#i KNOW that guy eventually marries his sister and turns into a worm. it turns off the appeal!!! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dc41896 · 4 years

Text

One Wish

I think this is the first time ever or in a while that I’m posting something on the day that I meant for it to come out lol😂. Hope you guys like it and that everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays💕!

Pairing: Chris EvansxBlack Reader

⚠️: Mentions of pregnancy, brief concerns about problems conceiving, fluff other than that though💕!

“Mommy!”

“Hey- what’s wrong?” Picking up your sniffling little one running towards you, he rests his head in the crook of your neck as a fresh set of tears begin to roll down his cheeks.

“River and Kyle were talking about Santa and the North Pole when their classmate interrupted saying how Santa wasn’t real,” Chris explains leaning against the counter still holding onto his son’s Spongebob backpack. “And apparently he called them babies if they still believed in him.”

“He is real...right?,” his tiny voice quivers breaking your heart.

“Do you believe he is?”

“Yes,” he nods lifting his head.

“Then he’s real,” you smile kissing his forehead.

“I knew it! I said so, but he won’t listen.”

“Well don’t worry about him. He’s just jealous because he’s probably on the naughty list,” you state causing a little gasp to leave his lips.

“That’s not good.”

“I know. But hey, why don’t you go wash your hands and then you can help me with cookies? Think that’ll make you feel better?”

“Mhmm! And watch Nightmare Christmas with Jack!”

“Yea bubs we can watch Nightmare before Christmas too,” Chris chuckles watching River excitedly climb down to get his bag and hurry to his room.

“Let me guess, Devin?,” you ask moving throughout the kitchen getting everything you’d need.

“Yep.”

“I know I shouldn’t say this, but that kid really gets on my nerves.”

“Babe,” he laughs with head slightly bowing forward.

“He thinks he knows everything and then his parents just think it’s sooo precious, ugh.” Stopping you from walking past again, you feel both of his strong arms hugging you to his chest rubbing up and down your back.

“Aww did Devin make you upset too?”

“Yes he did and I don’t wike it,” you answer poking out your bottom lip as you look up at your giggling husband. Leaning down, his lips sweetly peck yours twice before staying attached for a few seconds longer making you smile as his nose brushes against yours.

“Feel better?”

“Mhm,” you nod making him laugh once again.

“I’m ready!,” River beams running into the kitchen with Dodger on his heels. Stepping his bare feet atop Chris’, still in his sneakers, holding his arms up he lifts the excited child to sit on the counter beside him with legs dangling over the edge.

“Alright what kind of cookies do you want?,” you ask turning to the desert section of your cookbook.

“Chocolate chip! With extra chocolate.”

“Really? You sure you don’t want worm cookies? With extra slime?,” Chris jokes making River shake his head in disgust.

“Eww! No daddy, chocolate chip.”

“You hear that babe? He wants coated frog lip cookies. I’ve never heard of that but if you insist..”

“Noo chocolate chip!,” he giggles as his cheeks become covered in kisses from his father. Mixing all the dry ingredients in the large glass bowl, River carefully cracks the eggs, with the help of Chris, and adds the rest of the wet ingredients before moving to scoop in the chocolate chips. Multiple times throughout the process you have to stop them from trying to eat the entire bag only making them get more creative on how to sneak more when you weren’t looking.

Or thought you weren’t at least.

Once everything was cleaned following the cookies and dinner, and River got to watch his favorite movie while happily tapping his feet to every song, Chris took the yawning child to get ready for bed leaving you to do the same for yourself. As if on cue, by the time you were sliding into bed trying to get comfortable having showered and finished your full nightly routine, there was your husband softly closing the door behind him with a piece of paper in his hand laughing to himself as he approached the bed.

“What?,” you ask, amused as he lies across the foot of the bed propping his head up with his hand and bent elbow.

“River gave me his list for Santa that he made in class.”

“I’m sure it’s filled with toys,” you and Chris both chuckle.

“See for yourself.”

You sit up taking the red and green bordered paper from his outstretched hand preparing yourself for quite possibly the most outlandish requests from the current look on his face.

“Dear Santa, I’ve been really good this year,” you begin smiling at your son’s slightly shaky handwriting and occasional misspelled words. Continuing down the paper, Chris’ eyes stay fixed on you waiting for your reaction when you get to that special part.

From your extended pause and furrowed brows as you bring the letter a bit closer to your eyes, a chuckle leaves his lips as he crawls up the bed lying cheek down on the pillow beside you and his large hand slides under your, well his, oversized graphic tee gripping your hip.

“But what I really really want is a baby brother or sister this Christmas so we can play at home with mommy and daddy and all of us have fun,” you read aloud looking down at your husband.

“Yeaaa...”

“What are we gonna do?”

“Well,” he smirks gently draping your leg over his jeaned hip as his thumb grazes back and forth over your recently moisturized skin. “What kind of monsters would we be to not grant our child’s Christmas wish?”

“Chris you know it doesn’t happen that fast.”

“We could get the ball moving at least?” Leaning up to kiss your neck, you feel his teeth and lips taking turns nipping at your ticklish skin making you giggle as you try to nudge him off.

“Christopher..”

“Okay, okay. I honestly don’t know. We either tell him ahead of time, hurting his feelings when he’s already sensitive about Santa from earlier, or we wait that morning and he still gets his feelings hurt. Either way I feel like it’s a lose lose.”

“Pretty much.” There’s a comfortable silence as you both try to ponder the best option. His fingertips drifting up and down the back of your thigh still across him while you rake through his hair.

“Maybe he’ll get distracted with all his other gifts and forget about it?”

“You really think our son is gonna forget?,” he chuckles shifting to look at you with a raised brow. Moving to give you more room, you lie down with a sigh slightly concerning Chris with the conflicted look on your face.

It had always been the tale-tell sign that you were overthinking and your anxiety might soon take over. “Hey, you know this isn’t some way to force you to have another baby right?”

With a simple nod, your head moves to his chest and hand drops from his hair to the medallion crooked on his chest.

It’s not that you didn’t want to have another one, you were anxiously waiting for the day you’d hold that stick that read positive in your hand again, or the doctor to tell you congratulations as you sat on the obnoxiously loud paper covering the leather seat in the exam room. After your false positive last month though, doubt and worry began to overshadow that excitement.

“Talk to me,” he softly states bringing you out of your thoughts, his other arm wrapping around your body to rub your shoulder.

“It’s just...I can’t get what happened last month out of my head. What if it happens again and we find out I can’t get pregnant anymore? Or what if we do and get excited...and-,” Before you could stop them, tears trailed down your cheeks onto his shirt as he held you closer trying to soothe you.

“Shh, hey it’s okay.”

“What if it’s not? Whenever we’ve talked about kids you’ve always said how you wanted a big family with a house full of kids running around.”

“It’s not all about what I want though Y/N. This marriage isn’t just me.”

“I know but I still want you to be happy,” you mumble, sniffling as he sits up looking at you as if you were crazy.

“You think I’m not happy? Babe you and River both have made me happier than I’ve ever been and will always make me happy.”

“I didn’t mean that you weren’t happy now...,”

“What, you think if you couldn’t have anymore kids I wouldn’t be happy?”

Avoiding his eyes as you fiddle with the hem of your shirt, you hear him sigh as he leans closer holding your chin in his warm hand for you to look into his blue pools full of sympathy. “Sweetheart I didn’t marry you for your ability to have kids, and if you can or can’t doesn’t dictate your worth. I was just as happy when it was just us as I am now that we’re three, which won’t change if we become four, five, or so on.”

“I hope that so on doesn’t go on forever. I thought our absolute limit was four?,” you softly speak making him laugh.

“As I was saying,” he continues, the back of his finger wiping away your tears. “Would I mind having another? No, but only if and when you’re ready. And if you tell me now, tomorrow, or next year you’re done then that’s it, and I will still be the happiest man with my stunning, intelligent, hilarious even though she doesn’t think so wife, and perfect son who never fails to make me smile.”

Your hand finds the nape of his neck as you close the remaining space between you and your lips collide in a slow, yet passionate exchange as if both of you were trying to embed the feel and taste of each other’s lips on your own.

“Thank you,” you whisper, smiling against his now red lips.

“I love you Y/N. Remember that nothing will ever change that.”

“I love you too.”

———

The house is peacefully quiet as your eyes open to see the ground and trees outside covered in a light blanket of snow that still steadily fell from the grey sky above. Careful not to wake your husband who, from the sound of his snores, sounded like he was in a blissful sleep, you turn your body to face his planting your face in the crook of his neck arched perfectly for you to fit. A long, quiet breath leaving your nostrils as your lips curl into a smile, your arm falls across his tattoo littered abdomen and hand dangles along his side.

Your fingertios lazily dragging along his ribs eventually makes a small shudder spread through his body as he pulls you closer. “Hand’s cold,” he mutters with eyes still closed.

“Sorry,” you whisper slowly retracting your arm until his larger hand grabs yours bringing it to the side of his head as he trails kisses from your palm to the middle of your forearm. Long lashes fluttering against his cheeks, he reveals those heart stopping eyes as a drowsy smile appears on his lips.

“Merry Christmas beautiful,” he groggily speaks making you giddy from the butterflies in your stomach.

“Merry Christmas.” Your hands rest on either side of his head as you lower yourself meeting the corner of his mouth before moving to his pouted lips.

“Shh Dodgey let’s go look,” you both hear causing you to separate with knowing smiles on your faces.

“Let’s go before he opens everything.”

Natural light breaks through the thin curtains as you and Chris quietly make your way to the living room, him in his sweats and solid red shirt, and you in one of his hoodies on top of your own grey sweats. You both stop at the doorframe watching him walk all along the twinkling tree admiring his presents and even peaking behind to see what all was hidden along the back wall.

“Did you two start opening presents without us?,” Chris asks startling River before he smiles, running up to the both of you and hugging your legs that respectively stood right next to the other.

“Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas!,” you and Chris speak at the same time as he lifts the excited child to sit on his hip. Both of you sandwiching him in as you each blow raspberries on one of his cheeks, an eruption of giggles soon follows after.

“Look daddy! The cookies and carrots!,” he shouts pointing to the table with two empty plates and half empty glass.

“I know! Santa wanted me to tell you thank you, and that the reindeer loved the carrots.” You have to stifle your laugh seeing your son’s eyes go wide in shock as he stares at his father with this new revelation.

“You know Santa?!”

“Of course! He calls parents throughout the year to help make his final decision on the naughty and nice list,” Chris answers, smiling when River turns to look at you with the same amount of shock.

“You too mommy?!”

“Yep! We had a long chat last night before he left.”

“Did he see my list? Is a baby coming?!,” he asks with big brown eyes looking back and forth between you and Chris. You knew this moment was coming, but you’d never be prepared for the hurt you’d feel seeing your baby boy disappointed.

“Um..as of right now there isn’t gonna be one bubs,” Chris answers leaving him confused as his little eyebrows furrowed together.

“Why?”

Meeting each other’s eyes, neither of you expected to be having “the talk” this early with River. But settling on the couch where he sat in Chris’ lap ready to intently listen to your every word, you’d just have to try your best.

“Well sweetie, it’s not really Santa who’s in charge of that. It’s the...um...baby fairy!”

“Baby fairy?”

“Yea, she’s the one that makes sure the baby is perfect. And once it’s ready, she’ll deliver it to the mommy’s stomach where it’ll grow until it’s time to be born.”

“How-how does she know when to make it mommy?,” he asks tilting his head.

“That’s a very good question. Um...well uh...Chris why don’t you answer this one?,” you suggest completely catching him off guard. His pleading eyes meeting yours that read “Too bad, I’m not doing this all by myself”. Clearing his throat, he nervously smiles down at River now giving him his full attention.

“Uh...she knows because...there’s a signal that rings a uh bell and that tells her to start working.”

“What signal?”

It was becoming increasingly difficult to hide your laughs seeing Chris redden by the second. You could swear you even saw a bead of sweat forming on his forehead as he nervously chuckled raking his brain for his next answer. Hearing your muffled snort, he shoots you a playful glare as you mouth a quick sorry before petting Dodger to distract yourself.

“The signal is a...um handshake. But it’s a very special one that is filled with lots and lots of love.”

“Oh...okay,” River replies, disappointment evident on his face that he wouldn’t be getting the gift he was most looking forward too.

“There’s one last important thing about the baby fairy though,” you state tilting his small chin to look at you. “She works all year round. So, just because there’s no baby now doesn’t mean there won’t be one later.”

At that, his cheeks perk to a smile and eyes become bright again as he crawls over to hug his arms around your neck.

“It’s not the signal, but I write her too just in case.”

“Sounds good,” you smile kissing his cheek. “Now go ahead and open your presents so we can go to grandma Lisa’s.”

He quickly scrambles to his feet motioning Dodger to follow and help unwrap the gifts making both you and Chris softly laugh as you scoot closer together.

“Very special handshake?,” you repeat in a whisper as he drapes an arm over your shoulders.

“Hey it’s the best I could come up with on the spot okay. And baby fairy? Why not stick with the stork?”

“Because a bird carrying a baby from who knows would’ve been more difficult to explain, and it’s the best I could come up with on the spot okay?” Mocking his voice, you feel a pinch on your side replacing the smirk on your face with shock from the small gape of your mouth. “Did you just pinch me?”

“I don’t know, maybe it was the pinch fairy,” he shrugs standing up to help River with his presents before you could do or say anything back.

Within an hour, the living room had turned into what you’d describe as the end of the workday at Santa’s workshop from the ripped wrapping paper that was scattered along the floor, along with discarded plastic and cardboard once containing toys that now lied out in the open waiting to be played with again. It made both of your hearts swell seeing how happy River was with each of his presents. Every few minutes he’d walk up to either one of you tugging you down to place a kiss on your cheeks adorably thanking you for everything. He wanted to bring all his new toys to Lisa’s so his cousins could see and play too, but was convinced to bring his top two after being told, and shown, that all of them wouldn’t fit in his bag.

Walking through your bedroom door that evening once returning home, the clock on the bedside table reads 10:13 pm as you both fall back on the bed. As usual, Christmas Day at his mother’s was filled with lots of laughs, exchanging of more gifts, food, playful sibling rivalry between Chris and Scott that ended in both of them being fussed at by Lisa and told to settle down once they got too loud, and of course the kids playing all day with their new toys.

Needless to say, you both were tired.

However, the house was uncomfortably more silent now with River spending the night and remaining weekend at his grandma’s along with his other cousins. It was something new Lisa wanted to start to give you guys a short break for yourselves.

“Babe? You sleep?,” Chris cautiously asks in a hushed tone.

“No, and honestly I don’t know if I’ll be able to. It’s different not having River here.”

It was his first time spending the weekend at someone else’s place, and while you knew it would be a good experience for him and he’d be fine, the protective momma bear in you couldn’t help but worry. Grabbing your hand, he lifts it to his lips kissing your knuckles.

“Yea it sounds even quieter that we’re alone.”

“Mhmm.”

“...And it’s gonna be like that the whole weekend,” Chris smirks, peeking over at you to see if you came to the same realization as him.

“Yep,” you sigh, eyes still towards the ceiling.

Clearly you hadn’t yet.

“First time we’ve been alone for that long since he was born. House completely to ourselves. Not worrying if he’s doing something when it gets too quiet because it’s only us.”

Giggling to yourself, you turn to lie on your stomach lightly trailing your nails from the hairs of his beard down the middle of his chest and abdomen.

“So what you’re saying is that we’re absolutely, utterly all alone? In this big, cozy house?,” you ask tracing the tattoo right below his bellybutton feigning confusion as a hearty chuckle escapes his chest. Sitting up on his elbows, his hand caresses your cheek as he leans forward teasingly brushing his lips against yours. His hand shifts to the back of your neck pulling you closer to connect your lips in a breath taking kiss that leaves you wanting more once he pulls away.

“Exactly,” he lowly whispers. “Thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Yea,” you breathe out, biting your lip. “We have all the ice cream to ourselves!” A giddy smile forms on your lips hopping over your husband looking dumbfounded.

“Um y-yea...not really what I was thinking but..”

“And then after,” you start pulling him up to stand with you. “We can really start being alone. Like in the bed, and the shower, and the kitchen counter-.”

“And? You’re preparing for a busy weekend huh?”

“Plenty of chances to perfect that special handshake for the baby fairy,” you smirk. A squeal leaves your lips as you’re lifted over his shoulder with both hands inadvertently tickling your inner thighs from his grip.

“I like the way you think.”

Taglist: @fumbling-fanfics @honeychicanawrites @honeychicana @lady-olive-oil @lovelymari4 @melinda-january @maxcullen @literaturefeen @damnitaa @curlyhairclub @plokyu23 @fullofmelaninsarcasmandepression @nunubug99 @felicity-x0 @ellixthea @jojolu @jnk-812 @brwn-sgr @captainsamwlsn @wildfirecracker @nina-sj @iammyownlover @chaneajoyyy @scoop93535 @secretmysteriousperson

If anybody wants to be tagged, has asked to be tagged and don’t see your name, only want to be tagged for certain people I write for (can be found in masterlist), or no longer wish to be tagged just let me know🤓!

#chrisxblackreader #chrisxwoc #chrisxreader #chris evans

64 notes · View notes

ofstoriesandstardust · 4 years

Text

what’s left of us

a/n: welcome to the first chapter of ‘the choices we make’. I've been teasing this for so long that I'm so excited to finally have something to show for it. I really hope someone reads it.

main masterlist | the choices we make masterlist | story description | discovery

summary: The Hargreeves have slowly been putting the pieces of their lives back together after coming back from the 60’s. Upon clearing out Reginald’s old office, the siblings find a box containing the files of their birth families. What happens when Luther makes the choice to open his?

warnings: swearing, canon childhood abuse and trauma, canon death/murders

word count: 1,566

The siblings stood in the doorway, no one daring to go in. Diego awkwardly cleared his throat. “So... who first?” Luther glanced down at him as Klaus shoved past. “Oh, you big bunch of babies. He’s dead.” Klaus waved his arm about as he moved further into the office, the bottle of brandy in his hand.

“Are you seriously drinking right now?” Diego asked incredulously.

“Well, the bastard might be dead but”, he shuddered, “I still don’t like thinking about dear old dad.”

“Well, the study won’t clean itself.” Five said, following Klaus into the room. “Everyone take a box. Like the rest of the house, if you think it’s important, bring it up, otherwise trash it. We don’t need more of the old man’s stuff than necessary.” The siblings moved apart, some grumbling, others sighing. The clocked ticked as they worked, and Luther thought back to how they got here. After getting back to 2019, after saving the world, the family had planned to settle in and enjoy being together. Unfortunately, the consequences of what came before were bound to catch up with them sooner rather than later. Diego and Vanya had both been arrested almost immediately following their arrival. While Klaus got shitfaced and Allison called every lawyer friend she had, Ben and Luther sat and sat, wondering where to go from there. But yet again, Five seemed to have a plan, and had somehow managed to get Hazel and Cha-Cha’s guns to the police without suspicion of family involvement. Diego had been released pretty quickly afterwards, and so had Vanya, on account of Leonard’s murder being self-defense. Diego suspected his death had probably done the police department a favor, given Leonard’s history and the fact that he had killed at least 2 other people that they knew of. Ben rejoining the living after the doomsday incident in Texas had been a welcome relief to all of them, and the family had never felt more cohesive. The town had mostly left them alone, but the siblings were trying pretty hard to stay out of the public’s way.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, guys, I think I found something.” Allison’s voice broke through Luther’s thoughts and he looked over to where Allison was lifting a big box onto the desk. The siblings turned and gathered around the desk. Five grabbed the box from Allison, and his eyes widened.

“What? What is it?” Diego asked, standing next to Luther.

“It’s our files.” Five said quietly.

“Our what?” Luther asked, eyebrows raising.

“Our files. All the information about our biological families, it’s in here.” Five responded. An uncomfortable tension settled over the siblings as they looked at the box.

“So... who wants to go first?” Klaus asked tentatively. Five shook his head.

“Forget about it, I’m not interested.” Five said, moving away from the box. Allison let go of it and moved back from the table and Diego turned back to his project. Klaus and Ben moved back over to the fireplace, where they were definitely not cleaning. Vanya and Luther looked at each other. Vanya eventually shrugged, and moved back to her earlier spot. Luther swallowed. Why was he so curious?

Luther couldn’t stop thinking about the file and the information it might contain. He was content sure, happy even, but he couldn’t stop wondering. Did he have a biological sister? A biological brother, maybe? What about his parents? Why had they given him up? Did they regret it? Luther’s thoughts consumed him so much that he missed the uneasy looks his siblings shared over breakfast the next morning. “Whatcha thinking about?” Klaus singsonged, sitting down next to him. Luther startled, and looked up at him. He sighed and sat back in his chair.

“Are you guys really not going to look at your file?” Luther asked. The siblings all looked at him, worry etched onto their faces.

“What, this family not good enough for you or something buddy?” Diego half-joked.

“I just... how are you not curious?”

Allison shrugged. “I’ve got you guys. Isn’t that enough?” Luther sighed.

“Luther, opening those files is opening a can of worms you can’t close again. Once you know, you know. And you may not like what you find.” Five said solemnly.

“Yeah, whose to say any of our biological parents were any better than dear old Dad?” Klaus said.

“I mean, they did give us up. For money.” Vanya said, sitting down next to him. Luther looked at her.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” That seemed to be the end of the conversation, and the family resumed their normal breakfast chatter. And yet... Luther continued to wonder.

The Academy was dark and quiet, the only semblance of peace this place seemed to get. It was 3:32 am and Luther was trying desperately not to wake anyone as he snuck into Dad’s study. He needed to know, can of worms be damned. This was driving him crazy, and he just... he needed to know. He pulled the box out from where it had been set in the corner, and pulled the lid off. His file was the first one, labeled NUMBER ONE. Luther sighed, and closed his eyes. Was he really going to do this? Luther opened his eyes and flipped the folder open. His eyes flicked over the page, looking for the information he cared about.

Mother: Taunya Roberts

In a relationship with Richard Gray. Might prove to have complications later on.

Paid: $7 million

Location: San Diego, California

Luther’s eyes focused on the name of his biological mother. Taunya. Huh. Not exactly what he had been expecting, but it would do. The page mentioned nothing about already existing siblings, but he was curious about the “complications” his father mentioned.

Which is how he wound up at the police station the next morning asking Diego’s cop buddy that had helped him escape if he could track down his mother for him. He had agreed and promised to give Luther a call when he found something. It hadn’t taken long and he met him back at the police station a few hours later, almost anxious to finally get an answer. Luther sat down at the man’s desk and he sighed. “Well, you’re in luck. Found the family. From San Diego like you mentioned. Here, take a look for yourself.” He turned the computer towards Luther and he leaned in, eyes scanning the document.

Taunya had married Richard in 1990. Richard and Taunya divorced in 2006.

Had four kids. Elena, Steve, Madison, Addison. Elena, born in 1993. Steve, born in 1996. Madison, born in 2000. Addison, born in 2001.

Luther’s eyes continued to skim the document. All still living in San Diego until- there.

Elena Gray current place of employment: Manhattan District Attorney’s Office

Elena Gray current location of residence: Manhattan, New York

Luther sat back in his chair. Not only did he have 4 biological siblings, but he had a chance to talk, meet, see one of them? Manhattan wasn’t too far, only a few hours drive. He sighed, thanking the man. Luther mulled this thought over in his head. Was he really going to do this?

Apparently, he was. Luther took a deep breath and shook out his nerves as he stood in front of the prestigious looking building. 1 Hogan Place. That’s what the information Diego’s police buddy had given him. There were no guarantees she’d be here, or that she’d even want to see him, so he’d written a letter, just in case. He walked in, and the front desk lady directed him to the office he presumed was hers. There was girl sitting at a desk in front of the office and Luther’s heart skipped a beat, wondering if this was her. The girl looked up at him and gave him a smile. “How may I help you?” She asked politely.

“Hi, um, I’m looking for Elena Gray?” Luther asked, hoping the girl-Lucy, the name plaque said, he noted- didn’t notice how much his voice was shaking. His nerves were vastly vanishing and he was wondering why he hadn’t listened to Five when he’d had the chance.

“Oh, she’s not here at the moment. She in court.” Lucy offered, still smiling. “Can I pass along a message for you when she gets back?”

“Actually, uhm yeah. Could you give her this letter?” Luther said, extending the arm grasping the paper.

“Of course. Who should I say it’s from?” Lucy said, taking it from him and placing a sticky note upon it.

“Uh, Luther. Luther Hargreeves.” Luther said nervously and Lucy’s eyebrow quirked. “What?”

“Nothing... it’s just that your family is a bit uh.. notorious around these parts.” He nodded, not sure how to respond. “And would you like to leave a phone number so she can get back into contact with you?”

“Uh, it’s in there.” He said, nodded to the letter. Lucy nodded, and looked back up at him.

“Perfect. I’ll give that to her once she gets back. Anything else I can do for you?” Luther shook his head and realized his feet needed to start moving for fear of embarrassing himself any further.

“Thanks for your help.” Luther offered the girl a smile and headed out of the building to his car. As he walked he began to feel a painful mixture of regret and elation. What did he just do?

#the choices we make #luther hargreeves #luther hargreeves fics #the umbrella academy #law and order special victims unit #the umbrella academy fics #law and order special victims unit fics

19 notes · View notes

princessozera · 4 years

Text

Not OM, I just wanted to post here the first ever fic I actually wrote and published

I WOULD LIKE TO SAY AS A DISCLAIMER EVEN THOUGH I PUBLISHED IT LAST YEAR (2 years ago?) I WAS ACTUALLY YOUNGER WHEN I WROTE THIS. I DO NOT SIMP FOR DAMIAN LIKE THAT ANYMORE, HE IS MY SON.

The Only Exception

(Aged up/Older Damian Wayne x OC)

The seats are filled, the air is comforting, music and perfume floating in the air. Today Rosella Anderson is to be wed to Damian Wayne. But, weddings never quite go according to plan. Talia and Ra's Al Ghul have made it clear they don't like her, on multiple occasions. But with no less than 50 trained fighters and investigators on both sides of the aisle, nothing can interrupt or ruin her special day...... Right?

Chapter 1: Getting Married Today

"Come on, suck it in!"

"I HAVEN'T EVEN EATEN TODAY!" I whined as Alice yanked the ribbons on my corset tighter.

"WATCH IT!" Crystal swats away Alice's hands and undoes the ribbons a bit. "Suffocate her and she doesn't make it down the aisle, pack her like a sausage and my hours of makeup will have gone to waste!" She huffed and finish tying the ribbons, satisfied that they weren't too tight.

"I don't think I ever really appreciated the amount of work it takes to make curly hair not be frizzy," Barbra Gordon says between sips of champagne, lounging on the hotel bed.

"That's why I don't do my hair that often," I laugh, sitting on an ottoman so Alice can put my veil on and Crystal can help me put on my garter. My maid of honor, Cassandra Cain, came over and tried to feed me some fruit slices. I tried to argue, but I couldn't hold my own as she stared me down. I let her feed me some cantaloupe slices until she was satisfied and went off to finish getting ready.

"You really are a queen today!" Stephanie laughed as she walked around the room again, holding a video recorder. I tried to hide my face, but she grabbed my hand and swung it around. "A beautiful princess for Gotham's own prince! Tell us, your majesty, how are you feeling, about to be married off to Gotham's richest stone statue?" The girls laughed but I just shook my head at her. "Me, Tim, and Dick are making a documentary for you two. Any words for the lucky man? Anything you want to say to your future self, your family, your future kids? " Whistles and laughs went around the room and I couldn't help but blush.

"Well, let's take this one step at a time," I laughed to hide my own embarrassment. "Damian," I started, looking directly into the camera, "I don't believe in love at first sight, but damn did we square up on first sight. Not many people can say they had a full on MMA fight with their future spouse within minutes of meeting them. Yet, after that whole fiasco was solved, you've never been anything but gentle with me. People always said we wouldn't last; lava and ice. Water and a drought. Incompatible. But you were the first to look past who I had to be, to see who I was trying to be. You brought me a family, and I like to think I've brought you some serenity. I don't believe in destiny, and I'm not too sure about fate, but I believe in us. I believe that I'll fight for you until the end of time because you'd do the same for me. Because you are my home, and there's no place I'd rather be." I get choked up, wanting nothing more than to have him in my arms right now. I missed him like hell, even though it's only been 2 days since I've seen him.

"This isn't the time to start reciting your wedding vows silly," Cass said and I couldn't help but giggle. She wipes away the tears that I hadn't felt form, making sure to not mess with my mascara. Stephanie sighs happily and puts the camcorder down, reaching over to hug me.

"I'm so glad I get to be your sister," she whispered to me, and I hugged back tighter. We both jerked in surprise at the knock at the door. I immediately reached for my bag, looking for my well-worn notebook, but Cass's hand steadied me. Barbra got up, fixed her dress and went over to the door.

"Who is-" She stiffens up immediately, hand pulling back from the handle. "It's Talia." Stephanie immediately got in front of me, and I grabbed Cass's hand as she reached for her own bag, searching for her gun. I'd never told my friends about Talia, but they took the hint found their way to their respective bags, throwing knives and whips at the ready. Truthfully, I was finding it a little hard to breathe and I doubt it was the dress. The knock came again, more insistent, but no one moved.

"It's your call Rose," Barbra said, her eyes never leaving the door.

"Let her in," I tug on Cass's arm and she helps me stand up. "If she wanted me offed, she would have gotten someone else to do it. Or at least she wouldn't have knocked." Crystal and Alice look between all of us in alarm and decide to take the window as Stephanie goes to back up Babs by the door. The door opens, and there stands Talia, as beautiful and regal as ever. She glances over everyone before finally meeting my eyes.

"Lady Al Ghul, please come in. To what do I owe the pleasure?" I said, fidgeting with my dress. She steps in, nodding to Babs and Stephanie.

"I'd like to have a word with you before the ceremony," She says, running her hand along the wet counter cluttered with makeup. "Alone," She said with a pointed look when no one moved. That harsh edge was enough to get everyone to cover or flank me again. She didn't respond to this, simply staring at me. I put my hand on each girl's back, one by one.

"Go, I'll be fine. We'll be right here," Babs stares me down, but I nod back. She caves and starts to leave; Alice, Crystal and eventually Stephanie following behind, after she grabs something off the bed. Cass refused to move.

"Do I need to remind you that you can barely move your waist in that monstrous dress? She'd get to you before any of us were the wiser," She whispered in my ear, holding my arm pretty tightly. I wormed my way out of her grasp and grabbed the worn notebook from my bag.

"I promise, it'll be fine. Anyways, I forgot there were 2 more things I needed to do," I flipped through the pages quickly, finding what I needed and handing it to her. "If you could please take care of it? You should be done by the time we're done talking and we can head to the venue." Cass read through it quickly, then looked at me again. She gave a curt nod and walked out as well.

"We'll be right outside," Babs says pointedly before closing the door. Talia and I stood in silence for a moment, before she slowly stalked towards me until she was less than 6 feet away.

"Lady Al-"

"Your still not worthy of my son." oop. Right to the point, as always. Can't say it didn't hurt.

"You're a commoner, a nobody. No title, no land, not even superior health to your name. You failed classes in high school, went to college on scholarships, and couldn't land a proper role in your field until a year in. Failure, after pitfall, after failure." JESUS CHRIST THIS LADY DID HER RESEARCH. My face burned in humiliation, but nothing I could say now would justify everything she just listed out. "And yet... Damian loves you."

"I may not like you, but I know how I raised him, and Bruce has done a good job of bringing up a boy worth more than the names he was born into. Wayne. Al Ghul. Damian. I will have faith in his choice, he is not a stupid boy. Foolish and stubborn yes, but not stupid. If he thinks you are worthy, there may be hope for you yet." holy shit, no way, is this actually happening? I'm too stunned to say anything, just grateful that my mouth isn't hanging open.

"When you return from your honeymoon I expect you to face me in a formal duel and undergo training as necessary," she puts her hands on her hips, challenging me to argue with her, but I was so happy I had to restrain myself from hugging her.

"It would be an honor to battle you Lady Al Ghul," I say, finding my tongue, stifling my giddiness with a bow, and a hand over my chest.

"Talia is also acceptable." She says with a nod, taking another step forward and adjusting the skirt of my dress and finally my veil before turning starting to walk back to the door. "My father and I will also be in attendance to this event, but if you ever wish to gain even an ounce of his approval, you'll need to do another more traditional ceremony at a later date." My heart swelled, and for a second, I legitimately thought I was going to break down crying. This was better than anything I could have prepared for. I couldn't just let her walk out like that.

"Damian'll be elated!" I yelled out to keep my voice from cracking. Talia stops, and I gush on. "I know you haven't had the easiest of relationships, with conflicting ideology and all, but he really does love you, and Ra's, even if he doesn't say it. He looks up to you guys and wants to make you proud. You being here will mean the world to him." I force myself to stop talking before I say something weird or bad. Talia turns back to me, walks up swiftly, and hugs me. I'm stiff in surprise, but manage to hug her back before she gives me one last nod and walks out. Everyone runs back in the second Talia is out.

"Are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?" Babs immediately grabs my arms and starts inspecting me up and down for any sign of injury.

"Don't cry don't cry!" Alice pleads with me, fanning my face to prevent the tears from falling.

"Talia hugged her, check her back and skirt for anything weird," I look over to Stephanie, who was staring down at her camcorder. Had she left that hidden on the bed? I didn't even notice. But it was so sweet. I could show Damian later all the sweet words his mother said about him.

"Jesus, you're so teary today," Cass mumbles as she does her own inspection of my dress. When she's done, she sees my tears are of joy, so she hugs me. "Your journal's impressive," she says handing back my heart covered notebook. I'm still choked up and trying not to bawl in relief so once everyone was satisfied that I wasn't going to drop dead in the middle of the aisle, they sat me down so I could calm down while they finished up. I collected myself, the extremity of these emotions leaving me exhausted. I drifted off with the warm glow of my friend's laughter and love filling the air.

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

"No way, you did not fall asleep!"

"Get up get up get up!"

"Cass, I'm fully warning you right now. If she falls asleep at the ceremony like this, I'm throwing my bouquet at her head"

"You might have to beat Stephanie to it," Cass giggles, as she gently shakes me awake. I take a second to reorient myself, blinking the drowsiness out of my eyes, and stretching.

"Ooh, we could coordinate it though!" Stephanie perks up, "if she falls asleep; Alice and Crystal, take your flowers and make it rain, and then Babs, Cass and I hit her in the head. Guaranteed it'll wake her up!" We all laugh and I get up, taking a minute to appreciate my beautiful friends. It was a debated choice, but the deep purple fit everyone perfectly. We did have to make a few adjustments to Stephanie's overall look though, to keep her from looking too similar to her alter ego, Spoiler. Bouquet in every pair of hands, key cards in garter wallets and phones on silent, we made our way down to the venue.

"We're only running 10 minutes behind, it couldn't be helped," Babs tries to calm my nerves as I all but start jumping in the elevator. Cass also had to put a hand on my waist to pull me back when I almost ran to my place. She escorted me around to the side doors; the girls and I were coming in from the right, Damian and his groomsmen were coming in from the left. He had wanted to avoid any issue of who should walk him down the aisle; I thought it was cute how he couldn't choose between Dick and Bruce. Cass and I were slow dancing to calm my nerves when the rest of the girls came back.

"Pianist and minister are ready" -Babs

"Decorations are gorgeous and on point, everyone is in their seat and there are no fussy children" -Alice

"Lights, audio and AC are perfect and photographers are also ready" - Crystal.

I nodded, yes, everything was going smoothly. Of course, I had used everything I had when planning this. I was floating on cloud nine, simply nodding along when Babs spoke up.

"Has anyone seen Stephanie?" she asks, grip tightening on her bouquet. No one knew so we all just waited around for 5 minutes, everyone starting to get fidgety. Stephanie came back, 10 minutes later, looking a little out of breath and a bit pale, even under her makeup.

"Ok so there's a situation,- the guys are running late but it's okay they're o their way, they'll be here in 20 minutes!" Stephanie sped through the second half of her sentence when she saw that I was going to panic. I breathed out in relief and nodded, satisfied.

"I'll make the announcement, Dick probably went overboard trying to do his hair again," Babs snickered and headed into the ceremony hall. We played a light game of ninja as we waited to hear from the guys, but I soon became hyper-aware of time passing. I don't have the best perception of time, I don't even have a good memory, but I caught the looks my bridesmaids were giving each other.

The questioning looks.

The worry.

I let myself get kicked out of the next round and walked a little ways off, pulling my phone out and calling the number I knew by heart, ignoring the time that read that I was now almost 40 minutes late to my own wedding. The phone rang 3 times, and I turned away from my girls who were really getting into this game, rooting for Cass or Alice to win.

"Damian!" I sighed in relief when the line clicked. "hey, how much longer do you think you guys will be in traffic? If it's going to be another while, I can have it arranged so snacks and drinks are handed out so no one gets restless. I could also give the pianist a break, he's been playing the same chorus on repeat for the last half hour-" I let my voice trail off as I was met by a stone wall of silence. Not even a joke from Dick or Tim or Duke. I waited him out, after a minute of silence, Damian spoke up.

"I'm sorry beloved, I can't do this."

"What?" I asked, but my voice was so thin and breathy I doubt he heard me.

"I can't go through with this. This marriage, this wedding. It's all a joke. Who even cares about this mess? It's all so... stupid. Pointless." not a hint of hesitation, voice more ruthless than I had ever heard it. No. No way. was he serious!? I struggled to find my words, I shook with the pure effort of breathing normally even though I felt like I was having an actual heart attack; tight chest, palpitations, the whole 9 yards. Tremors ran through my body and I finally managed to choke out "Damian-"

"Goodbye Rosella" the line clicked off and I take a shuddering breath.

"Rose?" Cass says, gently putting a hand on my shoulder.

"He's not coming."

"What?"

"He's not coming!" I shriek, clutching my waist to stop my stomach from churning but to no avail; at least I didn't have much of lunch to throw up.

"What do you mean he's not coming!" Babs demands, yelling from where she was

"shit"

We all turn and there stands Jason, looking uncomfortable as hell and very much like he didn't want to be here. That confirmed it for everyone. Alice, Crystal, and Babs started yelling questions at Jason. Stephanie pulled out her own phone and started dialing a bunch of numbers but it seemed like no one was answering. Cass tried to speak with me, but my ears were ringing, it all sounded like white noise. And I felt cold. but hot. but freezing. I raise my hand and draw everyone's attention, all becoming deadly silent.

"Alice, Crystal. please go tell the pianist, the minister, and the photographer. Give them my email so I can settle up the charges later. Stephanie and Cass, please go see if we can keep the party reservations for tonight. Everyone else should enjoy them, even if there is no.... Barbra, could you please break the news that I... we..." everything got really blurry for a second and the floor rushed up to meet me, but I caught myself on the table before I could pass out completely.

Not here, not in front of them. Don't put them through a breakdown.

Everyone was fussing, but I couldn't stand here for another second. "Go. I just want to be alone. Please. go. GO!" I yelled and they all dispersed, shooting me worried looks. Cass gave me a long hug before she decided I needed a moment alone.

"Don't move from here." She instructed me. "Go get the guys," she demanded to Jason before going off. Jason looked at me sadly, trying to find the right words to say.

"Rose-"

"Please leave." he walked away without another word. Once I was sure he was out of earshot, I ran with everything I had out of the hallway.

Pardon me is everybody there

because if everybody's there id like to thank you all for coming to the wedding

I appreciate you going even more

I mean you must have had better things to do.

Thank you all for the gifts and the flowers,

Thank you all, now it's back to the showers

but I guess I'm not getting married today

The perfume is suffocating, overly sweet, fake as plastic, thick as sugar. I can't breathe, but I don't need air to run. Don't stop, move. Move. Move. The ribbons are strangling me. The garter is cutting off my circulation. Gloves are hurting me. High heels, weak ankles. My rolls of fat spilling out of the dress. rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls. can't stand. can't wait, I throw open the door to the stairs and take them in 3s.

Listen, everybody,

look, I don't know what you're waiting for.

A wedding. What's a wedding?

It's a prehistoric ritual

Where everybody promises fidelity forever,

Which is maybe the most horrifying word I ever heard of,

Which is followed by a honeymoon, where suddenly he'll realize

He's saddled with a nut, and want to kill me, which he should.

Thanks a bunch, but I'm not getting married

I scream as my veil gets caught in the handrail, yanking my head back, falling down a couple of stairs. No question, I rip it off. It stings, it hurts, bobby pins forcefully ripped out. The shoes go too, heels are stupid, why are they so tall. Tall and tall and make my knees wobbly. The taller they are the harder they fall. Up the stairs, 3 at a time, legs on fire. Don't stop, don't stop, hike the dress up and keep running all the way to the 50th floor.

Go have lunch, 'cause I'm not getting married

You've been grand, but I'm not getting married

Don't just stand there, I'm not getting married

But I'm not getting married today.

I slam open the hotel room door, to hell with neighbors. Suffocating, burning, melting heat. I rip off the gloves, scream as I can't get the ribbons out of my dress. I scream, jump, squirm and throw myself around until it finally comes off.

He didn't come. shut up.

He didn't want to. SHUT THE HELL UP

I felt everything to an extreme degree. Too much. Why am I breathing so heavily? Why am I sweating bullets!? I throw my hair up in a ponytail, yank the garter off, tripping over my own two feet. My phone falls next to my head and the only thing I can think to do is to throw it into the toilet. I grab my honeymoon bag- no, my emergency bag that happened to have cute clothes instead of food, and switch into my leggings and a t-shirt. It's all I had. It's all I could ask for.

Go! Can't you go?

Why is nobody listening?

Goodbye! Go and cry

At another person's wake.

If you're quick, for a kick

You could pick up a christening

But please, on my knees,

There's a human life at stake!

I'm parkouring down the stairs, jumping entire sections, falling on knees, but ignoring the pain to jump again. Emergency phone in one hand, I order the uber, start the bank transaction, even though I have to read everything 10 times for it to make sense. What do? where go? don't know. not here. One bad jump and I collapsed entirely, but as I scrambled to throw everything back in my bag, I see the plane tickets. yes. away. out. not here. leave.

Go! Can't you go?

Look, you know I adore you all

But why watch me die

Like Eliza on the ice?

Look, perhaps I'll collapse

In the apse right before you all

So take back the cake

Burn the shoes, and boil the rice

Out of the stairway, but slammed into a wall. Around the corner, Alice and Babs and Crystal and Jason and Stephanie and Cass and Bruce and Selina and Duke and Tim and Dick and Alfred.

Remember when you first met them? He swore he'd protect you but that they'd love you. please stop! I begged myself, think of anything, anything but him. anything but this. Get out, then we can cry, but not here, not now. I watched them split up, so I hid behind a corner farther back. Steph and Cass took up the stairs. Everyone else was gone so I ran out the back door. Out of the hotel, away from the perfume, away from the flowers, the candles, the dresses. From them. And by some small miracle, the car was already here. I jump in, only taking a second to notice that it was, in fact, an uber.

"Hello, ma'am! How are-"

"Please! Just go!" my voice breaks and the tears start up again. I brush them aside furiously/ doing everything in my power not to start sobbing, but he listens to me and speeds off.

BECAUSE I'M NOT GETTING MARRIED TODAY

(A twist on this song that actually inspired this whole fic)

Chapter 2: On The Run

I'm going to kill him

Why didn't he show up?

How fucking dare he

Was it something I did?

I was nervous too bitch; I drank a shot of tequila and sucked it up!

Was it something HE did? Was Talia lying? Did Ra's kidnap Damian? Why did the boys wait to tell us? Did Stephanie know that something was up? Do any of them even-

"Ughhhh," I groaned audibly as my thoughts and emotions started to run together. It had been a while since anything left me this.... discombobulated. Exhausted. A mess. I'd almost forgotten how awfully I reacted to being overwhelmed and out of control. The uber driver shot me a curious look but didn't say anything. Keep it together Rosella. Just, go home and.. I flinched, chagrined at my own stupidity. "Get somewhere safe" I amended under my breath, "and then you can have as big of a breakdown as you want. Just, be a stone again. Close it all out. Suppress the fire, drown the noise." I rubbed my eyes, the dry burn giving me the weirdest throbbing headache.

The ride to the airport was stiff, to say the least. My driver kept trying to talk to me, but my responses were so dry he gave up. He didn't question the extra stop at the bank, even while he waited outside for half an hour while I verified with tellers inside that I was, in fact, the owner of the account and that I was draining it.

Erase your tracks. You were never here. Are you even alive?

Still, we got to the airport as quickly as I could have hoped for and made sure to give him a large tip for his troubles. I walked through the airport, undoubtedly looking like some pompous bitch with only a stone face and backpack, my actual suitcase left behind in my whirlwind out. I only had some snacks, a Nintendo ds, some stationary things, deodorant, and a toothbrush. I hadn't even remembered to grab my disposable water bottle, toothpaste, or hair brush before leaving. Whatever.

It was almost flawless. I bypassed the checked bag lines, slid right through TSA (bless you TSA Pre-check), although I did get some looks when they checked my bag. I guess overall I looked like I should be getting on a school bus instead. I sat down at a cafe and pulled out the tickets, 2 first class tickets to Malaga, Spain.

I'd set up our honeymoon as a complete surprise to Damian. Bruce and the boys had worked so hard to help me clear out a whole month from his schedule. I'd gone through hell and back to make sure all of my project managers could handle any situation that could happen either in making or transporting our different projects out... We were supposed to be jumping cities for a month in Europe. Cities with small populations, so we could avoid drawing attention, but full of gorgeous architecture and delicious food for me; significant art history and cultural relevance for Damian.

It's going to be a technical nightmare to cancel all of those reservations and getting the tickets switched and sold. Do people even actually do that? But I have to, I don't know where I'm going but I don't want any of them to tra- SHIT. My head snaps up and one quick look around tells me I'm already too late. I spot 5 cameras easily.

I grab my things and head over to a gift shop. I grab bunches of clothes and accessories off of the shelves, hurrying off to pay and doing my best to avoid cameras now as I sneak off into the restroom. I throw on some atrocious sundress, flats, and a baseball cap, flipping my hair twice in an attempt to make it look like a pixie cut. For a second I consider actually finding something sharp to hack my hair off.

I need you to not be a social breakdown cliche for a minute, it took you years to properly grow those curls out. Please don't waste my efforts. Yeah, it's for the better, I look like Dora the Explorer with short hair anyway. Tim wouldn't sell me out to Damian, right? LMAOO he bailed at the wedding you really think he wants to hunt you down?? Or what if Tim wants to find me? Or anyone else? Damian's pretty good at following people. Even then, Babs, Cass, Roy are competent hackers, any of them could find my data and track me down... Are any of them even on my side?... I couldn't help but let out a whimper. I pursed my lips, placing my hands on the cold sink to calm myself. What's my plan anyways? I can't go to any of the cities in Europe where I already have reservations. Too easy. I could go to the Netherlands...

"But Damian knows where I lived there, because of the time we visited my friends," I sigh out loud, facepalming. "But not entirely a bad idea..." I say as I start flipping through the different cities I've lived through. Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Croatia, Portugal, Malta, Romania, Hungary, Austria, are all out. We'd either been there or they were part of the honeymoon plan. I didn't want any reminder of him.

Actually, all of Europe is out. I've raved about it too much. We've been too many places, we both had too many ties scattered throughout Europe. I can't speak Russian, Talia and Ra's have connections all across the middle east, and the north half of Africa. Jason and Cass had some unexplainable ties across north and south america. With every city I named, I hated myself more for talking so much. For trusting him with these memories.

Honeysuckle kisses on cotton candy memories.

shut up.

Isn't there ANYWHERE I've lived and worked that my big mouth hadn't mentioned? As I was starting to get desperate and the headache started acting up again, I found actually ecstatic relief. That would be actually literally perfect. God bless my forgetful memory. The apartment I'd never sold. The country I actively avoided talking about because Damian would get jealous.

I snuck out of the bathrooms and headed over to customer service. I had to work my way past a large group of people. Overhearing snippets of conversation, apparently, their flight is somewhere between delayed or canceled. Inspiration hit me. Give the ticket to someone here. Send them to Spain, let them stay at the hotel. He could follow a cold lead. This would give me enough time to go to one country and get a ticket to where I actually wanted to go.

I look around the group. Too many were in pair or more. Some looked very buisness-y type. There! A girl who looked like a backpacker was chilling, glancing through her phone. You're going to sound absolutely mental. I approach her nevertheless. I pitched her my idea, but she was rightfully skeptical. I swallowed my pride and told her a cold version of the truth.

"My fiancee left me at the altar. I'm going to Mongolia. I don't want his ticket, I don't want the hotel. Either take it or I'll give it to someone else. Or let it go to waste. I don't care. I don't want it. I'll even pay the name change charge." The anger in my voice came out clear, and by another miracle, she accepted it. We walked over to the help desk and I spoke with the dude behind the counter. He seemed hesitant at first, but he gave me a double take when he checked my reservations. With a brighter smile, he got me on the first flight he could to Mongolia.

"Will that be for both tickets Mrs.Wayne?" He asked cheerfully before reeling back, caught off guard by my watering eyes.

"Anderson. And no," I managed to spit out. I signaled for the girl from earlier to come closer. "I'm transferring the other ticket to her, we need to get the name changed." He looked uncertain but went ahead. If he was accommodating before, I could tell he was bending over backwards now to get everything situated. I could see his concentration as he tried to bypass things without having to question me again.

"Umm, your profile says you've actually been to Belgium before, how was it?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Beautiful and quaint. Great place to relax and enjoy nature if that's your thing. I'd recommend Lithuania too, or Leinchestein." I say, trying to keep a light tone. He nodded happily, seeming to take my recommendations seriously before handing the girl the new plane tickets. We thanked him and headed off on our respective paths, the girl taking a minute to hug me.

" I hope you can heal soon, and wish you a bright future" she whispered to me. I hugged back, trying not to cry again. She bought me a bag of peach gummy rings and left me at my terminal. I dropped some calls out to friends, blessed that they all decided to take one or more of the reservations around Europe I'd had. I kept the details to a minimum but they figured out pretty quickly not to mention me to Damian if they happened to see him. Some small part of me, thankfully more aware than the rest had the foresight to call some utility companies and get everything at my apartment working again.

The help desk attendant worked miracles, my nonstop flight boarded less than an hour later and I had managed to keep a first class seat. I sat down and started doodling nonsense in my journal, blasting music in my headphones. But around 6 hours into this 19-hour flight, exhaustion overcame me and I drifted off to sleep.

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

"Beloved," Damian sighed as he wrapped his arms around my waist. "It's almost 11, we need to get out of bed," he murmured into my hair.

"Nooooooo" I whined, stretching further into the sunlight. The doors were ajar, a nice breeze keeping us cool. I snuggled into him. "We're on a vacation, orders from Bruce. And on vacation, you can stay in bed all day."

"But there might be monsters nearby-" He said mysteriously, catching my attention.

"I didn't get reports of any- AH!" I scream as Damian proceeds to tickle me. "No! Sto-" I try to gasp out between laughing. I manage to fight him, tumbling out of bed. He laughed at me as I tried to untangle myself from the blankets.

"That's a dirty trick Wayne!" I gasp, trying to catch my breath. I grab a pillow and chuck it at him, but he just catches it and throws it back. We have a small impromptu pillow war before he taps out after a good hit knocks him onto the balcony. "BOW TO MY PROWESS!" I jokingly declare, jumping up and down on the ottoman. Damian runs over and sweeps me down.

"Please. Don't. Fall. And. Break. Your. Head" He accentuates every word with a kiss, making me giggle. He lets me go and takes the bathroom to shower first. I head out into the kitchen, humming to myself. I grab some of the fruit we bought yesterday and start making a fruit bowl. I'm halfway through cutting the Jicama when Damian's arms are around my waist again.

"What are you doing?" He asks, resting his chin on my shoulder. Before I could answer, his grip around me tightened. "Be careful!" He whispered harshly, putting his hands over mine. "Your knife skills could use some work, you could have cut your finger off like that!" He scolded me but I scoffed.

"Haven't lost a finger yet"

"No, but you did set your oven on fire. THREE TIMES" He elbowed my side and I pouted.

"Excuse you, that 2nd time wasn't my fault, remember? Dick broke into my place and fell asleep making fish sticks," I retaliated, squirming out of his grip and started making some sandwiches for lunch.

"I really should improve the security at your apartment," Damian says as he finished cutting up the Jicama and strawberries, plating them and dropping them off at the table.

"As if that would stop every vigilante from the northern hemisphere from breaking in," I snorted, bringing over the sandwiches. We ate in peace, letting the soft instrumental music from the radio fill the silence.

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

I sigh happily, turning in my chair, reaching out for Damian's hand. The second I touched the cold seat next to me, my body freezes too. "Damian?" I muttered drowsily, sitting up straight. His bag isn't under his chair. Why am I wearing a dress? Why are my leggings rolled up? I start to panic, breathing rapidly and trying to blink away the tears in my eyes. It's enough to pull me awake and I remember what happened.

"Oh... oh" I hiccup and bite my lip, looking back out the window into the starry night. The tears start falling, but I'm being quiet so I let them. My skin itches. My neck, my wrists, under my eyes. I start scratching, trying to ignore my memories. The trip to Italy, our joint project to improve the villain resistance of the infrastructure of Gotham, the charity events we attended.

"Ma'am?" I look up, a stewardess in the aisle leaning over. I wipe my eyes, catching the furious red color my wrists had become, before turning to her. "Uh, you missed your meal earlier and I was wondering if there was anything I could get you?" She looked uncomfortable now, glancing between my red eyes, red nose, and now red wrists and presumably red neck. I glanced over the menu she handed me, ordering a full meal. She dropped the food off and scurried away, not meeting my eyes.

The meal was laid out beautifully; tomato soup, grilled cheese and grilled chicken with a slice of cheesecake. Yet, I couldn't seem to muster the strength to eat. It didn't really seem appetizing, and I wasn't hungry.

The last time you ate was over 10 HOURS ago, and that wasn't even a full meal. C'mon, one bite. I picked up the fork, but simply twirled it in my hand, watching the metal catch the light. You'll get a raging headache if you don't eat soon. Might get that deep vein thrombosis. I take a bite of the chicken, tasting nothing despite its obvious layer of seasoning. I swallowed it with half a glass of water. It felt thick, heavy, almost like swallowing a rock. But I had to eat. When I didn't immediately throw up, I set up my phone to play a cache of 65 action movies to distract myself and started eating bit by bit. I could tell I was drinking a ridiculous amount of water, but the stewardess replaced my glass without it ever going entirely empty so I didn't really notice how much I had downed. She cleared my tray when I was done, and I just kept watching movies. Whenever I thought I was going to fall asleep, I'd crank the volume up, scroll forward to fight scenes and take a drink of sprite. I was about 4 movies in when I threw off my headphones, whimpering with how severe my headache had gotten despite eating and drinking water.

"Good morning passengers, it is 10 pm and we're about to start our final descent so if you could all please put up your trays and turn off the wifi in your electronics, we'll be landing shortly." Not gonna lie, the time zone jump threw me for a minute, I had taken a second to figure out how we made the flight in 8 hours instead of 19. I shoved everything into my bag, forcing the zipper closed. I wanted to put on some rock or pop punk songs, “Battle On!” seeming weirdly appealing, even though I hadn't heard it in a while. I felt a vein in my neck twitch, so I settled on music from the swan lake instead.

The second we touched down I was up. I only had my backpack so I was able to squeeze by people, ignoring protests and complaints to get off the plane. Off the plane, past the luggage claim, I was going down the escalator when I spotted them. Advika was talking to Zay, looking mad as hell, but she noticed me first. She ran over and almost tackled me to hug me, Zay taking my bag. "Princessa, baby girl, I'm so sorry." She cries into my hair, "I didn't think he was an asshole, oh god, how could he do that to you!"

"We have the plane ready to go," Zay says, joining in on the hug. I let Advika cling to me as we make our way to the opposite side of the airport. Once we're in a more private area, Advika speaks up again.

"I'm going to kill him. How fucking dare he!" She squeezed my hand, and now started pulling me towards the airplane.

"Isn't that Rosella's line?" Zay prods before looking back at me. "But in all seriousness, we will absolutely end him, just say the word. Don't even say it, blink morse code, ASL, anything." I keep my mouth shut and let Advika continue to rave about the different ways she'll end Damian; financially, socially, whatever I wanted. We went out onto the runway and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"The company jet? Isn't that a bit much?" I say as Zay escorts us in, before heading to the back.

"The boss said it's okay. Nearly bit my head off when I called to ask but said it was ok. You did help establish our company in the foreign market," Advika takes a seat but gestures for me to lay down on the couch. "No offense mi princessa, but you look like a fucking mess. Please take a nap."

"I don't know if I can do that," I say, letting out a long sigh. Zay comes back, handing Advika a small purse and laying a platter of cheese and crackers on the table across from us. He sets up instrumental music, from “Carmen” if I'm not mistaken, as Advika takes my hat off and starts combing my hair. I lay back into her, letting her brush out my hair, counting her impeccable pattern. 2 squirts from a spray bottle to moisten my hair, 10 brush strokes. 2 then 10 then 2 then 10. My eyes started feeling heavy so I forced myself to take a deep breath and sit up. The motion made her accidentally yank my hair and woke me a bit. As she apologized I alternated my breathing patterns to try to stay awake, noticing for the first time that we were already in the air.

"Please, just go to sleep," Advika begged, grabbing my hands and forcing me to look at her. I stared at her for a moment before answering.

"I did... on the plane. I dreamed of him. The disorientation of waking up made me think I was on my way to my honeymoon," I let out a bitter laugh and she flinches, looking over to Zay, unsure what to say.

"You look pale," Zay interjects. He comes over to me, placing a hand on my head and then my neck. He doesn't comment on the marks, but he and Advika share a look. "Change your clothes, drink some water, then these, we don't want you getting sick." He puts 2 pills in my hands before going off to find me some water.

"Yeah, getting sick is the absolute worst thing that can happen to me right now. How silly of me," I roll my eyes and Advika snorts, trying to mask her laughter. I leave the Nyquil pills on the couch and get changed. I come back and take the pills, leaning into Advika again so she can continue to play with my hair. She spoke about anything and everything, filling the silence with her happy chatter. Undoubtedly, she was trying to distract my conscious so if I did dream again, it wouldn't be about him. It worked, her happy banter following me into my dreamless slumber.

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

I awoke to Zay gently shaking me, thankfully a lot less disoriented than last time. I gather up my things, helping myself to the bottles of water they had around. I ignore the bandages wrapped around my wrist, but the one on my throat was quickly starting to freak me out. Advika seemed to sense my discomfort, immediately coming over and cutting the bandages off.

"Sorry, your skin seemed a bit raw so we wrapped it up," she explains calmly, alternating to rubbing her hand up and down my arm to soothe me.

"S'ok," I mumble, taking my bag from Zay.

"We called you a cab -it got here a couple of minutes ago-, but you're more than welcome to stay with either of us back in Mongolia. Neha and Juniper also moved here ya know, I'm sure she'd-" I cut Zay off with a shake of my head, and follow him out of the plane.

"I just really want to be alone for a while, ya know?" As alone as I can be with my differing opinions yelling at me and my endless train of thought that does NOT SHUT UP. Zay nodded but Advika grabbed my arm before I could hail the cab closer to the plane.

"I know you want to be alone- and you absolutely do need some time alone, this is going to be a lot to process- but...." She hesitated, biting her lip. "I know how you can get Ro. don't even try to argue with me on this. Please, take some time, but do not hesitate to call me or anyone else." Would this be a bad time to throw up? That's one way to diverge the conversation. Advika held me but I wouldn't meet her eyes. "You know what? If you don't check in with me in a week I will track you down and drag you to live with me. I'm not joking. Do you understand" I want to protest, but then I remember she didn't even have my phone number. Game on. I agree and they both give me a hug before I board the cab.

"Good morning"

"Good morning, where should I take you?" ah. another thing that I hadn't thought of. Without even bothering to check my bag, I knew I didn't have my keys. But I knew someone who might. I give the cab driver an address and I pull out my phone. But I can't even ask because I don't remember her number. I sigh, hoping things hadn't changed as much as I thought.

We're in downtown Seoul before I can start properly stressing myself with the "what ifs". Had she moved? What if she didn't have the key? Would she yell at me for arriving at... Almost 3 am? I decided to do the math to distract myself, reworking the math on how a 4-hour flight turned into a 5-hour flight for a solid 10 minutes before I realized that I had not taken another time zone into play. Small miracles were on my side today. Yesterday? Tomorrow? Whatever the fuck day it is. Since it was so early, there wasn't much in the way of traffic, and the doorman was the same one that had been here when I lived her for however long it was. I explained to him that I was here to see Hong and after some reluctance, he let me in.

Up the elevator to the fifth door, doors opening to crisp air, reminiscent of fall. Exactly 30 steps forward to a door with 4 pastel sierra sunset decorations on the door. I knock, timidly at first as to not wake the neighbors. In 5 minutes, again, a little louder. I did this for an hour before I gave up and simply stood there with my head on the door.

"Hong. Hooooonnnngggggg" I whined quietly. Wow, thank goodness it's so early, everyone would think you're a creeper. lmaooo just imagine getting arrested your first day back. I whined into the door, contemplating just sleeping out here.

"Rosella?" a soft voice came from behind me. I turn to see Hong with Geo's arm around her. There were 2 more people behind her but I barely had the awareness to nod as a greeting. "What are you doing here? Wasn't yesterday your-" She stops, noticing that my lip had begun to tremble.

"Rosella-" she comes over and wraps her arms around me, hiding my face from view of the others. Someone unlocks the door and she drags me inside. The sequins on her dress start to itch, but I continue to hug her. Once I'm ready to let go, she sits me down and goes to change her outfit while Geo sits with me. in awkward silence for a while.

"Rose, what happened?" He eventually asks, sliding over a glass of ice water. "I thought your wedding was yesterday. Wasn't your honeymoon suppose to be in Europe?" I couldn't seem to muster the strength to answer, simply staring at him and sighing.

"You have no tact," Hong comments, combing back in her usual floral pjs. She flops down next to me, placing her hand on mine. "You don't have to tell us now, but I would like for you to tell us eventually." I can't help but smile, she always has a soothing air to her. It's impossible to be mad or upset near her. " I have some clothes you can borrow; I have friends over today so you'll have to take the couch, but you can have the guest room tomorrow." I shake my head, forcing myself to pull away from her motherly touch.

"I could never impose on you, I was just wondering if you have my spare key? I really want to go home." I let my voice crack at the end, hoping she wouldn't push for me to stay here. Geo looked at me like I was crazy, staring particularly long at my single backpack.

"Okay. Geo, could you get her key? It's in the top dresser with a purple tip," Hong nods to him and he leaves. " I do feel the need to remind you that you pretty much purged the place when you left. I don't remember the last time I visited either, so its probably super dusty too."

"I'll make do for tonight. I'll go to the store tomorrow for food and cleaning supplies, ok?"

"You'd better, you forgetful dip stick," Geo grunts as he hands me the key. "Actually, we could probably find somewhere open rn. We could swing by and-"

"I was actually going to walk home it's a nice night and-"

"Absolutely not." Hong interrupted me, sounding her top tier forceful. "I know you've been through some shit in the last 48 hours but I'm not going to let you commit suicide by stupidity!" I took a minute to process this, for a second I thought I was back in Gotham.

"It's not far... I only have my backpack and the crime rates here aren't even that high Hong. You know I took mi-"

"Yes yes, I know about your MMA history, but I draw the line. I don't know how much the others have let you get away with but you are not walking alone at night!" I don't fight her, letting her drag me to her car, Geo driving. We're at my complex within minutes.

"Take care of yourself Rosie." Hong says, giving me a half hug through the car window, Geo simply putting a hand on my head. "I'll come to check up on you- and if you don't answer the door I'll call the cops" she threatened before letting go.

"Thank you, seriously, this is so great that you had my key, and for dropping me off." I hesitate before heading up. "If you don't mind me asking, how long have you two been dating?" Geo's blush was extremely visible against his skin, even in the shadows.

"It's that obvious huh? We've been together for about 5 months," Hong replied, blushing as well.

"I always thought you two would look cute together," I said, this time with a genuine smile. I wave them off and opt to take the stairs up. I opened the door to my apartment.

It's freezing, dust dancing in the waning moonlight. I set my bag down, pulling out another change of clothing from what I had bought at the airport. I threw it into the bathroom before heading over to my emergency closet. Never though the emergency stash would be used like this. Maybe we shouldn't use it? Earth shattering heartbreak is too an emergency, fuck off. I'll restock it anyways. I pull out some towels and bath supplies. I get in the shower, letting the steaming hot water run over me.

Since when have I not been able to feel my fingers? I ask myself, flexing them one by one. It's like the stakeout in Boston that one winter, Dick brought us hot chocolate-

No. Don't even. Dust! This place is messy and I want to properly disinfect it- unconsciously increasing the pressure with my loofah- I'll need Lysol, tide pods, scrubs, dish rags. Probably should buy more plates too. Damian always had a peculiar adoration for matching cutlery sets, when he bought me some ramen bowls-

OW OW OW OW OW OW OW! I jerk up, my hand immediately going to my upper spine. I breathe in too quickly, taking in some water. I pull open the curtain and lean over the tub, cough and sputtering, trying to catch my breath.

"What- the- fuck-" I manage to gasp out. I was sitting down in the tub, I guess I had fallen asleep???? I shake the drowsiness off, turning off the water and getting out. Despite, or maybe because of, my broken sleep this last day I was still exhausted once I had gotten changed and my heartbeat had slowed down. I looked to my room door, but collapsed on the sofa, letting the musty leather suffocate me to sleep as my bones sunk into the couch.

Chapter 3: Safehouse

I awoke the same way I fell asleep.

Suffocating.

I wanted to get up, find a tissue to blow my nose, but every muscle in me ached a million ways. Did I fall off the empire state building while I was asleep? Did some cannibal beat me with a meat tenderizer for hours and just leave me on this couch? Holy FUCK.

Even twisting my face away from the couch so I could get some fresh air strained my neck. Every joint felt dislocated, limbs lifeless like a broken marionette. The dust. Allergies. I can't breathe...

Can't breathe

Suffocating! DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE- I panic, throwing myself off the couch. Landing on the ground actually didn't cause any more pain. I laid there for a minute, mentally trying to put my joints back in their sockets. It isn't a large enough distraction, and I'm soon hyper-aware of everything. My skin was burning where the sunlight touched, the dust in the air was so heavy I could have sworn I lost my vision again. I could hear the meaningless hustle of cars and people outside on the sidewalk, but worst of all was my pounding heartbeat in my ears.

THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP

I forced myself to get up, groaning as all my muscles pinched as they got back into place. I made a lot of unnecessary noise as I cleaned up my mess from last night. Throwing the shower caddy under the sink, flipping my backpack and letting everything fall out, slamming my dirty clothes into a pile in a corner. And I couldn't help but look around every couple of minutes, not entirely understanding where I was. Trying and failing to compensate for the noises that usually find me when I wake up. When I threw open the balcony windows, I realized I was still waiting to hear another window slide open and a soft "I'm home", even though it was well past noon.

How wild would it be if he actually went on parole after all that? Would a fight have broken out? Would it have been like the whole Owls mishap again?

Get your head out of your ass, they're his family; blood is thicker than water.

Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.

He's been helping and fighting alongside them much longer than you have you dip. I storm into the kitchen, only grunting as I smash my hip against the counter. I set out 4 pages of stationary in front of me and made lists; food, clothes, furniture, extra. I took my papers and started walking around, jotting notes of what I needed. Talking to fill the void.

"More toilet paper, hand soap, towels," I hum under my breath, not really checking the cabinets. "As for clothes I should-" my voice caught when I walked into the bedroom. It was freezing. I reflexively bit my lip, eyes watering. Instead of goosebumps, this cold sat in my stomach. The same cold in my hands, from the airplane seat, returned- lacing up my arms, down my stomach and legs. Stabbing my heart and restricting my lungs.

I'm alone.

"I should buy like 4 interchangeable outfits," the whimper barely sounded through the silent tears. I shut the door tight, almost running back to the living room. I sat just outside the ring of light, hunching over my paper. "Jeans, underwear, toothpasTE-" I sniffled but my vision only got blurrier.

"BoOKcASes, a bEd, mayBE a BeAr," my heart squeezed every time my voice broke, and in seconds I couldn't write on the soaked paper. The hiccups were my only air, snot streaking my trembling chin.

"What did I do? What. diD. I DOOO?" I sobbed, wailing into my hands. I curled around a leg of the coffee table, letting its corners cut into my stomach. Wailing until I was dry heaving, scratching my eyes to get rid of these acidic tears, blowing my nose with my shirt- moist blotches sticking to my skin. "Day- Damian" I cried to myself until I passed out again.

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

Afternoons spent silently reading with each other

Matching outfits for galas, some he designed himself, just for me

Our home downtown- bought to have some peace and quiet from his family. Although half the time they broke in, the other half we ended up back in the manor.

Traveling for work, for fun, for missions he didn't think were dangerous.

Sparring with Jason and Cass.

Jason showing me a hundred new bands when I got him into new music genres, trying to help each other find less aggressive ways to vent. Giving him the cream to completely erase the J from his cheek was different, the first time I saw him cry. He understood that blood family wasn't always loyal, and that I didn't mean it when I'd punch or insult someone to hide softer feelings.

Cass just vibing, understanding me and letting me get close. She was always the first to come help me when I was hurt, I became the person she could cry to. The way her face lit up when we were just able to chill a whole night, singing, watching movies and simply understanding each other on a fundamental level.

Barbra growing aggravated as she tried to teach me how to do more with technology than just googling things. Her forgiving my stupidity after I built her a new computer.

The long talks I had with Dick. Anything and everything. The first time hurt, when I called him out. He was giddy and chipper, dramatic as ever but when he caught me staring and stopped for long enough to look back, the pain in his eyes was clear as day. He had just broken up with Kory after all. He didn't need to lie, he didn't need to lighten the mood, he just needed to be honest. But once he could smile honestly again, I couldn't help but remember that he was the one who found out about me and Damian first. He'd been there to spy on our first date, hiding it from Bruce. He was the first to take me out for ice cream then subtly threaten my life if I harmed Damian, the first to swing by for spontaneous days out. To get to know me, to see if I was right for Damian.

Stephanie, Tim and I bonding over teasing and pranking Damian.

Tim and I being forced into caffeine and sleep interventions. Coffee and Coke. And then the beautiful irony of us falling asleep halfway through, especially after I taught him how to sleep with his eyes open.

Cooking with Alfred, learning his famous cookie recipes. Showing him more authentic Hispanic recipes, and him comforting me and being the first to compliment me after I was duped into cooking for the ENTIRE family.

Philosophical and political discussions with Bruce. Talks about war and power, cultural similarities and their origins. Talks about Damian as a child to mess with him. Opening up about paranoia, fear of losing loved ones, the controversies of being "too much" for some people. He understood, sometimes the ultimate sacrifices had to be made in a second. He understood because he was the same. We'd give up our lives before anyone else.

It's all gone.

So much of my past, and now, my whole future.

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

it's cold. i stripped off my shirt and blew my nose.

blood. eww, it's hot. i hold my shirt to my nose, crawling under the table, balling up until i could feel all 4 legs pressing into me.

tuneless humming, watching the room light up until my eyes burn.

I have to pee.

I wash my hands, the water making me aware of my bone dry mouth. My tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth. I let the water pour through my fingers for another minute before walking away, laying back under the coffee table.

long grains. shades of brown. like dead grass. my fingers run over the million tiny bumps watching the wood fade from a blurry brown to a million tiny wooden grains.

My hair is on fire. The sun reaches it from under the table.

There are people in the hallway. They're as loud as the cars outside.

the ac is running. i start humming to drown it out.

i'm melting. i force my eyes to blink but they continue to burn.

I can't breathe. I stagger to the bathroom and after a few minutes of moving my jaw up and down, my mouth manages to open. I swig some water before throwing some on my face. fever? headache at least. I grab a towel to wipe my face, fumbling back into the hall. fuck was i looking directly at the sun? there is only one place colder than the sun. i walk to my bedroom, the cold imperceptible to me now.

but the second i put my eyes directly onto the empty bed frame, i could almost hear them sizzle. it exhausted me. I hadn't realized how hot my face was until i laid it on the floor. like a refreshing bath, calming. i just focused on my heat being transferred to the floor, unaware that I was falling asleep again.

((The writing for the last chapter is intentionally like that, I was attempting to write Rose being in a type of disassociated kind of state; where you aren't aware of time passing, noting seems real, even things in your immediate vicinity. Knowing that you should be doing something, drinking water, changing clothes, listening to music, ANYTHING-but still not doing it. The capitalization/simple sentences and repetition on the latter part was intentional. ))

#I dont know #i guess i wanted to see how/if my writing's changed #YES THIS IS WHERE I GOT THE THING FOR DIAVOLO'S DADS LETTER I REALLY LIKED IT SO I REUSED IT #I couldnt come up with a nice transitory chapter about Rose's friends coming to check on her/ reminding her that she's her own person/#coming back to gotham #BUT THEY DEF DONT GET BACK TOGETHER #not obey me!#NOT OBEY ME #Not OM!#Ozera nonsense

4 notes · View notes

dudeandduchess · 5 years

Text

Sweetest Sin [Rengoku Kyoujuro x F!Reader] Chapter 3

Rating: SFW Characters: Rengoku Kyōjurō x F!Reader Chapters: 5/5 Summary: A written collection of all the times when Rengoku proposed to his then-lover, who eventually gave in and became his wife. Chapter Word Count: 3,167 Tags: Smut, Fluff, Short Series, Fingering, Creampie, Established Relationship, Marriage Proposal, Mild Manga Spoilers (Very mild, I promise), Impregnation, Finger Sucking, Praise Kink, Dirty Talk, Light Dom/sub, Light Bondage, Tsundere Reader, Angst

Note: Hello, everyone! This chapter has a different tone compared to all the other chapters. I guess you can say that it's a bittersweet chapter. So, just a word of caution if you're not feeling up to reading something angsty. Thank you so much for reading! Hope you guys like it. <3

***SFW***

It wasn’t like Oyakata-sama to have made a mistake, so surely (Y/n) believed that he had sent her there for a reason. She had heard that he had the power of foresight, and even if that weren’t true, he would never willingly put her in danger.

‘So there must be a logical reason,’ (Y/n) thought to herself, as she looked up the snowy mountain that used to be her home.

Fear immediately gripped her heart when her crow told her to head to the eternally snow-covered mountain, and she couldn’t help but think that the worst had happened while on her way there.

Because she might have been estranged from her family, but that didn’t mean that she stopped caring about them. And to have been sent there because of a demon attack was enough to shake her to the core.

She had wanted to talk to Rengoku before she left, as she lived close to his home, but he wasn’t there when she arrived at his house. Senjurō was the one who had answered the door and, with a blush, she accepted the letter that her lover had left for her.

In the letter, he said that he had to leave for a mission of his own, and that he regretted not being able to say goodbye to her. But that was usual for him; what was very different with that letter, was the fact that he had included an omamori with it.

She had to suppress a smile when she saw that it was a charm for a healthy pregnancy.

True to her answer, she had been seriously thinking about his proposal. Of course she wanted to get married to him, but she had to figure out a way to make it happen— even without her father’s approval.

And that was when it clicked inside her head: she never would have come back to her home, had Oyakata-sama not sent her there on a mission. So, after steeling her nerves, she marched towards the thicket of trees— back to the little snow-covered town where she grew up.

The trip up the mountain was longer than (Y/n) remembered, or maybe it had to do with the fact that the last time she was there, she had been running down the steep slopes, hand-in-hand with Rengoku.

She could still remember that day like it had just happened yesterday, even though it had already been three years since that day. She was seventeen back then, and very in love with the boy she had practically grown up with.

During the harshest winter storms, she and her siblings— along with their mother— would go down the mountain to live with her mother’s parents; in the same town where the Rengoku family lived.

At first, she tried to avoid the exuberant blond who kept following her around, but he inevitably wore down her defenses and wormed his way into her heart. Years passed and they were practically glued together when (Y/n) stayed with her grandparents.

And eventually, she had to move in with her mother’s parents so that she could get a proper education— which only brought her and Kyōjurō even closer. She thought that the attraction she felt towards him was merely nothing more than that but, eventually he confessed to her and asked her to choose him.

To stay with him, so they could grow old together.

And of course, she pleaded with her father to let her be with Kyōjurō; but things didn’t exactly work out in her favor, so they opted for their last option: to run away together.

They didn’t get very far until (Y/n)’s grandparents and Kyōjurō’s father caught them. But (Y/n) was adamant about staying with her young love, so she was put in her grandparents’ care. Until they passed away three years ago.

She thought that she was going to have to permanently move back to Yukiyama because she would no longer have caretakers, least of all a house to live in, but she was proven wrong when she found her grandmother’s will.

The house and all of their other possessions were all handed down to her. Not her mother, but her.

Because, as her grandmother had said in her letter, she deserved to be happy with someone who loved her just as much— if not more— than she did them.

Slowly, the faintest of smiles tilted up the corners of the (h/c) haired woman’s lips, until it was wiped away by the putrid stench of a demon nearby.

Instantly, (Y/n) got her naginata from where it was strapped across her back, before ducking down into a defensive stance. She didn’t know what kind of demon she was up against, but it couldn’t have been a weak one if Oyakata-sama had to send a Kinoe to dispose of it.

Yet, she was proven wrong when she wrapped up the demon in practically no time at all. One stab at it with the spike at the other end of her naginata did the trick, as the sharp end had a small chamber where it was constantly being fed with wisteria poison.

So, it seemed that she wasn’t there for the demon, after all; but for a much riskier challenge.

The challenge of talking to her father.

(Y/n) wanted to turn tail and run, but was tethered to where she stood by the motivating idea that she could finally say yes to Rengoku, after she finally renounced herself from her family.

It was the only solution she could think of, as securing her father’s approval would be more difficult than defeating Kibutsuji himself.

And so, with a determined stride, she traversed the familiar path towards the temple at the edge of the town.

***

Everything looked to be the same as it was years ago. The courtyard was still well-maintained, and the winter garden crops were still in the same order. It seemed like nothing had changed in the time that (Y/n) was gone; she was the one who had changed.

For a few minutes, she stayed rooted to the spot— just surveying the area and taking every detail she could to her memory; because she knew that it was the last time that she was going to see them. Even if the last memory she was going to have of that place was of it being bathed in moonlight, then she would take it.

“State your name and business,” A chilling voice from behind (Y/n) hissed out. And she, in turn, raised her hands up to the sides to show the person that she meant no harm.

“I’m here to talk to (L/n) Daichi. The name’s-” She was about to utter her own last name, when she remembered that she was there to renounce that last name. So, she went with the next best thing: her future last name, “Rengoku (Y/n).”

The new name left a pleasant tingle on her lips, one which almost made her smile— had it not been for the fact that the tip of a knife was pressed against her back.

“Walk,” The man behind her instructed, and she followed suit— walking towards the main house that she knew like the back of her hand.

The lights were still on, which meant that everyone was still wide awake. It came as a surprise to the (h/c) haired woman, as she used to have a strict lights-out policy enforced upon her when she lived there.

“Seiji-dono,” The stranger called out towards the closed front door. And not even a minute later, the exact male copy of (Y/n) came bounding out of the house in a yukata. It seemed that he was about to turn in for the night, as his hair was already in a top knot— which (Y/n) had taught him all those years ago. “Kneel, woman.”

(Y/n) scoffed at that, before answering, “Why would I kneel to my own brother?”

With that, she quickly whirled around and knocked the knife out of the man’s hands, as it had been getting annoying with the constant poking against her back.

“(Y/n)!?” Immediately, the aforementioned woman was tackled into a tight hug from the side. Seiji tried to gather her closer to him, as if to make up for all the lost years, but she merely smiled and patted his back softly.

She would never tell him, but she had missed him. “You’ve gotten taller, Seiji. How have you been?”

“You’re asking me? I should be asking you that! I haven’t seen you in years!” At that point, tears were streaming down her twin’s cheeks, and it was made more evident by the thickness in his voice. “You just disappeared! You didn’t even say goodbye.”

“Well, I’m here to say goodbye. For good, this time.” The wistfulness in (Y/n)’s tone wasn’t lost on Seiji, who pulled away from her to look into her face. When he saw nothing but seriousness in those features that were identical to his, his expression fell as more tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Why?”

Slowly, a sad smile tugged at the corners of (Y/n)’s lips. She then moved to cup her brother’s face in her hands, and proceeded to wipe his tears away. “You’re still a crybaby, I see.”

“Why are you leaving again?”

“Because I want to marry Kyōjurō. And I can’t do that if tou-san doesn’t give us his approval.”

“(Y/n)…” Seiji’s eyes widened, and his expression fell even more as he stared at his sister. He didn’t want to have been the one to break it to her, but it was necessary at that moment. “Otou-san passed away a year ago.”

Wide-eyed, (Y/n)’s hold on her brother fell until her arms were pressed awkwardly between their bodies. “W-what?”

In response, the younger of the siblings relinquished his hold on his sister, before taking her suddenly-clammy hands in his own. Her hands were even chillier than the snow around them, yet he still pushed himself to tell her what she needed to know. “He suddenly got sick, and he tried to get you so that he could say goodbye, but you always seemed to elude whomever he sent to get you.

“So he gave up on that idea,” Seiji continued, “But he did leave something for you.”

“What about okaa-san?” The words left the woman’s lips in a hushed whisper; as if she was afraid that voicing them out would ultimately give her the answer that she dreaded to hear. “She’s already asleep.” Seiji rubbed her hands to warm them up, before pulling her along with him. “Come in, it’s chilly out here. I’ll prepare some tea for you.”

(Y/n) was stuck in a numb state; she could do nothing but stare blankly down at the cup of tea in her hands, as her brother told her about all that had transpired while she was gone.

Apparently, he had taken over their father’s job as a kannushi, and he and their younger siblings still tended to the place. A handful of aspiring kannushi were employed at the temple as well, and a few of them served as guards at night— especially since the demon attacks started.

And when he had slid over the pristine white envelope bearing their family’s crest, the tears that (Y/n) had felt bubbling up inside her started to prick the backs of her eyes.

With unsteady hands, she picked up the weighty letter and opened it.

Once she unraveled the folded sheets of paper inside, the first page made the tears in her eyes slide down her cheeks.

Because that first sheet was an unfinished marriage registration form for her and Kyōjurō, which bore his seal of approval.

***

The trip back to her home was slow, because she felt her guilt weighing her down— even though her father specifically told her in his letter to not feel guilty for the things she had done.

She had read through the letter so much that she had already memorized it word for word:

My Dearest (Y/n),

I hope this letter finds you well.

Seiji must have already told you what happened to me. You can call it anything you want, but I would like to consider it as karma.

I wasn’t the best father to all of you, and I deserve what I have been dealt. And you have every right to be wary of the men I send to take you back.

But (Y/n), I merely wanted you back so I could apologize for all the wrong things I’ve done. You and your siblings are all special to me, but I never realized it up until it was too late. I was a horrible father, and I will own up to that fault eternally.

Enclosed in this letter is a marriage registration form with my seal on it. That boy, with the flame-hued hair, came by three years ago to ask for your hand in marriage. Of course, being the close-minded man that I was, turned him away and told him never to return.

But he was back the next day, and the day after that.

He was nothing more than a mere low-ranking Demon Slayer, so I thought he would not be able to protect you. But he proved me wrong by coming back as a Hashira. Yet I still said no.

It wasn’t until a month later that I came to realize that he had finally proven himself worthy of you. And this is my way of admitting that I was wrong.

You are not to blame for any of this happening. I hope you will never regret the choices you have made up to this point. Some may say that you have sinned, but to do things that would make you happy, while not hurting anyone, is not a sin.

I’m sorry, my darling daughter, for not being the father you deserved.

With all my love,

(L/n) Daichi

Her father’s words kept running through her mind, which pulled her even deeper into its tight clutches. Her feelings were so suffocating that they were physically weighing her down; making her movements reluctant and sluggish.

She almost wanted to sit by the side of the road to try to compose herself; but the thought of seeing Kyōjurō again and being in his arms motivated her to keep walking.

And when she did manage to arrive at her home, she almost cried at the sight of her lover standing by her front door, with that ever-present smile on his face.

Only, when Rengoku saw the state she was in, his smile immediately dropped, as he hurriedly gathered her in his arms. “What’s wrong, (Y/n)? Are you hurt?”

It wasn’t like (Y/n) to lose her tight leash on her emotions but, at that moment, she couldn’t care less as she let that tight control slip. She wrapped her arms tightly around her lover’s torso, before burying her face in his chest.

Kyōjurō didn’t know what to do. It was the first time that his lover had ever reacted that way, and he was at wit’s end trying to find out what was wrong with her. Instead of pressing her though, he wrapped his arms tighter around her shoulders, then nuzzled his cheek affectionately against the top of her head.

Her tears and quiet sniffles were practically wrenching his heart open, but he knew that he had to let her cry everything out first; before he tried to understand what had her so sad.

His usual enthusiasm and boisterous words of encouragement would have worked on any other person, but not with (Y/n). Despite her tough exterior, the Hashira understood just how delicate the love of his life really was. She didn’t require jovial reassurances, but a gentler approach.

She required his silence and empathy, and he was more than happy to give it to her.

***

“How are you feeling, my Sweet Flame?” Rengoku asked softly, as he set a cup of tea in (Y/n)’s hands. He leaned down to get a better look at her face, and frowned when he saw her puffy eyes, and red-tinged cheeks.

He wanted to make something heartier for her— like nabe— but he didn’t want to risk burning down her kitchen. The full extent of his cooking knowledge ended at tea; and that was only when he was lucky enough to not scorch the tea leaves.

(Y/n) eyed the tea in her hands, before taking a dainty sip and snapping her gaze up to her lover. Softly, in a raspy voice, she commented with the beginnings of a sad smile on her face, “This is horrible, Kyōjurō.”

The Hashira chuckled in turn, then moved to get more comfortable from his seat beside her. “I’m sorry, (Y/n). I’ll try to be better next time, okay?”

Gone was the loud, boisterous tone that Rengoku usually held. And in its place was an equally jovial, but quieter tone, that served to make (Y/n)’s heart race. It was a tone that was reserved only for her, which was pretty damn special in her book.

“What had you so sad earlier?”

(Y/n) hesitated, before setting her tea cup down on the tatami mat and fishing out the folded letter from her right pocket. “It’s from my father.”

Rengoku’s eyes widened at the letter she held out to him but, nonetheless, he accepted the wrinkled envelope and leafed through its contents. His heart raced inside his chest, yet his face was a mask of impassiveness as (L/n) Daichi’s words sank in.

He remembered the strict man perfectly. Only an idiot would forget what such an imposing man looked like. He looked nothing like his daughter, except for those sharp eyes.

A chill ran down his spine at the memory of him practically begging for (Y/n)’s hand in marriage. The (L/n) patriarch had immediately shot his question down, and asked him the very words that urged him to become a Hashira sooner.

‘How would a low-ranking slayer like you be able to protect my daughter? Simply having a blade is not enough; you need the skill to prove it. Come back when you’re actually worthy of her.’

He wasn’t a bad man for wanting to marry his daughter off to someone who was more capable of taking care of her; he was just a father who wanted the best for his daughter.

Rengoku understood that now; and it seemed that (Y/n) did as well.

With a simultaneously heavier and lighter heart, the Hashira folded the letter and stowed it back into its envelope. When he looked up at his lover, it was to see that she had more tears in the corners of her eyes.

And when one of them escaped and rolled down her left cheek, he reached out and wiped it away with his thumb. “Don’t worry, (Y/n). I’ll take care of you.”

“You’ve been doing that for years.”

Rengoku chuckled. “I’ll take better care of you, then.”

At that, a small smile tugged up at the corners of (Y/n)’s lips, which made the Flame Hashira’s heart practically blaze with fire. Even with her tears, she was still the most beautiful person in his world. “I’ll be in your care… goshujin-sama.”

“G-goshujin-sama?” Kyōjurō’s tone rose up in incredulity, which (Y/n) couldn’t help but grin at. “You’ll marry me!?”

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

#kyoujurou rengoku x reader #rengoku kyoujurou x reader #demon slayer rengoku #rengoku kyoujurou #rengoku kyojuro #kimetsu no yaiba fanfic #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer fanfic #demon slayer #kny rengoku #kny x reader #sweetest sin #x reader fanfic

340 notes · View notes

thebisexualdogdad · 4 years

Text

Being Claudia Donovan's brother and dating Steve Jinks

Co written with @inhumanshadows

· You didn't start dating Steve until a year after he joined the team

· For one reason you thought dating a co worker was a bad idea

· And more importantly your sister was his best friend

· And that was another can of worms.

· However after a year... you decided to talk to her about it.

· And by talk you meant “frantically run to her room shouting ‘crisis!”

· "What the hell is wrong with you?"

· "I uh.. Want to ask Steve out on a date"

· "Well finally"

· "You knew i liked him?"

· "Everyone knows dude, even Pete figured it out"

· “Wow... that’s uh... kinda sad honestly...”

· “Yeah... so go ask him out.”

· You asked Steve and out and he happily said yes

· There isn't much to do in south dakota so your first date was just to a dinner in town

· The date was pretty nice. You guys just sat there and tried not to talk about work. But with your job kinda the only thing.

· Then Steve wanted to know about the other cases you guys had before he came along.

· You spent hours telling him all about the dumb shit Pete got into before Steve joined

· And how Claudia accidently magnetized herself to the warehouse

· “Wait wait she what?”

· “Oh yeah. Alessandro Volta’s lab coat. Then there was the time the place almost exploded cause of silly string.”

· You end up kissing him goodnight outside his bedroom at the inn and Pete see's who tells Claudia

· You definitely heard someone scamper down the hall.

· but you didn't care, you just wanted to kiss steve again

· You made out in the hall until Myka left her room to find Leena and stumbled upon you guys

· "Oh come on Myka don't ruin the mood" Pete yells from down the hall

· "Great Pete you ruined our cover" Claudia then yells

· "Claudia, Pete knock it off," you yell at them

· Said guilty parties pop up from around the corner.

· “Really? Really what are we 5?” You ask.

· “It was Pete’s idea!” Claudia points

· “What!!”

· You guys go on a few more dates and eventually have the are we officially boyfriends talk

· You’re laying in your room, away from the nosey coworkers and family.

· “So... boyfriends?” You ask.

· Steve nods. “You know Claudia had a pot going for how long it would take you to ask me out?”

· “I’m gonna kill her....”

· Nobody ships you guys more than Pete not even Claudia

He's always trying to set up cute moments for you two

· Like putting up the mistletoe on christmas

· “Haha very fun Claudia...” you say, pointing to aforementioned plant.

· “Wasn’t me I swear. You guys are cute but I don’t need to see my brother and bestie sucking face.”

·"Where's Pete"

· "Damn i was so close"

· You shake your head and give Steve a quick peck.

· Pete: “aww I missed it.”

· One of the perks of dating another warehouse agent is getting to see the world with him

· Granted most of those involve artifact related high jinks and chaos. Of course you claudia and Steve are a team.

· Which means many times your delightful sister has gone “hey lovebirds! Artifact!”

· Claudia now makes Artie book her a room on a separate floor after the incident where she could hear you guys going at it next door through the thin hotel room walls

· Josh is very nonchalant about his younger siblings dating

· When he met Steve it was just alright cool and that's it

· You look to Steve “Relax. He’s telling the truth.”

· double dates with Myka and HG often

· Going out for drinks and having to help HG carry a tipsy Myka home

· Or HG casually dropping that she knows whatever historical figure Steve brings up

· She’s like “[insert historical name here] Very homosexual. Revolving door of men.”

· Arties like a dad, the moment he sees you kiss even just a peck he looks away

· You wear Steve’s jacket and artie is like “is that new?” Pete and Claudia : “it’s steves.”

· Or having to hurry to get dressed in the morning for a mission and not realizing you're wearing each other clothes until later

· You guys have a break and you realize you got your pants right but shirt and jacket and even your underwear once got swapped

· You and Claudia tried to throw a surprise birthday party for Steve and it was a disaster

· There was screaming and flying cake. but it did end in laughter

· And Steve pretended like he didn't know but he secretly got Pete to tell him days ago

· You find out while you and Steve share a shower. “Pete Really told you....”

· “Yes. But I appreciate the effort.”

· You and Steve are always trying to set Claudia up on dates

· You also debated tracking down Todd

· "I do not need help finding a boyfriend"

· "And how long have you been single for again?"

· "Shut it"

· “What was that? T-t-two years?”

· “I’ll murder you...”

· You and Steve end up getting a dog who becomes the team dog

· You guys come home and announce “trailer has a brother!”

· You got him mainly because you were jealous that Artie was trailers favorite

· He’s a corgi named Max

· You guys spoil him, he has so many toys and everyone always sneak him treats

· He’s your little loaf. And myka wants to steal him

· He's a bandana boy with a rotating attire

· He even has a pride bandana that Pete got him

· "What kind of gays are you not even getting your pet a pride outfit"

·“We have you pete. We knew you’d do something.”

· “Oh yay! Points for uncle Pete.”

· When you get hurt Steve drops everything to nurse you back to health

· He’s a mother hen and goes a bit overboard but it comes from places of love.

· Max's new home is your chest when you get hurt

· "Did i just get replaced by the dog?"

· "Babe there's enough space for both of you"

· He's such a cuddler

· Claudia Totally secretly plans a wedding

· And denies the hell out of it

· "Claud, Steve and i aren't planning on getting married for many many years"

· "You can never be too prepared bro"

· Pete: “especially in our line of work!” “See pete gets it!”

· Oh boy. Steve’s mom meeting you.

· She won't stop telling Steve how handsome you are

· And she’s just so happy. Steve is blushing and hoping she doesn’t bring up any stories

· And she sneaks Steve the family ring

· "For when you're ready dear, I know you're gonna marry that man one day"

· Meanwhile you’re over by the family photos. “Is this you in high school?!? You had BLUE HAIR??!”

· "The teenage angst was real in high school"

· "Oh god i can't believe you had a nose ring"

· His mom is like: “he had his he combat boots and eyeliner too...” “ma!!” “Please go on!!” Steve: “what have I done...

· You feel bad so you share some of your own embarrassing stories from high school

·“I once got caught making out with the coach's son

· "No way"

· "Yeah i got banned from the locker room"

· “What else?”

· “Um... can’t tell that one in front of your mother... oh I once made got into class through a three story high window”

· "You could have gotten seriously hurt"

· "I was 16 i wasn't thinking"

· “Unbelievable.”

· “Oh come on. You have to have done stupid stuff

·"I guess i did ride a skateboard into a pool once..."

· “A full pool” His mom tacks on.

· “Ma!”

· Vacations with Steve are tough because he's constantly checking his phone for an artifact sos

· You helped Claudia build more tiny artifact ping things and have them on your person.

· "Steve we're on a beach in the Bahamas, they can handle the warehouse for one week without us"

· “I know... I just... you know?”

· “I do... and I get it. But right now you and I are on mandatory vacation so let’s enjoy it.”

· You make Steve turn his phone off and take a long walk along the beach

· That walk is empty enough for the occasional ass grab from you.

· Once Steve truly starts to relax you guys explore the island taking in all the information the tour guides give you

· You guys spend the rest of the first day getting ideas on what to do. Now you’re back in the hotel room. You decide to shower, now covered in sand.

· one of the days you found out there's a hot surfer giving paddle boarding sessions

· After your paddle boarding lesson you returned to your room both you and Steve blushing about how hot the guy was

· “Can I just say that instructor was very hot!! Not as hot as you Steve but...”

· "That was one gorgeous man, think we should try to set him up with Pete?"

· "Honey Pete is straight"

· "You sure about that?"

· You think for a minute. “Well... now that you mention it....”

· You keep that idea on the backburner as you grab the phone to order some room service

· "Tomorrow's the last day what do you want to do?"

· “Honestly? Let's relax here maybe get a massage and then order in.”

· The next day you do as Steve suggests and just relax

· You sleep in and have lunch

· Get a couples massage and end the day with one last walk on the beach

· At the end of the walk Steve stops you before you return to the room

· "Y/N there's something i want to talk about"

· "What's that?"

· "Us"

· “Okay... should I be worried?”

· “No! No! Nothing like that.

· "What is it then?"

· "You know i love you and i want to spend the rest of my life with you"

· "This is sounding like a proposal Jinksy"

· "Don't worry I'm not proposing, we're not ready for that right now but one day I want to"

· You smile. “I’d like that too... one day... that isn’t today.”

· “I love you Y/N.”

· “Love you too Jinksy”

· "Wait till Claudia finds out"

· "I'm more worried about Pete, he's been waiting for the engagement since our first date"

· "We really need to set him up with the hot surfer"

· "Yes, yes we do"

#warehouse 13 imagine #steve jinks imagine #steve jinks x reader #headcanons #co write #co written

32 notes · View notes

ichor-and-symbiosis · 5 years

Note

I could imagine Tenko being the type of guy who want to keep his dad happy even if it mean being depress And than one day during college he met pro-hero around his age. They began to date and he slowly drift away from his father. Maybe he moves in with her, they secretly gets married, and they move to live aboard. Tenko became estrange from his father but still have some contact with his mother (and only her). I could also imagine Kotaro hating his Daughter-in-law because she’s a hero. Roughidea

you’ve activated my trap card and now i am obligated to talk about this, let’s gggooooooo

- tenko would absolutely be the type to submit to his father’s will. he may have been rebellious about it as a child, but once his quirk appears, he is absolutely terrified of his own potential. this creates a difficult situation - on one hand, tenko’s compliance puts his father in a better mood, but on the other hand, kotarou does everything in his power to shame his son into never using his quirk, never speaking about it, never showing it to anyone, etc. it’s not that he is against quirks like he is about heroes, but tenko’s quirk is particularly dangerous, and his father wants to ensure everyone’s safety.

- but consider how poor tenko feels now that he has a quirk? he wants to be a hero, and now that he has this ability, he is somehow even further from his goal. because his father tells him that this quirk is far too dangerous and villainous for use, and none of his family disputes this view. tenko can see it in their eyes. no matter how cheery they try to appear, he can see the flashes of fear when he reaches out for a hug, or when he craves some kind of physical contact. i think only his mother would offer him this comfort. she reached out to him when she was disintegrating, so i can see how she would uphold her unconditional love in this au as well.

- and so he grows up without his own ambitions, stifled by his father’s control and unable to do anything about it. there are dark moments when he wishes he could run away or stand up for himself, but he’s learned long ago that this is not a possibility. he has stood up for himself a few times, but they always ended in his mother being blamed for being too soft on him, for encouraging his behavior with her kindness instead of remaining firm and disciplined like kotarou. so tenko stopped, because he couldn’t bear seeing his mother suffering for his outbursts.

- his relationship with hana is one of ebb and flow. it took her a while to stop fearing him after he accidentally killed mon-chan, and even longer for her to feel at ease around him. they eventually put the past behind them when they are teenagers, and regain the bond they once shared. but hana’s bias against heroes and quirks shines through, because she was heavily influenced by their father, with tenko as a living example of what can go wrong. they can never truly trust each other, but they do still love each other.

- ENTER. HERO READER!

- tenko didn’t even know you were a hero. he’s seen you frequent the same coffee shop he visits right before class, and he thinks you are so attractive but he struggles to muster up the courage to talk to you. after all, he isn’t conventionally handsome by any stretch of the imagination (to him), and he wouldn’t even be able to touch you properly. but you caught on - you noticed this stranger throwing you shy looks from time to time. tenko pays for your drink once in advance (the barista points discretely to him with a conspiratorial smile). you blatantly stare at him as the barista explains what happened, and he’s sitting there in his usual spot in an alcove and he has this adorably panicked expression once he dares to glance at you. so you buy some pastries (praying he likes sweets, and to your luck, he loves them), and join him at his table. and the rest is history.

- he falls for you almost instantly. you are so beautiful and charming and kind, his mind is just reeling from how wonderful you are. nothing makes him happier than to spend time with you, away from the strained atmosphere of his home, away from all the judgement, away from everything. but he is still so afraid to admit the truth to you, and that is what keeps him from admitting his feelings for you altogether.

- one day, something happens. something that causes him to activate his quirk in front of you. as he stares at the decay, all he can think about is how much he hates himself, how you would hate him for being an ugly liar. he is suffocating from the fear and self-loathing and he can’t even look at you, he’s practically spiraling into a panic attack. but you just place your hands on his cheeks, wipe away the tears, and tell him how incredibly cool that shit was. it was so cool and you can’t stop gushing his quirk with a big smile on your face and he can’t even process what you’re saying. he just can’t.

- you’ll have to work hard to convince him that you meant every word you said. when you tell him all the ways his quirk could be used to help people (get rid of rubble in rescue situations, tear down walls and sneak in to end a hostage situation), he can only scoff and bitterly reveal the truth about his family. how much of an overbearing influence his father had always been, how his family feared him, how he’s always been told that he has no future in heroism and shouldn’t even try. and your anxiety is growing by the minute, because you are a hero. and when you tell him your truth, neither of you know what to do.

- the sensible thing to do would have been to go your separate ways. but by this point, your feelings for each other have grown too quickly and too electric, and despite knowing what disaster awaits for this relationship, you are drawn to each other. you are his biggest source of comfort, his pillar of support, his everything.

- you keep this relationship secret for a while before tenko just can’t help giving away subconscious hints. his family notices the subtle changes in his mood and demeanor. he is so much happier and smiles more, and when hana pesters him about it, he can’t help reveal that he is dating you (and absolutely does not mention you are a hero). that’s his sister, after all. they are still confidantes to each other in some ways. and hana is absolutely ecstatic, because her little brother is finally seeing someone! and ya’ll know she won’t keep this a secret from anyone. his mother finds out immediately after hana because she comes barreling towards the kitchen with this reveal. kotarou finds out last, when tenko decides to tell him on his own terms. tenko thinks this will be a disaster, but his father is surprisingly supportive about it (he even pats his son on the shoulder my god). except when he finds out you are a hero.

- kotarou, without a shadow of a doubt, absolutely despises you after that. he wants to understand your angle — are you trying to worm your way into the family because of his wealth? are you trying to corrupt his son just for the hell of it? he can’t stand you, he doesn’t want you anywhere near his son. he is cold and unwelcoming to you every step of the way, and will immediately sit you and tenko down for a serious talk about your relationship. hana is polite and kind, but she ultimately sides with her father, just as the grandparents do. tenko’s mother is the most willing to accept you for who you are, and she will try to speak to kotarou in private about his behavior and how he should give you a chance. she never succeeds.

- of course tenko is devastated by his family’s reaction to you. mortified, even. you both cycle through periods of intense devotion to each other and uncertainty. you don’t want to drive him away from his family, and tenko somewhat internalizes the points his father brought up about the dangers of your profession. but at the end of the day, he just can’t stay away from you. you have brought him indescribable happiness and peace. more importantly, you validate him in ways he’s always dreamed of, and he can never let that go.

- tenko’s refusal to break up with you furthers the divide between him and kotarou. the tension between them hasn’t been this terrible since his childhood. his mother, however, is secretly rooting for you two. she meets with you in secrecy one day just to get to know you, and she is so welcoming and warm and you suddenly understand where tenko gets his sweet personality from. she even thanks you for accepting her son the way he is.

- his animosity towards his father escalates to the point where he moves in with you and never even looks back. he doesn’t want to leave his mother and grandparents in that house, but he can’t keep living like this anymore. and the peace he finds with you is just … everything he’s ever wanted. no more fights, no more fear, no more stifled anger, no more flinching at slamming doors, none of that. just you and him and solitude.

- marriage! you try to make the best of the situation and invite tenko’s family. surely they would come, surely they would put aside their prejudice to join you two for this momentous occasion. except kotarou adamantly refuses to attend. he almost succeeds in keeping everyone else away from attending, too, but this is when hana puts her foot down. he does not go to his only son’s wedding, and the absence is profound and it hurts.

- when tenko makes one last attempt for reconciliation and calls his father to tell him that you are pregnant, this is the breaking point. what was meant to be a joyous occasion quickly turns sour as kotarou coldly tells tenko that he did not care about his child if he allowed you to continue being a hero, because a hero being a parent would only bring suffering to the family. tenko does not speak to his father for years after this conversation. kotarou is not welcome anywhere near your home or children, and he is just fine with that. he is done trying to protect his son and grandchildren from the future he himself was forced to endure due to nana shimura.

- you live a damn good life together. there are moments of hardship, but you are both alive and well, and remain madly in love. i can picture kotarou on his deathbed in his later years, thinking about the choices he’s made in his life. how he drove his son away, and whether it was worth it in the end. the fact that his predictions did not come true are a stinging reminder of how selfish he had been. he requests tenko to come visit him, because the old man has regrets, but how can you even begin to repair all the damage that’s been done? “was it worth it?” tenko would ask him. kotarou wants to believe it was. but he knows he made monumental mistakes.

#shigaraki #shigaraki tomura #shigaraki/reader #shigaraki x reader #shimura tenko #tenko shimura #bnha #mha #this became so focused on kotarou oops #anyway i love this au so much

172 notes · View notes

robbiekaysfavoritelostgirl · 5 years

Text

The Hybrid: Part Five

Find all the parts HERE

Pairing: Jacob Black x Cullen

Edward Cullen x Jessica Cullen

Edward Cullen x Bella Swan

Plot: You are the last witch of your kind, you were turned after you vampire father decided to get back at your mother. In a effort to throurt him your grandmother transferred the magic of the entire coven over to you, so that when you woke a vampire you would have access to your magic but had the speed, heightened senses and immortality . After a century you meet Carlisle and agree to join his family. Everyone thought that you and Edward were going to end up married until he met Bella. You were left heartbroken until you meet a certain wolf.

Fandom: Twilight

A/n: So this is what inspired my story “The Hybrid” so I had to do it. Also the pairing only refers to the certain part. The pairings crossed out are the ones that will come in another part. The majority of this series will take place during Eclipse. Please note that everything in italics is a flashback.

Important! I have made some changes to parts three and two, they are minor but important. So you do not have to re read them, unless you want too, I will briefly explain. After some thinking I decided that the twins are going to be equally as powerful. Which means that Jessica is also a shape shifter and Nik can us magic just as well as his sister. Demetri will also be playing a key role but I go into more detail in this imagine. You will also get to see just how powerful the twins are.

Rosalie's P.o.v

“Despite what everyone may be thinking, she wasn’t mad.” Jasper whispered softly, sighing when our family turned to glare at him. “She was, is actually, terrified. I don’t know what Demetri has done, but whatever it is, it has her and Niklaus, scared stiff. I think she reacted impulsively. I could feel that in that moment she, for some reason, felt trapped, she did the only thing she could think of that would allow her to leave without doing anyone any harm.”

“Of course she’s terrified. What Demetri did to her family, it’s beyond horrific.” Emmett sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before turning to look at me. “I think it’s time we tell them.” I nodded, taking an unneeded breath before facing out family.

“You know of course, the story of how they were turned, or at least as much as they remembered. What you don’t know is what happened before and it is now important that you do understand. Demetri had tried to get to them but, due to their covens magic, was unable to. Instead he began to weaken the spell that kept him out by luring members of the coven out to him. He didn’t kill them, what he did was much worse. He took his time with the whoever he caught, they learned this when the soul of one of his victims came to them to warn them.’

‘ The victim, a young witch named Emily told them everything. How he would harm her, being sure to draw blood, for days. How he would break her bones just so she couldn’t run. The whole time he gloated about the others, how he would continue this attack until he was able to reach them. This last for several months, every week another would go missing and then their spirit would show up, explaining the horrors they endured. Their fear it isn’t for them, it for us. They are both afraid of what he will do to us if he ever found them. The fact that he now knows where they are is their worst nightmare come true. Add in the fact they know he won’t harm them because of Aro, only makes it worse.”

“Why turn Edward into a ferret then? Esme asked, holding the snow white ferret that was my brother carefully against her chest.

“My guess, she knew that unless she did something, we wouldn’t have let her leave, not when was is that upset. So she did the only thing she could think of. I mean a few hours ago she was laughing to the point of tears over some teacher turning a student into a ferret in whatever Harry Potter book she’s reading.”Emmett answered, smiling softly as he remembered the sounds of her laughter. Carlisle opened his mouth to speak but stopped as a large barn owl flew into the room. Seconds later Nik was standing in the middle of the room, ignoring us as he quickly gathered clothes, throwing them into a bag that he then sat on the window seat.

“Nik..” Esme began, moaning when he only turned once more into the own and soared out the open window, this time with a bag of clothing hanging from his talons. In the distance there was a hoot and Edward the ferret was no more. Esme dropped him at once, breathing a sigh of relief before turning back Emmett and I. “Will they come back?”

“Eventually. Emmett and I will go see them in the morning, hopefully by then Jacob and Niklaus will have managed to calmed Y/n down.”

“Not that it matters. They would never turn either of you into a damn animal.” Edward mumbled, scowling as he came back out, fully clothed.

“It could have been worse.” Alice chirped, clearly trying to lighten the mood. “They could have left you like that until Y/n was able to see reason.”

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

Niklaus’s P.o.v

I wasn’t at all surprised to see that Jacob had his window open and that a large snowy owl was sitting on the edge of his bed, hooting softly at him. I rolled my eyes as I soared the window, dropping the bag at Jacob’s feet. At once he bent and opened it, tossing me the pant I had thrown in just as I landed on his floor.

“Sorry about this, between our grandmother and Edward she is both terrified and angry.” I sighed as I pulled my pants on, reaching out to turn him around. The moment our backs were turned Y/n shifted, she was still scared and angry enough that her magic was rolling off her in waves.

“You turned him back didn’t!” She demanded, her voice low enough so it wouldn’t wake Billy.

“Well one of us had too! What do you want to keep Edward as a ferret for the rest of his life?” I asked, growling as Jake tried to turn his head.

“What the hell is going on?”Jake asked, ignoring me completely as he turned around. Thankfully Y/n was dressed, she choose a pair of plaid pajama pants and a tank top. The moment Jake had turned she was in his arms, shaking with silent sobs. He stared at me with wide eyes over his head as I quickly began to explain. As I did Jake moved both him and Y/n to the bed, pulling her onto lap and cuddling his against. Y/n sniffed softly, closing her eyes as Jake began to play with her hair.

“Edward put you both in danger?” He repeated, his arms tightening around Y/n as if they would be enough to protect her from Demetri.

“Unintentionally but yeah. However despite everything, there may be a way we can hide from him.” I frowned as Y/n cut me off, her voice thick with emotion.

“What are you talking about? Nana said herself..”

“That she wasn’t sure if we could.” I cut her off quickly, shaking my head as she began to interrupt again. “I know nana knows a lot, but this is new and completely out of her territory of knowledge. Remember what Jasper said about the new borns? That they are strongest that first year because they still had their human blood running through them, and that afterwards, when it’s gone they are just as strong as a normal vampire. Well it got me thinking, we can’t use our magic against our blood but if, say someone no longer had it.”

“Then we may be able to.” She whispered, relief flooding her features. “Can we talk about this more tomorrow? All I want to do is cuddle with Jacob and go to sleep.”

“Sure thing. Is it okay if I sleep in your sisters room?” I asked. “I would say we would go home but something tells me I am not getting her out of here without a fight.”

“Sure, it’s right across the hall.” Jake muttered, his attention still fixed on Y/n, who had wormed herself free of his embrace to move over to hug me.

“Good night Nik.” She sang, kissing my cheek before turning back to Jake, who had quickly gotten up and back into bed, clearly as exhausted as the Y/n and I. At once she crawled in beside him, curling herself into his side as he threw the blanket over them both.

“Night guys.” I chuckled, smiling at the sight of them. If it wasn’t Jake, who looked like he was a blind man seeing the sun for the first time every time she came into view, I never would have left. Since it was though, I shut the door quietly behind me, confident in knowing that my sister was safe.

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

Your p.o.v

If Billy was surprised to see Nik and I sitting at his kitchen table, he hid it well. Instead he simply smiled at us both and joined us. Jake sent me a warm smile as he got his father some breakfast, Nik had woken up before us and made bacon, eggs and homefries along with coffee.

“Well you can stay here as long as you want.” Billy laughed as Jake placed a mug of coffee and his breakfast in front him. Shaking his head, he carefully pulled me up from my chair, sitting in before pulling me back onto his lap. I smiled and snuggled in against his chest, loving the way he kept one warm hand pressed against my hip.

“What are the plans for today?” Billy asked, smiling as Jake pressed a careful kiss to my shoulder.

“I am going to show them around La Push.” Jake explained, reaching past with his free hand to snag a piece of bacon. “Then I’m not sure.”

“Ahh well I hope you all fun. I will be going fishing with Charlie.”

The rest of breakfast past in silence, the only sound the scrapping of forks against the plate and then the gentle sound running water as Jake and I silently did the dishes, just enjoying being so close to one another. It was peaceful, but that peace was broken the moment we were all in Jake’s Rabbit.

“So I’ve been doing something. I think Nik has a point, about the whole your magic being able to stop him. I mean he still a threat as are the rest of the Italian blood suckers, but..”

“But it may not be a death sentence.” I finished, biting my lip as I nodded. “I just wish that there was a way to TEST it, to know for sure if our magic can protect us from him, to know for sure that we can protect ourselves and everyone else.”

“So do I. If we can test it, to be sure.” Nik started, shaking his head as if to shake off some thought. “But we can’t. So I say we just act like we can. Put up a spell that will alert us if Demetri or the Volturi leave Italy, I am sure you know one and then take it by year.”

“I know one but.. well I’ve never used it so I am not sure it will work the right way.”

“Try it on someone then.” Jake suggested, reaching out to grab my hand in his own. I smiled as his large hand engulfed mine, something that I would never stop enjoying. I smiled at the idea and nodded, knowing that this was the best way to figure it out. Sighing I closed my eyes and pulled a picture of Rose. Once I had it, I muttered the words, which were in some language that has long since died out. I knew it worked at once, because there was a silver cord connecting us, vibrating softly.

“Right.” I exclaimed, opening my eyes to grin widely at my two favorite people.”Should Rose leave today, we’ll know...” I was cut off by a sharp jab from the line connecting Rose and I. I had barely time to blink before I was no longer seeing the road in front us. Instead I was at home, watching as Rose and Emmett slipped into the car. A route flashed in mind, showing me just where she was headed. As quickly as it came, it left, leaving me feeling light head but pleased.

“What just happened?” Jake asked, his voice so full of concern that it instantly felt bad for causing it.

“Everything is okay, the spell works. Rose is on her way to the boarded. No doubt to scream at me for losing my temper last night.”

“Did you want to go back?” Nik asked, chuckling when I instantly shook my head.

“No I want to see Sam and Emily and then go see La Push. My scolding can wait.”

“Good because honestly, I really didn’t want to leave. I don’t know why, but I woke up this morning with the feeling that I should not leave La Push.”

“Well, seeing as you two are witches, I say we don’t ignore any feelings, especially ones that are telling you not to do something.” Jake laughed, turning to smile brightly at me.

“You just like it because it means she is staying.” Nik joked, earning a playful eye roll from Jake.

“No because who said that I would be leaving her. If she didn’t want to stay here, I would go to your place.”

“Like I would want to leave La Push.” I giggled. “I like it hear, it’s beautiful. Plus I have always been happiest close to water.”

“Sure and the fact that your boyfriend is here.”

“We need to find him a girlfriend. Maybe he won’t be so annoying then.” I joked, laughing as Nik playfully slapped the back of my head.

“Hey I am all for it. No more chaperones.”

“No it would simply mean double dates. You don’t get rid of me that easily Jacob.”

“Worth a shot.”

#jacob black #jacob black imagines #jacob black x reader #twilight saga #twilight #twilight imagines

44 notes · View notes

gohan111111 · 4 years

Text

This is Jasper Anthony White, son of Persephone. He is my first Riodanverse OC. Here is some stuff you need to know about him.

Age- 17

Birthday- October 19, 2002

Eye color- Brown

Hair color- Black with Electric Blue tips

Height- 5'5 feet

Sexuality- Gay

Likes- Anime, Video games, Nature, Reading

Dislikes- Worms and Alcohol

Romantic Interest- Connor Stoll

Maternal Siblings

Nico Di Angelo (step-brother)

Bianca Di Angelo (step-sister) deceased

Hazel Levesque (step-sister)

Paternal Siblings

Cole Lee White ( 5 year old half-brother)

Mortal Parents

Brandon Lee White (Biological Father)

Mary Rene White (Paternal step-mother)

This story inculdes abuse. Read at your own risk.

Here is Jasper's story. After his mother Persephone gave birth to him and left his father, Brandon was left to take care of his new born son alone. He was doing well, until Jasper was around 4. Jasper's father, Brandon, fell into a deep depression and turned to alcohol to cope. He would often come home after work drunk. In his drunken rage he would beat Jasper until he (Brandon) would eventually pass out. Jasper would then, do his best to patch himself up.

It then go to the point where he would beat Jasper even when he wasn't drunk, saying the reason his mother left was because of him.

Around the time Jasper was 7 his Dad married a nice lady by the name of Mary. She was very nice to Jasper and he even started to call her Mom. Mary never didn't find out about the abuse for years, she just thinking that Jasper was a very clumsy child. Whether at school ot at home, Jasper would always have his nose in a book or be would be playing video games. He always did fairly well in school, making A's and B's.

When Jasper was 12, his father and Step-mother had a baby boy named, Cole Lee White. Jasper just adored his baby brother. He swore to protect him, the moment he say him at the hospital. A couple months later, when Cole was taking a nap and Mary was out grocery shopping, Jasper came hom from school to see his Dad sitting in the recliner. He looked pissed. Jasper tried to sneak past his father to his room but his father heard him and strode over to Jasper.

Jasper dropped his bag and attempted to make a run foe the door, but his father grabbes his arm and pulles him back. He turned Jasper to face him and pushed him to the ground. Brandon threw punch after punch at Jasper as Jasper curled into a ball to protect his head, while crying and whimpering. As his father was slowing down, the front do open and Mary was standing there. When whe saw what was gpingg on she dropped the groceries she was holding and marched over to Brandon and some how pulles him off of Jasper.

This pissed Brandon off even more. He grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against the wall. "Run Jasper!" Mary choked out. Jasper ran out the door and down the staira as his father started to choke his wife. When Jasper made it to the lobby, all baddered and bruised, he ran up to the person behind the lobby desk and told him to call the police and he explained everything. As soon as the police arrived, a group stormed up stairs and a lady took Jasper outside to an ambulance where they checked him over and patched him up. By the time they were done with him, his step-mother came down with an officer on either side of her, holding his little brother. Two more officers came down with his father in hand cuffs and stuffed him into a police car.

He lived with his step-mother full time until he was taken to Camp half-blood when he was 14, then living with her during the school year. During his first month at camp he started to realize he was attracted to men instead of women. He realized this when he started to develop and huge crush on a certain trickster, son of Hermes. Connor Stoll. Everyone new for a fact that he was not a child of Hermes, he was way to shy for that, but he stayed in the Hermes cabin like all the other unclaimed demi-gods at camp.

When he was 15, Jasper finally worked up the courage to ask Connor out on a date. He was so nervous. He walked right up to Connor and blurted it out. "Would you go on a date with me?!" Of course Connor laughed it off and agreed. A couple days later, they started dating. They have been together ever since. Over the years even though he didn't know thst Nico was his step-brother he got very close to Nico. When Jasper finally got claimed by his mother Persephone, everyone was surprised.

It was a couple of months after the 2nd Titan war. He was sitting next to Connor at the campfire, laying his head on Connor's shoulder with his eyes closed, while Connor had his arm around him. He didn't notice anything until the Apollo kids stopped singing and started to stare at him. Everyone looked at Jasper. Connor then looked himself. "Hey Jas? Can you look above your head for sec?" Connor asked him. Jasper looked up and above his head glowing pink was a pomegranate. Chiron rose and said, "Jasper, son of Persephone."

From then on since Persephone didn't have a cabin it was decied that he would sleep in the Hades cabin with Nico. As of now he is finishing high school and figuring out what he wants to major in when he goes to New Rome University in the Fall. Him and Connor are happy. His step-mom and little brother are fine and living their lives with him and he couldn't have a better life at the moment. Let's hope nothing goes wrong.

So, guys if you like Jasper nad want me to make stories with him, I would be glad to.

#percy jackson #demigod #heros of olympus #trials of apollo #camp half-blood #percy jackson oc #connor stoll #persephone #oc #riodanverse #riodanverse oc

7 notes · View notes

minetteskvareninova · 5 years

Text

How the GoT ends for to me

(Because I refuse to admit anything after 8x03 is cannon the same way many people refuse to acknowledge The Cursed Child.)

- Tyrion and all the other smart people (maybe Varys Davos and Sansa?) cook up the plan of the final attack

- First few weeks noone does anything, while Cersei plans the destruction of Targaryen forces. Daenerys takes a vacation to Essos, allegedly to deal with some made-up trouble, and Varys makes sure Cersei knows about that.

- Yara captures the Iron Islands, and Euron goes there to deal with her. Cersei lets him go, since she thinks she has time. Dornish attack him from back and Yara kills him herself.

- Bronn still comes North to murder Jaime and Tyrion, and they also offer him The Reach. However, they also ask him for something else - to go kill Cersei. Bronn obviously doesn’t want to risk his life for them, especially not by going against The Mountain, so The Hound offers himself to protect him, “to die for greater good when this c***t doesn’t want to”.

- Notherners pretend Bronn has been successful and maybe even have a fake funeral for Jaime and Tyrion. Bronn comes to King’s Landing as a Cersei’s man and meets up with her, bringing masked Sandor with him, claiming he’s the sort of man she might need. Cersei, desperate for some reliable lackeys, meets up with both of them, and they off both her and The Mountain.

- Ellaria Sand, as well as other prisoners, are given freedom, but Ellaria completely lost her mind in the meantime, which pisses off Daenerys, but people responsible for that are already dead, so there’s nothing she can do. Something happens to Quiburn, I don’t know what because I don’t give a shit about Quiburn. Maybe he survives and later tries with Dany to hatch eggs Drogon later lays? That would be cool. Golden Company just kind of fucks off? There’s noone to pay them and nothing to do, so I can’t imagine what they would do.

- Jon and Daenerys decide to get married after Sansa (of course, Jon still tells her) threatens to spill the beans, but their relationship has been soured ever since, so it’s just a political match, at least at first. Jon becomes Jon Aegon Targaryen, but everyone calls him just King Jon. Daenerys eventually has to return to Essos temporarily and will probably swing between continents for the rest of her life. In the meantime, Westeros is in the hands of Jon&co.

- I don’t know whether Jon would get over the incest thing, let alone whether this relationship would work in the long run. I guess so - these two just have a lot in common. At any rate, this would be a boring marriage, because Jon is overall a boring guy. Also, Daenerys has a baby. It’s a girl named Visenya (for Viserion). Yes, only one, because only one of her dragons has died. Maybe she decides to sacrifice one of her dragons for an heir? There’s a lot of story potential here, along with the future of dragons! At any rate, Ghost lives in capital with Jon, but if he wasn’t doing well down south, Sansa would take care of him as her new direwolf.

- At any rate, Jon is officially a Targaryen, but loves his Stark relatives and still calls them brother and sisters.

- Westeros is a complete mess after all those wars, anarchy and thugs everywhere. So the criminality has to be dealt with and it’s gonna be a lot of work.

- Stormlands are being ripped apart by power-hungry local lords, because their liege lord was long gone and Cersei had other things to worry about. Gendry is thus legitimised by Jon and given the title of lord of the Stormlands. Because he knows nothing about ruling, Jon sends Davos to mentor him and take care of the lords and various outlaws.

- The North is ruled by Sansa, obviously. She later fall in love with and marries Tyrion, but they only spend together a part of year, because he is in the Small Council and helps Jon rule. Jon seeks her advice a lot and when Daenerys returns, she has to admit Sansa is pretty good when it comes to administrative and court politics (especially since Daenerys considers the normal administrative stuff boring and focuses on big things). The two have kind of a frenemy relationship and work together for the good of the realm as The Queen In The North (a nickname, not an offical title) and The Dragon Queen, with King Jon as a peacemaker in case of a conflict. The North isn’t independent, but gets more authonomy than other lands, because they were the ones who had to fight the white walkers. Sansa and Tyrion have many children, who officially take their father’s name, but are so thoroughly northern people start to call them Lannistarks, which eventually sticks so much it becomes the official family name. They get a new sigil, probably something with a direwolf and lion.

- Arya Stark dates Gendry for several months, but when he is made the lord of Stormlands and asks her to come there with him, with the obvious implication of getting married there, she gets cold feet and with embarks on a journey with a few other people (Yara? They’d surely be besties. Tormund and wildlings? Maybe.) to the lands beyond former Wall, where they would explore whether Lands Of Always Winter are still there, what is the climate and wildlife situation there and most importantly, whether there is anything new to learn about the white walkers, since Jon is haunted by a possibility they might not be completely gone (since they are so mysterious and all). Bran helps them with all that exploration, warging into animals and going into past. In the end, she returns and decides she’s quite ready to settle, having seen and experienced in twenty years more than other people do in life, and marries Gendry, but doesn’t become a typical lady and still fights, helping her husband deal with outlaws and being sent by Jon on all sorts of secret missions.

- Jaime and Brienne get married and he becomes a stay-home dad, also taking care of the administrative in Westerlands and Tarth, while she is off being a knight. (I think Jaime’s old enough for retirement. Give him a break.)

- Varys stays Varys and is very smart and very useful as a spymaster, do you hear me D&D?! After he dies, his considerable wealth is given to the poor, probably trough some kind of charity organization.

- Missandei and Grey Worm stay in Essos and rule the cities in Daenerys’ absence. Missandei eventually earns considerable respect after dealing with all sorts of trouble and is treated as a second queen. She decides to not retire, unless Grey Worm dies (and maybe not even after that, because her queen needs her? IDK), since if she returned to Naath, she would have to leave him. You see, you can’t stay on Naath for long, because foreigners tend to get this illness called butterfly fever, and since Grey Worm isn’t from Naath... She visits the island several times, tho.

- The Unsullied generally serve untill they reach a certain age, then they are given lands and pension. Some of their training techniques are incorporated into a training regime for a new, elite unit, but most of them are deemed too brutal to be continued and so they just quietly die off.

- Dothraki divide into two groups - one returns to Essos, the other stays with their Khaleesi in Westeros and live of horse herding and breeding the way others might of cattle. They settle mostly in the Reach, because grass.

- It turns out Daenerys “breaking the wheel” meant breaking the cycle of the civil war by weakening the power of great houses and returning stability to Westeros (also end of hereditary monarchy and succession of the most worthy, like choosing your heir trough a testament or something never lead to civil war; that didn’t work anyway). One way was to modify administrative system, so that it’s more in control of chosen civil servants not belonging to any fraction. It’s not a democracy, but it’s a honest attempt to do better. Of course, after a few generations, civil war broke out again anyway, because some things never change, but the new system is still more egalitarian and generally an improvement.

- At any rate, the ending is happy for everyone involved and not bittersweet at all, but only in comparison with what they’ve already come trough; otherwise rebuilding the ruined nation is a difficult and somewhere down the line, they can always fail...

#game of thrones #daenerys targaryen #jon snow #jonerys #tyrion lannister #sansa stark #sanrion #gendry waters #arya stark #gendrya #varys #jaime lannister #brienne of tarth #braime #missandei #grey worm #yara greyjoy

245 notes · View notes

cecilspeaks · 5 years

Text

149 - The General

If you can dream it, you can wake up in a cold sweat screaming about it. Welcome to Night Vale.

Night Vale, today is the birthday of Leonard Burton. Many of you are too young to remember Leonard. He was my mentor, my friend, and my predecessor at this radio station. I watched him die nearly 40 years ago, right outside this very radio station on Mesa Boulevard, when a cargo truck ran him over. The sight was – grisly and upsetting. But it is that sound, that horrible “snap!” I will never forget. Dozens of witnesses gathered around to help, but it was too late. I crouched over Leonard’s body, lying to him that he would be OK, attempting to coax him from some hint of life. But there was no final word to hear, not even a final breath. I noted there were tears on his cheeks, as a host of angels behind me moaned softly while touching fingers above a flaming trashcan.

Leonard was a dutiful journalist, a true servant of his town. He loved Boston cream pies and paintings of snakes. If he had lived, he would have been 117 years young today.

Listeners, thank you for all your kind emails. A few weeks ago I was a tad – too revealing about my personal life and I mentioned, in passing, that I’m a perennial bachelor. It’s true. I’ve never had a long term serious relationship, but honestly, it’s fine. [chuckling nervously] I get out, I-I s-, I see people. You do not need to try to set me up on blind dates with friends, relatives, ancestral ghosts. Thank you, I’m doing OK. In fact, I had a date recently. His name is Carlos. He says he’s a scientist, well – we have all been scientists at one point or another in our lives. He has perfect hair, a perfect lab coat and – and teeth like a military cemetery.

The date started well. We went to dinner at Big Rico’s Pizza. He had originally suggested Gino’s Italian Dining Experience and Bar and Grill, the fanciest restaurant in town, but since it was our first date, I suggested something more casual. And that was when things started to go wrong. Before we had even placed our orders, Carlos already seemed – disappointed. Which, in turn, disappointed me. Then there was dinner. I was trying to tell Carlos about my job here at the station, about my family and interests, and he was like “I know I know, Cecil, we’re in love. You and I are in love. You just don’t remember it.” And I told him, “You’re cute, but this is our first date, so let’s take this slow.” And then he looked sad, and I quickly finished my pizza, and we left.

An update on the Blood Space War. A few weeks ago, the Polonian forces who oppose us seemed all but defeated, their remaining ships cornered in a tiny moon on the far reaches of the Crab Nebula. Yet our attempts to finally destroy the enemy failed, and the Polonians escaped and regrouped. We’re getting word that the General has agreed to step down from her post, and new leadership will replace her. Some of you may remember the story of Eunomia, the teenager who left our Earth 200 years ago to join in the Blood Space War. She was a dreamer, a scientist, who was recruited for her sharp mind and later groomed as a master strategist for the Wolf Gang, our allies in this unending war. The Wolf Gang were able to use worm holes to travel great distances in mere moments. And Eunomia eventually discovered they could use these same portals to travel in time. After a brutal loss in the battle of Gamma Trachonus, Eunomia, then a captain, ordered her decimated platoon back in time to the beginning of the battle. With a greater understanding of their initial failures, she was able to better fight the battle again. Still she lost, only to return back through time to re-engage the enemy over and over again, she refought the battle until she won. Dozens of battles like this won led to her promotion to General of the Earth-Wolf Gang alliance. But after our most recent failure in the Crab Nebula, there is concern that she has lost her effectiveness.

An emissary from the Blood Space War has returned to Night Vale. They are wading through town in their oversized space suit. No doubt here to deliver us more terrible news from the front. Perhaps there will be no peace in our lifetimes. More on this story as it develops.

Our town is returning to normal, or so I have been told. Community college student and Blood Space War protest organizer, Basimah Bishara, said her mother exists once again. Basimah claims that a few weeks ago, her mother suddenly did not exist, thus making Basimah not exist but as of this week, they do exist. Basimah blames the time traveling actions of our General for changing the landscape of everyone’s existence. I can’t wrap my head around this, listeners, I-I.. I don’t remember Basimah ever not existing or, or-or that she was gone and returned. So it’s hard for me to believe this story. I-I took inventory of my own life and everything is as it always has been for me. I work at a radio station, I own a (-) [0:08:20] bike, I have a one-bedroom apartment with a soaking tub, walk-in closet, carpet shredder, knife compiler and a full-length mirror in the hallway. It’s an antique my mother handed down to me. She knows I love mirrors. I don’t have any siblings, but my mother’s alive and I talk to her regularly. We get along great, I-I-I called her to make sure everything is as she always remembered it, and she said, “What, I don’t know. Yeah sure, what a dumb question.” She’s always been witty like that. All is stasis. Nothing has been taken from my life.

The Intergalactic Military Headquarters reported all time high profits this month. They have built a stealth bomber entirely out of rare 1913 Liberty Head nickels, each valued at around - five million dollars. Senior strategic advisor Jameson Archibald admitted their financial success was not attributable to the new smart phone app he developed. “[cackling] No-ho-ho-ho-ho,” Archibald said, sitting astride a white tiger. “That app was super glitchy, but my Dad’s crazy rich and knows a bunch of people in the Pentagon, so we’re go-o-o-od!” Archibald then took a massive hit of a vape pen. “This is my new thing,” Archibald said. “Steam pens! No nicotine, no THC, only pure water vapor. Did you know water is good for you? Like, it gives you life, man. If we’re gonna vape anything, we should be vaping vapor. O-o, what if that’s what vape means? Vapor! If it doesn’t, it should!” This has been your financial report.

Sad news, Night Vale. John Peters – you know, the farmer – reported that his brother James is returning to service in the Blood Space War. James has been promoted to General to replace the retiring Eunomia. “Dang, James is such a good brother,” John said from the middle of his field of invisible corn. “I really like having him home, I’m gonna miss him. But I guess the universe needs him more than I do.” John then uprooted an invisible corn stalk and hugged it tightly, while humming the classic church hymn “Party in the USA”.

OK, this is getting annoying. So the guy I was telling you about earlier, Carlos, he’s been texting me this whole show, saying he wants to see me again, let’s see, something something, my timeline is still wrong? I should have a sister named Abby, here’s a photo of her with some kid. My mother died? Hmph. I’m supposedly afraid of mirrors, and he and I are actually married. This is ridiculous! OK, now he’s texting me a picture of a dog. “Our little puppy Aubergine,” it says. In the picture Carlos is holding the dog. I… Hm, that’s weird. I just had a strange feeling. What’s that term, uh, jamais vu I think, where you remember something that never happened.

Outside my window, I see the Emissary, their-their oblong mirrored face pressed against the glass, each hand raised to their head to block out glare from the sun. I’m waving to the Emissary now. Hello Emissary! I said just now. What is the French term for remembering something you’ve never experienced? I said even louder wondering if the Emissary can hear me through the window and that thick helmet. Also, is Aubergine a good name for a dog? I think it is! I called once more, just to start a decent conversation, because I was getting creeped out by the sight of a silent astronaut peering at me through my window. [chuckles] I can, I can see myself in the reflective face. I… [mumbles] I don’t like this. I do not like this at all. [panicked] Please go. Please leave, it cannot. Uh, I’m covering this window with a sheet, I do not like this mirror. I don’t like it one bit, no!

Let’s go to the weather.

[Weather: “Sad But Not Depressed” from the podcast It Makes a Sound https://nightvale.bandcamp.com]

I will tell you about the Emissary in a moment. But first, I must tell you that Carlos called me. Here’s his voicemail.

Carlos: Cecil, I_I’m calling for personal reasons. I-I’m, [sighs] I’m calling to tell you that I love you. That I have loved you almost since the first day I met you nearly 7 years ago. I didn’t know anyone in Night Vale [chuckles] and you were the first person to take any interest in my studies. Its not easy feeling alone, but within a year I wasn’t, cause I was with you. And now we are married. Well, at least in my lifetime we were married. We have been married, and we have a beautiful puppy named Aubergine, a house, a relationship. You have a sister, and you know, you have a brother-in-law too and, and a niece who is a talented athlete and (enormously), just a kind young woman. And we have – oh, you’re gonna play this on air, aren’t you? Oh, of course you are. Well never mind. Anyway uh, somehow you don’t know any of this. I’ve been working nights and days trying to repair this break in continuity, and I haven’t slept much, because I-I can’t sleep until we’re back in the same timeline. But I can’t find anything that will fix this, I-I don’t know what else to do other than to just say: Trust me. I will start over, we’ll go to Rico’s on another first date, I will pretend to hear about your life for the first time, I will tell you about mine for the thousandth time. It won’t be the same for me, but it will still be you. And, and that’s all that matters. You, you’re the one. Oh god, this must sound crazy, you barely know you and, and I’m coming off as desperate, but it’s because I am. Please call me. [beep]

Cecil: And I did, call him back. A-a-and I said: “I love you too. Babe, I love your beard. I love our dog. I love… I-I love our life together.” Minutes before that, I did not feel that way. I did not know about my life with Carlos, because it had never happened in my history.

It was in those minutes, though, that the Emissary spoke to me. The Emissary entered my studio and removed her helmet. And underneath was the face of an old woman, it was the face of Eunomia, the young girl who disappeared from Night Vale on her 17th birthday 200 years ago. Eunomia told me she had resigned her post as General. She was the most successful leader in the Blood Space War, but tampering with timelines had caused life in the universe to nearly cease to exist. Eunomia knew she would have to undo what she had undone so many times over, even though it would put peace out of her reach. She’s doing that. She is taking responsibility by visiting every single person affected by her actions. She’s telling them what she has taken from them. And what she will now give back. It will take her a long, long time to do this. it will take her the rest of her life.

In my case, she told me I have a sister, Abby, a brother-in-law, Steve, a niece, Janice. I-I did not know those times. She told me about my husband Carlos. I knew that name, but did not feel love for it. She took my hand and told me to look at the moon. There was a thick wedge missing from it. I never noticed that the moon was broken. Eunomia said: “I will leave now and I will undo what has been done, and your life will return to how it was.” I asked: “But I have a life now.” And she said: “But what of the lives of others? You are all connected. If I do not fix yours, how many others will never have back what the war has taken?” “And what about you?” I said. “Will you return to your teenage life on the farm?” “No,” she said, “I cannot go back to that age, but I will go back to that time and place. I only wish to see my family one more time.” “And what about the war?” I said. Hmph. “There will always be a war, because there will always be a lust for a war,” she said. “I am sorry, Cecil. I have to go.” She pointed to the moon once again. And it was whole, unbroken. I tried to squeeze her hand, but it was gone. It was only me in the studio.

On a late summer afternoon in 1816, an astronaut appeared in the center of Night Vale. 96 years later, a dog park would be established on that exact spot. The astronaut walked silently through the dusty streets. Bow-legged and slow, the Emissary walked through the outskirts of town. It took hours, and nearly the entire city followed her. Past a lot that would eventually to Old Woman Josie. Past the homestead of Eugene Leroy. Until she reached the Peters farm. And there, she stopped. There was a greenish aura about the astronaut, as she turned to face the gathered mob. The astronaut put her gloved hands to her neck and unlashed the helmet. There was a loud hissss and a pop, when she lifted the mask. The crowd approached tentatively. As the helmet came fully off, the townsfolk cried out. The face of the visitor was nearly skeletal, a rotted corpse, long white hair peeling down the back of the skull, an incomplete set of elongated teeth visible with no lips to hide them, startled eyes, ever staring with no lids to express anything else. And what was left of the skin had shriveled and yellowed.

The crowd had begun to step backward, but one woman stepped forward. a tired and pale woman. The woman whose farm it was approached the decomposing astronaut and said: “Eunomia?” The General opened her mouth slowly and spoke in a hoarse cough. “Mother,” she said. Eunomia’s young mother touched her elderly daughter’s face. Eunomia broke into dust. And the empty space suit collapsed to the ground, leaving behind the faint shape of the woman’s dissipating daughter.

In a cornfield on the outskirts of town, the General’s ashes scattered across a golden lake of ripened corn. In the very place where her military successor, James Peters – you know, the General – would be born 150 years later.

The memories of what Eunomia said to me, the memories of my life without my family, are fading quickly. Night Vale returns to normal, whatever that means. [chuckles] I told Carlos I was so sorry for causing him such pain. I can not ever know how difficult that must have been. He only tilted his head and said: “Already forgotten.” I wasn’t sure if he was being literal. Hmm.

Stay tuned next for the unceremonious continuation of all that is real.

Good night, Night Vale, Good night.

Today’s proverb: I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road, and then we’re gonna go grab drinks and dinner, maybe watch a movie. Girls’ night.

#welcome to night vale #wtnv #wtnv transcripts #episode 149 #the general

116 notes · View notes

smkkbert · 5 years

Text

Time for a story - When you know

As soon as Felicity had gotten out of her car, she saw Laurel standing in front of the large shop windows of the bridal boutique. She was sitting on the hood of her own car, looking at the five wedding dresses that were exhibited in the shop windows. Except of a fond smile, a deep frown was visible on her face though. She didn’t look like the happy bride-to-be she should be.

Locking her car, Felicity strolled over to Laurel. Her friend and stepsister – at least almost – flashed her a brief glance before she turned back to look at the show windows. A long sigh fell from her lips, making Felicity frown as she sat down next to her on the hood of the car.

Felicity gave Laurel the time she probably needed. Hence, instead of saying anything, she just followed Laurel’s gaze towards the shop windows and looked at the wedding dresses.

Pursing her lips, Felicity realized that they were quite different from all the three wedding dresses she had gotten married in so far. Admittedly, two of her dresses had been maternity dresses as her second wedding had taken place while she had been pregnant with Tommy and she had gotten married to Oliver a third time while being pregnant with Addie. Even her first wedding dress, the one she had worn long before she had become a mother of five, had been quite different from the wedding dresses she was seeing now.

For the break of a second, Felicity wondered which of these dresses she would pick for her next wedding. She did owe Oliver one after all as he had proposed to her during their last anniversary. Quickly, she pushed that thought away though because wasn’t about her.

Today was all about Laurel.

“Afraid?”

Laurel took in a deep breath and, without looking at Felicity, she asked, “Why would I be?”

“Getting married is a big thing,” Felicity told her and smiled amusedly. “I have to know. I got married thrice.”

“Always to the same man.”

Felicity couldn’t help but smile at those words, feeling her chest warm with the bare thought at Oliver.

All her life, watching her mother work at several casinos after Noah had just left her overnight, Felicity had thought that she would never get married. At the young age of seven years, she had given up on love because she had been sure that love just destroyed her. She had never really looked for it.

When she had met Cooper, she had thought that he was her one great love. She hadn’t been able to fight him off of fight off the feelings she had had for him. She had given love a first try because she had thought that she and Cooper would do everything different from her parents. She had thought that they were it for each other.

After Cooper’s apparent death, Felicity had thought she had given up on love once and for all. She had been through the same thing that Donna had gone through with her father, just that it had felt a thousand times worse.

It had taken years, up until the moment that Oliver had been lying in the back of her car with a dangerous bullet wound, until she had finally been able to see that Cooper had never been her great love. What she had felt for him during the months they had been together had been barely a fraction of what she had felt for Oliver during the few weeks that he had come to her for tech advise. That moment, it had all become so very clear.

She had never felt for anyone the way she had felt for Oliver. While it might have taken them a lot of time as well as some detours to realize what they were feeling for each other, they were as happy with each other as they could never be with anyone else. You only found that kind of love with one person, and Felicity had found it with Oliver.

Just like Laurel had found it with Tommy.

“So, what’s going on?” Felicity asked, pushing her elbow into Laurel’s rips. “Did you finally realize that it was a terrible idea to ask my mom and Thea to come with you for wedding dress shopping?”

Laurel frowned at her. “They came with you when you were shopping your wedding dress.”

“My first wedding dress,” Felicity reminded her. “Thea chose my second wedding dress alone, and I ordered my third wedding dress online with the help of William.”

“I know I have been there when you bought your first wedding dress, but I barely remember.”

“Oh, I remember,” Felicity mumbled, but she smiled at Laurel comfortingly. “Don’t worry about it thought.”

If Laurel wasn’t worrying about the fact that Thea and Donna would take over this appointment to show her wedding dress, she wouldn’t remind her of the terrifying memory she had about choosing her first wedding dress. Laurel didn’t have to be told how terrible it could be to have two fashionistas with her as she was choosing her dress. She would barely have any say in what wedding dress she would choose.

“Now,” Felicity asked, cocking her head, “why don’t you go in to find your perfect dress for what media says is the most important day of your life? Are you sad because your mother couldn’t come?”

“No.” Laurel frowned briefly. “I mean I would have loved to have my mother here, but I think she knew what my wedding dress was supposed to look like before I was even born, so maybe the dress will match my taste more if she is not there.”

Felicity pressed her lips together and rolled them into her mouth. It took a lot of her to bite back the comment of how her mother would not be any different. For Donna, Laurel was her daughter. It was the same way for Felicity with William. Although he wasn’t her child biologically or legally, he was her son to her.

“If it’s not your mother’s absence or Thea’s and my mother’s presence,” Felicity asked and cleared her throat slightly, “what makes you worry so much?”

Laurel took in a deep breath, and her the muscles in her shoulders tightened. She seemed visibly uncomfortable to talk about this, and it told Felicity everything that she needed to know. The person that Laurel needed right now was Sara and not her mother. In Sara, Laurel would trust even with her darkest thoughts. It was what sisters did.

Felicity had never really had a sister. With the way she and Laurel had met, Felicity working as part of Oliver’s crusade while his ex-girlfriend had been in the dark about all of it, it had been hard to build the kind of relationships sisters had even after their parents had started dating. That Laurel, just like everyone else on the team, had turned against Felicity when she, unlike everyone else, had believed that Oliver was still alive had just added to it.

Felicity knew, without any doubt, that she and Laurel would never have what Laurel and Sara had had. Their bond had allowed them to work through the fact that Sara had been screwing Laurel’s boyfriend behind her back.

Whenever Felicity remembered that the guy, who did this to these sisters was her husband, she felt a cold shiver running down her back. She knew that, though it had technically been the same person, Oliver was not that guy anymore. Oliver, the Oliver Felicity had gotten to know and had fallen in love with, would never do something like that.

“I am not exactly worried,” Laurel whispered eventually, her voice so low that Felicity could barely hear her though she was standing right beside her. “I am just thinking.”

“About what?”

After years of being married to a brooding, trauma-burdened man and after months of being in therapy, Felicity knew exactly how to worm something out of someone. Asking question after question rather than commenting on anything would eventually prompt people to say what you wanted them to say or what they needed to say.

“About all the bad choices I have made,” Laurel whispered, her voice still so very quiet like she was afraid of letting them out. “There have been so many.”

Without saying a word, Felicity just took Laurel’s hand and held it, giving her the time that she might need to open up or decide to keep those thoughts for herself. She could only hope that Laurel made the choice that was right for herself at the end. She shouldn’t feel urged to share something with Felicity that she wasn’t ready to share or would eventually regret sharing with her. She shouldn’t be burdened with the heaviness of bearing her thoughts all alone either.

Felicity knew how much Laurel regretted a lot of the choices she had made. Back when Oliver had just returned from the island, she had been torn between what she had felt for Tommy and what she had once upon a time had thought she and Oliver had. While it had been Tommy, who had eventually ended things between them, Felicity knew that Laurel had struggled with her choice to try things with Oliver again instead of fighting for Tommy.

Years after Tommy’s death, Laurel hadn’t been ready to open up her heart for love again. She had felt like the way things between her and Tommy had gone down made her undeserving for love. It had taken her so very long to finally realize that making a one decision didn’t mean that you lost all right to love and be loved.

For someone with Laurel’s intelligence, it was almost funny that it had taken her so long. After all, she was friends with a man who had cheated on her several times. His cheating had actually included screwing her sister and fathering a child. Still, Oliver had found his great love and built a family. If he deserved love, why wouldn’t she deserve it too?

“Why didn’t I see how much I loved him and how good he was for me all those years ago?” Laurel asked. “We lost so much time because of-“

“Malcolm Merlyn,” Felicity interrupted her. “You lost time because of Malcolm Merlyn and the Undertaking.”

“And because of my uncertainty of whether or not I should try figuring out if there is still something between me and Ollie,” Laurel insisted. “You can’t say that that didn’t have an effect on the time we have lost.”

“Okay, you lost a week,” Felicity replied, rolling her eyes slightly, “and you might have lost a month if Tommy hadn’t died. That doesn’t change that you would have realized that Oliver was in no way ready to be in a relationship back then and that you and him could never be what you hoped you could be one day. At the end of the day, rather sooner than later, you would have realized what was right for you and you would have asked Tommy to give it another try.”

Laurel nodded slowly. Felicity could almost see the story Felicity had just told her unfolding in front of her eyes. The smallest of a smile played on her lips.

When she turned her head to look at Felicity, she looked slightly more relaxed than she had been before. Maybe she didn’t yet believe what Felicity had told her, but she did have some doubts about her own opinion now.

“Why didn’t I know sooner?” Laurel asked her. “Why didn’t I know that he was the one back then? Why did it take me so long when Tommy knew it from the first moment on?”

Felicity smiled. She kind of knew what it was like to know that you had found the one, while the other was still dangling I-don’t-knows and maybes. Maybe it wasn’t the exact same because Oliver had known that she was the one for him. He just hadn’t felt ready for a relationship after everything he had been through.

“I think that the easiest and truest answer to that is that the heart is not as predictable as the head, and it easily gives in when the head tells it to do so. You thought that you had to give Oliver a try first because you have been given another chance. Your head told you what was rational, and your heart just kept quiet and decided to follow your brain’s suggestion.”

Again, Laurel nodded slowly.

“When you know, you know,” Felicity continued, shrugging her shoulders. “For some, it’s sooner. For some, it’s later. You needed a little more time, but that doesn’t mean that your feelings for Tommy aren’t real. They are just as real as his feeling for you are.”

Laurel took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. Felicity could almost hear her thinking about this. She would probably need some more time to really understand it, but she did believe Felicity that she was right. For now, that was all Felicity knew she could do.

With a soft smile on her lips, Laurel squeezed Felicity’s fingers. She turned towards her.

“Thank you, Felicity.”

“You’re welcome,” Felicity replied and winked at her before she nodded towards the boutique. “Should we go in now?”

Laurel took in a deep breath and nodded her head. “I think I am ready now.”

Felicity bit down on her tongue, biting back the comment that she certainly wasn’t ready for choosing a wedding dress with the help of Thea and Donna. Nobody was ever ready for that.

* * *

@fannaz @promiseyoullbepatientwithme @bytemegeekette @felicity-said-just-in-case @phanseptiic @orangeisorange @mspotatohead14 @whentheheavenfades @emmaamelia95 @smoakingskye @seaolicity @ourwritinginvein @1022bridgetp @felicityqueenforever @leagueofolicity17 @yryssss @myhauntedblacksoul @sherlock44 @sinceriouslybea @arrowsalways @olivyflavescentdeer @olicitys-castle @ofnothingcharming @vaelisamaza @smoakedandcharmed @alexisa1206 @mysaudadespt2 @florence-bubbles @addictiontelly @queens-of-arrows @memcjo @hysterical-for-joshifer @oswinelevenforever @olicitylovemaking @bandanab310 @mymusiclove101 @lynslogic @scarletqueen23 @olicityshipper19 @alex-wesley @arrows-4ever @unabashedlynerdypatrol @louehmysoul @ligiapimenta @chattyyana @charlie-leau @coal000 @samcrowleys @ishippolivia @julianegomesqueen @malafle @miriam1779 @charlinert @melaux @ontheolicityship @myshipperlife @wrightainsley @lexi9515 @ladygreenwood @multi-fandom-crazy-fangirl @morinamel @mje-thomas @kebarry @canadianheartgirl @nannett2307 @almondblossomme @paarti12 @kathrynelizabeth89 @imdfabulous @cutearrowgirl @mrt2501 @mecha1330 @arsipaci14 @mzminx @salasvia @brandis91 @cainc3 @morganmiguess @pr0fessi0nal-fangurl @iamisalima @nessafrancis-blog @jonhdiggle @niki-is-amazing @universed-posts @hopeful-warrior @senoritaswiftie @bellemmie @green-arrows-of-karamel @iheartarrow @olicityovereverything @oliverfel4 @pleasantfanandstudent @fandoms-breathe-life @simone4mcswarek @olicity-in-the-heart @fullychippedcreation @geemarie @everything-but-normal-cat @myarroworld @tjmartinez @pleasantfanandstudent @itsmagnoliagirl @j69confessional2 @scentedcolorpirate @icanica74 @javinancupil @tjmartinez98 @certainmentalityface @tatianadamaceno @ryelew @wildwillowzepplin @missafairy @letsplaymurde-r @lipizette @positivepiper @nuttymilkshakehologram @laksagirl @turnupthemusicandscream @pumpernickle93 @onceuponanolicity @1106angel @jaspertown @fadinglands @morganashimi83 @mochababychristy @omglovechrissie @mariejr88-blog @thetaufactor @onceuponanolicity @speakandseethetruth @bri206 @aglasgo @thats0klaroline @geemarie @pineprincess @nerdgirljen @peterpanslostgirl666 @eternal-olicity14 @allyouhadtodowas-stay-stay-stay @lovelycssefan @tsseract @flowerandsunshine @dcnmarvelgamergeek @blondeeoneexox @monetsmark @soaring-cities @bb-olicity @mashamarty @rulerofsilence @erika-amber @felicity087 @i-claim-only-emily @pattid1 @westallenandolicityshipper @babyolicityandwestallen @nothingmorethanmyotps @kayleenyc @tonto16 @olicityfluv @olicitea1990 @olicity5ever @haahaaa2408 @pattid1 @faegal04 @24karatgem @wrldtravler @readerkas @valery6488 @lemmyeatspeaches @olicity-beliver @greencoffeecups

(If you want to be tagged or untagged, just let me know. :))

#arrow #olicity #olicity fic #olicity fanfic #time for a story

29 notes · View notes

starrynite7114 · 6 years

Text

distraction: six

A/N: Another update! I was really inspired by this story this past week and I really want to get to some of the good parts with Angel and Emerson. I love writing scenes of them together and I hope that from here on out, I can build on this momentum I have.

Hope you all like this update!

============================

Emerson locked the door to her apartment, touching the lock 3 times as she always did. It’s been a month since her episode at the clubhouse and now she was plagued with dreams of Angel. The crazy thing was, it felt so real and familiar. But she figured that’s how dreams were from time to time. She did notice that Angel became much more present in her life. He came to see her often, picking up Leticia and riding alongside her before he took Letty home.

Elijah has been in Santo Padre for a month now, with no plans of leaving any time soon. It weirded her out. There were times Angel and Elijah were both at the bakery and they were very civil. Both men stayed in their respectful corners and watched every move she made, it drove her crazy.

Sitting down on her couch, she turned her television on. She needed to catch up on her shows, specifically the Punisher. It wasn’t right how addictive Netflix was.

Just as her episode was starting, there was a knock on the door. She paused the episode, making her way towards the door. She looked through the peephole and closed her eyes.

“Damn it,” she murmured.

Debating whether she should open the door, she remained quiet for a moment. She honestly did not want to deal with her younger sister tonight. The bakery was hectic due to the holiday season coming up in 2 weeks. All the orders were definitely appreciated.

Emerson opened the door. “Hey,” she greeted her. “What are you doing here?”

“Decided to visit since you don’t respond to text messages. How are you?” Sophia waited for Emerson to let her walk in. She didn’t want to push her.

Emerson moved to the side to let her younger sister in. “Good, busy with the bakery.”

“Holiday season,” Sophia nodded her head. “Is Elijah around?”

“He’s staying at Miguel’s.” Emerson offered for Elijah to stay at her apartment, she had two rooms, but he declined. She was almost certain that it was too small for him.

“I’m surprised he’s not here with you.” There was no bitterness in her voice which surprised Emerson. Usually whenever Emerson and Elijah were mentioned in the same sentence, her sister would have a fit.

“Sophia, you know whatever it was a few years ago with Elijah, it’s done.” Emerson sat on the couch once more debating if she should start the Punisher. She wasn’t interested in a conversation with her sister.

“I know,” Sophia’s tone soften. “I’m sorry, for the way I acted. I should have been understanding to your situation.”

“It’s okay Sophia, for some odd reason, I understood.” She patted the seat beside her. “Sit down.”

“Angel isn’t here?” Sophia was almost certain that Angel would worm his way back into Emerson’s life. She never liked Angel. He was a waste of space and if there was someone that Sophia would waste her time on, it would be EZ. At least he had a future.

“Why would he be? How do you know Angel?” Emerson’s eyebrows furrowed at her sister’s question. Sophia has never met Angel. It didn’t make sense.

“Elijah,” Sophia played it smooth, cursing herself at forgetting what Elijah told her.

“She doesn’t remember Angel, don’t prompt her.” Elijah had warned her.

“He mentions Angel to you?”

“Don’t be dense Emmy, whoever is around you, Elijah cares about. He seems to be threatened by Angel.” As much as Sophia didn’t like Angel, she knew pushing Elijah towards her would be a moot point. She wasn’t proud of her actions towards her sister, but Emerson got everything she wanted, even when she was disowned. How was that fair? But Sophia always realized that regardless of how she felt towards her sister, Emerson always treated her kindly. Though, Emerson was human and told her off a few times, but she deserved it.

Perfect Emerson always got everything and she reveled on the fact that Emerson became tainted when she decided to tell the family to fuck off. But at the same time, she still got praise, especially from their grandfather.

“Emerson is the strongest and bravest one out of all of my grandchildren. She doesn’t rely on that silver spoon that she was born with. I may have helped her with that bakery, but it’s all up to her whether or not it sinks or swim.” Sophia recalled overhearing her grandfather tell her father. In some ways, she agreed with her grandfather, but she was certain even if Emerson fell, their grandfather would catch her.

She worked hard too, she didn’t understand why her parents favored Emerson so much when she was the one that brought the most shame to the family. She refused to marry a family friend, whether arranged or not, out of respect for their family, she should have done it.

Then she remembered that Elijah gave her an out.

Elijah told Emerson that they didn’t have to get married, that he understood her worries due to her lost memories and that he would respect whatever decision she made.

It infuriated Sophia. She would have gladly married Elijah, why didn’t her parents marry her off?

“He has no reason to be threatened by Angel. Besides that, Elijah and I are just friends,” Emerson pointed out.

“Maybe if you keep saying it, Elijah will eventually believe it.” Sophia and Emerson laughed.

“You’re taking this Elijah talk a little too well.” She commented.

“I’m engaged.”

Emerson’s mouth dropped. “No way, to who?”

“Don’t laugh, cause I know you will.”

“It’s Derek Ramos.”

“What?! Derek? Elijah’s cousin? Wow, how did that come about?” For once, Emerson felt as if she was talking to her sister, that their relationship was normal. She knew better than to actually believe that, but she could live in this world for a bit.

“We’ve been on and off for years, I figured it would be better for my sanity and our relationship if I gave up on Elijah. I know, it’s not you, it’s mostly him, but Derek finally swept me off my feet.” Sophia wasn’t lying. When Emerson’s memories were still intact and she was with Angel, she tried her best to win Elijah over and no matter what she did, he wouldn’t sway her way. Elijah always let her down the nicest way possible, but Sophia till took offense in it.

“That’s great Sophia, Derek is a sweet guy.” Emerson was happy for her younger sister, but she was still cautious. As much as Sophia stated that she was over it, there was a possibility she wasn’t. It was precautionary matters. “What are you really doing here?”

“I just wanted to check on you, is that not an acceptable answer?”

“It is, but it’s you Sophia. I’m sorry that I sound cynical, but we haven’t had the best relationship, even after I left and broke off my engagement to Elijah.” Emerson didn’t want to lie to her younger sister. She realized that the best way to handle Sophia was to not let her have a way to twist and turn the story.

Sophia couldn’t even be angry with Emerson’s reaction to her. She hasn’t been the best sister to Emerson, her weariness was completely understandable. Sophia would like to think she has become more mature and she was hoping to prove that to Emerson. Life was short and she wanted to repair her relationship with her sister before it was too late.

“You may not believe me, which I completely understand, but I just want to repair our relationship. My actions a few years ago were uncalled for and I always commended you for being as understanding as you’ve been. Though, I wouldn’t blame you if you had slapped me.” Sophia chuckled. “Emmy, you’re my sister, regardless of how I felt about you when I was younger, I understood why our parents adored you the way they did.”

“You know it was never a competition, at least not for me. I wasn’t trying to impress our parents.” Emerson never vied for their approval as much as Sophia did, but that was partly due to the fact that she always had it. She never tried to identify with Sophia regarding her displeasement with their parents, but she was understanding towards Sophia. Regardless of how Sophia felt about her, she was her younger sister and as an older sibling, she took care of her.

Sophia felt just like Angel did when it came to him and EZ.

Emerson froze then. “What?” She shook her head, unsure of why that thought came to her head.

“Emmy, are you okay?” Sophia scooted closer to her sister, noticing the confusion etched on her face.

“Sorry, I just had this sudden thought and I’m not sure why I did.” Emerson frowned. Lately, Angel has been occupying her thoughts. Besides the fact he made his presence known, it was just odd for her how Angel kept popping into her mind. Her dreams were plague with him too, and she knew some dreams seemed real, but the ones that had Angel, they felt like forgotten memories. “Fuck,” it hit her then. “I need you to be truthful with me, is Angel part of my past?”

Sophia looked at Emerson, unsure of what to tell her. She should be truthful, she owed Emerson that much. Her loyalties lied with Emerson, she didn’t care if Elijah or her father advised her against reminding Emerson of her past with Angel Reyes. After what she did to try and hurt Emerson, she owed her for the rest of her life. She could never forgive herself for having a hand in Emerson’s accident and eventual loss of memories.

“Angel is your ex-fiance. Dad and Elijah didn’t want anyone to tell you since they wanted you to forget him. They figured that since you were a blank slate, they didn’t have to worry about Angel ruining your life and you could marry Elijah instead.” The truth hurts, especially for Elijah, but it was time that Sophia became a sister to her. Elijah never did anything for her, why should she help him?

Emerson couldn’t believe this, how could they keep her in the dark? All these people have known her all this time and they never even bothered to tell her? Though she was certain that Angel has been dying to tell her, but he respected her privacy. She felt like an idiot. Everyone knew that she didn’t have her memory yet, they never even tried telling her. Did Letty know? Well, she didn’t care if Letty knew, she knew that as much of a blunt personality Letty was, she respected boundaries. Angel most likely asked her to not say anything.

But it was the reason that Angel knew her so well.

============================

Emerson was cleaning up in the front while Letty was finishing up her poem that she was submitting tomorrow. It’s been a week since the incident in the club and to say that Angel has been around was an understatement. She wasn’t sure why he always was, but without a fail, he always kept a conversation with her and she honestly did not mind. Surprisingly, Angel was incredibly interesting to talk to, whenever he spoke, Emerson was enthralled. It was weird, but she really was.

“Emmy, where’s Coco Jr.? She should be cleaning.” Angel said as he walked in the bakery. He locked the door behind him, touching the lock thrice as she always did. “It’s good discipline.” She appreciated he caught on to that, but he was the only one to do it, not even Elijah did that for her.

“She’s in my office finishing her poem.” Emerson threw the rag in the bucket. She walked around the counter and took the tray that she would place all the dirty dishes in. There wasn’t much, but she preferred to do it all in one trip.

“I got it,” Angel took the tray from her, collecting the dishes. “Where’s Greg? Cristal?” They were Emerson’s other employees. They worked as often as Emerson, but they always seem to be gone by the way Angel got here. Greg and Cristal were Emerson’s friend’s way back when, when they heard she came back, they were ecstatic and respected his wishes regarding their past.

“They usually take the morning shift so I can stay with Letty till closing.” Emerson explained. “You don’t have to do that you know.”

“Yes, well I’m offering and I don’t do this often so feel special.” He winked at her.

Emerson laughed. “I’m flattered really. Is that what you tell other women to make them feel special?” Emerson teased him.

“No, only you,” the seriousness in his tone wiped Emerson’s smile right off her face. What did she reply to that?

Emerson just nodded her head, as she began to sweep around the area. She felt Angel’s eyes on her and she didn’t want to turn around and become lost in them.

“Do you think I’m a player?”

His question made her turn around. “You’re very popular with women.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

“Does it matter what I think?”

“Yes, yes it does.” Angel hated it when she teased him about other women. In their relationship he was devoted to her, maybe the last year and a half was difficult, but during the duration of their relationship, he never gave her the idea that he would stray. Sure, he was friendly, but he respected the boundaries Emerson set.

“Why does it?”

“Because it’s you Teddy,” Angel caught what he said and his eyes widened along with Emerson.

Emerson has never told anyone in Santo Padre that her middle name was Theodora.

Emerson Theodora Andres.

“What did you just call me?” Emerson questioned.

Angel was about to reply to her when they were interrupted by a knock on the door. They both looked that way and found Elijah. Angel has never been more thankful to see Elijah. As much as he wanted to tell her everything, it wasn’t the right time.

============================

“He called me Teddy.” Emerson breathed out.

“He’s the only person outside of our family that you had no problem with calling you Teddy.” Sophia added.

“How, fuck,” Emerson had her head in her hands. This was what Emerson feared, to meet people that was a part of her life that she had forgotten. When she was at home, she didn’t have to worry about that, she knew everyone. But she always feared she would meet people who knew her and had no recollection of them. She had a life in Santo Padre and they hid it from her.

She was absolutely infuriated.

“How long was I with him?”

“Maybe about 4 years.”

“I basically lost everything I shared with him. Oh my god,” Emerson stood up then, the heaviness of the situation sleeping through. She didn’t know what to think, everything was rapidly going through her mind. A headache was beginning to form and all she could do was pace. “I can’t believe Elijah and dad! How can they keep this from me?!”

“Emmy, you know why they did it.”

“How am I supposed to face him? This must be so difficult for him.” Emerson paused, standing in front of her sister with a coffee table between them. “What do you mean we were engaged?”

“You broke off the engagement the night of your accident.” Sophia shifted in her seat. “I think you should talk to him, it’s much better if it comes from him.”

Emerson wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk to Angel. She was absolutely fine with moving on, with not having to deal with the memories she had forgotten. But now, it changed everything. Angel, most likely the whole M.C. knew her, and they accepted her with open arms. She owed Angel, she should talk to him, she just wasn’t ready to do so.

============================

Angel turned off his motorcycle and looked over at Elijah who was leaning against the hood of his car. He was surprised that Elijah contacted him. Since Elijah decided to stay in Santo Padre, Elijah has stayed away from him, only interacting when they saw one another at Emerson’s shop.

He walked over to Elijah, the sleeves of his dress shirt already rolled to his elbow.

“What’s going on?” Angel questioned.

“Emerson knows.” Elijah wanted to get straight to the point. He didn’t want to waste Angel’s time.

“What do you mean she knows?”

“She knows about your past, to some extent.”

“Sophia told her.” Angel knew seeing Sophia a few nights ago wouldn’t lead to anything good.

“How did you know?” Elijah questioned.

“I was outside of Emerson’s place one night and I was going to talk to her, but Sophia came.” Angel began to worry, not sure how much Sophia told Emerson. “How much does she know?”

“Just the basics,” Elijah shoves his hands in his pockets. “She doesn’t know about you and Sophia.”

“I’m guessing she’s not speaking to you.” As much as Angel wanted to be smug about this, but he couldn’t. If she remembered everything, he would be on her shitlist too, much more than Elijah.

“That’s one way of putting it, she’s just upset that I’ve decided to hide such a big part of her past,” Elijah chuckled. “Specifically you. She felt that I betrayed her trust.” He understood why Emerson was upset, he just wished Sophia kept her mouth shut, but he knew she was trying to make amends either. “It’s just interesting that Sophia decided to not throw you under the bus, though I’m sure it has more to do with covering her own ass.”

“Yep,” Angel sighed. “I wanted to tell Emerson, I’m not happy that Sophia decided to open her mouth. Is this supposed to wash away her sins against her sister?”

“Sophia is getting married, she wanted to fix her relationship with Emerson before it’s too late.”

“She’s leaving everything in my hands?”

“Of course she is, but never count Sophia out, she may still backstab you.” Elijah advised.

“No doubt about that,” Angel chuckled. “So why are you giving me a heads up? I figured you wouldn’t want to help me.”

“I always tell you, Reyes, I can accept defeat when I see it. Though you haven’t won, I like it to be a even playing field. I’m just giving you a heads up that she knows, the ball is in your court.”

“Is that so?” Angel smirked. “I think this might have been the biggest mistake for you.”

“Well, I’m sure once you tell Emerson that you slept with her sister, the ball will be back in my court.”

#Angel Reyes #angelreyes #Angel Reyes fanfic #angel reyes fic #mayans mc fic #mayans mc fanfic

33 notes · View notes

candycoatedmary · 6 years

Text

I’m so lucky

Hello.

It’s me. You might recognize me from my many online diary sites.

Or not. I tried my damnedest to make them anonymous. On the off chance that you do know who I am and recognize my words.. get a fucking life dweeb and use those sleuthing skills for something productive you’re wasting your talents.

Anyway.

My heart is a crab apple never picked. Full of worms on the soil by the roots. Is that really sad though? I bet those worms are really happy in that apple. Moist and fed. The roots will also benefit from the nourishment that those billions of bacteria will turn that apple into. So Maybe it’s ok?

Well, what would that apple have been if that apple had not fallen? What if it had been plucked when it was bright and shiny? Some kid up the tree plucks it and eats it?

Eh. who cares. I’

Should I delete everything I just wrote? Usually, that’s what I do. I let out a stream of consciousness and delete it if I run out of steam before it’s something worth sharing. He’s a thought though, no one gives a shit what I write. I just like doing it.

You know.. as a kid, I was a fucking awesome writer for my age. I’ve been writing since I could hold a crayon. I can still remember the visuals in my little 5-year-old head as I wrote about a family loading up their covered wagon. I continued writing off and on through elementary but it really blew up in high school and I filled notebook after notebook with stories and journal entries and fantasies. Lots of people enjoyed it what I wrote. It was the only thing I felt confident about. I wrote out essays for Language Arts like it was nothing. They were easy and fun. 5 paragraphs, intro with 5 sentences

how did I feel about the subject

3 factual sentences

reiterate the first sentence so that it sounds like an outro.

Then I wrote the 3 factual sentences again so that they were drawn out into 5 sentences each.. then the whole Intro paragraph again but with more opinions because now that my reader had the facts, I could introduce my perspective on it without seeming uninformed. It was amazing.

It was so fucking easy. and fun. Like running full tilt at recess. So easy and so much fun. I miss my mind.

You can not imagine the fucking hatred and rage that has been building up towards myself and the fucking bullies I knowingly KNOWLING let into my life and I let them tell me not to write. me. me not write. Jesus. and i let them. I thought I’d just pick it up later. That I’d always have this beautiful golden butterfly/glowing lunar moth keeping me safe from being completely worthless.

I never wanted to write professionally, I didn’t want deadlines and career stress to ruin what I loved. This art that I had was truly mine and it made me feel connected to my parents and all the geniuses that I idolized.

Then some guy started paying attention to my lonely ass. I was a typical albeit emotionally neglected teenage girl. I thought I was fat. I thought I was so ugly, and stupid (yes, even with the hyper-confidence about writing I thought I was dull as sun-bleached plushies in the read window of grandmas Buick). I would expect that it has a lot to do with being afraid to find out that I’m not as good of a writer as I thought I was and having the general public tell me so. I don’t know man.

I was told to put my pen down by someone giving me attention, so I did. After we broke up, I picked it right up and things were pretty good. Although I had switched to a fully digital medium.

Then I dated/married a computer nerd and he could get into any website I was posting on and read what I wrote. He said I wasn’t allowed to write there either.

I tried to go to school. I wrote an essay about butterflies for an aptitude test. I don’t even remember what it was about.. the life cycle maybe. But I got a letter asking me to be on the school newspaper team. That was nice. I didn’t go.

I wrote my husbands essays for school, they asked him to be on the school paper too. He said that his teachers said he should be in honors English, he told me to tone it down and make it more believable.

Yeah. I edited my best friends college papers and my mother in laws work papers.. I don’t know what they were for. I just checked it for errors because her English wasn’t great. Later after my divorce, I wrote my ex-sister in laws papers for English and they also asked her to be in honors classes and to join the school paper.

Somehow, none of this meant anything to me.

God. damn. s/he/me/it.

Whatever.

I did eventually go to school for a quarter. I even passed Math. That was a first for me. I wasn’t allowed to take advanced English in school because I was in remedial math. The schedule wouldn’t work.

Anyway, the essays didn’t pour out. The page requirements were horrifying.. I wrote so many essays and deleted them before I finally forced myself to settle and just print one out so I could turn it in. My hardass college English professor asked me to join her Honors class.

I didn’t.

I dropped out of school because I needed a job and no one wanted to hire me with such a crazy full-time schedule and I desperately needed a job because I needed rent so I could have a home. I didn’t have a goal in college anyway. I never had goals or career dreams so going to school was just so that I didn’t feel like uneducated trash.

anyway. That’s how I stopped writing anything besides sporadic journal entries a few times a year.

I had a real gift. I really did. I was touched by a muse and but I am grown from a dry neglected patch of dirt. I was a mistake and I never should have been born. but I was blessed for some reason.

and I threw it away for some abusive assholes. But hey.. that’s what daddy issues do to a girl. I guess.

I’m sure it’s a hundred percent my fault after a certain age.

I am an empty Snickers wrapper. on the side of the road.

My therapist said I should think positively.

I am a recycled snickers wrapper. Now I’m just a housewife. I learned to cook and clean and do laundry and I don’t write but he doesn’t hurt me. Emotionally or physically. I have a home and a kitty and I don’t have to see my abusive ex-husband except when we meet to transfer my son from one house to another. He has full custody by the way.. He really fucked me over mentally. but that’s another problem for another day. I’ll write it out on mothers day.

Won’t that be fun?

1 note · View note

cursedfaulkners · 6 years

Photo

I apologize in advance for how long this is going to be. I have so many ideas and headcanons about this character. She is quickly becoming one of my favourite and most fleshed out characters of all time. I just love her and I could honestly go on for hours!

DAY 1: MC for the Hogwarts Mystery Event 2018

Facts: (with comments in italics)

Name: Annie Jane Faulkner (Never uses her middle name. In fact she only really hears it when her parents are really pissed, the whole “first middle last name how dare you...” etc. that parents love doing)

D.O.B: 21.April 1973

Blood status: Pureblood (While the Faulkners are not counted as one of the sacred twenty eight(for many reasons of which I’m too lazy to think of), her mothers family the MacMillans are. Neither are typically concerned with the whole blood purity shit and are thus considered blood traitors, though not to the extent of say the Weasleys.)

House: Ravenclaw (Was almost a hatstall, but not quite. The hat was stuck between Ravenclaw or Gryffindor but settled on the former. Interestingly enough, Jacob was also in the same situation. But in his case it was a toss up between Ravenclaw and Slytherin.)

Wand: Maple, Unicorn hair, 12 1/2″, Slightly yielding (Almost the exact same as her brothers who had a maple, dragon heartstring, 10″. “Curious indeed” - Ollivander. Maple wands choose those who are “by nature travelers and explorers; they are not stay-at-home wands, and prefer ambition in their witch or wizard.”)

Pet: A barn owl named Nunzio (Of latin origin meaning messenger. Derived from the element ‘nuntio’ which means to announce or to report. A rather fitting name if Annie does say so herself.)

Patronus: Hawk

Best class: Charms (Her favourite class as well. Besides care for magical creatures which comes in at a very close second)

Worst class: Potions (For no real reasons other than Snape despising every fiber of her being. Honestly, if not for Penny she would be failing big time.)

Boggart: Jacob’s dead body (This one really destroyed her. She first encountered boggarts in DADA as a third year and was not prepared to see her dead brother. For a moment she forgot it was just a boggart, it was the first time she really realized the very likelihood that she might not find her brother alive, if at all. She never managed to cast the Riddikulus charm that class, it being all too real for her. Instead she ended up having to sit that one out, pale, dizzy, crying and at the verge of throwing up. It was also an eye-opener to her fellow classmates and even Merula won’t go as far as to bring up the boggart incident. She has since then cast the charm successfully and reminds herself in almost a ritual chant each time “It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real.”)

More info under the read more(Turned out to be a lot more than I first anticipated)

- She is honestly such a little shit sometimes. Sarcastic and blunt. But we all love her.

- 2nd year, after an incident that we do not speak of, Felix had caught her and rather pissed, dropped her off to Chester. His bloody problem and “Keep a @%& eye on your house Davies!” -.-” After being not so gently escorted back to the commonroom, one earful and a few overwhelmed tears later; they had come to find a new understanding. From there on out, Chester took on a sort of brother role that lasted until his graduation. Annie did appreciate having someone to talk to. Especially someone who knew her brother at Hogwarts, or at the very least someone who had overlapping years with him. (My version of Jacob would have been a 3rd year when the prefects started Hogwarts)

- Has a habit of sneaking out of her dorm and wandering around the castle at night. Usually on days she really misses Jacob and needs the fresh air as well as to stretch her legs.(Or so she claims at least the odd time she gets caught.) It doesn’t happen too often but more so around the holidays. Night to Christmas morning, 2nd year, she was wandering around and happened upon the room of requirement and thus the mirror of Erised. She did get caught by Dumbledore(who had been alerted by a nearby painting), but in his Dumbledore way her let her off the hook “this one time”(one time my arse). But that is a story for another time

- Grew up thinking she would become a magizoologist, but through everything that has happened, she became a curse-breaker instead. Worked for Gringotts for a year or two before starting her own firm with Jacob. #TeamFaulknerSiblings

- Has grown suspicious of Ben lately. He seems to know more than he’s letting on. But she has yet to confront him.

- Not as close with Rowan as they used to be. A lot of stuff is happening and they are simply starting to drift apart. She doesn’t confide in her as much as before. But who knows what might still happen.

- Penny is absolute bae and Tonks is a mood. Her two best hufflepuffs in the world! Annie loves these two and would honestly die for them.(Except no she didn’t, but the battle of hogwarts is a whole other can of worms that will not be opened this day)

- Annie and Tulip and still getting to know and trust each other. Annie still doesn’t like the fact that Tulip withheld information about Jacob from her though.

- The Weasleys! Good Godric the Weasleys.. Where do I even start.. it almost deserves a post of its own. Annie did grow close to Bill from the get-go. He quickly turned into that big brother she so desperately needed. He was the go to guy to invite on everything cursed vault related. While they did have a brother-sister sort of relationship, she did find herself fancying him a small bit for a short while. It was a small crush that eventually ended. There was an incident between them in her 3rd year but that is between Annie and Bill, agreed upon to be never spoken of again. Charlie on the other hand. Annie had definitely fancied him for a long time. The feeling was mutual but being so awkward both of them, it went unsaid for quite some time. They grew closer during their 4th year and started officially dating not two weeks into their 5th year. They would end up marrying many many years later.

- Barnaby is precious and we must protect him!

- Merula is a bitch. Annie is just fed up at this point. Sure it was fun to push her buttons(and merlin knows she has enough of those) and she almost enjoyed being snarky back at her. It was a nice distraction but they are 4th years now. It is getting old. She just doesn’t care anymore. You’d swear “Piss off Snyde” had become a signature catchphrase. Hell, maybe it has?

___________________

Ok.. I could honestly go on and on and on all night but I will draw a line here. If you are interested in my version of either my MC or Jacob or anything, please don’t be a stranger! I would love to explore and work out more about her. Asks of any kind are honestly welcome! My inbox has been empty for the entire 6+(?) years I’ve been on tumblr.(Not even an exaggeration.. it’s sad). This is probably a little too late but I’m sure it’s still the 22nd somewhere in the world so I’m going to count it ;)

#hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery event 2018 #MC #Annie Faulkner #I know the art is kind of shit but a lot of the detail went missing between drawing it on paper and transferring and colouring on computer #I swear my art is better on a good day #this was not a good day #I am honestly so tired #Its 4am #Ive been up for hours working on this #appreciate me xD

7 notes · View notes

santiagoswagger · 7 years

Link

Amy wasn’t sure how she got conned into wearing the ruffled, purple monstrosity currently stuck to her body, but she was already counting down the hours until she could take it off and shove it in the back of her closet for good. She loved Elena and was thrilled to have her join the family, but the bridesmaid’s dress she had forced Amy and five of her friends to wear down the aisle was bad. Looking around the tasteful Midtown hotel ballroom she was currently standing in, Amy had to admit that the dress was the only glaring misstep in an otherwise magical wedding.

The circular tables scattered around the room were adorned with tall crystal vases filled with white roses, each chair was delicately draped with lavender silk and tuxedo-clad waiters were passing trays of bubbly champagne through the chattering crowd of guests – only the best for her youngest brother and his new bride.

It was hard to believe Luis was married. He was twenty-four now but Amy still saw him as her baby brother, climbing trees and catching frogs in their New Jersey backyard. Nearly every single relative she had spoken to at the reception thus far had grabbed her hand sympathetically and asked her how she was holding up now that her youngest brother was experiencing the miracle of marriage and she was at the wedding without a date. All she could do was gulp down her champagne and try not to scowl, skillfully steering the conversation to her career and the fact that she was set to take the sergeant’s exam in a few months’ time.

Going to any wedding as a single woman was difficult, even more so when that woman was in her thirties; everyone expected her to have it all figured out by now. It wasn’t as if Amy always loved being alone, especially on nights like tonight, but she was not about to settle down because society dictated she should. She went on plenty of dates but she had yet to meet anyone that really challenged her, that made her want to be a better version of herself, that truly understood her. Elena and Luis had found that, her parents had found that, and she knew she would too – someday.

Amy grabbed another glass of champagne from a passing waiter as she surveyed the reception. Her eyes roamed past the crowded bar before she spotted a man she’d never seen before standing next to one of the circular dining tables scattered throughout the ballroom. He was wearing a rumpled suit and a sheepish expression as he looked furtively around the room. Amy was immediately intrigued. On closer inspection, she noticed that the table he was standing next to was missing its crystal and white rose-filled centerpiece. It didn’t take a genius to realize the stranger had knocked it over and was now trying to cover his tracks. Amy watched him bend down to the floor and try to scoop up pieces of the vase and flower fragments before someone caught on to his mishap.

He seemed to be at the wedding alone, or at least it didn’t look like he had a partner in crime at first glance. Amy didn’t recognize him but she didn’t know every single one of Elena’s friends or family members so it was possible he had been at the crowded church service earlier in the evening. Amy hadn’t noticed him until now so it seemed unlikely – she was good with faces; it was part of what made her such a good detective. Those detective skills were amplified tenfold as she watched the stranger. She looked around the room to see if Luis and Elena’s very unorganized wedding planner had noticed the disturbance but she was in the middle of what looked like a loud and unpleasant conversation with the DJ. Amy rolled her eyes and decided to take it upon herself to investigate the incident. If anything, she wanted to take care of the situation before Elena found out; the vases had been rented and the company had made it very clear that Elena and Louis would pay for any damage to the crystal. She would find out eventually but Amy wanted to make sure she was blissfully unaware tonight.

She stalked over towards the table in her too-tall silver heels, glass of champagne in hand. The man looked up in time to see her storming his way and his eyes widened in horror.

Amy reached her destination and fixed the stranger before her with her best interrogation glare. “Did you just knock over a very expensive crystal centerpiece?”

He looked startled that she had gotten straight to the point and his eyes circled the room to see if there was anyone nearby who could save him from her wrath before moving them back to her. “Um, no?”

Amy looked down at the crystal shards littering the ground and the rose petals stuffed in his hands before looking back at him with raised eyebrows. As she expected, he cracked immediately.

He sighed and placed the floral wreckage he had gathered on the table. “Yes, I knocked over a vase but I swear, it was an accident.” His hands gesticulated wildly as he spoke, attempting to convey his innocence.

Amy only cocked her head in response.

The man rolled his head back and he bounced on his feet a few times, almost like he was steeling himself for something. He took a deep breath and said, “There was a bee in one of the flowers.” He said it so slowly and quietly, Amy almost didn’t hear him.

When her brain finally processed his words, she had to stop herself from snorting. “A bee? Indoors? At night?”

The stranger’s face contorted in frustration, his lips closed tightly and his jaw clenched. “It’s true! I’m allergic to bees, so I panicked and the vase was just in the line of fire.”

Amy stared at him for a moment; she didn’t know who he was or what he was doing at her brother’s wedding, but she did believe him. His bee story was too specific and embarrassing to be a lie.

She sighed. “Okay, fine. Let me find someone to clean this up.”

Amy looked around and caught the eye of Luis and Elena’s wedding planner, who it seemed had finally finished her argument with the DJ, and gestured her over. She took one look at the remains of the centerpiece on the carpet and Amy thought she was going to have a stroke. They eventually found a hotel maintenance worker who retrieved his broom and cleaned up the mess in no time.

When the situation had been contained and Elena was still none the wiser, Amy turned to the vase destroyer. He looked ashamed of himself and Amy almost felt bad for him. She decided to take pity on him and start a real conversation, one that didn’t involve property damage or killer bees.

“So, how do you know the bride and groom?”

The shameful look on his face quickly morphed into one of guilt. “Oh, um, I don’t?”

Amy cocked her head and squinted at him in disbelief. “Wait, were you not invited to this wedding?” The last thing her brother and sister-in-law needed tonight was an actual wedding crasher.

He seemed to have finally been stunned into silence, but that didn’t last nearly long enough. Before Amy could ask him to leave the ballroom, a booming voice interrupted her interrogation.

“PERALTA!”

Amy looked around for the culprit and spotted her brother Anton running in their direction, red-faced and sweaty from dancing and alcohol. For a brief moment, Amy wondered if Anton was going to kick the crasher out but discovered she was sorely mistaken when he threw his arms around him in a crushing bear hug instead.

“You know him?” she asked incredulously.

Her brother turned to look at her in surprise with one arm still around the wedding crasher’s shoulders, as if just now realizing she was standing there. “Ames, this is Peralta! You’ve heard me talk about him before. He’s the prankster on my detectives’ squad!”

Damn it, she had heard Anton talk about a guy at his precinct named Peralta. From what she remembered, he was always disobeying his Captain’s orders and refusing to wear a tie in blatant disregard for NYPD regulations. Anton thought he was hilarious but Amy had always thought he sounded like an idiot. She felt justified in those thoughts looking at him now with a rose petal nestled in his hair and what looked like an old gummy worm sticking out of the breast pocket of his suit.

Anton turned back to Peralta. “It’s good to see you, buddy! I thought you were lying when you said your cousin’s bar mitzvah was in the same hotel as my brother’s wedding, but here you are!” He paused and gasped, struck with a brilliant idea. “You should stay for a while and hang out with us!”

Peralta’s eyes went wide and he shook his head imperceptibly. “Oh no, I just stopped by to say hi but I should really get going.” He started to extract himself from Anton’s death grip to leave before Anton gripped harder.

“Come on, man! Have some drinks with us. It’s our brother’s wedding!”

Peralta looked like all he wanted to do was bolt, but he looked from Amy to her brother and back before nodding in surrender.

Anton cheered and raised his half-empty beer bottle in the air in celebration before walking back towards the dance floor where he and the other groomsmen had been holding court all night. “Yes, that’s what I like to hear! Ames, get this guy a drink!”

Peralta looked at Amy and raised his eyebrows in silent question. She nodded her head slightly and sighed before turning around and stalking towards the bar on the other side of the ballroom. She couldn’t believe the wedding crasher and vase killer had ended up being a welcome guest of Anton’s.

Amy reached the line for the bar in a huff, Peralta close behind at her heels. She turned around to find herself practically nose-to-nose with him. Her eyes immediately and unintentionally locked with his but she found it frustratingly difficult to look away; now that he wasn’t a potential wrench in her brother’s wedding, she saw a flicker of compassion in him that she hadn’t seen before. If he was as great of a cop as her brother always claimed, he couldn’t be all that bad. He was definitely immature, though – Anton’s stories made that abundantly clear and she hadn’t yet seen any evidence to the contrary.

He cleared his throat, shattering the moment, and stepped back to give her space. “Sorry, I was just trying to keep up with you.” He smirked, the right side of his mouth turned up, and she felt her heart flutter in complete betrayal of her perfectly logical brain.

Amy glowed happily, pleased she had outpaced him. “I read once that powerful people don’t wait for others to catch up. I’ve been speed walking ever since.”

Peralta laughed outright at that. “I couldn’t believe you were Santiago’s sister before when you were yelling at me, but I definitely do now. I mean, the way he talks about you it’s like you’re a lady Hulk or something.”

Amy’s face scrunched up. “A ‘lady Hulk’?”

Peralta backtracked immediately, perhaps recognizing that comparing a woman to a giant, green monster wasn’t necessarily the highest form of flattery. “No, no! I just mean that you’re strong and badass, and I think that’s awesome.” He paused and his tone became reverent. “Is it true that you once reached into a perp’s mouth to get her keys?”

Amy felt herself smile widely. “She was trying to swallow evidence! I had to!”

Peralta burst into laughter and Amy joined him, moving side-by side in the slow-moving line until they were nearly at the front of the bar

“Anton talks about you too, you know. I’ve heard lots of stories, Peralta,” she teased him.

His eyes lit up and he intensified his gaze on her as he said, “First, call me Jake.” Amy felt her eyes widen in surprise, but she nodded slightly, refusing to give his words more thought. “And two, I am the stuff of legend, Lady Santiago. Tales of my bravery are told all across this fine city.”

All she could do was snort. “Cool it, Robin Hood. Anton’s definitely obsessed with you but mostly with your pranks. He told me you tricked someone into drinking his own goldfish once.” Her face twisted with disgust and she shuddered.

Jake’s face took on a fond, far-away look. “Oh yes, a Hitchcock classic.”

Just then, they reached the front of the bar and ordered – she traded in her now-empty champagne flute for a whiskey sour and he selected a beer. Drinks in hand, they made their way to a wooden high-top table in a secluded corner of the room. They could see the entire ballroom from this vantage point but they could still hide fairly well from Anton, who was now trying to start a conga line in the middle of the dance floor to no avail.

Amy let him take a few sips of his beer before fixing him with her interrogation glare once again. He looked bemused. “Be honest with me, did you really come here to say hi to Anton?”

Jake chuckled. “I say hi to all my fans, Santiago.”

His voice took on the tone of an action star again but Amy was a good enough detective that she could tell it was all a façade. She fixed him with a disbelieving stare, letting him know she could see right through him.

He sighed and took a big swig of his beer, droplets of water from the bottle falling onto the table as he drank. “Your brother’s awesome and he’s always talking about how awesome is family is, so I guess I wanted to see what you guys were like.” He shrugged. “I’ve always wanted a big family.”

Amy wasn’t sure how to respond so she just nodded and allowed him a small, close-lipped smile. He smiled back.

They drank in silence for a few moments, watching Luis and Elena slow dancing together among the crowd on the dance floor. They looked so happy and in love, completely unaware of the crowd weaving around them.

Amy moved to look at Jake, who was watching the couple with a wistfulness she wouldn’t have pictured him capable of when she saw him with the demolished centerpiece just a half hour previously. She studied him curiously, her gaze piercing enough that he felt it and turned towards her.

They looked at each other for a moment before she asked the question she’d wanted to ask since she saw her brother throw his arms around him. She knew her brother and she knew he was a good judge of character, but it was hard to reconcile that fact with his stories of Jake’s ridiculous antics over the years.

“In all the stories I’ve heard from Anton, you come off like this fun, carefree guy who loves attention and hates rules. It just – it doesn’t seem like all the bureaucracy that comes with being a police officer would be something you’d be into.” She shrugged. “I guess I’m wondering why you decided to become a cop?”

He chuckled silently, looking down at his scuffed shoes as he spoke. “I always wanted to be John McClane, I guess, ever since I was a little kid. I wanted to shoot a gun and take out the bad guys while running from an explosion.” He paused and met her gaze. “And I did run from an explosion once and it was the best day of my life, so mission accomplished.” Amy laughed and he smiled gleefully at her before continuing. “But I also want to help people and make them feel safe, or whatever, you know?” He scratched the back of his neck and looked down at the floor again.

Amy stared at him, letting his words linger in the air. They weren’t elegant or perfect, but they were real. Jake Peralta would not stop surprising her. “Yeah, I do know.”

He brought his eyes back up to hers and nodded, a slow smile slipping into place. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling back. She wasn’t so sure she wanted to stop herself anyway.

They sipped their drinks in silence as another ballad blared through the DJ’s speakers. The silence was comfortable, as though a solid barrier between them had been broken. Amy couldn’t help but sneak glances at the man standing next to her, a man who had destroyed rented glassware and called her a lady Hulk in the span of less than an hour but seemed to reveal a new layer of himself every time they spoke. She liked each new layer more and more. She was so caught up in her thoughts, she didn’t even see him sneaking glances at her too.

He took one last swig of his beer and placed the empty bottle down on the wooden table in front of them. He cleared his throat nervously, startling her from her thoughts.

“Would you maybe want to dance?” He looked like a nervous thirteen year-old boy at his first junior high dance and Amy felt so endeared to him.

She smiled and took his hand, silently leading him to the dance floor. As he placed his hands on her ruffled, purple waist and looked into her eyes, Amy thought again about meeting her match someday, the person who would challenge her, inspire her to be better, understand her. As they swayed together to a cheesy ballad, she couldn’t help but feel like someday was soon.

#i wrote a thing #b99 fic #b99 fanfiction #jake x amy #peraltiago #b99 au #brooklyn nine nine #b99

103 notes · View notes