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womenofwonder · 3 years

Note

*Ahem* Royai, duh?

✋How they met

Surprisingly, they didn’t meet at her father’s house. Not, actually it happened way back in kindergarten. Riza was quiet, and she dressed funny, and she always seemed dirty, so she was an target for bullying in the rather well to do private school they were in. On the first day of school Roy (who was a Casanova even at age six) decided this would be a good time to rescue a helpless damsel from the bullies surrounding her, taunting. Unfortunately, he underestimated the number and size of the kids teasing her and got his ass kicked. Luckily for him Riza quickly stepped into help. She smashed one bully’s nose in with her book and then pulled out a pocket knife. They all left in a hurry. And at that moment, Roy realized he was in love.

😘First kiss

Ah...so the first kiss wasn’t exactly a happy one. It was during Ishval. They had won a pretty important battle and everyone was celebrating. They both got drunk. The kiss felt good, and Riza probably would have been ready for more despite the circumstances (screw it, she was going to die soon anyway) but Roy walked off. Even drunk he couldn’t get rid of the feeling that he didn’t deserve her kisses, especially during a ‘celebration’ of him frying more innocent people. Riza honestly thought he had a problem with her and that was the first time she cried in Ishval.

🤯First fight

It depends on what you mean by fight. They got in a lot of fistfights as kids, but that wasn’t ever personal. They bickered constantly but the only big, painful fight they ever had was on promise day, when she almost had to shoot him. The first lighthearted, bickering fight they ever had was when he was apprenticed to her father and she would remind him to do his homework. Not much has changed, honestly.

🍷First date

When he was still an apprentice to her father, they used to wait until he was asleep and then Roy would take her places. He did it mostly to be nice, because Riza didn’t get a lot of fun and growing up in a brothel met he knew exactly which bars would give a couple of kids drinks. But they were honestly dates in everything but name.

💍How they got engaged

Well, they didn’t make the decision. Grumman declared they were getting married at one of his press conferences. “I have decided to end the anti-fraternization and allow my granddaughter to finally marry General Mustang.” Riza just looked at Mustang and said “Okay.” Later on he did do the entire fancy dinner date and gave her a expensive engagement ring.

💒Wedding

Actually, it was surprisingly small and private. It was really sweet and quiet. To everyone’s surprise Roy made Fullmetal his best man, mostly as a joke. Other than a very insulting speech about how Riza was probably out of her mind to marry such an idiot, he was really nice about everything. Riza’s wedding dress had a very high neck (to hide the scarring) and a very short skirt. She still has a gun holstered to her thigh, wedding or no wedding. Rebecca is the maid of honor, and as Riza honestly doesn’t have many friends both Olivier and Winry are bridesmaids. Of course, Elicia is the flower girl despite being a bit old for it. Hayate is the ring bearer. Just kidding. Maybe.

👶First kid

Riza got pregnant after the first year of the their marriage. It was an accident. Their feelings on the matter were conflicted. On one hand, both were thrilled to have a baby, but in the other hand, it didn’t really fit very well into their plans. How did being a parent figure in with the possibility of future with the fire squad? Not mention both were really worried that they would be horrible parents due to everything they’d done in Ishval. To make things slightly more complicated, it turned out they weren’t going to have one but two children. But when the babies do come: a little Rianna and Thomas, they’re beautiful. Of course, Riza and Roy are great parents and the kids actually help them have more faith in themselves.

🥰A random fluff moment

Riza had forgotten exactly how cold it was up north. Shivering, she blew on her hands in hopes of warming them.

“Here,” Roy said, offering her his coat.

“Don’t you need a coat sir?”

“I had use my flame alchemy to heat myself up,” he said.

“Since when have you mastered that ability sir?”

“Just take the coat.”

She took it.

“You’re shivering an awful lot sir. Are you sure you’re not too cold?”

“N-nope. I-I’m g-r-eat.”

“Sir, really, you can have this coat. You’re going to get frostbite.”

“N-no. You k-keep the coat-t. T-that’s an or-rder.”

Olivier gave them both a look. “Mustang, either freeze to death quietly or kiss her now so we get on with this meeting. I would personally prefer the former, but anything would be better than watching your painful attempts at being a gentleman.”

Riza took advantage of his shock to give him back the coat.

😭A random angsty moment

“Thank you,” she says, as if there’s anything to thank him for. As if he’s not about to torture her.

Roy was good at torturing people. He had plenty of practice at this point. He knew exactly how much of his flame it took to cause a certain amount of pain. At least he could make it hurt as little as possible.

“I won’t scream,” she promised.

“Yeah, you will,” he knew exactly how loud it would be too. He had heard it countless time from countless lips and now he was going to hear it from her.

She nodded, so calm about the entire thing. Took her knife, torn off some of her white coat and wadded it up in her mouth. Stepped forward. Turned around to him.

He told himself to hurry up and do it. Waiting would only hurt her more. It shouldn’t be this hard. He’d done it a hundred times before. What was one more person?

He snapped his fingers, and a familiar smell of burning skin filled the arid desert air.

😩A random hurt/comfort

Riza was exhausted. She wasn’t sure how doing just menial tasks could drain someone so much, but it probably had something to do with the fact that her boss was a homunculus holding her hostage. To make things worst, even coming home was no relief. The shadows were everywhere, even in her small, bare apartment. The second she let herself feel safe, or stopped thinking about the fact that she was being watched constantly, he (or rather it) would remind her. Maybe it was a sudden sense of a creeping bloodlust, or the glimpse of slitted eyes and slices of teeth, all which disappeared the second she looked. She had no privacy. These last few days she hadn’t even dared to bathe.

To make things worst, today someone had broken into her apartment. She couldn’t even fathom why they would do that. Wasn’t the constant surveillance enough? But it was too well down for a common thief. If she hadn’t know better she wouldn’t of even noticed it was broken into. But she had placed a slip of paper in the door when she went out, and now it was gone.

“You’d better have not made a mess of things,” she muttered, hoping Pride could hear it. She opened the door and for a second was frozen in shock.

They hadn’t broken into her apartment at all. Roy had.

Flowers filled up the entire place. Some in vases (really expensive looking ones), some hanging from the ceiling, some just randomly scattered about. In the middle of her kitchen table was a note and bottle of whiskey.

Black Hayate ran up to her, barking happily. She reached down to pet him, rather absentmindedly.

“That idiot,” she murmured, fighting a smile. “He’s crazy.”

She went over to the table and picked up the note.

To 1st Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye,

Look, I’m sorry, but I really didn’t know what to do with the flowers. Please don’t shoot me.

I hope you enjoy the whiskey. It’s really good stuff. And you sounded like you needed it.

Roy Mustang. (Riza had to squint at the doodle next to his name. Was that a heart made out of flames? Really? Yes. Yes it was.)

PS: before you ask, yes, I’m doing my paperwork.

Riza rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t stop smiling. The flowers left plenty of shadows, but for once she couldn’t bother feeling scared. She took a swig of the whiskey and enjoyed the burn down her throat. Black Hayate jumped into her arms, and she cuddled him.

Leave it to Roy. The first time he sent her flowers and he had to give her an entire cart worth.

#Royai #fullmetal alchemist #ships #roy Mustang #riza hawkeye #fluff #angsty #Whump #hurt/comfort #emotional whump

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rfadaydreaming · 4 years

Text

the rfa playing minecraft

oh the chaos a mysme minecraft server would bring ♡

jumin

• does not know how to move in any direction except straight

• keeps falling into caves because he just… walks

• stands there in the dark for a few seconds to process what happened

• “the game broke, i cannot see”

• yoosung is like wtf how is it broken

• cave noises start to happen

• “h elp”

• seven has to track him down and it takes absolutely forever just because jumin does not know where he is… not even a hint... he was just walking around

• finally seven finds him and brings him up with a fishing pole, but when he finally gets him up, they both get blown up by a creeper

• “i don’t like this game very much.”

• has a house with v because there’s no way in hell he’s about to share a home with zen

• their house is actually so cute, modern on the outside but super cozy and cute on the inside

• here’s some reference pictures of what i think their house would look like !! starter home / end game home

• his room is so naked omg v comes in and adds a desk, some pictures, plants, just to make it more homey

• has so many cats to the point where it lags HEAVILY when you enter his room, it’s just a giant barrage of meows

• his playstyle is fishing, taming cats, naming cats, fishing again

• he gets lost in the boats so much though, you have to come save him because he’s stranded in the middle of the ocean

• you show up and there’s a cow stuck in the back of his boat, he’s starving to death, the phantom is killing him

• but the nice part about fishing all the time is he gets really good loot and enchantments so he’ll give them to whoever wants them since… well he doesn’t really need them

• except zen omg he gives him like. chain link boots, seaweed, paper

• zen breaks into his room and takes whatever he wants though because jumin doesn't know how to make a locked chest

• he’s honestly just here for the vibes, he’ll lay on his bed even when no one else is sleeping and listen to what everyone’s talking about in the voice chat

• you cannot even see him on his bed because it’s just a sea of cats + a drop in frame rate the second you open up his door

zen

• he’s so bad with technology so he has to read the tutorial like three times before he plays

• takes awhile to get used to the controls so he’ll stop walking, jump over a block, pause, keep on walking

• it’s cute to watch actually

• he follows everyone else around and likes to pretend he knows what he’s doing? but really doesn’t

• beats the shit out of jumin for just existing

• gets stuck in a village well and silently flips out because he’s too embarrassed to ask for help

• jumin finds him and they just stare at each other in silence… jumin figures out how to hit him one singular time before running away

• he lives in a dirt home with the green top for so long it’s actually embarrassing

• inside is just a torch, furnace, crafting table, basic bed and chest literally just a straight mans home

• it’s so ugly

• v tries to spruce it up a little because he just does not like to look at it… every time he walks by he gets the ick

• jaehee eventually adopts him out of pity and they live together, but she has to do all the hard work

• their house looks like this

• he mooches so hard oh my god she’ll spend an entire day cycle mining only for him to take all the iron and make himself a silly little outfit

• she never complains though because he’s really appreciative about it

• will give her little flowers in exchange for outfit materials

• and of course gives you flowers just because you’re you

• leaves them in a pot in your room with a sign that has a little winky face

• is always changing his clothes, every time he wakes up he changes into something different

• jaehee works so hard to find diamonds for him so he can be the first to have some diamond armor

• seven kills him the second he steps out of his house and snatches it from his dead corpse

• zen’s playstyle is just following everyone else around and pretending to help but he doesn’t do much, being sweet to jaehee and you, annoying jumin

• he gets bored easily so he doesn’t play for very long :( also gets mad at jumin and rage quits omg

yoosung

• absolutely loves minecraft and he’s been playing for years, he’s really good at it!!

• so sweet and fun to play with hehe he’s like the cheery little team leader

• helps everyone get settled and works hard to make sure the newbies have a nice amount of starter materials

• even if they die and lose them all he’s like “oh that’s okay don’t sweat it you guys!!” and runs to get them new stuff

• hums to the music while he’s playing, always updates people on what he’s doing and asks if anyone needs anything

• a man on a mission, gets to work on gathering materials with jaehee the second the game loads in, knows exactly what he’s doing

• he’ll move fast to make a quick little community house for everyone to sleep in for the night

• doesn’t like the day one dirt homes it gives him anxiety

• it’s a little small but cozy!! makes everyone a chest and puts a sign above it with their name on it

• adds a “:D” at the end of everyone’s names on the signs, but a “♡” to your name only!!

• zen goes off and makes his gross little dirt house because he doesn’t wanna sleep next to jumin

• he ends up just expanding off the community house once everyone leaves and lives solo with his little parrots

• unless you want to join him!! go ahead he’d love the company

• so nervous in caves and will only go into the shallow parts where the sun still hits, a very silent miner because he’s concentrating

• he’ll go deeper into mines when seven and saeran are with him but he almost pees his pants when the cave noises start to play

• gets startled so easily and screams whenever something happens, it's so loud that the mic automatically cuts it off– so you hear 0.2 seconds of a scream, dead silence, then suddenly “yoosung fell from a high place” it’s so funny

• 9 times out of 10 seven pushed him off too

• takes it seriously, wants to play until the end of the game but everyone else is busy running around with gremlin energy

• his playstyle is a little bit of everything, he’s not a bad builder but he doesn’t spend too much time on it. goal for him is survival and exploration

• if anyone needs anything he’ll run to get it without a second thought doesn’t get the appreciation he deserves >:(

• seven picks on him so much oh my god, once he asked him to come help mine diamonds but actually pushed him into lava and yoosung started to cry

• everyone made seven feel kind of bad for it so he apologized with a full set of diamond armor, tools, flowers and a cake… it still hurt though

jaehee

• minecraft queen

• plays by herself a lot, the music, building on peaceful mode, all the alone time she gets

• loves it a lot actually, especially after a hard day at work

• but she gets so stressed out playing with everyone else

• it’s kinda bad for her health

• sighs into the mic whenever someone’s acting like an absolute fool

• tolerates no bullshit

• do not hit her. not even by accident. do not do it

• it’s so tense, she slowly turns around stares at them for what seems like forever it’s actually so scary

• only you’re allowed to hit her because for the two of you it’s not a smack, it’s a boop

• she does it back too

• “boop!” with a cute little giggle afterwards

• instantly goes to get the basics set up when the game loads in, sticks with yoosung in the beginning to get a bunch of starter materials gathered together

• is always running around doing something but no one knows exactly what because she doesn’t share. she is doing something though, a very productive crafter

• she has never died, ever. probably the highest level here out of anyone else

• the resident necessity provider, will throw you stacks of bread exactly when you need some, it’s like a 6th sense

• has basic mining chests set up for everyone to take from if they want to, so torches, food, tools, dirt, armor etc

• she really likes to decorate more than build, but she’s still really good at it!

• loves designing up floor plans

• not the best at adding the little details though

• her homes always look kinda square so v helps her out with that

• she organizes other people’s chests because she just hates how messy it looks, seven gives her so much anxiety especially

• she’s always cleaning up after him and shutting his doors since he leaves them open constantly

• her play style is a little bit of everything, not afraid of the caves whatsoever so she’ll mine if no one else wants to do it

• you can usually find her decorating though

• spends so much time making a cute little kitchen in her house especially

• a “coffee machine” is definitely a must in her house, also has a really pretty and huge bedroom

• white concrete and dark wood slabs, her house looks so lovely

• decorates zens room for him too

• she doesn’t talk much in the voice chat when jumin’s in there because she doesn’t wanna get fired

• likes to come into peoples houses and jump around a few times to say hi before running off again

• her and zen throw flowers back and forth to each other while crouching up and down like a couple of nerds ♡

seven

• the second the game loads he is off to the races, he is gone baby!! no one knows what he’s doing but everyone knows he fears nothing so it must be exciting

• “GOD707 was slain by enderdragon”

• we’ve been in the game for an hour max how did he- nvm don’t question it

• he’ll randomly show up to the community house out of nowhere, do a few random things here and there, leave again for a few days

• comes back on a skeleton horse, enchanted diamond armor, a fleet of dogs, elytra, the wandering trader enslaved on a lead

• saeran follows him around most of the time so they’ll usually be off doing something together

• seven dies so much omg every five minutes there’s a death message in the chat

• if you manage to track him down you find that he is living absolutely lavish

• has so many bases scattered around like this, this, or this

• spends a lot of time building once everyone else goes offline, does not sleep until his base is done and he’s actually an amazing builder

• v loves to go around in his bases and just gawk

• he does not decorate whatsoever, that's for saeran to do! jaehee comes and organizes because he just throws everything into a chest and leaves

• his playstyle is chaotic horrifying, he does a bit of everything but the main goal is to get to the void and beat the ender dragon with his bare hands, he wants to become god

• never shuts his doors so there’s just big creeper explosion holes in his home that he’s too lazy to fix, claims it adds ~character~

• he loves spelunking so you can find him running around in caves most of the time, there is no fear in this man's soul whatsoever, loves battle and fighting mobs, insults them most of the time while killing them

• throws his diamond armor into lava just for the funsies, always parkouring in caves, you will get so much anxiety being around him

• sometimes mimics the cave noises just to scare yoosung

• burns down villages, starts random fires, jumps into holes, beats up any animal he sees

• sometimes he comes in to hit jumin’s cats just to hear him raise his voice a little and be like “Hey!” it’s really funny but annoys jumin

• he edges the creepers omg gets them to the point where they almost blow up but backs up before they actually do

• redstone master!! builds so many insane things out of it, has an entire theme park dedicated to himself, definitely has a torture room somewhere in his mansion

• he’s always joking around with everyone, especially with you

• “hey mc, hold this for me?”

• he slowly gets real close to you until your hands are touching and your heads are almost morphing into each other

• “bro... are we ab to kiss rn...”

• will come into your bedroom when everyone’s asleep does NOT knock first this man barges right in and stands over your bed, silent for a few seconds before suddenly tossing hundreds of diamonds down on you, throws back some ass a few times before running off once again

• hits people for absolutely no reason and yes he will hit with the intention to kill

• “no swearing in my christian minecraft server”

• gets motion sick at video games usually but he actually really likes minecraft!!

• a complete dad so he takes a little bit getting used to the controls but warms up quick

• don’t you dare hit him. that’s evil. he’s like “woah!! something just happened, i got attacked out of nowhere!! we have to be more careful you guys!”

• he’s genuinely so confused and concerned for everyone’s safety

• adores building so much, not just houses but also little structures here and there

• he’ll make greenhouses, vineyards, beach homes, treehouses, statues

• villages get completely revamped if he thinks they’re ugly which most of the time, he does

• his playstyle is completely just building and decorating, sometimes he’ll send jumin out for supplies but it ends badly most of the time

• aka jumin gets lost and/or dies

• he helps build everyone their own little structures so jumin gets a luxury cat mansion, zen gets a shrine dedicated to himself, yoosung gets a stage for his parrots to dance on, jaehee gets a coffee shop in the village, seven gets a giant ph pepper statue, saeran gets a sunflower farm all to himself, and of course you get whatever you want! omg he’d make you a heart shaped nether portal

• he’ll help when he’s needed but he doesn’t really play, he just builds

• everyone brings their spare materials to him if they don’t need them, yoosung and saeran help him farm for stuff if he needs something in particular

• really loves giving house tours when he’s done with a build and it is the cutest thing in the entire world

• he is just so insanely giddy and excited as he shows off all the little details, you can hear the smile in his voice

• everyone validates him and matches his energy too it’s so sweet :’)

• he’s always complimenting everyone on anything and everything they do

• “look at you, finding diamonds! good job!”

• “this house is so very lovely, i love the warm energy it brings.”

• he likes to wander around and find white cats for jumin to tame

• on the rare occasion he comes caving, he’s always the little cheerleader for everyone else of course

• “good luck down here everyone, please stay safe and call out if you need anything. we’re all here to help each other, alright?”

• two seconds later yoosungs drowning in lava, seven is mining bedrock, jumin is being shot by a skeleton, jaehee is fighting off a mob spawner, zen is lost, saeran is riding minecarts around

saeran

• he’s pretty quiet while he plays so no one ever knows what exactly he’s up to, he’s just shy

• picks flower fields absolutely clean, not a singular flower in sight, only if he finds a beehive somewhere then he’ll leave some for them

• has a lot of dye because of that, resident banner creator!!! he’ll make anything that you’d like

• he follows people around– especially seven, and just goes with the flow of whatever they’re up to, chaotic or not

• sometimes you think he’s afk so you just stop and stare at him but then he moves and you jump a little

• yoosung and him will just spam crouch for minutes on end together when they’re bored

• by himself a lot of the time, you can find him playing with some turtles on the beach somewhere or planting flowers

• builds a lot on his own solo server, but doesn’t really like to in the main one because he gets insecure comparing it to v’s and seven’s work.

• he does have his own little house away from seven’s mansion basement though

• if you come in and start complimenting it he gets so shy and blushy

• “thanks… it’s not that impressive i just whipped it up really quick…”

• seven knowing damn well that house took him several hours: 👁_👁

• he hits people to get their attention and then crouches all guiltily when they turn around, throws them a quick little flower before running off

• he has a ton of pink sheep collected outside his house, an army of jebs live in his basement

• his playstyle is just doing whatever he feels like. sometimes he’s getting materials for everyone, other times he’s just sliding around on ice with the polar bears for awhile

• he likes enchanting potions and that kind of stuff

• smacks seven with random potions like slowness, fire, poison

• had a pet fish in a little aquarium at his place, one day it despawned and he nearly burnt down his whole house from being so upset

• still convinced seven killed him

• he doesn’t get scared from the mines

• the nether though is is a different story, it’s terrifying to him

• especially ghasts and the sounds they make. will not go in there unless you are and you beg him to hold your hand or something

• has secret little minecraft pinterest boards full of silly statues and stuff that he likes to build around randomly

• blames herobrine for all of them which scares yoosung

mc (hey thats you!!!)

• jumin lets you name his cats, dye their collars, anything you want even if it’s silly. if you have your own cats then sometimes he brings his favorites over and they have little baby kittens together, you both spam crouch and jump around afterwards from the excitement of it all. don’t worry he pays child support !! you don’t know where he got diamonds but. you’ll take them anyways

• zen brings you random little presents that he thinks are super useful but… are not. you don’t have the heart to tell him that though. thinks spider eye is like the rarest thing in the entire game, secretly comes in to give them to you and message you something like “shh… keep it secret jagiya~ ;)” it’s the thought that counts

• yoosung is always so sweet with everything he does, he’ll bring you any sort of materials, tools. anything you need it’s yours. once he ran in front of you to take the hit from a poison spider when you know he’s absolutely terrified of them so you could get away safely. he tries his best to be brave for you <3

• jaehee invites you to her kitchen for taste testing, you’ll come in and try all the lil cakes she has sitting out while giving your feedback on all them in detail. mm yes very good, love the electric taste of the pixels in this one! finally she’ll be like wtf are we doing

• seven surprises you by making a cute little heart shape out of redstone, you press a button and it lights up red, fireworks go off, he’s jumping around throwing flowers and diamonds at you. he’ll put a sign down that says “will you… put your minecraft bed next to mine?”

• v is constantly checking in on you, he’ll say “knock knock!” before coming into your room, you’re like hey what’s up!! he replies i missed you! i just wanted to say hi :) before leaving again, comes in every day cycle with snacks to make sure you’re eating properly of course

• saeran brings you flowers all the time, he’ll shyly sneak into your room, crouch over to the bed super slowly, suddenly start throwing stacks of flowers all over you, crouch up n down a couple of times before running for the hills. forgets to shut your door and runs back real quick to shut it before leaving again

thanks for reading! find more on my mysme masterlist ♡!

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janicho88 · 4 years

Text

Fire, Fur & Mistletoe Chapter 4

Pairing- Eventual Dean x Female Reader.

Word Count-3,045

Warning- Mentions of car accidents. Possible swearing. Slight angst. Fluff.

Summary- A rewrite of the Nine Lives of Christmas, Hallmark movie. AU, Dean is a firefighter who doesn’t do commitment, the Holiday’s don’t mean much to him. Coming home after a shift he finds a dog in trouble. The reader is a veterinary student who works in a coffee shop trying to make it to graduation, until someone causes problems there for her. She isn’t interested in finding anyone other than her own dog until after she finishes school. Do their four legged friends have other plans?

A/N- This series is written for @spnchristmasbingo. The square filled for this chapter is presents. The first two chapters will stay closer to the movie than the rest will. This has its own tag list and it is open. That way I am not tagging anyone who doesn’t want to be tagged in Christmas stories. This story is unbeta’d.

Header by the amazing @winchest09

Divider from freepngimg.com

Series Masterlist The next morning you were in the kitchen looking through ads when Dean came down. “I was wondering what do you think about doing our Christmas shopping together? I thought it would be fun to tackle the stores together?”

“I usually just do Visa gift cards, or regular gift cards.”

“Do you remember how you were saying you can’t recall the last time you really enjoyed Christmas?”

“Yeah, you really think going to the mall is going to help me feel..” He paused looking at you with a smirk, “Christmassy?”

“I think going and seeing all the festive decorations could help. One afternoon, we can make it fun, I promise.”

“I’m holding you to that.”

“So you’ll go?”

“Yeah, we can give it a shot.”

“I’m going to help you do it right this year. We can go to the mall after your shift tomorrow.”

“I can hardly wait,” he grumbles as you leave the kitchen.

Dean’s shift started earlier today, he headed in just before noon. They started off busy before things slowed down. They were called out for two car accidents, the light snow falling today causing some problems. Dispatch also had them at two nursing homes. The first resident was fine and back on their feet before they and the paramedics left. The second was a fall and the poor guy wasn’t happy about having to go to the hospital to be checked out further.

When things calmed down later Dean was sitting in the common room with Sam and Benny. Those two watching the game, Dean going through paint samples.

“What are you trying to figure out now?” Sam wanted to know.

“Which color is going to look best in the dining room. I picked up some new color swatches on the way in. I have a light green, pale blue, a really light grey, or a cream.”

“Which one does the design genius living with you like?” Benny questioned.

“She thought maybe a light green would go with the trim in there.”

“I’d go with what she likes so you don’t have to redo it in a year or so.”

“What’s being redone in a year?” Bobby asked walking in.

“I hope to have sold it by then.”

“Dean’s trying to pick a paint color, we told him to go with what Y/N picked so he wouldn’t have to redo it later when everything is all done and she doesn’t like it.”

“Yep, need to keep the women happy.” Bobby agrees.

“How’s the girlfriend doing while we are on that subject?” His brother wanted to know.

“You’ve all lost me. Still don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Are you sure about that Chief? You do spend a lot of time with her. You trust her opinion to remodel your house.”

“What was your excuse earlier about not going out with us tomorrow? Oh right you have plans with Y/N, like a date.”

“What was going on the other day when you couldn’t come over and watch the game with me and your brother? Pretty sure you were with her again.”

“How many dates are you going to have before you realize you are dating?”

“Are you two morons done? We aren’t dating. I trust her opinion, because she’s good at this. Still selling the house when I’m done. She just wanted to get a tree for the house, so we picked one up and decorated it that night.”

“It really took you a couple hours to pick up a tree, did you carry it home.”

“No, we went to a tree farm, not a tree lot.”

“Hold up. You actually went and cut down a tree for her? You wouldn’t do that for me. We always went to the tree lot and just grabbed one. You are more gone on this girl than you think.”

“You are reading too much into a simple tree, Sam.”

“What are you busy doing when the shifts over?” Benny wanted to know.

“Apparently Christmas shopping. She thinks it will be fun to do it together.”

“You, Dean Winchester are going Christmas shopping?”

“Why are you saying it like that?”

“I wasn’t sure you knew what a mall was, I’ve been getting a gift certificate from you for years now.”

“And I’ve had enough of this conversation, I’m going to go clean the truck or something.”

Dean walked out to the sound of the guy's laughter.

When his shift ended the next day Dean headed home to shower and change so he would be ready to head to the mall with you. You were in the living room sitting with the dogs when he came down.

“I’m ready if you are.”

“I’m good to go. I’ll see you babies later.” Giving the dogs each a little hug you got up to follow Dean to the truck.

As you are entering the mall Dean turns to you. “I realized I haven’t told you lately, thanks for your help with the house. I might just be able to sell it sooner than I thought. I really appreciate all you have been doing.”

That caught you off guard. “Oh yeah, no problem.” You had gotten wrapped up in staying with him you kind of forgot it was temporary, and that wasn’t really his home.

“That’s really great. You didn’t just fix a house this time, you created a beautiful home. Some family is going to be incredibly lucky.”

Dean nods, sneaking a glance at you, “Yeah they are.”

“Alright, who’s on your list?” You were eager to change the subject.

“My brother and his girlfriend, Jess. Bobby, he’s the Fire Chief. Cas and Benny, you met all them at the station when you found Miracle.”

“Okay. Any ideas on what to get?”

“Gift cards.”

“No.”

“Then I don't know.”

“You’re helpful. What is your brother’s girlfriend like, what kind of things does she like?”

“Um, she’s a nurse. She likes my brother. I think she likes the beach.” This might be harder than you thought.

“What about any of the guys?”

“Sam likes Jess, and healthy crap like green shakes. He’s always bringing some into work. Benny wants a girlfriend. Cas, who knows. He’s a little different some days. He does like to sit and think, and bees. He’s a tad obsessed with them. Chief likes, um his job, family, Miracle.”

“Okay, so where do you want to start?”

“That store sells gift cards to multiple places.” He points to a big store behind you.

“The next time you’re at work I’m going to paint the living room hot pink if you mention gift cards again in the next hour.”

Dean starts to open his mouth but isn’t too sure how serious you are, so he shuts it again and rethinks what he wants to say. “What do you need to get?” He asks instead.

“A gift for my sister and brother-in-law, then a few friends. I have a thought for your brother if you want to hear it?”

“Sure, what are you thinking?

“The bookstore might have a recipe book for different health drinks, maybe we can find a little smoothie maker so he could make them fresh at the station instead of bringing and storing them.”

Dean thinks about if for a minute, “He would actually probably like that, although I hate to enable his bad habit.”

Laughing at his jab at his brother you head toward your destination.

The book store is your first stop, while there you browse through the shelves to see if anything else catches your eye. Finding a book, The Buzz about Bees, you show it to Dean who puts it in the cart for Cas. As you were heading to the check out, Dean started laughing at a book which caught his eye.

“What’s so funny?”

“I have to get this for Bobby, it’s Tori Spelling's autobiography.”

“Um, okay. That’s a random gift.”

“Bobby is a closet fan. Big fan actually. Not very many people know.”

“I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.” Maybe you should have let him get his boss a gift card.

At the sporting goods store he found some fishing gear for Benny who likes to spend time on his sometimes girlfriend boat. Dean figured they were due to get back together soon.

While there you found part of your sister's gift. You got her an extra magazine for her off duty gun, and a new cleaning kit. The woman loved her weapons.

Heading to the next store you came across some Santa hats and antlers you made Dean try on with you and take some selfies. He grumbled about it at first but he did seem to have fun with it, making silly faces in the photos.

With your hands full you took what you had out to the truck so you didn’t have to carry it to the rest of the stores. The fishing gear was a little big to lug around.

Coming back inside Dean suggested a quick stop at the food court for a snack before hitting more stores.

You grabbed your drinks of choice and a couple of cookies and sat down for a few minutes. Dean was complaining because none of them sold pie. The mall was starting to get busier and people were hustling everywhere.

“Do you enjoy shopping and all this craziness?” Dean asked, drawing your attention away from people watching.

“Generally no. I’m a get in get out person. My sister and I used to try and go together, but she’s busier with work and she has Doug to go with. I’m used to doing most things on my own now. It’s better if you have someone with you, which is why I thought we could have fun with it.”

“I will admit, this hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be. You did make it fun. Thank you for that.”

“No problem,” you give him a small smile and go back to drinking your coffee.

The next stop was the pet store for some treats for your favorite four legged friends. You passed stockings on the way in and went to pick one up.

“Dakota needs a new stocking, does Miracle have one yet?”

“No, he doesn’t have a stocking. I don’t think I even have one.”

“Well, we need to remedy that for the both of you.”

“Of course we do.”

There weren’t many stockings left. They were on one side of a middle aisle display, the back side had various balls and kongs. The few stockings that were there were on the back of a shelf behind some toys. You had to move the toys out of your way to pick through the stockings. With one arm full of squeaking toys you used one hand to look at the stockings.

“Do you need help?”

“No, I’m good.”

“Uh huh.”

You found two white and red stockings you liked so you were pulling them out, when your elbow hit a toy still on the shelf, trying to use your arm to keep it up on the shelf you missed the toy and hit the display instead. Apparently you used more force than you meant because the display you were looking at tipped backward and hit the one behind it. This sent various balls and kongs bouncing to the ground.

Dean was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed watching, “Now do you need help?”

“It appears so.”

Other people in the store did their best to avoid your mess while the two of you cleaned it up. Getting the last toy back on the shelf you pick up the stockings and turn to Dean. “What do you think about these?”

“I think we aren’t going to go through that again just so you can pick out a different one. So let’s go with those and head out before you knock over the display of canned food.”

“You don’t want to clean that up too?”

“Let’s save that one for the next time we’re here.”

Sam’s girlfriend was a little harder than you thought since you didn’t know her and Dean wasn’t much help. You ran with his comment about her liking the beach and picked up some scented lotions and bath bombs along with hand cream. Being a nurse her hands would be constantly washed and most likely very dry.

In a men’s store you found a new tie for your brother in law to go with the briefcase organizer you found for him.

You found a mug that Charlie would get a kick out of. You also came across a Hermione Granger bobblehead she would like.

You had picked up a couple small things for your old coworkers, Claire and Kevin. You did miss working with those two.

There was one more person on your list, but it was hard with him right next to you.

Dean’s shopping was done, he had picked up some little things to complete Bobby and Cas’ gifts.

Browsing the picture frames as you walked by you saw one you had to get.

You had the perfect picture to put inside. Dean had texted you a picture from the station one day of him and Miracle. Miracle was wearing Dean’s firehat, both were in front of the fire truck.

You passed Santa in his village the mall had put up. “Are you sure you don’t want to ask Santa for anything this year?”

“I told you Sweetheart, he and I are extremely close. I’m good.”

“If you say so.”

“I think you need to go see Santa though.”

“What me?”

“Yep, you keep trying to send me so why don’t you go tell him your wish.” Dean stood there smirking at you, fully believing you wouldn’t do it.

“Okay.”

“Okay, you’re going to go up there?”

“Yep.” You went and got in line behind a group of young children, who all turned to stare at you. Oh this wasn’t awkward at all. Dean had walked off while you stood in line waiting your turn. A part of you thought about walking away and telling Dean you had gone through the line already when he returned.

“Got you something.” Too late, he’s back. He was handing you a bag and trying to hold back a smile.

Warily you took the bag and opened it up, chuckling when you saw what was inside. “I’m going to guess I’m supposed to wear this up there?”

“You know it.”

Dean stood next to you in line as you waited, when you were the next one up, you took the elf hat he gave you out of the bag and put it on your head. “How do I look?”

“Like Santa’s perfect helper.”

Heading up you were fairly certain Santa was looking for a child with you, and finally realized there wasn’t one. “Ho ho ho, what can Santa bring you for Christmas, miss?”

While in line you had been thinking about what to say when you go up here. “I have a friend over there who has had a rough time of it over the years. He’s lost his Christmas spirit and the belief in happy endings. I wish he could find that again.”

“Well, that’s some Christmas wish.” He looks over at Dean who’s smiling at the two of you. “It looks like someone is already working on bringing that Christmas spirit back to him. Santa will see what he can do to help. Is there anything for you?”

“Not unless your workshop is looking for another elf.”

Giving you a candy cane he wishes you a Merry Christmas and sends you off.

“So what did you ask Santa for?”

“I can’t tell you or it won’t come true.”

“I think you are confusing Santa with birthday wishes.”

“Either way, I’m not telling you. You can ask Santa since you are so close though.”

Dean just shakes his head at you.

Behind Santa was a Christmas shop and you dragged Dean inside with you to find him a stocking. Holding up a Grinch stocking he shook his head, next you tried Superman.

“I’m sorry you have me mistaken for someone else, I’m Batman.”

You looked around. “You aren’t the only one. Sorry, Batman is all sold out. There is Batgirl though.”

“I’ll keep looking.”

“Pink snowflakes?”

“I’m really starting to doubt your decorating tastes now.”

You laughed at that and went through a few more stockings.

“What kind of crazy is on your stocking?”

“It’s the same one I had growing up, classic red and white with my name in glitter. It looks like that one over there.”

Dean walked over where you had pointed and looked at those. “That’s what I want too, I don’t need flashy or cartoons.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

Finishing your shopping you were on your way back to the truck to head home. After unloading the packages in the living room Dean headed for the kitchen.

“Are you good with ordering pizza for dinner?”

“I can make something up really quick.”

“I know you could, but I thought we had to wrap all that stuff we got today. I figured we didn’t need another mess.”

“If you want that’s fine with me.”

You made sure to take what you had for Dean up to your apartment before you came back to start wrapping anything else. When the pizza was ordered Dean did his best to help you out. You were surprised by how well he did.

“You buy gift cards for people, I wouldn’t think you had practice with wrapping.”

“We have to wrap all the donated toys for the kids every Christmas, so I get my fair share of practice with that. Bobby wouldn’t let us hand out sloppily wrapped gifts to the kids.”

The two of you took a break from wrapping when the pizza arrived then went back to finishing it up. When the presents are wrapped and under the tree Dean builds a fire and you go off to make some popcorn. When you come back the stockings are all hung over the fireplace.

The two of you get comfy on the couch with another Christmas movie playing while you enjoy the fire and the sight of the tree and gifts around you.

Thank you for reading!!

Chapter 5

Tags-@winchest09 @waywardbeanie @whatareyousearchingfordean @flamencodiva @deanwanddamons @jensengirl83 @abuavnee @lunarmoon8 @amyzombie1013 @akshi8278 @that-one-gay-girl @mandalou29 @igotmadskills @440mxs-wife @paryl @supernatural-love14 @krazykelly @anotherspnfanfic @bobbie3939 @deanwinchestersnightmoves @winchestergirl2 @thoughts-and-funnies

#fire fur & mistletoe #spnchristmasbingo #dean x reader #dean x female!reader #supernatural #christmas

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and-it-freezes-me · 3 years

Text

Accidents Happen - Playing With Fire

Summary: Roman works to get closer to Janus, and finds that he isn’t sure how much he likes this new side of himself.

Content: food mention, panic attack, vomit mention but only very briefly, fire mention

Words: 5,936

{Part 1} {Part 3}

Janus was a surprisingly decent study partner.

Well, the fact that he was a good study partner was not the surprising part. He was a perfect student, one of the very few people in their year with better grades than Roman over all of their subjects, and had won several debate competitions over the last few years, both solo and in a team. If Roman had been surprised that Janus was a good student, he would have been even less observant than the main character in one of the books he had read once. That guy had managed to live in the same dorm room as somebody for seven years and managed to misinterpret the intense attraction between the two of them as hatred and rivalry. And had managed to miss the fact that he was his own worst enemy. Roman wasn’t that unobservant.

The surprising part was that Roman had failed to prepare himself for the fact that Janus might actually be good at pretending to be a good person, and that it was more difficult than he had hoped not to actually like him or appreciate his good qualities, like being a good study partner.

Fortunately, Roman was a good actor. He had plenty of practice at keeping the line between real life and a role.

When, after they had been staring at Roman's notes for an hour and Janus made some comment about how he should have chosen a study buddy with better handwriting, one with handwriting he could actually read, Roman only laughed because that was what Janus expected of him. It wasn’t as though the snake was actually funny, or anything.

“I’m serious. The only reason I believe that this is your real handwriting is because I’m watching you produce these illegible scrawls as I speak.” Janus had leaned back in his chair, staring with some kind of fascinated horror at the fountain pen in Roman’s already ink stained fingers.

“It’s not that bad! If it were illegible, I wouldn’t have passed any of my exams,” Roman pointed out. Although he sounded amused, irritation had flickered to life in his gut. If his handwriting was that distasteful, maybe Janus should go and find somebody else to help him catch up.

“It is that bad,” his companion drawled. “It’s almost bad enough to think that you’re deliberately trying to sabotage my attempts to catch up! How you revise from those things is beyond me.”

Again, Roman had laughed at that. Perish the thought! Him, sabotage Janus? Never! Well, not until he found proof that he had actively had a hand in Remus’ fate. Until that time came, he would just have to wait and watch, gain the snake’s trust until he was ready to spill his guts, and be a minor inconvenience from the shadows.

For example, when a tall man wandered into the kitchen and gazed in mild surprise at Roman before going to the fridge and returning with a pack of chocolate biscuits to offer around, Roman took two, rather than one.

"I didn't know you had friends over, Jan. Should have said something." The man had to be Janus' father. They had the same slender build, the same delicate grey eyes, the same narrow hands. A silver band was around the man's left ring finger.

"It's one friend, Dad -" Roman was a master detective "- and he's helping me catch up on the work I've missed."

Well, Janus was definitely lying there. They weren't friends - they barely knew one another! And if Janus could lie about something like this, he could definitely lie about why he was in the car with Remus. (Yes, Roman was aware that he was probably making slightly too big a deal out of absolutely nothing at all. No, he was not going to stop. Any reason to be hopeful was a good reason to be hopeful).

He was brought out of his triumphant musings by a hearty chuckle as Mr Sinclaire patted Janus genially on his shoulder (the unscarred side, Roman noted). "That's my boy, nose to the grindstone as ever! Alright, you kids have fun."

"Studying, sir, is the epitome of fun,” Roman deadpanned. Well, it wasn’t as though he could just sit there and say nothing - but from the looks that both Sinclaires were now giving him, he rather wished he had stayed silent. Janus was looking as though he rather wished that Roman would crawl back into whatever drain in which he had originated. His father looked as though Roman was something a barely tolerated cat had dragged in through the door after finding it already dead on the side of the road.

Then Mr Sinclaire let out a brief laugh and clapped Janus on the shoulder again. “A funny one! Well, I’ll let you get back to your thrilling pastime.”

Janus chuckled briefly and waved his scarred hand in a shoo-ing motion, and his father left as Roman began to wonder if he had imagined their distasteful expressions. To quell this line of thinking, he took another two biscuits and added them to the two sitting beside his notebook.

By the time Janus was glancing at the clock and telling Roman that he should probably leave now because he had dinner in half an hour (Roman could smell whatever it was coming through from the kitchen. It was probably more worms, maybe with beetles mixed in, but damn did it smell good), there were eleven biscuits stacked neatly beside his elbow. Janus raised an eyebrow at them, pushing the small stack of notes he had been deciphering back toward Roman. “You know, you weren’t going to get kicked out for refusing them if you weren’t hungry.”

Rather than bristling in irritation, Roman chuckled and picked up one of the cookies. They were raisin - squashed fly biscuits, Remus always called them. “Who said I wasn’t hungry?” It was like sawdust in his mouth, but he forced himself to swallow anyway. Janus didn’t look impressed.

Actually, Roman wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Janus look impressed.

“Ah, I must be mistaken. Where I come from, stockpiling cookies rather than eating them is not the mark of the hungry.”

“Then you, sir,” Roman replied, pointing his half-eaten biscuit sternly in Janus’ direction, “have a lot to learn.”

Janus chuckled his serial-killer chuckle and gestured toward the door in a motion that was almost a mockery of a bow. “I shall look forward to my next lesson, then. For now, Princey, I shall bid you adieu.”

Roman looked at him. “What?”

“Adieu. A - D - I - E - U. It’s French, means-”

“I know what it means,” Roman said, interrupting Janus’ exaggerated eye-roll. “It was the Prince part.”

Now it was Janus’ turn for confusion to slip over his features. “I… Sorry. It’s just, you know, your surname meaning ‘king’ and everything, it just slipped out.”

“I didn’t know you spoke Korean.”

“Oh, I… Just a few words.” The burned side of Janus’ face had gone a strange blotchy red, and it took Roman a few seconds to realise that he was blushing. Huh. It seemed that Janus wasn’t always as smooth as he seemed from a distance.

What would Janus do if Roman pressed the point? He seemed flustered. It didn’t make much sense for Janus to just happen to know the meaning of his surname - had he researched him?

Janus was rubbing the back of his neck now, trying to make the fact that he was avoiding Roman’s eyes seem natural rather than bizarre as he showed him to the door, and a peculiar idea struck him. Most people - especially not ones as reserved as Janus Sinclaire - didn’t come up with nicknames after just a few hours studying together, during which they had hardly exchanged more than a handful of words each. Nor did they research the names of random people they had just met.

Was it possible that Janus had a crush on him?

Roman knew he was fairly easy on the eyes. Not in a conceited way - he didn’t think he was conceited, anyway. It was hard not to get used to the fact when every relative commented on how attractive he looked these days, or when his brother had been calling him the handsome twin for years. He was intelligent, kind, outgoing, sometimes funny, and usually a fairly good friend. It wasn’t impossible to believe that Janus could be interested.

On the other hand, it did seem fairly improbable. Thanks to a few too many fistfights and biking accidents, Roman and Remus weren’t exactly identical anymore; even ignoring Remus’ chipped teeth and the scars on his face and hands, Remus was about an inch shorter than Roman and rather more muscle than him. But they still looked similar enough that it was very hard to look at Roman and not see Remus lurking behind his eyes (and vice versa), and Roman couldn’t quite believe that Janus was stupid enough to have a crush on somebody so reminiscent of the person that had (supposedly) lured him into a car and then nearly killed him.

Janus could be faking it, of course. What would he gain from that? If he was guilty of anything more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time, creating openings for Roman to poke around could only lead to the truth being discovered. Maybe he thought that he could outsmart Roman - maybe he thought that Roman was stupid. Maybe he was planning something else, something devious, something that this time the other Wang twin would take the fall for.

He would have to keep a much closer eye on Janus than he had originally thought.

On Monday, Roman found Janus in the library toward the end of lunch, and ended up helping him find a book on some long-dead philosopher. He accidentally-on-purpose allowed their fingers to brush when he handed the book over, watching Janus’ face out of the corner of his eye for his reaction. No blush. No stammering. He barely even seemed to notice the lingering touch.

Janus

Evidence for crush: 0

Evidence against crush: 1

On Tuesday, Roman’s fountain pen exploded halfway through his calculus class, covering not only his hands in black ink but also his favourite scarlet sweater and the page of exercises and notes he had been working on. He missed the rest of class trying to wash the stuff off in one of the bathrooms, but when he arrived at his locker to collect his script at the end of the day he found a page of notes in neat calligraphy had been taped to the metal door. At the top of the page was written ‘Thought you’d need these. J.S.’

Janus

Evidence for crush: ½

Evidence against crush: 1

Evidence for being a creepy stalker: 1

Roman deliberately ignored the fact that he knew where Janus’ locker was as well, and for far more devious purposes than handing over missed notes.

On Thursday morning, Janus was waiting by his locker.

(Evidence for being a creepy stalker: 2)

Roman didn’t look at him, unlocking the door and depositing half of the textbooks he had brought with him that morning. “Wasn’t expecting to see you here, Sinclaire. Don’t you have Chem first? On the other side of the school?”

“Memorising my timetable, Princey? Most people would call that stalking, you know.” There was a playful note in Janus’ hoarse voice that made Roman’s eyes dart sideways toward him. A small smile was lingering on the edge of his lips.

(Evidence for crush: ¾)

“You must be lucky, then. Most people don’t have such a handsome stalker.” Roman closed his locker, shouldering his rucksack again, and leaned against it to look Janus in the eye. Did this count as flirting? Roman hoped so. If flirting with Janus got him closer to the truth, Roman would happily take the snake out to dinner and a movie.

Janus’ smile widened almost imperceptibly, and his eyes flicked away from Roman’s. Did the burned side of his face grow ever so slightly redder, or was Roman imagining it?

(Evidence for crush: 1 ½)

“Or one so inept as to admit they’re a stalker, stalker.”

Roman flushed. “Did you want something?”

“Hm?” Janus looked briefly startled. Then he brought his hand up to adjust the chocolate coloured beanie on his head until it was no longer covering his ears. He was wearing what looked like thin leather gloves. “Ah, yes. It has been brought to my attention that I have missed a lot of practice time for our oral presentations for Espanol, and I-”

“Español.”

“Exactly. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind studying with me again tomorrow?” Janus didn’t look that perturbed by the fact that he had been interrupted. Maybe he had bungled the pronunciation deliberately to give Roman the opportunity to show off and correct him. Roman had no doubt that he was capable of it. Manipulative jerk.

(Evidence for being a creepy stalker / manipulative jerk: 3)

There was a few seconds of silence as Roman just stared at Janus, who was beginning to look somewhat uncomfortable by the time it occurred to Roman that he had just been asked a question. He shook his head, and Janus’ face fell. Then he nodded, and the small half-smile returned to Janus’ lips. “Oh. Uh. Sure, yeah. That sounds good. I’ll… Bring my notes.”

“Awesome.” Janus nodded once, as though they had just completed a low-risk business transaction, and then hitched his satchel back onto his shoulder (it had slipped down his arm whilst they had been talking) and turned to walk away.

When he got to Janus’ house on Friday afternoon, there was already a plate of biscuits in the middle of the table, and a second empty plate in the place Roman had sat the previous week. Janus greeted him with a nod toward it: "For your galleta hoarding needs."

Roman flipped him off, then chuckled and sat down. "I appreciate the compensation for the vicious mockery you give my handwriting, in any case."

"My mockery is justified. You write as though you were taught by racoons. Rabid racoons."

Roman hid his snort by leaning down to dig his notes out of his bag. "Sit down, Sinclaire. It's Spanish time."

When he straightened up, Janus was still standing next to him, staring absently at the table. Roman waited for him to move, and when nothing happened, he reached up to poke his cheek.

"Ah!" Roman jerked his hand back as Janus flinched away, one hand coming up to cover his face; Roman realised much too late that he had just prodded his still-fresh burns.

"Oh, fuck, dude, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" Standing, Roman reached out automatically to try to do something - what, he had no idea - but Janus batted his hands away. He was still wearing the gloves from earlier that morning.

"Fine. I'm fine. Sit down, Roman. Sit down." Janus rubbed his cheek again, walking around the table to his own seat.

Roman obeyed, forcing himself to ignore the guilt rising in the back of his throat. He could feel guilty later, if - and only if - Janus turned out to be completely innocent. If he wasn't, which Roman was almost completely certain was the truth, then he deserved every little inconvenience that Roman could give him.

They sat in silence for a short time, Janus staring at his gloved hands, Roman staring at Janus. There was a clock somewhere in the kitchen, and it filled the quiet air between them with a rhythmic ticking. After a total of ninety-four seconds, Roman cleared his throat. "Um… Janus? Are you okay?"

Janus nodded slowly, rubbing his fingers against the palm of the opposite hand, and then looked up. "Yeah. Burns are still pretty sore to touch. I'm… Heh. I'm gradually reducing the number of painkillers I'm on, so…"

"Got it. No more poking." Roman offered Janus a nervous smile, which grew when it was met with the semi-amused half-smile. "So… Spanish?"

Would Janus have opened up to him like that if he thought Roman was investigating him? He must trust Roman at least a little to share that much information about his injuries. There was no way Janus thought Roman was a threat to him, or likely to come close to uncovering the mess of lies he had wrapped around Remus.

Of course, he could also be innocent.

But he wasn't: Roman knew it. There was no way the snake sitting opposite was innocent of anything that had happened in Roman's car that night.

He wished he hadn't hurt him, though. Roman didn't want to hurt people. He didn't want to be like Remus, and have the crowds of people at school part for him as though being closer than two metres was a death sentence.

It was another week until Roman tried his luck and asked about the gloves. They had started spending lunchtimes together, usually in the library, meeting after Janus had eaten to study. Roman was beginning to suspect that Janus wasn't as behind on his Spanish as he was claiming to be: on Wednesday, he had left to find a reference book for his biology class and come back to find Janus correcting part of his essay.

(Janus

Evidence for crush: 5

Evidence against crush: 8

Evidence for being a creepy stalker / manipulative jerk: 7

Reasons not to trust: 11)

Roman had ended up coming over to his house on Tuesday and Wednesday, both times to revise for their exams, which had started that week and would continue into the next. On the Wednesday, Janus had left his phone on the table while he went to the bathroom, and Roman had seized his chance.

Unfortunately, his attempts to gather more information on his study partner were fruitless: Janus had password protected his phone, and Roman didn't know him well enough to even attempt to guess it. His lock screen offered no clues: a picture of a building made of pale brick, with ivy climbing the sides that could be anything from an old home to a stock photo of a museum. It showed the time, and there was an 'If found, please call' message underneath that, with a number just below. Roman studied the number for a moment before taking a picture with his own phone and returning Janus' to the table.

By the time the brunet returned, Roman was nose-deep in deciphering his own notes on the future perfect tense.

An image search of the photograph he had taken showed up only adverts for different phones, and he couldn’t find anything about the number when he had searched it online (not that he was expecting to - it was probably for one of Janus’ parents). The picture of the building had seemed promising at first, but Roman quickly discovered that the sheer number of pale brick, ivy-covered buildings that appeared when he tried searching online would take until Remus’ sentence was up to comb through.

Friday marked the end of their first week of exams, and the first time that Janus invited Roman up to his bedroom to study. “No biscuits this time, I’m afraid. But that means we can go upstairs, which is more comfortable,” he had said, gesturing up the sweeping staircase with one hand.

Janus’ room was just as neat as Roman had expected it to be. A single bed was pushed against one wall, looking as though it had just been made that morning (Roman felt a stab of embarrassment for his own bed, which looked as though half of Simba’s pride had been using the duvet for hunting practice) (as opposed to Remus’ mattress, which actually had stuffing leaking out of it from an ‘accident’ with a bow and arrow); an oblong fluffy brown rug took up a large amount of the floor in the middle of the room, and Roman wasted no time in throwing himself down upon it as Janus crossed to the large desk by the window. There were no posters or pictures tacked to the pale yellow walls, but a single photo frame stood on the bedside table. Roman craned his neck to see it and found, disappointingly yet predictably, it contained a picture of a younger Janus clutching an award. A book was resting beside it, a brown tassel poking out from somewhere near the middle. There was a wardrobe against one wall, a chest against another, and a bookshelf containing what looked like every psychology and law textbook ever written.

Maybe neat had been an understatement. Janus’ room was practically spartan; it could have belonged to anybody. Take away the picture frame and Janus would completely disappear, leaving it free for anybody to use. The thought made Roman a little sad. Janus was pulling papers from his rucksack; rolling over, Roman glanced toward the door - and as he did, something under the bed caught his eye. A smile spread over his face.

“What should we start with? I’m thinking Chem, given that we have that on Monday, and then-”

“You do have a soul!” Roman’s voice was positively gleeful as he got up and crawled toward the bed, and he had to admit that his enthusiasm was genuine. Maybe the room wasn’t so spartan after all.

“What? Ro, wh- oh. No, put those back, we're studying here, not…" Janus trailed away, exasperated, as Roman straightened up clutching a stuffed snake that had to be over a metre long, and a cuddly green octopus.

"Not that your room isn't charming in its utilitarian-ness, but these add so much, don't you think?" He squeezed the octopus thoughtfully before positioning it carefully beside Janus' pillow. "Did you hide these because you knew I was coming around? Because that's just sad, Sinclaire. You never have to hide your stuffed toys." Roman gestured emphatically with the snake, then moved a little closer and used its blunt snout to ease Janus' hat off of his head as the other buried his face in his hand.

"...your obsession with stuffed animals…" Roman heard him mutter, and then, "Stop it, you oaf, stop…"

"Make me," he replied maturely, and started bopping Janus on the head with the yellow animal.

With a theatrical groan that Roman was almost impressed by, Janus started half-heartedly batting at the snake. Roman responded by chuckling and hitting him again. "You'll have to try harder than that! Come on, Jan…"

"Listen, you…"

The next time the snake went near Janus' now messy hair, he grabbed it and tried to jerk it out of Roman's hands. With a cry of laughter, Roman pulled back harder, managing to jerk his nemesis off his chair.

Which would have been fine: Janus would have stood, pulled harder, the snake would have been his for the taking, and that would have been the end of it.

Only Janus managed to trip on the edge of the rug that Roman had been so enjoying a moment ago, and the momentum from their tug of war pushed him off balance. He crashed into Roman, who stumbled from the unexpected weight, and then they were both on the floor.

Or, more accurately, Roman was on the floor with an aching head and tailbone, and Janus was lying on top of him, wincing. "Fuck, Wang, how are you so boney?"

Roman made a (highly dignified) squeaking noise, too winded to speak. Janus' scar went that same blotchy red as it had the other day.

"Oh. Sorry, let me just…" He rolled himself off and sat up, and Roman took a deep breath as air rushed back into his lungs. "You alright?"

Roman waved a hand. "Fine, fine… Just gonna lie here… a second…"

"Here." A hand wrapped around his, and Roman felt himself being pulled back to his feet - apparently Janus was stronger than he had thought. "You're lighter than I expected. All good? Happy to go back to studying now?"

"Why do you wear those things?"

They were still holding hands, and Roman was staring at the yellow glove against his brown skin. It was smooth to the touch. He didn't realise that Janus was staring at him until the silence became uncomfortable enough for him to look up; shaking his head, Roman pulled away with a nervous chuckle. "Sorry. Sorry, that was… Don't worry about it. You're right, let's…" he gestured helplessly at Janus' desk.

Janus rubbed the back of his neck slowly, then shrugged and sat down. He handed Roman a stack of flashcards. The top one read 'endothermic reaction'. "Layer of protection against infection. Only one glove is weird. Besides, people stare less at the glove than they did at the scarring, and they already stare enough at my face. I think I'll spare the hands. Quiz me."

Roman stared at him. Janus was facing the window again, not looking at him anymore. His back was perfectly straight, the sun shining bronze through his shoulder-length wave of hair, and Roman was struck with the urge to rest a hand on his shoulder, to comfort him. "Janus… If-"

"Quiz me," Janus interrupted, insistently. "Chemistry test on Monday. Final grade. Flashcards. Go."

So Roman quizzed him, telling himself that it was for the best. He didn't want to get too close to Janus, didn't want to feel sympathy for him. Janus was hiding something about Remus' and his accident, which meant that Janus could have kept Remus out of jail, which meant that Janus couldn't be trusted no matter how nice he might pretend to be or how high the guilt rose in Roman's throat.

On Monday morning, they sat their chemistry exam in the sports hall, and Roman could only find one question that he didn't feel confident with. Janus, he knew, must have aced it. He hadn't gotten a single flashcard wrong on Friday.

Then they had a written Spanish exam, and then lunch. Roman toyed with his bento for ten minutes or so, then put his lunchbox away again and went to join Janus in the library to revise for their practical assessment that afternoon.

Roman wasn't paying attention when everything had gone wrong. His focus had been solely on the copper sulphate solution he was attempting to crystallise, checking the timer to make sure he noted down the temperature of the solution every fifteen seconds; the first he knew of a problem was a hoarse cry, a few screams, and the slamming of the heavy classroom door.

He looked up apprehensively, although he thought he already knew what he was going to see.

Sure enough, Janus was missing from his station; Virgil, his lab partner, had his back pressed against the window a full three metres away from their work and was looking as though he had been on the verge of jumping out. The pairs at the stations around theirs were all staring at him, and Roman was willing to bet that his had been one of the screams. Their teacher was staring at the door with an expression of great concern on his face.

Roman was out of his spot before he had thought it through, shrugging off his lab coat and ignoring the whisper of annoyance from Melanie, his own lab partner. "Sir, Mr Sanders? Can I go make sure he's alright?"

Their teacher nodded gratefully at him. "Thanks, Mr Wang. Tell him he doesn't have to come back to finish, alright? The rest of you have… Eighteen minutes until the end of the test."

Roman closed the door on the sound of people scurrying to get back to their experiments, and looked up and down the corridor. Janus was nowhere in sight. Where would he go? Not his locker: that was too public, and Roman had a feeling that Janus wouldn't want anybody to see if he was freaking out. The gym? No, there was a French assessment happening in the gym at the moment. So… The bathrooms, maybe. Roman took off at a brisk jog toward the toilets by the science staircase.

He knew he had the right place the moment he opened the door. The sound of strangled sobs and gasps was coming from the middle toilet cubicle, and when Roman closed the door they stopped briefly, as though Janus was holding his breath, before starting again in a rush. Roman winced.

"Janus? It's me."

"Go - Go away!" Janus' voice was more strained than usual, and Roman sighed quietly before moving forward to knock gently on the cubicle door. It swung open under his touch - Janus hadn't locked it.

"Can I come in?"

"Can - can I st-stop you?" Janus tried to snap the words, but they came out unsteady and breathless.

He was curled up on the closed lid of the toilet seat, knees pulled to his chest and one arm wrapped tightly around them. The other was braced against one knee, hand fisted in his brown beanie as he hyperventilated, face and eyes red. The smell of burnt fabric lingered around him; the left sleeve of his lab coat was blackened and burned.

Roman took a small step forward, then knelt down in front of him. "Can I touch you, Jan?"

Janus shook his head, then unwrapped his right arm from around his knees and held out his hand. Roman took it and squeezed gently, and was met with a vice-like squeeze. He didn't pull away.

"Do you want to try a breathing exercise?" A nod. "I'm going to count, but no pressure. Ready? Breathe with me. In for four, yeah? Two, three, four, and hold for four, two, three, four, that's it, and out for two, three, four, five, and six. And in, two, three, four… You're doing really well, Jan. You're here, you're safe… And out, two, three, four, five, six…"

“I - This - I shouldn’t-”

“It’s okay, Jan. With me, in, two, three, four… Hold, two, three, four, and out, two, three, four… That’s it…”

That wasn’t it, actually. Janus’ breathing was still ragged, only slightly calmer than before, but Roman kept up his gentle stream of encouragement until he spoke again.

“The - the fire, my - my sleeve, I couldn’t, I…” He broke off in a dry sob, and Roman ran his thumb gently over his knuckles.

“You’re safe now. You’re safe. I promise, alright? All you need to worry about right now is breathing, and squeezing my hand. You’re here, buddy. I’m here. It’s going to be okay…” He might never have done this for Janus before, but Roman was hardly a stranger to helping his brother through panic attacks like this one. Remus had had problems with enclosed spaces ever since they were nine and he had managed to lock himself in the cupboard under the sink, and sometimes got overwhelmed in large crowds, but whilst the triggers were different the end result and the care needed was usually the same.

He knew what it was like to be in Janus’ position, too.

Janus' grip on his hand never decreased in ferocity, but gradually the other boy's shoulders slumped from their hunched position, and he closed his eyes in exhaustion. They continued the breathing exercise for another few minutes before Roman broke the flow of counting and reassurance again. “Hey. Do you feel up for a hug?”

The tired silver eyes opened and studied Roman for a second. Then Janus shrugged. Roman hesitated until he actually nodded, standing to wrap his arms loosely around his shoulders. Janus rested his head against Roman’s chest, exhaled a long, slow breath, and murmured so quietly that Roman would have missed it had he not been right next to him, “Thanks.”

It was evening, and Roman was in his room, staring blankly at his notebook.

Janus

Evidence for crush: 9

Evidence against crush: 11

Evidence for being a creepy stalker / manipulative jerk: 12

Reasons not to trust: 16

He had stayed with Janus that afternoon, stayed until they heard the tramping of feet in the hallway outside that meant that the school day was over, until Janus had pushed him away and stood, muttering something about not wanting to keep his parents waiting. Roman had showed him how to splash water over his face to reduce the redness in his eyes, and then watched him walk away, his mind in turmoil.

He couldn’t keep investigating Janus. Not after that. Roman had observed and had enough panic attacks to know a genuine one when he saw it: Janus had been really freaked out by the small fire in their chemistry assessment. The crash had clearly had far more than just a physical impact on him. The guilt in Roman had risen so high that he had found himself doubled over a toilet, retching what little lunch he had eaten until only bile would come up. How could he have suspected Janus of deliberately doing something to get Remus locked up? Janus didn’t even know Remus. Roman was definitely in the wrong here.

He should put this whole mess behind him. Janus actually seemed like a nice person - and Roman couldn’t just ghost him now, not now that they were almost friends. If he just stopped speaking to Janus now, he would surely assume it was because Roman had been too freaked out by seeing Janus panic like that, and that wasn’t fair at all.

None of this was fair on Janus.

Roman should do something as an apology. Not that Janus needed to know it was an apology, of course, it just needed to be something they could do as friends. They hadn’t actually hung out together yet, unless studying counted - which it most definitely didn’t. They could see a movie, or something. Maybe Roman could host, and they could watch something lighthearted - a Disney film, or something similar. Nothing too violent or firey. It would be a good break from revision, if he could schedule something in for the weekend.

Not wanting to wait to see Janus the next day, Roman pulled his phone from his pocket, and had gotten as far as opening the messaging app when he realised that there was one minor flaw in this plan: he didn’t have Janus’ number.

Oh.

What did he have? He knew they all had school email addresses, but also knew that nobody ever checked those. Besides, who sent emails to ask friends to hang out? If he asked Virgil for Janus’ number (and Roman had no doubt that Virgil would know it), he would end up owing the most twitchy guy in school a massive favour - and he’d probably never live down the teasing. Virgil would tell Patton, because he told Patton everything, and as lovely as Patton was, he had no idea how to keep a secret.

Roman lowered his phone slowly, frowning. Now what? It wasn’t as though he had any favours he could call in or -

Call! He had one of Janus' parents' numbers in his camera roll from when he had taken a picture of his lock screen! Pulling his gallery up, Roman scribbled the number into his notebook and then dialled it, slapping the phone to his ear as soon as he had hit the last letter and waiting for the dial tone to go away. He would explain that he was Janus' friend, that he had managed to lose Janus' number, and could he please-

Then the voicemail message started playing, and the colour drained from Roman's face. He waited for the beep, then hung up, lowering his phone slowly.

It looked as though the investigation was back on.

"Who the fuck calls people these days? Send a text like a regular dickhead, sheesh! Whatever, if your voicemail boner is really that hard, just go ahead. This is Remus' phone - but you already knew that."

Taglist

@bloodymari-0666

#roman sanders #janus sanders #virgil sanders #remus sanders #AccidentsHappenAU

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mst3kproject · 4 years

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Light Blast

What’s this? A death ray movie in which we actually see stuff get death rayed? Aw, man, that might disqualify it for MST3K right there! Fortunately for us, however, Light Blast was directed by Enzo Castellari, who brought us Escape 2000, and it stars Erik Estrada. Estrada was never on MST3K but he was on pretty much all the 70’s cop shows they kept referencing, including Mannix and Police Woman, and Mike and the bots would never have let him forget it.

So what do we want out of a death ray movie? I dunno, some faces melting like the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark would be cool, and Light Blast apparently read my mind on that count because we get the first melting face action before the ten minute mark! A couple of young people go to have sex in a boxcar (this scene includes a real classy upskirt shot, just three minutes in) while the bad guy tests his death ray, and in the fine tradition of kids just trying to bone at the beginning of movies, they get zapped. Meanwhile, somewhere else, Erik Estrada in a speedo takes down a couple of bank robbers by hiding a gun inside a roast turkey.

This is gonna be a weird movie, isn’t it?

Sadly, Light Blast never again rises to that height of absurdity. Evil Professor Yuri Svoboda has a death ray, and has decided to hold the city of San Francisco hostage for the princely sum of:

Was that even a lot of money in 1985? According to dollartimes the conversion rate is about 2.5, so that would be $12.5 million today... still seems a little low for a major city. Anyway.

To show he means business, Svoboda death rays the announcer’s box at a demolition derby. Thence ensues a series of extremely uninspired car chases and a scene in which Estrada is repeatedly kicked in the avocados by a woman dressed as a nurse (I liked that bit). Eventually he puts the pieces of the puzzle together, and never even bothers to tell us what the finished picture looks like before running off to what looks like it’ll be the final Power Plant Confrontation. No such luck. Svoboda escapes again, and Estrada has to chase him down to the final final confrontation.

There are two things here Castellari seems to really like. One is digital clocks, which are frequently the focus of the death ray for some reason. The other is men staggering around on fire, filmed in the type of loving slow motion that turns this agonizing death into a moment of over-dramatic hilarity. Remember in the Making Of Documentary for Return of the King, when Peter Jackson acknowledges that Denethor falling off the top of Minas Tirith while on fire is ridiculous? Enzo Castellari is definitely not that self-aware.

He is also fond of car chases. There are three or four of them in Light Blast and they’re competent, I guess. They’re definitely better than the budget version you sometimes see in really cheap movies, in which the camera turns to watch one vehicle pass by, then repeats the shot with another. There was probably a storyboard and so forth. But they’re still pretty monotonous and mostly just look like people driving around with no sense of a destination or a narrative. Instead, the movie tries to add interest by giving them ‘gimmicks’.

In one of the chases, Estrada doesn’t want the villain to know he’s being followed, so rather than using his own vehicle, he just hops into random people’s cars and makes them do the following. In one he shows his badge and tells the driver he’s a cop. In another he tells the woman driving that he’s playing a practical joke on a friend from college. Astonishingly, he never gets slapped or shot.

In another, he steals a race car in order to chase down Svoboda, who is fleeing to a boat from which he plans to death ray the entire city or something. This chase includes two separate shots in which Estrada jumps the race car over some obstacle in his way, again filmed in slow motion. In neither was there any sort of ramp to get the car off the ground. It’s like that scene in Speed where the fucking bus somehow jumps over a gap in the highway except they did it twice and slowly to give the audience time to think about how stupid it is. Then Estrada jumps the car again onto Svoboda’s boat, which has already left the dock, and somehow manages to stop on a dime rather than falling into the water.

I recognize that movies are not bound by the laws of physics, but those that get away with breaking them do so by walking a fine line. Things have to look possible. People running away from explosions looks like it should work, and very few of us have ever been in a position to find out what it’s actually like first-hand (partly because those of us who have probably didn’t live to tell about it). The car jumps? Nah.

Wikipedia includes a couple of reviews of this film that have been translated, not very well, from Italian. They’re kind of hard to understand but they do seem to fixate on the preponderance of car chases. They also reference another staple of 80’s action movies, which is excessive police brutality. Estrada shoots a whole bunch of people, breaks into a power plant and a funeral home, steals cars, causes a dozen accidents and untold property damage, and bullies his girlfriend into risking her job in order to get him the information he needs. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen.

Other clichés drift by. The villain gives a pretty classic monologue all about how he Showed Those Fools At The Academy and how his death ray will make him supreme ruler of the world and he’ll bring about a new age of peace. There’s a bit where Estrada and his partner, the Tall Guy (these characters do have names, I just don’t care) sit down at the kitchen table and put together what they’ve learned… but instead of some exposition to tell us, the audience, what that is, we get a Ryan And Shane Look For Forrest Fenn’s Treasure montage but without the irony. We can just barely hear fragments of voices through this, as the characters talk about it… enough to tease us with what they know and we don’t.

I dunno, it’s possible the audience is supposed to have already figured this stuff out and I just wasn’t paying attention. I was pretty bored during most of this movie.

During the montage, the bad guys sneak up outside Estrada’s house (which is on a boat? I think?) and open fire, basically shooting everybody but Estrada himself, who escapes completely unharmed. His personality-deficient girlfriend isn’t so lucky… but she was only in this movie so it would have a part for Estrada’s real-life girlfriend Peggy Rowe. This bit is right up there with The Phantom Creeps as a perfect example of why Women In Fridges is screenwriting for hacks. Estrada is already determined to get these guys. He already cares about the people they’ve killed in the past and the ones they plan to kill in the future! He is already frustrated by his failures to catch them! ‘Making it personal’ is completely unnecessary! Did the writers really think her death would add anything, or were they just trying to fill up their Action Movie Cliché Bingo card?

In the villain’s evil monologue, Svoboda reveals that apparently Estrada killed his wife? I guess she was the mortician? This doesn’t help, because I don’t think Svoboda actually knows that Estrada’s girlfriend is dead and even if he does, she wasn’t his target. His henchmen were after Estrada and Tall Guy.

Then there’s the ending, which is in no way a ‘climax’ and barely even counts as an ‘end’. Remember I said Estrada jumps his racecar onto Svoboda’s boat? This knocks the death ray over and it melts Svoboda himself. Estrada watches this, then basically just shrugs and walks the fuck away. So… that was it? No confrontation? No fight? Just a failure to properly secure the superweapon?

Isn’t the rest of the boat gonna melt now, too? In previous uses the death ray seemed to melt things over a fairly wide area. Isn’t anyone worried about that? No, we’re just rolling the credits? Okay, fine. At least the movie’s over.

Is there anything nice I can say about Light Blast? Well… I guess it passes the Bechdel Test. There’s a bit, completely irrelevant to the plot, where two women who work at the police station discuss perfume. It’s as if one of the writers had read about the Bechdel Test and shoved that in there just to pass it, without bothering to think about what the point of the ‘test’ is.

For all I’ve bitched about it, Light Blast isn’t a full on disaster. It’s merely a mediocre 80’s action movie. What makes it so damn disappointing is the wackiness of that early scene with Estrada in his underwear and the gun in the turkey. That bit has the same effect as naming your movie Hercules Against the Moon Men – it gives the audience the impression that you have a sense of humour, and then the rest of the film can be nothing but the slow downward spiral of realizing that you were, in fact, serious. Even then, it still could have been fun if the writers and director had kept up that kind of cheese throughout but no… Light Blast couldn’t even be bad enough to be good.

If any of you MSTies reading this are aspiring film-makers, let this be the lesson for you: the introduction of your main character sets the tone. Do that wrong, or in a way that doesn’t match the rest of your movie, and you’re sunk. And if you only have one interesting or funny idea, for love of Apearlo put that at the end of the movie, not the beginning!

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #light blast #women in fridges #80s

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thoughtfullyyoungduck · 5 years

Text

It’s not scary when it’s with you

Warning: this story depicts domestic physical and mental abuse (not between Eddie and Richie though), so please don’t read this if you’re not comfortable with that.

Summary: Can you write a fic where instead of marrying a woman, Eddie marries a man who looks like richie, but who behaves just like Beverly's husband? I've been thinking about it a lot

A/N: I hope this is what you wanted anon, let me know what you think. Also I would just like to say that this is partially how I experienced some abuse, but I know that not everyone does in the same way so I just wanted to say.

Sometimes, whenever Richie is gone off to do a show or get groceries, Eddie likes to think back to his past. Well, likes is a wrong word, but sometimes when Eddie can’t help but feel like he’s not doing as much as he can, like he’s not brave enough, and then it helps to think back of the place he started.

To the person he was before getting back to Derry, and getting all his friends back, so he can see the true progress he has made.

He’s having another one of his moments, where he is toying with the edge of the blanket of his bed while staring into an empty space full off nothing, the thoughts in his mind gathering themselves ready to take him through the entire mess that he once called his life. Like usual, Eddie’s not trying to stop it from happening, he’s learned from experience that that only causes the flashbacks to more violent.

Even years later, Eddie still can’t figure out how he let himself get roped into the relationship the way he did. After suffering through all the abuse his mother put him through, he ran straight into another sort of abuse.

When he met Chris the very first day he started working at the insurance company, he wasn’t even hiding that he was kind off an asshole. He was brushing off some poor intern when he tried to hand him the wrong coffee, and Eddie was sure that he was getting more mad and mad by the second, but then he stopped as soon as he saw Eddie. He was just so fucking charming, and when he never let that side of him out again, Eddie assumed that he had a bad day, and it was a onetime occurrence.

It wasn’t, and he got a lot worse than Eddie had seen that day.

It didn’t start out with physical abuse at first either, no instead, he used mental tactics to begin with. Eddie has no idea how he could have been so stupid to walk into the same trap that his mother had spun around him before, but alas, it happened and there was no use thinking about the what if’s. He had actually been really proud of himself for daring to go into a relationship with a man, even though his mother disowned him and refused to see after he came clean about it.

He was foolish enough to think that escaping one abuse was enough for him to be happy, but he was proven wrong faster than he hit the water after jumping of the quarry cliff back in Derry, back when he was still a kid.

Chris and Eddie celebrated his mother exiting his life with champagne and strawberry’s, and Eddie will always connect those two things to new beginnings, for the next day the mental torment began.

Chris liked to critize everything Eddie did, even complaining about the way he would clean the house, despite knowing about how germophobic Eddie truly was, and seeing firsthand how meticulous Eddie scrubbed the entire place. He found it funny to place dirt in places that Eddie had just cleaned to a T, going as far as placing a dead rat in the bathtub when he knew Eddie was going to use it right after.

Eddie had shrieked loudly, sending him straight into another ‘asthma attack’ while locking himself in his bedroom out of pure fright. If only the memories of Derry had still been with him, he would have realized that there were worse things to be afraid of. Like IT, or Chris for example.

Eddie couldn’t even explain why that scared him so much, or how hurt he felt by the ‘prank’, because when he tried to, Chris devalued his feelings, telling Eddie to stop being such a baby, and that he was overreacting.

He should have left after that, but he was young and stupid and he didn’t have any real friends, only his coworkers at the office who were also friends with Chris, so they weren’t an option anyhow. He didn’t even have his mother at that point either, not that that was a better alternative at the time regardless.

The longer he stayed with Chris, the more he was being brainwashed into believing that he was really blowing things out of proportions, and that he should listen to whatever Chris told him, since he could do everything better himself apparently.

He would complain about every small thing, and after a while Eddie got so tired of hearing what he constantly did wrong, that he decided to try and adjust himself as best he could to fit Chris standards.

He figured Chris was right, since all he had ever heard in his life was how delicate he was, and how he needed his mom to help him with everything, which was what Chris also told him all the time. He was always told that whatever he wanted to do was wrong, he was too vulnerable for it, and the judgment of both of his mother and Chris displayed just came out of place of love.

Eddie wouldn’t be Eddie however, if he didn’t get random burst of bravery mixed in with determination coming from seemingly nowhere.

At times, he would shoot back defenses at Chris, when he was fed up with constantly being criticized, despite knowing that would only piss him off. That was when Chris hit him for the very first time.

Eddie had only dropped a plate, but when Chris started yelling at him like he set the house on fire, Eddie screamed back. He called Chris a know-it-all, who did nothing but harass him all day, and that if he could do it better he should just do it himself.

Chris saw red, looking much like he had a sunburn, and his pupils had dilated so much the green had disappeared, leaving nothing but black in it’s wake. Eddie knew he was in trouble then.

The world seemed to crash to a stop the second his palm hit the left side of Eddie’s face, leaving an angry red mark in it’s wake that tingled for days afterwards.

Eddie laughed it off to his colleagues, claiming that he had fallen unto the side of his kitchen table at home, but he didn’t know how much of them actually believed him. It’s not like it mattered anyway, none of them cared enough to look further into it.

The hotel room had been booked faster than Chris could utter an apology, with Eddie rushing to grab a few clothes that he had stashed up in a suitcase he always had on hand for when he needed to go on a last minute work trip, nearly actually falling down when he speeded towards his car.

His act of defiance hadn’t lasted long. The thing was that Eddie had been stuck without anyway to escape his boyfriend. Which was as good of an excuse as any other, but it was still true.

Chris worked as his supervisor, so wherever Eddie went to work, Chris was there too. Even Eddie’s bathroom breaks shortened at Chris’s request, and when Eddie managed to excuse himself and go, Chris coincidently happened to be there as well when he exited the bathroom stall.

It got so bad that Eddie took a few days of work, but he was in no position to stay home, or more correctly his hotel room, then a few days, since he really needed the money.

A new job had been whipped of the table too, since they would certainly call the last place Eddie worked at, and then they would be confronted by Chris, who without doubt had no problem with lying and twisting things to make Eddie look like the bad person.

And then there was the emotional manipulation. He would buy Eddie so many expensive things, even though Eddie never asked for that, to gain his gratitude. That way, whenever he hit Eddie, or if Eddie tried to shake Chris’s words off him and didn’t listen to him, Chris could remind him of all the thing he bought for him, and make Eddie feel guilty that he was being so rude to Chris in the first place.

After five days, Eddie moved back in with Chris, continuing the cycle of mistreatment. He didn’t hurt Eddie physically often, but the threat of it hung over Eddie’s head at every moment like a thundercloud, scaring him enough to stay quiet and listen to everything Christ said to him.

Chris was visibly delighted in the way he could say anything to Eddie and get away with it, using that to his advantages at any time. The only thing Chris never did was call Eddie ‘Eds.’. For some reason, whenever Chris would call him that, he would get so irrationally mad, that Chris was worried he was losing his control over him, so he never used ‘Eds’ ever again.

It wasn’t ‘till two years later, while having dinner with the losers for the first time in 27 years, that Eddie would remember why he hated it so much when it came from Chris.

Sometimes, Eddie would grab a pillow and smashed it to the floor a few times, imagining that it was actually Chris himself. He would gain some sense of defiantment, and he would tell himself that the last day of Chris tyranny had passed. However, by the time Chris would get home and laid one hard look on Eddie, he crumbled like a sand cookie.

The day he married Chris, was arguably the worst day of his life, even worse than the day he had to go into the sewers to save Beverly, or the day he left Derry and left his friends behind too. The Party went on till one a.m. the next day, but Eddie had spend most of the night tending to his injured foot, which Chris had repeatedly stamped upon after Eddie accidently stepped on his while dancing.

Eddie couldn’t have thought of anything he wanted to do less than get married to Chris, but he was scared of the things he was capable off, so he didn’t see any other available answer than yes when Chris inevitably popped the question.

He likes to think that if he had remembered his friends, if he had recalled the summer where he threw away his placebo medicine, then he wouldn’t have gotten in a relationship with him. It’s wishful thinking, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t roam his mind on the daily.

When Mike called him, he had felt something he had not experienced in a long time. A feeling of white hot anger stabbed him straight in the abdomen and spread throughout his entire body like a virus.

At once, he recalled so many new memories that had been locked away in the deepest part of his brain and were now unlocking themselves, sliding back into places Eddie didn’t even know things were missing.

The recollections were still vague, things like names or particular faces not having shown themselves yet, but he did know one thing, and that was that he had survived something so out of this world that he was sure it was the devil on earth, and he had fucking beaten him.

He stood tall against a monster, what kind he was still unaware off, and he was done getting pushed over by every single person in his life, that ship had sailed.

He agreed with Mike to return to Derry as fast as possible, quickly assembling the same suitcase he used to go to a hotel the first time Chris had laid a hand on him, before turning towards the stairs to run out.

However, when he did, Chris was standing in the door opening eying Eddie with as much rage as toddler did whenever their mother wouldn’t give them the candy they had asked for and they were about to throw a tantrum.

He was sporting a wicked smile on his face too, as if just the thought of Eddie leaving him was too ridiculous to even consider.

Eddie gripped his handbag firm, glancing back and forth between the door and Chris to find the fastest way to get out. He had hoped to get out without Chris noticing, but that was clearly out of the question.

When he tried to however, he was gripped tightly by the arm, forced by him to drop the bag and walk backwards to stop the pain. ‘Where do you think you’re going?’ Chris had asked him in that tone he got when he was about to explode on Eddie, the one that told Eddie he should think very hard about what his next words would be.

Eddie can’t remember in detail what happened after that. He got out of the house in hurry, leaving with nothing expect the luggage he already had at his disposal, and his passport and phone. He knows that at some point Chris’s fist hit him in the stomach, for there was a bruise to show for it, but it’s not as bad as it could have been, luckily.

Eddie had thrown his ring at Chris, yelling that he wanted a divorce, and when he later sat in his car calming down a bit, he was surprised he had managed to do that.

It was like his entire being had been focused on letting out all the anger and the hurt he had experienced over the years, and he was besides himself. He panicked at first, because he had absolutely nowhere to go, he didn’t remember the losers yet at that point, until he snapped out of it and tried to focus on the task at hand, which had been to drive to Derry. It had not been easy, and it wasn’t up until IT tried to kill him and the losers, that it really slipped his mind.

It was Richie that brought it up again, after they had defeated IT in it’s lair and they shared a attentive kiss outside with the sun shining upon then while the house collapsed a few meters away from them.

The slime stuck to them like glue even when Eddie tried to wipe it off, so Eddie refused to make the kiss last long, insisting that they needed to get clean first before doing it again. He watched Richie’s face go from somber, at Eddie’s first words, to absolutely ecstatic in two seconds flat.

They skipped the quarry, opting to go get clean in Richie’s bathroom, considering Bowers blood was all over Eddie’s, and spent some time just between the two of them. When Eddie unknowingly pulled of his shirt, Richie had gasped, staring at the dark blue bruise that had formed on the place Chris’s fist had landed.

Up until that point, Eddie had done a good job hiding what happened after he left Derry, and the years of assault he suffered from, but now the cat was out of the bag and Eddie was so tired of having to hide his emotions from people, that he promptly bursted into tears.

Richie, the sweetheart that he is, even if Eddie will never say that to his face, had rushed to his side immediately, doing everything he could to stop Eddie from crying, pulling him as close as possible but still so that he wouldn’t hurt Eddie.

With his lips pressed to Eddie’s forehead, rocking them gently back and forth, he began whispering reassurances, varying from how he would never hurt Eddie, to how he would make sure never else ever could. He later took it upon himself to tend to Eddie’s wound every night until it was healed, showing the soft and patient side of him mostly Eddie got to see.

Richie remained as loving as he did the first week he and Eddie got together. People often said that couples lose their romantic side the longer they are seeing each other , but the opposite was true for Richie and him.

He still woke up at least once a week to Richie bringing him breakfast in bed, or when he forget his lunch at the new job he worked at and Richie would prepare him a lunch and bring it to him shamelessly walking through the office.

One of his coworkers joked that Richie was like a lapdog, and he was ready to do anything for Eddie like a dog would do anything to catch a ball that was thrown. Richie proudly proclaimed this to be the truth.

‘Hey Eds?’ A voice suddenly pulls him out of his thoughts, Eddie turning around to see Richie carrying a coffee in his one hand, and a tea in the other.

Contrary to Eddie, Richie absolutely hates coffee, and he limited Eddie’s intake to one a day, since Eddie had a reputation of going a little overboard with it. If he drinks too much off the warm beverage he tends to get hyperactive to the point where he is running around like he’s a twenty-year old college student, and his hyperactive mind cannot keep up with everything that’s happening.

And that, that stupid little thing is what caused Eddie to truly realize how in love with Richie he really was. He obviously knew that he loved Richie, and he wanted to live with him or else he would be somewhere else right now, but the fact that Richie actually cared about his wellbeing, that small sign of caring someone in a way that is healthy, made Eddie understand what it felt like to be truly loved.

Richie smiles gently at him, placing the two cups at the edge of the coffee table where Richie sometimes writes his material on, stepping forward slowly and with careful steps. He not scared of scaring Eddie finally, but even that took a long time, and he still doesn’t want to risk it.

At first, Richie flat out refused to bicker with him the way that they always did. Eddie can recall every single word of his speech in great detail.

‘Listen, Eds. I just got this with you, this whole relationship thing, and I don’t want to lose that. I love you, and I’m not too keen on things changing between us either, but the last thing I ever plan on doing is hurting you or scaring you and I don’t know when you find our bickering funny and when you’re genuinely scared. Until I do, I’m not going to bicker with you at all. You’re just going to have to survive without your mom jokes for a while. A shit okay, I’m going to stop bickering with you starting now.’

It was all meant lovingly, even Eddie knew that, but Richie glossed over the fact that Eddie wanted nothing more but to feel normal with someone. He was treated as a kid all his life, and now that he finally managed to break free from everything holding him back in life, for real this time, he was going to remain as hardheaded as he wants to be. And he wanted their interaction to include as much bickering as he damn well pleased.

He told Richie as much, who had then considered his feelings, and slowly reintroduced their bickering comments like they had never really left.

‘Oh fuck off asshole. Be a man and be convinced you’re right so I can prove to you how wrong you really are.’

With cautions. If Richie so much as saw what he thought might be a flinch, he dropped everything and let the subject die down along with their bickering.

Eddie’s path to healing had been anything but easy of course, and Richie wasn’t wrong, sometimes Eddie would get frightened over nothing, and he would be so disappointed at himself at those times.

Back at the Jade The Orient, when the losers talked about marriage, and Eddie had refused to say disclaim anything about his, Richie yelled ‘fuck you’ loudly, and it didn’t scare Eddie at all. He knows that Richie is not like that, that Richie is one big goofball who literally couldn’t hurt a fly. The insults he throws at Eddie are filled with poorly concealed affection, and the way he absolutely glows when he makes Eddie laugh makes the day appear a tad brighter.

Still, sometimes Richie will make a joke about fucking his mom, and Eddie would respond with the most fiery response he could come up with on the spot, he’ll freeze and wait for the hurt that he knows Richie won’t fire, but he still expects none the less. At those times Richie will give Eddie some space if he needs it, and if he doesn’t, he spends the whole night whispering to Eddie how much he loves him, and how brave he is.

Progress isn’t linear, but it still sucks sometimes.

Richie knows the signs of a ‘bad head day’, he calls them, where Eddie’s head fills up with bad memories and insecurities he tries to get rid of but most of the time can’t. When Eddie has days like this, Richie proceeds with caution, not wanting to make a sudden move and send Eddie even further into his head, even though Eddie always feels a bit better after laying eyes on Richie.

‘How are you doing? Can I help?’

Richie sits next to him on the bed, unclenching Eddie’s fist from the bedsheets and clutching them in his own, rubbing soothing circles with his thumb. Eddie shakes his head while looking over at Richie, since there really isn’t anything that he can do, and the moments are not as bad as they used to be anyway.

He places his head on one of Richie’s broad shoulders, using it to pillow his head and letting out a content sigh. An arm is placed behind his back, Richie’s arm twisting as best it can to rub into the lower area, the place Eddie complains about having pain the most.

‘You know, the last time I did this with someone was with your mom.’

Eddie laughed, his entire frame shaking with it as he lightly shoved him with his shoulder. It makes Richie happy, to know that Eddie is comfortable enough around him to be able to do that without flinching afterwards. He’s so

‘Brave, you’re brave Eds. The bravest man I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.’

He noses at the top of Eddie’s head, happy that he’s there and that Richie can help him in whatever way he can.

‘Shut up’, Eddie complains, but he can’t help the pride fizzling over him at the words.

‘No it’s true. I mean who can say they survived a killer clown, a horrible mother, and a piece of shit and still didn’t let any of it bother him?’

‘Me I guess.’

‘Not you guess, you know.’

His body bent in an awkward position to do so, Richie places a kiss atop his nose, joyful when it pulls a giggle out of Eddie.

‘I don’t want to think about that. All that matters is that we’re here, and we’re together. You’re the best part of my life Rich. I hope you know that. With you, I realize that I don’t have to be scared anymore.’

To hide the tears burning in his eyes wanting to come out, Richie presses Eddie a little closer, slotting their lips together in a passionate kiss. Eddie’s lips were soft and warm, reciprocating with as much enthusiasm as he was receiving, the both of them poring their heart and soul into it. When Richie pulls away, he presses Eddie a little closer to his chest, nearly missing what Eddie says next.

‘And I also hope that you know that if you ever tell anyone I said that, I’ll deny it to my dying breath.’

‘oh, I’m counting on it.’

#domestic abuse #reddie #reddie imagine #My writing #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrack #eddie kaspbrak imagine #richie tozier imagine #it chapter two imagine

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shera-dnd · 4 years

Text

A Day at a Time - Flirtation

I have a feeling y’all are gonna appreciate this one just from the title

Have some quality glitra content as we start making our way to angst glitradora end game

Also with a link to AO3 for those who prefer to read it over there

Catra had accepted the fact that Melog was trying to kill her at this point, because once more the little bastard dragged her through the building and straight to one of the prettiest girls she had ever seen, just so she could die of embarrassment.

“I’m fine.” Catra answered, trying to keep her cool considering everything that's happening right now. “My cat just decided to be a little bastard today.”

“You sure you don’t want any help?” The woman insisted. “I could hold your groceries for you, or your cat!” And as if he had somehow understood what had been said, Melog ran for the other woman and tried to climb her. She calmly picked him up, smiling at him as she did so. “Looks like they made the choice for you!”

Catra sighed, not wanting to bother yet another neighbour. “Thanks.”

“So I’ve seen you around a lot,” She commented as she followed Catra back to her apartment. “Don’t think we ever talked though.”

“Yeah I didn’t want to bother you.” Catra shrugged. “You look pretty exhausted most of the time.”

“A shitty office job does that to you.” She commented, “And just a ‘hello’ every once in a while wouldn’t hurt.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” That would certainly make their random meetings in the hallway a lot less awkward. “I’m Catra by the way.”

“Glimmer,” She answered with a smile. “ Pleasure to meet you!”

Catra questioned what goes through a person’s mind to name their kid ‘Glimmer’, but the girl’s trans pride flower tattoo on her arm made it clear her parents probably had nothing to do with that name. That was not the only tattoo adorning her, as Glimmer’s body was almost entirely covered in them.

“And what is this little cutie’s name?” Glimmer asked as she petted the little creature, earning a pleased purr from Melog.

“Don’t encourage him,” Catra complained. “And his name is Melog.”

“I’m sure Melog just wanted to stretch his legs.” She commented, “Maybe he thought you needed to meet new people!”

“He could do that without making me run around like an idiot and annoy the neighbors.” Catra shot a death glare at her pet, who seemed completely unbothered.

“Well, I’m not annoyed.” Glimmer replied, defending the little cat. “He did give me an excuse to talk to a pretty girl.”

“What?” Catra did not expect that. Nor did she expect Melog to jump off of Glimmer’s arms and run back to his napping spot. She had been so distracted she hadn’t even noticed they arrived. “Thanks for the help.”

“No worries.” Glimmer waved off. Both of them stood in the corridor for a moment, waiting to see if the other would say anything. “I think I should get going.”

“Yeah… Wait!” Catra ran into her apartment, grabbed a little post it note and wrote on it quickly. She turned back to hand it to Glimmer, but she stopped herself and added a little smiling cat face to the note before doing so. “Here! It’s my phone number.”

“Oh just like that?” It was Glimmer’s turn to be surprised. “Not gonna keep your distance from the ‘weird pink bitch’?”

“You seem nice and Melog likes you, so you can’t be a bad person.” Catra shrugged.

“‘Can’t be a bad person?’” Glimmer repeated and Catra worried it didn’t exactly come off as a compliment, but the ‘weird pink bitch’ smiled and answered “Thanks, Catra. Talk to you later.”

And with a smile and a wave, she was gone.

~~~

Unlike Catra, Glimmer hadn’t wasted a single second and started her just a few minutes later. Thankfully, baking required a lot of waiting, so she had plenty of time to just talk to her. ‘Hey, Glimmer’ she wrote, but hesitated before sending. Thinking back to the girl’s tattoos, she decided to change that text a bit. “Hey, Sparkles” much better.

“Is this about the star tattoos? Because if it is I’ll fight you.” Catra chuckled when she read that message. She would make fun of how feisty Glimmer was being, but she remembered she had said something similar to Adora the other day.

“You know where I live, Sparkles.” Catra sent, challenging Glimmer. The response took a while as the three dots kept showing up, disappearing and then showing up again.

“I won’t fight you, but only because I don’t want Melog to think I’m mean.” That earned a laugh from Catra.

“I’ll let him know that the weird pink bitch is a nice person.” She joked, but then got a little curious. “Where did that come from by the way?”

“You can thank my coworkers for that one.” Catra suspected something like that, but did raise another question.

“How the hell are you keeping an office job with multicolored hair and tattoos?” This was all relevant information in case Catra ever had to take an office job.

“They wanted to get rid of me, but there were no real rules about colorful hair and I dared their asses to fire the only queer woman working there because they didn’t like her look. Would love to see them trying to recover from that HR disaster.” Apparently Glimmer had a very ‘Fuck you. Fight me’ attitude about everything. “Also they don’t know about the tattoos, so I trust you to keep that secret.” She added, with a little winky face at the end.

She was halfway through writing a witty remark when her line of thought was interrupted by the smell of burning bread. She dropped her phone on the kitchen counter and scrambled to save what was left of her attempt at baking.

~~~

Friday night at the bar was going unusually slow. Catra wasn’t exactly worried about it, she was smart enough to save up some extra money in case she got too many slow shifts. Still, it wasn’t like anything could really bring her mood down right now.

These past two weeks talking to Glimmer and Adora every day had done wonders to improve her disposition, to the point even her boss noticed. Hordak found it all extremely suspicious as he had never been Catra this genuinely happy when she wasn’t up to something. Catra couldn’t exactly blame him for assuming shit, but it was still very rude.

It’s not like Catra was ever planning to introduce the two of them to her boss just to prove him wrong, but it looked like the universe had other plans, because she could see a familiar face approaching the counter.

“Hey, Sparkles.” Catra greeted. “Didn’t expect to see you here. You stalking me or something?” She joked.

“I guess it was a lucky accident.” Glimmer answered, with a strained smile, before taking a seat. “First lucky thing to happen to me today.”

“Shitty day at work?” She guessed.

“Worse,” She answered, pulling up the sleeves of her work clothes, revealing the myriad of tattoos that covered her arm. “My boss found the bar I like to relax at and I’m so not getting drunk in the same room as the asshole that’s been trying to fire me.”

“And this is what? The least shady bar you’ve found all night?” Glimmer nodded “Well, you’re in good hands now and I promise not to use any of your drunk ramblings against you in the future.”

“Why do I find that hard to believe?” She asked, earning Catra’s most innocent look. It wasn’t very convincing.

“I wonder,” She started, playfully “Do you get even more fighty when you’re drunk or are you one of those, ‘You know I’ve always thought of you as a friend’ kind of drunks?”

“Sorry, but I’m only planning on getting a little tipsy.” She explained, “And I’m a flirty drunk, thank you very much.”

“Damn it.” Catra faked annoyance. “Looks like I’m not finding out what that looks like.”

“Maybe some other time.” Glimmer offered.

“But now that you’re not flirting and you’re not gonna start an argument with someone, what are you going to do to pass the time?”

“Very funny.” Glimmer rolled her eyes. “I think I’m gonna relax with a friend and enjoy some good music. Mind making me a Bright Moon?”

“Ugh looks like you share my boss’s awful taste in music.” Catra complained as she started making her drink.

“What is wrong with Fright Zone? Their music is great!”

“Yeah. If you like listening to a sad emo boy groaning about losing his girlfriend.” Catra countered, having heard most their songs more times than she’d like.

“Okay fine, the lyrics aren’t all that great” She admitted “I could try to find something you and your boss would like. Maybe something by Sadie Killer or The Scream Queens.”

“I have no fucking clue what any of those bands sound like, but I like the names a lot more than ‘Fright Zone’.” She commented, placing the finished Bright Moon on the counter. “Here is your drink, Sparkles.”

“A pretty drink from a pretty girl. What else could I ask for?” Glimmer said with a smile.

“You sure you aren’t drunk already?”

“Maybe I’m always a little drunk.” Glimmer joked.

“That sure would explain things.” Catra teased, earning a playful death glare that she happily matched. They kept the stares going until they couldn’t hold it anymore and burst out laughing.

“You’re the worst.” Glimmer said when she finally stopped laughing.

“Hate you too, Sparkles.” She answered, with the biggest smile on her face.

And for the first time in a long time, she was genuinely happy.

#spop #shera #fanfic #catra #adora #glimmer #glitradora

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sharpen-jadescythe · 4 years

Text

Why was Sharpen really naked that one time?

Sharpen decides to be naked again alone in his house and tempt fate. Ho boy...

Sharpen lay on his favorite bearskin rug, by the fire. Yes, it was funny when he did it before and Jiroki walked in on him. But this time, Sharpen just wanted to spoil himself.

The flames, the cozy shadows in the big living room done in leather and a couple hunting trophies on the wall… and him. Sharpen turned over, loving the feel of fur against his naked skin, had a sip of his hot chocolate and then went back to his book.

Reading while naked was one of his favorite things to do, and he didn’t know if he would ever tell anyone about it. Naked reading sort of dared something to happen, anything strange at all. There might be a knock on the door, dinner on the stove might start to burn, a pet might suddenly want to go outside. The ridiculous, awkward things that always happened when you stayed naked too long were fun to tempt fate with. Sharpen’s record for reading while naked was about… two hours? Before a certain someone appeared in his log cabin to surprise him.

The time before that, the fire had died down a lot. Then he fell asleep. And then, for a very strange reason, an incredibly sooty squirrel fell down the fire place and went rampant in his living room.

The time before the time Sharpen chased a squirrel around his house while naked, an um… neighbor lady came by asking for cup of sugar. Sharpen wasn’t supposed to have any neighbors close to his cabin that he rented specifically because it was in an isolated spot. But some industrious woman who spotted him while at the Winterspring village market—eventually, their odd conversation revealed as much, made a good guess about where he was renting since all the people up there were close knit and knew each other well, otherwise… And essentially his so-called ‘neighbor’ invited herself over to dinner. This happened two years ago.

And Sharpen did answer the door naked.

He laughed out loud, remembering that now.

Younger Sharpen was even more of an adorable himbo. He liked to think he’d matured somewhat, become a classier guy.

And then, Sharpen turned the page in his trashy pirate romance novel.

The men in those stories were ridiculous. They said all the best things, and also the worst things. They always had their shirts torn off somehow. He enjoyed having a mental inventory of all the fun ways one might lose one’s shirt in a battle, in a storm, or due to a calamitous stolen-cracker- parrot accident. That had helped with one of his performances, actually.

The women were only one way, which was disappointing. Bosoms were always called ‘bosoms’ and they were always ‘heaving’ or ‘surging’, like the ocean, supposedly. So then, why did none of the women roar? The ocean roared. His fantasy pirate captain girlfriend would swing down from a rope and scream her head off with this war cry into battle. That’s would be a good roar. And she’d defend him from the other annoying pirates on the ship who made fun of his ripped shorts and his cool hair, not being ‘manly’ enough for them—but hey, here comes a hot lady who likes me just for me and she’s about to punch you in the face so who’s not masculine enough now?

Sharpen wasn’t reading his book anymore. It was balanced in his lap, conveniently covering his crotch for the full body description...

The Night Elf man was completely comfortable with those big strong thighs opening and closing playfully as he knocked his knees together, dreaming. He folded one arm beneath his head, while the other mussed his cyan-dyed hair, pushing into his face until that was too much and he couldn’t see, then he’d have fun sweeping it back again. And then Sharpen sat up on both elbows to play at tossing his hair over his shoulder, like one of those dashing pirate guys.

Was he getting better at it? He should go get a mirror and try it. Sharpen wasn’t getting up for anything, he was kidding himself.

Another sip of cocoa. He flipped a few pages in the book to get to a sex scene at least. Then, his eyebrows raised. And he smirked, and he sat all the way up, read a certain passage again, and then a third time.

Then, he lay on his stomach and raised his ankles up, slid his bare feet together. Sharpen kept going until he was near to the end.

“So… nothing is really going to happen to me this time? Naked, alone, at home? In the mood for… anything special? Anything at all?”

Sharpen closed his book. It made a satisfying light thump when he did that. Books were lovely. Holding your favorite story like a dear friend, or a pet. Carrying it with you everywhere. Having a relationship with it. He idly hoped that books would never go away.

“Well. If nothing is going to happen then, I guess I should be grateful? I got the peaceful evening that I wanted.”

Still, Sharpen waited.

A knock on the door...

At last! Naked, or not naked? Well, it might not be a great idea for him to open the door for overly curious, lusty neighbors these days. Sharpen noted the blur by the front window didn’t look to menacing and so went half-way, he threw his bear skin around himself, with one long fuzzy arm over his shoulder, sort of like a toga.

“Ahoy, there!” He said, unable to fully exit the fantasy world of his favorite book. Whoever it was would be startled enough, this should really frazzle them.

Alessandre, a tall dark-skinned Night Elf with deep blue hair stood on his doorstep. A rogue, reportedly an assassin, though Sharpen knew Al would never admit to that. Al wasn’t any danger to Sharpen, he was a friend of his sister’s.

Sharpen winced immediately, “Oh… I…” Then as soon as Alessandre started yelling at him, “Al! Seriously, I forgot! I’m usually up here on my own.”

“I was stuck in Winterspring, freezing! For three hours! I didn’t have a map, or a way to contact you. You said you would meet me because it was too hard to explain getting through the switchbacks up the mountain… I slid down a mountainside, trying to get up here and find your ass, Sharpen Jadescythe!”

Alessandre was bruised, his fine leather clothing was ripped. Who knew where his coat or cloak had got to. Sharpen tried not to ask questions when his scary rogue friend needed help.

“Please, come in—”

“And why are you naked? Do I look like one of your weird, hot mountain-man dates! Now let me in, everyone in town said there was a winter storm coming. Flakes are already starting to come down...”

Alessandre pushed his way inside, slamming the door.

“You just insulted your own boss, you know. She has a key. Sometimes she visits me...”

The two men arguing reverberated all through the walls of the wintry cabin for an hour or so before they eventually settled down to dinner, with Sharpen hopefully dressed by that time. Well. That’s one reason to get dressed for the day like mother always said.

Random assassins. Who’da thought?

Naked book reading time almost never failed. And then, came the loudest shout of all...

Alessandre slammed something down in the kitchen, “Hold on! You’re seeing my boss?! What part of ‘I need to lay low for a while, can I stay at your place because I might be in trouble with the Greyshields’ did you NOT understand, Sharpen?”

“She’s lovely and really nice once you get to know her.”

An even louder man-shriek, “She’s the one coming to kill me!”

Welp. This was going to be an interesting couple of days.

“Not in a snowstorm, though. You’re overreacting. And whatever you did can’t be that bad--”

“We’re talking about Jiroki Glaivefall. She IS the snowstorm, Sharpen!”

Yep, certainly good times!

#sharpen-al

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purplesurveys · 4 years

Text

804

All About the Letter A!

Please List! (at least one)

Animals I Like: Aspins! That’s what we call our native dogs, and usually they’re street dogs. Since they come from the street, they can eat all types of human food with no problem and are generally less likely to contract serious diseases. They make for amazing guard dogs and are just the best companions. Kimi’s part aspin :)

Foods I Like: There’s a local place that makes really good avocado cheesecake, and I’ll go with that.

I Know Someone Who’s (jobs): Anthropologist, air cabin crew, and accountant.

I Wouldn’t Mind Visiting: Athens, Arizona, Antarctica.

Sometimes I Feel: Anxious is the word I’m looking for most of the time these days. Sometimes I also get agitated.

Music I Listen To: Against Me!, Ariana Grande, alt-J, Adele.

Movies I’ve Seen: Anomalisa, A Clockwork Orange, A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Streetcar Named Desire, Amélie, American History X, Adventureland.

Names I Like: Amelie/Amelia, Alessandra, Arden, Ava, Audrey.

And now, onto the random questions!

Are you able to distinguish the difference of when to use “a” versus “and”? If the survey meant a/an, then yes.

Have you ever been in an airplane before? Yessss, a bunch of times. Riding airplanes never fails to make me feel excited, too.

Are you available? No. Which reminds me of some asshole who messaged my Facebook last week and said he wanted “to talk” to me because I’m “pretty.” I was the most horrified demisexual and my fingers went straight to the Block option lol.

What’s the best/funniest “autocorrect” that has happened to you/in your phone? Fuck turning into duck is always funny.

Abercrombie, American Eagle, or Aeropostale for clothes? Pass. I think all three of these shops went out of style like a decade ago.

Do you believe in angels or aliens? I believe in extraterrestrial life but not in the big head, green skin, big black eyes way that they’re usually portrayed as. I don’t believe in angels.

Have you ever been arrested? Nope.

Can you tell the difference between acute, right, and obtuse angles? Yes.

Do you appreciate art? In which forms? I appreciate all kinds of art, but like if I was in an art museum I would always flock to paintings.

Does any part of your body currently ache? Which part? Nothing is aching but my entire body is feeling very hot because it’s noon.

Do you get a lot of acne? Only whenever I’m really stressed in school. When all my deadlines start coming together, there’s always one or two noticeable pimples that show up and it’s always in an unfortunate area on my face, like in the middle of my eyes.

Are you athletic? To an extent, I guess? I can play table tennis and have shown good reflexes in sports like futsal.

Who/what are you attracted to? What attractive qualities do you find appealing? I’m demisexual; who I’m attracted to depends on who I’ve become close with, so having a list of desirable traits around doesn’t work for me.

Favorite author? I don’t have one.

Favorite actor or actress: Kate Winslet.

Do you consume alcohol? Yesssss and am always down for it.

Do you have any ailments? Not anymore! I had a UTI last week but with some very good antibiotics prescribed to me by Angela’s mom I’ve been feeling better for around a week now. It was bad for a while though and I kept having a fever that never went away and I could barely go up and down the stairs without feeling faint.

Do you wear an apron when you cook? No. I don’t think we even have aprons at home.

What time do you normally fall asleep? Midnight or a few hours after that.

Have you ever broken your arm or your ankle? I’ve sprained an ankle before. I had a bad fall, embarrassingly, in front of a rally that was ongoing at school at the time.

What is your age? 22.

Do you typically win or lose arguments? With Gabie, it only ever ends in a truce because neither of us like losing. With my mom, I let her win so that I can pretty much continue staying in this house, but she doesn’t know I could essentially kill her if I just chose to turn up my arguments to 100% lmao.

Do you believe in astrology? No and it’s really hard to like people who take them incredibly seriously. A worst breed of people is those who like astrology but relentlessly shit on the MBTI test like...sure it might be bogus too, but at least you take a million questions about your personality on the MBTI test...

Do you enjoy going to amusement parks? My friends and I don’t ever have time to go to amusement parks, but even if we did, I’d probably be the friend that doesn’t go half the time. I just wouldn’t get my money’s worth in places like those since I don’t go on rides anyway.

Do you like the color aqua? It’s not a bad color at all. < True.

What are your aspirations? Get a great start into my career, save some money to help my parents for a bit, move out, travel some, and ultimately, all the white picket fence stuff with the person I’ll be with. Idk, I’m conventional when it comes to my goals.

Do you have any allergies? I don’t.

What is one of your most awkward moments? I have at least one everyday. Same goes for embarrassing moments.

Describe your appearance: I’m 5′1″, black shoulder-length hair with bangs, dark brown eyes, two ear piercings with one of the piercings ripped open from an accident, and shoulders that are a little bit tilted if you look closely because of my scoliosis.

What kind of an accent do you have? I wouldn’t know how to describe it but I have just a teeeeeny bit of an American accent due to me talking in English most of the time with nearly everyone I know, but it’s not perfect because of my Filipino tongue. It’s the same accent as those who went to private school and speaks English as a first language.

Are you addicted to anything? I don’t have any serious addictions but I will never pass up the chance to eat macarons, cheesecake, and any dish with truffle in it.

What are you afraid of? Death, cockroaches, losing the people I love, being in the kitchen and having something get on fire, getting eaten alive by an animal, drowning in the middle of the ocean or sea.

Are you big on showing affection? Intimately, like if it’s only the two of us together. I don’t like being too showy when in public because I know a good number of people don’t like it.

Do you live in an apartment? Nope. House.

Do you prefer Apple products? Yeah, all the gadgets I use regularly are Apple.

Have you ever received an award? For what? The last one I received was in elementary school for winning in a quiz bee.

Are you an Aquarius or an Aries? No.

Which alarms have you heard before? My phone’s, the fire alarm in emergency drills, the national local alerts on my phone whenever there’s a typhoon, earthquake, or volcano eruption, firetruck siren, ambulance siren, police siren.

Have you ever been under anesthesia before? What was the outcome? No and I am scaredddddd for the possibility. As far as I know that’s an injection too; and besides, I might end up saying embarrassing shit in front of my parents.

Anything else that you’d like to ask? Nopes.

[a-zebra-is-a-striped-horse]

#survey #surveys

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madamsixx · 4 years

Text

Beyond The Leather:

Chapter 8: Nikki Annoying Sixx

February 20, 1985

Six New messages

Hey Mani its Nikki, sorry about yesterday I didnt mean to speak to you like that. You just get under my skin somtimes. Well call me back I'd like to see you.

Beep : Message Deleted

Sooooo I'm calling again to check up on you. You haven't called me back. Call me back.

Beep: Message Deleted

Mani your really fucking pissing me off ok call me back. By the way I'm learning how to cook for you. Well actually us. The things I do for you.

Beep: Message Deleted

Hey princess I'm sorry ok, just talk to me. Were having alot of fun in the studio. Tommy wants you to come by. Plus you should try the food I made.

Beep: Message Deleted

Princess please call me back. Stop fucking ignoring me. Your making me angry.

Beep: Message Deleted

Mani I miss you. Please call me.

Beep: Message Deleted

That was the last messege I listened to before ripping the phone cord out. I have been ignoring him since the last time I saw him. Nikki was into drugs and that wasn't my life. I'm a respectable girl who comes from a respectable family and my mom would throw a fit if she ever found out I was hanging out with someone like Nikki sixx. He will just have to get over us being friends. Anyways, Tamara came back scolding me on my outfit for the Joan Rivers interview. She said I looked awful that made me laugh actually. Theresa was fired right away because of what happened, but also because she was doing drugs. I was now on a very tight leash. Especially because I got the part for the movie. And after my birthday in September, I will no longer be doing teen magazines. I will be featured on the cover of the biggest magazines.

"Hey honey soooo theres two things, one in March you will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine and two you have an interview with Barbara Walter's." Tamara shouted and I jumped up screaming. "She is sooo excited to meet you." I ran and hugged her this was exciting. I couldn't wait to tell my mom. I was heading home for a couple of weeks. "Um why did you unplug the phone cord missy?" Tamara ask with one hand on her hip and the other holding the cord.

"Oh uh I tripped over the cord by accident sorry. Haha clumsy me." I lied. ______

I spent the evening until night shopping. I started to realize I was a shopaholic when I constantly kept going out to buy new clothes, jewellery, heels, and hand bags. I was really into fashion and mixing cloths together. I was also into cosmetics like really into it. Maybe down the line I'll venture into business, but for now its acting and modeling.

I was inside a shop and saw this really cute handbag. I mean I had several but why not get one more. I purchased it, and I'm not going to tell you the price. I headed out of the store and got into my limo. Can you beleive it, I'm in a limo.

When I reached back at the condo. My chauffeur helped me get my bags out and carry them upstairs. "Thank you Daniel." I say while giving him 100. "No problem Miss Darlington." He took it and left. I saw a note by the table.

Went to office be back later- Tammi.

Well I'll show her what I bought when she gets back. I was so excited to start trying on my new clothing. And everything else with it. This was the life that I never thought I could have. I bought some stuff for my sisters, my mom, and aunts and uncles. They will really love them. I sheded down into my bra and panties taking off cloths and trying new ones. I put on these nice thigh high boots that could be worn in the winter time. After all I am going home for a couple of weeks. And its snowing in Canada. With a cute black romper. I heard a knock on the door and ran to go and get it. "Coming!" I yelled. I opened it up with out even looking through the peek hole, stupid me.

And saw none other then Nikki annoying Sixx, and he did not look happy. I tried to shut it right away but he put his arm between the door and was pushing back.

"Mani please just let me in." He says while he's forcefully trying to get in.

"Nikki go away!" I say pushing back.

With a big push. Nikki forces the door open and the impact sends me flying and hitting the ground with a thud.

"Oh shit I'm sorry." He laughs.

"It's not funny my butt cheek is hurting you ass!" I yell at him.

"Tsk tsk tsk I thought you didn't swear princess." He smirks.

God he is truly annoying.

"C'mere doll let me help you up." He wobbles towards me almost loosing his footing. He was drunk and probably high.

"Your drunk Nikki, you need to leave Tamara is downstairs." I lied.

"I'm drunk and high." He smirks. "And no shes not."

"And how do you know?" I asked furrowing my brows.

"Because I saw her leave and shes going to be gone for a while." He smiles walking towards my shopping bags.

"So you camped outside the condo until she left?" I asked walking behind him.

"No I camped on the 5th floor in some random chicks place. She let me come in with her." He says while pulling cloths out of the bags.

What the hell is wrong with this guy. I mean really!

"Nikki why are you hear?" I demanded.

"Im here because your ignoring my fucking phone calls. I've left you several fucking messages and your not returning them!" He shouted as he got in my face. I could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Well of course I'm ignoring your calls. And now that you know one hundred percent that I am, you can go back to the 5th girls place or get out!" I yelled motioning towards the door.

Nikki smiled then walked towards the couch and sat down he kicked his feet up on the table like he was at home and put his hands behind his head. "I drove here. Your not really gonna kick a drunk and high guy out of your home to go driving on the streets now will you?"

I can't believe this guy. I was seething with anger. How dare he use something that happened to Vince to stay over here. "Nikki that is a really awful thing to say, that's not a joke. I want you out right now." I say with a stern voice.

"No." He sneered. He kicked his shoes off then grabbed the TV remote turned it on then changed it to MTV.

I had enough of this guy. I decided to just call security and have them deal with him. I took off my boots then walked towards the phone picking it up to dial security. Next thing I know Nikki is charging at me grabbing the phone from my hand.

"Nikki stop it!" I yelled trying to grab the phone back.

"Just calm the fuck down Iman!" He shouted in my face. I then slapped him across the face. Something I wish I didnt do because at that point Nikki saw red. He then picked me up over his shoulders with me kicking and screaming. And walked towards my room.

"Put me down now you jerk!" I yelled.

He then threw me on the bed pinning my arms over my head. "Calm the fuck down!" He yelled

"No!" I yelled back struggling to get out of his grip. He then leaned closer to my face. Making me smell the whisky on his breath. His lips brushed against mine and he whispered with a very low voice. "Calm down princess." He bit his lips and I started breathing hard. He slowly used his legs to spread my legs open and settled in between them. I felt how hard he was through his pants.

"Your so fucking beautiful." He whispered and used his thumb to graze my bottom lip.

Nikki was dangerous. He was dangerous because he was good looking. He has a baby face, beautiful eyes, beautiful hair he's a bad boy, and he's in the biggest rock band there is. Girls love him and would fall for him so easily with out even realizing that he has a lot of problems. Drugs were his number one problem. And as long as he was doing drugs, he would always have problems.

"But I'm young Nik, and you do drugs." I say struggling to sit up and move him up off of me.

"I know princess." He moved to the side of my bed and sat with his back against the head board. He sat there in silence thinking for a bit.

"Iman I'm back, oh my God what is this mess in the living room?" I heard Tamara come in. My eyes nearly popped out of my head. "Nikki stay silent please or so help me God." I whispered to him. "Ok princess." He chuckled.

I ran out of the room with my heart eating ten time fast.

"Hey Tammi sorry I went shopping." I started picking up the bags off the ground.

"Yeah I can see that." Her eyes went wide.

"What is it with you and this phone." She picks the receiver up and puts it back.

"Sorry I was calling some of my friends." I turn over and notice Nikki's boots on the living room carpet. I slowly move towards the carpet to grab the boots.

"Honey can you grab me a drink please I'm very exhausted." Tamara asks as she walks towards the living room couch to sit down. My heart was racing u was praying that she wouldnt see those cowboy boots just lying there on the carpet. She would know for sure that someone was here. "Um sure." I walked to the kitchen and poured her some cranberry juice than brought it back to her. I grabbed one of the shopping bags and knelt down by the table and picked up the boots and put them in. "Alright I'm going to bed." I started running.

"Um hello excuse me take the rest of these bags to your room. Your making this place look like a garbage dump full of bags!" She yelled. I ran back and packed the rest of the things I bought including my boots that I kicked off. "Goodnight Tami." I hugged and kissed her. "Goodnight sweety." She kissed back. I got into the room and let out a long sigh. I looked over at Nikki who took off his blue and gold jacket and threw it on the floor and was comfortably sleeping on my bed. I crawled on my bed and shook him. "Nikki." I whispered "Nikki you have to go once Tamara goes to bed."

"Mmmm no." He says snuggling into my pillow. Well what more could I do I guess he's spending the night. I got up and turned the light off then grabbed shorts and a tank top and changed into them. I got into my bed and layed beside him and just stared at him. I starting to caress his cheek all the way to his jaw and he squirmed a bit. He then opened his beautiful green eyes and looked at me.

"Can you promise me something princess?" he whispered

"promise you what?" I whispered back.

"Promise me that when you come of age and I get my shit together that you'll be my girl. That you'll be mine and only mine?" I nodded with a smile. "No I need to hear you say it so I know there's hope." "I promise to be yours Nikki." I smiled. He leaned over and kissed the top of my head then pulled me closer to him. I snuggled tight agaisnt him and we went to sleep in each others arms.

The next day I woke up, and my eyes went wide when I realized Nikki was still in my bed. I dont know if he snores alot in his sleep when he's not drunk. But he certainly snored alot last night. I barely slept. I turned over to look at him. He looked like an angel. His messy hair was all over my pillows. I didn't want to wake him, but I know I had to. I nugded him to wake him up a bit. But he didn't even move. So then I decided after what he he did yesterday by making me hurt my butt cheek when I fell, payback seemed fair. I lifted myself into sitting position on the bed with my feet on his torso and my hands positioned behind me to give me a good balance. I pulled my legs towards me then gave him one big kick off the bed. He rolled off hitting his body on the ground and his head on the small dresser beside my bed. Woops!

"Ow you bitch, what the fuck!" He shouted on the ground. Where I couldn't see him.

"Hahahahahaha pay back hurts dosen't it."

"Fuck you."

"Now now Mr.Sixx no swearing." I chuckled.

He got up and climbed back onto the bed sitting and holding his head.

"You snore a lot."

"So I'm told." He looked at me with a smile.

"You have to go Nik."

"So your not even gonna make me breakfast. What kind of girl doesn't make breakfast for her man when he spends a night." He moves closer to me and I push away. "First off I would never make you breakfast especially when your capable of doing it your self. And second I'm not your girl." I say pointing to myself.

"Yet." Nikki says with a full on smile plastered on his face.

"I gotta use your washroom to piss. And where are my boots?" He asks getting off the bed scratching his untamed hair. I got off the bed and grabbed the plastic bag I put them in and gave them to him. He grabbed them and put them on.

"Look Nik pee in your pants or pee outside but you need to go now before Tammi catches you." I pleaded.

"Alright fine fine." He picks up his jacket and walks towards the door.

"Wait let me check first." I poke my head out to see if the coast is clear. And then signal him to come. I push him out the door fast, then run to the kitchen to grab the garbage.

"What's the garbage for, it's not even full?" He asks.

"I'm pretending like I'm throwing it away." I start giggling because he's looking at me like I'm a little devil.

"Oh babe you and me are gonna get along just fine." He says as he puts his arm around me to start walking. "So can I see you later on?"

"Sure, I'm heading back to Canada for a couple of weeks tomorrow. And I wont be back till March 11. Cause I have a photo shoot with Sports Illustrated Magazine on the 12 in the morning."

"Wow, so I need to take you somewhere special. That way you'll think of me while your away." We stopped by the elevator and he turned me to face him. Nikki could make a girls knees buckle in a second that's how good looking he was. But I kept trying to remind my self that he was no good. He could never be the man I would want him to be. But then again he did ask me to keep that promise. And he did say when he gets his "ish" together. So who knows.

"Um so I'll pick you up later?" He scratches his head and looks down at his shoes.

"Ok." I smile.

He pushes the elevator button and it comes up. We wave each other good bye. I'm not sure what this is between Nikki and I. But what ever it is, he's got me thinking about him more. A lot more. _________

I sat waiting for Nikki. He had called to say he was going to come at 3:30. It was now 4:26. I started pacing around my room. When ever I would hear the phone ring I would run to it hoping that it was him but then get disappointed when it wasn't. I started thinking about last night. What me and Nikki talked about, I did really like him. But I dont like the whole groupies, drugs, and bad boy stuff. If I was to have any future with him a lot would have to change. But also I'm still young so for me to even be thinking about these things is weird. I should be thinking about chilling with friends, sleepovers, and gossiping. But I wasn't, I didnt have any friends here in LA. Maybe that's why when ever Nikki would come around I would tag along with him. Cause the truth is I felt lonely. Nikki isn't good for me but he's the only one I have to talk to, besides Tamara. And shes always working. I had Theresa as well, but because she was fired I have no idea where she is and if she would even talk to me.

4:40 pm

I called Nikki's number again and there was no answer.

5:30 pm

Tamara called she said she would be coming back late. I hope Nikki calls.

6:15 pm

Nikki called and apologized. At least he did call. He said he'll be here by 6:30 so thats great. It means he didn't forget about me.

9:00 pm

I sat in front of the TV blankly staring at it. I couldn't tell you what was on cause I didn't really care. I just heard noises. Yelling, screaming, and someone saying please dont kill me. I sat there for another 10 minutes and then turned the TV off and went to bed. Nikki wasn't coming.

#nikki sixx #tommy lee #mick mars #vince neil #motley crue

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obsidianruneblog · 4 years

Photo

Crisis 10: Free Will

Principle 5: The Planet of Eupheme has consciousness and processes thought. It also contains desires and a will.

- AppleGarth W.

“I can read people's minds, but not just their thoughts, their past, present and desires. Everything. But it doesn't seem to just apply to people. I can see places that are hidden and people that are not here. But not the dead. It is so very confusing. When we went to the pike that evening, I was able to see what looked like a giant planet in the sky on the other side of our star, or the shadow of it at least. That amongst other things that don’t make sense…” Varitas said pausing.

“I see. . .” I replied, it was overwhelming to hear, even for me. “How long have you known?”

“I only recently started practicing and focusing how I use my Serenity with RuiMel, but I think that I may have been this way for years looking back.”

“Have you used your insight on any of us?” I asked as his eyes shifted down towards his lap and then over towards his desk.

“...”

“Varitas, it’s okay. Tell me.”

“I couldn’t help it but when we were at the pike I looked at the church and saw so much. Then when I shifted my gaze towards Zay I was able to see some of his past, his thoughts and everything that happened with his parents.” He replied, crossing his arms.

“So you know who he is now correct?”

He nodded. I could tell his words were the truth from his body mannerisms. Zay’s story along with what happened to his parents is horrid, uncomfortable and overwhelming.

“Later, when Jade held me during the fire, I was able to see everything that happened in her life, her thoughts, her research, everything.”

“I understand, what about RuiMel and myself.” I asked as he shifted his gaze toward me.

“No, as much as I tried I wasn’t able to see anything about RuiMel. As for you, I don’t see anything either. I am not sure what it means.” He uttered with a slight tone of disappointment. I sighed placing my hand on the beanie I wore, that Gran had handsewn and gifted to me. I felt...relieved in some sense.

“Well I can imagine that it has been hard for you, overwhelming at times?”

“Mmm… yeah but not so much as it used to when it first started. A couple months ago it became so overwhelming I was seeing and hearing too much and I thought my head was going to explode. I wasn’t able to hear anything and everything I saw started to become a blur. Gran found me in the room seizing and had several doctors come to observe me and said that it was a random seizure, and that I was probably staying up too late watching TV. ”

“You didn’t tell them about your Serenity?”

“No… For some reason I felt I should keep it a secret.”

“Good choice, when Gran first found out about my Serenity she had every one of her society members coming to the cottage and visiting me it was so annoying.” I uttered as I sloached across his bed, Varitas laughed. It was nice to hear that after all this time.

“Still...I am sure it must have been fun, getting advice from all of her society members and other spades. Learning Lore that they required, you even managed to finish the fourth chapter right? ”

“Varitas… I find it all to be very overrated. Please if there is anything that I could tell you after all of it, it’s this. Choosing this life means accepting the dangers of not only others but yourself as well. You won’t be able to live a normal life by any means, there are responsibilities and burdens that come with the life past chapter four. That is why most of us aren’t allowed to begin the Lore until we have reached eighteen. To be this far in at a young age… I’m afraid of what it could do to you physically and mentally.” I pleaded, I was honest. This is what is best for him, Gran and RuiMel do not understand but I do. I won’t allow this lifestyle to take over him and his free will.

“But V, I studied some of the dangers and I know about the risks. I know it is a big lifestyle change but if I study and start early I think I may be able to stop the ones who did this to Gra- ”

“What happened to Gran was an accident, there isn’t some crazy conspiracy to it. Sometimes terrible things just happen to the ones we love and it’s out of our control!”

“Isn’t the point of Serenity to change that? To study the abilities we have so that we can make a difference and gain control over the things we can’t?”

“Stop!” I shouted standing up and turning away from him. I couldn’t believe how deeply he has been brainwashed by that woman and her teachings. I had to take a moment to calm myself. “Why don’t we do this, tomorrow Jade and her team are doing a research test of their new satellite.”

“I know..”

“She agreed to take you, if you like it, I have some connections at the Hernoco Science department. We can prep for the entrance exam and you can study the void and even join her team. If you still decide that you want to return to the Lore, then I’ll tell you about why I left it all. Then you can decide for yourself…deal?”

He crossed his arms and lowered his head shifting his eyes back and forth, this is often how he spent his time thinking. He looked up and me and nodded.

“Deal.”

“Great, in the meantime.” I took my beanie off and placed it on his head. “Wear this, promise me the only time you take it off is when you shower and even then you will put it right back on when you finish. Always keep it on, it will keep you safe.”

He raised his hands and fixed the beanie on his head admiring the warmth it brought, as I have. He moved his long black curls, exposing his eyes and nodded.

“I promise.”

“Thank you.” I smiled, it looked far better on him than me anyway. “You know, that black beanie really compliments your brown skin.” I said as he smiled turning away. “Well, I will see you tomorrow then. Gnight Veritas.”

“See you later V.” He said as he got up from his bed, making his way to the desk.

I left the room, closing the door behind me. As I made my way through the hallway which was still full of various boxes and moving containers. I found Jade and Zay standing talking on the kitchen island over coffee.

“Alright, I gotta head out. Have to study.” I said as Jade approached.

“You aren’t disappearing again are you?” She asked as I paused.

“No, of course not. He needs us all now more than ever. I’ll be back in a couple of days.” I said as she gave a sigh of relief and saw me out. I made my way down her complex halls which were modern and full of various screens displaying community events and lights that were dim. More expensive than anything I have ever seen. As I made my way to the elevator a gentleman held the door open for me.

“Evening.” He said with a smile, I have seen him before on our various trips to move Varitas and Jade’s things inside the apartment. He was another well off private contractor living on this tenth floor. Probably worked in another department within that mountain of researchers.

“Thanks, evening.” I said as I entered, crossing my arms. I was heated but I knew what I had to do. It was clear. I kept tapping my fingers against my arm as I tried to get myself together.

“Excuse me. Excuse me, which floor?” the man asked as I regained focus.

“Right sorry.” I replied as I uncrossed my arms and pressed the L button for the lobby. The elevator closed and began to shift downward.

“No worries, I figured it would be strange for you to follow me to the basement lounge.”

“Right.” I replied, crossing my arms and tapping my fingers once again. For the next couple of minutes all I could think about was how I could save Veritas from the Lore. I had to get the book away from him. Tomorrow is the start of the week and Jade is going to be out of the apartment in prep for her research test and if she takes Veritas with her I can skip class and return for the bo-

“Excuse me. Excuse me, which floor?” the man asked as I regained focus.

“W-What?” I replied as I pressed the L button to the lobby. The door began to close as the Elevator shifted downwards leaving the tenth floor.

“Funny… I feel like we have done this before.” He uttered as he fixed his tie.

“Yeah…” I replied as we reached the lobby. I quickly left him in the elevator as I quickly rushed out. Damn it.

#CrisisSeries #writersontumblr #artists on tumblr

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momijis-sunglasses · 5 years

Text

so in my post-first-two-episodes-of-furuba glow, I went home and watched the first episode of the 2001 anime again.

hoo boy.

it was FASCINATING.

it’s definitely become a little more common for the same story to receive multiple adaptations. but here we have two first episodes that cover the exact same chapter in the manga, end on the same story hook, and even have plenty of similar shots. but the overall impression and tone is incredibly different between the two. and it’s so revealing for why i’m optimistic about the new anime and have big issues with the 2001 adaptation.

SPOILERS

-the 2019 anime has the huge benefit of knowing the entire story. starting out with a flashback to the bond first being created between god and the animals is a great idea. it gets a hint of the supernatural in there early for new viewers, and it’s giving you a visual metaphor (the ropes aka literal bonds) of one of the key themes of the series. the new anime is being made with the awareness of the rest of the series, and that’ll improve things so much. they’re already really teasing the hat, and even kyo’s beads. it’s nothing too overt, just little nudges at the viewer that serve as a fun thing for existing fans and ways to tease the mystery for new fans.

-the scene where Tohru first finds the house and meets Shigure have very, very similar scripts between both versions. and I wish I had the new version in front of me right now because I can’t provide specific examples of why this is -- but I was left with a much more natural impression from the new version. the directing is just better. I think the 2001 anime has the problem of being too abrupt constantly. it’s like nothing’s given room to breathe. in the new anime, there’s a really nice transition into a flashback (lots of flashbacks in this episode haha) using the wind chime at Shigure’s to one at Tohru and Kyoko’s apartment. and actually going into the apartment gives the whole flashback a better sense of place. this is also where it starts being really apparent how much more static the old anime is. i do think they generally did the best with what they had, but there are more pans over still frames and the characters expressions are usually flat. the new anime is 1000% more dynamic.

-which also contributes to the comedy! there’s the same funny “what do you have in there, a dictionary?”/”two dictionaries” gag in both, but it lands better in the new anime. it’s more background chatter than anything, actually, so it feels more like incidental funny dialogue. like these people just banter and bug each other on the reg. the 2001 anime makes everything more slapstick and over the top, and 2019 tones it back to something more naturalistic. which i’m happy about, because when i think fruits basket, i think dry humor more than anything.

-also! eric vale! i’ve never blamed him for this, but his performance is sooooo much better in the new anime. he was definitely a newer voice actor (like a lot of the cast) when the 2001 anime came out, but I blame a lot of the issues I had with his performance before on the voice directing. there are so many times in the old episode where Yuki sounds straight up creepy. i don’t know if they were going for mysterious, but they didn’t get there that’s for sure. he’s more regular and a bit suave in the new one, which makes sense for this part of the story. yuki’s just like.. a huge improvement between these two versions. I always felt like the director of the 2001 anime didn’t get Yuki at all. like he thought he was actually a prince and also just wanted to make a cool character so girls would swoon and buy merch or w/e. I just want Yuki to get his due as a character, dammit!

-if you haven’t watched the original in a while and have hulu or netflix, fire that shit up because the transition to school is sooooo bad. first the prince yuki fanclub and their weird chant thing... and then uo and hana’s introduction is also super abrupt and we’re just firing through these scenes real fast. the new one has the same events happen, but again, it’s more natural. no weird chant! the prince yuki club has just cornered tohru in a hallway and are berating her. a boy even walks past and is like, “yikes, bullying.” because it totally is! the timing on uo and hana to the rescue is a lot better. and i think because of that, it allows the comedy more time to develop so that’s it’s actually funny and not just confusing. also all three of them feel more like comfortable friends. like we’re witnessing their usual dynamic. since the 2001 director was always going for comedy, it almost feels more like an interrogation in the old version.

-THIS! CHANGE! IS SO IMPORTANT! so the 2001 anime races through tohru telling us why she’s living in a tent. lightspeed. we have time for the prince yuki fan club chant, but we can’t spend too much time establishing the drama of the situation. in the 2001 anime, we transition to a literal slideshow basically recreating panels from the manga while tohru monologues over it about how her mom died in an accident but she wound up with her grandpa and he asks her to go live with a friend for a while. we all know the story. the new anime, on the other hand, transitions to an actual flashback, not a still image, of tohru as a kid balancing a checkbook while she explains how her dad passed away and her mom had a tough time all by herself. it’s really sad! and it’s so much more effective to show her as an actual kid worrying about money stuff and making dinner. they also showed a heap of blood instead of a car hitting a wall to represent kyoko’s death, which... woof. and then we get an actual scene of her grandpa asking her if she can stay with a friend. which, again, gives us more time to actually feel the situation she’s in. but also works so well because he phrases it as an option for her. he says he’s worried she won’t be comfortable stuffed into a small house with a ton of people so she might be happier staying elsewhere for a while. and then tohru, OF COURSE, takes that consideration and goes to live in a tent. the transition (which is different between the two) to tohru cleaning up a storm at her job was also a moment of genuine, sweet comedy.

-yuki talking to tohru on the way home is kind of interesting, since the two adaptations treat it in kind of opposite ways? in the 2001 anime there’s that ~mysterious~ music while he tells her random zodiac facts and then silent tension (which I actually quite like) when he gives her that enigmatic “it’s not that i don’t like all cats” look. in the new one it’s a more normal conversation? like they’re just chatting. and then it turns when she realizes there’s something more to it and the music got pretty intense and there’s A Moment. i think it’s less outright sinister in the new one. seriously, i’m waiting for 2001 yuki to start monologuing about his master plan to take over the earth any time.

-shigure laughing at tohru’s tent is straight up funnier in the new one. the timing is better. also his continued laughter and yuki’s little “oh you’re done now?” was really well handled. that joke falls flat in the old version.

-and i don’t know how they do it because, again, these episodes have the same runtime and cover the same material, but this whole scene definitely feels like it takes it’s more time in the new anime. it’s not overstaying it’s welcome or anything. it’s punchy and funny and i loved seeing the characters play off each other. but even shigure opening the door to reveal the gross kitchen is given more of a beat to it, so you have a second to laugh. and him hearing the dog howling isn’t the most awkward thing you’ve seen anymore.

-since we’ve had more time to understand tohru’s situation and even her mom (kyoko is finally allowed to be herself and not Cliche Dead Mom!) through flashbacks in the new anime, tohru clawing at the dirt to get the picture of her mom is actually pretty heart-wrenching. you get it more. everything she has in the world is in that tent and she doesn’t have anything but pictures to remember her mom by. this is what i’m so excited about in the new anime. if you give more time to build motivations and drama, because you understand that’s important to storytelling, then the emotional parts will hit that much harder

-tohru telling shigure about the day her mom died! I've always loved this scene, because it's one of the few times Tohru actually opens up to someone (who's not Kyo :P)about feeling crappy. amazing what a fever can do. these two scenes are so interesting, because they're actually really similar. we get the exact same info, and some of the shots of tohru lying on the futon are basically identical. but once again, the 2001 anime does a lot more telling us what happened. some shots are obvious budget-saving measures, like an extended shot of the paper wall/door with tree shadows waving. (what room are they supposed to be in?? for some reason, I always thought that was the kitchen) (actually the reason was all the rats are behind that door) (you KNOW there are rats in that kitchen) the 2019 anime, on the other hand, goes back to those old reliable flashbacks. we get a repeated (and longer) shot of kyoko going out the door, and you realize as the scene goes on and tohru explains she didn't even wake up to see her leave that morning, that it's an imagined scene or a memory of another day. which is... oof. make me feel all those feelings, please. we also get more actual kyoko dialogue, which is always a good thing.

-I also love yuki showing up after she's fallen asleep, having overheard anything, and saying he could've left the sohma compound to live in a tent. uh, I mean, I love it in the manga and the new anime. I won't put this on the original production staff and more on the original English dub, but oh boy is yuki kind of petulant and whiny in that scene. he sounds very petty and jealous and I don't like it. he's definitely envious of her to a degree (and beating up on himself), but he's also pretty in awe I think. ANYWAY I felt the new dub fixed this, so I wasn't like, what's your problem, dude?

-yuki and the rats is still weird lol (honestly being able to "communicate" with their animal is dropped so damn fast in the manga. I only like it for the payoff of the birds running away from kureno.)

-actually, one of the only things I prefer in the 2001 anime is tohru waking up to her mom's photo right next to the futon. I love the idea of yuki setting it up there real quietly while she sleeps, knowing it's the thing she was most worried about. so cute! but one point for the new dub: i'm assuming tohru says "oka-san" when she wakes up. since it's three syllables and zoomed in on her mouth they've changed(?) it to "I miss you" in English and just stab me right through the heart why don't you!!

-it seems like everyone's saying this, but that staircase scene! it's not even really a scene. but I love it! a cramped little switchback-y staircase. this show is making me feel like i'm IN shigure's house. it's also shot cool, and the reveal of kyo in the tree is great. I love that it's not pointed out so obviously, and he's just there. (it'd be hard to miss him though)

-then of course we end on kyo jumping through the whole damn roof (he really blasts through it in 2019 haha) and everyone turning into animals. no huge differences, but I want to fast forward a little to talk about kyo. jerry jewell may be the member of the returning cast who sounds the most "similar" to his old rendition of the character, HOWEVER. there's a huge change in acting and vocal direction. it might seem like a small change, but it's not! it's really big! in the 2001 anime he jumps through that roof and says a punny line (it would take kyo 6 months to come up with that lbr) and rah-rah rages through the next few episodes when he's not acting sheepish. now he sounds much less like he's just angry and more like he BLURTS things. a thought comes into his head and BLURT it's out of his mouth. because of the increased range in emotional expression on all their faces, we can see that he seriously feels guilty and conflicted about being mean to tohru. like there is some depth there to be mined. it's so much more obvious that the people around him can easily push him to the point of blowing up, and that he doesn't feel in control of himself. I give major props to the animation team, the anime director, and the dub director (I would trust Caitlin Glass with my actual life at this point) for pulling this off. because it seems subtle! but it really is a big difference!

I used to be a pretty staunch believer that we DID NOT need another anime adaptation of fruits basket. I know a lot of people wanted it, but I really never did. I love the manga so much, and think it's masterfully done. after the original anime, I didn't want more of it. mostly, because I didn't trust anyone to do it right. a lot of the changes made by the original anime may seem "small" to many people, but what makes furuba so great to me IS all those tiny nuances. change a tiny detail, and you may have changed the whole feel of a scene or an important interaction. the manga is pretty quiet, for most of it's run. little moments build up to create a big, beautiful tapestry. so I was happy reading my manga over again and not worrying about anyone else ever touching it to bring it to moving color.

so i'd say I was likely to be a harsh judge. and I was really, REALLY impressed with what they accomplished. i'm sure there'll be some decision I disagree with later. they'll cut some scene I love or i'll disagree with the emphasis on something somewhere. but they've really built up a lot of goodwill with me. I LOVED watching these characters on screen and seeing them interact. seeing them all eat around the table together felt like coming home. like settling down for another furuba reread.

and it's all the stuff above that made me feel that way. seemingly little tiny details and differences. again, we're talking about the exact same story! it's told with almost the same lines and the same characters and many of the same jokes. but it really felt different, because of small changes. and a much better understanding of what furuba is.

#fruits basket #furuba #fruits basket spoilers #furuba spoilers #text #a mountain of text i can't be stopped

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morkshmallows · 5 years

Text

Serenade

A Markhyuck story in which Mark serenades Donghyuck in French because he’s in love (but also kind of a coward)

Extract: At random moments, for no apparent reason, Donghyuck will request a song, and Mark will find himself obliging. Then, for 3 or 4 minutes, Donghyuck will give him his undivided attention, and Mark will have to pretend that it doesn’t make him so nervous he might faint.

Word count: 1.6k Part: 1/3

A/N: This is an AU where Mark grew up in Québec and therefore speaks French! Originally meant to be crack, but Markhyuck makes me soft and hhh yeah, fluff/angst it is, I guess. Hope you’ll enjoy it! ^^

“Emmenez-moi au bout de la Terre… Emmenez-moi au pays des merveilles,” Marks sings softly, watching the city’s nightscape through the car’s window.

“Is that French?”

Mark glances back, meeting Donghyuck’s round eyes.

“Yup,” he replies. “It’s a song.”

There’s a sense of wonder on the younger’s face. “It sounds nice,” he declares. “I like it.”

Mark blinks. “You do?”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck says with a shrug. “Can you sing for me?”

“What?” he asks, lips curving a dumbfounded smile.

Donghyuck brings a hand to his heart.

“Serenade me, hyung,” he demands solemnly.

“Shut up,” Mark fires back, looking away, and he can feel his ears turning bright red.

A smile blossoms on the younger’s face. “For real. I like your singing voice.”

Marks studies him for a second. “Okay,” he lets out.

And he sings for Donghyuck.

From then on, it kinda becomes their thing. At random moments, for no apparent reason, Donghyuck will request a song, and Mark will find himself obliging. Then, for 3 or 4 minutes, Donghyuck will give him his undivided attention, and Mark will have to pretend that it doesn’t make him so nervous he might faint. Somehow (perhaps because it’s his literal job to perform), that never happens, but he still comes out of those interactions shaken up, and it feels unfair to him that Donghyuck doesn’t have to experience the same gripping anxiety.

The members don’t mind their little game. Sometimes, they even drop in to listen, and their presence breaks the intimacy of the endeavour. Mark finds that it’s both a relief and a bother. He’s is the only one amongst them who speaks French, but Donghyuck likes to brag that he can tell what Mark is saying by just looking at him.

“You’re an open book to me,” he lilts, grinning. “Regardless of the language.”

And that’s true, for the most part. Generally speaking, Mark isn’t one to hide his emotions, and Donghyuck has been around him for a long time. Still, Donghyuck doesn’t know everything.

He doesn’t know, for example, that when he smiles, Mark feels like the world finally makes sense. That when their skin brush, there’s a warmth that spreads from Mark’s core to the tip of his toes. Or that when he isn’t around, Mark can’t help but see him in everything.

In retrospect, there’s a lot Donghyuck doesn’t know.

The first time he does it, it’s an accident. Hyuck wants a song, and the only one his mind supplies is an old love song he hasn’t heard in years.

“On dit que le destin se moque bien de nous, qu’il ne nous donne rien et qu’il nous promet tout,” he sings, staring at his feet. “Paraît que le bonheur est à portée de main, alors on tend la main et on se retrouve fou.”

Donghyuck must realize that Mark is avoiding his gaze; being his usual bratty self, he lies his head on Mark’s lap and forces their eyes to meet.

“The hell?” Mark exclaims, and Donghyuck clicks his tongue with an annoyed expression before pressing the older to go on with a hand movement.

Mark tries to push him away, but the kid is persistent, and in the end, Mark doesn’t have the heart to use all his force.

“Continue!” Donghyuck whines.

An exaggerated sigh.

“Pourtant quelqu’un m’a que tu m’aimais encore,” Mark sings with reluctance. “C’est quelqu’un qui m’a dit que tu m’aimais encore…”

As the words escape his lips,

As he melts into Donghyuck eyes,

“Serait-ce possible alors?”

He realizes that he means what he’s saying.

“Serait-ce possible alors?”

As the verses spill out,

He’s talking to Donghyuck,

He’s serenading Donghyuck.

And every time after that,

Every time Donghyuck asks him to sing,

He chooses a love song.

“Hyuck did really well on that on that photoshoot,” Mark comments.

“You keep babbling about him,” Johnny sighs, shaking his head.

“Me?” he replies, taken aback.

“I know you think he’s great,” Johnny continues. “That he’s cute and funny and charismatic and blah blah blah… But you never say it to his face.”

Mark frowns. “Well, I…”

Johnny glares at him with irritation and a lingering fondness. “You should be more sincere.”

When Mark steps into his room, he finds a body curled up in the middle of his mattress.

“Jeez,” he mutters, shaking Donghyuck by the shoulder. “Go back to your own bed.”

“No,” the younger replies, voice muffled by the pillow.

“Dude, I’m tired…” Mark says, dropping by a very immobile Donghyuck.

“Me too.”

Marks rubs his temples; it’s not like it’s the first time something like this happens, and he knows that Donghyuck always wins.

“Move,” Mark instructs, pushing himself onto the bed.

Donghyuck groans but complies, and as soon as Mark is fully under the blanket, he wraps his legs around him.

“Hyuck,” Mark scolds, doing his best to keep a steady voice. “It’s too hot, stop.”

“Sing me to sleep,” Donghyuck replies groggily.

“Are you serious?”

“Mhm.”

“I’m exhausted.”

“Please.”

A short silence.

“What song?” Mark hears himself ask.

“Anything soothing.”

Mark considers the request.

“Moi je n’étais rien et voilà qu’aujourd’hui,” he begins, almost in a whisper. “Je suis le gardien du sommeil de ses nuits...”

“Go on,” Hyuck urges, squeezing his body a bit tighter.

“Je l’aime à mourir.”

He takes a deep breath, and the air smells of Donghyuck’s shampoo.

“Vous pourrez détruire tout ce qui vous plaira.”

Donghyuck hums along, and the vibrations send a shiver to Mark’s back.

“Il n’a qu’à ouvrir l’espace de ses bras pour tout reconstruire…”

The younger nuzzles against his side.

“Tout reconstruire,” he murmurs. “Je l’aime à mourir.”

As the song nears its end, Donghyuck’s breathing evens, and Mark thinks about running away (to the kitchen, to the street, to anywhere but here), but a minute passes, then ten, thirty.

Mark is still there.

He stays.

He always does.

Every now and then, Mark allows himself to confess a thing or two under the protection of their language barrier.

“Criss que t’es beau,” he mumbles.

Donghyuck frowns. “Was that an insult?”

“Uh…” Mark utters. “No.”

The other stares. “Right…”

Eventually, he starts doing it more often, and it always feels like a huge weight off his shoulders.

“Ce serait le fun, que tu m’aimes aussi,” he whispers as Donghyuck falls asleep against him for the third time that week. “Qu’on soit ensemble. Que j’puisse dire que t’es à moi.”

It’s all fun and games until one morning, when his body is functioning on 3 hours of sleep and his trilingual brain fucks up. Donghyuck is making tea, and despite his bed head, he looks absolutely lovely.

“I’d kiss you,” Mark says under his breath.

There’s a pause, and as Donghyuck eyes fill with confusion, Mark realizes his terrible mistake.

“What?” the younger lets out.

“What?” Mark echoes, and he considers yeeting out the window.

“What did you just say?”

“That I… miss… you.”

Hyuck doesn’t seem any less puzzled. “I’m right here though?”

“Yes,” Mark agrees slowly. “But we haven’t had much time to properly hang out recently.”

A pause.

“That’s true,” Donghyuck concedes, and he turns back to the tea. “Do you wanna go see a movie this weekend?”

“That’d be cool,” Mark declares, trying to breathe normally.

Donghyuck looks up again and smiles,

And there go Mark’s efforts.

After that unfortunate event, Mark calms down with his impromptu love confessions. If Donghyuck asks for him to sing, he’ll only agree if he can think of a song that has nothing to do with romance.

They’re walking back from the convenience store when Donghyuck requests something new. Mark protests, Donghyuck insists, and Mark would punch the boy if he wasn’t so damn cute. After a his mind runs around for a minute, he somehow ends up settling for the Canadian anthem.

He sings the beginning quietly, and Donghyuck is skipping besides him, and god, can he not?

“...car ton bras sait porter l’épée, il sait porter la croix. Ton histoire est une épopée des plus brillants exploits.”

A deep inspiration.

“God keep our land, glorious and free, Ô Canada we stand on guard for thee, Ô Canada we stand on guard for thee!”

There’s a pause.

“That was English,” Donghyuck notes.

“Yeah...” Mark confirms, running a hand through his hair. “I only know the bilingual version, sorry.”

Donghyuck pouts. “It’s not that I’m ungrateful or anything…” he says, and Mark snickers. “But why the hell would you pick your national anthem?”

“It’s the first thing that came to my mind,” Mark lies.

“That’s so random.”

Mark mumbles something about running out of ideas.

“Can’t you go back the to the old ones?” Hyuck wonders. “I feel like I haven’t heard them in a while.”

“Oh, uh…” Mark says. “They’re a bit too cheesy.”

“As far as I’m concerned, they’re just pretty,” Donghyuck retorts with a laugh. “Besides, they sound much more romantic.”

Mark’s heart skips a beat.

“Romantic?” he parrots, in a daze.

Donghyuck offers a wide grin. “French is the language of love, isn’t it?”

“R-right.”

“Plus, you always get super intense when you sing in French,” he says. “You’re super into it. It’s almost the same level as when we’re in the recording studio.”

A nervous chuckle escapes Mark’s lips.

“I guess it’s because it’s your first language.”

“Yup,” Mark agrees, vigorously nodding. “That’s why. Obviously.”

Donghyuck sends a wink his way.

“I know you well,” he says.

Mark can't do anything but smile.

A/N: Est-ce que j’ai écris ça essentiellement pour faire sacrer Mark? Pas mal, ouais. No regrets hahahah

ps: Translations to the parts in French here!

> Next

#markhyuck #nct fics #nct imagines #nct scenarios #mark lee #haechan #lee donghyuck #kpop fluff #kpop angst #dokiginal work #(not formatted for mobile fghjk sorry)

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burtatethebees · 5 years

Text

January4, 2020

Happy New Year!

I spent news years with my sister in her trailer in the woods with her friends from Conserve, Ian, Cecelia, Eli, and Chris. Ian is really funny and kinda hot. In my Smart Brain, I know that this is the typical period in a friendship with a guy where I’m infatuated with them, but my Stupid Brain says he would hold me very good.

We went into downtown Athens on the first day of three. We played Ultimate frisbee in a historic field at UGA. I ran a lot, which was a really bad idea cause I’m really fragile. I was sore in my hip for the rest of the night and my while legs for the rest of the weeks. Ian and Eli took their shirts off to play, who knows why truely, but it was a little hot. Eli is kinda Thicc and not my type, but Ian is My Type. He’s my heightish, a little bit taller, so like 5′ 7-8″. He’s got abs and is just all around Lean and Strong. His veins on his arms are really nice. I don’t know why that's hot to so many girls, but I’m not complaining about it.

Yeah but later that night we left the field and walked around downtown. We were gonna get Ian to pretend to be a psychic and get some money, but Jay shoved the sign in a little garden for us to get later and we never went back. We went into a cool boutique/junk store. I was browsing and Jay almost left me there, like if I hadn’t heard her say to the clerk that it was good to see them again I wouldn’t have noticed they left the building. We went to Waffle House, but I couldn't finish my food so I gave it to Ian. The lady working there was sassy. We met up with Shazam, as mom calls him, after Waffle house. We walked around some more and then Jay asked Shazam if he was parked at a meter or free parking, so we had to go check. The whole group kinda separated on accident. Ian and Chris ran off to slide down some rails. Eli and I went off to go with them, and Jay, Cecelia, and Shazam went to go find his truck. Ian and Chris saw that Jay was leaving and decided to run away after the rest of the group. Eli and I chased after them but we lost them cause they probably pulled some spiderman move and were jumping across rooftops or something. So Eli and I got lost. We went back to the Waffle house cause that's kinda the direction they were going to get to Shazam’s truck.

We went back to the field after we moved Shazam’s truck to free parking. We played some more frisbee. Jay ran into Ian trying to catch the frisbee and got a bloody nose. She couldn’t drive so when we left Chris drove the minivan back home. Eli and Ian were gonna come with us, but they decided to walk home, like weirdos. It took them like an hour and a half. Chris accidentally drove the whole four miles with the parking brake on, totally fucking up the brake in the process. At one point he asked “why is the brake light on?” but my brain didn't process what that meant and so I didn't say anything. He doesn’t use the parking brake on his car so he didn’t know what it meant.

When we got home, we went into the camper and Jay gave Shazam his Christmas present. He got a Llama Popper which shot foam ball out of a llama mouth. We killed time until Eli and Ian got back.

We hung out around the fire that Jay built. I sat on a wool blanket next to Ian. I wish that I knew them better so I could have sat closer and perhaps, maybe, cuddled a little. He did with Chris and Eli. We went into the camper after a little bit to watch movies. We watched Shameless, which I was really not into. We lied on the floor on the camper, I WAS between Cecelia and Ian but Jay cut in and told Ian to move over. Lame ass, cockblock lol. I left after a little bit and sat in my tent for a bit. I came back and just kinda chilled on my phone until the countdown for New Years. We went outside for the countdown. We were all huddled cause it was Very cold. I stood next to Ian. My Stupid Brain wanted to kiss him.

We went back inside and watched Love, Death, and Robots. I watched it all but I’m not into it. It was really gory and there was a lot of animated dicks. Ian likes the show. When it was 2 am I went back out to my tent to go to sleep. I had to spend like five minutes combing my hair because it got so tangled from the hat I was wearing that day. I went to sleep and had a dream vaguely about love.

The next morning I woke up at 8. I was the only one up in the main area. Shazam was up and came done a little after I woke up. I helped him build a fire. When the rest woke up we fucked around killing time for a few hours. Ian made tea in a wine bottle on the open fire. Ian, Chris, Eli, and Shazam had a wood-splitting contest. Ian kept putting random shit in the fire. Cecelia and I hung out in Chris’ hammock. We eventually went back into town and got nachos. This was the beginning of a shitshow. I put in 5$ for the nachos since Jay got one with chicken and no pepper or onions for me. I went to the bathroom cause there aren't any real ones at her camper. When I got back nearly all the nachos were gone. The boys had vacuumed them up in like 5 minutes. I was hungry but too much of a pussy to get up and order my own taco. Now, in retrospect, I have NO IDEA why I didn’t. So I condemned myself to be hungry for like five hours. We left the taco stand and wandered around Athens for a while. We went to a construction site. We lost Cecelia and none of the others seemed to be worried about her. They finally realized what could have happened to her like half an hour later so we went to go find her. We found her at a Subway.

Ian needed a suitcase so we went to a thrift store. I finally got some flannels, but I was still pissed so I didn’t really talk to the rest of the group for a while. I told Jay how I felt and she told me “too bad”. So that sucked. I bought my flannels and we left. We went to a Graveyard and I stormed off but decided I didn’t want to get lost so I went back. We used Ian’s spirit box to talk to some ghosts. We tried in two different locations. They were really active in the second place. I don't know who we were talking to, but I was nice cause I got to sit really close to Ian so I could hear the box. After we were done, we lied down in the leaves by the grave we were sitting next to. The group, excluding me, all pile on each other, but I felt like I didn’t know them well enough to do that. I lied perpendicular to Ian with my head on his chest/arm, which was Very Nice. We listen to a true-crime podcast, but we had to stop cause there were footsteps and Cecelia and I got spooked. It turned out to be a deer, but we left soon after.

We went dumpster-diving. We drove around a plaza cause Jay wanted to find Michael’s. They stopped at the Starbuck and got bounced to go get me some food finally. I got Willy’s. I shouldn’t have gotten the adobe chicken, I normally do, but this location was much spicier. While I was eating Ian pulled up and adventure AI. Eli chose the options and Ian read them. He was a mental patient and summoned some demons, burned to death, met god, and woke up. He ate the toes of some lady and then ate her whole body. Then the story ended.

We went back home. We sat around the fire at the Kitchen Pavilion and listened to Podcasts. We listened to something Eli had about getting kidnapped into a meat factory, it was really funny, and Welcome To Nightvale. Then we all kinda drifted off back to camp and fell asleep.

I woke up early again the next day. The ground was wet so I didn’t want to sit down, so I just stood and zoned out stared at the trees. I went back to my tent cause I was kinda cold, but Ian and Cecelia woke up right after so I came back out. Ian told me he saw me kinda just staring at the trees, which means he was watching me at least a little from the camper. They sat in Chris’ hammock under the rainfly. It looked like and leaf. Ian told me to tell him a deep, dark secret like it was a confessional. I instantly went to “I think you’re hot as hell.” but I didn’t say that, obviously. So I told them that I think Angie is gonna drop me in the new year. I complained about the color guard at school and told them how the Horticulture club is gonna try to take over another club. I had a lot of fun talking to them, but then Jay woke up. We fucked around for a while and then got stuff together to leave. We packed into the car and left. At this point, it was just me, Jay, Chris, Ian, and Cecelia. We went to Brent’s house. On the way there they talked about stuff they did at conserve. They took the BDSM test I guess, so Ian asked Jay What she got. Chris was top 2, dom and sadist, which he doesn't look like at all, but it’s always the ones you don’t suspect. Ian didn’t say, I wish he had. I took it in the car while they were talking. I got Brat and primal (prey) as my top two. I REALLY wish Ian had said what he got.

I am not a big fan of being at Brent’s place since it was my Grandpa’s house. Brent is changing everything and he got two roommates. The whole house smells like cigs. The art is different. So I started tearing up almost as soon as we got there. It was the first time I had been back there since we came to get furniture, and only the 2nd time I had been there after Grandpa died. I started texting my mom about how I was sad. She called me and I went outside and cried to her. I hung up and composed myself enough to come back inside. Mom called Jay and told her how I felt. I was gonna try to catch Jay before she came back inside so I could talk to her. I cried again outside on her shoulder. She told me we would go home soon. She called me her baby sister in front of her friends again, which I don’t like. We sat in a circle and chatted, I forget about what. I felt better while I was distracted. Brent woke up eventually. We played a lot of foosball.

We went home eventually to my house. We sat in the basement and watched some sexy anime, then murder stories. We moved on to conspiracy theories. Ian suggested a show called Undone. I liked it but we stopped watching after two episodes cause they kept talking over it. They started talking about shit I didn’t understand so I went upstairs and cried cause I felt left out. My mom let me cry to her for like 20 minutes, then I ate some soup and felt better. I didn’t want to go back down cause they were talking about shared-stores and I wouldn’t have been included. I texted Jay about how I felt and she apologized. I went to sleep and missed them all leaving in the morning by like 20 minutes. I was sad about that but I followed Ian on Insta, so we’re good. He followed me back and I sent him some memes. He liked them :).

Yesterday I played a lot of video games to recover from camping. I read some good ass fanfic too. There was one with Levi from Attack on Titan, which I’ve recently gotten into. After my grandpa died I came home and devoured a lot of shows from my queue in Funimation, then I started reading it in the school library. So anyway, the fic was about Levi and his cadet girlfriend. The Reader accidentally gets a shot of essentially a pregnancy imitating drug. So she and Levi can't fuck because she’s super fertile. She starts lactating because of the drug and so she needs Levi to drink the milk from her to stop it from hurting. Hot as fuck, hell yeah.

Weird to go from Epic SMut to Family Time but in the afternoon, we went to have lunch with Shauna and Tala. Tala’s 5th birthday was on the 29th and we hadn’t seen her. We got her some belated Christmas/Birthday presents. She thought the Creatures of Star Wars book was for her little brother, Eliot (9 months). I built her Frozen lego set for her and we played Elsa and Ana. We went upstairs to her room to play Calico Critters. That didn't last long, oh the attention span of a five-year-old. We played animal battle, which was just us throwing stuffed animals at each other. Justin came up to say hey and totally annihilated me and Tala with stuffed cat toys. We left after that.

I wish I could see Eliot and Tala more often. When Tala was a baby we were with her constantly. We babysat her like three times a week. She loves me so much. She’s the sweetest little girl. Eliot is really clingy right now. He doesn’t let anyone but Shauna hold him and he hates to be out of eyeshot of her. I want to hold him.

We went to see Cats that afternoon. It was ok. Not as bad as people have been saying, but it wasn't Good. It kinda just exists. I am ashamed to say it but I kinda thought that Mr. Mistoffelees was kinda hot. Just the way he acted. I like guys who are kinda sad and lonely. I guess I’m a furry. Shit happens.

Today I woke up and read a fic about Kylo Ren (RIP) totally destroying his assistant and breaking up her engagement just he wants to smash. Hot.

I went to my Grandma’s with my dad. I drove there. That was the longest I’ve ever driven and also the biggest road I’ve driven on. We took down her Christmas Deco and looked through a lot of old cookbooks and recipes from the 70′s. She gave me some and Dad wants to put together a cookbook with O’Neil recipes. I think that’s cool. I got some recipe cards for Christmas from Dad, so I’m gonna start my own recipe box.

Our dryer caught on fire this evening. That was fun. We’re having some money issues, so I don’t know how we’re gonna replace it. I’m just glad I did all my laundry this morning.

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