you cursed everything alive and dead in the half-hour it took you to get there. It would seem you beat even Ichiji to the deserted location.
You stumbled out of your car, and rushed through the metal gate that was left ajar.
Immediately, you felt the lingering swirls of doom in the air as you drew closer to the doors. You noticed fallen chunks of concrete in the open field, and the deformed soccer goal post.
They were all signs of battle that made adrenaline course heavily through your veins. But if there was one thing you feared more than the invisible monsters Kento fought, it was losing him to said monsters.
You made it through the doors, ringing Kento again and again until you thought you heard the distant ring of his phone. It made you race for the staircase, breath puffing out rapidly and sweat beading on your forehead.
It was several degrees colder on the second floor. One wall was entirely blown out, several windows were completely shattered.
Traipsing through the crumbled wall into the classroom, the first thing you noticed was the dust still hanging in the air. The second thing you noticed was the absence of Kento. And finally, you fished out his cracked phone from under a toppled desk.
By now you were so frustrated and scared you could cry. You clutched his phone in a death grip, trying to breathe through the lump in your throat. He had to be nearby.
This time, you threw your reservations out of the window, opened your mouth and screamed his name over and over hoping he would answer.
Your feet carried you to the third and final floor where more signs of battle left the corridor with dents in the metal doors and shattered floor tiles. You struggled through the wreckage, the dust making you cough until finally you arrived at a broken down supply closet.
The yellow light bulb flickered eerily, casting out just enough light to see a heap on the ground.
“Kento!” You cried, falling to your knees by his bleeding figure.
He was propped up against the metal closet, a wad of tissue paper curled to his bleeding side.
He stirred at your voice, blinking slowly. “Hmm, Y/N?” His blood stained fingers pumped your cheek lightly, and he frowned. “Huh.”
Awareness seemed to slam into him moments later as he made the connection that you were real, and actually crouched there with him in the closet. “Wait—“ he struggled to righten himself, breathing strained and you lurched forward to help him. “What are you doing here? How did you get here? Have you lost your mind!”
He wheezed slightly, his hand clutched his side again as small rivulets of blood trickled out through the tissues.
You looked around wildly for anything to use to stifle his bleeding and got up to rummage through the closet and shelves until you found small packaged towels and rags.
“Please don’t talk,” you pled, distantly aware of the tears streaming down your face as you ripped open package after package and replaced the tissue with the towels.
He hissed as you pressed down on his wound, making your heart twist in your chest. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” you sobbed. “We have to stop the bleeding, please just— please hang in there. Ichiji should be here any minute.”
Kento clumsily used the back of his shaking knuckles to wipe your tears. “Hey,” he attempted, still sounding pained. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean ... to yell at you ... you’re okay ... please don’t cry.”
Ichiji found you several minutes later, still crouched over Kento who was thankfully bleeding less now with you there to apply pressure on his wound.
He paled considerably at the sight of the both of you covered in blood, your eyes puffy from tears and Kento’s squeezed shut.
It took the strength of both you and Ichiji to help manoeuvre Kento down three flights of stairs and finally to the backseat of Ichiji’s car.
“To the hospital Ichiji, quickly,” you said, crowding against Kento’s side to press on his wound again.
Half-way through your trip, Gojo called, sounding a little wild over the speakers. “Ichiji, tell me those idiots didn’t get themselves killed!”
“G-Gojo-san,” Ichiji swallowed thickly. “We’re on our way to the hospital—“
“—the hospital?!”
“—because Nanami-san is injured—“
“HOW INJURED?”
Ichiji was sweating bullets now, nervously flexing his fingers over the steering wheel. He’d never heard Gojo-san shouting before and it made him incredibly nervous. “We ... we don’t know yet.”
“Your location, now, Ichiji,” Gojo’s voice came out calmer with a hint of steel underlying it.
“Y-yes, sir!”
“Did you run into Y/N? I swear if something happens to her, Nanami will have me castrated.” Gojo muttered darkly. “Make sure she’s safe, Ichiji, you got that?”
“She’s um, she’s here with me and she can hear you,” Ichiji offered meekly but Gojo had already ended the call.
Silence flooded the car again, but for Kento's harsh, wheezing breaths.
You used your free hand to stroke through the damp wisps of his hair, tugging comfortingly at the crown of his head. “Ken, you have to stay awake,” you told him regrettably, tugging gently at his hair again. “Stay with me.”
He made a soft groaning noise but his eyes cracked open.
“That’s it,” you encouraged, barely managing to hold back a second wave of tears. “Focus on my voice.”
You talked to him about the trip you were organising for next month, where you planned to go, and all the ridiculous endeavours you vowed to pull him into. By the time you reached the hospital, he was struggling to keep his eyes open for a second longer but by then a squad of nurses with a stretcher rushed to his side and you felt some relief wash over you.
You were checked in too, even when you insisted all the blood wasn’t yours, but the elderly nurse in charge gave you one stern look and hooked you to an IV.
Ichiji stayed by your side, shuffling nervously and gulping at every sudden noise, no doubt fearing the appearance of Gojo.
When Gojo appeared an hour later, Ichiji did indeed jump a foot in the air. “G-G-Gojo-san! You made it!”
At least he wasn’t shouting, but something about his expression looked distinctly foreboding. “You,” he pointed a finger at you. “Are an utter idiot!”
You gave him a sheepish look but made no apologies whatsoever.
“What if Nanami hadn’t exorcised the curse, huh? You could’ve died.” He huffed, leaning his long limbs against the wall. “And then I would’ve had to spend the rest of my life avoiding him. Sheesh.”
You shrugged stiff shoulders. “You couldn’t have stopped me.”
“That’s because you’re as stubborn as him!” Gojo said. “And as dumb as him,” he pointed viciously at Ichiji who shuddered.
“I gave you one job,” he told Ichiji. “One. How the hell did she beat you to it?”
Ichiji was looking throughly chastised, sweating profusely with his gaze locked on the floor.
You used your foot to lightly kick Gojo’s ankle. “Stop bullying him,” you said. “It’s not his fault.”
Gojo huffed again, but heeded your wish.
A couple of hours later, you were allowed to see Kento when he finally awoke from his surgery. Gojo and Ichiji lingered awkwardly at the door while you dashed to his side to take his hand and pepper his face with grateful kisses.
Kento wrinkled his nose slightly at you but he was smiling. “Kisses won’t make me less mad at you for putting yourself in danger, Y/N,” he scolded, albeit gently.
“Shut up and accept my love,” you said unfalteringly, earning a laugh from Gojo who finally wandered into the room after you.
“Don’t they just warm the cold cockles of your heart?” He sighed fondly to Ichiji.
“You’re not off the hook either,” Kento threw him a mild glare. “I know you told her where to find me.”
Gojo cleared his throat and ignored him. “I think the moral of today is that we’re all alive. And that’s what we should be talking about. Of course that and the fact that Y/N called you her husband.”
You jolted, flushing as you realised that you did indeed call him that in the heat of the moment earlier.
It was easy to forget sometimes when you and Kento already shared everything. You’d been living together for years, you’d even discussed kids.
You cleared your throat awkwardly. “I think the true moral of today,” you said, “is that Jujutsu sorcerers should never be sent out on solo missions. And you really should invest in some location trackers and an earpiece.”
“Mhmmmm,” Gojo hummed slyly and clapped his hands. “Well now that the lovebirds are reunited, Ichiji and I will see ourselves out, right Ichiji?”
“Yes, sir,” Ichiji yelped, slinking out of the room immediately.
Gojo’s smile was satisfied but it quickly morphed into a serious expression as he gazed at the both of you through his blindfold. “I’m glad you’re okay, Nanami. And Y/N,  if you weren’t, I might have had to bring you back to life just to kill you for being an idiot.”
“Yeah, yeah, we love you too Gojo,” you smirked teasingly at him and waved him out.
The exhaustion of tonight’s events were beginning to catch up with you. It was nearing three in the morning and all you wanted was to curl into Kento’s warmth and catch a few hours of rest.
He cleared his throat softly and scooted over. “Come on sleepy head,” he patted the space next to him. “Get in.”
You smiled gratefully as you slid into the cosy space beside him and carefully rested your head on his chest.
The lights overhead dimmed a few minutes later to a hushed warm colour that engulfed the room with shadows.
Kento stroked your hair lightly, his breathing soft but not yet asleep. “I’m sorry I worried you,” he murmured quietly, just as you were beginning to wonder if he was finally falling asleep.
“Ken,” you chided gently. “Go to sleep. There’s nothing to apologise for.”
He hummed contemplatively. “I knew what I was signing up for with this job,” he sighed. “But it never gets easier. Especially that I have you now.”
It wasn’t like Kento didn’t know your true feelings about his occupation. You supported him in everything he did, but that didn’t mean you had to like it. Constantly risking his life would never be something you agreed with.
“I know,” you sighed too, tracing feathery circles over his chest. “It’s not easy for me either. So you can’t blame me for what I did today, okay? Losing you is not an option, I don’t care what your job description entails.”
He squeezed your shoulder lightly, as if to acknowledge your words. “I promise I’ll always come home to you ... even if it means you might occasionally have to haul my ass there yourself.”
You cracked a smile and felt it mirrored against your temple as he pressed a gentle kiss to your brow. “That’s fine by me,” you declared and snuggled closer to him.
Silence descended again but for your rhythmic breathing and the warm thudding of his heart under your ear.
It was a much-needed peace after the storm. He was alive and breathing and in your arms, and you couldn’t have wished for anything more.
“Y/N,” he said a while later, stirring you from the first stages of falling asleep. His thumb was fluttering lightly over your cheekbone, and you suspected the innocent strokes were what was lulling you to sleep.
“Hmm?”
“Did you really call me your husband?”
A wave of butterflies, nerves and surprise cleanly banished any lingering sleep from your system. You attempted a calm, matter-of-fact tone. “Yes.”
You felt the ghost of his smile again. “Was it by accident?”
“Maybe,” you admitted, your cheeks warming. “Does it matter?”
“Maybe,” he echoed and you heard the light humour in his tone. “What if it matters to me to know whether you think of me that way?”
You swallowed. “Well ... we’ve been together for years now. I don’t see myself with anyone else and if it won’t be you, then it won’t be anyone. For me at least.”
The thumb on your cheek brushed lower to hook just under your jawline and tilt your head up. You looked up at him and were startled by the adoring look on his face. “It’ll always be you for me,” he said and pressed your lips together.
You melted under the loving ministrations of his mouth, your heart racing and racing. Everything always seemed too good to be true with Kento, even the overflowing affection in your chest.
Cradling his cheek in your palm, you pressed closer to him, lips lingering together for a long, wonderfully charged moment.
When he pulled back he was smiling faintly, but his eyes were serious. “Do you understand why it matters to me to know?”
You bit your lips shyly. “Well ... a girl can hope ... that it means you like it?”
He chuckled. “Close. Very close.”
“Okay, then tell me,” you pressed your thumb to his lips and tried to resist your smile as you felt his own grow under your touch.
“It means ...” he began slowly, letting the tension mount. “That I do like it of course ... but that I only like it because I feel the same way Y/N. I’ve been planning to ask you. I won’t now, not like this. But I will, soon. And when I do, I’ll hope your answer is yes... I’ll always hope your answer will be yes to me.”
Blinking away a tear, you buried your face in his throat and let out a shuddering breath. “Yes,” you said unequivocally, and cuddled closer to him.
He pressed his face into your hair and smiled. “Sleep?”
“Yes,” you said again, smiling wobbly.
“Do you love me?” He teased.
“Yes.” You replied fervently. “Yes, yes, yes.”
His palm pressed over the back of your head and held you closer, sighing contentedly. “I love you, too sweetheart. Always.”
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While I’m here... I’ve finally updated My Past Became Our Future! :D
Taglist: @psychedelicships @jwillowwolf @lost-in-thought-20 @stardustlv (I can’t remember if anyone else was on the taglist for this one... Let me know!)
Read it here! 
Chapter 10: How Did It Come To This?
‘The world’s got a funny way of turnin’ around on you.’
As the video call cut out, Thomas couldn’t even raise his head. The way Virgil’s voice trembled as he called out their names, the pain in his voice stabbed him right in the heart. He glanced over and saw tears welling Nico’s eyes. They never thought it would come to this. As Patton smiled at them with a new level of malevolence, it was clear that he had lied to them all along, he made it seem like he only wanted to keep Virgil safe. In all the years they’ve been part of The Family. This was the first time both of them have become consumed by emotion when it comes to a job.
Thomas remembered the first time they met at that restaurant. The first night in months where they could just be themselves and they weren’t assassins. Virgil and Logan walked in so apprehensive, so nervous about how people would view them. Thomas should have guessed that Virgil was one of them from the way he looked around the room for threats, the brief glimmer of a dagger just poking out of his pocket, but he just didn’t think of it at the time. That’s why Thomas felt so happy when they were sat next to them, a normal couple. A small slice of a normal life that Thomas and Nico couldn’t have. It was clear that tonight was their first real date, which was why Thomas decided to call out to them, to get rid of some of those nerves. Nico glared at him, but when they all got talking, it was the best decision he could have made. They were wonderful and despite their job, they were determined to make these two lovebirds their best friends. The four of them talked and talked through the evening until it was closing time. Nico ran across the restaurant to get their poor server to take a picture for them. His phone pinged with a message from Patton, but he shut it down ready to take the photo. It was one of their most treasure photos, it’s even the wallpaper on their phones. As they parted ways, they both took out of their phones looking at the text from the boss.
‘Hey kiddos! I’ve got a new mark for you to keep an eye on. We go waaaay back. He used to be a part of The Family believe it or not! I received word that there’s a threat on his life, I don’t want anything to happen to him… So can you keep an eye on him and report back to me whenever you see him? The photo of him is attached. Bye kiddos!’
“You know, I really wish he would stop calling us that… I mean, I think we’re older than him and we’re married.” Nico sighed as he opened the photo as Thomas chuckled and did the same on his phone. They both fell silent and stared at the image.
“Virgil?” The shock was palpable between the two, they looked at each other and both had the exact same thought. They would protect him with every fiber of their being.
Their game plan was simple. Meet with Virgil and Logan on a regular basis but keep it in one place to watch out for any unusual characters. Their weapons would be tucked away in their bags just in case they were needed. There was no way they were letting anything happen to their new best friends, if Virgil was in danger- then Logan could be too. Every time, they would give Patton a detailed amount of information which he was grateful for… almost too grateful for in hindsight.  As time went on however, they started to become more and more slack on information. They even began to lie about seeing them. Virgil was no longer a mark, someone to monitor. He was their friend and each time they reported to Patton, there was a guilt that they couldn’t shake.
Thomas’ biggest regret is that it was him that told Patton about the engagement and consequent wedding. In his defence, he thought he was it would be handy to have them all there as a protection team. After all, him and Nico still thought Virgil was in danger. They put all of their effort into planning the dream wedding, one they couldn’t have. They wanted their best friends to have a perfect day together, damn the consequences. It happened when they were out one day buying wedding supplies.
“Have we lost track of the mission?” Nico asked while they were looking at flowers for the wedding one day. “I mean, we were supposed to be monitoring and reporting back every time. I know I’ve been slacking, I haven’t wanted to report anything, but… are we… getting too close? I think we’re letting our emotions cloud our judgement.” He wasn’t talking in a harsh way. It was almost as if he wanted reassurance that what they were doing was okay.
“You know what? If we have… who cares? I care about Virgil, and Logan. We might not be reporting back as frequently as normal, but we’re doing our best to look out for threats and we’re protecting the two other people that we care about.” He took Nico’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly. They continued to pick flowers, Nico went to buy the ones that they had picked and to order more. Thomas checked to see if he was out of sight before taking out his phone and texting Patton. He told him everything, the engagement, the wedding preparations as well as the date and location of the wedding.
The wedding was beautiful and the gratitude from Virgil and Logan was staggering. They’ve never been loved by other people before, but having these two in their lives made their roles as assassins more worthwhile. Both of them saw The Family walk in and sit at the back, but they made sure to ignore them. There was no reason to raise suspicions. Nico looked confused as to why they were here, and Thomas shrugged back in response. However, when he saw the colour drain from Virgil’s face at the sight of them, he knew that he had probably made a costly mistake. He pushed that thought aside and linked hands with Nico as they watched the two exchange vows. Nico leaned over and whispered in his ear.
“You know, maybe one day we could renew our vows. Have a proper wedding.” He smiled and softly kissed Nico in response. They were the first ones to stand up, clap and cheer when they were officially declared as married. When they both briefly turned around, they saw a gleam in Patton’s eye. He was definitely going to try and get Virgil on his own.
Nico ran up to the two newly-weds and hugged them tightly, then Thomas followed suit. Logan told everyone how to get to the party in the garden, then Nico and Thomas guided everyone through. They knew The Family would have already gone to find somewhere to wait for Virgil, and it was no surprise when Virgil had disappeared, but they couldn’t help but panic when Logan was nowhere to be seen. They searched the whole party and then every room in the building. As they heard voices, it was clear where The Family were… but they weren’t expecting Logan to be standing outside watching everything. Thomas went to walk over but Nico grabbed his wrist and shook his head. When they saw Janus’ crook wrap around Logan, they knew that they would eventually give him the memory repressor and there was nothing they could do about it. Time seemed to slow and when The Family finally came out of the room, the look of anger on all of their faces showed that the meeting didn’t go according to plan. Patton stormed up to them and even they had to admit they were pretty scared.
“Get that mess cleared up.” His voice was filled with pure rage as he pointed to the room behind them. “And trust me, kiddos. We’ll be having words soon.” He then smiled and waved them off as the others followed behind. Thomas took Nico’s hand and they both walked down the corridor playing dumb. They pretended to believe Virgil’s lie about Logan falling over and they all carried on with the evening like nothing had ever happened. Everyone in the party had been drinking too much to realise that the two guests of honour were not there that whole time.
Ever since the wedding, they both agreed that they wouldn’t report back to Patton with any form of frequency. They also stopped giving information like their location, that would stay just between them. They still had their fortnightly meet ups with the boys and the bond they built was the strongest thing ever. The boys came to them for everything; good news, help with arguments, dealing with bad days, just to meet up to get away from the everything. They appreciated the time to be normal. That all changed when Patton called them in not too long ago. They went to the house and entered the dark, desolate room in the house hand in hand, both of them unsure what was going to happen. Remus entered first and growled at them to sit down. Then Patton strolled in with a neutral expression on his face.
“You’ve got too close boys… but don’t worry. I have the perfect way to fix that.”
Thomas never forgot the smile that Patton gave them as he left and put the call with Virgil on loudspeaker. Him and Nico stared at each other in shock when they heard Patton’s ultimatum. Then when Remus pushed them into the room, they both realised they were going to be used to enforce Patton’s threats against Virgil if he refused to make a choice.
Nico looked over at Thomas, and Thomas nodded as a response.
“Don’t let me down, kiddos.” He walked over and handed them the files with all the details, even though they knew everything already. Patton grabbed both of their wrists menancingly.
“Or I’ll make sure you live to regret ever joining me in the first place.” He smiled and left them too it.
Thomas wrapped Nico in a firm embrace after he saw his husband shaking from that last remark. Nico gave him a tight squeeze and removed himself from the hug. They looked at each other, then nodded.
They were going to go and save their friends.
Whatever the consequences may be.
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cassandrium360 · 5 years ago
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Echoes
Guess who wrote another fic inspired by the ever amazing @hugoisthecoolestaround and @royal-engineer-of-corona? This time centring around Vamparian and mad scientist Hugo, since this au is one of my all time favourites. Happy Halloween everyone!!
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Hugo held his breath as he carefully gripped the beakers in his gloved hands. His wrists shook as he slowly raised a clear solution over the larger container, fingers trembling slightly. “Only a drop. C’mon Hugo.”
He spoke to no one in particular, voice reverberating throughout the hollow stone room, filling the space for mere seconds before silence engulfed him once again.
A crash sounded from the other side of the lab. A jolt of panic shot up Hugo’s spine at the side noise. He didn’t notice the beakers slip out of his hands, shattering into fragments against his desk as he whirled around.
The window pane was shattered. “What?” Hugo’s voice was soft enough to be overpowered by the harsh wind now flowing into the room.
Having lived alone for the past several years, Hugo had become accustomed to the quiet; however overbearing, suffocating, and imposing it may have been. Which is why he forced back a scream as an audible groan filtered from the other side of a cluttered table.
His heart slammed against his chest, hands gripping the desk he leaned against with so much force he could no longer feel his fingers.
Through the row of glassware and chemicals, a slender figure staggered to their feet, clutching a hand to the side of their head.
Hugo’s pulse raced into a blur, shallow breaths tearing their way in and out of his chest as he took in the boy’s appearance. His eyes were a piercing red, and he was dressed in a strange looking cloak of sorts. But what stood out most of all were the pare of eerily white fangs spilling out of his mouth.
Hugo reached out to his side, fumbling for something - anything - he could use to defend himself. His gloved hand landed on a… a book? That could work.
He grabbed the text in his hand, holding it out in front of him as if it were a sword. “Who… who are you?”
The boy - vampire, Hugo mentally corrected - released his brace on the table, drawing himself up to his full height. “Look, I -”
No sooner had the boy begun speaking, when Hugo threw the book towards him with all his might.
The boy doubled over as the thick leather cover struck him in the face. He let out a cry of pain, hands quickly moving to cup at his injured face.
Hugo couldn’t move. His eyes darted around the room, looking for a way out. He leaned further back against the rough rim of his desk.
The boy’s gaze bore into him in a way it hadn’t seemed to before. Hugo blanched. The blood from his nose trailed down his face. A pale hand reached up to haphazardly wipe it away.
“What was that for?” the boy exclaimed.
Hugo’s hands reached once more for a means of defence, not daring to take his eyes away from the intruder. He quickly drew his hand away from the chemical spill he’s caused mere moments ago, the acid breaking through the first layers of his glove in seconds. There was nowhere to run.
Seemingly taking in Hugo’s panicked expression, the mysterious boy allowed his shoulders to drop, letting out a long breath; the action making a long whistling sound through his fangs. “You’re Hugo, am I right?” Hugo managed a stiff nod. “I came here to ask for your help to-” The boy let out a sharp cry as he bit his lip.
Slowly, he unhooked his left fang from his bottom lip, rubbing at the sore spot with a practised annoyance.
Hugo allowed the tension in his shoulders to slip slightly, not bothering to catch it. He let out a laugh, quickly clamping a hand over his mouth as his brain caught up with his actions.
This… kid may not have been as intimidating as he thought.
But, Hugo still had some rationale about him. Despite what the posters might claim. “So, you’re not going to…”
“What? Kill you?” It was the boy’s turn to huff out a laugh. “Of course not. Besides, I can’t stand the sight of blood…” He hastily glanced down towards the few splatters of blood that had fallen onto the cold ground, before flicking his gaze back up. “Anyway, I need your help getting rid of”- he hesitated- “This.” He gestured towards himself at large.
Hugo pushed himself forward, “What did you say your name was?”
The boy attempted what Hugo guessed was meant to be a smile. “Varian.”
Hugo quirked up an eyebrow at the strange name. The vampire - Varian - glanced incredulously at the gesture.
Hugo quickly schooled his features; he had never much thought of that before. Your expression couldn’t betray you if there was no one around to read it.
Hugo shook his head. “So… you wanted help -” He realized he wasn’t quite sure how to continue. Varian had been rather vague before. He had heard something, or rather a rumour, that some vampires could disappear… but until tonight, he had thought vampires in general to be a myth.
“I need you change me back.” A melancholy look crossed his eyes as he allowed them to close. “I wasn’t always like this. I used to be norm- human. And I thought you might be able to change something.”
Hugo’s expression fell. “I don’t have much experience with transformations.” He winced at the crestfallen look on Varian’s face. “But I can try.”
He turned quickly to his shelves, moving up to his toes as he shoved through haphazardly corked beakers of various colours. “I had a serum that isolated DNA… if I modified that-” he smiled, “- it’d take time, but I could try to find a solution!”
Varian’s features lightened slightly as he stepped further into the lab.
They settled back into the silence, only fragmented by Hugo muttering the names of unlabelled formulas as he shoved them into one corner of the large shelf.
“So… you live alone?” Varian asked, taking in the familiar clutter of the workspace.
“Just me and my assistant.” Without looking away from what he was doing, he gestured towards a small mechanical mouse sitting on the desk lying beneath the bookshelf occupying his attention. “That’s Cheese.”
At the mention of its’ name, the mouse rolled forward, making an indignant whirring noise.
Varian stared at him in excitement, examining the gears lying beneath the acrylic casing. “That’s amazing! Is he sentient?”
“Hmm? Oh, no. But he can recognize most human phrases.”
“You know, if you programmed him with some sort of code, he could actually communicate in turn.” Varian poked at the mouse’s side, Cheese moving towards his hand slightly in response.
Hugo finally turned to face him. “That’s genius!” Stopping his act of balance, he began patting down the pockets of his lab coat, searching for a spare paper to pour the ideas surging through his mind onto.
“I dabble in alchemy too,” Varian added. He gestured towards the room, “Though nothing as prolific as this.”
Hugo smiled wryly. “Let’s just say I have a lot of time on my hands.” He held one elbow in his hand, smiling sadly as he, too, turned to face the room, fragmented moonlight spilling in from the shattered window.
Varian glanced over his disheveled appearance, “Let me guess; don’t get out much.”
Hugo rolled his eyes, quirking the corner of his mouth up as he pulled on his goggles. “Oh yeah, the vampire’s the one to judge my social life.”
Varian’s peels of laughter echoed through the room. It was nice, Hugo thought. Laughter made this place seem a little less lonely.
--
This isn’t the best piece I’ve ever written, but I had so much fun with it I thought I’d share it anyway. Hope y’all enjoyed it!!
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just-call-me-j-10v3 · 4 years ago
Text
Episode .5
The beginning
https://just-call-me-j-10v3.tumblr.com/post/643250003280904192/episode-1-the-truth-of-the-missing-brother
On the twelfth hour on the first day of October 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth. This was unusual only in the fact that none of these women had been pregnant when the day began. Sir Reginald Hargreeves went around to collect as many as he could, however he only got eight of them.
Number eight, or Jela Hargreeves as she would be later known as, was a special case, simply because her mother had abandoned her from the start. On that twelfth hour a woman that goes by the name Marie Laurence was amongst the couple dozen not so fortunate women to be struck with those harsh birthing pains.
Her screams of pain were ignored in that New York alleyway, she had been walking home from her job as an exotic dancer. Marie would consider it honest work, maybe, if it weren’t for the fact that she was in deep debt with her boss. She was in too much trouble and having a kid, it would end up ruining her life forever.
She had the baby in that gloomy and damp alleyway and after she collected herself she left the child to die. She called the cops anonymously, saying that she had heard a baby crying in that damned alleyway for her own conscience's sake, (Jela didn’t see her until she later offered her the money she would’ve gotten for her from Reginald out of spite, a way to say she was better off without her, but let's keep that between us).
Reginald held that abandoned baby girl in his arms, he looked her in the eyes and when he saw that lack of emotion in her eyes the way she was so detached from everyone else.
“She has never been held before me, how is that so?” he had asked them as they told him this shocking news.
“No sir, we had figured we were picking up a dead body when we received the call, you came just as we set up to carefully extract her. The only issue we’re having is she doesn’t seem to cry or make noises, we’re afraid she might not have the ability to or other such issues. We really think it’s best to have her stay in the hospital with the other’s you have adopted.” The nurse suggests as she looks at the newborn in his arms.
“I will be taking her home with me now, the others I will pick up when they're ready, she needs to be held by me and me alone.” He says before leaving to take care of the little girl at home…
You see, Jela to Reginald was going to be his special child, the one he treated differently to see if it revoked a different outcome, her childhood she was known as ‘Daddy’s favorite’ but the others will never fully understand the amount of extra torment the emotionless one got as Reginald’s true number one.
That’s where we move to today, when you see the outcome of the little heros, the day where numbers 1-7 were met with a weight off their shoulders, but the day number eight was met with her first ever jolt of grief… The day of Reginald Hargreeves’ death.
Jela sat there, watching her sister playing violin on that late night, she would always go out of her way to see her.. After all Vanya and Jela were the only two the others didn’t exactly get along with.. She was watching when she got a call, she got up out of her seat, flashing Vanya a quick ‘I’ll be back’ look before walking away to answer the call.
“Unless someone died you shouldn’t be calling me and you damn well know that.” Jela snarls as she answers the phone, she knew that it wasn’t anyone she cared about, just another one of her workers.
“I’m sorry boss, listen, it’s that damned Hero of yours again, he showed up at that small hit you had set up, a few of our guys didn’t make it.” The worker in question states solemnly, shaking his head and biting his lip.
“Good, that means he feels like he saved the day, that was the point Speedy, I know you don’t get it but they needed to go.. Call them, I don’t know, casualties, another statistic. Whatever makes you feel better, just get someone into the coroner's office to burn, cut or even cover up those tattoos. I don’t need Diego finding out about my operation, got it?” She says with lack of emotion, something that came naturally to her, however, feeling emotions, that was the hard part. She sighs, knowing that her workers like to call each other family, she thinks on it as she hears his silence, most likely biting his tongue. "Alright, I know what you’re thinking.. I'll call a meeting with the Pit (A group of snakes), we’ll get our snakes in a group and take a day off to mourn, sound good Speedy?”
“Thanks Queeny, I’m sure their families will appreciate it, I’ll make sure we send them the usual parting gift.” He says, sounding more content with that outcome.
“Don’t start expecting it every time some run of the muck idiot dies to someone as bullheaded as number two, this is an exception, only because there were multiple losses at once.” Jela sighs, just hanging up, about to go back in when she receives another phone call…
“Mom, it’s late, why are you calling me?” She says, false worry in her tone, she never worries, or, rather, she never feels the emotion that comes with the idea of worrying. That’s when she hears it, the whispering of those three goddesses, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, or, also known as, the Moirae… the Fates. And with those whispers starts coming the emotions, she feels the fear, the agony, the grief… “No- Mom tell me you didn’t.”
“Please I need you to help me Marie-” She says, calling her by the name she had given Jela in the beginning.
“It’s Jela, and don’t move a muscle, don’t tell Pogo, don’t call anyone else, I will be there. You are lucky I was taught to respect you as my mother otherwise I would gladly be an orphan tonight.” She hung up the phone, telling Vanya that a job went wrong and she has to go, she calls one of her cars, the driver drops it off and walks away. She gets in and goes home, when she gets there she quickly works on cleaning and setting everything up to make it look like an accident, nothing remotely suggesting otherwise. She quickly messes with Grace’s programming, editing the cameras to remove herself, but leaving the truth about their fathers death to be found.. She went to her old room that night and for the first time since she was a child she sat there and cried…
The news got out the next morning and Jela was there to meet number two, who had felt the need to do his own check on Reginalds death. She watched as he walked around the room, examining things and making sure there wasn't any struggle.
“Diego, looks like you only care to visit after he’s dead, mom definitely missed her st-st-stuttering stanley.” She teased with a smirk, her eyes showing a slight glint of mischief, even with the circumstances she has to act like herself, even though she hates how she feels she can’t show that she does feel.
He throws a knife at her and she doesn’t even flinch as that knife flies directly next to her head, the wind from it moving her jet black hair. “When did you last see dad, Marie.”
She snarls a bit, absolutely loathing that name, her two toned eyes going darker at the sound of it. “You can say what you wish about me and call me what you wish, but don’t you dare insinuate that I killed my father.” Her voice cracks a bit, her eyes watering a bit, normally it would make people feel remorse or pity, but for Diego, it scared him to see Jela tear up like that.. An emotional Jela is a deadly one. Which means, if Reginald did die from muder Jela would have them dealt with already… Unless they were family, and she only considers a few people family.. He better call Allison and make sure she’s alive at some point… Just in case.
“Calm your tits or at least cover them, what the hell are you wearing anyways?” He says, getting distracted by her all too revealing outfit.
She couldn’t help but smile a little at that response, blinking her tears away and shaking her head. “You’re such an idiot, you know that?” She says, looking down at her black sweatpants, combat boots and crop top.
“I’m not an idiot, you just have the same iq as that one dude with the apple.” He says, playing dumb to try and break through those walls she has been building up, they used to be close when they were teens, he still likes to believe he knows her better than anyone. He knows how to make her smile at least.
She lets out a small laugh, smiling a bit. “You and I both know you damn well remember who Issac Newton is, stop playing dumb.”
“Tell anyone I did that and we’re going to have another match like when we were twelve.” He warns before he starts to leave to sneak into the coroner's office.
“You cheated! We considered the choke hold against the rules prior to the match!” She frowns something close to a pout.
“I adapted Miss ‘I can see the future’ maybe talk to your witches next time!” He shouts back, only to have a shelf that had been holding up perfectly well their whole lives fall directly on top of him.
She burst out laughing as she watches him stand back up in the hallway, holding his head. “That’s what you get for calling the three Goddesses of fate witches! You never learn.” he scoffs and just leaves without another comment. Jela goes and sits in the living room, looking at the painting of her old favorite sibling before texting Vanya. I’m sorry I wasn’t with you when you found out.. You have to come to the funeral or else we’ll have to have one for one of the others soon after, love you.
Allison was the first to make it there, Jela was sitting on a rocking chair next to their mom, reading in front of the fireplace in a black pantsuit, her jet black hair straight, as per usual, her green and brown eyes looking over as Allison walks in, scanning her up and down, her eyes flashing to a pure white colour, almost as if she were blind, something that happens when the fates talk to her. “Troubles at home I see, if you need help getting your daughter back I can help you out.”
“Don’t use the fates to spy on my life, if you cared you would actually call me.” She says with a frown, shaking her head.
“Says the one that didn’t invite me to her wedding, but you’re right, I don’t care about you in this instance, however, I do care that Claire doesn't get to see her mom, my niece deserves better.” She states in a melancholy voice. That’s when another one of their siblings enters.
“Hey Mom, mom?” Jela glances at the robot in question, sighing, she’s going to have to do another repair…
“Vanya?” Allison says as she recognizes the voice. “You’re actually here..” Vanya lets out a relieved sigh as her sister walks over to hug her. Jela sets down the book she was reading, or rereading should I say, as she watches her siblings hug. Extra-Ordinary: My Life as Number Seven (Vanya Hargreeves' self-written tell-all auto-biography) Oh how Jela loves that book, the most truthful thing she has ever seen in her life, even paints her as a villain.. Jela always loved playing the villain, even when they were training as kids.
“Hey Allison..” she says as her sister lets her go. Jela stands up to join the girls after setting her book down, walking over to them.
“Hah, what is she doing here? You don’t belong here. Not after what you did.” Diego says, dramatic and closed off as ever as he walks through the door.
“Talk to her like that and you’ll lose your tongue.” Jela snaps, standing protectively by her sister who never knows how to respond when Jela stands up for her like that.
“You two are seriously gonna do this today?” Allison asks, glancing over at Jela who she knows better than to get on her bad side before looking at Diego's outfit. He looked like offbrand Batman. “Way to dress for the occasion by the way.”
“And he was making fun of my crop top the other day, at least my clothes don’t make my ass look flat.” She whispers to Vanya, making her giggle a bit, Jela knew how to cheer her up.
“At least I’m wearing black.” He responds, either ignoring Jela’s comment or he didn’t hear it. Vanya looks at him walking away and Jela can practically feel the anxiety radiating off of her.
“You know what? I- Maybe he’s right and I shouldn’t-” Vanya starts, proving to Jela that she was right, like usual.
“Forget about him.” Jela and Allison say at the same time, making Jela wonder if the fates were messing with her or if she’s just more like her sister than she thought. “We’re glad you’re here.” Allison finishes off before they head to the living room to sit down.
Jela, however, meets up with Diego at the top of the stairs, knowing that he’s going to see Luther snooping around. “You’re an asshole to Vanya, she spoke the truth, that’s more than most of us.” She says, earning a glare from Diego, family events always puts him in a brooding mood. “She spoke out against someone she deemed as an abuser and she stood up against her siblings for bullying her. She has the right to tell her side of the story.”
“She made us look evil, I’m not a bad guy Jela.” He snaps, glaring at her, getting more frustrated at how calm she looks.
“You’re the only genuine hero I know Diego, she was venting and got money out of it, any kind of publicity is good publicity, if you have an issue with the book, write a statement on it and post it.” She says with a shrug, watching the shocked and confused look on Diego's face when she calls him a hero. She goes to speak again, only to be shushed as he hears Luther rummaging around and they walk towards it.
They stand in the doorway, watching him for a moment, the villain and hero, side by side. “We can save you some time.” Diego states as they both lean against their sides of the doorframe.
“They’re all locked, no forced entry.” Jela continues, her and DIego used to be a great team when they worked together..
“No sign of struggle, nothing out of the ordinary.” Diego says as he slowly walks towards his brother. “Oh, you got big, Luther. What’s the secret, huh? Protein Shakes? Low carbs?” Jela lets out a small laugh, really just watching them to make sure they don’t break anything if they fight.
“What do you want?” Luther asks, glancing at Jela before looking Diego in the eyes, something Reginald taught all of them, eye contact shows that you aren’t afraid. Diego lets out a sigh that slightly resembles a scoff before taking a paper out of his pocket, one Jela knew he damn well shouldn’t be able to have. That’s vigilantes for you.
“The autopsy report.” He says, holding it out for Luther to grab, but as soon as he goes for it Diego pulls it slightly out of reach. “Ah.” He says like the teasing sibling he is before letting him grab it.
“And you have this why?” Luther asks, opening the paper with more gusto than Jela would’ve liked, she has a feeling that Luther isn’t going to let this go, and that frustrates her.
Diego walks away a bit, facing the door and winking at Jela, “Well that’s because I… broke into the coroner's office.” He says with his arms open and a slight bow before sitting down in a chair. “And surprise, surprise, Dad’s death was… normal. Just a boring old heart failure.” Jela walks over to Luther, grabbing one of his arms and pulling it towards her height so she could look at it. She immediately realizes something and gives Diego a bit of a look.
“Yeah, so.” Luther says, a bit offstandish about it, looking at the picture, skimming over the report a bit.
“So, why are you in here, checking all of the windows.” He was with a slight raise and drop of his hands to gesture at the room they’re sitting in.
“Were you the first on the scene?” Luther asks, slight suspicion in his tone, looking at his brother, Jela watches the interaction, knowing where this is going.
“Pogo reported the body.” Jela says, very particular with her words, something they’ve all gotten used to over the years of growing up with Jela.
“Yeah, I talked to Pogo, he said he couldn’t find Dad’s monocle.” Luther says, giving Jela a look, she knew that look, he always wore it when they would be training in the detective work of the job.
“And your point being?” Diego says, shrugging his shoulders and brushing it off, that’s when Jela knew that he had taken it, she didn't understand why he would want a monocle, it wouldn't look good on him so it must be an emotional decision.
“Well can either of you think of a single time where you saw dad and he wasn’t wearing that monocle?” He counters, looking at Jela for support, but this is when she just shakes her head and leaves to have her own conversation with her more chill siblings.
She could practically smell the classic scent of drugs and booze when her favorite sibling entered the building, she smiles a bit, walking towards her fathers study and laughing a little as she sees him rummaging through their dead fathers things. “Let me guess, an advance on our inheritance?”
“Oh, that’s perfect! I’ll have to use that one!” Klaus says, walking up to Jela and pulling her into a hug, she groans, completely tensing up. He quickly lets go and throws his hands up. “Oh right! Sorry, no hugs.” He says, giving her a quick peck on the cheek insead and she sighs, glancing back at the door.
“Well, if you don’t find anything I can give you something light to keep the real bad ones away, you know how I feel about the hard shit, but my business is doing great and I don’t want you to have to deal with those nightmares… Ben’s yelling at me isn't he?” She says, practically feeling the ghosts glare.
“More like just giving you a thorough glare, says he doesn’t like how we influence each other. Do you know I love you?” He says with a smile, before going back to rummaging, That’s when Allison walked in and Jela looked back at her, seeing that look on her face reminded her of when they were younger…
Jela was sitting in a chair next to Reginald, the others were getting ready for bed, but not Jela, Jela was stuck with her Father still even though they had training in the morning. She sat next to him, thread with gold intertwined in it wrapped tightly around her hands, tight enough that she knew she would have marks the next morning and it would hurt to fight. She used it (and sometimes still uses it) as a conduit to connect with her deities, most people would have a shrine or candles and other such things, but Jela wasn’t religious, she was just chosen and created to withstand the emotional turmoil and the pain that comes with the knowledge of the future.
There’s a knock on the door and it breaks her concentration, coming back from talking to the three goddesses her eyes go from the blind white color to the mismatching green and brown. She looks down in time to see that the thread has cut through her skin, but knows better than to stop because of it.
“The children are ready for bed sir, they wanted to say goodnight.” Grace says cheerfully as she enters, part of her mothering program wanting to override her other systems and go help Jela… But she couldn’t, no matter what she wasn’t allowed to help Jela, only Reginald was. It was in her programming.
The door opened and Jela looked up, making eye contact with the others, the only ones who showed no jealousy at all were FIve and Klaus… They know the truth, she had told them all about what it was like being his favorite. Their father didn’t even bother to glance. “Okay! TIme for bed now kids, come along. Come along now.” Grace says as she ushers them out.
“Come along now Allison, your father and sister are busy.” Grace said to her as she was the last to budge.
“He’s always busy, and she isn’t my sister.” She says before walking out, Jela showed no sign of caring about Allisons harsh words, they both were too alike and bumped heads and she knew that. Reginald saw Jela’s lack of emotional response that night and cleaned her wounds before taking her out for ice cream, only to leave Jela out in the woods for a week after that ice cream.. That was her reward, other than usual training she got life or death. She lost weight but she made it out without so much as a scratch, she could only give the explanation that the fates were on her side.
“Jela, what are you two doing in here?” Allison asks, bringing Jela back to present times, she blinks once, collecting herself as she glances at Klaus, who quickly gets up from his spot behind Reginalds desk.
“Oh! Allison! Wow, is that you?” Klaus asks as he walks over to her, Jela stepping to the side as she lets her favorite sibling talk his way out of this one. “Hey, come here. Long time, too long.” He states, pulling Allison into one of his comforting hugs.
He pulls away from her a little and looks into her eyes, Jela walking away from those two as she walks over to her spot next to her fathers chair, one of her most recent art projects sitting on the desk. It was of number Five with an axe, his face covered in blood… She still did projects with her dad and they have recently been trying to get her sibling back, it had been their main focus. She could tell dad was getting paranoid, she just never wanted to see that it was going to be her mom that betrayed him. She wishes that her deities would’ve shown her that instead of a worthless picture of Five.
“Hey, I was hoping to see you actually, because I want to get your autograph. Add it to my collection.” Klaus saying this makes Jela focus on their conversation, she laughs a little, shaking her head.
“Klaus, I love you but I think it’s your drug dealers that have the collection, not you.” Jela says bluntly, looking at the two.
Klaus gasps and Jela almost expects him to be offended until he says, “You love me? I win! I was the first one you said it to, everyone owes me twenty bucks!” He is excited about it, Jela looks at him, not even shocked as she watches Allison hand him twenty bucks.
“Just out of rehab?” She asks when she sees the medical bracelet on Klaus’ arm, her eyebrow cocked, regretting giving him the money.
“No, no. No, no, no, no. No. I’m done- I’m done with all that.” Jela looks up at him, knowing better than that, plus, he stutters when he lies. “I just came down here to prove to myself that the old man was really gone. And he is! He’s dead. Yeah!” He says, clapping with excitement.
“You know how I know? ‘Cause if he were alive, only one of us would be allowed to set foot in this room. He was always in here, our whole childhood, plotting his next torment, right? I mean, Jela you know how he used to look at us, that scowl.” He says, pointing up at the portrait.
“Thank Christ he wasn't our real father so we couldn’t inherit those cold, dead eyes!” He says, pulling his eyes open and screaming a little with a chuckle. Jela looks at the scars on her hands from all the training she went through, the lack of sleep she had gotten, she was the only one that went without a half an hour break on the weekends. Without him she’d most likely be dead or have no idea how to communicate with the fates, if the fates say that this is where she is meant to be then so be it, she looks at Klaus who is sitting in their fathers chair, looking out the window for a moment.
“He wasn’t a good person by all means, but he was a great one. He pushed us to our limits and made us face things that no one else will hopefully ever have to face, but he was my father and I didn’t wish any kind of death on him. He is gone, his thread has been cut. That should be the end of his story, but-” She groans, the whisperings happening again and she grips the string in her pocket, she isn't allowed to tell them that yet. “...But I wish I was able to tell him that he wasn’t as smart as he believed and that his legacy is failing. It seems I’m the only one able to continue with the majority of his-”
“Blah blah blah, can we go back to you saying how much you love me, oh! We could go for a walk and buy brownies at the store!” Klaus interrupts, Jela just shakes her head at him. He is the only one that has ever gotten away with doing something like that. “Jela, sis, I love you.”
“Don’t over use it or it won’t hold as much meaning, but… I love you too Klaus.” She says looking in one of their fathers drawers and finding a picture that she took of her kissing Reginalds cheek, he looks so serious, but you can see a bit of a smile hidden there.. It was from their last ice cream trip, that was two days ago. She made him take a break because he was getting extremely paranoid, he told her she reminded him of Grace that day, the real one.. It shocked her… She should’ve known something bad was coming...
“Get out of his chair.” Luther says sternly, walking into the room, Jela sighs.. Luther has so much devotion to a man that he didn’t even really know. He thinks the numbers are based on the first being the best, but in reality it was based on a point system like Jela is an eight out of eight stars. She knows that Vanya has to have an ability, she just wishes she could figure out how to provoke it.
“Oh, wow, Luther! Wow, you really, uhh...You really filled out over the years, huh?” Klause says gesturing as if he was flexing his arms.
“Klaus.” Luther says in that same stern, scolding tone as he watches his brother, shaking his head a bit.
“Eh, save the lecture. I was already leaving. So, you guys can talk amongst yourselves.” He says with a small, teasing laugh as he walks towards the door, Jela walking to follow, smirking when Luther puts an arm in front of Klaus.
“Drop it.” He says and Jela can see his anger building up, it’s only a matter of time before he snaps and she's pretty positive it’s going to be on Diego.
“Ex-squeeze me?” Klaus says, playing dumb as he makes eye contact with Luther, not afraid of him.
“Do it. Now.” Luther says, only glancing away to look at Jela with a look that says ‘you were really going to let him get away with this?’ There’s a bit of a pause before KLaus gets a frustrated look and pulls away from Luther.
“All right. All right.” He says as he pulls away and as he starts pulling things out of his pockets he says. “It’s just an advance on our inheritance! That’s all it is! No need to get your little panties in a bunch.” He says with a gesture to his crotch, Jela laughs, walking towards the door.. She had missed Klaus, Allison however just looks away, disappointed. She walks out with Klaus, shutting the door behind them.
“Okay I know you kept the box, just give me the book inside.” She says and he excitedly pulls it out of the back of his shirt, pulling it out. She uses her key and opens it, taking the content out and putting it in her purse.
“You’re my favorite sibling, you know that?” He says, giving her a kiss on the cheek making her get a grossed out look on her face.
“You’re invading my space, and you better only buy weed with that or else I’ll skin whoever sold to you.” She says seriously and he smirks, saluting her as he walks away, looking at Ben who is glaring at him. “What, you’re dead, she’s my favorite living sibling.”
“I miss when she would ask about what was morally correct and what wasn't.” Ben says with a sigh, glancing back at Jela.
“Don’t worry I’ll buy the hard stuff from the really awful guy that I owe money to, it would be like doing the world a favour.” Klaus says, basically putting a target on that guy's head.
“Klaus you know she’ll do it.” Ben says with a scolding tone, glaring at his annoying sibling.
“That’s the point!” He says with a mischievous smile, him and Vanya are the only two that know about Jela’s real job.
They all eventually end up in the living room sitting in silence, Jela goes to take a drink of alcohol only to have Diego take it from her, giving her a stern look. She snarls at him, no matter how many times she has explained to him that her seizures are from talking with the fates and not because of an actual physical ailment he doesn't believe her. “I want my drink Diego.”
“Jela, last time you drank you had a seizure.” Diego says back and she frowns, holding her hand out for her drink.
“You know she gets what she wants Diego, save us the fight..” Vanya says softly and Diego takes the drink, downing it. Jela gets a look in her eyes, one that she always gets when she’s planning something.
“Okay Batsy, I’ll get some water.” She snaps, but it's only a matter of time until something happens and she won’t be taking Diego's side. Luther clears his throat, standing up.
“I guess we should get this started. So, I figured we could have a sort of memorial service in the courtyard at sundown. Say a few words, just at dad’s favorite spot.” Jela looks at Luther, shaking her head. Dad didn’t have a favorite spot, just a place where he made Luther feel important. The spot in question was the oak tree that Luther had an emotional connection to thanks to memories of their father.
“Dad had a favorite spot?” Allison asks, voicing almost everyone’s thoughts, she looks quite confused at the idea.
“You know, under the old oak tree. We used to sit out there all the time. None of you ever did that?” He says, a confused look on his face, Jela looks over and makes eye contact with Diego, he looks at her and she nods her head, confirming that not even she did that with Reginald.
“Will there be refreshments?” Klaus asks as he walks over with a joint and a drink of some sort, he lets Jela take a sip as he sits down. You can always count on Klaus to ask the important questions. “Tea? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a winner.”
“What? No. And put that out, you know dad didn’t allow smoking in here.” Luther starts, only to be interrupted.
“Is that my skirt?” Allison asks, a tone that you would only hear coming from a sibling who has gotten their stuff ‘borrowed.’
“And my crop top, you better not get that dirty, it's my metallica one. Diego only let me cut one of his shirts I borrowed, and I like that one.” Jela says, giving Klaus a look.
“What? Oh, yeah, these. I found them in your rooms! It’s a little dated, I know, but this skirt is very breathy on the bits.” He was with a gesture towards his crotch.
“Listen up. Still some important things to discuss, all right?” Luther says, using his big boy leader voice, making Jela roll her eyes, she doesn’t really agree with him being a leader, but tolerated it to make him feel better about himself.
“Like what?” Diego asks, looking at Jela with an exasperated look.
“Like the way he died.” Luther says, making Jela let out a groan, any hope she had of abiding the issue being demolished.
“And here we go.” Diego says, Jela taking Klaus’ drink and drinking some of it, ignoring the glare it got her everytime she did.
���I don’t understand, I thought they said it was a heart attack.” Innocent Vanya says, looking at Jela for confirmation, she nods her head. That is what they said.
“Yeah, according to the coroner.” Luther says, Klaus holds his blunt to Jela’s lips and she takes a hit. Little did she know that Ben was yelling at Klaus for it the whole time.
“Well wouldn’t they know?” Vanya counters, giving him a slightly frustrated look.
“Theoretically.” Luther responds, and Jela could tell that he was getting even more bottled up frustration from this as no one believes him.
“Theoretically?” Allison asks with a frown.
“I’m just saying, at the very least, something happened. The last time I talked to dad, he sounded strange.” Luther states, trying to get them to take this seriously. Klaus starts gurgling his drink.
“Oh, quelle surprise!” He says while gurgling, Jela looks at Vanya, she’s starting to lose her patience.
“Strange how?” Allison asks, obviously upset by this, she just wants it to be over with.
“He sounded on edge. Told me I should be careful who to trust.” He says and Jela gets up, walking over to the book shelf and just moving on from this annoying conversation, letting the others deal with it. Only hearing the important part like Luther telling Klaus to sober up so he can talk to dad's ghost and bringing up the monocle which in turn frustrates Batman, then it comes out, making her smirk and walk back over to them. “So whoever took it, I think it was personal, someone close to him, someone with a grudge.”
“Where are you going with this?” Klaus asks and Jela just pats Luther's shoulder, wondering how someone should properly respond to this situation, she decides pity is the option.
“Oh, isn’t it obvious, Klaus? He thinks one of us killed dad.” Diego says, now standing next to Luther, not once looking away, Jela snickers at the thought. Luther gets a guilty look on his face as they all stare at him.
“You do?” Klaus says his voice showing confused shock and his face just showing generally being upset with the thought.
“How could you think that?” Vanya asks, there was hurt hidden in her voice and Jela starts to feel protective over her siblings, after all, she knows who did it.
“Great. Job. Luther. Way to lead.” Diego says before leaving the room, presumably to hide how frustrated he really is.
“You’re wrong on this one Luther, take a step back and look at the full puzzle..” That’s all Jela says before walking to find Pogo.
“That’s not what I’m saying…” Luther says, trying to defend himself and his detective work, it was failing.
“You’re crazy man. You’re crazy. Crazy.” Klaus says, looking Luther in the idea before leaving as well.
“I’ve not finished.” Luther says, trying to get them to stay so he can change their minds.
“Okay, well I’m sorry, I’m just going to go murder mom. Be right back!” Klaus says sarcastically as he walks away from Luther, Vanya following.
“That’s not what I was saying, I didn’t-” He gives up, sighing a bit as he watches his siblings leave. “Allison. Jeez..” he says as she completely ignores him. “That went well.”
Jela sits in the kitchen, on the counter when Pogo walks in. “You’re too harsh on them you know, they are your only family.”
“I see three of them as my real family, Vanya, Klaus and Five. Allison, she’s a good woman and she deserves more than she gat, just like the others, if not more at times.. But she and I will never get along. And Luther is just, well, a dog on a leash and his owner just passed away. He doesn't know how to lead, I lead more than he does, even if it doesn’t look like it.” She says, leaning her head against the cupboard behind her.
“And Diego?” He says with a knowing look, smirking a bit. She gives him a slightly cold look, but sighs a bit and shakes her head.
“We have never called each other siblings, even corrected everyone on it growing up, not once have I seen him as or called him family. I think the fates always knew we would be something more… but it didn’t last, he left when he got the first chance to leave, and when he asked me to go with… I couldn’t. I couldn’t leave dad.. Even from the start dad had spent more time with me than the others, I was the only one he held as a baby and he was the only one I ever let hold me, not mom, not you, only him.. And now he’s gone. He’s dead and I seem to be the only one of his children who truly cares.” She says, looking at her hands.
“Jela, I-” He starts, trying to find a way to comfort her or help her… but he never had to before, nor did he get the chance to, Reginald was very strict on either he helps her or no one does. Now he’s gone. She looks up at him, but all those emotions leave her face when Grace comes in, along with Diego. Pogo walks over to grace and tells Diego she’s going to have a quick charge before the big event.
“Number two.” Jela says emotionlessly, still leaned back, but then she sees it, the pity in his eyes and it makes her groan. “Don’t. Whatever you heard, whatever you’re thinking, keep it in that smooth brain of yours, and yes, I mean the texture.”
“You can be a bitch sometimes you know that? A heartless, monstrous bitch.” He says and she doesn’t even flinch, she has heard it all before but what happens next shocks her. “But I know how much he meant to you.” He hands her the monocle. “I know you knew I had it, you should keep it.”
“Diego, there’s no point in me having this, he’s dead, we’re supposed to be moving on.” She says, shaking her head as she holds it in her hand.
“Do you remember our first mission?” He asks randomly, and she looks at him confused, nodding her head.
“I remember everything, Capital west bank outside of main and sixth, it was 17 years ago.” She says, still confused about why he was bringing it up.
There was a group of heavily armed men and they were trying to steal from the bank, they were dumb about how they did it, but smart enough to keep hostages. Jela had entered the building first, scoping out the place and telling all of her siblings which entrances were clear. Allison and her were the first to make appearances. Allison rumoured a man to shoot his friend in the foot and as she did that Jela walked up to a man, talking out one of her butterfly knives and looking him in the eyes.
“May the fates be on your side.” She said and the man held his gun up, trying to shoot at him, only for it to jam, Jela throws her knife at him, killing him instantly, as the rest of her siblings went around to finish off the others.
“Gun’s are for sissy real men throw knives!” Diego says, throwing one of his knives at a man, winking as Jela who just laughed a little at his dumb catchfrase. She walked over to the hostages, simply walking over to them and leading them out, every bullet missing them as they walked with her… They eventually got all of the ones in the main area and had Ben finish a group of them off with his ability before leaving, Jela pats Ben's shoulder comfortingly only to get a grossed out look on her face and taking her now bloody hand and wiping it on Diego. “Hey! That’s gross.” She just shrugs at him.
They walk out of the front doors, the cops yelling at them to lower their weapons and they didn’t because their knives were already holstered. Jela does as her dad told her to and walks to the middle, putting on a heroic face as the questions start coming.
“Who are you?” asks one news anchor and Jela looks at them, her dad said to keep them calm and he will step in when necessary.
“We’re the umbrella academy, a group of well trained heroes.” She answered smoothly, three siblings on each side of her, Luther seemed upset that she was answering questions, but she ignored his side glances.
“How did you get into the banks?” and “What happened inside?” Were the next two questions to be said out loud.
“How do you usually get inside of a building, or better yet, a building with locked doors, and I think it is quite obvious that all that happened inside doesn't matter, as long as the money is untouched and the people are safe.” She says, her voice loud enough to hear and it’s smooth, calming, careful.. She always knew how to sound like a hero. Their father gave a speech and the questions just kept coming, He put Jela under his arm, it showed that she was his prized child, she spoke for him..
She frowns a little at the memory, she used to be fond of it, now it hurts.. Why is that? “You chose such a stupid catchfrase.” She says, laughing, he walks in front of her with a mischievous glint in his eyes, their walls always down around each other… even if they didn’t realize it.
“I was a kid and you told me you loved it.” He says with a fake frown, she looks him in the eyes, he was standing directly in front of her now as he talks to her, she is still sitting on the counter. She feels herself missing how they used to be, before they became enemies… the only issue is, Jela knows it would never last, after all he had Eudora Patch now. Her hand twitches, and he knows that means she’s either murderous, upset, or uncomfortable, so he takes a step back.
“I was lovestruck and wanted to see you smile, trust me those oxytocin and vasopressin chemicals have gone, and from what I’ve heard from people on the force, your chemical imbalance when around me is gone too.” She says blankly, not showing any emotion, which is normal for her.
“Me and Eudora? Did she talk to you about me?” He asks and the way his eyes lit up with curiosity made her laugh.
“Diego, look at you, you’re a teddy bear.” She says with a snort, and just like that all of his walls come shooting up out if nowhere… and so do hers. They both can see it in each other's eyes, they aren’t ready to spend this much time together yet, she sighs. “I'm going to go find Klaus.” And with that she leaves. She walks towards where the bar is, but pauses for a moment, she pulls one of her golden threads out and holds it gently in her hand, and with that she sees her deities.
“Where are these emotions coming from? I thought you sai-” She says, almost about to get snarky with the ones she calls her godly parents.
“You will feel what you need to feel when you need to feel it, now listen to them. Stop believing in strength coming from how emotionless you are, give in and show him that you are sorry.” Atropos states, and Jela knew she should just agree.
“But-” She doesn’t apologize, she never apologizes. Why would she apologize to him when she doesn’t see what she did wrong, but why does she feel bad then.
“You are running out of time to speak with him, so make your choice.” Lachesis says before they send her soul back to her body.
When her sight comes back she groans, realizing that Clotho had walked her to the door of the living area.. She walks in and Diego looks at her from his spot at the couch. “I’m sorry, I still care, and I’m clingy.”
Diego gets an astounded look on his face, sitting up and looking her in the eyes. “Dads death really fucked with you, huh?” He asks, looking at her with complete and utter disbelief.
“No, I just know that no one will ever believe you if you tried to tell them I said that.” She says before walking over and sitting next to him, they sit in silence for a while.. Both a couple of brooding people who like the color black.
“I’m not that pissed, but I’m stronger and smarter than you act like I am.” He says, struggling to say those words.
“How about we-” She stops when she hears the music and looks at him when she gets an idea. She stands up, walking over to the door and checking both ways, shutting the door, Diego throws a knife past her and her pupils dilate, a laugh escaping her.
“How about we be stupid and just dance.” He says, holding his hand out, Jela isn’t a dancer… but she could never say no to that puppy do look, so she takes his hand and lets him spin and dip her before they pull away and start doing some random, fun moves. Sharing laughs and smiles, just like they did when they were kids… that's when thunder rumbles and the music stops. They share a confused look and rush towards the sound, Diego taking her hand on instinct and she doesn’t bother to question.
“What is it?” Vanya asks, fear clear in her voice as she looks to Jela for an answer.
“Don’t get too close!” Allison says, pulling Luther back by his arm gently, not once looking away.
“Yeah, no shit.” Diego says, but Jela ignores all of them, pulling her hand from Diego and getting closer to it, too curious for her own good. That's when one word rings through her head. Five.
“It’s a portal from a different timeframe.” Jela says, with knowledge from failed experiments.
“Out of the way!” KLaus yells, pulling Jela behind him as he tries to spray the portal with the fire extinguisher before throwing it in, Jela gives him a dirty look and pushes him back to the others.
“Get back, I don’t want you hurt.” Jela says, giving him a look and he steps back. That’s when something starts to push through.
“Get out of the way!” Luther says, pushing them back. “Stay behind me, stay behind me.
“Yeah, stay behind us.” Diego says, trying to reach for Jela to bring het behind him, only for her to take a step closer.
“FIve…” She says fondly, completely ignoring the chaos behind her, and just as he pushes through and falls out she catches him. Carefully setting him down.
“Does anyone else see little number five, or is that just me?” Klaus says, not looking away from Jela and Five as they all walk closer.
Five looks down at his body, seeing how young he is. “Shit…”
_______
ASK TO USE MY STORY
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willowknee · 5 years ago
Text
Changes- George Imagine
Title: Changes People: George X reader, ImAllexx Word count: 1790 Warnings: Swearing Songs to listen to: N/A Prompt/request: “I think I’m in love with you, and that scares the crap out of me” A/N: This is the second Angst one-shot for George, one with a happier ending than the last 
Being best friends with Alex and George definitely came with its perks, for one, you were never lonely and you never had to worry about being judged for the stuff you watch or the games you like to play, you always had someone to go out for meals with, and you had your own personal councillors who only charged in snacks. On the other hand, it definitely had its disadvantages too, for example, the fact that you were desperately in love with one of them.
One George Andrew. 
For the most part, you were fine, you got on like you would any other time, and if you ever got shy, you would always find a way to play it off and pretend that you were acting shy when he made certain comments or jokes. But there were times where your Grammy worthy acting fails you, and that’s when you became jealous.
You would say you were close to George, really close, you confided in him about your past and all your worries and he confided in you too. That’s why it came as such a shock when out of nowhere George got a girlfriend. Just to clarify, it wasn’t you. You were taken aback, it seemed so out of nowhere, he had never mentioned talking to anybody or even having any interest in anyone.
You were hurt, to say the least, were you more invested in this friendship than he was? You hated being jealous, it was the one thing you hated the most about yourself, how easily you became jealous and how harsh you became, you hated it and you tried to avoid it as much as possible, to the point you refused to develop feelings for people in fear of getting hurt, but with George, it happened so fast and so hard there was literally no way you could have stopped it. You fell head over heels for him and for once, you didn’t mind.
When you looked at George you feel your breath literally catch in your throat and when he smiles at you, you can’t help but smile back, even if you had been sobbing your eyes out mere seconds before. The playful banter between you both is something you will always cherish, the times at 4 am when you were both still awake sat at the kitchen counter eating Alex’s cereal straight out of the box even after being told off multiple times by Alex himself for doing so, fights over what you would be playing, FIFA (George’s choice) or the new Modern Warfare (your choice). 
Every moment with George felt like a treasured memory, but after he started dating his girlfriend he became cold, distant, once instant replies now took days to come through, and even then they were short and somewhat evasive. He no longer had time to meet up and spend time, even if you were at Alex’s and George’s apartment, he was either out or in his room with her doing god knows what. 
When George first introduced you and Alex to her, you felt yourself distancing mentally, something you had done since a young age to help deal with stress, a coping mechanism as such, it was weird, really, you could handle stress. Art GCSE coursework? Fine, understaffed at work? No problem, but when it comes to emotional stress that’s where you seriously struggle. 
She seemed… nice. You weren’t exactly sure what to make of her, she seemed to love Alex, was joking around with him freely but when it came to you, she seemed to have a problem. You weren’t sure if it was your brain just making up the evil glares and dirty side-looks but you knew you felt off about her, she clearly didn’t like you. You knew that would cause a problem, how could you and George continue to be friends if his girlfriend had a problem with you? 
And you were right, of course. It did put a massive strain on your friendship with George, which ended up in a massive fight. 
“We’ve been best friends for so fucking long, George! You’re seriously going to throw that away because of your new girlfriend who has a problem with me- for no apparent reason?!” You scream, finally catching him alone in his front room, his girlfriend nowhere to be seen and Alex had just popped to the shops.
“She is my girlfriend, for fuck’s sake, Y/N, grow up! I’m not a kid! I like this girl and I want to make this work, I’m not throwing anything away!” He shouts back, feeling just as frustrated. 
“You fucking are! You’re so distant now, we don’t get to spend time together, it’s all about her, I get that you want to be with her, it’s a new relationship and it’s exciting- I get that! But you’re pushing me away, isolating me and it’s not fair,” You tried to get him to understand, but he ended up letting out a cry of rage, scaring you.
You hated confrontation and yet here you were, fighting. You were fighting for the attention of someone you couldn’t have. He clearly liked this girl if he was going as far as cutting you out of his life, you were being spiteful and you knew it, you hated that you were jealous when you had no right to be, George wasn’t yours, he was hers, it’s not you that he’s fighting for, it’s her. You knew that, but you still couldn’t help the tears that pricked your eyes as you watch the man you love, stand in front of you, slowly back away, as if he was disgusted at what he saw.
“Maybe if you fucked off and spent time with people other than me and Alex you could get yourself a relationship and you’ll be able to put yourself in my shoes,” 
His words were like a slap to the face. If you thought him getting a girlfriend hurt, watching him turn into somebody you knew he wasn’t hurt twice as much. 
“Maybe if you spent time with anyone other than your girlfriend you’ll realise you’re not you anymore, you’re not the loving, caring George we all know, you’re a dick.” You whisper the last part before walking towards the front door of their flat, needed to get out of there as soon as possible. 
It felt suffocating, your breathing was out of sync and you couldn’t see as the tears stream down your face, why does it feel like you had broken up when George wasn’t even yours to begin with? You barely register walking past Alex who had heard everything and you didn’t hear him as he shouted after you, desperate cries for you to come back. 
Alex turned to George who had come to the hallway to watch you walk away from him, he shook his head at the younger. 
“Why don’t you just tell her the truth, mate? You’re both hurting yourselves for no reason.” Alex sighs, shutting the door, texting Gee asking for her to check up on you.
“I can’t… wait, what do you mean both of us?” George asks, whipping his head to face Alex.
“What do you think I mean, you idiot? How can you be so goddamn oblivious to her feelings for you? She fuckin loves you mate, has for a long time,”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It wasn’t for me to say, but as good as she thinks her acting is, it was bloody obvious George, she loves the fuck out of you and you just fucked her off for some random ass girl whom you’ve never spoken about,” 
George shakes his head, visibly at war with himself before he grabs his keys and races off, shouting a goodbye and thank you to Alex who just shakes his head in response, hoping that you two stopped being so childish and just accept the truth. 
Half an hour later he finds himself outside your door. He gently knocks on the door, before knocking with a bit more force just in case you didn’t hear. You open the door and glare, still not over the hurtful things he had said, maybe it was true, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less. 
“Hi,” George says, quietly. 
“Hey,” You reply, your words blunt and your tone flat.
“Uh, can I come in?”
You contemplate it but ultimately decided that if you were to argue, it would be best to do it inside than in the hallway where anybody could listen in. You step aside and open the door wide enough for him to walk in. He kicks off his shoes and puts them on the shoe rack, you didn’t like people wearing shoes in your house, especially on the light coloured carpet. 
“Why are you here, George?” you ask, returning to your spot on the sofa, buried under your blankets.
“I’m here to apologise, I let things get out of hand, I turned into somebody I know I’m not and it only resulted in me hurting you, that’s not what I wanted,”
“What did you want then? It doesn’t make sense, George,”
He sighs heavily. “I wanted to forget you,”
Ouch. Talk about adding insult to injury. 
“You’re not doing a very good job stood here then are you?” You snarl, wondering what was the point of him driving twenty minutes to your house just to say more hurtful things. 
“No- look, Y/N. I wanted to forget you, things were changing and I panicked and thought the only way I could get some stability was to push you away and get a girlfriend, a distraction,” 
“What the fuck, George? If you had a problem with me you should have just straight up told me to fuck off, not toy with me and drag someone else into this!” You yell.
“For fucks sakes! You don’t get it, do you? I think I’m in love with you, and that scares the crap out of me! I’m in love with my best friend and that never normally works out well, does it?”
You stare at George as if he had magically grew a second head. Did he just say what you think he said? 
“You what?”
“Just forget about-”
He never got to finish his sentence, you leap from your position on the sofa and run to him, barely giving him time to catch you in the process, you place your lips to his own in a very unceremonious manner, the kiss was rough and abrupt but it was perfect for you both, it was your first kiss and the first step into new territory which is both scary and exhilarating. 
“I love you too, dummy,”
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calumrose · 5 years ago
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Trigger [Police/Gang!AU] Chapter 4 || C.H
A//N: Here we bloody go! Enjoy chapter 4! I was gonna stick in a GIF for Calum but then realised he’s not actually in this chapter *spoiler ;)* But there’s almost no good gifs for my face claim for Eloise so... If one gets attached by the time I post this, then google images clearly felt like being nice to me for once.
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Word Count: 11.3k
Summary: Eloise Gray and Calum Hood, not two people you would ever think to put together. What started as a ploy for power turned into a romance, resulting in the realisation that loving your enemy may not be such a bad thing after all.
Previous Chapters: Prologue / Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3
22 Days Left
The park was surprisingly quiet for a Thursday afternoon. There was a quiet bustle that continued to fill the open space, people enjoying a peaceful afternoon walk while others enjoyed a more strenuous afternoon run. The sun beat down through the blue skies, the reflection of light bouncing off of the pond in the centre of the grassed area where Paige and Eloise sat together.
Eloise was in desperate need of a catch up with a friend; one who didn’t have any ties with a so-called gang. Paige was always one to think straight, and that’s exactly what Eloise needed right now, a straight talker. Her mind was a minefield and had been for the past few days; more so than usual. Typically, the reason for the treacherous tiptoeing around her own thoughts were due to the highly illegal escapades she found herself tied up in, but instead this time they were caused by a hopelessly handsome, tall Australian who she had been texting back and forth with for the past few days.
Ever since their date in Calum’s apartment, ever since she felt his lips against hers once again, she was in a trance. She couldn’t think straight anymore, unable to block him out. And unfortunately for her, she was struggling to convince herself that none of it was genuine.
Talking to Calum was so easy for her, it was as easy as walking. And it confused her. She was unable to comprehend how she felt so comfortable around him, how she was able to be rendered speechless by his words, how she was able to become putty in his hands without even realising. She hated that it seemed so involatile, unable to be stopped no matter how hard she tried to fight it – even though she didn’t make the strongest effort to.
A gust of wind blew through the park, catching Paige off-guard as she tried to keep her cap secured on her head against the wind, a gentle huff escaping her as she waited for it to calm down. Eloise’s hair flew freely from the breeze, her body welcoming the cold chill that rattled through her bones as she sat in the company of her friend. “Could you have picked a windier spot to sit down?” Paige scoffed, a playful smirk on her face as she turned in her seat, trying to find a better position to battle against the wind, to which Eloise sent a shrug in response.
Eloise and Paige had been friends for years, meeting in high school and being paired up in their history class for a project, becoming and remaining close friends ever since. She had introduced Eloise to her other friends, and then Eloise introduced them to Scott. The small group of them became a team during their time in school, a group who stuck together and supported one another throughout most trials and tribulations, especially when it came to Eloise.
“So, uh, y’know there’s a reason why I asked if we could meet up today,” Paige plucked a few strands of grass from the ground next to her, avoiding Eloise’s eyes. Her whole face was rosy, a mixture of that being from the radiating sun shining down on them and also from the remaining effects of the cold she had been suffering with.
“Uh huh,” Eloise sounded, trying to encourage Paige to continue with whatever she was trying to come out with. The words looked to be as if they were on the tip of the blonde’s tongue, her blue eyes, that shared the same shade as the sky, searching for something to focus on. “Paige, out with it already for god’s sake!”
Eloise could see the intake of breath Paige took in as her blue eyes finally met brown. “Remember the promotion I mentioned a few weeks back, the one for the Lead Graphic Designer position in Georgia?” Eloise felt her throat tighten at the word ‘Georgia’, realising very quickly what her friend was trying to explain to her. “And how I thought about going for it, but I fought against it because it meant packing up everything and moving to another state,”
Eloise nodded, “Yeah, I remember. And from what you had told me, it sounded pretty perfect you,”
Paige swallowed the lump in her throat as she plucked up the courage to continue, “Well, I applied for it, but I didn’t want to tell anyone in case I got my hopes up for nothing, but I’ve heard back. And they want me to start in a few weeks.”
Eloise mouth dropped; the corners of mouth tilted up as she stared at the blonde in surprise. She didn’t say anything at first, unable to find the words before she found the strength in her throat to let out a subtle shriek of joy before leaning over and wrapping her arms around her friend. “Paige, that’s great news! This is fantastic!” Paige’s arms were felt around Eloise’s shoulders, a gentle appreciative laugh coming from her nude coloured lips.
“Do you think I’m crazy for doing it?” Her voice spoke softly in Eloise’s ear, wonder lacing the sweet sound. Eloise pulled away from the hug, sitting back in her previous position as she studied the puzzled face of the gifted individual in front of her. “I mean, packing up my entire life and shipping it across to Atlanta, Georgia wasn’t exactly how I imagined myself taking the next step.”
“You’re not crazy,” Eloise assured her, “Trust me, this is the right thing for you to do. This is the big push you needed; I can feel it.”
Although she was excited for Paige, Eloise could feel her heart sink ever so slightly at the realisation of Paige’s departure. She knew she was selfish for feeling sorry for herself due to her friend’s success, thinking about how she was being left behind, being abandoned by someone she cared about so they could go and explore a new chapter of their life meanwhile she was left in New York to live the same old shambled chapters she knew would repeat. She needed to pull herself back again. This was Paige’s happy moment, she needed to embrace it for her. Paige didn’t seem too ecstatic about it herself, so, Eloise needed to be the one to fuel the excitement for her.
“You’ll be a right o’ southern belle by the time you come back and visit,” Eloise joked, trying to find some humour in the situation, trying to bring the mood back up, trying to make Paige moving to be a positive experience, “You’re gonna be that woman who owns a big ranch-style house and starts preparing for Thanksgiving three months early.”
Paige’s wide smile couldn’t be hidden as her laugh erupted from her gut, her hand slapping her knee at her friend’s poor excuse of a joke. It was the simple, but terrible, comedy that she would miss when she moved to Atlanta. Of course, she would make new friends, she knew that, but they wouldn’t be able to replace the close ones she had made throughout her years of living in the Big Apple.
“Have you told Roman about the job?” Eloise asked, her fingers raking through her dark hair, pushing the few straggling strands back into place. She could sense by Paige’s grimace that she had told him, and it obviously didn’t go too well. “How’d he take it?”
Paige let out a slow breath, leaning back on her hands as she tilted her head back, sunglasses resting comfortably against her nose as they protected her baby blues from the harsh rays. “He’s not exactly talking to me right now, it’s like being with a moody teenager. It’s like every time I try to have a conversation with him, he just brushes it off or excuses himself and says he’s busy.” Her heart clenched at the struggle she knew she was going through with Roman, their relationship always being one of compromise and conversation. They had always been able to talk things through; it was quite something if this transition was going to be what broke them.
“Have you thought about asking him to move with you?” Eloise spoke out, cautiously as she attempted to approach the matter with care, knowing that it probably wasn’t Paige’s favourite topic of conversation, “Could he not transfer to another school for work? I imagine Atlanta has plenty of high schools across the city, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to get a job over there.” She knew Roman had always been the stubborn one out of their friends, always having a plan for himself and that being the way it had to be done, no exceptions. Maybe that’s why he was so successful in his career.
Paige shook her head, pushing herself to sit up straight, pulling her knees up so they went up against her chest, her bare arms wrapping around them. “He’s already fought enough to get his professors to place him in a school in New York so he could stay at home, he won’t want to move again. So, I think we’re just going to do long distance, I just… I also just don’t think he’s ready to commit to the big step of moving to a new city, getting a place together, or being solely independent right now. El, you know I would love for him to come with me, but I know he’s not ready for that, not yet anyway,” She sighed, her eyes sparking in the sunlight, before she could add, “Jackson actually called me last night to talk about Roman. Apparently, he called him not long after I told him about Georgia, he said he was crying about how I was leaving and how he felt as though I was running away from him but then he even admitted that he’s too afraid to commit to the move, he claimed that he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do.”
“Paige, you know he loves you so much,” Eloise tried to assure her friend, “He’s smitten and it’s painful to watch if I’m honest with you. Maybe this is what he needs; for you to move and start your next chapter on your own, maybe this will the kick up the ass he needs to know that you’re his whole life and nothin’ else makes him as happy as you do.”
Paige covered her face with her hands, her palms rubbing her soft skin as she let out a quiet groan of frustration before looking up and meeting Eloise’s caring gaze. “Jackson said the same thing. He told me this is what Roman needs for him to realise if I’m what he really wants.”
“I wouldn’t have put it quite like that. Paige, y’know that he wants you and only you, it’s more that he just needs a push to realise that he’s more in love with you than what he thinks.” Blue eyes met brown yet again as a deadpanned expression spread across the blonde’s face, a look that spoke a thousand words but one that also realised that Eloise had a point. Roman was deeply in love with Paige, he just needed to realise it.
“Can we change the subject now? I didn’t think me announcing my promotion would result in mini pity party for myself,” The blonde’s voice tried to speak more clearly, more confident as if she were trying to push back her emotions about her current situation and find a distraction, “What’s been going on with you lately? I haven’t seen you properly since your birth- “
Paige was cut up the sound of a phone beeping, looking towards where Eloise’s device lay next to her, unable to help as her eyes peered over and spotted the name that rested above a notification of a text message. Eloise grabbed the phone from beside her, her eyes spotting the name and trying to stop the tickling flutter of her heart as she opened it and read the text message from Calum.
I was thinking we could do a movie night or something? I’ve got Saturday night off if you’re free - I can pick you up and we can hang out. How does that sound?
Eloise had begun writing out her reply, her fingers quickly working against the screen before Paige’s voice stopped her halfway.
“Who’s Calum?”
Eloise prayed that the redness in her face could be played off as being caused by the heat of the sun, feeling the heat radiating throughout her entire body as she glanced up at Paige’s perfectly sculpted face that stared at the nerve-struck girl. Why she was getting nervous? Sometimes Eloise forgot that there were people in her life that weren’t linked to the game of the Gypsy Kings, forgetting that some people she spent time with had good intentions, some who only saw her as Eloise and not a Gypsy King.
“Do you remember when we were at Moxi’s for my birthday, and there was a guy at the bar that Mia kept pointing out to me?” Eloise spoke as she continued to type out her response to Calum’s text message before sending, I’m not 100% sure what I’m doing on Saturday, but I’ll get back to you on that. A movie night sounds good though, do I get to pick?
She wasn’t lying. She knew there was some business that needed taking care of in regard to the protection service plan she had come up with as a method of making money within the gang. She recalled Han mentioning that he and Jay had discussed rates and he had a potential client who was interested, but what she didn’t know was when exactly any details would be put in place or confirmed. It was quite literally being played by ear, just how she hated it.
She locked her phone and placed it back down onto the ground beside where she sat, her fingers brushing against the short green grass briefly before crossing her legs and resting her nimble hands in her lap. “I ended up running into him later on that night, we got talking and next thing I know I’m in the back of cab with him, kissing him, and before I can even register where I am, we’re at his house an- “
“Hold the fucking phone!” Paige yelled out, stopping Eloise in her tracks, she leaned forward as if to hear her better, her jaw nearly hitting the floor as her eyes were as wide as bowling balls, “You mean to tell me; that you pulled a guy, who had been watching you the entire night, went back to his place and slept with him?!”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” Eloise let out a gentle chuckle as she shook her head, “I never slept with him. I chickened out; I couldn’t bring myself to do it. But for some reason, he still asked me to stay the night.”
“This is definitely something that could only happen to you,” Paige shook her head twice as she smiled, “So, what? You guys just cuddled and kissed throughout the night and now you’re texting?”
“Yeah, pretty much.” Eloise realised a breathy laugh, a smile resting across her face as she thought about how odd it sounded. It did sound like something almost out of movie. Very odd indeed.
“Please tell me you have a photograph of him, or you can find him online or something? I’m sorry, but I can’t believe that you, Eloise Gray, actually committed the moral sin of pulling a guy at a bar when you’ve refused point blank to do anything along those lines for years, until I see photographic evidence of this man,” Paige wiggled her fingers in a ‘give’ motion to Eloise, waiting for the photograph of the man she claimed to be talking to.
Eloise rolled her eyes as she pulled open her text thread with Calum, scrolling through the recent conversation before finding what she was looking for. Calum had sent her a picture that morning; he was taking Duke out for a walk and had snapped a quick picture of himself and the pup and sent it to Eloise with the message, Before my dog and a trail of mud ruin my shoes, pray for me please. She chuckled to herself before clicking on the photo, enlarging it on her screen before handing the device over to Paige who gasped almost instantly at the sight on the screen.
If Paige’s eyes could have rolled out of her head then they would have in that moment, her jaw once again connecting with the floor. Eloise held back the awful the joke of needing to pick it up for her. She watched as Paige’s ocean eyes dissected the photograph, obviously taking longer than necessary. It wasn’t much longer before the phone was handed back to Eloise, it being locked and returned to the ground as Paige’s expression never faltered.
“If the wind changes your face is gonna stay like that.” She spoke in joking tone, laughing breathily as she watched the maths in Paige’s head try to add up what she had just seen.
“El, listen to me, you know that I love you very much, so what I’m about to say, I mean in the nicest way possible,” Paige began, her hands gentle waving around as if to try and portray that she was figuring out her words as she went, “You’ve got to be shitting me, right! El, he is gorgeous! How did you not sleep with him?”
Eloise rolled her eyes yet again, practically slamming her head into her hands as she held back a groan mixed with a laugh, shaking her head, and letting out an overexaggerated sigh before looking back up at the blonde. “Because it would seem as though I have some self-respect,” She stated, tilting her head to side ever so slightly, raising her eyebrows.
“You need to arrange a date with him, like right now, like right this very minute,” Paige insisted, pointing at the mobile phone that lay next to Eloise’s thigh, “You’re crazy if you don’t, considering you’ve apparently been texting since you left that man with blue balls, so clearly he’s got some interest.”
“Just because we can have a conversation after I nearly slept with him, doesn’t mean I need to go on a date with him,” Eloise shrugged, knowing that she wasn’t going to win this argument that she was starting with Paige, already witnessing the frustration grow on her friend’s fair face.
“Eloise, I swear to god, if you don’t go on a date with this man, I think I might combust!”
“That’s very extreme, Paige.”
“Just go on a date with him please, if it’s awful then fine; you don’t see him again.” Paige practically begged.
“Why are you pushing so hard for me to go on a date with him? And how do you know if I haven’t already?” Eloise quirked an eyebrow, smirking at catching her friend out on her words.
“Because this is the first time that I’ve known you t- I’m sorry, what did you just say?” The blonde stopped herself midsentence, needing to make a doubletake to be sure she heard Eloise correctly, “You’ve already had a date? El, why didn’t you just say that at the beginning?!”
“Because you never asked,” Eloise smirked, laughing wholeheartedly at her friend’s stunned expression, as if it irritated her that she never caught on quicker.
One of Eloise’s favourite pastimes had to be irritating her friends in the harmless ways of catching them out with small things like this, along with teasing them about matters she knew irritated them. It never came from a place of malice, only ever full of fun.
“Well, I hope you’re about to tell me how it went,” Paige’s perfectly plucked eyebrows raised along her smooth forehead, “You’ve kept me in suspense this long, I think the least you could do is fill me in on what godforsaken acts the two of you got up to on your date.”
Eloise couldn’t help as she bit the inside of her cheek, gnawing gently on the flesh as she recalled the night that Calum and she hadn’t stopped talking since. It was if she could still feel his touch of her waist, the searing heat of his hands making imprints on her body that she couldn’t get rid of. She could still feel the light stubble of his chin scratching against her palms, neck, and shoulder as he kissed her. She hated that she remembered it so well, hating that she had to admit to herself that she enjoyed it. She wasn’t supposed to revel in the feelings he gave her. She was supposed to pretend that she did.
It was almost like the feeling ate away at her, but she enjoyed it. She liked the feeling the thought of Calum and that night gave her. It scared her nonetheless but yet she still had an inkling to feel it again. Was she losing her mind? Possibly.
She recalled to Paige about how his home was bigger than her apartment; the living alone being close to the size of both her own living room and kitchen combined. The details of how she discovered that Calum had a dog flowed from her lips, laughing as she admitted that she would have accepted his date offer a lot quicker if she had known about the dog beforehand. She got excited over the food that she found in his kitchen, explaining how he insisted they order takeout but she couldn’t stop wanting to eat some of the leftovers he had – having not had a proper homecooked meal like that in what felt was forever – and it being one of the best things she had ever tasted.
The smile on Eloise’s face only grew as she talked where he was from, how his family were living in separate parts of the world, highlighting how amazing it must be to be able to travel to those places and be reunited with his family after time apart.
“Okay, and then what happened?” Paige pushed for more, leaning forward as if she was a child at story time. She thrived off of romance stories, basking in people’s tales of first dates and romantic proposals, only fuelling her urge as the hopeless romantic that she was.
Eloise froze for a moment, sighing as she knew there was something she had forgotten to mention about Calum. She didn’t fear Paige’s reaction, knowing that she wouldn’t react like some, but she knew that with her next statement, there would only be a response of concern for Eloise. Guess she better get on with it…
“We talked about his job for bit as well,” Eloise nodded, letting out a sharp exhale before she looked over at Paige to watch her reaction to her following words, “It turns out he’s a detective in the NYPD.” Her brown eyes watched as Paige’s body stopped in place, her eyes blinking a few times before she slowly leaned back into a normal seated position, her face puzzled as she tried to muster the courage to say the words on her tongue.
“He’s a cop?” Eloise couldn’t decide whether Paige was making a statement or asking a question, her lips remaining parted as if she was going to continue, “El, a-are you sure? I mean, I know I’m not involved in the whole gang lifestyle but… El, surely this isn’t good. What if they find out? What’s going to happen?”
“You don’t need to worry about it, it’s alright,” Eloise shook her head, trying to keep her voice calm as a way of reassuring Paige’s concerned demeanour, “It’ll work itself out, I can feel it.”
“Are you that’s not just paranoia of someone shooting you for dating a cop that you’re feeling?” Paige spoke through gritted teeth, keeping her voice quiet as if it were a secret.
Eloise was thankful for friends like Paige who weren’t involved in the same affiliations as she was. She knew that Paige would be supportive of her decisions but at the same time, she would show more concern for Eloise’s wellbeing, acting as a friend rather than a member she ran with. Eloise had found that her friends like Paige and Roman had more compassion than the others within the Gypsy Kings.
“Like I said, it’ll be fine,” Eloise repeated, her voice stronger this time, trying to solidify the assurance in Paige that it would truly work out. Of course, Paige didn’t know the whole story but that’s fine. That’s the way Eloise needed to keep it.
She couldn’t help but note the shift of tension between them; nothing but worry in Paige’s eyes for her dear friend who was doing something that she couldn’t decide if she would label it as reckless or plain stupid. Eloise could see the mental fight Paige was having with herself over if she should discourage Eloise or if she should give in to her antics and allow for her friend to be happy in a romantic setting. Only Paige didn’t know the actual reason as to why she even in a romantic setting.
But it was the next question that followed that relaxed Eloise, giving her the comfort that she didn’t quite know she wanted. Or needed. She felt a makeshift weight practically lift as Paige let out an understanding breath and asked, “So, does it he look good in his uniform?”
Eloise couldn’t stop the thankful smile from creasing her lips, silently thanking Paige for trusting her words that she couldn’t even be one hundred percent trusting in herself.
“I’m still yet to see the full blues,” Eloise chuckled, “But I think they only wear those for formal police matters, if they’re attending a gathering with the commissioner or something along those lines. I’m not too clued up on how it works honestly.”
Eloise continued to talk about the date, mentioning how they found common ground of knowing people who had the same character. She missed out a few bits and pieces, dismissing Paige from having to know the full details of their discussions. Her smile returned when she thought about the turn that the date took when they were sat on the couch. She described how his eyes were darker than her own but yet somehow brighter, she swore she could see gold in them if she looked hard enough. She smiled at Paige’s small coos throughout the story, a fond smile spread across her face as she listened while Eloise reminisced about her forbidden night with the detective. She laughed as she talked about how she didn’t even hear her phone ring when she was kissing him, as if she had become deaf to all that surrounded her.
“Wait, who was calling you?” Paige asked, eyebrows furrowed as she watched Eloise look up at the sky, as if she was watching a moving picture of her night in the bright landscape.
“Scott,” Eloise scoffed, shaking her head barely before she looked over at her blonde companion of the day, “He called me because he had an emergency which he needed me to help with. Apparently, there was no one else he could call without being told to ‘get over it’.” She raised her fingers and air-quoted the words, unable to hold back the laugh at the memory.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Paige laughed out loud, a slight groan escaping as she playfully slapped Eloise’s leg a few times, “He cockblocked you!”
Eloise couldn’t hold back the giggles as they continued to erupt, shaking her head in agreement. “I felt bad for Calum a little bit. I had to apologise and tell him that my best friend was having a crisis and I needed to go and help him.”
“That poor man.” Paige said through the laughs, trying to sound of sympathetic as possible. She rubbed her face with her freehand, her cheeks beginning to ache a little from laughing, “So, what was Scott’s crisis if it was so urgent that it quite literally broke up your date?”
“Do you remember that Lydia girl that he disappeared with in Moxi’s?” Eloise asked, gaining an immediate nod in response from Paige, “Well, apparently she had turned up at my apartment demanding to speak to Scott and thought that my apartment was his. She was kicking and screaming at the door, so she phoned Scott and told him to come out and speak to her- “
“But she’s outside your apartment in Sunset Park, and doesn’t he live over in Mapleton- “
“Exactly! So, he headed over to try and stop her from breaking my door down. And when he got there, all my neighbours were standing around and asking why there was a girl outside my apartment having a meltdown, which only got worse when she saw him. And from what Scott told me about why she was upset, I don’t think he called her back after she left him a voicemail asking to see him again and she didn’t take it too well, so, she thought it would be a good idea to come and confront him in person.” Eloise struggled to hold a straight face as she recalled the words Scott had spewed out to her a few nights ago.
“So, you were called – why? Because it’s your apartment or did he actually need you to do something?” Paige questioned, looking at Eloise with perched brows as if waiting for the punchline.
“Here comes the best part; Scott asked me to escort her out of the building because he was too afraid.”
“Hold on, just wait- wait a minute… Scott was too scared to ask a girl to leave because she was crying, so he calls you, a fellow girl, to come and get rid of his problem? And yet, he can fire a gun and not flinch?” Paige asked, waving her hand around as she was piecing it together, gaining a nod from Eloise. She had summed it up perfectly. Paige’s face fell into her hands as she tried to hold in her laughter, fighting the urge to allow the entire park to hear her. Eloise joined her in the laughter, her hand coming up and wiping away the small water leaks from her eyes before she tried to catch her breath.
It took a few minutes for them to compose themselves, the harmless laughter still being shared between them as they sat again and enjoyed their time together in the park, embracing the few hours they could spend with one another before they were separated by busy schedules. Mainly Paige’s.
But unfortunately for Eloise, she was about to be brought back down to earth from her short, temporary high, Paige’s voice asking her a question she had hoped she would avoid.
“You know I hate to be a negative Nancy but, El, do you realise how bad it looks for a goddamn criminal to be dating a cop? Even you have to see how alien that is, and I hope you know what you’re doing because the last thing I want- “
“Do you wanna know something, Paige?” Eloise scoffed, her tongue poking the inside of her cheek as she took a shaky but angry breath, trying to contain her sudden frustration with her friend, “I’m not worried about it. It’s almost as if for the first time, I feel normal. When I think about him or I’m with him, I feel like a normal twenty-one-year-old. I feel like I’m your average young adult who is dating someone just as average. But now I think I actually like him and that’s what fucking scares me. I’ve never been afraid of someone holding a gun to my head, or someone coming at me with a knife, but all of a sudden, I like somebody who might even like me back, and I feel like I’m dying insi- “
Her voice cracked throughout her rushed statement, her voice and emotions taking over as she let the words spew from her mouth without even thinking about them. Did she just –
“So, you like him?” Paige’s voice piped up, looking at Eloise as she waited for an answer, “You like Calum?”
Eloise thought for a moment. The obvious answer was for her to say ‘yes’. It was the easy answer for her to give, the ploy of the Gypsy Kings sitting in the back of her mind as she thought of her answer, but also the way her heart quivered at the thought of his smile. She fought over why the answer was so easy, was it because she knew that it made the plan easier to work with? Or was it because she did? Did she really like Calum?
Her mind flooded back a few seconds to the statement she had just allowed to consume the space between her and Paige, allowing for the first time, her emotions about someone to be out in the open, for them to be said and shared with someone other than the voice in the back of her head. The realisation of her words set in, the discovery of the admission she had made sitting prominent in her mind as she looked for some sort of excuse as to why she had said it, a seed of doubt attempting to sprout as if on instinct, trying to figure out why she had just said all that. It was false, wasn’t it? She didn’t feel all those things for Calum. She barely knew him.
But if that were the case, why did she find her heartbeat picking up at the thought of telling someone she liked him? Why did she enjoy the flutter of butterflies within her stomach as she thought of him on each of those nights? Why did she try and play the psychology game, trying to believe she had somehow psyched herself into feeling this way for the sole purpose of the scheme following through?
Why couldn’t Eloise just admit to herself that what she had just said out loud was the truth?
And then she surprised herself.
“Yeah I do,”
Paige’s teeth were showing in her smile, her hand reaching out and wrapping around her dear friend as she pulled her into a hug, squeezing her gently. It shouldn’t have been such a big moment for Eloise to admit she had some form of feelings, but it was. It was a moment that Paige had never seen before; none of her friends had seen this moment before when it came to Eloise.
“I don’t know how to describe it,” Eloise’s voice began to speak, quiet and almost uncertain as if every sentence was a question, “It feels I’m going to be sick every time I see him. It feels like I can’t think straight without something about him appearing in my mind, or I see something that makes me think of him. I don’t know how to feel other than as if I’m on fire, as if someone’s dipped me in gasoline and set me alight.”
Paige’s expression was one of admiration, basking in the admission she had just witnessed, watching as Eloise discovered what it felt like to be attracted to someone in a way other than through a physical connection. It was a proud moment, one that Paige didn’t want to take away from Eloise, one that she wanted to allow the brunette to cherish for as long as she could.
“It’s like I have no control over it,” Eloise let out a breath, staring down at her hands as if they were foreign objects, things she had never seen before, “I don’t know what this means and that’s what scares me.”
And if Eloise thought she was scared of her own feelings; she truly hadn’t known what fear felt like until Paige spoke.
“You’re in love.”
It was if the air in her lungs suddenly evaporated, disappearing at the speed of light as she stared at Paige with an incredulous look on her face. She was certain she had heard wrong, refusing to the believe that word had just been spoken in regard to how she was feeling. There was no way that Eloise felt that, not with knowing what was brought along as baggage as if in a holy matrimony.
“Don’t be stupid, Paige, I’m not. I said I liked the guy, that doesn’t mean that I’m in lo- “
She couldn’t even bring herself to say the word, the word itself brought an uncomfortable queasy sensation to her stomach. And not the one she felt previously and guiltily enjoyed when she thought of the Australian officer. She shook her head at the thought, refusing point blank to even consider such a word for a man she had only technically been on one date with.
“You know I’m right.” She smirked, nudging Eloise’s t-shirt clad shoulder. Eloise reached to the ground, finding the sleeve of her leather jacket she was sitting on, allowing her fingers to fiddle with the material and roll up the sleeve, as if it were an attempt to briefly distract herself from the words of Paige Romanoff.
“I know you’re ridiculous.” Eloise countered, sighing as she dropped her jacket sleeve and picked up her phone, unlocking it to find the picture of Calum still on her screen from when her phone was last open. She took a deep breath as she returned to the text thread, letting her fingers work as she tried to piece together a sentence to send to him, her body rushing ahead before her mind had a chance to take a moment and realise what she was doing. Before she could think about her actions, she had pressed send.
It looks like I’m free on Saturday. I’ll get the train into Queens and meet you at your place just after 6 if that works for you. Guess I’ll see you then.
“That better be you arranging another date,” Paige’s eyebrows wiggled at the phone, smirking at Eloise’s subtle concentration as she wrote out the text before she locked her phone and put it away.
Eloise half-rolled her eyes at the blonde’s comment, shaking her head lightly before her lips pursed and she found herself asking, “Why does the word ‘date’ suddenly sound so dirty coming from you?”
“Because you know that it’s more than that,” Paige teased, her shoulders rising as she rubbed her hands together, “You’re finally letting your heart make decisions for you, and for the first time in your life, it looks like you can trust it.”
“If I can trust my heart, then why do I feel like it’s only going to betray me and let me drown when it all goes wrong?”
Paige couldn’t handle her frustration, her hand raising in the air for a second before lowering back down as she composed herself, “I swear, El, I am this close to hitting you one day,” She showed her index finger and thumb mere millimetres apart, “I don’t think you realise how afraid you are sometimes. You’re so scared of letting yourself be happy that you talk yourself into seeing people as only being something that will hurt you, and before they even have a chance to prove you wrong, you push them away. And maybe for the first time in the time that I’ve known you, Eloise, you may just be starting to let your guard down a little. This is a good thing.”
“So basically, what you’re saying is I self-sabotage?” Her cocoa-coloured eyes squinted a little at Paige as if trying to force the admission out of her, her chapped lips rolling into her mouth.
“What I’m saying, El, is that you’re so scared of letting people see the real you that you block them out before they have a chance. And it’s about time people got to see you for who you really are. Because believe it or not, but you’re pretty fucking fantastic. Let them see you for once.”
Paige’s words struck a chord within Eloise that she didn’t see coming. The string of words resonated with the scared young woman who sat opposite her blonde friend. Maybe Paige was right? Maybe it was all just because she was scared? Maybe people did have good intentions, but Eloise was too blinded by her fear of being hurt that she eliminated all possibilities; good and bad. She was too afraid to be loved and abandoned that she banished all the chances of feeling that again.
Maybe it was time that changed.
*****
22 Days Left
It was colder than usual for New York, especially in August. The gentle breeze drifting through the city only adding the chill Eloise tried to protect herself from, a maroon hoodie being worn beneath her jacket as an extra layer. Her back was resting against a brick wall behind her, her left foot perched up on it also as she stood opposite the familiar face of Han, the only light source coming from the unstable neon sign above them and the gentle amber glow that flowed from the windows of the bar they stood outside. The pink light giving a rosy tinge to their skin tones, making them seem almost as if they were shadows in the alley without it.
Eloise stood with one hand in her jacket pocket, her phone in the other as she mindlessly swiped through Twitter, her eyes only skimming the brief paragraphs of words that people spilled on the bird-themed app.
It was late. It was very late. Eloise spotted the clock at the top of her phone screen, sighing as she thought about how this had become a normal sociable hour for the likes of her. It was coming close to one in the morning, the dark sky canvasing the city as it remained lit with the help of streetlamps, although many of them were broken and would only let out a flicker of a golden light every so often. The alley was practically silent around them, the only sound being the rare car that passed along the road on the other side of red building.
Well it would have been silent if Han didn’t make his voice known, disturbing Eloise from her peaceful interaction with her mobile phone.
“Jay’ll be out soon and then we can get going, this is the last stop for the night,” Han rested a hand on the back of his head, attempting to secure the grey beanie he wore that had begun to slip, “Mooney just needs to pay up and then- “
“What’s Mooney even paying for? He’s a businessman - a successful one at that - what business does he have with Jay that makes him drag us out in the middle of the night?” Eloise sighed, exasperated as she slid her phone back into her pocket, as she looked at the face which she knew all too well.
“Mooney needed a job done a while back, and Jay offered to do it for a good price. It’s been three months since Mooney’s problem was taken care of and Jay still hasn’t seen a penny, so he wanted to call in and at least get a down payment on what he’s owed.”
Eloise raised her eyebrows knowingly, her tongue pushing against her bottom lip before speaking. “And by ‘down payment’ you mean he’s going to take exactly what’s owed. I know as well as you do, Han, Jay doesn’t do things by halves. But why are we here, last time I checked, Jay can handle himself, can’t he?”
“He just wanted some backup in case things got rowdy and they didn’t want to pay up. Think of it as a way of stopping Mooney from doing something stupid.” Han dropped his head a little, eyes meeting Eloise’s brown ones as he let the right corner of his mouth quip up.
It wasn’t Mooney who they needed to worry about doing something stupid. Eloise knew that, and so did Han although he didn’t want to admit it. Jay always tended to get ahead of himself in situations like this.
Eloise let herself focus on the faint sound of chatter and music she could hear from a few buildings over, smiling briefly at the thought of the club that had recently opened on the street behind Mooney’s; the new attraction being at the very end of the road but yet the music was so loud she could still hear it. She recognised the song, tapping her foot along to the beat in the hope of making time pass by quicker if she lost herself in the music.
A presence was felt next to her, a warm shoulder nudging against her own before her eyes met Han’s cold ones yet again. He had shifted to stand beside her, his back resting against the same wall as he searched his pocket for the very thing that Eloise rolled her eyes at the sight of. “You know if this gang doesn’t kill you then those definitely will.” She scoffed, sighing as she watched Han pluck a white cigarette from the tattered box, his other hand holding his lighter.
It was a habit she never understood, one that she never got into. She didn’t hate smoking; it just wasn’t her thing. She watched as the amber light sparked from the tip of the lighter, the end of the cigarette sizzling softy against the flame before Han took his first drag of the sin, holding his inhale for a few seconds and basking in the gentle burn the filled his lungs before the grey smoke escaped his lips in a long exhale, “I think I’ll take my chances.”
Eloise shook her head, rolling her eyes as she watched the man who she had grown up with smoke what she assumed to be his hundredth cigarette that day. Okay, maybe not his hundredth but at least double digits.
“You haven’t said much about the plan in the past few days, since I rumbled you about your little escapade you’ve been practically void,” Han gently coughed as he held the cigarette between his index and middle finger, his spare hand resting by his side, “Care to give me an update on our little cop friend and you? How far along we are?”
Eloise fought against her natural instinct to freeze, focusing to keep her body as casual as possible, to control her heartbeat, breathe, as well to try and prevent her voice from shaking nor cracking. Why did she have to so much work into trying to sound convincing? Oh yeah – she admitted that she may or not actually like the man who’s she’s supposed to be pretending to like. Something that almost felt as if it was a mild form of Stockholm Syndrome, but instead she was beginning to feel a warmth inside of her for the man she was supposedly lying to, the man she was setting up, the one who she was betraying. She hated that she felt guilty about it: for both Calum and the Kings. They were all she had ever really known, they had taken her in and protected her when she was at her worst, Han specifically, taking her in an older brother and making sure she was cared for.
Eloise couldn’t help but feel as though she was throwing everything that he had done for her right back in his face, all because she let her heart get in the way. But at the same time, she couldn’t bring herself to agree to throwing Calum out of the plane without a parachute, something inside of her didn’t want to hang him out to dry.
The brunette worked to keep her expression stale as she responded to Han, “As good as we can hope. I’ve been working my way into him bit by bit, now I just need to figure out who I slip in that I’m a one of us and pray that he doesn’t arrest me on the spot. This is hard bit, Han. If he reacts how most cops would, then this whole plan goes up in smoke.”
“Then don’t let him react like most cops,” Han responded with ease, “Tell me who you are. Lie to him more, tell him you want out and you need his help to do that. El, if I’m being honest, it doesn’t seem like it’s the hardest thing you need to do. Just tell a few lies, what harm is it doing?”
A lot is what she wanted to say but she bit her tongue. “Fine. Let’s see how long it takes for him to shoot me once I reveal the news.”
“Don’t be overdram- “
Han’s words were cut short by the sound of a gunshot echoing from inside the bar. Heavy footsteps carried Eloise and Han inside through the back of the bar, bursting through the stockroom door that connected into the main common area. The sight that greeted them was one that neither expected to see that night. Well, they had hoped not to.
Eloise’s shocked eyes were drawn to the floor, witnessing the aftermath of the explosive gunshot she had heard when she was outside. A young boy was lying on the wooden floor of the bar, a seeping bloody wound in his chest as he gasped for air, his hands sprawled against the floor as if the shot had paralysed him. His blond hair stuck to his sweat-covered forehead, his chest shaking as he tried to breathe through what Eloise could only imagine was a horrendous pain. He didn’t look old enough to be involved in whatever business Jay was conducting inside the bar, he was so young. She saw the small scattering of acne scarring on his cheeks, god he was only a kid. He must’ve been sixteen, barely, and yet he was lying there on the bloody floor fighting for his life.
She could see Mooney stood by the bar, his eyes shining as tears flowed and he reached out as if to try and touch the boy though the distance between them didn’t allow him to do so. A million emotions were encrypted on the man’s face: fear, sadness, desperation, and anger were the prominent few. It was if someone flicked a switch in her head that allowed her to create the link between the shaking body on the floor and the man across the bar; it was Mooney’s son.
Thoughts were rushing through Eloise’s mind at a million miles an hour, her hands shaking ever so slightly as she tried to figure out what happened. Her eyes met the tall body of Jay as he stood against the pool table in the centre of the room, wiping his hands on what she presumed to be a tea towel, her eyes meeting his briefly before his green connected with Han as he tossed the towel in his direction. Han caught it as if it were second nature, his fingers grasping the contaminated cloth as he stared at his friend in shock.
There were so many questions floating in the air that she wanted to ask, although clarification of what had happened wasn’t necessary, but she still found herself needing to hear it to believe it. Like the teenager on the floor who was grasping onto his life wasn’t enough of an indication of exactly what had unfolded.
“Jay, what – “
“He came out of nowhere, started waving a gun around and making threats,” Jay excused, a natural uncaring shrug rolling off his shoulders, “He was going on about how he was going to kill me if I didn’t get out. So, I taught him a lesson in why you don’t make empty threats to a Gypsy King.”
The way the excuse rolled off of his tongue just emphasised the snake that he was. A sick twisted creature who would do whatever it took to get what he wanted, without a care or second thought for those who stood in his way. His words stung Eloise’s ears as he spoke, each one laced with poison as he shrugged off a murder as if the victim was a used tissue.
The lack of a weapon next to the body only proved Jay’s lie, having no indication that the boy had raised a weapon. He probably didn’t even know how to use a gun.
“You murdered my son!” A voice cried out, the eyes in the room falling on the broken man who knelt by the bar, his face soaked from tears as his body shook in grief, “You killed my boy!”
The sound of Jay’s heavy footsteps echoed throughout the empty bar, his face being mere inches from the older man as he lowered to his level, raising a warning finger to the man known as Mooney, before he spoke in a quiet yet aggressive voice, “And you’ll be next if I don’t get my money. You’ve got three days and I’ll back. If I don’t see every single penny on that bar top by the time I come back then his life won’t be the only one lost in this bar, so take this as a warning.”
He was cold towards the grieving man, having no sorrow for what he had just taken from him. Eloise didn’t even register his hard shoulder pushing past hers as he shoved past Han and her, looking towards Han as he spoke quietly, “Clean up the mess before the cops get here.”
The fact that he discarded the boy as a ‘mess’ allowed Jay’s lack of empathy to shine through. The hollowness of his heart could be felt by everyone as he left the bar, the door slamming behind him as he abandoned the crime scene he had just created. This wasn’t right.
Eloise followed Han’s figure as he ran out of the bar behind Jay, keeping hot on his tail, as he let his voice yell out in frustration. She noticed how Mooney’s eyes never left his son’s body, the shaking of his chest matching the young boy’s as they both took what felt like their last breaths. Something that she couldn’t bring herself watch any longer, making her exit from the bar. She wanted to apologise to Mooney, to apologise to his son. But she couldn’t, she knew she wouldn’t be able to find the strength nor the words that he needed to hear. She doubted that Mooney himself even knew what those words were. The only thing she did know is that he would want Jay to pay for what he did.
“What the fuck happened in there?” Han was at the point of destruction, outraged and hot at the actions of his companion, “Jay, what fuckin’ happened?”
Jay let out an unbothered huff, finding his car keys in his pocket before making his way down the alley towards where his car was hidden away. He was walking away from his own mess that he created. He always walked away. “He had it comin’.”
That wasn’t the right thing to say. It only fuelled Han’s disbelief of what had erupted moments ago, his anger being released at full throttle as he out cried, “He was a kid, Jay. He was a fuckin’ kid, and you shot- You fuckin’ shot him as a warnin’!”
Eloise stood witness to Han’s anger unfolding, watching as how with each passing second, the events began to trouble him more and more; the consequences of Jay’s actions playing prominent in his mind as he shouted. She noted Jay’s face remained cold, unphased and stern as he watched Han’s emotions get the better of him for a brief few minutes. She couldn’t ignore the growing concern in her stomach, her eyes looking around at the dark alley, knowing it wouldn’t be long before the yelling match would be heard by a stranger passing by in the night resulting in an unwanted visit from the cops if the two men in front of her continued as they seemed fit.
The unbothered manner of which Jay handled Han’s accusations, the meaningless shrugs and rolls of his eyes only reminded her that this wasn’t the first time this kind of thing had happened. But never before, had he shot a kid. He used people as warnings all the time to get what he wanted, used rivals’ loved ones as persuasion tactics, playing with their life in order to gain control and power over a situation. He called everyone else around him soft, talking about them as if they were sand which crumbled and dissipated at the touch of someone’s hand. She could remember him yelling about how it’s people like him who have the drive to better their position in the world, to climb up the food chain to get to the top. She knew he wasn’t right; she knew he was truly the broken one in the Gypsy Kings. He was the one who had lost all control, never knowing when enough was enough.
It was Jay’s loud roar that caused Eloise to jump, her body not ready for the loud volume that erupted from him. Her eyes watched his as they stared into Han’s, a warning finger, much like the one he had at Mooney before, was raised in Han’s face as he spat out, “You’re gonna back off if you know what’s good for you. You’re going to go back inside that bar and clean up like I told you or else there’s gonna be a second body needin’ disposed of tonight, got it?”
Eloise couldn’t see Han’s face, but she could tell from the tense muscles in his shoulders that he was furious, a bitter, “Fine” being heard in the quiet of the night.
Jay took this as his queue to leave, slipping into his dark car, matching his heart, before he sped off down the streets of downtown Brooklyn, leaving Han and Eloise to face the music of the destruction he left in his path. It took a few minutes for Han to move, the towel still in his hands as he turned around and began to make his way back inside the bar, as if what Eloise had just witnessed never happened.
“What’re we supposed to do now?” Eloise’s quiet voice sounded louder in the dark of the night, her hands being tossed into her pockets as she tilted her head, waiting for a response from Han, the anger still visible on his face.
“We continue as normal,” He returned, scrunching the cloth in his left hand, “Nothing’s changed so we keep going.”
Eloise couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She had stood aside and watched Han lose his mind over the death of a boy and now he was saying they do nothing. This wasn’t the Han she knew. As much as Han was a stickler for the rules, she knew he couldn’t stand by and let this go.
“So, you’re just going to let this slide? Han, he’s getting out of hand and you know it. He’s taking things too far and he’s out of control… We’ve lost too many people on his watch and the city have lost too many at his hand. How many more innocent people have to die for you to realise that he’s out of his depth, as are you?” Eloise fought against the crack in her voice as she thought about the innocent life that was lost that night, trying to prevent herself from acting as though she had been the one to lose someone like the man inside the bar who would be grieving over a son.
“What else am I supposed to do, huh El? What choice do I have?” As much as she fought her own voice cracking under the pressure, she noted how Han didn’t fight his as he asked her the painful question. She knew it conflicted him, put him in a position that he didn’t like.
“We have rules for a reason, Han, and you kn- “
“Do you not think I fucking know that, El?! He has started a war that he doesn’t even know is coming. He’s just given every other gang in this entire city a reason to come after him once and for all, and they’ll be coming after us as well. He’ll get what’s coming to him, and he’ll finally pay for not playing by the rules.” Han let out a defeated groan, his hand ripping the beanie from his head as he threw it to the floor. “We’ll all be the ones paying for his actions.”
“And that’s what you want? You’re happy for us to stand back and let the others come and tear us all apart piece by piece all because Jay decided to go rogue. But until then, we’re supposed to just sit around like nothing has happened and wait for someone to decide that enough is enough. How long is that going to be?” Eloise rolled her eyes, unable to stop her voice getting louder as the anger inside her stomach bubbled, “It’s not good enough, Han.”
Angry was an understatement to the feeling that was shared between Eloise and Han. There wasn’t a word to describe the rage inside of them to its true extent. Eloise’s was mixed with sadness, sympathy lacing her voice as she thought about the grieving family who would never share a smile together with their son. She was getting too emotionally attached to those who were tied up with the Gypsy Kings; she knew that. She had known that since that night with Calum. Her emotions were going to be what destroyed her.
“I can’t just stand aside this time and wait for someone to come and kill me all because of his stupid mistake. I know what’s it’s like to lose everything to a stupid gan- “ She stopped herself, trying to hold her emotions together as her vision blurred with the salty tears, “I know what it’s like to lose someone and to never get the closure of knowing that those who did it paid for their actions. That family deserve that, it’s the least they deserve after tonight.”
“And that’s exactly what they’ll get if you just have patience. El, we still need to look out for ourselves. We’ve got just over three weeks until that shipment comes in, we’ve still got time to get through this and then we can run. We can take the money and get out of New York, we can leave Jay to his own devices and let him suffer the consequences. We just need to hold on, just until the deal is done.” Han looked desperate, as if searching Eloise’s eyes for some sort of answer to a question he didn’t know he was asking. Eloise could hear the struggle in his voice, she could see the tiredness in his eyes as he pained at the way she looked at him. It was as if he were stranger, someone she couldn’t recognise anymore; someone who was willing to play blind to death when they knew better. “Just please be patient, and we’ll work this out.”
The word sounded bitter to her, the thought of it against her tongue leaving a sour taste. Patience. How was she supposed to stand back and be patient when she knew a young boy wouldn’t graduate high school and go off to college? How was she supposed to be patient when she knew a family would be planning a funeral that they never should’ve needed to? How was she supposed to be patient when she would stand opposite the man who took an innocent life and act as though it was nothing? She couldn’t grasp how that was expected of her. She had witnessed an innocent’s death before, but this time it was different. It was never a child. Never.
Her eyes fell to her boots as she scuffed them along the ground, taking a shaky breath as she tried to compose herself, tried to withhold her emotions as Han called out her name. She painfully allowed for her brown eyes to meet his broken ones, expression stoic as she nibbled at the skin on the inside of her lip, unable to trust herself to make a verbal response to his call.
“Let’s get this over with, I’ll do the dirty work. You need to talk to Mooney.” Han’s voice sounded disappointed as they made their way back inside of the bar.
The body still lay there in position, shirt stained with the crimson as an older man lay over the body, shaking violently as he sobbed. The pain in her heart was excruciating as she watched, her eyes falling to Han as he kneeled next to the body and attempted to remove a crying father from his deceased son; a sight that she knew she would never be able to unsee. It felt like déjà vu, something that had happened before, but this time it was different. The memory bringing a tear to her eye and letting it fall down her supple cheek, her hand quickly wiping it away as she composed herself the best she could.
“Sal,” Her shaky voice whispered, her body moving along the floor before she kneeled next to the crying bar owner, knowing she had to play her part in this process. But this time not for the sake of the gang, this time for the sake of the grieving father, “You need to let him go, come on…”
The yell of the man by her side would never leave her, the outcry full of pain and desperation as the call out of his son’s name echoed in her ears for what she felt like forever. How was she supposed to just brush this off?
It was as if things finally began to make sense. Every sense of emotion she had been learnt to feel again since that night overwhelmed her. Her ignorance she had played on so often was non-existent as she felt nothing but sorrow, sympathy and pain for the boy who had died that night. She couldn’t help but feel as though she had a purpose, the urge of justice now coursing through her body as she held the crying man in her arms and tried to comfort him, offering him a shoulder to cry on as Han lifted the limp body and removed it from the bar.
Jay had been out of control for too long. The years of destruction and rage he endorsed on the city of New York were now breaking barriers and were impacting the gang in the complete opposite way of how they thought. It was going bad, really bad. Han’s reminder of how the city would come after Jay as a consequence played on Eloise’s mind, but she knew she couldn’t wait for that. She couldn’t play along with the Gypsy Kings’ game until that day came. She had sat back for too long and allowed for the people around her to decide her fate, to control what she did and how she lived her life to some degree.
It was about time she changed that. It was about time she took control and did something right.
Of course, she knew the consequences of her actions, knowing that if she followed through then it would mean everything she knew would be gone. She would be betraying her family, betraying her best friend, and betraying herself.
And she was more than willing to accept that. She couldn’t stand in the shadows any longer. It was time to change. It was time to end it all. It was time to make her real family proud.
--- 
Tag List: @steviemae​ @elsysoza​ 
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nanigma · 5 years ago
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Blue Lions Translation Chapter 1
Hey, everyone. Since I am currently on holiday and finally finished my latin exam, I decided to start up something fun for us to look at. I’ll make it my mission to go through the Japanese script for the Blue Lions route and translate it as I go. May it reveal neat things small and big.
Can’t promise I will actually make it through it all, but I’ll definitely try my best.  
Before we go, I’d like to mention that I am without income this month and would appreciate any bit of help you can give me through my ko-fi account. Times are rough.
My comments in italics
Some small things to note as we start out in White Clouds. I only plan on translating the Blue Lion specific lines first. It just gives me less text to work through all at once. If my stamina lasts long enough, I might go back at a later point and do a translation of all the ‘neutral’ dialogue in between.
Chapter Dialogue
First meeting with the Blue Lions
アネット: えっ、新しい先生って、まさか……あわわ、 あたし、友達みたいに話しかけちゃって……▼ 同い年くらいに見えたから、つい……! すみません、気をつけますっ!!▼
Annette: Eh, you mean the new teacher is... no way.. ahh. And I even talked to you like we were friends. ▼ You look like you are my age so... I am so sorry, I will be careful from now on!! ▼
[選択:構わない]
[Choose: I don't care]
アネット: そ、そんなこと言われても……。
Annette: Even if you say so...
ディミトリ: ええ、こちらの気が済みません。 
Dimitri: Yes, it is on us to apologize.
シルヴァン: 先生が言うんだし、いいんじゃないですか? つーか、それを言ったらですよ、殿下……▼ そもそも、俺たちがあんたにこんな口を 利いてるのだって、不敬もいいとこでしょ。▼
Sylvain: But the Professor said they don't care, so it's fine, right? And anyway, if we are already on the topic, your highness.. ▼ Since we've been talking to you so casually all along, a little disrespect can’t be that bad. ▼
ディミトリ: いや、ここは王国ではないんだし、 それとこれとはまた別の話で……▼ ……だがまあ、先生がそれでいいなら ありがたくその厚意に甘えるとしようか。▼
Dimitri: No, this isn't the kingdom, so how we talk there is completely unrelated to how we talk here... ▼ However, if it is alright with the Professor, we shall take them up on their offer gratefully. ▼
イングリット: あの、ですが私には…… 染みついた癖というのは、どうにも……。▼
Ingrid: Um, I myself... I am not sure if I can go against my manners like that.. ▼
メルセデス: 難しいなら、無理することないわよ~。 ね、先生もそれでいいでしょう?▼
Mercedes: No need to force it, if it's difficult for you~. I am sure that's fine with you too, Professor? ▼
Byleth nods
[If Byleth is female]
シルヴァン: 先生は器がでかいなあ、素敵だ! あっ、結婚を前提に、俺とお茶でも……
Sylvain: The professor has such a big heart, how wonderful! Ah, we should discuss marriage sometime over a cup of tea and-...
I had to look up what  器がでかいなあ means. Literally it would be more like “Your vessel is big” and I suspected something sleazy at first, but it seems Sylvain is innocent.. this time.
フェリクス:……待て、シルヴァン。 こいつには用がある。▼
Felix: … Wait, Sylvain. I need something from her.
フェリクス……そういえば、先ほどお前に言ったな。 剣を交える日を楽しみにしている、と。▼
Felix: … Anyway. You told me before, right? About looking forward to the day we cross swords.
Whoever uploaded the Japanese script speculated this line only shows up if you talked to him during exploration before. Which would make more sense. The localization rephrases it as “I’ve heard of you and wanna fight” which either means the above showed up regardless, potentially causing confusion for Japanese players who skipped talking to him, or the localization made it non-conditional. I’ll have to boot up my game at some point to check.
[Continuing for both Blyeths]
フェリクス: 後で訓練場に来い。 まずはお前の腕を見せてもらいたい。▼
Felix: Come to the training hall after this. First things first, I want you to show me your skill.
ディミトリ: 抜け駆けとは感心しないな、フェリクス。 その試合、是非俺も交ぜてくれ。▼
Dimitri: It wouldn't be right for you get a headstart, Felix. Please let me partake in that match as well.
English!Dimitri just comments that Felix is right to the point. But I like him teasing a bit here.
Also Dimitri used much more polite language before this, but has now switched to a more casual style, like promised.
フェリクス:……チッ。▼
Felix: … Tch.
アッシュ: あ、あのっ! 後学のため、 僕も見学させていただきたいんですが!▼
Ashe: H- Hey! I would also like to observe the occasion for future reference.
ディミトリ: アッシュ。見るだけと言わず、 お前も加わればいいだろう。▼
Dimitri: Ashe, leaving out the bit about observation, it would definitely be good for you to join as well.
メルセデス; ふふっ、怪我した時は私に言ってね~。 ちょっとした傷なら、すぐに看てあげるわ。▼
Mercedes: Hehe, just tell me if you get hurt. I'll look after any scratch immediately.
ドゥドゥー:……殿下。 あまり羽目を外され過ぎぬよう。▼
Dedue: … Your highness. Please do not overextend yourself.
ディミトリ: お前は心配性だな、ドゥドゥー。 大丈夫、自重はするさ。▼
Dimitri: You really are a worrywart, Dedue. It's alright, I'll take care.
シルヴァン: なあ……親睦を深めるのに剣を交えるって、 何か根本的に間違ってると思うんだけど?▼
Sylvain: Hey...  doesn’t anyone think there’s something seriously wrong with deepening our bonds by swinging swords at each other?
イングリット: あら、そうかしら。そういうことなら、 あなただけ教室で留守番してる?▼
Ingrid: My, is that so? In that case, I suppose you'll stay behind and watch the classroom for us?
シルヴァン: イングリット……お前さあ、 ほんっと俺に対して手厳しいよなあ……。▼
Sylvain: Ingrid... you are always so harsh when it comes to me...   
ディミトリ: ……先生。青獅子の学級ルーヴェンクラッセは、 見てのとおり騒がしい学級だ。▼ いろいろと苦労をかけるかもしれないが、 これから1年、よろしく頼む。▼
Dimitri: Professor. As you can see, the Blue Lions are a very boisterous class. ▼ We might cause you a lot of trouble, but we'll be counting on your for coming year. ▼
Exploration
Again, sticking only to the Blue Lions for this one and leaving out the lines they have when recruited or when you are in a another house for now.
[Annette]
Speech Bubble: I could swear I saw him...
アネット: こんにちは、先生。 あの、ちょっと質問があるんですけど……。▼ あたしと同じ色の髪の毛で、しかめっ面の、 暗ーい雰囲気のおじさん、知りませんか?▼
Annette: Hello, Professor. Um, I have a question for you... ▼ Do you know an older man whose hair the same colour as mine, with a frown on his face and surrounded by a gloomy aura? ▼ 
[選択:人捜し?]
[Choose: Are you looking for someone?] +Support with Annette
アネット: ……はい。ちょっと、事情があって……。 もし見かけたら、教えてくださいね!▼
Annette: Yeah... There's a bit of a situation... Please tell me, if you see him, okay?
[選択:知らない] 
[Choose: I don't know]
アネット: やっぱり、そうですよね……。 ごめんなさい、変なこと聞いちゃって!▼
Anette: I knew it... I'm sorry for making you listen to such a weird question.
[Dimitri]
ディミトリ: 近く、学級対抗戦が催されるそうだな。 訓練を怠らないようにしなければ。▼ 先生は、俺たち生徒個人の能力を把握し、 的確な指導をしてやってほしい。▼ 実りある戦いにするのはもちろんだが、 戦うからには勝ちたいだろ、先生。▼ 大修道院は初めてだと言っていたな。 折角だ、俺から簡単に案内させてもらおう。▼
Dimitri: We will soon be holding a mock battle against the other classes. We mustn't neglect our training. ▼ I wish for you to ascertain each students individual abilities and instruct us precisely. ▼ It's sure to be a rewarding experience either way, but of course I want to win, Professor. ▼ You mentioned this was your first time at the monestary. In that case I shall give you some basic information on it. ▼
[選択可:施設の利用]
[Select: The use of facilities]
ディミトリ: 大修道院内の施設は、士官学校の 生徒や教師にも利用が許可されている。▼ 例えば、食堂では他の者と食事を共にでき、 訓練場では一対一の稽古ができる。▼ ここで生活する人々の話に耳を傾けながら 大修道院内を散策してみるといい。▼
Dimitri: The facilities inside the monastery are permitted to be used by all the students and teachers. ▼ For instance, you can go to the dining hall to enjoy a meal with others, or go to the training hall to have one-on-one matches. ▼ It would be a good idea to lend an ear to what the people living here have to say, while you wander through the monastery. ▼
[選択可: 掲示板とクエスト]  
[Select: The bulletin board and quests]
ディミトリ: 大修道院の各所には「掲示板」がある。 先生は、見たことがあるか?▼ 掲示板には、各所からの依頼や 門前にある市場の情報が掲示されている。▼ こういった依頼に応えることで、 使えるようになる施設もあったと思う。▼ 掲示板の情報��、頻繁に更新される。 毎節、一度は確認しておいたほうがいい。▼ 
Dimitri: There are various bulletin boards throughout the monastery. Have you seen them, professor? ▼ On the boards you'll find requests from various places posted, as well as information on the market in front of the gates. ▼ By responding to these requests, I think you will eventually be able to use more facilities. ▼ The information of the board gets updated frequently. It would be best to check them whenever you have the chance. ▼
[選択可: 行動力]
[Select: Activity meter]
ディミトリ: 当然のことではあるが、何の施設にしろ 利用すると相応の時間がかかる。▼ 一日を無駄にしてしまわないよう、 計画立てて行動した方が良いだろうな。▼
Dimitri: Although this should be obvious, an appropriate amount of time passes as you use each facility. ▼ It would be best to carefully consider your activities, so that you do not let an entire day go to waste. ▼ 
[選択可: 指導レベル]  
[Select: Instruction Level]
ディミトリ: この士官学校の教師は、 極めて高い水準の指導力を求められる。▼ 生徒だけでなく教師も、分野を超えた 知識を習得し、研鑽に励まなければならない。▼
Dimitri: The professors at the monastery are expected to meet exceedingly high standards of leadership. ▼ So they too, not just their student, must strive to acquire knowledge outside their field and study diligently. ▼
[Dedue]
ドゥドゥー: 殿下はお前を信頼すると仰った。 ならば、おれがお前を信じない理由はない。▼ お前が殿下に刃を向けるというなら、 話は別だがな。▼
Dedue: His Highness told me he trusts you. Therefore, I have no reason not to believe you. ▼ If you ever turn your blade against him, it will be a different story however. ▼
[Sylvain]
[If Byleth is male]
シルヴァン: よう、先生。暇してるんなら、 一緒に街にでも出ませんか?▼ まだ見ぬ美女を捜しに……。……いや。 冗談です。そんな目で見ないでください。▼
Sylvain: Hey, Professor. If you are free, would you care to go into town with me? ▼ I'm still looking for beauties I haven't seen yet and... No. I was joking. Please don't look at me like that. ▼
[If Byleth is female]
シルヴァン: よう、先生。暇してるんなら、 一緒に街にでも出ませんか?▼ 美味い飯を出す宿場を見つけたんですよ。 これは、先生を誘うしかないと思いまして!▼
Sylvain: Hey, Professor. If you are free, would you care to go into town with me? ▼ I found an inn that serves the most amazing food. I feel like I just have to take you there! ▼
[Felix]
Speech Bubble: ...It's you.
フェリクス: ……何か用か。▼
Felix: … Need something?
[選択:剣の相手を]
[Choose: Spar with me] +Support with Felix
フェリクス: ……ふ、面白い。▼
Felix: .... Heh, interesting.
English has him explain he doesn’t have time right now. Presumably because nothing happens after this. lol
[選択:用はない]
[Choose: It's nothing]
フェリクス: なら、さっさとそこをどけ。 目障りだ。▼
Felix: Then get out of my way. You are blocking the view.
Felix is extra special rude here, since you can also translate the second line to calling you an eyesore.
[Ashe]
アッシュ: あ、先生も植物を見に来たんですか? 凄いですよね、ここの温室は。▼ 王国では見たこともないような薬草や、 珍しい花がたくさん植えられているんです。▼
Ashe: Ah, did you come to look at the plants too, Professor? This greenhouse really is amazing. ▼ They are planting all sorts of vegetables I haven't seen in the kingdom before, and a lot of strange flowers too. ▼
[選択:あまり興味が……]
[Choose: I'm not really interested..]
アッシュ: あはは、そうですよね……僕も、教わるまで 植物なんて全部同じだと思ってましたから。▼
Ashe: Haha, yeah before I was taught about them, plants all seemed the same to me too.
[選択: 詳しいの?]  
[Choose: Are you well informed?]
アッシュ: 僕の養父が詳しいんです。見分け方や、 調薬なんかも教えてもらいました。▼
Ashe: My adoptive father is the one who is well informed. He taught me how to tell the plants apart and care for them. ▼
[Continuing]
アッシュ: 先生も、気が向いた時に花を眺めてみるのが いいと思います。楽しいですよ。▼
Ashe: I think it would be a good idea to look at the flowers whenever you can, Professor. It's a lot of fun.
[Mercedes]
メルセデス: この士官学校に来る前はね~、 王都で、魔道の学校に通っていたの。▼ アン……ええと、アネットのことよ。 アンとは、そこで仲良くなって……▼ あ、ローレンツもいたんだったかしら?▼ 少し年上の私にも親しくしてくれるアンは 私にとって、かけがえのない親友なの~。▼
Mercedes: You see, before coming to the academy~, I attended the school of sorcery in the capital. ▼ Ann..- I'm talking about Annette. I got to know Ann at that place.... ▼ Ah, I think Lorenz also attended? ▼ Although I am a bit older than her, Ann got pretty close to me, so I consider her an irreplacable and dearest friend of mine~. ▼
[Ingrid]
イングリット: 青獅子の学級ルーヴェンクラッセの名は、ファーガス神聖王国 初代国王の尊称から取られているんです。▼ 青き外衣を翻す“獅子王”ルーグ様。 多くの騎士道物語に活躍が描かれています。▼ 書庫には、いろいろな書物があるはずです。 もちろん王国史や、騎士道物語も。▼ 是非、読んでみてください。 きっと新たな発見があるでしょうから。▼
Ingrid: The Blue Lion's name derives from the honorary title of the first king of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. ▼ The „Lion King“ Loog, always garbed in blue. His deeds have been immortalized in various chivalric tales. ▼ The library ought to have many books about him. Historic accounts as well as chivalric tales of course. ▼ Please read them if you get the chance. I am sure it would give you a new perspective. ▼
Pre-mock battle discussion
ディミトリ:  いよいよ模擬戦か。はは、腕が鳴るな。 先生はどうだ?▼
Dimitri: It is finally time for the mock battle. Haha, I am eager to put my skills to the test. How about you, Professor?
[選択:楽しみだ]
[Choose: I am looking forward to it]
+ Support with Dimitri
ディミトリ: 良かった。先生の采配、期待してるよ。 俺たちも、勝利のために力を尽くそう。▼
Dimitri: I am glad to hear it. I have high hopes for your command, Professor. We shall also give everything for the sake of victory.
[選択: 勝てるかな]
[Choose: „I wonder if we can win“]
There’s nothing listed in the script. I wonder if it’s a gap. Again, something to check for later.
[Continuing]
ディミトリ: 大丈夫だ。 手強い相手かもしれないが、きっと勝てる。▼
Dimitri: It's all right. Our opponents may be difficult, but we will surely win.
クロード: やあ、お二人さん。 作戦会議かい? 俺たちも交ぜてくれよ。▼
Claude: Hey, you two. Having a stragey meeting? Please let us join in too.
ディミトリ: 勘弁してくれ、手の内は隠すものだろ。 相手が強敵なら、尚更だ。▼
Dimitri: Spare me, Claude. It's only natural to keep our hand concealed, isn't it? Even moreso if the opponent is so formidable.
クロード: そりゃあ光栄。ならば期待に応えて、 俺たちも奇策を用意しておかないと、なあ?▼
Claude: Now that's an honour. To live up to such expectations, should we come up with some plans of our own, or..?
エーデルガルト: ええ、貴方たちがどんな手で来ようとも、 それを上回る戦術で打ち破ってあげる。▼
Edelgard: That's right, no matter what you may come up with, we shall tear it down with superior tactics.
ディミトリ: いや、張り切るのはいいが……。 あまり、無茶をしないようにな。▼
Dimitri: Uh, it's nice to see you so invested... Just don't overdo it, okay?
エーデルガルト: へえ。敵の心配をするなんて、随分と 余裕があるようね、ディミトリ。▼
Edelgard: Huh, you must feel pretty confident to be worrying about your enemies, Dimitri.  
クロード: おやおや戦いはまだだってのに、そんなに 熱くなって……我が学級は楽をできそうだ。
Claude: My my, the battle hasn't even started and you are already fired up like that... My class should have an easy time of it.
ディミトリ: そういうつもりじゃ……いや、悪かったよ。 何はともあれ、実りある戦いにしよう。▼
Dimitri: That's not what I-... No, I am sorry.   Whatever happens, let us make it a rewarding experience.
エーデルガルト: ふふ、それはこちらも同じよ。 そうでしょう?▼
Edelgard: Hehe, the sentiment is mutual. Isn't that right?
Okay, so this line is skipped entirely in the English script and it is Dimitri who asks the question. Maybe because it does sound weird that Edelgard would single out Byleth for this when they are on opposing sides, but I can’t be sure. Would need to find a playthrough of the Japanese version to confirm.
[選択:お手柔らかに]
[Choose: Please go easy on us]
クロード: おっと、先生の本心はわかってるんだ。 負ける気はないって顔に書いてある。▼
Claude: Now just wait, I can tell how you really feel, professor. Your face has „We won't lose“ written all over it.
[選択: 負ける気はない]
[Choose: We won't lose]
エーデルガルト: そう。貴方がそう言うのなら、 手を抜いてあげる必要はなさそうね。▼
Edelgard: I see. If you say so, there is no need to hold ourselves back.
[Continuing]
マヌエラ: あらあら、みんな揃ってお喋りかしら? すっかり仲良くなったようね。▼
Manuela: My my, you've already gathered for a nice little chat, haven't you? You seem to get along perfectly well.
ハンネマン: 君たちが親睦を深めるのは大変結構だが、 そろそろ作戦会議の時間だ。▼
Hanneman: Although deepening your bonds with each other is quite animportant matter, it's time for the mock battle to begin.
クロード: もうそんな時間か。 それじゃ、お二人さん。また後でな。▼
Claude: It is already? In that case, I'll be seeing you two later.
エーデルガルト: 貴方たちの力量、 確かめさせてもらうわ。▼
Edelgard: I shall determine your abilities.
Before the Battle
ディミトリ]さて、そろそろ開戦の刻限か……。 勝敗は先生の指揮次第だ、頼んだぞ。▼
Dimitri: Now then, it's about time for the battle to begin... The outcome depends on your orders, Professor. We are counting on you.
I skipped most of Jeralt’s dialogue cause it’s mostly the same every route.
[Turn one]
ローレンツ: クロード、お前の浅知恵など必要ない。 僕とイグナーツ君で敵の出鼻を挫いてやる。▼
Lorenz: Claude, your shallow tactic won't be necessary. Myself and Ignatz are going to hinder the enemy's approach.
イグナーツ: ええっ、ボク!? まだ心の準備ができてませんよお……▼
Ignatz: U-uh, me!? I haven't mentally prepared yet...
English simplified this to “I’m not ready yet”, which is also correct, but it sounds a bit more adorable in Japanese.
クロード: やれやれ……向こうの先生を侮ってないか? 油断すると痛い目に遭うと思うがなあ……。▼
Claude: Oh boy... are you making light of the professor we’re facing? If you're too careless, I think you'll be in for a painful experience...
エーデルガルト: ドロテア、貴方も前に出てくれる? 敵を中央に誘い出したいの。▼
Edelgard: Dorothea, can you go ahead as well? I want to lure the enemy into our midst.
ドロテア: 了解、エーデルちゃん。 私にお任せあれ。▼
Dorothea: Understood, Edel-chan. Leave it to me.
エーデルガルト: フェルディナント、ヒューベルト。二人は 敵が来たら足止めを……機を窺うわ。▼
Edelgard: Ferdinand, Hubert. If the enemies approach, you two will stop-.... wait for your chance.
Edelgard has a weird pause in this sentence in Japanese. Like she is reconsidering something maybe?
フェルディナント: ふっ、任せてくれたまえ。 私一人でも役不足なくらいだとも!▼
Ferdinand: Hah, simply leave it to me. I’d say this is too simple a task, even were I alone.
ヒューベルト: くくく……貴殿一人では力不足ゆえ、 主は私の名も挙げたのですよ。▼
Hubert: Hehehe... It is because of your own lack of skill, that my lady brought up my name as well.
Hubert has the most stereotypical evil anime villain laugh of all time. The only reason I didn’t translate it as “Muahaha” is because it doesn’t flow as well in English.
[Defeating Lorenz]
ローレンツ: チッ、この僕が負けるなんて……。 模擬戦とはいえ腹立たしい……!▼
Lorenz: Tch.. To think I could be defeated... Even for a mock battle, this is most irritating.
This is cut down a bit in English
[Defeating Ignatz]
イグナーツ: あはは、やられちゃいました……。 新しい先生の指揮、流石だなあ。▼
Ignatz: Hahaha, you got me... The new teacher's commands are really something.
[Defeating Hilda]
ヒルダ: もー! あたしなんて、 放っといてくれればいいのにー!▼
Hilda: Come on! You could have just left little old me alone, you know!
[Defeating Hubert]
ヒューベルト: むう……新任の教師の力の一端を、 見られただけで良しとしましょうか。▼
Hubert: Well... I suppose I'll have to be satisfied with simply having observed the new teachers strengths well enough.
[Defeating Ferdinand]
フェルディナント: エーギル家の嫡子たる私がそんな…… くっ、もっと鍛錬しなければ……!▼
Ferdinand: To think this could happen to a son of House Aegir... ugh, I'll have to train more.
[Defeating Dorothea]
ドロテア: あら……新しい先生は、 随分なやり手みたいですねえ。▼ 
Dorothea: Oh my... the new professor seems quite capable.        
[After defeating the other Golden Deer]
クロード: やってくれるね、先生。 これは本気でかからないとな……!▼
Claude: You did well, professor. I'll need to take it seriously from here..!
[If Edelgard gets close before the Golden Deer are dealt with]
クロード: 2つの学級と同時に戦おうってのか? へえ、たいした自信だな。▼
Claude: You going to fight two classes at once? Heh, that's some self-confidence you got there.
エーデルガルト: 勝機が見えたわ……。 黒鷲の学級アドラークラッセ! 一気に畳みかけなさい!▼
Edelgard: I've spotted my chance... Black Eagles, go forth as one!
[If Claude gets close]
クロード: この森を利用して敵を迎え撃つぞ。 みんな、援護してくれ!▼
Claude: We'll attack our enemies using these woods as cover.  Everyone, back me up!
[Approaching Claude by going around the woods]
クロード: おっと、回り込んできやがったか……。 こりゃ強引に迎え撃つしか手はないな。▼
Claude: Oops, you got around... Looks like I'll have to use brute force.
[Byleth vs. Claude]
クロード: 俺は戦術はともかく戦闘はからきしなんだ。 だから手加減してくれよ、先生。▼
Claude: Aside from tactics, I'm not much for the battlefield. So please go easy on me, Professor.
Byleth: ….
クロード: 真顔で頷かれると困るが……。 冗談ってのは、わかってるよな?
Claude: Going along with such a serious expression is quite unsettling... You do know that was joke, right?
[Dimitri vs. Claude]
クロード:……なあ、王子様。お前、実は エーデルガルトに惚れてるんじゃないか?▼
Claude: … Hey, Prince. You're actually pretty sweet on Edelgard, aren't you?
ディミトリ: 無駄口を叩くのはやめておけ、クロード。 隙だらけだぞ。▼
Dimitri: Stop with the idle chatter, Claude. It leaves you wide open.
クロード: おっと、その落ち着きっぷりは外れか。 動揺を誘ったつもりが、残念、残念。▼
Claude: Oops, that didn't phase you at all. I was trying to make you slip up, what a shame.
[Defeating Claude with other Golden Deer still around]
クロード: あらら、やられちまったか……。 他の奴らの活躍に期待するしかないな。▼
Claude: Tsk tsk, you got me, huh... Looks like all I can do is put my faith in the other's efforts.
[Defeating Claude after the other Golden Deer]
クロード: おっと……油断しすぎたか。 金鹿の学級は、これで敗退だな。
Claude: Oh... seems like I was careless. Looks like this is it for the Golden Deer.
[Defeating Hanneman]
ハンネマン: 実戦を積んだ者の指揮は、流石に違うな。 我輩が手も足も出なかったよ。▼
Hanneman: As expected, having actual experience with commanding in battle really does make a difference. I couldn't hope to measure up.
(If Manuela is still around)
マヌエラ: 去年あたくしの学級が勝った時は、褒めも しなかったくせに、その態度の違いは何!?▼
Manuela: When my class won last year, you didn't give me any praise, so what's up with that change in attitude!?
[Edelgard getting close after dealing with the Golden Deer]
エーデルガルト: 隙のない見事な用兵ね、先生。 こうなったら、正面から当たるしかない!▼
Edelgard: You really are a peerless mercenary, Professor. In that case, I'll have to strike from the front!
[Byleth vs. Edelgard]
エーデルガルト: 何においても貴方を倒さないと、 勝利はなさそうね。行くわよ!▼
Edelgard: It seems no matter what, there can be no victory without defeating you. Let's go!
[Dimitri vs. Edelgard]
エーデルガルト: ディミトリ、勝負よ。 ここで優劣を決しておくのも悪くないわ。▼
Edelgard: Face me, Dimitri. No harm in testing our mettle here.
��ィミトリ: ……いいだろう、受けて立つ。 君が相手であろうと、手加減はしない。▼
Dimitri: … Very well, I accept. I can't hold back with you as my opponent.
エーデルガルト: そうこなくてはね!▼
Edelgard: That's the spirit!
[Defeating Edelgard with other Black Eagles still around]
エーデルガルト: 私を撤退に追い込むなんて……。 厳しくなりそうだけど、頑張って。▼
Edelgard: To think I'd be forced to retreat... Things might seem bleak, but do your best.
[Defeating Edelgard after the other Black Eagles]
エーデルガルト: そんな…黒鷲の学級アドラークラッセが、 こんなあっさり負けるなんて…▼
Edelgard: No way... the members of the Black Eagles shouldn't have been defeated so easily...
[Defeating Manuela]
マヌエラ: やるじゃない。これ以上、無理をしたら あたくしが医務室のお世話になっちゃうわ。▼
Manuela: Now wasn't that something. If I push it anymore, I might be in need of the infirmary.
(if Hannemann is still around)
ハンネマン: マヌエラ君を退けたか。 我輩も心してかかるとしよう。▼
Hanneman: You took out Manuela? I should be carefull myself...
[After winning]
ジェラルト: よーし、そこまでだ! 今回の模擬戦の勝者は……!  青獅子の学級ルーヴェンクラッセだな!▼
Jeralt: All right, that's enough! The winners of todays battle... are the Blue Lions!
ディミトリ: この勝利は皆の活躍あってこそだ。 ありがとう、よくやってくれた。▼
Dimitri: This victory was achieved by all of us. Thank you, you did well.
[After the battle]
ディミトリ: ……先生! ここにいたのか。捜したんだぞ。▼ 今日は、みんなで食事にしようと思って。 反省会を兼ねた、祝勝会だな。▼
Dimitri: … Professor! This is where you were. We've been looking for you. ▼ We thought we should all go to the dining hall to eat something. A victory feast to serve as our debriefing, basically. ▼
[選択:祝勝会?]
[Choose: A victory feast?]
ディミトリ: ああ。ほら、あれだけ戦ったんだし、 腹も減るだろ?▼
Dimitri: Yeah. Come now, you must be hungry after all that fighting, right?
[選択: 自分も ? ]  
[Choose: Me too?]
ディミトリ: 当たり前だろ。 今更、何を言ってるんだ。
Dimitri: Of course. What have I been telling you so far?
[Continuing]
シルヴァン: ほら先生、早く来てくださいよ。今日の 殊勲者がいなきゃ、始まりませんって。▼
Sylvain: Hey professor, just hurry up and come. We can't well start without the most distinguished of us.
アネット: そうですよ! 私たちが勝てたのは、 先生のおかげじゃないですかっ。▼
Annette: That's right! We only won thanks to you, professor.
フェリクス: ……そこの、正攻法しか知らん猪よりは、 幾分かまともな用兵だった。▼
Felix: … Compared to that boar, who knows nothing but frontal attacks, your tactics were somewhat decent.
イングリット: フェリクス。あなたは本当に、 隙あらば殿下に因縁をつけて……。▼
Ingrid: Felix! You’re really trying to pick a fight with his highness at every opportunity...
Bit less of a direct reprimand than in English
ディミトリ: いや、いいんだ、イングリット。 事実、先生の采配は見事だった。▼
Dimitri: No, it's fine Ingrid. Our professor's orders truly were amazing.
Lacks the line about encouraging to speak freely. 
メルセデス: ……それにしても今日は疲れちゃったわね。 私、お腹が減ってもう駄目かも……。▼
Mercedes: Either way, today was really tiring. I seem to also be quite famished...
アッシュ: あはは……実は、僕もです。 そろそろ食堂に行きましょうか。▼
Ashe: Hahaha, me too, to tell the truth. Let's go to the dining hall already.
ディミトリ: ……なあ、先生。 あまり、嬉しくはなさそうだな。▼
Dimitri: … Hey, Professor. You dont seem very happy.
[選択: そんなことはないが……]
[Choose: That's not the case...]
ディミトリ: そう言う割には、眉一つ動かさないから。▼
Dimitri: Even as you say that, your eyebrows aren't moving an inch.
Sounds a bit weird, but that’s how he puts it. Aka, you are as expressionless as always.
[選択: よくわからない……]
[Choose: I don't understand...]
ディミトリ: ……まあ、無理もないか。▼
Dimitri: ... Well, I guess it’s understandable.
[Continuing]
ディミトリ: 先生。俺たちはまだ出会ったばかりだし、 難しいのかもしれないが……▼ 俺は、先生とも喜びを分かち合いたい。 折角、こうして一緒にいるんだからな。▼ きっと、それはみんなも同じだと思う。 ……ほら、一緒に行こう、先生!▼
Dimitri: Professor, we've only just met,  so this might be a bit difficult... ▼ I want us to share in each other’s joy. After all, we're finally here together like this. ▼ I am sure the others feel the same. … Okay, let us go together, Professor. ▼
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calsgirll · 5 years ago
Text
Paris - Ashton Irwin
Ashton Irwin X Reader
word count: 1711
authors note: this is based around the song Paris by the chainsmokers! I heard the song for this first time in a while and this immediately hit me so here it is!❤️
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  We were staying in Paris To get away from your parents
It had been a rough year for you and Ashton, with him on tour and you still living at home with your parents. You felt like he’d had no time for you since he started touring with the guys. Due to your past relationships your brain didn’t settle thinking of all the things he could be doing and you wouldn’t even know. One morning you woke up to the sound of your phone going crazy with text messages from the whole band telling you to open your front door. As you padded downstairs at 3am you tried to keep it quiet knowing your parents where probably asleep, you unlatched the door and peeked out not knowing what it would be and being very wary but you looked down and all you saw was a heart shaped foil balloon with a note and rose attached. You picked it up reading the note which said
‘pack your bags and be ready for 6 am. We’re going somewhere special’- Ash
you smiled rubbing your thumb over the small sticker of the Eiffel tower in the corner of the note.
And I thought, "Wow If I could take this in a shot right now I don't think that we could work this out"
“fuck you ash” you scream at him throwing a mug at the wall in anger “are you serious right now y/n, you really believe a few shitty rumours you saw on twitter?” Ashton asks trying to keep calm while you stand in front of him with puffy eyes and damp cheeks “the paparazzi has photos of you leaving a club with her what am I supposed to think” you say trying to collect yourself “do you trust me at all? Because I’m starting to get the hint that you don’t. you knew what you were getting into when we started dating” he snaps back at you now visibly angry at the fact you’re questioning his fidelity. You grab his hand as he tries to walk out “Ash im sorry, it just gets a lot knowing your out there being an amazing drummer with millions of girls throwing themselves at you” you squeak trying to hold in the tears that are threatening to fall any second, he looks at you with a sympathetic smile and sighs “I know its hard not being together all the time but please stay strong because you know I love you” he pulls you into his large frame.
It felt like that was yesterday, the first real fight you’d both had with each other. It was almost as if it was like a polaroid that was constantly hung up in your head. You where so grateful for him and the fact he stayed with you and allowed you both to get to this point.
Out on the terrace I don't know if it's fair but I thought "How Could I let you fall by yourself While I'm wasted with someone else"
Ashton glanced around at the Paris skyline as you both sat on the balcony. The glimmering Eiffel tower caught his eye, a thought popped into his head as he stifled a giggle you looked at him confused as to what he was so amused about “are you a tower? because Eiffel for you” he says with a smug smirk on his face like he’d came up with the line. You smile at him knowing how much of a idiot he was, you were both glad you had this time together, it felt like you were in a relationship with a ghost as he was almost never home and you were waiting around for someone who was out there with a load of other people probably not even having a second thought about you but he was extremely quick to reassure you that wasn’t the case and if it was as much as it would hurt you both he would break it off knowing that it wouldn’t be fair to you.
If we go down then we go down together They'll say you could do anything They'll say that I was clever
You sipped your latte as you sat on a small metal table in front of a small café. Ashton’s scrolling through his phone while you admire the city around you “what are we gonna do today?” you ask Ash like he’s your personal tour guide since he’s been here before. “whatever you want to do, anything you can think of we’ll do it” he says looking up from his phone and squinting when the harsh sunlight hits his hazel eyes. His eyes where like honey in the sun, he always claimed he hated the colour of his eyes whereas you believed they were the most amazing things you’d ever seen “you know I’m bad at making decisions Irwin” you smirk at him “we could go to the Louvre?” he looks up at you once again, you hum in response as you take another sip of your latte “even though they don’t have the best masterpiece, you” he snickered you kicked his shin under the table “youre so lame you know” you state he nods his head gazing back down at his phone.
You look so proud Standing there with a frown and a cigarette Posting pictures of yourself on the internet
You snapped a shot of Ashton next to the Eiffel tower he looked amazing as always he stays stood in the same spot for a while just staring at you, cigarette between your fingers fumbling with your phone he presumed you were adding filters etc. to the picture you just took he strolled over to you resting his chin on your shoulder watching your phone as you tap away at different things trying to make the picture match the theme of your Instagram. As you add the finishing touches to the photo you switch to Instagram before stamping out your cigarette and post it with a rose emoji as the caption and tagging him in it. He turns his head placing a kiss on your cheek “I love you so much” he states, you turn around facing him putting your hand inside his leather jacket wrapping them tightly around his waist “I love you too Ash, thank you” you say breathing in his citrusy cologne “thank you for what?” he asks with a confused look on his face “just being you and sticking with me through all my crazy meltdowns, there’s no one else id rather be with here than you” you say, you feel him kiss the top of your head as he holds you even tighter.
Out on the terrace We breathe in the air of this small town On our own cuttin' class for the thrill of it
Getting drunk on the past we were livin' in
You and Ashton found yourselves back out on the balcony in only your robes in a comfortable silence, tipsy and tired. Your mind began to wonder to where it all started.
“no you didn’t even get close to the bullseye, take a shot” you laugh as you watch him swallow down another shot after missing a dart yet again “I’m starting to think you’re cheating” he mutters “how can you even cheat in darts? You’re just a sore loser who’s to drunk to know I’m the best darts player ever” you giggle slightly slurring your words. It was nearly 2 am and all your friends had left after a drunken night of embarrassing ourselves which left you in a bar on your own with the one and only Ashton Irwin who you recognised from that one underwear song a few years back. He was quick to correct you that it was called she looks so perfect and was also quick to tell you he had changed a lot since then. You both started talking also noticing how his friends also left one bye one “and then there where two” he giggles “I guess so what are the plans then” you ask him sipping the tiny straws that are floating in your mojito glass “back to my hotel to watch some shitty lifetime movie?” he ask studying your face to see your reaction by the way it lit up he knew that you were in “watching shitty lifetime movies is actually my favourite past time” you say grabbing your bag and drinking the last of your cocktail.
You thought it was strange how that one night you spent with him ended up becoming such an amazing relationship. Youre glad it happened so naturally because online dating wasn’t your thing it felt kinda forced. The story was definitely one to tell the grandchildren you though smiling looking down at the empty beer bottle in your hand.
We'll get away with everything Let's show them we are better
It was your last night in Paris and you and Ashton decided to go on a walk around the beautiful city, it was almost 9pm and the sky was sparkling almost as much as the Eiffel tower in front of you “shall we go up?” Ashton asks quietly “Ash you know I’m afraid of heights” you whined wondering why your boyfriend would ask such a dumb question after knowing you for so long “come on please it’ll be worth it I promise” he pleads and after around 10 minutes of bargaining you find yourself half way up the tower waiting to get to the top. Your tight grip on Ashtons hand not releasing in fear you may just drop and fall without his strong arm holding you. You make it to the top and see the twinkling city which makes you forget how high up you are because of its beauty. You speed walk to railing wanting to get a closer look not noticing Ashton wasn’t by your side anymore “Ash have you seen how beautiful this is?” you ask expecting him to come to your side but he didn’t “ashton?” you say turning around to find him down on one knee with the biggest smile on his face ever. Your hands instantly fly to cover your mouth which was agape in shock. “y/n will you marry me?”
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cheekytorah · 5 years ago
Note
Thank you for always submitting the most creative prompts! You always get my fluffy gears turning. 💛
This too me so long to respond to because I was trying to make something for you for christmas because you are one of my favourite followers, always liking and sharing always commenting and dropping me asks ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for always finding the time to write my prompts (even though I leave you so many lol) and promising to write the rest. It means a lot!
So Happy Holidays/Christmas/New years etc etc 💋
In my effort to finish this for you I failed to find a Beta so I’m sorry it’s a bit rough.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sirius felt himself return to consciousness. The images of warm calloused hands, bright, happy camp-fires and sweat slicked bodies were immediately replaced with a sudden need to vomit and fear that his skull was moments from cracking in half, exploding from pain.
He stood up and dashed for a bush, expelled the contents of his stomach-albeit not much-and groaned in agony. He looked around at two of his best mates, in similar hell, and smiled slightly till he had to close his eyes to block out the excruciating sun. Misery does love company, after all.
Eyes closed, the warm darkness brought on a cascade of memories from the night before. Dancing around a fire in their pants, like a trio of idiots-thanks Prongs. Drinking vermouth to begin with-thanks Wormtail. Vanishing tents because how else would they be real men-yeah that one was Sirius, of course.
Then a memory of James voice encouraging him to-no he wouldn’t.
“Prongs, did you let me drunk call people last night?”
James moaned in response.
“No,” Sirius gasped. He felt panicked as memories of yelling into his phone some weird song that involved butchering Remus’ name assaulted his mind. “Did you tell me to call Moony last night?”
“I may have mentioned the merit in a drunken confession.”
Sirius stomach dropped out.
“I would like it on record that I was completely against it,” Peter interjected.
“Oh fuck,” Sirius groaned and laid down on the grass.
Why was it always fucking him?
James crawled on hands and knees and curled in a ball beside Sirius, flinching under his murderous glare.
“I’m sorry. Maybe we should turn our phones off before a night of drinking.”
“I’m never drinking again, look where it gets me. I think- fuck Prongs-I left him a voicemail where I waxed poetic about his hands! HIS FUCKING HANDS!”
“That I don’t remember,” James chuckled, but then winced when Sirius punched his shoulder.
“He probably hasn’t even heard it yet,” Peter said thoughtfully. “He did text me earlier to say his phone was going to die and he’d forgotten his charger. Wouldn’t have one till he got home tomorrow morning.”
Sirius looked up hopefully. Maybe they could, oh but it would never work, they’d have to get to Wales and none of them could apparate in their state. They’d also have to somehow manage to steal Remus’ phone without him seeing, get it back to London-
“We can do it,” James nodded, recognizing the look on Sirius’ face. “Just let me die here for a little bit and we’ll get to the car.”
They drove through to the afternoon, arriving at the Lupin’s cottage in a few short hours. Lyall answered the door but after a disgusted sniff, scowled at the boys and told them Hope and Remus had ventured out to a cousins in London. He quickly slammed the door shut in Sirius’ face and they were once again on the road.
“I swear to Merlin, James, if this ends badly,” Sirius warned.
“Look, if anything you can claim it was a prank gone wrong. Alcohol distorting the point of the prank, and I don’t know, making it more confusing.”
“Oh sure, that will go really well,” Peter rolled his eyes.
“Or, you could just tell him it was all true and then snog his face off,” James teased.
“Remus doesn’t feel like that about me,” Sirius gripped the steering wheel and glared at the road. “You think I would keep this secret for all these years if I wasn’t damn certain the truth would ruin our friendship?”
He cursed under his breath. He had made a move on Remus’ about 10 years ago, laying on their backs at the top of the astronomy tower in sixth year. He had kissed him, and Remus had pushed him away and told him not to confuse things. It was pretty clear then that Remus didn’t want him.
“I don’t get it,” James shook his head. “You could have any bloke you wanted, I see them throwing themselves at you. When was the last time you even went on a date?”
Sirius was about to object, that he went out with plenty of men, but he wasn’t sure they’d agree that one offs in the loo of a dirty pub once every few months really counted.
“Over a year ago,” Peter supplied.
“Not all of us can be with the person they are in love with, settle down and have a bloody family by the time they are twenty-one,” Sirius snarled. “And you,” he pointed at Peter through the rear view mirror. “You are not allowed to have an opinion on my relationship status when you don’t date at all.”
“I’m aro,” Peter shrugged.
“And I’m bloody serious, so both of you lay off me.”
Sirius muttered mockeries under his breath. He turned down a dead-end street as the sun began to disappear behind the trees.
~*~
“Merlin’s saggy balls!” Sirius booted the tire of James father’s car in frustration. “How do we even find him?”
They had knocked on the door and a couple cute young college kids answered the door. Not an extension of the Lupin family, and had no idea who Remus or Hope even were.
“How did Lyall give us the wrong address? Shouldn’t he know where his own family lives?” James asked, similarly discouraged.
”Lyall Lupin doesn't even like his own son, why would he care about a cousin?” Peter said absently.
”Plan B, Padfoot,” James said slowly. “Prank gone wrong. It’s believable.”
“Honestly, you should just tell him the truth,” Peter rolled his eyes. “He won’t stop being your friend, you know him better than that.”
Sirius dug his hands in his pockets and glared at the ground. Why did this have to happen. Why did he have to drink so much. Why did he have to confess his undying love to Remus?
“Well, I’m out of options, so just remember I want my casket in red oak, not that cheap shit. I know your parents are loaded so don’t hold out on me,” Sirius grinned at James but his smile quickly faded and he groaned.
Sirius kept glancing at his phone, no new calls, or texts. Obviously Remus hadn’t heard the voicemail—yet, because he wasn’t being bombarded with questions or apologies or—what he wanted most—returned affections. He knew that was an impossibility.
James took the drivers seat again and they set off on their trip back to London. Peter was snoring in the back and James was humming along with the radio. Harry and Lily would be sleeping when he had finally dropped them off and slipped into their cottage in Godric’s Hollow, so they had stopped for some take out and pulled up outside an old skate park.
“Why do you think Remus doesn’t like you back?”
“I tried to kiss him once, back when I first realized I was gay—like super gay—he pushed me away. Told me he didn’t want me to ruin things when I was finally earning back his trust.”
“Can you blame him? After what you did-”
“Of course not, but if he had felt something for me, he would have said something back then.”
James made a noncommittal noise and went back to his curry.
“Blimey, this stuff is garbage,” he complained and Sirius smirked.
“Nothing beats your mums,” Sirius chuckled.
James nods as they drive off towards Sirius’ flat. When they pull up Peter is awake and slides into the passenger seat. They both wave and Sirius slips into the building. When he’s in the safety of his bed he lets all his doubts cloud around him, attacking him with anxiety and gloom. Was he going to wake up and lose Remus forever. Had he already lost him and just didn't know it yet
~*~
Of course his dreams were affected by his uncertainty. Words of harsh rejection yelled at him in Remus’ pitch. It was as if he was drowning in ‘let’s just be friends’,‘I can’t even look at you’ and ‘you disgust me’. He was covered in a cold sweat and he felt sick. He was overreacting, he told himself, but the fear of losing one of his most important people terrified him.
It was half-past eight when he knocked quietly on Remus’ door.
“Oh hey Moons, can I use your phone?” Sirius pushed past and stood expectantly in his living room.
“Sure, something up with yours?”
“Oh err, yeah not working right.”
Remus hums in agreement and Sirius darts over to the phone charging on the wall. ‘1 new voicemail’ flashed on the screen. Sirius sighs with relief as he punches in the voicemail code and listens.
“Moony, no doubt Sirius is on his way over there right now. We went to great lengths this weekend to attempt to prevent you listening to Sirius’ voicemail from friday night, but in case he managed to delete it, I think you should know anyways. He’s mad about you. You both are a couple of idiots who need to wake up and smell the big gay love.” Siriuis could hear James snickering as Peter spoke and then the line went dead. He cursed under his breath, vowing to kill James. But then, if this was the only new voicemail. Oh fuck.
Sirius turned off the phone, squeezed the phone in his hands, and bracing himself turned around to face Remus. Remus who was standing now, leaning against the doorway to his bedroom with a raised brow and crossed arms. Remus who had a delicious little smirk playing at the corner of his gorgeous mouth. Remus who-
“Anything interesting?”
Siius didn’t know what to say. What could he even say? So he didn’t say anything he just stood there like a wild animal cornered, assessing his escape options. Remus pushed off of the wall and strode forward a few paces and came to a halt in front of Sirius, not five feet from him.
“You know,” Remus said thoughtfully. “I got this really interesting voicemail Saturday morning.”
Sirius felt the colour drain from his face.
“But you-”
“You didn’t think my mum would let me get away with not having a phone all weekend did you?” Remus interrupted with a smile, amusement painting his every feature. Then his smile faded into a look of uncertainty. “Look, if you want, we can forget the whole thing.”
“What do you-”
“You were drunk,” Remus interrupted again. “We all say things we don’t entirely mean when we’ve had far too much to drink, and you definitely sounded like you had too much to drink.”
“Well I-”
“And you didn’t really get my hopes up or anything, it’ll be fine. Our friendship is the most important thing to me. You, James, Peter, us-the Marauders I mean-That’s what matters and I wouldn't want to screw any of that up. Nothing else matters, I don’t want to make anything awkward either, the other stuff could just fade away.”
Sirius grinned, both his brows raised and watched as Remus babbled away, offering a ‘Moony?’ every so often, hoping to cut into his spoken monologue. And people told Sirius that he was the one who liked to hear himself talk.
“Granted it hasn’t in years. I mean, it’s not like weird or anything-fuck-I just mean-”
“Moony!” Sirius said loudly, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he shook his head in exasperation. “Shut up.”
He stepped forward quickly, gripped Remus shoulders and pulled him against himself. Their noses were practically touching, Remus’ eyes locked with Sirius’.
“If you don’t want me to kiss you, tell me now,” Sirius said quietly, practically a whisper in the silent room, their lips a mere inch apart. When Remus didn’t reject him Sirius closed his eyes and brushed his lips gently against Remus’ in a chaste kiss. He pulled away and looked at Remus, searching his face for a reaction and grinned when Remus beamed back at him.
One of Remus’ arms snaked around Sirius’ waist and the other cupped the back of his neck, pulling him back into a kiss that was deeper, stronger, and felt like a promise. They tasted, explored and teased for what seemed like forever, and ended too soon. Remus tasted like fresh water in the desert, smelled amazing, felt like home. They were still standing there-sirius still in his leather jacket and his shoes on-when a loud crash interrupted their ministrations.
“All your clothes better be on, Pads,” James called as he banged his way into Remus’ flat. “I swear to Merlin!”
Remus chuckled as Sirius groaned and dropped his head to Remus’ shoulder, but his shoulders shook with his own laughter too. He pulled back and looked back into Remus’ eyes who simply winked at him.
“What if it’s me who stripped and pulled a naked man, Prongsie?”
“Well that would be quite unexpected and out of character for the great Mssr. Moony, and I would have to encourage it,” Sirius could practically hear him grinning. “Carry on, I’ll just wait here, totally not listening to you both at all.”
Sirius grabbed a pillow off of Remus’ bed, darted out of Remus’ room and threw it at James who was sprawled out on the couch already flicking through the tele.
“Perv,” Sirius laughed and tackled James, giving him a couple playful punches to the gut.
Remus’ laughed and pulled out some of the pizza James had brought--apparently it was already lunch time, they really had been snogging for sometime--and settled on the floor, all lanky limbs and curly hair. Sirius watched him fondly before falling back into their usual banter and good natured teasing. This was the best part of being in love with his best friend.
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kuriquinn · 6 years ago
Text
love at first sight isn’t just a cheesy song [one-shot]
General Disclaimer
Rating: PG 13
Author’s Note: I wanted to do something different for “festival”. And since my hometown hosts a huge variety of festivals, I was inspired...also, some of this comes from my own memories at Warped Tour and Osheaga...
Not edited at the moment. I’m thinking I’ll probably edit all of these when I finish the prompts…
⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂
Sasuke does not do people. He doesn’t do loud, or hot either.
Which is why he’s trying to figure out just how his best friend not only convinced him to come with him to a music festival in the middle of the summer. He’s pretty sure there was a “you owe me a favour, remember” and a choice between filling in for Naruto babysitting Kakashi’s demon brood, or this.
In which case, a hellish pit of sweat, marijuana and burning sun is getting off easy.
Still. He’s not happy about it.
And he’s already informed Naruto that as soon as they’ve seen the group he’s here to see, they’re leaving.
“Whatever, I’m only here to see Hinata anyway,” his best friend dismisses, cheeks red and grin wide and Sasuke really just wants to punch him. He’s missing a Star Wars marathon for this…this travesty, where people walk around with way too much eyeliner and—
Does that guy have empty beer cans speared on the points of his mohawk?
But apparently, Naruto’s girlfriend is in a band—and he’s still not sure what he’s having more trouble comprehending, that Naruto of all people is dating or that Hinata is in a band. Because the Hyuga girl is the shiest person Sasuke has ever met in his life and coming from someone as quiet as him and his brother, that says something. The idea of her being up on a stage in front of people just…doesn’t compute.
He has known Naruto and Hinata since they were toddlers, as all their parents were friends from high school (private Catholic school tends to forge two kinds of bonds—either Band of Brothers or Slaughter High, and he’s not entirely sure what his and Naruto’s will be), and Hinata has never been the type for public performances.
“There’s a new girl in her class this year that really brought her out of her shell,” Naruto had explained it. “We can hang around later and meet her, too.”
“No,” Sasuke retorted instantly. “I’m here for one reason only. To pay back that favour, and that involves seeing Hinata’s stupid band play and that’s it. Then we’re going home.”
“Whatever, asshole.”
They head over to the stage where some indie band no one has ever heard of slated to be playing; Hinata’s band is apparently opening not for them, but for their opening act. Which suggests how unknown the group is.
Somehow, Naruto manages to drag them to the absolute front of the crowd, just as the band is coming onstage. There are catcalls and a few cheers—okay, so maybe they already have a bit of a following—as they get settled in with their instruments.
The first thing noticeable about them is they’re all dressed in their school uniforms, all pleated kilts and crisp oxford shirts that are already soaked with sweat from the hot day. There are a few changes that Sasuke knows they’d be getting demerits for if they were at school—ties loose over their shirts, combat boots, studded bracelets, shirts untucked, that sort of thing. There’s a dark haired girl with her hair in two buns arranging herself and her guitar in front of a microphone, while a sharp-faced blond performs final tuning check on her bass.  He distantly recognises Ino Yamanaka settling in behind the keyboard, but only because they were in primary school together years ago and her hair is as ridiculously long as it always was.
And there’s Hinata—shuffling quickly and determinedly to the back of the stage where she’s practically hidden by the drumkit.
“Well, that makes more sense,” he mutters, though it’s lost in Naruto’s fervent shout of, “Yeah! You got it, babe!”
Idiot…
Sasuke rolls his eyes, already mentally counting down to the blessed freedom of getting out of this place, which is the point when the final member of the band makes an appearance, and suddenly—
Suddenly he’s having a hard time breathing.
He doubts it’s his asthma since it’s not the familiar fiery burn through his windpipes. It’s more like…he forgets how.
The most noticeable thing about her right away is the vibrant pink hair, short and spikey; the next is her eyes. They’re so green that he can still see them somehow even from where he’s standing. She has a more athletic build than her bandmates, and the pale thighs beneath her short skirt are so muscular Sasuke has to swallow a few times.
She isn’t graceful, though, stumbling across the stage and nearly tripping over the cord for her guitar. Normally he’d scoff at that, but for some reason, something in him finds it…endearing?
There are guffaws from the audience, but when she reaches her microphone she simply flashes them a cheerful, sheepish smile.
“Sorry. Gravity isn’t my friend today,” she says lightly, earning warmer laughter now; with her, not at her. Her voice is soft and filled with humour in a way that doesn’t really fit with the screaming vocals Sasuke’s ears have been assaulted by since showing up here today. “Thanks for coming out today, guys. I know it’s really freaking hot out. If we had a hose, we’d totally use it on you guys today.” Cheers. “Anyway, some of you know us, hopefully, a few of you don’t so we can make a good impression. We’re Bacchikoi Baby and we’ve got you for the next fifteen minutes, so let’s get this thing going!”
Instantly, the music starts up, harsh chords and insistent drumline and an underlying rhythm that is familiar only in the way that most alternative music all sounds the same to him. But then she opens her mouth to sing and Sasuke feels as if someone just stuck a livewire into his spine.
Her voice is low and smooth and changeable, going from smooth molasses to raw, shouting with barely any break. Something in the curl of her words on her tongue, the way sound moves from a hum at the back of her throat into something articulated makes him shiver. He doesn’t know anything about the technicalities of music or singing or voice training, but even he can tell instantly that she’s the talent of this group.
The other instruments are almost token, although he spares a distant thought to Hinata not being bad at the drums (apparently she’s in some kind of zone there), and the setlist itself is nothing special. Pretty much the same as any other angry girl band he’s caught on the radio.
But he try as he might, he can’t block out the singer.
Their first number is a catchy number that has the audience jumping and swaying to the underlying rhythm, and a harsh, angry protest chant that most of them sing along to, and then a slower but no-less commanding power ballad.
The last song is even slower, some kind of medley of Zeppelin’s Gallow’s Pole and another song he’s never heard of but which Naruto tells him is called The Hanging Tree.
“Apparently it’s from a movie,” he says with a shrug (Sasuke can’t actually hear him, but he’s pretty good at reading lips).
The thing starts off almost a cappella, before the dark-haired girl chimes in with the rhythm guitar, and Ino adds a mournful keyboard melody that even Sasuke can’t help his body swaying to. The lead singer’s voice is a haunting monotone almost, which gradually builds and fills with emotion, and then three-quarters of the way through, the song reaches a break, and all the instruments kick in. It’s a near explosion of sound, tempered by the raw emotion in her voice and—
And that’s when their eyes meet.
Sasuke’s mouth goes dry, and her eyes go wide, but she keeps singing—“If we met at midnight, a smile upon your face”—and he has the simultaneously ridiculous and hopeful feeling that she’s singing to him and it’s the kind of thing he’d normally find irritating, but—
His chest feels buoyant like he could punch a comet out of the sky if the opportunity should present itself.
What the hell is happening to me?
Afterward, Sasuke vaguely recalls following Naruto from the crowd once the actual opening act comes out; neither really care to watch them. There are a few people who leave with them.
Sasuke’s brain is flummoxed, trying to understand how another human being could have had such a strange effect on him. She was in front of him for all of fifteen minutes, and he doesn’t even know her name. But he knows her voice somehow harmonizes with the rush of his blood through his veins and heartfelt keening makes a lump of emotion appear at the back of his throat.
If I were anyone else, I’d think this was…but that’s not possible…that sort of thing only happens in the movies…
“I texted Hinata to tell her how awesome they were,” his friend says once they get out of the most densely packed crowd, fingers still flying on his smartphone. “I know you want to get out of here, so I’ll just go see her later.”
Sasuke shifts, not looking at him, and mumbles. “Whatever. Let’s just go see the band.”
Naruto looks surprised, but he’s also not about to look a gift-horse in the mouth. “Alright…”
“And then your favour is paid off,” Sasuke adds if only to keep the other teen from digging deeper.
They head for the side of the stage, where a table has been set up to sell merchandise; a dozen or two audience members are shelling out wads of cash for t-shirts and CDs, but he and Naruto bypass that and head for the back where the girls are downing huge bottles of water. They’re all pink-skinned with sunburn and exertion, clothes sticking to their bodies, but that doesn’t stop Naruto from vaulting forward and kissing his girlfriend.
He bubbles about how amazing her drum solo was, and he knew she had talent, but whoa, and the other bandmates watch, bemused.
Except for her. She’s looking at Sasuke, colours spreading across the bridge of her nose and she has freckles on her nose why is that appealing.
He clears his throat, wanting to say something casual, a less effervescent praise than his idiot best friend, but what comes out is—
“You’re really short.”
On stage, she seemed like a six-foot-tall Amazon, but she doesn’t need to know that. He sort of wants to punch himself in the face, because really?
But she only blinks and then laughs, and it sounds like music. How can laughter sound like music?
“Maybe you’re just unfairly tall,” she suggests, eyes dancing. “I’m Sakura.”
“Sasuke.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Sasuke-kun.”
And girls have been calling him that with irritating familiarity his entire life, but somehow when she says it, his chest warms.
He thinks he goes temporarily deaf for a minute because all other sound in the world goes away or collects around her, and he imagines that for an instant they exist only in a world belonging to the two of them.
Even stranger, she seems to be just as aware of it as he is, because her gaze softens at him as if to say, me too.
Out loud, however, she says, “We were going to go get something to eat and go see some of the other bands.” She glances over at Naruto as he hangs an arm over Hinata’s shoulder. “Did you guys want to come with?”
“Nah, Sasuke doesn’t really like all this stuff,” Naruto answers. “I’m surprised his brain hasn’t spontaneously combusted because of all the people breathing his air.”
Sasuke’s cheeks warm as he glares at his friend.
“It’s fine,” he insists, trying to telepathically promise death and dismemberment if Naruto doesn’t shut the hell up. He flicks his eyes to Sakura, whose head is tilted to one side as if to study him. “I think I saw a food truck at the other end of the venue.”
He points vaguely in that direction.
A beat, and then her entire face lights up with a smile of utter joy.
“Sounds great!” she declares, and before he can really register, she has her hand clasped around his and is pulling him off in the direction he pointed. “Come on! And you can introduce yourself properly on the way!”
And he normally doesn’t like physical contact with people, and it’s really far too hot to be holding hands, especially with a girl he’s only just met. But her fingers fit too well in his, and her grip is strong and comforting, and he just lets her pull him along.
That’s when the utterly absurd thought strikes him that he would follow this girl anywhere.
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dwaynepride · 6 years ago
Text
Car Ride
Summary: Pride gets all wound up during an especially long and brutal case, so reader has to fix the problem.
Words: 3,703
Warnings: NSFW, blowjob
Tags: @pageofultron @stanathanxoox @starryrevelations @6adb0y @thegoodlonelydalek @consultingdoctorwholock @thebeckyjolene @diaryofafan17 @specialagentlokitty
Notes: @lucifersagents really gave me the muse to write this in a single night so you can thank her for this absolute pile of sin. plus i’ve been wanting to write sin involving Pride’s car
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Dwayne can feel a headache coming. Right in his forehead, behind his eyes. Even when he takes a break from staring at his monitor to rub them, the ache doesn’t go away. Though, maybe this headache has been a long time coming, so he shouldn’t be too surprised at how quickly it’s coming up.
Most cases were difficult, but this one has been downright brutal. That’s usually how things are when cold cases are involved; witnesses move away or forget things, evidence might become obsolete. Stories change, people change, the crime scene changes. And now, it’s up to Pride and his team to put together the pieces.
Though, it’s hard to finish a puzzle when half the pieces are damaged or missing.
Dwayne rubs his hands over his face to rouse himself before he leans back in his chair and looks around the office. It’s mostly empty; Christopher and Gregorio are out, Sebastian is back in his lab for the time being because this case requires more forensic work than agent work.
The only ones here are himself, you, and Patton. Dwayne’s eyes move over to the two of you, standing in front of the plasmas, trying and failing to get a face off a twenty-year-old security tape. 
He knows he should get up and help, somehow. Offer a suggestion, even if Dwayne is sure you’ve tried nearly everything. Or maybe he should make some more coffee, knowing the rest of the team might need it. He should do anything else that isn’t staring at your ass.
As shameful as he feels, it’s hard not to stare. Your back is turned to him, hip cocked to the side with crossed arms, head tilted in that adorable little way that always gets Dwayne to smile. Those jeans you got on fit just right, snugged against your ass in the best way, looking great with that shirt you got on.
Damn that shirt. Dwayne noticed it when you first walked in this morning, but he’d been too busy to look at it more closely, or even comment on it.
The shirt that you don’t really like and you only wear when there’s nothing else clean. Something about not liking the colour or it just doesn’t fit anymore. But it was one of Dwayne’s favourites. The last button that’s a different colour from the others because the original broke off. The little mysterious stain on the sleeve that’s either coffee or something else.
But really, Dwayne just loves how it looks on you. Alright, maybe it is a bit too tight, but he certainly doesn’t think that’s a bad thing.
His eyes run over your back, waist, hips. And he’s just about to get another look of your ass before Patton turns his chair around and starts making a beeline for his office. “Alright, I’m on a roll now! Nobody bother me, and I’ll work my magic.”
Patton doesn’t even look over his shoulder when he shouts the command, and Dwayne watches him disappear through the kitchen to get to his office. “What’s he got?” Dwayne asks, momentarily pushing away his selfish thoughts. Did Patton just have a breakthrough in the case while Dwayne was ogling your ass?
You turn with a light sigh and a shrug, padding away from the plasmas toward the kitchen. “He got an idea on how to clean up the image. If it works, we’ll have a face to go with the partial print.”
Dwayne nods his head slowly as he moves to follow you. And he was painfully aware that you and him were finally alone; well, technically alone. Patton wasn’t leaving his computers for at least a couple hours. Chris and Tammy were too far away to burst in anytime soon.
For a moment, he scolds himself for judging how much time he has alone with you. He should be thinking about the case. Trying to bring it to a close and give the family their much-deserved closure.
But then he turns into the kitchen, and you’re busy stirring some sugar into your coffee. Completely unaware that Dwayne’s eyes are once again moving over your body. How that shirt stretches over your chest or curves against your spine. It’s just a painful reminder that this case has kept the both of you busy and exhausted and unwilling to spend the night in the same bed because sleep was more important than sex. It always was during a case.
The harsh work and the distance is really starting to weigh on Dwayne, though. His hand closes into a fist as he passes behind you to retrieve the creamer for your coffee. “Have you heard from Sebastian?” He asks in a tight voice.
“No, but I called Loretta and asked her to check on him. He’s buried in all that old evidence, and you know how he gets.”
Dwayne smirks and nods, pulling the creamer out of the fridge and setting it next to you on the counter. And he’s standing a little closer than is necessary. Enough to get a closer look at that old, tight shirt that you hate so much. God, what the hell was wrong with him? He never used to get so wound up from a work-inflicted dry spell. Never used to stare at you this intensely. But now, it’s like he can’t even control himself.
You grab the creamer, pull it closer, and finally become aware of Dwayne’s close proximity. When you look up, he only sees your confused expression for half a second before his instincts kick in, and Dwayne is diving in to kiss you.
It’s been too long since he’s kissed you right. Little pecks in the morning and before you leave really don’t cut it. This is the type of kiss he’s been craving; the type that makes you grip his shirt just to hang onto something, the type that almost hurts because your teeth are digging into his lips but you just taste and feel so good, so it’s easy to ignore.
Dwayne turns you toward the counter, pinning you between it and himself so he can easily lean his body into yours. It gives him shivers, feeling you move and shift right against him. It’s a feeling he’s sorely missed, and Dwayne actually gasps in shock at how hard he’s getting from this one kiss alone.
The gasp cuts the kiss a little shorter than he wanted, so he dips his head to start pressing heated kisses to your jawline and neck. You make a breathy little sound that pricks his cock up a little more before you finally speak. “Dwayne, what are you-”
“’M sorry, baby. Couldn’t help it.” He pants the words into the neck of your skin. His hands have long since been shoved up the back of your shirt, but now he’s really taking the time to appreciate the soft skin of your waist and back. “You look good today,” Dwayne continues. His head finally lifts up, and he presses a quick kiss to your lips, but doesn’t move too far away. “Been a while.”
He sees your eyes blink, flashing with understanding. And a part of him is embarrassed; admitting that he’s been so wound up and horny these past couple days that he took the first chance he got to pounce on you.
But Dwayne knew there was a reason why he loved you. Because your lips curve up in a small smile, and you release one of your hands from his shirt to start slithering between your bodies. “You didn’t have to wait until I was making coffee to do this, you know. Your room is right upstairs.”
Your hand smooths over his shirt covering his belly. Dwayne swallows hard, hoping your touch was just a little lower before he shrugs. “The case, y’know? Been keeping us busy,” he replies lowly. His eyes lower away from yours, outlining your jaw and neck and collarbone. And he’s at your chest again before you speak up.
“Well, we’re not busy now.”
His eyes flash up immediately, meeting your mischievous ones. And for a scary moment, Dwayne is tempted to put the case on hold for just half an hour. Pull you upstairs and nobody has to know.
Your hand finally reaches the waistband of his jeans, fingertips following his happy trail down. Alright, maybe forty-five minutes...
And that’s when his phone starts ringing. Dwayne hates himself for not putting it on silent or something.
His head falls forward, eyes screwed shut, but he does pull away to reach in his pocket. You’re watching him intently, and Dwayne has to pointedly ignore your gaze so he can actually concentrate on who’s calling - Chris. Must be about the case, so he answers it without a second thought. “Pride.”
“Hey, King, we might gotta new lead. The Sheriff here says there was another witness back in the day that didn’t make it in the files.”
Dwayne frowns at the information, and you tilt your head at his expression. “Why not?” He asks.
“Dunno, but Gregorio and I were about to drive and find out. But y’all are closer, so I figured I’d call and find out if ya wanted to make the drive.”
He didn’t. He wanted to stay in the office, upstairs, with you. The temptation to tell Chris he was busy was dangerously strong, but Dwayne immediately felt guilty at the thought of it. So he exhales and nods; it takes all of his will to step away from you and your wandering fingers. “Text the address. Y/N and I’ll drive over.”
--
When Chris was telling him about the newest lead, he failed to mention that it was thirty miles from New Orleans.
The drive there had been long and tense. It took a lot of deep breathing and mental scolding to get Dwayne to focus on the task ahead of him. You and him were supposed to park in an empty lot, and eventually, the lost witness would meet them there. It had to be a neutral, secluded place, and Pride understood their need to be anonymous.
But he just wishes it wasn’t so far away.
To your credit, you kept to your own side of the car. Both work vehicles were gone, so Dwayne had to take his own car. The pale blue paint job and sleek design wasn’t exactly lowkey, but it was their only option. And the fact that you didn’t take advantage of the bench seat to slide over into Dwayne’s personal space was greatly appreciated.
But once he parked, it was harder to ignore the silence between you. As time went on, his car was the last one sitting in the vast parking lot, and he hadn’t said a single word to you. But what could he say? ‘Sorry I had to reschedule our quickie for later’ ? Dwayne scoffs at his own thought.
“What’s wrong?”
His head whirls around at your question, eyes blinking in surprise. But Dwayne just shifts around in his seat, heaving a sigh. “I don’t think our guy is comin’ tonight. I hope Christopher kept his number.”
You let out a low hum of agreement, craning your head around to get the whole view of the parking lot. Not one car in the entire place; maybe Dwayne was right, and the lost witness had chickened out. It wouldn’t be the first time, but you really wished that this drive had actually meant something. It was almost painful walking out of the office, and you were honestly a little pissed at Dwayne for getting you that riled up.
But then you look back to him, admiring his profile and the way his salt-and-pepper looks in the light. The sun has been going down for a little while now, so the only light to see by is the hazy sun and a distant streetlight that flickers now and again. Without the blazing Louisiana sun, the air is cooler than it was, but not by much.
And usually, all these little things wouldn’t have made for the ideal romantic location. The sunset by the Gulf comes to mind. Or sitting at Dwayne’s piano with some glasses of whiskey and the warm light of a lamp to see by.
But right now, when you know for a fact that the man next to you still doesn’t have his whole head in the game, an empty parking lot doesn’t sound so bad.
Slowly, you slide across the seat until cutting to a stop right next to Dwayne. He glances over curiously, eyebrows knitted together, silently asking about your new proximity. And you just shrug with a sly smile. “I’m getting cold,” you tell him.
Cold, huh? In the spring? Dwayne doesn’t buy your excuse, but he doesn’t call it out. You’ve never needed a good reason to be so close before, and you don’t now. So he returns his attention out to the parking lot. “Well, I ‘spose we can head home soon. Maybe try again tomor-”
The end of his sentence devolves into a surprised yelp in the back of his throat. Dwayne jumps in surprise, not expecting your hand to sit on his thigh like it was. And then it squeezes, and it elicits a sharp inhale from Dwayne. His eyes shoot up to yours, and annoyingly, you look completely innocent. “Baby, what are you doin’?” He asks tightly.
“What do you mean? I’m just sitting here.”
He exhales through his nose; an attempt to level his heartbeat because it starts to speed up. No way, he’s not going to get excited in the field. “Well, you’re getting a little comfortable,” Dwayne replies, glancing down to your hand.
It shifts upward slightly, and he feels you leaning in closer. “Am I? I didn’t notice.”
His gaze is locked on your hand, watching it rise and doing nothing about it. Part of him is exhilarated, because his heart is pounding and his breathing is shorter and Dwayne feels a slight change in how his pants fitted than they were before.
But his more logical side was screaming to stop. It made him look up and around, half-hoping that their lost witness would finally show up and Dwayne wouldn’t have to lose himself to his urges. No such luck; the parking lot was just as barren as it was a minute ago.
And finally, your hand reaches its goal. Palm grinding against the zipper part of his jeans and pushing against his half-hard cock. A low moan rises from Dwayne’s throat, and if that weren’t bad enough, his hand comes to grip your wrist. Keeping your hand where it was so he can grind up into it, relishing the friction it brought.
He’s blushing now, he can feel it. His self-control is as low as it was in the kitchen; maybe even less so, because your hand starts moving up and down, stoking the flame and making him even harder than he already is. “It’s a long drive home, Dwayne,” your words are mumbled in his ear, and he can’t recall when you got this close to him. But your lips brushing the shell of his ear just makes him want to turn and kiss you. “I guess I should fix your problem before we hit the road again.”
Fix his problem? You weren’t suggesting fucking in the car, were you? While the idea might sound appealing any other time, Dwayne wasn’t sure he was ready to get caught with his pants down if their witness actually did show up.
He was about to shake his head. It might physically kill him to say no and wait until they were back home, but Dwayne opened his mouth to speak before you started unbuckling his belt. The button of his pants was opened before he had the mind to speak. “Baby, we should wait until we’re home. I’d make it a whole lot better.” Dwayne hopes that extra little incentive at the end would change your mind. And it was true; he could fuck in a bed a whole lot better than in his car, no matter how long these seats were.
But you look up into his eyes and smirk a bit. “We are. Like I said, I’m just fixing your problem.”
Alright, now he was very confused. If you already intended on waiting until later, then why you were currently pulling his zipper down...
Oh.
You’re tugging on his jeans, revealing the waistband of his boxers before Dwayne is shifting his weight. Darting his eyes around and putting his hands on the steering wheel because he has no idea where to put them. “Uh, you don’t have to do that, honey. I mean, I can wait. I’ve been waitin’...”
You snort in amusement and straighten up, wearing a smile as if he told some stupid Dad joke. “Are you seriously trying to talk yourself out of a blowjob, Dwayne?”
He’s blushing again. Worse, even, because you were right. Sure, the timing could be better. The circumstances could be way better. But you were right, and Dwayne finds himself biting his tongue while you continue to work his pants down.
With the harsh denim out of the way, the feeling of your palm against his cock is obstructed only by the thin material of his boxers. And even those are no longer an obstacle because your fingers are pushing past the elastic and fuck, your fingers feel damn good. He’s been hard for a while now, and after so long, he’s sensitive and throbbing and Dwayne nearly can’t hold back the little keening noise in the back of his throat when you grip the base.
You start off slow, squeezing and jerking him as much as you can in the confines of his boxers. And you’ve taken to pressing little kisses against his jawline; one right behind his ear, and when your tongue comes out to follow the kiss, Dwayne can’t suppress a shiver. The pumping movements at the base of his cock had gotten a little tighter, a little quicker, and he just wishes you’d pick up the pace a little.
You might be some kind of mind reader, Dwayne decides, because you finally pull his cock free. The cooler air against his heated skin makes his breath hitch, but it’s nothing compared to the sensation of your loose fist traveling up and down the length of his cock. He’s leaking pre-cum, and that only makes your job easier. Dwayne’s head leans back against the headrest, eyes falling shut, just about to get lost in the feeling of the palm of your hand before you’re shifting beside him.
His eyes open, looking over to see you moving your entire body over so there’s room for you to lean sideways. And just like that, your head is in his lap, and Dwayne’s once again looking around, praying that nobody is driving up.
His search is cut short when your tongue glides along his head in one fluid action. A drawn-out moan comes up, head leaning back and chin tilting upward. You’re really not wasting anytime in taking the tip of him in your mouth, letting your tongue work him over while your hand continues its pumping motion.
It’s all Dwayne can do to keep from thrusting up into your mouth. Luckily, from this angle, you can control the jerks of his hips. Make sure he doesn’t shove in more than you can handle. But there is a certain level of satisfaction in feeling him grind his hips upward. Feeling the head of his cock hit the back of your throat, and hearing his little whimper when you pull away before he can get too deep.
But you are on a time limit. As much as you want to keep teasing Dwayne and hearing all his little noises, you are sitting in the middle of a parking lot.
So, with your saliva mixed in, it’s effortless to pump the base of his cock. Your tongue continues its efforts to build up his orgasm; teasing his head and following the line of a particularly big vein that makes him jerk whenever you touch it. It’s addicting, in a way. The smell and feel of him. The stretch of your lips around his cock and the weight of it against your tongue and prodding the back of your throat.
You almost get lost in it, content with letting it stretch on for a little while longer, but Dwayne’s hand is suddenly in your hair. His fingers grip tight, and it almost hurts, but you find yourself wishing he’s pull a little harder. “God, baby, I’m right there,” he groans out before his hips give another desperate roll.
He’s very close. You didn’t need him to say a word to see it.
It’s probably best to take pity on him. Make him cum so you can get home that much sooner.
So, with your lips circled around his head, you give a gentle suck. Quicken the pumps of his cock. And you even give a little moan because you know the vibrations would send him over the edge.
And they do. Dwayne gasps hard, grunting out a “fuck, fuck, fuck” and that’s all the warning you need before he finally cums. You were ready for it, but even then, swallowing him down when his hips are moving up and down is no easy feat. A bit of cum follows a trickle of saliva that moves down your chin.
The grip he has on your hair is iron tight until his orgasm passes, and then it softens. Dwayne even moves his fingers through your hair in a soft caress, as if trying to sooth the pain he knew came along with such a tight grip.
And it’s welcomed. Even gives you a bit of goosebumps while you sit up and wipe your chin and mouth. A messy ordeal, but when you look to Dwayne, it’s all worth it. His eyes are half-lidded, lips slightly parted while he catches his breath. And he has such a soft smile that it pulls something in your heart.
“We gotta take car rides more often, baby.”
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kurtty-drabbles · 5 years ago
Text
Tails au (part 11)
N/A: This goes on, I suppose. Kurt deals with Jelly, Amanda is going cray cray, Lance asks Kitty out and Tabby is the one sane here. Also, I promised myself a bit of Romy and I should keep it.
@djinmer4
Rogue is a slouch on the coach too akin of a cat and lost in the narrative of her book and only manages to notice she was smiling when Kitty enters in the room and mentions her big and goofy smile. “Hey, was the date that good?” Kitty teased and Rogue frowns back and puts the book down.
“Ah not dating him…Ah mean” now Rogue pauses for a moment and looks at the poker card Remy gave to her on their first meeting. “Ah don´t know anymore…that damn swap rat does not seem to mind that if he kisses me he´ll be knocked out” Rogue concludes and Kitty, putting her jacket down and now is organizing some of her material for her art class.
“Isn´t that a good thing?” Kitty asked as her ears tingle a little and the tip of said cat-like ears are asking to be treated and Kitty, silently complaining about that and a bit curious, managed to pet her own ears and is proud for not have pour after that.
And Rogue bites her lips tasting the black lipstick she used and then she confessed. “Ah´d not know. Ah don´t want to hurt him…and at any moment he can get tired of a girl he can´t really kiss…” Rogue now looks defeated and Kitty can´t leave her friend feeling like that.
“There´s a show called Pushing Daisies where the main couple can´t physically touch themselves for magic reasons so they use plastic film to touch…here an idea” Kitty suggested and Rogue tosses a pillow at Kitty, but, she is indeed considering the idea.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
When Lance finally asked Kitty out it seems as if a spell as cast and the Brotherhood seems to get a case extremely good luck for all the mutants presents in this group, for example, Quicksilver won´t have to deal with his father anymore (a huge relief for his mind), Toad and Fred are getting more simple tasks and Mystique is not being too harsh with them, Mystique is too busy doing whatever and is not using them …which is a huge relief and finally, Lance is on cloud nine.
“Someone is in love” Pietro states on the couch watching TV. The house is in better shape than before and the mutants of this group vow to leave the house in such a way for as much as possible. “What you´ll do in this date?”
And then Lance stops smiling and thinks about his only plan of dialogue. “Talk about how the X-men sucks?”
“No!”
“Talk about something else?”
“Yes”
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Jean Grey was playing with her powers and lifting the key to Scott´s car when someone rings the doorbell of the mansion and Logan, the one closer of the door, is not happy to see a member of Brotherhood with flowers and ask for Kitty. His claws speak for himself.
“What are you doing here?” Logan is not happy. His claws make sure of that and Lance is no fool to think he can take down Wolverine. Jean, wanting to avoid bloodshed intervenes.
“What´s going on?” she asked and she can put one and one together but is better to have all the facts first. Kitty arrives quickly and she told how Lance asks her to a date and she said yes and again, is vital to point out, Logan is not happy about it.
Jean is neither, but, she is diplomatic enough. “And where you two will go?” she asked neutral and the answer seems innocent enough, a movie date, and well, Jean is not her mother.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Kurt was doing his chores when he heard Logan´s growls and is quick to teleport to see Lance with flowers and talking about a movie date with Kitty (for some reason, he really wished Logan would tear the flowers down along with Lance-and yes, this thought scares him a little) and is not happy when Kitty did confirm this movie date.
Will you let her go, Jean?
What you want me to do? Say no? Kitty grows up to deal with her own business…
And Logan is the one interrogating the boy, Lance, and not being very approving of this movie date, but, if no one else will oppose (and he can´t dictate who she dates or not) then he´s bound to let Kitty go to Lance, much to Kurt´s dismay.
“Ok, thanks for not murdering, Lance” Kitty speaks. “and see you later, Kurt” and she waves at the dark corner where one Kurt Wagner was hiding and wonders how she saw him there.
Kurt smiles fakely at that and watches her go. Lance is sending a death glare at Kurt and Kurt pretends to not notice.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
“I´m just saying…this movie is really dumb” Lance speaks a bit loudly to Kitty.
“You said you were fine with my choice of the movie”
“Yeah…but that movie was really, really dumb, next time you could write something less dumb”
“Oh, next time?”
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Amara was listening to some Brazilian songs her own mother send to make sure her daughter is not completely alienated from her culture and while some songs are embarassing, and Amara refuses to translate some parts, it has some comfort in hearing a song in your own native language.
Tabitha does not speak Portuguese, well, only the basic and she can´t quite place her finger on what the lyrics are saying, but, if Amara is that adamant in not translate the song… “Is about sex, isn´t it?”
Amara blushes and refuses to acknowledge that. “Oh, so is about sex, ok, then I´ll study even harder to understand” and Tabitha concludes by snickering at her girlfriend´s expression.
“Really? You rather learn my language just to know what the song is about?”
“No, I want to do for you…but the song is a nice plus”
“Dork” and Amara now rest her forehead against Tabitha as their lips touch each other kindly. In moments like this, is so easy to forget the rest of the world, when you have someone you love…everything gets better.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Amanda Sefton is not happy as Kurt is not answering her calls, again, and is not very pleased even less so when she got a text of one of her followers showing a rather ugly picture, if you ask Amanda, about a certain Kitty Pryde and a boy named Lance Alvers.
It seems Kitty was not having a good night. Is what the legend says with a distress Kitty with a boisterous loud Lance who is talking loudly about something and is not paying attention to his surrounders.
“Is she cheating on Kurt? Whatever, I must make her and Lance be together no matter what…” and she takes her phone and calls to Info-chan. “What do you know about Kitty? How can I make her stay with Lance forever?”
“I would recommend glue, but, I´m afraid you would take literal, look, just show her she could do much worse…and props up Lance´s qualities, Lance is her first boyfriend ever and the girl wants to have a boyfriend like every other girl”
“Oh, thank you, Info-chan”
“You´re welcome”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Tabitha enters in the kitchen to get more popcorn and sees a very angry elf aggressively cleaning the dishes and muttering something in German and by the look of it looks something that is better of without translation.
“Blue boy?” and this jolts Kurt a little, but, his aggressiveness remains. Not phasing him, not literally, Kurt calms himself down and greets Tabitha. “Hey, the popcorn is over”
“Damn, ok, we can take snacks…but are you ok?”
“Kitty is out with that Lance…I´d not like him” and the way he phrases this sentence makes it seems as if he does not understand why and Tabby would find funny if it wasn´t the second time she sees him acting like that.
“Kurt, you´re completely green of jealousy. Green! Soon Hulk will be here and will be mad you took his colour”
“I´m not jealousy…I´m just worried for her sake…what if Lance tries to hurt her?”
“Funny, you didn´t seem all that concern when Rogue go out with Remy…Again, you´re green, Kurt, 100% green and denial go so forward, now, stop being a dumb blue boy and don´t take out on the dishes” Tabitha spoke and leaves with two snacks in her hand.
@everykurt @dannybagpipesarecalling @bamfoftheundead
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turnupswritessometimes · 6 years ago
Text
Lavender Eyes - Glimmerdora - Ch3
Title: Lavender Eyes
Chapter: 3
Word Count: 4059
Summary: Adora’s on the football tem. Glimmer’s in band. They think they can’t stand each other, until a series of accidents forces them to open up to each other.
Note: This is also available on Archive of Our Own and it’s probably best to read it over there as I remember to update it more. I would post a link, but then tumblr wouldn’t include it in search results.
Happiness lasted until she got home.
Her foster mother was standing the dark of the hall - so she was only a shadow. A shadow with crossed arms and a voice that snapped through the air like a whip.
"Where have you been?"
It made Adora falter - to grip the door frame and take a moment. She was breathless.
"I - was out celebrating the game."
"No you weren’t.”
“Yes-“ Adora frowned. She still couldn’t get her voice back. “I was.”
“You weren’t with Catra.”
Adora flicked on the hall light. It didn’t help. It only meant that she could see dark eyes flashing and lips curling. Beatrix was never normally angry with her – never furious with her the way she was with Catra. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been on this end of the rage – maybe when she was little and gave herself a drastic haircut. Even then, she didn’t think Beatrix looked at her like she did now – like she was made of fire and Adora was ice.
“I – I was out with a friend. They’re not on the team.” She managed to say. She was fine, she told herself, she hadn’t done anything wrong. It was just a misunderstanding.
“Catra had no idea where you were! She said you just disappeared.”
“No – I sent her a text! I told her!”
“Disappeared after the game and she hadn’t seen hide nor hair of you. What was I supposed to think, Adora? You could have been murdered or mugged and left in a gutter somewhere, you could have-“
“I told Catra!” Adora yelled. It rung between them in the hall like an alarm bell.
Because if she thought her foster mother had looked angry before, now she was completely furious.  In a second she transformed from her kind mother to a witch. Her dark hair almost spiralled out around her as she stared at Adora. Not stared – glared. Glared at Adora with contempt and disgust and –
Like she hated her.
It made Adora turn cold, like she had just been dropped into an ice bath. She just stood there, staring and wishing that she had just apologised. There were a million things she should have said, but she shouldn’t have yelled.
“Get out of my sight.”
Adora obeyed, jumping to attention like a soldier and hurrying up the staircase as fast as she could possibly go. She half-fell into her room, leaning her back against the door. That had hurt. It had really hurt.
And it was so unfair.
She had told Catra. She had been sure.
So she snuck out of her room, leaving the door to behind her. She padded across the doorway to Catra’s room. There was still a light on under the door and she slipped in without knocking.
Catra glanced up. She was illuminated by the glow from her laptop and it made her eyes look cat-like. Her hair was in a fuzz around her face – helmet hair.
“What?” she asked. There was a huge bag of doritos next to her.
Adora closed the door. “The fuck, Catra?”
“What?”
“I told you I was taking a raincheck.”
“Yeah. And then you weren't at home." Catra said. She leant back against her pile of cushions.
Adora blinked. It had only just occurred to her that she had made it home before Catra. She never made it home before Catra. She was always the one that was missing - who stayed out half the night only to crawl into Adora's window.
She checked her watch and it left her breathless. It was late. Very late. Too late for a perfect girl to be out.
"- And you had snapmaps turned off so I couldn't even stalk you. I just told Beatrix the truth. I didn't know where you were."
"You could have covered for me," Adora snapped. She was still angry. She liked being angry. "Sisters cover for each other, Catra."
Catra paused.
"You really want to talk about what sisters do, Adora?"
Her voice was low and she all but spat the words out. She had said it slowly, like she was a panther stalking prey.
Adora frowned. She could feel her heart beating in her ears. "What are you talking about?"
The flash of anger in Catra's eyes passed.
"Never mind," she said. "You should get to bed. You have a lot of studying to catch up on."
Adora closed the door before she exploded. She stood in the dark of the hall, listening to her own heartbeat. She was furious - in that moment, she hated Catra. She hated the bitterness in her voice. She hated the way her eyes narrowed at her.
She didn't understand. She didn't understand the bitterness and the hatred. She didn't understand the anger.
She especially didn't understand how just ten minutes earlier she had been happy.
*
Glimmer had started to write notes to Adora that got passed to her in class. She had cute handwriting, Adora had to admit – it was all round and decorated with little doodles. And of course she wrote in pink and purple gel pens.
They were never that interesting – they were little jokes and references. Sometimes doodles. But they still made Adora smile.
One in particular made her pause though.
‘Fancy a lift home?’
She had to reply. It made her pause, glance up at the teacher as if she was going to be caught out. She should be focusing – writing notes for class, not for the girl sat two rows back.
And yet – her mind went back to that car ride with Bow in the back. She smiled despite herself.
‘Sure,’ she sent back in her slanted scrawl.
She passed it on – and caught Catra’s eye as she did. She remembered the hate dripping from Catra’s tongue and just stared back at her.
They had band practice – that’s why they were offering to pick her up. But that was fine. Adora just slipped away after practice – whilst everyone was still in the showers. She had been skipping a lot of showers, but that was fine. At this point, she wondered if Glimmer even knew she could smell like a human and not a dirty sock.
She walked across the parking lot as though everything was normal – as though she was being spied on. Like the team was going to pop out and demand what she was doing and where she was going.
Glimmer’s car stood out like a sore thumb – it was much shinier than the others and no one else had that colour.  Adora slipped into the passenger seat, moving an instrument case.
“How was practice?”
“You really want to know?”
“Mmm, maybe not. It’s all Greek to me,” Glimmer said. She was pulling out of the space now and like clockwork Bow’s face appeared between the seats.
“I remember someone learning Greek, actually,” he said.
“You speak Greek?”
“For a year. In middle school – and it was ancient, not modern so I can’t say anything useful.”
“That’s still impressive.”
“Oh, I’m sorry – what are your grades in Spanish?” Glimmer looked at her, with that teasing smile of hers.
“How do you know my grades in Spanish?” Adora leant across without realising, feeling herself matching that smile.
"Um, could we pause the flirting and look at the road, please?" Bow said.
Glimmer did, the car lurching as she swerved into the right lane. Her face was red - bright red.
"Flirting? We are not flirting!" she cried.
Bow was laughing, it was obviously just a joke, but Adora found herself staring out of the window. Was it such a bad thing if they were?
"A-anyway, Adora." Glimmer was pointedly looking at the road instead of Adora. "We were wondering - you could come back with us, if you wanted? We were gunna get krispy kreme on the way home and then watch a movie?"
"Glimmer was wondering. I want her all to myself, honestly."
Adora was tempted. She was so tempted to stay in this world - this new happiness that she had found.
But she remembered that voice. Those flashing eyes and teeth.
Her stomach curled back into itself. No, this was enough. The groundhog had peered out of its hole and saw it's shadow.
"I, uh, can't tonight. Those Spanish grades don't come easy." She tried to laugh. It sounded harsh.
"We can always study as well. It's more fun together."
Fun? Studying as fun? She had never thought of it. Studying was just something she did. Something she had to do.
"I could use the help, actually. I'd like to actually graduate high school." Bow said. He and Glimmer laughed.
Adora crossed an arm over her chest, touching her hand into her side like she was guarding herself. She focused on the window instead.
“I really can’t tonight,” she said.
“Well, that’s fine,” Glimmer said. “I’ll drop you off as normal.”
But Adora thought she heard disappointment in her voice – and she couldn’t blame her. There was disappointment settling in her own stomach. She wanted to go – she badly wanted to. It wasn’t worth the fury that would await her when she got home and the guilt that would sit in her stomach all night. Catra couldn’t be trusted, apparently, to cover for her.
It was like she had thrown a wet blanket on the mood of the car. They drove on with the same chit-chat as before – but there was something wrong about it. Adora was almost glad to get out just so that she could breathe. She managed to smile and wave as Glimmer pulled out. She wondered if she would ever have the guts to blow a kiss like Glimmer did.
If she’d ever have the guts to do half the things that Glimmer did.
But she really did have to study – she grabbed a bag of chips from the kitchen, knocking it closed with her elbow.
She hadn’t even realised Beatrix in the doorway until she turned. It made her heart skip a beat and she gave a nervous laugh.
“You scared me,” she said.
“Who was that?” Her foster mother jerked a thumb over her shoulder to the front door.
“Who do you mean?” Adora asked, she still had that nervous laugh. She knew it was absurd to play dumb – but she also knew that Beatrix would hate Glimmer. She would hate Bow too, Adora realised.
“That wasn’t your car.”
“Oh – no, my friend gave me a lift.” Adora said. She held the chips over her chest like it would hide her.
“And what about the car I gave you?” Beatrix leant her hip against the door. There was no way for Adora to step around her. “Were you just going to leave it at your school? Where anything could happen to it?”
“It’ll be – it’ll be fine there. It’s all locked up by five or so, anyway.”
“How will you get to school tomorrow?”
“I’ll get the bus,” Adora said. She laughed again and it sounded fake in her ears. “What’s with the second degree?”
“I’m just worried, sweetheart.” Beatrix stepped forward, placing a hand on Adora’s arm and smiling. The smile settled her stomach – it made her feel better. It was okay. She was still liked. “You haven’t been yourself lately.”
“I’m fine.” Adora smiled.
“Catra says you haven’t been talking to her very much lately.”
“Yeah, well, Catra’s not so great.” Adora muttered, stepping forward to go back upstairs.
“What do you mean?” Beatrix’s hand tightened on her arm. Not enough to hurt, Adora told herself. It didn’t hurt.
“Nothing.” Adora said. “Nothing – we’ve just had a falling out. Stupid stuff, you know.”
She pulled away, gently. Beatrix nodded and rolled her eyes and said ‘you girls,’ so she guessed she was off the hook. Because Adora was no snitch. That was the rule that Adora and Catra had always had – no telling on each other.
At least, no purposely telling on each other.
And Adora didn’t want to admit that Catra was a bit of a bitch. She didn’t want to admit it to herself, let alone anyone else. Because Catra was her sister. Catra was the one who always looked after her – who made sure she didn’t work herself to death and who had taught her how to climb to the roof from her window. They had traded algebra for Spanish and spent nights telling stories that scared each other half to death.
Catra couldn’t be a bad person.
But she had let Adora take the fall the other night.
And she couldn’t help but think that Glimmer would have covered for her. Glimmer would have lied to get her out of trouble – not into it.
*
The lifts home became a habit. Only on the days were Glimmer and Bow had band practice, but a habit nonetheless. Somehow, without discussing it between them, they started to meet at the bike shed. Glimmer and Bow were normally there before her – Glimmer perching on one of the silver rails and Bow discreetly trying to make her lose her balance every few seconds. She always managed to stay on by some miracle, swinging tan legs forward as she kept her balance like a monkey.
And displaying a lot of those tan legs, Adora couldn’t help but notice. Glimmer was a skirt girl – and they were generally pretty modest – but it was hard to remain modest when she was treating a metal bar like a swing.
They didn’t have a pattern when it came to whose car they were taking – it just depended on the day. The first time they had slid into Adora’s car, Bow had gasped.
“No stains, no mess – room for me to stretch out my legs! Adora, I love you and I love your car.”
Adora had laughed awkwardly, feeling her face warm.
She was getting used to the car rides. To Bow and Glimmer blasting on musicals and Disney songs and singing exaggerated but surprisingly on-key renditions. At least, she thought she was. Until one evening when they dropped Bow off at an actual restaurant for a date with the guy he had met at the party that left Glimmer walking home in tears. It was on that evening that she heard Glimmer sing ‘Part of Your World’ under her breath whilst she was trying to parallel park on Adora’s road. Her heart skipped a beat and raced to catch itself up. Jodi Benson had nothing on Glimmer’s not-paying-attention singing voice.
That was why she kept accepting the lifts, Adora realised. She liked hearing Glimmer sing. She liked Glimmer and she liked spending time with her –
So it only took her a week to take them up on the offer of a study session that wasn’t really a study session.
And it started off with a trip through the McDonalds drive through, because as soon as they saw those Golden Arches, both Glimmer and Bow started chanting for McFlurries. Adora was powerless to stop them.
And yet ice creams and Disney songs made it the best car ride she could ever remember.
Happy. This was happy and she could get addicted to it.
But that didn’t mean that she wasn’t nervous when she stepped into Glimmer’s home. It was posh – tiled floors and wooden wall hangings that had mother of pearl shining like iridescent moons as they came in. It was like walking into a tiny mansion, Adora thought – the front door lead to a large room that had a staircase spiralling up in the corner. The doors were all open, a breeze coming in through open windows.
Everything was light. There was light everywhere. It made Adora realise how dark her home was – the blinds and curtains were open in the day but they didn’t seem to let in sunlight. Nowhere ever felt as free as here.
“Mum I’m home!” Glimmer called. “We’re just going to hang out in the basement, okay?”
Her mum popped her head around the door of the kitchen. She frowned for a moment, before she rested her glasses on her head.
"You know the rules."
"Yeah, yeah - No drink, drugs, sex or anything else normal teenagers do. Noise at a mouse's whisper and everyone out by eight - no, seven."
Adora felt her muscles tense at Glimmer’s tone. Sarcasm. Eye roll. All of those things would normally mean no dinner.
But her mum smiled – like this was normal, and her sarcasm checked Glimmer’s. "Have fun."
"Always do living like a prisoner." Glimmer muttered. She was already walking towards the stairs, and Bow was following her.
“Maybe after another year I’ll let you off early for good behaviour.”
“Ha-ha.” Glimmer rolled her eyes. Then she paused, one hand on the railing. She smiled. “Adora, what are you waiting for?”
“So, this is the famous Adora.” Glimmer’s mum turned the same lavender eyes her daughter had to Adora.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs (!!).”
“And so polite," Glimmer's mum smiled in a way that made Glimmer squirm. Adora knew why - there was a look in her eyes that made the meaning obvious. 'If you only you were nice boy instead of a girl.' "Don't let Glimmer lead you astray, alright?"
"Mum!" Glimmer rolled her eyes, elongating the word into two syllables. But she was being playful.
"I'll try not to," Adora said, seriously and it made Mrs (!!) laugh.
Glimmer took Adora's hand then, pulling her over to the staircase with a final "come on."
So she let herself be led down the twisting stairs, trying not to think too much about Glimmers hand wrapped around hers. About the glittery purple nail polish on her tan fingers next to Adora's bitten nails.
"I can't believe you talk to her like that," she said as they emerged into the basement. There was a huge, unmade waterbed held siege by a large collection of cuddly toys in one corner and the walls were so covered in posters and photos that she couldn't tell the colour underneath. Fairy lights hung from everywhere, like a cute decorations guide from Buzzfeed had vomited everywhere.
It was completely against Adora's taste in every way, and yet it was so completely Glimmer that it didn't make the bile ride in her throat like it should have. The room was charming, in its own way.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Princesa.” Adora said automatically.
“And so polite," Glimmer's mum smiled in a way that made Glimmer squirm. Adora knew why - there was a look in her eyes that made the meaning obvious. 'If you only you were nice boy instead of a girl.' "Don't let Glimmer lead you astray, alright?"
"Mum!" Glimmer rolled her eyes, elongating the word into two syllables. But she was being playful.
"I'll try not to," Adora said, seriously and it made Glimmer’s mum laugh.
Glimmer took Adora's hand then, pulling her over to the staircase with a final "come on."
So she let herself be led down the twisting stairs, trying not to think too much about Glimmers hand wrapped around hers. About the glittery purple nail polish on her tan fingers next to Adora's bitten nails.
"I can't believe you talk to her like that," she said as they emerged into the basement. There was a huge, unmade waterbed held siege by a large collection of cuddly toys in one corner and the walls were so covered in posters and photos that she couldn't tell the colour underneath. Fairy lights hung from everywhere, like a cute decorations guide from Buzzfeed had vomited everywhere.
It was completely against Adora's taste in every way, and yet it was so completely Glimmer that it didn't make the bile ride in her throat like it should have. The room was charming, in its own way.
“Like what?” Glimmer asked. “It’s just banter, she knows I love her.”
Adora knew asking whether it was disrespectful or not would earn her some concerned looks. The kind of looks she got in middle school when she asked things like that. The ‘are you okay?’ looks and the ‘are things okay at home?’ questions teachers would ask. It was times like these when it was always better to change the subject.
"So - what are we going to study?"
"Oh, Adora," Bow smiled and shook his head. "Adora, Adora, Adora."
"What?"
"No, she's right, Bow. We are going to study."
"We are?"
"We're going to be studying the best Netflix has to offer. Stranger Things, Santa Clarita Diet and Sex Education.”
Bow punched the air. “Now that’s the kind of studying I’m up for!”
“But-“
“Adora.” Glimmer pressed a finger against Adora’s mouth and it worked immediately. “Just sit back and let us teach you, alright?”
Her stomach was attempting to do ten jumping jacks in a row and her face was burning. Glimmer was touching her – Glimmer was touching her face. Her mouth. So, she just nodded. That was how she found herself being pushed down onto the bed amongst a bunch of cushions and sat between Bow and Glimmer with a laptop in front of her.
Bow relaxed immediately, tucking himself under Glimmer’s blankets and resting a cushion behind his head. He was only half watching, half playing a game on his phone. Glimmer was too, leaning slightly against Adora, so that her hair prickled Adora’s cheek. They were shoulder to shoulder. If Adora shifted slightly, she would have her arm around Glimmer. Like a couple.
How could she concentrate on a screen when she was thinking about that? She tried to tune in to – whatever show was being put on – but she couldn’t think when Glimmer’s weight against her. Or the fact that Glimmer’s hair smelt of bubble gum.
It was also all a waste of time. She couldn’t understand why they were wasting time just sitting and watching a screen when there was work to be done. Adora had to be doing work. Otherwise she wouldn’t be the best. She had to be the best.
The longer she sat there, the worse her stomach felt. It was as if she’d been tied into knots. It wasn’t just Glimmer – it was that this wasn’t a good use of her time. What would her foster mother say?
She wouldn’t be happy. She’d be furious. There would be rolling eyes and flashing teeth.
By the end of the first episode, she was tapping her foot against the blankets and her palms were damp. She wiped them on her jeans.
“Are you okay?” Glimmer finally pulled away from her – her arm felt cold without the weight.
"Yes," Adora lied, because she was always okay. She always had to be okay. But there was something about the look on Glimmers face that broke that resolve. Those lavender eyes she supposed. "No. I - I don't feel so good."
"Really? Are you okay?" Glimmer jumped off of the bed. "I've got paracetamol and ibuprofen."
"No, it's not-" Adora shook her head. "I think I'll just head home."
Glimmer blinked at her. Her face had fallen. She stared at Adora with disappointment on her features.
"Oh," she said. "Okay."
"Do you need someone to walk you home?" Bow asked, glancing up from his phone.
Adora shook her head. She couldn't make eye contact with either of them. Guilt was already swimming in her gut.
"Sorry. I'll just-" she was already heading back up the staircase, walking quickly across the hallway.
What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she sit and relax and have fun? Like a normal teenager? She hadn't even thought about it before. The fact she wasn't normal. She was a workaholic because she had to be. Because she had seen the marks on Catra's skin thay she knew she would get if she wasn't. If she wasn't perfect there were consequences. That wasn't normal.
Apparently, normal was teasing jokes like a mother was just another friend. Apparently normal was being able to watch a show without feeling her skin crawl. Without her brain telling her that she was being useless.
Useless, useless, useless.
Imperfect.
And yet that was what Glimmer did and Glimmer was normal. Not perfect. Maybe perfect was overrated. Adora wanted to say perfect was overrated.
Every one of her instincts told her she was wrong.
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