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piracytheorist · 7 months

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Episode 31 reactions!

Okay, first off, mind. blown. There's some VERY good action in this one!

Yor's coworkers are at the "Well, we're still better off!" jealousy stage. It's a small thing but something I can definitely see people like them do. Sharon seems to be the most passive-aggressive one, so it was a bit revealing that she was the first one to go like "Hey I got beer and sausage, I'm not jealous at all!" Our truest selves come out in the hardest times...

A very beautiful shot of the ship!

By the way, if Yor's coworkers knew what she was going through, they'd definitely stop being jealous.

Yor appears a little too nervous, if you ask me. Granted, we only saw her once before working, and when she was imagining what she'd tell Anya she sounded quite secure in her abilities. But now that she's been living in a family, her way of work has indeed changed, if anything else because she's worried they may find out the truth about her.

At first I thought McMahon had kicked her in the shin, but upon rewatching I realized he kicked the leg of the chair. I'm sure if it were the Shopkeeper he'd probably kick her leg, if not stomp down on her foot just to get her to focus.

Gram was sneezing again? Should I pay attention to this or is it just a baby being a baby?

Yor is smart to try and think how the enemy would think in order to be prepared for their plan, but she doesn't take into account the fact that some of the assassins are actual psychopaths who don't care about taking innocent people's lives in their effort to do their job. That's what being too kind of an assassin will do to you XD

And it's driven to the point even more with Yor being cute like that - and probably remembering the times she played with Yuri when he was little - and Olka saying she doesn't look like a criminal. She really doesn't. Sweetest assassin ever <3

The "mmm" Yor made at the end was the exact same "mmm" Anya made while stuffing up her face with food XD

Loid is not impressed, and this is only the beginning.

It's so fun having the actual, physical copy of the manga in front of me as I watch the episode! I notice here that when Anya talked about Yor missing, she also told Loid "You miss dinner all the time", but the anime omitted that. STOP DENYING US THINGS!

Anyway, Anya calls him out for catching feelings, and Loid is quick to drop his voice a couple octaves to show how secure he is.

I AM NOT LONELY I AM NOT.

Sure buddy, sure.

The office guys are on the opposite side of relaxing and actually enjoying themselves on this trip, going out and drinking a little too much, while the "Greys", Yor and McMahon are walking on eggshells.

The anime team obviously had enough time available for this chapter, as they have a couple of added lines from the office guys, so I doubt they omitted Anya's line about Loid missing dinner due to time issues. I wonder what might be the reason - it's not like they're trying to make us think he doesn't miss dinner? We know the guy's schedule is tight as a drum.

Anyway. Assassin-ing time and holy shit.

I'm pretty sure I gasped at this.

And the rest of the scene, of course!

Obligatory mention that it's been proven time and again that torture is not an effective means of interrogation. People can and do lie while being tortured for information, so the things they say may or may not be accurate. Torture may make them speak, but whether they speak the truth or not is another issue, unrelated to torture itself. So while there can be various goals of torturing someone (illegitimate, of course, like punishment, making an example out of a "traitor", or in very few real-life cases, gratification), obtaining information has proven to not be a feasible one. I understand the point of the scene was to show McMahon's abilities and to establish that there are multiple people on board after Olka, I just needed to say that.

I've been certain they'd go the "dumping bodies into the ocean" route. A cruise is a great setting for that!

The knock on the door was intense! Especially since it's put right after the scene of McMahon and Furseal walking back to the room, but just those few seconds of slowed down tension make you think "Oh no. It's not them. It's them".

I expected the "Oh, it's just room service!" and of course, I expected the "I didn't order any" reply.

Great animation of the attack and Yor protecting Olka and Gram though I'm begging the animators to look a bit into trigger discipline, at this point whenever I see a gun my eyes go immediately on the trigger and I go D: whenever there's a finger on it that shouldn't be

But oh, McMahon is good, and resourceful!

The assassin points his gun at them, Furseal freaks out while McMahon marches on.

We also finally see one (1) eye under the reflection of his glasses. I get that the reflection makes it easier in animation and such, but still I appreciate this detail, especially in such a moment.

And more action! Yor being a badass and at the same time caring for the baby!

"I can excuse murder in self-defense but I draw the line at scaring a baby"

THE GUY WAS STILL WIGGLING. WHILE HE HAD A DAGGER THROUGH HIS SKULL.

(probably last uncontrollable movements from his dying nervous system but still. it was fucking chilling and I love it)

Also, I can understand Yor being strong enough to break the door. But I think it takes a different kind of strength to throw an object, even a sharp one, and make the object break through the door, a human skull, and then latch onto a wall. Absolute unit.

Seeing the body was freaky, too! If I'm correct, I think this is the very first time we see a person being murdered on screen in the story.

Ah no wait we do see a guy in the second episode getting a dagger to the back and falling down. But it was much more palatable than seeing a dagger go through someone's skull and practically nailing him to the wall.

I'm gonna think about this for a long time, lmao. It was brutal!

I just noticed this on my rewatch! McMahon is wearing a ring in the shape and place of a wedding ring! He then goes on to tell the ship's services that the "mister and missus had a fight" though in the manga he says "me and my wife" so is his cover that he's on board with his wife?

And here's the same thing that shows Yor's side. She sees assassins as people doing their job and "cleaning out trash" especially in her case, not people who do this job just because they have no issue killing.

I mean, I don't want turtleneck guy to defeat Yor, but he's got my respect for now.

He also says there are other members from the gangster family on board? Just how many people did manage to get on this ship XD

The eavesdropping guy tells turtleneck guy that he sells his information equally and practically tells him good luck getting ahead, so now I'm thinking, there's another eavesdropping guy, or is he selling all his intel to other assassins that weren't there in that scene?

Also, good luck getting them to work together without getting greedy and/or paranoid, lol

Furseal was actually blushing while wearing the mask XD and the plague doctor mask on the baby!

The poison guy thinks he's some dude. He has no idea who he's dealing with.

This arc will be perfect for creepy shots of Yor, won't it XD

Furseal asks for his button back and dude! Priorities much? This button saved all your lives XD

Blonde mask guy tries to go for Olka right in the middle of the crowd like wtf and the moment Yor grabbed his hands I went like "BREAK THEM. BREAK HIS FINGERS." And then she did <3 We stan <3

That's it. That's their dynamic in one shot.

While Anya is having an overdramatic tantrum, we see how even when Twilight is trying to not be on the lookout - he even says he just has to stay away from suspicious people - his skills are so fine that they kinda work subconsciously. He spots the listening devices (I mean, there are a ton of them) and notices all the suspicious people even if he doesn't make a conscious list of all of them.

Then Twilight has a fucking breakdown over one (1) silly keychain. I mean it is a skeleton keychain so his mind immediately went "IT'S EITHER THAT OR MY OWN DEATH" is anyone even surprised

Anya is still learning how easily Twilight overreacts. And like the scene with the sandbox in the hospital, she realizes she caused him a little too much anxiety and tries to take some burden off.

This entire tension is going on and Twilight is still stuck on whether he should buy a stupid keychain. This man is incapable of relaxing, you tell him to relax and he goes like "Okay spy mode on standby, parent with anxiety mode is on".

I love how this reads a bit like "Papa considers hating frogs as much of a dealbreaker as being an assassin!"

It's so weird - though fitting - to think that Anya believes she can keep this up indefinitely. She has no idea how easily they could discover each other's identities and believes she can stop that from eventually happening. It makes sense for her age, though.

It's also a bit sad, how quick she is to think that she would be abandoned if they found out about each other. It's probably what makes her go "I have to keep this up as long as possible". Her young mind can't comprehend an alternative.

And oop! Taking part of the next chapter too, I see!

I might have lost it during these shots.

"You go around having battles" is definitely something Anya would come up with. It's why she's so hard to write and why Endo should receive an applause for how accurate to her age and experience he writes her.

Next, Twilight's biggest foe; the unreadable expression of a five six year old who is trying to take responsibility for her actions.

I love how when Twilight is facing actual danger and difficult missions he's all cool and collected. Meeting Desmond? Piece of cake. Taking down entire groups of people aiming guns at him? No problem. Anya acting unpredictable? THE WORLD IS ENDING.

However funny the scene is, it slowly drifts into a sadder territory. Twilight actually worries over Anya's mental state, and though he has no idea Anya is having the time of her life, there must be a part of his understanding of her trauma that is true. Now why he undermines completely his own trauma... It's projecting, isn't it?

Anyway, he concludes that the Handler knew from the beginning that Anya needs some vacation in order to recover from her trauma, and for some reason, instead of going like "Yo give her a break" she conjured up this entire idea for a vacation... But in reality, the Handler was only saying that in order to justify his time off in paper.

Like, the man can be so off sometimes that I want to shake him and then hug him because god I cannot imagine going your entire life like this and not even comprehending the idea of actual time off.

Anya: Have fun! Twilight: Cannot compute!

Like yeah it's funny but how am I supposed to not feel just a little bit sad with how he's completely unfamiliar with the concept of relaxing and having fun 😭😭

This is going to be a disaster XD

Anya prepares to run for it, realizes he can change and wear everything within seconds, and freezes... But then Overanalyzing TwilightTM takes control and he starts spending long minutes in front of the mirror freaking out about how his weird ensemble will manage to fix Anya's mood.

This truly is his most difficult mission. Anya is the perfect age to teach him about how sometimes he cannot control how people will react to his manipulations... and then there's the mind-reading, too.

Anyway. I love how Anya goes like "That's not how I expected to win some time but it works" and just steps back into the corridor XD

OH MY GOD

I love me a good fight choreography! Here Yor pushed Olka down from the shoulders, and at the same time pushed Furseal's knees to the front so they'd bend and he'd go down just enough to miss the sickle. Awesome!

The guy just starts a fight right in the middle of the crowd. And Yor has no choice but to stop him, Anya has to hide and also keep Loid from coming out of the store...

That IS a very interesting cliffhanger! I nearly screamed when it ended there, lol. It even ends in the middle of the page! I had to cover it with my hand to avoid spoilers XD The things I go through in this crazy experience XD

Overall, awesome episode! Though I felt that the Twilight panicking scene dragged on a bit. I don't know why. Maybe it's just that I'm an angst ho and I wanted a bit more angsty vibes from that scene. It's not bad, but maybe I still haven't realized just how much on comedy the show belongs in. It has a peculiar but for some reason very efficient balance on everything.

#Spy x Family #sxf reaction

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ladyloveandjustice · 2 years

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Spring 2022 Anime Overview: Some More Good Food

I’ve talked about three interesting anime about awesome girls from the Spring 2022 season, but what about the rest of my watch list? Well, Spring was smorgasboard of scrumptious shows and here are my thoughts on the rest of what I saw!

(Note I left some in the backlog because there was SO much good-sounding anime this season and I had a feeling summer season would be pretty barren in comparison...and it is. So I’ve recently started Ya Boy Kongming and will probably watch Aharen-San too, but they won’t be getting reviews)

Spy x Family

This one was such a smash hit I don’t feel like I need to say much about it. The golden premise is that we’ve got a highly fictionalized, extremely loosely cold war inspired setting in which a spy needs a fake family to infiltrate a fancy school and stop a war. For this purpose, he just so happens to adopt a daughter, Anya, who’s a telepath (he does not realize this), and then (in part thanks to Anya thinking it would be cool and setting it up) he ends up fake marrying an assassin (without either of them realizing it). The entire family is keeping secrets to each other and desperately trying to pretend to be normal, but despite all the subterfuge, they develop a love for each other that’s clearly real, and find people who can accept them for their weird quirks.

Spy x Family is just a good time, a great mix of action and comedy with loveable characters. It has an extremely broad appeal and the animators clearly knew they had a hit on their hands, because they bought their A-game when it comes to beefing up both the action scenes and the comical expressions and jokes. It’s a top quality treat to watch all the way though.

Pretty much the only thing to watch out for in this anime is the sadly all-too-common character who’s way too obsessed with his sister (and he’s a member of the secret police, so all around garbage person), though since the sister in question is married, much stronger than him, and they’re both adults, it’s far less…horrific than anime can usually get about it. (I will say his dub actor makes him unhinged enough I found myself laughing at some of his lines, and he did fulfill his role as a catalyst for shenanigans). Having read ahead in the manga, he also doesn’t show up too much.

Overall, SXF is an easy rec. Whether you’re here for ass-kicking, cuteness, or to laugh a bit, it’ll scratch that itch.

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War Season 3

Speaking of animators who always bring their A-game, Kaguya-sama is back and as always it’s a spectacle. Especially the rap episode, which was bonkers and has to be seen to believed. Glad it’s canon Chika said motherfucker...twice. It’s still very funny, but doesn’t quite reach the hilarious heights of the second season and there were a couple more uncomfortable jokes- namely the series’ first ever mention of queerness is Chika mistaking Shirogane and Hayasaka-in-disguise-as-a-boy as being in a relationship and getting excited nosebleeds over it while also mentioning once that she’s “not sure if I should stop them or cheer them on”, so, not great.

However, on the character development front, this season was really great for almost everyone (except Chika, weirdly, because as the other characters have gotten nicer and gained depth, she stays the same and thus comes off meaner. Still pretty funny though!) We got to see Hayasaka assert her needs more with Kaguya, both Kaguya and Shirogane reevaluate their priorities, Ishigami continues the develop in a positive direction and…we make REAL PROGRESS on the central relationship. That’s right, actual solid progress on a will-they-won’t they rom com and the central premise of the series itself is challenged in a satisfying (and fun) way.

One thing that always bugged me a bit was that while we see a lot about what Kaguya sees in Shirogane and how she’s changed because of him, we don’t see her from his point of view and why he likes her as much, and this season actually fixes that by showing how he fell in love with her and how she inspired him and shaped a lot of his time in the school. There was solid growth for the characters and it will be interesting where they go next!

Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie

Sometimes you just want to watch a show about good kids being sweet and adorable, and that’s exactly what this series is. Anyone who comes in expecting a strong comedy will be disappointed, but if you’re down for a soothing, slower paced romantic slice of life, you might end up liking it.

The central idea of the series is Izumi is a very terminally unlucky, danger prone soft boi who has a cool, princely girlfriend who protects him, and a I’ve seen a lot of people react like “ugh, are gender roles so restrictive that even having a girl who’s cool AND cute is considered subversive enough center a comedy around” but that like…clearly misses the point of the series, which is allow you to imagine being in the the position where you can watch your girlfriend be cool and dashing and sweep you up in her strong arms, which as a lesbian, I 100% am here for.

‘Cool Girlfriend’ fantasies are nothing new, but what sets Shikimori apart as enjoyable is it doesn’t go into the aspects of that fantasy that usually lose me- like the part where the average joe boy stumbles into being better than the cool girl at everything, because he can only be worthy if he outdoes her, or the part where the boy doesn’t have to put in any effort while the girl centers her life around him, or the part where she gets her clothes shredded…you get what I’m saying.

Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie works because Izumi works just as hard to make Shikimori happy as Shikimori works for him. It’s clear WHY she likes him- he’s genuinely very kind and, despite being cursed by the universe with bad luck, he spends most of his time thinking about the people around him and doing his best with what he has rather than being resentful. He also appreciates Shikimori for who she is and loves her dashing nature. Shikimori and the supporting cast also have enough interiority we’re actually able to spend an entire episode without Izumi in it at all.

Granted, Shikimori’s backstory- “I was just following along imitating other people in my family, which very coincidentally meant I was being more traditionally masculine and doing more masculine activities, until I discovered my TRUE dream (after reading a single chapter of shoujo manga), which just very coincidentally involved being more feminine”- is such a eyerollingly common cliché in anime that Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun parodied it, but the end result is Shikimori discovered she didn’t have to hide the protective, rambunctious “cool” parts of herself even if she wants to be cute too, which while a common ending to this cliche backstory, isn’t a bad message.

It also did that thing I really love in anime like Kimi ni Todoke where two girls are set up to be romantic rivals, but instead a girl is like “well, liking this guy is something we have in common, actually, how could I hate you for having the same feelings I do?” and it becomes a point of bonding and reason for them to be friends. Look, is a little idealistic to hope for that for messy teenagers? Yes. Does it make want to cry and do I still absolutely love seeing a story where, where the cliche of women fighting over a man instead becomes a point of solidarity between girls? Also yes. Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie is a world where good, sweet kids support each other no matter what, and it’s heartwarming to spend time with them.

In this cute friend group, Shikimori isn’t shamed for being traditionally masculine in some ways and nobody ever gets on Izumi for being in a more traditionally feminine role either. It’s not anything earthshattering or amazing, but it’s a sweet anime and sometimes it’s nice to escape to a world like this and enjoy the chill vibes.

Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 3

Unfortunately, I found this entry of Bookworm to be a lot weaker than its previous seasons, perhaps because of it’s truncated 10 episode runtime. It’s still a good show with interesting world-building and there’s a lot of big status quo shakeups for Myne…but it all feels pretty rushed, especially considered how huge and sad a lot of things that happen at the end are. Light novel fans have mentioned it does dash through the plot comparison to the source material, and that makes me curious to check them out. Basically, still good, had some shakeups, but I was left just a little wanting- that’s really all I have to say about it.

#spring 2022 anime #anime overview #spy x family #kaguya sama love is war #ascendance of a bookworm #shikimori's not just a cutie #my reviews

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wisehq · 3 years

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Mission Debrief: Chapter 43

...IT’S HAPPENING! IT’S HAPPENING! IT’S HAPPENING-!

Alright, before we get into it- full disclosure; the hivemind is in full swing at the Operation Strix discord server, so pretty much anything I write here is going to be an amalgamation of all the conspiracy theories and reactions we vomited out as soon as the chapter dropped. On that same note, I think writing these the day after will start to be the norm. Just so I have the chance to calm myself before going on a twenty-page tangent about everything Endo may or may not be planning.

Okay [deep breath] let’s get into it.

First, let’s start off with Franky, before we get into the juicy stuff.

When the chapter first started, I thought we were going to get backstory on Franky. Endo seemed to be alluding to this on his twitter page, and I was actually interested in possibly seeing more about his and Twilight’s relationship. Of course that didn’t end up happening; instead we got another side story about Franky trying to get some action by finding a lady’s lost cat, but seeing as how it’s Franky we’re talking about it seemed appropriate. Also, how can I be upset when-

The princess herself arrives! I gotta say, I loved the lightheartedness of most of this chapter. Yor’s always a delight, and pairing her together with Franky was a smart move on Endo’s part. They built off each other’s wackiness and I love this moment with the two of them. Just like with Twilight, we see that Franky genuinely wants to make the world a better place (and also get rich along the way) and Yor’s so impressed with him. I also liked that moment where Franky is surprised to find Yor still playing Loid’s wife even when he isn’t there- much like how he was with Anya while he was babysitting her. Just another little nod to the fact that he sees the Forger girls as being more than players in a game of elaborate house.

Then- just a quick thing before we get into what I know we all want to talk about- it’s interesting to me that Franky isn’t a one-man operation. He has a whole network of informants that he works with, and it makes sense that someone in his line of work has a many ears on the wall as possible. It’s a surefire way to stay plugged into the goings-on of the Ostanian underworld, unless of course...

...They get taken out by Garden.

AGHGHGHGHGH ALRIGHT, OK LET’S GO-

Garden. We finally have a name for Yor’s group now; we thought it was The Shop for the longest time, but apparently that’s only part of it. Yor alluded to this briefly back in ch. 29 when she described The Shop was being in charge of information gathering, and once their job was done it was Yor’s turn to come in and do the actual assassination. In this sense we see The Shop was being more of a support role in the same way that Franky is, though it’s still safe to assume the Shopkeeper is still in charge of both The Shop and Garden. At least for now- until we get more information to say otherwise, anyway.

Of course, the interesting thing is our silhouetted figures standing in this panel- not to mention the fact that Franky states that all the members are capable of taking on a whole troop of soldiers (for reference, a troop ranges between 9 and 100 men, though it usually hovers around 50). We know Yor is capable of doing this, but now that we also know the other assassins of Garden are as well, it begs the question; is Yor’s strength truly a unique thing in this world? And if it isn’t, what could be the source of it?

OSO-R, the drug used during the Tennis arc, was described as being in its trial stages. I originally chalked up it’s fast development time as just being part of manga logic, although I’m now starting to question that theory. It’s possible the roadmap for OSO-R has been around for much longer than first thought, and may find its traces back to when the war had just ended. Loid describes Garden as having been around for some time. We also know that Yor was just a child when she started up her assassination gig, so it’s possible that she and others like her may be have been exposed to a serum similar to OSO-R a decade or so before. Given Ostania’s track record of human experimentation, the scenario is possible.

Also going back to what Franky describes as “the shadow government”; it’s interesting that we’re hearing rumblings of a government operating outside the public’s view literally one chapter after we were just introduced to the concept of a royal class at some point in Ostania’s past. There’s a lot of things that cab be construed from this (such as Garden serving an authority that doesn’t necessarily align with Donovan and the government) but listing everything would just turn this review into one long-winded mess. So instead, we’re gonna entertain a fun theory- one that may or may not be true, but if it *does* end up being confirmed later on down that road, you heard it here first.

*ahem*

Mr. Green is a part of Garden.

Allow me to state my case.

When ch. 39 came out, I found it very unusual that a brand new character we haven’t seen before got a majority of the panel-time alongside Damian and the boys. It wasn’t very suspicious at the time, given that we’d just been introduced to Becky’s maid Martha, so we all just assumed Endo was building up his side characters a bit. For all intents and purposes, that may very well be the case.

However.

I know one person in particular who latched onto this panel right here, and for good reason; why would a security guard stationed at a school nowhere close to the border know about code words being used by people trying to cross over illegally? Yes, he was supposedly in the navy, but the way he phrases it here heavily implies that these code words are a recent affair, or at the very least are still being used currently. Why would he know that? Even if he was in the military, it’s information that has absolutely nothing to do with being in the navy.

Mr. Green is also very strong; strong enough to make the boys think they were going down rapids when in actuality it was just him rowing so fast. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever paddled a boat before, but it’s hard work- and it’s certainly difficult to the get that boat going at cruising speed, let alone fast enough to cause rapids. Yor’s the only one we’ve seen with strength like that and- yes, Green was supposedly in the navy, but at this point in time we don’t know anything else about him. We don’t know what he did after the war, nor do we know how he wound up in Eden Academy in the first place.

This is where we start going deep down the rabbit hole. Hang on.

This gentleman who we’ve never seen before is clearly aware that Garden exists, or at the very least is privy to Yor’s actual job. Much like how WISE has plants within Loid’s hospital, this man likely works to support Yor in some way. If such is the case, we can likely assume that- because the shadow government is supporting Garden- they would have their assassins posted in key areas for various reasons, likely to keep an eye out for traitors or to keep them spread out to cover a wide area should the need ever arise to deploy them.

We’ve only ever see Yor target traitorous politicians and outright terrorists (I realize this one is just a daydream, but you get my point). It would make sense, seeing as how she works at city hall and it would likely put her in an advantageous position when hunting them down. Of course, politicians aren’t the only people who might catch Garden’s attention. Given the amount of political and economic unrest that is currently going on in the country, there likely would be some people who would be fed up with the state of things. Such people may not be like Franklin Perkin- someone who would take direct action against the government- but instead would rather try to steer others towards a mindset that stands in opposition to Ostania. Such a person may try to target more impressionable people- people who are likely to listen and learn from an authority figure in their lives. People like...small children.

Eden students.

Garden. Eden. I see what you’re doing there, Endo.

Traitorous professors? Renegade academics? It would make sense to have a Garden assassin stationed at the most prestigious school in the country; the amount of information and contacts that are positioned around there are second to none, and what better way to suppress insurrection than at the source, at the very foundations of knowledge itself? Also, for kicks and giggles, let’s not forget that the name Mr. Green certainly fits with the plant motif Endo is going for with his assassin group (Garden. Thorn Princess. Briar. You catch my drift?)

Am I grasping at straws? Probably lol. I’d also like to reiterate that this is in no way all my thinking- a lot of crazy people put their brains together for this one, good or bad. But hey, it’s about all we can do until the next chapter! And at the very least, it’s a lot of fun to wonder what-if!

Also, BONUS

...She’s coming.

#spy x family

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sparklingchan · 4 years

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Dancing with a Stranger || Lee Minho (Stray Kids)

Pairing : Reader (fem.) x Lee Know

Word count: 6k+

Warnings: Cuss words, mentions of alcohol, mentions of a break up, slight violence and blood (its nothing intense, I swear) ,suggestive towards the end, not proof read.

Genre: Angst , fluff, boyfriend AU , break up - make up AU.

Description : Lee Minho is the best boyfriend you could have ever asked for but when you end up doing the only thing he had begged you not to do, things start going downhill.

Author’s Note: I KNOW I SAID I’LL POST THIS ON MY BIRTHDAY but I am an impatient person and I really wanted everyone to read this asap :( This imagine is one of my personal favorites and like Boyfriend!Minho really hits different, won’t you agree? (Reposting because tumblr decided to be a bitch and not show up my fic in the tags? It’s 2 AM and I’m legit crying?? I was so excited about this) Yeh le @chogiwow !

Please do reblog, like and send in your views about this fic. I’m always happy to receive DMs and asks!

Enjoy!

It is really funny how a crowded, happening place like your college corridor turns into a cold ,eerie location of some prospective gruesome crimes by sun down. But then again , if you really think about it , maybe it’s not much of a ‘prospect’ at all.

Your knuckles start stinging first ,spreading then to your palm and the rest of your arm.

And the horrifying yet unavoidable realization finally dawns on you - you shouldn’t have punched your professor’s daughter.

“Y-you! You bitch! How dare you touch me?” She has this annoyingly loud voice that pierces through the tense air like a bullet. The prettiest girl on campus , the nicest of them all, the most desirable , but anyone who sees her right now, would be convinced she is neither of those things. Excluding you , of course , because you always knew how double faced and rude she was behind the mask of a pure princess.

“You should have kept your mouth shut then, Anya.” You say , hoping that the girl in front of you doesn’t notice the sudden fear in your voice that has replaced your authoritative tone from before.

But you can’t back off now.

Anya stumbles back with her mouth wide open , clutching her jaw as she curses under her breath , “My mother will hear about this ! I will get you expelled !”

“Oh yeah? Try me and the only thing your mother will hear about is what you and our lovely class president John do in the basement when she isn’t home.” You shoot back. You mentally want to slap yourself for that sharp tongue of yours that refuses to stop any time sooner. You had always wished that you’d gotten your father’s gentleness but sadly , you were the fateful heir of your mother’s roughness.

Anya doesn’t reply , instead , she throws herself at you , pushing you harshly against the lockers .And it is not long before her balled fists find a way to your nose , punching so hard that you literally feel the blood dripping down your face. You are so glad that all the students and staff have already gone home , you’d have hated for anyone to witness this.

“You will never lay your filthy hands on me again, y/l/n. ” she wraps her left hand around your throat while the other one pulls your hair with the strength of a bull. You scream in pain. Your body goes limp for a second - not from pain but from fear , but you realise it’s too late now. You should have thought about your fears before punching Anya.

Now all you can do is save yourself and escape.

The numbing pain from your scalp spreads through your head , going down your face and then attacking your throat. It gets harder to breathe.

“I’ll tell you what , Anya , you deserved it. You deserved all of it. ” you croak , “I told you to stop spreading filthy rumours about my cousin but you didn’t stop , I told you to stop bothering me but you didn’t listen. And now you’ve gone as far as spreading bullshit about my boyfriend who you’ve never even met ! I hate to break this to you but all of this is not going to make your trash personality any cooler. ”

Anya yelps with anger , increasing the grip on your throat and hair as you kick your legs helplessly, coughing .

“Shut up, y/l/n .” She growls , “ and as a matter of fact, Your boyfriend is just a mere dancer , how funny. An A-grade college student dating a poor street dancer. What happened , y/n, ran out of good guys for yourself?”

You want to yell at her and tell her that Minho is anything but a mere street dancer . He’s an amazingly talented artist who loves expressing himself through dancing , he’s a hardworking and honest person who is part of the country’s biggest dancing crew , and he’s your safe place , your home , your everything and god save anyone who dare hurt him.

But you bite your tongue this time.

“What now? Afraid ?” Anya raises her eyebrow, her lips curving into an ugly, sadistic smile.

You hate that smile.

You use one of your free hands to grab her hair while the other one slams hard against her jaw.

“Shit.” She mutters , falling back into the hallway.

But you’re not done yet.

You walk toward her with furious eyes and balled fists , and it isn’t long before she lands on the floor on her butt with a bloody nose and a black eye.

“Keep your mouth shut or you’ll end up on a hospital bed next time. In a coma. ” you spit out those words while she holds her tears back, face caked with humiliation.

Then you turn on your heels and walk out of the stupid college campus which would yet again be filled with more bullies by tomorrow morning, just like it has for centuries.

The dorm in which Minho lives almost always smells like freshly baked cookies ( courtesy: Lee Felix) and on rare occasions, it smells like burnt pancakes ( also courtesy: Lee Felix). Today , it smells like the former and you sigh in relief.

“Oh , my god ,y/n. What happened?” Changbin opens the door after you knock thrice , “Minho, dude, Come out , y/n is here!”

You shuffle into their big living room , head hanging low and eyes avoiding all sorts of confrontation , afraid of having to explain your stupid behavior.

“Y/n?” Minho sucks in a deep breath at your sorry sight , his eyes glazed with dread and fear as he walks toward you, ”Oh god, what happened?”

He swiftly takes out a handkerchief from his pockets , pressing it against your bleeding nose. His eyes are glossy with fear.

“I-it’s nothing. I fell down the stairs.” You lie. Can he please shut up and hug you already? You hate his questions so much , especially when you just can’t answer him.

“Y/n , that is not what a fall looks like. I’m not stupid. Whom did you beat up this time?” He asks , crossing his arms across his chest. And you really do almost blurt out the truth because it’s that easy for you to open up to him and because he knows you like no one else does. You’ve dated him long enough for him to know you like the back of his own hand. And that sometimes gets you in so much trouble. Lying to him is a near impossible task.

“Y/n, look at me!” He says , slightly annoyed now. He touches your chin gently, coaxing you to look at him but you’re too afraid to face him right now. Too guilty. So you shrug him off and walk into his shared room with Hyunjin, a homely feeling enveloping you almost instantly.

“Y/n, don’t you dare ignore me.”

Ugh. He can be so nosy at times.

“I came here for comfort , not for an interrogation. ” you pout , plopping down on the bed.

Minho scoffs , closing the door behind him. He wears a loose black t-shirt with a pair of shorts , and he smells like the expensive shampoo you had bought for him a few months ago ,which he initially refused to take but now loves it. He looks so good and smells so good and suddenly all you want to do is cuddle him and talk about his day, with his Winnie The Pooh blanket draped around your bodies.

“You aren’t getting any comfort till you tell me what happened.” He says . He stands with his back against the door , and stares at you as if you were a criminal. Maybe you were one ,but that doesn’t mean he’ll hate you or something ,right?

“Did you hit the professor’s daughter?” He asks when you don’t answer even after two whole minutes. Your stomach does a somersault, adrenaline coursing through your veins. You regret telling him about Anya a few weeks ago and you specifically saying that you’d one day ’ punch her brains out ’. You wish you’d shut up sometimes.

You play with your fingers, staring at your feet. You can’t look him in the eye anymore , not when you did the exact (and only) thing he had asked you not to do. You feel horribly guilty.

“Well in my defense, she was being a bitch ,okay? She was calling you a good for nothing dancer and ugly and underqualified and - ” you sigh , “ My point is, I couldn’t bear listening to all that, okay?” You admit , cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Minho doesn’t answer, very unusual of him by the way, and you snap your head to look at him.

The eyes that had once held concern and fear for your well being now are clouded with disappointment . He’s mad at you.

“She’s not wrong though. I am a good for nothing dancer, I go to a stupid cyber college. Nothing worth fighting over. Why the fuck did you put yourself in danger like that!” And he’s yelling now , his relaxed posture from before now replaced with a tensed one. You notice his clenched fists and teeth ,and you shudder with fear. He is furious. But at what? You don’t really know.

“Are you seriously justifying her actions? Minho, she can’t talk shit about you. I will not let her do that! ” You yell back ,getting up from the bed , “She doesn’t even know you!”

“Which is exactly why her opinions on my lifestyle do not matter ! And you don’t have to just go around acting like my bodyguard all the time!” He says.

Your heart drops, brows furrowed in confusion at his words that feel like a dagger is plunged into your heart.

You walk up to him, trying to take his hand in yours but he extracts it right back. “I’m sorry, okay? I wasn’t thinking. You know how crazy I get when I’m angry.”

“A ’ sorry ’ doesn’t suffice it. The damage is already done. And if tomorrow, you are thrown out of the university, who’s fault would it be? ” he presses his hand to his face, trying to calm himself down , “I can’t believe I am dating such an immature woman ,y /n. Grow the fuck up, will you?” He says , his anger filled eyes staring right into your soul . Your heart breaks into millions of small pieces , as your breath hitches in your throat. He had never said something so harsh to you in the many years that you’ve dated him and you really wish he hadn’t done it today either because you realise you’re not very good at handling hurtful words, especially from Minho. At all.

“Minho , I know you’re angry - ”

“Leave.” The world stops spinning for a second , your eyes widening with shock, “Go home. Don’t come back again.”

You want to cry but tears seemed to have given up on you too , his words striking you harder than any of Anya’s punches ever did. All your feelings seem to have converted into a much worse state of numbness when those words leave his mouth.

“Y-you are not breaking up with me, right?” Your usually loud voice comes out as a whisper.

“I am. Go, please. I don’t want to see you right now.” He opens the room door for you to exit, his eyes never meeting yours. His lower lip is caught between his teeth, a sign that he’s about to tear up yet you don’t know if he wants too be comforted by you right now, or ever. So picking up the remaining pieces of your damaged heart , you walk out of the room , stopping only to glance over at him one last time , in hopes that he’d change his mind. But no, his angry demeanor is still there , strong and tough and unbreakable.

And when you finally leave , Minho is grateful that Hyunjin wasn’t home - for he would have hated to cry in front of his roommate.

The bright neon sign with ’ Kim’s Restaurant ’ written on it shines in the distance , blurred only by the tears in your eyes and not by the tiny droplets of water slowly falling from the sky.

You feel a soft blanket of comfort draping over you when you walk toward the familiar building.

Your aunt and uncle have worked hard to build a proper business from a small shop that had once just sold fried chicken and cold drinks ; and it makes you so happy to see their new restaurant still packed with people this late in the evening.

“Oh , y/n. I was just about to call you. Did you not go to your dorm yet? ” your aunt asks from the reception desk , chewing her favorite gum and typing aggressively into the computer.

“I stayed back today. Project work.” You lie. Your aunt lifts up her head , her eyebrows knitted together and a suspicious scowl gracing her face , almost mimicking your mother. Your mom and your aunt are twin sisters , born just three minutes apart , and since then it has become your mom’s life mission to remind your aunt of the whooping three minute gap every chance she gets. It’s hilarious, really.

“Don’t make that face at me. You look exactly like mom.” You mutter , leaning against the wooden desk.

“I do look exactly like your mom , y/n. ” she replies with a chuckle, “Anyway, what’s going on? You look tired.”

Honestly, you’d love to talk about Minho and the impulsive breakup and the aching in your heart with your aunt because there’s no better person to seek advice from, but you don’t feel it right to burden her when she’s working plus a part of you doesn’t really trust your aunt to keep all the secrets to herself.

“No, I’m okay. Just mid college crisis.” you say.

Your aunt hums in response, probably not buying it but you’re happy she doesn’t push it anymore, “ Are you hungry? Want something to eat?”

A bag of fries with a bucket full of chicken wings sounds terribly tempting right now but you’ve lost all your appetite for the day the moment Minho closed the door behind you. Now all you feel is drained, tired, sad. Moreover, that is not what you were here for, “Nah, I’m good. Is Yugyeom home though?”

The door to your aunt’s house opens only after you ring the stupid bell at least three times , as you stand on the porch, judging the loud music that blasts from within the walls. “Wow , you look like shit.” Yugyeom always has some snarky comments up his sleeve but you are in no mood to be playing word games with him right now. You barge into the house , pushing past your cousin who you smells like donuts and Axe.

“Shut up.” You say, plopping down on his bed . You really want to cry right now but Yugyeom has never been big on consoling so you try to hold it in .

“What’s wrong? I’m not joking.” He sits beside you, putting down his gaming console on the table by the bed.

You play with your fingers , breathing in and out to calm your nerves. Yugyeom, out of all the people in the world , is the easiest to talk to but today , you find yourself on the edge , trying to be very careful with your choice of words. Maybe you were afraid of angering him as well.

“I..I kind of beat Anya up.” You confess ,swallowing the lump in your throat.

Yugyeom becomes still for a moment , staring at you with his mouth gaping and then his face breaks into the widest grin in the world.

“You really beat that bitch up? Like for real?” He asks , excitedly bro fisting the air like an athlete after winning an important match.

You nod , “And then I went to see Minho. He obviously didn’t react the way you did. He was very angry and then he broke up with me. ”

Yugyeom’s celebrations are short lived as you continue to tell him the details of what had happened earlier, his smile slowly dissolving into a frown.

“Y/n, first of all you really need to learn how to break news to other people. It’s always the bad one first and then the good one. Noob.” Yugyeom bumps his shoulder softly to yours. You would otherwise have argued with him and told him why the happy news should always be first and why the bad news should be last but you feel too exhausted to speak anymore. Your shoulders slump as you put your hands on either side of your head.

“How could he just break up with me like that? He had no logical reason to! He’s so selfish.” You mutter , tears gathering up in your eyes. You try to blink them away before your cousin notices them.

“I don’t think he did it for himself , y/n. You told him that you hit Anya because she was speaking trash about him. Of course he’d distance himself from you so you wouldn’t want to fight his fights for him.” Yugyeom says.

“I wasn’t fighting his fights! She trash talks about you and me and him and everyone else. It was the last straw for me. I didn’t do anything wrong. ” you explain , your heart hammering against your chest.

“I didn’t say what you did was wrong ,y/n. You have a right to be angry with her. But what we’re talking about is Minho. Think about this from his point of view,” Yugyeom replies, his hands on your shoulders , “You beat Anya up , got hurt and possibly put yourself in trouble with her mother all because of him. He feels guilty.” Yugyeom is speaking to you like he’s speaking in one of those debates that he does at college. You love seeing him speak, mostly because he is so manipulative yet subtle , smart yet observant and he can convince you so easily. He could easily pass as the best debater in your college - too bad you’d already taken that place.

“Or it could be because he doesn’t want more trouble in his account. Maybe he’s ashamed of me. ” you whisper, “ And I told you, I didn’t do it just for him. I did it for me and you too and all those people she bullies and makes fun of. Why is he the only one reacting like this? ”

Yugyeom sighs, “Yes , I appreciate your concern for my well being, y/n. But he might not be thinking the same way as I am. I was happy that you beat Anya up , but he was worried about you. He obviously doesn’t want you to get badly hurt.”

You rub the tears that flow down your face with the heel of your hand then place your head on Yugyeom ’s shoulder.

“He might have fallen out of love with me. Maybe he just needed an excuse to call it off.” You mutter.

“You know Minho’s better than that, y/n.”

He’s right . Minho really is better than that.

Break ups suck. In the truest sense. But what you now realize is that break ups don’t hurt that much immediately, but slowly , as the days go by and the memories start flashing in front of your eyes every waking moment , you feel like nothing more than a sack of meat and bones, drained of all emotions.

“For this unit of organic chemistry, I need all of you to memorise the reaction mechanisms over the weekend.” Your professor’s voice feels distant to you , as if there were a wall in between the two of you , even though he stands just a few steps away.

Your classmates start murmuring among themselves, fixing study dates that almost always are unsuccessful and gathering notes they hadn’t bothered to complete until now. But you remain seated in your chair , staring out the window, not bothering to talk to anyone.

It is a bright sunny afternoon and you see all the happy faces out on the field - couples, friends , classmates. You feel jealous. You clearly remember planning a weekend trip with Minho a few days ago and If you hadn’t decided to mess things up so bad, he’d have already been at your college gate by now , waiting in his father’s old car. You clearly remember how excited he was about the trip.

The dismissal bell rings not long after and as you walk out of the college gate, surrounded by thousands of students, you feel lonelier as ever. And your mind imagines his car below the tall banyan tree , his lean frame leaning against the door with a silly grin. You could almost see him there. Even though its just in your mind.

You miss him so much that it gets hard for you to even breathe properly.

“Okay , how long are we going to stay here? I have better things to do than stalk your girlfriend, Lee.” Changbin’s whiny voice breaks the silence in Minho’s car, much to his annoyance.

“Just a few more minutes. Till she reaches the dorm.” Minho replies , his hand limp on the steering wheel and his lips pressed in a tense line.

His eyes are focused on you , your slump shoulders and your unusually slow walk and the dark circles under your eyes. It is obvious that Minho wasn’t the only one having sleepless nights .

“Dude , why don’t you just talk to her? I’m sure she would listen.” Hyunjin says from the backseat , munching on peanuts, “ Plus I think she saw us.”

Minho watches as you turn around a corner and walk toward your dorm building , away from him. He almost wishes you’d seen him.

“It’s not that easy.” Minho mutters, turning the engine on.

At least he knows you’re okay, and safe. That’s enough reassurance for him to try and move on but he somehow always ends up driving to your college gates during dismissal, the brief view of your face still making the worst of his days better.

“It’s not that easy.” He repeats to reassure himself .

“Guess what.” Yugyeom chimes in early one morning, leaning against the locker door beside yours.

“What?” You ask , not sparing him a glance. Your hands busy themselves in flipping over the pages of your notebook ; last minute revisions before tests are more important than the actual studying.

“I saw Anya this morning. She was running late , I think, and she bumped into a junior near the gate. I was sure all hell was about to break loose but she just apologized and left!” Yugyeom says , laughing.

You turn to look at him, a look of surprise plastered on your face. Anya actually did that? Instead of being her usual, defensive, violent self she actually chose to apologize? It’s hard to digest but you’re sure Yugyeom wouldn’t be making all that up. He’s not that creative.

“The sun must have risen from West today.” You reply with a chuckle.

The morning bell rings throughout the corridor, indicating the commencement of your classes. Throwing in your notebook ,you close your locker and heave a sigh. Its just a small quiz but you find yourself stressing over every single thing these days.

“Oh and by the way , it’s Jackson Wang’s birthday party tomorrow.” Yugyeom adds as the two of you start making your way towards the chemistry lab , coats hanging by your arms.

“And we’re going?” You question ,cocking your eyebrow.

Yugyeom is not really into parties , especially the over-the-top , spectacular , rich-kid parties that Jackson Wang often finds himself throwing, yet Yugyeom always goes because a) Jackson is his best friend and b) Who doesn’t like to feel like a rich man even if it’s just for one night?

“Yes. Both of us.” He says. You shrug your shoulders. You have always liked going to Jackson ’s parties and fawning over his huge mansion and the various cuisines placed in front of you that you can’t even name properly and watching other rich kids like himself play golf in the living room. It was pretty entertaining . Even with your post break up gloominess, you wouldn’t want to miss all of that.

“Okay.”

“And one more thing,” he starts ,“I saw Lee Minho outside our college gate yesterday. You might want to do something about that.”

No, unlike what was expected of you, you didn’t really do anything about it but Yugyeom’s words stick to you like a piece of gum throughout the whole day ,consuming every thought and pulling out all those thoughts that you’d stacked up and thrown away into the top most drawers of your mind. You were convinced that the day he broke up with you , he was done. He didn’t want to look back or reconsider. He wasn’t coming back to you. And you’ve been trying to move on as best as you could ,keeping your mind occupied and busy all the time. Yet you had to accept that in the wee hours of the night , staring at the ceiling ,you would often find yourself reminiscing him and whatever you two had. The gentle touches , the late night walks, shy smiles and endless talks ; you missed them.

But his presence outside the college changes the whole game, doesn’t it?

Later that day, you kind of regret agreeing to go to Jackson’s party because you soon realised that both Minho and Jackson went to the same dancing school at one point of time , and Minho probably (like a 99.9% probability because Jackson Wang never leaves anyone uninvited) was invited too.

You dread every second in Yugyeom’s stupid car that brings you one more step closer to seeing Lee Minho again. And although you would never dare say it out loud , a part of you was a little excited too.

“Dude , y/n , I have never felt so underdressed in my entire life.” Yugyeom breathes in as the car stops in front of the huge metal gates of Jackson’s mansion.

“Me neither.” You agree, your eyes glued to the people walking in and out of the doors, wearing tuxedos and dresses and sparkly jewelry. You feel horribly out of place all of a sudden, like a fish flying in the sky and a bird swimming deep under the water- you feel like you don’t belong here.

You look down at your black converse , tightly laced and washed for this very party and your loose ,dark green tshirt and ripped jeans .

“Why didn’t you tell me this was a fucking masquerade ball or soemthing?"you hiss at your cousin.

"Shut up, y/n , you’re not the only one feeling odd. ” Yugyeom shoots back

But all of that discomfort is gone the moment you see Jackson Wang sitting on the huge sofa in the living room , wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts and a white tank top , drunk and wasted and blabbering.

“Let’s go before he sees us.” Yugyeom says , pushing you through the crowds of people clad in silks and pure cotton , “Drunk Jackson is difficult to handle.”

“Oh , I beg to differ , All Jacksons are difficult to handle.”

The garden behind the mansion is filled with even more people than your brain was accustomed to seeing while the DJ stands at the top of a platform , headphones on and screaming into the mic every once in a while to hype up the crowd in front of him , but you realise it’s hardly needed. People are already way too hyped up in here.

“Y/n?” You hear a voice say and you immediately turn around to face Hwang Hyunjin standing under the wonderful night sky, looking as gorgeous as ever. But then again ,when does he not look pretty?

“Hey, Hyunjin. How have you been?” You ask with a smile. Your awkward hand movements do not go unnoticed by him but he thankfully doesn’t comment on it.

“I’ve been good. How have you been ?” He replies , inching closer to you. From the corner of your eye, you see Yugyeom slowing disappearing into the crowds, leaving you all alone to deal with your ex boyfriend’s best friend. You make a mental note to never lend your Netflix account to him again.

“I’m okay, too.” You say.

Hyunjin nods, his eyes staring at you curiously, “Tell me , y/n , how have you really been? I know what happened between you and Minho.”

You gulp , heat creeping up to your cheeks.

“I’m fine, really. Don’t worry about it.” You say, biting the inside of your cheeks nervously.

“If you say so.” he grins , putting an arm around you , “But I’ll be real honest with you , Minho - ”

The words are cut off when the DJ suddenly blasts a new song through the speakers , simultaneously yelling into the mic. The sweaty, wasted , hopeless crowd around you yell a few ’ Let’s GO! ’s and ’ Fuck It Up ’s in response.

“What were you saying?” You yell over the music , pinching Hyunjin’s t-shirt to get his attention. He glances at back you then points toward his left , “That.”

You turn your head in that direction , your heart skipping a beat the moment your eyes meet Minho’s nervous ones. You see him walk towards you in long strides ,his handsome features painted with anxiousness and worry and a foreign sense of guilt. You were angry at him ,yes ,but as he makes his way to you , his silky hair bouncing softly ,his pink lips slightly parted, his starry eyes locked on you ,he looks…Brilliant? Breathtaking? Gorgeous? Stunning? All of these?

He wears a blue tshirt with black pants and has a jacket tied around his waist. He looks beautiful- even though you are mad at him. He looks way too beautiful to not acknowledge it.

And just a few seconds before he reaches you , you break away from Hyunjin’s hold and run away into the crowd.

“Y/n, wait!” You hear the both of them yell at the same time. But only one of them follows behind you and you don’t even have to look back to know who it is.

Fear and anger creep into your body , slow but painful like poison. You remember the last few days and how horrible it had been for you , all because of Minho and his lack of understanding in a moment when it was needed the most. Over the past few weeks, your ex boyfriend had made no attempts to contact you whatsoever and if he thinks he could just pop out of nowhere and start talking to you again, then he’s gravely mistaken. You might still love him and want nothing more than to hold him close , but that doesn’t mean you aren’t angry anymore . You are not ready to face him. At all.

Your feet burn as you run further away from Minho, jogging up the stairs inside the mansion with your hand tightly gripping the cold metal railing.

“Y/n, please, just listen to me once.” He yells, still not giving up.

You scoff , “Why should I? You didn’t listen to me that day either!”

You find a door at the end of the staircase, your hands pushing it to reach the empty terrace that you’d heard Jackson bragging about during your English classes when everyone was too bored to listen to the professor. The terrace really was beautiful, with all kinds of flowers blooming and a fountain with lights , you would have almost been breath taken if not for the man closing up behind you.

“Y/n, damnit, ” Minho huffs, reaching his hand out toward you, panting, “Stop, okay? Just listen to me , please.”

Not like you have an option anyway. You sigh in defeat , walking toward the fountain, the carpet grass rustling under your feet. “What?” You demand, your voice bitter with anger.

Minho stands in front of you , his brown unkempt hair and firey eyes reminding you of the night you guys had kissed for the first time. He stands at an arm’s distance, giving you enough space to think things through. He would never want to force you to do something you wouldn’t want to. And even if everything turned out to be not in his favor tonight, he’d gladly accept it because he deserved it after treating you so badly.

“I’m sorry.” He whispers after a few seconds.

You roll your eyes, “For what? What did you do? As far as I know, THE Lee Minho never makes mistakes!”

He hangs his head low with shame ; he didn’t mean a single word he’d said that night. He was worried, yes, he was very worried about your bashful attitude but he was also very grateful to you for always having his back. It physically hurt him to see you bleeding and completely worn out that day.

“Well, I did make a mistake this time. I said some words that I didn’t mean at all and I’m afraid the girl I intended those words at hates me.” He says , pressing his lips in a line.

“Damn right , she does.” You can’t even look into his eyes anymore because you’re too afraid of laying your true feelings bare in front of him.

“I’m really, really sorry, baby. I know I’m an asshole and I hurt you. I have no excuses to offer but I just want you to know that a single second more away from you will drive me crazy. ”

You process his sentences slowly - letter by letter, inking those words permanently into your memories. “Why?” You ask. What a silly question ,y/n, do you really want to torment this man so much ?

Minho gulps, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the movement, “Because you’re quite literally my everything.”

Minho only dares to grin a little when you no longer throw virtual daggers from your eyes at him. “I hate you , you know?” You say.

“I know ,y/n. I don’t even blame you. I shouldn’t have said all that. I was just so, so mad. But that really wasn’t an excuse to be so rude to you or break up. I should have talked it out instead . I deserve the hate.” He admits.

The frown on your lips dissipates slowly ,making way for a sad, small smile.

“It was so hard, Minho. You don’t even know. I had never felt so lonely in my entire life.” You say.

“Believe me, y/n, I know.” He whispers as your hands find their way to his cheeks, rubbing them ever so gently.

You scan his face, absorbing in the fact that he was actually in front of you and this wasn’t one of your unrealistic imaginations.

Minho takes not more than a half step towards you and you automatically wrap your arms around his neck , like the millions of times you’d already done before. Everything about him is so familiar yet so new. Like layers and layers to discover and only one goddamn lifetime.

He nuzzles his face into the crook of your neck , mumbling soft apologies against your skin, his arms tightening around your waist with every passing second.

“I missed you so much.” You admit, playing with his beautiful brown locks, taking in the smell of his (your) favorite body wash.

“I missed you too.” He replies , “So goddamn much. I almost wanted to cuddle Hwang Hyunjin at night.”

You laugh ,as he admires the way your noes scrunches up when you giggle and the way your eyes bend into crescent moons. In that moment, Minho realises how much he loves seeing you laugh ,especially when he’s the reason behind it. It fills him up with so much pride.

You hear the DJ change the song into a slow , romantic one as his voice booms through the speakers once again , “Ladies and gentlemen, grab the person next to you, with consent of course, and hold them close for this one because tonight is all about dancing with strangers!”

The crowd goes feral.

Minho raises an eyebrow at the DJ’s words , a sly smile playing on his lips , “Shall we?”

He pulls away from the embrace, gently bowing toward you and offering you his hand like some gentleman right out of a fairytale.

“He said dancing with a stranger, not girlfriend.” You deadpan but you take his hand anyway.

He chuckles, leaning closer to rest his forehead on yours, “Technically, we’re still broken up. That makes us strangers.”

You have to give in - not because of his weird reasoning but because of how terribly cute he looks when he smiles like that at you. He holds you close, swaying slowly to the music and grinning like there’s no tomorrow.

“What’s so funny, Lee Minho?” You ask , raising your eyebrow.

He shakes his head, still grinning, “I just realised how rare it is to find a woman who would quite literally declare war for you.”

“Now, you’re exaggerating a little bit with the war thing but yes, that’s the essence of it.” You reply with a proud smile.

He laughs, as you put your hand on his cheek once again and press your lips softly to his. You’d missed this so much - not just kissing him but also this feeling of intimacy you share with him everytime you’re in a closed space, sharing the same air. You missed his teasing, his stupidly sweet laughter, the warmth of his embrace. You missed Lee Minho - your safe place, your best friend, your world.

And even after everything, you both know for sure that you would fight the world for Minho if need be, and he’d do the exact same thing for you. Every single time.

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undercoverclover · 3 years

Text

Make You Happy

Pairing: Donghun x OC

Genre: Angst

Warning: None, I think.

“I can’t do this anymore, Donghun.”

“What do you mean? I’m trying!”

“You’re trying? You’re never home! I get working, but the extra hours are too much! I need you!” I scream, tears streaming down my face.

“I- please. Please, don’t do this.” He says, defeated. The tears running down his face hurt beyond anything describable.

“I don’t want to! Don’t you see that? It’s not how I wanted this.” I turn and walk away from the man I thought I would love for the rest of my life. I probably will, but I can’t be with him until he’s ready… if that will ever happen.

Getting back to my place, I see the photographs plastered on my wall of him and I. I pull them off one by one and put them in my keepsake trunk. I wish it was me that made him happy.

2 years later

“Hey! Long time no see!” I hear. Looking around I see a woman, around my age with light brown hair and blue eyes, had said.

“Liliana?” I gasp.

“Hello, love. How are you? I’ve missed you!” She exclaims, giving me a hug in which I return happily.

“I’m alright. How are you? How’s everything going?” I ask, smiling.

“It’s been pretty good. These past few years have been a lot better than it has been in a while.” She smiles, seeming genuinely happy.

“That’s great! I’m really happy for you.”

“So, what have you been up to since you left?” She asks, kind of nervously playing with her hair-tie to see if it was still a sore subject.

“Once I moved to NYC, it was rough starting off. After everything, I was a disaster. But, eventually I opened up my gallery with a friend and we’ve done pretty well so far. I think anyway.” I smile.

“What? That’s amazing! You’ll have to show me some of your work! Maybe I can get one to ha-”

“Sorry to cut in, but I need my girlfriend for a second.” A familiar face cuts in and smiles at me.

“No way.” I smile, wider than I thought possible, “Chan?”

“Hey, it’s been a long time.” He says, smiling but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“How long have you 2 been together?” I ask, astonished.

“Um… About a year and a half.” He says, smiling and wrapping his arms around her.

“That’s awesome. I’m really happy for you guys.”

“Thanks.” Liliana says, smiling widely, “Well, I guess I’ll be back in just a few. We can finish catching up then?”

“Definitely.”

They take off to wherever Chan needed her and I look around at the room full of people. A high school reunion shouldn’t make you this nervous. I guess that’s what you get when you only had a handful of friends in a sea of people back in high school.

I spot the drink bar and walk towards it, maybe something over there will save me from being lonely.

“What can I get you?” The bartender asks. I look at everything and decide against it, I have to drive back to my parent’s house later.

“Just a sprite, thanks.” I smile. He nods, leaving for a split second to retrieve it.

“I’d never thought I’d see you back here again.” I hear in my ear and freeze.Why….

Turning around, I see Donghun… The same gorgeous man he was 2 years ago, except he had medium platinum hair and wore a suit.

“Hello, Donghun.” I smile slightly, trying to hide the pain I feel looking at his big brown eyes.

“It’s nice to see you again, Anya.” He smiles and looks down anxiously.

“You too. How have you been?” I ask, realizing I might get a hateful response.

“I’ve actually been okay. Better than I was. How about you?”

“I’m alright. It’s been a rough couple of years, but they’re finally getting better.” I say, truthfully.

“Yeah. I get that. What are you doing in NYC?” He asks.

“I have an art gallery up there with a friend.” I smile.

“That’s really great. I’m glad you found something that makes you happy.” He says looking down at the ground again. I feel the stab in my heart and my breath hitches. I regain composure before he looks back up, but the tears are wanting to form.

“Yeah, it’s helped.” I say, “What about you?”

“I mean, we just got back from tour last week, so it’s been rough trying to fix my jet lag… but I’ve been steadily busy.”

“Tour? Are you serious? That’s so awesome!” I smile, really happy for him.

“Yeah. We got signed about 6 months after everything happened.” He smiles but sadly.

“That’s so awesome though. I’m really happy for you. Truly, I am.” I smile at him.

“Anya! There you are.” Liliana smiles, dragging Chan behind her.

“I didn’t leave yet, don’t worry. Plus, you know there’s only one hotel in town.” I chuckle at her.

“That’s true.” she laughs.

“I’ll leave you two to talk, is that okay with you Lil?” Chan asks.

“Yeah, you know where I’ll be.” She smiles, looking up at him and kissing his cheek.

“That’s fine. Donghun, you want to join me with the other guys?” He smiles at his friend.

“Yeah, sure.” He replies then turns to me, “Catch up with you later?”

“Sure.” I smile and they head to find their friends.

I sit and catch up with Liliana for a while, talking about life in a bigger city and what has changed since I’d moved. We talk about good and bad, things in between, and make plans to hang out outside of here tomorrow afternoon. By that time, Chan came to find her and take her home since she had to work in the morning.

Saying their goodbyes, I grab my purse and jacket so I can head out as well.

“Goodnight, Anya.” Donghun says as I pass him walking out to my car.

“Goodnight Donghun.” I smile at him.

Arriving at the small hotel, I open the door and collapse on the bed and pass out from exhaustion. When I wake up the next morning, I notice I never took my makeup off…

“Geez. I need a shower. I look awful.”

Looking at the clock, I notice it’s almost one. I check my phone and Liliana messaged, asking if around 3 this afternoon was a good time to meet up. I text out the short reply and get up to take a shower.

Lil and I met up right at 3, at the cafe beside the hotel.

“Hey! Over here.” I say, waving at her to get her attention.

“Oh! Hey! There you are.” She smiles.

“Yeah, sorry. It was the only table open when I got here.”

“No that’s fine. I don’t mind.”

“How was work?” I ask.

“It was hectic but okay. We’re normally not very busy, but today we were swamped.” She explains.

“Dang, I hope it doesn’t happen again.” I smile, hoping she’s taking care of herself properly.

She only nods and smiles. Catching up on even more stuff, it’s past six p.m…

“Shoot, I have to go, I told Chan I’d be there to drop his bag off at practice in fifteen minutes.”

“Aw, dang that sucks!” I frown.

“Yeah, how much longer are you staying?”

“I leave out in a few days. I can stay longer if necessary but nothing crazy, like a month.” I laugh.

“Dang, thought I could get you back for good.” She smiles, “Do you maybe want to go drop the bag off with me?”

“Are you sure?” I ask.

“Yeah, for sure.” She replies.

Getting in the car, we drive for about ten minutes and pull up to an old studio. It was bringing back some memories that I don’t know if I want.

The dance lessons by Donghun, the cake fight with everyone and this… this is where I said goodbye…

We get out and head inside to the practice room, noticing everyone huddled around a piece of paper. I reach up and knock on the door and wonder if they’d heard me.

“Hey guys, come in! Thank you baby.” Chan says, acknowledging us and kissing Liliana on the forehead. I feel a twinge of longing seeing that. I quickly push it away before it causes any more damage.

“Hey, Anya!” Sehyoon says, looking up and sidestepping the others to give me a hug.

“Hey Sehni!! It’s so nice to see all of you again.” He smiles at me as do the others.

"Yeah! I'm glad you stopped by." Jun smiles.

"I hope you guys have been taking care of yourselves." I smile.

"They have or at least I think they have." Lili smiles, "considering I try to cook for them often and bandage their injuries,” She says and they all look at Chan… “What? She’s clumsier than I am, okay?” He groans.

She smiles and adds, “Also, I put cookies in Yuchan's bag."

"Sweet!" I hear Chan say, breaking free from her to go grab a cookie.

Someone lightly brushes past my arm and I look up to see that it's Donghun.

"Hey Donghun! Lil brought cookies." Byeongkwan says with his mouth full of cookies.

"You better save me one." He says, glaring at Jun. Sehyoon takes a cookie out and sits it on a napkin for this friend.

"Thanks." Donghun smiles.

"Hey, I'll be right back," I smile, looking outside. Liliana nods and I step outside to get some fresh air. Sitting down and leaning up against the building, I rest my head back and close my eyes to think. You shouldn’t be here. It still hurts just as much. He doesn’t want you here either. It’s just an open wound.

“Are you okay?” I hear beside me. Opening my eyes, I see Donghun eyeing me.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I say, hoping he walks back inside. Instead, he sits beside me against the wall, turning his head to look at me.

“What is it?” He asks.

“It’s nothing.” I say, my cheeks going red.

“Anya, you are such a horrible liar.” He states, “Why’d you come back?”

I look up at him, shock written on my face and not sure how to answer, “What do you mean? I came back for the reunion.” I say, confused.

“Okay.” He says.

“I did, Donghun. I missed my dad as well.”

“Are you seeing anyone there? I know you said you had a friend who owns the gallery with you.”

“No, I’m not. That’s all he is. Just a friend and quite frankly, he’s not my type. What about you?” I smile, nudging his shoulder.

“Nah, I tried a few more times after you.” He sighs, continuing, “Nothing short of complete failures within a week.. I decided to just give up and work on my career.”

“I’m sorry.” I say, feeling the pain of that day weigh on me again.

“Don’t be. I needed a kick to get my life on track. I was so absorbed in working that I neglected the one thing that was perfect.” He says, getting quieter as he speaks.

“Your dreams came true though.” I try to smile, but it just didn’t feel right.

“One of them did, not the biggest one.” He says, looking at me with a tear sliding down his cheek.

“Donghun, I-” I had no words.

“Don’t worry about it. You did what you had to. I get that. I’m really sorry that I was that way. Nothing’s been the same without you.” Wiping his eyes with his shirt, he tries to stand up.

I place my hand on his arm, “Wait. Please?”

“What is it?” He asks, leaning back.

“You know that’s never how I wanted our lives to be.” I choked out.

“I know. It wasn’t your fault.. I just didn’t realize what I had, until it was gone… Did your dad tell you I tried to come by the house two days after that? I was going to quit. I’d have given it all up for you, but you’d already left.” He says, looking into my eyes, “You are my happiness. It’s not the same without you, I’m not the same.”

I feel tears running down my face now, “Really? You-” I couldn’t finish the sentence.

“Yes.”

“I’ve never moved on. Not since you.. I haven’t even tried.” I say, quietly. His eyes grow wide and I hide my face in my hands, embarrassed to admit it outside of my head.

“Anya? Why?”

“You were my entire world, Donghun. It hurt so bad that day that I couldn’t deal without your love. I closed up. I’ll never let anyone in like that again.”

“Give me another shot.”

“What?” I ask, thinking I misheard him. He leans closer to me, tears still falling from both of our eyes.

“Let me show you how much I still care, my love. Give me a second chance, please?” He pleads and places his hand on the back of my neck and gently pulls me in close to kiss me. The salt ridden tears not making any difference, I kiss him back.

He pulls back, breathing heavily and smiling, “Always and forever?”

“You and me.” I smile, kissing him again.

#a.c.e #acewriters #donghun #ace donghun #lee donghun

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earnestly-endlessly · 4 years

Note

Could you please rec cherik fics where they still have powers but being mutant is well accepted? (Kind of like the Daycare Verse by brillingspoons) THANK U SO MUCH YOURE INCREDIBLE

Hi anon, of course I have a list for you. I am so sorry for the delay. I have been super busy lately with work and home renovations, but I’m back and I have a looong list for you. Now, the nature of x-men as a parallel of the very real fight of minority groups for civil rights makes it pretty hard to find fics where everyone accepts mutants.That’s actually why I love the x-men, because they represent the fight of those who are ostracised. So, some of these might have some social commentary, but the main focus does not lie there. Also, if you love the Daycare Verse check out pocky_slash’s fics (who actually wrote the majority of the Daycare Verse).

------

Cherik ´Still Have Powers Modern AU´ Fic Recs

irreconcilable differences (make for surprisingly good bedfellows) – pocky_slash

Summary: Tonight on The Evening Report with Malcolm Stevens, noted geneticist and mutant equality proponent Dr. Charles Xavier faces off with the infamous mutant rights activist Magneto in a live televised debate over the Genetic Nondiscrimination Act.

(At least, if they can stop flirting long enough to stay on topic.)

Words and Pictures – pocky_slash

Summary: When Lorna's powers manifest early, Charles Xavier's mutant picture books are the perfect teaching tool. Erik just hadn't expected the author to be so young. Or attractive. Or available.

For the Record – endingthemes

Summary: As prominent figures in the mutant rights movement, activists Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr are pretty much household names. When a romance scandal between them breaks, their celebrity reaches new heights, and though the increased exposure is great, there’s a big problem -- the two of them are just friends.

Too bad no one believes them.

Runs in the Family – Anonysquirrel (chibirisuchan)

Summary: Alex knew his own reputation. Hell, he'd started some of his own reputation, because it kept some of the smarter thugs off his back. Everyone knew Alex's reputation. There was no way Hank didn't know his reputation, but he'd brought Alex into a house with some really expensive things and a lot of innocent little kids and his too-friendly, too-harmless dad.

But clearly Hank hadn't told his family anything about Alex, just like he hadn't told Alex anything about his family. At least, not about the brain-breaking parts of his family.

"I didn't know where to start," Hank said, for the dozenth time.

Featuring mpreg!Charles in a Kiss The Cook apron, overprotective!Erik in wet black leather, and baked goods. Lots and lots of baked goods.

(Another segment of this series is posted under the Cookie Cutter fic collection - thanks again, Takmarierah!)

Impulse Decisions – listerinezero

Summary: Erik wakes up in Las Vegas with a hell of a hangover, a telepath in his bed, and a ring on his finger. Now what?

You Show Me Yours - endingthemes

Summary: When Erik receives nudes in the middle of the night from an unknown number, he's confused and mildly amused. He doesn't expect it to turn into an actual conversation...with feelings.

As if that's not baffling enough, his friend's brother ends up crashing at his place, further complicating everything.

Some Such Place (The Big Screen Classics Remix) - Pocky_Slash

Summary: Erik's spent the last eighteen months having lengthy socio-political conversations and casual sex with Charles Xavier after seeing Monday matinees at a dingy little independent movie theatre in the Village. That doesn't mean they're friends. Or that Erik should have any say in what Charles is going to do with his future.

(At least, that's what Erik keeps telling himself.)

Into Your Tar, Honey - tomato_greens

Summary: Really, Alex doesn’t know why he’s in the damn class.

(Or, the one in which Charles teaches an online Introduction to Biology course, and Alex reads more than he expected to.)

Heli Cases - Black_Betty

Summary: "Heli Cases" is a program on PBS whose aim is to educate on the rapidly increasing occurrence of genetic mutation in the general populous by breaking the complex science down into palatable, easy to digest pieces.

It is also the only thing that helps Erik get his fussy daughter to fall asleep.

(Featuring Dadneto, baby Lorna and the struggles of single fatherhood, and Charles as the host of a late night show about genetics.)

Bound - FuryRed

Summary: Is there anything worse than someone else’s wedding? Well, perhaps your sister’s wedding- where the groom just has to invite his boss and that man just happens to be your ex-boyfriend; a person you had an extremely passionate and tumultuous relationship with that ended badly.

Charles hadn’t seen Erik for a year by the time Raven had told him about the wedding. He wasn’t looking forward to the occasion, particularly when Raven explained that they would be celebrating the event with a two-week extravaganza at a luxury hotel, meaning that Charles would be forced to spend a whole fortnight with the man who he’d given everything to; the man who had ultimately broken his heart…

An Exercise in Frustration – ikeracity

Summary: Erik Lehnsherr's latest critically-acclaimed film Shame features a full-frontal nudity scene. His long-suffering husband Charles is really very peeved about it.

Eyes on Fire - Black_Betty

Summary: Every once in a while, fashion tycoon Emma Frost invites her favourite male models over to entertain her. And by "entertain", I mean she makes them have kinky consensual sex in front of her....Emma never touches herself when she watches, but she always has a glass of wine with her. Emma likes it best when they eventually forget that she's watching.

Charles and Erik meet each other through Emma...

(I've taken some liberties with the prompt, but all the sex is still there, and it's wholly consensual...and gradually, becomes more than just sex...)

Order Up - ikeracity

Summary: Charles has a terrible habit of multitasking, and that is probably why he absentmindedly tells the pizza man that he loves him when hanging up.

Then the pizza man says it back. And Charles is pretty much smitten from there.

Some Assembly Required - manic_intent

Summary: "Alex and Hank were two teenagers who frequently fight in school. One fight got so bad that the principal called in their fathers (as both came from single-parent families)/ guardians for a conference. This was how Charles and Erik meet."

Limited Release - rageprufrock

Summary: When Alex Summers broke out of supermax to rescue his stupid kid brother, he had no idea it was going to be so fucking complicated.

Math Reasons – pearl_o, pocky_slash

Summary: "Mom says Erik always knows what he wants, it just sometimes takes him a little while to actually realize it," Ruth said.

Charles fell in love with Erik the first night they met, the first week of freshman year. Two years of friendship, adventures, arguments, hijinks, secrets, and summer visits later, Erik is starting to catch up.

It’s kind of our whole thing – pearl_o, pocky_slash

Summary: After two years of best friendship, Charles and Erik thought they knew everything there was to know about each other. They're surprised, then, when their first summer as a couple reveals that they have a lot to learn about each other and themselves.

PART 2 of Math Reasons

A Nice Boy (The Family Matters Edition) – pocky_slash

Summary: Erik's not sure whether the problem is that he doesn't want his parents to meet Charles or that he doesn't want Charles to meet his parents. Either way, he never invites Charles to brunch. Why should he? It's not like they're dating.

apple season – pocky_slash

Summary: "You know," Charles says while they're sitting around the kitchen table reading the paper, "You should take Anya apple picking."

"Don't you mean 'we?'" Erik responds. The silence that follows is enough to make him re-examine his own apple picking memories a little more closely. Uneven ground littered with apples, tree roots, holes, and narrow passage between rows of orchard trees. "Oh," he says.

rooms/shares – pocky_slash

Summary: Erik is single, working a cube job he hates, letting his master's degree in mutant studies collect dust, and living on his best friend's couch. When she kicks him out, he's forced to trawl Craigslist for the least-offensive rooming option within his meagre budget. He never expects a response from the persnickety, high maintenance ad he replies to as a joke, but it's possible this too-nice apartment and mysteriously absent roommate might be the answer to all four of his problems.

Continue firm and constant – aesc

Summary: Moira hasn't seen her old partner in saving the world from threats human and intergalactic, Erik Lehnsherr, for a few years. When she finally does see him again, she finds a man different from the one who's been with her down in the dark and the dirt and the blood... or maybe he isn't so different after all.

Tough little baby telepath – aesc, pearl_o

Five Part Series

Summary: Teenage telepath Charles Xavier takes a job as a consultant, working with prickly police detective Erik Lehnsherr. Charles is used to being on his own and taking care of himself; he has no reason to think that his relationship with this stern, icy man is going to change any of that.

Frosted hearts – aesc, palalife

Summary: Emma Frost has 99 problems, but a date ain't one. Specifically, she has no time to play the dating game--which is fine with her, because she'd much rather run it instead. From a set of sleek, silver and white offices on Fifth Avenue and with her trusty, stylish, and silent partner Janos Quested, Emma has built Frosted Hearts into New York City's premiere dating service, built on the principle that money, and a sufficiently rigorous psionic scan, can, in fact, buy you love.

Somewhere in Frosted Hearts's server is one Charles Xavier, genius and geneticist, with the kind of nicely-starched good looks that sell well on brochures for New England prep schools. He's also a telepath who's decided to give up pursuing serious relationships and instead spend his thirties doing what he should have done as a teenager: have a lot of sex with random people. Fortunately for him, Erik Lehnsherr, metallokinetic and engineering executive, has absolutely no time in his heart or his schedule for anything more serious than... well, absolutely nothing romantic at all.

Mercy of the Fallen (the AirDrop Security Update 2.0) – pocky_slash

Summary: Erik Lehnsherr feels defined by his past sins and after years of acting against his own moral compass, he's finally struck out on his own. He's his own boss now, and determined to work hard to help the mutant community and make up for years of doing someone else's dirty work.

Complicating this is Charles Xavier, mutant advocate, genetics professor, unfairly attractive telepath, and owner of the coffee shop below Erik's office. Erik may not think he deserves to be a part of the community he's thrown himself into helping, but Charles has other ideas on the matter, and he's determined to do everything in his power to make Erik see himself as a force for good.

you follow and i’ll lead – pearl_o, pocky_slash

Summary: When Charles discovers how frustrated and self-conscious his best friend Erik is about his ignorance about sex, he's eager to volunteer to help teach him and practice. Charles might not have any more direct experience than Erik, but he does have a telepath's mind full of accidentally picked-up fantasies and memories, as well as knowledge of a few dirty books - and more importantly, he's been madly in love with Erik for years. This seems like a brilliant, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that he can't pass up.

Now he just needs to manage to keep his feelings in check, and not ruin their friendship forever.

Snail Mail – pocky_slash

Summary: Alex isn't thrilled when his boss, Erik, starts sending him to hand deliver notes to Erik's husband up at the university--that is, until he sees the Professor's hot new TA, and suddenly, the notes can't come fast enough. If only Alex could work up the guts to ask him out....

this is life (and everything’s all right) – pocky_slash

Summary: Edie Lehnsherr came into Charles' life long before he ever heard Erik Lehnsherr's name, and her death left a gaping hole in the lives of everyone in Charles' family. As the first Purim without her approaches, he begins to get creative in his efforts to bring everyone out of their grief. Kitchen creativity, however, is not quite his strength....

Watching the Detectives – Clocks

Summary: Detectives Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr are good friends and colleagues. However, when they go undercover at a Christmas party to nab a prime suspect, Erik keeps reminding himself to stay professional and ignore feelings of unexpected jealousy.

Student/Teacher Relations – PoorMedea

Summary: As a TA, Charles knows he can't get involved in all his students' lives. He needs to keep professional boundaries, to make sure that he's an authority figure. But when he accidentally finds out how complicated Erik Lehnsherr's home life is, he suddenly finds that distance hard to maintain.

Fill for the prompt: Erik is the teen dad of adorable baby!Lorna. I just want teen!Erik being a dad, with adorable interactions between him and his baby. Angst is good too since there's always going to be some in such situations, but mainly I want to see teen dad Erik being an awesome dad who loves the hell out of his daughter despite whatever else may be going on.

Conspiracy of Kisses – Alaceron

Summary: Seven-year-old Erik needs to keep his telepathic best friend Charles from finding out that he wants to kiss him. But that's okay, because he has a plan - he'll put on a tinfoil hat.

Favorite Mistake – endingthemes

Summary: Charles Xavier doesn’t think anything of it when he sneaks out without even saying goodbye to his latest one-night stand. What he doesn’t expect is to walk into his new position in the Xavier Industries marketing department and find that his latest hook-up is now his new boss.

Never Take Biology for Granite – ikeracity, pangea

Summary: Charles is an internet celebrity who garners his fame from posting educational, in-depth videos about a different animal every week, though for some reason his viewers are always more interested in his sex life with his geologist husband, Erik, who happens to frown heavily upon all living things.

Except for Charles, of course, whom he's missed these past couple days while attending a geologic convention--though considering the subject material of Charles' newest video, he's wishing he would've stayed away longer.

This Is Not Comedy – baehj2915

Summary: Written for amarriageoftrueminds' prompt for a Cherik version of Louis CK's tangent about the fuckability of Ewan McGregor.

Naturally the similarities end there. I made this about Erik's full on public lust-filled gay revelation, and the chaos that spirals from there.

Snowed In – dedkake

Summary: Charles and Erik have a one night stand, but a blizzard traps them in Erik's apartment afterward.

#cherik fic recs #fic recs #still have powers AU #cherik #asks #earnestly answers #as always I can't make short lists #sorry about that #long post

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hyperion-moonbabe-art3mis · 4 years

Text

Virago 13. It was All Lies

Summary: Y/N was sent to the ground after spending five years in the Skybox for stealing medical supplies and murder. How will she deal with her new environment and learn to survive on earth? Will she crack under the pressure of becoming a leader of the 100 or will she embrace it.

Post Date: 08.28.20

Word count: 1.6k

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x Reader

Based off: 02x02 “Inclement Weather”

Masterlist

100 Master List

The next couple of hours made you feel like you were back in the Skybox. You enjoyed having something to do around camp, but here, you had nothing to do. It made you feel like a prisoner again. It didn’t help much that you weren’t allowed to leave either.

“Look who finally got released,” You hear Jasper say from beside your bed. You pop up to see Miller and Maya walk into the room.

“Hey,” Miller says making his way towards you, Clarke and Jasper.

“Miller,” Clarke says as she moves to the edge of her bed, dangling her legs off the side.

“I’m glad you’re ok,” You say moving to the edge of your bed as well.

“Yeah. It only took, what, three surgeries?” He looks over to Maya for confirmation. “I hear you two are fitting right in?” Miller gestures to you and Clarke. You notice the upward glare from Maya, before realizing that she was looking at Clarke.

“Twice a day. Don’t forget. He’ll be okay in a few days. Here,” Maya says handing Miller a pill bottle and a bag. Jasper starts to talk to Maya and you notice how well they’re hitting it off, it makes you happy seeing how happy he is. Not much later an alarm starts to go off.

“What’s going on?” You ask stepping in front of Maya as she starts to rush out.

“That signal means a surface patrol is back, and someone needs medical attention. I have to go to quarantine,” She explains before rushing past you.

“Hey Clarke, Y/N. What are you doing?” Jasper catches both of your arms as you and Clarke start to follow her.

“Maybe they found survivors. If our people are hurt, we have the right to know,” Clarke explains for the both of you.

“Pretty sure we shouldn’t go wandering around,” Jasper says following you two as you don’t give him a chance to finish. The three of you run down the halls before finding where Maya had gone to. A group of people including her were getting dressed in suits.

“Who attacked them?” Clarke asks after hearing one of the men explain what happened.

“What are they doing here?” He questions Maya. You don’t hesitate for a moment to take a key card from the man’s shirt behind you and run off. “Stop it’s not safe!” The first man yells.

“It is for us,” Clarke responds as you scan the keycard. “Come on Jasper,” She says as you open the door.

“Someone’s gotta keep them out of trouble,” You hear Jasper’s voice as you run into the quarantine area.

“Clarke, Y/N slow down,” Jasper says as he catches up to you.”Stop pushing so hard. These people are--” Jasper starts as you make your way into a room.

“Are lying to us,” Clarke states as we get to a body in a bag.

“That’s a bullet wound,” You point out as you inspect the body. “Grounders don’t use guns,” You state looking back to Jasper.

“Unless the grounders got the guns from us,” Jasper suggests.

“Unlikely,” You respond back.

“I think our people are alive out there,” Clarke adds in.

“Get them out of here.” The doctor from before says as she makes her way into the room. Closely following are two people helping a heavily burned man from the radiation.

You, Jasper and Clarke, are escorted back to your room, but being impatient you and Clarke ask to see the body again. A few hours later, two guards had picked you up and taken you back to another quarantine room, where Dante was waiting.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. We had to finish decontamination.” The doctor says as she rolls in the body.

“Thank you, Dr. Tsing,” Dante says to her.

“The man with the burns, how is he?” Clarke questions.

“He’s improving,” Tsing responds.

“I’d like to talk to him,” You butt in.

“I’d like to too,” Clarke adds.

“Sir, only patients are allowed in medical,” Tsing explains.

“We can arrange that,” Dante replies. Tsing pulls back the sheet on the body for us to inspect again.

“What is this?” Clarke asks pointing to the port like thing of the man’s chest.

“It’s a dialysis shunt. We all have them in case of exposure. Would you like to see the exit wound?” Tsing asks. You and Clarke nod as Tsing starts to roll over the body as Dante helps her.

“Sargent Langston was forced to push the arrow out in the field,” Tsing explains as a smaller wound than what we saw earlier was displayed. Tsing then brings out the arrowhead he was shot with. You and Clarke look at eachother confused, but still knowing that something is up.

“What did President Wallace say?” Jasper questions as you and Clarke make your way back into the room.

“He showed us Shaw’s body. It looked like an arrow wound,” You explain as you walk towards your bed.

“Maybe because it is an arrow wound,” Jasper responds.

“Or that’s what they want us to think,” Clarke whispers as you see Japsers face turn to disappointment. “What? They could’ve doctored it,” Clarke responds to his facial expression.

“Clarke and Y/N. You guys sound like crazy people. Why do you want to screw this up for us? Jasper whispers back.

“We don’t know what this is,” You add.

“This is safe. This is food, a real bed, clothes. My personal favorite: not getting speared by grounders. And how long do you guys think they’ll let us stay if you guys keep this up?” Jasper questions.

“Did someone threaten you?” Clarke asks, clearly concerned for their safety.

“No. No, it’s common sense. Look we’re guests here, not prisoners. What would you do with a guest who kept calling you a liar? Generally, acted like an ungrateful ass?” Jasper asks, upset at both of our actions.

“I’d kick their ungrateful ass out.” Miller butts in not shifting his eyes up from his book.

“Right now, the biggest threat to us is you two,” Jasper points out before walking away.

“I get what Jasper is saying but I can’t help but feel like something is up,” You say to Clarke.

“I agree, but we have no means of proving anything,” Clarke sighs.

Later in the day you and the group are in the main area just hanging out. You try to keep busy and enjoy yourself but you can’t help but feel like something is wrong. You notice Clarke sitting by the hallway, looking just as miserable as you.

“Frustrated too?” You ask as she tosses a paper in the trash next to her.

“We look that bad, huh?” She asks back. You laugh and nod and look up noticing Clarke’s facial expression change.

“What is it?” You whisper. She nods her head forward and you turn around to see the man, Langston, with almost completely clear skin walk by. Clarke gets up from her seat as you follow her. You follow her to where Langston was standing and waiting for an elevator but she stops, letting him go into the elevator.

You walk off to try and let go of the fact that Langston was fine. But your brain kept telling you to find out and get out of Mount Weather. You keep walking through the halls figuring out how to get into medical since its only for patients. Soon enough you come up onto a slightly ajar door with the perfect sharp edge to reopen one of your wounds.

You look around to make sure that no one was in sight before dragging the sharp edge across the cut you got from the glass earlier. You start to walk around with your bloody arm.

“Excuse me...I--I cut my arm,” You say to a guard as you fake stumble into their arms.

“I’ll take you right to medical,” He says as you fake pass out in his arms. You feel yourself being set on a bed in the med bay. You lay with your eyes closed continuing to fake sleep as someone stitches your arm back up and places another cover ontop.

“Got another one,” You hear someone say as you hear the door open to the med bay.

“Alright set her down next to Y/N,” You hear the familiar voice say as you recognize it as Tsing. You lie a bit longer until you hear her heels click off in the distance finally opening your eyes.

You first look over and find Clarke lying next to you. You bring up your newly stitched up arm as she does the same, “Guess we had the same idea,” You whisper to her.

The two of you get up from your beds as Clarke makes her way over to Langston, trying to wake him up. “What are they doing to you?” She whispers.

“Where do you think these tubes lead?” You question as you inspect them.

“Nowhere good, I’m guessing,” She responds back. You watch as she follows where the tubs connect to and follow her.

The tubes lead you two to a large door. You try to open it but it clearly doesn’t budge without the proper access, “Think we could get in there through that vent?” Clarke asks as she looks up at the vent on the same wall as the door.

The two of you work together to get the vent off and climb through it. Once you’re at the other side you’re greeted by grounds in white clothes bung upside down. You and Clarke looked at eachother in astonishment. You make your way through the hung up grounders before finally taking notice of the many cages holding more grounders.

You and Clarke walk between cages as the grounders try to reach out for you, in hopes of being saved. You notice Clarke stop and bend down at a particular cage.

“Anya?” You question bending down after Clarke.

A/N: So this part is just a filler but also a very important one. I hope you enjoyed it!

#The 100 #the 100 series #the 100 imagine #the 100 x reader #the 100 rewrite #clarke griffin #jasper jordan #monty green #maya vie #nathan miller #100virago

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lacrow · 4 years

Text

SXF Collaboration Story

@nonokoko13 , @sxfobsessed , @nagy-bari

First off I’d like to apologize. Under my insane direction, this little ficlet has turned into a 12k behemoth. Therefore I will be positing it in two parts (and also linking to ao3 since I threw it in with my one-shot collection). I’ll add the link to Part II when it’s edit/posted. Thank you to everyone who helped come up with this idea, it was a lot of fun to write!

Title: Cabernet Makes Her Clothes Fall Off

Rating: T

Part I: ao3

Part II: tumblr, ao3

Parties Involved: Loid Forger, Yor-Briar Forger, Anya Forger, Bond, Franky, Yuri Briar, Becky Blackbell, Camilla, Dominic, Millie, Sharon Mission Objective(s): host a dinner party for friends and acquaintances, [INCOMPLETE] Reporting Status: [IN-PROGRESS] ADDENDUM 1 [NIGHTFALL]: After careful review of last night's mission report, it has come to my attention that Twilight's conduct has been highly inappropriate for that of a WISE agent. I recommend personnel changes be made for the ensured success of Operation Strix. ADDENDUM 2 [TWILIGHT]: Sorry, I forgot to save you leftovers. ADDENDUM 3 [NIGHTFALL]: That's not what I meant, and you know it. ADDENDUM 4 [HANDLER]: He's married. Also, thank you for the leftovers, they were delicious.

Part I

A cacophony of sounds emanated from the Forger house as Yor frantically tried to get things ready for what was sure to be a total disaster.

In just a few hours, guests would be arriving for an impromptu dinner party that she had no right organizing in the first place. It wasn't her call to make, not without consulting her husband first, but...she went and opened her big mouth anyway. Now she was suffering the consequences for it, and not just her, either. Yor looked up through the window above the kitchen sink as she desperately went about getting things ready for the evening's festivities. Loid and Anya stood by the door as they started to put their coats on. The latter had her school backpack on, though in lieu of books and pencils it was instead filled with a change of clothes and some toys.

"I'll be back soon to help set up," Loid called out to her. He went to gather his hat and gloves. "I already called the Blackbells' nanny and told them I can't stay long."

"Ok," Yor replied meekly. Half of her wanted to tell him not to rush. The other half desperately wished to ask the opposite of him. "Please be careful you two."

"Bye mama!" Anya looked over at Yor as Bond came up to sniff her goodbye. "Have fun with your party tonight!"

The Forger matriarch couldn't help but to frown. "You do the same at your friend Becky's...do everything her parents tell you, okay?"

"I will!" Anya replied back. She smiled brightly in anticipation at her upcoming sleepover, though it waned the longer she stared up at her mama.

Yor had no way of knowing her daughter was reading her mind. If she did, it wouldn't have made her feel as guilty when Anya suddenly ran around the corner and wrapped her arms around her leg in a tight embrace. That wasn't to say she didn't appreciate the gesture; if anything she desperately needed it at the moment. It's just that she assumed Anya's hug was less out of fondness and more out of pity, though in the end she accepted it all the same. Yor knelt down and pulled Anya in close as Loid waited by the door with a well-hidden smirk on his face.

"Love you," Anya smiled encouragingly, eyes closed in content.

"I love you, too," Yor teared up a little. She squeezed her daughter tight. "I'll see you tomorrow."

They held each other for a moment. Though she didn't want it to end, Yor ended up being the first to let go. She smiled at Anya before the little girl waved and skipped off towards the door. Already turning the knob to leave, Loid let their daughter out first before turning to his wife. He said nothing, but gave a small, comforting smile to her before exiting. She nodded as a silent thanks before watching him leave, and it soon became just her and Bond. The Forger hound sat there with his tail wagging, and he looked up at Yor with an expectant look on his face.

Yor glanced down at the dog and sighed. "Well, Bond...time to get back to work."

Bond said nothing back, as was to be expected.

/*\

"You're joking, right? Not even a housewarming party?"

A familiar face; the deadpan look of an unimpressed Camilla, though to Yor she seemed just as pleasant as ever. If only the poor girl knew what every other woman working at city hall knew, which was that Camilla loathed her with a(n admittedly waning) passion. No one had the heart to say anything though, which was mostly why they stayed silent as Yor revealed to them that she and Loid had never had a get-together at their house before. Individual people, of course, but never more than one person at a time.

"Er, well...no?" Yor's lips squiggled. Was that a bad thing?

"Really, Yor, you're hopeless!" Camilla shook her head, exasperated. "Don't you and your husband have any friends?"

Yor blinked. "Well, of course we do. You, for starters."

Camilla's jaw dropped as the other women snickered behind her. Yor continued. "And I suppose that includes Dominic, as well? Also Loid's friend Franky, and his co-worker Fiona, and-"

"-Alright, alright, I get it!" the blonde woman grumbled, waving Yor off. "Fine, you have friends. So why then haven't you hosted before?"

Yor frowned a little. She knew why; it was because Loid was always tired and she was terrible in the kitchen. If there was going to be party then he would have to do the cooking, and Yor didn't have the heart to ask that of him. Not when he had so much on his plate already (pun unintended). Still, Yor could see where Camilla was coming from. She had been nice enough to invite her over to a get-together at her house, while Loid and herself had never shown the same courtesy back. It was rude, and not to mention suspicious.

Couples invited people over for dinner, right? So then, what would people think if she and Loid never did?

The more Yor thought about it, the more she realized her attempts at playing house were falling short again. Yor looked up at Camilla, Millie, and Sharon, and all of a sudden she felt self-conscious. They seemed to be waiting for an answer that Yor couldn't give them, or at the very least one she refused to share; that her marriage was a sham and she didn't know the first thing about entertaining guests. It was the truth, but they weren't meant to know that. All Yor could do was think about what her husband would do in her situation. What would Loid's response be?

He'd make it happen. One way or another, he'd pull through like he always did.

"W-well," Yor stammered. She flinched a little. "Why don't you all come over this Saturday?"

The other women paused, most of all Camilla. The three of them threw glances at one another, suddenly finding the spotlight reversed on them. They seemed to have a wordless conversation amongst themselves, while at the same time Yor kicked herself for opening the door to her home like that without talking to Loid first. He liked his privacy just as much as she did, and the weekend was one of the few times he got to relax (and even then it wasn't guaranteed). Yor's head started to slowly spiral; what if he got called into work, or she suddenly had to take a contract-killing job on short notice? This was a bad idea. She had to rescind her offer, and fast-!

"-Do you want us to bring anything...?" Camilla asked reluctantly. It almost looked like it pained her to say it out loud, mostly because it did.

Yor froze. The worst case scenario had come to pass, even more so because she had brought it upon herself. She stood there as three pairs of eyes stared at her once more, only there was no going back this time. The window of opportunity for backing out had already passed, and the only thing Yor could do was try her best to swallow the quickly growing lump in her throat.

"...N-no," Yor shook her head. She gulped. "...My husband and I will cook something for dinner..."

/*\

"I'm a horrible wife," Yor lamented as she straightened out her white polka dot dress. "I never should have agreed to this. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine, Yor," Loid eased. He closed the oven door and threw his mitt onto the stove top. He turned towards her. "There's no reason to beat yourself up."

Yor frowned. Loid sighed. They both looked to the clock on the wall next to them and immediately came to the same conclusion; their guests were fashionably late. A quarter past six and no one had shown up yet, but that ended up being more of blessing than anything else. Loid had gotten held up at the Blackbells' a little longer than expected, and Yor had only just barely finished cleaning by the time he made it home. She at least had it to where all he needed to do was fix up the casserole for later; the rest of their home, from the living room to the bathroom, was immaculately spotless.

"So remind me again who all is coming?" Loid asked uncomfortably as he looked back to the kitchen. He was fairly certain there was enough food, but...

"Well..." Yor thought for a moment. "The girls, so, Camilla, Millie, and Sharon. Dominic as well, and he of course told my brother so Yuri's coming, too. And also Fiona-?"

Loid shook his head. "She won't be coming. Something came up at work and she won't be able to make it."

Some hostage situation at the embassy, last he heard. Nothing Nightfall couldn't handle, though it'd certainly take her the whole night to sort through it all. Tragedy aside, it at least worked in favor of Loid's dinner planning. Along with some easy-to-make finger foods, there would be more than enough to keep everyone satisfied. On top of that, they'd rearranged the furniture in the living room to open it up a bit more. They had also moved the dining room table up against the wall, and Loid even got a hold of a couple breakfast nook chairs (courtesy of WISE) for the counter at the kitchen window.

This little shindig of theirs was turning into quite the gathering. Loid smiled a bit at the thought, even as Yor continued to look up at him in dismay. He had half a mind to reassure her some more, but knew it would only fall on deaf ears. Instead, he took it upon himself to leave her for a moment to go digging in the pantry. He fished out one of the cheap bottles of wine they'd gotten for the evening's festivities. Yor immediately held her hand up to protest, though karma had come full circle to spite her. She didn't listen to Loid. Therefore, neither would he listen to her.

A moment later and he arrived with a glass in his hand, filled halfway with blood-red courage. "Everything will be fine."

"I know..." Yor replied weakly as she took the wine glass from her husband. "...I just feel guilty for dragging you along with all this."

"Hey, we're a team," Loid reassured her. He smiled again, and Yor's face became flushed. "You just focus on enjoying yourself, and I promise it'll all work out."

For what felt like the first time that night, Yor gave a smile back. A small one, of course, since she still had a million things running through her head, but at the very least she gave Loid the response he was looking for. Yor closed her eyes and took a sip and, as if her husband had been right all along, there came a knock at the door immediately after. Yor paused; she quickly tried to swallow her wine in order to answer it properly, though Loid was already opening the door by the time she had composed herself.

They both figured it must have been Yuri (since he was usually quite punctual), but Loid's face fell flat as someone else came into view. "I hope I'm not late!"

Shaggy hair. Scraggly chin. A stature half that of Loid's; the man glowered. "Franky, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm here for the party, of course!" Franky gave a stupid grin as he held up another bottle of wine. "I didn't get the invitation, but I figured you must've forgot!"

"...Right, of course," Loid's eyes narrowed. He continued to glare while Franky grinned. "Must have slipped my mind..."

Stiffly, Loid stepped back to allow his friend entry. He looked to Yor as Franky shuffled in, and he shuddered to think what an unaccounted for guest would mean for her party. Surprisingly, his wife seemed pleased at Franky's presence. She set her glass down and gave him a proper greeting, to which Franky did the same. He placed the bottle of wine on the counter after shedding his coat, and immediately made a b-line for the bathroom. The door shut behind him as he made his pit stop, leaving both Forgers alone again for a moment.

"I'm glad Franky could make it!" Yor smiled.

"Likewise," Loid added flatly. He shook his head in dismay.

"Next time I'll be sure to remind you to invite him," she added while grabbing his arm.

Loid relented with a smile to his wife, though the inside of his head was working overtime trying to sort through possible scenarios for the evening. It's not entirely that he didn't want Franky there (part of him truly didn't), but the less he mixed up Twilight's affairs with Loid Forger's the better. Not even taking into account just what a bad idea inviting an SSS agent into his home was, having Franky and Fiona there would have thrown a whole headache of problems into the equation. Nightfall could have handled herself well enough, but Franky...

He prayed to whatever god above that the little fool could behave himself. Just for one night.

All Loid could do was have a little faith, though that wasn't really his M.O. He'd try not to worry in the meantime, but would continue to keep an eye on Franky for the rest of the night. He eased up on the guy once he emerged out the bathroom and approached him and Yor for pleasant conversation; his initial terseness passed, and the three of them actually got on well enough for a time. For how long, specifically, Loid couldn't say. Before any of them knew it, there came another knock at the door. This time Yor was the one to answer.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, Yor!" an impassioned voice cut through their home, and Loid knew right away it was Yuri. "I got held up at work and missed my train!"

"That's okay, Yuri, so is everyone else!" Yor smiled, and Loid did, too. She was letting the guest situation roll of her shoulders, which was good.

There was a shuffle at the door as both Briars came inside. Yor took her brother's hat and coat, and he smiled pleasantly at her in silent thanks. The moment his head swiveled in Loid's direction, however, that pleasantness quickly took a nosedive. Yor was none the wiser, of course, though Loid was more than aware of his brother-in-law's killer vibe. He smiled.

"It's good to see you again, Yuri!" Loid chimed politely. His smile grew as Yuri's turned even more.

"Loi-Loi," Yuri bowed his head stiffly in acknowledgement. Beside him, Franky cracked up at his friend's stupid nickname.

Yuri's eyes fixed on Loid and Yor's other guest. Likewise, Franky looked to Yuri. This was the first time either had met each other properly, though Franky was more than familiar with Yor's brother and his position as an SSS agent. Admittedly, it was a bit unnerving for Franky to be in his presence, especially with that...weird look he stared at him with. Loid had warned him about it multiple times; the dude was nuts about his sister. Him being friends with Loid probably didn't lend him any favors, so his opinion of him probably was at rock bottom at the moment.

Nowhere to go but up from there, right? "Hiya! The name's Franky, nice to meet you!"

Franky held his hand out to shake. Yuri glanced at it before looking back up. He offered no hand of his own.

"Yuri! Don't be rude!" Yor chastised her brother from behind. He cringed and glanced at her over his shoulder. "Franky's my friend, too!"

The Briar boy turned back around to find two smug smiles waiting for him; an obvious one from Franky, and a thinly-veiled one from Loid. Whether he noticed them or not, Yuri made no comment. He simply shook Franky's hand (reluctantly) and offered a halfhearted hello in reply. The two promptly separated and went their separate ways. Franky followed Loid into the kitchen while Yor stayed behind to talk more with her brother, and both groups kept up conversation for a time until another knock came at the door.

Camilla and Dominic. The pair entered, both carrying offerings for the party; a tray of enticing appetizers and another bottle of wine, respectively. The couple were met with multiple greetings and they offered their own before splitting up almost immediately. Loid showed Camilla into the kitchen while Dominic stayed behind to talk with Yuri. Franky joined everyone else in the living room, seeing as how there wasn't a lot of room in that tiny kitchen for three people. Besides, Loid didn't trust him in there, which was fair.

"Thank you for the food, but you really didn't have to go through all the trouble," Loid told Camilla as he dug into the cabinet for plates.

"Well, Dominic insisted we bring something, and it's a recipe I've been meaning to try out for a while now." She stood off to the side to stay out of his way.

"It smells great, can't wait to try it," Loid smiled pleasantly. A moment later and he procured the dinnerware. Camilla offered to take them into the living room for him.

Loid handed the plates off to her. Camilla turned to walk away, but paused as Loid spun around to gather his own appetizers. She shifted uncomfortably as she scanned him up and down; a nice dress shirt, perfectly sleeked hair, muscles, and an air of confidence that most men spent their whole lives pretending to have. Loid Forger had it all, and Camilla couldn't fathom just how in the hell Yor ever bagged such a hot husband in the first place. Seriously, how? It was downright frustrating just how perfect he seemed; the man could cook, raise a daughter, deal with Yor, and still seem nonchalant about everything. If she didn't know any better, Camilla would have said his and Yor's marriage was some kind of front for the mob or something. There was just no way...

"...Babe, you alright?" Dominic's head suddenly popped into the kitchen. "You're spacing."

Camilla jumped out of her skin and nearly dropped the tin, in no small part because she was caught red-handed thinking about Yor's husband. Luckily for her, Dominic didn't come to that conclusion. He smiled and waved her over and, after she shook herself out of it, Camilla followed him obediently towards the living room. The two of them dropped the food off on the dining room table on the way, which was joined by Loid's tin soon after. He stuck around to open some of the wine bottles, and Yor had half a mind to offer him help but ultimately decided against it. He was good at popping corks, and she would have honestly just gotten in the way.

Yuri, Camilla, and Dominic stood off to the side and chatted. Franky kept Yor company until Loid appeared a minute later, and the three of them sat gathered around the coffee table while they waited for the other guests to eventually arrive. So far, so good, Yor thought to herself as she scanned her apartment. Wine glass in hand, she let out a poorly hidden sigh of relief. At that point, Loid smirked. He must have been thinking the same thing she was, at least that's what Yor assumed. He leaned over the table to pat her shoulder comfortingly, and she flinched at his touch (out of habit) before quickly relaxing. Her husband was right; just enjoy the evening, and everything would work out fine.

She nodded to herself and took a sip of wine, and a small smile tugged at her lips soon after.

/*\

Millie and Sharon arrived stag together soon after. With Franky taking up the baton for Fiona, everyone Yor had invited ended up coming. Bond was promptly kenneled in Anya's room (with plenty of food, water, and a bone) and the party was in full swing.

Loid started to drop off plates in front of people, and he couldn't help but be thankful that Handler had secretly requisitioned him the extra chairs. It was just enough for everyone to have a seat, though he distinctly remembered her shaking her head initially at his request. Not that she wouldn't do it, but more to do with the fact that he was going native, as she had so eloquently put it. A dinner party for his wife's friends? The higher-ups would rip them both a new one if they got wind that Twilight was blowing agency funds again over something stupid.

Regardless, she wrote it off as a business expense for an upcoming mission.

Handler always was a sucker for parties.

Loid just needed to save her some leftovers, which was easy enough. A couple missing appetizers and a suspiciously absent square of casserole were tucked safely away in his fridge for his boss. The spy game could get weird sometimes, and vicarious party attendance was just one of those things that agents did to keep themselves entertained during missions. Usually that involved going out of their way to secretly acquire a bottle from the bar to bring back to a safe house or finding out a way to smuggle out a whole chunk of wedding cake without being seen by the bride and groom. It was a stupid inside joke amongst spies; that being said, Loid was no stranger to it. He fully expected the same from Handler the next time she attended a party for a mission.

"Thank you, Loid!" Yor beamed up at him as he pulled up the chair next to her. All the plates had been delivered, and he held the last one in his hands as he sat down.

"Yes, thanks for cooking. It looks great," Sharon added politely across from them. At her side, Millie echoed the sentiment while trying hard not to eat without everyone else.

Loid nodded and waved off their praise. Meanwhile, Yuri grumbled from his spot against the wall. He of course wasn't about to afford his brother-in-law any good will, though Franky next to him had more than enough for the two of them. He stared down at the food in front of him with big eyes and watering mouth; it was by far the best looking thing he'd seen in a long time. He wasn't necessarily the healthiest eater at home. Mostly his pantry was filled with noodles, cereal, and the occasional box of macaroni. This was a downright feast.

There was only one thing missing, and he almost forgot it before digging in. He hadn't eaten anything all day so he'd abstained up until then, but now was definitely the time for a tall glass of wine. He swung down from his chair and shuffled into the kitchen as the rest of the party cut into their food and carried on in conversation. Nobody paid him any mind, save for one man whose head immediately shot over when he noticed a familiar bob of scruffy hair struggle to uncork another wine bottle. Loid quickly excused himself with no one the wiser.

"No drinking," he stated firmly as he came up behind Franky and lifted the bottle from his hands. The latter spun around incredulously.

"Excuse me?" Franky guffawed. He held his arms out to the side to accentuate just how insulted he was.

"Do you remember what happened the last time you drank at my house?" Loid replied flatly. His voice was hushed. Their conversation needed to be quiet.

Franky considered for a moment. He genuinely gave it some thought before slowly shaking his head. "Er...no?"

Loid pinched the bridge of his nose. "You nearly blew my cover, plus you convinced me to spend thousands of dalc on a castle rental for Anya!"

"Hey, that was your fault for listening to a drunk guy!" Franky shot back, which only caused Loid's eye to twitch in annoyance. "Also, what are you talking about?! Yor's drinking and she's way worse than I am!"

"I can handle my wife. I can't handle both of you," Loid shook his head like a father reprimanding his child.

"She's your fake wife!" Franky whispered back loudly. "I'm your best friend! You're really just going to cut me off like this?"

Loid leaned over his so-called best friend. Their height difference was on full display, and Franky gulped. "This whole party was Yor's idea! It's important to her, and I'm going to make sure it goes off without a hitch. If that means keeping you dry for an evening, then so be it!"

Twilight made a brief reappearance; those cold eyes he was known for were suddenly aimed directly at Franky, and they got his point across loud and clear. With a reluctant nod, Franky agreed to skip the booze. Loid soon eased and nodded back before leaving to return to the other guests. That just left Franky alone by himself with an open wine bottle and a half-full glass on the counter in front of him. He grimaced at the thought of pouring it back into the bottle, a social faux pas if there ever was one. Dumping it certainly wasn't an option, either. Franky was never one to waste a good drink, regardless of the situation.

The newly-sober intelligence agent put his brain to work and came up with a quick solution; if Loid thought so lowly of him at the moment, why not prove him wrong? He was trying to score points with Yor (probably, he really didn't know why Twilight cared in the first place), so maybe if he helped make sure she had a good time then that might make him back off a little. Yeah, that's it! He'd pour the rest of the wine and treat her to a glass, then...well, he'd think of the rest later! His first priority was to make sure Yor was liquored up. Can't have a good party without feeling good, of course!

It all made sense. At least, it did to Franky, anyway.

With a smug grin, he filled the remainder of the glass. The bottle glugged in his hand until there was nothing left, and he promptly disposed of it before carefully curling his fingers around the cabernet meant for Yor. He focused intently on the red liquid as he walked, staring down at it to make sure that none of it came splashing out. Franky narrowed his eyes and suffered full on tunnel vision; for all the years he and Twilight had known each other, also taking into account what a connoisseur the latter was, it was a downright shameful how little Franky knew about handling wine.

Anyone who had ever carried a glass before knew to look forward when they were walking, not down at their hand.

Nobody noticed him at first. He scooted into the open room and crept up while everyone was eating and talking. Yor had her back to the wall, and Loid's was towards him. All the better to surprise the Forgers with a kind gesture, Franky plotted. He let a sneer cut across his face as he arrived and cleared his throat, summoning his hosts' attention.

"Here you go, Yor!" Franky announced obnoxiously. All eyes turned towards him. He lifted his nose haughtily in the air. "I thought you might like a glass of wine-!"

-He suddenly stopped.

Not of his own volition, but because something had caught his foot and sent the rest of him reeling forward. Franky's eyes widened, and he looked down to find he'd tripped over one of Bond's stupid chew toys. He hadn't seen it before. It was too late to do anything about it. Already he was lurching towards Yor and Loid, and even if he caught himself from falling over there was no stopping the overflowing cup in his hands from spilling everywhere. Franky watched, captive, as cabernet rained over the one person Loid had done his damnedest to please that evening.

Yor sat helpless as her white polka dot dress suddenly splattered blood red. Warm liquid stained her and her clothes, and the rest of the party froze for a millisecond as what was happening still registered in their brains. Then, immediately after, Loid jumped up. Yuri and Dominic did so as well, while the women covered their mouths in disbelief. Yor stared down at herself in shock as her brother and husband clamored around her, though it was Dominic that ended up gathering all the available napkins to sop up whatever wine was left puddled around her.

Franky ultimately didn't fall. He caught himself at the last second, though he quickly wished he'd landed flat on his face and passed out from the trauma. At least then he could have been spared from Twilight's wrath; when Westalis' legendary agent quickly ascertained his wife was alright and promptly spun around, Franky could feel his soul being pulled out from his body. And the worst part about all that was, Loid wasn't alone. For the first, terrifying time, both he and Yuri seemed on the same wavelength. The two pierced through him with blood lust in their eyes. An SSS and WISE agent both teaming up to gut him; hell had certainly frozen over, and Franky felt the chill down to his bone.

"...Franky!" Loid menaced. He said nothing more. He didn't have to. The mere mention of his name alone was enough to make the agent quake in fear.

Yuri on the other hand was far more animated, though Dominic was at least on standby to forcibly reel him in. "How dare you spill wine all over my sister you q-tip-headed moron!"

"Hey now, it was an accident!" Dominic reasoned with a pained smile, even as Yuri tried to break free from his grip in order to pummel Franky's face into casserole.

"...H-he's right," Yor piped up reluctantly. Everyone suddenly got quiet and spun around to face her. "It's fine, you two. I'll just...have to rinse off in the shower real quick."

Loid paused. He looked at Yor to find her already standing up. She hid her face with a frown, and immediately Loid's heart sank. With a muted excuse me, she walked past Loid and the other guests on her way to the bathroom. The party watched in silence as she darted into the bathroom. No one made a peep, not until the door closed behind her; at that point, things picked back up exactly where they left off. Yuri went to rip Franky a new one. Dominic did damage control. Camilla and the girls mumbled to each other in hushed tones, and Loid was left standing there in the middle of it all. He stared at the bathroom, disheartened. He wanted to help, but knew there was nothing he could do at the moment besides keep the party going. He had to. For Yor's sake.

With a heavy sigh, he flipped on the switch once more. Back to being Loid Forger, the perfect family man.

With a fake smile and calm demeanor, he went about trying to put everyone at ease. Yuri was by the far the most difficult of the bunch to appease, but after much pandering (and an honest promise to kick Franky's ass later) Yor's brother finally calmed somewhat. He sat far off at the other end of the living room away from everyone else, and once he settled down the rest quickly followed. Conversation slowly picked back up, even more so once the sound of a shower being drawn came from the end of the hall. Yor was getting cleaned up. She'd be back at the party in no time, and the thought was enough to finally get things back in full swing. Franky was still the odd-man out, but Loid didn't care about that. The twerp.

New house rule, Twilight thought to himself as he went back into the kitchen to pour the ladies some more wine. No more WISE agents at social functions.

#spy x family #loid forger #yor forger #anya forger #bond #becky blackbell #franky #yuri briar #camilla #dominic #sharon #millie #fricken everybody

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coeurdastronaute · 4 years

Text

Essays in Existentialism: Footie 7

previously on Footie

By the time the the skies cleared, the world warmed and shook off the rust that accumulated during the long, wet winter. Gone were the obscenely heavy and low clouds, and in their place, puffy white things lazily drifted along while the chill in the air lessened with new sunlight streaming through fresh leaf growth on winter-blown branches.

The streets were fresh, the people alive and streaming out into them with new vigor to chase the first hints of warmth and yellow sunshine on their cheeks and faces, an entire city with their eyes tilted upwards, sighing happily and distracted from real life with moments of humanity peppered back from the dismal sorrow of the autumn months.

It was a beautiful spring. It was going to be one for the books, with flowers filling sidewalks and spilling out from cracks in sidewalk.

There wasn’t a set schedule, or at least one that kept for very long. But there was a rhythm to the day, even without a harmony. It was impossible to keep up with everything, but Clarke realized she was just going to have to live her life a week at a time.

Lexa had her own routine, made even more difficult by travel. While Clarke found herself making her way to Lexa’s place between games and training and her own school assignments and workdays.

But it worked. The timing of it all, of the season and the year and the life-- it all just seemed to completely work. And for reasons not completely explored, Clarke realized she appreciated the timing of it all because it meant that Lexa wasn’t around and she could take it slow, something her mind just didn’t think about near her.

“She looks good out there today,” Jake nodded as he reclined, coming over a cold that left him mildly irritated by almost anything.

If anyone was not built to grow old, it was Jacob Griffin, head coach and Hall-of-Famer. Surly and annoyed by the inconvenience of illness, he grunted and watched the game with the same vigor as someone who was still coaching.

“She always looks good,” Clarke smiled slightly as she continued to balance her gradebook for the semester so far.

“I mean she’s really putting work in. The team’s at the top of the board and I think they have a good enough chance of staying there to win.”

“Lexa’s so precise and focused. It’s oddly contagious.”

“I have some good news for the Olympics.”

“What’s that? You’re going to get the permission to come?”

“Better. That’s the way!” he cheered as Lexa took a shot from deep, burying it deep in the net for the first goal of the scoreless half. “Hell of a shot.”

“It’s me. I’m lucky in this jersey.”

“That must be it.” Clarke watched her father chuckle at the notion before shaking his head and leaning forward to watch the replay a little better. Gone was the deep wheat-color of his hair and now it was replaced with a little more salt. He was still fit, perhaps more gaunt than before because of the treatment. Deep beneath it all, a bit of life still existed despite all else.

“So what else was it? You’re coming to Tokyo?”

“I was invited to commentate.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously,” he rolled his eyes, his good mood coming around despite how he felt. “Some people still like to listen to me.”

“I can’t relate.”

“I can’t believe they’re going to let me commentate. I have to practice being impartial. How am I going to root for Lexa and the home team but not actually root for anyone?”

“Are you kidding me?” Clarke scoffed. “Any chance for you to talk about soccer nonstop, and you won’t be able to shut up let alone root for anyone.”

“That’s true,” he nodded.

“Are you going to be good to go?”

“I think so. Other than this cold, I’ve been doing well. Plus, after the clips of me and Lexa went viral-- is that the word?” he waited until his daugher nodded. “Once that happened, I got a lot of emails with different offers.”

“Mom’s okay with it?”

“She encouraged it.”

“Must be sick of you just laying around the house.”

“Or she really wants to go to Japan.”

Clarke found herself smiling, happy that her father sounded happy despite his annoyances. She was grateful to have a new appreciation for his love of the sport. They sat on the couch together, and Clarke leaned against her father’s side. He put an arm around her and started to couch coach well into the second half.

In a completely different city, Lexa sprinted across the field, her footwork weaving the ball through three defenders before she got the shot off to the top right corner. With a punch to the air, she slid on the grass and was adored by teammates and cheered by the stadium.

There was something poetic about watching someone do something that brought joy to the universe. Lexa was often the first person to diminish what she did, but she couldn’t see this part, the part that Clarke saw when she watched her father disect a play, or when the player on the field disappeared and floated, not one ounce of focus to be spared for anything else other than breathing and scoring, and even then the brainpower reserved for breathing was minimal. An entire brain worked to score, to move, to be precise and exact.

Clarke smiled as she watched, proud of her girlfriend, proud of the girl who bashfully asked her out and now, who she was finding was awfully silly and very smart and quiet. If she wasn’t mistaken, sh might have even guessed that she loved the soccer player.

“I’m going to meet Lexa’s sister,” Clarke muttered. “And her niece.”

“When are they coming?”

“Next week, for finals.”

“Well, you’ve been dating for nearly a year now. Might as well as get it over with, right?”

“I’ve never met anyone’s family.”

“It’s not that bad. You’re a good person. Anyone would be lucky to have you date their sister or daughter or aunt or granddaughter or neighbor.”

“You have to say that.”

“I do,” he agreed, squeezing her shoulder. “But I also mean it.”

“I like her a lot.”

“I figured.”

“I don’t know if we’ve self-determined things, but I thought it was a joke, when we said it was fate, but I don’t know. Sometimes I think it is.”

“Everything is a bit of fate, Clarke. At least the big things in life,” Jake explained, as if it was something he remembered he should have taught his daughter long ago. “Good or bad or indifferent. You and Lexa orbited each other, and then BAM, you can barely remember life without her.”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“It’s not a bad thing, to spend your life with someone else.”

“You just really want me to date her because she’s a soccer goddess.”

“It doesn’t hurt.”

Clarke rolled her eyes and clapped as Lexa got a foul, righting herself quickly and preparing to take her kick, all business, hair stuck to her forehead and neck, body drenched with sweat. It wasn’t even a game she had to win, but still demanded to play.

“They’re going to love you, darling,” the coach promised again after the shot went wide by a few inches and the camera flashed back to Lexa’s tight jaw and groan of complaint for failing to score again.

“Thanks.”

“Now tell me I’m going to do a good job as an announcer.”

“You can’t ask for reassurance like that. You’re Jake fucking Griffin.”

“You’re right.”

“But you’re going to do great. I already know it. I can’t wait to watch you and Lexa.”

“I have to start preparing, watching older footage, scouting players-- there’s a whole slew of things to make sure I know the most.”

“I’m not going to help you study. I get my fill of soccer with that one,” Clarke decided as she nudged her chin at the screen.

“Speaking of, is she going to offer me tickets to the championship or do I have to outright ask?”

“Dad, seriously?”

Jake just shrugged and took a sip of his secret beer, grinning to himself. In moments like this he found himself almost tolerant of cancer. Almost. Because he wasn’t sure he’d ever spent so much time with his daughter, and here they were, watching a game and talking about things of substance, of fears and frustrations and goals and victories. It was moments like that, in which he could almost respect fate. Almost.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

“I’m so happy you’re here. It’s not even funny,” Lexa grinned, silly and happy in the beautiful day.

There was a kid on her shoulders, hands beneath her chin, surveying the world from the perch. Her sister walked beside her, enjoying the spring sunshine and the feeling of her sister showing her around a city she’d never been to before.

“Not because you just won the championship three days ago or because you’re set to fly back with us for training camp?”

“Or because of the ice cream?” Mia added helpfully.

“Maybe a little the ice cream,” she nodded and took another lick of her cone.

It’d been a whirlwind of two weeks, and for the first time, Lexa felt as if she could finally breathe. Gone were the nerves of playing on such a large stage. Gone was the unsettled feeling that came from traveling so much. Gone was the weight of an entire city on her shoulders and it allowed her to inhale and hold it before slowly exhaling, savoring the warmth of the day and the aura of the street.

“She’s absolutely in love with this place,” Anya observed as she watched her daughter taking in all of the sights.

“You’ll have to come visit me more, how does that sound, Mia-Girl?”

“I’m not allowed to fly on a plane alone.”

“I guess your mom can come too.”

“Are we going to watch more soccer?”

The sun began to set behind the buildings, while a few people recognized the athlete, interrupting to ask her questions an utterly gush. It was something her sister and niece got used to being around.

“No more soccer. You didn’t like my game? There was all the confetti and balloons.”

“But it is so long. It takes so many minutes to play, and I get very tired and bored when you don’t have the ball or score points.”

“You make a good point.”

“I like it better when we go to see the castle and that fun science museum and stuff.”

“I liked that stuff too.”

“We miss you at home,” Anya explained as they made their way to her sister’s place, oddly proud of the beautiful place she found for herself, and more relieved with the circle of friends she made.

“I miss you sometimes.”

“Just sometimes?”

“Yeah,” Lexa grunted as she pulled the kid from her shoulders as they made their way to the elevator. “But forget that. You guys can help me pack.”

XXXXXXXXXX

Even from the hallway, Clarke could hear the noises of a family laughing from behind Lexa’s door. It was a sound she almost got used to experiencing over the past two weeks, with Lexa’s sister and niece in town. It was a much more welcomed sound that the roar of the crowd at the championship, or the people calling her name in the street when she was out with her girlfriend ever since. It was certainly better than the multiple phone calls she got from her mother fretting about her father’s deal to commentate in Tokyo.

Naturally, Clarke was worried about her father, but seeing him come back to what he loved, even just at the game the one time, was more than enough to prove to her that he needed it more than anything else.

Even after spending a whole game and a few trips around town together, Clarke was still slightly nervous about spending time with Lexa’s sister, as if every time she did, she waited for the inevitable call from Lexa that said she’d considered it and it wasn't going to work. Anya was stoic and tough to read. It was almost comical for Clarke to think of how Lexa seemed practically animated beside her poker-faced sibling.

But the call never came, and Clarke had to remind herself to not be so ridiculous. It was absolutely silly to think Anya had any reason not to like her.

And so she knocked.

“Hey,” Lexa greeted, easy and happy and with a dish towel on her shoulder as she dried her hands.

The thoughts were gone and Clarke remembered the girl who walked around town in the middle of the night just to talk to her and prolong a date.

“It smells really good.”

Clarke leaned forward and kissed her girlfriend at the door. She pushed her hand against her chest, laying it flat there while she tasted her for a moment, the wine still tart on her tongue, soft and sweet before going further into the house.

“You smell really good,” Lexa retorted with a floppy smile. “How was your day?”

“Long, but okay. The sun is out so the kids are itching to burn off the winter energy.”

“I can barely keep up with one, let alone a whole herd like you do every day. I don’t know how you do it, Griffin.”

“Well, when a mediocre salary and lackluster benefits package rolls up to your door with the promise of weekends off and a pack of thirty primary-aged kids, any sane person would jump at that kind of career opportunity.”

“When you put it like that…”

“It was a good day, just long,” Clarke chuckled. “What’d you guys get into?”

“Mia made me take her to the park, and we watched a puppet show, and played on the late.”

“Don’t forget the ice cream and the shopping,” Anya supplied, sitting at the counter with her glass of wine as Clarke followed the soccer star into the kitchen. “Lexa hates shopping, unless it’s for toys to spoil a kid with.”

Slightly guilty, she just shrugged and picked up her spoon to stir something on the stove.

“We may have done a little shopping,” she agreed. “Nothing too crazy.”

“We’ll see when the packages start to arrive at home.”

They bickered in a way that Clarke didn’t understand-- sisters. It was a concept she understood inherently, but in practice was beginning to see how inept she’d been at truly learning the full notion of having someone like that. She had close friends, friends she’d give a kidney to, friends she’d die for, friends she couldn’t live without, but there was a bit of a shared history between the sisters, a legend and lore, that transcended some of what Clarke considered to be her dearest confidants.

“Grab a glass, join us. Anya picked out a nice red on her own excursion today.”

“A girl after my own heart,” Clarke nodded approvingly as she reached for a glass to pour a much deserved drink. “If those two were left unsupervised, what did you get up to today?”

“Just a little bookkeeping,” Anya murmured over her glass as she flipped through a stack of papers. “My sister is hopeless at any of this stuff and refuses to listen to anything her agent suggests unless I read it first, like I have some kind of law degree or something--”

“You could and should,” Lexa interrupted. “She has better instincts than I do. I love Indra, but at the end of the day I’m a collection of numbers and commas and dollar signs. I trust Anya to give me her hoenst opinion.”

“Because you don’t pay me.”

“Exactly. If I paid you, then the integrity of the process would be ruined.”

“Can’t have that,” the oldest sighed and flipped and drank.

“She acts like she gets annoyed, but the moment I make a decision without asking her, and all hell breaks--”

“Don’t you start! You signed a deal to move across the entire world. That warranted a bit of a freak out--”

“That was one time and it turned out okay. It truly is a great opportunity, and you even admitted it--”

“You got lucky and I still don’t like it. Someone breaks your heart and you key their car, not impulse trade yourself--”

“It wasn’t impulse. You knew it was an option for months.”

Like a ref at a tennis match, Clarke looked at each of them lobbing facts and histories at the other. None was bitter, and in fact most seemed almost comical to them as they argue the finer points of indignation. Clarke took a large gulp of her wine.

“As I was saying,” Anya ignored the rebuttal and explained it to Clarke as her little sister went back to the stove. “We have a system in place for a reason.”

“If you could not trade yourself to another continent, I would appreciate it,” Clarke muttered, earning a grin.

“I don’t know, this offer to come back home doesn’t look so bad.”

“I just won a damn championship and unpacked the last box. I think I’m set,” Lexa shook her head and held a spoonful for her girlfriend to taste. “Plus, what do I need money for? My sister works for free.”

“I’m going to bill Indra my hours as a freelancer.”

The squabbling remained at the same level, but Clarke began to hear the love woven throughout, and as much as Lexa couldn’t admit it, sparring with her sister was her love language, and Clarke was almost certain it was the same for Anya. The only question now, was how did she survive it.

XXXXXXXXXX

“I’ll clean up in the morning,” Lexa offered as her sister began to pile plates in the kitchen.

“Oh, I know you will,” her sister grinned, her cheeks slightly tinted with the drink they’d gone through during dinner. “It was nice to see you again, Clarke.”

“Good to see you, too.”

“I’m going to check on the ki and head to bed. Tomorrow we’re going to the art museum and I need to start to taking naps to keep up with a first grader.”

“And I’m taking them to that diner we like by the station.”

“Get the potatoes. You’ll love them.”

“I’m going to gain seventy pounds visiting this damn country,” the oldest complained as she made her way down the hall with a wave over her shoulder.

The dining room seemed a little more empty all of a sudden, slightly quieter now that the third of the dinner party was gone in search of sleep. Lexa smiled and sipped her wine before looking at her girlfriend, the first time they’d been alone in what felt like months.

The eyes never changed, Clarke realized, as she adjusted slightly in her chair, pulling a leg up and balancing her cheek on her knee. Quietly, they looked at each other. Neither speaking with words.

“You look beautiful,” Lexa offered, cocking her head slightly as she played with her glass.

“You look like a champion.” Clarke earned a chuckle and slight blush. “Your sister was so proud. And Mia was screaming. I wish I had it on video. They’re very proud of you.”

“Anya loves you, by the way.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“She does. She was worried about me falling for you. I think she might be ready to beat you up if you break my heart, but she likes you.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

Lexa nodded, dreamy and mildly intoxicated from the food and the wine and her beautiful girlfriend and her wonderful family and the fact that she had a championship ring on the way and the fact that she was going to represent her country.

“I should head home,” Clarke sighed after looking at her phone and sliding it on the table.

With monumental effort she pushed herself up and stood while Lexa refused to move except to take another sip. She made it a few steps before a hand grabbed her wrist.

“You should stay.”

“Your family is here.”

“I miss you.”

Puppy dog eyes followed and Clarke allowed herself to be pulled down into a lap. She missed her girlfriend’s smell, she realized. She missed how she felt and looked at her, and as much as they’d seen each other, it felt almost new again, a comfortable kind of same that was just renewed.

“You’re a busy lady.”

“You’re my favorite way to spend time,” Lexa promised. “You’re just so… so… I like you.”

“They leave in a few days, and then you’ll be gone.”

“I’ll see you in Tokyo,” she promised.

“I know.”

It was a little bit of a lie. Clarke was aware of the schedule after getting her hopes up to see her dad when he was in tournaments as a kid. But she knew Lexa would be busy for most of it, and it wasn’t about her. It was about support, as much as it killed her to not scream for more. She’d never dated an actually talented soccer player before, but she knew the role.

“Stay tonight,” Lexa whispered again, kissing her shoulder.

“You have plans tomorrow morning.”

“Come with us. I need you tonight.”

“You’re just tipsy and needy right now.”

“Yeah,” she shrugged, her lips half pulling up in a mischievous grin. “I need you tonight.”

Clarke moved her hands, rubbing them up her girlfriends chest, over her shoulders and to her neck. She ran her thumbs along the corner of the soccer players jaw, staring at her lips before meeting her eyes, debating what to do. There really wasn’t much to think about because they both knew what she was going to do.

“I need you to take a week off so we can celebrate all of your accomplishments.”

“There’s never enough time. I’m sorry I haven’t been around as much as I’d like--”

“I knew what I was getting into, somewhat.”

“Once you realized who I was.”

“Yeah, after that.”

Clarke sighed and leaned forward, tenderly kissing her girlfriend, savoring the feeling of the quiet and the night and the world when they were allowed to exist together. She hadn’t thought about anything else on the planet except for them, together.

“You going to make it worth my while if I stay tonight?”

There wasn’t much of a word uttered, but Clarke got her answer.

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ugly-crying-over-bucky-barnes · 4 years

Text

Burned Part 19

Summary: Alfie Solomons is in need of a secretary. Tommy Shelby mentions a young woman in need of employment. From there the two step into a dangerous dance together.

Part 19: Louise comes across startling news.

Louise sank into the hot water, letting out a long sigh of relief. She closed her eyes and took a few deep inhales of the lavender soap. It was a welcome distraction but it didn’t last long. She did everything she could to block out the noise in her head. All the panicked thoughts overlapping one another, each one getting louder than the last.

Just focus on the good.

Alfie.

Cyril and Paris.

All the new friends and family she’d gained. Evelyn, Bess, Anya, Vera, Maxine, Ollie, and Shayna, plus their children. Tante Eva, Bubbe Bluma, Tante Raisa.

Louise opened her eyes when a random memory popped back in her mind. Raisa holding her cheeks and complimenting her eyes. The lines around her eyes showing as she smiled warmly.

“Look at those beautiful brown eyes. How perfect they’ll look on a healthy baby boy.”

The room around her went too quiet and still. She was motionless in the bathtub, the water a sheet of glass around her. Cyril lay beside the tub, his droopy cheeks resting on his large paws. Faint sounds from Evelyn in the kitchen traveled up the stairs. A car passed by outside. But her ears hardly registered the sounds.

Slowly, as if weighted down with lead, she lifted a hand to her stomach. There wasn’t much to feel. Cool air touched her skin, steam rising up. Could there be something there? A child? Alfie’s child? Her child?

Louise sat there dumbfounded. She didn’t even have the ability to recall the date to fact check. Was it Christmas? Or Christmas Eve? Perhaps it was Boxing Day already. She chewed on her lip and tried once then twice to count the weeks. But the dates were muddled and she couldn’t pinpoint a number.

Breaking out of her daze, Louise stood and reached for the towel placed nearby. Cyril lifted his head and trailed her movements across the room but stayed in his spot on the floor.

Louise paced for a bit, unaware of her shivers from the sudden shock of cold air. Finally, she stopped in front of the vanity. Color had returned to her face, her cheeks flushed pink from the hot soak. She dropped the towel and stared at her abdomen as if waiting for the answer to appear in writing on her skin. She twisted left then right to see any indication of pregnancy. Her eyes began to play tricks and she couldn’t tell if her bare midsection actually had a small bump or if she hadn’t changed at all.

Ready to face facts, Louise donned a dressing gown, quickly tying the belt and going downstairs. Cyril followed, sensing some of her distress.

“Lyn, have you seen my diary?” She asked while searching through Alfie’s study. Her still damp hands left trails of water droplets over the wood desk and parchment.

“I think you left it in the parlor. I thought that’s where I saw it last.” Evelyn called back.

Leaving Alfie’s office, Louise finally found the book on the side table in the parlor. She stood over it, rifling through the pages.

Evelyn came from the kitchen. “You weren’t up there very long. Did you get sick again? Are you hungry?” The young woman noticed Louise’s harried nature.

Instead of answering, she searched the book, scanning over Alfie’s meetings and scribbled notes next to her own neat handwriting.

“Louise?” Evelyn grew more concerned by her silence. The woman’s face began to go pale again. “What’s wrong?”

Finally, she found the mark, the mark that Alfie always overlooked because he thought it was simply one of his wife’s doodles. A small flower tucked away in the corner of the Monday nearly eight weeks earlier.

Struck by a frigid wave of shock, Louise slumped onto the couch. A hand covered her mouth and she stared at Cyril. The bullmastiff sat in front of her, his sad eyes searching her face.

She’d been so caught up in the Italians, the holidays, and Alfie’s condition that she hadn’t noticed how late she was.

“Louise,” Evelyn repeated and touched her forehead to see if she was running a fever. “Should I call for Alfie or a doctor?”

“N-no.” Louise finally managed to get a word out. “No, Lyn, no.”

“You’ve gone white as a ghost…”

“I’m pregnant.” The words felt odd in her mouth. Ever since she was a young woman, she hoped she would be able to say those words. She thought about how joyful the occasion would be. Pregnant with her husband’s child. Then Daniel had nearly convinced her she was barren. She lost hope until she fell in love with Alfie. Then she couldn’t quit thinking about their family together. But the world had suddenly become so dangerous. Charlie Shelby was kidnapped right out from under Tommy’s nose. Grace was gunned down. So was John Shelby. Was it really the world she wanted to raise a child in?

“That’s wonderful.” Evelyn’s soft voice interrupted Louise’s gloomy thoughts. The young woman came from a community that celebrated a growing family. “You must be so happy.” She smiled warmly.

Louise’s lips parted and she struggled with the words. “I am…I know I am. I guess I’m just scared as well.” She whispered, her eyes still fixed on Cyril.

The dog whined and went to place his head in her lap. His nose prodded at her abdomen as if he knew about the child.

“Should I call Mr. Solomons? You can tell him the news?” Evelyn suggested.

“No,” Louise replied firmly and shook her head. “No, he can’t know. Not yet. Not until I know what he’s doing about…” She sighed and wrung her hands together. “Just, not yet.”

Evelyn wrinkled her brow but nodded. “Alright, then, I won’t tell anyone.” She promised. “But, Louise, it will be okay.”

“I want it to be, Lyn, I really want it to be okay.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Is Louise coming in? I was looking for some of her notes.”

“Nah, still sick.” Alfie kicked shut a filing drawer. It had been three days since Christmas. Three days since John Shelby had been killed. Three days since Louise discovered the secret she’d been keeping from Alfie. But he didn't suspect anything. He merely thought she'd caught a stomach virus, nothing too serious. Although the longer the time she spent resting, the more he wondered if he should do something.

“Still?” Ollie frowned and looked up at his boss. “Should take her to a doctor.”

His boss gave him a stern look and dropped a heavy stack of books onto his desk, nearly crushing Ollie’s fingertips in the process. “You tryna insinuate I don’t take care of me fucking wife?”

“No sir, of course not. I was just…”

Alfie decided it wasn’t worth blowing his stack over. He sighed heavily and sat back down. He rubbed a weary hand over his eyes. Of course, he wanted Louise to go to the doctor but she was being just as stubborn as he was being. He woke up to her throwing up in the bathroom nearly every morning and night. “I told her to go but she won’t. Says it innit that bad and that she can work. But it’s certain stuff that triggers it, like nothing I’ve seen ‘fore. Evelyn can’t make eggs in the morning or Lou will get sick.”

“Oh…oh.” Ollie’s eyes widened in realization. Shayna had been pregnant more than enough times for her husband to know the symptoms. In fact, their third child had caused her to have an aversion to eggs as well. “Sir, she could be pregnant.”

“What?” Having never spent too much time around a pregnant woman, Alfie had no idea what to look for. He just sort of assumed he’d notice a bump first. He’d seen her dressing every morning and night, hell they’d even made love on Christmas Eve. Yet, he didn’t notice anything.

“Morning sickness, pregnant women get it in the first few months,” Ollie answered. “It’s pretty common.”

“S’not just in the morning.”

“Well, his assistant tilted his head with a shrug. “It’s sort of just what they call it, could be any time of the day.”

Alfie groaned and put his head in his hands. “Fucking hell.” It was the last thing he was expecting. It was also the last thing he needed. He was already worried about Louise’s wellbeing and now she could possibly be with child? “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” He stood up with a grunt and grabbed his coat.

“Sir?” Ollie turned in his seat as his boss left the office in a hurry and cursing the entire way.

~~~~~~~~~~

The winter months had made the stiffness in Alfie’s hip unbearable. But he ignored the ache and ran to his home. By the time he arrived, his cheeks were red from the jog against the brisk wind. He used his key to enter, pushing through the entryway like a tank.

Evelyn had a nasty shock as Alfie stormed through the rooms without a knock or a warning. “Mr. Solomons-”

He ignored her and found Louise curled up in the parlor. Her feet were tucked to the side, a wool blanket resting over her lap, Cyril guarding by her. The bullmastiff stood and snarled at Alfie when he approached Louise too quickly.

Startled, the gangster halted. Never had the dog, or any dog for that matter snapped so viciously at him. Cyril had been protective over Louise but hadn't ever seen Alfie, his own master, as a threat before. “Cyril…”

Louise glanced up from the book in her hand. “He’s been a pill all morning. Won’t let anyone near me, snapped at Evelyn.” She rested a hand on Cyril’s head to calm him. “Sh, love, you know who that is, silly thing.” The dog calmed down and hopped up onto the couch to rest his head on her feet. His eyes watched Alfie cautiously.

Alfie was breathing heavily, the cold air stuck in his chest. He stood in front of his wife, not sure what to even say. The words were lodged in his throat.

Louise met his eyes. “Why are you home so early? Is everything okay?” She worried Luca Changretta may have shown up at the bakery. And yet, she didn't think the Italian-American would spook him so much.

“You pregnant?” He asked abruptly.

Louise’s eyebrows knit together in worry. She swallowed and chewed on the inside of her cheek before answering. “How do you know?”

Alfie’s shoulders slumped and he paced a few steps. Her response was enough of a confirmation for him. “Fuck, Lou, you knew?” He demanded and ran a hand over his beard.

“Not for very long.” She flagged her page, closed the book and set it aside. Then, she nudged Cyril to the side and removed the blanket from her lap, setting her feet on the rug.

Her husband grumbled incoherently, muttering something to himself. The shock was too much for him. Very few things surprised him so badly.

“Alfie, look at me.” She pled quietly from the couch. He turned and his blue eyes finally returned to her. “I’m sorry, I just didn’t know how to tell you. I was waiting for the right moment. I didn't want you to be angry.” Her voice weakened to a faint whisper.

He dropped to his knees in front of her. “Lou, m’not angry.” He prefaced. His lower lip wavered as he took a shaky breath. “M’not, I promise, m'just...”

Louise touched his cheeks, concern riddling her face. “But you’re worried. I am too. Alfie, I'm so worried.”

He sighed and dropped his head. “Yeah.” He admitted. “Fucking terrified for more than one reason.”

“What’s going to happen?” She asked, her thumb making a soothing circle over his cheek.

“Nothing bad will happen,” Alfie assured her. “Nothing. You’ll be perfectly safe, yeah, there’ll be hell if someone tries anything. I’d like to keep it ‘tween us and people we can trust though. You tell anyone else?” He asked.

Louise shook her head. “Only Evelyn.”

“Good, good.” He rested his hands on her hips and took a few more breaths until he felt somewhat at ease again. He'd handle much more before. He could handle this with some sort of grace. All he wanted was for Louise to have her paradise and give her comfort. The pregnancy would be as simple as he could possibly make it for her. “Fucking hell.” He chuckled breathlessly. “Gonna be a father.”

She smiled and felt tears in her eyes. “The best father.”

He touched her abdomen. “Can’t fucking believe it. I mean, honestly, Lou, I dunno if I’ve really…” He scrunched up his face. Suddenly, he was so overcome with adoration for his wife that he wanted to shout out to the world. Instead, he had to swallow back tears of joy.

She laughed and kissed his forehead. “I know. I suppose it’ll feel more real when I’m showing a bit more.”

“Right, well, I’ll call the doctor ‘round.” He decided. “Ollie’ll have a doctor he trusts, yeah. Probably the one that delivered his kids, aye?”

Louise frowned and gave her husband a disappointed look. “Alfie, you cannot tell me to see the doctor when you’ve been avoiding the same thing for ages.”

“Ain’t about me right now.” He mumbled. There was no way he was going to think about his condition right after he found out he was going to be a father. How could he be a father to his only child if he had cancer? No, best to ignore it for as long as he could.

“It is about you. I want to know that you’re going to be okay so we’ll have a healthy family. All three of us. I'll need you by my side through this.” She coaxed gently. “Please.”

“This takes priority.” He replied firmly. Because from that moment forward, Louise and the child were his number one priorities until the day he died. Nothing would change that.

“You take priority too.” She argued and pressed a hand over his that was on her stomach.

“Lou-”

“It’s non-negotiable, Alfie. In fact, I think I’ve been pretty patient despite how worried I’ve been about you. And it’s not healthy to worry while I’m pregnant.”

He groaned and threw his head back. She wasn’t playing fair in his eyes but he also couldn't blame her. He was a pain to deal with sometimes, he was well aware of that. “I will when the time is right…” He attempted to push off her worry, sparing himself more time.

“The time is right now.” She interrupted.

“No…”

“Alfie, either you get examined or I’m not going.” It was a pretty harsh ultimatum, and Louise felt a little guilty about it. Of course, she wanted the best for her unborn child, but she needed to know Alfie would be okay too.

He pulled a bratty look but sighed in resignation. It seemed his wife had spent enough time around him to learn his tricks of negotiation. Everything or nothing. “Fine.” He caved in.

“Thank you.” Louise kissed his cheek. “It’ll be okay. But we need to know for sure.”

Alfie stayed kneeling in front of her, hugging her close. She cradled him close to her chest so he could hear her heartbeat. He closed his eyes and imagined hearing the heartbeat of his child. But his stomach was in knots all the same. He didn't want Louise to know how scared he was. Scared to find out he was dying. Scared to know that he might not even see the birth of his first and only child. Scared that Louise would be left alone in the world, left to raise the child by herself. The child never knowing who he was. He pressed closer to Louise and closed his eyes tighter. His breathing became more shallow and he felt like the room was caving in on him. He prayed.

Please, Lord above. Let me see the child. Let me live. I've never begged you to live. Now I'm fucking begging. Let me live.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Permanent Tag: @papa-geralt-of-cirilla @giftofdreams

Tag List: @vehement-care @kimmietea @eleventhdoctorsangel @fire-treasure-iii

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#alfie solomons #alfie solomonsxoc #alfie solomons x oc #alfie solomons imagine #peaky blinder imagine #peaky blinders #peaky fookin blinders #peaky blinders fanfiction #fanfiction #ofc #oc #tom hardy #tom hardy character #tom hardy imagine

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im-a-star-boy · 4 years

Text

Uno Reverse Card

So I finished this last decade but I forgot to upload it so like- here. Worked on it with @fandomsumthing as usual!

.oOo.oOo.oOo.

Summary: Peter always has witty comebacks but sometimes they come back and bite him in the ass. That’s okay, if you don’t have an overprotective boyfriend who will fight anyone who looks at you the wrong way.

Word Count: 6,703

Date Of Completion: Monday, December 30th, 2019 (LAST FIC OF THE 2010′S!!!)

.oOo.oOo.oOo.

Prepared. A word that people say perfectly describes Peter. For the most part, they’re right. He always had copies of his homework and bandaids with disinfectant on hand. Another word that people use to describe is quick-witted. Always ready to snap back with a better joke or insult. Now combined those and what comes out is a power that is seen as inhuman.

“Fucking fag.” One of the boys, Carlton, who’d been bullying him growled.

He and two other boys had Peter cornered to a locker, and a good number of students were standing by, watching uncomfortably. Peter simply grinned and shuffled around in his back pocket for a moment, before pulling out a self-painted rainbow reverse card. “No u,” Peter replied simply, a shit-eating grin on his face.

Carlton, along with his goons, turned a light red as the crowd around them let out snickers or full-on laughs. This was obviously not their plan at all. Carlton shot an angry look at Peter, who smiled in return. They both knew that physically fighting during school was prohibited, so Carlton backed off with his friends following.

Peter didn’t think that he had done anything too noteworthy, but that was because he’s never heard anything Carlton had done to people who stood up to him. That’s because no one spoke about what he had done to them out of fear. Carlton had little morals, so he wouldn’t steal anything from them, but he would make them feel as embarrassed as him or as hurt as him.

As Peter stepped out of his last class, an extra bounce to his step from passing a test, he happily strutted down the hallway, prepared to drop off his things then do a patrol. He stopped at his locker and shoved his schoolbag into his locker. He had lost so many backpacks that he just set aside one for school and left everything in there. He grabbed his backpack that held his suit, extra clothes, and snacks, and happily began walking to the exit.

He said his goodbyes to Gwen and Anya who both had extra work that they were doing in their labs. Not that they were failing or anything, they just had a personal project together. Miles wasn’t there because he was meeting him on patrol.

“Someone’s really chipper,” Anya commented as she noticed Peter’s slight bounce.

Peter smiled. “I passed that surprise English test.”

“The one about the book no one read?” Gwen asked. It was true, no one read the book because it didn’t have substance. Usually, the books assigned were really great, but this one just was all over the place.

“Yup! Hey, I gotta go meet up with Harry so can we talk about this later?” Peter asked. The two girls shared a smile at each other then looked back at Peter.

“You two going to hold hands?” Gwen asked, her voice mocking a small child. Peter and Anya laughed.

“I’m going to be late if I don’t go now,” Peter said smiling.

“Alright, see ya around!” Gwen called as he walked away.

Peter laughed to himself and walked towards the exit. He checked his phone, seeing that Harry had texted him. As he exited the building, he felt his spidey sense suddenly scream. He looked up, seeing no immediate danger when he felt someone grab his collar and drag him to the side before being thrown down onto the pavement with a surprising amount of force. He looked up in alarm, to see Carlton standing over him with a malicious look in his eye. “Hey Parker, wanna chat?”

“By the looks of it, you don’t want to do much chatting.” Peter got to his feet to run. He could easily take Carlton, but that would most definitely reveal his identity as Spider-Man or at the very least raise suspicions.

Before Peter could get away, Carlton grabbed a fist full of Peter’s hair and pulled. It felt like he was trying to scalp him. “Leaving so soon? Come on, my friends would like to chat with you too, fag.” Carlton growled.

Peter followed him, assuming that if he didn’t then he’d be dragged by the hair and it was already painful enough. “You know this counts as a hate crime,” Peter muttered.

Carlton simply scowled before throwing him onto the ground and kicking him in the stomach. “Shut the fuck up.” He snarled, as his friends approached.

Before Peter could stand up to defend himself, he felt someone kick him in the back. As more people began to kick him, he curled into a ball, squeezing his eyes shut. After a moment, he felt someone grab a fistful of his hair again and practically drag him to his feet. He let out a cry of pain before someone grabbed his arms and pinned them behind his back. Carlton was glaring daggers at him. He rolled up his sleeves before punching him hard in the face. Peter felt blood wash down his face from his nose as he staggered backward. He was pushed forward by the boy who had grabbed his arms. He clenched his fist as his face was met with concrete. He coughed and was pulled to his feet once more. Peter growled as he was thrown against the wall, and one of Carlton’s friends punched him in the gut. Peter coughed as he slumped backward.

Peter’s phone had fallen out and Carlton had picked it up, seeing all the messages from Harry. The heart right next to his name didn’t go unnoticed. “Hold him against the wall,” Carlton ordered and his friends did so. Peter was still slumped over and catching his breath when they did so.

“So you are someone’s fuck toy Parker?” Carlton smirked, holding the phone up to Peter’s face. Peter looked up barely. He saw Harry’s name and swore to himself.

“That’s my best friend.” Peter partially lied.

Carlton laughed. “Best friend.” He mocked. “That’s bullshit.”

Peter held his tongue, despite wanting to launch at Carlton, who was laughing. “Makes sense, someone like you being a goddamn cockwarmer.” He sneered.

Peter felt his face flush with embarrassment. “It’s not like that!” He snapped, struggling lightly to push one of the other boys off.

Carlton laughed once again, before throwing Peter’s phone on the ground, shattering it. The battery fell out, shutting his phone off. Peter flinched as Carlton stomped on it, an amused look on his face. He punched him one more time before spitting on his face. “Come on guys, let’s take out the trash.” He sneered.

Peter let out a cry of alarm as the other two boys picked him up. “God he’s so light!” One of them shouted, seeming alarmed.

Peter kicked frantically as Carlton opened the dumpster. He felt himself fall for a second, then he landed on a trash bag. He yelped in pain as scrap metal dug into his back. What was he expecting, it was a school that centers on building robots for god’s sake!

“How’s it feel to be home?” One of them laughed.

“This might seem surprising, but this isn’t my first time in a dumpster.” Peter groaned. He didn’t sit up or adjust himself. Passed off what he’s experienced with Carlton, if he did, he’d get knocked out or worse. How did he even get into Horizon?

“Well, this will the longest time.” Carlton was about to close the lid but one of his friends grabbed his wrist. “What? Are you pussying out?”

“No, just wait a sec.” He said and then there were footsteps and some rustling. He came back and handed Carlton something. From where Peter was lying he could see a smirk on his face.

“This is why you’re my friend, Jim. You always think of something to make these things better.” A trash bag landed on Peter’s gut, knocking the wind out of him.

“Come on guys, I think we’re finished here,” Carlton called. He looked down at Peter one last time with a smile and then slammed the lid shut. He could hear his friends laughing as they walked off. Peter waited a few more minutes before trying to open the lid.

“Shit,” Peter mumbled to himself, realizing as the lid only jiggled that Carlton must have locked the lid before leaving. His anxiety began to rise as he realized how stuck he actually was. Breaking through the dumpster itself was a no go, he’d get more injured and is someone was walking by then he could be discovered as Spider-Man. If someone was walking by… Peter began banging on the side of the dumpster and calling for help.

After a few minutes, he had begun to run out of breath. He gave up for a while but never stopped tapping the side with his knuckles. After what must’ve been an hour or two, he heard a clicking. He looked up and was startled as streams of light poured into the dumpster. He covered his eyes with his hands, before grinning. “Nice weather we’re having, am I right?”

The lid dropped and he heard a shriek. After a second, the lid opened again. “Holy fuck- are you okay?”

Peter realized he must look like shit. Black eyes, bloody nose, cuts, and scrapes. He shrugged. “Eh, could be worse.”

The man reached in and helped Peter out of the dumpster. “God kid, go tell Modell what happened to you. That’s a nasty prank to pull.”

“Yeah. Um, could you help me to the schoolyard?” Peter asked. He knew he heard Carlton and his friends walk down the opposite direction of the school, but he also wasn’t sure if they decided to circle around in that time.

“I’ll walk you right to the door. You look like you’re about to pass out.” The man offered. Peter nodded, he often looked worse than he actually was.

Peter stopped. “W-wait.” He stumbled to the scraps of his phone. It was definitely beyond repair.

He searched through the busted metal before letting out a relieved sigh. The SD card remained undamaged. He carefully put the card in his pocket and returned to the mans’ side.

The walk there was fast, the trash guy really worried about Peter. He got to the doors and hesitated. “Do you have a card or something?” He asked Peter.

“Yeah, in my bag- shit.” Peter didn’t have his bag on him. Which held his Spider-Man suit. Did Carlton take it? Did he already know? What if he-

“I have it right here. I saw it next to the dumpster and grabbed it when we started walking.” He handed over the bag. “I thought you might have some important things in there. I gotta go, my job can’t be put on hold for too long.”

Peter nodded, “Check the trash.” Peter joked, getting a chuckle from the man as he walked away.

Peter sighed and debated on telling Max. He was a busy man, and he didn’t really want anyone else on campus to see him as beat to hell as he was. He sighed, before deciding to take a shower in one of the shower rooms. The school decided to install them after several kids had buckets upon buckets of paint fall on them. Not to mention any other lab accident that may happen. Peter stepped into one of the showers and washed the blood and dirt off of him. He sighed as he pulled on his shirt and jeans. They didn’t smell too foul and Peter sprayed a bit of provided Febreze onto him. He quickly decided he would change outfits and tell Max what happened the next day. Even if his wounds healed, the trash man and cameras would be able to defend his point.

Peter looked in a mirror and saw the scraps on his face along with the black eye. He grabbed his bag quickly, thinking he had makeup in there. Even with his super-fast healing, he found that bruise still took longer to heal. Maybe his body saw the cuts as more important and went for them first? He didn’t know.

He started digging through the bag and realized that he didn’t have enough makeup to cover the whole bruise. That was going to cause trouble. Letting out a sigh, Peter had no choice but to make the walk to the subway sporting a bruise. He reached for his phone only to remember that Carlton completely destroyed it. Now he couldn’t tell Harry he wasn’t going to show or Miles that he couldn’t go on patrol until later. He let out a heavy sigh, trusting that they’d understand until he could pay for a replacement, as he began down the hallway.

He got to the train station with nothing more than a few weird looks. He sat down and began fidgeting uncomfortably. After a few painfully long minutes, he got to his stop and jogged the rest of the way. When he arrived home, he walked into the kitchen. There was a note on the table. ‘Long shift at work today, won’t be home until 10:30, dinner is leftovers. -Love, May.’ He smiled softly and made a sandwich, before taking it upstairs to his room to do his homework.

After about an hour and a half, he heard the doorbell ring. Peter hurried down the stairs, knowing it wasn’t May but still wondering who it was. He got to the door and the person knocked.

“Peter?” Harry’s voice rang from behind the door. He sounded slightly peeved. Peter opened the door and Harry let out a relieved sigh.

“I’ve texted you 50 times, no answer. I’ve called you 15 times, no answer. Can I please have an e-“ Harry stopped and took in Peter. He had his hand cupped over his eye like was blocking something from him. “Why are you doing that?”

“Doing what?” Peter asked, acting like nothing was up but failing horribly.

“You know what I mean.” Harry took a step in and shut the door behind him. “Why are you hiding your eye from me?”

“No reason.” Peter squeaked, he cursed himself for doing so.

His boyfriend grew suspicious of him. Harry began walking towards Peter while Peter backed away. Soon Peter’s back hit the wall which caused him to gasp because of the bruise on his back. Before he could slide away, Harry placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder and moved his hand so it was on top of Peter’s. He grabbed Peter’s hand lightly pulled it away, seeing Peter’s black eye and scratch. His other hand immediately cupped his face. “Peter, what happened?!”

“Har, I’m okay. I just- rough patrol?” His voice came out more as a question than a reply.

“Miles called me and said you never showed up for patrol,” Harry said. “And these injuries would’ve been well over healed by now if they were from last night or even this morning.”

Peter let out a resigned sigh. “I got beat up…” he mumbled.

Harry let out a sigh, before leading him to the couch. “Come on, tell me what happened.” He murmured.

Peter immediately laid onto Harry’s lap, his head using Harry’s legs as a pillow, as he’d done so many times before. Harry instinctively began running his fingers through Peter’s uncombed hair. Peter hummed softly. “They called me a fag and I pulled out a reverse card,” Peter admitted casually.

Harry stuttered. “You’re kidding. You’ve gotta be kidding- Peter!”

He sat up. “It was funny though! They were blushing and everything, you should’ve seen it.”

Harry laughed and shook his head. “Then what?”

“Then they beat me up and locked me in a dumpster.”

Harry looked down at him as he laid down on his lap again. “Like, locked you locked you, or you just stayed in there?”

“Like locked me locked me.”

He let out a deep sigh. “What’re their names, I’ll take care of them.”

Peter glared at him. “Well, there’s no way that’s happening.”

“Peter, they beat you up and left you bleeding in a dumpster.”

“You’d kill them!” Peter sat up to look him in the eyes.

“Peter! They treated you like trash! They literally threw you in the trash!” Harry’s eyes widened as he realized what Peter was doing. “You’re protecting them! Why are you doing that? They don’t deserve to be justified by you!”

“No!” Peter stood up. “I’m telling Max tomorrow. Don’t yell at me for protecting them, they don’t need to be protected. You, on the other hand, are being overprotective right now.”

Harry took a deep breath. “How am I supposed to believe you when in the past that is exactly what you’ve done?”

“Name a time that I’ve done that.” Peter was getting slightly defensive.

“Flash, Alex Simpson, Ricky Fresno, James-“ Harry stopped when Peter sat back next to him.

“That was a rhetorical question,” Peter muttered.

Harry sighed. “Pete, you can’t stop putting off your own health. Come on, let’s get you bandaged up.”

Peter made a face. “Harry, I have speed healing.”

“That doesn’t mean you should leave these wounds open. They could get infected.”

Peter shuddered at the idea. He once had a cut on his arm infected. It wasn’t something he wanted to deal with ever again to say the very least… He let out an irritated sigh, before nodding. “Alright fine.”

Harry pulled him to the bathroom, where Peter removed his shirt and sat down on the toilet. Harry sighed sadly when he saw the dark bruises on Peter’s chest and back. He grabbed disinfectant and began to clean Peter’s wounds, feeling his heartbreak every time the brunette flinched under his touch. There was a large gash in Peter’s back. Harry could only imagine what kind of scrap metal had been large enough to make an injury as large as that one. Luckily none of them were still bleeding.

Harry placed a hand on Peter’s back to get him to stop squirming. He didn’t realize that he had placed it on his bruise until he noticed that Peter was holding his breath. He pulled his hand back only to have Peter lean back on it.

“Your hands are cold.” Peter’s voice was slightly lighter than usual at the beginning of the sentence and slowly came back down to normal.

Harry sighed softly and held his hand there as he gently cleaned out the cut on his back. After a minute or two, he finished cleaning it out. He grabbed the bandages and began wrapping his wounds carefully. “Is that too tight?” He asked.

Peter shook his head. “No,”

Harry nodded. “Okay, wait here.”

He left the room and searched Peter’s closet carefully, before picking out a large, fluffy hoodie, and a pair of sweatpants. He returned to the bathroom to see Peter picking lightly at the bandages. “Here.” He said, handing him the clothes.

Peter thanked him, pulling the clothes on, as Harry left to search the freezer for an ice pack. Harry came back to find Peter standing.

“Peter, you should be sitting.” Harry tried getting him to sit on the sink but Peter kept standing.

“I’m just a little bruised and cut up. Nothing broken.” Peter saw Harry’s worry and smiled reassuringly. “I’m fine, you know that I’ve been through way worse. I’ll be fine by morning.”

Harry made a face. “Come on let’s cuddle.” He decided for him.

Peter immediately perked up and happily followed Harry to his room. Peter dug his laptop out of his backpack as Harry sat down on his bed, making room for Peter. After a minute or two of searching for his charger and plugging the laptop in, Peter nestled into Harry’s side. He put the ice pack carefully onto Peter’s back as the laptop loaded up. “So why didn’t you reply to my texts?” Harry asked, pulling a blanket over the two of them.

Peter made a sour face. “Carlton broke my phone. I tried to get the scraps but they were too busted up. I got the SD card though and the rest of my stuff is stored on the cloud so I don’t think I lost anything.”

“Carlton?” Harry sat up slightly to look at Peter. Peter groaned as he realized the name slip. “You mean Carlton Wagner? He did this to you?”

“Yeah, I guess. With some of his friends.” Peter sighed.

“Of course it was.” Harry groaned. “That kid has serious anger issues.”

Peter could practically see the cogs turning in Harry’s brain. “Stop that.”

Harry looked down. “What?”

“You’re plotting something, stop it. I already told you, I’m going to tell Max tomorrow. Let it go for now.” Peter argued softly.

Harry sighed and pulled Peter closer. “Alright alright. I’ll stop.”

Peter made a relaxed noise as Harry began running his fingers through his hair. He logged into his computer and brought up Netflix. “What do you wanna watch?” He hummed, feeling relaxed.

Harry shrugged. “Whatever looks good.”

Peter looked up and started staring at Harry. “What are you looking at?” He asked jokingly.

“You said we should watch what looks good. I am.” Peter replied playfully.

“Oh my god, you are that cheesy.” Harry groaned but slowly began to laugh.

“I’m just stating facts here, Mister looks good in every picture.” Peter smiled as he clicked on Criminal Minds.

“I do not,” Harry stated. When he said that, Peter immediately made a face. He reached into Harry’s pocket, pulled out his phone, and went to his pictures.

“Yes, you do.” Peter stopped scrolling and faced the phone to Harry. “See?”

The picture showed Gwen holding Peter’s phone. Harry remembered that picture being taken because Peter’s chair gave out right then. Peter was super blurry, but his slight panicked face was still able to be seen. Miles and Anya were slightly blurry, having dived to catch Peter. Harry had also dived for Peter, but he wasn’t blurry. He looked straight out of a magazine. Harry rolled his eyes. “You photoshopped that before you sent it to me.” He defended. “I know you have the skills.”

Peter grinned, snuggling closer to Harry. “It totally wasn’t.” He denied, shoving Harry’s phone back in his pocket.

The ice pack cooled his back as he leaned into Harry, feeling the weight of sleep quickly begin to press down on him. “Are you allowed to stay the night?” He asked through a yawn.

Harry hummed. “Yeah probably, why?”

Peter shifted as close as he could as the episode began playing. “I don’t wanna move anymore.”

Harry let out a content sigh as he watched along with Peter. Not just because he was hanging out with his boyfriend but also because he had just come up with the perfect plan for revenge.

~~~

“You know that you don’t have to walk me to school.” Peter stepped out of the subway with Harry in tow.

“Oh, but I want to.” Harry smiled with faux innocence. Peter gave Harry a look as they got out of the crowd.

“What are you planning Harry?” Peter sighed, knowing that it was going to be something against Carlton.

“You’ll see, bug, you’ll see.” Harry hummed.

Peter gave him a skeptical look, before leaning into Harry. After 10 minutes, the train stopped. Peter led Harry to Horizon, stepping into the bright sun. Peter began walking to Max’s office. Harry waited outside as Peter knocked. After a moment, the heard, “Come in,” and Peter entered Max’s office.

He looked around, waiting to see if Carlton would walk past. He remembered Carlton from the short time he was at Horizon. No one knew how he got into Horizon with his temper of personality. He was smart and all, but an all-around dick. Maybe he was able to trick Max into thinking that he was a good guy or that he could change.

The only reason he’s been able to stay in was that people were too scared to actually tell on him. That’s how terrible this kids’ beat ups were. He let out a sigh, knowing Peter must’ve been in pain from this kid. Every second he thought about it made him angrier and angrier. Harry watched silently, before hearing a familiar sneering laugh. He looked up and watched Carlton and a few other boys pass. He looked to the door Peter had disappeared behind, and then to Carlton, who was turning a corner. He made up his mind and followed Carlton.

“He wasn’t reported missing.” One of the guys said.

“Then he either got out or we did his family a favor.” Carlton laughed and the others did as well.

“What about his lover? Do you think that he’s looking for him?” Another asked.

“Harry is probably not even his boyfriend. He probably just fucked him once out of need or to make that whore less bitchy.” Carlton answered. “Parker is just his late-night booty call. But could you imagine? Harry Osborn loving a fag like him?”

Harry, upon hearing that, felt furious. He rushed up to them, grabbed Carlton, spinning him around, and decked him in the face. Carlton stumbled back, letting out a cry of alarm, before falling on his ass and covering his bloody nose. “Fuck!” He screamed.

“Excuse me, I thought I heard you talking shit about my boyfriend, could you repeat that?” He snarled, an angry look on his face.

A few people stopped to stare. One boy immediately made a face, before standing up and covering the camera. A few people began moving around, blocking cameras and deactivating security bots. Harry grinned. He knew that Carlton had made enemies, but he didn’t think he’d made enemies of the entire school.

Carlton recomposed himself and scowled. “Well if it isn’t the rich kid that got kicked out of Horizon. What are you even doing here?” Carlton sneered and he raised his fists.

“I’m here on Peter’s behalf, and you’re right. I don’t go here so I can’t be kicked out. You, on the other hand, can be kicked out.” Harry couldn’t help but let his smug expression shine through. Next thing he knew, Carlton was swinging. He got Harry in the gut, which caused Harry to stumble.

“Kick his ass, Harry!” A short girl with black fading into purple yelled. Her voice only broke through the crowd’s cheers for a second. Harry threw another punch at Carlton and it was a pretty good hit, but Carlton had good hits as well.

~~~

“Thank you for telling me this Peter,” Max said standing. “Carlton was a part of a raffle to get into Horizon. Some of the teachers along with me thought it would be a good way to give more people a chance to learn.”

“Really? No background checks or anything?” Peter questioned.

“There was on all of the raffle winners. Carlton’s record was clean, now I think it’s because he used scare tactics on his victims. He had the grades.” Max sighed. “I promise that he’s going to be kicked out and everyone will be questioned about him.”

“Thanks, Max. I really appreciate-“ Peter trailed off as he picked up on cheering. Max wouldn’t have been able to hear it, but Peter could and he knew what was going on. “Max, I think something stupid is going on.”

“What?” Max asked as Peter stood up and walked to the door.

“Come with me, please? And also am I allowed to stop Harry from being an idiot?” Peter asked as he opened the door. Max nodded and followed Peter.

They both reached the crowd and some students turn to face Max. They seemed to be ready to create a wall between the fight and Max.

“Is Harry fighting Carlton?” Peter asked, displaying his worried side rather than his annoyed. He knew Harry would get into a fight with Carlton, but he thought he’d at least be there to stop it.

The kids guarding looked at each other then back to Peter. “Please let me through, I gotta stop him from murdering him,” Peter begged. They looked at each other again then moved to let Peter through.

Peter nodded to not only them but to Max as well. After passing them, Peter let his worried facade melt away. To say that he was pissed was an understatement. He understood that Harry was protective over him, but he didn’t understand that he couldn’t just go and start a fight.

The people around him seemed to feel his anger as he passed because they made way and quiet down. It was probably the look on his face that was so full of poison that it could kill a raddled The hulk with one glance. Peter neared the center and saw Harry and Carlton fighting like animals. He let out a disappointed noise and walked towards them. They didn’t notice him until Peter grabbed them both by the hair and banged their heads together.

“Idiotas! Tanto de usted! Conmigo! Ahora mismo!” Peter yelled. The hallways went silent with his yell. Sure, they knew Peter could get angry and spoke Spanish, but never had they seen him hurt someone out of anger. He almost reminded them of Anya when she got angry.

Harry was about to say something when Peter tightened his grip on his hair. “No hay excusas! No puedo dejarte solo por diez minutos sin maldito vas feral!” Peter hissed as he dragged both of them by the hair to Max. Carlton tried to escape from Peter’s grasp only to receive a tug.

“No me prueba Carlton. Ya estoy harto con toda tu mierda, es toda esta escuela.” Peter hissed as the got right in front of Max.

He dropped both of them and got a good look at them. Harry’s nose was bleeding and he had a busted lip. It looked like Carlton had gotten him on the ground and stepped on his face or something. His hair was disheveled and he had a dark splotch under his eye. His neck was bright red like Carlton had attempted to choke him out. Carlton’s ear was ripped from Harry presumably pulling his earring out during the fight. He was holding his arm which had scrapes on it, somewhat like rugburn, and he had a large gash on his forehead that was bleeding, running down his face. Peter scowled, another rush of anger flaring from his gut, as he knocked their heads together once again. “If you try to beat each other up again I’m beating you both up.” He snapped.

He took a step back, so Max could look at the two. He glanced at Peter once and saw that he was still pissed. “You two need to go to the infirmary. Carlton, I’ll speak to you after your patch up. Come with me.” Max ordered. “All if you off to class.”

The rest of the students nodded and went off. It was a good thirty seconds before the grip on both Harry’s and Carlton’s heads disappeared and the found of footsteps echoed down the halls.

“Why am I the only one getting a talking to?” Carlton barked at Max.

“You have explaining to do to your parents why you’re being expelled. You’re lucky Peter won’t press charges unless you were to corner him again or anyone else. Especially because he has the evidence that would get you jail time for sure.” Max warned.

“I didn’t do nothing!” Carlton yelled.

“There’s no point in lying. There were cameras and a trash man that will testify finding Peter in that dumpster.” Max glared.

“That’s still doesn’t explain why he doesn’t get a talking to! He started this fight!” Carlton snarled.

“Because nothing that I can say will beat what Peter will say to him.” Max gave Harry a glance. Harry knew he was in for it when Peter knocked his head against Carlton.

“How could you tell?” Carlton question dully.

“He swore in Spanish,” Harry responded.

~~~

Max had Harry stay the whole school day in the infirmary. He got to hear the screaming match between Carlton and his parents. The way they fought was nothing like how he would fight with his father. Carlton was the aggressor while his parents only show disappointment in his actions. Not like his father’s because they actually had a reason to be disappointed.

There was a knock on the door and Max entered. “Sorry for holding you here all day. I knew that Peter wanted to talk to you so I thought it would’ve safer to do it here.” Max joked. “But unfortunately for you, Peter wants you to meet him at his house.”

Harry’s face immediately fell. “This will be the end of me, Max.”

Max chuckled. “Oh relax, he won’t kill you.”

Harry gave him a hard glare. “Yes, he will, Modell.”

Max raised his hands in surrender. “If you need a hospital, call me.”

Harry sighed. “I’ll keep that in mind. Here’s my will: everything goes to Peter even if he’s the one who kills me.”

Max laughed. “Noted. Go, don’t keep him waiting.”

Harry nodded and raced towards the exit. As he reached the entrance, he saw Peter leaning against the door, looking more than a little pissed. “H-Heeeyyyyy Pete…”

Peter looked up and Harry felt his blood run cold. He was definitely pissed. Peter looked away from Harry and began walking, not saying a single word. The whole way back to Peter’s place was like that. Harry tried to start up a conversation but only received glares.

Once getting to Peter’s house, Harry mentality prepared himself for the lecture he was about to get. He stepped in after Peter and shut the door behind him.

“What part of I’ll handle it don’t you get?” Peter said through his teeth.

“Peter, he was-”

“Harry, stop.”

Harry flinched. He knew Peter was mad at him but… he was really mad. “Harry, I promised you I’d take care of it. You watched me walk into Max’s office. I told you to wait outside. It was the one thing I asked of you! But no! You had to go off and literally start a fistfight! I asked ONE THING OF YOU HARRY!” His voice was progressively getting louder, and Harry knew he had crossed a boundary.

“I-I’m sorry, he was saying things and-” Harry began.

“Harry, I don’t care that he was saying things! He always says things! People always will say things! That is not probable cause to run off and start a fucking fight, Harry!”

“I just couldn’t let him say-“

“Oh for fuck sakes, Harold! I’m not a kid anymore! I don’t need you to stand up for me every single time something happens!” Peter yelled. “Even when I don’t do something I’m doing something! I’m holding myself back! I could have easily put Carlton and his friends in that trash can but I didn’t! I was being the bigger man! Me not fighting back doesn’t mean I need to be saved! Why can’t you see that?!”

Harry stared at the floor, feeling a rush of guilt. He knew Peter had his reasons for not fighting back, but Harry had his for fighting. He looked down. “I’m sorry Peter. He was saying bad things about you and I couldn’t just stand by and listen to that.”

Peter sighed. “I know Harry, I get you wanna protect me but you have to stop. There are times when it’s okay and times where it’s not. And that was not okay, Harry.” Peter wasn’t yelling anymore, but his voice still had a layer of warning to it that made Harry almost cower.

Harry looked up at Peter. He was standing across from him, his arms crossed, but he wasn’t looking at him. Finally, after a moment, Peter sighed loudly. “Come on, let’s change your bandages.”

Peter led Harry to the bathroom and began digging through the cabinets while Harry sat down on the counter. He pulled out the bandages and a cloth. Peter ran the cloth under water and left it to sit so he could remove Harry’s old bandages.

A scab had formed on Harry’s lip and the bruises had darkened slightly around his neck. Peter frowned as he pulled the rag out of warm water. He moved to Harry and kept his gaze on him as he wiped his mouth clean if the semi-crusted blood. Despite how vicious the fight had been, Harry didn’t have many bleeding wounds. Just his lip and a large cut on his cheek. Peter wiped his cheek and frowned when he saw Harry’s guilty look. He didn’t try to comfort him since what he did wasn’t okay, but it still hurt seeing Harry so upset. He swallowed thickly before applying Neosporin and replacing the bandages, before dropping the rag in the sink. “Come on.” He muttered, leaving the bathroom.

Harry watched for a moment, before pushing himself off the counter and following Peter into the living room. He was digging through the freezer before pulling out a small bead ice pack and a large bean ice pack. Peter walked over to Harry and put the big ice pack on Harry’s neck and pressed the other to his cheek.

It was silent. A bad silence. The atmosphere matched when Peter got into an argument with Norman. Granted Peter didn’t start it, but he did say a few choice words to Norman that got Harry upset. It was uncomfortable as Peter led him to the couch and sat him down. He visibly flinched as Peter stared at him for a moment before saying, “Stay here. I’ll be right back.” He began walking down the hall when he stopped. “And stay there this time.” He ordered.

He watched after Peter, feeling a rush of guilt and frustration. He hadn’t wanted to upset Peter, but he was really mad. He stared at the ground for a moment. He hadn’t noticed Peter walkout until a large blanket was draped over his shoulders. He looked up to see Peter avoiding his gaze. He sat down on the other side of the couch and reached into a plastic bag he had brought out. Harry watched curiously until Peter threw a Snickers bar at him, hitting him square in the face.

Peter sat on the other side of the couch and turned on the TV. After flipping through channels he stopped on the ID channel. He leaned himself into the armrest and watched. Peter didn’t feel like talking to Harry at the moment, but he also didn’t want him to leave. He just needed to calm down a little more so that he didn’t yell at Harry again. Luckily Harry knew Peter long enough to know that that was what his body language was saying.

Halfway through the first episode, Harry had spread the blanket over to Peter. If he had done that earlier Peter would have pushed it off. Peter cast a glance over to Harry, who was watching the TV but still looked downcast. He sighed. He was still upset, definitely, but that was still his boyfriend who was still in pain. He scooted over to Harry and shuffled under his arm, leaning into him. Harry looked surprised and began smiling and leaned down to kiss him. Peter hissed dangerously. “Don’t push your luck, Osborn.” He warned.

Harry immediately stopped and pulled away. He glanced down at Peter. He definitely still looked upset. His eyes were narrowed and he was tense against Harry, but Harry could feel him beginning to ease down. He closed his eyes and sighed softly and leaned back.

When the episode ended and the other began, Peter leaned more into Harry. “You scared me,” Peter mumbled. “I just came out and heard the cheering and then you were acting like an animal.”

“I’m sorry,” Harry said.

Peter shook his head. “It isn’t okay, Harry. Never do anything like that again, please. I couldn’t recognize you for a second there.”

Harry stiffened and nodded. “I won’t…” He mumbled.

Peter leaned the rest of his weight into Harry. “Not ever again.”

“I promise, I won’t lose it again,” Harry promised, leaning in and kissing the top of Peter’s head. Peter let out a relieved sigh as he closed his eyes.

#peter parker #parksborn #fic #fanfic #parksborn fanfic #msm 2017 #marvels spiderman 2017

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popwasabi · 4 years

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Lockdown Lookback: Catching up on the past months’ Pop Culture

Aaaaannnd we’re back!

It’s amazing what a little pandemic can do to shake you out of your creative cobwebs but if we’re all going to die, I want to make sure all my pop cultural hot takes are up to date at least.

Many of us are already on lockdown and many major movies including “007,” “Black Widow” and ummm I guess “Mulan” are all getting pushed to the backburner as no one is leaving their God damn homes unless they’re told to!

(Didn’t realize the thing I wish I had more of in the apocalypse would be sweatpants...)

But there’s still plenty to talk about from the previous months and other hot topics I have been meaning to write about but just hadn’t found the time or energy for. Life has been hard I think for just about all of us these days thanks in no small part to this pandemic. For me personally, I’ve had two different vacations canceled because of the virus and currently working understaffed at my job which is considered essential. Not to mention my therapist is on call only at this time and both my martial arts schools have been suspended, so I can neither talk nor punch my feelings out of my system.

So, I might be just a LITTLE on edge at the moment.

(My internal monologue for most of these past few weeks, more broadly years...)

Anyways, I digress, you come here because you like to read my highly unprofessional takes on pop culture and genuinely to those who have cheered me on from the beginning thanks, you guys are my prime motivators. But anyways let’s talk about all the shit I was supposed to write about these last two and a half months.

“Birds of Prey” was a hot, but needed, mess

Earlier last month I got to see the sort of sequel to the much-maligned “Suicide Squad” in “Birds of Prey and the…waaaay too long of a title for me write here.” I had cautious optimism for it because it looked strange and off the beaten path of most comic book movies and seemed to promise at the very least a fun time at the theater but it’s still also a DCEU movie so the floor was pretty low on its possible quality as well.

In the end, the movie is kind of bit of everything; the best and worst parts of the DCEU.

In terms of the good, it’s definitely outside the box, a sort of fem Deadpool first person story as told frenetically by Harley herself. Margot Robbie is, of course, still quite great at this role and you can tell she’s having a blast as this character. The humor is mostly good and visually the bright colors and cinematography pops on each screen and on that front there isn’t much to complain about.

But as a DCEU movie it does suffer from some narrative imbalance partially due to it’s psycho storyteller but mostly, and more than likely, due to corporate editing that probably axed an entire dance number that I was honestly looking forward to from the trailers.

(Seriously, I actually wanted to see the full unedited version of whatever hell this ended up being.)

It’s definitely in the “could’ve been better” camp of comic book movies but you know what? I’m still glad it exists. You know why? Because comic book movies dominate our blockbuster culture right now and if the genre wants to survive, at least artistically, it needs some outside the box films like this. I HATED “Joker” but I appreciate that it opened the door for stranger, more unique takes on a genre that is getting increasingly more stale. This movie falls into that unique category too.

(Also, to all the faux-intellectuals and alt-right nerds making a culture war out of “Sonic” vs “Birds of Prey” *kindly* reevaluate your lives please...)

We’re at the point now where comic book movies should be getting weirder, not more formulaic, and that means swinging for the fences even if a couple don’t quite make it out of the ballpark. If it takes a few not so stellar takes on the genre for Hollywood to greenlight a truly fantastic one I’m all for it.

In any case “Birds of Prey” doesn’t quite end nor continue the DCEU’s recent hot streak but it is enjoyable enough to where I would be more than open to a sequel. It’s worth a watch.

The Mandalorian and The Witcher: Two shows about violent mercenaries and fatherhood

Both these shows are old news at this point, but I did want to talk a little about both for a bit if you would have me.

First, “The Mandalorian” which was Disney+’s flagship production to begin its streaming chapter late last year is definitely a more than welcome addition to the galaxy far, far away. It’s pretty easy to feel fairly jaded about Star Wars these days given how flat the new trilogy ended but for what it’s worth “The Mandalorian” was a good mix of nostalgia bait and something new and interesting for fans to chew on. Its production value is obviously top-notch, no doubt because of all the Disney money pumped into it, it’s well-acted and thrilling and fun from start to finish. It plays heavily on the genres that influenced the series, primarily westerns and old samurai flicks, and fans of those will certainly enjoy the homages to them all.

The series was something of a coming out party for Deborah Chow who directed two of the season 1’s best episodes. Her steady hand, eye for details and tributes to Asian cinema throughout really gave the series an extra kick at times and showed how Star Wars can evolve still. Chow is set to helm the upcoming “Kenobi” series and one can only hope that she *really* leans into the samurai genre for that show.

(Hopefully, there are some “Yojimbo” vibes in there somewhere...)

The Mandalorian’s best and worst parts though are its semi episodic nature making each episode easy to digest as a one-off but also lacking some narrative tension between each. It plays kind of like a Saturday Morning cartoon to both its benefit and detriment with bite-size easy to digest plots and dialogue for the viewers but not offering a ton of depth beyond that.

The Mandalorian himself is also kind of a Gary Stu. His armor is basically impenetrable and far and away the best killer onscreen typically, making more than a few action scenes lack real stakes and tension. Baby Yoda certainly helps at times to make him more vulnerable and puts him in precarious positions plenty of times but outside a few moments (mainly episode 2 and to a lesser extend the final episode) he’s just a little too overpowered to be a more interesting character.

But this show and frankly the Star Wars series as a whole is meant for kids, no matter what the neckbeards try to tell you (violence =/= adult), and that’s not necessarily a bad thing either. Plenty of kids productions can be both great and even sophisticated and while I wouldn’t say “The Mandalorian” is either of those it’s a good and fun kids show for the fans.

(And yes I’m aware that the books, some comics, and games have touched on more adult stuff, you weirdos. But how would you describe the overall tone and presumptive audience of the movies and TV series as a whole, guys??)

As far as “The Witcher” goes it also has a bit of an episodic style to it as well with an overarching, albeit, convoluted story that runs parallel to it. The first 3-4ish episodes can be classified as a quasi “Game of Thrones” clone leaning perhaps a little too heavily into the tropes of that series. Once the series finally starts leaning into its real identity, a dry-witted hack and slash fantasy, the series is much more consistent both tonally and narratively.

Henry Cavil is solid as Geralt of Rivia and the supporting cast of Joey Batey as Jaskier, Freya Allen as Ciri and even more so Anya Chalotra as Yennefer are all great in their respective roles delivering some great moments throughout the season.

(And lest you forget this earworm...)

“The Witcher’s” early season struggles keep it from being as tonally or narratively consistent as “The Mandalorian” but where the monster slayer beats the bounty hunter is that it has overall more compelling drama and has more to say, leaning much more heavily into the thematic greys of the plot. There are tons of problems with “The Witcher” on a story-telling level but you can definitely say it cares more about adding some depth in between the more pulpy aspects of the story which is something you can’t say as much for in “The Mandalorian.”

Of course, I’m partially overselling “The Witcher” a bit here, it’s not anywhere near “Game of Thrones” best (yet at least), and on the flipside one could argue that “The Mandalorian’s” more subtle sense of story-telling does its themes better. But when it comes down to these two shows you get somewhat similar story-telling ideas, mostly involving both characters and their smaller counterparts, in two very different genres with equally diverging conclusions to their respective seasons.

(🎵 Toss an “Oof” to your Witcher...🎵)

All in all, they’re both good and worth a watch and I think they deserve a chance to evolve and hopefully showcase more of what they have to offer moving forward.

“Parasite” wins Best Picture! Many people have some hot takes, including the president...

Last month one of my favorite films of 2019 “Parasite” won Best Picture at the Oscars. It’s a movie that is becoming increasingly relevant as elites and celebrities alike are getting front of the line testing despite being asymptomatic in the middle of pandemic and think they can assuage our concerns and dread by poorly singing “Imagine” together within the comfort of their McMansions.

It’s about as a good time as any to revisit this movie, I mean where else are you going to go during this timeline, and at a later date I’ll write something more extensive about it eventually (hopefully) but first here’s a helpful video on one particular thing that came out after director Bong Joon Ho took home the night’s top honors:

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“Cats” is still a fever dream of madness

Back in late December, I watched “Cats” for science, as I had AMC A-List and a friend crazy enough to join me. I figured it would be bonkers and unlike anything I had seen before in the worst way but even then, I don’t think I was truly prepared for what I ended up seeing that fateful night.

I remember quite vividly going to the bar inside the theater and ordering a stiff drink beforehand to numb the pain and the bartender asking “So what are y’all watching tonight?” and beginning to laugh manically like an insane asylum patient at the innocuousness of the question. Walking into the theater was like that feeling you get before getting on a particularly scary-looking rollercoaster at Six Flags but instead of the pre-ride jitters eventually subsiding to the eventual fun and joy of the ride, only a deep sense of existential dread built up and sustained itself through what felt like six hours of the most baffling thing put to screen in front of my eyes ever.

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(The music that played in my head as I exited the theater...)

Have any of you watched the Stanley Kubrick movie “Eyes Wide Shut” before? You know the scene when Tom Cruise is walking around in his mask observing the strange occult sex orgy going on around him at the mansion? That’s kind of what “Cats” felt like except way more terrifying, somehow MORE sexual, and definitely crazier.

(Is...this some type of...intepretative dance to summon an eldritch horror??)

There’s a voyeuristic terror that comes from sitting in that theater room as you watch bipedal humanoid looking felines dance to confusing songs about “Jelicle” cats (whatever the fuck that means) and all other manner of things that should NOT take human form throughout it’s near-endless runtime. A lot was made about Rebel Wilson and the disgusting roach people she consumes but NO ONE warned me about the frankly HORRIFYING mice children in the same scene!

(I am not perusing the internet to find that image again for y’all. I have enough nightmares each night...)

The saddest thing about the whole movie is everyone, save for Ian Mckellen who seemed to be acting as if a gun was pointing at him offscreen and Judi Dench who looked 100 percent like a geriatric in her digi fur, was giving the movie their fullest effort in what can only be described as a Titanic-sized level of hubris by all parties involved. This movie really needed a “Chaostician” involved in evaluating the production for studio heads and shareholders because there were definitely NOT enough people on this project wondering whether or not this film SHOULD exist...

(Dr. Ian Malcolm coming to Universal Pictures to access the film.)

What has “Cats” wrought upon this world? The universe has been clearly out of balance since this movie came out and while I’m not saying it’s director Tom Hooper’s fault, I’m not saying it isn’t either.

“Cats” is one of those things, much like The Matrix that cannot be simply described but must be seen to believe. It’s one of the worst things I have ever seen onscreen but with the right group of people and a few stiff drinks it’s certainly an experience you won’t forget. Consider it for your next Google Hangout during this apocalypse.

Anyways, that about wraps up my thoughts on the last few months. Going to try to be more consistent going forward especially given how much more time I have now to write, for better and worse. But more importantly, just want to say stay safe y’all. It’s going to be a process to get through this and while things are more likely to get worse before they get better there will be a day when this all ends and some normalcy may yet return to our life but in order for us to get there we need to remain vigilant.

So stay at home, wash your hands, and if you want to watch movies just order it online for now and we’ll just wait until aaaallll this blows over…hopefully.

Don’t panic...

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hoesidon · 5 years

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Alrighty so since I’m bored let’s talk about a single dads au lmao:

The PJO/HoO boys have one of those dad groups where dads just get together while their kids play together and they just hang out and talk shit and drink juice boxes

Meet the ‘Hot Single Dads’ group:

Percy Jackson: the laidback and relaxed dad who the other dads sort of look to for advice because he seems to know what the fuck he’s doing. Juniper calls him a living miracle because he can get any screaming child to calm down in minutes. Has an eight year old son named Theo with an ex college girlfriend. Pining hard after Jason. Coaches his son’s swim team. Moms (and dads) love him. Teachers have a love hate relationship with him

Grover Underwood: the Epitome of the Stay At Home Dad. He’s got all the healthy snacks and a first aid kit on him at all times. Panics when his kid eats sand. Father to Willow (9), Nova (6), and Ash (2). Husband to Juniper. Allowed in the Hot Single Dads group because he’s Percy’s best friend since middle school and he’s got a lot of common sense and he’s great with kids. He’s also the one who tries to plan out meeting days around everyone’s busy schedules. Grover is the king of diy and crafts, and all the kids love him. All the neighborhood kids make Grover flower crowns during the summer and he'll wear them as long as he can before adding it to the collection of crafts kids have made him in his room

Frank Zhang: a nervous new dad fresh out of college who asks a lot of questions and has a lot of concerns. Has a four month old daughter named Anya with his best friend and ex-girlfriend Hazel. They met in high school and were best friends but didn’t date until college. But soon after realized they were better off as friends. Doesn’t go anywhere without Anya strapped to his chest. Works as a firefighter with Percy.

Nico di Angelo: not a dad yet because he’s in the process of adopting but hangs out with the group for advice and tips. The kids love him because he’s like their fun uncle. Accidentally got roped into babysitting Theo for a night once and realized he’s actually really great with kids and decided he wanted to adopt.

Leo Valdez: the dad who just does not give a fuck and also the fun dad. His kids eating a Cheeto they found in the sand? Shit happens. His twin boys, Mieczysław and Salvador (7), are menaces. Doesn’t like to show it but is constantly stressed out and worries that he’s not enough for his boys and wonders if he’s doing the right thing. He’s that one crazy wild friend from college you’re shocked to find out years later that they have a child. Leo is the one who introduces Jason to the group.

Jason Grace: new to the group as a newly single dad who’s worried he’s not enough. Has an eight year old son and a five year old daughter. Pining hard after Percy. Coaches his son’s baseball team. Moms (and dads) also love him. PTA Dad. The Mom™ friend turned Dad. Always has snacks, wet wipes, and hand sanitizer on hand. If you need anything, anything at all, there’s a 98% chance that Jason has it on hand. Shares joint-custody with his ex-wife and best friend Piper.

After his divorce from his ex-wife, Leo tells Jason about this Dad Support Group he’s in and that he should accompany him to their next meeting with the kids

Jason is skeptical at first but decides what’s the harm in going to one meeting

He wasn’t expecting to fall hopelessly in love at first sight with one of the other dads

“It’s Percy isn’t it? Can’t say I blame you. He’s got the looks of a Greek God.”

Leo teases him immensely for it and gives Jason a knowing look every time he catches him looking at Percy

Percy is a Terrible flirt

“So you coach your son’s baseball team? That’s great! Theo loves baseball.” “Dad I hate baseball.”

Grover likes to tease Percy for it but Percy reminds him that it took him two years just to gain the courage to hold Juniper’s hand

Aside from pining, Jason enjoys hanging out with the boys

He and Nico hit it off quite nicely. He also enjoys teasing Leo about his not-so-secret crush on Nico

He and Frank become workout buddies

Percy tried to join them on their workout days after Annabeth said he had the beginnings of a Dad Bod forming but between work, coaching Theo’s swim team and keeping up with his other long list of extracurricular activities, he just doesn’t have the time

He’s learning to embrace his Dad Bod

Grover has fully embraced the Dad Bod

Grover and Frank get along a lot because they’re both sorta nervous dads who worry about their kids a lot

And so Frank usually goes to Grover for all of his questions like “is this normal?” “She bumped her head is she okay?” “What can I do for this??”

And Grover gives him all sorts of advice and healthy snacks

Jason and Percy’s boys are competitive little buttwipes and are always getting into fights

“I bet I can run faster than you.” “I bet I can kick this ball farther than you.” “I bet I can swing higher than you.” “I bet I can study faster than you.”

Percy settles their arguments by getting in-between them, hauls his son over his shoulder, and brings him to the side and calmly talks to him in a low voice

Jason just watches like “Damn that shouldn’t have been that hot” before he realizes he probably should have a word with his son as well

Unfortunately for Jason he’s hopelessly in love and he’s like 99.9% sure Percy is dating Annabeth

Everyone thinks that Percy's in a relationship with Annabeth because they’re so close and she loves his kid

It also doesn’t help that Theo refers to Annabeth as ‘Mom’

So Jason just has to pine away and being the child he is, pulls at Percy's pigtails cause he can't deal with his crush

Frank decides to throw a fourth of July BBQ and Annabeth comes and Jason is trying to make conversation

Jason thinks he’s subtle but he’s not.

“Your son Theo is a very charming boy, very polite. You must be very proud.” “Theo isn’t my son.” “Oh, I’m so sorry. Are you his step mom?” “No. Godmother.”

Annabeth laughs at Jason’s confused face and goes “If I was looking for a romantic partner maybe but nah. Percy and I are just best friends. I babysit Theo a lot.” (She’s hella ace and aro)

It’s obvious that he likes Percy

And Percy being Percy, he can't see it

One night like a month before the BBQ, he’s over at Annabeth's drinking and lamenting about this beautiful blond dad(dy) who Leo introduced to their Hot Single Dads group who's "literally captain America Annabeth, I swear I would go to war for that ass"

Annabeth recruits Reyna and Rachel to help her get these two idiots together

Side plot, Nico's surprisingly good with kids, especially Leo's twin terrors, and they get together cause the twins Conspire™ and Plot™ to do so

Cue many Hallmark movie shenanigans

Nico is one of the only one who’s can actually get the little devils to listen and behave. Leo is in awe and in love.

Leo gets asked about his sons’ names a lot

Leo: “Those two little demons playing on the monkey bars are mine. Mischief and Managed.” Frank: “...you named your sons Mischief and Managed?” Leo: “No, of course not. That’s just what they like to be called.”

Calypso is half Greek and half Polish and wanted to name Mieczysław after her grandfather. Unfortunately Mieczysław could never quite pronounce his name correctly so he goes by Mischief instead

Calypso also wanted to name Salvador after a character from Game of Thrones but Leo had to draw the line at Drogon. He already agreed to Mieczysław, he wasn’t naming his son Daenerys or Drogon

And since the twins are really into Harry Potter and Mieczysław goes by Mischief, Sal likes to go by Managed

Percy originally created Struggling Dads (Leo later changed the name to ‘Hot Single Dads Who Are Also Fortunately Not Heterosexual’) so his son could learn how to socialize and hopefully make some friends. He immediately regretted everything once he met Leo’s twin terrors

The children basically make up the Marauders irl

#i’ll probably add more to this later #feel free to add your own headcanons #and also feel free to send me name suggestions for Jason and Nico’s kids #pjo #hoo #heroes of olympus #jercy #valdangelo #percy jackson #jason grace #nico di angelo #leo valdez #frank zhang #grover underwood

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fictionadventurer · 4 years

Note

OC asks: Sarah: 97-100; Lionel: 93-96; Jack: 89-92; Eliza: 85-88; Daniela: 79, 82-84; Alessando: 75-78; Floriano: 70-72, 74; Lucia: 66-69; Marata: 62-65; Jarrock: 58-61 ("crowed" meaning "crowded" presumably); Bastian Diriks: 54-57; Lady Diriks: 50-53; Lorenz Fortuin: 46-49; Anya: 42-45

Alright, here we go.

Sarah

97. Where do they live? Who do they live with?

She lives in an old house near the university. She technically has her own apartment (later gets Eliza as a roommate), but Lionel and Jack share a larger apartment downstairs and she’s basically allowed to come in and out as if it were hers.

98. How do they calm themselves down?

Go on long walks, rant to someone (or no one) and/or furiously write down everything she thinks about what’s bothering her.

99. Are they co-dependent?

She’d bristle at the suggestion that she’s anything less than entirely independent, but she relies heavily on Lionel.

100. Are they a day, or night person?

Mostly a day person, except for the occasional late-night intense writing/studying session.

Lionel

93. How do they deal with stress?

Ignore it and hope someone else figures out how to handle it. And play the piano a lot.

94. Do they have a more submissive or dominate personality type?

In a house with Sarah and Jack, almost anyone would be submissive by comparison, but even by normal standards, he’s a person who prefers to step back and let other people handle the problems in life.

95. Do they have a pet?

He had a bird for a few days until Sarah objected. He didn’t put up too much of a fight because he was starting to find it distracting.

96. Do they have a stash of weapons?

Nope. He wouldn’t have the first clue what to do with a weapon if you gave him one.

Jack

89. Can they remember a lot of information at once?

Yes. He remembers everything and it drives Sarah nuts. (Especially since the only things he can’t remember are when he needs to pay his portion of the rent or clean his part of the apartment).

90. What is their occupation?

Right now, a student of languages (which ones depends on the world I build around him).

91. Do other characters respect your OC, if so, is it out of fear? Or do they respect your OC because they like them?

Lots of people like him. Plenty of people are even impressed by him. Few truly respect him. (Jack is not among those chosen few).

92. If they were given minutes to live, what would they do? Who would they want to see and say?

He’d try to figure out a way to get out of whatever situation leaves him with only minutes to live.

Eliza

85. Are they self motivated?

Extremely. Once she decides to accomplish something, there is nothing that will keep her from doing it.

86. How do they cope with anger?

Stabbing things. She tried taking up embroidery once to serve this purpose, but the holes were too tiny to provide a satisfying level of destruction. Now, she usually just takes a pen and goes to town on a poor innocent sheet of paper (and the desk/table beneath it) until her temper is satisfied.

On a less destructive level, she’ll step back and figure out a plan to overcome whatever’s making her angry.

87. Have they ever been in a situation where they were helpless?

She does not believe in being helpless. There’s always something that can be done, even if the something is impossible to accomplish by any normal standards.

88. Are they organized or messy?

Very organized about projects and plans. Slightly messy when it comes to organizing her living space. Very messy about tending her hair.

Daniela

79. Is there someone in their life that they care about more than themselves?

She cares a lot about her father.

82. Are they good at mental math?

She’s decent. She can usually compute basic math with a little bit of thought. If it gets too complicated she needs pen and paper.

83. Do they get along with others?

Yes. She makes a point of being pleasant, not standing out, and not offending people.

84 Are they lazy?

Not usually. A very solid work ethic, but some days you just need to relax.

Alessandro

75. What is their biggest fear?

Being useless.

76. What are their goals?

Keeping the kingdom from falling apart. (Though this is a hard question to answer when I still haven’t figured out the exact political situation in the revised imagining of the story).

77. How do they go about achieving their goals?

Advising Floriano from afar.

78. Do they have a fight or flight response?

If there’s any flight involved, it’s a strategic retreat so he can figure out the best way to fight.

Floriano

70. Do they like themselves?

Before he was crowned, yes. After he was crowned, it seemed like his every trait and tendency was something that made being king that much harder.

71. Who do they dislike?

People who disrespect Alessandro or their late father.

72. What is their motto?

Never give anyone reason to hate you. (This motto has been very difficult to live up to after being crowned).

74. Have they ever been abused?

After he becomes king, he deals with a lot of verbal abuse (behind his back, but done in ways that it’s impossible for him not to find out about it).

Lucia

66. What is their pet peeve(s)?

When people wear clashing colors. It drives her nuts and she can’t look away.

67. Do they have a disability?

Not officially. Sometimes has trouble concentrating, but not to the level of disability.

68. How do they react to getting flowers?

She will spend the entire day making sure everyone sees her flowers and appreciates her flowers and knows how much she loves her flowers.

69. Would they ever wear a flower crown?

The problem would be getting to to take off the flower crown.

Mirata

62. How do they relax?

Sing. Swim. Pray. All things, unfortunately, that she’s not allowed to do openly on land.

63. Have they ever harmed anyone and regretted it? Verbally or physically?

She’s got a quick temper and a sharp tongue that get her in trouble frequently, and she almost always regrets it after a day or two.

64. Do they like to dance?

She loves it. Unfortunately, her style of dancing is also one of those things the land-dwellers frown upon.

65. How do they get around their environment? Examples - horses, bike, vehicle

She’s used to getting around by swimming or boating. On land, she will always choose walking over any form of transportation that involves horses.

Jarrock

58. How would they come across to other characters? Examples- messy, lazy, childish, caring etc.

He seems like the serious, dutiful son; an impressive soldier who’d never step out of line or have a thought or emotion of his own. Unless you happen to witness one of his bursts of temper that reveal his very passionate underlying emotions.

59. Do they have a phrase they use over and over?

Not really. (That’s the kind of thing that I’d have to figure out over the course of writing the story).

60. In a crowded room are they in the corners, sides, or in the middle?

On the sides, present and watching carefully, but not getting too deeply involved.

61. Are they comfortable being in a crowded room?

No. He’ll stay for just as long as he’s required and he’ll leave the second he’s able.

Bastian Diriks

54. How do they cope with sadness?

Find something to distract himself--before, it was working with stars, now it’s listening to music. It also helps to find someone who’s having a worse day than him and try to help them out.

55. What is something they care about?

Loves working with the stars. Loves the family business. Continues to care about both even after the stars took his sight and the family kicked him out of the business side of things.

56. Would they die for anyone/anything?

He’d die for his family. Half of his family would prefer it if he would.

57. What do they do when they are happy?

He can get, like, obnoxiously cheerful. Drives people nuts.

Lady Diriks

50.Do they enjoy the arts?

She’s a leading patroness of the arts, so yes.

51. Do they like science?

She likes being thought of as someone who likes science (because that’s almost as fashionable as supporting the arts) but she doesn’t really understand it, so she learns just enough to nod along and seem knowledgeable when someone else is talking about it.

52. Are they more emotional or logical?

She’d says she’s entirely logical, but there’s more emotion driving her than she realizes.

53. How do they deal with their emotions?

Bottle it up. Deny it ever existed. Then take it out on the people around her.

Lorenz Fortuin

46. When is their birthday?

Not a clue. I’m not 100% sure they even use Earth’s calendar (they probably do). The most I’ll commit to at this point is that his birthday is probably in the winter.

47. Are they quick to judge?

He’s very quick to latch onto his first impressions of people as being the correct ones, and it can skew his judgement, but he’s willing to change his mind if given enough contrary evidence.

48. Do they have anything they are trying to hide from others?

He’s always trying to hide his lower-class origins.

49. Do they act different around different people?

All the time. He’s a very different person when he’s hanging with the upper crust than when he’s only with fellow artists or people of lower classes.

Anya

42. Are they close with anyone who is going to screw them over?

How did you know this was the whole point of the story? (Okay, he doesn’t quite turn against her, but it’s a close thing at some points.)

43.How do they adapt to different situations? Do they adapt at all?

She’s pretty good at going with the flow--being observant, staying quiet when she’s not sure what the right response is. But when she comes up with a plan of action, she acts upon it, and doesn’t always think through the consequences.

44. How do they speak? Examples - Are they soft spoken, hot heated, vulgar

Has a strong lower-class accent marring an otherwise pleasant alto voice. Very strident voice when she has strong emotions.

45. Are they opposed to violence?

When it’s directed against her, yes. When she needs to defend herself or her people? Absolutely not.

#an intimidating exercise but also really fun #finding out that some of these characters had more depth than i realized #and that some are way shallower than i realized #(though some of that'll be solved by actually writing the stories)#anyhow thanks for asking!#adventures in writing #isfjmel-phleg #answered asks #violet ink #starfall #sea of dreams #a beautiful tomorrow

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