#[i always love getting to ramble about my Trash Space Son] | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mcu-fan-fics-blog · 3 years

Text

The Helping Hand

Summary: Y/N Krast Illegitimate Daughter of Tony Stark. Product of an unwanted teen pregnancy. What would Howard Stark be capable of doing to assure his sons future? What will happen when Tony meets our Beautiful, young, genius, rich philanthropist.

Word Count: 3000 approx

A/N: Sorry for the wait I've been a little busy the last couple of weeks. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Next chapter will be Civil war I hope to upload again soon. In the mean time if you have some ideas or thoughts send them my way.

Tw: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Drug use, Drug addiction, Teen Pregnancy. (If there are any I missed please tell me.)

Ch.7

Chapter 8: Time and Irony Walk Hand in Hand

Ch.9

"Well this is nice…" You say as Natasha drags you along. You see currently you and Natasha are quote on quote shaking a tail. Whatever that means… "Shut up and keep moving." You stop moving and pull your arm away. "Stop Nat we've gone far enough. It was probably just a coincidence we didn't really get that far from the food truck." Finally taking the time to catch your breath. "I think we should get back to the compound. Tony and Bruce must be waiting for me." You say looking around for a cab lucky for you one stopped right before you and you got in.

The ride back to the Compound was quiet. When she's about to make her way in, you stop her. "Nat… I know that didn't go the way either of us wanted it to go but I still had fun. And again what I'm trying to say is that I would like to do things your way, candlelit, waiters, and wine. If you want to of course." You fidget with your fingers waiting for her response. "Y/n I would love to… but I like the way you do things. You're not the Wine and Dine type... I like that." She mentions as she walks back in. You quickly follow suit after she makes a comment about your blatant staring.

Once you stop on the elevator FRIDAY greets you. Telling you that Tony and Bruce are waiting for you in the lab. "Well Nat this is goodbye for now, see you around." You say stepping off of the elevator. Suddenly this weight comes crashing down on you. Remembering what Bruce told you the worry in his eyes. Dread fills your body when you're walking towards the lab. "Guys I'm back… anything good for me?" You state casually trying your hardest not to sound hopeful. "Well yes and no…" Tony states putting the tablet down. "I'm going to be honest with you… your heart is trashed, absolute garbage."

"Way to make a girl feel special." You say with a dry laugh. "But I think we can build something. And with my arc reactor technology we can make it work." He states tapping at his chest. This is where Bruce jumps in "with the help of Dr. Cho we could try and make a new cradle… and use it for its intended purpose this time around. Making a heart powered by the arc reactor." You nod taking all the information in. "Well this is good right? How long would this take." This is where both Tony and Bruce go quiet. "Y/n the process is relatively easy, what's difficult is getting our hands on the Vibranium."

"Which is basically a non existent problem at this point… Bruce is just paranoid, my contact will pan out you'll see." Tony jumps back in clearly annoyed that Bruce was disclosing such trivial issues. "Even if we do get the Vibranium Y/n there's something we don't know… If you'll even survive the transplant." Your eyes meet his and he elaborates. "Your body might not be strong enough to handle it." Suddenly the inevitability of the situation dawns upon you. "Well I'm still doing it… I'm dying anyways. What difference does it make if it's a month from now or five. I'm doing it."

"Well, let not be hasty alright. We can still look for other alternatives." Bruce tries to argue. "Look, this is Y/n's decision. She's old enough to make her own decisions. Plus the more we work on this the higher survival chances are." Tony argues. You clear your throat when you notice some visitors standing by the door. "How long have they been there?" You ask, trying to mask your anger. Pietro and Steve both give you sheepish smiles that don't quite reach their eyes. "Look Y/n we just wanted to make sure you were okay… and by the looks of it you're not."

You stand making your way to stand in front of Steve who had just taken a defensive stance. "Well you're right I'm not okay. Now what are you going to do about it Cap… Other than feeling pity every time you look at me." You say pushing your finger on his chest. "This does not leave this room you understand?" You say looking at both Steve and Pietro. "But, My sister…" You nod "Figure it out pretty boy. Now if you could leave the adults have to talk." They both sigh but take their leave. You turn and notice Tony and Bruce staring, not saying anything. You can only laugh at the sight.

As much as you did want to be mad you couldn't. You were starting to come to terms with the fact that your business was now becoming their business. "I just wanted to watch them squirm." You clarify making Tony laugh. "Well I'd say you achieved that." Bruce mentions. "I'll give them til the end of the day. What do you think?" You say looking at Tony. "How much are you willing to bet, Billionaire to Billionaire?" He asks, challenging you. "50 million dollars." He scoffs. "Don't be a prude, make it Euros." You nod. "Best money there is." You say agreeing with him. "I'll hold you to that Y/n." He says as you leave the lab.

Two days later you were busy. You'd been in contact with Bruce and Pepper. Currently you were looking for someone to mentor. Someone you could leave your legacy with. Logan was an obvious choice but you knew he wouldn't take it. "You wanna give it a break Y/n you're not going to find the perfect candidate in so little time." Logan mentions. When suddenly your secretary enters with more forms. "Ms. Krast these are the applications from Midtown Science High. There's only four. Liz Allan, Ned Leeds, Flash Thompson, and uhh Peter Parker." You sigh with a smile forming on your lips. "They've got to be here my mentee. These kids are geniuses."

You say as you look through the applications. Slowly crossing off the first two, that Flash kid and Liz. Ned and Peter it was a tough choice until you saw some of yourself in Peter's eyes. "It's him." You say under your breath catching Logan's attention. "Peter Parker… I want him, he will be the future of our company. Make arrangements. I want him to feel welcomed." You say as you start to gather your things. "Send out the acceptance letter today." You say to Logan on your way out. "Will do Boss." He says with a smile growing on his face as he reads the file. Peter didn't have it easy on the contrary he lived through a lot but he still managed to be him.

The next week went by in a blur. Your will and testament were drafted and certified. You were set on that end and now on the other front. You were currently parked outside Midtown High waiting for the bell to ring. When it does a couple of minutes pass when a fresh faced kid is knocking on your window. "Y/n Krast nice to meet you kid." You say rolling down the window. He seems a little nervous. "Come on in Peter. We're going to get to know each other a little before we begin working with the internship." He nods enthusiastically, a small smile forming on his lips. "Tell me about your Peter, I mean outside of what I already know."

"Well I'm what most people would call a nerd. My aunt may always say that's not true but it is." You hum in agreement pulling out of the school parking lot. "Well being popular is overrated anyways." You jump in. "And Ned, my best friend, we're huge fans of you and your work." He says his speed increases as he starts to ramble about how he followed your trajectory as soon as he found out who you were. "Well I'm glad you like what I do Peter but in my eyes were equals. I will teach you my ways and hopefully you'll take over once I'm dead. Keeping my legacy alive long after I'm dead." You say seriously making him settle and quiet down.

"Ms. Krast you can't be serious." He says giving you an incredulous look. "I was an orphan… I was given a chance. Someone believed in me. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you remind me of me… and I would like to give you that same chance that I was given." You say sincerely. "Y/n that's too generous… Plus I don't think that I'm what you're looking for. I'm clumsy and…" You stop the car making him look at you. "You may not be ready now or tomorrow but if you let me teach you, you will be." You say reassuringly. "Plus I don't plan on dying anytime soon." You say playfully at the end causing Peter to laugh successfully lightening the mood. "Also another plus for you after this year's audit we'll be working hand in hand with Tony Stark."

At the mention of Tony's name he lit up ten times more than you thought possible. It made you laugh a little but you understood him. "That's amazing. Me working for Y/n Krast and Tony Stark, a literal dream come true." You nod at his statement. The day went by incredibly fast. He was a nice kid, respectful and smart, a little naïve but overall sensible. You went to his favorite pizza place and talked, went to Krast Industries and introduced him to Logan. Showed him his dedicated work space. "So here's your badge, don't lose it. Umm… you'll be here every other day after school, and if you have some special dates tell Margaret the secretary and she'll make a schedule around it." You say as you're walking towards the elevator.

Peter stops abruptly turning to face you. "Thank you really." He then proceeds to rather hastily pull you into a hug. You're shocked initially but hug him back nonetheless. "Don't sweat it kid." You say patting his back. "I'll have one of my drivers give you a lift home alright." He nods. Just before you press the button for the elevator the doors open. Revealing Pepper Potts and Tony Stark. It makes you laugh internally knowing that the young boy beside you just had his world rocked. "Ms. Krast this is real right?" He asks in a high pitched voice. You nod.

"Pepper Tony, I would like you to meet my new mentee Peter Parker." You say nudging him forward. "Hi, you're Tony Stark." He says in a daze. "Yes kid I am Tony stark and you are?" Tony could literally not care less. Until you gave Pepper a look and she nudged Tony. "Alright kid it was nice meeting you." He says overly enthusiastically. Peter takes the compliment either way. "Alright Peter go over to Margaret she'll take you to the driver. We have some urgent business to attend." He nods and waves goodbye shyly and takes his leave. "Right what do you guys need." Pepper clears her throat "Well actually Tony and I wanted to invite you out to lunch."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going." You say walking off with Pepper. "You'll be pleased to know that you won our wager. They know..." Tony mentions at the restaurant. You laugh. "Told you!" Pepper gives you a look. "They're worried about you." You sigh. "Pepper, believe me I'm worried too." Tony quickly steps in. "Which you don't need to worry about too much, everything is in place. Everything panned out Dr. Cho was more than willing to help us. So whenever you want." He says again not meeting your gaze. "I was… ummm. Actually thinking we should hold off on that."

"What… why?" They both ask almost immediately. "I'm okay right now." Tony scoffs. "So you rather wait till you have another episode to undergo the procedure." You hum. "Precisely see you get it." Watching their confusion you continue. "I've got things I have to leave ready. Time that I can't take for granted." Before they could argue with you said. "I need time… I-i drafted my will a couple of days ago." You say burying your head into your hands. "It's funny really… how you get things you're willing to live for. And life just comes along and takes it from you." Your mind drifts off to Viv and David. You wipe your tears and excuse yourself. Just as you're about to leave you remember.

"Put the money in a college fund for the kid." You grab Peppers shoulder and nod. "We'll keep in touch." You say leaving the restaurant.

Three weeks later

Pretty early on you noticed Peter's jumpy behavior. It wasn't long till you found out his little secret. Again smart kid heart of gold even, but too naïve for his own good. You'd had one of your AI robots track him after he'd shown up a little dinged up. Telling him you knew took some time. You didn't know the extent of his capabilities, but you'd seen the kid walk on walls and kick some ass.

As cute as he looked in that makeshift costume you had a better one in mind. "Peter I would like to show you something." You call out from your workstation in the lab. "Ward pull up spider schematics please." You call out. "What do you think?" You say as Peter glances at his new suit. "I-i um… It's awesome but who is at for?" He said quickly. You almost burst out in laughter right then and there but you played along. "Well I was in Queens the other day and there was this mugging and some hero came out of nowhere and stopped the mugging." You say as you deconstruct the specks of the suit. Watching as peter gawks at the hologram.

"When I noticed his suit wasn't really a suit, I made him one. You think he'll like it?" Peter nods eagerly, you hum in response. "Alright then try it on, see how it fits spider boy." Peter stands there with his mouth hanging open and you could swear saliva came out. "You aren't that good at keeping secrets kid." You say handing him the suit. "I expect you to be careful, kid." Peter starts to ramble trying to explain himself and begs you to not fire him. You physically had to stop him from pacing. "No ones firing anyone. I'm proud of your kid again, just be careful." Emphasizing the last part. "I will" after all that's out of the way you and Peter spent the day testing out the specks in his new suit. Web slingers and all. Yo I didn't leave until he got the hang of it. It took a while but it was well with the wait.

The next day you wake up to the news seeing a familiar twin on the news. Not good Lagos had gone wrong, the building collapsed and Wanda was to 'blame'. You hurriedly made your way through your morning routine and raced to the compound. As soon as you make it to the common room you can tell something's off. "How is everybody?" You asked Steve who was the first you saw. "I'm assuming you heard about the incident." You don't have the heart to say yes so you just nod. "We're all a little down on morale. Nothing we can't fix." You say, giving you a small smile. You hate that he is down playing this because of your current dilemma. "It wasn't your fault." You say. As you walk off towards Pietro.

"Are you okay?" You ask this time actually worried Pietro doesn't seem like his usual self. "No...It's Wanda. She hasn't talked to anyone she hasn't eaten she hasn't left her room." He says all in one breath. He finally stopped stirring and slid down to the floor and sat. "Its my fault. I-i could've moved faster, I could've saved them." He says defeatedly. "Maybe… Maybe not" You say bluntly sitting in front of him. "You can't go back now. And I know it's a sour experience. You made the right decision." You sigh. "You made the choice that saved the most lives." He nods letting out a deep breath. "I know… I know but Wanda. If I had saved those people Wanda wouldn't be feeling like this right now." You shake your head. "You fail to realize that if you had done that you would've died along with the other victims. Wanda will come around and let me talk to her." He only nods. "She's in her room."

You knock on her door a couple of times… no answer. So you make yourself comfortable and prepare yourself. Your knock every minute or two and you're constantly yelling in your head. Half an hour goes by and nothing. You go back to mentally yelling, when suddenly you're being dragged by the collar of your shirt into the room with the doors shutting behind you. "You're stubborn like a mule." She says not sparring you a look. "Yeah well I'm dying what are you gonna do about it." You quipped smiling at her. She chuckles. Suddenly the light leaves her face. "I killed people… I put people in danger, I put my own brother I'm danger." You nod. "You also saved hundreds of people. God only knows what that gas would have done. So thank you Wanda. You're my hero." You say sending her a smile.

Right when she's about to say something a certain red friend phases through the wall. "You will never cease to amaze me Vision." You say while looking between him and the wall. "You have very good taste in clothes." You mention as you eye him. He smiles. "Vision. We talked about this, there's a door for a reason." Wanda states. "Yes, well the door was open so I assumed…" He says, explaining himself. "What did you need Vision?" Wanda asks cutting him off. "Well Mr. Stark asked me to come and get both you there is a team meeting. With secretary Ross."

#avengers #marvel #natasha x y/n #pietro maximoff #wanda x reader #tony stark #natasha romanoff #reader x avengers #wanda maximoff #fanfic #mcufam #stark reader #captain america #civil war

35 notes · View notes

gladiatortale · 4 years

Text

My DEPRESSION BEATING, fandom obsessing, shit-tastic FANTASTIC year in review!

TL;DR: I’m fixing my mental health and figuring out WHO THE FUCK I AM one fandom filled day at a time! Thank you to everyone who’s been there for me along the way. xoxo

what’s up HEATHENS.

stating the goddamn obvious here, it’s been a HELLUVA YEAR. One emotional rollercoaster after another but we’re ALMOST DONE. I know things aren’t gonna magically get better the second it flips to 00:01 on January first, but I’m excited to put this year behind me, and (SHOCKINGLY) a bit sad to see it go.

It was a year where the whole world completely stopped, we realized what is really important, what is really worth fighting for, and took a GODDAMN SECOND to just breathe.

For me personally, the year (which I’m counting off from November 1st) started out UNBELIEVABLY SHIT. I had just been kicked out of the country I called home for the last four years (thank you Brexit), I had ZERO job prospects, my depression was the WORST it had ever been, and I just didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. And in the beginning, the pandemic felt like salt in the wound, an extra kick in the teeth to my early twenties that had already “failed to launch.”

But I tried to embrace the madness, really take advantage of the world (that I always thought moved to fast) properly slowing down, and take time to try and become myself again. I wanted to figure out what I loved and try and become a bit more like the person I was before my depression got so bad.

I often say I became that Manic Trash Planet Lady™ you see in sci-fi adventure films; a bit zany to say the least, with a million ideas and a very eclectic fashion sense, but embracing the insanity as it comes...

*cough cough* audrey, get to the goddamn point!

Right. lol. THE POINT IS!

I’m not 100% “healed”, I’m not sure if I think depression is a “oh look you’re officially cured! hooray!” type of disease, but this year I let myself ENJOY SHIT for the first time in god knows how long. I still don’t know “wHaT i WaNt To dO WiTh mY LiFe”, but I’ve got a better idea and I’m heading in (what feels like) the right direction. And most of all, I can look back and say I am better than where I was a year ago.

So I wanted to say T H A N K Y O U to the mad lads on this website that introduced me to the fandoms, shows, movies, fics... THE SHIT that made me happy this year and were there to be one (BIG) piece in my healing journey.

AND SO, with out further rambling ADO! Here are the highlights of the year marked by my ridiculous hyper-fixations and OBSESSIONS. Thanks for putting up with me ya fiends, xoxox

November 2019 The Arcana (Visual Novel)

I had just gotten home and I was in a LOOOOOOW place. Randomly decided to download this app when it came up and it proceeded to ruin my life (and my bank account...) for pretty much the rest of the year. It was exactly what I needed to get me through a tough time and I was thoroughly, horse-blinders-up-to-the-rest-of-the-world, OBSESSED. These gorgeous magical fiends ruined me and all I could say was thank you.

Joined the fandom: November 2019 Obsession peaked: Late November Obsession faded: December 2019; I started a new job AND my bank statement came in and I realized I had accidentally spent over SIXTY BUCKS on this stupid app. No ragrets, but I definitely started to phase out at that point. Fandom friends: Velma, (@lanavxds on insta) miss you girlie xx Fanfics you NEED to read: ‘Second Mistake’ by DeathBelle on AO3, because DAAAAAYUM SON. Favourite moments: Basically the whole of the Julian arc. That gangly himbo OWNED my ass for a month.

December 2019 Hazbin Hotel (TV Series)

Y’ALL okay here me out. Am I proud of this one? No. Is the show crass as hell? OOOOOOOOHHHH YEAH. Did my angsty ass love it at the end of last year? DAMN STRAIGHT IT DID. Goes without saying, but this is NOT FOR EVERYBODY, but it definitely helped me along the way to becoming more comfortable with myself and being open about being the massive geek that I always was, and watching things I enjoy regardless of what people say about it.

Joined the fandom: December 2019 Obsession peaked: Shortly there after. Fandom friends: None. Dipped one toe in fandom discourse and then promptly YEETED the fuck outta there. Obsession faded: January 2019. Still curious to see the full series if A24 actually ever does produce the whole thing, but I have def moved away from it. Fanfics you NEED to read: Haven’t read any. Maybe I’m a pussy baby piece-o-shit, but I DID NOT want to go down that rabbit hole, NO MA’AM. Favourite moments:

Discovering the Hunicast podcast. These guys are a riot and Ashley is a flustered GEM. Even if you don’t watch the show, go watch an episode of these fucking LADS just dicking about and your day will get better.

Watching the first episode with my partner and watching him realize his girlfriend is a total freak.

January 2020 Lore Olympus (Webtoon Comic)

*Officially* discovered this one thanksgiving weekend in 2019, but my Arcana phase was still raging pretty strong at that point so I didn’t really get in to it until later. EVERYBODY AND THEIR MOTHER NEEDS TO READ IT. It has everything and handles the reality sexual assault and it’s aftermath EXTREMELY well.

Joined the fandom: Late November 2019 Obsession peaked: January 2020 Fandom friends: KELLEY. MA GIRL XOXOXO Obsession faded: June-ish 2020. I’m like 10 chapters behind now, but I still love this story so much. Fanfics you NEED to read: SO MANY ON MY ‘MARKED FOR LATER’ LIST AAAAAH. I have to get to that... NEW YEARS RESOLUTION lol Favourite moments: Having a drunk conversation on New Years Eve in 2019 with one of my oldest friends from high school about how much she loved it too. Helped me see how popular fandom and fandoms, are especially after feeling like I needed to hide my enthusiasm through high school and uni. (THAT WAS A MISTAKE BUT I’LL GET THERE IN A MINUTE).

February 2020 Versailles (TV Series)

SO FUCKING GAY Y’ALL. Oh my god everyone in this show is so gay. Even when they’re not they still are a little bit. AND BEST OF ALL!! it’s very historically accurate (except for the demon satanic nonsense in season 3, what was that???)

Joined the fandom: February 2020 Obsession peaked: Like??? The SECOND I finished episode one. Fandom friends: none... WHERE ARE ALL OF YOU??? Obsession faded: March 2020. It was a fast and passionate love affair, what can I say? Fanfics you NEED to read: IF YOU HAVE RECS, GIVE ‘EM TO MEEEEE. Favourite moments:

Showing the first episode to a friend of mine and the *ungodly GASP* that came out of her throat was... PRICELESS.

The ENTIRE throuple(???) relationship between the Chevalier, Philipe, and Palatine. PLATONIC/ ROMANTIC LOVE G O A L S.

March 2020 Yuri!!! On Ice (TV Series)

*deep breath* ...y’all knew this one was coming.

Was I ready for this show to ruin my fucking life? No. Am I so glad it happened??? FUCK YEAH.

NEVER IN MY LIFE have I fallen off the deep end so quickly with a fandom. HOLY SHIT. This blog didn’t have much of an “identity” before, but I you said that this is a Yuri On Ice blog now I wouldn’t even be mad (nor could I really defend myself to the contrary... bc??? like??? just go LOOK at my archive). Craziest thing is I watched the first two episodes like?? a solid TWO YEARS ago, but I didn’t continue watching because I was just not in the right head space for all the love and silliness and positivity.

I could do a whole separate post about how much this show and how this fandom has changed my life (DON’T TEMPT ME I JUST MIGHT). But I’ll stick with the highlights for now ;)

Joined the fandom: March 2020 Obsession peaked: Has it peaked?? Went straight up and it still going lol Fandom friends: Sandra, my mentor, my queen @aeriamamaduck, my fandom ride-or-die. Thank you for taking this internet bby under your wing. RACHEL @idancewiththefairies I TRAPPED YOU HERE. MUAHAHAHA xxx Obsession faded: ON GOING. CAN’T STOP, WON’T STOP. Fanfics you NEED to read: jfc, SO MANY.

‘Until My Feet Bleed and My Heart Aches’ and ‘Of Bright Stars and Burning Hearts’ by Reiya @kazliin -- Rivals AU companion pieces. Longest fics I’ve ever read and JESUS CHRIST these two fucking SENT ME. Most popular YOI fics on AO3 for a REASON.

‘Tell Me Where Your Love Lies’ by @aeriamamaduck -- Royalty AU, trope-breaking ABO. Ah sweet, TMWYLL, how you’ve killed me over and over again. This BEAUTIFUL wip has SUCH amazing world-building idk where to start (Congrats on passing 50,000 hits!) EVERYONE GO READ IT.

‘Blackbird’ by sixpences -- WWII/Coldwar Spy Fic. I don’t have enough words to describe how amazing this is. It’s elevated to a higher plane beyond fanfic. Just go read it. Thank me later.

‘Zanka’ by rinsled05 @dreaming-fireflies -- The geisha fic that ruined me. *deep breath* AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH *gasp* I’m fine. lol I sooooo not ready for this fic. Holy hell, Aoyagi had my heart in his hands from the first chapter. “’Please’ [...] ‘Don’t give me hope.’“ FUUUUCK.

‘Echoes’ by Reiya @kazliin -- Future fic. First fic I cried at... BOI. I was NOT ready for this. Shouldn’t be surprised given the author, but MAN. “‘A love like that, a love like what they had together, it never leaves completely.’ Yuri spoke again, eyes still staring out onto the ice, lost in memory. ‘There are always echoes.’” JUST FUCK ME UP.

Favourite moments: Oh good lord, where do I begin??

Having two (count ‘em TWO) main characters with mental health issues (Yuuri and his anxiety and Victor with burn out and depression) and NOT MAKING IT THE ONLY ASPECT OF THEIR PERSONALITY. CLAPS FOR KUBO AND YAMAMOTO!!

Everything about Yurio (ESPECIALLY HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH YUUKO AND HIS GRANDPA), that tsundere motherfucker is too pure for this world.

THE KISS. THE PROPOSAL. MY HEART WASN’T READY. AAAAAH!!

This fandom *properly* introducing me to smut on AO3...

Thinking I was going to get Rachel to like the show... NOT being prepared for her to fall off the deep end and START LIKING REAL SKATING TOO!!

Staying up waaaaaay too late waaaaaay too often to plan out plot points for TMWYLL with Sandra. Love ya dearie.

The warm fuzzy feeling I get every time I think about Victor and Yuuri.

April 2020 Bungou Stray Dogs (TV Series)

I had a hunch I was gonna like this show considering ALL of the characters are based off of famous classic authors from around the world... what I was NOT prepared for was just HOW MUCH I was going to love it. HOLY SHIT. The art style? Love it. The plot?? Bonkers, but so fun. THE VOICE CAST??? AMAZING. Highly recommend to anyone who wants to get in to anime, great place to start.

Joined the fandom: April 2020 Obsession peaked: Probably this summer? But we have DEF plateaued in a VERY high place. Fandom friends: FIJI. MA BOIIIII @lil-1nsane Obsession faded: Hasn’t. Hope it doesn’t Fanfics you NEED to read: So so so many. The smut in this fandom is *chef’s kiss*, but here are a few...

‘He Works Hard For the Money’ by CataclysmicEvent @cataclysmicevent2019 -- Sugar Daddy AU. FUCK MAN. I was not expecting to like this one, but bloody hell. This fic grabbed me by the throat and WOULD NOT let me go. Praying for chapter 16! But the author is working on another STELLAR fic so I’m okay for now.

‘Everything or Nothing’ by CataclysmicEvent @cataclysmicevent2019 -- University AU. FUCK THIS FIC. Started reading it as I was waiting for HWHFTM to update and BOI, this fic ROCKS. The alternating POV fits so well with the enemies/idiots-to-lovers vibe. Solid 10 outta 10.

‘The City Where Wind Blows’ by @raven-rein -- Cancer Death fic. *pained shriek* AAAAAAGUUUUUUUHHHH *gasp* aaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHHHH, FUUUCCCCCCCCCKKKK MEEEEE. THIS FIC. Only the second fic I’ve ever cried to but I BAWLED MY GODDAMN EYES OUT. FUUUUUUUCK. I was not ready, never would have been ready. This is so tremendously well done, it killed me so beautifully,

‘Haunted by Hatred’ by DeathBelle -- Canon compliant Soukoku. It is a CRIME that DeathBelle doesn’t have more BSD fics on her page, but this one is still brilliant.

Favourite moments:

THE CHUUYA-DAZAI MAFIA REUNION TEAM UP WHEN THEY FIGHT LOVECRAFT. Ooof. BOI. We love it.

The first three episodes. Soooo many break neck plot twists.

Every insane hypothetical conversation with Fiji.

Every time Atsushi or Tanizaki is on screen bc I LOVE THESE LIL BEANS.

June 2020 Trash Taste (Podcast)

Goddamn I love these chaotic lads so much.

As I became more and more comfortable with myself and my love for anime I stumbled upon these three goons, -- Joey, Connor, and Garnt, -- best known for there SUPER successful (mostly) anime YouTube channels. Even if you don’t watch anime, WATCH/LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST. The focus is mostly on their lives and the overall expat/immigrant experience, with a bit of anecdotal anime references sprinkled in.

This show is both wholesome and heathenous in equal measure, and after having lived abroad for a significant portion of my (admittedly still quite short) life, it was such a breath of fresh air to hear people talk so openly about how living outside your home country is both wonderful and terrifying. They’re wonderfully candid about the fact that even if you love a place dearly, no where is perfect, and you WILL hate somethings about your new home even if the majority of the experience is fantastic. I cannot rate this show highly enough.

Joined the fandom: June 5th 2020, loved it from the first episode. Obsession peaked: July maybe? I was RELIGIOUS about watching the episodes as soon as they came out. Still watch every week, but less “on time.” Fandom friends: None :( but I have tricked my partner in to listening several times :) Obsession faded: It’s dimmed from where it was, but still going strong. Fanfics you NEED to read: NONE. NEVER PLAN TO. Hard and fast rule, I don’t read fics about real people. Characters played by real people, even that’s a maybe for me. But real-real people? FUCK NO. (some of my) Favourite moments:

Any time Garnt and Connor get into a big-brain-monkey-brain argument and Joey is just LOSING his GODDAMN MIND in the corner.

Bringing a retired Japanese porn star in the show for an honest conversation about consensual sex work and showing people can have more than one career in life.

Everything about the, ‘Are Online Friends Real Friends?’ episode. GO WATCH IT, it’s brilliant.

Garnt making “chotto-THE-FUCKING-matte” an expression

August 2020 Great Pretender (TV Series)

Spent most of the summer marinating in my BSD and YOI bubbles, until THIS BAD BOI came up on my Netflix recommendations. HOOOO BOI. This is some Anime Of The Year shit right here. Has a pretty original concept (Catch Me If You Can by way of Oceans 11-ish) but generally starts out like most other shounen (sans the super powers). AND THEN EPISODE FIVE HAPPENS. Not gonna spoil it but they TOOK THAT SHIT UP A NOTCH. Brilliant, even with a bit of an insane ending. GO WATCH THIS ONE.

Joined the fandom: August 2020 Obsession peaked: Pretty much as soon as I started watching it. Fandom friends: What’s up Fiji ;) @lil-1nsane Obsession faded: Naturally faded, but so glad I watched Fanfics you NEED to read: None so far! Little scared about this one, heard mixed reviews, but maybe someday. Favourite moments:

Edamame’s “madness arc” at the end of season 2. HOOOO BOY.

Laurent getting fucking WRECKED when Edamame punches him mid way through season 2, kills me every time.

Introducing my partner to anime with this show.

October 2020 Attack on Titan (TV Series)

RETURN OF THE KING. lol

In my quest to find an anime that I can watch with my partner, I turned on season 1 of this bad boi. Holy hell I forgot how much I loved this show, NO WONDER everyone lost their goddamn minds when this show first aired. I NEED to catch up before all the season four spoilers come to get me...

Joined the fandom: Winter 2016 Obsession peaked: Basically as soon as I started watching it. Fandom friends: None yet, but I know you’re out there... Obsession faded: 2017, JUST BEFORE SEASON TWO... I should have stuck around longer I know, but it’s slowly coming back. Reeeeeally need to catch up on seasons two, three, and four. Fanfics you NEED to read: GIVE ME YOUR RECS HEATHENS. Favourite moments:

Watching my partner FREAK OUT about Eren’s “death.”

EVERYTHING ABOUT POTATO GORL! lol

Getting in a conversation with a die hard fan after I hadn’t watched it in three years and saying... “Who’s that blond bitch that cries all the time?”/ “Armin?”/ “THAT’S THE ONE!”

November 2020... kind of. Figure Skating (Sport)

Okay this one is a bit hard to explain.

I have been a DIE HARD figure skating for A LOOOOOONG time. My grandmother got me a hat from the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City and I remember watching even then. But I first became consciously aware of different skaters, my faves, etc. from about 2010. I vividly remember watching Plushenko skating in 2014 while on a school trip to Hawaii, and my friends laughing at me as I yelled at the TV.

But I didn’t TRULY get involved in the fandom side of it until this year. I had all this knowledge bottled up, but didn’t have any skating friends to talk to... UNTIL NOW. Super ironic that this happened in a year with almost NO skating, but I’ll take what I can get ;) Also did I stay up until FOUR-GODDAMN-THIRTY IN THE MORNING a few nights ago to stream Japanese Nationals on my phone??? YOU BET I DID.

Joined the fandom: Three times; 2002, 2010, and 2020. Obsession peaked: 2014? 2018? Idk it peaks any time someone does something amazing. Fandom friends: Rachel, my girl @idancewiththefairies, WHY DIDN’T I INTRODUCE YOU TO THIS SOONER??? Obsession faded: Hasn’t. Won’t. lol Fanfics you NEED to read: NOPE. NONE. NOT GONNA HAPPEN. No fanfics about real people. Never gonna change that. (some of my) Favourite moments:

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir doing THAT routine at the 2018 Olympics.

Rachel sheepishly admitting to me that Shoma may have replaced Yuzu as her favourite, and me being SO DAMN PROUD of her for growing and developing her own skating opinions apart from me.

Yuzu’s 2012 ‘Romeo and Juliet’ routine and Worlds. THE RAW FUCKING POWER OF THAT SKATE.

Plushenko, cheeky bastard, changing his 2014 Team Event routine AS IT WAS HAPPENING.

The worlds friendliest rivalry between Yuzu and Nathan.

Any thing the Shibutani’s do, and all they do to break up the stereotype that all of Ice Dancing has to be rOmAnTiC and SeNsUaL to be good.

Watching my early faves become coaches and the D R A M A.

Honorable Mentions:

Coco (Film): I watched this the weekend I came home and I owe this movie a lot. It is so sweet an heartwarming, and it a roundabout way it brought me back to Tumblr (needed somewhere to vent my feelings considering I watched the movie a solid THREE YEARS after it came out, Tumblr seemed like the place to go lol). Watched in again in 2020 and it’s just as amazing.

Jekyll and Hyde (All media): Loved this book from the first time I read it in my first year of uni. But in December 2019, my fandom understanding reached its PEAK. The musical?? The comic?? YOOOOOO.

Dear Evan Hansen (Musical): I have BARELY engaged in fandom discourse, but the MUSIC. She fucking SLAPS.

Sirius the Jaeger (TV Series): This show is such an underrated gem. It literally has so much; "dead” family drama? Eclectic international group of monster hunters? Cowboys and vampires?? Yes, yes, and YES. And the main character has the same Japanese voice actor as Atsushi from BSD!

Studio Ghilbi (Films): My love affair with Ghibli goes back to when I was about 5 and BEGGED my mom to take me to the library so we could rent Kiki’s Delivery Service on DVD. But that love has been FULLY rejuvenated this year when I went to the Ghibli Film Festival in New York City (ironically in the last week in February). If you haven’t seen them, go watch From Up On Poppy Hill, Whisper of the Heart, and The Wind Rises. Spoilers, you’re probably gonna cry.

If you’ve made it this far, THANK YOU FOR READING!

And thank you to all the amazing people that made my 2020 not so horrible. Good riddance 2020, don’t let the door hit you on the way out!

#2020 #mental health #appreciation post #figure skating #studio ghibli #coco #attack on titan #great pretender #bungou stray dogs #trash taste #versailles tv #yuri!!! on ice #the arcana game #hazbin hotel #anime #fandom

34 notes · View notes

beyondstupidityblog · 3 years

Text

On March 13th 2021, two friends and I did what never could have imagined possible, I watched Freddy Got Fingered for the ninth time, and it will by no means be the last. I’m explaining this to you, dear reader, so you and I have an important understanding between us. You will be reading the ramblings of one whose brain has curdled like milk left out in the hot afternoon sun. Now that introductions are out of the way, let us begin.

Freddy Got Fingered is a 2001 Comedy starring and directed by Tom Green as the Non-Titular Gordon Brody; an aspiring animator who goes to California to realize his dream, only to be constantly crushed under the weight of his father’s expectations. Sounds tame at first, but what lies beneath the veneer of mediocrity is truly impressive. Completely bombed, audiences hated it, and critics loathed it. Roger Ebert got angry, saying “it isn’t even below the bottom of the barrel” and “Green should be flipping burgers somewhere.”. “Tasteless”, “appalling”, “offensive”, “gross”, and “poo poo,” are just some of the things people have had to say about this film. Animal genitalia can be seen on screen for much longer than anyone could have expected, Tom Green swinging a baby akin to a morning-star with its umbilical cord, said umbilical cord being stolen and taped onto his stomach, gratuitous caning of a nymphomaniac paraplegic, and the dissection of a deer carcass. It is an abrasive experience that leaves a terrible taste in the mouths of those who mention it. Nonetheless, I love this movie.

You ever see a contemporary art exhibit that has a piece that just looks like garbage somebody left out but in actuality is a tongue-and-cheek allusion to the pitiful state of modern art? That garbage is Freddy Got Fingered, and that exhibit is Hollywood. At face value it just seems like a poorly done film by a comedian trying to use his name to get a few butts in the seats before his irrelevancy arrives, but when scrutinized as a commentary of comedy films do the pieces start to fall into place. Tropes like the Protagonist being an unremarkable honkey, gross-out designed to get some cheap quick chuckles, side-characters who occupy the space solely for comedic relief, a shoe-horned romantic side-plot, and an equally as shoehorned in happy ending are all present in a mocking fashion. So many of these Hollywood schlockfests that this movie is paying homage to abuse tropes in some vain attempt to trick the audience into thinking they’re having a good time, when in reality it just reminds viewers of films that they’ve already watched before and could be enjoying instead. All of the awkward and uncomfortable scenes of gross-out and romance are purposeful, because nothing is quite as awkward and uncomfortable than a film disengaging the audience with its own mediocrity. “This is what it’s like to endure this trash!” Drunkenly screams Freddy Got Fingered atop the tallest piece of furniture in the room, while also exposing its genitals to keep you from getting too comfortable around it. Unlike the films it is parodying, its obsession with making a fool out of audiences rips them away from the comfort of the cinema, making them genuinely ask if it is worth wasting their time watching a film called Freddy Got Fingered. Even the title is an intentional slight, as it seems to be completely untethered to the actual plotline and is instead a reference to a seemingly inconsequential scene. But then again, that is the point of it all. Tom Green is an artist, and on his canvas is a portrait of Hollywood with all of the ugly little imperfections that cause a movie like this to be created. But this is just the meta-narrative of Freddy Got Fingered, something that you could find all over the internet. Why do I resonate with it so much, and what about it makes it so exceptional that led to this unhealthy fascination?

Every instance that I’ve rewatched Freddy Got Fingered has always brought about a new side to it, and in the process leaves me craving for more. Gord is an interesting take on the average leading man. He is on the surface bland and inoffensive, made so in order to allow the majority of the audience to immediately identify with him, said group being 20-something skater guys with unrealistic expectations of themselves. Made especially ironic when after the introduction of Gord as an adept skateboarding rebel escaping from authority, he starts to show that in reality he is an unlikeable, bratty, entitled, and all around unpleasant person. Barely a scene passes before we see him masturbate a horse while exclaiming he is a farmer to his father who is not present, seemingly a crude gag but is in reality an insight into his low self worth caused by his imposter syndrome stemming from distant paternal relationship. I would like to remind you, dear reader, that I am still writing of Freddy Got Fingered, in case you were beginning to think I have lost my mind (The answer is yes by the way). All throughout the film Gordon Brody puts on masks for different situations, never allowing himself to be who he is. When infiltrating the Animation studio where he wishes to pitch his cartoons, he pretends to be a mailman to get past reception and then impersonates a police officer when the former stops being effective. Donning the visage of a British Bobby, he dashes into the restaurant where the man he is searching for, Mr. Wallace, is eating. Showing him his cartoons, Wallace is impressed with the potential they have, but says that they are incoherent and lack real substance. Upon rejection, Gord puts a pistol in his mouth before Wallace stops him and advises what he should do to improve. Gord was genuinely ready to blow his brains out the back of his skull if he wasn’t able to get his show greenlit, and it hit me in that moment that he isn’t just some random jackass, but a victim of detrimentally low self-esteem.

The origins of his complex are made apparent when he goes back home to Oregon and are reintroduced to his Family. We see that his father Jim, played by Rip Torn, is disappointed in his return and begins to sneer at him for his failure. This father and son dynamic always has tension in every scene from this point onwards. Gord, who just wants to be accepted for who he is and not judged by what the world expects him to be, is always at the receiving end of Jim’s wrath, who values his idea of a successful life over the happiness of his sons. From here it becomes little wonder why Gord is the way he is, all his life he was told that who he was is not good enough, he has to be what his father wants if he is to be considered worthy of not only love, but being treated with a modicum of dignity. Whenever Gord acts eccentric or divulges his interests to his father, they are met with either resentment supplemented by verbal assault, or physical violence. After a late-night skateboard outing to escape from his father’s wrath goes awry, he visits his convalescing friend in the hospital, whereupon he meets one of the more interesting characters in relation to Gord, the love interest Betty.

A horny wheelchair bound temptress may not seem like it upon first glance, but Betty is actually the most interesting character out of the entire cast. She feels genuine, introduced as a bored receptionist flipping a coffee creamer idly. Gord immediately strikes up a conversation, whereupon he and the audience find out she has an interest in physics, and apparently an interest in him as well. Betty is strangely well written for what most considered at the time to be a crass sexual joke, so much so that she would actually be a better protagonist than him. She is everything Gord is not, she’s smart, funny, ambitious, and kind to a fault. Even her side plot to create a rocket powered wheelchair makes for a much more unique plot than the one given. Even Gord reciprocates this sentiment in their meeting, lying that he is a stockbroker in an attempt to impress her. In fact, sectioning her off as just the dull protagonist's love interest is a jab at how women in these movies are only there to serve in the development for the male protagonist, just nothing more than their muse. Nonetheless, without this relationship the movie would lose a lot of its soul. Romantic chemistry in comedy films is always hit or miss, but Gord and Betty do seem to have it surprisingly. They’re both silly and impulsive, creatively driven to a fault, but just different enough to eek out the best and worst in them. Gord thinks that what he wants to do with his life is wasteful, but Betty doesn’t. Now I don’t mean that she directly affirms that he is worthwhile like most poorly written love interests would, stroking their lover’s(and by extension the director’s) ego, rather she confronts him with her optimism. He asks if she would feel stupid and like a loser if her experiment failed. Taken aback at first, she questions why she would, relaying that her failures are just as important as her successes. Gord’s self-worth is directly tied to his ability to succeed, whereas Betty doesn’t need this affirmation. Their dialogue further cements how detrimental his father’s overbearingness was to his outlook, and how he is slowly beginning to realize how destructive that mindset is.

At their dinner date, Jim sees Gord and Betty across the restaurant, then reveals that Gord was lying to both him and her about his office job while poking fun at her disability, leading to a father-son scuffle that throws the entire floor into utter chaos. Cops show up, Gord and Jim are detained, and Betty bails Gord out. Most mediocre comedies at this point would have the love interest be upset that her significant other lied to her, leading to him having to make things right to repair their relationship before the happy ending. Breaking the mold, Betty does not get angry with Gord even a smidgen, choosing to be understanding of his situation now that she caught a glimpse into his home-life. She just plain likes Gord, willing to put up with him more than she really should, but still chooses to look past his lies and self-destructive nature for who he truly is, someone who just wants to be accepted by the world around him. Someone just like her.

Right after that enaction of social terrorism performed by the Brody father and son duo, they decide it would be best to go to family therapy and assail the audience with what I fondly refer to it as, “The Scene.” “The Scene” is Freddy Got Fingered’s statement to the world, it is what instills a man with the impetus to rewatch a glorified stoner daydream for the ninth time and leave him wanting more! Gord accuses his father, in a final act of defiance, of molesting his younger brother Freddy. During the ensuing confusion Gord picks up a bust of Sigmund Freud and throws it into the glass window pane, allowing him to escape into the evening sun. The authorities take Freddy away and send him to The Home for Molested Children, and the family slowly unravels from then on. Besides the heavy handed metaphor of Freud’s theories being used as a way for Gord to escape his predicament while simultaneously discrediting them, “The Scene” also recontextualizes Freddy, innocuous of a character as he is, as Gord’s foil. He is in the movie very little but when he is it is to serve one of two purposes: To be compared to Gord, or to be treated as an object. During breakfast much earlier in the film after a fight between Gord and Jim, Freddy tries to explain to his brother that he should grow up. Gord, surprisingly, talks down to him and halts the conversation.

Gord: “He's driving me insane.”

Freddy: “No. No, you're driving him insane. You're older than me and you still live at home. I have a job, you know. I pay my own way.”

Gord: “You work in a bank. Should I be dazzled?”

Freddy: “Well, at least I don't live at home!”

Gord: “No, you live in a tiny shithole and you come here to eat for free.”

With these lines it is plain to see that despite Freddy’s idea of success directly lining up with his father’s, he is even more pitiful than Gord. What little we know of him is to show that his acquiescence to his father’s expectations has left him bereft of not only genuine personal success, but of dignity itself. When child protective services come to take him away, he is half naked, mouth agape, watching open heart surgery on television, a palpable indication of emptiness. He isn’t treated as an adult either, as his protests to the police fall on deaf ears as both them and the psychologist infantilize him. Why would Tom Green name this movie after a character like Freddy, whose lack of presence and characterization make him little more than an afterthought when looking back on the story? Or did I just answer my own question? Freddy is not a character because he is not allowed to be one, he is just too passive and accepting of his circumstances for him to stand out. All he can be is a doll that Jim uses to dress up as the perfect son, and this passiveness leads to Gord, the “failure,” to both pity and resent what he let himself become. That’s why Gord accuses their father of molesting him, after all he does narratively violate Freddy’s autonomy by consistently making decisions for him. Evidently enough, as soon as Gord dons a suit for a quick bit Jim is elated because he believes that his son finally gave in to his demands for him to get a job, because he is acting more like his obedient brother. In this sense Freddy is the most tragic member of the Brody clan, a literal manchild whose growth was stunted by overbearing guardians. When I think of him, a bonsai tree comes to mind. Sure, it looks healthy, but when you realize that it could have grown into a much bigger plant if it were not for its small pot, that realization of wasted potential comes with a tinge of melancholy.

I want to end this essay with a moral that I took away from Freddy Got Fingered, as strange enough as that sounds, and what it has to say about art as a whole. Put simply, this is a story about revenge. Despite and because of his Father’s harsh ways, Gord managed to take from the trauma he sustained throughout his life and sublimated it into his animation. Creation not only lets him heal, but also acts as retaliation against Jim once he becomes successful. So long as you have the drive to prove everyone’s doubts and admonishments wrong by persevering out of wicked spite, you will have the last laugh. Freddy Got Fingered is a story about revenge through artistic expression, and I think that is quite beautiful.

#freddy got fingered #tom green #movies #essay paper #comedy

11 notes · View notes

smalltragedy · 3 years

Text

* herman tommeraas, cis man + he/him | you know donovan mercer, right? they’re twenty one, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, four months? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to ice boy by corbin like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole fear hidden behind a stoic stare, bleeding from your nose and from your gums, and the night sky with all its stars, with all its mystery and unknown thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is march 15th, so they’re a pisces, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( james, 21, est, they/them )

yes hi i did bring ducky back. i promised. please love him jst the same im sry he had 2 go fr a while.

ABUSE, VIOLENCE, DRUG ABUSE, EYE INJURY, GANG MENTIONS TW.

mini playlist.

father ;; the front bottoms / ice boy ;; corbin / lose yourself ;; eminem / my own worst enemy ;; lit / say it ain’t so ;; weezer / maps ;; yeah yeah yeahs / star stopping ;; lil peep / benz truck ;; lil peep / trauma ;; nf / northern downpour ;; panic! at the disco / your graduation ;; modern baseball.

statistics.

full name: donovan mercer.

nickname(s): ducky.

birthday: march 15th, 1999.

zodiac: pisces sun, aquarius moon, aquarius ascending.

label: the despondent.

hometown: hell’s kitchen, new york.

sexuality: bisexual (bt not out).

pinterest.

biography.

born in hell’s kitchen to vinny mercer and a mother who ran out of the hospital as fast as she could, as soon as she was able. she’d gone so quick that she’d never given ducky a middle name - just donovan. the younger brother of mercy (shoutout 2 bri)

his father’s the right-hand man of a well known mob boss named lars amaretto, and so, you can imagine the kind of environment ducky (& mercy) grew up in. weapon & drug dealings, interrogations, violence around every corner. a brutal way of living, no place to raise two children.

implied abuse tw // their father was not kind, or merciful - and ducky was a runt compared to mercy, small and sensitive and kinder than his brother. weak, and filled with softness, with big brown eyes and a smile that should’ve been able to melt ice - but it didn’t. and it never did.

he cried often, and was punished often for it until he learned to stop crying - at least in front of their father, and mercy too, at some point. only in the comfort of his room, with doors locked and blinds drawn closed. implied abuse end of tw

he dreamed, too, dreamt often. he’d been obsessed with outer space since childhood, as long as he could remember. school had once shown man landing on the moon, and ducky wanted that. wanted to be that, wanted to be there, up with the stars, discovering the unthinkable.

abuse mention // but it was discouraged, heavily so - projects destroyed by an angry fist only to be reconstructed to the best of ducky’s ability, with mercy’s help, all throughout the night. he’d saved up for a telescope when he was thirteen, but it’d been destroyed almost immediately when discovered. not a day went by that their father didn’t tell ducky that he was, first and foremost, stupid - and would always be. end of abuse mention

to the point where he stopped trying, simply. he never graduated high school.

abuse mention // anxiety mention // anyways … at the age of fifteen, he’d have enough. he was sick of the abuse, the pain - the crying behind closed doors, the sneaking around, the constant feeling of needing to escape, impending doom, anxiety attacks in the shower and in school bathrooms and at the back of the bus where nobody sat besides him because he was - that boy, the son of that man, the brother of that brute. he’d been a teenager and he’d already been an outcast by all means - an outcast in his family, no matter how hard he tried to appease vinny, and an outsider everywhere else.

the plan took months of preparation, paper ripped out from the back of his school notebook and stuffed beneath his mattress, details of his escape from a checklist of essential items to makeshift maps of bus routes to different cities.

all for nothing, the moment vinny discovered it, the edge of a map sticking out after a rushed morning.

heavy abuse tw // violence tw // it’d been the same day he’d gotten the nickname - ducky - the way the wound wrapped below his mouth, and the way it’d begun to heal - puckered, at first, like a duck’s bill. a better name than eyepatch, at the very least. the scar’d run from the arch of his left brow, across his eye, down his cheek, and below his lip. his eye sustained injury, and not allowed to see a doctor about it, it never healed properly.

eye injury // corneal scarring, impairing his left eye. astronaut dreams destroyed, but not in a matter of seconds. in the matter of an hour, maybe more - and that’d been much, much worse.

he stopped trying to run away after that. tried to be more like their father, more like mercy - more brutish, less feeling. spoke less, and less. spoke hardly at all, unless spoken to first.

still didn’t matter. still lived his days in fear, still knew it’d never change. nothing would ever change.

the mercer brothers have been floating around the north carolina scene for ~5ish years now, trailing after their father who is consistently chasing after their mother with no luck. they’re currently residing in palm motel. can we get a hell yeah?

personality & facts.

he’s actually very? intimidating? when you first meet him. mercy’s younger brother, with a criminal’s record almost as long as his - a scarred face and a mean resting face. it takes at least five minutes of conversation beyond small talk before it starts to weigh on your mind that maybe, he’s not as bad as he seems.

and - well, he isn’t. but he’s guarded - so guarded. more-so than mercy, because mercy’s quicker to anger, quicker to react, and ducky tries so hard to drown out the noise. but he’s not a robot, and his facial expressions can give him away in a second.

he’s seen what happened when mercy had a glimpse of something good in his life (though, it wasn’t actually good at all - mercy had someone, at least. at the very least) - and how quickly it’d all fallen, and so ducky puts a barrier between him and others. distant, as much as he can be.

it hurts, because ducky isn’t by any means antisocial. he doesn’t hate people - he wants to be normal, wants to have friends and a girlfriend - or maybe even a boyfriend, god - but he’s so afraid. ducky is, by nature, a very scared person. terrified to his very core. he knows there is always eyes on him, and mercy too, and he knows that nothing is worth getting someone else hurt.

you know him as mercy’s little brother, and he’s quiet you know that - but his name is ducky, and you think - he’s not too bad. and he knows this, knows the doubts. knows that it’ll get back to mercy, eventually, that his brother is nothing more but a pussy. so he fights more than he’d like to, against the guilt that buries itself deep within his chest with every thrown fist. he throws up, afterwards, in the garbage can outside. too much to drink, he says, rare grin - because grins are convincing, and grins with bleeding gums are intimidating. he learned that from his brother.

violence makes him sick to his very stomach. he can’t watch horror films, or even action films, without feeling queasy. there’s been more times than he can count where he’d thrown up after a fight, or after an interrogation, usually in private but in the occasional presence of mercy.

they fight, a lot, sometimes - ducky’s too soft, too weak, and it’s bad and it’s terrible and ducky knows that mercy’s afraid. for him, of their father, and his wraith. ducky knows that if mercy isn’t hard on him now, their father will be on him harder. still. there’s resentment, small but there, like the flame of a match. he doesn’t know what’ll happen when there’s nothing more to burn, but he doesn’t want to find out. he’s afraid to find out.

he’s still in love with the moon and the stars, and the planet’s - and their moons, too. its subdued, now, though. a silent passion - one that is often not watered, left for rot. he sneaks into engineering lectures at the community college, occasionally, or physics, or whatever peeks the small curiosity inside of him.

commits small acts of kindness when nobody looks. doors held open, the meals of elderly folk eating alone suddenly paid. picks up litter besides trash bins, and always cooks extra than what he needs and leaves the rest for mercy. it’s these small things that make him feel, just the slightest, better about himself.

because god - there are layers and layers of self-loathing. it’s a labyrinth, and he’d never speak of it - but he can’t stand his own reflection. doesn’t keep photos of his family, only a few sparingly of mercy.

a liar, sad to say. has little experience with. ehem. intimacy, and the bodies of others, but lies often and says that he does. mostly to his brother, but word travels quick - and he’s not nearly as much as a fuckboy as is rumored, having only been with a handful of girls, if even that. it’s better this way - if people know that he throws others away like they’re nothing.

he ghosts often, too, if he does get to talking with anybody. the moment ducky feels a spark, something pulling at his poor heart, he ghosts. he develops feelings too easily, too often than he’d like. has left many friendships without explanation, because of this. you know the priest in fleabag season 2? the scene where he comes to fleabag’s house? yeah. tht’s ducky!

has maybe half the amount of clients that mercy does, but he’s working on it.

pretends he doesn’t care as much as he does. pretends a lot, like there’s nothing soft to him. but a trained eye can see clearly through this. even so - even if you can see that there’s more to ducky than violence and drug deals - you’d still have to break through a dozen walls.

in the rare occasion you get him talking - i mean, talking a lot - he’ll talk about space. ramble off a dozen useless facts about dwarf stars and black holes and all of jupiter’s moons. about a video game he likes, about nothing and everything at all. but as soon as he begins, he stops - embarrassed. apologizes, shuts his mouth, disappears to wherever. anywhere but there.

drug abuse // has a. complicated relationship with benzos n xanax n a various assortment of painkillers. ironic bc he hates drugs due to. his chosen career n wldnt do most of what they sell, bt yknow. this ws inevitable. hates beer bt forces himself 2 drink it bc toxic masculinity probably man idk.

overall just … he’s a soft boy, with a big heart - bigger than anybody else in his family, that’s for sure, but his exterior is far different than that, and it’s hard to tell.

violence mention // purposely loses fights so that he doesn’t have to severely hurt someone. because sometimes he just - he was raised in a violent environment, and sometimes he snaps. sometimes ducky just fucking snaps. and his vision goes red, and he can’t control himself - because need to survive kicks in, and violence is all he knows. if someone pushes ducky - pushes him enough, he breaks. he fights back. it’s all he knows. it’s all he knows. it’s all he knows, and that’s not an excuse - and he knows this, and god, he’s so tired. he is so. tired.

wanted plots.

u look good tonight ... ;; wld love a connection in which he is feeling emotionally compromised n maybe kinda hs a thing w someone bt hes like. very unreliable n kinda ghosting bc he is very afraid n it wld b maybe bad fr them to b anything other than hook ups. cld apply to smth very intensive or smth very surface lvl i’ll take thousands.

palms sweaty ... moms spaghetti ... ;; ppl tht ducky just hs fkn brawled. cld b anybody fr any reason. ducky prob lost n he prob lost on purpose bt also ur muse cld maybe kick ducky’s ass? cld b a fake fight cld b a real fight. cld b a npc fight n then ur muse cn patch up ducky? possibilities endless. maybe they hv a nice spaghetti dinner n both of them r both bruised up frm their fight. sometimes fights end in spaghetti dinners. thanks eminnem or whatever.

own worse enemy... ;; ducky needs friends bt hes bad at making friends n sometimes he fks shit up by pushing ppl away n self sabotaging n being a major cunt n sometimes he just ghosts bt hes always very remorseful abt it? this cld b a very like. up n down friendship of any type its just. where do they stand. r they friends. r they enemies. r they lovers? probably not lovers. prob just platonic. but still its the thought tht counts.

and also ;; literally just like. anything. clients who buy off of him n like. casual friends n casual enemies n casual hookups. ppl hes ghosted. ppl hes embarrassed himself in front of. maybe ur muse tries to get ducky to socialize or maybe ducky is like. u are too much fr me. n ur muse runs off crying. endless possibilities all u hv to do is call this number now.

#irvingintro #abuse tw #violence tw #drug abuse tw #gangs mention #eye injury tw #chuckles evilly #im a madman #anyways this is like essentially a repost

10 notes · View notes

stray-tori · 4 years

Text

An Innocent Sin & the good gay flashback ft. my descent into madness

I wasn’t sure if I should post this but I mostly want it archived so here we go. This is from like,, September?

So. “An Innocent Sin” is a dumpster fire unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I don’t remember why I decided to read it. maybe I was crazy. Either way... I read it. It soon started to touch upon (very very outlandish) sexual abuse which I thought was interesting. (the angst, not so much some of the wack circumstances surrounding it)

ANYWAY. at some point... we have a flashback. And not just that. It has a gay character.

And it turns rly gay. which mind you, is still in a het smut manwha (that has a “gay” side couple, but still!)

And it destroyed me.

For those who want to read it because I genuinely think the flashback is a decent bit, it’s all the bonus chapters between chapter 77 and 78 I think. There’s a part before that too, but idk where exactly anymore. (It’s on lezhin! or your platform of choosing)

I don’t THINK you’ll need any other knowledge to get the flashback bit? but it’s been a while.

Below the cut (rip mobile users), you can read all of my amazing reactions (all of these were text messages, for context - but I took most of the replies and convos about other things out). Post is also tagged as long post. :))

(i’m serious, this is fucking long)

__________

Here I am. Liking the gay flashback character. Feck. Main dude is still straight but idk it's cute pff

This is a mess. The girl white hair likes, likes black hair, maybe, but thinks white hair is attractive

What just happened is sth I'd like to know too pff He's so cute tho omg. Watch me melt Can we stay in this flashback before everything got perverted af and before white hair gets assaulted all the time I would send an eyebrow emote if I could Context: he's asking he says it again

Ik it's not mutual but loookkk he's so sweet. He's kinda rude in present time, can't we stay in this flashback forever

I never asked for gay, never expected gay but I got gay

This story is trash why am I still reading it shdhhd

He caught his mom cheating. And now she's forcing him to watch??? What is thissss Well adoptive mom But still sudhdidu what Bitch how dare YOU exist

Save my babyyyy

Yay sister that's not yet a rapist to the rescueee

This flashback is actually just nicer in every way let's just stay here This is a super long flashback btw Idek anymore what triggered it

Okay I think I'm gonna make the sensible decision and let this dumpster fire rest and just go sleep

It was very wild. I kinda wanna see white hair get therapy but it has 90 chapters and I'm at like 30... So I'm very concerned this is gonna be very dragged out. Idek if it's even finished ahahsududi - but I do kinda wanna see where it goes and see more cute Noah (white hair) so. Here we are.

yeahhh like i was down for the sexual abuse angst but then the mother killed the adoptive son's mother bc the dad had a thing for her?? and it was someone a person studying with white hair knew and so he's investigating and I'm like how did this turn into a crime organisation kind of plot

hhhhhhh i... i appreciate these horny things also tackling abuse but it always kind of gives me weird vibes to have both, especially when its very horny. And when people are horny to people who've been abused. Idk but I'd assume... you might try NOT to tie them up if they're frequently bondaged during their assaults. I'm just.... disjdksdj hello?? am i weird?? why are they fine with it???

also this manwha is so wild, theres this murder mystery investigation thing and then theres just a couple doing honry stuff sprinkled in between and i'm like OKAY

they rescued a guy in their basement and he's understandably very traumatized and they're trying to question him cut to our main couple trying bondage which i still dont understand bECAUSE HE'S A RAPE VICITM WHY ARE YOU OKAY WITH THIS the ones questioning arent the main couple of course but idshkjds

like im glad he's somehow okay with all this horny stuff despite his trauma and im glad he can be happy and have a nice relationship but DO WE NEED THIS MUCH OF IT he's very cute tho

i like that even when i try other stuff lezhin recommends me it still has large amount of gay in it

[mei: i mean... that's pretty great, if you ask me]

I mean I agree, I'm enjoying the gay eheheh these tonal whiplashes there's not even that much white space between the panels fhjd nvm it just turned horny goddamn it can there be 1 chapter without fucking? okay, there were the flashbacks

WE ARE BACK IN FLASHBACKS but im not getting the gay relationship, sad

OH WAIT AM I GETTING GAY COMFORT bc thats very good too

OH NNOOO this turned sad very quickly

I'M SORRY IM SPAMMING BUT THIS IS JUST ANGSTY

I'M :((((

different species confirmed

I rly like them :((( I like the current girl too but it's just..... very horny with her. the flashbacks are nice [current tori edit: she’s very unloyal idk why i said I liked her] im weird HHHHH RIPPP

someone help him he looks so saddddd

not sure if thats the most healthy relationship but I'LL TAKE IT

AWWW black hair's mom cooks mild food for them bc Noah can't eat spicy food :((( im soft

PFFF

I LOVE THE FLASHBACKS :(((

awww

i feel like theyve done much more bonding than noah's current relationship. I mean yes I think its cute when she comforts him, too, but they rarely do anything besides be horny together

OH OH THEY'RE KISSING

best buildup, honestly

the position is hornier than I'd like later here goes hope it stays cute

D-did someone just respect the word "stop"??? I am amazed

i think you might uh. have some trauma stuff too so yknow

Dohye is a little dramatic in his reassurance but it's all rly cute so I'm :(( I like them a lot pls stay like this getting invested in flashbacks is always like: ik it wont stay but pls stay like this

hELP

chapters ending in "i wanna touch him" is never good. I'm scared. Oh okay he didnt do anything. PHEW. He's already better than the girl, can't they just end up together lmao

[Noah was jealous]

w-why do you look so evil dohye haukdhjs

oh. oh no. the horny is starting. pls dont... just be cute forever

DOHYE NO YOU WERE SO DECENT WHY ARE YOU LYING ABOUT KOREAN TRADITIONS TO GET HIM TO DO STUFF HORNY STUFF TOO NO PLS STOP I JUST- WHEEE TvT the manwha is actually less visually horny in the flashbacks but im not sure if its bc its BL which isnt rly the genre of the manwha or if its bc they're still kids basically, which... I'd respect the latter, tho I'd prefer it to be like this constantly haha

okay. he's not respecting stop anymore, but it's also more of embarrassed nature more than "no i dont want this stop" so maybe i can forgive it. Still losing points, but he hugged him and it was sweet so HHHHHHHHHHH NOT SURE HOW I SHOULD JUDGE THIS SITUATION

They [Noah’s family] forbid him to visit his friends house I AM DEVASTATED

understandable they're a rapist, a fucked up murderer mother and a father with a thing for younger women so

tho he dont know any of that but yknow he's so pretty just fucking end me on the spot

hooo

they are boyfriends and ik from the future that his sister is gonna ruin it allll she has those drugs that make visual imaginations feel like they rly happened to the person (dont know if thats real but holy fuck its terrifying) and she's used it before to say that Noah assualted her. and im pretty sure shes gonna use it again bc there was a panel of Noah remembering Dohye being uhhhh intimate with her and thats why Noah began to hate him and im so sad im not ready for it. bc he's denied it in the future and i honestly couldnt see it happening even before that or she drugged Dohye, i guess thats a possibility too

[current tori: oh girl, it’s neither and it’s wack]

which if, btich you gonna die even more enough rambling, more reading. this makes me so sad but also spicy

on the manwha note, he thinks Noah doesnt like his family bc he's adopted and doesnt feel comfy which....... fair enough i suppose. and he's so cute im gonna melt just looK AT THIS

SHUt UP, IM GONNA CRY

OH MY GODDDD he ate like ice and gum and all that, and Dohye assumed it was bc of the more spicy food and got rl worried, but he was just trying to get the smell out of his breath bc he wanted to kiss him ukhsdjs HOW CAN YOU BE SO CUTE HELLLOOOOOOOOO

look at them. LOOK AT mY BABIESSSS

how am i ever gonna care about the main couple again aww he-he wanted to go to the same highschool as him :((( im sad bc i know its not gonna happennnnnn

[mei: also at this point, you're literally never gonna care about them. i don't even know the main couple that well and i honestly don't care about them whatsoever.]

WAIT NO they're actually going to the same school awww ik it wont take long until sister fucks it up for them but for now theyre so sweet ohmygodddd

cant he move in with them, fuck his family honestly

dohye he's not a fucking pokemon iukhsdjs

oh. its. turning horny i am displeased with this development but i guess its natural for their relationship however COULD YOU DO IT AT HOME AND NOT IN SOME DUSTY SMALL ROOM how do ppl do this i like that the comments too are just "... is anyone still carng about the other girl?" sakjds

this is the best 3 panels in existence.

h-he just took your hand dohye idk what to tell you

[mei: "you blush at everything i do" god if that isn't me, idk what is]

awww its cute dohye is getting bonus points bc he invited Noah over while his mom wasnt home, they watched some sexual stuff and he DIDNT try to do anything what is this where can i get more of this

"well im not okay"

MY BABIESSSS

they still didnt do much btw they're just kinda exploring and its honestly nice TvT I dont want this to ever endddd

[Dohye sees Noah’s sister and approaches her] N O

N OOOO

this is the starttttt of something.......... TERRIBLEEEE

:((( babyyyy

I AM EMO

Noah was drugged im sure. hes having dreams and waking up in pain and the sister is asking doyhe over I DONT LIKE THISSSSSSS OH HE DECLINED

OKAY OKAY he saw him with her again but it was from behind and im not sure if it rly happened??? oh no this is terrible. Noah :((( poor child

i am so emo about this

[reminder he’s been abused TvT]

[the sister: “Don’t you want to know why?”]

i will. murder someone he called to ask her to delete his number btw what is this manwha but this is just gonna make it that more tragic when whatever happens that breaks them apart :(((

he's such a good bf but Noah just wont TELL him his side I'M SO SAD

I AM SO SAD

It cant end im actually tearing up nooo you were so cuteeee and happpyyy

[*sister is telling dohye to come to the gym hall*]

what else is she gonna do she already teared [current tori: ahem... T O R E] them apart THAT'S NOT DOYhE. THATS NEVER HIM. OH MY GOD. is it a look alike??? damn, she's dedicated to just. ruining it, huh

I’M

I’M SO SAD

now he's switching SCHOOLS NO NOOOOO how will i ever find happiness againnnn NO they're misunderstanding further they're not talking properly i mean i get it but oh my god

I'M :(((

NO NOOOO pls make up in the future at least omg he tried to clear it up tooo ahhh i dont even have hopes for them getting back together but i just i want them to clear it up im crying first manwha to make me cry and it's this dumpster fire ahaha maybe a little too bc it kinda hit a little close to home i guess but goddamnn ittttt they were so cuteee and so happy and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

OH NO. Noahs getting drugged and assaulted. And he's realizing it happened before, he just forgot. I am. so sad it's not horny drawn either which i appreciate but MY HEART NO

N O DONT YOU DARE MAKE THIS WORSE

Im. gonna cry more

Doyhe kept an eye on him im so emo :(( but he thought he was doing well enough and gave up.... Im im so sad no i want you to make up and get back together its all just a stupid........... MEHHHH will i ever find sth like this flashback again

[mei: p-probably not, no]

i am so devasted i dont even wanna go back to the main couple just fucking. i want this relationship back :(((( but i guess the investigation might end up somewhere so hhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhh the baker manwha had a similar flashback feeling so. i just gotta find more of that haha

BUT THIS WAS SO SAD??? im so emo

[Dohye got kidnapped // the flashback commentary stops here but I think my descend into madness is pretty funny too]

OH YEAH THAT HAPPENED. THE FLASHBACK WAS SO LONG I FORGOT. NOOOO SAVE HIM. JESUS CHRIST PLS JUST ONE GOOD THING

its. actually rly smart to have another, more focused on them flashback, before the arc where he gets kidnapped by the rapist murder household so. good job. from a meta perspective but also NO but also. maybe theres hope for them making up at least after all :(((

[main couple kissing] this is. very weird now. but im glad he has someone, he deserves it but dohyeeeee

and switching to sex, YET AGAIN now i wanna see this EVEN LESS THAN I DID BEFOREEEE it's even.... a threesome now with one of the other characters why are you like this why can't you be. like in the flashback i am so upset HAHHHHH WHEEEZEEEE

I am just stop fucking jesus christ PLEASE I DONT WANNA SEE IT ANYMOREEEEE

im just stop the horny pls just tell me who that new guy is and why doyhe likes him so much

[mei: this manwha is a fucking mess but at least we got your lovely commentary out of it]

dhsuksj thanks i feel honored at least i got cute BL out of it before everything went [back] to shit

[mei: THAT TOO]

[...]

tbh im getting kinda mad about doyhe... i dont... feel like he'd just fall instantly for a guy who looks like Noah... but eh not my character

i just want closure for dohye at this point, fuck everything else ... not literally pls theres already too much of that

pls get it together for like 1 chapter is the investigation even still happening i am so confused save dohye plEASE wait what i have less than 10 episodes left Dont tell me this shit isnt even wrapped up yet

[Dohye is having a breakdown over the Noah double not coming to see him anymore]

yeah i this... doesnt feel like Dohye... at all... Even when Noah was rejecting him he was just kind of... taking it with some humor and maybe he was a little desperate and risky sometimes but... oh well... i do want him to get better but... im having a hard time believeing this development??? he never seemed overly anxious or anything. but who knows what else they did to him. Sister can still go fuck off tho

[...]

i mean. i liked the flashbacks a lot honestly??? it stayed simple and focused on the dynamics and less trying to balance smut with murder plots

[dm partner: NO THAT'S WHAT I MEAN LIKE CLEARLY THE AUTHOR CAN MAKE A GOOD STORY SO I'M JUST... CONFUSED AS TO WHY THEY DIDN'T STICK WITH SOME SOFT, FLUFFY BL ROMANCE MANWHA AND DECIDED TO MAKE WHATEVER THIS IS INSTEAD ]

okay i dont care bc dohye is currently getting assaulted nobody asked for this why i just. this is terrible. he was... so sweet. he doesnt deserve this. nobody does of course but jesus christ pls someone save him at least its not horny visually, one saving grace

ah... the assult is back to being depicted horny-ly thank you for nothing

[... removed some general confusion about the plot]

YES. SOME SHIP FOOD.

i am. suffering i mean i cant stop but GOD

okay so apparantly. the sister. has just an arsenal of people who look like other people Dohye, then Noah... and even Noah's GF??? this is ridiculous??

one good message

why

did you feel the need to add that [actual tired rage]

im gonna die this manwha is gonna kill me im laughing but im suffering oh hes arrested great and thats the end and the last update was in january of this year

why AS IN NOAH IS ARRESTED nobody who actually did anything is arrested What is this why is this AHHH I at least wanted the complete-ness of finishing this but now I'M JUST SUFFERING

[ mei: I MEAN TO BE FAIR I'D BE SUFFERING TOO BC JUST... WHAT THE FUCK I HAVE?? MANY QUESTIONS?? AND MANY CONCERNS BC THIS MANWHA IS JUST... AN EXPERIENCE ]

its an experience allright WELL

_______________

yup that’s it.

in my head, in a twist of events Dohye and Noah make up and are actual endgame. Something like that must exist out there but I won’t ask because it’d destroy the surprise and ruin the point.

That’s it.

Have a nice day.

#an innocent sin #dohye x noah #noah x dohye #long post #tori talks #tori has opinions #reactions #yes I do this often in our dms #poor mei #toriqueue

12 notes · View notes

reddieorrnot · 4 years

Note

Eddie tries Richie’s clothes on as a joke but Richie loves it

aww this ones cute, thanks anon :) hope you enjoy!

“The ‘rents said you could sleep over”

Eddie smiled into the telephone, feeling a little stupid realizing no one could see him. Then again, it was better than Richie actually seeing the plastered grin on Eddie’s face. Eddie had had a stressful week at school, studying for hard tests and track meets nearly every day at school, it was a Friday afternoon and he needed to spend his night in an enjoyable way. For most teenagers, that would have meant a party or sneaking into a bar with a fake ID, not for Eddie. His idea of relaxing and having fun at the same time simply consisted of hanging out at the Tozier household. There, he knew he would find comfort in Mr. Tozier’s jokes and Mrs. Tozier’s unmatchable affection. Lastly, he knew he would also spend time with Richie Tozier, his favorite person. He’d never admit that last part out loud though. There were a lot of things involving Richie in Eddie’s mind that he wouldn't say out loud. Things that had been boiling up for a while now.

“Oh cool, I’ll get packing then.” Eddie replied looking around his room, already mentally picturing what to wear and bring.

“While you’re lying to your mother’s beautiful face about how you’ll be at Billy boy’s house instead of mine, give her a big fat kiss for me,” a light laugh came from Richie's side of the call. Unfortunately, all that got out of Eddie was an eye roll.

“I think I speak for all women when I say she’d decline the kiss. Anyways, I’ll be over in like an hour.”

“All women huh? You saying I could still get a nice o’ smacking on the lips from you, cutie?”

“That’s my cue to hang up.”

“Wait-”

Eddie put the phone down, ending the call and letting out a small chuckle. He knew Richie’s comments were just for fun and jokes, but sometimes Eddie couldn’t help but picture the things he said.

What if he could kiss Richie what if Richie wanted that too? Pushing those thoughts aside, Eddie turned his back on the phone and looked around his room, trying to decide what to change into, as he had been lounging in the same clothes he had worn to school that day. Walking over to his closet, he picked out something simple enough to look decent around Richie’s family. No effort was rude, always. Picking up a white t-shirt and some light jeans, he made his way over to the bathroom, grabbing his towel additionally on the way out. Even if Eddie had done an hour of track after school today, he would have still needed to wash up before heading out to Richie’s. Sure, he could shower at the Tozier’s, but there’s something about using one’s own bathroom that doesn’t match any others. Eddie found it funny that here he was, looking at himself in his bathroom mirror before hopping in the shower, and Richie was probably just getting high at this exact moment to some loud band.

After a quick wash, the curly headed boy decided to remain as just that. Instead of blowing drying his hair, he would just let it air dry, meaning his curls would be wild and free for the night. His mother hated when he didn’t keep his hair straight and neat, but she wasn’t going to home until far later than when Eddie would leave. She had loosened up over the years. But it wasn’t a type of loosened up where she understood that Eddie was growing and deserved some more freedom. It was the type that indicated she had just stopped caring. She spoke to herself a lot, mostly only acknowledged Eddie to yell at him about chores in the house and getting his meds. To be honest, Eddie believed that his mother's head had become so clouded by all the food she ate and how much television she watched every day, that there wasn’t much space to comprehend anything else.

He grabbed a duffel bag and first stuffed it with some things from his bathroom. Those things including his toothbrush, his mouthwash, and basically just a sweep of his hand pushing all the medication in his cabinet into the bag. Deep down, he knew all the pills his mother had given him growing up didn’t actually do anything. But for some reason, he felt weird without taking the placebos. Mike once told him that it could be linked to anxiety, and just feeling more normal when Eddie did something he grew up used to doing. Eddie just accepted it though, not trying to fight the urge to bring his inhaler everywhere or these pills when he spent the night somewhere. Most of his friends understood where he was coming from. Richie though, always rolled his eyes when Eddie brought his bag full of meds.

Eddie kind of liked that though, he enjoyed it when Richie would say, “You don’t need that bullshit.”

It made Eddie feel strong.

Suddenly there was a knock downstairs at the front door, catching Eddie off guard. He clutched his duffel bag’s strap in confusion, keeping it on his shoulder. Eddie walked down the stairs wondering if it could be his mother, but that didn’t make any sense. Why would she knock? She had also told him multiple times she’d be out late. Peeking through the peephole, Eddie let out a relief sigh, but then was filled with confusion once more. He opened the door with scrunched eyebrows.

“Why?”

Richie stood in front of him with a smile from ear to ear, “I came to pick you up! Couldn’t wait a whole hour to see you, my Eds.”

“Don’t call me-” Eddie was interrupted as Richie took the duffel bag from his grasp.

“Come on, let’s just go! Maggie was making some food when I left, and it smelled good.”

Eddie shrugged, “Alright, let me just leave my mom a note. How’d you know she wasn’t here, anyways? Could’ve risked her seeing you.”

Eddie spun on his heel and retracted to the kitchen to grab a pen and paper. Writing his mother a short note that he had a project to do with Bill and would just be spending the night there. There was little chance she would actually even read the note, but there was also a little chance she would even notice Eddie was gone.

“I lied, I came FOR your mom, like I do every night, and wanted to show you that she’d never deny a kiss from this hunk,” Richie expressed as he flexed his bicep, or as much of a bicep he had, “Was quite a disappointment when I noticed her car wasn’t outside, but then I realized I could always just take you home tonight instead.”

Now that it was something said in person, Eddie couldn’t hide his pink cheeks behind a telephone. He always got a bit red when Richie made jokes about his best friend, if Richie noticed, he never said anything.

“Shut it, fucker. I’m hungry and want your mom’s food.”

Letting out a loud laugh, the taller boy draped his arm around Eddie. Fortunately, Eddie didn’t move away, he let the arm engulf him and grabbed the spare house key to lock the door behind him as they walked out. Richie rambled about his day,, talking of his horrible math teacher and the way today’s cafeteria lunch sucked horribly.

As they got into Richie’s car, Eddie let out a soft laugh. “You wouldn’t have to eat the cafeteria food if you actually remember to pack a lunch sometimes.”

Starting the car, Richie slightly nodded, “I guess, but for some reason I feel like eating that trash-”

“You are what you eat!”

“Sure, funny, now shut up,” Richie continued through Eddie’s fit of giggles, “I feel like eating that junk builds character in a way. Like how trauma makes people funny, that’’s why our friend group is so fucking funny.”

Eddie just looked out the window, watching the houses pass, “I guess so, you still could just bring lunch from home.”

Richie didn’t say anything to that, and instead turned on the radio and just drove. Eddie liked driving with Richie, it made him feel calm. Doing anything with Richie made Eddie feel some sort of underlying emotions of calmness. Even if Richie was batshit crazy sometimes, and liked to smoke cigarettes on top of buildings after midnight. Even when Eddie followed him and scraped his knee climbing the ladder to the roof of a store, he felt calm. Maybe not as calm as he did right now, but in his heart he felt calm. Richie just sort of felt like home.

They were both silent until Richie’s house, but it was nice.

“We have arrived at your castle, my majesty.” Richie broke the silence as they pulled into his driveway.

“Majesty? Finally decided to show me the credit I deserve, I see.” Eddie told him as he opened his car door and got out. Instinctively reaching for his bag, he realized Richie had already grabbed it from the back. Feeling thankful for the action, he just gave the dork a smile when Richie walked around the car to face Eddie, duffel bag in hand. As they walked up to the front door, Richie just pushed it open without having to unlock it.

Not everyone thinks the door constantly needs to be locked no matter what, Eddie thought to himself.

“Eddie! Is that you?” A sweet woman's voice rang through the house.

“Thanks mom! Glad to see you too!” Richie replied first, obviously joking but making sure to chime in annoyance in his tone.

Maggie appeared in the living room from the kitchen, looking as beautiful as she always did. Richie’s genes didn’t just come from his father. Maggie looked 10 years younger than her age, bright eyes and perfect smile catching anyone's attention. She was tall and lean, yet still had a warm feeling to her aura no matter who she spoke to. The jet black hair that usually cascaded down her back was in a bun, seemingly to be out of the way as she cooked.

“Oh Richard, you know I love you. My favorite friend of yours is here though, let me give him some attention.” Eddie felt bashful as he was pulled into a hug by the women who had always treated him more like a son then the one he came home to every day. Her hugs were like heaven.

“I’m gonna take your bag upstairs, Eds.”

Eddie didn’t have the energy to correct Richie, who was already going up the stairs to his room. Instead, he followed Maggie into the kitchen as she asked about his day and he did the same. Turns out, she had been making cherry pie. The smell made Eddie’s stomach ache as he remembered he hadn’t eaten anything since lunch at school. Maggie must have heard his stomach’s growl since she chuckled and started taking out two plates.

“Oh gee mom, so when Eddie isn’t here yet I can’t have a slice but when he arrives we can feast? Seems a bit unfair to me.” Richie’s presence was made known as he stepped into the kitchen, eyes locked on the pie.

“Pie is always better when you enjoy it with those you love!” Maggie claimed as she turned to cut two pieces for the boys. Neither of them noticed how their eyes widened in the exact same ways. “Here you two are, have them at the table and be careful, cherry stains.”

Richie and Eddie both nodded and moved to the dining table. Taking their seats, Eddie marveled at Maggie’s baking. While he did that, Richie wasted no time taking the first bite.

“Mom!’ Richie said with a full mouth, “My taste buds thank you!”

The visible food in Richie’s mouth and the loud smacking of his chews made the other boy cringe as he took a fork of the pie. Maggie laughed in reply and her footsteps up the stairs were identifiable, along with the shutting of her room door. It tasted better than any desert Eddie had ever tried before. Not that his mom let him eat many sugary things, so basically it was the best desert Maggie had ever fed him. Overwhelmed with excitement to grab another bite, Eddie didn’t pay enough attention to how much of a hold his fork had actually gotten on the next piece. As said fork was brought to Eddie’s mouth, the piece of pie fell off, trailing down Eddie’s white shirt.

“Fuck,” Eddie let out, remembering the cherries did, in fact, leave stains.

“Uh oh, is it your chest’s time of month?”

“Real funny, dumbass. I gotta change out of this and see if running it under water helps at all.”

Getting up, Eddie quickly left the dining table, quick enough to miss Richie sighing and kissing a piece of pie on his fork. “I’ll be back soon, my love, must go help my other love with a crisis.”

They made their way up the stairs and Eddie headed to Richie’s room, knowing he had an attached bathroom there. Eddie wasn’t really thinking of anything besides cleaning his shirt, so the second Richie passed him when entering the room, Eddie closed the door behind him and went to take his shirt off.

“Alright, so you can just lean and put that bad boy under the sink and-” Richie stopped in his tracks when he faced Eddie, who was now shirtless with the stained garment in his hands.

“What?” Eddie’s face flushed in embarrassment, realizing he was now essentially half naked in front of a guy he’d liked for years. Of course, this wasn’t unusual, but the timing felt weird. They weren’t swimming or just relaxing on a hot day. Eddie was just shirtless in Richie’s room, not to mention without warning after shutting Richie’s door. Still, Eddie’s first thought was to defend himself. “You got some joke to make?” He angrily said.

Richie just stood there for a second, staring. Finally he choked out, “No! No… You uh, you looked toned. Very nice. I mean you look very nice.”

Raising an eyebrow and putting a hand on his hip, Eddie questioned, “No joke?”

“No joke.”

“Oh, well… Thank you. Guess I’ve been losing weight from track and then building muscle.” Eddie noticed Richie’s unbreakable stare, wondering if this is what always happened when Eddie was shirtless. Had he just never noticed? What else didn’t he notice? Without saying anything, Eddie proceeded to the bathroom, leaving Richie stuck in his trance. He turned the water on, not sure whether to make it cold or hot, but he wasn’t even sure if this would help anything. He tried rubbing the fabric together, just letting it soak, and even applying some hand wash. But nothing helped. Accepting defeat, Eddie turned off the water and walked back into Richie’s room.

“Where’s my bag? Can you toss me a shirt I packed?”

Richie nodded and walked to his closet, pulling out Eddie’s duffel bag and searching through it. “Hey… Eds? Only your meds are in here.”

Rubbing his hand over his eyes n frustration, Eddie wanted to call Richie stupid for a second, wondering how that was possible. But quickly he remembered how he never did grab any clothes, and had just opened the door for Richie after stocking his bag with pills and left. Richie looked at Eddie, waiting for a response. At first, Eddie could just sigh. It wasn’t that big of a deal ,but he had a bad week, this was supposed to be relaxing.

“I never grabbed any clothes. You knocked at the door while I was grabbing the pills and my inhaler and took my bag. I didn’t realize that was all i had, should’ve noticed at some point the weight was unreasonable.”

“Is it my fault?” Richie pouted, genuinely apologetic.

Tilting his head to the side, Eddie felt bad. “No ‘Chee, it isn’t your fault. Just a dumb mistake on my part, I can just borrow some clothes from you, right?” Eddie joked with a laugh to lighten the mood. Without needing an answer, Eddie kept the joke going by walking to Richie’s closet. He knew this was bound to make the taller boy smile, something that would also make Eddie happy. Eddie looked for a second, then grabbed some band t-shirt he didn’t know of. The shirt was black and brown, with the band’s name written across. It must have been new, because Eddie hadn’t seen this shirt worn a lot. He knew Richie wouldn’t mind though, and as Eddie slipped it on, he took note of how soft the fabric was. It was also very over sized, seen as Richie was a tall guy.

Eddie smiled as he walked out of the closet (and made a mental joke to himself) to look at Richie. Expecting a grin or some sort of joke about Eddie being so tiny, instead he was once more greeted by Richie’s staring.

“You okay?” Eddie asked, concerned at the amount of attention he was getting, short on or off.

“You’re so beautiful.”

Now it was Eddie’s turn to be speechless. He was taken aback and didn’t know what to say. What his brain wanted to say, was that Richie had it all wrong. That Richie was the gorgeous one. Richie and his black hair that just was perfectly messy, his smile that could melt anyone's heart, his sharp jawline, the way he spoke with his hands. Especially his laugh, it was like someone playing a harp to Eddie’s ears. That’s what Eddie wanted to say. Sadly, he didn’t have the courage to.

“Not really.”

“Shut up.”

Instead, Eddie mustered up all the courage he did have, and walked to Richie, wrapping him in an embrace.

“Thank you.” He mumbled into Richie’s chest.

Richie wrapped his arms around Eddie, letting out a breath. They stood like that for a while before Eddie finally pulled away.

“You have the right to wear any of my clothes, literally. Take it all. Leaving me butt naked is worth seeing you wear my shit. It’s like sexy in a domestic kinda way.” Richie said scratching his chin in thought.

“You’re too much Tozier, get your head out of your ass,” Eddie laughed out loudly, secretly wishing he could tell if Richie was serious or not.

Guess he’d find out at some point.

#reddie #richie tozier #it #eddie kaspbrak #richie x eddie #eddie x richie #maggie tozier #reddie fic

59 notes · View notes

asgardianthot · 5 years

Text

Hunting Season (sambucky) – Part 2

Series Masterlist

Summary: The Barnes family is your average rich people circus. With Bucky’s post-breakup financial depression, and a literal treasure hunt at stake, his best friend Sam finds himself in a mad situation in order to help him. They sure can pretend to be together, but that’s just the easy part.

Words: 3810

"So how do we do this?" Sam asked.

He was brushing his teeth with the door open so he could glance at Bucky, who sat on the edge of Sam's bed. He was going to give his friend the bed back once they fully decided to go to sleep and Bucky took the couch, again, but for now, he was enjoying the comfort of a bedroom. He always did find comfort in Sam and his hospitality, after all. He remembered that one Christmas the Barnes spent in the French Alps, the one Bucky avoided because he had just broken up with Rumlow for the first time; Sam was kind enough to invite him to the Wilsons for the holidays, and that was when Bucky realized where his friend got his charm and kindness. Sam's entire family were the most welcoming people Bucky had ever encountered, which made him wish he had been born into a home like that.

As Sam spit the toothpaste and rinsed his mouth, Bucky thought of the specificities of their plan. At the realization that, if his parents had sat through several different relationships with the same Brock Rumlow, they probably wouldn't blink at the sight of a new man, he felt that the plan wouldn't be too complicated after all.

"I don't know." He shrugged, "Can you pretend to be gay?"

While Bucky's question was asked nonchalantly, Sam received it like a suckerpunch. It was supposed to be an easy answer, however the topic was a delicate one for Sam. Not that Bucky knew anything about it, but Sam kept a few secrets to himself. And since his friend had only ever seen him dating girls...

"Easy peasy." Sam faked a smile before cleaning his chin with a clean towel, "It's pretending I like you that's gonna be tough." He joked.

"Funny." Bucky said without a hint of amusement.

Eventually, Sam returned to his original concerns. The stakes weren't too high for him, but if Bucky got caught with this, he would never hear the end of it. Who knew what his parents would put him through, and Bucky had already mentioned something about being banned from the annual hunt for life, losing all hopes of ever getting the slightest fraction of Nana's money. Those two million dollars could mean everything to Bucky, so they really had to put on a show.

He walked back to his room and gestured his guest to give him some room, next to him. Bucky granted him the space, and they both sat in their own seriousness.

"No, but seriously, do we have to kiss and stuff?" Sam asked.

Bucky reflected on it.

"Maybe. I mean, we gotta make it believable."

The other man nodded, taking in the idea of kissing Bucky, even if just for an act, until Bucky's words caught him by surprise.

"Wanna practice?"

Sam raised his eyebrows, and cleared his throat with nervousness, "Uh, sure."

Nevertheless, he was met by a very amused Bucky, who happened to have been holding in his laughter. When he cracked up, falling back on the bed with pride on his own joke, Sam de-tensed.

"I'm kidding, dude." He threw a light punch to Sam's back, "We pro'ly won't even kiss through the entire week. Family's real uptight when they wanna be."

Sam let out a breath only he could hear, hopefully, and pretended to be comfortable with the entire situation.

"Okay, but if we do have to kiss, it better look real."

Day 1.

The time had come, and spirits weren't great. Sam had his shit together, luckily, but Bucky wasn't as confident. In the ride from the station to the lake house, they both sat at the back of the taxi, trying to prepare for the upcoming week. Eight full days of acting couldn't be too easy, but Sam was calm.

James looked the polar opposite, as he tried to keep his cool, mumbling to himself.

"Deep breaths." He told Sam like he was doing the calming for both of them, and it brought a small smirk to Sam's lips.

He watched his friend breathe in and out with his eyes closed, and he feared he might have a mental breakdown before they even got the chance to reach the house.

"Hey, I got this." He reminded Bucky, in attempts to ease his worries.

"God, I really hope you do."

Suddenly, the panoramic of the gigantic residence came to their field of vision. The two-story house had direct access to the lake, along with stored kayaks and sailing equipment. There was a -- floating there, unused, marking the family's possessions, and facing the big garden that separated the house from the water.

As soon as the vehicle stopped in the entrance, an employee came out to take care of their bags. Sam gave Bucky an odd look, himself not being used to maids and being served like that, to which Bucky only pressed his lips together. That's the Barnes way.

"Oh, come inside!" Bucky's mother welcomed them, ushering them inside.

They both obeyed and walked up the three steps to the door, finally entering the house. Before either of them got the chance to speak, though, Winnifred began theatricalizing.

"You poor things, it's so hot outside!" she lamented while pressing a hand to her chest.

Bucky tried, and failed, to reject her drama, "It's not that-"

"You must be Samuel." She ignored her son, and continued to ramble over Sam's attempts to at least say hello, "You want a drink? It's too hot."

The guest eyed Bucky, who was just staring into nothingness. If his eyes could speak, they would have been saying 'yep, sounds about right.'

"Uh, sure." Sam accepted, "Thank you, ma'am. I'm so glad-"

"There he is!" he was cut off by Bucky's father, who walked into the welcoming hall with his arms extended, "The man of the hour."

The two men shook hands.

"Sir." Sam nodded.

"Oh, please, it's George."

Sam opened his mouth to say something polite, when the woman interrupted him once more.

"And Winnifred." She added.

This time, Sam waited for a gap in the conversation. He hadn't been able to lay out a single sentence to the married couple, so he awkwardly waited for them to interrupt him, but when the silence extended for too long, he smiled, nervously.

"George and Winnifred, then." He agreed, nodding, "It's nice to meet you."

"James tells me you teach." Winnifred jumped right into the discussion.

"I do." Sam smiled, "History."

"Which school?"

"Mom, don't be a snob." Bucky warned her.

"I'm just asking him a question." She pledged innocence, as usual.

As much as the question of academic elitism bothered Sam, he had to remain polite. He hated gratifying rich people like that by disclosing the snob university where he worked. Sometimes he wanted to quit and go back to where he started, small high schools, poorly funded programs... for now, though, he had unpaid student debt and a two million dollar hunt to win.

"It's alright." He bit back his pride and dismissed it, "I'm teaching at Princeton right now."

Winnifred raised her eyebrows with one half excitement and one half surprise.

"That's a fine school." She showed how impressed she was.

The woman probably thought Bucky couldn't do better than the family friend business trash. She probably figured her son was too stupid for a Princeton professor, much less to settle down with one. It didn't add to the bad image Sam already had of her.

"I have some contacts in Harvard, could get you a spot." George butt in.

"Dad."

"Thank you, sir, that's not necessary." Sam rejected very gracefully, "I love my job and I certainly can't leave my students."

George gave him a respectful nod, while Winnifred gave his son a look, one that yelled well done. The interaction had gone better than any of them had expected, making Bucky forget every concern he had before. When they moved to the living room, which was right next door, the fake couple exchanged some victorious glances. Feeling much more confident now, Bucky pointed to the old lady sitting at the end of the room.

"Sam, I'm honored to introduce you to Nana Barnes." He dramatized in order to annoy the woman.

She looked like the kind of grandmother who had strong opinions on people and therefore, favorites, and Bucky sure acted like the favorite, teasing her with the confidence that she wouldn't mind. Nana didn't bother standing up. She was wearing a conservative black dress, reading glasses and she held a glass of Champaign on her hand. The matriarch look suited her wonderfully.

"I've heard many good things." Sam approached her, extending his hand.

While shaking the young man's hand, Nana eyed him up and down.

"You're handsome." She said in a powerful tone, "Much better looking than the last one."

Nervously, Sam fixed his tie and cleared his throat.

"Thank you." He frowned amusingly, not sure if he was meant to take the compliment or not.

"Are you an idiot like him?"

Sam tilted his head, "Excuse me?"

"That Rumlow boy, he was an ass. Couldn't tell his south from his north. Now, are you a smart man?"

Sam looked back at Bucky, who merely gave him a thumbs up as he backed away and left the two alone. It was only then that Sam noticed Bucky's parents had abandoned him as well. He accepted his situation, and sat down on the chair next to her.

"I... like to think so." He smiled, "I sure hope so, or else I'm teaching the next generation to be just as dumb."

"Ah, so I've heard." She spoke like it was the first thing she fully approved of, "It's a nice break from all the dull business men in our family. Is Jamie planning to live off your Princeton check?"

This time, the harsh question caught him less off-guard, "No, ma'am, I'm just helping him get back on his feet."

The lady narrowed her eyes like she was quizzing the new boyfriend.

"How long have you known my grandson?"

The fake couple had prepared a whole concocted tale, but right there, in front of the matriarch who worshipped the truth, he figured telling her the real story wouldn't hurt.

"I don't even know. Probably... six years?" the realness behind his words made Nana seem interested, "We met through other people, next thing I know we're best friends for good. Couldn't shake him off my back."

The woman laughed, "He can't help it, the Barnes have bloodsucker in their DNA."

Bucky had mentioned at some point, how the woman referred to the Barnes as simply the family she had married into when it came to pointing out their flaws, yet called herself a Barnes when it suited her. Sam, however, held in any type of snarky comment or laughter, and made an effort to remain excessively polite. He knew he wouldn’t be able to keep the façade for long, or at least not for the entire week, so he made sure to make the best first impression possible.

"No, Bucky's not like that.” He defended the man, although he immediately decided against contradicting the matriarch; he raised one hand in retreat, “I mean, you've known him all his life, so what do I know? But, uh… he's not that kind of friend."

The last word brought a smear of annoyance to the woman’s features, considering Sam had used it twice already.

"You can say boyfriend, Samuel, I'm not a prude." She protested.

Suddenly, Sam realized he was being too genuine. The way he spoke about Bucky was so truthful, he forgot for a second that he was meant to pretend to be his loving partner.

"Yes, boyfriend. Sorry."

In the welcoming hall, Bucky was thanking the service for getting his bags upstairs. He noticed a taxi parked outside, and he figured his cousin or one of his uncles had arrived, but as he wiped sweat from his forehead, the door opened, and his sister Rebecca walked in. As to be expected, she was dressed to impress in a light blue skirt and a sunny hat, wearing the additional drops of sweat that fell down her neck like an accessory.

"What are you doing here?” Bucky ambushed her, not too happy to see her, “You said you wouldn't make it."

The young woman didn’t seem offended by her welcoming, for she knew she was about to lie.

"I decided to spend some time with my family." She smiled brightly, reaching to hug her brother.

"Bull.” He stopped her. “What happened?"

Rebecca sighed, "Why do you always assume something's happened?"

"Because I'm the one picking up your slacks and shoving it under the rug." Bucky spat, looking around to check that nobody was listening.

"My hero." She rolled her eyes.

"Someone has to keep making you look perfect."

The words hit her, but she didn’t wince. Her face fell minimally, which was her own way of accepting it. Bucky was right, after all, because for years he had helped her out in every singl one of her fuck-ups, never asking for anything back, which resulted in their parents beliving their little girl to be a practical angel, while James remained the family screw up. The thing was, both siblings were emotional trainwrecks, but Bucky was the only one who got any backlash for it.

"So what was it?” he asked again, this time much more relaxed, “Boyfriend? Boyfriend's wife?"

"Actually...” Rebecca lowered her voice, “It's money. I need to win the hunt this year."

Bucky couldn’t believe his ears. Rebecca had only joined the family vacations to ruin his plans.

"I need to win the hunt this year." He was quick to shake his head.

"You don't understand, I owe a shit ton or money, James.” Unfortunately, his sister was just as enthusiastic about her own issues, “It's bad."

"Then get a loan from dad." He proposed in a very order-like tone, for he knew their father would give Rebecca money, while never offering Bucky a penny.

"He can't know I'm in debt!" she whisper-shouted.

Bucky took a deep breath and massaged his temples, still in disbelief that they were in this situation to begin with. He had brought his best friend into this, for all sakes. He couldn’t lose the money to his little sister. He wanted to explain to her how he was penny-less and had been enduring their parent’s hellfire for weeks, but Rebecca already knew that, and if that alone didn’t bring out her empathy, no amount of persuasion would. He wanted to tell her exactly what kind of treatment he had received in their parent’s house, but of course, Rebecca must have already guessed.

As much as he wanted to keep fighting, Sam joined them, and the two siblings were distracted from the argument.

"Samuel Wilson, why on earth are you in this shithole?"

Sam was baffled, as they hadn’t even spent half an hour there, and things were already not going according to plan. Bucky had sworn Rebecca wouldn’t be there, which was good, because Rebecca knew Sam and she knew that their relationship was not at all romantic.

"Good to see you too." He said, trying his best to ignore her obvious confusion and walking closer to Bucky, "Uh, your folks-"

"Sweetheart, you made it!" Winnifred’s exclamation echoed across the room.

"Of course, mama." Rebecca faked enthusiasm as she opened her arms.

"I see you've met Jamie's boyfriend." The siblings’ mother remarked as she gave Rebecca a quick hug.

Even before the contact was over, Rebecca was frowning.

"Boyfriend?"

Think, quickly.

"Yes, boyfriend. “ Bucky said loudly; perhaps too loudly to be believable, “We didn't wanna say. Thanks for ruining the newsbreak, mom." He faked discourage.

Rebecca crossed her arms over her chest, "No, you're not."

Desperate to play it out, Sam pressed a hand to the low of Bucky’s back, in an attempt to show affection and commodity with one another. Bucky, however, froze a little, because it was the first time Sam had done something like that and it felt more than just odd.

"We sure are." Sam grinned.

"Yeah, it just..." Bucky failed to imitate his fake boyfriend’s confidence as he scratched his brow and struggled with words, "Just sort of happened. We were going to tell you."

The room went silent, and Rebecca definitely wasn’t convinced. In fact, she saw straight through both of them and deciphered the truth behind the masquerade in a matter of seconds, which didn’t amuse her at all. They were going to take her prize away.

"Bucky's cheating." She said.

"Excuse me?” Winnifred opened her eyes wide, offended at what the accusation implied.

"At the hunt.” The young woman continued, earning a pleading look from her brother, who begged her not to out his lies; thankfully, she proceeded with a mocking tone, “He knows Nana's biased for couples, so he dragged his boyfriend to this freakshow."

Both Sam and Bucky felt like they had been given a second life, and they quickly laughed it off to dissimulate. Winnifred made a comment about her daughter’s choice of words while they all moved back to the living room, and although what had just happened was a sign that Rebecca wouldn’t out them, all three involved never got their eyes off each other.

Dinnertime was an event for the whole family. Others had arrived with their own luggage, setting three different generations in one table. Sam could only feel how strongly out of place he was, among the fancy drinks and conversations about business and family companies. He was learning a hell of a lot about Bucky’s family, though. The fortune was earned by the parents of the deceased grandfather, and he had been the one to ‘make them all rich assholes’, according to Bucky’s words.

"Aside from us and Becca, everyone here just wants to win the hunt for their ego.” He explained in whispers, leaning closer to Sam to not be overheard by the rest of the family, “It's just a fun tradition to them."

"I bet it's fun, getting four millions a year." Sam snorted quietly.

It made Bucky laugh, which got the attention of his aunt. She eyed the couple like they were just so cute together, and it only then occurred to Bucky that maybe they did.

"Oh, I forgot about Uncle Milo.” He gestured to an old and nice-looking man at the other end of the table. “Grandpa Theodore's brother, he's after the fortune."

Sam didn’t believe his friend, for it sounded like cliché rich family drama, something out of a soap opera. However, the young Barnes explained that the cliché was real, and that Uncle Milo had gambled his share of the fortune away, so he maintained his proximity to Nana in a desperate attempt to get it all back, the money, the house, everything. He soon continued explaining the rest of the less relevant characters: George's brother Teddy and his wife Andrea, who had a son about their age; cousin Colin. He was a dull creature and he looked like he'd come out of a Lacoste magazine, both him and his Ivy-league-college-sweetheart fiancée did. The third Barnes sibling was Aunt Ida, who had no children but was happily divorced.

“Are we all done with desert?” Nana stood up from her chair.

Cousin Colin raised his fork to speak and say that he hadn’t, but Nana didn’t seem to care.

“Wonderful. Alright, let’s get this over with.”

“No speech, Nana?” Bucky teased her.

“No, you’re all well aware. Except for Samuel, but he’s a smart man, he’ll catch up.” She winked at him.

That was apparently a good sign. She liked Sam.

“The first clue is very easy: just the meaning behind it all.” The woman chuckled at the end of her sentence, earning a few confused looks, “I didn’t hide it very well. You’ll find it if you search for it.”

Every guest remained seated. Knowing the woman, she wasn’t kidding, and this was just a riddle they were supposed to decipher, but they never failed to give her the benefit of the doubt that perhaps, just maybe one time, she would give them a real clue instead of messing with them as much as she could. Nana raised her glass of Champaign as a toast.

“Happy Hunting.” She smirked to the glass before chugging it down.

They seemed to be walking around aimlessly, just as the rest of the participants. This sounded like more of a mental riddle to fix by themselves, instead of an actual clue that was hidden somewhere. Bucky had the idea to look around grandpa Theodore’s old room in search for something emotional, although that didn’t sound like Nana, but she had told them to look for the meaning behind it all- she could have meant the meaning of the hunt. When Sam’s brain clicked, he grabbed Bucky’s arm to stop him.

"I got an idea." He announced.

Bucky glanced down at his arm, which was still being held by Sam.

"What're you thinking?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I'm guessing you guys have a library?"

Bucky nodded, "Smart."

Once they found the library, they were submerged in stillness. They shut the door so they wouldn’t give anyone else the same idea, and turned on the lights; the room was probably the calmest one in the entire house. There were high shelves with old books, two dusty reading chairs and a coffee table. Sam figured he wouldn’t mind spending some time there.

"What are we looking for?" James asked in a low voice.

Sam ran his fingers through the shelves for a few seconds, lurking for that one specific piece of literature he had in mind.

“Viktor Frankl.” Sam mumbled, concentrated on his task.

When he found the title, he pulled the book out and offered it to Bucky. Man’s search for meaning, 1946. It was too classical for fancy college men not to have heard of it, but the riddle was a tad too complicated for them. It was as if Nana had expected Sam to guess it first. Bucky caressed the cover, taking in the title and internally understanding the joke. The meaning behind it all. You’ll find it if you search for it.

He let a soft chuckle escape his lips as he opened the book and searched through the pages. Sam leaned in too close, over his shoulder, and Bucky couldn’t help but feel weird at the sensation of Sam’s breath hitting the back of his neck. He didn’t believe it was okay to even notice that sort of thing.

Suddenly, an envelope fell from the book, and Bucky looked back at Sam with amusement.

“That tricky old hag.” He laughed.

A/N: I know this wasn’t too exciting lol but it was more of an introduction chapter:/ next part will have your much needed fluff and intensity! Thank you so much for reading xx

#sambucky #sambucky au #fake dating au #sambucky fanfiction #sam/bucky #sam wilson/bucky barnes #sam x bucky #sam wilson x bucky barnes #fatws #the falcon and the winter soldier #marvel fanfiction

81 notes · View notes

meaningfound-blog · 7 years

Text

THEATER CLASS CHARACTER ANALYSIS:

Oftentimes I find that acting has many similarities to writing good characters, so I decided to create a characterization guide modeled after one used in my theater class. Fill this out with your character’s information. COPY, PASTE, AND REPOST, DO NOT REBLOG.

Original template found here:

( Cutting this post because it turned out SUPER long, so the whole thing is below the cut for those interested! )

Character name: Ego the Living Planet

Character age: Unknown even to Ego himself, but he’s been around for several millions of years. He typically takes on the physical appearance of a man in his early 30s or his 60s, depending on the timeline.

My character’s objective is: Ultimately, Ego’s goal is to find whatever meaning in his life that he’s constantly searching for. Everything that he finds never quite seems to live up with what he builds it up in his mind to be, so he’s always left with that empty feeling again and has to turn back to square one, back to finding his purpose again. At first, he believed it was to simply find life beyond his own, but when it turned out that life is imperfect and unpredictable, he grew disenchanted with the idea and created a new goal for himself: to interconnect all forms of life with himself. In his mind, only then could everything be truly as he wished it to be. His meaning, his objective, is to become one with the universe.

My character’s motivation is: Much as he hates to admit it, the thing that motivates Ego the most ( other than pure selfishness ) is how completely and utterly alone he feels in the universe. His first memories are of loneliness, floating in the vacuum of space without anyone to explain who he is or what he’s meant to do with the life that had been granted to him. He flaunts his power and thinks of himself as greater than those around him, and yet the idea of wielding that power all by himself intimidates him on some level. He’s always searching, always trying to convince himself that the companionship he’s denied himself for so long is nothing more than a distraction from his greater purpose. As long as he believes there’s a higher call in store for him, he doesn’t have to accept that loneliness.

My character’s obstacles are: Ego has come to view love as his greatest obstacle. His own growing feelings for the Earthen girl, Meredith Quill, as well as the familial connections he’s established by giving her a son, Peter, are emotional hindrances to him. As long as he continues to love her, he knows that he’ll never be able to go through with what he views as his greatest work; he’s given several chances to choose love over ruling alone, but in the end, he unfailingly chooses to serve his own selfish needs every time.

Their strategies are: First and foremost, emotional manipulation of the highest degree. Although Ego possesses incredible physical strength, he’s the sort that prefers to remain relatively neutral until someone strikes a nerve and makes him particularly angry. Rather than get his hands dirty, he knows how to dig deep to a person’s insecurities and use them against them. He makes a point of coming across as charming and friendly to build trust, and then when it suits him, abandons all pretense of kindness and acts in his own interest.

The stakes are: For him, the biggest stake is losing his immortality and being “just like everybody else.” Throughout the years of his existence, he’s convinced himself that he’s special, above everyone else, and to lose that part of him would, in his mind, be the worst fate imaginable. Additionally, in order to achieve his goals, Ego was willing to sacrifice the only woman he ever truly loved, as well as her son; instead of seeing this as the selfish act that it truly was, he views it as the highest honor for both of them, a way for everything to come full-circle, in a way.

The outcome is: In the end, Ego dies for his own arrogance and self-centered choices. The plot he’d been trying to drive forward crumbled right before him, and just as he always feared, he became mortal, susceptible to harm just like everyone else.Not only this, but he loses whatever chance of being remembered by his son as a good or benevolent figure in his life that he ever might have had.

My character moves this way: Ego takes big, confident strides, walking heavily and taking up space. It’s not always an outright show of bravado so much as it is the fact that he’s lived alone all his life, with the exception of Mantis, and is generally more accustomed to using up as much room as he needs, rather than having to shrink for anyone else’s comfort.

My character’s voice sounds like: He speaks in a tenor-baritone range, with a tone that generally remains fairly even. His voice is naturally rough and a bit gravelly with age -- much smoother when he takes his younger form -- and carries with it the slightest southern twang, a leftover remnant from the time that he spent with Meredith Quill on Earth. The southern accent comes out more when he’s angry, as his voice naturally pitches itself slightly higher when he becomes indignant.

PERSONALITY: Mental and emotional characteristics: On the outside, he comes across as very friendly and quick-witted, if not the slightest bit introspective. Guarded, enigmatic, and often hesitant when it comes to approach the subject of emotions, Ego’s biggest shortcomings are that he simply doesn’t know how to deal with his feelings. In his mind, those things are typical of mortals, but for Celestials, they’re only weaknesses, nothing worthy of being trifled with. Why bother with love, especially, when in millions of years, none of it will matter? In spite of all this, he has a magnetic, larger-than-life personality, and tends to dominate most conversations.

Spiritual Belief: As a Celestial, Ego considers himself all-knowing, and believes in achieving true balance with the rest of the universe that expands around him. The truth is, though, he doesn’t know quite as much as he thinks, and there is much out there that he’s yet to discover. But he doesn’t adhere to any particular religious belief, other than perhaps a vain worship of himself.

Deepest Secret: Perhaps his deepest, darkest secret is that he actually did, at some point, fall in love with the girl from Earth -- and in the end, he did something terrible to her. The girl who taught him all the songs on the radio and looked at him like he hung the moon, who continued to love him even long after he’d afflicted her with a terrible illness and left her behind to suffer alone. Throughout the years, he learned to live with the guilt and convinced himself that he did what was right, removed himself of an obstacle that stood in the way, but as a younger man, it did haunt him.

Social Status: Material belongings and social status mean little to him, as he lives alone on a planet of his own creation. Very few know of Ego’s existence, and those who have met him generally regard him as a complete and utter asshole. This has earned him a reputation as something of a “vengeful god” figure among those who do know of him.

Level of Education: N/A

Family Upbringing: N/A

Hobbies: Though he doesn’t allow himself much free time, he enjoys anything that stimulates or challenges the mind, such as reading or chess. Tending to the floral life that grows on his planet is a relaxing pastime, as well, though he sometimes tends to get distracted and ends up creating new things entirely while he’s taking care of the old ones. His mind is constantly turning, so anything creative, especially art mediums, he loves.

Manner of Dress: As much as he likes to consider himself a godlike entity, he dresses a bit more humbly than his title might suggest. He’s a fan of golds, greens, and browns, and tends to be seen in leathers tough enough to act as protective clothing. Usually, he wears a sweeping dark green cape slung over his shoulder.

Any Other Details: You’ll never get him to admit it, but he still jams out to the music Meredith showed him once, despite his insistence that those are frivolous human things.

Tags, if you would like: Thanks to @worldoftheskeptic for tagging me! I’d like to tag @patient02, @ofst4rs, @ofeterniiity and whomever else would like to do this!

#long post #(&&. HEADCANONS.)#[this was so much fun omg!]#[i always love getting to ramble about my Trash Space Son]

9 notes · View notes

rora-s · 4 years

Text

The Derivative Chapter 5: Home

Chapter 1 <- Chapter 4

“You didn’t think to tell him first?”

“Well I did but unlike Charlie he doesn’t live here”

“Sometimes it feels like we live here”

“Ain’t that the truth. Maybe I should give him a call later”

“Oh no don’t do that”

“Why not?”

“Because I want to see his face when he finds out” I replied grinning broadly as I looked at my grandfather over the back of my chair in the sitting room.

“You know you have a liking to trouble that alarms me sometimes” Gramps muttered. I just shrugged. There was a knock at the door and the man straightened “alright now get up and make yourself look presentable” he instructed heading for the door I got up and stood off to the side as he opened the door.

“Hello” the woman at the door greeted.

“Hi you must be Ms. Collins yes?” Alan smiled politely and let her in. She nodded in response looking around the room as she entered. “I’m Alan and this is my granddaughter, Abby”

“Nice to meet you, and call me Meredith please” She smiled at us and extended a hand that I shook politely.

“So I was thinking we could start in the back of the house, go through inside and then head outside” Alan suggested.

“That sounds like a plan” the woman agreed “but I can tell you I already like this entrance space very open and welcoming”

“Oh thank you” Alan smiled then led her toward the back hall. The woman started to walk and he turned to me “you keep working on your homework. I don’t want to come in here and find you reading another mystery novel”

I let off an exasperated breath but surrendered at his stern look. He hurried after the real estate agent and I headed back over to my seat. Not long after Charlie came in and headed straight upstairs not even acknowledging my presence. I sighed and continued filling in the pointless pages of my english workbook when the door opened again.

“Hello” Don called into the house.

“Hi” I called in reply and he came over to my chair to look over my shoulder.

“English huh?” he asked.

“Vocab workbook” I explained “not only do I use a majority of these terms in my normal venacular a third of them I don’t plan to use and all of them I can literally just read the definition of and have it memorized I don’t need to fill this out”

“You do need to” Don objected “for a grade not for your brain”

“Yeah but isn’t school supposed to be about the opposite” I grumbled.

“Yeah well, life ain’t always like that kid” he commented, messing up my hair as he straightened and Charlie came into the room.

“Hey” the younger brother greeted the older. “Tell me you found Emily Burdick”

“No, I’m sorry buddy not yet” Don replied.

“Who’s-” my question was cut off by Alan’s voice reaching us from the kitchen.

“Hey, take a look at this. Here in the kitchen, I put in the new sink myself, and the, uh… I did the tile work.” Alan was explaining.

“Oh it’s beautiful work” Meredith complimented “I like how you’ve preserved the original Craftsman detail.”

“Oh, hey, boys” Alan greeted as they entered the foyer I closed my workbook and shifted around onto my knees in the seat to watch the show.

“Hi,” Charlie spoke first “we didn’t know you were home”

“Meredith, my two sons” Alan introduced “this is Don and Charlie”

“How are you?” my father greeted, shaking the woman’s hand.

“Hi Don” the woman replied and turned to the younger brother.

“Hello” Uncle C shook her hand as well.

“Hello Charlie” she smiled.

“Pleasure” he assured.

“Oh, Meredith would you mind going upstairs for a minute?” Alan asked politely “I’ll be right with you”

“Sure” she responded and headed off waving to me in greeting as she passed.

“What?” Alan asked as he turned to see the faces of his two sons.

“Nice, she’s cute,” Don pointed out with a grin. I had to try and keep from laughing.

“What’s going on?” Charlie asked, seeming amused “What is this?”

“Oh, come on Charlie. Don’t you remember we talked about this?” Alan sighed in annoyance and I no longer worked to hide my giggles which earned me a look from the men.

“Talked about what? No” Charlie replied in confusion.

“I’m sorry, I should have made sure you were paying attention when I was ta-”

“Don’t apologize, Dad.” Don objected, cutting his father off.

“No you have no idea what this is all about, trust me” Gramps told his eldest.

“I don’t think we want to know,” Charlie scoffed.

“Well you have to know” Alan tried to explain, shooting me annoyed looks as I continued to laugh at the scene.

“No, we don’t, Dad” Don started “Look you’re allowed a private life”

“Wait a minute. Just hold it a second” Alan finally intervened “this is not a date”

Charlie then began to draw bad conclusions it seemed as Don shot me a look “oh, my… Dad, what are you telling me? That this woman is a pr-”

“Real estate agent” Alan cut off the word about to leave his youngest son's mouth.

“Oh right” Don murmured in realization as I finally got control of myself.

“I’m confused. Are you dating a real estate agent?” Charlie asked.

“I thought you were supposed to be a genius” I muttered from my seat.

“Hey, you, homework,” Don ordered pointing to my workbook. I gave him an annoyed look in response. “No, Charlie, he’s selling the house. Right?”

“Yes” Alan nodded.

“Why? I- I live here. You live here.” Charlie objected.

“Don’t you remember?” Alan inquired “I said I wanted to find a smaller place for myself, maybe a condo.”

“I remember that, sure.” Charlie murmured.

“And you need a place of your own” Gramps continued.

“Yeah but I didn’t think you were serious” Uncle C explained growing irritated “you can’t- you can’t sell our house.”

“What are you saying?” Don turned to his brother in confusion.

“The market is at its peak right now.” Alan attempted to explain to his youngest who was not happy.

“Yeah but I live here” Charlie reiterated.

“We are living- We are living on a very large part of my retirement savings” Alan declared

“He’s right,” Don agreed. “Prices are high believe me I looked around”

“Can we- do me a favor-” Charlie continued to ramble as Meredith came down the stairs.

“I like how it looks upstairs; it’s great,” she explained. “I love the solarium”

“Oh you haven’t seen the outside” Alan told her.

“I do my best work in the solarium” Charlie commented seeming rather dazed now.

There was some clanging from the pipes overhead “oh, that’s the heating system.” Alan told Meredith “it’s a little temperamental. It needs a little finessing. I’ll show you later” with that he led her out the door with one last look directed at his sons continuing to talk to the woman.

Don looked over at me “I take it from the maniacal laughter earlier you knew about this?” he asked I shrugged “uh huh, thanks for the heads up”

“I can’t believe this” Charlie murmured and Don’s focus turned to him.

“Look, relax” Don reassured his brother, “I got a great apartment in a good neighborhood. You’ll find one too”

“Then why are you over here all the time?” Charlie questioned.

“Because of that one for a start” he gestured to me “and because I’m making sure you let dad have a life” he declared heading into the dining room.

____________

I raked a couple more leaves toward the pan and let off a breath “you know I have homework to do. I should really be inside.”

“Ah ah nice try” Alan objected quickly. “You’re helping. Though I do find it ironic you only ever do your homework to get out of doing something else”

I shot him an annoyed look and continued to rake the leaves scattered about the yard as Alan dumped the tray into the trash bag Charlie held. “You know, Dad I’ve been checking around. You were right about the house. You were right.” Charlie spoke up.

“Yeah, the real estate lady said that this property on the current market, I can expect competing bids.” Alan explained.

“Dad, am I, uh… Do I bug you?” he asked.

“What? What kind of a question is that?” Alan looked to his son confused.

“Well, it’s just, you know my math work, and uh..” Charlie cleared his throat as Alan unloaded another tray of leaves into the trash bag “I never listen, and I’m always in my own world.”

“Well, that sort of makes you the ideal housemate, doesn’t it, Charlie?” Alan pointed out “plus you contribute more than our part-timer over here” he gestured to me.

“I’m contributing” I held up my rake as proof. Alan gave me a look as he held up another tray of leaves he had raked.

“I just wanted to make sure.” Charlie sighed

“Make sure of what?” Gramps asked.

“You’re selling the house because you want to do it for yourself.” Charlie clarified.

“No, Charlie, I want to do it for both of us,” Alan informed.

“I thought we were having a good time,” Charlie continued.

“We are” Alan agreed “It’s just this house is so big, and it takes so much work to maintain it. And besides you’re almost 30. Don’t you think it’s about time you found a place of your own?”

“I love this house,” Charlie said.

“So do I” Alan sighed “but still, the both of us we have to move on” Charlie nodded “alright now you two finish up here I’m going to go make us something to eat”

I sighed and started raking the leaves more now that Alan was gone. I glanced over at my Uncle’s saddened face “you really do love this house a lot huh?” I questioned.

“There’s a lot of good memories here” Charlie informed “history”

I shrugged “I don’t really get that. Bonding your history to a place. Growing up with my mom we were always on the move. I was thirteen when we got our own stable place that actually was ours not a transition or one of her boyfriends places. I never really had a place that was home”

“I’m sorry” Charlie murmured.

I shrugged “just because I didn’t have a place doesn’t mean I didn’t have anything. Maybe if I did i’d hate to lose it too”

“Yeah” Charlie nodded and looked back at the house with a sigh.

__________

3rd POV.

Don sighed entering the Burdick’s kitchen where Ethan was pouring himself some coffee before heading back to work with Charlie and Amita on the fake algorithm. The mathematician's hands were shaking and he missed the cup slightly splashing hot coffee on his hand. He winced, nearly dropping the cup.

“Here let me” Don intervened taking the coffee pot and mug filling it as Ethan grabbed a towel to wipe his hand off. The frightened man let off a shaky breath.

They were silent for a moment before Ethan spoke up “do you have any children Agent Eppes?”

Don was caught off guard slightly by the question. “Yeah” he nodded “a daughter she’s sixteen”

“Then you understand” Ethan voiced turning to the agent “Emily is everything to me. Is there anything you wouldn’t do for your daughter?”

“No” Don murmured without even having to think.

“I have to get Emily back no matter what and- and if she dies-” he choked on his words. “I can’t lose her”

“I know.” Don sighed “I only met my daughter about two months ago and I can tell you it- it changed everything for me. There was this one time she went missing it was only for an hour or so but for me it felt like an eternity. I couldn’t think straight I- I was terrified with a kind of fear I’d never felt before and- and she was okay. So I can’t even begin to imagine what this is like for you. But I can promise you I will do whatever it takes to try and get your daughter back to you. Okay?”

Ethan took a deep breath “okay” he grabbed the coffee mug and started to head back to the table to work but paused looking back at Don. “What's your daughter’s name?”

“Abby” Don replied. Ethan nodded and continued out to the table leaving Don there in the kitchen with his thoughts.

______________

Don came into his apartment with a sigh glad to finally be back after working so hard on the case. “I’m home brought dinner” he called, setting the pizza he’d gotten down on the counter. Abby appeared after a moment from upstairs.

“What’d you get?” she asked hopping onto a bar stool as he grabbed a beer from the fridge.

“Meat lovers”

“Yes!” she cheered, folding the box and grabbing a slice. “Grab me a Mountain Dew” she asked while he was in the fridge and he pulled the can from the shelf in the door and sat it on the counter. “Thank you”

Don popped the lid off his beer and went to get his own piece of pizza. “You get your homework done?”

“Yes” Abby grumbled “finally. I swear they give me more just because they know I hate it”

Don scoffed “yeah I thought the same thing in school and I wasn’t a genius.”

Abby hummed “So guess what Charlie told me.”

“What?”

“He’s buying the house from Gramps” Abby informed.

Don looked at her shocked “no way”

“Yes way” Abby nodded, “apparently he has a lot saved up since, you know, he’s never had to pay rent or anything before and he liked the house so…” she shrugged, taking a sip of her soda.

“Huh” Don muttered.

“I’m glad,” Abby declared.

“Yeah why’s that?” Don asked.

“Spend a lot of time there and it’s a cool house” Abby explained.

“Fair enough” the man conceded.

“Don’t you care about it?” she asked.

“Yeah but you know it’s just a place right? I moved out ages ago.”

“Doesn’t seem like it”

“Well, yeah alright” Don muttered giving Abby a look as she smirked. “Seriously though working with the FBI I moved around a lot guess it helps you realize that what they say is true”

“What they say?” Abby questioned.

“Yeah” Don shrugged “home isn’t really a place it’s a people”

Abby smiled “well I like you people” she declared.

Don chuckled “me too kid” and he raised up his bottle a bit and Abby tapped it with her soda can for their own little toast.

Chapter 6 ->

#Don Eppes #Alan Eppes #Charlie Eppes #Terry Lake #David Sinclair #amita ramanujan #Larry Fleinhardt #Numb3rs #numb3rs season 1 #don is a dad #Abby Calvin #episode related #episode per chapter #also posted on quotev #also on ao3

1 note · View note

alwayschoosechocolate · 5 years

Text

One-night stands and one-shot chances (viii)

University AU

Pairing: Jin x reader

Who says sex has to mean anything? Who says you can’t just screw around without all the heartache? Who says only guys get this privilege? What happens when the biggest playboy on campus suddenly meets his match and gets a taste of his own medicine?

Genre: casual sex, mentions of sex, bestfriend!Hoseok, onenightstand!Jin

Word count: 3800

Taglist: @esplosionedicoloriintesta @jeonjunggoodgod @rjsmochii @spookidema @pariz-lover @mymochimchimmy @seokjinnieismine @cloudyelizabeth @livesmileandstaystrong @thisistoooooomuch @okaysoplshelpme @secondstanza @eanielsen07

Masterpost with the other parts of the story can be found here and my masterlist is here

A/N: Ah, it’s been a while, lovelies. Thanks for waiting for me! As promised after last chapter, the parts are going to be longer now, giving me more space to explore the characters and the story line, and you more time to enjoy the story - hopefully! Enjoy! And please share your thoughts and reactions with me! I love hearing what you think!

Story starts under the cut

As the last papers got handed in before the spring holiday and campus became close to deserted, you packed your weekend bag and made your way to Hoseok’s house. All the guys were going home during the break, and Hoseok had suggested you stayed at the house while they were gone to catch up on your sleep. After the sleepover in the living room the previous weekend, you had spent most nights with Hoseok, opting for sharing his bed instead of lying awake in your own, so when he suggested you stayed in the house over the break, you quickly accepted, rambling on about how you would clean the common areas as a thank you.

“Hobi,” you shouted as you walked through the door, hoping to catch him before he left. “I’m here!”

“In here!”

Following his voice to his room, you found him packing his bags, clothes neatly folded on the bed and the bags on the floor. You tossed your bag against the wall and giggled in excitement of getting the house to yourself for a week, as you walked up to give him a back hug, clinging to him like a koala as he continued packing.

“You’re in a good mood today,” he hummed absentmindedly as he held two shirts out in front of him. “Which one should I bring for my mom’s birthday dinner?” Twisting his torso so you could see the shirts, you hooked your chin on his shoulder as you took in the options.

“That one,” you stated, pointing at the simple white shirt. “But pair it with one of your more casual pants.”

Accepting your advice, he folded the shirt neatly again and placed it in the half-packed bag on the floor.

“You know, you’re still more than welcome to come home with me, right? My mom asked for you again just last night, when I was on the phone with her.”

“I know,” you hummed, giving his mid one last squeeze before jumping on the bed and making yourself comfortable. “But I’m fine with staying here. It just doesn’t feel right anymore. It feels…”

“Like something’s missing?”, he ended your sentence, cocking his head and looking at you with a soft expression. You nodded silently, letting out a deep sigh and rolling over on your back. “Yeah, I know. But it feels even more empty without either of you there.”

Musing a bit at his words, you stayed quiet and focused on the wooden panels on the ceiling, tracing the wood grains with your eyes. You stayed in comfortable silence as Hoseok packed the rest of his stuff and zipped up his back.

“Alright, babe. I’m leaving now. Try not to burn the house down, while we’re gone,” he grinned at you, before ducking away from the pillow flying at his head.

“There is nothing to burn down, Seokie,” you laughed, getting off the bed and walking over to give him a hug.

“’Seokie’, huh? You okay? You only call me that, when you’re feeling down,” he asked against your hair, as he fitted you perfectly under his chin.

“I’m fine, Hobi. Just looking forward to some days alone and some more sleep.”

“Alright. I left the key on the desk, and there is a bottle of your favorite wine in the kitchen. I also bought some of that god-awful coconut ice cream you love so much. Oh, and some of your favorite snacks…”

“Hobi, stop,” you giggled, making him halt in the middle of his rambles. “I can take care of myself for a week. I’m not an infant. But I do love that ice cream, so thank you.”

“… and a few packs of the ramen you always eat,” he ended his sentence after your interruption, making both of you burst out laughing. “I know you can take care of yourself. I just want to help you take care of yourself. And please call me if you need someone to talk to. Or call my mom! If you want. She would love to talk to you as well! And my sister as well!”

“Oh my god, Hoseok! Stop! Just go! You’ll be late for the extravagant dinner, that we both know your mom has prepared for her golden son’s return,” you laughed, pushing him towards the door.

“Alright. Alright, I’ll leave,” he grinned, putting his hands up in surrender. “But please promise to call me, if you change your mind? The drive is only two hours, and I could easily come pick you up.”

“Sure, I promise. Just please leave. You’re crowding my personal space, which has just expanded to the entire house, and I’m not happy about it,” you scolded him with a wicked grin, as you gave him one last push out of the front door.

“But I love you! How can you throw me out like this?”, he screeched dramatically from the front lawn, catching the attention of some of the neighbors. “I promise, I’ll remember to take out the trash from now on! Please just give me another chance!”

“Jesus, Hoseok. Really?”, you groaned in embarrassment at the puzzled looks being thrown your way. “You’re such a drama king! Just go already and say hi to your mom from me!”

“Oh, but mother will be heartbroken at your departure from my life. Please, my flower! Don’t throw me out!”

“Please, do throw him out. He’s way too dramatic for this house anyway,” Yoongi drawled as he walked up next to you, bag slung over his shoulder. “Hoseok, could you drop me off at the train station?”

“You insult my honor and then you ask for a favor?”, Hoseok gasped in feigned outrage, before dropping the act and laughing at his own joke. “Sure, but I’m leaving now.”

Giving you a quick side-hug, Yoongi scurried to the car and they drove away, but of course not without Hoseok screaming his love for you out the car window all the way down the block.

Grinning at his theatricalities, you walked back into the house and pulled the door closed. Looking around the living room, you let the quiet sink into your bones. There was no Jungkook yelling at some game he was playing. No Taehyung running around rambling about the latest class he had had about German romanticism. No Hoseok screaming at… well, just screaming in general. The entire house was dead quiet, and something told you not to disrupt it as you tiptoed through the living room, down the hall and into Hoseok’s room. Closing the door softly, you buried yourself under the covers, breathing in that familiar sent of Hoseok, that always reminded you of home.

Just a short nap, you thought to yourself, before drifting off to sleep.

Drawing a heavy sigh, Jin leaned back in his chair keeping an eye on the half-written assignment on his laptop. It was due yesterday, but he had managed to get it pushed to tomorrow morning. Which was great. Except he still had no fucking clue how to finish it. It was for that one class, he already had failed twice, and he really needed to pass this time. Reaching out for the papers scattered all over his bed, he skimmed through Jimin’s notes again, trying to make sense of the keywords he had scribbled down, when he took the class last semester. Turning the page, he read through your comments in the margin of the page, which added clarification to some of the statements. At least on the first few pages. On page 7, you and Jimin had had an entire conversation going on in the margins about where to go to lunch afterwards. And on page 12, you had complained about your roommate almost burning down the apartment in an attempt to cook dinner for her date. The next few pages were only class related, discussing possible subjects to write your rapport on. But on one of the last pages, you had written something about a cute guy, you had been seeing, and even though Jin knew the notes were from last semester, he couldn’t shake the irritation scratching in his chest at the thought of you dating another guy. And it wasn’t like he had read your comments specifically. He was using Jimins notes to write his assignment, and he needed to reread the notes for that. He hadn’t even read your comments the first few times. Or reread them a 1000-times more than the actual class notes. Of course not.

Groaning at himself he straightened back up, glancing at the clock. 6 pm. Pushing back from the table, he stood up from the desk and stretched his aching back. Maybe a walk would help him concentrate a bit. Slipping on his shoes and grabbing his phone and headset off the bed, he walked through the empty house to get to the front door.

All the guys had gone home, so he had the house to himself. Not that they knew though. They all thought he was home with his parents as well. He still hadn’t had the guts to tell them. That he couldn’t go home anymore. It was embarrassing to say the least. Shaking his head to clear it of the memories, he pulled the front door closed behind him and plugged in his in-ears, before starting off down the street.

Blinking lazily awake, you relished in the drowsy feeling in your limbs still weighing you down between the blankets. Briefly wondering what had awoken you, you suddenly felt your stomach growl, making you let out a light chuckle. Of course. You hadn’t had time for lunch today, and you were starving. Rolling over in a stretch, you let out a soundless yawn as you reached for your phone. A little past 6pm. Alright, it might be an early dinner, but you had nowhere to be and no schedule for the next few days, you reminded yourself, as you dragged your body out of bed and pulled on one of Hoseok’s sweatshirt before padding to the kitchen.

Passing the door to Jins room in the hall, your thoughts flickered to him and how little you had seen him lately. He hadn’t approached you on campus at all and when you had seen him around the house, he always excused himself and disappeared. Maybe it had been unfair of you to camp out at the house the entire week, but Hoseok had asked him and Jin had said it was okay. Continuing to the kitchen, you pushed the thoughts out of your head.

As promised, there was your bottle of wine on the counter against the fridge. Grinning to yourself, you grabbed a glass from the cupboard and poured yourself a glass. Taking the first sip, you closed your eyes and let the taste dance on your tongue. Humming in appreciation, you took another sip as you lazily floated to the kettle to boil some water for the ramen. Well, floated might be the wrong word to use, but it really felt like that. Humming to yourself as you prepared the ramen, you took another sip of wine waiting for the ramen to be ready to eat. Once it was ready, you ate it in silence standing over the counter, taking a sip of your wine every now and then. Quietly cleaning up after yourself afterwards, you poured another glass of wine before walking back to Hoseok’s room and pulling out your laptop.

Scrolling through Netflix for a while, you finally settled on ‘Princess Diaries’. Grinning in excitement, you quickly pulled out your headset, since the speakers on your computer didn’t work. Settling under the covers with your wine and the computer, you took a sip of your glass before starting the movie.

Walking through the door an hour later, Jin felt a little more at ease. The walk had cleared his head a bit and actually given him a few ideas on how to approach the rest of the assignment. He had bought some food from a grill on the way home and eaten it on the way, so he was ready to go back to work. Walking straight to his room, he kept his headset on, switching to his study playlist and readied himself for a study bubble marathon, meaning he wouldn’t stop until he was done with the assignment. Casting a glance at Jimins notes, he quickly gathered them and deposited them on the other side of the room so he wouldn’t be distracted (by you), before he settled at his desk and pulled up the document once more.

When the end credits to ‘Princess Diaries 2’ rolled over the screen, you decided to call it a night. Despite your long nap earlier, a few glasses of wine and two movies was a sure recipe for a good night’s sleep in your book.

Hoseok had called a few hours earlier to check if you were still alive and after pleading for you to come join him a few more times, you wished each other good night and ended the call.

Searching through your bag, you pulled out your toothbrush and toothpaste and ventured across the hall to the bathroom.

Clicking save one last time, Jin drew a relieved sigh as he triple-checked the word-count to make sure he met the acquired words. He was done. He even had 200 words more than the minimum, which was a first for him. All he needed now was to proofread it, but first he needed to energize a bit. Standing up in a stretch, he gave a satisfied nod at his laptop, before walking out of his room to the kitchen to get a red bull.

Drying your face on a towel, you pulled your hair up in a high bun before turning off the lights in the bathroom and walking back to Hoseok’s room, where you turned off the lights and snuggled down under the covers.

Snatching the can from the fridge and taking a big gulp right there, Jin noticed the unmistakable smell of ramen in the kitchen. One of the guys must have grabbed a bite to eat before leaving to go home. Feeling a little sad at the prospect of being without any of the guys for an entire week, Jin’s thoughts wandered to his different housemates and what they might be doing now. Yoongi might still be underway as he had to take both a train and two buses before reaching home. Jungkook was definitely already home. His brother had picked him up on the way home himself, and they had probably spent the time on the road singing along to the radio, like Jungkook and Jin usually did when no one was around to see them. Jimin never had classes on Fridays, so he left yesterday. His brother’s birthday was today, so he was probably out celebrating with him. Tae and Namjoon had rented a car together, as their parents lived in the same city and they should be home by now, Jin calculated in his head as he emptied the can and threw it out.

And Hoseok. Well, Hoseok left this afternoon with you. You always spent the spring holiday with Hoseok. It was his mom’s birthday and you were part of the family, as Jin had heard Hoseok remind you of several times. Despite the amount of times you had turned down Hoseok’s invitation, Jin was certain that you had gone with him anyway. Saying no to your best friend wasn’t one of your strong suits. Unlike saying no to Jin, which seemed to be a secret talent of yours, Jin thought with an annoyed huff as he walked back to his room to finish the assignment and mail it to the professor.

Waking up the next morning, you felt relaxed and comfortable as the light fell in through the curtains, you had forgotten to close last night. Smiling lazily to yourself, you reached over for your phone on the nightstand to check the time. It was only 7 in the morning, but your body was restless, and you suddenly felt like going for a run.

Getting up to change into your running gear, you did a few stretches to warm up your muscles before tying your running shoes and leaving the house.

Startled awake, Jin sat up abruptly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Listening for what awoke him, he was only met by the quiet of the empty house.

“Must have been a bad dream,” he mumbled to himself, as he sank back against the pillow with a yawn, dozing off again.

When his phone rang a little later, he lazily rolled over to grab it off the nightstand.

“What?”, he growled, voice muffled against the pillow.

“Morning, Jin,” Namjoon’s upbeat voice greeted him. “Sorry, if I woke you. I just wanted to remind you to pack that book I borrowed you last time you went back to your parents. I promised Jimin he could read it.”

Fuck. The book.

Suddenly very awake, Jin swung his legs out of bed and sat up.

“Yeah, sure. Don’t worry about Joon. I’m looking at it right now. I’ll bring it back next weekend.”

“Alright, great. Thanks! How are your parents? Are yours as curious about your love life as mine are?”, Namjoon chuckled into the phone, making Jin's palms break out in cold sweat, as he let out a very poor imitation of a laugh.

“Sure are. I gotta go though. Promised I would help with breakfast. Talk to you soon,” Jin rambled, hanging up the phone with a pounding heart.

Goddammit. The fucking book. He had completely forgotten all about it. How was he supposed to get a new one before Namjoon got back?

Sighing in annoyance at himself, he ran a hand through his hair before getting up and walking to the bathroom to shower.

One problem at a time.

Maybe he would do a facemask afterwards and relax with a movie, he thought to himself as he stepped under the warm water, trying to ignore his fathers scolding tone in the back of his mind.

Gasping for air as you almost fell through the door after your run, you cursed yourself for not exercising more often. Heaving for air you walked to the kitchen to get some water with the music still blasting through your in-ears. Standing by the counter, you gulped down two glasses of water as you let your body cool down a bit, before walking to Hoseok’s room to get a towel so you could shower.

Jin stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his hips. Reaching for the face mask in the cabinet, he stepped up to mirror and applied the sheet mask, smoothing in down on his cheeks and under his chin.

Discarding your shirt, sports bra and pants in the room, you grabbed a towel and walked across the hall to the bathroom. Humming along to the song from your in-ears, you reached for the doorknob.

Throwing one last look in the mirror, Jin grabbed the doorknob and pulled open the door, walking straight into a person.

A naked person.

The person let out a surprised shriek, that sounded vaguely familiar, but in the same second she lost her balance and Jin reached out to help her by instinct only to lose his own balance and before he knew it, he was on the floor with the woman on top of him.

“What the fuck?!” She screamed, scrambling off him and covering herself with a towel. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

“What I’m doing here?! I live here! What the hell are you doing here?”, Jin roared at the women, who was currently too occupied in securing the towel around her to look at him. But it only took Jin a few seconds to place her. “Y/n?!”

Startled by your own name, your eyes shot up to the man’s face, which was still covered by a sheet mask. But the broad shoulders paired with that voice was unmistakable.

“Jin!? What the hell? I thought you were by your parents?”, you groaned, still stuck in outrage of being caught naked.

Quickly tearing the mask from his face, he rolled his eyes at your words.

“And I didn’t think I had to inform you about me being in my own house! What are you even doing here?”, he asked in annoyance.

“Hoseok said, I could stay here during the break, since you were all at home anyway. I didn’t know, you were here.” As the anger left your voice, you took in Jin’s irritated state. “I’m sorry. I get it if you don’t want me here. Let me just pack my bags and I’ll go home.”

“Wait,” Jin exclaimed, suddenly a bit panicky. “You can stay. Under one condition,” he stated, making you roll your eyes.

“If it’s sex, I would rather go home, Jin,” you huffed in annoyance.

“It’s not sex, you idiot,” he spat at you, making your eyes widen in surprise. “Not everything in this world is about sex.”

“Sorry. What is it then?”

He suddenly seemed… hesitant. Nervous. His eyes were shifty, and you could see the strain in his shoulders. If you hadn’t known better, you would say he was scared. But that couldn’t be. What could he be afraid of?

“You can stay here,” he repeated, swallowing visibly under your gaze. “As long as you don’t tell the rest of the guys, that I was here as well.”

Blinking at him in surprise, you tried to figure out what was going through his head. This was definitely not a side of Jin, you were used to seeing, and you didn’t know him well enough to anticipate his next words either.

“Just… We can stay here, both of us. If you feel more comfortable with it, we can just act like we don’t know each other. Like we just share a kitchen. Or I can make sure to not get in your way and stay quiet. Or I can cook for you and we can eat together? Only if you want of course. Just. Whatever you feel most comfortable with. Just please don’t tell the others I’m here as well.”

His words were pleading, and his eyes widened in fright. Not of you. You were quite sure about that. But he was definitely afraid of something. He should be the one in control here. The one with the power to throw you out on your ass. And yet he was asking you for a favor.

“Okay. I won’t tell them. But I have a condition as well?”, you half stated, half asked, looking at him hesitantly, only to get an eager nod back. “No sexist comments. No flirting. No cheesy lines. No commenting on my body. This house will be a genderless, sexless, non-flirty safe-zone for the first time in it’s life,” you stated in a declarative tone, earning a snort of laughter from Jin.

“Whatever you say,” he laughed at you, and you found yourself grinning back at him.

Oh, this could be interesting.

A/N: Ah, one last comment! The scene with Jin and Y/n running into each other half-naked was shamelessly stolen from the movie The Proposal, which is coincidentally one of my favorite movies!

// Part ix //

97 notes · View notes

v1rg1nvodkasprite · 5 years

Text

Greaser → Ben Hardy (Part X)

Summary

Due to Shenanigans, you have been sent back in time to the 1960s. You find yourself in a high school. You also find someone very intriguing but he’s unrestrained.

Warnings: language, angst, fluff, hospitalization, defibrillation, crying.

Notes: this is the last part!! thank u sm for reading and lmk what u thought of the series in comments. love u guys!! x

I pulled open the curtain, looking back at Ben in his bed and the back at the man that was getting settled into his own. They had similar facial features but the older man had grey hair and wrinkles on the side of his mouth and around his eyes. There was no way.

I looked back to Ben. What was going on? What were the odds?

"He's awake. Sir! Sir, how are you feeling?" one of the nurses asked. I stood up instantly, trying to get a better look at the man. As he started to talk, a man walked by, closing the curtains.

"Bella?" I heard Ben grasply. I turned to him, sitting down instantly. "Hey, how are you feeling? Do you want the nurse?" I asked and he shook his head.

"I don't feel so good," he whispered as I sat down. I gently brushed his hair out of his face. "I know, babe. I know," I said and held his hand.

A nurse knocked at the wall beside the curtain. "Come in," I called out, not moving my eyes from Ben.

"How is he feeling?" she asked, putting on some gloves. "Not so good, doc." he said, his voice strained. "She popped on a protective, plastic cover onto the thermometer. "Open your mouth," she instructed, placing the thermometer under his tongue.

A minute later, it beeped and she took it out of his mouth, glancing at the temperature, "Your fever has gone down to 100.6 degrees. We'll still need to monitor you and figure out what is really going on with you. I'll get someone to bring you a jello and water," she said, popping of the protective cover into the trash before walking out.

"It's not just the flu, is it Y/N?" he asked, looking up at me. I shook my head. "Apparently, your body is eating itself away," I said, my voice cracking, "I should've never let you come."

"No, babe. I wanted to. I wasn't happy where I was. I was barely living. This isn't your fault," he said, squeezing my hand. "Ben, I've only known you for what? Two weeks?" I pointed out. "Two and a half," he muttered under his breath. I scoffed.

"We barely knew what was going to happen. We hadn't even known each other for a month. It was foolish of me to let you come with me and know look at where you are!" I exclaimed, loudly. Surely the nurses walking by could hear us.

"But it isn't your fault. Who knows what this possibly could be from?" he said after sighing. "What else would it be from Ben? The man in the room across from you has the same fever as you and the same name. None of this is just coincidental," I said.

There was a prolonged silence before Ben broke it. "So, what's going to happen?" he asked. "I don't know, babe."

The curtains slide open and the nurse from earlier walked in. "Here's your jello and water. Just press this blue button if you need anything," she said. We quietly thanked her before she left.

"Please come here," Ben said rasply, "Please." He moved over in his bed, making as much space as possible so that I could fit. I laid down next to him, resting my right leg over him. His body was still warm and his heartbeat was sped up slightly.

"What if you have to go back?" I asked, without thinking. "Why would I have to, love?" he was slightly confused at my question. "What if this doesn't get better. If it's not temporary. What if it's fatal?" I rambled on.

He hugged me closer to him and kissed my forehead, "If it is then I maybe I'll go back." I didn't say anything after that. I just laid next to him listening to the sound of his heart beating and drawing circles on his chest.

After about half an hour, he had fallen asleep, exhausted from everything that had happened. I carefully got up, trying not to wake him. I walked out of his room and speaker through the curtains from the older Ben's room.

He was sleeping peacefully, just as Ben was in the other room. His hair was a bit shorter and grey. He had gained some weight and his arms had lost some of their muscle.

My eyes lowered to the ground and I backed up from out of the room. If the present Ben was here in this lifetime, could my Ben survive here as well? I wondered if that was why they were both sick. It couldn't possibly be just a coincidence.

Ben now was married, in his old age and probably had kids as well as grandkids. The chance for me with him would be if I had been born when he had, back in the early 1950s. That, or go back and be with him which I honestly didn't know if it was worth it or not. I loved him but I could just throw my life away. It wouldnt work out.

I walked back to Ben's room, curling up beside him. His arm wrapped around me and he nuzzled into my hair, half asleep. He would have to go back.

"I love you," I whispered, not intending to receive any response. Ben hummed, still half asleep.

I awoke by a nurse frantically shaking me. "You need to get up, now!" she said, almost yelling at me. I sat up and looked over. They had Ben's shirt off and he looked deadly pale. They were prepping the defibrillator.

I quickly jumped out from the bed, looking at Ben in shock. Tears welled up in my eyes. Was he dead? "Ma'am, you need to step out," one of the doctors ordered. I heard the buzzing of the electricity from the defibrillator. I backed out of the room, as they shocked Ben, making me jump.

I turned around and doctors and nurses were frantically doing the same in the older Ben's room. I slightly shook my head, sitting on floor backed up against the wall. I had to get Ben back as soon as possible.

After 15 minutes or so, they had managed to stabilize his heartbeat. The same with the man across the room. How did they not realize they had two men who had the same name and condition. A nurse mentioned that I could go in and see him which made me push the thoughts into the back of my mind.

I sat in the chair beside his bed and held his hand, moving my thumb across his knuckles. I just watched him. I would miss him so much.

A little while later, I heard rustling in a the bed and a deep groan. "Y/N," he called out. "I know, babe. I'm here. You're okay," I whispered to him and he groaned again. I squeezed his hand, assuring him that I was here.

A moment or two passed before I called out for him. "Ben, you need to go back," I told him and he nodded his head, "I know."

He moved over to make room for me in the small hospital bed. I carefully climbed in and he wrapped his arms around me, hugging me as close to him as he possibly could.

"Just one more day, please," he begged, his chest softly vibrating as he spoke. "Ben, look at you. You almost died. You did die. Who knows what will happen if you stayed here for another day," I said.

He just nodded, understanding the situation. His grip tightened on me and my fingers grazed her his hard chest. A knot in my throat started to grow and and tighten. I tried to swallow it as tears welled in my eyes. I started to quietly cry into his chest.

"One more hour than, just an hour," he pleases and I nodded, looking up at him. He smiled, lifting his hand to my face. He gently swiped the tears from my cheek with his thumb. "I'm so in love with you," he whispered softly. I smiled sadly, "I'm so in love with you," I whispered back.

I brought my hand up to his face, my fingers dancing from his temple to his cheek then to his lips. He was so beautiful.

We laid there just cuddling and studying each other's features. It went by too fast and the clock chimed. An hour had passed. The familiar knot tightened in my throat as I started to cry. Ben hugged me, reaching over to grab my phone and then handed it to me. I sighed, typing in the password opening up the tab with the link on it.

I slowly handed it back to him. He looked to me, leaning in to kiss me. Our lips moved slowly against each other. It was passionate, yet gentle.

Suddenly, his presence disappeared from me. I fluttered my eyes open. Ben was gone, my phone sitting on the bed beside me.

I got up, slowly. It was like all of it was a dream. He was gone. I walked out of the room and walked to the present Ben's room. Or I guess now, just Ben's room.

I peaked through the curtain and saw that he was awake. His eyes met mine and I backed up, gasping. "Bella?" he called out. My breath hitched in my throat. I pushed open the curtain to meet him.

"Holy shit," he exclaimed. He was just as vulgar as he was when he was young. "You're just as I remembered. Did I just leave?" he asked. "You remember?" I asked and he nodded.

The tears that been building up in my eyes started to roll down. "I'm so sorry," I sobbed and he got up from his bed, slowly. He hugged me close to him as I wrapped my arms around him. He was still taller than me.

"It's okay. I'm okay," he told me. I stepped back, nodding. "You need to move on. I always kept you in my heart. Now I have a family of my own. I'm married and have a son and a grandson, who is your age," I nodded, smiling, "I'm happy for you."

"Goodbye," I said, backing up. "Bye, love," he said, waving. I smiled, turning around and walking away. Suddenly, I bumped into a hard chest.

"I'm so sorry," I said, looking up. "You're fine, love," the boy said. He looked so much like Ben. "This is my grandson, James," Ben said from behind me. I smiled, "Hi, James," I greeted him, smiling. "Hey, beautiful."

taglist

@rrrogah-tayluhh , @simplyvictoria-93 , @rencontre-moi-dans-le-couloir , @kirket03 , @plethora-of-things , @satanspaghetti , @rogersrager , @spreadymercury , @hi-i-dont-know , @kurt-nightcrawler, @rogahmtaylah

88 notes · View notes

jlf23tumble · 6 years

Note

Hey Jen! Happy Birthday first of all!! As my favourite TXF-era Louis hate-watcher/enthusiast/scholar (and one of my all-round absolute fave bloggers) I 1) would love to hear your thoughts on his post-TXF comments and 2) Remember when there was this nice nerdy boy auditioning on XF? Simon said he lacked personality, but Louis defended him passionately saying that just bc he wasn't the bad boy Simon was looking for didn't mean he didn't have any personality. And then fast forward to... 1/2

Louis’ interview with Satan Cowell’s #1 provider of anal unguent… his answer about having been a “party boy” was so interesting to me. He seemed uncomfortable and said “yeah there’s a responsibility at both ends, to be good and also to be a little bit bad, a little bit mischievous sometimes”. Super interesting choice of words… “a responsibility”. And DW, transparent as always “that’s what we want from our rock stars”. Mmh. What Simon wants for sure. 2/2

——–

Hey, thanks for the birthday wishes!! I’ve had a few (got drunk on you, etc.), so I’m gonna try and answer this, but if it comes off as incoherent, let’s all just blame sweet lady vino. As you (correctly!) suggest, I’m so here for all XFUK talk, and I’m curious to hear more about Louis’s experiences on the show as we get deeper into promo that neatly swerves Louis’s personal life. Olivia got some GREAT INTEL from him, but he’s hinted in previous interviews about being nervous or having to be a certain “character,” and a LOT of it is tied in to this Sun-perspective, which is more or less run by the people running Simon (I don’t like to give him coded language because that gives him more attention and power, like we’re watching a shitty soap villain, when in reality, he’s a sad, vain little man whose “empire” is imploding faster than his cheap tit job). Make no mistake, XFUK was a calculated risk to salvage Louis’s rep in the UK (the demo that engages with it is the demo that reads the Sun, and he’s been trashed there for years), but it WORKED, and part of that is Louis’s natural charm, but it’s also down to the edit, both on screen and in print. And Louis knows it, calls it out with Wootton, the whole thing about the responsibility, as you say, but also that most of those shit articles are Dan’s work (just like Niall hinted at, with pretty much the same smirk). They all know it’s part of the game, but it does do some damage, and he’s in damage control mode…seemingly, everyone’s on board with it, but the shrapnel (at least in print) is Zayn, and that’s because Louis didn’t throw Harry under the bus like he was supposed to (Dan needed a headline about someone Louis hates in the band, so he took Louis’s sad resignation about Z and puffed it up because there’s literally nothing there about H…and don’t even get me started on the whole “party boy” image and who it was originally intended for). I have so many thoughts on all of it, but you have to watch everything to talk about it, and I’m not here to engage with anyone who hasn’t. I’m drunk enough to share some of my random unpopular onions, so here you go, in one go:

El’s definitely “vital” for selling an album about long-term love for an artist who��s closeted, and she’s the best fit for it (they get along, they’re coworkers, “she’s” been there through all the ups and downs, so get ready for those long-term love songs because they ain’t about her)

bg won’t end anytime soon, so if you’re one of those who’s constantly screaming ‘end it’ in tags, you’re only upsetting yourself (I think it WILL end eventually, but with a whimper, and trying to push for a scream is not worth your own personal angst)

That said, look at the negative space here, there’s less and less and less talk about him having a son, seeing him with a son, but he can still talk about his “boy” and do all kinds of other things that play with that narrative subversively (is it his bf, his son, his brother? an emotion? we’ll never know)

Simon has an outdated idea of what “sells” for rockstars, but so does Irving Azoff (Louis’s media rollout with his team is on POINT, and it hits all platforms, but he still has to deal with shit related to the Sun, Metro, etc.; the Azoffs are notoriously not plugged into SM, they use print like Billboard and a fairly outmoded form of non-print pub PR, but Harry has a lot of charm that bleeds out into OTHER PEOPLE’S SM…oh, and p.s., he STILL has to deal with the Sun, Metro, etc. from time to time)

But this is why Louis’s current media push is so GOOD, you don’t even know…all platforms, all of the biggest ones, there’s a strategic plan here, please stop pretending like you have this more figured out than they do, my god, he has GOT THIS

XFUK was an intentional move to repair tab damage in the UK, and it worked (it was fucking SMART, and he smashed it, so much damage was repaired, and on an actual schedule)

I don’t know any BTS arrangements (before you @ me, let me stop you right there, neither do you), but clearly, more than one party/contract is at play here, and you really should do yourself the favor of listening to ALL OF IT, because he drops hints all over the place (that Olivia interview alone had so much happening that wasn’t excerpted or giffed)

There’s a very real possibility that Louis and Harry don’t WANT to come out because of the invasive interest in their lives, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! But it might also explain when things appear that aren’t aimed at the gp

Argh, I’m rambling, and this is getting too long/too boring, but yeah, I’m probably drunkenly blanking on even more fantastic thoughtsTM, but XFUK was a game changer in a lot of ways, for everyone involved.

#whooo this wine is catching up with me and i hope i answered your ask okay #i really do have more thoughts but these are what's coherent at the mo #lmaoooo

19 notes · View notes

howdowormsreproduce · 6 years

Text

Working Overtime-Chapter 2

Word Count: 5900 words

Trigger warnings: ??? I don't think there is any but please tell me if there is!

Tags: @weirdsthenewnormal , @the-incedible-sulk , @em-be-lievable, @whatwashernameagain ... let me know if you wanna be added or removed from the tiny tag list

Notes: So uh yea enjoy this piece of trash

Pairings: Platonic moxiety, platonic analogical, romantic logicality

After finishing filing all the adoption papers, Logan and Patton were waiting for the day when the foster home would call them and tell them it was time for them to pick Virgil up.

Virgil had been packing for most of the day and he was finally ready to leave. After double checking about a million times, he was sure he hadn't forgotten anything. He sighed quietly and pinched himself just to make sure this wasn't a dream. He'd wanted to leave this dump for so long, it just felt so surreal. He sighed once more and picked up his duffel bag. He was ready. He had to be ready. So, after a couple of deep breaths, he finally walked out of his room to go wait for Logan and Patton to come. No, wait that wasn't right. He waited for his new dads to come. Oh god. That was going to take some getting used to.

Meanwhile, Logan was anxiously hurrying Patton up back at their house. He didn't want to be late. This was the biggest day of his life (besides marrying Patton, of course) and he couldn't be late. "Patton! Hurry up....please." Logan yelled up the stairs, adding the last word a couple seconds later. He had to be more polite. Especially if he was going to have a child on his hands. Patton didn't answer but instead skipped (and tripped) down the stairs happily. "I'm readyyy" Patton said in a singsong voice. "Okay then let's go," Logan said hurriedly, even though they technically were 5 minutes early. "Are you okay honey? You look a little anxious..." Patton asked Logan, looking at him with worry showing in his hazel eyes. "I'm fine Patton. I'm just a little... Nervous. That's all. Just nervous." Logan repeated, talking as if he was reassuring himself more than Patton. "Well okay... C'mon let's go get our son!" Patton said cheerfully, only taking one more glance towards Logan before he skipped happily out the front door and into the car. Logan sighed. Why was he so nervous? Ever since the first time they met with Virgil about a month ago, they had just clicked. It was like finding that one missing piece of the puzzle. Metaphorically of course. Virgil had been that one missing piece. And boy, did Logan like finding that one missing piece for puzzles. "Logan! You are taking forever! Come on! We gotta go!" Logan suddenly heard Patton yell from the car. Logan had been spacing out! He quickly checked his watch. Oh god! He was two minutes late! Logan gasped and hurried out the door. He quickly locked the door and got into the driver's seat. "Apologies. Let's go." Logan said as soon as he turned on the ignition. And, they were off to go pick up their new son, Virgil.

Patton had been waiting for this moment forever! He had been waiting since before they'd met Virgil. Since before he and Logan had even begun to talk about adopting. For puppy's sakes, he had wanted t since he was a kid (coincidentally enough)! He just loved the idea of it. Taking care of someone, making sure they feel loved. His parents hadn't exactly done that for Patton and he wanted to be the complete opposite of them. He would give him all the love he had to offer! Soon, Patton was daydreaming about all the fun times they would have as a family. All the theme parks and museums. Oh and baking, lots of baking! Aww, he could just imagine Logan getting ever so slightly stressed out with the mess in the kitchen and going into the living room to go do a puzzle. He could imagine Virgil going to Logan to help him with the puzzle, after seeing how stressed he was. Logan would smile and they'd finish the puzzle. Right? Virgil seemed like puzzle type of guy. Anyways, then they would clean up the kitchen together. Logan always helped clean up anyways because he was usually the one who finished the cookies (much to Patton's dismay). Patton sighed dreamily. He couldn't wait to be a dad! After about 10 more minutes of daydreaming, Patton felt someone lightly shake his shoulder. He immediately perked up and heard Logan calling him. "Patton? Patton! We're here already. Patton?!" Patton shook himself slightly, getting himself back to normal and quickly got out of the car. "Gee, are you must be a star, cause I sure was spacing out!" Patton said cheerfully, laughing at his own joke. "That was terrible. Absolutely terrible." Logan said with a blank expression. If Patton hadn't known Logan for so long, he would have believed that the man in front of him really thought the joke sucked. But, Patton had known him for a long enough time to easily spot his lips curling into an ever so tiny smile, his eyes glinting with amusement. "Okay, I'll agree, not my best. Now C'mon, let's go get our son!" Patton said excitedly, almost exploding with happiness. Patton and Logan walked through the front door, and there he was, sitting on the couch with his headphones on, Patton and Logan's new son, Virgil.

Virgil looked up from his MP3 player as he heard the front door creak open. Patton and Logan-no, his new dads were right there. They were looking at him so fondly. Virgil simply froze in place. He didn't know what to do. Should he greet them? Should he run up to hug them as he had before? He had no idea what to do. He was running various scenarios through his head when he heard a warm voice. "Hiya Virgil! You remember me? I'm Patton. And this is Logan." Patton gestured towards his husband, who was not only slightly sweating, but his eyes are darting in every direction except Virgil's. He had his hands shoved in his pockets and looked like he was ready to bolt at any second. Logan nodded his head and breathed in deeply. He wiped the small beads of sweat that were forming on his forehead away. He made eye contact with Virgil and took his hands out of his pockets. "Salutations. I'm Logan. I mean we've already met so I suppose this is quite useless... And I absolutely hate giving useless information... But my information is never useless... Until now... But that's not the point... What I'm trying to say is...I um... Well... You S-see.." Logan went on, trying to start over when his Patton slightly nudged his arm. "Logan, honey, you're rambling. Why don't I speak okay?" Patton asked gently. Logan almost immediately nodded and shut his mouth. "So, we're here to take you home! Do you have everything packed?" Patton asked giddily, but also somehow with a tinge of softness. "Oh uh yeah, everything's packed," Virgil replied quietly, holding up his small duffel bag to show he had packed. Immediately, Patton frowned. "That's all you have?! Well, we'll fix that later. For now, I'll put it in the car." Patton said, gesturing for Virgil to hand him the duffel bag. "Oh no, I can take it easy. Really, it's fine." Virgil said, looking slightly scared. "I don't want to bother you. Really. I can carry it." Patton was extremely worried. Why was Virgil acting this way? "What's wrong? Think good ol' Patton can't handle a duffel bag?" Patton asked jokingly. "Of course not sir, I'm sure your very strong and I'm sorry for offending you, I really just meant to stay out of your way. Of course, you can carry the duffel bag if you wish, sir." Virgil said hurriedly, looking as if he was waiting to be smacked. Patton was dumbfounded. Why was he acting like this? It was simply a joke. "Virgil, it was only a joke. And you don't have to call me sir. Pat or Dad is just fine. Its okay if you're not ready for Dad, though. Pat or Patton will work just fine." Patton said gently. "Are you okay?" "Of course I am si- I mean Patton. I just... I..." Virgil trailed off. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to or aren't ready for. Okay? Now, let's get you home." Patton told him softly. Once they had everything checked out, they got into the car. Even though this was the foster home that Virgil had been at was the nearest to Logan and Patton's house, it was still a good 15 minutes away. It was silent for about 5 minutes before Logan said something. "So, Virgil, what are your interests?" Logan asked quietly. "Uh oh well I don't know.", said Virgil extremely interested in his shoes suddenly. "Oh come on buddy! There has to be something. Any hobbies. You know, music, sports, art etc. Something?" Patton said eagerly, hoping to know something new about his new son. "Patton, let him breathe for Newton's sake! Perhaps he-" but Logan was cut off by Virgil's ever so quiet voice. "I know how to play guitar. I also like to draw sometimes and people say I'm really fast at running. I also ..." Virgil said, mumbling the last part into the sleeve of his hoodie. "Wow, guitar! And drawing? Neat! I never really was good at drawing. You know, Logan's really fast too. He goes on morning runs all the time! Maybe you guys can go on morning runs together! I'm more of a skipping kinda guy myself." Patton went on, getting more excited by the second. "And what was that last part?" "Oh I uh, I ...." Virgil said once again mumbling into his sleeve. "Come on buddy, you can do it. You know we would never make fun of you." Patton said tenderly. "Well I uh, iliketowritepoemssometimes," Virgil said quickly, all at once. It took Patton a couple seconds to process it all, but after he did he gushed happily. "You do? Wow, that's sooooooo cool! Maybe you could teach me how to write!? Hey, did you know that Virgil was a Roman poet? And your name is Virgil! And you're a poet! Woooow! What a coinkydink! Hey hey, I have a poem joke for you! You ready? Here goes. Where do poems come from? Poe-trees! Do you get it? Like a poet... But trees! And also poetry you know? Poe-trees!" Patton chattered. "First of all, Patton that was absolutely appalling." Logan finally spoke up but he wasn't fooling anyone, you could see the amusement in Logan's eyes and his lips slightly curling into a smile. "Second of all, you write poems, Virgil? I used to, all the way back in high school I believe. Even though I haven't written a poem in a while, I still enjoy reading them quite a lot." Logan said calmly. "You like poems too?!" Virgil said in surprise. But before Logan could answer, Patton chimed in. "You betcha! He has shelves full of poems. He has soo much! You guys could read 'em together! I don't usually understand poetry, but there is a certain poet that I do like." Patton said with a smirk. Logan suddenly looked very serious. "Patton doesn't you dare.." but he was cut off by a mischievous Patton. "Actually, now that I think of it, I still have a couple of his poems nice and safe. In fact, I think I have them up in the attic. Not all of them. Only a couple, mmm twenty, I think?" Patton said, clearly enjoying seeing Logan so nervous. "And I believe the name of this special poet was Logan Sanders? Yup, I think that's what it was. Logan Sanders. And boy, did he write some sappy love poems." Logan's cheeks flushed red and Virgil just sat in back, trying to muffle an ongoing laugh by smothering his mouth into his hoodie. "Now, Patton, I don't think you have the share this information with uh Virgil," Logan said nervously. "You're right. I don't have to share this information with Virgil. And yet, I want to so badly." Patton said happily. "Oh, would you look at that. I think I have one of those poems saved on my phone. Hmm, this one seems real sappy, too. To share or not to share?" Patton said, almost unable to contain his giddy. "Patton.... Please..." Logan said suddenly, softly. Immediately, Patton's expression softened. His mischievous grin disappeared. His playful tone was replaced with a gentle one. "Yea yea, you're right. This material is more to keep in private." Patton said quietly. It was silent for a couple seconds before Logan said again,"That joke of yours really was horrible. The one about poems." Suddenly, Virgil cracked. He broke out in gut-wrenching laughter. He was gasping for air, but every time he stopped, he would start all over again. He was holding his stomach while tears streamed down his cheeks. It was the most beautiful thing Patton had ever heard. Virgil's laugh was the kind of thing you had to earn. And once you had earned it, you wouldn't wanna stop hearing it. Patton smiled fondly at Virgil. He already loved his son beyond belief.

"We're here," Logan said after Virgil had stopped laughing. Virgil gasped. Their house had two stories. Two! Virgil quickly got out of the car and took his duffel bag out. Patton unlocked the front door. "Welcome home, buddy." Patton beamed. Virgil shuffled past the threshold and into the house. "Wow! This place is.... Nice. I don't belong here..." Virgil thought, looking around. "I'll give you the tour of the place!" Patton declared excitedly. "Follow me!" Virgil obeyed and followed Patton as he began the tour. "Here's the kitchen. Nothing much here. Oh! Um here's the cabinet of snacks, feel free to grab as many as you like. Don't worry about breakfast, lunch or dinner. I'll take care of that. You'll probably find me in the kitchen most of the time since I love to bake. Uh, Yea. On to the next room!", Patton cheered. "So, this is the laundry room but you won't be going in here much. Logan usually does the laundry since there are so many creepy-crawly-death-dealers in here!" Patton visibly shuddered. "Creepy crawly death dealers?" Virgil said, slightly raising an eyebrow. "Spiders.", Patton explained. "Anyways, let me show you the living room." Patton walked on and Virgil followed him obediently. He didn't want to get in trouble. "So here's the living room. Nothing much. Just a couple couches and a TV." Virgil was surprised to see a couch that wasn't covered in stains. The kids at the foster home weren't exactly the cleanest. He also audibly gasped when he saw the size of the TV. "I know, I know, not the latest model but it'll do," Patton said sympathetically. "Huh? No! It's huge actually. It's great." Virgil said quickly. "Okay, glad you like it! Lemme show you the bathroom real quick and then we can go upstairs!" Patton said happily, grabbing Virgil's wrist to lead him towards the bathroom. Virgil almost automatically flinched and slightly backed away from Patton. Patton immediately let go of his wrist and gave him a worried look. "Sorry if I'm overstepping any boundaries..." Patton voiced softly, looking down at his shoes. "No, it's fine. I just.... don't like being touched. At all." Virgil mumbled. "Well, that's A-OK buddy! Logan isn't much for touching and I'm happy if you're happy. And if no touching makes you happy, then I won't touch you!" Patton replied, seeming unfazed by this news. Virgil was sorta surprised. Patton seemed like the type of guy that would give you a hug if you waved to him on the street. "Logan doesn't really like being touched either. I don't know how he puts up with me, seeing as I practically hug everything I see. Anyways, here's the bathroom, right next to the living room as you can see.", Patton indicated towards a simple white door a couple feet away from the living room. "I don't think I need to show you around in there. Patton giggled. "Okay, that's the first floor of the house, onto the next!" Patton gestured towards the stairs. "Come on!" As they walked up the stairs, Virgil was still trying to comprehend why Patton was being so nice to him. He had been rude to him and had even told him he didn't like being touched even though he had hugged Logan the last time they met. He had never hugged anyone before that and if he was being completely honest, he liked how it felt. He liked being hugged. But he couldn't make himself vulnerable. He simply couldn't. When they had finished walking up the stairs, Patton began to speak again. "Upstairs is where the bedrooms are. I'll show you around. Let's start with your bedroom!" Patton insisted, leading Virgil to a door. This door was different than the other simple, white doors. This door was painted a deep purple and had Virgil's name printed onto the front of the door. They had done that for him? "Do you like it?", Patton asked nervously, twiddling his thumbs. "Logan had said to leave the door plain but I couldn't help myself. I saw you wearing purple when we first met so I thought maybe you liked the color... And then, of course, your name is written on the door." Virgil simply gaped. Patton had actually taken the time to do this for him? "If you don't like it, I can change it back to white. I can take off the name too. It's okay I can change it." Patton offered. "What? N-no! It's perfect. Purple is my favorite color", Virgil admitted. Patton's face immediately lit up. "Great! Now, let me show you your room." Patton exclaimed excitedly. He opened the door and Virgil saw his room for the first time. It was a fairly large room with 2 windows. It had a queen size bed in the middle of the room that had black covers on it with purple rain clouds all over it and a couple pillows as well. There was a desk in the corner of the room with a simple black desk chair. On the other side of the room, there were double doors to what Virgil suspected was a closet and a bookshelf near the entrance of the room. Next, to his bed, there was a nightstand with a lamp on it. Even though the room was a bit bare, Virgil loved it. "I know it's a bit simple, but we'll go shopping this weekend. We didn't exactly know what you liked, so we did our best with what we knew." Patron explained. "Not much to show to you here, but there's the closet- Patton pointed to the double doors Virgil had noticed earlier- I think you'll be able to fit all your clothes in there, judging by your duffel bag. We'll have to get you more clothes than that. And then over there's your bathroom." Patton said gesturing towards another door near Virgil's bed that Virgil hadn't noticed. Virgil was left speechless. His room was so perfect! And they were going to go buy him even more stuff?! He loved everything about his room. The simple desk and bookshelf. His humongous bed and the bed covers. His nightstand with a small lamp on it. He loved every single bit of his room with all his heart. Finally, after admiring his room for a couple seconds, Virgil spoke. "It's amazing. I love it! Really. It's great. You don't have to buy me any more stuff. It's already so perfect!" Virgil said happily. He truly loved his room. "Nonsense! Of course, we'll buy you some more stuff!" Patton insisted. Now, let's move on to the next rooms" Patton ended up showing Virgil Patton and Logan's bedroom (and told him he was welcome in there as long he knocked), the guest bedroom and the upstairs bathroom. Virgil tried to pay attention, he really did..but his mind kept wandering back to his beloved room. He wanted to just unpack, lay on the bed and listen to music. After the tour of all of the upstairs, Patton led him down the stairs. "And that's it. That's our house. You can do whatever you please now. I'll be working on lunch and Logan will probably be in his study. I didn't show you that part of the house because it's secrettt" Patton said, whispering the last part. "He reads and writes poems there. The whole thing about him having stopped writing poems was a total lie. I caught him writing once. They're so sappy! But anyways, you can go watch TV or hang out in your room. You can even go outside and meet the kids in the neighborhood if you like. I believe there's a couple kid your age around here. I'll call you for lunch when it's ready." Patton informed Virgil. "Okay. Thank you, Patton. I can help with lunch if you want." Virgil offered. "It's fine buddy! But before you do anything, why don't you go unpack?" Patton asked. "Okay. After that, I think I'll just stay in my room." Virgil replied, feeling slightly more at ease near Patton than he had expected to that day. "Sounds good buddy!" Patton responded and ventured into the kitchen, humming a cheery tune. Virgil jogged up the stairs, his duffel bag still slung across his shoulder. Once he got to his room he began to unpack. Unpacking was easy when you didn't own a lot of items. Virgil opened the closet doors and gasped. It was a walk-in closet and boy, was it huge. Not only did it have a huge rack, but it also had shelves and drawers in there. Virgil only had 10 shirts and 2 hoodies which he hung with the provided hangers that were in the closet. He also had 10 pairs of jeans, 8 of which were black and the other 2 were dark blue (All of them were unintentionally ripped but they looked as if store bought that way) which he stored on the shelves. Finally, he had 15 pairs of socks and underwears which he put in one of the drawers and he was done unpacking his clothes. He then moved on to unpacking the one pillow he had which was black with a skull on it which looked as if it belonged on his bed. He also had a small throw blanket that was black with purple polka dots on it. He folded it and put it at the foot of his bed. Then he simply put his toothbrush and toothpaste in the bathroom and he was done unpacking he grabbed the last couple things that were in his duffel bag: his headphones and MP3 player. Virgil flopped on to his bed (which he found out was much comfier than the bed at the foster home) and listened to music until he heard Patton call him for lunch. Virgil got out of bed and opened the door and sighed happily as the smell of lunch came wafting from the kitchen. It smelled delicious. Virgil practically ran down the stairs and saw a smiling Patton serving food onto 3 plates. "We're having pasta today. Are you allergic?" Patton asked. "No...actually, pasta is my favorite food" Virgil replied taking a seat. "Wow! Me too!!" Patton beamed, handing Virgil his plate. "Thanks... Pat" Virgil muttered. Patton smiled happily. "No problemo! I better call Logan over or else he'll stay in his study for hours." Patton explained. "Logan! Honey! Lunch is ready!" Patton yelled. Logan came from his study and his usually emotionless face lit up ever so slightly. "Pasta? My favorite?" He asked softly, looking at the food happily. "Yup! Turns out it's Virgil's favorite too!" Patton replied cheerfully. Virgil looked up at being mentioned. "Huh? Oh yeah... I love pasta" Virgil muttered. "Then you'll fit right in" Logan smiled warmly. "Thank you for the food, Patton," Logan said, turning towards Patton. "No problem, Lo! Now, eat your food." Patton remarked, pointing at Logan's plate. Logan nodded and took a seat. It was silent for a couple minutes before Logan spoke. "So, Virgil do you like the school you go to?" "Uh not really I guess. I'm not complaining but...." Virgil trailed off. "Its okay if you don't like your school buddy... In fact, I and Logan were thinking of you may be switching schools... If you would like to, of course" Patton voiced quietly. "Indeed", Logan agreed. "If you want to. Patton works at a school not far from our house as a school counselor. The school is called Ryden Academy. He-" but Logan was cut off my Virgil's gasp. "-I'm guessing you've heard of the school, then?" Logan raised an eyebrow. "Heard of it? Of course, I've heard of it. Everyone's heard of it. I've always wanted to go there! Isn't it a school for the gifted. Like art, sports, writing, etc ?" Virgil said excitedly "Affirmative," Logan replied Immediately, Virgil's mood darkened. "So how am I supposed to get in? I'm no good at any of that stuff" Virgil mumbled, feeling sadder and sadder by the minute "On the contrary, Virgil. Mrs. Dylan allowed us to see one of your old notebooks to learn more about you and some of your poems were quite satisfactory. Apologies if reading your notebooks was a violation of your privacy." Logan stated "Oh.. but I'm still nowhere near good enough to get into there," Virgil mumbled "Well, why don't you just take the test and see, alright buddy? If you don't pass we can find another school. If you do, I'll sign you up and have you a student there by next week. You can take the test this Saturday. Does that sound good, kiddo?" Patton soothed softly. "I guess." Virgil sighed quietly. "Alright. Just put your plate in the sink and I'll take care of it. You can go to your room if you want, but I'd like you to meet some of the kids in the neighborhood sometime soon. Okay?" Patton asked tenderly "Yea... That sounds good I guess. Thanks for the food. I can wash my plate, though. Really." Virgil remarked. "Actually, I'll wash the dishes tonight," Logan chimed in. "I find washing dishes quite soothing." Logan grabbed the dirty dish from Patton's hand and reached out to grab Virgil's dish too. Virgil flinched and stumbled out of his seat as Logan's hand brushed with his own. Logan looked at him alarm and worry painted his face. "Are you alright Virgil? Did I do something wrong?" Logan asked cautiously. Before Virgil could say a word, Patton replied. "Oops! Silly me, I forgot to tell you, Lo. Virgil doesn't like to be touched. At all. Please forgive Logan, Virgil. He didn't know" Logan's face scrunched up with worry and confusion, but he almost immediately recovered. "Apologies, Virgil. I didn't know." He shot a look at Patton who wore a sheepish smile before continuing. "If no physical contact, is what you wish, then there shall be no physical contact. If you could just hand me the plate, then." Logan chose his words carefully, not wanting to upset Virgil even more. Virgil was still surprised. Why were these people being so nice to him? "It's totally fine you didn't know. Sorry for overreacting." Virgil mumbled and handed Logan his plate. "I should go..." Virgil said almost immediately after handing Logan his plate and ran up the stairs. Virgil got to the top and took a couple deep breaths before opening the door. He quickly entered his room and unintentionally slammed the door behind him. Shit. Virgil thought after hearing the door slam. Now they probably think I'm mad or something. Great. Do you have to ruin everything, Virgil? Virgil sighed before slipping on his headphones, pressing play to his playlist, and crawling into bed and under his covers. Virgil didn't mean to fall asleep, really he didn't. But the bed was so comfy and the covers were so warm. He simply couldn't help himself.

Patton was usually such a happy man. Many people thought that was all he was. Sunshine and rainbows. And he was. Most of the time. But when Patton gets really fired up, you do not want to be in his way. As soon, as Patton heard the door slam shut from upstairs, his smile faded. "Goddammit", Patton muttered under his breath. "What was that Patton?" Logan asked, sorta smugly because they had had a bet and Patton promised to never swear. But Patton wasn't happy. He gave Logan a glare that shut him right up. Patton sighed and put his head in his hands. "What are we going to do? I want to go comfort him, but how am I going to without angering him even more? We're supposed to be making him feel welcome." Patton wanted to cry. They had just gotten Virgil and he already hated them. "It's okay Patton." Logan cooed putting a hand on Patton's shoulder. Patton almost immediately shrugged it off. He knew he shouldn't be mad at Logan, he knew it was nobody's fault. And yet, he was overcome with irrational anger and frustration. Logan saw the look in Patton's eye and stepped back slightly. He knew Patton would never hurt him, but he was still really scary sometimes. Patton looked up and saw fear written on Logan's face. Instead of calming down and softening his look, as usual, Patton's irritation grew. He stormed off simply muttering a small "I need to calm down" before walking out the front door and going for a walk. Logan was now truly worried. Patton had never gotten this angry before. In fact, in all the years Logan had known Patton, he had never stormed off like that before. Even when someone wrecked their wedding. (a story for another time) How was Logan going to fix this? All he knew was that he had about 15 minutes till Patton comes back. That's usually how long Patton takes walks for. And whatever surprise he has better be good.

Logan had decided that, even though he had done nothing wrong, he had to go apologize to Virgil. He went upstairs formulating a apology with every step he took. He'd finally thought of a satisfactory apology by the time he knocked on Virgil's door. This had better work.

Virgil jumped as he heard a firm knock on the door. After recovering from his mini heart attack, he said "Come in" as best he could without breathing heavily. Logan walked into the room, his face had worry and stress all over it. Virgil began to say something but was interrupted by Logan. "Virgil, allow me to officially apologize for the uh incident. I didn't know you didn't like being touched and I'm.. I'm. I'm sorry. I'm sorry ok?" Logan sighed softly. "I just. I hope you accept my apology." Wow. That was unexpected. Usually, Virgil would nimbly accept the apology and there's where it ends. But Logan deserves better than that. He really tried with that apology. Virgil sighed and began his apology. "Listen, I'm so sorry. I overreacted. The truth is, I'm okay with being touched. I gave you a hug. It was my first hug and I loved it. But I can't make myself vulnerable. I barely know you guys and I can't just open up. Not yet at least. I'm really sorry. Can we just forget this?" Virgil said for once not mumbling. Logan's face showed many emotions. First, he looked as if he was trying to process everything that had just been said to him. Then there was his thoughtful face. Then Logan's face lit up and he grinned like an idiot. "Yes! Yes, I-" he stopped himself, cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "That sounds quite satisfactory Virgil. Quite satisfactory, indeed." Logan and Virgil just smiled at each other for a bit before Logan snapped out of it and repossessed his emotionless face. "Anyways, Patton got really upset when he found out you were upset. He isn't exactly very happy and I've never seen him like this before. I need to cheer him up. He'll be back in about 10 minutes. Perhaps you could be of assistance?" Virgil thought for a moment before an idea finally struck him. "I got it! He exclaimed. "So the plan is..." Virgil said whispering the plan into Logan's ear. "Wow, Virgil. That's a great idea. Let's get started right now. We don't have much time."

And so Logan and Virgil worked hard and just barely got finished in time. "Hey, guys! I'm home. Guys? I'm sorry for getting so upset.." Patton trailed off as he wondered why the lights were off. He turned on the lights and jumped with surprise at what he saw. There they were, Patton's two favorite people standing in the kitchen smiling. Virgil was holding a tray of snickerdoodles and Logan was holding an old, raggedy notebook. There was a banner hung up saying in cursive "Forgive us?". Patton gaped and then smiled. "What's all this? "Well, I wanted to apologize for upsetting you" Logan started. "And I'm sorry for being a brat." Virgil finished. "Oh guyssss. You shouldn't havee. I feel so stupid. Agh I love you guys" Patton exclaimed walking towards them. He looked at Virgil fondly "You weren't being a brat, buddy. We all have preferences and I should've told Logan. I was being ignorant. I'm sorry" "And you," he said turning to look at Logan. "You're too good for me, Lo" Patton said, kissing Logan's nose. "I-You-We" Logan stuttered, his face a bright red. "Okay, Logan. Okay." Patton said softly. Patton rubbed his hands together happily. "Now what have we got here?!" Logan seemed to have snapped out of it by then. "Oh! Right! Virgil is actually quite good at baking and made you some snickerdoodles. I, on the other hand, dug up a bunch of old poems from my study and am prepared to read a couple to you." Logan cleared his throat. "There are also a couple new ones in here." It was Patton's turn to blush. He threw his arms around Logan happily and flashed Virgil his most loving smile. "You guys are the best! I'm sorry for getting so mad, it was my fault Logan didn't know anyway." Patton said, his smile fading. "I'm such a fool! You guys shouldn't have to do any of this to make me happy. I'm sorry." "Pat, you've said sorry like a million times already. Metaphorically of course. It's okay. Shall we all just forgive each other?" Logan asked, softly rubbing Patton's shoulder. "Yuppers! That sounds great Lo." Patton said, cheering up. "Yea, uh that sounds good." Virgil agreed with putting down the pan of snickerdoodles. "So uh... Do you want some snickerdoodles?" Virgil asked quietly. "That sounds great bud!" Patton said happily. "Why don't we all just 'chill' for the rest of the day," Logan suggested, putting quotation marks around the word chill.

"That sounds just fine." Patton giggled

"Yea that sounds good..." Virgil said speaking up for once.

After that, there were, of course, many more mishaps and problems during the awkward time that Virgil was still just fitting into the household but in only a couple months, it seemed that everyone fit perfectly for one another. Just like a perfect puzzle.

Notes: oof I have NO idea why that took me so long to write I'm so sorry you've probably forgotten this au because of how long I took sorryy. Any criticism is welcomed because I sure do need some. Keep in mind that I wrote the first like 3/4 of it a while ago and I didn't really have time to edit it so sorry if it's really bad

#amwriting platonic analogical #platonic moxiety #logicality #romanitc logicality #sorry this took so long #working overtime

44 notes · View notes

imagineaworlds · 6 years

Text

(2) brandewyn

summary: Thais Bolton lives in the OASIS. Well, sort of. Her dream is to one day live in the OASIS as Brandewyn with her best friend Wade. But he’s more concerned with the three keys James Halliday left behind after his death. The two of them embark on a familiar journey through the OASIS to save it from corporate assholes who want to take it away.

pairing: wade watts x female!oc

word count: 3,083

warnings: cursing. mention of death. mention and description of illness.

a/n: damn, it’s only chapter 2 and we’re already getting angsty. shit. also, i’m super bad about always mixing book and movie facts... i haven’t read the book, but wiki’s are a great thing sometimes.

(1) - (2) - (3) - (4)

For dinner, Wade and I sat on the car atop the pile of trash while eating sandwiches an entire bag of Doritos between the two of us. Wade couldn’t stop talking about Art3mis, and I couldn’t stop listening. I was excited that he was excited. The thought of becoming friends with Art3mis was now burned into Wade’s mind, and he was itching to see it happen.

He asked me why I left the OASIS so early, and why I freaked out during the race. Despite how close the two of us were, there were only a few things we kept hidden from each other. I never told him about my mom getting sick, or my strong fear of the race. I gave the Copper Key race another shot for Wade, but I couldn’t tell him that… So I told him I had to go grocery shopping and during the race I just was scared of zero-ing out. Wade nodded understandingly, and accepting the lie.

Sometimes it hurt me to not tell Wade the truth about my mom, but she loved him like a son, and she wanted to protect him. Of course I understood, so even after four months, Wade still didn’t know.

“I saw Soyzie,” I changed the topic before taking another bite of my sandwich. “I still can’t get her to tell me how she got the Rosalina skin.”

“I think you look badass in your Molly Ringwald from The Breakfast Club take on Sarah Connor. It’s just weird enough that it works.” He was teasing me, and I hit his arm.

It wasn’t meant to be Molly Ringwald… I just liked the red hair and the pink Sarah Connor outfit. But at the end of the day, he was right, it did look like Molly Ringwald played Sarah Connor in The Terminator. I had been meaning to change it for the longest time, but I kept pushing it off until I forgot about it.

After we finished our small meals and the sun went down, Wade helped me down. In the weird mix of lighting between the orange sunset behind the stacks and the darkness of the rising night, Wade looked older to me, and I saw him in a different way than ever before. His eyes were watching me intently. And I finally noticed just how much weight he lost. Maybe that was what made him look older? More mature? I didn’t want to think about it.

Then he snapped out of trance, and I saw a thought glow in eyes. Wade jumped up, “Oh, my gosh! Go online. Meet me at Halliday’s Journals.”

“Wade Owen, what are you on about?!” I called after him as he was running to his bus.

“Just go!”

I rolled my eyes and threw my head back as I sauntered towards my bus, and thought about how close I was to Wade. Did he find it weird? Did he like me in that way? Or was he just staring off into space, thinking about whatever impressive discovery he had just made. “Guess I’ll never know,” I whispered to myself as I climbed into the rusted bus.

As I logged on, I immediately met Z at Halliday’s Journals. This building was massive, and the entire outside was glass, as if to say Halliday was finally an open book. Inside, there were books, movies, memories, everything Halliday had stored away in that brilliant brain of his was transferred into the Journals for Gunters to dig through.

While I walked through the front entrance to find Z, I thought about how people would fight to get into the building since it had reached capacity almost everyday. But now it was empty. The hype around the search for the keys vanished, and everyone moved onto other things. Never Z. He was loyal to a fault and dedicated to finding those keys and saving the OASIS from IOI. I admired him for that, for never giving up. Even in the real world Wade was like that, which was part of the reason my mom didn’t want to tell him about her getting sick.

At the top of the steps, Z was talking to the unimpressed Curator. Oh, how that man loathed me and Perzival. For nearly a year we spent twenty four seven in the Halliday Journals, which meant that the Curator was stuck there, too. So it was really no surprise that he hated seeing us come in every now and then when we needed information on a new lead. “You’ve seen everything in here over a hundred times,” he would say as he led us through the halls. And every time Z and I would roll our eyes.

“What are we doing here?” I asked Perzival as he tried talking the Curator into something. “What did you figure out?”

Perzival radiated with adventure, “Art3mis said something to me earlier which got me thinking. And then when we were talking about your fucked up avatar, I put it all together. Halliday hated rules, that’s why the OASIS lacks so many.”

I thought long and hard, and then at the same time we said, “2029…” I shook with excitement, “Curator, can you take us to Gregarious Games 2029 Office Party?” The Curator kept a stern look. “Please?” I added hopefully.

The Curator sighed, “Very well. If you wouldn’t mind following me.”

When we were following the Curator through the ostensibly endless, Z was hardly walking straight as anticipation visibly coursed through him. “Halliday was pushing Morrow out because he thought Ogden lacked the concentration and devotion for the OASIS. Ogden wanted to implement rules, make it so people wouldn’t live their lives inside of the OASIS.” I talked myself through it. “But then why does this matter?”

“Think about it, B. If Halliday despised rules, why would he follow them in the creation of his tasks to acquire the keys? We’re missing something, and I think that something is in this specific memory. That’s why Art3mis mentioned it to me.”

“Couldn’t it just be a coincidence?” I questioned. “I mean, she’s a Gunter like us, she knows everything about Halliday… like us… and she also wants to win like us. So she could just be throwing you off track so she wins faster.”

Z shook his head, “She’s not like that.” I froze in my tracks, and it took Z a few more steps before he realized I was no longer at his side. He turned around, “What is it?” he asked.

I stared at him, “You— you like her. You have feelings for Art3mis.” Z turned red and stuttered as he tried to deny the accusation, but it only made him look more guilty. In my disbelief, I remembered the promise I made to myself, and I continued on through the corridors.

When we arrived at the memory, the Curator walked up to the controls while Z and I watched carefully. We took note of every movement they made, every word they said. Morrow was pleading for Halliday to keep him on board the OASIS project, trying to prove his worth, but Halliday wasn’t listening, his mind had been made.

“I liked things how they were… when they were…” Halliday said shyly. Obviously referencing the 80’s, his favorite decade. Ogden continued to argue, and then he compromised. “Why can’t we go backwards?” Halliday half-joked. “We always talk about moving forward, but maybe sometimes it’s better to move backwards really fast, no slowing down, no stopping… no thinking. Just the gas pedal on the floor and the tires spinning the opposite direction.”

At the same time, Z and I looked at each other with eureka. “You have to go backwards on the track!” we exclaimed simultaneously. Z was buzzing, “Oh, my gosh… At tomorrow’s race, I’m going to try it.”

“But what if you zero out?”

“I won’t. I know this is right.” He looked over at the still less than impressed Curator. “We should be getting home anyways.” His avatar reached for his visor, and then he was logged out of the OASIS.

I was left with only the Curator as I reached for my visor, “As usual, Curator, it’s been an honor.”

And then I logged out. I set my visor down on the table and grabbed my stuff, making sure that everything was clean and organized. No way in hell was I going to turn my area into a hoarding pen like Wade’s. Speaking of whom, Wade was over the moon happy. The entire walk back to the stacks he was rambling on and on about Art3mis, Halliday’s memory, and his plan at the race the next day.

Six months ago, I would have invited Wade to sleep over at my house like when we were little. His parents joked that he lived more at our home than theirs, and when he moved in with Alice, it became more common than before. Now, I worried that someday he’d be waiting outside the door for me one morning and he’d see just how sick my mom was. I wondered if he still would have slept over all of the time and ate meals with us would things be different. Would he have feelings for Art3mis— a girl he’d never met in person. Maybe. I didn’t ponder it too much that night as I was exhausted.

Wade was the first up the rope since his place was further up, and I waited patiently for the rope to come back down. Nearly everyone was inside except for the occasional beggar. That far into the Columbus there was never any wildlife. No birds, no dogs or cats, nothing. They probably hated the state of Ohio just as much as I did. So the streets were deathly quiet, and it always sent shivers up my spine.

A wave of relief washed over me as the rope came back down and I could finally go home after a long day. I carefully opened the door, cautious not to make a sound in case my mom was finally getting some sleep. My dad was in the kitchen, cleaning dishes from their dinner. He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled. I got my poor eyesight from him, and he loved to fashion these black and blue glasses that were too small for his face, so he had to squint to see sometimes, which merely defeated the purpose of glasses.

I sighed as I set my stuff on the small table near the door. Quietly I asked, “How is she?” Dad shrugged. “Was today a good day?”

He shrugged again. There were never good days with my mom anymore, but my dad always refused to use the OASIS as an escape. He would always say, “I have everything I could ever want with me already. My two beautiful girls, and a home, a good paying job… We have it better than most, Thais.” I cringed at the name. There were only three people on the planet who were allowed to call me by my birth name, and even then I wanted to wash their mouths with soap.

Even in a world where the OASIS is the only thing that matters to 90% of the population, there was still a need for teachers. My dad was a professor at a technology school, and at the time that was all anyone wanted to learn. Not to brag, because I really didn’t care, but we made more money than most, but we prefered living in the stacks. It was closer to work for my dad, closer to the hospital for my mom, and closer to Wade for me. Really, it just made sense to stay there and not move out of the stacks to somewhere that wouldn’t have worked for us.

So, my dad being the great professor he was, loved mythology. Him and my mom had books and books full of different kinds of mythology. But they loved everything Greek over all else. The mythology fascinated them, and the history captured them in a way they could never describe. So when it came to naming me, they spent days researching Greek names.

Somehow they decided on Thais, a mistress to Alexander the Great’s friend (and presumably Alexander the Great). Don’t get me wrong, she was powerful and smart in her own right, but I hated the fact that I was named after… well… a prostitute. Hence, everyone who wasn’t my parents or Wade had to call me Brandy. Brandewyn was my OASIS name, and people in the OASIS knew me as Brandy, so it just stuck.

My dad dried his hands on a towel and swung it over his shoulder, “I’m taking her to the doctor tomorrow; see if they can give her any more medicine for the pain,” he explained. That meant it was a really bad day. He tried to lighten the mood, “How was your day?”

“Good. Wade and I think we have a really good lead on the first key. I think he might actually get it.”

“He. You won’t be getting the key?”

“I dunno,” I said, unsure of myself. “Maybe. Wade just seems more interested in finding the keys with Art3mis now… I don’t think he wants me along for the ride.”

Dad scoffed, “Come on, Thais, he’s your best friend. This Artemis is a stranger. Don’t stress yourself over it.” My lip quivered as I told him about Wade’s crush on Art3mis. “Oh, my love,” he cooed as he held me in his arms, “I trust that one day he will come around. Believe me.” I nodded into his chest. And then we both froze in the middle of the house when the doorbell rang. From their bedroom, my mother groaned in pain as she woke up. My father told me to see who it was while he helped her.

I opened the door to find Wade standing there with a large duffle bag that carried all of his stuff. Bewildered, I looked between him and the bag. He said that he needed a place to stay for a bit. “Aunt Alice’s boyfriend lost all of their money, and I don’t want to feel like a burden on her right now. I figured I’d just sleepover like old times, if that’s okay.” I was still stunned by his words, and paralyzed at the sound of my mother crying from pain and my father trying to calm her. Wade tried to look around me to inspect what was happening in the house. “Is everything alright?”

Another lie, “Yes.” Then another cry, but this time for water. “My mom just isn’t feeling well today. Here, come in.” I hate lying to him. I thought to myself as I closed the door behind him and hurried to take a glass of water to my parents’ bedroom. “It’s Wade,” I told my dad. “He needs a place to stay.”

My mom used her little strength to look up at me, “Wade Watts?” I nodded. “No. No. Dan, go talk to Alice… he can’t stay her.”

“Mama—” I tried explaining, but she started coughing. I lowered my head as I exited the bedroom and went back to where Wade was standing in the middle of the living room. “My dad’s going to try talking to Alice. If we need, we can help financ—”

Wade shook his head, “Come on, Thais, you know she won’t take it. She’s stubborn like that. Even when she’s desperate, she won’t admit she needs help.” Louder coughs echoed through the RV home. “Are you sure your mom’s okay?”

In that moment, I prayed that he wouldn’t turn around to see the full medicine cabinet. Every shelf was filled front to back with different medicines that worked and didn’t work, daily meds and occasional meds. Everything from the common stomach ache reliever to tranquilizers were in there. But when my eyes quickly shifted to look at the cabinet, Wade followed my gaze and turned around. Slowly, he approached the cabinet, and I felt my heart drop to my stomach.

Wade didn’t even look at me as he opened the cabinet door to reveal the clutter of medicine bottles. His voice cracked, “How long has she been sick, Thais? Just tell me the truth.”

“A few months…”

“You should have told me.”

“It wasn’t my decision whether or not I should tell you. She wanted to protect you, so she made us promise to keep it a secret.”

Then he wanted to know how bad it was, and I told him it was getting worse. He wanted to know if there was a cure, or at the very least something that could slow it down. I said no. He asked if she was going to die. I said yes, most likely. And then we both reluctantly broke into tears. I had never admitted out loud before that my mom wouldn’t survive the year, and it shattered me to think about it. But Wade… my mom was his mom. Aunt Alice was the only blood he had left, but he and my mom shared a special connection. We were both losing a mother.

“I’m so sorry,” I apologized as I hugged him tightly. Wade’s arms snaked around my waist and pulled me closer to him for comfort. Neither of said anything after that, we just stayed tangled in each other’s arms for a while before our legs grew tired and we were forced to go to bed.

Wade rested on his back on the second mattress I kept in my room for our sleepovers. His hands were crossed over his chest, he only did that when he felt self conscious, and our glasses were resting on the bed side table next to each other. We both stared at the ceiling in silence. Despite how tired we both felt, we couldn’t fall asleep. Occasionally, my mom would cough or groan, and we could hear my dad shuffling in bed to make sure she was alright. And then when they were asleep all we could hear was the sound of her oxygen tank.

One cough was so loud and powerful it scared me, making me jump in my own skin. I hadn’t even noticed— or cared to notice— my hand fall to the side of my bed. It only startled me when I felt Wade’s palm slide against mine, and then our fingers interlaced. And finally I felt myself slowly falling asleep.

#ready player one #ready player one imagine #ready player one imagines #ready player one smut #ready player one series #wade watts #wade watts imagine #wade watts imagines #wade watts smut #wade watts series

38 notes · View notes

danvssomethingorother · 6 years

Text

Success In Progress

Ch 1 / ch 2 / Ch 3

A03

Summary: Brock gets invited to Venture compound by Jonas himself to protect his son

(I edited the last chapter a little cause I changed what I was doing with it but not much.)

For the second time today Brock approached the study, he just stared at the door a moment hearing Jonas inside fiddling with a radio before a song Brock didn’t know began to fill through the area.

“I still hang around…neither lost nor found,” the music sang to him as he opened the door, Jonas had his back to him staring at the photos on the back wall, holding one gently running his thumb across it.

There was glass broken around his desk from the fight he had earlier with Rusty, a giant stain settled in his carpet still giving off the strong smell of whiskey. A fresh bottle of the finest whiskey replaced it on his desk but the cleaned up presentation of his desk couldn’t hide the fact he had done nothing to clean up the mess from earlier, had cleaned himself up to present himself to Billy earlier and go over the project more but back behind closed doors he didn’t bother to hide his bad attitude at the slow process.

Brock was paying more attention to the pill bottle sitting on the desk, unlabeled and nearly empty with only two pills left when Jonas finally decided to address him.

“This was the song I remember most vividly from the night I almost died,” Jonas admitted to Brock finally turning around to face him, setting an old worn out photo of a baby with red hair down on the desk, it had to be Rusty’s baby picture. The baby looked nothing like Hank and Dean, it was too skinny, almost malnourished looking. Brock could only assume Jonas didn’t leave baby pictures of his own son out because of how sickly he looked, bad for his image. He just kept any photos showing how he mistreated his own child locked away.

“That was my first encounter with Spinx but I’m sure you know. I built the Gargantua like a fortress, not something easily penetrated, only those with top level clearance could board my shuttle. Where the Guild failed, Spinx stepped in and became the top-level Villainous organization over night when they brought my creation to the ground.”

Brock continued to not say anything letting Jonas ramble on, waiting for him to get to a point. He had read the files, he couldn’t feel too much sympathy for Jonas Venture’s space station being forced to land. A lot of people died during the massacre that the OSI dubbed ‘Movie Night’, so many law suits were filled by the family members of the deceased, the US government stepped in and shut down the Gargantua, scrapping its parts for Nasa to use later.

Jonas poured another drink, just staring at the many pictures behind him of his son almost as if waiting for Brock to say something. Trying to evaluate how much Rusty had told him, who’s side he thought Brock was on.

Brock just sat where he assumed Rusty had sat earlier and didn’t say a thing, waiting for Jonas to keep going.

“Rusty is young, naïve…he doesn’t understand why things need to be done this way.”

He sighed picking the baby photo up once more and just staring at it.

“He doesn’t like the way I am running things. He doesn’t understand why we must hide what we hide, even from our friends. He doesn’t understand why I so frustrated he did what he did. I love my son, I love him more then anything in this entire world, but he is a foolish young man.”

“I know you heard us fighting earlier, I know it must seem crass of me to interrupt you when you are finally breaking through with my son and you two are finally talking, but he is always trying to make me out to be the bad guy. You should have heard the tall tales he told Pete when he was younger…he made it sound like I was some sort of monster! This is what lead to his last body guard burning down the complex!”

Brock just shrugged not really wanting to get involved in this. It wasn’t his job to deal with their fucked relationship, he would only step in if Jonas ever got trashed enough to physically harm his own son. Until that day, he didn’t have strong plans on getting involved.

“You haven’t said a word since you came in, I wanted to talk to you before you saw Rusty but well that didn’t work out. I am sorry you have to be involved in our little dispute.”

“No offense,” Brock finally cut in curtly giving Jonas a stare that had made men larger then the man before him squirm, “But it sounded like a bit more then a dispute.”

Jonas looked startled by his words, raising his eyebrow, not liking that someone was in the position to say something to him.

“Listen, I don’t want involved with whatever bullshit you want to do to your son behind closed doors. You want to yell at him until he cries, make him feel worthless, make him feel like a prisoner in his own home, that’s not really my business.”

Brock paused just drinking in the look of disgust on Jonas’s face, not letting him really get a chance to lay more bullshit on him as he stared him in the eyes and continued.

“But if you lay a god damn hand on him, leave a single bruise, that’s my damn business. I will step in then and by the sounds of it, you can’t really do much to fight back since you are dying and all.”

He said all he needed to say so he got up and broke the one silent rule most obeyed, he just left before Jonas could grant him permission to.

---

“You guys aren’t even trying! This isn’t even a think tank anymore, this is just you two being assholes.”

Brock paused in the entrance way of the living room, rolling his eyes at poor Billy trying his best to lead a think tank while his friends were curled on the couch, not paying him much attention. He was standing in front of a large roll white board that sat in front of the TV, dozens of equations doodled onto it and wadded up paper surrounded his feet from the note book that had been discarded on the couch. They hadn’t gotten anywhere since Brock last passed by them, even with Rusty downstairs now, Billy still wasn’t getting ideas from the scientists involved with the project. In fact, he was getting less done now with Rusty’s kids sitting with them now.

“I have twins, I’m tired,” Rusty whined laying across the couch.

“Your dad is trusting us to come up with a solution to make P.r.o.b.l.e.m stop catching fire when we turn it on. And your solution? Fuck it, let it burn, Billy. We didn’t get anything done today because you refused to come out of your room!”

“You didn’t get up till noon, so don’t pin it all on me,” Rusty grumbled bopping Hank gently in the nose with his bear as he began getting restless on his father’s lap, gently smacking his father and reaching for his hair. Rusty used to his sons’ tantrums by now, just sat coolly, gently pushing the bear closer to his son’s line of sight every time he thought about yanking at daddy’s hair.

“We didn’t get up till noon cause your dad was serving us drinks until like eleven last night,” Pete grumbled pillow still over his face, “I’m still hung over and you aren’t making things better fighting with your dad and slamming doors.”

“Who told you I was doing that?”

Rusty looked ready to bolt back to his room but somehow kept it together enough to just give his nastiest look Billy’s way.

“Your dad said you two had got into an argument,” Billy mumbled sheepishly, “That’s why you were acting weird. Your dad is pretty cool, I don’t understand why you have to be such an asshole to him all the time.”

“Fuck you Billy,” Rusty sneered his way and pat Hank on the head as he began gurgling the word fuck Billy’s way. Brock felt Rusty was going to regret it someday letting his kids curse like that, but it was cute when they were babies and just repeating whatever you said, it wasn’t going to be as cute when they were teenagers.

“See? This is what I’m talking about, you are always so stand offish about everything! Where is your can-do attitude?”

“I think I left it back in fantasy land, I am not nor have I ever been anything remotely close to my cartoon self! Stop shoving it in my face when I’m not as chipper as you want me to be.”

“Oh, will you two shut up,” Pete groaned tossing one of Dean’s stuffed animals in Billy’s direction and instantly regretted that choice as the once calm baby began screaming on his chest after his favorite toy had been yanked from him by his ‘Uncle’.

“I told you, you needed to cut off, but you just kept saying, ‘come on Rust, I can handle one more’,” Rusty grumbled Pete’s way picking Dean off him pulling him close to him while he screamed, yanking at his father’s hair, “See what your shitty think tank did Billy? It made Dean here go right for Daddy’s hair.”

“White’s hangover did that,” Billy argued back, hands on his hips really looking like a child now, “Your dad is trusting me to get the equations right and you guys aren’t helping!”

“Oh, go blow my dad some more if you love him so much,” Rusty growled Billy’s way picking up his screaming infants, cringing as Hank began yanking at his hair too.

Brock sighed finally stepping forward to take one of the screaming infants from their overwhelmed father and put his hand firmly on Rusty’s shoulder steering him towards the kitchen.

“It won’t do any good, they won’t eat when they are like this,” Rusty grumbled becoming more irritated the more his son yanked at his hair.

Brock still said nothing taking Dean from Rusty as well and shoving him into a chair at the kitchen table.

“You should probably eat something,” was all he said as he somehow managed to keep it together through the twin’s tantrum until they began to tire themselves out in Brock’s arms.

“I’m not hungry,” Rusty sighed out trying to get up but Brock just pushed him back down.

“I have been here three months, you don’t eat breakfast and you haven’t been out of your room since your fight with your dad, eat. Then go take a bath. I’m going to put the twins to bed and then you should just go to bed.”

“What did my dad tell you to make you act like this?” Rusty grumbled but didn’t seem to want to fight him.

“Your dad is an asshole, don’t worry about it,” Brock said turning to leave the room.

“What did you say to him?” Rusty asked almost nervously making Brock pause in the door way.

“You know you were right, I don’t want to be here, I hate every damn thing about this place,” Brock said turning to face Rusty who was just staring at him, “But I was assigned to protect you and if that means from your dad, so be it.”

Rusty looked ready to burst into tears but was doing an amazing job covering it as he turned his head away and mumbled a soft thank you. Brock didn’t respond to it, he just commanded him to eat once more and left the room.

#brusty #venture bros #the venture bros #rusty venture #brock samson #pete white #Billy Quizboy #docbrock #Dan's fics

4 notes · View notes