#For the greeting... It will be mostly focused on the char's thoughts | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

migilini · 4 years ago

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Give Me Attention - Charlie Gillespie

summary: Zoomcalls Classes with a bored Charlie

a/n: a/n: Don't quite know what this is but it was stuck in my head so here ya go.

words: 1.5k

warnings: some arguing, cursewords and pure fluff

Requests are open :)

MASTERLIST

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Most of the time if someone asked how living with Charlie went you answered with ‘great, literally so amazing, he brings a smile to my face every day. And you meant it, at least most of the time. You loved the way he was awake long before you even dare to open your eyes and the fact that because of that there was always a freshly made coffee just waiting for you on the counter. You loved the way that he danced in the kitchen with you while he cooked dinner and the way the bedsheets always smelled like him. Yet, you weren’t gonna lie, especially the first couple of corona moths have taken a little toll on your relationship.

“Charlie, do you have to rehearse your lines in the living room?” you asked irritated, crossing your legs under the kitchen table you currently sat at.

“But here I have the most space to move around. I gotta move around. You also said that we can go over our lines together.” he whined from the living room. At this moment you cursed the fact that you had moved into an apartment with a connected kitchen and living room. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and it was, especially when you had friends over, but right now it was only trouble.

“I know babe, but I have this essay due tomorrow and I haven't had the chance to start because we’ve been on set and in so many meetings.”

“Then you work somewhere else?”

“This is the only room with a table!” you protested, gesturing to the table your school books, notes and laptop were scattered on.

“You chose to pursue acting and finish your degree!” he shot back, getting worked up over this simple thing. The hurt flashed in your eyes making him instantly regret his words.

“I’m sorry that my education is important to me Charlie and that I wanted to finish my last one and a half years at College.” You stood up and grabbed your things “Have fun running your lines.” Charlie only heard the bedroom door slam shut and winced at the sound.

He knew better than to immediately run after you, so he waited about ten minutes before approaching. He knocked on the door and leaned on the doorframe. “Baby come back out. I’m sorry. It's just...I had a bad day, couldn't remember any of my lines, and even though we live together I feel like we rarely see each other... both so busy with the show and I… I don't know, I let my frustration out on you.”

The door opened and you hugged him tightly “I’m sorry as well. I could've just worn headphones. I’m stressed and let it out on you as well. I’m so sorry.” you muttered into his chest.

Charlie kissed your head and asked, “Can I help you with College stuff?”

Arguments like these happened a lot during the starting months of the pandemic. Both of you stressed and tired, basically working your asses off and still trying to be caring for one another. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows but after a storm of an argument, the clouds faded away and the sun came back out.

During the timespan from April to August, your boyfriend was bored, very bored. There sadly weren't many acting opportunities, there was not much to do in general and the press tour for JATP was scheduled after its release in September. You on the other hand had lots to do with school, participating in online classes, catching up on the material you missed last semester, writing essays and studying.

“Babeee…” he whined and propped his head up behind your laptop screen so just his eyes looked over it. “Watcha doiinn?”

“Pack it up Isabella…” you grinned at him “Currently working on a project due next week and I have a class in five minutes”

“What class?” he popped his head up a bit more, his whole face hovering just slightly in front of you. “Economics.”

“Boooriiing” he dragged out and rolled his eyes “Don’t you wanna do something more fun? Like Wii bowling, cooking, me.” he wiggled his eyebrows at you.

“As tempting as that sounds, I can't, this class is really important...sorry bubbs.” you looked up at him apologetically and pushed your computer glasses up your nose.

“Fine” he sulked, “give me a kiss and I'll leave you alone.”

You smiled and went to lean closer to his face, with one hand he grabbed the back of your head and pulled you closer. One kiss, two kisses, three kisses later, you tried to pull back. “One more,” he muttered against your lips and you caved.

And he really did leave you alone until you were done with all your classes. But another day meant another day full of classes and work. You quickly build your own little routine. Charlie still woke up earlier than you and greeted you in the kitchen with a smile, a coffee and a kiss. Then he would go on a run and you would start your first couple classes. He would come back, shower, prepper your face with ‘motivation kisses and then try to get your attention for the rest of the day.

“Braid my hair.” he wailed like a little kid and put his head on your lap. You looked down at him for a split second, your hand immediately tangled in his hair.

“That can’t be comfortable for you.” You chuckled and scanned his figure, the side of his right hip on the chair next to you, both arms and legs hanging loosely to the ground, his head on your lap.

“It totally is,” he muttered, barely audible because his face was nuzzled between your crossed legs.

“If you say so bubbs,” you said and tried not to laugh, your fingers playing with some strands of hair.

“Miss Y/LN what is the answer to question 4?” the professor asked you and totally ripped you out of your thoughts. “Oh shit...class.” you cursed and looked over your notes before unmuting yourself “the national bank sir?” you tried but it sounded more like a question than a confident answer.

“I know you're sitting at home and this is a difficult situation for all of us but don’t get distracted. We don't want your grades slipping…” you nodded and shot charlie a quick look. He half layed on your lap for the rest of the day, drawing little patterns on your legs, occasionally he got up to get a glass of water or some notebooks for you.

You liked to say that he annoyed you and sometimes he really did but you mostly found it endearing. But he did know how to distract you.

“I’m gonna work out here alright?” he questioned and put down his weights he took out of a closet in the hall. To focused on your note writing, your professor's voice ringing through the room you only nodded your head and barely looked up.

As your professor started to ramble on and on about a topic that you already had last semester, your eyes started to wander through the room and got stuck on a particular thing. The thing was working out and still looked absolutely delicious, he was currently lifting weights and his cake was on full display for you.

A tone shift of your professor brought you back to the zoom class but it didn't take long for you to be distracted again. After his workout, Charlie showered and was now just casually chilling shirtless on the couch a couple of feet away from you. His new tattoo shining brightly in your direction.

“What is more important than my class Miss Y/LN?” the same teacher that always catches you slacking piped up. Charlie's head shot up and he winked at you. “J-just a bird,” you said shyly, your cheeks heating up.

Not even ten minutes later, there was a movement in the corner of your camera. You tried to ignore it and listen to one of your classmates' presentations.

“You also want a coffee?” Charlie asked you over the counter.

“Yes please.” you shot him a thumbs up.

Whilst the coffee machine was rattling in the background, your classmate finished the presentation and that meant that it was your turn. Time Management was never you and Charlie's strength and so just as you were in the spotlight option of the call, Charlie walked up behind you.

“Char..I-” you tried to stop him.

“Here is your coffee ma love,” he said lovingly, still shirtless by the way, bending down to give you a kiss on your shoulder before placing the cup on your table. You awkwardly froze and stared at the screen in front of you.

“That’s a funny bird.” was all that your professor said while another classmate piped up with a “He’s kinda hot.”

“So uhm…” you chuckled, your cheeks and ears bright red. “I choose this topic because…”

#charlie gillespie #charlie gillespie x reader #charlie gillespie imagine #charlie gillespie fanfic #charlie gillespie fic #charlie gillespie fanfiction #julie and the phantoms #charlie gillespie x y/n #charlie gillespie x oc #charlie gillespie x

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charincharge · 4 years ago

Note

"Maybe if I stab you, you'll understand what I'm feeling like right now" - for the period one

I Don’t Want To Wait, eighth grade

rowaelin high school bff au: past-take masterlist

AN: Another holiday, another past-take. Enjoy this super sweet ride back to eighth grade with our two favorite idiots. And have a very Happy Valentine’s Weekend! xoxo, Char

Excitement rippled through the halls of Orynth Middle School as the eighth graders gathered their valentines from their lockers and headed to the pick-up circle for the end of the day. A steady stream of whispers flowed through the halls, discussing their big evening plans. It was the grade’s first boy/girl party, and everyone was talking about it — whether they’d been invited or not. It was being thrown by a new student, who’d just transferred schools from Eyllwe. Nehemia was stunningly beautiful with her rich brown skin and long braids clasped in ornate gold accessories, coming into eighth grade with an air of sophistication and worldliness that had everyone clamoring for her attention. And apparently she thought the best way to make friends was to throw an exclusive Valentine’s Day party in her family’s rented house on the outskirts of Terrasen.

Anyone who was anyone had been invited, and though Aelin would never admit it, she was relatively surprised when she’d opened her mailbox last week and found the invitation waiting for her. Surprised, but thrilled.

“What are you going to wear?” Lysandra asked. “What does ‘festive casual’ even mean?”

“Red?” Rowan piped in, shoving his gloved finger into Aelin’s shoulder. “You look good in red, Ace.”

“I do look good in red,” Aelin smiled, hoping that the blush that rose to her cheeks would be hidden by her already flushed skin, red from the cold February winds.

Aelin was grateful that her two closest friends would also be there tonight. She couldn’t imagine being brave enough to go to a party without Lysandra or Rowan.

Lys flicked her chestnut hair dramatically over her shoulder, sighing loudly. “I look fine in red, but I look way better in green.” She pursed her lips. “I do have that pink top I got over Christmas,” Lysandra added thoughtfully.

“The low cut one?” Aelin gasped, remembering the sparkly pink top Lysandra had purchased on a whim. She only remembered it because she’d tried on the same one in blue and had put it back immediately, deeming it much too revealing to feel comfortable in. Though she guessed she didn’t have anything to show off in that particular department quite yet.

A wicked grin appeared on Lysandra’s face as she shrugged. “Some of us are going to try and get kissed tonight.”

Aelin tried her very hardest not to look in Rowan’s direction at the mention of kissing, but she couldn’t help it. She let her blue eyes slide to his face, and she watched as his cheeks paled, staring at her in horror, his jaw tensing as he breathed in deeply.

“There’s going to be kissing at this party?”

“What did you think was going to happen?” Lysandra laughed at Rowan’s discomfort, and Aelin watched as his brow furrowed and his nose scrunched up as if he’d just smelled something terrible. “Don’t you have someone you want to kiss?”

Aelin’s heart thumped erratically in her chest, waiting for him to answer Lysandra’s question with an annoyingly hopeful heart.

“What?” Rowan asked, scrunching his nose further. “No. No way.”

“What about you, Aelin?” Lysandra asked, and Aelin opened her mouth to answer, wondering what she was going to say; it’s not like she could tell anyone the real answer. She was infinitely relieved when a car horn beeped in her direction.

Her dad leaned over and waved to her and her friends, and Aelin had never been more grateful to see him than in that moment. She gathered her backpack from the sidewalk and ran to the car without answering her friend.

“See you tonight!” she called out as she entered the warmth of her dad’s sedan.

Her stomach churned as she glanced out the window and saw Rowan’s curious gaze following after her. She buckled her seatbelt and tore her eyes away from his. As if she hadn’t been nervous enough before, now she had to think about kissing?

She took a deep breath and ignored the uncomfortable pang that settled in her stomach. She’d been looking forward to this party all week, and it was going to be amazing. Whether she was kissed or not.

. . .

“Well, you look very pretty, Fireheart,” Rhoe said as Aelin finally came down the stairs. It had taken her two hours to find the perfect outfit, but she finally had. She spun around, feeling incredibly in her red off the shoulder sweater and black skirt. She loved the way it flared around her knees when she spun, showing off the patterned tights she’d pulled from the bottom of her drawer. They were a little snug and pinched at her waist, but it was far too cold to go anywhere with bare legs.

“Thanks,” she said, wrapping a bright red ribbon around her half ponytail.

“You ready to go?” he asked, and she nodded, excited. They made their way to Rowan’s to pick him up, and Aelin couldn’t help but smile as she saw him. He jogged excitedly to the car, making his way into the backseat with Aelin.

“Where’s your red?” Aelin asked, and she could feel her cheeks heat as he shrugged off his thick jacket to reveal a red and white baseball t-shirt underneath. How did Rowan look so cute in everything?

Aelin let her eyes tear away from her handsome best friend to his Aunt, who was approaching the car with a big wave. Rhoe rolled down the window to greet the woman whose long dark hair was curled into smooth waves and her eyes smudged with dark shadow, making her look even more stunning than usual.

“Whoaaa, big date tonight?” Rhoe asked, and Maeve laughed heartily.

“It’s rare I have a Friday night to myself.” She paused. “I am going out to dinner, but don’t worry, I will have my phone on.”

Rhoe smiled as he handed her Aelin’s overnight bag.

“Reminder,” Rhoe said, pointing to the kids in his backseat. “I am at the station tonight, but if you want to leave this party at any time, Maeve will come and get you.”

“Dadddd,” she whined as Maeve nodded effusively. “We’re going to be fine.”

He sighed and patted Aelin’s knee, squeezing it gently. “You’re so big now. You’re practically grown ups.”

“I’m only thirteen,” she laughed.

Rowan sat up taller as he announced, “I’m fourteen.”

“We know,” Maeve laughed. “Have fun, you two. See you at nine.”

Despite her best friend at her side, the drive to Nehemia’s house was long enough for the nerves in Aelin’s stomach, which had previously subsided, to start tumbling around furiously again. She tugged at the waistband of her skirt, giving herself room to breathe a little deeper, but it didn’t help. She kept remembering the word ‘kissing’ and getting nervous all over again. Was she going to kiss someone tonight? Would Rowan? Her stomach clenched uncomfortably at that thought.

“You okay?” Rowan asked, noticing her fidgeting beside him.

“Mhm,” she nodded.

He definitely knew she was lying, but she was grateful he didn’t press her. She didn’t think she’d be able to explain what was causing her so much anguish.

“Wow, nice place…” Rhoe commented as he pulled up the long driveway. Nice was a bit of an understatement. The house was much less a house and more of a castle. Giant windows took up most of the front of the house, showing the thriving party inside. “Have fun!” Rhoe called out to them, but Aeiln was only focused on her breathing. The nerves in her gut had multiplied and exploded, and she was starting to feel like she had a real stomach ache.

Rowan exited the car first, and she was grateful that he reached back and helped her out of the car. She felt unsteady on her feet.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked, and Aelin nodded again, relieved that he let her link her arm with his as they made their way into the party.

Inside it was, like, a real party. Aelin struggled to take another breath, looking at the boys and girls dancing closely, backs and fronts pressed against each other with not a millimeter of air between them as hips swayed in time with the music overhead. Grinding. Lysandra had told her the name for that particular dance. People were grinding.

Of course that’s where Lysandra was already, on the dance floor with some boy’s hands placed dangerously low on her hips as they moved together. Aelin gulped. Was she going to have to dance like that? She didn’t think she’d be able to.

“I don’t have to dance, do I?” Rowan asked quietly, and Aelin smiled as she looked over at his panicked face.

“No way,” she said, thinking the exact same thing.

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

“Where do we go first?” Aelin asked, looking to Rowan for guidance, but it was as if his shyness had been activated at the sight of so many people. He shoved his hands into his pockets and his shoulders hunched over as his eyes scanned the crowds of students.

Ugh. He would be no use.

“Aelin!” Aelin gasped as two dark arms wrapped around her shoulders, hugging her tightly and pulling her away from Rowan. “Thank you so much for coming!”

Aelin nodded dumbly at her party host, who smiled widely at the pair who’d just entered her house. She wore a flowy pink top that billowed around her like an ethereal cloud and jeans that looked more expensive than anything Aelin had ever owned. Aelin struggled to say something, but she didn’t have to worry. Nehemia was playing gracious host, explaining the set up to them as she gave them a small guided tour.

“Feel free to join people on the dance floor,” she explained, pointing to the wooden floor that had been set up in the middle of the room. “I think there are a few games going on in the other room, if you’re not up for dancing,” she continued, pointing to the circle of kids on the plush couches on the other side of the hall, hovered around a table. “And we have tons of snacks in the kitchen.”

Aelin could practically hear the relief flow through Rowan as Nehemia led them to her mostly empty kitchen. It was much calmer and quieter without the music blaring overhead, plus… Nehemia might have undersold when she said there were “snacks” available. It looked like the baking display at Maeve’s on special holidays. Despite the uncomfortable band pinching her waist, she couldn’t help but gasp in delight as she saw the spread in the kitchen.

Pink frosted cupcakes were plated by the dozen, surrounded by bowls upon bowls of all kinds of chocolate. Chocolate covered pretzels with red sugar crystals, heart shaped chocolates in beautiful red wrappers, bowls of powder covered truffles…. Aelin licked her lips. She loved chocolate.

“Want something, Ace?” Rowan asked, half laughing because she was certain he already knew the answer.

“Cupcake please!”

Nehemia smiled. “Oh, I’m glad you’re going to take one. We ordered them special from my favorite bakery in Eyllwe,” she told Aelin, and she nodded excitedly, happy that she seemed to have gained approval from the new girl.

She reached for the cupcake in Rowan’s hands and took a large bite immediately. She hummed with happiness as the chocolate cake and strawberry frosting hit her tongue, relishing in the sweetness.

“So good,” she mumbled through the crumbs, earning another smile from Nehemia. She managed to inhale it in about three bites, laughing as Rowan flicked a stray crumb from her nose. “Whoops,” she laughed. Nehemia joined in the laughter but flitted off to welcome her next party guests — an overhead ding announced the front door opening.

“Want to go check out the games?” Rowan asked, and Aelin nodded. Since grinding with Rowan was not an option, games sounded safer.

But as they made their way into the adjacent room, Aelin realized her mistake. A glass bottle spun slowly, making its way around the circle and finally landed on a grinning Dorian Havillard. She felt her stomach tumble as he leaned over the table and pressed his lips against a shy girl in her computer class named Sorscha. Only, she didn’t seem so shy right now. She was kissing Dorian in front of practically her whole class!

Aelin was too afraid to look at Rowan, but out of the corner of her eye she could see him wringing his fingers in front of himself. A sure sign of discomfort.

The crowd cheered as the pair parted, their faces flushed and eyes glowing as Sorscha passed the bottle to a boy on her left. He turned around with a wide smile.

“You two wanna join?” he asked, scooting over to make room for Aelin and Rowan to sit. Umm. No. No they did not. Dancing would be less weird than this.

Aelin’s jaw almost came unhinged as Rowan replied with a quiet, “Sure.”

Sure? SURELY he knew what he was say yes to, right?

Aelin whipped around to look at him, his brow set in a determined line as he glanced back at her. He shrugged, as if to say Why not? And Aelin was positive her face read the thousand reasons why they could not. First, she didn’t want to risk kissing anyone except for Rowan. Second, she didn’t want to see Rowan kiss anyone else, and third, she absolutely didn’t want her first kiss to be in a game of spin the bottle? At a party? In front of all these people?

As Rowan began to sit, Aelin’s stomach flipped again. Like. Really bad. Like, worse than just nerves.

It had to be these tights. They felt like they were squeezing her insides, and now that there was food inside her, it needed to come out immediately. This was not good.

“Uh, does anyone know where the bathroom is?” Aelin asked the circle, avoiding eye contact with Rowan, who had fully sat down now. She knew it wasn’t smart to leave him alone to kiss whoever he wanted, but her stomach did that awful squeezing thing again, and she knew if she waited much longer she’d completely embarrass herself.

“Down the hall and to the right,” Sorscha pointed, and Aelin smiled graciously, ignoring Rowan’s raised brow, seemingly asking her What’s wrong?

“Be right back,” she mumbled, trying to walk calmly down the long hall, despite her insides feeling like they were revolting against her. Luckily, there was no one inside the small powder room, and she was able to slip in and lock the door, quickly divesting herself of her tights as she plopped down onto the toilet.

And that’s when she saw it. The small patch of dark red on the inside of her underwear.

No no no no no. Not now! Anything but this!

She didn’t have any kind of pad to use, and she desperately needed to get back to the game of spin the bottle. But she knew she was stuck.

Her heart pounded and tears stung at the corners of her eyes.

Desperately, she looked around the small bathroom. Surely there had to be something here, right? But as she took in the ornate pedestal sink and scanned the decorative shelves, displaying fancy bottles of perfume and pungent candles, she knew she was out of luck. There was absolutely no place to hide any kind of feminine products in this place.

How could she have been so stupid? It’s not like Aelin didn’t know that this day would come eventually, she just didn’t think it would be this day. Lysandra had gotten her period two years ago! It was so long ago, that Aelin had kind of forgotten that one day it’d happen to her, too. It wasn’t as if Rowan had to deal with anything like this.

Her eyes clouded with unshed tears as she thought of him. He was probably going to end up kissing some amazing girl tonight, and they’d fall in love, and she’d be his girlfriend and then probably wife, and they’d have beautiful children and live happily every after, all because Aelin had to hide inside the bathroom until Maeve came and got them in… she glanced at her phone… two more hours!

Another ripple of pain tightened across her abdomen, and she leaned over, trying to find a more comfortable position, but it was useless. She was going to die alone in the powder room of the coolest new girl in school, missing the party that everyone would surely be talking about come Monday.

She had to get back out there. She couldn’t lose Rowan to some random girl in a game of spin the bottle! And why was he so eager to play? Her worry spiraled again as she imagined his future happy life with some nameless faceless girl he kissed. Maybe she could scrunch up some toilet paper and put it in her underwear? At least she was wearing black, so nothing would show if it leaked. But as she was hit with another pang of nausea, she knew she wasn’t going anywhere.

A knock at the bathroom door startled her, as she cried out, “There’s someone in here!” as confidently as she could while feeling like she was being stabbed in the gut.

“Ace?” The last voice she wanted to hear right now called out. “Are you okay?” Rowan asked. “You’ve been gone for a while.”

“I’m fine!” she called out through clenched teeth.

She could see the shadow of his feet moving on the other side of the door and hoped that meant he’d left her alone, but she knew she wasn’t that lucky.

“I can call Aunt Maeve to come get us if you’re not feeling well.”

Aelin let her head hang in defeat. She should just let him do that. But she knew Maeve hadn’t gotten all dressed up tonight just to come pick up Aelin, either. No. She could stick it out for a little bit longer.

“I’m not sick,” she said, pulling up her underwear and kicking off her too tight tights all the way. There was no way those were going back on. Not a chance.

“Are you…upset?” Rowan’s voice called through the door, and Aelin knew her best friend wasn’t going to leave her alone until he made sure she was fine. Which meant showing him her face.

She took a deep breath and turned the knob on the door, cracking it open just a fraction of an inch, but he pushed it open further. His eyes examined every inch of her face, looking at her thoroughly as a slow frown appeared on his lips.

“You are sick,” he said, holding the back of his hand to her clammy forehead, his frown deepening at her cool touch. She shivered, and his eyes dipped down to her bare legs in confusion.

“I’m not sick,” she whined. “I…” She took a deep breath. Was she really going to tell him this? Searching his stubborn gaze, she knew was going to. He’d never leave her alone otherwise. “I got my period,” she whispered as low as she could, and Rowan’s jaw loosened, forming a small o as he scanned her again.

“For the first time?” he asked, and she could feel her ire rising as he continued to hover in the doorway.

“Yes, for the first time,” she hissed. “And I don’t have… things.” She could feel her cheeks heating. “Will you please leave me alone and put a note on the door that it’s out of service or something?” she mumbled. The only thing that could make this worse was if she had to evacuate the bathroom.

Rowan nodded, shutting the door, and Aelin finally exhaled and let herself sink to the bathroom floor. She hugged her knees into her chest, realizing that if she pressed on her stomach, the pain slightly subsided there. She had just rested her cheek to her knees when there was another knock on the door.

“It’s just me,” Rowan said, causing Aelin to groan. Hadn’t she asked him to leave her alone? “Can I come in?”

Aelin didn’t bother standing up; she just reached for the doorknob and twisted it open with a loud sigh. Rowan looked around the empty bathroom for her, taking a second to find her curled up on the floor.

“Here,” he said, squatting down to her level and holding out his hand to her. She held hers below and looked up at him with wide eyes as two blue pills fell into her palm. “It’ll help.” He reached his other arm out and handed her a can of coke.

Without questioning how or why, Aelin placed the pills in her mouth and swallowed them quickly, enjoying the way the sweet bubbly liquid felt on her tongue. She was so rarely allowed to have soda, and it was delicious.

Rowan’s cheeks turned a slight shade of pink as he reached into his back pocket and handed her a small yellow wrapped square.

“This was all I could find in one of the upstairs bathrooms,” he said quietly. “I hope it’s okay?”

Aelin’s eyes looked anywhere but at the face that was far too close to hers as she took the pad from his fingers, mumbling out a small “Thanks.”

“Do you know how…” he asked, and Aelin thought she was going to burn alive from embarrassment as she pushed herself up to standing.

“I think I can figure it out,” she snapped, pushing him out of the bathroom and locking the door behind him. UGH! So embarrassing.

She sat on the toilet and unwrapped the square, her eyebrow raising as the pad unfolded itself. She examined it quickly, and deduced that it was pretty intuitive. She peeled off the paper adhesive and affixed the pad to the inside of her underwear, relieved that she wouldn’t have to worry about blood getting anywhere.

After washing her hands, she was about to retreat to her same spot on the floor when she saw those same shadows shuffling around on the other side of the door. Sighing, she opened the door again where a pacing Rowan was waiting for her.

“You’re hovering,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Leave me alone, Buzzard,” she said, enjoying the way the nickname sounded on her tongue.

“I called Aunt Maeve,” he said, his eyes apologetic. “She said she can be here in thirty minutes.” He watched as Aelin sighed again. “Do you want to go back out there? Or…”

He trailed off, and Aelin bit her lip and shook her head. The idea of rejoining the party seemed absolutely awful. “I’m just going to wait in here. Come get me when she’s here?”

Rowan nodded again and headed down the hall, and Aelin sank to the floor again, bringing her knees up to her chest in the only position that had made her feel comfortable so far. The floor was a little cold against the backs of her thighs, so she made a tiny seat for herself out of her scrunched up tights. She settled in and hoped the pills Rowan had brought her would kick in quickly. And that Rowan wouldn’t move on too quickly from her.

When there was a third knock at the door, Aelin didn’t even bother raising her head. She just chuckled softly and called out, “Come in.”

Rowan slipped in and closed the door behind him, settling next to her with a large bowl of chocolates she recognized from the elaborate kitchen spread Nehemia had showed them. She unwrapped one immediately and plopped it into her mouth, smiling when Rowan did the same.

“Don’t settle for a spark,” he read off the inside of the chocolate wrapper. “Light a fire instead.”

He snorted and crumpled up the foil, tossing it into the small trashcan in front of them.

“Calories only exist if you count them,” Aelin said, smiling wider.

“It does not say that,” Rowan laughed, grabbing the foil from her hands, which—did, in fact, say that.

“I’m sorry I ruined the party for you,” Aelin apologized. She felt horrible about that, but Rowan shook his head. “You could go back out there, if you wanted…”

“I only came to hang out with you anyway,” he said, causing something in Aelin’s chest to constrict tightly. Gods, she loved him so, so much.

Aelin sighed and placed her head down on her knees again, this time resting her cheek against them so she could look at Rowan beside her. He mirrored her position, his knees up and his face tilted toward hers, smiling softly. After a few minutes of silence, Rowan finally spoke up again.

“Does it really hurt?” he asked, and Aelin’s smile fell from her face as she acknowledged the all consuming pain residing in her lower stomach.

“Maybe if I stab you you’ll understand what I’m feeling like,” she said, and Rowan cringed.

“That bad?”

“Worse,” Aelin said, hugging her knees in tighter to fight off another wave of pain. “Thanks for…” she shrugged, taking another chocolate and popping it into her mouth.

Rowan shrugged back. “It’s nothing. Aunt Maeve gets cramps really bad.” His brows furrowed as he remembered some conversation with her. “She always told me I needed to be the kind of boyfriend who could buy tampons and pads and not be scared of a little blood.” His cheeks reddened as he sat up suddenly. “Not that I’m your boyfriend or that you have a boyfriend,” he sputtered, and Aelin sighed, knowing that was definitely true. “I just meant…” He sighed as his cheeks dotted with a deeper red. “You understand what I’m saying, right?” He cleared his throat, which was suddenly scratchy and dry. “Anyway, are you feeling better at all? The pain pills should be kicking in, and caffeine is supposed to help, too.”

Aelin snorted at her worrywart of a best friend. “Yes, Buzzard.”

He quirked his eyebrow at her in that way she utterly hated as he inquired about the repeated nickname. “Buzzard?”

“Yeah,” she said, poking at his bony shoulder. “Always circling around, watching me like a hawk.” She widened one eye as large as it could go, leaning her head toward him and causing him to laugh raucously. She loved that sound. She heard it so rarely. “Scavenging for supplies,” she added, nudging her knee into his.

“Buzzard,” he repeated matter-of-factly, solidifying the nickname.

“Thanks again for taking care of me, Buzzard,” she said quietly, watching a smile spread across his face. “I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here.”

“Any time,” he said, knocking his foot into hers.

“So, once a month?” she asked. “Every month? For the rest of my life?” She knew it was a lot, but if he was offering…she was definitely taking him up on it.

He snorted and handed her another chocolate. “Sure, Ace.”

She stuffed it into her mouth and smiled. Everyone was going to be talking about the fun they had at this party on Monday, but as she looked at her laughing best friend on the floor beside her, she couldn’t bring herself to care.

~*~

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#rowaelin #high school au #charincharge writes #tog fanfic #throne of glass fanfic #valentines day #past take #outtake

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mxndoscyarika · 5 years ago

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Food Cravings (Mando x Reader)

Author’s note: This was inspired by a conversation I had with @thick-dick-daddy-mando last night! Special thanks go to her for specifically the second part of this oneshot ;) Love ya, baby mango!

Summary: Two times that reader tortures Din in public, and the one time he catches her in private.

Warnings: food, sexual themes, smut

Like my writing? Here’s my masterlist.

You couldn’t help it. The bustling market combined with the blistering heat and a long day of ship repairs was plenty of reason to wander off and find yourself a snack, right? It had been a while since you had felt the weight of a warm wrap in your hands, the aroma of smoky spiced meat and crisp vegetables drifting around you. Eating dry, bland ration packs satisfied your stomach, but it did nothing for your food cravings.

So you had caved, splitting off from Mando’s side and venturing to the row of food vendors lining the street. Stands of meat rotated over orange flames that sent bright embers flying towards the sky. What originally began as a sphere of pale dough quickly transformed into a flatbread of sorts that was pillowy yet strong enough to wrap around its meat and vegetable filling.

You returned to the mandalorian with the food quick enough that he didn’t even notice you’d disappeared. When he turned around, he tilted his head to the side.

“When did you get that?” he asked, bewildered. After all, he’d only spent a couple minutes buying some cloth for the child. The last he knew, you’d been right next to him.

Smiling, you answered, “Just now. We should pick something up for you and the kid before we leave; it’s not every day that we have this nearby.”

“Well we don’t have much time” he replied, looking further down the street. “Batuu is pretty calm, but you never know who’s around. Let’s just get what we need and head back to the ship.”

“Right right, I’ll just finish this really quick then.”

As you looked down at the somewhat oversized wrap, you realized that there was no way you’d be able to eat it all quickly or easily. Unless…

Carefully, you folded the excess flatbread over, turning it into a cylindrical shape. Though you were mostly focused on trying not to spill the filling onto the ground, you could feel Din’s eyes bearing down on you.

You met his gaze as you stuffed one end into your mouth, the circumference of it filling you to the point that you needed to inhale through your nose.

The mandalorian stood still as a statue. But his helmet remained tilted down towards you. Towards your mouth. His fingers twitched at his side, then stilled. If it weren’t so loud in the marketplace, you would’ve been able to hear his deepened breaths.

Warm spices and a creamy sauce coated your tongue, some of it dribbling out the corner of your mouth as you took a bite. Gripping the remainder of the wrap in your hand, you took your index finger and swiped up the straying liquid, sucking it clean from your finger with your eyes still locked with Din’s.

“It’s good,” you said, using both hands to push more into your mouth. Voice muffled by the food, you added, “We can keep going. It might be a while before I finish.”

“R-right,” he croaked, clearing his throat. He gestured to follow him, beskar glinting deliciously in the sun. “Let’s go.”

———————————————————————

Look, you didn’t expect to end up on Weirlyn. You’d heard about it before, and the only thing you remembered was that it was ridiculously humid. For some, it would’ve been a perfect getaway from work. But for you? It was just a ridiculously hot jungle that happened to lead a ridiculously hot mandalorian to his next job.

“Are you sure you want to look find a job here?” you asked, unbuttoning your outer jacket and slipping it off. He’d landed the Crest a short distance away from a village, the top view of the ship only partially shaded. In the wet heat of the planet? The ship was very quickly becoming its own kind of oven. “There are plenty of other places.”

“This is a good place for us to relax for a bit,” he answered, flicking some switches into their off position. “Once I get the quarry, that is. The vegetation will conceal our ship, and the village seemed pretty hospitable.”

“You always work so hard,” you said, pouting. Though the ship’s air conditioning system seemed to be working overtime, the air temperature had risen enough that a thin sheen of sweat covered your skin. “So stressed. Are you not melting in the armor?”

He shook his head. “It’s fine.”

“You sure?” you asked, tilting your head. “If you get too hot in that, I wouldn’t mind if you took it all off.”

At that, a huff of air escaped the mandalorian. “I have a high heat tolerance.”

Humming softly, you stood from your seat and patted his bicep. “Alright, but you’re buying me something cold when we get to the village.”

Din quickly realized what a mistake that was. You and he had left the child in his quarters, which were away from the windows and would stay cool enough for the time being. When you’d both arrived at the village, you were greeted with carts of cold treats. Despite living in such a hot climate, those who lived there were able to find ways to make it more bearable.

You had turned down a bowl of bafta ice cream, which had come in many different flavors and had a bizarrely stretchy consistency, and opted for an orange frozen rectangle on a stick. It was sweet and sticky against your tongue, the taste resembling a fruit whose name you couldn’t quite place a finger on.

Noticing that it was starting to melt and drip onto your hand, you licked it from the base to the top. Turning it to the other side with a simple glide of your fingers, you repeated the action.

The mandalorian simply watched you, not even shifting as you met his eyes once again. Your lips wrapped around the top of the treat and sucked lightly.

This time, you heard his sharp intake of breath. Smirking a little, you tilted your head and sucked on the sides, cleaning it up. You let out a soft moan, though you were imagining a different flavor. Never did Mando’s gloves look more enticing, with their orange tips and worn leather. As you licked back up with the flat of your tongue, you wondered what he would taste like.

It was no secret to yourself nor Din that you both felt an attraction to each other, but neither of you had gone past subtle innuendos and teasing. You told yourself it was fine; that your relationship would develop at its own rate. But that didn’t mean you couldn’t give your Mando a little push.

Giving him a taste of what he was missing out on, you slipped the frozen remainder--about the two-thirds the length of your hand--into your mouth, taking the opportunity to wipe your hands off on your pants. Your lips were sticky with sweetener, cheeks slightly sucked in as you worked your tongue around the ice in your mouth. All while keeping your eyes locked on Din.

You pulled it out slowly, its surface shining and slippery. Looking up at him innocently, you asked, “Are you ok, Mando?”

He finally broke eye contact with you, glancing down as he shifted on his feet. The large tent in his pants partially obscured the ground. No, he thought. He was absolutely not ok.

———————————————————————

“Hey y/n, I brought something back for you,” a modulated voice said, disrupting your half-lucid nap. “I thought you’d like something different this time.”

Spinning idly in the copilot’s chair, you examined the dauntingly thick skewer Mando held out to you. The aroma of perfectly charred meat filled the cockpit.

“Aw, that’s so sweet,” you cooed, taking it from him. Up close, you realized that it was much bigger than you’d originally thought, the weight of it almost bending the wooden stick. You felt your cheeks warm as your mind strayed to the thought of Din giving you something else warm and thick.

Noticing your hesitation, Mando said, “I have a plate and some utensils if that’ll be easier for you.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’m used to big meat,” you reassured, winking at him. If he was blushing or not, you couldn’t tell. But he shifted and placed his hands on his hips, drawing your attention to the unarmoured area between his legs.

Keeping your eyes on him, you slowly stuck the tip into your mouth. Your eyes nearly rolled back as the combination of sweet and salty coated your tongue. Despite his typically low standards of food, he knew exactly what you liked.

Groaning softly, you tried to pull off a bite. It was stuck. Hoping you’d find better luck further down, you relaxed your jaw and went down another inch or so before trying again. You closed your eyes in bliss as more of the salty-sweet taste flooded your mouth, breathing slowly through your nose.

You opened your eyes to Din watching you intently, as he had many times before. Finally pulling it off the skewer, you let out a moan that had Mando’s brain shuttering. He wanted to hear it again, but he also wanted your mouth wrapped around something else. Something bigger.

When you finally swallowed and smiled up at him, he shook his head.

“You’re gonna be the death of me, cyar’ika,” he growled, a hint of amusement laced in his tone. The low rumble of his voice made your core tighten involuntarily, the food forgotten. You snapped out of your trance as you felt him pluck it from between your fingers and set it on the plate he’d brought with him.

“Din, what are you doing?” you asked, looking up at him from your seat. The mandalorian towered over you, the pauldrons of his armor making him look impossibly broad and strong. To some, he may have looked intimidating. But not to you.

“The better question is: what are you doing?” he responded, standing between your knees. Heat radiated off of him as you blushed and tried to play innocent.

“W-what do you mean?”

A shiver ran down your spine as he grabbed your chin and tilted your face up, the orange tips of his gloves caressing your jaw and passing lightly over your lips. Your breathing deepened as he pressed his thumb against your lower lip. It took every ounce of self-control for you to keep your lips sealed, wanting him to answer you before moving forward.

He chuckled softly, the sound nearly enough to make you moan. The dark visor bore down on you, making your cheeks warm. “You think I haven’t noticed, mesh’la? The beautiful sounds you make as you eat? The way you look at me, imagining it’s me who is filling you up?”

“Are you sure you’re not just projecting, Din?” you quipped, smirking. “If I remember correctly, you seemed to have an extra pulse rifle stowed in the front of your pants on Weirlyn. Or am I mistaken?”

He tilted his head. “Talking back now, huh?”

“What are you going to do about it, mandalorian?” you question, glancing down at the prominent bulge. Catching your bottom lip between your teeth, you wondered if he was as big as he looked.

“I’ll give you something that’ll keep your mouth busy,” he replied. His fingers left your face to unzip his pants and slip his hard cock out of its confines.

Your mouth watered as you took in the view. He was definitely bigger than you thought he’d be, but you weren’t complaining. Especially not as his glove hand started stroking slowly, causing a bead of precum to shine at his tip.

Smirking, you replaced his hand with yours and got to work.

#the mandalorian x reader #mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian #din djarin #star wars #my writing

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lesterlatte · 6 years ago

Text

Cafè Crushes (Hensper)

Here I am with something completely new and unrelated to literally all my wips but I couldn't resist the temptation to write this. As I said this was just going to be a one shot but oh man am I going to continue with this as it was too fun to write!

I'm gonna tag a few people who may be interested but dont feel obligated to read this! Also if you want to / dont want to be tagged next time just let me know! @up-the-tube @sunbeameyes @bijerbear @youngbloodthekilljoy @ciara-knightly @max-thunderman

--------

Jasper pulled the ends of his jumper over his hands in an attempt to keep himself warm as he made his way to meet his friend Charlotte at their local cafe. It had just turned October and Jaspers poor choice of clothing seemed to be biting him in the ass.

Slowly the small cafè came into view at the end of the street. Not only it's amazing drinks but also it's homely interior drew most of Swellview to visit it on a regular basis. Charlotte had been the one to find the place a few years back and ever since it had been their favourite spot to hang out other than Charlotte's house.

The Mancave, as the cafè is called, was run by a man by the name of Ray Manchester. This man, who most of the time acted more like a child for his age, was loved by everyone for his superior ability to make drinks. It was almost as if he had been making coffee and hot chocolate since birth and all of the drinks available were his own recipes or passed down from his family.

It was a fact that Ray often worked alone but sometimes you'd see one or two other employees helping to clean tables and so on but he had never trusted anyone else to work behind the counter.

Jasper pulled the door open, the sound of the small bell attached to the door gently ringing to announce his entrance to the small establishment. It only took him a moment to spot Charlotte sitting at a table at the back of the cafe and he made his way over.

"Look who finally decided to turn up" Charlotte teased as Japser put his bag down on one of the chairs at the table.

"You know I'm never on time Char do you honestly expect anything less from me?" This caused both of them to burst into laughter.

"Okay okay you're right. Go get yourself a drink I can tell you need it" Jasper chuckled lightly before turning to go back to the counter. As he set his eyes on the counter he noticed something. Someone else was behind the counter instead of Ray. Jasper instantly span back around to face Charlotte and whispered in her ear.

"Who is that behind the counter? I thought Ray didn't trust anyone else to work there?"

"Yeah I don't know who he is either but I'm gonna be honest here he's pretty damn good at his job. That's probably why Ray let him work there." Charlotte took a sip out of her Coffee and looked back to Jasper, who was now staring at the boy who was occupied serving someone a drink.

"Well go order something you idiot" he felt Charlotte push him forwards and saw her roll her eyes as he walked away. This boy must be as good as Charlotte had suggested otherwise there would be no way that he would be allowed to be doing what he is.

As he approached the counter he could finally get a good look at the boy. His face was drawn in concentration as he prepared a drink. His dirty blond hair was mostly pushed back but a few strands had fallen forward into his face which he continuously tried to huff out of the way to no avail. Jasper didn't notice that the boy had finished the last order and was looking at him, eyebrows knit with concern.

"Sir.. are you alright?" The boy asked gently, pulling Jasper out of his reverie.

"Oh, yes! Sorry I just got lost in thought for a moment" he could feel the heat of a blush forming on his face as he tried to avoid eye contact.

"Phew okay I was worried for a moment you really seemed focused on whatever you were thinking about" Jasper looked back at him, slightly in shock. Did he not notice that he was staring right at him? Luck was definitely on his side if that was the case.

"Yeah…" Jasper said quietly.

"Okay so what can I get you?" The boy finally asked.

"Oh a hot chocolate would be nice, thanks" The boy instantly moved to start on the drink. He took this time to get another look at the boy but tried to make sure he didn't stare for too long. He finally got a glimpse of the boys name tag. So his name is Henry, huh? Jasper thought. To him that name definitely suited the boy.

Henry turned back to Japser, a cup of hot chocolate cupped in his hands. The drink was placed on the counter as Jasper passed the boy the money owed for the drink. He took the drink and gave a small thank you before quickly going back over to Charlotte.

"So…" Charlotte started, curiosity lacing her voice. Jasper shot his gaze up to her.

"What?" Charlotte just chuckled at her friend.

"That boy, huh?" Jasper felt the blush creeping back onto his features.

"W-what about him?"

"He's cute, isn't he?" This made Jasper nearly choke on his drink.

"I mean.. I guess he is a bit cute…" Charlotte shook her head gently before patting her friend on the shoulder.

"You're so smitten its unreal"

"What? No I'm not where would you get that idea from?... I don't even know him"

"But your face and the fact you were staring at him says otherwise. Also you can always try to get to know him? He seems nice enough"

"No. No way am I going to start a conversation with him. I'll just start talking nonsense"

"Fine but think about it, alright?" Jasper chuckled and reluctantly agreed.

"Anyways let's finish up and go to that shop down the street you've been dying to visit" they both smiled as they went back to finishing their drinks.

-----

The next day Jasper decided to go back to the cafè to see if Henry was working again. Charlotte was busy and he knew he would just stay in bed if he didnt at least try get out the house and seeing Henry again could be considered a bonus.

The small bell chimed as he walked up to the counter. He saw Henry wiping down one of the small surfaces behind said counter as their eyes made contact. Henry offered him a bright smile as he came over to where Jasper was standing. How on earth could someone's smile be this infectious?

"Hi, you're the guy from yesterday, right?" Henry asked. Jasper froze because Henry remembered him? Oh my god?

"Um, yeah" Jasper stuttered before awkwardly laughing.

"What was your name? I don't think I caught it last time"

"Oh my names Jasper" Henry offered a small nod at his reply.

"Well, Jasper, what can I get you today?" Henry smiled gently at him, leaning on the counter as he waited for a response.

"Another hot chocolate, please" Jasper finally responded. With a bigger smile Henry turned away to prepare his order and Jasper silently cursed at himself. He was truly embarrassing himself at this point.

Within minutes, Henry turned back to him with his drink and offered it to Jasper who took it with slightly shaking hands. The two boys made eye contact which turned into what could only be interpreted as a staring contest. Henry broke the moment with an awkward cough before quickly going back to cleaning the surface. Jasper just managed to catch the light blush that had appeared on the boys cheeks and he smiled. Maybe Jasper should make an effort to talk to this boy if he ever gained the confidence to do so.

-----

Jasper continued to come back every day either tried to occupy himself until he felt his eyes wander to watch Henry work. Over the days Jasper had managed to learn a little bit about the boy but they had still been unable to hold a proper conversation.

As Jasper was finishing his drink for the day he got up and started to wonder to the door before he felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned only to be greeted with Henry who was shyly smiling at him. Quickly Henry grabbed his hand and placed a small piece of paper in it before moving back behind the counter. Jasper looked at Henry then down to the small piece of paper before opening it. Written was a sequence of numbers. He looked back up at Henry who was now busy with making a drink. He smiled before turning to leave the cafè.

As he stepped outside it finally hit him. Henry had just given him his number. Jasper freaked out for a moment before looking down at the number. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket before quickly typing the number into his phone and saving it as a contact. He opened it and started at the keyboard. He opted to send a simple message.

Jasper: Hi its Jasper from the Cafè

It was stupidly straightforward but he was sure he'd mess things up if he said anything else.

It only took a couple of minutes before he got a response.

Henry: Hi! Sorry I rushed off after giving you my number, I could feel Ray glaring at me from the back haha

Jasper chucked at that response and looked back at the cafe. He could vaguely see Henry put his phone down and continue to work, a smile visible even from that distance.

Yep. Luck was definitely on his side.

#henry danger #hensper #henry hart #jasper dunlop #fanfiction #my writing #i love these idiots #sorry for any minor errors #im doing this on mobile and at 1am so #not a good conbo lol

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neshabeingchildish · 6 years ago

Link

This is the longest chapter of the fic, I think! We have some Jasper history and his dad and such. Idk if I’ll leave the reasons at that, or if y’all would have wanted the entire story of what happened between Jasper’s parents. At any rate - let me know what you think! It’s a long chapter, so no rush. But, I’d love to know how and if I pulled this off...

The Perfect Ring

Jasper had a committee meeting for his activism group Athlivists right after his last class of the day, so he knew that he wouldn’t see Charlotte again until he got off from work in the middle of the night and by then, she’d be asleep. Which was sometimes nice, because he’d just get to wash up and cuddle up to her and fall right to sleep in her hair. She had satin covers so she wouldn’t need bonnets, so he got to be draped in the softness of that and draped around the softness of her. It was amazing. He slept like he was in an angel’s bosom every night that he was with her, which was now every night, now that her apartment was so close by and of course he had a key.

Both of their schedules were filling up fast and he wanted to see more of her, but he also considered it a sacrifice right now for them to be able to have better chances later. People called his name whenever he was moving around on campus and he’d usually be sure to acknowledge them, even when he didn’t know who they were. Sometimes, people just came up to him and started talking, either about their interest in alternative sports or their interest in activism, or his vlog, the radio show… “I’m so sorry, I have an Athlivists meeting, but my email is on my website, where I post the videos…” He had to eventually tell this woman who he couldn’t figure out what she wanted him to know, at the moment.

Jasper began Athlivists with some of his brothers who were stars on their sports teams. They started out just him getting his friends to do him a solid… Charlotte was the project manager for one of her business courses, which she turned into a project for an environmental sciences purpose, but underestimated how much her peers cared about the environment. She was organizing meetings to move forward with her initiative to create community gardens in or near food deserts. Jasper didn’t know what a food desert was, but she seemed very passionate about stopping them and she was very stressed out that not too many people were even interested. Her big event was coming up and she didn’t even get a quarter of the people to sign her petition that she needed to help with the proposal. Jasper wasn’t sure why she hadn’t just asked him, if all she needed was people. When she called him to vent and cry a little before she had to put on her game face and push through the turnout, he got his sports friends to get their sports friends. Whenever she was about to move forward with what she feared was going to have to be a failing grade and also a let down to Mother Earth, he came to the signup event before with four times the people to show interest than she had initially been seeking. They were listening to the proposal, too, and some of them knew some of the business people invited, through their parents or whatever and in addition to it being a huge success for her, a lot of them were networking too. And more importantly a lot of them got information about the environment that they hadn’t really been paying a huge amount of attention to. Like, they knew a lot of this stuff and heard about a lot - who doesn’t know about climate change? - But, they also didn’t know the degree of trouble that their world was in, or ways that they might help. They now wanted to know more and do more.

Jasper decided maybe they should start a group to focus on that type of thing, and other issues that they might come across, along the way. He was already in the Athletes Union and President of the Alternative Sports Sector. He’d already gotten funding for alternative sports whenever there is a big following and a fully functional team on campus. He had shown up to various rallies and protests about campus policy, laws, and social justice over the past year or so. So, starting a group of his own was in his ballpark, and he thought it was good to show the rest of them that the academics weren’t the only ones who cared about relevant things.

They mostly focused on the environment, animal rights and sexual education. Jasper had other causes outside of the group that he was involved with for other stuff. But, Athlivists’ claim to fame on campus (in the entire institution, actually, as it spread through the college and its affiliates) was what they called “Jock Block.” Jasper will tell you in a heartbeat that although he was doing most of the leg work and liaison dealing, Charlotte inspired the idea. What is Jock Block, you ask? Resources and assistance for athletes via STD testing and treatment, birth control, protection, prevention and education.

Jasper was a championship wrestler, and headed up just about every alternative sport, as well as backed up some of the track and field events and having just one girlfriend had been paying for condoms that kept getting stolen by his frat brothers, up until he just asked Charlotte if she was interested in getting on birth control and offered to pay for it. He didn’t want to use them anymore anyway. He enjoyed the feel better without them and loved the finish.

For a while, Jasper PREPAID for her birth control, just because he was that serious about making sure that he took care of her while getting what he wanted and she honestly felt like the school should provide that kind of thing. He just began to talk about it at first and found that a lot of the athletes felt like it would be super helpful if the school DID try to at least help a little.

What happens if you can’t get the protection right away and decide to just go for it, then BOOM - you’ve spread crabs in the locker room… (Which happened before, but fortunately, Jasper had not been affected) BUT, of those who were affected, they didn’t feel like they should have had to pay for treatment. They were exposed and didn’t realize this was an issue. Some of them had never even thought about crabs before that happened. They thought that you had to have unprotected sex with someone infected to get them. Jasper figured that was a huge and terrifying problem, and began discussing what might be done to avoid things like that in the future and help some of their hardworking students to have access to more resources. Sometimes, they were going to be irresponsible, as was a part of life. So, they could put their bodies on the line and their physical wellbeing and sometimes mental, because sports and academics and other things altogether was stressful and sexual health was a beneficial release. An oopsie here and there shouldn’t put them on the line like it sometimes did.

Jock Block was born to help with sexual education and health, but most of the athletes and beneficiaries thought of it as the “birth control plan.” It's how they got their free condoms, their testing, treatment, and in cases like Jasper and Charlotte’s reimbursed for birth control when the relationship was ongoing and the students were in good academic standing and athletic standing. Basically, Char was able to get free birth control because her boyfriend was a jock with good grades. (She got it free anyway, because he’d always paid for condoms, the morning after pill, and her birth control), but now he didn’t have to anymore. There were other programs for assistance on campus, but those didn’t have much to do with them. Jock Block also was helpful a time or two with remedial assistance, which was their fancy words for supplying Plan B. The athletes were encouraged to behave responsibly, but in certain situations, Jock Block would still bail them out, as long as it wasn’t an ongoing practice. Jasper was a hero for helping it get established, among all of his familiars. The quarterback, who was extremely paranoid that women were trying to “trap” him, called Jasper “a god.” Charlotte pulled Jasper away, and shook her head, “Please, don’t ever say that.” Jasper’s head was big enough.

“I’m adding “god” to my list of accomplishments,” he said.

Charlotte’s circles gave her some crap about it sometimes. “You think it’s good for the school to pay for the jocks to stick their penises wherever they want to?” That was a gross misrepresentation of what the program did and instead of explaining it from start to finish to every critic, she began handing out literature about it when someone had something slick to say. She was Jasper’s #1 supporter and protector. Nobody was about to come to her with some mess just because they couldn’t get close enough to him to bitch and moan.

Whenever they came back from visiting his dad, something shifted in him. She didn’t know what, but he suddenly seemed more serious than before. She loved that. A serious Jasper was hot and that was the person that initially drew her in deeper than friendship, but also, it seemed like a switch had been flipped and she was uncertain what to make of it. She really worried whenever she came into the frat house and he was sitting at his desk in his room, staring at his computer while Lady and Tramp were barking at him. Jasper never ignored them, so she figured that he was in a daze. She took the dogs out to go potty, then came back and he was still there. “Heyyy, Jasper…”

He blinked and turned to look at her with a tired smile, “I didn’t hear you come in,” he said.

“I took the dogs for a walk,” she closed the door and released them. “You okay?” she wondered, heading to wash her hands.

“Just thinking,” he said and got up to greet her.

“About?” He leaned near the sink and was quiet again. “You don’t have to tell me,” she said.

“No, I...I am.” He looked up at her in the mirror, then got closer and wrapped his arms around her, smiling. “I love seeing us in a mirror.”

“Oh yeah?” She asked, looking up at the two of them and she thought that did look good together.

“I get to look at you all the time, and I certainly do every chance that I get, but in the mirror, I get to see myself with you. I get to see this person who I used to think was pretty damned broken, but he’s complete, and he’s complete because he’s got this goddess in his life that makes him better, smarter, stronger… I don’t know that I ever would have been this kind of me without your support.”

“You definitely would have, because I don’t support half of your shenanigans,” she joked.

He kissed her neck, sighed, and shrugged his shoulders, “I got an offer for an internship at a brokerage firm.” He folded his arms and said, “That is within my scope and could possibly be a pretty good job if I get put on afterwards, There’s not a lot of undergrads being considered for it, so to turn it down might be taken the wrong way, but to accept it might affect some of the stuff that I’m doing right now. I like right now, but I’ve got a woman and two dogs and I’m a grown man…” He went back to his seat and asked, “How was your day?” then started typing his reply.

Her eyes were wide. She dried her hands and came up behind him to wrap him in a hug and kiss him on his hair. She read as she did. He was replying. He was accepting. “My day was good, but… Are you sure that you want to do this, Jasper? You function and flourish when you’re happy and something tells me that this might not make you happy. You’ll be unhappy and unpaid.”

“I did that apprenticeship for a year with no pay. The internship will be similar to that, except boring, but whenever you become an adult, things get boring, don’t they?”

She didn’t know if that was true or not. She’d always been seen as kinda boring. The sciences that she was currently working on in the lab was her “fun,” and a lot of her peers told her that was sad. “I don’t think so,” she answered and stroked his hair. “Just… Make sure that you want it. It’ll be hard to get yourself out of a career path once you start heading down one.”

But, Jasper sent the message, anyway and turned in his chair with a smile. She knew that smile. It was one that he put on when he was done focusing on the negatives of something. He’d made his decision and that was that for him. “Who knows? Maybe I’m multi talented and can make a bunch of stuff work at once, like you Miss STEAM Extraordinaire!” She blushed and tried to walk away but he pulled her closer and said, “Uh uh… I haven’t gotten kisses yet and I get to kiss an… what was it Academic Superstar?”

“That story was lip service, and you know it!” She said.

“Blasphemy! I grew up with Charlotte Page and the story ran on her in a NATIONAL publication about her intelligence and accomplishments was 100% truth!” She smiled and gave him the kisses he was trying to earn.

But, she got up quickly too. “It puts a lot of stress on me, though. Now, I have to see a National STEAM Today’s Scientists to Follow tacked on to my name everywhere, and I keep getting calls for interviews that I can’t turn down because not only could it affect what people think of me, but it could affect what they think of every Black woman fortunate enough to be involved and recognized.” He looked confused and she explained, “Since Black people, Black women especially, are so stereotyped and misrepresented, under-represented, unappreciated, etc, whenever one of us does get the attention that we deserve, we sort of have to take on this role of model minority and be the change that our people want to see in the world. We have the task of breaking stereotypes and showing the world that WE can do this too, see this example, but we also have to still go into work spaces and battle the stereotypes from the others, who often don’t think we deserve the recognition that we got or want us to perform and prove ourselves in ways that less marginalized people would never be expected to.”

He frowned and clenched his fist, “Is somebody giving you shit at work?”

She laughed and rubbed his fists, making him release them, “Uh, no more than usual and if I want to try to keep it that way, I’ve gotta play my politics. I have to show that I can do everything that was said of me and more, and still look cute while I do it, because if I have even one hair out of place, at least a thousand people will focus in on it and ask, “Is THIS the chick that thinks we’re gonna get drug therapy from her when she can’t even manage to get her hair treatment right?” He was seething now and she laughed it off, “Jasper. I’m used to it. It’s just annoying.”

“It sounds infuriating and I don’t understand why you have to take it!”

“I have to take it because I don’t have the power or position to change the world. I just have to do my best with my fraction of society.” She sighed. It was exhausting, but she knew since she was little that she’d have to do twice the work to get half the credit and work twice as long to get a quarter of a break. That was why casual racism triggered her far more than blatant hatred did. Because it was so subtle and ominous that people could get away with it, even while it was hurting her little by little. The brash, bold types, anybody with reason, would disagree with and take her side. She needed backup whenever it was lowkey microaggressions that affected her on a daily basis and kept the strong institution of racism flowing smoothly. “I appreciate that you’re upset by it, though.” Upset by it? Jasper wanted to punch someone in the face for it.

Since the whole thing with Casper, he’d become hypersensitive to casual racism. It was to the point where people kept telling him that it was hard to be around him because he always “found something racist.” He would in turn let them know that it was hard for him to be around stuff that he found racist and that’s why they were having a conversation in the first place.

Mid junior year, he was under review for a fight that he “escalated” whenever he heard one of the frat brothers describe him as a (N word in disguise) to tell someone not to say anything that seems even remotely racist around him. He didn’t care that somebody was saying that about him. He liked that people wanted to watch their mouths around him and wished that they kept that energy around anybody, because if it was just around him, then that meant that’s who they were inside, but they just didn’t want any smoke from him. It was the fact that the person used the N word, which is NEVER acceptable. Charlotte told him that. NEVER and he was now adamant about that.

So, whenever he confronted them about the matter and not saying that word in any capacity, even if it was in a song, an argument broke out and Charlotte’s existence was invoked, but referred to in a way that Jasper didn’t appreciate. “Just because you stick your ---- in the Help-” Jasper expressed that with his fist. He was under investigation because he “hit him first,” but whenever he told his version of the story, he couldn’t even bring himself to repeat what was said. Instead, he wrote it down and just showed the camera during his storytime. He got a lot of support and love and fans wrote the school about it and emailed them and flooded their social media with their support for him and their call for action to be taken with that “racist bitch in the frat.” The guy wound up transferring and no action was taken against Jasper, but the dean had a talk with him about how he couldn’t just punch people because he disagreed with them and that next time there might be consequences. There wasn’t. He’d punched another guy for groping her a few weeks later.

Even if he had gotten consequences, he didn’t care. He knew so many guys who were just as defensive of their women and just as active and aggressive to protect him. None of them got the same pushback that he did whenever he was defending Charlotte. Sometimes, even the Black dudes that were around didn’t seem to have his back when he’d be speaking up for her in some example or another.

He’d gotten a little bit of opposition for making some statements on the radio show that he wished that people were as supportive of Black women whenever things happened as they were to the Black men. A lot of people didn’t like that. Charlotte explained to him that while she agreed, it wasn’t his place to say that in a space created by and for Black people. “Say that kind of stuff to YOUR people,” she’d told him. “They really need to hear things from people like them.” But, it grew his Black women demographic. A few Black owned companies sent him free shirts with messages like “Support Black Women” and “Love Black Women,” and he wore TF out of them. He wasn’t even really a huge advocate. He didn’t do a bunch of rallies for them and stuff, even with all of the rallies that he did. But, they saw that he had a Black girlfriend and heard that he was vocal about appreciating Black women and they were on board. She even finally appeared in one of his videos. He was showing people how he helped her with her hair care. Not really a tutorial, but just a demonstration, with him talking about how relaxing it was for him to know that she trusted him in her hair, and to be so intimate with someone that you know how to take care of them the way that they would take care of them.

Charlotte had to admit that version of him was the hottest yet. It was refreshing to change from being surrounded by people and hear what would have once been a dog whistle for her and having to evaluate whether she would call them out and look like an irrational Black bitch or suffer in silence, to having a bulky, hot, popular dude ask them, “I’m sorry, what did you say?” with an expression on his face that let a bitch know that they better think of a way to paraphrase real quick if this was gonna be a smooth conversation. She always had to try to fight the urge to smirk at the person. Sometimes, she just went ahead and did it.

She also explained to Jasper that this too was part of his privilege, because Black men could be just as defensive of their Black woman and be met with aggression and fear that could get police involved, which could turn out horribly. “The fact that you get to straighten these people out and they apologize is something that my dad didn’t often get whenever he had to do the same thing,” she’d told him. He’d never sleep on that power again.

When they were out in public, he'd always wrapped his arm around her and kept her close to his side because she was small and he was protective. However, knowing how hostile the world could be towards her for no good reason, he not only kept her close whenever possible, but if they got separated or split to mingle, he tried to keep an eye on her and/or send her check in texts. "You good, Babe?" He'd ask, then watch her smile to herself and look around for him to make eye contact that she was. It was… something to get used to for her, but she supposed that was much better than being ignored. She sometimes gave him space because she knew that he was likely doing all of this for her benefit, because of how she felt before, so she saw that effort and attempted to reward it with some breathing room. Honestly, he was probably more relaxed whenever she didn’t make it to parties and gatherings, which was fine for her.

She much preferred to be laying in bed, in a fuzzy blanket with the doggies warming her feet or in her lap while she attempted to watch joint replacement videos and tell them how she would have done it differently, like they knew what she was talking about. She’d rather light some frankincense candles, put a sheet mask on, pour a glass of wine and read a stack of books, for fun for a change, not for class or work. In fact,” she checked the time on her phone. It was right around Midnight and she was on a “Cinderella Schedule” this semester. She left places at Midnight, regardless of where she was or what was going on. She wasn’t staying past Midnight, because she usually had 12-14 hour school/work days and that 4-6 hours of sleep that she got nightly was imperative for her brain to continue functioning.

On her way to the door, texting Jasper the golden carriage icon that she had saved to her phone for when it was time for her to dip out and they weren’t next to each other, she accidentally bumped into someone. “Excuse me,” she said politely and looked up to see Casper. She hadn’t seen that woman in months. She forced a smile and moved around, but Casper followed her.

“Hey, can I please talk to you for a moment?”

“I gotta go home, Girl. It’s past my curfew,” Charlotte said, continuing to walk.

“Well, I’ll walk with you to your vehicle. It’s not safe out here by yourself, anyway,” she said.

Charlotte’s nostrils flared, and she texted Jasper about it, but she shrugged her shoulders, “I can’t tell you where to walk.”

“I just wanted to apologize to you for everything. I genuinely apologize. Like, I honestly didn’t realize that I was as much of a trash person as I was. People told me that these are the years that we do all this figuring ourselves out stuff and I guess I thought I was someone else. I’m realizing my own flaws and I hate how things were left off between us. Jasper was my best friend, and I always loved you! We talked about you all the time and I never would have wanted to hurt you or him or make either of you mad. I just wanted you to know that. From my heart.”

She seemed genuine. Charlotte had to admit that she didn’t radiate the same vibes as before. There was no reason to be mad at her or hate her when she didn’t really affect Charlotte’s life. But, there was no reason to make room for her either. “Casper, I…”

“Dohn,” Casper corrected.

“Dawn…”

“No, not Dawn, Dohn. Like John, but with a “D.” D.O.H.N.”

Charlotte stared at her for a moment with furrowed eyebrows that seemed to say Girl, I don’t care, but she didn’t bring the phrase to her lips. “Dohn.” She corrected herself. “I’m not worried about what happened between us, nor do I care. It’s fine. You don’t have to apologize or anything else. It’s forgotten. Don’t worry about it. Goodnight.”

“Is it okay if I call you?” Casper… Dohn asked.

“For what purpose?” Charlotte wondered.

“You just always seemed like a really cool person, but you often seemed lonely. I didn’t know if you could use a friend, but I sure could..”

“I don’t know about that…”

“Okay. I’m sorry. Well, thank you for hearing me out. Have a beautiful night.” Dohn hugged her, which was on brand for her. She used to hug Charlotte all the time, and every time, it caught her off guard, even though she knew the girl was a hugger. She had a firm hug that seemed like she read about a hug in a book, but never mastered it and it always hit Charlotte’s little body like an attack. But, this one was softer. She was gentler. She touched Charlotte’s hair and smiled down at her, and Charlotte shrank back, confused and a little bit bothered.

“You too,” she said and Jasper suddenly appeared out of nowhere and got up into Dohn’s face asking, “Why are you all up on her?”

Charlotte and Dohn both looked shocked and tried to explain to him that they were just talking and it was fine. Charlotte hated that look in Jasper. It was his “pre-violence” look. “Heyyy, everything’s cool, My Dude. Why are you getting all up in her face like this?” She hated that he was making her intercede for Casper. “Something that I need to know?”

“Unfortunately, Jasper isn’t as forgiving as you. He thinks the worst of me. Good night to you both,” she said and left.

“F Sized, you okay?” He nodded his head. She raised her eyebrows. He drew her into his side and started walking towards her apartment. “I really want you to explain to me what just happened there. I know she’s taller than you and tough or whatever, but you were really on her like she was some dude at a bar starting crap. What was that about?”

“You said that she was following you.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t expect THAT to be your reaction.”

“She’s a foot taller and 100 more pounds of muscle than you. She shouldn’t be following you.”

“So, that was it? Just the text that I sent. ‘Ya girl Casper is out here following me tryin’ to talk’ made you want to get in her face like that?” He sighed. “I know you’re holding back something from me and if I’m at risk of being hurt, I should know. I just told that woman that I basically forgive her and let her hug me!”

“She had a thing for you!” He said and shook his head. “Whenever we first met, she was all friendly to us and inviting us to the kite disc events and stuff, she was trying to get closer to you, not me. That’s something that she eventually admitted when we became friends, but I thought that because she was seeing someone at the time that she admitted that, it was no big deal and she was over it or whatever.” Charlotte’s eyes were just hella confused, tbh. “But, I did start to notice that she was kinda too friendly with you, and realized that she had always been. She was always hugging you and rubbing your back and stuff like that and whenever I asked her about it, she said that was just how she was. Which… I didn’t recall her being that way before, but then she was all over me like that, so I thought that maybe I just hadn’t noticed it before. This is all stuff that I thought about after the fact, by the way. I’m kinda… slow at times, you know?”

“I don’t think that you’re slow. I think that you’re just such a nice and well-meaning person that you aren’t suspicious about things, or you’re naive about people’s motives because you don’t have a manipulative bone in your body. Because, she totally did start being way more affectionate towards you after a while and I presumed it was because she had developed a crush on you from hanging out so much.”

“Yeah, well, whenever we fell out, someone “leaked” this video of her and her friend… I swear, if I didn’t know every inch of you, it’d be frightening.”

“Her girlfriend looked like me?”

“That’s the thing. This wasn’t her girlfriend. It was someone she was seeing and after this video leaked, and people were asking her about this person, she told them that she didn’t want to out her, because she was involved with someone and she didn’t want to damage her reputation.”

“So, it looks like her girlfriend IS me???”

“A lot of our mutuals certainly thought so!”

“When was this???”

“Months ago. I just kept assuring people that it wasn’t you, but with her being vague and with everyone knowing that she and I weren’t friends anymore, I mean, come on.”

“Ugh. What did she say to you about that?”

“She said that she didn’t want people to think it was you either but she didn’t want to grant them the power of process of elimination when there are so few people to fit that description in the area.”

Charlotte winced, “That’s… considerate of her friend…”

“Uhhh, at best her friend is involved with someone who she has an open relationship with but they don’t want people to know that she’s been with girls. At worst, she’s cheating on whoever she’s involved with and Dohn’s willing to sacrifice your reputation to protect hers. But, I don’t think it was an accident at all. I think she leaked it herself to make people think that about you because whenever I thought back to our relationship, she was always way more interested in you than she should be and I have a very bad habit of talking about you passionately for hours, if someone will let me!”

“Well, this is all surprising, troubling, mildly flattering, because I didn’t even know that there were girls who like me. But, I do feel a way that you think she’s capable of what you just accused her of.”

“What are you on? More girls like you than dudes, from what I hear.”

“What?”

“Multiple times, I’ve heard that people think I’m your beard.”

“Awwww,” she said, touched.

“But, that could also be because of her!” He fussed.

“Don’t ruin my lesbian sex symbol status headcanon. Big Dog.”

“I’m gonna ruin you,” he joked. “Why are you so into this?”

She shrugged her shoulders, “I feel WAY more comfortable with the thought of women wanting me than I do with the thought of them wanting YOU. Because, THAT’S when Crazy Charlotte shows up!”

And it was, and Jasper loved it. He did his best to try not to make her jealous, but sometimes, like she said, he really wasn’t suspicious enough to peep flirting. Charlotte would come over and observe the woman very closely, right in her face and her space until she was acknowledged, then apologize and introduce herself as Jasper’s girlfriend. Jasper would always bite his lip and look her over, when she finally had run off whatever flirting girl was in his space and she made eye contact at her, he’d wink or blow her a kiss and she’d realize that she probably had just showed out.

Henry liked the photo of Jasper’s The Fool tattoo on his right shoulder blade. It had been being worked on whenever Adanna did his reading for him because it had been drawn in the future position. She explained something like, it meant, like new beginnings and was good in the future position because it could mean that like, something good was gonna happen with a new life thing or something? Henry was bad at remembering, because she’d said so much, but it was apparently enough for Jasper to get that permanently put on his body. Henry couldn’t help but wonder if he was gonna regret these decisions one day. Like… Everybody doesn’t know the meaning of The Fool or whatever. She explained it and Henry was still confused. Now, this dude had a The Fool on his damn body… “THIS JUST HAPPENED!!!” He saw the caption of a video with his handle tagged to it and went to watch it.

Charlotte was near Jasper while his friend was finishing up his The Fool Tarot Card tattoo, and talking about possible tattoos that she might consider, tiny ones of course and Jasper asked her what she thought of his new one, so she went to look at it (she doesn’t seem to notice the camera) and she said, “Yeah, Babe. It looks awesome. It’s beautiful. That’s a good way to celebrate your good future stuff or whatever,” she told him. Now, she had thought that maybe Adanna’s reading was in reference to his internship, because she’d mention that it could be a new move or new job etc, but then (in the tattoo shop, Jasper told her).

“I thought a lot about how to do this or say this, or whatever.” Charlotte looked confused as he got out of the seat, still shirtless. “I know that you don’t like huge surprises and stuff, so I didn’t want to do that, but I wanted to do something significant, too.”

“For what?” she asked, laughing nervously.

“The Fool in romance can mean that your existing relationship can take a turn for the better. So, I wanted to ask you, since I have the confidence that my future and my fortune is with you…” He got on his goddamned knee and grabbed a ring box from underneath the tattoo seat he’d just gotten his tat finished in… She screamed and dropped the tattoo book that she’d been holding to rush to him and hug and kiss him.

Henry was in tears! He wanted to be a part of this! But… Jasper also had been trying to see when he could make it into town and he’d said, “If all else fails, just tag me first when you announce the news.” And, Jasper did. Henry was tagged, then his mom, then Charlotte’s parents, Uncle Roscoe, Adanna, his dad, Aunt Cohort, Piper, Ray, Schwoz, the fraternity page, his sports teams…

Jasper told her, “I was actually gonna hide the ring in the tattoo book and be like, “What do you think of this one,” but that seemed awkward and like I’d have to explain too much…”

She looked at the ring and shook her head, “It’s SO pretty! I love it! It’s perfect!!”

Whenever Jasper’s dad popped the question to his mom, she was just about visibly pregnant, embarrassed about it and desperate to do this the right way. Jack Leigh was desperate to “fix his mistakes” and “make an honest woman out of her.” Oh, and also drunk. So drunk, that he didn’t know if he was coming or going. He needed the liquid courage to go back to her after she’d told him that if she had to do this on her own, she would. She didn’t have to do it on her own! At least, he didn’t want her to. He couldn’t figure out where he’d get a ring at this time of night, but came across one of those Bilsky brothers. The whole family was a bag of rotten apples. One of them had to know a guy… Hell, one of them WAS the guy. “A ring? Yeah, I got rings. What’s your budget?” Jack Leigh emptied his pockets and had maybe a few hundred bucks, and a punch card. He shook his head and called, “Jeff! Get Daddy that box of rings! The cheap ones!” A teenage boy rushed to… of all places… the BBQ pit and lifted the lid and grabbed a box. Daddy Bilsky gave it to his old buddy and said, “I’ll letcha grab two of ‘em. I hear you gotta get two. My old lady and I got hitched on the run, so we never even got one of them, but I’ve collected her plenty over the years. She don’t notice when the cheap ones go missing.” Jack Leigh didn’t even shift through the box. He grabbed a couple, waved to them and went on his way.

Jeff came back to his father and asked, “Dad, how mad would you be if I think I gave you the good stuff?” Jack Leigh heard Daddy Bilsky fussing at his kid, but he was too out of it to hear what he was saying.

Whenever Pansy left, Jack Leigh got one of those rings back. She threw the wedding ring right at his head and slammed the door as hard as she could with a baby on her waist. He was too drunk to care about whatever she’d said, too. He was often that way, but he did come across that ring again when he was clearing out of that little place. He tossed it in his pocket, in case he ever wanted to pawn it. Might be cheap, but he could probably get a few beers for it. It stayed in his wallet most of the time, though. He couldn’t see Jasper back then… legal stuff that he totally understood at the time, but whenever he would look at the ring and think about hocking it, he’d think about his baby boy, out there… The one that he’d even bought the stupid thing for. He couldn't seem to part with it. Not because he missed his wife, but because he took a wife because he was going to be a father, and nobody but him messed that up. It was a reminder that he needed to get clean and needed to straighten up. Maybe some day, he could see Jasper again. Maybe someday, he'd give him this stupid ring. He got it appraised, just to see if it was worth anything. Because he was curious if the sentimental value of it would even mean anything to the kid… this was maybe 3 years later. The damn thing was worth more than his crummy life. He could literally sell it and probably wind up getting himself out of his debt! But… looking at the thing, listening to the guy talk to him, very suspicious that this shady character probably stole this from some place, and was likely gonna put out an alert about it… Jack Leigh thanked him for his time and put it back into his wallet. He hadn’t gotten completely clean, but that was sobering. He knew he had to keep it together, carrying something worth that much with him, especially considering that it was worth even more in sentimental value.

He met Jasper when he was four. Adorable chubby kid with dimples and curly hair. He was excited to meet him and told him everything that he could possibly tell him. Jack Leigh came to a realization whenever Pansy told him that he could come to see him… He’d messed up. He should have had a room FULL of gifts and cards and money that he never got a chance to deliver over the past four years. He should have had candy and cookies and really… fanfare. All he had was that ring and he certainly couldn’t hand him that at age 4. He stopped at one of those weird gas station gift shops and said, “Anything for like a 4 year old kid… I don’t even know what he likes!”

“We got grab buckets,” she said and pointed towards a display. It was like a grab bag, but in a bucket. All kinds of little toys and stuff that would most likely break and stuff if it wasn’t a choke hazard. Hopefully, Pansy wouldn’t kill him. He went over there with a bucket of junk and threw in a hundred dollar bill that he got back after this purchase. Pansy was judging him from the moment that he handed that garbage to her son. But, the kid was excited, “WOW! A BUCKET!”

“Uhhh… there’s stuff in it. Toys and stuff,” Jack Leigh said. Jasper got onto his tiptoes, but Jack kneeled in front of him, seeing his features for the first time since he was an infant. Seeing how much like his own childhood photos he looked. Pansy must’ve seen it too. There was something about the way that she looked at the kid. Jack Leigh didn’t like it, but who was he to judge? He hadn’t even been around.

“Jasper, I don’t think that any of that stuff is safe to play with!” She said and snatched the bucket from his little hands. He jumped, frightened and Jack Leigh noticed and reached for his hand, to try to give him some comfort. He was about to cry. She was taking away the only thing his daddy had given him…

“Well, can’t he at least have the bucket?” Jack Leigh asked.

She looked at him like he was an idiot. “He’s four. Why would he want this ugly big bucket?”

“I do want the bucket, Mom! I love it. It’s a nice bucket, Daddy.” She looked bothered. She dumped the toys in the garbage and handed him the bucket back, then went to sit down, and glare at them. Jasper didn’t really look in her direction during the visit, but Jack Leigh wondered if he couldn’t feel the same… whatever it was that she had radiating for him that he felt from her. He was allowed a few more visits, until he showed up with Adanna one day. Pansy stepped outside and interrogated her, then said that Jasper wouldn’t be coming for any more of these “disappointing little visits,” and sprinkled on at the end, “And I WILL be contacting you about child support!” That was that.

Adanna convinced him to fight for custody, at least shared. He had gotten his life together and he shouldn’t have to be punished forever. There were disputes, but after a while, he ran out of money for that fight and her husband didn’t. So, not only could he still not see Jasper, and had legal fees, but… child support. He couldn’t do it. He’d already gotten so low, that he went back to some of his old ways. He was lucky to have Adanna around. Eventually thought about giving her the ring, but explained to her why he didn’t think that he could. “Can I at least see it?” she wondered.

He pulled it out and she was already uneasy. He handed it to her and she cried, “I’m glad that you don’t want to give this to me, because it’s full of negative energy. Guilt, despair, regret, heartache… This isn’t something that you give to someone that you care about.”

“Should I get rid of it? Sell it? I’m probably never going to see my son again…”

“Even if you see him, he can’t have this, Jack Leigh. It’s got a signature on it.”

“Is there a way to fix it?”

She cleansed the ring and once she was done, she smiled at it and said, “This ring has new hope. It wants to find someone to love, but it feels like it belongs to someone.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know, but I sense that this ring wouldn’t be at home with me.” She reached out to give it to him, but he shook his head.

“If you hand it to me, it’ll just absorb my negative energy again. You hold on to it for me. If I don’t give it to Jasper, I guess it’ll find its way to whoever. I want it to find them in peace.”

Jasper, Charlotte, and Henry were sitting on the floor, talking about their readings. Henry was shaken up by his, but Jasper kept staring at the Fool. Adanna said, “Jasper, can I show you something?” He got up and followed her through some crystal beaded curtains to a cute little room, where she climbed up a step ladder and got a ring box off of her bookshelf. “Jack Leigh told you about this, right? When you two talked?” She stepped down and opened the box to show him a ring and his heart leaped in his chest.

“Is this my mom’s wedding ring that she threw at his head? I’ve heard about it from her! She’d say, if I’d been more smart than mad, I’d have pawned that for the child support! Can I touch it?” She handed it to him and told him the story, because obviously, Jack Leigh had been more focused on the drinking, the fighting and the accident. Jasper gasped and said, “You think that this ring belongs with me?”

“I think that it belongs with her,” she said and glanced at Charlotte through the beads. Charlotte was laughing a melodious laugh at a story that Uncle Roscoe was telling on speaker phone, while catching up with Jack Leigh. “I think that she’ll love it, when you’re ready.” She cupped his chin and lovingly said, “Fool.”

“I had a feeling that you would love it. It was my dad’s…”

She held her heart and shook her head, “I love it even more!”

They kissed, a lot, and he held her close and began to tell his friends that they were going to head out to go celebrate, but Charlotte said, “I need to get a tattoo!” He stared at her. “You got one on the date that we get engaged, so I want one too!”

“What do you want. You’ve literally been thinking about this for years and can never decide a place or a tattoo!” He teased.

She pointed right behind her ear and said, “Here.” He knew that spot well. He was always kissing her there. He loved it and she loved it. But, he was thinking about how she was about to make him have to get into the habit of not kissing her there until it healed.

He took her to his chair and nodded, “Okay, and what do you want there Chef’s Kiss?” he wondered.

“The word “Yes.” She looked into the mirror at him and the smile on his face, she hoped he smiled at her like that for the rest of their lives..

#A Chasper Fic #chasper #henry danger #hd fanfic #Nesha HD Fics

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mdelpin · 6 years ago

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The Red Dragon - Chapter 12

Gratsu Bingo 2019 Prompt: Trust AO3 | FF.Net | Tumblr: Chapter 1 | Next: Chapter 13

Gratsubingo 2019 Prompt: Trust

Chapter 12 There was smoke everywhere, making it hard to see or make out any smell outside of sulfur. Natsu noticed a wall of fire to the left which could only belong to Atlas.

He was roaring, trying desperately to get at something just outside of Natsu’s view. There were bursts of spells in the air. Different kinds of magic clashing against each other in a cacophony of sound and light that drowned out every other noise.

Natsu's attention was soon drawn to the ground, where blood was splattered everywhere, making it seem like the earth itself was bleeding out.

He felt a massive surge of magical power and swiftly searched for its source. It seemed to be coming from a man who stood alone on the field, eyes glued to the battle in the sky. Natsu observed him closely, sensing his importance.

The man had long blue hair, his arms riddled with markings of the same color. Natsu could feel the aura of malevolence that surrounded him as he began to laugh in a way that made Natsu's skin crawl.

It was at that moment Natsu saw his father. Igneel looked tired and bruised, there were scars on his body where previously there had been none. He challenged the man on the field with a thunderous roar, but it sounded less confident than Natsu remembered, it lacked Igneel’s usual spirit.

Everything slowed down, and Natsu could only watch with a growing sense of dread as the man transformed into a dragon. A black dragon, covered in the blue markings of the man's skin.

But how could that be? There was someone else like him? Natsu had always been told he was the only one. The black dragon zoomed towards his father, and Natsu could do nothing but observe helplessly.

"IGNEEL! IGNEEL, NO! " Natsu could hear the desperate plea in Atlas' roar, and he forced himself to check on his uncle.

The wall of hellfire had disappeared to reveal the rest of his family. Metalicana, Grandine, Weisslogia, and Skiadrum looked exhausted and barely able to keep themselves in the air. Atlas left them behind as he flew towards his brother, his hellfire blazing around him, Natsu had never seen him act so recklessly, and it only fueled his despair ...

Gray startled awake, his magic already flaring as it fought against the oppressive heat Natsu was exuding. He was thrashing about on the bed, moaning unintelligibly.

"IGNEEL, NO!" Natsu suddenly shrieked in his sleep, tears streaming down his face, "Atlas, please hurry!"

"Natsu?" Gray tried shaking the fire mage, hissing as his fingers were instantly burned.

He covered himself in a layer of frost and continued to try to rouse his friend. "Natsu, wake up!"

Gray had to scamper away as Natsu's body covered itself in flames hotter than any Gray had ever felt before. The bed and all its coverings immediately disintegrated into a small cloud of ash.

Wendy and Sting ran into the room, a groggy looking Gajeel and Rogue lagging behind.

"What's going on?"

"He's having some kind of nightmare!" Gray yelled in alarm, having no idea what to do. He'd never seen Natsu like this, and his desperate screams were tearing at him.

The dragon slayers all tried to get close enough to Natsu to attempt to wake him, but Natsu's infernal flames made it impossible. He continued to thrash and scream out Igneel's name, getting louder and louder as desperation took over.

All the dragon slayers looked spooked, none of them knew what to do either. "Use your bond," Wendy suggested unsurely.

"My bond?" Gray peered at Wendy helplessly, "What?!"

He had no idea what she was talking about.

"You told Gajeel you heard Natsu calling you in your mind," Wendy reminded him, "We all saw you had some sort of conversation with him when Happy brought him back. He was unconscious, Gray. You could still talk to him because the two of you are bonded. Use that bond to break through to him."

Gray shook his head in confusion, Natsu was the one who usually initiated whatever this was. Always had been, since the first time. The few times he'd managed it had all been flukes. He'd thought Natsu was awake when he'd tried, he'd even tried again later and gotten no response.

"Just try, Gray," Wendy pleaded, "Look at him, he's hurting."

Gray closed his eyes and thought as hard as he could, pouring all of his concern into it.

Natsu? Natsu you need to wake up.

Natsu remained silent, but Gray was suddenly bombarded with a slew of feelings he couldn't interpret. There were far too many, and they were all muddled together. Still, he kept trying, desperate to get through to Natsu, not even noticing his own tears.

NATSU! Gray grunted in frustration, this wasn't getting them anywhere. He was about to turn to Wendy when he felt a sort of pull in his mind, and then he heard Natsu, his voice faint but there. Gray?

Yeah, it's me. You need to wake up, Natsu.

Our dragons are in trouble! Igneel, he's… he's…

It's not real Natsu, whatever you're seeing, it's not real. It's just a nightmare. You need to wake up.

But he needs me…

Gray put as much command as he was able into his thought.

NATSU DRAGNEEL, WAKE UP NOW!

Gray could feel their connection ebbing away, but he began to see results. Natsu stopped yelling, and the flames that surrounded him wavered until they disappeared. A few minutes later, his eyes blinked opened and he sat up, his breath coming in rapid gasps. Natsu covered his eyes with his arm and dissolved into sobs.

The dragon slayers all stood paralyzed, they'd never seen Natsu cry. Not when they were younger, not when Igneel left. They all looked at each other, not quite knowing what to do.

Gray was the only one to move. Right before everything had gone to hell, Natsu had woken him out of a horrible nightmare. He'd sat behind Gray and held him tightly. Even when Gray had tried to fight him off, Natsu had stubbornly held on, and that had been precisely what Gray had needed.

Gray sat behind Natsu now and pulled him into a tight embrace, ignoring the charred remains of the bed they had been sharing, some of which had gotten into the still healing burns on Natsu's back. Natsu didn't struggle, he just howled louder. Gray tried to comfort Natsu, he shushed him and made soothing noises, but mostly he just let him cry.

He lost track of the other people in the room as he focused solely on Natsu. What Gray had felt when they were connected, it was a pain so raw it had overwhelmed him. He might not have understood all the layers, but he didn't have to. It quashed all of his earlier anger and made him realize for the first time that Natsu was barely holding it together. He'd been putting on a show for them for months, maybe even longer.

When Natsu finally stopped crying, Gray let go of him, taking a better look at Natsu's back. He winced and looked for Wendy, who was sitting in a corner. All the other dragon slayers had left the room. Wendy looked shaken by Natsu's outburst, but she came over.

"We need to get him cleaned up before I can heal him," Wendy explained, reaching out to Natsu and gently shaking his shoulder, "Natsu, can you go in the bath?"

Natsu nodded but made no effort to move, so Gray stood up and pulled Natsu along with him, following Wendy through the maze-like cave until they reached a hot spring. She left them alone and waited outside.

"You guys have your own hot spring?" Gray looked around him in amazement.

Natsu nodded listlessly. Gray found some bathing supplies and gently urged Natsu into the water.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Gray asked softly.

Natsu shook his head, looking almost like a child as the tears once again welled in his eyes. Gray grabbed a washcloth and used it to wash Natsu's back, making sure to get all the char out of his wounds in as gentle a manner as possible. Natsu gave no indication he even felt it.

"It's okay, we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Gray assured him, "You gave us quite a scare, though."

"I'm sorry," Natsu bowed his head, refusing to meet Gray's eyes.

"Don't worry about it. Do you mind if I join you?" Gray waited for Natsu to respond in the affirmative before wading in to remove all the dirt from his own skin. The water was much warmer than he liked so he quickly got out and Natsu followed behind him.

Wendy led them back to Natsu's room, observing the lack of response with concern. She let Natsu enter by himself, giving him privacy to get dressed.

Wendy handed Gray a change of clothes that he recognized with dismay as belonging to Sting. He put them on without comment, knowing they'd be off soon enough anyway.

"Did he say anything to you?" Wendy asked once he was dressed.

"Just that he was sorry for worrying us."

Wendy and Gray shared a concerned glance before entering the room. They were greeted by the sight of Natsu, dressed in pajama pants, cuddling up to Happy. The wyrmling had wrapped his wings around Natsu and was making purring noises that seemed to relax the dragon slayer.

Happy tensed the moment he saw Gray, fixing his eyes on the ice mage, and seeming ready to fly away. Gray managed to fight off his initial instincts, his concern for Natsu overriding his hatred for the moment.

He put his hands up in front of his body and slowly backed out of the room, understanding that Happy was doing a better job of comforting Natsu than he'd been able to.

It made sense, the dream seemed to have something to do with their dragons, and Happy was the closest Natsu had to his two missing red dragons.

In a way, Gray was relieved. It gave him time to think about how he wanted to handle the situation. There were so many answers he wanted from Natsu, but not at the price of spooking him. Natsu was stressed enough as it was.

Gray made his way to the entrance of the cave, enjoying some cold air for the first time in hours. The more Gray thought about it, the more he thought Erza was probably right in her assumptions.

Natsu was actively searching for any hostile dragons close enough to be a threat to the village, taking care of them before they had a chance to cause any damage. It was the only thing that made any sense to Gray, and it terrified him.

He'd watched as a dragon had destroyed his entire village in mere minutes. He realized Natsu had a particular type of magic that let him fight dragons, but he also remembered how big Deliora had been and he just couldn't believe that Natsu could defeat something like that on his own, even with his magic. He didn't want to lose another person he loved to those beasts.

Gray knew he could continue to pressure Natsu, demand answers the dragon slayer was not willing to give, but all it would really accomplish would be to create a wedge between them. One from which they might never recover.

As much as he hated it, Gray had to accept that Natsu needed to put his life in danger to protect the town until the war was over, or their dragons returned.

Nothing Gray felt for Natsu would change that. Nor should it, Gray was being selfish, and he knew it. There were bigger things at stake here than his feelings. The attack already proved that what Natsu was doing was important. It had undoubtedly saved countless lives.

He groaned in defeat. There really was only one choice, he had to put his trust in Natsu and support him. Anything else would just push him away, and that possibility was not one Gray was ready for.

Wendy came looking for him. "I was able to heal him completely this time, his burns are finally gone."

She gazed at him proudly, "What you did back there, I know that was hard for you, but it was what he needed. He's doing better now, you can go see him if you want."

"Wendy, that bond, what does it mean?"

"I think that's a question you should ask Natsu, the two of you have a lot to discuss." Wendy patted him on the shoulder before leading him back to Natsu's room. Wendy bid Natsu good night, taking Happy with her, and leaving a very nervous looking Natsu alone with Gray.

Natsu took one look at Gray's outfit and started to snicker.

"Oh, shut up. It's not like I picked it." Gray grumbled in annoyance.

"Can you please take off that crop top at least? I can't take you seriously when you look like that." Natsu tried to contain his laughter but failed miserably.

Gray had to admit he would gladly wear the outfit for a week if it could get Natsu to laugh like that. It had been too long since Gray had heard it.

"I suppose you weren't expecting any of this when you stayed over, huh?" Natsu chuckled nervously.

"A lot of things have happened that I wasn't expecting," Gray agreed, "But that's not important now. Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, it was just a very vivid dream..." Natsu ran his fingers through his hair, "Thanks for leading me out of it."

"How did I do that, Natsu?" Gray looked into Natsu's eyes, expecting to see them closed off, but they had never seemed more earnest. "What is this bond that Wendy was talking about?"

"I was going to tell you eventually, it's just always so complicated between us, " Natsu sighed, unsure of how much to explain.

"We've had a connection to each other, a soulbond, since we first met in the woods all those years ago. It's how I was able to send you that message, and how you were able to reach out to me," Natsu smiled timidly at Gray, "It's also how I knew you would turn up here someday and despite how badly I screwed up on that first day, I really am glad you're here."

"I'm so sorry for all the trouble I caused you today," Natsu said honestly, "I never should've gotten hurt, I got careless cause I was near home."

"Can you tell me what attacked you?" Gray tried very hard not to make it sound like a demand, "Those were pretty nasty ice burns."

Natsu gazed at Gray for a few minutes, his thoughts a jumble of wants and needs and fears. "I want to tell you, but I know how you're going to react."

"It was a dragon, wasn't it?" Gray felt the fear flood his system to the point that he began to shake as he realized that his worst nightmare had almost become a reality. "Natsu, please tell me the truth, I want you to trust me."

"Don't you think I want to trust you? This dragon thing with you, it's the only thing keeping me from...," Natsu stopped himself as he realized what he'd almost said.

"From what?" Gray did push this time, he was tired of all the hiding. All he wanted was for them to be together. With the ever-present threat of the war reaching Talos, Gray didn't want to waste any more time.

"From telling me how you feel about me? Do you really think I don't already know? Don't you think I feel the same way?"

"Did you know that you call me every time you fall asleep in the field?" Gray caught Natsu's gaze and refused to let go of it, wanting Natsu to see him, to hear what he had to say and for once to take him seriously.

"You call me and then when you wake up, you don't even know why I'm there. How do you think that makes me feel? What should I think when everything you say or do when you're awake pushes me away?"

"I thought that might be happening," Natsu closed his eyes in frustration and to give himself some time to think. This conversation had taken a decidedly different turn from what he'd intended. He counted to five and opened his eyes again only to find Gray's midnight blue eyes still boring into him.

"It's the bond, it knows what I want. I can't seem to keep control over it when I'm asleep."

"What am I supposed to do with that?" Gray demanded angrily, "Why are you trying to control it at all?"

All this time he'd thought Natsu was just not aware of his feelings, to find out that he not only knew about them but was holding them back pissed Gray off.

He was starting to let his anger take over, and that was dangerous, he needed to get himself under control before he said something he'd regret.

"If you want me Natsu, I'm right here. I always have been." Gray softened his tone as much as he could, but he knew he still sounded angry.

"Of course I want you, you jackass. I always have," Natsu yelled, seeming angrier than Gray had ever seen him, "But what the hell am I supposed to do when you hate everything I am?"

"What are you talking about, Natsu?"

"I was raised by dragons, Gray, those same creatures that you would destroy. They're all I know."

"Natsu, I--"

"Don't even bother to deny it, we both know it would be a lie." Natsu's anger had somehow evaporated, leaving a deep sorrow in its wake, "Don't you see how futile this is?" Natsu entreated Gray to understand.

"It's not that easy for me, Natsu. It's not a switch I can just turn off. A dragon destroyed everything I knew and loved. It was brutal and cruel, and I was there. I saw it, and I can never forget it. I still have nightmares about it."

Gray tried his best to explain, and in baring his despair, he spoke the most honest words he'd ever uttered to Natsu or anyone else. "Ever since that day, I've lived in dread of the moment when it will happen again."

"But I'm also starting to see that there are some differences. I hear the dragon slayers talking about their dragons with love and affection. I've seen they can also care for humans like Happy just did for you."

" I'm trying, Natsu," Gray pleaded, "Doesn't that count for anything?"

They stared at each other in silence, trying to figure out where to go from there. Things had been said that could not be forgotten. Truths had been confessed, and feelings had been hurt.

"A renegade dragon slayer coming after Igneel, and Atlas not being able to get to him in time." Natsu shared quietly, shattering the silence.

"What?" Gray had no idea what Natsu was talking about. He would have been annoyed at what he felt was a blatant change of subject if it wasn't for the haunted look in Natsu's eyes. This was important to him.

"That's my biggest fear, it's what my nightmare was about. You told me yours, I thought it only fair you knew mine," Natsu attempted to smile at Gray, but it was too much to ask.

This seemingly endless night had been too much, and Natsu's every last nerve was frayed. He sat down in the place where his bed used to be. He'd have to replace it tomorrow. If Atlas were here, he'd just conjure him a new one while Igneel would make fun of him for incinerating yet another bed. Natsu could almost hear Igneel's deep rumbling laugh echoing in his room, and it hurt so much.

He tried to focus on how annoying it would be to lug a mattress up the mountain and any other number of mundane things, trying to get back to some sense of normalcy, but it didn't work. He could still hear the laughter, but all he felt was vast loneliness, and Natsu was so tired of feeling lonely. Why was he doing this to himself? His love, his one desire was there with him. Gray wanted him, and Natsu was hurting him by denying him, denying them.

His resolve weakened, he was tired of feeling empty, of fighting the inevitable. What was even the point? They were meant to be together, fate had already decreed it.

Gray must have gone to the main room while Natsu sat thinking, for he returned carrying pillows and blankets. He set about making them a nest of sorts as Natsu watched. Gray looked calmer as he organized the space, walking over to Natsu and offering him his hand as soon as he was done.

Natsu let himself be led to bed. He lay down, facing Gray.

"Thank you for trusting me with your fear," Gray reached out with his thumb, caressing Natsu's cheek gently, "I know that wasn't easy for you."

He looked at Gray gratefully. It felt so nice to be loved like this. He wanted nothing more than to love Gray, to share with him everything he was, but he still couldn't do that.

Gray was right, he was trying to get past his prejudice. Maybe someday Gray could even come to accept the fact that Natsu was as much dragon as he was human. Until then, Natsu would just share all his humanity with the man he loved.

Natsu reached out with his own thumb, imitating Gray's movements. He was rewarded with a smile that tore away at any last doubt Natsu might have had. "What you said earlier, it does count. It counts for a lot, Princess."

He removed his thumb from Gray's cheek and placed his hand behind Gray's neck, gently tugging him forward. Natsu searched for the lips he'd wanted to kiss for so long.

He wanted nothing more than to press them against his own. To claim the ice mage as his. Gray met him eagerly, and they finally shared their first kiss. It was awkward as neither of them was quite sure what to do, but Natsu still loved it, and he smiled as he felt a jolt of shared pleasure flood their bond.

"I'm sorry I made you wait so long," Natsu whispered as he shifted to lay on his back, something he hadn't been able to do since the attack. Gray made himself comfortable, laying his head on Natsu's chest, and wrapping his body around the fire mage. Natsu immediately ran his fingers through Gray's hair, enjoying the feel of it on his skin.

No more words were shared that night, neither wanting to ruin the moment. They were both emotionally drained and content to just lay in each other's arms. Tomorrow would come soon enough.

A/N: I just want to point out how incredible it is that I began work on this chapter months ago, with no idea about what the Gratsu Week prompts were and I still somehow managed to write a chapter that fit the prompt for July 20th (Dreams). I mean come on that’s crazy. Alas, it’s an update so I can’t enter it, but Trust is also a big theme in this chapter so I decided to go with that!

I’m hoping this satisfies some of you? I know it’s been a long time coming but holy shit they finally made progress! 😂

#fairy tail #gratsu #gratsubingo2019 #ftlgbtales #fairy tail big bang 2018 #update #stingue #lyon x erza #dragon slayers #dragons #prompt: trust

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hphm-imagines · 6 years ago

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The Bathroom Incident - Part 3 (Charlie Weasley x Prefect!MC)

Hello again my friends!

This part isn’t really important. It’s mostly set-up but don’t worry the pay-off is coming soon.

Part 1 and part 2 here

Here, Charlie, the reader and the gang reunite after the summer and a marvelous idea blossoms in their mind to celebrate this new year. Meanwhile, Bill left his brother with some confusing advice.

That day, the train station was as busy as ever. Fragments of conversations reached Charlie's ears, giggles and choked up voices mixing dizzyingly with the high pitched whistle of the locomotive. His mother was rambling, as she usually did, but Charlie wasn't really listening. After the summer, he was finally going back to Hogwarts but some part of him feared to go without the constant support of his brother. Bill had graduated last year and was on his way to becoming a very talented curse breaker. Of course, Charlie had made friends over his five first years at Hogwarts but he couldn't help but wish his brother would come with him. He was not ready to be the eldest Weasley child in school.

“Charlie?” his mother's voice interrupted his train of thoughts “Do you have everything? Are you sure you're not forgetting something?”

“Yes, mom. I have everything. Stop worrying.”

Bill snickered at his younger brother's monotone voice and Charlie cast him a death glare. Suddenly, farther away on the platform, he spotted a group of students laughing and taking lively. One of them had bright purple hair that Charlie immediately recognized as Tonks. She seemed more than happy to be reunited with the gang. With a quick glance, Charlie assessed that everyone looked about the same. However, his eyes met someone else's.

(Y/N)

For some reason, his breath hitched in his throat. He smiled at her as she left the others to come his way.

“Char!” she called, cheerful “I'm so glad to see you.”

Charlie's hands dropped from his cart to welcome her into his arms. As her soft hair brushed against his cheek, he felt overwhelmed by her comforting scent. He realized exactly how much he had been missing her and couldn't help a small, content sigh escaping his lips. They parted with a wide smile and she greeted politely the rest of his family, hugging Bill and Molly.

“You look well dear.” said the latter and (Y/N) thanked her.

From afar, the rest of the group waved at Charlie and Bill, shouting at them over the ambient noise something that Charlie couldn't quite catch. (Y/N) must have noticed his slight confusion because she clarified.

“They wanted to get in the train as soon as possible to get a good place”

“Makes sense. You should go with them, I'll catch up.”

She nodded and took her leave from the Weasley family. Charlie turned to his family to say his goodbyes but as Molly was straightening Percy's jacket and fixing his hair for the third time today, Bill gripped Charlie's arm and pulled him away.

“Listen, I probably should have talked you before but I won't be there to look after you guys this year and I'm really sorry because you're going to turn sixteen and it's going to suck.”

“What are you trying to say?” Charlie was very suspicious as to where this conversation was going

“Your friends are mostly girls and pretty ones at that.”

Charlie groaned in exasperation.

“I'm serious.” Bill resumed, placing a brotherly hand on his shoulder “I know you know what I'm talking about.”

Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.

“So. Listen, you already know you should be careful around girls in the prefect's bathrooms but let me give you some more advice.”

Please don't.

Bill kept going “There's definitely some places around the castle you can go to if you're looking for some privacy. Not to give you any hints but I know things can get heated behind some stores in Hogsmeade. Trust me, though, it's never a good idea.”

“Are you done?”

“Absolutely not but you get the gist. Stay focused on school and Quidditch and dragons if you want but whatever you do, be a gentleman.”

Charlie had heard enough, his ears were burning up in embarrassment. He placed his own hand on Bill's shoulder, mocking his previous gesture.

“Goodbye, Bill. See you at Chrismas.”

Soon enough, Charlie was on the train, finally getting as far away as possible form his brother's words. Tonks and Tulip were gorging on candies, talking loudly about their summer and their plans for the year. Besides Charlie, Penny and Ben were discussing muggle trends. Something about ghosts being... busted? That conversation concerned Charlie but, at almost sixteen, he had already come to terms with the eccentricity of the muggle lifestyle.

Over in the next compartment, (Y/N) was sitting with Andre, Barnaby, and Rowan. They were sharing their summer stories and playing chess. It was overall much calmer.

By the time they reached Scotland, however, it became clear that the seemingly more peaceful half of the group had come up with new ways to get themselves into trouble.

“We're going to throw a party.” Andre announced, popping his head through the door of their compartment.

Charlie saw Tonks, Tulip and Penny's faces light up instantly. Of course, they would.

“Where? We're not allowed in each other's common rooms.” he reminded. He knew his friends wouldn't propose a party if they hadn't figured it out and he feared the answer.

“Has one of you found the Come and Go Room?” asked Tonks excitedly, eliciting weird looks from her mates. Ben was the first to voice what everyone was thinking.

“The what now?”

“It's kind of a myth. Nevermind.” Her face dropped “You'll get it once I find it. It's my goal for the year”

“Anyway...” Andre brushed Tonks's intervention off “(Y/N) had one hell of an idea.” he paused for dramatic effect.

“She's going to sneak us in the prefect's bathroom” Barnaby chimed in excitedly, cutting the Ravenclaw off and earning himself a glare.

The prefect's bathroom. Charlie decided he hated his life.

#charlie weasley #Charlie weasley x mc #hphm #Harry Potter Hogwarts mystery #charlie weasley imagine

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almost-fun-drabbles · 6 years ago

Text

Charred Lily

Chapter 1: First Morning

“Happy birthday, Ghirahim,” she said. Happy birthday, a phrase said to a being on the day of the year they came to life to recognize or celebrate that being. Ghirahim, a name, his name.”

Notes: Oh shit y’all it’s here!! For a long while now, I’ve been thinking hard about Ghirahim’s backstory, and what he went through leading up to the events of skyward sword. So! I finally got a chance to begin writing it! I wanna thank my friends @savvyzelda and @curious-corvids for the inspiration and motivation!! Let me say I’m really proud of this, and I really wanna continue it if I get the time.

The first time his eyes opened, they were graced with a blurred mound of vibrant greens and the sky’s blue. Spring’s colors were softly blended together, framed around a white figure like a halo. It glowed faintly with a gold shine. Something in his consciousness told him this figure was alive, this figure was powerful.

The world turned dark again as his eyes closed, open again, and the colors rearranged themselves. Green became blotches of leaves on the trees that stretched over him, granting him shade from sunlight. The blue grew wispy clouds. The being had a face. The being’s eyes were blue, they crinkled up as a soft smile found a home on her lips.

“Good morning…” she said as he realized he could focus his sight on other things in his view. Good morning, a phrase spoken from one being to another as a greeting, said before the sun begins traveling across the third quadrant in the sky.

“Happy birthday, Ghirahim,” she said. Happy birthday, a phrase said to a being on the day of the year they came to life to recognize or celebrate that being. Ghirahim, a name, his name.

Ghirahim blinked, he saw a bird fly overhead. He opened his mouth to speak and could taste the air of the earth on his tongue with his first breath. “Good morning, Your Grace,” he said, because his mind told him the title was appropriate.

Her smile, which he hadn’t noted had faded, returned, bringing along a warm and quiet chuckle at his response. Ghirahim became aware of other things. He himself was not just a formless, mental entity. He had a face, which had grass blades tickle his cheeks in time with the breeze. He had a torso. His back was cooled against the morning dew and soft patches of dirt under him. He could smell flowers and his ears twitched to birdsong.

Finally, he’d realized movement was possible, and took to lethargically sitting himself up. Then, he looked down. The body below him, his body, conjured his first opinion. He was beautiful. His entire being was a sculpted obsidian black, decorated with intricate designs, diamonds. Facened into his chest was another diamond shape, a clean cut silver colored gem. It glistened in the light, and radiated warmth. He could feel it pulse inside of his core. He took his time touching the tips of his fingers together, twisting his wrists, curling his toes, bending his arms and legs, all only slightly, and slowly. Just to get a taste of solving his first puzzle, living.

When he looked to the land in front of him, he was given a new scenery of tree trunks and shaded over forest flowers. He sad idly, his eyes narrowing and widening as he became aware of every new item in the forest, trying to memorize every bit around him. His neck swiveled and his view panned to drink in the world. His mind fed him definitions and explanations to every object he focused on.

Ghirahim’s attention was ripped from the woods when another voice rang in his ears, it wasn’t the golden woman.

“Did you make him quiet?” she asked. His head turned towards the source of the voice. This woman was different, she had a petite form, compared to both himself and the other woman. Her blue hair was short and airy, grown barely past the tip of her chin. Wide, curious, blue eyes, blue eyelashes. Blue was a very prominent feature on her, but the color stuck out because of her pale skin, void of any cut or scrape. She was dressed in royal purple and navy hues, her most prominent piece of fashion was a ruffling cloak that draped itself over her arms, exposing her shoulders.

“I didn’t intentionally,” the woman answered, “But perhaps that is just how he is.”

Ghirahim took a moment to examine the golden woman as well. She was a great, large, being. A powerful aura radiated from her. It exuded a warm, bright feeling that was like the sun that shone down on them. A part of him found that light appalling, wanted to shy away from it. However, he did not move, for a greater piece of him felt an air of safety in her. The dress she wore was a simple white, it was long and flowy, and draped itself far across the grass below her. Surely, she was too ethereal to be any mere creature, Ghirahim concluded she was a goddess. He gazed upon her face again, and realized how long her hair really was. Her golden locks were fine strands that fell over her like a curtain, the ends reaching out even farther than the skirt of her dress.

“Are you going to talk to us, Ghirahim?” the goddess asked him when he turned back to the forest.

He paused to contemplate a proper answer. “Right now, I cannot.” Ghirahim replied. The unpredictable, random sprouting and growth of nature was much more interesting to him compared to the symmetry of the two women’s bodies. “I am busy.” He thought that was a satisfactory explanation, for he felt totally occupied with this need to analyze and discover.

“Busy?” she asked, a giggle, “Admiring our handiwork?”

He studied her with a scrutinizing gaze. Was everything she spoke going to be filled with bubbling chuckles? What did he say that was amusing to her?

“Your handiwork?” Ghirahim asked.

She smiled, “Yes, the work of us divine beings. You should know of us, Ghirahim. I did not create you unequipped with knowledge.”

Yes, Ghirahim thought, it was obvious he was knowledgeable, but of exactly what, he was not certain of yet.

“You are divine beings?” he asked. The blue woman did emanate a sun-like aura as well, but it was nothing in comparison to the golden woman.

The blue woman shook her head. Her expression was cheery, eager to speak, yet dialed down to keep herself composed. “I am not. I am only a servant to my goddess, Hylia.”

Ah, that was all he needed. Things began to fit together now, at least a little bit. The golden woman was a goddess, she was the goddess of life, Hylia. She was known as the mother of the Hylians, a race of beings created in her image, which were renowned as blessed, as holy. She had created many other races and animal species, but her love truly shown for her crown jewel of creations, her hylian people.

“Only?” Hylia asked the blue woman. “You speak like you are unimportant!”

The blue woman shared similar bodily composition to Hylians, but she was not one, Ghirahim was certain of it. What was she? He wondered.

“Your Grace,” she began, turning her head towards her goddess, but her eyes were fixated on the swaying grass. “In your glorious presence, I am unimportant.”

It was then, in Ghirahim’s silent study, that he noticed Hylia had wings. They kept themselves tucked behind her back, and laid themselves slack upon her like a cape. He compared them to the clouds overhead, for the long feathers bunched in stripes much like the wispy, white formations above. He decided he liked them, as they looked quite lovely there, sparkling in the sunlight.

Her wings moved with her when she spoke, they swayed in the wind when she adjusted them. “You’re my sword spirit, Fi,” was all she could manage.

Ghirahim’s ears perked. He caught that term, sword spirit. A sword spirit was a being created to serve. In exchange for life, the spirit relinquishes it’s free will to serve whoever is deemed their master by their creator. This person, Fi, was a sword spirit.

“Do you know what you are, Ghirahim?” Hylia asked.

“A sword spirit.” he said to her, loudly and clearly.

She tilted her head slightly, preparing to inquire again. “Who are you owned by?”

“I am your sword spirit.” he said to her.

At that, she smiled again, the expression being pulled forward from the beginning of quiet chuckle. Ghirahim’s eyebrows knitted in confusion, was that not the correct answer? He had not been given to anybody just yet. By default, he was Hylia’s sword, yes?

“For now, I suppose you are.” So, he was correct? “But you won’t be for long. I’ve actually prepared you as a gift for somebody I know.” Then, her smile formed into a giddy grin as she began to scoot just a little closer to Ghirahim. “Sword spirits are mostly created to be servants, yes, but I have a plan for you.”

She raised her hand and waved it in a motion that said ‘come here’, beckoning him closer. Curiosity tugged at Ghirahim, and he scooted closer to her as well, even tilting his head a little to listen to the information Hylia was about to relay to him.

Like a child passing one meaningless secret to another, she loosely cupped her hand near her mouth, and spoke in a small, but excited voice.

Her next words conjured an indescribable feeling in Ghirahim.

“I want you to be a friend.”

#Ghirahim #skyward sword #Fi #Hylia #Charred Lily

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hoseokmylovesworld · 6 years ago

Text

Picture of Love | 09

Pairing: Photographer!Hoseok x OC x Producer!Yoongi

Genre/Warnings: Hoseok AU/Yoongi AU/Includes strong language, anxiety, panic attack

Words: 4,694

Summary: Charlotte Galloway is the leader of the up and coming girl band, “She-Bang”, with a side hustle as a photographer for anyone who will hire her. She meets a fellow professional photographer named Jung Hoseok who helps “She-Bang” realize their dreams and Charlotte to make a love connection along the way.

"Yup...Yes ma'am!...Thank you so much Aubrey, we really appreciate it!...Thank you, you too!" I hang up the phone with the club owner of the Mezzanine, thus closing the deal of performing there tomorrow night. "Good news girls!" I shout, exiting the bathroom of the hotel room. "Oh yeah?" says Leyah from her trusty bed.

Does she ever move?

Carrie sat on the floor at the foot of my bed in between Vicky's legs, who was braiding her hair.

"I have just setup a gig at the Mezzanine for tomorrow night." I say smugly walking into the room. "Aw fuck yeah!" Carrie cheers from her spot on the floor causing the rest of our eyes to widen and us to giggle. "That's great. That place we went clubbing at a few days ago?" Leyah specifies. "Yup. Called the club owner and asked if we could do a set. She was uneasy about it, then she watched some of our YouTube videos and agreed to pay."

"Why have we never performed there before? I feel like we hit every place in San Fran." Vicky questioned, not taking her focus off of Carrie's intricate fish tale braid for a second. "Yeah me too, I guess we just overlooked this one." I shrug and go to mine and Leyah's joint closet to pick out an outfit my 'do-over' date with J-Hope. We're supposed to be going to dinner and then to his close friend's art exhibit/auction downtown

I was pleasantly surprised to hear that J-Hope was an art lover like myself and that we had something else to bond over. Of course we both had an appreciation seeing as we both love photography, but the topic of French art in particular tickles my fancy and J-Hope's friend just happened to be a French artist.

"Going somewhere, Char?" Leyah asks from behind me. I've been found out.

"Yeah...J-Hope and I are going out tonight. Don't wait up for me." She laughs.

"Three nights in a row...Someone's infatuated." She drawls in her low register. I visibly cringe at the use of the world. "If that's the word you wanna use." I whisper, suddenly disinterested in the conversation. "Oh, yeah. No, that's definitely the word I want to use." She laughs at my discomfort, as per usual and the girls join her. I just roll my eyes and continue my search. "Let me help you." She offers and joins me at the wardrobe. That's what I loved about my best friend. If you fell, she would definitely laugh at you, but she would always be there to help you up in the end. "Where you going anyway?" She asks looking through her clothes as well.

"I actually didn't ask. He just said we would get something to eat and then go to his friend's art exhibit to support, but I was all for it when I heard the words 'French' and 'art' in the same sentence." I share, getting excited about the whole thing once again.

"So, hella fancy." Leyah nods, searching faster, seemingly knowing what to look for now.

"I don't know about hella fancy, but a good amount of 'I'm here because I give a fuck' you know?"

"Totally. Here we go...Wait 'til lover boy sees you in this." Leyah pulls out a short sleeveless, black top that would expose my mid-section and a long, black pencil skirt covered in detailed rose patterned lace.

"Oh, Leyah. This is perfect! Where were you hiding this!?" I take the items and hold them to my chest in elation. She just shrugs. "I never have any reason to dress up anyway, maybe I was saving it for this moment." She winks at me quickly before making her way back to her bed. I just smile to myself before finding a pair of black leather heels to pair it with. This act makes me feel more confident about tonight in that things might actually be successful this time.

That's right. Jay is gonna take me out and we're gonna have fun and we're gonna laugh and he's gonna take me home and we're gonna do it all over again.

I chant this in my head over and over again to rid myself of the paranoia that surrounds me twenty-four seven about the whole dating ordeal. I shake the thoughts away as I hop onto my bed and reach for my phone to inform our fans of our performance tomorrow, attaching one of my favorite photos from the shoot yesterday. After uploading the photos and the jam session to our social media and switching out our profile pictures, we've actually gained lots of followers on different platforms. We even got a couple dm's from wannabe producers looking to work with us. Who knew a few professional pictures could make such a difference. Around 6:30 I get off my ass and start doing my make-up, I decide to go for a dark, bold and smokey look with a red lip to match the look Leyah let me borrow. J-Hope texts me he's waiting for me in the lobby at 7:32 so I say goodbye to the girls, who were nice enough to wish me good luck, and head down to meet him.

He's sitting in the lounge area near the front entrance when I first see him. He's in a fitted, silvery-grey suit and a spotless white dress shirt. God this guy looks gorgeous in anything.

"Jay!" I greet as I get closer to him. He looks up, a huge smile splitting across his face as he got up to greet me properly. His eyes rake up and down my body as we get closer. "Wow, you look...incredible, Charlotte." He says, openly checking me out and pecking me on the lips, not that I minded, but I will never get used to that.

"Thank you! I love the suit." I respond as his arm wraps around my bare waist, sending shivers up my spine. "Thanks, I wore it just for you." He looks to me with a smug smirk and my insides get flooded with heat and butterflies at the sight.

This. Will. Go. Well.

"So, where are we going?" I ask as we get into the car. "Oh, this neat place near the exhibit called Michael Mina. I figured French food before we look at some French art would be perfect, wouldn't you agree?" He glances over at me.

"I can get behind that." I can't help myself as I grab my phone out of my clutch and Google this restaurant. Five stars. Of course.

The restaurant had a very futuristic feel to it and the decor consisted of several shades of tans and browns and the place was packed. We sit at a table along the wall and the conversation flows between us as usual.

"Have you always wanted to be a photographer?" I ask before stuffing a piece of lobster in my mouth. "Oh. Yeah-well, since freshman year of high school. Before that, I had been taking pictures from the moment my mom put a camera in my hands when I was four." He laughs to himself as if remembering something he found funny. "I used to try to recreate my favorite movie scenes with my friends and capture those."

"Oh, I gotta see that." I laugh shameless, bringing my drink to my lips.

"Yeahhhhh, no way in hell. Anyway, did you always want to be a musician?" He asks, giving me his undivided attention.

"Oh...No...But I always admired them and then one day...I picked up a guitar and keyboard." I sigh, trying not to think so much about that day in particular, but I offer the information anyway because I want J-Hope to know this 'relationship' is two sided, whatever that relationship may be at this point.

"As a child you mean?"

"No... Recently... A few years ago actually."

"Wow... That's impressive. The way you play seems like you've been doing it for much longer." He smiles sweetly. I had a hardass teacher.

"Thanks." I return the expression. "Of course. So, did you play sports in school?" He keeps the conversation flowing so well.

"I played volleyball in high school. It's my favorite sport." I say smiling brightly at those memories. "I can totally see that...Specifically you in compression shorts running around a court." J-Hope's gaze narrows and focuses in me with a menacing smirk. Goddamn those lips.

I reach over the table to swat his arm. "You are on thin ice, Jay." I say threatenly while running my foot up his leg gently.

His jaw drops the slightest bit and he runs his tongue over his front teeth before he gathers himself and responds briefly. "I'm counting on it Charlotte." Before winking and eating his food once again.

Well, it's good to know he's a flirty, hornball just like me.

"What about you? Ever play sports in school?"

"Oh no, I can't even finish a game of badminton." He detests, causing us to giggle profusely. "What kind of student were you?" He questions.

"Eh, kept to myself, bit of a loner. Marks weren't so great either." I answer easily, J-Hope nods understandingly. "Me too." he replies. I raise one eyebrow at him. "I don't believe that. You're so smart." He smiles shyly. "Thanks, Charlotte. So are you." I nod in thanks, not really believing the compliment, but accepting it nonetheless.

"So what kind of kid were you?" He asks suddenly.

"So many questions."

"I'm a curious guy." He shrugs.

"... A pain in the ass." J-Hope nearly chokes on his drink from laughing.

"I'll bet. You and your friends get into a lot of trouble?" He assumes.

I shake my head, looking down at my food. "... I didn't have many friends, still don't. It was mostly just me and my cousin. Maeve. We were always together." I huff out a bitter laugh.

"Do you still talk?" He inquires, hopefully.

"No...No." I say sorely, thinking about my old best friend and all the adventures we shared before we were separated.

Immediately trying to lighten the mood, like the ball of sunshine he is, he asks "So... What's the last thing you Googled?"

"Where the leftover poop in your butt goes after you're done." I answer seriously and possibly a little too fast. We share a look before bursting out in the biggest fit of laughter we have yet, attracting nearly every eye in our section, but not exactly acknowledging them.

And his reply "... Did you get an answer?" sends us into another bout of extreme giggles that certainly attracts even more eyes, but this time the only thing J-Hope and can I see is each other.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Walking into the exhibit, I am once again struck with wonder in why J-Hope chose me to keep taking to these places. I've never been to an art exhibit or auction before, but I'm definitely deeming this one of the more fancy ones. There were way more people here than I thought there would be at a just starting artist's exhibit, there had to be around seventy people in the vicinity. There were massive canvases with detailed depictions that I couldn't wait to analyze on every wall. There were bouquets of various flower arrangements in every corner of the large room, several chandeliers on the ceiling and servers handing out hors d'oeuvres to guests. J-Hope's hand gives my waist a gentle squeeze, getting my attention as I let out a tiny squeal.

"You alright there?" He looks me over before stopping to look into my eye, waiting for my response. "What? Oh, I'm fine. Just a bit overwhelmed is all." I say gesturing to our surroundings. I'm not accustomed to this shit like you are.

"Everything looks so beautiful."

"Ha, yeah. I was expecting something like this, Abolsan's always been one for flare."

"I thought you said he was just making his start."

"Oh, well...He comes from money so..." He shrugs. Well that makes more sense. I knew his friends were rich.

We approach the first piece and I'm confused about the meaning behind it but the bold yet dark colors paired with rough, obviously layered strokes still held all my attention and forced me to come up with my own backstory for it. In my mind this is what art, in every form, is supposed to do. Stimulate you and your creative side to think freely. It's got my vote, I'm impressed. 'Mama' is the title of the piece.

Me too, Abolsan, me too.

Most of the other pieces had a similar effect on me, in that it captured me and was impressive as fuck for someone my age. J-Hope was very animated and giddy about the art himself and I was pleasantly surprised we had similar tastes and ideas for how the paintings translated and touched us.

We approach a piece that looks incredibly familiar. Too familiar. I can feel my hands start to sweat immediately and my heart rate increases ten-fold as I remember the first time I saw this painting.

FLASHBACK // 2 and half years ago

I walk the streets of downtown, L.A., fingers laced tightly with my boyfriend, Yoongi, on our way to the music shop to get a guitar for me. He had been giving me lessons on his own guitar and keyboard for so long, he figured it made sense to get me one as well and he was generous enough to buy it for me. On one of the busier streets we passed through, there was a young man around my age selling art on the curb. "Yoongi, wait." I pull on his hand as he continues to walk by the paintings, but he finally stops, sighing impatiently and looks at his wrist watch.

"Char, the shop closes soon, we gotta hurry if we wanna get that guitar you were looking at." He chimes softly in my ear, using his persuasive powers to get me to move along. I ignore his usually hypnotizing actions for the first time because of how taken I was with the painting in front of me. It contained none of my favorite colors, it actually contained my least favorite color: yellow. But the way that bright yellow basically melted into the soft red and blue that surrounded it, captured me in a way no work of art ever had. The way the colors almost wrestled for dominance, but came back together in harmony in a style that resembled Van Gogh's Starry Night, completely enchanted me.

"Hello Miss." The boy greeted me brightly with an accent I couldn't place. He had tanned skin, beautiful pale green eyes and cropped, black curly hair. "Hi!" I replied, being broken out of my trance. "Did you paint these?" I gesture to the paintings on the ground and he nods excitedly.

"You are...so talented." I say with wide eyes, still quite blown away. "Pfft." Yoongi openly scoffs and looks away with a humorless laugh.

Well someone's jealous.

"Thank you so much! I'm selling this one for $150.00" He points to the painting I was gawking at.

That's a little steep for a painting in my position and I don't want to ask Yoongi for it, that's too much.

"Oh...Okay." I say defeated. "Char, I'm sorry, but we gotta go and I'm not carrying the guitar and that thing all the way back to the apartment." Yoongi says, squeezing my hand gently. I nod understandingly and start moving along. "I'm sorry." I say to the artist. "They're beautiful!" I say over my shoulder while we make our way to the music shop and he just smiles and nods sadly.

The following week consists of our usual activites, Yoongi and I fooling around during the day, him teaching me how to play my new guitar and him going out to 'work' at night. But today was different as I wake up to an empty bed, but Yoongi is usually back by morning. When he doesn't answer my first three texts I figure he was in the middle of a job and give up to practice my guitar. About an hour later I see Yoongi enter the apartment with an excited gummy smile on his face. I barely ever get to see this glorious sight so I immediately return the gesture, but am still a little suspicious.

"Babe, what's goin' on? Everything alright?" I put the guitar aside and make my way over to him to question him. "Everything is great, just stay right there, I have a surprise for you."

This is new.

"Oh! Okay!" I stay in my spot in the middle of our shitty apartment facing away from the bed. "Close your eyes." He orders before leaving the apartment again, I comply, the gears turning in my head. "Is this a sex thing?" I question, completely fine with that idea.

"No Char." He says exhaustedly, making me laugh.

"...Do you want it to be?" He suddenly asks, full of life again. I shrug my shoulders. "I wouldn't complain." I hear him chuckle as he retrieves something from the hallway

Okay. It's big.

He makes his way passed me to the bed, he seems to be setting something up on it.

I knew it was a sex thing.

"Okay baby, turn around." I hear him say from the bed. "Now open your eyes." I open my eyes to reveal the breathtaking painting from last week, now surrounded by a frame just as beautiful, balancing on the headboard against the wall behind it. My hands fly up to cover my mouth instinctively as my eyes fall on Yoongi, who's sat at the foot of the bed with his signature satisfied smirk through tear filled eyes. His smirk transforms back to that beautiful gummy grin full of perfect teeth creating those incredibly cute crinkles around his eyes and turning them into near slits beneath his bleach blonde hair. I wanted to remember him exactly like this forever; happy. Happy with me.

I rush over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and sinking into his lap. His arms wrap around me tightly as I pull him into a passionate kiss, which Yoongi returns greedily. I pull away to rest my forehead against his as he continues to nip at my mouth.

"Thank you so much." I say through the assault on my lips. "You're welcome baby. I love you." Yoongi somehow gets out through the ravishing, my body flooding with heat at the words that always managed to drive me insane. "Oh, I love you so much." I reply.

He lays back on the bed bringing me with him so that I'm straddling his body. I feel and hear the painting wobble slightly as the headboard shifts with us. I look up at it to check on it, but Yoongi pays it no mind as his assault on my mouth has moved to my neck. "Yoongi, maybe we should move the painting first." I say breathlessly, already giving into his actions.

"The painting is fine. Now take your clothes off." He orders against my skin. I chuckle and believe him, just as I do with everything else that comes out of his dangerous mouth and follow his directions.

End of Flashback

I break out of my trance as a chill runs up my spine, the product of Jay squeezing my bare waist once again and resting his other hand on my shoulder. "You okay?"

"Oh, yes." I literally shake my head free of the thoughts. He pulls me further into his side and brushes my cheek with the back of his hand, collecting a stray tear. "Are you sure?" He asks gingerly. Oh my fucking God, not this again.

I nod frantically and search my purse for a tissue. "Yeah, I just need to find a bathroom." Jay nods and asks a nearby server where the bathrooms were and leads me there swiftly. "I'll be right outside." He relays to me as I enter, I nod and continue on.

How the fuck did I get so blessed with this man?

Once inside, I immediately rush to the huge mirror and attempt to salvage my make-up in public for the second time in twenty-four hours.

Maybe I shouldn't actually be doing this. Maybe this is a sign that I shouldn't be here with Hoseok or anybody. This is what feelings do, they complicate and they only hurt.

Not when we're with Hoseok.

True.

"Ugh!" I groan as I touch up my make-up and take a few deep breaths before I exit the bathroom to find Jay just where I left him. What a fucking saint putting up with my shit like this.

"Are you okay?" He asks, expressing true concern. I sigh before responding. "Yeah it's just...I just loved that painting so much." I look down concentrating on not going back to that day, but I can't stop thinking about how the painting down the hall was just as breathtaking as the original. "Oh!" J-Hope breathes relieved and excited. "Well, I'm glad your enjoying everything."

"I really am." I answer truthfully and I just smile and nod with newfound energy gifted to me by J-Hope's happy disposition. We make our way through the rest of the exhibit and we end up back at the painting, which I can now see is fittingly named 'Her'. I huff out a bitter laugh before I notice J-Hope pick up a pen and write his name and a number next to it on the bidding sheet in front of the painting.

"What are you doing?" I spit at him without meaning to. Jay jerks back at my tone. "Well I was going to buy it for you." He said in an obvious, but playful tone.

"Don't." I spat once more with hard eyes, feeling incredibly uncomfortable in this position.

"Uh-well, I thought you liked it." He stammered, completely confused.

"I do, it's beautiful, but...That's okay, I don't need it." I rush out, pleading with him not to buy this beautiful monstrosity.

"Look, if you're worried about the price, I-"

"That's not what I'm worried about!" I almost scream, alarming J-Hope and some surrounding guests, my hands starting to shake at my sides.

"I'm sorry." I say breathing deeply a few times, probably looking like a crazy person. "Thank you so much for the offer Jay, but I don't need it...and I have nowhere to put it anyways." I shrug while bringing my arms up to wrap around his neck and step closer to him.

Maybe I can distract him with my charms.

He accepts my gesture, searching my eyes and wrapping his arms around my waist in return; he knows something is wrong.

Smart motherfucker.

"Okay." He pecks my lips quickly. "Okay." He repeats before going to scratch his name and bid off of the sheet. "Thank you." I whisper before I hear the voice of another approaching.

"Changed your mind, Hoseok?"

Am I the only one who doesn't call him that?!

A handsome man, taller than both Ja-Hoseok and I with the same olive skin, black curls and wide pretty green eyes from two and half years ago approaches us with an inviting smile in a dashing black suit and tie. The artist who sold this original painting to Yoongi.

He matured quite nicely.

"Abolsan!" J-Hoseok let's go of me to engulf the artist in a bear hug, which Abolsan happily returns.

"It's so good to see you again! This is my date Charlotte." Hoseok introduces us.

I don't even think I'm saying that right in my head.

"Just call me Char." I correct him as Abolsan and I shake hands.

"Uh huh." Abolsan seems to be lost in thought as he shakes my hand for much longer than is necessary, his eyes fixed on my face and raking up and down my body. Okay.

Hoseok is clearly losing patience and clears his throat loudly to get his friends attention.

That's cute, we love a jealous queen.

Abolsan visibly flinches at the sound and refocuses his eyes on my face, letting my hand go as if he's being woken up from a dream. "Huh? I'm sorry! It's just...You look so familiar." He squints his eyes and shakes his head slowly.

"Really? Well, I've been told I just have one of those faces." I laugh while trying to send Abolsan a message with my eyes not to say anything else. He seemed to get it.

He blinked in understanding and smiled once more, though this time it seemed forced. "Well, it's really nice to to meet you Char. Welcome to my exhibit. Feel free to browse my other pieces if this one doesn't exactly speak to you Hoseok." Abolsan added in good humor.

Great, he just saw that entire exchange.

"Oh, ha, yeah. Just isn't my style I guess." Hoseok lied smoothly. I really feel bad for burning his painting now. He's such a nice guy.

"That's okay, I'm just glad you could make it." The two catch up as I watch, kept here by Hoseok's grip on my waist, not that I wanted to be anywhere else right now. Abolsan kept stealing glances my way while Hoseok talked, which I think gave Hoseok the wrong idea as he kept pulling me closer to himself and stroking my arm. I helplessly look to the floor as a wide smile breaks out on my face. If only he knew.

"Well, you take care of yourself Hoseok, I hope to see you around. It was nice meeting you Char." Abolsan cheered, giving us both half hugs.

"You too."

"See you Abolsan." Hoseok and I leave without bidding on a single painting and once again I feel like shit after another date.

"I'm sorry I even managed to fuck up the do-over." I say as we drive towards the hotel.

Hoseok's head snaps in my direction and the back at the road. He huffs out a laugh and reaches for my hand in my lap and rubs his thumb over it.

"You didn't fuck up anything, not on this date or the last one. You just...know what you want. I like that in a woman." He laughs and I join him. Pulling up to the hotel, Hoseok somehow manages to walk around the other side to open my door before I can and walks me to the entrance. He stops me by reaching for my waist, bringing me closer to him.

I don't argue, in fact I bring my arms to wrap around his neck and play with the hairs on the nape of his neck. I feel he might be avoiding holding my hand in public because of what happened the last time he did that and I can't help, but appreciate him more.

"Do you wanna do this again later this week?" He says suddenly, glancing at my lips from time to time.

"This? No." I say gesturing to nothing in particular, but referencing the mini disaster that was the art exhibit. "But dinner again, maybe a nice movie, sure, I would love to." We both laugh and finally get to share another searing kiss that leaves me wanting more as soon as it begins. We share lingering pecks, enjoying the close proximity of each other until I force myself to pull away. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Hoseok breaks into a big smile that barely allowed me to see his irises. "It's okay Charlotte, I forgive you." Why?

"I'll call you. See you soon." Hoseok walks back to his car. "Bye Jay." I say, still self-conscious about how many ways I could fuck his name up.

I take the elevator up and collapse on my bed immediately upon entering the room without getting undressed or greeting any of the girls. It's then that I realize the girls aren't even here and the room is empty.

"Where is everyone?"

#j-hope fanfic #suga fanfic #junghoseok #minyoongi #bts #btsfanficiton #ambw #kpop #humour #sugardaddyj-hope

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tancong · 6 years ago

Text

Secrets of Superheroes (Chapter One)

Title: Hero Word Count: 1207 Rating: Teen and Up Summary: In a city where heroes are scarce and a single strike can bring their demise, they come in all shapes, sizes, and ideologies. In a city where superheroes were a legend and carelessness brought an end to dreamers daily, a new generation of heroes begins their journey. Among them stood a ninja with a dark outlook and a merciless blade. Another was a young doctor armed with the power to heal others in a society dictated by the power to destroy.

A superhero AU

Some people say that a hero is not defined by their strength but their courage. Others say that a hero is someone who can stand tall and proud even as the odds stack up against them. No matter their appearance, age, or past, anyone can be a hero.

The armored ninja sheathed his sword as he inspected the carnage in front of him. He looked down at the man who was groaning unconsciously on the ground, body marked with cuts and bruises. There was nothing detached this time, but it was not a scene that anyone would expect from a hero. That much was evident as there were no civilians cheering, only the sound of an exasperated woman coming up from behind him.

“Again?”

Genji looked over his shoulder, his helmet masking his cold expression. He simply turned and walked past her as she spared only a single glance at him before healing the victim. Well, it had been the criminal. She was making sure that the man at least stayed alive to be persecuted.

“Heroes are the survivors of evil. Complain all you want, but I am still a hero, am I not Mercy?”

The woman’s lips tightened as she focused on her work, keeping her mind off his words as he went off to inform the local police officers to take the criminal into custody.

Three Months Prior

Mercy glanced down at her gun around a dark corner, grimacing at the pain in her shoulder and the ammo count remaining. She had wounded a lot of the anti-hero hunters pursuing her, mostly in non-vital areas. She was so close to escaping, there were only a few more to evade. If only she hadn’t gotten hit in the shoulder. Her power could only be used on others, meaning that she was helplessly leaving a blood trail straight to her location at all times. It was only a matter of time now.

After her medical field camp had been attacked by the enemy, Mercy had volunteered to be a distraction, since she was one of the few heroes there with high mobility and can help heal people she passed to allow them to hide and survive. It had been fine, up until they intercepted the Hero Association’s radio message about rescuing her. So much for rescuing her huh?

However, the combat medic was not one to give up a fight, not so easily. She had heard enough rumors about the things the anti-heroes and villains did to heroes. Death was the least of her worries and she didn’t want to test any of the other rumors. The building around her was too stable for makeshift traps and dropping rubble on her foes, there wasn’t even a dumpster to use even if she had the strength. Honestly, why did she agree to do this all alone?

Suddenly, the sound of gunfire and flames rose past the entrance of the alleyway leading to her abandoned building. Mercy set her lips as she raised her pistol in front of her, willing her breathing to be steady. There were screams and the sound of cuts, piercing through the corridor of the alleyway as if the wind itself were sliced through. There was a large explosion and then there was no more.

When silence took over her surrounding, Mercy blinked and pressed the back of her head against the cobblestone behind her. The sound of footsteps resonated down the cement alleyway, steady and unwavering. It befitted a figure filled with confidence yet caution. And when it came close to the broken doorway where she hid, Mercy peeked around the corner with her pistol aimed straight where she thought the head of the person would be.

There, she saw a knight in shining armor. Yet, he didn’t quite seem like a knight, for he had no shield and he wielded a katana. However, the aura that glowed around him was unmistakably one of either a hero or a villain. He simply stopped in his track as he regarded her, both at a standstill for a moment.

“... Are you from the association?” Mercy finally asked. The man appeared to gaze at her silently before looking over his shoulder.

“Why don’t you ask the guys out there on the street?”

She blinked and frowned, lowering her weapon with a sigh, half-relief half-annoyance at his accented words. It wasn’t uncommon for new heroes to be cocky and act all high and mighty. Well, he did get her out of a pinch but it was no way to greet someone who had been stranged for close to half a week on her own.

With that, Mercy stood from her crouched position, tucking her pistol away as she walked past him, eyes closed as she stretched her neck for a moment. “Thank you, I suppose. If you really did manage to incapacitate all those guys by yourself, I suppose I wouldn’t still be awake if you are an enemy. Actually, are you really alon-”

A gasp came from her throat as Mercy stopped in her tracks, her eyes wide as she looked at the scene in front of her. A battlefield was not a proper description if anything it could only be described as an execution ground. The people that had been chasing her laid in several pieces on the ground, most if not all of them charred by the explosion that she had heard last before the man came into the alleyway. She looked around frantically, to see whether there was even one person she could still save. However, there were none.

As the armored ninja came from the alleyway, Mercy turned and punched him in the chest, more to vent her frustration than to hurt him. She sure wasn’t going to slap his helmet, though the punch bruised her knuckles and made her wince. Even so, the pain focused her gaze into one of anger rather than fear and disgust.

“How could you?!”

The man leveled his gaze at her, both standing at the same height. She gestured to the scene behind her. “You’re a hero aren’t you?? You’re supposed to save lives and bring criminals to justice! No matter what happens, you’re supposed to save people, not kill them! What the hell is wrong with you?”

The man looked at her silently before looking to her side, at the scorched carnage which she gestured at. When he finally spoke, a calm and indifferent voice addressed her as the figure faced her once more.

“Half a dozen armed anti-heroes and a villain with flame powers. I don’t know what your definition of a hero is but they sound like a dead one.”

Mercy’s eyes widened as she struggled to form a word to spit back at him. “IF THAT’S THE CASE, THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULDN’T BE A HERO AT ALL!” With that last yell, she quickly ran off toward the near distance where the police sirens and lights could be seen, leaving the armored ninja to stand by himself, gazing at the back of an anguished medic in blue running away from him. Away from the past that he did not know about and away from the tears that threatened to make her legs give away.

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solaneceae · 7 years ago

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MFKZ OS 3: Roasted

To Vinz, there were a few perks to having a literal flaming skull for a head. One of them was the lack of lacrimal glands.

Now, that didn’t mean he couldn’t cry. He didn't remember how he came to be, just waking up one day in this strange, almost adult body with a blank mind, and he didn’t know how his physiology worked. But experience had showed that despite his “condition”, he could cry, bleed, and emote in ways a regular old skeleton couldn’t.

“Must be some voodoo shit.” Lino once said to him. “Doesn’t matter anyway, right? You’re Vinz, you’re my friend. I don’t care where you come from.”

Vinz’ face shifted in an expression of happiness, his flames taking a bright yellow tint. His roommate always knew what to say to stop him from obsessing over his origins.

Maybe he’d find out the truth one day. Hell, if shapeshifting, cold-sensitive aliens were a thing, magic could be real for all he knew. Maybe he’ll look into it.

He shook himself out of his reverie. Right, he was done cutting the onions, now he just had to put them in the oven with the fish and potatoes. He had to practice the actual cooking part of cooking if he wanted to keep his job at Pipo’s.

He closed the oven door, squinting at the recipe displayed on his phone: “Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes until filets are opaque and flakey. Okay, sounds simple enough.”

He glanced at the kitchen clock and frowned. Almost seven PM... Lino would be back from his interview at the sushi place any minute, twenty minutes just weren't gonna cut it. The fish had to cook faster somewhat.

He let out a hum. Maybe he could cut the baking time in half if he doubled the temperature?

...Yeah, sounds legit.

——

Angelino unlocked the apartment door about five minutes later. “Hey,” Vinz greeted, lifting his eyes off his crossword as his roommate made his way inside. “So how did’t go?”

The shortie greeted him back and flopped into the couch next to him. “T’was fine. They didn’t have a lot of applications so I might actually have a shot this time.”

“Nice. How’s the joint?”

Angelino smiled, bumping his shoulder against Vinz’s. “Pretty good. The boss and hours seem nice enough, and I’ll get an actual bike for the deliveries.” His smile widened, turning smug. “The waitresses are hot, too.”

Vinz ignored the brief twisting in his guts. “Yeah?”

“Yup. I think they like me. Called me kurobetta.”

“Wazzat mean?”

“Dunno, black-something. I’ll look it up later.”

The hothead rolled his eyes, playfully elbowing his friend. God he’s such a flirt. “Whatever, Don Juan. Anyway, you hungry? I made fish, should be ready in a few.”

Lino’s head tilted to the right, his gaze focusing somewhere above Vinz’s flaming skull. He raised an eyebrow. “Is that why the oven’s smoking?”

“Wha-”

Vinz almost snapped his neck to look behind him; thick black smoke was pouring out of the oven and gathering under the kitchen ceiling. He eyes widened, yellow irises reduced to bright pinpricks. “Holy shit!”

“Yeah, I smelled it when I got into the building, but I didn’t say anything cuz I thought you were handling it-”

“Shut up and open the window!” the skeleton shrieked, bolting towards the kitchen.

He grabbed the oven handle, yanked it open, and wow okay that’s a lot of smoke. Good thing his eyes weren’t affected by stuff like this. His throat, however…

He stumbled back into the living room hacking his lungs out, wondering how he managed to fuck up such as simple as grilled fish. Lino was standing in front of the open window, his inky black face a mix of amusement and concern. But mostly amusement. “You still suck at cooking, Vinny.”

Vinz glared at him. “Shut up,” he wheezed, “And don’t call me that. If you call me Vinny, I’m calling you, like, Angel or something.”

Angelino just beamed. “Are you saying I’m heavenly? What a charmer.”

The hothead groaned and turned away, flames turning a lovely shade of green. “Ugh, forget it. I’m going to check the damage.”

——

It didn’t look good. In fact, it looked as good as the charred remains of a fish corpse could. Which was not good at all.

“Damn.” said Lino, peering over his shoulder. “What’d that fish do to you?”

Vinz sighted. “That was supposed to be dinner. We don’t have anything else.” The fridge was empty and the deli was definitely closed by now. Great, this is just great.

Angelino hummed. “Must be something left. Lemme check.”

The young man went for the cupboards while his bony roommate mourned over his culinary failure. At the third cupboard he went still, his brain trying to process the information. After a few second, he chuckled and turned to Vinz with a devious glint in his eyes. “Hey Vinz! Do we have skewers or something?”

——

“I can’t believe this.”

“Sure you can. Hold still, this one’s not done yet.”

Vinz was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his back propped up against the couch. And on said couch was his best friend, holding marshmallow skewers above his skull.

Angelino was using his flames as a makeshift barbecue. This was… kind of humiliating.

“You owe me for this. Big time.” he grumbled, munching on his chocolate-free, crackers-free s’more.

Lino shrugged. “Hey, you’re the one who burned our food to a crisp. I appreciate the attempt buddy, I really do, but let me do the cooking next time, okay?”

The skeleton huffed, choosing to focus on the shitty B-movie playing in front of him. Whatever. One day he’d manage to cook something edible.

Maybe.

NOTES: I’m taking inspiration from the comics for the sushi place thing. And kurobetta means black betta fish.

#mutafukaz #mfkz #vingelino #angelino #vinz

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finn-nelson-for-the-win · 8 years ago

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After over a week, I'm back with another update!

Hello there, lovelies! Hopefully the anticipation wasn’t too bad...But alas! Here I am, back again with the next chapter. Admittedly, this chapter took much longer than anticipated for me to write and even though I knew exactly what was going to happen, I still struggled to find the right way to convey it for maximum impact...idk, I've also been finding it a little tricky to find time to write with all the random stuff I've had going on in real life lately. 😬

Anyways...I hope you enjoy this because I'm not sure when the next time I will post will be...and as always, I love hearing what you guys have to say and seeing all the love you guys show to my writing...it's a large reason as to why I even make an effort to post my writings anymore, so thanks! 😘 All my previous chapters can be found right here, if you wish to get caught up.

Making Up for Lost Time

I can’t believe I’m about the say this, but…I can’t wait to go to work tomorrow.

It was Christmas day—the day in which families near and far gather to enjoy each other’s company and celebrate—and Rae could not be unhappier.

There surely must have been a time when Rae felt differently about Christmas. Perhaps when she was a child and was still basking in the naivety of youth; however, for the last few years Rae has found this holiday to feel like more of a burden and be emotionally draining to the point that she has lost the childlike sense of wonder that used to be synonymous with Christmas time when she was younger.

Rae had been awakened before the sun had even fully risen by loud crashing and the unmistakable scent of charred food that could only mean one thing: Rae’s mother was trying to cook. Trying, but certainly not succeeding.

“Wait! Stop what you’re doing, right now! Get the coffee started to brew and I’ll take over from here. Please mum, before you burn the house down, I beg of you!” Rae called from the room she had slept in to her mother in the kitchen as she tied her plush dressing gown around her waist and slid her feet into her favorite pair of slippers before rushing to the kitchen.

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Rachel! It isn’t that bad…” Rae’s mum took a glance at the disheveled stack of what appeared to be pancakes that were simultaneously burned on the outside and completely raw inside, “On second thought…perhaps I will just get the coffee started. Can you take over for me here?”

“By ‘take over’, you mean ‘start completely from scratch because these ones are inedible’, right?” Rae joked, gently nudging her mum with her hip as her mum grabbed the coffee from the cabinet above their stove.

The rest of the family awoke on their own accord and grabbed their breakfast before returning to their respective rooms to eat on their own, as even during the holidays, Rae’s family could not adhere to the formalities of spending time together as a family.

The rest of the day proceeded in much of the same fashion: Rae confined to the kitchen as she was the only member of the family who was willing and able to take the lead on cooking Christmas dinner, while the rest of her family came and went as they pleased.

By the end of the night when the gifts had been exchanged and opened, dinner had been eaten, and the dishes had been cleaned, everyone was ready to go to bed for the night; however, Rae still had to travel back to her apartment in the city, as she had work early the following morning.

And by the time Rae had returned to her apartment and was able to climb into the comforting warmth of her bed, it was already the early hours of morning, and as Rae tossed and turned trying to get some sleep, she could already see the earliest signs of the sunrise on the horizon.

***

The first three and a half hours of Rae’s shift at work were downright torturous. The café down the street from Rae’s work was closed for Christmas weekend, so Rae begrudgingly had to forego the cup of coffee she had been looking forward to getting on her way to work. When Rae arrived at work, she was looking forward to the warm, coziness of an office building with the heater running to help warm her up from her walk to work that morning; however, she quickly realized upon arriving at work that the heating system was not functioning correctly and there was no one available to fix the heating system until Tuesday, due to the holiday.

Ugh, fucking Christmas ruins everything…

Mondays at work were generally pretty quiet and today was no exception. Most of Rae’s coworkers had taken off work today to spend another day with their families, but Rae was more than happy to return to the city for work opposed to spending any additional time with her family.

When Rae’s scheduled break time finally came, Rae was thankful for the fifteen minutes to walk around outside and warm up a bit, as the sun was shining and it felt warm on her skin through her clothes despite the chill in the air.

When Rae had a few minutes left in her break, she returned to the break room and purchased an energy drink from the vending machine. She took a few long drinks from the can before setting it into the office refrigerator for her to finish after she got off of work.

Rae sat back down in her desk chair when she returned from break and got back to work responding to customers when after a while she sensed—rather than saw—someone walk up and sit down in the seat beside her.

“Hey stranger,” she greeted with a smirk as she quickly finished typing the message she had started, sent it, and turned in her desk chair to meet the familiar, warm dark brown eyes of the person who had taken a seat at the empty desk beside her.

Note to self: “Hey stranger” as a greeting holds the same meaning and creates the same sexual tension as “make me” during a squabble…

“Rae…” Finn’s eyes lit up when he said her name and they locked eyes, derailing his train of thought and making him forget what else he intended to say to Rae in that moment.

“It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen you, Finnley! We really missed you…”

“I missed you, Mae…like a lot!” Finn chuckled and blushed lightly as he turned his head away to avoid making direct eye contact with Rae.

I told him “we” missed him, but Finn just openly admitted to missing me in particular! No fucking way!

“So where have you been for the last couple weeks?” Rae asked as she picked up another customer conversation in an attempt at nonchalance.

“I was traveling a bit…with my band—”

Wait, did Finn just say...

“With your band? You’re in a band..?” Rae asked, her eyebrows furrowing as in confusion as she was fairly sure that she had misheard what Finn said.

Fucking hell, as if this bloke needed to get any more attractive!

“Yeah, I’m in a punk band…”

Of course you are.

“And I play the bass.”

“Of course you fucking do!” Rae rolled her eyes as she said this, which caused Finn to laugh and grin at Rae and she quickly realized that she had said her last thought aloud.

"What's that supposed to mean, Mae? What's wrong with me being in a band and playing bass?"

Well…shit.

"It's just I always find myself...drawn to guys—I mean people—that are in bands...so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're musically inclined as well"

"You say the weirdest things sometimes," Finn was still chuckling before he smiled at Rae and looked at her with his dark brown eyes full of sincerity, "but I love that about you. I like talking to you, and in case you haven't noticed, I don't really like talking to anyone."

"Well...I like talking to you too, and I'm very selective about who I talk to." Rae replied, her cheeks still tinged slightly pinker than they would usually be.

"So I guess I'm one lucky guy, huh?" Finn smirked and winked at Rae but did not turn his desk chair away from her even as she returned her eyes to her computer screen to continue assisting customers.

"I, uh...I really missed you Rae...like probably too much," Finn chuckled nervously before continuing. "How was your Christmas? What gifts did you get? Don't spare me the details! I haven’t been able to see ya or talk to ya in weeks and I want to know all about it, girl!”

"My Christmas was okay,” Rae began shifting nervously about being the center of attention as Finn remained focused on her, not even making an attempt to seem like he was actually working, “I spent the day with my family and I did a lot of cooking. And for presents I mostly just got some new clothes, some proper baking equipment so I can bake more often and work on my decorating skills, and a new record player.”

“That’s great, Rae! I’m so glad to hear that you got some nice gifts. And it’s so fucking cool that you got a record player! Did you get any records or do you already have some?” Finn asked, his eyes shining with a child-like happiness as he dove into yet another discussion about music with Rae that he has missed dearly in the weeks he has been gone.

“Yeah, I got a few records…Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Offspring, and The Ramones…most of them are just the Greatest Hits compilations, but yeah…I’m really excited to give’em a spin!”

“That’s a great start to a collection, Rae! I have a few records of my own that I think you might like, so just let me know if you ever wanna borrow some or, erm, hang out and listen to music together or whatever…” Finn broke eye contact for the first time during their conversation and looked down at his lap as he bounced his left leg rapidly and began biting the skin around his thumb nail.

“I’d love that, Finn! Thank you!” Rae added in a reassuring tone that made Finn smile and eased some of his tension and concerns.

“And you said you also got some new baking equipment or something?”

“Uh, yeah! I got a standing mixer and some new baking pans and trays, and some interchangeable decorating tips and stencils. I only had the basics at my apartment before this, so I’m happy that now I can learn new techniques and hone my decorating skills some more.”

Finn smiled as he noticed the light that came into Rae’s eyes when she was talking about something that she loves and truly enjoys. She noticed him grinning at her and tilted her head to the side in confusion.

What did I say to make Finn look at me like that?

“You really love cooking and baking, huh?” Finn asked with genuine curiosity.

“I suppose so. I think it’s fun and a good way to relax…and I’ve had a number of people tell me I’m quite good at it, so I might as well enjoy cooking, right?” Rae replied, trying to downplay her passion for cooking and come across as casual as possible.

“I know you can bake—fuck, as if I could ever forget the cupcakes you made—but you seem like you’re a really good cook just in general.” Rae shrugged and blushed a bit at his flattery, but Finn was not content with her humbly brushing off the compliment.

“I’m serious, Rae! You could totally compete in those cooking show competitions! You know, like Chopped or Iron Chef or something like that…You would most likely win too!”

“Okay Finnley, I think you’re giving me a little bit too much credit for someone who has only ever tasted one thing I’ve cooked…”

“Perhaps you’re right…maybe you should cook me a romantic dinner one of these days and then I can truly be the judge of your talents.” Finn wiggled his eyebrows and winked at Rae, which made her blush and chuckle nervously.

Finn is just joking, surely. He can’t be seriously about us having dinner together, obviously…but why does the look in his eyes give the impression that he meant what he said..?

Finn noticed Rae’s silence as she over-analyzed what he had said and wrongly interpreted it, assuming that his attempt at flirting had made her uncomfortable, so he quickly tried to get the conversation back on track.

“No, but seriously. I don’t think I’m giving you too much credit, Rae…that one cupcake was more than enough to convince me. I just…I-I know that you’re amazing at everything you set your mind to and I can see the passion in your eyes when you talk about cooking.” Finn looked at Rae and smiled when the intensity of his stare cause her to look away before he continued.

“So even if you don’t believe it yet yourself, I know you have the talent and passion and I look forward to the day that I see you on TV and can brag to everyone I know that I was lucky enough to taste your cupcakes. And I’m gonna be so proud of you, girl!”

Rae was at a loss for words and was not entirely sure how to react to the unwavering confidence and belief Finn has in her abilities as a chef.

She tuned slightly in her chair to say something but her train of thought was completely derailed when she saw that Finn was still smiling at her, but he was paying extra attention to her facial features to get a better reading of her reaction.

Holy shit…is it possible that Finn could have gotten MORE fit in the two weeks since I saw him last? He’s so hot I could probably forgo the oven and bake cookies directly on this beautiful bloke in front of me!

Rae chuckled, which caused Finn to quirk an eyebrow up in confusion, and she shook the humorous thought of baking cookies directly on Finn’s naked torso from her mind before finally responding.

“Thank you, Finn. I don’t think I’ve ever known someone with so much faith in me or my cooking abilities…so I really appreciate that,” Rae cleared her throat before continuing, “Anyways! Enough about me and my life these last few weeks…you were off traveling with your fucking punk band! That’s amazing! How was that? What all did you do? Don’t spare me the details either.”

“Yeah, it was pretty great…at first…the first few shows we did were really good and we had a good sized crowd that listened to us even though we were only the opening act. But after about a week, all of us were missing our girlfriends and the people we had waiting for us here at home…And you never really know how much of a twat some of your friends are until you travel and share hotels with them non-stop for a week!”

Rae laughed and turned slightly to face Finn more directly as he continued with his story.

“Our last show was supposed to be on Christmas Eve—so I wasn’t going to be back with my family for Christmas—but we had our van broken into and stolen from the parking lot of our hotel one night, so we had to cancel the rest of our shows because all our equipment and a lot of our stuff was inside the van that was taken…”

“Holy shit, Finn! Are you serious? I am so sorry to hear that.” Rae met Finn’s gaze and his grimace turned into some semblance of a genuine smile when he saw the sincerity and overwhelming sympathy in Rae’s eyes.

“Yeah…it was pretty shitty…but this meant we were able to head home four days early and spend Christmas with our loved ones, so that was a blessing in disguise, I suppose.” Finn replied as he shrugged his shoulders.

“That’s a good way to look at it Finn! What did you and your family do for Christmas?”

“Nothing too interesting. It were just me, my dad, my stepmom, and my two sisters. I got some new clothes as well, a really nice blanket, and a popcorn popper from my family…I just felt really guilty that I didn’t have gifts to give them in return.”

Rae tilted her head to one side and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, waiting for Finn to go on. Finn proceeded to tell Rae that the day before their van was stolen, him and his band mates had spent their free day visiting the shops around the town they were in to get the last of their Christmas gifts for family, friends, and significant others.

“Well, ya see, all the gifts I gotten for people were in the back of the van that got stolen…” As the understanding sunk in, Rae gasped and gave Finn an apologetic look as he continued telling the story.

“I was gutted to see that everything I had was taken because some of the gifts had sentimental value and special meaning—they weren’t just bought from a store—so it’ll be nearly impossible for me to replace all the gifts, but I am gonna try. Do you think people will be upset that I couldn’t give them a gift?” Finn broke eye contact, shifting his gaze to examine his fingernails that he had bitten down significantly while coping with recent stressful events.

“Finn, of course not!” Rae finished the message she was typing before reaching her left hand over to gently squeeze his hands where they rested on the desk beside her before continuing, “This wasn’t your fault at all, so anyone should be able to understand why you weren’t able to give them a gift. It means enough that you tried and that you are trying to make it up to them, I honestly don’t even think you should concern yourself with what other people will think. If you have the right people in your life, they will be more than understanding of the situation…”

Rae studied Finn’s face, which was now turned slightly away from her as he stared at the ground, and the panic began to set in as she began to second-guess what she had just said to him. Finn then looked up at Rae from under his thick eyebrows and a grin spread slowly across his face when their eyes met.

“I’m not sure how, but I had a feeling you’d say something like that, Rae,” Finn finally replied, chuckling nervously as he ran his fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck, “I like that mentality.”

Rae and Finn fell into a comfortable silence for the remaining hour of her shift, as she kept responding to customers and Finn began assisting the first customers of his shift despite being logged into his computer for a few hours.

When the clocks on the wall nearest to them chimed, signaling the new hour, Rae logged off of her computer and stood from her desk chair to leave.

“Okay, I’m leaving for the day. It was really nice to see ya today, Finn…”

Don’t you say it, Rae…Don’t you dare fucking say it!

“I, uh…I really missed you while you were gone too, Finn.”

Fuck…you said it.

Rae hurried out of the building, not willing to wait for Finn’s response to her admitting that she had missed him, as she was sure that his reaction would not be a good one.

***

As she walked along the perimeter of the building toward the seating area in which a number of shaded stone tables served as the designated “smoking area” near their office complex, Rae took a seat at one of the tables that was in direct sunlight in an attempt to recover some of the warmth she had been lacking inside the building for the last few hours.

Rae was sitting at this table for a few minutes, drinking the remainder of her energy drink and scrolling through her social media accounts when she noticed someone walking quickly towards the table she was sitting at.

“Fancy seeing you here! Why are you sitting out here alone?”

Rae looked up to see Finn standing in front of the table she was sitting at and she could clearly tell that he was debating if he should take a seat as well or not.

“Hiya Finn…I haven’t seen you in ages!” Rae joked before continuing, “I was really cold, so I wanted to warm up a bit before walking home so I’m sitting here in the sun…and I wanted to finish drinking my energy drink…”

“Well…I can think of a few things we could do that could warm ya up…” Finn replied with a smirk as he sat down at the opposite side of the table facing Rae, which caused her to blush a deep red color.

“So…uh…what are you doing out here, Finn?”

“I’m on my break. Normally I like to walk laps around the building to get my blood pumping a bit or I’ll go get some food or coffee, but while I was walking today I saw you sitting here and well…”

“Oh! I’m sorry I’m ruining your break time. I can leave if ya want—”

“No! I mean…you don’t have to leave on my account. I want to sit and talk to you for a bit while I’m on break, if that’s alright with you. We still have a lot of making up for lost time to do, girl!”

“Okay…so what do ya wanna talk about, Finnley?”

“Uhm…do you wanna hear about a couple of my New Year’s resolutions?” Rae nodded and took another sip of her energy drink, giving Finn an encouraging smile as she waited for him to speak.

“Well…I want to start going to the gym more often. To get a bit healthier and build some muscles, you know? And…uh…I really want to stop smoking.”

“That’s great Finn! I’m happy to hear you’re making some choices to put your health first in this upcoming year.”

“Yeah…I mean, I don’t like that I smoke and I know a lot of people that matter to me that don’t like when the people around them smoke, so I’m willing to make those changes for them and for myself.”

Rae took another drink of her energy drink and watched in curiosity as Finn rolled an acorn back and forth on top of the table before he looked up to meet her eyes.

“What about you, Rae? Do you have any New Year’s resolutions?”

“Uh, not really. I don’t think they’re very effective—for me at least—and I almost never accomplish them, so I rarely make resolutions…I do, however, like to assess what the year that is ending meant for me and what I want the next year to bring…in general terms, at least.”

“So what do you want the year 2017 to bring you?”

“Well in 2016, I experienced a lot of high highs and low lows…and…well, I don’t really know how to say this without ranting about the intricacies of my screwed up life, but…”

“Rae, I understand if you don’t wanna tell me, but I just want to let you know you can tell me anything. I won’t judge you and even if I can’t help, I can promise you that I will try my fucking best to help however I can….I want you to trust me, Rae.”

Rae was caught off-guard by his sincerity as she searched his eyes for any indication that he did not mean what he was saying.

“Okay…well, I’ve had a rough few years. And by that, I suppose I mean that the last six years of my life have been very difficult and almost always seemed to be getting worse with each passing year…but even just the small changes I’ve made in my life in the last few months I think are small steps towards where I want to be…So I want 2017 to help me realize who are my true friends and help me surround myself with people that genuinely care for me and want me to be happy. I also want to keep working towards loving myself and embracing who I am at this point in my life, and yeah…I guess my new year’s resolution for 2017 would just be to be happy.”

She took a deep breath and before she could psych herself out of saying what was on the tip of her tongue, Rae added “And I'm not entirely sure why, but I do trust you Finn…”

As soon as the words left her lips, she immediately looked down at her hands on top of the stone table and busied herself with examining her long, polished red fingernails.

“Oh, Rae…I’m so glad you felt comfortable telling me that and you don't know how happy I am to hear that you trust me,” he paused briefly and stared at her with a gentle smile until she looked up to meet his eyes and he continued, “I want you to be happy, girl. I know that you especially deserve to be happy because you’re world-class…and no, Rae, I’m not just saying that to be nice. I mean it. And I want to do whatever I can as your coworker and close mate and…well, whatever you want me to be, to help you be happy.”

How did I get lucky enough to know such a fit boy that also has a heart of gold? I must have won the lottery or stepped into a parallel universe because this sort of shit never happens to Rae Earl…

Rae and Finn kept talking about everything and anything, just enjoying the pleasantly warm afternoon weather and each other’s company when Finn happened to glance at his phone to check the time.

“Shit…my break ended a while ago. I should probably head back to work now…I suppose. So...what your plans for the rest of the day, Rae?” Finn asked as he begrudgingly stood from the table and gave Rae a shy smile.

“My plans…for the rest of today? Well I was just gonna go back to my apartment…but I think maybe I’ll go to the Secret Garden instead.”

“Wait…Did you say, uh, ‘secret garden’…?”

“Yeah! It’s this little garden on campus where I’ve been growing some plants and vegetables for the last couple months…it’s well-hidden and almost no one knows about it, so it’s my secret garden. I like going there to just relax, or listen to music and think from time to time…”

“Oh, that’s so cool, Rae! And that sounds like a lot of fun…I wish I could come along so you could show me around your secret garden and I can just keep hanging out with you…but instead I have to go back to work.”

Wait a second! Did Finn just openly admit how much he wants to keep hanging out with me and have me show him around my garden?

Every sexual innuendo Rae's friends have been making for the last few month since Rae took this gardening class came to mind and she tried to contain the giggle and ignore the blush that was creeping into her cheeks at the memory of Chloe’s advice to try to find a nice bloke who wanted to explore Rae's “lady garden”.

FOCUS RAE! Finn Nelson just told you how much he'd rather spend time with you than go back to work...and he's clearly interested in exploring your secret garden, which could be literal or figurative and mean something sexual...in either case, I'm not complaining, but you have to say something! And DON’T FUCK IT UP, RAE!

“Uhm...well, I wish we could keep chatting and hanging out too, but you've already missed two weeks of work and what kind of influence would I be on you if I was the reason you ditch work less than halfway through your first day back?”

“I don't care...being with you is worth getting in trouble for missing work…” Finn replied almost immediately.

“Well I'm flattered you think that, Finn, but I just couldn't do that in good conscience. But…” Rae paused for dramatic effect and to ensure that she had Finn’s undivided attention, “I'd be more than happy to give you a personal tour of my garden another time, okay? So just consider this a rain check yeah?”

“Yeah, okay! I just hope it's soon...I'm excited to see this ‘secret garden’ of yours and experience it first-hand…” Finn added with a wink and his signature crooked smirk.

Yup...that’s most definitely a euphemism…

“I look forward to seeing you again very soon, Rae!”

“Yeah, for sure. Enjoy the rest of your shift at work, Finnley!”

He was already walking away quickly as she said this, since his fifteen minute break was going on nearly thirty minutes now and he couldn't risk being any later than he already was, but he turned back to face Rae where she still sat at the stone table before sighing longingly and adding, “Without you there, girl? It's impossible for me to enjoy work anymore when you're not around me...take care, love!” And he quickly turned and kept walking until he was out of Rae's line of sight.

Holy shit...I have so much new information and stories to share with the girls now that Finn is back in town and back in my life!

Rae sighed dreamily and as she walked to her Uni campus and into the secret garden to tend to her plants.

This handsome dickhead gives me heart palpitations in the best ways possible…

And as she watered her bush of luscious red roses that were just beginning to bloom, she could not wipe the dopey lovesick grin from her face as her favorite cover of Can't Help Falling in Love crooned from her Bluetooth speakers.

@eveerez @tinakegg @hey1tskat1e @bitchesbecrazy89 @kneekeyta @milllott @protectfinnnelson @arathewallflower @jackiewalsh2013 @pink-royaute @i-dream-of-emus @lurkernolonger @bitchy-broken

A/N: Hey there! I'm back again lol. So I'm at a point where I can take this story in two very different directions, but I have not decided which just yet. I want to do right by you all, the readers, but I also want to stay true to myself and gain some form of catharsis because I have literally been detailing some of my most recent relationship drama under the guise of MMFD fanfic for like 10? chapters now...so we'll just have to wait and see where the story takes me...in the meantime: I'm always here to answer your questions, gossip about MMFD and other MMFD fanfics, and get to know you guys, so...let's be friends, yeah? 😘😁😁😘

#mmfd fanfic #my mad fat diary fanfiction #chapter 9 #my writing

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kyberled · 8 years ago

Note

☯ for... the civilian casualty that dies in braig's arms

Send me ‘☯ + a scene from my characters canon’ and I will drabble it from my character’s POV. || Accepting

There have been many, but the first had stuck the longest.

He wasn’t sure why; Perhaps it was because that was the moment that the gravity of the war had realised itself. He had seen soldiers die, and other Jedi, and he had mourned them, of course, grieved as much as a Jedi was allowed to, on the battlefield, and off of it, too, if he’d been close enough to whoever had passed.

But, there was something different, something wrong, about having a civilian be the victim.

It was far worse when the victim was a child.

He’d seen death before, but he’d never seen it in one so young.

It had been an easy battle, as far as battles went, and Braig had made it out with only minor damage. A few scrapes here, a bruise there, bloody knuckles on his left hand, the burn of exhaustion settled stubbornly in his muscles, but that was to be expected. There had been a few losses in their numbers, and Braig could see some of the men already slowing down, heads bowing and shoulders drooping as they began to mourn their fallen brothers. He decided to give them their space as he and those soldiers who were in better shape continued sweeping the village, just to be sure. The village was supposed to be abandoned, but there had been times they’d found stragglers, and, even worse, surviving battle droids. A careful search now would save lives and time, later.

It had been a while, maybe up to half an hour, before the Force gave an uncomfortable twinge. It wasn’t a droid, and it wasn’t nearly dark nor powerful enough to belong to Count Dooku or Ventress, and so he spared only the slightest glance to the men, making sure to not to stray too far in his investigations, and picked his way over the rubble.

He would remember little of the moments leading up to his morbid discovery. The streets were dusty, silent and dead aside from the somewhat muffled sounds of the men from behind him. The sandstone walls were painted black with ash, and, as he paused to look around the street, he rested his hand against the doorway of a mostly-intact house. When he pulled his hand away, a pale orange hand print was left in its wake. He let his hand fall to his side. Upon noticing the hand print, he glanced down at his palm, scowled at the soot-stained mess that greeted him, and wiped it off on his tunic.

It didn’t help much.

A soft sigh breached his lips as he walked, wiping his hand down his face, pausing just long enough to make sure that it wasn’t the dirty one, then closing his eyes. The disturbance in the Force was close, enough to cause an ache in his skull that he tried to rub out with the heels of his palms. It didn’t work, only serving to leave smudges on his forehead. He took a deep breath to steady himself, letting air tasting of road-dust and fading blaster fire spill over his tongue and into his lungs. Opening his eyes, he crept forward slowly, hands resting on the saber hilts strapped to his hips. The charred remains of wooden beams crunched under his feet as he walked, blackened splinters sticking to the soft leather of his boots. The faint breeze blew towards him the sent of ashes, and… Cooked meat?

His brow furrowed in confusion as he stepped into what appeared to be the remains of an empty room. The stone walls reached only to his belt at highest, cut across in an uneven line that reminded him of a predator’s teeth, and boxed in the room except for the gaps where explosions had caved them in. The ashen coating on the walls was identical to that on the floor, slashed through by the wind and driven into piles that were scattered across the room. The smell was almost overpowering here, a barbecue that had been left on too long, mixed with the reek of fear and something that was sickly-sweet, almost like bile but different, and Braig wrinkled his nose. He didn’t like that smell. He pulled his scarf over his face in an attempt to filter the scent to a less suffocating level. The pain in the Force was even worse, and yet he just couldn’t tell what it was coming from. He toed at one of the piles closest to him, brow furrowing as the heap fell away, revealing only the remains of some sort of furniture buried underneath. He exhaled softly, head tilting to the side and brow furrowing, before moving to the next pile. He regarded it for a moment before crouching down. Was it this one? No, no, it was still coming from a ways away… He frowned at the pile, then turned his head to survey his surroundings. It looked like there were just more heaps of ash… Until one of them moved.

The breath caught in his throat as his eyes focused on the source of the discomfort. Blackened and disfigured, coated in a layer of grey ash, it was almost indistinguishable from the rest of the terrain. The only reason it- they? - was - were? - at all visible was because its, or their, shifting had dislodged the coating of ash that had buried it, or…

Braig stood slowly, almost clumsily, moving the few steps to take him to the burned thing’s side before falling to his knees in a cloud of grey. The cooked-meat smell was overpowering here, and he absently tugged the useless scarf off of his slack-jawed face.

Their skin was charred black, cracked through with bloody lines like raw lava across a ravaged landscape, with too-thin limbs like gnarled tree branches, warped and distorted by heat and pasted to the filthy ground by dried gore and melted flesh. It was only by the whistling attempts for breath that he even knew they were still alive. The Force was a maelstrom of sensations, pain and fear and confusion and the slightly muted sensations of the men a ways away, mixing with his own stuttering heart and soft breaths, and he had to throw up a shield to avoid being overwhelmed by it all.

He had been staring at her face- The Force was definitely saying it was a ‘her’ - for a full ten seconds before the scraps of information quilted themselves together into what little the heat of war had left behind. A single eye stared up at him, sclera seared a bloodshot red as a milky pupil flitted anxiously back and forth, as though tracking the movements of a particularly erratic fly. In spite of himself, Braig searched the Force for what she couldn’t possibly be seeing. The rush of agony that slammed into him had him throwing his shields up even as his vision blurred. Her breathing stuttered, and he glanced to the cavernous remains of what had been her nose. A flap of blistered skin had fallen over half of it, and each laboured breath seemed like it might cause her to inhale it. He was tempted to wipe it away, and nearly did so, but caught himself, stopping his hand half-way. He didn’t want to hurt her… His eyes wandered over the horrific grin left behind from where lips had boiled and bubbled and melted away, and only one thought crossed his mind.

She shouldn’t be alive.

“I need a medic,” he mumbled, turning slightly, before snapping out of whatever trance had taken hold of him. “I need a medic!” He was shouting, now, turned as best he could without standing, one hand supporting his weight against the ash-coated ground.

(He tried not to think about how much of the grey had once been a part of the dying youngling in front of him.)

The comm on his wrist pinged suddenly, and he jumped, eyes darting to the blinking green light before he answered and was flooded by an onslaught of voices.

“Sir, are you okay?!” That was the first sentence he was able to pick out, and it was being repeated over and over.

“I’m fine, guys, I just�� It’s a civilian, send a medic, quickly!” He stopped listening to the chatter entirely, not even bothering to shut the little device off. His hands hovered over her for only a moment before the Force glowed at his palms. In spite of his increasingly frantic efforts, she was fading away. He could only assume that the damage had already been done - that he’d gotten there too late. The slurry of negative emotions still poisoned the Force around her, the fear, the confusion, those were still there, but they were overpowered by a sense of utter loneliness.

Did she even know that he was there? Or, did she think that she was alone in her final moments?

He swallowed hard, then carefully worked his hands under her body. Lifting her into his arms had been meant to comfort, but the pained whine that broke past her soot-stained teeth lanced guilt through his heart. He almost put her back down, but her hands twitched and he felt a sliver of- Relief? through the Force.

For one brief, eternal moment, her eye locked on his, as though she could see him - but no, she couldn’t possibly - and he met her gaze, and time seemed to stretch out for years within the span of one rancid breath, and then there was a shudder in the Force and the temperature around them seemed to drop, and then she fell limp and still in his arms (Force, she was small, so small, she fit in his arms perfectly why had she been left here) and the chaos that had been clouding the Force vanished, even when he hesitantly lowered his shields.

She was gone, and he was alone.

He sat there, staring down at her for so long (he wouldn’t remember the moments leading up to his discovery, but he would remember that mangled face for so long, so long, too long) and it was only by the ping of his commlink that he was able to tear his eyes away.

“We’re nearly there, sir, just hang on!”

Braig did his best to raise his arm to his face without dropping her (he wasn’t sure why he was bothering).

“Cancel that order.” That was his voice speaking, but he wasn’t aware of having formed the words.

“What?” The voice over the comm sounded shocked; Braig was quite sure he was much the same, though his voice didn’t convey nearly as much emotion, was far too hollow for that.

“There’s no point,” it was on the final syllable that his voice broke, and he had to swallow a lump of bile or tears or both that was building in the back of his throat. “Save the supplies.” He stood, then, walking on numbed legs as he held the charred body against his chest, eyes staring unseeing at the ground in front of him. He stumbled once, didn’t notice, kept going. Someone would take the body from him, and he looked up, but didn’t process who it was, only nodded at the drone of sound that was probably a question, probably asking if he was alright, and crossed his arms tightly over his chest, trying to ignore how damp his sleeves felt, how a coppery stickiness had seeped through the fabric and settled itself around his forearms.

He didn’t realise he was shaking.

All he could think of was that horrid face, and the last look he had shared with that blind, milky-white eye.

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zahra-kha · 4 years ago

Text

Return

They came back to everything in ash and ruin. The rains had lost since dried, so when Sahrin and Fitaan returned to the encampment, naught lay but dust and blackened remains of their livelihood.

A troupe carried everything on its back. Granted, the two of them had taken everything of vital importance with them when they’d left but...their home, their life, their family had been here.

Sahrin’s steps hit the ground with heavy thuds as his knees threatened to buckle under him. Trembling, gloved hands reached toward the charred mass he’d once called home, as if willing it all to rise back up to its former glory. Silent pleas were answered in kind, devastation and blackened wreckage lay beyond his splayed fingers.

After a long moment he stiffened, turning to Fitaan. A rumble rose from his chest, but Fitaan opened his mouth to speak first.

“Whatever happened, it was weeks ago,” he said, surveying the area. His wide nostrils flared as he breathed in the dry air. A dark brown hand rose, resting against Sahrin’s shoulder to steady his nerves. “We will find no answers here, there’s no stench of death. No uneasiness. Consider it a blessing and let us return to Hyrstmill.”

Nothing was amiss when they returned to the village. Familiar faces greeted them as always, although perhaps one or two avoided direct eye contact at first. Fitaan hung back while Sahrin zeroed in on them, turning on the charm to approach them with pleasant smiles and gentle concern about events that occurred while they were away.

“Do you know if there was a fire a while back near our encampment?”

The genuine confusion on their faces threw the two men off. Did no one truly think nothing was amiss? Granted, the encampment was far from the village so as to keep out of trouble and for them to practice without bothering anyone but surely a fire large enough to engulf the entire encampment would have drawn some attention? Caused concern?

“We did notice smoke a few weeks back-” one of the villagers commented. “but it didn’t spread and there didn’t seem to be a fire...” the two villagers looked between one another, their expressions slowly morphing to genuine concern as they regarded Sahrin. “Is everything alright?”

“Have you seen the other members of our troupe?” Fitaan offers a change in subject.

Perhaps he felt a bit paranoid, but Sahrin thought he saw one of them shift their gaze away again.

“Oh!” the other villager stepped up, drawing his attention away. “I’d seen the other three, your young one’s been stopping by quite a bit, but the other two haven’t been around for a while. I think they left for a trip or another, they didn’t quite say...”

‘The young one’ was likely Zahra. Outside of Cecilia, who left the troupe for whatever reason or another, Zahra had been the youngest.

Fitaan took over from there. He stepped in and politely informed the two that there’d been a small fire and the encampment had been damaged and could the two of them stay in temporary lodgings for the evening? They’d travel to Gridania in the morning to file a proper report with the Adders (they wouldn’t, but the villagers didn’t need to know that). They needed to find Zahra and get some answers.

Hyrstmill wasn’t exactly equipped to house a bunch of people, but they were led to a small hut where they could put their things and rest for the evening. It held a few beds, mostly for travelers and adventurers, and had a small kitchen area for whenever they’d felt like having dinner. After spending most of the day and afternoon on the road, a hot meal would be welcome to calm down all the questions spinning in their minds.

Sahrin wanted to dig for more answers, but he wasn’t sure if the villagers would know much more. From the genuine confusion he saw on the people he spoke with and the lack of tension in the air when they arrived, no one had known about the fire. That suggested a few things - one, the fire had been intentional and it’d been controlled. Which, had he taken a moment to actually investigate and take a look around instead of standing there shell shocked, he would have likely had picked up on that immediately. Thinking back, the surrounding area hadn’t been scorched at all.

He knew things were amiss with the troupe, but he hadn’t known to what extent and why. When Armand had attacked Zahra, he’d been too focused on getting justice for the girl that he’d forgotten about everything else. Or maybe he just hadn’t thought it was that serious. Or -

“Sahrin,” Fitaan placed another hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You will overthink yourself to death. Go get cleaned up, I’ll make dinner.”

The warmth on his shoulder snapped him out of his thoughts. He pulled his hands from his hair and relaxed his body, letting out a sigh. Heavy steps echoed on wooden planks as he trudged from the hut they were staying in over towards the public baths.

“Sahrin.”

A familiar, yet cold voice pulls him toward the shadows of a storage hut nestled toward the back of the village. The hard glow of two amethyst rings bore into him from the darkness of the entrance. Stopping in his tracks, he turns and heads towards the shed, unbothered as the glow fades away as he approaches.

The shed holds little. A few farming supplies, some dry foodstuffs. As he walks in the door closes shut behind him and there’s the sound of a lock clicking into place. His ears flatten against his head and his fingers curl into claws, ready to strike. Still, he feels at ease, there’s no bloodthirst, no desire for his life. Anger, definitely. If he hadn’t known those eyes, seen them since childhood, he likely would not have walked inside the hut to begin with.

Still, the chill in her voice sends a shiver up his spine - even if he doesn’t find her a threat, her anger is palatable.

“Zahra...” he slowly turns towards her voice, a brow raising. “Have you been here this whole time?”

A match is struck. Sahrin squints as light blossoms inside the pitch blackness of the small hut as Zahra lights an oil lantern. She’s wearing a dark blue outfit, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. A rarity, but it looked good on her. Setting the lamp upon one of the shelves against the wall she finally regards her former mentor.

[“How’d the hunt go?”] the question is asked as simply as if she were asking him how his day went and not something as severe as whether or not he had completed passing judgment on one of their own. It was such a departure from her usual mannerisms that Sahrin had to double take.

“Zahra?”

[“Did you kill Armand? I didn’t think it was a complicated question, Sahrin.”]

It’d also taken him a moment to realize she hadn’t been speaking to him in common since he’d entered. Oddly enough, he found her dialect off when she was angry. Akin to a foreigner speaking Hannish. He couldn’t quite place the accent though. Eastern?

“He’s gone.” he responded, regarding her seriously. “Did you bring me here just to ask that? What happened to the encampment?”

[”No.”] the subject was dropped just as easily as it was brought up. Zahra leaned against the shelves, arms crossed. Her tail curled around her calf, her usual sign of when she didn’t want someone to easily tell what she was thinking. [I’m the one asking questions, Sahrin. And I want answers. I deserve them, my friends deserve them. And all the questions lead back to you.”]

For a moment, he could have sworn her eyes flashed red. She moved away from the shelves, unfolding her arms as she began to slowly walk toward him. Unease crept up, the sensation that for the first time since knowing Zahra he may not be entirely safe became a reality, and he desperately wished for his weapons. His heart clenched, and a deep, overwhelming sadness washed over him at the thought.

“What happened while I was gone?” it was a rhetorical question, more whispered than spoken, but she caught it nonetheless.

[”I took a knife to the gut and was poisoned by your longtime friend Sai, Esila is dead, and apparently, someone really, really doesn’t like you. Enough to go to magistrate Orhan.”] he let out a heavy breath at that. [”What happened is, I learned my ‘family’ were nothing but a bunch of strangers wearing smiles and playing pretend, and I will get to the bottom of everything. Even if I have to use the Kouris name to do it.”] she stopped in front of Sahrin, looking up at him. Her eyes flashed between red and lavender. Within their depths he saw barely contained rage.

[”You will meet with my friends and I. You will answer our questions. Or so help me I will use every dirty trick, every awful thing I’ve learned from my father and you and Fitaan will never see the homeland again. I will personally see to it that this entire troupe burns to the ground just like the encampment. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no innocent party, you’re all guilty and I swear I’ll bury you all for what you’ve tried to do to me, to Cecilia - all the murdering and scheming. All of you will face justice. I will be in contact.”]

She spun on her heel and was heading out the door, leaving him reeling. Only about half of what she’d said actually made sense, the rest hit him like a punch to the solar plexus. Esila dead? Sai stabbed and poisoned Zahra? Of course he had suspected something was wrong with the troupe but not even in his wildest dreams had he suspected -

Are you sure about that? Look at what happened to Armand and ask yourself that question again.

“Zahra, wait!” he tried to chase after her as she unlocked the door and headed out. It couldn’t end like this. They needed to have a proper talk. Like they used to. He needed answers too! “Zahra, stop and talk to me!” he reached out and grabbed her arm.

If asked later, he’d be unable to answer if he’d had been able to defend against her blow. Perhaps because it was Zahra he hadn’t expected the strike, or maybe it was something else. Either way, the next thing he knew he felt heat. Not wind, which would have made sense, but a pure, white-hot burn that slapped against his chest and sent him flying back toward the hut. It knocked the wind out of him as his back slammed against the front frame. Stars swam in his vision and he struggled to focus on the sight before him.

Zahra stood, her weapons drawn, feathers of flame encircled her before fading into vapors. From a moment it looked as if the flames were dancing along her skin and hair, the latter which was normally pink now appeared to blaze a deep crimson, like her eyes. In the low light of the setting sun, he reminded her of the goddess of fire.

<”You do not get to touch us,”> she spoke to him in a language he did not understand, but it fit the strange accent he could hear earlier. It did sound vaguely familiar, he’d heard it before somewhere. <”You lost that fatherly privilege when your ‘family’ betrayed me. Your beliefs, your principles, we believed in you, trusted you, and you brought us into a lie.”> her hands clenched onto the chakrams and for a moment, he truly thought she would strike at him to kill him. Instead she turned and continued on.

#zahra kouris #zahra kha #ic

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