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bratdoll666 · 2 years

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Chapter 1: Lawn mowing for Dummies

Summary/Note: This chapter is a flashback to the fruit twins’ first real job; back when they weren’t as professional yet. Future chapters will have an ongoing plot with the occasional flashback because our boys deserve some backstory. Also I'll have some Tangerine x OC smut later because I got y'all. Also posting this story on wattpad.

TW: violence, swearing, mentions of blood, death

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The suburbs were a nice place to live this time of year. With all the plants blooming in the well kept gardens and the sun sticking its head out between the clouds every now and again, it was an actual shame that most people decided to spend their holidays elsewhere. It made the whole neighborhood feel almost lifeless. Usually there would be children playing on the streets, people walking their dog or washing their cars in the driveway. But now? Nothing, except the occasional automatic sprinkler going off somewhere.

What the few leftover neighbors complained about seemed to be quite the blessing for the two men who were now walking on the sidewalk. If there had been children playing, people walking their dogs or tending to their cars, they would have stuck out like a sore thumb. With their hands in the pockets of their jeans and their shirtsleeves rolled up just high enough to expose a few tattoos, they simply looked like on thing. Trouble.

The taller one of them, slacking slightly behind, and therefore perfectly in line to constantly receive a facefull of smoke from the other man’s cigarette, spoke first. “Can you slow down for a second? Shit, you’re running ahead like a fucking train - with steam and everything.”

Sighing, the other man slowed his pace, waiting for his partner to catch up to him. “A train, eh? Which one of em?”, he asked, the sarcastic tone of his voice only underlined by his thick, cockney accent.

“A Diesel.”, came as a reply, now from beside him. The sarcasm must have completely gone over the other man’s head.

“Oh, fuck off.”, he cursed, flicking his cigarette into a nice bed of flowers that were decorating someone’s front lawn. “That’s the worst one.”

Their bickering continued all the way down the street with both men getting quite upset at different points of it but never seeming to take any of it personally. It was almost like they only talked to one another in this familiar type of fighting. Almost as if they were brothers. Although they looked absolutely nothing alike.

They finally came to a halt in front of one of the houses, looking around themselves cautiously before making their way down the driveway and towards the garden in the back. The sound of a lawnmower was close enough that they felt comfortable reiterating their plan of action one last time.

“So you knock him out and when he wakes back up, we’ll waterboard him in the pool until he spills the beans.”, the shorter man said, peaking around the corner of the house again to make sure nobody was watching them.

“What if his wife comes out?”, the other man replied, the worry in his voice being drowned out by the loud buzzing in the background.

“She’s out of town with the kids, okay? There’s no one there except him and the two of us. And since we outnumber him, this should be easy. We just get the shit done here and then we go see the match today, right?”

Still a bit worried but reassured by the fact that they did outnumber him, the other man simply nodded. After that, things went down incredibly fast. They kicked in the gate that separated the driveway from the garden and, before their target could even let out a sound, they were already in front of him. One swift hit later, he laid spread out on his lawn.

The shorter of the two was fast to act afterwards. Grabbing the unconscious man by his feet, he dragged him across the lawn and towards the pool. Too occupied or simply too determined to get things done quickly, he didn’t hear his partner call out to him until he was almost yelled at.

“Bro! The pool is fucking empty.”

And, indeed. It was empty, Not even a puddle of water had remained at the bottom of it.

“TWAT”, came as a quick reply, along with a kick delivered to the unconscious man’s side.

A change of plan was in order.

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The man’s name was David Chapman, he was an accountant that earned some money on the side by dabbling with whitewashing money for a local gang. He had been secretly pocketing some of it though, which obviously hadn’t left him as popular with the criminals in the area. That much the two fists-for-hire knew. It was their job to get the details of the account from him where that exact money had wandered into and that was all they had to know. It wasn’t anything personal, just the first step of their own career ladder.

About 15 minutes had passed after the hit to the forehead, Chapman finally woke back up. He was unaware of their initial plan to waterboard him in his own pool, but upon seeing what was above him, he would have probably preferred that option. The spinning blades of his lawnmower were hovering above him, cutting some of the few hairs left on his head.

“What the-“, he let out, trying to roll away and to the side but abruptly being stopped by a boot that was pushed into his chest. Now looming over him was the shorter one of the men, grinning at him from underneath a sparse mustache.

“Wakey wakey. ‘ere to wish you a great day from the organisation.”

The organisation. A phrase that had previously only filled people with fear and respect, only seemed to fill Chapman with anger. He tried to push himself up again but to no avail, the pressure on his chest only increased.

“The organisation sends me some fucking kids?”, he yelled, looking from the man in front of him to the one that was holding the lawnmower over his head. “Who the fuck do you twats think you are?”

“We’re the twins.”, they said in perfect unison.

The organisation he understood but the twins? He had never heard of them and by the looks of it, they hadn’t been in it for long. They must have been in their late teens, early twenties at most. And, besides that, they didn’t even look like twins.

The one behind him was a tall black man, or boy rather, with a short afro that crowned his round head. And the one in front of him, a pale and lanky fellow with curly hair and with a sad excuse of mustache on his upper lip. While they might have looked like trouble to an innocent bystander, to Chapman, who had the pleasure of meeting quite a few thugs before, they looked like wannabe tough-guys.

“Get the bloody hell off me!”, he yelled again. “Do you even know who the fuck I am?”

The twin in front of him was faking a frown now, giving his brother a signal by pointing a finger towards the ground. The lawnmower was lowered slowly and as spinning blades started grazing Chapman’s face, it stopped. And back up it went.

“So… let me try this again.”, the mustached man started over. “I feel like we got off a bit on the wrong foot here. We’re the twins. The friendly bloke behind you is Lemon and I’m Tangerine.”

Chapman opened his mouth to protest again, blood now running from one side of the face, but he was quickly shushed.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. No manners.”, Tangerine continued, his foot still firmly pressed to Chapman’s chest. “The organisation sent us because you have been quite naughty recently. And, I must really beg your pardon if I’m ill informed here, but from what I know, you’ve been pocketing some of their money. So just give us the information to the account and we’ll leave the same way we came.”

“Fuck you!”

Tangerine and Lemon exchanged a glance. None of this was going according to plan. First the pool and now the target not even taking them seriously; it really wasn’t their lucky day and it started to doom on the both of them that there was no way they’d make it in time for the football match.

Between them, Chapman started laughing. Leaning over the lawnmower, Lemon looked at the man, then at Tangerine, who seemed equally as confused as him and then back to the man.

“This is some bloody joke, right? The organisation sends me two kids to threaten me with a fucking lawnmower? What a bunch of bullocks. That thing wouldn’t even cut me if you dropped it straight on my face. These things have safety locks nowadays.”, Chapman laughed at them but his laugh didn’t last long. No, when Tangerine pulled a small plastic bit and some wires out of his pocket, he damn choked on it.

“Yeah, we ain’t stupid.”, the twins spoke at the same time again, both glaring down at the man in front of them.

And it was true, the two of them really weren’t stupid, just a bit unlucky at times. But one of the misfortunes of the day had now resolved itself. While the pool was still empty as ever, the accountant now took them seriously. And that was the goal in the end anyway. Scare him a bit, get the info and leave. How they did it had been up to them and the only reason why waterboarding had even been on the table had been because Tangerine had thought about it while scouting the area the night before. And maybe, slightly, because he wanted to try doing it so badly. That part, he had kept from his brother though.

A few minutes later, Chapman had told them where he kept the documents regarding the account in his house. Sighing with relief as Tangerine finally lifted his foot from his chest, Chapman thought about running for a moment. But the spinning blades above him paired with the knowledge that they would, in fact, cut, told him better. So all he could do was watch the young man go into his house and return with the documents moments later.

“Good, good.”, Tangerine said, smiling satisfied while waving the papers at his brother. “See, Chapman? Not that hard, innit?”

Their job was done and now was their cue to leave. They had been there for maybe half an hour and it got to the point where one of the few remaining neighbors might have started complaining about the noise. After all, how long could it take to mow someone’s lawn?

“Come on, Lemon. We’re done here.”, Tangerine said, his back already turned to the scene to make his way back. That was until a thud and then a scream made him stop dead in his tracks. Something hit the back of his pant-legs and as he turned around to look… Lemon had let go of the lawnmower, his pant-legs now also painted with what little remained of Chapman’s face.

For a second, Tangerine just stared at the scene in front of him, his eyes flickering hysterically between the lawnmower that was still mowing down a man’s face and Lemon, who was standing there, his eyes wide and his hands up. He looked almost comical and if it wasn’t for how fucked they now were, Tangerine might have laughed at the sight.

But now? Now there was no way they could still make it to the match in time.

#bullet train #bullet train fanfic #tangerine #lemon #Fruit twins #bullet train movie #Bullet train tangerine #Bullet train lemon #aaron taylor johnson #brian tyree henry #bullet train 2022

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tommyspeakycap · 3 years

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Ruined it

pairing - andy robertson x reader

summary - after the england tie, andy’s left sulking while watching the woman he’s fallen in love with apparently cracking on with kt - this request

word count - 2k

"What're you sulking about eh?"

Andy turns his head suddenly at the sound of a voice he’s come to be very fond of. A brotherly voice of consistent reason. Jordan Henderson is always level headed and gives probably the best advice of anyone Andy has ever known, especially off the pitch. It’s why he’s their Liverpool skipper.

Andy shrugs, watching as Jordan takes a seat a little away from him, a row down and three seats over so they’re not too close as they sit in the stadium. The England international has his hands stuffed thoroughly into his pockets for a bit of heat against his rain soaked body, but the Scot doesn’t seem to be bothered by the dark blue strip still rain plastered to his skin. Jordan’s never understood the unbothered nature of many Scottish players and the rain, especially after matches. Tierney could often be spotted kicking about training in shorts and t-shirt even in the snow. But the rain seemed to be the least of Andy Robertson’s worried right now.

His eyes instead are focused down on the side of the pitch, still actually standing in the rain on his fellow left back. Tierney is standing by the goalpost and next to him is someone Jordan has become mildly familiar with through his friendship with Andy, you. Billy and Mason had been standing there a couple minutes ago and since had left to chat elsewhere with Chilwell, but you and Kieran remained talking.

The Liverpool skipper understands immediately why his club mate looks so sour even though they hadn’t conceded a goal. It’s not so much that you’re talking to Kieran, but instead the way that you’re talking to him.

It’s so animated, he’s using his hands to tell a story and you’re mimicking his actions with the same intensity, engaged in somehow simultaneously telling and listening to each other talk. Except Jordan can rationalise. You haven’t seen Kieran in person for ages, this was like two pent up kids seeing their friends for the first time after the summer holidays. So much to tell, so little time to get it across.

“Can’t compete with that, mate.” Andy mumbles, his voice thick with the heavy heartache kind of emotion that chafes a little at the large heart of the mackem man looking at him softly. “Don’t be like that,” Jordan protests with a scoff, “She’s not interested in him.” He insists, but he - again - can understand why Andy might think that. He doesn’t see what you look like when you talk to him. He doesn’t see the way you look at him or how excited you are to speak to him. He can’t watch your conversations from the outside line he’s sitting doing right now with you and the arsenal left-back who you’ve got doubled over in laughter right now. It's very obvious for Jordan to tell that you and Kieran are just friends because he can, and does, get to see what love from you looks like.

It looks like the hearts that basically swirl around in your eyes every single time you look at Andy Robertson.

You're standing down there talking to that cheeky Celtic through and through left back with his hair sticking up funny because of the rain and the thing that he's talking about is you and the Scotland captain. He was the real reason you were at the game, Kieran knows this. He knows you’re smitten, have been since he introduced you to him a few years ago. It had only been a waiting game of how long until one of you to crack and admit it.

Kieran was getting awful bored of waiting and nobody was getting any younger. If he had to hear you talking about Andy and this 'potential girlfriend' one more time, he'll lose the fucking rag. Andy doesn’t have a girlfriend. He couldn't fucking get one because everyone that asked him out got turned down for the simple fact that they weren't you enough for him. Nobody ever would be.

Nobody would laugh at his jokes and rip him a new one when he needed to be told that his patter was genuinely shocking. Nobody, literally nobody, appreciated that little thing he does with his shoulder on a run down the side of the pitch when he realises he might lose the ball like you do. He throws his shoulder forward, almost in a way that can be played off as a natural movement but has just enough on it to send the quickly running member of the opposing team into the closest pitch barricade. When he'd spent the length of the Manchester City game doing it to Kyle Walker, it's all you'd talked about for days. You just love him and it's almost painfully obvious to everyone but the one person who should see it the most.

"They're just friends Robbo." Jordan repeats, but Andy squints with an ever so subtle shake of his head. "It's like a fuckin' movie. Met when they were four, still fuckin' best friends at twenty four. Couldn't write it Hendo." Andy explains, hitting the back of his hand against the palm of his other emphatically, almost as if to drive home the idea brewing in his mind that you and Kieran were set to be together. A perfect couple, of sorts.

"You're being ridiculous." Jordan states simply, shaking his head in disagreement and indifference. "Like, do you realise how stupid you sound? She is not... interested... in ...him."

Andy sighs again heavily, finally tearing his eyes away from you to look at his club mate turned close friend sitting there in front of him. Jordan had his serious, almost dad face on. The one he uses if there is a message he needs to get across or a scolding that he needs to give either to a team member acting up or to one of his children.

"That said," he adds, "You need to tell her how you feel mate, before she is interested in someone else. Won't wait around for you forever."

The words actually give Andy a chill through his spine, making him shiver and not from the cold. He spots you, drifting out of a circle containing KT, Ben Chilwell, Billy, Mason and John McGinn, kind of looking as though you were looking around for someone else. Jordan knows that you are looking for the one man you really came here for. You're almost looking for him to save you, searching for him in the sea of football players standing in circles dotted around talking amongst each other about the game, about their lives and all that other rubbish that had missed talking about.

You're not sure what it is, but it feels like someone's arse that bloody bounces you sideways stumbling in straight into the front of Jack Grealish. Kieran smirks from where he stands knowing he hit his intended target when he hears your 'oof' and Jack's signature Brummie accent asking if you were alright. He casts a side eye up to the stands where he's seen his skipper sitting, a small grin ticking over the former Celtic mans lips as he sees Jordan Henderson patting Andy on the back just as he quickly makes for the stairs two at a time on tired legs.

"It that Grealish?" Andy had asked, eyebrows pulled into furrowed confusion. Jordan nods. "Yup."

That raises Andy to his feet immediately. Kieran was one thing, but to see you basically nose to nose with Jack fucking Grealish was another. That Andy could not even begin to handle even as he helped you back to your feet. "Better move fast." Hendo notes.

Andy does just that, except not in the direction that either Kieran or Jordan had anticipated him going in. When Andy got to the bottom of the stairs where Kieran had expected him to barge through the players and make a break for you, he instead took a swift left and marched back through the tunnel to the changing rooms.

Jordan is the first to spot your frown when you see the number 3 walking quickly off towards the changing room. He can physically see from your face the way that your heart sinks, a soft sigh parting your lips as you disjoin from the groups of talking players and mingling family members to find the side of the pitch that he had left from. Whether or not you were supposed to go back there, you didn't know. But you had come here to see him, watch him play and actually get to speak to him face to face for the first time in a while. Your work had kept you busy and he was travelling for the Scotland matches.

"Andy!" You call out after him, picking up your pace when you spot him rounding a corner quickly. "Andy!"

You know he can hear you, but he doesn't slow down. He keep thundering towards the changing room and you're confused. He was never like this. Andy is such a sweetheart to everyone and to you he was even sweeter. He was funny, he was kind and he made you feel like the world was a better place to be in.

This was very out of character, especially after a game that would be considered a success from their perspective.

"Andrew!" You bark, courage bubbling up to the surface when he pushes through the changing room door and lets it shut behind him just before you walk through.

Andy freezes in his spot, guilt immediately causing through his veins at the sound of you attempting to catch the heavy door. That was uncalled for and his mother would slap him silly if she'd ever caught word of him doing something like that to anyone, but especially. His mum really loved you.

"What was that far? Who pissed in your cereal this morning?" You try to joke as you lean against the door, crossing your arms over your chest with a teasing grin, but he just turns his back to you at his number designated changing spot in the room. He shrugs and pulls his shirt over the top of his head roughly, chucking it down on the bench in front of him. "Just didn't know you were behind me." He mumbles, almost so lowly you can't hear him.

"Right." You scoff with a step takin towards him. He still won't turn and look at you. He has so much anger coursing through his veins and he just doesn't even know why. Just seeing you there, hugging all them and speaking to Kieran before him, the way the arsenal man held you with such a tight squeeze and kissed the top of your head was what he was supposed to be doing. It's what he always did and watching Kieran do that to you knowing it was a routine for him too made him feel like an absolute idiot. Everything for Kieran was completely platonic, simply the act of missing you as his best friend.

"Cause you're not really supposed to be back here." He hints, making your heart sink. Your confidence to confront him dissipates right there and then, forcing you to attempt to swallow back a lump in your throat. He had never even used a tone like that with you before, not even in the petty little arguments you've been in in the past.

In fact had anyone else spoke to you anywhere near anything like that, Andy would have laid them out flat. But he was so fuelled by jealousy and the desire to be alone to wallow in his heartache so he doesn't take it out on his teammate later on a ruin morale that he almost doesn't realise how nasty he's being, even if the words themselves aren't that sharp, his cold tone was enough to make any words seem hurtfully intended. He chances a look back at you, a quick turns of his head to see you staring at him before he turned his head back to face his number stuck to the wall in front of him as he pulled the tape from off his wrists.

"I just noticed you walking off and the guys let me through so I-" You attempt to reason, words shaking slightly as you try to string together an excuse for being there when he clearly doesn't want you to be. God that hurt more than it should. "Are you alright?"

"Just surprised you could tear yourself away from trying to shag KT is all. Or maybe you'd prefer Grealish? Not too sure."

Your heart skips a beat at his snap as he pulls his undershirt from his arm and throws it down with his strip shirt. A puff of air is snorted out your noise, the kind of scoff of disbelief that hits his ears just in time to realise the words had actually just left his lips. With his back to you, he's safe to make screw up his face in disbelief at himself.

You scoff full this time, just about sick of the sight of his back and completely over the attitude. He's not sure what you're doing behind him in the seconds after he spits out those words that he knows for a fact will have hit you hard.

"Here." You tug him from his thoughts, turning him around finally to see you standing there with hurt written across your face. He watches you with his own pain filled eyes as you stand there in a long sleeved blue shirt something like the one he had been wearing under his strip. Right when he turns around, you throw something at him. A bundle of blue material that he barely catches against his bare chest. His head turns down towards it to investigate.

"Fuck you, Andrew." You spit, "Fuck you."

His sighs heavily to himself as he watches the door slam behind you, shaking out the fabric in his hands. His heart literally shatters when he realises what it is. The dark blue Scotland shirt with name and number is printed proudly across the back, something he hadn't even noticed you were actually wearing until you had throw it at him.

He drops himself backwards to sit on the bench, the jersey settling over his cold thighs as his head falls into his hands and a loud "Fuck," leaves his mouth into the empty room.

You power past Jordan Henderson walking along the corridor, looking at you expectantly with a smile that falters the second he see's your face, eyes brimming with unshed tears as you basically run past him. You're heading in the opposite direction of the pitch too, clearly on your way to leaving.

"Don't, Jordan. Just don't." You cut him off, holding up a hand to silence him before he even had the chance to do more than open his mouth. "Just leave it alone."

He reaches out for you, but you're gone before he gets the chance to catch your arm and his eyebrows are tightly furrowed in confusion. He knows that you and Andy have gotten in something similar to fights before, all friends do but never has the left-back said anything that had ever made you look quite so upset. He was usually the one making sure nobody ever did make you that upset.

While the England international stands there confused, it becomes clear he wasn't the only one to see you so upset when a thundering head of dark hair barrels past him towards the changing room with a definitively angry gusto that has Jordan leaping forward to chase after him.

"Fuck did you do, mate?" Kieran booms the second he throws open that changing room door with Jordan behind him, immediately getting in between the two Scotland players. Kieran has a tendancy to get hot headed. He’s very protective and everybody knows this. Andy’s guilty face wasn’t enough to clarify the idea that it was, in fact, he who had upset you.

“Tierney,” Jordan warns, his eyes serious as he switched from friend to captain mode in a split second, “You’d better go make sure she’s alright.”

Kieran lingers shifting from boot to boot, but ultimately does as he’s told and goes after you at a jog that allows Andy to drop his head back into his hands. Jordan turns back to Andy, hands on his hips with a very unhappy look written into his features.

"Now what the fuck did you do?"

“Just fucking ruined everything, mate.”

#andy robertson #andy robertson x reader #andy robertson imagine #andy roberston imagines #Scotland national team #footie fics #football fics #footballer fics

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deus-ex-mona · 2 years

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MAKE A HOLIDAY: Chapter 7

the titular holiday is finally here

previous part (chapter 6)

next part (epilogue)

RIO: What do you mean?

IV: Everyone has his own part to play in Full Throttle4, right?

IV: I think we’ve managed to make it this far because of the four of you.

IV: None of it would’ve been possible without you guys as the members of Full Throttle4.

YUI: Well… that’s true. It’s not like there’s anyone who could replace us.

IV: Precisely. You guys are the only ones who could stand onstage and sing and dance as part of Full Throttle4.

IV: What our fans, our SICKS, want to see is you guys having the time of your lives as you perform.

IV: You all have to be very well-prepared if you want to live up to their expectations.

IV: You guys can’t afford to worry about any other unnecessary things, can you?

YUI: How dare you call that unnecessary!

RIO: Hold it. Let’s hear him out till the end.

IV: Just like how you guys are the only ones who are able to do what you do onstage—

IV: Supporting Full Throttle4 is something that no one else but I can do.

IV: That’s why… you guys can leave the backstage work to me.

IV: I’ll take care of everything so that you guys can focus on your performance.

IV: That’s my job, after all. It could also be considered as my identity, I think.

MEGU: But IV, aren’t you tired from how busy you are?

IV: I don’t feel tired at all. I enjoy working, you know?

IV: I love watching the backs of you four, as well as the pumped up crowd, from my place at the DJ booth.

IV: Being able to see that view makes me think of that spot as my very own special seat.

IV: I’m up for doing anything in order to see that view.

MEGU: If you put it that way~...

IV: It’s the truth.

IV: And you guys are the only ones who are able to show me that view. The best of the best of views, right?

RIO: …Of course we are.

YUI: So you just want us to focus on the live, huh…

IV: I’m glad that you understand.

DAI: How could we not understand?! We’ll be able to understand everything you tell us.

YUI: Since IV said all that, we’ve just gotta give our performance all we’ve got, right?

DAI: I’m gonna go all out for the live, so be excited for it, ‘kay?

IV: Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.

YUI: Hold on a min, shouldn’t IV take a break in preparation for the live, then?

MEGU: You have a point.

DAI: Right? It wouldn’t be professional at all to go onstage with such a pale face.

DAI: There’s no way that you’re thinking of being the only one floundering around till the actual performance, no?

IV: That’s true… But I don’t think I’ll be able to get a day off, though…

DAI: Oi! Why you…!

IV: But, to tell you guys the truth, we unexpectedly have time off tomorrow evening.

MEGU: Eh! For reals~?!

IV: The recording of the program that was scheduled for that time was called off on short notice because something came up with the other performers.

IV: Thanks to that, I have nothing planned from tomorrow evening till the morning of the following day.

YUI: For real?! That means that all five of us are off at the same time, right?!

MEGU: What should we do~?! It’s been a really long time since that last happened~!

DAI: We don’t have anything special to do, though, right?

RIO: How about playing games together?

YUI: Awwwright!

MEGU: Good idea~. Let’s also talk about the upcoming live too, yeah?

YUI: Oh man, I’m so excited!

RIO: Hey, hold on for a bit. IV, how would you like to spend your time off?

IV: Isn’t it obvious, of course?

The next day—

MEGU: Heheheh~♪ Take this, draw four! Go on, IV, make that frustrated face of yours!

IV: Too bad, have a draw four from me as well.

DAI: Weird coincidence, take one from me too.

RIO: Draw four.

YUI: Eh? Eh? …Huuh?! I don’t have any though!

MEGU: Ahaha. Go on and draw 16 cards, then~!

YUI: This isn’t fair! You’re playing by local rules, aren’t you?!

RIO: Who knows?

YUI: Dammiiit! I’ll make my comeback soon enough!

IV: Haha, I’m looking forward to that.

IV found himself unable to hold back a smile when he saw how frustrated YUI was. The holiday that he had not taken in a long while passed raucously, just like that.

#the ftiv ft. iv ivent #fedora translations4 #just honeypre things #yup i think it's time for me to invest in grammarly for proofreading... my grammatical 'skills' have yeeted off into the stratosphere #this chapter has so many taken liberties with the wordings and stuff i can't even joke about it anymore #(also yes hi i've been intentionally using the gayest possible interpretations of the words/phrases throughout the tl have you noticed-)#can't believe i took like 5 hours for this chapter... though 3 hours of it was spent on a lunch break lmfaooooooo #time stonks where you at~?#oh right please feel free to indicate grammatical corrections in this ok~? google docs is a terrible proofreader!!!!!

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drea-46 · 3 years

Text

16.02.22

Part 2

Easy: What? What do you mean by hmhm?

Vivien: You have to be really brave now. It’s such a gaping wound you have to expect at least 12 to 15 stiches

Easy: These pushpins really hurt

Tobias: What kind of office is this? Something’s lying on the floor there. Is that an acupancture needle?

Vivien: From Mareike. Strange. She neither locked the office nor cleaned up before she left?

Tobias: That is strange indeed

Vivien: Well, I’m going to take care of your other holes in the butt now

Easy: Funny

Vivien: I just wanted to express that it might hurt a bit

Easy: Okay, but wait a sec. You definitely have to tell me in adv-

Tobias: Don’t be this dramatic, Easy

Easy: Honestly? She was mean to me and you helped her

Tobias: Yes and I’m going to punish her this very night

Vivien: Really? Sounds exciting

Tobias: So we will be gaming lying down?

Easy: Tobias, don’t get on my nerve with your gaming, okay?

Tobias: I just want you to forget all that crap for once

Easy: For real, I’ve been through enough lately. Ringo was in jail, Julius is with another family and now that everything could be well again…But you know, I can’t forgive Ringo for lying to my face once more, I just can’t

Sina: The wound has inflamed

Ringo: It was just a scratch

Sina: It doesn’t matter. No matter how big the wound, it can still inflame. It has to be disinfected immediately

Ringo: With what?

David: Just spit on it

Ringo: Why don’t you just shut up?!

Sina: David is right. Your own saliva disinfects. Spit on it and put it over your wound

David: He still has to go to the hospital, though. Fiona has to let him go

Sina: Do you think she will agree to that?

Chris: She can’t be as crazy as her father!

David: Let her get back to us, right? Fiona!

Chris: There is another morse code

David: Till?

Paco: Hey Till, take it slow. This entire holiday was a trap

Bambi: Is Fiona right? Did you let Rolf die?

Paco: Is it true? Did you lock up Rolf in a freight container?

Eva: Come on, Till. Is it the truth?

Bambi: You’ve told us he jumped into the Rhine

Paco: Come on, spill. Have you shipped Rolf to Thailand?

Till: Yes

Eva: Jeez, I mean he did deserve it! He kidnapped our children!

Paco: As a lawyer how can you say something like that?

Eva: What?

Bambi: Man, how could you do that? You should have had to call the police!

Paco: Do you know how long it takes for a vessel to reach Bangkok?!

Till: Luke organized everything. In Bangkok his pals wanted to get Rolf out of there

Bambi: Well, did they?!

Till: I don’t know!

Paco: What a bullshit move, Till, honestly!

Till: Come on, don’t tell me you wouldn’t have had done the same. Rolf was a sociopath!

Bambi: And what are you, eh?!

Eva: Stop it! Us arguing with each other is exactly what Fiona wants! She is probably sitting there laughing her butt of because of you! We have to figure out how to get out of here together. All of us!

Translation @happyladybug93

#ringsy #ringo x easy #easy winter #ringo beckmann #unter uns spoilers

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shaheenarnitipsyart · 3 years

Text

The Taste of Memory

This is the 29th time joining @flashfictionfridayofficial! Thanks for the interesting prompt! (I barely made it on time...) Wish you all a happy holiday!

Word Count: 839

T/W: non

Time really flies. It's been so many years since I moved to this city. You can see the glittering skyscrapers reaching for the sky, and beneath them, countless buildings cramming in every single open space like underbrush. It's a modern labyrinth where you lose your way quite easily. However, I find a sort of comfort in the anonymity that this megalopolis offers. Nobody cares about your background. I've become a good storyteller, elaborating my not-particularly-exciting life, playing various personas in different situations. 'Who are you?' If someone asks me, my answer would be 'I can be whoever you want me to be.'

There are many hidden alleys in this gigantic maze. There is always something old destroyed, new rebuilt. It's a relentless cycle of destruction and creation, end and beginning, that stirs up the city. So it is not surprising to find new shops and bars in the areas you are supposed to be very familiar with. Now, I'm standing in front of one of those suddenly-popped-up bars near my flat. The heavy wooden door is half-open as if inviting me to come in. Well, I have nothing to do, so why not give it a shot? The sun is casting long shadows over the alley, and I can sense the chill in the air. The door creaks as I slip in. Contrary to my expectation, though, I find myself in a dark room governed by a deadly silence. Maybe it is closed or still under construction. It'd be a lie if I say I'm not disappointed. Yet, just as I slip back to the noisy outside world, someone calls me out behind the counter. 'Who's there?' I cannot tell whether the voice belongs to a man or woman. A bit husky, strangely comforting voice. 'Sorry, I didn't know the bar was closed. The door was open, so I thought I could come in.' I try to be polite and take some steps towards the entrance. 'Oh, I see. I guess I just left the door open then. Don't worry and please do stay. I was about to open the bar anyways.' Suddenly, the room is filled with dim lights of the mosaic lamps hanging from the ceiling. Hundreds of different colours stream out from each lamp, turning the otherwise plain-looking bar into a world of fantasy. My eyes met that of the bartender. They wave at me in a friendly manner, then point out a seat in front of them. 'Please sit here, if you like.' 'Thanks. This place is so unexpected. Have you opened this place quite recently?' The bartender shakes their head. 'No, we've been in this city for quite a bit of time. But seems like many people don't even notice us.' With a soft smile, they add. 'But those who need us can find us.' 'Like me, thirsty and in desperate need of water with alcohol?' We laugh together at my joke. Then I notice that no menu board is around. Seeing my puzzled look, the bartender opens their mouth. 'Actually, we offer only one drink here.' 'What!?' 'Well, it may sound a bit unusual, I understand. But it is worth trying. It's a sort of gin if you are curious about it.' Seems like I end up in a strange place. Nothing looks quite real in this bar, including this bartender. Yet, it doesn't mean that everything here is illusory. Maybe this other-worldly atmosphere gets into my head - because I decide to take the offer. The bartender takes a slender glass and pours crystal-clear liquid from an old-looking bottle. Then, suddenly they pick up another bottle filled with dried herbs. They place some flower buds from there in front of me. 'Exhale.' 'Eh?' 'Just breathe on them.' I'm even more confused by this bizarre request. I let a sigh out. The bartender smiles subtly, then throws the withered flower buds into the glass. Then...! Seemingly dead flower buds start blossoming like they are waking up from centuries of sleep! One by one, delicate, translucent petals spread out. The outermost, largest petals are milky-white, but the ones close to the centre are a vivid blue. I know this colour - something rings a bell. Without thinking much, I have one sip of the drink. 'The ocean...' The salty taste and intense blue of the drink bring me back to my childhood memories. The pure part of memories buried deep underneath the more recent bitter ones. The calming sound of the waves and how the sunshine danced on the sea. The comforting cold touch of the sea. Precious seashells hidden under the soft sand. Yes...I was dreaming to discover the world beyond the vast blueness. That was a long time ago. All the emotions come towards me like massive waves. And for the first time in many year, I feel so bare. All masks I carefully crafted are washed away.

The drink tastes bitter and sweet, with a pinch of saltiness. If you can taste tears of your heart, it would taste like this.

@flashfictionfridayofficial

#Flash Fiction Friday #fff132 #a taste of blue

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dialovers-translations · 4 years

Text

Diabolik Lovers GRAND EDITION for Switch ;; More, Blood ー Yuma [After Story]

ー The scene starts in the garden

Yui: ( One year has passed since Yuma-kun and I got married... )

( And now it’s time to harvest the vegetables we’ve been meticulously growing ever since. )

Nn...Just a...little more...!

( And right now, while Yuma-kun is letting me ride on his shoulder, I am in the middle of plucking them... )

( However, there’s just no way Yuma-kun - being the bully he is - would let me harvest them in peace... )

Yuma: Come on, ya gotta extend yer arms some more, Sow!

*Rustle*

Yui: Easy for you to say...!

You’re the one shaking me around...! I can’t get a good grip...!

*Rustle*

Yuma: Aahn? It’s shakin’?

Yui: I-It is...!

Yuma: How so?

Yui: How, you ask...? Kyah!

Yuma: Oi, oi. Don’t want any misunderstandings, do ya?

I’m not the one to blame, ya end up swayin’ from left to right ‘cause you’re too damn heavy.

It’s ‘cause ya haven’t been looking after yer own physique, right? Not my fault.

This is what they’d call ‘ya reap what ya sow’.

Yui: A-Am I that heavy?

( I thought I was around average, so it’s somewhat of a shocker if I actually am on the heavy side... )

Yuma: Aah, so heavy! If I continue havin’ to carry ya like this, Imma bust my shoulder.

Yui: Eeh!? It’s that bad!?

( ...Uu, I seriously have to go on a diet then...! )

Yuma: ーー As if, there’s just no way.

Yui: ...!? You were lying just now!? You meanie!

Yuma: Aah? Who ya callin’ a meanie?

Yui: B-But...! I was about to fall into a depression for real...!

Yuma: Haah? Why? Aah, ‘cause I called ya a fattie?

Haha! That was obviously a joke?

Do I really look like the type of guy who would struggle carryin’ ‘round a skinny chick like ya on my shoulder?

Oi, what’s yer answer? Come on!

*Rustle*

Yui: W-Wah...!

Yuma: Come on, what’s wrong, Sow? I’m askin’ for yer answer, aren’t I?

Yui: L-Like I said! Stop shaking me like that!

Yuma: That’s not an answer to my question. If ya won’t listen to me, guess I’ll have to punish ya then.

*Rustle*

Yui: Kyah! A-Aaaah, it’s dangerous!

Yuma: Hah! What? Pissin’ yer pants or somethin’?

This is kinda fun, makes me want to shake ya ‘round even more...There!

Yui: Wah! I-It’s scary when I’m up high like this!

Yuma: Hm? Scary?

Do ya have a fear of heights or somethin’?

Yui: I-I don’t but...

( T-Thank god...He stopped moving around... )

Yuma: Damn, ya gave me a scare for nothin’...

For one, you’re to blame for not gettin’ on with it.

Come on, don’t be such a slowpoke!

We’re runnin’ out of time! I have a busy schedule!

*Rustle*

Yui: Even if you say that...!

Do you want to let me harvest these vegetables or notーー

Which one is it, honestly?

Yuma: Are ya stupid?

Why do ya think I’m carryin’ ya, if I wouldn’t let ya help me with the harvest?

Ya don’t understand why I’m goin’ out of my way to lift ya into the air like this?

Yui: W-Well...I think it’s so I can pluck the vegetables.

( I want to believe that’s the case...But! )

Yuma: Then get those hands movin’!

Or what? Are ya doin’ this on purpose ‘cause ya wanna get punished?

Yui: That’s not it!

Yuma: Then get on with it! Geez, ya start cryin’ ‘round like a baby just ‘cause of some minor shakin’...

Come on, those ones on top look pretty good, huh? Hurry up and grab them!

*Rustle*

Yui: Ah! Like I said, it’s dangerous!

Yuma: Hehehe! Yer voice is quaverin’, Yui!

Yui: I-I’m gonna fall...!

Besides, if you keep on messing around like this, I don’t think we’ll ever finish the task at hand...!

Yuma: Aahn? You’re gonna start lecturin’ me...?

*Rustle*

Yui: I-It’s not about...lecturing you...! Kyaah!!

Yuma: Idiot. Ya really think I’d drop ya?

Look at that dumb expression on yer face. Who do ya think I am?

No matter what stupid things I may do on a daily basis, I wouldn’t let ya get hurt.

Yui: Yuma-kun...

Yuma: I’m shakin’ ya ‘round ‘cause you’re too damn slow...

In other words, a punishment...Wait, no.

It’s tough love! (1)

Yui: Kyaah!

( I figured he’d stop but Yuma-kun’s really having a blast...! )

( I don’t want this ‘tough love’... )

Yuma: Come on! Pick them already, Sow!

Yui: Kyah...!

( Yuma-kun really always seems to enjoy himself whenever he’s teasing me. )

( But...I won’t lose. )

( If I give in here, we’ll never get anywhere...! )

( I have to...stretch my arm all the way... )

( Okay...! I got it...There! )

*Rustle*

Yui: Kyaah! G-Geez! Yuma-kun! Ah...Watch...out!

Yuma: Haha, you’re makin’ these really funny sounds.

Yui: Say, if you do this, we really won’t get this done, you know?

We have to properly pluck these in time for the harvest festival...

Yuma: Aah? You’re the one who brought that up though?

Yui: T-That’s true but...

( We managed to get this many delicious, ripe vegetables just in time for harvest season. )

( So I brought up the idea of holding a celebration. )

( Speaking of which, I feel like Yuma-kun was never truly on board with it... )

ー A flashback ensues

Yui: You know, these vegetables from our garden really are delicious.

Yuma: They sure are.

Yui: Say, why don’t we do something with these?

Yuma: Haah? What do ya have in mind then?

Yui: Hm...For example...Why don’t we hold a harvest festival like they do abroad?

Yuma: Harvest festival?

Why do we have to do that shit?

Yui: Look, we could turn it into a garden party and have a meal together with everyone outside...

I’m sure the vegetables we eat every day will taste even better than usual.

Yuma: Ya think so?

Yui: Of course! I’m sure it’ll be fun!

Yuma: But we’re eatin’ these veggies every day, right? What’s the point in doin’ this now?

Yui: ( Uu, seems like Yuma-kun isn’t too stoked about my idea... )

But you spent so much time and effort into growing them, so I just wanted to think of a way to enjoy them even more...

Yuma: ...

Yui: Please, Yuma-kun? Let’s harvest a bunch of vegetables and hold a party?

Yuma: ...

Yui: ...No?

Yuma: ...Che. Guess ya leave me with no other choice.

If ya want to do it that badly, I’ll tag along.

Yui: Really!?

Yuma: In return, you’re gonna be the one doin’ most of the work. That’s my condition.

Yui: Hooray! I’m so happy...Thank you, Yuma-kun!

Yuma: Haah...I always go way too easy on ya.

I can’t be like this...Gotta be more strict...

Soon, she’ll play me like a fiddle...!

She may be the chick I fell head over heels for, I’m not gonna let her use me as her loyal lil’ servant...I gotta think of some sort of plan...

Yui: ...

( I managed to convince him somehow, I guess? )

( Okay, I’ll try my best on the preparations for harvest season! )

ー The flashback ends

Yui: ( He gave me green light back then, but it’s Yuma-kun we’re talking about, so he might be sick of it already... )

Yuma: Whatcha spacin’ out for? Come on!

*Rustle*

Yui: Kyaah!?

*Swoosh*

Yuma: Woah there!

Yui: I-It’s dangerous...You just gave me a heart attack...!

Yuma: See? I caught ya so ya wouldn’t fall, didn’t I?

Even if I spook ya a lil’, I would never put ya through pain.

Yui: You big dummy...! I was really scared...!

Yuma: Who ya callin’ a dummy, Sow? Ya can’t trust me or somethin’?

*Rustle*

Yui: Kyah! Y-Yuma-kun...?

Yuma: This is what I do...to cheeky women like ya!

ー Yuma bites her

Yui: ...!

Yuma: Nn...

Yui: Ah...

( Geez, Yuma-kun, he suddenly bit my neck...! )

Yuma: Don’t be fightin’ back...! Nn...

Yui: ...Nn...!

Yuma: Nn...!

Haah...Nn...

...Per usual...Your blood’s...Nn...

The sweetest thing ever...Surpassin’ even Sugar-chan...Nn...

Yui: ...Geez...Oh you...~

Yuma: You’re at fault. For having...such delicious blood.

Haah...It’s hella delicious...Nn...Kuh...!

When I drink yer blood, I feel like I’ll let everythin’ else slide, it’s kinda odd.

I might have seriously fallen head over heels for yer blood...Haha!

Yui: Only my blood...?

Yuma: ...Aahn?

Yui: You only like my blood...? How about me as a person...?

Yuma Fool.

Whatcha soundin’ so miserable for?

Yui: W-Well...

Yuma: Whatcha sayin’ at this point? Ya really are a fool.

Yui: H-How could you!

Yuma: Listen to me. ...Yer blood is definitely delicious.

But if that was the only thing, ya really think I would have gone through the trouble of marryin’ ya?

Yui: Yuma-kun...

Yuma: Che. Geez, I really have to spell everythin’ out for ya, don’t I...?

Or maybe this is enough to satisfy ya? Aah?

Yui: ...!

Yuma: Nn...

*Smooch*

Yui: Nn...!

Yuma: ...Geez...

I...love ya.

Didn’t I say that I’m head over heels for ya?

Yet that’s not enough for ya, huh? You’re so greedy.

Yui: Yuma-kun...

Yuma: Che. You’re makin’ me say all the embarrassin’ shit. ...Fuck.

For now, lemme suck yer blood...!

Yui: K-Kyah...! Hold up, Yuma-kun!

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the shopping mall

Yuma: ...Say, there’s still more stuff to buy...?

Yui: Yeah. There’s still some daily necessities we’re running low on...

Yuma: Ahー Fuck! This damn crowd is drivin’ me mad!

Yui: It’s a holiday, so it’s more crowded than usual, isn’t it?

Yuma: Ya really should have just come by yerself.

Yui: But I can’t carry all of this stuff by myself...

Yuma: Hooh? So ya always intended to bring me along just to carry yer bags, huh?

Yui: I’m pretty sure I was honest about that when I invited you along...

Yuma: Yeah. I tagged along ‘cause I felt like I had no other choice after ya came cryin’ to me like that.

Yui: I-I wasn’t crying...!

( I also asked him because I enjoy going out shopping with Yuma-kun though... )

Yuma: Ya didn’t speak a word of this crowd tho!

Ah-ah, if I had known this, I would have much rather taken a nice nap at home.

Yui: ...

Yuma: ...What? Don’t go quiet on me.

Yui: ...But...I didn’t think you’d dislike it this much...

I’m sorry, Yuma-kun...

Yuma: ...Oi, don’t look like you’re ‘bout to cry.

I don’t hate it that much.

If I did, I wouldn’t have come.

Yui: ...Really!? Thank god...!

Then, can we go look at some clothes after getting the daily necessities?

Yuma: ...Excuse me? Ya sure change yer mood from one second to another...

Yui: Eh?

Yuma: Ya were in tears just now! Where did those go?

Yui: But you said you don’t dislike this, right?

ー She holds onto his arm

*Rustle*

Yui: I’m happy to be able to head out together and shop like this!

Yuma: ...Che. You’re a wicked woman.

Yui: Eh? How so?

Yuma: Oh well, whatever. But only use yer charms on me, ‘kay?

Come on, let’s go!

Yui: Kyah! You walk way too fast!

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: Ah, look! There’s so many delicious-looking fruits...!

Yuma: Ahー? We’re growin’ these at home so we don’t need them, right?

Yui: But there’s ones we’re not growing as well. We should buy different ones every now and then...

Yuma: Like I said, we don’t need them...

Yui: But...

Yuma: Are ya even listenin’!? If there’s a kind ya wanna eat, just tell me!

Yui: Eh?

Yuma: If ya want it, I’ll grow it!

Well, I can’t do it overnight ‘course.

But I’ll make sure they will be ripe and ready to be eaten by next year.

Yui: Yuma-kun...

Yuma: Why are ya in tears again?

Yui: B-Because...!

Yuma: If ya actually start cryin’, I’m leavin’ ya behind, got it?

Yui: Eh? W-Wait! Yuma-kun!

Yuma: Che. Don’t go ‘bout shoutin’ like that!

Azusa: Huh...? Yui-san? And...Yuma as well.

Kou: Seems like the two of you are being lovey-dovey per usual~

Yui: Huh? You guys! What brings you all here? Out shopping?

Kou: Yeah, exactly. But the two of you really are close both at home and outside, huh? It’s almost making me jealous.

Ruki: Don’t stand out too much in public.

Kou: You tell them!

Yui: ...Uu, sorry...

Yuma: The fuck? Ya guys appear out of nowhere and you’re already callin’ us out?

Kou: Don’t you think you two are to blame for flirting out in the open like that?

Yuma: Fuck off! That’s our business, isn’t it?

We’re a married couple and she’s my woman.

I obviously gotta keep her close so some weird fucker doesn’t set his sights on her.

ー Yuma wraps his arm around her

*Rustle*

Yui: Kyah!?

Yuma: Come on, let’s go, Sow!

Yui: Y-Yeah!

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: ...

Yuma: ...

Yui: ...

Yuma: ...What? You’ve been quiet this whole time.

Yui: Yeah...Ruki-kun and the others saw us earlier...

Yuma: Ahn?

Yui: It never bothered me up till then, but I suddenly grew embarrassed.

Yuma: Ah? What do ya mean, embarrassed?

What’s so embarrassin’ ‘bout bein’ seen together with me?

Yui: N-No. That’s not what I meant...

It was the first time they all saw us together outside, so I suddenly grew very self-conscious.

Yuma: You’re the one who clung onto me, right? It’s yer own fault.

Yui: That’s...true but...

Yuma: It’s not like we did somethin’ naughty in front of them, so don’t let it bother ya.

Yui: W-Well of course we didn’t!

( Who would do that in public...!? )

Yuma: Hmm?

Yui: W-What?

Yuma: I see.

Yui: Honestly, what?

Yuma: Next time ya give me that kinda cheeky attitude, I should just knock ya out with a single kiss, huh?

Yui: Eh!?

Yuma: It’s fun to see ya cry ‘bout as well, but I guess I should just do this when I want to shut ya up real quick?

Yui: W-W-Wait, Yuma-kun!

Yuma: ...What?

Yui: Y-You can’t? L-Like...kissing and stuff...Out in public...

Yuma: I won’t if ya behave. Yer fate is in yer own hands!

Yui: Eeh!?

Yuma: Well, ya better be careful!

Yui: ( Uu...! I will... )

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the garden at night

Yuma: ...They still won’t bloom, huh?

Haah...

Honestly...What has gotten into me...?

Why am I puttin’ so much effort into growin’ these...?

Do I blame it on her? Or am I doing it for her...?

Haah...

This doesn’t suit me tho...

...

But she was super happy with them the other time.

And she looked rather pretty when I put it into her hair...

It marked...the first step of our relationship after all.

I guess I can’t do much wrong by tryin’ to please her...

For one, it’s out of character for me to even worry ‘bout something like a wedding anniversary.

I guess this shows that love makes a guy go weak...

...

These roses are different from the ones I grew in memory of my comrades back then...

I grew these with her in mind...

I won’t give up, even if they won’t bloom.

I’ll keep lookin’ after them till they grow beautiful flowers...

...

...Che, I’m really not actin’ like myself...

Makes me laugh...

I can’t let her see me like this.

I hope they’ll bloom in time for the anniversary.

Or rather, I’ll make sure of it!

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the dining hall

Yui: Say, Yuma-kun.

Yuma: Ah?

Yui: Things are gonna get busy today!

Yuma: ...Why?

Yui: Did you forget already? Today is the harvest festival! I have to prepare for the party.

Yuma: Aah, that’s today?

Yui: I told you several times yesterday! How come you’re so out of it?

Is it because...you don’t want to celebrate the harvest festival?

Yuma: ...Not really, honestly.

Yui: ...

( I wonder what’s wrong with him? He’s been like this for a few days... )

Yuma: ...Aahn? Why are ya lookin’ at me with that weird look on yer face?

Got a problem with my behavior or somethin’?

Yui: No, I don’t but...

Ah, right.

Yuma: Ah?

Yui: I’m gonna start cooking now, so you lend me a hand too, okay?

Yuma: A hand?

I told ya that you’re gonna do most of the work for this festival, right?

Yui: Of course, I’ll give it my best shot as well. But it’d be a great help if you could at least assist me a little...

I can’t rely on you for help?

I’m sure you would be such an amazing help though...

Yuma: Che, ya always give me that crap. I don’t mind tho.

Yui: Hooray! Let’s start preparing the food right away then.

I’ll leave setting up the table outside up to you!

Yuma: Roger...

...Geez, first she butters up to ya and then starts orderin’ ya around like a slave...

Yui: ...Hm? Did you say something?

Yuma: No? Nothing?

Yui: Really? Okay then...

Well then, I gotta give it my best shot! I have to make sure it’s extra delicious today!

ー Yui walks to the kitchen

Yuma: Geez...Look at her bein’ all excited.

I shouldn’t have agreed to lettin’ her organize this garden party so easily.

Why do I have to help my own wife prepare food for some other guys?

I fucked up...

Yui: Hm? Did you say something?

Yuma: Nothin’! ...Ya sure have some sharp ears...

Yui: Ah! You were talking bad behind my back just now, weren’t you!?

Yuma: ...I wasn’t! Geez...

Yui: Really?

Yuma: Like I said, have some faith in me.

Yui: ( I do trust him but...He definitely said something just now, didn’t he? )

Yuma: You’re gonna make a real feast, right? Hurry up and get started on the food!

Yui: Yeah! Look forward to it, okay?

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the kitchen

Yui: Phew...Guess this is the best I can do...

Yuma: I’m all done. Woah! Looks good!

Yui: Really? I’m glad! Thank you for helping me, Yuma-kun.

Yuma: Yeah. Should I carry these?

Yui: Yeah. I’d appreciate it if you could take all finished dishes with you.

Yuma: Roger.

ー The scene shifts to the garden

Yuma: Oh? Ya guys are already here?

Azusa: Because it’s already...the designated time...

Kou: Wooow~ M-neko-chan’s homemade cooking looks delicious!

Azusa: I’ve gotten...kinda hungry...

Ruki: The meals she makes aren’t half bad for livestock.

Yuma: Hah! Right?

My Sow is well-trained after all!

Kou: And what are you so proud about...?

Ruki: Good grief, how shameless...

Azusa: You’ve become a total softie when it comes to her, haven’t you, Yuma...?

Yuma: Hah! What’s the problem with bragging ‘bout what belongs to me?

Kou: How many times do I have to tell you to stop subconsciously going into ‘loving husband’ mode!?

Yuma: I’m not doin’ that!

Anyway, what is she up to? She’s still not done?

She really is such a slowpoke...

ー The scene shifts back to the kitchen

Yui: Nn...There we go.

This wraps up the final dish...I guess?

What should I do? I’d love to sprinkle some herbs on top of the meat but...

I don’t think we’re growing any in our own garden?

I’ll go take a look.

ー The scene shifts to the garden

Yui: Hm...?

( There’s an enclosure I haven’t seen before...? )

I wonder what it’s for...?

*SCENE SHIFT*

Yuma: Hm...? Why is she there!?

ー Yuma rushes over to her

Yuma: Oi! Yui!!

Yui: Eh? Kyah...!

*Rustle*

Yuma: What are ya doing here!?

Yui: Hey, you’re hurting me, Yuma-kun!

Yuma: I’m askin’ ya a question!

Yui: I wanted to sprinkle some herbs on top of the meat of the main dish...

Yuma: Herbs?

Yui: Then I found this unfamiliar enclosure...So I was wondering what it could be for...

See, over theーー Ow!

You’re hurting my arm, Yuma-kun!

Yuma: Ya...can’t look at that.

Look away! Geez. I really can’t lower my guard for one second ‘round ya...!

Yui: ( Lower his guard...What does he mean? )

Say, what has gotten into you all of a sudden?

Yuma: Ah? ...Nothin’, really.

That’s just none of yer business.

Yui: W-What...?

I was just curious. Why do you have to get so mad?

Yuma: Fuck off! It’s none of yer damn business! ーー That’s all.

Anyway, stay away from it. Understood?

Yui: Yeah...But you could always tell me...

Yuma: Shut up!

Yuma: Just get goin’ and join those guys already!

All ya have to do is shut yer damn mouth and listen to me!

Yui: I know, I will. You don’t need to shout at me like that...

Yuma: Scram!

Yui: ...!

ー Yui walks away

Yuma: ...Che!

I didn’t think she’d come here...

Fuck!

I started panickin’ and accidentally lashed out at her...!

Yui, she seemed frightened...

Haah...

...Fuck...I don’t want to make her cry or anythin’ tho...

Why can I never be honest...?

*TIMESKIP*

*Cling*

Kou: Nnー! This is deliciousー!

Yuma: Oi, stop chowin’ down ya guys! I’m fuckin’ starvin’ too!

Kou: The same goes for us though? Right, Azusa-kun~?

Azusa: Yeah, I’m hungry too...I came here with an empty stomach because I was looking forward to Yui-san’s cooking...

Ruki: You are all being way too gluttonous. It’s a disgrace...

Yui: There’s still plenty left, so you don’t have to eat that quickly, you know...?

Kou: Really? Then keep it coming!

Azusa: I still have plenty of space in my tummy...

Yui: You’ll have some more as well, Yuma-kun?

Yuma: ...

Yui: ( ...Seems like he’s upset after all. )

( He has never given me the silent treatment like this... )

( I must have done something truly upsetting... )

Yuma: ...

...Haah, I’m goin’ to the restroom.

ー Yuma walks away

Yui: ( So he really is mad at me for what I did... )

( What should I do...? )

Kou: Sayー Aren’t the two of them acting kind of off?

Ruki: They are...

Azusa: It’s odd...

Kou: I wonder what happened?

*TIMESKIP*

Kou: Phew~ I’m stuffed! Thank you for the feast! It was delicious!

Yui: Fufu, I’m glad to hear that. Thank you guys for joining us today as well.

Kou: Yeah!

Yuma: ...

Azusa: The food was extremely delicious.

Yui: Thank you, Azusa-kun.

Ruki: See you.

ー The scene shifts to Yui’s bedroom

Yui: Phew...

( Yuma-kun’s mood remained sour the whole time after that... )

( That was never my intention...It should have been so much more fun of a day... )

( ーー Why did things have to turn out like this? )

( Yuma-kun retreated back into his room right away... )

I feel a little...lonely.

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the living room

Yui: ( A few days have passed since but...Yuma-kun’s mood just won’t improve. )

( He won’t shout at me, but he barely talks to me either. )

( It’s obvious he seems to be avoiding me... )

( What should I do...? )

*Ding dong*

Yui: ( Huh? A visitor...? )

Coming!

ー The scene shifts to the entrance hall

Reinhart: Hello.

Yui: Oh? Reinhart-sensei? Hello.

Reinhart: Hey, it’s been a while.

Yui: What brings you here today?

Reinhart: Yeah, I’ve got a little something to discuss with Ruki-kun.

Yui: I see... Ah, please come in. (2) I’ll go call Ruki-kun right away.

Reinhart: Thank you. Sorry for the trouble.

Yui: It’s nothing...

ー Yuma enters the manor

Yui: Ah, Yuma-kun, welcome back. Reinhart-sensei is visiting us right now...

Yuma: ...Heeh.

Yui: Uhm, I’m going to set some tea so would you care for a cup as well?

Yuma: ...Nah.

Yui: ...Really?

Yuma: Yeah.

ー Yuma leaves

Yui: Ah, I’ll go make the tea then.

Reinhart: Thank you.

Yui: ( ...Yuma-kun’s mood really won’t get better. )

( Furthermore, that attitude...Sensei might think of us weirdly now. )

( Sensei was there to witness our wedding vows, so I wouldn’t want to make him worry. )

( What should I do...? )

ー The scene shifts to the living room

Kou: Ah! Sensei’s actually here! Hello~

Reinhart: Seems like you’re doing well too, Kou-kun. Hello.

I ran into Yuma-kun earlier and...Did something happen between the two of them? The mood seemed somewhat tense.

Ruki: Right...

Kou: It’s been like that for days now. As fellow members of this household, it’s become kind of awkward for us as well, right?

Azusa: ...Exactly...

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: Sorry for the wait.

*Cling*

Reinhart: Ah, thank you.

Yui: You guys can have some as well if you’d like.

*Cling*

Kou: Thank you, M-neko-chan~

Ruki: I shall have a sip then.

Azusa: Thanks...Eve...

Reinhart: Smells wonderful. Is this a herbal tea?

Yui: Ah, yes. It’s made with the herbs we grow in our garden.

Reinhart: Heeh, you’re growing them yourself?

Yui: Rather than alone, I do it together with Yuma-kun.

Reinhart: Right, about the two of you.

Yui: ...Yes?

Reinhart: Things seemed a little awkward. What happened exactly?

Yui: ...Well...

( So he did notice after all... )

( But I’m not sure how to explain this... )

Things aren’t going so well...

Everyone: ...

Reinhart: Well, I’m sure being together every day comes with its up and downs but...

Since you married out of mutual love, I hope the two of you can talk it out soon.

Yui: ...Yes.

Reinhart: You know, I witnessed the two of you getting married, so I can’t help but be a little worried.

I know I might be sticking my nose into someone else’s business by saying this but...Are you okay?

Yui: ( Sensei’s worried about us... )

( I’m sure Ruki-kun and the others are as well... )

Sensei.

Reinhart: Yes?

Yui: I’ll try my best to make up.

So...We’re okay.

Reinhart: ...I see.

However, don’t push yourself, okay? When you feel like you’re at the end of your devices, make sure to rely on the people around you, okay?

Yui: Yes...Thank you very much.

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to Yui’s bedroom

Yui: Haah...

( I told everyone we would talk things out but... )

( In the end, we still haven’t had a proper conversation... )

( It’s almost our one-year wedding anniversary, yet things are still awkward between us. )

( What should I do...? )

( I know that I tried to approach something Yuma-kun wants to keep hidden back then. )

( But if I apologize without knowing why he got so upset exactly, he might only grow even more angry with me... )

( I hope the two of us can have a good talk... )

I wonder how we can make up...?

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: ...It’s finally our wedding anniversary...

( I would have liked to have talked things out with Yuma-kun by today... )

He was so very upset back then...

( However, he wouldn’t become aggressive towards me without a reason. )

( There was definitely some sort of reason behind his anger. )

...

I wonder if he has forgotten that it’s our wedding anniversary today?

( Even if he has, this is an important day to me. I do want to talk things out. )

( I have to talk to him...! )

( I don’t want this misunderstanding to last forever...! )

ー The scene shifts to the hallway

Yui: ( I’ll go see him...! )

*Thud*

Yui: ...Kyah!

Yuma: ...Yui?

Yui: Yuma-kun!?

Perfect timing...I was just about to drop by your room.

You see...I want to talk to you and make up...

Yuma: ...The fuck?

Ya really are...!

Yui: Eh...?

Yuma: Che...! Whatever, just follow me for a sec!

*Rustle*

Yui: Kyah!? Y-Yuma-kun? W-Wait...!?

ー Yuma tugs her along as they move to the garden

Yui: ( This is where we fought on the day of the garden party... )

( I’m sure there’s something here which he doesn’t want me to get close to... )

( ...Even though I didn’t know, I should apologize for upsetting him. )

U-Uhm...Yuma-kun...!

Yuma: Yui. Can ya listen to me first?

Yui: Y-Yeah...

Yuma: Ahー... Ya see...

Yui: Mmh.

Yuma: ‘Bout the other day...

Yui: Yeah...

Yuma: ...

Yui: ( Yuma-kun...? )

Yuma: Well, it’s that...

Yui: ...I’m listening?

Yuma: ...I know that much!

Yui: ( I wonder what has gotten into him? Unlike usual, he seems to be having a hard time expressing himself... )

Yuma: Oi, Yui!

Yui: ーー Y-Yes!

Yuma: ...I’m sorry for what happened the other day.

Yui: ...Eh?

Yuma: ‘Eh?’, my ass!

Knowin’ ya, I’m pretty sure that...Ya haven’t looked ‘cause I told ya not to, right?

At the...flowers from the other day.

Yui: Flowers...?

Yuma: So ya really haven’t looked.

Yui: Which flowers are you talking about?

Yuma: I lashed out at ya the other day, right? ‘Cause ya approached this place.

Yui: Yeah.

Yuma: I didn’t actually mean to get that upset.

But ya were suddenly standin’ here, I got completely thrown off.

Then I panicked and took it out on ya. ...I really do feel bad.

Yui: D-Don’t say that...! It was the first time seeing you so mad for me as well...

I figured I must have done something horrible, so I was going to apologize as well.

...I’m sorry too.

Yuma: Idiot, you’ve got nothin’ to say sorry for. ...I won’t suddenly shout at ya like that from here on out.

Yui: Yuma-kun...

Yuma: Take a look. I just wanted to keep the fact I was growin’ these a secret.

Yui: These are...Roses...!

Wah...Amazing! They’ve bloomed beautifully...

Yuma: Back then they hadn’t bloomed yet...So that’s why I panicked.

But I somehow got them to bloom in time for today.

Yui: Eh? In time...?

Yuma: ...Say, Yui. Do ya remember the wedding ceremony we held here one year ago?

Yui: I do. I could never forget.

( Yuma-kun gave me such a wonderful memory back then... )

( I could never forget about such a lovely day... )

Today is a special day to me as well. That’s why I’ve been looking forward to it this whole time.

Yuma: Heeh?

Yui: That’s why I was on my way to meet you, because I definitely wanted to make things up to you today.

That’s when I coincidentally ran into you.

Yuma: I see. Guess ya were lookin’ forward to it in yer own way as well.

Yui: ...? What do you mean?

Yuma: Listen up.

I proposed to ya last year, right?

Yui: Yeah.

Yuma: Back then, I vowed to only ever love ya, forever.

That feeling hasn’t changed to this day.

Yui: Yes...

Yuma: So...

It was a rocky road but, I chose ya and ya chose me.

Yui: Mmh...

Yuma: But I’m not very smooth.

So there’s times where I can’t always treat ya with care.

And I might take things out on ya like the other day.

...But even so.

My feelings towards ya are the only thing which won’t ever change.

...Even after one year, they’re still the same.

Yui: Yuma-kun...

Yuma: If anything...

Rather than changin’, I treasure ya even more than I did back then.

Yui: ...

Yuma: Che, this shit really is embarrassin’...

Yui: Yuma-kun...

( He’s a little awkward, but despite that, he’s still expressing himself... )

Yuma: Well, I do love ya properly.

It’s our anniversary, so I figured I should tell ya that.

Yui: I feel the same way, Yuma-kun.

Yuma: Ah?

Yui: I love you too.

Yuma: ...Whatcha sayin’ all of a sudden?

I know that already!

Yui: Fufu, but you gave me such a wonderful love confession. I want to return the favor as well.

However...I really can’t believe one year has gone by already.

Back then ーー I felt so happy when you made that vow to me.

Yuma: ...I only stated the truth, that’s all.

Yui: But you usually wouldn’t say those things, right?

Yuma: ‘Course not! Why would I have to proclaim my love to ya 24/7?

Yui: Maybe not 24/7, but I still feel happy when you do.

Yuma: Happy, huh?

Yui: Also back then, I was happy to receive the rose you had so carefully grown.

Yuma: That was...

Yui: You gave me the rose you had grown for the special people in your life.

So I felt as if I had become someone special to you as well...

Yuma: ...You...

Say, Yui.

Yui: Yes?

Yuma: I did raise that rose for Boss and the others but...

These are different...

I grew this one from scratch, with ya in mind.

Yui: Me...?

Yuma: Well, it’s still a rose of course. And both roses are special to me in their own right.

...But ya know.

But I wanted to give ya a rose, which was grown for yer sake.

This might just be my own self-satisfaction showin’ again tho.

How do I put it? I wanted to put my ‘feelings’ (3) in there...

So when ya nearly saw them before they bloomed...

I felt as if they wouldn’t properly convey my feelings so...

Yui: I see...

Yuma: ...It’s bullshit, huh? And there was really no point in fightin’ with ya over somethin’ like that.

Yui: It isn’t ridiculous...

( He’s properly conveying to me his thoughts in his own words. )

( Not a single one of those is pointless. )

Yuma: Well, I guess I wanted to make a distinction for myself.

Also, there’s actually one more reason why I grew these roses.

Yui: And that is?

Yuma: ...It’d be too out-of-character so I’m not tellin’ ya.

Yui: Eeh~? You already hinted at it, so I’d love to hear the rest now though...

Yuma: ...Geez, stop lookin’ at me with those puppy eyes (4)! Ya know I’m weak to those suckers!

Yui: Eh? Sorry...

( That wasn’t my intention... )

Yuma: Then, I’ll only say it once.

Yui: Yeah.

Yuma: I put a rose in yer hair last year, remember?

Back then, ya looked a lil’ different than what I expected...

Yui: What did you expect then?

Yuma: ーー For some reason, ya looked hella stunnin’ back then.

So I wanted to put one in there again, I guess...

It’s a really shallow reason. I just wanted to...see ya with a rose in yer hair again.

Yui: Yuma-kun...

Yuma: So!

This rose I grow with ya in mind...

I’ll put it on ya again.

*Rustle*

Yui: W-Wait! Yuma-kun.

Yuma: ...What?

Yui: You worked so hard growing those roses...It’d be a waste.

Yuma: It’s fine. These are for ya.

Yui: But...

Yuma: If ya really think it’s such a waste, we can just grow some new ones again.

Yui: Eh?

Yuma: Next year and the year after all, forever. As long as ya want the roses I grow...

I’ll raise them for ya, year after year.

Right...In that case, I might as well raise 999 roses at some pointーー

Then turn them into a rose bouquet for ya.

Yui: ...Fufu, I doubt I’d be able to carry that in my arms.

( However, I’m not happy just to receive roses... )

( The fact he’s giving me these flowers he grew with me in mind, is what makes me so happy... )

Thank you, Yuma-kun.

Yuma: ...Yeah.

Yuma: Say, Yui.

Stay by my side another year.

Then next year, lemme vow to ya again. That I love ya...

Next year I won’t just stick to one, but grow lots for ya.

*Rustle*

Yuma: Yui, I love ya...

Yuma: Better brace yerself for next year, ‘kay...? Nn...

Yui: ...!

Yuma: Ya will be my woman forever. Understood...?

Yui: Yeah...! We’ve made up now, right...?

Yuma: Yeah...We have.

Yui: If we can make up like this, then perhaps having a fight every once in a while isn’t too bad.

Yuma: Don’t be silly.

I seriously don’t want any fights.

Honestly, I thought I was gonna go fuckin’ bald from thinkin’ of a good way to apologize to ya...

Yui: You had such a hard time deciding? You did?

Yuma: I did! ‘Cause I definitely didn’t want ya to hate me.

Yui: Fufu...I don’t want to quarrel with you either.

Yuma: Good to know ya understand...Nn...

*Smooch*

Yui: Geez...Yuma-kun...Nn...

There’s no end...!

Yuma: Oh right. The harvest festival ya were lookin’ forward to so much kind of ended up being anticlimactic as well.

Yui: Yeah, but everyone enjoyed it...

Yuma: Next year we definitely won’t fight.

Even if we do, we’ll make up right away.

We just have to honestly apologize to each other.

Yui: Yes.

Yuma: So...

Let’s hold an even bigger party next time!

We’ll make so much food, even Kou will be stuffed to the point he can’t take another bite...

Yui: Yeah, we will. I’ll cook even bigger of a feast next time!

Also, want to try inviting someone over? The more, the merrier!

Yuma: Who would ya invite then? We barely have any acquaintances, do we?

Yui: How about Reinhart-sensei? He did seem worried about us after all.

Yuma: Well, he was pretty much our Priest too. I wouldn’t mind inviting him.

Yui: Gosh, Yuma-kun. Don’t put it like that.

Yuma: In that case, I wouldn’t mind addin’ one more into the mix by next year. A family member.

Yui: Eh?

D-Do you mean...!?

Yuma: You’re the one who said the more, the merrier, right?

If that’s what ya wish, I wouldn’t mind helpin’ out a lil’?

Yui: Geez...

( However, that might not be a bad idea... )

( Expand our little family by next year...Invite a bunch of people over... )

( And all have a feast together. )

( I’m sure...it’ll be a blast. )

Yuma: Well, either way, as long as you’re here with me, I’m enjoying myself, and feel happy.

Don’t ya dare forget that. ーー Never.

Yui: ...Yeah!

ーー THE END ーー

Translation notes

(1) In Japanese, the term is 愛の鞭 or ‘ai no muchi’ which literally means ‘the whip of love’.

(2) When inviting someone inside your house, you can use the verb 上がる or ‘agaru’ which literally means ‘to go up’ or ‘to ascend’. Most Japanese houses have a little step at the entrance hall to indicate, hence why they use said verb.

(3) When 想い or ‘omoi’ is written with said particular kanji, it doesn’t just refer to ‘thoughts’, but to ‘feelings’ (often in the romantic sense of the word) as well.

(4) Literally he says she’s looking at him with ‘upturned eyes’.

#diabolik lovers #dialovers #yuma mukami #more blood #diabolik lovers translation #mbyumaafterstory

98 notes · View notes

mcwriting · 3 years

Text

The Marriage Project (10)

Hellooooo! For 300 followers, I decided to drop chapter 10! Please enjoy!

Masterlist

Word Count: 2202

Warnings: maybe some language?

% approximately the last weekend of october %

By the time everyone and their families had gotten to the city and eaten dinner, it was around 8:30 pm, so you and Tom decided to try and knock out your project work.

You sat in the breakfast lounge next to each other at a table as other team members and families conversed. You noticed Nikki and your parents talking and gave Tom a glance.

Since this was your last ever volleyball tournament (at least for high school), your parents had come and you were getting to stay in their hotel room instead of a team room.

You mostly worked silently when you and Tom overheard some people talking about homecoming.

“Who’re you taking to homecoming?” he asked casually. “And don’t say Paddy or Harry.”

You laughed at that one.

“Uhh, no one. I don’t really have anyone to take so guess I’m flying solo with the girls again. Why? Who were you gonna go with?”

“Eh, nobody. The guys brought it up earlier to me and I was just curious.”

“Oh, really? I thought you had girls lined up at your feet. And a couple guys, too.”

“I’m pretty sure I could say the same about you. And you mean freshmen? Yeah right. I’m not about to catch a case, not that I’m remotely attracted to any of them.”

That comment made you laugh again.

“Yeah, well, those same freshmen are the ones spreading rumors about us. It’s stupid. We oughta stick it to them somehow.”

“What are you getting at..?” he trailed, suspicion in his voice.

“I don’t know… What if we just went to the dance together? I mean, we’re already on homecoming court and are most likely gonna win, so what if we just showed up together to annoy them? It’s not like we have to make it some big deal or anything.”

He looked at you for a minute, like he was doing calculations.

“So… you and me, no matter whether we win or not, go together? You don’t think that’s just gonna make things worse?”

“I’m pretty sure anything we do will keep causing rumors so long as we’re doing this project. We don’t have to, I just thought it would be funny to see everyone’s reactions.”

“You know what, let’s do it. There’s nothing for us to lose. Let’s just not tell people we’re going together and then just show up there. If anyone asks just say we’re going solo?” He suggested.

“That’s not going to work completely… what if you came to dinner with me and my friends beforehand? We can surprise them all and then the rest of the school at the dance. It would be really sus if I bailed on dinner and I’d like for your mom to take some pre-dance pictures.”

You decided to shake on it and get back to work, but your stomach was doing the same fluttering it had been the past couple weeks. By the time you two finished, it was just past 10 pm and most of the parents and even some of the team had gone to their rooms.

The only people you knew nearby were Sam and Julia, who were sitting on a chair together watching something on her phone, and of course Tom, who was watching snap videos from friends at the Halloween party that had just started.

“I think I’m gonna head upstairs. Even though top seed doesn’t play the first round, I have to be up kinda early,” you explained as you stood, gripping your laptop across your chest.

“What’s your room number, I’ll walk you up. Some of the people here have been giving me weird vibes.”

“Umm, let me check,” you pulled out your phone with the text your mom had sent earlier. “415.”

“Oh that’s perfect. We’re in 416. Just across the hall.”

You said goodnight to Sam and Julia as you passed and went to the elevator. As you waited, a young couple, probably in their mid twenties came up, obviously drunk. They were dressed up for the holiday, and you were surprised that they were seeming to cut the night short.

“Oh my God babe, look, they’re like younger us!” the girl attempted to whisper, giggling. Your face burned as you glanced at Tom, who looked as uncomfortable as you.

“That’s so dope! How long have you been with this little lady?” the guy said directed to Tom, giving you a once over, as all four of you entered and pressed the buttons to your floor.

“Oh we’re no-” you began when Tom interjected.

“‘Bout a year, man,” he smiled, tossing his arm over your shoulder and pulling you in tight. The elevator doors closed.

You simultaneously wanted to push him away and fall into his tight, warm grip. You decided to play along as you continued to hold on to your computer.

“Best year ever!” you exclaimed, leaning up to give him a peck on the cheek.

“Oh come on! You can do better than that! Kiss him! Kiss him!” the girl egged on. You both chuckled nervously and gave each other a look. There seemed to be a silent consensus to just do it for the bit.

Tom moved his arm to your waist and lightly pressed his lips against yours, smiling as he pulled away. You were left a little stunned as the inebriated couple clapped and cheered.

You could tell they were going to say more when the doors opened on the fourth floor.

“Well here’s our stop. Nice talking to you. Come on, princess,” Tom said, the both of you rushing out of the elevator, his arm still around you.

Once the door closed, you both let out a sigh as you turned down the hall towards your rooms.

“Well that was... weird,” you stated, the both of you walking pretty slowly. You were keenly aware of the way his hand tightly cupped your side as you clumsily knocked into him a few times.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself. Sorry about that. I didn’t know what they were gonna do and that guy had creepo vibes and I panicked.”

“I get it. We are married, after all,” you said quietly, wiggling your left hand. “Well, here’s my room. Thanks for keeping an eye out. See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, see you at breakfast. You’re gonna kill it tomorrow,” he said softly, squeezing you in a side hug one last time before letting you go. Your side tingled from where his warm body was no longer touching as you entered the hotel room.

It wasn’t long before you were also saying goodnight to your parents and laying in the dark room, reflecting on the wild day that was Friday.

You knew that back home everyone was still partying, as you’d received pictures and videos of your friends dressed as Guy Fieri, but you’d had a whole different kind of experience, unsure if it was a good or bad one.

Tom’s lips were kinda soft though

And his big hands around my waist fit nicely

You pushed the thoughts away as you finally fell into deep slumber.

You headed to breakfast wearing sweats, a baggy tee, and a pair of socks and slides. Looks were not a priority right now. While you waited on your waffle to finish cooking, someone appeared next to you, yawning.

“Morning, princess,” he muttered, stretching and rubbing his eyes.

“You really aren’t a morning person, are you?”

“Nope. Now how much longer are you gonna be here because I’m in need of a waffle,” he asked, nudging your sides. It seemed as though you were both pretending the previous night had never happened.

Once you both built your plates, you went to sit with some of the team when Tom plopped into the seat next to you. He immediately began digging in, but paused when he realized the whole table was starting at him.

“What’s wrong, you want me to bless the food or something?” he looked to you.

“No it’s just surprising that you’d come sit with us is all,” one sophomore said. “I mean, you’re like the most popular guy in school.”

“Yeah well the real legend is this bit-” your glare stopped him in his tracks, “...I won’t call you that word, but anyways y/n ranks above me. If anything, she’s the intimidating one.”

The girls giggled and went back to their conversations, occasionally looking at Tom still.

“Sorry I almost called you a bitch. I meant it the good way,” he whispered into your ear.

You stared at him for a few seconds as you finished chewing a bite of apple.

“I’m just confused as to why you came over here with all the girls.”

“Well it might come as a shock to say that you’re the only person here that I’m friends with other than Sam, and he’s on thin ice after hogging the bed sheets last night,” he explained, shooting a glare to his younger brother, who was obliviously eating with Julia and his mom.

“Today’s gonna get real boring then if I’m your only friend.”

“Hey, remember our conversation Monday? Cute uniforms?”

You slapped him on the chest for that one.

A long, hard day of games had led up to this moment. A whole season. A big portion of your life.

It was probably between 7 and 8 pm. You weren’t sure. All you knew was that the scoreboard said 24-23 your team. Meaning, one point for you equaled a final win.

You wiped the sweat from your brow as you stood on the back line of the court, nervous and determined.

There were cheers from all sides of the gym as you prepared to serve one last time, hopefully for the better.

The upper ref blew her whistle and motioned her hand for you to serve.

One

Two

Three

bounces on the gym floor. A toss in the air. A slap to the ball.

The ball passed the net and sunk right to the gym floor without a single person touching it.

It took you a second after the whistle blew and the scoreboard changed to realize that you had won the game. You were snapped back to reality by the loud cheers of your teammates and supporters.

The team came and congratulated you, slapping your butt and squeezing your shoulders. They pushed you to the front of the line to shake hands with the other team and refs under the net.

You didn’t realize until the team went into a huddle that there were tears slipping down your cheeks and everyone reached out to love on you and Anna. All those years working for this moment and it had finally ended.

Coach made her speech short and sweet, because you could tell she was holding back tears as she looked between you and your co captain.

The two of you led one last cheer for your team. A tournament official came to hand the team the trophy, give you another tournament MVP medal and both you and Anna all tournament and all state awards. You hung them on your neck proudly, happy to feel their weight.

Upon turning around, the first person you saw was Tom, who had a big smile on your face. You immediately rushed to hug him, jumping a little into his arms.

“Told you you could do it!” he exclaimed, wrapping his arms over your sweaty frame. You pulled away, arms still loosely holding each other. He casually brushed the residual tears from your cheeks.

“And what’s this? Some new ice?” he asked, grabbing all three medals in one hand. He raised one up pretending to bite it.

“My drip is just too clean,” you joked, flipping your ponytail over your shoulder. You heard someone clear their throat behind you. It was your dad.

You went and hugged your parents and talked for a few minutes, then were called over for Nikki to take team pictures.

Everyone showed off their fiery hair ribbons (you had stayed true to your joking promise) and got pictures with the trophy. You and Anna also took some biting your medals and alone with the large award.

You finally headed to the locker room, changing and packing up your volleyball bag one last time.

The end of an era was a sad one to say the least.

You said goodbye to everyone as your parents got the car ready. Tom came up.

“Hey. Good job once again. I’m proud of you. See you Monday?”

You felt yourself blush as your stomach flip flopped.

“Thank you, Tom. I’m glad you were here this weekend, especially last night. See you then.”

You gave one last side hug before getting in the car and preparing for the long ride home. You were sitting still for a while reflecting on the day when your phone lit up.

“How’s the ride so far?” Tom asked over text.

“It’s been 20 minutes, Tom.”

“Well if I’m going to be stuck third wheeling Julia and Sam I’m gonna need someone to talk to.”

You rolled your eyes and smiled, continuing the conversation all the way home until you were falling asleep in bed.

A/N: ahhh thank you all again for 300 followers! I genuinely can’t believe that there are that many people who are so interested in my writing! Especially those of you who have been around since the beginning, when my writing was especially bad haha. Love you all!

Send a message or ask if you’d like to be added to my permanent or series taglists so I can verify you’ve been added!

Story tag list: @jackiehollanderr, @one-big-fangirl, @l0lmk, @primadonnasdream, @bookworm06, @thenoddingbunny-blog, @agentnataliahofferson, @spider-babe, @stxfxniexreads, @justafangirlduh, @supraveng,

#The Marriage Project #tom holland #tom holland imagine #tom holland story #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland au #tom holland x reader #tom holland x y/n #tom holland x you

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handelplayssims · 1 year

Text

It’s 5AM! The usual time I break off for the evening! But it’s an hour until Ashlynn needs to go into work. Annnd Zayne woke up in a clingy streak. Welp.

It’s All Haunts Day! Zane is real excited for the holiday, he’s a kid! All the things about spooky stuff, mischief making, costumes and candy is an excellent holiday! Santiago is pleased to decorate. Ashlynn just wants candy, while Kiara likes the spooky things, trick or treating, and making costumes! Anyway, Zane’s up and being mopey before school so uh...have some fun doing art? Art is some of those sad outlets. Also works towards his aspiration and all that. Anyway, Santiago has the day off. The whole weekend off as Editor-in-Chief! Social need is low so let’s go and invite someone over to chat. I see a neighbor! A family oriented one who’s somehow a friend! Hmm. Let’s change that.

Let’s argue with Noel Grey, a single mom who’s family-oriented and active, about parenting and children in general! She’s the neighbor right across the street and despite her average normal appearance, she has a hidden history...also another townie who was adopted into a household. Lots of arguments happening! All to lower their relationship down to aquantences and disliked. Well not fully disliked but in the red. But in that time, Ashlynn actually came home from work! She’s now here to chat and be friendly, at least a little bit.

The kids are finally back! After they sort out their needs, we’ll get all costumed up! Also I keep sending Ashlynn to go and wash dishes, and she keeps going to the bathroom where Zane is taking a bath. Bah.

I’m often not pleased with the options given for costumes in the base game so I go with the ones added in Spooky Stuff Pack. Or Get Famous, if I feel they have the skills or wherewithal to get movie set-esque quality stuff. Like Kiara is creative so that would be soon for her but when she’s out of being a teen perhaps. Huh. And just putting on the costume and having the house decorated was enough for Kiara to have a fantastic holiday. Huh. Ah well.

So I’m looking at Ashlynn’s whims and it’s to win a competitive game. While I do have video gaming or chess, she seems like a scrabble sort of gal. Alas, that’s another expansion pack. So let’s go for not!Jenga, Don’t Wake the Llama! ...the problem with the Trick or Treat tradition is that it’s more about serving the kids dropping in rather than the kids themselves going out and trick or treating. So we got kids trapsing through the house to get to the candy bowl I set up. Alas.

Ooh! I spotted ghosts wandering around the neighborhood! Time for the spooky tradition to be fulfilled! You can pester either ghosts or vampires to fulfill that tradition. Sadly, not werewolves. So I’ll send Kiara out to pester a ghost! Oh, and Zane got trick or treat fulfilled. Because that works with mischief tradition. Could get rid of it and just focus on trick or treat but eh. I still think it’s important!

Anyway, Santiago is sad because whims haven’t been fulfilled! I can’t get a job promotion but I could go for the work task, which is to write articles! I need to interview sims and write about them. So let’s interview your wife’s friend! Mizuki Medea! The person we challenged to Jenga! First we interviewed about her life, which gave us all of her traits. Very handy thing to have, and then we interviewed for a story! That only got us just started on the work thing. Three more people it is then! And then I send everyone to bed around 10. Everyone except Ashlynn! Still needs to have a little mischief thanks to her tradition of trick or treating. A few pranks on a few ghosts and its off to bed for her.

Also got door knocked on by a vampire and Greg ran across the street but what you not don’t notice when you’re asleep won’t hurt you!

Neighborhood Watch!

Nothing of note has happened recently. Check back tomorrow.

#sims 4 #liveblogging #wallace family #santiago wallace #ashlynn wallace #kiara wallace #zayne wallace

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nataliedanovelist · 4 years

Text

GF - Can’t Stand It

For @ho-ne-ye.

~~~~~~~~~~

Stan was having a bad day. Well, a bad week. Scratch that, a bad month.

It was March, a beautiful time out in the Arctic. For several weeks the Stan twins hardly ever saw the sun or didn’t see it at all. Closer to the holidays they traveled down south to Northern Europe, exploring the United Kingdom and the Northern Islands in order to enjoy daylight, but now that Summer was approaching and Spring was on their side, the Stan O’ War II was moving up to sail above Canada, breaking melting ice and meeting new creatures.

Today they had stumbled across an island covered in woods. The twins had docked to enjoy stable land, but of course it didn’t take long for them to stumble into trouble when they explored the island. Something about trespassing, Stan may or may not have been magically transformed into a small and cute version of himself, but then turned back to normal by a knocked-over potion. It was all a blur, and it all ended with Stan and Ford being tied together hanging over a raging fire as the clan of seal-people with war paint danced around them and singing a weird song.

Enough was enough. With a knife slipped out of a boot and a few left and right hooks, Ford and Stan managed to get away, now being chased by the angry clan and flying arrows. Stan dove on top of Ford to shield his brother from an arrow and they both scurried to their feet and ran deeper into the woods, heading for the beach, but their path was blocked by a giant monster, a half-spider, half-scorpion kind of creature with eight legs, pinchers, a sharp tail, four red eyes, and an angry kiss as it’s hairs vibrated.

Ford shot at it with his ray gun and that only made it angry. It dove for the six-fingered scientist, but Stan shoved him out of the way and soon Stan was thrown back to a tree and made very little attempts to get back up.

“STANLEY!” Ford cried out and shot at the monster again, this time hitting it in the eye. Temporarily blinded and distracted, Ford was about to grab a nearby spear thrown by a villager, pierce the monster, and leave it to bleed to death as he ran to his brother and knelt in front of him. “Stanley! Stanley, can you hear me? Are you hurt?”

“M’fine, m’fine,” The old sailor mumbled as he blinked a few times. “Just lemme catch my breath…”

Ford noticed how he had a hand to his side. He gently prided it away and was horrified to find blood. The monster must have pierced Stan. In one swift motion the eldest by fifteen minutes scooped Stan up and began to carry him to the shore. “You’ll be okay. I’ll fix you up, I can fix this.”

His brother grunted in response, his hands loosely over his wound, but Stan was losing his strength. Ford then noticed a bead of blood dripping down the back of Stan’s neck; he must have also hit his head perfectly on the tree. Ford swallowed, making his Adam’s apple bobble, and he firmly instructed, “Stay with me, Stanley. Don’t go to sleep. You might have a concussion.”

“M’tired.” He muttered in his twin’s chest. They were close, so close to home. Ford’s boots crushed the sand beneath them.

“Stanley Pines, stay with me!” Ford shouted, ignoring the way his brown eyes stung.

“Why should I?”

Ford’s heart threatened to stop. Stan’s voice had been so quiet that he had nearly missed it, but the old scientist heard every word. The wounds didn’t look that bad, Stan would be fine, he was too tough to be taken down by some pathetic monster like that, but the fact that Stan was even considering…

“Wh-Why?!” Ford repeated, mortified by his brother’s delusional question. “Why?! Because I need you! Don’t you dare think about giving up on me, Stanley, don’t you dare! C-Come on, d-d-don’t you wanna see Dipper and Mabel again? Don’t you wanna see Soos marry that Melody girl?”

Stan’s breathing was shallow against his twin’s blue jacket. “You’d be better off…”

“NO!” Ford screamed as he saw the boat farther along the beach. He broke into a faster run. “No, we wouldn’t! I swear! Stay with me, we’re almost there!”

But Stan wasn’t answering. He was very quiet. And a bit limp in Ford’s hold.

“Stanley?! Stanley! Lee! Lee, don’t you dare give up! Don’t you dare leave me, please! I… I can’t do it!” He shut his eyes at the thought and let tears flow down his cheeks as he climbed up onto the Stan O’ War II. “I can’t lose you again. Please, don’t make me.”

~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn’t fair.

Stan should be perfectly fine, he should be happy. He got his brother back, he had a real family for the first time in forty years, he was living out his dream with his best friend. He wasn’t alien to feeling this cruddy about himself, but at least back then he had something to work towards, something to keep him going, and something to distract him from the voices in his head. But now his thoughts were more apparent now more than ever before and they wouldn’t go away.

The fact remained that everyone would be better off without Stan. He was a mistake, the screw-up, a criminal, a con-artist, a dirty sailor, a worthless heap of flesh. No one really wanted him around, and the people who did would soon get sick of him. Dipper and Mabel called them less and less (which to be fair they have been very busy with exams on the way). And even if it was Ford’s idea to go sailing, how long would it be before he changed his mind? Or had he really meant what he said? Or had he only said what he said because he felt guilty?

No. There was no changing the old man’s mind. Everyone would be better off without him.

He walked down the dock with his hands in the pocket of his brown trenchcoat, his boots clicking against the wood gently. It was bright and shiny and beautiful without it hurting his eyes or requiring sunglasses over his regular glasses. The sun glistened on the water and a soft breeze made him comfortable. The only odd thing was that there was only one boat.

A small boat, actually. It had a sail, like their dream boat as kids, with a cabin down in the bunkers. It was plain and clean and new, with a golden pole and rims on the windows. On it sat a young lady, about early-twenties, with short blonde hair. She was odd, wearing a white Hawaiian shirt with golden palm leaves, white shorts, and had a golden watch on her wrist as she filed her nails, reminding Stan of a secretary from high school. This girl was sitting on the boat with her legs crossed, sporting white sneakers, and hummed a familiar tune, though Stan couldn’t pinpoint it.

The girl glanced up at him, put her eyes back on her work, and called, “You coming?”

Stan shrugged, his hands still in his pockets. “Depends. Where you going, sweetie?”

“Well I’m hoping to grant a handsome sailor his wish, but it’s whatever.” The woman said as she held up her hand to look at her nails boringly.

Stan smiled cockily. “Oh yeah, how so?”

“You think everyone would be better off without you, right?” The woman stood and gestured to her boat. “Wanna see for yourself?”

Stan blinked. Okay this was weird. Was he on TV? He shook his head like a wet dog and scratched next to his red beanie. “Uh… ‘cuse me?”

“You heard me. Wanna see if you’re right?”

“How are you gonna show me if I’m right or not?” Stan asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

The woman sighed as she glanced at her watch. “Look, I don’t have a lot of time, so here’s how it’s gonna go. I’m gonna go sailing to a timeline in which you were never born. Ford never had a twin, Caryn and Filbrick only had two sons, et cetera and et cetera. Then we can talk about where we’ll go from there. But whether you’re coming or not, this boat is leaving in thirty seconds.”

Stan looked away from the woman, down at the sea crashing against the dock gently. This didn’t make any sense. This was like something out of a cheesy movie. He didn’t have to go with this girl and see a world without him in it, but it might answer some of his questions. He just wasn’t sure if he would get the answers he wanted. Oh well, it’s not like he had anything better to do.

“Ten seconds.”

“Alright, I’ll bite.” Stan shrugged and climbed up on board. “Set sail, Ms… Hey, what’s your name, anyways?”

“You can call me Honey.”

“Okay, Honey…”

“Oh my God, he called me honey…”

“Wait wut?”

“Time to go!” The woman grinned for the first time, a sly foxy smile with sparkling eyes and beautiful lips curled upward. She stood from her seat, pulled her sail loose, and it suddenly jetted across the sea so fast it threw Stan back and he had to catch himself from falling into the ocean, meanwhile the girl in all white stood perfectly calm.

“So, where we going?”

“I told you,” Honey said calmly. “We’re gonna go see what it would've been like if you had never been born.”

“Yeah, but where?”

“First stop, Gravity Falls.” The sea around them was fading into woods and trees and dirt, and soon the bot came to such a sudden stop that Stan was thrown to the other side and sat his head on a pinetree, growling as he stood up straight on the sailboat and rubbed his forehead.

Stan looked around and recognized the woods. Yup, this was definitely Gravity Falls, but… something was off. It was gray and cloudy overhead. And they were in front of a big open patch of woods Stan had never seen before.

“What is this place?” Stan asked as he hopped off the sailboat in the mud.

“Gravity Falls.”

“I know that! I mean… I’ve never been here before.”

“Yes you have.” The woman said as she got off her ride and stood beside the old sailor. “You lived here for thirty years in another timeline.”

Stan’s eyes widened. “No… Is this where the Mystery Shack’s supposed to be?”

“You got it.”

“But…” Stan was racking his brain, thinking. “What, did Ford never come here? Cuz he went to that West Coast Tech school he never came here?”

“Nope. Ford never moved to Gravity Falls, which means no Mystery Shack.”

“I always thought there’d be a big mansion here or something.” Stan shrugged and said, “Okay, so there’s no rundown tourist trap. Big deal.”

“Eh, so you think.” Honey started to walk into the woods, giving no invitation for Stan to follow, making it easier for the conman to do so. “Do you remember what this town was like before the Shack?”

Stan shrugged with his hands in the pocket of his trenchcoat. “Not much. Just a bunch of paranoid weirdos who needed a good laugh.”

They emerged from the woods and Stan gasped at the town. It was even more worn down and cheap than it had been when Stan came thirty years ago. Broken windows were boarded up, pavement was cracked, and either ketchup or blood was splattered here and there.

“Whoa hey, what happened?” Stan asked as they left the woods and walked through the town, shouts and coughs being heard in the distance. “I know this place is a dump, but not this much of a dump.”

“Stan, do you really think your business was the only one to succeed due to the tourists coming in?” The woman in white asked. “What about the motels? Diners like Greasy’s? Stores and gas stations? All those out-of-state tourists didn’t just give money to the Shack. You’d be surprised how much one tourist trap helps the economy of one struggling town.”

“Okay, sure, but there’s no way the Shack helped out the town this much.” Stan argued, gesturing around them lazily.

“No, you’re right. Really, the town didn’t hit hard times until about five years ago.”

“Why…”

Screeching tires interrupted the old man. He and Honey watched as a very nice, rich-looking pick-up truck spun around the corner and came to a sudden stop in front of a grocery store. Stan’s jaw dropped to the pavement as he watched someone he barely recognized get out of the passenger’s seat.

Soos had a black baseball cap on backwards, wearing a cold, spiky, black-leather jacket, torn jeans, and a gothic, graphic t-shirt. His eyes were so cold and menacing, he seemed a bit taller due to holding himself up with so much pride, and when he snapped his fingers and pointed to the grocery store, five guys emerged from the truck and raided it like it was the end of the world.

“S-Soos?!” Stan gasped. “Soos, what are you doing?!” But he was ignored.

“No one can see or hear us, Stanley.” Honey said as they watched Soos’ gang drag a cashier out by her long hair and began to pumble her just because they could. Soos did nothing to stop it, even smiled a little as the girl screamed for help.

“I don't get it… Soos is a good kid! He’d never hurt a fly! Why in Moses’ name is he…” Stan couldn’t finish the sentence. He was frighteningly reminded of the Colombian gang he was once under.

“Oh, c'mon sweetie, connect the dots. Who do you think taught Soos to be a good kid?”

“His abuelita did.”

The woman chuckled and shook her head. “She tried, but as he got older it really began to hurt that his dad didn’t wanna be around him. And cuz you weren’t there to tell him otherwise… let’s just say high school never happened for him.”

“What?!”

“He dropped out of school in the eighth grade and joined a small gang outside of town. Eventually he made his way up the ranks and now his little gang terrorized the bottom half of Oregon.”

“B-But why?! All cuz I wasn’t there?” Stan asked, shaking his head. “There’s no way…”

“Stanley, who do you think taught him that he was worth something? Who taught him how to stand up for himself and give bullies left hooks? Who had him put all of his energy into hard work?”

Stan stared at his pretty tour guide. There was no way Stan did all that, no way. Sure, he liked the kid a lot, but he never actually thought he impacted Soos’ life this much. Stan looked back at this horrible version of Soos as his gang loaded the car with food and cash and they sped off, leaving the woman to bleed on the sidewalk and wipe the blood from her lips.

“C’mon,” Honey said and gestured onward. “We’ve got more people to see.”

“Okay so,” Stan followed her and racked his brain. Surely somebody benefited from him not being alive. “What about Wendy? Is she still around?”

“Nope. Without you to give her a job here in town, she had to move upstate to her cousin’s lodge, remember? She had to leave all of her friends behind and she was miserable. Still is, actually. Very quiet gal. Doesn’t say or do much.”

“Wendy? Quiet? I don’t believe you.”

The woman opened a door to a shop, but instead of the inside of the building they saw a black-haired Wendy sitting on her bed in her new room, criss-crossed, holding her pillow as she listened to depressing heavy metal.

Stan winced. “Yikes. She turned into a real Robbie.”

“That kid joined Soos’ gang, BTW.” The woman said as she closed the door.

Stan was having a hard time buying the idea that nobody actually got some good out of him not being around. "Wh-What about that lil' troll? Gideon?"

Honey snorted and led the way through town. As they walked, Stan was having a hard time buying this scenario. There was no way he made this much of a difference. Okay, sure, if he not being alive meant Ford never moved to Gravity Falls, and that meant Gravity Falls changed a bit, Stan could understand that, but there was no way this town turned for the worst all because Stan wasn’t there. There was no way the screw-up actually made things better. Right?

“Here we are.” The woman said to snap Stan out of his thoughts.

The car dealership looked mostly the same. A little more run-down, sure, and there was no Tent of Telepathy in sight, but Bud still wore that stupid straw hat with a baby-blue Hawaiian shirt and tan pants, but he didn’t look quite right, either. Heavy bags were under his eyes, looking a bit more like his wife, and the little bit of hair he had was graying a bit too early. He waved his customer goodbye with a smile, but the second they were gone he sighed tiredly and was frightened by a window being shattered by a rock.

“DADDY! GET OVER HERE!”

“Oh, boy.” Bud steadied himself and went back to the house.

“Hey, how come the little jerk’s business isn’t booming?” Stan asked, more interested as to why his biggest competitor wasn’t flourishing in a town that needed someone to believe in. “He’d do great here! He could’ve used his little camera to tell people when S-... when the gang was gonna strike, or…”

“Stanley, sweetie, how do you think Gideon started that tent?”

“I dunno, he decided to use his cuteness to get some cash?”

“Not quite. For a few years he was just a bratty kid, but then he found a journal in his playground full of mystical objects, including a magic bow-low tie. It was that journal that made him think of telepathy. Even if he was fake, it was Journal 2 that inspired him.”

“Okay, okay,” Stan held his chin. “So with no me there’s no Ford in Gravity Falls which means no journals which means no Tent of Telepathy. Fine, but the twerp’s gotta be a better person without that spooky book making him think he’s all powerful.”

The woman in white laughed and pointed to the house. “You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you? See for yourself.”

Stan walked up to the broken window and was mortified at the state of the house. Stains everywhere, chipped and torn furniture, cracked walls, torn carpet, and in the midst of it all was a ten-year-old lying on his stomach on the couch, banging his fists and kicking like a toddler as he screamed horribly. Stan winced, but then was completely thrown off to find Gideon’s hair not white and up Dolly Parton-style, but orange and cut short.

“I WANT IT, I WANT IT, I WANT IT!” Gideon screamed as if he was being murdered.

His poor mother was against the wall, holding her heart and breathing heavy; Stan noticed the signs of an anxiety attack.

Bud slowly approached his son and tried to calm him down. “Now, sugar pie, please…” But the human beaver was kicked in the jaw, leaving a bruise and making him bite his lip so hard he bled. Bud held his mouth as Gideon continued to scream.

“I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! YOU NEVER GIMME ANYTHANG I WANT! WHY YA HAVE TO BE SO STUPID?!”

“Yikes, how did not being possessed by a freaky journal make him worse?” Stan asked Honey as they walked away from the house. “I don’t get it.”

“Sure, Gideon wasn’t the best kid before the journal, but at least with the journal he had something to work towards, something to put all of his energy into, and he also had you.”

“M-Me?”

“Don’t you remember the first time you met him?”

“Yeah, he took my parking spot with that stupid van.”

“Actually, you met once before.” Honey chuckled as they walked back into the woods. “You were both at the grocery store when he was four. He was with his mom, bouncing in the buggy and demanding for candy. She gave in just to keep him quiet and tuned to pick some milk. You were across the aisle, picking orange juice, when Gideon dropped his chocolate bar while trying to open it. You noticed the candy and the boy making grabby hands at you and the candy, but you grinned, said ‘no’ firmly, picked up the chocolate…”

“... and ate it right in front of him!” Stan laughed. “I had forgotten… I didn’t know that was Gideon! I thought that was just some spoiled brat.”

“Well, it was. You were the first and only person who ever told that boy ‘no’, the only person who really challenged him and pushed him. Thanks to you, he channeled his anger and energy into trying to take you and the Shack down. But without you around to push him, he had no way to get his energy out, except his parents.”

Stan looked down at the dirt and they stopped walking for a second. “This… This doesn’t make any sense.”

“How so?”

“I’m just a screw-up!” Stan argued as he looked back up at the woman. “I’m the twin no one wanted! I’m just some loser of a conman! It doesn’t make sense that a guy like that could… it… there’s gotta be somebody to benefitted from me not existing! What about Lazy Susan? With no Mystery Shack that means no lazy eye, right?”

“Actually, Soos’ gang raided the diner and it ended badly when Susan stood up to them.” Honey winced. “She ended up not only losing her job, but her eye, too.”

Stan swore under his breath. “Fine… What about that McGucket dude? His life’s gotta be better than living at the dump with his mind all jacked up.”

The woman shrugged and led the way deeper into the woods. “Barely. C’mon, we’re going to Tennessee.”

Stan followed the mysterious tour guide back to the sailboat and this time properly braced himself for the sudden speed. Very suddenly they were racing along the sea, colors swirling by them, until they stopped very suddenly on a river. Stan’s jaw dropped to see a huge, beautiful mansion up on the hill by the river. The woman parked the sailboat by the dock and they started to walk up to the rich house, passing a weeping willow with a stone bench with a big crack in the middle.

“This is McGucket’s place?” Stan clarified.

“You got it, genius.” Honey gestured to the six horse stables, the lush garden, all of the nice cars and wagons, and at just how huge and nice and rich the mansion was. “Fiddleford still went to Backupsmore and met his wife, Emma May, and with no Ford to ask for help on a portal, Fiddleford became the inventor of not only person computers, or what’s commonly called laptops, he became the founder of the largest tech company in the country, Berri.”

The woman reached into her pocket and pulled out one of those smartphones the kids had, except the back had a little strawberry with a bite in it. “They went on to invent the first cell phone, BerriWatch, and right now they’re testing a self-driving car. Fiddleford found himself with more money than he knew what to do with and after he built his family their dream home, which by the way is the richest house in Tennessee, he simply expanded his company and made historical international deals. He’s also made huge donations to small run-down towns, like the one he grew up in, to create jobs and try to help out their economies.”

“Cool, okay, see.” Stan said with a smile, impressed by this hillbilly’s success. “One person got a good deal from me not being around.”

Honey rocked her hand side to side and led the way around the mansion, walking alongside the clear open space, passing the weeping willow and bench to move around the hill. “Just cuz he was successful doesn’t mean he was better off. Don’t forget, Fiddleford was never the greatest at handling his stress well. He invented that Memory Gun because Ford accidentally inspired him to, saying scientists have a way of creating solutions to their problems. So with no way to forget his stress and anxiety, Fiddleford drank to forget how worried he was about losing his company if he made a bad deal or if his newest invention or work or if he was putting out a good public face.”

“No.” Stan shook his head. “That goody two-shoes? No way.”

“Hey, he grew up around moonshine, he just couldn’t get his hands on it when he was living at the dump.” The woman shrugged and they came upon a stone pathway and walked down it to a small flower garden that formed a circle. “Anyways, Fiddleford was never violent, thank goodness, but he was drunk more than he was sober. He should be happy, with a wife and son and booming business to boot, but he wasn’t. He fell into depression and drank until he ended up here.”

Stan looked ahead and felt the wind get knocked out of him. There was a flat tombstone in the middle of the circle of flowers. He knew what was on there, but he still slowly approached to read what the stone said. “Fiddleford H. McGucket. 1956-2011. The angels now sing a whisky lullaby.”

Stan backed away, backing up farther than the woman was, shaking his head and even punching his forehead as he tried to think. “This… This doesn’t make any sense! Their lives were supposed to get better without me, not worse!”

“Stanley…”

“The kids!” Stan gasped and looked up at Honey. “Where are the kids?!”

The woman looked sober and she gestured back to the sailboat to go to their next stop. “Back in California.”

Stan was anxious the whole trip, though it only took a minute to get where they were going, but soon they were on the side of the road in front of a middle school. Stan watched on the boat as the bell rang and kids started pouring out. He kept his eyes peeled for his kids and he grinned at the sight of two brown-haired twins.

Dipper wore a long-sleeved blue flannel over his orange t-shirt to go with his gray pants. He still had bags under his eyes and he still had that lucky star hat to hide his birthmark, slouching a little with his backpack, but he was still here, a brilliant thirteen-year-old. Stan was a bit worried to see him looking so down and upset, but both men soon smiled as a young girl skipped out of the school.

Mabel had her long hair up with a scrunchie today and kept back with a headband, still wearing her sweaters, today wearing leggings with her skirt, and she grinned at her twin and punched his shoulder before hugging him. “Hey bro bro! Wanna go to the arcade today? I hear they got some new prizes!”

“Sure, sounds fun.”

“There, you see.” Stan sighed with relief as he watched the kids walk down the sidewalk, passing the boat. “They’re fine, they’re happy. They still got each other.”

Just then, some big buy came around the corner and bumped elbows with Dipper, making Stan’s nephew stop, and the bully shoved him onto the concrete.

“Dipper!” Mabel cried out and looked ready to punch the bully, but a guy came up behind her and grabbed her around the arms, pinning her. Another guy joined the bully and they cracked their knuckles as they gazed down at their prey.

“If it isn’t the best punching bag in town.” The bully sneered. “Feel like fighting back today, Dipstick. It’s no fun having a sparring partner that doesn’t fight back.”

Dipper growled and made a flimsy attempt to stand and punch his opponent, but the bully grabbed his wrist and punched him in the gut and kicked him down, leaving poor Dipper to huddle on the sidewalk while the two bullies hammered on him and Mabel fought to be free and help but was powerless against her capture.

“HELP! HELP! SOMEONE HE-” And Mabel’s mouth was covered, but she still wiggled and screamed.

Stan couldn’t watch anymore. He had purposely waited to give the kids a chance to fight back, but sometimes you just need a little help. “I’M COMING!”

“Stanley!”

Stan jumped off the boat and ran to the kids to pull the bully off his niece and scoop her into his arms, but his arms went right through them. He frantically tried to shove the bullies off his nephew, but again his body went right through them, like he was a ghost.

The woman stood by his side and said calmly, “I told you, no one can see or hear or feel us.”

“I can’t just stand by and do nothing!” Stan yelled at her face.

“Why not? Everyone else has. No one had ever taught them how to fight back when the world fights them, except…”

“Me.” Stan finished for her with a sigh. He made himself watch as the bullies continued to beat Dipper up, finally stopping after the ring leader kicked him in the jaw, and Mabel was let go as they ran off to celebrate their victory.

Mabel crawled to her twin’s side and checked over his injuries as he carefully sat on his knees. “Dipper! Dipper, are you okay? What hurts? Show me what hurts.”

“Ow, ow, ow,” He whined as Mabel touched his swollen eyes and busted lips. Dipper spat out a tooth and held his chest. “I think… I think they cracked a rib.”

“Let’s go home.” Mabel carried his backpack for him and had him lean on her as they wimped onward. “Mom can look at it and take you to the hospital.”

“I don’t get it.” Stan said as he watched his kids walk away. “They’re good kids! Isn’t anyone gonna stand up for them?! What about their parents?! What about their friends?!”

“They don’t have any friends.” Honey said sadly as they watched the twins. “The only friends they had ever made were in Gravity Falls, which they had never visited cuz there was no family there. And Shermie taught your nephew to keep your head down to stay out of trouble, which he’s trying to teach his kids. Unfortunately, it isn’t working out for them, and what used to be bad nicknames and gum in their hair has escalated to fights and notes to kill themselves.”

Stan bit his lip. Not those kids. Not his kids. He wanted to believe things would get better for them, but if no one taught them that they were worth something, that they could stand up for themselves, he didn't have much hope and he didn’t dare ask what their future looked like. But something didn’t sit right…

“Shermie,” He muttered without looking at the woman, still looking ahead. “Y-You said he taught his kid to keep his head down.”

“I did.”

“Why would he do that?” Stan asked. “I mean, sure he’s always been a lame square, but that’s really bad advice, even for him. He taught me and… He taught Ford to stand up for himself. Crampelter was terrified for weeks when Shermie found out he had been breaking Ford’s fingers.”

“He and Ford didn’t see much of each other.” Honey answered quietly.

Something clicked in Stan’s head. While all of this was interesting or whatever, there was only one person that Stan truly believed was better off without him. His better half, the genius, the loved son, the author of the journals, the criminal of the multiverse. His brother. Stan turned to her and asked quietly, “Where’s Ford?”

For the first time, the woman looked scared. She looked away and said, “You don’t wanna know.”

“Yes I do!” Stan bellowed and grabbed the woman by the shoulders. “Please! Where’s my brother?!” This gal had been scaringly quiet about the one person Stan cared the most about.

“Don’t do this to yourself, Stanley, let’s just get back on the boat…”

“Only if you take me to see my brother! Where. Is. Stanford?!” Stan demanded darkly, his eyes pleading the woman to make his request.

The woman sighed and Stan let her go.

They slowly got on the boat and it zipped to the docks of Glass Shard. Stan blinked a few times at being back to where he grew up for the first time in forty years. Dark clouds covered the sky. Not much had changed throughout the years, but why on Earth was Ford still here? They hopped off and planted their feet on the sand, and Honey led the way as she spoke.

“Stanford was still born with six fingers on each hand. Your mother tried to assure him that it only made him special, but Filbrick did a good job of making it clear that that wasn’t the case, and things only got worse when he went to school. You weren’t there to beat up bullies, you weren’t there to tell him that he was special, you weren’t there to help him dream of a future where they would sail away and he’d be free.”

“Yeah but Ford was always a little genius.” Stan interrupted as they left the sand for dirt, the beach slowly turning into a small patch of woods. “He’d win a handful of science fairs and spelling bees and then at least Pa was okay with acknowledging that they were related.”

“But Stanford didn’t win a handful of science fairs and spelling bees.” Honey corrected sadly. “Stanley, you were the only person in his childhood that made him think that he was actually worth something. You were the only one who made him shoot for the stars and believe that he was worth keeping around. Without you to give him confidence, Stanford never expressed his intelligence and therefore never allowed it to grow at all. He did okay in school, but he wasn’t the top student. He never participated in science fairs of sleeping bees or math competitions because he didn’t have enough confidence to put himself out there. Sure he was smart, but teachers weren't going bananas over him because no one, not even himself, knew his potential.”

It started to rain, but of course the two didn’t feel it or were affected by it. “So… he didn’t go to West Coast Tech?” Stan dared to ask as they walked deeper down the dirt path, oblivious to where they were as he was thinking this through.

“No.”

“But… I thought you said he did.”

“No, I said he never moved to Gravity Falls. He never felt home.”

“So… what happened to him? What did Ford end up doing with his life?”

Honey bit his lip and refused to meet Stan’s eye. They walked on and Stan finally realized where they were. He felt ready to throw up. He waited for his guide to speak.

“Much like Dipper and Mabel, things only got worse as he got older. He got to a point where Stanford was stealing Filbrick’s boos and he even started to hurt himself. It wasn’t enough. It was all too much for him. He… He…”

“No.” Stan’s voice cracked and he was terrified when the woman stopped and motioned to a tombstone that laid among the others in this graveyard. “No! You’re lying! He wouldn’t! He didn’t!” He yelled.

“I’m sorry, Stanley.”

Stan finally made himself read the rock. He fell to his knees at the words that shined through the rain. “Stanford Filbrick Pines. 1956-1970.”

“NO!” Stan screamed and punched the ground beneath him as he gritted his teeth and shut his eyes. “NO! HE WOULDN’T! HE DIDN’T!”

“Ma found him dangling from the ceiling. She was never the same after losing her baby.” Honey croaked. “He was only fourteen.”

“NO!” Stan shook his head as he ignored how wet his cheeks and eyes were now. “NO! He… He… He never needed me. He never wanted me around.”

“Yes he did.”

“You’re lying.”

“Stanley, listen.” The woman said firmly behind him. “You said it yourself that family needs each other. I know it’s hard to believe that you’re actually worth something when there’s a dozen voices in your head telling you otherwise, but just like how you need them, your family needs you. Your brother needs you.”

Stan listed his fists up from the dirt, his eyes on the tombstone without seeing. “I… I just thought he’d be… they’d be better off I hadn’t been around.”

“No one knows for sure how they change things or how much they really impact others. But you do. And even if you forget all of this, you know your family loves you enough to tell you that they need you.”

Stan snorted. “Yeah, but what’s keeping them from saying that outta pity?”

“You can’t let yourself think like that, Stanley, you just can’t.” Honey said firmly. “Your family loves you. Stanford loves you. He needs you, and if you don’t believe me, just take a look at what he’s like when you’re gone.”

“Wait what?”

Honey got on her knees beside him and showed him her golden watch. The face changed to a scene, like a tiny TV, and Stan started to find Ford back at the Stan O’ War II, kneeling beside his injured twin who laid more dead than alive on the couch. With tears streaming down his face Ford was wrapping a bandage around Stan’s head and feeling his heartbeat and checking that the bandages around his torso were well and secure.

“Stanley, Stanley please,” Ford begged as he took Stan’s hand and squeezed it. “Please don’t leave me. I need you, the kids need you. Please.”

“Whoa hey, I’m not going anywhere.” Stan said, but then his eyes grew wide and he looked up at Honey. “Am I?”

“I dunno.” She asked as she lowered her arm and smiled at him. “Do you wanna go?”

“Go where?”

Honey chuckled. “On.”

Stan blinked at her. “No. No, I don’t. If… If that knucklehead really wants me around, then I’ll stay.”

Honey blinked her eyes dry and stood up. “That’s what I like to hear. I’ll get you home.”

Stan stood up and followed her back to the boat. “By the way, honey, why’d you do all this for me? What, wanted to earn your wings?”

“No, this was pure self-indulgent.”

“Wait wut?”

~~~~~~~~~~

His head hurt. His side ached a little, but his head really hurt. That didn’t matter. He had no idea why, but he had to see his brother.

Stan forced his eyes open and found his vision blurry thanks to his glasses being folded on the end table. He smiled when he saw that Ford had fallen asleep by his side, kneeling beside the couch, holding his hand, and resting his head face-first into his own folded arms. Outside it was dark, which could mean it was seven in the morning of seven at night, given the fact they were up in the Arctic.

The younger, injured twin, snorted at his brother, which made the aged scientist sit up too quickly for it to be wise, wide awake, with his hair in a gray floof and his red eyes wide and alert.

“Stanley! Thank Moses!” He cried out and stood up to better look over him. “How do you feel? Any pain? How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Calm down, Sixer,” Stan chuckled weakly as he slowly tried to sit up, sensitive to the wound on his side. “My head hurts, but I’ll be fine with some painkillers, and you’re holding up two fingers like some dumb hippy.”

“Oh, thank goodness!” Ford hugged him around his shoulders tightly as his whole body trembled. “I know you showed no signs of a concussion and your wound is not nearly as bad as it could have been, but i didn’t know for sure if you would pull through or what I would do without you and…”

“Geez, relax, it’s okay, Stanford.” Stan shushed as he hugged him and rubbed his back. “M’fine, okay? I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good.” Ford said firmly and sat back, a hand still on his shoulder. “Don’t you ever think for a second that I don’t want you here with me, Stanley. I need you.”

“Yikes, where’s all this sappiness coming from, eh?”

Ford blinked at his twin and said slowly, “Y-You said you thought I’d be better off without you…”

Stan waved that away. “Ah, you say stupid stuff when you hit your brain too hard. I swear, Sixer, you’re stuck with me, as long as you’ll have me, anyways. Somebody’s gotta make sure you don’t kill yourself out here.”

Ford chuckled tiredly and shrugged. “I suppose you’re right.”

“I’m always right. Now do we have any stew left? I’m starving.”

#GF #fanfiction #gravity falls #gift #stan pines #ford pines #angst #nothing but angst #and a little fluff #maybe #I HOPE YOU LIKE IT HONEYE!!!#LOVE YOU!

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