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storysprite · 8 months

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Resplendor of the Gods - Gloria Matri. Gloria Filio. In Saecula Saeculorum.

About Resplendor:

(Part 1 of 3)

The anniversary of Raiden Makoto's death was for Ei the most painful time of any year. A reminder of when, as far as Ei is concerned, Inazuma lost its true light. Of which, in her mind, she is only a shadow.

It did not help matters that her son was also first awakened on the anniversary of this tragic day, which to Ei was a foreboding sign.

For this reason, she had at first not released to the public the divine name of her firstborn. As though to shelter it and therefore her son from the fate of the world.

It was not until she realised that on the worst of days, and through any pain her son felt, that Ei's smile was able to restore life and light to his countenance. That to her son, she was not merely a shadow. But the very light of his life.

As such, on one particular anniversary of Makoto's death and the celebration of the boy's life, the Narukami chose to reveal to her son a divine secret.

"Resplendor?" asked the young lad, sitting at the table of Tenshukaku's secluded garden which overlooked the whole of Inazuma City.

"That is correct," said Ei setting down a plate of homemade Tamago Kake Gohan. She smiled seeing that her son no longer recoiled at the sight of her cooking. A sure sign of improvement ever since taking lessons from her familiar Yae Miko.

"You mean light?" asked the boy chomping down his rice, just before correcting himself with a 'sorry' for talking with his mouthful.

Ei reached across the table and gave him a gentle pat on the head in acknowledgement of his ever-growing sense of etiquette.

Then she answered him: "Resplendor is more than light. That's just how most in the mortal world see it before they get to understand what it is. If ever."

The boy finished his third bite and then asked, "So what is it then?"

"Resplendor is the Poetry of Life made manifest," answered Ei.

"The Poetry of Life?"

"The Poetry of Life is the enchantment born of what the world is and how we experience it. A power at the very cusp of reality that rests in between life and lore. Dreaming and waking. Truth and tale," said Ei. "It lives in the love of two infatuated young people who can't help but see the other as perfect. And the love between those who've been together for years, who see each other's flaws as part of the tapestry of their life together and delight in the beauty of a bigger picture.

"It lives in the toy that to others is just one among many. But to a child, it's an irreplaceable gift given by their parent. The Poetry of Life lives in the legends people cling to that are more important than the events they recount. You experience it all the time without realising it.

“Resplendor is the power of Gods to experience this sublime poetry as a real world in and of itself. To see and experience parts of reality in a way mortals can't. But also to bring parts of that bountiful realm into the world to beautify reality and bring about new works on the tapestry of fate. That's why stories of the Gods and their powers sound so mystical. The stories themselves are a part of that Resplendor. And the divine light mortals often see is the most accessible form it can visually take."

(Part 2 of 3)

In awe of his mother's sayings, perhaps captured by the Resplendor of the moment the boy had long forgotten his meal and sat spoon in hand lingering on her every word.

"Woah," he finally managed to say. Ei smiled. Had this been any other child she would have imagined that her words had gone over their head.

But her son was a bright boy who had more 'whys' on his lips than the number of Sakura petals in all of Inazuma. And each answer he got would normally be followed by a question more complex or insightful than the ones before.

"Can every God use Resplendor?" he asked.

"In other words, is this something you can use now. But I'm going to tell you to wait till you're older. But you're going to try anyway and then hurt yourself and I'm going to have to ground you over and over because getting hurt the first time won't be enough to stop you trying again?" asked Ei.

The boy held a serious face for a few seconds. But the mask quickly slipped as he left out a sly smirk.

"Using Resplendor can occur naturally. But most of the time deliberate use takes years of practice," said Ei.

"Do you use it a lot?" asked the boy.

"I use it more now since you've been born. But in the past, that was my Raiden Makoto's area of focus. And we still see it today reflected in the beauty of this land, its people and culture," said Ei. "But using Resplendor saps from the same kind of divine life that Gods pour into the more commonly known manifestations of power. Particularly the kind you see in battle. As a seasoned warrior who has spent much of her life in defence of Inazuma against outside threats, my divine power has turned more towards manifesting this kind of force in the real world than going into and drawing from the realm of Resplendor."

The boy looked confused. "But there are plenty of warrior Gods who have stories filled with Resplendor or mystical powers. You as well," said the boy.

"Yes but these types of Gods tend to have less of them than other Gods," answered his mother. "And their Resplendor tends to manifest in the heat of battle. Which has its unique flavour of glory. But it's the kind that if you indulge in too much without the right heart, will lead to that deity having a Resplendor that tends more towards pure terror than awe. Darkness rather than light.

The dark and tainted glory of monsters, malovent spirits and beasts of the deep. Which is why Gods who don't focus on battle, tend to have a Resplendor that are more... uplifting."

"Like Uncle Venti or Aunt Nahida," said the boy.

"Exactly," answered his mother. "But for Venti often that's just him being jolly after a few drinks, rather than Resplendor. Although... it may be a unique sort of his own making."

(Part 3 of 3)

The two shared a laugh in the garden, warmed by the rising sun which heralded the dawn of day as bright as their smiles.

But soon after, the brightness on Ei's face dimmed down to a more sombre tone.

"So later on..." she started. "When we get our royal portrait done, you'll be able to use it in the future to recapture the Resplendor of our time spent on this day. A lovely Memento should the time come when I'm no longer around."

"Erosion..." said the boy with a heavy heart. He lifted his head towards the sky and narrowed his eyes with disgust at the island floating far above them.

"Yes," said Ei. "It seems that Erosion is a dark Resplendor cast upon the world by The One Who Came."

"Can't you cast it off with your Resplendor?" her son asked, desperate for any sign of hope on her face.

"Perhaps... If I cut myself off as much as I can from the throne of the heavens, forsook the mortal realm entirely and secluded myself for ages to come in deep meditation then there is a chance that this might be achieved," said Ei. "But the chances are slim and should they be altered of this because I made a mistake by not being detached enough, Inazumans are the ones who will face a most terrible curse just like... No.

“My heart is too close to the world for me to achieve it. Were I still grieving Makoto perhaps I'd find the strength to do so. But... Now... I have you."

The boy did not look comforted by these words.

"So it's my fault that you can't get stronger?" he whimpered.

"Fault?" said Ei. Immediately she rushed to his side and took him into her embrace.

"You are no fault," she said. "I have willingly poured into you the best of my Resplendors. That you may grow and nurture it and one day be free from the power of the One Who Came. That is my desire. For you to be happy and free. And to my surprise, I discovered that by giving myself up for you in this way, I have poured a Resplendor that transcends the laws of this world and planted within you the seeds of your redemption. And perhaps of Inazuma and all of Teyvat as well. You are no fault, my dear boy. If anything, you are my strength. And perhaps one day you will find others in like spirit as yourself."

"Don't worry Mother," said the boy, taking his turn to pat her on the head for once. "I'll help save you and all of Teyvat. Then we can be together forever."

Ei smiled at her dear and precious son. "Of that," she said. "I have no doubt.”

#genshin fanart #genshin impact #inazuma #raiden ei #raiden shogun #electro archon #raiden makoto #raiden shogun and scaramouche #scaramouche #wanderer

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thora-jane · 3 years

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Excuse me, Bus Boy? (Shang Chi x female!Reader)

(a/n) Wow...you all REALLY like my last fic. This one's a little more thought out and also hopefully better written. Enjoy you lovely nerds!

Summary: After finally finding Shaun again, you too share an oddly intimate moment in his morning workout routine.

Warnings: nothing unless you need a warning for Shirtless Shang Chi.

Word Count: 1287

“Shaun I swear to god,” You mutter under your breath, raising your fist to pound on the door again. Shaun and Katy had been gone for a week almost and left no word as to where they were going. In fact, the last you saw of them was a video of someone’s live stream where Katy was driving a bus falling apart in chaos and Shaun was kicking a sword-handed man’s ass.

At least, you were 99% sure that was them. You’d watched the video over a hundred times, and though you’d never think Shaun could beat anyone up (he was too sweet, this man was the perfect gentleman, some days you weren’t even sure if he could throw a punch) you could recognize that face anywhere.

But like...there was still no way that could’ve been Shaun. Yeah, Shaun was pretty amazing, an absolute genius, a sweetheart, but like...he couldn’t be a badass. Right? You chuckled, this man had to have SOME flaws, right?

“Shaun you better be in there,” you called a little louder, running a hand through your hair. You thought about filing a missing person report, but something about all this made you feel like he would be back soon. So here you were, knocking on his door for the...6th? 7th day in a row? “Shaun! Are you there?” you raised your fist, knuckles ready to hit the door again.

“Woah, hey there (y/n),” Shaun said, startled but still half sleepy as he looked down at your fist against his bare chest.

“Shaun oh my fucking god where the fuck were you?” You let out a sigh of relief as you flung your arms around his neck, “I’ve been coming here for days and you haven’t been here - Also, Bus Boy?” You ask, almost accusatory, squinting up at his face to gauge his response, “Oh my god are you hungover? You were out last night? Where have you been?” your voice was frantic as your hands went from his shoulders to his face, then back to his shoulders as you realized he was shirtless, “Oh crap I’m so sorry maybe I should uh...maybe I should come back later do…” your voice dropped to a whisper, “shit, Shaun do you have a girl in there?”

He laughed, and you decided to ignore the melting of your heart, “Yeah because that’s believable,” He joked, running a hand through his hair with a yawn, “I just woke up. Why are you even here?” he opened the door wider and gestured for you to come in.

“Because I was worried!” you kick off your shoes and step into his tiny apartment garage, “you hear nothing from someone for days while they become internet famous and you wouldn’t get worried either? Like, I was worried you were killed or something!” Your voice lost its accusatory tone and sounded more frantic as you tried to look anywhere but the six-pack you had no prior knowledge was waiting under your friend’s shirt, “Apparently you can handle yourself though...Bus Boy?” you ask, trying to suppress a laugh, “Seriously, was that real? Like, that was you and Katy?”

Shaun chuckled, sitting down on the floor, “Yeah that was uh...that was me,” he nodded, rolling onto his stomach and getting on his hands, “Bus Boy, the internet sensation,” He let out a grunt before starting pushups. Whether it was his heavy breathing, his muscles, or the occasional grunt through clenched teeth, you found yourself falling quiet as he worked out. Something about his arms and the rest of his body made feelings you had suppressed for months harder to ignore.

“Are you enjoying this?” he smiled, turning his head to face you as he pushed himself up from the ground and went from flat hands to fists.

“Shut up,” you mumbled, hiding your blush behind a hand, “What was happening while you were gone, anyway?”

He paused in thought, arms suspended at a perfect 90-degree angle as you were suspended in disbelief at his strength, “I had a...surprise visit. With my family,” he said before returning to his pushups, “It’s pretty complicated. But I figure there’s something you might as well know.”

You looked up from the floor, “What’s that?” you asked.

You thought you saw him blush, but you figured he was just heating up from exhaustion “First of all, could you help me out with this? I’ve been meaning to add weight to my pushups and…”

“What do you want me to do?” You asked, brow furrowing.

“Could you...Could you sit on my back? You’d probably help out a lot and-”

“Are you sure?” you blushed, “Like, I don’t want to crush you,” you stumbled out.

“Trust me,” He smiled, “I can handle it.”

You hesitantly shuffled over to the other side of the room and perched yourself on his lower back, “Is...is this ok? Do you want me to move or-”

“No that’s great. Now hold on,” he said before going down into his pushups again. You yelped, hand reaching to grip his shoulders and you thought you heard him laugh.

“What was it you wanted to tell me?” You asked, focusing on the feel of his shoulders below your hands.

“My name isn’t actually Shaun,” he grunted, you could feel his body working a little harder with you on top, “It’s Shang Chi.”

“Shang Chi?” You asked, trying to repeat the intonation he spoke with.

“Yeah. There’s also a ton of other things I should tell you about, like my family and why Katy and I were gone so long, but that’s definitely the easiest one to get out of the way,” he let out a grunt as he lowered himself down and sighed, laying his face flat against the smooth concrete of the floor.

You scootched off of him and laid down on your back by his side, “I can handle Shang Chi. What else does this man with a new name have to through at me?” You smiled, looking over at him as you felt your face heat up.

He let out a laugh, flopping onto his back, “Oh you have no idea.”

“So...do you want me to still call you Shaun? Or do you want to be called Shang Chi or…?”

“Shang Chi is nice, but you could also call me ‘at seven o’clock tonight’?” He said, confidence as stable as his heart rate, “Like, for a date? Or maybe you just want me to explain everything but also-”

“Shang Chi, are you asking me out?” You asked slack-jawed, still lying on the floor.

“Yes? For the record, this may have been Katy’s idea. But the past few days have made me realize a lot of things, (y/n). And I...I’d like to take you out on a date. Or if you want we can just go out for coffee some time and I can explain everything that happened. But you should probably know I think you’re amazing and-”

“Seven sounds perfect,” You interrupt, “You and me having a date at seven o’clock tonight sounds great and I would love to be there,” You sit up, and he does the same, face flush all the way to the ears.

“Perfect! Great!” He smiles as you get up from the floor at the same time, “Yeah that’s...that’s awesome!” he nods before wrapping his arms around your waist and murmuring into your hair, “I did miss you, (y/n).”

“I missed you too, Bus Boy,” you smiled into his bare shoulder as he let out a groan.

“Please not that name.”

“Alright, you leaned back, resting your forehead against his, “I missed you too, Shang Chi.”

#shang chi x reader #shang chi #shang chi x y/n #shang chi oneshot #shang chi imagine #shang chi fluff #shang chi and the ten rings #shang chi fanfiction #shang chi x you #shang chi imagines

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lilysdaydreams · 4 years

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Chocolates

→ Pairing: Corpse Husband X plussize!Reader

→ Request: hello i love you and your writing (firstly) i was wondering if you could write a corpse husband xfem reader who is plus size? i havent seen any of those lol but maybe she gets hate over it and wants to start eating better and working out with him?? you don’t have to if you don’t want to tho!!

→ Warnings: chubby reader, insecure!reader, Body Image issues !!! Swearing, Descriptions of Readers feeling really sad about their body + online hate comments on readers body.

→ A/N: Idk what happened with this. This past week has been hard and I've been really tired but I forced myself to write something. I dont really think its goof but I hope the person who requested it likes it :(((

~~~

You fell into bed, wrapping the blanket around you and rolling over onto your side. Work had been hard today, your manager getting mad at the smallest of things. You could hear Corpse in his streaming room, talking to the viewers. You and Corpse had been together for 2 years now, and both of you had finally decided you were ready to reveal your relationship to his fans. First, you'd simply joined him on stream, talking at some points. Then a few weeks later, he'd posted a photo of him holding your hand and tagged you in it.

Your followers had gone from your 450 friends to 53 000 strangers. And that was only on the first day. You hadn't been on Instagram for a whole week, too overwhelmed about all the attention. It was a Friday today though, so you decided you might as well.

You opened up Instagram and clicked on your profile, eyes widening as you saw the 500k written above followers.

"Five hundred thousand?" You whispered to yourself, not even being able to comprehend the number. Like sure, if you compared it to Corpses 2 million, it seemed small, but it's not as if you did anything! What reason would they have to follow you? You only had two photos posted as well, an outfit photo from your sister's weddings, and one of you drinking a bubble tea.

Quickly clicking on the bubble tea picture, you opened up the comments smiling when the first comment that caught your eye was "Woah shes so pretty." You scroll slowly, your smile growing bigger at all the love that Corpses fans gave you.

"SHES GORGEOUS"

"QUEEN WHAT THE HELL STEP ON ME"

The amount of "CHOKE ME" comments were hilarious.

You chuckled at a few and scrolled again, reading another one.

"Why did he have to pick a fat girl?"

For a second, your heart completely stopped.

"What the fuck," you muttered.

You quickly clicked on the replies, wanting to see what others had to say. There were people defending you and arguing with the user, and there were others who agreed with them.

“Yes omg do you se ever stomach? Ugh how can Corpse stand staring at that the whole day?”

“Bruh her legs 😂😂”

You sucked in a breath.

You’d never been thin, always a bit chubby and with a bit of stomach fat. You’d been very insecure in high school, always wearing baggy clothes to hide your body, but who hadn’t felt that way in high school. After it though, you’d been okay. You felt happy and Corpse always let you know that he loved your body just the way you were. You were pretty confident normally. Today though... today it felt like all of that confidence has crumbled. You kept scrolling focusing on all the comments that talked about your weight.

Throwing the phone on the bed, you got up and moved to the mirror you have in your room. Grabbing the cloth draped over it, you pulled it off, looking at yourself in the mirror. You can see every flaw the comments talked about. You can see your double chin, your huge stomach, your big thighs. You held your arms up, wincing when you see the fat on them. Your probably looked so bad when you waved bye to someone. Tears now gathering in your eyes, you moved the cloth back over the mirror and then went back to bed, using the pillow to muffle your sobs.

You knew you were being a bit stupid. Random people on the internet and their opinions shouldn’t matter to you. But for some reason, the words had really gotten to you, and all you wanted to do was cry.

A few minutes later, you heard the door open, and knowing it was Corpse, you pushed your head into the pillow even more, not wanting him to look at you like this.

“Babe,” he whispered, coming over and patting you on your back.

“Baby,” he repeated when you refused to say anything and that he could hear was your sniffling. “You okay?”

You sobbed in response and he let out a “Oh” and then pulled you away from the pillow.

You looked down, refusing to look at him because you would look like an absolute mess.

“God I look so bad right now, he’s gonna see me and realise how big of a fat mess I am and leave me,” you thought.

“Hey baby, what’s wrong?” He asked again grabbing you in a hug.

“Was it work?” He asked when you didn’t answer. “or did your mom call again?"

When you stayed silent, he let out a sigh and let you go, getting up from the bed.

You immediately looked up, and asked “Where are you going?" because for a second you felt like it was true. Maybe Corpse was leaving you because of how disgusting you were.

He looked down at you, startled by your sudden question. "Just to get some chocolate and a blanket."

"No." you said voice shaking a bit from the crying, "I don't want chocolate."

"What babe, what the fuck?" He said softly, dropping back down next to you. "Baby what's going on, just tell me, I can't do anything if you can't tell me."

"You-You know your fans? They're amazing, right?" you finally said, hesitating a little.

"It's just, I checked some comments on one of Instagram posts and there's so many where they're just talking about how fat I am, or how big my stomach is, or how ugly I look," you said, your voice lowering to a whisper at the end.

A beat of silence and then;

"Oh baby noooo," Corpse whispers, grabbing you and pulling you into a hug.

You cant stop the tears from leaking out of your eyes and you bury your head into his shoulder. His hoodie smells like the bodywash he uses, making you calmer in a second.

"Sweetheart, you are absolutely beautiful," he begins, whispering into your ear. "Did you know that when I first saw you, I couldn't even speak? Like I legitimately felt like my mouth had been glued together, I couldn't form any words."

Heat rose to your cheeks as he continued on.

"You were like an angel, literally glowing, and guess what, I still feel like that whenever I see you now. When you come back home and you're wearing that huge hoodie and you just have the hood pulled up because its cold and the little pout on your face, guess what you look fucking gorgeous to me like that. And when you're in our bed, wearing shorts and a crop top with your hair in a bun waiting for me to make popcorn so we can watch a movie, god you look like an angel then okay?"

"Oh ah, when you're on your period, and seriously bloated and eating all the food, you fucking look beautiful to me then as well. Your tummy- Your tummy makes me so happy like look at this soft little baby. And guess what? I fucking LIVE for your thighs and you know that baby, like I will die for them okay? Your ass- well, we both know what I feel about that so I won't say anything." He ended with a chuckle.

You moved back a little, and he grabbed your face and rested his forehead on yours.

Taking a deep breath, he started whispering, eyes locked onto yours.

"Every single part of you is perfect. And I love it. I find you so sexy that I literally cannot breathe sometimes because of your presence. You're amazing and I fucking love you. What those people say on the internet, why the fuck does it matter huh? They obviously can't recognize the absolute fox in front of their faces."

Slowly he wiped the tears from your face, and returned the watery smile that you gave him.

"Chocolates?" he asked, still whispering.

You nodded your head, giggling as he ran to get them.

fin.

#corpse #corpse husband #corpse x reader #corpse husband x reader #fluff #angst #read warnings #plus size #plsusize!reader

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maddiefriendlovesbilly · 3 years

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Back by literally zero request:

Once More, This Time With Feeling: Pt. 2

Rating: PG13 for violence and graphic descriptions, SFW

Ship: Ghost/Spooker

Warnings: Graphic Descriptions of intense panic attacks and dissociation, derealization, depersonalization, implied traumatic events, similarities to alters switching (Jimmy and Gregory, not intentional but is still there due to the nature of the scene), Graphic Descriptions of violence, Major Character Death (temporary) and probably more (please tell me if there is anything else that needs to be tagged!)

Summary: Ghost learns that watching someone die in front of you is a very quick way to find out how much you actually care about them - even if you're not quite ready to admit it just yet. (Contains lots of fluff with a decent amount of angst mixed in! Could be considered hurt/comfort)

Wordcount: 2634

Nothing can be compared to the sound of an axe splitting a head clean open. Ghost can’t move. He can’t think. This can’t be happening. He’s gonna wake up now...Now...Now.

But nothing happens.

He glances down, numbly, at Spooker’s lifeless body on the ground. Blood spills from the crevice in his skull. Ghost’s stomach lurches, so he looks back up at the doorway, wondering if he’s next. It barely registers that there is no enemy. Just an axe swinging gently back and forth on a rope attached to the ceiling. A trap. It was a trap all along, and they fell for it. Distantly, he wonders if brains can be repaired once they’re split open like that. He thinks, Probably not.

Ghost feels like his world is sinking, crashing, burning. Why isn’t he getting up? Billy’s powers should still hold up here - they’re well within range of the Acachalla house, so why?

He realizes he’s been staring vacantly at Spooker for the past who knows how long, and when he looks up Katrina is standing in front of him, staring at him from behind her mane. She gurgles, sounding somehow both sympathetic and smug despite saying no actual words, and Ghost wavers between collapsing to the ground and sobbing, and strangling her on the spot. Something twitches inside of him, vile and immoral, waiting for its moment to strike. He considers indulging it just this once; doesn’t get the chance to decide whether he really will because Katrina pounces, claws digging into his ribcage like she’s searching for something - and in his last moments of consciousness, he watches something pulse in her hand, once, before all goes dark.

Even in death, it seems he’s not allowed to rest.

As soon as his eyes close, they blink open. He can’t see anything, but he feels a doorknob under his hand and feels his mouth finishing the words, “--what about the others?”

Behind him, Spooker’s voice replies, without a hint of caution or worry, “No luck over he-Woah!”

The door hits the wall and Ghost’s eyes widen with fear. He hears himself stutter out, “H-Hey, you good?”

He mouths the words as Spooker says them, glad at least that the room is too dark for Spooker to see it. “Yeah...yeah, I’m alright, just caught me off guard. Let’s go.” He pivots, lunging blindly for where Spooker’s voice came from, tackling him. Something sharp nicks his cheek, and he feels a slight breeze pass overhead. They hit the ground hard, but Ghost decides he prefers that over the alternative.

“Ghost! Wh-What was that for?”

He fumbles for his emergency batteries and reloads his flashlight as fast as he can, knowing Katrina could appear any second. He shines his light towards the doorway, where the axe takes a final swing inwards, before disappearing behind the door for good.

“Holy crap Ghost, how...how did you know that was there?”

“Instincts or something, I guess…” He pants, out of breath.

His mind buzzes and whirs, and he can hardly think through it, but he can’t just lay on top of Spooker forever, so he forces himself to stand, peeking around the corner cautiously.

Katrina is nowhere in sight. His chest aches with how coiled his muscles are - ready to spring at any moment.

Spooker dusts himself off and peeks over Ghost’s shoulder, searching the room and finding the exact same thing Ghost did — nothing. Ghost just barely restrains himself from putting a protective arm between Spooker and the empty room.

Cautiously, he steps inside, Spooker close behind. The only sound is that of their boots clicking against the tile floor. Despite everything, he finds time to thank any gods watching that Spooker has been too distracted by the new surroundings to baby him about the second cut across his cheek. It’s only a matter of time though, he knows.

Glancing around cautiously, Ghost takes in the decrepit machinery dominating the room’s layout. Most of it has decayed beyond recognition. In the far right corner sits a row of industrial shelves containing what at first looks to be scrap metal and wires, but as they approach them, turns out to be an assortment of batteries and other miscellaneous electronics.

“Score!!” Spooker shouts, and by some miracle Ghost quells his roaring panic into a tense, “Spooker, be careful, we don’t know if the entity is nearby.”

Spooker appears duly contrite, so he lets it go this once, if only because he doesn’t fully grasp the peril they are in. Hell, even Ghost’s not sure what the bigger picture is. If that entity is truly Katrina, then what are her motives? And if it isn’t, did the others see someone else?

Spooker is currently loading some new batteries into his flashlight, so Ghost feigns at inspecting some old flip phones on one of the shelves near Spooker and asks hesitantly, “That girl earlier, you saw her too right?”

“The one with the sharp claws and hair all in her eyes? Yeah, why?”

“Hm. Interesting,” is all he can say.

So if it’s something pretending to be her to toy with him, why did everyone see Katrina, instead of their own illusions? Is it just another layer to the deception? Why bother?

What is the point?

“Is that Nokia particularly thought-provoking, or are you gonna tell me what you’re thinking about?” Spooker had apparently appeared over his shoulder sometime while he was lost in thought, and Ghost jerks around, slamming into the shelf of Nokias, now behind him.

A loud CLANG resonates throughout the room, reverberating off the surrounding machinery in ways that seem almost staged -- it’s hauntingly ethereal.

Spooker’s hands fly out to steady him immediately, a look of concern clearly written on his face. For some reason, despite all logic, the first thing he notices is how close they are to each other. The second is the pain in his back. He hisses.

Spooker’s hands flit about nervously, from Ghost’s shoulder to his face before he curls his fists at his sides, nails digging into his palms. “I didn’t mean to scare you like that -- okay maybe a little but-” Ghost’s mouth twitches upwards in amusement involuntarily. “-I didn’t think you’d startle that badly! Really! I’m so so sorry-”

Ghost realizes that Spooker could probably apologize all day if allowed to, so he cuts in, “I’m fine Spooker.” it’s mostly the truth, he’ll probably bruise like hell tomorrow morning, but other than that he’s okay. He’s been through much worse on a mission, so he tries to seem sincere when he smiles slightly and says, “Seriously, it’s nothing to worry about, I’m alright.”

Spooker seems placated for all of two seconds before he suddenly squints at Ghost with heavy suspicion. “Are you saying that because you’re actually fine, or because your pain-rating scale only has the options of ‘not bleeding out or missing limbs, so doing fine,’ and ‘currently bleeding out or missing limbs, might need assistance if the situation is truly dire?’”

Ghost glances away, he’s not exactly wrong - not that he’ll admit that. “It’s actually fine, just a small bruise.”

“Uh huh.” He doesn’t sound convinced. “Turn around, let me see it.”

“Wha-Why? I told you it’s fine!” He is not whining right now, that would be childish. He’s just...objecting loudly. Yes.

“Yeah, and I totally believe you. Turn around.”

Ghost eyes the space under Spooker’s arm, calculating possible escapes. “We have much more important things to do than play doctor Spooker. Like finding a way out of here perhaps? You can swaddle me in bubble wrap when we get out of here for all I care, but right now I’d like to keep moving forward.”

Spooker seems to debate this for a few moments before blinking a few times and replying, “Fine, but if you start struggling to keep up I’m not going to be so nice.” He moves back, letting Ghost slide past him and out from between the shelves. Ghost has to push aside the very strong feeling that he’s had that conversation before.

Ghost ignores the inexplicable heat in his cheeks and starts scanning the room for an exit. For some reason it feels like the temperature has risen quite a bit since they entered, maybe the next room will be cooler. It could be some sort of elaborate trap to slowly boil them to death without them noticing. Who really knows with ghosts.

The walls around the machines are solid grey concrete, smooth and uniform. Ghost searches for some sort of inconsistency, a flaw somewhere, and eventually he finds a small notch in the otherwise perfect walls, and moves to investigate.

As he starts to approach it the sound of something metal hitting the floor ricochets from behind the shelves. “S-Sorry! My...My bad....”

“You alright?”

“Fine! Fine! Everything is fine!” Spookers voice is an octave too high to be deemed truly fine, but Ghost chalks it up to being startled by the loud noise. He looks back at the notch in the wall. Suddenly, he realizes that engraved just above the notch is a long string of symbols he’s never seen before. He wonders how he didn’t notice the intricate carvings until now.

“ᚱᛖᛋᛏ ᛁᚾ ᛏᚺᛖ ᚨᚱᛗᛋ ᛟᚠ ᚹᚺᛖᚱᛖ ᛃᛟᚢᚱ ᛋᛟᚢᛚ ᛁᛋ ᚱᛟᛟᛏᛖᛞ. ᛒᚱᛖᚨᛏᚺᛖ ᛁᚾ ᛏᚺᛖ ᚨᚢᚱᚨ ᛏᚺᚨᛏ ᛃᛟᚢ ᛋᚺᚨᚱᛖ. ᛟᚾᚲᛖ ᛏᚺᛖᛋᛖ ᚲᛟᚾᛞᛁᛏᛁᛟᚾᛋ ᚺᚨᚹᛖ ᛒᛖᛖᚾ ᛗᛖᛏ, ᛏᚺᛖ ᛈᚨᛏᚺ ᚹᛁᛚᛚ ᛟᛈᛖᚾ.”

Squinting at it, he decides to call Spooker over. Spooker scampers up, yet again hovering just over his left shoulder. Ghost is starting to think he just likes being there. For some reason this doesn’t bother him. He doesn’t know why.

Spooker looks at the symbols for a few seconds like they’re familiar, before finally he exclaims, “Oh! I know what those are - Those are Nordic Runes - specifically Elder Futhark!”

“You just...knew that?”

“I’ve always been into occult stuff, y’know? Apparently people still use these for divination today! But it’s also a language - like right here...” He points at one that looks like a fancy M over Ghost’s shoulder, and he’s beaming so brightly that Ghost is pretty sure he’s found the reason it’s so hot in this room - the warmth in his smile as he talks could rival the sun. Spooker keeps talking, explaining what different runes mean and their individual names, and Ghost realizes he’s been staring at Spooker’s face instead of paying attention, so he looks back at the runes and hopes he hadn’t noticed. Spooker doesn’t mention it if he does, just keeps talking about runes and their meanings, and it settles a part of Ghost he hadn’t even realized was jittery until now.

Something in the notched section of wall clicks twice, and not a second later does the wall slide open in one smooth motion. Behind it lies a rather dull looking corridor, with plain, dark walls, and a sharp turn about twenty feet ahead. They both jump slightly at the sudden change, but just as quickly steel themselves and enter, unwilling to test how long it would remain open. “Do you know what opened it?”

Spooker’s eyes flick side to side like he’s debating with himself. “Well, the clue was really vague...So I’m not really sure..” He scratches his chin. He’s pretty sure Spooker is hiding something, but asking what the clue was when he probably said it earlier is practically announcing that he wasn’t actually paying attention, so instead he just replies, “Huh, weird. Well as long as we’re making progress it can’t be a bad thing. Let’s go.”

Spooker, for one reason or another, stays silent.

Oh. It seems he forgot where he was.

As they round the corner they are met with the one and only Katrina - or whatever it is that’s pretending to be her - standing about thirty feet down the hallway. Ghost could swear she’s smiling under her mop of hair. He wants to run, or scream, or just, at the very least, move, preferably somewhere where the blood red eyes piercing through her veil of hair can’t follow him. But he can’t. He’s stuck to the spot, like he’s been sautered to the floor. He feels a presence behind him - and it can’t be her because he’s staring right at her; so it must be Spooker hovering just over his left shoulder, just like always, and if he wasn’t frozen in place he might have cried with relief. He manages to drag a shaking hand backwards until it meets Spooker’s, intertwining their fingers with a bruising grip. Katrina observes this, before nodding her head in what looks like approval. She turns on her heel and shambles back the way she presumably came.

“Wh-” His voice cracks, forcing him to pause and gather himself. “What was that. Why did she-I don’t, I don’t understand. Why-Why would…I don’t understand-” The jittery fragment grows restless, feeding off of his panic. He doesn’t understand what it is, he doesn’t understand what just happened, he doesn’t understand anything at all.

The fragment is growing agitated now. He doesn’t know why or how or what it is. It’s hungry. It’s so hungry. How did he end up on the ground? When did he start laughing? There’s someone talking somewhere. They feel familiar, safe. Who were they again? He’s still holding their hand. A face has come into view, or maybe they lifted his head. He feels like he’s watching through a window. The face - so so familiar, yet completely unrecognizable - wipes tears from his cheeks. Is he crying? They look worried; it looks wrong on their face. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong--

It’s all wrong.

This isn’t happening. It can’t be. It’s not real.

Spooker - that’s his name - looks at him with a frantic, desperate, fearful look in his eyes. He’s still laughing, he realizes.

“I saw you die,” falls from his mouth, unbidden. He doesn’t know why. “The axe. It killed you.” He giggles hysterically, but it’s choked off by more tears.

“I know,” Spooker says in a soothing voice, like he’s talking to a caged animal, “I know, I’m sorry.” They’re still holding hands, even after all of this. He looks down to see that his nails have dug deep enough into Spooker’s hand to draw blood. He starts to pull away, but Spooker catches his wrist. “Hey, it’s okay. I’ll be fine. You can hold on for as long as you need, okay?”

“Okay. Okay.” Everything is still so foggy, but the red haze is gone. “What’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing. Nothing is wrong with you okay?”

“But, normal....normal people don’t.” He swallows thickly. “Don’t do this.”

“No, no they don’t,” Spooker agrees.

“So why am I?”

“We’re gonna figure it out, okay? We’ll figure it out together.”

“Okay.” He feels very small. Vulnerable. Scared. He finds himself longing for a mansion he’s never seen before; tall and green and empty, so empty. Home.

He suddenly feels exhausted. “I-I can’t,” he blinks rapidly, trying to stem the drooping of his eyelids.

“It’s okay, you can rest. I’ll still be here when you wake up.”

“Alright…”

The next time his eyes close, he drifts off into a dreamless sleep.

#jess writes #venturiantale #venturiantale pie #taleblr #ghost/spooker #ghooker #fred spooker soup #fred spooker #johnny toast #johnny ghost #chris colon ghostie #vt pie #paranormal investigators extraordinaire #fuck uhhhh #ill add more later prolly

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jaskiers-sweetkiss · 4 years

Text

Worth It

Pairings: Dousy, background Pepperony, FitzSimmons, Philinda, Mackelana, and Huntingbird

Word Count: 2.8K

Warnings: mentions of violence, mentions of gun use, mentions of ptsd, light swearing

a/n: Here’s my soulmate au for day 6 of @aosficnet2 ‘s AoS AU August! It’s got Modern Man!Daniel Sousa based on Enver’s appearance as a police officer in The Avengers.

___

Daisy “Quake” Johnson - Inhuman, hacker, Agent of SHIELD, and now she could add “Avenger” to her list of descriptors. The agent hadn’t been entirely surprised when she’d received an impromptu meeting with Director Nick Fury about her powers. At the time he had told her he was putting together a team, a group of people with super-human abilities that would work together to defend the world if the threat arose. She had signed on, she was already a SHIELD agent and she’d had plenty of training with her ability from her mom growing up at Afterlife, but she never met the team. Well, until about 24 hours ago. They were a bit of a nightmare (a complete shitshow if she was being blunt), none of them had worked together before so it was no surprise that they were butting heads. Daisy got along just fine with Natasha Romanoff aka the Black Widow as the two of them had crossed paths from time to time within SHIELD, but she couldn’t say the same for scientist Bruce Banner (the Hulk), billionaire Tony Stark (Iron Man), or the first-ever superhero Steve Rogers (Captain America). Of course, now they were also dealing with a Norse god of thunder who was supposedly good and his brother who was apparently bad. Thor, Stark, and Rogers: three massive egos in one aircraft.

Judging by the footage they were streaming from the museum Loki was more than just bad. Daisy had always been wary of powers, her mom had taught her that. Power was extremely dangerous when put in the wrong hands, that’s why Afterlife was so selective in choosing who got to go through terrigenesis. Loki was clearly the wrong hands and even though she really hated the men she was surrounded with, if they were the world’s only hope then she’d put up with them.

“So you expect me to believe there is life on other planets?”

Daisy sighed, trying not to get too frustrated. The man had been in the ice for seventy years, he missed a lot and probably had no reason to expect that “aliens” existed. Of course, she had known the truth since she was a child: not only was it highly probable that life existed elsewhere in the galaxy, but she was part-alien herself. Of course, no one else knew that. Inhumans were a secret from the rest of the world and it would need to stay that way.

“Oh, I’m sorry Seismic Activity, did you know that already?” Stark asked sarcastically, raising a brow at her and she rolled her eyes.

“It’s Quake, actually, and yeah, I knew that, statistically, it was highly probable that alien life exists,” she bit back, glaring at the man, “Just about everyone in this century knows that.”

“Agent Johnson if you have some sort of issue with when I was born then you should just come out and say it,” Cap said, a frown on his face as he sat up in his chair.

“Look, I couldn’t give two shits whether you were born yesterday or a thousand years ago, I just don’t think we really have time to be debating extraterrestrial life right now,” Daisy said, fighting the urge to roll her eyes again as she gestured to the holoscreen displaying Loki’s cell.

“She’s right, gear up.” Director Fury said. Daisy wasn’t sure when he had entered but she was glad he was taking her side. “We’re under attack.”

Daisy nodded, rushing out of the room to find her gauntlets and her weapons. It wasn’t a great idea to quake on a giant helicarrier so she’d probably be fighting old school.

“Woah, what the hell is that Johnson?” Natasha Romanoff was sneakier than Fury and Daisy hadn’t even known she was in the room until her wrist was tightly in the woman’s grasp.

She sighed, tugging her arm out of the redhead’s grip and slipping on her gauntlet to cover the writing. The marks weren’t uncommon, most of the world had them. They developed at age 16 and were usually the first words your soulmate said to you. However, not everyone got one or soulmates died and SHIELD specialized in utilizing the soulmark-less. That’s not to say there weren’t agents with soul marks in the organization, for ordinary agents SHIELD held a mostly don’t ask, don’t tell policy. Typically the only way to get into high-risk assignments like the Avengers was to prove the lack of a soulmate, but of course, the Avengers were less than typical.

“They make exceptions for people with powers.” She brushed it off, slipping on her other gauntlet.

“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re connected to someone,” Natasha argued and Daisy huffed, turning away.

“Stark’s got a mark, and he’s actually met his soulmate. If something happens to me mine’ll never know what they missed.”

Daisy quickly slid her various knives and guns into place in their holsters before leaving, effectively putting an end to one of the worst conversations she’d had in a while. She didn’t need the Black Widow to guilt-trip her, she had herself for that. She’d heard the stories about the pain people felt when their soulmate died and it often kept her up at night, but right now she had a job to do and she’d be damned if she sacrificed the world for one person she hadn’t even met.

Of course, her dedication to the cause hadn’t mattered much, she still wound up on the floor of the helicarrier with Phil Coulson bleeding out. She didn’t know the man super well, but he was usually the agent present whenever an 0-8-4 was discovered and since Daisy was something of an 0-8-4 herself, they crossed paths pretty frequently. She knew he was an upstanding and kind man, she knew he was a good agent, and she knew he didn’t deserve to die like this.

It wasn’t long until Fury came and swept him away and Hill ushered her back into the briefing room where some of the others were gathered. They all looked worse for wear and apparently they were about ready to give up. The Hulk was gone, Loki had jettisoned Thor from the airship, and he has the tesseract and would likely be taking over earth shortly. Daisy couldn’t believe it.

“I just watched several good agents die, and you want to throw in the towel? Do you have any respect for yourselves?” She questioned, glaring at Rogers and Stark.

She stormed out when she was met with silence, passing Fury in the hallway. She wanted desperately to change out of her skintight Quake suit and get cleaned up, but she wasn’t ready to give up the fight yet, opting instead to unzip the top half, tying the sleeves around her waist. She wandered around the ship like that, her sports bra the only thing covering her torso, before finding herself on the top deck, leaning over a railing.

“Have you met them yet?”

Daisy turned to see Rogers gesturing to her wrist where the words “Who the hell are you?” were written in a neat script.

“Nah,” she shook her head, barely concealing her disappointment with a smile.

“You’ll find them eventually, or they’ll find you.” He gave her a tight-lipped smile.

“Thanks for not berating me for risking my life while my soulmate is out there somewhere.”

“Hey, I hid my makr to join a highly experimental drug trial and enlist in World War Two so I don’t have much room for judgment.” He joked and Daisy laughed, feeling a little better.

___

Daniel Sousa had been sure this would be another day at the station as he slipped his uniform over his shoulders, covering the soulmark on the back of his shoulder. Soulmarks appeared when a person turned 16, appearing at the place where their soulmate would first come in contact with them. The combination of the location of his mark and the words (“Probably your only chance at survival now let me go”) had always been a mystery to him though he hoped he would solve it soon.

He took the subway to the station, just like he did every morning. Daniel was a police officer for the 99th precinct in NYC which was about a fifteen-minute subway ride away from his apartment. Despite its obvious flaws (thanks MTA), he liked taking the subway - it was more environmentally friendly than driving himself, it was much faster than trying to make it through New York traffic or walk (though sometimes he did walk when it was nice and his leg wasn’t bugging him as much), and the crowds increased the probability that he’d come across his soulmate.

She wasn’t on the subway today again and so Daniel resigned himself to daydreams of how they might meet. He hoped it would be romantic, that she’d bump into him accidentally (it was the best way he could explain the back of his shoulder), maybe he’d catch her as she tripped over him and they’d lock eyes and she’d take his breath away. He pushed away the fears that she would be freaked out by his prosthetic or the fact that her words on his shoulder didn’t fit that scenario at all. He wanted their meeting to be perfect for her.

He was ripped away from his thoughts by his partner, Jack Thompson, telling him they had to go check out a call downtown. There weren’t any detectives involved so it likely wasn’t anything serious- probably a noise complaint or something equally mundane.

Daniel had been right, the call was a typical noise complaint, easily solved and probably ignored as soon as they left the building (Jack bet they’d be back in 24 hours, Daniel gave it 32). However, he never could’ve guessed that when they went to climb back into the squad car a portal would open up in the sky and a bunch of space creatures would attack earth. Thompson grabbed the radio to inform the station of the situation. It took a few minutes of convincing (he didn’t blame them, he only believed it because he was seeing it) and a few more to figure out what to do (there really isn’t an official protocol for Hostile Alien Invasion) before they were told to stay put and that backup was on the way.

Daniel reached for his gun, steeling himself for the fight he was sure he was about to be involved in. An alien invasion would be a really bad time for his crippling ptsd. Still, he was sure his hand would shake if he had to actually lift his gun, his finger would hesitate on the trigger, he’d have to fight to keep his eyes open because if he closed them all he’d see was Afghanistan.

“Sousa you with me?” Thompson asked, snapping him from his thoughts.

He nodded, letting out a shaky breath, when had he stopped breathing?

Thompson nodded, more to himself than to Daniel, “Good, cause we’re going to get through this.”

___

If she had been really thinking at all, she might’ve wondered if she was having an out-of-body experience as she moved through the streets of Manhattan with the purpose of a woman on a mission. The Avengers were scattered across the borough trying to fight the Chitauri with mixed success. It seemed like no matter how many they blasted, quaked, shot, or struck with lightning more kept coming through the portal. Daisy was taking out as many of the aliens as she could while trying to command the local police forces- badges or not, they were purely human and severely underprepared to fight this threat. Their services were more equipped to evacuate and protect the civilians.

She hadn’t been paying attention when she knocked into someone’s shoulder. It was a police officer, she noticed, though where most of the officers she’d seen seemed ready to take on the Chitauri head-on, he looked terrified.

“Who the hell are you?” The man questioned, quickly grabbing her wrist before she could run off.

“Probably your only chance at survival now let me go.” Daisy bit back angrily and the man gasped, dropping her arm and backing away like she had burned him.

“You’re- we’re-” The man stuttered and even though he could’ve been about to say anything (maybe “you’re Quake!” or “We’re gonna die!”) Daisy knew exactly what he meant. She knew from the burning sensation on the wrist he had been holding. He was her soulmate.

“Oh my god, I don’t have time for this!” Daisy yelled angrily, quaking the alien that had appeared behind the man.

She silently cursed fate or destiny or whatever was behind this for planning her soulmate meeting during a literal alien invasion.

“Listen, I need you to leave the frontlines- spread the word: all officers are to evacuate as many civilians as possible. Focus on protecting them.” She ordered making an effort to put the world-altering event before the life-altering event she had accidentally just stumbled upon.

“Who’s going to be there to fight?”

Daisy quaked another approaching Chitauri soldier. “Leave that to the people with powers.”

The officer nodded mutely, seemingly stunned into silence.

“Sousa!” Another officer called out, “Quit chatting we have a job to do!”

The dark-haired officer, her soulmate, nodded to the man and started to move away.

“Officer Sousa!” Daisy called, taking steps backward herself, “Maybe we can get some coffee when this is all done?”

“Sure but how’ll I find you?” He asked, turning back to stare at her hopefully.

Daisy’s steps were picking up speed, the urgency of the day not lost on her. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll find you!”

And with that she was off, turning on her heels and sprinting towards Stark Tower.

___

Daisy stared at the computer monitor in front of her. It had been a few days since the Chitauri attack and while New York and her mental state was still a disaster, she needed to do this. The file she had found in SHIELD’s database was a welcome distraction, as was the handsome face staring back at her from the screen.

Daniel Jordan Sousa. Born 1984 in Twin Falls, Idaho. Served one tour in Afghanistan before being discharged due to an injury resulting in the amputation of his left leg.

She scrolled down to the contact information.

Cellphone: (xxx)xxx-xxxx

Bingo.

Daisy: Hi, it’s Daisy Johnson, your soulmate? I was wondering if we could get that coffee?

She was surprised by how quickly he responded.

Daniel: I’d love to!

Daniel: btw how did you get my number?

Daisy: It’s a bit of a story, mind if I tell you over that coffee?

Daniel: does 1:00 work? Maybe we could grab a bite to eat while we’re at it?

Daisy smiled before checking the time, 11 o’clock. She had two hours to get ready.

Daisy: 1:00 sounds great. I know a cute place off 12th ave

___

Daniel had no intention of pulling his soulmate from the field, he knew it was where she wanted to be and he’d never dream of taking it from her. However, he’d be damned if he wasn’t out there to watch her back. So, he joined SHIELD not long after they met. Despite his prosthetic, he climbed the ranks relatively quickly though Daisy wasn’t surprised. She had seen his record both in the military and the police force, Daniel Sousa was a damn fine agent.

The two weren’t in any hurry relationship-wise. They had moved in together fairly quickly but even two years later they had yet to get engaged. It was a bit of an anomaly - soulmates were usually hitched within a year of meeting each other but Daisy didn’t really hold much stock in a piece of paper declaring their relationship valid and Daniel decided he really didn’t need that paper either as long as he still had Daisy. Besides, with their separate jobs at SHIELD, they didn’t really have much time to plan engagements or weddings.

In 2014 the pair were recruited to an elite team by Phil Coulson, the man Daisy could’ve sworn had died in her arms, the man the Avengers were told had died. She had shaken her head at Fury when she found out. “You manipulative son of a bitch,” she had said though she had meant it fondly. Who knows what would’ve happened when the Chitauri invaded if he hadn’t done what he had.

Daisy and Daniel joined scientist duo and soulmates Jemma Simmons and Leopold Fitz as well as Coulson’s soulmate Melinda May on the Bus, a giant plane Fury had given Coulson as reparations for his death. The team had its bumps in its initial missions but they quickly became a tightly knit family that only grew when Coulson took over as Director of SHIELD after the Hydra takeover.

When Daniel finally proposed Jemma had been her maid of honor and Bobbi and Elena had been her bridesmaids. Likewise, Fitz had been Daniel’s best man and Mack and Hunter had filled out the rest of the groomsmen roles. It had been a small but beautiful wedding, Daisy’s mom had allowed them to have the ceremony at Afterlife and Coulson and May had been their officiants.

Daisy had cursed fate when they met, but looking back she realized it was all worth it for this.

___

a/n: I had no idea how to end this. Also, I have no clue where the 99th precinct operates in NYC (if it even exists) I just wanted to make a Brooklyn 99 reference. Though I’m realizing belatedly that B99 takes place in Brooklyn and probably doesn’t operate in manhattan but oh well.

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draggingthedregs · 4 years

Text

as i said earlier, it is an ungodly length but i hope you can enjoy my late night, book-drunk opinions anyway!

***

guess who just finished “ruin and rising”?

i’m seriously not okay. someone send help. i got lots of thoughts, none of which you are obligated to read but this seems like the best place to share.

oh and spoilers, duh.

for starters. woah.

i can’t say it was what i expected but i had known that what my heart really wanted was kinda far out of reach. the ending felt real and feasible, complete with love and loss.

in terms of “ruin and rising” alone, i think it was possibly the strongest of the three books. the pacing was good, nothing felt like it dragged on too long or went too fast for its own good. i think that was really important as well, considering the fact that there was always something going on. literally,, always. no one ever got a damn break.

mal’s “death” hurt me more then i had expected. which honestly leads back to one of my main gripes with this story. the love square (which i elaborate on later in this post, just hold on a bit). i’m not going to lie. i hated mal. through the middle of “siege and storm” up to page 168 of “ruin and rising” (and even then it was a long road from hate to crying over him). he was an ass, i think we can all admit that. for awhile there, i even jumped on the “fuck mal” train and had no plans to stop at any station anytime soon. for the longest time, the relationship with alina felt so fragile and forced, like the only reason it existed was because leigh had written it into existence. though, as i read on, i saw why it was so strained and saw the eventual resolution, which i will admit i was happy with. mal and alina, however annoying and troupe filled their personalities were, did develop as characters. and their relationship made some semblance of sense in the grand scheme of things. does that mean i forgive the “on-again-off-again”, “cold-shoulder”, “we-cant-be-together-in-this-lifetime” bullshit? no. does that mean i suddenly love mal? also, no. does that mean i ship them? ugh slightly. does that mean in a magical dream world where i got to chose what happened, they’d still end up together? impossible to say. BUT i can say, that they deserved each other. and i am happy that they got their peace together like they both always wanted (no matter how out of place it felt at any point), especially considering the fact that she literally had to kill him.

my dear dear darkling... i knew what fate awaited you and yet, when the time came... it hurt just the same.

okay,, that was a bit dramatic. but come on. leigh wrote a damn good villain with aleksander morozova. i meAN, thE lAYERS. he was a horrible person and yet, so many of us still love him. he killed for fun, manipulated no matter the cost, preyed upon the weak because he could, literally blinded his own mother and still! i can’t help but love him. there was so much human woven into his darkness. the moments of simple longing, of exhaustion, of loneliness. in all honesty, if there had been a way to humanize him, to erase or explain away his atrocities and have him just be aleksander again, i feel like i would do it. but, in the context of the story i do understand why it wasn’t possible. redemption for the darkling was off the table, no matter how much humanity still remained. but that’s what makes him such a good character. you want him to be different because you can see the good and all the potential for things to change, for them to rule ravka side by side, but at the same time, he’s the same man who is still actively creating more shadow demon creatures to eat whoever he wishes. you can’t resist him and that’s why he’s so wonderful, yet horrifying at the exact same time. (though don’t worry i am still a trash can and the darklina ship is still superior in the love square. again, i promise i will get there).

i feel like i have to talk about how much i loved the “secondary characters” (i struggle to call them that because they actually run this shit). i will say, at first, i hated zoya. i am not a big fan of the “mean girl” troupe or the “i’m-prettier-than-you-and-i-know-it” thing but... she really grew on me. i looked forward to zoyas comments and constant bitchiness, as did the characters in the books. and when she left the note and the blue kefta with alina in the epilogue,, oh god my heart. and the ragtag crew of grisha making up the remainder of the second army were amazing. their banter and dialogue were some of my favorite scenes to read in “ruin and rising” and i want books just filled with them and only them. david and genya deserve the damn world, adrik was so great, nadia and tamar are so precious, and i will miss harshaw’s weird ass more then you’ll ever know. don’t even get me started on misha and oncat. they are the true stars of this series, you cannot convince me otherwise. god i love them all so much, what a brilliant cast of characters. except the apparat. fuck the stupid ass apparat.

i know what you’re thinking. “you forgot nikolai.” no. i promise you, i most certainly did not. i just love him so much he gets his own chunk.

i mean, how could he not? he’s one of those rare, genuinely perfect characters that are impossible to not love. and i don’t mean perfect because he has no flaws or he’s written unnaturally, i mean perfect because of all of his flaws. he is arrogant and calculating, brash and unapologetic in his ways, but he’s also kind and caring, witty and charming and way too clever for his own good. i rooted for him more then i have ever rooted for someone in my entire life. he made everything ten times better. you can always count on his ass to pop up in a flying ship with a shiny pair of boots, a witty remark, a new plan, and too many ideas.

now, the important business... the ominous love square.

i think the words i used were “one of my main gripes with the story” which is true, but i think leads to a bigger issue with some of the characterization in the story. the “love square” was a term i thought of in relation to the many overlapping and confusing ships that center around alina (obviously being mal, the darkling, and nikolai). all of the ships were so entertwined and written over top of one another that there was no other way for me to describe it and the square seemed like a nice enough analogy. it just felt like way too much on everybody’s plates.

i love nikolai and alinas friendship. i mean, LOVED it. because i loved it so much, i found the little nods to a ship odd and unnecessary. their story line was very focused on the fact that ravka would need a king and queen, hence the scene where he gives her the emerald and all but proposes right then and there. however, that scene would have made scene and carried the same weight had there not been the splashes of romance both before and after. now, i understand why people ship them. and honestly, if under different circumstances, i probably could’ve and would’ve shipped them myself. they would have had one of the best marriages in a society where you didn’t get to marry for love. but it just made everything more complicated. people would’ve speculated on a ship had there been no kisses or pining, soley based on the possibility of a marriage and because of their close friendship so, why was the canon addition of it necessary? i just couldn’t get behind it when i loved their platonic relationship so much and when there were two stronger and more developed ships, waging war in the background.

now, my final bone to be picked... let’s be real for a second, alina in “shadow and bone” sucked. she was annoying and had no personality beyond being a sad, lonely, orphan in the darklings sparkly new grisha world. though i will say, in the later two books, i grew to like her. her character development did its job and i actually think she grew to be a pretty good protagonist. she did her best with the cards she was dealt and i think she did really well. however, her inability to pick a boy constantly bothered me. after being in love with her best friend for literal years, she is really ready to be be the first lady of the second army. and yes. sure you could justify it. she wasn’t getting letters in return, she’d been away for months, she was adapting to her new life, the darkling made her feel seen and wanted which is all a very new feeling to her. but then she goes right back to mal after he makes a confession that he didn’t realize he loved or needed her until she was gone for months (this was one of my biggest problems with mal. my problem only grew when he spent the entirety of “siege and storm” being a dick. but like i said,, we have reconcilied. we are fine now). there were times throughout the series where i genuinely didn’t understand why they were together, why i liked them together, or why i even wanted them to end the series together. alina even asks mal at the end of “ruin and rising” if there entire relationship was based solely on the fact that mal was the last amplifier and the fact that she even had to ask really says something. was their entire romance because of the amplifier? was it because of the “we-are-just-meant-to-be-together” thing? or was there actual chemistry? i really couldn’t tell sometimes. and the darklina ship was even more twisty and winding. he went from telling her deep dark secrets because he wanted to hear the girl he loved say his name to literally threatening everyone she loves because he wants her weak and all to himself. like,, whAt? (again,, layers) and don’t even get me started on the darkling and alina apparition interactions. those were a wild fucking ride. i felt like i was getting manipulated along with the both of them in those. but maybe that was the point of the darkling and alinas relationship. it was supposed to be so horrible yet so electric that you couldn’t pull away. but i doubt the same was meant to be said for mal and alina.

now i feel like i may be coming off in the wrong way. i loved more about this series then i didn’t. but me gushing about every fine detail and conversation that made my heart melt wouldn’t make for the most interesting read, if it was even coherent. all in all, i think it’s safe to say the grisha trilogy is great. does that mean it doesn’t have flaws? of course not. does that mean the flaws outweigh the good and the actual point of the story? absolutely not. my small complaints about a few things really do not take always from the fact that i love this series. i would love anything written by leigh bardugo, especially in the grishaverse.

if you’ve made it this far, that’s commitment. thank you brave soldier. don’t take anything i’ve said with anything more than a grain of salt. seriously. if this is your favorite series, don’t let my lil complaints ruin your day. because really, the good outweighs the bad here tenfold. i’m just a girl with a lot of opinions and a platform to share them at four am... it’s a dangerous game.

but, goodbye grisha trilogy. you have served me well and i will return to reread you soon. but for now i will do a lot of writing (i already have so many fic ideas brewing) and read all the fan fiction and tumblr posts i’ve been avoiding for fear of spoilers.

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rave-witch-69 · 4 years

Text

the umbrella academy: S2 E1 thoughts

spoilers for EPISODE ONE below the cut!!!! obviously!!!!!!

starting with klaus because of course they are. this is important to me, thank you mr steve blackwood

woah blackwood like martin blackwood? hang on let me google that

his name is steve blackman i,m fucking stupid

oh already the CHARACter stuff. they know their strengths it is character driven narrative and fight scenes to upbeat music. please tick that second box soon

fr i am already analysing their reactions to landing in the past. klaus calling for diego then allison-- his favourites. luther breaking down. diego landing on his feet lol, love u batman. allison discovering what’s happened by walking into the all-white’s diner, and her being the only one who’s life and chances are actually affected, is just,, really powerful

five is a very good through line to this story. i like his unchangedness a lot very much and aiden gallager doesnt need any more of a god complex but yeah he’s extremely talented etc etc

THAT SUPER INDULGENT SUPERHERO MOMENT WAS THE COOLEST, OH MY GODDDD. THEIR POOOWWEEERRRRRSSSS!!!!!! A NICE WAY OF HINTING AT THEIR POTENTIAL, AS A SORT OF ASPIRATIONAL TEAM DYNAMIC. MY SECOND FAVOURITE SCENE THIS EPISODE

HAZEL!!!! i forgot about you almost!!!!!!he got his happy ending with agnes <3 i’m almost okay with him getting killed off. they’re flying with the birds now <3

villains who shoot on sight? very cool. every show needs villains who shoot on sight

this conspiracy theory guy. he’s just doing his best. this poor man. i too am obsessed with aliens and think five is scary

holy shit, diego. i lvoe youht so much you’ll get out of there. i know david did research on the effects of institutionalisation and this has potentional to be REAL interesting; he seems SO unhinged

i like how diego is fucking witht the therapist but we, the audience know full well his therapist is 110% right

i really hope lila isnt reduced to manic pixie dream girl to advance a male character’s arc, but she’s so fcking COOL and funny and yes

diego planning to be a time travelling vigilante is the most in character thing. “then we can go back and kill hitler” maybe we should think this one through somewhat maybe

this is more generalised but i love how emotionally driven all characters are. they don’t use their heads, and five is only the voice of logic out of habit. they’re very believable on the way they act on whim and the places they end up seem to make sense because of course diego is going to plunge in and tell everyone about the kennedy assassination

david castañeda please actually rail me

ALLISON IS MARRIED??????!!!!!! GIRL GOOD FOR YOU BUT WHEN THE FUCK DID YOU FIND THE TIME

allison really has established a whole new life in the time it takes for me to, like, build up to ask someone on a date. it very much seems too good to be true, but i suppose grappling with perfection and falsehoods and wanting control are her character things. and these aren’t ALWAYS flaws im just worried that she has SO much to lose

i love her fringe so much, i would like to give emmy raver lampman a kiss

yeah the cast is perfect, we know, but tom hopper is a very underrated comic actor. he’s funny as fuck

ellen page said cottagecore lesbian rights but instead of cottagecore its ?? ranchcore ??? i dont know im too sexy and british to know what a ranch is

VANYA IS. SO HAPPY. LORD GOD DONT TAKE IT AWAY FROM HER

klaus and ben fighting on the road?? impeccable. EPITOME of sibling. that’s exactly what it’s all about baby. takes the biscuit for FAVOURITE scene

i love klaus. i love his outfits i love his stupid beard and his stupid face. i love him getting himself in enormous amounts of trouble and ben fucking with him and oop he’s been arrested. he’ll be alright

#spoilers #tua #the umbrella academy #tua season 2 #tua spoilers #tua season 1 spoilers #the umbrella academy spoilers #tua s2 e1 #klaus hargreeves #diego hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #luther hargreeves #hargreeves siblings #umbrella academy season two

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ellstersmash · 5 years

Text

Three: Fifteen

Fandom: Dragon Age

Pairing: Solas x f!Lavellan (Modern!AU)

Rating: overall E for Explicit | this chapter T for Teen

[ Results were inconclusive. Again. Any last-minute suggestions? ]

Athi reads the message from Solas, then reads it again. Is ready to send back [???] but her phone buzzes again before she has the chance.

[ Apologies. That was not intended for you. ]

She smirks—

no shit

—deletes her question, taps out a response.

[ :* i miss u too ]

[ oop sry. wrong # ]

[ Ha Ha. ]

[ sry bout ur results :( ]

[ Thank you. What are you doing today? ]

“That Solas?” Sera says, not bothering to look up from her unbroken line of yellow glitter glue. “Tell him to suck it.”

[ arts n crafts ]

Athi snaps a quick picture of the mess they’ve made in their living room and sends it to him.

[ sera says suck it ]

[ Of course she does. ]

“He says hi.”

Sera gags dramatically. “Thought you wanted to help with all this, not flirt with your boyfriend.”

A snotty retort itches behind Athi’s teeth but she stifles it. Rolls her eyes instead and tosses her phone aside, the device bouncing once to rest face-down on the sofa cushion. She picks up a thick black marker with pungent permanent ink, and gets back to work filling in the block letters Sera lined earlier.

Her boyfriend. Gods, but that sounds strange. Childish. Like they go on dates behind the primary school, or pretend not to be having sex in the room down the hall from someone's parents’. And yet she finds herself giddy at the thought. To be fair, it’s all she has for the moment. The thought. He's off on some adventure, and she's stuck here. Again. They'd only had that one perfect day, breakfast and window shopping and holding hands like real life lovers under trees full of dry rainbow leaves fluttering their applause. And then he took a phone call and went home to pack and left first thing in the morning.

She wonders just how often this happens.

How important could it be? Not like a bunch of ancient artifacts are going to up and wander off if he can’t go poke at them right away. A mental note to ask him later, and she moves this poster to the pile of finished ones and exchanges it for another that says “YOUR VILLAGE —> OUR CITY.” Cute, though maybe a smidge too reliant on humans knowing their history.

“Sure you don’t want to come?” Sera asks.

“That’s not—” Athi sighs. “I told you, I have work.”

“Yeah, but isn’t this more important?”

“I don’t know. Do you want rent paid?”

Sera quiets, kicking her legs back and forth as she works. Her glue bottle sputters, spits shimmer all over. A frustrated grunt and she tosses it aside, rolls onto her back.

“I’m just saying you should care is all. ‘S not going to get any better if nobody makes noise, and nobody’s making it for us.”

“Us?" Athi scoffs. "When we met, you said—and I quote—‘So glad you’re not one of those elfy elves.’”

“Yeah, well, therapy’s all right. Besides, it’s not for elves, or not just. It’s for whoever gets stepped on. That means us.”

“I didn’t know you were in therapy.”

“Maybe I don’t tell you everything," Sera mutters. “Thought of that?”

Athi caps her marker and lays it down. It’s just a feeling, but it's nagging. Persistent. Like and yet unlike the one she still gets when her papae calls her by her full name. Isalathena Sulahnera Lavellan, come here this instant, and it’s heavy on her chest, sitting right on top of her breastbone. Guilty, but she's not.

“What’s wrong?” she asks. Throws it out there before the feeling gets stale and she decides it's something she can live with.

“Nothing.”

“Right, ok, except for it’s not, so come on. Let's get it out and over with.”

Sera sits up, blonde hair sticking out in a couple new directions. “What’s your problem?”

“You! You’ve been acting weird all week, Ser. Haven’t come in for lunch or been home at night, responded to texts—”

“If you think I want to be in the next room while you and—”

“Oh, so you have a problem with Solas? That was one—”

“No!” Sera groans in frustration. “I mean, yeah, he is kind of old, and talks about old stuff a lot, and he’s all”—she straightens her spine into an uncomfortable posture, then slouches again—“but I like him well enough.”

"Then what?"

Sera stares at her hands for a while. Then out the window. Then at the wall. Then back at her hands. Athi’s patience is thin on a good day, and it takes a lot of willpower to keep quiet as Sera opens her mouth and closes it again, false start after false start.

Finally, Sera blurts out: “I want to ask Dagna to move in.”

Athi has no idea what she was expecting, but not that. Searching for some way to relate it to her own behavior, to justify her feeling or shove it aside, she takes so long to form a response that Sera begins to fidget.

“You what?” she asks at last, thoroughly stumped.

“I want to ask Dagna—”

“Yeah, I…” Athi tries to catch up, shuffles through the past month as best as she can in the pause between. “Here?”

Sera squints at her like she's stupid, but that's fair. It was a stupid thing to say.

“No, my mother's. Yes here!”

“I’m sorry, I didn't realize you two were dating again. What’s it been, a year since you broke up?”

“Yeah. You were out at your friend’s place. Better you missed the makeup sex, though, yeah? More room for fun.”

At first Sera’s cheeky grin has Athi smiling too. It’s a relief to talk about someone else’s shit instead of her own, but then Sera glances toward the couch and—

Oh.

Oh gods, she wouldn’t have . . . would she?

Athi gets up for a glass of water, makes it two at Sera’s request. Sits cross-legged on the coffee table when she comes back. Just to be safe.

“Isn’t it a bit fast?” she asks.

“Maybe. Doesn’t feel fast, though. If you add 'em all up it's been like, a few years or something, so it sort of works out to normal. If you think about it.”

“I guess.”

Sera empties her glass in one go. “Her lease is up next month,” she says.

Athi nods. “Right. So soon, then. Um… and if it doesn’t work out?” She leaves out the again, but it’s implied.

“But that’s why I should do it! See, I keep losing her because I’m not in. She was serious about us, but I kept messing around. Don’t even know why, really.” She looks on the edge of losing her momentum, halfway to introspection, then snaps back into the room. “But therapy! So this time, like Wicked Grace, right? I’m all in and she’ll see I mean it. And then it’ll work out.”

Her logic isn’t quite flawed but it’s far from perfect. Still, friends don't tell friends to be afraid. Especially when those friends have clearly put a lot of thought into their dynamic-altering life-changing decisions. So Athi drops the questions.

“Wow,” she says instead. “I didn’t know you felt that way about her.”

Sera shifts into soft focus and smiles, a faraway look in her eyes. “Me either.”

She seems so certain. Satisfied, and happy. Really, truly happy. And it’s kind of fucking beautiful.

Feeling overcome for no good reason, Athi goes back to her task. Long thick careful black lines, then short ones. She marks a pattern with them to make it less work and more play. Not that anyone will see unless they’re trying. And as she makes the spaces solid, a thought occurs to her.

“So,” she says, bright. Like it’s no big deal. “Do you want me to move out?”

“What? No! Course not. Why would you say that?”

There’s no time to answer. After so much silence, Sera bubbles over with unused conversation.

“I mean, do you want to move out? You’re not moving in with Solas are you? Gross. Definitely too fast for that one. Bet he wants to get married first, in a chantry and everything. Is he Andrastian, do you know? Where is he, anyway? He travels a lot for work, right? Must be nice. Wonder if his job pays for it. Is he gone now?”

Too many questions, so Athi answers the last one.

“Yeah. Flies in late tonight. He’s picking me up after work.”

Sera snorts. “What, picking you up? So you wouldn’t get up to take him in, huh? Good girl. Stay strong. Trust me, you drive him once and you're in for forever.”

“No, he didn’t even ask. Figured he’d take a cab or something, but I guess he drove himself.”

“And paid for parking? What’s he, loaded?”

Athi grins and crosses her fingers.

“Real nice. I’m serious, Ath, that’s some weird psychopath shit. Nobody drives their own self to the airport. No one who has friends, anyway.”

"I think he's just used to being alone.”

“Way to make it sad.”

"Alone doesn't mean sad."

"It kind of is though. But then, he’s got people, right? Like Varric, and, well... I don’t know. People.”

Athi shrugs. “Habits can be hard to break, especially when you’re not trying.”

“Ooh. Very wise today."

"Shut up."

"I mean it!"

She doesn’t tell Sera about the other things. The books covering all his furniture. The busted bathroom door that he removed rather than replaced. The singular coaster on his side table. The way he forgets to be hospitable, then overcorrects, asks her if she needs anything three times in a row. His house, his life, is not prepared for the presence of others. Not meant to host company or take in strays or accommodate a lover, meant for him and his needs and his convenience and no more.

And she’s honestly not sure if that makes her an exception or an intruder.

“Woah.”

The door slams shut behind her. Very nearly catches her in the ass but she happened to freeze just beyond its reach.

The place is gutted. Or maybe it's not? Ceiling and walls are fine and nothing she can place is missing, tables and chairs and bottles of booze all present and accounted for, but it looks fucking empty. And clean, though she can’t tell if that’s real or just the lack of tasteless decor.

“I know, right?” Tali dumps a bucket of ice in the bin with the rest. “It was like this when I showed up today.”

Athi drifts in slow, perturbed by the smell of cleaning solution and the lack of clutter. Hangs her purse on the coat rack just inside the office, her jacket on top of that. Pulls her hair back, ties her apron, washes her hands.

“Were we robbed?” she asks, only half joking.

“Technically, that would be a burglary.”

“Were we burglarized?”

“You know,” Tali says, “If someone broke in just to take those awful knick-knacks and creepy pictures Seggrit had up, I say more power to ‘em. Enjoy your ghosts, thief!"

Athi giggles. “Worst was the cabin.”

“Are you kidding? I couldn’t even look at that family one. The kid’s vacant stare, blessed Andraste, I wanted to flip it around every time I walked in that door. And you know that cat had seen things. I mean, did Seggrit know them? Why were they on our wall?”

"Somebody had to keep an eye on us."

"And make sure we weren't flirting with tall handsome customers in the back alley?" Tali grins, tongue stuck out between her teeth.

"Why? You make that a habit too?"

Tali wrings out and refolds her bar towel. “Ok, sweetie. Keep your secrets. I'll get my details one day."

"Anyway." Athi gestures at the naked walls. "Change!"

"Right. It was Seggie for sure. He was here when I came in. Must have dealt with all that crap this morning, though I couldn't say what he did with all of it. Or why. Oh! And he left that.”

Tali reaches back and raps a knuckle on the fridge where a sheet of paper hangs. Athi slides it out from under the magnet. Scans its contents. Flips it writing-side-out toward Tali.

“The fuck is this?”

“A cleaning list.”

“I can see that. Seggrit made it?”

“Either that or your writer pal is moving in for real.”

“And that’s not strange to you? That he cares?”

Tali shrugs one shoulder. “Maybe he’s decided to rejuvenate this place. You know? Spruce it up, invest a little time, maybe hire some better bartenders.”

“Hey, don't sell yourself short."

"Bold of you to assume I meant myself."

“This is weird, though. Right?" She reads off the paper. "Sweep out back? Deep-clean the office? Dust the brick wall? Tali, most of these have nothing to do with anything. Where are the temp checks? Or the fucking tap lines? Or, you know, any of the shit we should actually be doing?"

“Beats me, babe. I'm just glad he's getting involved. You should’ve seen him whirling around here earlier. Something seems to have lit a fire under his rear-end.”

Another feeling, but she can't place this one. It all fits together somehow, or should. The list and the bare walls and the lack of fire hazards. Chewing on the puzzle, Athi picks a task at random, takes a spray bottle and a coffee filter to the windows. Even free of five years’ grime and in full sun, they don’t illuminate much. But that’s all right. The list says clean, and they are definitely that.

#ellster writes #dragon age #dragon age inquisition #solas #solavellan #dragon age fic #solathi #athi lavellan #modern!au #three #alcohol #not this chapter but... all the other ones lol

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supernaturalthisfanfic · 5 years

Text

Who prays for Lucifer?

Pairing: Lucifer x Reader

Word Count: 2537

Warnings: mentions of alcoholism

A/N: ok so funny story. I started writing this in 2016 and I finally finished it, 3 years later. Anyways, here it is. I’m kinda rusty but I’m really proud of this one so ENJOY!

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

Imagine the reader runs into Lucifer at the bar and has a heartfelt moment and tells Dean, Sam, and Cas later, “But who prays for Lucifer? Who, in the past eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it the most?”

The familiar smell of liquor and nicotine hit me the moment I stepped into the bar. The mix had become a comforting scent, one signaling me to relax. Visiting the bar had become a habit I’d developed. Not a safe habit for a hunter to have, but one therapeutic enough to numb some of the emotions I tried my best not to feel. My dad was a deadbeat alcoholic and now here I was following in his footsteps. Oh, the irony. It wasn’t meant to be this way but I felt like I had to drink in order to forget. I was never good enough for the old man. I was always one step behind on all our hunts. I was always making trouble. I was the black sheep of the family, the girl no one cared for or looked after. I was always on my own.

I had Sam and Dean now, whom I was so thankful for. They took me in about 2 years ago and they treated me like family. They were nothing like my real family, if I could even call them that. They cared for each other and looked out for one another. The things they did in order to keep the other safe was like nothing I’d ever seen before. I’d even seen them die for each other, more than a few times. It was strange at first, but I slowly became more comfortable around them, learning what it was like to be a part of something bigger. Dean always told me, “Family don’t end with blood, kiddo.” I think he got it from an old family friend. Robby? Bobby? I can’t remember right now. But even then, sometimes it wasn’t enough. The childhood trauma I went through wasn’t something I could just get over so quickly. Sam and Dean knew this and they understood me, which is why they gave me my space every once in a while. They let me work through whatever I needed to in any way I needed to.

A burning sensation flared down my throat as I swished back a shot of whisky. As I signaled the bartender for another round, I sensed someone sit down next to me. It was when they spoke that the hairs on my arms stood up and my body tensed.

“I’ll have what she’s having.” Although I knew it would have been useless in this situation, I slid my hand down to my gun, but found it missing from my waistband. “Relax sweetheart. I’m not here on business.” I turned my head towards the devil himself. Lucifer. My gun was spinning in his right hand.

“Then what are you here for?” He stared down at his drink before responding.

“Company.” The emptiness and loneliness in his voice was evident, and for a

slight second my eyes softened before hardening again. He took a sip of his drink

and closed his eyes. “You know, I used to be my dad’s favorite. At least that’s what everyone tells me. It’s been so long, I can’t remember for myself. The only real memory I have of my father is him casting me down from home, putting me in a cage for billions of years. For what? For disagreeing with him. For not believing you humans to be his perfect creation. For thinking bowing to a broken and flawed species was beyond us. So he cast me out of heaven, punishing me with an eternity of isolation. After something like that, it’s hard to imagine ever being his favorite.” His jaw clenched. Setting his glass back down onto the bar table, a long silence crept between us before he turned to look in my direction. His eyes were dark and seemingly sunk into the shadows of his face. Dim blue lighting coming from the bar made them look dull and vacant. The creases in his forehead gradually softened as the corners of his mouth relaxed, allowing a melancholic demeanor to replace his usual devilish front. He looked vulnerable. I found myself reaching across the bar, gently placing my hand over his. He froze.

“I’m sorry.” It might have been the alcohol in my system and the light buzz I was beginning to feel, but I felt compassion for him. Growing up and even now as an adult, I’d always been told the devil was an evil man, a fallen angel who was dangerous and rebellious, walking about “like a lion, seeking to devour someone.” The “wicked one” is what he was referred to as. Yet, the man sitting in front of me right now was the complete opposite. There was no trace of maliciousness on his face. His posture weak as he hung his body to the bar’s counter.

“You’re sorry?” he softly questioned, eyebrows furrowing slightly.

“Yes. I’m sorry.” I stared back at him, trying to convey my sincerity through my eyes which had then begun to glaze over. “All these years you’ve been alone. You’ve been judged for your actions and your mistakes. And all based on the word of God. No one’s ever bothered to ask for your side of the story. They’ve discredited you, insulted you, made it to where redemption didn’t seem an option. So yes, I’m sorry.” I turned to face the bar, breaking eye contact. He kept his gaze on me for a minute longer before turning his direction towards the bar. The rest of the night was spent in silence, a quick glance exchanged as I left.

I saw him again the following week. And then the week after that. And the one after that. Before we knew it, it became routine for Lucifer and I. Every Tuesday night I’d head down to the bar and I’d find him sitting in the same stool, three chairs down from the pool table, sipping on a glass of whiskey. This went on for months. We sat in silence at first, but as time passed, we began having conversations. We spoke of our favorite music, our favorite movies, shared more of our life’s stories. Our talks deepened with every encounter. At one point, I’d forgotten I was speaking with the devil. “I have to get back to the motel. I’m not usually out this late and I need to head back before Sam and Dean come looking for me.” I laughed. At the mention of the Winchester brothers, Lucifer’s eyes flickered a bright red before shifting back to the regular warm brown I had grown accustomed to these past few weeks.

“Wouldn’t want the mighty Winchesters to come and try to save the day.” He rolled his eyes and waved his hands around in a mocking fashion. I sighed.

“Hey Lucifer?”

“Yes, (y/n)?”

“Thank you.” He cocked his head to the right, scrunching his eyebrows. “Thank you for- just thank you. I enjoy your company.” His eyes softened and before he could say anything, I rushed forward and threw my arms around him. My embrace caught him off guard and his breath silenced for a split second before he relaxed and gently placed his arms around me. We lingered in each other’s embrace a minute more before I pulled back. “I’ll text you once I get to the motel safely!” I shouted as I pushed against the glass door of the bar and walked out into the cold september air.

As I reached the motel, I slowed down and prayed for the boys to be asleep so I wouldn’t have to explain why I was out so late. This was the fourth time this month I’ve come home late, not to add this was the latest I had ever been out. I honestly had no idea what excuse I was gonna give them this time. I hesitantly reached for the motel door, but before my hand could fully grasp the handle, the door swung open. Sam was standing in front of me with his bag hung over his shoulder, phone pressed up against his ear.

“(Y/n)!” He lowered his phone from his ear and dropped his bag onto the floor, pulling me inside the room. Dean came bursting through the bathroom door.

“Where the hell have you been?” Dean tucked his gun which had previously been in hand, back into his waistband. “Sam and I called you a million times. We were just headed out to look for you. It’s three o’clock in the morning! What were you thinking?” My heart quickened and the sweat built on my forehead.

“I was at the bar,” I said as calmly as possible, “my phone ran out of battery.” I looked anywhere but the boys’ faces, avoiding all eye contact. I could feel their eyes on me as I slipped off my jacket and moved towards the bed. I lifted my head and my eyes connected with Dean’s as I attached my phone to its charger. “What, Dean? You think I’m lying? I was at the bar and my phone ran out of battery. I don’t know what else you want me to s-” I was cut off by Dean pulling his gun out and pointing it straight at me. “Woah, woah, woah! Dean!” My breath hitched and I shot both my hands up. “I get you’re upset but what the hell!” My eyes opened wide. Any trace of alcohol in my system was surely gone by now.

“(Y/n),” Dean spoke cautiously, “move over here now.” He cocked his gun.

“Alright boys, no need to get violent here.” I turned around to face the voice coming from behind me.

“Luci? What are you doing here?” I stared at him with wide eyes.

“You said you’d text me when you got to the motel safely and I hadn’t heard back from you. I called but you didn’t answer. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. There’s some bad people in this world you know?” Lucifer smirked at the end, shifting his stare towards the Winchesters. I turned my attention towards Sam and Dean.

“(Y/n)?” Sam sneered. “You want to explain to us what the hell is going on?” I let out a sigh as I switched my gaze between Lucifer and the boys. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“Well,” I hesitated, “Luci and I-”

“Luci?” Dean interrupted with a bellowing voice. “(Y/n), do you hear yourself right now? You just gave the devil a damn nickname. You’re acting as if he’s your friend!” His eyes were hard and I could see his jaw clench.

“He is my friend!” Quiet fell across the room and all you could hear was my heavy breathing. Luci was the one to break the silence.

“I think the nickname is pretty cute.” He earned a glare from Sam and Dean. “What? You don’t like it? I was thinking of keeping it.” Shrugging his shoulders, he took a seat on the bed. My eyes switched from Luci back towards the boys as I placed my hand on my forehead.

“All of you. Stop.” I spoke with a firm, demanding voice. I needed all of their attention for what I was about to say. “Everybody sit on the bed.” Nobody moved. “I said, everybody sit on the bed. Now.” This time the boys moved. They sat on the opposite bed in which Luci was already sitting. I turned towards them and took a deep breath. “I know we all have our differences. And before you say some smart ass comments, Dean, Luci, let me finish.” I looked towards the boys. “Boys, every Tuesday for the past few months, Lucifer and I have been meeting at the bar. We’ve talked more than you can imagine and we’ve gotten close.” They both scoffed. I gave them a glare. “Luci is my friend and that’s not going to change. He isn’t who you think he is. He’s just lonely and hurt. I mean think about it. Everybody believes he’s a bad person and in the past billion years he’s had no one there for him.”

“And for good reason (y/n)! For crying out loud, there’s a whole damn book talking about how dangerous he is, how manipulative! You’re falling for a trap!”

“Sam! That’s exactly my point! That book was written by who? By God. By his prophets. It’s told from God's point of view! But what about his? What about Lucifer’s? God’s book tells you all his faults and all his wrongs but what of his good? He’s still an angel for pete’s sake. He just needs someone to care! He needs company! When God created humans, Luci went from being the favorite to being completely ignored. God had his prophets. The angels had the humans. Lucifer had no one. He was forgotten. You have no idea what that can do to you. Loneliness is a poison.” I took a breath before I continued, leaving no room for an interjection. “If according to everyone else, Lucifer is the father of sin, why hasn’t anyone prayed for him? Huh? Who prays for Lucifer? Who, in the past eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner who needed it the most?” I looked over at Luci. “Luci. You are my friend and I promise you, you will never be alone again. Not as long as I’m alive.” I took a step back, signaling I was done saying what I had to say. We basked in the silence until Sam spoke up.

“Ok.” He nodded his head and looked at me with his puppy dog eyes.

“Ok?” That’s all he had to say?

“Yeah. Ok. I understand.” He stood up, looked over at Luci and then back at me. He walked over to Lucifer and stopped in front of him. Dean followed. “I don’t like you. I probably never will. But for (y/n) I’ll stand you.” Dean leaned in close and continued after Sam.

“Listen here, Luci,” he mocked, “(y/n) is family and I look out for my family. Saying that, if you so much as hurt her in any way, I’ll kill you.” Both the boys backed up. I stepped in front of them, grabbing Luci by the arm. Leading him outside, I closed the motel door behind us.

“(Y/n). Did you really mean everything you said? Am I really someone you consider a friend?” His voice softened at the end, no louder than a whisper. I looked back at him and gave him a faint smile.

“Of course I meant everything I said.” He gave me a big smile and dropped his head, sticking his hands in his pockets. “I should probably go back inside, don’t want to push my luck.” I laughed. “See you next week, Luci.”

“Yeah, see you next week (y/n).” He smiled at me. And then he was gone.

#lucifer #supernatural #supernaturalthisbitchjerk #supernaturalthisfanfic #dean winchester #sam winchester #lucifer x reader #alcohol #motel #hunter #fanfiction #bobby #god #heaven #prayer

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go-gently-please · 6 years

Text

cherry ~ vampire!au (part 2)

~ pairing: human!BTS x vampire!OC

~ genre: vampire!au, smut, angst, sprinkles of fluff

~ summary: you begin to adjust to life with your seven new human blood bags, pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the transition is going. But good things never last forever, and you discover that controlling yourself is not as easy as you thought.

~ warnings: profanity, blood

~ a/n: this is kind of a filler chapter, i’ll admit. i’m not happy with it, but i’ve rewritten it so many times that i think this is as good as it’s going to get

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 (coming soon)

links in masterlist!

You couldn’t remember the last time you were this nervous, which was saying something considering the fact that you were immortal.

The boys were moving in today, and for the last few hours you’d been running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Your apartment was cleaner than it’d been in years. Windows washed, floors shined, every surface wiped clean. Not a spec of dust had survived. Everything was immaculate.

You’d spent what felt like forever preparing all the guest rooms, scrutinizing even the smallest detail. You’d even stayed up all night researching human nutrition so you’d be prepared to properly take care of them.

It was then that you realized all you had in your kitchen was coffee, alcohol, and an unnecessary amount of sweets. You’d immediately gone to the grocery store and bought enough food to feed an army, making sure the fridge was fully stocked with protein, juice, and fresh fruit.

It’d been a few days since you’d met with them at the cafe, and in the meantime you’d been trying to get to know them better.

Most of them were starving artists. That’s how they all knew each other: through art school.

Jimin and Hoseok were dancers, with Jimin studying ballet and contemporary and Hoseok working as a hip hop teacher. You should’ve guessed, they both had the body for it.

Namjoon was a freelance writer, and he made most of his money selling poems and short stories. You could already tell that he was the most intelligent and well-read out of all of them.

Taehyung was a painter. His style immediately intrigued you, colorful and youthful like his personality. You’d already bought three of his paintings. One was hanging in your living room.

Yoongi and Jungkook, the quietest of the group, were trying to make a name for themselves in the music business, Yoongi as a producer and Jungkook as a singer.

Jin was an aspiring model, working gigs here and there. His family had money, but was very conservative, and they’d cast him out after finding out that he was bisexual.

It couldn’t have been easy for them, struggling to pay the bills and stay in their one tiny apartment. Financial instability was often an unfortunate circumstance of pursuing one’s artistic passions.

But none of that mattered anymore. Now that they were under your care, you planned on spoiling them to no end. You couldn’t help but think about how good Jimin and Yoongi would look in some Chanel, and you couldn’t wait to dress Taehyung up in Gucci.

You nearly jumped out of your skin when the doorbell rang.

You hopped up from your spot on the couch, sending your cat flying, and hurried over to the mirror hanging by the door. Fixing your hair, your eyes ran over your reflection. You were dressed more casually today, wearing a cream-colored sweater and jeans.

Staring back at you in the mirror was a mask of exhaustion. Bloodshot eyes, under eye bags, skin drained of color.

You really needed to feed. Your body was starting to deteriorate from the lack of nutrients.

You desperately hoped that your problem would be solved soon; you could practically taste their blood on your tongue, sweet and smooth like a fine wine.

After determining that your appearance was as good as it was going to get, you opened the door.

“Hello!” You were barely able to control your excitement. “Please, come in.”

They all crowded into the room, and what they saw made their jaws drop.

The space was wide and welcoming, definitely bigger than what they’d expected. Everything was sleek and white and expensive-looking.

Directly opposite them was a wall made up of entirely windows. The busy cityscape extended out before them like an ocean. They imagined how beautiful the sunrise would be through a wall of all glass.

The open floor plan allowed them to see the sitting area, kitchen, and office space all at once. The living room area was occupied by a semi-circle of couches gathered around the TV, which was three times the size of the one they used to have.

There was a large table near the glass wall that was covered in scattered papers, stacks of books, dirty coffee mugs, luxury brand lookbooks and magazines.

“Woah.” Hoseok said in awe.

“What? What is it?” You frantically looked around the room, searching for even the tiniest flaw.

Did you forget something? Did you leave out a pair of dirty underwear? Did you leave your favorite vibrator lying around?

“It’s just…your place is so nice.” Taehyung said, looking around with wide eyes.

“Yeah, it looks more like a penthouse than an apartment.” Jin added.

You bent your head to hide a smile.

“Thank you. I’m glad you like it.”

They timidly stepped further into the room, their heads swinging back and forth as they looked around. Then, a noise broke the awkward silence.

Everyone whipped around to stare at the source of the sound. Your cat had it’s head poked out from behind the couch, trying to get a peek at the new visitors.

“Who’s this?” Jimin said like he was talking to a baby, squatting down to hold his hand out to the cat.

“Oh, that’s Yuki. She doesn’t really like people, so I wouldn't—”

The cat nuzzled her head into Jimin’s palm, eyes closed, the low rumble of her purring filling up the room.

You trailed off, shocked at her reaction. Yuki wasn’t a people person. Every time you had company over, she flinched away from their touch and hid in your bedroom.

You stared in absolute disbelief as she rolled over to expose her tummy. Jimin’s ringed fingers nearly disappeared in her thick fur.

“I’m guessing you like animals, then?” You asked, chuckling.

Jimin smiled down at the cat as he scratched under her chin.

“Eh, they’re alright.” He said sarcastically.

You suggested to go get the rest of their bags so you could help carry them up. They led you down the staircase to the lobby where a pile of luggage was waiting.

You approached the largest out of all of them, a big black suitcase, and moved to grab it.

Apparently, Yoongi had the same idea, because you both reached for the handle.

He’d gone straight for the suitcase once they’d gotten downstairs, and you wondered what was in it that was so important to him.

Your hands touched as you moved to take the bag, and Yoongi let out a soft gasp when your fingers brushed his, so quiet that you only heard it because of your attuned vampire senses.

His was so warm. You were suddenly aware of how his entire body was radiating heat, radiating his heavenly aroma. You wanted more than anything to drag your lips across his neck, trace the veins, and sink your teeth into his perfect pale skin.

Resurfacing from your daze, you focused back on his face. You realized that this was one of the first times he’d actually made eye contact with you. He was staring at you intensely, mouth slightly parted as his eyes seemed to pierce straight into the furthest, dustiest corners of your brain.

Oh no, you immediately thought. I freaked him out. He felt how cold I am. He’s probably disgusted. He’s probably horrified.

Yoongi seemed to snap out of it, breaking his gaze to look back at the suitcase.

“I’ll take this one, it’s really heavy.” He said.

You grabbed it before he could, picking it up like it weighed less than a pillow.

“I got it. You know, vampire super strength and all.” You said, picking up three more bags and carrying them with ease. You felt him staring as you walked up the stairs.

“So, there’s only five bedrooms, some of you will have to share.” You said shyly, hoping to God that they would be okay with it.

“Five?” Jin blurted out. You fiddled with the sleeves of your sweater.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. Is that going to be too much of a problem?”

“Problem?! That’s more rooms then we had in our whole house!” Jin said.

“Yeah, at our old place we had to share two bedrooms, and we had bunk beds so we would take turns sleeping on the couch because of the odd number.” Hoseok said.

You let out a breath, relieved that they weren’t upset over it.

Honestly, you felt bad for them. From what they’d told you about their lives, they were barely getting by. Jimin was still a full-time student paying off loans. Jin, Yoongi, and Jungkook found work wherever they could, and the only way Namjoon and Taehyung made money was if their work sold, which wasn’t always a guarantee.

You couldn’t help but feel like you were taking them under your wing, giving them a better life in a sense. Well, quite literally since they were about to be evicted and homeless.

“Should I give you the tour?” You asked when everything was loaded inside.

They all nodded, eager to look around the impressive space.

“So, downstairs is the living room, kitchen, music room, lounge, and first bathroom. Please make yourselves at home and do whatever you want with the TV. I have an X-box and PlayStation and you’re free to use those too.”

That made Jungkook’s head pop up, ears perked in interest.

They followed you as you ascended up the floating staircase.

“Upstairs has the five guest rooms, my study, two bathrooms (but one of them is connected to my room), and the spare room, but that door’s always locked.”

Before they could ask why, you stopped in front of a row of doors and showed them inside.

Each guest room was as beautiful as the rest of the house. Each contained two queen beds, clean sheets tucked in all neat and tidy, two walk-in closets, and all manners of shelving and cubbies to store their belongings. It was far nicer than their old bedrooms had been.

Jin and Namjoon were already picturing all their collectibles and figurines displayed on the shelves. Jungkook had already picked a designated spot to set up his gaming computer, and Yoongi was eager to lay out all his equipment.

You could tell they were excited, itching to discuss who would get each room, so you decided you would let them get settled.

“Are you guys hungry?” You asked. It was seven o’clock. Humans usually ate around this time, right?

They all nodded vigorously.

“Alright, why don’t you start unpacking while I make dinner.”

The second you were out of earshot, they burst into a fit of chatter.

“I’m rooming with Jungkook!”

“I get the biggest closet!”

“I want a room that doesn’t have to share!”

Of course, what would be considered out of earshot for a human doesn’t apply to vampires, so you heard the whole thing. You giggled at their antics as you walked down the stairs to the kitchen.

As you put the pasta on the stove to boil, your mind started to wander.

You sincerely hoped they would enjoy it here. You wanted to make your home as welcoming as possible, you wanted them to feel comfortable.

The incessant growling of your stomach interrupted your thoughts. You sighed, looking down at the your hands, the skin turning ashy in color as the veins bulged. It wouldn’t be long before your eyes started turning red. Your hair would streak gray and your lips would turn dry and cracked. You would slowly start to look more and more like a corpse until you fed.

It had to be soon. You didn’t want to scare them with your lifeless appearance.

But how were you supposed to ask? They were just starting to settle in, the atmosphere was still filled with tension. You didn’t want to make them feel pressured by asking so early, that might scare them away. No, you were going to have to wait for one of them to initiate it.

The smell of the pasta sauce simmering in the pan did nothing to curb your appetite. You could eat regular food, you could appreciate the taste, but it had no nutritional value, and it did nothing to satisfy your raging hunger, especially now.

You perked up when you heard movement in the hall. Footsteps started to patter down the staircase.

The boys all filed into the dinning area, their eyes landing on the table that was already loaded with food.

“Take a seat, boys. I’m almost finished.” You said as you drained the noodles. They all sat at the dinning room table, muttering to themselves about how quickly you had gotten everything together.

You set down the pot of steaming pasta, the scent wafting into their faces, next to the basket of rolls. They started to dig in, and you giggled at their shocked faces when you proceeded to open a wine bottle with your bare hands.

You sat there, practically chugging your wine as they ate, hoping that the alcohol would help to satiate you. How lucky they were that they could silence their hunger so easily.

“You really didn’t have to go through so much trouble for us.” Namjoon said as you topped off your first glass.

You smiled at him.

“It was my pleasure! I want to make sure you are as happy as possible here.”

Namjoon smiled back at you, and you almost melted when you saw his adorable dimples.

“Thank you. We are very grateful for your hospitality.” He said.

He was the leader figure of the group, you could tell. He always acted polite and respectful, and his intelligence seemed to ooze out of all of his mannerisms.

By the time they’d finished eating, you’d polished off two more glasses. You were getting more and more agitated. Just watching them made your stomach growl.

You could smell each of them distinctly.

Jin was mature and flavorful, complex but smooth. Yoongi was savory, musky. His blood would compliment anything. Hoseok was bold. His scent was almost overpowering. You could already tell he had the strongest taste out of them all. Namjoon was rich and alluring, he’d pair well with chocolate and fruit. Jimin was the sweet one, you were already craving him. Taehyung…oh, Taehyung. You couldn’t wait to get your hands on him. He was so decadent, he’d have no problem satisfying you. And last but not least, Jungkook. He was light and fresh, but definitely packed a punch, there was an undeniable tang in the scent his blood.

“Um, Charlie?”

You blinked, refocusing on the situation at hand. It was Jimin who had spoken.

“Yes?”

“Are you alright? You look a little…are you feeling okay?” He was studying the way you were licking your lips over and over again, how your eyes were clouding over.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little…hungry.” You said it before you could think about how they would react.

They all looked at each other.

Shit. I shouldn’t of said that.

“Uhh…I’m gonna get started on the dishes, excuse me.” You stammered out. The chair screeched as you jumped to you feet. You started to flee to the kitchen, but one of them stopped you.

“If you’re hungry, we can help you with that.” Yoongi said.

Your head snapped around to stare at him. Was that Yoongi who had spoken? Yoongi, the one who’s only looked me in the eye once this entire time? The one who’s probably scared shitless of me?

“You’d be willing to do that?” Your mouth was already watering.

Yoongi cracked a gentle smile, and oh my god you almost pounced on him.

“That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?” He said.

Looking around, you could see that they were all staring.

You didn’t know, but they were all itching for an experience with you, for you to suck their blood and give them the high that Jimin had been talking about ever since you first drank from him.

You swallowed hard, trying to control yourself.

“Okay, just let me clear the table.”

With shaking hands, you loaded all the plates into the sink and worked to slow your breathing, which was rapid with excitement.

Finally, finally, you would be able to feed. This would be the first meal you had in days.

They were all waiting anxiously in the living room when you finished, fidgeting in their spots on the couch. You took the seat between Yoongi and Jin.

“So, who’s it gonna be?” You said, breaking the silence.

Without hesitation, Yoongi rolled up the sleeve of his white button-up and bared his wrist to you, looking right into your eyes as he did it.

Everyone, including you, was shocked at his boldness. Yoongi was quiet normally, and he’d been especially shy with you.

This showed just how eager he was.

Back when everyone was getting their bags, Yoongi had gone straight for his equipment. It was in a big black suitcase that was heavy enough to make him struggle every time he carried it.

When your hand had touched his, Yoongi remembered feeling electricity shoot through him. Your skin had been cool and incredibly smooth, he wanted nothing more than to reach out and interlace your fingers with his.

It must’ve had something to do with the natural allure that all vampires had, all those pheromones and chemicals they released that were designed to attract humans, but it was safe to say that he was successfully ensnared.

You took hold of his arm as you drew him closer.

“If you want me to stop, just say “cherry.” Okay?” You asked.

Yoongi nodded. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed the lump in his throat.

Light as a feather, your lips grazed along the inside of his wrist. You could feel his pulse pounding through his skin.

“I still need your permission, love.” You said quietly.

Yoongi’s breath was shaky as he wet his lips to speak.

“Drink from me.”

He shivered when he felt you smile against him. And then you were drawing your lips back and sinking your teeth into his skin.

The first thing he did was wince. You reached down to give his knee a reassuring squeeze.

Then he sighed and sank back against the seat as the endorphins washed over him. Gripping him tighter, you started to draw the warm, fragrant liquid from his veins.

He was even more delicious than you had anticipated. His taste was sharp and pleasantly tart. You gripped his arm with both hands as your fangs pierced deeper.

Yoongi’s eyes were closed as his chest rapidly rose and fell. His mouth was slightly ajar as he drew in quick breaths.

You closed your eyes and moaned with your lips firmly attached to his skin. You couldn’t have asked for a better meal.

“Harder.” Yoongi muttered, eyes still squeezed shut.

You were happy to oblige. Digging your nails into his arm, you willed your fangs to grow longer, sharper.

“Ahhh…” Yoongi groaned from deep in his throat. “Ahh fuuuck…”

That’s it, sweetheart, you thought. Give in to me.

Sweat started to bead on Yoongi’s forehead. His black hair stuck to the damp skin, hanging in front of his eyes, which were still tightly closed. His unoccupied hand gripped the edge of his seat.

He sucked in a breath through his teeth when you started to sweep your tongue over his skin.

Aww, look how sensitive he is. What a sweet little thing.

Even though your jaw was clamped around his wrist, you smiled.

Yoongi shivered, letting out a wobbly sigh.

Before you could take it too far, you ripped yourself away from him.

His eyes stayed closed for a few seconds, still in a daze, before he opened them and looked at you with wide kitten eyes. His chest was heaving like he had just finished running.

“You alright, darling?” You asked, sweeping the sweaty mess of hair from his eyes.

He just nodded wordlessly.

You smiled at him and took up his wrist again. Bringing it to your lips, you licked away any remaining droplets of blood and licked at the wound so there would be no bruising left behind. It’d be a shame to mark up such a beautiful set of hands.

For the first time in several minutes, you were aware of the other boys presence in the room. They were staring at the both of you with blown-out eyes, darkened with an emotion you couldn’t name.

Jin’s ears were bright red, as well as Jungkook’s cheeks and the entirety of Hoseok’s face.

Jimin had his bottom lip trapped between his teeth. His cute plump cheeks were tinted a pretty shade of pink.

Taehyung’s mouth was hanging slightly open in slack-jawed ‘o’ position, and Namjoon was sitting there like he’d just watched one of those sex-ed videos from middle school of a woman giving birth.

Hoseok was the first one to break the silence.

“I-Is…is that enough…for you?” He asked after clearing his throat.

You turned to look at them, eyes running over their anxious faces. They wanted to know if you wanted more.

“Taehyung.” You said.

He immediately looked at you with wide, hopeful eyes.

You gestured him over, and he quickly planted himself in the seat next to you.

To everyone’s surprise, you moved to straddle him. You yanked his shirt open to expose his gorgeous collarbones, running the tip of your finger over the golden skin of his chest.

Taehyung looked up at you with an expression that could’ve easily been mistaken for fear, but in reality he was exhilarated, hanging onto your every action as he waited for your next move.

You loved this. Having seven beautiful men, all of them considered out of your league, wrapped around your finger. You felt drunk with power.

You smiled that wicked smile of yours, leaning towards him to let your breath tickle the goosebumps that had risen all over his skin.

“May I?” You asked.

He nodded furiously. You raised an eyebrow at his lack of words.

“Yes. Please, drink from me.” His low voice rumbled in his chest.

That sly grin stayed plastered to your face as you lowered yourself over his body and pressed your mouth to the juncture of his shoulder. Your lips grazed over the elegant curve so lightly that it made Taehyung shudder.

The next thing he knew, your fangs were lodged deep in his neck. He let out a deep growl that made your stomach flip.

A burst of flavor hit your tongue as you gripped his biceps, keeping him in place. One of his hands was clenched around your waist, while the other was on the small of your back, pulling you closer.

You hummed to yourself contently as you felt his luscious taste fill your mouth.

Taehyung’s deep voice was making you weak. He kept moaning and groaning in that low timbre, sending vibrations through his chest and straight into your body.

Your hand snaked its way into his hair and tugged his head to the side, giving you better access to the veins criss-crossing his throat.

“Nngh…” Taehyung squirmed underneath you.

Massaging his scalp, you increased your pace. The more stimulation humans got, the better it felt.

“Yes, yes…faster.” He mumbled.

Your hand slid out of his hair and down the side of his neck to trace the curve of his clavicle.

Once you were satisfied, you pulled away from him, licking the side of your lips. You rolled off of his legs and slouched against the couch cushions. Leaning your head back with closed eyes, you sighed deeply.

“Thank you.” You said as you felt the dull ache in your stomach fade.

The room was silent as you caught your breath.

Once you’d come down from your high, you opened your eyes and stood up, making your way over to the kitchen. You fetched two juice boxes and tossed one to Yoongi and Taehyung.

“If it starts bleeding again let me know, but you should be fine.” You said.

The two of them nodded with their lips wrapped around the thin straws. You held back the urge to chuckle at how adorable they looked, like two children following strict orders from their mother.

The burst of energy left you with a sense of newfound confidence in the whole situation.

Maybe this could really work out, you thought as you brimmed with optimism.

…I don’t have to be alone anymore.

You looked up at the group of men, all seated in your living room, every single one of them willing and eager to fulfill your every need.

You smiled to yourself. Yes, this will work. You would make it work. How hard could it be?

~~~

2 WEEKS LATER

“Get your lazy asses out of bed and come eat breakfast!” Your voice carried through the whole apartment.

“I’m right here! Why are you shouting?!” Jimin said from his position on the barstool across from you. His hair, still wet from the shower, made him look like a blond hedgehog.

“Sorry.” You said, pushing over a bowl of oatmeal.

Bare feet padded down the stairs. Jungkook trudged into the kitchen and plopped down at the bar next to Jimin, rubbing his tired eyes.

“M’rning…” He mumbled.

“Morning.” You set out an assortment of buttered toast, eggs, fresh fruit, and yogurt with granola.

Yoongi dragged himself into the room, looking just as tired as Jungkook. He took one of the three cups of coffee that you’d already poured, and sipped it with his eyes closed.

“Why do you insist on making breakfast so early?” He whined.

“Because I have to leave early for work and I need to make sure that you all eat.” You replied as you stirred creamer into a travel mug.

“We do eat.” Taehyung insisted as he entered the room in his matching polka dot pajama set.

You looked at him through your eyebrows.

“I need to make sure you eat something that has nutritional value.”

He didn’t have an answer for that.

“Goooood morning!” Jin said cheerfully as he skipped over to the counter.

Everyone groaned simultaneously. Jin shot them a disgusted look.

“Who woke you up with a fucking suppository?” He snapped as he took the second cup of coffee.

“Charlie.” Yoongi said accusingly.

“You guys are babies. I’ve been up since four.” You said.

“You don’t sleep!” Jungkook interjected.

You puckered your lips in a defeated expression, then grabbed your to-go cup and moved towards the front door, your heels clacking loudly.

You took one last look in the mirror. Hair pulled back, pressed white button-up, tight black pants.

You grabbed your bag from its hook and tossed it over your shoulder.

“I’m leaving for work!” You called out to the boys.

They all responded with a chorus of goodbyes, wishing you a good day.

“Wait! Charlie, are you hungry?” Taehyung asked, holding out his bare wrist.

“I’ll be good for a while. Thank you, Tae.”

He flashed you a boxy grin, and you walked out into the hall and closed the door behind you.

It had been surprisingly easy getting used to their presence in your home. They were all relatively easy to get along with, despite their different personalities, and you found their company very enjoyable. Even though it'd only been two weeks, it felt like they been living with you for months.

Sucking their blood quickly familiarized you with their habits and preferences. You knew who was masochistic (Jimin, Jungkook, Yoongi) and who was sadistic (Jin, Namjoon, Taehyung, Hoseok). You knew who liked it rough (Hoseok, Namjoon, Yoongi) and who liked it soft (Jin, Jimin, Taehyung, Jungkook).

Things were looking good. There was no tension, no problems that came with the new living situation. None of the problems you'd expected to present themselves were apparent.

But good things never last.

The first incident occurred on a busy Monday afternoon. You were having a difficult day at work. Deadlines were looming, stress levels were high, and coffee was being consumed in unhealthy amounts.

“Charlie, here are those reports you wanted.” Your secretary plopped a stack of papers on your desk.

You sighed and rubbed your temples.

“Thank you, Melody.” You said, exhaustion heavy in your voice.

“Are you alright?” She put a warm hand on your shoulder.

Her scent flooded your nose. You hadn't fed in a few days, and you were starting to feel the side effects.

She was cute, with plump pink lips and warm doe eyes that screamed innocence. You may or may not have checked her out a few times.

You drew in a long, slow breath, trying to control the sudden urge to pin her against the wall and wrap your hand around that pale, delicate neck of hers.

“Yeah, I'm good. Just tired.” You said once you'd willed your fangs to stay put.

She smiled at you.

“Try not to work too hard, boss.” She gave your shoulder a comforting squeeze.

“I'll get you a cup of coffee, okay?” She said.

You nodded as you felt your tense muscles start to relax. Melody always knew what you needed.

“With cream and tw—”

“Two sugars, I know.” She grinned as she disappeared through your office door.

You sank down in your desk chair with a groan. You couldn’t wait to go home and feed.

The rest of the day crawled by at a snail’s pace. By the time you dragged yourself through the front door of your apartment, you were ready to gouge your eyes out.

Instead of the silence you were used to, you were greeted with pleasant chatter and sounds of movement. That was another good thing about the boys arrival, you always came home to company instead of solitude.

Crossing the threshold, you hung up your coat and dropped your bag.

Jungkook and Taehyung were sitting on the floor in front of the TV, locked in a fierce gaming battle. Jin was in the kitchen wreaking havoc.

“How are you so bad at this? I’m playing with my eyes closed!” Jungkook teased.

“You’ve played this before! This is my first time!” Taehyung shot back.

Jungkook poked his tongue out at him and Taehyung snatched his controller, holding it out of his reach.

“Hey! Give it back!”

Hoseok walked over to them and grabbed them both by the ear.

“Would you two stop acting like children.” He scolded, pulling them apart with a sharp tug.

“Ow! Hobi, let go!”

“He’s being a sore loser!”

“What are you two heathens up to now?” You called, gaining their attention.

At the sound of your voice, everyone perked up.

“Charlie, you’re back!” Jungkook said in delight.

You beamed at his cute bunny smile.

“Do you guys know where Jimin is?” You asked.

“Probably in his room.” Taehyung said as he focused back on the TV.

Your excitement grew with every step up the stairs. Jimin would be just what you needed, something sweet to satisfy your cravings.

You tapped softly on the door.

“Come in.”

He was sitting at his desk with his headphones in. His face lit up when he saw that it was you.

“Hey.” He said, eyes crinkling as he smiled.

“Hey.” You went inside and closed the door behind you. Jimin’s increasing heartbeat was fully detectable by your sensitive ears.

“You busy?” You asked.

“No. What do you need?” His eyes were wide and hopeful.

You looked down at the floor, fidgeting with your hands. No matter how many times you did it, you still felt slightly embarrassed to ask.

“...I’m hungry.” You said quietly.

Jimin’s cheeks bloomed in a faint blush. He shyly looked at his feet.

“Okay.” He stood up and sat on the bed, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants.

You approached him slowly, trying to build up your confidence.

Jimin gulped as you moved to sit on his lap, legs on either side of his torso. His eyes were locked on your face as you brushed his shirt collar aside.

Licking your lips, you leaned over him and pressed your mouth to the hollow of his throat. He moaned softly when your fangs penetrated.

You hummed against him when his overwhelming sweetness met your tongue. Compared to some of the other boys, with their hearty, salty flavors, Jimin was such a nice treat.

Gulp after gulp, you swallowed him down.

“Yes...oh, yes...Charlie—ah.” Jimin’s voice was high and breathy as he stuttered between gasps.

You always tried to ignore how worked up they got. Yes, you were fully aware that it felt good to humans, you were perfectly knowledgeable about the orgasmic feelings of pleasure that came with feeding, but you couldn’t help but feel that sometimes they took it too far.

You saw the way they all looked at you, you noticed just how nervous you made them, but it wasn’t uncommon for humans to become unnecessarily attached to the ones feeding on them. It came with the intimacy of the relationship. Feeding was such an intense experience, they associated the source of their pleasure with the one giving it to them: you.

It happened with a lot of vampires and their suppliers, you’d witnessed it too many times. The human would get overly attached, often initiating romantic or sexual feelings.

But it wasn’t genuine. It wasn’t real.

Vampires were predators. They were designed to lure and ensnare their prey.

The only reason any of them felt anything towards you was because you could give them what they wanted. They weren’t attracted to you, they were attracted to all the chemicals your body was expelling in order to catch your food.

That was the only reason why seven men, all incredibly out of your league, would ever be interested in you.

It was never a good idea to be romantically involved with your supplier. Every vampire knew that. It was messy, complicated, and always ended badly. Plus, how could anybody ever feel good about themselves in a relationship where one half was only in it because they were practically hypnotized?

You shifted uncomfortably as Jimin started to writhe and wriggle in ecstasy. His hands gripped your thighs on either side of him and squeezed.

“P-Please...please, more—ah, more...”

He sounded so sweet and desperate that you just couldn’t say no to him.

Obliging his request, you did something you knew he liked: you grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged.

He practically squealed.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t a good idea, you thought. Now he’s only going to get more excited.

Then something really bad happened.

You felt a very prominent, very noticeable bulge against your crotch.

Oh, shit. I shouldn’t have sat on his lap.

Jimin grabbed your waist and started to grind his hips into yours.

“Mmm mmph...” He moaned. “Mm...Jagiya.”

You froze.

You knew they were from Korea despite them speaking perfect English. Some of them had started calling you “Noona,” and when you asked Jin about it he explained that it was an honorific. When you asked him about some other words in Korean, he told you. Jagiya was one of them.

You scrambled off Jimin’s lap. He stared at you with big, confused eyes that made him look like a puppy that had just been scolded.

“What? What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Uh, nothing, I just have to...I have to do something.” You hurried towards the door and left him sitting there staring after you.

Fleeing to the safety of your bedroom, you slammed the door and leaned against it, sighing deeply with closed eyes.

What have I gotten myself into?

a/n: eh, like i said not the best chapter. it’s going to get better trust me! pretty pretty please with a cherry on top tell me what you think! what do you think will happen next? what kind of “complications” do you think our OC will encounter?

@rainbow-pandacorn @boononx @vannilacake

if you want to be tagged just let me know (✿◠‿◠)

#bts #bts vampire au #bts ot7 #bts fanfction #park jimin #jungkook #bts hosoek #bts jin #min yoongi #kim namjoon #kim taehyung #sub!bts #dom!bts #bts x oc

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mackinmacki · 7 years

Text

Designer Flaw

Rating: K+

Word Count: 3325

Summary: Kanan gets ready for a first date with Dia, featuring Mari making Kanan take her advice.

Pairing: KanaDia

Notes: Happy birthday, Kanan!

Links: (FFN) | (AO3)

"So, what do you think?" Kanan came out of the closet, a proud look on her face. Mari, on the other hand, was immediately scrutinizing her, looking her up and down.

"Hmm... Kanan, do you take constructive criticism?"

"Sure. Lay it on me."

"Your outfit is ugly."

"That's not constructive." Kanan sighed, dropping down to the floor. This was getting hopeless. Every time she came out in a new outfit, Mari shot it down in no uncertain terms. At this rate, she was going to run out of outfits. "What's wrong with it this time?"

"For starters, wearing a shirt with fish on it on a first date is a big no-no. You look like a walking aquarium. Where did you even get sky blue jeans anyway?"

"They were on sale."

"There was a reason for that." Mari sighed and clicked her tongue, stepping over Kanan and walking into her closet. She began to browse the rest of the outfits, wondering why she let Kanan have a choice in the matter for this long anyway. "Islander shirts, tie dye shirts... Hmm, really Kanan? Underwear with dolphins on them?"

"Stop looking through my underwear drawer!" Kanan snatched the underwear out of Mari's hands and threw it back into the drawer, thoroughly embarrassed. "How can there not be a single outfit in here that you approve of? Even though I'm going on a date with Dia, not you."

"That's the thing, Kanan! Dia is a highly fashionable person. Like myself I might add." Mari always seemed so haughty when she talked about fashion. "What if I hadn't been here and you'd gone on that date in those ugly green overalls and those, those... things?" She pointed derisively at a pair of crocs next to Kanan's feet. "I couldn't ever admit to anyone that we were friends again."

"You're overreacting, Mari. I doubt Dia is as picky about clothes as you are. Besides, there's nothing wrong with crocs!"

"They went out of style the moment they were conceptualized." Mari kept going through Kanan's clothing, desperate to find anything at this point to prove that Kanan didn't shop with her eyes closed. "I'm going to burn all these clothes, okay? Starting with your clown pants."

"Don't you dare." Kanan narrowed her eyes, unsure if Mari was being serious or not. Sometimes it was hard to tell. "If you do that, I won't have anything to wear!"

"That actually might be a good idea. Just go naked. I'd bet she'd like that."

"Mari!" Kanan blushed and hid her face in her hands. She was regretting asking Mari for help with getting ready for her date. This wasn't worth the advice she might end up getting. She just wanted to look good and impress Dia on their first date. Dia was so beautiful and regal, somehow so much above her despite the fact that they lived in the same town. Still, she figured there was at least one outfit that would be good enough. Apparently nothing was good enough for Mari's ridiculously high standards.

"You know what? This is useless. There's not going to be anything acceptable in here." Mari stepped out of the closet and dramatically slammed the door shut, barely missing Kanan's foot. "We're going to go shopping, and since I'm such a nice, wonderful friend, I'll pay for the perfect outfit for you."

"You don't have to do that-"

"The money's nothing to me. I'm more loaded than an uzi. Now come on. Put on some real shoes and let's go shopping!"

"Alright, alright... Are you trying to say I shouldn't wear the crocs?"

"You shouldn't wear the crocs... or the uggs. Don't you dare put those on either."

"Why are we going into this store, Mari? They only sell suits."

"Because you'd look good in a suit, dummy. Dia won't be able to keep her eyes off of you." That did sound appealing... Kanan sighed and followed Mari's whims, deciding that it couldn't hurt to at least try on a suit or two. Besides, Mari was paying, so it wouldn't be her wallet taking the hit.

"Okay, so this one looks good... And this one. Oh, this will be nice!" Mari began to throw multiple outfits at Kanan, who caught all of them before they hit the ground. By the time Mari was done, Kanan could feel the weight of the clothes in her arms.

"Is all this really necessary? I don't want to have to try on all of these."

"Like you've got better things to do." Mari began pushing on Kanan's back, guiding her towards the changing rooms. "Come on, go in there and let's see what you got!"

"Alright, alright!" Kanan stepped forward, away from Mari's pushy hands and into the changing rooms. She made sure to lock the door before dropping all the suits unceremoniously on the floor. "Well, might as well get this started..."

One by one, she changed into each outfit Mari had given her, looking herself over in the mirror. She felt out of place in such fancy clothing, but if Dia might like it, then she could give it a shot. The biggest issue was with the tie. She had no idea why Mari thought she should wear a tie, and she had no idea how to tie it. Though she tried, it ended up in a strange knot that she wasn't able to remove.

"Uh, Mari? I'm having trouble with the tie."

"Unlock the door and let me in, then." Kanan did so, with Mari whistling appreciatively upon entering. "Woah mama, you look fi-i-ine!" Kanan rolled her eyes and pointed to the tie, which Mari stared at in disbelief. "How did you even do that?"

"I don't know! Can you please untie it? I can't wear this on my date!"

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it. Mama Mari's gonna take care of it." With deft hands, she undid the knot that Kanan had accidentally created without any problems at all. "Tada!"

"Thanks, Mari... But please don't call yourself 'Mama Mari' ever again."

"No promises." Wrapping the tie back around Kanan's neck, she tied it perfectly, letting it rest comfortably against Kanan's chest. "That's perfect! You look so dashing, Kanan! Dia will be swooning for sure!"

"You really think so?" She looked herself over in the mirror, playing with the collar of her suit. She started to imagine being on that date, and having Dia unable to keep her eyes off of her. The thoughts made her smile, as well as made her cheeks turn pink. "Then we should buy this then, right?"

"Esattamente!" Mari clapped Kanan on the shoulder, scooping up the rest of the clothing and carrying it out of the changing room. "Now get changed back into your regular clothes. We've got a suit to buy!" Kanan quickly changed back into her regular clothes once the door was closed, carefully putting the outfit she had chosen back on its hangers and carrying it outside. Mari was standing just outside with a smile, the pile of clothing left haphazardly on the waiting bench.

"Mari, you can't just leave all those clothes there..."

"If you pay for the suit, I'll put them all back."

"... Never mind."

"So are you sure you don't want me to hide at another table while you're on your date? You can just say the earpiece is a hearing aid. I'm sure she'd buy that."

"I would rather you didn't do that." She was not about to have things become super awkward when Mari's cover was inevitably blown. She'd seen that one Spongebob episode enough times to know what would happen. Besides, she was sort of miffed that Mari didn't think she could do this on her own. "I'm perfectly capable of having a good date without your help."

"You say that, yet you were going to wear overalls like some kind of lime farmer. I don't know if I trust your judgement about yourself. You know, I don't even have to be there physically. I can use a drone-"

"I think we're good." Like that was going to be any better. "Thanks for the advice, Mari. The good advice, anyway. I'm going to go pick her up and take her to dinner now."

"Remember what I told you! Don't talk about dolphin mating rituals until the third date!" Blushing, Kanan left Mari's hotel and went into the parking lot to start up her truck. She wasn't going to talk about dolphin mating rituals anyway... Coelacanths, on the other hand...

She drove to the Kurosawa household, parking by the house and grabbing the flowers she had on the passenger seat. She'd had to argue with Mari about that, since Mari felt that a bouquet of diamonds would be a better thing to give to Dia. While she couldn't argue with that, she could argue that it was stupidly expensive and even a bit tacky. Mari was offended that Kanan of all people dared to call one of her ideas tacky, but she was adamant against the idea. That was one of the only things she'd gotten to choose for herself that day.

She knocked on the front door and waited, flowers in hand. Normally she wouldn't be so nervous, but this was her first-ever date, and she wanted it to go well. She wiped the sweat forming on her forehead, noticing that her hand was shaking. Curling it into a fist only made her seem angry, so she shoved it in her pocket and hoped that wasn't too informal. Then the door opened, and there stood Dia in all her gorgeous glory.

The dress she was wearing was red and modest, yet still screamed her beauty to the world. It hugged her just right, and Kanan found it hard to take her eyes off of her. "Good evening, Kanan. Are those flowers for me?" Thank God for Dia saying something, or she might've stood there gawking all night.

"Uh, yes, they are." She held them out to Dia, who took them with a soft smile.

"Thank you. They're beautiful. Do you mind if I put them in a vase before we go? You can come inside if you'd like." Kanan nodded, stepping inside with Dia's permission. Dia then left the entranceway to find a vase, leaving Kanan alone to check out the interior. Even with the small amount of the house she could see, she could tell that the Kurosawas were rich. It was a more regal richness, though. Different from Mari's way of doing things.

"U-Uh, Kanan?" Kanan jumped at the surprised voice, wondering if Dia had circled around to come back out from a different angle. But when she turned around, it was only Ruby. She breathed a sigh of relief, smiling at Dia's younger sister.

"Heya Ruby. Hope you don't mind me stealing your sister for the night."

"I-I don't mind." Ruby giggled, then looked up at Kanan with a surprisingly serious expression. "U-Uh, so..." She looked around, as if trying to make sure Dia wasn't in earshot. "S-Sis really wants you to kiss her, s-so kiss her before the date ends!"

"Wha-" But Ruby scurried away before she could inquire further, leaving Kanan confused. Dia wanted her to kiss her? Really? Woah... She was still trying to process that information, not even realizing that Dia had returned.

"Is something wrong, Kanan?" That snapped Kanan out of it. She turned to Dia, smiling sheepishly.

"No, not at all. Shall we go?" Dia nodded, then Kanan allowed her to leave the house first before following her down to the truck. She opened the passenger door for Dia like a proper gentleman, turning back to look at the Kurosawa household as Dia got inside the truck. Ruby was at the window, waving at Kanan. She gave a quick thumbs up, then ducked down to avoid being seen.

Kanan worried that everybody's expectations were going to weigh her down. She closed the passenger door and took a deep breath as she walked around to the driver's side. It was important for her to remain calm, or otherwise she'd say something stupid. She got into the truck and started to drive towards the big city, where they had a reservation for a fancy restaurant - again with Mari's help. There'd been one thing she'd at least been able to think of herself before Mari came up with it: music. She knew how much Dia loved idol music, so she got Mari to burn her a CD of Muse music that Dia would like.

"You don't have to play music just because I like it, you know?" Dia smiled, which made Kanan's heart thump a bit erratically. How could one girl be so beautiful? "Though I do appreciate it." Kanan beamed at that, happy to have done something right. Score one for the dolphin.

When they got to the restaurant, Kanan did her best to be a proper date for Dia. She held open both the car and restaurant doors, and pulled out Dia's chair for her. It wasn't that she didn't do these kinds of things, but it felt weird to be doing them in a date context. She'd been friends with Dia for all these years, and now they were on a date. It was too easy to want to slip back into the old, comfortable ways they always interacted. That wasn't very formal, though. She did her best to act like she knew Dia would appreciate.

"You look nice in that suit, Kanan. It really fits you."

"Thank you! That dress is really lovely on you." It took all of her efforts to not say that the suit really suited her. She felt that kind of restraint earned her at least one cookie, maybe two.

"I was hoping you'd like it." Dia's cheeks went pink, but she was saved from further explanation by the waiter, who came and took their drink orders. The one thing that didn't change with them on a date was that they were able to easily converse with each other. That was the benefit of knowing someone for years: there was usually something to talk about. She didn't even mention anything about mating. Not one time. Though she couldn't help but talk about sea life once or five times. It was something she knew a lot about. Thankfully, Dia's family business had a lot to do with the water as well, so the conversation wasn't entirely one-sided.

Normally, Kanan wasn't much for fancy foods. She knew that Dia and Mari were more diverse with their palates, but hers was more seafood-driven. However, this menu had a nice selection of seafood that she could choose from, saving her the embarrassment of having to ask if they had a kids menu. They chatted happily until the food came, then they started to dig in.

"Mmm, this is delicious!" Kanan sighed happily, taking another bite of her food. Her eating wasn't quite as delicate as Dia's was, but that fact was never brought up. Dia just smiled and nodded, more than aware of Kanan's more casual eating habits. It didn't really bother her.

"It's quite exquisite. I'm glad you're enjoying your meal, Kanan." When they finished their meals, Kanan tried to pay for it all, since she was the one who had asked Dia out on a date, but Dia wasn't having it. Even though her wallet begged her to take the deal Dia was giving her, she still tried to insist on paying it. Dia wasn't one to not get her way, though, so they ended up splitting the bill. Kanan wasn't sure how romantic that was, but her wallet gave her a prayer of thanks all the same.

On the drive home, Kanan began to think about what Ruby had said earlier. She had put the thought of kissing out of her mind, but now that their date was almost over, it was front and center in her brain. This left her with one chance to kiss Dia, which apparently she wanted. Oh man... She'd thought about kissing Dia before. Maybe a bit too much starting in high school. Now that she actually had the chance, she was nervous. Maybe she should have practiced kissing before going on this date.

She would occasionally glance over at Dia, usually finding her staring back. Dia would smile, and she would blush and look back at the road. Was she even a good kisser? Well, she was going to find out. Unless Dia didn't tell her... Now she was sweating again, stressing out over something as simple as a kiss. She was playing herself here.

Parking by the Kurosawa's house, Kanan got out with intentions to open Dia's door, but she'd already opened it and stepped out before Kanan got there. She smiled awkwardly, suddenly unsure of what to do with her hands. They were walking up to the door, and she was going back and forth in her mind about what to do. God, why was she overthinking this? She'd never been this way around Dia before. Even when she was crushing hard, it hadn't been this difficult to make a decision.

They were at the door when she made her decision. Dia was saying something - "I had a really nice time, Kanan" - but Kanan was having a hard time paying attention. She could feel her heart beating faster in her chest, and before she could chicken out, she cupped Dia's cheeks in her hands and dipped in for a kiss. It was quick and a little sloppy, but it left Dia dazed all the same when Kanan pulled back. Her heart was still pounding like a drum in her ears. She was sure Dia could hear it.

"Well... You certainly are bold, aren't you?" Dia smiled, a light blush on her face as she looked at Kanan. There was a hint of shyness in her gaze. "Will you do it again?" Perking up instantly, Kanan nodded hard and swooped back in to kiss Dia again. This kiss was longer, and Kanan swore she could hear bells ringing louder than her heart. She wasn't sure if she was having aural hallucinations or Mari had snuck up on them and started ringing bells to mess with them.

"That was nice," Kanan murmured dumbly, a big, goofy smile on her face. "Does that mean you want to go on another date?"

"Why don't you ask me properly, and maybe I'll say yes?"

"O-Oh, right! Will you go on another date with me, Dia?"

"Hmm..." Dia rubbed her chin in thought, leaving Kanan to sweat it out for a moment longer. "Come up with an idea for our next date, and I'll be happy to go on another date with you." She smiled warmly, kissing Kanan on the cheek. "Thank you for the date. It was very nice. Call me, okay?" Kanan just nodded dumbly, watching as Dia went inside.

She might have stood there like an idiot until the sprinklers came on, until a phone call broke her from her stupor. She answered it in a daze, not even looking at the caller ID. "Hello?"

"Kanan! Did your date go well?" Mari's shrill, excited voice burst through the speakers. Kanan had to pull the phone away from her ear to avoid going partially deaf.

"Uh, yeah, yeah it did. It went great, actually. Really great."

"That's great! That kiss was pretty steamy, huh? Glad you listened to little Wooby. Use some tongue next time!"

"Wh-What?" Kanan blushed, staring at the phone in shock. "How did you know that?!"

"Look up." She did so, and saw a robo-looking thing flying above her, a lens pointing directly at her. "Say hi to my drone, Miss Peekaboo!"

"Mari, I'm going to destroy your drone with a rock." She looked down to start trying to find something to throw at it.

"No, not Miss Peekaboo! Kanan, no!"

#love live! sunshine #KanaDia #kurosawa dia #matsuura kanan #ohara mari #kurosawa ruby #my writing

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starryeyed-char · 7 years

Text

Freckles, Flaws, and First Steps

Wow my title isn’t one word for once. This is a one-shot for the below prompt from @alexandrbello which I got a while ago. Sorry for just posting this now, my life has been w i l d. Hopefully you guys are glad to see some writing!

AU where lance had freckles but is ashamed of them so he hides them and then he runs out of whatever he covered himself with and anxiety, then keith comfort and klance, lots of klance please, thanks

You got it.

Lance had always been an outdoorsy kid.

It wasn't surprising, considering how close his house was to the beach. Growing up, the ocean was practically part of his backyard.

No matter what, if Lance wasn't at school or doing any number of chores, he could be found at the beach. Rain or shine, night and day, whatever the circumstance, no one could stand between him and the shore.

His older brother liked to joke that Lance could swim in the ocean before he could walk. Lance's sister complained that he tracked sand into the house. And his parents were driven near mad by his never ending sneaking out so he could collect seashells, or do something else of the kind.

Pictures of Lance as a child, with his freckled face and bright smile full of his missing baby teeth, were hung all over the house.

However, when Lance got a little older... well. His sudden growth spurt came with its fair share of acne, sending him into his awkward years without warning.

Lance had never been one of the most popular kids, though he had a decent amount of friends. But the abrupt changes made him the subject of a lot of teasing.

Lance became fixated on his appearance. He tried every facial routine he could think of, getting into numerous ridiculous hygiene habits that amused his family to no end.

But it worked.

Face masks were his saving grace, and after wearing them every night to what seemed like no end for a while, they began to fix his problem.

Due to all the crazy practices he entertained, Lance now got compliments on how clear his skin was, how smooth, how attractive a young man he was growing up to be.

He still wasn't satisfied, though.

Because the freckles that'd dusted across his nose and cheeks for as long as he could remember now just seemed like more blemishes to him. More imperfections that he should get rid of. But no amount of skin routines would make them go away.

He didn't plan it. Lance's sister had asked him to get her phone from her room, and the makeup was just... sitting there. He took it on a whim, used it once, and... after that, he couldn't stop.

He just looked so much better without them. Finally, there was nothing in his appearance for people to use against him. Nothing that couldn't be easily hidden from other people.

He never told his sister, and she never asked, but she knew. Lance knew that she did. It was in the sad glances she cast his way, the pointed looks at where his freckles were supposed to be. And the way that from that point on, she bought him foundations and concealers perfect for his skin, masking both the freckles and the fact that he was hiding anything at all.

And that was just the way it was. He'd wear makeup during the day, a face mask at night, and not let anyone see him in between.

Until he ran out.

In retrospect, Lance should've realized he'd use up his stash eventually. But that didn't stop him from panicking. He didn't even notice that the amount of makeup he kept in his bathroom was dwindling until it was too late. He'd always thought they'd visit Earth before he got himself in this situation.

Allura had given him all sorts of Altean facial creams, but he'd been too scared to ask her about makeup. He knew for a fact Pidge despised any sort of cosmetics with a passion, and he hadn't been able to find anything at the Space Mall the few times they'd been there.

Lance was racking his brain for other possible solutions when a knock sounded at the door.

“Mierda.”

“Lance? You in there? This isn't the first time you've skipped breakfast, but if you don't hurry it up we're going to start training without you. And then you'll whine that you weren't included.”

Lance resisted the urge to curse again. Anyone but Keith. Back at the Garrison, Lance had always shut himself in the bathroom to do his morning and nightly routines, but he was sure Hunk had his suspicions. Pidge too, probably.

But Keith? Seeing him like this? Lance definitely did not need that.

“Um, I'm really not... feeling well. I think maybe I better sit out on training, for today?” With luck, he'd be able to sneak out on a pod and find some place where he could get the space equivalent of makeup. If they caught him coming back he'd just say he was meeting up with some alien girl.

“Lance, Lotor's on the move. We can't slack off on training just because you're feeling a bit under the weather,” Keith told him, sounding nothing short of exasperated. “I know you're tired, but we've got to power through it.”

“I... really don't think that's a good idea,” Lance replied, already ducking inside his bathroom, returning to his search. Surely he must have something he could use. “I'd probably just get in your way? It's fine, just train without me, I'll work extra hard tomorrow. Promise.”

Lance could practically hear the frown in Keith's voice. “Lance, what's going on in there? Are you okay?”

“Told you, I'm just sick!” Lance said quickly. “Nothing to worry about. Just go ahead and start training, Mr. Fearless Leader.”

Socially oblivious as Keith was, it didn't take much for him to notice that Lance was speaking way too high and fast for him to be as relaxed as the words would imply.

“Lance,” Keith warned. “What are you not telling me?”

Lance shook his head, though Keith couldn't see it. “Nothing! I swear! I just don't feel so well, there's no need to—”

“Are you hiding another injury?” Keith interrupted, voice now angry. “Lance, if you need to use a pod then just do it! You're going to get yourself killed, thinking you can take care of this stuff yourself.”

“Well, I highly doubt a pod could fix this,” Lance muttered to himself, forgetting that Keith could hear everything he said.

The silence stretched just long enough for Lance to realize his mistake, before Keith spoke again.

“That's it.” His voice shook. “I'm coming in. You better not be bleeding to death when I get in there.”

Lance immediately locked himself inside his bathroom, just as he heard the telltale swish of his room's door sliding open.

“Keith, I'm telling you, I'm fine! Go back to the others!”

“I'm supposed to be the leader now, right? So, let me in! That's an order!” Keith pounded on the door.

Lance was really starting to panic now. His breaths came in short, heavy gasps as he sunk onto the floor. He didn't want any of them to find out, not like this. Not ever preferably, and especially not Keith.

What if they'd tease him about it, like they did with every other flaw he had? What if they did exactly what the kids at school had, all those years ago? Lance wouldn't be able to stand it.

Just another thing to add to the list of why he was different than everyone else.

He hated the way he looked, but in their eyes he was cool, handsome. Or... he hoped to be.

But if they saw him like this, at his worst, saw the real Lance... if they knew how ugly he was, underneath the mask he put up...

Lance felt tears welling up in his eyes, which only increased at the thought of how stupid it was that he was crying over this, like a quiznaking baby.

“Lance?!”

With a resigned sigh, Lance opened the door, only to bury his face in his knees again.

Keith only took a step inside the bathroom, looking around. “Wha— oh my god, you're okay. Well, you're crying, but... why are you crying?”

Lance let out a short laugh at that, but it was probably equally hysterics. He looked up, and Keith's eyes widened when they landed on Lance's face. “You happy now?”

“Woah,” Keith whispered. If Lance hadn't hid his face again, he might've noticed that Keith was blushing. “Since... since when do you have freckles?”

Lance picked up an empty bottle of foundation and promptly chucked it at him, but there was no real force behind it. Keith dodged easily. “Since I ran out,” he said bitterly.

“Ran out...?” Keith looked down at the bottle on the ground beside him, then slowly brought his gaze back to Lance. “You mean to tell me you've been covering your freckles with makeup this entire time?”

“Several years, actually,” Lance corrected. “But yes, that includes the whole of our space adventure.”

Keith whistled. “Dude, I thought you couldn't keep a secret to save your life, the way you always run your mouth.”

Lance snorted, ducking his face further down as more tears welled up in his eyes. “You'd be surprised.”

Keith didn't respond for a moment. Then—

“Why?”

Lance glanced back up, against his better judgment. “Why what?”

“Why'd you hide them?” Keith asked, looking genuinely curious, much to Lance's surprise.

“Why?” Lance echoed. He gestured at his face. “They're ugly. I'm ugly.”

Keith's eyebrows furrowed. “You actually believe that?”

“It's what I've been told,” Lance mumbled with a sigh, leaning his head back against the walI. “I hate them. I wish they'd just... disappear.”

“But why?”

“Have you not been paying attention?” Lance glared at him. “They're ugly! I wish I didn't have any stupid freckles!”

Keith hummed, and sat down beside him. “I don't know. I think freckles are cute.”

Lance gaped at him, thinking he must've misheard. “Wh... I'm sorry, what?!”

“You heard me. There's nothing wrong with them. They're cute.”

Lance stared at the ground. “Well, that's what you think, but I still... I don't like them. They just... I see them when I look in the mirror, and I see everything wrong with me. They remind me that I'm far from perfect. Every flaw, everything I try to pretend isn't there. I know it's stupid, but I guess... I guess I feel like maybe if I hide them, and forget about them, maybe I'll be able to forget about all the other stuff, too.”

“I'm not going to tell you you're not flawed, because you definitely are,” Keith began, and Lance rolled his eyes. “But, so are the rest of us. None of us are perfect. That's what makes us human— our flaws are a part of us. Just like your freckles are a part of you. There's nothing wrong with that.”

Lance laughed, rubbing at his eyes. “And here you don't think you're a good leader. Last time I checked, you couldn't even listen to advice, let alone give it.” His smile was small, but at least it was there. That was enough for Keith. “And I hate to break it to you, Keith, but you're not actually a human. Half alien, remember?"

“Well, Allura and Coran are both full-on aliens, and they're not perfect either. Everyone on this castle has their fair share of issues.”

“Oh, really? What's wrong with Coran and Allura, then?”

Keith schooled his features into a perfectly straight face. “Their ears,” he said, in a terrible British accent. “Are hideous.”

Lance snorted.

“I mean, really,” Keith continued, now grinning. “You're expected to hide your freckles and they just walk around with those pointy abominations visible all the time? They look like elves!”

Lance was full on laughing now. “And now you're making jokes? Who are you, and what've you done with the real Keith?”

“In all seriousness, though, you wouldn't want me to cover it with makeup if my skin started turning purple, would you?” Keith asked.

Lance shook his head, looking confused by the very idea. “Of course not. That wouldn't matter to us.”

“Even though I'd hate it?” Keith pressed, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Well, yeah, of course I wouldn't— oh.”

“Exactly. You don't have to be uncomfortable around us, Lance. We're... we're almost like family, at this point. You shouldn't have to hide parts of yourself from us.” Keith told him, then sighed. “But if you want to, I can try and help you find something else to cover them.”

Lance considered this. “No, it's... it's fine. I think you're right. Maybe flaws are something to be proud of, not hidden. Why pretend to be perfect if you know it's impossible, right?”

Keith smiled again. “I can tell them not to ask, if you want.”

“I think I want to hear what they have to say.”

Keith led Lance out of his room by hand, going towards the training deck where the other four paladins were waiting.

Shiro just did a double take, but ultimately acknowledged it with nothing more than a friendly smile and nod Lance's way.

Pidge just took one look at him and grumbled something about how it was unfair that she only ever burned in the sun.

Hunk patted his shoulder, giving him a look that plainly said, 'I totally knew, but I'm glad you're doing this.'

Allura walked right up to him, face curious. Lance felt Keith tense beside him as she openly stared. “I didn't know humans could have markings like these...”

Lance nodded, trying to keep from growing anxious. “They're called freckles.”

“Freckles,” she repeated, as if testing the word on her tongue. Finally she grinned, reaching out and pinching one of his cheeks, pointing at the pink Altean markings on her own face. “We match!”

Lance let out a breath, and felt Keith squeeze his hand. He couldn't help but smile.

He still had a long way to go in terms of accepting himself, and facing his fears. But as far as first steps go, Lance felt this was the right direction.

1K notes · View notes

identitycris1s · 6 years

Text

so this is the new year

im finally taking time to sit down and reflect on the past few months. the new year came and went and its been a bit of a whirlwind. i suppose i’ll just go by chronological order cos i dont really know how to start...also i dont think im an abstract thinker so really my life isnt ordered by “themes” or “lessons” or whatever but i sort of think of it in terms of events and the epiphanies or lessons that flow therefrom. this is probably just gonna be a stream of consciousness exposition cos im lazy to organise my thoughts and this is basically my journal so WHATEVER!

November

X told me he liked me and asked me out. i was shocked. but sort of saw it coming (what else could “r u free after lunch, i have some stuff to say” mean...LOL). i reacted awkwardly - distinctly remember saying “huh..what does that MEAN!!!” (LOL) i told him i would think about it but could probably only give him an answer after part b was over.

tbh this was probably just me stalling for time. i think instinctively i knew that i didnt see him in that way, but he seemed to tick so many boxes in terms of who i was “supposed” to be with - that sounds dumb, but what i mean is he’s a steadfast christian, a good boy, similar values, similar tastes in music / movies / books, same bloody industry LOL...

also he seemed really serious about it - ermmm he brought up marriage on that first day :0 ok i suppose thats unfair and it sounds insane without context - he said it with reference to how dating is always with a view to marriage which i do agree with but yes it was a lot to absorb in one conversation. and then he cracked out this book about dating and marriage and i was like woah. so, given how much thought he seemed to have put into this (he also said he chatted with his CG leader about me yikes) i felt obliged to at least think it through properly and give myself some time to consider rather than immediately rejecting him.

and so i mulled it over whilst studying for part b. he was overseas for a while towards the end of my studying period (ie when i was freaking out the most and generally being a headless chicken) and this probably contributed to me feeling like i liked him more than i really did hmm wonder what this says about me. i like to feel like someone’s out of my reach i suppose. so fucked up lol! and so during this period we were texting everyday and i would look forward to his replies and he was a real source of comfort during that stressful period and i never told him this and i probably never will.

December

exams were over and i had to face D DAY!! so i went to meet him to give him my answer and honestly even on that day i didnt know what my answer was. we met at BTM and he literally had written down a list of things to talk about and i think in that moment i knew this probably wouldnt work out. hes so damn thoughtful about every little thing and he thinks everything through and even though he seems to think he “doesnt take things too seriously” I THINK HE DOES...and i really dont...so i felt that showed how incompatible we were. its not a bad thing to be thoughtful. its just that i felt so pressured by how seriously he was taking things...i thought “trying this out” would be casual and chill and we would just hang out as if we were friends but with this overarching agenda of potentially being together but no his conception of “trying things out” is much more intense and serious and thought out and in his words “intentional”. which i realised is some christian dating jargon haha.

dinner was normal until he cracked out that list i was talking about. then he started talking about what he wanted out of a relationship and asked me what i wanted out of a relationship. like it was a damn interview. you know what, im saying this in a really condescending tone and i wouldnt ever be this hurtful if i knew he was gonna read this - in fact i really do think this kind of approach would suit many people and perhaps a more emotionally well adjusted person would think this was normal but i felt so bombarded and i really didnt know what to say in response. so i blurted out some nonsense about wanting to be with someone who was God fearing and “kind and compassionate” and “ambitious” LMAO...what bullshit (that last one i mean). and he had clearly thought out his answers a lot more and he went on a whole spiel about wanting to be with someone who could stand on their own as a christian and who he didnt have to “drag along” on their walk with God and i was like ok cool but i think im not that...im not what youre looking for...but of course i didnt say this. idk why. maybe i enjoy being wanted and sought after and i didnt want to shatter his illusion that i was what he was looking for, even though i was kinda seeing that he wasnt what i was looking for.

anyway, being the shitty person i am, i told him it wasnt a no but it wasnt a straight out yes either i.e. i would be willing to try with a view to potentially saying yes. and we left it at that. but even as i said bye to him that night i kinda knew this wasnt gonna work...but i wanted it to! i wanted to like him! i want to be the kind of person who can accept love from a well adjusted person who’s not afraid to be real and to take things seriously...but i suppose i have some emotional growth to work on...or is it perfectly valid for me to not want to be with him? tbh i never found him attractive (physically or even personality wise oops) - he doesnt make me laugh, hes kinda too uptight, he doesnt get my jokes (i have to be like “JUST KIDDING” a lot of the time..ded) but somehow we worked as friends. but to be with someone requires something more than just working as friends doesnt it?? ack

so we met a few times in dec (i think we went on four or five “dates” in total...im so reluctant to call them dates cos throughout i just couldnt see him in that light, but thats what they were i think) and through the course of our interactions i started picking up on things that i didnt like about him / about our interactions. this sounds awfully petty and i dont wanna be mean about this cos im sure i have MANY MANY MANY flaws that one could nit pick but these were just some signs that we would not work (quite apart from my lack of physical attraction to him)

1. our conversations always end up argumentative. i think this probably stems from both of us being law students and so whenever we disagree on something we both cant seem to fucking let it go. i distinctly remember one stupid conversation, i shall put it here (not verbatim but this is the gist of it)

X: what are your new years resolutions?

S: i dont like making new years resolutions because they always end up in disappointment because i never stick to them.

X: but disappointment isnt always a bad thing because you can learn from it and improve from there

S: yes but that doesnt mean disappointment isnt a bad thing - cos disappointment in itself is bad (like duh the feeling of disappointment is bad) but what comes after disappointment can be good or bad i.e. you can choose to work on yourself and improve or you can wallow in the disappointment.

-some more argument and confusion about what we are even talking about-

S: ok lets not argue on this its a semantic point.

X: is it semantic? its not semantic.

S: it is semantic. we are disagreeing on what the word disappointment means. i think it is necessarily negative but you are saying that disappointment isnt always negative because of what can come after but i think thats sidestepping the point of disappointment being negative in itself.

do you see what i mean. what kind of petty argument is this? whats the damn point? of course im definitely not blameless in this at all. i perpetuate it. but what im saying is i feel like talking to him brings out this argumentative side of me that im not a fan of. also its fucking exhausting haha.

2. he is so. fucking. serious. every conversation involves some heavy thing like spirituality or self evaluation or Godliness etc. which i suppose is good but i just found it tiring...why cant things be light? why cant things be fun? why do we always have to talk about *important* or *weighty* things? tbh i think he sorta compartmentalises me as a friend whom he can talk about these *weighty* things with cos im also a christian and i get what hes saying when he talks about God but i dont want to only talk about that...

3. we dont have similar senses of humour. i dont think he thinks im funny...but i think im bloody funny ok haha also i dont think im deluded on this? my friends think im funny too? yeah i think its a major problem that we cant really laugh together...hes not someone that makes me laugh at all :(

ok enough bashing X haha i really do think hes a great person we are just NOT compatible romantically.

ANYWAYS! sometime in dec i also met up w SM for the first time in aaaages. but things were like normal again. sounds stupid but i think ill always think of him as the one who got away LOL....emotionally unavailable and not interested in me?? IM DOWN! haha. ok hes not emotionally unavailable tbh i probably was more emotionally unavailable in the course of our friendship but he defo never really expressed any interest in me other than always hanging out one on one but that doesnt really count for anything does it. anyways! he told me about his BTO plans and im honestly v happy for him :) friends r growing up and moving on in life mang..

sad part was i dropped avo toast on my new everlane pants and that honestly ruined my day lol

January

NYE was spent w S and some of her friends plus R and A (who went home after dinner cos of family drama lmao angie is siao) - we went to AL’s fam friends party at fullerton for countdown and the fireworks were amaaaazing, lasted about an hour (which made us question the budget allocation on this tbh isnt it a bit of a waste?? fireworks are insanely expensive??) and we promptly went home after the clock struck 12 which was perfect haha i have no stamina to stay out late anymore.

work started on 2 jan! its been fun tbh - back with the trainees and meeting some new people and using my brain again. i like feeling useful and being stuck in a routine...at least for now haha. check in on me in about 3 months and we’ll see.

and....i finally mustered up the courage to tell X the truth ie i didnt see this going anywhere and we should just be friends. we had kind of an awkward dinner (i could feel myself being rude to him and being dismissive etc but i think it could partially be attributed to me being tired from work..but mostly cos i didnt wanna be with him!! as a romantic partner!! it felt wrong!) and so i told him after dinner otw to the mrt (funny, we always have these convos otw to the mrt haha). he said he understood and he sort of felt it coming. and i felt bad - he mustve picked up on my coldness and rudeness over text and in our meetings also...why am i like this. i shouldve been up front with him on the first day. but i didnt know!!! i didnt know for sure this is how i felt. ahhh well u live and u learn right. next time ill be better at this. hope theres a next time LOL God pls send me someone whos right for me

ok bye for now! this was a lengthy post haha

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kujo1597 · 8 years

Text

Actually, That Was a Good Thing

A fire left Peridot with nothing and nowhere to go, she contacted former classmates and one of them told Lapis about the situation. Lapis let Peridot move in with her and they developed a friendship.

One year later Peridot met a beautiful woman named Amethyst at the club and they kept in touch over the phone.

Part three of the “Maybe That Wasn’t Such a Bad Thing” series. Read it on Archive of Our Own! (Or don’t, I basically summed up the first two parts at the beginning of this post.)

Chapter 1

Ams: Oh my god Peri, the Lil Butler reboot looks awful!

Ams: Like, it barely has anything to do with the old show yknow.

Peridot: I KNOW THE RECENT CPH MOVIE WAS THE SAME WAT HOW HARD IS IT TO BE FAITHFUL TO THE SOURCE MATERIAL

Ams: I never watched CPH but I heard the movie was bad.

Peridot: BAD IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT

Ams: The Jem movie was god-awful! And not even in a funny way.

Peridot: I NEVER WATCHED JEM

Ams: Ha! Not surprised, even I’m a bit young to grow up with Jem.

Peridot: WAIT HOW OLD ARE YOU I ASSUMED WE WERE THE SAME AGE

Ams: 30 Per

Peridot: OH IM 25

Ams: Jeeze, you have to wait before your childhood shows get bad reboots. ;p

Peridot: ITS ALREADY HAPPENED YOUVE SEEN THE CN SCHEDULE

Peridot chuckled as her and Amethyst’s conversation about terrible TV shows and movies continued. She didn’t expect that cool and beautiful woman she met at the club to be such a TV geek.

Peridot faintly heard her phone ringing and lifted her head from her drool-covered pillow.

She groaned and squinted at her clock but the combination of tiredness and not wearing glasses made the numbers very hard to make out.

11:27PM?

Who calls at that time?

Peridot answered her phone and heard a somewhat familiar voice on the other end.

"Hey Peri, what's up?"

It was Amethyst.

"Sleeping," Peridot replied.

Or, at least she thought she did. It's hard for Peridot to form words right after waking up.

"Ah shoot, I woke you up, didn't I?" Amethyst sounded a bit guilty. "I just wanted to talk but I can call some other time."

"I'm already awake," Peridot briefly wondered if it came out snippish.

"Nah, it can wait, I just saw the latest teaser for the final season of Ninja Keith and had to talk about it," Amethyst was clearly suppressing her excitement. "Steven's asleep so I called you."

"We can talk about it now, just give me a minute so I can watch it."

The two chatted about the show until two in the morning.

Over the next month Peridot and Amethyst called and texted each other on several occasions.

Peridot never really had a friend before.

It was nice.

Peridot yawned while reading her menu, she had stayed up quite late texting Amethyst. This was becoming a regular occurrence which is unfortunate for early-riser Peridot.

"Hey," Lapis addressed the sleepy young-adult across the table. "You can sleep later, we have errands to run."

Peridot dismissively waved her hand. "I know, I just had another late..." she trailed of when she noticed a waitress with long lavender hair tied up in a high ponytail walking by.

"Cute girl?" Lapis asked, clearly amused.

"Oh no, was it obvious that I looked?" Peridot asked with a blush.

"Yeah, you can't exactly subtly turn your head," Lapis put her hand on the top of her head to replicate Peridot's sky-high hairdo.

"Oh, heh, right. Um, you remember how I met a girl when you dragged me to the club?"

"You mean when I invited you because you need to get out more?"

"Whatever."

“Yeah, I remember you mentioning a girl. Was that her?”

Peridot nodded. “She said she’s a waitress but not where she works. I didn’t expect to see her here.”

“You gonna go talk to her?”

“I... don’t know,” Peridot fiddled with her fingers.

“You’ve been chatting for a while, you should ask her to meet you after work.”

“Talking on the phone is different,” Peridot’s voice got quiet. “She can’t see me over the phone.”

The change of tone took Lapis by surprise. “She saw you at the club.”

“In strange dim lighting. She had no way of seeing just how bad my burns look.”

“That’s never been a problem before.”

“Yeah, well,” Peridot gestured at Amethyst. “I’ve never met somebody so beautiful and perfect before.”

Lapis took a good look at Amethyst. “Peridot, she has a cleft lip and her left eye’s really squinty. She’s not exactly perfect.”

"Those are such tiny flaws. This," Peridot waved her hand around her face, "isn't a tiny flaw and a significant amount of my body's like this. You know, you've seen it."

Lapis shrugged. "It's not as bad as you think. You only think it's really bad because you know what you used to look like. Amethyst likes you. She gave you her number and you suck at starting conversations so she must keep coming back to you."

"Yeah, she always starts the conversations."

"Knew it. I think you should go up to her. You two will meet eventually, wouldn't it be best to do it soon? If she is repulsed by a little thing like your burns then she's not worth your time anyway."

Peridot put her finger to her chin in thought. "You may have a point..."

As Peridot weighed her options she faintly heard Lapis talking to someone.

"Peri?!"

Amethyst's excited voice snapped her out of it.

"Ah! Amethyst!" Peridot's voice cracked in shock.

"Good to see you again," Amethyst said with a grin. "Wish I could chat but I'm pretty busy."

"What time do you get off work?" Peridot blurted out far louder than she intended. She could feel the blush spreading across her face and ears.

Amethyst had an amused look on her face. "I get off at four-thirty."

"I-i-if you want we could hang out for a bit then eat supper together."

"Yeah, sounds great," Amethyst said with a smile then rushed off to do her job.

"See you then," Peridot said quietly even though Amethyst was long gone.

She turned around and met Lapis' smug gaze. "I don't know if I should love you or hate you right about now."

"You should love me, I just got you a date."

Peridot arrived right as the clock struck 4:30PM she pulled out her phone as she stood outside the restaurant door.

It was only a fifteen minute wait before Amethyst came sprinting out of the door.

"Woah," Amethyst nearly ran into Peridot. "Oh hey Peri. Were you here long?"

"Nah, it wasn't that long."

"Cool, cool. Are you up for some walking? I'd like to swing by my place to change."

"Yeah, I'm fine with that. We can also talk and choose where to eat."

The pair started off for Amethyst's house.

"So Peri, what's the deal with you and Lapis?"

"Deal?" Peridot asked, obviously puzzled.

"Yeah, I know you and Lapis are roommates but are you dating or anything?"

Peridot nearly burst out laughing. "Oh no, we're good friends but that's it. Lapis graciously opened her home to me when I had nothing and nowhere to go," Peridot thought a second. "Well, I guess I could have moved back to Alberta and in with my dad. But to be frank, I really don't want to get on another plane any time soon."

Peridot nervously laughed.

“Chill homegirl,” Amethyst put her hand on Peridot’s shoulder. “We’re just hangin’ out. No different from our texts and phone calls ‘cept we’re face-to-face.” Amethyst didn’t get much of a response but she sort of expected that. “So what do you want to do before dinner?”

“We both enjoy video games so I thought we could go to Funland Arcade for a bit.”

“Sounds good and Fishstew Pizza’s close by so we could eat there.”

“Sure, that works for me.”

They continued to walk and talk and eventually they reached a large beachfront property.

Amethyst opened the door and led Peridot to a couch in the livingroom.

“I’ll be back in a sec, make yourself comfortable,” she said before heading upstairs.

Several minutes later Peridot heard footsteps coming from the stairs. She expected to see Amethyst but instead saw a short chubby boy with curly black hair.

“Oh my gosh,” the boy exclaimed looking at Peridot all starry-eyed. “Are you Peridot?”

The boy’s staring made Peridot a bit uncomfortable. “Yeah.”

He chuckled and jauntily walked up to Peridot. “Amethyst told me all about you! I’m Steven by the way.”

Hearing that Amethyst talks about her made Peridot quite happy and much more relaxed. A smile reached her lips.

But there was a kid to entertain. “So you’re Steven, Amethyst told me about you.”

Steven beamed at Peridot. “She did?”

Peridot giggled. “Yes, she did. This visit is a bit impromptu, if I knew I was coming ahead of time I would have brought some of my spare G.U.Y.S. with me.”

“You have G.U.Y.S.”

“Yes, I collect lots of toys and figurines. I have G.A.L.S. too.”

Steven squealed. “That’s so cool!”

“I dunno, I think it’s pretty nerdy.”

Amethyst’s voice took Steven and Peridot by surprise. “But I like nerdy so it’s cool.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever understand your vocabulary,” Peridot said.

Amethyst laughed. “You’re an egghead, you’ll figure it out eventually.” She then held out her hand. “C’mon, let’s go.”

After saying their goodbyes to Steven, Peridot and Amethyst walked to the arcade.

They started off by playing some fighting games against each other.

“Wait, you use grapplers too?” the surprise was clear in Amethyst’s voice.

“Yeah, they’re a lot of fun and their designs are usually really cool,” Peridot replied amused.

“Dude, I pegged you as the type to use trap characters and zoners.”

Peridot shrugged. “I dabble with those. It depends on the game. But I always go straight for the grappler.”

They completely lost track of time playing the fighting games. Before they knew it well over two hours had passed.

The only reason they stopped was because Peridot’s fingers and right wrist were stiff and sore.

“You okay?” Amethyst asked Peridot who had started to bend and flex her sore joints.

“I’m fine, that just happens sometimes,” Peridot rolled her sleeve up a bit to show her wrist to Amethyst. “Skin grafts are a bit stiffer and more taut than normal skin so I sometimes need to do stretches.”

“Oh, I had no idea.”

“I didn’t expect you to, I only know that because a third of my body’s covered in them.”

The number really surprised Amethyst.

And Peridot could tell. “It’s mostly on my back so it’s not that bad. It’s the ones on my wrist and upper arm that are the problem.” Regret started to bubble up in Peridot’s gut when she saw Amethyst’s blank face. “Sorry, I made you uncomfortable.”

“Oh, no, nononono, Peri, I just- wow, I can’t wrap my head around it. That’s actually pretty amazing. You’re really tough.”

Peridot laughed. “I don’t know about that.”

“It’s true! Not everybody can walk away from a thing like that. You’re pretty impressive.”

Peridot burst into a giggle fit.

"I'm gonna keep saying it until you believe me," Amethyst wrapped her arm around Peridot's shoulders then poked her on the nose.

"I believe you, I'm just so relieved. I was really worried about how you'd react to seeing me in decent lighting. You're so gorgeous!"

Amethyst's face was completely covered a blush. "Whaaaaat?"

"It's true!" Peridot was now blushing too. "You're the most beautiful woman I ever laid eyes on."

Amethyst buried her face in her hands.

Peridot laughed slightly villainously. "I will keep calling you gorgeous until you believe me."

"You think you're sooooo smooth, huh?"

"Stars no! I'm the biggest nerdy mess ever! Luckily, you're kind of a nerd yourself."

"Ha, that's true," Amethyst took Peridot by the hand. "So, how about this 'gorgeous woman' takes a certain 'nerdy mess' to the pizza parlor?"

"Wasn't that the plan?"

"Yeah, but it's kinda late now."

"We have to eat anyway," Peridot said with a shrug. "I have a terrible habit of getting too into coding to eat so I'm kind of used to not eating supper until late at night."

"Oh dude, you have no idea how many times I had a pizza for a midnight snack."

"A whole pizza?" Peridot raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it was just a medium pizza, nothing too big."

"I don't think I'll be able to eat an entire pizza."

"We can order a large pizza, you eat what you can and I'll finish it off. Sound good?"

Peridot nodded.

While they were talking they arrived at Fishstew Pizza. They walked in and sat at a table.

"So what kind of pizza are you thinking of?" Amethyst asked. "I'm cool with whatever."

Peridot hummed in thought. "I'm in the mood for something spicy."

"You have good taste."

"Oh, you like spicy food too?"

Amethyst grinned and nodded. "Spicy's the best!"

"Then spicy it is."

Peridot ordered the pizza which her and Amethyst greatly enjoyed as they made casual conversation.

After the meal they hugged and parted ways.

Peridot arrived at her home and called out to Lapis.

"I'm gonna lie in bed, my leg's killing me!"

She walked into her room and smiled when she saw her little brown havanese curled up on her bed sound asleep.

Peridot sat on the edge of her bed, fondly gave her dog a pat then removed her prosthesis and sprawled out checking her social media on her phone.

Soon after Max woke up and took his place on Peridot's tummy.

Lapis came into Peridot's room some time later.

"So, how was your date?"

"I'm not entirely sure that was a date," Peridot said. "I mean, we held hands soooo... maybe?"

"Woah, slow down there, you're already holding hands?" Lapis' voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Shut up," Peridot was giggling. "We also hugged and neither of us was sad."

"So what'd you guys do other than hold hands and hug?"

"We spent a few hours playing fighting games at the arcade, we then shared a pizza. AndIwasfeelingreallyselfconciousafterItoldAmethysthowmanyburnsIhaveandthenIblurtedoutthatIthinkshe'sgorgeousbecauseshecalledmeamazing."

"What was that last part?"

Peridot's face was bright red. "I told Amethyst just how much of my body's covered in burns and she said I was amazing. I felt really relieved and then I blurted out that I think she's the most beautiful woman I ever met."

"How'd she react?"

"She blushed and tried to brush off the compliment. It really surprised me. It was as if she has never been told that before."

"That's very possible. Amethyst's kind of pretty but in a really specific way. You're into short stocky girls and piercings. It's actually kind of crazy how up your alley she is. And she probably thinks you're pretty attractive so getting a compliment from you must've been exciting for her."

"I guess? She did call me cute at the club."

"That's good and she thinks you're amazing, you two are also always chatting. I think you have a shot with Amethyst."

"Yeah, I think so too," new confidence began to fill Peridot's body. But there was a problem. "I've never dated before, can you give me advice?"

"I'm really not the best person to ask, I suck at dating. You should just go with your gut, it's working so far."

"Go with my gut," Peridot muttered. "Thanks Lapis."

"Yeah, don't mention it," Lapis waved it off. "G'night."

"Night."

After getting ready for bed Peridot sent a message to Amethyst.

Peridot: I HAD A GREAT TIME TODAY THANK YOU FOR HANGING OUT WITH ME

#SU Fanfic #Amedot #Perithyst #SU Amethyst #SU Peridot #SU Lapis Lazuli #Steven Quartz Universe #Human AU #Kujo Writes #Not Such a Bad Thing Universe

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