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andrea-lyn · 3 years

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The Recs (Less Travelled)

I’m excited to bring you the first installment of my ‘roads less travelled’ recs! I will be doing another round of this, probably once the Ted Lasso fic tag hits about 25 pages, and then I’ll also grab a couple more fandoms to collect in there!

The Rules:

Each fandom/pairing was sorted on Archive of Our Own by completed works. Anything recced here was not in the first ten pages when sorted by kudos at the time of reccing. There may be some more well-known authors on this list, but the specific fics I’ve picked are ones that didn’t crack that top ten or just didn’t get much traction and I think deserve it, so hopefully I have also balanced it out with other under the radar (and still great!) works. As ever, I have a pinned post of my other recs (none have been duplicated from there), so you can also check those out! Under the cut you’ll find 10 recs in each fandom for:

Raven Cycle

Roswell New Mexico

The Old Guard

Inception

Star Trek (mainly Kirk/McCoy)

The Raven Cycle

savor all the little pieces by littlelionvanz

“Since when do you garden?”

Ronan snorted, “Since I grew up on a fucking farm, genius. Jesus who gave you permission to pursue higher education.”

the old grip of the familiar by littleseal

"There is a single black feather and a printed out picture of Gansey, Blue and Cheng standing in front of some fucking monument Ronan didn’t care enough to remember the name of. Gansey sent it to Ronan’s phone some time ago, but it sat in his messages until Adam picked it up and grinned at it so hard that, one afternoon later, Ronan cursed and kicked and glared his old printer back to life in order to print it out.

Fuck, he thinks, I’m in love with a hoarder."

Adam collects things. Ronan is in love with him.

No Sweeter Innocence Than Our Gentle Sin by gansey_is_our_king

Ronan Lynch has wanted to kiss Adam Parrish for a long time.

(alternately titled: four times that Ronan could have kissed Adam)

Cheers to Another Seven Years! by skyermirth

Adam left Henrietta for Harvard and never returned. Now, seven years has passed, and an unexpected work assignment has brought him back to a place and people he hardly recognizes.

Row, row, row your boat by emmerrr

“What. Why are you smiling at me,” he says suspiciously.

Adam shrugs. “You’re cute.”

“I’m not cute, I’m terrifying.”

“Terrifyingly cute,” Adam says.

and now the world is ours to take / and every single move is ours to make by thatlittleblackcat

"Adam was the scientist, Ronan was the data, and Orphan Girl was the key that explained the strange outliers that Ronan presented, his previously unexplainable actions."

Adam sorts out his feelings, Ronan helps him, Gansey is the number one dad friend, Blue is the number one mom friend and Henry tries to make Ronan smile. Otherwise known as the story of how Orphan Girl became Opal.

All These Things You Make Me Feel by SilverOpals394

It was late. Adam could feel the long day catching up to him as he left Boyd’s, all his energy exhausted. When he started his car, the tape deck whirred to life once more. He sighed and raised his hand to turn it off, but before he did a soft melody began to play.

AU in which the mixtape Ronan made for Adam only plays the murder squash song until Adam realizes he's in love with Ronan, too.

Ways to Communicate by Jalules

Blue Sargent reflects on an early memory (and gets busy with her boyfriends.)

(The two things are related, trust me.)

Hold Me Closer, I'm Safe in Your Arms by actuallyronanlynch

“You wanna tell me why I had to hear from Henry Cheng that my boyfriend was at the hospital?” Adam hissed, though his voice wasn’t as acidic as it could’ve been. Ronan took small victories where he could.

“You don’t have a cellphone,” Ronan pointed out flatly. “It’s not like I could’ve gotten a hold of you.”

arts and crafts and the inevitability of death by sunshineinthestorm

Adam comes to the public library in search of a study spot, not a boyfriend.

But it must be his lucky day—because he ends up with a bit of both.

Roswell New Mexico

a conversation between insignificant others by Bellakitse

“Hey…have you noticed that our boyfriends are madly in love with each other?"

“You noticed that too, huh,” she answers dryly, letting out a huff of reluctant amusement.

***

Forrest and Maria share a drink and a conversation and start a friendship.

Own Personal Hell by BeStillMySlashyHeart

Now that Isobel's getting the hang of her telekinesis, Michael decides to test out his telepathic abilities. It backfires. Badly. Now Michael's trapped inside his own mind and only one person can break him out.

Drop the Hammer by brightloveee

Max makes a new friend at the shooting range, who turns out to be even more bad-ass than he expected.

(Takes place mid-S1)

Boys Like You by forgadgetsandgizmos

Curly, dirty blond hair (the mere description ‘curly’ felt like an injustice) twisted in every direction off his head, a sharp contrast with the scruff darkening his strong jawline and scowl-ridden face.

Alex made a mental note to compliment Maria on her excellent taste in men.

—

Or, Alex has coffee with Maria's one-night stand, a man who he definitely does not have a crush on.

let's exchange the experience by lostin_space

Michael decides they need to quarantine.

Michael floods Alex with love and care over and over and over.

This Is Hardcore by Anonymous

Michael makes a proposal. Alex accepts. Michael wonders what the hell he’s gotten himself into.

i don't know what to think (but i think of supernovas) by Milzilla

michael discovers that the console can talk. then, he discovers it can do far more than that.

iridescence on skin by Lire_Casander

In a world where (almost) everyone has a tattoo on their right wrist with one set of coordinates that point to the place where their soulmate is born, Alex thought he wouldn't be any different. He couldn't be more mistaken.

He has two.

The Real Thing by elliebird

Max checks on Michael the morning after Michael saves Max’s ass from Wyatt Long and his dumbass buddies. He sees more than he’s supposed to.

Written for a Tumblr anon who one of their friends walking in on them or anyone of them finding out about Michael and Alex in an interesting way

Sundering by romancandles

“You know it was just an Air Force balloon, right?” says Alex.

Michael smirks. “That’s what they want you to think,” he says, with a wink.

The Old Guard

Peer Reviewed by ishandahalf

[From:] Journal of Medieval Studies ([email protected])

[Subject:] Ad-hoc note from the editor

I have noticed an uncommon level of animosity in your responses to your reviewers (or rather, one reviewer in particular). I am writing to ask if you would please do your best to keep your interactions civil. In fairness, I have also sent a similar request to the reviewer you seem to have this friction with. I trust you will both try and remain more professional in the future.

Again, thank you for submitting your work to this journal.

Sincerely,

James Copley, PhD

Editor-in-Chief

Journal of Medieval Studies

An (accidental) academic epistolary romance as (inadvertently) documented via a (theoretically) rigorously blinded peer review process.[citation needed]

third for a word and the song keeps going Macremae

It was honestly shaping up to be a pretty uneventful year before the Vatican got on Nicky’s bad side.

Or: three times in 2008 that the team genuinely thought about killing Nicky if only to get him to shut up about the changes to the Catholic English Mass and his unrelenting opinions on them, and one time Nile did.

Apex Predators In Island Ecosystems (Freeman et al., in press) by Sixthlight

Palaeobotany PhD student Nile Freeman and her supervisor Joe al-Kaysani are invited to billionaire Stephen Merrick’s new project – a theme park full of cloned dinosaurs. What could possibly go wrong?

This Rough Magic by Marivan

When Joe came to Scotland to study the sea, he did not expect to also encounter a beautiful man claiming that A. he’s a selkie and B. they’re married because Joe picked up his scarf.

It sounds like a fairy tale and that’s a problem. Because Joe’s a scientist. And selkies don’t exist.

Wars for the broken by Yuliares

Five years into his exile, Booker is joined by a companion he never expected to meet. Together, they try to work on healing.

Sometimes they go down to the sewers just so she can scream and scream. “I like to hear it echo,” she explains. “Underwater, you can’t hear anything. Here, at least I can be heard.”

“I don’t feel like a warrior anymore,” she tells him, throwing bread crumbs at pigeons. “I feel broken.”

“You’re still a warrior,” he says roughly. “This is still fighting.”

a good (eighth) impression by deanniker

Over the next few months, Joe runs into Nicky every so often at the farmer’s market. Some weekends Nicky doesn’t make it, because of his work schedule - Joe doesn’t understand it because he doesn’t ask, though he does start to recognize when one of those missing weekends is coming up because Nicky will stock up on things with longer shelf-life. When they do run into each other, they make small talk and move through the stalls together.

Joe doesn’t mention it to Lykon when he stops by, because it is kind of weird, that Lykon’s ex-boyfriend texts Joe things like - If you’re here, the apples look particularly good this week and thank you for that recipe, I did not know what I was going to do with that much couscous

Or,

Joe wouldn't usually consider starting anything with his best friend's ex, but as long as they keep it casual, it shouldn't be weird... right?

get back to where you once belonged by tenderjock

Nile takes a sip of her cappuccino and closes her eyes.

(Booker and Nile get that coffee. Life happens, along the way.)

a house; a home by mehm

“Is this a kidnapping?” Joe asks as Nicky checks both their seat belts. “Like, I don’t mind. It’s just not quite what I expected for my birthday.”

In which Joe gets a birthday surprise, because that’s the stuff you have time for when you and the love of your life become mortal at the same time.

the ties that bind by damaskrose

“There’s a story I heard many times,” Andy begins, “in the Mediterranean. Threads of fate and three sisters. One to spin, one to measure, and one to cut.”

Clutter And Croutons by flawedamythyst

Joe and Nicky have an argument, and then Nicky talks to Nile about what it really means to be in a relationship for 900 years.

Inception

My Big Fat Slightly Annoying Wedding by jibrailis

Arthur and Eames elope for ~tax reasons. Certain people in their lives are not happy at the lack of a wedding.

Remember Sydney by pathera

When Eames shambles into the safe house outside of London, he finds a red light blinking on the phone.

For the inception_kink prompt:

Arthur is on a plane which is about to crash. No way anyone is going to survive. Instead of panicking he calmly calls the team's office and gets the answering machine. He hangs up before the plane crashes.

Give me Arthur's last message to the team.

(TW: Character Death / Angst)

Of Such Deceitfulness and Suavity by delires

In which emotions manifest themselves in unusual ways.

YO, K2tog (it's like a code) by lazulisong

“Oh my God,” moans Arthur. “I’ve paid less for Somnacin. Good Somnacin.” A horrible thought strikes him. “How much is the yarn --”

“I want you to have an unguarded reaction,” Eames tells him, and pulls him up from the floor.

(They run an extraction on a knitter.)

hit the ground running by orphan_account

"I travelled halfway around the world for you. I dealt with the French for you."

Valley by wldnst

It's an old story: a knight, a prince, a kingdom in peril.

If This Is Rain Let It Fall On Me and Drown Me by Brangwen

We used to be so brave, Eames thought. Of the two of them, Arthur had always been the more fearless.

a gentle familiarity by jollypuppet

Two weeks later, Eames is on his doorstep with bad Italian takeout and a grin, and Arthur tells him he can sleep on the couch.

Your Crisis Cannot Be Completed As Dialed by sevenimpossiblethings

Arthur doesn't do snow, Ariadne is determined to be as Midwestern as possible, and blizzards make cell phone service unreliable.

Let’s Say I Do (I Do) by xsilverdreamsx

There were, perhaps some things worse that this, Arthur thinks, as he glares at the letter in his hand with his name printed clearly in bold ink, indicating his presence in two weeks for his esteemed marriage to one William H. Eames, III, at St. Catherine's Church in London, England.

Star Trek (predominantly Kirk/McCoy)

Show the World That Something Good Can Work by knune

Leonard McCoy is a doctor, not a personal assistant, and maybe that's why he can't stand working for Jim Kirk.

It's in the little things by winterover

Bones is bemused by a persistent secret admirer.

"Wedding" Away with It by pendrogon

One morning, Bones wakes up and he's single. By the same afternoon, he's married to Jim Kirk for Arbitrary Fic Reasons(TM).

How Long Will You Stay (For Your Whole Life) by withthepilot

Jim Kirk, deputy director of the Enterprise parks and recreation department, sees all of his hard work fall to pieces when budget specialist Leonard McCoy arrives from the state capital to cut Jim's budget and threaten the livelihoods of his colleagues. But thanks to a major parks project, Leonard finds a place in the department, as well as in Jim's life—and when all is said and done, Jim doesn't want him to leave.

All-Time Favorite by mardia

What to do when your best friend suddenly starts making new friends.

Joy Ride by Cards_Slash

While running for their lives from an alien species Kirk had accidentally enraged, they come across a car. And well, if you were to come across a car while being chased by aliens that wanted you dead, and you possessed some lingering knowledge of how to drive a car similar to said car, you would have decided to drive it toward the nearest cliff too.

Also a gunfight.

Syncytia by epistolic

He’d signed up for Starfleet on an impulse, but Starfleet meant James Tiberius Kirk: the first – and second, and third, and fourth – big mistake of Leonard McCoy’s life.

Renovation by canistakahari

Jim has a whammy put on him by an alien death ray and he suddenly craves domesticity. He's crazy with longing to shop at space!Ikea and get potted bamboo and he starts looking into adopting AND HE HATES HIMSELF AND CANNOT CONTROL THE SHIT. Luckily, McCoy is drunk all the time and plays house.

17:08 by butterflycell

She'd watched the news holos with a sick feeling, searching for information that was completely obvious in its absence. Amidst the reports of the the Enterprise's miraculous recovery and the damages sustained, there had been next to nothing about the crew or her captain. Jim had been mentioned only in passing, his name shied away from as his first officer limited interaction to the bare essentials.

The Honey of Hybla by shrift

"Bones, prepare to be my date."

#recs #fic recs #recs project #star trek recs #inception recs #the raven cycle recs #the old guard recs #roswell new mexico recs

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randomposterofstuff · 3 years

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Soldiers by Choice - Chapter VI

Author's Note: So, real life has been stressing me out immensely. Lol. And I really wanted to post this chapter as soon as I could, so please forgive me for any mistakes and any other problems. Haha. In any case, I hope that you all like it!

Also available on Archive of Our Own. Check my tumblr page to click on the ‘Archive of Our Own’ tab!

Tumblr Chapters List can be found here.

CHAPTER 6: Reasons and Apologies

Summary: Mikasa and Levi encounter troublesome Military Police officers while doing a supply run. Meanwhile, at the Cadet Corps headquarters, Eren Yeager and Jean Kirstein have another confrontation.

Year 847 (5 months later)

---

“Tch. They’re out of bleach.”

Levi glares at the empty row of shelves where jars of commercial bleach usually would be. A few feet away to his left, Mikasa speaks with the shop owner.

“Mr. Gale, I don’t understand. Section Commander Hange told us that you usually have stocks of everything during this time of the month.”

The Titan-scientist and Moblit were on the supply pick-up rotation for the current month. But since they were away on another observation expedition with the Research division, the task had fallen to the two Ackermans.

Mr. Gale, an aging man in his early 50s, clasps his hands apologetically. “I’m sorry, Captain. But due to some issues with our supplier, we won’t have stocks until next month.”

The dark-haired woman sighs at the news. “I see. We will just have to make do with an alternative and the other supplies.”

After a few more words and apologetic gestures from the shop owner, she approaches her co-captain, who is still glowering at the vacant racks.

“They won’t restock until next month.”

His frown deepens. “How the hell are we supposed to properly clean without bleach?”

Mikasa cracks a small smile at his displeasure over the absence of the cleaning agent. In the back of her mind, she muses that even after three years of working together, she still finds his pseudo-obsession with cleanliness to be comical to the point of disbelief.

“We can make our own cleaning formula.” She says. “The store has the necessary ingredients, and the budget is enough to cover them.”

The tautness in his jaw relents at this. “You know how to make bleach?”

She nods. “I do. My mother created her own cleanser. The employees at our estate use it.”

His eyebrows raise in mild surprise. “I didn’t know the Azumabitos also dealt in the cleaning business.” He remarks wryly.

She shifts her eyes from side to side before taking a step closer. "It's a closely guarded family secret." She whispers mock-conspiratorially.

He smirks. “Your secret is safe with me.” He speaks in a similarly hushed tone, and she mirrors his smirk.

---

After perusing the store for the needed ingredients, the two officers help the elderly shop owner place all their purchased supplies in eight wooden crates.

“That’s everything.” Mr. Gale comments as he places the lid on the final crate. “I’ll call my boys to help you load them on your cart.”

“There’s no need for that.” Levi says, already readying himself to lift some of the boxes. “We can handle it.”

The proprietor laughs good-naturedly. "Come now, Captain Levi. I know that you’re ‘Humanity’s Strongest Soldier’ and that Captain Mikasa is the ‘Woman Worth a Hundred Soldiers”, but you can’t rea---”

He cuts himself off when the two Ackermans each lift four boxes with little effort.

Mikasa shifts the crates so that she faces the shop owner properly. "Mr. Gale, you've already received the payment from our budgetary officer, correct?"

The older man merely nods, his mouth still agape in shock at the display of inhuman strength.

“We’ll be on our way, then. Thanks, old man.” Levi states, unfazed by the reaction.

The warm afternoon sun greets them as they exit the shop. The commercial area of Trost is filled with chatter from the mass of patrons. Due to the crowded streets, they had to leave their wagon at a fairly secluded area some ways away from the store.

When they finally arrive at where they parked, the crowd has thinned considerably. The few people there are either entering or exiting the complex. The two are in the process of loading the crates onto the cart when they hear the sound of glass breaking, followed by a frightened yell to their right.

They turn their heads to the source see to see a small saloon. One of its front windows is covered by pull-down drapes, while the other one is unobscured. Through the glass of the second one, the co-captains see a middle-aged man and woman, presumably the owners, anxiously speaking to two Military Police officers.

“Whaddaya mean we have to pay?” An MP with light hair slurs loudly while gripping a long-necked bottle.

The woman, who looks to be in her early 40s, attempts to explain. “Sir, you’ve consumed more than two bottles already.” She says, wringing her hands together nervously. “And our store ---”

“Blah!” The other MP, a man with darker hair, sways as he unslings his rifle from his shoulder. Both the woman and her partner take a step back, visibly terrified. “We serve the kingdom!” He yells. “You lot should be grateful! Besides, your stuff tastes like shit!"

He unsteadily aims his rifle at a row of bottles behind the counter while his companion laughs. “You’re right, Ricky!” He shouts, smashing the bottle he was holding against the floor.

The one called Ricky guffaws. "Damn right, I'm right, George!" Slightly swaying, he disengages the safety lock. “I’ve been wanting to try this beauty out! They say this thing can shoot 15 bullets in a row after just one click!” Just as he is about to place his finger on the trigger, he is suddenly struck across the head. The impact of the attack causes him to drop his weapon.

“Ricky!” George makes to unsling his own rifle but barely has time to react before a heavy boot hits him in the stomach. He faintly registers his gun being snatched from him before he is thrown across the room and roughly crashes onto a table and some chairs. One second later, Ricky lands beside him with a loud thud.

They both groan for a moment before raising their heads and seeing the profiles of two other soldiers in the area where they had been standing before. “Hey!” George yells while unsteadily getting up. “What gives?!” He demands, face flushed with both embarrassment and alcohol. “Who are you anyway?!” He trains his glazed-over beady eyes at their assailants.

Levi narrows his eyes, not the least bit intimidated. “You were harassing innocent civilians.” He crosses his arms, leveling him with a look of disdain. "Taxpayer money is wasted on pigs like you.”

“They’re from the Survey Corps!” Ricky exclaims, pointing to the Wings of Freedom on the fronts of their jackets. “You two have got some nerve!” He glares, eyes glassy with inebriation. “Accusing us of wasting taxpayer money when you ---”

Mikasa quietly raises his rifle at him, causing him to cut himself short. Both MPs freeze at the movement.

“P—put that down and g—give it back!” Ricky demands, voice shaking.

Mikasa shifts her gaze from the anxious Military Police officers and to the firearm in her hands. She examines its long sleek frame and swipes her thumb over the grip.

“It saddens me to see that my father’s guns were used to frighten defenseless civilians.” She comments out loud, her tone a cross between pensive and disappointed.

George’s brows scrunch up in confusion at her statement. “Huh?!” The two MPs look at her dumbly, trying to comprehend the meaning behinds her words.

Meanwhile, Levi picks up the second rifle from the floor, ignoring the whimpers from the two pigs. He feels the gun's weight in his hands and notes that it is light compared to other models. He then places his thumb on the butt of the rifle and runs it over the engraved encircled cursive 'A' which serves as the insignia of Lord Mikhail Ackerman's gun manufacturing company. He muses that the emblem looks similar to the Azumabito clan symbol on the inside of Mikasa’s wrist.

“If it’s any consolation,” he begins, still looking at the rifle, “I think that your father did a great job with this gun, Mikasa.” He remarks almost idly.

“Thanks, Levi.”

“Levi? Mikasa?” George repeats their names, a hint of recognition in their slurred tone. “Mikasa… Mikhail A—“. Shock settles on his features as they finally connect the dots. His eyes further widen in realization when they shift to Levi. “… Ackerman.”

“You’re Levi and Mikasa Ackerman!” George exclaims, lips trembling. At his exclamation, Ricky’s mouth drops open as sweat starts to form on his brow. The two men nervously shift their eyes between the co-captains – panic and recognition clearing away the drink-induced glazes in their eyes.

“I mean, my lord and lady!” George suddenly bows at the waist. His companion scrambles to do the same. “Our apologies! We didn’t recognize you!”

Levi’s jaw clenches at their sycophantic gesture. “Tch. Do not call us those.” He hisses. “And quit your groveling.”

They straighten themselves instantly at the vitriol in his voice. “My lord?” One of them squeaks.

Mikasa takes a sharp breath. “We’re not at the royal court.” She states, an edge to her voice. “Furthermore, we’re acting in our capacities as officers of the Survey Corps. So, if you’re going to address us, do so accordingly.”

“Yes, my la---, I mean, Captain!” The same MP yelps. “We’re sorry!”

Mikasa narrows her eyes, clearly unimpressed. “You’re clearly not genuine.” She speaks coldly. “And it appears that the likes of you get your bravado from carrying my father’s guns. Perhaps I should tell him to terminate his weapons provision contract with the Military Police.”

“Please don’t!” They both plead simultaneously, alarm in their voices. Clearly frightened of the consequences should they be the cause of the loss of the contract. “This won’t happen again!”

The disdain in her dark grey eyes indicates that she is not convinced. “I don’t believe you.” Mikasa then grips that rifle’s ammunition magazine. “So, I’m going to take these.”

Following her lead, Levi makes to do the same with the rifle in his hands. “I’ll take care of this one.”

Once he’s done, Mikasa holds out a hand, and he gives her the second rifle. She throws the weapons at the feet of the two MPs. “Take those and leave.” She commands, voice near imperious. “And don’t forget to put your payment on the counter.”

The two men do as they are told. They wordlessly take the ammo-less rifles and practically empty their wallets onto the counter before leaving the saloon with their heads bowed.

Once they were out of sight, the two Ackermans turn to the shop owners, who had been silently watching the exchange from the sidelines with bated breath.

“We’re not from the Military Police.” Levi states plainly. “But all the same, we’re sorry for the trouble they caused.”

The middle-aged man shakes himself from his daze. “Oh, please! You have nothing to apologize for!” He says, a nervous but sincere smile on his face. “In fact, my wife and I should thank you, my lord and lady!” His eyes then widen at his slip of tongue. “I’m sorry, I mean---”

Mikasa raises her hands in a calming gesture. “It’s alright.” She assures him with a smile.

The man’s tension eases, relieved at her assurance.

“Thank you so much, Captains.” His wife steps forward, wearing a bright and grateful smile. “May we offer you something to eat and drink?”

“Oh, we ---” Mikasa begins, about to politely decline.

“It’s on the house!” The husband insists. “It’s the least that we could do for you! We insist.”

Mikasa observes their smiling and amiable expressions before turning to Levi. She lifts her brows, and he gives a slight shrug before taking out his pocket watch.

“I suppose we have time before we need to get back to headquarters.” He comments.

The shop owners beam at the response. “Wonderful! I’m Tim Briles, by the way, and this is my wife, Frances." Tim introduces himself and his wife. “Please, have a seat. The menu is by the counter. Order anything you want!”

"Sure." Levi replies, and he turns towards the turned-over tables and chairs. “I’ll fix the tables and chairs. I’ll have what you’re having.”

“Noted." Mikasa states as she makes her way to the counter. She peruses the menu and, after a minute of deliberating, settles on a sandwich platter and chamomile tea. She vaguely wonders if the tea selection is meant for customers with hangovers.

After an enthusiastic Frances takes their order, she makes her way to Levi, who has just finished righting the disarray of furniture. As she approaches, her co-captain suddenly pulls out a chair and gestures for her to sit.

Mikasa looks at him questioningly, and he tilts his head towards the offered chair.

She decides to play along. “How very gentlemanly of you.” She jests, voice half-coquettish as she moves to sit.

“Only for you, my lady.” He drawls as he pushes the chair in for her.

They both snicker at the mocking references to their noble backgrounds.

“So, what are we having?” He asks as he sits from across her.

“Tea and sandwiches.” He raised a brow at ‘tea’, and she smiles. "I know; I was also surprised to see it on the menu.”

Levi hums. “In any case, it’s too early for liquor.”

A few minutes pass, and Frances approaches their table with their food and drinks. “Here are your orders. Enjoy!”

The co-captains both thank the female shop owner, and they split the sandwiches and tea between themselves.

Comfortable silence ensues as they eat their sandwiches. Levi muses that the saloon’s turkey sandwich is quite good. He takes a look at the sandwich in Mikasa’s hand and deduces from the green poking out from the bread that it’s full of vegetables.

After he finishes his food and begins stirring his tea, a random realization suddenly occurs to him.

“Something wrong?” Mikasa asks, noticing the contemplative furrow of his brow.

“No.” He replies, taking out the spoon from his cup and gripping it by the rim. “It’s just that I realized you actually used the ‘I’m going to tell my daddy’ card.”

Mikasa blinks at the remark. A beat of silence passes before she bursts into laughter.

Her shoulders slightly shake as hearty chuckles flow from her. She laughs in earnest at the absurdity and the truth of the statement.

Levi’s lips curve upwards at her open display of mirth, observing how her usually stern eyes crinkle at the corners and how genuine joy shines through her typically reserved expression.

“I’m sorry.” Mikasa says, still giggling as she adjusts her cravat around her neck. “You’re right, but it’s just so ridiculous.” She remarks, her smile wide. “Come to think of it, I’ve never used it before.” She muses out loud, her lips still twitching.

“At least you used it for a good cause.” He quips, sharing in her amusement.

She chortles at his joke. He also lets out an amused sound.

She eventually sobers down, though a small smile still remains on her lips.

But after a moment, her eyes suddenly become downcast, and her smile disappears.

Levi frowns in concern at the abrupt change in her demeanor. “What’s wrong?”

She takes a breath before directing her gaze towards the afternoon sky beyond the saloon’s window.

“Moments like this…” she speaks quietly as she raises her hand to gesture at their light-hearted conversation, “…don’t come by often.” A sad gleam then enters her eyes. “In a way, it’s… sort of unsettling.”

Levi’s lips press into a firm line at the reality of her words. Every soldier in the Survey Corps knows that every encounter with the Titans could be their very last. Danger, risk, and bloodshed are their constant companions. And the absences of the comrades lost will always be felt by those who live to join the next expedition.

The survivors know that it is their duty to honor the sacrifices of the fallen by carrying on with their mission. Yet, this knowledge hangs heavy over the heads of those who remain standing.

“I know what you mean.” He says, voice solemn. “Enjoying a moment of peace can be hard sometimes, considering the things we go through.”

They remain quiet for a while, the atmosphere suddenly tenser. Mikasa closes her eyes and sighs before speaking again.

“Sometimes, I wonder what my life would be like right now if I had stayed in the Capital or joined the clan’s Elite Royal Company.” She stares intently into her cup of tea, wistfulness underlying her tone. “I would probably be promenading with the other nobles in the parks. Or patrolling the grounds at the Fritz castle. Either way, my life would be simpler and less daunting."

A flash of resolve then enters her gaze. “But I already made my choice a long time ago.” She declares with a quiet certainty in her words. “And I’ve chosen to be a soldier for the Survey Corps.”

Levi quietly observes her profile. She sits with the graceful posture of a noble lady – a result of her upbringing. But her shoulders are squared with a soldier’s discipline. She holds her teacup delicately, but her fingers are calloused from years of wielding blades. Had she chosen differently, she could have been a socialite hostess.

The passing thought then prompts a question. “Why didyou join the Survey Corps in the first place?”

Mikasa half-smiles at that. It was a question she was often asked – the daughter of a noble joining any of the military branches was unheard of. Although, she never divulged anything apart from saying that she merely wanted to.

“I could ask you the same question, Levi.” She prompts back.

For all his fame, no one has ever known of his reason for joining the Survey Corps. Not surprising, since he would always brush off anyone who asks by telling them that it’s none of their damn business.

But Levi decides that he wouldn’t mind making an exception for her. “I’ll share if you share.”

Mikasa hums as if contemplating the proposition. “Fair enough.”

A moment passes before she continues. “I joined because of my Asian heritage.”

He raises a brow in confusion. But stays silent and waits for her to elaborate.

“The Azumabitos are the last Asians in the world.” She explains. “Our clan’s records state that our ancestors’ homeland, Asia, was full of rare creatures and mysterious fauna. Unfortunately, just like every other continent, it was invaded along with the rest of humanity by the Titans.”

“My parents gave me everything I needed while growing up. But they taught me that if I wanted something, then I should work to earn it.” Mikasa pauses as her lips twist wryly. “And since I wanted to see the roots of my Asian heritage, I decided as a child that I would join the Survey Corps to help eradicate the Titans.”

“It’s silly.” She remarks, more to herself, amused at her younger self’s reason. “But it’s what prompted me to enlist.”

Her expression then becomes more pensive, and she redirects her gaze to the table between them. “But after my first expedition, I realized that there are things which are bigger than my wants. I suppose you could say that it opened my eyes. Seeing first-hand the dangers and struggles made me understand the weight of the Corps’ mission.”

She looks up at him again. “I still want to see Asia…” she admits with a bashful look. “… and if we can eradicate the Titans during my lifetime, then I’ll be to do that.”

“But even if that won’t happen, I won’t have any regrets about joining the Survey Corps.”

With that, she concludes her piece. Levi remains quiet for a moment, feeling astounded and moved at the revelation.

“I’m glad that you joined, Mikasa.” He says softly.

She smiles at his remark. “Thank you for saying that.” A tinge of levity then enters her dark orbs. “Now, I believe it’s your turn to share.”

Levi tsks, but there’s mirth in the slight quirk of his mouth. “I suppose a deal’s a deal.”

He swirls the contents of his teacup before speaking. “When I was a kid, my great grandfather would always preach about upholding the clan’s tradition of being the Crown’s ‘Sword and Shield’.” He drawls out the last two words.

“Just like you and everyone else in our clan, I was trained to be the best fighter possible – because, of course, the royal family only expects the best to protect it.” He pauses to take a drink.

“Sure, it’s natural for the royal family to have protection.” He concedes. “But our clan’s talents are being wasted. The biggest threats are out there beyond the Walls, and our clansmen use their many years of special training to deal with problems that the Military Police pigs are supposed to handle.”

Levi lifts his gaze to hers. "So, I said to myself, ‘to hell with tradition’.”

She lets out a small laugh. “Of course, you would say something like that.”

He smirks before taking another sip. “So, I decided to enlist in the Survey Corps. Thankfully, my uncle became head of the clan even before my rite of passage. And since he isn’t as uptight and prissy as my great grandfather was, he let me go without much of a fuss. I wanted to put my skills to better use. And what better way to use them than to reclaim the lands stolen by the Titans from humanity?”

“And after everything I’ve seen…” he trails off, a more somber and pensive look in his eyes as he stares at his cup, “…I’m now surer than ever that I made the right choice.”

A quiet second passes before Mikasa speaks. “That’s very noble of you.” She says, her voice earnest.

Her co-captain snorts out a harsh laugh. “If it were anyone else, I’d say that they were kissing my ass.”

Remembering the incident with the two MPs earlier, she likewise smiles in good humor; his words can’t be any truer.

“But since it’s you…” his harsh smirk morphs into a gentler smile, “… thanks.”

Her smile remains as their eyes meet again.

“You know, it’s odd…” she begins off-handedly, “We’ve known each other for years, but this is the first time we talked about something like this.”

He raises a brow. “Is it? I wasn’t aware that there was a standard timeline for sharing things.”

Another light laugh escapes her, and Mikasa wonders if Levi realizes how humorous he can be at times.

---

Chatter fills the air of the communal dining hall of the Southern Division’s Cadet Corps Headquarters – with the main source of noise and talk being the long dining table where Eren Yeager sits with his friends.

“Eren, what you did was really cool!”

“Yeah, I don’t think that anyone else here would’ve been able to do that!”

From his seat at another table at the far right of the hall, Jean Kirstein watches as several trainees crowd around Yeager and pay him compliments for his incredible feat earlier this morning.

Connie sits across the green-eyed recruit with a wide grin on his face. “Eren, you were amazing earlier!” He exclaims. “Being able to balance yourself using defective equipment was incredible!”

Beside him, Sasha nods enthusiastically as she munches on a loaf of bread. She smiles broadly after gulping down her food. "You really did well, all things considered!" She exclaims while not so discreetly trying to take Connie's bread from his plate.

The shaved-headed boy snatches her wrist before she could lift the loaf to her mouth. “Oh, come on! You haven’t even finished your own bread!” He grumbles, exasperated as Sasha strains against his grip.

Eren chuckles at the display before scratching the back of his head with a sheepish expression. Even so, his green eyes seem to glow with pride and appreciation. “Thanks, guys.”

“Congratulations on a job well done, Eren.” Christa speaks from amongst the group that congregated around the table. “Your determination paid off.”

Eren's cheeks redden slightly at her smile. "Thanks, Christa. But I can't take all of the credit. Armin here gave me pointers, and Reiner and Betholdt told me to keep calm and not to give up." He then turns to the male blonde seated next to him. "Isn't that right, buddy?"

Armin’s lips quirk upwards. “It’s true that you got help, but all the work was you.”

“Armin’s right.” Reiner’s deep voice resounds from one side of the crowd. To his left, Bertholdt silently watches the interactions with a small smile. “At the end of the day, you were the one ultimately responsible for your success.”

Jean watches as more trainees give the brunette praises for his resolve and performance. It isn’t until he feels something nudge him in the side that he turns away.

“Just talk to him already.” Marco urges with a knowing look.

Jean scoffs at the comment. “Talk to Yeager? About what?”

Marco simply gives him a half-amused and half-exasperated smile. “You know what I mean.” He then picks up his glass of water. “It’s good that you want to apologize. It’s a mature thing to do.” He says before taking a drink.

Jean grumbles something unintelligible as he observes the sky through an open window. The last rays of sunlight are starting to fade behind the darkening sky. He can see some of their Commandant's assistant officers patrolling the grounds and inspecting the outdoor training equipment to ensure they're still working properly.

As his gaze lands on the row of 3DM gear simulators, Jean recalls how he, along with nearly everyone, laughed at Eren when he failed to steady himself using 3DM gear during his first attempt. He also remembers snidely commenting that Yeager was just "all talk and no bite" and how he brushed him off when he asked for pointers to improve.

Jean then sighs before getting up and walking over to the green-eyed recruit’s table.

---

Armin and Eren were in the middle of speaking with fellow recruits when the blonde sees Jean walking up to their table.

“Uhh… Eren?” He taps his friend on the shoulder.

At the prodding, Eren turns away from Mina and Thomas, who were standing behind him. His eyes narrow at the sight of Jean standing behind the other recruits surrounding their table. “What do you want, horse face?”

The entire room goes silent as everyone turns to Jean. The man in question averts his gaze as his cheeks flush at suddenly being the center of attention.

He stays silent for a moment before speaking. “I’m not here to fight.” He then finally raises his gaze to look at Eren. The crowd parts as he moves closer to the table.

Armin notes the sudden tension in the air as his childhood best friend stares at Jean with a cautious look – he deduces that Eren is not entirely convinced that Kirstein came in peace.

Jean halts when he’s near the edge of their table, just a couple of feet from where Eren sits. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

“I’ll be honest. I still think that going after Titans is stupidly dangerous.”

Eren's eyes further narrow at the remark. He rises to his feet, but Armin pulls at his arm before he can move towards Jean. "Hear him out first.” The blonde half-pleads.

Eren frowns but nonetheless sits back down. His eyes are still trained on Kirstein, who instinctively took a step back at his abrupt movement.

Jean takes another breath before continuing. “But I now get how serious you are.” He admits, voice quiet but clear. “You have real resolve, and I respect that. And I’m…” He pauses, his pride momentarily stifling his next words.

“… I’m sorry for making fun of you before.”

Some trainees gasp lightly while some simply stare – all surprised at his gesture. Armin sees that even Connie and Sasha have paused their food-related grappling to gawk at Jean. The blonde also quietly muses that the entire room probably half-expected another fight to erupt between the two boys. All eyes are now trained on Eren, who looks astounded with his eyes widened and mouth slightly agape.

Armin then lightly nudges his friend’s shoulder. “Well, aren’t you going to say anything?”

The question shakes the green-eyed trainee from his stupor. He blinks once before rising to stand – more calmly, Armin notes approvingly.

“Thanks, Jean.” The hardened look in his gaze is now gone. “I appreciate you saying that. Apology accepted.” He says with a small smile.

“And for what it’s worth…” Eren trails off as his eyes dart downwards, a hint of shame in them, “… I shouldn’t have scoffed at you for wanting to go into the Interior. After all, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be safe.”

He then looks directly at Jean again. “So, I guess I also owe you an apology.” He admits with a half-smile, hoping that it would lighten the mood.

It seems to have worked as Kirstein offers him a smile. “Glad to know that you can see things my way, Yeager.”

Eren grins more naturally at the response. “So… friends?” He asks, voice tentative as he holds out his hand.

Jean looks at the offered hand in surprise for a moment before observing the other boy’s expression. There’s a mix of uncertainty and apprehension in his countenance – possibly wary of how he would respond. But the look in Yeager’s eyes tells him that the offer of friendship is genuine.

He eventually grasps the hand offered to him. “Friends.” He says while giving it a firm shake.

There’s a smattering of applause as the crowd gives a slight cheer at the show of camaraderie. Armin especially claps heartily at the sight of the usually hot-headed Eren making peace with Jean even as he hears Connie yelp when Sasha takes advantage of the distraction to take a massive bite from the Springer boy’s loaf.

“Well, it’s nice that we’re all finally getting along.” Marco comments with a smile from the sidelines, hands still pressed together from clapping.

Jean sends a slightly annoyed look at Marco, who only continues to smile in return.

---

End Note: So, the 104th gang finally appears! Since Mikasa is a veteran in this story, I wanted to play a little with the dynamics of the 104th's relationships with one another. On this, I wanted Eren and Jean to have a friendlier relationship in this story than in canon. I hope that I was able to execute this idea (as well as all my other ideas) properly. Lol.

In any case, let me know what you think! Critiques and comments are most welcome!

#rivamika #levimika #levi x mikasa

25 notes · View notes

simpsiren · 4 years

Text

sticky notes: the story

mark lee x reader

introduction

main masterlist

description. you use sticky notes to get into contact with your soulmate.

genre. soulmate au, high school au, strangers to lovers au

warnings. nonee

a/n. so some people requested for a full story of this so here it is! i really liked making this because the concept is just so cute cudndn oh and i did include the same idea as what i did in my previous post but i had to change it a little so that it would fit the plot. this is a really really long ff since its a slow burn typa thing so please try to stick with me on this one HAHA anyways enjoyy! :D

“you actually believe that?”

you lift your head up from your notes to look at soyoung. she nods her head and hum eagerly. you rub your temples from seeing her respond. “i do believe soulmates exist. but sticky notes to talk to them? what’s social media for then? and how is it even scientifically possible?” you question soyoung, bringing your eyes down as you continue to do your homework.

“that’s the beauty of soulmates, ray!” soyoung whines. you shake your head. “you’re dumb to believe it without confirming the information with other relevant sources.” you mutter out bluntly. you hear soyoung letting out a ‘tsk’. “here you go again being a history student. i swear im glad i never took it.” you scoff and slam your pen on the table gently.

“excuse me, woman! at least i dont have to memorise the whole textbook and only having 5 pages of content coming out in the exam.” you stick your tongue out playfully to tease soyoung. “i cant get over the fact that valcanos didn’t come out eventhough i memorised so much for it.”

the both of you laugh, knowing that the two of you can never stop debating on whether history or geography is the better subject.

“ray complete your homework at home. we cant stay in the classroom for long you know?” soyoung stands up to get to her seat, which is 2 rows down yours since you were sitting right at the back. you liked sitting at the back. it allowed you to always be able to use your phone in case you get bored in class. you still cant believe that your teachers think you’re a good and obedient student. you figured they only assumed that due to your high grades.

you sigh “that’s true.” you turn around to grab your back that was hanging in your chair and start packing your materials. once you were done, you grab the class key and walk over to soyoung’s seat, waiting for her to finish packing. you notice soyoung has finish packing and went to switch off the lights. you allow soyoung to step out first before you close the door behind you and lock the classroom door.

you and soyoung walked down the hallway silently, you were looking out the window to watch the sunset while soyoung had her eyes on her feet. only your footsteps could be heard as almost everyone has left the school grounds except for some teachers who were working late. the school normally closes at 7pm and you’re walking out at 6:50. to break the silence, soyoung opens her mouth to start a conversation.

“okay if you dont believe me why dont you try it yourself? like write a simple introduction to your soulmate.” you raise an eyebrow as you shove your hands into the front pockets of your mom jeans. “why dont you do it?” you fought back as you huff. soyoung bites the inside of her cheek as a moment of silence passes for her to think of an answer.

“because i believe it. and you do not. so you should try it.” you smacked soyoung’s arm, making her flinch back and shouting a loud ‘ouch’. you roll your eyes, knowing you didn’t hit her hard and she was just overreacting. “brilliant excuse,so. but if its going to make you stop talking about it, i might as well.” soyoung face lit up as she jumps happily and starts skipping ahead of you. you laugh and pull the handle at back of her bag to keep her explosion of excitement to the minimum.

“you owe me brown sugar milk tea. large.” you taunted. soyoung waves her hand lazily. “i’ll buy you one after school tomorrow. but you better update me during math.”

you wanted to say how you could just text soyoung to update her, but you remembered the fact that soyoung’s mother took away her phone since she didn’t do well for this year’s midterms. although to you, soyoung’s grades were decent. unfortunately for her, soyoung has to live up to her asian mom’s high expectations. the thought of this made you want to frown, but you showed a bright smile regardless as the two of you finally made it to the school gate, waving to each other and bidding farewell before walking down opposite paths.

once you arrived at home, you took out your phone from your back pocket. you saw a notification from your mother saying that your parents would be home late. you shrug your shoulders as you walk to your room. “as always.” you breathed out.

you did your normal routine of showering and eating leftover dinner that you needed to heat up at the couch while you completed one episode of the anime series you were so hooked on. you continue watching but with the amount of homework you have, you might finish them all by midnight if you dont slack.

you turned off the tv and washed your plate before heading into your room. as you close the door behind you, your eyes immediately went to your desk, which was pretty messed up since you had a test to study for yesterday that you completely weren’t prepared for and had to squeeze in as much information as you can. hence, the scattering of notes and textbooks.

you stroll over to your desk and sat down. you take out your homework from your back which was beside the desk. looking at the stack of homework, you groan in despair as shove it to the back of the desk till it hit the wall. “ah fuck it! im just going to ask kun for help.” you admitted your defeat depsite thinking you would be able to gain some energy from your dinner. you also thought about how you’ve done your homework in the morning plenty of time so i shouldnt be a problem unless kun doesn’t offer his help.

you jump to your bed and lay down, bringing your phone out and immediately start scrolling through instagram. as you swiped your finger up to look at the posts of the people you follow, you stop at one. a picture of a couple who met through the sticky note theory. or so they claim. your thumbs hover over the screen as your eyes look up to the ceiling, starting to remember what soyoung asked to do to get your bubble tea.

yoy tap your index finger on the side of your phone as you constantly started to think whether you should do it or not. you’ve heard the rumours. but are they even true? the more you thought about it, the more intriguing the idea got. but at the same time, you also thought of how stupid it sounded and was probably made to fool people.

after contemplating and having in a debate in your head that felt like forever, you finally place your phone down beside you and take a deep breath. “ill do it.” you groan to yourself, letting curiosity take over your other feelings.

you gather up your strength to stand up from your bed and walk over to your desk. you push all the papers and textbooks aside, grabbing a yellow sticky notepad from your stationery organiser. you had other colours too like pink and purple, but you figured that you should go with the classic.

pulling out a random pen that was laying in between the pages of one of your textbooks, you tilt your head to the side as you start thinking of what to write, unconsciously biting the end of your pen in the process.

you bite the side of your cheek and shrug, deciding to go with the plan of writing whatever that comes to your mind.

um hi? i dont even know if you’re going to see this. its funny, really. i heard a rumour that you can communicate with your soulmate through sticky notes. it’s probably just fake news and im writing to a nobody. that would honestly be embarrassing but it’ll be like love letters.. to myself(?) or my soulmate. write back? haha

you read over what you wrote an endless amount of times, thinking if you should make changes. you groan and immediately stick the sticky note onto your wall, giving up on giving second thoughts about what you call this ridiculousness.

you went about your night, forgetting you have left the sticky note on the wall. as you were on you bed scrolling through tumblr at 2 in the morning, you hear something. it sounded like a piece of paper had fallen from your desk.

unable to see in complete darkness, you turn on the flashlight from your phone and walk around your room, trying to find whatever it is that fell. it didn’t take you long to find a small yellow sticky note that you accidentally stepped on.

you pick it up, remembering that you wrote on the sticky note and thought that it was yours. however, once you were able to get a closer look, you noticed that the words on the sticky note have changed. so has the handwriting.

holy shit. i dont know what is this. but apparently a sticky note appeared on my wall saying i have a soulmate. my friends told me i should write back because of some rumour. so here i am trying. hi im mark. i dont know your name, but hope you’ll tell me once you recieve this. you’re in luck because apparently the rumour is true. im just as crepped out as you are.

you froze in your spot. your fingers shaking as you read the note again. you scratch your head. being too tired and unable to think straight at 2 in the morning, you place the sticky note on your desk and went back to bed to play with your phone. you soon forget about the fact that your soulmate has replied to your message that you have written on your sticky note.

as you got ready for the next period which was math, soyoung immediately runs over to you, dragging the chair from the desk beside you and taking a seat. you flinch a little when you suddenly see her close to you.

“so did you try it?!” soyoung asks, her voice filled with enthusiasm . you brushed a few pieces of hair behind your ear, nodding your head as you take out your textbook from under the desk. “did you get a reply then?”

your mind started to take you back to the mysterious encounter that you had last night. “mhm.” you reply simply. “though the only thing i remember because it seems to be the only relevant information is that the person’s name is mark.” soyoung gasped loudly, making you crease your forehead as you watch her overreacting again.

“your soulmate’s name is mark then.” soyoung concludes, folding her arms confidently as if she made a great discovery. you laugh, rolling your eyes sarcastically. “isnt it obvious?” soyoung frowns fakely.

your mouth gapes open as you hit soyoung’s arm lightly. “buy me my milk tea!” you demanded with a wide smile. soyoung places her notebook on your table and nods constantly. “i will you addict.” she groans. you happily say thank you as your teacher comes into the classroom and class began.

“what are you going to do about it now though?” as you recieved the question from soyoung, you kept silent for a moment, giving time to think of an answer.

“ill write something back? i dont know.. ill have to read the letter again when i get back home.” you whispe to soyoung. she nods in reply as the two of you payed your attention to the front again. it surprised you that soyoung was paying attention but you only assumed that she wanted to do better in class and shrug your shouders, writing down the notes youve missed while talking to soyoung.

as for you, your concentration in class dipped slightly because now, the thing that is occupying your head the most is the thought that the sticky notes theory might actually be real and you cant say its not possible anymore, making you even more shocked than you did last night.

lucky for you, today is the only day of the week where your class ends the earliest, along with two other lower ranked classes. you and soyoung quickly pack up to go to the mall to get your reward. after soyoung buys you your drink, you and soyoung went your separate ways.

after about 30 minutes of taking the bus and walking, you finally arrived at home. you place your drink on the living room table and proceed to place your bag in the room and head for the showers.

once you were done showering, you walk out of the bathroom to head to your room while drying your hair with a small towel. opening the door, you enter and went straight to your clothing rack. just when you were about to grab a shirt from the hanger, you heard the same noise last night. another piece of paper has fallen on the floor.

you turn your head and look down. this time, you found another sticky note right in front of your feet. the colour of the sticky note changed from yellow to a light blue. you tilt your head as you pick up the stick note from the floor, finding it odd as you wonder how the colour of the sticky note changed.

you take a deep breath before reading it, noticing that the handwriting was similar to the one you read last night. a little messier, but still readable.

hi again.. im not sure if you’ll recieve this since its the afternoon and i know people are busy with work or school. i skipped school today so haha. um i just wanted to write to you, despite me not knowing a single thing about you. its odd really. its like i feel the need to write something to an unknown identity that people assume to be my soulmate. i still dont know your name, so i hope youll reply soon. take your time and take care :)

- mark

“skip school? what is he, a bad boy?” you scoff to yourself. you try to take in whatever’s on the note, but another thought comes to mind. you walk over to your desk and saw that the yellow sticky note with mark’s reply was still there. you find everything about this weird and just odd in general. a lot of questions sprouted, but you didn’t want to think of it since you were afraid you would complicate your thoughts and just throw yourself into a stress hole.

you continue to dry your hair with one hand while the other held onto the light blue sticky note. you bit your lip and gulp. after letting out a long sigh, you place the sticky note next to the other one and changed into your clothes, as well as bringing your drink from the living room table to your room, placing it on the desk as you sat down.

you take out your pencilcase from your bag and brought out your fresh new black pen that you just bought at the school’s stationery store. the previous pen you had was full of ink till soyoung was dumb enough to drop it, spoiling the pen and was unable to be used again.

peeling off another yellow stick note from the stack at the edge of your desk, you were about to put your pen on paper when you realise you dont even know what to write. what do you say to this person you barely know about? you continuously tap the edge of the pen against your desk as you take a sip of your drink. you look over to the two sticky notes with the messages that the person has left. its funny how you have to think so hard just to write a short message.

hey again. i actually ended school early today. my name’s raven. but my friends call me ray. i honestly don’t know what to say to you. im still dumbfounded over the fact that you’re my soulmate and we’re here communicating over sticky notes. the world really does work in a strange way. if you dont mind, i guess i want to know how old you are and you’re education status?

you held out the sticky note in front of you and sigh in satisfaction. why? it’s because of your neat handwriting. it was always a trait of yours that you deeply appreciate. you place the sticky note on the wall and advert your attention to the other sticky notes, placing them on the wall beside the new one you have just written.

“will this drive me insane? i might end up with a whole wall of this.” you say to yourself, rubbing your face with your palm before going to your bed and laying down, wanting to have your evening nap.

“this is awesome!”

“no its scary.”

mark and his group of friends stared at the sticky note that has a message written with beautiful handwriting. mark flinched when he felt an arm on his shoulder, turning around to notice it was chenle’s. “when did you write your previous sticky note?” renjun suddenly asked. mark tilts his head as he tried to find an answer.

“less than an hour before you guys came i guess?” mark shrugs, standing up from his desk and taking a seat at the edge of the bed beside jaemin and haechan. “this raven girl is your soulmate then.” chenle walks towards mark and stands in front of him. mark nods slowly. the room grew silent again with everyone having the similar thoughts.

“you know what would be funny?” haechan smacks mark’s thigh, the sound making everyone turn their attention to mark and haechan. “what?” mark asked with a sigh, running a hand through his hair.

“why dont we prank her and say you’re a sugar daddy and live in a mansion?!” everyone gave yuta weird looks, making haechan laugh hysterically. “are you crazy? do you think i want to chase my soulmate away?” mark scolded haechan, smacking him hard on the chest, resulting in haechan’s back falling onto the bed.

“you’re always asking for a beating i swear.” renjun comments, walking towards haechan and balling his hand into a fist and acting as if he was about to attack. jaemin laughs to try and calm them down. “kids let’s not fight.” jaemin announced, looking over to jeno only to find him standing there watching quietly.

“go ahead, mark. you should write something. we cant keep her waiting.” jeno finally spoke up, grabbing the sticky notepad and a random pen from mark’s table and passing it over to him.

mark stared at the blank paper while the others were talking about what to have for dinner. it didn’t take him long to decide what to write. when mark starts writing and began to be in full concentration, everyone crowds around him to see what he’s writing.

sup raven! i wont call you ray since we aren’t friends yet. im still shocked. like the possibility of things like this being possible is just another possibility that can possibly happen. but anyways, to answer you question, im a high schooler from dream high. im in my third year. its kind of awkward for me while im writing this since my friends are reading every word im taking down. i guess i should ask you the same question back then. hope to hear from you soon.

“will you guys stop being nosy?” mark groans, standing up and pasting the sticky note on his wall, along with the other sticky notes he received from you. “you didn’t have to say that we’re here.” haechan retorts. mark rolls his eyes. “jesus..” mark mutters under his breathe. “anyways, yall are paying for dinner since you guys bribed me to write back.” mark sticks his tongue out playfully and runs out to the living room. everyone follows suit.. except for jeno.

jeno slowly walks towards the wall and leans forward to get a closer look of the sticky notes, specifically the two others beside the new one that mark just wrote. “raven? why does that sound so familiar? the handwriting...” jeno brings his finger up and lightly hovers them over the uniquely written words. it looked like calligraphy, and retro looking. jeno felt as though he had seen it before somewhere, or knew someone who wrote like that.

jeno snapped out of his deep thoughts when jaemin called out to him, making him walk towards the door and glancing at the sticky notes once more before joining the others in the living room.

you were currently video calling your friends when you heard the crackling of a piece of paper. of course you knew what that meant. you peered down the the floor from your bed and reached your hand out to pick up the sticky note. “ray?” doyoung called out to you when he noticed your face wasnt on screen. you lay back down on the floor and brought your phone up to show your face.

“what was that sound earlier?” lucas asked, currently sounding hyper. “the mysterious mark sent me another sticky note.” you reply sarcastically, waving the sticky note to the camera to let everyone look at it. everyone nodded their heads at the some time, some letting out a long ‘ah’ as well. “read it out loud!” yuta shouted.

“the fuck no!” you shouted back. you stared at the sticky note, but didn’t bother to read it. you thought of doing that once you’re done video calling them.

“how was today for you guys?” you asked, wanting to know how they’re doing.

“its tiring! we had dance practice, then we have to do recordings for our new albums. we barely get any sleep.” ten whines, his tone filled with stress. you laugh loudly. it made everyone frown and pout. you sigh. “pursuing your NCT world domination is never easy.” you commented, highlighting the word ‘world domination’ with a change of tone.

everyone lets out a long sigh and started to complain one by one, making the whole video call chaotic for almost 10 minutes. you could only smile and shake your head.

after about an hour or so of talking about basically everything and catching up with each other, everyone decided that they should end the call here since it was beginning to get dark and they needed to start practice soon. you bid your goodbye to them once more and ended the call.

you now adverted your attention to the sticky note. reading the letter, you raise both eyebrows. “dream high? that’s not far from here..” you mumbled to yourself. you started to think about everything you know about dream high. you know it’s was about an hour’s journey from where you live. it wasnt really well known either. the overall vibe of the school was mediocre.

however, you felt like you were missing something. something about that school is somehow related to you. you just couldn’t think of an answer despite squeezing all thoughts that you have in your brain. you groan and stood up from your bed and to your desk, proceeding to wanting to write a reply to mark.

hey. sorry if you get this quite late. i was busy video calling my friends. to answer your question, im a third year as well from jookin high. i would ask for your number so we dont have to do this all the time but my friend would scold me saying “but you’re removing the fun out of it.” but anyways, mark aka my soulmate, tell me about yourself, to start off.

you stick the note onto the wall, looking at the row of messages you’ve had recieved so far. you found it weird how the first time you’ve sent the note and got a reply back, it was on the same sticky note, just different handwriting. but you had to write on a new sticky note to send a new message only to get the same sticky note with a different message in return.

you only see his answers lined up on your wall. you started to wonder how this mark guy looked like. is he good looking? what are his hobbies? his attitude towards school? you really wished you could just text him through instagram and not have to go through all this trouble. but that option would earn you a large smack on the back by soyoung and your really didn’t want that.

“do we really need to be here now? like now?!”soyoung whined, while pushing the cart and following behind you while you tossed some packets of frozen bacon. you stopped walking and turn around, nodding your head intensely. soyoung groans and took out her phone, proceeding to use it while still pushing the cart.

you walk around the supermarket, trying to find the ingredients listed on your notes in your phone. it was the weekends and you’re parents were going to be away for a business trip for a week so you thought of inviting soyoung over and making home cooked meals as a bonding session for you two.

after about 30 minutes of gathering the ingredients and having soyoung constantly screaming and fangirling over tiktok edits of jaehyun from NCT. one note: she has yet to know that you know them and that they’re your friends. you figured that it would be best to not let anyone know so as to avoid any situation that would put your friends in a tight spot, since well they’re idols, you were looking for one last item that you had trouble finding.

“soyoung help me! stop watching tiktoks!” you groan, snatching soyoung’s phone away and shoving it in her back pocket. soyoung rolls her eyes lazily and the two of you proceeded to scan the different isles and shelves, looking over every item.

while you were too concentrated looking at the bottom shelves, you felt that you have bumped into someone. you squat down, letting out a soft ‘ouch’ before standing up and looking to see who you bumped into.

“wait. jaemin?” you furrow your eyebrows as you tilt your head, pointing your finger at the guy in front of you. “raven!” you noticed that it was jaemin after all, and both your faces lit up and the same time, grinning widely at each other.

“uhhh..” soyoung says out loud, you and jaemin turn your heads to face soyoung who was behind you. “oh! this is jaemin. we used to be neighbourhood friends before he moved out 4 years ago.” you introduced jaemin to soyoung. jaemin nodded and gave her a bright smile. soyoung only shrugged her shoulders and took out her phone. you turn your attention back to jaemin.

“why are you even here? dont you live quite far?” you ask, your fingers interlocked behind your back. jaemin nods, running a hand through his hair.

“well yes. but we came here to find something that only this supermarket sells.” jaemin replied back, his warm smile never leaving his lips. you smile, reached your hand out to ruffle his hair, laughing softly afterwards. “we? who’re you with?” you stared at jaemin with eyes of suspicion. jaemin started pinching your cheeks, making you whine and begging him to let go.

“with my friend, ray chill. im still single.” jaemin pulled away and folded his arms, pouting. “im sure you’ll find one soon.” you reached out to ruffle his hair and give off a wide smile.

while you and jaemin were catching up and being in your own world, soyoung got too bored of watching the two of you and decided to walk around the supermarket, leaving the cart behind you.

just as she was looking at the drinks isle to get her favourite sweet drink, she sees someone picking up a bunch of bottles one by one and placing them back on the shelve. out of kindness, she decided to help, picking up a bottle and placing it on fhe shelve before looking up to face the guy, who had a straight face while looking at her.

“i was just trying to help. im soyoung.” soyoung smiled, reaching her hand out and waiting for thr guy to greet back. he looked at her but doesn’t respond, proceeding to pick up the last bottle that was seen on the floor. “im jeno.” jeno stands up and nods his head to greet soyoung. soyoung nods back, walking down the isle to grab her drink from the shelve. “have a nice day.” soyoung says before leaving the isle and disappearing out of jeno’s sight. he only shrugged in response and went to do his own thing.

“you met who?!” haechan asks as he takes a sip of his ice cold water. everyone had their heads turned to jaemin, who raised an eyebrow at everyone’s weird expression. “i met my old friend raven. what’s so shocking?” jaemin asks back casually, picking up a few pieces of fries and dipping it into the sauce before shoving it in his mouth.

“dude that’s the name of mark’s soulmate!” haechan screams, making everyone flinch due to the loud noise. “i highly doubt it. there’s plenty of girls in the world with the name raven.” jaemin protests with his mouth full and chugging down gulps of coca cola.

“i mean that’s true. jeno you were with jaemin, right? dont you suspect anything?” renjun starts to question jeno, who was silently playing with his phone. looking up at the others, he gulps.

“i didn’t know he met his friend. i was picking out drinks. i just met a girl named soyoung.” jeno shrugs, taking a bite of his burger. mark scratches the back of his head, now starting to think of the fact that jaemin might have met his soulmate. though he also thought about how that could not be totally possible.

“nah i dont think its her. like really ‘raven’ could be anyone.” mark says, siding with jaemin. haechan tilts his head in awe. “jaemin do you know what school she’s going to?” jaemin only shakes his head.

“i lost all contact with her when i left her neighbourhood. plus we were young. i barely knew her honestly.” the living room falls silent, everyone trying to think of a conclusion to this.

chenle groans, standing up from his seat and slamming his hands on the table, gathering everyone’s attention as their heads shot up. “instead of pondering as if yall are solving some crime, why dont mark just ask her through the sticky note god dammit?” chenle pinches the bridge of his nose.

everyone’s mouths gape open as the room was suddenly filled with ‘ah’s all over. chenle shakes his head. everyone was now looking intensively at mark. mark furrows his eyebrows. “okay guys hold up ill grab the stick note.” mark stands up and takes one bite of his burger before going into his room for awhile and coming out with a sticky note and a pen.

jaemin noticed jeno being silent the whole way. and althought thats normal since its jeno’s nature and personality to not be so outspoken like the others, jaemin could sense that jeno was off and seem to be in deep thoughts.

and jaemin was right. jeno couldnt stop thinking about jaemin’s encounter with ‘raven’. the name sounded so familiar. he tried to recall every girl he has came into contact with during his life. why did he feel like the name was tied to the handwriting he saw on the sticky notes?

“jeno.” jaemin nudged him in the shoulder. jeno mumbled a soft ‘oh’ before turning his attention to mark just like the others. “she didn’t send me a reply after my last one though.” mark says, looking up.

“its fine. she probably didn’t see it. just write already.” chenle says in anticipation. mark shakes his head. “calm the heck down its not like we can get an answer immediately.” mark rolls his eyes and began to write.

hey raven. um i know this may sound weird. but have you gone to a supermarket and met a guy names jaemin? im not a stalker i swear. its just that he’s my friend and apparently you know him. though i dont think that such a coincidence and come by just like that. hope you hear from you soon.

jeno stared at the sticky note that mark proceeded to place at a random wall of the living room while everyone continued to eat and chat. his thoughts finally linked and a imaginary lightbulb appeared on above his head when he finally realises why he was so drawn to mark’s soulmate.

you were focused on wanting to solve a math question when the sticky note above your desk’s wall had fallen in front of you, revealing a new message. you place your pen down and let out a sigh, remembering that you hsve forgotten to write a reply and that mark probably sent you another one.

you tied your hair in a messy low bun before picking up the sticky note to get a closer view. you blink your eyes rapidly as your eyes furrow in awe. what the note said really shocked you and made you freeze in your spot. jaemin is friends with your soulmate? there’s no way.

you sat there for awhile as you constantly read over the words, still in shock with your moutb hanging open. you just couldn’t believe it. was it really what it seemed to be? another thought came to your mind as well. the thought of just who is this friend of jaemin’s? could it be mark? was your soulmate literally in the same place as you yet you never knew?

you grab a fresh new piece of sticky note and proceeded to write a reply after staring at it for so long and thought that it was finally time that you do something.

okay what you wrote really was weird. jaemin’s my old neighbourhood friend. its such a coincidence how you know him. i guess the connections are there. so haha yeah. damn. im very mind blown right now.

you take a look at your handwriting again, smiling to yourself. “i really do love my handwriting.” you mumble under your breath. you stuck the sticky note on the wall and resumed doing your homework, hoping that mark would reply soon.

while the boys were immersed in the horror movie they were watching on friday night, everyone turned their heads to each other when they heard the noise of a piece of paper falling onto the floor. in unison, everyone turned their head to where the noise came from and seeing the sticky note that fell.

jisung grabs the controller and pauses the movie. “we’re watching a scary movie and creepy stuff like that happens?!” jisung asks, stuttering out of complete fear.

mark decided to be the brave one after seeing everyone’s terrified face and stands up to pick up the sticky note, going back to take his seat on the couch soon after. “d-does that always happen?” mark shrugs. “well duh. that’s how i know she sent a reply. it wouldn’t be this scary if we weren’t watching a horror movie.”

everyone’s heads once again gather around mark as he read the note out loud. everyone gapes their mouth open, some covered their mouths while jeno could only stare at it in disbelief. “i guess we’ve confirmed its her.” mark breathes out, placing the sticky note on the table.

jeno reaches out to grab the sticky note to have a look. the unique handwriting that he suspected would belong to you really was yours. out of anger, he tears the sticky notes into two. everyone had their eyes widened at jeno’s sudden shocking action. mark snatches the now torn note back, looking down at them before facing jeno.

“what the heck was that for?!”

“dont talk to her anymore. she’s trouble.”

everyone lets out a sigh in unison except for mark, looking at everyone’s weird reaction. “what do you mean trouble? and why does it look like you all know something except me?” mark furrows his eyes as everyone exchanged glances continuously for a moment.

“she’s just not someone you should be with. that’s all.” jeno stands up and walks to his room, slamming the door shut and produring a piercing noise. the room was silent for awhile until mark speaks up.

“what am i missing here you guys?”

no one replies.

“we’ve been friends for a year and you guys are all keeping secrets for me?” mark scoffs in disbelief, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“we arent in the position to tell you. its jeno.” jaemin murmurs under his breath, looking down on the ground just like the others.

marks keeps silent and stands up from the couch, the palm the torn note was in is balled into a fist as he goes into his room as well.

haechan sighs. “jeno has to tell the truth. he’s been holding onto that grudge almost forever now.”

everyone nods their heads in agreement. “if not, he’s going to live in despair now that he knows she’s his best friend’s soulmate..” jisung adds on.

everyone could only silently hope that things could go well.

after that day you’ve sent a reply, you havent heard from mark since. you dont know why. due to your lack of information on him, it felt as if he disappeared into thin air. although only a week has past by, you felt concerned and somewhat worried for him. did something happen to him? what made him cut off his connection with you? its not like you did anything wrong.

out of pure desperation, you decided to skip school today. youve never skipped school before, and you felt so rebellious and bad. why did you do this? so you could go to dream high and meet mark in person. youve had enough of the sticky notes. you just wanted to see how he was like in real life, not having to think about it through notes.

with a little help from jaemin by texting him on instagram, you knew that mark’s class should be ending by 4pm, and you were there at 3:50 in the canteen where jaemin told you to wait. funny how the security guard lets a student from another school come in with a pass or anything.

you slowly start seeing groups of students going down the flight of stairs that lead to the canteen which had a path leading to the front gates. some eyes glanced at you as they notice someone who doesnt belong at their school, you couldnt care less though. your thoughts were only filled with mark. how he looked like, how he would carry himself. your anticipation was the only thing you felt.

you wore your headphones yet you could suddenly hear a lot of squealing and shouting. you look up, turning you attention to the stairs. a large group of girls crowding around another group of people, who you assumed to be guys. you scoffed, thinking about how there’s always that one group of good looking guys all girls seem to go crazy for. you watch as the group of guys push through the large crowd.

once you got a closer look, you tilt your head to the side. you slowly bring your headphone down from your ears and let them rest on your neck, getting intrigued by how the girls were getting so crazy, even more crazy than the ones from your school.

“its mark! he’s so cute!”

you widen your eyes as you heard the word ‘mark’. you stood up from your seat, peering your head up to find which one is the girl referring to. you only see two guys walking. one smiling sheepishly while the other kept a straight and cold face. just which one is mark?

suddenly, you felt an arm grabbing yours and pulling you back. you jump out of fear and turn around noticing it was jaemin. you calmed your breathing as you look at jaemin.

“meet mark under the block nearby. its too hectic here for you to talk to him.”

jaemin dragged you out of the school grounds and to a secluded block where only a few students where walking past and left you there. you were lost in confusion but decided to trust whatever jaemin was doing, sitting down at a random bench.

“jaemin told us to meet him here where is-”

“raven.”

“what?”

you immediately stood in front of the two guys you saw at the canteen as you notice a familiar face. you werent able to get a clear look at them before, but now you realise that you knew one of them. “jeno..” you look at a different direction a you tried avoiding his gaze, though you knew you couldnt, forcing yourself to meet his eyes.

mark looks at the both of you, utterly confused as his attention shifts from you to jeno constantly. “this raven?” mark points at you, tilting his head. you nod slowly as your turn your head to face mark. you observed his body up and down. he was good looking, just like jeno.. yet his aura told you that he was way more outgoing and open than jeno.

“you look...”

everyone was silent.

you gulp in nervousness. “im busy. bye mark.” before jeno could go, mark pulled on his arm to bring him back to stand beside him, earning a glare from jeno. the one you could never forget. “stay. i know something happened. you were always quiet whenever we talked about this girl. and i also know you all kept something from me.”

you slowly turned to jeno. you could he was annoyed whenever he looked at you. you felt it through his eyes, and it was terrifying. jeno took a deep breath in, folding his arms and placing his weight on one leg.

“if you remember clearly, chenle told you that before we became friends with you, we had a fight and didnt talk to each other for a long time. we didnt tell you this, but it was her who caused it. she brought chaos into our group. everyone forgotten about it clearly, but i cant. after what she did.. i cant forgive her.”

you opened your mouth, wanting to reply but your words were somehow stuck in your throat. you didnt exactly know what to say or do in this awkward situation.

“it.. it was a long time ago jeno, please. my feelings for you were real, even if we werent meant to be. i dont know how many times you need me to say sorry.” you pleaded, biting your lip as you waited for jeno’s reaction.

jeno sighs and runs a hand through his hair as he lets out a huff of rustration. “then why did you leave? you left me stranded, and because of you, i almost left my friends becaused i lived in agony since i missed you so much. i almost pushed everyone away.” you shivered as jeno’s voice started to raise.

you also glanced at mark, who still kept his confused expression on his face. through his gaze never left you as you felt his eyes scanning you body up and down.

“you two used date?” mark asks. you nod in reply.

“we were kids. we didnt know about all this soulmate stuff. but now..”

“you know what? be together. im not going to leave my friends just because of my pent up grudge and feelings. i cant control fate either.”

years had now past since you met mark. it really was fate. the two of you became close in no time and now.. you were fianally married. you couldnt be more happy to be with mark. who you were destined to be really was made for you, and you only. and to think this all escalated due to a note you sent out in pure curiosity.

you still remember what happened with jeno after that day, despite the lack of interaction between you two, jeno was open enough to accept you as his friend again. you are now living a happy life with mark, and always being able to hang out with his group of friends. today was no different.

“haechan get the chilli sauce!” you hear mark shout as you smile widely, feeling his arm snaking around your waist to pull you close. having a barbeque was a great idea to celebrate jisung’s birthday.

you soon see haechan with the bottle of chilli sause, placing it on the table where everyone gathered around the table which had jisung’s birthday cake. “before we do anything with the cake, let me announce my wish.” jisung announces proudly. you raise an eyebrow. “you cant say you birthday wish out loud!” you scolded jisung, but everyone laughs.

“his wish is something we all know.” jeno says, winking playfully at you. you tilt your head in confusion when you suddenly feel mark’s arm leaving you waist. you look over to mark who was shoving his hand into his pocket as if to find something.

you were completely clueless when mark nods towards jisung, to show some kind of signal. “i wish for mark and raven to get married!” jisung shouts.

you gaped your mouth open in shock when mark pulls out a small box, opening it in front of you to show a ring. you cover your mouth in disbelief. “did you guys really-”

“please marry me, raven. my sticky note soulmate.” you hear everyone clapping s a tear of happiness drips from your cheek. you quickly wipe it away as you heard the nickname that mark gave you. “we wouldnt normally do this but it was jeno that suggested this.”

you look over to jeno who had a soft smile on his face as he nod his head. looking back at mark, you grin widely as more tears started flowing out. “of course ill marry you, you dork.”

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insomniac-astronomer · 4 years

Text

Romanogers: Trade Her Back | Ch. 2 - Steve’s Apartment

Hi there! Welcome or welcome back to this story! Since this is a part of a series, I would strongly advise you read chapter 1 here: trade-her-back-ch-1. Thank you so much for coming back to check out part 2!

Song for the chapter: “That Man” by Caro Emerald in true Peggy Carter fashion.

Enjoy!

~~~

The forties smell different. It's strange, but that's the first thing I notice. Like gasoline and smoke. Not at all what I had been expecting.

I couldn’t tell you where we are if I wanted to.

“Welcome to my old apartment.” Steve sends me one of his dorky smiles.

The building is made of brick. Six evenly-spaced weathered doors line the front of it. Steve leads me up a few concrete stairs to the end of the row of lower doors. He kicks a brick to the side revealing a key. Making quite the spectacle out of it, he unlocks the apartment and beckons me inside.

“Oh-” Steve’s voice trails off as we both stare at the wreck that is his old home. “I wouldn’t have been in here since I left for the war but that would have only been a few months ago.”

“Someone made themselves a doorway through the window,” I gesture to the smashed glass.

“Hold on.” Steve’s voice darkens as he pushes me behind him. Seriously? I shove past him and start examining the place, ready in case someone decides to attack us from around the corner.

After a few minutes of me going left and him going right, we determine that the trashed apartment is empty. Completely empty; not just of people, but of furniture and valuables as well. Whoever broke in might be on their way back here right now.

“Board up that window with something. Make sure that everywhere else is still secure. And why the hell did you think it was a good idea to leave your key under a brick?” I speed back to the front door, locking it tightly and testing it’s integrity a few times, just to make sure.

“Only Bucky knew I kept the key under there.” Steve says back as he picks up a piece of the broken couch to place on the window.

“It’s not that hard to find.” I mutter as I begin testing light switches. All of them seem to be working, as the lights are slowly warming up and I haven’t started an electrical fire yet.

A few moments of strange silence pass over us as we work on straightening up the place and testing some of the appliances. Unsurprisingly, everything seems to be in working order, there’s even a small carton of milk in the fridge.

Steve and I have always been a chatty pair. I don’t think I’ve ever realized that till now, when we haven’t spoken in at least twenty minutes. Superhero work is tough, but when you’re with your team, there’s a certain unspoken agreement not to mention any hardships unless we have to. Keep the mood light, you know? That’s maybe why this quiet feels unfamiliar to me.

“What do we do now?” I ask to break the silence.

Steve gives me a confused look, almost gesturing to the pile of rubble he was sorting through.

“I mean after we finish cleaning. You jumped us to the forties, did you have a plan in mind?” I try to make my tone sarcastic and teasing but given the solemn mood we’re both in, I don’t think it transfers.

“It’s Saturday.” Steve says quietly. I’ve never seen this man so deep in thought, even back when Wanda had put that nightmare in his mind.

Suddenly, I remember. “Your dance with Peggy.”

He nods.

I want to say something to comfort him. Yes, we went back in time for this but he deserves to be happy for once. Even if it’s just an artificial sort of forties-haze joy. Although, he’s already seen her at ninety years old. Hell, he went to her funeral, saw her body.

Oh, that’s messed up. He said at eight right?

“You’d better get ready Prince Charming, the sun’s starting to set.” I smirk. “Don’t want to show up looking like you just made out with her niece or anything.”

Steve sends me a glare, though I finally see a small smile fight it’s way onto his face. “You know what Romanoff --”

“What? I didn’t say a bad language word.” My snarky facial expression turns into a grin.

“Just for that, you’d better have this whole place cleaned by the time I get back.” He says, standing and brushing some brick dust off his pants.

I roll my eyes. “Please, I’ll leave you some of the fun.”

~~~

Steve left a few minutes ago. He told me not to leave the apartment because, well, can you imagine what would happen if I walked down a street in the 1940s wearing a skin-tight suit? But besides that, he’s right. Life was different back . . . now, and I would probably behave like an alien to them.

The kitchen and living room have now been swept out and all the bits of rubble removed. Steve was able to salvage the couch cushions and set them up like a children’s fort-style floor couch. Since everything in the kitchen was mostly in working order, that looks almost normal. If you don’t count the fact that there is no table or chairs.

There is no TV, just a small radio to entertain me. Fantastic.

Although, I did just come back from the dead so maybe it would be alright for me to rest my neck for a minute or two. I lay down on the floor couch. Just a couple minutes and then I’ll keep cleaning. Steve should be --

I don’t know where I am. A strange orange material seems to be covering my eyes. I reach my hands up to remove it, only to find that the material is surrounding me. It’s like I’m walking through an orange snow globe if all of the snow had transformed into a million complicated crystalized patterns.

What is happening? And why does it feel like I’m walking through quicksand?

Before any of my questions are answered, the orange world flashes brightly, and there is only darkness.

~~~

I can’t believe Tumblr formatted this all for me. I wrote it on a Doc with indents and everything, this is fantastic. Anywho, sorry this took so long to write out, it’s about three letter-sized pages in length so. Let me know if I got the characters right or otherwise, I’m very open to constructive criticism.

Quick question: I’m plopping my masterlist into my bio for now, but does anyone know how to get it on the dashboard of options? Like where the asks and archive buttons are. Thanks :)

I have also now actually opened my asks so if you have something specific you would like me write, jump in and send me something. Check my bio for fandoms and masterlist for the post with guidelines if you would like to submit something!

One last thing, I’m going to attempt to make this story somewhat interactive with the lovely romanogers community reading it. Go follow my instagram _lenamarieanne to answer polls and other things that will affect not only chapter lengths but possible characters and story events!

Thank you so much for reading! Much happiness and sunshine to you! ~Lena Marie Anne

P.S. Feel free to drop a like, leave a comment, or do a re-blog. I will respond to any comments!

#romanogers #avengers endgame #natasha romanoff #steve rogers #the avengers #soul stone

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coldasyou · 5 years

Text

How to gif without photoshop

Hello! By popular demand (of like 4 people) I am going to write out a tutorial of how I make gifs when I’m on my personal laptop and don’t have access to photoshop. There is another method I use with a different software that is a bit more complicated and if people are interested, I will make a tutorial of that method as well. I’ll do my best to keep this concise, so let’s get started.

Warning that this is VERY text and image heavy because I know how frustrating it can be when a tutorial feels like it’s skipping steps and I want this to be as clear as possible. Also please read this on desktop, tumblr mobile kills the quality of gifs inside text posts.

This is the video I will be giffing and here is the gif I will be making!

What you need:

A video to gif

For the best results, I recommend a video that is either 720p or 1080p (basically the higher the quality, the better). Videos with good lighting and bright colors also turn out the best. Unfortunately for me, I gif the TV show Prodigal Son a lot and that show has neither of those things, which is why my gif example is from that show; if you can make a scene with zero lighting or vibrancy look even somewhat decent, you can make anything else look good.

A video downloader or screen recorder

This is the video downloader I use and this is the screen recorder but basically any youtube video download website or screen recorder program works. Keep in mind that ezgif has a pretty low upload limit for videos, so if you want to gif something longer than like ~4 minutes, cut the video down to the specific parts you want first on a website like this one.

ezgif

A very straight forward website that anyone can access. You don’t need to download anything, it’s all online.

Bonus: Online Image Editor (not required, but I use this website to add text to gifs)

1. Making the gif:

Once you have a video downloaded, you go to ezgif.com and go to the section video to gif. Click choose a file, scroll to your downloaded video, and hit upload video. Your screen should look like this now.

There are two ways to pull out the sections of the video you want to gif. You can either write in the start and end time in the little sections (you have to convert them to seconds: for example, if my gif started at 1:16 and ended at 1:20, it would be 76 seconds and 80 seconds respectively). Or you can do the method that I feel is easier, where you go to the section you want it to start on, hit pause, and hit the blue button that says “use current position” then let the video play until it hits your stopping point, hit pause again, and click on the second “use current position” button.

Once you have the start and end time recorded, scroll down to the next part of the screen with the size options. For size, select “540xAUTO (for Tumblr)” since tumblr gif sizes start at 540p and go down the more gifs are in a row. For frame rate, try to do either 20 or 25; the higher the frame rate, the smoother the gif will look. If you are trying to gif something in 540p that is longer, you might need to chose 10 to keep it under 5mb, which is the tumblr gif size limit. For method, leave it on FFMPEG. Then hit, convert to gif.

your gif will now look something like this!

Now, this gif is currently 5.7mb, which is above the size limit for tumblr (5mb or above gifs will still play if I recall, but the quality will be really bad when you post them). If I was planning on keeping the gif this size, I would go back and change the frame rate to either 20 or 10 to get the size down. However, I am going to resize the gif to 268p, so I don’t need to worry about it being to big.

Using the correct gif size for tumblr is one of the easiest ways to make sure the gif looks good! For gifs that take up a whole row, the size should be 540p wide. For two gifs in one row, the size is 268p each. For three gifs in one row, the sizes are 177p, 178p, and 177p in that order. Here is a visual of it.

The next step would normally be resizing the gif, but Prodigal Son youtube videos come with a black banner on the top and bottom that I need to crop out. You will see a menu full of options under your gif, and you want to click on “crop.”

Cropping is pretty straight forward; you just move the little box over the part you want cropped, then hit the “crop image” button. Make sure width stays 540p!

Your gif now looks like this

Next, you look at the options under your gif again, and go to “resize.”

Again, resizing is pretty straight forward. I just put in 268 into the “width” section and leave the “height” section blank since the site will automatically resize the height. You can ignore the other menu options.

Your gif now looks like this

Next step is optional, but I usually do it. Once again, you go to the menu of options under your gif and select “speed.”

Speed is also super straight forward. I almost always reduce the speed of my gifs somewhere from 90% to 80% no matter what, just because I think it makes it look smoother. For gifs that are of short scenes that go really fast, I will reduce it to anywhere from 70% to 50%. You can try different speeds to test out what you think looks best. For this gif, I’m going to put it at 80%.

Here’s what we have so far. Congrats, you have made a gif!

Now for the fun part!

2. Coloring the gif

Go to the “effects” option, in the menu under your gif. You will see a LOT of options, but the panels I’m going to focus on are “colorize”, “brightness and contrast” and “color presets”. This section is going to vary a lot depending on what specific video you are giffing so remember to be flexible and try lots of different options out! It took me a while to get to a place where I can just eye a scene and know what settings to use. It’s super easy to go back and tweak a setting if the gif doesn’t look like how you want it the first time, but it’s a lot of trial and error.

The main option I focus on in the “colorize” section, is “saturation.” This is what will make all the color in your gif pop out. The saturation I use varies a ton; for scenes that already are colorful/bright, I usually keep it around 120 to 150, since you don’t want it to be over saturated. If I’m making an edit that is supposed to look toned down or more grey/neutral tones, I’ll decreases the saturation in the range of like 90-40. For a show like Prodigal Son, where there is basically zero color vibrancy, I tend to go full out with saturation, usually in the 150-200 range. For this gif, I have it all the way up to 200.

Next is brightness and contrast. This also varies wildly, but a good rule of thumb is I always try to keep my contrast at least 5 points higher than whatever my brightness is, it just makes the lighting more even. You need to find a good balance; obviously, the darker the scene, the higher you want the brightness and contrast, but if you go too high, the gif with be staticy/grainy. For Prodigal Son, which has horrible lighting, my brightness is anywhere from 10-30 and my contrast is anywhere from 15-35. For this gif, my brightness is on the lower side since the scene is outside in natural light; brightness is 16, contrast is 26.

After you get those settings, I go over to “color presets” section and click on the “tint” option. It will pull up a color chart that looks like this

You ALWAYS want the intensity up to 100. This part is where the most trial and error occurs; there isn’t any one color option that works for every gif. The shade I use most often is light red/pink or light blue/light purple. For scenes that are lacking warm tones (which is almost all of Prodigal Son) I tend to go to the light reds, and for scenes that are lacking cool tones, I go to the light blues. The light reds are best for making characters skin tones look more...like actual skin tones and not totally washed out. To select a color, you just move your mouse around the chart. This is the range of color codes I tend to use.

Again, intensity should be up to 100 (it automatically starts at 50 and I was too lazy to move it while getting screen shots :P).

For this gif, I actually used a new technique I’ve been trying out where I start with a light blue tint to even out the color tones, then once that gif is done, I go back to effects and add a layer of pink to make the colors brighter. Usually, one color works fine, but sometimes it’s hard to find a good balance (the red colors can get too red and the blue sometimes brings out too much of a yellow shade). For now, I have my color tint set at #eeebff.

Ultimately, this is what my effect settings look like and this is what the gif looks like now.

Now, like I said before, I added another layer of tint to this gif. All you have to do is go to the menu under your gif, and click on effects again.

It will take you back to the panel you were just on, expect now your colored gif is on the top and all the settings are blank again. The only setting you need to use now is the tint option; go there, and select a light red shade. I used #fff0f0.

And here is the final gif! To save it, just right click and hit “save image as.”

I know it seems like a long process, but once you get a hang of it, it goes by super fast, especially if all your gifs are coming from the same video.

BONUS: Adding text

If you are trying to gif something with dialogue or you want a quote to put over your gif, you will want to put text over it. ezgif has a “text” option that you can use if you want, but I personally don’t really like their font options, so I use the website Online Image Editor.

This is what it looks like. You can either hit “upload an image” and upload your saved gif, or you can go back to ezgif, right click the gif, hit “copy image url” and paste that url into the “upload from url” option. The web page should now look like this.

It’s pretty straight forward from here; click on the “add text” button and a menu will appear on the left hand with options for the text.

Type whatever you want the caption to be in the “type text here” box. This website has a ton of font options you can play around with, but when I just want to caption a gif, I stick with “Arial Bold Italic.” For a 268p gif, the font size should be 10-12, depending on how much writing you plan to put on each gif (if some gifs are going to have more writing than others, pick a smaller font size so it stays consistent!) When I make a 540p, the font goes up to 14-16. I use white for the color and black for the stroke. I make the strokewith 3 because it makes the caption stand out more. Once all these settings are selected, hit the “preview” button under the text box.

You can now drag your text anywhere you want on the image! The only bad thing about this website is that it doesn’t automatically center text, so you either have to eyeball it, or if you’re picky, like me, open up one of those online ruler applications and use it to measure out the center. For captions, I move the text just slightly above the bottom of the gif.

Finally, you hit apply. Once your gif has the text on it, all you have to do to save it is right click it and hit “save image as.” And here is the finished project!

That got a lot longer than I thought it would, but I hope it was informative! If anything was unclear or if you have further questions, feel free to send me an ask. Thank you for reading.

#gif tutorial #giffing tutorial #giffing #gifmaking #mine #my gifs #long post #I hope this makes sense lol #pls rb if it helped!!!#also if mobile doesn't keep the read more...idek

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shewritestheblues · 4 years

Text

The Elevator Bae x Chapter 1

Welp, I was hoping to recover chapters 1-8 but Tumblr is a hot ass mess with curls. So I’m reposting all of them. Here ya’ go my loves.

Chapter ONE

Erik x Black OC (Phoenix)

*NO WARNINGS*

Phoenix nods her head to the beat as Nipsey Hussle’s, Hussle & Motivate blast through her speakers. She’s learned to accept LA and all of its traffic. She’s officially been a Los Angeles resident for about a year now. She moved out here from Detroit. Phoenix packed all that she could fit in her small Chevy Cruz and drove the whole way. Life back home in Detroit was getting way too out of hand for her. Her friends didn’t really seem to support her dreams of being a DJ/Music Producer. Her family wanted her to go back to school and be something normal, like a nurse.

Phoenix worked her ass off with two jobs to fund her dream. Big Sean had heard one of her beats on her Soundcloud and reached out to her. That same beat was soon one of the top charting songs in the country. Artist were hitting Phoenix up left and right, wanting to work with her. Hustling her way into the industry, she was asked to DJ a huge party for Roc Nation in LA and the rest is history. After networking and making connections, she decided that staying in Detroit would hold her back. She didn’t even tell anyone that she was leaving… except her Mom.

She woke up one day and just left. She hasn’t looked back yet. Being in LA, she’s actually made a few genuine friends that not only supports her, but ride for her through thick and thin. They even staged a 4 day sleepover one time when Phoenix had an anxiety attack so bad, she couldn’t leave her apartment.

All in all, Phoenix could really say that she was happy.

-----

Phoenix sings along to every song has she moves her way through traffic. After an afternoon full of meetings, she finally reaches her apartment and turns down into the underground parking garage. Her favorite parking spot is open. As she steps out, she adjust her black leggings and cropped Harvard crewneck. She still sings along to the last song that played, Ari Lennox x BMO, now stuck in her head as she heads for the elevator‍.

A man ahead of steps into the elevator first. When he turns and notices her coming behind him, he holds the door for her.

When she looked up to say thank you, she wasn’t prepared for the man standing in front of her. This man… tall, the sweetest brown skin. His arms were definitely trying to break out of the sleeves of his burgundy fitted tee. His short dreads hung over his face, almost covering his eyes. She’s seen some fine guys since being in LA, but this one...he takes the cake.

“Thank...you”

“No problem.”

His voice… his fucking voice. It hit her like thunder. Has she ever heard a voice so damn sexy?

Then it hit Phoenix… jelly legs. She does her best to lean against the elevator door. The man pulls out a keycard and scans it. He must live in a penthouse. Only penthouse tenants had keycards.

“Which floor?”

“Uhh… Seven.”

The man hit the button for the 7th floor for her. As the doors shut, his cologne took the cabin hostage. It was a mix of Shea butter, cedar wood and vanilla. Phoenix hadn’t realized she closed her eyes as she took in his scent. But, he did. He released a low chuckle that took her from her trance. Her eyes shot open. She cleared her throat and tried to focus on a speck of dirt on her Chanel Slides.

The man opened his mouth to say something but before his words slipped, the elevator doors open. FLOOR 7. Phoenix internally panics, not sure if her legs would fail her. This really wasn’t the time nor place for this shit. She goes for it, rushing out. She made it but once she turned to walk to her door, barely out of site from the gorgeous man in the elevator, her knee buckles. She catches herself on the wall.

“Shit!” She slowly picks herself up, walking slowly to her door. The walk to the other end of the hall felt like 100 damn miles. She made it into her apartment. She drops her keys on the kitchen counter. She flops down on the couch. Dragging her sweaty hands over her face.

“Did I really just sniff this man? Did I really get caught sniffing this nigga?”

——-

The incident ran through her mind probably hundred times throughout the rest of her day. She managed to cook herself some dinner, shower and do a few loads of laundry. With each task, she would stop herself.

“I sniffed this nigga! What is wrong with me? I’m a creep.”

Her brain getting the best of her. She curls up on her couch. She had every intent to catch up on Steven Universe. Her schedule had been so busy that she has weeks of episodes to watch. But she couldn’t focus. All she could think about was this fine man. Why hadn’t she seen him before? And of course that just led back to her thinking about him catching her. She needed a distraction.

Instagram. She picked up her phone and scrolled down her timeline. Her homegirl, Ava, was all over the gram with her new photo shoot. Phoenix left a few comments.

YASSSS BITCH! GO OFF!

REAL HOT GIRL SHIT!

Phoenix continued scrolling. She found her way to her explore page. Liking a few pics of decor and food. And that’s when she saw it. Her ex, Justin, posted with his baby mama. Phoenix broke up with Justin the day before she moved to LA. That same day, she found out he had a baby on the way. That was the extra push she needed to just leave. Justin was her first everything. Her only real boyfriend and he did her dirty. She hadn’t really dated since then. She’d entertain a few of the industry guys that approached her but nothing ever happened. Her feelings were hurt instantly. Even though she had moved on and far away, that shit still stung like it was fresh. She locked her phone. When she needed a distraction, she ain’t mean that. Maybe making a beat would help.

She set up her mini, bootleg studio she created and got to work. It was so easy for her. This was her passion. She even wrote a few lyrics. Time was passing by and before she knew it, it was almost 2am.. she wasn’t surprised at all. She always worked best at night. She was in her zone so she didn’t wanna stop to go to sleep anytime soon.

Phoenix headed to the kitchen. She was going to need some good snacks to match this good creation session she was having. Opening her snack cabinet, she was met with a half eaten bag of plain chips and a pack of Oreos with ONE left.

“Ava is never staying here again. Eating up all my shit.” she says to herself.

She sent her friend a text, not caring that it’s late.

Phoenix: You owe me some snacks you hungry heffa.

Phoenix was determined to finish this night out strong by any means. Even if that means going to the store at 2am. She slid on her FENTY Slides. She refused to put on a bra so she threw on a Nike hoodie and headed out.

——-

The elevator seems to be taking forever. Who in the hell is holding it up this late? Phoenix starts to weigh her options. Tired of waiting, she debates whether she should just go back into her apartment.

DING

Letting out a deep sigh, “Finally!”

Looking up, she freezes. It’s him, sporting a black tank, basketball shorts, Nike socks and slides. He had small scars all over his upper torso and trailing down his arms. She is completely stuck, staring at him.

‘How far down did these scars go?’

The doors begin to close and the gorgeous man stops them with his hand.

“Are you gonna get in or just stand there?” he smiles.

‘HO MY GAWD! Is that gold in his mouth?

Phoenix slowly walks into the cabin. Arms folded over her chest, she stands in the front right corner. Ground Level already highlighted as their stop.

“It’s a little late for you to be out here by yourself ain’t it?” He asks.

Peaking over her shoulder, “I’m good.”

He doesn’t respond. Instead, Phoenix could feel him burning a hole in her back with his eyes. She turns to make sure she’s right.

Of course! He’s staring right at her ass. She wants to say something but her words are trapped in her throat. He smiles at her, making her swallow them down and she just looks down at her feet.

“I’m Erik.”

her head snaps back. “Huh?”

“My name. It’s Erik.”

“Oh…Phoenix.”

The elevator doors open. Phoenix waste no time stepping out. Erik is right behind her. He taps her arm, making her jump. Erik was used to women being nervous and awkward around him. He knew he was fine and enjoyed watching women fold before him. He showed his pearly whites, dimples pooling deep,

“Get back here safe, Phoenix.”

Making sure to say her name slowly.

LORDT! The way he said her name made her stomach flip. This man was dangerous. She could tell.

“Uh, you too, Erik.”

She tried to match his tone saying his name. Not wanting to stick around for his response she turns immediately to go to her car. Getting in, she sits. She’s looking out between the rows of cars to see where he went. Some lights flash and soon after, a blacked out Acura NSX with red detailing along the sides, slowly drives by, in front of her. She pretends to not notice, acting as though she’s looking down. She starts her car and pulled out of her parking spot. There’s no traffic but Erik made sure to sit at the parking garage’s entrance until her car pulled up behind him before revving his engine and taking off.

Phoenix rolls her eyes, playfully. “This nigga extra as hell.”

But she knew she liked it. The butterflies in her stomach wouldn’t let her lie to herself. The short drive to the 7/11 up the street consisted of her wondering where he was going this late and curious to know he’ll be there when she got back.

#the elevator bae #erik x black OC #erik x phoenix #black panther fic #Erik Killmonger

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always-arrives-overdone · 4 years

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Wolfstar Cooking Class AU

Hi, so, literally nobody asked for this... and I’ve never posted on here before. But I wrote this a few hours ago and was like “yo, I’m gonna post this to tumblr,” cause why not? So, here it is, a Wolfstar cooking class au, because it’s always been a personal belief of mine that Sirius is excellent at cooking and Remus just sucks at it. :)

It’s some advanced cooking class that focuses on international cuisine

Sirius is taking the class because he likes cooking, is really good at it, and wants to improve his skills and learn how to make more diverse dishes.

Remus is taking it because his cooking skills are abominable. He can barely get cup noodles right. He meant to sign up for a beginner class but messed it up and is too shy to ask to change it.

They, naturally, got paired together to work at the same stations (idk how cooking classes work I’m just thinking of the way it was set up in that one episode of suite life on deck LMAO).

Remus is terrified by this suave, leather-jacket-clad, beautiful boy with dark hair pulled into a bun… and who seems to know exactly what he’s doing. Sirius is immediately taken by the adorable, slightly gangly, quiet boy with a sweater so big that he gets flour all over the ends of his sleeves on the first day.

Remus, after the first class, decides to remedy his perpetual state of being freezing by layering—a jacket over his long sleeve shirt, which he takes off when he gets to class. And oh does Sirius appreciate that—especially because Remus can roll up his sleeves now.

Remus is usually too busy making a right fool of himself to notice Sirius glancing over at him, but when he does notice, he just assumes it’s because Sirius is lamenting the fact that he’s been paired with an idiot.

Their conversations start with idle small talk—Remus, after the first two classes, realizes he can’t pretend that he knows what he’s doing anymore and reveals that he accidentally signed up for the wrong class—and Sirius assures him that they’ll make a competent cook of him yet.

Then their discussions move gradually to getting to know one another more… Remus discovers that Sirius is a Theatre major and Business minor, Sirius is not surprised when Remus tells him he is double majoring in English and History with a minor in French. They bond over their love of books, though Remus ultimately nerds out the hardest when they gush about it—and while Remus has the inability to dislike a book, Sirius can rather vehemently tear down one that he’s read and hated, like The Great Gatsby (Remus claims he only hated the characters, not the book itself). And on the flipside, while Remus can hold himself rather competently in a discussion about art, Sirius has to be shushed by the teacher sometimes because his rushed whispers become a bit too loud when talking to Remus about the last lesson he had in his art history class—he’s particularly fond of Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism, and Hyper-Realism (and he recognizes how bizarre the grouping of those styles is). Remus talks about his best friend Lily, who’s in loads of his classes, though she’s a poly-sci major, and Sirius goes on and on about his roommate James, who’s on his university’s football team and brilliant in all of his classes.

They realize they’re in the same year but go to different schools. And anyway, they’re both too nervous around the other to try and risk anything by asking for more than the hour long interactions they get at each class. Sirius, who found Remus’s ability to mess up even the simplest recipes endearing, finds his slow and steady progress (he even correctly whipped up meringue once! With Sirius staring into the bowl and telling Remus when to stop) even more lovable. And Remus is still completely infatuated by Sirius’s ability to master anything, from a béarnaise sauce to a plate of stir-fried veggies and tofu, and make it look easy—and look good while doing it.

If their hands sometimes touch while reaching for the same ingredient or knife, Remus stammers and moves his hand back, the first few times from fear of having done something wrong (still nervous at the stove), and all the times after that from fear of having Sirius see his expression or extremely red face. And Sirius always notices this response, disappointed the first few times, because he thinks Remus doesn’t like him, smirking all the times after that because Remus’s reaction gives him hope.

When a girl in their class walks up to their table after one lesson and begins to flirt with Sirius while they clean up, Remus averts his eyes and focuses very diligently on his work station, scrubbing one spatula particularly vigorously—doing his best not to listen, but unable to help himself. And when Sirius realizes what exactly she’s doing, and tells her that he’s into blokes, Remus turns his head ever so slightly to watch her leave, a small smile forming on his face. And when Sirius looks over at him, scratching the back of his neck and looking a little nervous, Remus’s smile gets a little bigger, but he looks away quickly and puts the poor spatula back in the drawer.

And then the last week of classes rolls around, and Sirius asks Remus if he plans on signing up for another. Remus admits that while he has definitely improved, he thinks he’d pass out if he had to make dishes even more difficult than the ones they’d made in this class.

Oh, Sirius thinks, he hated the class.

“Well wait,” Remus rushes to cover for himself, seeing Sirius’s expression turn from friendly to disappointed, “don’t get me wrong, I loved the class. I—well I just know I wouldn’t be able to handle myself in a harder one—err, I mean I—” he stammers, wanting to come up with the right thing to say… He’d take another class if Sirius was there, but what he’d really like is to see Sirius outside of a cooking class, to touch his delicate artist’s hands another time besides when reaching for the same item.

Seeing Remus stammering, his cheeks taking on that adorable rosy color they always do when he messes something up, makes Sirius realize what exactly was going on here, and he shushes Remus and gives him a genuine smile. “I know,” he says, and turns back to the page with the recipe they’re working on.

Remus stops stammering, but then is confused. I know? He thinks, What does he know?

Remus can’t help but be a bit jumpy during the class, accidentally burning coconut milk two times before Sirius gently takes the pan from him and tells him to chop up the carrots instead. And when the time comes to clean up their space, he takes forever to scrub the streaks of burned coconut off his pan, and he drops the paper towel roll when he realizes Sirius is still there, standing at the sink two over from him. He looks around the room and realizes they’re the only ones left; even the teacher had left by then. Why had Sirius taken so long to clean up too?

He then bends down to pick up the roll, and when he straightens back up, Sirius is standing right next to him. He manages to keep from jumping again, and instead gulps, though his mouth has gone dry.

“You’re so jumpy today,” Sirius says, taking the roll from Remus and setting it on the counter next to them.

“Yeah,” Remus starts, “I uh… I guess messing up the coconut milk twice in a row sorta set me on edge.”

Sirius tilts his head to the side, giving Remus a disbelieving look. Remus swears he sees Sirius’s eyes drop to his lips. Suddenly the pit of his stomach drops out beneath him.

“You were acting weird before then, though,” Sirius says, taking another small step towards Remus.

Surely the room itself is vibrating, right?

“I—” Remus begins, before Sirius gently touches his shoulder.

“I mean, right now,” Sirius says, a concerned look on his face. “You’re shaking…”

“I…” Remus gulps again, now it’s his time to glance at Sirius’ mouth, the way his lips are slightly parted. He raises his eyes to Sirius’s again; he decides to be bold for once. “You kind of have that effect on me.”

Sirius’s eyebrows raise slightly, a look of quiet shock in his eyes—but how is that shocking? Isn’t it obvious how hopelessly Remus has pined after him for the past couple of months?—before he lifts his hand from Remus’s shoulder to his face, where he brushes his thumb against his cheek.

“Don’t worry, you have the same on me. I’m just a little better at hiding it.”

Remus laughs weakly, the swirling feeling in his stomach increasing even more as Sirius begins to lean towards him, eyes on his mouth once again. He must hear Remus’s quick intake of breath, because he pauses, raising his eyes to Remus’s before asking, “Can I kiss you?”

Remus gives him an inimitably small nod, hand reaching to the back of Sirius’s neck as Sirius’s lips meet his, and Sirius is kissing him—really kissing him. It starts gentle, nervous, and rather quickly morphs into something faster, harder. Remus tugs on Sirius’s hair, Sirius wraps his arm around his waist and pulls Remus against him—Remus throws his hand to the counter to steady himself and hits a pan, pushing it into the sink and making a clattering noise.

Remus pulls back and tries to steady the pan, though it already stopped spinning. He turns back to Sirius, who hasn’t let go of his waist, and knows that his smirk has something to do with the fact that Remus’s face is bright red.

“Fancy getting some coffee?” he asks, letting go of his waist but not moving back.

“Tea,” Remus responds, “but yes.”

Sirius’s responding smile makes Remus blush again, but not from embarrassment.

#harry potter #wolfstar #remus lupin #sirius black #remus x sirius #marauders fic #muggle au #james potter #lily evans #headcanon #pls dont hate it #mwah #soft remus #leather jacket sirius #remus is taller than sirius but sirius has more badass energy so it evens out #paper towel roll #is main character #cooking class

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cilldaracailin · 4 years

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Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Hello my Tumblr Lovelys!

Yeah I haven’t posted twice in a row in a very long time, but I missed posting one of the days this week so I am making up for that.

Thank you as always for all the wonderful comments, love, likes and reads. They are all so very much appreciated!

Hope you all enjoy this one too.

Suze xx :)

“That's the problem with best friends. Sometimes they know you better than you know yourself.”

His nap was perfect and when he woke up, he was curled up against Robyn, his head on her lap as she sat on the corner of the couch, her legs stretched out in front of her. Her hand was curled around his waist and he could feel the tight grip with which she held him and he had no complaints about it at all. He could feel his cheeks tint a little when he felt his new sleeping position on her, realising he must have moved in his sleep and his left arm was now across her legs, his hand flat on her upper thigh under her skirt. It was just a little bit overly intimate for him and he moved his hand in what he was hoped was a not too obvious speed, using a long stretch and yawn as an excuse to move fully from her, a light groan coming from him as his body woke up.

“It will take more than a three-hour nap for you to look any less tired.” Robyn commented as he ran his hands over his face as he settled to sit beside her.

“Robyn this is a look you are going to have to get used to seeing over the next two months and I know you don’t like it but unfortunately it’s gonna be my face for a while.”

“I like your face I just don’t like these.” She reached over and traced the dark circles under his eyes.

“They come with my face and my face has to go on tour with me so it is just the way it has to be. Please be forewarned that at the premier, I am going to be tired. London is the last one and last part of the promotion so I will hit a wall quickly once the after party is done.” He smiled at her frown. “Just the…”

“Way it is, yeah I know.” She sighed. “Well at least you can sleep all day Saturday.”

“I am not going to lie, it is probably what I am going to do. The Monday after, I am straight into filming for the new movie.”

“You never stop do you.”

“Not really no.”

Robyn sighed again. “Do you know where you are filming yet?”

“Matthew has some people out scouting locations at the moment but right now I have no idea where we are going to end up.”

“It’s very selfish of me to say, but I hope it’s not too far away from Kilcreen.”

“So not America.”

She shook her head. “No not America. I still want to be able to come and see you.”

“Well I shall have a word with Matthew for you.”

“Thanks Taron and we are going to have to get you a new shamrock for your cheek.” She dragged a finger down the tear stained shamrock on his cheek.

“You too.”

“So shall we go and do that and get ready to go for dinner?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Once they had freshened up and tattoos had been replaced, they left Robyn’s home, Taron with his flag around his shoulders again, and walked towards the small gap in the hedge to get into Kilcreen GAA grounds. Robyn said hello to the people she knew as she walked by, Taron keeping close to her nodding to those Robyn greeted. Kilcreen GAA club house was almost heaving with excited punters, enjoying their national holiday. Thankfully though, even with the larger crowd, Robyn and Taron had no problems finding a table in the lounge, Taron quite relieved it was a table for two right at the back in a little corner and he sat in beside Robyn on the soft furnishings so he could watch everything going on around him. He still felt comfortable and not worried about being overly noticed and as always he felt safe with Robyn. He picked up the menu from the table and scanned over the options, feeling his stomach grumbling. It had been a long time since his breakfast of Irish pancakes and he was ready to for some food.

“So, what is good here.” He asked her.

“Everything.”

“That’s not helpful Robyn.”

“Well because it is St Patrick’s Day and as you want to have a thorough Irish experience, you should get the bacon and cabbage. Proper Irish food though the…”

“Sold. Bacon and cabbage it is.” Taron put his menu back down.

“That easy huh?”

“Yep. So what are you going to have?”

Robyn scanned the menu. “Think I am going to have the lasagne.”

“That is Italian food not Irish food.”

“Taron, I can have bacon and cabbage whenever I want. I just need to go home to my mam’s house and volá, Irish dinner.”

“Lasagne is not Irish food though.”

The server came over and once they had ordered, Taron making sure to get his drink of choice in too, they sat back against the seat, close together watching the customers in front of them enjoying the evening out.

“So I gave you some warning about my friends, do I need something similar?”

“Well you already met Claire.”

“Aww yes Claire. She liked to smell my hoodie.” He replied with a grin.

Robyn didn’t answer straight away as the server came back with Robyn’s glass of water and bottle of cider and Taron’s Guinness.

“All of the rules have been covered now chicken.” Taron took a drink from his glass. “I wore green, I didn’t say any stereotypical catchphrases and I got my Guinness.”

“And you had a duck in the race.”

“And won!”

“And won.” Robyn repeated as she took a drink from her own glass. Every time they saw each other, they went on a serious emotional roller coaster. One minute they were laughing with each other and the next one of them either cried or needed a serious hug and pep talk and Robyn was finding it hard to keep up with it all but she was so thankful for him. She couldn’t have asked for a better supportive reaction from him once he had learnt about her failed relationship and as he sat right beside her, his left leg was snug against her right and she didn’t know if it was because he felt a little nervous being so out in the open in a very busy pub or because he wanted to just keep her close to him and whichever reason it was, she was glad for the closeness. She had said it to herself so many times but the man sitting beside her was becoming a tidal wave in her life and every moment she spent with him, she was willing to have him wash over her and she was feeling still a little emotional charged so slipped her hand into his under the table, smiling at the squeeze he gave her.

“So I am already on my guard about Claire possibly smelling my shirt, anyone else I should be wary of?”

“You have already met Emma.”

“Briefly.”

“Well Emma will be there and her husband Tommy. I don’t think you need to be worried about her. She forgave me for going to see you in New York.” Robyn took a quick intake of breath when she realised what she had said and grimaced as she took in his face of surprise. “Ahh shit.”

“Ahh shit? What have you been keeping from me?” He felt her reach over and used her free hand to encase his hand that she was already holding and rubbed over his knuckles using her thumbs. “And hand massages are not going to distract me. Robyn, tell me because if Emma is going to look at me weird for the whole evening I should probably know why.”

“I told Emma I was sick and at home in bed when I was actually getting on a plane to go and see you in New York and obviously because she is Emma and my manager, she found out. Wasn’t super happy with me.”

“Is that why one of the terms and conditions on my voucher book was to make sure I gave you enough notice so you could take time off work if we did something together?”

“Pretty much.”

“Robyn…”

“You don’t have to say anything Taron. Emma said enough and she is not going to look at you weird. It was a lecture I was given the next day in the office and it wasn’t mentioned again. Emma knows all about you and me and what happened between us and she understood why I did what I did and was a supportive friend but as a manager, she had to have her say too. There is going to be no weirdness at the céilí, I promise and I have been the best employee since.”

Taron didn’t look too convinced but he nodded. “Ok so two more women I need to look out for.” Robyn frowned at him and he smiled at her. “So Claire, Emma and Tommy. Anyone else?”

“Shane and Darragh.” She heard him repeat the two names. “Shane is a childhood friend of mine and Claire’s and Darragh is his husband. Such a gorgeous couple. Good fun and always up for a laugh. I think you will get on well with them.”

“Ok Shane and Darragh.”

“And then there is Nick, who is Claire’s current crush.” A wonderful wicked smile filled Taron’s face. “And I am so glad you are on the same page as me with this one. She is disgusted at me that I asked him to come along but I know I am going to enjoy the evening a lot.”

“Oh me too Robyn and you know Nick how?”

“He’s in the gospel choir. He’s a good friend of mine.”

“Are you up to some match making this evening?” Grinned Taron.

“Maybe a little bit. Hoping you might help me.”

“With pleasure.”

“I am sure just like your friends, there is going to be that teasing element at the beginning and a few smart remarks thrown in for good measure too but they are a good group of friends and have been good to me over the last few years.”

“I have some comebacks in my back pocket for when I need them. Now we need to talk about the dancing.”

“The dancing.”

“I am not a great dancer.”

“Do I really need to go back to the Rocketman movie to prove you wrong? Or mention New Year’s?”

“That was scripted and taught dancing and New Year’s was just dancing. I am not a great dancer.”

“You don’t need to be.”

“Robyn you are bringing me to a céilí which is a very specific kind of dance.”

“It is so easy Taron. All the dances are based on a four four timing and it’s just a lot of spinning and crossing places and moving in circles and don’t look at me like that. I know you understand what four four timing is.”

“Yeah that’s the part I understood. The rest I am a bit unsure of.”

“Not every Irish person comes out of the womb with the ability to Irish dance. Most of the people going will never have been to a céilí before and there will be instructions for each dance too. You won’t be expected to stand up and know what to do. Even I don’t know what to do.”

“You are a bad liar.”

“There is one go to céilí dance that every Irish person has an idea of but honestly, I haven’t a clue otherwise. I just know it’s going to be a whole load of fun and very Irish and I intend to fully deliver on my promise of a thorough Irish day and experience for you.”

Taron was ready to respond and tell her she had most definitely so far fulfilled the brief of being Irish for the day but the server came over to their table with their meals and he was completely distracted as his food was placed in front of him.

“Need anything Robyn?”

“No thanks Sally. We are all good.”

“Well enjoy your meal.”

“Do you know everyone in this town?” Asked Taron as he unfolded his knife and fork.

“It’s a small town.”

“But yet everyone is so respectful.”

“What do you mean?” She asked him as she shook some salt over the chips that came with her meal, pushing them between herself and Taron knowing he was going to want some.

“I haven’t missed the looks I have been getting.”

“Looks?”

“A lot of people either know who I am or just find you with a man very interesting.”

“I am going to go with that second option. Like I said small town. Kinda hard to keep your private business that private but then again, I have already told you that the Irish are very civil towards celebrities. Wouldn’t normally go up to them.”

“I like it here.” Taron tried some of his dinner. “And oh my goodness this is delicious.”

“As I told you earlier Taron. Kilcreen is your little bubble.”

She only saw Taron nod from the corner of her eye and concentrated on tucking into her own dinner. She was so glad she came from a small town and that she could give Taron complete peace of mind when he came to see her, knowing that he was safe from prying eyes and those who did question it, kept it to themselves and if they did recognise him, didn’t take it any further than knowing who he was and leaving it at that. It was something she had always wanted for Taron and knew although he might not say it out loud, very much appreciated the freedom he had with her just to be himself and not worry about being approached.

Just before nine, Taron was happily finishing off his second glass of Guinness and waiting for Robyn to return from the bathroom. The lounge had emptied a little, a lot of the customers heading to the céilí but the tables were still pretty full, the chat loud and happy around him. Apart from being home in Aberystwyth or a private event, sitting comfortably in a pub was not something he got to experience so peacefully very often and he was very much taking in the easy-going atmosphere and mood. He saw Robyn heading back his way but she was stopped at a table three down from where they were sitting to talk to the people sitting at it. He watched her interaction with them, her face in a smile, then a grin and then a full laugh and it made him smile. He liked it when she was happy.

“What are you grinning at?” She asked him as she walked over to the table.

“You.” He answered honestly.

“Me?”

“Yep.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“Nope.”

Robyn raised an eyebrow at him and watched as he drained the last of his drink. “Ok well are you ready to get those dancing feet going?”

“As I will ever be.” Taron shuffled out of the seat bringing their jackets and his flag with him. “Just need to pay for dinner.”

“Already done.”

“Robyn.” She heard the warning tone in his voice.

“I used the money from the duck race.”

She took his hand on her left shoulder as she walked through the lounge as a sign of agreement and made her way to the double doors and out into the hallway before taking a right turn towards the gymnasium. Once out of the lounge, Taron had let go of her shoulder and walked beside her, both stopping at the table in the hallway.

“Hey Robyn.” Greeted the man at the table.

“Hey Ray.”

“Two?”

“Already have my tickets.” Robyn routed the green tickets from her bag and handed them over. “Here ya go.”

“Perfect.” He stamped the inside of their wrists with a little green shamrock stamp, Robyn watching from the corner of her eyes at how Taron’s face lit up at the stamp. “Just so you can come and go as you please. Sit where you want, though I am sure I have already seen Claire inside.”

“Thanks Ray.”

Taron opened the door for her, letting her into the gymnasium of the club house first. “Seriously Robyn. You know everyone in this town.”

She just smiled at him as she walked by and once they were inside the large gym, she could hear the chuckle come from him. The white awning that was used for parties and wedding receptions had been set up and green lights flooded the place, making the white glow bright green. Irish flags and bunting covered the uppermost edge of the awning and that traditional Irish music was playing through the speakers. The tables were arranged all around the walls so there was a large space in the middle of the floor for the céilí to take place and each table had a centre piece with an Irish flag and green, white and orange helium balloons.

“Well I have stepped into every stereotypical Irish movie ever!” He grinned. “So now I get to use all those phrases!”

“Absolutely not!” She replied. “Only the Irish can get away with this, otherwise we take full offense.”

“Well me and my flag fit right in!”

With a shake of her head, she took his hand and led him around and through tables and over towards where she had caught a glimpse of Claire. The table her friend had picked was at the back on the left hand-side, a snug little table set up for eight people, just as Robyn had asked her to do, wanting to make sure that if he needed, Taron could have a table away from the dance floor and crowds.

“Robyn!” Claire cried getting up with her arms out ready to hug her friend. It was a tight little hug and her friend kept her mouth close to her ear so she could whisper to her. “He actually came?”

“Of course he did.”

“How is he?”

“Tired.”

“And…”

“And he learnt about Keith this evening.” Claire let go of Robyn and stared at her, her mouth dropping open. “And that is a wonderful impression of a fish there Claire.” Robyn turned a little and reached for Taron’s hand and he came to stand beside her. “You already know Claire.”

“Well hello again.”

“Hello to you too. So, we have moved on from flour to an all green look?” Questioned Claire, dropping the sudden news Robyn had just given her, knowing she would have to wait until she was alone with her friend to talk to her about it.

“It’s St Patrick’s Day.” He answered simply.

“Do you have any control over him?” Claire asked her friend.

“None what so ever and moving on.”

Robyn walked Taron around Claire so they could stand at the table of people who were waiting their turn for an introduction. “And this is Emma who you have already met and her husband Tommy.”

“Hi Emma.” Taron moved over to her and leaning forward took her in for a quick hug and kiss on her cheek. “Sorry about New York.” He whispered into her ear. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“You too Taron.” Emma didn’t reply to his whisper but lingered with a return kiss to his cheek instead, glad when he was giving a smile as their hug ended.

“Tommy.” Taron reached over to shake his hand.

“And then on the opposite side, Shane and Darragh.” Robyn had her male friends warned to keep their hands to themselves and as Taron walked around to greet them, she gave Shane a look that screamed behave and she frowned at the wink he gave back to her.

“Nice to meet you both too.” Taron wasn’t really surprised by the hugs and kiss on his cheek he got from them and was sure Shane’s hands were lower than was needed for an initial meet but he let it slide.

“And then there is Nick.”

It was a more manly handshake he got from the last person at the table. “I saw you in the crowd earlier when the choir was preforming.”

“Yeah I was there. You did a wonderful version of Tiny Dancer.”

“Thanks so much. Not too sure if it compares to yours though.”

“Thanks Nick but really not much of a comparison. Two different takes on the song.”

Robyn came to stand beside him. “And that is everyone.”

“Well this was a much more civil introduction compared to when you met my friends.” He said as he put their coats on the back of one of the chairs, folding the flag over them.

“Oh just give it time Taron.”

As Taron took a seat next to Nick, Claire decided it was the perfect time to drag Robyn away, using the excuse of needing to get a round of drinks in at the bar.

“Just let me make sure he is…”

“He is grand Robyn. Shane will look after him.”

“Jesus Claire, did you see how low his hand went on Taron’s back?” Robyn had no choice but to be pulled along by her friend, taking a glance back to Taron who smiled at her and nodded, turning his attention back to Nick who had sprung up a conversation with him.

“Oh I saw but what I need to know is, how low have your hands have gone.”

“Fuck’s sake Claire, are you really asking me that?” Robyn stopped on the middle of the dance floor so she could glare at her friend.

“Friends share.” Claire grabbed her hand once more and they made their way to the bar.

“And my hands have not touched that man.” Robyn and Claire stood stopped to stand in the line waiting to get to the bar. “Well actually that’s not entirely true.”

Claire turned so suddenly; Robyn had to grab her shoulders to stop her friend from falling over on her heels. “Robyn Quinn, you give me more details now or I go back there and grill him about everything.”

Robyn chuckled but also knew her friend was serious. “I gave him a shoulder massage in London last month. He had a bad fall on set a few days before and was a little tender.” Robyn had filled her friend in on most of the details with her weekend with Taron but had left some out.

“You gave him a massage!”

Robyn gave her friend a little push as the line for the bar moved. “He brought a voucher with him.”

Claire grinned. “Oh, so he is using that book to his full advantage. I need more details Robyn. What does his skin feel like?”

“Claire…” Robyn’s tone was playful but she knew where her friend was quickly going with her questions.

“Get a new blusher?” Claire asked her grinning. “Your cheeks a little pinker than normal.”

“Soft and warm.” Robyn said quickly and then she sighed. “And oh Claire… I could feel the tightness of his muscles under my hands, the strength in his shoulders and arms and every now and again he would make this sound when I rubbed a particularly tender spot.”

“Keep talking.”

“Then I pulled his body back to me so he could just lean against me and I got to his head again.”

“You and his bloody head and hair.”

“Not just his head. Forehead, eyebrows, nose and cheeks.”

“Jesus Robyn, I want one of those.”

Robyn smiled. “It’s his favourite thing in the whole world and I love giving them to him because I can just see him visibly relax under my hands.” Robyn bit her lip and looked to her friend. Claire had been her best friend since they were kids and they told each other everything, the brunette being a huge crutch for her over the last few years. She knew she could trust her with the most personal details of her time with Taron. “He just happened to be shirtless during that head massage and I might have run my hands down his chest too a few times.”

It took Claire a few seconds to answer her. “Did he say anything to you?”

“Nope. Let me do it.”

“You know he is absolutely crazy about you Robyn.”

“He let me do it because he knows it’s where my hands were last year when I gave him the CPR.”

“And?”

“Details!” Claire said excitedly.

Robyn slightly rolled her eyes at her friend. “I just like feeling his heart beat under my hands.”

“Yeah and touching his body.”

Robyn could feel the heat in her cheeks. “Fine and touching his body. You know what his outfit on New Year’s Eve did to me. That boy knows how to dress but Claire, even the skin on his chest is soft and warm. The whole man is just like a soft and warm blanket.”

“And the chest hair?”

Robyn didn’t answer Claire and avoided her eyes for a few seconds, stepping around her as the line for the bar moved again.

“I will get an answer from you eventually about that chest hair Robyn. You know I will.” Claire came to stand beside her friend. “So, has he enjoyed his day?”

“Fucking won the duck race!” Robyn groaned, making Claire laugh. “And yeah I think so. He is just knackered.”

“He looks it and I heard about the duck race. I met Jane down the town. She was a little excited to have and I quote her ‘met that sex God that is utterly in love with Robyn’.”

“I am so glad I dragged Taron away from her.” Robyn said, ignoring the second half of Claire’s sentence.

“So, you told him about Keith then.” The two girls were three customers away from the bar and Claire couldn’t hold the topic in any more. She had to know.

“That was my mother, not me.”

“Called him a fucker?” Asked Claire.

“Yep.”

“How did he take it?”

“Pretty well actually but at the same time Claire it was horrible and not because Taron wasn’t disgusted at Keith. Believe me he was but because he felt so guilty for what happened with the media and me going to New York and was so worried that his actions had opened up healed feelings for me. He was so upset. He is still carrying so much guilt over it all but we talked it through again and I think at last we have put it behind us.”

“Not something he was expecting to hear. Keith the fucking gobshite.” Fumed Claire.

“No I think not and although I saw the flare of anger in his eyes, it honestly did not last long at all. That man is still traumatised by what happened in New York.

“Robyn you flew to his set and confronted him, yelling at him. Of course he is.”

Robyn cringed. “I don’t want him to feel like that anymore. I have told him so and we have done so much together since New York, I thought he had put it behind him. I pray he listened to me this time. I really don’t want to see those puppy dog eyes from him again or the tears in them.”

“Tears?”

“He’s wears his emotions on his sleeve with those he fully trusts and to be honest I think he is just so exhausted that he couldn’t help himself. I would say on another day, the anger would have come to the forefront but instead today it was him going over how much he had hurt me.”

“Have I told you yet that he loves you?”

“He does not.”

“Yes, he does. He put his anger for what that bastard did to the side and instead concentrated on how his reaction to the media hurt you and when he heard about Keith it just pushed him over the edge a little and he became concerned that he had further upset and hurt you.”

“A little concerned.”

“And he loves you.” Claire frowned as the blonde scoffed at her. “Robyn that man hasn’t taken his eyes off you since we joined this queue. I can see him from here looking at you. You pulled out the short skirt and cropped top for him?”

“It’s my St Patrick’s Day skirt. It’s green.”

“I have never seen you in this skirt before. I don’t even think I have seen this skirt before and you in a crop top? With a pair of high waisted jeans, sure but with some skin on show? You Robyn Quinn are as head over heels in love with that man as much as he is with you and don’t shake your head at me. Robyn, he came over to see you for two nights! You went to him for New Year’s Eve and you kissed him!”

“He kissed me.”

“No, you kissed him.”

“In Aber yeah but he kissed me this evening.”

Claire stood staring at her friend. “So, what is that four now?”

“Five.” Robyn whispered quietly.

“Please explain to me once again about his kisses. Let me live vicariously through you.”

Robyn automatically bit her bottom lip, her hands running through hair. “So soft, very quick and almost reluctant and even his lips are warm.”

Claire dramatically placed her arm on her forehead. “Oh, dear God you are killing me.” Claire took her arm away from her forehead and looked to her friend very seriously. “If you don’t go over there, sit on his on lap, grab him by his collar and kiss him hard, while dragging your hands through his hair, I am going to scream at you. That man needs to be kissed stupid and you need to be the one to do it.”

“Claire…”

“Oh, don’t Claire me! Blah blah blah, we are friend’s blah blah blah. Shut the fuck up Robyn. I know you and I know you are so guarded when it comes to the opposite sex but Taron, he is someone you can absolutely trust.”

“I do trust him.”

“Then fucking go and kiss him!” Claire’s voice was a little louder than she intended and Robyn groaned, praying her words didn’t carry to Taron. “Forget about the distance, forget about his job and media and think about him and what he deserves and needs and what you absolutely need. I just want you to be happy.” Claire threw her arm around Robyn, giving her a squeeze. “He would make you so happy Robyn.”

“He does.”

“And it could be so much more.” Robyn sighed against her friend. “He is going home tomorrow.”

“Yep.”

“When do you get to see him again?”

“He is coming to see me in RENT and then he invited me to go to his premier for Kingsman yesterday. That’s the end of April.”

Claire let her friend go and grinned. “Fucking hell that man is keen. Another fancy dress with a low neck line?” She winked laughing as Robyn rolled her eyes. “Hey you told me he was the one who picked that dress for you and you wore it.”

“And he has been warned. Stella, his stylist will be helping him.”

Claire shook her head but smiled at her. “Life of luxury now Robyn.”

“It is not about that.” Robyn replied a little sternly.

“I know that Robyn and I know you would never take advantage of him. You have done nothing but look after him and he had better be doing the same for you.”

“He does. It just so happens that his life is a little more extravagant than mine in some ways but Taron loves nothing more than a cuddle on the couch.”

Claire chuckled. “Had your cuddle yet today?” She asked as they reached the bar.

“In fact, I did. Taron had a little nap before we came out for dinner.”

“And where did his head end up?”

Robyn didn’t answer her friend but gave her order of drinks to the barman, ordering a bottle of corona for Taron, a cider for her and two pint glasses of water. Despite her teasing, Robyn knew Claire only wanted the best for her and always had her best interests at heart and as she spoke jokingly about Taron, she had the upmost respect for him and as she felt Claire hug her from behind, she knew it was just a bit of banter between them.

“You deserve a man who will love everything about you and Taron is that man. I can see it. I just want you to be ridiculously happy and if that sex God can do it, then I am routing for you both.”

Robyn took Claire’s hands away from her waist and turned to look at her. “I know Claire and thank you but please don’t call him a sex God to his face.”

“Even if you are thinking it.” She winked.

“And while we are on the topic of sex God’s, how’s Nick?”

“I am still pissed at your for inviting him but he is so gorgeous in his green shirt and jeans and he has his hair in that sideways part and…”

“And you need to go and sit on his lap and kiss him stupid.” Laughed Robyn. “You know I have the inside scoop Claire. Maybe he might be feeling the same.”

“Don’t you even tempt faith.”

“Only returning the advice.” Robyn said handing her money over to the barman as he brought back her drinks. “Hey Claire. Speaking of faith and ya know the good old tradition of Irish slagging, can you go easy on Taron please? Normally he would be up for a good laugh but he is so tired and running on empty let’s take it down a notch ok? I already have to be on my guard with Shane, I need you helping me. I actually want him to come back for a visit, not run for the hills.”

Seeing the slight begging in her eyes and knowing Robyn was prepared for some teasing over Taron, Claire nodded. “Sure. I’ll tone it down.”

“Right down Claire. I happily would have left him sleeping but neither him or you would have agreed to that.”

“I promise Robyn. I know how much he means to you and I can see it on his face that he is tired.”

“Thanks Claire.”

“But…”

“No buts. I have a Nick to threaten you with.”

Claire’s eyes opened wide. “Ok so I have your back with Taron then.”

“Thank you. Claire you do realise you and Nick are going to have to be partners for the dancing right? I mean Emma has Tommy, Shane has been giggly with excitement since we got the tickets to dance with Darragh and well Taron is with me, so that only leaves Nick for you.”

With a wink to her friend who only then realised the position she was in, Robyn picked up her four glasses and made her way back to the table, a small smile on her face as she walked thinking over Claire’s words, happy she was going to give the teasing and slagging a rest. It meant she really only had to keep a closer eye on Shane throughout the night, knowing he was going to come out with all guns blazing, having just the smallest crush on Taron, despite being married to the love of his life for the last three years.

#Taron Egerton #Taron Egerton Fanfiction #Taron Egerton Fanfic #Taron Fanfic #Friends #Love #Cuddles #Sleep #St. Patrick's Day #Guinness #Céilí #Dancing #Friendship #Girl Talk #Laughter #Robyn and Taron #being irish

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smile-files · 4 years

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hiya! its gta, im just not gonna anon this time. could you please give me a tutorial of how to make a carrd? im a confused mess rn hhhh fghjk

i’ll try!! :]

first of all, go to https://carrd.co/. that’s a given.

i’m not experienced with designing websites from scratch, so i generally choose a starting point to work off of. i suppose it doesn’t matter too much which template you choose;

the important thing is that the site has buttons of some kind, so one could go between different pages (i recommend clicking on the ‘sectioned’ category of templates for this. my current carrd uses the template second from the top on the right, which you can see a demo of here)

once you’ve chosen a template, you can go from there; underneath each page divider (see the ones titled #work or #about in the dashed lines) is its corresponding page. the page divider tells the website which page is which, so when you click on the button for it, it takes you to the right place.

and more on buttons - you might not see the buttons straight away, even though in the demo they were right underneath the text. this is because they’re sectioned off to a footer beneath the text (scroll all the way down to see them); this makes it so no matter which page of your carrd you’re on, those buttons will appear below everything else.

to make it easier for yourself to move around on your page, you’ll want to label your buttons how you want them. click on the buttons to be able to change them - when you click on ‘home’ in the menu on the left, for example, you’ll see how the label is ‘home’ and the url is ‘#home’. that url links to its corresponding divider - so clicking on the home button, one your site is up and running, would bring you to the page under the ‘#home’ divider. for a button to work, your buttons’ urls have to match those of the dividers (otherwise, your button can’t take you anywhere!)

let’s say you want 5 pages to your carrd: the main page, an about section, a section on some of your interests, a section on kins, and a section with your contacts. but there are only 4 buttons, and thus only 4 page dividers! how do you add another? good question! you see that little + button on the menu at the top? click the button labeled ‘# control’ to add a page divider. it will automatically go to the bottom of the site, so you should drag and drop it to where you want your next page to be. then you can change the name of that page using the ‘name’ section of the menu - it should be labeled as something like ‘section05′ as default, but you can change that label, which is the section’s url, to anything you want. you can change any existing page dividers’ names to whatever you want as well, so they match what you need!

but remember, if you’re changing the urls of the page dividers, remember to also change the buttons’ urls to match. now that you’ve added a new page section to your site, you’re gonna want to add a button for it, so you can access it! to do that, click on your buttons, go to the menu and click ‘add’ to add a button. now you can change the url to the url of your new page divider and change the label to whatever you want! (note: you can see all of your urls by clicking the little ‘#’ button on the top menu)

once you have every page sectioned off for your site, it’s time for the fun part - adding images and text! basically everything you add is through the + button on the top menu. there are a variety of things you can add to make your site great!

most things automatically show up below the footer once you’ve created them, so you’ll need to drag and drop to where you want it to go.

for text, you’ll automatically see a text box in the left menu. there is where you type the text you want to add. but if you want to change the color, font, or any other cosmetic change, then click the button that looks like a paintbrush on the top of the left menu. that button is for appearances (the button you were on before has a big letter ‘a’ on it).

do you want all the text on your site to be the same color, font, and size? it would be annoying to set all of that manually. but fear not, as you can set a style! first choose an appearance for your current text. i’m setting my text to a nice pink, with a poppins font, size 2 weight, etc. i want all my text to look the same way, so once i’ve set my current text, i click on the dropdown menu next to the word ‘appearance’ on the left menu; it should say something like (none) on it.

once you’ve clicked, you can press ‘add style’ - the current appearance of your text is saved, so if you want to have any other text you have look like it, go into the appearance tab of that text, click the same dropdown menu and click the style you just made (it is automatically titled ‘new style’, but you can choose the little pencil button to change the name if you want) to have your new text have the same style!

styles can also be used for elements like images - i actually recommend setting the appearance to the image before you upload it, in some cases; you want to make sure that you won’t have to crop the image to fit, let’s say a circle, if you didn’t want your image to be a circle in the first place. but, of course, you can still edit the appearance after you’ve uploaded. you can add corner rounding, or change the height, etc. if you want all of your images to have the same format (the same shape, for example), you can set a style for it as well.

one thing that took me a while to find out is to have two columns of images next to each other! if you’re like me, with my cringy ol’ kinlists, you don’t want to have a single trailing column of images going down your page; it’s very inefficient. to add columns, you’ll have to add a new kind of element - a container!

click the + button and click ‘container’ (the icon should be a little box). you can use containers for other things, but i use them for images. there should be a dropdown menu for ‘type’ on the left menu, and there you should choose ‘columns’; you should see a box with two little boxes inside, each one with the label ‘empty’. you can drag anything into these boxes really, even text, but i find them most useful for images.

to add a row beneath, just drag whatever image you want to below one of the images in the top row - when you drag it, there should be a little teal line under the image you’re placing it beneath.

want 3 columns instead of 2? how about 4 columns? click on the container (try not to click on one of the things inside, click on the space around) and click ‘add’ on the left menu; now there should be 3 columns. you can always add more if you like! you can also change the width of the column - maybe the left column is 75% wide while the right column is only 25% wide! you can keep them even or change them up. you also have the choice to set a column as a ‘spacer only’, which means that the column is filled with empty space and is just used as a way to format the other column.

you’ll also want to change the looks of the page and the background, as well! you might not be able to see the difference between them at first; as a rule of thumb, make sure you’re selecting the right element on your page by seeing the text on the outside of the little teal box that’s around whatever your mouse is hovering over - when over text, it says text, and image says image, etc. you can see where the page is by hovering outside of the elements and seeing what the selection text says; once you know where the page is, the background is everything outside of it.

the page is like a big platform on which your site goes - all of your different sections and elements, etc. you can choose where it’s positioned, its size, how much of the tab it takes up, color, gradient, corner rounding - you can even choose a pattern to add to it, like stripes, noise, or a grid!

the background, which is everything behind the page, can be set to a color, gradient, image, video, or slideshow! do whatever you want with it.

and yeah! there are lots of things you can do with your site to make it look just how you want it and to personalize it to you - and don’t be afraid to look things up to learn how to add even more! (i learned about adding columns for images with a quick google search when i was making my own carrd!)

once you’re done, click on the save button on the top menu (it looks like a floppy disk, not like anyone knows what that is nowadays. it’s the button next to the phone). if you don’t have a carrd account, it will ask you to make one with your email - this is so you can save your carrd! agree to the terms of service, you get the drill.

then give your carrd a simple title and description! once you do, you can choose whether you want to publish your site now or save it as a draft to your account. if you do want to publish, choose a name for your site that fits the contents! for example, my botanica info carrd is appropriately titled botanica.carrd.co (as ‘botanica’ is what it’s about! note: that carrd is super outdated now...)

whenever your ready, you can publish your carrd! then you can link it in your tumblr description, on your pinned post, or wherever else everyone can see it!

this probably isn’t much, but i hope it helped anyway! have an amazing day, bud! :]

#melonposting #extreme melonposting #jacksterisgxy

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perregrinstudiessometimes · 5 years

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Study tips/school advice

1- Once you get your syllabi put all of the due dates in your calendar

2- Make an assignment sheet for each class that you can look at throughout the year

3- Make a full assignment sheet with all due dates from all of your classes (organized by date)

4- Don’t be afraid to email your professors if you have a question that you can’t answer on your own

5- Be sure to send thank you emails to your professor when they help you with something

6- Don’t be afraid to go to your professor’s office hours. They exist for a reason (if you are not available during the professor’s office hours email them to find a time when you are both free)

7- Check your email! Seriously just do it! Check at least once a day! (but preferably more!)

8- If you don’t understand something do your best to get a good understanding of it as (if you have the same bad luck as I do) the one thing you don’t understand will most likely show up on the test. Don’t just hope it won’t show up on the test!

9- Don’t cram before an exam! Schedule your time so that you can relax/rest the night before the test (I will admit I normally take a glance over my notes the morning of the exam, but this is used as a refresher not an attempt for last-minute learning.

10- I see a lot of people suggest that you read through the whole exam before answering any questions. I would not recommend this as most exams are timed. Instead, I would suggest going through the exam in order skipping questions you don’t know to come back to later. (this way you can maximize the number of questions you get to that you do know the answer to without wasting time)

11- Over prepare for every test!

12- Take a mental note of how prepared you feel before a test/exam and the grade you make on said test/exam. The goal is to be able to have a pretty good guess as to what you will make on the test/exam based on how prepared you feel.

13- Use a final grade calculator (or this one) to see what you have to make on a final exam to get the grade you want (this is helpful to know what classes you will need to study more for)

14- Don’t skip class unless you absolutely have too. Showing up is half the battle.

15- On the first few days of each class wear layers because you never know how hot/cold each class will be. Take note of the temperature in each class and plan accordingly as the class goes on.

16- Show up to class a few minutes early (don’t bother showing up very early as the class before yours will probably still be in session, but you also don’t want to accidentally be late)

17- In class sit where is best for you (this will take some trial and error) I personally prefer to sit 2-3 rows back against the wall)

18- Write the date at the top of each of your papers (notes and handouts) this will make it easier to know what to study when your professor says the exam will cover everything from date A to date B.

19- Take class notes in your own words. If you can’t write it in your own words than you don’t understand it.

20- Learn and use abbreviations [here is @studyquirks post about it] and make your own for words you write often

21- read ahead in the textbooks so you will have a basic understanding when your professors bring a topic up.

22- Start studying from day one (even if it feels like there isn’t enough to go over)

23- Have specific goals for each study session.

24- Know your learning style and use it to your advantage

25- Find out what time of day you study best (for me this is first thing in the morning and around 3-6pm)

26- Don’t skip studying a section/subject just because you don’t find it interesting. Give each subject the time it deserves.

27- Get dressed to study (there is something about having shoes on that makes me feel productive)

28- This is a link to my main study method

29- Recall is the most important aspect of studying (as it is what you will have to do for a test)

30- Study what you are weakest on most but don’t neglect stuff that you already know. Review everything at least once.

31- Make the term memorable to YOU (for example I can remember what quid-pro-quo means because I have a trump voice in my head say “quid-pro-quo I’d like a favor though”)

32- Quizlet doesn’t work for me. The act of making physical flashcards helps me learn

33- Don’t make flashcards for things you already know

34- If you need a quick basic understanding of something to google the topic followed by “for kids” (example moon phases for kids)

35- If you get distracted while studying write down the distraction and promise yourself, you will deal with it during a break/ when you are done studying.

36- STOP MULTITASKING! Seriously you will get stuff done quicker if you give each task your full attention.

37- Studying is not a competition. (I see people on Tumblr/Instagram almost bragging about how long they study for, sometimes claiming 9+ hours, a day. This is not realistic!) remember quality over quantity.

38- Do the homework even if it isn’t graded. It will help you.

39- Make new deadlines for projects to make sure the projects get done on time (I usually set the new due take 3-7 days before the actual due date)

40- Start long term assignments within 3 days of it being assigned

41- Do all of your assignments (I often see people say it’s okay to skip a few assignments) in my opinion it is better to turn in a rushed/half-assed assignment than to have a 0 in the grade book.

42- When writing an opinion piece, you don’t have to write about your opinion (although you will probably enjoy writing about your own opinion more.)

43- If you plan on studying at the library find the least populated area (for my school this is the second floor)

44- Try and avoid the school’s library during exam season as it tends to get busy (instead try other places on campus, the public library, or a coffee shop)

45- Page flags/tabs/sticky notes are useful. Use them.

46- I prefer to use highlighters to underline rather than highlight the normal way. (the normal way makes it harder to reread as your eye is drawn to the highlighted portion)

47- Don’t over highlight (instead highlight small sections/words and expand on it in your own words in the margins/ on sticky notes)

48- When reading write summaries on sticky notes (keep these summaries concise and to the point)

59- When reading to take notes (such as from as a textbook) skim the section before doing a deep read (where you highlight/annotate) as it is difficult to know if a sentence is important without context.

50- When doing required readings for classes take detailed notes and summaries the reading in your own words both to help you understand the reading and so you can look back at the summaries when you need a refresher (like before an exam)

51- If you know you will be asked to write about the reading keep a list of quotes (with page numbers) and a description of why the quote is important/relevant

52- If you are reading a whole book, make sure to make summaries for each chapter and keep track of plot points (for when you are making an overall summary of the book/reading.

53- In short summarize! Summarize! Summarize!

54- ALL NIGHTERS ARE A WASTE OF TIME! Try and avoid them at all costs. Plan your time effectively and you won’t have to pull all-nighters.

55- Use a website like google drive or one drive to keep all of the assignments you are currently working on, so you don’t have to worry about carrying around a flash drive.

56- Give yourself a day off once a week where you don’t work on anything school-related (for me this is Sunday)

57- Use alarms to remind you to do things/ get you to do things (I use silent alarms on my watch to remind me when to leave so I can make it to my next class etc)

58- Study groups don’t work for me and I have found that they are a waste of my time.

59- Keep a list of all the places to study around campus for when the library is closed/busy

60- The Pomodoro method doesn’t work on me. I focus too much on how much time is left and not enough on my studies

61- Try a social media break

62- Mind maps don’t work for me. I find it much more effective to use a linear progression of thoughts

63- Don’t feel like you have to join clubs if you don’t want to.

64- Give yourself incentives (ex if I make a B+ or higher on this paper I will plan a movie night with friends, although don’t disregard pleasure if you don’t do well on a test/paper)

65- Clean your desk/study area every time you are done using it

66- Follow the two-minute rule, if it can be done in two minutes do it right then (don’t follow this while studying just write down a list of everything that needs to be done and do them once your study session is over)

67- Don’t rely on motivation. Rely on discipline. Be a parent to yourself.

68- Eat breakfast if you can (I know eating early upsets some people’s stomach) and always pack a snack in case you don’t have time for lunch

69- Try to carry as little as possible in your bag (if you can’t avoid carrying multiple textbooks try carrying one/some textbooks in your arms to help distribute the weight)

70- Keep a water bottle, chargers for all of your electronics, all the pens/highlighters, and study materials you will needs in your study area (so you won’t be tempted to get up and walk away from your studies)

71- Keep just one folder in your bag for all of the handouts you are given throughout the day. Organize these papers by class/topic/chapter when you get home

72- Clean out your bag often (I clean out mine every day)

73- Remember the best tips are the ones that work for you!!!!

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marimarli · 4 years

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ch 5!

authors note: YALL R GONNA LOVE CH 6 >:)) enjoyyyy

Tristan had yelled and yelled and the entire library went silent. The Stranger didn’t do anything as Tristan yelled, and I would have liked him to at least say something, so despite him being so pretty, I’m angry with him, and I don’t want to see him in my ever corner again.

Eventually, one of the ladies at the desk called the police and Tristan was forced to leave. Before he left, I told him, as firmly as I could, that we weren’t going to be together anymore. He shouted a few more things at me then. It wasn’t until I was back in my corner, truly feeling alone, (the lonely kind) and crying pathetically into my hands, that The Stranger stood up and took one of my hands and held me. And we just stood there, me crying into his probably expensive sweater, and him hugging me like he’s known me for a very long time. I don’t know how long we stood there, but eventually I told him that I needed to go home. I was still angry with him the next morning, even after sleeping nine hours and skipping my first class that morning, because he smelled really nice, and not like alcohol or smoke.

…..

As her boyfriend just stood there, yelling at her in the middle of her library, I did nothing. I did this because it was unexpected, and because it would make her think about me more after the whole incident was over. Imagine that girl laying awake at night, thinking about why the strange, very attractive boy she was talking to that day in the library didn’t help her like any decent person would. The more you confuse her, the more she thinks about you, and the closer you get to winning if you play your cards right in the end.

I couldn’t help, though, the thought of not holding her as she cried into my shoulder. I didn’t want to let her go when she told me she needed to go home.

…..

In all of my six years of high school and college combined, I have never skipped a single class for any reason other than because of an appointment, or because of being sick. Or because I was late, I guess. But I’ve never skipped just because, like I did this morning.

I was up late, cleaning and baking and doing homework (I had read somewhere that in order to clear your mind, you need to clear your environment) and when I went to sleep that night, I dreamt about the stained glass windows in the library and about the Jewel Chair. All I saw was my corner, and on the chair was my book, the one I had been reading. When I picked it up, everything about the book felt the same until I opened it, and the pages were blank.

Then, someone hugged me from behind. And I woke up angry.

…..

It had been exactly a week since I saw her, in the library, and not in class that following morning. Today, though, she showed up to our lecture, and she met her friend outside and studied before class, like she always did, pretending nothing in her life had changed and that she had just been sick last week, that’s all, which I don’t think her friend believed for one second.

I made it a priority to get to the library before she could, and when she walked in through the little gap among the rows of bookcases, she confronted me.

“Hey!”

I cocked my head, playing annoyed, to see her standing right over me, blocking the window-light. “What?”

“What’s your problem?” She asked as she dropped her bag down.

“What do you mean, Marinette?” I asked, looking back down at my book, feigning carelessness despite being taken completely off-guard by her tone of voice.

“What I mean is,” she paused, closing my book so that I would look up at her, “Why- wait, how do you know my name? And why were you here last week and why are you here now?”

“Because,” I said very smoothly, leaning in as I took a few strands of her hair, rubbing them vertically between my index and my thumb, “I like reading here.” When I looked up again, she was still angry, and the color across her nose and in her cheeks reflected that, or was it, maybe, embarrassment? I allowed myself a small smile, making sure she couldn’t see it behind my book, as she plopped into her chair, arms folded, heavily guarded.

“What I didn’t do was unexpected.” Lowering myself onto the carpet and leaning back as I had done when we first spoke together, and I told her, “But, you’ve been thinking?” I offered. About me.

“I feel like I know you from somewhere.” She stared me down, a quizzical expression on her face.

I ignored her. “I know it affected you.”

“Why do you care? Your being there doesn’t mean anything. Didn’t mean anything.”

“What about when you were crying?” I retorted.

She paused. It had been nice, someone taking care of her, when she needed it. Alya was always there for her when she could be, of course, but this had felt different. But still! Why hadn’t he done anything sooner?

“Why didn’t you say something? When he grabbed my arm?” Her eyes fixed on me again and I felt heat rise to my face. She was alarmingly still as beautiful, even when she was so angry. She continued. “I was afraid. And you just- sat there? I know we don’t know each other- at least, I don’t think I do, but- why?”

“All week.” I looked up at her. “You probably laid awake at night, wondering about that, didn’t you?”

Now she lowered herself onto the carpet, shorter than me, hugging her legs close to her stomach as a quiet pink color rose to her cheeks, and overall looking very soft. But still definitely dangerous.

“So? That’s it?” She scoffed. Mari knew there was no reasoning with him.

I smiled, hardly realizing it. “It is,” I offered, and I began reading again. I suppose the way I’ve defined reading has changed: ‘reading: verb- the act of staring blankly at a page in an attempt to feign carelessness.’ Looking into those eyes was, for now, a deathtrap. “I know you from Tuesday morning classes from 9 until 12.” That’s all she needed to know for now. Her response: she leaned her head into the armchair’s arm, as she had done last time, her cheek squishing into the fabric and making her look even younger and more innocent than before.

It was a good thing she didn’t know that her book was currently sitting on my kitchen countertop to be returned to the library the next day, once I had finished re-reading it. I would have really heard it from her then, and in a library, of all places. We wouldn’t want a repeat of last week, now would we?

ch 1 and 6, in that order:

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justaniche · 4 years

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Never Have I Ever...been blatantly asked to have sex

So here it is, the first chapter of my NHIE rewrite posted on tumblr thank you @cupcakesandtv for letting me know that I actually could post this. I will start working on chapter 2 and will post it as soon as I can!

---

Paxton Hall-Yoshida: resident heartthrob, varsity swim team captain, and all-around nice and pretty chill guy. That’s what his fellow students at Sherman Oaks High think when they see him at least, but I mean come on, he’s definitely double-take worthy and that’s Paxton’s image, unbothered, athletic, and generally unproblematic. That's the issue with images, though, they solemnly capture the full picture.

“You’ve got to be kidding me” the exasperated groan heavy in Paxton’s voice, “they’re really gonna make me retake history?” The question was more for himself than, his best friend, Trent but a response came nonetheless.

“What?” The paper Paxton’s schedule was printed on was snatched out of his hands and Trent swiftly skimmed the page as the dots connected in his head, “Oh, the class from last year, I’m sorry bro that sucks.” He said as he casually handed the page back.

It’s the first day of the new school year at Sherman Oaks High School and the students are settling back into the swing of things. As per usual at this school, the student schedules are emailed to them weeks before school actually starts, but Paxton decided to not look at his until he got to school and that was coming back, rather quickly, to bite him in the ass. He and Trent were huddled at his locker catching up on the last 48 hours since they’ve spoken before heading to their, now apparently separate, classes.

These boys have never been the most studious; you could possibly call Trent willfully oblivious, the former often just letting everything fall as they may, insisting, to the dismay of Paxton, that things would be ‘fine’. With the buzz of anxiety that came with knowing he had to retake a class that was now full of people younger than him fading, Paxton was finally alert enough to realize that the formerly noisy hallways had fallen damn near silent.

“Shit dude, we’re late,” Paxton rolled his eyes. Trent laughed, grabbing his bag and shutting Paxton’s locker.

“Have fun with the youngins” Trent was already walking away with a wink before Paxton could retort back. Well, there goes the plan of attempting to sneak in relatively unseen. Taking a deep breath Paxton shifted into his more commonly known school persona, cool, calm, and drool-worthy while he made his way to class. As Paxton approached the door and heard the teacher beginning his lecture, he didn’t leave time for contemplating his regrettable circumstances. Paxton stepped through the door and made his way to the first seat in sight which was, being on par with the way the day was going, in the front row. Paxton had just gotten settled in his seat and faced the teacher when “Damn” sounded behind him. Paxton, along with the rest of the class, turned to directly behind him to face the girl residing in the seat. No one had time to comment as the teacher added to her remark and tacked it onto his lesson.

“-genocide is not 100. And systemic racism is not litty. As we travel through all of humanity’s most horrific atrocities, I want you to feel shooketh. Thank you. Trust'' as if the intro could not get worse, the teacher dabbed and then proceeded to stumble into the trash can placed beside his desk. Paxton slouched into his seat with a sharp breath intake and a slight cringe, he knew it was going to be a very long year.

~~~

With class finally over, students emptied the room and Paxton followed but stopped smoothly in the middle of the hallway; dropping his bag to tie his shoe and then continued to class.

~~~

The day droned by, only being briefly punctuated with excitement from Trent and persistent stares. When the bell rang signaling the end of the school day athletes and club kids alike made their way to their respective areas. Paxton found his way to the school pool for a much-needed outlet for his energy. Swimming, for Paxton, was like breathing. It came naturally and was a reprieve from everyday stresses. People stared yes, but it was not because of his objective attractiveness and more so because of his fluidity inside the water. In the water, Paxton moved one with it. It seemed as though the water acted as his guide instead of pushing against him. This coupled with the fact that the pool was where Paxton had felt the most comfortable and the most accepted. Yes, he was competing when he swam but it was never a chore; honestly, Paxton would spend all day, every day in the water if he could.

Practice ended, to much of the swimmers’ dismay, and soon after they were emptying the school into the night air, “Later man '' Paxton called to one of his teammates before bounding down the steps. He cut right to his car and reveled in the thought of finally getting home and back into the bed he’d been daydreaming about from the moment he left it, when a voice, calling his name from behind, stopped him in his tracks.

He pivoted on his toes to face, the girl from his history class? Confusion flooded his body as the girl, now introduced as Devi Vishwakumar, began to ramble and Paxton’s face contorted as his puzzlement started to show. Devi could see that Paxton was not connecting who she was to anyone he’d seen and sighed slightly before begrudgingly admitting,

“I was also paralyzed last year?”

Realization fell onto Paxton’s face but it was gone as soon as it appeared. Devi didn’t miss a beat before continuing,

“Oh, okay, great. You are familiar with that.” She took a breath, “So here’s the thing. I’m into you.” She scanned Paxton’s face for any indication that her words affected him, she did not find one and seemingly panicked because she recommenced, stating “Like, I could name every class you’ve had for the last two years.”

Paxton’s face smoothed, two beats passed, and he only blinked. Devi spat out, “But I won’t do that. And I know you’d never be my boyfriend, because you’re you and I’m me,” Paxton rocked on his feet. “-but I was wondering if you would ever consider…” she swallowed and stuttered through her embarrassment “h--having sex with me?”

Several moments of tense silence followed and Devi broke, the words tumbling from her mouth like a busted pipe. “Oh, my God. I’m such an idiot. I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I just did that.” She was turned around, fleeing, at this point potentially to go hide in her room, never to come out again when Paxton spoke up.

“Yeah. Okay.”

“What?” Devi could not believe her ears

“Just sex, right?” Paxton asked

“Just sex,” Devi confirmed

“I’m down, but I can’t tonight” Paxton had a date, with his bed, and also a movie with Rebecca not that he’d ever tell Devi that.

“Wow, okay!” The shock in Devi’s voice couldn’t be hidden if she tried, and she did not even attempt to. “Twist. This is surprising. Looking forward to it. Will circle back about it.” The shock melded into something akin to excitement and that bled from her every word. She stuck out her hand, Paxton looked down at it before hesitantly taking it into his own, she gave him one enthusiastic shake. Her smile was blinding, and Paxton stopped his own upturning lips at the strangeness of the entire interaction. He turned and walked away without looking back. When Paxton made it to the school lot it was practically empty, save for a few other cars, none of which were near his own. He climbed into his truck and tossed his bag into the passenger side, at last, letting himself think about what just happened. His mind replayed the scene in his head and he gave a little laugh, this would not be the first time someone wanted to have sex with him but it was the first that someone had been as bare with it plus the first time someone let their reaction show at his answer. He shook his head because it was not a big deal but when he pulled out of the parking lot and set off on the road home, Paxton could not shake the feeling that was telling that this was going to be interesting.

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shaorankun · 5 years

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Guardian Chapter 86 Translation (Guo Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi’s part)

I am currently reading Guardian (鎮魂) and when I got to Chapter 86 in the fan translation (I prefer reading in English) they did not translate this entire part. I only did a light google and didn’t find a proper translation for this so I decided to just complete it myself. I didn’t want to read the rest of the story with a chunk missing, haha. Sharing my labour here for anyone else who might be wanting to read this missing part. I didn’t know where to post this so tumblr it is...

(credit: I’m using the same title from the fan translation I’m reading)

Chapter 86: The Paper-white Face of The Young Ghost King Reflected All of His Desires, Saying Frankly, “Good-looking. I want to hold you.”

Chu Shuzhi did not think that when he returned to Dragon City the first person he would see was Guo Changcheng.

He was just released from his shackles and got back his past items that were forcibly taken by Hell. He was in a good mood. Taking advantage of the Chinese New Year break, he found a wild mass grave1 and retreated for a few days. It wasn’t until he received Wang Zheng’s message that Zhu Hong was planning on resigning that he hurriedly bought a train ticket and rushed back to Dragon City.

The crowd at the train station was bustling. Chu Shuzhi walked forward for a while, looking in all directions for a taxi, and saw Guo Changcheng’s familiar figure—the young man was carrying a huge woven bag, his body was almost curled into a ball2 and he was slowly wiggling about with difficulty.

Just by looking at Guo Changcheng you could tell he did not do much physical work. When he went to school he probably had mediocre grades in Physical Education too. Carrying a big bag, he looked like a snail carrying a heavy shell. People passing by couldn’t help but turn and look at this young man.

Chu Shuzhi was worried he recognized the wrong person at first. Glancing again, he stared at what should have be a sturdy nylon bag open up with a small gap. A lady selling corn at the roadside kindly warned, “Hey, young man, your bag is going to spill!”

Guo Changcheng turned to the voice, but probably because his things were too heavy, when he turned his body he didn’t pay attention to his feet and he stumbled into a luggage being pulled by a young lady who just happened to pass by. Guo Changcheng was flustered and before he could apologize, the young man next to the lady aggressively pushed him. “Watch it, where are you stepping?”

Guo Changcheng was already not standing steadily and once he stumbled, the ‘city wall’ behind his back rumbled and fell. The bottom of the nylon woven bag broke apart and a bunch of outrageous items noisily fell out, including pots, pans, plates and plastic bags of food and clothing. The weirdest thing was that there was also an approximately sixty centimeters in diameter and eight centimeters thick large wooden cutting board—he was basically carrying a mini Walmart.

The young man who pushed him probably just stepped from person to person to fight out a path through the crowded train station. Seeing Guo Changcheng wearing dusty old clothes, he regarded him as a migrant worker returning to the city, and was suddenly disgusted and inexplicably felt a sense of unspeakable superiority. With one hand he was pulling the lady next to him to leave and at the same time complaining, “Knowing there’d be a lot of people and still bringing so much stuff. Are you an idiot? Can you afford to pay for damaging this luggage?”

Guo Changcheng repeatedly apologized. Seeing all the items had fallen on the ground, almost looking stupid, he hurriedly crouched down to pick them up. As he saw the nylon woven bag spill from both ends, he was at a loss and helplessly grabbed his own hair, worried.

It was at that moment that a somewhat skinny hand reached over and easily took both ends of the nylon bag and made a dead knot, making it into the shape of a cloth bag, then placed the junk in the middle of it. Weighing downwards, it looked the same as holding a SpongeBob. With one hand he was able to wrap up the pieces of heavy items.

Guo Changcheng: “Chu Ge3!”

If he had a tail, his wagging could’ve been used as an electric fan. He suddenly forgot that the one standing in front of him was The Zombie Corpse King—in Guo Changcheng’s view, Chu Shuzhi was practically a saviour who fell from the sky.

Chu Shuzhi ignored him. While holding the large nylon bag with one hand, he turned towards the young man who hadn’t gone too far, and with not a good look on his face he said, “The one in front, I advise you roll back here and apologize.”

Usually when Chu Shuzhi was normal it was fine, but when his face sunk he was particularly scary, almost naturally wearing a hint of the vicious gloom of a fugitive. The young man who was just fierce looked at him, appearing fierce but was weak inside, and said, “What else do you want?”

Just as Chu Shuzhi was about to walk towards him, Guo Changcheng held onto him. “Chu Ge, Chu Ge let’s go. It was I who didn’t see just now. I’m sorry.”

Uneasy, he raised his eyes to the other and smiled, holding onto Chu Shuzhi’s cold hand. “My fault, my fault.”

The two in front cussed as they left, completely unaware that they just escaped a crisis.

Chu Shuzhi turned around and looked at Guo Changcheng and thought that not only was he so much of a saint that he was an idiot4, he was pretty much messed up in the brain. To be at this stage of no temper and no courage, even if one didn’t say he didn’t seem like a young and vigorous man, he simply didn’t even seem like a person.

Chu Shuzhi irritably broke away from his hand and pointed at the bag of groceries in his own hand. “Does your family have nothing to eat, that they’re making you spend the New Year selling groceries?”

“No, I’m helping someone deliver this. I didn’t expect the bag to suddenly break.” Guo Changcheng eagerly followed him but also felt rather embarrassed. “I, I, let me carry it, it’s not much further.”

Chu Shuzhi impatiently avoided his hand and frowned. “Lead the way.”

Guo Changcheng immediately was too scared to utter a sound and walked ahead in small steps, leading the way.

Passing by the street in front of the station, they made multiple turns and entered a small alley. They arrived at a shadowed zone of the bustling city. Inside the alley was a row of dilapidated single-story houses. Walking deep inside, a female student with a ponytail was standing at a door, sweeping the floor with a broom. When she saw Guo Changcheng she very happily greeted him, exposing the college break volunteer sign around her neck.

Guo Changcheng felt a little embarrassed when seeing the girl and unnaturally lowered his head. Sounding like a mosquito, he buzzed, “Hello.”

The young lady was not inattentive and seeing Chu Shuzhi holding a big bag, she immediately dropped the broom and helped him open the door. As she walked she asked Guo Changcheng, “Have you registered them? Did you print it out? We have to express gratitude to each person on the internet.”

Guo Changcheng, this boy, he was very slow when he did things and he wasn’t clever. At the unit the always-rushing-them-Zhao would get angry and directly scold him. But in the end when he finished, it was always done very earnestly and meticulously. The reports written, no matter how long or how important or how much paper was wasted, never had a single typo. Slowly, even their nitpicky leader couldn’t say anything.

Guo Changcheng promptly nodded and took out a pile of printed paper from his bag. In total there were seven to eight pages. On them were detailed records of who donated, what was donated, the donor’s contact address, phone number, internet name, e-mail and other information. The value of the donated items varied from Chinese Yuan5 to a Chinese cabbage. It was simply odd and by no means an isolated case.

It turns out this was led by a few of Dragon City’s universities. They were taking advantage of the winter break and came together with some social service groups to organize and create this volunteer operation called “For the Old, For the Young6”. On Guo Changcheng’s side, they specialized in targeting the elderly at the lowest rung of society who, due to various reasons, lost their ability to make a livelihood. In small groups, each were responsible for the long-term care for a set of elderlies.

Because Guo Changcheng was unable to communicate with people, he was unable to take the responsibility of relieving the boredom of the elderly so he ended up with the job of collecting donations from society. Fortunately, the volunteer team had more girls so he was able to help greatly with some physical tasks, using this break to act as a porter.

Chu Shuzhi helped them place the objects down. As it was along the way, he started Guo Changcheng’s car and brought him along to No. 4 Bright Avenue. Guo Changcheng’s palms were damaged by the rubbing of the nylon bag; he sat at the passenger seat quietly and used a wet towel to wipe it.

Since it was rare for Chu Shuzhi to be in the mood to talk, he said a few words to him. “You’re still caring about anyone, are you trying to deliver all living creatures from difficulty?”

Guo Changcheng widened a pair of ignorant eyes and looked at him with astonishment.

Chu Shuzhi changed the question. “Doing this kind of stuff, does your family know?”

Guo Changcheng silently shook his head.

Chu Shuzhi incomprehensively laughed. Then he said, “Then on New Year’s Day did you burn some incense? The way you are, your wishes would easily come true.”

Guo Changcheng shook his head again. He was extremely satisfied with his current life. Apart from his family and friends being safe and healthy, there was nothing else he’d ask for—right now his family and friends seemed safe and healthy so he thought it was better to not trouble Buddha.

Chu Shuzhi took advantage of the traffic light and tilted his head to glance at him. Guo Changcheng was not tall, not strong and also not handsome. His facial features could not be said to be good looking. He was usually very low-key and didn’t own even a single brand name piece of whatever common youngsters thought was popular. Basically you would be unable to find his type in a crowd of people. Because there was always a lack of confidence, there was absolutely never any class.

However, when he sat down and quietly didn’t say anything, his calm expression revealed something unspeakable, natural Zen.

Although Guo Changcheng was a mortal, wine and meat passing his intestines every day, he didn’t understand what practicing spiritual development was, he didn’t even understand all the words in scriptures, and all of the Buddhist Arhats in the entire world were only known through the popular TV show Journey to the West where he only recognized two of them: one Guanyin, one Tathagata. Due to a problem with the actors, even now there was doubt towards the gender.

But Chu Shuzhi could sense that he was acting without regard for others and was peacefully and quietly building something.

It was neither the well-being of this life nor the virtue of the next life.

With Chu Shuzhi’s eyesight and cultivation, he only hazily had a feeling. As for what it was specifically, he couldn’t clearly tell.

Despite Chu Shuzhi not understanding what Guo Changcheng was thinking when doing these things, it didn’t stop the sudden uncomfortable feeling in his heart. There seemed to be a bit of resentment and dissatisfaction.

Even without mentioning anything else, with this child being covered from head to toe in three chi7 thick of virtue, shouldn’t he be living a peaceful and happy life? Why was it that he was born with an unlucky fate? Although everyone knew The Book of Life and Death regarded merits and demerits as very much nonsense, yet didn’t Hell use it rather brazenly?

He stopped speaking. His fanboy Guo Changcheng also didn’t have the courage to actively bring up any topics. The two of them remained silent all the way to No. 4 Bright Avenue. The curtain of night had already descended and all human and ghosts were present.

Once Chu Shuzhi entered the Criminal Investigations division, what came into view first was a group of demon and ghosts with a pair of blank eyes, as if they were collectively hit by a lightning strike.

Before he could even ask what was going on, he saw Wang Zheng turn her head over, trembling as she asked, “Chu Ge, did you know of the matter that Teacher Shen… Shen Wei, was really the Ghost Slayer?”

Chu Shuzhi froze for a bit. After a while, he calmly said, “Oh, that moron Zhao Yunlan, what is he doing that he didn’t come? Where is he? Ran away after messing things up?”

Da Qing was on the side and meowed, “He plunged into Wang Chuan waters.”

Chu Shuzhi: “……Love problems? Suicide?”

Da Qing and Zhu Hong had gotten over the initial shock and already calmed down.

Zhu Hong knew that Zhao Yunlan had on him the Water Dragon Pearl and any place that had water would not be able to harm him. She had just placed the Water Dragon Pearl around Zhao Yunlan’s neck and it was already being used. Zhu Hong felt that if she was a little more suspicious, it would feel like her Snake Uncle Four already knew of something beforehand.

Zhu Hong said, “My guess is that he’s looking for the Ghost Slayer.”

Chu Shuzhi took a quick look and saw that other than Lin Jing, who was still out in the field and already said he’d be taking the midnight train, the No. 4 Bright Avenue members were already all present. With both hands in his pocket, he leaned back against the office door. “I think, let’s have everyone talk about what they separately know. It’s been a mess recently. Let’s focus on the information and figure out what’s really happening. What to do—”

Speaking until here, Chu Shuzhi’s voice suddenly paused, his complexion suddenly didn’t look too good. This made everyone very nervous: “What did Chu Ge think of?”

“Wait, Shen Wei is the Ghost Slayer?” Chu Shuzhi’s face turned green. After a while he muttered, “Fuck I’ve messed up. I’ve teased him so many times before!”

……That’s why they sometimes say that being super calm was just your reflex arc taking too long.

---

野墳坡亂葬崗 [Yě fén pō luàn zàng gǎng] - Not really sure how to translate this. My best guess is it’s a random unmaintained grave. Probably some area with lots of dead bodies like after a war or something.

His body almost bent into a period. A period in Chinese looks like a hollow circle: 。

哥 [Gē] – Brother

Here Chu Ge was thinking that Guo Changcheng ‘Holy Mothered to idiocy’, he holy mothered so much he became ill. Holy mother being The Holy Mother; The Virgin Mary or a goddess.

人民币 [Rén mín bì] – Renminbi; China’s currency. Yuan is the unit. ‘Chinese Yuan’ is used in international contexts to refer to renminbi.

The name is 老吾老、幼吾幼 [lǎo wú lǎo, yòu wú yòu] – This probably comes from the phrase “老吾老，以及人之老，幼吾幼，以及人之幼” (lǎo wú lǎo , yǐ jí rén zhī lǎo , yòu wú yòu , yǐ jí rén zhī yòu) meaning to honour the elderly as we do our own aged parents and to take care of other’s children as if our own.

尺 [chǐ] – (unit) Chinese foot. It is 1/3 of a meter.

The rest of the chapter can be found here.

#guardian #novel translation #鎮魂 #镇魂 #zhen hun #guo changcheng #chu shuzhi

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yoonjinkooked · 5 years

Text

lockdown | (m) - Chapter 1

moodboard by @flajka

pairing; jungkook/female OC genre; college au, strangers to lovers, smut and tiny bit of fluff too, humor ofc rating; explicit words; 4.900

— synopsis; Eunhee is in trouble and facing a deadline - in comes curly haired jungkook to save her life, make her laugh and maybe, just maybe, fuck her brains out. When the two end up locked in a building overnight, who knows what will happen?

warnings (for this chapter): cursing, OC really wants to murder Tae, banter, cute Kook, slightly cocky Kook, hints of sexual tension. Just an introduction chapter, really.

A/N: I hope you enjoy the first part guys. I am now starting to work on Chapter 2 and will let you know when I plan on posting it. Let me know what you think - I’m still a tumblr newbie and basically, I’m crappin my pants.

With that being said, let’s start chapter 1 :)

In the life of a journalism major, there are a few life-changing, stress-inducing moments that essentially serve as a preview of what’s to come if you do decide stay on your chosen career path.

For me, a handful of these moments made me question anything and everything I have ever known about the career I’ve chosen to pursue back when I was 18 and frankly, a little bit stupid. One of these moments was back when I was doing an obligatory internship at a small, local newspaper, only to realize that the editors and big shots there expected me to do nothing more than to make them coffee and copy papers in their stead.

Another moment was when I attended my first murder trial, which probably would end up being a part of my future job, only to spend the entire afternoon wondering if this really is something I want to do for the rest of my life.

And the final moment, at least the final one that I can think of right now, is currently occurring, with me losing my shit as we are trying to get the final edition of this year’s university magazine ready for printing. And I, as one of two co-editors, will be the one to blame if anything goes wrong.

Half of my grade depends on this. My future job prospects depend on this. Whether or not the professor is happy can influence the direction of my masters’ next year. This is ride or die for me and I am losing it.

“Namjoon, where the hell is he?” I ask my co-editor, best friend and partner in crime. Who also happens to be the only person on this planet who is well equipped to deal with me losing my shit.

“I know as much as you do,” he reminds me, moving the phone away from his ear. “I am trying to reach him now. You panicking will not do us any good and it definitely won’t make Taehyung answer me sooner. So don’t panic and focus on the things we already have here and work with that. The photos aren’t the only thing we need to look over before it’s ready for print.”

I nod my head franticly, knowing deep down that he has a point but also knowing that won’t help me at all. It never does because whenever I am chasing a deadline, I follow the same line of action. Work, panic, panic some more, work, panic like the world is ending, forcefully calm down and then, finally, get shit done. I am not sure if I am on the ‘panic some more’ or ‘panic like the world is ending’ phase yet but as I run fingers through my hair, letting my nerves get the best of me, I am positive said hair is gray.

I hear Namjoon cursing under his breath but for the sake of getting things done, I ignore him for now and simply focus on the task at hand – proofreading. As long as I preoccupy myself with tasks that need to be done, I cannot focus on the fact that Taehyung is late, like he always is, despite it being the one time he truly needed to be on time.

So for the next few minutes, I go over several articles in the speed of light, once, twice, three times. No matter how much they’re using spell-check, our reporters still make mistakes and honestly, when I see my name below one title, I know I am not allowed to judge because I obviously do it too.

Campus activity, student achievements, published works and former alumni ‘look, they’re famous now’ column – all covered and grammatically perfect. And Namjoon is still trying to reach the one man we need the most right now. Slowly but surely, the other students are becoming less frantic and more calm and casual, because their tasks are all but finished. Namjoon, Hoseok and I? Not so much.

“Okay, what the hell?” Hoseok throws his pen rather violently on his desk. “He does this every time. Every damn time. I’m the designer – I need to go over everything and make sure the photos are put where they belong. How can I do that if I don’t have said photos?”

“Hoseok, I know I’m not the textbook definition of calm but we need to try to be,” I tell him, turning my chair to face him over our connected desks. “Try to design it somehow, leaving the space for the photos. Vertical or horizontal, I will find good photos to fit. And if I have to change something, I will.”

“Are you sure you can do that?” he looks doubtful, which is extremely insulting, since we have known each other for three years and have been working together for more than two.

“Basic editing? Yeah, I can do that,” I roll my eyes. “If you doubt my editing skills, you can stick around till midnight to check on me.”

“No way,” he shakes his head. “It’s Jimin’s birthday party tonight and you know I need to be there.”

“Are you serious?” I ask, not even sure why, since it’s absolutely obvious that he is dead serious. “This is the most important edition we’re going to release. We’ve been doing this for years and this is our grand exit, which we need to execute perfectly, and you’re telling me you want to go to a party?”

“I’ll be going too,” Namjoon covers the speaker of his phone to tell me. “Sure, this edition is a big deal and we want it done well but most is already done and this isn’t our entire life.”

“Oh please,” I reach for something, anything, and end up hitting him on the chest with a block of post-its. “You’re just going because you hope to hook up with Hyejin, even though we all know you will just end up drunk, alone and watching her from a distance.”

“How dare you?” Namjoon is flabbergasted.

“She isn’t wrong,” Hoseok chuckles, ignoring the glare Namjoon throws his way. “But he’s right about this not being our entire life. You will burn out, Eunhee. It’s been two weeks and you haven’t stopped thinking about this once,” he tells me, as if I needed to be reminded. “This is the final edition with you being the editor. You should celebrate, not stay here after hours and pulling the hair of your head.”

“With the two of you playing beer pong and complaining about girls ignoring you, someone has to be the responsible one,” I point out. “All of this is riding on the three of us and you’re just… gonna dump me?” the betrayal is evident in my voice and yet, neither one of them is bothered enough to look guilty. Before they’re co-editor and designer, they’re just stupid, horny students.

“It’s already done Eunhee,” Namjoon rolls his eyes. “The one doing the dumping here is Taehyung and you just told Hoseok you can handle the editing. If you’re not sure, you can send him your final version and he can fix it if it needs to be fixed.”

“I am not leaving that party to fix Taehyung’s mess,” Hoseok cuts in.

“Our mess,” I remind him. “We have until 4AM to send it. So long as you’re not wasted out of your mind, it’s doable. If you even need to fix anything. Taehyung is always late but he also always brings more than enough material for us to work with. He’s a jackass but a talented jackass.”

“And a jackass who can’t answer his phone,” Namjoon adds, throwing his phone on the desk, before sighing as he slumps down onto his chair. “I’m going to regret that,” he glares at his phone.

“I can’t force you to stay here and help me,” I mumble, watching as the student reporters casually leave our office space, not even bothering to say goodbye because it’s the final week – who cares, life goes on, we’re going to see each other eventually and our portion of work is done. “I can, however, remind you of this in the years to come, guilt tripping you into doing favors. Many, many favors.”

“You make it sound like you’re not already doing that half the time,” Hoseok points out.

“Not my problem you somehow always end up owing me one. Or two. Or five,” I shrug as I turn towards my laptop, planning on searching for some stock photos we might be able to use, if Taehyung doesn’t show up. I know that he always does, last minute or not, but I can’t leave anything to chance. While stock photos would be a cop-out of sorts, we need to have a plan B.

The next two hours pass in almost complete silence. An occasionally sigh would leave Hoseok and every now and then, Namjoon would curse under his breath as he tries to reach Taehyung for what has to be the hundredth time – so far, to no avail. The panic I felt earlier had already left my system so I was able to focus on other things, all the while ignoring what seems to be our pending doom.

The sun had set and the lights are now on and that son of a bitch is still not answering his phone.

“You know, at this point I’m starting to wonder if we have better chances of finding him at Jimin’s party,” Hoseok breaks the silence. “I’m done with all the pages, I left enough space for all kinds of photos and there’s literally nothing more that we need to do.”

“Speak for yourself,” I mumble as I open the email he just sent me, showing the draft for the final version of the magazine. It looks as amazing as possible, seeing as 98% of photos are missing – instead, white blocks serve as breaks between long rows of text. “You know what? You two go. Go and have fun and if you find him, kick his ass. There’s no way he’d ever miss Jimin’s party. I’ll stay here and finish this up and when you send him to me, I’ll kick his ass too,” I tell them.

“Eunhee, are you sure?” Namjoon walks over to my desks and leans on it, giving me what I can only describe as a look of pure and utter pity. “I don’t want to leave you hanging; you’re not the only one with the responsibility here.”

Seeing as I am the only one that will sit Jimin’s birthday party out, I kind of am, but I do not say it. “It’s okay Joon,” I reassure him. “Go. Have fun. Try to get some with Hyejin. I’ll take care of this, it’s not like it’ll be the first time I pull an all-nighter. Just find that bastard and get those photos to me.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Hoseok stands up and throws a bag over his shoulder. “We will find him and I will do my best to stay sufficiently sober if you need my help. Which, if you do, don’t hesitate to call me, okay?” I nod, knowing I would rather fix it myself than have drunk Hoseok ruin it. He’s majestic with the editing software but when drunk, he can’t even walk straight, much less edit.

“Just make sure to get his USB to me, even if you have to kill him to make it happen,” I remind them. Namjoon is still worried but I roll my eyes at him, which apparently is the sign he needed to get his things and leave. I wave them out, surprisingly relieved to have the office for myself.

I am a decent team player but the last couple of years have shown me that I do my best work when I do it alone. Not to say that I take all the credit – hell no. Joon is the editor as much as I am and half the work is done by him but at times like these, I just want him out and away, busy with Hyejin. This way, if it’s a mess – it’s my mess. If it’s a work of art – it’s my work of art.

With a coffee in one hand and glasses of my head, I go over last year’s photo folder – that’s a better plan B than some basic stock photos. Some of the photos look like a decent backup – our campus hasn’t changed much over the last couple of months, after all. As long as I avoid last year’s seniors, I might be able to pull off plan B without anyone except a handful of us knowing the truth.

Even the swimming team – they have won gold last year, they have won gold this year too. The members are all the same, no new freshmen, no seniors last year. If my memory serves me well, all of them kept their natural hair colors and I can totally use said photo in this month’s edition. Sure, Jimin and the rest of the team will probably know what’s up but that’s nothing a round of beer can’t fix.

Look at me – such a professional. Bribing my way to get the work done. Yay.

In the midst of scrolling, I pause to glance at the clock – it’s almost ten and still no sign of Taehyung. Stifling down the pending panic, I take a deep breath and decide to play some music, hoping to distract myself more. While 80s rock has its charms, I still fidget as I scroll through folders upon folders, grabbing hold of my favorite koala mug again and downing the rest of the coffee in one go. Needing something to distract me further, I open the top drawer of my desk, grabbing the emergency M&Ms I’ve kept there for a few weeks now, knowing I was bound to pull an all-nighter sooner or later.

Just as I down a handful of candy, someone knocks on the office door and I nearly choke. I cough, make sure a lone M&M is not going to kill me, take a deep breath and shout a ‘come in’.

The little hope I have deflates as I realize it’s not Taehyung, the bastard himself – instead, it’s a guy I know, but not really. Tall, wavy brown hair, wide brown eyes and a slightly dumbfounded look, hidden under the hood of his black sweatshirt as he barely steps inside the office, still with one foot out as if he is ready to run.

I am positive I know him. I’m sure we have class together, or had the year before. Or perhaps we just have classes in the same building – I know I’ve seen him before, in the background, on the side, but for the life of me, I can’t put a face to the name.

“Can I help you?” I ask, once he doesn’t speak up for a few moments.

“Yeah,” he snaps out of his daze, tilting his head before reaching for his pocket – I keep my eye on his hands, half expecting him to draw a gun and shoot me in place. “Taehyung sent me to give you this,” he says as he pulls out a USB stick out of his pocket.

Finally, I can breathe. Finally, I know I will manage to get this done tonight. “Thank fuck,” I sigh, closing my eyes for a second before opening them up again and realizing I have just confused the shit out of him. “I was positive the jackass would leave me hanging. I would have murdered him in cold blood.”

“He’d never do that,” the guy smiles at me, a smile that evaporates as quickly as it appeared; making me wonder if I even imagined it. “If he had told me sooner, you wouldn’t have to wait. He texted me like 10 minutes ago, telling me that I need to bring this to the office.”

“He left the stick with you and didn’t tell you what it’s for?”

“No, he asked me to edit the photos,” he tells me. “Oh. You don’t… I’m the G.C.F guy. I’m the other photographer,” he explains and suddenly, the little boxes in my head fall into their designated place.

Taehyung had a photography partner. I’d say a solid half of the photos we’d print were Taehyung’s, and the others belong to the guy always signed as JJK, G.C. F; I have never met him, never asked for his name and before tonight, he had never showed up in the office.

And now I can remember the guy more clearly – he always had a camera, either hanging around his neck or covering his face as he would relentlessly take photos.

“Ah, now I get it,” I smile. “I’m Eunhee, the editor.”

“I know,” he tells me. “Jeongguk.”

Yep, I know the name. It’s all clicking now.

“Well don’t just stand there Jeongguk,” I tell him as I stand up; I walk around my desk and start Hoseok’s PC, knowing that he has a better editing software ready to go. “I’m going to need your help for this. Everyone else is getting shitfaced at Jimin’s so if you’re up for it, you’re going to be the one to help me get this edition ready by 4AM. You up for it?”

Honestly, I’m not particularly surprised when he doesn’t answer me straight away – it’s not like I’m offering him free food, drinks and a night he’ll remember – quite the opposite, I’m offering him a night full of work. Simply put, I’m begging him to help me, without actually openly begging.

“Sure,” I hear him shuffle around as he puts his backpack down on the ground. “Where do you need me?”

"Just get yourself a chair," I wave my hand around the room, staring at nothing as I try to figure out where should we start from. I suppose that from the beginning is the only real answer to that one. "Hobi had set it all up for me to finish but I think I need to see what you've brought me, see what i have to work with," I decide, turning to Jeongguk, just in time to see him drag Namjoon's desk chair from the corner of the office.

"All of them are edited and ready for use," he reassures me with a tight smile as he joins me behind the desk, a good foot between our chairs. Noticing that he still has his hood up and covering half of his face, I bite my tongue and decide not to wonder why - he has his reasons, I suppose.

"Then we just need to decide what goes where and that is where you come to my rescue."

"What makes you think that should be my call?" he asks, not bothering to hide his surprise.

"Well, you're a photographer," I announce, as if the guy is not aware of his profession. "Doesn't that officially make you a better judge when it comes to esthetic mumbo jumbo?" I ask, because I truly don’t know. I am not familiar with the job requirements a photographer needs to fulfill, other than to have a camera, of course. I simply imagine they have some sense of beautiful. Wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong about something and that is why I ask – there’s no shame in not knowing.

After a beat of silence Jeongguk looks at me, keeping direct eye contact for one whole second, which is time enough for me to conclude that he is cute, ridiculously so. Cute in a way that no man in his early 20s is allowed to be. Yet not cute enough to make me focus on him instead of the task before us.

"I guess so," he tilts his head as i force my jaw shut - now is not an appropriate moment for ogling. "Aren't you the boss lady though?"

"Boss lady," I test the nickname and roll my eyes. "Difficult to work with, perhaps. Bossy? Don’t think so. But I’m taking it because I obviously need your help tonight - I am good with words, not at making them look good on paper."

“What you need to do here is not that hard,” he waves at the monitor and I turn to look at him. “Deciding on which photo should go where depends on… the overall page. The colors, the neighboring photos and countless other things. There are no rules – just feeling. Photography is feeling,” he waves his hands about as he talks, completely immersed in his explanation and making me wonder if he’s talking about this particular problem or just photography and its misconceptions in general.

“No rules?” I ask through a chuckle. “That’s not what people told me when I took a selfie from a downward angle.”

To my shock and frankly, shame, he stares at me in silence, blinking once, twice, three times. I gulp. “That was supposed to be a joke,” I elaborate in a low voice, as I hope that the ground will split in two and just swallow me into a never-ending dark hole. Or that Hobi’s PC will finally be usable.

“Oh. Okay.”

Well, this settles it then – absolutely no possibility of mild, harmless flirtation. That flat-lined reaction will end up being a source of trauma for me in the years to come – I just know I will end up awake at 3AM in like five years, thinking of how awkward this particular moment was.

“Finally,” I feel relieved now that I can actually work with Hobi’s PC – I slide the flash in, on the first go. I nearly celebrate the seemingly impossible victory but I decide to hold myself back. If Jeongguk can’t take a joke, he will probably think I am insane if I behave like I normally would. “Now let’s see what we have here,” I mumble, opening the pop up. One folder named 1 – I open it. I click on the first photo, of a group of students sitting on grass and talking (looks absolutely staged but based on what I know about Taehyung and his G.C.F partner, they don’t roll that way). I smile when I see a photo of our swimming team huddled up together, gold medals hanging around their necks – I won’t have to use last year’s photos after all. “These are really good. Perfectly edited too. Thank you.”

“No need to thank me, it’s my job,” Jeongguk mumbles as he eyes the photos I scroll through. I can no longer tell if he’s serious or joking and I simply give it up altogether – who cares?

“This will fit perfectly,” I mumble as I finish going through the bunch of photos and end up on the first one – the one with a bunch of people that looks absolutely staged. I exit and go back to the folder, then back to the original one. It’s as if I could feel, actually physically feel, my heart slowly sliding down inside of my body. I go back and open the folder again, looking as the fear slowly grows in me. “Jeongguk, where are the other photos?” I somehow manage to utter.

“They’re all there,” he tells me, his eyes going wide when he notices the look of pure and utter horror on my face. “Taehyung told me you need 20 photos, no more, no less. There are 24, I added 4 more just in case, if you didn’t like some of them… Eunhee, what is going on?”

My chest goes up and down frantically as I try to calm the whole tornado of emotions that starts within me. Panic, worry, sadness and more than anything else, anger. Pure anger. “I will murder him.”

“What? Who will you… Taehyung?”

“I said,” I slowly speak, pausing for deep breaths. “200 photos. 200 photos, no more, no less. 200 from which we would end up using more than 100. I said 200, not 20.”

“Oh shit.”

“Yeah, oh shit.”

“What… where are you going?” Jeongguk asks as I jump off my chair and nearly fly over the desk to grab my handbag. I throw my phone inside of it and turn to look at him, only to find him flinching away from me. Apparently, I look as angry as I feel.

“I am going to Jimin’s birthday party,” I announce. “Where I will grab Kim Taehyung by the neck, drag him outside, throw him onto the ground and murder him in front of the entire student body. I’m thinking strangulation is the way to go. You should come too, take a few photos of it for the delayed magazine edition.”

“No!” Jeongguk snaps but I am already heading towards the door. His hand wraps around my wrist and he drags me back towards the desk.

“What?”

I don’t know what else to say because why the hell did he pull me like that?! I wasn’t actually going to murder Taehyung, no matter how much I might want to do so.

Jeongguk rolls his eyes at me and I feel even more stupid than he made me feel minutes ago. The nerve. “If you go there and yell at Taehyung, or even kill him in cold blood, you’re just going to end up wasting valuable time,” he tells me. Okay, true, I can’t argue with him on that one. “Not to mention that you won’t get the photos. He doesn’t have them on him at all times and even if he did, they aren’t edited.”

“So what you’re trying to tell me is that I am fucked? Like, missionary, sideways, in the ass fucked?”

“I wouldn’t choose that particular wording, but yes,” he sighs. “If you stay here, you’re not fucked. Just… follow me. It’ll make sense soon,” he seems impatient as he grabs hold of my wrist again and this time, he drags me out the door. I actually stumble to keep up with him, too confused to even ask him what the flying fuck he is doing and where the hell we’re going. He walks fast and with him dragging me behind him, I have no choice but to break into a light jog to keep my arm attached to my body.

Down the hallway and to the left, Jeongguk drags me towards the last door, in front of which he finally stops. He starts fidgeting and feeling himself up and down. It takes me a moment to realize that he is looking for the keys. “What are we doing here, what is this place?”

“This,” he unlocks the door and smiles at me mischievously. “Is my office.”

As soon as he turns on the light, it all makes perfect sense – it’s a darkroom. A darkroom which I had no idea existed, even though I have spent a bigger part of my college education just down the hallway. “Don’t just stand there, come on in,” Jeongguk urges me but I do not move. The hood that still covers half of his face, paired with the room’s red light, is making him look pretty ominous.

“No thanks, these places are as creepy as they seem in movies.”

Jeongguk laughs and shakes his head. “They’re not creepy. Suit yourself.”

“What the hell are we doing here?” I ask, feeling my earlier agitation return. Fix the mess then kill Taehyung. Stopping by a darkroom was not on my to-do list. “How the hell can this help?”

“As I said, this is my office,” he tells me and I see him rummaging through the top drawer in one of the desks that are lined up against a wall. “I keep my work here. Some, not all. Useless work mostly. Random campus photos I take just because I think the moment is worth capturing.”

“While that is very poetic and deep, how the heck can that help us now?”

“Haven’t I just said I take random campus photos?” he asks in annoyance. “I have at least one flash drive with random photos like the ones you might need. I’m a good photographer and,” he waves his hand and I notice something black in it – he walks over to me, takes my hand and puts the flash into it. “I’m the one who will make your words look good on paper.”

It’s not what he said – it’s the way he said it. For the first time tonight, his hood did not block my view of his entire face. The way his eyebrows lifted, followed by a smug smile and head tilt, my heart went into overdrive. His expression and the fact that he is a solid foot taller than I am makes it so easy for me to feel tiny, irrelevant, overpowered.

Despite being the talkative one of the duo, I am speechless for a moment because good lord, does he look hot right now. Like… please slam me against the wall and leave hickeys down my neck hot.

“Come on boss lady,” he laughs down at me. “Work awaits.”

What the fuck happened to the shy guy who couldn’t keep eye contact for longer than a second?! He is giving me whiplash! I again have to run to catch up with him but I do it without complaining, realizing that for tonight, he is my lifeline. This random dude who’s good at photography is my only hope.

Tonight’s going to be a very long night.

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