I was tagged by the gorgeoues @koncussionkat. Congratulations on your marriage, and thank you so much! :D
Last Song: "Walking In the Air" by Peter Auty, from "The Snowman" (my youngest grandson has discovered this in a big way!)
Favourite color: Blue
Last Movie/Show: rewatched "The Bishop's Wife" starring Cary Grant. I love this film!
Sweet/Spicy/Savoury: my fancies tend to be savoury, especially cheese & crackers (ideally with garlic), although I love sweet things too.
Relationship Status: *glances across the room at hubby* still married
Last thing I googled: the contact information of a company, for work. Real exciting stuff. Not.
Current Obession: getting organised for my sons visiting us for Christmas. Other than that, I'm still reeling/flying high about the 60th Doctor Who special ending. It gave me what many call "the warm fuzzies" (not a sentence I would ever say in real life, btw).
Tag nine people: @giff4088, @storamogul, @astreakofgay, @ageless-aislynn, @doktrdonna, @pia-writes-things, @stupidlittlenemo, @triciaisonline, @the-mustard-musketeers, @ilikethequiet & anybody else that fancies giving this a go.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Halo (TV 2022)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: John-117 | Master Chief/Reader, John-117 | Master Chief & Reader
Characters: John-117 | Master Chief, Reader, Cortana (Halo)
Additional Tags: Nightmares, Hurt/Comfort, Sort Of, Cortana is concerned, Platonic Cuddling, Inspired by 15 Minutes by ageless-aislynn, apparently I'm low-key convinced that Chief is just a bit cat, probably OOC Master Chief, but idk, imma tag it anyway, OOC Master Chief
Summary:
You are woken up in the middle of the night by a strange blue woman all but begging you to help the Chief. But how can you help him? And why you?
Or John has a nightmare and Cortana (who Reader has not yet met) is convinced Reader is the only one who can help him. Reader is written as gender-neutral and while they have a crush on John, this is pretty platonic.
Inspired by 15 Minutes by ageless-aislynn.
@ageless-aislynn, I did the thing! I really hope you like it!
A/N: Nobody check when the last time I posted a fic was lol. Hoping my writing brain will kick in soon now that I've finally finished something. This post was brought to you by the head cold I had last week lmao. If anyone wants to be tagged in future fics don't hesitate to ask!
He rushed to pull off his boots and didn’t even bother to look at his bag when it fell on the floor. He tossed his coat on the nearest chair, and spun around to double-check that the front door was definitely locked before he briskly walked away from it.
You had both been at STAR Labs all morning, but the autumn chill had seeped into the building, and Harry sent you home the moment he heard you sneeze. He wasn’t thrilled at the idea of sending you home alone. You looked so tired and cold; it took all his willpower not to bundle you up and have you sit next to him as he worked, but you deserved to fall asleep on something much more comfortable than an office chair, and there was still an enormous amount of work left for him to do. Of course, Harry ended up spending every free moment he had thinking about you.
Harry turned into the living room to find you in your pyjamas, curled up on the sofa with a file in your hands and a blanket on the floor. You met his gaze with a tinge of guilt in your eyes. After seeing the mountain of work everyone was dealing with, it didn’t feel right just to leave with unfinished files on your desk, so you had snuck a few things into your bag to work on at home. You promised everyone you would rest – and in your defence, you did take a nap – but turning your brain off work mode seemed too much of a struggle. The look Harry gave you was the perfect mix of disappointment and worry to make you close the file you were holding.
“Before you say anything,” you started, “I took a nap with that blanket, and I woke up way too hot, so it had to go.”
Harry raised a brow. “On the floor?”
“... Yes.”
Harry made his way over to you, perching on the edge of the coffee table next to the pile of work you had yet to touch. He gently pulled the file from your hands, taking a mental note of how cold your fingers were, and placed it beside him. Now that Harry was sitting next to it, the amount of work you had brought home looked ridiculous for a sick person to be tackling. You watched as Harry stretched down and scoop up the blanket, fidgeting with it as he thought about what to do with you.
“I hate being ill,” you muttered to yourself.
Harry hated seeing you so unhappy and not being able to fix everything for you immediately. He wrapped the blanket around your shoulders so he could pull you close enough to kiss your forehead.
“Oh love, you’re freezing.”
You dropped your head onto his shoulder and grumbled; you really did have a lot of work left to do, and it was a lot easier to pretend you weren’t ill when you were alone. Harry’s hand stroked your hair before moving down to rub circles on your back. He heard you wheezing and sighed.
“Come on–” to your dissatisfaction, Harry pulled away to look you in your puffy eyes “–you’ll feel better when you’re resting in bed.”
The room was a lot colder without his arms around you, and your head rocked, threatening you with nausea as you moved to look up at him. Suddenly, the idea of returning to work felt like torture.
You mumbled in agreement and shakily got to your feet, grasping the blanket around you with one of your hands. All it took was one step and your head span. The floor felt like it was moving to the bedroom without you, and you desperately waved your free hand around until it found Harry’s shoulder. He rushed to his feet to steady you.
“Let’s take it slow,” said Harry, keeping a firm hand on your arm and one on your back.
After what felt like an eternity of shuffling, you finally made it to the bedroom. As soon as you sat in bed, Harry tucked you into the duvet, and then the blanket, and as much as it made you laugh, you had to physically stop him from making a pile on top of you. Once he saw that you were comfortable, he turned to leave.
“Probably for the best,” you said, “I don’t want to get you ill too.”
Harry stopped at the doorway and looked over to you. “I’m not leaving you alone like that.”
“Harry–”
“I don’t get sick, I’ll be fine.”
Before you could argue with how silly of a statement that was, Harry disappeared. A few minutes passed before he returned with painkillers, a bottle of water, and a mug of hot tea. He carefully placed the drinks and painkillers on the side table next to you, and grabbed the corner of the duvet.
“Move up,” he said plainly.
“I’m dead serious about getting you ill.”
“I’ve looked after Jesse every single time she’s been ill in her entire life, I’ve never once caught anything from her.” He could see the doubt in your tired face. “Sweetheart, I’ll be fine. Move over.”
Begrudgingly, you shuffled over and let Harry climb in next to you. You hated to admit it, but you felt so much better as soon as Harry’s arms were all around you again. He leaned you up against his side so you could breathe better and then wasted no time covering the top of your head in kisses.
You looked up to Harry and smiled. “Thank you for taking care of me. I love you so much.”
Harry grinned and gave you a squeeze. “I love you too.”
🎁👓🦋🦈annnnd 🚦 (and if there are any others you'd like to answer, pretend I included them, too, lol)
AHH! Thanks for the ask!
Answering backwards (because I can) and below the cut (because I wrote a LOT and I don't want to be that asshole taking up your entire dash):
🚦What sort of endings?
Happy. Always. Somehow. I do have a couple of snippets that end ambiguously or badly, but I usually follow those up with some sort of happy or happier epilogue or conclusion.
🦈Toughest character to write?
Uhh... that's hard for me to answer because most characters come easily to me. I just picture them in the situation in my head and they just tell me what they would do, if that makes sense. I only really have a hard time if they decide not to talk to me, then I usually work on something else.
🦋Favorite character to write?
I'm in a Halo stint right now so I LOVE writing the Master Chief and my OC Wylan. They play off each other really well and they get all sassy and they bring out the best in each other and just, ugh I love them so much. I'm also using them to help with my exposition writing which is great because John is super introspective and Wylan is fairly analytical.
👓What helps me focus?
Nothing. I tend to write in spurts and if I get stuck I'll move on to another scene or a different fic entirely. I have like 20 different docs in my Halo folder right now that are all bits of a larger story with at least 7 different arcs all of which are unfinished. So I just write whenever to blot bunny bites me, which is usually when new media for a fandom comes out or if I get obsessed with the media already out again. As for environment, it's usually as quiet as it gets in my rather active household with my dog Mina at the foot of my bed.
🎁WIP to share?
Oh boy here we go. I couldn't decide, so you get two from Halo (snippets in bold).
The first is John being introspective set after Shadows of Reach (not a necessary read and no spoilers):
Csodaszarvas had always been a looming figure in John’s childhood, the ringed moon sitting in the wispy nebula far above his head on Reach. It watched solemnly as he and his fellow Spartans learned and trained and grew, as they were shaped and molded into perfect soldiers. And sometimes, in the early days of augmentation, he watched it back. Long after the others had gone to bed and he couldn’t sleep, he would sneak up to the roof and look at the moon.
John always had an odd feeling about it, like it really was watching him somehow, and it had formed a strange importance in his mind. He wasn’t sure why or where the feeling came from, only that he was drawn to the satellite. He had never been there, and to his knowledge nothing was there, but when he thought of Csodaszarvas, he thought of it as a resigned home.
And that’s how he felt as they approached it now, the rocks and ice in the moon’s rings growing steadily larger in the Pelican’s canopy.
And the second is an interaction between John and my OC Wylan after lots of story (that I may or may not ever finish) from John's POV:
“They’re putting me in cryo again, aren’t they,” she said with a small sad smile. It wasn’t a question.
John, the great Master Chief, the Spartan, sagged defeatedly, “I’m sorry Wylan.”
He felt a pair of small hands cup his face, lifting his head up just in time for a firm kiss to be planted on his lips. Too stunned to react, he froze with his blue eyes open in surprise and let her kiss him. It wasn’t anything particularly spectacular, just the press of her soft mouth on his, but it was enough to send him mentally reeling even after she pulled away. His gaze followed hers as she smiled at him (some part of his mind supposed he was probably an amusing sight to see, caught completely off-guard and parted lips coming the closest to slack-jawed he’d ever been in his life), his eyes asking the questions he couldn’t form with words.
“You tried, John,” she murmured, her thumb running over the short scruff on his cheek, “That’s more than anyone has ever done for me.”
A knock sounded on the door and Palmer’s voice sounded muffled through the metal, “Chief, Wylan, Dr. Halsey wants to see you. It’s time.”
He heard Wylan sigh and watched as she flashed one more sad smile up at him before pulling away and donning her helmet. He watched as she walked towards the door and paused, turning her visor to face him. It took him a moment to realize that she was waiting for him to put on his helmet and follow, so with hasty, hesitant movements, he did exactly that.
The walk to the cyro pod seemed to last a lifetime, but John didn’t mind. It gave him the chance to memorize the way she moved, committing the sounds of her footsteps and the elegance she held herself with to a part of his mind he could hold close and never lose. She would be his greatest secret. The one experiment Halsey did her best to hide and bury, he would keep with him, if only in his mind. He found it a little ironic, the doctor’s favorite subject going against her to simply remember the one she hated. He was sure the irony was not lost on Wylan either. She was good like that.
In the blink of an eye, they had reached their destination. What had seemed like forever just moments ago was here, now, far too soon.
It wasn’t okay.
It would never be okay.
*sweats nervously* If you made it this far, I hope you like my writing!
So this is a leaderboard that showcases where the Spartan-cadets are in the system. Kinda like the Project Freelancer leaderboard, but this rank-system was only seen and used during the training period of the Spartan-IIs; once they all became fully-fledged Spartans, Halsey did away with this. This isn't something they do anymore.