Tumgik
#‘he buys me flowers every single day and we have never had a fight ever and he makes 10 billion dollars and also does all the housework’
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I made a post about my anniversary on Facebook.
It was really nothing special or particularly detailed. Literally just a picture from our wedding and a 2-sentence caption saying how great my husband is in very general and pretty cliche terms (great husband, father, and human being, I’m so lucky).
A woman I never knew very well, who I have not seen in 5.5 years or spoken to in as long, and who has literally never reached out to me just to talk or anything, took the time to send me a MULTI-PARAGRAPH MESSAGE about how I should be more thoughtful towards other people and only tell my husband how great he is privately to his face. Why? Because she has had ups and downs in her own 5-year 4-child marriage, and this morning she had a fight with her husband, so when she saw my status it was extremely hurtful and she can’t stop sobbing and can’t focus or go about her day. She suggested I should only use Facebook for “kiruv and Torah” from now on.
Woman that is. That is so clearly a YOU problem I can’t even. If you can’t comprehend that a cheery post on one’s anniversary does not mean the person has never had a disagreement with their spouse, if you think no one is ever allowed to mark a special occasion where other people can see it because maybe you and your spouse argued today, that is a YOU problem and you should probably get off social media for your own health. It’s not like I’m constantly posting every single time my husband does something nice for me about the specific thing he did and reminding the Internet every other day about how awesome he is. I literally post about him like ONCE A YEAR. This year I’m gonna get really wild and make it twice to congratulate him on his white coat ceremony. If “I’ve been married X years and I like my husband” in public once a year is enough to send you into a day-long spiral, you should absolutely address that, but from YOUR side, not the person who you can just unfollow or even block on social media if their infrequent content is that triggering for you (especially considering you’ve never bothered to keep in touch otherwise, it’s not like you’d be missing anything!). Don’t blame me for your inability to understand that social media is just part of the picture of someone’s life or for your shalom bayis problems.
Why the f am I dealing with this at 4am (cuz I’m up nursing and when this girl messaged me for the first time in 5.5 years I was expecting something actually nice and not an essay on how I ruined her day by making a generic happy post, so I opened it)
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animeomegas · 3 years
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Omega!Itachi Getting Married
Anon:  Helllooo!!! I was wonderin if u could write for omega itachi getting married. I'd really appreciate it :)
(Hello! Hello! This is the oldest request in my inbox, so I hope this ends up being worth the wait! Enjoy~ <3)
Warning: implied sexual activity
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General headcanons - Non-massacre AU:
Itachi has always known that he would get married someday.
After all, it was his duty as clan heir.
But he never expected to actually love his mate. He was required to angle for a politically/socially advantageous match and he had made his peace with that.
If he had to marry someone to keep peace between clans, he would. If he had to marry someone his parents chose for him to keep conflict in the family down, he would.
Itachi’s fatal flaw is that he doesn’t see his comfort/happiness as important.
And while he looked forward to his future children, his future spouse was a neutral event. It would happen, whether he wanted it to or not, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Best case scenario, he might have a new friend, or at least someone he respects, to live with him.
Worst case scenario, he ends up in a horrible marriage. He tried not to think too much about this option.
He never expected there to be any love between him and his future spouse.
Until he met you.
He found a person who actually loved him. An alpha who was as dedicated to a future family as he was. A partner who respected him more than he had ever hoped.
And Itachi fell hard and fast.
So, when you proposed, he felt like everything he had never dared to hope for was coming true.
You went to get his parents’ permission first (and the permission of the clan by proxy) and did the proposal in front of them. It wasn’t ideal, you knew Itachi would be happier with a private proposal, but you also knew that Itachi wouldn’t believe that he had their approval unless he saw it first-hand.
Itachi and his family are very traditional, so you weren’t mated before you got married, instead, you mated on your wedding night.
Itachi is very happy to let his family dictate the wedding. He doesn’t care as long as he’s married to you at the end of the day.
(But he does have preferences that you can extract from him, but getting Itachi’s true opinion, can be like pulling teeth.)
Proposal:
You had known Itachi since you were both 18, two years now. You had been courting him officially for a year and a half before you proposed.
As I mentioned, you proposed in front of Itachi’s parents, to make sure that he knew that you had gained their approval.
Sasuke was also there, after years of bribery, finally accepting of you and Itachi’s relationship. You met Sasuke when he had just graduated from the academy, and he was not impressed by this new person stealing his brother from him when he wanted Itachi to train him ☹
For Itachi, it was a normal family dinner.
He definitely noticed that you were behaving nervously, but he knew his family could be stiff, overly traditional and a little intimidating, so he figured that was the cause of your discomfort.
Sasuke was also staring at you suspiciously the whole evening, but to be honest, sometimes Sasuke was just like that, so Itachi thought nothing of it.
You kept a hand on his knee for the entire meal, only letting go of him when you announced that you had brought dessert for everyone and would be happy to serve it.
Itachi smiled his gorgeous smile at you, so pleased to see you making an effort with his family (or perhaps he was smiling about the desert, Itachi’s sweet tooth is legendary after all. It was difficult to tell.)
Nervously clenching your hands, you walked over to the fridge, pulling out the plate of dango you had hidden in there earlier. It was Itachi’s favourite, and if there was anything to convince him to say yes to your proposal, it was a demonstration of how much dango you were willing to buy for him.
‘Don’t mess this up,’ you said to yourself, gingerly sliding the plate of dango out of the fridge. It was an elaborate platter that had cost far too much. There were seven different dango flavours with an assortment of dips and dressings, arranged artfully with fruit and dried flowers to decorate the plate.
You walked to back to the table and presented the plate with a dramatic flourish to hide your nerves.
Itachi’s face lit up. Despite your nerves, his obvious excitement put a smile on your face. He really was perfect.
And that’s why you can’t mess this up.
“There’s anko, green tea, sesame,” you pointed at each flavour as you listed them. “Hanami and…er… some other ones…?”
Sasuke scoffed at your embarrassing failure to recall the flavours, causing a red flush to creep up your neck. You didn’t even know that there was this many dango flavours before yesterday! Thankfully, he didn’t say anything, perhaps due to the sharp look Itachi had shot at him.
“I made sure to get enough for everyone, but there’s something I’d like to ask for in return.”
You could see Itachi trying to catch your eye, probably to ask what an earth you were doing, but you purposefully avoided looking in his direction.
“The only thing I ask,” you continued, nervously. “Is for a minute of your time before we eat dessert.”
Mikoto smiled at you and nodded for you to go ahead with a gentle wave of her hand. Sasuke simply raised an eyebrow at you but didn’t interrupt.
“Great,” you laughed nervously. “Um, so, er, Itachi.”
Itachi straightened under your sudden attention. He looked immensely uncomfortable and confused, he was probably panicking about you doing something in front of his family that you would regret. He always played liaison between you and his family to avoid conflict and was probably not comfortable with you doing this. Unfortunately, he would never believe that you had his parents’ approval if you didn’t propose in front of them.
“I’ve known you for two years now, Itachi,” you started, finally looking at Itachi in the eye. “And it sounds horribly cheesy, but I think that I fall in love with you more every day.”
A barely audible gasp left Itachi. He was a genius, after all, he had probably figured out where this was going. He looked torn between panicked and elated, seeming to settle somewhere around shell-shocked.
“I’ve come to realise recently that, a life without that love, without your love, isn’t a life that I want.”
You can just about see tears gathering in Itachi’s waterline. It doesn’t look like he’s breathing at all.
With one final rush of bravery, you pulled out the diamond ring that had been weighing down your pocket for months and knelt down onto the dining room floor.
“Will you marry me?”
Itachi’s head whips around to face his parents, most likely preparing some serious damage control. But when he sees his mother’s gentle smile and his father’s subtle nod, he slowly moves his gaze back to you. You’ve never seen him look so shocked before. It was almost amusing enough to distract you from your nerves. Almost.
“I-,” Itachi swallowed hard. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Just say what you want to say, Itachi,” his mother replies, trying to encourage him.
His mother’s words seemed to break him out of his stupor and Itachi breathes out a single word.
“Yes.”
You let out a delighted and relieved laugh, taking Itachi’s hand in yours and slipping the ring onto his finger, and even though his family were all watching you, you couldn’t help but pull him into an embrace.
“I love you so much,” you whispered to him. “I’ll read you my real proposal speech this evening.”
Itachi laughed into your shoulder. His laughter had a hysteric edge to it, his mind still clearly reeling at what you had just done.  
“Real speech?”
“You didn’t think I was going read my real proposal out in front of your parents, did you? No way. They still think we’re virgins and I didn’t want to spoil that illusion for them.”
Itachi quickly and efficiently jabbed you in the stomach and hit you with his infamous glare.
“Okay, I deserved that,” you winced, gingerly rubbing the sore spot.
Finally, you pulled away and moved to dish out the dango. And if Itachi got the biggest portion, well, no one mentioned it.
   Planning:
Itachi lets his clan take over the planning.
He doesn’t want to deal with the stress of having to combat his family at every turn and would much rather just let them do it. As long as you’re there with him, nothing else really matters.
But even when his clan leave the smaller decisions up to him, he’s hesitant to voice his opinions, wanting his alpha to make them as an apology for his family commandeering everything.
But if you pay attention to little signs and reactions that Itachi gives, you can figure out some of his wants and desires.
Overall, there isn’t much to say about the wedding planning, because Itachi doesn’t do much of it.
Things he wants (compromise available/no compromise allowed):
Sasuke as his groomsman and Shisui as his best man – Itachi doesn’t have many close friends or relatives. He has you, Sasuke, Shisui… er, he’d probably invite his old captain Kakashi and… well, you get the point. So, every person who is important to him needs to be by his side at his wedding, and who is more important than his best friend and little brother.
A traditional wedding – He isn’t actually that bothered by what type of wedding he has, but he knows his family and clan will insist on a traditional celebration and as I mentioned, he doesn’t want to fight. The elders will push the wedding to be held in the clan compound and Itachi would be told to wear a traditional Uchiha wedding garment.
A sweets cart – This is something that he won’t bring up, and therefore isn’t bolded, but it’s very easy to see his face light up when he sees this in a wedding catalogue. It’s a wooden cart with different jars of sweets with little scoops for people to help themselves to. Itachi loves sweet food, obviously, but he also thinks it would be something the children in the clan would adore. He kind of really wants one, but he won’t bring it up unless someone else does first.
An early wedding – He won’t fight you or his family about this, but ideally, he would like to get married in the morning, maybe around 8 or 9 AM. Itachi is definitely an early bird who prefers the ambience of the early morning which is part of the reason, but mainly he just wants the performative part of the wedding over and done with so he can start his honeymoon. He doesn’t find it appealing to spend all night pretending to tolerate the elders of his clan who will almost certainly spend their time berating him for his choice of partner and then telling him he needs to have as many children as possible because he’s a powerful ninja that will produce powerful children. He just doesn’t want to deal with it. Leaving at 6 PM with you to go on your honeymoon and finally, finally mate? That sounds much more fun.
To try and conceive on his honeymoon – Obviously, he’s not going to force anything if you aren’t ready, but he would really love to start trying to conceive straight away. He’s desperate to have his own children, firstly, but also, he knows this is his only ticket to retiring from being a ninja. He wants to retire so badly, and so if you’re both ready for children, he doesn’t want to wait.
 The wedding:
You don’t see Itachi for a day before the wedding, as is tradition. You see him for the first time that weekend when he’s walking down the hall towards you.
And as Fugaku walks Itachi down the aisle, you are completely breathless.
He looks stunning.
His hair had been intricately platted with flowers, some lose strands of hair left to frame his face.
He’s wearing a deep red, formal kimono just as you expected, but it looked so much more beautiful than you had imagined.
He looked like royalty.
The whole ceremony flew by, and before you knew it, it was time for you and Itachi to say goodbye and leave for your honeymoon.
Your honeymoon was to be had at a cabin held deep in the woods on the Uchiha compound. The rule was that married couples could not be disturbed for anything other than a life-or-death emergency, so you would be completely alone.
It might have been nice to go abroad, but the Uchiha clan didn’t want Itachi to be distracted by his honeymoon outside of Konoha where he might be attacked and his eyes stolen.
You both had already been by to drop off everything you would need for the week, including clothes, food, games and toiletries.
So, now, all that was left was for you two to get there yourself.
You and Itachi had decided to amble your way to the cabin, taking your time to enjoy each other’s company after a day of socialising with everyone but each other. Not to mention that neither of your outfits were particularly well designed for gallivanting through the forest. It would be rather embarrassing to have to end your self-imposed isolation to go to the hospital on day one, so walking slowly was probably a good idea.
You had been walking for about thirty minutes so the cabin should be… There! You were there!
“Wait!” you shot out a hand to stop Itachi from entering, startling him slightly. “Don’t go in yet.”
Itachi furrowed his brows, absently blowing a stray hair from his face that must have fallen down during the walk.
“I… want to carry you inside,” you admitted bashfully.
Itachi chuckled but stepped closer to let you do it. You beamed at him, pressing a kiss against his lips as a thank you. He looked a lot more tired than this morning; his hair was falling out of its elaborate placement and the makeup you were sure he was coerced into using was a little smudged.
He really was the most beautiful person you had ever met.
With his permission now gained, you placed an arm around his shoulders and another arm behind his knees, before gently lifting him off the ground. You nuzzled Itachi’s neck, enjoying his content scent and the way he sighed happily at your attention.
With your husband firmly in your grasp, you nudged open the front door with your foot and stepped safely over the threshold. You carried Itachi all the way to the bedroom and placed him down gently on the bed.
Itachi leant up to steal a kiss.
“Bringing me straight to the bedroom, you are incorrigible,” he teased, kicking off his shoes and making himself comfortable on the bed.
“I-I wasn’t, I didn’t mean that!” you sputtered, flushing under Itachi’s laughter. Silence fell over the room for a moment as the exhaustion from the day swept over you both.
“Would you mind helping me out of this kimono, please? I think it’s time for something a little more comfortable.”
It took a solid ten minutes to get Itachi out of his clothes and into some pyjamas. Ten minutes and a lot of swear words as every layer seemed to be hiding another one underneath.
“This wasn’t how I imagined undressing you on our wedding night, that felt a lot like pass the parcel but somehow more stressful.”
“Oh?” Itachi questioned, pulling you to sit down on the bed with him, finally free from the constraints of his wedding attire. “How did you imagine it?”
Rather than answer with words, you pressed wet kisses over Itachi’s neck, smirking against his skin as you felt his hand come up to grasp at your hair and a gentle moan escape from his lips.
This was definitely going to be the best part of the celebrations.
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I don't know if you've done this before :( but could you maybe write about the Obey me brothers after an argument with MC?? Like a fight make up kind of situation??
400 years later.....
Well, maybe not that long, but certainly long enough. I'm sorry >.<. Hope this doesn't put you off on sending other things because I did like doing this one!
Obey me Brothers + MC After a Fight
Lucifer
It was late into the evening when you heard the knock at your door. Before you could ask who it was, you heard the even timber of Lucifer’s voice behind the door. “[Y/N], it’s me. May I come in?” There was a long pause than usual between his introduction and question, seeming to debate asking, or your response, before he asked it.
To be honest, he had a right to be cautious because you weren’t sure what your answer would be before you opened your mouth. “Yes. Come in.”
The heavy door opened and Lucifer stepped in. Prim and as well stationed as ever, but the confidence normally in his face diminished just the slightest. “I…came to apologize.” The words seem to want to drag out of his throat. Like it’s the hardest thing he’s ever had to say. Not the best start for an apology.
“You didn’t have to treat me that way.” You tell him. Telling you like a child in front of everyone. Getting your hand smacked for something you didn’t even do. No coming to give some lack luster, dutiful apology he doesn’t mean. “And don’t say your sorry if you’re not.”
“I am sorry.” Lucifer insisted, before he took a deep breath and tried to relax. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have embarrassed you like that in front of everyone. I was upset, and took it out on you. Sometimes you’re an easy target because I know you’ll care for me no matter what I do. We always hurt most the ones we love.” Your cheeks tint at the comment. Damn him and his suave words.
The demon makes the effort to cross the threshold and take your hands. “Please know that I am truly sorry for my behavior. I will strive to never make you feel foolish, or less than, again. My mission in life now is to show you how much more than I find you over everyone else.”
You roll your eyes a little at the comment. “Let’s not get carried away. You’re starting to sound like Asmo.”
You giggle when Lucifer gave a forced, disgusted shutter. He then lifted your hands to his lips and gave them a kiss. “Am I forgiven?” He asked.
“I suppose.” Annoyingly, he was right. You would always care for, and love him, so it was hard to stay mad at him for long.
“Good,” he said, with his usual prideful smile, “I’m glad. I do plan to still make it up to you though. So make no plans for Saturday.”
“Will do.” You agreed. Giving him a tiny salute. He then left to let you finish getting ready for bed. Ideas of how he’d ‘make it up to you’ swirling in your head.
Mammon
There was a sharp rap at your door that rung out clear in your room over your headphones. You were curious who was here at this hour, but got up to go answer the door before the tried again.
You open the door and are immediately confronted with a bundle of flowers being shoved in your face. Almost to the point of the blooms bursting against your cheeks. You stagger, at the afront of color, and the bouquet is pulled back slightly to reveal Mammon behind them. “I…bought you these flowers. To say I’m sorry.” The more he talked the more his voice trailed off. His normally confidence draining like the color from his face.
“Isn’t it rather cliché to buy someone flowers to apologize?”
Mammon flinched at your criticism. “I didn’t know what else to do. If you don’t like them I’ll buy you something else. Anything you want! Just please…talk to me.” Please forgive me, was what he was really saying.
You look at the demon for a moment. His defeated stance not fitting into his character at all. Ironic, since the fight was about Mammon being too full of himself. Confidence was one thing, but ever now and then it was too much, and when you tried to talk to him about it he turned on you. He had immediately regretted it, but you refused to talk to him for several days after to cool off.
Apparently, that was the worse punishment he could think of.
“You don’t need to buy me anything Mammon. I’ve already forgiven you.”
“Really??” He asked. Seeming unsure of what he’d heard or that he could trust you.
“Really.” You repeat, and immediate find yourself in his arms. Your flowers falling to the floor as he hugged you.
“Thank you [Y/N]! I’ll never do anything stupid like that again! I promise!”
“Well now, let’s not make promises we can’t keep.” You tease. Patting his back. “We all make mistakes Mammon. I’ll be angry with you sometimes, but I generally forgive you. How can I stay mad at my ‘First Man’ for long?” His hold on you tightened a little. It lingered for a moment longer before he let you go.
“Yeah. Right. Don’t you forget it.”
Levi
You were getting ready to head downstairs when there was a knock at your door. It was a surprise, since you were going down to meet everyone. So who was up here now? You open the door and find everyone’s favorite otaku, out of his hole and in front of your door, staring at you.
“Y-Y-You…You weren’t answering my texts.” Levi finally got out.
“That should have been a hint.” You tell him. Perhaps a bit more curt than need be.
The bluenette straightened in alarm before his shoulder slumped again. “I know. I’m sorry! But I couldn’t stand the thought of you being mad at me! I know I can get a little…-“crazy?” You interjected –“excited about my games and stuff, but I really didn’t mean to snap at you!”
The two of you had been playing some new quest game that was all the rage apparently on the deep otaku net. Supposedly it was unbeatable. No one had actually ever seen the final boss ending yet. Which of course meant Levi was determined to be the first. Confident that his eons of experience wouldn’t lead him astray.
Sadly, the legends of the unbeatable game were true. And after hour after hour of crushing defeat Levi snapped and took it out on you. He’s locked himself in his room after. Ashamed, and upset that he hurt you; if his texts were anything to go off of.
“I threw the game away and I’ll never play it again. I promise! I’ll never go all rage beast mode on you again as long as I live! Just please forgive me and talk to me again!”
“Oh Levi, it’s not that serious.” You insist as you reach out your hand to his clasped ones in front of you. Reassuring him. “We all get a little crazy when things don’t go our way. I forgive you. In the future lets try to play games that are a little less….taxing on our relationship, if we can manage.”
“R-R-R! Relationship!” Levi stammered. Turning bright red in front of you, which made you giggle. You lean in to give him a kiss on the cheek. Really frying his circuits. Maybe it was a little bit out of you missing Levi when you were fighting. And maybe it was also his ‘punishment’ for the fight as well.
Satan
Tucking into your homework for the evening, you look up from your desk when there was a knock at the door. It was sharp, to the point. You immediately knew who it was, and debated not answering. However, that would be rude and a level of pettiness not even you could manage.
“Hello Satan,” you greet when you open the door. Correct in guessing who was there. “How can I help you?”
The blonde seemed wounded by your formality, usually such a champion of manners. But he was a clever man and knew you were doing it to put some distance between you. “I came to apologize.”
“As you should.” Ok. Maybe you were a little pettier than you like to admit.
“You’re right, and I should have been here sooner. I was just….embarrassed.” Satan ran his fingers through his hair. “He just makes me so angry sometimes! Being so high and mighty. Bossing us around. I try to keep it under control but….I can’t.” Given he is the Avatar of Wrath, it’s a wonder he made any effort to keep his rage in check. Everyone says he was getting better though. Even his relationship with Lucifer was getting better; even with this spat. “It pains me more than I can tell you to know that I upset you in the process. Turning on you like that like an idiot when you were only trying to help. It was so stupid.”
“It wasn’t very like you.” You admit, and Satan gave a single, bitter scoff.
“Maybe not now. Maybe with you.” Cautiously he reached out his hand to take yours in a gentle hold. “But I am sorry. Please know that I’ll strive to not let my anger get the better of me again.”
“I’m sure you will.” You said. Squeezing his hand back. “And, I forgive you. I should know by now not to get involved with any of your fights. But I care about you all so much.”
“But you care about me most, yes?” He asked with a soft smile. To which you giggle and kiss his cheek.
“Yes. I care for you most.”
Asmo
It was late afternoon when you heard the knock at your door. Typically, everyone was off doing their own activities at this hour, so it was a surprise to have someone looking for you. You open the door cheerfully at first, but then frowned. “Oh. Hello Asmo.”
“Hello [Y/N]-kun.” Asmo greeted brightly, but you could tell it was forced. “I…wanted to come see you. To apologize. For acting so ugly earlier.”
It’s not often that Asmo lost his temper. He usually left that to his silly, older brothers. Rising above in dignified beauty, as he liked to put it. But every now and then it got the best of him, and his tongue was sharper than any knife in the draw when he got that way.
“What you said really hurt Asmo.”
“I know,” he admitted frowning. “I haven’t been able to sleep all night thinking about it. Look at these bags!” You frown as he pointed to his under eyes, and he realized he was being selfish again. “I’m sorry I said such awful things the other day. I don’t have an excuse or fix for it. Except to say that I’m sorry, and I hope you forgive me.”
You let out a soft sigh at his words. He did seem sincere. It was a little odd to see Asmo so down. “Alright, I forgive you.” The demon immediately perked up with his usual smile and took your hands in his.
“Thank you [Y/N]! Let me take you out shopping, as a further apology. I’ll buy you anything you like!”
“So we’ve resorted to bribery now?” Asmo giggled at your joke and you nod. “I’ll right. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to get out. Anything I want?” Asmo nodded and made some suggestions on what you could spend his money on as you walked. Inevitably ending up on lingerie, which earned him a smack.
Beel
You had just gotten back from class when you heard the knock at the door. It startled you. You had only just gotten back a moment ago, so what remarkably good timing.
You finish taking off your uniform jacket before you open the door. Startled, yet again, to find Beel behind it. “Beel?”
“Hi [Y/N].”
An awkward silence filled the space, one that hadn’t been there since you first arrived in the Devildom, before you spoke. “I uh…was going to change. I just got back from class.”
“I know. I waited for you to come back.” The red head confessed. Nervously scratching the back of his head. “I wanted…to talk. I wanted to apologize.”
“You don’t have anything to apologize for.” You reply. Now nervously scratching the back of your head as well. “If anything I should apologize.”
Beel was so sweet and kind. But sometimes, his ‘space cadet ways’ over anything that didn’t involve food or fitness was very hard to deal with. He’d forgotten you were supposed to meet, yet again, so when he showed up an hour late for your date yesterday you had given him an ear full. He’d been hurt, but took it. Now you just felt bad, like you had kicked a puppy, with it over.
“But I should have remembered. It’s not fair that I forgot when we were supposed to meet. Again.” He looked upset with himself and fidgeted with his hands. “I really am sorry I forgot. I don’t want you to think you’re not important or anything. I’m just dumb.”
“You’re not dumb!” You scold Beel. Not accepting him putting himself down like that. “Can’t we just agree that we’re both at fault. You should have remembered, but I shouldn’t have yelled at you either. Can’t we just….make up? I hate fighting with you.”
Beel smiled softly and leaned forward to give you a hug. “I hate fighting too. I think I’ll be ok if we both take blame. That seems fair.” He let you go and stepped back. Seeming back to his usual, easy going self already. “Do you want to do a make up date? If you’re free. I can take you to Madam Scream’s or we can go get Fire Iceies.”
You giggle and nod. “Sure. That would be wonderful.”
Belphie
It was so late at night when you heard the knock at your door that, initially, you thought you dreamt it.
Hearing it again, you woke up and threw on your robe over your pjs to go answer the door. Groggy, and a little concerned as to who could be here at this hour. Something must be wrong.
“Belphie?” You question in a whisper. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you.” He said. Remarkably less groggy than you were for a change. “I had to see you.”
“In the middle of the night?” You question. Getting more alert and annoyed at being woken up by him.
“Yes. I couldn’t sleep. Imagine that.” His fingers twirl at his long bangs while he looked down at the floor. “I came to apologize.”
“Apologize?” You repeat. Shocked, more than anything, that he was here to apologize. Not that he did deserve an apology to you, you just didn’t think he’d do it.
“Yes. To apologize. Can we make up now?”
“That’s it??” You remark after his ‘apology’. “You say you’re sorry like that and I’m just supposed to forgive you?”
“Yes. That’s how apologies work.”
“No it isn’t!” You snap. Louder than you wanted to with the late hour. You set your teeth and wheeze through them. You don’t want to start another fight. “You apologize because you feel bad about something and want to make it up to the person. It has to be sincere.”
“I am being sincere.” Belphie insisted. “This is sincere as I get.”
“Well it certainly doesn’t feel like it.” You reply. Crossing your arms.
It was Belphie’s turn to sigh at you. “Look. I’m not like Asmo or the others who are great with words. I came to apologize, and that’s it. I was wrong and I wanted to say I’m sorry. That’s the best I can do.”
“Why do you even want to say your sorry? If you don’t sound like you mean it.”
“Because I hate you being angry with me.” You blink in surprise at Belphie’s confession, and he sighed again. “I hate it. I hate not talking to you. I don’t care what anyone else thinks of me, but if you hate me, I can’t stand it. So, I came to apologize. To do anything so you wouldn’t hate me anymore.”
You uncross your arms and scrunch your lips a little bit. “That’s a better apology.” He looked back up at you with a questioning look. Seeming surprised that he had ‘done good’. “And, I don’t hate you. Just because I’m angry with you, for good reason, doesn’t mean I hate you. I could never hate you.”
The demon smiled softly. His expression tired, but hopeful. “Thanks [Y/N].”
“Now, we need to get back to bed. It is the middle of the night after all. And we have school.”
“Ok.” Belphie agreed. Then stepped into your room and made way to your bed.
“In your own room mister!”
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officialscaramouche · 3 years
Note
Hellooo!!! Maybe a part 2 for the traitor fic? Thank you!!!!
Ahhhhhhhh!!!! Yes of course!!!!!!! I liked writing this one now that I have little mister kazuha in my clutches ehehehe
pairing: Scaramouche x gn!reader / kazuha x gn!reader
tw: the usual “fuck” here and there
wc: 1,534
prev next
“Why did you ask me to be your girlfriend, then?”
The question hit him like a truck. It was one he had been avoiding for the longest time, but since it was finally asked, he had to find an answer. To him, the term “girlfriend” was very loosely described. Is it someone who you spend everyday with? Or someone that you sleep with? Or someone that you kiss, and love, and cherish? Then at least everyone in his life fit the bill for “girlfriend,” or “boyfriend.”
He spends everyday with his coworkers in the Fatui, but they’re not his partners. He’s fucked many other women before her, so were they also girlfriends? And what a joke, there’s nobody he loves or cherishes outside of himself. The question was stupid.
He chose not to answer and continue to give his undivided attention to the report in front of him. “Hello?! I’m talking to you!” She pushed everything off the desk. The paperwork, the ink pot, the flowers, everything.
Scaramouche pushed his chair back and stood, holding his arms out to look at the ink staining his clothes. “I honestly don’t know, because you’re the biggest bitch I’ve ever met!”
“Don’t you dare call me that!” She yelled, grabbing his shirt and pulling him to her.
He pushed her arms off of him and shoved her aside into the bookshelf. “Don’t put your fucking hands on me. Just because I allow you to spend your time with me doesn’t mean you can run your bitchy little mouth.” She looked at him in disbelief, the throbbing pain in the back of her head sending stars around her head. “All that mouth is good for is sucking my dick, so shut the fuck up.”
“It’s cold outside,” your boyfriend called out to you, running over and slipping your arms through the jacket.
“Thank you, honey,” you said, pursing your lips to welcome a kiss.
He smiles and kisses you, cupping your face. He leans into the kiss until your back finds the wall, his hand running down your face, to your neck, and to your waist. He squeezes the skin there and pulls your pelvis to him, pressing his back into yours.
You feel his tongue slide into your mouth, the kiss turning wetter and sloppier. “Kazuha!” You whine in his mouth, pushing him off of you. “We’re gonna be late!”
He desperately pulls you back in, unable to control his desire, and finds purchase back on your lips. “I’m sorry, you just look so good,” he pouts, reaching behind to grab a handful of your ass.
“Yeah well, I’m hungry!”
It was your one year anniversary with Kazuha and he got the two of you private seating at Third-Round Knockout. You had been wanting to go for a while, but Scaramouche never took you. “It’s a waste of money,” he’d say as he turned down the suggestion. So when you told Kazuha, he was more than willing to go.
It was his favorite restaurant seeing as he and Beidou went all the time. Except this time he wouldn’t be dragging anyone out of drunk fights and single handedly pack up everyone’s dishes. He especially liked their desserts, and promised he’d buy you one, even if you said you didn’t want it.
Kazuha was immediately so different from your ex. He was kinder, gentler, more respectful, and most of all he loved you. It was weird dating your ex’s best friend and you felt bad about it, especially since you ruined their long-time friendship. But from the day he met you, Kazuha was enamored. Every day that went by, he thought about you. He wanted to take you out, show you off, love you, make love to you, and for you to call him yours. He wanted to make you proud to have him, wanted you to love him the way he loved you. And when it came down to it, he was right there beside you to comfort you when Scaramouche finally said goodbye.
He knew his best friend like the back of his hand. Scaramouche got tired of things very quickly, and he never had a problem finding something new to entertain him. For someone with a terrible attitude and a vulgar mouth, Scaramouche was always breaking hearts.
Kazuha didn’t have many partners. In his experience, women were greedy and petty. Men were controlling and abrasive. Overtime he had come to give up on finding love. But then he met you— you were so kindhearted and patient. You always said yes to Scaramouche and you would defend him until you passed out (figuratively.) Kazuha felt that his best friend didn’t appreciate you. He didn’t see your worth. But Kazuha did. And now that he had you he wasn’t going to let you go.
Kazuha watched as you clapped excitedly as the waitress brought your cake dessert. “Be careful,” he chuckled, his heart warm with love. “It’s not a sweet cake.”
“What kind of cake isn’t sweet?” You joke, swiping cake onto your spoon and funneling it into your mouth. The bitterness hit your tongue after a delay. You open your mouth and spit it out, making a grossed out face.
Laughing, Kazuha takes a napkin to your cheek. “I told you it was bitter, silly.”
“No!” You whined, pushing the plate away. “You said it wasn’t sweet!”
“Oh, I’m sorry honey,” he snickered, pulling the plate to him and taking a bite. “Mmm!”
Scaramouche sat at his private table with a scowl on his face. He didn’t want to be here, and he definitely didn’t want Mona to come. “Can you at least try to look happy for him?” She scoffed, rolling her eyes as she clapped in celebration.
Up at the front with a medal on his shawl, Tartaglia gave a thank you speech for the Tsaritsa and his fellow harbingers. This event was a celebration for Tartaglia and Singora’s success in retrieving Morax’s gnosis. It was funny seeing him up there as he had no clue of his role in the ploy.
Scaramouche was never one for shindigs and he especially wasn’t one for the eleventh harbinger. He was too friendly, he’d say if you asked. “People who are too friendly are hiding something.”
One thing he didn’t like about the harbinger was how kind and loving he was to you while you were together. He saw it as a ploy to get you, take you from him. He thought he was going to be the one there for you when he left, but the harbinger was nowhere to be found. Instead, he saw his best friend stab him in the back.
He watched the young harbinger walk from the front to hug and chat with people. What a load of bullshit, he thought. “If I take a gnosis, kill me before they throw a party, okay?”
Mona rested her elbows on the table, leaning into it and looking around awkwardly. “Don’t worry, I’ll kill you before you can even take a gnosis.”
He watched on at Tartaglia’s seemingly genuine cheer as he excused himself from the people he was stuck with, practically running over to more people to stroke his ego. “Hey,” Mona sort of laughed. “Isn’t that…”
Tartaglia ran up to two very familiar people. “[Y/N],” he breathed, slamming his hands on the table and standing to his feet. What the hell were you doing here? You were no longer tied to the Fatui, you shouldn’t have even been let inside! But there you were, embracing the harbinger and pulling him closer to you to look at the medal. And right beside you, smiling and shaking his hand, was none other than his best friend, and your new boyfriend, Kazuha.
Scaramouche took off, stalking over to the three of you looking for answers. Kazuha noticed first, raising his hands to reassure that he wasn’t there to insult your ex. Tartaglia noticed next, after your boyfriend’s sudden stance of defense. You only picked up on it when suddenly nobody was listening to you. Kazuha forced a smile and greeted the harbinger. “Hello, Scaram—”
“Shut the fuck up,” he bit, pushing the samurai aside. “What the hell are you doing here?” He asked, shoving a finger into your chest.
“I invited them,” Tartaglia cut in, putting an arm between you and Scaramouche, removing his hand from your chest. “And I purposely reserved a table for them far away from you. Besides, where’s your girl, huh? Just leave her behind?”
Scaramouche clicked his tongue in annoyance and eyed you up and down. You looked…nice tonight. It wouldn’t have been the outfit he would’ve chosen, but you wore it well nonetheless. Kazuha placed his hand on Scaramouche’s shoulder, turning him around to face him. “Not even going to say hello to your friend?”
“We aren’t friends,” he hissed, pushing him away once more before stomping off to his table.
“Ah, geez, sorry guys!” Tartaglia groaned, shaking Kazuha’s hand once more. “I was hoping he wouldn’t be an ass tonight. Anyway, it was very nice to meet you Mr. Kadehara. We should all hang out sometime! I gotta go find a bathroom, so I’ll see you later!”
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mtfstuff · 3 years
Text
Departure and arrival
I'm working at the airport selling flowers and coffee. Not the best job but the shop is owned by my uncle so I have almost complete freedom. I always wanted to travel often, to work from different places all the time. Now I'm somewhat in hell. I'm so close to flights but I can never enter them as I have to work. I can only dream and watch people live it.
As I was daydreaming about flying away once more, a man caught my eye as his colorful pants separated himself from the rest.
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He was tall, handsome, had a beautiful beard and well-groomed hair. He was wearing brown leather boots, light brown/orange pants and a grey shirt. It suited him very well. He was gorgeous for me. The complete opposite of me. I was chubby, started to lose hair, even though I'm only in my mid-twenties, and I dont really had a sense of fashion.
I was dreaming about how he was flying somewhere warm, where he gets to take of his shirt and flex his muscles on the beach. I was daydreaming even further as I realized that someone wanted to buy something. I snapped out of my dream and the man stood right in front of me with a big smile.
"One latte, please.", he said with a big grin. I had to retract my eyes from his handsome face and white teeth.
"Of course, one moment please.", I said, taking a paper cup and putting it under the coffee machine.
"Do you have a ticket?", I asked. I couldnt wait to see where he was travelling to. But he looked confused at me.
"If you have a boarding ticket, you can get everything cheaper in our store.", I clarified.
"Oh, yeah. I have one.", he said, taking out his ticket and putting it on the desk. "That's a really nice service you have here."
Was he flirting with me?, I thought.
I took the ticket, scanned it for his discount, looked at his destination and gave it back to him.
"Spain, what a nice destination. Especially as the weather here is pretty bad at the moment.", I said finishing his coffee. "May I ask for work or just for fun."
"Both.", he answered. "A bit of work but mostly just for fun."
I handed him the coffee and he paid.
"You look like you could use some fun too", he said leaving.
He definitely flirted with me, I thought.
I watched him go and dreamed about being him in Spain. To my surprise, he didnt go to the terminals to start the check in, but he went to the toilet. He opened the door, turned around and looked at me, raised an eyebrow and disappeared into the bathroom.
I was shocked and turned on at the same time. Did he want me to follow him?, I thought.
I looked around and decided to follow him. I told my uncle that I have to go for a short moment and he excused me.
I followed the man into the toilet but no one was there as I entered.
The man came out of a cabin and grinned.
"We're all alone. Come on, lock the door.", he said. And I did. I locked the main door from the inside so that we couldnt get disturbed. I may had no idea what he wanted but I was so horny for him that I didnt care.
"I saw your looks.", he said. "And you are completely my type."
"I'm your type? Come on, look at me. I'm fat. I'm totally not in your league.", I said a little intimidated.
He stepped towards me.
"Look.", he said running his hands over my a little too tight shirt. "I have a thing for chubby boys."
"Boy? Do I look So childlike?", I asked shocked.
"Well, you look a lot younger than me.", he said. "I'm Lucas by the way."
He grabbed my head and kissed me gently. I loved the feeling of his lips. They were so soft and his beard a bit scratchy.
Lucas took a step back.
"Strip.", he said. I was shocked as I thought that he would take them off. But I started anyways as I opened my laces, kicked off my shoes and took off my socks. I tried to take off my shirt but I was struggling with it. Lucas helped me getting it off and then continued with my jeans. He took them and my underpants off, leaving me naked in front of him.
He kneeled down and lifted my belly to start sucking my dick. It didn't take long until I moaned by the pleasure. It was the best feeling I ever had. His beard tingled slightly but his lips and mouth were a pleasant surprise. It felt as if this wasnt his first blowjob. He sucked further and further until I came. And he took it all in one gulp.
He stood up and we kissed aggressively until his back hit a highboy. He pushed me away, causing me to fall backwards. After that, Lucas pulled himself up onto the highboy with a big grin.
"And now you strip me.", he said holding his foot out for me.
I quickly took off his boots and socks. After that I opened his pants and pulled them down. To my surprise greeted me his hard dick instead of underpants. He giggled as he saw my surprised face. I continued by unbuttoning his shirt and taking off his watch and rings.
He got down from the highboy and turned me around. He hugged me from behind and layed his chin on my shoulder.
"You'll gonna like this.", he whispered into my ear right as I felt something getting stuck up into my butt.
"Oh, it's so tight. Is this your first time?", Lucas asked. I just nodded in pain.
The sound of my fat cheeks hitting his muscular hips filled the air.
He increased the pace with every thrust until he came. As he pulled out his dick, I felt how the pain became even stronger.
I was completely out of breath and I heard him panting too.
"Thanks, chubby.", he said.
As I turned around to face him, I saw that he already wanted to dress up again as he lifted his pants from the ground. I took them out if his hands and threw them back to the ground. He looked confused.
"Thats it? Really?", I asked furious.
"Well, I never said I wanted more.", he answered.
I stormed at him and we struggled to the ground. Lucas tried to fight me off and I tried to overpower him.
He managed to get out if my grasp and tried to stand up but I grabbed him by his ankle and pulled him back down. His fall must have hurt as he was panting on the ground after it. I quickly sat down on his back and secured his arms.
"You'll gonna like this.", I whispered in his ear.
"No, please. You dont have to do th-", Lucas didnt even manage to end his sentence as I pushed my dick into his hole.
"Uugh, fuck. It feels so much bigger than it looks.", he said. "Please - aagh - stop! It hurts so bad."
But I didnt stop. With every thrust I felt better and his hole became wider.
I grabbed him by his man bun and lifted his head.
"Its so tight. Is this your first time?", I asked him uppish.
He groaned under pain and nodded.
"You'll remember this day as the day when chubby got what he wanted from you.", I said letting go of his man bun.
I thrusted even faster until I shot my load.
Lucas cried silently as I shot my load into his hairy ass. As I wanted to pull out my dick, his cheeks tensed up, making my dick stuck. I tried to pull it out but my dick didnt move a single inch.
Only then I noticed that I didnt hear a thing from Lucas anymore. I lifted his head again to tell him to relax but he suddenly started to move uncontrollably. His muscles were twitching as if he had a seizure. I tried to relax him, but I passed out on top of him.
As I started to regain my consciousness, I felt the cold floor beneath me.
Looks like I fell off of Lucas, I thought. But then I felt something heavy on top of me moving. It stood up. I rolled around and opened my eyes to see my body standing in front of me. It looked as surprised as I was.
"What did you do?", it said looking down at me and then back at his body. "You stole my body, you little filth!", it said.
I didn't understand what he meant. Only as I tried to stand up I noticed my muscular arms and legs. I was now towering over my old body. I was in Lucas body.
He attacked me and we struggled again.
"You cant do this to me. I dont want to be chubby!", he started crying.
"This wasnt my intention. But now you wont get it back. I always wanted to have a body like this. I also thought that you had a thing for chubby bodies.", I said while overpowering him.
He fell to the ground.
"Stay down!", I said. "I'm now Lucas. I'll meet my best friend Jorge in Spain and you wont."
"Wait, how do you know...", Lucas stammered in my old body. "Oh god, I know your life too. Please we have to change back. I want to live my life, not yours."
"This is your life now!", I said. I slapped him so hard that I knocked him out. I was watching my old body for quite some time. I'll probably never see my family again, but thats okay if I'll stay in this body, I thought.
I put on Lucas clothes, inhaled his nice smell, took his luggage, unlocked the door and left.
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I had the best time of my life in Spain. His job as a model was pretty easy and the rest of my time I've spent on the beach or at the park, showing of my new body. I'll never go back to where I was with my life before. Lucas is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
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annmarcus63 · 3 years
Text
He wanted to say "I love you"
Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Here's on ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34237159
Injured Jaskier
"Blessed silence"
"Would you shut up, bard?"
"If you don't stop within the next two minutes, I swear, I'll break that fucking lute and shove it down your throat"
"Jaskier, shut up!"
"Alright! I'll stop, there's no need to be such a brute" replied Jaskier while tucking the lute, currently on his hands, on the brand new case he bought a couple of days ago to a retired musician living his last days on White Orchard. It's gorgeous, orgasmic, almost as sexy as the lute.
The music notes slowly fading in Geralt's ears, leaving a weak hum behind. Geralt sighed relieved, and a suspicious feeling that may resemble guilt. But there's not time to dwell on it. He's trying to sort the potions and required ingredients to complete the contract which he needed to follow up  that same night. Witchers were trained to tune out every sound to be able to concentrate. He could meditate for days with not a single thing to bother him, but Jaskier's chatter is a powerful contrary spell to the calmness he was used to. It's a possibility that Jaskier fell upon his path with the sole purpose to test his limits. He is good company but sometimes Geralt wonders if it's worth the trouble.
He needs Arachnomorphs' venom and Griffin's feathers and blue mutagen to brew the antidote to the potent venom of the Endrega warrior he's goin to face. Methodically he starts with the preparation, grind and mix, smell, taste, it hurts...it's ready.
Three weeks ago he received a letter from Eskel asking to meet for pressing matters. Geralt doesn't know what he may want, it maybe a problem with a powerful beast or just a call to drink, which is unlikely because the message seem urgent. So Geralt had to hurry if he wanted to catch him on time, he was two days late and if he doesn't kill the Endrega he'd be three days late. Traveling with Jaskier prevent from a fastest pace, and the reason of those two days were, of course, the bard who asked him to stay longer on White Orchard to wait for his new lute case. Geralt ponder all this with an edge of bitterness towards Jaskier, it's unfair and uncalled for. He feel like shit. He ponder it still.
Jaskier is capable of recognizing when he's being a nuisance. Or well...he can recognize when someone has reach their limits regarding him. He can be too much, he speaks too much, he moves too much, he whines too much, he thinks too much. He's considerate you see, when Geralt snaps at him he understands. He can't help it. Is what he is, and he's not going to change, he tried once for his father. It didn't work, Jaskier was giving too much away for the acceptance of one person, he conclude it didn't worth it.
He understands really, but today Geralt has been a little over the edge, and has crossed the line between banter and plain rudeness.
So the logical response is to be more annoying.
Jaskier can be awful too when he wants.
He prod the wild and stressed animal with meaningless chatter, why does the fire moves like that? is the color of my fingernail normal? have you ever wonder how it'd be to become a fish?
the wild animal spill one or two drops of the antidote while pouring it from the small wood plate in which the ingredients got blend. Jaskier swear have saw how the vein on Geralt's forehead pop.
Ups…
"Would you SHUT UP for once in your fucking life?” ok he seen that coming “I can't even hear my own thoughts, bard. When we reach Velen you're going to stay there. Do you understand? Not following me around anymore”
To be fair he has caused this. It's what he does, always, being and idiot with and incessant mouth. He has push too far this time, even so that tone on Geralt's voice put him on edge, angry even. That ungrateful witcher and his never ending foul mood. What would he give to see him smile more often?
Everything.
A heavy atmosphere settled on the camp, Geralt's angry and now Jaskier's too, offended to be more accurate. Jaskier hated these often-occurring moments, as if the bard were a stranger and not a years friend.
Are you though?
Whoever sent the letter is Geralt's friend. What give it away? the eagerness to travel fast for instance. Jaskier send a letter once, asking if he wanted to meet at Novigrad, he never received a response nor Geralt went there.
Geralt packed his things, secure the sword straps and with a particular tenseness on his shoulders he turn to Jaskier.
"You're going to stay here. HERE Jaskier. I don't want you anywhere near the nest, the poison..."
"I know"
"Then I want you to repeat it"
"What? Really? I'm not a child, Geralt" but the Witcher kept his stance, waiting, and Jaskier's a sucker for pleasing.
"I'm going to stay here, quiet and still. If I get near the nest there's a high chance to get poisoned, even a small dosis could kill me. And get my body back and bury it would be a big hassle for you Are you happy now?"
"Hmm. I'll be back by midnight"
Geralt disappeared between the trees and Jaskier watch him go with a big lump on his throat. Not five minutes later he started cleaning the broth pot to fill it again with clean water to drink to warm up his bones. How he wish to have tea or coffe to add.
·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  · ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ··  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  · ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ··  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  · ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·
Wind's howling, Jaskier reflected, feeling the chill colouring his cheeks and breaking his lips unpleasantly. Besides the wolfs living on the wind, there was silence, a sepulchral silence that caused him feel unsafe. Even Roach looks in distress. An hour ago she was lying on the grass getting ready for a good night sleep, and now she's looking everywhere as if she can sense something lurking in the shadows, and that is scary. By the position of the moon Jaskier could guess the time, one and a half hour past midnight. That idiot witcher should be here by now. He knew that, Roach knew that, so why he's not here?
He couldn't think straight, the worry was eating him up from the intestines and it wasn't fair or unnormal, worrying for Geralt is like worrying for the sun to never come up again. It may happen but is unlikely, impossible.
Geralt is fine, he is, or at least is what he kept repeating himself for the past hour like a mantra that no one would ever listen.
Something went wrong, I'm sure. He'd be here by now so why he's not here? What if the Endrega chew his head off? that's sudden and crude Jaskier, what's wrong with you? He can't be dead, I mean I didn't even get the chance to apologize, to clean his wounds, to buy him breakfast, to tell him I love him with all my beating foolish heart.
Agh, but he's not dead, so stop that train of thought right this instant, young man.
For some reason the voice sounded like his dead mother.
"I need to go there only to see if he's safe" said Jaskier to Roach
"But he said rather rudely to you to stay put and not bother him." replied imitating Roach voice like a tired housewife.
"I know what he said" said with an air of petulant child. "And what about you come with me to keep me in check"
"It's dark you can't see and it's dangerous"
"But you can!"
"Fine, hop on me" he loved winning arguments.
He saddled Roach efficiently, Geralt rarely let him do it but he was a quick learner. He put out the fire with a kick of dust, took a small blade that Geralt kept at the bottoms of his bag just in case, he also lit the only torch they carried for emergencies, a beacon of light that Geralt could see if he was in trouble and rode Roach towards the clearing next to the main road from which people get disappearing and getting eaten.
He trusted Roah to guided him, she was a clever one who also worried for her master.
The cold kept biting his skin even under the small fire, he left his cape at camp in case he needed to run, but they're getting closer. A wooden statue with flowers and canisters at it’s feet appear by his right, the notice board said the location of the insect was near that god statue.
He stoped Roach and dismount then he took the short blade wishing he didn't have to use it, before leaving he remembered the possibility of encounter with poison, according to Geralt Endregas not only spit venom but also exuded poisonous gas equally lethal. So he took his undershirt to cover half his face, this might prevent breathing it.
The turned out the torch because the light would attract the Endrega and distract Geralt.
He walked slowly to north realizing how much he was trembling, it wasn't that cold. It was fear and the soft hum of the adrenaline waiting on his brain for being triggered.
And then a rancid and potent smell reached him despite the undershirt. There. A thick unnatural mist and a series of small mountains piled some meters away. No, not mountains, bodies, Endrega bodies lying on the ground slaughtered with efficiency. A witcher’s work.
He almost missed it because of the mist, but there he was, Geralt, lying on the ground in a tragic pantomim of his foes. Jaskier hurried to him almost tripping in the process, he kneel by his side and got shocked by the hardened veins on the witcher's forehead, his levels of toxicity must being dangerous high. But he wasn't dead and if Jaskier wanted to keep him like that he needed to take him away from the mist to help his body fight the secondary effects of the pocions.
He looked the number of bodies surrounded them, more than six when the contract said one Endrega.
He have to be quick so he wrap Geralt by the armpits and with all his strength started to drag him towards Roach, he couldn't risk bringing her here in case of the poison or another insect near by. Geralt was a big guy, he has always being attracted to that, now not so much. Sweating, weary and scared.
Sweating, weary and scared the bard dragged the witcher to Roach when he started to feel dizzy followed by an annoying scratching under the skin. Roach stamped her feet two times before getting closer, she nosed her master while Jaskier catch his breath, then the lovely girl crouched down and wait patiently.
In a matter of a blink, his head started to pound violently and his vision to get blurred. That wasn't good.
The poison, it's the poison.
With all the strength he got left he pull Geralt on his belly over Roach, the position wasn't ideal but it was all he could do before collapsing on his knees.
"Go Roach. Go" She stood with must carefulness, Jaskier watched her go feeling a rush of pride and victory, he saved Geralt, he'll be alright and that was all that matter.
Jaskier fell backwards hitting his head with the ground, his body started convulsing or at least that's what he thought before lose consciousness.
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An insistent poke on his ribs brought him to wakefulness followed by a fall and a sudden sharp pain on his side. A few seconds later the witcher take in his surroundings. Roach neigh by his side, he had fall from her. The heavy cloud from exhaustion and toxicity still rested on his brain.
He felt the bitter tang on the back of his tongue of venom running thru his system and the hollow pain that remained. There were eight Endregas...yes, the Endregas, he had fainted on the clearing knowing well that he might not woke up again if he kept on breathing that mist. How did he get there? Roach answered with a distressed stump of her foot.
"What?" he asked the horse, and she neigh.
Jaskier
"Fuck."
he search on his pouch for White Honey to swallow it in a big gulp.
Awareness returned quickly and despite the injuries and aches on his lef side he took Roach's reins and guided her back to the clearing.
Back to Jaskier, he hoped to not be late, please let him be on time, he begged to no one in particular.
The contract said one Endrega, imagine the surprise and horror he felt when encountering a nest with full grown ups monsters which position were stronger and their hunt abilities an excellency when attacking in pack. He drank the three vials of antidote he carried and a dose of Swallow that burned his stomach and shot the toxicity levels to a mortal point. The Endregas were all dead, but tired and injured he collapse defeated. The position of the moon indicate that was dead for at least two hours during which he continued to breathe the poisonous gas, half and hour more and he'd be dead for good. Jaskier went for him, he could smell him on Roach, his fear and urgency. Idiot, that idiot.
Geralt tried with all his might to not think him dead.
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At the feet of the statue was Jaskier, body bent in an awkward angle. Geralt removed the undershirt on his face, recognizing it as a clever tactic. The mist did not reach that area but the purple and green tone on the bard's skin indicate high levels of poison, he must have went thru the mist to reach Geralt drag him back to Roach.
“Fuck, Jask”  said Geralt with a trembling voice and without thinking carried Jaskier to Roach, there'll be time to check for injuries for now he have to take him back to safety. Jaskier's heartbeat was slow, very very slow. Geralt fret but he did not relent.
He laid Jaskier's frigid body on the bedroll and with Igni he started the fire, he located the water Jaskier used for tea and used to clean his hands of the grime and dirt. A choking noise alerted him and Roach who was nosing the bard.
From Jaskier's nose a dark liquid started to flow, he was drowning from the inside which meant that he had breath the poison and it was filling his lungs with thick mucus.
He put Dandelion on his side and encouraged him to vomit with his fingers to clean his airways as soon as possible. Jaskier throat convulsed on his fingers followed by a steady dark flow. Geralt reached for the pot by the fire to put it under his mouth, which soon was filled to the brim.
"That's it Jask, that's it" Geralt whispered even though the bard couldn't hear him. With a clean cloth, he wiped the bard's mouth once the flow stopped and her lungs sound clear. It was then that Geralt noticed with overwhelming fear that the other had stopped breathing.
"No, no, Jask come on come on"
He acted fast by lifting Jaskier's chin and placing his clasped hands in the center of his chest and began to push down hard more times than he could count.
“Jaskier come back!” he growled when his shoulders felt like jelly, he was getting tired and Jaskier wasn't breathing. He wasn't breathing. He remembered Renfri choking on his arms a reflection of what was happening here. Not this again, not these again. Jaskier's mouth opened follow up by a weak gasp and a weaker heartbeat.
But he came back, and Geralt almost cried right there and there, but he didn't know how. There's nothing else he can do, he had no medicine of herbs for poisoning that could help humans, everything he had was lethal. He instantly regretted overlooking the possibility of this happening. He was traveling with a bard and the most responsible and considerate thing he could do was prevent and buy at least herbs just in case. But he didn't. They were at least a day and a half away from the next town and being that far from the capital meant fewer healers. Jaskier wouldn't survive the travel, not on this conditions.
If the poison hasn't killed him by now then it means that he could survive on his own, or at least that's what Geralt hope.
He put Jaskier in one of his shirts and covered him with all the available clothes they had, his cape and even the blanket with which he covered Roach.
Exhausted he started removing his armour to clean the now faint slashes on his chest and abdomen, then he walked like death to Roach to remove the saddle and pet her gently thanking her for her help.
It was an hour before dawn, but Geralt did not rest, he could not even if he wanted to. He sat next to Jaskier to check his breathing and keep the fire burning.
The fever hit the bard a couple of hours later, he was burning dangerously high, Geralt dipped a cloth on clean water to place on his forehead, from time to time raised Jaskier's head to feed him with water.
His heart didn't stop again which was a blessing amongst the terrible situation. Jaskier didn't deserve to die like this, not for Geralt or monsters.
Then the hallucinations began, feverish and confused, Jaskier babbled under his breath while trembling furiously. He smell like sickness and decay and in that exact moment the witcher missed the natural perfume of the bard's skin. Like sea breeze and orange tree. Like Jaskier.
By day two Geralt got assaulted by an all consuming wave of guilt. He had yelled at the bard for being...well, himself. He was so upset and it was so easy to insult and threaten to leave him in the next town.
Jaskier hated to be left behind.
"Why did you came for me, you idiot?"
"I don't deserve it" whispered before taking the now warm cloth to dip it once again on cold water. Instead of improving, Jaskier's condition began to deteriorate. Painful spasms convulsed his body for hours, the fever did not subside and his breathing were shallow and slow. Geralt lay next to him that night to keep the tremors at bay, he hold him carefully alongside his body.
"You do remember the night after Posada when we make camp and you asked me to cuddle you because you were cold?" He whispered into the night "I didn't. If you were awake I'd never hear the end of this. You'd love it"
The bard moaned softly and shook slightly under his grip. "Come back to me, Jask." He meant to say how sorry he was, he doze off instead.
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First he felt heat on his face, then a relentless pressure on his head as if a heavy stone was on top of it Little by little he maped his body and the multiple aches that alarmed him. On his chest underneath the skin his ribs screamed with fire as if he have been kicked hard multiple times, also his lungs burned like hell, his shoulders were stiff and sore, his belly hurt faintly.
What happened? Where is he? What, what, what, what
"Jaskier Jaskier. I'm here, breathe thru your nose, I'm here." Suddenly he realized that he was sitting up and wide-eyed. It was noon. "Jask" kneeled next to him was Geralt with a worried frown and a canister fill of water. He snatched it from Geralt's hands and drank as if a desert was kept inside his lungs.
"Easy"
“Not…your…horse” Jaskier flinched at how raspy his voice sounded. Beside him, the witcher chuckled and then stretched out his hand to put it on his forehead. Before Jaskier could react at the soft touch tha hand was gone.
"Fevers down" uh, did he sound happy?
"I had fever?" Geralt looked at him with such intensity, a expression he had never seen and therefore didn't know what it meant.
"You almost died" he answered softly. She saw Roach grazing without a mount a few feet away, she also noticed that Geralt was in his small clothes. The camp was a small mess like when they stay on the same place for more than two days.
"The Endrega"
"Endregas, yes"
"I went..."
"Yes"
"I... i'm sorry"
"No, don't be, you saved me" It was a shock when Geralt straightened a lock of hair from her forehead. His fingertips were warm.
"Are you hungry?"
"I don't know. I don't think so"
"You have to eat. I cooked rabbit broth, it'll do you good"
He could only swallow a quarter of the broth before starting to feel nauseous, Geralt said he had vomit enough for the past days before taking the pot from him. Roach came to say hello and Jaskier felt his heart swelled with affection. He wanted to do and ask more, but suddenly he felt tired, very tired, his eyelids fluttered and when Geralt saw him, he helped him lie down and put his cape over him. He was soft and calm, tender even. At that moment Jaskier knew that he must have been in a bad shape if Geralt was acting like this, like Jaskier always imagine on his wildest dreams.
He wanted to said thank you but it felt so meaningless at the moment, Geralt didn't look that good, slump and with drop shoulders a clear sign of exhaustion. if Jaskier still breathed, it was all thanks to Geralt, despite how defeated he was from the contract, he took care of him.
I love you seem something meaningful to say, every feeling and thought Jaskier have had of the witcher, taking form into three little words.
Sleep took him away before he could have the courage to say it.
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The next morning Jaskier insisted he was fine and he wanted to travel to the next town , of course he was a liar Geralt always knew when he lied, because he wrinkled his nose in a cute but irritating way. With a small smile, he pinched the bard's nose back to normal.
“No, you’re not ready” Jaskier let out a laugh as he smack the witcher's hand away. and before Jaskier could protest Geralt added "But we need go there to get you to a healer and reastock"
"Your letter Geralt, don't forget about your letter"
"Uhmm"
Before setting off on the journey, Geralt made sure that Jaskier could endure the journey. He applied what was left of a soothing balm to Jaskier's chest for the pain and bruises that remained after the compressions. Riding would be painful, but they have to get to the healer in case of a relapse or permanent damage. Jaskier let him applied the balm and he couldn't believe the patience and care the witcher put on his motions as if Jaskier could break if enough force was used. He was crumbling in tiny little pieces, melting, but from a different source. The witcher is going to be the end of him one day of these.
I love you, we wanted to said. He put on one of Geralt's shirt instead, it smells like onion and Roach and Geralt and smoke and safety. It smells like home.
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Riding Roach was painful and tiring, walking was out of the question He kept waiting for Geralt to get upset by the multiple stops they made but that never happen, in fact the witcher was the one who plannified and suggest to rest every one or two hours.
Something has changed between them, but the bard does not know what to name this new atmosphere, but he sure welcomes it. For the first time in all the years they have travel together Jaskier felt wanted, cared for, treasured! With a rush of happiness and satisfaction, Jaskier acknowledged that the walls Geralt has built around him to keep him out and stranded, have collapsed. He finally was someone to hold on to. Jaskier was sitting on the bed roll with a warm tea canister on his hands while the witcher set up camp to sleep the night. A day and a half away from the next town has become two days, they'll be reaching the inn (if it were any, Jaskier hope there would be) by night fall.
Geralt was stoking the fire when a mad idea occurred to him, he crawled to Geralt and before he could voiced his displeasure the bard embrace him in a tight hug. Two seconds later, Geralt hugged him back almost urgently, nuzzling his face where Jaskier's shoulder and neck met. He withdrew with a goofy smile on his face and his heart hammering on his bruised ribs, he couldn't care less. But he didn't get any far, he was a selfish man. Geralt was smiling too, a soft and crooked smile, when he straightened the bard's hair over his forehead and ears, he then, like under a spell trace his thumbs over his eyebrows and eyelids. Jaskier could die right here and then from happiness.
Their faces were so close. I love you, Jaskier wanted to say, he took Geralt's hands instead to place a kiss on each dirtied palm.
"You reek" of course Geralt would know how to break the moment.
"You too, mister. For once Roach smells better than us"
“She always smells better tan us” Jaskier snorted getting back to the bedroll pondering on how lucky he was despite the near death experience, he was a lucky men.
By the next afternoon Jaskier was beyond exhausted, every single one of his bones scream with pain, he felt as if he was about to pass out at any moment.
"Geralt..."
"We have to get going, Jaskier, only for a few hours and we'd get there"
"I can't"
"Please, Jask, I'll take care of you when we get there"
Please, what a strange word to express how much you care.
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Geralt practically carried him up the stairs to the room, Jaskier fell face first on the bed already half sleep. Geralt was placing his things when the bard murmured “Wake me up before you go in the morning." The thing is that even if he were on time to reach Eskel, Geralt didn't want to go anywhere.
Jaskier woke up sometime in the night when the mattress sagged next to him.
followed by a strong arm curling around his belly.
"Grlt'?"
"Sleep"
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Jaskier woke up to the chirping of birds on the windowsill, it was still early, the sun was not up yet. Not even the drowsiness could prevent the joy he felt and finding himself tuck to Geralt chest, they're facing each other naturally as if they have sleep like this forever.
And like a bucket of cold water thrown over him he remembered the letter "Geralt" he called softly "Geralt it's morning"
"Hmm, I can see that" came the sloppy reply, but instead of getting up Geral cuddled him more, practically tucking his face against the other's.
as if sensing his distress Geralt added "I'm not going anywhere"
"But your contact..." he withdrew (a few inches) to make a point. Geralt opened his perfect eyes and hold him under them.
"Eskel, my brother. I already send a letter, he'll understand"
"I'm sorry" a kiss was place on his forehead
"Don't be, I want to be here"
"You...you didn't want to" Geralt sighed ashamed
"I know and i'm sorry. Now I know where i belong"
"Here?" replied Jaskier with a snort
"With you"
"With me?!" Now was Geralt's turn to snort happily, resembling Roach when they feed her apples.
"You risked your life even though I was an asshole to you, even when I told you that the poison would kill you if you got anywhere near the place. I...I'm sorry"
"You were an asshole, yes" Geralt gifted him with a smile full of teeth "To be fair i was behaving like a brat at the time"
"You are a brat, yes"
"Hey"
Jaskier wanted to say I love you, instead he kiss Geralt's lips softly.
Geralt wanted to do better, so better he did.
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darthwheezely · 3 years
Text
a change of heart - g.w.
summary: falling out of love was the last thing they had wanted.
pairing: muggle au!george weasley x reader
warnings: mentions of break ups, sex, cussing, ouid, heartbreak, no happy endings, apathetic!george, domestic fights, mean!reader (at times), insinuations of depression, toxic relationship
a/n: this is my first angst without a happy ending and honestly it feels very last 5 years to me and i was in a bad mood yesterday so this happened i love you all mwah xoxo
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are we awake?
am i too old to be this stoned?
George blinked in what felt like slow motion at the crumbling ceiling above him as he took another long drag of his joint. He breathed out, his lungs and mind relaxing under a slimy green haze. The bed was spongey, destroyed from one too many sexual escapades and one night stands and full body tantrums that left him kicking and screaming.
His mind never really woke up after the day you packed up and took the bus downtown back to your parent’s. He usually laid there in a collapse of old cassette tapes and cannabis flecks, generally shirtless and wearing wear bleached boxers and lost.
George was never really awake after you.
was it your breasts from the start?
they played a part
You were stunning to him that day in London. You always were. That hadn’t been any different. But the day you walked into the pub everything about you just ached to be adored, he thought. He wanted to know what it was like to attach his mouth to the skin of your collar bone and nibble, knead at your breasts and have his fingers gripping your thighs the second you struck up a conversation.
“Two whiskeys and a beer later and I still don’t know your name,” he gave a little half smile and watched you bite your lip, a chuckle erupting from your throat.
“Y/N.”
“No last name?”
“Don’t need one, not yet anyway. You?”
He looked at you softly and nodded to himself.
“Let’s see if I can change that. I’m George.”
George needed you. Or at least, he thought he did.
for goodness’ sake
i wasn’t told you’d be this cold
He passed out on the couch, the old and relatively shitty TV left on static due to inactivity and refusal to be fixed.
You were supposed to have date night. At least, that’s what George thought. He knew you’d be out and about all day at work and then picking up dinner on the way home, but when you stumbled through the door at 2am, he shot awake. And in a flash of anger, he just picked up on the idea that date night didn’t really matter to you then, at least not tonight.
“Baby-“
“Don’t fucking baby me,” you had growled, looking at him with streaks of mascara running down your face. You sniffles and wobbled off to the bathroom, leaving an albeit confused George on the couch. He listened to you cry in the bathroom, and suddenly realized it didn’t matter if you were pissed at him or scared or whatever was happening.
At least you came home.
you smashed a glass into pieces
that’s around the time i left
“Fine,” you had shouted, picking up the now empty wine glass from the table and throwing it at the cabinets across from you.
The night had started off fine, the dinner was neutral - that had been your new normal with George. Neutral. You two weren’t really angry anymore, just tired. Until you both got in that heated argument and were screaming, the radio getting blown out your earshot due to the high intensity yelling in the room.
The minute the glass hit the cabinet you jumped ever so slightly, not really realizing you had done it, but knowing the lashing out of yourself had scared you just enough. You had let out a choking whimper and quickly enough, your boyfriend had rushed over to you and held you up.
“I’m sorry,” you sobbed against his chest. “Georgie, I’m so sorry, please don’t be mad at me anymore.”
He knew you weren’t really apologizing for a wine glass, or missing a date or two. He knew it was everything, and the idea that you were getting blamed for it all in your mind due to things you didn’t feel safe telling him about crushed him.
“My sweet girl,” he cooed, his nose and mouth pressing into the top of your head.
He pulled off the top of your head, brushing the tears from underneath your eyes “I love you so much, and you can push me away as hard and as much as you want but I’ll come right back, every single time.”
You nodded and fell back into his arms, and George regrettably swallowed.
He had just made a promise he knew he wouldn’t keep.
then she said, "i’ve been so worried about you lately"
"you look shit and you smell a bit"
“George,” you had cleared your throat and sat up a bit straighter in the chair.
It had been approximately two months since he had pushed away from you, and since then you had heard radio silence from the man that had stolen your heart and left your mind mush. But here you were back in the apartment at the behest of Fred who had been, admittedly, “worried fuckin’ sick” about his younger twin.
The apartment was disgusting. Dishes from weeks left in the sink that had most likely caked mold and other major nastiness. Everywhere it smelled like cheap beer and even cheaper weed. It was nauseating to be at the dining room table, looking at the face that used to be George Weasley, but was now puffy, like he’d been getting over crying every single day, his eyes red rimmed and purpling, his usually pale but still vibrant skin tone sallow and raw.
“Georgie, they’re worried about you,” you said softly. He snorted and took another bite of his Ramen.
“George, you look shit, you’re just a-a shell, and your mom has no clue what’s going on, Fred can’t keep up with demands for the record store without you and god, everyone just misses you-“
“I’m fine, Y/N,” he cut. He clenched his jaw before finally looking back up at you, nodding ruefully to himself.
“You saw to it that I always was.”
i feel as though I was deceived
i never found love in the city
i just sat in self-pity and cried in the car
“Pass the damn thing, Fred, Jesus, you bong hog,” George playfully slapped his older brother on the chest. It was their best friend Roger’s nineteenth birthday, and as such, it was 4 in the morning, everyone either knackered as hell or making out in the corner. But Fred always opted to light up with George, especially since he knew it’d be the last time before the Big Move to the City as they referred to it.
“I am, I am, calm your tits, mate!” Fred had puffed into the air, sliding the bong to his brother and watching him inhale. He coughed, George always coughed - as much as he said he was the more mature and worldly one, he still got these little flashes that proved only to Fred that George was his baby brother.
“You know what I’m gonna do once we get to Londontown, Freddie-bomb?”
“What would that be, Georgie?” He smirked, leaning back against the couch. George grinned to himself and finally looked at Fred.
“I am going to find the most beautiful girl and marry her outright.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. And she’s going to have the most gorgeous mind - her brain, y’know. And and we’ll talk about music and art and shit I don’t care sex and whatever the hell else she likes, and I’ll buy her flowers and perfume and pretend I know what I’m doing because I’m a dumb kid and hell, I’ll fall in love so fast...and I hope she does the same...”
George sat in his beat up old Volvo, took in a shaky breath, and started to sob. His fists delivered downward strikes against his steering wheel at his memories, the feelings of love and joy he knew were still there begging to be freed.
But for now, he’d cry.
oh, i just had a change of heart
The answering machine clicked on, the voicemail ringing through the silence in the bedroom. “Hey, Y/N...sweetheart, we - I - can’t do this anymore,”
i just had a change of heart
“It’s not your fault, baby, but...angel, we can’t do this anymore,”
i just had a change of heart
“I loved you so much and we’re killing each other and I-I couldn’t do anything to stop it except hope that it would pass one day, because we could always make it pass, we could do that,”
i just had a change of heart
“But baby, it’s time to...it’s time to stop. For now, at least until things are better - until we are better,”
i just had a change of heart
“Until we can fall back in love again...I just know we can.”
The machine stopped clicking.
taglist! @whizboingies @harrysweasleys @wandsandwheezes @valwritesx @lumosandnoxwriting @amxrtentias @mothermantids @cyliamarti @shakinganxiety @godricsswords @rosietoesy @jorduhnn @sinfulweasley @wand3ringr0s3 @jaywritesstuff0 @anchoeritic
203 notes · View notes
maddiwrites · 3 years
Text
Secret Lives (Part 3)
Pairing: JJ x Reader
Summary: You and JJ never got along so your friends trap the two of you on a boat in the middle of the marsh to work it out. Only it doesn’t go as planned. 
Note: Hey guys! Remember this little series I wrote? A lot of people asked for a part three and I truly had no plans to write one, but I came up with one for you if you if guys are even still interested, who knows. I don’t know how I feel about it. Kinda seems dramatic of me, but oh well. Its been in my drafts for forever so I’m finally posting it. Let me know!! If I tagged you, its because you were tagged in part 2 or asked to be tagged in part 3! 
Word count: 6k
Warnings: mentions of abuse, drugs, violence, and death
 Part 1   Part 2    Masterlist
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The relationship you and JJ had transpired into something no one saw coming. Your friends thought your friendship was unsalvageable after what happened when they trapped you in the middle of the marsh with one another. You had reached your breaking point and they didn’t think you’d ever come back to them. But you did. Not only did you come back to them, but you came back to JJ. 
The two of you, once closed off around each other, were now inseparable. You spent almost every day together. You followed him around his work schedule and he snuck through your window any chance he got because he didn’t want to spend one night without you. Your family was surprisingly very accepting of JJ. Your mother was first worried, knowing how men on the Cut can grow into something/someone no parent would want for their daughter. And Andrew knew of Luke Maybank from word of mouth and was afraid JJ might be just like him. But the first night you invited him to dinner at your house, your parents welcomed him into your family. He was polite, mature, and personable throughout the whole meal. You remembered that night well. The morning of, he  called you panicking because he didn’t know what to wear. You told him to wear whatever he wanted, but he was afraid the Kildare County T shirt and cargo shorts wouldn’t send the right message. So you took him shopping on the mainland. Together you took the ferry and made him play dress up in stores you knew he couldn’t afford. He felt bad that you were paying for his new wardrobe, but you promised it was something you wanted to do because you would do anything to make him feel better about this night. That night he came to your door with a bouquet of flowers for your mother and a bottle of Scotch he told Andrew his dad bought for him for that night. Your little sister absolutely adored him, barely giving him enough time to kiss you hello or goodbye. 
You and JJ were more alike than either of you could even imagine. Your temper wasn’t as short as JJ’s, but you weren’t afraid of a fight when it presented itself to you. Your mother always said that’s what happens when you grow up on the Cut. You learn to fight for what you want and need. Most of the time JJ liked that about you. Seeing you standing up for yourself was a huge turn on to him and he felt prideful when onlookers would watch impressed because they didn’t expect a girl from Figure Eight to fight like that. He never let it get physical though even though he always thought it would be hot to see you in a cat fight with some rich bitch from your school. He cared too much about you to let you get hurt. 
You and JJ have another similarity no one outside of the Pogues know about. Although you hate it more than anything, you and JJ live through the trauma of having an abusive father. As if dealing with your father alone wasn’t stressful enough, he created a few fights between you and your boyfriend. JJ was constantly on your case when you were hiding a new bruise or silently frustrated from a previous conversation with your father. You tried not to find it overbearing because JJ was just concerned. You promised you’d stop seeing your father. It was easier for you than for JJ because you had another family to fall back on. A loving mother, a generous step father, and a boisterous little sister. The perfect family. Which is why you felt so guilty that they didn’t seem like enough. ‘Cause it didn’t matter how much money Andrew had, or if he said he loved you like his own, or that he promised you he would never hurt your mother on the day he proposed. He wasn’t your real dad. Your real dad was out there, living in filth and drugs. Without a second income, he couldn’t pay his bills or own a car to drive himself to work every day. He blamed that on you and your mother and you fell for his pity party every single time. 
JJ knew when you were lying. You’d wearing more clothes on the days you were hiding your skin and quieter on the days when you were thinking back to the hateful things your father yelled at you the day before. He hated that there was someone out there laying their hands on you and there was nothing he could do about it. JJ knew the kind of damage that could happen if he tried to physically intervene and it didn’t work. Every time he brought it up, it would only start a heated argument. You would bring up his own father and how JJ wouldn’t let you say anything to Luke, even on the days you two were face to face at Barry’s home with your own father. You hated that JJ thought he could come between you and your father, but you couldn’t do the same. It was hard to believe you two were using your own father’s against each other to prove a point.
Today was no different. It was sunny, cloudless day in the middle of the summer. Which meant the perfect boat day for you and your Pogues. John B was excited to fish, JJ and Pope were excited to swim, Kie to tan. And you? Well you weren’t excited all at. Because last night was a particularly bad night between you and your dad. 
He had taken you out to Barry’s again, forcing you to come inside so he could show you off like his own personal wallet. He drained you of another four hundred dollars after Barry threatened to shoot your father in the head if he didn’t get his money. And you hesitated. Not because you wanted your father to die, but because you had never had a gun pointed at another person in your vicinity. Ever. But that’s not how your dad took it. When you dropped him off, he had you come inside so he could give you his unpaid utility bills. When you least expected it, your dad shoved you hard into the countertop, the corner of it jabbing into your side. Even when you fell to the floor, your father didn’t stop kicking you in your stomach. He called you ungrateful and disloyal. He told you he wished you had never been born - how you ruin everything. You cried into the tiled floors until your dad tired himself out, grabbed a beer, and went to bed.
Your torso was covered in blue and purple bruises when you woke up. Even the warm water from you shower this morning felt like a million little needles pricking your skin.  You contemplated texting the Pogues, telling them you felt sick and that you couldn’t go today. But when you looked out the window and saw the perfect day, you didn’t want to miss out on the sun or a day out with your friends. Your father’s taken a lot from you, but you wouldn’t let him take this.
You wore a one piece bathing suit you had no intention of showing anyone today. JJ greeted you first when the Pogue pulled up to your dock. His arm wrapped around your waist, his hand lightly squeezing your side. You inevitably flinched but forced out a giggle to make it look like JJ had only tickled you. Not hurt you. No one thought anything of it. No one but JJ. He watched you with a narrowed gaze as you said your hellos to the others and popped a squat next to Kie and Sarah.
When John B docked the boat, everyone immediately undressed to get into the cool water.
“C’mon, babe. You’re my partner for Chicken,” JJ walked up to you, the two of you the only ones on the boat.
You looked up and admired his shirtless, toned body. His tan skin glowed against the North Carolina sun and you couldn’t understand how you got so lucky to call him yours.
Then you remembered your predicament and looked out towards your friends to avoid his stare. “I’m not feeling that great today, J.”
“What’s wrong?” JJ asked but he didn’t need to. He already knew what was wrong. He just wanted to see if you would lie about it again.
“Just nauseous,” you said, “I think I ate some bad eggs this morning or something.”
“Some bad eggs, huh?” JJ scoffed.
“JJ...” you sighed. You knew he didn’t buy your lame excuse. You wouldn’t either if it was the other way around.
“You went to see him again, didn’t you?” It wasn’t a question it was a statement.
“Can we not do this here? Please.” You practically begged. You knew this argument could get heated. It usually always did. Neither of you meant to get mad at one another. In the end, it was your dad who was in the wrong. But you guys didn’t like seeing the other one hurt. It was both frustrating and exhausting.
JJ rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He dove into the water head first and swam out towards his friends.
You dropped your head on the boat’s steering wheel, your forehead thumping against it. You wished cutting ties with your dad was as it easy as it sounds. But now you know that Barry would kill your dad if you didn’t show up for him with the money he owed. And you couldn’t let that happen. It would feel like murdering your own father.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
A week later, you found yourself at another boneyard party with your friends. You tried your best to enjoy the night despite your boyfriend giving you the cold shoulder. He was still mad about the incident on the boat. The two of you fought about it when you got back to the Chateau. He knew you were holding something back from him. And you were. You never mentioned Barry or the drugs or the gun to him. As far as JJ knew, you paid your dad’s bills and took him out to lunch every once in a while. And you wanted to keep it this way - afraid of what he might think knowing you were spending time with not only a notorious drug dealer, but his own father.
“I’m gonna get another drink,” you tell Kie as the two of you watched JJ and John B play beer pong against two Tourons.
She nodded and kept her eyes trained on the winning Pogues.
Before you reached the keg, a hand wrapped around your wrist and pulled you away from the crowd, towards the water. When you looked up at who it was, you ripped your hand away and glared at the blonde Kook.
“Y/N -“
“What the hell do you want, Rafe?” You could tell he was high. His eyes wouldn’t stop flickering back between yours, his balance was off, and his pupils were dilated.
“I - I screwed up. I don’t have the money - I didn’t make enough money for Barry’s blow. He’s gonna kill me.”
“Hey, hey. Calm down,” you looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.
“You need to help me. You need to sell this -“ he tried shoving small baggies into your hands but you pulled yourself away like he was offering your a lit flame.
“Are you out of your mind. Put that away!”
“I wasn’t - wasn’t keeping track of how many people were using my shit. And then there was this girl -“
“Rafe, I can’t do this.”
“JJ can help. Yeah? His dad -“
“JJ stays out of this,” you took another step towards him so you were face to face with the Kook and he could see how serious you were, even through his high state of mind. “You hear me? JJ’s nothing like his dad and I swear to god I’ll kill you first if you say anything to him.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Rafe raised his voice, frustrated that he couldn’t come up with any other ideas of how he was supposed to get his money back.
“Hey!” You froze when another voice broke you and Rafe apart. JJ walked up from behind you and pointed his finger at the Kook. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Get away from her.”
You let JJ pull you behind him but kept your eyes on Rafe, trying to warn him from saying anything to your already fired up boyfriend.
Rafe sniffled and took a step back. “Nothing, dude. Relax. Okay?”
“Didn’t look like nothing.”
“Rafe was just leaving,” you said and kept your eyes on Rafe.
“Y/N, you don’t understand. Barry -“
“Rafe!”
JJ’s head snapped in your direction and his brows furrowed in confusion. He knew that name. His dad’s mentioned that name before. It’s usually followed by coke prices.
Rafe just glared at you. “If I die, it’s on you.”
You swallowed the lump in your throat and looked down at the sand as Rafe walked away. JJ slowly turned to look at you as his brain scrambled to put the pieces together.
“Y/N...”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” You said quickly.
“How do you know Barry?” JJ pushed. He didn’t care if you didn’t want to talk about it. He was tired of letting you push him away.
“He’s my dad’s dealer, J. We’ve been over this.” You tried walking away from him but he grabbed your wrist to make you look at him.
“You been to his house?” JJ asked. When you didn’t answer, he took a step back and looked at you incredulously. “You work for him now?”
You glared at him. “Of course not!”
“Then -“
“My dad makes me pay for his shit, okay? And I can’t stop or else Barry will kill him.” You snapped. Tears pricked at your waterline and threatened to fall.
“Barry won’t kill -“
“He pointed a gun at his head the other day! I was there! I had to scoff up hundreds of dollars to save his life.” You shook your head. “And that still wasn’t enough to save myself from a stupid beating. So please stop telling me how much easier it is for me to escape him. Stop telling me how lucky I am to have such a great family to rely on. Because I don’t! If I don’t help my dad out, I might as well sign his death warrant myself.”
JJ’s heart physically cracked in his chest at the sight of you. You were falling apart. Here at a boneyard party, where you should be having fun and forgetting about your problems. But instead he pushed you too far, and although he was relieved to finally hear the truth from you, he wished it had been in the privacy of your home or the Chateau. When he looked over your shoulder, he saw the worried looks of the Pogues looking at them. He didn’t know if he heard them, but he hoped they hadn’t. He still needed time to process this without the pestering questions from his friends. Even if they meant well.
“Okay,” JJ said softly. “Okay. I won’t say anything. I’m sorry. Can we just - “ he sighed. “Can we just go back to the Chateau? I just wanna hold you.”
You sniffled and meekly nodded your head. You were angry and frustrated. But not at him. At Rafe. At your own father. At the world. And you just wanted your boyfriend too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
That night, you fell asleep pretty fast. From your sore body, to the sleepless nights thinking about Barry and his threats, and the warmth of JJ’s body held against you, your exhausted state quickly took over you. You felt like you could sleep for hours.
JJ, however, did not. He stared up at the blank ceiling with his forearm tucked under his head as his other arm stayed wrapped around you. He couldn’t stop picturing you at Barry’s home with a bunch of old low lifes, scared and innocent. He wondered if his dad was ever there - if he ever said anything to you.
He hated that there wasn’t anything he could do for you unless your dad was gone.
Gone.
And idea popped into his head like someone flicked a light switch on in his brain. He turned his head, back and forth, looking for your phone. When he found it charging on his night stand, he stretched his arm out for it, careful not to wake up your sleeping figure.
He secretly knew your passcode after subtly watching you type it in a couple weeks ago.
His fingers tapped against your screen until he found the app he was looking for. Glancing down at you one last time, he shared your location with his phone.
When you squirmed in his embrace, JJ quickly put the phone back where he found it and pretended to be asleep in case you peeked an eye open at him. He hoped you didn’t feel his heart racing against his rib cage or his uneven breaths. He knew if you found out what he was doing, you’d be pissed. But before he fell asleep, he promised he was going to do anything necessary to keep you safe.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
On the day JJ knew you were going to be busy all day babysitting your neighbor’s kids, he rode his bike to Kildare County’s police station. He stared at the entrance for a long couple of seconds, hating every second of being in near proximity to this place. Basically going against every natural instinct he had to stay away and not trust the police.
But he was doing this for you.
He walked in, ignoring the couple of looks from officers he’s encountered over the years. They were mostly surprised he wasn’t being forced through the doors with his hands cuffed behind his back.
“I need to see Sheriff Peterkin, please.” JJ says politely.
The older woman looked JJ up and down. “Do you have an appointment?”
“It’s the fucking police station. Since when do you have to make appointments? You assume people are just gonna know when an emergency is going to happen?”
“Look kid -“
“JJ.” JJ turned and relief washed over him when he saw Sheriff Peterkin in the hallway looking at him confused but also concerned.
“I need your help.” JJ admitted. He hated cops. Probably always will. But he trusted Sheriff Peterkin. She’s always tried to help John B through his DCS struggles. She actually cared about what he wanted and never took the easy way out just to make her work load lighter. She remembered why she took the oath every day.
Peterkin never really liked the Maybank kid in particular, but she was able to see something in him pretty much every cop couldn’t. She saw the loyalty and the determination his friends saw. She could tell he didn’t want to grow up to be like his father.
She led him into her office and shut the door behind them for privacy. She gestured towards the seat in front of her desk and asked him to explain what was going on.
JJ’s mouth moved a hundred miles per minute. He told her how your mother didn’t know you would sneak out to see your dad despite the custody agreement. He mentioned the bills he made you pay and the bruises he would leave you despite your efforts to help him. He teared up when he mentioned his own dad - and how his father and your father had the same dealer. How your dad would make you go inside Barry’s home and use you like a a community bank account. He even told her about the gun Barry threatened to use on your dad right in front of you.
“Why are you tell me all of this?” Peterkin says slowly. She studied the boy in front of her who was slowly falling apart and felt sympathetic for the young blonde. It didn’t take a genius to know why JJ was telling her this.
“Because...y/n... she has a heart of gold,” JJ sniffled. “She won’t leave her dad behind to be homeless or killed because that man is her blood. It doesn’t matter if he beats her black and blue. She always goes back because she thinks she owes him.” He sighs. “I want him gone. I don’t care what you do to him. Arrest him, kill him. I don’t really care. Although the second choice sounds more strategic -“
“JJ -“
“And I don’t want her getting in any sort of legal trouble because it’s not her fault. She doesn’t do drugs or deal them or anything like that. She just stands there and watches her dad blow his money on coke and who knows what else. And her mom? Her mom has no clue what’s going on but it’s not her fault. Y/n is really good at hiding her pain. She forces a smile every day and -“ JJ’s breath hitched in his throat when he thought about how you faked your happiness every single day and how a girl like you should never feel as worthless as you do. “Her mom’s a good mom. And I don’t want people blaming her or taking Y/n away from her because they think she can’t control her -“
“Hey, look at me,” Peterkin says softly. She wanted to reach over the desk and squeeze his hand to comfort him. “I understand.”
“You do?”
“Yes. I remember having to visit their home when Mrs. Y/L/N was still married to him. Y/N mother’s a good woman. I wouldn’t let anyone come between them.”
“What about her dad? I tried convincing her to never see him again but she won’t do it. She’s afraid Barry will kill him.”
“I can’t bust into Barry’s home without probable cause -“
JJ stood up. “That’s bullshit! You know -“
“Without probable cause or evidence that proves Barry is holding drugs or being violent, I can’t barge into that home.”
“That’s -“
“Here,” Peterkin writes her number down on a post it note and hands it to JJ. “Without probable cause, I can’t arrest Barry and the men who work or buy from him.” She stared at JJ, hoping the boy will understand her hidden message. She points at the post it in JJ’s hands. “Now. If you need anything from me. Call that number and I will find you.”
JJ looked down at the number and slowly nodded his head, understanding what he would have to do.
“And JJ -“ the blonde turned. “Be aware of where your father is when you call me. I dont want you ending up in the same situation as your friend John B if that’s not where you want to be.”
JJ nodded. “Thank you Sheriff Peterkin.”
Peterkin nodded and walked him out of the station.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
Three days later, JJ met his friends at the Wreck for lunch. He slowed his pace when he noticed the seat next to Pope wasn’t occupied and neither was the one next to Kie. 
“Where’s Y/N?” He asked them.
Kie looked at the others with furrowed brows. They all got the same text. The one where Y/N apologetically told them that something came up and wouldn’t be able to hang out today. They thought JJ would have known that. 
“She said she couldn’t make it,” Kie says. “We thought you knew.”
“Did she say why?” 
Pope shrugged. “Just that something came up.”
JJ ripped his phone out of his back pocket and scrolled through his messages with you. You didn’t text him - you didn’t even answer his good morning text. He knew what this meant. You didn’t like to lie, so you’re way of dodging questions you didn’t want to answer honestly is to make sure no one can ask you them. By avoiding them all together. JJ knew that. It made sense to him. 
“JJ, what’s going on?” John B asked his friends, recognizing the look on his best friend’s face. He was furious but also anxious. His leg hasn’t stopped bouncing up and down since he asked where you were. 
JJ clicked on the app that showed your location and saw you were deep into the south side of the Cut. He recognized the area of his father’s drug dealer. 
“We gotta go,” JJ stood up and motioned for his friends to follow. “Now. JB, you bring the Twinkie?”
“Yeah, but...” John B stuttered as he grabbed his stuff off the table. “What’s going on?”
“We're saving my girl from that douche bag she calls a father,” JJ says. “For good.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
John B pulled the Twinkie to the curb outside of Barry’s house, making sure to use the trees to hide his vehicle. The Pogues immediately recognized your car parked in Barry’s driveway. Confusion bubbled through their heads, but rage ignited in JJ’s.
“Why is she here?” Kie asked. 
JJ didn’t answer. He picked up his phone and clicked on Peterkin’s name. “It’s JJ.” The Pogues paused as they listened to JJ to talk to the Sheriff. “I -” He stopped when the sound of a gun shot being fired silenced all of them into panic. 
“JJ -” Peterkin called for him but JJ didn’t answer. He dropped the phone so fast and sprinted out of the van, towards the house. He didn’t care what kind of danger he was running into. He just knew he had to get you out of it. 
JJ ignored the calls from his best friends behind him as he ripped open the screen door. He stopped, looking left, right, up, down - anywhere for you.
He heard the commotion coming from Barry’s living room along with shouting and glass smashing. The first person he saw was Barry holding a gun up to the ceiling, pointed at the hole he left above him only seconds ago. He was glaring in the direction of you and your father, barely taking notice of the new kid in his home. Luke Maybank was the first to notice his son and narrowed his eyes in his direction. JJ gulped nervously - he didn’t know if it was because he was afraid of the guy with the gun or his dad. But what he feared the most was you not being okay.
Your eyes grew wide with fear when you saw the new face. You looked between JJ and Barry nervously, not knowing how Barry would react to the new member in his house. He was already pissed as it is, threatening to shoot you in front of your dad because neither of you could fork over the money your dad owed Barry. He was getting tired of the same old bullshit, and Rafe didn’t help. He stood silently in the corner with his fingers racked through his hair.
“Who the fuck are you?” Barry pointed the gun at JJ when he finally noticed him. 
“Hey, hey, hey, he’s good!” Luke came closer to Barry and said, “That’s my son.”
“What the fuck is he doing here?” Barry asked him. 
Luke looked past Barry at JJ for an answer he couldn’t give him. JJ glanced from Barry, to his dad, to you and gulped again as he tried to come up with answer. That’s when you understood what was going on. He was following you. 
You didn’t know if you should be mad or not. All you could focus on was the gun in Barry’s hand that’s still pointed in JJ’s direction. 
“Look, kid,” Your dad said to Barry, gaining his attention all over again. “I’ll make it up to you.” He put his hand on your shoulder and shoved you slightly forward. “You want to have her for the night? She’s all yours.”
Your head snapped in your father’s direction with your mouth open agape. Did your dad seriously just try to pimp you out? You felt betrayed, vile, used, and worthless. This isn’t something you do when you love your kid.
JJ seethed and clenched his hands in fists, ready to rock the shit out of your dad. “You son of a bitch -”
Luke, however, caught him in time, holding him by the arm and pulling him away from your dad. JJ tried fighting him off to get to your dad or you - to get you out of this entire home. He saw the scared look on your face and it made him want to set the entire house on fire. He’d do anything to protect you - to keep you safe. And right now, he thought he was failing. 
Then, red and blue lights flashed through the open windows, followed by loud sirens. Barry crossed the room to stand next to you and your father and looked out the window. When he saw the cops, he immediately swiveled around to point his gun at your boyfriend. 
“You called the fucking cops?” Barry sneered. 
“Stop!” You yelled to try and get Barry’s attention and away from JJ. 
You dad tried to use Barry’s distraction to his advantage and snuck up behind him to try and reach for the gun. Barry spun around and tried pulling his wrist away from your dad’s grip. As they fought for the gun and an upper hand, you ran across the room for JJ who immediately wrapped his arms around your waist. He kissed the top of your head and motioned for the front door, mumbling about leaving.
You nodded and grasped his hand in yours. When he turned to lead you out of there, another shot rang out and you flinched closer to JJ as he ducked and pulled your head down with his arms and shields your body with his. 
You heard a thump and the floor vibrated under your feet. 
“Shit -”
“Fuck -”
“What did you do that for -”
“Jerry? Hey! Jerry!”
Everything kind of moved in slow motion after that. You turned around to see what had happened and that’s when you saw your dad laying on the floor with a puddle of blood growing around his body. Your feet moved faster than your brain did to get to your dad. 
JJ tried reaching for you but you swiveled out of his grip and dropped to your knees in front of your dad’s body. His eyes were closed and his mouth open. You placed your hands on top of the wound in his stomach to get it to stop bleeding. You cried. You didn’t know why you were crying but you did. Hard and heavy, barely able to get your own breaths in. You didn’t pay attention to Rafe fleeing from the backyard, or Barry being stopped by the cops who stormed into the house with guns raised. You barely felt JJ place his hands on your shoulders to try and coax you up. All you saw and could feel was your dad’s dead body and his blood on your hands. 
“Honey,” You felt another set of hands touch your back as they knelt down next to you. You didn’t look at her but recognized the familiar voice. “He’s gone. It’s over.”
“No -” You voice was barely above a whisper. 
“I’m sorry. Let’s get you cleaned up. Okay?” 
Sheriff Peterkin nodded at JJ to help you up and lead you out of the house. He was  finally able to pull you up from your knees and placed a comforting hand on your lower back. 
Your friends watched from the barricade the police set up around the house. When they saw you, all of them either started to panic or cry. They thought your were hurt until JJ nodded at them to tell them you were okay. But they could see in your face you were anything but okay.
Another cop lead you to the back of an ambulance. You don’t even look at Luke being handcuffed next to Barry or Rafe disappearing in the trees. All you can think about is your dad. 
The EMT did a quick check up on you after realizing the blood on your hands was in fact not yours. Then they took a quick look at JJ and asked if there was someone they could call for you.
“My mom -” You whispered. 
The EMT nodded. “Do you have a number?”
You told the EMT her number and waited patiently as she walked away to call her. When the two of you were alone, JJ turned to look at you and reached out for your hands and held them in his lap. He rubbed his thumb up and down over the back of your hand and waited for you to say something. He didn’t know if any words could make this right. He didn’t know how to comfort you after you just witnessed your dad died. It didn’t matter if you hated him or not. You literally watched him take his last breath. Your own flesh and blood. That shit’s traumatizing. 
“I’m sorry,” JJ said when he realized you were not going to say anything. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I just - I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“This is my fault.”
“No,” JJ shook his head. “No. It’s not your fault. It’s Barry’s. He was the one with the gun -”
“I should’ve walked away. From my dad. From all of this.” A single tear rolled down your cheek. “I enabled him. I allowed it to get this far.”
“You were doing what you thought was best for your dad.”
“I got him killed -”
“He did this to himself, Y/N. You were more than the perfect daughter. You literally couldn't be more perfect if you tried.” JJ wrapped his arm around your shoulder and pulled you closer into his side and kissed the top of your head. “He didn’t deserve you. There’s nothing you could have done to prevent this.”
You cried into his shoulder, letting the sobs wrack through your body and your heart tear into millions of pieces. JJ held you tightly against him and whispered comforting words in your ears. 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
JJ stood by you through your grieving process - through the good and the bad. He’s took your harsh words with a grain a salt when he noticed you were just trying to pick a fight, he held you when you cried into your pillow in the middle of the night, he was by your side for a hand to hold when you told your mother what happened and why you were at Barrys for the millionth time, and he was there to tell you he will always be there for you when you think he’s just going to up and leave like your dad did.
After your dad’s funeral, you stood in front of his tombstone with a solemn expression. Your dad was a piece of shit and didn’t deserve your love, money, and attention. You wished you could go back and time and never give it to him. At least that way you wouldn’t feel all these complicated emotions that made no sense. Love, hate, grief, relief. You didn’t know how to feel. 
Coming up behind you was JJ. He weaved his fingers with yours and kissed your temple. You couldn’t believe there was ever a day where JJ Maybank was your enemy. You didn’t think you’d be able to get through this without him.
“JJ,” You said and looked up at him. “Thank you.”
JJ nodded. “I love you.” He would never admit this, but he was glad you dad was dead. Because now he knew you were safe. 
“I love you more.”
JJ shook his head. “Impossible.”
Tag List: @allycat449-blog​ @zarahsloves​ @redknight9​
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valhallasubstitute · 3 years
Text
Blind
Sihtric x reader Modern AU
Request: Ok so reader has a crush on Osferth, but the feelings aren't mutual, reader is sad because her crush likes another woman. But Sihtric steps in and helps reader to feel better and he ends up asking her out, because he always had a crush on her. It can be modern or Tlk era, you decide!😁🧡
WARNINGS: like none, mentions of smoking?
Tags: @flowers-in-your-hayr @geekandbooknerd @mariaenchanted @solinarimoon 
If you could go blind right now you would, but even then, this would still plague you late at night.
You knew that look so well. The doe eyes, the softness that filled them and the lopsided grin that you couldn’t fight. Why would you want to fight such an expression anyway? It was all soft and obvious and warm like the summer sun.
And he was looking at her.
Not you.
You were sure that even if you stood in front of him, butt naked with neon paint covering your tits he still wouldn’t see you, not when she was in view.
You knew the look on his face so well because it was the same one that you had every time you looked at him.
Even now you could still feel the last of the butterflies, the ones that hadn’t yet been crushed by the sinking feeling that washed over you, fluttering in your stomach.
You could feel the tightness in your throat as you watched Osferth laugh and place his hand on her arm – the subtlety of his affection it hitting you like a freight train. She leaned into it, batting her lashes and practically glowing with his attention.
Just like you had done a million times, but he had never smiled at you like that, his hand had never lingered, and he had definitely never cupped your cheek and brought his lips to yours.
You were a big girl; you could handle this. You had survived high school and your friend’s teasing. You wouldn’t cry. Not now, not on the phone to your girlfriends and not in your bed tonight.
You repeated the words in your head, a mantra of tiny lies that faded with the welling of tears. He was your friend, you should be happy for him, shouldn’t you?
‘Y/N,’ Sihtric’s voice brought you back from your spiralling melancholy. ‘It looks like it’s going to rain soon, do you still want a ride home? … Y/N?’
Wiping your eyes quickly you turned to him with a small smile, you knew he wouldn’t buy it, but he wouldn’t push either. You were close with all the Coccham boys, but Sihtric seemed to understand you the most. He was quiet, and mischievous and lovely. And right now, he was offering you a ride home, away from Osferth and his new girlfriend.
‘Yes please.’ Sihtric placed a warm hand on your shoulder, squeezing lightly with a small smile.
‘Come on then, kid.’ You scoffed but didn’t hesitate to follow him. He made your excuses for you, nodding along with the protests and shouted goodbyes. When it came for you to walk past Osferth he stepped in front. Sihtric made brief conversation with him, giving you the chance to slip away.
He knew. You didn’t know how but he knew, and you couldn’t have been more grateful in that moment.  
He guided you to his car with his palm gently pressed to the small of your back, opening the door for you with a little bow. Away from your friends and the music it felt like you could breathe again. Inhaling deeply, you let your sadness be dulled by the smell of leather and cigarettes and that one slightly spicy aftershave Sihtric used.
With the slam of the driver’s side door Sihtric was next to you once more. ‘‘Some party huh?’
‘Oh yeah, one of Uhtred’s best.’
Sihtric looked at you with a single eyebrow raised and amusement in his mismatched eyes. You shrugged, turning your gaze from him back to the house. You kept getting flashes of Osferth kissing her.
As if Sihtric could hear your thoughts he turned on the radio, setting the local station to a comfortable volume. He drummed his fingers against the steering wheel gently and ever so slightly off beat. You turned to him, glancing from his fingers to his face pointedly.
‘Can I help you Y/N?’ He was grinning at you, dimples appearing as he feigned ignorance.
‘You could at least try to be match the song.’
‘Is it annoying you?’
‘No. Not at all.’ A lie and an ill hidden one at that. The car slowed to a stop as the lights changed from green to amber, and the drumming of Sihtric’s fingers only got louder. ‘Oh, come on!’
‘What?’ His grin was shit eating but infectious. You made a grab for his fingers, a hopeless attempt to pin them to the wheel at least but Sihtric was too fast. He grabbed your wrist and held it high as his other hand attacked your side. Your battle and squeals were cut short with the horn of another car, the green light flashing at you.
As your laughter faded the sinking feeling returned. You could feel the mood in the car change and cursed yourself for it. You could feel Sihtric’s eyes on you too. You shook your head, as if that would physically dislodge the feelings you had.
‘Hey, it’s okay to be sad you know.’
‘I know but…’ Sihtric let the silence hang, turning down the radio as you fiddled with the cuff of your sleeve. ‘I just don’t want to be sad about it. He’s my friend and I want him to be happy, if she makes him happy surely I should support that.’  The Dane hummed in response. ‘I mean, there are plenty more fish in the sea, right?’
‘There are.’
‘Do you know any who would be interested in all of this?’ You gestured to yourself with a vague swish of your hand. Sihtric’s eyes crinkled at the sides as he puffed out a laugh.
‘Oh, I know a few. Half of them wouldn’t be able to handle you though.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘It means women like you are rare, Y/N. You should be treated that way.’ You could feel the blush rise from your chest to the tops of your ears. Sihtric took another quick glance at you before taking a turning that wasn’t on route to your house.
‘Excuse me, where are we going?’ You welcomed the distraction, perking up in your seat as Sihtric shrugged.
‘Just some place I know.’
You huffed at his mystery but let yourself relax as the grey buildings faded into lush greenery, and eventually the ocean.
‘You know what I said about there being plenty of fish in the sea? I didn’t mean it literally.’ Sihtric scoffed at your words, gently nudging your leg as he changed gears.
‘Shut up.’
Sihtric parked the car in a passing place, and once the engine stopped you could hear the roar of the waves. It was far colder by the coast, the wind nipping at your exposed skin and blurring your vision. You rubbed your palms together as your fingers turned icy.
You could hear Sihtric yelling something at you, but the words were lost on the wind, it wasn’t until his hoodie was thrown in your face that you understood. You didn’t bother trying to yell back, instead you mouthed a thank you, hoping he’d see the sincerity in it.
The fabric was well loved but it smelled good, and it still held the warmth of Sihtric’s skin. You pulled the hood up, tying the sting under your chin as you walked closer to the edge of the cliff face. Sihtric came to stand beside you a few minutes later, a packet of cigarettes in hand.
‘Why here?’
‘It helps clear my head.’ Even this close Sihtric’s voice still sounded distant, but you found comfort in his words regardless. The waves took the heavy feeling from your heart and washed apart of it away, the rest seeming to subside as Sihtric tapped your shoulder, his eyes shining as he mimed for you to pass him his lighter.
You smiled back, questioning until he pointed to the front pocket of his hoodie. You reached for it, turning the cool metal of the lighter in your hands.
You shook your head. No. Sihtric’s eyebrows shot up, mimicking the action once more before you started backing away from him. The confusion slowly started to fade from his face and your footsteps quickened.
Before he could make a grab for you, you were already sprinting back to the car, glancing over your shoulder every now and then. Sihtric’s legs were far longer than your own and he closed the gap quickly, but not quickly enough to catch you.
You darted from left to right, right to left. Your heart was pounding, and your laughter took your breath away, betraying the pace you had set. The game of cat and mouse came to halt as you locked eyes with the car between you.
‘Y/N,’ You could hear the warning in his voice. ‘Give me my lighter.’
‘And what if I don’t?’
‘I’ll leave you here.’
‘You wouldn’t.’
The car doors unlocked with a click and a flash of headlights. ‘Wouldn’t I?’
As long as you’d known Sihtric he’d always been good at masking himself, a face made for poker. The longer you looked at him the more unsure you became, slowly you rounded the car towards him. As soon as you were in arms reach you could see his plan clear as day on his face, yet there was nothing you could do to against his speed. His arms circled your waist quickly, his laughter mixing with your own. You fought him with the same vigour as you had done before, slapping his forearms and flailing legs. He only let you go when he has the lighter in his hands.
‘I believe that’s one one.’
‘Pfft, get in the car.’
Even with the heating blasting you kept Sihtric’s hoodie on, whacking him with the oversized sleeve as he tutted at your feet resting on the dash.
‘Do you feel any better?’ You turned to face him, confused at the look on his face. His eyes were searching yours and you could see the concern in them.
‘I feel great.’ As soon as you said the words you remembered why you shouldn’t. You waited for the sadness, the weight of a heavy heart but it didn’t come. Not while Sihtric was smiling at you like that.
‘Good. You should always feel this way.’
‘That’s the second time you’ve told me that today.’
‘I mean it. If Osferth couldn’t see that, and I say this with love, then it’s his loss.’
‘Thank you.’ Sihtric shook his head, his eyes going from you to your lips back to your eyes. You followed the curve of his mouth and the sharp lines of his cheekbones, to the softness in his eyes, trying to work out if this was all a part of making you feel better or if he meant it. He had never lied to you yet.
‘You don’t need to thank me, Y/N. If you gave me the chance, I’d show you that every day.’
‘As in date me?’
‘I’ve wanted to date you since the day I met you, I thought it was obvious and then I saw the way you looked at Osferth and how could I deny him a chance with someone like you.’
‘Well, I’m looking at you now.’ And you were. You saw the small smile, the softness in his eyes and the loveliness that was Sihtric. You saw it all and wondered how you could have been so blind.
‘Is that a yes?’
‘How could I say no?’
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dreamyyang · 3 years
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summary: you made taeil’s undead heart soar and he was absolutely addicted to the feeling.
pairing(s): yandere!zombie!moon taeil x reader | kim doyoung x reader
warning(s): swearing, obsessive behaviour, mentions of blood, gore (kind of..?), minor character death, cannibalism, non con (taeil forcefully kisses the reader)
word count: 2.6k words
a/n: this is pretty heavy stuff so if any of the aforementioned content triggers you, do not read. please note that I do not condone taeil’s behaviour and that this is purely a work of fiction. my fic is not an accurate representation of taeil’s actual personality. 
part of @127-mile’s addiction collab
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emotions were as foreign to moon taeil as brains and human flesh once were. while he doesn’t mind either of them, they were just very hard to come by. that changed when he got a job at the qian family’s mortuary, courtesy of qian kun, a mutual friend. johnny had already explained taeil’s special situation to kun, who agreed to give taeil access to the bodies so long as he worked as kun’s assistant. it was an excellent arrangement for both men - taeil could finally eat some proper food while kun finally had help. for obvious reasons, not many people were willing to work at a morgue, especially for such low wages.
taeil managed to ease himself into a routine of work, brains, sleep then repeat. while many people would eventually go insane from being constantly surrounded by cold, still bodies, taeil couldn’t care less. a zombie couldn’t ask for a better arrangement. while he did not experience emotions, he still felt a semblance of peace.
at least, that was before you showed up, completely unannounced. of course, your arrival wasn’t completely random, kun did warn taeil that his cousin was coming home after getting their phd, but you weren’t what taeil expected. he had this mental image of you being stoic and reserved. he thought you’d briefly acknowledge him with a slight nod while visiting your cousin and that would be it. imagine his surprise when he came to work and was greeted by a smile brighter than the sun. you were like the human embodiment of a meadow of flowers in the summer - warm, wonderful and welcoming. hell, you even smelled like flowers.
suddenly, his daily routine was ruined. 
most mornings, you would meet him at the mortuary, looking as fresh as a daisy, and hand him an equally fresh box of baked goods from the bakery next to your clinic. if it was a slow morning, and it usually was, you would make small talk with him while kun went over the day’s plans in his office. he began to cherish those morning conversations with you and his undead heart would sink when the clock struck nine and it was time for you to hug him and kun goodbye. from then on, he was usually in a sour mood for the rest of the day, not humouring the silly jokes kun made as they worked. he would get off work with a dull ache in his heart if you weren’t there to pick kun up or offer to take them out for drinks.
this abrupt change frightened taeil more than anything. why was he suddenly experiencing these strange feelings? he hated it. every day, he was going through a rollercoaster of emotions that would be decided by whether or not he saw his boss’ cousin. it was so absurd. in the past five years of him being a zombie, he hadn’t felt such extreme emotions before. they all felt so...so human.
when he consulted johnny about these strange occurrences, his friend began to howl with laughter, “dude, it’s so obvious!” 
taeil glared at johnny, “care to explain what exactly is so obvious?”
“you like y/n. why else would you be constantly pining for them?” 
taeil scoffed. johnny must have smoked something because there was no way he liked you. at best, he had known you for three months and it isn’t like you regularly spent time together. plus, you were related to his boss. johnny had no idea what he was talking about, he was full of shit.
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“that’s bullshit. I don’t buy it,” taeil shook his head, leaning back in his chair.
“no I swear, it’s true! we drove past this factory and they were just beheading these chickens out in the open,” you sighed. “anyway, the sight was so sickening, I’ve never looked at meat the same way since.”
“yet you decided to be a thoracic surgeon.”
you shrugged, “yeah but operating on people and eating meat are two different things. I don’t mind looking at flesh and blood but the thought of eating any makes me sick.”
taeil silently thanked you as you made that statement. ever since johnny had suggested that taeil liked you, he’d been searching for reasons not to like you. and of course, there’s no way he could like you if you were a vegetarian. you would be absolutely disgusted if you knew what his main diet consisted of. yet, every now and then, he felt his mind drifting away to a different mental list - a list of the things he liked about you.
he liked how you would come up with the most absurd conversation starters, just to make him crack a smile. he liked how your hugs were warm and comfortable. he was even beginning to like the fuzzy feeling that would envelop his heart whenever he was around you. you made him giddy and lovesick and eventually, he didn’t mind anymore. being around you all the time forced him to accept that he had very strong feelings for you. in fact, he was certain that even as a human, he had never had feelings this intense. there was just something special about you that had him feeling some sort of way. normally, he would have been afraid of how you controlled your heart but now? he was in too deep to care.
he decided it was better for him to just accept the fact that he loved you. why try to fight it? it was highly unlikely that he would feel this way about anyone ever again. he had to hold onto you, he would be insane to let you go. 
finally, he plucked up the courage to confess to you. he was falling for you more and more every single day, and not being with you was slowly killing him. he decided to surprise you at the clinic where you worked with a bouquet of your favourite flowers. he planned to treat you to lunch at a romantic café then confess to you while walking you back to the clinic. he had rehearsed the little speech he wanted to give over twenty times with johnny, who repeatedly assured him that everything would go well. 
it did not go well.
taeil was greeted by a unpleasant surprise when he reached the entrance of the clinic. there you stood, his beloved y/n, in another man’s arms. taeil watched, horrified, as the man placed a soft kiss on your lips. you looked so happy with him and it broke taeil’s heart. he felt awful as he watched you smile at the man. that same wonderful smile that he wished was for his eyes only. it felt like a cruel joke to have your laughter fill his ears as tears pricked his eyes. taeil was glad that nobody was paying attention to him as hot tears stained his cheeks. he couldn’t have gotten away sooner, pushing past the people on the street to go home. 
he quickly texted an excuse to kun about how he felt sick and would be gone for the rest of the day. it wasn’t exactly a lie - he did feel sick and every time he thought about you and the stranger, it only got worse. he ripped up the bouquet and the plastic that had been wrapped around their stems, screaming as he did it. pain bled into fury as he destroyed the beautiful flowers. he was unbelievably angry and wouldn’t stop until every last petal had been snatched from the base and scattered on the floor. he was blinded by rage as he made a mess of his apartment floor. finally, the bouquet had been completely ripped apart and tears cleared taeil’s vision.
he dropped to the floor, feeling miserable as he stared at the mess, tears streaking down his face. he loved you so much, but someone had stolen you away. how dare that asshole? you were supposed to be taeil’s, how could he just come between the two of you like that? how incredibly selfish of him. taeil had to get rid of him, as soon as possible. the more time you spend with that jerk, the more he’ll ruin you. taeil scowled at the memory of the two of you kissing. he will pay.
 it was decided. taeil was going to make you his, one way or another. whether you liked it or not.
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“I hate this, taeil.”
taeil nodded, feigning sympathy as you pouted and continued to complain, “doyoung’s been so busy the past week that he hasn’t been able to call me even once. he just sends brief texts… I really miss him.”
“that sucks, y/n, but you know, it’s a very demanding job.”
“yeah I know…but would it kill him to at least call to say good night?” you sighed, sipping your tea. “whatever. thank you so much for listening to my rant, taeil, I really appreciate it. you’re an awesome friend.”
the word stung, but taeil tried not to show it as he smiled and promised you that he didn’t mind. which was half true. taeil could never get tired of listening to you talk about any topic but one - kim doyoung, your boyfriend. it didn’t really matter, though. soon, taeil would make sure that you would forget all about that piece of shit. soon, moon taeil would be the only thing on your mind, just like how you were the only thing on his min
but first he had to punish you. you deserved it. if you hadn’t gone and dated another man, he wouldn’t have considered such a thing. you needed to be disciplined. you belonged to taeil and he was going to make sure that you remembered that fact. so he sat there in front of you, politely nodding as you vented about your boyfriend, and tried to think of a suitable punishment.
“I know I’m complaining about him a lot, but I really like doyoung,” you laughed. “even though he took me to a barbecue place for our first date.”
that’s when a lightbulb went off in taeil’s brain.
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for someone who couldn’t survive without eating brains, taeil sure was an idiot. somehow, he’d gotten roped into a dinner date with you, doyoung and doyoung’s sister, jisoo. at least he managed to convince you to let him host the dinner at his apartment, insisting that he wanted to make a good first impression on jisoo. you’d wiggled your eyebrows and teased him about it but he knew, deep down, setting him up with someone else was hurting you. but you wouldn’t have to worry about hiding your feelings for much longer - taeil would soon relieve you of your misery. ideally of course, he wouldn’t want to start off your relationship with a double date with other people. not to mention your little punishment, but hey, all relationships have their ups and downs.
now if he could just get that pesky little jisoo out of the way.
after briefly stalking doyoung’s instagram account, taeil managed to find jisoo’s account and figured out where she worked. getting her to stay away was easier than he thought it would be. all he had to do was press a small knife against her neck and she was begging for him to leave her alone. he left her trembling in the alley behind her office, with her tears stinging the small cut that ran down the side of her cheek. he wasn’t worried about her telling her brother since that’s who he’d be visiting next.
he had to say, out of all the humans he’d made dishes out of, doyoung was certainly the best. probably because his meat was actually fresh, but you really seemed to enjoy him as well.
“god taeil, your spaghetti is wonderful. I can’t believe doyoung and jisoo are missing out,” you nearly moaned as you devoured your dinner. “these are the best vegan meatballs I’ve ever had. seriously, how’d you make this?”
taeil shrugged, “I used a pretty basic recipe, although I did use something extra special for those meatballs.”
“would you mind sharing what that special thing is, master moon?”
taeil’s smile dropped, his expression completely serious now. you didn’t think much of it, taeil was probably just being dramatic. however his tone as he spoke his next sentence sent a chill down your spine.
“enough dilly-dallying. tell me, sweetheart, did you really think you could get away with dating another man?”
you were too stunned to speak, what the fuck did he just say?
“woah, don’t get shy now. did you seriously think you could go be someone else's whore and I wouldn’t get mad?”
“taeil, what on earth are you talking about?”
you looked like a scared and helpless little rabbit and taeil would be lying if he said that didn’t make him feel some type of way. taeil’s predatory gaze burned into your eyes, ensnaring you and refusing to let go. you were confused. why was taeil behaving like this? why was he so angry with you? but you were certain about one thing: tonight was not going to end well for you. 
with a gentle voice, you tried to calm him down so the two of you could have a rational conversation but taeil wasn’t having any of it. he grabbed you by the wrist and pulled you up to your feet, stepping away from the dining table and pulling you close till your chest brushed against his. suddenly, his steely gaze slightly softened.
“y/n, my love, I hope you know that I didn’t want to do this to you, but you left me no choice. you forced my hand.”
tears were beginning to well up in your eyes. taeil was getting frustrated. you knew exactly what he was talking about yet you were acting as though taeil was speaking in cryptic messages. taeil noticed your tears and tsked, cupping your cheeks. there was no point in you crying now. the deed was done. taeil was hoping you’d learnt your lesson so the two of you could move past this.
“don’t cry, sweetheart. at least, not until you know what I did.”
“but taeil, I don’t even know what I’ve done,” you sniffed lightly.
“darling, I love you. and I know you love me too, you don’t need to say it. but why did you have to go and date doyoung? do you know how much that hurt me?”
you shook your head, “taeil, I really didn’t know how you felt. but I’m sorry, I don’t feel the same way.”
taeil glared and tightened his grip on your jaw, “fucking lies! that dickhead doyoung has brainwashed you. oh my precious y/n, I feel so awful for punishing you the way I did, but how else will I fix you?”
“what do you mean?” you asked, afraid of the answer he was going to give you.
“those vegan meatballs, darling. although I suppose the term ‘doyoung meatballs’ would be more accurate.”
your beautiful features were twisted into a look of pure horror as realisation dawned upon you. taeil couldn’t help but let his lips form a maniacal grin. he was rather proud, even if he did say so himself. doyoung would never be a problem ever again. nor would anyone else be, for that matter. taeil knew that you were his good, obedient little y/n. you wouldn’t dare to hurt him ever again. satisfied, he leaned in and forced you into a kiss. you were too shocked to fight back.
as he pulled away, he pushed the hair out of your face.
“remember to behave yourself, darling.”
138 notes · View notes
Unfaithful | Part Two
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Series Summary: After dreaming of your perfect wedding since you were a little girl the big day is almost here. But after meeting the priest you start to question your relationship.
Pairing: Hot Priest x Fem!Reader
Word Count: 3243
Warnings: abusive behaviour, mentions of ‘bedroom activity’ 🙈
A/N: Please be warned there will be some themes of toxic/abusive relationship in this series. Also, spelling and grammar is not my strongest skill so please be kind :)
Part One | Masterlist
- - - - -
I knew weddings took a lot of planning, but I never realised they took this much. Every single tiny detail requires a decision and more often than not that decision falls on the bride’s shoulders. 
Purple or yellow flowers?
Napkins folded as swans or roses?
Which table can we sit Uncle David at where he won’t start a fight?
I try to get Dan involved in the decision making but his response is always the same.
“It’s up to you babe”
Speaking of Daniel, I still haven’t told him we have to meet with the Priest again today. I tried a few times to bring it up but his mood changes instantly. I’ve still got a slight bruise on my wrist from the aftermath of the first meeting, but I keep it covered. I know he didn’t mean to hurt me. 
I pull the sleeve of my jumper down over my wrist as I approach Daniel in the kitchen. 
“You look nice, where you going today?” He asks as he makes himself a cup of tea. 
“Actually…” I take a breath “we’ve got our second meeting with the Priest today”
“What do you mean? We’ve already met him once why do we need to go again?” He doesn’t look as me as he swirls the teabag around in his mug with a spoon.
“It’s just church policy, he has to meet with us a few times before the wedding”
“Well I’m not going” 
“Dan-“
“I SAID NO!” He erupts, swiping his mug off the counter so it smashes and tea spills everywhere. He storms out of the kitchen, leaving me stood in the mess he’s made. I stare at it bewildered for a moment as it sinks in what he’s done and I feel my blood start to boil.
“Daniel!” I shout as I follow after him. I find him in the hallway taking his coat off the hook as he heads for the front door “where are you going?”
“Pub”
“Dan, the priest is expecting us in half an hour! Both of us!”
“Then I guess he’s doing to be disappointed. Or not. You two got along just fine the other day, it was almost as if I wasn’t even there”
“We both tried to include you in the conversation multiple times but you just… weren’t present”
“Well then today won’t be any different will it” 
He walks out and slams the door behind him. 
I stand alone in the hallway for a few minutes taking deep breaths to calm myself before taking out my phone and sending an email. 
‘I’m really sorry father but I’m not feeling well so I need to reschedule today’s meeting. Sorry.’
— — — — 
45 minutes later. 
I clean when I’m stressed. And right now I’m the most stressed I’ve been in my life so I’ve decided to stress clean the whole house. Everything. Apart from the broken mug and spilled tea. Daniel can clean that shit up when he eventually gets back from his sulk. 
I’m in the middle of vacuuming the living room when something catches my attention in the corner of my eye. My heart stops for a moment when I turn and see the Priest waving at me through the window.
I turn off the vacuum and open the front door, placing my hand over my chest. 
“You startled me!” 
“I guess now were even” he laughs awkwardly “I bought you these”
He pulls out a small bouquet of flowers from behind his back.
“Why?” I ask, not meaning to sound as ungrateful as I do, as he hands them to me.
“You said you were ill, I hoped these would cheer you up” 
I don't quite know how to react so I end up just staring at him blankly. The truth is I’m speechless. He watches my face and the smile fades from his own. 
“You don’t like them. Shit! I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have even come, I’ve overstepped my boundaries.” He rambles
“No! No! I love them I’m just-” I pause as I look down at the flowers in my hand “I think this is the nicest thing anyones ever done for me. No one ever buys me flowers” 
“Well they should.”
For some reason I suddenly feel like a shy little school girl. I smile at him and he smiles back. 
“Anyway I just wanted to make sure you're okay. Get well soon” he turns and begins walking down the driveway. I think for a moment.
“Father!” I call after him and he spins around to face me “would you like to come in?” 
He nods and walks back to me, going past me into the house. I shut the door and gesture for him to go through into the kitchen, forgetting about Daniel’s mess. 
“Oops” he says when he sees it “what happened there?” 
“Daniel had an accident. He can be really clumsy sometimes” I laugh it off as I busy myself making us some tea.
“Can’t we all” he says, taking a seat at the dining table “will he be joining us?”
“No” I respond, a bit too quickly “he uh, he had to go out. I don't know when he’ll be back” 
I carefully carry our cups of tea over to the dining table and take a seat opposite him.
“Never mind. Thank you” he smiles and takes a sip of tea “I actually wanted to talk to you about something without Daniel, if that’s okay?” 
“Sure” I shrug, stirring some sugar into my tea. 
“I hope you don't take this wrong way but-” he pauses, I can tell he’s nervous to say what he’s going to say next “Are you safe?”
“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”
“It’s just… I saw what happened in the car park the other day”
“I don't know what you're talking about” I say casually as I remove the spoon from my tea and place it down on the table. The priest reaches over and goes to touch my wrist but I pull it away quickly, instinctively pulling my sleeve down over my hand as his eyes search my own. 
“He hurt you, didn’t he?” He asks quietly and I shake my head “I saw the way you held your wrist as you walked away from him Y/N and I could see the bruises just now.”
I can’t bare the way he’s looking at me anymore so I cast my eyes down to the table, but he continues to stare at me. 
“Y/N? Talk to me, that’s what I’m here for. If he’s abusive to you-”
“He’s not” I finally speak as I look up at him again “he’s not like that, he’s kind and caring and… he would never intentionally hurt me. I just caught him on a bad day”
“And what about today? With the tea?” He gestures to the shattered mug on the floor “That wasn’t an accident was it? Is that why you cancelled today?”
“No! It’s just the stress of planning a wedding is getting to us both. But we’re fine! Honestly” 
I take a breath as I smile at him, but I can see he’s not totally convinced. He looks at me for a moment before speaking. 
“Give me your phone” he holds his hand out across the table 
“What? Why?” 
“I’m giving you my number, no one emails anymore” he jokes “So you can contact me whenever you need a chat, okay? Any time. Well apart from Sunday mornings, cause you know, church.”
“Of course” I smile
“And preferably not late. I’ve been really enjoying going to bed at 9.30 recently” he winks and we both laugh “I’m kidding. Well not about going to bed at 9.30, I do actually do that. But you can call or text me anytime and I will always get back to you. I promise” 
He gives me a really sincere smile and I feel a weird flutter in my stomach as I smile back. 
— — — — 
Almost two hours later the priest is only just getting ready to leave after we got carried away talking. We talked about all sorts. Our childhoods, our hobbies, our fears. He told me about his fear of foxes, and how they’ve apparently stalked him throughout his life. He even told me about his first ever wedding and the drama that surrounded the family. We’ve been talking for so long we didn’t realise its starting to get dark. He opens the front door and steps out just as Daniel comes walking toward the house, I see the anger in his face as he spots the priest. 
“What the fuck is he doing here!” He yells as he stomps towards us
“Daniel!” I warn but he ignores me, squaring up to the priest. I try to get between them and smell the stench of booze on him “are you drunk?!”
“So what if I am? Huh? You got a problem with that?” his breath on my face makes me want to gag “cause you know, I got a problem with this asshole being in my house”
“We just had some wedding stuff to discuss but it’s all sorted now so I’m going” the priest tries to diffuse the situation “I’ll see you both soon” 
“Like fuck you will” Daniel spits before going into the house. 
I mouth “I’m sorry” to the priest and he just shakes his head and smiles at me before leaving. 
Back in the house I ignore Daniel’s drunken ranting, going straight to the kitchen to clear away the left over cups of tea. Aggravated that I’m not paying him attention, Daniel follows me into the kitchen. He picks the flowers up from the counter.
“Did he give you these?” He asks but I ignore him, angering him more. He rips the flowers to shreds, dumping them on the floor. 
I step over them and I place our mugs next to sink, grab a cloth and some cleaner before going back to wipe down the table. Suddenly a mug flies past me, just missing my face as it smashes against the wall. I slowly turn to look at Daniel and stare him out before I dropping the cloth on the table and walking out. I grab my handbag and throw my jacket around my shoulders as I walk out of the house, slamming the door behind me. Daniel doesn’t dare to follow me, he knows he pushed me too far. 
I’ve been walking for about half an hour before I realise, I have no idea where I’m going. I’m just wondering aimlessly, letting my feet carry me wherever they want to go. Eventually I find myself standing outside the church. I place my hand on the wooden doors and pause, contemplating whether to go inside or carry on walking till I find a bar to drink at. To my surprise the doors gently swing open, but theres no one stood behind them. I take this as a sign that I should go in. 
As I enter the silent church and walk down the aisle I can’t help but imagine myself here in a few weeks wearing my white dress. I reach the front and turn back to stare out at the empty pews, picturing my friends and family smiling back at me as I stand with the man I’ll spend the rest of my life with. 
A thought that used to fill me with excitement, currently filling me with dread. 
I grunt with frustration as I flop down to the floor, sitting on the step with my head in my hands. Frustration turns to anger, which turns to sadness and soon I can’t stop the tears rolling down my face. I sit there silently crying until…
“You can’t be in here!” 
I look up and wipe my eyes as a very grumpy looking middle aged lady stomps towards me.
“Sorry”
“No ones allowed in at night”
“The door was open, I just presumed-”
“Well it shouldn’t have been and you need to leave” she ushers me back to the doors.
“Okay, I’m going. Sorry!”
“Y/N?” A familiar voice calls and I look back to see the priest emerging from his office “what are you doing here?”
“She’s just leaving Father, I’m sorry for the disturbance” the woman answers
“It’s alright Pam, she can stay” 
The woman I now know is Pam looks from the priest to me, then back to the priest again before backing off slightly. 
“Okay…” she says slowly, like she suspects something “I’ll just be upstairs if you need me. Goodnight Father” 
“Good night Pam” he replies.
She gives me one last look before disappearing out a door. I look at the priest, who just rolls his eyes and laughs as he gestures for me to follow him. 
I walk into his office and take a seat.
“So, that was Pam” he says, closing the office door and taking a seat opposite me.
“I gathered” I nod my head “She’s a bit…”
“Insane” 
“I was gonna say intense, but yeah” I laugh, feeling self conscious as I notice he’s studying my face. My cheeks are probably still blotchy and eyes blood shot from crying. There’s a small silence before he finally speaks.
“Are you okay?”
I look at him, not sure how to answer. 
“Did he hurt you?” He changes the question
“No” I shake my head “but he did break another mug. I’m gonna have to get insurance out on the ones we’ve got left at this rate” I joke but he continues to study my face, before finally jumping up out his chair.
“Do you want a drink? A proper drink. I’ve got some cans of G&T hidden away in here”
He opens a cupboard and grabs a Marks and Spencers plastic bag, pulling out two cans. 
“Are you sure you're a priest?” I laugh as he hands me a can “I mean you drink, you swear.. what other rules do you break?”
“I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you”
“Murder too?” I say a bit too loud, flinching as I hear a banging above me
“Oh shit, Pam! She doesn’t like me being loud. Or having fun in general. Let’s go outside”
“What about the foxes?” I tease and he shakes his head at me as he opens the door and gestures me to walk out. 
— — — — 
We sit on a bench just outside the church overlooking the graveyard and talk for about half an hour before I realise something. 
“You know what’s strange?” I say, suddenly changing the subject “This is only really our third time meeting. I haven’t known you for very long at all but when we talk I feel like I’ve known you for years!”
“That is strange” he humours me, taking a sip of his drink
“Our conversations remind me of how Daniel and I used to be. Back when we could talk to each other properly. These days I’m lucky if we don't end up in an argument”
“And you wanna marry this guy?” 
“Of course I do” I reply, slightly taken aback by the forwardness of his question “We’ve known each other pretty much our whole lives. We’ve been together so long- I wouldn’t know what to do without him”
“That’s not a reason to stay with someone, especially if they don't make you happy anymore. Being in love with someone and being dependant on them are different things.” He pauses, studying me “Do you love Daniel?”
I stare at him, replaying the question in my mind over and over again. 
“Y/N?” 
I realise I don’t know the answer and a feeling of panic begins to bubble inside me. I jump up from the seat.
“I have to go” 
I quickly begin walking down the path to the front of the church, followed by the Priest who calls after me. I don't stop walking.
“It’s really late, Dan’s probably wondering I am so…” 
“Y/N, wait please!” 
I stop and turn back to look at him.
“I’m sorry if that was too much, but these are things you need to think seriously about.”
“I know! I will.” I nod and flash him a quick smile “thanks for the drink” 
I hold my can up in a ‘cheers’ before turning and continuing my walk back home. 
— — — — 
As I walk up the driveway of my house I can see Daniel through the window fast asleep on the sofa in front of the tv. I finish the last bit of my drink and hide the can in my handbag as I unlock the front door and sneak into the house. I hang my coat and bag up and slip my shoes off before quietly climbing the stairs and getting into bed. 
Laying in bed my mind can’t help but wonder to the Priest. I feel bad for the way the conversation ended. I shouldn’t have freaked out and walked off like that. He just looking out for me.
I grab my phone and send a text. 
‘Thanks for not letting Pam kick me out tonight, I really appreciate it. Good night’
I put my phone back on the beside table, not expecting a reply anytime soon because its so late. To my surprise it vibrates almost immediately. I pick it up and read:
‘No problem, here for you anytime! Sleep well x’
A small smile spreads on my face as my eyes fixate on the small ‘x’ at the end of his text. It probably means nothing but I cant help but feel a flutter in my stomach. 
The feeling a quickly taken over by dread as I hear footsteps up the stairs. I put my phone back on the table and roll over in bed, making out like I’m asleep. The mattress sinks as Daniel climbs into bed next to me and I feel his breath on the side of my face. At least he doesn’t smell of beer anymore. 
“I’m sorry” he whispers as his arm snakes over my waist and he plants a kiss on my cheek “I’m really really sorry”
I turn my head slightly to look up at him, but I don't say anything. 
“I shouldn’t have reacted like that. You know what I’m like when I drink”
“That’s no excuse Daniel” 
“I know, I know! I’m sorry. I’m going to change, try harder for you. Okay?”
I nod my head, knowing full well its bullshit. He’s said this before, said he’ll be different but the next day he’s always back to his same old self. 
“No more shouting. No more lashing out. No more hurting you. I promise.” He plants kisses on my skin with each sentence. “I’m going to be the perfect husband for you and im going to make it up to you. Starting now.”
He kisses down my jaw, to my neck and down my shoulder as he gently pulls me so I’m lying on my back. Then he kisses down my chest and slips under the duvet, kissing all the way down my body till he reaches that place only he has ever been. 
I close my eyes, enjoying the pleasure that’s rippling through me as my breathing gets more ragged before I realise…
In my imagination its not my soon to be husband with his head between my legs…
It’s the dark haired, brown eyed man who’s supposed to be marrying us.
Oh my God, I fancy a priest. 
part three
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_domestic_violence_hotlines)
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thunderheadfred · 3 years
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🤚The Second Worst (Pt. 1/?)🤚
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Part 2 of my Shigaraki Thesis Headcanons. HC's // The Second Worst: 1 - 2
The half-mad ghost of Shimura Tenko is in love with you, and your life is about to become a tragic wreck. -- AKA here's when I gave up on bullet points and went off the fuckin rails
I'm self-conscious about writing so much, so uhhhh, please be kind, hahaaa. This is rather long and involved. Are these still even HCs or just a self-indulgent AU outline? There are some mysteries we may never solve.
This is on AO3 now, if you prefer reading there. Anyway. Minors do not interact.
- - - - -
You met Tenko before the League existed.
Believe it or not, there are a million ways it might have happened, but in the end: you were both bargain-binning in Akihabara.
You reached for a copy of a collectible bullet-hell cute-'em-up (near-mint! CIB!!!) and accidentally bonked hands with a complete stranger. He flinched about five million feet away from you. Ouch. You're just a nobody, quirkless and average, but you didn't think you were THAT repulsive.
(You're not. Hell, even if you were, this guy couldn't care less. He barely registers that you have a face.)
(Shigaraki is accustomed to getting in and out of this shop in seconds. He always comes in before anyone else and goes straight home. -- Is that really home? Is 'home' a real place? -- ANYWAY he's already pirated this shit, god, why does he even care? He doesn't need to be here. Father doesn't like it. Is that why he's here? Just to do something Father doesn't like? That's pathetic.)
He's had at least ten complete internal arguments with himself before he so much as looks at you.
You know in the tenth of a second he actually meets your eyes... this fucker is going to fight you to the death over this game.
- - - The death match ends in a draw. He was not expecting you to know the first fucking thing about this game. Nobody knows about it, even in Japan. Who the fuck do you even think you are? Oh, no, he's still taking it. But... maybe he can show you how to play it it. He'll give you a little taste, just to make you jealous. He's got his hoodie pulled down like he's going to commit an act of terrorism. What little you can see of his face looks twitchy and messed up. If you have any survival instincts at all, they're kicking in right about now. But... why not. You're not going anywhere with this dude unsupervised, so you suggest a crowded web cafe down the street. The cafe has the necessary console... but the retro gaming booth is laughably small. The TV is about four inches across and you end up having to practically sit in his lap. You were sure this guy was a nasty fucking creep, but he's................ only mostly terrible. Way too angry, for sure. Has no idea how to have a normal, friendly conversation. Inadvertently insults you every other sentence and seems to have a deep-seated persecution complex.
You'd prefer to be mad about the awful company, but... he's obviously deprived of human contact. When it's established that you two share a lot of media fixations, he calms down and starts treating you a little more like a human being. Or at least like a fellow elite.
Wherever he came from, he doesn't seem to want to go back. He keeps pushing you to play one more level, pretending he wants to beat your score. You feel kinda bad for him. You get the distinct feeling that his life is a disaster. He looks like he's never had a full night of sleep in his life. He trips your trigger hairs in that 'is he gonna follow me home?' kind of way, but... up close, he's a lot more depressing than scary. At the very least, you want to buy him a stupidly cute dessert. Just... as thanks. For letting you try out the game and stuff. It's not a big deal, so just pick a flavor, okay? The world isn't actually that awful, y'know.
It's not even that impressive... Definitely not a great cafe. But he takes practically a full hour to eat a single slice of strawberry cake.
When the hoodie comes down. He's all shriveled and dried out, like someone left him him in the desert to die. He chews on his peeling bottom lip and nervously scratches his neck. He doesn't thank you for the cake. Which is fine. It's not a big deal. Actually, you wish he would eat faster; you feel weirdly responsible for him now.
Under all that mess he's... gorgeous? His hair is stunning: a bright, gleaming silver that catches the light. His bone structure is flawless. If it weren't for all the scars and the misanthropic slouch, he'd look like a fairy fucking prince.
You were not prepared for that. In another life he could have been a model, the type of guy who would never even look at you. But something bad happened to him. Something... very bad. Do you even want to know? You have no idea how to ask. Has anyone ever been nice to him? It doesn't seem like it. Should YOU be nice to him? You sort of want to try. - - - This becomes a regular thing. This weird little secret. You should probably tell someone when you see him, just in case you don't come back one day, but you say nothing; how the hell would you explain why you want to see him so bad? You don't know his full name. Maybe he's on a watch list. When he gives you a long string of random numbers so you can schedule meet-ups (is THAT his e-mail, really?) he tells you to just... call him Tenko. Or whatever. It doesn't matter. (He sneaks out when Father is deep in his plots. As long as he comes home on time, it doesn't really matter where he goes, right?) He brings a different game every time. He has an insane collection. Where does he get the money for all this? You know he doesn't work. God, is it drugs? It's probably drugs. Wherever these hidden gems came from, he proudly shows them off to you, like he's never had an audience before. It's sort of cringe-inducing, the way he one-ups and rubs every little victory in your face, desperate for attention.
But at the same time, you are becoming too... something...to mind. Do you... like him? He's not funny, but he thinks you are. His mouth is huge when he laughs. He seems to hate everyone but you, and you've had to earn the distinction of being merely tolerable. Still, he gets really excited about random shit like the garage kit black market and haunted dolls and the price of weed on the dark web.
And... strawberry cake. The realization hits you both at the same time when the waitress brings one piece with two forks. God, what the fuck, are you... are you dating? Quick, think. You look forward to seeing him, and don't even mind sitting close to him anymore. Sometimes you push your leg up against him just to see if he'll still flinch away... and he doesn't.
You jealously notice the way he touches everything but you: with delicate precision, one finger at a time. His large, elegant hands always have a pinky up like he's aspiring for a fiefdom, and you wonder what his skin feels like. You go home and dwell on the way he plucks flowering weeds out of the pavement in front of the cafe. The way he stands rooted to the spot as you leave, just... looking at nothing, unsmiling.
You watch his lips too much, and not just because you want to buy him chapstick. You catch him gaping at you all the time. You thought he was just creepy like that, but maybe... Yeah. I guess you are dating him. Shit. - - - Okay, so, yeah. Bringing him back to your place was definitely a bad idea. You know you shouldn't trust him, even if he is... apparently... your boyfriend? Sort of? You still don't have his phone number. So. Um. What now? You order overpriced pizza and queue up a campy horror movie. What the fuck are you even doing. You don't really think he's going to murder you anymore, but... still. Is the suburban massacre scene gonna give him ideas? Turns out, no. He doesn't like gore, even when the blood is neon pink. He gets upset. Like, really upset. Shaky and green, like he might puke on you. He can't stop scratching that scaly spot on his neck.
Tenko, are you crying? Fucking hell, did you just trigger him? Of course he has a traumatic past, it's carved all over his face. You're so fucking stupid. You don't know how to make it right. You want to hug him, kiss him... anything. But he's never really touched you, and you're too afraid to push now. It ruins the whole night. He leaves without explaining anything. Doesn't even say goodbye. He just. Leaves. Maybe you'll never see him again. Maybe that's for the best. Your chest hurts. - - - He shows up at your door a few weeks later. You haven't heard from him since that disastrous movie night. You had pretty much accepted that you'd broken up with a boyfriend you never actually had. But no. Apparently not.
This time, he’s brought his own entertainment. He's holding a boxed set of some show you're not familiar with. You're distracted by these weird little half-gloves he's wearing, like a cyberpunk hacker. That's a new look, and even if it's a bit edgelord adjacent, he makes it look cool. You tell him as much. It's the first time you've let on how attractive you find him. He's wearing a tight black shirt with a deep, deep V-neck. That's distracting too.
He clears his slender throat and doesn't look at you.
You try to apologize for before, but he's acting like it never happened. What are you even talking about? Have you seen this OVA or not? Get out of the way and let him in already. You've watched three episodes now, but you still have no idea what this stupid anime is about. You can't pay attention to a single frame. All you can think about is how his arm has crept up behind your shoulders. A few inches more and he'll be holding you. Does he... want to hold you? You lean toward him so slowly your spine creaks. One molecule at a time. After a thousand years, your head slides nervously under his chin. His arm comes down, locking you in, fingers clutching your sleeve in a death grip. Even that snobby little pinky. His head tucks down into you hair. A sharp collarbone bites into your cheek. His heartbeat is hard, fast, and irregular. There's not a scrap of fat on him, and as you wrap your arm around his stomach, you think you see a twitch in his pants. Is that just you being desperate? Or... hopeful? This is really happening. --- Soon, you learn that Tenko is a clumsy kisser. It doesn't matter; the fact that he's kissing you at all is good enough for now. His lips are dry, but not half as dry as you expected. There's a slick of menthol helping things along; he's been using something medicated on his lips. Plus, his mouth tastes like he drank a gallon of mouthwash.
All this thrills you more than a little, because it means he came here wanting to impress you. Wanting you. Full stop. Underneath that minty sting is a strange, worrisome aftertaste, like something rotten. Your brain fires off an alarm. Stop kissing him. Right now. This thing will make you sick. But his hands nervously slide over your body... and you decide not to worry about it. Instead, you kiss him deeper. He makes a sweet, startled little noise. Your brain is a fucking liar. It occurs to you he's probably never done this before.
When you lace your fingers in his and try to pull one of his gloves off, he rips his hand away.
Don't. That’s the only explanation he gives.
No need to ask if it's a quirk thing or a trauma thing. Judging by how jittery he gets, it's probably both. You remember the way his hands almost float over objects without ever holding them. Maybe his touch is dangerous. Maybe that's why his face looks like that.
Maybe you should learn more about him before things go way too far...
No. It can't be that bad. Now that he's in your arms, everything frightening about him evaporates. He's vulnerable. He's alone. He's shaking a little. Has anyone else ever seen this side of him? You want to keep him all to yourself, just like this.
So what if he has to touch you with gloves on? You've heard of worse quirk-related inconveniences.
It's okay, Tenko. Do you want to keep going?
You put his hands back on you and wait for him to kiss you again. It doesn't take long.
---
You open his pants. He's long and thin, calloused even here. Every part of him feels untouched, unloved. You hold him tight and squeeze.
It doesn't seem to occur to him to please you in return. He looks afraid. Confused. You're sure you scared him earlier with the glove thing. Is this too much? No. He gasps and leans into you. The tiniest, broken please.
He cums in your hand right away, face buried in your shoulder, his eyes wet and hidden.
I have to go, he says. Over and over and over.
It's okay, Tenko.
You know he doesn't want to.
- - - - - (oops I wrote more)
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eternalstann · 4 years
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Still The One
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Tom Holland x Reader
Request: Congrats on your 2,000 followers!!You deserve it! ❤️ Could I please request a Tom imagine? Maybe an angsty one where they break off their relationship of a few years after a few bad fights. So months go by and Tom is still a mess, his family still misses you so he decides to win you back but unbeknownst to him you have been seeing someone for the past couple of weeks. Who will Y/N choose?? It would mean so much but no worries if you have trouble writing this request, I would still be looking forward to your other writing. But major thanks in advance 😊😊
In the moment, Tom thought he’d done the right thing.
He loved you, and he knew you loved him but things weren’t like they were when you first met. You’d been arguing more and more often..it just felt like you weren’t on the same page.
Finally, both of you had just had enough.
“You know what, Y/N this isn’t working any more” Tom’s voice was quieter now; different from the screaming match the two of you were having just moments before. He feels the lump in his throat the second the words leave his mouth and he almost wants to take them back. But part of him knows neither of you could go on like this.
“I was thinking the same thing” you reply coldly, eyes staring back at him with zero emotion. You were numb, a piece of you breaking when his words washed over you. You turn your back to him, feeling the tears well.
Tom watched you in silence, as you grabbed your purse, walking out the door. And out of his life.
And that was it. Now here Tom was, almost five months later. Completely sure that losing you was the biggest mistake of his life. He lay in his bed, scrolling through pictures of the two you he couldn’t bring himself to delete. Watching videos and listening to your laugh. His heart ached in his chest, looking at the sparkle in his eyes that only you could bring. He just wanted to feel the same happiness he had with you again. He wanted you.
And it wasn’t enough for him to feel shitty about your break up, his friends and family refused to let you go. Or let him live it down.
You were the daughter Nikki never had, and Tom had been terrified to tell her. He remembers the look of shock and disappointment when she found out, not even from him. She’d texted you to meet for lunch and nearly dropped her phone when you politely told her you didn’t think it was appropriate since you and Tom had split up.
Tom remembers him and Harry almost getting into a literal fist fight when Harry called him an idiot for leaving you.
Even Zendaya and Jacob were pissed at him, refusing to choose between the two of you.
You had been a part of every single aspect of his life and now he felt an emptiness that he knew was from the loss of you.
Tom finally peeled himself from his bed, getting dressed to visit his parents and siblings for dinner.
Seeing them was a temporary distraction and he was happy he’d decided to come until about halfway through the meal.
“Hey Tom, can you take me to the mall tomorrow?” Paddy asks cheerfully and Tom takes another bite of his food before telling him no.
“Y/N would’ve taken me” Paddy grumbles and Sam kicks him under the table.
“Ouch! Well she would’ve! She was always nicer than you. I don’t know why she ever agreed to be your girlfriend in the first place” he exclaims, getting up from the table.
The rest of his family is stunned into silence at Paddy’s outburst.
“Well, in his defense...she probably would’ve taken him to the mall” Harry adds and Dom hushes the redhead.
“Tom, honey I’m so sorry. I don’t know where that came from. I’ll make him apologize” Nikki tried to console him but Tom assures her it’s fine. Because he knows where it came from.
You had become a part of the family. You’d helped Paddy with homework and made TikToks with him. You cooked with Sam. You laughed at his dads jokes. Hell you and Harry were pretty much best friends and he was positive the two of you still talked, much to his annoyance.
But he couldn’t be mad at his family, when he was already too mad at himself. This was his doing, and he needed to fix it. He still loved you, and this was his sign to get you back.
He mustered up all his courage and set his pride aside to text you; after begging Harry to give him your new number.
“Hey Y/N. It’s Tom. I know I’m probably the last person you want to hear from and you don’t owe me anything. But it would mean the world to me if we could just meet and talk some time. I hope you’re doing well. Xoxo”
He sends the text with an exhale, tossing his phone onto his bed. He doesn’t know why he thought you’d answer right away. It takes 3 days for him to get the message that you weren’t going to respond. And he couldn’t blame you. He’d been a dick the last few weeks of your relationship. But he couldn’t stop trying.
He prayed you lived in the same apartment. Buying your favorite flowers and meal, he was going to turn up at your door. Give you the gifts, and beg you to hear him out. If you didn’t, then he swore to himself he’d leave you alone forever.
Before he knew it he found himself standing outside your place.
You were sitting on the couch, laughing with Justin - your sort of friend but maybe more. The two of you had been enjoying a movie together; making ridiculous comments throughout.
You snort when he throws a piece of popcorn at your face and you attempt to catch it in your mouth, failing horribly.
“Nice try babe” he says sarcastically, tossing a piece into his own mouth. He stares at you, and you stare back.
“You look beautiful tonight, you always do” he compliments and your stomach flutters with butterflies.
“Thank you...” you whisper, scooting closer to him and he does the same. Your lips are only centimeters apart when you hear a knock on your door. You roll your eyes, of course.
“One second” you pat Justins leg before standing up to see who could possibly be at your door. You pull down the hoodie you were wearing and straighten out your hair a bit before yanking open your door.
You nearly pass out when you see who it is.
“Tom?!” you ask incredulously, absolutely not expecting to see him. You glance to Justin on your couch, then back to Tom in your doorway. Justin gave you butterflies. But Tom? He gave you the whole fucking zoo.
Your eyes scan over him, to someone who didn’t know him he looked good. Amazing even. He was even more built than the last time you’d seen him, and his hair had grown out. But you knew him. You noticed the bags under his eyes, and how oily his hair was. The slouch in his posture. You even noticed how chewed up his nails were. And then the flowers he held, and the take out bag of food from your favorite restaurant.
You try to ignore the way your heart throbs in your chest, and your brain is dreading where this was going.
It had taken you almost 3 months to be even remotely okay after you and Tom broke up. Finally going to the bar after your friends dragged you out. That’s when you met Justin, and had been seeing him ever since.
Now here Tom was, standing in front of you. And all you want to do is jump into his arms. But you hold it together, refusing to throw away all the time you spent trying to forget him. All the effort you’d put in with Justin. You couldn’t go back.
“Y/N...you look even more gorgeous than I remember” he says breathlessly and you shift awkwardly on your feet. “Thank you, you look nice too” you answer cooly.
Tom can’t take his eyes off you, studying every detail all over again. The way your hair fell around your pretty face, the way the hood of the sweater you were wearing sat perfectly on your neck....and then it hit him. You were wearing his pink hoodie.
“Is that my hoodie?” He asks dumbly and you didn’t even realize it either until he said it. You stammer for the right words to say when suddenly you feel an arm wrap around your waist.
“Everything okay babe?” Justin’s voice sounds, startling you from your Tom induced daze.
Tom stands up straighter at the sight of Justin next to you.
“Y/N can we please talk?” Tom asks and your eyes dart between the two men.
“Justin; can you give me a little bit? I’m so sorry I promise we’ll do something soon” you grab his hand and he gives you a small smile.
“No problem babe, I won’t be far. Call me if you need me” Justin answers sweetly pecking you on your lips before brushing past Tom.
You feel your whole body heat up, kissing another man in front of Tom... the person who a few short months ago you swore you’d marry and be with forever; it just felt wrong.
“Um, come in Tom” you gesture for him to enter, shutting the door behind him.
You feel tingly all over being alone with him and you wonder if not just slamming the door in his face was a mistake.
“What was that all about?” Tom asks and you know he’s talking about Justin. You roll your eyes, and just like that the shock of Tom being there is gone. You feel just like you did five months ago. On the verge of another argument with the brunette.
“He’s just a friend” you answer, sitting down on your couch. And Tom squints, “you kiss your friends on the lips now?”
You raise your eyebrows.
“Why are you here Tom?” You ask with a sigh and Tom takes a deep breath.
“I’m sorry- I’m sorry. I was just jealous” he admits and you cross your arms.
“You have no right to be jealous Tom. I’m single” you spit, remembering the worst night of your life and hearing him say those fateful words.
“I know; and that’s why I’m here” he responds, sitting next to you. “I brought these for you..” he raises the gifts in his hands before setting them on the coffee table.
“Thank you” you thank him curtly.
“I texted you...” Tom says slowly and you nod- “I saw”
When he texted you, you hoped he’d take the hint when you didn’t respond. Clearly you were wrong.
Tom sighs again before he starts talking.
“Y/N. Words cannot explain how sorry I am for how things ended between us. I’ve been up almost every night just wishing they were different. Wishing you were still mine....”
You stop him there.
You you already feel yourself ready to cry. Half of you had been dreaming about this moment, praying for it to happen. But the other half of you is stubborn.
“Tom you can’t do this. You broke up with me...and now you come back months later with some speech thinking I’m just going to take you back? You broke my heart. You wrecked me. I didn’t get out of bed for weeks after you. I cried until I ran out of tears. And you bring me flowers like that’s some sort of consolation for the pain you put me through?” You finish, voice wobbly by the time you make it to the end.
“Darling, I know no material thing could make up for the pain. Because trust me I felt it to. I still feel it. That’s why I’m here. But Y/N you’re my soulmate, I know that. I know that with every fiber of my being.” He pleads and you can’t stop the tears from falling now.
You’re so overwhelmed you don’t know what to do.
“I can’t do this Tom. I can’t, I’m sorry” you say, standing to walk away but he grabs you hand.
Tom holds your hand so tightly it almost hurts and your heart breaks when you see that he’s crying too. He drops to his knees in front of you.
“Baby if you don’t want to be with me, why’d you keep the pink hoodie? And I know about your secret brunch dates with my mum. Y/N part of you still wants this. Please, all I’m asking for is another chance” he begs and you throw your head back, a million thoughts running through your mind at once.
You know deep down that Tom is still the one. The love of your life. And you know that you’d NEVER forgive yourself if you didn’t try again with him.
You pull him to his feet, staring into his watery eyes.
“It can’t be like last time....” you whisper and Tom pulls you into a hug, squeezing you so tightly you can’t breathe.
“It won’t be darling, I promise” he whispers into your hair before pulling back to look at you again.
“I love you, Y/N” he mumbles, hands holding the sides of your face and you smile gently.
“I love you too, Tommy” you hum, and then he’s kissing you through your tears.
Like you were made for each other. And you were.
————
Ugh I almost feel like this isn’t angst enough but I tried, thank you so much for requesting!! I love you ❤️❤️❤️ THE 2K SLEEPOVER CELEBRATION IS STILL GOING ON!!
((Also does anyone know how to do the read more link from mobile pls and thanks😭))
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innocence - 02
PAIRING: bodyguard!bucky barnes x innocent actress!reader
WARNINGS: age gap
A/N: i’m still stunned at how many of you are enjoying this story. thank you so so much for your support. much love xx
NEXT CHAPTER
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Bucky always woke up at 5AM and waking up at 5 AM was already considered a victory for him - to sleep through the night. Once the digital clock flashed 5 AM in electric red, his eyes were wide open, the sight of constant darkness being the only thing he could see. His routine was precise, as precise as time itself and it barely changed - gym then a dark cup of coffee followed by reading whatever coffee side table book Steve would linger around.
Y/N, unlike him, didn’t have a precise routine. She enjoyed routine but her mornings were always her own time, away from everything. On her free days she would try to wake up by at least 10. After she was fully awake she would turn on the TV in her bedroom and turn on the kettle for a nice tea. She would then lay in bed, surrounded by her blankets and dressed in an oversized cardigan while some random show played.
Bucky’s mornings were always filled with people coming in and out, that was life living in the Avengers headquarters. Some mornings he thought about moving into the apartment in Brooklyn but that would just upset Steve. Heck, he didn’t even know Bucky had bought the apartment, it had been an impulse buy and he would go there every week to check on it. However, Brooklyn wasn’t as close to Y/N’s in SoHo so he guessed he would stay. Y/N’s mornings on the other hand were quiet, too quiet. It was just her, just her in a two bedroom apartment in the middle of wealthy SoHo.
      - Morning, Buck. - Steve, like always, walked into the kitchen, coffee mug saying number one dad in hand. He always had this smile that Bucky couldn’t find the words, a smile that was almost glad that he was still alive yet pitiful. The pure look of someone who’s been burdened, a mother to a child’s look, one she didn’t want. - Excited for guarding your first client?
      - Feels more like guarding property. - he mumbled over the dark coffee, chugging it all before anymore questions could be asked. 
It shouldn’t be a hard day, he thought to himself, mostly looking after her if she decided to go out for anything. He had looked into her profile, she was an easy target. Almost always wearing heels, flowey clothing, things that wouldn’t help her if someone was after her. Anyway, looked like an easy job, easier than saving the world.
Meanwhile, Y/N was laid in the middle of her covers, remote in hand as she skimmed through the channels. Looking around she noticed the loneliness she was in, the empty walls decorated with her own choosing but still empty. No sounds, too quiet. 
She rose from the bed, big socks touching the cedar wood floor as she padded up to the kitchen. The agency had had everything decorated and the fridge stocked but as she opened the door she couldn’t find a single thing she wanted to eat. Disappointed, she closed the fridge, leaning against it to look at the rest of the flat. It was quiet, too quiet, filled with the sounds of quiet if that was even a physically possible thing. She let herself slide down the fridge front, sitting on the floor as she thought about what to do. She didn’t have her script yet, or at least more than two pages of it and going outside was the least thing she wanted to do today.
Y/N was about to fall asleep on the ground against her fridge, she heard footsteps. Quickly, she got onto her feet, rushing over to the door so fast she almost slipped. Pushing the peep hole away she put herself on her tippy toes to see if one of the neighbours was home.
     - Y/N, are you staring out the peep hole? - the person whose steps belonged too was definitely better than any neighbour. Quickly, she unlocked the door, pushing the metal that held it shut to the wall and opened it to see Bucky in a much more casual attire than before. Red henley with some loose dark jeans looked better in her opinion. - If you hear someone it’s always a terrible idea to use the peep hole. Almost always let’s them know someone’s in.
     - Then what are peep holes for? - Bucky playfully rolled his eyes but not before observing what she was wearing. She looked more comfortable. - Do you wanna come in? 
     - Miss Olson said I am to wait outside your door until you want to leave the apartment.
     - What if someone broke my window and took me?
     - Trust me, Y/N. I would know and would win that fight. 
     - You sure you don’t wanna come in? I could cook you some breakfast. Whatever you like. - she had that shine in her eyes, Bucky couldn’t explain it. He just knew it didn’t felt forced but she surely was nervous judging by the pushing of her oversized cardigan’s sleeve to cover her hand. - The agency filled my fridge with so much food I don’t know what to do with it.
     - I’m not a breakfast kind of person, Y/N.
     - Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. - her small hand came to rest over his wrist, pulling at it so he would go inside. He found it amusing how someone who was much shorter than him, head barely hitting his collarbones, would try to move him. Although, surprising wasn’t the fact that he moved but the fact that she touched him, she touched the Winter Soldier.
Bucky wasn’t a kid anymore, he wasn’t naive and he lacked Steve’s “all good” view of the world so he knew what people thought of him. They thought he had been of use but at the end of the day he had been the Winter Soldier for 70 years. They didn’t dare touch him but her she was inviting him into her home and touching him as if he were an old friend.
Once he got in, he immediately looked at everything. There were fake flowers everywhere in little glass jars, if they were broken and she were trying to escape she would get hurt, too many windows and not a lot of mirrored surfaces, people could look in. 
     - Would you like some pancakes? French toast? - her voice interrupted his inspection. - My mom was a cook, I can cook pretty much whatever you want. Can’t promise it will be as good as a cook’s but it’ll be edible.
     - You really don’t need to feed me, Y/N. - his gaze returned to her apartment, open doors everywhere.
     - I just thought ... since you’re going to be around a while we should be friendly with each other. - she looked down at her feet before looking up again, head slightly looking to the side. - I don’t know anyone in here, I didn’t even pick this apartment so I thought I would at least get to know you.
She felt ashamed, heat seemed to radiate from her cheeks to her whole body. Back at the theatre everyone knew each other, they all had show themed hoodies and would say hi whenever they came in and left but things in Hollywood were different. In her first movie she had made friends with only one cast member who still spoke to her but everyone else did their job and returned to their lives without a single hello. She thought that maybe knowing Bucky would make having someone constantly in her life a bit easier but she understood his position.
Bucky himself seemed to read that all on her face and as he did a thought popped into his head “they are gonna eat her alive”. 
     - Let’s try that French Toast. - she smiled at his answer, once again pulling his hand towards the kitchen. It was spacious for a SoHo flat, with cut edge technology and also a very visible knife set. He would have to tell her to put that somewhere else. 
She on the other hand quickly assembled all she needed, placing it on the marble countertop, a happy grin on her face as she started to prepare the meal. It reminded him of memories he had tried to suppress.
     - Mum’s a cook, why are you an actress? - those memories were still memories he wasn’t ready to get back and as such he reckoned speaking with her would keep it out. 
     - I don’t really know how to explain it. - she smiled, pulling a few hair strands behind her ear. - My mum took me to a musical after I didn’t get cast in the nativity play. It was Phantom of the Opera, I just remembered that chandelier rising and crashing and the energy of the performers. There was just ... that was time stopping and rushing at the same time. And the look on the performers faces as they finished a piece, god it was just, I had never seen and I don’t think I have ever seen such passion in someone’s face. 
Bucky moved his head ever so slightly, she seemed to be lost in her own memories, a daydream gaze washing over her features. He wondered what it was like to have memories to be proud of.
     - I’m sorry, I must sound like a sap. Why do you become a bodyguard?
     - I like a challenge.
     - That’s what you told me yesterday. - she placed a beautiful set plate in front of him. Beautiful things make beautiful things, that’s what his mother once told him. Maybe she was right.
     - What can I say, I’m not that interesting. 
     - I don’t know if that’s true. - she added a coffee cup to the French Toast, before pulling a chair. - You know, if I’m at home you don’t need to be outside my door, you can come in.
     - I wouldn’t want to intrude on your personal space.
     - It’s not really my personal space. The agency bought the flat and decorated it themselves so I guess it’s just the space I live in. I don’t really know the city yet so you’re mostly waiting outside for nothing. - she shrugged.
    - How long have you been in New York?
    - A little over 5 months. I was in California during my last movie and prior to that I was living in Haymarket in London. How long have you been in New York?
    - I was born in Brooklyn, about half hour away from here. Lived here my whole life ever since ... at least the part of it I could control.
Bucky waited to see that pity look, the one everyone in the team seemed to give them whenever they looked at him but she didn’t. She merely wrapped her hand around his, caring smile of someone who almost looked proud he existed or proud he was alive. They’re gonna eat her alive, he thought to himself once again.
    - Hey, you could show me around. - she suggested, jumping from the high chair onto the floor.
    - I don’t hang around SoHo, Y/N. 
    - Well, you could show me Brooklyn. Isn’t Coney Island in Brooklyn?
    - You wanna go to Coney Island? - he chuckled. - I don’t think your agency would enjoy that. Too public.
    - They don’t need to know. - she smirked playfully. - If you don’t tell them they won’t know.
    - You’re a celebrity, trust me you’ll be noticed. 
    - You said on your CV you were good at blending and disappearing into a crowd. Please, I’ll get you whatever you want in Coney Island.
    - Whatever I want? - he furrowed his eyebrows at her and she nodded. - Alright, Y/N.
taglist: @disasterbii @lookiamtrying @buckysteveloki-me @nsfwsebbie @americasass81 @jamesbarnesappreciationclub @lostinthebeans @mariahthelioness29 @buckyandsebastian @peaches-roses-sins @theadorasabditory @sipsteacasually @tonystankschild @saiyanprincessswanie @booktease21 @noiralei @learisa @everythingisoverrated @uglipotata72829 @naturalthrone22 @husherstan @mandiiblanche @vicmc624 @newyorkgoddess​ 
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teacup-crow · 3 years
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Maybe, Maybe, Maybe
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Fun bit of survivors’ guilt for @badthingshappenbingo, based pretty heavily off Don’t Poke the Bear and Variations on a Theme. Post-finale.
They take it in turns to keep watch for when he wakes up: Doug, Reneé, Isabel, first names still such a novelty. Just his luck, he opens his eyes to the impassive face of Captain Lovelace.
“Hi, dickbag. Sore head?”
“Unnnnhh…” he whines as if he’s lying under a ton of rocks rather than a cosy quilt on Renee’s living room floor. His face is a patchwork of bruising. “Aspirin?”
She takes pity, and passes him two and a glass of water. The sitting up takes longer than he thought it would.
“You look terrible. Lucky for you, Renee makes a mean chilli con carne. Never would have guessed she could cook.”
“No thanks, I should, should be going-”
“You need food in your system, that’s non-negotiable. First thing’s first, though, you’re having a shower, and you either go willingly or get dragged bodily, because you goddamn stink. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir,” he mumbles automatically, and he remembers the Colonel - Warren? Was it on a day he could call him Warren? - once saying something similar and his head pounds. ((“mr jacobi, of all the irresponsible, stupid shit i have seen from you this really takes the-“))
“Bathroom’s on the second floor, just past the master bedroom. Dominick put a pile of clean clothes in there before he left for work. And it’s Isabel, okay? Not sir. Not Captain. Never again.”
***
“Who did this to you?”
He grips his mug of sweet tea like it’s thousand dollar whiskey. He’s still ashen. “I did this to me.”
“You beat the shit out of yourself? Okay, yeah. Don’t buy that one.” Isabel repeats the question. “Who did this to you?”
“Just some guys I pissed off. I don’t know how many. I don’t know who. Happy now?”
The room goes silent. Isabel continues:
“And did you go provoking them deliberately?”
Not for the first time, Renee wonders whether they should have included Doug in this little intervention. He’s been through so much just like the rest of them, but he doesn’t know it, and he’s clearly freaking out at the situation.
“Why would he want something like that to happen? He looks terrible!”
“I don’t know, Doug,” Isabel says levelly. “Care to answer, Jacobi?”
He’s not on a first name basis, apparently.
“Not… I didn’t... no. No, no, no. I was too drunk and… picking fights, but suddenly there were too many of them, okay? But I got out. And if I want to drink then that’s my own problem, so thank you for the hospitality but-“
Renee cuts in there. “When you drink yourself into a stupor, get attacked by a gang in a back alley, and stumble into my doorway at 0300 hours after six months of radio silence, it becomes our problem.” Her look of pity makes his stomach churn even more than the chilli did. He breathes in, hold, out; in, hold, out; in-((alana’s breathing technique and why why why is she everywhere in everything why does he have to see her out of the corner of his eye when it’s been so long he can’t properly remember her face-))
“Fine. What do you want from me?”
“You are a good man and you saved every single one of our lives and we need to understand why you’re so intent on throwing yours away.”
Jacobi starts laughing then, guttural laughs that worsen the ache in his head and bones but he can’t seem to stop them. “...me? I’m a good man? Oh my God, Lieutenant, that’s hilarious. Give us another.”
“You need to take this seriously! This is a form of self harm! You could have died!” Isabel is pacing up and down. She and Renee do good cop, bad cop like it’s a professional sport.
“Boo fucking hoo. And the world would forever be worse off for my passing.”
Isabel stops, and turns back towards him with some heat in her gaze. “I have lost too many crew members who deserved to die far less than you do. Okay? Is that what you want to hear? Do you need me to reconfirm that you are a an asshole? Do you need to hear about how Fisher, and Hui, and Fourier, and Lambert were all far better people than you will ever, ever be? Or will you accept that you are good in there? That deep down you’re on the right-“
“We burned their letters.” He’s staring at the duvet he’s wrapped in, running his finger over the flowers on the pattern. “Okay? Still think I’m a good person?”
“...wait. What?” She laughs a little, in shock perhaps. “But you told me…”
“I told you what I needed to tell you to make you trust me. We burned your crew’s letters. Lambert’s… I remember those especially. His hands were shaking really hard when he wrote them, weren’t they.”
It’s not a question.
Isabel stops pacing, and Jacobi grins again but it doesn’t reach his bruised eyes when he looks up at her. “More than mine, even. You could tell he was sick. They didn’t make any sense. We laughed at them. The irony of a Communications Officer who can’t communicate. Are you listening to me? We read their letters and we burned them and we laughed about it-“
Renee loses her softness. “Jacobi, that is enough!”
Isabel has a hand on her chest as if something has hit her there. She counts to ten in her head, ((fisher’s technique to try and stop her fighting with sam, never worked but still stuck in her head, or this copy of her head, or whoever she is now-)) and leaves the room.
They hear her slamming drawers in the kitchen.
Doug glances at Jacobi and shakes his head, before hurrying after her.
“How could you,” Reneé says. “How could you.”
“I don’t know. Will you let me go and ruin my own life now?”
“Never,” she replies. “Because, God help me, you’re still a member of my crew.”
At that, his eyes prick with tears he can’t explain. He rolls over on the air bed, and closes them.
***
“Lovelace?” Jacobi finally makes himself walk into the kitchen, grimacing like each step is on hot sand. The words are monotone. “I’m so sorry. What I did and said is... inexcusable.”
“Nope. That’s too large a word for your vocabulary. Come back to me with an apology Renée didn’t script,” Isabel snaps, going back to scribbling in a sketchbook.
“Look, I’m not much good at this-“
“You’re telling me.”
“I’m… really used to people yelling at me and hitting me until they feel better. Or you can shoot me if you like!”
“Jesus. Well, I am not about to do that to ease your guilt. You look like you’d snap if one more person poked you. So apologise properly.”
“I’m sorry…”
“For?” Isabel prompts over the top of her book.
“I’m sorry for burning your crew’s letters.”
“You did what you were ordered to do. It is what it is. I’m not condoning it.”
There’s a moment of silence, and Jacobi realises she’s waiting for him to continue. “And… I’m sorry for bringing it up. That was… needlessly cruel. It sucked.”
“It really did,” she replies, putting the book down. “Tell you what: that sounded somewhat genuine, and Goddard brought out the shit in all of us. You look so pathetic, I’m going to forgive you. Not because you deserve it, but because I don’t bear grudges. Not anymore.”
She holds out a hand, and he shakes it. “Thank you.”
“Wow. That actually hurt for you to say.”
Jacobi nods. He sits down across from her at Renée’s huge darkwood table, and thinks about how she and Dominick must have bought this when they moved in together with plans to have people over for dinner every other night. Maybe even plans to have kids.
He wonders if Dominick ate at it alone while his wife was gone.
“So, you gone on that holiday yet?”
“No, actually. I’ve legally been dead for about seven years, so getting a passport is proving pretty tricky.”
“I can imagine.”
“Where have you been, anyway? We tried to get into contact with you. We drove down to your old apartment - got your address from the Goddard database - but it was cleaned out.”
Jacobi looks sheepish. “Yeah, well, I’d mostly been staying at Alana’s for the last few years or overnight at… yeah… so I’d not been a very good tenant and turns out they took ‘lost in space’ as the perfect opportunity to kick me out. So I’ve been sofa to sofa, on the streets a bit-”
“For heaven’s sake, Jacobi. We would have helped you, you stupid asshole! All you had to do was ask and you could have stayed here! Renee and Dominick would probably even let you have a cheese collection or whatever the fuck it was.”
“Guess the amount of drinks it takes for me to lose my pride is somewhere over eighteen?”
“How do you have a functioning liver?”
They sit in an almost comfortable silence for a few minutes, Isabel reopening her sketchbook.
“I never knew you drew.”
“You never knew me outside of a life-threatening situation.” Isabel sighs, twists the pencil between her fingers. “I don’t think I did. Before. The old ‘me’, I mean. But I was bored and I can’t get a job because of the ‘being dead’ issue, so I thought I should take up a hobby or something. Might be therapeutic. I’m not very good at it…”
“Can I see?”
“I, uh,” Isabel suddenly looks uncertain. “I drew her. Maxwell. I drew everyone, actually. Are you sure you want to look?”
“Yes.”
He leafs through the pages, at first simple doodles before branching into full portraits. Eiffel, upside down and smoking a cigarette. Hilbert, looking troubled at a shadow behind him he can’t quite see. Two ghostlike figures in lab coats staring out at the star, the man with a prophetic terror etched on his face - must be Isabel’s old crewmates. Mr Cutter smiles up at him with far too many sharp teeth in sharper lines where the pencil was pressed far too hard and he turns the page quickly. There’s Kepler, mid-whiskey speech and it almost stops his heart. He pauses. Maxwell.
In the picture, her eyes are shining as she stares at Hera’s console, fingers nothing more than a blur - the three-day stint she spent trying to get the AI online. Aside from the orange and blue of Wolf 359, elsewhere in the book Isabel has barely used colour, but here the room is bathed in a serene green light from the screens. Behind Maxwell, Jacobi sees himself, little more than a stocky, sketchy outline, waiting for her to finish.
He looks so proud of her.
He looks so… content.
After staring for a long moment, Jacobi closes the book and hands it back. “Thank you.”
“You can keep the pictures of them, if you like,” Isabel offers, but he doesn’t know whether he would like, so he says:
“Tell me about your crew.”
“What?”
“Your old crew. Tell me about them. Was Lambert the one staring at...?”
“No. No. No, that was Kuan Hui, our senior astrophysicist. He was whipsmart and funny and fearless, until the time Goddard Futuristics played around in his brain, stretched out his perception of time. He was completely alone in the dark for two weeks. His smile never really reached his eyes after that.”
Jacobi sips tea awkwardly, even though it’s cold.
“Something like that, it stays with you. At least he had Fourier, though.”
“That’s the woman behind him?”
“Junior physicist. Victoire Fourier had eyes like stars. Cleverest person I’ve ever met. She played six instruments, spoke four languages and she had the most gentle soul. She used to read to Hui when he got sick with Decima. Coughed up every organ in his body. I thought it would break her, but she was made of stern stuff. She vanished off the space station in the final days and I still don’t know what exactly happened to her-”
“I… do. If you want to know, I mean.”
Isabel shakes her head. Then pauses. Then shakes her head again. “I get the feeling whoever is to blame is long gone.”
Jacobi shrugs. “Who else?”
“Well, there was Mace Fisher. Fisher… Fisher died because of me, not Goddard Futuristics. Asteroid shower tore him from my hands. He had a boyfriend waiting at home. He was sensitive, sensible, grounding. A real older brother type. I- I didn’t deal particularly well with his death. Well, you know that much.”
((Pill popper!)) Jacobi gulps more cold tea.
“And Lambert?”
“Sam Lambert. Officer Samuel Lambert had a stick up his ass. He was whiny, and authoritarian, and he treasured his copy of Pryce and Carter more than Reneé and Kepler combined did. He drove me nearly insane, and I drove him likewise. The best second in command you could ask for. A damn good man. Sam got sick after Hui, so we knew what was coming. What it meant. He was brave, though. At first.”
((“C-Captain, please shoot me, please, it hurts, it hurts, Captain, please, I just want it to-”)
She falters.
“Lovelace?”
“Yup?”
“You know, it’s not even really about the Hephaestus. I keep… it’s insane, but I keep thinking about… I was an explosives guy for the Air Force. Before Goddard. A trigger failed and two men died. Andrews and Sullivan. I haven’t thought about them in years and suddenly-“
“They’re everywhere?”
There’s a sudden understanding between them.
“They’re everywhere. Them and Maxwell and Kepler. They’re in mirrors, in the back of my brain, around corners.”
“Flashes of them.”
“And if you just reach out far enough, maybe-“
“Maybe-“
“Maybe.”
((let’s go be monsters)), Jacobi’s brain echoes. He grits his teeth.
“Did it stop for you? When does it stop?” He finds himself asking. Isabel doesn’t answer.
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cutesilyo · 3 years
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Notes and References for i know your eyes in the morning sun
Hi! These are notes and references for my IndoPhil fic i know your eyes in the morning sun, so please check it out before reading this!
Title: i know your eyes in the morning sun Summary: When a homesick Indonesia is unexpectedly taken out of his meeting for a day trip in Rome with Philippines, he isn't expecting much more than exhaustion ahead of him. Instead, what happens is a whirlwind of food, fun, and a surprising amount of reflection on their histories and differences as nations. And as he looks deeper and deeper in the other nation's bright eyes, he learns to come to terms with the feelings he's been ignoring for far, far too long. Alternatively: a nation who's too attached to the past goes on a date with a nation whose entire philosophy is built on trying to live in the moment. Yes, there is kissing involved. Read on: AO3 | FF.net
Scene 1: Pizza al taglio
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As coincidence would have it, the G20 2021 Summit actually will be held in Rome, Italy. However, it’ll be on the end of October rather than the end of September like how its depicted in the fic. I’m also very much ignoring the COVID-19 pandemic. Pretend it never happened.
Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world, found in the island of Java, Indonesia. It was built way back in the 7th Century and it's probably Indonesia's top most visited site.
Terang bulan is basically like a really large, fluffy, folded pancake. It also has a variety of different names and is also eaten in Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore.
If you could have a convenience store dedicated solely to pizza, that's what pizza al taglio establishments are like. Its literal translation is pizza by the cut, and since it's a lot more common to find in Rome than in other places in Italy, it's also called Roman-style pizza. The layout for the al taglio shop that Indonesia and Philippines go to is inspired from the shop that me and my family went to: a small family establishment just a short walk away from the Vatican.
You can actually find a recipe for Indonesia’s arugula and mozzarella pizza here: https://shared.publicmediaconnect.org/docs/atk/Pizza_Taglio_Cooks_Illustrated.pdf
Scene 2: Souvenir store + Bus stop
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Indonesian rupiahs are notoriously hyperinflated, so the 15 euros that Philippines uses to buy the keychains convert to 250k+ rupiahs. That's around 50k short for actually being able to buy a local economy flight on Lion Air. For comparison, the same amount of euros convert to approximately 900 Philippine pesos. It’s also a few hundred pesos short of buying a local economy flight on Cebu Pacific.
There actually was a point when a G20 meeting was held in the Coliseum. It was the G20 culture ministers meeting just a few months ago, in July 2021.
Yes, on top of the thousands of festivals we already have, Filipinos also celebrate Oktoberfest! It's more of an excuse for local beer companies to shamelessly promote their product and encourage drinking fests on a massive scale, but a more legitimate Oktoberfest celebration is organized by the German Club in Manila. Lucky Philippines gets to celebrate it authentically in Munich with the German brothers, who historically aimed to conquer the Philippines before America managed to stake his claim. So if you sense that Germany is being oddly shy towards Philippines here, that's just Germany being embarrassed because of their history.
Italy's major international airport in Rome is Aeroporto Internazionale di Roma–Fiumicino "Leonardo da Vinci", so you generally just call it Fiumicino for short. A possible travel route for flying from the Philippines to Italy is Clark-Dubai-Rome, and another is Manila-Hong Kong-Rome.
Scene 3: Gianicolo
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Bali, Boracay, and El Nido are beaches that serve as major tourist destinations.
Vietnam has already been mentioned to be a menace when she's drunk in her most recent character introduction. Laos is at the top of ASEAN when it comes to alcohol consumption, with the average Laotian drinking seven liters of pure alcohol every year.
Indonesia is sometimes known as the Invisible Nation. What this means to say is that there have not been many things that Indonesia has done that made massive waves on the global scale. From what I’ve read, this seems to have been an especially popular sentiment among Western analysts during the Cold War.
Australia's awkward attempt at an apology is a reference to when the Australian government had allegedly monitored and spied on the phone calls of several Indonesian officials. Indonesia and Australia have a history that goes far deeper than that though.
Monas is a common abbreviation for Indonesia's Monumen Nasional, proudly standing tall in the middle of Merdeka Square as a commemoration of the fight for Indonesian independence. Taman Surapati is a large, chill public park; it also has a monument dedicated to commemorating ASEAN there. Both are located in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital. Meanwhile, Philippines' mention of Luneta refers to Luneta Park. It's also known as Rizal Park, as it's the place where the national hero Jose Rizal was executed for the influence he had in encouraging the fight for Philippine independence.
In Rome, there are seven major hills: they formed the geographical heart of Ancient Rome, with Palatino and Campidoglio as the most significant given how connected they were to Rome's founding and Rome's religion. Gianicolo is outside the boundaries of Ancient Rome, and as such, it isn't counted among the seven hills. It is dedicated to the Roman god Janus and was a place for the augurs to divine the will of the gods — kind of like a prophecy, if a prophecy could be divined from bird entrails. Now it's a great spot for a scenic view of modern Rome which features, among other things, a large statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi. Garibaldi was a major figure in the Italian Reunification.
Nusantara means many different things, but in the era of the Majapahit empire, it referred to the vassal kingdoms in what is now modern-day Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Timor Leste, and the southern parts of modern-day Thailand and Philippines. Modern usage of the word in Indonesia generally refers to the Indonesian archipelago, but it can also be used to refer to the entirety of maritime Southeast Asia. Culturally and historically, Southeast Asia is divided into the mainland region (the countries connected to the Asian continent: Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar) and maritime (the countries that are islands and archipelagos: Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines).
Italy, together with the United Kingdom, is the largest European migration destination for Filipinos. The largest migration destination for Filipinos in general is America.
Shout-out to Ro-na for this wonderful headcanon of Philippines being sickly in his early days as a Spanish colony! The galleon ships used to facilitate trade between the Philippines and Mexico (perhaps the Philippines' most major contribution to the Spanish crown) would often be attacked by pirates or destroyed in typhoons, especially in the first few decades.
Majapahit and Srivijaya are only two of pre-colonial Indonesia's many powerful empires. A lot of the pre-colonial stuff has been simplified for brevity's sake, but a brief summary of it all basically goes like this: pre-colonial Indonesia was involved with everyone in maritime SEA, where everyone traded with each other; and mainland SEA was non-stop fighting where the major powers were the empires that would later become Vietnam and the Khmer empire that would influence everyone else in mainland SEA. You can find a more detailed look into mainland SEA history by Gemu in her posts here, who is my main influence for everything mainland SEA-related.
A young Brunei picking flowers for a young Philippines is a reference to all the marriages that had occurred between their nobility during the pre-colonial era.
Scene 4: Apartment
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The turtle fountain in Rome is a real thing: Fontana delle Tartarughe was originally designed with dolphins in mind, but the dolphins were removed and replaced by turtles. In fandom, you usually see Philippines calling Indonesia kuya, which is Tagalog for older brother. In at least one Indonesian language (I can't remember which one at the moment, sorry!), kuya means turtle.
Tondo, Seludong, Butuan, Sulu, Sugbu, and Panay are all polities in pre-colonial Philippines, two for each of the main island groups in the country: Luzon in the north, Mindanao in the south, and Visayas in the middle. Unlike pre-colonial Indonesia, the societies in the Philippines were never united by a single kingdom or empire; the Philippine islands were only united through the efforts of Spanish and American colonization.
Filipinos tend to sing a lot. Many of us are really good at it. Karaoke is really popular here.
Philippines' PIN code of 8862 is a reference to when ASEAN was founded: August 8, 1962. The founding members were Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.
This might be as good of a time as ever for me to mention that I am depicting Philippines and Indonesia as Catholic and Muslim respectively. Filipinos are predominantly Catholic and the Philippines is the largest Catholic country in Asia, while Indonesia has a number of official religions and is the largest Muslim nation in the world.
Special thanks to Desa for helping me with Indonesia's prayer times! Normally, Muslims pray five times a day, but when travelling Muslims are allowed to pray only three times. This is called Qasr salah, or Qasr sholat in Indonesia. What is usually Fajr (called Subuh in Indonesia), Zuhr, Asr, Magrib, and Isha becomes only Fajr, Zuhr-Asr, and Mahgrib-Isha; essentially, without getting into the specifics of time, a prayer for sunrise, afternoon, and night. The mosques will remind everyone when it's prayer time with adhan (called adzan in Indonesia), but in non-Muslim countries abroad, many Muslims have to use websites and apps to keep track. Something I didn't mention in the fic is that Rome actually has the largest mosque in the Western world, Moschea di Roma, so Indonesia could have potentially prayed there. 
Scene 5: Apartment dinner table
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Sholat wouldn’t take Indonesia more than a few minutes, so imagine that he did something else while waiting for Philippines to finish cooking.
Baked fish with sliced lemons is a meal that got served to me a lot in Italy. Chop suey is Chinese, but China has had a significant cultural influence for most of Southeast Asia throughout history; the Indonesian version is known as kap cay. Indomie Mi Goreng is a particularly tasty and famous kind of instant noodles from Indonesia. It's very popular in many Asian countries. Indonesia doesn’t drink, but Philippines is drinking white wine because that’s what you’re supposed to do when eating fish. Red wine goes with meat.
Admittedly, this is my own personal headcanon, but I like to think of Philippines living in Spain with the other Spanish colonies while everyone else in maritime SEA were left behind to live in their own countries. It's my own neat Hetalia universe explanation for how much Spanish influence there is in Filipino culture, and how isolated Filipinos can sometimes feel among their neighbors.
I do think that Philippines would have a Hispanic-sounding human name, but I've never really settled on what name actually would be: in fandom, Felipe, Lorenzo, and Jaime get thrown around a lot. In contrast, it seems like most people have settled on Dirga (short for Dirgantara) for Indonesia.
Philippines is sometimes called as la colonia abandonada in Spanish sources: the abandoned colony. Because the Philippines was so far away, Spain couldn't manage the colony directly and had to rely on Mexico/Nueva España to do the dirty work until Mexico became independent. This led to a more relaxed manner in how the country was managed for most of its Spanish colonial life; some scholars even go as far as saying that Spain's treatment of the Philippines was kinder than Spain's treatment of Latin America. I don't really agree — it was different, sure, but it wasn't kind in the least.
Contrast that with Indonesia as the largest and most important colony of the Dutch empire. Aside from all the money and economic prosperity that Indonesia gave to the empire, you'll also find many Dutch songs and hymns that are all praises to Indonesia. Much of the research in Indonesian history, ethnography, and archeology was made possible because of Dutch interest and support; until now, the Netherlands remains to be Europe's leader when it comes to Indonesian studies. This isn't to say that Netherlands treated Indonesia well, however.
After the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in WW2, Netherlands fought to keep power over the archipelago. Needless to say, the Netherlands failed. Indonesia was recognized as an independent country soon after.
Indië is the Dutch colonial name for Indonesia.
APEC is the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, of which Philippines and Indonesia (and Thailand!) are members.
Scene 6 + 7: Apartment bedroom
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What was Philippines doing in the 1920s, you ask? Being an American colony and trying to lobby for laws that would hasten his independence. Indonesia was in the middle of what’s called the Indonesian National Awakening; all the different peoples under Indonesia were beginning to come together and unite to fight for a single independent nation.
As a tarsier, Pien is actually supposed to be nocturnal; he shouldn't be sleeping at night at all. Maybe he just got jet lagged? Who knows.
BL stands for the boy's love genre of TV series. For years, Thailand had been the lead when it came to BL production with shows like TharnType and SOTUS. Recently, the Philippines has also been developing BL series — Gameboys specifically had achieved worldwide acclaim and is distributed globally through Netflix.
Filipino languages tend to have more complex verb conjugation and sentence structure compared to Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia. The linguistic explanation for this is that most of the Filipino languages are based on the older Proto-Malayo-Polynesian language while Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia are based on the newer, more simplified descendants of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian.
Pramoedya Ananta Toer was an Indonesian author that focused a lot of his work on nationalistic sentiments. He has a quote on bravery that I really like: Dalam hidup kita, cuma satu yang kita punya, yaitu keberanian. Kalau tidak punya itu, lantas apa harga hidup kita ini? Loosely translated, this reads as: In our life, we only have one thing, which is bravery. If it’s not, what is the value of our life?
Indonesia, as a large archipelago in the Pacific Ring of Fire, has a lot of active volcanoes. In contrast, the Philippines is regularly hit by tens of typhoons annually.
There are an estimated 12 million Filipinos overseas, and this number consistently rises through the years. It's one of the largest diaspora populations: name a country, you'll probably find a Filipino working there somewhere. OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) account for 10% of the country's population and the remittances they send back to their families account for 10% of the country's GDP. Indonesia has a similar phenomenon with TKIs (Tenaga Kerja Indonesia), of which there are 4.5 million worldwide.
Post-independence, Indonesia was very paranoid over Western influence in Southeast Asia. In that same time period, Philippine delegates to international conferences would always speak of democracy and the looming threat of Communism; even though most of the Asian delegates would prefer to move past Western problems and disputes to focus on a united Asia.
Telenovelas are soap operas produced in Latin America. They became popular in Southeast Asia as they were distributed and remade here. The Indonesian equivalent is the sinetron, and the Filipino equivalent is the teleserye.
Additionally, I cannot stress enough how much this fic is built on the foundations laid by others. I’ve already mentioned how much I took inspiration from Gemu’s depiction of mainland SEA, but I also credit Indonesia’s thing for temples to Desa; the passive-aggressive energy between Thailand and Philippines to Hali; amnesiac Piri to Koko, Kopi, and Sopas (among the many). There are a dozen other things I can attribute to a huge assortment of writers and artists: that Singapore has trouble remembering his pre-colonial roots as well, that Piri might have had a good relationship with Romano, Piri’s general flirty and flighty attitude, Indonesia’s awkwardness and big brother aura, etcetera, etcetera. If you’re someone that has been contributing to the SEA fandom these past few months, thank you. Thank you so much. 
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