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#i mean technically my family has a group text? but we literally only use it to ask each other questions from across the house
dorefasolsido · 7 months
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24.
Name the last 6 people you texted:
Sam
Chris
Sophie
Mimi
Selena
Maja
How did you meet #3?
We were in the same group at uni when we enrolled in 2014 and became friends eventually.
What’s #6’s middle name?
Doesn't have one.
Who have you known the longest out of your 6?
Maja, I've known her for 24 years, which is how long she's been alive. She's my sister.
Who have you known the least out of your 6?
Selena, met her in June when I applied for the job in my current company.
How do you know #5?
We work in the same company, she's my manager.
Where does #1 live?
Someplace in Lithuania.
Is #1 your best friend?
Yup.
Who on your 6 doesn’t have a job?
Hmm, only Maja. She's still a student.
Does #5 have their drivers license?
I actually have no clue.
Would you ever live with #2?
No, I think we'd literally end up killing each other. Not immediately, but over time for sure.
Why did you text #4?
Just to ask if she was receiving photos from our marathon run in her inbox too. Then we chatted for a bit longer about other stuff.
Do you miss #3?
I saw her last Saturday, so not particularly. It would've been cool if she could've joined me for a film yesterday, but I'm sure we'll see each other soon enough.
Is #6 a stoner or alchie?
Nope.
Have you ever danced with #2?
Hmm, well not slow danced, but we went to parties and festivals together, so technically.
Have you ever done anything sexual with any of them?
Nope.
What would your life be like without #1?
I can't really picture it at all. It would be extremely different. I'd be extremely different.
Is #2 your best friend?
He used to be one of them, but our relationship is a bit more strained now. I guess I still kinda consider him one of my best friends, despite everything. There's a level of comfort between us that I don't think exists in most of my other friendships.
What do you love about #3?
She has a great dry sense of humour and is generally up for anything. It's also very easy to sit with her in silence without it feeling awkward or uncomfortable.
What is #5’s weakness?
I don't know her that well to comment on that.
What do you dislike about #3?
I just wish she'd take the initiative more often and invite me places for a change. I always feel like I have to push our hangouts, and I hate that feeling even if we always have a nice time. But that's generally a problem when you're an introvert with a friend group of introverts :)))
What kind of car does #4 drive?
I'm not sure actually. I think her family has one car they share, but I didn't pay attention to what it is.
What would you do if #3 & #6 were dating?
I mean, I'd just be surprised and it would be kinda weird because it's my sister and my good friend, but hey
Does #2 have a boyfriend/girlfriend?
Nah, that man is chronically single. Not judging, I am too lol
Have you ever seen #1 cry?
Hmm, maybe a little bit.
Have you ever kept a secret from #5?
I mean, not intentionally. We just barely know each other for real.
Does #2 have any special talents?
He has a unique talent of saying exactly the right thing to piss you off lol. But on a serious note, he used to be pretty good at tennis. I don't think he plays anymore though.
In one word, describe #6.
Assertive.
Has anyone in your top 6 hurt you? Who?
I mean sure, both #1, #2, and #6 hurt me here and there, but not so much that I can't move past it. I guess that's how it is when you're close to people.
Have you ever fought with #6?
Duh, she's my sister.
Is #1 a musician?
Nope.
How old is #4?
31.
Would you ever kiss #5 (if you haven’t already)?
Nah, she's my manager!
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dalamjisung · 3 years
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dancing in the moonlight ✾ kim yugyeom
word count: 1946
genre: slice of life, fluff, dancer!yugyeom
member: yugyeom x reader
description: he needs to go home... even if for a second, you doubt that might be you. you miss your boyfriend, and he misses you, too– he misses his family– and even if takes you all night, you’ll remind him that no one left, and no one ever will.  
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You are tired– exhausted, really. It’s been days of getting home from work, hoping for some take away and quality time with your boyfriend, only to find him gone. He’s been technically unemployed for almost three weeks now, and you remember thinking about all the thing you’d be finally able to do with him– all the shows you’d get to watch, all the late morning cuddle sessions, all the late night talks; everything.
Four days. Four days is how long he lasts inside. On the fourth night, when you get home from work, excited with earlier promises of take away and Descendants of the Sun, he is not there. You try his cellphone but he doesn’t pick up and with only a few texts to the group chat with the other boys and girls you find out he is also not with any of them.
Bambam is the one that suggests the dancing studio– the one a few blocks from your house. Yugyeom always liked your apartment, and you know that it’s always been partially because of that studio; he likes how it reminds him of younger days, when he used to dance the night away, too busy with school during the day. The night was my time to shine, he always told you, reminiscing. Just like suggested, there he is, in his usual room; his body moves fluidly to the song, and you can smell the sweat before you can see it. It’s dark, only light coming in is from outside– the lampposts’ glimmer floods the room, softening his steps, tracing his moves, but it’s almost like the moon is his spotlight. The white light crashes with the yellow glow and he looks more ethereal than ever. Being an idol meant constant rehearsal and practice and even though it was still dancing, it’s not the same; it’s tiring, and repetitive, and controlled. It lacks the creative flow that he likes, and many times Yugyeom complained about not enjoying it anymore, the dancing; but from the smile you see shine in his face as the song stops and he finishes the routine, you’d say he’s found it again– his passion.
“Well don’t you look handsome,” You say, walking the room only to lean against the mirror, looking straight at him.
“Y/N,” He breathes out, chuckling a bit. “What are you doing here, baby?”
“I remember someone promising me food and cuddles,” You pout, biting your smile back as you see his eyes go wide. “But I got home to an empty apartment.”
“I am so sorry!” He gasps, running to get his backpack. “Let’s go! I’ve been here for a few hours, already…”
You nod, letting him pull you out and back to your building, but not before sending the studio a longing glance, mind wandering to an image of Yugyeom holding you in his arms, swaying peacefully, lovingly, from side to side. He always told you he’d teach you how to dance…
Tonight, though... tonight he’s been taking his sweet, sweet time coming back home. Usually he’d be back after three or four hours, around 9 or 10PM; you are starting by the time he’s home, but usually you can wait for him, wanting to enjoy his company more than anything. Not tonight, however– because you’ve waited, you didn’t eat, and now you are not only tired and frustrated, you are also nauseous. By the time you make it to the studio, you have tears in your eyes; Yugyeom is not the best with words, you know that. He gets embarrassed easily and likes to joke around, so hearing emotional things from him is almost impossible, but he’s never failed with his actions; he’s always shown you how much he loves you, so you never really doubted him. And you don’t doubt him now, but some days more than others you need a little extra loving, a little more affection.
“… two, three, four,” You hear him mumbling from outside the room, the door ajar since there is no one in the building anymore. “And five, six–“
“Hey,” You interrupt. He is mid move and loses his footing when he looks at you, stumbling forward. “It’s late.”
“What?” Yugyeom frowns, walking to where his phone is charging on the ground. 1:36AM. “Oh shit…”
“Yeah,” You sigh, and maybe your voice trembled a bit too much, or he just heard you sniffle, but soon Yugyeom has you in his arms, face lowering to look into your eyes.
“Babe, why are you crying?” He mumbles. “I’m sorry I lost track of the time, I was dancing and got this idea and–“
“I know how it goes,” You whisper, shuffling closer to his sweaty body. “And I don’t want to interrupt, but Yugs, it’s time to come home.”
“I just need one–“
“No, no,” You say softly, burying your head on his chest. “Home. Let’s go home, please.”
“You can go ahead, baby,” He chuckles, but you hear how hollow it is– how lifeless it sounds. “I’ll be there in an hour or two, tops.”
“No, you don’t understand,” You try again, but you don’t think you understand it either; you have absolutely no clue what is happening to him, and, consequently, to you. “We– You have to go home, Yugyeom. A-And I don’t mean my apartment, if you don’t want t-to, if that’s not home; but you have to go home.”
“What are you talking about…?” Your boyfriend pulls back slightly, frowning in confusion. You can feel his hands shaking on your shoulders, and after the first sob breaks out, you can’t stop. “Y/N, what are you talking about?”
“Am I… Am I not home?” You gulp, taking a step back. The deaf thud of his hands falling by him side makes you wince. “It’s just… ever since the end of the contract you’ve been distant. Far away. I barely see you, and I think you’re just n-not comfortable, you know? I think you just need to go home.”
“You are home!” He snaps, and you’ve never seen him this exasperated. “You are home, Y/N, you have to be! You’re all I have left!”
And there it is.
There it fucking is.
“Baby,” You mumble, softly, heartbroken. You should’ve known– you should’ve known that he feels alone. Yugyeom was raised by his hyungs, ever since he was a too tall, too young of a child that just wanted to dance. All the milestones, all the failures, the lessons, all the accomplishments– I was all with them; and now, after a signing a new solo contract with AOMG, it makes sense that he is freaking out. So yeah, you should’ve known.
“I-I don’t mean it like that,” He sighs, rubbing this face in frustration. His legs slowly bring him to the floor, where he sits, resting his face on his hands; you only know he’s crying because of the rhythmic movement of his shoulders. “I don’t mean it like you are my last option, I’d never–“
“It’s okay,” You whisper, lowering yourself so you can crawl to him, taking him in your arms. His wide shoulders fall on you and it breaks your heart when you hear him sob. “I know what you mean– I got you.”
“Everything is new,” He whispers, hands holding yours, back against your chest. From the way his body sags, muscles tired and overworked, you know he is absolutely exhausted. “And exciting. But… it’s kind of lonely. I-I tried talking to Bam about this, but he was busy; Jaebeom hyung has his photoshoots and Mark hyung is back in LA, so it’s really hard finding time to call. Youngjae hyung and Jinyoung hyung are already on their schedules, and Jackson hyung is… I don’t even know what he is, to be honest, he’s been doing literally everything. And I’m here– dancing alone.”
“Yugyeom,” You whisper, mouth on top of his head. The sweatiness of his hair should be enough to make you keep a distance, but not even that can make you let go of his, and instead, you kiss his head, his cheek, his neck, his shoulder. Anywhere you can reach, really, because Yugyeom is not a man of words, no; he prefers actions– and you really need to show him some love right now. “You’re not alone, my love.”
“I know,” He sighs, furiously drying his face, to the point that you pull his hands down and gently resume what he was doing, yourself. “But… but it’s hard– it’s hard believing it.”
“We got a parcel today,” You say, caressing his head and enjoying the way he lets it rest on you. “A huge Wang Team box with the newest collection, by Mr. Wang himself.”
“Wha–“
“Jinyoung called, too,” You move, so that your back is against the wall, and you both can see your reflection on the mirror. “He wanted to show the pretty flowers he got from ahgase– said the tulips reminded him of you. Yesterday, Youngjae sent you a package… I think it was a suit for Dalkyum? I didn’t really understand, but the note said something about a park date with Coco.”
“Where… where was I?” He sits up, turning around. His eyes are tired, just like his body, but there is a going of something in them, of hope, and it makes you smile. “I didn’t see any of that.”
“You were here.”
You gesture around, arms open in the big, dark room, and something clicks.
“I pushed them away…?” He asks, voice bordering whiney. “I pushed you away?”
“No, love, you could never push us away,” You chuckle. “You simply… stayed away. You’re a focused artist, so we simply assumed you were working hard for your AOMG debut, but time passed and nothing changed. I miss you, Yugy. I come home from work hoping to see you, but you’re gone. And I also know how bored you must be in my tiny apartment, so I’m happy that you found a distraction, but how about we keep it to daytime? Balance is key, baby, and this way you’ll be able to dance, but you’ll still be able to enjoy they freedom you fought so much for.”
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” He mumbles, smiling sheepishly. “Come here.”
He pulls you to him by your feet, hands moving to your thighs until they grasp your waist. You two are a mess of limbs and when he kisses you, with all the contrasting softness from his dance moves, you melt, molding with him, allowing yourself to fall back in his familiarity. You missed it so damn much that the foreign excitement rises, but the comfort of him catches you, arms wide open for you to simply surrender. And you do– gladly.
“I love you,” He whispers a bit breathless. “So much.”
“I love you, too,” You peck his lips, squeaking as he suddenly gets up, pulling you after him. “What are you doing?”
He doesn’t let go of your hand, pulling you after him as he moves to the sound system, messing with his phone until a familiar tune starts to play. One hard pull on your hand has you stumbling his way, and he is quick to embrace you.
We get it almost every night
His soft humming on your ears is enough to make you smile wide, feet following his steps as you two start to move together.
When that moon is big and bright
It's a supernatural delight
“Y/N.”
“Hm?” You hum, not wanting to open your eyes, basking in the perfection of this moment.
“I missed you, too.”
Everybody's dancing in the moonlight
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Last on of the series oh my god 😢 I’m not sure if this is similar to Bam’s, but I feel like what would affect these two the most is missing his hyungs... What do you think of this one? Let me know! If you liked this story, please please please share, comment, like, or anything you feel comfortable doing ❤️ thank you for your endless support, lovelies💕
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crystalkleure · 3 years
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Haha hey remember that post I made awhile back, speculating on what a bad idea it might be to fuse dead things in the godless Frankenstein fossil machine
Meet White. He is a reanimated corpse. Two of them, actually. Or more like 1.5. [And I whipped up this half-assed partial reference sheet in one night instead of sleeping, so don’t look too hard at the chickenscratch lineart and visible guidelines, and kindly ignore the total lack of shading as well as any other messy jankiness.]
White is a product of me wondering not only about what happens if you NecroFuse a human with a Pokemon, but also what happens if you make it even worse and specifically fuse that human with a Pokemon capable of mega evolution. Because canon seems to imply that mega evolving is at best deeply uncomfortable -- and at worst outright agonizing -- for whatever creature is going through it.
Character Lore under the cut. Lots of text:
White is one of actually multiple undead guys who got mashed together with bits of dead Pokemon. They’re science experiments, so they've got the dex numbers of the Pokemon they're spliced with tattooed on the backs of their necks, and those numbers were treated as their names In The Evil Science Lab.
In his Original Life, White [and some of his buddies] got gored to death by some escaped Horrible Fucking Monsters that were accidentally [...and then not-so-accidentally] created via Two Pokemon At Once In A Fossil Resurrection Machine, because hey, it is SUPER easy to think you got Just One Thing's Bones from an excavation dig but then later you realize that Some Of Those Bones were from something TOTALLY different that just died in the same place. It happens. So, some Fossil Scientist People accidentally resurrected an Abomination, realized they fucked up pretty fast...and then started wondering if they REALLY fucked up or if this is Cool, Actually. And then the team of Science People split into two Morality Factions, with one half being like “This is unethical as shit, we need to make sure this doesn't happen again because it's not natural so who knows how this poor fucked up creature is suffering” and the other, cooler half being like “WE NEED TO DO THIS AGAIN RIGHT NOW BECAUSE SCIENCE. IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES HOLY SHIT.”
Cooler group splits off from the Horrified Group With Morals, and they promptly use their Science Knowledge to Construct More Machines and Make More Monsters. Doesn't take too long for them to realize, however, that Abomination Pokemon are stupidly hard to control, because not only are they suffering, their masters obviously don't care for their wellbeing, so Revolt Inevitably Occurs and they escape to wreak havoc upon the nearest congregation of townspeople. They promptly maul some people to death at a nearby local rock concert, scientists chase after them to clean up the mess, realize “Oh Shit, Manslaughter Charges Impending”, and then realize...
Science Guy 1: “...Hey, what happens if you put a dead person in the fossil machine?”
Science Guy 2: “Hey, people probably listen better than Pokemon. We can, like, TALK to people.”
Science Guy 3: “Lads, I got a stellar idea just now. And we got plenty of Dead Guys to start with right here! Great way to hide the bodies too, probably.”
This goes approximately as well as you would expect, and precisely as ethically. A smashing success!
However, because they Fucking Died, the reanimated Newly-Monsterized dudes do not remember shit about who they were pre-resurrection. They're not technically even the same people, they’re more like clones. They've been remade. So, all they know now is Science Lab Life, and they have no initial attachment to eachother aside from "that other guy is also a Science Experiment Person just like me, so Same Hat @ Labrat Neighbour ig", in spite of several having been friends or even family prior to death. They also just...don’t know/remember things in general. They are fresh blank slates. And to a morally-bankrupt team of scientists, that’s perfect! They can train these guys to behave however they please!
...However, people might be People Instead Of Animals, meaning they can be Reasoned With And Manipulated And Coerced far better than animals due to their far better communication abilities with the Science People, but...there is Still A Problem in the sense that Holy Shit, A Person Can Only Take So Much. You can only treat someone as "Experiment [number]" for so long, blatantly putting no value on their life outside of The Value Of Scientific Research, in spite of literally basically needing to raise them like a normal child due to the Lack Of Memories issue. Eventually they're not gonna be able to take that anymore and they are gonna Fucking Leave, too. And they’re gonna be much harder to track down than the rampaging Pokemon were. Impossible, actually, once they’ve ripped out their tracking chips.
So then there's just these monster dudes, who don't actually know what they are because they weren't ever told anything more than necessary to get them to cooperate with Tests And Experiments, just Escaped Into Civilization and having NO idea how Anything works. Fun! Especially considering how, at first glance, these just look like Normal Dudes. Their monster bits either aren't apparent or just look like funky body modifications.
They've also got Science Things in them and they Don't Know What The Fuck Those Things Even Are. They've just got these little Devices in/on their chests, and they were never informed of the exact functions of them because there's no reason to explain to the experiment What Is Happening, just that the experiment needs to Hold Still and Cooperate and Now Do This, Now Do This, Now Do That, Good Job That's Enough For Today, etc.
Those devices contain both key stones and mega stones.
If you were a Mad Pokemon Scientist, you would most certainly be interested in the mega evolution phenomenon. What would YOU do if some of your Undead Fusion Experiments happened to be spliced with bits of Pokemon known to be capable of mega evolving? You’d kill two birds with one enigmatic set of stones, that’s what you’d do. Your Frankenstein Experiments can even TALK to you and tell you exactly what they are experiencing when you run tests on them! It’s perfect!
So, if a rock-bearing monster’s heart rate goes too high, part of the little device, which is a barrier between one type of rock and the other, opens up and Exposes One Rock To The Other Rock. Which exposes the monster to the Rock Energy Reaction. The greater the stress, the higher the dose. And I’m sure you can see the snowball effect that’s gonna create, at least the first time or two.
They were INTENDED to eventually be made to Physically Fight With Eachother to gauge the effects of The Rocks™️ when the Guys With The Rocks are under Stress and need to Do Some Self-Defense. The Science Squad was basically trying to suss out the Actual Purpose of mega evolution. Because mega evolution is weird -- it puts ENORMOUS stress on the body of whatever is undergoing it, so the hypothesis was that its true power is probably drawn out best via a perceived life-threatening situation, like it’s a type of hysterical strength, because what else would cause a need for that kind of ability. And aren’t ethics a bit overrated?
So, there’s our premise. White is just wandering around without any particular purpose outside of never ever going back to Science Hell, and he has no clue what the funny little doohickey buried in his chest does until it activates one day and absolutely fucks him up [...as well as everyone around him. Mega Absol radiate an Aura Of Sheer Terror that can literally scare people with weak hearts to death if they’re not careful.]
And now, some Miscellaneous Character Info:
The bit about Lots Of Death happening at a rock concert specifically was important. White was actually the vocalist of the band that was playing. He doesn’t remember that now, but he still loves music and has the same strong vocal cords. And THAT is important because White is partially an Absol now and Absol naturally learns Perish Song. These Fusion Monsters are absolutely capable of using Pokemon moves, though whether they’re aware of this is a different matter entirely. Imagine what happens when they end up tapping into those abilities accidentally.
That band was a relatively-unknown little local band. White was by no means anywhere near famous. Very few people even realized he was gone, and most of the ones who would have noticed also ended up Equally Unalive.
That black stuff between the belts on White’s arms is mesh. Like, stocking mesh. It gets Ripped The Fuck Apart when he goes Mega Mode and his arm fur gets Extra Spiky. Hence one stocking being a bit tattered in that reference pic. He frequently has to replace those things, they are fragile.
“How did White get his name if he doesn’t remember his original name and didn’t have a real name in the lab” I am glad you asked! Post-escape, he eventually encountered a situation where someone asked him what his name was, he bluntly told them “I don’t have one. I am #359.”, they said “Well That Is Not A Name, I need something proper to call you”, and he was just...Super Apathetic. So, the other person picked out the name “White” just based on the fact that White’s hair is white, and he just shrugged and rolled with it.
As you can see in my Incredibly Quick And Rough Sketches, the backs of White’s shirts are open to accommodate that huge amount of fur that bristles out into false wings when he goes Mega Mode. Because his Actual Normal Hair is relatively long and overlaps with that fur, it blends in with his Actual Normal Hair and doesn’t look too odd [when it’s down]. Probably mostly because nobody’s expecting it to be anything OTHER than Perfectly Normal Hair That Just Happens To Be Very Long.
White does not particularly like violence. White does not want to beat you up. He will, though, without a bit of hesitation, if there’s some logical reason he feels like it’s the most practical course of action. Being essentially raised by Cold, Emotionally-Sterile Scientists With No Care For The Wellbeing Other Living Beings uh, tends to affect a guy a little bit. White has a bit of an internal dilemma regarding “It would be efficient for me to just Harm This Other Person to defuse the current situation, because attempting nonviolence will be overall more risky somehow” vs. “Holy shit it feels bad when I hurt people. Why does it feel bad when I hurt people. Is it...SUPPOSED to feel bad when I hurt people?? No one ever felt bad for hurting me.” He Figures Out How Empathy Works Eventually. He is a good guy at heart. He is a Monotone Snarker, but not actually Cold or Malicious at all.
If an Absol can do it, White can probably do it. He has incredibly keen senses and a STRONG ability to Detect Impending Doom. He has exactly the amount of Supernatural Absol Powers you would expect. He is also stupidly physically strong, way more so than he appears to be.
White can’t punch people. Look at the fist he’s making in the pic, he’s doing it wrong. If you punch someone like that, you WILL break your own thumb. That’s not a Revving Up To Sock Someone pose, he’s just tense. He’s using his thumb as a buffer between his long-ass Sharp As Fuck claws and the flesh of his palm. If White tries to punch anybody, or just makes a proper fist at all, he will impale his own hand on his nails. Like, all the way through. He CAN slash straight through things like metal and bone with those claws, though.
White...is unsettling. Completely accidentally, and unknowingly. He just radiates an Aura Of Intimidation [...or Pressure], even when not in Mega Mode, that scales depending on his mood. Just being near him tends to put people and Pokemon on edge. Thus, he’s generally avoided.
The latter point is especially unfortunate, because White’s preferred method of Socializing and Bonding is to just kind of quietly hang out in the same room as whoever he is trying to Socialize and Bond with. He just wants to, like...chill out Near A Buddy and watch a movie and share a bag of chips or something. His social skills are predictably not good.
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1-800-roflmao · 3 years
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Wash Day Delight Pt. 5
Rating:  General Audiences
WARNINGS:  None
Fandom:  Undertale (Video Game)
Relationships:  (Papyri Harem) Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader, Papyrus (Underfell)/Reader, Papyrus (Underswap)/Reader, Papyrus (Undertale) & Reader,  Papyrus (Underfell) & Reader
Characters:  Papyrus (Undertale), Reader, Edge (UF Pap), Blue (US Sans), Stretch (US Pap), Sans (Undertale), and Mentions of Other AU Skeletons
Add. Notes: Reader Is POC - mainly mixed/black coded with thick curly hair. I try to keep descriptions vague. Anyone is welcome to read.
*Papyrus has a moment to himself. Enter Sans, Blue, and Stretch. Edge proposes a toast.
**EDITED SINCE TUMBLR MIXED UP THE PARAGRAPHS
PREVIOUS || FIRST || NEXT
Papyrus was practically beaming at the opportunity he had caught by the horns that morning.  What a spectacular way to start his day!  He’d been only a little worried that she might shoot down his idea.  Okay, he had been very worried.  Especially considering she had explained she planned to do chores today as well.  Thank goodness, his brilliant mind was in tip top shape today!  And he didn’t have the little human here to fluster him.  It had also been lucky that Blue was there.  The excitable version of his brother had been quite eager to help him convince her to come over once he realized who he was texting and what was going on.
“REMIND HER HOW MUCH SHE LOVED OUR MASTER BATH!”  “SHE’S SUPPOSED TO BE PAMPERING HERSELF AND RESTING.  CHORES ARE NEITHER OF THOSE!”  “WE CAN ASSIST HER WITH THOSE CHORES IF THEY REALLY NEED TO BE DONE…”  “TELL HER I’LL GET MY BROTHER’S HOODIE FOR HER!”
That last suggestion he remembered had resulted in a long pause before Blue had laughed awkwardly under Papyrus’s questioning and only slightly judging gaze.  His judgemental gaze was soon pulled to his phone as she had replied with a wide-eyed emoji and then stars and then finally: 
Fluffy:  Promise?
He didn’t know whether to be impressed by Blue or disappointed in his friend that it had taken the simple promise of a hoodie to get her to agree so quickly.  Was it because it was Stretch’s specifically?  There was no way to tell since they had not offered anyone else’s clothing.  It stung for some reason.  Idly, he rubbed at his sternum to ease the odd pain away as he sent a reply back. 
CoolDude:  THE GREAT PAPYRUS! AND MALEFICENT BLUE! NEVER BREAK A PROMISE.
CoolDude:  WE’LL BE OVER IN JUST A FEW MINUTES TO PICK YOU UP
Fluffy:          Could you give me thirty?  
Fluffy:          I need to get dressed and pack a bag.
CoolDude:  OFCOURSE!  SEE YOU SOON!
Needless to say, it wasn’t long after the two had convinced her to come over that the whole household was made aware they would have a guest today in the family group chat.  Blue had run off to find his brother with a promise to come back in time to go.   Papyrus assumed he was going to try and convince his brother to give up his hoodie for the day.  They technically didn’t need it till later though.  Most likely she would be rushing off to the bathroom as soon as she stepped foot into their home.
Pocketing his phone, he settled into finishing the task Blue had been helping him with.  There were only a few more dishes left to clean from their late breakfast--brunch?  Was it still technically too early for brunch?  Shrugging, he lost himself in cleaning and tried not to watch the clock obsessively.  So hyper focused, he didn’t notice his brother shortcutting into the kitchen just beside him.
○●○●○●○●○
Sans just watched Papyrus currently wiping at the same spot on the counter for what seemed the umpteenth time.  “hey, bro, think you missed a spot,” he finally decided to make presence known.  He was rewarded with very on brand screech as his taller sibling nearly jumped through the ceiling in surprise.  Quite a feat considering they had purposely high ceilings.  
“SANS!!!”  Sans’ lazy perma smile just perked up as his brother stomped a foot and crossed his arms, sockets narrowing.   “WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT USING SHORTCUTS IN THE HOUSE?!”  Papyrus scolded, foot tapping away.  
“not to,” he answered without a care.  His tone said it all.   He’d do it again and again.  This was a war Papyrus would not win.  He bit back a laugh as his brother just sucked in a breath, palms pressed together in a praying motion in front of his teeth.  “aw, paps, come on, it’s not that bad,” he pleaded playfully.
“YOU ARE CORRECT,” Papyrus started and Sans arched a brow bone in mild surprise, “IT’S NOT THAT IT’S BAD.  IT IS SIMPLY FRUSTRATING THAT YOU HAVE TWO PERFECTLY FUNCTIONAL LEGS AND YET, YOU FIND EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO NOT USE THEM!” 
Sans just smiled in turn and that smile just stretched wider as he watched his brother literally flinch and glare even harder.  “NO.”  His sockets were practically curling with how big his smile was getting as Papyrus continued to command him to cease.  It was too late though.  It was already in motion.
“just trying to get a leg up on life, bro.”  It was like music to his nonexistent ears as Papyrus screeched that signature NYEH! of his.  He would have tossed a few more puns his brother’s way, but… “so, what has your spine in a twist?”  While he could guess what had his brother stressing--considering a certain human was visiting today--it did not hurt to ask.
His brother’s lazy pun had done its job to lighten his mood significantly.  He had expected more, but instead Sans had thrown a curveball.   The question was sobering.   He wasn’t stressed.  He wasn’t worried.  He wasn’t… right?   Picking up the rag he had used to clean the counters, he brought it to the sink and started ringing it out.  “MY SPINE IS PERFECTLY ALIGNED AS USUAL, SANS,” he replied, tossing the rag in to a small hamper just outside the connected laundry room.
Silence followed and he could feel his brother’s eyelights boring into his back.  “uh huh…” Yeah, that tone said he hadn’t believed a word of it.  Rather than pushing with words, his brother had settled for simply staring and tapping at the counter.  It was a battle of wills at this point.  
Just as the tapping of his brother’s phalanges against the countertop was starting to tick away his resolve, the tension was shattered as Blue reentered the kitchen with his own brother in tow.  Papyrus could hear the energetic version of  his brother nagging at his lazy self to wash his hoodie before lending it out.  Finally turning around, he aimed a bright smile at the swapped brothers; pointedly, he ignored his brother’s judging gaze.  “BLUE, I SEE YOU’VE SUCCEEDED IN CONVINCING YOUR BROTHER!” he declared, marching up to the two. 
A little amused huff escaped Blue, “DIDN’T TAKE MUCH CONVINCING HONESTLY,” he admitted.
“OH?” Papyrus looked to Stretch for elaboration and the other just gave an easy shrug.
“little miss has been eying my hoodie for a good bit,” he stated, an amused lilt to his voice, “was honestly surprised she never tried to sneak it or ask for it before now.”   
“SHE DIDN’T ASK FOR IT,” Papyrus found himself saying before he could think better of it.  It wasn’t a lie, but why did it feel like he said something mean.  That odd feeling was pressing at his sternum again.  
Stretch simply rolled the lollipop held in his jaws from one side to the other.  The hard candy clicking gently at the back of his teeth as he leveled a seemingly unbothered stare on his doppelganger, but Papyrus knew no matter how much the slouching brother seemed to act like his brother, he was still a Papyrus and Papyri were more observant than they often let on.  He knew those honey colored eye lights were searching for every little cue to put together the puzzle put before him.  
“THAT IS TRUE.  I DID OFFER IT,” Blue cut in, a shared moment of eye contact between the older brothers missed by the younger.  
 A little hum could be heard from Stretch as he straightened up with a roll of his shoulders in a mock stretch.  “hadn’t meant it to come off like that so let me reword,” he started with a short chuckle.  “she’d been wishing on all our sweaters and hoodies,” he amended, his lazy smile pulling up at the corners as he now had to look slightly down at his doppelganger without his usual slouch.
That ugly, heavy feeling wasn’t pressing as insistently after Stretch’s words.  “OH…” Papyrus hoped his voice came off as neutral.  Sadly, he could feel his magic betraying him as his cheekbones warmed.   
“you all can’t tell me you’ve never noticed,” he challenged the room, finally breaking his staredown with Papyrus as he looked to the other two occupants.
 Sans was the first to input his agreement with a shallow nod as he leaned on the counter.  “she tries to be subtle about it,” he remarked, an easy smile on his face as he rested his chin against his palm, “sneaking little glances here and there, dropping little hints…” His sockets closed with a happy curve as his deep laugh rumbled in his chest as he remembered the offhanded questions and shy beating around the bush their friend opted for instead of simply asking outright to borrow one of their jackets. 
Opening his sockets, he resumed watching his brother.  His light pink flush had dimmed and he had lifted a hand up to his mouth, digits curled as he seemed to be thinking.  He just smiled more as Papyrus seemed to be relaxing as he worked through his thoughts.  The more anecdotes they shared, the more his sockets seemed to widen with understanding.  
“LET’S NOT FORGET SHE HAD TRIED ACQUIRE YOUR SWEATER JUST LAST NIGHT, CREAMPUFF.”  Edge’s voice cut through the chatter.  They had all jumped and seemed to move as one to look at the sharp skeleton currently shutting the fridge door.  When had he come in?  Had they been so engrossed they had somehow missed him coming in?  Edge just smirked smugly at all of them as he carried the carafe of lemonade over to the island.
Sans just chuckled and turned his attention back to his brother.  His brow bones perking as he saw Papyrus’s smile wasn’t strained anymore and his tense posture had fled.  A glance to Blue and the other gave him the tiniest shrug before following it with a sneaky thumbs up.  Yeah, everything was good again.  Let’s not question it for now.  “hey, bro, don’t cha have a guest to pick up?” he commented.
The energetic duo both looked to the clock on the wall. A rather impressive synchronized gasp left the two. “NYEH!” “MWEH!” “WE’RE LATE!!”  The smaller skeleton just barely managed to catch the taller by the hand as he went to dash out the door.  “SORRY, PAPYRUS!  NO TIME FOR THAT!” Blue rushed out an apology before the smell of ozone filled the kitchen and barely a second later they were gone. 
○●○●○●○●○
“hey, Edge, mind pouring me a glass of that lemonade?” Stretch had settled at the island with a hopeful smile.  
   His request was met with a huff as Edge opened the cabinets above and retrieved a glass for himself, “POUR YOURSELF ONE, ASH TRAY.”  
The orange clad skeleton just hummed  around his lollipop before grabbing the sweet, honey flavored treat by it’s stick and removing it from his mouth.  “aww, why not?  you poured one for Sans there and he didn’t even ask,” he pouted playfully, gesturing to Sans who was nursing his glass of lemonade  just beside him. 
“don’t have to ask when you’re-” Both Papyri still in the room shot him a warning glare before he could even finish and he lifted his hands up in mock surrender.  “fine, fine , tough room,” he joked.  Edge just rolled his eyes, while Stretch let his glare linger a bit longer to make sure Sans didn’t try to sneak it in.
“I REFUSE TO WATCH YOU RUIN A PERFECTLY GOOD GLASS OF LEMONADE AGAIN,” the sharper skeleton stated as he poured his own glass and took a sip, sighing at the refreshing taste.  
Stretch feigned insult, “i’m not the only one who puts honey in their lemonade, edgelord.”
“NO, BUT I WOULDN’T SAY YOU ARE PUTTING HONEY IN LEMONADE WITH YOU,” Edge started, wrinkles forming on his nose ridge in disgust as he spoke, “NO, WITH YOU IT IS MORE ACCURATE TO SAY YOU PUT LEMONADE IN YOUR HONEY.”  He took a long sip like he could taste the sticky sweetness on his tongue and needed to wash it down.  
“you got me there,” Stretch popped his lollipop back in his mouth and settled in, laying against the counter with a resigned sigh.  He could hear Edge grumbling about how of course he was right.  Rolling his lollipop, he moved his attention back to Sans.  The prime doppelganger had simply been sitting quietly with an easy smile on his round skull.  As if sensing Stretch’s stare, his white eyelights locked with honey colored ones. 
“need something, pal?” The words held no threat or warning, just an invitation to ask away.
“what was up with your brother earlier?” Stretch already had a guess.  He just wanted confirmation at this point. The stout skeleton apparently had no plans to play along and just shrugged noncommittally.
“no clue what you’re talking about, Stretch,” Sans replied, finishing off his lemonade with a satisfied sigh, “thanks for the drink, Edge.”  He sent a genuinely thankful smile Edge’s way before the smell ozone once again filled the room and an empty glass was abandoned on the countertop before a now empty seat.
Edge fought down a smile that tugged at his teeth.  It wasn’t too hard with Stretch still in the room though.  Currently, the laidback skeleton was watching him with a curious look. “WHAT?” he snapped, scowling as a knowing grin was aimed at him.
“you’re in on it,” the other stated matter of factly.
“I AM IN ON NOTHING. AND QUIT THAT CLUELESS ACT,” Edge snipped, crossing his arms with a cocked hip, “I WAS THERE LONG ENOUGH TO SEE YOUR POSTURING EARLIER.”  It had been a surprise to see the usually passive skeleton standing to his full height and purposely towering over their prime version.  He cut off Stretch’s denial with a sharp growl, “I WON’T LISTEN TO BULLSHIT, STRETCH.”
Stretch just gave a defeated chuckle as he sat up in his seat.  “two for two today, Edge.  you’re on a roll,” he commended. 
Edge didn’t see nor hear any regret from his alternate.  The two simply took a moment to stare each other down.  A silent measuring up before the standing skeleton reached up into the cabinets and set down a new glass.  Curious honey eyelights watched as a lemonade was poured to only fill half the glass before it was slid over to him with a gentle push.  
 “what’s this?” Stretch questioned.  He leant forward in his seat and tilted his skull as he shifted his stare from the half full glass to Edge who was refilling his own.
“LEMONADE,” he answered smartly and Stretch didn’t bother restrain his rolling eyelights.
“i can see that.”
“THEN WHY ASK?” 
“you know that’s not wh-”
“JUST FILL IT WITH YOUR INFERNAL HONEY ALREADY,” Edge snapped, cutting Stretch off with an impatient scowl.  
Knowing he wouldn’t get anywhere with his darker counterpart, he fished in his pullover pocket and pulled out his signature bear shaped honey bottle.  Snapping the top, he upended the bottle over the glass and squeezed.  The viscous, thick amber liquid cut through the pale white lemonade and pooled at the bottom of the glass.  It took a minute to build the thick layer he wanted and once he was done, Edge handed him a spoon begrudgingly to stir his monstrosity.  Finished, he looked to Edge again questioningly only to see the other holding up his glass.  The sharp toothed skeleton had a cocky smirk on his skull, “IF YOU’RE SERIOUS ABOUT THAT CHALLENGE EARLIER, JUST KNOW YOU HAVE COMPETITION.”
Stretch was sure his jaw was on the floor as he realized what was going on.  He had known the tougher skeleton was soft on their human, but he hadn’t thought it went further than platonic interest.  That only left Willow and Mutt from the Papyri who seemed to show no romantic interest.  At least he hoped.  That may change considering today was the day for surprises.  Sucking in a breath, he sat up and raised up his own glass, tapping it against Edge’s with a less intense smirk of his own.  “noted,” he acknowledged, “but the true competitor is Creampuff, ya know.  you’ve seen those two together.”  
Edge nodded.  It was hard to miss the looks those two often sent to each other.  It could be absolutely suffocating at times to be in the same room as them when they start acting sweet and fluffy.  He took a moment before tapping his glass against Stretch’s for a second time, “A SECOND TOAST TO THE IDIOTS FINALLY WAKING UP,” before they each took a sip of their respective drinks.  
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blushing-starker · 4 years
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Having a boyfriend that's a natural rule breaker becomes even more tedious because now it's two people conspiring together, itching to shatter social norms. Sure, they won't pull the fire alarm stunt to get out of a quiz (that's more Rocket and Groot's style), place mirrors on front steps to confuse Fury and nearly give the principal a heart attack (Loki with an exasperated Thor and cackling Hela) or hire a mariachi band to follow hall monitor Alexander Pierce (Steve had joined Bucky and Sam in that one); they'd never sneak into the air vents, fill them with glitter so the haughty board of directors would be covered in pink sparkles when they cranked the ac (Clint and Nat).
Ok, they did help with that last one, buying the shimmering stuff from T'Challa's sister and slipping five jars into Clint's backpack, but they didn't actually go into the vents.
But that's not the point. The point is there are limits to their rule breaking; Tony's spot on the football team and Peter's participation in the art club too important to risk on something as silly as skipping a quiz. No, they thanked their best friends, unhooked the window lock and slithered out only after finishing and handing in the quiz. They weren't amateurs.
Still, Peter knows Tony literally couldn't have chosen a worse time for their impromptu lunch date. (Luckily, he'd expected this exact situation.)
"Tony, they don't even have bad food today. We could just wait until the bell rang to meet up and eat at the bleachers. Like we always do a day before a big game."
His boyfriend swivels around, hooks nimble fingers into his belt loops to pull Peter closer, never once stumbling even while walking backwards. The grin he shows is manic, just this side of wild to let Peter know this isn't about haunting nightmares and bouts of anxiety. This is normal, too high on a feeling Tony Stark. Which means he won't head back to school unless Peter pulls out all the stops...
He's too exhausted from last night's art project to use up energy on the puppy eyes. So he sighs, tugs on the blue varsity jacket Tony loves to show off, kisses a dimple before turning this untamed creature around.
"Come on, I found a new route to that shawarma place with MJ and Ned last week." It sounds exasperated, but Tony knows Peter will do anything to keep him happy. Well. Not anything. There's only so many times they can discuss Star Wars before simply agreeing to disagree on whether Han and Luke are pan or bi.
"What, and you tell me this now?", Tony squawks indignantly from Peter's left side, freezing nose nuzzling into Peter's neck as revenge.
Like a robber caught sneaking into a vault, he raises his hands instantly before shoving Tony away.
"Hey, you were focusing on practice! If I told you, you'd bring Rhodey, he'd bring T'Challa and then Shuri would pop up and who goes where she goes? Bucky, which means Steve and Sam, who'd already be there thanks to Rhodey and of course Clint would somehow appear with Nat. We'd be together so Ned and MJ are gonna be teasing with Betty and half the guys in our grade have a crush on Nat, or MJ or Shuri or Betty or you. So what's the end result? The entire football, soccer, basketball and swim team eating shawarma a week before the games. I am not hearing Coach Coulson scold me for you guys breaking diet again. I'm already on his list, another situation like that and I'll have to run fifteen laps around the field."
"Oh come on, you can do those in your sleep." He could, but again, not the point.
"With a weighted backpack, Tony."
"Yeah, I can see why you wouldn't want that."
"Before cycling fifteen laps and then swimming fifteen laps."
"Jesus, why would he even do that?" Tony looks at him then, disgruntled at the thought of his boyfriend doing all that.
He shrugs, doesn't want to explain Peter had done it once when it all got too much and he'd needed to release the pent up energy. He hadn't noticed Coach watching him, ready to come help if he hurt himself. They'd talk afterwards, Coulson making him promise to never do that alone. Now it became a reward and a punishment. Peter won the art contest? Fifteen everything to focus his mind and not go jumping off walls in his excitement.
His students wolfing down a thousand calories before a game? Fifteen everything so Peter would at least "time it so it's not during the season, Jesus". To be fair to Peter, Tony participated in almost all the sports teams so scheduling was hard.
"Listen, just don't eat a whole animal, ok? We can split it, eat enough," he glares at Tony, pushing through even as the puppy eyes come out, "and then head to the movies. They're showing Aliens for a few days cuz of Halloween and I already texted the guys to come during lunch."
His boyfriend, smart and sharp and witty, just blinks at him. "But we have class after lunch."
"Technically, but I convinced Mr Pym to let the class out of lab so we could all hang out. It's the one class we share so now the whole group can see it together."
Tony stops, eyes wide and mouth open.
"You, what, planned this?"
"Yeah, something fun before tomorrow to take it off your mind for a while. Or, you know, not make it stand out as much. I know how focused you get, and it's really great, having that as a goal, strategizing and taking it seriously. But I also know it can be a lot, so I thought we should all hang out since each of us has something coming up and we aren't spending much time together. Which I get, responsibilities and family and school; I just missed it and I can't be the only one, right? So yeah, this was planned. Like, two weeks ago. When MJ found the new route, it was like a sign. And I really want you to relax and enjoy the whole, I have friends that care for me and a boyfriend that loves-"
He slaps a hand on his mouth, eyes impossibly wide and cheeks flaming. Tony and Peter stand immobile, the world reduced to beat up sneakers breaking the simplicity of yellow lines on black, a flickering neon sign telling them the shawarma place is open and two hearts slowly starting to beat again after that confession.
Ned would say it's romantic. MJ would bluntly remind them it's a bad idea to stand in the middle of the road even if they're saying I love you. And with good reason, since there's the telltale roar of a car bursting with teenagers, voices howling out the lyrics to an AC/DC song. And of course Peter notices the noise of rubber swerving against gravel, the screeching of old brakes and a few terrified shrieks harmonizing with a sharp wind blasting into him out of nowhere. Before he can react, Tony is there, wrapping his arms around Peter and shoving them both into the little patch of grass that grows from a crack in dirty pavement.
There's a moment where his whole world flips, tumbles until he screws his eyes shut and prepare himself for whatever the fuck caused that noise. But nothing comes. Only a sigh blowing a stray curl away from his forehead. But a sigh? Why would?
Tony.
He gasps, jolts upright and apologizes when that just serves to jostle his boyfriend further into the ground. His boyfriend who'd flip them so Peter wouldn't be hurt. Tony is peering at him through half shut eyes, discomfort clear on the grimace he tried to transform into a sheepish grin.
"So, you love me, huh?"
It's the stupidest thing Tony Stark has ever said.
"What the fuck were you thinking? You could have gotten hurt, you could have shattered a wrist, dislocated a shoulder, torn an ACL, bent a leg-"
"This is not what I expected. Also it was a three foot leap forward on grass, I'm fine, Peter."
"Or bashed your head, or busted an arm and then what would you do for the game tomorrow? Who the hell does that?"
"The guy you love, apparently."
"That's not the point, Tony, that's unimportant because you nearly got hurt. Christ, Coulson will slaughter me if there's a scratch on you, and then your mom would be sad and I'd be sad because, what would I do without you? And don't you ever do that again, I can't take it. I am not losing you, Tony. God, why would you do that, risk so much on-"
"On you? Babe, I'd do it again. Ok, not the right thing to say based on the whole face thing you got going on right now. But just hear me out. Don't, stop hitting me, ow, why are you hitting, how are you this strong, Jesus. Ow, stop it. Peter, for fuck's sakes, I love you, you animal. Now please let go of the jacket, it'll get wrinkles."
His hands unclasp the soft cotton, Tony falling back with a groan and Peter's unhinged jaw snapping shut after fifteen seconds of letting the flies in.
It's a wonderful thing, hearing the guy he's loved for so long say it back, say he loves Peter.
It's also fucking stupid since there's even more reason to not do stunts like that.
"You're an idiot. I'm in love with a guy that has one shared brain cell with Steve. You could have been hurt, Tony. And what would that have done, huh?"
His boyfriend sighs yet again, wraps an arm around Peter to push them from the ground and heads to the car where their friends are gawking. He waves them off, offers a "Yeah, I know I'm amazing, no, I didn't break anything, T'challa, yes, I can play, Jesus, Rogers, I can read you like a book. I appreciate the worry, Bruce; Nat, thanks for calming him down. Rhodes, excellent driving. No need to hog the seats, Sam, we need to settle in. Peter, you can keep cursing me out if you, yeah, see how it's nice being fun size when you fit in my lap in a car full of people. What, I'm not walking after that, I don't care if it's til we reach the parking. Let's go, Rhodes. Pepper, I'm fine. "
Clint offers a high five. Tony responds and that's that. Out of sight, Ned gives him a fist bump and MJ keeps on reading her book. It could just be his imagination, but Tony's sure she's smiling, approval clear on her face. He preens, glad to have her blessing, and settles his head on Peter's fluffy hair.
-----
When they're all laughing in a booth, smashed together and picking food off of everyone's plate, Peter nuzzles the crook of his neck, holds his hand and squeezes it. Tony smiles, lights up and shoves at Sam's face when the trio of best friends tease him for puffing his chest out when his boyfriend ever so softly says, "I love you."
"I love you, too." The table whoops and calls for another round of food and Coca-Cola, their family grinning at them and fondly teasing the new couple. Tony grins back, high on this feeling of warmth and happiness and safety and love.
And then Peter presses ice cold lips onto his neck and he lets out a shout, pain coursing through him when a knee slams into the table. His eyes water and through the haze of agony he sees their friends exchanging cash, some grumbling and others smirking. Rhodey and MJ, he notes, are the ones that win the most. They high five before pocketing the cash and ordering dessert.
Peter kisses his cheek, smile innocent and eyes wicked. It's his own fault Tony snatches an ice cube and slips it below his Nirvana shirt. He only has five seconds to lord his victory over Peter before there's ice cream being smeared on his cheek. They battle then, accidentally sending food into Wanda's lap, Clint's hair and Bucky's face.
In less than a minute they are all covered in shawarma and participating in the fight. Peter shrieks when Tony pulls him into his lap, gets chicken on the varsity jacket and tries to wriggle away. But Tony kisses him, tastes ice cream and joy, thanks whoever decided to give him a break and find this incredible person dozing on the roof of the school with Ned and MJ one spring afternoon. Peter kisses back and, at the same time, they say, confidently, honestly,
"I love you."
This is dedicated to @drarryismyshit07
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I would like to call shenanigans about the complaints of Phineas being "out-of-character" in the specials and movies. He's a kid! And human! It makes his character more interesting and three-dimensional! He's allowed to be sad or mad when he's out of his comfort zone! I mean, everyone else is allowed to have a wide range of emotions, and it makes it all the more satisfying when he manages to pull through and go back to being his usual positive self
SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK
I’m about to get real salty for a second (not at the show tho I’m getting salty at people who get salty at the show) so here’s a cut 
Nothing annoys me more than people who think Phineas had no reason to get upset in at2d. Literally one of the last things 2D Doof said to him before Perry revealed that he was a secret agent was, and I quote, “You really think that he’s your pet, don’t you? WRONG! He’s using you! He’s just your cover!” Of course he was going to internalize that!
And that’s not just speculation, either. As soon as they get a moment to talk without the constant fear of, you know, getting arrested by an evil dictator’s robots, Phineas straight up asks him, “Was that evil guy right? Were we just a cover for you? Were you ever really our pet, or part of our family?” AND THEN HE HAS THE AUDACITY TO BREAK MY HEART BY FOLLOWING THAT UP WITH “Well, apparently not, because you didn’t trust us enough to tell us!” Like? 2D Doof’s words overshadowed the entire reveal. Of course that was going to impact how Phineas reacted to it, and it blows my mind that people think he should have just accepted it with a smile like nothing happened. 
And that’s not even getting into the fact that Perry got them into that mess in the first place. I don’t even think I can say it better than Phineas so I’m gonna use another quote from the movie because I am apparently writing an actual angry essay right now with evidence from the text movie lmao. When they’re still at DEI and Heinz clarifies that he’s an evil scientist, Phineas turns on Perry and says, “You just sat there and let us help an evil scientist open an evil portal into an evil dimension, and you did nothing to stop us?” (With, of course, the caveat that yes, Perry peed on the couch, but “That wasn’t enough!”)
~~ taking a brief break from angry ranting in the middle of the night to add that I definitely don’t think Perry was in the wrong here. I’ve just spent a lot of time thinking about at2d because a) I’ve seen it so many times and practically have it memorized (thus why I threw in all these quotes off the top of my head lol) and b) I’m writing a fic where Perry can talk (it’s Bitch Shut The Fuck Up on Wattpad and AO3 if anyone’s in the mood for sassy, swearing Perry) and I’m going to start incorporating episodes once summer starts in the fic so I lowkey spent most of my nights in bed thinking about what Perry’s going to say and how it would change things if he could explain himself and would he even try to or would he let the kids think he betrayed them if he thought it would keep them safe so anyways I have a lot of feelings but tl:dr Phineas has ever reason to be upset and I don’t blame him and neither should you ~~
And then, of course, there’s the Marvel crossover and, like, he was right? He was 100% right? Candace was too star struck to help, and it was too important for them to take any risks. And you make a really good point with your comment about being out of his comfort zone. I don’t think there’s ever a time that Phineas is more out of his league than in the Marvel crossover. He really is just a kid, and he only got roped into this because he just happened to put his space station in the wrong place at the wrong time and the Avengers made the wrong assumptions. The fate of the entire world depended on them, and when Candace repeatedly messed things up, Phineas had every right to be upset -- and the fact that he was undoubtedly really stressed out because, again, the fate of the entire world, only gives him more of a reason to snap. It’s not out of character; his character had just never dealt with anything like that before.
I mean, of course, there’s Phineas and Ferb Save Summer, which I think was a more mild example of Phineas getting angry, but it’s similar enough to the Marvel crossover that I feel like I need to bring it up, if only to point out the differences. In the Marvel crossover, the world was actively being threatened by a group of actual supervillains. In PnF Save Summer, technically LOVEMUFFIN is also threatening the safety of the world by trying to plunge it into an eternal ice age, but Phineas doesn’t know that which is half the fun of the episode. Like, they don’t know why they can’t move the planet back into place, just like LOVEMUFFIN doesn’t know why they can’t move it further away.
That’s not really the point here, though; that’s just me having unnecessary opinions on everything. I don’t really view this one as Phineas snapping, but Buford does make that joke about how it must be a special episode because Phineas is yelling at his sister again so I’m guessing there are probably people who think it’s ooc which means naturally I gotta bring it up (and, of course, I wanted to reference the meta joke because I love it). 
Phineas built those thrusters. He knows how they work better than probably anyone but Ferb. When Candace says she’s going to overwork them, of course Phineas is going to tell her not to, and he’s going to be urgent about it, but he doesn’t yell. And when Candace accidentally ruins the thrusters, Phineas doesn’t yell at her then, either; he just tells her how to fix it (and, when she’s too scared to go into the attic, his hologram is there to cheer her on). It’s just? So? Wholesome? And “wholesome” is basically Phineas’s entire character, so that fits really well.
And the only other one I can think of off the top of my head is Summer Belongs To You (and it’s entirely possible he’s supposedly “out of character’ in other specials too but it’s 11:20 at night and my brain is fried lmao). “Get on the trike!” is literally one the most iconic lines in the show. Even Dan said it’s one of his favorites because it wasn’t necessarily a funny line, it was funny because it was Phineas saying it, and the fact that so many people remembered it was that it seemed so out-of-place coming from Phineas, which meant they had developed the character well (and if anyone happens to have the video -- I think it might have been an old tiktok but there have been way too many for me to look through -- hmu bc it was such a pure moment). But tbh even though the yelling was “out of character” in the sense that it made for a good joke, I don’t think his actions were out of character at all? Phineas sets crazy goals all the time, and he always achieves them. They’d put so much work into it so far, and he wasn’t going to let it go to waste when the end game was right there. He was exhausted, presumably both physically and mentally (I mean, we didn’t see him sleep at all, you know?) and he wanted to get home and he wanted to accomplish his goal and he wanted to do it as a family (because 🎵 friends are also family 🎵) and he wasn’t going to let Candace ruin that, which I personally think is adorable because technically Candace was never even part of the bet and she didn’t have to make it home with them for them to win so Phineas easily could have ditched her and made her find her own way home but he wanted her to see it through with them and I just have a lot of feelings 😭
OKAY last paragraph because I know no one really cares and it’s getting late and I have an 8:30 class tomorrow and should probably be in bed by now. I also like the point you made about how that makes it more satisfying when he  manages to pull through and go back to being his usual positive self. I don’t know if anyone considers it out of character given that it’s really supposed to be a powerful moment purely because it’s so out of the ordinary (although I guess I could say the same for all these scenes) but god, when Phineas breaks down on the island in Summer Belongs To You, it’s such a testament to his character because he had managed to push through so much because he was determined to get home but it also proves that he does have a breaking point. I mean, we see it in all the other scenes, too, but those are directed at people. This is purely situational, which I think hits harder and it’s why that was the first one I thought of when you mentioned pushing through. All these scenes are a testament to his character, really, and basically the moral of the story is that I completely agree with you, Phineas deserves to have his character explored as much as Candace and Heinz have theirs explored, and that I clearly have way too many opinions and should really learn to tone it down fjksdhfjka
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spaceskam · 4 years
Text
another part of me could be you
for @capmanes (i meant to have this done literally an entire week ago but i have no concept of time management)❤️️
ao3
warning: blood & guns; this also turned into something a little spiteful if you squint
Michael didn’t exactly hate Forrest, hate was a very strong word, but that didn’t mean he didn’t get unreasonably irritated every time he saw him do something stupid like breathe. The guy was clingy and stuck to Alex’s side more often than not which made it extremely hard to get information from him, but Alex never even seemed to mind. It was like he was using Forrest as an excuse to get away from all of their alien bullshit and refused to admit it. It made Forrest even more annoying.
Yet, when Forrest showed up outside the airstream, alone and panicking, Michael couldn’t turn him away.
“Whoa, dude, breathe,” Michael instructed, guiding him to go sit in one of the chairs around the fire pit. He went, bowing his head in his hands as he tried to steady his breath. Michael stayed crouched in front of him, making sure he was going to be okay. As much as he didn’t like him, Alex liked him, and that meant that it was now Michael’s responsibility to make sure he didn’t get a scratch on him. “What happened?”
Forrest grabbed fistfuls of his own hair, taking a sharp and shaky breath.
“Alex,” he said, voice breaking, “Someone took Alex and he just told me to go to you and, and we need to find him. We need to go find him.”
Michael’s chest clenched and he tried not to get too angry at the thought of Alex just being taken. What the hell did that even mean, taken? Who took him? Where? Why? What?
But Forrest was crying and Michael knew from experience that, when one person was losing it, the other had to stay strong. So, for once, for Alex, he had to just stay strong.
“Do you know who took him?” he asked, keeping his voice as controlled as possible. It was hard to breathe and his skin was on fire, desperate to go find where Alex was and steal him back. Maybe even kill the person who took him, who knows, he was feeling a bit unpredictable these days.
“No,” Forrest said, shaking his head. He lifted his head to make eye contact with Michael, not a single trace of shame as he cried and sniffled. “No, they just jumped us. I-I thought at first it was... But they grabbed Alex and literally started dragging him into a van like some shitty mob movie and he tried to fight back, but he was, like, really outnumbered and I-I couldn’t help, one of ‘em had a gun pointed at me and I just froze. God, I’m a piece of shit, I just froze.”
“No, that was a scary situation, it makes sense,” Michael–who definitely deserved a medal after this–said, “Then what happened?”
“They just threw him in and he just yelled to go to you before slamming the door closed and driving off,” Forrest explained, voice turning a little whiny as a new wave of tears threatened his eyes, “I feel so bad.”
“Hey, look, we’re gonna find him. Can you tell me anything about the van or what the guys looked like? Look, follow me and let me see if they were stupid enough to let Alex keep his phone.”
Forrest nodded and managed to stand up, both of them heading into the airstream. Michael pulled out his laptop that was a little bit shotty but he’d rigged it up pretty nice. Then, when he and Alex were still on good terms, he’d tweaked it a little bit more to make it even better. He instantly started trying to track Alex’s phone even though he knew it would be hard since Alex wasn’t really a fan of being traceable.
“The van was just all black, tinted windows. There wasn’t anything on it to make it stand out from any other all black vans with tinted windows. The guys all had masks.”
“Anything identifiable? Did you catch any license plate numbers or anything?”
“No, I mean–Wait, it was a government license plate,” Forrest said. Michael looked over his shoulder at him.
“You’re sure?”
“I’m, like, 99% sure. It didn’t have as many numbers or anything as regular license plates.”
“Good,” Michael breathed, turning back to the laptop, “So let’s find some military places and see if there’s any in the vicinity of where Alex’s phone is. If I can find it.”
“I just don’t get it. Who would want to take him?” Forrest asked. Michael sighed, realizing that, as much as he wanted to keep their secret to the small group they had, it looked like that might not be possible. Even if he kept it away, Forrest would be curious and he would ask questions.
“How much do you know?” he said. Forrest was quiet for a minute, clearly not understanding the question. Which meant Alex hadn’t really told him anything. But then again, he shouldn’t have been surprised. Alex was loyal. “Right. How much do you know about Alex’s father?”
“Um, that he’s a dick?” Forrest filled in, “I know... I know about what happened when you guys were young.” Michael froze for a moment, taking a grounding breath before putting his focus back onto the screen. “Alex said he’s done bad things, but didn’t elaborate past that.”
“Yeah, well, Alex’s whole family is affiliated with a pretty sketchy government organization,” Michael said, trying to keep his mind focused, “Alex has been trying to dismantle it.”
“What?”
The computer finished loading in that second, showing that Alex’s phone had received a text ten minutes prior and it’d pinged off a cell tower that had about a twenty square mile range. Michael grinned to himself, feeling prideful as he began searching for places in that area that he might be. His first instinct was to show Alex, show what he learned from watching him, but that wasn’t an option. Not right now, at least.
“Can I trust you?” Michael asked, writing down a few different addresses that might be it. He turned to face him, seeing that he was really fucking confused but he nodded. “No, seriously. If I start talking, you need to be aware that if you share anything I say to you with anyone outside of Alex, that you’re going to be in danger.” He didn’t really mean it as a threat. Or, maybe he did. “But you need to know if you’re going to help me get Alex.”
Forrest swallowed and nodded, drying his face entirely.
“Tell me what I need to know.”
-
“So. Aliens.”
“Aliens.”
“And you’re one?”
“Yep.”
“And Alex probably got taken because he protects you guys?”
“Probably.”
“And I was absolutely wrong about the Nazis?”
“Yeah,” Michael said, “Also, you should probably dial back the Nazi obsession when you’re literally related to modern day Nazis. It’s not a good look.”
“Yeah, well, clearly I need to get a job on Ancient Aliens after this, so,” Forrest huffed. Michael managed a smile, but it quickly faded as he spotted a black van in the lot of an abandoned building. “Coincidence?”
“Nothing’s a coincidence around here.”
Michael stopped his truck and turned it off, leaving it in plain sight on the property. There wasn’t much sneaking they could do anyway and, besides, he was feeling pretty powerful in the moment.
“So, what’s the plan?” Forrest asked.
“We go in, I throw guards at the wall, we get Alex, and we fucking flee to the bunker.”
“What bunker?”
“Either Alex’s or mine.”
“Wait, you both have a bunker?”
“Technically, Alex has two, but–“
“Who are you people?”
“Right, so basically just watch my back and I’ll watch yours. Alex said you’re ex-military, so you’ve got some skills, right?” Michael said. He shrugged slightly. “Good enough. Here, use this.”
Michael leaned over to the glove compartment and moved the acetone to pull out the gun, handing it to Forrest. He eyed him skeptically, but took it anyway. 
“You think he’s gonna be okay?” Forrest asked. They made eye contact for a second and Michael nodded. Him not being okay wasn’t an option. Alex needed to be okay or Michael wouldn’t be okay. Simple as that.
“Let’s go get him.”
-
It was easier than it should’ve been to slip into the building. There were no snipers, no guards, no nothing. It had them both on high alert, just waiting to be caught off guard.
Michael kept his power bubbling under the surface, focusing on his anger that someone had taken Alex and making sure that he would be a force to be reckoned with the moment he needed to be. Forrest kept the small gun held up, finger off the trigger like he knew exactly what he was doing.
“I’ll have you know, I’m very against guns,” he’d said when they climbed out of the truck despite the fact that he cocked it easily and checked it over. Michael had rolled his eyes, but felt a bit safer knowing he wasn’t gun crazy. Less of a chance he’d actually shoot Alex.
“This is weird,” Michael whispered, slowly making his way down the hall, “Something’s wrong.”
“Yeah, something’s wrong, they took Alex,” Forrest pointed out. Michael shook his head.
“No, I mean...”
He trailed off as they took a corner and saw a guard laying in a pool of his own blood right outside a door. They both froze. It didn’t make any sense. Where were the other guards? Who did that to him? Anxiety pooled in his stomach and he looked over to Forrest. 
“What now?” Forrest asked. Michael took a deep breath and nodded his head to the door.
“We go in.”
“And if Alex is hurt too?”
“Then I kill the person who hurt him,” Michael said easily. Forrest didn’t respond.
They both moved closer to the door and Michael used his mind to throw it open quickly, giving them the element of surprise to whoever was inside. But the only conscious one on the inside was Alex.
He was on the floor, prosthetic nowhere to be seen as he clutched his side. Three bodies laid out around them and Michael wasn’t sure if they were alive or not, but he knew for sure that Alex had taken them out. And Alex, wounded and struggling to breath, gave them a bloody little smile.
“Hey, Prince Charming,” he said, not really specifying which one of them he meant, “Just in time.”
Forrest immediately put the gun away and went to his side. Michael watched like an intruder as Forrest kissed his cheek as a small form of comfort and apologized. Alex smiled tiredly at him before pursing his lips for an actual kiss, something he got despite the fact his lips were covered in blood.
“Great reunion and all, but you’re hurt,” Michael said, pushing away that gut-wrenching feeling that came with not being the one Alex wanted when he was in pain, “Let me see it.”
Alex didn’t move his hand as he gave him his attention, still breathing raggedly. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good. Michael moved closer and watched him keep on pressing. He was going to bleed out.
“I’m fine,” Alex said, smiling up at him with those eyes that would’ve been totally swoon worthy if he wasn’t denying his pain, “Just a scratch.”
“Alright, Mercutio, move your hand,” he said, crouching in front of him. 
Alex breathed a laugh and his head fell back against the wall, still smiling at him and refusing to move his hand. 
“You remember that scene in Romeo and Juliet?” he breathed, closing his eyes slowly and opening then just as slow, “Remember we-we had to act it out freshman year together? You were Romeo, you-you had to hold me as I died. You-you suck at acting. Still Romeo, though, still. Now. That’s kinda funny. The-the cinematic parallel no one predicted.”
“Okay, we’re not about to reminisce or make jokes, that’s what you do when you’re about to die and you’re not fucking dying,” Michael said, keeping his voice steady despite the fact that he was getting more and more worried. He looked at Forrest who seemed way in over his head, but he still held Alex and pushed his hair off his sweaty forehead to comfort him. Michael had never been so grateful for someone he didn’t even like. “You’re gonna be okay, Alex.”
“Yeah?” Alex laughed, “These violent delights have violent ends. You know that one, right, Forrest?”
“Is he delirious?” Forrest asked Michael, turning to him for guidance. Michael licked his lips.
“You trust me?” he asked him. Forrest looked at Alex who seemed to be fading out of it more and more by the second as he bled, continuing to murmur Shakespeare under his breath. Which, Michael had to admit, was kind of funny. But he could laugh about it when Alex was healthy.
“Yeah,” Forrest said, nodding, “I trust you.”
Michael took a deep breath and nodded, closing his eyes as he mentally pictured his powers rising and strengthening specifically for Alex. Always for Alex.
“Lay him on the floor,” Michael instructed, “I’m gonna heal him, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it completely. More than likely, I’ll just be able to do enough to get him to Kyle, but I’ll be fucked up too. So you’re gonna need to drive and call Kyle as soon as I stop, okay? Then you’re gonna need to call Max so he and Liz can come out here and deal with the body and DNA situation, okay? Can you do that?”
“Absolutely,” Forrest agreed. They both helped as they laid him on the floor.
“Don’t touch him. It’s a lot of electrical power and I don’t wanna accidentally fuck you up,” Michael warned. Forrest nodded and moved just a little, giving them just enough space. Michael carefully peeled off Alex’s hand, seeing the nasty wound on his stomach still gushing blood. It was so bad, Michael couldn’t even tell what caused it.
Still, he layered his hands over it, feeling Alex’s heart pumping hard as it tried to save him.
“Thus, with a kiss, I die,” Alex said, huffing a little laugh as he took a strangled breath.
“Not that kinda kiss, babe,” Michael replied, “And you’re not dying.”
Then Michael focused all of his power on him, thinking of nothing but Alex and everything that he was. His pretty smile, his undying loyalty, his protective nature, his unmatched kindness despite all the cruelty he endured, his eyes, his mouth, his heart. Everything that was Alex Manes was incredible and it was way too soon for him to go away. Michael wasn’t done showing him he was good. Hell, he hadn’t even started.
He was starting now.
Things were blurry when his body decided it’d reached it’s peak and he had to turn to throw up. If a good amount got on one of the guy’s that kidnapped Alex, well, that was someone else’s problem.
“Michael,” Forrest said, his hand reaching for Michael’s shoulder and squeezing. It grounded him more than he’d ever admit. “Michael, you good?”
“Yeah,” he breathed, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and turning back to them. Alex was breathing well, eyes wide as he sat up on his own and stared at Michael in something akin to shock. They both knew he’d have a hand print on him and that was a bridge that would absolutely not be fun to cross. But it didn’t matter. He was breathing. “Yeah, I’m good. Sick, but good.”
“Alex, are you good?” Forrest wondered, his hand still on Michael as his other one went to Alex’s cheek. It was strange to see someone so unabashedly caring. For both of them.
“Yeah,” Alex said, nodding, “Still bleeding, but not as bad. Thing you just mended an artery and a, a kidney, maybe? I don’t know.”
“Good,” Michael breathed, laughing slightly, “Good.”
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Forrest urged.
Alex stood between them as they helped him get to the truck, letting him use them both of a crutches. Michael was weak and dizzy, but he could feel Alex’s gratitude and that pushed him. Besides, he had acetone in the truck.
They squeezed in the bench of Michael’s truck, Forrest in the driver’s seat and Alex in the middle. Forrest pulled out his phone and immediately started making calls as he put the truck and drive and got them the fuck out of there. Michael went for the acetone stash in his glove box. He downed it quickly and tried not to react when Alex leaned against him. 
When he glanced at him, he had his eyes closed and he was taking extremely controlled breaths as he pressed his hand to the wound. Michael watched him for a moment as he drank and, once he was done, he carefully grabbed a t-shirt that was stuffed behind the seat. He smelled it, making sure it wasn’t gross, before moving Alex’s hand and pressing it over the wound.
“You need anything from me?” Michael asked softly so as not to disturb Forrest as he got directions to the cabin from Kyle, “Like, are you grounded or are you just lucid enough to be thrown into a panic attack over being kidnapped and having to take out four guys by hand?”
Alex huffed a laugh and tilted his head back to look up at him, eyes fond. Michael loved that look.
“I’ll be okay,” he promised, nodding, “Thank you for saving me.”
“Thank Forrest, he made sure we made it in time and handled the alien information like a champ,” Michael said.
“Thanks Forrest,” Alex hummed. Forrest glanced over at them both, flashing a smile. He held the phone to his ear with his shoulder, reaching out to squeeze Alex’s thigh gently. 
“Yeah, Kyle, thanks. I’ll call Max and I’ll tell him where to go,” Forrest said, letting go of Alex to grab the phone and end the call, “You two still doing good? No one’s gonna die on me?”
“No,” Michael assured, “Not gonna let that happen.”
Forrest made momentary eye contact with him, going back and forth from the road to his eyes. 
“I know. Thank you.”
“No worries.”
Forrest got Max on the phone and Michael settled into holding Alex. Everything was going to be okay.
-
“So, he’s gonna be okay?”
Kyle nodded and looked between Michael and Forrest. He’d stitched up Alex and left him on the old bed of the pullout couch, pain killers in his system. Michael knew, logically, that he had to leave soon and just let Alex be with his boyfriend while he healed. But, fuck, he didn’t want to go.
“Yeah,” Kyle confirmed.
“Thank God,” Forrest breathed, visibly relaxed at the confirmation. Kyle smiled and looked at Michael as if waiting for him to ask for a ride. He cleared his throat and decided he didn’t really have a choice.
“I can, uh, leave my truck here for you guys whenever Alex is feeling okay if, uh, you wanna give me a ride back into town,” Michael said. Forrest looked to him like he’d lost it.
“No, what if they come back? We need you here,” Forrest said. Michael didn’t know how to feel about that, didn’t know how to handle being needed.
“Stay,” Alex called sleepily. Michael looked back at Alex and then at Forrest, both of whom seemed eager for him to stay. He took a grounding breath. He didn’t want to go.
So he looked back to Kyle.
“Um, I guess I gotta hold down the fort,” Michael said. Kyle eyed him before slowly nodding. 
“Take care of him, call me if anything goes wrong,” he said, “Bye, Alex, stay safe.”
“Bye,” Alex hummed.
Michael followed him to the door, quickly locking it behind him. He watched until Kyle was gone and then watched a little longer, making sure no one followed them there. After that, he closed his eyes and did a mental sweep of all the locks on the doors and windows in the cabin and made sure they were secure. Until they knew for sure who took Alex and why and if there was anyone else, he needed to be on high alert.
“Hey, Romeo,” Alex called. Michael turned his gaze to the pullout couch, seeing Alex in the middle and Forrest laying beside him. He figured before today he would’ve wanted to throw up at the sight. But, right now, he was grateful. 
Really fucking grateful. 
“C’mere,” Alex added, patting the bed beside him.
Like always, that magnetic pull tugged at Michael’s heart and he slowly stepped out of his boots and walked towards the bed. He looked at Forrest, making sure he was cool with it, and then laid down when he got a nod of confirmation. Alex grabbed his hand and held it over the stitches where the hand print was slowly but surely making itself known. He felt a rush of just pure fucking love and had no idea how to handle it.
So he moved closer, still checking with both of them that it was alright with glances. Forrest was already pressed to Alex’s side with his hand in his hair and he didn’t seem to have any issues as Michael pressed in just as close on Alex’s other side with his hand on his bare stomach. He could hear his heart thumping in his chest, his head still feeling a little off from healing Alex and acetone. Maybe he misunderstood.
“I-Is this okay?” he asked carefully. Forrest nodded solemnly.
“That was scary, it’s still scary, we don’t know if they’re coming back,” he said softly, “No one should be alone.”
“You’re being way too nice to me,” Michael huffed, swallowing harshly. His hands were shaking and he didn’t really know why. He couldn’t understand why this guy was being so nice to him, so open to him, and yet didn’t want anything from him. That didn’t compute.
“Not everyone has an agenda,” Alex murmured, eyes closed as he relaxed to the feeling of both men at his side. Michael could feel through the mark just how safe he felt with them, both of them. He could’ve cried.
“You take care of Alex, I take care of you, simple as that,” Forrest added, staring at him over Alex’s head. Michael nodded curtly as he finally understood a little bit better. Forrest was taking care of one of his own.
And Michael fell under that umbrella.
Simple as that.
140 notes · View notes
inventors-fair · 3 years
Text
The Big Splash: Group Commentary pt3
Final part of the group commentary
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@starch255​ Instant speed mass Reality Acid? Sign me up! Though I got to admit that it would be challenging to keep track of the permanents over the course of three turns.
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@deafeningsandwichpeach​ I asked for splashy, but you kinda emptied the sea with this design XD Using two of the requested mechanics was a sweet surprise but I think you let your enthusiasm take over. I dislike the fact that the regular effect mills, while the fateful hour one exiles, not that it matters all that much since the targeted player is going to die after it resolves 99,9% of the time. Also in black, you can manipulate your life total very easily, so the fateful hour effect won’t feel as much as a miraculous comeback, but as a suicidal victory.
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@kavinika​ I really like the approach and the flavor behind your design, but I think we all agree the setup is rather easy, and the fact that this is on a land makes it hard for your opponent to interact. If this text appeared on a creature, it would be a different story.
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@fractured-infinity​ One of the most wild designs we got for the contest! Being in the group commentary is merely a power level issue, but overall I think that a card like this has to be printed at at one point if we wish to see cipher back. I can understand you tried to set a limit with low cost spells, but a great amount of them can be a real pain. If I were to make a deck with this bad boy, I would put in brainfreeze for the memes
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@nine-effing-hells​ A pretty elaborate design with a matching flavor text. But if one does the math, for 10 mana for example, you get a 4/4 creature that can put 4 counters on up to four targets. It’s not bad by any means but I think there are better effects in these colors.
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@corporalotherbear​ A great card all around, playable for both effects and boy is the fate hour bonus effect epic or what!
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@dimestoretajic​ I like the idea of caring about encoded creatures, and giving evasion makes things all the job all two easy. The actual effect is very good, ( Last thoughts cries in a corner) but you can attack with unblockable every other turn. That  alone could justify the card being a little more expensive.
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@teaxch​ Third and final fateful hour card that makes you invincible (ok four, I was about to use one as my example design too) Not much to add here, I really like the flash in this one, which is perfect if you want to trick one opponent after they commit a lot of resources to take you down.
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@jsands84​ THE MAD REFERENCE,THE EASTER OF THE CENTURY. Like seriously, I thought I only knew of this card because I like future sight, but even I didn’t notice it right away.. Speaking about Patrician’s Scorn. When you get off the hype train though, you can see Patricia is more of a 99 card to help you clean up a few targets here and there, but the thought behind this card could lead to many interesting designs.
Pro tip. If you wanna run the actual card in a deck, remember it’s an instant that only requires you cast a white spell earlier this turn, and that means you can use it on the same stack, without caring if the first white spell has resolved yet!
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@ignorantturtlegaming​ From adorable Disney princess to Miss “steal yo creatures”! That’s what I call character development! Her ability untaps herself too, but at this point, an extra 1/1 won’t make that much of a difference XD A very solid design overall!
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@deg99 This flagbearer came out of nowhere, not gonna lie! Although it feels it won’t have a great impact in the game, as it’s literally asking to die like the family tradition suggests, the mechanics are brilliant and unique!! Well Played!
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@stormtide-leviathan​ And for the grand finale, another beautiful haunt card! While other haunt cards were attrition oriented, this one promotes haunting your guys and be aggressive. This change of pace goes to show that there’s a lot of design space to explore! I really like how you tackled the issue that haunt cards exile themselves so they are in dire need of recursion, but some technical details drag this design. Remember, Haunt can appear in practically any creature type (there are two sorceries irl) and also your opponent can haunt your creatures too, so that means the card requires some minor tweaks to play better.
Thanks everyone for participating! See you soon!
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let-it-raines · 4 years
Note
I would like to request a cmiyc promt, some road trip adventures when they are not traveling together, how they dealt with the distance and with the baby. Thank you 💛
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You guys are all my favorite for letting me keep sharing different little parts of this universe! Thank you 😊 
over on ao3 | here |
-/-
June 2023
Emma: That is not true.
Killian: It most definitely is true.
Emma: I don’t believe you.
Killian: All these years together and you still don’t believe me.
Emma: Because there’s no way in hell that Scarlet is walking around in a speedo.
Emma: The thought alone is horrible.
Killian: I can send you a picture.
Emma: I will stab my own eyes with a fork.
Killian: You’d like me in a speedo.
Emma: No one needs to see that much of you.
Killian: Swan, I hate to tell you this, but you’ve seen me naked.
Killian: And I know it doesn’t make you want to stab your own eyes out.
Emma: You’re so full of yourself.
Killian: If I was home, you could be full of me.
Emma: That is undoubtedly the worst pick-up line you’ve ever used.
“She’s right, you know?”
“Huh?”
“Emma. She’s right.”
Killian closes out his phone and drops it to his lap, adjusting himself in his seat and pulling at his shorts to make them a little longer. “Are you reading my texts?”
Robin shrugs. “We’re sitting close, and you are holding your phone in a pretty obvious way.”
“Didn’t take you for the nosy type.”
“Didn’t take you for the type to not be able to flirt with your wife.”
Killian chuckles and leans his head back. “Locksley, there are about a million jokes I could make about your single status right now.”
“How do you know I’m single?”
He turns his head to the side and lifts his glasses off his face. “Are you not?”
“Oh, no, I am, but I wanted to fuck with you.”
“What about your date with – ”
“There’s possibility there, but I’m not sure. I don’t…I know I eventually have to get back out there, that it’s been practically forever, but no one’s ever made me feel like Marian did.”
Killian swallows and reaches over to clasp Robin’s shoulder. He gets it in a roundabout way. He can’t imagine losing Emma. He won’t let himself think of that fear too much, but the moments that he does allow the thoughts to creep in are the moments that make him have the slightest bit of understanding of Rob. He never thought he’d be able to move on from Milah, but he did. To have to move on from Emma though…
“You’re doing your best, mate.”
Robin huffs. “I don’t believe that for a second.”
“Well, you should.”
“How’s the kid?” Robin asks. Okay, so they’re done with that conversation then. “Still adorable?”
“Didn’t you see him before we left?”
“Yeah, but I really want to change the subject.”
Killian sighs and picks his phone up again, clicking on Emma’s messages and going to the pictures she’s been sending him while he’s been gone. It’s been multiple pictures and videos every day for two weeks, which is longer than they ever go away from each other, and he’s desperately clinging to these small snippets of Jace.
And Emma.
“Emma took Addy, Lucy, and Jace to the zoo yesterday. I think Ariel and Morgan joined them. Apparently Jace loved all of the animals in the water.” Killian swipes over to a picture of Emma holding Jace in front of the penguin exhibit before swiping over to a picture of Emma holding Jace while he wails in front of a group of monkeys. “And then hated everything else.”
“Sounds about right. Has Emma recovered from being in charge of all of those kids?”
“She’s probably never going to talk to Liam and Elsa again.”
Robin laughs and leans forward to stretch out, moving his right arm in a few circles. “How long are we going to leave Scarlet to run around scarring all of the kids on the beach?”
“How long until we have to go to practice?”
“Two hours.”
“Then we give him another hour to even out those awful tan lines, and then we haul his ass out of here and get rid of his Speedo as soon as humanly possible.”
“I like the way you think.”
-/-
His phone is ringing.
Why is his phone ringing?
That is his phone ringing, right?
The tell-tale sound keeps going off, and Killian slowly opens his eyes and rolls over in bed until he’s fumbling for his phone, pulling it off the charger and sliding his finger across the screen.
“Hello?”
“Did I wake you?”
“Emma?”
“Oh shit. I did wake you. I’m sorry. Go back to bed.”
And then the phone line goes dead.
What the hell?
Killian sits up and straightens his back against the headboard before hitting Emma’s contact. It rings twice before she answers.
“I said go back to bed.”
“Swan, what the hell is going on?”
Emma sighs. It’s long and low, and Killian swears he can feel it in his bones three thousand miles away. “It’s nothing. Really.”
“It’s three in the morning. It can’t be nothing.”
“It’s technically six for me.”
“But it’s three for me.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m an asshole for waking you up.”
“No,” Killian corrects, putting his phone on speaker and dropping it to his lap while he starts stretching out his arms. If he’s this stiff later, he’s going to be goddamn awful on the mound tonight. “You’re not. Now, why’d you call? You’re never up this early.”
“I can be up this early.”
“Only when I drag you out of bed.”
Emma huffs, and then all of the sudden his phone is ringing again until he’s tapping at it and Emma’s face is suddenly in front of him.
“Hey, beautiful.”
“Are you even looking at my face?”
“I am,” he tells her. her hair is pulled back into a bun, flyaway pieces framing her face, and she’s got bags under her eyes he doesn’t think he’s ever seen. Her eyes are also red, either from lack of sleep or crying. Or both. God, he hopes it’s simply because she’s tired. “You’re beautiful.”
“You’re a liar who has some major bedhead.”
“Well, I was asleep, love.” Emma scrunches her nose up before wiping her eyes while yawning. “Sweetheart, as much as I love this conversation, I wish you would tell me what’s wrong.”
“What makes you think something is wrong?”
“I feel like I’m going in circles here, Swan. Help me out.”
Emma groans and falls back against the couch. He misses that couch far more than he ever thought he would. He also misses the woman having some kind of break down on top of it.
“I need you to come home,” she finally mumbles. “I am an independent woman who has always done fantastic on my own. I can do things on my own. I really can. But twenty-nine, if you aren’t home within the next twenty-four hours, I’m going to lose my damn mind.”
“You and I both know it’s going to be a little longer than that.”
“Fuck off.”
“Swan.”
“No, I mean it. Jace is regressing. Like, with his sleep, and I’m going crazy. Because, of course, he doesn’t just wake up and soothe himself back to sleep. He cries, and because I’m not a monster, I get up to make sure he’s okay. But I’m so tired. It’s like he’s a newborn again except less breakable, and sometimes I wonder why the hell we wanted to be parents when we both knew that our schedules are batshit crazy.”
“Is he asleep now?”
“Yep.”
“And you didn’t feel like going back to sleep, too?”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“Emma,” Killian sighs. He sinks back down onto the mattress, pulling the blankets up over him and propping his head in his hand while he looks at his phone. All he wants is to wrap his arms around her, but he can’t do that. Not yet. “I miss you, love. You’re not alone in that.”
“Which makes me feel far less pathetic.”
“I don’t think missing your partner makes you pathetic.”
“Calling me your partner makes us sound like we’re in business together.”
“Is lover better?”
“Oh my God,” Emma mumbles. “You’re the worst.”
“And yet you’re the one missing me.”
“Yeah, I am.” Emma blinks at him, small, beautiful smile on her face. “I don’t know. I feel like I should be used to not spending all of our time together. I mean, no offense, but I like our breaks. We need them to stay sane. But this is a really long one, and I need someone to help me with our kid. I’m also really horny, which is a word I absolutely despise, and I miss your face.”
Killian has to bite his cheek to keep from bursting out into laughter. He shouldn’t laugh. It’s not funny. He feels the exact same way Emma feels. This swing used to be one of his favorites. He loves being out west, but that was before he had someone – two someone’s – waiting for him back home like he does now.
“When I get home, you can stare at my face as much as you want. You can stare at it when I’m the one who’s up with Jace. You can stare at it when I’m fucking you until you can’t breathe. You can stare at me as I do the dishes and clean up all the stuff Jace spills. You can stare at my face when it’s your literal job to stare at my face and tell the world when I’m sucking it up. Whatever you want, you can have.”
“I like the sound of you doing the dishes. That may be the sexiest thing you’ve ever said.”
He scoffs before flashing his teeth. “I know you had meetings at home, which is why you two couldn’t travel with us, but next time the trip is this long, I’m not leaving you and Jace behind. You two should have seen Will at the beach yesterday.”
“I got the picture. I saw enough to know that Belle is a very lucky woman.” Her mouth flattens into a straight line. “If you ever tell Will that, I will murder you.”
Killian yawns. He tries to stop it, but it’s pretty much a hopeless task. “I promise I would never try to inflate Scarlet’s ego like that.”
“We would never hear the end of it.”
He yawns again. Dammit.
“Killian.”
“What?”
“Go back to bed.”
“No, no, I’m fine. I’m happy to talk to you.”
“It’s three in the morning for you. I shouldn’t have called. Go back to bed. I’ll call you before the game tonight, okay? I’ll facetime with Jace so you can see him.”
“Good. We all know I only really want to talk to him anyway.”
“You carry a child in your body for nine months, have it destroy your vagina, and then your husband likes the kid better than he likes you. Is it all worth it?”
“Aye,” Killian sighs, his smile widening at simply the thought of his family. “You know you’re my number one, sweetheart. Jace is simply our number one. Together.”
“Well, as long as I’m beating the kid out.”
He huffs and closes his eyes before blinking them back open. “I love you, Swan. I hope you get some sleep and that Jace gets his act together.”
“I love you, too. See you in four days.”
“Three and half.”
“Semantics.”
“Yeah, but the good kind here. I’m trying to get home to you. I promise.”
-/-
His shoulder hurts when he pitches that night.
More than it has and more than it should, and after the fourth inning, he asks to leave the game, calling Archie and getting a massage and praying that things get better.
The next day, it’s much less stiff, and sitting on the plane to San Francisco only bothers him a little bit.
But it doesn’t matter. None of it matters because they’re traveling to the last city they have to go to before he can go home.
To his bed.
To Jace.
To Emma.
They sweep the Giants, which feels fucking fantastic after losing to the Dodgers, and the more time he spends here, the more it feels wrong to be here without Emma. This was where a lot of things started for them. They kissed for the first time in the stands, and he swears his entire world stopped in that moment before starting again, his heart beating at a slightly different rate.
So when they get on their chartered plane and take off from the tarmac, Killian lets out a sigh of relief and tries to get some sleep so he won’t be beyond exhausted.
He obviously doesn’t sleep.
He feels every minute of the damn plane ride, ends up getting his computer out and going through the files his accountant sent him, which really doesn’t help how long the plane ride is, but eventually he sees the lights of Manhattan and feels his heart in his chest.
This is the best job in the world. Truly. But damn is it hard sometimes.
“You want to go get dinner?” Will asks him as they grab their bags from the overheads.
“It’s two in the morning, Scarlet.”
“I can guarantee half of the restaurants in the city are open.”
“I kind of want to get home, mate. Don’t you?”
Will shrugs. “Belle is in Detroit with an author. I think I could go for about two pizzas just for me.”
Killian hooks his backpack around his shoulders. “Maybe tomorrow. Call and I’ll see if we can come meet you for lunch.”
“I’m pretty sure you two will be otherwise occupied.”
“Don’t be gross.”
“I meant with your kid. Look whose mind was in the gutter.”
Killian rolls his eyes. “Call tomorrow around noon. We’ll go get pizza with you.”
“Can I come to the house in my pajamas and we order in?”
He claps his hand on Will’s shoulder. “Even better.”
The car ride back to the brownstone takes exactly twenty-three minutes. He shouldn’t know that. He definitely shouldn’t have kept track, but the anticipation of being home is enough to have his leg shaking up and down. He’s been away before. Hell, he’s spent half of the past twelve years on the road, but wanting to be home this time has been different.
Jace has apparently been hellish for Emma. She’s exhausted between taking care of him and working and worrying about Killian and the team.
She deserves some help other than David stopping by with Chinese takeout once.
Killian’s quiet as he pads into the kitchen from the garage, flicking on the lights and dropping his bags to the ground. He’ll get them in the morning when he does laundry. Slowly, he moves to the stairs and walks up them until he gets to the top floor. Jace’s room is open, the kid fast asleep in his crib, and while Killian wants to hold him, he dares not wake him up and mess up his sleep schedule any more than it’s already messed up. If he’s asleep right now, it’s pretty much a miracle.
Miracles shouldn’t be awoken.
His bedroom door, however, isn’t open, and when Killian cracks it open, it creaks. He’ll have to fix that tomorrow…which is later today. He’ll fix it at some point.
Emma’s face is buried in her pillow, her body stretched out over almost half of the bed, and Killian has to stifle his laugh. She’s never going to be someone who stays on her side of the bed.
She’s also about to have the shit scared out of her because that happens every damn time he comes home.
“Swan,” Killian whispers, taking the gentle approach. She doesn’t move, so he moves to climb into bed, the mattress dipping under his weight before he pushes at her shoulder. “Emma, sweetheart, wake up.”
Suddenly, she jolts, falling backward and catching herself at the edge of the mattress with her eyes wider than he’s ever seen them. “What the fuck?”
“Ah, just how I like to be greeted when I come home.”
“Shut up. My heart is going to leave my body.”
“That’s not possible.”
“It’s about to be possible.”
He doesn’t bother holding in his chuckle now, laughing as he leans forward to wrap his arms around Emma, pushing her down to the mattress before climbing on top of her. Neither of them move, her chest still quickly moving up and down, and he waits for her to calm down.
Damn. It feels good to be home.
Emma reaches up to tuck his hair behind his ear, her mouth softly curling at the corners. “That was the longest road trip in existence. I’m still not entirely sure you’re here.”
“I’m here. You’re not having some kind of awful hallucination.”
“Good,” she laughs before pushing up to press her mouth into his. As always, it’s magic to be with her, to feel the softness of her lips and her skin pressing into the roughness of his beard that grew out a little too much while he was on the road. He’s tired, his body beyond exhausted, but there’s nothing else he’d rather be doing than lying in his bed kissing his wife after not being able to do that for weeks. “Your beard is long.”
“I’ll shave it tomorrow,” he promises, mouth still ghosting over hers.
“I kind of like it.”
“The shave can wait.”
“But it does itch.”
“I’m getting mixed signals here, love.”
“I,” she starts as his lips trail to her jawline in search of the spot that always riles her up. “I-I mostly just want you.”
“Mhm, I like that answer.”
His next few movements are anything but graceful. They’re slow and clumsy, and he fumbles with the damn drawstring on Emma’s pajama bottoms that she had tied far too tightly. She can’t stop laughing at him, the sound bouncing around the walls of their bedroom, and he swears when he pushes inside of her that she’s saying something about a stain on the t-shirt that’s now in a pile of clothes at the foot of the bed.
“Are you delusional?” he asks as he starts to get into a rhythm that’s comfortable for the both of them.
“I told you I wasn’t getting a lot of sleep.” Her nails scratch along his back, and she loops her calf around his ass, pushing him further into her. “Neither were you.”
“We can go to sleep after this.”
“Ah, my favorite part of sex – the sleeping afterward.”
It’s Killian’s turn to laugh as he kisses Emma, the sound getting caught up with her. They’re both delusional, both too tired to be doing this, but it feels so damn good to be connected with her like this.
It’s coming home in every single way.
“Did you see Jace?” Emma asks sometime later as her head rests on his chest, the sweat there dried.
“Aye, I saw him. Thought it best not to wake him though.”
“I would have murdered you.”
“Oh, I know you bloody would have. That was the first thought I had.”
“You know me so well.”
He runs his hand down her back until his fingers are tapping along her ass. “I know better than to wake a baby. I’ve been doing this dad thing for a few months. I think I’ve got the hang of it.”
“You just majorly jinxed us.”
“Maybe so.”
Emma sighs and turns her cheek from his chest. He feels her press a kiss to his collarbone, and he leaves one on her hairline in response.
“What time do you have to go to practice tomorrow?”
“I’m not. I’m going to run on the treadmill here. What time do you have to go into work?”
“Five.”
“And how long do you think we’ll have before Jace wakes us up?”
“Somewhere between an hour, if this past week has been any indication, or four hours if he’s miraculously back to normal now that you’re home.”
“So we best get our sleep while we can then.”
“Yes,” Emma groans, falling off of him and flopping back onto the mattress, her hair getting tangled and a ridiculous smile on her face. “That is exactly what I was thinking.” She sits up and immediately leans over to press her mouth into his. “Glad you’re home, Jones.”
“Glad to be home, darling.” He kisses her again, holding onto her a bit tighter when she attempts to fall away from him and back to the mattress. “I’ll get the kid when he wakes up.”
“I have never loved you more than I do in this moment.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. I love you. Let’s get some sleep.”
“Love you, too, twenty-nine.”
“Oh, Will is coming over for pizza tomorrow.”
Emma groans. “As long as he isn’t wearing a speedo, I don’t care.”
-/-
-/-
@mrtinski​ @bluewildcatfanatic @killianswannn @dorisquinn​ @onepunintendid​ @authorarsinoe​ @stunningswan​ @eala-captian @galaxyzxstark @xellewoods @mariakov81 @ultraluckycatnd @royalswan @shey-starsfury​ @superchocovian​ @sals86 @iam2307 @ashley-knightingale @karenfrommisthaven @scientificapricot @captswanis4vr @ultimiflos @jamif @idristardis @nikkiemms @resident-of-storybrooke @tiganasummertree @bmbbcs4evr @onceuponaprincessworld @jennjenn615 @mayquita @captainsjedi @teamhook @notoriouscs @kmomof4 @ekr032-blog-blog​ @cs-forlife @andiirivera @jonirobinson64 @qualitycoffeethings​ @carpedzem​ @tornadoamy​ ​
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aro-aizawa · 3 years
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suprisingly not that many people ship them, but the thing is. the "&" is literally in the top 3 relationships!! i have not been in a fandom where a "&" is one of the most popular rships. (im not exactly.. against them? i prefer brotp in general but there are a lot of uh racist antis against that romantic ship so i like it on principle for the ~spite~)
i think theres a difference between a ship fic and a ..normal fic(?). like. usually in ship fics the plot and the focus would be their interactions/getting together. whereas for regular fics u can kinda balance plot and rship, but the main plot isnt actually getting together. do u kinda get what i mean haha
no no feel free to rant! its kinda funny that they taught u to swear in yr6 but rip for not being able to censor urself. and also. broke up. over facebook??? better or worse than text lmao.
the only rship ive had started off... not great. like it was an online friend from south america, and they asked me out literally the day i rejected my friend. so... i said yes out of guilt for rejecting my friend bc it didnt look like my friend was taking the rejection well ^^; not a wonderful start rip. went well for 6-8 months then we broke up bc the honeymoon period wore off and i havent talked to them since! ✌🏻✌🏻✌🏻✌🏻✌🏻✌🏻✌🏻 it was fun tho, but it felt honestly just more online friends tbh (....interesting decisions all around yknow? )
it be how it be. i was still id'ing as panromantic ace at the time. but still. im wondering if i could eventually "work" with someone? or is that just. allonormative asgsggshshd
i see enemies to lovers but what i Rlly want is enemies to friends to lovers. the friends is necessary!! at least in a long fic haha. ...and love at first sight sounds really fake to me? it sounds just like a hyperbole tbh. like maybe it was first wow u seem like a great person and then u like, get to know each other and then fall in love, etc etc
(👀 oop i type a lot. Rip)
oh yiiiikes i hate when fandom gets those racist fans. i’m kind of,,, dense?? about that kind of thing (abt a lot of similar things too), so whenever i see it, it’s like. mega bad. but nice! i don’t ever pay attention to what’s the most popular in terms of ao3 because when i get into a fandom i’ll blacklist every thing i’m not comfortable seeing in said fandom and then save that for when i’m gonna check out said fandom. for example [here is my atla filters], [here is my mha filters] and [here is my ml filters]. (i also use an extention called ao3rdr which has a blacklist function and my blacklist is SO LONG. but it’s an essential so that i don’t feel like my brain is going to rot by trying to find good fics.)
ye!!! i always think abt it in terms similar to genres. i hate watching films and regular books because genres are so....stilted? and ridgid in what it involves? so in fandom terms i think there’s two main kind of genre categories that have sub categories. there’s ship fic, then there’s genfic. no clue if these are wide spread terms i’ve just kind of understood it that way lol. but within those two categories, there’s sub genres like canon divergence that focus on said ship but with a focus on the plot as well so there’s two plots going on rather than just the main plot. usually there’s always equals in both sides. i think that’s what you’re thinking of. the difference is how the authors approach their fics, whether they think it’s a ship fic explorating the how do they get together of relationships or if it’s the genfic of exploring the relationship itself.
lmao yeah it was like. the only way we’d communicate in non-irl fashion because we were both like. 12/13 so we’d have like. pay as you go plans for our phones so i at least, hoarded my credit and primarily used alternate communication methods. so idk if this is wide spread but at the time we never got into the habit of communicating via text. it’s why still to this day i never ever contact my irl friends via texts, and always through social media (the only time i ever use facebook nowadays is to message my friends tho i’ve been,,,, rather lax abt that. i need to respond to one of my group chats but i’m,,, procrastinating). and we were both awkward people, so i wasn’t bothered by the online breakup, if he didn’t break up w me that way i’d have guessed we just,,, wouldn’t address the relationship ever again and still technically be together but not at the same time lol
oh man that sounds rough. never had any experiences w online relationships, but i can definitely see where it could feel like an online friendship. because,,, idk maybe it’s just me but there doesn’t??? seem like there’s much?? romantic-esque stuff you can do exclusively online?? it’s why long distance relationships are hard, and they only fit certain couples. and lol i deffo understand that feel of internet friends dropping out of your life suddenly. i still think of nearly all my internet friends fondly...except for the bad ones. yeah some of those ones ten years ago were p bad.
it is!! i think that people always shorten it to just enemies to lovers though because it’s easier to say lol. i’m MUCH more interested in the genfic varient of enemies to found family because it goes from “god i want to kill you so bad” to “god i need to kill for you like rn”. it’s just,,, *chef’s kiss*
(dw i type a LOT too lmaooo and sorry it took so long for me to reply, i didn’t feel like talking to anyone for a few days ahah i just get those kinds of moods sometimes. as evidenced by my also ignoring of my friend group chat of over seven years, that i’ve been meaning to reply to for over 24 hours and i haven’t yet. yay.)
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Survey #315
“can’t breathe to scream  /  suffocating in this dream  /  long way down”
Who was your first big crush? I would probably say this guy in high school named Sebastian. We sat beside each other in Art, and I definitely liked him a lot. Man, my freshman-sophomore years honestly involved a handful of crushes before Jason popped into the picture and I lost all romantic interest in everyone else. Where was the first place you drove after you got your license? N/A Is it a blue sky outside right now? No. All North Carolina has known for weeks on end now is rain. We've had very rare sunny days, but for the most part, it's just gray and gross. Was your last breakup a bad one? Nah, I'd say it ended maturely and with a mutual understanding of "why." When was the last time you were surprised, in a pleasant way? Hell if I know. Is there an ice-cream flavor that you strongly dislike? Which one? Yeah, like strawberry. What was the last sitcom you watched? No clue. ^ Do you have a favorite character in that sitcom? Why is that character your favorite? N/A What does the last group you joined on Facebook concern? I am 90% sure it was this group I joined that is literally just about cute yet dangerous animals lmao, mostly reptiles and invertebrates. "Misunderstood biteybois and where to befriemd them" or some stupid shit like that. Has there been a spider in your house at any time recently? Not that I've seen, no. Do you like wearing make-up? Not at all. I only like wearing it for pictures and then taking that shit off. ^ If so, how old were you when you first started to wear it? I started consistently wearing it my freshman year of high school. Then some time later I just showed up one day without any, shocked all my friends, and then only wore it when I felt like it. What foods are you craving lately, if any? Nothing, really. What were some of your favorite foods as a child? Chicken nuggets of course, as well as spaghetti, peanut butter sandwiches, just the typical stuff that kids tend to enjoy. When you were younger, did you ever have a friend that your parents hated? No. Have you ever talked in your sleep before? That's very normal for me, especially now that I have nightmares like every goddamn night. What was the last song you heard, that reminded you of someone? Well, not a real someone, but "The Ordinary World" by the Hit House is 110% one of Fetch's soon-to-be themes. What has brought you joy today? Nothing brought me "joy," really. When was the last time you won a prize in a raffle? What was it? I actually recently won an art rafle on deviantART hosted by a truly amazing artist, like I thought I had no chance, and she's going to be drawing Moondust!!!! :'''') What is the next non-essential item that you intend to buy for yourself? I'm still paying the bulk of my tattoo in May. Is there anywhere in your town/city that's rumored to be haunted? Oh, I'm sure. When you were younger, did you ever think that a certain place was haunted? Bitch I still do lmao. What were your school meals like? Did you enjoy them? This really depended on the menu for the day. My school lunches were nowhere near as bad as some people make theirs sound, but most things still weren't great. I think school pizzas are the most notoriously bad. What kind of granola bar did you eat most recently? I had a cashew bar earlier today. Do you have any books on your shelf that you've read multiple times? I never reread books. What did your last post on social media concern? That I personally wrote, something regarding subtle racism still being racism, pretty much. How do you feel about people using graphic images as a scare tactic to promote their beliefs? (i.e.: PETA, abortion…) I have mixed feelings on this. Like sometimes seeing the brutal side of certain things is definitely useful in opening someone's mind to things they don't want to see/think about, but then there's that, too: it can just be so invasive and unexpected, and thus very upsetting and even scarring. I'd say I'm most for the "appropriate" social media route: using censorship that the viewer can decide whether or not to remove. But you obviously can't do that in like, a public protest with a sign, so idk. Which is harder for you: writing creatively or academically? Honestly, both are pretty easy for me. I enjoy writing creatively far more, though. Do you think gender neutral bathrooms are a good idea? I think it's fine to have them as an option. When was the last time you voluntarily went outside of your comfort zone? Just talking about stuff in group therapy recently. Would you ever use a dating site that costs money, like Match.com or eHarmony? Have you known anyone who had good experience with such sites? No, and yes. Do you think it’s fair that people are able to make a reasonable salary and live comfortable lives just by making YouTube videos? Yes? It takes charisma and talent in some area (humor, education, etc.) as well as consistency for it to be a reliable career, and just consider how often you hear about creators burning out. That happens for a reason. Entertainment is a valid job category and should not be seen as an unfair joke. Whether you’re in college or not, do you become fearful about whether or not you’ll find a good job? Story of my life. What is something you can only understand if you've experienced it first hand? Deep heartbreak. Do you think it's a double standard that a woman can hit a man and expect to get away with it, but if a man hits a woman it's assault? Obviously. Abuse knows no gender, and hitting another person is just that. I do, however, believe in self-defense, also regardless of gender. In terms of a wedding, put these things in order from what would be MOST important to be perfect, to LEAST important... Engagement ring, dress, hair, venue, ceremony, food, pictures, decorations, honeymoon. This requires too much thinking, haha... but I do know the quality of my honeymoon would be most important to me, given that that's personal time with my new spouse and not a public celebration. I feel like what goes on behind closed doors is more important and heartfelt than how you act publicly. Do you have a go-to small talk conversation topic? Probably video games or music, idk. Define "small talk." Does anyone owe you money? Do you owe anyone money? (Besides credit cards) Mom does. She just a few days ago had to borrow $100 for rent. If someone was going to buy you any practical gift (anything except a house or car), what would you choose? It'd be dope as fuck if someone could pay for Venus' next terrarium, but that's a big purchase that I'd have a hard time accepting. How many people do you know with the same first name as you? At least one, but her name is spelled differently. What in your opinion is the best love song ever written? I'm not sure, but I can tell you that "When It's Love" by Van Halen has always been high on the list for me. Was your mother married when she had you? No, actually. I thought she was until my most recent bday, I think. It was just part of a conversation. How old was the first person you kissed? He was a few months into 18. The first person you were in a relationship with, do you still care about them? Of course, he's a sweet guy. We don't talk or anything, but that doesn't mean I don't care about him. Has anyone ever sang to you? Yes. So, what if you married the last person you kissed? That'd be pretty rad. What are you listening to at the moment? "Long Way Down" from the The Evil Within soundtrack. It's funny, like I've loved the game for many years, but I'm now in a serious semi-obsession phase after watching another let's play of it. Have you read the The Hunger Games trilogy? I only read the first book. I loved it, but just never continued. What is your boss’ (or school prinicpal’s) name? N/A Who is the person you dislike the most? That I personally know, probably a former best friend, oddly enough. Do you text your parents often? If Mom's not home, it's not unusual for us to text. I don't text my dad much because he's not a fan of texting. Do you watch YouTube videos often? Pretty much always. Do you know anyone with celiac disease? Sara, my aunt, and my cousin. Those are the ones I know of, anyway. Do you currently have any alarms set? No. How many cars can fit in your driveway? Barely even two. If someone else is here, they usually just park where the road meets the sidewalk of the cul-de-sac. Do you have the ashes of a family member or a pet? Of my dog Teddy, yes. Have you ever been involved in a car crash? Yes, as a kid. Do you prefer flash or no flash on a camera? Definitely no flash. It's more natural, and especially with people, it obviously prevents red eye. How often do you use hashtags? Just about never. Have you ever had whiplash before? No. Have you ever given another person or an animal a bath before? Pets, yes. I could never bathe another human. Is there a birdbath in your yard? No. Weirdest place you’ve ever had a cramp? Nowhere weird, I think... How many lamps are in the room you’re in? How many are actually turned on? Technically three, if you count my snake's heat lamp. Right now that's the only light that's on. Are there any activities you enjoy doing, but can only do for a short amount of time before you get bored or tired of them? Yeah, reading comes to mind first. Is there anything coming out soon (books, albums, movies, video games) that you're looking forward to? I'm not up-to-date on this stuff at all, not even video games. What is something someone recommended to you that you disliked/hated? I know Girt's recommended me music I haven't been a fan of. We like the same general stuff, but there are specific sub-genres we differ in opinion about. Can you unwrap a Starburst in your mouth? ... There are people who do this to even know in the first place??? What is the last thing you ate? Popcorn. Who is your favorite person to spend time with? Sara. Do you know how to grill a steak? I don't know how to cook, period. Do you have a large dog? We don't have a dog currently, but Mom is looking for one pretty intently. We don't know the size it'll end up being. Do you like walking places? Absolutely not. I can't walk far at all without my legs starting to scream at me because leading such a sedentary lifestyle led to muscle atrophy in my legs. It's incredibly embarrassing. Are you a fan of bands most people don’t know of? That's not uncommon for me. Have you ever sent an X-Rated picture to someone? No. Do you think your voice is higher or lower than average? It's deeper than the average woman's. Do you have a pool? No, but I really, really want one... Given how easily I sweat, I would love to use swimming to strengthen my legs. I could also stop the very moment I feel I need to; it in general sounds like something I could quite easily do. How many times have you been on a plane? Ummm including the trips going back, at least six times. Favorite ice cream flavor? Oh my gooooood, if you haven't tried Ben & Jerry's "phish food"... fucking try that shit. It is innnnnncredible. Do you have a TikTok? Nope. Do you enjoy driving? Fuck no I don't. Your favorite store as a teen? Hot Topic was and still is my fave, ha. Favorite YouTuber? There's this one called Markiplier that I think's pretty cool. How many online accounts do you have? A LOT. My whole life is essentially on the computer, so... .-. Do you tend to always be in some sort of drama? Quite the opposite. Do you collect quarters from every state? No. When was the last time your living room furniture was rearranged? Not since we moved into this place. When you were little did you like watching Cartoon Network, Disney or Nickelodeon more? Disney probably topped Nickelodeon. I didn't watch much CN. Who was the last person to kiss you on the cheek? Either my niece or nephew when saying bye. Have you ever seen a magic show? Yes, as a kid. I even had a magician for my bday once. When was the last time you vomited and why? It's been a year or so. It would've been a side effect of starting a certain med that I didn't stay on because it so consistently made me sick. Where do you usually sit when you eat dinner? Either in my bed (I know) or at the dinner table if Nicole is here to eat with us. What time do you usually go to sleep at night? It's typically around 7:30-8:30, occasionally a bit later. I can't believe as a teen, it was my "rule" that I couldn't go to sleep before 10:30 because it was "too early." Nowadays, I can barely imagine regularly staying up that late. Do you avoid using public restrooms? As best as I can. I've seen some nasty shit. What’s your favorite type of cookie? Chocolate chip. How basic.
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supernaturaltfwmeme · 4 years
Text
Between the lines. Part 4
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Summary:The reader is at Stanford with Sam and a few other familiar faces. She gets introduced to Dean, an FBI agent for help with a paper. The two grow even closer when Dean learns about her daughter and her troublesome situation. Check out the other parts here.
Pairing: Dean x reader.
Warnings: Language, Domestic abuse.
Something about this whole thing didn’t sit right with Dean and he wasn’t going anywhere until he knew you were ok. He knocked on the door again louder this time.
Inside Daniel Grabbed you and shoved you towards the door.
“Get rid of him.” He spat. You didn’t want to know what would happen if you went against him so you carefully opened the door. You came face to face with a worried dean.
“Y/n/n, what the hell happened to you? Are you ok?” Dean asked trying to look around you.
“I’m fine de. I just fell.” You lied.
“If you ‘just fell’ why did you tell Charlie you got into a fight at the bar.” Shit of course Charlie would talk to Dean about it, she’s known the Winchesters her whole life.  
“I knew Charlie wouldn’t believe that I fell.” You say. Technically that wasn’t a lie.
“Neither do I y/n/n.” You step outside closing the door behind you.
“Dean you have to go.”
“I’m not leaving until I know you’re ok sweetheart.”  
“Dean I'm fine really but I need you to leave please.” you try and push him back towards his car. You were getting desperate. You knew if Dean stayed any longer Daniel would hurt him too.
“Y/n what the hell is goin’ on?”
“Look I can’t talk right now ok just please leave ok, I promise I'm fine just go before..”
“Before what?”
“Before it gets worse.”
“Y/n..”
“Dean just go home.” You snapped. But it did the trick Dean just sighed defeatedly before heading back over to his car. You watched him pull off and leave before heading back inside. The second you got inside Daniel was screaming again. You knew what was coming.
A few days had gone by since you Dean had shown up on your doorstep, he’d been none stop calling and texting you to make sure you we’re alright. Every time he did, Daniel got more and more angry at you. He was convinced you had cheated on him that night, apart from to go to classes, work and pick Amelia up, he hadn’t let you out of his sight. You’d been avoiding all of your friends; you knew that they had an idea of what was happening but they didn’t understand nobody would understand. And that’s why you couldn’t tell them.  
You were just leaving the library when you felt someone grab your wrist and pull you down the side of the building out of sight, you winced at the contact. They had barely even touched you but you already had a particularly nasty bruise there. And just about everywhere else that your clothes would cover. You looked up at the person whose hand was attached to your arm. It was Sam. And Charlie was standing just behind him. Sam noticed you wince at the contact and gently pulled your sleeve up seeing the purple skin before sharing a look with Charlie. You didn’t dare look at them.
“Y/n/n I know you probably don’t want to but please tell us what happened. We're your friends we can help.” Sam said sympathetically. You shook your head.
“You can’t help no one can.”
“Y/n we already know what happening, but you need to talk to us. It might make you feel a little better just to talk about it.” Charlie added.
“You won’t understand.” You said furiously wiping at the tear that had made its way down your face.
“Try us.” Sam said, giving you a reassuring smile. You took a shaky breath and finally made eye contact with your friends.
“Daniel he- uh- he likes to drink and when w-when he gets drunk he gets so mad and and..” You couldn’t finish the sentence. Tears now flowing freely down your face. Charlie pulled you into a tight hug for a minute until you had calmed down before letting go.
“y/n/n, why don’t you just leave him?” Sam asked.
“I can’t it’s not that simple.” you admitted.
“Why not?”
“Because he has us trapped there, he pays all the bills my job just covers the stuff I need for school and my car, he pays for everything else. And nobody is going to take us in. I don’t have any family to turn to. But he only hits me and I can deal with it.” You rambled without thinking.
“Us?” Sam asked confused. Your eyed went wide and you started to panic again. That is until you felt Charlie lightly squeeze your upper arm.
“Y/n, just tell him. It’s Sam he’s not going to judge you.” You nodded your head taking another shaky breath. Charlie was right.
“I have a daughter.”
“You woah that’s, wait she’s not Daniel’s, is she?”
“No.”
“Thank god. What’s her name? How old is she?” Sam asked a little excited.
“Amelia and she’s 4.”
“Wow. Can I meet her?” Sam sounded almost nervous. That made you smile. You were seriously beginning to question why you ever hid her from your friends.
“Of course you can, I'm sure she’d love to meet her uncle Sammy.”
“Oh my god I'm an uncle, this is oh my god I need to sit down.”  You couldn’t help but laugh at Sam as he sat down on the nearby wall.  
“Y/n, you really need to both get out of that house or get Daniel out, if not for you then for that little girl.” Charlie said
“I can’t.”
“Maybe you should talk to Dean, he can help. Hell it’s literally his job.” Sam added.
“Sam I c..”
“Can’t I know, but can you at least think about it.”
“Ok I'll think about it.” You promised.  
“Sam one more thing.” Sam looked in your direction.
“You can’t tell anyone about Amelia ok?”
“I wont y/n/n. Promise.”
Later that night you were at home getting ready for work, you were trying to find an outfit that would cover your bruises, without making you to hot. You settled on a pair of blue skinny jeans with rips at the knees, a white top with long black sleeves and an ACDC logo on it and your black high-top converse. Not too long after you were pulling into the parking lot of a local bar, known as Harvelle’s roadhouse. It was the cops local watering hole of choice and also happened to be where you worked.
“Hey there Cinderella.” You couldn’t help but laugh at Ash’s nickname for you.  
“Really ash, you’re never gonna let that one go, are you?” You said as you walked behind the bar, tying an apron around your waist.  
“Never.” Ash turned to face you.
“Jesus Cinders, those bruises still there? How hard did this girl hit you?” Ash asked referring to the lie you had told him about the fight you’d had with a girl when you went out the other night.
“Eh don’t worry about it Ash, I've had worse.” It was sad but true. You slid Ash a PBR.
“Where’s Jo? I thought she was working tonight?” Ash didn’t say anything just nodded his head to the pool table at the other end of the room where Jo was laughing at something a guy was saying and twirling her hair.  After a few minutes of Jo not getting the reaction she wanted she walked back over to the bar.
“Struck out Jo?” you teased.
“I’m not sure, maybe he’s playing hard to get.” She sulked leaning against the bar. The man Jo was talking to was playing pool with two other men and two women. The guy and one of his friends had their backs to you, but you could see the other man and the two women. The other guy looked older maybe mid 50’s and was wearing a suit. The woman with the short dark hair was wearing some sort of police uniform and looked around mid 40’s and the slightly short woman had long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and was also wearing a police uniform looked to be in her early 30’s.  
You turned your attention to a random customer waiting at the bar, not noticing the group approach the other end of the bar where Jo was to take a seat after having finished their game. You turned around to talk to Jo and noticed a familiar face.
“Cas?” You walked over to the four people sitting there, the man Jo had been flirting with was nowhere to be seen.
“y/n is that you?” you smiled at the slightly older man.
“It’s good to see you again.”  
“You too Cassy.” Cas pulled his face at the nickname.
“Well would you look what the cat dragged in.” You heard a familiar voice say from behind Cas. The man Jo had been flirting with.
“Dean.” You smiled. “What are you doing here?”  
“It’s a bar sweetheart.” You laughed at that.
“Wait you two know each other?” Jo asked.
“Yeah this is Sam’s big brother.”
“Oh so this is the guy you were out with when you were ignoring my texts.” Jo teased making you blush.
“Ooo had cinders got a crush.” Ash joined in.
“Oh shut it ‘Dr badass’. “
“Cinders ay?” Dean raised an eyebrow.
“As in Cinderella.” You explained.
“Why does he call you Cinderella?”  
“Because it doesn’t matter if she’s at work or you’ve convinced her to come out, she always disappears before midnight.” Jo explained laughing. Making you roll your eyes.
“That’s funny I couldn’t get rid of you until midday.” Dean added taking a swig of his beer.  
“Oh you had to make that sound so much worse than it was didn’t you.” You laughed. Jo, Cas and Ash looking between you both and the obvious flirting going on.
“Are you not gonna introduce us ya idgit.” The older man Said to Dean.
“Sorry, y/n/n this is bobby, my boss. And this is Jody and Donna, they both work at the station where my mom does, and Jody is and old friend of Bobby’s too. Guys this is Y/n y/l/n. She goes to school with Sammy.” Dean explained. You all greeted each other and carried on the conversation. You and Dean flirted back and forth for the rest of your shift.  
Over the next couple of weeks you and Dean texted back and forth getting closer every day. You hid it front Daniel as best as you could, deleting messages and stuff. He didn’t like you being friends with Charlie, never mind Sam and now Dean. Today was no different, Dean had just finished his morning shift, and you were stuck at school.
I’ve got to go to my stupid creative writing class and it sucks it’s so boring. You texted Dean.
Oh come on, it can’t be that bad. Dean texted back
I mean Sam, Charlie and Jess are in the class with me, but it still sucks.
If only you had someone to save you from it.  
Yeah if only. You replied but Dean never texted you back.  
After about 20 minutes of class someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.” your teacher, Professor Crowley, said. In walked Dean in his suit and flashed his badge.  
“Mr Crowley is it? I’m Agent Winchester i need a word with one of your students and I wouldn’t expect her back a er.” Dean make a dramatic show of flipping through a notebook and stopping on a page before continuing.  
“Miss y/n y/l/n?”
“Yes of course, you heard the agent y/n.” Crowley ushered you out. Sam, Jess and Charlie could barely hold back their laughter.
When you got outside the class room you turned to Dean.
“De what the hell is going on?”
“I’m saving you from the boring class sweetheart, now let’s go before Sammy, Charlie and Jess blow my cover.” Dean grabs your hand and starts dragging you down the hallway. You felt a jolt of electricity run through you at the contact but didn’t let go.  Dean didn’t drop you hand until you made it to the impala and both climbed inside.
Before Dean could even start the car his phone buzzed in his pocket. It was a text from Sam.
Could of got us all out of here De.
When you look like her Sammy maybe I will
Bitch
Jerk. Dean Laughed putting his phone down and starting the car
“Where are we going?” You asked.
“You’ll just have to wait and see sweetheart.” Dean laughed.
“Really De, you kidnap me from class and can’t even tell me where your taking me.”
“Pretty much.”
“Fine.” You pouted, “but I have to be back here for 3.” you told him.
“Why’s that?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know Winchester.” Dean drove for a little while, drumming on the steering wheel and dancing in his seat making you laugh, before pulling up to an empty field on the edge of town turning his music up and climbing out of the car leaving his door open and instructing you to do the same. He went to his trunk and pulled out his blanket and a couple of beers. He put down the blanket laying down of top of it and patting the space next to him. He passed you a beet and just stared up at the sky.  
“Dean what are we doing?”
“Cloud gazing.” He said as if it was the most obvious thing.
“Why?”  
“Because you won’t let me take you out late enough to stargaze.” He shrugged. You spent the next few hours pointing out random clouds and coming up with ridiculous things they were and just talking it was nice.
You and Dean had been getting along so well recently, you really felt like there could be something there. Maybe someone would actually want you and could help you get away from Daniel. The only problem was he didn’t know about Amelia yet. But you were going to change that. You were going to tell him. Today
On the drive back to Stanford, you turned to Dean.
“Hey de.”
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
“I have something to...” You were interrupted by the sound of Deans phone ringing. He gave you an apologetic smile.
“Sorry do you mind if I?”
“No go ahead.”
“Winchester.” Dean said answering the phone, his face immediately dropped. You could only hear Deans side of the conversation.
“Lisa I don’t know how many times I have to tell you we’re not getting back together. Ever.” Dean paused for a minute letting the person on the other end, Lisa, talk.
“You know why.” He paused again.
“Because I refuse to raise a child that’s not mine.”  
Tags: @waywardaardvark79 @vicmc624 @frackinawesomeninja @carryon-doctor-lock @supernatural508​
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ellewritesathing · 4 years
Text
So Close - S.S. XXV
Summary: The universe has a funny way of putting the things you want right in front of you, but just out of reach. Stiles and Y/N have been best friends ever since Scott brought him home, but when Stiles realizes that he might want to be something other than best friends, she leaves to go to some fancy private school up North. Now that she’s back though … maybe he’s got a shot? A Teen Wolf AU in which the reader has always been so close to Stiles and yet so far.
Masterlist Prev. | Part 25
Word-count: 4.2k+
A/N: the dummies are together. the angst is heightened. we’re thriving after that short break guys
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The one thing you loved about your friends was that you all had different ways of dealing with problems. The one thing you hated about your friends was that their way of dealing with problems was stupid. 
Derek pulled Malia out of school to help him track down Satomi’s pack, which - although it made sense - was mostly hurtful. You got that they were family and she needed the wolf training, but you used to be the one Derek came to when he needed help. You were the only part of his pack that was still in Beacon Hills, and you understood that things were changing and the group dynamic was different … but still. It bummed you out.
Stiles and Lydia ditched school completely to confront Parrish and visit Meredith in Eichen House. They chose to tell him that he’s on a supernatural hit-list while he was at work, which seemed ridiculous. On top of that, the last time Stiles talked to Meredith, he almost lost it, and the last time Lydia talked to Meredith, Meredith actually did lose it.
Scott had been acting weird since Violet was arrested, and he insisted that there was nothing useful in Garrett’s locker but that didn’t keep him from being shady whenever you asked about it. 
And you couldn’t find Liam anywhere. He was supposed to go for a run with Mason and then meet up with you before school started, but school was almost over now and you still couldn’t find him.
“Sorry, guys. Liam skipped my class. Maybe he’s sick,” Coach said before downing a bottle of cold medicine. “Like me.”
“Liam didn’t look sick on our run,” Mason said as he turned to you and Scott. 
“He’s not getting back to any of my texts,” Scott said. 
“Or mine,” you mumbled. 
Mason started walking away as the bell rang but Scott caught his shoulder and gave him the patented big brother smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll find him,” he promised. “But text me if you see him?” 
“Yeah, alright,” Mason said.
You sighed and looked at your brother. “Okay, so we both agree that he’s been taken, right?” you asked. 
He didn’t get a chance to answer before his phone started vibrating. “Maybe not,” he said before answering the incoming call from Liam. “Liam? … Where is he? … I’ll give you the money.” 
“What money?” you whispered, tapping his arm furiously as he continued ignoring you. 
Scott gave you a look before returning his attention to the call. “What do you want?” After a few seconds, he put his phone back in his pocket and gave you a very worried look. 
“Well? What do they want?” you asked, folding your arms over your chest. 
“Garrett’s got Liam,” he said. “And if I don’t give him his money back and break out Violet, he’s gonna kill him.” 
---
Another terrible plan: Scott meets Garrett where they park the school busses and you take Kira and start searching for Liam. He could literally be anywhere in the city, but Scott wouldn’t listen to you and you needed to find him before anything bad happened to him. 
“You do realize that we’ve been going in a circle for the past hour, right?” Kira asked, nervousness evident in her voice. 
“What? No, we haven’t,” you said as you stopped and looked around. That was the old oak that you passed five minutes into the hike. “Oh, crap.” 
“Yeah, we’ve passed that tree with the weird trunk like three times already,” Kira said. “Are you sure you know how to do this?” 
“I- I thought I did.” You ran a hand through your hair and sighed. “Okay, new plan. The woods are huge but there’s not a lot of good hiding places. There’s the old distillery, lookout point, a few caves, and … and a well, I think. We hit those first and then try along the river. Sound good?” 
She nodded and gave you an encouraging smile before you started trudging forward again.
It took you a few more hours to get through some of the different locations, but then Kira frowned and stopped walking. “Did you feel that?” she asked. 
“Feel what?” you asked, looking down to see if any of the ground had shifted underneath you. 
“I don’t know! It was like … I think it came from that direction,” she said and pointed East. 
“The only thing in that direction is the well,” you said. “Can you keep going that way without me? If it’s Liam, you can get to him before I can.” 
She gave you an unsure nod before dashing off towards the well. You followed her as closely as you could, hoping against all your instincts that Liam was still alright. When you got the well, it was still boarded up and there was some old chain lying next to it. Kira was bent over the edge talking to someone. 
“-she’ll be here any second, just hold on, okay?” she said. 
“Liam?” you called down the well. He looked ready to cry when you saw him. “Okay, buddy, there’s some old chain here from when they got water out of there, if I drop it down do you think you can hold on?” 
“You guys are gonna pull me up?” he asked. 
“We’re gonna try,” you said with a small smile. You threw down one end of the chain. “Wrap it around your waist, okay? Kira and I are gonna pull you up but it would help if you could try climbing up the sides.” 
“What do you think I’ve been doing all day?” he yelled up at you. 
He tugged on the chain after he had it around himself and you and Kira exchanged a look before taking heavy breaths and starting to pull.
“Jesus Christ, what does this kid eat for breakfast?” you breathed. 
Between the three of you, you managed to get him up to the edge of the well. As soon as his shoulders were high enough, he was able to pull himself over the edge. But then he slipped. You and Kira dug your heels into the ground but the momentum was too much. Scott got there just in time to keep him from falling in again. 
“You’re okay, Liam,” he said before pulling him into a hug. “You’re okay.” 
You dropped the chain and rushed forward, taking his face in your hands as you started looking at him. “Okay, I think you’re okay,” you said. “But we need to get you to Deaton. What did Garrett-” 
“I’m fine,” he said. “But he stabbed with something and it really hurts.” 
“Wolfsbane,” you, Scott, and Kira all said at the same time. 
“We need to go,” Scott said. 
The four of you got to Deaton in record time, and he was able to make the incision before Liam’s symptoms got worse. It was still one of the longest days of your life, and you were relieved to finally get home and shower. 
The visions were getting better as more time passed, but that didn’t mean that your dreams were free of them and you still got at least one every week in the shower. And today was your lucky day; Vision You had fangs and claws and she attacked Liam. 
Pushing the thoughts out of your mind, you took deep breaths as you used a towel to dry your hair on your way to Scott’s room. “Hey, that was pretty crazy today with Garrette,” you started. Your words fell short when you saw him and Stiles sitting on the floor with a pile of cash between them. “And it gets crazier, apparently. What is going on?”
“Close the door,” Scott said quickly. 
You did and then you sat down on the floor, opposite the bed. There was so much money right in front of you and your mom spent her Sunday nights right downstairs, going over bills in the dark trying to figure out what could wait another week to be paid. 
“I found it in Garrett’s locker,” Scott explained. “It’s the money from the jobs he and Violet did.” 
“So this is Derek’s money?” you asked. 
“Technically,” Stiles said.
You nodded slowly. “Okay, okay. And what’s this?” You held up an old cassette tape with the words ‘play me’ written on it. “I’m guessing it’s not another breakup mix.” 
“We haven’t played it yet,” Scott said, either not noticing your attempt at humor or choosing not to acknowledge it. 
He got up to find his old tape player and you sat with Stiles, bouncing your leg and biting your lip. 
“Hey, it’s okay,” Stiles said softly, putting a hand over the hand you had resting on your restless knee. 
You smiled at him but it didn’t do anything to ease your nerves. “Did you find out anything with Meredith today?” 
“Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that,” Stiles said before straightening up and taking a breath. “She killed herself after we left.” 
“Oh my god, Stiles-” you moved to face him better. Tightening your grip on his hand, you asked, “Are you okay? That’s-” 
“Found it,” Scott said, a little too cheerfully for your taste. 
You pulled away from Stiles slightly as Scott put the tape in and pressed play. 
After entering the IP address, you will be connected, through a Darknet portal, to an untraceable bank. Once logged in, enter your account number to receive wire transfers. The IP address will deactivate with each transfer. You will be assigned a new IP address if you choose to continue down the list. Remember: visual confirmation is always required for payment.  
Stiles shut off the tape. “Have either of you ever made a wire transfer?” 
“Never had enough money,” Scott said as you shook your head. 
“So you didn’t understand a word of that either?” Stiles asked. 
“I don’t understand any of this,” Scott said. They both looked so tired. “Why would someone use all this money just to kill us?” 
“Someone wants you dead, dude,” Stiles said. “Badly.” 
“Okay, but doesn’t someone always want us dead?” you asked. Scott shrugged lightly. “I’m not the only one thinking that this is … extreme. Am I?” 
Neither of them said answered and after a few seconds, Scott started scooping up the money and put it back in the bag. 
“Woah, woah, what are you doing?” Stiles asked. 
“It’s late, and we’ve got the PSATs in the morning,” Scott said. 
“No, I- I meant the money,” Stiles said. “Five hundred thousand dollars. You know how much money that is?”
“That’s five hundred thousand dollars?” you asked. They’d left that part out when they explained what they were doing. “That could pay all our bills, for both our families. Our debt ...”
“Yeah, it’s half a million dollars,” Stiles said, sounding more than a little snippy. “What are you going to do, Scott? Just slide it under your mattress?”
“I have to talk to Derek,” Scott said. “The money’s his.” 
“You mean his and Peter’s,” Stiles said. You bit your lip and Scott asked what he meant. “What does that mean? It means maybe we should proceed with caution.” 
“You don’t think we should tell Derek?” Scott asked. 
“I think he means that we just don’t tell Peter,” you said. “Right?”
“I don’t know. I just-” Stiles got to his feet and sighed, rubbing his face as he turned away from you. “No, of course, we have to tell Derek. I’m just saying … Just saying some of that money’s Peter’s, right? The homicidal killer. Do we really want to give half a million dollars to him?”
“So you guys are saying we should give Derek his money back … but not Peter?” Scott asked. 
“Hey, I haven’t said anything,” you said. 
“And I didn’t say that,” Stiles said. 
“Stiles …” Scott said, “What are you saying?” 
Someone was stomping up the stairs and Scott shoved the duffel bag under his bed and jumped to his feet. Stiles pulled you up as he did, and you were still in a weird half-hugging embrace when Malia pushed open Scott’s door. 
“We found Satomi’s pack. Derek and I,” she said. She was wet from the rain outside. “But they’re dead.” 
“All of them?” Scott asked. 
“All the ones we found,” Malia said. 
“Wait, where’s Derek?” you asked, untangling yourself from Stiles slightly. 
“Braeden was there when we found the pack but she was shot,” Malia explained. “Derek took her to the hospital.”
“Okay, so he’s okay,” you said with a deep breath. “Is there anything we can do?” 
“Well, considering they’re all dead, unless anyone here knows how to make funeral arrangements, I don’t think so,” Stiles said. He was still on edge about the money and you couldn’t blame him.
“So you guys should get some sleep before your test,” you sighed, looking down. 
“Okay, come on, Malia. I’ll drive you home,” Stiles said. He stepped forward and pressed a kiss to your temple and you grabbed his hand. 
“Uh, where do you think the two of you are going?” you asked. 
“You literally just told us to go home,” Stiles said. 
“No, I said to get some sleep,” you corrected slowly. “We’ll drag my mattresses in here and sleep in Scott’s room for the night.” 
“Uh, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” Scott said. 
“Yeah, I don’t have any of my stuff,” Malia said. 
“You’ll leave early tomorrow and pick it up,” you said. “Guys, I know … I know it sounds crazy, but there are people trying to kill us. And I- I can’t lose anyone else. And maybe it’s the rain making me paranoid but-”
“Okay, why don’t I go shower and you guys get the beds or whatever?” Stiles suggested. “We can talk after.” 
You gave him a small smile and a nod and, before you knew it, you were dragging in your mattresses and laying them on either side of Scott’s bed. Stiles didn’t take an especially long shower so he helped get blankets while Malia showered. Then the two of you headed to the kitchen because you realized that you went almost the whole day without eating. Maybe that’s why you were so jittery right now.
You sat on the counter with your legs crossed while Stiles put together a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for you (‘it’ll fix whatever’s going with you, just trust me’). Watching him carefully as he worked in the dim lighting, you twisted the necklace he’d given you in your hand. That party felt like it was years ago now. 
“Here,” he said, quietly interrupting your thoughts as he handed you the plate. 
“You take such good care of me,” you smiled, letting the plate rest in your lap as you lifted the sandwich up to take a bite. 
“Yeah, well, someone has to,” Stiles said with a smile. He looked so tired as he leaned on the counter across from you. You were so focused on taking in all the same details on his face, you almost didn’t see how they connected to make a small grin as he looked at you. 
“What?” you asked, straightening up. You set what was left of the sandwich down and touched your face “Is there something on my face?” 
“No, well- Yeah, but that’s not why I’m smiling,” he laughed under his breath as he spoke. He took a few steps closer and lifted his hand to the side of your face, using his thumb to wipe your cheek. 
“So why are you smiling?” you said softly. It felt like your regular voice was too loud for this moment. 
“Why are you whispering?” Stiles whispered. 
You tilted your head to the side. “I asked you first.” The two of you looked at one another for a while before laughing. You moved the plate and shifted closer to him, arms gently resting on his shoulders and fingers lightly laced into his hair. “Hey, are you okay?” 
“Yeah, why?” he asked. His hands had fallen to your lower back, and you could tell he was doing his best to be still. 
“Because someone that you knew just committed suicide,” you said as gently as you could. You moved carefully to tuck some of his hair behind his ear. “And you had to go back to Eichen House for the first time after … it must have been hard.” 
“Uh, yeah,” he said, looking down. “Yeah, it was. Harder on Lydia though. The only other banshee she’s ever met and not only was she crazy but she killed herself? That’s rough.” 
He was deflecting but you knew better than to push. He’d talk when he was ready. 
So instead, you mustered up a supportive smile and said, “Then I guess it’s a good thing that she had you there with her.” He mumbled some agreement and you kissed his cheek before pushing him back slightly so you could slide off the counter. “Come on, let’s get some sleep.” 
That night, you and Malia slept on Scott’s bed, and Stiles slept on the mattress closest to you. You let your hand drift over the edge of the bed and pretended not to notice when his hand reached up to meet yours. 
--- 
“So you’re hanging out with Liam today?” Scott asked, just before it was time for them to leave. 
“Yeah, he canceled on me though so I think I’m just gonna catch up on homework. You know, since you guys decided today was the day to be good students,” you said, dramatically rolling your eyes. “Hey, you guys stay safe out there today, okay?” 
“Always,” he said with a smile before he yelled for the others to hurry up. 
“I would have been done fifteen minutes ago if Stiles would’ve hurried up in the bathroom!” Malia yelled as she stomped down the stairs, Stiles right on her heels. 
“I’ll have you know that I happen to take a reasonable amount of time in the bathroom,” he said. “You held us up with all your complaining. We get it: you’re not a morning person.” 
“Neither are you, sunshine,” you said, stifling a laugh as you pulled him into a side hug and kissed his cheek. He mumbled something underneath his breath and you turned his head to look at you. “Good luck. Be careful, alright?” 
“It’s not like I’m on the deadpool,” Stiles said. “The worst I’ve got to worry about is the math portion.” 
“Yeah,” you said softly. You looked at him for a second before pulling away. “Okay, you guys get out of here before you miss the exam.” 
You were alone for a few hours after they left. It gave you time to eat something and pull your room straight again. You sighed, still having a few hours before they’d be done with their test. Liam was with Mason today (probably), and Lydia was still trying to find answers in her grandmother’s study. Even though you offered to go with, she said that it was something she had to do alone. 
You weren’t used to having alone time anymore. 
Looking at your desk, you saw the mountains of homework that were piling up. Now was as good a time as any to get them done. 
Somewhere between finishing your reading assignments and procrastinating your chemistry booklets, you checked the time on your phone. The PSAT should have ended by now, but you didn’t have any updates from any of your friends. 
Pushing the increasing anxiety down, you called your mom. 
“Hey, Mom, I know I’m not supposed to call you at work but I was wondering if you’d heard anything from Scott yet,” you said when she answered, praying she couldn’t hear the worry in your voice. All you needed right now was to be a problem child. 
“Uh, sweetheart, I don’t know how to tell you this-” you heard her sigh and your heart lurched. “There’s been an outbreak at the school and it’s been quarantined.” 
“Quarantined?” you echoed, moving all of your papers aside and getting to your feet. “An outbreak of what?” 
“We don’t know yet,” she said. “Listen, hun, I’ve really gotta go. I’m helping Deaton figure this out, but I want you to know that I love you.” 
You shoved your feet into shoes and ran down the stairs while she spoke. “Yeah, I love you too,” you said quietly before grabbing Scott’s keys on the counter. 
You still hated the bike, but you had to admit that driving so recklessly and freely calmed your nerves slightly. After basically dumping the bike in an attempt to park it, you rushed over to where the police were. Noah could explain. 
Except, instead of Noah, the first person you found was your dad. 
“Dad!” you yelled when a deputy didn’t want to let you through. He came over and the deputy let go of your arm. “Dad, what the hell is happening? Mom said the high school’s been quarantined.” 
“Right now, we don’t know exactly what’s happened,” Rafael tried to explain. “Doctors have already been inside to get blood samples and other Hazmats are going in about half an hour to check for deadly contaminants.” 
“Okay, but Scott’s in there,” you said. “Shouldn’t you be in there too?” 
“Trust me, I’m working on it,” he said with a sigh. “Why aren’t you in there? Isn’t it a big test day?” 
“Yeah, for juniors. I’m a sophomore,” you said slowly. 
“Right, of course,” he said. He sounded tired. Everyone sounded tired. “I’ve never been so relieved that you’re not in the same grade as Scott.” 
Really? You’d never been more frustrated. 
Putting on a fake smile, you made up some lie about stepping aside to call your mom and let her know that you were safe. You took a few steps away from the group and called Derek. It rang and rang but he picked up in the end. 
“Hey, do you know anything about what’s happening?” you asked in a low voice. “I need to get in there but-”
“Yeah, you do,” he said. “We’ve got an idea on how to fix this but you need to figure out a way into the school, alright? There’s an entrance to the vault from the basement. Inside there’s a jar of reishi mushrooms. They need to take it.” 
“I thought werewolves couldn’t get sick. This is affecting them too?” you asked as you scanned the building for an entry point. 
“Yes,” Derek answered. “Your mom sent your dad in but I don’t know if he’s going to find them in time. Can you do this?” 
“Of course,” you said, pushing your doubts down. “I can get in through the locker room. The lock’ll be easy to get past and it connects right onto the school. In and out in less than half an hour.” 
“Hey, be careful,” Derek warned. “We don’t know what else is in there besides the toxin, or if it’ll affect you.” 
“Watch out, Derek. It’s starting to sound like you care,” you teased. You promised to be careful and then hung up. 
Shoving your phone in your pocket, you headed around to the side of the school with the locker room. You wormed your way there without attracting attention and picked the lock. Closing the door behind you, you moved as quickly and quietly as you could through the school. Following Derek’s instructions, you found the vault in no time.
What you didn’t expect to find was Stiles lying against the opening of the vault, face was covered in blood, but you did. 
You rushed to his side and cupped his face, trying to see if he was responsive. He was cold. “Stiles? Stiles, are you okay?” you asked, almost too panicked to realize that he was looking at you with one of the most confused expressions you’d ever seen. 
“Am I dead?” he asked, voice hoarse. You shook your head and that only made him more confused, “Y/N, how did you find me?” 
“I’ll always find you,” you said with an anxious smile. “Stiles, who’s blood is this?”
“It’s the- uh, it’s not mine,” he said. 
“Okay, okay,” you said, trying to take a deep breath. “Are the others okay? Derek said the antidote was in the vault.”
“Yeah, I tried telling them but I don’t know how long ago that was,” he said, voice fading slightly. “I haven’t heard anything in a while.” 
Nodding, you leaned closer and pressed a kiss to his forehead before standing up. “Scott?” you yelled, banging your fist against the wall. “Scotty, if you can hear me, can you give me a sign?” Nothing. It felt like your heart was breaking. “Please?”
A few seconds later, the wall started sliding to the side and Scott collapsed out of the vault opening. Stiles grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into a hug, and you collapsed down next to them and did the same. 
They were alive. They were okay. 
“You guys are never taking a standardized test again, okay?” you choked out, holding onto the back of their heads. 
The two of them said something that you wouldn’t remember five minutes later and you gathered yourselves up to check on Kira and Malia. 
You could barely tell either of them had been inches away from death half an hour ago. Kira seemed completely fine as Scott helped her to her feet, but Malia looked upset. Stiles was already there, but you went to check on her anyway. She didn’t respond, only pressing a piece of paper into your hand before walking out. 
“Malia Hale,” you read her name softly as you looked at the list. “Four million dollars.”
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jq37 · 4 years
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The Report Card – Fantasy High Sophomore Year Ep 14
Brennan Says It’s My Turn With The Daddy Issues
So we’re in hell--literally, not emotionally (at least for the moment). We being Fig, Riz, Gilear, the Hangman, and the blood-imp valet that Fig created last week who is ostensibly named Wretchrot but also picks up the nickname Baby this episode because of shenanigans. Wretchrot brings them all to where they’ll be staying, says a bunch of wild stuff in his weird Rita Repulsa voice, and drinks Fig’s blood which is what he is made of. Riz is bullied by the Hangman and misses the other half of his Nerd Squad. 
Anyway, Wretchrot takes the group on a little tour of Gorthalax’s stuff starting with the library which includes books that steal souls and also legal texts (redundant). Fig looks for a book on devil dating advice while Riz looks for something on the Hellish legal system On a 17, Fig finds a Manual for Succubi and Incubi about extracting souls via the penis. More helpfully, on a 16, Riz finds out that coups are baked into the ruling system of hell and killing someone to ascend to the throne is pretty par for the course. 
Next up is the hall of treasures where there are suits of armor themed to the 7 deadly sins including kinky, gimp, Lust armor they briefly consider equipping either Gilear or Kristen with (Ally breaks at that). There are also these Venitian style masks through which the people who failed to kill Gorthalax to take his place are forced to watch him do his thing. 
They pass through a hall of mirrors which they realize is a kind of security system as it shows things as they really are. Wretchrot appears in the mirror as a drop of Fig’s blood. The Hangman appears as a huge puppy!!!! (OK, a hellhound but all canines are puppies). Riz holds up the photo of Kalina to the mirror and, in the mirror, can’t see her in the photo. However, he does she her in the mirror itself. She waves at him and then appears “in person”.  Fig doesn’t know this is going on and asks Riz if he’s emotionally OK with the fact that they just whip out the photo of his dead dad on the regular. Riz says it’s fine but he quickly becomes less fine when Kalina asks if he'd like to see his dad. He starts to answer her out loud but she tells him that, by talking out loud, he’s tipped off Fig potentially so he should lose her and then meet her alone. The Hangman guards everyone while Riz and Fig split up, to find stuff to test in front of the mirror. Well, that’s the stated plan anyway.
Back in Arborly, Adaine is getting to check an item off of her Teen Girl Life Experiences checklist: Spilling Tea About Your Friend’s New GF. She gleefully does the whole, “I can’t tell you but I’ll tell you if you guess right,” routine before outright confirming that while crustacean shenanigans were happening in the house Fig and Ayda were sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Everyone in the group goes feral over the news, especially the Gay Squad. She vaguely recalls that Ayda also told her some information about a rune or something but everyone agrees that she retained the most important information. 
They decide to call Aguefort about their coins and the rune (Kristen wisely having all the infected people leave the room). Aguefort tells them that the coins that they have comprise Kalvaxus’s hoard but not his original hoard as it has been spent and invested and put into the economy. Classic Ship of Theseus problem (ie: If you have a ship and you start replacing damaged parts of it, by the time you've replaced all the parts, is it even the same ship?). He also reminds them that spending the gold as quickly as possible is a good idea to avoid the dragon madness curse which is on all dragon gold (a weak but very hard to break curse). That prompts Adaine to describe the rune she discovered to him and he tells her basically the same stuff Ayda did last episode. She wonders if dragon madness could be the larger, static curse under which the trojan horse curse (the spellbook) is hiding. Gorgug wants to give all of the gold away and Fabian is not about that life at all.
Back in hell (literally and emotionally now) Riz prepares to meet Kalina. With a 25 Investigation, he finds a sliver of mirror that he can bring with him to keep from being tricked. He’s also mindful of being paralyzed while he’s with Kalina at the edge of a hell cliff so he anchors himself with a rope tied around his waist. Kalina is her usual aloof, darkly charming self when they speak and Riz is pretty flustered, asking if she was his dad’s familiar (no). Kalina says that Riz didn’t really know his dad and the question he isn’t asking but should be is how did his dad meet her in the first place.
She takes him to a little secret passageway which she says goes to a liminal place where he can see between the levels. She gives him the help action to get a good look (which makes Murph extremely nervous) but he only gets an 11 which means all that he sees is a cold, white light coming from the opening. He tries to use his mirror to look inside but on a 13 dex save, his footing is shaky and some rocks fall down the side of the cliff (he’s fine). Kalina says that he’s gonna have to man up and walk down the tunnel if he wants to see what’s going on. She fully reveals that she’s incorporeal and can’t actually touch him to mess with him if that helps at all. 
Riz is clearly struggling with the choice but he ultimately decides that he can’t pass up this chance and that he can trust Fig to rescue him if things go south. He leaves her a note and then steps through. Within the tunnel, he can feel things watching him and hear a chittering that’s weirdly somehow coming from him. In front of him is a smoky room lit by a cone of light--think interrogation room in an old detective show. In a chair, covered in blood and shit and tattered clothes is Pok Gukgak, gagged and chained. Riz reaches for him but, as he tries to step forward, he reaches the end of his rope. Someone unseen splashes Pok with water and tells him to “confess” and “tell us what you know.” Riz pulls out his gun--his dad’s gun--to shoot out the light. As he does, a thought comes unbidden: You know what the kind thing to do with that gun would be. That shakes Riz so he lowers the gun and starts to untie himself. He’s stopped by Kalina (speaking in his mind) who tells him that if he steps in the light, he’ll be on another level of hell in the Iron City of Dis for real. Not just looking in. Riz pulls out his mirror shard and confirms that it really is his dad in there being tortured. He leaves the tunnel.
Kalina says that she knows Riz is all hopped up on doing his quest and stopping the Nightmare King but if he just stops, if they all stop, none of his friends will have to die and, bonus, maybe there will be a little rescue mission for his dad in it for him. Riz wants to know if Pok knew what her true nature was and he seems to think he cheated on his mom with her (“I know what happened between you two. I can do the math.” Which seems logistically improbable but OK). She reminds him that Pok was a spy which means it’s naive to think that every thing he did was good and taunts him about his clue hound nature before vanishing.  
Riz meets up back with Gilear and Fig and he spills about everything. Gilear wants Riz to have lunch and drink some water before he does anything rash. Fig says that they don’t need Kalina to rescue Pok. They know crazy-person Bill Seacaster who’s also in hell. She lights a beacon to help him find them (if you remember, the Hangman has been attempting to contact him for Fabian). One thing I didn’t mention before is that Fig brought up the idea of temporarily installing herself as the ruler of Gorthalax's section of hell so she’d be a powerful enough devil (or devil-adjacent entity) to get them into Sylvere. Wretchrot said it was probably a no-go since she’s half mortal but, now, on a 29 Riz re-reads his legal book and realizes that Fig wouldn’t actually have to kill Gorthalax to take his place, she just needs to defeat him, which she technically has by putting him in a gem and they put that together almost before Brennan is done narrating. They have a new plan.
The other Bad Kids are discussing what Arianwyn is up to and Gorgug suggests that maybe she’s not actually working with Kalina. Maybe she’s playing along but actually has ulterior motives. Kristen looks at Arianwyn’s notes and on a 24 “Empath Roll” (Brennan converts this Ally-ism to an Insight check) sees that at a certain point, Arianwyn started making leaps in her research that were too lucky and suggest someone was helping her--possibly the entity she was researching. Adaine thinks about calling her mom using Sending or her new Sinod of Spire spell but Ayda calls Adaine and asks if she can come over. Of course she can. She comes with her recently summoned tropical fish familiar in a bubble of water--it has the very Albus Severus name of “Garthy and Adaine the Fish” which Adaine is thrilled about but also suggests shortening to GAF (and also considering reconstituting it into a cuddlier form--though the image of her dumping Boggy into GAF’s bubble is super adorable). Meanwhile, Kristen is thrilled to welcome her to “the family” because being gay is the same as visiting an Olive Garden (this is a shirt now because Ally said it which is too much power to give to Ally). Ayda kinda sucks some of the fun out of teasing her about her relationship with Fig by being extremely forthright about it but Kristen and Adaine brighten at the thought that Fig will be a lot more fun to tease. 
But, back to business. Ayda has not slept because she’s been working on getting to Fig. The whole group is like, “Bitch, are you OK?” and give her an ice cream sandwich which is proper Good Friend Protocol if you have them on hand I think. Ayda is super worried about Fig and is just about ready to unmake everything standing between them (Normal lesbian move according to Kristen). They talk her down for the moment in favor of sending Fig a message: Fig you sneaky bitch. Ayda’s here. She wants to invade hell. You good? PS: OOOOOOOOOOOH. PPS: Ask Kalvaxus about dragon madness. Fig completely misses the fact that they know what’s going on with Ayda (you’d think they’d be more in sync which each others’ texting shorthand) and sends back a message saying she hopes they have fun with her but, “not too much fun,” and also that she, “is king” with no further explanation. Wild. 
Ayda, who is still super keyed up to get Fig, thinks she can figure out the Planeshift spell but she needs more time to work on the spell which she could get...if they steal her dad’s time stopping pocketwatch. Considering they watched Aguefort grab the sun out of the sky the other day, they’re not super down to have a possibly adverse encounter with the man but they hear her out. While they do that, Gorgug takes his now working phone and just straight up calls the guy, explaining the situation (including Ayda’s involvement) and asking to borrow the watch. Aguefort is a little taken aback by the fact that Ayda would want any kind of contact with him at all because about 300 years back, she told him to never contact her again and that she would leave notes to her future self detailing why, which is why he hasn’t really been in her life. He lets him borrow the watch for a week (after which time it will return to him) and asks him to tell Ayda what they talked about, leaving the door open for a possible future relationship between them. When Gorgug returns with the watch and the news, Ayda breaks a little and reveals she didn’t even know she was that old. Presumably because her notes start about 150 years ago with an apology that her past self wanted a fresh start and destroyed the last several batches of notes. She hates herself for doing that and Kristen gently tries to get her to cool it with the negative self talk. Then, they hit the button on the watch and they have a week to work. 
The Wizards work on Planeshift. Fabian and Kristen go to the shrine and Kristen--mirroring her vision from episode 1--sits down to draw the unknown goddess from the mural. Her Spirit Guardians emerge and start to kinda deride her for the sincerity of her action. She in turn decides that she’s done with this wishy-washy “above it all” attitude and dismisses her Spirit Guardians for good (making her, as far as I can tell, the only cleric in Solace with a 100% turnover rate on her Spirit Guardians). She finishes the picture and it feels somehow significant, to her and to Tracker too (who can look at it without wolf-raging out). Gorgug uses the time to “get smarter” which bumps his score from an 8 to a 9 (which has no mechanical implications). Ayda is also working on a side project but she’s keeping it a secret from Adaine. 
In hell, the tribunal is called back in session. Fig comes in ready to claim her hell passport and the throne along with it. On a big ol’ 30 persuasion check--and because the law is on her side--Vrath is reluctantly convinced to confer upon Fig the title of arch-devil (via a full lip kiss which is some Poison Ivy bs) The new title comes with an upside pentagram mark on her forehead, full fire immunity (very convenient considering her new constantly on fire gf), and resistance to poison. However, Vraz is about to force the Hangman to stay in hell due to a legal technicality when who walks in but BILL FORKING SEACASTER, who invokes the law of the blade and immediately starts stabbing their way out of there and hustles the group to his ship (Goldenhoard’s reshaped corpse) which was indirectly named by Fig we learned after the thing that would annoy him the most--The Goldenrod.
Bill gives Fig (who is feeling iffy about her archdevil decision) a pep talk before fully signing up for the rescue mission of the dad of his son’s BFF. We also learn that Alastair Ash is interning on Bill’s ship! He’s pretty happy to see Fig and Riz but if he sees Fabian he’s fully gonna kill him. Right around now, the Bad Kids not in hell remember they can talk to the group via the Hangman and check in since the week of stopped time is up. The Hangman is like, “YOU NEED TO COME HELP US RIGHT AWAY!” They (everyone but the HangVan) Planeshift onto the deck of the Goldenrod which is being targeted by monsters and devils commanded by Vraz. Alastair makes good on his threat and starts trying to shank Fabian immediately (which Bill is hilariously blase about). Ayda opens up a portal to the sea and tries to flood Hell from the top down but Fig stops her, saying that they need to get to the second level to save Pok which seems like it will be quite a task with all the monsters Vraz is throwing at them. Luckily, Bill has money for days (and that money is somehow worth something in hell) and has a whole fleet to back them up for our big Hell Pirate Battle next episode! 
Detention
Gorgug for Bad Gossip Etiquette 
Look, obviously Kalina was the worst person in this episode. Like, duh. But, also, it feels like cheating to punish the Vader of the series for doing something bad. Like, yeah! That’s what she’s supposed to be doing!
So, instead, today’s dubious honor goes to Gorgug for the much less damning but more relatable sin of making his girlfriend aware of tea but not spilling it. Say it all or say nothing! 
Honor Roll
Gorgug for Being More Insightful Than His 8 9 Int Would Suggest
Back to back double awards.
Wisdom is not the same as Intelligence and I actually have no idea what Gorgug’s Wisdom score is on paper but he showed a lot of in this episode.
I think he’s been the first person to suggest that whatever’s going on with Arianwyn might not be as cut and dry as it seems and then, of course, he decided to, instead of trying to Ocean’s 11 Aguefort to just slip out and have a quick heart to heart with him. One that affects him surprisingly deeply. And him bringing up his own experiences with no knowing who his birth dad was was just the chef’s kiss on top of it all.
I don’t think Brennan actually intended them to Oceans 11 Aguefort because that would be crazy, but Gorgug is the one who stepped up to solve the problem for the group with a little compassion and I think that more than earns him the spot.     
Random Thoughts
Trailer for Season 5 is dropping Thursday so get hyped! 
“Are you looking for the Teen Zone of the bottomless pit?”
“The fief of this dom.”
“You’re a little nerd. Tell the cool girl what you know.”
“If I had new parts, where would they go?”
I love Fabian’s confident assertion that Ayda would “love shrimp river”.
Line of the night goes to Ragh for, “Frankly, bringing up the rune in this context is homophobic.” And Adaine’s followup of, “I apologize. As an ally, I’m always learning,” was also great.
I love that the girls instantly understand Fig’s earlier hot tub comment with the new context but the boys are still clueless. 
Watching Emily and Murph have their own little side adventure was so great. They are so fun together and they were clearly having a blast.
I wonder if Gorthalax can tell than Fig just got his title. Either via the title itself or his patron status.
Fig bringing up Riz’s dad to be like, “Are you OK?” caught me so off guard and it seems like it caught Riz off guard too. I hadn’t really thought about it but the fact that Fig had is just another example of her being extremely bighearted and doing a bad job of hiding it. 
Emily’s impotent “rage” as all the party members loudly gossiped about her and Ayda and she couldn’t do anything about it because she wasn’t in the scene was *golden*. 
Kalina leaves Riz so he can watch his dad but, if you think about it, that’s all placebo because she couldn’t do anything to him whether she’s appearing to him or not and she can watch through his eyes regardless anyway so it’s just like, “Do you want me to be visibly watching you or invisibly watching you?” 
Does Kalina have, like, a range? Like, if she can literally just see out of the eyes of people that she’s infected, that limits her to a certain cone of vision and range of movement. But it seems like she can appear to a person and move independently around them to some degree, see things they can’t, point things out, and move away from them. How far away? How independent can she be? What are the logistics here?
Also, on the topic of logistics, it seems extremely hard to know someone for as long as Pok knew Kalina and not realize they’re non-corporeal. Like, even if you’re not a touchy person, eventually you’re gonna bump into them (or, in this case, not bump into them).
Man, the dice really hated Murph this week and, honestly, good. His scenes, imo, work so much better if he doesn’t get to Ally his way out of them with a Nat 20. Him being toyed with by Kalina and unsure and lost is the more interesting version of this sequence of events. 
I feel like he made some big swings and misses this ep though. Like, asking if she was Pok’s familiar? Why would that have been a thing? I’m surprised he didn’t ask if he was the goddess’s familiar--though I guess they might not want to let on how much they know but bringing up the concept that she’s anyone’s familliar I think is kinda of giving the game away.
“I have a hard time making conversation with my friends, let alone you” Riiiiiiiiiiz.
Kalina brought up Kristen to Riz specifically, which I find interesting. (She also said that Kristen used to worship Sol which isn’t strictly true, she worshiped Helio, but same family and that was likely just a slip of the tongue from Brennan. Just wanted to point it out). 
Who does Kalina even work for? Like, it seems like she’s working with the Nightmare King but if she’s the mystery goddess’s familiar like we all think then that’s weird because it doesn’t seem like the NK and mystery goddess are together. Like, a part of me is just dumping everyone antagonistic to the Bad Kids into the same “Bad” bucket in my head but there’s no way all of these people have totally aligned goals. 
“Dragon madness 69”
It’s brought up again in this episode that some of Arianwyn’s research was requisitioned by Pok earlier which I want to ascribe significance to but I’m not in a theorizing headspace right now so I’ll just point it out for anyone who does want to play Gukgak.
I’ve been kinda wondering about the logistics of Aguefort and Ayda and how old that dude is but I totally forgot Chronoancy was a factor which I guess indirectly answers any and all questions about that. It also adds some dimension to his character that time travel is a thing that kinda makes you feel unmoored from time, which I think goes some way (though not all of the way) in explaining why he’s so feral. And, speaking of Aguefort insanity, he was also at the party Zelda was at last episode in the form of an owl as the beer pong mascot. Which Gorgug has Thoughts about. 
I really really want Adaine to talk to her mom in the Synod of Spires. Have you guys realized that, for as much of a driving force Arianwyn’s been this season, she’s had almost no dialogue? She has talked I think 3 times total in all of FH: During Adaine’s intro, Apologizing to her when Aelwen was arrested, and the Message Adaine found from her last episode. That’s it. We know almost nothing about her. What is her deal? Also, Siobhan just always kills during all of her one-on-one scenes and I’m biased.  
Love the return of the Bad Kids being unable to make a phone call and stealing the phone from each other to tag in with their own nonsense. 
Wild that Gorgug was able to get through to Aguefort since he has a history of pissing that dude off by saying the wrong (well, “wrong”) thing.
Shoutout to Gilear for being the Designated Dad of the Hell Trip and making sure the kids were eating and stuff. That was a very endearing moment. 
Also, while we’re on the topic of Gilear, he also cleared up that Sandra-Lynn never seriously propositioned him in an irresponsible, “Let me give you a Magic STD” kinda way which was something I’d been thinking about so I’m glad he said something (though the kids kinda aren’t even though I think we’re way past the point of TMI here).  
“Hiss at her litigator.”
Riz, who Fig is Looking to be the Voice of Reason re: Her Arch-Devil Upgrade: This is super rad.
I’m very curious about whether Brennan fully planned for Fig to decide to take Gorthalax’s place because, on the one hand, my brain didn’t go there at all but, on the other, getting Emily Axford to install someone--possibly herself--into a position of power is like getting Siobhan Thompson to steal a book I feel.
Fig Upon Being Told That Ayda Told Everyone About Them: Fuck.   
I feel like Kristen is gonna wish she had her big moment of emotional catharsis AFTER this big hell pirate fight and not before when she can’t summon her Spirit Guardians. 
Man, we haven’t gotten a big, enthusiastic, “Papa!” from Fabian in a while have we? 
No crits in either direction this episode which is wild considering Fig got a THIRTY at one point.
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nayutai · 4 years
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5 | Linked
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⇢ Pairing Taehyung x OC x Namjoon
⇢ Word Count 5.303
⇢ Warnings foul language and heavy petting
⇢ Summary What is meant to be will be. Not even the strongest of evil can stop destiny.
Two and a half weeks of frantic research later and we are still no closer to finding a way to fix the partially broken bond between Tae and I. Elder Ashlyn believes that whatever Antoinette had managed to do before she’d been interrupted partially degraded the bond between us because the burning in my nerves is still intermittent even though Tae is still comatose. The existence of the second bond with Namjoon only serves to further complicate matters. Elder Ashlyn decides to call upon some of the older members of the Council for their assistance.
The group of witches and warlocks barricade themselves in the downstairs study of the French estate. Apparently, the library collection at this residence is larger than the one back at her other residence so the elder witch had opted to remain in France until she and Jimin could come up with some answers. Namjoon and I definitely aren’t complaining as we spend our days exploring the country side. I always make sure to take as many pictures as I can so I can have something to show Tae when we finally wake him up. In the meantime, I make sure to tell him about all of our adventures, clinging to the hope that somewhere in there he can hear me.
Jimin looks stressed when he emerges from the conference room ahead of everyone else. I’ve been sat on a small couch in the hallway impatiently waiting for nearly three hours and I shoot to my feet when he emerges from the room. His brightly colored hair is jutting out wildly in all directions so he’s probably been incessantly running his hands through it even more than usual.
“Jimin, what’s wrong?” I question. My heart beats wildly in my throat at the way his shoulders sag in defeat. Before he even opens his mouth, I know it won’t be good news.
“We know how to fix your bond with Tae.” His face still looks drawn with stress though. There’s got to be a catch somewhere that he’s not telling me yet.
A door clicks shut somewhere off to my right. The sound is followed closely by Namjoon joining us in the hallway. He takes one look at my face and covers my hand in his larger one. The warmth of his skin seeps into mine, keeping me calm and grounded before I get too far off kilter.
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it? That’s what we wanted.” My voice pitches higher at the end, the fear at what Jimin could say taking over my vocal chords.
He motions towards the couch that I’d been sitting on just minutes ago. His hands find their way back through his hair as he explains everything to us. Apparently, the dark faeries had written a book called the Torquem Contritum, literally meaning Broken Chain. 
“Every spell they faeries ever created to either break or repair soulmate bonds is in that book.” Jimin sounds defeated so I know that there’s something he’s not telling me. Some evil little twist that is holding us hostage at square one despite all of this new information that should catapult us to success. “Unfortunately for us, the book is missing and has been for nearly three centuries. It was stolen by a pack of werewolves centuries ago and no one has seen it since.”
This can’t be happening. Every time it seems that we’re on the verge of a breakthrough something knocks us twelve steps back. My stomach feels like it’s going to fall right out of my ass. Somewhere out there are the answers to all of our problems and we have no way of finding it. Hysterical laughter bursts forth from my lips before I can stop it. This is just perfect.
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The search for answers shifts as Jimin and Elder Ashlyn focus their efforts on trying to find the ancient faerie text. The walls of the manor seem to be practically humming with power from the sheer amount of different tracking spells being cast. Even as mere mortals, Namjoon and I can feel the magic in the air. It’s when Jimin sneezes and bubbles fly out of his nostrils that he becomes completely fed up with the lack of results.
“Fuck this.” Jimin shouts as he aggressively shoves away from the kitchen table where he’d been sat eating the stack of waffles I’d made for him. As if sensing that something is wrong, Elder Ashlyn materializes directly behind him. Her eyes are glowing an even brighter blue than normal and they’re narrowed at the back of Jimin’s head.
“You better not be about to do what I think you’re about to do, Park.” To his credit, Jimin doesn’t even flinch at the Elder’s voice suddenly sounding off behind him. If anything, hearing her makes him even more determined to follow through with whatever plan he’s conjured up in his head.
“Well I sure don’t see you coming up with anything better. I don’t see you sneezing bubbles out of your damn nose because your body doesn’t know when to stop doing spells either.” He bites out. His scathing words weren’t directed at me but I flinch at the harsh tone of his voice nonetheless. Elder Ashlyn opens her mouth to respond but Jimin disappears right before our eyes. It happens so fast that I can almost see the void he’d left in the air. Elder Ashlyn pinches the bridge of her nose before she vanishes just as quickly as she’d appeared. Namjoon and I are left staring at each other in stunned silence as we try to figure out the significance of what just happened.
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Nearly a week goes by without a single word from Jimin at all. I’ve tried calling, texting, and even emailing but there’s been nothing but radio silence from his end. Elder Ashlyn has stayed mum on the situation for the sake of our “plausible deniability” but that just leaves me even more confused. What would we need to deny? What is going on that could be that bad? Namjoon is just as confused as I am so he’s not exactly helpful beyond emotional consolation. Of course, Taehyung is no help either but he’s a great sounding board for my thoughts.
I’m cuddled up next to Tae’s sleeping form when the sound of the front door slamming shut reaches my ears. It has to be Jimin. It just has to be. Namjoon is asleep in the room next door and Elder Ashlyn has been locked in her study for hours. No one else would have the balls to just waltz through the front door like this other than Jimin.
Sure enough, the familiar warlock is standing in the middle of the foyer toeing off his muddy boots when I reach the entrance. A large sack rests on the floor at his feet. Judging from its shape and the ominous aura it radiates, I can only guess that it must be the infamous book that he and Elder Ashlyn have been searching for. 
“Don’t you ever disappear like that again, you ass.” I mumble into his neck after I quite literally launch myself at him. His arms wrap around me and I feel like I can finally breathe again knowing that he’s back. After everything that we’ve been through together, I consider Jimin to be just as much a part of my family as my own flesh and blood.
“How did you find it?” I ask, motioning towards the bag at Jimin’s feet. He goes on to tell me about how the missing tome was said to have been written in the blood of the dark faeries that authored it. Knowing that, all he needed to do was obtain some dark faerie blood and perform a tracking spell which was easier said than done. To make matters worse he couldn’t cast just any old tracking spell. In order to find dark magic you have to use dark magic. Now I understand why Elder Ashlyn wanted to maintain our “plausible deniability”. The council definitely won’t like this.
“I can’t believe that you really went through with this foolishness.” I startle at the sound of Elder Ashlyn’s voice slicing through the air like a blade. It’s obvious that she’s not happy in the slightest.
“You can yell at me later but I think we’ve got work to do.” Jimin grabs the bag holding the book and offers it to his superior. She hesitates for a second before grabbing it, holding it at arm’s length as though it might grow teeth and attack her. 
“Meet me in the workroom.” For once, the elder witch chooses to walk rather than teleporting herself through time and space to get where she’s going. It’s almost too weird for me to process. Jimin gives my shoulders a squeeze before following directions and heading for the workroom himself. I immediately turn and run to find Taehyung to tell my sleeping beauty that it won’t be much longer now. Our parents are just as excited when I shoot them all a quick text to update them on this latest development.
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I don’t see or hear anything from Jimin and Elder Ashlyn for the rest of the day. Late in the evening while Namjoon and I are sat cross-legged next to Tae, telling him stupid jokes, Jimin makes an appearance. My heart clenches at the pinched look on his face. 
“I have good news and I have bad news, which one do you want first?” He questions softly after a minute of seemingly trying to gather his thoughts.
“Bad news.” I reply. Better to go ahead and rip the bandaid off and then placate my sadness with good news.
Jimin takes a deep, shuddering breath before he answers me. “There is a ritual for fixing broken soulmate bonds.” An excited squeal flies out of my mouth as I grip one of Tae’s large hands in mine. Then I remember that I asked for the bad news first.
“How is that bad news?” Namjoon questions with an adorably confused look on his face. We’re both looking at Jimin with hopeful expectations and the reluctant warlock before looks like he’s going to be physically ill. 
“The ritual exists and has been proven to work but both soulmates have to willingly participate and Jess has two. A technical anomaly that shouldn’t exist and because of that once we wake Tae up and totally sever the bond we won’t be able to fix it because her body will reject attempts to create a bond when one already exists.”
The world seems to stop spinning on its axis, bringing everything to a halt as my brain comprehends the news that Jimin has just delivered. This can’t be real life. Just when I thought that things were finally on the up and up it comes crashing back down around me. I feel absolutely numb. I stretch out next to Tae, burying my face in his chest as I cling to him. Jimin has yet to deliver the good news but at this point I don’t really care to hear anything else.
“So what’s the good news?” I hear Namjoon ask as he reaches over to rub my back soothingly. It helps a little but it doesn’t completely ease the ache in my chest. 
“There was a footnote that said soulmate bonds could possibly repair themselves naturally but it didn’t mention whether or not it could happen in the case of a person with two soulmates.” I peeked over Tae’s shoulder at Jimin. There’s hope swirling in the distress I see in his eyes. 
“What do you want to do?” Namjoon poses a question that I have no idea how to answer. 
The selfless thing to do would be to let Elder Ashlyn wake Taehyung up despite the depressing consequences. He is quite literally sleeping away the best part of his life the longer he remains comatose and it’s not fair to him at all. But I don’t want to be selfless. I want to keep him. I want him to always be mine. Who’s to say that the connection between us would ever naturally rebuild itself? My heart and mind are at war between what I want and what I know is right. 
I loving run my hand through Tae’s hair that’s steadily grown out over the past few months. He looks so at peace like this. Blissfully unaware of the turmoil swirling around us. I do my best to commit his every feature to memory just as he is now. My heart aches under the weight of what I know to be right. 
A single tear slides down my cheek as I bend to kiss his lips one final time. “Wake him up.”
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Jimin looks at me with a questioning look on his face as he and Elder Ashlyn stand at Tae’s bedside. I know what he’s trying to say. This is your last chance. A single tear slides down my cheek but I nod my head. Knowing Taehyung, he is going to be far from happy about the decision I’ve chosen to make but I love him too much to just let him slumber in oblivion like this. He deserves to live his life to the fullest even if that means I have to give him up.
The air above my beloved shimmers and sparkles as the sleep spell is lifted. His face twists up in that cute way it always does when he’s just waking up but his features are twisted up in pain in the next second. He lets out a strangled shout. His back arches at an angle that can’t be anything but painful. I move to step out of Namjoon’s arms to put a stop to Taehyung’s suffering, but Elder Ashlyn lifts her hand and my feet freeze in place. The burning sensation in my arm that had become a constant part of my life fades and fades until it completely fizzles out at the same time that Tae calms down. Elder Ashlyn finally releases her hold on me and I’m by his side before his eyes even open completely. Tae’s jaw is taut as he looks around dazed and confused while I gently wipe at his sweaty forehead.
He coughs a few times to clear his throat, licking his lips as he looks up into my eyes. I feel sick to my stomach. “Baby, what’s going on? Did you stop her?” The worried look on his face increases tenfold when he notices the way my bottom lip starts to tremble. I open my mouth to explain everything that’s happened but the words feel like they’re choking me.
“Elder Ashlyn? Jimin, what’s happening?” Tae cranes his neck to the side to see the witches standing off to my left. Neither one of them will meet his eyes.
“Tae, baby, look at me.” I lovingly cup his face in my hand, taking in all of his features. His one monolid and one double lid. The elegant slope of his nose. His long lashes. “We couldn’t stop her. She…she broke the bond. Our bond.”
“But I thought being under the sleeping spell was supposed to stop that from happening?” His voice rises as he gets more and more hysterical. I’m trying to explain everything about how the sleeping spell only protected him and not both of us like we thought it would when Tae takes notice of Namjoon standing in a far corner of the room trying to go unnoticed. Kinda hard when he’s so tall but the effort was there.
Tae nearly loses it when I tell him exactly who Namjoon is. I’ve never seen him this angry. Ever. If looks could kill, everyone in the room would drop dead in an instant. There was a time when I didn’t think anything could rile him up like this but I see that I’ve found his one trigger point. To his credit, Namjoon takes every harsh word in stride and remains quiet while I do my best to regain control of the situation. 
“Are you fucking kidding me, Jessica? You let go of me and everything we had for him? What type of bullshit is that?” I wince at his bellowed words. He’s never yelled at me. Never even raised his voice. I couldn’t have kept myself from flinching even if I’d tried but right now he’s too mad to even care. 
“Tae it’s not like that I promise. Plus, Jimin said that there’s a chance that our bond could naturally rebuild itself.” I try to pacify his anger in the only way I know how but it seems that was the exact wrong thing to say. If we were in a cartoon, he’d be blowing steam out of his ears right now with how irate he is.
“A chance?! You did Antoinette’s dirty work for her based on some bullshit chance?” He yanks his hand out of mine as if I disgust him. “I would’ve preferred to sleep until the world ends if it meant that you would still be mine.”
Jimin and Elder Ashlyn have stayed silent throughout this entire fiasco, choosing to leave the explaining up to me since I know Taehyung better than anyone in this room. Although, that may be up for debate now. 
“Kim Taehyung, you shut your ass up right now and listen. There was absolutely nothing more we could do.” Elder Ashlyn breaks her silence and halts Tae’s tirade in the process. Every pair of eyes is glued to her face. “Whether you remained under the sleeping spell or not, your bond with Jessica had been severed and because of the second soul connection no magic on Earth can fix it. Now you can either get yourself together and do what you can to provoke a natural reconnection or you can go on about your business but what you’re not going to do is berate Jessica like this. None of this is her fault.”
Tae’s head droops forward as he takes in the elder’s words. I know what this means. His anger has dissipated but that leaves nothing but sadness and despair. When his shoulders start to shake with the force of his sobs, I reach forward to comfort him. The pain I felt when Antoinette snapped our bond like a rubberband is nothing compared to the agony of Tae shrugging my hand off of his shoulder. Never has he rejected me like this. Ever. I choke back a sob. What did I do? If only I had been more selfish with my choices. If only I had let him stay asleep. 
“I want to leave.” Tae chokes out after a few minutes. “I want to leave right now.” He looks over my crying figure once more and the pain in my chest only increases with the anguished longing I see reflected in his eyes.
“As you wish.” Elder Ashlyn makes him vanish with a wave of her hand. The tears are flowing freely now as Namjoon gathers me into his arms. I vaguely register the odd sound of air collapsing as Jimin and Elder Ashlyn leave me to my misery. 
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At some point, I must have cried myself to sleep because I wake up in an unfamiliar apartment to the smell of bacon frying. There’s wood features everywhere I look so I know I’m not at home nor am I at my tiny apartment near the campus. I follow the smell to a kitchen that is equally unfamiliar to see Namjoon standing over the stove.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” He abandons the pan to walk over to me, kissing my forehead softly when he reaches me. “Sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up. Thought I’d have time to finish breakfast first.”
“Is this your place?”
“Yeah…” He scratches at the back of his neck nervously before leading me to a stool at the breakfast bar. “I didn’t think it would be a good idea for you to be alone after what happened so I had Elder Ashlyn teleport you back here with me. I hope that was okay.” My mind drifts back to Taehyung and what he might be doing right now. It’s no surprise that tears well up in my eyes once more. I’ve lost my first love and gained another yet I still feel empty.
“It’s fine.” I absentmindedly run my thumbnail back and forth along a small scratch in the countertop while Namjoon continues to cook. 
Everything is definitely not fine. 
I excuse myself back to the bedroom after forcing down a few pieces of bacon and a piece of toast. Namjoon looks like he wants to say something but thinks better of it, choosing instead to grab one of my hands and gently kiss each of my knuckles before letting me go. My heart swells with affection for the gentle giant in front of me but the fresh wound of losing Tae still stings. There’s only one person who can help me now.
“Hey, baby girl. We haven’t heard from you in a few days. I was beginning to worry.”
“Mom.” The tears that I’d thought had finally stopped flowing come bursting forth like someone had turned on a faucet behind my eyelids the second her voice comes through the phone speaker. She immediately goes into mother bear mode as she tries to interpret my blubbering to get to the root of what’s wrong.
“Send me your location. I’m coming.” I nod though I’m aware she can’t see me and hang up the phone. 
Namjoon knocks lightly on the door, but at this point I don’t have the energy to do anything more than lay in his bed like a starfish and cry. He pokes his head in and immediately crosses the room to wipe your tears away despite the fact that more just keep falling. He whispers something about going to get tissues and water, but I latch on to his arm before he can get too far away.
“No. Please stay.” Namjoon doesn’t say a word as he crawls into bed with me. The solid warmth of his chest. Strong arms holding me close. For once, I feel like maybe everything will work out. For once, I have hope for the future.
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I stare intently at the smooth skin of my left wrist. Sometimes, if I stare hard enough, I swear that I can see a faint outline of the the three little letters that used to mark my skin. Today is my twenty second birthday. A day that I thought I’d be spending with the man those three missing letters had brought to me. Namjoon breaks me out of my reverie with a lingering kiss to my shoulder as wakes up. 
Guilt used to overwhelm me with every intimate touch or brush of his lips against any part of me but over the month or so since we left Elder Ashlyn’s sprawling estate I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching. It’s still a process, but I’ve largely come to terms with the fact that my feelings for the gentle giant currently wrapped around me like a koala are nothing for me to feel guilty about. He was always destined to be mine. I’ll always wish that we could’ve met under much more favorable circumstances, but we’re here together navigating the fallout of the chaos of the past year together.
“Happy birthday, baby.” His voice is low and raspy in that beautiful way it always is when he first wakes up. I twist around in his arms until I can properly face him, lovingly tracing the outline of his full lips before covering them with my own. 
“Thanks, babe.” My eyes drift closed as Namjoon peppers kisses all across my face. His talented fingers slip beneath the t-shirt I’d worn to bed to run his fingers up and down my spine, making me shiver. A breathy moan escapes me when he pulls back to shove my shirt up below my chin and exposes my bare chest to his hungry gaze. The chilly air in the room is a pleasurable contrast to his warm hands cupping my breasts as circles his thumbs around my raised buds. 
Namjoon’s head hovers above my chest, tongue seeking my skin when the door bell echoes through my quiet apartment. Were it not for the a strong gut feeling, I would have ignored the uninvited guest in favor of allowing Namjoon to continue to have his way with me.  But I have to answer the door. It’s a pressing need at this point.
“I’ll be right back.” Surprisingly, Namjoon offers up no protest when I extricated myself from his web of lust. I blindly redo the bun I’d slept in so it looks less like I’m just rolling out of bed. 
Frantic energy accelerates my heart beat the closer I get to the front door of my apartment. When I finally fling open the door, whoever it was is gone. I look left and right down the walkway and just barely catch sight of a tall, lanky man rounding the corner to the stairwell. An oversized gift bag in tow. My heart clenches in my chest at the quick view I’d managed to catch of his side profile. I’d recognize him anywhere.
“Taehyung!” My lack of dress and proper footwear is totally forgotten. Nothing short of an act of God could’ve kept me from bolting down the walkway after him. I hadn’t expected him to hear me yelling since he’d already started down the stairs, but the man in question nearly takes me down in his haste to get to me.
He steadies me on my feet only to stagger back himself when I launch myself into his arms. My emotions are all over to the place to the point that my brain feels like it’s vibrating. Taehyung takes a deep shuddering breath as he succumbs to the tears that soak into my shirt. He’s mumbling something into the crook of my neck but he’s speaking too low to properly make out what he’s saying. 
“I missed you, Tae.” I pull back from him to wipe the tears from his cheeks. He leans his forehead against mine, seemingly content to just be in the moment.
“I missed you more than you’ll ever know, Jessica.” 
“I’m glad that we all missed each other, but it’s cold as fuck out here and one of you is barely dressed.” We both jump when Namjoon appears out of nowhere with a blanket that he doesn’t hesitate to throw around my shoulders when Taehyung finally lets me down. “Good to see you again, Taehyung.” 
Taehyung stares down at the hand that Namjoon holds out to him. My heart jumps for joy when he shakes it firmly, accepting Namjoon’s olive branch. I try to stop it, but ever since the state of the weather was brought to my attention I can practically feel the chill seeping into my bones. 
“Okay let’s get you back inside.” The two hulking men on either side of me look more like mother hens as they herd me back into the apartment. 
I find myself quickly sat on the couch as Taehyung and Namjoon continue to fuss over me. Taehyung insists on tea which is met with a swift agreement followed up by Taehyung’s fascination at the wide variety of teas that Namjoon has stocked my cabinets with. The last time Taehyung and I had been in this apartment together our world was crumbling beneath our feet. It’s odd to think about just how much time has changed in the months between then and now. The events that litter our timeline almost feel like they happened to someone else. As I look around my apartment, I spot the large gift bag that Taehyung had been carrying earlier resting on the dining table. 
“Tae, what’s in the bag?” Taehyung crosses the room to bring the bag to me.
“Happy birthday, babe.”
I tear into the bag, shrieking when I lift out a signed Ella Fitzgerald vinyl. It’s obviously an original and not a remastered vinyl which means Ella herself held this record in her hands and signed it. I hug the framed album to my chest in fear that I let go of it for even a second it might disappear. 
“I love it so much, Tae.” I hop up off of the couch, connecting my lips to his before I can stop to think about whether or not I should. Taehyung is stunned for all of two seconds, kissing me back with a ferocity I’ve never felt before. 
Fear seizes me as once again a joyous, carefree moment is interrupted by a burning in my left wrist. I can feel the panic rising up to choke off my oxygen supply at the thought of reliving the hell that we’d just escaped. History repeats itself as Taehyung grabs at my arm when he puts two and two together. Namjoon is by our sides in an instant when he senses the sudden shift in our moods. The frame in my hands nearly tumbles to the ground but I manage to keep my grip on it, tucking it under my free arm. 
“What’s wrong? Jess, baby, are you okay? Is something wrong with our bond?” Namjoon’s words trigger a lightbulb in my brain. Our bond. His initials are emblazoned in my wrist just as clear as the day that they first appeared. My right wrist that is. The weird sensation that had sent me into a mental spiral isn’t the sharp burn that I’d thought it to be. No, this is an itch. An intense and persistent itch beneath the skin of my left wrist. The same persistent itch I’d felt when the letters KNJ had first made their presence known.
Taehyung is still holding my wrist, staring at it in shocked amazement. Jimin had said that this was a possibility but I’d refused to get myself wrapped up in any expectations to ward off any unnecessary disappointments. And yet, there it is clear as day. KTH. Namjoon lets out a whoop of celebration as he pulls both me and Taehyung into a bear hug. 
“Fuck tea! This calls for wine.” He pecks my forehead, clapping Taehyung on the back as he returns to the kitchen for the rest of the bottle of sangria he’d brought with him when he came over last night. 
“You know what this means right?”
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder?”
“No, it means you now have two people to yell at you for standing in chairs to reach things, shortie.” Taehyung bolts when I raise my vinyl over my head as if to strike him with it. He screams for Namjoon to come to his rescue as I chase him around the room.
“So she can hit me? I think I’m good on that.” Namjoon takes a sip from the wine he’d poured for himself as he enjoys the show before him. A smart man.
I eventually get tired of running around as I’m sure they both expected, gratefully accepting a wine glass from Namjoon. I pucker my lips up for a kiss which he gladly gives me. He tastes like sangria and pure joy. 
“To happiness and rekindled connections.” Taehyung and I clink our raised glasses against Namjoon’s excitedly. The cheap wine tastes like liquid gold when I tip it down my throat. There was a time when I thought that the love of a lifetime was going to be permanently ripped from me and now here I stand with love two fold. I don’t know how we’re going to make this work but I do know that I’ll do everything I can to make sure it does.
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Text
Bathroom door
Beca bounded down the stairs, arms full of her things she was packing up to leave the Bella house. She crashed into someone and her stuff went flying everywhere. She glanced up to see Aubrey’s slightly smirking face “What the hell are you doing standing at the bottom of the stairs like that?” She yelled at the older girl “In fact what are you even doing here? You don’t live here anymore!
Aubrey pulled a face "In a few hours neither do you!" She retorted. "Yeah well I still live here now and you don't so why don't you just do us all a favour and get lost! We're all trying to pack away and don't need you around making everything ten times harder!" Beca ducked down to retrieve some of the things that she'd dropped.
Aubrey scowled "So much for Bellas for life" she muttered and stormed up the stairs. Beca sighed and collected the rest of her things before deciding to make amends with Aubrey. After all Beca wasn't even annoyed at Aubrey, she was snappy simply because she didn't want to move out. She didn't want to leave all of the Bellas behind. She didn't want to leave one Bella in particular behind anyway.
Sighing again Beca trudged up the stairs to Chloe's room (the room that had once belonged to both Chloe and Aubrey) and opened the door ready to apologise to her. She frowned when she saw that Aubrey wasn't here until she heard someone in the ensuite bathroom.
Beca sat on the foot of the bed next to the bathroom door. Apologising wasn't something Beca found easy nor did often so not having to actually do it face to face with Aubrey relieved her slightly.
"Look Bree" she began before taking a deep breath "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kick off on you and you know this house will always be yours as much as it is ours I just... have other things on my mind." Beca paused waiting for Aubrey to reply but when she didn't she figured she must still be pissed off with her.
"I just... I don't want to leave. I don't want to move away yet and be without the Bellas, you guys truly have become my family and I guess I'm just scared of losing that. I've made friendships in here that are so much stronger than anything I've ever had before. Like Amy she's a pain in the ass but she's such a laugh and a great mate to have and Chloe..." Beca sighed upon saying the redheads name.
"Well anyone with a working pair of eyes can tell Chloe and I have such a strong bond. I've never felt anything like it before and I don't want to lose that. She's the best and if I'm being honest that's 90% of the reason I'm dreading leaving so much, I don't want to leave Chloe. She makes everything okay and safe and exciting and I know now that she's going to move away and get a job and a boyfriend and a new life and forget about me totally. I just... I don't want that to happen"
Beca looked down, trying hard to stop the tears in her eyes from rolling down her cheeks "I'm in love with her" she managed to squeak out before the first tear rolled down her cheek. God she was being stupid! Why on God's earth would she tell Aubrey something like that. "Bree please don't tell her any of that"
Beca sniffed before she got up and headed towards the door.
Beca turned the door handle and jumped upon seeing Aubrey walking up the stairs towards her. Becas eyes widened as she turned around to see Chloe at the now open bathroom door. In that moment Becas brain short circuited and she stood there dumbly looking at Chloe, mouth slightly agape.
Chloe looked at Beca with a soft smile "I think we need to talk" she said in barely over a whisper. Beca closed the door behind her and quickly wiped her eyes before taking a deep breath and nodding slightly. "Well come over then I don't bite" Chloe giggled softly as she sat on her bed.
Beca shuffled towards Chloe and sat on the opposite end of the bed, rolling her eyes playfully Chloe scooted towards Beca. "Um, how much of that did you hear?" Beca muttered looking at her hands in her lap. "All of it" Chloe admitted truthfully. Beca nodded slightly "I'm sorry" Beca mumbled.
Chloe frowned at this "You have nothing to be sorry for Beca" Chloe replied softly, gently placing a hand on Becas leg. "I do. I've damaged the whole dynamic of our friendship" Beca groaned out in frustration. "It'll be okay" Chloe tried to soothe her but Beca shook her head "You'll always look at me differently now" Beca sighed. "Look I'm sorry Chloe but I have to go" Beca stood up to leave. "We can work through this Beca" Chloe tried but Beca shook her head as she exited the room.
______________________________
It had been 3 months since Beca had confessed her feelings to Chloe and three months since Chloe and Beca had last spoken. Chloe had tried, really she had but Beca wouldn't answer the phone to her or reply to her barrage of texts. Beca had completely isolated herself from all of the Bellas and moved to New York, working at a record label and living in a tiny crummy apartment.
Beca was well and truly hating her life. Living without the Bellas was hard but living without Chloe was almost unbearable. Her heart ached and she was lucky if she smiled once a week. She hadn't made any new friends and was just going through the motions, even mixing music didn't make her feel any better.
Chloe on the other hand was in a much better position. She had moved to Florida and was working as Ariel in Disneyland and loving every minute of it. She had always loved Disneyland and now it seemed her dreams of being a princess in real life had come true. She loved interacting with the children and ensuring that their visit was filled with awe and wonder like her trips had been as a child.
Chloe being Chloe had made loads of friends already and kept in regular contact with the rest of the Bellas. The only thing that would have made her life better would have been having her best friend back in it. She missed Beca dearly and felt a stabbing pain in her chest every time she thought about her scrappy little friend who had once inadvertently confessed her love to her.
She wished that Beca would answer the phone or text her back. She so desperately wanted to make things right between the two of them. Just because she didn't have the same feelings for her didn't mean they couldn't remain best friends. She missed Beca more than she'd ever missed anyone before and had begged and pleaded with the younger girl to talk to her to no avail.
Chloe woke up from a lovely dream, in the dream The Bellas were performing at Disneyland, all dressed as different princesses to an adoring crowd. Chloe and Beca were performing a short duet and Beca grinned at her with that smile she reserved especially for Chloe. The alarm clock jolted her awake and the sleepy smile remained on her lips for a second before remembering that she hadn't seen that smile in 3 whole months.
Chloe sighed and got her phone out to text Beca, knowing that she wouldn't get a reply. For all Chloe knew Beca had changed her phone number but text her anyway 'Hey Becs, you were in my dream last night, The Bellas were performing together at Disneyland! I miss you... please text me back x' Chloe quickly got changed, ready for another day in work.
Chloe got there slightly early as she always did, a smiling Chicago came over in his Prince Charming attire "Good morning Ariel" he laughed "Good morning to you too Prince Charming" Chloe laughed back. The pair had gotten closer over the past weeks and Chicago had started flirting heavily with the redhead.
He dropped to one knee and took Chloes hand in his "Would you do me the honour of accompanying me on a date tonight?" He asked already in character. Chloe giggled at the goofiness of him "Of course my prince" She replied. "Splendid" he stood up "Your chariot will await at 8" he kissed her hand before walking off. The other princesses gathered around her to talk to her about it before their shift started.
As soon as her shift finished, Chloe rushed home to get ready for her date, pausing only to alert the Bellas group chat of her date.
Stacey: You're literally going out with prince charming!
Aubrey: You're living every girls fantasy!
CR: Not EVERY girls fantasy
Fat Amy: Well every straight girls fantasy
Ashley: What are you going to wear?
Chloe pondered this for a second before getting up and looking through her wardrobe and picking out three options and sending pictures of each to the group chat.
Aubrey: Number 2
Jessica: 1
Ashley: 1
CR: Nah deffo 3
Emily: They're all nice!
Stacey: I have to agree with Bree number 2
Fat Amy: I'd say 3
Flo: 1 or 3
Lily: I killed someone in an outfit like 2
Chloe: Okay...
Chloe: You guys were no help
Chloe: What do you think @Beca?
Although Beca was still technically in the chat she hadn't spoken in it for 3 months and as suspected, she didn't break the silence. Chloe sighed and went with number 2 and got ready for her date. She was ready about 15 minutes before he was due to pick her up and decided to text Beca. Even after all of this time it wasn't any easier without her.
Chloe: Hey Bec, I tried calling you again yesterday but you didn't answer. Are you okay? Is this still your number? Please don't hate me forever, text or call me whenever you want and I'll be here x
Chloe heard a knock at the door and smoothed her hair down before answering the door. "Well hello there Chloe, you look amazing" Chloe smiled back at Chicago, "Looking pretty handsome yourself" Chloe replied. The pair set off in Chicago's car to a nearby Italian restaurant. Chicago was a perfect gentleman opening the door for Chloe and such.
The date went well and Chicago was as charming and funny as ever, he even walked Chloe back to her door after driving her home. "I had a great time Chicago" Chloe told him "Me too" Chicago smiled and leant in and kissed Chloe.
Chloe kissed him back briefly before pulling away "Well goodnight, thanks again Chicago" Chloe smiled before letting herself into her house and kicking off her heels. Chloe got undressed for bed and considered the entire date.
She had had a good time, it was fun and the two would make a great couple she mused but couldn't put her finger on why she didn't feel like she thought she would. She just didn't have that spark with him, she didn't feel for him what she'd expected to. What she'd hoped to.
Chloe flopped into bed and considered the problem some more. He was the third guy she'd been on a date with since moving to Florida but she had expected more from him. It was chemistry that she didn't have with him.
For example if she was out with Beca then the conversation would have never ceased. There was always ease between the two girls relationship. She always felt like she could be 100% herself when she hung out with Beca.
Then again that was a friendship, a relationship is something different altogether. If her and Beca had ever been romantically involved maybe she would have felt the same way around her. Almost immediately Chloe dispelled this thought from her head, she knew that she'd always act the same way around Beca no matter what capacity their relationship was.
It was a true conundrum. For some reason Beca was always in her thoughts when dates didn't work out. It was probably because she missed her friend Chloe reasoned. And she did. She missed Beca dearly, it was almost as though her right arm had been chopped off that's how integral Beca was to her life. Chloe sighed before settling into bed for the night.
Chloe woke up to a knock at her door. She got out of bed and opened it to see Chicago dressed in his Prince Charming suit. "What are you doing?" Chloe mumbled "Well I'm your Prince Charming aren't I?" He replied in a voice that wasn't his own. Chloe cocked her head and it took a second or two for her to click onto who's voice it was.
"Beca?" Chloe gasped "Yes m'lady?" Chicago replied still in Becas voice before magically transforming into Beca, still wearing the princely attire. Chloe threw her arms around Beca and hugged her, right before pulling away and looking at Becas grin. She pulled the shorter girl into a searing kiss before abruptly waking up to the sound of her phone ringing.
Chloe sat bolt upright in bed, panting slightly from shock and surprise before shutting off the call from Chicago. Chloe took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. Why was this happening? Why was she dreaming about kissing Beca? Why didn't it feel wrong?
She picked her phone up and called Aubrey, 3 rings in she answered "Hey Chloe what's up?" Chloe inhaled deeply "I um... nothing" Chloe didn't know what to say, she was probably just being stupid after all. She didn't actually have feelings for Beca. Or did she? "Chloe what's up?" Aubrey asked again.
"Nothing" Chloe repeated, slightly more convincing than the last time "Don't make me ask again" came Aubrey's stern voice from the other side of the line. Chloe sighed "Well... um... have you ever had a dream about kissing someone that you shouldn't have been kissing?" Chloe managed to get out.
"That I shouldn't have been kissing? Like who? Trump? Ew fuck no!" Aubrey chuckled. "No I mean like a friend" Chloe sighed out "Not really no" Aubrey replied truthfully. "Yeah no me neither" Chloe laughed weakly "Well who was it?" Aubrey questioned her. "No one. It doesn't matter" Chloe added hoping she'd drop it.
No such luck. "Well you have to tell me now" Chloe groaned at this "It was Beca wasn't it?" Aubrey asked. "How... how did you know?" Chloe stuttered "You've always been a bit gay for Beca" Aubrey said nonchalantly. "What? No I haven't!" Chloe squeaked out.
Aubrey laughed at this "You definitely have! All that hand holding and cuddling up during movies and not stopping going on about her and how beautiful she is" Aubrey stated. "I... I'm an affectionate person that's all!" Chloe protested. "I was supposedly your best friend and you weren't that touchy feely with me!" Aubrey argued.
Shit. She was right. Everything was always... different with Beca. A stronger bond. A bit more tender. A deeper love. "Oh my god" Chloe breathed out "And the penny drops" Aubrey deadpanned. "I... I think..." Chloe gulped loudly "I think I love her" she managed to get out.
"I know you do" Aubrey said quietly. "Why... why didn't you ever say something to me?" Chloe questioned her "Its the kind of thing you need to figure out for yourself Chlo" Aubrey said softly.  "Yeah I suppose you're right, thanks Bree... I have to go now" Chloe whispered out. "Let me know how it goes!" Aubrey called out before Chloe hung up. Chloe quickly text Beca.
Chloe: Becs we need to talk, call or text me please?
No reply, not that Chloe was expecting one really. She had no idea how else to contact Beca. She didn't know where she lived or worked or anything, all she knew was that she was in New York and working with a record company.
Chloe searched for hours and hours online for Beca until eventually she found her name listed on one of the record companies. Well if Beca wasn't going to talk to her then she was going to have to go and see her.
Chloe rang work up and took a few of her holiday days off and quickly packed a bag. She got a taxi to the airport and booked the first available plane to New York.
Not even 6 hours after waking up from that dream and Chloe was aboard a plane ready to fly her to New York. It was scary. Terrifying really. She was going to see Beca for the first time in such a long time and tell her how she felt about her.
One step at a time though, she knew where Beca worked but not where she lived and the working day would probably be over by the time she arrived. Chloe thought long and hard for a while but eventually decided to just turn up to her work and hope she was there.
The plane ride, although relatively short in duration, seemed to drag on for an eternity. Chloe was getting more nervous by the second and by the time the plane landed she was a ball of nerves. Grabbing her bag she hurried through the airport and hailed a cab to Becas work.
She got there at 6:15 and entered the building hoping that Beca hadn't left yet. The reception desk was empty so Chloe scouted round, unsure of what she was even looking for. "Can I help you?" Chloe wheeled round at the words and was greeted to a perplexed looking woman. "Um hi I know someone who works here, Beca Mitchell and I don't know if she's here or if she's gone home yet"
The woman raised an eyebrow at her "Beca will have left over an hour ago, as soon as it's 5 o'clock she's out of the door" the woman chuckled. "Ah yes that does sound like her" Chloe giggled "You see the thing is is that I don't actually know where she lives..." the woman frowned slightly.
"How well do you know her?" She queried. "Oh very well. We're best friends" Chloe said confidently. "You're best friends but you don't know where she lives?" Chloe laughed nervously. "We went to college together, we lived together and we were co-captains of our college acappella group but she moved here and I moved to Florida. I have pictures, do you want to see them?" Chloe got her phone out "No I believe you" the woman laughed.
"It's a surprise you see, she didn't know I was coming" Chloe explained "I see" the woman nodded "Is there any chance you could help me out? Have you been to her apartment?" Chloe asked hopefully. "Me? No. As far as I'm aware no one in this place has" Chloe's face dropped at this "Well is there any way you could find out where she lives for me?"
The woman chewed her bottom lip contemplatively "I dunno, it's against policy I could get into trouble" she muttered. "Please? Pretty please? You'll be doing me a massive favour and no one will ever find out" the woman thought for a couple of seconds, assessing the situation.
She seemed harmless enough and hopefully a visit from a friend would cheer her moody coworker up. "Wait here I'll be two minutes" she said "Oh my god thank you so much I owe you one big time!" Chloe beamed.
She waited anxiously for the woman's return, when she arrived back she handed Chloe a piece of paper with the address written on it. "Honestly I can't thank you enough for this!" Chloe gushed "It's nothing" Chloe engulfed the woman in a quick hug. "Thanks again!" She said before leaving and hailing another cab.
Before long she was stood outside Becas apartment door. She must have been standing there for a good 15 minutes working up the courage to knock on it. She didn't know what to say.
She almost bottled it, she almost turned around and left for the airport to get a flight home. But she couldn't. She couldn't leave when she was this close to seeing Beca again. Chloe took a deep breath before wrapping her knuckles across the door.
She heard a muffled "Finally" through the door before it was opened. There she was. Becas mouth dropped open at the sight of Chloe in front of her after all these months. Chloe smiled awkwardly "Hey Becs" she whispered.
Beca remained mute and unmoving, she couldn't quite comprehend what was happening. Surely this was a dream? Why else would Chloe be stood at her door? Tears welled in Chloe's eyes upon seeing Beca after so long and she could no longer help herself, she hugged the smaller girl tightly.
Beca stood there, almost frozen but engulfed in Chloe’s arms. She breathed in Chloe’s scent that she hadn’t realised she’d missed this much before clearing her throat slightly. Chloe released Beca and took a slight step back “You better come in” Beca managed to get out. Chloe nodded and followed Beca into her apartment.
Chloe looked around the tiny place as she followed Beca to the couch. Beca picked the remote up and turned the TV off before offering Chloe a seat. Chloe sat down but Beca remained on her feet, pacing slightly.
Chloe glanced up at her nervous friend “I missed you” she said sincerely. Beca ran a hand through her hair “I missed you too” she admitted quietly. “Can you sit down so we can talk?” Chloe asked softly, Beca paced a few more times before reluctantly nodding and sitting down next to the redhead.
Beca bounced her leg nervously as she struggled to look at Chloe “Bec can you look at me please?” Chloe almost begged. Becas eyes drifted up to Chloe’s face where Chloe spotted the tears threatening to escape. Chloe exhaled deeply “Why did you shut me out?” Chloe whispered as Beca shook her head.
“You know why” Beca glanced down at the floor again. “No I don’t” Chloe said softly as Beca ran a hand through her hair again. “It was too much. I said too much and I couldn’t take it back” Beca croaked out.
She began to pick at the chipped black nail polish on her fingernails. “Beca I’m so sorry” Chloe began, a stray tear falling from her own eyes “I never wanted you to feel like you had no choice but to cut contact with me. It must have been horrible for you, feeling the way you did. I’m so sorry Becs” Chloe choked out.
Beca glanced back up and her heart broke upon seeing Chloe cry “Please don’t cry Chloe” she pleaded. Chloe dried her eyes and took a deep breath “I just... I missed you so much and I thought I’d lost you forever!” Chloe croaked out.
Beca sniffed “I’m sorry Chloe it’s just... you don’t know what it’s like loving someone who only sees you as a friend. It’s crushing. It almost feels like you can’t breathe any more” Chloe’s heart broke a little bit more knowing she’d caused Beca to feel like this “And I just didn’t know what to do. I thought running away would help but all I do is think about you. I’d rather have you in my life as a friend than not at all Chlo” Beca added quickly.
Chloe steadied her nerves and made sure she locked eyes with Beca before continuing. “Beca I don’t want to just be friends with you anymore. I think I love you” Becas mouth dropped open at this “What?” She squeaked out. “I think I love you Beca” Chloe said plainly. “Like love me or love me love me?” Beca asked quickly Chloe smiled at this. “Love you love you” Beca could hardly believe her own ears. “You do?” Chloe nodded as a small smile appeared on Becas lips, widening until it almost engulfed her whole face.
“So... can... can I kiss you?” Beca asked as Chloe nodded vigorously. Beca pulled Chloe in for a kiss that was half-ruined by Becas inability to stop smiling, Chloe however found it absolutely adorable. “Promise you’ll never leave me again?” Chloe asked as she broke away from the kiss “I promise” Beca replied sincerely before leaning in for another kiss.
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