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theasstour · 4 years

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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐋𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝.

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 𝟕.𝟓𝐤 𝐍𝐁: 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐠 𝐮𝐬𝐞, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐧

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reblogged and sent me an ask after last chapter ❣️ I might not have gotten through all the asks yet, but know that I see all of you and I appreciate you more than I will ever find the right words to articulate 🌟 Thank you for the kind words and for reminding me of how fun it is to post my stories on here! Love you sm sm sm 🥰

Tuesday, 4 November 2017

One of the worst things Y/N knew of was seeing someone she cared about go through something troubling. If she knew them well enough, it would be written out on their face and in their gestures, making it so that she could not ever look past it and pretend everything was alright. Her ability to read people, to understand their wants and to see when something was off, was something she had crafted over many years of being a people pleaser. Now, it came naturally to her to study a person’s way of acting, talking, being, and then make them happy accordingly.

She realised when she grew older that the reason she did this was so people would look past her body and like her for who she actually was. She hated herself sometimes for still giving in to this need to please people all the time. She hated the things it had made her do in the past, how she had bent herself over backwards for people who did not, and would never, give a single shit about her. Though she felt at home in her body, she felt content in it, these tendencies to constantly make up for how she looked, to make light of it or make people feel comfortable around her, still hung around. With absolutely everything she was, Y/N hated that part of herself. She did not have to make up for anything. What did she have to apologise for? For existing? It did not make sense to her, but it had made sense to those that bullied her in school and those skinny people whose worst fear was becoming fat. Y/N’s worst fear, because of this, was not being liked. She realised how it all connected now.

Y/N realised how this need to please people came into play as she was sitting in a seminar room with Hayden, Chloe, Thian, Annalise, and three others from the International Society that Annalise often went to. Annalise was whispering in Dutch to the other Dutch girl she had met, while the rest of the room was relatively silent. Hayden had put on some music to lighten the mood, but it was evident that they were unsatisfied and sad. They were eight people; a single game of Uno was being played in a room that had been made so that at least 20 people would show up. Hayden had bought five decks of Uno, only for the one they brought with them to London to be the one the group ended up using. Their eyes drifted to the door every so often, silently begging for anyone else to show up to what looked to be a disastrous start to their Uno Society.

After two hours, they had to get out of the seminar room and go back home. As they were cleaning up, Y/N walked over to Hayden and helped them put their Uno decks and everything else they brought, back in their bag.

“More people will show up next time,” Y/N assured them.

“You’re just saying that.”

“No, I genuinely think more people will show up at one point.”

Hayden smiled at Y/N, though it did not reach their eyes. “If we don’t have at least 15 people by the third meeting, this won’t be considered a society by Helmond standards and we won’t be allowed to meet on campus grounds.”

Y/N felt a small tinge of panic at that. This was not usually the society people would jump to be part of, it would take a little while for people to want to show up to an Uno Society on a Tuesday every fortnight.

“We can hope more people will come, but I doubt they will,” Hayden said.

“There aren’t a lot of people our age who play Uno, though,” Chloe said as Hayden and Y/N made their way to the door.

Y/N furrowed her brows at Chloe’s comment, but did not say a word.

“No, but I love Uno, and it’s a very social game. It’ll be fun if a lot of people show up, you know?” Hayden said, closing the door behind them before they walked down the corridor for the exit.

“Obviously, people just don’t know what they’re missing,” Thian chimed in, showing off his usually wide, happy beam. “It’s a great idea, Hay.”

“Really? It’s not bound to flop?” Hayden asked, scrunching up their nose as if they could not quite believe what Thian was saying.

“Of course not,” Annalise said.

“It’s a nice break from all the assignments,” Y/N said.

“By the way, speaking of assignments,” Chloe groaned. “Y/N, have you started on the Othello presentation yet?”

“You haven’t had the presentation yet?” Thian asked.

“No, different Introduction to English Studies seminar groups have presentations at different dates,” Chloe said. “Since Y/N and I are seminar group E, we have it last. Monday, 4th of December.”

“That’s still a while away, though,” Hayden pointed out. “You still got a month.”

“Yeah, but the presentation’s 40% of the final grade. I know I’ll ace the essay, but we only get to have a five-minute presentation on Othello.” Chloe rolled her eyes. “How am I supposed to talk about how Othello’s a sexist play in just five minutes?”

“Easy,” Thian said. “You talk about how it’s a sexist play for just five minutes. You love to talk, it’ll be easy peasy.”

“I love to gossip, this is entirely different,” Chloe complained.

“Not really,” Y/N said, cocking her head a little to the side as the group rounded a corner. “You’re essentially just gonna gossip about Othello and what’s wrong with him and the way Shakespeare wrote the play.”

Chloe stared at Y/N for a few seconds, pursing her lips as she thought. A grin spread out across her lips and she nudged Y/N’s shoulder. “You’re right.”

“It’s gonna be fine,” Annalise smiled.

“And by the time that happens, the Uno society will be history,” Hayden mumbled, making Thian pout his bottom lip and wrap an arm around Hayden’s shoulders. They all made their way back to Dinwiddy, Lancaster Complex, and Fleming Hall, three of the seven different campus accommodations. Dinwiddy was definitely of a bit better standard than Lancaster and Fleming, but Y/N was sure that, had she decided to live on campus, she would have gone for either Lancaster or Fleming like Annalise, Thian, and Hayden. She said goodbye to all of them and went on her way, walking back to Haggerston while talking to her parents on the phone. They always insisted she call them if she walked out alone at night, no matter how many people were around.

The shops she strolled by were starting to put up Christmas decorations and sales, making Y/N long for holiday. She just wanted a few days off uni. Though it was only the first year, the amount of work they were getting was ridiculous, and Y/N felt like she either spent most of her time in the library with her Literature gang, or at a café with Nathan, doing uni work. The fact that Christmas lights and decorations were already making an appearance, gave her some hope.

Getting to Orsman Road was no problem, and Y/N hung up with her parents when she reached the flat building. The mere thought of her bed made her knees buckle, she could not wait to be snuggled up in a blanket and watching the newest true crime series on Netflix. Once inside, she got her shoes and outwear off, then walked straight for the kitchen. She halted.

In a pair of worn-out black rugby shorts and a black hoodie, Harry stood pouring water into the kettle. The muscles in his legs flexed and unflexed as he moved, making it impossible to look away from his thighs. Y/N could not find the right words to express just how much she hated those tiny shorts. It was as if he knew exactly what he was doing. Except he didn’t. He was very much just trying to wear something comfortable at home and Y/N was ogling him. He looked up as she entered.

“Hi,” Y/N said, walking over to the fridge where she kept her oat and banana milk.

“Hi,” Harry answered, watching her as she walked before putting the kettle on. “Been out shagging old men?”

Y/N blinked a few times before looking over at Harry as he put a teabag into his mug. “You’re very obsessed with my sex life.��

“I’m just nosy.”

Y/N sighed, knowing this was true from experience, and went back to getting her milk out of the fridge. “No, I was at a society meeting. The first one, actually.”

“Oh?” She could see in her peripheral vision that he turned around to watch her. “What kind of society?”

“Uno.”

Silence settled in the kitchen, and Y/N could hear Nathan and Mason in the living room next door playing something on the PlayStation. Y/N could feel Harry continue to just look at her as she poured herself a glass of the oat and banana milk. It was not until the milk was back in the fridge and Y/N met his eyes, that Harry spoke again.

“Uno?”

“Like the card game.”

“That’s… a niche interest.”

She raised her eyebrows. “And you’re being judgemental.”

Harry’s eyes grew wide. “No, no, no! I-“ He stopped himself, taking a grip of the kettle and quickly pouring himself a cuppa before meeting Y/N’s eyes again, something frantic shining within his own. “It’s just a very specific interest and society.”

She raised one of her shoulders. “Which is what makes it so amazing.”

“Yes. Yes, of course,” Harry said quickly, gesturing at her with his hand as if he completely agreed. Y/N wanted to laugh at how fast he was talking, as if he was desperate for her to understand that he was not being judgemental. “How was it?”

“Barely anyone showed up,” Y/N explained, sipping her milk.

Harry frowned. “Really?”

“Yeah, and at least 15 people total have to show up for it to be considered a society, or else Hayden, my course mate, can’t continue hosting on campus grounds.” Y/N sighed, looking at the ground. “Basically, if Hayden doesn’t find, like, twelve more people to join within the next two times, we won’t have a society any longer.”

Harry opened his mouth as if to say something, but just then, the sound of quick footsteps could be heard, and then Nathan’s face appeared in the doorway. A grin spread out on his face as he met Y/N’s eyes.

“Thought I heard you come in!” he exclaimed. “We’re playing GTA, wanna come drive some people over?”

Y/N smiled at that, scrunching up her nose. “As appealing as that sounds, I’m gonna have to decline.”

Nathan pouted his lips and Harry stood watching quietly. “Why?” Nathan asked.

“Have an essay that I need to finish.”

Nathan sighed heavily. “Fine. Guess I’ll let you write that bloody essay.”

“Excuse you? ‘Let me’?” Y/N rolled her eyes and Nathan laughed. She gave him and then Harry a smile, making her way out of the kitchen.

“Have a good night,” she heard Harry say as she walked through the doorway. She gave him another smile before walking up the stairs and to her room. She quickly got out of her clothes and into loungewear, taking all her make-up off and finding a fluffy blanket she could sit under in bed as she started writing her Introduction to English Studies essay. She could hear the boys shouting and playing downstairs and drowned it out by putting her earbuds in and shutting them out.

She ended up reading academic articles and writing down an essay plan until she felt her eyelids get heavy a few hours later. Putting her laptop away and finishing her oat and banana milk, Y/N took her contacts off and started getting ready for bed. The door to the room beside hers opened and closed, she could hear Harry rummaging in his room, though the sound was not disturbing in any way. The only disturbing thing about it was the fact that it was Harry, but Y/N was learning to accept that. It had only taken her two months, but she was coming to terms with the fact that Harry Styles, an ex-good friend of hers and person she had sex with once, was living and sleeping in the room right next to hers.

Friday, 17 November 2017

The pizza at Domino’s was absolutely amazing, but working for them was anything but. This was only Y/N’s first shift, and she was already dreading her next. Not only would she be bringing home with her the memories of a horrible first day on her new job, but she would also be bringing the smell of greasy pizza. She would have to do a deep clean in the shower before going to bed, she was not rubbing that smell onto her bedsheets.

With some experience working for Pizza Express before, Y/N was already well-versed working for a pizza chain. Pizza Express had been her job from 15 until she moved off to uni at 19, which she knew was what must have given her this new job at Domino’s rather quickly. As much experience as she had working at Pizza Express serving people, she had never been the one to drive around delivering pizzas. After all, she had not gotten her license until sometime last year, so it had never been a possibility. However, in the job description for this position at Domino’s, it had clearly stated that Y/N would be working mostly as a delivery driver, something that sounded chill at first, until she realised she would have to go deliver pizza to people that would be anything but friendly. Or maybe a little too friendly. Because of her inexperience in this particular field of the job, she had another employer join her for her first shift.

Isla was very quiet, maybe even a little too quiet for Y/N’s taste. She would mostly just stare out the window, sometimes chime in to help Y/N pick a quicker route, or help her make out how much she owed the customer if they paid a few quid too many. Other than that, Isla did not really offer much conversation wise. Even when the two of them picked up the pizzas for their first drive, the first time they spent together, Isla did not say much.

“Have you worked here long?” Y/N asked, giving Isla a smile so she would know that she was actually asking out of curiosity and not because she felt obliged to.

“A year.”

Y/N nodded as she sat down behind the wheel, Isla sitting down in the passenger seat. “I worked in Pizza Express at home in Nottingham before I moved here. Dunno why, I’ve always preferred Domino’s to Pizza Express. Though, Zizzi is top tier.”

Isla only nodded slightly.

Y/N had waited for a response, but realising she would not be getting one, she started the Domino’s car and started driving in the direction out of the parking spot on the street beside the tiny restaurant on Homefield Street. Y/N almost drove right into the Domino’s mopeds that all stood on the spot in front of the car. She just knew that at one point, she would be driving one of those. She followed the instructions on the GPS, up Hoxton Street, in the direction of Lavender Grove. Without any radio on, the car was very quiet. Too quiet. It made Y/N break out in sweat.

“Do you drive around with deliveries often?” Y/N asked.

Isla shook her head. “No.”

Y/N whipped her head back in the direction of the street in front of her, trying to produce spit so she could nervously swallow. Her mouth was too dry. “You work by the till then?”

“Mostly.”

Y/N smiled. “That’s the best place to work, isn’t it? Don’t have to drive around, don’t have to actually make the food.”

Isla gave a feeble smile. “I suppose.”

God, all Y/N wanted as an okay day. All she wanted was for one single day to be alright.

Isla would twine a single piece of her brown, bushy hair around her finger sometimes, then put it behind her ear, only to go back to fidgeting with it. Y/N was unsure if she was nervous to be in a car with someone she did not know, or if she was just deep in thought. Y/N wanted to get to know Isla, to make a friend at her new workplace, but she did not want to harass Isla if it meant it would make her uncomfortable. It was clear that she did not like being this close to Y/N considering the two had never met before and would now be spending a good six hours together. Therefore, to not push away what she hoped to be a future mate, she only made occasional conversation and then left Isla mostly to herself. She could sense that was what her companion wanted most of all.

In a particularly dodgy part of Lea Bridge, Y/N was delivering three pizzas to what she knew even before knocking on the door, would be to a rather creepy encounter. The man that opened the door was bald with glassy eyes and a blue tee shirt tucked into his grey joggers. At the sight of Y/N, he grinned.

“Three pepperonis?” she asked, wondering if this man just really loved pepperoni pizzas or if he was hosting a party.

“That’s me, yeah.”

“Alright.” Y/N handed him the three pizzas just as another man emerged from behind him, and it was then that Y/N noticed the incredible stench of alcohol and cigarettes. Some 80s rock was playing from a stereo and there did not seem to be much light on inside the flat. Y/N suddenly felt very sick.

“You pre-paid,” she stated, more to reassure herself that she could just leave than to make them aware that she knew they did not have to go get any money to pay her. “Have a nice night.”

“Wouldn’t be nice if you didn’t stick around,” the bald one holding the pizzas said.

“Yeah, why don’t you come inside? Have a bite with us?” the other one offered. “You look like a hard-working girl, why don’t you take a few minutes off with us?”

Y/N could feel her heart begin to beat faster, her hands begin to sweat. “No, I have to get back to work,” she said, giving them a smile before walking off.

“Wait, we didn’t give you a tip!”

“Come back, love!”

Y/N tuned them out as she walked down the stairs, keeping an eye over her shoulder and her ears on alert as she made her way back to the car. Isla was sat on her phone when Y/N sat back down in the driver’s seat, putting her seatbelt on a little too fast and gripping the steering wheel harder than she had previously. She just wanted to get away from those men, she just wanted that shift to be over.

“You okay?” Isla asked. The first question she ever asked Y/N. First time she ever took initiative to start a conversation. Y/N really appreciated it in that moment.

“Yeah,” Y/N said, sighing heavily. “Just hate men.”

Isla must have understood what Y/N was talking about because she nodded, looking straight ahead at the road in front of them. “I’m sorry you met the worst type of customers on your first night.”

“Had to meet them at one point, though,” Y/N said.

“You shouldn’t have to meet them at all.”

Y/N felt that statement reverberate through the car, lay in the air between them for quite some time after it was said. She could not stop thinking about it as she drove to the next destination, feeling disgusted and angry. Had she stayed there a second longer, she would have had to resist the urge to knee them both in the space between their legs. This was just one of the stupid encounters that night, though the rest were more so on the scale of weird than disgusting. Like a man that was clearly high thanking Y/N for his frozen milk when he had ordered three Ben and Jerry’s, or a woman with her hair a mess, make-up completely destroyed, and just her dress robes on, snatching the pizza out of Y/N’s hand before hurrying back inside. It was a strange few hours, and as she drove the car back to Domino’s Homefield Street, Y/N felt absolutely drained of energy.

Walking home after her shift at 3:30am was next to torture, she just wanted to be in bed, cosy underneath the covers, and forget about the fact that she was working tomorrow night as well. Though the Hoxton Street was washed in the yellow lights from the streetlamps and the occasional car driving by, it was anything but empty. Drunk people were walking home from pubs, while others, like her, walked home from another nightshift, and some were just out for a night stroll. She walked without listening to music, not feeling comfortable with not being completely aware of her surroundings when it was dark out. Besides, she was so tired as well, listening to music would probably put her to sleep.

Orsman Road was completely deserted, only a few people walking home from The Stag’s Head passed her smelling of beer and cigarettes. This street was darker, smaller, and less busy than Hoxton Street, so Y/N opted to walk in the middle of the road instead of in the shadows. She felt less vulnerable that way. As she reached the flat building, she got her keys out of her purse and went to unlock the door.

“Fancy seeing you here.”

She jumped, keys falling onto the asphalt. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Harry standing there with the smuggest, most infuriating look on his face. God, how she wanted to slap him until his teeth fell out. While she contemplated how to physically hurt him, Harry bent down, picked up Y/N’s keys, and put them back in her hand.

“Don’t lose those,” he said. “50 quid to get a new pair.”

Y/N only narrowed her eyes, unlocking the door for them both and striding on to the next floor. After opening the door to the flat, she got her shoes off, and walked straight for the kitchen. She needed strawberries, especially after the shift she just had. The door closed behind Harry and she heard him lock it before taking his shoes and jacket off, too. As she turned around after closing the fridge door, Harry stood by the kettle, filling it up with water.

“Didn’t know you worked at Domino’s,” he said, looking over at her briefly, nodding at her black Domino’s fleece jacket before turning his attention back to the kettle.

“Just started.”

“How’re you finding it?” he asked.

Y/N sighed, leaning her hip against the counter. “Considering this was my first shift and I have to show up again to work another nightshift tomorrow…” She pursed her lips as if deep in thought. “I’d say shite.”

Harry laughed, stopping the tap. “Tea?”

“No, I bought myself some banana and oat milk from M&S earlier, I’ll just have that. Thank you, though.” She gestured at what she had placed on the counter while he was busy with the kettle.

Harry watched her as she got herself a glass for the milk. “Can’t for the life of me remember you being a Tory.”

Y/N laughed. “Oh, you don’t remember me hating the poor?” she said, putting on a posh accent, Harry could not hold back his own laughter. “Quite a big part of my personality, don’t know how you missed it. Now-“ She put the milk back in the fridge. “-If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go spend five weeks at my £1.000.000 18 century holiday house in Surrey.”

Harry’s laughter echoed through the kitchen as he put the kettle on, shaking his head at her. “No, but how’d you like your first shift? Anything like Pizza Express?”

Why the fuck did he remember that? Why did he have to remember everything? Bloody hell…

“Not for me. There were just a lot of creepy men, and some very dodgy neighbourhoods. I’m sure that’s not all there is to the job as a delivery driver, I’m sure I was just unlucky my first time, but I can’t really afford to quit unless I have a backup.”

Harry frowned at that. “If you don’t like it and you feel unsafe, you don’t have to continue doing it.”

She nodded her head. “No, I know, but it’s still the only job I could find and that I could get at the moment. I’ll apply to others later.”

Harry’s frown deepened, crossing his arms over his black, tee-shirt covered chest. No tattoos on display. She wondered why he only had tattoos on his chest and torso.

“Yeah, alright…” he said, voice a little darker than before. “But if you feel unsafe-“

“-Harry, I practiced capoeira when I was younger, remember?”

At that, as if he was slowly unveiling a memory he had not thought about in a little too long, Harry smiled. A small, fond smile that Y/N remembered from a previous life; a life with far less troubles, far less complications than this one.

“Of course I do.”

Not “yes”. Not just “I do”. “Of course”. He had said “of course”, as if remembering was a privilege. As if not remembering would be the strangest thing in the world. Y/N hated that this man did not forget a single thing. Never had, never would.

“Well,” she said, trying to act normal after that. “Well, I can hold my own.”

“Good to know,” Harry smiled, getting a teabag from his cupboard. As he turned his body and face away from her, she saw something glisten in the lights of the kitchen. Two earrings. Two gold earrings right next to one another. In his ear. Y/N would never admit to it out loud, the sight made her mouth salivate. “But I still think you should quit if you don’t like your work.”

Y/N opened the strawberry container and took one out, taking a bite. She needed to look away from Harry, away from his two earrings, and away from him because he was making some points. She knew where Harry was coming from, she really did, but she could not go on living in London, using money every single day, and not have an income. Until something better came along, this would be her job. “How’s the pub?”

“Alright,” Harry said, pouring hot water into his mug. “I’m having my last shift there December 15th.”

Y/N blinked. “You’re quitting?”

“Yeah, I’m starting a new job in January.”

She raised her eyebrows, meeting his gaze again. “Okay, good for you. What one?”

“Tattoo artist.”

He had to be fucking kidding at this point. Y/N had to do everything to keep her eye from twitching.

“Just got my tattoo license, so I’m ready to go come January.”

Y/N did not want to admit it. She could not admit it. She physically could not. But… everything about Harry… everything he did, everything he said… It all hit different. And it did not help that Y/N, who loved tattoos, getting them, having them on her body, and seeing them on someone else’s, was now made aware that Harry could legally give people tattoos. He was going to become a tattoo artist in January. Y/N wanted to eat chalk.

Harry just looked at her, studying her face. “You okay?”

She swallowed the strawberry bite she had just taken. “Fantastic.”

Harry raised his eyebrows. “Really?”

“Did you draw your own tattoos then?”

For the second time that night, Y/N was witness to Harry’s smug smile. He raised his cuppa, cocking his head a little to the side as he said, “You’ve seen my tattoos?”

Y/N wanted to die.

“You’ve been sneaking into my room to watch me sleep, that it?” Harry asked. “You’ve probably seen the tattoo I have by my crotch then, too-“

“-Oi!” Y/N narrowed her eyes at him. “Piss off. I saw them when you were wearing that low-neck top at Footprint.”

Harry took a sip of his tea. “If you say so.”

Y/N rolled her eyes and Harry laughed.

“It’s jokes, Y/N.”

“Good. I’m genuinely scared you think I fancy you.”

Harry smiled. “You mean you don’t? Really?”

She took a hold of her strawberries and milk. “Goodnight, wanker.”

“I’m a dreamboat, what about this-“ Harry gestured at himself, flexing his arm muscles that weren’t really there. “-Doesn’t give you the fanny flutters?”

“You’re disgusting.”

Harry laughed.

“I was just interested to know about your job as a tattoo artist ‘cause I love tattoos,” Y/N explained.

Harry’s eyes travelled down to Y/N’s hand where the ‘M’ was tattooed, it lingered there for a moment too long. For some unknown reason, a tingle started up in Y/N’s thumb, making its way up her arm and to her breasts, then her stomach. Slowly, he lifted his eyes to her ribs where he must have seen her ‘saudade’ tattoo. Though it was not visible right then, it seemed as if Harry was seeing it all the same, sensing it somehow. At last, his eyes met hers, and Y/N felt something in her throat stop working. The tingle that had laid in her stomach just seconds earlier exploded, slithering all throughout her body and making her hyper aware of how knowledgeable Harry was of the tattoos on her body; of her. He must have paid more attention to her than she thought he had. Something about that made it hard to breathe. Bloody hell, she hated how fucking fit he was. She hated how she reacted to his glance, to his attention.

“I can tell,” he said, voice a tinge darker than before.

She was surely about to explode. Blinking a few times, she held her strawberries up, nodding her head to Harry in a silent goodbye, then made her way towards the door.

“Oh, Y/N,” Harry said, making her look over her shoulder at him. “Do you want some Ginger Nuts? I’m having some with my tea-“

“-No thanks. Goodnight.” Y/N walked straight out of the door and to her room, needing to stick her head out her window to cool down in the Regent’s Canal breeze before sitting down in her bed again. How could he be considerate, respectful, smart, pretty, and sexy at the same time? Some otherworldly powers had truly been at work these last few years to make Harry Styles into everything Y/N was attracted to.

She did not even want him as a boyfriend, she never had, there had never been any romantic feelings between them before and there never would be, but he was just so… so… frustrating. In every single sense of the word. He was just… very attractive. Very pleasing to look at. Everything that got to Y/N. And Y/N wanted to scream at Harry for making it so hard to ignore him, and at herself for falling for it.

Wednesday, 29 November 2017

Y/N was originally going to travel home to Nottingham that Friday so she could stay home that weekend. She had not been home since September, and though they only had two weeks of uni left before Christmas break, she wanted to go home this weekend. She missed her parents terribly and wanted to see them so badly, she could simply not wait until Christmas. So, because it was the last Wednesday of the month, Y/N travelled back up to Nottingham.

Every last Wednesday of every month, Davi would invite all of his Brazilian family who had settled in Nottingham after he had, as well as Lottie’s parents, over for feijoada. Brazil has many region-specific dishes, yet the one that best translates into a nationwide dish is the beloved feijoada. The name stems from the word feijão, which is Portuguese for bean, and also the key ingredient of feijoada, which is essentially a bean stew mixed with beef and pork. Though, depending on what region of Brazil you are in, you will find different ingredients added to the feijoada.

In Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, feijoada is almost always cooked with black beans, while in Bahia, red or brown beans are preferred. In Bahia and Sergipe, they also usually add extra vegetables to the feijoada such as plantain, kale, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and pumpkin. However, in the rest of Brazil, feijoada is simply beans and meat with no additional vegetables. It is served with white rice, shredded kale with bits of fried bacon, crispy pork crackling, and slices of oranges that are meant to aid the digestion of the heavy meal. Which is what Y/N had grown up eating.

Typically, it is served at noon on Wednesdays and Saturdays, as this hearty meal is a thick mixture that will have you full in no time. The only activity Y/N would recommend after it, is bed and a good book. Maybe even a little nap. Their big family often used to eat it during the weekend as it meant more time spent with the family, more time spent chatting and being social, but Davi who worked in a bakery, had often worked Saturday and Sunday afternoons, meaning that it would fit best for the family to keep the tradition of hosting the meal on Wednesdays at Davi and Lottie’s house. Which was why Y/N was on her way home that Wednesday at the end of November.

Closing Vidas Secas by Graciliano Ramos that she had just been reading, Y/N got up from her seat to get off the train. Graciliano Ramos was Y/N’s favourite writer of all time. Though she loved English Literature and especially loved studying it, she always found his works to be better than most. He was the only modernist writer she could stand. São Bernardo was her favourite of his novels. A story about a man who, having been born poor, gets rich using any ruthless means he can and ends up utterly alone. It had stuck with Y/N her entire life. The main character’s ability to love others, his selfishness, and arrogance, make up one of the most complex characters of world literature, in Y/N’s opinion.

In the last chapter of São Bernardo when Paulo Honório reflects on his life alone at night, Y/N found some of the best few pages she had ever read. The closing words ‘I ruined my life stupidly’ express the agony of a man whom Y/N learned to despise throughout the book, but who, thanks to the mastery of the author, leads us with him through his tragic life choices towards self-destruction. Y/N got goosebumps just thinking about it.

Stepping off the train with her small bag and book under her arm, Y/N walked straight for the train station exit. She recognised her mother’s brown hair in a bun at the top of her head, a pair of colourful flare trousers on along with a white buffer jacket. Lottie jumped up and down at the sight of Y/N and ran for her daughter, throwing her arms around her in a tight embrace.

“My baby,” she said, kissing Y/N’s cheeks and forehead. “Oh, my Y/N.”

Y/N hugged her mother back, burying her face in her mother’s neck. She did not care that she could hear Vidas Secas fall into the tiled floor or that her bag would get dirty where it lay, all she cared about was her mother’s embrace and the smell of home around her. She was fluent in two languages, yet Y/N could not find a word that could quite capture how happy she was to be home just now.

“Okay, my dove,” Lotte said, taking Y/N’s bag off the floor. Y/N bent down and picked up her book, bringing it to her chest. “Let’s go home.”

The two of them walked out to the car park, and Lottie quickly started driving them in the direction of Y/N’s childhood home. The familiar ride and the familiar city outside the car windows made her relax, sinking far into the seat until she felt enveloped in safeness and contentment. It didn’t take them long to reach the semi-detached brick house, all their family members’ cars parked out front and visible in the windows overlooking the street. Y/N took her own bag this time, and her mother led the way up the stairs to the house so she could open the door for her.

There was no time for Y/N to go upstairs with her bag and book, because she was bombarded with hugs and kisses the second she stepped inside. Her grandfather, avô, her grandmother, avó, her papai’s two sisters and her aunties, tia Gilma and tia Lara, their husbands and her uncles, tio Jaren and uncle Finnley – who was British and had met Lara after she moved here -, and her seven cousins, or primos. They all came rushing to her, with her British grandmother and grandfather grinning and waiting for her to be done hugging and kissing everyone. Being with them and smelling feijoada everywhere, made Y/N almost tear up. Blimey, ever since moving away to University, she had become so incredibly sappy.

“Amorinzho!” came like a scream from the kitchen. Davi came out into the foyer with his apron still on and the biggest grin on his face. He threw his arms around Y/N. “Eu tenho saudade de você.”

She had missed him, too. So much. She felt safer, more at ease, almost more herself now that she was reunited with her parents close.

So, she told him that as she whispered, “Eu também senti sua falta,” back. Her papai hugged her a little tighter at that, grinning at her with tears in his eyes as he squeezed her shoulders.

“Y/N!” avó shouted from where she now sat in the living room, her grey hair in a long braid down her back and a big knitted cardigan wrapped tightly around her small frame. “Venha comer!”

“I’ll come eat in a second,” Y/N said. “I just need to put my bag in my room.”

“I’ll do that for you, my sausage,” Y/N’s grandfather said, stroking her cheek before he bent down and brought the bag with him up the stairs to her room. Since her mother had been an only child, her parents, Y/N’s grandparents, had always been very caring and constantly present as Y/N and Marcela had been their only grandchildren. Not that her avós had not been present, because they really had, her entire family had, but her grandparents’ life had no meaning if it were not for Lottie, Y/N and Marcela.

Y/N walked past all her family and to the kitchen where her papai stood making her a plate of feijoada. He handed it to her and she smiled at him before helping herself to some rice. Just then, Lottie walked into the kitchen as well, hugging Y/N from behind before she walked over to make her daughter something to drink. Silence stretched out in the kitchen as conversation started back up again in the living room, everyone talking about everything and nothing, in English and Portuguese. But, something that was unusual for her parents, they did not say a single thing. Though this might not be unusual for some, it was extremely unusual for someone who came from a generally very talkative family.

“Charlotte,” Davi said, looking over at Lottie. “We should…”

“Not yet.”

Y/N looked over her shoulder at her parents. “What?”

“We should tell her.”

“She just got home, Davi,” Lottie reasoned. “We can tell her later. Let her enjoy her feijoada.”

“No, what’s going on?” Y/N asked again, turning her body to face them now.

“No, amorinzha,” Davi said, squeezing Y/N’s shoulder. “Your mother is right; we can talk about it later. It’s not appropriate to do it now.”

“What’s going on? What’re you talking about?” Y/N looked at her papai, then at her mum, both of them sharing a look with one another that Y/N did not understand. Over the years, she had become a master at deciphering what her parents were discussing when they shared looks, though she never managed to quite understand the proper subject of discussion, she could detect the mood. She understood this was more of a serious matter.

“Tell me,” Y/N said, feeling her heart begin to beat a little harder, a little faster, the more time went by without any of them saying anything.

“Fine,” Lottie sighed. “Put your plate down first.”

Y/N did so reluctantly, not taking her eyes off of her parents. If it was serious enough for her mother to want her to put her food down so she would not drop her plate, then Y/N was on the fence if she even wanted to know what was going on or if she wanted to live in blissful ignorance of it.

“Your pai and I have decided to sell the cabin.”

Y/N’s heart stopped beating. Her body felt numb, the chatter in the living room deceased to exist as she just looked at her mother, and then at her papai. Her mum, and then pai. Suddenly, as if slapped with a brick, Y/N’s brain roared to life and her body came as hot as coal. She looked at her mother who had been the one to speak, her mouth falling open and shutting again as she continued to process what she had just been told.

“You’re… you’re going to sell the cabin?” Y/N asked them, just to be completely sure that what she heard was correct.

“Yes,” Davi answered.

“You’re selling the cabin?” She could not believe it.

“Y/N-“

“-You’re selling our Newport cabin? The one in Wales?” she asked again, her voice rising now. They did not have any other cabins, but Y/N just had to know she was not mistaken. They couldn’t… They couldn’t just…

“Y/N, we never go there anymore,” Lottie reasoned. “We want to spend the money we use on the cabin on something else, we don’t know what yet.”

“So, you’re just going to sell the cabin where your daughter was murdered?” Y/N asked, voice filled with so much rage she barely recognised herself when she spoke. “Where Marcela was most likely stabbed? You’re selling that cabin?”

“We’re never there because she was… she was killed…” Davi cleared his throat. “Spending time inside that cabin when we know what happened inside it, does not feel right.”

“No, selling it isn’t right,” Y/N said. “What if there’s more evidence inside? What if there’s somewhere they haven’t looked?”

“Baby, they have cleaned out the cabin and there’s nowhere they haven’t looked. There’s nothing more they can investigate,” Lottie explained. “We don’t want to own that cabin anymore.”

“Kit murdered Marcela in there,” Y/N said. “Her murderous ex-boyfriend is running around somewhere because no one investigated that cabin thoroughly enough.”

“Selling it doesn’t mean they are going to stop investigating Marcela’s case, amorzinho,” Davi pointed out.

“We don’t… We still don’t know if Kit did it,” Lottie mumbled. “It was most likely him, but there could have been someone else who killed Marcela, Y/N.”

“Marcela’s body hasn’t been found, there’s no trace of Kit’s blood or remains on that property. That murderer is on the loose, something inside that cabin can tell us he killed her, I am sure of it.”

“Y/N, Kit hasn’t been seen since the murder either. Maybe he was killed, too,” Lottie said.

“Mum, Kit was a rubbish person, why are you sticking up for him?” Y/N groaned, running her hands over her face.

“We decided, Y/N,” Davi mumbled, rubbing his daughter’s back. “It’s happening.”

That was all Y/N needed to hear. She took her plate in one hand and the glass with water her mother had made her in another, and she walked straight past everyone in the living room and up to her room. She felt like a child stomping past everyone like that, but she just needed to be with her thoughts. There was absolutely no way they were selling that cabin. Not that cabin. Y/N was sure there was evidence in there somewhere, the police and the investigators had just not looked thoroughly enough. That was all. And if they had done a shite job, well… that just meant Y/N had to do it for them. She had to go to that cabin and look for herself once and for all. After all, who else would? It did not seem like anyone cared anymore.

NEXT UPDATE: Sunday, 21th March, 9PM GMT!

Huge thanks to my AMAZING beta readers! 🏛️ @aileenacoustic 🏛️ @devil-in-bw-the-sheets 🏛️ @sunflowerstache 🏛️ @fromyourstrulyh 🏛️

FIC PAGE | COME TALK !!!

#harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles x reader #harry styles x you #harry styles smut #harry styles angst #harry styles fluff #harry styles fic #1dff #:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD COME TALK PLSSSS :DDDDDDDDDDDDDD

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incorrectbandofbrothersquotes · 3 years

Text

Dear Heart - CH 12

Dick Winters x Melanie Davis

Summary: Melanie Davis is a nurse from North Carolina who has lived a sheltered life since her father died. Her father’s best friend, Colonel Sink, invites her to experience more as a regimental nurse for the 506th PIR of the 101st Airborne. She embarks on the adventure of a lifetime.

Tag list: @thoughpoppiesblow @primusk @itswormtrain @hesbuckcompton-baby If you’d like to be added, let me know!

Word Count: 5k (another doozy but omg a lot has to happen okay? they have to talk, Dick has to be a simp, it’s important to the plot)

A/N: Thank you again to @mercurygray for being a wonderful beta reader, as always <3

Warning(s): Descriptions of an assault

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11

Chapter 12 here we go!!

A warm spring began in Germany, welcoming the American invaders with its beautiful scenery and pleasant weather. Melanie wondered how people who lived in such a lovely place could have begun a war that was so terrible. The regiment came to a long stop in a town called Sturzelberg, where there was a hospital, and Melanie finally felt like a regular nurse again. She even got to change out of her OD’s and into her nursing uniform dress. It was wrinkled from the journey in her bag, rolled up at the bottom until she could wear it again. It was somewhat of a homecoming, though it seemed a different girl stepped into it. Not even a girl at all, really. A grown woman. A changed woman.

Her and Juliet’s billet had a mirror, so she took the opportunity to really look at herself for the first time in weeks. Though she was clean, she looked tired. She didn’t have much color to her face, and she had lost more weight. She frowned at her reflection, hearing her mother loud and clear in her mind. To her surprise, she voiced what she heard.

“Thin and pale,” she murmured. “That won’t do.”

Juliet looked up from her notebook. “I beg your pardon?”

Melanie did not reply. She was too busy pinching her cheeks along the bone, giving them a semblance of rosiness. It was an old trick, but a useful one. So was chewing one’s lips to make them red if one didn’t have any rouge, which was her next task.

“Mel, what the bloody hell are you doing?” Juliet demanded, getting to her feet.

“Making myself somewhat presentable,” Melanie answered. “Now that we’re back in relative comfort, I’ve got no excuse for walking around looking like a rag doll.”

Juliet scoffed in disbelief. Then she stood in front of Melanie, took her by the shoulders, and looked into her eyes, searching.

“What are you doing?” Melanie asked.

“I’m looking for Melanie Davis, I hope she’s still in there,” Juliet returned.

It occurred to Melanie that Juliet had only known the exhausted, wounded Melanie from weeks at war and no sleep. Already a little jaded from the amount of wounded who passed through. Of course she didn’t recognize the Melanie from before - who lived with constant reminders of femininity and vanity she’d had ingrained in her since childhood.

She rolled her eyes and dislodged herself from Juliet’s grip. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course it’s me.”

“You’ve been through hell on Earth,” Juliet pointed out. “Who cares what you look like?”

Melanie hadn’t thought of it that way. And she had certainly not had many experiences of criticism being met with compassion. She didn’t always feel she deserved compassion - she was happy to give it to others but for herself? Perfection only. It was hitting her now what an impossible standard she was holding herself to.

“Oh, I must sound awfully vain,” Melanie sighed. “I don’t mean to, but I can’t help it if I prefer feeling feminine. I can’t believe how much I took for granted just having lipstick or nail polish.”

“Obviously, you can enjoy those things, but I cannot stand by and let you say that you ‘won’t do,’” Juliet replied. “You’re a beautiful woman, with or without lipstick.”

Melanie looked at the floor and fixed her clothes. “That’s very kind of you, thank you.”

She was unused to getting such compliments. Her mother had always fixated on Melanie’s looks, though she had never been insulting. It was always reassurance that she was pretty enough to “catch a husband.” But, as she had pointed out to herself, there was more to the world than all that. The war was still on. She had a job to do.

“Alright, I’m off to work,” she said. “It feels mighty fine to be saying that again.”

She forced herself to smile, putting all thoughts of her appearance behind her. She just needed to get back to a hospital and work with patients so she could start feeling like herself again. Juliet wished her luck, and then Melanie was off.

***

As they made their way deeper into Germany, Dick’s inner conflict deepened, too. Melanie’s condition, her moods and general demeanor, seemed to improve, while Lew seemed to get steadily worse. The day of the jump (which he was still a bit bitter to have missed, despite its outcome), when Dick had to tell his best friend about his demotion, he was disturbed by Nix’s non-reaction, followed by flippant remarks to disguise a frustration he clearly would not voice. Dick sought out the only person he felt he could talk to about his concerns - Melanie.

He went first to her billet. The day was drawing to a close, so he assumed she would be back by now from the hospital. Juliet opened the door and looked surprised to see him.

“Oh! Hello, Major,” she said.

“Is Melanie here?” he asked, getting right to the point.

“No, she hasn’t come back from the hospital yet,” she told him. “Is everything alright? Did you have something...important to tell her?”

She raised a knowing eyebrow at him and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. At this point, he wasn’t sure who was more invested in his relationship with Melanie - Nix or Juliet. He wondered what might have happened if she had been around to help orchestrate the Paris trip. For now, he let it slide.

“I just want to talk to her,” he said. “Thanks, though.”

“Worth a shot,” she said under her breath. “Well, let me know if we need to send out a search party.”

“Will do,” he said, amused. “See you later.”

She nodded in return and closed the door. Dick headed to the hospital. He looked forward to seeing Melanie - he always did. He just wished his friends would see that, and realize it was enough for now. There was enough understanding between them that they were pretty well aware of what they felt for each other. At least, Dick was sure he understood. But there was still a war, and that wasn’t really the place for romance.

By the time he arrived at the hospital, he had pushed his frustrations with his friends to the back of his mind. In the first ward, he found Melanie, in a chair beside a patient’s bed, a deck of cards between them on a tray, and laughter on her face. The patient pulled a card from his hand and laid it down, which made Melanie’s jaw drop.

“Another red three?” she gasped. “I think it’s very clear how this game is going to end.”

“You’ve still got a chance, Miss Melanie,” he replied through a thick Southern accent. “One good hand and you could turn this whole thing around.”

“Well, lucky for you, my hand isn’t anything to write home about,” she returned, frowning at it. “Draw your cards, Sergeant.”

He reached for the deck and picked up three cards, adding them to his hand. Dick watched the game play out for a moment - the sergeant discarded, Melanie drew two, then she discarded, and the sergeant drew again. All the while, Melanie talked to the man. He was missing his right leg up to the thigh - and a fleeting image of Bill Guarnere and Joe Toye passed through Dick’s mind. But judging by this soldier’s attitude, no one would have guessed anything was the matter with him. The way he smiled and chuckled at Melanie’s praise, he didn’t seem to notice that he was even in a hospital bed.

Dick’s heart was warmed by the sight. Melanie really was back to her old self. She was off duty, and yet she sat with a man she didn’t know to bring him some small comfort. A simple card game. A chance for him to feel normal again, even for a few moments. Dick wasn’t sure which he admired more - her selflessness or how happy she looked to be where she was. The grin on her face gave away that she considered it no trouble to play a game with a patient when her rounds were over. She was genuinely glad to do it. Dick hoped Toye and Guarnere had similarly wonderful nurses wherever they were.

“A canasta already?” she cried as Dick approached. “If you go out on me with all this in my hand, Sergeant, I’ll be finished for sure!”

She discarded and then finally, she looked up. She caught Dick’s eye as he took some tentative steps toward her, hesitant to interrupt. But she beamed at him, so he assumed he was welcome.

“Good evening, Dick,” she said kindly.

The sergeant turned and saw Dick, so he offered a quick salute. “Good evening, sir,”

“Good evening,” Dick returned politely. “Sorry to interrupt.”

“Not at all,” Melanie assured him. “Dick, this is Sergeant Samson - the finest canasta player in the US Army. Sergeant, this is Major Winters.” The two men shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. Then she met Dick’s gaze again. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah,” he said, and found himself regretting coming at all. She was busy, and he felt foolish for disrupting her moment of joy. “I can come back later, though -”

“Actually, sir, I’m about ready for some sleep if Miss Melanie will let me off the hook,” Samson said.

She cast him a playful look. “I see how you operate, Samson. Quit while you’re ahead, that way you don’t lose.”

He laughed, a bit bashful at her teasing, but she collected the cards all the same, and set them aside.

“We’ll play again tomorrow if you like,” she offered.

“Of course,” he returned. “That is, if you enjoy losing that much!”

She feigned offense while he chuckled some more. Then she fluffed his pillows and pulled the blankets up to his chest. Dick watched and felt a familiar stir in his heart of affection for her. She was the most beautiful person he had ever had the pleasure of knowing - and that did not just apply to her pretty face. Melanie was a sweet soul, a nurturing heart, and a bright mind. She was a high quality person. And tiny moments like this showed that to him more than anything.

“Can I get you anything else before I go?” she offered Samson.

He shook his head. “No, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am.”

“Good night, Sergeant,” she said.

“Good night, ma’am, sir.”

Dick nodded in acknowledgement before offering Melanie his arm, which she took, and they left the ward together. It struck him that her touch no longer made him so nervous. It thrilled him - even after knowing each other for years - but it was comfortable now. As if the crook of his arm was made for her hand. It was natural.

“Is everything alright, Dick?” she asked as they stepped outside. “You seem troubled.”

He didn’t consider himself a particularly emotive person, but Melanie never failed to pick up on what he was feeling. Especially when he needed her.

“It’s Nix,” he said. “His drinking...it’s become such a problem up at regiment that he was demoted today. When I told him that, he didn’t even seem to care.”

Melanie’s brows furrowed and she looked thoughtfully ahead. “I’m sorry to hear that. Lewis is a good man and a fine officer. I would have thought he’d be more invested.”

“Well, in his defense, he’d just come back from that disaster of a jump,” Dick said.

“What disaster of a jump?” she wondered.

He told her what Nix had relayed to him - that the troopers didn’t even make it out of the plane. The CO was killed. Nix and just a handful of others survived out of sheer luck.

“Oh, how awful,” she said, heartbroken.

There really could be no moment between them where the war did not rear its ugly head, Dick thought bitterly. No matter what, there was some news of tragedy. Death sank its teeth into even a simple evening stroll. He decided to steer the conversation back to its original subject.

“Seeing Lew like this just has me worried,” he said. “I feel like he’s close to spiraling, and I don’t have a clue what to do. I thought it was just a bad habit, but now...” he trailed off, unsure what to call his friend’s profound issue.

“I’m afraid there isn’t much you can do,” Melanie told him. “Nix is...troubled, and he has his coping mechanism. Unless he wants to quit drinking, there’s nothing you - or anybody - can do to stop him from picking that bottle up again.”

Once again, he was being told to do nothing - frustrating and impossible advice. He had hoped for more from her.

“What you can do,” she went on, and he felt a glimmer of hope again. “Is make yourself available to him. Let him know - subtly, of course - that you’re ready if and when he’ll need you. Eventually, it will come to a head, and he’ll need people in his corner that he can truly rely on.”

“It still sounds like doing nothing,” he said, defeated.

“I know you’re a man of action, Dick, but this will take patience,” she returned, understanding.

He didn’t answer right away, still a bit frustrated. He also took a moment to look at her. The dim twilight was flattering on her skin. A cool breeze made her flyaway hairs stir around her head. She looked a bit like a painting with the Bavarian backdrop behind her. It struck him again how much he loved her. She met his gaze.

“Dick?”

He shook his head to clear it, though appreciating her beauty had eased some of his irritation about Nix.

“Sorry,” he said. “You look nice tonight, that’s all.”

“Thank you,” she said, blushing lightly. “I’m feeling much better now that we’ve got more food and I’m back in a hospital.”

He had noticed her improvement over the past few days. Her cheeks were rounding out again, and she didn’t look so tired. Her bruises were gone, too.

“I feel a bit silly,” she admitted. “I was fussing over how I looked when we first got here because I didn’t have lipstick or nail polish. What a ridiculous thing to worry about.”

Melanie always looked natural, so he tried to remember the last time he saw her looking nicer than usual. It was Paris. Which was beginning to feel decades in the past instead of just months.

“It’s not ridiculous,” he assured her. “Silly, I’ll give you, but ridiculous is a strong word.”

“Alright, silly it is then,” she teased back with a smile, and he ached at how much he adored it.

They reached her billet, stopped outside the door, and faced each other.

“This takes me back,” she said. “All the way to Aldbourne.”

He nodded in agreement. “Yeah. I don’t think I’d recognize those two kids.”

“Me neither,” she chuckled. “So much has happened. But, I…”

He looked expectantly at her as she trailed off and gathered her thoughts. Her brow furrowed, which told him she was searching for the right words.

“I am so grateful we’re still friends,” she said. “If it weren’t for you, I don’t think I could have made it this far.”

It was his turn to get flustered. For a moment, he stood there silently, a bit lost for words. It was such an honest and wonderful thing to say. How could he return that sentiment?

“Well, I don’t know about that, but I’m grateful too, Mel,” he said, feeling the understatement like an itch on his skin. “Really.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” she said, smiling. “On that pleasant note, shall we say goodnight? Unless there’s anything else?”

He shook his head. “Thanks for listening. As always.”

They said goodnight, and she went inside, no doubt to chat to Juliet before climbing into bed and settling in. Dick wanted only for Melanie to be safe and comfortable, especially after everything she’d been through. He hoped that after the war, she could end her days in his arms instead of alone, he could tell her plainly how much she meant to him, and that he could be her true refuge. Until then, his mind went to lipstick and nail polish…

The following day, on his way to HQ, he found some. An abandoned drug store sat on the intersection he crossed, and there were a few enlisted men already scrounging around inside, claiming whatever they could find. He normally wasn’t one for taking souvenirs, but he was more compelled by the idea of doing something nice for Melanie. So he stepped through the kicked in door and looked around. The makeup aisle had already been pretty thoroughly picked over - broken bottles and compacts littered the floor, but one last untouched gold tube on the shelf caught his eye. A red lipstick. He took it.

He glanced around for nail polish too, but the only color left was a dark purple, which he could not for the life of him imagine Melanie wearing. The lipstick would have to do.

He intended on giving it to her that day, but he got caught up in several different briefings, which evidently could not be postponed. So many that he sent Zielinski to the hospital with a message asking Melanie to join him in his office for dinner. They hadn’t had significant time together in much too long, and he missed it. So he was grateful when she accepted and agreed to meet him at eight o’clock.

Dick got worried when eight-fifteen came and went. He checked his watch for the tenth time in the last sixty seconds and sighed, fearing that Melanie had forgotten him. Or worse, something was terribly wrong at the hospital, and she was enduring further tragedy. Finally, when he was about ready to go looking for her himself, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in!” he called.

To his great relief, Melanie walked through the door, closing it softly behind her. She looked a bit sheepish as she came closer.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, Dick,” she said. “Sergeant Samson and I were just wrapping up.”

“More canasta?” he asked.

She nodded. “It’s his favorite game. He used to play it with his sisters back home. He’s got three of them.”

“Three sisters, wow,” he remarked. “No brothers?”

“One,” she said sadly. “But he was killed on Guadalcanal.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said. “But I’m impressed with you. You really get to know the men you’re treating.”

“I certainly try,” she said. “Hospitals can often feel overly clinical and cold. Doctors don’t have much time to spend with patients, and nurses can get overwhelmed. I don’t want the patients to mistake that for not caring.”

Dick had met very few people who had the emotional capability to invest so much in others. For a fleeting moment, he likened Melanie to a priest or pastor, with a flock of people to look after, but what she did was different. She wasn’t a spiritual guide or advisor. She was a simple comfort. A place to tell someone about your favorite game or your siblings or your life story. A generous ear to listen to you talk about something besides your pain.

“That’s very sweet of you,” he told her, keeping the true depth of it to himself.

She took a seat across from him at his desk, and they had dinner together. At first, she asked mostly about him and how he was doing, but he eventually turned it around. He let her talk about the patients she’d met at this hospital, and she shared little tidbits of their lives. She wasn’t burdened by it, either. In each one, she found something of interest, worth remembering and holding onto. He listened, but he knew he’d never be able to recall everything the way she did. But he hoped he helped by doing a little bit of what she did for others, for her.

When they finished eating, she sat back with a satisfied smile. He loved that look on her face and he couldn’t help but smile a bit himself. To continue that momentum, he went into his desk and pulled out his gift for her. He didn’t have a box or anything this time, so it wasn’t nearly as big as the gift of the dress, but he hoped she’d still appreciate it.

“I got something for you,” he said.

She raised an eyebrow. “You did?”

He placed the tube of lipstick on the desk as her mouth fell open. But a sparkle in her eyes told him it was a delighted sort of shock.

“Where did you get this?” she gasped. She picked it up and examined it, as if not quite believing it was real.

“There’s a drug store in town that’s...no longer in operation,” he explained. He still didn’t love that he’d technically stolen it, but he wouldn’t let her know. “I think every man in the regiment got something for the women in his life. And you mentioned wanting some.”

“And you remembered?” she wondered.

“Sure I did,” he replied with a chuckle.

“How kind of you,” she said, her grin widening. “I can’t wait to use it! Thank you so much!”

Did anything feel better than making her happy? Dick wasn’t sure. The warmth in his chest told him there was nothing. It didn’t matter that he’d taken it by looting. For that smile, he was prepared to commit highway robbery.

“You’re welcome,” he returned.

He watched her gaze at the items in her hand, a pensive, contemplative expression coming over her features. There was something more she wanted to say. Knowing her, she would shake her head, smile again, and mumble “never mind” mostly to herself before moving on. He hoped she wouldn’t, so he remained silent, giving her the space to work through what she was thinking.

“It seems silly to say this over something so small,” she began, her voice soft, so he had to lean closer in order to hear. “But may I share something with you?”

“Of course,” he assured her, though the question made him nervous.

He tried to think of what could make her so serious all of a sudden, but nothing immediately came to mind. A split second of doubt came over him that she was going to confess she had met someone else because she was tired of waiting for him. But that seemed like a rather outlandish conclusion to jump to. He slowed down his thoughts and focused on her.

“I know you’ve been wondering about what caused me to leave the hospital in Bastogne and come to the front lines,” she began. “And I haven’t been able to tell you. I’m sorry.”

He was still curious, but he certainly didn’t want her to feel like she had to talk about that just because of a lipstick he didn’t even pay for.

“You don’t have to-”

“Please,” she cut across him. “Let me get this out before I lose my nerve.”

“Take your time,” he said gently.

She nodded and took a deep breath. Tears pricked her eyes as she released it, slow and shaky. He mentally braced himself to hear the worst.

“Before the hospital was bombed, Terry...made me an offer,” she continued. “For a life together after the war. He told me he had always had feelings for me and basically that he wanted to marry me.” She ran the fingers on her right hand over the ring finger of her left.

“Naturally, I refused,” she went on. “I wasn’t in love with him.” She paused there, toying with the lipstick tube, as if debating adding something onto that sentence, but decided against it. “I thought my answer was clear, even before the bombing. But the day I was supposed to return to work, he came to my room.”

She stopped again, chewing her bottom lip before swallowing hard.

“He’d had a bit to drink,” she said. “He wasn’t out of control, but I could smell it when he got close to me. He proposed again. I refused him. He shouted at me that he loved me. He said he couldn’t bear the thought of me with another man. And that’s when he started to throw things.”

Beads of sweat appeared on her brow and hairline. She wiped them away with the back of her hand, undeterred, though trembling. She rubbed her hand against the fabric of her dress to dry it off.

“I pleaded with him to stop, but he grabbed me by my face,” she said. “Painfully. Then he looked me in the eyes and threatened to...crush my skull against the vanity, to use his words.”

She looked at him, and suddenly, she halted and met his gaze.

“Am I upsetting you?” she asked.

If he didn’t know her better, he would have thought she was being sarcastic - trying to remind him just who really had been hurt here, but she wasn’t. She was genuinely concerned about him in a moment like this. Her tone, apologetic.

Dick’s anger had risen from a simmer to a boil. He’d been trying to maintain composure as she spoke. He did not want her to lose her nerve by seeing him get agitated, but he couldn’t help the set of his jaw. He regretted not fighting Clarke when he’d had the chance because maybe this might not have happened. It’s harder to throw things and grab people with broken fingers, after all. He shook his head and took a deep breath to calm down, intentionally relaxing every muscle in his face.

“I’m fine, Mel,” he lied. “Please, go on.”

She raised a skeptical eyebrow, but did not protest.

“I tried to resist,” she continued. “But then he grabbed me by the throat. If he said anything else at that point, I didn’t hear. I was blacking out quickly. And for a moment, I was afraid...I was so afraid I was going to die.”

She choked on the last word, and she swiped the tear that leaked onto her cheek away quickly. He kept his gaze fixed on her face, watching her lip quiver. He knew it was ridiculous, but overwhelming guilt sank its claws into his heart. He should have been there to defend her. He should have warned Colonel Sink about Terry. He should have done something. Even now, he wished he could protect her from the very memory of it.

“I don’t know what came over me,” she said. “But somehow I found the strength to get away. I remember striking him, but not much else. That was when Colonel Sink showed up. And I begged him to let me go...well, anywhere that wasn’t the hospital. He suggested the Bois Jacques, and I agreed.”

He sat with it a moment, impressed at her resilience, and a little relieved that nothing worse had happened - and he had imagined much worse, especially when she said the altercation had taken place in her bedroom. But she got away. She rescued herself. There was something to be said for that.

“I’m so sorry you went through that, Mel,” he said. “You were very brave.”

“Please don’t flatter me, Dick,” she replied. “Dogs have enough courage to fight back when attacked. I acted on instinct.”

“Even so, you did well,” he insisted. He hesitated asking his next question, unsure how she might take it or if she was receptive to being questioned at all.

“Why didn’t you report him?” he asked, feeling desperate. “That’s a court martial offense, assaulting a fellow officer.”

“Colonel Sink offered to do the paperwork, but I asked him not to,” she told him. “There’s no point, really. It would be my word against his and that rarely goes well for a woman.”

Dick carefully disguised his distaste for that answer. He wasn’t frustrated by Melanie, but that she was right.

“Besides,” she said. “He didn’t really do anything. He just frightened me, that’s all.”

“That’s a bit of an understatement,” he returned. “He nearly killed you.”

She shrugged, keeping her eyes fixed on her hands, which were in her lap now, fidgeting with the lipstick tube, which made a soft pop each time she opened or closed it.

“You may think you’re being kind by showing him mercy, Mel,” he said. “But Terry should be at the least reprimanded for what he’s done. I know it’s hard, but you’re brave enough to -”

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.

“Dick, stop it!” she cried, looking desperately at him. “I’m not brave or strong or kind or anything else! I’m scared, alright?! I didn’t report Terry because I’m terrified that he will find me again! And how much worse would it be if he had nothing to lose?! It isn’t mercy, it’s fear!”

She lowered her eyes to the floor and tried to draw in a breath. It was shallow and shaky, catching on the lump in her throat. He couldn’t stand that he was not holding her. So he got to his feet, crossed to the other side of his desk, stood before her, and held out his hand. She looked at it, then up at his face, before placing her fingers in his palm. He helped her to stand. Then, he gathered her up in his arms. Her forehead found a resting place on his chest, and she nuzzled into him. They fit together like puzzle pieces.

“I’m sorry, Melanie,” he whispered in her ear. “I’m so sorry.” When she only nodded, he continued. “You’re safe now.”

“Yes,” she said softly into his chest. “Yes, I know.”

He made a silent promise to himself and her. From here on out, he would be her personal shield. No one deserved what she had endured, but she especially didn’t. This woman, who was all heart and grace and goodness. He would protect her with everything he had.

#band of brothers #dick winters #melanie jo davis #richard winters #dick winters x ofc #band of brothers fanfiction #richard winters x ofc #hbo war #Easy Company #dick winters fic #dear heart series

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diyunho · 4 years

Text

The Joker x Reader - “Trapped” Part 4

Almost one year ago, someone tried to kill The Joker in a speeding car and Y/N pushed him out of the way, getting hit instead. With a fractured skull and broken bones, she was out of business for 6 months; when she finally recovered, The Queen of Gotham wasn’t the same anymore. Trapped inside her own mind and exhibiting severe cognitive impairment, Y/N’s life switched upside down without any hope of ever returning to normal.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 5

Next Morning

“We’re done here, OK?” The Joker shouts and you stomp away, furious at his behavior.

“Of course we are done, who the hell would put up with you?!! You’re horrible!!!”

“It finally clicked? Good!!!! Come on, speed it up and disappear!!!!” he points at the top of the hill where your car is parked.

You walk faster and J is increasingly frustrated with each step you take.

“So what you said was a lie?!” he yells before he can stop himself. “You assured me I’ll get used with being loved and here you are running from me! Hypocrite! Who’s the liar now, huh?”

You turn around, stunned.

How dare he twist your most intimate confessions in such a manner?

Y/N and The Joker glare at each other for a few moments before you voice all the bitterness and resentment building up in your heart loud enough for him to hear:

“I hate you!”

“Oh yeah?” he smirks. “Perfect! I’m used to it!”

You reprise your stroll, determined not to fall into his little traps anymore: this time is over and you have to put as much distance in between the two of you in the next few seconds before he attempts one of his tricks.

Not that you would fall for it again, but you never know…

One last glare while you try to open the car door and you see him flair his arms around loudly screaming at his phone; your fingers keep missing the lock and you kick the metal frame, irritated. Another glance and you spot a vehicle driving in the parking lane towards where The Joker is.

“J?...” you hesitantly call out to him yet The Joker probably has the earbuds in so he can’t hear you. “J!!!” you wave to get his attention without success. “Oh my God!” you rush back in his direction when you realize that SUV will hit him if it continues the present trajectory. “J!!! J!!!!”

The King is too absorbed in his business conversation thus he finally sees Y/N next to him as she violently pushes him out of harm’s way.

The strong impact wakes you up and you gasp for air, panicked. Your troubled mind has difficulty catching up with reality: a damaged brain can’t possibly render any type of comfort in this situation.

“Why are you crying?” J mumbles half asleep. “Did you have a bad dream?”

You seem confused and unresponsive to his questions, no other choice besides waking up to check on you.

“Calm down. You had a nightmare, ok?” he pulls the agitated Y/N in his arms. “ Hey, it’s me!”

You whimper at the pain paralyzing your body and don’t complain when he drags you on top of him; it actually feels soothing having someone close that understands what’s happening to you.

“Don’t hold me so tight, I can’t breathe,” J pecks your forehead where the blood clot pressing on your frontal lobe should be. “Better?” he asks a tearful girlfriend that ultimately begins to understand she wasn’t hit by a car minutes ago: it’s an ordeal she already went through months ago despite the aftermath of the accident still creating problems. “Such an early bird,” The Clown yawns since he won’t be able to doze off after your episode. “Only 7 am Princess…” the grumbled noises make you receptive to his complaint. “What about you give me some sugar in exchange for my services?” J suggests, quite puzzled when you roll off him and stumble out of the bedroom. “Where are you going?!”

You don’t answer because you’re concentrating just on what your neurons were able to translate in such a short notice: your man wants sugar. That’s why you’re in a big hurry to bring him a bag containing the sweet product, happily offering the item to his majesty The King of Gotham.

“For God’s sake, Pumpkin!” he accepts the gift nevertheless and places it on the covers. “That’s not what I meant,” he snatches Y/N in his arms and kisses her.

“No…sugar?...” you inquire out of genuine curiosity.

“I already got it,” he mischievously smirks at your bafflement, deciding to exercise your skills at once. “Say Princess: if I give you two kisses and then I give you two more, how many kisses do you get?”

“Ummm…” you debate on the question,”… not enough?”

“Due to your high standards, certainly,” The Joker huffs at the genuine reply. “Your solution is not wrong, but I’m looking for a number. Two plus two? Come on, you already know this one!”

“Mmmm… Four?...” you blur out and get groped as reward.

“Good girl!” J proudly applauds your abilities at crack of dawn. “Enough algebra for this morning,” he changes topic. “Your doctor appointment is at 10; you should take a shower soon,” and he rambles on until something is clear: the blank expression on your face hints at the outcome.

“You’re not listening, are you?” he suspiciously inquires.

“No.”

Why would you? Your brain’s self-defense mechanism prevailed at all the information flooding your deteriorated synapses and the result was blocking the outpour of sentences.

“That was a 10 minutes speech, Pumpkin!” The Joker grouchily admonishes the carefree Y/N.

“11,” you gesture at the clock on the wall.

“11 what?”

“11 minutes, not 10,” you nonchalantly conclude.

“Oh, so you have the audacity to time me while you don’t bother keeping up?!”

“Yes,” you giggle and hide your face under the pillow.

“That’s preposterous!”

“Hm?...” your nose emerges from under the cushion at the fascinating word you can’t recollect being in your current vocabulary.

“Preposterous, Princess!” J repeats.”… Stop laughing, would you?” he forcefully hijacks your pillow and you snicker because whatever-the-heck- it-means Preposterous Princess sounds like a hilarious nickname. “You wanna play games?” The Clown Prince of Crime sucks on his silver teeth willing to bring a final showdown to this magical day. “Fine, remember you made me with your abominable behavior!” he reaches for the nightstand in order to grab his favorite deck of cards. “Pick a card, any card; I won’t peak,” J watches the captivated woman pluck her choice from the mound. “Now put it in the stack,” he urges and you follow the instructions.

The Joker vigorously shuffles the cards then searches for yours.

“Is this it?” he triumphantly flicks the Joker card out of the bunch.

You nod a yes completely smitten he guessed again and your terrible half steals a kiss, triumphantly growling to himself:

“Who’s laughing now, huh?”

*************

After Your Doctor’s Appointment

J slides the screen on his phone and before he can utter anything you announce:

“Hi, this is Pre… Pro… Mmm… W-wait,” you stammer and gather your thoughts. “This is Preposterous Princess.”

The Joker sighs, definitely unamused at your 5th call in a row to tell him what’s going on at your routine consultation: he barely finished counting the ammo boxes he received with the shipment after you left and going over the heist scheme for next week it’s made impossible by Y/N.

“Pumpkin, I will remind you that’s not what I meant when I said that word. It was Preposterous COMA Princess!! Two separate entities, alright? We need to have a serious discussion after you get home.”

“I have to go, Pro… Ummm… Preposterous Princess is at…at the gates,” you say it very fast and hang up, excited to share news with him.

Yet The Clown is already acquainted with the whole development on your condition: the doctor’s office contacted him after your departure in order to brief him on Y/N health. The blood clot is a bit smaller since it keeps reabsorbing; the cognitive issues are there, tests ended up pretty much within normal range except one, thus it’s necessary for the two of you to have the dialogue he mentioned about.

Five more minutes and you barge in his office holding your yellow teddy bear and for the first time in his life The Joker can’t help regretting he’s about to burst someone’s bubble.

You approach the desk and set the ultrasound picture in front of him waiting for his reaction; your bright smile doesn’t go well with how gloomy he appears, literally an understatement anyway.

“Baby,” you tap the image just in case he didn’t realize what he’s staring at.

“I know, Pumpkin. We can’t keep it.”

“Hm…?” your smile gradually dies out as you comprehend he’s not on the same page with your wishes.

“We can’t keep the baby, it’s very dangerous given you merely survived a severe trauma. I was told it’s nearly impossible for you to have kids, that’s why I didn’t use… Anyway… I admit this one’s on me and the conclusion is… … we can’t keep the baby.”

“No baby?” you sniffle.

“Nope, it would be too harsh on your body. Plus, you won’t be able to use your anti-inflammatory medication if you’re pregnant.”

“I want baby!”

“Are you deaf??!” J slams the desk with his fist, annoyed. “You can’t have a child, it could kill you. Do you want to perish?!” he rises from his chair.

“No… I want you and baby.”

“No way in hell!” he snarls at your defiance.

“Why can’t I h-have baby? Because… because I’m stupid?” you cuddle with your plush toy, heartbroken at his approach.

“You’re not stupid, but I’m beginning to have doubts if what I told you doesn’t make sense!”

“I want baby!” you whisper on the verge of crying.

“I want baby,” The Joker mocks and watches your demeanor change: it doesn’t take a genius to detangle the mystery of how hurt you seem.

“Are…are you making fun of me?!”

The King is a jerk, no doubt about it. Despite his obvious flaws he never ridiculed someone’s disability; it’s simply beneath him. One could say this is a new low for him and he cannot erase it: Y/N’s cognitive impairment is clearly sacred ground he trespassed on a whim when he shouldn’t have.

“If…if you were like me… I wouldn’t laugh at… at you,” you wipe your tears, sobbing. “I’m not smart… anymore but I can m-make decisions, ok? I want baby!”

“I said no!” J yells, fired up you won’t listen to reason.

“I don… I don’t care!” you storm out of the office and trip on the carpet, almost falling to the ground. “It’s my baby!”

“It’s mine also unless you have another boyfriend!!”

**************

You’ve been gone for the last hour; it’s a big place yet it shouldn’t be so difficult to find one’s partner.

The Joker dials your number and inquires as soon as you blow your nose on the other side of the line.

“Is this The Preposterous Princess?”

Dead air again; Y/N isn’t in the mood to speak to the man she can’t forgive for his transgression. In addition to him disregarding her intention of keeping the offspring, he made her feel dumb and that’s unforgivable.

“Y/N, where are you?!” J descends the steps leading to the basement, the last area he didn’t searched for his missing woman. He opens the boiler room, nothing. The pantry reveals zero clues either. The janitorial supplies closet is a different story; a box of sponges flies by his ear, immediately accompanied by a hateful tone:

“Go away!”

“You almost broke my nose,” he over exaggerates. “What are you doing here anyway? I’ve been looking all over the house!” “I’m hiding baby from you,” you clearly enunciate without stammering.

“Give me a break,” he drops on his knees in front of you. “I don’t want you to kick the bucket, why is that a bad thing?”

“I want baby!”

“Stubborn mule, you sound like a scratched CD that skips and skips and skips,” he barks at your persistence.

“Hm?” you crinkle your nose.

“Scratched CD!” he brings his face close to yours, pleased an opportunity for his plan has arisen. “First of all, if you want to keep the kid you have to promise not to die; second, I have no desire to become a father and third of all pick a card!” he shoves them in your fingers, perfectly aware that if you can’t process all the stuff he’s yapping at an amazing speed, you’ll get distracted and forget you’re mad at him; including one of your favorite games to the equation should seal the outcome.

“Hm?”

“Chop, chop, pick a card Pumpkin!”

You suspiciously pluck your item and then shove it back in the bundle.

The Joker steals a kiss while figuring out your card and you protest:

“I don’t… I don’t want your four kisses!”

“That’s too bad, I do come with four kisses, it’s a bundle deal!” J dismisses your logic connected to this morning’s algebra lesson. “Is this your card?” he shows you the Jester card and your mouth opens in amazement.

“A-ha!”

He fights with himself if he should disclose the secret: you don’t seem totally diverted and his plot could misfire due to inaction.

It’s not worth it.

“Do you know how I select the correct card?”

“No.”

“Each single time Pumpkin you invariably pick The Joker card.”

You sulk at the revelation since it’s true: you don’t recall sorting another card from the deck.

“I do… I always choose you…”

He doesn’t have a response and the chat is taking a strange turn, not precisely what he was aiming for.

“Yeah, well… good for you, Princess…” he stands and offers his hand to help you up.

Another smooch as bonus for his assistance whilst The Queen pouts at his impertinence: he has such a nerve!

Perhaps because he comes with four kisses.

It’s a bundle deal.

Also read: MASTERLIST

You can also follow me on Ao3 and Wattpad under the same blog name: DiYunho.

#the joker x reader #the joker fanfiction #the joker imagine #the joker #the joker suicide squad #jokerleto #joker #joker fanfiction #joker imagines #joker suicide squad #mister j #mr. j #dc #dcu

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miss-tc-nova · 4 years

Text

Colds and Cards - Cloud Strife x Fem!Reader

This was supposed to be a series, but I don’t know anymore. That’s also why our “reader/oc” here is kind of specific...Still, I like the first bit even it it’s not really romantic. Dunno if I’ll pick it up again or not.

~~~~~

“Hey, you’ve got an infantryman is trying to go out on a mission,” the secretary calls out to me. I look up from my computer.

“Huh?”

“Yeah. Kid wants to go out but needs medical clearance first,” she chuckles. “But he looks like death.”

I sigh, “Okay. Thank you.”

Ambling down the hall, I pull the clipboard down and look over the patient’s file. He’s young, new, and apparently eager to prove himself having only gone on three missions before this. But supposedly someone noticed he’s sick and now he needs my okay to go into the field. If I’ve learned anything about newbies, they’re pretty desperate for approval, so I may have my hands full with this one.

I give a brief knock and let myself in. Sitting on the patient’s bed is a young man with wild blonde hair, but the moment he looks up, I know he’s not getting my clearance. His skin was pale and his nose tinted pink; he looked like death. Still, I have to be polite.

“Good morning. Mr. Strife, right?” He nods subtly. “I hear you’re hoping to go out on a mission.”

“Yeah. I got a stuffy nose, but other than that, I’m okay,” he says with a clearly sick nasally sound. He’s not okay.

“Oh, sweetie. I hate to tell you, but I don’t even have to check your temperature to tell you that you’re not going on that mission today,” I tell him, trying to be as gentle as possible in breaking it to him.

“But I’m fine! I-” He breaks out into a raspy cough. Once it passes, he peers up at me with a pair of begging, beautiful, blue eyes.

I raise an eyebrow. “Fine huh?”

The man looks like a sad puppy. “Is there really no way I can go?”

“Sorry. But a sick infantryman is much more likely to become a dead infantryman and I’m not having that on my conscience.” I set the clipboard aside and pick up my stethoscope. “Now, if you want to get back to work anytime soon, you better follow my instructions to a T.”

“I thought doctors were supposed to have a bunch of training,” he grumbles. “You don’t look any older than me.”

I smile at him. “I’m a quick learner, but I’m still technically in training with Dr. Harlow down the hall.” His eyes flicker to me. “Don’t get any ideas. I’m still your doctor and I can handle a cold.”

“Ugh, a cold?” he groans.

I don’t intend for it to, but a giggle escapes me. “Yes Mr. Strife. I’m pretty sure have a cold.”

“But I haven’t even told you my symptoms yet.”

“Okay, tell me your symptoms. Honestly, now.”

And he does. We go through the standard check up and I take a swab to send off for testing. When the results return, I go back in with the answers in hand.

“Well, it turns out I was wrong,” I hum. His head tilts. “You have the flu.” He groans and slowly just collapses onto the bed. “I’m sorry but we’re going to have to quarantine you.”

“What?”

“We can’t have you spreading it to everyone in the bunker, so we’ll get a room set up for you here in the infirmary until it passes.”

“Uuuaaaaggghhhh...”

“Oh come now. You’ll get a room all to yourself.”

Despite his all his complaints, the patient doesn’t exactly fight me. I get him situated in his new room and leave him to rest. However when I get a spare moment a few hours later to check on him, I do not find him resting. Instead, he appears to be halfway through a set of pushups.

“You should be resting, Mr. Strife,” I warn, leaning against the door frame. The young man scrambles to his feet, stumbling backwards into his bed. “Don’t make me order restraints on you.”

“S-Sorry,” he mumbles.

“And what did I say about following my instructions? If you keep pushing yourself like this, you’ll just end up staying longer.”

“Yes ma’am.” I just want to pinch his cheeks.

“Look, my shift ends in two hours. Why don’t you nap until then and I’ll come visit you after.”

“Um, okay.”

I point at him. “But I mean it. Get some rest. If I catch you straining yourself again, I will have you tied down.”

He tenses. “Yes ma’am.”

“Good.”

As I warned, the young man rests, at least as far as I can tell as I casually pass his room. Clocking out, I sign in at the front desk as a guest and visit my patient. I crack the door open with a gentle knock and find him sitting on his bed, chewing on an apple.

“Hey. How are you feeling?” He sticks his tongue out. I giggle. “The pain killers helping at all?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He’s a well mannered young man; unusual for Shinra militants.

Sitting at the small table, I dig through my bag. “You don’t have to call me ‘ma’am’. I’m _____.”

He scritches nervously at the back of his head. “You can call me Cloud.”

“Well Cloud, did you nap like I told you to?”

“Yeah, but only for like an hour.”

“That’s better than nothing.” I display the deck I keep for my boredom. “Wanna play?”

He ducks his head. “I don’t know how to play any card games.”

“That’s fine. I’ll teach you. Come sit.”

I teach the infantryman a handful of card games and we whittle the day away. He picks up most of them pretty quickly, not that I’ve taught him any of the complicated ones yet.

“Any queens?” he asks.

My shoulders drop and I pass him the card. “Beginner’s luck,” I chide.

His head tilts. “What do you mean?”

“You got twenty seven pairs. That’s more than half of the deck. I physically cannot win anymore,” I explain, gathering up the pairs I’d collected.

“Oh.” A little smile lights up his face. He pushes his cards closer. “So what’s your favorite game?”

I shuffle the cards together. “Hm? My favorite’s speed.”

“How do you play that one?”

So I show him how to play my favorite game. Once again, he grasps the idea easily and we start our first game. In about two minutes, the game ends when he sets his last card down.

I hum, pulling the cards together, “Well Cloud, you’re better than I expected you to be.”

“You let me win,” he says.

He’s definitely more perceptive than I thought. Sheepishly, I answer, “I wouldn’t say I let you win so much as I wasn’t trying my hardest.” Those blonde brows furrow. “Don’t be mad. Nobody would play this game with me if I actually tried.”

“Show me. Let’s play again.”

What the poor boy doesn’t understand is that card games are my hobby and I’ve had a lot of spare time to play them. Yet while card games are my specialty, speed is my game.

I deal out the game and let Cloud sort his hand. Once he’s done, we flip cards. Poor boy never had a chance. With some luck and only one flip, by the time my last card is down, he’s played maybe two cards in our twenty second game.

“Holy shit,” he whispers, staring at the game he’s so miserably lost.

“Don’t take it personally. I was lucky that round. Plus you’re sick,” I say, collecting the cards. Quickly, I shuffle the cards multiple ways, including one handed, throwing in a few Ben wade flourishes in. I’m very satisfied with the slack-jawed awe on his face when I place the deck in front of me. “And I have too much free time.”

The corner of his lips pulls back. “You’re a card shark. I bet you let me win all those games.”

“Not true,” I reply. “I genuinely suck at goldfish. Way too much luck involved. Though I guess I could’ve stashed a few cards down my shirt.” He scoffs at my answer. “Although.” I wave the cards out in a ribbon spread and pluck a single card: the ace of spades. “I always knew where this one was. There’s a knick in the corner.”

He takes the card from me and examines it closely. “What?!”

“This is my favorite deck. I’ve had it for a long time.” Returning the ace and stacking the cards, I push them closer to him. “But you can borrow it for a while. Maybe the next time we play you’ll pose a challenge.”

“Are you sure?” he questions.

“Yeah. Besides, if it keeps you entertained long enough to get over the flu, I don’t mind.”

“Aren’t you worried you’ll get sick hanging out with me?”

“Nah. I had my vaccine shot this year and I’ll wash up before I leave.” I look to the clock on his wall. It’s almost six; I’ve been playing games with this patient for four hours. “I should probably get going. They’ll be bringing dinner around soon.”

“Okay. Thanks for showing me how to play.”

I stand. “Thank you. It’s been a long time since I’ve had this much fun playing.” Cloud winces, pressing a palm to his eye. “Headache kicking again?”

“Yeah...”

I stare at him a moment before making a decision. “Can you keep a secret?” Those blue eyes peer up at me. Reaching out, I rest a hand in his hair, briefly distracting myself with how soft it is. With a little focus, a green glow emits from my arm and I feel some of my stamina draining.

Cloud reaches a hand into his hair when I release him. “What was that?”

I tap just below my elbow. “Materia. That deck of cards and a single orb of materia were all I had living in the slums. But I’m sure they’ll take it from me if they find out I have it, so don’t tell anyone.” He nods. “Anyway, I can’t really use it to cure the flu but I hope you feel better.”

“Thanks.”

I smile. “I’ll be back to check on you tomorrow.”

He returns the expression. “Okay. See you tomorrow.”

And that’s how I became friends with the sweetest Shinra employee I’ve ever met.

~~~~~

The Next Day...

Knocking on the door, I hear Cloud answer and step inside, only to find my deck of cards scattered around the room and Cloud on the floor picking them up.

“You forgot to teach me how to shuffle,” he replies bluntly.

“And I see you learned how to play fifty two card pick up.”

#cloud x reader #cloud strife x reader #ffvii cloud #cloud strife #fem!reader

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crescentgames272 · 4 years

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What do each part do for a gaming pc

Unforgettable Moments In Gaming Part 3

It really is time to recognize the finest gaming blogs of the year. EDIT:I made use of to watch the Feedback video over at G4 just about every week, but it is gone down hill the last couple of occasions I watched it and now that Adam Sessler isn't on it and they have that girl from IGN that every person hates in each and every episode I just cannot be bothered to watch it any far more. Nevertheless worth going back and watching some of the older ones though. Klepic applied to be on that show and back then in the early days was when it was the very best. Back when they in fact talked about gaming news with some semblance of intellect as an alternative of just gushing about what ever game they are told is cool this week.

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gamingmyhero428 · 4 years

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How to activate hot keys on msi gaming keyboard

Of Wolf's Gaming Blog

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avengerscompound · 5 years

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The Grind House - Chapter 1

The Grind House: A Bucky Barnes Fanfic

Series Masterlist

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing: Bucky Barnes x F!Reader

Word Count: 2201

Rating: E

Square filled: @buckybarnesbingo - B1, AU- Coffee Shop, @star-spangled-bingo - coffee shop au

Warnings: None for this chapter, future smut most likely

Synopsis: When Bucky Barnes stops to get coffee and warm up at your coffee shop, he had just expected that caffeine might lift his mood a little. He didn’t expect to fall head-over-heels for you over a game of chess.

Chapter 1

Bucky wasn’t exactly in what he’d call a good mood. Even for him. Which was saying something really. He wasn’t exactly sure what it was that had put him in that mood either. He just sort of woke up surly and everything was just annoying him. He had been tempted to throw Clint out the window when he’d started up on a website he found that rated the Avengers on fuckability.

It had been snowing. That might have had something to do with it. He hated the cold and as the flakes landed on the ground he pulled his coat tighter around himself. He had to get inside. Maybe coffee would help? Caffeine might make the word a little more tolerable. At the very least coffee was hot.

He spotted a place up ahead and beelined right for it. It wasn’t a chain. Or at least if it was one he didn’t recognize it. The walls on the outside were dark wood with gold inlay acting as both decoration and spelling out the words ‘The Grind House’.

The large windows of the store were all darkened so you could barely even see inside. There was a fireplace though. He could see the light it was giving off even from down the street. Everything about the place appealed to him.

A bell over the door tinkled as he pushed it open and stepped inside. It was warm and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee hung in the air. Around the store were shelves. Some contained the usual coffee shop merchandise - bags of coffee beans, decorative mugs, boxes of chocolates and French presses - while others just contained decorative knick-knacks like model ships and well-loved teddy bears, board games that had been clearly used over and over, and books. Around the shop were tables and chairs of various sizes. Small coffee tables surrounded by large wing back chairs. Large round dining tables with hardwood dining chairs and a hardwood bench with barstools along it. Each place had at least one outlet.

Bucky shrugged off his coat and hung it on the coat rack by the door. This was somehow both warm and cozy and incredibly cool and yet was remarkably empty. There was a couple sitting at a coffee table playing a game of cards and gazing at each other lovingly over their decks as they sipped on large mugs of coffee. And one of the tables had five elderly women playing Clue. Delicate teacups sitting beside them cooling.

For a moment he wondered if he might have just found his new favorite place and then you walked out from out the back.

Bucky was a practical man. He had lived a long time. Too fucking long if you asked him. He’d seen a lot. He didn’t believe in things like soulmates or love at first sight. So he had no idea what he was feeling as he locked eyes with you. It wasn’t lust. Or at least, not all of it was. That was there, under the surface. Lust always was when there was attraction after all. He just knew as the two of you looked at each other, that whoever you were, he wanted to get to know you more.

It was a thought that startled him. He hadn’t felt that for anyone. Not since… well not since he’d been taken by HYDRA that first time. Even as he’d followed Steve around fighting NAZI’s obliviously to the fact that yes, he could, in fact, go through something worse than his first experience as a human guinea pig and German POW, women just seemed abstractly attractive. Like a painting. You might admire it, but that didn’t mean you wanted to date it.

“Hi, there. What can I get you?” You asked coming over to the counter.

Bucky looked up at the menu. “Large Americano I guess.” He said.

“You started typing in the order. Like it black, huh?” You asked.

“Like my soul.” He said.

You laughed. It was warm and somehow completely genuine considering you had had to have heard that before. “With those blue eyes? That can’t be true.” You said.

“Truth is, it’s the only way I’ve ever had it.” He said. His face felt warm and for a moment he wondered if he was blushing. That couldn’t be right though. The Winter Soldier didn’t blush. He couldn’t remember ever blushing.

“Really? Do you have a lactose intolerance? We have other kinds of milk.”

“What?” He asked suppressing the urge to laugh. “No. No… I just… Haven’t I guess. Just used to drinking black coffee from a pot. And my friend said Americano was the closest to that in a place like this.”

“Well, they’re right. If you ever want to try something new let me know.” You said. “Did you want anything else?”

Bucky had a quick glance at the pastry cabinet. He was a sucker for sweets and it was rare he could resist one if there was something on offer. He selected one of the chocolate mousse cakes and paid.

“Is that to go?” You asked moving to the espresso machine.

“No, I'll have it here.” He said.

“Take a seat, I’ll bring it over. And grab a book or a game if you like. It’s kind of what we’re known for besides the coffee.” You said as you started up the machine.

“A game? But I don’t have anyone to play with.” He said.

You shrugged. “It’s pretty quiet if you don’t mind getting interrupted, I can play with you.”

Bucky went over to the wall and looked over the games. He thought it would just be a cursory glance. A lot of these games he didn’t recognize. Scythe looked complicated. Sushi Go looked silly. And what the hell was Cards Against Humanity? Not that it mattered, that game had a three played minimum. He had thought he’d just look to be nice, and then wave you off saying it was okay, he could just enjoy his coffee alone. That is what he intended to do, but as he browsed over the games, most of which he either didn’t recognize or were too complicated for one sitting, he started thinking this would be a good way to get to know you. A really good way. So he slid a chess board off the shelf and took it to a small table with leather wingback chairs on either side.

He set it up. It was nothing special. Just a cardboard board with a red and black grid and very basic standard plastic pieces. He set it up and decided to save time he’d choose white and make his first move. He pushed a pawn forward two spaces.

You came over with the coffee and small chocolate cake and put them on the table beside him. “Chess, huh? Well, I’m a little bit rusty, but I’m game.” You moved the pawn opposite his up so they were directly next to each other. “I keep thinking you seem familiar. Have you come in before?”

Bucky tensed a little. Was this why you were being nice? That little gleam of recognition from seeing him on the news or on television? Would the realization that he was an ex HYDRA assassin make you pull away immediately? Or worse kick him out of the store altogether?

He huffed and moved his knight forward so it sat just behind and to the side of his pawn. He might as well do this now though. Off like a bandaid. It wasn’t fair to you to force an interaction based on missing information. “No. You might have seen me in the news.” He took off the leather glove he kept covering his metal hand and flexed his fingers.

Your eyes went wide and you pointed at him. “Oh right, right. You’re an Avengers. You're - you're - Captain America’s friend. Umm… Oh… James Barnes. Sergeant James Barnes.”

Bucky smothered a laugh and shook his head. “Yeah, that’s me. I prefer Bucky though.”

“Oh god, I’m sorry. That was overboard wasn’t it?” You said as you moved another pawn forward.

“Maybe a little.” He teased. “It’s okay, that’s not normally the reaction I get.”

“No? But… you’re an Avenger.”

He assessed the board for a moment and brought the opposite pawn forward two spaces. “Yeah, but I haven’t always been. People don’t forget easily.”

You tapped your fingers on the table as you thought about your next move. “That’s not fair though. You save people.”

“I don’t blame them. I mean… what I did was public knowledge. It’s not… good…” He took a sip of the coffee. It was rich and full bodied. Bitter but not overly so. He hadn’t had a coffee this good in a long time.

“I see. Still, blame yourself huh?” You said. “Oh shit, sorry. I’m a busy body. You can ignore me if you like.”

He flexed his fingers and didn't say anything for a moment. “You probably aren't wrong though.”

“Maybe but I'm not your therapist. You don't need analyzing by some stranger.”

There was a tinkling as the door opened and a small group of people came in. You moved your bishop out so it sat diagonally next to his Knight and got up and returned to the counter to serve them.

As you took their orders and started to make them Bucky sat assessing the board. His fingers drummed on the table as he thought both about your words and his next move. He took a bite of the mousse cake and had a real urge to moan with how good it was. Creamy and sweet and a little tart. He suppressed it though and just started down trying not to watch you as you laughed and chatted with the new customers.

You hadn’t been wrong. He didn’t forgive himself. He wasn’t sure he ever could forgive himself. His hands were stained in blood and he thought maybe that was permanent.

He took your pawn with his and sat back drinking his coffee and eating his cake. When you had finished with the other customers you came back over. “Oh taking a piece while I’m not looking. Harsh.” You teased.

“Sorry. It was just the best move.” He said.

“That’s okay.” You said moving your bishop to take his knight.

“Oh, rough. My poor knight.” Bucky said and you laughed.

“Maybe that will teach you.” You said.

“So is this place yours?” He asked.

“Well, I’m a co-owner. Me and a couple of friends. I’m the coffee person, and there’s a cake person and a money person.” You explained.

“Who’s the game person?” He asked.

“Oh, we all are. That was one of the things that sparked the idea. We used to have game nights on Fridays and we’d drink so much coffee. We decided to see if we can make money doing that.” You said.

“You still do that?” He asked, taking your bishop with his queen.

“Dude!” You yelped. “Yeah, we do. Here. And it’s a big thing. It’s our busiest time. There’s a lot of finger foods and competitions going on. You should come sometime.”

Bucky wondered if that was a serious invitation or just one of those things people say. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Guy can’t be an Avenger all the time.” You said and took one of his pawns with yours. “It would be cool to have you. You can play with me and my friends if you like. Or if you wanted to bring people we can set you up with something.”

“I guess you can’t.” He agreed. “I might see what I can do. You know… missions and stuff.”

“Yeah, of course.” You said. He thought that was a look of disappointment on your face. He was pretty good at reading people. That was something that had been literally beaten into him. But what could you be disappointed about?

“I’ll try and make one.” He said moving his other bishop out.

His phone chimed and he picked it up. There was a message from Steve telling him he was needed back a the tower. He groaned and drained his coffee. “Shit, sorry. I gotta go.”

“Was that them? You got Avengers stuff?” You asked.

He risked a smile and nodded. “Yeah, something like that. Sorry about the game. I wanted to finish it.”

“Take a photo and the next time you’re here we can start up again.” You said, moving your knight out.

“Really? Yeah. Okay.” He said and took out his phone, snapping a picture of the board. “I’d like that.”

“So would I.” You said with a smile. “It was nice meeting you, Bucky. Just leave the board and I’ll pack it up for you.”

“Thanks,” He said getting up. “I guess I’ll see you again.”

“Soon, I hope.” You said with a smile.

He grabbed his coat and shrugged it back on, watching as you started clearing off his table. Whatever had put him in such a bad mood was well and truly gone. Now he just had to figure out whether he was ready to ask someone out on a date.

// NEXT

#buckybarnesbingo2019 #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #the winter soldier #the winter soldier fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #reader insert #coffee shop au #the grind house

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junietuesday · 4 years

Text

During the summer before their freshman year, Michael and Jeremy go camping.

The two of them have been extremely hyped over the weeks leading up to it, because although this is a yearly tradition, this year, Michael’s and Jeremy’s parents decided that since they’re going into high school, they’re old enough to go with only Michael’s older sister as a chaperone. Said older sister has plans with friends nearby, so she agreed to leave them to their own devices as long as they stick to the campgrounds and didn’t blow anything up. Which means Michael and Jeremy had a whole week to themselves.

“Don’t murder anyone, I’ll be back in two days but I’m only a half hour’s drive away,” says Michael’s sister, as Michael and Jeremy climb out of her beat-up 2007 Toyota Corolla. “Do you need help with your bags?”

“Nope,” says Michael, popping the “p” as he circles around to the car’s trunk. “Wait, before you go, take a picture of us here, in case Mom makes sure you’re with us.”

Soon, Michael and Jeremy are starting down the winding path through the forest, which leads to the campgrounds. Michael’s practically bouncing along, looking over at Jeremy with a wide smile.

“This is gonna be so fun,” Michael says brightly, nudging Jeremy with his shoulder, and Jeremy stumbles with a snort. “Like, we can have as many snacks and s’mores as we want and go climbing those huge rocks our parents never let us touch and it’s gonna be so great.”

Jeremy grins, laughing a little, and Michael suddenly notices that his eyes are kinda pretty.

Michael turns and stares back down at the dirt path, smile falling off his face as he frowns, confused.

By the time Michael and Jeremy emerge from the forest path into the open campground, Michael has mostly managed to shove that strange blip from his mind as they enter their cabin, the exact same one their parents rent every year. There are two rooms, and usually each family takes one of them, but this time, since Michael and Jeremy are alone, they can share, instead of staying up late in the main area and passing out on the pull-out couch.

Jeremy dumps his backpack and the plastic bag of s’more ingredients on the floor next to the bed closest to the window, flopping onto the mattress and spreading his arms.

“I’m kinda tired from the drive,” he says, as Michael puts his own bag down more gently and moves to sit on the edge of Jeremy’s bed, “but what d’you wanna do tonight?”

Michael’s answer is immediate. “Campfire food!” he exclaims, dropping down next to Jeremy. “I want marshmallows!”

For a few minutes, they’re quiet, just relaxing next to each other. The bed isn’t exactly the most luxurious, but being here next to Jeremy just makes Michael feel…warm. And comfortable.

But soon Michael’s perpetual restlessness wins out, and he sits up and gets out of the bed, tugging Jeremy to his feet. “I know you’re tired but we were literally sitting there for hours so you’ll be fine, I don’t wanna just sit here, let’s go play Uno or something outside.”

“Fine, fine!” Jeremy says, stumbling along as Michael pulls him out the bedroom’s door. “You need to get the cards, y’know.”

“Oh.” Michael stops, and laughs, turning back around to grab the pack from his bag. But as he kneels down to dig through his backpack, his hand sort of feels tingly, and oh, it hits him.

He was holding Jeremy’s hand. Holding Jeremy’s hand makes him feel kinda buzzy.

Michael swallows, shoving that down to deal with later. He finds the pack of Uno cards, along with a standard pack of cards for good measure, and holds the two up, trying for a triumphant grin.

“Fuck you, fuck you fuck you!” Jeremy screeches, as Michael puts down a +4 card with a wide smirk.

“Uno!” Michael says as soon as the card drops into the pile, giggling at Jeremy’s groan of misery as he face-plants into the picnic table. “Suck on that!”

They’re in the common area of the camp, playing their games of Uno at a table right next to the lake they’ve managed to snag. It’s not terribly crowded, especially since it’s only the second week of summer and there aren’t a huge amount of cabins available here, so the only people around right now are this family eating ice cream at a table across the field, a person walking around staring at their phone who’s almost definitely playing Pokémon Go, and a man in a gray hoodie leaning against the railing of a deck into the water, which has one of those binocular things you need to stick a quarter in to use.

“You‘re an ass, I hate you,” Jeremy grumbles into the table, and Michael reaches over and ruffles his hair, earning a yelp. “Michael. Don’t touch my hair.”

“Oh, right, you only fantasize about having people whose names rhyme with Bristine Tanigula run their fingers through it,” says Michael, laughing, and Jeremy looks up and glares over his arms.

“What is this, ‘Attack Jeremy Relentlessly Hour’ or something?” Jeremy says. “She’ll never like me anyway.”

Michael frowns. “Don’t say that,” he says, more seriously. “You’re awesome. You just need to, uh, well. Actually talk to her.”

“Like that’ll ever happen,” Jeremy says, dropping his head to the table once again, and though it’s stupid, especially because he brought it up in the first place, Michael’s a little disconcerted at this turn of conversation. There’s only so many different things about his crushes Jeremy can agonize over, and it’s a little exhausting to hear them over and over again, especially in the middle of what was supposed to be their week. But Michael will bear it; he’s not Jeremy’s best friend for nothing, he supposes.

“Besides,” Jeremy continues, voice muffled into his arms, “there’s nothing ‘awesome’ about me. You just say so ‘cause you’re my best friend and you have to.”

“That’s not true,” Michael says. “You appreciate video games. Your laugh and eyes and hair and face are cute—um, I mean a bunch of girls probably think so. You’re funny. You’re smart.”

“Thanks,” Jeremy says, looking up, and Michael can see a genuine smile on his face from the compliments.

Butterflies go through Michael’s stomach.

About a trillion more games of Uno later, plus another few million rounds of other card games, the sun has set enough for it to be an appropriate time to make a campfire. It’s evening during early summer, so Michael and Jeremy have to change into long-sleeved shirts, but the weather is still the perfect kind of light and breezy as they pick their way through the woods, searching for sticks for firewood, the perfect roasting sticks, and, just for fun, some big sticks that are good for swords/staffs. The path is thin, unlike the road leading to the campground, and there are fallen trees and their jagged stumps all over that are hard to see in the dim light of the rising moon, but the walk is still relaxing.

The darkness cloaking the late hour and the comfortable chatter of nature and the giddiness from this being their first day allows Michael to say things closer to his heart.

“I’m really happy,” he says during a lull in the conversation, smiling softly to himself as he reaches down to grab more sticks and tuck them under his arm. “This is fun and you’re my favorite.”

“Aw, that’s kinda gay,” Jeremy jokes, but he continues sincerely, “You’re my favorite too.”

For some reason, the words make something in Michael’s chest feel weird.

Michael’s known he’s gay for about a year and a half, now, and that’s only counting when he was finally able to admit it to himself, but he and Jeremy have known about being gay for far longer, thanks to middle school. It’s an all too common occurrence for Michael’s mood to sink slightly when Jeremy calls things gay as a synonym for either “too affectionate” or “stupid”—but he knows what that feels like, and this isn’t that.

“You’re kinda gay,” Michael says, instead of any of that. Jeremy shoves him into the nearest tree, going red.

“Shut up, I bet you’re gay,” Jeremy retaliates, and for a moment, Michael contemplates telling him.

But it goes nowhere, as always. Anyway, this would be an awful time, because they’re stuck together in the middle of a camp two hours away from home, with nowhere for Jeremy to go if he decides that Michael is too gross to hang out with. And, a little selfishly, Michael just wants to enjoy this week alone with his best friend without souring the mood with a huge revelation like this, without potentially ruining everything at the cost of being true to himself.

“Yeah, okay,” Michael scoffs, swallowing the urge to come out and the fear welling up at just the thought of doing so. He continues walking, and Jeremy follows, walking backward and bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Remind me which of us has the huge crush on Keanu Reeves?”

“You’re a jerk, it’s a respectful admiration,” Jeremy insists, and then swears when he trips over a tree’s stray root. Righting himself, he continues, tone miffed but, as far as Michael can tell, with honesty, “If you were gay I wouldn’t make fun of you like this.”

Michael laughs, heart softening with affection and exploding at the same time with a rush of hope. And then he pushes the warmth away, but at least this time, it’s a bit more gently than before.

Fifteen minutes later, Michael and Jeremy are back in front of their cabin, stacking sticks by the firepit and setting up the tinder.

Or, well, Jeremy’s doing that. Michael’s sitting in front of a slab of wood, twisting a stick back and forth in his palms with determination.

“Michael, you know that’s not gonna work,” Jeremy says, the disbeliever and coward. “I’m just gonna get the matches.”

“You’re just a disbeliever and a coward,” Michael says without looking up, rolling the stick even more firmly. “Go get your disbeliever coward matches, see if I care.”

Jeremy snorts, and Michael hears him retreat into the cabin. Michael’s hands still, as he stares down at the piece of wood his stick’s end is poked into.

Does he like Jeremy?

Well, if today was any indication, yes, probably. But how can he just suddenly have a crush on Jeremy after ten years of purely platonic friendship? This can’t have appeared today. But how did Michael not notice?

Is this even a crush? He’s never had a proper one before, he hasn’t known anyone well enough to—even though the books and movies have people falling in love at first sight, that can’t be real. How would you get a crush on someone you’ve barely even met? But Jeremy’s definitely someone Michael‘s met. For all Michael knows, this could be romance.

What if it is romance? Jeremy would never like him back, would never even consider dating him—mostly because Jeremy’s straight as an ruler, almost painfully so, but also because he’d probably be too freaked out by the fact his best friend who he’s been hugging and sleeping next to has been gay all along, and even has a crush on him. Even putting aside that line of thought that makes Michael want to hide, Michael doesn’t think he’s ready to date anyone yet, despite the fact that he’s already fourteen and his classmates have already long begun to go out with each other. So there’s no point to this stupid crush and it should hopefully go away soon.

Yeah. It should go away soon.

“Okay, here we go,” says Jeremy from behind him, startling Michael out of his thoughts, and Michael turns to see Jeremy kneeling in front of the firepit, striking a match against the side of the matchbox. He gets the match’s tip lit, but then his expression flashes to realization. “Michael, can you go get the—the rainbow fire stuff? It’s in the left pocket of my bag. And the s’more ingredients!”

Michael takes a deep breath, then mock-salutes. “Got it,” he says, pulling himself to his feet. He crosses the grass and pushes open the cabin door, closing it behind him and pressing his forehead to the wood, trying to breathe.

Four in, seven hold, eight out.

He does that four times, then he finally goes and grabs the packet of chemicals from Jeremy’s backpack pocket—it was actually in the right pocket, but Michael knew to check there first anyway—along with the bag with the packs of marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers. He’s regained most of the skip in his step when he returns to Jeremy, who’s built up the campfire to a surprisingly great size.

Jeremy’s face, flickering in the light of the campfire’s flames and the glowing moon above, lights up when he sees Michael.

“Yes!” Jeremy says, jumping up, and he runs over to grab the folding chairs leaning up against the side of their cabin and set them up next to each other by the fire as Michael pulls over a little metal table to put the snacks on. The fire warms his body as he tears open the packs of food, Jeremy passing him his roasting stick, already sharpened and peeled and ready to go.

“You know the drill,” Michael says as he spears a marshmallow onto his stick, “give me your burnt ones immediately or I’ll steal them myself.”

“You’re such a weirdo, why do you like the burnt ones?” Jeremy says as always, but doesn’t protest. “They’re horrible and fried and gross.”

“Says you,” Michael says, sticking his marshmallow straight into the fire, pulling it back out to let it burn for a few seconds, then extinguishing it at the perfect time. Burning marshmallows is a subtle art that Jeremy will never understand. “You just want to be all fancy and stuck up about your marshmallows.”

“No, I’m a reasonable human being that doesn’t like things that are burnt to a crisp,” says Jeremy, gently rotating his own marshmallow at a safe distance from the flames. “You just have no functioning tastebuds.”

Michael glances over, and his heart does a little flip in his chest at the sight of Jeremy’s grin, as he stares intently to get his marshmallow “perfectly” browned.

…Just for a bit. Michael can indulge in this just for a bit.

~FIN

Word Count: 2425

Team: Michael

Prompts: all main prompts, the crescent moon, the forest path, the gray car

@bmc-gift-exchange

#june speaks #my writing #IM SORRY IF THE READMORE DOESNT WORK IM ON MOBILE AND HAVE TO GO TO BED LIKE ASAP #THATS WHY I HAVENT EVEN POSTED ON AO3 YET SORRY

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dyketectivecomics · 5 years

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{{ Oooh, ooh, "who would win" for Babs and Raven!

this got LONG bc i REFUSE to simply answer without elaborating on WHY one wins over the other. and also bc.... i could resist the challenge to answer all of them even if that was just bc you misread them at first zira jfklds;alf;al all is forgiven

y'all feel free to send me 2+ characters + a number from this list & i’ll be doing a snippet about who wins! (not for these ones now tho jkfdjflka)

1. A game of chess

IT Depends. Babs is an excellent strategist ofc (i mean its her ENTIRE THING AS ORACLE LBRHH) but Raven is cunning and extremely patient. Raven tries to simply outpace Babs until she makes a mistake, while Babs tries to back Raven into a corner as quickly and efficiently as possible. I can see them absolutely reaching a stalemate simply because Raven’s taking her sweet time on her next move and Babs has at least 20 moves planned for any one that she finally chooses fjkdasjfal;

2. A game of basketball

Babs. idc what anyone says. Raven + competitive athletics just DONT mix jfksdljfa; she doesn’t care enough to put in effort & Babs cares too much to let even that stop her from absolutely (physically but moreso metaphorically) DUNKING on Raven.

3. A race (on foot)

Again, athleticism. Gonna go to Babs.

4. A race (in their vehicles of choice)

okay now, THIS. I actually like to carry over my headcanon from my EARLY early tt03 days that Vic gets Raven genuinely interested in cars as an outlet (the full nine yards. the mechanics, the racing, the design, all of it) so this makes her not only a FORMIDABLE driver, but one who KNOWS HER SHIT. this is one of those times babs just CANT beat her. no matter how hard she tries.

5. A card game

DEPENDS. listen. a lot of card games (ones that deal with a standard deck of playing cards at least) are probability & understanding what’s LIKELY to happen (something that’s right up Babs’ alley) other times it can be just pure dumb luck and a SMIDGE of strategy (UNO, & 99 or Bust, which i fucking HATE having to play at work bc its????? just so arbitrary once you know the Way To Win oooof) so yeah. not one I see them Revisiting for certain types of games.

6. A game of twister

i headcanon Raven getting into yoga as she grows up + retires from Superheroing, so not that babs COULDNT win, but I'm gonna give Rae the flexibility points on this one.

7. A game of Cluedo/Clue

I was looking up the fewest number of moves it takes to win Clue and did you know there’s a 1 in 324 chance of blindly guessing the combo right on the First Try? Anyways, Babs. C’mon. she’s a detective. ALL of the Bats are bound to win within a round or two on this one.

8. A physical fight

again, not that I doubt raven’s athletic ability, but a pure physical fight? this one’s going to babs. BUT why would they WANT to fight?? they're in love obviously!!!

9. A pillow fight

raven: i mean.... is there REALLY a winner when it comes to pillow fights??? other than the cherished memories ya make along the way? babs: yes. and its ME *thwacks raven with the pillow*

10. A tickle fight

PHYSICALLY i think raven could beat anyone in a tickle fight, but Emotionally???? IMAGINE the toll.

11. A fencing match

POINT. GORDON. (athletics check lmao)

12. A rap battle

both channeling their inner poets? MAYBE they can skate by with something only minority embarrassing. but god, would it be something. i honestly have no clue which way i’d swing on this one fjkdjfl;a cant they just work together in this case? please?

13. A dance-off/dancing video game

i.... actually saw them both as wallflowers in this case??? from way back when i didn't quite realize shipping them together could be an option??? so neither fjkdafj;al

14. An instrumental duel

wait, shit, wasn't babs canonically a band kid. didn't she play an instrument or did i totally imagine that??? she has band kid energy at least??? idk man. IDK

15. The pocky game

ME. I WIN BC THEY’D KISS. BC THEYRE BOTH TOO STUBBORN TO BACK DOWN.

16. Hide and Seek/Manhunt

Barbara “I have everyone’s information & locations at my fingertips at all times” Gordon

17. The dare game (both players give each other increasingly difficult or embarrassing dares; the loser is the first one to refuse)

Raven refuses to even indulge in something like this, so Babs would win on principle alone fjkdsfjal;

18. The ‘Bogeys’ game (Also known as the ‘Penis game’; can be played using any rude word; players have to yell the rude word of choice in a public place and the winner is the one brave enough to yell it the loudest)

G O D i forgot about this one omg. uh??? another Childish Game that I see Raven backing out of p quickly. but Babs when she’s with the batfam? and trying to make a point? i can absolutely seeing her hack some kind of electronic billboard & vandalizing it if dared adequately to do so fjksdajfklaj

19. A fighting video game (e.g. Mortal Kombat, Super Smash Brothers, etc)

y'all can pry Gamer!Gordon from my COLD. DEAD. GAY GOBLIN HANDS.

20. A pokemon battle

again, Gamer!Gordon. (but Raven was absolutely introduced to the video+card games by the Titans. absolutely!)

21. Dodgeball/Paintball

Babs. that competitiveness man. i just SEE IT.

22. A drinking competition

Demon constitution means Raven can drink EVERYONE under the table, and it absolutely drives Babs up the wall.

23. A gross-out competition

LISTEN. they've both seen Some Shit on the job. i don't think either of them could be completely grossed out at this point.

24. A flex-off

listen. Listen. Buff Babs Rights.

25. A staring contest

Raven. if only because Babs knows that staring unblinkingly at her screens for too long has ALREADY caused bad eye strain & she REALLY doesnt need the hassle of adding to it fjkdsla;fjkl;

#babsrae #barbara gordon #rachel roth #asked and answered #beyondthetemples #zira tag #noncompliance #randywrites #long post #(just in case for mobile users especially ahhhh)#i have consumed TOO MANY gummi worms while typing this up HOPE YA LIKE IT THO ZIRA

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kaiba-fangirl · 5 years

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Fill in the questions/statement as if you are being interviewed for an article and you were your muse

Tag 10 people to do this meme, (repost, don’t reblog)

TAGGED BY: not @rogueprinceconsort =P & I know I’m not a RP blog, but I am a fanfic author so I still do the same kind of stuff, just everyone at once with chapters, so I’m sure ya won’t mind... idk itching to write Seto but his mind is all over the place in Ch7 of And You? (AO3/FFN), & I know I’ve missed a bunch of personal tags in the past, so, well, I’m here now. TAGGING: anyone 1. WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

“Seto Kaiba.” (海馬瀬人 Kaiba, Seto)

2. WHAT IS YOUR REAL NAME?

He narrows his eyes, already suspicious. “Legally, that IS my real name.”

3. DO YOU KNOW WHY YOU WERE CALLED THAT?

“I was born Seto,” he answers flatly, then smirks. “The Kaiba family name I earned for myself and my little brother at the age of 10, when Gozaburo agreed to adopt us thanks to my, superior negotiating skills.” [Seto after Egyptian Pharaoh Seth. Kaiba for, apparently, hippocampus/seahorse.]

4. ARE YOU SINGLE OR TAKEN? “Taken. Happily married to the number 1 female duelist, Mai Valentine. She’s now heading the new Fashion Tech and Merchandise Department at Kaiba Corp.” [but he’s also still looking >.>]

5. HAVE ANY ABILITIES OR POWERS? “Just bleeding edge technology development and superior dueling skills,” he shrugs smugly. [and hacking.] [You also accidentally activate latent magical powers every so often, dumbass. Sure he’s a genius. A genius that weaves techno-sorcery into everything & commands gods without even knowing it.] “Anything else you may have heard about magic or spirits or real monsters, is all just nonsense hocus pocus. It’s sensationalists trying to make our amazingly life-like holographic projections seem dangerous.”

6. STOP BEING A MARY SUE/GARY STU. “Heh, doesn’t that just mean born talented? You should be so lucky.”

7. WHAT’S YOUR EYE COLOR? “Blue,” he chuckles childishly. “It was probably what first drew me to, you know, Blue-Eyes, when I was young.” [It’s not. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon was his magical monster of light ‘girlfriend’ in Ancient Egypt in a past life of his 3000 years ago.]

8. HOW ABOUT YOUR HAIR COLOR? “Chestnut.”

9. HAVE YOU ANY FAMILY MEMBERS? “Living, my little brother, Mokuba, and now my lovely wife.”

10. OH? WHAT ABOUT PETS? “No pets. I barely have time for having two people in my life now it seems, and that’s even with Mokuba off travelling.” [any pet energy is expended on more Blue-Eyes White Dragon themed everything]

11. THAT’S COOL I GUESS, NOW TELL ME ABOUT SOMETHING YOU DON’T LIKE. “You wanna see a REAL Gary Stu?! As in, there is no reason he should have made it this far?! Joey fuckin Wheeler. This loser stole his way into my tournament, then has the nerve to even challenge me for 3rd place as if that meant anything, and he still ends up 4th even?! How! He operates on pure luck, and leeching off his ‘friends!’ His deck is a mess, I mean have you even seen his lineup?!?!” [Well that would all be redacted. Now, since this is for an interviewer for a published article...] He calmly and thoughtfully looks off at a spot on the far wall behind the interviewer. He purses his lips and furrows his brow, genuinely distraught, drawing from a direct encounter. “I’m actually more concerned than ever about the state of refugees- whether they have that official label or not. Around the world. Especially the children. These children don’t know what’s going on, and people say they care about children, but they really don’t. They’re not thinking of those kids- of refugee kids. Of poor kids. Of orphans or abused kids. And the way these refugees are being treated, those kids are getting hit with all those things at once. Ya know, I- I was fortunate enough to have that opportunity to be adopted, in a strong first-world nation, but I know what it’s like, to know that the grown ups are just using you, not listening to you. You’re nothing to them; maybe pawns. Now, I’m doing all I can, as president of Kaiba Corp, but there is still only so much we can do. We’re not making tanks or any weapons at all anymore-” He chokes at the thought of a tank staring him down specifically, compared to the latest news. He clears his throat to manage. “Not since the day I took over. We may not be contributing to that military industrial complex anymore, but the state of refugees today is still just as bad if not worse. Now they’re using weapons outlawed by the Geneva Conventions, and in countries that pride themselves on freedom and opportunity. Pteh. It’s madness. It’s evil.” [...aaand that just became the cover story] [We’ll be back after after a short break.]

12. DO YOU HAVE ANY HOBBIES/ACTIVITIES YOU LIKE DOING? “Besides dueling, uh, tinkering. Reading. Hacking into random databases I shouldn’t be in.”

13. EVER HURT ANYONE BEFORE? “Next question. Don’t even print that, or you’ll be hearing from my lawyers. And they don’t play so nice.” [By ‘lawyers’ I’m pretty sure he just means goons.]

14. EVER… KILLED ANYONE BEFORE? "No.” [Gozaburo.]

15. WHAT KIND OF ANIMAL ARE YOU? "Dragon.”

16. NAME YOUR WORST HABITS. "Tch, I wouldn’t have gotten to be president of a multi-billion-dollar corporation if I had bad habits.” [That is literally his worst habit. Also how he got there is because of all his bad habits.] He chuckles at what he’s about to make fun of. “Then again, some people think that working too much is a bad habit.”

17. DO YOU LOOK UP TO ANYONE AT ALL? "How could I when I’m already on top?”

18. GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BISEXUAL? "Irrelevant.” He smiles menacingly. “Card games are more important anyway.” [Bi and trying to figure out how to tell his wife. Then again once he does that, the press will be easy. Possibly also grey ace or demi, since he does enjoy the physical aspects of being married & his crush.]

19. DO YOU GO TO SCHOOL? “Graduated high school early and then went right back to work as CEO, at the time. I don’t have time to waste getting a piece of paper to validate my knowledge that I’m already putting to use at Kaiba Corp everyday. --but I certainly support everyone staying in school as long as they can. Kaiba Corp offers a free college tuition program for any employee, paid ahead of time, and schedules can be worked around class and homework time as needed.”

20. DO YOU EVER WANT TO MARRY AND HAVE KIDS ONE DAY? “I never thought I would want to marry, but I have always assumed I would want to adopt. Now I am married, and we both want to adopt. Someday. It needs to be when I can have time for them...” [and he’s wondering why you are supposed to only marry one person...]

21. DO YOU HAVE ANY FANBOYS/FANGIRLS? “Yeah,” he laughs, genuinely embarrassed at this level of pure idolization, “I find it endearing to see people dress up as Yugi and I at events.”

22. WHAT ARE YOU MOST AFRAID OF? “Losing my little brother.”

23. WHAT DO YOU USUALLY WEAR? “Full-length pants, tight fitting turtlenecks, boots, and a trenchcoat. More leather and straps and buckles, the better.”

24. DO YOU LOVE SOMEONE? “Of course. My little brother and my wife.” [and Joey]

25. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WET YOURSELF? [he just makes this face:]

[but possibly the last time he did hard drugs]

26. WHAT CLASS ARE YOU? (HIGH CLASS, MIDDLE CLASS, LOW CLASS) “Highest class.” He winks, for the spotlight.

27. HOW MANY FRIENDS DO YOU HAVE? “I don’t need ‘friends’ outside of my family.”

28. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON PIE? “Finally, an intelligent question!” he laughs rudely. “My thoughts are that we should change the standard approximation for π to something closer to 3.16. That’s what I use in my calculations, and I find things just seem to work out better for me because of it.”

29. FAVORITE DRINK? “I’ve started drinking a lot more water, and I think that’s pretty much all I drink lately.”

30. WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE? “It’s comforting being in my office, knowing where I belong, knowing that with me there, everyone I love is safe, knowing how I got there, and being proud of all I’ve accomplished, but...” [sometimes anxiety about it being Gozaburo’s old office creeps into his mind like an evil spirit or ghost...] “But more than that, I enjoy the wild freedom of just taking my Blue-Eyes jet out with some good music playing.” [oh my various gods he will always be an emo teen at heart <3]

31. ARE YOU INTERESTED IN SOMEONE? He scoffs. “Yes, I am genuinely interested in my wife. Mai is an amazing person. And- Ah, and, um, next question?” [and Joey!]

32. WHAT’S YOUR BRA CUP SIZE AND/OR HOW BIG IS YOUR WILLY? “What kind of magazine is this for, anyway?” he asks as an aside, then thinks up a ridiculous enough response. “Ever hear of Zorc? I’d say that’s roughly one-third the size of mine.” Under his breath, he scoffs in disgust. “Imbeciles.”

33. WOULD YOU RATHER SWIM IN THE LAKE OR THE OCEAN? “Er, a private pool, thanks. Too many paparazzi anyplace else, and I wouldn’t want to close off anything from the public.” [I hear there’s a river in Egypt he lives in though]

34. WHAT’S YOUR TYPE? “Independent. Strong. Great duelist. Someone who knows what it’s like at rock bottom, but still managed to claw their way to the top...” [he spaces out off to the side]

35. ANY FETISHES? *zoom out to room full of Blue-Eyes White Dragon themed EVERYTHING* “Nah.” [*insert Will Smith presenting his AO3 tags]

36. SEME OR UKE? TOP OR BOTTOM? DOMINANT OR SUBMISSIVE?

[Switch! But “And You?” is stuck at a T rating, sooo...]

37. CAMPING OR INDOORS? "The fuck- you’re giving me whiplash with these questions,” he mutters. “Camping sounds nice. Real camping. Mokuba and I used to build forts and play outside a lot. I should ask him if he wants to go on a camping trip when he gets back. I doubt- well, no, I think Mai would like that, too.” [And Joey can cook them “candy bars!”]

38. ARE YOU WANTING THE QUIZ TO END?

#well that was very educational #& rather therapeutic after what happened at dinner #re: kaiba #seto kaiba #writing ettu #re: and you?

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lycorogue · 5 years

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Meet My OCs: Willow (Part 3 – Character Arc Events)

Hello yet again! Ready for the next part of Willow's introduction? I'm telling you, when I first started working on this, I did NOT intend on Willow's entry surpassing 30pgs single spaced within a Word document, nor did I expect it to take a week to write up and edit! Thankfully, the epic document was easy enough to break down into 6 parts for slightly easier consumption. I wonder if my other characters will be as detailed....

Anyway, how about a quick recap before I keep going? This is part of a multi-post series I started here on Tumblr about a month ago. A means to introduce you guys to my main OCs.

In Part 1 of this series, I talked about why I'm doing it in the first place, as well as explain the real-world influences that helped me create my two story worlds of Gyateara and Glitches.

Part 2 of the series talked about the inspiration that birthed each of my four main Gyateara characters.

Part 3a did the same, but for my four main teenage Glitches characters.

Part 3b then talked about the Glitches main supportive cast of six adult characters; each one originating as a canonical X-Men character.

Earlier today, I moved on to Part 4 of this series: the official introduction of my characters, one by one. I started off with my most present character: Willow Driver. In Meet Willow: Part 1, I shared Willow's background, gave an overview of her personally, and talked about her powers. There were also some lovely pictures to showcase what she looks like.

In Meet Willow: Part 2, I discussed her main relationships.

Part 4 will showcase the other artwork I created for Willow, as well as two cards @chibisunnie created for me that feature Willow.

Then, in Part 5, Willow is showcased narratively with a series of scene samples and shorts.

Finally, Willow’s introduction is concluded in Part 6 with a couple videos of wrestling intros we created for Hubby's WWE13 video game. It will be a fun closing post for this mini-series about Willow.

Now, getting back to this post (Part 3), I'm going to discuss Willow's main story arc events, as seen thus far in the X-Future play-by-post game she originated in. In truth, I haven't played Willow since 2017, so I had forgotten just how eventful her X-Future life truly was! At the end of this recap of her life, I'll also talk about how any of these events will relate to my intended opening character arc for Willow in Glitches.

So, hopefully you have a snack and a drink, because this ended up being 10gs long in my word document. It may take a minute or two to read. Once you're ready, go ahead and check below the break to see what Willow has been up to in X-Future, and how it will transfer to Glitches.

X-Future:

Most of the early events I had already talked briefly about in Part 2 of Willow's introduction, as I discussed her main relationships.

She was at Colossus Academy from the ages of 13 through 15, but when Colossus and Jubilee were killed on mission, and the Academy was shut down, Willow transferred to the Xavier Institute along with her close friend Marge, her surrogate younger brother Hedge, and her pseudo-girlfriend Penumbra. They were a tight clique, but she quickly grew attracted to Chayse, formed a rocky friendship with Lia, and found a playful flirt-buddy in Devon.

She was pushed hard by the faculty at the Xavier Institute, and held to a higher standard than she was used to. This forced her to shape up, mature a little, and stop pranking/bullying others as much. She became closer to Devon, and focused using her powers to mostly prank and tease him and William.

Devon couldn't really hide his attraction to Willow, despite her teasing, and she soaked up as much of the attention as possible. She also tried to ignore her feelings for Chayse, who was dating Lia at the time. Instead she leaned more towards her feelings for Devon, much to Penumbra's dismay.

Willow noticed William's straight-laced and overly conservative personally, and put it on herself to get him to loosen up and act like the 17yo he was. She falsely believed he had a crush on her, so she routinely teased him with sensual images. She thought he was riled up because he, a nearly-18-year-old, was trying to resist his attraction to her, a 15-year-old. She didn't realize he actually got so worked up because she was genuinely annoying him.

One day there was an accident. William was practicing unsupervised as he pushed his powers to their limit. He ended up passing out when he teleported too high into the atmosphere, and plummeted to his death. Willow and Lia joined forces to lead a vigil and build a statue dedicated to William's memory. Willow then realized she thought of William as a brother, as she remembered her own estranged brother. She regretted her treatment of William, and toned down her sensual illusions to tease people. She didn't give them up completely, but she certainly used them more as a means of flirting with those who positively responded to them, as opposed to using them to tease and prank as she had done with William.

Life evened out for a few months, getting back to some sort of normalcy within the school. Then came the day that Devon went to Willow to confide in her. He was on a mission to recruit a new kid for the school, and he had run into The Brotherhood. The leader of the organization, Pyro, told Devon, who was abandoned at a church orphanage while only 4months old, that The Brotherhood could help him figure out who his parents are. Devon had turned down the offer, knowing the Brotherhood to be a terrorist group trying to rule over humanity, as opposed to the X-Men's goal of cohabitation. Devon couldn't get the offer out of his head, though. Trying to help Devon clear his mind, Willow suggested he try out his first Danger Room session. Cyclops offered to run the session, and went to the control room; leaving Devon alone in the DR. Willow moved to an observation deck, assuming watching Devon's first DR run would be hilarious.

Instead, it became something that would haunt Willow for the next couple of years. Devon was put through a generic rescue mission training, in which he had to recover Penumbra. Upon freeing her, Devon was promptly knocked out in a surprise attack. Willow was horrified as she watched the Danger Room transform to look like the school’s infirmary, making Devon believe he was outside the simulator when he awoke. Devon was then told of a mission he needed to go on, and Willow desperately tried to signal to him that nothing he was seeing was real.

While on this “mission,” Devon was paired up with Willow's friend Marjory (Marge). They were separated from the team and confronted by Pyro, who again offered Devon information about his past. All he had to do was “get rid of” Marjory. Devon wrestled his teammate, put her into a sleeper hold, and knocked her out. He discretely checked that he didn't kill her, and then swiped her phone, hoping to use it to contact the X-Men with a location once Pyro brought him to Brotherhood HQ. The simulation didn't last long enough for Devon to execute his plan, however. Cyclops shut the simulation down, declaring Devon a failure of his loyalty test, and instantly put Devon on probation; resulting in him getting limited access to X-Men records and withholding information on who Devon's parents are.

Willow was beyond pissed at the deception, not fully grasping the irony of her anger. She viewed Cyclops a villain for his manipulation, and stormed off to cool down. She intended to check in on Devon later that night, but she never got the chance. Devon had decided he would prove Cyclops wrong by following through with is Danger Room plan, but in real life. He'd infiltrate the Brotherhood, find out about his parents, and then lead the X-Men to the Brotherhood stronghold to take the organization down. He wrote a letter of apology and gratitude to Headmistress Kitty Pryde-LeBeau for giving him the opportunity of joining the school. He wrote another letter of apology to Marjory, in case she truly was in the DR with him instead of a simulation. He wanted her to know that he never meant to hurt her. Finally, he wrote a farewell letter to Willow explaining why he had to leave, and his plan for coming back. As proof that he intended to return, he left Willow his prized possession: his customized lighter. His only means of creating fire that he could then manipulate with his powers.

Before anyone realized Devon had gone, and/or found his letters, the school was attacked by a large energy blast. The energy blast created a major explosion that collapsed the school. Chayse and Gambit were able to read the energy change around the school soon enough to give almost everyone enough warning to get to the safety bunkers below ground. There were still some casualties, though, and Willow feared that Devon was among them. The faculty wouldn't let the students leave the bunkers as they did headcounts and looked for the missing. Drifting to the Astral Plane, Willow watched the clean-up and rescue crew pulling bodies from the rubble. She was relieved that none of them were Devon, but devastated to discover young Hedge's body among the deceased. She swore vengeance on whomever attacked the school.

A few hours later, security film revealed that Devon had run from the school campus an hour before the attack, although the actual attack wasn't caught on cameras; they were all damaged by the energy surge.

Most at the school suspected that Devon was somehow involved; signaling to The Brotherhood for the attack. The fact that the faculty knew Devon was the son of two Brotherhood members, and that he had been in and out of juvenile detention centers for the past five years didn't help matters.

Willow decided that Devon was a traitor, and his was the face she'd picture whenever she thought of revenge for Hedge. She spent the next two years hating her former best friend and crush; picturing ways to torture and punish him for Hedge's death. She also hated Cyclops for his deception, although she understood why he did it. The whole experience showed her, from an outside perspective, what her own powers do to people, and her use of them to pull pranks dropped significantly.

Around the same time as the attack on the school, Chayse's best friend Nix was abducted from the school's infirmary. Chayse had a lead on where Nix could be, and desperately wanted to follow it. Cyclops was chosen as an escort, and Willow his teammate. Lia wanted to go as well, but her earth/magma manipulation powers were too valuable for the fortification of the school's foundation and bunkers, so she was ordered to stay behind to help with reconstruction. Nix's girlfriend Annika also stayed behind, working with her mother Rachel Grey to try to find any other hints on Nix's abduction.

Willow and Chayse spent most of that summer running around Europe, following faint traces of clues to Nix's location. On a mountain range in Bulgaria, their search came to an abrupt end when they came across an experimental facility. While searching through the building, Chayse believed he heard Nix call out to him, but there was an explosion shortly after. Chayse had to decide between Nix and Willow, and decided to phase Willow to safety. Having pushed his powers to an extreme he never tried before in order to save Willow, Chayse collapsed from the strain. The explosion had also separated them from Cyclops, so Willow was left alone to fend for both of them for three days before they were rescued. When the trio went back into the building to see if there were any possible survivors, the facility was in complete ruins, and charred remains rested where Chayse thought he heard Nix call to him. The DNA sample they took revealed that it was indeed Nix. Their search was complete, and Chayse had failed. Annika wouldn't believe them, though, claiming she still felt the psychic link she had with Nix. When everyone tried to tell her she was in denial and grieving, Annika left to prove that Nix was still alive.

Willow helped Chayse grieve over the next few weeks. Between that moment of vulnerability and the months of being each other's companions, the two became incredibly close. They both felt sparks, but both assumed it was simply a product of traumatic events – Willow's near-death and having to nurse Chayse, and Chayse's grief over Nix – and assumed the feelings would fade again. Chayse remained faithful to Lia, and Willow became even more flirtatious with just about every other student at the school.

The next year went fairly smoothly, mostly focused on rebuilding the school, grieving the students they lost, and continuing their trainings so they would be strong enough to take down The Brotherhood. During this time, Willow became Lia's new roommate to replace Annika. This allowed the two of them to get fairly close, and soon enough Willow, Lia, and Chayse became the big power-trio on campus: The Three Musketeers.

Then, while protecting a new recruit coming to the Xavier Institute, Chayse was attacked by a new Brotherhood member. He managed to defeat the Brotherhood, and get the recruit back to the safety of the school, however, he was badly injured: two spiral electrical burns to his chest. While Chayse was in the infirmary, Willow realized how much she truly cared for him. Not wanting to break up a happy couple, she decided to keep her distance while Lia stood watch over her boyfriend.

Chayse was hurt that Willow didn't visit while he was injured, and confronted her about it. Eventually, Willow admitted to her feelings, and how she had them nearly the whole time she had known him. Chayse confessed his feelings as well; they never truly waned after their mission to rescue Nix. Willow refused to be the reason he broke up with Lia, though, and told him they needed to stop hanging out. Chayse admitted that he and Lia were drifting lately (a fact Lia ended up not realizing), and that he couldn't ignore his feelings for Willow any longer. They agreed that Chayse had to break things off with Lia, and that they'd allow her time to grieve the relationship before Willow would start dating Chayse. She didn't want to rub her relationship in her roommate's face while Lia was still healing.

While on the subject of healing, Willow then checked on Chayse's chest, and was confronted with two healing spirals that would be scarred there. Chayse told Willow of the attack, and described the assailant: a man about 19 with the same silver-white hair and aquamarine eyes Willow had, and went by the code name Screwdriver. Willow was dumbfounded to discover that her brother had powers, had teamed up with The Brotherhood, and had attached Chayse. She didn't want to believe any of it. Picking up on how overwhelmed Willow was, Chayse left her to process everything.

The next day, Chayse went to break things off with Lia. She was so devastated by the news that she lost control of her powers, nearly burning Willow with a fire blast, and forcing Chayse to strain to use his powers to help her regain control. Chayse wasn't healed from his brush with Screwdriver, and fainted under the effort. Willow stayed by Chayse's side as Lia rushed to get help. The two of them had a fight in the infirmary waiting room as Chayse was taken care of. The fight ended with Lia running out of the building to hide by the river that ran along the border of the school's estate (more about this in Lia's intro in 2 weeks).

Chayse recovered fairly quickly, and he and Willow walked on eggshells for the next couple of weeks while Lia recovered from her heartbreak. As Prom neared, Chayse asked Willow to be his date. Trying to extend an olive branch, Willow asked Lia and a couple of other girls on their floor if they all wanted to go dress shopping and get ready together. Lia, now infatuated with two newer recruits Lincoln and Ripley, agreed to the group Prom-prep party. Willow and Lia still had a rocky relationship, and Lia still hated to see Willow and Chayse together, but they were at least civil and attempted to be friends.

At the prom after-party, hosted by one of the students - a former Irish pop idol - the Brotherhood attacked. They were again after the recruit Chayse had saved from Screwdriver. Shawn had already killed the mutant Dazzler, who was there to perform at the after-party, and then he set his sights on Chayse. He quickly picked up that Willow cared deeply for Chayse, and so Shawn focused on killing his sister's boyfriend in front of her. Willow, being protected and carried away by a fellow student, slipped into the Astral Plane in order to try to create illusions to distract the Brotherhood long enough for the students to escape, as well as have enough power to mentally attack Shawn to slow him down and protect Chayse.

In the end, Chayse was able to take down Shawn on his own, but Screwdriver was whisked away from the battle by his teammates before Chayse could properly capture him for transport to the X-Men. Meanwhile, Willow's illusions made it look like the Brotherhood's target was killed in the crossfire, rendering their mission complete. Just as the students were going to call themselves the victor, Chayse noticed the same energy signature he felt just before the school collapsed two years prior. He alerted Willow via telepathy, and she relayed the information to the other students. They ran for cover as she used her telekinesis to hold the building together long enough for everyone to escape. The strain of using her powers so much that night, and lingering on the Astral Plane for so long, left her unconscious the next day.

Shortly after recovering, Willow's world was rocked by a new arrival at the school. A man with silver hair in his early 20s. A man who had come from the future, and one who looked an awful lot like an aged up Chayse. Soon enough, it was revealed that this man – Sebastian – was Chayse and Willow's son. He was from an apocalyptic future where an organization called Challengers of Heaven took over the whole planet. Sebastian and is fiance Brianne - who was originally from the present, but was thrown into the future via a wormhole - came to the present to try to stop the Challengers, who had also sent warriors to the past.

Sebastian was excited to spend time with Chayse, who had died when Sebastian was about five. Meanwhile, Willow was trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she was going to have a kid with Chayse, and that she would be known as one of the Great Protectors; the last of a resistance against the Challengers.

As Willow continued to recover from the prom after-party, and tried to cope with finding out about Sebastian, Lia was in charge of an escort mission. During the prom after-party, Lia managed to capture the Brotherhood member Trish. Lia was the only one who couldn't be burnt by Trish's pyrokinesis, so she, and a few other students that had signed up as X-Men junior recruits, were assigned as prison escorts for Trish's transfer to S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. The mission went horribly wrong. A relatively new student, who went by the code name Psyke, had betrayed everyone to The Brotherhood. The terrorist organization managed to kill most of the S.H.I.E.L.D agents, and Psyke killed a student who believed himself Psyke's best friend. The Brotherhood also managed to rescue Trish from the X-Men and S.H.I.E.L.D. The only victory the X-Men had on that mission was three Brotherhood members defecting. Lia had run into Devon while he was there to rescue Trish, and he instantly switched sides to help Lia and the X-Men. His pseudo-girlfriend Nyssa followed suit, as did Devon's best friend Zeke. The former Brotherhood trio even rescued Lia from a new villainess who called herself Agony; a mutant who has the ability to transfer the pain and physical damage she received to whichever target she picked. So any time Devon would punch Agony, Nyssa would feel the connection as if Devon had punched her instead. That sort of thing. She has far more powers than just that, but those will relate more to Lia's intro, so I’ll talk about them then....

Upon arriving back to the Xavier Institute, Lia vouched for Devon, Nyssa, and Zeke, and asked for them to be accepted into the school. The trio was vetted by the local telepaths, and were put on probationary student status. Willow was NOT a fan, however, and instantly attacked Devon the second she saw him. Chayse had to peel her off of Devon to stop her from knocking him out, especially since Devon was just accepting her hatred and punishment, and likely would have allowed her to beat him unconscious.

There were a lot of arguments between Willow and Devon as he tried to find his place within the Xavier Institute again. The main conflict between them became the premise of the collaborative story “Please, Let Me Explain” that Devon's creator Ronoxym and I started working on YEARS ago. (We need to get back to that story...).

Shortly after Devon's return, Chayse and Willow had their own encounter with Agony. They were off to recruit a mutant, but their mission went south the second they landed at their destination. They quickly realized they were sent to the same portion of Bulgaria where they lost Nix. The very mountain range the facility was on rose above the valley they landed in. Chayse, already suffering from PTSD, instantly dropped to the ground and became catatonic. Telepath and team leader Emma Frost almost instantly realized that the PTSD flashbacks must have left him vulnerable, and he was attacked by a powerful telepath. Chayse was stuck in some sort of mental trap, and Willow needed to enter his mind to rescue him while Emma looked for the attacking telepath. It was tricky, since Willow never astral projected herself into someone else's mind before, but after a couple of tries, she succeeded. While in Chayse's mind, she saw him tortured by Nix; screaming about how little Chayse must have cared for anyone if he let Nix die and abandoned Lia for Willow. Willow quickly stepped in to try to protect Chayse and reassure him he had done nothing wrong. When Nix retaliated against Willow, Chayse came to his senses and rescued her. That was when it was revealed that Nix was actually Agony, astral projected into Chayse's mind, just like Willow, but cloaked in the image of Nix. After a quick battle, wherein Agony failed her attempts to mentally attack Willow, the duo incapacitated Agony, and Emma created a means for the three of them to escape the mental trap Agony set for Chayse.

Once back to the real world, Agony physically attacked; attempting a sneak attack to stab Willow through the shoulder blades. Chayse stopped Agony, and knocked her away. Willow then attacked Agony, knocking her to the ground, only to watch Chayse fall to the ground as well. Any injury inflicted on Agony would also happen to Chayse. To further prove her point, Agony stabbed a barbed spike through her own palm, and Chayse's hand went limp and began to bleed. Willow and Agony tussled a bit more, before Willow accidentally stabbed one of the barbed spikes into Agony's side in a take-down tackle. Thankfully, Chayse phased at the last second, transferring the pain of the stab, but the injury couldn't be transferred since he didn't have a solid form at the time. With Willow distracted in making sure Chayse was alright, Agony slipped away, vowing to not underestimate Willow next time.

After patching Chayse up, he, Willow, and Emma made their way to a Bulgarian prison where their recruit was being held. After a tense prisoner exchange, they got the new recruit Nodya to safety and flew back to the Xavier Institute.

To try to help Willow relax after so many emotional and physical shocks, Chayse took her to Japan for her 18th birthday; spending two weeks on the other side of the world. The trip didn't go exactly as planned, though, since they experienced some fairly open mutant discrimination and hatred. Chayse was even attacked while trying to defend Willow against an anti-mutant threat. Chayse managed to win the fight, barely, and they spent the next three days holed away in his mother's summer home in Japan (where she was trained by Wolverine, once upon a time) while Chayse recovered. The majority of the trip was lovely, though, and Willow appreciated both the distraction and the time away with her boyfriend (and future baby-daddy).

Returning to the school refreshed, and seeing how much effort Devon truly put in trying to make amends with the school, Willow's hatred for him faded. He didn't really do anything terribly unforgivable, and he had suffered just as hard over the past two years: thinking he had abandoned his friends to die. The Brotherhood wasn't actually at fault for the attack, and so Devon had also spent two years looking for revenge for the death of his found family. Devon and Willow never got back to the same level of closeness they had before he had left, but they slowly became friends again.

Then, a few weeks before the summer break ended, Nyssa started receiving letters from her estranged family. She had been disowned simply for being a mutant, but her parents realized how much they missed and loved their daughter. They asked for forgiveness, and begged for a chance to make amends. Nyssa mostly ignored her parents' pleas, but then she received a letter from Trish stating that she was with Nyssa's parents, and vaguely threatened their lives. Nyssa couldn't leave her parents to that murderer, and so she decided to go stop Trish. Devon insisted he'd come as well, since Trish was clearly after him that whole time anyway. They asked the X-Men for help, but there was a delay (for some reason that I can't recall... lack of intel?). Nyssa and Devon couldn't wait for the X-Men to be ready to go in for the rescue, so they went on their own. After a long battle with Trish (another story I've written but still need to polish before publishing online), Nyssa and Devon were killed. Turned out Nyssa's parents were already long dead, and all the letters about making amends were written by Agony, who had partnered up with Trish for this bit of sport.

Willow grieved the loss of her friend, unbelieving that he was truly gone this time. (In truth, Devon was revived, has amnesia, his mutation gave him a new default face, and Devon now lives in a mutant safe-house as he tries to remember who he is; no one knows any of this though.)

As the summer came to a close, and everyone once again grieved the loss of student lives (real safe place, the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters.... >_> ), Willow was rocked by another development. She had gone to Chayse's room one day, to discover him missing and the room ransacked. There was a note that Chayse had received, which told him to go back to the destroyed building the prom after-party was held in. The note's author, who turned out to be Agony, offered up information about what had happened to Nix all those years ago if Chayse agreed to meet.

Willow gathered up Lia and Zeke to try to help track Chayse down. They managed to get to the destroyed building shortly after Chayse. Agony originally mocked Chayse, but when he attacked her, she was rescued by a man made of ice and dressed in a monastery robe. The man called himself Boreas, and he could control winter weather – creating a frozen tundra on the building's lawn despite it being early September in New York state. Chayse instantly recognized Boreas as Nix; his DNA somehow altered to remove his telekinetic powers, but his ice manipulation powers enhanced to Omega level. Another body had its DNA manipulated to match Nix's, and that was the body Chayse had recovered from the facility two years prior. Willow raced to Chayse's side to help him as Boreas cried out for vengeance for being abandoned, and attempted to kill Chayse. Pissed that Chayse had backup, Boreas used a massive arctic wind to knock everyone away from them. He then created a maze of magical ice; the same thing he had used to help Trish escape S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.

Chayse was alone with Boreas, and knew his only option was to fight his former best friend. He hoped that once he incapacitated Boreas he could bring the man to the Institute, and have Nix be restored. Willow, Lia, and Zeke were all separated from Chayse in the maze – and Zeke separated from the girls. They rushed to try to get back to him, but Agony managed to corner Willow and Lia, cutting off their advancement to Chayse. Avoiding a two-on-one fight, Agony welcomed into battle Boreas' main ally, his partner Judgment. She was a woman in her early 20s, dressed in battle armor, and resembling a warrior angel as flame wings erupted from her back. Judgment declared Lia her opponent, and Agony happily detained Willow. Before anyone could react, Agony used yet another power no one know about, and encased Willow in an orb that forced her onto the Astral Plane.

Willow and Agony battled, and Willow managed to get the upper hand at one point, threatening to stab Agony. Unfazed, Agony simply stepped into the knife, spraying blue blood all over Willow. The blood then paralyzed her, trapping her stiff on the “ground” of their battle field. Once fully incapacitated, the blue blood spilled off of Willow, and formed into a blade within Agony's hand, leaving Willow vulnerable to Agony's killing blow. At the last second, the three copies Willow made of herself earlier in the battle lunged towards Agony, stopping the attack. Agony was startled that the copies moved of their own accord and independent of each other, the doppelgangers Agony created earlier in the fight could only mirror her movements. It was then that Willow discovered that the illusions she made on the Astral Plane were actually psy-weapons, which meant Agony disbelieving the illusions didn't dispel them. As the three Willow copies wrestled Agony, the dagger fell from her hand and shattered. Terrified by the sight of the blade breaking, Agony quickly retreated, and wished Willow luck in escaping the Plane Agony had put them in.

As Agony vanished within a blue orb, the landscape changed to a faded image of their battleground; gray and barren. The only thing Willow could see was a large blue crystal in the distance. The paralysis gone, she ran towards the crystal, and spotted the silhouette of a woman sleeping inside it. Finally, Willow got close enough to discern who the woman was: Willow herself. Upon that realization, Willow was brought back to the physical plane, the ice walls of Boreas' maze still up, the growls of battle around her, and her physical body locked comatose within a blue crystal right where she was when Agony forced her onto the Astral Plane.

Willow was still astral projected, as if she were a ghost on the physical plane. However, she was locked; not on the Astral Plane, and not truly on the physical one. She couldn't interact with anything, and couldn't communicate with anyone, despite how hard she tried. As if she were watching a TV show she couldn't control, Willow was forced to watch Lia finish her battle with Judgment, who had turned out to be Lia's friend and former roommate Annika; Nix's girlfriend who had volunteered to join the same villainous group as him, simply to stay by Nix's side.

In a cruel play, Judgment pretended to be Annika again; confused as to what had happened. As Lia ran to comfort her friend, Judgment held her close, and then used telekinetic powers to throw six adamantium spikes at Lia. Even in Lia's obsidian form, adamantium was the toughest substance on the planet, and they could rip right through her. Lia, in survival mode, dodged out of Judgment's death grip. She still was struck in the face, legs, and arms. Two spikes even ripped straight through Lia's shoulders like bullets. Already bleeding out pretty badly and in pain, Lia then noticed that in dodging the spikes, she condemned Judgment to be struck by them instead; all six impaled in the woman's torso. Willow was helpless to stop any of it.

Judgment collapsed into Lia's arms. She teased that Lia was capable of killing someone after all, and then passed out. Lia screamed for help, and the ice walls fell. It wasn't clear if Judgment had died in Lia's arms, but shortly after, her body vanished within a blue orb, just like Agony had done to escape the Astral Plane. Boreas escaped the same way as well. Chayse then rushed to Lia's side, with some assistance from Zeke. Once Chayse was certain that Zeke could care for Lia, he ran to the crystal that had encased Willow. He tried to phase her out of it, but the crystal reacted with violent electrical shocks, badly burning Chayse's hand. Zeke got to one of the motorcycles they had used to get to the ruined building, and sent a distress signal while Chayse tended to Lia's wounds.

Willow tried to call out to them, but her telepathy didn't seem to work. She tried to run for some help, but she was tethered to her physical form, incapable of going more than 20ft (6m) from her body. She screamed again for help, and Zeke responded to her; surprising her since she didn't realize he was a telepath. Chayse causing the electrical reaction from the crystal managed to create a microscopic crack that allowed Willow's telepathy to leak out slightly; catching the attention of other telepaths within that same 20ft radius she was locked within.

At the Institute, Chayse and Lia's wounds were taken care of. Chayse was released later that day, and Lia a few days later. Willow, on the other hand, was stuck with her body; trapped inside the private room in the infirmary for a week. Finally, when no one else could figure out how to get Willow out of her crystal, they called in the Sorcerer Supreme: Pixie. She was shocked at the massively advanced spell – one that she had only heard rumors of previously – and tried a few spells of her own. She was able to dispel the crystal, and trap it for further examination to see what kind of sorcery they were fighting against. Finally free of the crystal and the infirmary room, Willow went off to freshen up, have a few arguments with Chayse and Lia over how they overburden themselves as if they were the world's lone protectors, and then Willow blew off some steam at a new parkour training park Deadpool had built. She ran into a couple of new recruits, worked out on the parkour course for a little bit, and then headed back to the school in hopes of getting back to whatever her normal was.

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Like I said at the beginning, Willow has gone through way more than I remembered. And it's the points that I remembered that will make it to Glitches. Mostly because they were the most impactful on both Willow as a character and me, as a “reader.”

First and foremost, I don't want to get into the complexity of time travel in Glitches with everything else I'm trying to balance. So Sebastian and Brianne won't be making their way to Glitches. However, they MAY make their way into their own side-story at some point, but that's probably a couple decades into the future, especially at the rate I'm going....

Things with Nix and Annika are a bit too complicated as well, plus Nix/Boreas and Annika were created by other players (although, Husband came up with the Judgment persona for Annika after Nix's player came up with Boreas). Nix and another character – Lucas Kinney – will most likely become an amalgamation; one of the glitch children Matteo rescues when he tries to break his sister out of the experimentation facility. I can go more into this when I introduce Matteo.

Similarly, I don't know if I'll have the William plot exactly. Again, mostly because I don't own William, so I'd have to create a replacement character, and I'll most likely have to discover a new reason for Willow's grief over him, her realization of that brotherly connection she destroyed, and her adjusting how she uses her powers; assuming I have her still be a callous prankster at first.

While the Japan trip is sweet, we never actually role played it, so I don't see the over-all impact on Willow's arc, so that's also gone.

So, what bits are staying? For me, these are the key parts of Willow's development:

Willow's dual attraction to Chayse and Devon.

Willow becoming best friends with Devon, only to feel betrayed when he runs away to find out more info about his past.

I'm still trying to decide if the school will again be attacked by a third party so that Willow ends up hating Devon, blaming him for the attack, and vowing vengeance for Hedge's death.

Since Devon's DR run, his running away, the school being attacked, Willow's self-hatred for “pushing Devon” to betray them, as well as her hatred towards Devon, and then their subsequent reunion makes up soooooo much of Willow's arc in-game, I feel it NEEDS to be in Glitches in some shape or form.

The real trick is either convincing Ronoxym to allow me to write Devon/co-author Glitches with me, or I’ll have to create my own Devon from scratch...

Willow discovering her brother Shawn not only has powers, but has also joined The Brotherhood (Called The Virus in Glitches) and wants to kill her and their parents.

Seeing the interaction between Shawn and Devon would be interesting

Shawn will just be “turned evil” by his childhood; no additive of being a psychopath needed (I'll leave that to Trish).

Shawn will still be discovered via his attack on a new recruit for the school. I'm debating if I want it to still be Chayse, and Willow finds out after-the-fact, or if she is there for the first interaction...

While not necessarily a prom after-party, I do want an off-campus gathering to be attached by The Virus in order to capture one of the students. That way Lia can show off her badassery with her one-on-one with Trish, and Willow can still prove her usefulness by using illusions to throw off the attackers into thinking their target is dead. Also, that was her greatest showcase of her telekenetic powers, and it also showcased the downsides to Willow having to be on the Astral Plane in order to fully utilize her powers.

Willow's interactions with Agony; a means for her to push her mental powers, and a foil as Agony has similar powers of manipulation/illusion.

Hubby originally headcannoned that Agony was actually Jacob's first child before meeting Meryl and having Shawn and Willow. Which is why Agony and Willow have similar power sets. It seems a bit weird, however, that Shawn's powers wouldn't match those of his sisters, nor did it seem logical that both of Willow's siblings were murderous psychopaths that loved to torture and torment, but Willow wasn't like that after seeing how much her powers truly hurt others. So, I'm still debating if I want to make Hubby's headcannon official.

Willow being trapped within the crystal after a battle with Agony. It would be interesting to have the time to fully explore that experience, and the grief her friends suffered while trying to break her out of it.

------------------------------

You good? Everyone caught up? You can take your pee-break now.

Makes sense that this kept me so long to write up and edit down, no? Anyway, thank you guys SOOOOO MUCH for again indulging me and sitting through all of that! You all amaze me!

Next up: Part 4 - Images. Who’s ready to see all the different versions of Willow I’ve collected throughout the years?

#writing #LycoRogue writing #OCs #Meet My OCs #Meet Willow #long post #Glitches #Willow Driver #Willow #Willow's backstory #Willow history #X-Future plot #X-Future vs Glitches #series post #7 out of ?#updates every other Sunday #LycoRogue original

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mishm0740 · 3 years

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GTA Online ALL 카지노사이트 HEIST SCOUTING CLUES - 6 Access Point Locations & 10 Points of Interest #1557

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In reality, he simply observed more than 10,000 spins of each roulette wheel to determine flaws in the wheels. After 1960 a few casinos in Europe, Australia, and Macau began offering craps and after 2004 online casinos extended its spread globally.In Tokyo, the special prize exchange is handled exclusively by the Tokyo Union Circulation [jp] company (known as TUC), which sells pachinko and slot parlors gold slivers in standardized plastic cases, which it buys back from winning customers at its "TUC Shop" windows. For generations of Americans, casino gambling meant Las Vegas -- and the name evoked either glamour or tacky glitz, depending on the listener.

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griffinpxut452-blog · 5 years

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How to Outsmart Your Peers on link alternatif cmcpoker

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Gin Rummy is one of the most well-liked forms of rummy. The game is usually played by two players, Every getting 10 cards. Here is an report by David Parlett on the Heritage of Gin Rummy, which was originally published on the Game Account internet site.

Take note: I happen to be told that between some gamers the name Gin Rummy actually refers to not to the game described beneath, but to the game which is referred to as five hundred Rum on this Web page.

We would like to thank the next companion web pages for his or her assist:

Adda52 Rummy presents Dwell, multiplayer thirteen and 21 Card Indian Rummy on the internet and Android telephones and tablets. It's owned by Gaussian Networks and was registered in 2012.

The affiliate enterprise Raketech was Launched in 2010 by professional poker players Erik Skarp and Johan Svensson. They acquired Casinofeber.se in 2018 which happens to be a leading casino comparison portal in Sweden. It's now edited by Daniel Stenlok in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The Deck

One common deck of 52 playing cards is utilized. Playing cards in Each individual suit rank, from low to higher:

Ace 2 3 4 five 6 seven 8 nine 10 Jack Queen King.

The cards have values as follows:

Facial area cards (K,Q,J) 10 points

Ace 1 level

Variety cards are worth their location (index) price.

The Deal

The primary dealer is selected randomly by drawing cards from the shuffled pack - the participant who draws the decreased card promotions. Subsequently, the vendor could be the loser of the prior hand (but see variants). In a significant video game, both of those players ought to shuffle, the non-vendor shuffling previous, and the non-vendor ought to then cut.

Each participant is dealt 10 cards, one after the other. The twenty-initial card is turned resist start the discard pile and the rest of your deck is put face down beside it to variety the stock. The players take a look at and sort their playing cards.

Object of the Game

The article of the game is to gather a hand where by most or each of the playing cards is often combined into sets and operates and the point price of the remaining unmatched cards is small.

a run or sequence consists of 3 or even more cards of exactly the same match in consecutive purchase, such as club4, club5, club6 or heart7, heart8, heart9, heart10, heartJ.

a set or team is three or 4 cards of a similar rank, like diamond7, heart7, spade7.

A card can belong to only one mix at any given time - you cannot use precisely the same card as part of both equally a set of equal cards along with a sequence of consecutive cards simultaneously. For instance For those who have diamond7, spade7, heart7, heart8, heart9 you can use the heart7 either to make a list of three sevens or possibly a coronary heart sequence, but not each without delay. To form a established and a sequence you would wish a sixth card - possibly a club7 or possibly a heart10.

Notice that in Gin Rummy the Ace is often small. A-two-three is a sound sequence but A-K-Q is not.

Perform

A traditional change is made up of two parts:

The Attract. You must start by having just one card from both the highest with the inventory pile or the highest card over the discard pile, and incorporating it in your hand. The discard pile is deal with up, so you're able to see ahead of time what you're getting. The inventory is confront down, so if you decide on to attract through the inventory you do not see the cardboard till after you have fully commited you to acquire it. If you attract from the stock, you insert the card to your hand without having showing it to the other players.

The Discard To complete your transform, a single card has to be discarded from a hand and placed on top rated with the discard pile deal with up. When you took the top card through the discard pile, you have to discard a distinct card - getting the very best discard and putting a similar card back again in precisely the same convert will not be permitted. It's even so lawful to discard a card that you just took in the discard pile within an previously turn.

For the first flip from the hand, the attract is completed in the Unique way. First, the one that didn't deal chooses whether or not to take the turned up-card. Should the non-dealer declines it, the dealer may well go ahead and take card. If both gamers refuse the turned-up card, the non-seller attracts the highest card through the stock pile. Whichever player took a card completes their convert by discarding and afterwards it's the other player's turn to play.

Knocking

You are able to conclusion the Enjoy at your convert if, right after drawing a card, you may variety ample of your cards into legitimate combos: sets and runs. That is accomplished by discarding 1 card confront down to the discard pile and exposing your full hand, arranging it as much as you can into sets (groups of equal playing cards) and operates (sequences). Any remaining playing cards out of your hand which are not Element of a legitimate mixture are named unmatched playing cards or deadwood. and the entire price of your deadwood has to be 10 points or considerably less. Ending the play in this manner is called knocking, presumably mainly because it was once signalled with the participant knocking within the desk, while today it really is usual simply to discard experience down. Knocking without unmatched playing cards in any respect is called going gin, and earns a Specific bonus. (Observe. Although most arms that go gin have three combinations of 4, three and three cards, it is possible and completely legal to go gin with two five-card sequences.)

A participant who can meet up with the need of not more than ten deadwood can knock on any change, such as the very first. A player is never forced to knock if in a http://cmcpoker.win position to, but may opt for instead to carry on playing, to try to get an even better score.

The opponent of the player who knocked need to spread their playing cards experience-up, arranging them into sets and operates the place achievable. Provided that the knocker didn't go gin, the opponent is also allowed to lay off any unmatched cards by utilizing them to extend the sets and runs laid down from the knocker - by incorporating a fourth card of the same rank to a gaggle of a few, or even further consecutive playing cards of a similar suit to possibly end of a sequence. (Note. Playing cards cannot be laid off on deadwood. For example When the knocker provides a set of twos as deadwood plus the opponent has a third two, this can not be laid off to the twos to help make a set.)

If a participant goes gin, the opponent isn't permitted to lay off any playing cards.

Notice which the knocker isn't allowed to lay off playing cards over the opponent's sets or runs.

The play also ends When the inventory pile is decreased to 2 cards, and also the player who took the third past card discards without knocking. In cases like this the hand is cancelled, there is not any score, and the identical supplier offers again. Some Perform that once the player who took the 3rd past inventory card discards, the other participant will take this discard for the goal of heading gin or knocking after discarding a special card, but if one other participant does neither of such the hand is cancelled.

Scoring

Each and every participant counts the whole value in their unmatched playing cards. In the event the knocker's depend is lessen, the knocker scores the difference between the two counts.

If the knocker did not go gin, as well as the counts are equivalent, or perhaps the knocker's depend is larger than that from the opponent, the knocker has long been undercut. In such cases the knocker's opponent scores the difference between the counts moreover a 10 issue reward.

A player who goes gin scores a reward 20 factors, plus the opponent's rely in unmatched playing cards, if any. A player who goes gin can never be undercut. Although the opposite participant has no unmatched playing cards whatsoever, the individual likely gin receives the twenty place reward another participant scores very little.

The game carries on with more discounts until a person player's cumulative score reaches one hundred points or maybe more. This player then receives a further bonus of a hundred details. If the loser failed to score nearly anything in the slightest degree over the activity, then the winner's reward is 200 details as opposed to one hundred.

Additionally, each player provides a further twenty points for every hand they received. This is often called the line bonus or box reward. These extra details cannot be counted as part of the one hundred necessary to acquire the sport.

Once the bonuses are actually additional, the player with the reduce rating pays the participant with the upper score an amount proportional on the distinction between their scores.

Variations

Many publications give the rule the winner of every hand offers the next. Some Participate in that the switch to deal alternates.

Some gamers start off the sport in another way: the non-supplier gets eleven playing cards plus the vendor 10, and no card is turned up. The non-dealer's 1st transform is actually to discard a card, after which the dealer will take a traditional change, drawing the discard or through the stock, and play alternates as common.

While the normal procedures prohibit a participant from using the earlier player's discard and discarding the exact same card, it is difficult to think of a circumstance the place It will be useful To accomplish this if it have been permitted. The Gin Rummy Affiliation Procedures do explicitly allow for this Participate in, but the participant who initially discarded the cardboard is then not allowed to retake it unless knocking on that change. The Game Colony Guidelines make it possible for it in one distinct circumstance - "action on the fiftieth card". Any time a participant will take the third previous card on the stock and discards with no knocking, leaving two cards within the inventory, the opposite player has a person remaining chance to take the discard and knock. In this particular placement, this exact card could be discarded - if it doesn't enhance his hand, the player only turns it in excess of within the pile to knock.

Many people Participate in which the reward for heading gin is twenty five (in lieu of twenty) and the bonus for an undercut is twenty (as an alternative to ten). Some Engage in that the reward for an undercut, the reward for heading gin, plus the box reward for each video game won are all 25 details.

Some Enjoy that When the loser failed to score through the whole recreation, the winner's full score is doubled (rather than just doubling the one hundred game reward to two hundred).

A collection of versions submitted by readers are available over the Gin Rummy Versions page.

Oklahoma Gin

In this well-known variation the value of the first confront up card establishes the most depend of unmatched playing cards with which it is achievable to knock. Pics denote 10 as regular. Therefore if a seven is turned up, in an effort to knock you should lessen your rely to 7 or much less.

If the initial confront up card is actually a spade, the ultimate score for that offer (which include any undercut or gin bonus) is doubled.

The target rating for winning Oklahoma Gin is generally established at one hundred fifty in lieu of a hundred.

Some play that if an ace is turned up you may only knock if you can go gin.

Some Engage in that a player who undercuts the knocker scores an extra box As well as the undercut reward. Also a participant who goes gin scores two excess boxes. These further boxes are recorded about the scorepad; they do not rely towards successful the sport, but at the end of the sport they translate into 20 or 25 points Every, together with the ordinary bins for palms gained. When the up-card was a spade, you receive two more bins for an undercut and 4 further boxes for likely gin.

Fidgeting with 3 or four Gamers.

When three individuals Engage in gin rummy, the dealer deals to the opposite two gamers but isn't going to choose component during the Enjoy. The loser of each and every hand deals another, which is consequently played among the winner as well as dealer of the past hand.

4 persons can Perform as two partnerships. In this case, Every single player inside a staff plays a separate recreation with on the list of opposing pair. Gamers alternate opponents, but remain in the same groups. At the end of Just about every hand, if both players with a group won, the staff scores the whole in their points. If one particular player from Just about every team gained, the team with the upper rating scores the main difference. The 1st crew whose cumulative score reaches 125 details or even more wins.

Other Gin Rummy web pages

The Gin Rummy Affiliation's Gin Rummy Tournaments website page has information about forthcoming Gin Rummy situations, such as normal Stay tournaments in Las Vegas, and the site includes a summary of The foundations Employed in these tournaments.

The Gin Rummy web pages of Rummy-Online games.com give policies For numerous Gin Rummy variants, in addition opinions of Gin Rummy software program and on the web video games.

Various variants of Gin Rummy are described on Howard Fosdick's web site (archive duplicate).

Gin Rummy principles are also offered on the cardboard Game titles Heaven Site.

An extensive list of principles for Gin Rummy in German are available on Roland Scheicher's Gin Rummy website page.

Rummy.ch is a German language web site featuring regulations for Gin Rummy and many other rummy online games, as well as system articles or blog posts and evaluations of on the net rummy sites and also a Discussion board.

Program and Servers

Gin Rummy application:

Malcolm Bain's typical Gin Rummy program for Windows is on the market from Card Video games Galore.

A shareware Gin Rummy method may be downloaded from Meggiesoft Video games. A free demo Variation is accessible.

youtube

The gathering HOYLE Card Games for Home windows or Mac OS X includes a Gin Rummy method, coupled with a number of other well-liked card game titles.

The Gin Rummy Pro Personal computer application is out there from Recreasoft.

Unique K Computer software has application to Engage in the game of Gin Rummy. This software package is out there at

Most effective Gin Rummy by KuralSoft is a application for iOS with which you'll Engage in Gin Rummy versus a computer opponent.

Games4All has revealed a totally free Gin Rummy application for that Android System.

Blyts have released Gin Rummy Cost-free in versions for iOS, Android and Net browser.

Servers for taking part in Gin Rummy on-line:

Gin Rummy League can be a free of charge apple iphone/iPad app for on the net Gin Rummy.

Video game Colony delivers face to face Gin Rummy games and multi-participant tournaments, which can be played cost-free or for hard cash prizes.

Net Gin Rummy, which lets you Participate in towards a pc opponent or with a human opponent on the internet, LAN, modem or immediate relationship, is on the market from NetIntellGames.

Mystic Island

AOL games (previously video games.com / Masque publishing) presents Gin Rummy and Oklahoma Gin

Gaming Safari

Ludopoli (Italian language)

PlayOK On the net Games (formerly often known as Kurnik)

Environment of Card Games

Cardzmania

Yimmaw

Gameslush.com features an internet based Gin Rummy activity in opposition to Reside opponents or Pc players.

Rubl.com

Cowboy Gin Rummy can be an idiosycratic Edition of Gin played online against

#cmcpoker

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