#This is keeping my mind occupied while I am panicking about maybe not being able to get back home from my vacation today | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

eff4freddie · 3 months

Text

2 Sweet 4 Me | Part Three

Dieter Bravo x AFAB Reader Words: 2.5k Minors DNI

Part One Part Two Epilogue

Dieter knows he fucked up, knows he lost you, knows it hurt and that he deserved it. But if its the way things had to be, the way they were always going to be, predestined as he is, apparently born under a vengeful and unforgiving star, then why does it still fucking sting so much?

This is a love story.

Warnings: Smut, vaginal sex, lots of swearing, angst

The thing about wrap parties is that if you never let yourself get attached to any of the people you work with, it doesn’t hurt when its time for everyone to go. Dieter hated wrap parties, mind already on his next project, if not his next score. He didn’t care to really know anyone, their hopes and dreams or whatever. The way people clambered over each other to feign sadness that their two and a half months together were over, the way they promised to stay in touch just to immediately lose everyone’s numbers, the way people looked through him, plotting how to get the dregs out of him, how to carve up whatever was left. He used to be able to stand it, when he knew he had you to go home to.

He hadn’t dared call you since his late-night Ambien confessions. Part of him wanted to see if you’d call him, if you’d miss him now that you’d heard his voice again, and a larger, wiser part of him knew you wouldn’t, that you shouldn’t, that maybe you and him could debate whether he was good enough for you, but there was no argument that he wasn’t good for you. He’d seen the way your eyes had hollowed out the longer you stayed with him.

Fuck, it still hurt though. He felt the fist clenched tight in his chest, always feeling breathless and slightly panicked at the idea of being alone. You. Without you.

Rudy convinced him to go to the wrap party anyway, that it was important to be seen, then basically held him hostage, refusing to come and pick him up for at least an hour. Dieter had downed one vodka tonic and watched the minutes tick by before he could slip away again. His next job started in three weeks, was shooting in LA, and the studio had let him keep Rudy. Dieter liked Rudy, his dad-vibes weirdly soothing at the end of a long night. Rudy judged Dieter, but only ever fairly.

‘You got a few weeks off from me, my friend,’ he said, from the front passenger seat, because he felt like either an invalid or 100 years old sitting alone in the back. Rudy had let him sit there so long as he promised not to fuck with the radio. Dieter had sat on his hands.

‘You going to keep yourself occupied, Sir?’ Rudy asked, and Dieter shrugged.

‘Might do.’

‘I mean, you gonna keep that nose outta trouble?’ Rudy asked again, and there was that paternal care Dieter realised he’d been missing for most of his childhood, soaked it up now in case Rudy ran dry.

‘Might do,’ Dieter replied, grinning.

He’d just learnt to carry on without you, he realised. Hobbled, but moving. He checked his phone less, sometimes forgot to even look at it for hours on end. He hardly ever cracked open your left-over shampoo just to pretend you were still in the room. He didn’t catch himself reaching for you over the cold mattress at 3 AM anywhere near as often.

He nearly dropped his keys. Rudy had dropped him off at his gate so that he didn’t have to back up the driveway, and Dieter had been staring at the night sky, his head fully thrown back as he walked up his garden path, so that he didn’t see you sitting on his stoop until he was nearly standing on you.

‘Baby?’ he said, and you lifted your face to him as he reached for you, pulled you up onto your feet and into his arms, your little coughing sobs reverberating up his neck and bouncing around his skull. ‘Oh, my sweet thing, what?’ he asked, and you cried harder into his skin, your fists raised to his chest, almost like you were trying to hold him away while he pulled you in.

‘It’sjustbeensuchashitday,’ you said, and he reached down to pull your face from his so that he could examine you, turning your face left and right in the porchlight.

‘Tell me,’ he said, and you sniffled, avoiding his gaze, staring instead at his hairline. You wanted to reach up and run your fingers through it, tug on it as he settled his head between your thighs.

‘I…’ you started, and you stopped, because you didn’t know where to start, how to explain, that you had just wanted him, that nothing even really all that dramatic had happened, just fucking Kevin in your fucking office fucking up the finance reports again so now your project was $60k over budget because he can’t add up tax despite being a fucking accountant, and the CEO’s EA had been a bitch to you about trying to get a report signed off after the deadline, and you’d had to settle a couple of bullshit microaggressions between your colleagues because they were incapable of communicating like fucking adults, and your boss had given you a weird vibe all day like she was waiting for you to fuck up just to point it out to you, and the fluorescent lights had given you a headache again but you weren’t able to get an appointment with the optometrist to get those blue light filtering glasses things you’d read about on Instagram for another two weeks, and God sometimes your body just felt fucking wrong and there wasn’t any reason for it, really, except that putting your body against his made it right again.

You paused for breath, exhaling slowly, looking up into his face. It took you a moment to realise you’d spoken it all, out loud. You felt the heat explode on your cheeks at the revelation.

‘Oh, baby,’ he said, and he held your face in his hands as he planted a warm kiss on your forehead.

‘Can’t turn my brain off,’ you said, miserable.

‘You want me to help you forget?’ he asked, heart racing, caught on your words like a rag on a barbwire fence; made it right again, made it right again, your body against his made it right again.

You stared up at him, your eyes red and bloodshot, skin wet with tears. He held you there, in his gaze and in his hands. You weren’t sure you could speak it into existence, if you should. You nodded your head instead.

And then you were in his arms again, wrapping your legs around his waist as he lifted you, carrying you over the threshold and down into the den, his sunken couch appearing beneath you both as he sat, placing you gently to straddle his lap, laving at the skin behind your ear with his tongue. You gasped, your skin on fire and your body shivering, your clothes too tight, his clothes in your way, as you scrabbled for the hem of his tee and pulled it over his head. There, the expanse of his warm, golden skin. The smattering of hair on his chest, his nipples straining in the cool air. You wanted to lie down on it, feel it under your cheek and your palms, taste every inch with your tongue. He was panting, sitting with you perched on his lap, leaning back and looking up at you, his eyes wide as he waited for you to tell him to stop.

You leant forward, biting into the flesh of his shoulder, the urge to mar the perfect landscape of his skin too great. He sucked a breath in through his teeth, his hands coming up to rest on your hips, pulling you down onto his cock, hard and straining under his light cotton pants.

‘Fuck, baby,’ he muttered, pushing you down harder onto his lap and dragging you across it, the heat of your cunt intoxicating. He could smell you again, your perfume and your shampoo and your arousal, your little gasps in his ear as your clit grazed his thighs. ‘You miss me this bad?’

You could only nod, the electric shocks between your thighs pushing the words from your head. You felt his hands travelling, coming around to your front, pulling your top off, lifting the cups of your bra to hold your tits in his warm palms. No one had touched you like this in so long, not since you’d attempted a one-night-stand to see if you could fuck Dieter out of your life for good, and failed at both that and achieving orgasm.

His lips on your collarbone, his cock pushing up against you pussy, your hands in his hair. You’d thought about it, remembered it, conjured it alone in your bed with your fingers in your cunt, and none of it had been anything compared to the real thing, to the smell of him, to his scraggy beard dragging across your skin as he kissed you, hissing in pleasure as you rutted against him. He moved his hands again, sliding them up your thighs as you sat perched above him, sliding them under your skirt and over the cloth of your underwear, groaning when he felt that you were already soaking the fabric.

‘Dee,’ you whimpered, and you moaned when he pushed it to the side, slipping a fingertip against your clit, rubbing tight little circles that he knew would set you on fire. He chuckled to himself, satisfied and impatient in equal measure, as you gasped, your cunt so hot under his touch. He wasn’t sure if this was a dream or not, if he’d finally cracked and was just straight up hallucinating. He wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead, couldn’t account for the events as they were unfolding but just going with them, the pull of his cock guiding him towards you without any consideration as to the consequences.

He didn’t want to give you a chance to reconsider. He slipped a finger inside, all the way to the knuckle, pulling you to him in case you slipped from his grip as your back arched. It was like when you’d first got together, when you were crushing hard on each other, before things had got complicated and sad and sour. Before he’d been neglectful, before the lies had doubled and tripled, before the house of cards he built for the both of you to live in came crashing down around you. He felt it then, the nostalgia and the belief that maybe if you just kept fucking like this, kept pawing at each other, kept up the desire and the need, that you could get back on track, that he could keep you, the idea of it spurring him to switch places, pushing you sideways and onto the couch beneath him as he fumbled to release his heavy, aching cock from his pants.

You lifted your bum as you swept your underwear off your skin, opening yourself up to him as he devoured you, brown eyes trained on your cunt and the need for him leaking out and dribbling into the fabric of the couch. He swiped it with his thumb, lifting it to his lips for just the smallest of tastes to tide him over. You closed your eyes, the heat of it so much you felt the need to turn away, and he reached out and pulled your chin towards him again, locking you into his gaze.

‘Don’t turn away from me, baby,’ he said, leaning forward and positioning himself at your entrance. You watched him, entranced, as he pushed. ‘Never turn away, want to remember your eyes on me, want to remember all of it.’ You gasped, the sharpness in Dieter’s eyes, the focus, reminding you of how present he could be in a moment he determined worthy of his full attention. A little bloom of hurt emerged, one you had carried for months, knowing that he could seemingly turn off his care for you on a dime. You wondered, briefly, fretted, why it was that you had started failing to win it, why he had looked at you this way less and less as time wore on, why he had given up on you, why you had let him, why you had stayed for as long as you had, and then he pushed fully into you, groaned as you took him fully inside you, pitching your hips to grind your clit onto his hipbone, and you forgot it all for a second, obliterated with just the feel of him surrounding and inside you, just the taste of his sweat and the curl of his hair around his forehead, a little crown of thorns visible only in the dark as he crouched above you.

‘Dee,’ you said, and you heard the heaviness in it, the sob of it, as he pulled out and crowded himself back inside, brought himself home and you with him, seated himself inside your flesh. He leant over you on his elbows, cradling your head in his hands as he examined your eyes, the pleasure coursing through him as he saw the catch of your bottom lip between your teeth, felt the weight of it between you, crushing you both as he eased you open, felt the quake of the foundations as you entwined yourself around him, fresh tears on your cheeks as you grabbed for him, drew him in tighter, gasped and groaned and stretched your spine to try and contain it, all that he was drawing from you.

‘Baby,’ he said, a choke in his throat as he caught something rough behind his teeth, recognised it as the loss of you, the grief, no more heard than felt the crashing wave threatening to wash you both away. ‘I know,’ he whimpered, resting his head in the crook of your neck as he continued to seesaw into you, the joy and the thrill of it mixing with the sadness, with the terror, with the pain. ‘I know, baby, I know, I know,’ he mumbled, feeling that you were right there with him, that you were both standing over the cliff edge, knew that once you pulled him over, that once he took you with him, there would no clambering back to the ledge, that this was a goodbye as much as it was a coming home, that he wouldn't get to keep you because you were never his to possess, that you were with him now but that it would be the last time, that you would be gone the second your body hit the ground.

You felt it coming and you did nothing to stop it. Neither of you did.

He didn’t watch you dress, couldn’t bring himself to. He tucked himself back into his pants and stopped there, unable to bear putting his tee back on, covering himself when he had bared it all for you so readily and so recently, wanted to expose the nerve to the biting air for just a couple of seconds more. The world had slotted back again, into misalignment, where he realised now it had always belonged.

You didn’t have words, slipping first from his arms and then from his home in silence. You didn’t want to savour the moment, didn’t want to look back to examine and imprint the details in your mind. It was over now, whatever had been crowning was birthed. Nothing now except for the cleanup, for the clearing away.

At his gate the weather turned, an unseasonably cool breeze pushing your hair into your face and teasing the skin where your tears had tracked just minutes, moments, a lifetime before. You felt the chill of it there on your cheek, something new blooming underneath, something worth protecting. You reached up to warm it with your own hands.

Taglist (and massive thank you list!) @harriedandharassed @readingiskeepingmegoing @missladym1981 @misstokyo7love @ghostofzion @dieterbravobrainrotclub @the-feckless-wonder @swankyorange

#dieter bravo #dieter bravo fanfic #dieter bravo x you #dieter bravo x reader #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal character #pedro pascal fic #dieter bravo smut #dieter bravo fanfiction #the bubble fanfiction

42 notes · View notes

naturallytom · 3 years

Text

Mending a Broken Heart (Tom Holland x reader, alternative part)

a/n: me? writing? unheard of. jk im tryin to get back into the groove!! this is an alternate version to Mending a Broken Heart, so some parts are the same and some I’ve edited or added some things! hope u enjoy!!

warnings: language, angst, mentions of cheating

please reblog/leave feedback!!

picture not mine!

You had noticed it for months. Tom has been pulling away, spending more time out with the boys than at home with you. His kisses became forced and the words ‘love you’ slowly stopped falling from his lips.

Most days he would leave for work before you woke up and on the rare occasion you were up when he left, he would mumble a ‘goodbye’ before walking out the door. Sometimes, if you were lucky, he would press a gentle kiss to your forehead. Most times, though, he would just leave.

You did your best to keep the love alive, you were still madly in love with him. The wedding band that sat tightly on your ring finger mocked you. A symbol of what was love has turned into one sided love. Hell, you weren’t sure if Tom wore his wedding ring anymore.

A quick glance to his left hand would reveal that he didn’t.

You spent your nights wondering if it was something you did. Were you too clingy when he left to film? Was he just tired of you after four years of marriage? Did he find someone else?

No. You shook your head to yourself one night as you laid in the bed by yourself, the space usually occupied by Tom cold. If he found someone else and if he cheated, that’s on him. Not on you.

Still, the thought plagued your mind. Did he meet someone else? Was she prettier than you? Is that where he was when he said he was out with the boys? Was she able to give him something you couldn’t give him?

The door opening and shutting alerted you that Tom was home. You sighed, knowing it’d be another night of sleeping on opposite sides of the bed.

The door to the bedroom opened and in came Tom, Tessa jumping up to greet him.

“Hey girl, hey love, how are you, hm?” He whispered, petting Tessa as his eyes flickering over to you, who was visibly awake. “Thought you’d be asleep by now. ‘S late.”

“Couldn’t sleep.” You replied simply. “Hey so I was thinking, we haven’t had a date night in a while, maybe you wanted to go out to see the Halloween decorations around town and get dinner tomorrow night?”

“Can’t,” He shook his head as he got ready for bed. “Harrison wants to watch the game. Told him I’d go.”

“Didn’t you just see Harrison tonight?”

“Yeah, and?”

“Nothing.” You sighed, obviously upset. “Nothing, Tom. Goodnight.”

“Night.” He responded, turning out the light and climbing into bed, falling asleep with his back toward you.

The next day, you were surprised to see Tom already awake and waiting in the kitchen, sipping on a cup of tea when you got downstairs.

“Good morning.” You smiled softly.

“We need to talk.” He told you. You felt your heart drop and your palms get sweaty, but you wiped them on your pajama pants in an effort to seem totally calm and not panicked.

“A-About what?” You asked, your voice coming out shaky.

“I think,” Tom started. “I think we should get divorced.”

It was then, at 8:30 am that your world came crashing down.

“W-What?” You whimpered out, your voice weaker than before. “Why?”

“I’m not happy with you anymore.” He said simply. Your eyes flickered to his left hand, noticing the absence of the golden wedding band, making your heart ache.

“We can try couples’ therapy. We can go on dates like we used to, Tom, please! We can fight for this, Tom. Fight for us.” You cried, your heart shattering into a million tiny pieces, each one puncturing your lungs as you struggled to keep your breath under control.

“No,” He shook his head. “My mind is made up. I’m sorry, y/n. Um, I found a lawyer at a firm, they have a lot of other lawyers there you can contact. I’ll just, uh, leave their card here.”

“So that’s it? Three years of dating and four years of marriage down the drain?” You sobbed, holding your knees to your chest as you sat on the kitchen floor.

“I’m sorry, y/n. Truly, I am.”

He placed the small business card on the counter, grabbing the bags you didn’t even notice, mumbling an ‘I’ll be staying with Haz,’ before walking out the front door, like he did every other day. This time, though, you had the sinking feeling he was leaving for good.

It was only three weeks that your lawyer came over to meet with you, joined by Tom and his lawyer. You kept your eyes focused on the table as you signed the paperwork, wanting to get this done as soon as possible.

As soon as everyone left, you shut the door, slid down the back of it, and cried.

Nearly two months after the worst day of your life and it was time for a self care night. The ring that once sat on your left hand was buried away in your jewelry box somewhere and you were finally starting to feel free and somewhat happy again after crying yourself to sleep and wondering where it all went wrong for months.

After the divorce you buried yourself in work, using it as a distraction from going home to an empty house. You also moved out of the house you once called home. Not only was it too painful to go home to an empty house, but it was too painful to go home to a house that held so many happy and loving memories. You took the necessities along with some things you wanted with you and set yourself up in a hotel room for the time being. You treated it as a vacation. Except only a few people knew where you were. Your family knew, along with your friends, including Harrison, on the condition he didn’t tell Tom where you were. You started making time for yourself in your little hotel room and you became happier.

Tonight, after a long day of work, you ordered your favorite Chinese food, played your favorite songs, and ran yourself a bath with a vanilla scented bath bomb. You were enjoying a glass of wine, the hot water of the bath soothing you when the music playing from your phone was interrupted by a call coming in.

To your surprise, it was Tom. You contemplated answering it, but instead, let it go to voicemail. However, you were curious as to why he called, though you were also 99% positive it was a pocket dial. So you played the voicemail, the familiar voice ringing throughout the bathroom.

“Hey y/n, um, I hope you’re doing well. I just called because I wanted to tell you something. I um, I miss you. A lot. And I know I don’t get to feel that way but I do and I just wanted to tell you that and I guess ask if there was any possibility of meeting to talk? Uh, call me back if...if you want. I don’t blame you if you hate me. Bye. Love y-”

You turned off the voicemail before the phrase could be finished. Millions of thoughts filled your mind, ranging from happy ones to ones that made your heart ache and tears fill your eyes.

You decided to ignore it, pretend it never happened, and enjoy your self care night.

When Tom pulled up to his former house with flowers in his car and a pit of nerves in his stomach, he expected to see your car in the driveway and at least one light to be on. He was greeted with an empty driveway and a dark house, which confused him. It was the weekend, so you weren’t work. Maybe you had to run an errand?

But after 20 minutes, he gave up hope that you were home and tried to call you, which to no surprise, you didn’t pick up again. He instead called Harrison in an effort to try and find out if he knew where you were.

“What do you want?” Harrison answered, half concentrating on what Tom was about to say and half concentrating on the game in front of him.

“Do, uh, do you know where y/n is?” Tom asked, taking Harrison by surprise.

“y/n?” Harrison paused the game, suddenly not able to concentrate on it. “Why d’you want to know where y/n is?”

“I just want to talk to her.” He mumbled.

“If I knew that’s where you were going I wouldn’t have let you go.” Harrison sighed. “Listen she made me swear that I wouldn’t tell you-”

“Please Harrison? You’ve seen how much of a mess I’ve been. I just want to see if I have a shot.” Tom begged, making his friend cave.

“Fine but if she moves again I won’t be telling you shit.”

The next day you were enjoying a cup of tea and reading your book, getting some relaxation in before your week began when a knock on the door interrupted you. Confusion filled your body, you weren’t expecting anyone to pop by.

Looking out the peephole, you froze at the sight that greeted you. Tom was standing outside your door, a bouquet of your favorite flowers in his hands.

“Hi.” He breathed out, his nose and the tips of his ears red from the harsh winter air.

“How the hell did you find me?” You asked, keeping your eyes focused on the ground.

“Harrison. I begged him to tell me.” He answered.

“I’m gonna kill him.” You muttered. “What do you want?”

“Can..Can I come in?” He asked.

You wanted to say no, that he could say what he wanted to say outside or just not let him speak at all. But you wanted to be courteous to the other people on your floor and part of you was curious as to what he was going to say. So you wordlessly opened the door slightly, letting him in and closing the door behind him.

“Now what do you want?”

“Did you get my voicemail?” He responded, hope filling his eyes when you nodded. “Um, I brought these for you. I was hoping we could talk.”

“I don’t want your flowers. Why should I talk to you? We’re divorced, just like you wanted.” Tom winced at the words. “Nothing to change.”

“Actually, we’re not.” He corrected. “I called the office the other day. Um, it’s not official yet.”

“Well then they should make it official. Maybe I can call them and make it happen as my very last Christmas present to you. Just what you wanted.” You snapped.

“No, this isn’t what I want, can I speak, please?” He pleaded, his eyes resembling those of a puppy.

“You’re speaking already.” You answered, gesturing for him to continue nonetheless.

“I- How have you been? I stopped by the house-”

“Tom I’m not gonna listen to your small talk. Say what you have to say and leave.” You told him. His heart broke but he couldn’t blame you.

“Um, so I thought I wasn’t happy with you but um, as time went on, I realized how much I miss having you in my life.” He began, visibly nervous. “I was just looking through our pictures and how happy you looked and I just, I guess I realized I wanted to be the one to make you that happy again.”

“You haven’t made me happy in months, Tom.”

“I know.” His heart clenched. “I know and I’m so sorry, y/n. I really am.”

“Was there someone else? Did you cheat on me?” You asked.

“No, no absolutely not, y/n.” He answered before adding; “I went on a date with someone after we split up but it didn’t work out. I realized she wasn’t what I want.”

“Of course she wasn’t.” You scoffed.

“I want you, y/n. I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy again.” He told you, tears filling your eyes. “Is there..is there any possibility you could love me again?”

“Again?” You seethed. “Tom I never fell out of love with you! I never stopped loving you! That was all you! You stopped loving me and you wanted this stupid fucking divorce!”

“I..I don’t think I ever stopped loving you either.” He whispered, tears falling down his rosy cheeks. “Please, y/n, if there’s even the tiniest chance..”

“Of what, Tom? Of going right back to being married? Of you making me happy? I don’t know, Tom! I don’t know anything except that I hate you right now.” You sobbed, crying into your knees while Tom let out quiet sobs of his own, his heart clenching at the lack of wedding band on your left hand and the lack of love in your voice, but especially your eyes. Your eyes, which once held so much love and adoration for him were now full of anger and resentment.

“Of..anything, y/n. Please, I just want a second chance to show you how much you mean to me, to make you happy again. I will do anything to save us, anything you want. And...and if it’s not working or you just really hate me, I wouldn’t blame you. Not at all.” He begged, his eyes puffy and red.

“I tried to save us, Tom. Don’t you remember? I begged and pleaded with you to do couples therapy to go on dates when you were breaking my heart into a million tiny pieces. I begged you to try and fight for us, for our marriage, but you just walked out the god damn door!” You spit through gritted teeth.

“I fucked up, I know. I fucked up so badly.” He cried, wiping his tears away.

“And if leaving me wasn’t enough, you took Tessa too! I was left completely alone in that big fucking house that was haunted by you. I couldn’t stand it.” You sobbed.

“I’m..I’m sorry, y/n. So so fucking sorry. What do you want me to do?”

“I want...I want you to hurt. I want you to hurt the way you hurt me. I want you to know how this fucking feels.” You said, your voice getting louder with each word that fell from your lips.

Tom could only cry. This was ripping him apart, he couldn’t even imagine what the whole thing felt like to you.

“I’m gonna need time to think, Tom.” You finally mumbled, Tom nodding in response.

“I’ll give you all the time you need. I promise you-”

“Don’t. Don’t promise me anything.” You spoke, your voice low. “You won’t be able to keep it. You promised you’d love me forever four years ago and look what happened.”

“y/n pl-”

“You don’t get to do this. You-you don’t get to just waltz right back in here and ask for a second chance to fight for us when I didn’t even get a first chance. How do I know this won’t end like it did before?”

“y/n, I swear to you, if this isn’t working out, you can leave me. I...I just want a chance to prove myself to you.” He begged.

“God, Tom. You don’t get it! I’m not going through this again. Do you realize how much you broke me the first time? Fuck, you had a chance, Tom. And you threw it away.” You muttered quietly.

“I regret that every day. Every god damn day.” He told you honestly.

“I don’t know, Tom.” You sighed.

“Talk to me?” He tried, knowing you were hiding something deeper than an ‘I don’t know.’

“Don’t know what else there is to say.” You mumbled. “I don’t trust you, I-I can’t trust you. I hate you.”

“Why’d you get a hotel room?” Tom sniffled, changing the subject.

“I told you. I hated being in that house. Hated being surrounded by the happy pictures and memories of us.” You told him honestly. “I want to start over.”

“What?”

“I want to start over. I can’t go back to being emotionally married to you even if we’ll still be married legally. I’m talking starting from scratch, as if we were meeting for the first time, the whole deal.” You told him.

“That sounds perfect, y/n. Thank y-”

“Get out, Tom. Please. I just want to be alone and not with you right now. I’m still not happy with you.”

“Okay.” He breathed out, hope filling him once again. “You won’t regret this, I promise.”

“What did I just say about promises?” You asked tearily.

“I know, I know. I’m determined to keep this promise, though.” He told you.

“Fine. Whatever. Just please leave for now.” You whimpered, watching as he walked out the door, just like he did when he broke your heart.

You decided you needed another self care night. Another bath was run, another vanilla scented bath bomb was used, more wine was consumed.

Tom texted you right as you got out of the bath.

Tom: hey y/n, it’s tom, just incase you don’t have my number saved anymore. I just wanted to say thank you for the second chance. I really am grateful. I hope you have a relaxing night, you deserve it.

You rolled your eyes and tossed your phone gently on your bed, though you could feel your heart rate pick up and butterflies fill your stomach.

Tom began texting you sweet little things each morning, whether it was to let you know that he’s been thinking of you or to tell you that he hopes you have a great day. At first you ignored them, but then you began responding in short answers of one or two words until the two of you were texting every day, like when you met for the first time seven years ago.

Over a month after you started texting again, Tom took you on a first date. Pulling up to your hotel, Tom felt the nerves fill his body as he walked up to your door and knocked, another bouquet of your favorite flowers in his hand.

He felt all the air leave his lungs as you opened the door. You looked absolute stunning. You were wearing a navy blue dress that reached down to just above your knees, one Tom bought you one year.

“Wow, hi.” He breathed. “You look stunning.”

“Thank you.” You smiled, accepting the flowers he handed you. “I’ll be right back.”

Tom took you to your favorite restaurant that night, one that the two of you frequented when you (formerly) went on dates.

When he took you back to your hotel, he walked you up to the door, where he nervously asked if he could kiss you.

You said yes, and that was all Tom needed to press a soft kiss to your lips. The kiss was magical, both of you felt the sparks between the two of you.

“God I missed doing that.” Tom mumbled as he pulled away to breathe.

“Then do it again.”

A couple months after that, Tom moved back in with you. You had gone back to the house every now and then, to slowly acclimate yourself to being back in the once happy house, only fully moving back when Tom moved back as well. The pictures of the two of you were dusted off, making your heart race instead of hurt at the sight of the happy memories.

Finally, after a year, Tom proposed to you (again). You hesitated a little bit, still scared it would end in heartbreak again, which broke Tom’s heart, but said you yes in the end.

The two of you renewed your vows, putting on the golden bands that were once again a symbol of the love the two of you shared.

You had a small party back at your house after the ceremony, your families joining to celebrate. You found Tom alone in the kitchen, grabbing a beer for him and Harry.

“Hey.” You greeted, fiddling with your fingers as tears of happiness filled your eyes.

“Hey, what’s wrong, my love?” Tom asked, concerned as soon he saw the tears filling your eyes.

“Nothing, nothing. I, um,” You started, wiping your tears away and wrapping your arms around Tom’s neck. “I’m really glad we made it back to this.”

“Me too, lovey. I love you so much.” He whispered, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead.

“Hey, Tommy?”

“Yeah?”

“You kept your promise.” You smiled softly, making Tom’s heart ache at the memory of you not being able to trust him.

“I told you I would.”

Your moment was interrupted by Harrison, who entered the kitchen, smiling at his two best friends happily in love once again.

“Aren’t you so glad I told him where you were staying?” He joked, making you roll your eyes.

“Shut up, Harrison.” You smiled. As your eyes flickered between Tom and Harrison, though, you knew you wouldn’t have been in this position if Harrison didn’t spill the beans to Tom.

“Hey Haz?” You called, as Harrison went to leave the kitchen in fake offense. He turned at the sound of his name, knowing what was coming.

“Thank you.” Tom nodded in agreement, his arm slipping around your waist.

Harrison just smiled even bigger, all three of you knowing everything would be okay from now on.

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #tom holland angst #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland fanfic #tom holland fic #tom holland imagine #tom holland x fem!reader #tom holland x female!reader

113 notes · View notes

jeonqqin · 4 years

Text

man up. [m] | pt. 1

h. jisung x reader | netflix teen rom-com au

— ❝Even with classes, annoying brothers, and an unrequited crush, you still figured your first year of college was going pretty well. Until you managed to get your first boyfriend, and suddenly your brother and his stupidly attractive best friend were attached to your hip for the whole damn ride.

or alternatively;

Why did Jisung care about you so much, and had his eyes always been that pretty?❞

WORD COUNT: 4.8k

CONTAINS: brothers best friend au, teen rom-com au, sorta crack fic, love triangle au, college au

WARNING: language, eventual smut, minho is a little bitch

A/N: I pulled little tropes from pretty much every Netflix teen rom-com so if you see those little allusions then that’s why,, also I hope you all don’t mind that I made this into a series!

▸ request

CHAPTERS: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 +

blog masterlist | ⟲ fic song

Your eyes blurred over the words that were held out in front of you, every page harder to remember than the last.

It was your fault you were in the library studying during lunch period. You were the one that decided to procrastinate after all. But you also had no idea what was going to be on the exam in your statistics class. How could you start studying when you had no idea what you were meant to be studying? At least, that was your genius excuse for not touching your statistics book all week.

Resting your head on your hand, your eyes briefly wandered off of your book and directly up into a pair of pretty brown ones. They were already looking at you; gaze intense and flirty. It had you quickly looking back down at your book on instinct, this time without the intention of actually reading anything.

No way.

The boy sitting directly across from you was cute—no doubt about that. It was hard to disregard just how pretty he was with his classic big brown eyes and flat brown hair. At least, you couldn’t ignore him when he was clearly looking at you. Peeking up to make sure you weren’t seeing things, you caught his gaze again. And as his lip quirked up, you knew it wasn’t just a coincidence—he was deliberately looking at you. A childish giddiness flooded your stomach at the realization.

He smiled at you; charming and sweet.

“Do you know anything about political science?”

It took you a second to process what he asked, but you eventually shook your head with a smile. “D’you know anything about the statistics exam next Wednesday?”

He shrugged playfully. “Not a clue.”

“Well, it looks like we’re in the same boat then.”

“Utterly screwed by the school system?”

Snorting loudly, you instantly received an unhappy glare from the librarian and a followed up hush. An apology was on the tip of your tongue, but with the newfound fear of making another noise, you opted to send her a timid wave. Neither you nor the cute stranger moved until she returned to her book. But then he was slinking over and taking the seat beside you.

You could’ve squealed—imagine being such a teenage girl that you were so ecstatic to sit next to a cute guy. You were practically bouncing in your seat.

“At least I know that there’s someone else who can understand my worries,” he whispered, turning in his chair to face you completely.

You scoffed, eyeing the librarian for a moment before blinking back at the boy in front of you.

“Yeah right. You could ask the entire student body and they would all reply in one collective groan.”

“You’re not wrong there.” He hummed. “Thanks for not making me feel like a complete loser for procrastinating.”

“Oh, you’re still a loser for procrastinating,” you said, attempting to hold back your smile as he looked at you with a raised brow. “You’re just not the only one now.”

He made a playful noise of anguish, nodding his head with a silent laugh. “Ouch. That hurts coming from a mystery girl.”

You shrugged coyly, letting him take that as your answer before you leaned back against your palm.

“Maybe,” he paused for a moment, glancing around to the occupied librarian and continuing, “After classes, we could go out for coffee. Y’know—to get better acquainted. Unless you wanted me to keep calling you ‘mystery girl’.”

You pretended to weigh your options in your head, eyes flicking up towards the ceiling and an uncontrollable smile slipping onto your lips.

You were getting asked out. And every possible thing was going right; he was cute, he was witty, there was a connection, there were no interruptions—

“Are you free at six?”

Your mouth opened to reply a quick “yes”, but suddenly there were a set of hands landing firmly on your shoulders and you could feel the familiar brush of soft hair against your cheek.

“No sir, she is not free.”

The subtly stern voice of your brother replied, and the color of the stranger's face in front of you went pale as his eyes darted between you and the intruder beside you. “But thanks for asking.”

“Sorry, Minho—man, I didn’t know she was your girlfriend. I swear.” Came the panicked reply.

You winced, expression going sour as the apologies flew out of the boy’s mouth at a rapid pace.

“Sister.” Minho corrected, a sickeningly sweet smile plastered on his face that read disaster.

And then after a few more unsettling glares and passive-aggressive comments from your older brother, the guy was gone, his head lowered to his chest. You had seen worse. There had been many more that happened to end in bruises and a visit from campus security, so a little humiliation wasn’t so terrible.

But fucking hell—there goes another one.

“You need to stop doing that,” you said, swiping all your books into your bag as your brother watched the poor soul leave the library with satisfaction.

Minho scoffed. “What? Weeding out the losers that run at a little sign of conflict?” He tisked patronizingly. “Do you really want to be in a relationship with someone who pisses themselves because your brother was being a little protective? I’m not going to be here forever, and who will be the one to watch out for you then? Certainly not Mr. Are-You-Free-At-Six.”

A heavy sigh left your lips. You had heard his speech before and you had been infuriated. But after years of the same response and lecture, you grew numb to the feeling of anger towards your brother.

“Who said I even needed protecting?”

“Me. I’m your big brother, I know what’s best for you.” He replied curtly, grabbing your bag from your shoulder and slinging it over his own.

You scowled, following him as he charmingly waved at the librarian on your way out. She chuckled under her breath and fluttered her fingers towards Minho, absolutely no intention of even glancing at you. Minho was a very likable person. He had always been able to use his endless pool of charisma to get on anyone’s good side, and that had opened up many opportunities for him.

Unfortunately, your brother had many sides to him, and one of them had manifested from his obsessive need to keep you away from any and all possible danger in life. That part of him was what had every guy running for the hills.

You were a freshman in college, and every relationship you had was ruined, courtesy of your older brother.

The two of you merged into the crowded halls filled with unrushed university students, several people greeting Minho with friendly gestures that you couldn’t keep up with. It was as if no one even saw you—you supposed that was also Minho’s fault.

“I have class now,” you huffed, tugging your bag from his shoulder and nearly making him stumble into a wall. “Okay? Am I allowed to continue my education, oh great brother of mine?”

Minho made a mocking face in your direction. “Haha. Very funny, young lady. Now don’t go seducing any more good-for-nothing’s while I’m gone. Got it?”

“I’m going to kill you one of these days.”

Minho snorted, spinning on his heel towards the direction of his own class.

“And I’ll be waiting with open arms, little sister!”

“Eat shit, Minho!”

With a visible bounce in his step he disappeared behind the corner, supposedly heading to his next class, but you knew it was just a matter of time before he would get sidetracked and distracted along the way. He was always excited to see you around campus, seeing you—his baby sister—just made his day better.

Generally, you found yourself smiling after a good interaction with your brother, but then he would go and pull the ‘protective brother’ card and suddenly you had the urge to rip his throat out. Minho knew you were growing up and pretty soon his intrusions wouldn’t be seen as just a nuisance, and they would turn into more of an invasion of your personal life. But you could see how much that realization hurt him, so you held back.

You settled into your seat as one of the first people in the lecture hall, watching as your professor rubbed his eyes and set up the slides for the class.

On your second day of class, your professor had snapped at one of the students for being late for his lecture, and it scared the shit out of you. The next day he apologized and used the excuse of being hungover and hungry, and it opened your eyes to the fact that you weren’t in high school anymore. You were surrounded by adults—careless and irresponsible adults, granted, but they were old enough to understand your professor’s woes.

Still, you would never find yourself arriving late, just in case you caught him on one of his bad days.

“Y/n,”

The cheery voice startled you out of your stupor.

“Good morning, my darling.”

Your eyes rolled back, though a smile still grew on your face. A fleeting thought ran through your head, you shouldn’t have been surprised, he did it every morning. You offered him a sparing glance as he stepped up to your seat, falling back into the uncomfortable chair beside you.

“Hi, Jisung,” you chuckled as his arm swung around your shoulders.

You decided to ignore the way the cut of his sleeves allowed you to get a glimpse of the muscle that was starting to form.

Han Jisung was your brother’s best friend, an annoying loud-mouth who was in too many of your classes for it to be a coincidence. He had been by Minho’s side for most of his life, and therefore, most of yours. And he flirted with you for as long as you could remember.

Just as the majority of the students started to flood the hall, Jisung pulled an apple out of his bag, holding it out for you to take.

“I noticed that you hadn’t gone to lunch with Felix today, and I figured since you’re looking berry cute today—” He grabbed your hand, placing the fruit into your palm. “Sorry. I didn't have any lines for apples.”

And the pickup lines—the many, many pickup lines.

“Really? Nothing?” You asked.

His head shook, eyes coy.

You aided him, shaking the apple in front of his face, “You’re the apple of my eye?”

“Ah…” He nodded in realization, seemingly bummed for not thinking of that one before. But then suddenly a smirk flickered over his features and he was pinching your cheek, “I knew you were in love with me.”

You turned away from his grabbing hand, fighting back the urge to roll your eyes. His talent was finding a way to flirt with you, and at times you had wondered how he was so good at it.

Practice made perfect, you guessed.

You smiled. “Uh-huh.”

If you didn’t know any better, you would’ve thought he was in love with you—

“Hyunae told me to start eating more fruit, so she threw the apple into my bag when I wasn’t looking.”

—but Han Jisung had a girlfriend, and she was so much more than you could ever be.

Not that you cared at all.

“So you two are doing well?” You asked, feigning interest as you reached into your bag and pulled out your laptop. Maybe if you were stealthy enough you would be able to sneak in some studying while your professor went on about how traffic signs affected climate change—or whatever it was that he was talking about that week.

No wonder why you had no idea what you were doing.

Jisung hummed, leaning back in his seat. “Yeah. She’s still bossy, but that’s just Hyunae.”

“I heard she got into quite the discussion with Hyunjin this morning.”

You were swinging pretty low, but you weren’t the biggest fan of Hyunae to begin with, so there was a small part of you that enjoyed picking at the scabs she left behind.

Okay, there was a pretty big part of you.

“Don’t remind me,” he grunted. “One day their fights will end with murder. And it’ll be me who is found dead.”

“Next time they get into an argument just slip away and let campus security deal with the mess. Let the bitches be bitches.”

Your suggestion was in the form of a joke, but really, you meant every word.

Hyunae easily rivaled Hyunjin’s bitchiness, and in your group of friends, that statement had weight to it. Not just anyone could argue with Hyunjin and step away unscathed, but she managed to do so just about every day. You would’ve been impressed had she ever shown you any kindness, but she hated you from day one. You were only returning the favor by rooting for Hyunjin until he somehow figured out how to kill someone with his words.

He had come close before, so you kept your fingers crossed.

“Well that bitch is a goddess in bed,” Jisung snickered, his voice just loud enough for you to hear. “And frankly it’s hot when someone’s bossy during sex—”

“Are we talking about Hyunae or Hyunjin now?”

Jisung laughed sarcastically, throwing a sneer your way. “Bravo. You want a medal for the joke of the year?”

“Nah, I have plenty of better jokes that imply that you like boys.” You absentmindedly glanced back towards your professor as he began the lecture, his voice as uninterested as your gaze. “Though I have yet to make one about your secret relationship with my brother.”

Jisung nodded with fake enthusiasm and said, “That’s nice but I’m not listening to you anymore.”

“The girls on campus would pay big bucks for that sex tape.”

“Shut up before I throw up on you.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you didn’t like me.” You pouted half-assed, typing notes that you would never use solely because their only purpose was to make it seem like you cared. Though by the look of it, the professor probably gave less of a shit than you anyway.

Jisung’s teasing and inappropriate comments hardly bothered you anymore, especially since you knew how to counter them with your own.

“I don’t even know why I’m here,” he mused, though you both knew the reason why he was taking the class was because he needed the credits and the teacher didn’t care if you botched all of your tests as long as the final was double-spaced and had your name at the top.

“Because I’m your favorite.” You whispered, lifting your pointer finger to your lips. “And don’t worry, I won’t tell Minho.”

“As if. Get your head out of your ass.”

“Duly noted.”

You loved Jisung.

You loved him in the same way you loved your brother; you didn’t want to love him, but for whatever twisted reason, the universe made it so. Too bad you didn’t think of Jisung as a brother—the game of life was cruel that way. It sucked that he was such a good… everything. Han Jisung was a good friend, a good boyfriend, and annoyingly one of the best people you had ever met.

Not that you would ever admit that to him and risk his head inflating to the size of Felix’s stuffed animal collection.

Dammit, you really didn’t want to love that moron.

Maybe you could get away with being in like with him instead.

“Y/n!”

Your head swiveled, just barely catching a flash of ridiculous purple hair before a hold on your wrist was stopping you mid-stride.

“Owie,” was what came out of your mouth, your gaze set into a glare at your aggressor.

Though, Felix wasn’t fazed by your scowl. He was too excited—or pissed, it was hard to tell—about whatever he wanted to tell you. But knowing him, his news probably had something to do with the meme he posted on Twitter that morning—you did see it, and no, you weren’t very impressed. You expected better than the overused picture of the woman yelling at that cat at the dinner table. Caption be damned, that meme wasn’t even good anymore.

Felix was followed by his shorter but considerably stronger lackey. Without even looking at him you already knew Changbin’s biceps were popping under the black shirt he wore, the whole aesthetic making him look way more intimidating than he was.

“Where were you?” Felix asked, smacking your arm hard enough to gain your attention. “You didn’t meet us for lunch.”

“Maybe because I don’t appreciate your abuse.”

“Haha. Seriously,” he griped, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why’d you ditch me?”

You had been friends with Felix for who knows how long, but you would never get used to how needy the boy was. You and your brother sure grabbed a couple of good ones.

“I had to study.” You admitted with a huff, though you already knew your excuse wouldn’t be enough for Felix.

“Okay, one—you never do that.” He countered before flashing you a look. “And two—liar.”

You set your gaze on Changbin for some support, but the boy simply avoided your eyes as his way of saying “you’re on your own here”.

You turned back to Felix with a groan. Changbin never helped you ever, the bastard.

“Lix I have a dumb test in statistics next week and for whatever reason, all I can remember right now is that the SREB3 gene in zebrafish can cure cancer or something.”

“That has nothing to do with statistics—”

“And is also very wrong. Are you even paying attention in biology?” Changbin asked, his face scrunched up in a mix of confusion and disgust.

You motioned to Changbin to prove your point. “Hence the reason why I was in the library.”

Felix suddenly tilted his head back and did that thing where he looked like he was trying to convince himself that living was worth it.

He sighed. “Okay, I’m calling Seungmin—”

At his words, you all but shrieked, a hand swatting Felix’s shoulder instinctively.

Seungmin was a friend of Hyunjin’s, which indirectly made him a friend of yours. But the relationship between the two of you could only be classified as rocky considering he felt the need to tell you just how much he wanted to, and you quote, “throw a rock at your head”. Ironically enough, the feeling was mutual.

But you would never say that to his face because that would most likely lead him to complete the task.

“You promised to never do that to me again!” You cried, throwing yourself against Felix’s boney shoulder.

This time was Felix’s turn to look at Changbin and search for help, but he was met with the same passive reaction as you had received. Honestly, you didn’t know why anyone tried anymore.

“He’s not that bad, Y/n.”

You gaped, disbelieving of your friend’s words. “You can’t be serious. He’s the devil! He preys on the weak, and then spits out their bones, Felix.”

“He tutored you once and you got a ninety-eight on your exam.”

“After hours of torture and anguish.”

Felix gave you an unsympathetic look before plucking his phone from Changbin’s back pocket, “I’m calling him.”

With a glare, you folded your arms over your chest. “Remember this moment the next time you ask me to revise your Tinder bio.”

“Joke’s on you. Changbin gives better advice and he doesn’t laugh at me.”

You snorted despite yourself.

But before Felix could lift the phone to his ear, Changbin’s began to ring obnoxiously in his pocket, and you were ready to bow and praise whichever deity in the sky that decided to bless you with such luck.

And like a child, you stuck out your tongue.

“What’s up?” Changbin hummed, turning away from the two of you. “Did you get all of your stuff in the apartment yet…?”

Changbin and Minho were roommates and had been since Changbin was a freshman. The two worked well together in the sense that they were both loud as hell and could (and hopefully never will) sleep through a stampede of elephants in their living room.

Felix slipped his phone into his pocket, unabashedly listening to the conversation just as you were.

“They must’ve finally found someone interested in moving in.”

They had always talked about renting with someone else, but along with being the worst people to live with, the duo was picky as hell. Pigs would fly and snowballs would be living in hell the moment they let someone else move in with them.

“Okay, but is Minho going to let you turn the office into a recording room?”

You froze, a remark on the tip of your tongue.

Changbin was talking on the phone about recording—an activity that you knew for a fact that only two people in your life had ever taken part in—and moving into Minho and Changbin’s shared apartment.

Now, you weren’t the brightest crayon in the box but connecting all the dots wasn’t too difficult.

“Are you crazy?”

Not only was the idea of Jisung moving into Minho’s apartment a terrible one, but it would also compromise the only place you could relax in peace. Your dorm was hell (for reasons you didn’t want to relive) and you weren’t allowed anywhere near the boys' dorm. You were currently on the RA’s shit-list ever since the misunderstanding that went down last semester—

Bad timing for a room check one night when you, Felix, and Hyunjin were in a compromising position.

If Jisung moved in with Minho, you would then be spending more time with him, and all the hard work you spent on keeping your distance would’ve been for nothing. You’d probably see his monster of a girlfriend around regularly as well, and you didn’t want to witness any of that in your lifetime.

Time to welcome the snowballs to hell, because that was where you were headed.

Hoisting your bag over your shoulder, you positioned yourself to run.

“Lix, I’m sorry but I have to go beat some sense into my brother! Maybe we can talk to Seungmin on a day when I feel like dying from blunt force trauma.”

You didn’t bother to wait for the yelling as you took off through the quad.

The wind slapped you in the face the moment you were away from the cover of the university buildings, and you were suddenly second-guessing the escapade. Though, you simply chalked your reluctance up to laziness and continued forward. Minho’s apartment wasn’t far from the university, and after his little stunt in the library, you were looking forward to kicking his ass in the privacy of his home.

You pulled your spare key from your bag as you finally approached the complex, eager to get away from the nipping wind. Because fuck you for wearing a t-shirt in forty-degree weather.

Pushing the door open, you threw your bag inside recklessly, “Minho, you flat-faced asshole. You tell me right now that Jisung isn’t your new—”

But you screeched to a stop as your eyes locked onto someone who definitely wasn’t Minho.

“Roommate.”

You swallowed.

A man with perfectly styled black hair and no sleeves on his shirt sat on your brother's couch, a pair of thick headphones covering his ears and a laptop resting on his thick thighs. His eyes darted up to meet your gaze as the door closed behind you, and a single brow raised as you stood in front him in a stupor.

“Hello,” he pulled his headphones down to hang around his neck, cocking his head in amusement. “I am neither Minho nor Jisung, and I really hope I’m not a flat-faced asshole. Can I help you?”

You floundered for a second, mouth open. “I mean—I was looking for my brother. Changbin was on the phone with their new roommate, and I just assumed…”

“You thought that Jisung was his new roommate?” He snickered, carefully placing his labeled laptop onto the couch and lifting to his feet.

You were tempted to hang your head in shame and leave with your confidence shattered. But his attractive gaze was enough to convince you to stay put.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Well,” the stranger’s expression softened, his hand reaching forward. “I’m Chan. Your brother’s new roommate.”

You gave his hand a quick glance before taking it.

“I’m Y/n.”

“Nice to meet you.”

New roommate: not as terrible as you expected it to be.

The more you looked at him, the more you wanted to tell him how beautiful he was. Though you would have to be delusional to actually admit that out loud to a complete stranger, it was surprisingly tempting.

And… you were still holding his hand.

“Oh, uh—sorry.”

Releasing his grip, you laughed awkwardly, feeling the heat rise up your face and engulf your ears.

Damn your brother and his affinity for making friends with every gorgeous person that crossed his path. He was going to kill you eventually, between his protectiveness that shattered your social life and all his model-like friends that continued to claw their way into your heart.

A pleasant beat of silence passed between the two of you while you both took a second to consider each other. Chan wasn’t your conventionally beautiful person like Hyunjin, nor was he completely rough around the edges like Changbin. His hair was a bit wild, possibly due to the lack of product, but it was combed through and hung around his eyes nicely. A stark contrast from the gelled and styled boy you had been infatuated with.

Your eyes fell onto the coffee table between you, neck growing warm as you realized your thoughts had drifted back to Jisung, even with such an attractive stranger standing right in front of you.

You shut your eyes, stilling yourself as you took in a deep breath.

“So…” you drawled, avoiding his amused gaze. “Recording, huh?”

That settled it, you were an idiot.

Chan snorted out loud, finding your innocent question cute.

“I’m a producer.” Chan supplied, shifting closer to you in order to lean against the couch. “I haven’t been able to record my own songs for a while though. That’s why I’ve been trying to convince Minho to let me turn his office into a recording room. I have all the soundproof padding and everything, all I need is to guilt-trip him into letting me put it up.”

You nodded in understanding, glancing over towards the not so office that Minho was currently using as a storage room.

If anyone was ever surprised by the number of bundles he had in his room, they would drop dead at the sight of what was behind that door.

It was bundle hell.

Your voice rang out, “That would probably take you all day on your own. It’s pretty disastrous in there.”

“Is there an implication there?” He snarked, mock question in his voice.

“I help you clean, and you show me what you have on that little laptop of yours.”

Chan hummed, his eyes tracing over you and then over to his precious laptop resting off to the side. He had always been cautious about showing people his music, there were too many outcomes that he didn’t like thinking about. But you were looking at him with this excited little grin and he was finding it hard to say no.

You were dangerous.

“I can get behind that deal,” Chan concluded.

“Great,” you chirped without a second of hesitation. “Let’s go.”

But Chan’s strong grip stopped you as you attempted to pass and you couldn’t help but focus your eyes on the veins that ran up his bare arms.

His eyebrow raised, amused. “We’re just going to barge in there and start cleaning?”

“Would you rather wait for the bundles to gain consciousness and invite us in?”

Chan couldn’t help but bark a laugh at your sarcasm. “Of course not. I just wanted to ask for Minho’s permission first—”

You paused him with the raise of your hand, “There’s one thing you will learn about my brother; he never says yes.”

Sensing a seriousness behind your tone, Chan nodded, suddenly open to all of your suggestions.

“Lead the way then.” Chan encouraged, gesturing forward and releasing your arm.

“My pleasure.”

But just as you were about to reach for the handle of the spare room, you remembered something—

The fact that you were a (stupid and unemployed) college student currently paying for a failing test grade in her statistics class.

You cursed under your breath, pausing in your stride long enough to prompt Chan’s questioning gaze, and damn it, it was adorable the way he cocked his head to the side.

“Something wrong?” He asked.

Your face twisted in thought, “Probably…”

“And…?”

You cleared your throat, finally pulling your eyes away from the chipping white paint of the door.

“Do you perhaps know anything about statistics?”

2K notes · View notes

ditzydawn11 · 3 years

Note

Neville x reader fluff where they accidentally fall asleep together !!

study session

Neville Longbottom x Female Reader

requested!

warnings: none just fluff!

1290 words

When you and your best friend fall asleep together after studying, feelings only grow stronger

Look, you didn’t mean for it to happen but boy are you glad it did.

Neville Longbottom was your best friend in the entire world. You had first met when you were asked to escort Neville to the nurse when he had fainted during herbology from the Mandrake cry. You two instantly hit it off and you thanked Merlin every day that you got to call him your best friend. However, as you both grew older and were now in your 5th year, you couldn’t deny the fact that you had a major crush on the shy boy.

“Neville!” You screamed as you ran down the corridor to catch up with him. “Hey y/n.” he said with an instant smile forming on his face because he was greeted by his favorite person in the entire world. He wrapped an arm around your shoulder and guided you down the hall with him. A year ago, Neville would have never been able to find the courage to do this simple gesture but recently both of you have found more confidence in yourself, and little physical displays of friendship, or affection, had become part of your normal routine. You leaned into his side and sighed “Sprout assigned a test on underwater grown plants for tomorrow and I could really use your help. Pleeeaaassseee.”Neville chuckled “of course y/n. But I have plans with Dean and Seamus in the afternoon. Could we do it after dinner in my dorm?” “Sure thing Nev!” you said and gave the hand on your shoulder a squeeze. “I’ve got transfiguration now but I’ll see you later. You’re the best!” you said as you separated and ran to your next class.

“Would you gits straighten your sides of the room before dinner, y/n is coming over and I don’t want her to think we live in this dump,” Neville said while frantically cleaning his desk and bed. “Ooooh, are you going to finally tell her that you are head over heels in love with her?” Dean laughed. “God no. She’s my best friend. She obviously doesn’t feel the same way and I can’t lose her when she rejects me and it becomes awkward.” Neville huffed while sitting down on his bed and putting his head in his hands. “Neville you are so oblivious, she has to like you, or else why would she hang around you all these years,” Seamus said. Neville gave him a look of confusion “I don’t know, maybe because she's my friend and enjoys my company?” he said, still stunned by Seamus’ words. “Whatever, y/n will be here after dinner so you two go occupy yourselves so we can study in peace.” Neville huffed while finishing straightening his bed up. “Whatever you say loverboy,” Dean said as he headed out the door to go to dinner.

“Thanks again, Nev. You have no idea how much this means to me,” you said while Neville escorted you up the stairs to his dorm. “Of course, y/n, you do the same for me,” he said while opening the door to his dorm. You two had a mutual agreement to help each other with homework and classes, specifically Neville helping you with Herbology and you helping him with Potions.

After what seemed like days but was probably only a couple of hours, you finally had a good grasp of the concept and felt prepared enough for the test tomorrow. “Okay I just want to go over one more thing and then I think you’ll be good to go,” Neville said oblivious to your droopy eyes and the clock that read 11:30 pm on the wall. After his rambling about the differences between salt and freshwater plants, he finally stopped to get a breath of air when he saw that you were asleep with your head resting on the desk. ‘Um y/n?” he whispered but you didn’t budge. Neville didn’t know what to do but he would much rather get in trouble for having you up in his dorm than disturb an angel such as yourself. So he scooped you up bridal style and placed you in his bed, tucking you in. He stepped back feeling prideful in what he did but soon panicked when he realized that now he didn’t have anywhere to sleep.

“I mean we sit next to each other, hug, and even share drinks so what harm is sleeping next to you, right?” he thought to himself. He changed in the bathroom into some pajamas and climbed into bed with you still keeping some sizable space between your bodies in the tiny twin bed. He turned over to look at you and admired your peaceful face and tranquility that exuded from your being. He must have fallen asleep that way because he doesn’t remember anything until he was startled awake but Dean and Seamus talking quite loudly.

‘Hey, lovers! Are we interrupting something?” Dean laughed out. “What? What’s going o-” Neville was cut off when he soon realized that he was spooning y/n who was still sound asleep. He quickly pulled away which woke you up. “Where am I?” you said while rubbing the sleep out of your eyes. You sat up to Dean and Seamus staring at you and Neville looking mortified. “I’m so sorry y/n, I must have rolled over in my sleep. I swear I-” you cut him off “Neville it’s fine. We're best friends, I don’t mind.” you said with a chuckle trying to calm him down. The two other boys were looking down at you both and were laughing their heads off at everything unfolding before them. “Seamus, Dean, could you give us a second,” you asked. “Sure thing but breakfast is starting, don’t be late!” the Irish boy said as he left the room with his friend.

“Sorry you fell asleep and I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t know where to sleep and I guess I just grabbed you while I was sleeping and-” you cut him off yet again “Neville! It's fine! Honestly that was probably the best sleep I got in ages. Thank you for looking after me. I’ll see you at breakfast,” you said as you gathered your stuff and began to head back to your dorm for a fresh change of clothes. However, before you left you ran back to Neville and gave him a kiss on the cheek. A kiss that was nothing like any of your previous “friendly” displays of affection. A kiss that had more than “just friends'' written behind it.

Neville touched the spot on his cheek where your lips had just been and smiled with a dopey grin. “Wow.” is all he managed to say, still starstruck from everything that happened in the past 9 hours.

That night Neville was actually disappointed that you weren’t there beside him. Nevertheless, he turned off his light and turned over to try and get some sleep. About half an hour went by and he was still wide awake thinking about you. But his thoughts were soon interrupted when his door creaked open and your small frame came into view in the moonlight. “Hi. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind sharing your bed for another night.” you squeaked out in the quiet room with bashfulness in your voice. Neville didn’t say a word but he scooted over and opened the comforter for you to climb inside. He tentatively put his arm around your waist as you shimmied backward into his chest. “Oh, I forgot to tell you that I aced my quiz!” you said trying to alleviate some of the tension in the air. Neville smiled and responded, “I knew you would.”

#neville x y/n #neville longbottom #neville x reader #neville fluff #neville longbottom imagine #neville longbottom fic #harry potter #Neville appreciation #neville longbottom x reader

105 notes · View notes

five-rivers · 3 years

Text

Loved Chapter 5

Sort of wanted to do something more elaborate with this, but it just wasn't happening. Meh.

“But you aren’t really real, are you?”

Tucker’s question killed the mood fast than a bullet. Danny and Sam stared at him from their side of the blanket nest.

“You want to rephrase that?” asked Sam, glaring, arms crossed.

“Uh,” said Tucker, sweat starting to form on his upper lip. “I mean, clearly you’re real, just… maybe not entirely physical? You, it’s,” he made a sort of twisting gesture with one of his hands. “People who aren’t from here can’t see you. They can’t even touch you. That sort of implies that you’re not on the same level of reality as them.” He shrugged. “You call the other place the Dream, right? Maybe you’re in, like, a kind of daydream or something.”

Danny twisted a corner of a blanket in his hands. “No,” he said.

“Danny,” started Tucker.

“No,” repeated Danny. “I can’t—” He noticed he was breathing heavily, his eyes unfocused enough that he could see—No. “Tucker, I don’t—I don’t think I even have free will anymore.” No matter how much he Loved Clockwork and craved Love in return, no matter how glad he was that the dark future would never come to pass, that grated at times. “I need—” He gulped air.

(Before, if he was this panicked, his heart would be thundering in his chest. Now, it was far too quiet.)

Sam put a hand on his back, steadying. Tucker reached out, too, but hesitated, unsure.

“I need to be real,” he said. He needed to still exist, still be human, at least in part. He couldn’t lose that, too. No matter what else he might gain.

“You are real,” said Tucker. “I’m sorry, I—” He cursed lightly under his breath, “—I wasn’t thinking. It’s just… Maybe something you should think about. Maybe—Maybe you aren’t coming completely out of… I don’t know. Wherever you go.”

“Maybe,” said Danny, struggling to get his breathing back under control. “Maybe. I just. Not right now.”

“Okay,” said Tucker. “Yeah. What were we talking about before?”

“Who cares?” asked Sam. “Let’s watch a movie.”

“That sounds good,” said Danny.

Danny woke up first the next morning, which was somewhat unusual. Sam was definitely a night-owl, but Tucker woke up fairly early. He stepped over them, feet silent on the floor. Almost as if they weren’t really there.

He shook his head. Not now.

He went to the bathroom and took care of things slowly, deliberately, as if to impress upon his body that he was human.

Sam and Tucker still weren’t awake when he came back. Also, when he thought about it, the rest of the house was eerily silent as well.

No… There was music. Was that coming from outside? He closed his eyes to listen better and caught himself drifting off while standing.

That was abnormal. He knelt and shook Sam and Tucker’s shoulders. They didn’t stir.

Someone was here. And they were here without Danny knowing. That was bad. That was really bad.

He went to his parents’ room. They were asleep, too.

There was a nonzero possibility that he was the only one awake. (Assuming he had ever been awake in the first place and not, as Tucker put it, daydreaming.)

He went out, following the music. Music suggested Ember, but this didn’t seem to be her style. She preferred motion, energy, vibrance. This was quieter, subtler.

Then again, none of the others made sense.

(At least, Danny liked to pretend they didn’t.)

The music wasn’t louder outside, but it was clearer. The scent of something sweet floated on the air. Something warm. Like honey.

Was something buzzing?

Danny shook his head again, forcing himself back into awareness. Maybe he should try and figure out what was going on from inside the Dream. It wasn’t possible to fall asleep there. At least, Danny never had.

(Assuming he wasn’t always partially in the Dream, like Tucker said.)

On the other hand, it often helped to observe what was going on in the real world, on the surface of things, before diving. As messy as fights could be in the real world, winning them in the Dream was harder.

He forged on, periodically pinching himself. He wasn’t the only one on the streets, but he was the only one on the streets that wasn’t passed out. It looked like there had been some car crashes.

That’s when he saw her.

She stood in the middle of an intersection, looking away from him. She was built like a centaur, except the lower part of her body more closely resembled a massive deer than a horse. An elk, perhaps. Both her deer-portion and her human-portion had night-black skin, studded with white stars. Antlers curved and branched above her curly hair. A crown of red flowers sat on her head. She wore no other clothes.

Danny did not notice any of this at first. No, what first jumped out at him was the unmistakable chain of Love binding him to her and vice versa.

He’d never met anyone like this, so—

She turned to face Danny. But she didn’t have a face. She had a mask. A well-made mask that had both eye-holes and a mouth with lips that seemed to curve. It was also covered with pulsing, swirling, hypnotic patterns. Black and white chased each other across the mask, not respecting the mask’s physical curves.

Danny could feel his mind start to go fuzzy. Felt the ground go soft under him as he sank into the Dream. A distant part of him wanted to look away, but the rest of him could only blink slowly, captivated.

“Come,” she said in a fascinating combination of an out-loud voice and a True Voice, tugging lightly on the chain that attached Danny to her.

Danny complied, trotting out into the intersection. When he was most of the way there, she turned away again.

“Follow,” she ordered.

Danny did, vaguely noting how rapidly the sidewalks and concrete buildings of Amity Park flowed into smoothly rolling hills covered in grass and flowers. The air grew heavier. Hotter. The perfume of the flowers combined with the buzzing of the bees and the gentle music served to make Danny even drowsier than before.

Still, he could hardly nod off in this situation, walking behind her, Love connecting them.

Sluggishly, belatedly, a name came to mind. “Nocturne,” he said. The name tasted like milk and honey, like chamomile tea, like sleep. She stopped and inclined her head slightly towards him. “You’re different from before.”

“We haven’t met,” she said. Then she turned more fully, the lips on her mask curving into a smile. “Has our parent been showing you Dreams of me? Perhaps I looked more like this.” She changed, her body warping before Danny’s eyes to become an impossibly tall man completely covered in starry black robes. Except, of course, for his mask and curved, ram-like horns. “This is as good a place as any, I suppose.”

Danny nodded, not quite sure what he was agreeing to, and looked around. Amity Park was nowhere in sight. The hills were a little lumpy, as if the grass and moss were growing over oddly shaped rocks.

“Let’s sit,” said Nocturn, lowering himself elegantly to the ground.

Danny followed, movements clumsy and blurred by sleep. He blinked, and found his hands occupied by a large mug. He looked up at Nocturne. Had he given this to Danny, or…?

Nocturne smiled. Danny looked away, not feeling like getting caught in the hypnotic swirls of his mask again. There was something off about those rocks under the grass. Something about their shape…

Then he saw it and inhaled sharply through his teeth.

Bodies. They were bodies. Still breathing, but…

He looked back at Nocturne. He’d known Nocturne was being too nice to him. He was new to being other, but not new to being a younger sibling. Older siblings only acted like this when they had set up everything in their favor. When they wanted something.

Even knowing this, he struggled to keep his eyes open. Could he fall asleep in the Dream?

“What are you doing to them?” he asked. “How do I wake them up.”

Nocturne hummed. “I have an idea. Play a game with me, sibling, and I’ll tell you.”

“What kind of game?”

“You ask me a question, and for every answer I give you, I get something from you.”

“Like, an answer from me,” said Danny, trying to clarify his position, “or something else?”

Nocturne’s smile showed teeth.

“If I play this game,” said Danny, “I have to be able to say when it ends.” He didn’t want to be dancing around conversational pitfalls every time he interacted with Nocturne, after all. They were siblings.

(And though Love was not trust, it was Love. And Love was undeniable.)

“Of course,” agreed Nocturne, easily.

“Alright, then,” said Danny. He adjusted his grip on the mug.

The grass was crawling. He blinked, hard, and shook his head, dislodging two bees that had landed on his ear.

“How do I wake them up?” he asked.

“You can’t,” said Nocturne.

Danny paused, waiting for Nocturne to take what he wanted.

“You have other questions.”

“Aren’t you going to take something from me, for the question?”

“Yes, I am.”

Danny pursed his lips, realizing he had just wasted a question.

“If I can’t wake them, who or what can?”

“I could. Or they could wake themselves.”

Danny mulled over what that could mean. He had no idea where to start with the second part, but the first…

“What would I have to do, to get you to wake them?”

“You—”

The chain around Danny’s neck went taut, pulling him through the fabric of the Dream at breakneck speeds. He was in Clockwork, his sibling behind him.

You must not bully your sibling, my dear. I have enough love for both of you. You do not need to be jealous.

Danny swayed. Now that so much of the tension between him and Nocturne was gone, he was no longer able to use it to support his wakefulness.

Drink your milk, little Love. You’ll be able to find your friends.

Danny nodded sleepily and tipped the mug back. He didn’t remember what happened after that.

“Hundreds of Amity Park citizens are still in comas as health officials race to find the cause of the mysterious event. Some say that gas leaks are to…”

Danny tuned out the TV and glared at his cereal. He knew he had fallen asleep in the Dream and had done something, but the memory was beyond him. Maybe whatever it had been was beyond an even partially human mind.

Or whatever kind of mind Danny had.

His fingers twitched. He was going to go down again later today, to see if Clockwork would help him find everyone else. If they could be found at all. He didn’t want to. He was angry. Angry that this had happened, that it was still happening. Amity Park was his, and Nocturne had no right to try and steal and break and—

The terrible part, was that even though he was angry, his general desire to reach out to Nocturne, to lean on their Love… That had not diminished.

He looked forward to seeing them again.

The news continued to talk about the coma victims.

#danny phantom #eldritch abomination au #dannymay #dannymay day 13: daydream #dannymay 2021

90 notes · View notes

lovelytarou · 4 years

Text

caffeinated love

pairing: nishinoya yuu x reader

genre: fluff, slight angst

tags: coffee shop!au, barista!noya, noya & reader being whipped for each other

a/n: dedicated to my beautiful, loving, sweet and supportive wife @chibishae34 💖💞❤️💕 i hope you liked this surprise and i did your bb noya justice! :c

it was a perfectly sunny day.

it was too perfect, you might add. the scene in front of you could easily fit into a studio ghibli movie, the only thing missing are the animated characters, and the soft piano music that usually accompanied the films.

you don't know what made you look at life with rose-colored lenses today, it might be because you're in a good mood, or you woke up on the right side of the bed, or the wind just brought some positive air to you. whatever it is, you're thankful for it.

you're walking around campus with a skip on your steps, a smile on your face as you grinned at the people you passed and the surroundings. to some people, it might come off as creepy, or even weird, but no one is going to ruin your mood today. not when you're so close to having your coffee.

a bigger smile tugged at your lips, looking up at the café in front you – its bold, intricate sign you're familiar with and the welcoming aura beckoning you in.

Crows' Cabin.

your favorite café that serves the best coffee ever in your campus. you couldn't have asked for more. they got your coffee right, the perfect amount of sweetness, the tinge of bitterness, and the smooth feel of the cream like a warm blanket on a cold day. not to mention, their staff is pretty welcoming and friendly, too.

what you loved most about this place is the fact that you can study in peace and the fast wi-fi that they have. it has the perfect atmosphere to do a little studying while you sip your coffee.

walking inside, you pushed the doors open, letting it emit a small ringing sound as it announces your arrival. the usual silver-haired cheery guy that greets you when you come in isn't standing in his usual post. instead, a short guy with bleached streaks greeted you with a lively energy that almost shocked you to the core.

you can't help but think how cute he looks, and walked closer cautiously to the counter.

“hello! welcome to crows' cabin! what can i getcha, cutie?” he gave you a big grin, leaning on the counter with his arm. you blinked in surprise, taken aback by his ecstatic greeting and chuckling lightly.

“hey, uh...is sugawara not here?” you probably sounded rude, but if there's a new guy on his stead, you could only guess that he's going to get your coffee wrong. at least, that's what you think.

he let out a humming sound, his face scrunching up as he thinks with his index finger and thumb under his chin. your heart skipped a beat. he couldn't get any cuter.

“i heard sugawara changed shifts because of his hectic schedule and all,” he explained, waving his arms about. “but you're lucky you're stuck with me! so, what do you want? coffee, tea, or me?” he gave you a wink after his question.

despite the nag of disappointment at the news of sugawara not being able to take your order anymore, it was quickly replaced by giddiness at the presence of this energetic boy in front of you.

before you could answer, however, the other staff with shaved hair that you quickly recognized as tanaka ryuunosuke, emerged from the kitchen and shook his head at his co-worker's antics.

“oi, stop flirting with the customer and take their order already!” he scolded, slapping the boy with the small towel he's holding on the head, earning a yelp.

“ukai-san won't be happy to know that you're trying to pick up chicks while on the job, you know.” tanaka's quip made your cheeks heat up. although, it seemed like the smaller guy is flirting with you, it was probably how he greets all the customers that comes in the café.

yet, the thought of him asking you out isn't too bad at all.

he's pretty attractive, you'll admit that. he's got mesmerizing, big, brown eyes that looks like it can pierce through your soul the longer you looked at them, and not to mention his fiery personality that greeted you the moment you entered.

“i can't help it, ryuu. they just looked so cute! who am i to deny our pretty customer our special service?” he wiggled his eyebrows at you suggestively. god, you wanted the ground to swallow you whole.

“leave the poor customer alone, idiot. look at them, they're too red already!” it definitely didn't help that tanaka made a comment on how flustered you seem to get over his co-workers flirtatious advances.

“i-i'll get the usual, please...” you managed to croak out despite the embarrassment you felt, immediately sliding the exact amount to the counter.

the boy tilted his head at you in confusion, “the usual...?”

oh, right. he's new.

ignoring your flushed cheeks and rapidly beating heart, you murmured how you liked your coffee all the while his piercing gaze is intently staring at you, giving you his undivided attention while you explain your order passionately.

“uh, no– wait, that's probably too complicated. i'll just get that one instead–” he waved his hand dismissively at your panicked ramblings.

“nah, no need. i already memorized your order, angel face.” with one final wink at you, he went to the back to prepare your coffee.

“why don't you settle in and get comfortable while i prepare your drink?” he called over his shoulder.

tanaka could only watch the commotion with fond, proud gaze as he went back to his own station.

꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎

during the afternoon, the crows' cabin don't have many patrons unlike in the mornings and evenings. usually, they were back in their classes or offices, and sometimes will only grab a quick bite before heading out.

this is the most peaceful moment, in your opinion, in the café. you hummed along to the song playing on the speakers as you typed away for your essay that is due tomorrow. yeah, it might not be healthy to cram when it's due tomorrow, but with how busy you are, can you really blame yourself?

what's important is you're doing it now instead of putting it away and procrastinating like you always do.

your fingers stopped typing as you gazed out the window, thinking of what to write next. amid the staring absently at nothingness, the boy from the counter approached you. he placed the cup from the tray beside you on a coaster.

“thanks, uh...” shoot, you didn't get his name. you don't remember tanaka mentioning it, too.

he seemed to have read your mind as he laughed, eyes crinkling at the sides as he threw his head back. you can't help but stare at him, he's such a ball of sunshine. any moment now and you're sure your heart will burst because of this guy.

“my name's nishinoya yuu, nice to meet you, uhm...” he stretched his hand out, which made you chuckle. you accepted it, shaking his hand as you introduced yourself.

nishinoya rubbed the back of his head, his cheeks flushing, “that's a pretty name.” he murmured, eyes casting off to the side as the thought of how warm and soft your hands are overtaking his mind.

before he could get carried away, he cleared his throat and looked at you expectantly.

“anyway, i'm excited about what you think of the coffee i made!” he bounced on his heels from where he stood, excitement jittering his bones.

rolling your eyes playfully, you cracked a smile at his excited expression and brought the cup to your lips to take a sip.

time seemed to have stopped as nishinoya watched you take another sip of coffee. you, on the other hand, couldn't believe that he made it just how you like it despite the first time making it for you. the slight smirk didn't escape your notice as you let out an appreciative hum upon the taste.

“so?” he leaned a little close to you, anticipation written all over his cute face.

“i gotta hand it to you, nishinoya. you did well, maybe even better than sugawara’s,” his chest seemed to puff up at your praise which you found endearing. so he likes to be complimented.

“of course! who else can make your coffee if not also the best barista in crows' cabin?” he boasted, thumbs pointing at himself. you can't help the laughter that bubbled out of you. he's such a refreshing presence in such a familiar place. and you're here for it.

he felt his heart clench as he smiled at your laughing figure, one thought only occupying his mind: he wanted to see you smile and laugh more.

he glanced at the clock on the wall, noticing that it'd be a few hours left before his shift ends and until then he still has a lot to do. even if it makes him sad, he has to go back to work and part from you. although, he hopes not permanently.

“anyways, enjoy your coffee! don't work too hard! and uh, call me yuu.” he gave you one last smile before he went back behind the counter.

yuu.

his name kept repeating over and over inside your head, a smile on your face as you looked down at your cup of coffee.

you're definitely going to keep coming back here.

꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎

the next time you went back to the café, nishinoya perked up like an overexcited dog. his face immediately lit up at the sight of you. the relief that washed over you was something that you kept thinking about as you made your way to the counter, a grin splitting your face.

why were you so glad to find out that he's here?

“hey, it's you again. how are you doing today?” he greeted, already buzzing to life at the mere sight of you.

“i'm great, actually. and you?”

“it's been a long day, but it's all better now that you're here, cutie.” he chuckled at the way you became flustered in seconds after he called you a pet name.

“you're not too bad yourself, yuu. i'll take–”

“–the usual. i already memorized it, remember?” he replied, seeing the puzzled look on your face.

“right. yeah, sorry.” you facepalmed yourself softly, shaking your head at your forgetfulness. “it's just...i've been working too hard so i probably forgot,”

“i have just the thing, now go get cozy and i'll bring your drink!”

you took that as your cue to find your seat. today was pretty hectic for you, especially since you have to catch up to the nearing deadlines. taking a seat, you immediately opened up your laptop and began to work.

not half an hour later, a cup was placed in front of you, along with nishinoya sitting at the opposite chair which made you quirk an inquisitive eyebrow at the boy.

“what are you doing?”

“it's okay, i have my break at this time.” he then placed a bag beside your laptop, “on the house, a little birdie told me that it's your favorite,” he sheepishly rubbed at his nape, avoiding your gaze.

opening the bag, you find out that it's one of your favorite pastries inside. you can't help the soft gasp leaving your mouth at the kind gesture.

“oh, thank you so much! i've been craving these lately.” you gave him a grateful smile, biting down on your favorite treat. it still tasted just as good, but what really warmed your heart was the thought of nishinoya purposely asking sugawara for your favorite pastry and you can't help but add it to one of the things you like about him.

wait...like?

you couldn't help but choke at your own thoughts to which nishinoya shot you a concerned look. once you calmed down, you noticed that he kept glancing back at the wall clock then back at you then down at his fiddling hands.

“what's wrong?” you asked through a mouthful of food. yuu chuckled at the sight and shook his head.

“can i borrow a pen?” confused, you gave him one anyway. he grabbed the bag that your food was placed in, scribbling on it.

“thanks, i gotta go back now. break's over. bye!” he jogged back to his station and you were left weirded out by his actions. not only when you were preparing to leave the café did you notice the small note at the other side of the paper bag.

nishinoya yuu

xxx-xxx-xxx :)

you exited the café with your stomach and heart feeling full.

꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎

“do you think they liked the treat? will they even text back?” nishinoya paced back and forth in their small staff room.

“what if they didn't read the note?!” he gasped, stopping in his tracks as he bites his nails in anxiety.

sugawara laughed at his junior's predicament, “relax! of course they'd love the treat, i did tell you it was their favorite. as for the number, you should probably be a little more patient with that, noya.” he advised, placing an assuring hand on noya's shoulder.

as if possessed by a spirit, nishinoya perked up and his agitated self was replaced with determination.

“you're right. i shouldn't worry about it too much. they'll come around!” as soon as he said that, his phone's ringtone resonated in the small space.

on his screen was an unknown number and he immediately knew it's you.

without wasting another moment, nishinoya picked up the phone and answered the call.

“h-hello, y/n?” he internally cursed at himself for stuttering.

“–john? is that you? how's your mother–”

dumbstruck, nishinoya abruptly ended the call and placed his phone on the table.

“what happened? what did they say?” sugawara inquired, eager to know what happened between the two.

“it's not them.” nishinoya deflated like a balloon, covering his face with his palms.

was he reading this right? what if you don't see him that way? what if he was just forcing himself on you and in reality you don't really reciprocate the emotions he felt whenever you enter the café?

with a little more positivity from his seniors and tanaka telling him that he shouldn't lose hope, nishinoya decided to go home feeling less energetic than usual.

it was not around midnight that he received a call from an unknown number. he hated that he felt excited, that maybe, just maybe at the other end it was you.

picking it up slowly, he breathed in and out, counting to five before he answered the call.

“hello, yuu? it's y/n. sorry i called at a time like this,”

his eyes lit up at the sound of your familiar voice. even through the phone it sounded as beautiful as ever.

he almost stumbled over the scattered clothes and mess that littered his bedroom floor when it is indeed you that called him, landing on his bed.

“y/n? it's really you! uh, don't worry about it. i'm not sleeping yet...totally not because i was waiting on you or anything!”

your laughter brought butterflies fluttering in his stomach, oh how he'd love to hear that sweet sound everyday. it got him smiling too as he listened to it.

“i'm sorry for making you wait. i was just busy with my studies and all...but, i've decided.”

“decided...on what?”

there was a pregnant pause on the other end, he thought that you might ended the call or something. but then you spoke up again.

“i wanna go on a date with you.”

he must be in heaven because there is no way in hell or earth that you'd want to go on a date with him. you, who looks so pretty, beautiful, elegant and charming that he's having a hard time if you're actually real. you, who never fails to make his days a little better at work whenever you waltzed in and decided to grace him with your presence. you, with your complicated mixture of coffee that he memorized in favor of impressing you and in hopes that you come back again to the café.

he couldn't believe it.

“y-yeah? that's great! so, when are you free?”

“i was thinking maybe saturday? if that's alright with you?”

“that's fine with me! i actually have a day off on saturday. same time? at the cafe?”

he can't help the grin that's practically splitting his face in half but he's just so happy. he immediately caught feelings for you the moment you walked inside crows' cabin and he can't get you out of his mind since.

the same thing can be said about you, which the only reason you're actually studying in the café and keep coming back there was for a whole another reason other than coffee. heck, you even find yourself thinking of him whenever you drink the beverage.

with a lovestruck look on your face, you nodded even though he couldn't see it.

“yeah, that would be great.”

꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎

when saturday came, to say that you were nervous and jittery would be an understatement. you can't stop looking at yourself in the mirror or literally any surface that you have a reflection on to make sure that you looked nice and presentable on your date with noya.

and due to that fact, you didn't notice him walking up to you, all smiles and looking as cute and handsome as ever.

“ready to go?” he asked, offering his elbow to you which you gladly accepted.

“where are we going?”

“it's a surprise,” he teased, flashing you a mischievous smile.

you went along with it. the two of you walked, stopped for some food and talked about what you both liked, disliked, and how he got the job at crows' cabin.

“–so i told ukai-san that i really need the money! i was actually just saving up for the new game i saw down the street but i made it sound like it's a life or death situation if he wouldn't hire me. in the end, i loved working there. i mean,” he gestured to the two of you, “because of it, i finally went on a date with a wonderful person!”

chuckling at him, you playfully pushed his shoulder.

“shut up,” you grumbled.

you can't help but admire him. the way he animatedly tell his stories with his own sound effects and grand gestures that never fails to make you laugh and rope you in with the story. he's fun to hang out with, knows a lot of stuff about the neighborhood and won't run out of tales.

“ah! we're here!” he paused walking to stop in front of your designated place.

he brought you to the movies.

“oh, wow...i didn't expect that,” you laughed sheepishly, trying not to offend him.

“i figured we'd watch a movie. ryuu said that there's this new horror movie that's a blockbuster nowadays,” quickly catching on to his plan, you smirked to yourself slightly.

“is that so? well, i'm pretty sure you'll protect me from the scary things in there, right, yuu?”

he seemed to puff up at that, “of course i will! what kind of man would i be if i can't protect you?”

that earned another laughter from you, shaking your head as you tugged his arm towards the direction of the entrance.

he insisted that he'd pay for the tickets and the food which surprised you a bit, but you couldn't really complain since he was being nice all day to you. you decided to just pay him back later.

as soon as the both of you are inside and the movie is playing halfway, you noticed how he's the one who is more scared of it than you. he's trying to play it off by coughing when he'd accidentally yell in surprise or laugh it off when he'd jolt up from a jumpscare.

how cute.

without saying a word, you grabbed his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. the feeling of your soft and warm hands brought him back to reality, looking down at your intertwined hands. his cheeks flared up and he thanked himself for choosing a horror movie or else this moment wouldn't happen.

“ah, i'm glad that movie was over!” he cried out in relief. all throughout the movie, he kept squeezing your hand hard like a woman giving birth or hiding on your shoulder when a jumpscare comes on. you gotta admit that you enjoyed his reactions more than the movie itself.

you were both now walking home – he insisted – and your hands are still holding each other, clearly not wanting to let go. by the time you walked out of the theatre, it's already nighttime.

the skies are clear and there are stars peppering the night sky. it's quiet out with an occassional passing vehicles, or a hoot of an owl but it's a comforting silence.

“this is me,” you mumbled, stopping on your tracks once you saw the familiar street your residence was in.

noya can't help but glance at the street behind you with a sad look and down at your still conjoined hands. he knows he should, but he wanted to spend the night with you longer.

“you sure you can make it home okay?” he gave you a pleading look, hoping that you'd let him at least walk you in front of your house.

“yeah, i'm sure.” with that, he let go of your hands hesitantly, linking your pinkies as he gave you a small, content but genuine smile.

“i really had fun today, yuu.” you avoided his gaze when you saw his smile widen in satisfaction. he laughed heartily at that.

“me too, even if i hid throughout the movie.” he rubbed the back of his head, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment. he kept rambling about how he probably turned you off because of that and why he shouldn't have taken you to the movies but somewhere exciting instead.

goddamnit, you can't take it anymore.

leaning in, you closed the distance between the two of you and slotted your lips in his, closing your eyes. you felt his breath hitch at your actions, his hands coming up to hold your jaw.

just like everything about him, the kiss was breathtaking.

it felt like hours when you pulled away, his eyes was still closed as he savored the blissful moment you shared.

“thank you,” you whispered, as if any louder can ruin the magic.

you pushed his shoulders away gently, giggling as you walked home. nishinoya was left there, awestruck with a dumb smile on his face as he stared at your retreating figure like he just woke up from a beautiful dream.

“huh...? hey, wait! come back here!”

#haikyuu fluff #nishinoya yuu #yū nishinoya #nishinoya yuu x reader #nishinoya yuu x y/n #nishinoya fluff #haikyuu!! fanfiction #haikyuu #hq fanfic #nishinoya x reader #i might got a little carried away with this lmao but i think i liked?? this??#💫.nishinoya yuu #tarou writes 🌹

66 notes · View notes

lollytea · 4 years

Text

Fearless (part 1/3)

(Ty/Louie fairytale au fic. i am simply a bitch writing about my au and my oc so it is all very catered to me personally and im aware not a lot of ppl will read it. but if you DO read it, i love u so much. i guess tw for blood/serious injuries relating to teen characters. nothing too graphic but be warned. Also if you’re curious, info on the au here, here and here.)

_________________________

[OCTOBER 22ND, 6:19PM] The sky was bleeding pink and orange and Louie tried to focus on it. Didn't take much brainpower to appreciate a sunset. He clung to the sight with desperation, muttering the simplest thoughts under his breath like a mantra.

It was pretty. He liked sunsets. He liked pink. He liked orange. The distraction wasn't working. The unpleasantness that was already writhing in his stomach churned. His finger was on his temple, idly tracing delicate circles against the tightly wrapped bandage. His head hurt. The point where his shoulder met his upper arm was also dressed. The stitching still had to heal up. That hurt too. Louie was pretty stupid. Which was not something he usually thought. But it was a real kick in the confidence when someone sharp-witted did something stupid. And it was a real kick in the heart when someone who didn't wanna hurt anybody ended up hurting somebody. This was stupid. He had already tried reading as a means of distraction. Too hard. Too many words. Way too much of a strain on his mild concussion. This was so, so stupid. Sitting by his windowsill, he hoped this dumb bandage would be gone soon. His forehead felt sticky and damp with sweat. He was stupid. He wished Webby were here. If she were, she'd be in the courtyard below his window sparring with Dewey. At least then, Louie could watch and keep his mind occupied. No. No, that wasn't right. If Webby were here, she would've attached herself to Louie by now, hugging him tight until his injury healed. If it had been any other incident, Louie would let her, crumbling into her arms and whimpering about the pain as his amazing, magical sister made it all ebb away. But this wasn't any other incident. If Webby were here, he wouldn't be able to accept her hugs. The very idea rubbed him the wrong way. If anyone was entitled to healing hugs, it wasn't Louie, it was--.... His face twisted up. Webby wasn't here. She was off on some quest with Lena. Probably wouldn't be back for days. So there was no point in dwelling over hypotheticals. Louie would heal on his own. They were both gonna have to heal on their own. The sunset was fading.

It was pretty. Pink... Orange.... He couldn't do this.

Why was he doing this?! Louie always knew himself to be a coward but this was to a pathetic extent. Depraved even. He felt sick.

He couldn't. He just couldn't. Every additional second he spent hiding in his room was weighing him down. It was suffocating. But he couldn't leave. He was too scared.

Freezing up just like always. Just stop being so fucking scared! He would have to confront what he did eventually. There was no way around it. So, why couldn't he just go now? Louie had far worse things in his life to be dreading. Far worse. A ticking clock of trepidation was seated deep inside him. A predestined future he couldn't rewrite which, on all accounts, should render him paralyzed. But he wasn't. This was the sort of thing to demolish him. Apparently. Stupid. This shouldn't be overdriving his other senses. This shouldn't be flooding his mind. He shouldn't be drowning right now. This shouldn't have his hands shaking. This shouldn't have him pacing the length of his room. This shouldn't be stealing the oxygen from his lungs. His brain was pounding against his skull, protesting his rapid back-and-forth movement. He was dizzy. He shouldn't be crying. Fuck it! He was always crying, who cares about that?! Just stop panicking, just stop crying, just stop being so selfish for once and just own up. Louie's back crashed against his door, gasping for breath. Stars were blotting his vision and he couldn't breathe and it was the end of the world. Okay. Okay. He was spiraling again. That was all it was, it would be okay. It would be okay. The prince's bed chambers, alive with the choking sound of contained distress, subsided to complete silence for just a moment. Inhale. Exhale. And then all to be heard was a small, crackling voice straining to sing himself a quiet little lullaby. ___________ [OCTOBER 22ND, 10:07AM] "Your highness, don't be an idiot. You can't just---Hey! Wait up!" "H'oh boy..." Louie's eyes flicked to the high heavens. Right now he felt like he was tasked with personally escorting this goddamn boy across this goddamn forest by the goddamn ankles. He whirled around impatiently, crossing his arms with a flourish. "Pick up the pace, Tiberius. We don't have all day." "Can you maybe not be a huge pain for like... I dunno, five minutes?" Snapped Ty, his dearly devoted retainer and most notorious pain-in-the-tail. "Can you maybe loosen up? Y'know it's a real mood killer when there's a paranoid guy on my case all the time, insisting that the whole world is out to get me. Being constantly reminded of my fragile mortality? Woo, talk about fun times." Scowling, Ty stumbled his way over a protruding tree root. "You've got a bad habit of attracting danger, you know that, right? I'm pretty sure it's a Duck thing." The remark slapped the annoyed expression right off Louie's face. Ty quirked an eyebrow. "What's that look for?" Before he could further analyse, Louie sharply turned on his heel and strode on. "It's a Duck thing." He said, keeping his tone even. Both of them knew it was a Duck thing. Ty just didn't know the half of it. "Your highness," He heard Ty gripe. "You know this is a bad idea. A prince shouldn't be out in the open like this without proper protection. And I'm unprepared right now. I can't--" If Ty weren't yakking so much, Louie wouldn't know if he was still there. He wasn't wearing his armor for once so the familiar clank and clatter of metal was nonexistent. "You got your sword, right? You can do a lot of damage with that thing." "Yeah but no juice. And I need juice. See, 'cause what if we get in a tight spot and you--?" "What do you think is gonna happen, Ty?! For the love of all that is gold, It's just a party." "It's never just anything." He grumbled. Ty jogged ahead a little, matching his pace to Louie's. His footsteps alongside him were purposefully heavy So, he was stomping now. Real mature. Louie rolled his eyes. He was fully aware Ty was pissed, he didn't have to go above and beyond to make his anger known. "You really think I'm an idiot who doesn't take safety precautions? I'll have you know keeping Prince Louie alive isn't just your problem. Prince Louie is pretty serious about that too." He gestured to himself. "If you haven't noticed, I'm incognito today. I've got no crown, no mantle, no status whatsoever. And look at these ugly peasant threads," Louie pointed out, tugging at the hem of his dull green tunic. "It's actually kinda depressing how drab I look. I'm never gonna do this again actually. But! See how committed I am right now? Who's gonna recognize me? As we're all aware, I'm pretty well known for my pizzazz." "Just 'cause you stop being a prince doesn't mean danger stops existing." "No but it makes you way less of a target. Now, are you really gonna spend your whole day off bitching at me?"

The glare Ty shot him was petulant at best. "Well, I didn't wanna. But I got dragged along on this little adventure so guess I gotta." Louie pursed his beak, irritated. He did not drag Ty along anywhere.

"Come to think of it, I don't remember saying you had to follow me." Well, that came out as harsher than intended. Ty didn't seem hurt. At least, there was no sign that he was. No expression cracked his stone mask. "I've got a duty." Louie scoffed. Ty and his stupid duty. It was really starting to wear on his nerves. But not today, absolutely not today. On this fine, glorious day, Louie was intent on having fun. He would show up at this little forest shindig and he would drink and dance and schmooze and whatever else any carefree person at a party would do. He would forget about everything that was eating at him. He wasn't gonna let it consume him, he wasn't. He was gonna live. While he still could. His sixteenth birthday loomed closer. Six months left. "Sorry." Said Ty, unprompted. The shadows festering in Louie's head cleared out as he snapped back to the present. Ty had his eyes firmly downcast, a noticeable slump to his posture. "It's not like I wanna be running around killing the fun all the time. I really don't. But I gotta." Louie said nothing. His eyebrows rose in quiet astonishment as he studied Ty's side profile. He remembered when Ty first came into his life. Twelve years old, brandishing a sword too big for his body and grinning lopsidedly in an unmistakably trouble seeking sorta way. A real firecracker of a boy, loud and bright. Hungry for adventure and excited to throw himself head first into the action. He remembered one of Ty's earliest and most confident statements. When he lowered himself to bow to Louie in his uncle's throne room and declared that the prince would never fear for his life again. Because Ty would protect him and Ty was fearless. Louie believed him. Make no mistake, Ty had plenty of bite back then too. He had disliked Louie and the feeling had been mutual. But he never doubted that Ty had spoken the truth with his entire heart. Ty was fearless. When Louie was with Ty, he was safe. He believed that and he always had. Despite how they clicked as well as a dagger and a keyhole. Despite Ty being annoying. So annoying. He was still annoying. But it was different now. Louie couldn't pinpoint when that permanent glowing smile of his had dwindled and a thin frown had become Ty's default expression. His sword, something he always used to proudly haul around over his shoulder, now unceremoniously sheathed against his belt. Although Louie had noticed that his right hand never strayed too far from the hilt. Protecting royalty with your entire being was an all-consuming duty and it seemed, at some point, the reality of such an allegiance had slapped Ty across the face. He had this distinct way of holding himself now. Always stood straight and rigid, coiled up with agitation. He was prepared to fight at a moment's notice but it was clear the thrill of doing so had been long since drained out of him. He still smiled. He still laughed. But only sometimes. Ty was annoying because he was paranoid. Because he was snarky. Because he was too stiff, too protective. And man, what Louie wouldn't give to have Ty's former brand of annoying back. At least never made him feel sorry for the guy. "Can I ask you a favor?" Louie finally spoke, pushing back a drooping tree branch so they could walk below it "You can try." Ty shrugged, his gaze still fixed ahead. "What if we just turn off this whole 'Prince and Retainer' thing today. Whadd'ya think?" He turned to him blankly, complete with a slight tilt of the head that made Louie a tiny bit weak. "Wha....?" Ty was simply not computing. He looked as though Louie was throwing out algebra equations and he was supposed to solve them right on the spot. And he was not a math guy by any means. The cute clueless expression was making it a little hard to focus. Louie swallowed. "Listen." He began, his thumb dragging itself across his sweaty palm as he struggled with how to phrase this. Louie had a way with words, always had. But he had a tendency to trip over his own tongue when Ty was involved. Especially when Ty was staring at him with his soft cande-light eyes and doing that stupid adorable head tilting thing and-- "You need a break." Louie blurted out. "You're stressed like constantly and it's getting kinda insufferable and I think your Dad would sick a dragon on me if his barely fifteen year old son suddenly kicked it 'cause of a paranoia overload so I think you should just forget about being my big strong hero for today and come hang out with me at this stupid peasant party and we can just be two regular kids instead of a royal and his bodyguard do you think you could give me that Tiberius?" It was only in the following beat of silence that Louie realized how fast he spat that all out. He struggled to catch his breath. One second. Ty blinked. Two seconds. A flicker of vacant eyes and then a rush of realization. And then disbelief. And then-- Three seconds. His brow scrunched together and a snarl crinkled his muzzle. His eyes flared. Oh, he was mad.... "Are you crazy?!" Ty shouted. He was beside himself with a malfunctioning mix of fury and incredulity that had him stammering his words. "You-You can't just--.....D-do you even-- you don't...do you realize how disrespectful that is? For you to say it? For-For me to do it?! I was given this duty by the King! The fucking King! To just suddenly "turn it off" would be--....I can't--!" Maybe "mad" was an understatement. "Ty--" Louie tried. He was cutting across Louie, treading back and forth on their forest path,. Not going further, not going back. Just walking to nowhere for the sake of being too scandalized to possibly stand still. Louie was attempting to get Ty's attention by grabbing his tunic but he kept shaking him off. "I'd be a disgrace! An embarrassment! I'm trusted by the royal family to keep--...to keep you safe! I-I can't just walk around with my liege like I'm on vacation and not be on guard! You don't even get it, you--" "Ty!" Louie said loudly."You wanna maybe listen for a sec?!" Frankly, he was surprised Ty halted his tirade. His eyes were blown wide, stunned and Louie wasn't quite sure why until he followed Ty's look, snapping down. Seems in his effort to get a hold of the guy, he had instinctively reached out and snatched Ty's wrist. They stood frozen for a moment, each set of eyes boring into the touch that tied them together. Louie's fingers began to uncurl. Then he decided no. His grip on Ty tightened with a purposeful squeeze. Ty met his gaze, looking....panicked? Confused? Didn't matter. He could besottedly dissect his unreadable facial expressions later. Louie inhaled, deciding to shoulder his dignity for just a second. No safety rails of snark this time. Ty might make fun of him for being sincere later but this was important. "Don't you miss being a kid with nothing to worry about?" Louie implored. "Because if we're being real, I don't think we're ever gonna get to live like that again." Ty muttered something to himself, shaking his head a little. "But listen," Louie continued, taking a step into Ty's personal bubble. Ty took an automatic step back. But since he was still holding his hand, Louie was led a step forward. It was difficult to tell with the pink fur but he could've sworn Ty reddened. "Look I know it's weird for me to be asking but....can't we just take a risk today? It's just a party in the woods. Literally the least likely place to find any danger in the whole kingdom." "We shouldn't--" "Ty, please." Honestly, Louie was a little surprised at himself. He hadn't even planned for Ty to accompany him anyway. But in the heat of the moment, everything had shifted upside-down. Turns out there was something inside him willing to beg. Something that wanted more than anything, for Ty come along. He just wanted a simple memory of just killing time with Ty. Separated from the castle and everything that reminded him of his fate. He would like to smile without a hint of dread for once this year. So, he said just that. "I'm not just trying to make you come along 'cause I'm stuck with you. That's not it." He swallowed. "You're--....you're cool. You're fun. I wanna have you around. You know, when you're not so worked up and you're just being yourself, I like hanging out with you." He tugged Ty's hand a little. Further from his sword and closer to Louie. "I want you to come with me. And I want you to try having fun too." He may as well just tell the idiot he thought about him every time he saw a sunset. The hand he was grasping flexed its fingers. Ty abruptly broke eye contact and glanced to the side, his tongue poking out to pierce the tip of his jagged tooth. His indecisive face. "I just--.....I dunno...." He muttered. "If something happened to you--" "Nothing's gonna happen to me." Said Louie immediately. "I've got a good feeling about this. And c'mon Ty, that coming from a coward?" "You're not a coward." He said, barely a whisper. He was now staring at the ground. "I promise." "Huh?" Louie smiled tightly as Ty looked to him questionably. "I promise nothing is gonna happen. I'm gonna be fine. You're gonna be fine. Now, can you do me this favor and maybe, I dunno, trust me?" The look Ty gave him was a little sad, but it was soft. And then with only a tiny twitch, it shifted into something else entirely. It was trust. Blind trust. Maybe stupid trust. A minuscule pang of guilt jabbed at Louie. Of course he wanted Ty to trust him. He needed him to if there was any hope of achieving his goal here. But objectively, he really shouldn't. Louie was hiding way too much from him. It wasn't fair. Then Ty broke the world, shattered orbit and played around with reality itself by cracking a smile and Louie forgot every coherent thought he ever possessed. He would never put on record just how long he spent pre-preparing jokes, gunning to get the corner of Ty's lips to flick upwards. Made him seem kinda desperate. Which he was not. Ty had that oh, so stereotypical "cute boy" smile. It was crooked, cocky, it was utterly obnoxious. Louie hated it. And worst of all, it was like a little spell to kick Louie's heart into high speed. Sometimes it dazed and confused him like a blinding light flash. But other times, it was warm and if he stared long enough, he'd fall asleep. Louie loved Ty's smile. Every time he tried to convince himself he didn't, he ended up dwelling on it too much and the way his mouth would quirk up would play in his mind on a maddening loop and then it would be too much to handle and the truth that he loved it would always overpower him. So, whenever that happened (like right this second.) he gave up and admitted it. To himself, anyway. He loved Ty's smile. He loved Ty. ......Wait. That last part was new, hold up. Rewind. But he didn't get the chance because Ty was talking now. Still a little dazzled, Louie didn't catch what he said but he figured it was good since he was still smiling. And then that smile broke into a huge grin, his eyes flashed with trouble and his hands were on Louie's shoulders and-- "Race ya!" Ty cried. With a light push, Louie was stumbling backwards and Ty kicked off into a sprint. For a brief moment, Louie could only gaze after him, stupefied. Love, huh? Like the real deal? That was crazy. But then he snapped out of as he recalled the audacity of this bastard. "You just pushed your liege!" He shrieked, receiving a loud "WOO!" from Ty as a response. And then Louie was grinning. He was giddy. He didn't quite know if he forgot about love in that instance or if it was the force powering him but he was tearing off after Ty, yelling about the latter's totally unfair head start. In hindsight, he should've figured it was love a long time ago. Who else would get him to run for no reason?

#ty cloudkicker #fairytale au

103 notes · View notes

icedthoma · 5 years

Text

you wanna be my partner, partner?

Pairing: Pro hero!Bakugou Katsuki x Reader

Summary: You never truly appreciate who you have until they’re gone.

“Great job today, Ground Zero!” you exclaimed, holding your hand up for a high-five.

Bakugou scoffed and ignored you, choosing to walk past your outstretched hand. “Whatever.” Unfazed, you ran to keep up with his brisk stride as the two of you walked down the halls of his hero agency. “Are you still following me?” he asked.

“I’m just heading in the same direction you are,” you said cheerfully. “You’re not that special,” you added as a joke.

“Tch,” Bakugou huffed, noticing how he felt a pang of disappointment at your last words. Wait, why was he caring about what you thought of him? No, it was because you were his sidekick, and he valued your teamwork enough to care about your opinion.

That was all there was to it.

After he had changed out of his hero costume and headed home for the day, he saw you standing at the entrance to his agency as he was leaving. You looked…different in your civilian clothes. Well, obviously, as he was used to seeing you in your hero uniform, but there was something about the casual, relaxed way you stood with your hair down and the small yawns you made as you checked your phone that sent Bakugou’s mind reeling.

“Oh, hey!” you called, glancing up from your phone and spotting him. “You’re headed out, too?”

“Yeah,” he said in reply. “Why are you just standing out here?”

“I was waiting for you,” you said, deadpan. At his shocked expression, you laughed and waved him off. “No, I’m waiting for my friend to pick me up. I’m having dinner at his place tonight.”

“His?” Bakugou asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

“Just a family friend,” you said nonchalantly, checking your phone again. “Oh, are you doing anything this Christmas? Let me guess, you’re not taking any time off.”

“Crime never rests,” he said. “So neither should I.”

“Criminals are human, too,” you said. “And so are you. Don’t you have family or friends you’d like to spend time with this Christmas? You deserve a break.”

Before he could respond, a car pulled up and a voice within called your name. “Got to go! See you tomorrow!” With that, you waved goodbye and got into the car with your friend.

Once you were gone, Katsuki groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance at himself. What was he thinking, being all suspicious over your friend?

Still, he couldn’t fully turn away the dismay he felt when you had said you weren’t waiting for him, after all.

Screw you for making him feel all confused on the inside like this.

He decided the best thing to do in this situation was to keep busy. Bakugou threw himself into his work with twice the vigor he usually did. After all, being a hero took all of his mental capacity. There wasn’t any room for his confusion about you.

“Hey, Ground Zero,” you called, snapping him out of his thoughts. He remembered that he was supposed to be focusing on patrolling the city.

“Yeah? See anything suspicious?”

“Oh yeah, that ramen shop over there looks pretty shady.”

“Shut up,” he snapped.

“I was going to ask if you were up for some, anyway,” you offered. “My treat?”

Bakugou jerked his head up and down as a response. Why pass up free food? A few minutes later, the two of you sat on the roof of a nearby building, the hot bowls of ramen warming your bellies.

You sighed in contentment, leaning back on the roof to gaze at the busy city down below. “You’re acting differently than usual.”

“What do you mean?” Bakugou asked. “This is how I always am!”

You shifted around to face him. “No, something’s off. You’re overexerting yourself, practically trying to drown yourself in work. You’re literally not letting me do anything to help.”

“This is none of your business!”

“But as your sidekick, I’m pretty sure it is!” you said, your voice stretching thin with frustration. “Being a hero is my job, too, you know!”

He stared at you, dumbfounded. Bakugou had been so occupied with keeping himself busy from his stupid thoughts that he never realized how that was affecting you. You looked hurt, and your sad expression felt like knives in his chest at the fact that he had made you feel that way.

“What…do you want me to do?” Katsuki asked.

“Christmas is tomorrow, so take. The day. Off.”

“Are you serious? You’ll be by yourself, and I’m not sitting around while you work!” he protested.

“You’re not being lazy, you’re taking a well-deserved break. I’ll hold down the fort from here,” you added, giving the hero an enthusiastic thumbs up. “Don’t worry. I got your back, partner!”

Normally, if someone had told him to take a break and let his sidekick take over for a day, Bakugou would have exploded their ass all the way to America.

But you, you were different. He wanted to listen to you. It was an odd feeling, but at least you weren’t stressing yourself out over him, Katsuki reasoned as he made his way to Kirishima’s place the next day. A bunch of his other friends from UA were also supposed to meet there as well.

“Hey! You came!” his best friend shouted eagerly, slapping Bakugou’s back with enthusiasm. “I honestly didn’t think you’d show, given your marriage to your work.”

“Shut up!” Bakugou yelled. “I’m not married to my wo–”

Three other voices called his name, and he turned to see Mina, Kaminari, and Sero headed their way. “It’s so nice to see you!” Mina exclaimed, enveloping him in a giant hug. “You’re always so busy, and we miss seeing you outside of hero work!”

Okay. So maybe you had a few points in saying that he needed a break.

Eventually, some more people from their class showed up, and the night consisted of festive eating and gift exchanging. It was nice, Bakugou had to admit, being able to relax with his friends.

“Hey, Bakubro! Your phone’s going off like crazy!” Kirishima said.

“What?” Bakugou rolled his eyes and scooped the device up, wondering who could be texting him at this hour–

“Oh my god.”

“Wait, what’s wrong?”

“I have to go—Y/n’s in trouble!” Bakugou yelled over his shoulder, already halfway out the door.

“...a sidekick from Ground Zero’s hero agency is currently unresponsive while pros Deku and Shouto have taken over handling the villain attack. The villain was reported to...”

“No, no, no,” he hissed, staring desperately at the news broadcast on his phone. “How could I let this happen?”

He blasted his way to the hospital, practically kicking the doors open as he ran in gasping your name to the receptionist.

“I’m sorry, sir. Only family is allowed in at this time.”

Bakugou was so focused on getting to you that he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind in his desperation.

“I’m her boyfriend!”

Miraculously, his bluff worked, and Bakugou practically sprinted to your room. Throwing the door open, he felt his heart drop at what he saw.

You were lying on the hospital bed, bandaged all over. The room was silent save for the quiet noises the machines around you made. Everything about this was wrong. You were such a lively person, always happy to be doing your best as his sidekick. Seeing you lying still and unmoving was such a stark contrast to what Bakugou was used to.

“Hey,” you said suddenly, and it was then that Bakugou realized that your eyes had opened. “You’re here.”

“You’re awake?” he asked, taking deep breaths to calm his racing heart. “How?”

“Trust me, it looks worse than it feels,” you replied. “I’ll be back to work in no time, don’t worry!”

“You idiot! I knew taking a break was a bad idea, this is all my fault--”

“This is not your fault,” you interrupted sternly. “Don’t blame yourself, Ground Zero.”

Bakugou winced at the sound of his hero name leaving your lips. Heroes protected people, right? But he couldn’t protect you…

“Oh, sweetie, you’re awake,” a nurse said upon entering the room. “I just need to take your vitals, okay?” She passed by Bakugou and smiled. “How sweet of your boyfriend to make it here so quickly! I bet you were really worried, weren’t you?”

Bakugou could only grit his teeth and nod. You were staring at him as the nurse moved around you, and he felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment. He wanted to melt into the floor. Surprisingly, you didn’t say anything about it, until the nurse left and you turned to him. “Okay, explain.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Bakugou said stiffly.

“You being my boyfriend?”

“Well, they wouldn’t let just anyone in--”

“You didn’t think to tell them that I was your sidekick?”

“I panicked!” he yelled defensively. “I really needed to see you--and I said the first thing that came to...mind...”

"Wait, what?”

“I like you, okay?” Bakugou confessed. “I care for you more than a sidekick, and I’m sorry for taking you for granted all this time.

“Is that an apology coming from the Ground Zero’s mouth?” you said incredulously.

“Katsuki,” he said. “Call me Katsuki when we’re not working.”

“Okay, Katsuki. However, as your fake girlfriend, I’m afraid I have to break up with you.”

“What?” Bakugou spluttered, red in the face at your statement. “That’s not--”

“So you can ask me out properly when I get out of here,” you went on with a laugh.

“What do you want me to do now?” he asked softly.

“Get over here and hug me.”

1K notes · View notes

angstyaches · 4 years

Note

Shayne and Charlie + 😴🧡🛁💜🌙

afternoon naps / back/shoulder rubs / hot bath/shower / bad day hugs & kisses / insomnia/nightmares

CW: nightmares, sleep-talking, repressed memories, trauma mention, drowning mention, near-death mention, demonic possession, panic attack (all of which make it sound dark AF but there’s cuteness in there too, I swear)

Shayne frowned as he started to wake up, opening his mouth as though he was about to say something. Answer something. But the words quickly retreated from his tongue as he opened his eyes and saw Charlie, face buried in the pillow as his hands clutched the duvet to his chest. There was a low whimpering sound, which might have been what made Shayne think he was mid-conversation.

“Charlie?”

Charlie tugged the duvet closer to his mouth and said something incomprehensible. Shayne felt a stab of pain under his ribs; Charlie hadn’t been able to sleep longer than a few hours the past couple of nights, and this nap was much-needed, but he also couldn’t bear to leave him suffering in whatever hell was currently occupying his head.

His hand was shaking as he sat up and brushed Charlie’s hair back from his forehead, finding it thick with sweat. Charlie whimpered again, this time in a lower tone, as though he was mimicking the register of someone else’s voice alongside his own.

“Stop,” Shayne whispered, though he had no idea where the word came from.

With a sharp inhale, Charlie opened his eyes. He stared vacantly once he met Shayne’s gaze, as though he didn’t recognise him for a moment.

Shayne’s heart sank. “Charlie? You okay?”

The fog of sleep quickly retreated, and Charlie’s pupils shrank in the fading afternoon sunlight. He let go of the duvet and brushed his fists over his eyes.

“What?” The single word seemed like a struggle to get out.

“Are you okay?”

Charlie must have caught the anxiety in Shayne’s voice, because he blinked and seemed to come around more quickly. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“I think you were talking in your sleep, or trying to,” Shayne told him. “Were you dreaming?”

“I don’t really remember,” Charlie admitted, sitting up now too. His hair had been flattened against the pillow, and the parts that still held up were pointing in every direction but the one he usually combed it into. He flinched and slipped a hand through the neckline of his own hoodie, reaching towards the opposite shoulder. “I’m sorry I made you worry about me.”

Shayne frowned as he let a hand follow Charlie’s. “What’s wrong with your shoulder?”

Charlie smiled weakly. “Probably just slept on it funny.”

“Idiot.” Shayne pressed lightly against the muscle, watching Charlie’s eyes flutter shut where he sat. “The nap was supposed to make you feel better, not put you in even more pain.”

“I know,” Charlie murmured, shifting his weight so he was facing the edge of the bed. “Can you go a little lower?”

Shayne’s arm was already catching on the neckline of Charlie’s hoodie. He tugged gently on the hood. “Not really.”

With a quiet grunt, Charlie began pulling off his hoodie. He paused for a second and considered taking his t-shirt off too, but decided against it. He groaned again when Shayne first applied pressure to the knotted muscle again.

“There?”

“Mmm.” Charlie nodded, folding his hoodie loosely in half and curling his fingers into it. It felt like the grip was keeping him here. As though it were an anchor, and not a piece of clothing. He let his eyes fall shut to the motion of Shayne’s fingers gliding back and forth, working out the tension under his skin. All too quickly, he had the sinking sensation of being pulled under and out of consciousness, and had to jerk his head back with a start.

“You okay? Did I hurt you?”

“No, the opposite. I think I was –” Charlie blinked and rubbed at his eyes as the room seemed to sway. “– falling asleep.”

Shayne sighed, brushing a hand over Charlie’s shoulder. “You want to try and sleep some more?”

“Maybe.” Charlie stifled a yawn and shook his head. “I think I want to have a shower first. See if that wakes me up.”

“Yeah, go sort that hair out,” Shayne quipped, though Charlie could tell his heart wasn’t in it. Before he could get up from the bed though, he felt Shayne put his arms around him from behind. Charlie’s stomach fluttered, and it felt like the most genuine sensation he’d had since waking up. He smiled over his shoulder as Shayne released him.

Charlie let the hot water run over his face before tilting his head to let it run through his hair. The weight of his head seemed impossibly heavy as it dampened, and although the water was cascading over his cheeks and dripping from his lips and his chin, it felt like it was running down inside him and gathering in his lungs.

His logical side knew this wasn’t actually happening, but there was also a part of him that was stuck in that plunge pool in the back of his mind, and that part was panicked and kicking and screaming and –

“Shit,” Charlie said to himself as his knees started to buckle. He lowered himself to the floor of the shower rather than waiting for himself to fall. His hands scrambled along the wall until he found the faucet and shut it off, arms trembling and eyes squeezed shut.

As though not being able to see the bathroom wall tiles would somehow block off the vision of the darkened cave too.

As though turning off the hot, clean shower head would make the hungry, dark water in his mind dry up too.

He alternated between holding his breath and sobbing drily as he found his way out of the shower and pulled a towel around himself, desperate to get the water off of his skin and out of his head. He pulled his pyjamas and hoodie back on in a rush, the fabric dampening next to his skin. He whimpered and pressed a hand against the wall, fingers slipping on the tiles. It felt like something had whacked him behind the knees and taken all the strength out of his legs. Every time he took a breath, it was like drawing water further and further into his body.

Charlie sank down against the wall, gripping his ankles and putting his head against his knees.

“Hey, Shayne?” he stammered, his voice echoing against the tiled floor. It sounded like he was in a cave. Or a deep hole. “Shayne?” he said again, relief trickling down through his chest when he heard footsteps coming to the door.

“What’s wrong?” Shayne pushed the door open and found Charlie curled up by the wall. “Fuck, what happened?”

“I-I can’t – I h-had – the dream, I had the dream again,” Charlie sighed, shoving his fingers into his hair and gripping at it.

Shayne sat down on the floor beside him, one knee raised and his arm draped over it. “That same one?”

“Yeah, the same one.” Charlie’s voice cracked as it did every time he had to speak about the memory, of the sensation of drowning over and over again. He loosened his hold on his head and looked up as Shayne from between his arms and knees. “It didn’t come back to me until I was – until the water hit me.”

“Fuck. Okay.” Shayne’s eyes flicked back and forth between Charlie’s. “I wish there was something I could do.”

Charlie shrugged slowly and looked down at the files between his bare feet. He wished that too, but didn’t want to make Shayne feel even more helpless.

“Charlie, you know I think you’re incredibly brave, don’t you?”

The same butterflies appeared in Charlie’s gut. He sniffled and wiped at his nose as water dripped from his hair down onto his face, then let his arms fall into his lap; they felt like jelly.

A second later, Shayne was pressing the towel to his head and gently rubbing it back and forth through his hair.

Charlie let out a small groan, like a child protesting at being fussed over, but couldn’t help breaking into a smile when Shayne let the towel fall over his face and sit there, obscuring his vision.

Charlie continued sitting with his hands in his lap, feeling sure that Shayne wouldn’t leave his face covered like this for too long, because although it was playful, the comedic effect wasn’t that good. Charlie eventually let out a nervous laugh, giving in and lifting his hands to tug the towel from his head himself.

As soon as his face was exposed, Shayne swooped in to kiss him on the lips, the motion so delicate and precise that Charlie forgot how to breathe for a reason completely unrelated to panic. Then Shayne pulled him into a hug and kissed him again; this one landed next to his ear.

“What am I getting kisses for?” Charlie asked breathlessly.

“I don’t know,” Shayne mumbled. “I just hate that you’re having a horrible time.”

Charlie sighed and leaned into the hug, unable to find the energy to hug back. “Shayne, I’m still so tired.”

“Well, you’ve barely slept.” Shayne pulled back to see Charlie’s face again. “Another nap, maybe?”

“I don’t know.” Charlie’s body was aching – practically trembling – for sleep while his mind resisted the idea that trying to sleep again would do any good. There were only so many times a boy could force himself into a failed attempt at resting.

“You can sleep on me.” Shayne smoothed a hand over his stomach, chasing away a crease in his jumper. “If you want. I know you like using me as a pillow.”

Charlie glanced away to stop his gaze from lingering towards Shayne’s belly. He pretended to scratch the side of his face as he felt a blush creeping up on him. “My hair’s gonna make your clothes wet.”

“Yeah, who cares?”

Charlie smiled through the shakiness in his body and his heart as he looked up at Shayne’s face again.

Shayne put out a hand and tilted his head in mock impatience. “Yes?”

“Yes,” Charlie nodded shyly, taking his hand.

#thank you Milo 🖤#drabbles #comfort prompts #comfort fic #hurt and comfort #nightmares #insomnia #panic attack #fluff #Charlie #Shayne #sickfic #whump fic #angst fic #oooh Charlie it looks like he's onto you #belly fiend #my OCs

25 notes · View notes

liddolwhynot2000 · 4 years

Text

Decisions Of a Capricorn

____________________________________

Summary: Levi Ackerman woke up one fine morning. In the past. Shit.

Genre: Angst, lets-change-shit, drama, liddol romance (Levixhappiness)

Pairings: Levi/Original Female Character, Levi/Petra

Warning: Manga spoilers

________________________________

Chapter 1. Chapter 2

____________________________________

Chapter 3: Brace

____________________________________

Summary: Capricorns can be naturally pessimistic. They already expect unfortunate things to happen in life, so they take them in a stride.

Alternatively, Levi braces himself for the worst and is pleasantly suprised.

____________________________________

Telling his squad had gone better then he thought it would. His special ops members took the news it in a stride, immediately launching into a discussion of what they needed to do now and how to utilize this information best. Eren, as expected of his 15 year old version, was befuddled.

Levi wondered how someone so innocent looking transformed into a complete monster in such short time.

His squad had lived up to his expectations, easily concluding that they need to keep this information to themselves for now. Eld, ever the natural born leader, took the lead and suggested that they need to learn to work with Eren. So that they aren't caught off guard on the bare minimum skill level they can expect from the traitor.

Gunther was the one who brought up the possibility of facing the armoured titan, and even though Levi was sure they wouldn't have to face that particular beast yet, he still agreed with their suggestions of carrying some fire arms. Thunder spears didn't exist yet, which meant that grenades and canons would be their best shot.

Eren had tried to voice out his own suggestion, that he wanted to train his skill set too. He felt that he needex to improve in some areas, and although Levi bitterly recalled how much Eren had improved without help in another life, he had to agree with the brat.

His squad, however, didn't share the same opinion and immediately began to shut Eren down.

'Eren, your job is to trust us. We expect you to leave it all to us and transform as an absolute last resort!'

'Yeah, you brat, don't get cocky. The only way you'll fight is if we somehow di-'

Olou had bitten his tounge and cut himself off before Levi could. Levi had then interrupted before Eld and Gunther could throw in their two cents.

'Eren is the main target, what will all of you do if Eren is somehow dragged away you from you and has to fight for himself? We need to prepare this brat for everything, especially how to fight in his titan form.'

They had all shut up, but he could tell it was only because of Eren's presence. They wouldn't be caught dead speaking speak out against their superior, especially in front of Eren. Levi had taken advantage of that little fact.

'We'll get back to this in a while-- Eren it's time for you to transform. Four eyes is here'

____________________________________

It went just like last time, Eren wasn't able to transform. He sat in front of Levi, looking just as despondent he had the last time. He didn't walk away from Eren like last time, instead having chosen to stick close to the brat. Some things still needed to happen, and Levi was just waiting for that inevitable explosion.

When Eren accidentally transformed this time, he immediately took out his blades and points them at his team, not at all surprised that they had already drawn their blades.

They would always be talented little brats, but they had a long way to go..

'Captain-'

'Put down your blades Petra.'

'Captain get away from Eren-Please-'

It had continued on, with the brats arguing in favour of heatedly questioning Eren and his motives, while he had ferociously stood by the him. It was a part of the plan really-he knew that Eren would be fine no matter what. He just hoped that, at least this time around, the brat would take his taking a stand for him like this into consideration before he decided to launch a mass genocide on his own.

'Shut up and obey.'

His team had faltered, and then slowly lowered their swords as he began to speak.

'Do you have any other titan shifters?'

They all looked confused. Only Olou managed to speak croak out a strangled no. Levi pointed at Eren, who was panicking alot less since Levi had begun to speak in his favour.

'You see this dumbass? He's our only shot. There's no replacement for him. All of you can be replaced, Erwin can be replaced, Hange can be replaced. Despite your silly admiration of me, I could easily drop dead and be replaced too.-'

His squad had looked scandalised at the thought of their beloved captain being anything remotely close to being replaceable. Then again, none of them had experienced Mikasa and her unnatural strength yet.

'We need him. He doesn't need us. Understand that none of you can afford to point your blades at him without my orders. The next time you do so, I will be your opponent.'

Eld and Gunther had looked nervous, Olou had visibly begun to sweat and Petra had looked at him a little strangely. However, they all seemed to understand the point he wanted to make. '

'Am I clear?

They all nodded

'Yes Sir!'

____________________________________

He had made sure to still have that chat with Eren, to make him understand his squads actions. He knew Eren trusted him a little more this time around-his showing support toward him like this had likely changed his opinion of him, if only a little. Levi was banking on that, hopefully he could push the kid in the right direction.

He had gone to his room after Hange had explained Eren's transformation and his squad had shown support towards Eren by biting their hands. A filthy act, but he supposed in this case he would allow it. Not that it stopped him from ordering them to go sanitise their hands and not come near him for a while.

He had even made his tea on his own, unwilling to let them touch them with their germ infected hands. Petra had looked at him oddly when he had told her he would do it on his own, almost like a kicked puppy.

He sat in bed, tea long finished and mind occupied.

He had been somewhat productive so far, managing to manipulate Erwin into changing the plan to capture the female titan. His squad was well in the loop, and likely making several plans to take on a titan shifter. Eren was beginning to look at him with more trust, something he hoped would blossom more.

There was still too much to figure out though. And since Levi had resolved to not let Erwin in on the plan, he was now drowning in things he needed to figure out. How Erwin managed to sort through so much crap was beyond him.

Some things, he had already figured out. Others were still being debated upon.

When it came to Historia, he would injure her tommorow, to the point she wouldn't be able make it to the expedition. She would likely try to jail him for it after taking the crown, but he figured he could call it vacation time from work and enjoy the silence. Those brats were too loud anyways.

He knew that Rod Reiss might come after her sooner after hearing that she had been injured, so he would have an old friend keep an eye out for her. It was an aquantince from the underground, one of the few he could trust, that had managed to crawl their way to the surface too. He was strong and capable-and very good at hiding when he needed to.

Only Levi had ever been able to find him- and since he knew Kenny Ackerman wouldn't be used yet, he felt it was the best way to keep her safe.

He had also decided that he would have to kill Kenny. He had contemplated recruiting the old bastard, but Kenny was too much of a gamble. The type only Erwin would take on trying to recruit. And while it would be feasible to drop hints about his mentor in the underground to the Commander, he wasn't sure the Survey Corps could handle a mission like that. Their attention needed to be on capturing shifters and getting Historia to the crown.

Maybe Erwin could risk something like that, but this time it would be his deicison. Kenny, despite his conflicting feelings towards him, had to be eliminated. He just couldn't chance their opposition having someone like that on their side, and wasn't confident enough that they could get him to jump ship.

The rest he was still a little muddled on. He was reasonably sure he could draw Ymir to their side, especially if he told her about how Historia would be queen soon. But the girl wasn't dumb, she would also be able to tell that Historia would have a part time job as child breeder, and might even try to leave with her then.

It pained him to do so, but he couldn't save Historia from that fate. He could, however try his damned hardest that her children wouldn't be turned into shifters.

The other shifters left him feeling conflicted. They needed the Colossal titan, he would be their mass weapon against other nations. The moment he could, he would get the serum and feed Bertolts titan to one of their soldiers. There would be no compromising on that, no matter how much he wished he could lure the kid to their side instead and spare him from that painful death. He just didn't know the kid enough to ensure he could win him over.

As for Reiner, Levi recalled the young man who had stepped up to stop Eren. He recognised that he was stuck in a tough place, but again, he would have to harden his heart. He had to keep his side as safe as possible, even if it meant taking away the armoured titan.

A part of him still hoped that he could get the kid to join him though, he would definitely try for it.

As for Zeke and Pieck, who had likely already arrived on the island, they would be dealt promptly. Zeke would need to be restrained and hidden away in a deep tunnel, while the cart titan would be given to someone else.

He would, unfortunately, have to allow Zeke to turn Ragako Village into titans. But he figured not everyone needed to be turned for it, he could at least get the children out of there. Connie's mother had been key in figuring out the truth about titans, and so he would have to sacrifice her. But Connie's siblings would at least live this time around.

More of his cormades would survive the attack too, having less titans to deal with. He was hoping that Mike and his squad would get out of it alive and not be dealt the same unfortunate fate they had suffered through before.

When it came to Annie, however, Levi already knew what to do. If all went well, he was more then sure that the Female Titan would be fighting for the Island soon enough.

His plans regarding the shifters were a big gamble on his part, since it was all relying on one thing specifically.

Getting the titan serum from the Royal government.

But Levi was a thief at heart, a man who knew how to get things no one wanted to give, to find them in the shadiest corner, completely undetected. Worst comes, he would easily infiltrate. Their security was crap anyways.

He would know. It wouldn't be the first time he had stolen something from those bastards anyways.

Levi laid down, covering himself with a blanket. He thought of one last thing before he allowed sleep to overcome him.

It was dumb of Marley to send six of their shifters to the Island, and all at the same time too. Because Levi had no intention of letting any of them go back home, not this time around.

____________________________________

In all his years of living, Levi had gotten used to being surprised. He had gone through surprise attacks, friends turning into foes, getting punched by the Queen and even time travelled. Yet had taken it all in a stride.

He had expected that half his plans would fail, that he would end up losing his squad anyways, that Annie would escape this time too. But here they were, sitting in the mess hall, post expedition, and very much alive.

Erwin had informed more squads about the traitor, although thankfully Reiner and his squad hadn't been told. Most of them had understood that they likely wouldn't be able to take on the threat, and their squad leaders had made sure to have them engage very litte. They had tactfully allowed the Female Titan to pass through the formation, thus leading her to Eren. More lives had been saved this time around, much to his pleasure.

They had gone through the same plan, trapping her in the forest. Erwin had stood by and watched as the female titan glared at him. Beside him had stood soldier with black hair, wearing a hoodie. Their face had been hidden, but everyone had called that soldier captain Levi. It had made Annie think she was safe, that when she called titans to her and left to go after squad Levi, Humanity's Strongest wouldn't come after her until she accomplished her mission.

It was only when she reached the squad and made to slice at Gunther that she realise that she had been duped. The sight of Humanity's Strongest blocking her blade with his own had caused her to sweat.

Things had gotten on easily then, she hadn't been much match for him. And his squad had taken double their usual measures, going as far as to throw explosives at her before he could carve her out of the nape. Eren had watched it all in awe, thankfully the brat hadn't needed to transform this time around.

His expression had quickly changed to shock and betrayal once he spotted his comrade sealed in a crystal. Levi wasn't suprised that she had sealed herself like that this time too, he had been counting on it actually.

Levi snapped out of his thoughts and pushed his now empty tray away. He decided it was the perfect time to put his plan into action.

He needed to pay Annie Leonhart a visit.

____________________________________

A/N: Heyooo. Here's chapter 3! Any guesses how Levi is getting Annie on their side?

Sorry I don't post much, but I swear things have been ridiculously busy. Uni life, housework, and my mom is sick too :(

#AOT #Snk #Attack on titan #Manga spoliers #Levi deserves happiness #More people will live in this #Time travel #Let's change shit #Isayama won't let them be happy so I will #Levi ackerman #Levi aot

17 notes · View notes

naturallytom · 5 years

Text

Mending a Broken Heart (Tom Holland x reader)

a/n: i posted this before but it flopped so...let’s hope that doesn’t happen again!

warnings: language, angst, mentions of cheating

listen to: broken home (5sos), shouldn’t come back (demi lovato), river of tears (alessia cara)

please please reblog/leave feedback!! i worked really hard on this don’t want it to end up with like..20 notes lol

gif not mine!

A quick glance to his left hand would reveal that he didn’t.

You spent your nights wondering if it was something you did. Were you too clingy when he left to film? Was he just tired of you after four years of marriage? Did he find someone else?

No. You shook your head to yourself one night as you laid in the bed by yourself, the space usually occupied by Tom cold. If he found someone else and if he cheated, that’s on him. Not on you.

The door opening and shutting alerted you that Tom was home. You sighed, knowing it’d be another night of sleeping on opposite sides of the bed.

The door to the bedroom opened and in came Tom, Tessa jumping up to greet him.

“Hey girl, hey love, how are you, hm?” He whispered, petting Tessa as his eyes flickering over to you, who was visibly awake. “Thought you’d be asleep by now. ‘S late.”

“Can’t,” He shook his head as he got ready for bed. “Harrison wants to watch the game. Told him I’d go.”

“Didn’t you just see Harrison tonight?”

“Yeah, and?”

“Nothing.” You sighed, obviously upset. “Nothing, Tom. Goodnight.”

“Night.” He responded, turning out the light and climbing into bed, falling asleep with his back toward you.

The next day, you were surprised to see Tom already awake and waiting in the kitchen, sipping on a cup of tea when you got downstairs.

“Good morning.” You smiled softly.

“We need to talk.” He told you. You felt your heart drop and your palms get sweaty, but you wiped them on your pajama pants in an effort to seem totally calm and not panicked.

“A-About what?” You asked, your voice coming out shaky.

“I think,” Tom started. “I think we should get divorced.”

It was then, at 8:30 am that your world came crashing down.

“W-What?” You whimpered out, your voice weaker than before. “Why?”

“I’m not happy with you anymore.” He said simply. Your eyes flickered to his left hand, noticing the absence of the golden wedding band, making your heart ache.

“So that’s it? Three years of dating and four years of marriage down the drain?” You sobbed, holding your knees to your chest as you sat on the kitchen floor.

“I’m sorry, y/n. Truly, I am.”

As soon as everyone left, you shut the door, slid down the back of it, and cried.

After the divorce you buried yourself in work, using it as a distraction from going home to an empty house. Slowly but surely, the framed pictures of you and Tom came down, making a new home on the empty shelves in the closet. It hurt to be alone in the empty house at first, memories of you and Tom when you were happy plaguing the walls. Once you started making time for yourself, however, you became happier.

Tonight, after a long day of decorating the house and making it seem cheery, you ordered your favorite Chinese food, played your favorite Christmas songs, and ran yourself a bath with a vanilla scented bath bomb. You were enjoying a glass of wine, the hot water of the bath soothing you when the music playing from your phone was interrupted by a call coming in.

You turned off the voicemail before the phrase could be finished. Millions of thoughts filled your mind, ranging from happy ones to ones that made your heart ache and tears fill your eyes.

You decided to ignore it, pretend it never happened, and enjoy your self care night.

The next day you were enjoying a cup of tea and reading your book when a knock on the door interrupted you. Confusion filled your body, you weren’t expecting anyone to pop by.

Opening the door, you were greeted by a sight you never thought you’d see again. Tom was standing on your the top step leading up to the front door, a bouquet of your favorite flowers in his hands.

“Hi.” He breathed out, his breath forming a cloud around him due to the coldness of the air.

“What are you doing here?” You asked, keeping your eyes focused on the ground.

“Did you get my voicemail?” He responded, hope filling his eyes when you nodded. “Um, I brought these for you. I was hoping we could talk.”

“Why should I talk to you? We’re divorced, just like you wanted.” Tom winced at the words. “Nothing to change.”

“Actually, we’re not.” He corrected. “I called the office the other day. Um, it’s not official yet.”

“Well then they should make it official. Maybe I can call them and make it happen as my very last Christmas present to you. Just what you wanted.” You snapped.

“No, this isn’t what I want, can I speak, please?” He pleaded, his eyes resembling those of a puppy.

“Fucking, fine, Tom! Jesus.” You groaned.

“Can, can I come in?” He asked, his voice small and fragile.

You debated saying no, saying that he’s not welcome in your house after what he did. But it was snowing and to be honest, your face was getting cold. So you opened the door a little wider, allowing him to come in.

“Stay there.” You instructed, taking the flowers from him and placing them on the kitchen counter before going back to where he was waiting at the front door, taking a seat on the stairs across from him. “Speak.”

“The house looks nice. Really nice. You did a good j-”

“Tom I’m not gonna listen to your small talk. Say what you have to say and leave.” You told him. His heart broke but he couldn’t blame you.

“You haven’t made me happy in months, Tom.”

“I know.” His heart clenched. “I know and I’m so sorry, y/n. I really am.”

“Was there someone else? Did you cheat on me?” You asked.

“No, no absolutely not, y/n.” He answered before adding; “I went on a date with someone after we split up but it didn’t work out. I realized she wasn’t what I want.”

“Of course she wasn’t.” You scoffed.

“I want you, y/n. I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy again.” He told you, tears filling your eyes. “Is there..is there any possibility you could love me again?”

“Again?” You seethed. “Tom I never fell out of love with you! I never stopped loving you! That was all you! You stopped loving me and you wanted this stupid fucking divorce!”

“I..I don’t think I ever stopped loving you either.” He whispered, tears falling down his rosy cheeks. “Please, y/n, if there’s even the tiniest chance..”

“Of what, Tom? Of going right back to being married? Of you making me happy? I don’t know, Tom! I don’t know anything except that I hate you right now.” You sobbed, crying into your knees while Tom let out quiet sobs of his own, his heart clenching at the lack of wedding band on your left hand and the missing pictures that previously decorated the first hallway in your once shared house.

“I fucked up, I know. I fucked up so badly.” He cried, wiping his tears away.

“And if leaving me wasn’t enough, you took Tessa too! I was left completely alone in this big fucking house that was haunted by you.” You sobbed.

“I’m..I’m sorry, y/n. So so fucking sorry. What do you want me to do?”

“I want...I want you to hurt. I want you to hurt the way you hurt me. I want you to know how this fucking feels.” You said, your voice getting louder with each word that fell from your lips.

Tom could only cry. This was ripping him apart, he couldn’t even imagine what the whole thing felt like to you.

“I’m gonna need time to think, Tom.” You finally mumbled, Tom nodding in response.

“I’ll give you all the time you need. I promise you-”

“Don’t. Don’t promise me anything.” You spoke, your voice low. “You won’t be able to keep it. You promised you’d love me forever four years ago and look what happened.”

“y/n pl-”

“y/n, I swear to you, if this isn’t working out, you can leave me. I...I just want a chance to prove myself to you.” He begged.

“God, Tom. You don’t get it! I’m not going through this again. Do you realize how much you broke me the first time? Fuck, you had a chance, Tom. And you threw it away.” You muttered quietly.

“I regret that every day. Every god damn day.” He told you honestly.

“I don’t know, Tom.” You sighed.

“Talk to me?” He tried, knowing you were hiding something deeper than an ‘I don’t know.’

“Don’t know what else there is to say.” You mumbled. “I don’t trust you, I-I can’t trust you. I hate you.”

“The pictures of us aren’t up anymore.” Tom sniffled, changing the subject.

“I hated looking at them.” You told him honestly. “I want to start over.”

“What?”

“That sounds perfect, y/n. Thank y-”

“Get out, Tom. Please. I just want to be alone and not with you right now. I’m still not happy with you.”

“Okay.” He breathed out, hope filling him once again. “You won’t regret this, I promise.”

“What did I just say about promises?” You asked tearily.

“I know, I know. I’m determined to keep this promise, though.” He told you.

“Fine. Whatever. Just please leave for now.” You whimpered, watching as he walked out the door, just like he did when he broke your heart.

You decided you needed another self care night. Another bath was run, another vanilla scented bath bomb was used, more wine was consumed.

Tom texted you right as you got out of the bath.

You rolled your eyes and tossed your phone gently on your bed, though you could feel your heart rate pick up and butterflies fill your stomach.

Over a month after you started texting again, Tom took you on a first date. Pulling up to your house, Tom felt the nerves fill his body as he walked up to your front door and knocked, another bouquet of your favorite flowers in his hand.

He felt all the air leave his lungs as you opened the door. You looked absolute stunning. You were wearing a navy blue dress that reached down to just above your knees, one Tom bought you one year.

“Wow, hi.” He breathed. “You look stunning.”

“Thank you.” You smiled, accepting the flowers he handed you. “I’ll be right back.”

Tom took you to your favorite restaurant that night, one that the two of you frequented when you (formerly) went on dates.

When he took you back to your house, he walked you up to the front door, where he nervously asked if he could kiss you.

You said yes, and that was all Tom needed to press a soft kiss to your lips. The kiss was magical, both of you felt the sparks between the two of you.

“God I missed doing that.” Tom mumbled as he pulled away to breathe.

“Then do it again.”

A couple months after that, Tom moved back in with you. The pictures of the two of you were dusted off and put back up on the walls in the first hallway of the house.

Finally, after a year, Tom proposed to you (again). You hesitated a little bit, still scared it would end in heartbreak again, which broke Tom’s heart, but said you yes in the end.

The two of you renewed your vows, putting on the golden bands that were once again a symbol of the love the two of you shared.

You had a small party back at your house after the ceremony, your families joining to celebrate. You found Tom alone in the kitchen, grabbing a beer for him and Harry.

“Hey.” You greeted, fiddling with your fingers as tears of happiness filled your eyes.

“Hey, what’s wrong, my love?” Tom asked, concerned as soon he saw the tears filling your eyes.

“Nothing, nothing. I, um,” You started, wiping your tears away and wrapping your arms around Tom’s neck. “I’m really glad we made it back to this.”

“Me too, lovey. I love you so much.” He whispered, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead.

“Hey, Tommy?”

“Yeah?”

“You kept your promise.” You smiled softly, making Tom’s heart ache at the memory of you not being able to trust him.

“I told you I would.”

_______________________________________________________________________

tagging some mutuals: @spideypeach @sunrise-shawn @angelic-holland @sunshinehollandd @spiderboytotherescue

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #tom holland imagine #tom holland x y/n #tom holland x female!reader #tom holland x fem!reader #tom holland angst #tom holland oneshot

577 notes · View notes

allmonstersxarehuman · 5 years

Text

Fire meets fate

A/N: Oh Hi. This is a rewrite, I have a sample of a fic with the same name. Not to proud of it.

Pairing: Tom Holland x Fem! Reader

Word Count: 2,379

Warning: Slow build up, light smut, Angst. I think that’s it.

Summary: Y/n worked for Tom, after things started to get heated things turn sour. A year later while out with friends he sees him and things start to again turn bad.

She let her body slightly move to the rhythm of the thumping music, the taste of sweet liquor clung to her lips. Y/n’s eyes roamed over the sea of sweaty bodies that occupied the club, one of the things she loved to do was watch the interactions and differences of the people who were intoxicated to the ones who were looking for a quick fuck. A loud shrill of girly voices broke her from the trance that she was in, she looked at the bodies that were connected to the voices and put on her best smile. “You always do this Y/n, how come you never want to just let loose and dance.” Y/n laughed at her group of friends as she took a sip of her beer. “You guys know exactly why. I’m fine, remember I am here to make sure you ladies don’t embarrass yourselves.” She teased giving the group a wink. The female knew that they would leave it alone, they knew it wasn’t smart to keep pushing her. Y/n gave them a smile, but that soon dropped when a pair of familiar brown eyes caught her attention, those damn eyes. Tom Holland. The man that kept her on edge, in the most deliciously horrible way. He had her wrapped around his finger and he knew it. She coughed shaking her head and excusing herself from the group and rushed into the bathroom and locking it behind her. Walking to the bathroom counter she gripped the marble and sighed trying to catch her breath, seeing him here wouldn’t have been a shock if she had known that he was going to be back in Los Angeles.

THE YEAR BEFORE:

Y/n started working for a company becoming an assistant it wasn’t ideal, it was a job that would help her towards her career as a journalist.

“Y/n, this is Harrison Osterfield and Tom Holland.” A male voice said distracting the female from the paper work she was working on. See even though she had a temp job of becoming a “co-assistant” she still had confidential papers to sign and read through. Y/n looked up and smiled at her boss and the other men standing next to him. The male that she came to know as Harrison extended his hand out to her, the action made her instantly smile, she did appreciate when someone was polite enough to use a proper greeting than a short wave; taking his hand she gave her most professional smile. “Y/n Y/l/n, but I’m pretty sure Gary told you already. It’s very nice to meet you both.” She spoke as her handshake with the blonde ended while the other male, she figured was Tom just gave her a nod and a wave. “Well, I leave you in the trusted hands of my best employee. I will meet you guys tonight at the party?” Gary said snapping his fingers and pointing them at the trio, before leaving. Y/n laughed softly and shook her head at his words. “So, Gary was telling me that you needed a co-assistant?” She said sitting on the couch watching the two males. “Uh, yeah I usually am Tom’s assistant but I have recently started to venture out on my own so I won’t be able to be around as much as I used to; I just figured I could use some help.” Harrison spoke sitting across from the female. “Understandable, is there any specific things I should know about allergies or phobias?” Y/n said keeping a polite smile as she took out a binder of things from note paper to small pieces of information about her two new clients. They seemed to talk for about an hour, with Harrison doing most of the talking. As they were leaving she said she would meet them at the party as she had a few more things to do before.

-10:00pm 2 hours into the house party-

Y/n sat a drink in hand as she listened to her boss talk aimlessly, she got very lucky to work with someone as sweet as Gary. Her attention then switched over to her clients Harrison had been chatting up a female since he arrived, Tom however sat next to her. As he drank his beer the actor started to lossen up, Tom turned to look at her and smiled letting out a small chuckle. “Is Gary always this animated?” She smiled taking a sip of her drink. “Usually, but when he has gets over is when he really shines.” Y/n laughed.

That’s when things started to kick off, it started off with glances then soon turned into conversations and playful banter; but 3 months into her being his assistant things became more and more intense. Playful banter turned into shameless flirting that soon ignited into something bigger. It wasn’t supposed to happen Y/n was supposed to being doing a job, not doing the client. They had both started to have casual sex, agreeing with each other that no feelings were to be involved. Towards the end of her temporary assistant job she knew she needed to cut it off, not because her employment was ending but because feelings were getting in the way. So here she was standing outside his hotel room trying to figure out what she was going to say, as she was about to knock the door swung open revealing a female wearing a revealing outfit, Y/n already knew who she was the female was the hairstylist intern. The female smirked and licked her lips before walking out, not far behind was a smirking shirtless Tom marked with cherry red lipstick. His smirk turned into a shocked expression and then he quickly threw on a t-shirt that lay on the floor. “Uh, Y/n what- um what are you doing here? I thought you had the day off.” He spoke nervously. Y/n held back her tears, she feared that this would happen. “I came to check on you but turns out you are doing just fine.” She swallowed thickly. “Anyway I won’t sugar coat it, but what happened between us the last few months has been a mistake. I was also here to talk to you about my job coming to a close, but I will talked to Gary and made sure that you are all taken care of for the rest of your trip we have also already talked to Harrison and he is willing to finish up. It was a pleasure working for you Mr. Holland.” After she finished speaking Tom went to open his mouth to talk to which Y/n held up her hand. “Goodbye Tom.” Was the last words she spoke to him, and continued to ignore him as he called out her name.

Present Time:

Y/n tried to breathe, she stared at herself in the mirror trying to hold herself together. ‘Why are you getting so worked up? It was a year ago, you weren’t dating and you went there to break it off. So why does it hurt to see him.’ A knock on the door snapped Y/n away from her thoughts. “Um, just a minute.” She said clearing her throat. Upon opening the door she was pushed back into the room her back now pressed against the door, causing her to panic for a second before looking up to come face to face with the person she was trying to avoid. “Tom you were about to get punched in the face.” She spoke breathless. The comment made Tom smile placed his hands against the wall on either side of her head. “I have to talk to you about that day.” He spoke softly his breath was a mix of mint and beer, it was intoxicating it was making her mind fuzzy; or maybe that was the alcohol in her system. “Tom, its fine. We had an arrangement, and that doesn’t involve you having to explain yourself to me.” She spoke biting her lip. “We both know that’s a lie Y/n, there is something more. Something intense, it scares the hell out of me and I know it scares you too.” He whispered his perfectly crocked nose bumping mine, his lips brushing teasingly against mine. “Tom. It started out as something for fun, something to let loose. It never involved commitment. It’s started to become something that neither of us could control, a fire that is was raging out of control and in one way or another someone was bound to get burned.” She whispered my eyes closed shut. “And that person was unfortunately me. If you had felt that way you could’ve said something instead of burying your cock into someone else’s pussy. Which she let me know it had been going on for a while before I found out.” Tom pulled back to look at her, his eyebrows furrowed. “That part is not true, that was the first time and we didn’t even have sex. She came to introduce herself and before I knew it her lips were on mine and I couldn’t help myself. I knew your job was coming to an end and panicked.” He said frustration evident in his voice. “You don’t think I was panicking. I stood outside your hotel room trying to figure out what to say, I originally went there to tell you that we needed to stop because I wasn’t going to be around anymore. But when I saw her with you, it all changed it felt as if my heart was torn from my chest. But when I panicked my thought wasn’t to hook-up with some stranger.” She said attempting to push him away from her. But his firm hands took hold of hers only to pin them above her head, his lips trailing from Y/n’s temple to her jaw. No words were needed, they both knew what was about to happen. Even though she hated him, she also knew that she wasn’t strong enough to resist. Tom brought his eyes level with hers, a smug smirk on his lips as he crashed them against her pink ones it was a dance they both knew, as lips molding together. Fingers laced together like puzzle pieces, this was different than other times they had done this time they didn’t rush; every move seemed to be calculated. They both knew that there was no turning back now.

Their lips pulled apart just so we could breathe, he let her hands go tapping her bum and Y/n knew exactly what he meant so she lifted up her dress revealing that she hadn’t worn any underwear. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, she shrugged. “You could see the lines through my dress.” Tom shook his head before picking her up and setting her on the bathroom counter after he had locked the door. Leaning back on her hands she watched him intently as Tom pulled himself out of his trousers and used one hand to rub the tip of his cock against her already wet entrance while the other was placed close to her own hand that was settled on the marble counter. “Please Tommy.” She whimpered softly. She looked up to see that he had a smug grin on his face, she wanted to make a witty remark to speed up the process; but never got the chance because instead of words a loud moan escaped Y/n’s lips as he had slammed into her without warning. He exhaled sharply as he resisted the urge to move his hips before letting her adjust, considering it had been a year since they last slept together. The delicious stretch made her head fall backward as whimpers continued to fall out of her mouth. “Move Tom.” She spoke breathless. He didn’t have to be told twice, he started to thrust aiming his hips just right to hit that specific spot that made her legs feel like jelly. That was one of her favorite things about sleeping with Tom, he didn’t have to be told how hard, fast or what needed to be done; he just knew. He knew her body, just like she knew his. Her eyes closed then re-opened only to see that Tom’s brown eyes were already focused on her face, it was very different to the usual look he would give her. There was something much deeper, something that seemed to be eating at him. Before she could think more about his odd behavior, he picked up his pace pulling her closer to him so he was buried to the hilt. Her eyes closed instantly more moans coming out of her lips as she gripped his shoulders. After a minute his movements stopped suddenly, she looked at him confused he’s never stopped in the middle of them having sex. “What’s wrong Tom?” Tom looked at Y/n intensely. Something was off about him, everything felt different like something changed in him or maybe it was her. The words that fell from his lips shocked her and would change everything. “I love you. You aren’t just a quick fling to me. I meant what I said earlier, there is something between us that can’t be explained. Its fate we both know it.” It took a few seconds for her to wrap her head around the situation. She pushed him away from her whimpering at the loss of contact. It was like his words broke a spell, she stood up pulling down her dress and slapped him. “No you don’t get to say that. You don’t get fuck some girl, let a year pass, no phone call and expect to have sex with me and tell me that you love me. No I won’t be fooled by it Tom. This was a complete mistake. If you loved me you shouldn’t have let me leave. If you claim us being together is fate then it wouldn’t have ended the way it did.” She growled her eyes clenched. “I’m done being played, I fell in love with you while having a fling. But my biggest regret was falling for you in the first place.” She said opening her eyes not caring if tears were running down her face. “Goodbye Tom.” Y/n spoke before walking out on him.

#tom holland #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland imagine #tom holland smut #tom holland x reader #peter parker #peter parker smut #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #tom holland fanfic #tom holland angst

166 notes · View notes

ugly-crying-over-bucky-barnes · 4 years

Text

Blue Eyes Part 29

Summary: After the Garrison is shot up, the youngest Shelby daughter finds a new home in London. She strips herself of her last name and tries to live a peaceful life far away from her brothers’ chaos in Birmingham. But fate leads her right back into it after she runs into Alfie Solomons.

Part 29: Mosley thinks he gets the last laugh, but Alfie Solomons isn’t easily beat.

It was late when the doors of the bakery were stormed. Three men, three assassins broke in. Alfie was the only one on the first floor. Ollie was in the basement working on inventory. His assistant startled when he heard gunshots from upstairs.

He rushed up the steps, his gun drawn. But the men had already fled once Alfie started returning fire.

The Jewish gangster was now on the floor, bleeding out from the gun wound on his face. In an instant, everything changed. Ollie panicked and dragged Alfie into his office, just in case the armed men returned.

~~~~~~~~~

It was the phone call that made Ella seize up in anxiety. She could imagine it was the exact same helpless feeling Alfie felt when she was shot by the Italians. Her husband shot in the face. There was no telling if he would survive or not.

“He’s going into surgery now. I don’t know-” Ella dropped the phone and grabbed her coat to leave the flat. There were too many thoughts running through her mind to process at once. But on her way to the hospital, all she could do was pray for God to keep him alive.

Ollie met her at the hospital. He explained to her as she shook in panic and anger what was going on. The only thing they could do was wait until Alfie got out of surgery. Then they would find out what sort of fate Alfie faced.

Ella paced in the waiting room for a moment but stopped. “Ollie.” She turned to the young man.

“Yes?”

“The minute Alfie gets out of surgery, call my brother. Tell him Alfie’s dead. Tell him that Mosley’s men killed him.”

Ollie looked bewildered. “Ella, they’re giving him a good chance of survival-”

“I don’t care. You tell my family that my husband’s been gunned down by Oswald Mosley’s men.” She insisted.

He nodded and went to find a telephone to break the news that wasn’t quite true.

~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy rushed to the hospital after Ollie called. Heart in his throat. He met his sister in the waiting room. “El…” He reached out to her but she lashed out in response.

Hitting his hands away she yelled at him. “You bastard! I told you! How could you let this happen?” She sobbed.

“I-”

“My husband is dead because of you!” She pushed him away from her. “Dead!”

It was almost unbelievable that a man with such a reputation like Alfie could be killed. Luckily, Ella pulled off a convincing enough reaction. She was angry that Alfie had gotten hurt. But she’d also learned from the best liars in the game.

As Tommy calmed his sister down in the waiting room, wrapping his arms around her and trying to soothe her, Alfie was being brought out the back of the hospital. Still knocked out from the drugs, he was driven out of the city.

~~~~~~~~

“Oh fuckin’ hell.” Alfie tried to reach for his head. He wanted to clutch his head to try and quell the awful headache he had. “Jesus Christ…”

“Alfie, sh, put your hands down, you can't touch your face.”

He could hear his wife’s voice but it began to dawn on him that his eyes were open but he couldn’t see anything. “El? Ella? Ella, why can’t I fucking see anything?” He tried to sit up but found her arms holding him down.

“Just try to relax for a moment…”

“Ella, why can’t I fucking see?” He demanded. Anxiety overcame him as he had no memory of what had happened.

“You were shot. Right in the face.” She gathered his hands in hers, kissing his knuckles. “The bullet didn’t get stuck but you bled a lot.” Her voice was shaking as she tried to recount the details. “They said the vision in your right eye might return but not your left one.”

Ella was brought to her knees when she saw Alfie upon arriving at the small hospital west of London. He had lines of ghastly stitches that held the majority of the left part of his face together. When he opened his eyes, she cried.

The doctors had warned her. There was no chance for his left eye. They said it was lucky he didn’t lose the eye entirely. But with the amount of nerve damage, he wouldn’t be able to see. They hypothesized that his right eye would be temporarily blind simply from the trauma to his head.

When she saw for herself, it was too much. One eye was left as she knew it. The blue that came straight from the ocean. The very blue-green that touched the sky on the horizon. However, his left eye had been completely clouded over. A gray that was exclusive to the coldest of winter months. The light haze of fog that hung over the moors. The same fog that concealed the foals in her old dreams.

“Mosley?” He muttered.

“Yes.” She replied quietly. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t there…”

“How’s it look, then?” Alfie felt like he’d put his foot in his mouth. Maybe they should’ve taken Tommy’s advice when they had the chance. He was prideful, yes, and would’ve had a difficult time relinquishing even the smallest bit of control over the bakery to someone else. But what if they had targeted Ella first? His business wouldn’t have mattered then.

Ella was quiet. “It looks painful.” She whispered in response.

“Can’t feel it.” He closed his eyes and let his head fall back into the pillows. He figured the doctors had him on a cocktail of drugs. A shot to the face would be painful but he was numb. “Ugly then?”

“No.” She insisted and squeezed his hands. “You could never be ugly to me.”

A faint smile crossed his face. “I don’t get you sometimes, El.” He mumbled wearily.

“I know.”

“Think he’ll come to finish me off?”

“No. We’re not in London anymore. And Tommy thinks you’re dead.” She reported the goings-on of when he was out cold.

That amused Alfie. “That right?” He laughed. “Oh, fucking hell, can’t wait to jump out at him like a ghost. Scare the shit outta him.”

“You need to stay quiet until this is over,” Ella replied, not really finding much humor in the situation. “I can’t have that monster finding out that you’re still alive. Tommy’ll tell him you’re dead and that’s that. He’ll stop coming after us.”

“What about you?”

“I told Tommy I was going to America. Told him I didn’t want anything to do with the family anymore.” She bit her lip. “I don’t think I really do. I’m so tired, Alfie, of everything.”

“I know, love.” He replied quietly, his eyes still closed. The drugs were starting to take their course again and the rest of his body felt like it was floating. Utter numb bliss. “You’ve said that ‘fore though.” He pointed out.

“I know.” She swallowed and rested her cheek on his chest. “Get some rest. I won’t leave.” She didn’t need to tell him twice. He was out cold again within moments. Ella rested against him, listening to his heartbeat and every breath he took. Just an assurance that he was still with her.

~~~~~~~~~

“Nurse?”

The older woman passing by stopped into the room. “Yes, Mr. Solomons?”

“Will you please mail this letter out?” He held out an enveloped sloppily addressed to London.

“Yes, of course.” She took the letter and took her leave.

Only five minutes after Alfie handed off the letter, Ella arrived. She’d gone back to the inn she was staying at to tend after the dogs and wash up.

It was two weeks after the shooting and Alfie had regained his sight in his right eye. It was a relief to everyone, especially Alfie who told his wife that it would be ‘a fucking shame if I never got to see those beautiful eyes of yours again’.

But there were still adjustments that would need to be made. Being partially blind would take some getting used to. However, Alfie was so drugged up that he didn’t make much note of it.

He’d requested early on to be tapered off the drugs, he wasn’t fond of the idea of being on pain medication. Not after what Ella went through. But only an hour after a lower dose, Alfie was begging to be numbed up again. The pain was too much to bear, even for a tough man like himself. He’d known pain before, but this was something else entirely.

Ella did her best to keep him comfortable while in the hospital. She brought Anthea and Cyril to visit often, despite the disapproval of the hospital staff. She spent nearly all her time with him even as he slept. Sometimes she read to him to soothe his mind and keep his thoughts occupied away from the pain. She wanted to return the patience he had granted her while she was healing from her miscarriage. Although the experience seemed a little unfairly matched.

Ella was aware of her standoffish and frankly explosive temperament while on the pain medication. Alfie, however, acted like he was on the most relaxing vacation when he was suitably doped up. He dozed off here and there. When he was awake, he joked with his wife and rambled about inane things. Nonsense, really, although it was amusing, to say the least. Sometimes, he talked about her like she wasn’t there. Either he assumed he was alone or was talking to a stranger. He informed her about how they met and how taken he was by her from the onset. He bemoaned the awful times they were apart and how it soured his mood a great deal. Ella especially loved when he recounted their unplanned and very brief wedding.

A dreamy smile on his face as he spoke in a slightly slurred voice, his accent deeper than usual. “Fuckin’ knew ‘er brothers would be out to get me, right, once they found out. But I didn’t fuckin’ care. Loved ‘er too much, ya know? Wore this blue dress, always loved blue on ‘er. It were erm-sorta-whatchacallit-fuck-turquoise? Yeah. Bluish-green. Simple but fuckin’ ‘ell it looked stunnin’ on ‘er. Glowed. ‘Er smile. Fuckin’ ‘ell, gorgeous. Told me she ain’t never loved someone like she loved me. And I thought, right, me? Really, love? Me? Fuckin’ person that I am. Yeah. She married me. She did.”

Ella would smile and kiss his hand as he predictably nodded off. She married him, alright. And she would protect him until the ends of the Earth just as he would protect her. If that meant lying to everyone, then so be it. She would lie through her teeth for as long as she needed to.

Then, Alfie's letter arrived at Tommy's office in Parliament. Dated and signed by a dead man.

Permanent Tag: @papa-geralt-of-cirilla @giftofdreams @biba3434 @kimmietea @karmezii @enrapturedbythemoon @vampgirl1997

Tag list: @deaflikehawkeye @octaviareina @mylovelykelsifer @doubletriplepowerbomb @ramblingbaby @fuseburner @kaetastic

Masterpost

PB Masterlist

65 notes · View notes

skelligiri · 4 years

Text

Obligatory lockdown fic

“Good night, angel.”

Click.

Aziraphale hung up the phone, and, with a hum and a spring in his step, went right back to baking. He had come across a carrot cake recipe in one of the oldest cookbooks in his collection earlier that day and busied himself with weighing Ingredients (the carrots miraculously fell out of the bag finely grated). But no matter how hard he tried to keep his mind focused and to not think of the phone conversation, he couldn’t suppress the desire to pick up the phone again as the night progressed. The print date of the book, which indicated that it had been printed shortly after the Reign of Terror, didn’t help, jolting memories of being locked up in the Bastille and being saved from a violent discorporation by an unlikely friend.

2 days. After that, he wouldn’t hear Crowley’s voice again until July. The angel wasn’t sure why he was even giving it any thought - Crowley had a habit of sleeping for months, years, even decades at a time, and had done so countless times over the millennia.

He just hadn’t spent prolonged periods of time asleep since the aborted Armageddon a year prior, Aziraphale mused. Crowley had mentioned how he couldn’t get himself to cause any havoc because everybody was miserable enough already, which was not surprising – the angel knew that, at heart, Crowley was a decent person. However, when reaching for the cake tin, a thought stopped him in his tracks – Could it be that Crowley was not only bored, but that the misery of the situation had gotten him down? His friend certainly hadn’t sounded happy.

---

Somewhere in central London, a demon swatted aimlessly at his bedside table until he found his ringing phone, sending his designer sunglasses tumbling to the floor in the process. It didn’t concern Crowley; his glasses knew better than to invoke their already cross owner’s wrath by breaking.

“What?” he snapped. “It’s me again. I just wanted to know how you are feeling today.” “Same as yesterday. Same as every day since the lockdown started. Bored. Didn’t forget, did you?” the demon drawled. “No… no, and it does make sense I suppose, there are certainly things I am looking forward to after this whole lockdown business. I wonder how the birds at St. James’ park are doing. If the little cafe on Belgrave Street is still going to be there - it used to be a book shop, you know. Anyway, now that I have a better understanding of the baking process, I do wonder if I will have a newfound appreciation for cake. Not that I ever did not appreciate cake, as I’m sure you are well aware, but the cakes at this particular establishment have always been home baked by the owners, wonderful people. Their children worked some odd jobs there to help pay for their education –“, Aziraphale babbled, unable to contain the flood of words until it was cut off by his friend’s exasperated groan. “Aziraphale. You do know that depriving someone of sleep is a method of torture, right?” Aziraphale blinked in response. “You were asleep already? I thought you were going to wait two days?” “Yeah, but I had a very productive day yesterday. Scared a seedling into growing 2 inches, sat around doing nothing. Started a few arguments on Twitter, although that really wasn’t much of a challenge. Sat around some more. Decided to treat myself to an early nap.” “Ah. Right, um. I really just wanted to know how you were doing. And…”

The angel found himself considering his words for a moment. Even in his head, they sounded a bit silly. Still, the question burned on his tongue.

“Out of curiosity… ever since the events of Armageddon and the… fallout thereof. Have you ever felt a little lonely?” As expected, the question was followed by a cackle on the other end of the line. ‘”Yah, I really miss Hastur. Real hard, not having to put up with the threats and the stench.” He paused. “Don’t tell me you’re starting to miss the ponces up in heaven. Missing Gabriel, are you? Michael?” Aziraphale’s face contorted, and he outright shuddered when Crowley added “Sandalphon?” “Oh heavens no!” he blurted out, ignoring Crowley’s snort. “I don’t miss heaven. The bookshop feels more like home to me than heaven ever did, you know that.” “Well then, let me go on the record saying that I don’t miss Hell either, big shocker I know. Was there anything else?” There was a short silence between them, which Aziraphale found himself unable to fill. “… Angel, I’m going to ask you one more time. Do you want me to come over or not?” Crowley asked. “I… I couldn’t possibly ask that of you.” “Right. Well in that case, I’m going back to sleep.”

Aziraphale fidgeted. There was one more question that needed answering. “W-well, before you go! You… You definitely shouldn’t come here. But, in theory, if I were to find a way to come over to your place…” “…You. Come over here?” “Yes.” “Wha, you gonna get on a bus during a pandemic? I thought setting a bad example and getting too close to people is something you consider demonic activity. Angel, I’m almost impressed.” “Without breaking any rules, of course!” “And how would you go about that, then?” Aziraphale could’ve sworn there was a hint of a smirk in Crowley’s voice. “… Not sure. It’s just hypothetical, really. Anyway, would you mind if I did?” “’Course not, why in the heavens would I mind, not like I haven’t had you over before.” “… Right, right. Well, I won’t keep you any longer. Good night, my dear.”

Click.

----

Not even Aziraphale’s gramophone seemed to be able to drown out the silence of the following days. The angel often found his gaze locked on the black feather he kept next to his recipe books. A keepsake from Crowley. He had passed it off as a meaningless gesture. Aziraphale knew better.

Being honest with himself had never been the angel’s strong suit. But he had gotten better at deciphering what his gut was trying to tell him in the months since the war had been averted. Rather than decades, centuries or even millennia, it now took him a mere fortnight to realize that he couldn’t drown out what he wanted more than anything.

He wanted to be near Crowley. To keep his friend company. They had always had each other to rely on whenever one or more of the horsemen had raised their heads.

But Pestilence posed a very unique challenge, turning the very need for people to reach out to each other during hard times into a potentially deadly risk. He couldn’t just walk out of the bookshop and set a bad example for humans. Maybe he should wait until July, he thought to himself. Sit here, on the couch, where the demon had slept so many times over the years there undoubtedly was a Crowley-shaped indent in the foam, drink tea and eat cake while catching up on his vast collection of books… but after hearing his dearest friend’s voice, this thought suddenly felt so much less appealing. He found himself picking up the phone again, aching to speak to Crowley, but what was he going to say? There was nothing else to say. The time for talking had passed, he realized. Now was the time to act – which was a harrowing thought.

But he should definitely follow the rules of the lockdown, Aziraphale decided, which meant no leaving the house. Not being able to get sick or transmit the disease was beside the point. Laws were there for a reason, after all. But while the laws surrounding the lockdown were not to be broken even by him, not all laws that applied to humanity applied to a celestial being. For one thing, angels weren’t bound by the laws of physics. And just like that, an idea hit Aziraphale as his gaze locked on the phone in his hand.

Crowley had done it before, he had (repeatedly and proudly) bragged to Aziraphale all about how he had outwitted Hastur back before Armageddon’t by travelling through the phone line and trapping the duke of hell on his ansafone. It was one of his favourite stories to relay after a bottle of wine and usually culminated in him thanking the angel for being the sole reason he even kept the ancient eyesore in his flat. If Crowley could do it, Aziraphale reasoned, why couldn’t he? “It might just work…” he mumbled to himself. Hesitating, Aziraphale considered the phone line separating him from his demon. The rules of the lockdown were one thing, but there were other rules to consider. 6000 years of careful consideration, of boundaries, of careful movements so to not spook or even endanger the other. But those times were over now, weren’t they? They were on their own side now, they didn’t need excuses. They were meant to be free. They deserved to be free.

And nothing was stopping them. Not really.

Aziraphale took a long look around his bookshop. He closed his eyes. A thought, a silent prayer, a faint smell of ozone, and just like that, he knew that it would be safe until he returned, whenever that may be. He took a deep breath, braced himself, and without further ado, willed himself to dissolve into particles straight into cyberspace.

Inaudible to anyone but Aziraphale, the phone line for the next fragment of a second was filled with panicked, garbled noises of distress, as a defragmented angel was trying to herd the atoms making up his corporation through a telephone line. He had to admit: Pulling this off without any atoms escaping was brag-worthy. He found himself wondering if bouncing around weightlessly like this was what a rollercoaster felt like. He didn’t much care for it. And he didn’t much care for re-emerging, either, all his atoms snapping back in place like magnets, sending him stumbling aimlessly. All he could do was brace himself for the unavoidable impact.

But luckily for the angel, Crowley’s phone had rolled out of his hand when he’d fallen asleep after their last conversation, on a bed that had to have been touched by a demonic miracle or a dozen to reach such an unnatural level of softness. The yelp that followed Aziraphale’s body hitting Crowley full-force would have usually caused the angel a great deal of concern, but Aziraphale was too occupied with his own spinning vision and trying to figure out where he was and which way was up, limbs flailing, helplessly entangled in black, velvet bedsheets.

“What the FLYING FUCK-“ Crowley yelled, followed by a string of expletives, and Aziraphale realized that the sounds were coming from the floor next to the bed. “Ah – I didn’t mean to - Apologies, my dear.” he offered breathlessly. “Aziraphale?!”

The demon’s upper body emerged from beside the bed, golden eyes wide. “What the heavens - How did - wh-?!”, he stammered, ever so eloquently. Aziraphale scrambled to sit up, tried to brace himself on the wall, missed, and found himself face-first on the bed with a groan. He realized that Crowley must have rushed to his side when he felt himself being propped up by a steadying hold under his arm. That thought was confirmed when he heard Crowley hiss under his breath. The angel held on to his arm for dear life. “I… I’m so sorry to wake you like this. Are you hurt?” “No, just got better acquainted with the floor, thank you very much.” Aziraphale barely managed to lean against the headboard to wait for his vision to stop spinning. “I just. Thought this might be a way of coming over without breaking any rules. I must admit, you made this whole traveling through the telephone line business sound rather a lot easier than it is.”

His vision slowly focused on the demon, who was sitting beside him on the bed, more frazzled looking than the angel had ever seen him. Unkempt, bleary-eyed, and absolutely, stunningly beautiful. With a start, Aziraphale noticed that the plants on the balcony had shifted into unnatural positions. As though they were leaning in to see what all the commotion was about. Crowley took notice and turned around to glare at the plants, which immediately went back to their original positions.

Aziraphale took a steadying breath. “It’s good to see you, my dear.” “Yeah it’s… yeah. Same.” the demon stammered. “I was a little worried about you. You must really be concerned about the humans, to so adamantly refuse to break the rules. Commendable as it is.” Crowley made a face at that last remark. “Rub it in, why don’t you.” “I’m not trying to be flippant, dear. What I’m trying to say is… I’m a little surprised you didn’t come over.” Aziraphale admitted. “I didn’t come over ‘cause you told me not to.” the demon retorted. “That’s never stopped you before. You know as well as I do that I was tempting you.” Crowley blinked at the angel’s blatant honesty. “Angel,” Crowley began, “This is different. I just…” Crowley threw back his head and let out a frustrated groan, “I couldn’t just go on a limb and invite myself to stay over for however many weeks or months it’ll take for Pestilence to get tired of mucking up everyone’s day and to bugger off again, could I? Taking up your space and drinking all your wine. ‘sides, we’re not just talking catching up, but. You know. More than that.” When it became apparent that Aziraphale wanted more, Crowley ran a hand over his face. “Living together for fuck knows how long. Didn’t want to overstep.”

Oh.

“W- well,”, Aziraphale started, a familiar warmth rising up in his face, “I certainly didn’t mean to overstep-“ “You’re not.” “Oh. Good.”

Aziraphale swallowed. The heat in his face remained. “Still… I can make myself scarce, if you like. Go back to the bookshop, if one of us needs space, I’m sure I’ll get used to traveling through the telephone line. But, truth be told, I have missed your company.” He swallowed again, followed by a deep breath. “Rather terribly, actually. In fact, I don’t know how I ever managed to spend as much time apart from you as I used to. Things have been different since the events of last summer, haven’t they? Speaking of, the anniversary of what could have been Armageddon is coming up in three months, hopefully things will be better by then. Maybe the Ritz will have re-opened and we will get a chance to celebrate the world not coming to an end, like we did last year.” When Aziraphale’s eyes met the demon’s, there was no trace of white to be found in them. “Until then, I’d very much like to stay here with you. If you’ll have me.”, he added.

The silence hung over them thickly, every second stretching out endlessly. “… Crowley?” Aziraphale asked tentatively, but the demon appeared to be frozen in place, still holding on to the angel’s arm. By the time Crowley finally opened his mouth, Aziraphale wondered if he had said too much.

“I need a nap.”

Aziraphale blinked. “Beg your pardon? Did you hear what I just said?” “Y- Yeah, and, if you don’t mind, I really need a nap.” “You may feel free to nap all you want, but-“ Aziraphale started, but before he could say anything else, he felt himself gently being pushed back against the headrest, and before he had realized what was happening, Crowley’s face was buried in his shoulder, arms wrapped around the angel’s torso like his life depended on it. Aziraphale quickly snapped out of his bafflement and gave his friend a concerned look. “Are you alright, dear boy?” he asked, and Crowley nodded into his shoulder wordlessly. “… Well, are you still planning on napping until July? I will have to miracle myself some books over if you do.” Crowley shook his head. Aziraphale returned the embrace, one hand gently stroking the demons back, resulting in a small, full-body shudder. Crowley chose not to comment when, emboldened by this reaction, the angel pressed a kiss on the top of his head, but he did make a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sigh of contentment. They had touched more frequently since the events of the year prior, more precisely since the night of the body swap, but it never failed to make their hearts flutter. “Well then, let’s get comfortable, shall we? If we’re in this for the long haul.” He grabbed the cover and draped it over Crowley. And as the arms around his torso squeezed him just a little tighter, he added “We have all the time in the world. The cakes in the kitchen know better than to go stale.”

---

Well, seeing as it’s technically the 30th anniversary of Good Omens today, I thought I’d try my hand at writing. This is actually my first fanfiction, and I plan to write a bit more often in the future. Hope you like it!

#good omens lockdown #crowley #aziraphale #ineffable husbands #good omens 30th anniversary #skelligiri

77 notes · View notes

blackfemmecharacterdependency · 4 years

Text

03. Strengths and Weaknesses

Previous: Write Whatever You Want

Another person shouldn’t have the power to be able to control every aspect of your life. In fact, some power and responsibility granted to someone else in your life should be a sign of trust and appreciation, not force or obligation…

Grace collected all of the self help and self love books she could from the mall bookstore. It was a section that they rarely went to, the bookstore, a place that they never defiled. She glanced at the sci-fi and fantasy sections… they weren’t empty, but Simon had taken a lot of those to his personal quarters.

She realized that Simon would always occupy some space in her heart and in her mind, but the fact that he could still occupy space in her life was troubling her. She just wanted to get over him and what he’d done… But that would also come with having to face what he did, to look at it all and really think about it. That could destroy every semblance of dignity that she believed their friendship was based on. That could rob her of even the fond memories that she knew would never return.

But, she saw his absence in the book store, where all the spaces were in that section, where all of the journals from the journal rack were all but gone, where the section that had fanfare like models of famous spaceships or bobble heads from certain fandoms had spaces (which very well could have been taken by any number of the kids in the Mall Car, but she thought of Simon and his fanboy things. She thought of his passion for writing and his knack for constructing figures. She thought about the times when she would be reading a book and came to him and wondered, “What’s this word mean?” and how he would either know and give her a hard time, or not know and immediately consult a nearby thesaurus or dictionary. She saw his absence everywhere.

She headed back to her quarters, glanced at the photo booth as she passed, the photos of their kiss now serving as a bookmark for her to figure out how to figure out herself. How do you not know you? You’ve literally been with you since your conception. “I was distracted. By everybody’s expectations of me and by my need to be exalted as the best. Didn’t even matter what I was the best at, as long as I was the best.”

“Looks like you win again,” she heard Simon’s voice say in a memory. She shook her head. She hadn’t won anything in a long time. Maybe she could win some peace of mind if she went through enough of these books. All quotes and motivational “insights,” health advice, and spiritual tips.

The kids were still coming to her for advice on matters. “You are actually older than I was whenever I got here,” she told Shadow. Shadow wasn’t her real name. Couldn’t have been. But, it was the name that she told Grace and Simon that she wanted to be called, and she absolutely lived up to the name, as she seemed to trace Grace’s every move, copy her style, and emulate her. It was cute, to Grace. Having a mini her. She had plenty of kids that looked up to her, even Simon did, at some point. But, now that the Apex was over, and they hadn’t quite figured out what to do next, they still turned to Grace for their step by step and day to day… several of them, anyway. Shadow, definitely.

She was one of the ones who witnessed what happened. One of the ones who endured such a terrible sight as the gruesome fate of Simon. One of the ones to not mourn him herself, but to be very sympathetic to Grace for her loss. One of the ones that she may or may not have instantly grief bonded too as they were nice to her for the first time since she messed up, in the midst of her saying goodbye to not only her first, but her oldest friend… who had become her most determined enemy… There were many mixed emotions with what happened to him, but Grace appreciated the kids that were there for her. She appreciated Shadow, she really did… But she also wanted her to give her some space.

Grace was startled when the girl was waiting for her, for “morning yoga class,” and she didn’t regret to inform her, “It isn’t a class… It’s just me trying to start doing yoga, and you tagging along and doing what you see me doing.”

“I grabbed a yoga book from the bookstore to help me get better at my poses and teach me about meditation,” she said, not at all taking the hint that Grace wasn’t in the mood. Yoga was supposed to be some time to herself, but she also couldn’t just tell her to go away. The way that she had snapped at Simon at the cabin and the way it hurt him… the end of the beginning, she was pretty sure of it… She couldn’t risk shoving Shadow to her downfall, just because she was doing what she had been commended and appreciated for doing previously… though… before, they weren’t close. She definitely gave her more space before, but there was more structure back then, too.

There were rules, regulations, guidelines, laws, ordinances, whatever else in the big book of the Apex. They learned what to do and they did it and to not do it meant consequences. Nothing dire in her day - maybe not being able to go on the next raid or being responsible for some chore or something. But, Grace wasn’t positive what Simon had put these kids through without her there.

She knew that they had seemed unhappy when she next saw them, that the ones who were obediently trying to shove her off of the train and she begged for her life were just as confused as she had been when she and Simon began all of this. Confidence didn’t always mean certainty, and the guilt that she could see on those kids was as thick as the sorrow she saw whenever she returned to see Simon on her throne.

Shadow had been watching her and wanting to be her since her first day in the Apex. Seeing somebody that looked like her in charge, commanding, and carefree… 3 fun years of duty, then one day Simon returned without her, told them that she had betrayed them all, that she was unfit to lead, threw off his hoodie and revealed the most numbers any of them had seen, even on Grace. Some of them mourned her right then and there. Simon didn’t like that.

He explained to them that Grace was no longer like them. She no longer believed in the Apex. She no longer believed in the Conductor. She wasn’t to be mourned and she wasn’t to be missed. She was worse than a null, because they were created for worthless futures. But Grace? She had been given a chance by the Conductor. She had been given status and respect and honor, only to turn on all of their values. To call her a null would be an insult to nulls. She deserved nothing but to be blotted out, voided.

“She’s a void. THE void. Not even human anymore. Its number is low and its spirit is lost. The void is an unfit leader, a danger to us all!” Shadow couldn’t stop crying. This still sounded very sad to her. Simon cupped her chin and said, “Don’t worry. You won’t be punished for emulating it. None of us knew, but now that we know what the void is, we know what the Apex will do, what we MUST do.” He dropped his hand and smirked. “If it ever infiltrates the car again, we wheel it.”

The children all gasped. “You’re… you’re talking about Grace…” Lucy said.

“IT IS THE VOID!” He roared. Lucy and Todd both jumped and clutched each other. Simon pointed to Shadow, “Bring me the procedures. We have to quickly establish who is faithful to the Apex, and who is faithful to the void.” He looked at Lucy.

“I am Apex!” she said.

“And what is the void?” He asked.

“It’s… not Grace… It looks like Grace?” She felt ashamed that she was feeling sympathy for the void. Simon had just explained that it wasn’t Grace anymore. But, if it still looked like Grace, the person who had held her crying when she put her eye out with the harpoon pack while Simon tried to tend to the injury. Ultimately… she just lost the eye and it was Grace who had told her that she still was a whole person and one of her favorite kids. “That eye was important, but the most important thing is that you’re alive and safe and still one of the greatest kids here.” But… Lucy didn’t dare let Simon see her cry over Grace, not after how he had just gotten angry.

“If you see the traitor we used to know as Grace, it is now the void and only to be acknowledged as the void. What is a void, Apex?”

“A leader who is no longer fit to lead?” Lucy said, trying to fix her last mistake by mimicking what she remembered Simon saying before.

“And a danger to us all,” he completed as Shadow returned with his book for him to write in. “Again. What is a void?”

Now, multiple kids said, more confidently, “A leader who is no longer fit to lead. A danger to us all.” He continued writing and getting them to repeat it, until he was satisfied. “And how do we deal with voids?”

“We wheel them?” Todd asked, recalling what Simon said.

“Again!” Simon called.

“We wheel them! We wheel them!” Many of the children began to chant, as was their way. Shadow, Todd, Lucy, Lindsay and Alex looked at each other, Alex noticed Simon looking at them and immediately joined in. Reluctantly, Lindsay and Todd did too.

Simon gave the signal for everyone to stop, a quick cut of his hand across his throat and they did. He put a hand on Lucy’s back and one on Shadow’s, then called five boys’ names and began to walk the girls to the door. Shadow was panicked. She didn’t know what this meant. Simon lead the six kids outside and shut the door behind them.

In a calm voice, he asked, “What is a void, Lucy?”

“A leader who is unfit to lead. A danger to us all.”

“And how do we deal with voids?”

“We wheel them.”

“Good. So, you understood. You didn’t join the Apex when I asked.”

“It won’t happen again, Simon.”

“I have a special job for you. You’ll keep watch for the void. If it comes back, it may be injured or sick. It may try to convince you to be kind to it. Don’t be deceived, Lucy. The void is dangerous. Don’t let it near you and don’t listen to it. The Apex will back you up and we will wheel it, as a collective.”

Lucy nodded her head, “Understood, Simon.” He talked to the boys, too, giving them each assignments - sounding the alarm whenever the void arrived, taking the yokes to carry his throne… Shadow was more and more confused and troubled as it came down to her and Simon.

“Shadow, what is a void?” He didn’t sound as chill as he had with the others. More like cold. It sent shivers down her spine.

“A leader who is unfit to lead. A danger to us all.”

“And how do we deal with voids?”

She sighed and put her head down, “We wheel them.”

Simon smirked and then leaned forward to touch her shoulder. “It took you awhile today. Don’t let that happen again. I can’t leave room for another traitor. If you can’t keep your allegiance to the Apex, you will become familiar with the wheels.” He pointed towards the wheels and she gasped. “The Apex has but one leader now and if you can’t accept that, all traitors will be thrown off of the train.”

“I understand, Simon.” He put her on spotlight duty and she didn’t think that she would ever smile again.

She had been about to throw Grace off of the train. She had been about to kill her idol… She couldn’t take it back, but she poured herself into respecting Grace again as a person. Not the void, not a traitor. But, she felt like Grace didn’t like her anymore. Like… she was tired of her. Probably angry because she was going to push her off of the train..

“Grace…” Grace let out a very frustrated groan and wiped her face with her hands. Shadow frowned and shut up.

Grace tried to continue yoga, but the nagging that she had possibly just shut this girl down was getting to her. “What is it, Shadow?” She asked, trying not to sound annoyed.

“I just wanted to say that I didn’t just go along with it. Simon took me outside of the car. He threatened to wheel me if I didn’t agree with him about you. I was really scared that he was going to do it. I didn’t really want to kill you, even though I tried to.”

Grace sighed again, this time a little less annoyed. An understanding sigh, if that’s a thing. “I know. All of you were under pressure. I know that it was hard for all of you. Simon was sometimes hard for me too, and especially in the end. I can’t make heads or tails about how I feel about him from one day to the next. So, I understand that. But, I’m just trying to move on with my life. I just want to be able to get to the next step without harping on that, but whenever I’m trying, someone is always there. I love your company. I just want to be able to have an hour of time where someone isn’t looking to me for anything!” Grace realized that her voice was loud. She sighed again, “I want a moment to relax. Talking about who tried to kill me and why is not relaxing for me.”

“It’s just that, I know how afraid you must have been out there with him… and I know that I helped. I know how afraid I was with him, but I still helped.”

“Are you asking for forgiveness, Shadow? Because, I thought I made it clear to all of you that I don’t blame anybody for being tricked by Simon. How can I be mad at you for following someone that I recruited you to follow? We were a team. You did exactly what we taught you to do - listen to the leader and trust their judgment. I wouldn’t fault you for that. What I am faulting you for is the fact that I haven’t been able to have one session of yoga and meditation without you all up in my aura.” They both laughed a little.

Grace crawled over to her and wrapped an arm around her, “Seriously, you can’t just depend on me to give you what you’re looking for. You have to be able to forgive yourself for things that you don’t understand why you did. You have to be willing to ask yourself why and explain it to yourself to correct yourself. Never look to somebody else, not even me.”

Shadow smiled and said, “I just needed you to know the truth. I just needed to clear the air.”

Grace smiled, “It’s clear. It’s clean and clear and pure, okay?” Shadow smiled and then noticed her number changing.

She looked at her hand and gasped whenever it turned into a zero. Grace looked at the door that appeared and quickly got up to help Shadow off of her mat. Shadow looked excited for a moment then frowned, “Why me? There’s other kids more deserving of their door…”

“You did all that you needed to do!” Grace cheered. “And you didn’t have to model after somebody else to do it. You just had to be clear and honest and willing to accept the truth. I’m very proud of you.” Shadow opened her door and saw her family, still putting up posters and handing out fliers, three years later. Her eyes welled with tears. She hadn’t thought that they would even miss her, but there they were, still looking…

“Grace… My name was Sunny,” Shadow said. “Is Sunny, like the song. You should listen to it. It’s perfectly fitting for you.” She went through the doorway and Grace watched it all go. She felt her own number move and she looked down. It had gone up? She sighed and flopped back down on her mat. She knew that song, but not the lyrics. Just the melody. It was back to the bookshop, she guessed. There was a little music section and she could probably find that old song in there.

*Sunny plays in the background*

It was her go to yoga song, now. She kinda missed having Shadow around, despite how irritating it had been her last days there. Grace passed by Lucy and Lindsay, sitting on the floor looking at each other and giving affirmations. “

Lucy: When I look at you, I see me.

Lindsay: When I look at me, I see you…

Grace smiled, but kept going, grounding mat beneath her arm, water jug in her hand and a bag on her arm. Alex and Todd ran by her, both swerved to miss her.

Todd: By, Grace, we’re gonna go check out this go kart car that Mandy told us about!

Grace: Have fun!

Alex: We’ll bring you something back!

Grace: No need!

That kid was terrible at tributes when it was a thing. She set up her yoga space and looked at the empty place where Sunny would have been. It didn’t feel the same without the kid, but she also didn’t have that stress of her watching so intently either. She was finally able to actually relax as she went through this new little ritual. Afterwards, she did feel better. The other kids didn’t bother her the entire time, though whenever she finished, Lindsay and Lucy were there to each grab one of her hands and drag her to some place.

It was the signature wall. Apex kids would tag their names onto it and it became a mural of sorts. Grace had seen the wall before and guessed that they were about to show her some new art or something, when she noticed that the taller kids had sprayed over the red “Down with the False Conductor” that had been sprawled across the top, with curvy block letters that read “We Made It Out.” Lucy pointed to a four picture set from the photo booth of Sunny, posing like Grace used to in the mirror, with shoulders out and lips puckered, one of her looking thoughtful, one silly face and one simply smiling. It had “Shadow” written in marker on the slit of white just before the last one. Grace told Lucy, “Gimme a marker.” Lucy still had it and handed it over. Grace drew a line through Shadow and above it wrote “Sunny.” She and the girls smiled at each other.

“It’s a new tradition,” Lucy said. “We came up with it ourselves, without asking you.”

“I love it… Do… we have pictures from the photo booth of everybody?”

“Yep. They were in Simon’s ledger.” Lucy reached into her fanny pack to pull out hers, “We took them for his records. Our skills and weaknesses are on the backs. But me and Lindsay decided to use them for good stuff.” She showed Grace her own photo set, in which she still had two good eyes and flipped it over where she had a list of strengths and under weaknesses: Literally put her own eye out. Grace growled. “My sentiment exactly,” Lucy said.

“Look at you, Luce! If this place was going to continue, you’d be running the joint next.”

Lucy took Lindsay’s hand and pulled her forward. “Didn’t do it on my own.”

“And Lindsay. You’ve always been the silent but strong type.” Lindsay shrugged her shoulders and made an uh uh sound. Then she and Lucy exchanged looks. “What?”

“Well… We know that you’re probably gonna be the last one out, but just in case… There’s no photos of you. We want you on the wall one day too. But, Simon destroyed all of your pictures when he voided you. Can you take a set, and put it on the wall whenever your number drops?”

What if she was nowhere near the wall when she reached zero? What if she never reached zero? “I’ll try,” she said.

They dragged her to the photo booth to take her pictures and the first one was a big, fake smile, the second was a slightly faded one, the third a frown and the last she was starting to cry. She snatched it from the slit and sat down. “Maybe I’ll try another day.”

Lindsay took the photos and the magic from Grace and began to write on the back.

Strengths: Takes responsibility for her mistakes. Good feelings. Big heart. Leadership skills. Makes people happy...Grace was sniffling as she read along with Lindsay writing. She was scared to get to the weaknesses, but Lindsay capped the marker instead of writing any. “What, no weaknesses?”

“Plenty. But, that’s because you’re human and not an asset, like Simon saw us as.” She and Lucy fist bumped, and Lucy handed Grace the photos. “We’re gonna go check out that go kart car too, actually.”

“We won’t bother to bring you anything back.”

“Good!” Grace said. She looked at the photos and sighed, got back into the booth, wiping her eyes. The first one, she still looked sad, the next she tried to fix her expression, the third a smile started and the last, she had a bright smile with slightly damp eyes. She pulled them out. “I’ll get there. I’ll make it out.”

#Infinity Train #Nesha Fanfiction #Infinity Train Fanfiction #Fics #Grace Heals #Grace Monroe Fanfic

16 notes · View notes