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stainedglasstruth · 1 year

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TIMING: After Dark Waters LOCATION: A Latte To Love PARTIES: Lil (@the-lil-exorcist) & Arden (@stainedglasstruth) SUMMARY: Arden and Lil, both looking like shit, meet up for some coffee. The exorcist updates the journalist about her investigation into the crystals. CONTENT WARNINGS: N/A

Lil practically fell into the seat across from Arden seeing the other and not bothering to go around with the pleasantries she had been getting better at. After all, although she couldn’t say she was the closest to Arden - other than Jonas who could Lil really say she was close to them after all - but she did know her. So she’d taken the other on the offer to meet up and trade information. She needed someone that she knew wasn’t going to turn around and hurt her for no reason. She was fairly certain Arden wouldn’t, and - well if nothing else Lil wanted to make sure the other didn’t do anything too reckless. Part of her too - the small part that was practically screaming at her - also wanted to find more people to trust with all of this.

Lil wanted people that would care - and as soon as that came across her brain she pushed it down.

“If I still look like a drowned rat, know that there’s not much I can do about that,” Lil said with a voice that was still a bit raspy from everything as she leaned back into the chair waiting for the waitress to notice her as well. Her throat didn’t feel like it was on fire anymore anyway, and she’d mostly gotten the tangles out of her hair. Hell, she even slept for a few nights. She probably looked at least a little better than she had been. “But at least I’m not late? I also got some - well it’s at least interesting news. - Oh wait, I'm supposed to say hi first. Hi, Arden. Hope your week has been better than mine. I also got some pastries for you from the bakery.”

—

As was often the case, Arden was early. She had been waiting a little bit, a cup of coffee already in front of her by the time Lil arrived, nearly collapsing into her chair. Raising a brow, she took in the state of her companion– somewhat harried, hair mussed, circles under her eyes. Lil was objectively beautiful, but she did look a bit of a mess at the moment. The woman was in good company, though, as the broken arm, bite scar, and general lack of sleep meant the writer wasn’t looking her best these days either. There wasn’t any judgment, but there was some concern as she looked over the other. “Uh, hi,” she greeted.

The raspy voice was unexpected, and she found herself wondering if Lil was sick. But if her throat hurt, the woman didn’t seem phased, words spilling out of her without much pause. Arden blinked, taking a second to process. “Oh, thanks? You didn’t have to do that. And, you’re fine, I mean,” she gestured at herself with her good arm, “glass houses, and whatnot.”

“Are you okay, though?” It wasn’t like the two of them were close, but between her appearance, the rasp, the comment about her week, and just the fact that they were in fucking Wicked’s Rest, it seemed like a safe bet to say that something had happened.

—

Lil focused on the other, and realized she wasn’t the only one that seemed to have a bad time as of late. It had taken her a moment to realize that Arden wasn’t her normal self, and that she probably wasn’t the only one that had to get medical attention. Taking in the arm with a glance, part of her wanted to ask what had happened, and the question was on the tip of her tongue before realizing it was probably too much. Instead she gave the box of pastries over, making sure to put them on Arden’s not broken arm side.

“No problem,” Lil said almost automatically as thanks. She had a habit of trying to feed people anyway, and well she wasn’t any good at cooking or baking. It was much safer to pull some pastries, than accidentally poison someone. At the question, Lil couldn’t help the shrug as she continued. “Someone pushed me into the harbor to kill me, I think. Hell of a guess that I couldn’t swim, but someone fished me out anyway. Are you okay? I really want to believe that you just tripped, but we live in a horror town during a weird time.”

She wanted to let Arden in on what she knew, but Lil for some reason also wanted to make sure the other was okay. After all, as squishy as Lil was, she was a Medium. Death wasn’t all that much of a mystery or fear for her normally. Sure, she’d been pissed and scared at the moment but it didn’t continue haunting her.

—

She was not one to turn down free pastries, especially when they were from Bread Cemetery, even if she did feel a little awkward about it, and even if it did send a small pang of hurt through her as it made her think of her ex-roommate. But Arden ignored them for the moment, her attention entirely focused on Lil as she continued, very casually mentioning the possible attempt on her life. It seemed she wasn’t the only one who’d been having a terrible time recently.

Her eyes widened at the woman’s words. “Holy shit, what?!” She made sure to keep her voice down to its normal volume, but she couldn’t help the jolt of shock and concern that ran through her. It brought to mind that time at Vicker’s, the incident that had made her scared of the water. She could remember that feeling of fear and panic as something grabbed on and began to pull her under, the panicked scream, water flooding her lungs. Suppressing a shudder, Arden’s brows furrowed as she prodded Lil for more information. “Do you know who? Or why??? You got yourself checked out, right?” After a moment, she gathered herself, though. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer any of that. I’m just… glad you’re alright, I suppose.”

Of course, it was natural the other have questions for her, too– she did look like shit. “I mean, I’m still kicking,” she replied with a crooked grin. “I would love to be able to tell you that I did just trip, but, yeah, horror town.” There was no way she was going to get into everything that had happened at the barn right now, especially not while they were in public. Besides, while Lil obviously knew about ghosts, she didn’t know exactly how far her knowledge went. And it wasn’t exactly a pleasant topic, either, so she kept it at that for now.

Looking over, Arden caught the waitress’ eye, and she came by to take Lil’s order before leaving them alone once again.

— Even though Lil couldn’t be considered normal, and most of her reactions she knew were probably outside the norm, she did expect Arden to have some questions about it. Still, there was a bit on Arden’s face that made Lil wonder if she was afraid of the water. “Yeah I think someone’s trying to kill me,” Lil said with a bit of a shrug trying to keep it as well less scary as possible. “Not sure who, although I think there are a couple of leads, don’t really know why cause I don’t think I pissed off anyone that badly,” Lil said with a bit of a shrug she didn’t really feel. Sure, ghosts sometimes wanted to kill her, but they usually didn’t feel corporeal while trying to push her. “Oh yeah, I got checked out. I should be fine, my throat is just all salt water-y. Not good for the vocal fry, you know? And no problem, it was something that I just said. You’ve got a right to be curious or cautious.”

After all, it would be more than fair for Arden to not want to work with Lil if she had some sort of dagger above her head. It could be a liability. Lil nodded lightly and said, “Sorry to hear that. If you need help, let me know. I still have a hell of a right hook.” At that she ordered her coffee, giving the waitress a smile before turning back to Arden.

“Anyway - barring all the horrors and terrors, I think I at least have something for you on those crystal people. Whatever it is, it’s not a spirit or haunting. It’s something else,” Lil said softly, aware of the ears around them. “Couldn’t tell you what, but it’s not a ghost.”

—

Arden didn’t quite know how to respond to that. “That’s– Wh– What the fuck? That’s insane???” She supposed it wasn’t any less insane than the rest of the shit that went on in town, but still, why would someone want to kill Lil? “What kind of leads do you mean? Do you need any help?” As thinly stretched as she was these days, she would be willing to spend some time looking into things for the other. It wasn’t like she was spending her nights getting much sleep. She might as well get something done during those periods of wakefulness aside from tossing and turning.

It was good to hear the woman had gone to the doctor, at least. “I do, in fact, know,” she nodded. “It’s a shitty feeling.” It was a testament to how much she liked Teagan that she had initially agreed to go swimming with her. She remembered never wanting to go in the water again after her childhood adventures in almost drowning.

She shrugged her good arm at Lil’s apology. “I appreciate it, and noted,” Arden grinned, “but that particular issue has been dealt with, thankfully. Also, apparently I’m pretty decent in a fight– or at least I am when I happen to have two working arms. A friend was helping me train,” she explained. “I figured it’d be a good idea since I’m planning on staying here for the foreseeable future. So, you know, if you need back up in a few months, I’m your girl.” Flashing the other a sarcastic smile, she drained the remnants of her coffee, ordering another when the waitress stopped by.

“Oh.” It was a bit disappointing to hear. “I mean, that’s probably good, I guess? But it also means we’re back to a big ‘ol question mark.” She supposed it narrowed down the possibilities, but she was still nowhere near any answers about what the fuck was happening in the town and the mines. “How were you able to rule it out?” While she trusted the woman, especially when it came to the matter of ghosts, Arden wanted to understand how she had come to the conclusion.

—

Lil shrugged a little, not rising to the idea that it was awfully insane. It wasn’t the first time her life had been in danger, although it was one of the first times that the person was corporeal. “It - isn’t easy being an Exorcist. I’m assuming someone wants me dead to hide something else.” It was the only thing that made much sense and gave her a sinking feeling. After all, the longer her family wasn’t found, the more likely that they were connected. “I’ll keep it in mind though if the leads turn out the way I think they might, I appreciate the help. I just don’t want to tip them that I know.” She didn’t know who this Astra person was, and although part of her wanted to ask Arden, most of her didn’t want to see the other end up in a mess because of her. She’d just have to hope that the personal investigator got back to Jonas soon.

“Ouch, sorry. Wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemies and you're certainly not,” Lil said with a nod. Well, sometimes she kind of wanted Marcel to fall into a well, but she would eventually pull the man up. After he said sorry.

“Nice! I’m glad to know that,” Lil said with a bit of lighter humor than she normally had this day. “We’ll have to exchange techniques when you’re back to hitting strength.” It was a small way of saying she was also stuck here for the foreseeable future. She wouldn’t leave without figuring out what happened to her family, and she had a sneaking suspicion that after, Jonas wouldn’t want to go back to a life of wandering. Even if she felt listless - Lil knew she couldn’t leave him, especially in this town.

Lil nodded lightly, sighing as she said, “Yeah. I was kind of hopeful it would be in my wheelhouse this time.” At the question, Lil continued, rubbing the back of her neck lightly as she did so, “A friend asked me for a favor, and it ended up involving one of the people who’d touched a crystal and was possessed. I ended up meeting and going to see my friend's friend and the guy and - yeah not a ghost. Guy was for sure possessed, but it wasn’t a ghost. ”

—

She frowned at the thought, but she supposed it made sense. There were many people in this town who had a lot of things to hide. From murders to who or, perhaps more accurately, what they were. Even if they weren’t all her own, Arden herself had a lot of secrets, a lot of knowledge that if given to the wrong person could end incredibly poorly. But for someone to go to the extent of trying to kill a medium, an exorcist, that seemed incredibly extreme. However, the method of the attempted murder was considerably less extreme. It wasn’t a very hands on or surefire way of killing someone, just pushing them into the water. Maybe the person was only human, then?

She shook the thoughts away. “I’m sorry. And that’s a hell of a way to go about it.” Were they cocky? Were they trying to send a message of some kind? Arden didn’t know, but she would love to find out, to help. However, this wasn’t some mystery novel, this was real life, Lil’s life, and it was good that she was handling the situation with caution. For a moment, she wondered if Lil had gone to the police before remembering how useless the WRPD was, especially since this was all likely related to the supernatural. “Yeah, back at you. I’m really sorry–” that someone tried to drown you “– that you had to experience that.”

“Sure! I’m always down for more training buddies,” she grinned. It would be nice to get to know Lil better. Arden liked her well enough, and she seemed fun and knowledgeable, as well. Even if they didn’t become besties for life, having another ally was always good. And if there was a part of her that complained about getting close to people, about people leaving and getting hurt, she shoved it down. She could and would think about it later, but right now they were talking crystal bullshit.

“Gotcha,” she nodded. Though, after a moment, she cocked her head to the side. “What else can possess someone aside from a ghost?” Her mind was jumping to ‘demons’ before she was even able to finish the sentence, but, from the little she knew about both demons and the crystals, the situation didn’t immediately strike her as something demonic. Still, she threw out the idea to the exorcist. She likely knew more than Arden when it came to the topic of demons.

—

Lil shrugged and said gently, “Not everyone is good with their words, I guess.” That and she couldn’t actually hear ghosts. If it was because of what one might have said, well, Lil wouldn’t be any the wiser. She’d never solved anything by knowing something a ghost told her. The dead were as quiet to her as they were to most people. “Yeah, hopefully they don’t try that again.” She was pretty sure she was smart enough not to have it happen again.

“Great. I won’t go easy on you though, I don’t have any special powers that make me good, so there’s no need. We’re probably pretty evenly matched,” Lil said with a laugh in her voice. After all, exorcists were painfully human with that kind of thing. Still, it would be nice to have someone to practice with that wasn’t a hunter. She enjoyed the times she could hang out with them, but they were always going to beat her in the end. She really was useless, even if she kept punching. That was really on her probable father issues.

“Lot of things, mostly demons though,” Lil said slightly more casually then she really felt, rubbing at the inside of her palm. “I’m not sure that’s what's happening, though. The energy was super weird, but I’m not a demonologist, so it could have been demon-y.” She was at least 60% sure it wasn’t a demon, but she was never going to be certain on that one. She certainly didn’t think she’d be able to do anything about it.

—

She laughed. “I think there are probably a few more options to try between conversation and murder. Then again, my job is words, so what do I know.” Arden pulled a pain au chocolat out of the box. “Yeah, I also hope no one tries drowning you again,” she grinned, feeling a little bewildered by the words coming out of her mouth. It felt a little uncomfortable, making light of such a serious situation, but it was kind of insane. Besides, she was just following the other’s lead. She took a bite of the pastry as Lil spoke.

After doing most of her training with a firefighter balam and a master combatant vampire, it would be nice to spar with someone who was more of an equal, especially while her arm continued to heal and regain strength and mobility. It would be beneficial to Lil, also, especially if someone was actually out here trying to kill her. “You’re on, then.” The comment about special abilities once again had her wondering what the woman knew. Arden knew that sometimes mediums and exorcists worked hunters, at least when it came to the Scribes. Though, she couldn’t see why the same wouldn’t apply to others.

“It would be nice if something related to the mines could be straightforward,” she sighed. It would be nice if anything in this fucking town could be straightforward, but that usually wasn’t the case. “It doesn’t seem demon-y to me either, but I’m really not a demonologist.” Shit, that reminded her, Wynne had been asking about demons. “Actually, I know you literally just said it's not your thing, but do you know anything about greater demons?”

—

“Not sure the other steps to be honest, although most people aren’t actively trying to kill me - I would like that on the record I’m not that much of a threat,” Lil said, going back to her more naturally unaffected nature. After all, if she let every almost death make her sad, she would never be jokey again. “Yeah, I’m hoping the same. I don’t want to get fished out again.”

“Bring it,” Lil said with a toothy smile, feeling more like herself than she had in a while. It always felt formal being back in Wicked’s Rest, like she was trying to protect her family's reputation or something. She should probably consider why that was, but at the moment she didn’t want to think about it.

“Unlikely to happen. Those things have to have all sorts of fuckery in them,” Lil said knowing that while not technically a science term still fits it well. Lil chuckled, trying not to think of her sister and what that sort of life would have been like. She’d be terrified. Sort of like when asked a question about greater demons. Freezing for a half of a second, Lil tried to settle in and said cautiously, “Yes. I would say that I know some about greater demons. Why?”

—

Arden took a beat to think it over. “I don’t know, maybe like throw a brick through a window with a note or something? Horse head in the bed? Going straight to murder seems a bit much, but that’s just me,” she shrugged, playful grin on her face.

Hopefully Lil would be left alone, and none of this would come up again, but that seemed pretty unlikely. If someone had gone through the trouble to make an attempt on her life, they would likely try again. She wondered how far they were going. Were they watching her? Maybe even Jonas? The situation sounded terrifying enough without her mind jumping to the worst case scenarios, but the same things must be running through Lil’s mind, right?

She really should’ve thought over a response to ‘why’ but she wasn’t exactly at the top of her game right now. Were the situation reversed, Arden would certainly be asking Lil the same question, however, she couldn’t think of anything believable. Bare minimum, it was. “Someone I know grew up in a demon worshiping cult, like, with human sacrifices and everything? And this person is trying to find out more about all of that.” Some days, she couldn’t believe the shit coming out of her own mouth.

—

“You know, they just jump straight for murder. Must be an unrequited crush thing. Only thing that makes sense is to want to murder me so bad,” Lil said with a bit of a cough, joking. Although she wasn’t sure that the list of her ex’s didn’t involve some women who wouldn’t be willing to kill her. She should work on that one.

Still, she had a suspicion that it wasn’t her that they particularly cared about - or rather it wasn’t just her. It didn’t feel personal enough for it to be something she had done, but rather someone wanting to get rid of any Ballard they could find. That was the part that worried her the most - the fact that she wouldn’t or couldn’t be the only target.

Lil raised her eyebrow at the answer, thinking of a way to steer the conversation away from demons. It wasn’t a topic she really reveled in knowing anything about, and she doubted if Arden knew the same that it would be her favorite topic either. Still, there was something there that Lil knew that she couldn’t just leave. Maybe it was the fact there was so much misinformation out there - that people could easily get killed by what they didn’t know. Breathing in slowly and exhaling, she said, “I - wouldn’t - if a demon is getting human sacrifices, it means it is powerful enough to kill almost anything in the world. Your friend is lucky to have left, and unless they know what they're doing exactly -.” Lil paused, feeling panic that she wasn’t used to rising up, as she went to rub at her left hand. Jane screaming at her to just - Oh God it hurt- Why is it bleeding - Mom I don’t want to - .

Shaking her head slightly trying to get the rising panic to settle in something other than her psyche, she continued softly, “You can get a lot of people killed. Any advice or things I give you may be wrong depending on what they're facing, and I - don’t want to get someone killed because I don’t know the details. It’s not something that you ask casually and get general advice on.” Lil didn’t mean it as a dig, but more so that she couldn’t have more souls on her conscience than she already had. While she had gotten to know Arden, well, there was a huge gap in the middle of experiences Lil hadn’t talked to most people about. She didn’t know how serious what she was asking was, and Lil needed to warn her. “I can try and give you some advice, but - it’s not the type of knowledge most people are able to hold and still be able to sleep at night. It would be better for your friend to reach out.”

—

“That must be it, yeah,” she laughed. “They want you so bad, it makes them stupid and murderous.”

Powerful enough to kill almost anything in the world. The words made Arden’s stomach drop. There wasn’t a lot to find on greater demons in the archives, but the occasional mentions did stress the horrible power they had, the terrible things that they could be capable of. It wasn’t exactly surprising, what Lil said, but it felt so far beyond anything she could imagine– anything she wanted to imagine. Plus, it was something that someone she cared about had been caught up in, which that made it all feel more real, made it feel so much worse.

She could feel her face falling, growing soft with her concern for Wynne, and she didn’t have the energy to fix it. Not now, when she could so easily picture the look that came over Wynne’s face sometimes when they spoke about home, when they told her the truth. “I– it didn’t seem like it was a common occurrence? The, uh, sacrifices. But yeah…”

It seemed to be a difficult topic for Lil, too, something in her eyes shifting. “No, yeah, that’s entirely fair. Sorry, I know I just kind of sprung that one on you,” Arden replied, feeling slightly bad for asking. If it could get Wynne some answers, though... “They asked me, and I don’t know shit, and you’re the only person I can think of who might know anything.” Despite herself, she was kind of curious, too.

She wanted to joke about how she wasn’t sleeping much anyway, but she wasn’t sure if it would go over very well at the moment. Instead, she nodded. “I’ll let them know, then.”

—

“I’d get it, but honestly. They could just flirt with me more normally, like trying to stab me or something,” Lil said with a chuckle, wondering how many of her exes would try to stab her. Probably a few of them, and she couldn’t be super mad about it.

Lil’s body was tense as she considered everything that was said, and a lot of stuff that wasn’t. She didn’t have to be a genius to know the situation must have been delicate, and it was written over Arden’s face that it had to be bad. “It doesn’t have to be for them to be powerful. Demons are - hard. You’ll get a lot of bad information if you aren’t careful.” Hell, most exorcists probably wouldn’t know very much about them, Lil wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for her dad pushing insisting that she become a demonologist. She’d seen her sister’s soul weapon, she’d seen a demon standing there.

At the statement, Lil couldn’t help but chuckle, shaking her head lightly as it stung, and said, “Sorry - not laughing at you. You just got a little lucky that I would know anything. Most exorcists wouldn’t, hell, most of them I think wouldn’t associate with a demonologist unless they absolutely had to. I wouldn’t be shocked if they walked out.” That was true, at least for Lil. While Jane was somewhat accepted into exorcist society, it was almost solely because of their shared last name than anything to do with their prowess.

Lil sighing, and in some ways deciding to give up some information in the hopes of saving whoever this was, said“ Listen I know it sounds like I’m being obtuse for no reason. I’m not trying to. It’s just that exorcizing demons is considered cursed work, even among exorcists. Which it might be because at a certain point you can sense demons, but they can also sense you. It’s probably the most difficult thing a human could do, and you’re challenging your soul against something that’s not from here, literally. Most of the time you’ve got to give something of yourself to do it.” Hesitating, Lil flipped her palm to show Arden the scarred skin there. Despite the years, and Lil wanting it to fade, it was still raised and a bit red jagged. It told a bad story and her eyes flickered away from it, looking back at her coffee before continuing.

“You have to bet everything for a chance of beating a demon. If your friend wants to do this, they need to be extremely careful and know the limits they are willing to go to and stand by that decision. They also have to find someone or something that can tip the scales in their favor. I - can probably help, but I’m no demonologist and I can’t promise that I could kill a demon.”

Still, Lil could help. Exorcists weren’t born, they were made, and the same happened with Demonologists. While she never wanted to go through the ritual process to tip the scale, she had been forced to learn rituals and things that pushed her to the edge. She couldn’t kill a demon, but she could do something.

—

She snorted at that, though her amusement didn’t last for long.

As Lil began to explain herself, Arden just shook her head. She understood the need to be careful with information involving the supernatural, and demons, as she understood it, were the most powerful and dangerous the supernatural world could get. Of course, the exorcist didn’t know that, so she continued with her explanation.

It was interesting to hear her go into more detail about demonologists, how they were seen as cursed and avoided even by exorcists. The way Lil explained it, it made sense, but in the same way it was difficult to even imagine real life demons, she hadn’t really considered the implications of what being a demonologist must really be like. Hell, it was hard enough picturing a regular exorcism, much less a fucking demonic one, but here was Lil, looking uncomfortable, holding up a scarred hand, seemingly showing her proof of one.

“Oh, yeah, no, I was not expecting or asking you to or anything– that would be fucking insane. I don’t even know if they want to… I mean, I’m sure they probably want to, but, you know.” She didn’t want to consider the option, of Wynne getting involved in dealing with a demon. Wynne was smart, they knew how dangerous these things could be. They had just survived a deadly encounter, after all, they wouldn’t. “They know this stuff is dangerous.” But even if they did… “I sure as hell won’t let them forget it.” Arden would protect them, for as long as she had a say in it.

—

Lil nodded slightly, leaning back into her chair, wondering exactly why people wanted to face their demons. She’d always elected to run away from them personally, still she seemed to have gotten her point across, even though it was somewhat awkward. Moving her hand to not look at it she instead just went to sip at her coffee for a moment. She wasn’t used to talking about most of this, and she wasn’t sure what all was necessary to say.

Instead, she just listened, and after a moment said, “It’s hard not to want to stop evil when it’s happening in front of you. I’m sure your friend will want to do something if they're able to, and if it does happen, just - let me know. I might not be a demonologist, but I am better than nothing and willing to help. Even if it’s only to say don’t do it. ”

It wasn’t heroism or something like that. Despite the better angels of her nature, Lil wasn’t exactly an altruist at heart. More so that Lil figured whoever it was might need to be pulled back, and well that was what she did. She pulled people back from interactions with whatever the hell was on the other side. While she didn’t intervene on most things, this was an area she had to.

Maybe if only because Lil wished someone had pulled her back at some point too. Stepping in when something was dangerous and she shouldn’t be doing it. Although she adored Jonas, he was never in a position to do that himself, and well no one else ever tried. Clearing her throat and wincing, she continued, “Besides, no offense, but I don’t exactly trust that you wouldn’t run off and do something yourself. You know, with those new fighting moves you got.” Lil smiled lightly, trying to joke. “Well, after your arms healed, at least.”

—

Wynne would definitely want to do something. Their family was still involved in the cult, as far as they knew, there were people there that they grew up with, that they cared about. Lil was right, which, of course, she was. She apparently had been involved in some kind of demonic exorcism herself after all– if Arden was understanding her correctly. Not to mention her experience with the average ghostly dealings. There was such a bravery in what the woman did, dealing with spectral beings, a bravery she didn’t think she possessed. She felt so helpless in the face of tangible supernatural forces, she didn’t think she had it in her to try to take on something intangible, much less a fucking demon. There were enough earthly horrors here, she didn’t need to do any outsourcing.

But Wynne was a better, stronger person than her, and they were in an impossible situation. Would they risk everything to save their family? She sighed, certain she knew the answer. “Well, I sincerely hope it won’t be necessary, but I appreciate it. And, if it comes to it, I will be right there with you also telling them not to.”

Something she also appreciated was the other woman’s sense of humor. Her joke was well-timed, and managed to break through some of the worry and tension that had arisen once the topic turned demonic. “Oh, yeah, probably a good call– my goal is to stab the devil himself,” she deadpanned. Lil also seemed like the type to get waterboarded just for making a stupid joke, and, apparently, that was a trait she looked for in a friend. And while she wouldn’t go as far as to call this a friendship yet, Arden felt like they could get there.

#writing #wickedswriting #collab #wr lil #the lil exorcist

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ardn632-haydenmiddleton · 1 year

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“PICTURES OR IT DIDNT HAPPEN” ARTICLE ANALYSIS

This article talks about how the act and art of photography is now easily accessible and widespread, and what that means for photographers and world as a whole. It talks about the way we express ourselves and our identity through photography and social media, how we can almost write down our own story, which sounds like a really good thing to be able to do. Although for some it can become a thing filled with pressure to present the most perfect identity to the world. I’ve heard this talking point plenty of times that I personally feel no pressure to show myself in a particular light or way, I guess now with the connectedness of the internet there is less room for private thought or imagery which can become an issue. In fact I’m a big enjoyer of being able to capture or “write” down my story through simple snapshot images thanks to the technology of smartphone cameras.

Although I understand what the article means when it says how the supply and demand of an image has changed and every similar, basic, homogeneous photography someone takes and uploads ultimately strips away a small part of the art of photography’s value. I’d argue that this isn’t true though and it’s exclusionary to think that these basic snapshots aren’t somewhat important in their own way, what we are creating now is a widespread archive of photos from everyday people of everyday lives. And anyways I think there’s also been a splitting over time of what is thought out, photography for the sake of art, photographs and then also this category of photography for the sake of archival and preservation which is just as powerful now that it can reach the average person and not someone rich and with a lot of free time to buy and develop photograph raws. I think unbeknownst to us these trends and filters being made will become something people look back on nostalgically like early social media users felt with “nostalgic” and “vintage” photo filters which depicted the quality and texture of old processed photographs. Maybe it won’t be as impactful as these photo processing methods simply because it isn’t a crazy advancement in technology, but digital cameras now and smartphone cameras have sort of hit this wall in terms of how much more realistic we can capture the world around us, and now it is up to us to continue developing the artistic world around it, which also includes filters I believe, and then other experimental photography techniques. It’s our turn to push this technology far, creatively and as we please, like how William Mumler and William Hope discovered how to do “spirit photography” by using long exposure or photo manipulation techniques.

Also in defense against the claims of digital photography being lost, it is just as likely for a box of physical photographs to be lost, burnt, destroyed, damaged, as it is for digital copies of photos to be lost, so this argument feels silly to me. Of course it is important to keep our photos safe, especially keepsakes, but I wouldn’t feel any more safer with these images printed out. There are plenty of ways to back up images digitally which can help increase the safety of the preservation of images, more so than there is for physical photos I believe.

Maybe I’m too optimistic or hopeful, but photography is beautiful, even if majority now of photography online in social media is just thousands of images of selfies or “food porn”, think about the thousands of photographers and photography artists who are now working creatively and taking photos thoughtfully, pushing the boundaries of photography and art in their own way. There are probably so many creatives out there who would have never been able to get their foot out there in photography before due to expenses, or lack of resources or time. This widely accessible ability to photography only continues to aid artists and our knowledge and understanding of what photography can become. And it takes some looking and digging but underneath the average sea of snapshot photography, you can also find these hidden gems, people who are really talented just online or on social media.

Overall, especially near the end of the article, I just got a bad taste in my mouth about the attitude the writer had towards the modernisation of photography. I understand a lot of the points yes, but I also just believe that photography doesn’t just need to be for the elite or perfectly done. For a lot of people, photography and using filters on their photos is just for fun and we should let people have their fun. I also don’t agree that there’s some kind of issue of self behind people who use vintage filters. I think people who use filters have a perfectly normal pace at figuring out their self or identity and that a vintage filter that a social media app has to offer will in no way affect that in an extreme way and it feels like a crazy leap to make against todays people or communities.

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killerlookz · 2 years

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i had a dream where i had a rooftop balcony and i fell asleep stargazing while all cuddled up in blankets with someone 😭 would you be willing to write something about that with eddie? it'd be so cute 😭😭 especially if he's been pining for the reader for a long time

A/N: THIS IS THE CUTEST THING EVER OMFG DSDSCCSCC new dream scenario omg <33 and this fits eddie so well i feel like he'd love to do this with someone. thank you sm for the request anon!

Stargazing (Edward Nashton x gn! reader)

description: on a hot night in Gotham the city decides a rolling blackout is necessary to conserve energy, mildly frightened by the idea of Gotham under complete darkness, you invite your best friend Edward over to keep you company.

content: lots of fluff! mutual pining, best friends to lovers, like reader and edward are so in love but also so oblivious it kind of hurts, slight fear of the dark?

word count: 4.4k

A clear night in Gotham was a special rarity- in all your years of living in the city, you could maybe count on one hand all the times you'd seen a sky full of stars hanging over the skyline. The smog and the bright city lights had left you yearning to see what was beyond those dark, foggy skies. Of course, you could always travel a little while outside of Gotham- but you weren't exactly keen on making your way to the New Jersey shore just for some stars.

But tonight- tonight was different. In the thick of the city's summer heat, the City of Gotham had decided a rolling blackout was in order so as to not overwork the city's power grids with everyone's air conditioners at full blast. Though it wasn't exactly an ideal situation per-say, the heat was sweltering and the dense humidity made you feel like you were walking through a sauna rather than your own apartment.

While the city may have decided that a pitch-black night was what was best for the power grids, you on the other hand worried about what a city like Gotham would descend into under the cloak of complete darkness. Thinking forward you'd decided to invite a friend over to keep you company, you figured having an extra person so you weren't alone in the darkness would help ease your anxieties. It wasn't really a question who you'd ask to stay tonight, of course, it would be your best friend, Edward Nashton.

While Edward himself had said on more than one occasion that his physical capabilities were somewhat... lackluster, you could not imagine someone you'd feel safer with than him. And for that reason, he was the obvious choice. (And perhaps for some other reasons you weren't exactly ready to admit)

And now you're here playing board games, in this sweltering apartment, in the dark, with your best friend.

"It was Mrs. Peacock, in the dining room, with the revolver!" You said confidently, on your third game of 'Clue', which had been lit only by a few pumpkin-scented candles that sat on your coffee table.

"Are you sure?" Edward asks, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

"Yes. I am Edward. Don't make me second guess myself." You respond in a jokingly stern manner.

"Okay, shoot, check it." Edward urges.

You pick up the envelope containing the culprit of the crime, the murder weapon, and the crime scene on it. Slowly, your hand slips open the folder paper, building anticipation with each small movement. You reach your hand into the envelope and pull out three cards, making sure to keep them facing yourself so Edward didn't see in case your answer was incorrect.

Mrs. Peacock.... dining room... revolver.

"HAH!" You exclaim, turning around the cards and nearly shoving them in Edward's face. "I won!"

Edward chuckles at your bragging attempts and snatches the cards from your hands to look at them, he can't see too well in the dark.

"Seeee Edward, I woooon." You giggle

"You sure did." He nods as he puts the cards down on the game board. "Good job." He smiles.

A smile tugs at the corners of your mouth at Edward's praise and the two of you sit, just smiling at each other in silence for a split instant.

"Do you want to play again?" Edward asks, looking ready to pick up the cards once more.

"Not really," You shake your head, "I think three rounds of Clue is enough for one night."

"Alright, then what should we do?"

"Hmm..." You hum, trying to think of something to do, suddenly realizing how much of your life relied on having electricity to keep things moving, "God, how did people in like, the middle ages not die of bordem?" You sigh, getting up off the couch.

"They were probably too busy dying of the plague first," Edward says, rather matter of factly. His retort makes you giggle sligtly as you walk over to one of your windows.

Looking out, the skyline is barely visible- the whole city is caped in a deep, dark, black. You find it kind of eerie. You imagine that people who live in the country, or even the suburbs, might be used to this sort of darkness, and it makes you feel a bit silly for being creeped out by the utter lack of light in your line of vision.

But suddenly, your interest peaks upwards, your eyes shift up just a little, and you notice something equally as peculiar as a pitch-black Gotham, a sky dotted with stars. Bright, glowing specks hang everywhere above the darkened city. It's a spectacle that causes you to smile, living in a city often meant you missed out on a lot of beauty that the natural world had to offer.

"Eddie, come here, look!" You turn around and motion for Edward to move towards you. He moves off the couch, moving at a casual pace to come meet you where you're standing not too far away. You turn back around to continue to look out the window, and a few moments later you can feel Edward's presence behind you.

"Look at that, hm" He hums, "A starry night in Gotham."

"Isn't it nice, Eddie?" You say, backing up slightly so your back just barely leaned against his stomach, your head nearly resting on his chest. You could sort of feel Edward tense at the slight contact between the two of you, and in return, you go to move yourself up to give Edward his personal space. But then, you feel Edward's hand just lightly ghost over your arm, which gives you the ok to stay where you are.

"Yeah," He responds quietly, "Nice."

The two of you stand in silence for a moment, Edward's fingertips continue to caress your arm, ever-so-lightly that you can barely notice they're there. You wondered if his soft movements were deliberate or if it was mindless and he hadn't noticed he was doing anything. You settled that you'd really prefer the former, but you wouldn't be surprised if it was only just the latter.

You tilt your head back, so now the crown of your head is resting almost completely on Edward's chest. You can see some of his face from where you're looking. Mostly just the bottom of his chin, but you can see parts of his nose and eyes.

"We should go on the roof and stargaze." You suggested with a smile before turning around so you're looking at him straight forward. "I mean, when are we ever going to get such a clear night again?" Edward peers down at you,

"Yeah-yeah, sure." He nods. "Are you sure its not too hot outside?"

"Eddie, it's too hot in here." Both statements were true, but, at least outside there is wind and better air circulation.

"You're right."

"I'll go get some blankets that we can lay on." You state before your tone changes slightly, "It'll be- Oh Eddie, it'll be so romantic." You giggle.

"R-romantic?" He stutters.

"Of course, Edward, me, you, under the stars, alone, wrapped up in blankets." You say, feigning drama in your voice.

"You're uh- you're just joking, right?" He says a little nervously, his face slightly flushed with pink. You couldn't quite tell if he was flustered from what you said, if he was embarrassed for asking, or if it was from the heat. Either way, despite your remark being somewhat of a joke, his question made your heart sink, he was so oblivious to your affection that it hurt.

"Yeah. Of course, Eddie," You half-smile, nodding your head.

"Of course," Edward nodded back, pursing his lips so they formed a straight line.

"I'll be right back." You say, before scurrying off to get some blankets. You roamed your apartment for a minute, trying not to accidentally bump into anything and injure yourself in the darkness. Eventually, you made your way to your small linens closet, where you grabbed a couple spare blankets, before heading back to Edward.

"Do you need help carrying those?" Asked Edward.

"No," You shook your head. "Can you just get the doors for me on your way out?"

Edward nodded, "Sure," and the two of you headed for the door. To be expected, the rest of the building was equally as dark as your apartment. You stepped out into the pitch black, unable to see virtually anything.

"Here." Said Edward before illuminating the hallway with the flashlight of his phone, "Now we can see." Even with the light from Edward's phone, the hallways were still eerily dark. Never since you had moved in had you ever seen the hallways not lit up. The dim light of Edward's phone against the peeling white paint of the walls made you feel like you were in a horror movie, which was almost more unnerving than no light at all.

"Are you okay?" Edward asked, perhaps noticing your hesitance to step any further into the hallway.

"I'm fine- just a little creeped out that's all. I've never seen the building like this."

"Oh- um- h-here! Let me carry some of the blankets." Edward said, reaching out, you gave two of the three you had grabbed, which was enough to leave you with one free hand. Edward tossed them over his shoulder, and with his empty hand, he grabbed your empty hand. "Is this okay?" He asked, as his fingers intertwined with yours.

"Yeah- yeah. Thanks, Eddie," You can't help it when a large grin creeps up on your face in response to Edward holding your hand. His hand is warm, sort of clammy, but, you don't mind, it's hot everywhere anyways.

With Edward's hand firmly holding onto yours, you found yourself suddenly confident to make to journey up to the roof. You lived on one of the higher floors of the building, so the walk up the staircase wasn't the most treacherous, only a few flights. But, combined with the lack of air conditioning tonight you felt a little more winded than usual on your walk up.

Taking a deep breath in and out, you finally reached the top of the stairs. Edward untangled his hand from yours which, sort of disappointed you, despite him having to free up a hand so he could open the door. As the door to the roof swung open a reliving breeze blew past you, making you sigh contently at the slight reprieve from the unbearable heat from inside.

"After you," Edward said, holding the door for you to head outside.

You stepped onto the gravel roof of the building and noted that it wasn't that much cooler outside than inside, but, anything was better than being stuck in that boiling apartment. Edward soon followed suit, the light from his phone's flashlight still shining in front of you.

You took a few paces forward before deciding on a good place to settle down. You waved out the blanket and placed it down, noting that you would have to bring all the blankets to the laundromat sometime tomorrow after bringing them outside.

"Sit here," You urged Edward, and patted the spot next to where you'd settled on the blanket. Edward placed one of the blankets he had down beside you and sat on top of it.

"Do you want this one?" Edward said, stretching out his arms to present the third blanket in his hands.

"Not right now." You shake your head, "Maybe if it gets cooler later." Edward nods and places the spare blanket bunched up across his lap.

For a moment, in silence, you look off into the expanse, your eyes falling over each of the unlit buildings until-

"God, would you look at that." You rolled your eyes and pointed out into the distance. Amongst all of the darkened buildings was one that stood out, right in the middle of Gotham, a glowing spectacle on this black night- Wayne Tower. "Poor Bruce Wayne can't even go a few hours without his electricity like the rest of us."

"Good to see the Prince of Gotham is following in his father's footsteps of doing absolute jackshit for our city." Edward scoffed, his dry, sarcastic laugh caused you to gaze over towards him as he spoke.

Growing up in Gotham you'd come to loathe its upper class, despite it only being a small few, they held more money than most people living here would even know what to do with, and still, they'd never done anything to help deal with the growing decay of the city. You'd seen firsthand what the neglect of Gotham's higher-ups had done to the city, and it filled a certain rage in you. When you'd met Edward years ago, you quickly realized that same rage had filled him too, only worse.

"The amount of times I went without electricity growing up-and he doesn't even have to forego it for a few hours for the sake of the city's entire power grid. Gotham's officials really know how to play fair- let the average people suffer, the ones who have to wake up early and go to work tomorrow and can't afford to lose a night's sleep because of uncomfortable conditions, the ones who don't have enough money to just buy new groceries because the food in the fridge spoiled while it's power was gone the ones who- sorry-" Edward said, stopping himself midsentence when he clocked you staring over at him.

"No-no-it's okay Edward, you can continue," You nod, implying that he should go on with his rant, "You're cute when you're mad anyway." You admit. 'God can he finally take the hint?' You hope to yourself.

"You think so?" Edward asks as he tilts his head to look down at the ground, a soft grin on his face. No, he can't.

"Oh, come on Eddie," You smirk and push his shoulder lightly, "You know I think so."

"If you say so."

You sigh, a bit disappointed in your efforts to compliment Eddie, "Do you want to finish what you were saying before, Edward?"

"N-no, it's alright. Do you want to lay down and look at the stars now? You know, like we planned." Edward speaks somewhat hesitantly, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Sure."

You lean back, extending out your legs so you were fully laying down. It wasn't horribly uncomfortable, the softness of the blanket definitely masked some of the harsh bumps of the gravel roof, but not completely. You didn't exactly mind since you weren't really expecting it to be comfortable.

Edward began to lay down himself, "You can... you can lay on me if you want if the ground is too uncomfortable," Edward suggested, though the way he spoke made you assume he was a little nervous to.

"Okay," You smile, a little overcome with joy that he'd made such a suggestion.

You inched yourself a few inches over until your body came into contact with Edward's. Then, slowly, you laid your head on his chest and rolled the rest of your body over so you were about half on top of him, one leg draped over his, and one arm thrown across his chest.

"Comfortable?" He asks, a little shakily.

"Mhm," You hum, completely in bliss.

"Do you mind if I put my arms around you?"

"Go ahead,"

Edward wrapped one arm around your back, and with his other, he met your hand on his chest and intertwined his fingers with yours before bringing your hand to his side so the two of you were now embracing each other.

"Told you this would be romantic Edward,"

"Yeah-yeah you did." You weren't able to see from where you lay, but Edward's face was a bright shade of pink, and he had a huge smile drawn across his lips.

It was warm, Edward was warm, you were warm, it was warm outside- you weren't bothered but you worried that Edward would, you worried that any moment now he'd say he was uncomfortable and that he wanted you off of him. You'd hate for this moment to be disturbed because, despite the heat, it was blissful. You'd always felt so at peace with Edward, so overcome with admiration and joy whenever he was around. Now was no different, maybe even better. Of course, you knew you felt that way because you loved Ed, he was your best friend, obviously, you loved him. But recently you had begun to wonder just what kind of love you had for him.

As the moments passed, the two of you lay quietly drenched in moonlight. You focused on each of Edward's breaths, in and out just waiting for a sudden disturbance that would ruin your peace. But no such disturbance came and you eased into your position with Edward, confident that you'd be there for a little while. You listened in on the commotion of the city below, despite the lack of light- Gotham had not gone to sleep. There was the faint sound of music and passing cars, an argument somewhere in the distance, and the slight wailing of a cop car. To your surprise, Gotham hadn't fallen into complete chaos under the veil of darkness- and you wondered what did you think was really going to happen? The lights go out and the whole city turns into The Purge?

"Can I tell you a riddle?" Edward asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Sure Eddie, I can't guarantee I can solve it though." You'd always enjoyed it when Edward tried out his riddles with you, he had a natural knack for puzzles.

"I'm sure you'll get it- okay, some say that it's blind, it can be unrequited or felt on both sides, it's hard to express but even harder to hide."

"Hmmm... some say that it's blind..." You begin to repeat the riddle quietly to yourself in an effort to figure it out. You rack your brain for a few moments, "oh... love?! Is it love?"

"Yeah," Edward nods, rubbing your arm gently with his free hand, a proud smile sits on his face when you tell him the correct answer. "It's love."

"When did you come up with that one?"

"Oh-uhh just now actually."

"Really?" You ask, surprised. "You got love on the brain Edward?" You tease.

Edward gives a simple, unreadable "Mmm" in response and it's nearly impossible to tell whether he is confirming or denying your question. There's a sudden loudness to the rhythmic beating in his chest in response to your question. You swear you can hear every nuance of his pumping blood- it sort of blew your mind to think the force keeping him alive was mere inches from you, thumping loudly in your ear. You probably could have fallen asleep right there to that comforting rhythm if you weren't trying so damn hard to stay awake and savor every moment you had in Edward's arms.

You realize that you'd been so focused on Edward you'd forgotten the reason that you came up here- to look at the stars. You couldn't even really see them from where you lie on your side. This was better though, you had to admit.

You untangle your hand from Edward's, slipping your fingers from his grasp. You trace the tips of your digits along Edward's stomach and up to his chest where your rest your hand next to your head. Edward's now free arm moves from his side and wraps around you in a tight embrace.

"This okay?" He asks.

"It's perfect." You smile, your cheek nuzzling into his chest as your mouth bends upwards.

"I like this- ya know." Edward says, his voice wavering slightly.

"I do too Eddie." You can't help but snuggle closer to Edward at his admission, you were glad he was enjoying this moment because you were ecstatic.

"I just- is this normal? For friends?"

"What do you mean Edward?" You lift your head up slightly and Edward's arms drop from around you as you raise your body to look at him, propping your upper half up with your hands.

"Well, you know, before you I never really had any friends- so I'm sure being close like this is normal for people who've been friends for such a long time but- sometimes I feel like I just really want to kiss you and I- I just don't think that is."

"So then kiss me, Edward." You say nearly instantly, almost cutting him off. Your face looms over him and you're looking him dead in the eyes, too dumbfounded to even form a complete thought in response to him further than that.

"What?" He blinks a few times rapidly.

"Edward, please kiss me." You nearly beg, his own confession only making you realize how needy for him you were. You feel like you've somehow lost consciousness as nearly all awareness of what's going on around you slips from your grasp completely. It's only him, that's the only thing on your mind. You're only narrowly aware of the heaving of your chest as your eyes trail from Edward's own, down the slope of his nose- to his lips which partly hang open. They look soft and sweet- but you need to know for sure, you want to feel your lips on his.

"C-come here."

In that instant you're lowering your head down to his until your lips connect in a chaste kiss. Despite your hunger, there is nothing salacious about the way your lips move against his, it's sweet, loving even- you feel nearly moved to tears. Edward's hand finds it's way to your cheek, his calloused fingertips brush against your soft skin. His palm alone takes up nearly half your face, and his fingers reach around to cradle the back of your head.

Despite Edward's lack of romantic experience, the kiss isn't awkward and he's able to find his footing quickly. Even if Edward was a 'bad' kisser you wouldn't have cared- this is all you could have ever wanted. Both your heart and your brain felt about ready to explode. You felt your chest tighten so hard you worried your ribs could puncture a lung. Your breaths only narrowly escaped your throat, but who needs to breathe anyways?

Edward's fingertips dig into the base of your skull and gently tug at the hair that lies beneath them. The small pull makes you whine softly into Edward's lips, it's not sexual- it's not a lewd sound that escapes from your mouth, but rather something else. It's something far needier, far more desperate and you find yourself pulling away from the kiss before you actually start to cry.

The two of you are breathing heavily as you look deeply into each other's eyes, well, what you can see of each other's eyes. Your mouths both slightly parted in waiting game of who will talk first- a spontaneous exclamation hangs on either of your tongues.

"Why didn't you say anything sooner Eddie?" You choke out.

"Why would I?" His voice is barely a whisper as his lip quivers and his hand begins to fall from your cheek as you sit yourself upright. "I mean- I've tried- it just- I couldn't. Not directly." he stifles out.

"Do you think you'll still want to kiss me? Now that you have..." You ask nervously, worried that perhaps this was just a one-time thing he wanted to get out of his system.

"Yes," He nods ferociously, "I want to kiss you as many times as you let me."

"If you were to kiss me that many times, I think your lips would go raw." You giggle, absolutely verklempt at Edward's admission.

"I wouldn't mind." He shook his head as he smiled wide with bewilderment.

"Then sit up and kiss me."

Edward followed suit, pushing himself up from the ground with his hands, and soon those very hands are on you. Each of your palms holds each other's cheeks as your lips meet for the second time. It's just as euphoric as it was the first time, and he's just as sweet. You smile hard into the kiss which nearly disrupts the steady pace at which your lips moved together. You felt something akin to how Tears for Fears' Head Over Heels sounds.

The two of you pull away almost simultaneously and as your lips leave Edward's and all contact is lost you suddenly become aware of how much the temperature outside has dropped. Goosebumps dot the skin of your bare arms as a cool breeze drifts past you, causing you to shiver.

"Chilly?" Edward asks,

"A little."

"Come here," Edward waved you forward, and in a sudden bout of confidence, placed his hands on your hips to pull you into his lap. Once you were settled between Edward's crossed legs, he reached an arm in front of you to grab the spare blanket, wrapping the plush fabric around both you and him. Both of Edward's arms then find themselves wrapped around your midsection, pulling you close to him. "Better?"

"Definitely." You lean your head backward so it rests on Edward's shoulder, and at the angle at which your head is tilted, you can finally do what you came here to do, look at the stars.

Thousands of heavenly bodies twinkled above you and you admired them from way afar.

"Some of those stars are so far away that the light you're seeing up there might actually be centuries old," Edward informed. He always had a habit of knowing a plethora of fun facts that he'd announce when he felt appropriate. You smiled, enjoying his little factoid.

"Really?" You ask, "It feels like they're so close."

"Mhm," Edward mumbles into the side of your neck before placing a soft kiss against your skin.

You sigh at the contact between Edward's lips and your neck and completely relax into his touch. Your head falls to the side and your heavy eyelids close, you're tired. Edward is humming quietly, creating a comforting vibration against your ear.

Slowly, but surely, the relief of sleep begins to wash over you.

"Hey, hey," You heard Edward say just above a whisper, slightly rocking your body back and forth. Your eyelids raise very lazily as consciousness begins to seep back into you.

"What?" You mumble, your sleep unwilling to leave your body.

"The power just went back on, let me take you inside to bed."

"Mmmkay," You raise your head off Edward's shoulder, "Can you stay the night?"

"Of course."

#edward nashton #edward nashton x reader #the riddler #the riddler x reader #edward nashton fic #edward nashton fluff #edward nashton one shot #the riddler fic #the batman #dano! riddler x reader #dano!riddler #paul dano

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dont-doubt-dopple · 2 years

Text

The Wrong Ending

Pinch Hit from the Void here for @kelp-and-scales. I'll tag you eventually or drop something in your ask box. I combined a few things you asked for so hope you enjoy!

@pinchhitsfromthevoid

Word Count: 1152

AO3 Link

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Statement #0220722

Given By: Joel S. Beans

Archivist Note: At least this alias sounds somewhat realistic. Dude name Mythical J. Sausage was still the weirdest one

Topic: His Partner in a competitive game.

Statement Taken by: Archival Assistant Mumbo Jumbo

Archivist Note: Actually, Mumbo’s name is still the weirdest. But I will never question that mustache

Statement Read By: Head Archivist Grian Moon.

Statement Read On: 16 of September, 2022

Statement Begins

I .. We technically. I don’t think we were supposed to win this time. When it hits the endgame, my eyes only see red and bloodlust. I get consumed by the feeling of the hunt. I get reckless and end of getting stabbed in the front, usually. But winning this time … something didn’t feel right about it.

I should give context though. My friend puts on this game every year. Really impressive the work that goes into it. We nicknamed it Operation: Life after like Session 5 the first time around and it just kind of stuck.

Archivist Note: OH. I know Joel now. Yeah, that’s totally not his real name

I think you were there, fancy Mario man watching me behind the glass as I write this down

Archivist Note: I’m using that now. Thanks Joel

The second time at least, where Life was nothing more than a commodity traded around and stolen just as easily from a sword in your back. I think you killed me when I tried to kill you. Wish I succeeded; would have my life a lot easier that day.

Archivist Note: Joel, please do not kill my assistant. It’s really annoying to have to find replacements

Anyways, Operation: Life has some base rules for the most part - You have lives and your goal is to survive but if you end up on the last life, The Red Life, you can start killing. That’s my favorite part honestly. Just being able to stab with no restriction against people. So cathartic honestly. (Archivist Note: Only for you, Joel. Some of us are sick to our stomach at the thought of killing). But anyways, this time around the theme of the game was Partners. 3 lives but you and someone else’s lives are linked. I was linked to Etho.

Everything was fine until the last session. That’s when it felt … glitchy. There were just 8 of us left and me and Etho were coming through the portal. I could feel fire against my arms, burning me as a walk through. I could almost hear myself screaming Etho’s name to not come through the portal. And then … it was all gone. I was walking through the portal on solid grass and soil. Our allies were there, running from our enemies. The two of us coming through even out the fight. I remember our allies calling out to warn us of the danger, and then nothing else. Usually someone has to explain to me what happens when the Red consumes me.

We won. Somehow. The Boat Boys were the last ones standing, triumphantly over the bodies of Scott and Pearl I might add. I think I did most of the work knowing Etho, but that’s besides the point. But something about it felt … wrong. I still felt that burning when I came out of the Portal. I could see the Game Over screen when I closed my eyes. But Etho was smiling at me, I think. It’s hard to tell under the mask. But he was smiling and I felt … safer. Like he had the whole situation under control somehow. He was always somewhat like that, this sense of silent authority even though 90% of the time he had no idea what he was doing. Survivor mentality, I guess. But now that authority was commanding, radiating, suffocating. It was like that sense of authority before was his whole personality now.

Etho stepped over Impulse’s body as he made his way to me. I saw his hands were black and pulsing as he cupped my face, but I didn’t shy away from it. I knew then, and I still feel it now, that nothing Etho would do would hurt me. The grass around us started to turn to sculk even though there was no catalysts or shriekers or sensors around. Somehow it didn’t matter; the vines of dark blue still reached out and dug itself around us.

“I wasn’t going to let the fire take us.” Etho told me. “I’ve got this. I’ve got us.” I felt myself lean into him; the fatigue that always came after being Red finally beginning to set in.

“What happens now?” I asked. Etho tilted my chin so my eyes met his. His eyes were completely consumed by the dark inkiness like the ground below, though there were none of those sparkle things to counter it. It was just Void. And I stared into it, I felt myself falling. Further and further with nothing but darkness around me. And I embraced it. It felt nice despite the nothingness around me. It felt like … like Etho.

SmallishBeans was consumed by the Void

Ethoslab Died

And then it was the real game over. I lifted up my VR stuff and found everyone talking, celebrating Scott and Pearl on their win. I looked at Etho as he pulled his headset off, and he put his finger to his mask as if to say that ending, our ending, wasn’t the one everyone else felt. I guess that’s what he meant when he said the fire wasn’t going to consume us. That feeling was I guess us dying for everyone else.

But we totally won so suck on that Scott. God, why’d he have to win twice I totally should have killed him again. But I just … every time I close my eyes I’m still falling in that Void and that comforting sense that comes with it. Lizzie says I should tell you guys about it. I don’t know why. Part of me doesn’t want it to stop; to just be consumed by it entirely. But my wife wants me to live or something. So I’m here. And that’s my statement or whatever you guys called it. Can I go now?

End Statement.

Final Archivist Comments: So I definitely remember this game. For context for future members of the Archive, Joel and Etho died to Lava from a trapped nether portal. They did not win. I do think this skulky-voidness from Etho is weird but not like out of the ordinary for like the other statements. Though it is annoying that Joel doesn’t use his real name like really man? Anyways I’ll probably have like Impulse look into that since they were the closest out of those games. Not much I can really do about dreams though. We’ll figure it out though. I hope. I don’t want to fall into the Void.

#double life smp #the hermit archives #joel smallishbeans #ethoslab #mcyt fanfiction #mcyt #trafficblr #traffic smp #pinch hit from the void #dopple work #grian

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atlabeth · 3 years

Text

everything happens for a reason part 11 - zuko x fem!reader

Memories, where'd you go?

part 10 | masterlist | part 12

a/n: alternative name for this fic: y/n gets a crush on every pretty girl she meets. yue, katara, and now suki. she can't help it (and she questions why they're all connected to sokka in some way lmaoo)

anyways, this is kind of filler but it establishes some more with relationships and finallyyy gets us into ba sing se at the end. i know it's a lil annoying because there's a lot of episode-to-text writing, but i promise it'll get more freeform as it goes on

also i know that i just posted something yesterday but i have literally zero patience. like i cant hold chapters i have to post them as soon as i write them loll

wc: 5.3k

warning(s): some feels over zuko as per usual, but overall a pretty tame chapter

chapter title comes from memories by panic! at the disco!

Zuko could barely sleep anymore.

He didn’t know when his life became so complicated, but he wasn’t a fan of it.

Back when it was just him, his crew, and the open sea — it was simple. He had a job, a straightforward mission. Find the Avatar, capture him, return home to the Fire Nation and regain his honor.

Now, the waters were more muddied than ever. Now on the run from the Fire Nation just like the boy he was chasing, all he really felt nowadays was anger.

Angry at the world for setting him on this path, angry at the Avatar for refusing to see what was necessary, his sister and her friends for turning against him, angry at the waterbender for making things so damn hard.

He didn’t want to hurt her. A part of him wished that she had never come back into his life, if it meant he wouldn’t have to constantly be fighting against her. He hated himself for the thought, but maybe it would have been easier for her to remain a memory of a lover than his active enemy.

Late at night, when he was reaching fruitlessly for sleep that would never come, he saw her face. The carefree energy from their childhood morphed into the shock and disappointment from both the North and their fight with Azula, and…

It made him wonder what in Agni had happened to them.

He—

He didn’t know. The way he felt about her, it was different than anything he had experienced before. Zuko didn’t know what it was, but he understood that it was special. And now… it felt like he had just thrown it all away.

Zuko couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened with her in that town — what he had done to her.

He had burned her to try and get to the Avatar, and he hadn’t even allowed a glance back at the damage he had done. He had heard her cry out in pain, pain he had caused, and he didn’t even look back.

What had happened to them? What had happened to him?

He kept telling himself that the mission was the only thing that mattered. And it was, wasn’t it? Capture the Avatar, regain his honor, get his old life back and finally be enough for his father. He didn’t have time for friends, or for these feelings he had, or— or for anything but capturing the Avatar. Because the Avatar was the key to everything, to his honor, and that was all that mattered.

But now…

Now, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He didn’t know what was right, or what was wrong, or what path was the one he had to take.

Zuko just wished things could be like they used to be.

~~~~~~~~~~

She didn’t really know when everything had become a mess again.

It all started out fine, like it usually did. Toph had become fully integrated into the group, any past squabbles put to rest in the name of a stronger friendship emerging between all five of them. Katara continued to work on Aang’s waterbending (oftentimes Y/N joining them in their sessions) while Toph slowly but steadily beat earthbending into him — literally.

They had all been working hard for so long that, by decree of Aang, it was ‘vacation time’. They would all get to pick out places they wanted to spend as a break, and after it was over they would get back to work.

Aang had chosen some sort of field with musical groundhogs, and Y/N had opted to revisit an Earth Kingdom village that she had passed through on her journey to the North. Sokka had complained the whole time about how they were ‘wasting valuable planning time’, but had finally conceded after the promise of ‘all the planning his heart could desire’ from Katara after their mini-vacations were over.

Y/N was actually feeling somewhat relaxed for once, but she had forgotten the golden rule — never let your guard down. Everytime she let her guard down, something bad happened without fail. So it shouldn’t have been any surprise with what happened in the desert.

Because after one trip to the Misty Palms Oasis and a journey into the desert with a professor to a long lost library, Appa had been taken by desert raiders.

It was… less than favourable. During their escape from the library, Professor Zei had insisted on staying behind, and now the five of them were stuck in the middle of the desert with no way out and zero guidance. Add some brewing tensions between Aang and Toph because of her being there when Appa was taken, and they had a recipe for a huge disaster.

And a disaster they had. Multiple disasters, actually.

There was only so much she and Katara could do to hold the group together, but by some miracle, they made it out of the desert with only one Avatar State mishap.

(And an incident with cactus juice, but… she didn’t really want to talk about that.)

....at least they had the information about the Eclipse. That was about the only thing keeping her together at the moment.

They had to get the information to the Earth King so they could formulate an attack with his warriors, but without Appa, they had to resort to more traditional methods of travel. Add in one passport problem, and that was how Y/N found herself braving the Serpent’s Pass alongside a refugee family with a baby on the way.

It was… intimidating, to say the least. Despite being surrounded by her element, Y/N didn’t feel any safer from the challenge that faced them. She took a deep breath, trying to tamp down on her fear the way her mother had taught her, as she followed the group, but her thoughts were soon interrupted.

“Hey.” She turned to see who the voice belonged to and was greeted by the girl that had teased Sokka early — Suki, if she remembered correctly. “I haven’t seen you around; are you with the Avatar or that family?”

“I’m with Aang,” Y/N explained. “I’m from the North, and they offered me a spot with them after they helped us defend our tribe against the Fire Nation. I’ve been with them ever since.” Suki nodded as they settled into a comfortable stride.

“That’s cool. Are you a waterbender?”

She gestured to her waterskin and smiled. “Yeah. I’ve been training with Aang and Katara ever since I left.” Y/N then turned her gaze back to Suki, raising an inquisitive brow. “Your makeup — what’s it for? I heard you talking about the Kyoshi Warriors back there; is that some kind of thing with Avatar Kyoshi?”

Suki grinned, her every expression heightened by the sharp reds and blacks above her eyes. “We’re a group of all-female warriors that use the teachings of Avatar Kyoshi and her partner Rangi to defend our home and the place she founded, Kyoshi Island. I’m the leader of our village section.”

“Wow,” she murmured, her eyes falling to the ground for a moment before finding their way back up to the warrior. “That’s really cool. You’re really cool.”

She laughed and shrugged. “Thanks. I’ve been training as a warrior for almost my whole life, so it just comes naturally. I like being able to protect people, and there’s no better way to pay back my home for all it’s done for me like protecting the whole village.”

“Wow,” she repeated with a small laugh of her own. “That’s really brave. I gotta say, I’m kinda jealous — I would love to see what would happen if Master Pakku met you all. Katara literally had to beat the sexism out of him in order to train to be a master.”

Suki chuckled. “Sounds like what I had to do with Sokka. Guess it’s a thing with Water Tribe guys, huh?”

At the mention of Sokka, she internally laughed. There had to be some kind of connection between the two of them, the way their interests kept aligning. “Sokka… he’s had it hard. I can’t blame him that much for any kind of attitude he had before he met you. Pakku, on the other hand? He had to have had something better to do than fight teenage girls.”

“You would think so, right?” Suki agreed. “And Sokka… I know. He’s got a heart of gold underneath all that, he just needed a little push to get it out.” As Y/N glanced over at the girl, noticing a slight pink tint under the white makeup, she gasped.

“La’s fins, are you two a thing?” she exclaimed with a grin.

Suki flushed even harder as she suddenly became very interested in the ocean around her, but she couldn’t help the smile on her lips. “No! I mean— yes— but… but—” she stopped to gather her thoughts before making eye contact again with a sheepish smile. “We’re not… really a thing, but… I do like him a lot. I didn’t really think I was going to see him again after they left the island, so this is really nice.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Y/N asked. “I can already tell that he cares about you — have you seen how careful he’s being with you?”

“Well—” Whatever kind of excuse Suki would’ve made up was interrupted by a rock falling out just under Than, one of the refugees they were with, saved in the nick of time with Toph’s earthbending.

“I’m okay!” he reassured, but no sooner had the words left his mouth before the Fire Nation ship in the distance started firing.

“They’ve spotted us!” Sokka yelled. “Let’s go, let’s go!”

Aang flicked his glider open and deflected the blast, and Katara grabbed Y/N’s hand as they all began to run. Another blast rocked the mountain, causing several boulders to fall just above Suki. Y/N didn’t even have time to shout out a warning before Sokka tackled her out of the way, but it was ultimately more of Toph’s quick earthbending that saved him.

“Suki, are you okay?” Sokka brushed dust and pebbles off of her uniform as he examined her, and once he was satisfied he grabbed her hand and helped her up. “You have to be more careful! Come on!”

As the two of them caught up to Y/N and Katara, she gave Suki a knowing look. The warrior only blushed once again and glanced away.

After hours of navigating the pass, they were only about halfway through. Sokka made the executive decision to set up camp for the night to give everyone time to rest, and then they would get up at the crack of dawn to finish their trip. It only took a few minutes for Y/N to get a fire going, and soon everyone had settled in with their sleeping bags. Sokka got up from his spot as Suki wandered closer to the edge, and Katara nudged Y/N with her shoulder.

“Hey. How are your hands doing?”

“They’re fine,” she answered with a small smile, flipping her hands over as proof. Where there were once red burn scars on her palms only tiny white marks remained — one benefit to healing via waterbending was that most injuries were able to fade away completely after enough sessions. Her burns weren’t very serious and she was able to heal them almost immediately, so both her and Katara were sure that the marks would be completely gone soon.

The mental scars wouldn’t fade as easily.

“That’s good. And you’re taking care of them, right? Like, you’re not beating up people while we’re not looking?”

Y/N grinned. “No. I think I’ll leave that to Toph.”

Katara chuckled and nodded, turning her hands over in a final examination before nodding. “Good,” she repeated. The silence between them, although comfortable, stretched out for a little too long before she spoke again, this time much quieter. “He did this to you.”

“Katara…”

“I know,” she said. “I know you probably don’t want to hear this from me, or really at all, but… I’m worried about you. Zuko isn’t good for you. Every time we’ve run into him, he’s hurt you. And you deserve so much more than that.”

“You don’t understand,” she countered. “You don’t know Zuko like I do. You weren’t there when I was. I know you think I’m insane for still believing in him, but I— I can’t let go of him, Katara. I know the Zuko I love is still in there somewhere, and I have to try and find it. For me and for him.”

Katara’s eyes were full of nothing but sympathy as she sighed — it was obvious she didn’t believe her words, but in true fashion she was still trying her best to be supportive.

“Okay. I don’t understand it, but… I don’t think I can change your mind.” Y/N chuckled sadly and nodded, Katara’s piercing gaze meeting her own once more. “It’s just… Why are you playing with fire when you know you’re going to get burned?”

And for once, Y/N didn’t have an answer for her friend.

~~~~~~~~~

The night went by quickly, which Y/N was thankful for. It meant that the nightmares didn’t last as long.

After a quick headcount to make sure no one had fallen off the pass overnight and an even quicker gathering of their things, they set off to finish their journey.

It went just as well as she had expected — a giant serpent, the namesake of the pass, had attacked them while crossing through an underwater section. Thankfully, she was able to aid Katara and Aang in defeating it with waterbending with no casualties

But in the wake of one disaster there was always another, and before Y/N knew it a baby had been born. She was mostly there for moral support — Katara had it all handled, and Y/N didn’t expect anything less.

But finally, they had made it across the pass, and they were so close to Ba Sing Se that she could almost smell the city air. Sadly, though, that meant it was time for them to part ways — Aang to find Appa, and Suki back to her warriors. After some sad but hopeful goodbyes with Aang, it was time to bid farewell to Suki.

“Are you sure you can’t travel a little longer with us?” Y/N questioned, apparently not above pleading to try and get the girl to stay. “You’re— you’re amazing, and we’d really love to have you with us.”

“I can’t even imagine what travelling with the Avatar would be like,” she smiled, causing Y/N to get her hopes up for just a moment before they fell back down. “But I can’t stay. I have to get back to the Kyoshi Warriors.”

Y/N sighed, her gaze falling slightly downcast. “I get that. I just really wish you could stay. Or that I could meet your warriors. You seriously don’t know how cool you are, Suki.”

“Well, if you’re ever in town on Kyoshi Island, find us. I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out and do you one better than just meeting them all,” she said with a grin. “I think it’d be pretty cool to have the first waterbending Kyoshi Warrior.”

Y/N was unable to prevent the heat rushing to her cheeks as she smiled shyly, once again averting eye contact. “That would be amazing. I’ll have to find my way back there after the war.”

Suki bumped shoulders with her, causing a startled laugh to spill from her lips. “We’d love to have you.”

“Wait, why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye to her?” Sokka questioned as he walked up to the two of them. Y/N winked at Suki and gestured at him with her head, walking off before Suki could protest to find Katara.

The conversation the two girls were sharing was an extremely thinly veiled excuse to eavesdrop on the lovebirds, and when they kissed Y/N actually had to hold back a scream.

Sokka deserved this. She knew how much he beat himself up over every little thing that went wrong, and it was about time he got to relax even for a moment. She only hoped that Suki would be in their corner of the world sooner rather than later.

What could she say? She was already fantasizing about life as a Kyoshi Warrior.

~~~~~~~~~

Although they had parted ways, they soon found themselves reunited with Aang to stop yet another Fire Nation threat.

“For the love of Kuruk,” Y/N murmured as she stared into the distance, her eyes wide at the sight of a large mechanical drill. “That was Ty Lee who just took down all those soldiers. And if she’s here, Mai and Azula are with her too. Guys, It’s one thing to stop this drill, it’s another thing to take those three down with it.”

“The question is, how do we do it?” Aang questioned.

“Why can nothing ever be easy?” Sokka lamented. His gaze remained trained on the drill for a moment before he realized theirs were on him. “Why are you all looking at me?”

“You’re the idea guy,” Aang said.

“Wait, so I’m the only one who can ever come up with a plan?” he protested. “That’s a lot of pressure!”

“And also the complaining guy,” Katara muttered, drawing a chuckle out from Y/N.

“Now that part I don’t mind,” Sokka admitted.

“Well, Sokka— you were a huge help in the North, and you figured out a way to defeat the Fire Nation during that eclipse at the library! Plus, there’s all that stuff that Katara told me you did before I joined.” She patted him on the back. “If anyone can figure out how to take that thing down, it’s you.”

He shrugged nonchalantly, his ego only slightly bolstered. “...okay. I think I can do it.”

“That’s the spirit!” she said with a smile.

Unfortunately, that smile faded as a young guard came running up to the wall. “Excuse me, Avatar and friends — I’ve heard that you’ve dealt with that… that pink girl down there before.” They nodded and he continued. “It would do us a great deal of help if you could come down and look at our injured soldiers, then.”

Y/N and Katara nodded in unison and started to follow the guard, the remaining three trailing after them. They ended up inside the wall, in what looked like an infirmary of sorts with all the cots and soldiers lying around, and the two waterbenders exchanged looks.

“You know what to do?” Katara asked.

Y/N hummed in acknowledgment, and they both knelt down next to separate cots. “This definitely looks like Ty Lee’s work,” she murmured as she bent water up from the pot and molded it over the man’s arm.

“What’s wrong with him?” the general questioned. “He doesn’t look injured.”

“His chi is blocked,” Katara explained. “Who did this to you?”

“Two girls ambushed us,” the soldier said, moving his arm as he regained feeling. “One of them hit me with a bunch of quick jabs and suddenly I couldn't earthbend anymore and I could barely move. Then she cartwheeled away.”

Katara sighed as she bent the water back into the pot. “You were right, Y/N. That was Ty Lee — she doesn’t look dangerous, but she knows the human body and its weak point. It’s like she takes you down from the inside.”

As if struck by lightning, Sokka lit up. “Oh, oh, oh! What you just said — that’s how we’re going to take down the drill; the same way Ty Lee took down all those earthbenders!”

“By hitting its pressure points!” Toph exclaimed with a grin.

The breakthrough brought a steely determination to Aang’s features as he looked out into the distance. “We’ll take it down from the inside.”

~~~~~~~~~

Like everything they did, it seemed so simple on paper. But now that she was actually inside the drill, it felt a lot more nerve wracking. Toph opted to stay outside where she could see and try to slow down the drill with the earth at her disposal, which left the four of them to somehow take it down from the inside.

Sokka led them through a hallway with a myriad of valves and pipes as he thought out loud. “I need a plan of this machine — some schematics that show what the inside looks like. Then we can find its weak points.”

“Where are we gonna get something like that?” Aang asked.

Sokka thought for a moment before he took his machete out and hacked a valve off a pipe. Y/N instinctively took a step back and shielded her face from the hot steam. “What are you doing?” she cried. “Someone’s gonna hear us!”

“That’s the point!” he exclaimed. “A machine this big needs engineers to run it, and when something breaks—”

“Someone will come down to fix it!” Katara finished with a smile at Aang, a sentiment the boy returned happily.

It was surprisingly easy to take down the engineer once he arrived — with a little bit of frozen mist on Katara’s end, they had the plans they needed. Sokka’s expertise combined with the blueprints got them to the beginning of the outer shell.

“Wow,” Sokka muttered. “It looks a lot thicker than it does in the plans. We’re gonna have to work pretty hard to cut through that.”

Katara crossed her arms. “What’s this ‘we’ stuff? The three of us are gonna have to do all the work.”

“Look, I’m the plan guy!” Sokka explained with a gesture to himself. “You three are the ‘cut up stuff with waterbending’ guys. Together, we’re Team Avatar!”

Katara and Aang looked wholly unamused while Y/N chuckled. “Team Avatar. I like it.”

“Thank you,” he smiled. “At least someone appreciates my genius.”

“Tui’s gills, why do you have to keep boosting his ego?” Katara complained. “Let’s just get this done before it gets worse.”

The three of them got in position — Katara and Aang on opposite sides so they could pass the stream of water between them, and Y/N making the point of the triangle to work on the other side on her own. They were hoping it would be more efficient being able to cut through both sides at the same time, but it was proving to be much more difficult than they had imagined — halfway through the three of them were already exhausted.

By some feat of strength they were able to completely cut through the brace, but their hard work didn’t pay off in quite the way they had imagined — when the beam only shifted a few inches she groaned.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” she breathed as she wiped sweat off of her forehead.

“At this rate,” Katara paused to inhale deeply, “we won’t do enough damage before the drill reaches the wall.”

“I don’t know how many more of those I have in me,” Aang said sadly.

A large creak suddenly rang throughout the large chamber, and they all looked up for the source.

“Did you hear that?” Sokka asked, already backing up to make an exit. “We took it down! We gotta get out of here, fast!”

Just as they reached the door on the other side, a crackle followed by the sound of a man’s voice dashed their hopes. “Congratulations, crew. The drill has made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se. Start the countdown to victory!”

A collective silence hung in the air between them, the threat now even more imminent as their situation sunk in. Mai and Ty Lee had proven effective in taking down any Earth Kingdom threat posed at them, and despite Toph’s skill they knew she couldn’t take down something like this on their own.

They either had to figure out a way to destroy this drill, or the Fire Nation was going to make it into the city.

Sokka ran back over to the brace and pushed against it, putting all his strength into the feat but to no avail. “Come…. on! Move!”

Katara started pacing around in a small circle, crossing her arms again as she tried to think of something. “This is bad. This is really bad.”

“Sokka, that’s not going to work!” Y/N didn’t mean to snap, but the grinding of metal on metal combined with her nervousness got to her. She sighed and ran her hand over her face. “I— I’m sorry. But it’s still not going to work.”

He groaned as he leaned against the brace. “We’re putting everything we have into busting these things, but it’s taking too long!”

Suddenly, Aang jumped up from the ground with stars in his eyes. “Maybe we don’t need to cut all the way through! Toph — she’s been teaching me that you shouldn’t put a hundred percent of your energy in any one strike. Sokka, get in a fighting stance.”

Sokka complied and as Aang talked through his points, he demonstrated it on Sokka. “You've got to be quick and accurate. Hit a series of points and break your opponent's stance. And when he's reeling back, you deliver the final blow. His own weight becomes his downfall, literally.”

As Sokka fell over from the attack, Katara lit up. “So we just need to weaken the braces instead of cutting all the way through—”

“—then I can go to the top of this thing and deliver the final blow!” Aang finished.

Y/N helped Sokka up from the ground, his spirits not dampened at all. “Then boom! This whole thing goes down!”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Y/N asked, flexing her fingers to refresh them for all the bending she was going to have to do. “Aang, Katara and I can handle the braces. Focus on getting up to the top before anyone sees you.”

He nodded and they all met each other with determined eyes. “Everyone inside that wall, the whole world — they’re all counting on us.”

“Here, take this. You need this more than I do. ” Katara took her waterskin off and handed it to Aang. “Good luck. And be careful.”

Y/N noticed a slight blush on her cheeks and she had to hold back her smile. That was definitely something she was going to tease her friend about later — when they weren’t trying to stop the Fire Nation from breaking into Ba Sing Se.

“I will,” he assured. Aang slung the strap of the waterskin around his shoulder and took off, and Y/N and Katara got to work breaking through the rest of the braces.

With the knowledge that they only had to cut through half of each column and the revitalization that came from having a plan, their work went by much quicker. Just when they finished the final brace, it all went wrong.

“Good work, Team Avatar!” Sokka cheered. “Now we— Y/N, duck!”

She didn’t question Sokka as she immediately dropped to the ground, something she was immensely thankful for as a blast of blue fire seared past her. Her eyes snapped up to the source of the attack and narrowed in recognition.

“Of course they’re here,” she growled as she pulled herself back up. “We gotta go, now!”

Katara and Sokka nodded and they all started running. Bringing up the rear, Y/N was able to hear Azula’s words right before they split off into an intersection:

“Follow them! I’m going to find the Avatar.”

Sure enough, when she allowed a glance back, Mai and Ty Lee were closing in on them. She flicked open the cap of her waterskin and bent some out, managing to freeze it at just the right moment to block the incoming daggers from Mai. Still running, she melted it quickly and let it fall to the ground before freezing it again, creating some ice on the ground that would hopefully give them a few more seconds of leeway.

“That should give us some time!” she yelled as they turned a corner, finally turning her attention back to the path in front of them. “Any idea how we’re gonna get out of this thing?”

“Maybe!” Sokka yelled back, slowing to a stop as they came to a dead end, a large hatch the only thing at their disposal. He started tugging on the wheel in an attempt to open it, and when Y/N joined in they were able to wrench it open.

“Slurry pipeline?” Katara frowned as she read the sign on the wall and looked at Sokka. “What does that mean?”

“It’s rock and water mixed together,” he explained as they looked into the rushing liquid underneath the hatch. “It means it’s our way out!”

Katara nodded and climbed in, Sokka following close after. The sound of metal footsteps got closer and closer, and Y/N ducked inside just as Mai’s knives clanked against the hatch. Never before had she been so happy to be floating in a stream of slurry.

The rest of their mission went by surprisingly easy — at least, on their end. All it took was some waterbending — earthbending, when Toph joined them — and encouragement from Sokka (though unappreciated by Katara). Whatever magic Aang was working at the top of the drill had done its job, because soon enough the drill had collapsed in on itself.

And now, they had reunited on the top of the wall overlooking the sunset. After the chaos that had been their day, it was nice to just relax for even a moment. And there was no better way to do so than with her friends.

“I just want to say, good effort out there, Team Avatar!” Sokka exclaimed as he threw an arm around Y/N’s shoulder.

“Enough with the ‘Team Avatar’ stuff,” Katara said dryly. “No matter how many times you say it, it’s not going to catch on.”

“I like it, Sokka,” Y/N smiled. “I’ve liked it this whole time.”

“You always appreciate my genius, Y/N,” he mused. “That’s why I appreciate you.” She laughed and leaned her head against his shoulder as he continued to list off names.

“How about… the Boomeraang squad! Eh? See, it’s good because it’s boomerang, and it has Aang in it—”

“Yeah Sokka,” Toph interrupted. “We got it.”

Aang grinned and scratched his head. “I kinda like that one.”

“The Aang Gang. Ooh, the Fearsome Fivesome!”

“You’re crazy,” Toph muttered as she walked away.

“Wait, Sokka—” Y/N pulled away from him and held up her pointer finger. “Aang Gang — what if we combine it, so it’s just the Gaang? But still with Aang’s name?”

And at that moment, Sokka looked more proud than ever. “Oh, you— you are a genius.”

“Oh, spirits,” Katara groaned. “Why do you insist on encouraging him?”

“You’re just jealous of our name-making abilities,” Sokka said haughtily.

She rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “You two are completely ridiculous, you know that? Let’s just get into the city before the trains stop running.”

Y/N and Sokka winked at each other as they all started walking, unable to keep the smile off of her face. She always thought it was amazing — they went through insane things every day, but at the end of it all she was always able to smile because of them. And as her gaze drifted towards the city in the distance, she hoped it would hold true.

She had no idea what Ba Sing Se had in store for her.

shit is gonna happen next chapter so i hope you all are READY bc im not

perm tags: @dv0412 @siriuslyslyslytherin @maruchan77

atla tags: @marianne1806 @brown-eyed-thang @akiris

ehfar tags: @chandies-sideblog @zacatecanaaaa @anzanity @randomthingssss @escapingthoughtsandsecrets @shanksfav @shephard17895 @ilovespideyyy @carisi-sonny @selfship-mishaps @i-belong-in-fandoms @ilistentotayswifttocope @i-make-questionable-choices @3leni

#zuko x reader #zuko x you #zuko x y/n #zuko #zuko fic #prince zuko #avatar #avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar fic #atla fic #avatar the last airbender fic #avatar x reader #avatar the last airbender x reader #atla x reader #sadie writes

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latenitetea · 4 years

Text

what a shame it would be - rodrick heffley

in which rodrick takes a few too many shots...

cw: underage drinking, swearing

word count: 3,228

~~~

Great victories deserve great parties.

That was the way of thinking at Crossland High School when it came to homecoming. After weeks of anticipation from the entire student body, the Crossland football team had defeated their rivals with one touchdown in the last five minutes of the homecoming game. It didn’t matter that half the school didn’t care much about football to begin with - with a victory that big, there were bound to be parties all over town.

As a varsity cheerleader, you weren’t surprised that you were invited to the biggest homecoming party in town. And you weren’t surprised by the atmosphere when you arrived, either.

Music blasted in your ears as you entered through the backdoor of the crowded house. Cheerleaders were laughing so loud you could feel it in your whole body, people were drunkenly dancing and making out with each other on the dance floor, and the football team was taking a celebratory round of shots for their biggest win. Hell, you even saw the student body council and academic decathlon team on the dance floor. Bottles upon bottles of all kinds of alcohol were being pulled out at the bar - kegs of beer, bottles of tequila and vodka, and a giant bowl of punch that was being spiked with a frothing drink. Still, the abundance of alcohol wouldn’t last long at a party this big. But before you could get to the bar to get your pick, you heard your name being called from across the room.

“Y/N!”

There were too many people covering your view to see who called you when you turned around, but you knew exactly who it was coming from. It wasn’t too hard to weave your way through the drunken couples and football players to find him.

Rodrick was leaning against the basement’s doorframe, wearing his favorite Converse, a pair of ripped black skinny jeans, and his Loded Diper t-shirt with a cargo jacket. He ruffled his unkempt, raven hair and took a long swig from his solo cup.

“Give me your keys.”

You raised your eyebrows, stifling a laugh. “Well, hello to you, too.”

After taking another sip of his drink, he held out his hand. Rolling your eyes, you took your lanyard and dropped your keys in his hand, which he put in the pocket of his jacket.

“There we go.” His mouth quirked up into a smirk. “I thought you said you’d never go to another homecoming party again after last year. You still owe me for that, you know.”

Memories of Rodrick holding you steady as you stumbled to his van and slurred your words resurfaced in your mind. You couldn’t hide the tinge of embarrassment that crept up on your cheeks.

“I wasn’t that drunk.”

“Do you or do you not remember me having to brush your teeth because you forgot how to do it yourself?”

Your once pink cheeks now turned scarlet. Still, you couldn’t help but laugh at the memory.

“Fine. But I definitely don’t owe you anymore after being the only reason you didn’t fail physics last year.”

He paused, taking another drink from his cup. You could tell the alcohol was beginning to slow his thoughts already.

“I guess I stand corrected.”

You cursed yourself for being sober, wishing you had more confidence to flirt with him. You swallowed the forming lump in your throat and attempted a compliment.

“Look at you, making yourself look nice for homecoming. You even got the new converse and eyeliner and everything.”

God, that couldn’t have been worse. You mentally facepalmed yourself as the words left your mouth.

He chuckled. “Well, I’ve gotta make myself look nice if I’m gonna get one of these cheerleaders to go home with me, right?”

Your embarrassment dissipated into a twinge of disappointment. Quick to cover up any sort of reaction, you cleared your throat.

“I’m gonna go get myself something to drink. See you around, Rodrick.”

You heard him call out a warning about “knowing your limits,” but you didn’t turn around or respond. At first, you were only planning to get buzzed tonight. Your disappointment, however, made a change to your plans.

“Hey, Y/N,” your friend, Allison, said from the bar with a wave. “What do you want to drink?”

“Something strong,” you insisted. With a nod, Allison filled a solo cup with vodka and topped it off with the frothing punch.

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” She asked as she handed you the cup. You took a swig, ignoring the way the alcohol burned your throat.

“Who knows,” you sighed. “I just got back from talking to Rodrick.”

Allison raised her eyebrows. You paused for a moment, but you gave in to the temptation of getting your feelings out. “Every time I try to flirt with him, I feel like he ignores it. Or worse, he just brings up other girls.”

“Maybe you’re just not flirting hard enough,” Allison suggested. Her comforting smile became smug, pointing to the solo cup in your hand. "Or maybe that liquid courage will finally get you to tell him how you feel.”

The taste in your mouth turned sour at her teasing. Last year’s drunken shenanigans seemed harmless compared to any hypotheticals of you blurting out “Hey Rodrick, I’ve had a crush on you since last homecoming!” and forgetting it by morning. You placed your cup on the bar, deciding that your original plan of a buzz was the safer option. “Actually, I think I’m gonna stick to beer tonight.”

Allison let out a laugh. “Whatever you say. But your feelings are gonna eat you alive at some point. You’re gonna have to tell him how you feel eventually.”

“Emphasis on eventually. See you, Allison.” You gave her a small wave and went out to the dance floor, hoping to find some of your friends and dance your way into forgetting about Rodrick.

~~~

As the wild night began to die down, waves of stumbling high schoolers started leaving the party. Watching the clock hit 3 AM, you decided that it was time for you to head home. Waving goodbye to your friends, you made your way out of the house and to your car, more than ready to open the door and practically fall asleep at the wheel and-

Damnit.

That asshole still had your keys, didn’t he?

Pulling out your phone, you called Rodrick, nearly praying that he didn’t already leave. As you put your phone to your ear, you heard another phone’s ringtone go off. Muttering a “what the hell?” under your breath, you looked up from your car.

Rodrick was standing on the sidewalk across the street, holding onto a streetlight pole as though it was taking everything in his power not to fall.

A noise of both amusement and concern left your lips, and you hung up the call and made your way over to him.

“Hi,” was all he said. His eyes were glazed over and a sheepish smile was spread across his face.

You couldn’t help but smirk. “Oh, how the tables turn, huh?”

“I don’t,” he paused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

You let out a laugh. “You’re drunk off your ass.”

“No, I’m not!” He blurted out defensively. You cocked your head, giving him a do-you-really-think-you’re-gonna-convince-me look. After a moment, he sighed. “Maybe I’m a little drunk.” He let out another sigh, but it quickly turned into a fit of giggles.

Suppressing the thought that his drunken giggles were extremely cute, you draped his arm over your shoulders. “Come on, drummer boy, let’s get you home.” Rodrick leaned his bodyweight into your side, trying not to fall in the middle of the street.

“I like that nickname.”

“Where’d you put my keys?” You asked him. Instead of answering, he broke into another fit of giggles. With a sigh, you pushed down your embarrassment and started rummaging through the pockets of his jacket. He leaned his head into the crook of your neck, making butterflies swarm in your gut. You tried your best to ignore them and finally pulled out your keys from his pocket, helping him into the passenger seat of your car.

“Wanna hear something funny? I wanted to take home the cheerleader with me. But now the cheerleader is taking me home.” His smile turned into a smirk as he buckled his seatbelt, and you reminded yourself that he was only joking.

“You’re a pervert.”

“You’re pretty.”

Your eyes widened at what Rodrick had just said. The next second, you couldn’t be more thankful that it was too dark to see the blush on your cheeks. You believed that he meant what he said for a second, but the smell of alcohol on his breath brought you back to reality.

“You’re really drunk.”

“You’re really pretty.”

Instead of responding, you started the car and turned on the radio, hoping that it would act as a distraction.

Pulling out of the driveway, you started the drive home. You heard Rodrick laugh again from the passenger’s seat. And then he placed his hand on your thigh.

Your eyes widened in shock, and you tried to stop your breathing from turning shallow. “What are you doing?”

“Flirting with you.”

Your cheeks burned at his direct manner, but you reluctantly took his hand off your thigh. “You can’t flirt with me when you’re drunk.” Pulling into his driveway, you helped him out of your car and to his front door. You grabbed the spare key from under the doormat and opened the door.

After helping him to his room, you filled up an empty glass with water and grabbed a bottle of pain medicine from his kitchen, bringing it upstairs and placing it on his nightstand.

“Here’s for tomorrow when you have a hang-“

“I don’t remember how to take off my shoes.” Rodrick looked up at you from where he was sitting on his bed, his blank stare turning into another eruption of laughter. “I sound like you right now.”

You sighed, letting out a chuckle. You took off his Converse and his jacket, placing them in his closet.

“Well, as long as you don’t need anything else I better get going-“

Before you could finish your sentence, Rodrick grabbed you and pulled you onto his bed. “Can you stay a little while?” Your cheeks burned even brighter, and you knew he knew it too. His flirting was overwhelming; you thought you were going to explode from the butterflies. Still, you managed to stay somewhat composed.

“You need to sleep.”

“I don't want to sleep.”

You shook your head, but the look on Rodrick’s pleading face was enough to convince you. “Fine.”

“Why don’t you let me flirt with you?”

“What?”

Rodrick was looking directly at you. “I always try to flirt with you. And then you act like I’m just joking.”

You wanted to tell him that he didn’t know what he was talking about, that he was just drunk and the alcohol was talking. But Allison’s words of advice were echoing in the back of your head.

You’re going to have to tell him how you feel eventually.

“Because I didn’t think you could ever be serious about actually liking me.”

His eyebrows furrowed in disbelief. “Of course I’m serious. You’re the prettiest girl in school, you like good music, and you’re just so nice. And pretty.”

You let out a chuckle. “I bet you weren’t thinking those things when you were brushing my teeth for me last year.”

"Yes, I was," He moved a piece of hair from your face. “That’s when I realized I had feelings for you, Y/N.”

The smell of alcohol on his breath was enough to make you want to burst into tears. Here you were, laying on Rodrick Heffley’s bed, close enough to make out the dark outline of his pupils, and you were confessing how you felt for him. And he wouldn’t remember any of it in the morning.

“Can I kiss you?”

His abrupt question silenced your thoughts. “What?”

He closed his eyes and started leaning in for the kiss, but once you processed what he had just asked, you pulled away. “Not right now.”

“Why not?”

You took a deep breath, trying to slow your racing heartbeat. “Tell you what. If you wake up tomorrow and you decide that you still want to kiss me, you can kiss me.”

He thought about your offer for a moment. “Okay. But tomorrow feels so far away.”

“Tomorrow won’t feel far if you go to sleep.”

He smiled and buried his head into your side. “You’ll stay until I fall asleep, right?”

“Right.”

“Promise?”

You felt the urge to cry again. You knew that every promise made tonight would be broken by tomorrow.

“Promise.”

You laid in his bed as his breathing slowed into soft snores. Taking one last look at him, you gently climbed out of his arms. As much as you wanted to stay, wanted to wake him up and confess every feeling you had for him, wanted to kiss him and kiss him and kiss him, you knew that would be wrong. You had to ease the inevitable future pain as much as you could.

So you grabbed your keys and left, not finding it in you to look back.

~~~

When Rodrick woke up, he could barely find the energy to open his eyes. The ache he felt across his entire body was throbbing, but he fought the urge to give in and go back to sleep. Opening his eyes, he saw a glass of water and pain medicine sitting on his nightstand.

Considering how awful he felt, there was no way he put that there. Taking two of the pills and downing the glass of water, he tried to connect some of his memories of the night before. As the medicine started to set in, some of his fuzzy memories began to clear. Taking a shot of tequila with his bandmate, taking another shot of tequila with his bandmate, your face turning bright red when he reminded you of when he took care of you last homecoming.

Even though he’d never find the courage to admit it, you looked cute when you blushed. And he always seemed to have butterflies in his stomach around you after last year's homecoming party. But there would be absolutely no way he would ever admit that.

You probably were the one that got him home last night. He couldn’t help but feel embarrassed that you saw him that drunk, even if he’s seen you even drunker before. He hoped he hadn’t said anything too humiliating to you last night.

His stomach twisted with another wave of embarrassment. What had he said last night?

He stood up, noticing your jacket laying on the other side of his bed. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion and unknown embarrassment. He picked up your jacket and grabbed his keys to his van, ready to give it back and thank you for getting him home last night.

But when he picked up the jacket, more memories flooded his mind. You laying in his bed, him pulling the hair out of your face, you being close enough to him that he could have kissed you.

Oh, shit.

He ran to his closet and threw on his converse, too frantic to even tie them. Running out the door, he practically jumped into his van and started the drive to your house.

~~~

You sat on your porch, drinking a cup of coffee and enjoying that crisp October air on your cheeks. Thankful that you didn’t have even the remnants of a hangover, you were certain that every upperclassman at Crossland was sporting a massive one.

You opened your phone and anxiously twiddled your thumbs at the keyboard. You wanted to text Rodrick and ask him how he was feeling, but you were too nervous to contact him after last night. Hell, you weren’t even sure if you would ever be able to look him in the eyes again.

Your concern for him overshadowed your embarrassment. No matter where your relationship with him stood after last night, you still cared about him. Pulling his contact up on your phone, you typed a short message.

Morning, sleepyhead. You feeling ok after last night?

But just as you were about to hit send, you saw a van barreling down your street from your peripheral vision. You didn’t need to see the messy writing on its side to know who’s van it was, either.

Your heart dropped to your stomach. Did Rodrick remember what happened last night? Was he here to reject you, to tell you that he couldn’t even be friends with you anymore? You wanted to run inside your house and pretend you weren’t home, but you felt frozen in place.

The van pulled into your driveway, and Rodrick stepped out from the driver’s seat. He was still wearing the same outfit from the night before, but he had his drumsticks in one hand and your jacket in the other. He ran up to your porch, almost frantically.

“Y/N?” He said.

You took a shaky breath, trying to act as casual as possible. “Hey, Rodrick, you feel okay after last night?”

“I’ve had worse hangovers. Er, you left my jacket at my house.” He handed you your jacket.

“Thanks.” You shifted on your feet nervously, looking for the right thing to say. See you Monday? Sorry I confessed my feelings to you last night?

Rodrick looked down at his feet. “Can we talk?” He blurted out.

A plethora of curses went through your head, and you felt the urge to run into your house and curl up in a fetal position until you disappeared. Still, you stayed standing where you were.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Last night, did we,” he anxiously twirled his drumsticks in his hands, “did we kiss?”

Your eyes widened. He did remember last night.

“Well, you wanted to kiss me.” Your stomach churned, and your head was swirling with so many thoughts that you couldn’t stop talking. “But we didn’t kiss because it was just the alcohol talking and I know you didn’t actually want to kiss me and that last night was just the alcohol and I get that you wouldn’t want to kiss me which is totally fine and really it’s no big deal-“

“It wasn’t the alcohol talking.”

Rodrick looked up from the ground and stepped closer to you. You had never seen him look more serious in your life.

“Y/N, everything I said last night. I meant it.” He took a deep breath. “I’ve... I’ve felt this way about you for a while. And I know I’m not a serious person, but I am really serious about this. And I really, really like you.” He took another step closer, and once again, he was close enough that you could see the outline of his pupils.

“So about that promise we made last night,” your breath hitched in your throat, “I think it would be a shame if we broke it.”

“You’re right,” Rodrick’s shy smile spread into a smug grin. He lifted your chin so your faces were barely inches apart.

“It'd really be a shame, wouldn't it?.” He said, closing the gap between your lips.

#Rodrick Heffley #Rodrick Heffley x reader #rodrick x reader #rodrick #rodrick rules #doawk #doawk rodrick rules #diary of a wimpy kid #not my rodrick #my rodrick #devon bostick #heffley #Rodrick Heffley one shot #rodrick one shot #rodrick x reader one shot #Rodrick Heffley x reader one shot

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a-multi-fandom-fanboy · 3 years

Note

I have no shame or self awareness, so I'm not going anon mode. We both know what we're here for. You know, I know...

Yandere Felix all the way. It's a crime, I know... I mean, come on he's pathetic-

but :))) I have issues

May I please have some Yandere Felix Kranken (ur balls) x a female reader?

Yeah lmao also I'm guessing you meant a oneshot? If not sorry!)

The day had started out so normal...how the hell did it lead to this? You chest was was rising and falling at an unnatural speed as you desperately tried to escape your captor. You would think he would have lost you by now considering how large this forest is, but he was still hot on your trail. Your lungs burned as you desperately tried to keep yourself up right; your legs were sore and felt as though they would give out any moment. Tears streamed down your face as you ran. You had never been so terrified in your life, and you couldn't believe that he of all people, was the cause of this. You had actually thought you could trust him...damn did you feel stupid right now.

It had been the third time this week that someone close to you had gone missing and it was tearing you apart. Who the hell was doing this and why were they doing it to you? What the hell did you do that would have caused someone to do such a thing!? Yet another sob escaped you as you continued to speak to the authorities about when you had last seen them. You were the prime suspect considering that you were the last person that had seen the victims before they disappeared and it was breaking you. Maybe you just need to isolate yourself? Maybe then they'll be safe. Another sob escaped you as the idea came to mind. What if this really was your fault?

The interrogation finally ended two hours after you had arrived, but once it had ended you realized you had no way of getting home. You had been driven to the police station in one of the cruisers. You sighed and began to prepare for the long walk back to your house. However, much to your surprise as well as relief you didn't have to do that. Felix had been waiting for you outside the police station and he quickly waved you over. You jogged over to him with a rather confused look on your face. How did he know you were here? There's no way word could have spread that quickly...right? Everything about today was emotionally exhausting and despite how curious you were as to why he had been waiting for you, all you could manage to do was thank him for staying here for you. Especially with how late it was.

He quickly helped you into the car while questioning you about how you felt and what all you had been told by the police. In your tired state you didn't notice all of the red flags and answered each of his questions without a second thought. He seemed quite jittery for some odd reason and couldn't stop smiling. Maybe he's trying to cheer me up after everything that's happened? How sweet of him. You hadn't even noticed that he had driven right past your house until you both had arrived at his. Once you had gotten around to ask him his somewhat cheerful attitude seemed to falter. He then proceeded to explain that he didn't want you to stay at your home due to all of the disappearances. You thanked him for his concern and quickly agreed that it was safer with him. Oh how wrong you had been.

Once inside he insisted that you sleep in his bed; however, you refused and told him that he had done enough for you already. You ended up sleeping on the couch and you were quite comfortable. You almost didn't hear Felix come down stairs, or the yelling that came from the basement after he had gone down there. You slowly got up and went to go check on him. After opening the basement door you carefully went down the stairs, but you stopped half way down. You were petrified by the sight before you. The room had gone quiet not long after you had entered and now you know why. You stared in disbelief as Felix stood over the body of your best friend, [Friends Name].

Felix turned to get something from the shelf behind him and quickly spotted you. A nervous grin soon overtook his features as he slowly began to approach you. Your body seemed to move on it own as you fled the horrific scene and escaped the house. You could here him yelling for you to wait and to let him explain himself. So he's the one that's been putting you through this hell, why? Why would he do such a thing? What did you do to deserve this!? Tears began to steam down your face, you had trusted him and had gone to him for comfort. He was who you should have been running away from. How did you not notice this before!? It was too late now so here you were running for dear life away from this...this...psychopath!

You began to think you had finally lost him as the only heavy breathing you could hear was your own. The yelling had gone away as well, this caused tears of relief to escape you, but that relief was soon ripped away when you had tripped and tumbled down a hill. You hit the back of your head on a tree on your way down and began to slowly fade in and out of consciousness. The last thing you remember seeing before everything faded out was a figure standing over you.

"Finally I have you all to myself..."

I hope you enjoyed your yandere trash man!)

#the walten files #felix kranken #twf felix kranken #twf x reader #twf felix #twf fanfic #twf fandom #twf #the walten files x reader #felix kranken x reader #yandere trash man #yandere felix

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neoculturetravesty · 3 years

Text

We met in online class - Last Part

Image adapted from here.

Pairing: Renjun x Reader Genre: College AU, romance, angst, fluff Warnings: Strong language Word Count: 3.4k

A/N: And so it comes to an end, and let me tell you guys, I am not okay 😔 This is going to be a bit of a longer A/N, so please bear with me. If you’d like to get straight to the story, I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND, so feel free to click Keep Reading!

Lowkey, I had a bit of a meltdown as I typed the final words on this fic because I hadn’t realized how attached I had grown to the characters. This is the first time I wrote three different chapter openers before deciding on one, because I simply couldn’t believe it was goodbye after this.

These mofos had constantly been on my mind for the past two months and a half. I would spend most days thinking about where to take them and then bringing them to life at night, after my entire day was over. When I wasn’t writing, I’d make little notes about thoughts I had into the night about them so that I wouldn’t forget them when morning comes.

This was my first ever (and as of right now, my only) chaptered fic. I had no idea parting with it would be as emotional as it was. When I think back to when I first received the prompt for this, I had never even imagined I could write Renjun, let alone a series. But there was something in the prompt that had gotten my wheels turning. And I am so immensely glad that it did. There were days when I thought “Oh man, what have I gotten myself into.” Some days, the story would just flow. Other days, I’d keep staring at the blinking cursor not knowing what to type. But when I did, I found my emotions so deeply connected with the characters. I was happy when they were happy. I was sad when they were sad. So, parting with them is very hard to say the least.

But through this journey, I got to experience the joy of reading all of your reviews and comments and honestly, it made it all worth it. THANK YOU to every single one of you that read this story and waited on it and laughed and cried with it. You have made my life better in more ways than you can imagine.

In this moment, I want to thank 🍙 anon, because it was their prompt that put me in this mess in the first place. And so, it is only fitting that I dedicate the final part to them 💛

“Oh, we definitely need a picture together. How about here? I think this place would fit everyone.” Kim Doyoung looks about, finding a spot best suited for the photo he wanted.

“I think right there on the platform would be better. We could get everyone in two tiers.” his assistant suggests.

“You’re a genius. Let’s gather everyone. It’s not often that so many NCTU grads and students come to Midnight Arthouse,” Doyoung nods.

“How many of us are here, anyway?” Renjun muses. The assistant looks at her iPad, checking once again.

“I think there’s 23 of you. So, let’s definitely go for the platform.” she nods.

“Okay, then.” Doyoung claps his hands together once, “Gather everyone,” he says to no one in particular and walks ahead with purpose. Renjun and the assistant’s eyes meet and they smirk. Of course this was directed to the both of them. So, they set about to work.

As it would turn out, gathering 23 people from a charity event with art and food and drinks would be a bit of a task. But somehow, they manage to gather all alumni and current students on the platform in three tiers instead of two for a somewhat chaotic picture. There must’ve been something in the water at NCTU because none of it’s students could stand still for very long. They get maybe one decent picture and several in which someone or the other was moving or pulling a face.

His friends aside, looking around at the group, Renjun realized that he recognized nearly all of them. Yangyang and Hendery and the rest of their frat were here. As were the 127s, old and new. Renjun recognized them all, except maybe two boys, who didn’t seem to know a lot of the others either. When the pictures were done and the main events were over and the crowd had started to dissipate, Renjun finally walked over to the artwork to observe it up close.

Honestly speaking, watching the work with his own two eyes left no doubt in his mind that this artist deserved to be spotlighted like this. This work was in a league of its own. Watching it makes Renjun smile; because looking at it makes him think back to a few months ago when he was sitting in Kim Doyoung’s office, thinking of himself as some sort of a big shot. But the truth is, there was no way he had that caliber then, and there is no way he has that caliber now, though he was sure as hell working on it.

“This is the piece I lost the bid on.” Renjun hears a voice and he turns around to see Zhong Chenle’s father observing the art with him. Renjun bows politely and smiles under his mask,

“I mean, this is a remarkable piece. You have good taste.” Renjun acknowledges.

“What about you? Why isn’t any of your artwork displayed here?” he asks and for a while, Renjun smiles a bit nostalgically. He could’ve been here, had he made something for the Annuale. Had he just selfishly taken that shot. Then again, there would’ve been no real guarantees. Because Kim Doyoung was pretty particular in the people he chose, whether they were recommended by his family or not. Working with him closely in the last couple of months had taught Renjun that. It had also taught him how underdeveloped his skill was in the real world context.

“I guess I still have a long way to go.” Renjun replies humbly.

“Don’t we all?” Chenle’s father nods, “Are you working here at this establishment?”

“Um, I… I suppose I am. I am Kim Doyoung’s apprentice. He is my mentor.” Renjun nods.

“So I might see your work here soon enough, eh?” Renjun assumes the kind man is smiling under his mask because his eyes seem to be making the same shape as Chenle’s do when he smiles. So Renjun grins back.

“I mean… if I work really hard, I might get to shoot my shot in the next Midnight Arthouse Annuale.” Renjun fantasizes.

“Or maybe you’d get lucky like this young artist,” he points his chin towards the artwork.

Renjun smiles, “I would credit her luck, too if I hadn’t seen her work. But her talent is… it kinda speaks for itself.”

“Oh, no, you should definitely credit her luck. Talent isn’t enough. The stars have to align. Luck, talent, the right place, the right time. It all has to come together.” he says nodding.

Renjun considers his words. They seem to be coming from the wisdom of experience.

What if Renjun hadn’t received the phone call about his grandma back then? Well, then he probably would’ve made something lackluster and gotten rejected. Working with Kim Doyoung has taught him as much. It didn’t matter who had put a word in for him. At the end of the day, his work had to be outclass.

What if he had received the phone call and then still had enough time to submit something for the Annuale? Then he still probably wouldn’t have because… well, because of you.

What if he had gone ahead, regardless of you or his grandma and just made something and submitted it? Then he still would’ve been rejected. Because the truth of the matter is, he just didn’t have the caliber that artists associated with Midnight Arthouse did.

In that sense, Renjun supposes everything was in fact happening at the right place and right time now. Doyoung was mentoring him and he was getting better by the day. The stars were aligning for him. He knew it in his heart.

“Then I would wish that it all comes together for me, too.” Renjun says.

“When it does, young man, I’ll be the first one to bid on your work.” he says and Renjun doesn’t even have the time to react when he feels a presence breeze in his direction and invade his personal space.

Renjun doesn’t even have to look up to know who it is. He can tell by the way this body fits perfectly into his side. He can tell by how naturally his own body responds and just puts his arm around it’s waist.

“Oh man, I missed all of it, didn’t I?” you lament, as you loop your arms around his neck from the side instead of a hello.

“Not all of it. The guys just left but your brother and his friends are still here. Besides, you had work.” Renjun turns his head and looks into your eyes to reassure you. “Y/N, this is Chenle’s father.”

“Oh, hello!” you say cheerfully and respectfully bow and give you greetings. “It is so nice to meet you. Chenle looks just like you!”

“Yes, I’ve been told I’m a more handsome version of him,” he smiles then turns to Renjun, “And who might this young lady be?”

“This is my girlfriend, Y/N. She goes to NCTU with us.” Renjun introduces you and you bow again. Oh, the thrill he got every time he got to introduce you as his girlfriend. Fuck, he’s pretty sure he’d never tire of it, even if it had just been a few months. The serotonin boost in his veins is strong and he gets the urge to squeeze you and hold you forever.

“Oh, that’s very nice. Come have a meal with us before we have to catch a plane back home, okay?” Chenle’s father invites the two of you.

“Oh, I would love to!” you say in your chipper tone before your eyes start darting around “I’m going to have to excuse myself for a little bit, I just wanna say hi to my brother.” you say and you politely bow before you start moving away.

“Babe, hang on…” Renjun says, holding you back by your hand. He brings his fingers delicately to the bridge of your nose and softly pinches down the mask over it so it sits more snugly on you. “There, it’s much safer now.” Renjun nods and watches the affectionate smile your eyes give before you move away. You looked so pretty today, even if you were just coming back from a four-hour internship. You were easily the most beautiful girl in this room, though Renjun suspected that you’d be the most beautiful girl in any room you entered.

Albeit sometimes, Renjun had to wonder if your talent or your beauty was greater. Because you had become the only junior in NCTU to land an internship at the SMK Trainee Drive. And now that you were a senior, you were somehow managing to keep your grades up alongside it.

Renjun, on the other hand, would find himself struggling with balancing his apprenticeship with his school work. So he knew firsthand how your discipline was something else altogether. Recently though, he had experienced a rise in his grades because you had been taking him on so many study dates that your organizational skills and motivation had started to rub off on him.

Renjun walks around the studio and the party and feels like it’s been too long till you’re finally back by his side.

“Love in the Time of Corona,” you read the title of an art piece displayed in front of you. “That was supposed to be our thing.”

Renjun laughs and has no qualms in looping his arms around your waist and finally pulling you into himself.

“I guess we should’ve realized then how un-novel the idea would become in a few months.” he comments.

“Un-novel is not a word, Huang Renjun.” you narrow your eyes at him.

Renjun laughs. “It is now,” he says and lets out a long exhale, “I missed you today.” he complains, though he looks down at you with warmth.

“Well, you’ve got me now. And you have me for the entire weekend.” you reassure him, your palms on his chest.

“Mhmm.” Renjun smiles and he wants to lean in to kiss you. But Kim Doyoung specifically had people assigned to walk around and make sure that everyone had their masks on when inside. “Also, we already have a thing.” he reminds you and winks.

You laugh, and say “I guess we do,” then let out a happy sigh as your eyes avert from his for a moment, taking in your surroundings. “Our Couple Thing should give you some ideas on what you can make when your work is displayed here in the 2022 Annuale. I won’t be late to that, I promise. I’ll take a day off from everything else in my life.”

Renjun's heart grows warmer still, and he’s sure his eyes reflect what he feels, “How can you be so sure my work will be displayed in the 2022 Annuale?”

“I don’t know, Huang Renjun. I just have a feeling about you.” you say and Renjun can see you smile even if your lips are covered by a mask. Your eyes always smiled before your mouth did, anyway.

“Y/N L/N, I have a feeling about you, too.” he retorts.

“And what feeling would that be?” you raise an eyebrow.

“It’s a secret.” he says, but now he sees your pout, even if he can’t see your mouth because your cheeks have puffed up over the mask. It makes him laugh.

“You’re no fun.” you protest.

“I’ll tell you once we get out of here.” Renjun offers.

“Well, I’m ready to leave.” you jut your chin up. Renjun grins and offers you his arm. You grab it with your entire body and the two of you start walking out together.

You had plans for the weekend, after all. And Renjun was determined to keep you all to himself for once, with no one else demanding your time. Not your internship, not your assignments, not any of your friends, and especially not Lee fucking Donghyuck. He was finally going to take you away where it could just be you and him and nobody else.

This moment felt way too surreal to Renjun.

The campfire had simmered down from a glorious roar to a comfortable burn, giving off just enough heat in the cool of an early winter evening. The sky was in it’s fading moments, where the pink of the light was slowly turning to violets and the violets were slowly merging into darks.

Renjun remembered suggesting to you all that time ago that maybe you could go somewhere together. But now that he was here, he hadn’t imagined that the moment would feel as surreal as it did.

Because now the two of you are sitting in front of your tent by the fire, entwined in one another. You’re sitting between his legs, arms around his neck, nuzzling your cheek inside his padded jacket while he supports your head on his arm and kisses you.

He’s holding you in his arms and kissing you and everything seems so perfect that for a moment, he has to pull away to watch your face and wonder if all of this was real. And though there is a gentle smile on your face, you’re not opening your eyes much. Because you know full well that Renjun’s lips would be back on yours in no time. So you play with his hair as they fall to his forehead and when he kisses you again, you press up into him so he would wrap his arms around you and hold you tighter. He does and he rubs his hands up and down your back and attempts to close his jacket around you.

“Are you cold?” he asks lovingly. You shake your head.

“No. I just want to crawl inside you.” you say, like it’s the most logical thing to be said.

“Creepy.” Renjun remarks but holds you closer still.

“You should be happy you haven’t seen my collection of your hair clippings.” you quip as you nip into the skin of his neck.

“Oh, sweet. That rivals all your used tissues I’ve kept in my shrine at home.”

“Aww, you shouldn’t have.” you coo at him and then lean up to kiss him some more and he laughs. But soon, he pushes the arm that you were using like a pillow up so your face would be closer to his and he could kiss you as deeply as he was truly craving.

The two of you keep kissing like that till the sky is dark. It was an odd sort of trance, being so lost in one another that neither of you cared about what time it was or how long you had been sitting here, wrapped up in one another. Your phones were zipped away in your bags and you hadn’t checked them even once since you had parked your camping van and set up your tent. It was a slow, peaceful sort of bliss, just sitting by the fire and kissing and kissing with nothing else on your minds but being here like this with one another.

“Renjun?” you say, your voice sounding like it was returning from a deep thought.

“Hmm?” Renjun asks as he combs your hair away from your pretty face.

“You know, I learnt today that a cactus can live anywhere between 10 and 200 years.” you tell him, idly tracing the birthmark on the back of his hand.

Renjun leans in and presses long into your lips. “Yeah?” he replies and watches your face. It seemed hazily focused, like it was trying to catch onto a faraway thought.

“I also learnt that it can take up to 30 years for a cactus to bear flowers.” you say in an introspective, wistful tone.

Renjun looks away to hide his smile. Oh God, you were so cute. “Yeah?” he says again, but it’s getting more and more difficult to keep a serious face.

“Sometimes, a cactus doesn’t flower at all.” you say and then you turn your head to look at him like you’ve resurfaced from your thoughts and are now in the moment. Renjun’s grin grows wider. “Renjunnn…” you whine and so he has no choice but to tenderly hold your cheeks in his palms and stroke your hair.

“What?” he chuckles.

“You said you’d think you’re worthy of my forgiveness when the cactus bears flowers.” you whine again and Renjun has to plant a loving kiss to your forehead.

“Is that what I said?” he chuckles some more and then leans in to kiss the anxious realization away from your lips.

“Renjun.” you pout and Renjun laughs and takes his beautiful, whiny, kindhearted girlfriend in his arms and hopes that his hold could chase away all the worries from her pretty, brilliant mind.

He kisses you because his heart can’t bear it any longer. How did he manage to hold a heart like yours in his hand?

Renjun feels an indescribable amount of happiness. Like he wasn’t sure that you were really here with him, in his arms, all for him to hold, with no worry or burden afflicting him. The happiness is so immense and so incredible and so heavy that for a moment, he feels it suffocating him. He wonders if he deserved this kind of happiness.

But right in the next moment, he stops himself. He knew how easy it was to relapse into those tempting, lonesome thoughts. But if there was anything that therapy was teaching him, it was that of course he deserved happiness.

Though right now, holding you in his arms, this happiness was choking him. He felt like his heart was swelling and pressing against his lungs and his chest couldn’t bear it and he could no longer breathe.

“Y/N…” he exhales, holding you back so he can look at your face and you could look up into his. He pauses to gather another breath. Then, he just says it. “I love you.”

And doing so does the trick. He feels his chest slowly getting lighter, because this is what it had been bursting with. Now, he’s told you. Now, it can be unburdened.

You look up at him and there is nothing but a sparkle in your eye, and tenderness in your smile. For a while, you say nothing, just looking upon his eyes like that. “Thank you.” you finally whisper back at him.

Renjun pauses for a moment. But then, he relaxes. This was okay. You didn’t have to say it back right away. Renjun was ready to give you as much time as you needed. So he presses his lips into your forehead once again till he feels you laughing against him. He pulls back in confusion and you grab at the lapel of his parka.

“Huang Renjun…” you say and he looks back at you with uncertainty, “... I love you, too.”

And Renjun can’t help it if he kisses you too hard. He can’t help it that he’s squeezing you too tight. He wouldn’t care if the night brightens back into morning and the morning fades back into night. He was going to hold you just like this for the rest of his life.

So he lays you down and kisses you deeper, like he wanted to make up for all the time he had lost. All the time in his life when he hadn’t known you. All the time he had known you and didn’t let himself have you. He was going to make up for it all. And as he zips the tent up and shields you from the rest of the world, he wonders if he could spend all of his days just like this. Holding you and loving you and knowing that you loved him back; and if he could, today was a damn good day to start.

The fire slows to a simmer till all that’s left are embers that keep being carried away by the breeze. But the two of you remain inside, in your own world, happy that you had found one another, happy that you could finally have one another. Happy that you could hold one another and say that you loved each other and have nothing in the world hold you back, not now, not ever.

You were Y/N and Renjun, Renjun and Y/N, two names that were forever intertwined because that’s how people would call you now. You were the couple that belonged so perfectly with one another that people would wonder if you’d been together for years. And any time someone with a burning curiosity would come up to you and ask,

“So, where did you guys meet?” you would just look at one another, smile and say, “Well, we met in online class.”

~THE END

#renjun fic #renjun fluff #renjun angst #ficscafe #kpopscape #neowritingsnet #dreamwritersnet #huang renjun #renjun #nct fic #nct dream #nct #nct dream fic #nct fluff #nct angst #nct college au #renjun x reader #we met in online class

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daryl-dixon-daydreams · 4 years

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Words: 3,324 Daryl Dixon x Reader Reader pronouns: she/her Era: Alexandria Warnings: Language, typical TWD stuff A/N: This is Part 6 of a series! Find the previous parts on the Masterlist! Summary: Daryl worries about Y/N after the traumatic incident outside the wall.

Your name: submit What is this?

Daryl didn’t see you that whole day after he had talked with Rick, or the next morning so he decided to pay you a visit and make sure you were okay. He wiped his hands on the rag he always kept in his back pocket and put away the tools he had been using to work on his bike. Just as he was getting ready to leave, Aaron stepped out into the garage and Daryl greeted him with a nod.

“Done for the day?”

Daryl shrugged. “For now at least.” He thoughtfully chewed his bottom lip for a moment. “Hey, uhh, ya seen Y/N since that night we got back?”

Aaron’s face fell a bit but he nodded. “I stopped by her place yesterday.”

Daryl leaned back against the table, crossing his arms over his chest. “How’d she seem?”

Aaron shrugged and sighed heavily. “She seemed… okay. I don’t think she’s been sleeping,” he said a little hesitantly. He shook his head, frowning. “The bruising on her neck… it’s bad. Thank God you were there.”

Daryl’s stomach flipped at the thought. “Ya… Well, the whole thing was bad. Those people? Seemed like—” he hesitated to say what was on his mind, to confide in Aaron, but he also felt like it was eating him alive. Maybe if he spoke it, he would feel less consumed by it. “It seemed like they knew her.”

Aaron’s brow drew down low over his eyes. “Hmm. What do you mean?”

“I heard ‘em say she was comin’ ‘back where she belongs.’ And more than that—if they had wanted to kill her, she’d be dead. They both had guns and knives on ‘em. But they didn’t. They were tryin’ ta take her.”

The shadow on Aaron’s face deepened and he rubbed a hand thoughtfully over his chin and mouth. “Well, I don’t think I need to tell you that the intentions of some men out there in this world are even more emboldened now,” he said with disgust.

“Yeah… But ain’t the first time neither. That night I stitched up that gash in her arm she said the same thing. She said ‘if they had wanted to kill me, I’d be dead.’”

Aaron gulped and shook his head. “I don’t know what—I just—I don’t know,” he said vaguely. “She hasn’t told me much about before.”

Daryl turned back to the table and fiddled with some of the parts. “Seems like she’s got a target painted on her. Maybe she shouldn’t be out,” he thought aloud.

Aaron shook his head. “Yeah, well that will never happen. Trying to keep her inside Alexandria is like trying to hold water in your hands. We’d probably have to lock her up.” He sighed heavily again and rested his hands on his hips. “Whatever is out there, whatever her past is… she knows the risks of going out. There isn’t going to be any convincing her to stay inside.”

Daryl nodded and chewed the side of his thumbnail. “Ya…”

Aaron let out a wry laugh. “I mean, can you imagine if someone told you that you needed to stay inside?”

One corner of Daryl’s mouth twitched upwards. “Ya. I know. Ain’t happenin’.” Daryl sighed. “Well, I guess the only thing for it is to try to convince her not to go alone.”

Aaron smiled at the archer. “Sounds reasonable. Know anyone for the job?” he joked. Daryl shot him a look and Aaron laughed and held his hands up. “See you later, Daryl.”

Daryl hummed an acknowledgement, set down the part he’d been anxiously fiddling with, and headed out of the garage in the direction of your house.

He felt a bit nervous as he climbed the stairs on your front porch, noticing how clammy his palms suddenly felt, and when first he knocked there was a long silence. He wondered if you were going to answer the door at all and a distinct worry seized him—that you really weren’t okay. But, finally, he could hear some soft footsteps approaching the other side of the door and then it opened a crack.

You peeked out hesitantly but as soon as you saw it was Daryl you opened the door wide. “Daryl. Hi.”

He cleared his throat a little awkwardly. “Hey.”

Aaron was right. You looked exhausted. There were dark circles under your eyes and your shoulders were somewhat slumped.

You continued to peer at him, waiting for some explanation for why he was standing there at your door.

“I, uhh—I hadn’t seen ya since we got back. Just wanted to see if ya needed anything. Ya know, and see how you’re healin’ up.”

“Oh. That’s—you want to come in?” you offered stepping back to make way for his broad-shouldered frame.

“Thanks,” Daryl murmured as he crossed the threshold. You shut the door behind him and he followed you up the hall and into the kitchen. He could see a pillow and blanket laid out on the couch in the living room. It looked like you’d been camping out there. He gave you a questioning glance. “So, how ya feelin’?” Daryl’s eyes found the dark bruising around your neck.

“I’m fine. Thanks,” you said a little quietly.

He considered you thoughtfully for a moment, chewing the inside of his cheek. “Ya sure?”

You sighed heavily and pressed a hand to your forehead. “Yeah. I just—haven’t slept really,” you admitted.

Daryl nodded, looking again at the makeshift bed in your living room. “Ya camping out down here?”

You followed him as he trailed over to peer at the blankets spilling off the couch and onto the floor. “Uhh… sort of. I thought maybe a change of scenery would help.” And you had the thought that if you were on the ground floor, you’d hear someone trying to break into your house…

“Did it?” he asked, his blue eyes finding yours.

“Not really.”

The archer’s brow drew down, veiling his eyes in shadow, and he let out a hum of acknowledgement. “Ya know if having other people around would help, ya could—” he cleared his throat again, his heart racing, “ya could come stay over at our place. We’ve got a full house. Ya know, if—if it’d feel safer. Ya could take my bed. It’s in the basement away from everybody.” He watched your eyelashes flutter as you looked up at him in surprise.

“Oh. I can’t—that—that’s okay,” you said, averting your eyes back down toward your feet.

Daryl’s heart was pounding as he offered up his second idea, nervously rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. “Well, I—I could stay over here. Just to, ya know, keep an eye on things. If it’d help.” Your eyes lifted back up to his face again and there was that vulnerability in your eyes again that always surprised him. He watched as your lips parted slightly as you prepared to speak.

“I can’t—I can’t ask you to do that,” you said softly, quickly averting your eyes from the sudden softness in his and fiddling with the hem of your sleeve.

“Ya ain’t askin’. I offered,” he said. “If ya think it’d help ya get some sleep. You’re healin’ up. Ya need it.”

You glanced up at him again, now your expression was somewhat guarded as you took him in. You gulped at the nervous lump in your throat. “They aren’t gonna miss you over there?” you asked hesitantly.

“Nah,” he said.

You watched him for a long moment, considering his offer, but at length you nodded, remembering how well you had slept with him nearby even outside of Alexandria’s walls. Since you’d gotten back the nightmares had returned and gotten worse, likely a result of your latest encounter. “Okay. If—if you don’t mind.”

Daryl’s heart fluttered at the grateful look you gave him, your eyes fixed on him and only him. He nodded. “I dun mind.” He nudged his nose up at you twice in a nod. “I’ll come by later.” You watched as he stalked into the kitchen and went over to the refrigerator.

“What are you doing?” You watched him pull it open and look inside before glancing back over his shoulder at you.

He closed the door pointedly. “Just what I thought. Ain’t got no damn food in here either. Ya been eatin’?”

You gulped and shrugged vaguely.

“Ya, uh huh. I’ll bring somethin’ later. Ya need to eat,” he rumbled. He started to stride quickly to the front door and you trailed a little behind him. He stopped on the threshold and looked back at you. There was that softness in his eyes again that always made your heart jump. “I’ll be back later, alright?”

You avoided his eyes, feeling suddenly silly and ashamed of what you were asking him to do, that you needed someone else when you tried so hard not to need anyone or anything. His deep voice, rough with gravel called your eyes back to his.

“Hey. It ain’t no big deal. Alright?” he said, trying to reassure you, reading the shame on your face as clearly as if the word had been tattooed on your forehead.

You nodded a little, giving in to his reassurance. “Okay.”

“’Kay,” he agreed. You watched him cross the porch and go down your stairs, headed back home. That’s what he had. A home. It hit you that all you really had was an empty house and your heart ached. It was the price you paid for trying to keep almost everyone at arm’s length. You sighed heavily and shut the door.

Several hours later, there was another knock on the front door. You got up from your spot on the couch, still carrying your book and went to the door. Daryl was standing there with his crossbow slung over his shoulder and a small container in his hands. Night had fallen outside and the porchlights illuminated the strong angles of his jaw. You felt a flush in your cheeks and hoped he couldn’t see it.

You stepped back and gestured for him to come in.

“Brought ya some stew. Venison. We’ve still got a bunch of it,” he said, heading immediately for the kitchen and starting to open cabinets, looking for a pot to dump it in so he could heat it up. “And you’re eatin’ some of this now.” He paused and looked up at you over the counter. “When is the last time ya ate?”

“Uhh…”

He scoffed and rolled his eyes at you. “Too damn long, then.” He resumed his searching and eventually succeeded. He set it on the stove to heat up. You sank down onto one of the kitchen stools at the island, watching him as he stirred the hearty meal. Daryl turned around and took in your expression from across the kitchen, slinging his crossbow off his shoulder and letting it hang at his side.

“Whatcha readin’?” he asked.

Your eyes shot up at the sound of his voice. “Oh, uhh… it’s just this classic novel. The Brothers Karamazov.”

Daryl’s eyes narrowed as he looked at you. “The what?”

You actually smiled at him, your whole face lighting up. Daryl felt his heart flutter and he was relieved to see that some of the weight that seemed to be on you was lifted, even if just for a moment. “Yeah, it’s a mouthful,” you said. “I’ve got this thing for the great Russian writers so…”

“Russian, huh? What’s so special about ‘em?”

“They just—I don’t know. They write these beautiful, insane, touching, tragic stories. I just—” you shrugged. “The writing is incredible, even in translation.” You paused thoughtfully and Daryl felt a warmth in his chest as you looked down at the novel in your hand and smoothed your hand over the cover, staring at it like it was something precious. “And I suppose now, since the world changed, the tragedy in the stories is even more relatable,” you said softly.

Daryl felt a pang in his heart at your words. Your eyes flitted back up to meet his and he felt a spark of electricity jump up his spine.

Daryl rubbed a hand across the back of his neck and hoisted his crossbow up onto the counter, using it as an excuse to break eye contact with you as he felt suddenly terrified of the magnetic pull he was feeling.

“What’d you tell everybody?” you asked quietly.

Daryl didn’t look up from the bolt he was examining closely. “Didn’t tell ‘em nothin’.”

“Won’t they worry about where you are?”

He shrugged. “Nah. S’fine.” He quickly turned back to the stew on the stove which now had curls of steam rising from the surface of it. He pulled open some more cabinets until he found a bowl and quickly poured stew from the pan into it before setting it in front of you. He opened drawers until he found a spoon, which he slid over to you with a metallic clinking against the granite of the countertop. You were giving him a queer look. “What?”

You shook your head, one corner of your mouth twitching up. “Nothing.”

“Mmm,” he hummed, his eyes narrowed. “Eat,” he drawled.

The corners of your eyes crinkled in a smile. “You’re awfully bossy today,” you joked, picking up the spoon. You stared down into the stew, not feeling the least bit hungry despite not eating anything all day.

He let out a scoff and leaned on his forearms on the counter, his curtain of brown hair falling forward around his face. “I’m bossy when someone needs bossin’,” he quipped.

You took a bite of the stew, holding the spoon a bit awkwardly with the brace on your wrist, and chewed it slowly. Daryl watched you carefully. The smile on your face had disappeared again and he couldn’t stop his eyes from drifting to the bruises on your neck. He felt a renewed flush of hot anger every time. He sighed and straightened up, picking up his crossbow and slinging it over his shoulder in a well-practiced habit.

“How’re your ribs feelin’?” he drawled.

You dipped your spoon back into the bowl of stew and shrugged. “Fine. Really, I’m fine.”

Daryl nodded, but you could tell he was a little skeptical. He moved around the counter and into the living room, sinking into a chair and kicking his feet up to rest on the coffee table. You dutifully sat and ate your stew until it was gone before going to join him with your book. You pushed the blankets on the couch out of the way and allowed yourself to watch the nimble workings of his strong fingers as he fiddled with his bow and the narrowing of his blue eyes in concentration. Your heart increased its pace. Finally, you broke the silence again. “Thanks for doing this,” you said. You hadn’t meant for it to come out in a whisper but it had, the tightness in your throat from shame and nerves strangling your voice a little.

The workings of Daryl’s fingers ceased for a moment and he looked like he was frozen, turned to stone. “I dun mind,” he finally said. His blue eyes lifted and met yours and briefly he thought he saw some glistening light there, but in a moment he had blinked and it was gone. You were simply pulling the blanket over your lap and running your fingers along the spine of your book. Daryl pulled out a sharpening stone and went about carefully sharpening some of his bolts. You settled back against the couch and opened your book, curled up beneath the blanket. It was strange how usual, how comfortable this felt. Each passing moment of silence, each murmur to one another, each question and response all felt so easy, and that was something Daryl kept turning over and over in his mind. He wasn’t used to that. He wasn’t used to feeling so at home around another person and it was becoming a habit with you. The thought made him bounce his knee nervously.

Daryl wasn’t sure when, but at some point as he sat across from you sharpening his bolts you had drifted off to sleep. Your book was still open but had dropped down onto your chest, your left hand resting on it. Your breathing was slow and deep and Daryl felt a wave of warmth and gladness wash over him that you were actually asleep. And he wondered at the fact that not only were your comfortable enough with him around to fall asleep, but he was what enabled you to when you otherwise couldn’t. Did you think of him as safety? God, he hoped so… He was puzzling over this, smoothing his thumb across his lower lip as he took in your soft expression and the way your hair was falling around your face.

He felt his heart speed up as his eyes traced the gentle pout of your mouth and the slope of your nose in profile. He rubbed a hand at the warm and achy feeling in his chest that was becoming common, annoyed at how his mind was running away on him...

The archer stood and silently crossed the room to you. He grasped one corner of your open book and slipped it gently from your hands, setting it on the coffee table. He pulled the blanket up over you before retreating back to his chair and his bow.

You awoke as the sun was coming up, lighting the living room slowly, drenching everything in warm light. You blinked a few times, getting your bearings, and then gingerly pulled yourself up into a sitting position. Your eyes landed on the archer, asleep in his chair with his head cocked to one side, his bow leaning up against the armrest next to him. He must have heard you stirring because he was awake the next instant, taking in a deep breath and straightening. His eyes meeting yours. “Hey.” The gravel in his voice was thick, heavy with sleep still.

“Hey,” you replied. Daryl was relieved to see how much brighter your eyes looked. The dark circles beneath them were also diminished.

“I didn’t—I slept,” you said with gentle surprise.

He nodded. “Ya. Ya were exhausted. Ya fell asleep early. Ya needed it,” he said, grabbing his crossbow and pulling it onto his lap, his heart rushing at the sight of your somewhat tousled hair and the rosy glow in your cheeks.

“Thank you,” you said softly.

He nodded and stood, throwing his bow over his shoulder again. “S’nothin’. Glad ya got some sleep.”

You pulled yourself up, subconsciously wrapping an arm around your ribs as they panged with the movement. Daryl was already heading through the kitchen and toward the front door. He stopped and his blue eyes fixed on your face. “Ya know, I get ‘em too sometimes,” he said quietly.

You heart raced. Had he guessed why you weren’t sleeping so easily? “What?”

“Nightmares,” he said. “About the people we’ve lost. About losing more.”

You gulped at the tightness in your throat and nodded. “Yeah…”

“I’ll see ya later, Y/N,” he drawled. He pointed at you sharply. “Eat some more of that damn stew.”

You smiled at him, the corners of your eyes crinkling. “You got it.”

#daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon twd #the walking dead #twd fanfics #daryl dixon drabbles #daryl imagines #daryl dixon x reader #fanfics #writers of tumblr #twd drabbles #daryl dixon series #sacrifice

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chloebeale · 3 years

Text

i’m talking loud, not saying much

rating: G || words: 5.5k

bechloe week day two—bed sharing/one bed

read below or on ao3!

***

There is nothing—literally nothing—positive about this stupid new arrangement.

For the last few years, things have only seemed to go from bad to worse for Beca. First there was her deadbeat mother abandoning her, then her overzealous father ended up moving them from their quiet, comfortable hometown in favor of shacking up with Lady Tremaine—uh, Sheila, halfway across the damn country, and Beca’s life had effectively been thrown into a tailspin.

It is bad enough that she has to share a home with Sheila and her daughter, Juliet—unfortunately Beca’s age, unfortunately much taller, much prettier, much more popular than Beca—but to have to share a bedroom with her, too? God, that is...yeah, that is just the icing on this particularly terrible cake.

Now, she is expected to spend her free time with Juliet? When she really could’ve gotten their room to herself for the night?

Seriously, that is bordering on child abuse.

“I swear to God if you embarrass me…” Juliet mutters under her breath as they make their way up the winding path toward her friend’s obnoxiously large house, effectively breaking into Beca’s pity party of bitter thoughts. A long arm outstretches to drum a balled fist against the pristinely painted wood of the unfamiliar front door, and despite her sour mood over having to bring Beca along with her tonight, Juliet pushes a bright smile to her lips the second the sound of approaching footsteps begins to chime from the other side of the door.

Beca only rolls her eyes, thumbs looping through the straps of her backpack to hike it more comfortably into place.

Why she hadn’t protested more strongly before, she really does not know.

Beca usually loves Friday nights. Considering Juliet’s social status, she generally has Friday night plans, so Beca gets their shared room all to herself. It is just about the only time she ever has to unwind, in fact, but when her dad had made a big deal about how Beca needs to try to put herself out there and make some friends in Atlanta, and Sheila had suggested Juliet bring her along to Olivia’s sleepover tonight, no amount of groaning from either soon-to-be step-sister had been enough to shut their parents up.

“You’ll have so much fun, Bec! Sleepovers are great, you’ll really get to know all of the girls!” Her dad had stated much too enthusiastically while Beca had begrudgingly thrown items into her backpack.

“I hope you know I’m calling CPS later,” Beca had grumbled as she’d climbed without haste into the backseat of his car, earbuds quickly stuffed into her ears to drown out the sound of Juliet’s overly-peppy phone conversation radiating from the passenger seat.

That same pep—totally forced, Beca would argue; she has seen what a grumpy monster Juliet really is at home—returns effortlessly as the door swings open to reveal a beautiful brunette holding a bowl of what looks to be freshly popped popcorn in one hand and a brand new rose gold iPhone in the other.

“Jules!” Olivia greets pleasantly, though her expression falls slightly as her bright gaze shifts from Juliet’s dazzling smile and toward Beca’s tightened jaw. “Oh… You weren’t joking about bringing your sister.”

“Step-sister,” Beca grumbles quietly under her breath, gaze cast down toward her beat-up looking Vans. She can feel Juliet’s heated glare burning into the side of her head without even bothering to look up.

“Nope, not joking,” Juliet responds with a pop of the P, not-so-subtly shoving Beca out of the way to breeze into the house.

With a heavy sigh, Beca pushes away one last fleeting thought of turning and running away to sleep on the streets for the night, and forces herself to shuffle inside behind her.

“Guys, Jules is here!” Olivia announces as she leads the way through the entrance hallway and toward what Beca can only assume by the number of doors they pass is one of multiple living rooms. The other sleepover attendees erupt into a chorus of Juliet’s name, before Olivia continues, “And, uh…”

“Beca,” Juliet says through gritted teeth.

“Right, yeah,” Olivia nods, “her sister.”

Beca bites back the urge to correct her again—they are not sisters, they will never be sisters—and instead offers the room of expectant eyes a forced, tight-lipped smile, before she goes back to staring dutifully down toward her feet.

All anybody has to do is look around the room for half a second to see that Beca is entirely out of place among this particular group of people. They all sport full faces of makeup and wear their hair in neat, pretty styles, while Beca hides behind a layer of questionably thick eyeliner and limp tresses that have had nothing more than a comb pulled through them all day.

Unsurprisingly, none of the activities to commence now that they are all here—Juliet loves to be fashionably late—are of any interest whatsoever to Beca. She doesn’t care to call the boys they all think are sooo cute and promptly hang up when they answer, and when she refuses to pick dare on her second turn in Truth or Dare—she shrugged and said “pass” when asked if she’d ever ‘done anything with a boy’ after picking truth in the first round—they all seem to give up on halfheartedly trying to include her, so Beca shrugs and plugs her ears with her earbuds, and sits off to the side with her back to the couch, contentedly listening to music.

Beca can lose herself for hours in music. Among all of the huge, rapid changes in her life, especially in recent years, music has been her one constant. It is that one form of solace for Beca, so she doesn’t mind being left out, nor her presence being all but forgotten until she eventually has to answer nature’s call.

“Uh, where’s the bathroom,” Beca asks Juliet with a small tap on her shoulder, thumb sweeping over the pause button on her phone’s music player.

Clearly enraged to have been interrupted from her circle of friends, Juliet stares back at her with a face like thunder. “I don’t know. Go find it,” she scoffs, offering Beca nothing more than a shake of her head, before turning back to the talkative group.

Beca simply stares for a moment, before rolling her eyes hard enough that she can practically hear them rattling in her skull, then pushes herself lazily to her feet.

It is a big house—an obnoxiously big house, in fact—so it is probable that there is at least one bathroom on the ground floor, but Beca doesn’t feel like trying every door and potentially running into Olivia’s parents in one of the other living rooms, so she decides it is safer to check upstairs.

The first door she tries leads to an extravagantly decorated but empty bedroom, so Beca promptly steps back out and closes it behind her, before moving quickly onto the next. That one turns out to be another empty bedroom, too, so Beca hopes that it will be third time lucky, and meekly tries the next door.

This one is a bedroom, too, only this time, it is not quite empty, and Beca jumps slightly as she realizes she is intruding on someone’s personal space. “Oh, whoa. Sorry,” she says quickly, widened gaze landing on the sight of red curls and a nose buried deeply in a book.

“Hm?” The redhead questions, evidently too enthralled by her reading material to have even noticed Beca’s presence beforehand. Her eyes lift to land on the stranger in her room, though, and Beca finds herself slightly taken aback by just how intensely blue they are.

“Sorry,” Beca says again, her pale cheeks heating up with a splash of what she is positive is a very obvious shade of crimson. “I didn’t realize this was—I was looking for the bathroom.”

“Oh,” the other girl nods, neatly setting down her open book on the mattress before her. She offers Beca a friendly smile despite the intrusion. “That’s okay. The bathroom is two doors that way,” she says, pointing in the right direction.

Why Beca finds herself staring, she really does not know, but she catches herself after a short moment and quickly clears her throat. “Right, got it. Thanks.”

“Mhm,” the redhead smiles, bright eyes remaining on Beca. Beca is about to leave, though she notes the way the other girl seems to be studying her curiously, before piping up with, “Are you my sister’s friend? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

“No,” Beca shakes her head, though realizes how bad that sounds and corrects herself quickly. “Uh, I mean, yeah. Or...I don’t know. My step-sister is friends with Olivia. She’s here for the sleepover, and my dad and her mom made her bring me.” As she speaks, Beca can hear just how ridiculously pathetic she sounds, and proceeds to mentally kick herself. “I guess I’m new to town or whatever.”

“Mm, that would explain why I haven’t seen you before,” the other girl nods, flattening her palms to the mattress to smoothly shift to her knees. “What’s your name? Or are you, like, peeing yourself and you have to leave right this second?”

“No,” Beca chuckles awkwardly, the bathroom almost forgotten about for a minute there. “No, it’s fine. I’m Beca,” she says. “My step-sister is friends with Olivia.”

“You said that already,” the redhead grins, to which Beca only mentally kicks herself again. “I’m Chloe, I’m actually Olivia’s step-sister, too.”

“Oh yeah?” Although she knows it is entirely possible for step-siblings to have healthy, good relationships, Beca can only assume judging from the scene before her that their situations may be somewhat similar. Chloe looks to be around their age, after all; surely she would be invited to the sleepover party going on in her home if she and Olivia were close, right?

“Mhm,” Chloe nods. “Which one is yours?”

Assuming Chloe is referring to which one is her step-sibling, Beca responds with an almost cautious, “Uh, Juliet Lyman.”

At that, Chloe immediately winces, and Beca cannot help the grin that breaks onto her lips in response.

“I’m sorry,” Chloe says with an apologetic look. “That was super mean.”

“No, it’s okay,” Beca promises with another small chuckle, this one much less awkward sounding than the last. “She’s kind of a dick.”

While she still looks a little bashful, almost like she feels that she spoke—or winced—out of line, Chloe’s stiffened shoulders ease then, and she offers Beca a gentle nod of her head. “Mm, I guess that makes sense. None of Olivia’s friends are particularly nice.”

Like something of a vampire, Beca rarely enters a room without invitation, so it is almost surprising to her that she seems to shift slowly inside now, but Chloe doesn’t seem to be put off. If anything, she only sends Beca a friendlier smile, and nods as if to tell her it is okay.

“I guess you’re not having a ton of fun down there, huh?” Chloe says somewhat sympathetically, motioning toward the door for Beca to close it behind her.

“Uh, yeah, no, I guess you could say that,” Beca frowns, following Chloe’s silent instruction to close the door. Much too focused on the pretty redhead whose privacy she accidentally invaded, she hasn’t taken much time to really study the room, but her eyes do a quick visual sweep now, and she finds that, while still beautifully decorated much like the rest of the house, this particular bedroom feels much more comfortable, much more homey than anywhere else. So as not to seem like a total weirdo, however, she brings her gaze back toward Chloe, then drops it to the book flattened on the bed before her. “What are you reading?”

“It’s called Looking For Alaska,” Chloe explains with a brief motion toward the book. “It’s really good so far. I’m halfway through and I’m dying to see how it ends.”

“Oh, right, yeah,” Beca nods. “Yeah. You should totally get back to that.”

“No,” Chloe shakes her head. “No, that’s not what I meant. I don’t exactly enjoy being locked away in my room,” her nose wrinkles. “I actually kind of appreciate the company. There’s a bathroom right there, by the way,” she motions toward the adjoining ensuite, “if you still have to go.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks.”

Chloe flashes her another kind smile while Beca shuffles by the bed and toward the bathroom door, then disappears inside.

Unlike Chloe, who apparently appreciates awkward new company, Beca is definitely more of a lone wolf. She prefers her own space, and will generally engage in as little social interaction as possible, but she finds that she does not feel completely uncomfortable with Chloe. In fact, after being ignored for the last hour in a room full of people, she would go so far as to say she is actually kind of glad she walked in here.

Upon returning from the ensuite facilities, Beca wonders where to go from here. She wonders if it is weird to try to stick around, if she should begrudgingly go back downstairs and rejoin the party, but she finds that Chloe has pushed her book aside, and pats the mattress to invite Beca to sit.

“Are you sure?” Beca questions, though she makes her way toward the bed regardless.

“Totes,” Chloe nods. “I told you, I like the company, and you’re not having any fun down there, so.”

“True,” Beca agrees, shuffling over to plop neatly onto the end of the bed.

“Do you go to Barden?” Chloe asks conversationally, head tilted slightly and eyes trained curiously on Beca’s face. Again, she seems to be studying her, and Beca doesn’t quite understand why she is not more weirded out.

Beca frowns in response, though eventually nods her head. “Yeah, I do. I don’t really like it, though. My old school was...well, it was still high school. I guess I was just more comfortable there or whatever, though.”

“I get that,” Chloe says with a somewhat sympathetic smile. “We moved here halfway through freshman year, and I was super sad to leave my old school. It’s hard trying to fit into a new place where everybody already knows each other, huh?”

“Yeah,” Beca nods, a hard sigh escaping through her flared nostrils. “Tell me about it.” She pauses then, this time eyeing Chloe curiously in return. “Wait, but you, like, made friends since then, right? I mean, how long have you been here?”

“Oh, yeah, tons,” Chloe says with a nod of her head. “Just not Olivia’s friends. I’ve been here almost two years now.”

“So you’re a junior?” Beca asks, to which Chloe nods again. “Me too. It’s kinda weird I haven’t seen you around.”

“It is,” Chloe agrees, bright gaze still comfortably studying Beca. Eye contact has always been a difficult thing for Beca, but she finds that it is somehow easy to hold Chloe’s. “I definitely haven’t seen you at school, though. I feel like I would’ve remembered you.”

“Yeah?” Beca questions with an awkward laugh and a lift of her brow. “I’m not the most memorable of people.”

“I would’ve remembered you,” Chloe repeats, her curious expression smoothing into something of a somewhat knowing smile, under which Beca feels her cheeks rapidly beginning to heat up again. Chloe lifts a hand to motion toward Beca’s earbuds, the wire of which hangs limply down her chest. “What are you listening to?”

“Uh, I think it was David Guetta,” Beca responds with a scrunch of her nose. “I don’t remember, I turned it off before I came up here. I have Titanium stuck in my head, though, so it was probably that.”

“Titanium is awesome,” Chloe says with an approving smile as she scoots back to rest against the headboard with the pillows stacked up behind her. “Can we listen together?”

“Oh,” Beca glances toward the space beside Chloe. “Uh, sure. If you want.”

“I do,” Chloe nods, patting the empty spot for Beca to join her.

Shuffling to sit beside her, Beca arranges the spare pillows to make a backrest, then offers one of the wired buds out to Chloe, who takes it with a gracious smile, before slotting it into her ear. Beca does the same with the other, before hitting play on her phone screen. She had the volume up pretty loud before, but makes sure to turn it down a few notches as Titanium begins spilling through the buds in the place she’d left it off before.

“This was my audition song for the Bellas,” Chloe hums fondly, shoulders relaxing as she eases back more comfortably into her stacked pillows.

“The what?” Beca questions with a curious side glance.

“The Barden Bellas. It’s our school’s a cappella group. That’s actually where I met most of my friends.”

“A cappella,” Beca echoes, lips pulling inward in a failed attempt to bite back an amused smile. “Like...synchronized nerd singing?”

“It’s not nerd singing,” Chloe giggles, lightly swatting at Beca’s arm. “It’s fun. And all of the girls are super nice. We’re like a little family.”

“Whatever you say, dude,” Beca chuckles, and finds that she has very comfortably slotted into this little space beside a person who was a total stranger to her only moments earlier. It is an odd feeling for her, but it is certainly not an unwelcome one. “So, you sing?”

“I do,” Chloe says proudly. “I love to sing. Do you?” Before Beca gets the chance to respond, Chloe sits a little further upright, eyes lighting up with excitement. “Oh, you should totes audition for the Bellas!”

“Whoa, slow down,” Beca warns with another amused chuckle. “I’m not nerd singing with anybody. Besides, I don’t even sing.”

“That’s a lie,” Chloe says, “everybody sings. Whether you sing well or not is another story, but everybody sings.”

“Yeah?” Beca lifts a brow. “Not me.”

“I bet you do,” Chloe counters, motioning toward Beca’s phone where the current track is winding down to its end. “I bet when you’re alone, you turn up the volume and you belt out this song to your empty bedroom.”

“Shut up,” Beca grumbles with a fond roll of her eyes and a hint of amusement lacing her grumbly tone.

While Chloe giggles quietly, she relaxes back into the pillows again. “You would love the Bellas. You’d make a ton of friends, and it’s super easy to sing when everybody else around you is doing it,” she says, reaching down to tap on the back-skip button on Beca’s screen, effectively restarting the song. “Sing with me. This can be your audition, and if you’re good, I’ll tell the others.”

“Dude, no,” Beca frowns, shaking her head as the beginning of the song starts to filter through her one earbud again.

“You interrupted my reading time,” Chloe states with a lifted brow and a smug smirk painting itself onto her lips. “The least you could do is sing with me.”

“Sing with you? Right now? That’s so weird. You’re so weird,” Beca says, her brow lifting the same way as Chloe’s. Despite her protests, she can feel her resolve softening already. Like Chloe whose last name Beca doesn’t even know apparently just has some kind of weird, calming spell on her. It helps that, despite saying she doesn’t sing, she actually very much does—and she is pretty freaking good at it, too.

“Just the chorus,” Chloe presses, pushing herself upright again and pointing animatedly toward her phone. “Look, it’s coming up. Just sing it with me.”

Beca scowls in response, so Chloe sends her a bright, encouraging smile, and when Beca does not outright protest again, Chloe excitedly nods her head.

Sucking in a deep breath through her nose, Beca’s jaw sets for a second, but she can feel herself preparing to start singing. She has a feeling Chloe knows she is going to, too.

“I’m bulletproof, nothing to lose…” Beca starts through gritted teeth along with the song, though she softens some at the way Chloe’s eyes instantly light up all over again.

“Fire away, fire away,” Chloe chimes in, and Beca finds that she has to pause for a second, because even with the actual song filtering into one ear, she can hear how good Chloe sounds in the other. In fact, she can hear how good they both sound as they begin to effortlessly harmonize.

As the chorus ends, they both come to a stop, too, and Beca had not realized before, but it turns out that their eyes were trained on one another’s the entire time. She doesn’t quite register it until her gaze falls to Chloe’s excited smile—the same way she doesn’t register her own smile, though once she does, she quickly wipes it away.

“I knew you were lying,” Chloe says triumphantly. “I knew you could sing. And you sounded so good, too. You have to audition for the Bellas.”

In true Beca Mitchell fashion, Beca’s cheeks have heated up, though she hopes her frown will distract from the redness in her face. “What? Dude, I thought you said that was my audition.”

“So you want to join?” Chloe asks hopefully, to which Beca immediately pauses.

“I didn’t say that,” she eventually says, arms folding tightly across her middle.

“Well, I’m gonna tell the girls how good you are, and Aubrey—she’s our captain—will be on your case until you agree to join, so.”

“You’re so annoying,” Beca chuckles, sinking back against the pillows. “You’re really persistent, huh?”

“When I want something,” Chloe shrugs, trailing off to hum along quietly with the song.

“Yeah?” Beca lifts a brow. “And what do you want?”

“You,” Chloe says casually, and Beca’s mouth opens when that seems to be the end of Chloe’s response, though she pipes up again then, “to join the Bellas.”

“I—” Beca falters, and registers the way her heart rate has for some unknown reason increased slightly. She tells herself it is simply due to the impromptu duet—she may sing when she is alone, but she never does it in front of anybody, and certainly never with anybody—though she has an odd inkling that that is not solely the case. “I’ll think about it,” she grumbles, turning her focus to her phone screen.

Chloe grins brightly at that, clearly very pleased with herself. “Awes.”

For the next little while, they remain in their comfortable position side by side with their backs against the pillows, listening to Beca’s playlist and casually conversing. Much like she had found Chloe easy to be around right away, Beca finds that that same feeling only continues. In fact, it almost intensifies—it is not often that Beca Mitchell finds herself this comfortable with a new person, but she really is strangely comfortable with Chloe.

In fact, Beca doesn’t even realize how much time has passed until her phone screen lights up with a new text message notification, and she glances down with a frown when she sees who it is from.

Juliet where are you? i swear if you went home and told your dad we were leaving you out or whatever i’ll deny it and all of the girls will back me up

In response, Beca sucks in a deep sigh through her nostrils. “She’s so annoying,” she mutters, gaze flickering toward the much later time. She knows that she should probably leave, that she should go rejoin the party at which she was having absolutely no fun, but the thought of doing so is draining, and Beca sinks even further back into the pillows behind her. “God, I don’t wanna go back down there.”

“So don’t,” Chloe shrugs, glancing toward the open text message on Beca’s cracked phone screen.

“It’s, like, almost twelve,” Beca frowns, using one finger to lazily type out hanging with olivia’s step-sister in the chat bar. “You’re gonna wanna sleep, and I probably should, too.”

“You can sleep in here,” Chloe hums, stretching out her legs and wiggling her toes beneath her socks. The cartoon corgis adorning the fabric are pretty freaking adorable, though Beca totally won’t say so.

Instead, her brow crawls a little higher in response. “What, like in your bed?”

“You think I’m gonna make you sleep on the floor?” Chloe counters with a look of fond amusement.

“Uh, no,” Beca shakes her head. “Yeah, I guess that’s—dude, isn’t that weird?”

“You’re at a sleepover with a bunch of people you don’t even like, you were gonna be sharing a bed with at least one or two of them,” Chloe shrugs, then gently shakes her head. “It’s not weird, you can sleep in here.”

“Uh,” Beca pauses, thinking it over for a second. “Are you sure?”

“Totes,” Chloe nods, eyeing Beca for a moment. Her lips twist into something of an amused grin when she clearly notes her apprehension. “What, do you think I’m gonna try to make a move on you or something?”

Beca’s instant reaction is not the one she expects. She expects to splutter and for her tired eyes to shoot further open, but instead she only stares at Chloe with an arched brow. “I don’t know, are you?”

“What if I did?”

At that, Beca’s mouth hangs open slightly, the same way it had earlier. In response, Chloe only giggles brightly again, and Beca registers that there is something almost melodic about the sound. “I’m kidding,” she promises, amusement lacing her tone as she removes the earbud and begins to push herself up from the mattress. “I’m gonna get ready for bed. Go grab your stuff and come back up here.”

Although Beca’s shoulders sag with something akin to relief, she doesn’t quite understand why a wave of disappointment washes over her, too. Does she want Chloe to make a move?

Does Chloe want to?

What even is a move, exactly?

Either way, Beca attempts a nonchalant shrug as she rises from the bed, a feeling of slight dread coursing through her at the idea of having to go back downstairs, even if only to grab her things.

It turns out, however, that the worry is needless, because nobody even entertains her with so much as a glance as she enters the large living room in pursuit of her belongings. Well, nobody but Juliet, and even then it is only for her to shoot Beca a quick glare before she goes back to talking to her friends.

Deciding that it might be a little weird to change for bed in Chloe’s room, Beca makes her way back up the stairs and toward the bathroom she hadn’t gotten to before. She momentarily holds her breath as she opens the door, worried about the idea of bumping into another peppy stranger, but it turns out to be the correct room, and Beca changes and washes up quickly, before making her way back to Chloe.

“Oh, whoa—” Beca’s response is much the same as last time, except this time she lifts a hand to quickly cover her eyes, the crimson color in her cheeks rising toward the tips of her ears.

“What?” Chloe questions, evidently entirely unperturbed despite Beca walking in on her in the process of pulling on her pajama top—under which she is not wearing a bra. “Oh… They’re just boobs.”

Beca practically chokes at that, blindly making her way into the room and shoving the door closed behind her. “Dude, I don’t need to see them.”

Chloe’s amused giggle rings through the air. “Sorry. In my defense, this is my room, and I figured you’d knock before you came in,” she says, taking a second or two to adjust her pajamas, before Beca hears her gliding toward the bed. “It’s safe for you to uncover your eyes.”

That considered, perhaps sharing a bed with Chloe for the night is not the most awkward thing anymore, so although cautiously, she lowers her hand from her face, lips pulled inward as she makes her way toward the bed. “I’m guessing that’s your side?” she asks, motioning toward the spot Chloe had taken before.

“Yep,” Chloe nods, peeling back the comforter to slip beneath it. “Sometimes I curl up in a ball in the middle, but I always at least start out on this side.”

Why the mental image is so cute to Beca, she opts not to question, and instead simply slides into the other side. “Cool. My bed’s a single, so I guess I don’t really have a side.”

“Single beds are super cozy,” Chloe hums, reaching behind herself to flatten the previously propped up pillows, before shuffling to make herself comfortable.

“They suck,” Beca frowns. “I’m actually kinda jealous of you with this. Your room is, like, bigger than my dad’s house, in fact.”

“Your dad’s house?” Chloe echoes, twisting onto her side once Beca has laid herself down, too. “It’s not your house?”

“Doesn’t feel like it,” Beca shrugs, automatically twisting her body to face Chloe.

In response, Chloe sends her a somewhat sympathetic smile, so Beca only shrugs once more. “How long have you been there?”

“Too long,” Beca grumbles, sticking one arm out of the comforter to rest her palm against the pillow by her head. Her cheek rests against the back of her hand, and Beca notes that she only feels more and more comfortable with Chloe by the second—and not just because of the ridiculously comfortable mattress. “About four months now.”

Chloe seems to consider for a moment, before eventually nodding her head. “You’ll start to feel better about it soon,” she promises in a softer voice, her hand reaching out to settle delicately over Beca’s for a short moment, before sliding it away.

It is interesting, the fact that her father has told her the same thing a million times, but that each time, Beca has only scoffed in response. For some reason, though, when it is Chloe telling her, Beca cannot help but believe her, and responds with a soft sigh, followed by a small smile of her own.

“I’m gonna turn out the light,” Chloe says, before commanding Alexa to do just that. Soon, the light in the previously bright room grows dimmer, until they are engulfed in a blanket of darkness—seriously, what a relief; Juliet makes them sleep with a night lamp on every night.

Considering it is still difficult, after four months of living there, for Beca to fall asleep in her bedroom, she expects it to be the same here. It is still something she considers unfamiliar territory, so Chloe’s room should be even more so, but as the room around her grows still, she finds that her eyes begin to grow quickly heavy. The soft sound of Chloe’s quiet breathing seems to help somehow, too.

“Beca,” she hears after a moment of silence, Chloe’s voice much softer than it was before.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for walking in here tonight,” Chloe continues, and soon Beca feels a hand laying across her own once more. Her natural instinct would normally be to pull away, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t understand why, she just...doesn't. “I really do appreciate the company.”

“Yeah?” Beca chuckles quietly, her own voice growing quieter with those telltale signs of tiredness. “It’s cool. I liked it, too.”

“Mm,” Chloe hums, the tips of her fingers stroking feather lightly over the back of Beca’s hand. Again, Beca does not pull away. In fact, she actually kind of likes it. “I really hope you do join the Bellas. I kind of wanna keep you around.”

Although she is positive Chloe just wants someone to add to their singing group, something about the statement causes Beca’s heart to flutter slightly. Honestly, she is just not used to someone actually wanting her around—it is not like Juliet does, and she is pretty sure Sheila doesn’t, either—but it is particularly nice to her that Chloe wants her around specifically.

“Ditto,” she mumbles, her thumb instinctively rising to brush softly over the side of Chloe’s pinky finger.

There is a stillness to follow, a calmness that Beca is not altogether used to, but again, it is something she welcomes. Something she has been yearning for for months now, in fact. No, years.

Although she feels sleep beginning to instantly overtake her, and she really doesn’t want to break the comfortable silence, a nagging voice in Beca’s head instructs her to do so. The kind that causes her heart to race again, and Beca licks over her now dry lips as she wonders if she will actually do it or not.

“Chloe,” she murmurs quietly, a part of her hoping Chloe is one of those people who can fall asleep pretty much as soon as their head hits the pillow—but a stronger part of her hoping not. Either way, she continues in a quiet voice, “If you did wanna make a move, you can.”

There is another silence to follow, a short stretch in which Beca’s heart thunders and she wonders if perhaps Chloe is already out, before she feels soft fingers slotting through the gaps in her own, then registers her sleepy, whispered response,

“I just did.”

#beca mitchell #chloe beale #bechloe #bechloe fic #bechloe week 2021 #bechloe week #i'm talking loud not saying much #mine #mine:writing

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cabensonsgirly · 3 years

Text

👼Baby's Got Trouble. Don't Know How To Live. Don't Want To Die. (Cordelia Goode)👼

Cordelia Goode x fem!reader

👼Part 6 of SP getting reader pregnant👼

👼Slice 1👼

Co-authored with @billiedeannovak

Somewhat au but more so later xx

👼Wordcount: 3422👼

👼Posted on AO3: Read Here👼

👼Content: Your mum sucks, slow-burn, fluff, angst, alcohol, more to be added later👼

👼“No, ma’am. It isn’t crazy hippie rubbish. As I said, your daughter has a place here at the academy. She will start classes upon arrival. It is best she bring all the clothing she has and any other personal items she might wan-“👼

“Hello? Is this the Robichaux or whatever place?”

“Robichaux Academy, yes it is. My name is Cordelia Goode, I’m the Headmistress of Robichaux Academy. How may I help?”

“Brilliant. My daughter, Yn, has somehow managed to break our wine glasses while we were- my husband, son, and I were sitting eating at the dining table. She then managed to fix them once the initial shock wore off but this can’t go on. She’s a disgrace to the family. We heard tales from her great grandmother about witches in Salem but we just thought she was going batty in her old age. Regardless, can you fix our daughter?”

“I- Ma’am, I understand that to people like you- er, I mean, people without magical abilities, that it is scary when these abilities show themselves, but it doesn’t mean your daughter needs to be- to be fixed. Yes, she can come to the academy, there should have been a letter in the-“

“Oh. That place. We got the letter and threw it out thinking it was some crazy hippie rubbish.”

“No, ma’am. It isn’t crazy hippie rubbish. As I said, your daughter has a place here at the academy. She will start classes upon arrival. It is best she bring all the clothing she has and any other personal items she might wan-“

“She will take what she can fit into that stupid bag of hers before we kick her out. We don’t want her in the house any longer. She’s a disgrace and is putting us in danger.”

“I think- I think she’s the one in danger, not you. People still- There are people out there that still want us dead. She will be safer surrounded by her sisters. Someone will come by to make sure she makes it here safely.”

“Good. I suggest someone come quick because after I hang up, she’s no longer welcome.”

“I- Okay ma’am. Very well then. Someone will be there shortly. Have a pleasant evening.”

You have always hated the dark ever since you were a little kid, it’s not the darkness itself that scares you but rather the inability to see what could see you. The lights that lined the streets offered little to no visibility, they were as useful as soldiers would be standing in their place, in fact, they were probably what made you most unnerved about sitting outside on the curb at night, they had this uneven yellow glow to them that only managed to give off light in a very small orb around them. The only thing that would make your current situation more unpleasant than it already was, would be if a thick fog rolled in, trapping the light in an even smaller radius, and making the darkness around you all that more ceaseless.

It was a relatively quiet part of New Orleans, and at the moment you couldn’t tell whether this was a blessing or a curse. Sure, there weren’t random people approaching you and asking if you have money or if you need help, but there was also no one around if something were to happen to you. Yes, your scream could be heard but no one would come running to see where it had come from or why it had been made.

Your parents hadn’t really explained much about where you were going, they said “gather your shit in that bag of yours and get out” followed by a “someone from that hippie academy will pick you up” but that was all they had said before the door hit your ass on the way out of the house.

There weren’t any hippie academies that you could think of, you doubted they were even a thing. Wouldn’t a hippie academy be counterintuitive to the whole hippie thing? Why were you even being sent away? It wasn’t your fault that the glasses broke, it was an accident! And you had fixed them so why were you suddenly sitting on your ass on the curb?

The low hum of a car draws your attention from your phone and makes you jump up and back from the curb so you don’t get hit by it. It’s a fancy car so surely it wouldn’t be here for you. Why would a black Mercedes A-Class Sedan pull up in front of you?

Maybe it was one of those gross rich people that wanted to give you a nice place to stay and anything you could desire in exchange for sex. No Bueno. One of the doors swing open and a young blonde woman steps out, brushing down the front of her knee-length black skirt before smiling shyly at you. “Are you Yn?”

You narrow your eyes and tighten your grip on the straps of your backpack “Who’s asking?” Despite current circumstances, the woman doesn’t come across like she would do anything to hurt you, she seems kind and has a certain air of innocence about her.

“Oh! My apologies, I’m Cordelia Goode. I’m the Headmistress of Robichaux Academy. I’m here to take you there. Have- Did your parents explain where you’re going and why?”

You shook your head and looked down briefly, toeing the dirt with your shoe before glancing back at her. “No. They pretty much told me to get my shit and leave, and that some ‘hippie academy’ person would come get me. Are- are you that person? Not- not a hippie person but- not- not that there’s anything wrong with if you are.”

Cordelia laughs softly and moves closer to you, offering her hand to carry your bag “Let me take that for you.” You hand her your bag, quietly apologising for it being heavy but she seems to hold it with ease. “So they told you none of what I discussed with them on the phone? That’s- that’s to be expected I guess. We can discuss this in the car on the way, okay?”

You nod and follow her back to the car, climbing in after her and closing the door. She whispers something to the driver before the car sets off, turning her attention back to you. “Do you know anything about witches and covens?”

“A little? My great grandma use to talk a lot about what happened to family in Salem but mom and dad always said she was just getting batty in her old age. She said that witch hunters would tear people from their homes and slaughter them, sometimes whole villages of people that were believed to be witches or- or even harboring them.

She use to show me magic tricks as a kid, making her purse disappear then reappear in my school bag. I never knew how she did it but- but it fascinated me. I talked to mum and dad about it, how amazing it was but they just told me to stop talking and never talk about it again. Other than that… I have no idea.”

“Your- your parents- mother- did briefly mention that your great grandmother use to talk about it but she, as you said, put it down to her being batty in old age. Unfortunately for your grandmother- great grandmother, sorry- what she talked to you about was- in some cases, still is, true. Witches, all though now have safer places and are more widely accepted, they- we, are still at danger of being killed by witch hunters.

At the academy, Robichaux, we are safe, the Supreme is incredibly strong and capable of protecting us, and there are a number of other older witches who help too. But like most covens, we are stronger together than we are divided. We are here to protect and help new witches grow. With us you will have a new family who will never turn their back on you when you are in a time of need.”

Looking out the window it was just a blur of colours from the lights and neon signs that lit up the streets signalling that New Orleans night life was just waking up. “What do you do when you grow up licking poison off knives and now that you’re finally going to be in a situation where you're fed on milk and honey, all you can think about is running because something that sweet can’t be anything other than poison? What is that quote…

I don’t know how to stay tender-“

“with this blood in my mouth? Ophelia, act 4, scene 5. It is… appropriate considering your situation but… if I’m going off my impression of you, you are going to find it easy to continue being kind, even if you feel like you’re only good at hurting people. I can see that you have a good heart, Yn. Although my mother does tell me I’m not good at judging people.”

You smile shyly, feeling your cheeks heat up slightly “Thank you, Cordelia. I hope I can prove your mother wrong and be the good person that you think I am.” You return your gaze to look out the window, admiring the different colour lights you can see and how busy this part of the city was. “It’ll be nice finally having someone that believes in me. That believes I am good.”

“You will find that there will be others out there who will see goodness in you too. But- but even if there aren’t… Know that I see it.”

The rest of the drive was filled with light-hearted banter, the kind you would hear good friends throw back and forth. You wouldn’t consider you and Cordelia to be friends seeing as you two have only just met but you felt as though it wouldn’t take long until you were.

By the time you made it to the academy it was around midnight, the building was grand and imposing, it had this energy to it that gave off the distinct impression that if you tried damaging it in anyway you would be the one that came away worse off. There were lights that lit the pathway and entryway up which somehow managed to make the building all the more intimidating despite feeling perfectly safe.

You went to grab your backpack but Cordelia bet you to it. “I can carry my bag, you know that right? I don’t mind taking my own shit- stuff in. You’ve already saved me from whatever hell my parents were going to impose on me, the least I can do is take my own things inside.”

She shakes her head, a small smile tugging at her lips as she leads the way up the path “I’m sure you can, but you’re new here and you’ve also had a long day, it’s the least I can do for a new coven member.” You let out a dramatic groan as you follow after her, she opens the door and steps to the side to let you in before coming in after you and closing the door behind you both.

“It’s so quiet. Is it always this quiet? I can’t- Nevermind” You shove your hands in your jacket pockets, waiting for Cordelia to take you to where you can hopefully get some sleep.

“It’s only this quiet when the girls aren’t creating mischief and partying, as well as when my mother hasn’t been drinking, mind you, I haven’t seen her since she left to travel the world... You’ll grow to appreciate this rare moment of silence.” She gestures for you to follow her as she leads you up a grand staircase, leading you down a hall before opening a door to your left.

“It’s a small room but I doubt you’d want the girls harassing you with questions at this hour so we’ll move you into their room tomorrow if you would like? There’s drawers for your clothes, a small desk, and of course a bed. The bathroom is next door and if you want hot water I suggest waking up before 7 or else Madison will use it all up when she takes her hour long shower.”

You nod your head and thank her quietly, taking your backpack from her you step in the room, dumping your bag on the desk before moving to close the curtains. “Is- Is there anything else I can do for you before I let you get some rest?” You turn around to look at her before looking at the floor “Is- Is it okay if I turn some music on? I’ll have it quiet so it doesn’t disturb anyone. I just- I can’t sleep when it’s silent.”

Cordelia smiles softly, she finds it rather adorable that you can’t sleep unless there’s noise of some sort but she doesn’t want to embarrass you or herself by admitting this. “Of course you can. I will make sure- or try to get you a radio so you don’t have to play it through your phone. I’m sure it will be nice to hear music rather than the girls screaming at each other over who stole whose makeup. I- I wouldn’t mind hearing what you like listening to” your eyes shoot up to look at her, a blush settling on both your faces.

“I- uhm… I- Good- Good night, Yn. I’ll come see you in the morning so I can introduce you to the others at breakfast. Uhm… Let- let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help you settle in. Good night.” She rushes out, hoping that you don’t notice how flustered she got but also has a gut feeling that you did notice. She gives you a small wave before leaving quickly, the door closing behind her.

You let out a slow breath, feeling the exhaustion from the day hit you like a bat out of hell. You knew this made no sense seeing as you did nothing physical but apparently being kicked out of home for being a witch had the same effect as running a marathon, it left you broken and tired.

You remove most of your clothing, leaving just your shirt and underwear on before climbing into bed, taking one last glance at your phone to see if you have any messages or calls from anyone but unsurprisingly there weren’t any. You turn the volume up a bit so you can hear your music then put it on your small side-table before turning over and trying to sleep.

No matter where you stayed or how exhausted you were, the first night sleeping somewhere new was always the hardest night sleep you had. Nevertheless, you managed to get to sleep relatively quickly but staying asleep was where it became difficult; the days events were playing in this off-kilter manner, like they were somehow glitching and just playing that awful moment where your powers revealed themselves and you saw the look of fear then disgust in your parent’s eyes on loop. No matter how hard you tried to change what you were dreaming about, your dreams would always end up looping back to this.

“We can never have a fucking normal dinner when you’re involved, can we? There is always something going on with you. Last night it was because you wanted to have a glass of wine and ended up polishing the bottle off yourself. And now!? Now it’s because you’re some freak.”

“Honey, that’s not- you can’t call our daughter that. This time it isn’t her fault this happened. Yes last night was unpleasant but you certainly weren’t helping and now you’re berating the poor girl.”

“Oh? It’s my fault? So what, you’re defending our freak of a daughter?”

“No- No that’s not- I’m not defending her. Tonight was- is just- this is out of her control and ours.”

“Exactly. Out of our control. She’s always been like this. I’m going to go make a call to that academy place. See if they can fix her.”

“I don’t need fixing! I’m not broken!”

“You’re right, you’re not broken. Just defective.”

“Mom? Don’t make her leave. She helps me with my homework when you’re not home. Please. I’ll miss her if you make her-“

“Shut up. This isn’t for little children to discuss. Take your dinner to your room and eat there. This is the last time you’ll be seeing your sister.”

“But-“

“No. Say your goodbyes now then go to your room.”

Your little brother gets out of his seat and walks over to you, wrapping his arms around your legs before hugging you tight, mumbling “I’ll miss you. Sorry mom and dad are making you leave. If- if it counts for something I- I don’t think you’re defective.”

You hug him back, giving his hair a ruffle before letting him go, a sad smile on both your faces. “I’ll see you again someday, kiddo. Be good.”

“Unlike you, your brother isn’t a disappointment to this family.”

You wake with a start upon a knocking on your door, you feel panic surge through you thinking it was your mother about to verbally berate you but then you hear a soft voice. “Yn? May I come in? I thought it best to discuss with you what happens in the morning before lessons start.” You feel your cheeks heat up and pull the duvet up to cover you as you sit up, “uhm yeah- yeah you can come in.”

The doorhandle turns and the door swings open, revealing a youthful Cordelia, her long blonde locks tied back in a ponytail; if you hadn’t known who she was, you would have thought an angel had lost its way, she was beautiful. You look away not wanting to get caught staring, suddenly finding the ceiling to be the most fascinating thing you’ve ever seen.

“Hey! Is that the new girl!? It’s the new girl! Co-“ Cordelia closes the door, shaking her head and letting out a quiet sigh before turning back to face you. “And here I was trying to make sure you would have a relatively peaceful morning, but it seems that the girls have other things in mind.”

You laugh lightly and shrug, “I’ll have to get use to it sooner or later so it’s alright.” She hums a bit, clasping her hands together at her waist. “So… We usually have breakfast together. Some mornings it’s a pleasant affair but then there are mornings where Madison decides to start drama…”

Cordelia trails off, a light blush colouring her cheeks “I- I probably shouldn’t talk like that but… there isn’t much point trying to sugar coat things. It was a lot worse when mother was staying here, as soon as she had some alcohol in her there is no stopping her. But that’s in the past anyway. She’s off traveling” she gestures vaguely with her hands “somewhere.”

You cover your mouth with your hand to stifle laughter, it seems like you’re not the only one who has a tempestuous relationship with their mother. “You’re not laughing at me, are you? It’s not a good look for a new student to laugh at her Headmistress.”

You bite your lip to keep yourself from laughing, it’s not that you were laughing at her but the situation in itself was pretty funny. “I- I’m not I swear” you manage to get out through little fits of laughter “It’s just funny that’s all.” She rolls her eyes but smiles “I doubt you’ll be laughing when mother has a fit and tosses you across the room. God… I really need her to stop doing that.”

Cordelia walks over to your curtains and opens them, flooding the small room with natural light, the golden and bubble-gum hues of the sunrise bringing life to the otherwise dull walls. “You’ll be fine. I doubt she’s returning home any time soon.”

She turns to look at you, a small smile on her face. “I should let you get dressed so you can get downstairs to have something to eat. I try getting breakfast over and done with before 10am but there are usually a few stragglers that appear later and pick at what’s left in the fridge. I’ll talk to the girls and try to get them to not hound you.”

You thank her and she makes her way over to the door, she rests her hand on the doorhandle, looking down before looking back at you. “I’m sorry that you came here because you had no other choice. I promise you that I won’t give up on you, regardless of what path you take in life.” She gives you a sad smile before leaving, the door closing quietly behind her.

#Cordelia Goode #Cordelia Goode imagine #Cordelia Goode x reader #Cordelia foxx #Cordelia foxx imagine #Cordelia foxx x reader #Sarah Paulson #Sarah paulson imagine #Sarah paulson x reader #ahs #ahs imagine #ahs coven

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spooky-hungry · 3 years

Text

You know you were supposed to feel safer than ever, with that recently established guild of “superheroes” supposedly keeping an eye on the city… but honestly, you weren’t feeling any better than you normally did walking through the darkened alleyways. Especially since the heroes tend to be so distant, soaring high in the sky… while the man behind you seemed so close. As you walk faster, so does he, his darkened silhouette growing ever nearer as your mind races, wondering what he wants, hoping it’s all just a coincidence and you’re merely walking down the same alleyway by complete coincidence…

“Hey!” At the sound of his booming voice echoing through the alleyway, you froze like a deer in headlights. As he stomped up to you, you could see the glint of the street lights on the blade of his knife. “You! Break yourself!” You started at him, doe-eyed and unmoving - transfixed at first by the mugger himself, and then, by the silhouette of something from far up above landing amid the garbage piles behind him, unnoticed. “You heard me. Empty those pockets! Let’s make this real easy, huh?” As he advanced, you backed away, frightened not by him, but by the even larger silhouetted figure sneaking up behind him! “Are you dead!? Don’t make me cut y- mph!” Suddenly, two hands popped out of the darkness from behind him, grasping him close!

The knife clatters against the ground as you watch in confusion and horror, muffled screams filling the alley as the silhouette envelops him. It’s hard to even tell what’s happening, the view only barely illuminated by the distant street lights. What little you can discern, your mind refuses to believe. In the silhouettes of their shadows, you see the figure lifting the man off the ground, thrusting him - dare you even think it - between their lips? His screams grew ever more muffled, until they were at last drowned out by messy slurps and powerful gulps, accompanied by an orchestra of gastric moans and bubbling gurgles. His legs are hoisted up into the air, kicking violently as they’re pulled ever deeper with sickening swallows, until gradually disappearing as the two shadows become one. The swift, nature-defying process was capped off by the sounds of lips smacking contentedly, and a deafening, echoing belch.

Out from the darkness, a young woman stepped alone, the man nowhere to be seen except, perhaps, if you count the hand, feet and face prints clearly bulging out her stretched-taut belly even through her outfit. Said bulges were hidden somewhat by the layers of fat that settled on her pudgy figured - apparently, this was far from her first meal of this sort. She was dressed in a purple cape, eye mask, and spandex leotard with a logo of an open mouth over her belly. “Have no fear, citizen! You’ve been rescued from that dastardly ne’er-do-well by… the Glorious Greedyguts!” She spoke in a stereotypical superhero voice, hands proudly on her hips. When you stood there in stunned silence, though, she got a little nervous. “I understand that my methods may be, umm… unconventional! B-but… we don’t get to choose our powers, you know… the point is that I saved you, right?” The silence continued, and she grew more nervous still, perhaps even desperate. “Look, I’m new to this whole heroing thing, and I’m trying my best over here, okay? Please don’t freak out! I - ugh!”

She was interrupted by a painful kick in the ribs from the mugger imprisoned in her big fat stomach, enough to bring her to her knees. You acted on impulse, kneeling down to help her… and shuddering when you pressed those hands into the deep squishiness of her gut. Like it or not… watching her devour him like that had actually been entrancing! Soon, you were kneading and massaging her belly in earnest, feeling her belly prisoner move as he was sloshed around in that caustic stomach as it began digesting him. She sighed in bliss, leaning back and letting out a few more burps. “Thank you… this guy’s a real fighter… ooooh, that’s nice…” Eventually, the man had been more or less subdued by her powerful stomach, yet you still played with it, molding her fat like dough in your hands. “Listen, I know how weird and gross my power is. I wish I could’ve gotten something different… I guess you probably hate me now, though, just like everybody else does after they see I’m basically a cannibal.” It hurt you to see her so down about herself. So… you simply told her the truth. Her eyes widened, and her cheeked reddened. “W-what? You… you actually like my power…!? Truly?”

She seemed relieved and flattered, smiling warmly as you help her lift her heavy body to her feet. She now flaunts her belly proudly, swaying it back and forth and letting it slosh gently before your hypnotized gaze. You can’t help but to ask if she’d want to have dinner at your favorite restaurant sometime. “Oooh! Of course! I love that place! But, uh… careful not to run into any more muggers on the way there. Although, I certainly wouldn’t mind making use of my power for you again, if you really like it so much…” She giggled. You can’t take your eyes off her belly as you exchange numbers, imagining stuffing it with a buffets worth of food - or even villains! “Well, great! It��s so nice to meet someone who appreciates what I’m doing out here! I’ll be seeing you around for sure, sweetheart.”

And with that, the gluttonous hero flew off once more into the night sky, her belly sloshing about as she soared over the city.

#fatal vore #v.ore #v/ore #vo.re #vo/re #vore-tag #vore digestion #digestion vore #vor/e #vore tag #vore story

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pink-flame · 3 years

Note

You know, we did not get an official first Juke Bodyguard AU kiss. Did they kiss after Julie's show? I'd like to know how their first kiss was

I mean technically you did get their first kiss, it was just brief and apparently unsatisfying. So...let’s try this again. 😂 Have their second kiss.

Julie was pretty sure that her Orpheum concert was the best show she had ever done.

There was the fact that she had been dreaming of performing there for practically her entire life, ever since Reggie and Alex had taken her to her first concert ever in that very same club. There was the fact that for the first time in a long time almost everyone she cared about was gathered to watch her, her dad, and her brothers, and Alex and Flynn. There was the fact that every single note seemed to fall exactly where it was meant to, her voice soaring like never before in a way that felt...easy.

But she would have been lying if she said that any of those factors were the real reason why it was her best show ever.

The truth was a lot simpler.

The truth was she performed the whole concert with a permanent smile stretching across her lips, lips that still tingled from where they had all too briefly pressed against Luke’s. They had exchanged I love yous. They had finally stopped dancing around each other and wondering if the other felt the same.

And they had kissed.

Even if it had been cut frustratingly short.

Still.

There would be plenty of time for that. Like. The second her show ended.

Only it didn’t turn out to be quite that simple.

Luke had clearly had the same idea because he was waiting for her in the wings, hovering even closer to the edge of the stage than he would on a normal night, those big eyes and that distracting grin fixed on her until her final bow. As soon as Julie practically ran off of the stage she was in his personal space, struggling to maintain some small semblance of professionalism by not immediately latching her lips onto his. It was a struggle though and one that he seemed to be feeling too.

“Hi,” She said, looking up at him, as her lip slipped between her teeth.

“Hi,” He echoed, one of his hands coming up to touch lightly at her elbow and usher her slightly farther into the wings.

And that was ok, that was normal, in fact before she had started trying to ignore him they regularly touched way more than this in front of anyone and everyone. Only now her skin practically burned where his fingers rested on it and she found herself unintentionally swaying even closer to him. He must have been feeling it too because the next thing she knew his head was dipping down towards hers, and hers was tilting up and…

Oh.

“Luke,” She whispered, her hands coming up to press against his chest and halt his progress. “Let’s go somewhere more private, ok?”

He didn’t respond right away, his body seeming prepared to fight to continue its journey towards hers for a split second before her words pierced the haze around his mind. He jolted and took a half step back, one hand coming up to rub at the back of his head sheepishly.

“Right, yeah, good idea.”

He recovered from his embarrassment quickly, shooting her another grin and using his grip on her elbow to guide her out into the hall and towards her green room.

Julie wasn’t exactly proud of the way she spent the short walk counting the seconds until she and Luke could be alone and more properly express their happiness at finally confessing to each other but...that didn’t mean she wasn’t counting them. Unfortunately when Luke finally gripped the door handle and ushered them inside they were very much not alone.

In fact the room was packed with just about everyone she had previously been so excited were there to see her play. Oh. Yeah.

“Julie, that was phenomenal!”

Before she could react, Julie’s dad was striding across the room and sweeping her up into her arms, jostling her away from a frowning Luke in the process.

“Thanks, Dad,” Julie said genuinely, returning his hug before pulling away with a smile.

Her dad wasn’t the only one who wanted her attention and to congratulate her, Flynn, Reggie, Alex and even Carlos all stepping forward to take their turn, the room quickly becoming an impromptu celebration of Julie finally achieving one of her lifelong dreams to perform at the Orpheum. And she appreciated it, she did. So much.

But she was also incredibly aware of Luke hovering at the outskirts of the gathering, Reggie and Alex doing their best to keep him involved in conversation, but his energy practically bouncing around the room and blasting into her with its intensity. She was pretty sure she was matching it if she was being honest. It had been the better part of a year spent thinking that their respective feelings were unrequited and now that the unrequited part had been proved to very much not be true they were both practically vibrating with anticipation of what came next.

So when Julie glanced over her shoulder and locked eyes with Luke as they each did their best to keep up a conversation with different people, she knew the exact moment that both of them decided they were done waiting.

Luke was suddenly pulling out his phone and making a big show of reading a supposed message that had come through before hurrying over to her and practically tugging her towards the door.

“Sorry everyone, need to borrow Julie just for a minute, official business.”

Julie did her best to ignore the knowing looks Alex, Reggie and Flynn all sent them and the way her dad’s forehead furrowed in confusion, following Luke out into the hall and pausing just long enough to make sure the door was shut securely behind them. That turned out to be all she had time to do before Luke was swinging her gently against the wall and bracketing her body with both of his inescapably muscular arms.

“Sorry,” He murmured, his face once again starting to dip towards hers. “I got impatient.”

“No, yeah, same,” Julie said a little breathlessly, reaching up to rest a hand on each of his shoulders.

“Ok, that’s good then,” He said, his voice dropping by at least an octave as one of his hands slipped off of the wall to rest on her lower back, tugging her even closer to him and wrenching a gasp from her without her permission.

Their lips were just about to connect when Alex’s voice suddenly sounded from just on the other side of the green room door.

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you, I’m on my way.”

Julie’s eyes widened in panic with the knowledge that Alex was about to step out and catch them in a somewhat compromising position. She knew that it wasn’t like they were doing anything wrong, and they certainly weren’t doing anything Alex hadn’t already probably guessed they were somewhere doing. But that didn’t mean she was ready for her best friend and assistant to see with his own eyes the way she and Luke simply couldn’t keep their hands off of each other at the moment. Luke clearly felt the same, only luckily for her his bodyguard instincts seemed to kick in. Just as the handle on the door started to move he tugged her down the hallway and through the next door they came to.

Julie’s first observation was only that it seemed that they had succeeded in avoiding Alex and she let a rush of relief flow through her. But her second observation was that she and Luke were pressed up against each other in what appeared to be a small closet.

Again.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” She said quietly.

“I guess this is going to be our thing,” Luke answered with another one of those heat fluttering grins. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you know when it’s safe to come out.”

“Oh yeah?” Julie chuckled. “How long do you think it will be?”

“Hmmm…” Luke wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body even more flush against his. “Hard to say. Better safe than sorry.”

Julie giggled at that, she couldn’t help it. She was happy and she loved him and he loved her and they were finally alone and they were back in a closet and…

Luke’s mouth pressed against hers, at first softly than more insistently, his fingers curling into the soft skin of her waist as she melted fully against him. Julie could hardly process the actual sensation of the kiss through all of the fireworks that felt like they were exploding in her mind as her brain practically sang in elation at the rightness of being Luke and Julie, together. Of course that didn’t last long as her lips parted of their own accord and he instantly deepened the kiss with a little groan of satisfaction that sent tingles from her head to her toes. She brought up one hand to rest on the back of his neck while she couldn’t resist letting the other work its way into that stupid, messy hair. She curled her fingers around a few strands of his hair, her nails scraping lightly against his scalp. His reaction was immediate, seeming to lose his balance at the sensation as he stumbled pushing both of them against the wall knocking over what she was pretty sure was a stand containing cleaning supplies.

Julie broke away from the kiss, laughing uncontrollably as Luke struggled to regain his balance, push away a mop that had landed on his shoulder and reconnect their lips all at the same time.

“I’m going to be honest, I’m thinking it’s probably a good thing I’m getting a new bodyguard soon,” She teased, stroking gently at the patch of skin on his neck she could still reach. “Apparently all it takes to take you out is a scalp massage.”

Luke smirked down at her.

“Oh, so what I’m hearing is you want me to show you my skills,” He said in that soft, low voice that made it really hard for her to focus on anything, even teasing him. “Observing...detecting...physical intervention…”

Julie wanted very badly to make fun of the way he was trying to use bodyguard lingo to get under her skin but the problem was it was absolutely working, which meant it was safer just to say nothing. Instead she let her eyes slide closed, and her head tilt up and could just feel the slightest brush of his lips against hers when a loud knock had them springing apart.

“Are you two done because Julie’s dad would really like to take his daughter to a celebratory dinner and I don’t want to have to be the one who tells him she’s engaged in steamy activities in a random closet.”

Luke groaned and Julie chuckled.

“We’ll be right there, Alex,” She called out.

“Will we?” Luke grumbled.

“Yes,” Julie said with a smile, before leaning up to press one last quick kiss to his mouth. “I love you.”

That seemed to ease some of his disappointment, a sappy, pleased smile spreading onto his face instantly.

“I love you too.”

“Now come on,” Julie said, tugging him towards the door with a grin. “The sooner we get dinner with my dad the sooner you can do one last security sweep of my apartment.”

#500 followers #prompt game #juke #jatp #bodyguard au #my fics

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