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#and she pressed ‘skip intro’ without asking me
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Didn’t know how strongly I felt about this until recently, but I gotta know…
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A little preview for chapter 5 of my werewolf Joel AU fic (may this actually inspire me to get my shit together to finish and post before the weekend is over)
———
Ellie’s lips quirk up into a hint of a smile. She opens the CD case and exhales a surprised laugh. 
“What?”
Ellie holds up a gray burner CD, the kind you could get Before in a stack of 50 at Circuit City. The only title on it says, ‘Ro’s Cool Jams Vol. 1.’
Joel can’t contain his groan, which spurs Ellie to surge forward to stick the CD into the player on the dash as quickly as possible. 
For a blessed moment, there’s silence, and just when Joel thinks they’ve dodged an auditory bullet,  
“Hey, hey… bye, bye, bye—” 
Godfuckingdammit. 
Ellie immediately picks up on the fact that he hates it so naturally she cranks the volume up. 
Seven songs into the CD and it’s clear that Ro was both a masochist and a sadist. They jump from NSYNC to Brittney Spears to Alicia Keys to Missy Elliot with no rhyme or reason. It’s driving his dormant musical sensibilities nuts.
It doesn’t help that he recognizes all of the songs only because of Sarah.  It’s almost laughable how easily the memories of her dancing along to music videos on MTV flash in his mind’s eye. 
“Verdict?” Ellie asks after another pop hit fades out. By her tone, it’s clear that her dislike is starting to outweigh the pleasure she gets from messing with him. 
Joel holds out a thumbs down. 
“Fine. I’ll be nice to you,” Ellie says, and ejects the CD, “Pick a number, two to twelve.”
“Lucky number seven.” 
Ellie takes said CD out and feeds it to the player.  
The distinct electric guitar riff to Guns N’ Roses’ Sweet Child O’ Mine plays. Joel perks up in his seat. Neither the song nor the genre are ones he would pick immediately if given the choice, but he has fond memories of Tommy during his punk rock phase, pulling an older Joel into his schemes to win albums and concert tickets off the radio.  
He isn’t aware he’s mouthing along to the lyrics until Ellie pushes the pause button and turns in her seat to stare at him.
“You know the words to this song.”
“Lyrics.”
“Sure, whatever. The point is, you know them.”
“Some. This was more Tommy’s speed.” 
Ellie files away that information before a slow smile spreads on her face. 
“Well, you did promise to sing for me.”
“I most definitely did not.”
“Yeah, you did.” 
Joel shuts his mouth. He knows how these types of arguments with a teenager go twice over. Tommy could be roughhoused into giving up but Sarah had been relentless. Nope. He ain’t doing it. 
Ellie clocks on to his strategy. Her brows furrow in thought. 
“I’ll wash our dishes for a week.”
“Make it two.”
“Ugh fine, you fucker. That’s extortion by the way.”
“Smuggler, remember?”
“Okay, contractor slash smuggler slash werewolf, get ready,” 
Ellie presses the play button followed by the skip back to start the song over. 
Joel tightens his grip around the steering wheel. It’s been a long, long time. 
He lets the intro and first verse pass by before he finally opens his mouth and joins in on the second verse. He can tell he’s rusty, voice catching in a way that grates on his ears and his pride. But he keeps going. By the second chorus he’s surprised he’s hit his stride, his baritone flowing out like a dam’s been broken inside him. The song isn’t vocally challenging so he finds himself adding his own flavor to it, straying away from Axl Rose’s rougher inflection and into his own smoother tone.
Ever observant, Ellie can tell he’s nervous so she avoids looking at him directly. But when he finds his voice she can’t help but stare, captivated.  
The song ends. The next track starts. Ellie’s grinning. 
All Joel can think about is the last time he sang for someone, to another little girl. 
“Dude, that was fucking a—”
And then Joel’s pulling the car over. He’s outside without fully registering the motions it took to get there and he’s pulling in great big breaths of winter air and he’s grabbing at his chest except Ellie is tugging hard on his wrist—
“Joel! Joel stop.”
He looks down and realizes his claws are out and he’s left decently deep scratches on the worn leather of his jacket. Shit. 
Joel takes a steadying breath, then another until the claws retract. The look on Ellie’s face is anguished and guilty. 
“Fuck I’m sorry. I won’t ever make you sing again, I swear.”
“It’s not that cariño, I’m— it’s stupid. It’s just, I haven’t done that in twenty years.” 
Realization dawns on Ellie’s face. 
“Oh.” 
“Yeah.”
Joel takes another deep breath. Since they’re both already outside, he calls their pit stop. Fifteen minutes and a light lunch later, they’re back in the car. 
Ellie makes no move to touch the radio so he flicks it on himself. Ellie throws him a look but says nothing.  
Four songs later Livin’ on A Prayer comes on and Joel hums along. Ellie finally relaxes. 
“Verdict?”
Joel holds out a thumbs up.
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astaroth1357 · 4 years
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Brothers React to the MC Looking at Them Lovingly
This is a personal experiment. This is the very first time I've written one of these with a goal in mind, "Make them fall in love all over again." It's a tall order. I hope I succeeded. 🙏 Special thanks to @a-chaotic-dumbass for picking the mood for this one!
Intro:
We all know that look. The one where one person stares at another like they just realized they're the only thing in the universe and they're in fucking awe of it. The kind of look that tells you they're utterly enthralled by that other person and just can't get enough of their presence. That look. Yeah, the brothers just got that look out of the MC.
Let's warm some cold hearts, everybody.
Lucifer
Lucifer was always beautiful. Always has been, as an angel or a demon.
A morning star is one that outshines all the rest. It stands out when the other stars have dimmed, holding onto its luster in defiance of the sun. 
There couldn't be a truer title for Lucifer to have. Not the horrors of war nor the fires of Hell could tarnish his radiance in any way…
But there were moments, like right then, where the MC caught a glimpse of a different sort of Lucifer.
His brothers would often only see the uptight Lucifer, the practiced visage of perfection that he tried so hard to keep up… 
But after a long day, when he thinks he's alone, he retires to his room to listen to his music and the difference is astonishing.
There's something so entrancingly calm about him… How the light of the fireplace flickers and dances across his alabaster skin to the subtle slouch of his posture. His face no longer marred by creases of stress and frustration… 
And his expression is so pure… So tranquil and at peace… Beauty without effort. A shine that can't be ignored. A morning star, in the truest sense of the word…
It took awhile for Lucifer to see the MC leaning against his doorframe.
They were staring at him with the oddest look… Smiling like they were enraptured by something, but he didn't have a clue why. He was just sitting there…
So, naturally, he turned to suspicion.
"Am I really that amusing…?"
Frankly, he wasn’t prepared for the little laugh they let out in response.
"Mm? No, no... I'm just always so amazed by you, is all. I'll leave you to your music..."
Having thoroughly ruined the mood, the MC then turned to leave. But Lucifer was already upon them before they could step away, wrapping his arms around their waist and letting contented hum escape his chest.
"Going so soon…?"
Apparently he appreciated the compliment.
Mammon
He didn't have to do it.
When Belphie bumped into one of the House's vases, shattering it against the tile, he didn’t have to take the fall for it.
It wasn’t connected to him at all. He could have stayed quiet and no one would have pointed a finger at him for once.
But he did.
When Mammon set his phone down on the table, MC knew instantly that he had lied in the chat.
He was with them the entire day, he didn't have the time to accidentally break a vase. He hadn't even gone down that hallway all day...
But he said something anyway.
And he didn't even look fazed. He didn't turn towards them seeking approval nor did he look irritated that Belphie didn't speak up. He didn't curse at himself for doing something so self-sacrificing either...
When Mammon leaned back into the cushion of his couch, the MC saw something truly remarkable on his face… A smile. A small one, sure, but relaxed… 
Assured in his own actions. Confident in his choice and accepting the consequences… undeserved, and likely thankless, they may be.
A genuine, serene smile…
Mammon wasn't sure what he expected to see when he turned to the MC. Probably confusion or disbelief that he, the Great Mammon, could be so selfless.
Definitely not the awed, lovestruck look he got...
"G-gah!" He panicked slightly and pressed himself back against the armrest of the couch in shock. "Wh-... What'cha lookin at me like that for??"
When the MC didn't answer after a few seconds and just kept staring, he honestly didn't know what to do. Were they broken or something??
"Oi, MC! I asked ya wh-Hey wait a minute!!"
He made a noise between a yelp and a shout when the MC leapt forward and latched their arms onto him. What had gotten into them??
"U-uh… MC? MC?? Damnit MC, answer me already!! Or at least stop squeezin so tight!!... MC!!!"
Leviathan 
To anyone else, it was just Levi being Levi.
He had finished a new episode of his latest animated obsession and he had to share it with someone. Anyone would do, but the MC was always willing to lend an ear.
Something about Levi really changes when he talks about his passions… It's like he comes alive in a whole new way.
He speaks at a mile-a-minute, but that's because he's so excited the words fly from his mouth. 
Some part of him is always bouncing, be it his leg or body. Sometimes even his tail will swish and curl behind him like an ecstatic puppy. And his eyes… 
Citrine pools that glimmer and dilate from the exhilaration of it all. It's his little world and anyone can see he's thrilled to be sharing it. 
You'd never know he was shy. You'd never think he'd look down himself. You'd never guess that he hid himself away… Why would someone so full of passion and life ever want to? Some things are just too beautiful to keep hidden...
Levi had only gotten six minutes into his latest rant before he finally registered how the MC was staring at him…
This man has seen enough shoujo to know what that look means and it shut him up sooo quick. If anyone else were in the room they would have seen a beet-red Levi desperately trying to hide his face.
"M-MC…! S-top staring at me like that…!!"
"Like what~?" 
He didn't have to look at them to hear the teasing lilt in their voice.
"MC…" He peeked out from behind his fingers to see them still staring and covered himself up more vigorously. "Stoooop…!!!"
But secretly? He wished they'd never stop. His cheeks may have been red from embarrassment, but his heart was trying to hammer its way out of his chest to hug them itself. Hell, he'd have happily given it over to them if they'd asked…
Please just let those loving eyes be for him and him alone...
Satan
Soft isn't exactly a word anybody would use to describe Satan, least of all himself.
His anger was quick to spark, his strength was nothing to scoff at, and even his smiles were nothing but plastic for nearly all of his existence…
Nearly.
The MC learned surprisingly quick that there was one thing that could bypass all of the hidden ferocity to Satan's personality. Something that could make him melt like butter in the summer sun…
Satan had always looked a little cute when he was reading. He was easily at his most expressive when engrossed in a thrilling story or deeply intrigued by something he found between the pages of a book…
But watching Satan read about cats, as he was right then, was really something else entirely.
Maybe it was the way his emerald eyes would sparkle or the lopsided grin he just couldn't hide as he would scan the pages about the playful habits of Bengals or the relaxed nature of Ragdolls…
Maybe it was the sheer impassioned dedication he took the subject, pouring countless hours into collecting and memorizing every fact he could from their diets to coat maintenance.
Or maybe it was the sheer fact that anytime he saw a picture of kitty in-print he looked like a besotted schoolgirl drawing hearts around her crush in a teen magazine.
Really, who's to say? But to the MC, it was proof that under all that anger, there was a tender, loving center even for the smallest, softest creatures…
Satan automatically snapped his book closed when he saw MC watching him from behind a bookshelves. Caught red-handed…
He knows exactly how he looks when he's doing his research internally squealing over cat pictures so he tries to do so in private...
He was about to sputter out a defensive explanation but then he registered their face…
He'd seen that look described in stories, romance novels mostly, but he'd rarely seen it in action… and never once leveled at him with such intensity…
Not to be cliche, but frankly his heart skipped a beat.
Satan forgot about his book briefly and got up to close the distance between them, tilting their chin up to keep their eyes on him.
"Like something that you see, Kitten?"
"You could say that…"
He laughed at their attempt to play coy, but let it slide just this once… Easy to do with them looking at him so amorously.
Asmodeus 
Asmo is a very popular demon. Someone so free ought to know quite a lot of people, after all.
And, of course, he had plenty of fans. He made DevilTube videos, hosted radio shows, fashion designed, and even modeled.
So it wasn't very surprising when a young demoness stopped him while he and the MC were out shopping. It wasn’t the first time he had been asked to sign autographs, but this meeting… it was different.
It was clear to them both that this girl was shy. Though she held out the paper, her eyes stayed firmly on the ground and she stumbled on her question… She likely a fan from afar, but everything about her seemed meek… unassuming.
Most people would have just gave the autograph then went on with their day. The interaction could have taken five seconds at most… but not Asmo.
He asked her name… where she was from, how she was feeling, her favorite foods, outfits, makeup, you name it. All with investment.
It was amazing to watch the shy young woman slowly open up, getting more bright and cheerful with each passing question until it evolved into a healthy conversation.
When their little meeting finally wrapped up, he gave her back the paper (now signed) but also fished out a bottle of perfume from among the mountains of bags he was carrying. He gave it to her and wouldn't hear anything to the contrary, he could always buy another.
None of his brothers ever gave Asmo enough credit for his giving nature… even if he had his own way of going about it. Though he cared so much about image and his ability to shine, he never hesitated to make sure that the people around him shined too...
Asmo waved to the fan as she scampered away and was about to  apologize to the MC when he saw their face…
The man knows this look well. He's seen it a billion times, though it was particularly cute coming from them.
"Awww MC! Taken by my beauty are you~?"
He was about ready to kiss their cheek when they responded.
"No, not your looks, Asmo… with you."
… Oh.
It was very rare to see Asmo speechless, but for a few seconds his mind seemed to take in their words… letting them fully sink in before his heart utterly melting.
Oh MC… His sweet MC!!
Asmo ended up dropping the rest of his bags just so he could properly litter his human in nuzzles and kisses, the both of them humming and giggling in delight despite their shameless PDA.
Of course it would be his MC to see that part in himself… Who else would take the time?
Beelzebub 
Food is a precious resource to Beel. For him, it's a lifeline. A good meal could save him from the brink of starvation…
But that still doesn't make him incapable of sharing from time to time.
He and the MC were walking back to the House after getting takeout from Hell's Kitchen. Beel hadn't even waited until they left the restaurant to start eating his share, spilling the smell of fresh food into the air around them…
Things were going fine on their route back until they heard whimpering behind them…
A hellhound puppy, not quite old enough to bear its fangs, seemingly followed them as they were walking… It looked like it had been out for some time and eyed their food with hungry eyes, but weak posture. Who knows when it last had a meal?
The MC was about to tug at Beel's sleeve and say something, but their demon was ahead of them this time.
A casual observer might have gawked at the sight of Gluttony kneeling down to offer such a lowly creature a sandwich. But the MC knew better. When you spend your whole life hungry, nobody more than you understands that kind of pain in someone else. 
This reaction wasn't out of character for Beel, it was elementary.
And when the puppy finished its meal and covered Beel's cheeks with appreciative licks, he just laughed and scratched behind its ears. Amethyst eyes looking more relieved at its health than disappointed he lost some of his lunch...
Food was Beel's lifeline, but kindness is what made him who he was…
When the pup finally scampered off, Beel looked over at the MC to tell them it'd be alright and saw their face…
He wasn't really sure what they were staring at… Did he have something between his teeth again?
"MC? Are you okay...?"
They laughed at him for some reason but pulled him in for a hug so they must have meant well.
"You're so sweet, Beel…"
Beel's never one to refuse a compliment so he just hugged them back, beaming.
"Thank you, MC…"
Belphegor 
To say that Belphegor tended to be on the melancholic side would be an understatement… It wasn’t that he was incapable of expressing joy, it was just harder for him to do than most. Not helped, of course, by his tendency to keep his true feelings vague and hard to pinpoint.
But on those rare occasions where he was overjoyed… Belphie could really be something special…
The MC and Belphie were attending one of Beel's games and it was a tight one… Both teams had spent most of it tied and Beel's team was running out of time to overtake that slim margin.
Belphie had always been a supporter of his twin's athletics, but this time it was tense even for him. He kept on the edge of his seat and didn't even nod off during the breaks like he normally would… The MC could just tell how nervous he was for Beel…
But right as the time was about to run out, Beel made a last minute score and sure, the whole field erupted, but Belphie? Belphie hollered.
The normally sleepy and mellow demon was on his feet in an instant and practically shredding his vocal chords in excitement. If his tail had been out, it would have been beating against the bleachers like a war-drum. And his expression?
Belphie's smile is said to stop hearts for a reason. When he puts his all into a grin it's almost like he ascends to Heaven once more, as pure as an angel's choir and as warm as a summer's breeze… Nothing in his eyes but pride and adoration for his beloved twin brother.
Truly, a heartwarming sight to behold…
Belphie didn't calm down until the rest of the crowd settled and was about to point out Beel's skill to the MC when he noticed their face.
… oh no… Why do they look so sappy…?
"You really love your brother, don't you?"
Belphie quickly hid his thoughts behind an irritated frown and plopped back down in his seat… but that didn't shield them from seeing his pink cheeks.
"Of course I do. What kind of question is that?"
He debated just joining Beel on the field to hide his embarrassment when he heard them snicker back.
"Yeah, you're right… Don't mind me."
Oh he minded. He minded a lot that he let his carefully veiled image slip like that. But thinking back to that smile on their face…?
Maybe being a little open wasn't so bad after all...
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magnoliabloomfield · 3 years
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Possession
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Chapter 1: The Princess Arrives
Structure. Maybe it was because he was a builder that he liked that word so much. He built structures, he knew how make four walls and a roof that wouldn’t come down on anyone’s head, he knew how to build a seat that wouldn’t give out under anyone’s weight, and he knew how to maintain it all and make it last. The small world he lived in demanded order and structure for everyone’s well being. Without it they would be sleeping on the ground, starving, and losing their minds. And if one cog in that machine didn’t turn as it should it affected every other part. Yes, the Glade had to be a well oiled machine functioning everyday as it should.
Thankfully there were no outside forces that tried to thwart that. The doors opened in the morning, they closed at night, and the box came every month. You could tell time by the Glade and its unchanging rhythm. After three years Gally knew it like his own heartbeat. He knew the answer to every problem that could crop up in his bit of the machine. He was good enough to be the Keeper of the builders at least. Maybe that’s why it hit him hardest of all.
Box day came like all the others before it, predictable and precise. But then the heart of the Glade skipped a beat and Gally’s own did too for the first time. Because in that box was something they would never recover from.
A girl.
That was the worst thing that ever could have come up in the box. The boys would lose their minds, they’d become distracted and competitive and the machine of the Glade would come to a rusty, grinding halt. Gally could see the writing on the walls: this was going to be bad.
She wasn’t awake, she was laying there almost peacefully and all the gladers remained eerily and unexpectedly silent, like they were waiting for someone to jump out and say it was all a joke and take her away, or if they stared at her long enough the mirage would fizzle out and it actually would be a boy like it was supposed to be. Alby and Newt carefully lowered themselves into the box so they wouldn’t startle her and Newt hesitantly checked for a pulse, letting out a breath as he nodded to say she was alive. Gally ran a hand over his mouth, feeling anxious but not wanting to look it.
She woke up slowly from a sleep she didn’t know she’d fallen into. Her eyes stared straight up at the sky before they started to focus on things like Newt and Alby and a whole crowd of boys looming above her. Gally waited for the scream, for the crying, shuck, even boys had screamed and cried when they came up. But she didn’t. She tried to sit up and winced, placing her palm over her eye and rubbing like her head hurt.
“You’re okay,” Newt said to her from where he knelt beside her.
“Do you remem-“ Alby started to ask her but was silenced by her holding up one finger.
“Just… give me a minute,” she requested as she pressed both palms to her forehead and brought her knees up toward her chest.
“Sure, no rush,” Newt assured her softly, earning a small glare from Alby who was more impatient and less coddling than him.
“Enough gawking, if you’re not a keeper get back to work,” Alby ordered the boys standing around whispering to each other and stifling giggles behind their fists.
Gally narrowed his eyes and shook his head at them. Weak willed hormonal morons. They were all shucking doomed. Slowly the boys began to shuffle off, the ones catching Gally’s glare wiping the smirks from their faces and moving even faster. He sighed to himself knowing their work was going to suck if it got done at all.
Gally stood around with the other keepers, his arms crossed as they all waited for whatever would happen next. The girls hands came away from her face and she held one out in front of her, seeing the tremors running through it and making it shake before she clutched her knees and took a deep breath.
“Okay… now, what?” she sighed, looking up at Newt and Alby, her eyes squinting in the sun.
She was cute, of course she was cute, she couldn’t ruin their lives if she wasn’t cute, Gally thought to himself as he looked away from her.
“Do you remember anything?” Newt asked her nicely.
She zoned out on the middle ground ahead of her and let a breath out through her lips. “Water is wet, the sky is blue, that kind of stuff. I can’t even remember my name,” She said, her shaking hands pushing her hair back from her face as that realization set in.
“It’s ok, it’s alright,” Newt did a good job of keeping her calm. “That happens to everyone who comes here. Sad to say that’s normal. Most of us eventually remember our names at some point though, so don’t worry too much.”
“So if I were to ask you where we are and why we’re here you wouldn’t even know?” she asked as she turned to him, causing him to rock back on his heels a little bit.
“Unfortunately that is correct,” Alby spoke up, earning her attention. “But we will tell you everything we do know, starting with the fact that… you’re the very first girl to come here in three years. So we kind of have a lot to talk about.”
She squinted up at him for a beat before asking “Am I dreaming?”
“I bet you would think being the only girl in a crowd of boys would be a dream,” one of the other keepers said, drawing those eyes of hers to him.
“Nightmares are dreams too,” she pointed out.
Gally felt the corner of his mouth twitch like he might have chuckled at that.
She got out of the box on her own, climbing onto a drum of drinking water and then the rest of the way. Alby and Newt took a hand to get out and Gally figured the girl wasn’t keen on being touched just yet if ever. They let her have her way. They set off for the gathering room, the girl carefully encircled by the keepers to either keep her from running off or keep anyone from running up to her. Alby yelled for someone to go unload the rest of the box and the girl flinched.
She wasn’t as short as Gally expected a girl would be, but of course she was a lot shorter than him. At least not all the boys were that much taller than her which might tip things in her favor slightly if anything were to happen. Gally would have to pay attention to how intimidating he was now. It was never an issue with the boys, it was quite essential in fact. If they weren’t a little scared of someone then nothing would get done. But just looking at her he could tell that he absolutely could overpower her without breaking a sweat, and she would most definitely put that together too, so he had to make sure he never gave her a reason to think he actually would.
They started the gathering with the basic Greenie intro to the Glade. This was usually handled by one person who took the greenie on a tour around the Glade, but this was not the usual greenie. Gally was actually glad she was out of sight of the boys who were supposed to be working.
He rested his elbows on his knees to keep his leg from jumping nervously as Alby and Newt explained the basics and each keeper explained what they did. Gally kept his eyes down, unintentionally staring through the spot where her feet were. As the builder he was running through all the work he would have to do, he’d have to build a safe place for her to sleep and wash up, how exactly was he going to do that, he’d never had to do that before. When Alby called his name he was almost startled. He looked around and found everyone looking back at him, including the girl. It must be his turn.
“I’m in charge of the builders. Pretty self explanatory,” he stated, holding her gaze for as long as he could manage. It wasn’t long.
“You’ve been surprisingly quiet, Gally,” Newt pointed out, looking at him curiously.
Gally didn’t like the attention. “Well, I am the one who has to do the most about this situation,” he pointed out. “Yes, she needs her introduction to this place, but while you’re telling it to her I’m sitting here thinking of how I’m going to build a safe place for her to sleep and to wash up. I’m thinking up the plans now so I can get to work first light and just maybe she’ll have a place to sleep by sundown tomorrow. So what are we going to do for her tonight?”
Alby pinched the bridge of his nose as his face scrunched up, realizing that they had lot of work ahead of them. When Gally had finished his rant he thought the girl was sitting a little smaller in her seat.
“The gardening shed,” Newt blurted. “Remember the time the rakes fell over? We couldn’t get in, you had to take the door off. There’s no windows either. It’s not the best accommodations but on short notice at least it’s a place where no one can get in.”
Gally had started nodding, remembering exactly what Newt was talking about and it was a good idea, at least for one night. “We’ll move out some of the tools and put a cot in,” Gally thought aloud.
“She can take mine,” Minho volunteered.
“Are you sure? Aren’t you running tomorrow?” Newt pointed out.
“Yeah,” Minho shrugged. “Maybe one of the other runners will let me use his cot, but I can’t volunteer anyone else’s but my own. Besides, it’ll be one night, two tops with Gally working on it.”
Gally was surprised to hear him say something vaguely nice about him. But most of all he was planning, drawing blueprints in his mind of the safest, most anti-boy structure he could possibly make. He was going to put the Princess in the tower.
@poulterholland @anniemylennox @crazysheeplyca @thesuitkovian @Poulterjonas @gladerscake @carp3d1em @neilox
If any of you don't actually want to be tagged in the future just let me know, I was just trying to remember the ones who were really interested in the last short Gally series I wrote.
Possession Masterlist
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bobohu4eva · 3 years
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Pink Lace - Chapter 5
Characters: Baekhyun x Reader
Genre: College AU, stripper AU, fluff, smut, slow burn
Summary: Baekhyun, a philosophy professor with mysterious wealth, got himself completely fucked over a girl who can’t let him into her life.
Word count: 4k
Warnings: sex work, mentions of sexual assault, adult themes/situations, eventual smut
Tag list: @smolbeanmika @leave-me-in-the-summertime @totallynerdstuff @bbhmystar @nana-banana @kimyhappy @thegreatandi @geniusloey @deligxt @baekswifey @bbhyun506 @lovebuginlove @bellamendoza @baekyeonoreo @bobohumyonlyboo
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After your conversation with Baekhyun Monday evening Tuesday was spent desperately trying to get Baekhyun off your mind, with little success. He’d asked you if you liked him like that, and you couldn’t tell him no. Hell, you knew in the back of your mind that the answer was definitely yes, you just couldn’t bring yourself to say it to his face. 
As much as you did like him, the prospect of starting something with a customer who was also your professor was still terrifying. What if you two got together and people found out? Or what if things started to go south and you were still stuck with him as your teacher? 
Despite your other schoolwork, and cleaning basically everything you possibly could, your mind just kept racing with every different possible scenario for if you did tell Baekhyun how you felt. And most of them were quite unpleasant. He could lose his job, you could make class absolute hell for yourself if things didn’t go well, and so on. Different possibilities played themselves out in your mind over and over, and there was little you could do to stop it. 
However the thoughts that stuck with you the most were the ones where things didn’t end badly. Thoughts of his arms around you, his comforting words whispered in your ear, and the gentle touches of his pretty hands on your skin. As much as you fought it, the attraction was there. 
The way your mind bounced between thoughts was stressful to no end. Every time you tried reasoning with yourself, you just thought about how good he made you feel when you were alone together. 
Baekhyun was always so willing to be vulnerable with you, it made you feel appreciated. He was so open about his feelings, and honest with his intentions towards you that it made it difficult to push him away. You wanted to be able to show him the same kind of vulnerability as well, but the possibilities if you did still frightened you too much. 
You knew you wouldn’t be able to go on like this forever, sooner or later you had to figure out what to say to him. 
Your essay was plaguing you as well. You’d tried to start it on several occasions, but Plato’s writing was so old timey and incomprehensible you didn’t even know where to start. It also didn’t help that every time you tried to start writing, all you could think about was what Baekhyun would think. The idea of turning a shitty paper in for him to read and grade made you feel sick. You knew you were shooting yourself in the foot putting it off but you just couldn’t bring yourself to start it either. 
“You’ve cleaned everything in the apartment. Twice. What’s with you today y/n?” Mia asked as she walked out of her bedroom and into the common area, finding you once again wiping down all the surfaces in the kitchen. 
“I’m trying to distract myself, was that not obvious?” You knew what was coming next. 
“Baekhyun still on your mind?” 
Yes. He was. In every possible way, good and bad, and you couldn’t stop it. 
“I think I do like him.” 
“See! I knew it!” You rolled your eyes at her. “Anything exciting happen yesterday? Did you decide to keep the money?” She asked, sitting down at the dining room table, you sitting down across from her. 
 “I’m keeping it, I tried giving it back but he told me some stuff and turns out he doesn’t need it after all.” 
“So he IS rich?!” 
“Yeah... although not from anything cool or fun. His rich parents died recently.” 
“Oh shit, that sucks. That must’ve been an awkward conversation.” 
“Not really. I don’t know why but talking to him is getting easier and easier. I even stayed after he told me I could go.”
“You really must like him then, damn. Can’t blame you though, he is hot.” You shot her an angry look but you both knew she was right. “So what are you gonna do about it?” 
“Do about what?” 
“You liking him. He obviously likes you a lot too, so what happens next?” 
“Nothing. He’s my professor.” 
The look she shot you next said something reminiscent of ‘are you fucking serious’.
 “Oh come on y/n this guy is hot, and rich, and super into you. Even if he is your professor you can’t pass up a fling at least.” 
“And when it ends? What then? Or if someone finds out he’s fucking a student? He’d lose his job and it would be my fault.” 
“No, it would be his fault, and he’s rich anyway so it wouldn’t even matter.” 
You thought back to your last conversation with Baekhyun, and what he said about his parents. Even if he did choose to risk it for you, the thought of him losing a job that meant so much to him still didn’t sit right with you. 
“It would matter to me. Either way I don’t want other students shit talking me either. If my classmates found out there was something between us it would be hell.” 
“All I'm hearing right now, is that you just need to not get caught. The semester is only 16 weeks, as long as nothing gets out while you’re in his class nothing too bad can happen. You just have to be careful.”  
You thought about it, and she wasn’t exactly wrong. As long as nothing got out while you were his student, nothing too bad could happen. 
“He won’t lose his job if people find out we’re together later on when I’m not his student anymore, right?” 
Mia shrugged. “He doesn’t hold any power over you anymore then so I don’t see why he’d get in any trouble. People might just think it’s weird since he’s older. How old is he anyway? He looks young.” 
“I’m not exactly sure... Somewhere around 30? Late 20s maybe? I should ask him.” 
“Yeah you should. I still have homework I need to do, I should get back to that.” She said before getting herself a glass of water and retreating back to her bedroom. 
~
The next morning you were exhausted. You hadn’t gotten much sleep because of everything that was going through your head. You wanted Baekhyun, and he wanted you, but there was still too much risk involved. But part of you kept thinking about what Mia had said as well. Could a fling really be that bad? 
You were nervous to see him too. You still hadn’t given him an answer to his question, and you knew you wouldn’t be able to dodge it forever. Lying seemed like a decent option, but you knew with how honest and vulnerable Baekhyun always was with you, you wouldn’t be able to bring yourself to lie to him. Especially when you did want something more with him, you were just scared. 
As philosophy class drew closer and closer you felt uneasy. You felt bad seeing Baekhyun again without giving him an answer, but you didn’t know how or what to say. You only hoped he wouldn’t press you for it. 
Class went by and you didn’t speak to him. He didn’t keep you after either, which was a relief. You had been hoping he’d at least go over some stuff that would help you on your essay, but you had no such luck, and you needed it done by midnight if you wanted any credit. 
When you got home you cursed yourself for procrastinating so much, but you had other homework too and you knew you’d be able to focus on that better, so you started it first. 
Eventually your mind got sucked into your physics assignment, and you forgot about Baekhyun and the essay, too focused on the task at hand. 
By the time you were done with your other assignments it was 8pm. Four hours until you had to submit your essay. One hour went by just reading and rereading the text you were supposed to write about. Another was wasted on an intro paragraph you kept deleting, because you still couldn’t understand the text. When 10pm hit, and you started to panic.  
You realized that you weren’t going to be able to do it. Your mind was now in freak out mode and you couldn’t concentrate anyway. Either the paper wasn’t getting turned in at all, or you needed to do something fast. In any other class you would’ve BS-ed  your way through it to turn at least something in, but you just couldn’t do that knowing Baekhyun was going to read it. You weren’t going to be able to submit it that night, but you needed to at least contact him and explain so he wouldn’t think you were stupid. 
By 10:30 you found yourself scrolling through your contacts, staring at his name. You’d thought about emailing him, but he probably wouldn’t see until morning and you didn’t have that much time. 
In hindsight you probably would’ve been fine to just send an email and try to get an extension, but the combination of anxiety over your grade and wanting to talk to him had his name in your phone looking better and better. 
So you called. 
Your nerves were on fire as you waited for him to hopefully pick up. Was this stupid? Would he even answer? Worst of all, what if he was disappointed in you for not being able to do the assignment?
After a few rings, he picked up. “Hello?” 
“Hi Baekhyun, it’s y/n.” 
“Y/n? Are you alright what’s going on?” You could hear the concern in his voice even over the phone, and you remembered why he gave you his number in the first place. 
“I- I can’t do the essay.” You felt your voice shake, before unloading all your grievances in one breath “I read the thing a million times and I still have no idea what it’s about and I put it off until tonight cause it was making me so anxious but I still can’t focus and now it’s too late and I don’t know what to do and I’m freaking out.” 
You heard him sigh. “Slow down, It’s okay, I know it’s a difficult assignment. Have you at least started?” 
“No..” You felt tears swelling in your eyes, threatening to spill and you’re sure he can hear it in your voice even over the phone. “Can I just skip this one? I tried to start it so many times but I don’t know how to analyze something I can’t even understand.” You choked out. 
“Y/n...” You could tell he was thinking of what to do. He probably shouldn’t give you special treatment, and you knew that but right now you hoped he would just give in. Unfortunately you had no such luck. “I’m sorry but I can’t let you just not do it. It would make it too obvious that I’m treating you differently than other students.”
“Then can you at least help me? Or give me more time? Please?” You begged.
“I’m still in my office. I can help you if you meet me here.” 
You felt your palms get sweaty and your heart beat faster at the idea of going to his office again after what had happened last time, especially this late at night and in such a fragile state. 
“O-okay. I’ll be there in 10. Bye.” You said, hanging up before he could respond.
Quickly you got on some shoes and drove yourself to the building his office was located in. Last time you’d been in there he’d asked you about your feelings for him, and now you had to go back. You told yourself to just focus on getting the essay done, but the thought still hung around in the back of your mind as you walked down the hall towards Baekhyun’s office. You felt jittery and embarrassed, but you needed to do this for your grade.
After taking a few deep breaths to ready yourself, you knocked on the door, and heard a muffled “Come in” from the other side, so you let yourself in. Baekhyun was sitting at his desk, which was covered in papers you assumed he’d been grading. Instead of the nicer clothes he would usually wear during lecture, he was just wearing a black t shirt and sweats now. 
“You know you scared the shit out of me when you called. I thought you were in danger or something.” He said to you as you sat down in front of him. “I really didn’t think you’d call me over school work.” 
“I’m sorry..” 
“It’s okay! I’m not mad or anything, just surprised. What part of the text are you having trouble with?” 
“All of it...” You felt your lip starting to quiver. “I’m sorry I know this sounds so stupid and you probably think I’m just trying to take advantage of how you like me but I promise it’s not like that.” You said, looking down and fidgeting with your hands, trying to hide the frustration on your face.
Baekhyun crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, smiling. “I never said I thought that. I told you it’s not an easy assignment, it’s ok if you’re having trouble. Plato can be difficult especially for people who aren’t used to reading things that old.” 
“I should’ve at least started earlier...” 
“Probably, but it’s too late to dwell on that now. Let’s just try to go over the reading together, yeah?” You nodded. 
He moved his chair to your side of the desk before opening your textbook to the reading for the essay. 
“So the first thing that makes The Ring of Gyges so confusing is that you don’t really know who’s talking. Basically it’s a conversation between Plato and his brother Glaucon where they’re discussing justice, and it’s actually Glaucon speaking for most of it, not Plato.” 
You were listening to what he was saying of course, but you were still distracted by the proximity. Baekhyun was sitting right next to you now, arms almost touching. The only other time the two of you got that close was at the club. And you did not need to be thinking about that while he was explaining your assignment to you. 
“Are you following me so far?” 
Your eyes immediately shot up from the book to meet his, and you quickly nodded. Having him look you in the eyes again like that made your face feel hot.
“Glaucon argues that people only peruse justice for the benefits of it, and not because they actually want to be good people. He uses the example of a ring that grants it’s user invisibility, therefore allowing them to do unjust things like steal without being caught. He tells Plato a story about a man who finds such a ring and uses it do overthrow the king.”
You groaned. “It still doesn’t make sense though, what does some story about a stupid ring have to do with justice?” 
“Well, if you were given the ability to steal and deceive people for your own benefit, without ever having to worry about getting caught, wouldn’t you do it too?” You stayed silent. “Basically, what you need to understand is what Glaucon is arguing. He’s saying that doing good deeds isn’t a part of human nature, and everyone would behave unjustly if they knew they would never get caught. Therefore, justice is something people pursue not out of want, but out of fear of the consequences if they don’t.”  
All you could do was stare at him. It was infuriating how attractive he sounded while explaining it to you. 
“Do you have a bit of a better idea what to write about now? Remember it’s only two pages, so don’t stress too much.” 
You snapped yourself out of your thoughts. “Yeah, it makes a bit more sense now... do I still need to finish it tonight or?” 
“Friday. Just email it to me by midnight on Friday and I won’t count it late.” He said, smiling again. 
“Thank you for doing this, I’m sorry it was so late and everything.”
Baekhyun just chucked, “You know if it’s you I don’t mind. You could keep me here all night with questions and I wouldn’t stop you. But you understand now, right?” 
The way he was smiling at you now along with the closeness was making you slightly dizzy. 
“I think so, Glaucon is basically saying that injustice is better than justice then right? Because everyone would do unjust things if they’d always get away with it.” 
Baekhyun nodded. 
“So according to him the best way to live life would be to do things you know are wrong, but without being caught.” 
“Exactly. See, I knew you were smart, y/n.” A smirk had made its way onto his face as he spoke. 
You couldn’t help connecting what he was saying to what you were feeling inside towards him. You wanted him, and you knew it was wrong, but how could you deny it to yourself when it felt so right? 
“Baekhyun...” You asked, hesitantly. “D-do you think it’s okay to do things you know are wrong, as long as no one finds out?”
“I think it depends what you’re talking about.” He answered, now looking you in the eyes again with intensity. “I would never kill anyone, for any reason, even if I knew I could get away with it. But, if I really wanted something, I think I would take it.” 
You were hyperaware of how his eyes were now scanning your face, lingering on your lips. “Take what?”
A hand made contact with your thigh, slowly moving up until he stopped, right below the hem of your shorts. His thumb drew soft circles on the sensitive inner flesh, giving you goosebumps. 
“I know you feel it too, you want this, don’t you?” Baekhyun asked, now moving a stand of hair out of your face. He let his hand rest on the back of your neck, keeping you facing towards him. 
Your heart felt like it was about to short circuit from how fast it was beating. Your palms were sweaty and you could feel yourself shaking slightly. The way his thumb stroked your neck beneath your ear made you shiver, and you knew he saw. All you could do was stare back at him, dumbfounded. Any words you tried to get out stuck in your throat. He was right, you did want it. Now more than ever. 
“Tell me you don’t want this. Tell me you don’t want me to kiss you right now. I dare you.” He said, running his thumb over your bottom lip, eyes fixed on how it trembled beneath his touch. He was slowly moving your face closer his, but you didn’t stop him. 
Your silence told Baekhyun all he needed to know, and his lips quickly found yours. Immediately you let yourself melt into the kiss. You felt your whole body buzzing, finally getting what it had wanted for so long. His lips felt unbelievably soft against yours, moving in a slow rhythm as his other hand came up from your thigh to cup your face as well. You wrapped your arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, letting it become messier and more desperate. 
“I like you” you pulled away just enough to whisper “so fucking much.” You felt him grin into the kiss as your lips met again. 
He tasted like strawberries, and you felt high as your lips kept crashing together with more and more need. Your whole body felt like it was set on fire and simultaneously dunked in an ice bath, every nerve vibrating with want.    
When Baekhyun pulled your bottom lip gently between his teeth you let out a soft moan, and he started to lose it. He broke the kiss, standing up and pulling with him, before backing you up against the wall, a hand on either side of your head. 
“Sweetheart, don’t push me” He breathed, and started peppering kisses along the side of your neck, from under your ear down to your collarbone, sucking and biting on the way. 
Trapped between him and the wall, you felt weak and breathless. Your brain was in overdrive and you gasped at his ministrations, hands burying themselves in his soft hair.  His hands had traveled down to your waist, holding you against him tightly.
“Baekhyun” You breathed out, rubbing your thighs together as he sucked on a particularly sensitive spot. 
“Fuck, y/n. Don’t say that.” He forced the words out through gritted teeth.
His body pressed you into the wall, and your arms wrapped around him pulling him into you even tighter. He was completely consuming your senses and your knees felt wobbly from the intensity of it all. He was already smothering your entire front, but you tried to pull him even closer regardless.
You felt something hard press into your hip as his mouth covered yours again, and this time you shamelessly moaned his name into his open mouth. 
Much to your disappointment, Baekhyun immediately detatched himself from you, backing up until his back hit the opposite wall of the office. You could see how turned on he was by the outline of his dick through his pants and the pained look in his face. 
“Fucking christ...” He said, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. You just watched from the other side of the room. He kept his eyes closed and you observed as his jaw clenched and unclenched before you heard him continue. “You have to go. If you don’t I’m gonna fuck you on my desk and I won’t be gentle.” 
Your throat went dry at his crude words, but you couldn’t deny your own arousal. You walked back towards him, reaching out to touch his chest which was now rising and falling rapidly, but he grabbed you before you could make contact. His grip on your wrist was so tight it was almost painful. His knuckles were white, and you could see a drop of sweat trickle down the side of his face. 
His eyes bore into your own with a stare that warned you not to try anything more. 
“I’m sorry y/n but you have to leave. Not tonight. Not like this.” With his free hand he grabbed your belongings off his desk, shoving them into your arms. 
Still speechless, he opened the door and pulled you outside before going back in and closing the door behind him. You stood and stared at his office door for a minute, recollecting yourself and processing what the hell had just happened. 
Eventually your shaky legs began making their way down the hallway, back towards your car. You were pretty sure a janitor saw you as you turned the corner just down the hall from Baekhyun’s office. You kept your head down, trying to hide your face best you could while hurrying past. 
Once you were sitting in your car, you slumped into the seat, mind still in a daze after what happened in Baekhyun’s office. You waited for your breathing and heartrate to slow down before you drove away. 
Baekhyun left shorty after you as well, unable to concentrate on anything but the sound of you moaning his name. He felt terrible for throwing you out of his office but he’d meant what he said. He didn’t want his first time to have you to be in his office, purely fueled by pent up lust. He wanted to give you more than that. 
More than anything, he just couldn’t believe he’d gotten what he’d wanted for the entire summer. It didn’t seem possible, but now it had happened. And you actually kissed him back. It felt too good to be true. He felt himself once again struggling to sleep, but this time because he was too excited. This time, he didn’t have to keep himself up wondering, he knew he had you. He just couldn’t wait to see what would happed now.
You on the other hand couldn’t stop worrying about that exact thing as you stared at the ceiling above your bed. What would happen now? The thoughts weren’t fearful anymore, there was just too many of them to shut your mind down enough to sleep. 
You’d finally allowed yourself to give into him, and there was no more turning back. 
Next Chapter
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vydante · 3 years
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Restart | END | Avengers x Male! Reader
I am discontinuing my Restart series because I've simply lost creative juices for it. That's it, no elaborate or other reason. Anyways, I didn't want to just end it on the last chapter, and as someone who loves to overshare (especially if it's unsolicited), I thought some might like to see what drafts I had in plan, going chapter by chapter.
It goes up to Ch. 20 with additional bonus chapters, and chapters where I wasn't sure where they were going to be placed in the timeline.
If you have any comments, let me know! I'd love to read them :)
Here goes! Warning: very long, since the formatting is weird! The reader will be referred to as (Name) and "you", as in the story.
Right after Ch. 12 (Circumvention), are 2 special chapters (High Caliber Bullet) & (America's Sweethearts).
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(High Caliber Bullet)'s basic plot was that Barnes, now # amount of weeks since the last chapter, has gained some freedoms and can now go out and about with either (Name) or DAHLIA for supervision (via his phone, and through the cameras everywhere).
In this particular chapter, he basically goes out for a typical grocery run with DAHLIA "accompanying" him, since before, he remembers (Name) telling him that "I won't always be there with you". But something bad happens! Wooo! (Maybe an attempted robbery, I didn't have the details sorted out yet.)
Either way, DAHLIA loses contact with him, and she tries to contact you ASAP, but it takes a little while since your dumbass was asleep the whole time! Wow! The suit had to manually power on and shake you awake.
Anyways, the only thing I had "written down" after that was that, after a failed search attempt for James, you go back home and are greeted with a surprise... "Kabedon"? Or, you're pinned to the walls by James... Or, rather, the Winter Soldier! 
You're not sure what's going on, only that, "Wow, Barnes is acting weird. Why is he suddenly Russian? Wh- Okay, wow, he's suddenly gotten a lot closer. Now, wait a fuckin' minute-!"
Either way, you and James make a discovery of a second personality living inside his body- the Soldier! Or Winter, I'm still unsure which I would have gone for. If you're familiar with certain WinterIron tropes, this is one of them. Anyways, that's the end of that chapter, or what I had written so far, anyway.
This chapter is really important to the canon of Restart since it establishes Soldier, but it didn't fit into my initial plans of 10 chapters an arc, so. That's why it's a "special" chapter.
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The next "special" chapter after that was (America's Sweethearts). I had written 2 "chunks" of text for this chapter. The main plot is, basically, you and Steve spent a platonic (promise!) Valentine's Day together. Hence the title. Cute, right? This was referenced in Ch. 9 (Revelation) during Future! Steve's reminiscing.
Anyways, below the next text is what I had written for that chapter. It will be in normal text.
No other thoughts on that, so let's move on.
"You live like this?"
In his defense, Steve's apartment wasn't messy in the slightest. In fact, it was the other way around- everything was too clean, too pristine, too detached. The only saving grace he's getting from standing in the middle of his apartment is the fact that compared to the chilly Brooklyn weather, it was almost obnoxiously warm in his apartment. 
Not only did he have the heater going on, but he had another separate, portable heater blasting hot air in the corner.
(Sometimes, and only sometimes, Steve will stand in front of the heater and slowly spin around like a rotisserie chicken. The heat feels good, in his defense.)
The heat was something that you, thankfully, didn't comment on as you shed your jacket and slung it around the coat hanger near the door. You're wearing an over-sized tee- Thor's tee, he absentmindedly notes- and some sweats, both like and unlike the (Name) he often sees.
(It's not uncommon for Steve to glance at a newspaper or TV still shot and see you with your hair slicked back and dressed head to toe in a suit so expensive he's confident it costs at least a few years' worths of a typical New Yorker's rent.
Neither is uncommon to see you on the front cover of Men's Magazine, wearing a simple tee that shouldn't look that good on you but still does and posing confidently for the camera.
But despite all that, all of the clearly flattering outfits you could possibly wear at the tips of your fingers, often Steve will see you wear a disparagingly obnoxious, dirty shirt, and an old pair of sweats as your go-to outfit.)
(No, he will never admit that he really likes seeing you like that. Even with the mysterious smudged substance often found on the bottom of your sweats, as if you had swing danced in mud and crude oil.)
Regardless, while he often questions your private life fashion choices (and this is coming from a man who willingly wears khakis), he at least knows why you're wearing what you are, given the fact that he's also dressed in an overused tee and some joggers.
"What's wrong with my apartment? Not up to par with your penthouse standards?" Steve jests.
"Steve. Please." You threw him an unimpressed glare, much to Steve's never-ending amusement.
You glanced back to the inside of the apartment and squinted at it with what Steve could only describe as a rich man's scrutinizing gaze, before shrugging nonchalantly. You strolled into his apartment with a confidence Steve can still never get used to, one that reminds him so much of Tony's, and even Howard on his bad days.
(He understands why Tony doesn't like it when he brings Howard up, as he belatedly realizes that Howard didn't die the same man he knew him as, but he never understood why you've suddenly gotten bitter about Howard as well.)
He follows you into the hallway, and if it weren't for the fact that this was his apartment, he would've looked like a lost puppy following its new owner.
His apartment's not really that big, so it doesn't take long before you've both reached the living room. A simple TV, simple couch, simple table. Nothing really exciting in his living room, but it serves its purposes, in Steve's opinion.
(This is the end of that chunk. Next is where I picked up in writing. Short time skip, they both fall asleep and now Steve's waking up.)
It was the change in the smell that woke him up.
It's always the scent of fresh linen that greeted him early in the morning, something that's become so attuned to his everyday life. So when, instead, popcorn and sweets drifts his way, for a brief second his heart rate jumps.
'What?', his mind asks as he opens his eyes, bleary but cautious.
'Oh,' his mind responds back at him when his eyes drift down to your sleeping form laying splayed right on top of him, body glued to his side. You're mainly hogging the blanket, but he doesn't really mind as he runs hot 24/7. 
'Oh', his mind repeats softly, as something deep unfurls from his stomach and rises to his throat, clenching up and unable to say anything as his eyes fixate themselves on your steady breathing. Your lips are too close to his neck, each breath too warm, even for him. His skin burns where it meets yours, and absently he thinks, 'this is nice'.
'Yeah,' he lifts his hand to brush away a strand of hair away from your eyes, 'This is nice.'
Steve blearily throws a glance at the clock on his nightstand. 4 more minutes until he'd typically wake up and start his day with a morning jog.
'No,' his body protests.
'Okay,' his mind agrees without a fight.
He carefully reaches over and presses the silence button on his alarm. Above him, a breathy exhale escapes your lips at the sudden movement, and if possible, you curl closer to him than you were before. He pauses, unsure if you're going to wake up or not, but relax when he realizes that you're still in a deep slumber.
(Another break. Next sentence was supposed to be the final sentence of the chapter.)
In the end, neither of you commented about how Steve had missed his daily morning run as his limbs were straddled in between yours.
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Ch. 13 (Upheaval) and 14 (Airlocked) are short in terms of drafting, so I'll combine them into one section here. Ch. 13 (Upheaval) was about taking down SHIELDRA in a better manner than the mess that was CA:TWS. And (Name) also forces Steve and Natasha to fess up immediately about Tony's parent's murderer. ((Name) threatens them.)
As for Ch. 14 (Airlocked), it's pretty much a filler chapter of sorts. (Name) graduates, there's now an official class-action lawsuit against Ross, also now keeping an eye on Baron Zemo, and we see some progression on Barne's therapy session. Not much, but some.
I really was not looking forward to these two chapters, as I knew they were gonna be boring as hell.
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Ch. 15 (Spiralling) has actual written chunks. It's basically about the early prevention of Ultron. The Avengers go to a Sokovian HYDRA base, take out baddies, and the Super Twins get captured first- wow! But not before Wanda does... something to (Name), causing you to hallucinate and lose contact with the team- uh oh!
But don't worry! You get run over by a car. Lol. Below is what I had written for it, sans minor text.
A/N: In Ch. 7 (Summer), there was a 'dream-sequence' that happened where (Name) was on Titan with Tony, Peter, Stephen, and the GOTG. I've now decided that in canon, (Name) was not on Titan- instead, you were on Earth instead during IW helping at Wakanda. Just a brief plot-hole wrap-up; let's imply that (Name) had watched video footage of the fight at Titan via Tony's suit afterward, and that's where the nightmare came from. Okay bye.
(VERY abrupt start into the story, not meant to be the start of the chapter in the final draft, just where I wanted to start writing. Intro to Wanda.)
You jerked your head, catching a glimpse of brunette hair in the corner of your eyes. You swung your gauntlet instinctively and made instant contact with whatever was next to you. Flutters of red wisps followed your eyes, and you instantly knew what just happened as a body dropped next to you. 
You grunted and leaned onto the nearest wall, watching the girl's limp body with caution. Your shoulder plate lifted, and a tranquilizing dart connected to her thigh.
Just in case.
"Guys, I- I've been- ugh..." You wanted to vomit, the pounding in your head worsening with each millisecond that passes. Already, your surroundings distort you with each blink, walls melting and the floor sinking in on itself. "I've been- com-," you swallowed back your bile, "-compromised... Sending- location... Ergh..."
You didn't even have enough time to hear a response before the whole world around you shifted. You squeezed your eyes shut, trying to calm your thundering heartbeat. The pounding got worse as the armor around you dissipated into nothing but the under-suit you were wearing. Before, where there were the shouting and gunshots, is now replaced with an eerie silence filled with just your laborious breathing.
You didn't know the full extent of what visions you were about to see, but you needed to remember that none of this is real. Scientifically, that was your only safe haven from possibly losing your mind for what's about to come. And it was worse because you had no idea what visions you'd see. Would you see Thanos? The Chitauri, just like your father once had? Or would it be something more close to home; the bunker? Tony's dead body, splayed with vomit around him, frostbitten to the touch and still like a marbled statue? 
Ready to go up and arms at whatever it was you're about to see, you cautiously opened your eyes.
(Line break, there's meant to be an "oh shit" line, like "Only, you were met with eyes far too similar to yours." but I still didn't know what I wanted to do for the hallucination sequence. Maybe meeting an older you, a younger you, or your dream life without the Avengers or meta-humans.)
(Below is an abrupt shift in the story; same general setting, but outside POV! What I had was dialogue only, alternating between people in bold, as a POV switch.)
(Name) "Guys, I- I've been- ugh... I've been- com-compromised... Sending- location... Ergh..." 
(Steve) "Apex, do you copy? (Name)!" 
(Steve) "Shit, (Name) isn't answering! Tony!"
(Tony) "Got his location, he's inside the base. J.A.R.V.I.S., what's his status?" 
(J.A.R.V.I.S.) "I'm sorry, Sir, but it appears that I am not in contact with his suit." 
(Tony) "Wha- the hell do you mean you're not in contact?!" 
(J.A.R.V.I.S.) "I cannot connect to his suit; it appears that Young Sir has somehow deprogrammed me from his suit." 
(Tony) "Wha-!" 
(J.A.R.V.I.S.) "However, it seems as if there is an A.I. present nonetheless. Though..." 
(J.A.R.V.I.S.) "I do not recognize the code. Would you like me to attempt at forming a mode of communication?" 
(Tony) "Yeah, just- God, make sure (Name)'s okay, please." 
(J.A.R.V.I.S.) "On it." 
(J.A.R.V.I.S.) "Establishing a connection." 
(DAHLIA) "Mister Stark?"
(Tony) "Wha- I'm sorry- who are you?"
(DAHLIA), ignoring Tony, "An enhanced got to (Name). The operative is down, but (Name)'s experiencing hallucinations. I can't get through to him- you need to get to him, now. I fear he may hurt himself more than he already has."
(DAHLIA) "And if I may be privy to a request?"
(Tony) "What?"
(DAHLIA) "Don't bring Rogers." (I don't remember why I wrote this bit.)
(Steve) "Any updates on (Name)?"
(Tony) "Yep, and by the looks of it," there was a loud boom coming from the base, and as Tony looked up to see an all too familiar suit fly out of the building. Or, rather, flying was an interesting way to put it- it was more of a free-falling more than anything else.
(Steve) "What was that?"
(Tony) "That was (Name), and he's not havin' a great time I'll tell you that."
His voice was light and joking, but he'd be lying if he didn't say that his heart wasn't in his throat by the sight of you flying out of the building and falling back into the forests.
(Line break, another POV switch)
Steve sprinted towards the loud boom, movements quick and calculated, but mind racing a thousand miles an hour. He saw a red and gold glint fly up above him, zipping in and out between trees gracefully. 
(Line break, but no switch, same place. Another story POV shift, sort of. Steve makes contact with (Name), or so he thinks.)
"(Name)? Hey, do you copy?"
The suit was eerily silent, glowing eyes that once gave comfort to the soldier now bringing nothing but an awful, gripping dread; one that he'd get when there were Nazi soldiers nearby, but he couldn't tell where even with his enhanced senses. The suit gave away nothing that usually screamed out everything that was you- no head swaying, no restless and constantly shifting feet, only a stillness that looked so unnatural. Almost as if there was no one in there.
"(Name)?"
There was no response from you.
The hairs on Steve's neck stood up, everything in his system suddenly screaming to get out of there, run, leave, get away from the suit, but he ignored it as he took a cautious step forward.
Again, you didn't seem to react.
Then, the suit took a step forward.
Then another one.
And another one.
"(Name)-"
Before he could say anything more, the suit lunged forward. Only for a moment could Steve react, but even he wasn't as fast as you could be when you're in the suit. He raised his shield, ready to be shot at, but only the sound of harsh metal on metal makes it to his ears. By the sounds of it, it sounded like Tony had managed to land a direct hit on you, from wherever position he was at. Cautiously, Steve lowers his shield to look.
But instead of the familiar red and gold suit of armor greeting him, it's the sight of two (color) suits wrestling on the ground with each other that manages to sucker-punch all air from his lungs.
(Basically, you went bat shit insane and got out of the older suit, then prematurely activating the nano suit instead, in a fit of panicked hallucination. The older suit, now operating by DAHLIA, was trying to protect Steve from being ambushed by (Name), and now they're wrestling.)
(Another big break, but I think I had a hallucination sequence from (Name)'s POV planned here. Not sure what I was gonna do here since I planned this like, maybe in 2018, early 2019. It's... 2021 now...)
"-(Name)!"
Your eyes widened as the world around you suddenly shifts out of existence, and instead, you're outside in the dim, snowy alps once again. Someone called out to you, you don't know who, but there's a light in the corner of your eyes that's so goddamn bright. You turn your head in the direction of the light, and amidst all of the yelling and gunshots, DAHLIA's cool, chilling voice rings the loudest in your ear.
"Aborting protoc-"
And then the world turned black.
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Ch. 16 (Enflamed) also has written text. Basically, you're recovering from being caught slipping by a car, the team is now aware of certain secrets you've been keeping behind their backs, and you realize that you have to get back to Barnes to let him know you're okay.
This chapter was meant to be focused on the twins, but I guess I forgot that as I was "writing" it. Basically, the gist was that their parent's deaths weren't by officially licensed Stark tech (maybe even a counterfeit since Stark weapons are the best, and don't malfunction as it did in WandaVision ep. 8). Maybe HYDRA was the one that did it in order to recruit more people. Or something like that. Basically, Tony wasn't the one who authorized those weapons to be sold and used there, but it was Stane. Either way, they get their own healthy moment to mourn and lament over it all.
Here's the text below. Italics for a dream sequence, since you were unconscious/ in a coma from being bOnked on by a car.
"Hey, sweetheart."
You smile, turning around to face the voice only to be greeted with lips on yours. You chuckle, amused that this was the first thing you'd be greeted with, but lean into the kiss anyways as you wrapped your fingers around their cheek.
They pull back first, but their eyes are warm as they smile, lingering in the space between the two of you. Where their hands laid on your hips, your skin burned bright hot, but you paid no mind to it. 
(There's supposed to be more, maybe foreshadowing, but I stopped here in terms of the dream sequence. Jump cut to another POV, but you're waking up!)
(Name) "Hnng..."
(Steve) "Stay down! You're in no condition to move at all, just- just rest, okay? The doctors- and- your dad are coming."
(Steve) "How're you feeling? You want some water?"
You tried to turn your head to look at the blonde but hissed suddenly.
(Name) "S'nnof'a' b'ch..." (Son of a bitch.)
Steve helped you settle back onto your pillow- which even he'll admit doesn't look like the most comfortable setting in the world.
"Language, (Name)..."
He reprimanded, but there's no heat in his words as he's just so thankful that you're even capable of forming any words, no matter how profane they may be.
Beside him, Clint laughs a bit too loud for comfort. Steve wants to tell him to be quiet, as he's sure you're sensitive to noise right now, but God he can't blame the archer for his overwhelming relief. 
Lord knows Clint wasn't the only one to stress over their youngest Avenger.
"First words after a damn coma, and it's 'son of a bitch'! I told you he's a fighter!"
"Of course he is, he's a Stark after all."
All eyes turn to see the billionaire and assassin walk into the room. They look clean and pristine as always, but by the slight sheen of sweat on both of them, Steve knew they rushed here as soon as word spread that you were awake.
(Natasha) "Tooting your own horn a little much there?"
Natasha's smile betrays her words as she looks fondly from the senior Stark to the junior. Even the ironclad wall she has up 24/7 has a soft spot for the team's junior member.
(Especially for the junior member, but you didn't hear that from Steve.)
(Tony) "It's both of our horns, excuse you."
Tony turns his attention to you and places a gentle hand on your shoulder.
"You sure took a hit back there, champ."
"Mmm... 'm feel like a... Nn... A damn Make A W'sh kid...", (Mm, am feeling like a damn Make A Wish kid...) your eyes, though blown out from still being drugged up, wandered across each Avenger. You frowned, then smirked- well, as best as you could, anyways. 
"Where's th' Hul'k? T'or?" (Where's the Hulk? Thor? (As a joke, since usually the whole gang visits, but they're missing))
"Relax junior, you're not that special. We can only afford so many Avengers to visit you."
Despite his harsh words, Tony places a kiss right on your forehead. Your eyes flutter closed, lashes delicately batting as Tony leans away.
(Big block of nothing, there were supposed to be more text here, more dialogue or something. Same setting!)
(Tony) "So. We need to talk about what happened back there. Y'know. The brand-smackin' new A.I. that's in your suit- she's been awfully quiet. Oh, and the- lord, the thing's a work of art- the- what is it? Nanite suit? That's in a collar- a collar? I mean, I'm not one to judge questionable fashion statements, but-"
(Steve, or someone else) "Tony."
(Tony) "Right- but, we are going to talk about all that, okay?"
"L'ter, ple's? Am tir'd..." (Later, please? Am tired.)
"An' b'sides, chok'r's fun..." (And besides, chokers are fun.)
(Line break, basically, you remember you have a certain Winter Soldier that's been sitting at home without any word from you.)
’Oh fuck.’
(Big line break, basically, you get discharged from the hospital, and now you visit the safehouse Barnes is in to check up on him.)
It was eerily quiet when you opened the door to the safe house. You limped into the door, thankful that the ride on the way back, there were no paparazzi to see you leave at all. (Really, Happy should get a raise.) Lord knows how much of a rile that'll get out of the news media.
'Avengers' Golden Boy: Fatally Injured?' or something dumb like that.
You'd love to roll your eyes, but the tension that's coiling up in your gut surpasses the want as you slowly step into the house. It's warm, more so than the slow brewing chill that's been tempering outside. James never liked the cold, but even so, the house was warmer than you remembered. His shoes are still near the doorway, in the exact place that you remembered it to be, so he definitely hasn't gone anywhere.
(Though, the alerts that were on your phone from DAHLIA definitely show that he wanted to.)
For a brief moment, you were concerned that there wasn't enough food; but even then, DAHLIA would still be up, so she could place an online order to refill the fridge at a moment's notice, so it's not like James (even with his super-soldiered appetite) would starve himself here.
You quietly slipped out of your shoes, slowly as to not incur another cramp in your back, and stepped into the hallway barefooted. You glance into each room you pass by, but not a single sign of the soldier was anywhere to be found.
You stopped when you stood in front of one specific lounge room; yours and James' favorite lounge room.
Lurking into the room, you glanced around.
The room looked exactly like how it did days before when you were still conscious. There are a few mugs strewn about. Most empty, conjoined in one area of the table (James' area), but there's one that's filled with your favorite drink. A drink that you don't remember making for yourself.
And it's placed right in front of your favorite chair, too. Something squeezes at your heartstrings as you couldn't help but smile fondly.
It's gone cold, you absently note as you dip a finger into it. Wiping your finger on your pants, you grabbed it and the rest of the empty cups, making a note to place them into the dishwasher when you make it into the kitchen.
"James?"
You called out, but only your voice echoed back. The cups quietly rattled with each step, and it's not long before you make it into the kitchen. It, too, looks the same, but there's a thin layer of dust only a clean freak would notice. The sink is empty and clear of any beads of water. Unused for a little bit, you concluded.
Yeesh.
You placed all of the cups into the dishwasher, which was also dry and empty as well. Sighing, you turned on the machine and jumped out of your skin when you felt a pair of built arms wrap themselves around you tightly.
It only takes a split second for you to realize that, no, this is not some ax murderer that's about to choke the life out of you, it's just James.
James who, apparently, is holding you flush against his chest, fingers curling themselves against your bandaged abdomen. You held back a wince of pain, careful not to make your breathing waver, as James nuzzle his whole head against the crook of your neck. 
(Honestly, for someone named the Winter Soldier, he sure is warm because whew, boy-)
"Ja-"
"I thought you were gone."
His name is caught in your throat as James' voice- gritty, deep, unused- rumbles into your skin. You freeze, unsure of what to say to that as you shuddered, suddenly breathless as he mouths at your neck. Your ears turn bright red as he takes that moment to speak up, not once letting up on his fingers ghosting a trail on each muscle on your abdomen.
"You were gone. One second you were in my arms, and the next... The next, DAHLIA's tellin' me you're in a damn coma."
You winced, not sure how to respond to both what he said or the growl that accompanied it. You looked up at the camera that was in a nearby corner and threw it a withering glance, feeling slightly betrayed by DAHLIA for telling James that.
Thankfully (or probably not), James isn't really looking for a response as he continues on.
"Моя звездная пыль (My stardust)," Russian slips out, bringing a chill up your spine as bits of Winter spills out from James' fingertips, "The witch got to you, didn't she?"
Goosebumps raised on your skin, and to your silence, James snarled. You can barely feel his teeth graze on your nape, and you really don't know if you should feel embarrassed or something else.
And wow, okay,��maybe you should tell James to ease up on the "hug", because holy shit, his grip's getting tighter and it's starting to actually hurt.
(Ah, he might tear the stitches.)
"HYDRA сукa...! Я убью ее...!" (HYDRA bitch...! I'll kill her...!)
You huffed, still red in the face as he hasn't even nudged away from letting you go. You patted his forearm, signaling for him to loosen up his grip, and to his credit, he does. Barely, but it was still something. 
"I dunno what ya' just said in Russian, but I know what Hydra сукa means. No cussing in Russian, only in English."
He mumbles something incoherent into your shoulder, rubbing circles into your stomach with a tantalizingly slow speed. You coughed; in literally any other situation this would be one of the hottest things you've ever experienced, but considering that James was more Winter than James right now, and your stomach is literally burning in pain from the rubbing, you opted to ignore the fact that you really liked that James was this close and spoke up.
"Not to alarm you or anything, but uh, if you keep rubbing my stomach like that," your breath hitched, the pain starting to become a little too much, "I'm gonna pass out from the pain," you said, with clenched teeth.
(End of what I had written down. Anyways, not sure where I was gonna go from here.)
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Ch. 17-20 are relatively short in terms of what I had written down.
Ch. 17 (Reconditioning) has 3 things typed down:
integrating the twins, thoughts of integrating bucky
supreme distrust between you and the twins
meanwhile maybe thoughts from twins abt you? you're around their age 
3rd bullet introduces the idea that they might be love interests. Maybe. Shrugs. That chapter would be heavier on the character developments of the twins, both as their own persons and their relationship with you, specifically. They don't like you because you're Tony's son, still some bitter feelings there, and you don't like them because... Well... there's just a lot of bad feelings. They helped kill J.A.R.V.I.S. in your original timeline. Wanda basically fucked off with Vision. She antagonized Tony. (And there is a hypocrisy there since I would've written you to have done the same thing there. (Name) isn't perfect.)
You just didn't get along with Pietro since, back when he wasn't dead, you were immature and not yet accustomed to dealing with people who're purposefully frustrating/ teasing/ mocking/ etc. Nothing really personal with him, it's Wanda that you had beef with. But you'll get over it one day.
Ch. 18 (Longstanding) is shorter.
you and james have a talk, and after a year or two being solitary, you agree that he should be in the avengers
he joins the avengers
That's it, that's the chapter.
Ch. 19 (Accountability) deals with newer Accords (not a Sokovian one! Just from the proposed need for accountability).
It goes better around this time, as basically all of the Avengers agree to it, with their own caveats of course. Steve especially, but of course, he's willing to work with the governments about it this time around. Also, Peter Parker gets introduced, in accordance with the "underaged enhanced/ superheroes" clause, or some bull like that.
Ch. 20 (Wakanda) is basically the intro to CA:CW but like, civilized. No bombing since Zemo still has his family. Introduces Wakanda, and T'Challa as a potential love interest. If you're interested in IronPanther, I highly recommend reading the IronPanther Collection by Okyverlo on AO3. It's great and got me a lot of interest in T'Challa as a love interest.
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As for official chapters with the plot, that's about it. I wasn't sure what to do afterward.
There were some loose ideas I had about what would happen to (Name). Maybe the truth is revealed, that you're actually from the future, and Dr. Strange separates past and future you into two separate bodies. Future! you into your original future body, and past! you into the current body. Past! you still have the same memories and thoughts that future! you had, but with less angst. Future! you is noticeably more depressed and just a bummer. Lol.
And after that, 2023! you would go back to the future where you belonged, and Past! you would stay in the present since, duh, that's still Past! you's original timeline. It's a little confusing when I type it down haha.
I was thinking maybe 2023! you would pair up with Steve since you realized how burdensome it is to continue to resent someone. Now you understood what Tony meant.
And Past! you would definitely pair up with James, but maybe Steve too. A nice lil' polygamous relationship. 
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Now here's the other, non-official chapters.
2 What If's, and 3 Specials, in the order they're listed at the moment.
What If (2013 Counterpart) plays with an initial idea I had, where Past! (Name) was actually sent into the future into 2023! (Name)'s body during the prologue. Not sure where I was gonna go with this chapter, but I really wanted to mess with that possibility, and show just how immature and teenager-y Past! you were.
What If (Swapped Places) plays with the idea that you and Tony, in the original timeline, had swapped places. You were on Titan with Spiderman, Dr. Strange, and the GOTG, while Tony was on Earth with everyone else. That's all I had planned. Maybe you actually won and managed to get the gauntlet off of Thanos when you realized that Peter Quill was about to go crazy over his ex's death, and you knocked him down in time.
Special (Find My Body, Only At The Oak Tree), deals with you and your depression over the reality that you might have to relive the blip again, and aside from the Avengers, you really don't have anyone else and nothing's worth really living for at this point. I actually have a lot written for this one. Not sure if I wanted this to be canon.
Trigger warning: suicidal tendencies.
(Below is the general idea I had for the plot.)
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(names) birthdays across the years so far
we see slow mental deterioration of (name) as he aches
we see as we reach closer and closer to the deadline, (name) dreads even thinking about thanos and wants to die before even looking at him, a symbol of their failure 
lowkey highkey suicidal
___
The first time you celebrated your 17th birthday was in 2014. 
The second time you celebrated your 17th birthday was also in 2014... Obviously. 
The first time you celebrated your 17th birthday, the whole tower was flooded with people who you knew and people who you couldn't care to know. It was filled with what little was left of your friend group outside of the Avengers; it was also filled with the rich, the pompous, the irritating of New York.
You got into a yelling match with your dad that night, over something you couldn't even bother to remember, and stormed off into your room, fuming as the party still went on without their birthday boy present.
(It's always like that as if you're replaceable. Surely, you must be; the Avengers can and will,��if need be, exist without you.)
The second time you celebrated your 17th birthday, you told your dad you wanted it to be small and personal. Only the Avengers were there, as a few days ago did you spend a pre-birthday celebration with some of your high school 'friends' (which only mainly consisted of playing Smash Bros Brawl in your room and eating an ungodly amount of junk food as you fake laughed along with their shitty jokes.) (Steve promptly made you burn those calories off in training.).
(What Steve doesn't know is that you purposefully ate that much to train with him; otherwise, you had the whole day off the next day.
You didn't want to be alone.)
It was sweet as everyone gave their gifts to you (which you already knew what it was, but said nothing of it), and as everyone got drunk off of the expensive liquor or Asgardian mead, you quietly snuck out of the building and back into the safe house where James was waiting for you.
(He waits, but how much of it is because he has no other choice?
It is not like that, you keep reminding yourself.
Who is to say, other than you?
James never says anything of it, and you start to wonder if he feels as if he has no choice.
As if he feels like he's been made another prisoner, once again.
At what point, what is separating the distinction between you and HYDRA, in his mind?
You're not too keen on finding out the answer anytime soon.)
The whole way there, you thought of nothing in particular.
You quietly celebrated with him too, shared a few slices of cake he made just for you before you quietly said goodnight to him. He kissed you on the cheek, said a simple goodnight, and slipped away into his own bedroom.
Meanwhile, you spent the rest of the night drinking too much alcohol, alone, in the dark of your room, staring at nothing in particular, thinking about nothing in particular.
The next morning, you jokingly wished you had just died last night as you're bent over the toilet emptying your stomach contents.
___
The first time you celebrated your 18th birthday, you spent it outside in another country with your friends.
The second time you celebrated your 18th birthday party, you rented out a bumper kart arena with the Avengers.
The first time you celebrated your 18th birthday, you tried desperately to hang onto the remaining friends you had outside of the Avengers, a chance to feel normal for once. You practically went hiking across Europe and into Asia over the week of your birthday, and by God did you visit so many places. From the Louvre to the casinos in New Deli, you trekked everywhere with your friends and acted as a cash pig for their endeavors under the guise of celebrating your birthday. Least to say, you always got 'accidentally' blackout drunk on multiple occasions, oblivious to their actions.
Later you found out and cut them off instantly without another word. They didn't seem to notice that you stopped talking to them.
It hurt.
Pointless of you to try to maintain that friendship.
So on your next 18th birthday, having long forgone those friendships ages ago, you suggested going bumper karting with the Avengers. Bruce operated as the 'coach' of sorts, but he seemed to have enjoyed it as well. 
It was fun, obviously.
It went on for a few hours, as you all had made up mini-games to play along with as they got bored of chasing after each other aimlessly for half an hour. A few games had you pairing up with some of the Avengers; the other had them actually using their skills to try to maim each other.
(Wanda at one point lifted everyone into the air as Pietro zoomed through the rink; though, he did slip and slam into the wall. Everyone laughed, but it was interrupted as Wanda promptly dropped everyone out of shock.
Everyone was too busy in their own shock as well to notice your labored breathes, wild crazed eyes, or how you clawed viciously at your throat at the sight of Wanda's red wisps. Your fingers were tinted a sick vermilion.
Thankfully, the arena was relatively dim, so no one could tell what just happened.)
It was fun. Everyone didn't hold their shoves back, and when things riled up, it turned into who would break a bone first. No one did, but everyone was definitely sore afterward. Of course, the enhanced ones didn't limp as much, but it made your limp nothing out of the ordinary.
(You tried your most damn not to just collapse completely, both exhaustion and pain threatening to snap your spine into little bits and pieces.
You jokingly wished it did.)
Thankfully, during the whole ordeal, no one noticed how you didn't avoid obvious hits, instead opting to just get harshly jostled in your kart and neck snapped haphazardly to the side at the sudden jolt. Or how you 'accidentally' keep forgetting to put on your seat belt or keep your fingers inside the kart.
Or at least, if they noticed, no one said anything as you limped around the tower the next day, bruises marred everywhere on your skin, a sheen of sweat blanketed on your skin throughout the whole day.
___
The first time you celebrated your 19th birthday, you were too swamped with both college and SI to actually... Celebrate.
You didn't even realize it was your birthday. No one did, actually; it took one of your professors to comment on how your name was trending on Twitter to actually get you to realize what the day was.
But even that didn't change your schedule, and as you moved on with your day, so did Twitter and the Avengers. 
You never got to celebrate your 19th birthday, too swamped with other things to care.
The second time you celebrated your 19th birthday, you had too much free time in the world.
It ended up being just like your 17th. The Avengers had a little get-together (they remembered this time; what made it so different?) and all of them got drunk wildly off their asses. Once again, you slipped away from the main lounge, and stalked silently, blank-faced, towards a balcony.
You adjusted your collar appropriately and stood there. You stared outside into the bustling busy streets of New York, the city that never sleeps.
(Strange, that it's named that when often times it's the quietest whenever you're there to see it.)
You spend maybe 10 minutes standing there, staring into the oblivion that is New York.
And then, you climbed onto the railings.
Standing there, there was no rush of adrenaline that coursed its way through your veins, nor was there any fear or dread.
Only an overwhelming and crippling exhaustion that made waves through your body. No longer are you in your 19-year-old body, but your 27th. No longer are you in your younger, former self; one that shone brightly above the others, aspiring as both a heroic figure and one that would help pave the way towards a better, peaceful world.
No, instead, your soul feels like it's settled deep into your bones, an aching tire that keeps rocking and rattling at your already fractured, beaten down body, laughing at how pathetic you look.
(You're so tired.
You just wanted to live normally.
You never can, you eventually come to realize on your first 24th birthday.
That thought, now fully realized, would come to permeate it's way deep into your bones.)
All you wanted to do was to just take one step forward, off of the railing that you're so delicately balanced upon, and dive into air headfirst.
Really, all it takes is just one step.
And truly, you've never felt more at peace as your body dropped from the railings, descended quickly towards the streets below you.
What should've been a quick few seconds of a dive felt like an eternity drowning in a bottomless pool. The lights of New York flashed and beamed at you, but it changed rapidly from one to another. Your throat closes, shuttering, and you want so desperately to start screaming.
Only, no one would hear them. 
The winds would carry away your screams, rushing a sound of its own that would overpower yours.
You wonder, absently, was this similar to what Rhodey felt that day? 
Well.
You'd never really find out, now, will you?
Too late to ask.
(There's no way to get back home.
You can never see Morgan again- the Morgan that called you her big Care Bear, the Morgan that cried and threw a temper tantrum because you forgot to give her a goodnight kiss. 
You can never see mom and dad again- while they're still here, it's just not the same. You'll never get to see the same Pepper who was so relieved just to see you alive after the Battle of Wakanda, even if you were practically on your death bed. You'll never get to see the same Tony who you spent hours crying into the shoulder of after the Blip.
You can never see the same Steve, Natasha, Rhodey, anyone, ever again. 
Years spent just trying to be better, to help the world, to mend and build any relationships you could, gone.
And even if they weren't?
There's just no way to get back home anymore. Not back to the person you used to be.)
The next day, you got an earful from your parents when photos of your falling body appear all over the internet. All the meanwhile, you're not really listening to them, just staring right back at them.
Odd.
('When did you start looking at me with contempt?', you'd ask one day.
Tony just stares at you, then out the window. In his hand, he's holding a cup of coffee; in yours, water. You've since stopped drinking anything remotely sugary, caffeinated, or alcoholic, though you've never told anyone why.
'When did you start mistaking concern with contempt.', he responded, though it was more of a statement rather than a question.
You stared at him, then followed his gaze out the window. 
Neither of you says anything, even as the hours go by in the blink of an eye.)
(That's all I had written down so far. Not sure where I wanted to go with this afterwards.)
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Special (Vapidity, Testament To Absence) deals with future DAHLIA realizing what it means to mourn someone.
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The house is empty.
It is an irrelevant thought, DAHLIA notes.
Technically speaking, the house has been empty quite often than not; after all, you were a busy man with an equally busy schedule. Being the CEO of SI and a huge contributing factor to the world's rebuilding made it more or less impossible for you to stay at home for long. Though, she also doesn't linger long in the house, either. But she's still there regardless, even if she's also with you on the other side of the planet for diplomatic reasons.
She knows of the emptiness inside this house; it was never an unfamiliar concept.
But with this emptiness, she's never once associated loneliness with it either. 
It's a bit better when Virginia occasionally comes around to the house to do some maintenance. She might even bring along little Morgan with her.
("You keep saying she's a pest, but I know I sure as hell ain't the one that keeps shifting the TV to the kids' channels when she's around," you comment, not even taking your eyes off of the pan. DAHLIA says nothing towards your accusations, instead opting to tell you that you're burning your eggs.
You aren't, but she says nothing amidst your panic.)
A few others occasionally visit, too, much to DAHLIA's internal disapproval.
Rogers used to visit every day ever since she first noted the emptiness. His behavior was also peculiar. He'd prowl around the house, pausing here and there at random parts of the house. He'd often just... Stand there, seemingly looking at nothing for a long period, before jolting back and continue what he was doing. She's thankful that he hasn't noted her silence when he's around.
Often Banner would come along too, and he'd be talking quietly with Rogers. As of recently, they've stopped visiting though. Probably because of the recent news (that (Name) might still be alive, just lost in time), DAHLIA almost bitterly notes.
James ("Just call him Rhodey- literally no one calls him James nowadays." you laugh, eyes crinkling with amusement) visits too. He doesn't linger for long, but he makes sure to check up on DAHLIA, help tend to the flowers... She'd even dare say she wishes he'd visit more often.
Peter also visits here and there as well. He often comes with Morgan and Virginia, but there have been a few occasions where he's come here by himself. He'd spend most of his time in the garden, your favorite place. And when he's alone, she'd given him privacy out of respect, but even at a long distance, she can hear him talking by himself. He'd come back eyes red and swollen, but he's always smiling afterward.
A few others have visited too, but not as often as the others. Though, none of that really helps negate the emptiness she feels as she wordlessly navigates through a routine she devoted herself to after your disappearance.
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And the final chapter, Special (Chemically Compromised) is basically a fluff filler with (Name) chaperoning Peter's field trip, inspired by an Instagram post.
Written in bits and pieces, unfinished. Not sure if I wanted it to be romantic (the name implies it in a nerdy way) or just a fun, platonic, "dude you're literally embarrassing me" way.
(Peter) "I can't believe you're doing this...!"
(Name) "What? What's wrong with this?"
Pan to (Name) dressing like he's a Typical, Normal Civilian Man, but it's clearly (Name) Stark, son of Tony Stark, and an Avenger.
(Peter) "I don't need you to chaperone my field trip...! May could've done this-"
(Name) "No, she really couldn't, sweetheart. She's got a busy shift, and even told me that no one else's parents was free."
(Name) "Listen- this really could have gone worse if, say, Tony, knew. God knows Tony would've dropped everythin' and just embarrass ya- he did that shit to me every chance he got," Peter winces, almost forgetting that Tony was still your dad, and a chill ran up his spine as he imagined what it would have been like for you. 
(Peter) "But still..."
(Name) "Don't worry, I'll just wear a cap and sunglasses."
(Peter) "That can't possibly work."
(Name) "You'd be surprised- Sam's standin' down there, right near that phone booth."
Peter's head snapped over to where you were pointing at, and indeed, right on the floors of the Manhattan streets, there was a relatively built black guy that's wearing a cap, sunglasses, and a brown leather jacket. Peter tilted his head.
He hasn't been around Sam all that much, but he still knows what the Avenger looked like. But even then, he wasn't sure if that man was actually Sam. He's built right, but Peter can't see much of his hair or eyes. Plus, he's kind of far away.
He squinted at the man, before glancing back at you, now unsure of himself.
(Peter) "That's really the Falcon?"
You stared at him, before snorting.
(Name) "Nah, I'm joshin' ya, that's just some random guy...", you glance at the man, sniffing, "... Probably."
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That's... pretty much it. That's all I had for Restart, as far as writing goes.
Now here are some closing thoughts, just to wrap all of this up nice and tight, sort of.
I'm not really happy with how the initial chapters were paced and how they were written. My writing style has mildly changed, and if I had the motivation to, I'd love to rewrite them. But alas, I don't.
I think about this story often; or at least, variations of it. It's like when you daydream, and you restart it but to the left. But unfortunately, writing a plot without too many plot holes while remaining as canonically correct as possible, and making it interesting without being a complete word-by-word remake of the movies, is difficult.
I'm not sure if I would ever pick up this story again, especially since this whole chapter told you what I had in store anyways. 
Thank you to those who took the time out of their day to write nice and encouraging comments about this story. It's unfortunate it had to end this way, but I'm glad it happened anyways. And hopefully, it's the same for you.
And remember: the one thing writers love to do is talk about their story! If you have any other comments, questions, or just general thoughts about the story, I'd love to discuss it further!
Anyways. If you're reading this now, thanks for sticking with Restart for as long as you did.
_____
Masterlist
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I know I had people on the tagged list, but it’s a bit hard to get them all as URL’s change, so I opted not to. Sorry!
98 notes · View notes
sevensins-stuff · 4 years
Text
Player x Player | Leviathan x F!MC
⚠️Warnings⚠️: nsfw, fluff/smut, fem mc, tail biting and tail sucking!
Mc: Yo Levi! Let me in! I picked up something that I think would be fun for us to play
Levi: If it's another card game I think we should wait for everyone else
Mc: It's even better! Can I come to your room?
Levi: Yeah, sure
It were only mere seconds before frantic knocking happened at his door. Leviathan was quick to open it to reveal an overly excited human. She practically shook in her place before he let her inside. She dropped the large bag from her shoulder carefully to the floor next to her and clapped excitedly as she turned to face the other.
"What you got there?"
"So, Lucifer and I headed up to the human realm for something important but it was such a crazy coincidence that we happened to be near my house! I was so excited to pick this up cause I thought you might want to play with me."
She reached down to open the velcro flaps of the bag and pulled out an old game system and some cords.
"Can you hook this up for me please?"
He was a bit sceptical of the system she handed to him but he took it nonetheless and found a way to connect it to his triple monitors. As he set up the system, she took out two dance mats and set them next to each other in front of the monitors. One look at the setup and he almost figured what he was getting himself into.
"What did you say the game was again?"
She had never mentioned it before but she was too excited to even care.
"It's DDR! Dance dance revolution is the full name. Oh, I haven't played this game in months!"
"We kinda have something like this, but it's only for the arcades. How did you manage to get a home setup?"
"So the funny thing is that my sister got it but she ended up giving it to me since she couldn't find the time to play anymore. But now that I have it back I can't wait to play it again!"
When he successfully hooked up the system, she plugged the mats into the station and turned it on. That nostalgic sound the game system made on its boot up made her giggle as she skipped back to the center of the dance mat. She navigated her way to the game and the familiar sound of the game’s intro made her dance in her place. The childish way in which she expressed her love for the game made the other break into a small laughter. She smiled as she turned her attention to him, standing with an attitude and her arms crossed.
“What’s so funny?”
“It nothing, I swear.”
She huffed with that same playful smile still on her face.
“We’ll see who’s still laughing in the end. So watch yourself!”
She stepped on the start button on the mat and chose Game Mode. The screen changed and asked for her to ‘select a style’. She chose versus. The screen changed once more and for variety she chose the mode where all the songs would be available to them. All 72 songs. Before the songs appeared, a little card flashed on the screen to give them a quick lesson on freeze arrows. All common knowledge to her. 
“You know, if you aren’t very comfortable with the game just yet, might I suggest that you start on beginner?”
Her comment was informative yet snarky. That got him fired up.
“I’m not a complete noob you know!”
The card left the screen and the large wheel of songs rolled onto the screen, the teaser of the very first song blaring through the speakers in his room. So much adrenaline flowed through her veins that she couldn’t help but to bounce in place even as she explained the rest of the game to him.
“So all of the songs are organized from easiest to hardest, yellow songs being the easiest and red songs being the hardest. Use the left and right arrow to choose the song and the up and down arrows to select your difficulty, got it?”
Levi nodded his head.
“Since I wanted to play with you, I’ll let you choose the first song.”
Wanting to get a feel for the game, he decided that the first song would be the best place to start. It wasn’t a bad song to start off with either.
“What difficulty are you choosing?” He asked her.
“I’ll start off with basic, but I need to go through the options first,” she said before stepping and holding down on the down arrow. 
She selected the options and only turned her scroll to reverse and her arrows to rainbow before landing on ‘O.K.’ at the bottom of the screen. He moved down with her without changing anything and they selected the button together. both moved their difficulty to basic and she gave Levi the honor of pressing the ‘X’ button on his mat. Their very first game together.
Their very first game and she flexed on him harder than he thought she ever could. By the end of the song, their results showed up and he didn’t do too bad. He just barely made an ‘A’ rank, but her? ‘AA’ with a full combo. Man, she was too good. He took the game much more seriously as she picked the next song and the results were almost the same. At least he ended with more perfects than the first time.
Their first round ended with three songs and his final grade was an ‘A’ while her final grade was a perfect ‘AA’. For someone who doesn’t play games like this very often, he did pretty good, but pretty good wasn’t enough. He wanted to be better than her. He wanted to be perfect. Their second round started and they managed to play through all of the yellow songs, sometimes sharing a laugh after playing songs they agreed weren’t as good as the last. What he wasn’t prepared for were the songs she was more confident in. She went up one on difficulty and he tried his hardest not to stare at her side of the screen. But from the corner of his eye he saw almost double the amount of arrows he had, sometimes triple the amount of freeze arrows but she caught them all with ease, still dancing casually on her mat while he still stepped a bit stiffly to catch all his basic arrows. After the first round, he learned that it was better to not return to the center after stepping on an arrow, so he managed to keep his full combos the more they played.
She wasn’t perfect for the two hours they played. Their scores alternated and rightfully so, but playing difficult on some songs still gave her an edge on her score. Nearly three hours into playing the game they were two green songs away from hitting the hardest songs and they were almost tied in their scores. When they reached their final stage, it was her turn to choose the song. But before she did, she proposed a challenge.
“You wanna do something fun?”
He turned his attention to her with a spark of excitement in his eyes and nodded.
“For the red songs I would usually recommend that we do it on beginner, because when I say that these are the hardest songs!” She sighed heavily before returning to her original statement. “But to make things a lot more exciting, let’s do them on difficult and see how long we last. If we manage to finish the song, whoever gets the highest score wins this round.”
“What if we make anything less than an ‘A’? wouldn’t that affect our whole score?”
“At this point, you shouldn’t even have to worry about the last two songs. This is a red song we’re talking about. If you can survive it then you’re already a winner! So, are you down?”
He thought for a moment before turning to face the monitors ahead of him.
“Then, what are we waiting for?”
She moved her difficulty back up to difficult and moved to choose one of the hardest songs from the last five on the list. She chose the fourth song with a devious smile on her lips and stood on the center of the mat with her knees bent and her attention square on her side of the screen. He took one last glance at her and realized that this challenge was going to be an intense one. He didn’t even notice when he had switched into his demon form.
One’s timing was a crucial part of the game and this song took advantage of that fact. The speed ups, slow downs, and pauses that happened on almost every other beat threw their footing off immensely and it surely didn’t help that all of the arrows were so close together. Although she seemed like a pro in the beginning of the game, she struggled so much now. But she was still in this battle. That was the last thing he wanted. He used his tail to sneakily move her foot away from the left arrow on the mat and it threw her pattern off, making it hard to catch up with the next set of arrows.
“Use your tail on me again and I swear I’ll bite it,” she said, her words shaking as she jumped.
The song was almost done and she was just barely catching back up with him. knowing that he needed to win this round, he ignored her warning and tripped her up again, this time completely ruining her streak. She got a game over on her side while he struggled with the last few arrows on his. It didn’t matter though. He still survived one of the hardest songs on the list. He still won. Her legs gave out from under her and with a heavy breath, she collapsed onto the mat. He stood proudly though with heavy breaths as their scores appeared on the screen and everything went quiet. A grey ‘E’ grade for her but a red ‘D’ grade for him. It didn’t matter. He still won.
“You cheated!”
“You never said I couldn’t,” he replied with a playful smile.
She huffed and extended her hand, making a grabbing motion towards him. He tilted his head slightly.
“What is it? Need help getting up?”
“Tail, now.”
“...what?”
“I told you that I would bite your tail if you used it on me again. So, hand it over.”
He was a bit hesitant at first since he didn’t really expect her to make good on her word but he still gave it to her. She took the end of his tail and brought it close to her mouth, opting to bite the side of it. But not too hard! Just enough to let him know that she was able to keep her promises. She opened her mouth to bite it but what he didn’t expect was the small shiver that went up his spine when her warm breath hit his tail. What he wasn’t expecting was the small groan that left his throat when her teeth caused him more shock than pain. She wasn’t expecting it either, but it made her heart leap. She tested him by biting into his tail just a little harder and he shuddered, groaning again.
“M-mc...”
She took his tail out of her mouth but she still had a hold on him. Her mind began to race with thoughts of what she could do to his tail.
“Hey Levi-” He turned to look at her, revealing his cheeks that exposed a vibrant red in the dim room. “Did you...like that?”
Hearing the question was more than embarrassing, but he couldn’t deny that it was a feeling that he did kind of like. He nodded shyly and she blinked slowly in thought before speaking again.
“Do you want me to do it again?”
She didn’t feel like the words came out of her mouth but those were the exact thoughts that ran through her head. What she expected even less was his wordless answer. He nodded slowly and kept his gaze on her as she opened her mouth and took the side of his tail between her teeth again, but she simply held it there as she watched him gasp in anticipation. She wanted to do more to him. She opened her mouth a little wider as she moved his tail to take the tip of it into her mouth. Her eyelids fluttered as she took more of his tail into her mouth, the drag of her tongue on him caused him to shudder and groan again.
It was a new feeling to have his tail sucked by someone. A good feeling. He felt a strain grow in his joggers and he panted softly as his erection grew harder with every passing moment. Her lewd motions did not spare her heart as it beat faster. A low flame licked at the pit of her stomach and she could tell that her arousal started to flare as well. She drew his tail out slowly and in the dimly room it still sparkled with her saliva. She swallowed what threatened to dribble from her lips and looked up at him again. She had regained most of the feeling in her legs and made her motions to stand up. Without a moment to spare, he dove for her lips and trapped it in a feverish kiss. Hints of desperation lead the sloppy connection and he wanted more of what she could give him.
In their kiss, they stepped off of the dance mats and stumbled towards the aquarium wall. He moved, pushing her up against the glass. She gasped softly from the impact and he took the opportunity to snake his tongue into her mouth. His tongue felt strange against hers. It was a bit smoother and much longer than her own, not to mention the small fork that parted the tip of it. He explored every inch of her that she made available to him. The divots of her molars, the smoothness of her cheeks, and her tongue that just as eagerly swirled around his.
They eventually broke the kiss with heavy breaths and they took a moment of silence to just look at each other. There was only the silence that surrounded them, their eyes that shared anticipation and the teasing of the tip of his tail on the band of her shorts. After that long moment Levi finally broke the silence.
“Are you sure you want to do this? With me?”
She nodded before speaking.
“I would’ve stopped you sooner if I wasn’t so sure.”
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Text
WIJ Day 6: Mistake
@whumpmasinjuly
I didn’t think I would get this finished before the 6th was over, but somehow I did! Yay! I’ve been wanting to start a new story, and this was the perfect intro.
CW: temporary character death (it’ll get explained later), various injuries
Enjoy!
~~~
The door to the room slammed open, “Astra, get up. We’ve gotta get out of here. They’ve found us.”
Astra looked up in confusion, a shirt half-folded in her hands, “What? How?”
“I don’t know, but we have to go right now. Leave the laundry,” Tara was a mess, her shirt inside out and long, white hair half braided. She rushed across the room, ripping the shirt out of Astra’s hands before dragging her out the door at the other side of the room.
There was an explosion in the distance, shaking the rusted pipes in the hallways of the abandoned mining facility they’d been hiding in. Astra raised her hands to protect her head from the dust and debris raining down from the ceiling and sprinted after Tara. They rounded a corner, nearly colliding with another person. Tara raised her fist to strike, but at the last moment Astra recognized the person and grabbed Tara’s hand.
“Ro? What’s going on?” She asked, “I thought you said this place was safe.”
Ro shook her head, “We said this should be safe, but we must’ve made a mistake.” There was dark blue blood dripping down her face, nearly imperceptible against her already dark purple skin in the dimly lit hallway. “I don’t think I’ve been followed, but I had to kill a couple of them back there. Hayden’s getting Ciaran and Pierce out and I came looking for you two. We’re supposed to meet up a few klicks away from here. Come on,”She started off in the direction they had come from, not waiting to see if they would follow.
“What about Jasper?” Tara asked as they turned a corner.
“Who do you think set off that explosion? Don’t worry, he’s coming. We can’t let the comedic relief—”
Ro collapsed to the metal floor with a loud thud. Astra tumbled to the ground with a scream a moment later as pain flared through her leg.
“Damn, I didn’t expect them to get to the others so quickly,” Tara reached down to help Astra to her feet, glancing at Ro. “Hayden must’ve taken a headshot for Rowan to be down just like that. They got Ciaran too, didn’t they? My brother’s never been good at sneaking out of places. Can you walk on your own?”
Astra tested putting weight on her leg, earning another sharp flare of pain in response. She shook her head, leaning against Tara as they moved down the hall, their progress much slower now. “I’m still not getting used to the whole ‘you share each other’s pain’ part of this. At least Pierce is alright because you seem okay.”
“I must be a great actor then,” Tara laughed before hissing in pain. “Nope, they got him too — in the stomach,” she groaned, clutching her abdomen as they pushed forward, “Dumbass must be talking back to them because it feels like he keeps being kicked. Listen, I’m going to get you as far as I can and then I’m going back for Rowan. She can’t just stay there in the hallway until she comes back or they’ll find her. Shit, Pierce is probably bleeding out really fast because I’m getting dizzy. I’m probably going to collapse here in a few minutes.”
“What?” Astra turned to Tara. She was looking less blue than normal, but Astra thought it was just the crappy lighting in this place.
“I’ll be okay, it’s not the first time I’ve died, and it certainly won’t be my last. But I need you to get somewhere where you can hide until this all clears up. Then you need to get off this moon and find a way to Erazy. Ask to see my parents and then tell them it was Doctor Cleary behind the attack in the eastern kingdom. Tell them to find him and they’ll find the rest of us.”
Astra blinked. Find her parents? How was she supposed to find two people on an entire planet? “Do these parents of yours have names? I can’t really go around asking every couple I see if their children are named Tara and Ciaran.”
“Well, my family name is Solvada,” Tara leaned against the wall before sliding to the ground with a small smile, “so you could probably skip walking around Erazy and just go straight to the palace.”
“Sol-Solvada? As in the royal family? You’re a freaking princess? Why didn’t you tell me before?” Astra collapsed to the floor across from Tara as her leg gave out.
“Yeah, see, we were trying to avoid freaking you out too much. We figured that telling you soulmates were real was a big enough shock to your system—”
“Oh stars, that means I’m soulmates with a prince. An actual, living, breathing prince—”
“Astra, listen to me—”
“—and we’re you ever going to tell me any of this?” Astra felt like she was swimming upstream, her thoughts rushing past her in a tidal wave. “What else are you hiding—”
“Astra! Listen to me right this moment!” Tara shouted, “I promise you we were going to tell you everything. We just wanted to wait until we got back to Erazy. It’s only been a week since you even met all of us. How were we supposed to spring all of this on you without causing you to go into an existential crisis? Now please, get out of here before they catch you too. Find my parents,” Her breathing was growing more labored with each breath, “They’ll explain some things to you, and after you get us back, you can ask us anything and everything you need to. But go now, please.” She slumped against the wall, her eyes closing.
Astra reached for her, “Tara?” There was no response.
Tara had stopped breathing.
Astra forced herself to her feet, her leg still burned, but the pain was fading to a dull throb. She hated leaving Tara lying in the middle of the hallway, but with an injured leg, even if it wasn’t actually hurt, Astra couldn’t go far pulling a temporary corpse behind her. Limping down the hallway, she forced herself to ignore all the thoughts swirling around her head. She would have plenty of time to acknowledge them after she got out.
Pain flared through her other leg, and she fell to the ground again as another scream was ripped from her lungs. The pain was lower and sharper this time. The first injury had probably been a bullet, but this felt deeper. It was definitely a break of some kind.
Footsteps pounded down the hallway and men in tactical gear appeared in her vision. She let out a sob as they approached her, “Please, please don’t, please.”
“Shit! There’s a human girl here!” One of them shouted before kneeling down next to her. He took off his helmet, concern in his dark blue eyes. He looked young, barely twenty five, if she had to guess. “What are you doing here? Are you alright?”
An older man knelt next to the first, “Did they take you hostage when they broke the one out of the lab?”
Astra blinked tears out of her eyes. She hadn’t expected them to act like this. But they thought she was completely human. Maybe she could escape after all. She nodded, “Yes, I was, was working at the lab when they showed up. It was my first day, and they were trying to evacuate us, but then the Erazyans attacked us, and I went the wrong way, and then they said, they said they could use me as leverage, and I-I, um I—” she was rambling, the words spewing out of her mouth barely coherent through her sobs. Really, she was doing a horrible job at this, but apparently it was enough to convince them.
“I’m going to radio this in,” the older man said. He stood, moving down the hallway until he was out of earshot.
The younger man placed his hand on her arm, “Hey, it’s okay, you’re safe now. We’ll get you home. Are you injured, or can you stand.”
She bit her lip, “No, I think I sprained my ankle. I was trying to run, but then the girl over there attacked me and then she just fell over. I don’t know what happened. And then you, um, found me.”
He nodded, “It’s going to be okay. My name’s Adam. I’m going to help you get home, okay? Could you tell me your name, and which leg is hurt so I can help you up?”
Astra almost laughed, he actually believed her. “It’s my left ankle, I tried putting weight on it, but it hurts too much.”
“That’s alright, I’m going to get you to your feet now, ready?” He pulled her up, wrapping an arm around her, “There we go. We’ll get you back to the others, and there’s a doctor there who can take a look at your leg.”
She nodded. A doctor? That couldn’t be good. What would she do when it turned out there was no physical damage? She couldn’t worry about that at the moment. She was almost in the clear.
“Hold on,” the other man stepped in front of her. “I just talked with command, and they said there weren’t any hostages taken. But they did find the blood of a half-human, half-erazyan there. It’s likely female, and if I’m not mistaken, those eyes of yours are very distinctly Erazyan.”
Astra’s eyes widened. She shoved Adam towards the other man, and turned, stumbling down the hall. A hand grabbed her hair, slamming her headfirst into the wall. she twisted, shouting at them to let her go as cuffs were secured around her wrists behind her back.
The man pressed against her, his breath warm on her neck, “Gotchya.”
27 notes · View notes
ur-jinji · 4 years
Text
part one: black’s sus
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you waited patiently in the among us lobby. cyan “Watergirl” (aka Katara) joined the lobby, and blue “Sock” (aka sokka) followed after, and they also joined up on the discord server. then came orange “Avatar” (aang), green “soupy” (suki), and finally black “sifu” (zuko).
“yellow’s sus,” sokka said in the discord server. you were yellow.
“but the game hasn’t even started yet,” aang said innocently, earning a few laughs.
‘orange is sus’ sokka typed in the among us chat.
“sokka! no!” aang gasped.
“guys i’m starting the game,” you said as you pressed start. everyone muted their mics.
the game started, saying “there is 1 imposter among us” and that you were a crewmember. you went straight to admin, swiping your card. you went about with your tasks and ended up in electric, but spotted orange’s dead body. you quickly reported, going into a meeting.
“where was the body?” suki asked
“well where was everyone?” you asked suspiciously.
“i was in navigation,” katara said. “suki was there with me.”
“yeppers,” suki said.
“i was in security,” zuko said.
“hm. interesting. sokka?” you asked.
“comms,” sokka said back.
“well, the body was in electric. i’m sus of black because the vent from electric goes to security or medbay,” you explained.
“well i was alone with zuko earlier and he didn’t kill me,” sokka defended him.
“fine we’ll skip,” you said.
“y/n’s sus for accusing me,” zuko accused.
“i trust y/n!” suki defended you.
“as you should,” you replied.
everyone skipped, so no one was ejected. everyone muted their mics again.
you traveled back down to electrical because you never got to do your download task. black followed you in, causing you to panic. then, cyan waltzed in, so you felt safe. you knew katara would protect you. you did your task in peace but when you were done, black was gone, leaving you and cyan.
you started to make your way out, when suddenly cyan pulled a glock on you, leaving you dead. she vented away into medbay.
ghost chat
y/n: noooo!!!!!
Avatar: katara got me too :(
Avatar: i trusted her :(
y/n: me too buddy :(
y/n: now i feel bad for sussing out zuko lmao
Avatar: black is always sus tho
y/n: exactly!!
Sock: hi guys :(
Avatar: omg she got you too??!!
you closed the chat to finish your tasks and keep an eye on katara, the snake. you noticed green making her way into electrical so you knew your body would finally be reported. suki reported it, calling a meeting. katara, suki, and zuko unmuted their mics.
“where was the body?” katara asked innocently.
ghost chat:
Sock: she is such a fucking fake.
“electrical,” suki replied. “i think y/n was right about zuko. she accused him and now she’s dead.”
“yeah i was in electrical earlier with y/n and black, but i left them together,” katara said.
ghost chat:
y/n: LIAR!!!!!
“what?” zuko said, confused. “i left YOU and y/n in electric earlier.”
“suki, vote black. he’s clearly lying,” katara said.
“what! no!” zuko yelled. “katara’s lying!”
“i trust katara. we were together a lot and she didn’t kill me,” suki defended.
suki and katara casted their votes while zuko continued to rage. the ghost chat was going crazy. zuko casted his vote after a few moments of yelling.
cyan and green appeared under black, voting him out.
“sifu was not the imposter,” appeared across the screen, leaving the crewmembers defeated.
all at once, the ghosts unmuted, unleashing their rage.
“KATARA, HOW COULD YOU?!”
“I TRUSTED YOU, YOU SNAKE!”
“I TOLD YOU IT WASNT ME!”
and so on.
the yelling died down after a minute and was followed by laughing.
“round two?” you asked, in which everyone responded yes to.
you started the game, and you were a crew member yet again, and the screen said there was 1 imposter among the group. you mosied on down to admin, swiping your card, and then sprinted over to reactor, quickly passing by electrical. you wanted to avoid that god awful place for as long as you could. you noticed black in security and cautiously made your way to him, looking at the cams for a second. you didn’t see any suspicious activity, so you started to leave. black followed. panic set in.
“oh my god oh my god he’s going to kill. he wants revenge,” you said to yourself, fearing for your life.
you quickly ran towards cafeteria, ready to call an emergency meeting as he continued to follow you, when suddenly sokka reported cyan’s body, calling a meeting. everyone who was alive unmuted.
“ZUKO WHY WERE YOU FOLLOWING ME,” you yelled immediately.
“i wanted to team up,” zuko said calmly.
“I DONT BELIEVE YOU,” you replied loudly and fearfully.
“guys, guys where was the body?” aang asked.
“navigation,” sokka replied. “suki found it with me.”
“well i was running for my life in cafe with zuko,” you told them.
“i was in electrical,” aang said.
“i’m just saying. if i die, it’s zuko,” you warned.
“I WANTED TO TEAM UP.”
everyone proceeded to skip. you made your way to weapons, black following you. panic set in again, but then you saw him do the visual asteroids task. once he was done, you did a little circle dance to signify that you trusted him. the two of you made your way down to storage, passing orange, who came out of electrical. you and black walked into the fearsome room and found green’s dead body. you quickly reported.
“ITS AANG.”
“ITS ORANGE.”
“why is it aang?” sokka asked.
“yeah, what the heck?” aang acted innocent.
“y/n and i were with each other and we saw orange come out of electric where suki’s dead body was,” zuko explained.
“guys! it’s not me, i swear!” aang tried, but he was guilty as charged.
you, zuko, and sokka casted your votes onto aang, voting him out, and earning the crew mates a victory.
“i killed katara first as revenge for killing me first last round,” aang admitted as everyone unmuted their mics.
“i didn’t know aang was so cold-hearted,” suki said.
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looking out for you
part one: black’s sus
intro // part 1 // part 2
smau zuko x reader
summary: in which two friends simp for each other without the other knowing
a/n: thanks for reading!! i’d love feedback on what you guys think :) send me a message or leave a comment below!!! also sorry if you don’t like the among us gameplay, i think it’s really funny :)
-
taglist: @theblueslytherin
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sunflowerim · 3 years
Text
I LOVE YOU 3000!
-PART 48
After Harry, Niall and Taylor arrived at LAX, they stopped for a little to take pictures with the excited fans who'd spotted them on the airport. The management had arranged for their transport to the hotel and soon enough, they were fetched by cars sent by their teams.
Louis arrived a few hours later, with Zayn and Liam. He was among the set of hosts for the red carpet of Academy Awards as was Niall, Zayn had an invitation from both Harry and Taylor's teams, having designed both their outfits for the evening and the movie for which Liam was the music producer was nominated. They were greeted by enthusiastic fans too but managed to get out of the airport quickly.
And thankfully for everyone, Harry and Louis were staying at different places.
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93rd Academy Awards
Situated at the heart of Hollywood, the red carpet is a very intricate program. The 500 feet long red carpet was adorned with artists, photographers and interviewers. Bleachers had been set up on one side of it which contained hundreds of enthusiastic fans who'd come across from different countries to have a glimpse of the glam event.
Stepping out of the limousine with Taylor, Harry tried ro calm his frantic heartbeats. It would be unwise to lose his cool in front of hundred cameras and so many highly esteemed artists and a certain someone.
He was clad in a striped red and dark blue suit and beside him, Taylor in a gorgeous body con dress. Zayn knew perfectly well what would suit the two of them. Harry nervously ran his fingers through his hair, which had grown out a bit and curled beautifully at the ends.
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Numerous flashes went off as they made their way across together and the fans cheered and waved. Soon they were led to separate section which was roped off from the entrance ; the nominees were to be interviewed before they entered the building. Harry's heart skipped a beat as the air carried a voice with heavy northern accent, a voice he knew so well. Taylor had heard it too and to his utter horror, started leading them towards the voice. As they made their way through the crowd of people, he spotted Louis, having an animated conversation with Robert Downey Jr. He'd been nominated for his movie Dolittle. Louis looked so happy that Harry stopped dead in his tracks. He was seeing Louis laugh after a long time and he certainly didn't want to go stand in front of him and wipe it away.
Much to his reluctance, Taylor held his arm and walked over to Louis. Louis smiled heartily at Taylor and as soon as he spotted Harry beside her, his smile vanished, just as Harry had feared. Little did Harry know, that it took everything in Louis' power to hold his ground and not stupidly smile at Harry. Louis had been wondering for the past few days if he had indeed been hard on Harry and whether or not it was just a misunderstanding, but seeing him with Taylor again, sort of brought him back to square one.
"Hi," Taylor beamed.
"Hey Taylor, good to see you," Louis replied, looking around, possibly for Roman or somebody else to rescue him.
"Looking good," Taylor said with a smirk.
"Haha thanks," Louis blushed, "you look gorgeous."
"Thank you Louis. Are we on camera yet?"
"No, just one moment, someone will be here."
Louis was obviously confused at Taylor and Harry being in front of him. Had the list been changed? Why didn't anyone tell him? And WHAT are the odds of him getting the interview he dreaded.
In a few seconds a cameraman arrived and just when Louis was supposed to start, Roman appeared out of nowhere.
"Good lord, where have you been?" Louis asked.
"Sorry, something urgent came up," Roman replied and then turning to Taylor he said, "So Taylor, we have a special fan who has journeyed for 32 hours to see you. Would you like to meet her?"
"Why of course! Lead the way."
Harry made to join Taylor, but she just turned around and said, "I'll be back," leaving Harry with Louis and the cameraman, who was ready to start recording.
Seeing no way out, Louis decided to get it over with as soon as possible.
"So Harry," he started with an unusually high pitched voice. He cleared his throat and resumed, "this is your first time at the Academy Awards. How does it feel?"
Harry hadn't spoken even once when Taylor and Louis were talking. His voice seemed to have died away in his throat. At that moment, he just wanted to hug Louis and apologize. With great difficulty he regained his composure and replied, "I'm nervous obviously and also very excited. It's not everyday that I get to be in the same room with so many special people."
"Speaking of special people, it's really wonderful that both you and Taylor got nominated and it would be double the celebration if both of you won tonight."
Harry could feel the edge in Louis' voice, and tried to push back the pang of sadness that was rising in his stomach.
"Yeah, definitely, I do hope both of us win."
"Well then good luck."
Harry smiled and stepped back from Louis, and instantly Taylor arrived again and took his arm as they made their way inside.
After an hour more of interviews, Louis found his way inside to where Zayn and Liam were sitting. They had arrived with him before the red carpet event began. Zayn noticed how flustered Louis looked and understood what the reason could have been.
"You okay Lou?"
"Yeah I'm fine."
"You don't look so good."
"It was very warm outside, I'm tired."
"Sure there isn't anything else?"
"No."
Before Zayn could press further, the lights dimmed out and the voice of the host boomed through the speakers,
"Welcome to the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.."
Harry wasn't sitting that far and Louis had to force himself to look straight ahead. He wouldn't let his eyes stray to where Harry was sitting with his girlfriend. Harry on the other hand, couldn't help but steal glances every once in a while at Louis' direction.
The ceremony proceeded pleasantly, other than the prickling sensation Louis was having, a feeling of being watched, everything was good and soon it was time for Harry's category.
"The next award is for the Best Actor and I'd like to call Leonardo DiCaprio on the stage to present it."
Louis stiffened. He was sure Harry was super nervous. He'd wanted to win this so badly.
With as much subtlety he could muster, he looked at Harry's direction, hoping to catch his eyes and at that very moment, Harry looked at him too, brows slightly furrowed with anticipation. He gave a little nod in Harry's direction and hoped that Harry understood him ; that he was proud of Harry no matter what.
Both of them looked away at Leo DiCaprio's voice booming through the speakers, "and the Academy Award for best actor goes to-"
Silence filled the hall and Harry could only hear the sound of his heart hammering in his chest. Louis' acknowledgement had been a comfort, but nothing had prepared him for this moment.
"--Harry Styles!"
The hall erupted in a roar of applause and cheers and Harry nervously stood up. After hugging Taylor and Niall and glancing once at Louis' direction, he made his way to the stage.
Harry had always been a shy person and currently a hall full of people, looking at his direction didn't make it easy for him. His heart was racing, given the adrenaline rush and he couldn't stop smiling. He was given the microphone to give a speech, but he just couldn't think of anything proper to say.
As the applause subsided, he started,
"Thank you so so much for the award. When I was working on the movie, I certainly didn't realise that we would come this far. My Policeman is an important movie and I feel lucky that I was chosen for it. Thanks to my director and my entire team who guided me throughout. Thanks to my family, currently watching me from home, who always supported me in everything and thanks to my loved ones for always wishing the best for me."
He let his eyes linger on Louis as he said this and a second later, the hall echoed with claps again.
The next category was for Best Actress and as expected, Taylor Swift bagged it. Confidence radiated from every inch of her face as she took the microphone for her speech.
"Wow, I wasn't expecting this, and was really nervous about it, even though my friend told me that I ought not to because this is like my 100th Oscar."
She air quoted the last word and winked at Harry as the people around laughed. "But thanks to the people who supported me through out the years and got me where I am today. I would be nowhere without you guys. Love you all." The applause after her speech was deafening. She was truly an icon.
For the rest of the evening, it became increasingly difficult for Harry to sit still. He couldn't wait for it to get over so that he could talk to Louis. But these things are easier said than done. As soon as the ceremony was over, he was being dragged back to his limo, as they were supposed to go to the after party hosted by Jennifer Aniston. It was more like a get together really and if Harry tried, he could get away, but Taylor wouldn't let him.
"Louis is coming too," was all she had to say to make Harry voluntarily come with her. This time Zayn got in with them too and they stopped at Zayn's studio for the change of outfits.
PREVIOUS / NEXT
INTRO
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artificialqueens · 3 years
Text
Come Home to My Heart, Chapter 3 (Lemyanka) - Plastiquedoll
read on ao3 ✨| chapter 1 2
A/N: hi! I hope you like this new chapter as it goes deeper on the feels™️ I really wanted to give the characters more background (and a little bit of angst whoops) and finally, there are new names dropping yay! Again, there’s a time skip of two years this time. Enjoy & thanks for reading <3
-3-
When Priyanka turned fifteen, she discovered new things she loved. She loved dying the tips of her hair with bright colors every two weeks and a half, she loved skateboarding, she loved being the center of attention and a little bit of a class-clown at school, she loved hanging out with her group of friends, she loved the phone calls with Lemon to catch up and talk shit about everyone…
“Okay, can you hear me now?”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s better.”
Priyanka peeped through the hallway hoping no one would decide to interrupt them. She nervously removed the shiny red nail polish with her teeth as they tried to re-connect, if her mother saw her she would’ve scolded her on the spot. The landline phone was solid red plastic with buttons and wires, it was age-worn but at least it wasn’t like her grandparent’s phone with the rotary dial system or it would take hours to get all those area code numbers correct and get Lemon on the other side.
“Thank God. I’m literally inside the closet just like in The Parent Trap. I told my mom I was calling my grandma because last time our phone bill had several zeroes.”
Priyanka chortled and entangled the curly wire with his fingertips. “Sorry about that… so, you were saying… about the audition?”
“Oh, right! I’m trying to get into this dance academy that’s supposed to be the best of the best and the audition waiting list is a nightmare… but they called me the other day and said I’ll have shot in two weeks.”
“Oh. My. God. Lemon that’s awesome!”
“I know! I feel it, Pri. I know I can do it but… I don’t want to assume anything until I get there. I’m confident in my skills but what if they perceive that confidence as cockiness or something like that. I was talking to Jan the other day and she said-”
“Wait, who’s Jan?” Priyanka frowned before the unfamiliar name.
“Jan. Jan! My friend Jan? We have Biology and Math together, remember?”
“I don’t think I’ve heard her name before.”
“I’m sure I have mentioned her… anyway. Jan is madly talented –like, she can sing- and she auditioned for music school like a year ago and told me that…”
Jan. She hadn’t mentioned a Jan before… it was weird for Priyanka that knew all Lemon’s New Yorker friends’ names and she was pretty sure Lemon remembered all her friends’ names as well.
“… anyway, I’ll keep my head high and hope for the best. I’m training extra hard these days to make it. My muscles are sore and I can’t feel my legs right now but hey, no pain no gain.”
“I’m sure you’ll do great.”
“Thank you.” She paused as if she wanted to say something else, Priyanka could hear her breathing, but then she continued chattering. “Also, my mom got promoted again and now she bought a computer I can e-mail you the day of the audition. But tell me, how are things over there? Did the girls work their differences yet?”
“You know Scarlett, she won’t shut up and-”
“Priyanka, it’s dinner time.” Her mother announced from the kitchen.
She sighed. “Shit. I have to go or my mom is going to cut the phone wires. She says this time is for real.”
“Oh, okay… I’ll call you soon then.”
“Yes, please call me right after the audition or before if you wanna talk… you know. Break a leg or whatever… make sure is figuratively speaking, please.”
She heard Lemon’s giggle on the other line and something inside her went softer.
“I will… and I will be there for Christmas this year, I made my mom promise it.”
“Fingers crossed.” She said before hanging up.
When she looked at herself in the mirror she had a silly grin on her face that couldn’t be erased.
Lemon hadn’t been back in a long year and a half. After spending the first holidays after her parents’ divorce with her dad in Canada, she had to spend the next one with her mom in the Big Apple. Plus, her father got to travel to New York quite often those days and got to see her a lot. She sometimes sent things for Priyanka with him, a nice hoodie, a makeup bag, one of those stupid tourist t-shirts with the Statue of Liberty printed on it, sometimes a pair of dangling earrings or a simple letter and a picture of her. She treasured each of those little trinkets.
Priyanka was saving money from her allowance and was hoping to get a job soon so she could buy a car someday and visit her friend in the big city, they might even go on a road trip over the summer, it was a nice thought to hold onto until they could hang out again.
On the day of Lemon’s audition, Priyanka was restless. She got kicked out of one of her classes because she kept fidgeting, twitching, moving around, and chewing gum. It drove her teachers insane. Scarlett and Kiara mocked her from the window of the classroom and then got a warning as well.
Later that day she cleaned all her room to avoid thinking. She found several pictures of her and Lemon over the years –including that one time they tried Lemon’s mom makeup for the first time, Lemon was missing her two front teeth-, there were some photos from their first days of school and even Lemon at Priyanka’s plays. She was so pissed when she got that old lady role instead of the main character but she had managed to steal the scene anyway.
As the sun was setting, she didn’t know what else to do. She did the dishes without offering resistance and then got into an argument with her little sister who wanted to watch Hannah Montana while Priyanka just wanted to watch the new episode of America’s Next Top Model. She had to admit it though, the intro of Hannah Montana was kind of catchy (something she would never admit to her sister).
It was almost quarter to nine and she still didn’t have any news. There was a two-hour time difference with New York but still… it was gnawing her from the inside.
Right when Tyra was about to reveal which model got to stay for another week, the phone rang in the hallway and she couldn’t jump out of the couch fast enough.
«You have a phone call from-» Press one to accept, yeah, yeah, she knew that.
“Lemon?” She didn’t even wait for a «hello».
“Pri? Is it you?”
The sound of her voice brought her back to life, she could hear the sound of her heart beating again.
“Yes, it’s me! How did it go?”
“Oh my God, Pri… I’m calling you from a payphone in the middle of Times Square, this is insane. The girls lend me some cash to call you.” Priyanka could hear the sound of the traffic and even some giggles coming from outside of the phone.
“And? You’re killing me here, Lemz.” She had her fingers crossed even when she couldn’t see that gesture through the call and was holding the phone against her ear with her shoulder.
“It was so difficult I thought I was never going to learn the steps I’m literally so exhausted right now but…”
But.
“I got it, I got the spot!”
Priyanka started screaming.
“Priyanka!” Her mother shouted.
“Sorry…sorry!” She covered her mouth with her hand.
Lemon was cackling.
“Lemz, I might get in so much trouble for this but… Congratulations, I’m so happy for you!”
“Thank you.” She sounded truly happy, Priyanka wished she could see her right at that moment. “Jan, can you give me another quarter? Thanks, doll.”
That girl Jan again.
“So what are you girls are up to?”
“We’re going to get some pizza to celebrate. Jan is here as you heard, so are Goona, Rosé, Jackie… They say hi.”
“Tell them I said hi too.”
“She says hi… No, I’m not telling that, shut up…”
“What is it?”
“They are being assholes as usual… Listen, I have to go, I’m running out of coins and I still have to call my mom.”
“Okay, we’ll talk soon… I’m so happy for you… Love you.”
“Love you too! See you in a few weeks.”
“Yeah. I can’t wait.”
“Bye, Pri.”
She hung up but stood next to the phone for a moment, staring at it.
Just a few more weeks.
Priyanka kept begging her older brother to teach her how to drive. It took a few weeks of insistence until he gave up and the lessons started. They only stopped when the snow got too thick and the roads too slippery to practice. Still, by that time Priyanka was almost an expert. She needed to perfect her parking skills before turning sixteen and that would be it.
She also needed a car but that was the least important part.
“So when’s your girlfriend coming to town?” Scarlett asked.
Priyanka choked on her hot chocolate and coughed a couple of times. “Lemon’s not my girlfriend.”
Kiara rolled her eyes.
“Ah, yes, I can’t wait to finally meet her!” Juice –the latest addition to their group- said.
They were at the coffee shop, outside was freezing cold and the smell of fresh-baked pastries had dragged them inside the warm environment. Scarlett was having a black coffee while Priyanka and Kiara had their respective hot chocolate with marshmallows and Juice ordered a cappuccino with whipped cream and sprinkles on top.
“So?” Scarlett arched a brow.
“Her flight is booked for next week if the snowstorms allow them to fly.”
“I remember you two from primary school; they were joined by the hip, even before you shared diapers or something.” Kiara mocked.
“Oh, that’s right. You were in her classroom in kindergarten back when Ilona prevented everyone from playing with her.”
“That’s because Lemon spilled some paint over Ilona’s drawing… it was kids’ things. We all forgot when some random kid wet his pants or whatever.”
“And when did the crush began?”
Priyanka shot daggers at Scarlett with her eyes.
“I don’t have a crush on her. She’s literally my best friend, you guys are delusional.”
“Sure…” Kiara stirred her chocolate. “But it’s been what? Almost two years since she graced us with her presence?”
“Yeah, her parents didn’t want her to travel alone last time so her father flew to New York.”
“All jokes aside,” Scarlett changed her irksome ‘let’s pick on Priyanka’ tone for a minute. “Are you going to tell her about…?”
At the age of fifteen, Priyanka discovered she didn’t like kissing boys.
It had been at a lame party in a basement, her classmates had invited her and one of them suggested they should play seven minutes in heaven. Priyanka was about to skip it and refill her paper cup with cheap vodka and orange juice when she got dragged by the wrist and pushed into the closet with a guy from the hockey team. She suspected he had a crush on her for the longest time and this was instigated by his friends but the moment the door was locked, she panicked.
Her friends tried to get her out of there but there were a few underdeveloped brains and much muscle blocking the door. So she guessed she was doing it. The guy wasn’t that bad –she liked to believe- he told her they didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to and he was what most girls of the classroom referred to as «handsome». Priyanka shouted she was okay to calm down her friends and figured the best she could do was getting over it once and for all.
It was her first kiss.
The guy had rough lips and a slippery tongue and it was in the middle of all that smooching when his hand went under her lower back that she knew, she wasn’t enjoying it at all. She pushed the guy aside and used the back of her hand to clean her lips, she’d need some mouthwash as well. He asked if everything was okay but she was too condescending and told him that she was feeling dizzy.
The door was unlocked when he asked his friends to do it. Priyanka walked back –ashamed-to her group of friends as Kiara told them they were all disgusting and how stupid the game was. Priyanka called her brother from a phone upstairs and left soon after. For the first time, she was quiet on the way back home.
Later that night when she was laying on her bed in the darkness, she couldn’t stop thinking about it, thinking about how she was supposed to feel kissing that guy -any guy- or thinking about the fact that she wasn’t even remotely attracted to boys but mostly, thinking how she so wished that guy was someone else, how she wished that guy was a girl.
The following week at school the not-so-nice-guy had told everyone that Priyanka was basically a slut and if it wasn’t because she was so wasted, they could’ve gone to third base in that closet that very night. Priyanka wasn’t ashamed anymore, she was angry. Very angry. During lunch, she walked directly towards him and exposed him in front of everyone, not only denying the absurdity of those rumors but also stating that she would never even consider touching his small dick.
After that, Priyanka was done with guys, boys, and men in general.
She had a heart-to-heart conversation with her friends afterward but –to no one’s surprise- she ended up with the least heterosexual and most supportive group of friends in the world.
Still… she hadn’t been able to tell Lemon yet. She had tried but there was something about phone calls that didn’t help at all, she wanted to tell her in person, she wanted to see her face and know that everything was okay. And she planned to do it during her visit.
“I’ll try.” Priyanka stated, hoping the universe cooperated with her.
“Good. So you can make out under the mistletoe next.” There she was again.
“Okay, you two,” She pointed at Scarlett and Kiara. “you have to stop it or I’m going to do you guys dirty and you know I can.”
They started laughing, clearly taking Priyanka’s threaten lightly.
“That’s it! You,” She directed toward Kiara. “I have seen you drooling over Kyne the entire semester.”
Kiara went pale.
“And you two…” She turned back to Scarlett and Juice that were cackling sitting on the couch. “Yes, I’m talking to you, do you really believe I haven’t seen the way you look at each other, those stolen glances, the subtle touches? Please, is this a Jane Austen novel or what? You ain’t that smooth.”
“Hey! I didn’t say anything!” Juice protested.
Scarlett’s mouth turned into a thin line and her ears were suddenly pink colored. She murmured something Priyanka couldn’t catch but rhymed with «witch».
“Sorry girl, I warned you heads would roll and I’m not leaving any survivors if that’s what it takes.”
Scarlett put her hands up as a sign of surrender. “I respect it, you’re a bitch but I respect it.”
So that was the word she used.
Lemon would arrive at any minute now.
Her father was picking her up from the airport, they would have lunch at some fancy restaurant in the city center and then he’d drop Lemon at Priyanka’s house until sunset –that was when she had to leave again to have dinner with her relatives.
Priyanka kept moving her right leg, restless while sitting on the couch, eyes nailed on the window.
“Priyanka, take the trash out, it’s your turn.” Her mother told her casually as she directed upstairs.
“Mom!” She complained. “I’m doing important things.”
“You’re sitting on the couch.”
“My point exactly.”
Her mom gave her the glare. “Trash. Out. Now.”
She grumbled but did as asked.
Priyanka put on an extra thick coat over her jeans and knitted orange sweater, adjusted her wool socks and boots, and adventured to the exterior world of the Canadian winter wonderland. She only had to walk a few steps but she could feel her body freezing with the icy breeze. The snow was blinding white and she could hear the whistle of the wind blowing and the sound of her own teeth chattering.
She didn’t even hear the sound of the car stopping right at the entrance of her house nor the door closing or the steps.
She barely had time to turn around when an identified running person hit her like an asteroid. Lemon was small but she still got the strength to tackle Priyanka down with a hug. She didn’t even notice whether the snow was cold or not.
“Hey!” She was still down on the ground and needed to turn around once Lemon moved. “You’re here…”
The vision was dazzling. Lemon’s face, her eyes, her smile from ear to ear with full teeth showing, her blonde hair falling like a cascade over her rosy cheeks. It was as if she had been taken from an Andersen fairytale or a Tchaikovsky composition, ice queens and fairies fluttered around Priyanka’s head.
“I’m here! Can you believe it?”
She was still pretty much straddled on Priyanka, making the brunette blush and hoping she could blame it on the weather. Finally, Lemon got to stand up and helped her friend to get on her feet again.
Lemon was irretrievably tiny but there was something different about her since the last time they had seen each other. She looked less like the little girl Priyanka remembered and more like a teen pop star of the magazines they used to read with her slightly curled lighter hair, pink glossy lips, longer lashes… She was wearing a yellow sweater and a white puffy jacket with matching fake fur around the neck, corduroy pants, and cream boots. Even her glasses were stylish now.
“Wait, are you taller?” She observed.
“No, you just shrunk in the washing machine.”
Lemon elbowed her and then turned to wave at her dad that was still in the car.
“He told me he saw you in the supermarket the other day and asked what does your mom feed you with so I could get some too.”
Priyanka laughed at loud. “He got you there.”
“Ha. Ha.”
“But enough with my height, let’s go inside, I think I got snow on my socks and I don’t want to catch a cold or wait until another short person attacks me.”
“Hey, you said enough with the height.”
“No, no. I clearly said mine, not yours.”
Lemon rolled her eyes and there it was the old Lemon she knew so well, the exact dose just a little less sugary and a bit sour.
They went to Priyanka’s room, she shared it with her middle sister but she was currently busy practicing at music school with her cello for her end of the year concert, there were a few trophies, certificates, and distinctions on her side of the room meanwhile Priyanka’s was a collage of pictures with the girls, an album cover Avril Lavigne, one large poster she got from the local cinema when Spice World was brought back for a special feature and she forced her friends to watch it for the millionth time, some random doodles she did in class and of course, photos and postcards Lemon had sent to her.
The blonde smiled when she spotted a picture of them from their first day of primary school, their backpacks were bigger than them.
They removed the heavy coats, Priyanka changed her wet socks for new ones and a pair of slippers. Lemon was prying into the mess that was her desk, her fingers roaming through her school books, comic books, magazines, and scattered papers as if she tried to figure out if she still knew the owner of that space in the way she used to.
They sat on Priyanka’s bed on the nothing-like-Priyanka flowery blanket one of her aunts got her for a birthday. Priyanka’s mom dropped by to say hi and left a tray with two smoky cups of tea.
“I love your mom, she read my mind.” Lemon said, wrapping her hands around the warm porcelain.
“She’s being nice only because you’re around.” Priyanka took a sip of her tea. “I wonder if it’s a good time to tell her that I broke one of her flowerpots when I was practicing with the skateboard.”
“You’re the worst.” Lemon giggled.
“Certified. Three years in a row.”
The blonde shook her head. “Does she still make that incredible curry with potatoes?”
“Yeah, once in a while.”
“Oh my God… I tell you I’ve dreamt about it. You know I love Christina to dead but she can’t cook at all.”
Lemon, at some point after the divorce, had stopped addressing her mother as “mom” and now she called her by her first name.
“Do you remember she always made dinner with dry spaghetti and can sauce?”
“You laugh all you want but that’s my comfort food till this day.” Priyanka defended her.
“She doesn’t even cook it anymore, now we buy it all pre-cooked or already cooked. She might even forget how to boil water. Anyway, we’ve tried a thousand restaurants but I swear to you, Pri, no one can cook like your mom.”
“Well, I’m glad you’ve missed one of us.”
Lemon threw a pillow at her face.
“Of course I’ve missed you, dumbass.”
They did each other’s nails, Priyanka ended up with a light blue shade Lemon had brought for her and it was allegedly the same color as Tiffany’s, and the blonde insisted she had to draw a white ribbon to make it look like the jewel’s teeny tiny boxes.
From there, Priyanka could see everything. Lemon frowning, concentrated on her task, the way she batted her lashes, her pretty eyes, the little freckles she had over her nose, the shape of her cupid bow turned into an unintentional pout… her lips.
Priyanka gulped and then Lemon caught her staring.
“What is it?” She looked for some hint in Priyanka’s face. “Do I have something on my face?”
“No… I’m just making sure you don’t fuck up the design.”
Lemon rolled her eyes. “Don’t be silly. I’m almost done.”
While Priyanka’s nails got dried, they talked about school, classes they liked and disliked, teachers that they loathed or loved, then about their plans after turning sixteen, Priyanka told her about the driving lessons and Lemon told her she wanted to dress up as Cher Horowitz –of course- for her birthday and by the time Priyanka started with Lemon’s nails, she was reviving her dance audition.
“I tell you, Pri, there was a moment I doubt I’d got in. It was a flash but I felt it in my stomach I thought I was going to puke and mess everything up.”
“Hey, but you didn’t. I’m sure you nailed it.”
The blonde sighed. “Still, New York is like… everything’s so fast and everyone’s competitive to the point where you can’t get distracted or someone else will go after what you have. It’s nice to be here for a change, this is the only place I can really relax. It sucks that I can only stay for a week and five of those seven days I have to visit my dad’s relatives out of town.” She met Priyanka’s eyes. “I wish I could get to spend more time with you, you know?”
Priyanka’s heart skipped a beat. At that moment what she suspected but didn’t dare to say at loud became a reality, all those corny songs from the 90’s suddenly made sense, all the movies Hollywood had sold labeled as «romance» acquired a new meaning and she finally understood what «to have butterflies in one’s stomach» really felt like.
She liked Lemon. She liked her best friend…. And she liked her a lot.
That was the reason she hadn’t been able to tell her about what happened earlier that year at the party because it wasn’t just that she wanted to kiss a girl instead of a guy, she wanted to kiss one particular girl and she was right in front of her at that very moment.
They never warned her about it, they never told her that she would live normally until the day she’d realize she could harbor such feeling inside, that one day she’d just… know.
She almost dropped the nail polish bottle over the blanket.
“Oh, careful.” Lemon grabbed it just in time. She looked at her friend with concern in her eyes. “Pri, are you okay? You look… pale.”
“What? Ah, yeah… it’s nothing. I’m recovering from a cold I caught, that’s it…” She shook her head and took a breath of air. “I’m sorry, you were saying…”
“About the dance academy,” Lemon resumed her story. “the girls think I can make it through the next three years, and then I can major in dancing, I might even get a scholarship if I do outstandingly well.”
There was something, a little detail there that wasn’t… right.
“I hope you can visit me soon, you gotta meet the girls; you’re going to love them. Rosé and Jan are also Geminis, I guess that’s why I get along with them so well. Luckily, Jan would be my roommate if she gets her scholarship as well and…”
“Roommate?” Priyanka asked.
“Yeah… for college? We’re thinking about moving in together because rents are expensive even for the smallest studio apartment advertised. It’s a nightmare.”
“But wait… what happened with the plan? Our plan?”
Lemon opened her mouth to reply and then shut it.
“You forgot about it…”
“No! You know I didn’t… but… my options are wider now, I have to think forward and… did you seriously think-?”
“Yes. I did.” Priyanka didn’t even let her finish speaking.
Her soul had been just crushed.
“Pri, that’s not what I mean. We made that promise when we were ten, things have… changed since then.”
“Maybe they have changed for you but I’m still stuck here, I’m still counting on our plans… our promises. I’m still counting on you. The only thing that has changed is you and your pompous New Yorker glamorous lifestyle.”
“Oh, so it was so easy for me, right? It’s not like I had to attend a school where I didn’t know anyone, being the new girl and sitting alone during lunchtime for months while going through my parents’ divorce… I hated it the first months, Priyanka, I really did and I swear that talking to you on the phone and dancing were the only things that kept me alive…” Her voice cracked. “It wasn’t until I met my friends that I felt like I could do it… that it wasn’t completely waste of time and that I wasn’t a totally useless person.”
“Lemon… you never said-”
There was a single sparkly tear falling down her cheek.
“Well, I hope you’re happy now. There you have it, my life isn’t a glamorous as you thought, is it?”
“It’s because that’s what you’ve told me! Maybe if you didn’t sugarcoat things I could’ve helped you…”
“And do what? And then what? You’d get tired of me with all those problems and we’d eventually drift apart. I’d become a burden for you.”
“What? Where did you get that from? Let me be your friend, that’s what friends do… they help each other during the rough times too, they tell each other things.”
“Oh, and you surely have told me everything that’s being going on here.”
Priyanka remained silent.
“I still talk with some people from school here and there… why didn’t you tell me about what happened at that party?”
“Lemon, that’s completely different…”
“Is it? Because from my perspective, it looks like we’re hiding things from each other now.”
“And breaking promises as well for what it seems.”
Lemon looked at her, she seemed hurt and it broke Priyanka’s heart to see her like that.
She wanted to reach her and hold her hand, hug her and tell her that everything was alright but at the same time, she was angry. She couldn’t have it both ways. It wasn’t fair.
Priyanka’s mother called them from downstairs; Lemon’s father was there to pick her up.
“I better go.” She grabbed her coat. “I’ll be back in five days if you want… whatever.”
She was gone before Priyanka could say something and frankly, she felt that if she opened her mouth it was going to get worse. It wasn’t until the girl left the house and she heard the car getting lost in the distance that she collapsed on her bed and started crying on the closest pillow she had.
Five days after, it was a New Year already but little had changed since they last met.
Lemon visited Priyanka’s house only to discover she wasn’t there.
“Could you please tell her I came to say goodbye?” She bit her inner cheek to contain a sob.
She had a flight to take back to New York.
Priyanka had taken the family’s car without permission and she had driven for a few hours, making sure there was no chance of their paths crossing. It was petty; she knew she was being childish avoiding her rather than talk things through and she was going to regret it and hate herself later, damn, she was going to get grounded for months but who cared? At that moment, the only thing that was on her mind was that she couldn’t see Lemon.
Not like that.
She did her wrong but she was partly right. Priyanka wasn’t being honest with her and she couldn’t tell her all the truth to restore their friendship.
She couldn’t tell her that she was gay and that she was in love with her because it would change it all.
It would destroy their friendship entirely.
Lemon would never reciprocate those stupid feelings of her.
Maybe if she put enough distance between them, those feelings would simply fade, go away, and right now, New York sounded distant enough.
If it was on her to do the hardest part for the sake of all the years they’ve been together, then she was going to do whatever it’d take.
Tears scorched her eyes.
At the age of fifteen, Priyanka loved her best friend Lemon but she also hated her.
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haledamage · 4 years
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Only the Dead Never Change
(I just wanted to write a little something with Kira/Adam and music, since I realized the other day he’s the only one she hasn’t had that with (though I guess Felix’s and Mason’s weren’t romantic moments… hmmmm), but because it’s them it had to turn into something complicated because that’s what they do. since Rebecca Lovell from Larkin Poe is Kira’s singing voice claim, this fic is brought to you in part by their cover of Hard Time Killing Floor Blues)
A brusque knock sounded at the door. Kira’s hands paused in mid-chord. “It’s open.”
The door opened at her call to reveal Adam, arms crossed over his chest and wearing his grey wool peacoat. He seemed to fill the doorframe entirely, to fill the room with his sheer force of presence. He watched her almost cautiously, though his expression was completely unreadable.
“Good evening,” Kira said, when Adam didn’t immediately speak. “Or good morning, I guess. Depends on how you want to look at it.”
He gave her a cursory once over, and though nothing showed on his face she got the distinct impression he was making sure she was okay. “You are up late, Detective.”
“It happens.” She shrugged one shoulder and finally finished the chord he’d interrupted. “Am I making too much noise? I can keep it down.”
“No.” She had to fight a smile at how quickly he said that. “That will not be necessary. I was simply passing by your room and I heard music.”
“That happens, too.” She huffed a laugh and started plucking aimlessly at the strings, a song with no rhythm or melody to it, just trying to fill the quiet. “Are you heading out or did you just get back?” she asked, nodding toward his coat.
“I just finished my patrols around town.”
She nodded again and silence fell. She kept plucking at her guitar, starting to find some semblance of a tune to what she was playing, and waited for him to speak again. He didn’t, just hovered in the doorway, watching her hands move along the strings with enough focus to make her stumble a few times.
“Is something wrong?” she asked finally.
“Not at all.” He tore his eyes away from her, and even across the room she could see the way he clenched his jaw. Abruptly, he added, “You are quite talented.”
“Oh. I…” Now it was Kira’s turn to look away, feeling heat rise in her cheeks and an absurdly pleased smile spread across her face. “Thank you.”
“I apologise if I’ve invaded your privacy, Detective,” Adam said, a trace of hesitation in his voice and the set of his shoulders.
“No!” she blurted out, too quickly. She ran her fingers through her hair nervously, pushing it back from her face. “No. I just… I’m not used to having an audience. Do you play?”
He scoffed. “No. I never had much skill at… creative pursuits.”
“I could teach you,” she offered with a grin.
“That will not be necessary,” he said, but he chuckled quietly. 
“Then… I could keep playing. If you want to come in.” With how quickly he stepped into the room, it was obvious he’d been waiting for the invitation. She bit her lip to stop another smile. “Do you have any requests?”
“Whatever you would like to play will be sufficient.”
Her first note immediately went sour as her fingers stopped listening to her when Adam shrugged out of his coat. She wondered vaguely if he always took his coat off that slowly, or if he did so only for her benefit; even if she were bold enough to ask, her mouth was too dry to form the words. Instead, she just let her eyes roam the muscles of his arms and shoulders, only barely contained by the t-shirt he wore, in much the same way she wanted to do with her hands.
Kira dropped her eyes away quickly when he turned her way, trying to pretend she still remembered how to play guitar.
She meandered through any songs that popped into her head, paying less attention to the music than she was to the man in her room. Adam looked relaxed in a way she had only rarely ever seen, sitting back in her armchair with a small smile tugging at his lips. Content, almost, or at least closer to it than usual. If he noticed her attention, he didn’t comment--but then, he never did.
It didn’t take long for both of them to notice a theme to the songs she was playing.
“Do you sing a lot of love songs, Detective?” She couldn’t tell if the tone to his voice was amusement or disapproval.
“Well, most of the stuff I know is blues.” She tried not to look too proud of how quickly that reply came to her, or let on that it wasn’t entirely accurate. “Blues music skews toward pain and death and heartbreak. It’s not really a crowd pleaser.”
He cocked his head to one side, but it was the only sign he gave of his curiosity. “Why do you listen to it, then? You do not strike me as someone with much pain and heartbreak in your life.”
She took a deep breath, debating how much of herself she wanted to share, but the words started spilling from her lips without waiting for her permission. “Dad played the blues. There’s a video of him with this guitar playing ‘Hard Time Killing Floor Blues’ by Skip James, and me, maybe a year old, sitting on the floor in front of him just… hypnotised by it.” She played the intro part to the song in question, the first thing she ever learned how to play. “Mum never talks about him. I don’t begrudge her grief, but I just…” 
“You wanted a connection to him.” His voice was soft and understanding, and it should have grated on her but instead she found that it eased some of the tension from her shoulders.
“Exactly. Something that he and I shared besides the eyes and the freckles.” She stared into empty air, eyes distant and full of blurry, half-obscured memories, fingers still moving across the strings on auto-pilot. “It’s strange, to miss someone so much when you don’t even remember them. All I remember is the space where he should have been.”
He didn’t say anything in response and, not knowing how else to fill the silence, Kira started singing, picking up the song where she left off. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d sang in front of someone, actually sang rather than just mumbling along with the radio. It felt nice to let that part of her out. It felt nicer to do so with Adam. She tried not to think too hard on why it mattered so much that it was him.
The song ended, and the room fell quiet once more. She slid the guitar’s strap from her shoulders and set the instrument carefully on the bed next to her.
“Thank you for sharing this with me,” Adam said softly, his voice shattering the stillness before it could take hold. “I am under the impression that you do not let many people see this side of you.”
“You’d be right about that.” She smoothed her hands over the pale green shirt she wore, not sure what to do with them now that she didn’t have the guitar to use as a barricade. “Thank you for listening. And not--not just to the music. I’m…” she chuckled, mostly to herself. “If someone had told me six months ago that you’d be the one easiest for me to talk to, I’d have called them something that would get me scolded by Nate. A lot can change in a few months.”
“Yes, it can.” He scowled at nothing in particular, apparently unhappy about all the recent changes in their lives.
“Change isn’t a bad thing, Adam.” His scowl got deeper and Kira smiled in response. “I guess maybe you’re in the habit of assuming all change is negative, as long as you’ve been around, but… change just means we’re still alive. Only the dead never change.”
“Perhaps you’re right. But it gets more difficult as you get older.” His frown turned contemplative and she got the distinct impression there was something specific he was referring to.
“Does it?” She uncrossed her legs so they could dangle over the edge of the bed and she could lean forward. Her knee pressed to his. He didn’t move away from the contact. He didn’t even tense at it. “Because a few months ago I literally shot you, and now you’re sitting in my bedroom in the middle of the night and I’m telling you things I don’t tell anyone.”
Adam chuckled and his frown gave away to a very brief but genuine smile, though he still wouldn’t look at her. “That is your influence, Kira. Not mine.”
“I don’t believe that for a second.”
For the first time since he’d arrived at her door, his full attention fell on her and Kira gasped under the weight of those pale green eyes. Anything else she may have said evaporated like mist at dawn. She was suddenly very aware of where his knee touched hers; she was even more aware of all the places their bodies weren’t touching, and all the things they could do to change that.
If she could weaponize the way he made her feel, she would be fucking unstoppable.
As soon as the moment began, it ended again as he tore his gaze away. Slowly, he rose to his feet. “I should let you rest.”
“You don’t have to go,” she said quickly. She felt blush rise in her cheeks as soon as the words were out of her mouth, but she didn’t try to take it back. She knew she meant it exactly as she’d said it.
Adam raised an eyebrow at her, but he didn’t call her on it; she really wished he would. Eventually, he whispered, “Yes I do.”
It was starting to become a familiar exchange between them.
A long moment passed where neither of them said anything. Kira could feel the heavy tension in the air, a tension she was starting to get used to feeling around him. It made her hands almost itch with the urge to reach out to him. Instead, she broke eye contact again with a barely stifled sigh, closing her eyes as if it could calm the racing of her heart. “Good night, Adam.”
He was gone when she opened her eyes, but his presence lingered in the room like a ghost.
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kpop-uni · 4 years
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Through the Lens // Five
Christian YuxYoutuber!Reader Words: 4.5K A/N: WOW did this take forever :( I’m sorry for the long wait but as you guys probably know I’m not in the best mental place right now and my main priority was getting help for me. Though, thanks for sticking with me! Love ya lots! But we’re looking at maybe? Two chapters until the end? Like usual I might post a poll on what fic to post but if anything I’ll just post summaries and Ill update as I go along~ If anything, a poll will be up with weekend to see what fics I’ll be posting next!
Chapter Four // Chapter Six
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To everyone, except for Gyungmo of course, nothing was out of the ordinary with you. You smiled and joked around the same, always enthusiastic about going out to eat or shoving your mouth with snacks. But, the moment that Christian joined, or if Chaeyoung was present, everything with you went quiet. You stayed in your place with the same excuses. 
"I'm editing." "No, I'm just making sure the battery is okay." "I gotta make notes on what to delete."
Scott, on the other hand, began to notice, furrowing his eyebrows and thinking that maybe Chaeyoung had said something to you. But even when he knew no one was noticing the two of you, Chaeyoung offered you her snacks, always asking if you needed something from the store or if she could watch while you went over the edited videos. You tensed a bit when she was near you, giving her one-worded answers or sometimes answering with a shake of your head. 
"Did I do something to her?" Chaeyoung looked over at Christian. 
You had left the room rather quickly after Chaeyoung gave Christian a kiss on the cheek. Chaeyoung turned to you as you slammed your laptop shut, quickly walking out of the studio with Scott right behind you. 
"Hm?" Christian finally gave his attention to Chaeyoung, eyes moving away from the reflection of the studio glass. He saw how Scott was whispering to you, your shoulders slumping, getting up and leaving with him right behind you. Christian's blood boiled, hands clenching into fists. 
"If I did or say something to her," Chaeyoung repeated, elbow resting on the table and fist on her temple. "I feel like she doesn't like me much,"
Before Christian could answer, Gyungmo came in with Cline right behind him, the two showing Christian the finished song. 
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"Gyungmo, I can't do this anymore..." You sighed, your thumb pad between your teeth as you nibbled on it, a habit you had when nervous or stressed.
"I told you, just stop overthinking these things-"
"But it's like he's rubbing it in my face," You turned to Gyungmo, hands now on your knees before you sighed, going back to staring at your laptop screen. "This video is almost half an hour long and I still haven't added any footage of him. And to top it, this whole part was about his process!"
Gyungmo sighed, biting his inner cheek, silent until you let your head fall. "So? Are you gonna cut this part out of the series?"
It was quiet, Gyungmo waiting for your response before you shook your head, giving out a sigh. You'll admit, you wanted to skip this part of the series but you knew you would get questions about why and the last thing you wanted was for fans to twist around your intensions. "No, I have to film him and see if he needs anything edited out."
With a nod, Gyungmo left you to continue his work. You hesitantly reached for your camera and laptop, holding on to the charger with your finger as you made your way to Christian's workspace. You stood outside the door, calming your nervous as you lifted your fist, about to knock when the door was pulled open, Christian looking down at you.
He was a bit startled, blinking and taking the tiniest of steps back before you immediately looked down. He watched as you fidgeted, almost dropping your laptop in the process of trying to find your words.
"I need to edit my video with you, just to see if it's okay with you and if you want-"
"I'm going on a date with Chaeyoung, can it wait?"
You gulped at the interruption, your voice already shaking with the nervous. The last thing you wanted was to make an even bigger fool out of yourself so you nodded. You simply stepped back, Christian moving past you and ignoring the way you bit your lip, heading in the opposite direction.
You locked yourself in Cline's space, taking deep breaths and calming yourself down. You slumped down on the arm of the couch, closing your eyes and breathing in and out. With a sigh and soft bite to the corner of your lip, you gulped down the rest of the feelings you had, fixing your laptop and charger in your hand before standing.
Scott looked down the halls, trying to find any sign of you before spotting you checking your phone, calling your name. You were a bit startled, Scott laughing as he walked over. "You hungry?"
You spent the afternoon in with Scott at a small restaurant, the two of you laughing and talking about anything Scott was working on. Eventually, the conversation turning into a game that Scott was interested in playing.
"I think my next series is going to be just playing that game, I've heard good things about it,"
"Are you seriously going to go back to gameplays?" Scott asked, excitement in his eyes as you laughed. The two of you eventually felt like you overstayed your lunch break, Scott letting you pay for the food after losing to a quick round of rock, paper, scissors.
When the two of you walked out, you looked up to find Christian and Chaeyoung walking across the street, hands tightly grasped. Chaeyoung giggling about whatever Christian whispered about, a smirk on his face. You ignored them, focusing on Scott who kept telling his story, your hand in the crook of his arm as the two of you decided to go on a stroll. You laughed a little at what Scott said, distracting you from Christian.
But Chaeyoung noticed you right away, smiling a bit and leaning her head on Christian's bicep. "Aren't they so cute? I feel like they were meant for each other,"
Christian looked over, quickly spotting how much you were laughing at Scott's hands tickling your sides. He clenched his teeth, Scott leaning all his weight on you as you attempted to hold him up, whining his name as he laughed, the two of you stumbling slightly.
You let Scott drag you back to him, continuing the walk. Christian hummed, turning back ahead and trying to ignore what he saw, letting out a breath. "She seems so nice... I kind of feel bad because I think she just doesn't like me," Chaeyoung let the conversation end there, focusing on Christian and their date. But Christian's jaw tensed, looking down at Chaeyoung.
"I'm sure you did nothing, she's just a little hard to get along with at first,"
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Gyungmo and Scott had invited the guys on your last night to end your vacation with a celebration, hosting a house party in Scott's place. You knew it wasn't nice, but you couldn't help but feel happy that Christian and Chaeyoung didn't go. You wanted to enjoy yourself once more before heading home, and you knew you weren't going to be able to if you only saw them together.
You let yourself relax, enjoying the company of Hyuk who wouldn't let you go, making you shy whenever you were teased about it. Woo taught you how to spin a few records, teaching you the basics of how to DJ. You stayed with your camera glued to your hand, taking pictures and videos of everyone and everything.
The next morning, you sat on the hotel bed, showered and with everything packed save for your laptop case. You tried looking for the courage to send the text, looking down at your phone. You let out a breath, squeezing your eyes closed and pressing the send button.
Christian's attention was given to his phone at the ding it made, seeing a text from you and sighing a bit.
Y/N 12:54 PM: Can we edit the video now?
Christian knew he couldn't avoid you forever, so he replied back that he was in his studio and to go over. He sat back in his chair, hands rubbing his face as he knew he needed to face you sooner or later. But still, he couldn’t help the anger that bubbled up whenever he saw you, knowing you belonged to Scott.
Christian waited for half an hour, closing his laptop and just about to give up on you when you knocked, heading inside the studio.
"Hey,"
Christian looked up from his laptop, seeing you walk in with your own laptop on hand. You closed the door behind you, Christian, without a word, moved his things aside and giving you room to set your laptop down.
The tension was thick and you began to think that you took forever in setting your editing programs up, taking a seat and clearing your throat. "So, I'm going to combine the videos and play them, I'll tell you my plans and you tell me what you want me to get rid of."
With only a nod and a hum that Christian gave you, you opened the file only for Christian's part of the series, clicking into each video in the order you set it. You waited as he watched the first clip, biting your tongue gently.
Christian was clicking away in the video, eyes focused on his screen as you zoomed in a bit, giggling. He turned to you, giving you a confused look before breaking out into a smile.
"You don't need this one," Christian sat back into his chair, making you hum.
"This one is the intro, kind of to kick it off." You hesitated on looking at him, Christian rolling his eyes and shrugging, sighing out a quiet whatever. You looked back at the video, clicking out of it and moving it to a new file, continuing the second video.
"Delete that, I want my programs to be kept to myself," You nodded, adding in an edit, making sure to type it into the notes on your phone, continuing the video.
Your leg shook with nerves, eyes glued to the screen, going from video to video and doing everything that Christian told you to do with it. It was only a couple more videos when a knock on the door made you both turn, Chaeyoung poking her head before giving a shy smile. “Sorry, I’ll let you guys continue-“
“No, it’s fine.” Christian waved her in, pulling a chair right next to him. You squirmed in your seat, eyes going back to your screen and clicking through the video. You ignored the tiny giggle that escaped Chaeyoung and the soft kiss that Christian gave her until Christian gave you his attention again.
By the end, what could've been a 24-minute long video turned into only 5 minutes. You combined all the videos together, seeing the time limit and frowning, going through other files to look for any other videos you could add.
"That's it, right? We finished?" You could hear the impatience in Christian's voice, pulling his laptop closer. Chaeyoung helped him pull his items closer, going back to resting her arm on the table.
"No, the video needs to be longer than just five minutes," You ignored the way Christian grumbled, closing your eyes and continuing to look for more videos.
"Why don't you like Chaeyoung? What did she do to you?"
You were caught off guard with the question, fingers freezing as you looked at Christian. He glared at you, almost as if he wanted to bury you alive, hand gripping the mouse. Chaeyoung, who was once on her phone, turned to Christian so quick, you thought she was going to snap her neck.
Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, letting your hands fall from your keyboard to your lap, shaking your head as you scoffed. “What?” 
With a sarcastic chuckle, Christian shook his head. “Everyone can tell that you don’t like Chaeyoung. So why? She’s been nothing but nice to you-“
“Who said that I didn’t like her? I never said that!” You argued back, turning fully toward him. 
“You make it so fucking obvious!” Christian raised his voice, hand waving as if he were showing you how obvious it was. “All that’s left is for you to openly tell her to fuck off-“ 
“Why the hell are you saying such shit?” You yelled back, glaring at Christian. “I’m sorry that I don’t want to talk to your girlfriend like she's my best friend! Is that what’s bugging you?” 
“Ian, stop...” Chaeyoung tried to stop Christian, looking at you with worried eyes. “I’m so sorry, please just ignore him.”
“Come on,” Christian laughed, shaking his head. “Y/N, you literally act like a bitch with her. You’re all fun and games with everyone and when she comes in the hate just oozes out of you!”
Your eyes widened, slamming your laptop closed and grabbing your things. Chaeyoung flinched at the slam, a quiet yelp leaving her and Christian only flinched a bit. “Have you ever thought that maybe it’s not her I hate, Christian?” You turned to the door, grabbing the doorknob. “Maybe, just maybe, it’s you that I hate?” 
Before you could even take a step out, the door was slammed closed, catching you off guard. You were spun around, backing yourself to the door as Christian's jaw clenched, eyes filled with anger as your hands pressed into his chest, attempting to prevent him from getting closer.
"You have no fucking reason to hate me," Christian's words came out quietly, each one oozing venom. Your eyes that were once wide in surprise turned into a hard glare, adding force to your push that only resulted in Christian moving only slightly back. "I never did anything to you.“
"Ian..." Chaeyoung hissed, worry evident on her face as she desperately tried to pull him away from you. "That's enough, okay? You don't need to do this-"
"Never did anything to me?" You scoffed, staring up at Christian in disbelief. "You treated me so nice the whole beginning, but one little drunken night that we kissed and you suddenly changed on me! And you got yourself a girlfriend making me think that I'm the problem!"
Chaeyoung finally stopped trying to pull Christian -who was frozen in shock- back, as Chaeyoung looked at you as if you had grown another head, shaking her head a bit. "Christian wouldn't do that..."
You looked at Christian, an eyebrow raised as you waited for him to talk. “You didn’t tell her? That I pulled you out to dance and you made me think there might have been something between us, only for you to make me feel like a cheap hookup?” 
Christian was at a loss for words, only staring at you as he finally stepped back enough, letting you rush out of the room. You stopped before closing the door, looking at Christian one more time. “I regret ever getting close to you,” The slam of the door echoed in the room, Chaeyoung letting out a breath and moving away. 
“I really thought you started to like me,” Chaeyoung’s voice was soft, pulling away from Christian to grab her phone. 
“I do-“ 
“No, you don’t,” Chaeyoung looked up at Christian. He faced her, worry on his face as Chaeyoung sighed. “Why did you even do this to her? To me?”
Christian tried to say something, anything to not hurt Chaeyoung. His mouth opened and closed as if he was choking on air, trying to find the right words before closing his eyes, letting out a breath. 
“She doesn’t like me, she was drunk and I thought maybe, just maybe, she liked me but she only liked Scott. She probably only kissed me to get back at him since he was with some other girl.” Christian moved to sit on his chair, burying his face in his hands. “I didn’t want to hurt you, and you’re so cool and I thought maybe I can forget her but-“
“You’re still into her,” Chaeyoung finished his sentence, Christian quiet. He clasped his hands in front of his face, only nodding. Chaeyoung looked down, silently walking out the studio. 
Christian stayed in silence, head spinning with thoughts of everything that has happened. He groaned, burying his face in his arms, wrapping his hands around his head, wanting to curl into a ball and hide for a while. 
You tried to calm down, huffing out in anger as you set your things down on a desk, your eyes closed as you finally let yourself breathe. "Everything okay?"
Scott smiled when he found you, walking over as you sat up on the desk, swinging your legs lightly. He stood next to your legs, watching your lips curve up into a small smile. "It's flight nerves, nothing too big,"
Scott stayed quiet, knowing you were lying but only responding with a smile, patting your thigh gently. You were quiet, your fingernails gently scratching Scott's head as his eyes closed a bit, enjoying the attention. You smiled a little, tilting your head a bit. "Sometimes when you spend time with me, I wish you were the one I fell for,"
Scott scoffed, laughing a bit as his eyes stayed closed, leaning more into you before resting his head on your arm. "We would be that famous couple that people would call us mom and dad,"
"Bold you to think they already don't," You giggled as Scott laughed quietly.
You both stayed silent a bit longer, Scott eventually pulling back and grabbing your things, silently giving you the hint that it was time to leave. "I'm sorry things didn't work with the guy you liked," Scott grabbed your hand, fingers intertwining as the two of you headed to your hotel.
"It's whatever, I'm just glad I never told him or else I would've died from embarrassment." You shook your head, letting out a sigh. "Guess I just thought he liked me too,"
"Well he's an idiot if he doesn't like you, you would've been an amazing girlfriend." Scott smiled at your laugh, staying quiet during the short walk. He held the door of the hotel open for you, following you to the elevators. 
“You know, lowkey you can give Gyungmo a chance.” 
The suggestion caught you off guard, making you look at Scott as the two of you stood in your spots, ignoring the elevator door as it opened. Scott only laughed a bit, pressing the button to keep the door open as he stepped inside. “I was just saying,” 
“Scott, what does that even mean?” 
You knew exactly what it meant, anyone hearing Scott would know what it meant. But still, you were caught off guard and now with this sudden news, you weren’t sure you were hearing things correctly. 
“I mean, Gyungmo has a thing for you. Or had... I’m not sure anymore.” Scott pressed the button again as the doors closed, reaching for your wrist to pull you inside. 
“He had a thing for me?” You ask, letting yourself get dragged into the elevator. 
“Okay don’t make this weird for him, I wasn’t supposed to tell you,” Scott watched as you simply nodded, blinking a bit but still processing everything he said, only looking up when the doors opened on your floor. 
“Is he still coming to drive me?” You asked, Scott now on his phone. 
“Yeah, he said to just give him a heads up.” 
You asked him to send Gyungmo the text, stepping inside your room and putting away the last bit of your things. Scott sat at the end of the bed, phone in hand as he scrolled through it, occasionally looking up to see if you needed any help. 
With a groaned sigh, you plopped on the bed next to Scott, resting your head on his shoulder. You two stayed quiet, looking at everything ready to be taken to the car, Scott occasionally chuckling a bit at something he would see on his phone. At the sound of a knock, you let Scott open the door and let in Gyungmo and Cline. You held on to Gyungmo's sleeve, letting him stay back as Cline and Scott left with a suitcase, the two talking. 
"Scott said something to me," You kept your eyes on Gyungmo as he furrowed his eyebrows, thinking on what Scott could've possibly said to you. "He said you have a thing for me?"
With a sigh and smile, Gyungmo shook his head, intertwining your fingers with his. "I had a thing for you, I mean, you're so cute in your videos and you're kind and a sweetheart in person. But I like you like this, being with me and gossiping about stupid shit," 
You couldn't help the smile on your face, getting shy and looking down a little. Gyungmo watched as you collected yourself, lightly slapping your cheeks to get rid of the blush that you knew was present before swinging your bag over your shoulder. Gyungmo stayed by your side, the two of you in comforting silence. "Thanks for being there for me all this time, I hope you know I'm going to be there for you if you ever need me,"
Everything was quiet until you made it outside, Scott and John laughing loudly as Cline was dancing weirdly. Gyungmo stood next to you, a smile on his face as he watched Cline before elbowing you lightly, motioning to your phone. You giggled as Cline exaggerated his dancing more, moving closer to you and the laughter got louder from all of them. Before Cline could exaggerate anymore, John gasped about the time and everyone scattered to put the luggage in Gyungmo's car, rushing you inside. 
The airport buzzed with people traveling in and out, the place almost a blur with everyone. You checked in with Scott by your side, making sure you had all your documents before you made your way to security. A soft sigh later, you let Scott pull you into a hug, wrapping your arms around him tightly. 
"Thank you for letting me do this, I promise you guys are going to love it," You pulled back to offer Scott a hug grin, getting one in return. 
"We better, or you're coming back to film everything all over again," Scott joked, making you giggle. 
You gave Cline and John a hug, looking over at Gyungmo and wrapping your arms around his neck. "Thanks for everything," You whispered, kissing his cheek softly as you pulled back. Gyungmo smiled, trying to hide his blushing. With one final wave, you fixed your bag, using your phone to record the guys once more before heading to your terminal. 
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Christian tried not to make it obvious as he walked up and down the halls of the building, looking for any sign of you. It had been two days and after you blocked him on Instagram, Christian had no idea what you were up to. He hadn't seen you in so long, and he didn't want to ask Scott seeing that as every time he tried to get some info, Scott just told him to text you.
Christian didn't bother to knock, just swinging the door open of Scott's studio to find him too close for comfort with a girl that wasn't you. She had a smile on her face, eyebrow raised as Scott leaned closer, only a breath away from kissing her. But the sudden door opened caused the two to look at Christian, his eyes wide in shock. 
"Hey, what's up?" Scott turned to Christian who collected his thoughts before his blood boiled, teeth-gritting in anger. 
"Are you fucking serious?" Christian erupted, Scott and the girl both startled from the sudden outburst. "Just because y/n isn't here you get to cheat on her?"
"What?" The girl glared at Scott, starting to push him away. "Who the hell is y/n?"
"Wait! What? No, hold up!" Christian moved aside as the girl furiously left, Scott trying to call her back before giving up, glaring at Christian. "Dude, what the fuck! You know how long I've been trying to get her to agree to go on a date-"
"What about y/n?" Christian yelled back, pushing Scott back. 
"What about her? She's not even here!" Scott stumbled into the soundboard table, muttering a curse as his wrist got hit by the edge.
The outburst caught the attention of Gyungmo who rushed over, getting between both men. "What the hell is going on?"
"This asshole is practically fucking some girl in here just because y/n isn't here!" Christian tried to push Gyungmo away, trying to reach Scott but he moved farther away.
"What does she have anything to do with it?" Scott yelled back, gesturing around the room. "She's not here!"
"How the hell are you going to cheat on her like that!" 
Scott stopped himself, blinking a bit before thinking about what Christian had just said. "Cheat on y/n? I'm not dating her, man."
Christian stopped trying to get past Gyungmo, furrowing his eyebrows. "Did you break up with her?" 
"I wasn't dating her in the first place?" Scott grew even more confused, Gyungmo stepping away from Christian as he sat on a chair, sighing heavily. 
"You really never noticed that it was Rome that she liked?" Cline's voice made the three turn to him, being caught off guard. Gyungmo was just as surprised at Cline's comment, the three staring at him. "Wait-"
"Did you think I didn't know?" Cline interrupted Gyungmo, head tilted in curiosity. "It was pretty obvious, I mean, I thought he liked her too but I guess not since Chaeyoung is in the picture." With a shrug, Cline dropped the subject, making everyone look at each other. 
"Well, here I was thinking it was Hyuk..." Scott rubbed his cheek, pensive about everything that was said. "No wonder it didn't make sense." 
"Wait... What?" Christian still couldn't get the whole picture, shaking his head. "She likes me?" 
"She fucking fell in love with you, idiot." Gyungmo sighed, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. "Only you would think she and Scott are dating."
"Man, Hyuk was a better suspicion than me. He was practically all over her, especially during her goodbye party. " Scott sat on the edge of his soundboard, shaking his head.
"Goodbye party?" Christian repeated, looking at Scott. 
"We texted you about it, we just thought you were being an asshole and didn't want to go," Cline spoke up, still standing right outside the room. "She went back home like two days ago," 
Christian groaned, rubbing his face and gripping his hair. "I fucked up..."
"You think?" Scott scoffed, rolling his eyes. But still, Scott watched as Christian beat himself over what happened. With a sigh, Scott stood up straight. "I can help you find her. So you can properly apologize for being such a fucking dick." Christian looked up at his friend, slightly nodding his head. With a glare and roll of his eyes, Scott pulled out his phone, going to an old video on your channel and showing it to Christian. "She always hangs around here. It's her favorite place."
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Tag list: @derya-t​ // @mara-twins​ // @thefangirlsoul​
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Text
Dear Diary. pt3
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Requested
Word Count: 3, 188
A/N I have more written, let me know if you want it. 
September 14th 2011,
Dear Diary, 
What are your thoughts on parties? Not just any parties University parties. In my head, I didn’t think they’d be much different from High School parties, much different from the parties the people at school threw every year. 
How wrong was I, 
Harry had come home from his first introduction class with the news we’d all be invited to a huge start of year party at one of his classmate's houses when he’d said we’d all been invited I was sure it was actually just Harry who was invited. 
Harry, on the other hand, was adamant that Dean and I had in fact been invited, and he wasn’t just feeling sorry for Dean and me who were already being inundated with course work. 
“George will be there,” Dean smirked as he watched me pour myself a glass of juice. “Won’t he Harry?”
 “Yeah, He was in the intro class, the invitation was extended to everyone and he said he’d go.” Harry shrugged. 
“See Y/N,”
“Wow, thanks, Dean. It sounds so much more tempting now.” My eyes rolled as I picked up my juice. 
“C’mon Y/N. We’ve both already got a mountain of course work, and it’s only going to get bigger. So why don’t we use this time of minimal work to have some fun? You know… Flatmate bonding.” Dean walked over to our ‘liquor table’ (it was really just a small table we’d found on gumtree) “Let me add some vodka to that juice and you’ll be ready to party before you know it.” He swiped a nearby bottle of vodka, twisting the lid off as he walked towards me. 
“Don’t even think about it.” I put my hand over the top of my cup. “Apple juice is the only source of happiness for me right now, I don’t need it plagued with bad memories.” 
“That’s just sad,” Harry shook his head as a knock sounded from the door. “That’ll be George.”
“Why’s he here?” I looked at the door.  
“I figured we’d need help convincing you to come.” He stood up and walked towards the door leaving Dean and I, 
“Whose party is it again?” I pulled the juice towards me, afraid he’d pour some of the heartburn inducing liquor into it. 
To be honest, I wouldn’t mind some vodka, I was just worried that vodka-soaked Y/N would chase George down all night and end up like one of those girls you see crying in the gutter at two in the morning, or worse end up like Sarah. 
“I think Harry said his name was Harry?” Dean took a swig of the vodka from the bottle. “That’ll put some steam in your tank.” 
“Do I have to go?” I whined as Harry walked back, George following behind him. “Can’t you three go without me? Parties aren’t really my thing, I can just skip it.”
“Can’t let you do that, Dean says we need you.” Harry wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Remind me again why she needs to come?” Harry laughed as Dean went about pulling my bottle of juice over to him. 
“Don’t you dare Dean.” I reached back out pulling it back to me. “Apple juice is an innocent drink. Do not taint it.”
“We need Y/N because as soon as girls see us walking in with her they’ll see we’re good guys, and they’ll trust us easier,” Dean smirked. “Perfect plan.” 
“So you’re going to pretend that you don't want to get in with these girls, but really you do?” He nodded. “I still don’t wanna go,” I whined.
“Please Y/N,” Dean begged. “I need to meet someone to add to my roster.”
“You have a roster?”
“A rotating one,” He smirked. “But at the moment I’m missing a girl….” He looked over to George shrugging. “One got too clingy.”
“Wow, you’re such a good dude Dean.” I rolled my eyes. “Fine, I’ll go.” I pulled away from Harry and dragged my feet to my bedroom for good measure. 
“Has she been drinking?” I heard George whisper to Dean. 
“Only apple juice,” He whispered back. “She wouldn’t let me spike it.” I opened my door and slammed it closed behind me, pushing my back up against it for good measure. 
“One question,” I called through the door. 
“What is it?” Dean called back. 
“What do I wear?” 
“Let us in, we’ll help you pick something,” George spoke this time, the door handle turning. I pushed against it. “Y/N, you’ve gotta open the door.” I could hear Dean chuckle from the other side. I pulled open my door. The three men filed in, George sprawling across my bed, Harry sitting on the chair at my desk and Dean going to my wardrobe. I walked towards George, preparing to sit on the edge of the bed while Dean went through my clothes. 
“Try this one.” Dean threw something white at my head, I caught it holding it out. It was my white dress. I’d worn it on my first date with Julian. 
“I don’t know about this.” I pulled at the fabric. “It’s a bit tight around my boobs.” 
“Then it’s perfect.” Dean pulled me up, pushing me out the door. “Change.” The door shut behind me, I knew I had no choice but to change into the dress. Pulling my sweat pants down quickly, and my shirt off I threw on the dress. Pulling at the hemline trying to will it to go down my legs a little more. Even I had to admit my chest size had grown since I last wore this dress, and it was no longer hitting lower thigh. 
“Great you’re done.” I was heaved back into my room by Dean who stood me still again. “Boys?”
“Need’s a jacket.” Harry supplied. “Boobs look good though.” I crossed my arms over my chest trying to shield them. “That just pushes them up more.” I uncrossed my arms quickly. 
“Try the leather one.” Dean threw my jacket at me, tugging it over my shoulders. “There you go.” 
“Looks good.” George smiled, still laying on my bed, I know it was an off-handed compliment and he was probably trying to make me feel better about going, but it was enough to make my cheeks flush... “I’m getting a drink, anyone want anything?” He looked over at Dean and Harry who nodded, “Vodka for you Y/N?” 
“Uh, sure.” I walked over to my shoe rack, picking up a pair of black Doc Martins, should I wear these or my red heels? “I don’t really mind.” 
“I’ll help you.” Dean followed George out of the room. “Did you see the final goal of the game the other day…” 
“So Harry, Have you decided on what type of girl you’re going to try and get with tonight?” I made small conversation. If I was going to be in the flat when he brought girls home I could at least make sure that they were nice to me when they were leaving in the morning. 
“There are types?”
“Sure. You know there’s the one who thinks she can dance, but she’s not that great at it. The one who's looking for a rebound, The one who's always drinking…”
“They don’t sound half bad to me.”
“They’re always lovely girls, but every party has types.” I picked up a pair of my heels. “So what type?”
“Not sure, I’m not really looking right now.” I heard the chair move as he stood up. “What about you? You gonna find someone to take the plates?” 
“My virginity you mean?” 
“Yeah, That,”
“Harry, I’d sooner to lose my virginity to you than someone I’ll meet at this party.” I turned to face him. He was standing close to me, closer than I thought he’d be. 
“That can be arranged if you’d really like.” 
“Harry,” He smiled innocently. “If we’re going to live together, you’re going to have to stop flirting with me,” Harry smirked.
“And you’re going to have to stop being so easy to flirt with.” He countered. 
“Harry, I mean it. Haven’t you seen the movies or even read the books about the guy and the girl who live together, and they, uh….” I stumbled.
“Bone.” He suggested. I glared at him, shaking my head which only caused him to laugh and nodded his head. “Okay Y/N. Consider yourself officially in the friend-zone.”
“Thank you, I appreciate it.” I turned back around, focusing on the shoes I wanted to wear tonight.
Did I really want to torture myself and wear heels all night, or should I settle for my docs?
“But if you do ever change your mind, you just let me know.” I could feel Harry’s chest pressed against my shoulder. “Relax Y/N. I can practically see your brain overheating.” His chest bumped against my shoulder as he let out a deep chuckle. “But remember, all you have to do is ask.”
I didn’t turn to look at Harry as he walked away, I couldn’t. I was afraid I’d melt into a puddle of mush. 
Jesus, Christ Almighty, 
Between George and Harry, I was going to be flirted with to death. 
Here lies, Y/N Y/L/N. 
Cause of death, Heart attack, caused by the flirtatious comments made by roommates and friend. R.I.P
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1994 - 2011.
“Ready?” George stuck his head around the doorjamb. “You look good.” He smiled looking me up and down as I struggled to get my Doc’s on my feet quickly. 
“Are you sure? It’s not too much? Not enough?” I spun around. “I was never good at these things, Sarah always picked out what I’d wear to parties.” 
“Dean and Sarah look alike if you squint… kinda.” I couldn’t help but laugh. Even when I was feeling super anxious George had still managed to make me laugh. “C’mon Y/N. We’ll have a good time. We’ll drink and we’ll dance.”
“And what do I do when you pick up a girl like the rest of them?” 
“I’m not going too.” 
“You’re not going to pick up a girl?” 
“Don’t need to when I’ve got the best one right in front of me.” He winked. 
“You need to cut that out, someone might think you have a crush on me.” But if you really want too continue, don’t let me stop you. 
“I’m just saying, these clothes would look nice on my bedroom floor.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he looked over me again. “But one thing,” He took three long steps towards me. His hands running up my arms. “You should always leave your hair out.” He pulled the hair tie from my hair, letting it fall down over my shoulders. “It looks best when its like this.” 
Note to self; burn all hair ties. 
“You two done in here?” George looked over his shoulder, his lips falling into a straight line as he looked at Harry who stood in the door, glass in his hand, his face a mirror image of George’s. “Or should we put a tie on the door handle.” 
“No need, Virgin remember.” I growled as I walked past George and pushed past Harry out to the kitchen where Dean sat three full glasses in front of him. “What are these?” I fumed quietly, annoyed that Harry had interrupted whatever moment George and I were having. 
“Vodka and apple juice.” He passed one over to me with a devious smirk. “Couldn’t help myself. One for all of us, really get the party started.” 
“Ready boys?” I handed my glass off to George, picking up the final one. “Salute.” I tipped the glass back practically throwing the drink down my throat. “Another one,” 
“You’re using up all your apple juice Gracie.” Dean laughed.
“Look’s like we’ll have to buy more than won’t we Blakie.” I chimed back, slamming another one down. “Should we go?”
“You really get into the party mood quickly don’t you?” Dean laughed, grabbing my hand and dragging me out towards our front door. “George, you guys still catching a taxi?” 
“Yeah, mate. The boys ordered it for around now,” George pushed in front of Dean and I looking down at his watch. “I’ll stop in, make sure they’re ready.” 
“We’ll meet you out the front,” Dean looped an arm around my shoulder. “C’mon Y/N, Harry. Let’s leave the boy to gather the cavalry, and let’s all enjoy this minor buzz I’m feeling.” I looked over at George who’d stopped at his front door. I smiled. 
“See you down there?” He nodded his head. 
“Course, be down in a few.” He pushed open the door and fell into the flat, loud music poured out for a few seconds before the door shut behind him. 
“C’mon Y/N, you’ll see him in a few minutes, let’s go. I’m dying for a fag.” I turned hitting him across the stomach. “What the fuck was that for,”
“Don’t use that word.” 
“What fag?” Harry asked in place of Dean, as he pressed the elevator button. 
“Yes, that one! Don’t use it.” 
“Why not?” Dean rubbed his stomach as we stepped into the confinement of the elevator. 
“Because it’s ignorant.” I looked at both boys, neither of them were really getting it. “I know you think it’s just slang for cigarettes, and I’m sure neither of you actually have a problem with gay people, but the negative connotations that have been put on the word by stupid idiots really outweighs your necessity of the word.” Dean stands for a minute, thinking before he nods his head. 
“Alright, if it upsets you that much Y/N, I promise not to use the word again.” 
“Thank you, Dean. I appreciate that.” The two of us turned to Harry. He was leaning up against the elevator wall, hands shoved into his jean pockets. “Well?” Harry looked down from the ceiling, eyes meeting mine. 
“What was going on with you and MacKay in your room earlier?” I could see Dean turn to face me out of the corner of my eyes. “Was he hitting on you?” 
“No more than you had been, now what’s your answer.”
“You like him don’t you?”
“George is my friend, and that’s it, Harry.” I turned facing the doors, waiting for them to open. “Why does it even matter to you?” 
“Doesn’t, just wanna gauge how much he’ll be hanging around.”
“Thought you two were football friends?” Harry shrugs his shoulders indifferently at the question. 
“Doesn’t mean I want him hanging around the flat all the time.” 
“God, does it seem this elevator is taking a lot longer than most do?” Dean groaned. “Or is it just all this sexual tension.”
“There is no tension.” Harry and I snapped at the same time. I looked over from Dean to Harry who was slumped against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. His biceps bulging underneath his white button-down. God, he looked good tonight. Maybe there is sexual tension. 
THERE IS NO SEXUAL TENSION HERE,
“Thank fuck.” Dean praised when the doors slid open. We walked out and into the cold air of Scotland. 
“Took you guys long enough.” I looked up to see George and two other guys sitting on the steps of the building. “Haven’t you guys learnt yet that the elevator takes nearly three times as long as taking the stairs?” George stood brushing dirt off his jeans. “Y/N, Dean, Harry these are my flatmates Henry and Jordan.” 
“Hi.” I waved awkwardly. “No taxi?”
“Should be rolling up any minute now.” One of them, Henry looked off down the road. He was Scottish, with dark red hair and brown eyes. “Taxi’s in this country never run on time.” He laughed again. 
“The one time we need it too.” George sat back down on the steps. He looked up at me expectantly before tapping the concrete beside him. I walked over tucking the short material of my dress underneath me before sitting beside him. He moved in closer our sides flush against one and other. “You cold?” He pointed at my legs where goosebumps had arisen. They weren’t from the cold. 
“A little,” 
“Here,” He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into him, he ran the arm wrapped around my shoulder up and down my arm vigorously. “Better?” 
“Thanks.” I nodded my head. But by all means, you don’t have to stop. 
“Look at these two.” Dean lit up a cigarette. “The girls are going to be falling at our feet lads when they see Gracie with us.” 
“Yeah,” Jordan snorted. “George told us about the master plan,” He looked over George and I. “Nice of you to play along Y/N,” Dean offered the cigarette to him. He took it popping it between his own lips. “Not many girls cool enough to help their friends get laid.” He kicked George gently with his foot. “Right MacKay.”
Alright Jordan, how about you go fuck yourself…  I’d almost forgot I was just being used as a pawn to help these guys get laid. 
“If you keep talking to her like that mate, she might not help you out,” Harry smirked sitting on the step on the other side of me. “Y/N only promised to help out the nice guys.” Jordan held his hands up in defence. 
“I am nice I promise.” He chuckled. “Y/N, if you wanna see how nice I can be...” 
“Don’t finish that sentence, Davis.” George glared. “She’s too good for you.” 
“Taxis here,” Henry called, “Time to go.” He pulled open the sliding door and motioned for me to hop in first. “Ladies first,” He smiled sweetly. 
“Thank you, Henry.” I smiled standing up from the concrete step and walking towards him. I tucked the skirt underneath me as I stood up into the van. “Hello.” I smiled at the driver, scooting across the seat to the window. George jumped in next to me and Harry sat in the very back seat with Dean. “Are you having a good night?” I asked the driver who smiled in the rear mirror. 
“I am Missy, yourself.” I nodded my head. 
“Can’t complain.” I smiled again. 
“That’s everyone,” Jordan declared when he jumped into the front seat. I looked out the window as Jordan rattled off the address to the driver. 
God, how was I going to last at this party? I know they said they wouldn’t leave me but they’re totally going to leave me first chance they get. I know how persuasive boobs and a vagina can be to a horny boy. Sarah fucking Olsen 
“You all good?” George’s voice whispered in my ear. I turned he was leaning down, lips right next to me. I nodded my head. “Don’t worry Gracie, I won’t leave you at all tonight.”
“But what if you find a girl?” I countered. 
“I told you, don’t need one when I’ve got the best one right in front of me.” He grabbed onto my balled fist. “I’m not gonna leave you all night.” 
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webcricket · 5 years
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Thursday’s Child
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Pairing: CastielXReader Word Count: 2759 (Pt. 1) Summary: Part 1 of 5 - You met Castiel during his stint at being human and knew him as Steve, a sweet, albeit mysterious, man working at the local Gas-N-Sip with sad blue eyes that seemed to light up in your presence. That was eight years ago; now the daughter he fathered during your brief time together - the girl he doesn’t know about because he stole from your bed without a word and slipped out of your life before you knew you were pregnant - is asking for him. You realize, for her sake, it’s time to face the painful truth in order to find him. A/N - Part 1 is an angsty intro to the reader, the next part brings us up to speed on where Cas is at ...
Pt. 1
You walked into the Gas-N-Sip onto a scene a match stick strike short of complete chaos. Beyond the sea of customers waiting at the counter, the grumbled volume of their impatience rising like a storm’s tide breaking on a rocky shore, you saw not the blue-eyed sales associate you sought for, but the ragged figure of the manager, Nora, as she slammed her fist against the side of the cash register to compel its cooperation.
The machine spat its contents out in a metallic ding barely audible above the thunder of discontent. Nora flung a handful of crumpled bills at the gaping man stood before her and waved him toward the door with his uncapped cup of cold coffee without a word regarding well wishes for the goodness of the day.
The frazzled blonde jabbed a finger at her temple, peered blankly over the counter, and muttered, “Can I help whose next?” in a manner that made whomsoever was next dither in presenting themselves for customer service slaughter, and two people leave without getting the gasoline they came for - one of whom had trudged there on foot through the snow uphill in a pair of threadbare tangerine Converse after their car ran out of juice three miles down the road.
As the sea swelled in murmured confusion over who was next, you dove into the crush of shoulders and shoved a path through to the front.
Pressed into the counter, you jostled a carousel display of novelty keychains, the inconvenient disturbance of which, more than your voice, caught Nora’s strained attention. “Nora!” you panted. Caging the scattering of metal rings within your elbows to prevent their clattering to the floor, you ignored the nicotine-husked scolding of a wrinkled weather-worn woman sounding in your ear about cutting the line.
“Y/N?” A flicker of hope lightened Nora’s craggy sleep-deprived aspect at the sight of you. “Have you seen Steve?” Clutching at your wrist, she asked the desperate-toned question before you could, unknowingly answering yours in its sameness. “He hasn’t been in for two days. No call out. Nothing. That’s not like him.”
Cheeks paling, you agreed – conscientious to a fault, it wasn’t like him at all to just disappear.
The sickly sense of suspicion festering in your stomach during the last forty-eight hours that began upon waking to empty sheets and fattened itself not on food, because you’d barely eaten under the barrage of worried emotions, but rather fed on a gluttony of unreturned calls and texts, shuddered and flipped with enough weight to unsteady your feet; wrist yanked from her grip, you flattened your palm to the front of your jeans as an awareness of imminent ill shot sour bile up your gullet.
You shook your head; taking a second, you choked back the throat-searing fluid and fortified your dizzied balance against the confirmation he had indeed gone without a trace. “N-no, I haven’t-” you sputtered- “I-I was hoping-”
Cutting you off, unable to hear anything beyond the unhelpful news of your weakly uttered ‘No,’ frustration rutted her sweat-beaded forehead. “Well when you do see him, tell him he’s fired. He left me in the middle of a mess of inventory and I haven’t had anyone to open. For fuck’s sake, it’s the holidays! I’m in a real lurch here.” Wheezing to reach for the final bit of breath required to bellow out her contained fury, she gestured at the crowd and flashed the one or two nearest folks shocked by her expletive outburst a conciliatory service industry contrived smile.
“If-if you see him-” you attempted to request the returned favor through the burst levy of her rage as the woman spewing insults about your impudence wedged between you and the counter to demand immediate attention. Funneled in defeat to the center of the store, you broke for the bathroom before the wet brim of heartache flooded your lashes and a renewed heave of nausea hollowed your belly of its fill of woe.
<<<>>> 
“Mama?” The girl outfitted in pastel blue and magenta feather-bedecked fleece footie pajamas curled on the bed beside you stirred sleepily in the crook of your arm; the friction of her minute movements and dry forced heat air of winter combined sparked a static shock where the soft warmth of her bare fingers brushed your own calloused cooler ones.
“Yeah, honeybee?” Swiveling your concentration from the pages of the storybook held above the both of you, you closed the pages and sniffed your reply ticklishly into the freshly washed soap-smell of your daughter’s scalp – the scent of her a welcome haven from the heady aromas clinging to you of yeasted bread, warmed spice, and browned sugar that otherwise denoted a hectic day spent toiling in the bakery and sweet shop you operated below the small apartment.
She squirmed and giggled beneath your unrelenting Eskimo kisses until, fidgeting sideways to evade and escape, she squealed mid-laugh a query so completely unrelated to the book you’d been reading aloud minutes before it took you aback. “Where’s daddy?”
Her innocent and wholly natural curiosity stilled your showering of affection, seized at the center of your chest to steal your breath, and skipped your heart a few agonizing beats, but only a few; you’d grown emotionally numb over many years to the hurt of not knowing what happened with her father, of trying to reconcile your questions with a lack of answers in order to figure out what you did wrong, if anything, to warrant Steve’s disappearance from your life – and his own - without a goodbye, a warning, or so much as an inkling of a reason.
Although you tried and mostly succeeded in tidily boxing up the train wreck aftermath of emotion in your brain, he remained nonetheless an enigma forever in front of you because she was his; she wore his smile, albeit a bit easier and more often than he did; she saw the world through that same shade of inwardly illuminated blue, giving everyone she gazed upon the benefit of the doubt; she treated everything she touched, too, with a kindness, carefulness, and consideration so like him.
He endured even in his absence as an end without an end - the only proofs of the brief love-swept spell of him having been in your life a blunted memory stonewashed by time to dull the jagged edge of loss in believing he was the best thing to ever happen to you, and the life he sparked in your womb, a little girl who turned out to be what he wasn’t – the love of your life.
Yet despite the distance of years and the layers of a life well-lived laid on top of past pain, and like the first time you met him, every once in a while, when you least expected it, in moments when you were most relaxed, his recollection had a way of taking you by surprise such that you forgot how to breathe.
Her inquisitiveness, however, did not; she asked after him on occasion, especially now that she was in school and of an age to notice and wonder at the differences between her family and those of her classmates.
“Max has two daddies.”
Her observation, spoken in an airy awe punctuated by a yawn, penetrated your reverie into the past.
“That so?” Shifting up onto an elbow to better study the seriousness scrunching up her nose, you smoothed her disheveled hair into a chestnut halo of bouncy ringlets encircling her head on the polka dot patterned pillowcase; your fingertips fondly followed a wild whorl rebelling above her ear.
“Mm-hmm,” she drowsily drew out the noise, blinking heavily-lashed eyes that danced over the neon glow of star stickers arranged in constellations on the ceiling. With a mumbled, “and a dog, too” -she tossed the blanket, burrowed face-first into the pillow, and fell soundly asleep.
Staying absolutely motionless, you praised in grateful silence the sudden seizure of slumber children are wont to succumb to for temporarily relieving you from an explanation; whatever she dreamed of would be better than the reality of not knowing you had to offer.
You slipped from the bed and into the hallway, flicking lights off as you walked the worn oriental carpet runner to your bedroom, and found yourself standing in front of the closet digging for a shoebox stuffed in the topmost corner behind a stack of spare sheets.
Extricating the box with a grunt, you sunk to the floor, pushed off the lid, and dumped the contents, those few physical scraps you possessed of Steve - notes, snapshots, and the crumbling petals of a pressed red rose he left behind besides the scars on your heart and her - into your lap.
Last season, perched on Santa’s lap at the mall, your daughter told the falsely bearded jolly supplier of holiday spirit and maker of childhood magic she wanted him to bring her daddy home for Christmas. The pitying frowns donned by Saint Nick and his helper elf upon hearing her request haunted you for weeks afterward. The bright pink bike you bought to place under the tree as her big gift that year seemed a paltry substitute for what she really longed for.
It also prompted you to hire a private investigator to track Steve down. You hadn’t looked for him before then – you’d gotten on just fine without him; but it was becoming clear she needed to know him, if not as the father figure she idealized, at least as a means for both of you to get some kind of closure.
Part of you supposed regardless of why he left he should know he had a daughter and it was unfair - however unfairly he’d treated you - to keep her to yourself when you’d created her together. Whether he wanted to be a part of her life once he knew he’d not only deserted you, but left you knocked up, heartbroken, jobless, and in deep debt holding a newly minted mortgage for a building in need of major renovations before you could bake up that first batch of blueberry scones and realize a long-imagined dream – a dream he inspired you to pursue - would be entirely up to him.
Maybe you’d hesitated to look for so long because you felt he would want to be in your lives out of a sense of obligation rather than any emotive attachment of fatherly feeling; whatever had happened, the Steve you loved was a good man – dutiful of responsibilities to a fault. But Steve chose to leave and you wondered if he’d feel more trapped than anything if he knew there was a child; that he would be there like a hare snagged in a hunter’s snare awaiting fate, but that he wouldn’t want to be there.
In terms of fairness, that consequence wouldn’t be fair to any of you.
You eyed the sealed legal-sized manila envelope folded in half and jammed in the bottom of the emptied box. The part of you that preferred not knowing and defaulted to pigeonholing pain instead of dealing with it stuck it in there a month ago when the backlogged and grandfatherly private investigator working for literal beans of the brewed coffee variety and a weekly doughnut delivery as a personal favor to you got around to handing his findings over along with the kindly-intended counsel that he’d uncovered enough of the big picture to deem the case concluded, and it was up to you to decide whether it was worth hunting the guy down for a face-to-face to fill in the remainder of the damnable details.
Tucking the document into your outstretched hand – the fingers suffering from a nervy tremble no amount of suppressive will would quiet - he strongly cautioned against the latter pursuit of an in person meet up on the basis of having had decades of not so positive experience with quote unquote, “This same sort of dead beat dodging child support.”
Bolstering your resolve to learn the truth with a lungful of air, you slid a finger into the glue affixed gap of the envelope; the flap sliced your flesh as you tore into the paper. Soothing the slash against the warmth of your tongue, you slipped free the sheets within and rotated the cover page to scan the paragraph typed thereon – it comprised a summary of the steps the investigator took, contained a list of contacts in South Dakota and Kansas – potential current states of residence based on credit card activity - should you want to trail him further, and provided a social security number along with a name in bold uppercase print: JIMMY NOVAK.
A noose of nerves cinched tightly at your throat. The last thing you expected was an outright lie.
Steve … no, Jimmy, he carried a sadness in the slouch of his shoulders, a something secretive that distanced his gaze sometimes; he told you he lost everything - his family, his home - that he started over with nothing save the two feet he landed on to build a foundation. You believed him, respected his fortitude to move forward, and loved him enough not to push him to talk about a past obviously painful to him until he was ready.
You never dreamed what he meant to say was everything you knew of him, everything he shared, was a fabrication built not to move on from the truth, but to hide it from you.
The whoosh of your pulse pounded in your ears; vision tunneled, the panicked pump of racing blood blackened the periphery of the white sheet when you turned to the next page.
Written there was the fact Jimmy had another family; had a daughter – Claire. He left them, too. He hadn’t lost his family and home, he ran out on them just like he ran out on you.
“Mama?” Dainty fingers tapped at the damp shine of your cheek; she crept in so quietly you hadn’t heard the tip-toe tread of her bare feet on the carpet. “Mama?” she said it again, a broken whisper verging on a sob, and tangled her limbs around your neck.
You shoved the papers off your crossed legs and pulled the ball of her body into your embrace. “What’s wrong, baby bee?” Blinking to staunch the sting of your tears, your piqued emotion surrendered to a roused motherly alarm as you folded the mess of her sweat-matted hair to your bosom where she could hear the reassuring thump-thump housed within.
“I had a bad dream,” she murmured and fisted the fabric of your robe.
Me, too, you thought, and snuggled her in tighter.
Glancing at the discarded report amid the box’s other trinkets, your bleary gaze landed on a glossy polaroid photo of you and Steve snapped at a holiday party you goaded him into attending with you when your original plus one ditched you at the last minute so you wouldn’t have to face alone a roomful of tipsy marketing execs you loathed.
That night, that moment, his fingers flirting hesitatingly at your waist, touches giving in to the pull of gravity as the night wore on to graze then hug your hips as if they belonged there - had always been there - a confidant and comfort tenderly testing the territory of more - you naïvely yielding like pliant putty to his touch - that was the point of no return; through the retrospective filter of the truth it became clear he seemed too good to be true, because nothing about him was true.
Part of you wished you could reseal the envelope and the truth with it and return to the comparative bliss of not knowing. Mostly you seethed, an unprocessed anger relegated to the back-burner ignited, inflaming mind and muscle until your entire frame radiated a heat of rage.
The girl quaking in your grasp, bend of her spine shivering as you skimmed it in soothing caresses, reminded you some nightmares do evolve to have happy endings; no matter what happened, or what would happen, you had her and he couldn’t take that away from you.
Wiping her fear and tear flushed features into your pajamas, she gasped a desire that plunged daggers through your heart. “I want my daddy.”
“It’s okay, I’ve got you,” you spoke in a whisper to shush her whimpers and calm the heated tempest of your nerves.
She went limp wrapped in the safety of your words and arms; you’d do anything for her, including suffer pain and swallow your pride to dredge up a monster from the past. You only prayed he wouldn’t hurt her, too.
Castiel tag list:  (Closed, if you’d like to be removed please let me know!)    @jeepangel​  @sammiesamness​  @willowing-love​  @blueicevalkyrie​   @im-the-nerdiest-of-them-a11​  @thesugargalaxy​   @bluetina-blog  @dont-trust-humanity @honeybeetrash​  @bucky-thorin-winchester​  @superwholockz​   @tistai  @wordstothewisereaders​  @gill-ons​  @mrswhozeewhatsis​  @marisayouass​  @stone-met​   @castiel-savvy18​  @samualmortgrim  @trexrambling  @magnificent-mantle  @xdifsx  @mandilion76  @rockfairy  @peaceloveancolor​  @unicorntrooper  @anisolatedship  @itsilvermorny  @aditimukul  @kudosia  @goofynerd-67babylove​  @uninspirationalsonglyrics​  @gray-avidan​  @mishascupcake​   @mishapanicmeow​   @praisecastielamen​  @roseyhxnt  @jessikared97  @let-the-imaginationflow  @warriorqueen1991   @sebastianstanslefteyebrow   @hisnameisboobear  @kristendanwayne  @fuschiarulerinthebluebox  @coolpencilpie  @jenabean75​ @luciathewinchestergirl​  @morganas-pendragons​  @heyitscam99  @fangirl-and-stuff  @selahbela  @realgreglestrade  @splendidcas  @pointlesscasey  @i-larb-spooderman​  @thewhiterabbit42​  @thelostverse​  @castieliswatchingoverme​  @beccollie18  @dragonett8  @dixie-chick  @jtownraindancer​   @carowinsthings​  @passionghost  @ladyofletters67​ @futureparent​  @gabbie7-11​  @myfandomlife-blog  @dreamerkim  @samael-has-arrived  @shamelesslydean  @earthtokace​  @neaeri  @justanormalangel​  @lone-loba​  @supernaturalymarvel​  @lilrubixx​  @wings-and-halo​  @lilulo-12​  @x-cassiopeia​ @thehoneybeecastielfollows​  @musiclovinchic93​  @81mysteriouslyme​  @the-bottom-of-the-abyss​  @jaylarkson​  @missjenniferb​  @ayamenimthiriel  @supervengerslock  @jessiekay2010​
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cherryamoureuse · 4 years
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paper rings | peter parker (soulmate au)
     Tomorrow was your seventeenth birthday. You were finally going to be linked to your soulmate. Everyone’s connection was different. Some saw specific colors, others shared emotions. Your parents had been the latter. The bond does not show itself until both soulmates are seventeen. You will admit that your heart was yearning and hoping that it would be one specific person. Peter Parker. You were in the same chemistry class as the honey-eyed brunette. The pair of you have never exchanged more than a few words to each other in the two years that you had been classmates, much to your dismay. From the second that you had laid your eyes on him freshman year, you had been his. Today, walking into school had been anxiety ridden for you. While on the train to school, your head was taken up with the thought of soulmates. 
Would your infatuation with Peter suddenly disappear? What if it didn’t? Wouldn’t your soulmate eventually find out your affection was so focused on someone else? What if Peter was your soulmate? 
No, that is just wishful thinking on your part. Walking up the stone steps, you reached the entrance of Midtown High. As cliche as it sounds, you felt your heart skip a few beats as you walked through the double doors. Peter was standing by his locker, shifting through stacks of paper, with a pen loosely hanging between his lips. Feeling your stare, he looked up and gave you a lopsided smile that wrapped your heart in warmth. Quickly, your eyes flutter towards the grounds as you feel your cheeks heat up at being caught. Walking past him, you flash him a smile as you go to find MJ, who would surely be waiting for you by your locker. You greet her with a flustered smile and she eyes you suspiciously. 
“What’s up with you? Your cheeks are the color of strawberries.” She lifts a finger and pokes at your left cheek. 
“It’s nothing.” You assure her as you hide your face behind your locker door. 
“Mhm, this wouldn't have anything to do with a certain nerd named Peter Parker, now would it? She says with a smirk lighting up her features. “You know, if you just talked to him you could already be his girlfriend.” 
“As if, MJ.” You scoff at her. You and Peter are barely acquaintances at this point in time. He would smile at you when you make eye contact and make small talk at the science tables, but that was the extent of it. You were his chemistry seat partner, that’s all.  
“What do you mean? Never forget that you’re the one that’s out of his league.” 
“Sure,” You sigh. MJ had always seen the best in people, even if she was a tad guarded. “Tomorrow is my birthday anyways. I’m gonna find my soulmate.” You do smile a little at the thought. It is important to be independent, but it would be nice to find a forever with someone. 
The two of you walk to English and take your seats.
     The day passes by, and you are finally on your way home. Your apartment was empty, there was a note on the counter from your parents saying they wouldn’t be home for dinner and that there was money on the table for pizza. They were rarely ever home, due to their busy work schedules, but you were used to it. Kicking off your shoes, you make your way to your bedroom to start your homework. As the time goes by, you try not to stress about your soulmate situation. The closer it got to 12, the more anxious you became. Finally, the moment had come as your clock switched from pm to am. You let out a breath and waited. Nothing happened. You didn’t feel any different. Furrowing your brows, you go to the mirror to search for some marking, which was the most common form of soulmate matching. There was nothing to be found. You sat on your bed hoping to feel anything from your soulmate’s end. All you could feel and hear was silence. Maybe your soulmate hadn’t turned seventeen yet. Then a terrible thought had occurred to you. What if you had no soulmate? It was rare but there had been a few cases of people who had no bond. You were reaching all kinds of scenarios in your head when you heard your parents walk through the front door. You rush under the covers and pretend to be asleep, so they don’t ask you questions that would make you cry in your fragile state. You hear the door open and hushed whispers are shared, before it is closed once again. Falling asleep, you try not to focus on the worst case scenarios.  
     You are woken up by a loud voice. Startled, you glance over at your clock to see that it is 3am. There are two voices speaking about salicylic acid? Confusion and alarm are at the forefront of your emotions. There was no radio on, yet the voices continue to converse about science. Opening your window, you stick your head out and try to find the source, but the voices seemed to be directly in your head. An epiphany strikes you. It has to be your soulmate bond. A smile lights up your features as you finally understand. It was a rare connection to have. Music. You and your soulmate could hear whatever music- or in your case, podcast- the other was listening to. An excited giggle forces it way out of your throat as you listen to scientific procedures. Why your soulmate would be up at 3am and listening to a science podcast was beyond you, but you were relieved to know that you were not without a soulmate. You thought about putting on your own music to let them know that you were there, but you didn’t want to disturb your other half. Your eyelids grow heavy and you are once again drifting back to sleep with thoughts of the periodic table. 
     Waking up at 6 am on a Saturday with just 4 hours of sleep under your belt was not difficult to do when you were excited for the prospect of hearing whatever your soulmate heard. There had been no new sounds in your mind since this morning, but you knew that if you began listening to a song, they would hear it and be as surprised as you had been. You had spent the morning racking your brain for the perfect song to play your soulmate. Nothing too heavy, you wanted a soft introduction. Searching your Spotify playlist, you found the perfect song. Holding your breath, you press play on Taylor Swift’s Invisible String. The intro starts and you wait. The song plays and finishes without interruption. You don’t play anything, hoping for some sort of response. Your heart is beating out of your chest as the same opening intro is played back before stopping. It worked, they had heard you! Excitement coursed through your veins. Freaking out, you look for another song to play for your soulmate. After half an hour, there had been no response. You were disappointed, but you brushed it off as your soulmate just getting busy. Around 8, you decided to take a quick shower. Normally, you would be playing music and singing in the shower, but you didn’t want to bother or annoy your soulmate. The silence was awkward for you. Brushing your hair, you decided to throw caution to the wind and play your everyday playlist. The soft sound of Clairo’s Bags fills the room. You keep the volume low as you hum and sing along. Then, Paper Rings starts playing and you can’t help but turn it up a little and sing into your hairbrush. You finish your nightly routine and head to bed. The weekend went by with no sounds on your soulmate’s end. It was frustrating to say the least, but you tried not to get worked up about it. Lover had been your album of choice for the weekend. Paper Rings had been on repeat for almost 2 days straight. You couldn’t help it. The song just elevated your mood. And with the mountain of assignments you had to do, you needed the boost. You popped your headphones in and started your walk to school. Taylor Swift accompanies you through your subway stops. Walking through the doors, your eyes immediately go to Peter’s locker. He’s standing and talking to Ned. He looks up when you enter and waves at you. You take out your headphones and pause your music to wave back at him. His hand stops its movement as soon as you begin waving back. He seems to be frozen in place as his mouth parts in disbelief. You drop your hand and your smile, thinking that you had done something wrong and cringe internally. Wrapping up your headphones, you walk past Peter, whose eyes are following you. His expression stays the same. Turning the corner, you run to MJ, telling her about your soulmate and your bizarre interaction with Peter. 
“Wait,” she interrupts your rambling about how Peter reacted to your wave. “You waved at Peter? That’s so unlike you. Maybe that’s why he freaked.” 
Thinking about it, Peter doesn’t usually wave at you when you walk in. Normally the two of you would exchange only a smile in the mornings. 
     Sliding into your seat in Chemistry, your leg bounces as you psych yourself up to talk to Peter. You wanted to get past the shy responses you always gave him. Having a soulmate had built up your confidence and you were ready to try and be Peter’s friend. You catch his eyes as he walks through the door frame and into the classroom. Your heart flutters, but you will the feeling away. You had a soulmate out there and it was not Peter Parker. This time it is him who averts his gaze and blushes. He walks down the aisle to his normal seat next to you. For some reason, you are hyper aware of his proximity today and you want nothing more than to melt into his side. You shake the thought from your head. What is up with you today? You turn to him. 
“Hi, Peter.” Your voice sounds small amongst the loudness of the room, but his head perks up to look at you. 
“Hi, Y/N. Wow, you’ve never been the one to talk first.” He laughs, but stops as he sees your face fall. You hadn’t wanted to seem standoffish, you were just painfully shy around him.
“I’m sorry, I-I” You blush a scarlet red as you stumble over your words.
“N-No, don’t apologize. It was just surprising. I’m glad you’re talking to me,” He assures you with a gentle, close-lipped smile and a hand on your arm. Warmth spreads around the area where his palm meets your cardigan. You could sigh at the feeling. “Happy Birthday, by the way. Big seventeen.” He rubs his neck. 
“Yeah, thank you. I didn’t know you knew about my birthday.”
“MJ told me.” You nod at his rushed explanation and a comfortable silence washes over. Peter breaks it by asking you a question. “Sorry if it’s personal, but did you find out what your soulmate bond was? Y-you don’t have to answer, I’m just curious.” 
Before you could answer, the teacher began explaining the assignment for today. You and Peter finished the paper just as the bell rang, signalling the end of the class period. Peter offers to walk with you to your locker. You nod in acceptance. You break the silence once you reach your locker.  
“Um I did get my soulmate bond by the way, it’s bizarre. Mine is a music connection, but my soulmate has only listened to one science podcast so far. It was at 3 in the morning too.” You laugh and look over to see Peter looking at you with the same expression from this morning. You see him duck down to pull his phone out of his backpack and frantically untangle his headphones. 
His movements were startling and you reached a hand out to his shoulder. “Are you okay, Peter?” 
He doesn’t respond. His tongue pokes out of the side of his mouth, as he concentrates on his task. He finally untangles the knots and plugs in the wire, with the headphones situated in his ear. He taps away at the screen. All of a sudden, you hear the all too familiar opening of Paper Rings, your song of choice this past weekend. You gasp as Peter looks up at you and turns his phone around showing you the cover art to none other than Taylor Swift’s Lover album. You reach down and pause the song. Silence falls between the two of you as you try and process what had just happened. 
“Y-You.. You’re m-my soulmate?” You know you must look insane, but there is so much happening in your mind that it’s a miracle you can even form the words. 
Peter watches you carefully as he stands up. “Y-yeah, I mean, I had a suspicion from the weekend and this morning, but yeah. I h-hoped it was you.” He admits shyly. 
Your heart could burst. Here was Peter Parker, the boy you had been hoping was your soulmate, admitting that he had hoped the same thing.  Here was Peter Parker, your soulmate. Before you can even process the words, they are coming out of your mouth in quick succession, “Can I kiss you?” 
He seems a bit startled but recovers and gives a small nod. You reach up to wrap your arms around his neck and delicately press your lips to his. He is hesitant at first, but soon leans into the kiss and places his arms around your waist, bringing you closer to him. You pull away from lack of air, but press your foreheads together. Peter laughs. 
You look up at him and smile. “What?”
“You really like Taylor Swift, don’t you? I’m tired of hearing that song bouncing around in my head. I don’t know how someone could listen to the same song for so long.” 
“Shut up. You didn’t even listen to any music at all.”
“I didn’t want to disturb you. Plus, you listen to enough music for the both of us.”
He leans down again to place another kiss on your lips. His arms are still wrapped tightly around you. You were perfectly happy to stay in his embrace forever. Thanking the heaven’s for whoever was responsible for making him the perfect match for you, you kiss him back. 
I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings
I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this
darling, you're the one I want
In paper rings in picture frames in all my dreams
You're the one I want
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