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jimlingss · 4 years

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Foreverland

➜ Words: 15.2k

➜ Genres: 95% Fluff, 5% Angst, Peter Pan!AU

➜ Summary: Just because you're nineteen doesn't mean you aren't still a CHILD! So why does everyone want you to grow up so badly?! Is it so wrong to not want to work? To get married?! And for heaven's sake, you'll wed anyone but boring Namjoon! Little do you know, a certain fairy boy's about to grant your wish and whisk you far away from this nightmare.

cr.

You flip the page of the storybook. It sits on your lap, the two covers spread over your thighs, the page corners crisp against your fingertips. The colours seem to jump out at you — raspberry, periwinkle and kelly vibrant against the white. And you’re completely enthralled with the adventurous storyline, studying the sentences before your eyes follow the illustration of the garden gnome climbing the mountain. “Y/N!” A sharp shriek interrupts your concentration and you look to the house porch. Your mother has her hands on her hips, apron tied around her waist and ladle in hand. “Heavens to Betsy! What did I say about climbing trees again! Are you tryin’ to break your neck?! Get down here this instant, young lady!” You sigh, jumping down from the thick branch much to her horror. But your landings are always perfect. This spot’s perfect. You don’t know why she has such a bone to pick with your favourite reading place. Not only was the tree branch comfortable, but you got the biggest and brightest view of the grassy field and can feel the wind whisking through your hair. Not like she’d understand. She never liked heights. “Look at yourself,” your mother chastises and starts to brush off the skirt of your dress. “You got so dirty. You can’t be looking like this when Namjoon’s coming by.” “Again?” Your exaggerated exhale gains the lift of her brow. But you can’t help it. It’s not like your walks with Namjoon are something you enjoy. “I don’t like him, mom. You know that.” “Then who do you like?” You recoil. “No one.” “You’re not a child anymore, Y/N. You’re already nineteen and you’re turnin’ twenty soon. And what happened to your friends? Sarah’s already gotten married and so did Irene.” “That’s because they had no dreams,” you tell her. “They’ve always wanted a boring life.” “Well, it’s time for you to grow up,” she huffs, holding you by the shoulders and looking at you one last time. “If you don’t want to get married, then move out and get a job.” Heck no. You don’t want any of that. The last thing you want is to be like Sarah or Irene who only knows how to gossip over tea and plan how many babies they’re gonna have. Or be like your parents. Your father’s a war veteran and always working long hours while your mother’s a homemaker — she’s so bored in the neighbourhood that she frets over every detail about you and drives herself nuts. You don’t know when it became like this but all the adults are so utterly boring. It seems like everyone’s grown up to live a monotonous life in the suburbs and you refuse to follow. “Y/N?” Your train of thought comes to a crashing halt by a tall dark-haired gentleman with rounded glasses. Namjoon’s always been polite and well-mannered but his talking can get you fast asleep. “Are you okay?” “I’m fine. Thanks.” You muster a smile, looking away from the kids crowding around the trees and climbing them, giggling, hooting and hollering at each other. As Namjoon walks past them, he shakes his head in disapproval. “They’re so noisy.” “When was the last time you climbed a tree?” you suddenly ask. “I never really did. I always preferred to build train sets and reading.” Immediately, your eyes light up. “Reading?” “Encyclopedias.” Your eyes dim just as quick. “Oh.” // The pastel mint that’s engulfed the dining room — walls, chairs, tablecloth — is washed out, especially with the dim yellow ceiling lamp hanging over the rectangular table. But you don’t comment when the pastel pink kitchen looks much worse. Your parents’ decorating choices have always been questionable to you. “I heard Namjoon came by,” your father says at dinner. “How was it?” “Same as always.” It goes silent. The air is awkward and your mother clears her throat noisily. The mashed potatoes taste bland on your palette. “You know, he came by the other day to have a chat with me. It seems like he’s quite serious.” You have an inkling of what your father’s trying to get at and you put your fork down, allowing it to clank against your dinner plate. “Namjoon’s terribly dull.” “He’s a respectable businessman,” your father asserts. Your mother agrees and chimes, “Namjoon isn’t boorish.” “He has no life in him,” you retort back. “Watching paint dry is more fun.” Your father’s brow jumps and he raises his voice, “He will be a fantastic family man.” “He has a great background, dear,” your mother offers in a softer tone. You abruptly stand, chair legs squeaking against the linoleum, not wanting to hear anymore of their reasons. No matter what you say, they have hundreds of defenses. No one’s actually listening to you. They don’t understand! “I won’t marry him, never ever. I won’t get a job either! I hated working as a secretary!” “Sit down, Y/N,” your father deadpans, looking back at his dinner plate as if you’re just a dog barking. You don’t faze him whatsoever. “You’re not a child who can throw a temper tantrum anymore.” “I am a child!” “You’re nineteen,” he reprimands. “It’s time to grow. up.” “Ugh!” You whirl around and stomp up the stairs, abandoning your dinner on the table. Your mom calls after you, demanding to know where you’re going, but you get to your room, slam the door shut and lock it. You dive into your bed, face flat into your pillow. A moment later, you hear a knock but when you don’t respond, the steps fade away. It’s always like this. You don’t know why so many kids want to grow up quickly to be adults when there’s nothing fun about it whatsoever. You don’t want to marry Namjoon. You don’t want to be a housewife for the rest of your life. You don’t want to work for someone else either. You just want to be free — is that so much to ask? All you want is to read, to go on an adventure, to escape to somewhere else, be someone else. You move your face to the side and out of the pillow to finally breathe and your eyes incidentally stray out your windows. It’s a starry night tonight, pinpricks of milky light glittering over the dark horizon. You find yourself standing up and walking over to open the latch. Immediately, fresh air whisks inside your suffocating room and you inhale a deep breath. You lean on the window sill with your arms, pupils flickering up to the bright North Star in the sky. It’s silly and naive, but with how dismayed you are, you shut your eyes and wish upon that glimmering star. You wish that someone could take you away from here. Far, far away. To a place where there won’t be any expectations for you. A place where you won’t have to work. Where you won’t have to marry Namjoon. A place where your dreams could be granted. But not for a second do you expect for your wish to actually come true. You become sleepy while resting at the sill, lids heavy as you begin to drift off. But then, there’s a tickle at your nose and a light tap of your shoulder. “Mama….stop it,” you groan, “I’ll talk to you later…” Yet, there’s a harder tap and a deeper voice— “Hello?” Your eyes shoot open at the unfamiliar timbre and your eyes narrow in on a man-boy floating in front of you. Dark hair. Twinkling irises. A mischievous smile. You stumble back on your butt and scream. No one hears you, not your parents who are heavy sleepers or the noisy neighbours who somehow have taken a day off from snooping around. So, you’re left alone to face the stranger who’s seemingly not standing on anything. He’s just outside your bedroom window, floating mid-air. “W-Who are you?!” You have to blink thrice to make sure you’re really seeing turquoise fairy-like wings. “Name’s Seokjin.” A sparkly red vest with golden trousers and a blue hat with a green feather on the side — he looks like he’s come straight out of one of your storybooks. “But you can call me Jin.” “What are you doing here?” your words stutter out. “I heard a wish being made and came to grant it.” Jin floats down and steps onto your window ledge, peering curiously inside your room. “It’s quite pink,” he notes and the corners of his mouth upturn into a perfectly rounded smile. “I’m guessing that’s your favourite colour.” Without warning, the stranger comes in. An uninvited guest who’s all too meddlesome with the trinkets on top of your dresser. Your eyes bulge, brought speechless in the meanwhile. You wouldn’t know how to explain if your parents were to come in and see this stranger walking around your room. You don’t even know if he’s a man or a boy in the first place. It’s almost like he’s both — one second, he looks young and the next, he looks to be around your age. But one thing’s certain. He’s tall, height overcoming yours, and he has light blue translucent wings on his back. “What are you?” The question stumbles out without much thought and you realize a little too late once it’s said. He whirls around with a frown and lolls his head to the side. “I’m a human.” “How does a human have wings?!” He laughs, a bubbling sound emitting from his mouth, and he looks behind him. “Oh this? It’s magic. I guess that kind of makes me a fairy.” You wonder if by fairy, it’s the fairies in the books you’ve read and you wonder what exactly he means by magic. More importantly, you wonder if this is all a dream in the first place. Jin holds out his hand, palm lifted upwards and after a beat of hesitation, you take it. He helps you stand up on your feet again and smiles. “What’s your name?” “It’s Y/N.” “That’s a nice name. Okay, let’s go.” “Excuse me?” You blink hard, questioning if he’s even from this world. “Go where?” “Foreverland, silly.” Jin smiles, plump lips pulled, cheeks puffed out like loaves of bread, brown irises twinkling. “Don’t you want to escape from here? Go on an adventure? Come on!” He takes your hand, leading you to the window, but your steps are slow. “Where’s Foreverland?” “Boy, you ask a lot of questions, don’t you?” He looks back at you with a boyish grin. “Just come see for yourself.” You wonder if this is a dream. If it is, then there’s no point in staying in your room. So you simply nod and his smile widens. Jin gets onto the window ledge and pulls you up with him. But before he can go any further, you blurt out, “Wait!” And he promptly halts, looking at you to see if there’s anything wrong. “D-Do I need to bring anything with me?” He laughs at your question. “No.” Then, before you can even blink, Jin jumps. With your hands held, you fall out the window after him and scream at the top of your lungs. Yet, there’s no fall in the pit of your stomach. There isn’t a rush, the wind tearing through your hair, or the impending splat on the ground. You peel open your eyes to discover Jin carrying you. An arm around your back and the other behind your knees. Immediately, you loop your arms around his neck and find your house becoming smaller and smaller as he flies away. “Did you really think I was just going to let you fall?” the strange boy asks with a cheeky smile. “You should’ve warned me,” you murmur, not putting up much of a fight or complaining when you were too busy looking at the view. You were flying over the entire city, watching the way the lights of the buildings glimmer into a mosaic of colours, your house now a mere dot in the distance. It’s a breathtaking sight, reminding you of stars in the distance. Except they were the buildings you entered on afternoon shopping trips with your mother or streets you biked through. You could see the diner and the record shop and even the drive-in theater! Jin smiles as he looks at you. “If you’re impressed now, wait till we get to Foreverland.” You turn your attention to him, eyes running from his lashes to the slope of his nose and the dip of his cupid’s bow. The breeze makes your cheeks warm and you take the opportunity to pinch yourself on the arm. It hurts, which only means one thing. This isn’t a dream. “How are you doing this?!” “I said it before!” he exclaims in a pitched voice. “Magic!” It can’t be real. But at the exact same time, it is. And with that realization, you start hollering at the top of your lungs, momentarily startling the boy carrying you. “I can’t believe this is happening! This is amazing!” Jin grins. “I know!” You cheer as if you’re on top of the highest mountain, as if you’re facing the endless ocean and screaming your name, as if the entire world could hear the howls coming from the pit of your stomach. Exhilaration bleeds through your veins and you laugh aloud, finally feeling alive. Instead of feeling fearful, cautious, or burdened with an apprehension you know anyone in your position would have, you’re elated. For the first time, you were finally going on an adventure. The two of you fly a bit more, soaring beyond the wispy clouds and blue oceans, until the golden sun starts to rise over the horizon. As soothing as it is, to where you could fall asleep, you make sure to keep your eyes open to catch it all. And soon enough, Jin’s swooping downwards towards an oblong-shaped island in the middle of nowhere. “Welcome to Foreverland.” A sandy beach, an open field, a forest nearby. Jin lands and sets you down onto your feet. The grass is pliant beneath your toes and you look around with your lips parted. “What is this place?” “Anything you want it to be,” he says. “Foreverland grants magic, so anyone can escape to it. Here, you can make your dreams come true. Anything in your imagination can be real.” If what he’s telling you is true, then the possibilities are limitless. But you don’t know what to do, where to start. “Where do you live?” “In that treehouse.” Jin points a few paces away to where the forest and the meadow meet. You see an enormous tree that looks centuries old with winding branches that act as a staircase and a tiny fort fit at the top. Cute windows, warm lighting spilling from inside and a string of bulbs wrapped around the green foliage make up his cozy home and you’re put in awe. “There’s magic all around us,” Jin says with a small smile after watching your reaction. “You can do whatever you want. Try it.” “How?” “Just imagine whatever you want!” It sounds too easy, but even though you’re not quite sure what you want to do, you shut your eyes anyway. Somehow, your mind strays to how you always wanted to be a princess when you were younger and then to the castle dollhouse your aunt got you for your sixth birthday. Lilac walls, three towers, trim wrapped in pink, a brown gate, teal roof, the ribbon flag. And then you open your eyes again. A gasp befalls your lips. The castle you used to play with as a child is built right in front of you, manifested from thin air right to the last detail from your memory. The flourishing bed of flowers and winding cobblestone path welcomes you inside as the castle’s majestic ruler. “Looks like you have a natural talent for this,” Jin laughs with an enormous grin. “This is incredible!” You don’t know what you want to do first. If you want to run inside the castle and look into all the rooms, if you want to fall back on the meadow floor and imagine pools of chocolate, or if you want to feel that buzz of magic again, those vibrations in the air that still tingle on your skin. “Why aren’t there more people here?” “There’s a lot of visitors, but no one stays for long,” Jin says, his expression unrecognizable in the split-second that it changes. He smiles again before you can decipher it. “But you can stay here for as long as you’d like.” You decide that you want to go inside the castle first. You run around the halls, up and down the stairs, flinging bedroom doors open and sprinting across the massive ballroom with the hanging chandelier. There are three levels in total, ten rooms, a dining hall and the top of the highest tower gives you the best view of the forest and the mountains in the back. Jin follows you in the meanwhile, infected by your excitement and answering the numerous questions you have. He seems happy to share Foreverland with you, and your mind’s already racing with countless ideas of what to do, build and create. Or at least until your stomach grumbles. “Hungry?” You sheepishly smile. “I guess.” Jin grins as if it’s a problem easily solvable, but you’re not sure what he has in mind when he leads you through the thicket of the forest. It’s an uphill climb, the lush canopies letting through the rays of sparkling morning light while the chickadees and blue jays chirp, wings fluttering overhead. The tree trunks eventually open up to a cleared riverside with enormous rocks scattered around. But what takes your attention is the long, white table and rounded chairs all around. There’s cake stands filled with buttered pastries, frosted cakes, teacups and teapots discarded and a radio on top of a rock. “What is this?” “It’s where we have our tea parties,” Jin informs with a smile as he pulls out a chair for you and you plop down with a fork materializing in your hand. Instantaneously, magic thumps the air and the teapots start to dance. Fuzzy folk music plays from the static radio. And the appliances start to swirl to the cheery rhythm, tilting back and forth as teacups start to levitate in front of you. It’s like something straight out of a book and you laugh as you watch them. The teapot pours a cupful until it spills over and you quickly take it. “Thank you very much.” It’s the best earl grey tea you’ve ever had and your eyes widen before you’re sipping it again. If possible, the teapot seems to blush and pours you another cup. “Have some cake,” Jin suggests, sitting on the other side and watching you with a grin. The fork flies out of your hand to cut into the slice and the silver utensil feeds you itself. The sweetness explodes on your tongue. “This is amazing, Jin!” You’ve never been allowed to eat so many sweets, not when your mother was constantly nagging and telling you to watch your weight. But there’s no one here to tell you otherwise, so you fill your stomach until it aches. The plates and utensils also settle down after they accidentally dribble frosting on Jin’s hair, much to the boy’s dismay. The tea party concludes after you’ve had your full and you bid them goodbye. “Did you like it?” The both of you are strolling back into the forest, Jin matching your steps. “Did I ever!” You laugh. “It was spectacular. Foreverland is spectacular!” “I’m glad.” He smiles to himself at the same time your eyes stray over to a majestic tree sitting in the middle of the magical forest. Large trunk, enormous branches, your steps speed towards it. Jin’s brow raises but he follows after you, watching you hoist yourself up on the first branch. “You gotta be able to see all of Foreverland up here.” The boy’s amused and his wings start fluttering. “I could always fly you up if you want.” “That’s cheating,” you argue, grappling with another before pulling yourself up. “My dad’s always told me that the effort makes the result sweeter. Plus, there’s nothing quite like climbing trees. You should try it.” Jin observes the way you’re already sweating and out of breath, and opts not to. “I’ll stick to flying.” “Suit yourself.” You dust your hands before jumping to grab another branch. You can tell Jin’s impressed at how you’re maneuvered yourself but it’s all thanks to your childhood in the countryside. This is nothing. And in just a few minutes, you’ve made it to the top of the ginormous tree, overlooking the entirety of Foreverland. Jin’s wings stop flitting as he sits down on the branch beside you and you both soak in the scenery. The wind tears through your hair and you’re left breathless, gazing upon the painting-like island. You can spot his treehouse from afar, the castle you’ve built, and the beaches near where you first landed. The greenery and blue horizon seems to stretch on for miles, and it’s all laid out in front of you for your eyes only. You don’t notice how Seokjin’s turned his head to look at you. “This is so unbelievable,” you exhale. None of you see the green leaf beside you that withers away. “I’m glad you love it so much.” Jin smiles. “You can stay for as long as you’d like.” The sun is hanging high in the sky, signaling it’s already afternoon and you realize that in your excitement, you haven’t had a wink of sleep. Up here, it’s quickly catching up to you. You’re too comfortable against the tree trunk, unable to stifle your yawns, and your lids become heavier. The second time Jin glances at you, he finds your head bobbing and he smiles. He carries you back to your castle, through the window into one of the rooms and he places you on the soft bed. In your deep slumber, you hear a soft voice— “Sleep tight, princess.” — and for some reason, you rest easy. // In your dreams, there’s a man-boy with wings wearing a ridiculous outfit, red vest and golden trousers with a blue hat and a feather on it. But somehow, he seems to sparkle and so does the place he takes you to. Magic thrums the air, vibrating on your skin and anything you wish for can be real. It’s a fantasy world straight out of the many storybooks you’ve held tightly onto…. In your dreams, you want to stay forev— FWOOP. There’s a deafening noise in your ear. A violent rush of wind smacking your face. You open your eyes with a shriek already tearing from your raw throat. Onyx eyes sit high on the creature’s narrow skull and they stare into yours, mere inches away. There are horns on top of its head, body crimson and scaly with a row of larger scales running down its spine. Its black talons are sharp, gripping against the edges of the shattered shingles. Dragon. It’s a colossal dragon. And it’s ripped off the roof of your castle. The creature’s shadow looms over you and every exhale from its nostrils whisks your hair back. This isn’t a dream. It isn’t. “Jin!” You scream at the top of your lungs, scurrying back in a cold sweat, blood curdling at the back of your throat. “Jin! Jin!” There’s only one person who can rescue you— “Seokjin!” The dragon leans down and it nabs the hem of your white nightgown with its pointed teeth. You’re immediately lifted into the air with another screech violently ripping through your vocal cords. The dragon’s wings flap aggressively and you’re practically dangling diagonally in mid-air. Oh shit. Shit! In the midst of your panic, you scramble for a way to save yourself and then you remember. This is Foreverland. Anything you want can become a reality. You can grant any wish you desire. So with that in mind, you quickly think of a witch’s broomstick. Something you can easily fly away on. And just like that, it manifests itself beside you, parking next to your dangling body. A smile stretches into your features and your arm lifts to— The dragon bats it away. As swiftly as it appears, the broom is being flung downwards. The creature increases its speed, beginning to circle the island and you resort back to screaming— “Jin!” You’re shivering as the dragon soars through wispy clouds, heading towards the mountains past the forest. When the creature starts to sweep downwards, your shrieks only increase in volume and pitch. Then, the dragon drops you. You’re flailing for ten seconds, mind-blank, the pit of your stomach falling up into your throat, your screams becoming soundless. But before you slam into the ground, your body is plunged into light green. It absorbs your speed. Cushions your landing. And you open your eyes to figure out that you’ve been dropped into a humongous plate of jelly. Unable to breathe, you start eating your way out towards the light. Your hands shove backwards as if you’re digging yourself out of dirt and your mouth chomps down until you’ve broken free. Gasping, you pull the rest of your limbs out of the green jelly and stumble to the ground. The taste of green grapes linger on your tongue. But more importantly, your attention is stolen by a figure standing on top of a gray rock. Ruby cape, golden crown lopsided on a black head of hair. The stranger suddenly turns around and you’re faced with a rabbit-like boy — doe eyes, a big nose, pouty lips. “Welcome to Jelly Mountain.” His voice is smooth and he hops down to hover over you. “You’re my new hostage.” Suddenly, there’s rope bounding your entire body. You’re utterly confused and you realize you’re quivering uncontrollably. “W-Where’s Jin?” The corner of the stranger’s mouth tugs. “Seokjin?” He barks out into deep, sinister laughter. “Dead, of course.” Blood drains from your face. The turmoil slams into your frame. You burst out into tears. The stranger goes completely silent, eyes widened as he watches sobs choke out of your chest and he flinches back. “Wait. A-Are you okay? Is everything alright?” Dead. Jin’s dead. Devastation wrecks you entirely and you lose strength fighting, flopping over to weep into the ground. Just like that. He’s. Dead. Your captor cautiously approaches you while you blink past your hazy vision, teardrops hanging off your lashes. And once he gets close enough, you lift your foot to kick him in the knee. Hard enough that you can hear a crack in his joint. “Oof!” The boy doubles over and you get to your knees, rage replacing grief. “Why would you kill Jin?!” “Who killed me?” A familiar voice sounds overhead and you knock your head back to see a dignified silhouette standing at a higher cliff. Jin flies down in front of you and points a wooden sword at the king. But the boy wheezes and lifts his palms up. “I give, I give.” The ropes around you instantaneously vanish and the second it does, you rush upwards, launching yourself at Jin. Your arms open and your bodies collide against each other. He’s surprised and stumbles back before he smiles modestly. Jin pats your back as you mumble into his shoulder, “Oh god, a dragon took me from my bed and I thought you were dead for real and I was so scared.” The wind ceases for a moment, the sky losing its blue vibrancy for a sheer second. A soft laugh emits from Jin’s lips and after you let go and he whirls around to the other boy. “Look at what you did, Jungkook.” Jungkook scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “I’m sorry. I was just kidding, I didn’t know you would take me so seriously. This is how we usually play.” He melts into a timid sort of smile and approaches you again to properly introduce himself. “I’m Jin’s imaginary friend.” Before you can think too much, Jungkook eagerly shakes your hand. “I was really excited when I heard there was someone new in Foreverland.” “Well, it’s nice to meet you too. But it’s very rude to take your dragon and steal me out of bed,” you huff out, almost sounding like your mother. At the same time, said dragon pops up from behind a rocky boulder with sad eyes and a whimpering noise. You recoil and dart to hide behind Jin. But he laughs and steps aside. “It’s alright. Everyone’s friendly here.” The dragon is clumsy as it tottles towards you and it bends over to dip its head down. You hesitate, but with Jin’s encouragement and his reassuring nod, your hand lifts and you pet its mound. You’re shocked to find the scaly texture softer than expected, though your caresses are cut short when it nudges you with a puff from its nose. The dragon’s tail is wagging. You step away after a held breath, turning to glare at Jungkook and he ducks his head. Jin laughs and takes your hand before another argument or fight can take place. “Are you hungry? Let’s go have some cake and tea.” You allow him to lead the way and Jungkook strolls along with his arms folded comfortably behind his head. “I want earl grey!” You’re not sure how imaginary friends work in Foreverland. But you don’t know how Jungkook is so life-like. If you were told he was someone like you and Jin, then you would believe it. Jungkook readily drinks up all the tea until the teapots are tired of pouring. “Ugh, scones?!” He tosses the scones over his shoulder and indulges in cake just as much as Jin does. There are still so many things about the power of Foreverland you have yet to learn. “What do you want to do now?” Jin asks as the four of you tread through the meadow. It was a new day and a day full of endless possibilities. You hum, considering it for a moment. “Have you ever read Jack and the Beanstalk?” “What?” A seed materializes in your hand and you lean down to plant it into the soft dirt. Both Jin and Jungkook have inquisitive expressions, but you simply step back and let magic do its work. It takes an anticipated second of bated breath held in throats. Then, there’s a splitting noise. The ground shakes beneath your feet and a thick, green stalk blasts from the ground. It sprouts, twining and twirling upwards, growing past your eyes and the cotton clouds. You turn around to Jin with a cheeky grin. “What are you waiting for?” You start to climb the soft vines of the huge beanstalk, hoisting yourself upwards while Jin’s wings begin to flutter and he takes flight beside you. Jungkook, in the meanwhile, stays rooted to the ground and you look down at him, asking if he’s coming along. “I’m fine,” he declines politely. “I’m not one for heights.” “Alright.” You continue onwards while Jungkook waves with the dragon beside him. Seokjin, on the other hand, is eager to see what’s awaiting him at the top. “What is this?” “It’s the beanstalk from Jack in the Beanstalk. You know, the story about the boy who traded in his cow for magical beans and it grew the next morning.” When Jin’s expression remains blank, you elaborate, “He fought the giant, took the goose that laid golden eggs and became rich. Have you never heard of it?!” Jin merely shakes his head and you’re absolutely appalled. “It’s a fairly famous fairy tale.” “I was never allowed to read much of them,” he says passingly and notices how you’re starting to break into a sweat. “I can fly you up.” “No.” As tiring as it is— “I love climbing.” Within minutes, your fingertips can grasp the white clouds and your castle’s diminished into a mere smudge. You heave your body upwards with one last surge and collapse onto the clouds. Foreverland has become the size of your thumb, surrounded in the abyss blue ocean. But you don’t look down for long when there’s so much to see around you. It’s just how you envisioned — a kingdom above the clouds, mist thin at the horizon, pastel blue overhead. Jin lands on the plush surface and seems to be even more amazed than you are. He stares at the cotton clouds that stretch beyond the sky and after a beat, starts to jump. He bends his knees, springs upwards and bounces off the clouds. “Look!” He laughs and you giggle, mimicking him. It’s soft beneath your feet, dipping when you land and pushing back as you hop from place to place. You twirl around when you capture air time while Jin seems to be having the time of his life, jumping as high as possible. “This is so much fun!” “What did I tell you?” For once, you’re glad you can finally be the one to show him something new. “I can jump higher than you can!” “Not for long!” But the bouncing session is cut short when you leap towards him and he drifts to the side in mid-air. Your heads bump into one another, skulls knocking — and you both fall back with groans and sharp inhales. “Ouch!” — “Ugh!” You pout, rubbing at your pulsating forehead while Jin’s cowered over and scratching his crown. “Can’t you watch where you’re going?” “It’s not my fault,” you retort. “I’m not the one with wings.” He snorts and to get back at him for the injury already fading away, you collect an armful of the clouds. They remind you of the soap bubbles in a bubble bath, foamy and fluffy, and you fling it at Jin. The majority hits his face and some floats down on top of his head. You burst out laughing at his wincing expression and how the clouds have clung to his hair and the area around his mouth like he has a beard. “You look like Santa Claus!” “Oh, you’re gonna get it now.” He wipes his eyes and you giggle, staggering back to your feet to run. Jin regains his own footing and starts chasing you with an even bigger armful. “Get back here, coward!” “Hey! No flying! That’s cheating!” “We never made up any rules!” He grins as you struggle to run on the bouncy surface, restoring to leaping away. The pair of you are laughing incessantly until your stomach aches, but then you’re interrupted by a deafening roar. Harsh wind swoops your figure back and you’re startled, falling onto your butt again. The red dragon soars past the clouds with its wings expanded. It circles over your head before landing a few steps away. Yet, instead of being frightened like earlier, you laugh this time. Jin slows down and smiles. “The dragon’s name is Lady.” “Lady?” You look around from Jin to her, noticing how long her lashes are. She stares at you as if anticipating something. “Sit,” you command on a hunch and surprisingly, she listens. Lady plops down on her behind and her tail begins to swing from side to side. You ease and step closer towards her. “Roll over!” Lady rolls on top of the plush clouds. Your thumb and forefinger shoot out. “Bang!” Lady flops to her side as dead weight and you burst out laughing, coming up to pet her, scratching right under her chin. “Good girl. You’re such a good girl, aren’t you? Yes, you are!” She practically melts in your hand, nuzzling into your palm. At the same time, Jin watches you with a softened smile. The horizon loses its bright hue. // “Have you ever heard of the Little Mermaid?” “Tell me about it.” “Well, it’s a story about a mermaid who falls in love with a prince she rescues. She trades her tail for legs in exchange for her voice to be with him. But he thinks someone else saved him and marries that girl instead.” Jin’s brows are deeply furrowed, taken aback by the fairy tale. “Then what happened?” “She’s given the choice of killing him to get her tail back, but in the end, she can’t do it. So she throws herself into the ocean and becomes sea foam.” “That’s sad,” he says on an exhale, genuinely saddened by the story and you suppose the first time hearing it is always the most emotional. But you agree with him. Part of you finds it hard to understand why someone would give up their family and home, but your friends always said love makes you do crazy things — whatever that’s supposed to mean. Your hand tightens on Jin’s as the both of you swim deeper into the ocean’s trenches. The only way you’re able to breathe comfortably is through the water-breathing seaweed you thought of, and you were pleasantly surprised to find that something doesn’t need to exist in the real world to materialize in Foreverland. The waters are perfectly still, a vivid cyan with the golden sunshine from above cascading through. It shimmers all around you and once the soft sand floor comes to view, so does the rocky towers and arches. All from your imagination, you’ve constructed a whole water kingdom. Now, colourful schools of fish glide past you, anemone and seaweed practically wave, seahorses swim by and the corals decorating the structures are vibrant against the stony shades. Jin smiles, swimming closer with you hand-in-hand so none of you can drift away. “I never thought about doing this.” “Have you ever heard about Atlantis? It’s apparently a city underwater that’s sort of like this too. I read it in a book once.” “You really like to read,” Jin muses and you nod. “It’s the only time when I can be somewhere else without having to really be there.” Jin stops at the center of the city’s square, surrounded by the many towers and buildings you’ve created in the middle of the sea. “You can make all those stories come true in Foreverland.” As sincere as his words may be, they spur on your curiosity. “How long have you been in Foreverland for?” “I don’t remember.” He looks to the distance. “A long, long time.” Before you can dwell on what he says or decipher the expression on his face, you’re swept up by a school of rainbow fishes that tickle your skin. A giggle emits from your lips and air bubbles float upwards as the water sparkles around your frame. With the distraction, you don’t notice the way Seokjin’s gazing at you. Or the way the sunshine shimmer dims. // It’s a busy day — from being woken up by a dragon quite literally stealing you out of bed, having a tea party, climbing a beanstalk to jump on bouncy clouds, and exploring an underwater kingdom, you and Jin are equally winded when night arrives. So the pair of you opt to gaze at the stars instead of going on another adventure. You lay next to each other on the meadow floor. On top of a bed of soft grass with daisies surrounding you. “Did you know the North Star always stays in the same spot?” “Really?” Jin shifts his head, looking at your profile instead of the glimmering pinpricks of light. A daisy near him droops. “All the constellations move except for that one. It’s pretty easy to see too. It’s right there.” You point upwards. “If you can find the Big Dipper, you can find the North Star.” Jin smiles to himself as you chat about all the things you know. He’s always been the one showing others, guiding them around, teaching them about Foreverland. It’s nice to be the one who listens for a change. But eventually, he’s lulled by the sound of your voice and your own lids begin to droop before you’ve realized that you’ve dozed off. It’s a bit later on that in your sleepy haze, you feel the brush of a blanket. Jungkook sneaks by, draping the cotton over your forms before he lays down too with his arms behind his head. Lady, on the other hand, curls around your frame to further keep you warm. And the four of you fall asleep like that, out in the open of the most magical place. // Time passes quickly in Foreverland. You suppose it’s like that when you’re busy having tea parties with Lady, Jungkook and Jin. When you’re going on adventures together. When you’re exploring the entire island. Telling each other stories. Manifesting all kinds of creations. But every so often, your mind strays and you wonder what your family at home thinks. You’ve been at Foreverland for more days than you can count on both your hands and you don’t want to leave. But you wonder if you should. You wonder if they’re worried. If they’re searching for you. The last conversation you had with your parents was an argument. You didn’t mean to stomp off, to disappear completely. You just didn’t want to marry Namjoon, but it’s not right to end things that way. And all of it weighs on your mind. It lingers. Even when you’re laughing, giggling, having so much fun that you want to stay forever. “Jin.” “Hmm?” “Should I go back?” He turns to you abruptly, like he already knows the meaning of those four words, as if you don’t need to explain any further. And his brows furrow deeply, boyish visage ruined by the hurt. “Why?” “I….just don’t want my family to worry about me.” You fiddle with the long strands of grass spilling past the gaps of your fingers. “I’ve been here for a long time.” “Time works differently here than it does where the others live,” he says and your eyes connect. “You don’t need to be worried that they’re worried. They’ll barely know you’re gone.” It’s comforting to be assured by him, but it still doesn’t solve the unrest stowed in your heart. It’s not right to abandon them. To leave your family behind. Even if they, themselves, don’t know— “What do you want to do?” Jin suddenly asks, interrupting your thoughts with his gleaming irises. You hum, tapping your chin. He smiles. “Do you want to go on a pirate adventure again? Or go slay the giant.” “I have a better idea.” A grin swells into your cheeks as a suggestion forms in your mind. “Have you ever heard of Cinderella?” He shakes his head. “Once upon a time, there was a girl named Cinderella born, and she grew up being mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters. One day, there was a ball in the kingdom and everyone went, except for her. But then her fairy godmother came and gave her a beautiful dress. She went to the ball and danced with the prince.” “There’s a lot of princes in these fairy tales,” Seokjin interjects and you laugh. “Yes, there are.” You chide, “Don’t interrupt! I haven’t finished.” “Sorry. Keep going.” Night sets and stars paint across the sky like silver glitter spilled onto black paper. A full golden moon sits high up to accompany the stars. The weather is warm and the breeze caresses against your cheeks, a perfect cuddle against your form. The light from inside your splendid castle spills out on the horizon of the otherwise tranquil Foreverland. “The spell wore off at midnight, so right before the clock struck the twelfth hour, the girl ran away and she only left a glass slipper behind. The prince tried to find her and once her foot fit the slipper, they got married and lived happily ever after.” Jin hums, less amused than he was with the other fairy tales you told. “What do you want to do with this story?” “Have a ball, of course! It would be a lot of fun.” “I’m not really the dancing type.” “Then I’ll just have to teach you!” The rounded carriage pulls up to the stone steps of the castle and you get out, kitten heels hitting against the cobblestone. You’re a bit more clumsy walking in them than you expected, but Lady grunts happily and helps you up the stone stairs by nudging you with her head. You pet and praise her when you get to the top and her lashes flutter as she lays back down at the bottom. You’re not one for dressing up when your mother’s always nagging and fretting over every single detail. But it’s fun to do it yourself and envision that you’re an actual princess of Foreverland. It feels like you’ve completed another one of your dreams — purple ball gown, flowers sewn into the skirt, sparkling tulle overwhelming, and a crown of daisies in your hair. For once, you feel less like the tomboy climbing trees and more like a princess from a storybook. “Welcome.” Jungkook smiles boyishly, dressed in his own costume. White shirt with ruffled sleeves, long blue coat, breeches and stockings — he looks silly, like he’s from two centuries ago, but you don’t laugh in case he gets embarrassed. Tonight, Jungkook’s playing the role of the squire after all. And he stands near the entrance, happily allowing the grand doors to open. He grins before announcing your name, “Y/N!” Once the crack of the door parts, your eyes fall directly to Jin in the center of the golden ballroom. There are funny puppets you’ve made filling the room — paper figurines you used to cut out as a child now full size and flapping to the breeze, stumbling around as a poor excuse of dancing. They make you laugh, the sound traveling mellifluously above the violins and trumpets playing by themselves in the corner. It’s the good kind of classical music that adds to the elegant atmosphere. But you don’t dwell, not when Jin holds out his hand and you walk to him before taking it. You slide his one hand on the small of your waist while your hand is placed on his shoulder and you hold his other. Jin’s dressed in princely attire, black jacket with a golden sash across and dark trousers. His hair is pushed to the side, revealing his forehead and you muse how it makes him lean to the older side of his usual appearance. “You’re very handsome,” you admit with a smile, realizing his shoulders are broader than you ever considered. “How do I look?” “Pretty,” Jin exhales and the way he says it makes you embarrassed as well. You’ve never been complimented excessively in your lifetime, but enough times that they easily roll off your shoulders. Yet, somehow, with the way he’s staring at you, with the way the syllables stutter out of his lips, a single word you know that is genuinely spoken, you feel your face heating. “Thank you.” You divert your eyes towards your shoes and guide him with your steps. “Step back once and then to the side. One, two, three. Like that. See? You got it already! Who said you couldn’t dance?” Jin hums, naturally falling into a rhythm. He’s a fast learner. “Do you feel like a princess now?” A cheeky grin swells your cheeks. “I do with you around.” “This is surprisingly fun.” “Of course, it is.” Your eyes flicker to the chandelier hanging off of the rounded, high ceiling. Then to the polished marble floor that’s ornate with flowers and swirls. The entire room is a warm, yellow hue and it seems to sparkle. “The pictures of balls were always pretty in storybooks. I liked them as much as the adventure stories.” As the music swells, Jin spins you around and you twirl across the floor with a hand held. But as you land back into his arms, his left foot smashes on yours. “S-Sorry!” Laughter bubbles out of you. “It’s okay.” You look into Jin’s eyes, soaking in just how brown his irises are. They resemble the warmth of the sun, a cup of coffee your dad would brew on cold mornings. They’re deep and comforting. And for a mere moment, it feels like you’re just two people who met at a dance hall one magical evening — same-aged strangers who could’ve run into each other serendipitously. “How old are you, Jin?” “Whatever you want me to be.” Suddenly, you realize your feet are not on the ground anymore. You’re levitating, floating mid-air, gliding upwards. Immediately, you gasp and grip Jin closer, pressing your body onto his. He smiles tenderly. “Jin!” “It’s alright. Just trust me.” The music crescendos as you dance while drifting around the ballroom in his arms. The skirt of your gown sweeps with you and magic thrums the air, vibrating on your skin. You feel enchanted, swept up in the moment, in his eyes and embrace. The corner of Jin’s mouth tugs and a quiet giggle befalls your lips as he twirls you around again. When the both of you become tired, you get back to the floor and stumble out onto the castle terrace laughing. You’re still catching your breaths, his cheeks rosy and yours warm. The violins are muffled behind the glass doors. “Look at the stars, Jin!” you tap his shoulder twice, pointing upwards to the boundless horizon. You don’t notice how he’s turned to gaze at you. How his eyes have become tender. “I’m looking.” You rest against the balcony railings with a quiet sigh. “We should’ve done this sooner.” “We could always do it again.” Your head swivels over and you’re caught off guard to see Seokjin staring at you intently, as if he has something to say but doesn’t quite know how to. Your breath hitches in your throat and you gaze back at him, eyes met, tension overwhelming. It’s a moment that reminds you of when you were younger, when you used to peek into the kitchen at night and see your mom and dad at the counter speaking in low tones — intimate. The word you were searching for: intimate. Ding Dong. You snap back to your senses when the clock strikes midnight. The bell chime resonates through Foreverland and you grin. “Guess that’s my cue to leave.” Staying true to the tale of Cinderella, you slip away from his side. Yet, you’re immediately pulled back. Seokjin takes your hand before you can fully walk away, cradling your palm gently in his. “Y/N,” he calls you quietly and you spin around. “Stay with me.” You’re not sure why he has that expression on his face. Why he looks anxious. Why his wings become transparent. “I’m joking,” you say with a smile to ease him. “I don’t need to run off at midnight like actual Cinderella.” “No. I mean...stay with me in Foreverland.” A pause. His deep timbre is heartrending. “You don’t need to go back.” “Jin.” You step closer to him, brows furrowed deep enough to hurt. You don’t know what to tell him. You don’t know how to utter the words that are restrained in your throat. “I have to go back eventually. I can’t just leave my family behind forever and I can always come back. It’s not like you’ll be alone anyhow. You have Jungkook—” “You’re different,” he instantly blurts and you frown, not sure you quite understand. “What do you mean?” Jin opens his mouth but closes it a second later. “I’m not sure. You’re just...different.” You’re utterly confused, but unable to dawdle on the subject when he smiles and squeezes your held hands, pulling you back into the ballroom. “Let’s dance some more.” // It’s seldom that you awake peacefully — without Lady ripping off the roof of your castle to pick you up by her teeth, without Jungkook bouncing on your bed and pretending he’s a knight in the middle of battle, or Seokjin trying to tickle you to consciousness to start the day of adventures. But today, it’s quiet. Unusually so. When you step out of your castle, you’re horrified to find the ground split. The land across Foreverland is cracked several inches wide and deep enough that all you see is darkness when you peek in. It’s as if there was an earthquake or a storm that caused an earth fissure. The flowers have lost their colour — petals and leaves monochrome. The trees don’t sway. And when you look up at the sky, in between the azure horizon is a streak of the black galaxy. It’s as if Foreverland itself is starting to crack. Panic overcomes you. “Jin! Jin!” You run, avoiding the split of the ground, sprinting across the gray meadow and towards Jin’s treehouse on the edge of the forest. You call his name at the top of your lungs, alarmed and frightened at what’s happening. But the figure you see in the distance isn’t him. It’s Jungkook and you’re relieved to find someone in reach. “W-What’s going on?” you pant, catching your breath and slowing down. “Jungkook?” The boy’s frowning, lips lopsided, eyes diverted from you. He’s not panicking — he knows something. “I’m…..I’m not allowed to tell you.” “What? What is it?!” He shifts his weight from one foot to the other, scratching the back of his neck, fidgeting on spot. He doesn’t utter a single word and anger swells inside of you. “Jungkook!” The boy groans loudly and leans over to take your hand. “As long as you promise not to tell. I’m only doing this because you’re so special, okay?” Jungkook starts walking frantically towards the treehouse and you struggle to catch up to him. “W-Where are you taking me?” “You’ll see.” The both of you climb the stairs of the treehouse and enter. You’ve come here enough times, glanced out the window, laid on the wooden framed bed, sat at the oak table, admired the strung lights and cozy atmosphere. But Jungkook comes to the bookcase on the back wall and pulls out the spine of a blue book. You step back in surprise when it trembles and starts descending into the floor, revealing a concealed area. In moments, the top of the bookcase is snug against the floorboards like two seams never even there. Jungkook looks back at you and you follow after him. It’s a darkened space that consists of a downwards spiraling staircase and you begin to descend down. You figure that you’re inside the tree and that alone amazes you. Jungkook materializes a lantern in hand to give luminescence and the two of you come to a wooden door at the bottom of the staircase. He hangs back and looks at you. “Open it.” Your hand wraps around the golden knob and you push it open. Wind sweeps through your hair, making you shut your eyes. But once it subsides and you look again, you’re met with a hidden room of secrets — a small space with towering piles of briefcases on desks and scattered across the floor. There’s metal filing cabinets, picture frames, books, soaring stacks of papers. It clutters the room, giving off a suffocating feeling. You step in slowly. “What...is all this?” “It’s where Jin stores away his subconscious,” Jungkook murmurs and you pick up a photo frame of Jin tensely standing next to what you suppose is his father — a stern-looking man who’s similar to his son but with more wrinkles. They’re both expressionless in the fuzzy photograph. “He comes from a long line of salesmen. His dad was a salesman and so was his grandfather and his great-grandfather.” You set the picture down and look upon the heaps of briefcases, almost scared they’ll topple over you and smother you to death. “If Jin talks about his reality, his creations will shatter, so he stowed everything away,” Jungkook says and you turn around to look at him. “You still have a connection to reality, so it doesn’t affect you as much, but the longer you stay here, the more you have to detach yourself from the real world.” “How do you know all this? How...do you know Jin’s secrets?” The boy smiles gingerly. “I’m not just Jin’s imaginary friend or best friend, Y/N. I’m his voice of reason and self-awareness. He stowed those parts away too, just in me, so he wouldn’t have to feel so sad all the time. You could say I’m the adult in him. Or at least, I have all the adult parts of him.” “The adult parts of him?” Jungkook nods. “Foreverland is a place for kids who don’t want to grow up. It grants magic so people can escape to it, but you can only stay if you retain your innocence. Or if you don’t regret it and choose to leave. Kids always end up growing up and choosing to leave, and Jin recognized that. So he decided to put away any part of himself that would ever grow to regret it.” You wonder how many children came and went. How many stepped in Foreverland, spent their time here and chose to leave in the end in spite of everything he did to get them to stay. You wonder how many times Jin was left alone. Abandoned. You wonder if that’s why he begged you to stay with him forever. Your voice is a cracked whisper— “How long has he been in Foreverland for?” “Time works differently in Foreverland, so I’m not sure how much it is in the real world.” Jungkook is as solemn as you are. “He’s probably been gone for a lot less. But he came here when he was your age and he’s been here for twenty eight years. Five of which he spent without anyone outside.” You’re stunned, made speechless, trying to fathom that length of time. “Twenty eight years?” More importantly, you don’t know why you feel so heartbroken. “What has he been doing in that time?” “He’s been looking for a partner to stay in Foreverland with him for...forever.” Jungkook musters another smile and he shrugs with melancholy faded in his doe eyes. “The dream world Seokjin built is lonely by himself and I’m just an imaginary friend. I’m the only other person who can take a human shape. You can’t create humans in Foreverland — I was just already in his mind when he arrived here, so it worked.” It’s a lot to understand, to wrap your mind around. All the secrets of this magical place are being spilled into your lap and you’re not sure what to do. All you’re certain about is that Jin’s stored away parts of himself, that he’s been deserted over and over again, and that he’s been yearning for someone permanent. He’s been suffering. “Y/N?” “Then why is Foreverland breaking apart?” you quickly ask. “Is it because his subconscious is leaking back into him? Is it because of this room?!” Jungkook smiles softly. “It’s because Seokjin’s falling in love with you.” A beat. A pause. Your heart swells up to the bottom of your throat and it aches. “That’s what’s distorting his reality and everything he’s built in Foreverland. Falling in love means abandoning innocence since children can’t fall in love the same way adults can,” Jungkook murmurs. “It’s been happening for a while, Y/N. You just haven’t noticed. The flowers and leaves withering, the sky losing its colour, the breeze stopping, the sun becoming less bright…” Jin’s falling in love with you? He loves you? You don’t know why that discovery has you so joyful and sorrowful at the same time. His emotions are reaching out for the part of him that he tucked away. Yet, at the same time, you’re the one ruining all of Seokjin’s dreams. You’re destroying everything he’s ever created. “That’s not a bad thing,” Jungkook interrupts and your eyes meet his. “It’s not a bad thing to be in love, Y/N.” “What...what will happen to you if Foreverland breaks?” The corner of the boy’s mouth tugs timidly. “Don’t worry. Foreverland will always be a place and I’ll always exist here, even if Seokjin leaves and forgets about me.” Jungkook takes your hand and guides you away from the room. “I think you deserve to hear all of this since you’re becoming someone important to Jin too. But you should keep it a secret or else he might throw me overboard during the next pirate game.” “Jungkook.” He turns around, simply smiling at you. The boy leads you up the stairs and seals the space with the bookcase again. You step out of the treehouse and knowing the secrets of Foreverland, everything looks different to you now. It’s less like a paradise of infinite dreams. More like a fragile flower about to wither. Jungkook comes beside you and waves his hand. He repairs Seokjin’s Foreverland. The ground stitches back together, the sky painted blue again, the flowers becoming vibrant. But you know it’s just a temporary fix. Underlying the polished layer are cracks. // It’s never the same again. Tea parties, dragon rides, adventures and explorations of Foreverland — Seokjin doesn’t once notice the way the colour in his flowers are losing their hue or the way the branches of his treehouse are withering, losing leaves like it’s the autumn season. Your naiveté has been casted away. You can’t ignore it once you’ve seen it, can’t revert the enlightenment, and you can’t stay with him. Not when it’s ruining the world he’s made. Not when he has no choice in the matter. Not when he’s not even aware that this is happening. “Jin.” He shifts to you. The pair of you are sitting on the branch of the tallest tree in Foreverland again, reminiscent of the first time you came here. You climbed while he flew, and together, the both of you look out at the sun, sitting next to one another. And you savour this moment, knowing it’s the last. Your breath is heavy in your lungs. “I’ve decided to go back.” “Go back to where?” “Home.” “The castle?” “No.” You can’t look at him. Your voice drops down to a quiet murmur, “Home where my family is.…..where my parents are. Home as in where you took me away from.” Silence. It threads through the spaces between your bodies that seems to be growing as the seconds pass. The weight of tension lies on your shoulders and a lump forms at the bottom of your throat, clogging the overwhelming emotions bubbling in the pit of your stomach. You finally gather the courage to look at him and he utters a single word— “When?” “A-As soon as possible.” “Why?” You muster a small smile. “It looks like I can’t leave them behind after all. It’s...not your fault, Jin.” For the first time and for one last moment, you reach out. Both you and Seokjin are looking forward towards the sky, but your hand hesitantly slips on top of his. A beat later, he turns your palm to lace his fingers through yours, squeezing your hand tightly. “Do you really have to?” he asks. “I do.” “When will you be back?” “I don’t think I will come back.” You swallow hard, eyes stinging painfully. “This is goodbye forever.” Suddenly, Seokjin lets go of your hand and he launches himself forward, flying away. You stand up from the branch, stunned by his cold reaction. “Wait!” you scream after him. You don’t want this to be the last moment. You don’t want it to end like this. “Take me back! Jin—!” In the midst of your panic, your foot slips. You lose balance and teeter backwards. It’s too late. A shriek tears from your throat as you fall. Stomach dropping. Eyes shut tight. But before you can conjure something up to save yourself or cushion the landing, the blow is softened by warm arms. Your lids flutter open to find that Jin’s caught you. He’s carrying you with one arm behind your knees and the other around your back. You loop your arms around his neck, gasping for air and he swoops to the ground. Jin sets you down on the soft grass. “We’ll leave tonight.” His turquoise, translucent wings rapidly beat and he takes flight again. You watch his backside fade into the golden sunset until it’s a black silhouette too difficult to look at. And you know there’s not much of an hour left. // Never once had you dreaded when night came to Foreverland. You always looked forward to the starry horizon, watching the constellations move overhead and laid in the grass with your close friends by your side. You liked to count the specks of glitter, admire the shine of the moon, allow the breeze to caress your cheeks. Yet, it feels bittersweet tonight. You’re not sure if it’s because you yearn to stay in Foreverland. Or if it’s because you’re afraid of leaving the people behind. The red dragon curls up to your frame and you smile while running your hand down her scaly muzzle. She whimpers, cuddling up to your touch. “I’ll miss you a lot, but you’ll be a good girl, right, Lady?” She grunts and the sound of crunching grass beneath feet has you whirling around. Jungkook approaches with his arms behind his back and your smile widens. “So you’re going?” “Uh-huh. Get in here, Kook.” You come over, opening your arms to hug him. Jungkook squeezes you back and he mumbles in your ear, “Are you sure this is the right decision?” “No.” You part from him, taking a good look at the boy who kidnapped you for a game, who led expeditions and adventures through Foreverland, who let you know the secrets of this magical place. “I wish I could be sure when I make a choice.” The corner of Jungkook’s mouth curls. “Even adults are never sure.” That alone comforts you, resonating inside your mind. Seokjin arrives at that moment, flying towards you and landing smoothly. He doesn’t look you in the eye. “It’s time to leave.” You nod and he carries you the same way he brought you to Foreverland, his arm placed around the back of your knees and the other behind your back while yours are looped around his neck. He lifts you up like you don’t weigh a feather and he soars into the sky. You look down to see Jungkook waving with a boyish grin, Lady roaring out. You watch how your castle, the last traces of your time spent on the island, becomes a mere dot in the distance. The sandy beaches, open meadows, Seokjin’s treehouse, forest and mountains, they fade into the clouds. You blink back the tears that have accumulated, that threaten on your lash line and you look ahead to allow them to flow without Jin being able to see. The two of you soar beyond the wispy clouds and blue oceans until the silver moon is high over the horizon. The wind brushes through your hair and you allow yourself to lean onto Seokjin’s chest, savouring the warmth of his embrace. As soothing as it is, you focus on the view to subside your sobs. And it’s still a breathtaking sight, even when your vision is hazy by tears. Eventually, the pair of you fly over a familiar city, watching the way the lights of the buildings glimmer into a mosaic of colours. Your house comes into sight. Jin didn’t even need reminders of the direction, as if he memorized the house you came from. “You can set me down in front of the house,” you mumble, hoping he can’t hear how clogged your voice is from silently crying the entire way. He nods and descends swiftly. Jin sets you down on the grass and you hold onto him, hoping he won’t leave so soon, hoping you can have another moment. But you know this is goodbye. This is it. You turn to face him. He’s the first one to say something. “Are you sure?” You nod. “I’m sorry—” “You shouldn’t be.” He slips your grip off of him and you flinch, hurt. But then he takes your hands in his and your eyes meet. “I won’t force anyone to stay with me if they don’t want to.” No. It’s not like that! Yet the declaration lays on your tongue, threatening to spill, but never coming out. He has it wrong. It’s not like you don’t want to stay. But if you told him that, in the last seconds of your final farewell, what would he say? What would he ask you? “I….I loved every second I spent with you, Jin! I—” The lights inside the house suddenly flicker on and you whirl around, wondering if they woke up from your loud voices. You’re running out of time. “Go inside,” Jin says gently with a wistful smile. He lets go of you. About to take off. But before the time runs out completely, before midnight has struck, you rush forward and plant a kiss on his cheek. It’s soft. Chaste. Your lips press against his rosy skin, hesitant and timid. Jin’s stunned, eyes as big as saucer and he looks at you. You muster a smile, trying your best not to cry and leave that as his last memory of you. “Thank you.” Before tears can spring from your eyes in the form of heavy April rain, you spin around and hurry to the door of your house. Your mother’s bad habit of leaving the door unlocked makes it easy to turn the knob and you step inside. But when temptation is at its highest, you peek over your shoulder. But Jin’s already gone. As quick as he came into your life. “Oh Heavens to Betsy! Oh my goodness!” The cry of your mother gives no room for you to grieve. She stumbles down the stairs, unable to believe her eyes. “Harold! Y/N’s come home!” Your mother scurries and even though she’s upset, she immediately embraces you with a fervour that has you shifting back. You can feel her entire frame shaking and you hug her back, pressing your face to her shoulder to dispel away the tears collecting in your eyes. Your father comes at the commotion, slippers clunking on his feet down the stairs. Once you come into sight, he’s shocked frozen in his spot. “Y/N?” Your mother lets go and you smile at your father. “I’m home.” “Where did you go?” “I thought you did something foolish,” your mother gripes. “You were gone for three days! I wanted to go down to the station but your dad decided to wait! I couldn’t sleep a wink at all—” “Wait. I was gone for three days?” You’re taken aback. You were in Foreverland for three whole months. But you suppose Jungkook really wasn’t lying when he told you time works differently there. “I-I’m sorry. I was staying with a friend farther away. I should’ve said something before I left. I’m….sorry.” “No.” Your dad shakes his head. “I’m sorry.” In your entire life, your father’s never apologized to you. He’s not the kind to, always disciplining with a firm mindset, never to give any leeway. So you’re even more astounded. “What for?” “I’m sorry for forcing you to do things that you didn’t want to do. I was just worried. But I won’t push you to marry Namjoon if that’s not what you want.” “He’s been doing a lot of thinking lately, sweetheart.” Your mother smiles, coming to his side. You shake your head. “No, I understand. I’m just…..I’m just really happy to be home.” Your mom’s brows furrow. “Then why are you crying, Y/N?” You don’t realize you are until she says it. Until your hand lifts and you’re wiping at your wet cheeks. Then the sobs surge and you cry harder, choked whimpers spilling from your aching chest, your throat constricting your emotions. Your mom quickly comes to embrace you and you lean into her while looking past your hazy vision, out the kitchen window, to the starry sky above.

Memories of Foreverland begin to fade against your will as time goes on. You wonder if it has anything to do with what Jungkook told you and how your connection to the place is weak. But you begin to forget the scent of the flower meadow, the taste of the special earl grey on your palate, the heat of the sun beating on your cheeks. Then, it’s the feeling of loneliness when you climb the tree in the field to read while your mom looks on from the kitchen window. Sitting on the branch and gazing out at the view, you wonder why it feels so lonely when you’re used to doing it by yourself. A haunting nostalgia lingers uncomfortably as well. Most often when you see kids doing play pretend on the streets, when you listen to their bubbling laughter, soak in their carefree nature. After that, you begin to forget doe eyes, soft yet scaly texture against your hands, and dark hair. Twinkling irises. A mischievous smile. Brown eyes that resembled the warmth of the sun to you. A rotten sense of discomfort overcomes your very being. Like there was something you should’ve never forgotten. Like you’re missing something, or rather, someone. It’s a crazed desperation of yearning that aches your chest. And you can’t shake that pain off. All you know is that you often wake up in the middle of the night with a tear-stained pillow and there’s the word Foreverland written on a page at your desk that you have no idea what it means, even when you know it’s your writing. You slip inside the house quietly, dress ruined from tree climbing. You wonder if you’ll be scolded— “...just looks so sad these days.” Instead, you overhear your mother’s voice coming from the kitchen. “Heavens, ever since she came back from her trip a week ago.” “Did she ever say who she visited? Maybe that has something to do with it.” “No, she hasn’t said a single word. Maybe she should go see a doctor, Harold. Our little girl’s not speaking much either and it’s startin’ to worry me. She’s not usually like this…” You step into the pastel pink kitchen. They straighten their posture and seal their lips as if to pretend you weren’t the topic of discussion a moment ago and you muster a smile. “Afternoon.” You go to pour a cup of the orange juice from the pitcher and pause. “Actually, I was just thinking about something.” Your mother places down the kitchen towel, anticipation clear in her face. “What is it, dear?” “Well…” You turn around, leaning against the counter. “I was thinking about everything, what I want to do from now on, how Irene and Sarah are, all my friends and all that, and I think it’s time for me to get married.” They’re shocked. Your mother’s mouth draws open while your father promptly puts down his newspaper, folding it back up. “This...this is great news, honey!” A grin draws on your mother’s features and she comes to hug you. You’re nearly squeezed to death. “I can’t believe you’ve finally come around and changed your mind!” But your father seems less enthused. “Are you sure?” You nod. “Sure as I’ll ever be.” You’re fairly certain the only way to shake off this painful discomfort is by moving on. It’s not like you want to worry your parents anymore either. Like they said, it’s time to be an adult. And just like that, you’re thrusted forward quicker than you can imagine. The next time you meet with Namjoon, he gets down on one knee and presents his grandmother’s gawky heirloom to you in a box. He ends up sliding it on your ring finger before you even get a chance to respond properly. “How do you feel in this dress?” your mother asks. One blink later, you’re placed in front of a mirror, drowning in a white, wedding dress. The skirt is overwhelming your frame and it’s oddly tight around your midsection, making it hard to breathe. Not to mention, the sleeves are cut off awkwardly, not quite at your wrist or at your elbow. The lace sweetheart neckline is scratchy at your skin too, making you itch at it. It’s ugly. “It’s beautiful,” Irene squeals. Sarah nods her head, pulling another tissue out to dab at her eyes. “You look gorgeous, Y/N. I think this is the one.” You muster a smile. Even if you go this far, for some reason, you don’t think you’ll ever forget about those brown eyes.

In the real world, it’s been days. In Foreverland, it’s been months. Seokjin sits by himself in the meadow, downcast head and reddened eyes. Foreverland is falling apart around him. The ground continues to splinter with each moment that passes, deepening the trenches that echo silence. The sky has split, no longer azure during the day or filled with stars during the night. It’s become blackened and every so often, pinpricks of light rain down and hit the land as if the stars themselves are falling. There isn’t a breeze. The ocean does not move. The trees do not sway. What hasn’t withered has lost their colour — flowers, petals, leaves monochrome like newspaper print. Jin’s own wings flicker between being tangible and a hallucination. It’s as if Foreverland itself is crumbling and Jin makes no effort to save it. What’s the point? In the meanwhile, Jungkook sighs to himself, looking onward. He doesn’t think you ever expected that Seokjin would still be very much in love with you even after you’ve left and removed yourself from this place. Jungkook approaches his best friend and sits himself down. “What’s wrong?” Jin picks at the grass. “Nothing.” The former holds back a snort, staring out at the horizon. “You know I always know how you feel, right?” “It’s just Y/N,” Jin discloses in a half-hearted mumble. “It feels empty now that she’s gone.” “A lot of people have left before.” “It feels different this time.” “You love her,” Jungkook says in a quiet yet firm voice. It isn’t a question, answer, or suggestion. It’s factual. Their eyes meet. It’s silent. Seokjin’s Foreverland is collapsing, breaking apart at the seams — the treehouse, the flowers, the sky shattering into a darker, less star-full horizon. The proof is all around them and one that cannot be ignored any longer. It screams to be acknowledged, aches to be heard. The corners of Jungkook’s mouth curl. “Go where you need to be, Seokjin. It’s a better place for newer dreams that you can fulfill. This isn’t where you should be anymore.” “What about you?” Jungkook’s boyish smile turns into a grin. “I’ll always be here. Plus, I’m right here too.” He pokes Jin’s chest, right where his heart should be and the latter scoffs with a soft smile. “I won’t miss you too much. We’ve already been together for so long.” Jin exhales in exasperation and Jungkook leans back, putting more weight into his hands behind him. “Foreverland is a place for visitors. It’s not a place to make a home.” “Then where’s home?” Jungkook looks at the sky. “With the people you love most.”

The lace is itchy. For some reason, scratching doesn’t seem to alleviate the itch, even when you’ve scratched enough to make your skin raw and your fingernails hurt. The dress is really white too. To the point where it’s blinding to your own eyes. You’re starting to think you should’ve gone for the other dress with the feathers even though it was fifteen pounds heavy. Your mother shrieks and it nearly startles you to death. “Oh my goodness! My daughter’s never looked more beautiful! Now hurry along before we’re late!” You nod, mustering a smile. A part of you wonders if this is the right choice, but you remember someone told you that even adults are never sure of their own choices. You wonder who told you tha— “Are you alright?” your dad interrupts your train of thought. “Of course, I am.” You nod to reassure him and turn away before his perceptiveness can flourish the doubt that’s long overcome the discomfort that still lingers. You take his arm and inhale a deep breath to brace yourself. The grand, wooden doors of the church hall open. It parts and you’re allowed a peek inside. The hundred people seated on the brown benches turn around with smiles. The organ deafeningly plays the beginning discordant chords of the bridal march before it crescendos melodically and echos down into your eardrums. The bridesmaids and groomsmen grip their bouquet of flowers and begin filing down the aisle. Oh my god. You can do this. You can do th— “You can always walk away from this.” Your dad’s quiet voice breaks your inner mantra and your eyes find his wrinkled ones. He looks concerned, brows furrowed, lips lopsided and reading the look on your face. “I’m on your side until the end, sweetheart.” The corner of your mouth pulls into a soft smile. “Thanks, dad.” It’s your turn. The doors are wide open. The music beckons you to meet your destiny. And you step inside the church hall. Namjoon is on the other end of the aisle, prim and proper in his traditional suit and bow tie, wearing an amiable smile that could only belong to a businessman. You try to match said expression, but it’s hard to feel your cheeks. Everyone’s eyes are on you, some dabbing their cheeks with tissue. Irene and Sarah are on the side in their brown bridesmaid dresses, swooning at the sight. And your dad lets go all too soon. Before you’ve even realized, you’ve made it to the end and he’s passed you to Namjoon, taking his place beside your already sobbing mother in the front rows. The music tapers off as well. “Welcome, family, friends and loved ones. We gather here today to witness and celebrate the union of Namjoon and Y/N in marriage.” Namjoon’s holding your gloved hands, his smile picture perfect. You face one another as the officiant drones on. “Marriage is a joyous occasion. It is the promise between two people who love each other, and who trust in that love. It is truth, honesty, and hardships shouldered among a pair—” It’s hard to focus when all you can think about is how itchy your lace dress is. And it’s everywhere. From the neckline to your armpits to where the sleeves end. It’s driving you crazy and you wish you could rip your hands away from Namjoon’s to scratch. “—that are prepared to begin their new life together. Marriage is the most sacred unity in humanity—” Christ. This is so boring. You can’t wait till this is over and done with. If J͠҉̛̀͏ì͢n̷͏̵͢͞ was here, he would’ve snapped his fingers and put the almost senile, croaking officiant into a pirate costume. You smile to yourself at the idea, muffling a quiet snicker. But then you freeze. Wait. Who’s .̛̀҉̷̕.͠͠͡? “—and should not be entered into lightly, but rather, reverently, lovingly, solemnly. Thus, if anyone has just cause to object to the forming of this union, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.” Suddenly, the doors bang open. The doors crash against the church walls, startling you to death and nearly causing you to stumble back onto your butt and scream. Everyone instantly whips their head over with widened eyes. A stranger interrupts, shouting from the pit of his stomach, “Wait!” There’s a man, perhaps your age or a year or two older, standing at the end of the hall. Dark hair pushed to the side, revealing his forehead. Irises twinkling. And past the crowd, the shocked expressions, the scandalized whispers, the stranger looks right at you. Namjoon immediately steps forward, covering your sights on the stranger. “Who are you?!” he bellows. But you place your hand on Namjoon’s shoulder and he stops, looking back at you. You stagger forward with a frown, steps slow down the aisle. Your parents call for you, but you don’t hear them. Not when you’re so transfixed on this man. There’s something strangely…..familiar. A tap on your shoulder. A boy outside your window.

“Don’t you want to escape from here? Go on an adventure? Come on!”

An island. Faraway. With a castle and a treehouse. A….flower field. A dragon. A doe-eyed companion.

“There’s magic all around us.”

A beanstalk — an underwater kingdom — a magical ball.

“Stay with me.”

The man gazes at you and you stare back at him, looking into his brown eyes that somehow resembles the warmth of the sun to you. Like a cup of coffee your dad would brew on cold mornings. They’re deep and comforting, and a murmur befalls your trembling lips, “Seokjin?”

Before your brain can catch up, you’re sprinting towards him. Seokjin grins, plump lips pulled into a mischievous smile, cheeks puffed out like loaves of bread. You launch yourself at him. Your arms open and your bodies collide against each other. He stumbles back with a laugh and embraces you tightly in his arms. You hug his broad shoulders, eyes fluttering closed, savouring the moment. He doesn’t have his sparkly red vest, his golden pants, the blue hat with the green feather. Jin doesn’t have his wing either. There’s nothing remotely magical about him, not when he’s just in a plain, white dress shirt tucked into black trousers. But him being here is already the most magical thing that’s happened to you. “I-I can’t believe it’s you. What are you doing here?” “I had to come see you,” he murmurs. “I went to your house but no one was there. I heard from the neighbour you were getting married today.” You pull apart from him, inches away from his face. “No. I mean what are you doing here, Jin?” He doesn’t hesitate. There isn’t uncertainty in his expression. No moment to waver. He’s as certain as the stars are real and answers within a beat— “I love you.” A fact you had known, that creeped up on you and made you feel bittersweet. But something you thought you would never have the chance to hear from his own lips. You search his expression. “W-What about Foreverland?” “It doesn’t matter where I am. I just want to be with you.” You’re crying. You can feel the tears streaking down your cheeks and for once, it’s not from tender longing or a nostalgic sadness. A smile tugs on your lips and you pull him closer. “What took you so long?” Seokjin smiles against you. “I needed to get my things in order, but I’m here now and I’ll stay with you if you’ll take me.” “Yes. Of course, I will, silly.” You heartbeat pitter patters fervently in your chest and he leans down, brushing his soft lips against yours in a sweet kiss. Your arms come to loop around his neck while his palms cradle your waist. The warmth of Jin’s skin heats your cheeks and your lashes flutter shut while his eyes open just a little to watch you. He kisses you long enough that he can inhale your breath and you feel his smile against your own. Your heart soars. Everything you had longed for is right here. And it feels like magic.

[Epilogue] Growing up and becoming an adult doesn’t mean needing to abandon fun — and your life with Seokjin proves it. The pair of you go on plenty of adventures and explorations, more than your parents would like. You’re always packing your bags to discover something new. And when you visit, your parents are adamant that sometimes it feels like there are two children at the dinner table. But you know they’ve never been happier to see how overjoyed you are and what a great fit Seokjin is. They assume he’s someone you met when you disappeared and while that’s technically true, you don’t add more to the story. They don’t question it either. You’re sure your parents are a lot more worried when they see you teaching Jin how to climb the enormous tree out by the field. The whole church fiasco ends up as a scandal. It’s the talk of the neighbourhood for months on end. It’s not like you particularly mind — although, you still get glares from Namjoon and his family when you run into them. You’re sure he doesn’t want to hear any more apologies from you, but you’re also certain that this experience will make him less boring as a person. Your nose twitches. You sniff the air and before it even registers, you groan. “Jin! Why is there something burning?!” You come into the kitchen and call him again, but silence answers. With a sigh, you check the oven and take out the cake that’s practically burnt to ash and push it onto the counter. The smoke is dispersed after you waft the air. You’re already busy picking up after school children as a teacher, you don’t really need to pick up after your husband too when you get home. You look out the door and step onto the porch. From a distance, you can see him and a hopeless smile slips onto your visage. You cross the field, the meadow soft beneath your feet, wind whisking through your hair. The golden sun is sinking over the horizon, turning the sky into shades of tangerine and your figure a black silhouette against the light. Seokjin’s seated beneath the canopy of the tree. The two covers of the storybook spread over his thighs, page corner crisp against his fingertips. The colours seem to jump out — raspberry, periwinkle and kelly vibrant against the white. He doesn’t notice you approaching, completely enthralled by the adventurous storyline. While you were gone for three days, Seokjin was gone for two years. It was a mess to sort out with his family too, his father even stricter than yours and angered while his mother was devastated and resentful that her son had chosen to leave without a single word. It was hard for him to adjust to the real world as well. It took time. But you’d like to think Jin made it out okay. “You left the cake burning in the oven.” His attention is brought back and he looks up, smiling at you. “Sorry.” Much to your dismay, Jin pulls you down and plants an affectionate kiss on your cheek. You scoff lightly and unknowingly pout while your husband grins, already aware he’s gotten away with it. You plop down next to him and lean your head to lay on his shoulder, staring at the pages of his storybook. “What are you doing?” “I’m thinking of writing another storybook,” Jin hums. “A sequel to Jungkook’s Adventures. What do you think if I called it Foreverland?” “I think it’ll be wonderful.” The two of you share tender smiles, gazing at one another while the tree above you sways, leaves rustling to the warm breeze. You don’t need magic to live in your dreams forever.

#bts fanfic #bts scenario #jin fanfic #jin fluff #seokjin fanfic #jin scenario #seokjin fluff #bts peter pan!AU #hope you guys enjoy this one!#actually it's been a long time since I've written a story I'm THIS satisfied with tbh #also fun fact - while not directly mentioned this takes place in 1954!

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lovetorn · 4 years

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the one where roman is your stubborn ex-boyfriend

Roman Godfrey x Witch!Reader

Summary: You try to warn Roman about Miranda, but will he listen? Warnings: Swearing, mentions of blood Word Count: 2.6k A/N: i love roman godfrey. also can i just say i have no idea what this is like it was gonna be 8k words but turned out a lot shorter because i lost motivation tbh and didn’t know where to go with it; this also ends very abruptly so i’m really sorry about that. may write a part 2 but idk yet hehehe. also, i changed the show plot slightly to fit my fic :)

“Have you heard?”

The sound of Destiny’s voice over the phone scares you slightly. After her dramatic bitch session over the girl Peter had been fucking, she stopped for a long pause, returning to the phone with a solemn tone.

“No? Heard about what?” You answer.

“She’s fucking him too.” Of course she is, or should you say, he is. Rolling your eyes, you sigh deeply down the line, “what like an orgy?”

“No, like one of those relationships with three people? Uh, polyamorous?” You groan, “Spare me the details, D.” Destiny’s glamorous laugh echoes into your ear, and you can’t help but smile.

“Please come over!” Destiny begs, her voice still full of laughter as you tell her ‘fine’ before you hang up. You bask in the morning sun that peers through the curtains of your apartment for a moment before you get moving.

Opening the front door of Destiny’s apartment, you're met with her running up to, her eyes wide with alarm as she quickly slams the door behind you.

“What’s going on?” You ask, thoughts running a mile a minute as she frantically ushers you to sit.

“I saw her in my visions, Y/n. I-I don't know what it means, but I don’t trust her, and neither should my cousin,” She stutters. Your eyes flicker between hers as you sit her down on the couch.

“When did this happen?” Destiny points over to the jacket laying on the wooden dining room table. “When I was on the phone to you. That’s hers. I went to pick it up and boom! Instant headrush.”

You lean back on the couch and shake your head. You're at a loss for words. The fact that Peter could be in danger scares you; but more importantly, it's his ex-best friend’s safety that makes you panic more.

“Have you talked to Roman?” You ask. Destiny’s head snaps towards you, shocked you even brought him up. She shakes her head and grasps your hands. “Have you?”

You inhale deeply, “No.” Destiny sighs, “We don’t have to talk about him, you know. I know your break up was pretty messy.” You let out a small laugh at her concern.

“I’m okay, I promise. It was like 9 months ago, D.”

She nods and turns to look at the folded jacket, wanting to change the subject. “Did you want to look?” She throws her thumb behind her as you suck in a sharp breath.

“Yep.”

The jacket lays on the table in front of you, and you stare at the leather.

“It will keep him safe…” You trail off, meeting Destiny’s eyes as she smiles softly. The doubt in the pit of your stomach is unsettling, but you need to see the vision. You huff before tilting your head side to side and shaking out your arms. Sweeping your hair back, you square your shoulders. Destiny gives you a reassuring look, although there's tinges of regret and panic in her eyes. You purse your lips while your heart beats rapidly in your chest and your ears.

As soon as you reach down and let your fingers graze over the material, you're transported into a series of flashes—snakes and blood on the walls, the floor, everywhere. The screams you hear are far away, but they’re close enough for you to catch the utter agony that powers them. Your eyes move wildly under your eyelids as you search for something that will tell you anything. Tears line the edge of your waterline, and the guttural screams grow nearer, the cries rattling your bones until you squeeze your eyes shut and rip your hand away from the jacket.

You step back in utter terror. You feel sick as pure fear and anxiety churns in your stomach. The blood-curdling screams still reside inside your brain as you walk towards the door.

“Where are you going?” Destiny yells.

“Roman’s.”

—

Stopping in front of Roman’s new house, you scoff. Last time you were here was when he first bought it, and you left screaming and crying—a perfect storm for a perfect couple.

It was also the last time you saw him. The two of you were freshly 18 and were addicted to the speed of your relationship; a year in and he was already asking you to move in with him. It was built to fail: his mother and your ancestors, your kind, weren’t a good mix. Olivia had threatened you more times than you can count, but Roman always defended you, even if you didn’t need him too. Maybe that’s why you fell so hard so quickly, because he was there when you needed him. To protect and to love. But then you fell apart and were never to fall together again.

Stepping up the front door, your hand goes slack against the door. Do you just barge in? Or be the polite ex-girlfriend and knock. You go for the latter and bang your fist against the pale timber. Not a second later, the door swings open and you’re met with a blonde girl.

“Hi—” “You must be Miranda. I was just wondering if Roman’s in?” You cut in, stepping through the doorway despite her distress. “Um, you can’t just walk in,” She says as you look at the top floor, hoping to see the lean man hovering above.

“Lovely house he’s got. Ugh, I remember seeing this and telling him it was the one.” You laugh. This sentence causes Miranda to pause in her spot, her face scrunching up in confusion.

Looking towards the kitchen, two pairs of eyes are staring at you and, you have to hold in a laugh.

“Peter! Oh my gosh, it’s so good to see you,” You almost squeal as you rush towards him. He looks back at Roman in shock as you engulf him in a hug. “How have you been?”

Peter swallows with an unsure expression on his face, “Yeah, good.” You smile at him and then peer over his shoulder at your ex-boyfriend.

“What are you doing here, Y/n? And cut the shit.” He mutters. He’s blunt with his words, but you understand why. It was messy.

“Shit? I speak of no such thing, Mr Godfrey,” You give him a tight-lipped smile, sarcasm thick in your voice. You step back from Peter and watch as Roman saunters over to you.

“What are you doing here?” He asks again, this time his tone is icy, and his stare is hard.

“Does she know?” You ask before you say your true intentions, waving your hand in the air. Roman shares a look with Peter before shaking his head. You run your tongue along your front teeth then nod.

“Ok. Well, firstly, I had a vision.” The sentence has Miranda instantly asking questions but is quietened by Peter who puts his hand up. Roman furrows his brows and steps closer to you, “What do you mean? About what? Does Destiny know?” The number of questions leaving his lips prompts you to lift your finger to stop him.

“Destiny had the same one.”

Roman glances over at Peter who shrugs. “When did this happen?”

“Half an hour ago,” You move to sit on the couch as the boys stand and Miranda cowers in the corner. “And it’s very important.” You strain your voice so only Roman can hear.

“Okay, well, tell me.” He says. You deadpan him as the corners of his mouth turn upwards slightly.

“The woman you have both been fucking, she’s dangerous.”

From her spot, Miranda is overcome with anger as she pushes off the wall and stomps towards you. You keep a calm facade as she throws her arms in every direction whilst she’s talking.

“Who do you think you are? Coming here at 8 am to run your mouth about God knows what and insult me and especially these boys.”

You raise your eyebrows for a split second before standing from the couch to move in front of her.

“Alright,” Roman buts in, his voice booming through the glass house. “That’s enough, Y/n. You can’t just come in here and insult her. She’s done nothing wrong.”

“You hardly know her! You don’t even know what she’s capable of,” You bite, spinning towards him.

“I’m gonna go see Nadia.”

You don’t recognise the name as you cock your head at Roman.

“Who’s Nadia?” Roman freezes at the question. His shoulders tense and his body rigid as you tilt your head, waiting for his response. You grow impatient as the question lingers. At this point, Miranda has gone upstairs, and you watch as she punches in a code for a door.

“She’s um—Letha’s.”

Your heart drops at the sound of your late best friend’s name. “You’re telling me…” You can’t find it in yourself to find the words as rage erupts in your stomach.

“You’re letting a stranger look after Letha’s child?” You yell, “Peter?”

“I only found out about her last week, Y/n. I’m as in the dark as you are.” He mumbles, head dropping towards the floor as you peer back at Roman.

“The vision I saw was fucked up. If you saw them like I did, I’m sure you would feel the same, and you would want to be miles away from her right now.” You could cry at the sheer naivety of him.

“You’re letting a complete stranger in on our lives! If anything, I’d be better off caring for my best friend’s child than some whore you picked up from the bar.”

The sound of footsteps catches your attention as you narrow your eyes at Miranda walking back down the stairs. She makes her way towards Peter and stands next to him as you are face-to-face with Roman.

“She’s feeding you vicious lies, Ro. Please listen to me.” You don’t beg, and you don’t want to give him the satisfaction, but it’s in moments like these, you need him to listen to you; to trust you again.

“Jealousy isn’t a good look on you, doll.” You roll your eyes and try your best to bite back a snide remark.

“I’m telling you this because I love you, Roman, not because I’m jealous; don’t flatter yourself. Maybe start to think with your brain instead of your dick,” You place your palm on his cheek before you bring his other cheek to your lips, placing a kiss against his silky skin. “You know where to find me, baby.” Patting the side of his face, you step back, and without acknowledging Peter and Miranda, you walk out of the front door.

Watching your retreating body, Roman feels a pang of remorse in his chest; the feeling leaving him breathless for only a moment before Miranda speaks.

“What a bitch,” She spits before Roman shoots her a stern look, “Don’t call her that.” He stares longingly at the door and then his legs take him upstairs and into his room, leaving the pair downstairs.

—

Getting a call from Roman was odd. You assumed he deleted it when you broke up, but looks like he didn’t. The words that slipped out of his mouth hadn’t shocked you, but you felt like breaking down at the thought of Nadia missing. You hung up without a word, and every action you did after the phone call was aggressive, your anger evident everything you did.

Storming up the driveway of his house, you spot Roman in the doorway, remorse painting his features. The look of anger on your face almost scares him and as he backs into the house with you coming at him.

“I fucking told you I had a bad feeling and now look what she’s done! I can't believe you let this happen, Roman! I know you’re touch-starved and dying for female attention but come on, I saw this happening a mile away.” You snap, running your hand through your hair as Roman cowers with guilt. You hadn’t seen that expression before.

You slam the front door behind you and glare at him. His look of regret slips and then irritation sets on his face. There he is.

“And where were you? Hm? Probably off fucking some scum from the bar in town whilst I was worried shitless about my daughter.” Your eyebrows almost fly to your hairline as you listen to his newfound confidence. Rolling your eyes, you wave him off and turn to leave. You can’t bear to listen to his bullshit assumptions.

“That’s right! Walk away like you always do.” He seethes, a frown contorting his features. You know he’s only saying that to get a rise out of you, it’s his specialty. So you don’t react to piss him off even more. You spin around to meet his hard stare again and stomp towards him, your finger up to press against his firm chest.

“You really wanna go there, Godfrey? Really?” You see a flash of regret pass over his cold eyes before he leans down to your eye level. His face is vacant of any expression when he growls a response. “Yeah, I wanna fucking go there, dollface.”

Your face screws up before you huff and step away from him. You bring your hands to rest on your cheeks as you feel tears sting your eyes.

“I can’t believe you’ve let this happen,” You murmur. Roman growls, but when you look at him, he’s staring at the wall trying to stop the tears blurring his vision.

“Where’s Peter?” You ask.

“Fuck knows!” He yells, and you cringe slightly. Roman’s eyes go wide as he watches you shrink away. His face falls before he puts his hands up in front of him.

“I didn’t mean to scare you, Y/n,” He says softly. You give him a small smile as you reply, “No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

His gaze falls to the floor before he sees your shoes. “Come here.”

Roman looks up to see you with your arms outstretched. You tilt your head when he doesn’t move and shift to wrap your arms around his torso. Being alone with Roman was different from when you were in a group. You couldn’t quite explain it, but he was far more emotional around you.

“Hug me back, Ro,” You feel his shaky hands on your back as he bends down slightly, resting his head on your shoulder. Despite his arms around you, his body remains stiff.

“Loosen up; it’s just me.”

“Sorry, my family was never really the touchy-feely type.” he spits softly, “But you already knew that.” You only laugh and squeeze him tighter.

Feeling his heartbeat comforts you. You haven't been this close since your break up, and even that was closer than this. You wish you never heard it; his cries against your skin. The sound and the vibrations make your breath hitch and your body freeze.

“Let’s move to the couch, yeah?” You whisper, backing up until the backs of your knees hit the couch. Roman pulls away for a second as you lay down before he clambers on top. He lays his head on your chest and wraps his long arms around you. You wonder if he can actually fit on the couch or if his legs are bent awkwardly, but choose not to bring up the topic.

“Could you play with my hair? Please?” Your eyes widen at the sound of the verb and the smallness of his voice, “I’m not gonna ask again, Y/n.” And there he is, the usual Roman. You roll your eyes and work your nimble fingers into his hair, the soft strands like silk against your skin.

His sniffles eventually seize, and his body stops shaking as he calms down.

“We’ll find Nadia. I promise you, Ro.”

#roman godfrey x reader #roman godfrey imagines #roman godfrey #roman godfrey imagine #hemlock grove imagines #hemlock grove imagine #bill skarsgård x reader #bill skarsgard imagine

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w-ngs · 4 years

Text

jan21

hello 2021! you did not get off on a good start. let’s try and be a little better, okay?

i didn’t read much this month (and probably won’t be for a long while because of school), but it was a wild month. well, you’ll see.

***

crooked kingdom, leigh bardugo — oh my god???? i completely forgot that i read this before i left for school and almost didn’t include it in my monthly wrap-up????? how dare i forget this masterpiece.

it was great. i loved it. i think overall, i preferred 6oc because heist stories are my guilty pleasure. but romance-wise... let’s just say kaz and inej have made it to my top 10 ships. but also i read through this so fast because i had to finish it before i left that half the story is kinda just not in my brain lololol

the most intriguing part of the entire story was the anti-wraith. her character kind of came out of nowhere, and i’m not really sure she had much of a purpose than being someone who could physically match inej. i guess she was also anti in the sense that she had no respect, just ruthlessness, which is the opposite of inej and what she stands for. but i don’t know if the anti-wraith was significant enough of a character to really be considered a foil.

i don’t really give spoiler warnings because hardly anyone reads these other than myself lolol but big spoiler ahead. skip the next paragraph if you don’t want to know. cuz i accidentally spoiled it for myself before reading and i kinda ruined it for myself lmfao.

poor matthias. he was there, and then he was gone. i feel terrible for nina. they were finally on the same page, and then he had to act all saint-like and trigger some idiot into killing him. and matthias finally came to terms with what he’d been taught and what he was trying to teach himself (#charactergrowth), so he wrapped things up neatly for himself before the bye-bye. but nina, she finally got her guy on her side and they were supposed to change the world together. sigh.

and of course, we got kaz. he’s my favorite. how could he not be, with his trauma and desire to overcome it but not letting it define him and still maintaining that evil genius act he’s so good at. it definitely hit harder in this story, the extent of his trauma. it made him more real, too. both sides of him coexist, and one could not exist without the other. he’s crazy, in nearly all senses of the word. also crazy in love, the mfing idiot. ugh, i love vulnerable kaz. i love what inej brings out in him, how she knows just how hard to push without driving him over the edge. also i saw a tiktok (this app is gonna come up a lot more in the next few reviews fsjdsdfkjdf) with a photo of them kissing with a towel between their mouths because he can’t touch her but he desperately wants to and what a perfect solution is that their... bathroom scene had me holding my breath. or at least taking very shallow breaths. it was intense. so intimate, i felt like i shouldn’t even have been there. ugh, the cute little babies. uwuwuwuwuwu

one last note. leigh bardugo is a very good writer, plot and characters and all. everything flowed much more smoothly in this book, and once again i was impressed by the detail provided. you go girl. i can’t wait to see the tv series development.

a 10/10.

***

the shadows between us, tricia levenseller — literally what did i read lmaooo. this is my first tiktok book recommendation. and it. was. boring. boring characters that didn’t make much sense. boring plot. i skimmed it after the first 50 pages cause it was so boring. that’s it bye.

a 3/10.

***

manacled, senlinyu — um. wow. i literally......... even hours after finishing it my brain is still ridiculously scrambled. edit: it’s about a month later and sometimes random scenes and images still pop in my head for no reason and then i feel all twisted inside again. i love it.

so, this is not a published book but a dramione fanfiction on ao3. i don’t read fanfics that often anymore, mainly because i’d rather read other things, not because i don’t like them. but i found this one because a tiktok that showed the illustrations in the story and i was so blown away by the fact someone would illustrate an entire fanfic that i just had to read it. and i have no regrets. it’s kinda long and a biiit wordy for me at times but holy shit that hit like a mother trucker. and i haven’t read dramione in ages, not since... years. so this really hit different.

the illustrations are beautiful. they’re what dragged me into the story in the first place, so, of course they are. but i’d literally spend minutes looking at every detail in amazement at how perfectly the emotions were captured and the lighting casting the perfect shadows and just… everything. i know nothing about drawing but my eyes were truly blessed.

i think integrating the handmaid’s tale with the hp world was ingenious. i would never have expected that. and wow. the relationship between the two, it’s…….. i can barely put it in words in my mind, and it’s even harder to articulate on paper. complex, but at the same time not, simply the desire for the other to stay alive. timeless. destructive. their only defense from the harsh reality of their situation. desperation at its most desperate, their one and only survival method. depressing. it’s so depressing. i was so sad, the angst almost too much at times.

the flashbacks were insanely intense. and i thought the handmaid section was bad. it was awful to read. i could hardly bear it, it was so dark at times i didn’t know how either of them got through it all. i mean, they barely did. the near-death scares, the constant need to create a blank slate within yourself in order to not overwhelm yourself with crushing emotions… wartime sometimes has a tendency to sound romantic, but theirs wasn’t anything near romantic, and i appreciate that the author chose to be very real about it.

at the beginning, and in the middle when we went through the flashbacks, i was afraid the love would be toxic. and, well, it kind of was at some points. but in a time like that and a situation like theirs, it would be hard to not have a toxic relationship. i was glad that in the end theirs was a good love, the kind that sustained and kept them alive and got them through until the very end, because it was what they needed from each other. and, of course, my favorite part of it all was draco’s ceaseless possessiveness that only seemed to grow, never fade. i love simpy men.

they deserve each other. i was afraid at the end they wouldn’t, that one of them would die—that draco would die because hermione basically did once already for him, so he would have to “return the favor”—also she was pregnant so there was no way she’d be the one to die—idk many theories. but at the end i’m so glad they both ended up alive. after everything, they deserved it.

i did nothing for two days straight but read this book. except eat. and barely sleep. and i have no regrets.

a 9/10.

***

bloodlines, richelle mead — dang. i used to be obsessed with vampire academy when i was in middle school. i even watched the terrible movie that released because of it. and now i can’t believe i really thought that was peak literature lmfaooooo

i remember adrian being such a funny and interesting character that i picked up bloodlines to see if it was gonna be as good as i remembered it was. i was disappointed. it was just... well let’s just say there wasn’t enough to get me invested in the characters as i used to be. i think what it was is that adrian’s characterization was so weak. he wasn’t as ~quirky~ as i remembered him to be haha. the plot was also way too slow-paced, and a little too easy to guess. maybe if i was 12 again i’d be going crazy over it like i used to. but i’m not a pre-teen anymore and my brain craves stuff along the lines of manacled—destruction, death, angst that wants me to pull my own heart out to stop it from hurting.

a 5/10.

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nekoannie-chan · 4 years

Text

The night we met

Pairing: Brock Rumlow X Reader.

Word count: 1674 words.

Summary: Something went wrong in the last mission, something that completely changed his life, Brock doesn’t know how to overcome what happened and continue with his life.

Warnings: Some smut references, death of a character, nothing explicit.

A/N: Flashbacks are in italics.

This is my entry to @imma-new-soul ‘s Jay’s 550 followers writing challenge and to @angelinathebook ‘s Lena’s 300 followers writing challenge with the song prompt #1 y #5:

“The night we met” by Lord Huron.

Also is my entry to @ugh-supersoldiers‘s Gracey’s 5K Challenge with prompt #6:

“If you could feel what I feel when you walk into the room, everything about ‘us’ would change”.

My native language is Spanish so I wanna improve my writing skills in English if you notice any mistake please let me know and I will correct it.

I don’t give any kind of permission that my fics be posted in other platforms or languages (I translate myself my work) or the use of my graphics (my dividers are included in this), I did them exclusively for my fics, please respect my work and don't steal it. There are some people here who make dividers that anyone can use, mine is not this type, please look for the other's people. The only exception is the ones I gifted 'cuz now belong to someone else. If you find any of my works on a different platform and is not one of my accounts, please let me know. Reblogs and comments are always welcome.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Marvel's characters (unfortunately), except for the original characters and the story.

My other media where I publish: Wattpad, Ao3, ffnet.

If you like it please vote, comment, and give me feedback to improve my skills and reblog.

I am not the only traveler

Who has not repaid his debt

Brock was sitting on the floor, he saw the bottle in front of him, and there were also the photos, some of which were taken at your wedding, many of your dates, others of special moments in your relationship.

He knew that at the time he should not get drunk, he had another obligation that needed him, but it was very difficult to continue with that pain.

It hurts so badly, he didn't know how he was going to get over it, he didn't feel able to continue, he was very angry because everything changed, the plans that you had now made no sense.

It supposed you will be old together, you were going to have several children and they would see they grow up, but Werner von Strucker came to ruin all the plans, even though they had captured him, it wasn't enough, he wanted revenge, he needed to make he pays for destroying his family, but his teammates wouldn't let him, they claimed he would pay, however, they didn't understand what you meant to him. , nothing would be enough to make up for what had taken away from him.

I've been searching for a trail to follow again Take me back to the night we met

He could remember in great detail how you knew each other, both had entered as recruits for S.H.I.E.L.D.

You used to be away from the rest of the recruits, almost always alone, you seemed very shy, he used to always be chatting with one of his teammates.

That's precisely what caught Brock's eye on you, he didn't understand why someone as beautiful as you wouldn't want to draw attention.

He felt lucky when he touched them on the same team in the first practice.

“Y/N Y/L/N,” you introduced yourself by extending your hand.

"Brock Rumlow," he replied by holding your hand.

You were a great team, you always gave the best results.

The first time he asked you for a date, he'd never felt so nervous before, for a moment he thought you were going to turn him down, he walked into the office you were working on to invite you in.

"Do you want to go to the fair?” He invited you.

"With you?” You asked distractedly.

“Yes... Well... forget it, never mind,” he retracted.

You blinked a little, you finally understood what Brock had asked you.

"I'd love to, as long as it's just you and me," you answered.

He smiled a little, the nerves were gone.

"Only you and me, Saturday at seven o'clock, I pick you, okay?”

"Perfect.”

And then I can tell myself What the hell I'm supposed to do

He looked up a little more, in a chair, was the first stuffed animal he had given you, the face you had put in made it worthwhile, it had been a successful first date.

"Do you want some of those stuffed animals?" he asked when you walked past one of the stands.

"Do you know how to play it? I'm too bad for those games," you said.

You stopped in front of the post and paid.

"Which stuffed animal do you want?" he questioned.

"That dog," you pointed out.

Never before had he felt so pressured to win a prize, he played and won it, he immediately gave it to you, you looked like a little girl.

"Thank you, you're very skillful," you thanked him.

You kissed him, you barely grazed his lips, but that was enough for him.

And then I can tell myself Not to ride along with you

Your kisses, he was going to miss them, your body, your caresses, everything from you.

He needed to know if you two were in a relationship to know how to behave, if it was just an adventure, would set aside your feelings.

"So what are we?” He asked.

"Aren't we in a relationship? I thought that...”

"We've never talked about it before..."Then I have to assume we're nothing or we can be in a relationship if that's what you want,” you figured.

He kissed you.

I had all and then most of you Some and now none of you Take me back to the night we met

He felt it was all his fault what happened, he must have insisted that you stay at the Compound with Wanda that day, if he could return the time, he would prevent you from going on a mission.

You were lying in bed after making love, you had your face hidden in his chest, while he hugged you with one arm and with the other hand caressed your hair.

"Marry me," he said suddenly.

"Hmm?”

You raised your face, you weren't sure what you heard.

"I know it's not the most romantic way, but I want to spend the rest of my life with you," he continued.

You smiled, you passed a finger over his chest.

"Are you sure? I can be very unbearable," you answered.

“If you could feel what I feel when you walk into the room, everything about ‘us’ would change.”

You bit your lip, you knew he couldn't stand the intrigue.

"I don't think you're very convinced.”

"I am more than ever, do you want to be my wife?" he asked again.

"Yes, but only if you give me my engagement ring," you answered, laughing.

"I'll buy you the one you like the most," he promised.

He kissed you and you made love again.

I don't know what I'm supposed to do Haunted by the ghost of you Oh, take me back to the night we met

He stroked his wedding ring with one finger, what was he gonna do now?

He saw your wedding photo, it was one of the happiest days of his life when he started thinking that he should do things right.

He took the picture, for him, you had been the most beautiful bride in the world in that dress.

Sometimes you used to dance to the song that had been your waltz at your wedding.

You were married for four months when he decided to tell you the truth.

"I have something to confess to you," he said out of nowhere.

You looked at him with doubt, even though you kept muddying the jam on the bread you were having for breakfast.

"Are you cheat on me?" you questioned trying to stay calm.

"What? No! I couldn't do that to you.”

"Ah... then it can't be worse,” you answered calmer.

"I'm HYDRA," he finally said.

You dropped the bread out of your hand.

"What? Oh... Brock...”

What were you supposed to do? You never suspected he was the enemy.

"If you ask me I'm going to confess everything to Fury, I don't want to lose you, first listen to me, there's a good reason for this...

You had heard and supported it, in the end as promised he confessed everything to Fury and even helped dismantle the organization enemies, yet many enemies had been gained.

When the night was full of terrors And your eyes were filled with tears

When you announced that you were pregnant, he immediately prevented her from going on more missions, he didn't plan on taking any chances, finally, he was having the family, he had always wanted.

One night you got up when you heard noises, they came from what would be the baby's room, when you walked in you saw Brock opening boxes with the furniture that would be in the room.

"Brock, isn't it very fast yet, I mean, I'm only three months old," you asked.

He turned to see you, he didn't think he was making so much noise.

"Everything must be ready by the time the baby gets here," he replied.

And when the little girl was born, he didn't care if they saw him crying, it was promised that he would protect his daughter from any danger.

Tears fell again when he remembers when the doctors told him that you were dead.

When you had not touched me yet Oh, take me back to the night we met

“Brock…”

It hurts a lot, he crouched down to check your wounds.

“Y/N... wait... help is on the way," he said.

"I don't think...”

”Shh... everything will be fine, they're on their way," he repeated.

He was trying to stop the blood loss, but you'd already lost too much.

"I love you, tell our daughter that I love her too, please take care of her, take care of her, please, I’m sorry….”

He tried to keep you from talking to keep you from running out of energy.

The wait in the hospital had become eternal, as soon as he saw the doctor immediately rose.

"I'm sorry, they didn't make it," they informed him.

"Did they make it?" he asked.

The information was like a bucket of cold water.

I had all and then most of you Some and now none of you Take me back to the night we met

You were three weeks pregnant, he couldn't help wondering why you hadn't told him yet, what he didn't know was that you were going to tell him the night that you came back from the mission.

He wiped away tears when he heard the door open.

"Daddy?" the little girl came into the room.

"Hey princess," he replied by opening his arms to get him closer.

The girl ran to hug him.

"Sorry, she got away," Wanda apologized coming in.

Brock beckoned her that he was fine.

"Mommy doesn't love me anymore?” The little girl suddenly asked.

"What? Why do you say that?” Brock questioned.

He had asked not to tell him anything that had happened, he wanted to explain it to him himself.

"She didn't come back," she replied.

"Your mommy loves you, do you remember Lucky?”

"Mom's dog? Yes, he liked me to give him my candies.”

"Mom and Lucky are together," Brock explained.

"In heaven?”

"Yes, from there they're going to take care of us," he continued.

"Why didn't she say goodbye? We're not going to the park on Saturday anymore?" the girls asked distraughtly.

Brock sighed, it was harder than he had thought, and he had been promised that all three would go on the weekend.

"In a little while we'll say goodbye to your mommy, don't worry, you and I are going to the park," he told her.

He got up and carried her, it was time to go to your funeral, it was going to be very difficult, he kept feeling that his world was collapsed, he would give everything to go back to the day he met you and avoid making all the mistakes, he would be able to do anything as long as you were alive.

However, he couldn't let himself be beaten, his daughter needed him.

I don't know what I'm supposed to do Haunted by the ghost of you Take me back to the night we met

#Jays550 #lenas300challenge #graceys 5k challenge #brock rumlow #brock rumlow x reader #brock fanfic #brock rumlow fanfic #brockrumlow #brockrumlow x reader #brockrumlow x y/n #brock rumlow x you #brock rumlow x t/n #mcu brock rumlow #rumlow x reader #rumlow x you #crossbones

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rynhaswritersblock · 4 years

Text

letters | p.p.

summary: after too long a wait for you and peter to just get together, the team decides to get you together their way.

warnings: mild cussing, awkwardness, super fluffy ending (cause that's what i do best)

+ + +

"Insanity," Tony sighs, watching you and Peter walk to your separate rooms after a very awkward yet somewhat flirty conversation.

"It's like they're afraid that admitting their feelings will kill them or something," Bruce shakes his head.

"Enough of this," Steve says, scooting forward on the couch and putting his elbows on his knees, leaning forward. Everyone, seeing his seriousness, simultaneously leans in. "we need to find a way to get Y/N and Peter to confess their love for one another. Anyone got any ideas?"

The group of heroes looks around at each other, thoughtful looks on their faces, yet no ideas coming out of their mouths. Wanda lets out a slight gasp, struck with an idea.

"We could do a little spin on this popular movie I watched a few days ago?" she suggests.

"Which would be...?" Bucky asks.

"It's called To All the Boys I've Loved Before,"

"Oh! I've seen that one on Instagram!" Shuri smiles.

"Yeah. What I was thinking was maybe we could write letters to Y/N and Peter pretending that they're from each other," Wanda says, eyebrows lifted in anticipation.

Tony claps his hands together. "Perfect."

With that, the group gets to work, everyone assigned their own jobs in order to make this project the best it could be. Wanda gave everyone a premise as to what was in these letters while Natasha came up with the wording, Shuri writing "from Y/N," and Dr. Strange writing "from Peter."

Needless to say, Strange was unhappy with his job, especially since he was chosen for it right away, since "doctors have the messiest handwriting." It took Clint reminding him that it was an insult to Peter, as well, for him to lift his offence.

After an hour of careful writing and Bruce hurriedly searching up synonyms for words, the letters were done. Sure, they were a bit cheesy and maybe not as authentic as they could be, but, in the words of Tony: "If they're stupid enough to not get together after all this time, they're stupid enough to believe these letters."

And so, once the team passed the envelopes around, planting kisses onto each (Bucky getting really passionate during his turn, of course), the letters were ready to be sent.

+ + +

You sat on your bed, working on an assignment for school. A frustrated groan fell from your lips as you read the next question, running your fingers through you hair and pulling on the strands.

"I really don't give a crap about hydrogen b-"

Your mutters were cut off by the sound of paper sliding across the floor. You look over to the door, an envelope laying on the ground with your name scribbled across it. You furrow your brows, sliding off the bed and walking towards the object, leaning down and grabbing it.

Your name was scribbled on the envelope in a messy yet neat way, the handwriting reminding you of Peter's. Your eyes narrowed at the writing before you realized that it was Peter's handwriting. You chewed on your lip as you walked back to your bed, carefully opening the envelope and pulling a piece of paper out of it.

Y/N L/N, I've liked you for a long time. I'm not really good at talking about stuff like this and I may end up just rambling, but I'm trying here. I've been too scared, well, terrified, actually, of telling you how I feel in real life. So here I am, I guess. I've had a crush on you ever since we met at the airport in Germany and really hope you feel the same. God, this is stupid, but oh well. I like you. From, Peter

Your mouth drops slightly as you read the note, furrowing your brows at some points.

Peter likes you back.

Still, there was something weird about it.

Whether it was the odd tone of the text or the fact that no one had ever liked you back in your whole life, something felt off.

Nevertheless, your thoughts were consumed by three words: I like you.

+ + +

Peter sat at his desk, bottom lip caught between his teeth and brows furrowed as he worked on an old piece of tech he found in Tony's lab. With one final pull, he snapped off a piece he'd been working on, a satisfied sigh falling from his lips. He leaned back in his chair for a moment.

An envelope slipped underneath his door, causing the boy to turn his head towards it, untamed curls shaking slightly at the movement. Feeling lazy, he tapped his wrists together, web-shooters forming around them. With the flick of his wrist, he webbed the envelope and it flew straight into his hands.

His eyes moved across the object. His name was printed neatly in what he recognized to be your handwriting, or at least close to it. With a slight shrug, he slipped his finger across the envelope, opening it and pulling the letter out.

Peter Parker, I like you.

A gasp fell from the boys lips, looking away from the paper in almost pure confusion before returning to it, eager and slightly distraught.

I know we're best friends and liking you might make everything weird, but it's the truth. You and I both know that I'm not very good at expressing my feelings, but I'm really trying here, and hope you'll understand. You're my best friend and have always been so funny and accepting and weird and strong and brave and stubborn and I really appreciate that. So. Yeah. From, Y/N

A wild range of emotions ran through Peter that made him instantly dizzy. One on hand, you like him back, but on the other hand, this seemed pretty out of character for you. It would've already been difficult to process that you liked him if you just told him, but you sending him a letter?

Seemed a bit odd.

Still, his thoughts were consumed by three words: I like you.

+ + +

You set the letter down next to you on the bed, tapping your foot anxiously. It had only been a few minutes since you read it, but you were going insane.

You had to tell someone.

A defeated groan falls from your lips before you shake your head, grabbing the paper and running out of the room and to the commons. You turn the corner, socks sliding across the floor, and see the entire team sitting and watching a movie. Just as their heads turn to you, the sound of footsteps come pounding down the opposite hall. You turn, hand raising the letter in the air, to see Peter come bursting in.

His eyes meet yours.

You immediately recoil, overcome by awkwardness and fear of confrontation, and crumple the letter, sprinting off to your room.

Peter does the exact same thing.

The team waits until they hear the sounds of your doors shutting before throwing their heads back and groaning.

"Idiots," Rhodey shakes his head.

"I swear, it's like they're those opposite magnets. They can only get so close," Natasha sighs.

Thor pitches in. "Back on Asgard we didn't have this problem. If anything, we showed our affection too much, if you know what I'm saying."

"Ugh," Natasha says, pinching her nose.

"Alright, that's it," Tony blurts. "I'm locking them in a room together."

Everyone shares glances before shrugging and nodding, watching the man to see how he wants to accomplish this.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., can you call Y/N and Peter to the training room and lock them in once they're both there, please?"

"Will do," the A.I. responds.

"And pull up the live security footage on the commons TV, would you?"

+ + +

"Y/N, Tony Stark has requested for you to go to the training room."

You lift your head from your hands, brows furrowed.

"What? Why?" you ask. You didn't mind training, but you thought you were training tomorrow, not this evening.

"He's requested that you go immediately." F.R.I.D.A.Y. replies.

"Alright," you mutter, sliding off your bed and slipping on your training shoes before heading out.

The doors slide open, letting you enter to see Peter, chewing nervously on his bottom lip and fiddling with his fingers.

"Shit," you whisper, turning on your heel.

But you just about walk into the glass, the doors not opening for you. You tilt your head in confusion, lifting an arm to manually open it instead.

Locked.

"The doors are locked from the outside," Peter says, nervousness laced around his words.

"Double shit," you mutter before turning and grabbing your fingers; messing with them was a habit both you and Peter had when you were nervous. You began twisting your ring around your finger, not caring about the red marks that would eventually show up.

"So..." Peter starts, unsure of what to say.

"So..."

The two of you look at each other, just a few feet apart, nervously fidgeting. You both open your mouths.

"I got a letter confessing your love for me and I don't know what to do."

Your words intertwine with Peter's, coming out at the exact same time. Confused expressions grow on your faces.

"Wait, you got a letter, too?"

Again, you speak in unison with the boy, causing light smiles to tug at each other's lips before you dig into your pocket, pulling out the crumpled piece of paper. The two of you switch papers.

You cringe as you read your "letter" to Peter. Sure, it was decently accurate, but, if you were gonna write him a note confessing your love, it would not have been like that.

"That's not..." Peter mutters as his eyes skim over the paper.

You look up at him. "What?"

"Wha-" his head snaps up to look at you. "Oh, it's... it's nothing."

"Peter, what?" you ask.

Your tone breaks the boy's barrier, making him spill.

"This says I had a crush on you since Germany. That's not true."

Shit.

You ignore the stupid pain in your chest. "So, wait, you don't-"

"I've been in love with you ever since you totally killed me in a training session, then tripped on your way out."

The words knock the air out of your lungs.

"You're in love with me?" you whisper.

Peter's fidgeting only worsens as he nods.

"I'm in love with you, too." you say.

A smile breaks on his face and he points a hand, webbing your wrist and pulling you to him. Strong, familiar arms wrap around you and you hug him back, resting your head on his chest. After a few seconds, you pull away, confused.

"Then who wrote these letters?"

Peter furrows his brows before he's struck with realization, sighing.

"The team."

"Oh my God," you mutter, turning and running towards the doors, Peter following suit. "Why won't these open?"

The two of you push on the doors, which barely even budge.

"Hey! Lovebirds!"

Sam's voice rings through the intercom, making you jump back in surprise. You and Peter look up at the security camera, now pretty much positive that the entire team was watching your exchange.

"Guys, let us out," Peter says.

"Hey, hey, hey, now, wait a second," Sam says, his tone cocky. "I don't believe you two are done with this little moment, yet, are you?"

A groan falls from your lips.

"What do you want me to do, make out with the boy? What, do you want us to have sex?" You ask, lifting a brow at the camera.

Peter jumps slightly at the word, face reddening at the very idea. Of course he had thought about it- he was a teenage boy- but hearing you talk about it was a whole different thing.

"Pete, just kiss the girl, goddamnit." Sam sighs.

You let out a snort, beginning to sing Kiss the Girl before Peter grabs your neck, bringing you to him and connecting your lips. Your singing stops immediately as you kiss back, placing your hands on his chest. You slowly pull away, smiling at Peter before turning to the camera and flipping it off, receiving multiple shouts from the team through the intercom.

Peter smirks at you and raises his brow and you smile, jumping onto his back. The boy runs through the doors, which finally unlocked, and to the commons with you on his back.

The boy dances around (which, in turn, makes you wobble around funnily on top of him) while you point at the team, sticking your tongue at them. You and Peter then begin singing Kiss the Girl, which makes the team join in.

Needless to say, the dance party you had that night went hard.

+ + +

much love <3

#peter parker #tom holland #peter parker imagines #marvel #mcu #spiderman #peter parker x reader #spiderman x reader #fanfic #fluff #writing #peter #parker #thomas holland

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creativeskullcreations · 5 years

Text

Outside chapter 3: Food?

Third chapter is out! Not much to say about this one, expect that we finish up the day with some delicious Chinese takeout! Nothing heavy going on in here! Nope! Not at all!

When Stacy felt Scout was sufficiently distracted, she pulled her laptop out of her bag. 'Let's see, what was the group that guy was a part of? Vox I think...' She searched the group on Google, and found them almost immediately. She clicked the link to their website, and was struck by how professional it looked.

'So these guys are paranormal investigators...' From what the site said, they were a professional team that specialized in locating and researching. Specifically, they went after the newer, modern activity, like the Waygetter toys, or cursed animatronics.

'Where were you guys when I was a kid?' She shook her head. 'Focus, Stacy! Forget the past, focus on the present! You have a different problem to solve...<' She scrolled down and clicked on the contact button, which gave her an email address. She clicked over to her own email and typed in the address, but paused before writing anything.

'What do I even say to them? They didn't believe that Anthony guy, and he was one of them. Maybe if I send them proof...' Her eyes drifted to Scout, who was staring at the TV. Her attention was completely taken by the show, and she seemed oblivious to what Stacy was doing and thinking. 'A picture might not be enough, but maybe a video? But would she even agree to it? And could I even do that to her?'

Stacy shook her head, closing the laptop with a small sigh. 'I can't. Not right now. Maybe once things are settled...' She moved the computer to the side and stood up, stretching as much as she could. She then went into the kitchen and started digging through Sammy's fridge.

'Ugh, he's such a bachelor. There's nothing in here but some old lettuce and leftover soup. He'd better be buying groceries on his way back from work, or I'm telling Aunt Hannah he has no food again.' She closed the door, and then grabbed some bread and peanut-butter from the cupboard, and the last clean knife from one of the drawers. She quickly made herself a simple sandwich, cut it in half, then went back to the couch.

"Where'd you go?" Scout asked when she'd sat back down. She flopped over onto her lap, making Stacy jerk her plate up to keep it from getting hit. "You're missing the show!"

"I've seen it before, don't worry." Stacy assured her as she bit into the sandwich. "I'm not missing anything important."

"Hey, what's that?" She climbed into her lap and peered onto the plate, reminding Stacy of a cat. "Is that Host Food?"

"Yeah, it's a peanut-butter sandwich. I got hungry, and it was all Sammy had to eat, other than gross leftovers." She took another bite of sandwich, not really paying attention as Scout pulled the plate down a little. She watched the Puppet grab the other half of the sandwich 'Gross.', and examine it closely. Then, without warning, she tore a bite off and started chewing.

Stacy froze mid-chew, unsure of how to react. While she knew Scout had to have organs, she hadn't thought she actually could eat anything. It was quite surreal, watching a thing made of cloth chew and swallow real, human food.

"Hmm, not bad. Kind of sticky, though." She smacked her lips, then tore off another bite and turned back around to keep watching the show, leaving Stacy feeling like she'd smoked some of her cousin's weed. She shook the feeling off, though, deciding to come back to it at a later time. Like maybe when she'd actually had some weed.

Instead she finished her half of the sandwich(since she apparently only got to have half, now), and then pulled back out her laptop. She opened up a new doc, and started drafting up some plans.

'One way or another, I'm gonna figure this out.'

Several hours later, and Stacy had not figured it out. She had maybe one and a half pages of notes on the Puppets, most of which was on just Scout, and three different plans.

1. Go to the police.

-Too Risky for Scout

-Can lie about what's going on if needed

2. Ask Vox for help.

-Way too risky for Scout and me

-Can't lie to these guys about it

-They would know what they're doing tho

3. Arson.

-Has potential

-Can have a bon fire and roast marshmallows while we do it

-Could get arrested but might be worth it if we can get all the Puppets

-Might also be worth it just to see Scout try and eat a melty marshmallow

So far, plan number three was looking like the best one. It still wasn't the absolute best plan, but it was all they had at the moment. She'd have to talk to Will and see if he still had those gas cans in his garage.

"Hey, are you guys still here?" Stacy started at the sudden entrance of Sammy, surprised at how late it had gotten. She shut her laptop and put it to the side for now, standing up.

"No, we left and stole all of your soup." She told him. What you're seeing now is a hunger induced hallucination."

Sammy paused, the held up a plastic bag with a panda on it. "So you don't want the takeout I got?"

"Oooh, gimme!" Stacy rushed to snatch the bag from her cousin. She brought it over to the table, pausing briefly to pick Scout up from the couch. She started to set the food out while the Puppet settled over her shoulder, watching what she did. While she worked, she also pointed out what each different food was.

"So, all of this stuff is rice. We don't normally eat it, but they include it anyways with some of the meals. This is teriyaki chicken, and this is-"

"Stacy, really? Why would it even need to know what that stuff is?" Sammy tsked as he sat at the table and grabbed some noodle dish. "It's stuffed, and can't eat."

Stacy just stuck her tongue out at him and sat down. She picked up a pair of chopsticks and set about showing Scout how to hold and use them properly.

For awhile, they ate silently as Scout watched them, which Stacy personally thought was a little odd but didn't want to say anything. If the Puppet wanted to be weird, then she wasn't going to stop her. Sammy, on the other hand, soon fixed her with a hard stare and cleared his throat.

"So." Stacy looked up at him mid-chew, cheeks bulging. "What are you going to do when you get back to your apartment?"

She swallowed hard, putting on a more thoughtful expression. "Go back to class, tell Carol I can't do the article and why, maybe go tell the police about the psychopaths in the warehouse." She shrugged, digging out another bite of chicken from one of the boxes. "Y'know, stuff."

"And what about...?" He gestured to Scout with his chopsticks, and the Puppet glared back at him. Stacy, in a stroke of seldom seen genius, offered the Puppet her chicken before she could say anything.

"She's coming with me, of course. I live alone, so there shouldn't be a problem." Scout chomped down on the chicken, to Stacy's mild surprise. She quickly picked up some more food for herself. "Besides, Will is gonna love her. They're so much alike."

"Okay, ignoring the fact that you just fed that thing," Scout made an offended noise. "that sounds like a shit plan. There's no way in hell the police will believe you without proof."

"Fine, you're right. I have a back-up plan in the works, too." She thought back to her arson idea as she offered another bite to Scout. "But it needs work, so I can't put it in action yet." ‘And gasoline. Lots and lots of gasoline.’

"... Where's that food even going, anyways?" Both Sammy and Stacy turned to stare at Scout, who didn't even pause in her chewing to send them both a glare. Obviously, she wasn't going to be explaining anything, so Stacy turned back to her cousin.

"I have no idea. Don't think too hard on it."

'Don't think about why you're feeding her, either.' She ignored her own thoughts to shove some more food in her mouth. That was something to think about later. Or, perhaps, never. Never seemed like a much better time.

They finished their food, with Stacy giving Scout a few more bites, then boxed up the leftovers and put them in the fridge. Stacy then made Sammy get them a blanket because "It was too cold last night I almost froze to death!"

"It wasn't that bad, Stace." He told her, but fished out some spare bedding anyways. "It was near sixty."

"And yet, you had the air on or something. I swear it was colder than that in here." She insisted. She almost shivered just thinking about it. "You need to turn the AC off."

"The Ac's not on." He frowned at her, head tilted like he was studying one of his patients. "Maybe you're getting sick? You did spend God knows how long running around an abandoned warehouse with open wounds. I wouldn't be surprised if you caught something."

"God I hope not." She muttered, helping him spread the blanket out on the couch. "I gotta drive back to my apartment tomorrow. I don't wanna be sick while doing that."

"Well, if you do come down with something, promise me you'll go straight to the walk-in clinic or ER." Sammy told her seriously. "It could be something worse than a cold, like an infection from the stitches."

"Promises are curses." Stacy responded automatically. "But if something comes up, I will go to the walk-in. I don't wanna die after going through all of that bullshit."

"Wow, you're swearing. Must have been some pretty bad bullshit." He joked as he handed her a pillow. She resisted the urge to hit him with it.

"It was the second worst thing I've ever been through. It was horrible, and I hated it, but now it's over forever." Her eye twitched slightly as she placed the pillow on the couch, and saw Scout watching them from the side table. She was overcome with a childish urge to knock Scout over onto the pillow, which she quickly did.

"Wha-? Hey!" She pulled the blanket up over the Puppet, and heard a soft snort of amusement from Sammy.

"Are you ever going to grow up." He shook his head with a sigh as they watched the blanket covered lump move around.

"Nope!" She told him cheerfully. "I'mma be a kid forever!" She noticed the lump had stopped moving and leaned down, reaching for the blanket. "Uh, Scout? You oka-"

"DEATH FROM ABOVE!" Scout hit the back Stacy's head with far more force than necessary, knocking her onto the couch. She then bit onto the top of her head, though that didn't do much.

"AAUGH! How'd you even get up there?!?" She became aware of laughter and turned a death glare on her cousin. "Stop laughing! It's not funny Samuel!" She threw the pillow at him, but that didn't stop the almost hysterical laughter coming from him.

"Oh my God!" He gasped out, collapsing against the couch. "She just came out of nowhere! Holy shit!" He fell onto the floor while Stacy wrestled the apparently feral Puppet off of her head. She held her at arm's length, trying to simultaneously give her a disapproving look and check her over for injuries. It was hard to do, however, as she kept trying to bite her hand.

"Dude, seriously? That's not even gonna do anything to me..." She watched Scout thrash for a moment, actually struggling to hold onto her. "Okay, seriously, stop it right now, or you're going back under the blanket and I'm gonna sit on you." That got her to stop, but she kept up the death glare.

"Geez..." She looked over at Sammy, who was coughing on the floor, finally finished laughing. "It wasn't that funny..."

"It was fucking hilarious." He retorted between coughs. "Instant karma." He took a deep breath and started to pull himself up from the floor. "I like that Puppet." Stacy just sighed. "Whatever dude. Glad to know my pain is what made you like her." Unconsciously, she hugged Scout close and sat on the couch. She grabbed up the remote to turn Netflix back on, wanting a distraction from her humiliation. She let Scout drop onto her lap, and resisted the urge to drop her head into her hands.

'Defeated by a hand puppet. I'm never living this down.'

Sammy climbed up onto the couch seconds later, still wheezing. He went to speak, but another death glare shut him up before he could start. So he just shot her a smug look instead, holding out a hand for Scout to fist bump. "That was a pretty great move." He told the Puppet. Stacy ignored him, but heard a quiet "Hell yeah!" from Scout. "You should do it again the next time she does that."

"Do you want to die?" Stacy deadpanned, but Sammy just shrugged as he finally settled in to watch the show with them.

"Hey, it's just a suggestion." He couldn't keep that grin off of his face, and it was starting to annoy her.

"Whatever." She resolved to just ignore everything for now and watch the show. Sammy attempted a few more times to draw her into conversation, but quickly gave up when she didn't answer him and started watching too.

A few episodes later, however, and Sammy stood up and stretched. "Well, I need to get to bed, I have work tomorrow." He started towards his room. "I'll be gone by the time you two leave, so make sure you lock up tomorrow, okay?" "Kay. G'night Sammy." Stacy gave a halfhearted wave as he left, leaving Host and Puppet alone for the night.

"Leave?" Scout asked after they heard his door close. Stacy glanced down to see the Puppet staring up at her, a worried look on her face.

"Yeah. We gotta go home tomorrow." Stacy told her. "I gotta tell Carol about what happened at the HQ and find out what she wants me to do about that article. And then classes start back up soon, so I've gotta be back by then." "... I thought we were staying here." Scout said quietly, and Stacy felt a pang of... something. She wasn't sure what, but it made her feel bad and she decided right then that she hated it.

"Eh, it was more of a stopping point, really. Some place to get my mouth cut open and you off my hand." She shrugged, feeling uncomfortable. "And as much as I would love to hide here until I die, we can't actually stay on Sammy's couch forever. He doesn't have any food, and would expect me to clean."

"..." Scout was silent, and no longer paying attention to the show, instead staring down at her hands as she played with the hem of Stacy's shirt. The Human felt like she should say something, but didn't know what. Instead she stopped the show and turned off the TV, dropping the Puppet to the side and standing up.

"I'm gonna get ready and go to bed myself. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow, and I want to make sure I'm ready for it." She started towards the bathroom, almost missing the quiet "Okay." in reply. She hesitated at the doorway, but forced herself through anyways.

Scout would figure out it was better this way. Her apartment was even further from the HQ than Sammy's was, and thus safer than Sammy's. Plus, it would be better if it was just the two of them alone, and they could figure things out.

Things would get better, starting tomorrow.

They had to.

#hello puppets #fanfiction #outside #scout #stacy stein #sammy davis

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justjessame · 4 years

Text

If Only Someone Looked At Me Like They Look At Guns 10

I contemplated rushing back up the stairs while their backs were still to me, but that last step squeaked, just as I turned. Fuck. I closed my eyes, hoping no one heard, after all they were locked in an embrace with their mom.

“Tessa.” My name, in unison again. Damn it. “Darlin’ dat you?” Connor finished.

I opened my eyes and wished that I’d had the forethought to throw on a robe over the tight nightgown I was wearing. Once they focused on ALL of me, they’d know. Shit. “Connor,” I turned around and felt my breath leave me. “Murphy.” My face crumpled and I felt so overcome with emotions that I sobbed. Damn hormones.

They rushed forward and wrapped their arms around me. Hushing me, clearly too worried about my sudden outburst than me clearly visible bump, they held me and kissed my hair. Their scent was all around me, cigarettes and that soapy smell, but then it was overwhelming and I pulled harshly away and ran to the bathroom. The vomit spewed from me as soon as I had the toilet seat up. I felt them behind me and couldn’t even find it in me to care. This was all due to their demon spawn after all.

“Tessa?” Murphy whispered, the worry heavy in his voice.

“Yer ok?” Connor asked, his brother’s worry reflected in his own tone.

Once everything was gone, and I mean everything, I flushed the toilet and rose to my feet. Moving to the sink, I grabbed the toothbrush that had a sister in every available room in the house. Carefully brushing my teeth, I waited them out. I felt them leave the doorway and sighed, spitting the toothpaste out and rinsing my mouth. It was time for a pep talk to the MacManus nightmares I was carrying.

“Listen up, kiddos, your daddies are home.” I whispered, cradling my small bump in my hands. “So calm the fuck down, would ya?”

I could hear them talking to their mother as I left the bathroom. I hovered out of sight, wanting to be a coward and let Annabelle tell them. “It’s ‘er secret ter tell.” I heard the woman I’d come to love telling them. Damn it, she wasn’t going to throw me a bone. “She’ll tell ya when she wants ter.”

I stepped out from my hiding spot. My arms were crossed over my chest, which was growing almost as rapidly as my bump. “I didn’t get the heads up you were heading home.” I said, breaking up the clearly tense atmosphere in the kitchen. I noticed that Annabelle had made me a cup of green tea, she knew that it helped after one of my episodes.

“Couldn tell ya.” Connor said, as I took my seat at the table.

“Couldn tell anyone.” Murphy agreed, sitting in the chair to my right. Connor took the one at my left and Annabelle sat across from me. “Are ya sick, Tess?”

I chuckled, and glanced at Annabelle who was smiling back at me. “Only sometimes.” I answered, waiting to see how truly unobservant the two of them were. “Just when something is too smelly to deal with.” Annabelle laughed at that one.

“Mudder,” Connor admonished. “Tisn’t funny. She should see a doctor.”

Now I laughed, hard. “I have.” I answered, and looked up to see the two of them staring at me like they had when I was delirious from exhaustion. “Don’t worry, it’ll pass in about five months.” Annabelle caught my eye and we shared another fit of giggles.

“Damn it, women.” Connor growled, glaring between us.

Murphy’s glare came next. “Dis isn’t funny.”

I took one of each of their hands in mine. “No, it isn’t.” I agreed, sobering.

“Naught at all,” Annabelle agreed, taking their other hands in hers.

I looked at her and she gave me a nod. “I’m pregnant, boys.” They paled, the both of them, and I was worried for a moment that they’d faint. Annabelle shook her head at me and I could tell that she wanted me to wait.

“Pregnant?” They breathed together.

“Tessa,” Connor whispered, clutching at my hand.

“Is it only da one?” Murphy finished, drawing my attention back to him.

I shook my head and their hands tightened on mine and I imagine their mom’s. “Twins.” I answered as their focus held on me.

Annabelle released their hands and stood. “‘M goin’ ta bed.” She announced and kissed each of us on the head as she passed. “‘Ave a good night.” And she chuckled as she made her way to her room.

“Let’s get ya ready fer bed, Tessa.” Murphy said, voice thick.

“I’ll jus lock up.” Connor answered, moving to the door.

Murphy tugged me to my feet and finally gazed on the obvious bump. Before he could take me upstairs, his hands fell to my bump. And then he was kneeling in front of me, tugging up my nightshirt, and kissing the swell. Connor had come back and joined him in kneeling before me. His hands replaced Murphy’s and then his lips were kissing the bump.

“Our babies.” Murphy whispered, rising to his feet and finally kissing me.

“Aye,” Connor agreed, standing on the other side of me and asking for his own kiss. “My tern, Tessa.” He whispered, kissing me softly.

“Ah, Tess, we’ve missed ya.” Murphy’s voice, quiet and low, the heat of it against my shoulder. And it was just like that first night with them, only this time, they carried me together upstairs and into OUR room.

THE NEXT MORNING

“Dese beds are smaller dan I remember.” Connor groaned, clutching me to him, back to his front as always.

I giggled as Murphy glared at the sunlight shining in the windows. “‘Nd de curtains don do shit against da sun.”

Another round of giggles bubbled from me as Murphy’s skin pressed against my front. “You two are ridiculous.” I said, kissing Murphy then Connor. “You’re free, and we’ve put two beds together to make this one, the sun’s shining because you’re home. Stop bitching.” I sat up and felt the two of them follow suit. I was naked. Of course I was, since they were home, clothing would become redundant in our bedroom.

After many kisses, a fight over the shower (between them, not me, of course), throwing on clothes, I made my way downstairs. Annabelle was cooking, I could hear it so I stopped on the stairs.

“Do nah worry, tis all babe approved food.” She shouted, hearing that damn stair moan no doubt. I laughed and joined her. “Dose babes disappoint der nanna.” She gave a mock glare at my bump.

“I’m sure once they’re here, they’ll love the local cuisine.” I said, smoothing her fears. “For now, they’re inside me, and since I’m not a fan-”

She rolled her eyes at me and chuckled. Handing me a cup of tea, she glanced upwards. “Where are dem lads o’ mine?” She asked, then eyes twinkling she looked down at me. “Wear ‘em out did ya?”

I choked on my sip of tea. Sputtering and hearing her laugh, I cleaned up the mess I made. “You are incorrigible.” I accused, and smirked at her. “And, no I didn’t. I’m an expectant mother, haven’t you noticed?”

“Aye, and ‘ow’d yer become one?” She shot back. “Gonna ‘aveta buy some earplugs.” She shook her head and I felt my blush burn. “Dere it is. Knew I’d get one outta ya.”

I shook my head with restrained laughter. “You’re terrible. Honestly, Annabelle!”

“Wat’s goin’ on in ‘ere?” Connor asked, finished his hard one first shower I saw.

“Your mother is terrorizing me.” I tattled, feeling the heat of his body against the back of my chair. His hands were on my shoulders, and I tilted my head back and his lips met mine. “She’s insinuating that we were loud last night.” I said when he pulled away.

“Dat wasn’t us.” Murphy offered, coming into the room moments after his brother and kneeling at my right to get his own kiss.

I looked up at Annabelle in triumph, until the two of them threw me under the bus. “Dat was ‘er, Mudder.” They were pointing at me. The assholes. My triumph shot low, I pinched my lips as the laughter finally took over me.

“You all suck.” I said, drinking my now tepid tea. “First the babies that hate the smell of EVERYTHING.” I glared briefly at my stomach. “ Then a grandma who mocks a poor first time mother.” I shook my head at Annabelle. “And the fathers? Don’t get me started.” I said as the two of them took their seats at the table.

“Don be like dat,” Murphy said, taking my hand.

Connor took the other. “Dat’s right. We love ya.”

“We all love ya,” Annabelle interjected, filling plates with the food she’d made. “Even if ya ‘ave da taste buds of a wee babe.” She smiled down at me.

“I know,” I said, smiling at all of them. “But the hormones, ugh.” I ran my hand over my bump. “I never know what’s going to make me laugh, what’s going to make me cry, and what’s going to make me throw up.”

“We’re ‘ere now, Tess.” Connor reminded me.

“Yer not alone,” Murphy gave me their promise.

Annabelle snorted. “And wha was I?” She asked, giving each of us a plate. “She weren’t alone before, ya ninnies.” She sat with her own. “She needs comfortin’. She needs less worry.” She shot pointed looks at her sons. “She needs ter know yer nah ‘eadin’ back ter the life.”

I felt the two of them talking to one another and so did she. She held my focus as they discussed their next steps.

Murphy and Connor sighed. “We only got released cause of Smecker.” Connor admitted.

“‘E made good on keepin’ us on da outside.” Murphy agreed.

I nodded, of course, I’d read about Smecker. He was their help on the inside. An FBI agent who kept them free before. I’d thought he’d died. “I understand,” I whispered, biting into my toast.

“No, ya don.” Murphy answered. Shaking his head and forcing me and his mother to keep our attention on the twins.

“‘Da deal is we gotta keep workin’, but not for a bit.” Connor replied, taking a bite of his own food.

Murphy smiled, reassuring me. “Las time took eight years to get us back.”

That was true, I thought. It was what brought them into my life. I felt Connor’s hand on mine again.

“We’re ‘ere, and we plan on bein’ ‘ere fer dem.” He gestured to my bump. “And fer ya.”

Annabelle nodded, clearly approving of this new plan for our lives. She glanced at the clock. “Tessa? Do ya work today?” It was growing close for my usual time.

I shook my head. “No, the owner saw how active the babies were yesterday and gave me today off.” I smiled at how kind the people were here. “He said to let him know if I need more.”

The boys were watching us. “Ya could quit now.” Connor offered.

I smiled. “I don’t have to work at all, Connor.” I remembered the more than fair price I’d gotten for my store, and the ease of selling off other non-essentials. I had more cash than I needed for some time.

“So why are ya?” Murphy asked, eating his own breakfast, but as laser focused as his brother.

“Been askin’ ‘er the same ting since she started.” Annabelle offered. I rolled my eyes at the three of them.

“I like to work.” I said, shaking my head. “It gets me out and around people.”

“Tis gettin’ harder tho, isn’t it?” Connor asked, his hand still holding mine.

I sighed, yes, it was. And I wasn’t even halfway through my pregnancy. “What would I do if I didn’t work?” I asked, glancing at the three of them.

“Could find us a house.” Murphy replied, shrugging his shoulder.

“Den yer could spend da time fixin’ it fer da babies.” Annabelle agreed, clearly warming to the idea.

“A place nearby, but wit more room.” Connor offered, and I was thinking they’d been discussing this without me, but when?

I sat back, and studied the three of them. “Where is it?” I knew that they’d come up with this together, maybe not with the knowledge of my pregnancy, but definitely a set up.

“Where’s what?” Connor asked too innocently to be believable.

I raised an eyebrow and Murphy soothed me with his confession. Truly my favorite twin. “We jus thot when we got out, dat we’d want our own place wit ya.”

I shook my head and chuckled. I was adding two more to this family of goofballs. “So?” I asked, “Where is it?”

“Go get dressed,” Connor replied with a smile.

“We’ll take ya when yer ready.” Annabelle agreed with her own grin.

#Connor MacManus X OFC X Murphy MacManus #Boondock Saints 2 #alternative universe #pregnacy #mention of smut

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doerunners · 4 years

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tiger breeze :)

How I feel about this character

Okay, anyone with eyes knows I fucking adore Tiger Breeze. She is so fun and sexy and perfect and I wish she was real so I could ask her out and marry her. My soft spot for tough girls who refuse to show weakness becomes more and more apparent with each and every passing day. I think she is arguably the most underrated of the tribe leaders- personality-wise at least. We’ve already had the discussion of how she is one of the prettiest cats in Threeclans. Tiger Breeze is so fun and dynamic and I love how the tribe’s customs and lore is used so well in favor of her character. Seeing her during the spring, watching her kick ass and take names? It makes me so happy. She is so powerful and perfect. Anyways.

Tiger Breeze has gone through So Much Fucked Up Shit and taken on so many burdens that nobody else was willing to put the effort in for. She was the only spring cat to step up and take in Hollow when all was lost, when she was being torn apart by her own tribe after losing the home she’d been born and raised in. For moons and moons and moons, she was starving, being berated, blamed, betrayed. And she still held on, still nursing Hollow as they all starved, as the leaders bickered and fought over how to proceed. She lost connection to the ancestors, she lost everything. And still she remained strong.

Two to-bes leave, the biggest “fuck you” any cat could have given their home. And she didn’t forget. And when they returned, well fed, groomed, having found some better place than the tribe, insisting they’re the tribe’s saviors? After watching her tribemates starve, watching them flea-infested, unable to move, get hit by cars and starve to death? After she’s held on so long, stayed strong, continued to fight tooth and nail to keep the cats she’s responsible alive? They’re the heroes? She puts them in their place fast. She rewards Aspen and Spark, examples of what those traitors should have been. That’ll show em.

She leads her tribe after them. They don’t get to run away and feast endlessly, leaping into the arms of these ‘Clan cats.’ No. If they’re going to live life without a care, so is the tribe. She fights, she puts herself at risk, inserting herself amongst the leaders, not asking them, Telling Them that the territory they’ve settled on is theirs now. She claims a new home for her tribe.

So she settles in. She’s done her job. Hollow is grown up, the Tribe has a home now. She’s done her job. She can relax. And then suddenly her nieces are in her lap and they’re her problem now. Great. She’s expected to be the mom of her brother’s dead boyfriend, a role she neither wanted nor asked for. Cool.

I could go on but its 12:30 and I have class tomorrow. My point is? Tiger Breeze’s whole life is practically dedicated to cleaning up the messes of everyone else and she deserves a break.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Tiger/Kink. I really shocked you with this one, huh Maya? Anyways- hear me out. I think there’s so much potential here just because they’re both so similar to one another, and yet their morals are so different. Tiger Breeze, since birth, has been raised to be a good caretaker. She’s had this stereotype to fill with being a passive, docile, loving, empathetic kit lover, never given room to grow outside that. She was raised under the expectation that she’d be cared for, she wouldn’t need to raise a paw to feed herself or protect herself. She found salvation by rebelling and makes a point of showing herself off, reminding others around her that she is not a force to be reckoned with- she’s not a doormat and any cat who thinks otherwise will have hell to pay. However, when it comes to being a spring cat, she feels awkward, out of place, like she’s not where she’s supposed to be. She’s so focused on being tough and strong that she feels out of place in a position so vulnerable as raising children- especially in the cases of Firefly and Butterfly, where the role of “mother” has been so unceremoniously forced upon her, a role she has no desire to claim. Tiger Breeze’s tough demeanor comes from being separated from motherhood. Kinktail? From birth, she’s been raised to be a fierce and loyal warrior. Her mentor was tough and demanding, and Kinktail worked hard to prove herself a loyal FogClan warrior. She had to learn everything, taking on so many different roles as FogClan warriors are expected. Where Tribe cats take on one specific role for the good of the many, FogClan cats take on all roles for the sake of self-preservation. Kinktail has been raised under the expectation she would be facing the world relatively on her own. Kinktail embraced this, loyal FogClan warrior to a T- only raising kits because it was the expectation to give back to her clan and add to its population. But, no father in the picture, the threat of traitors, FogClan changing so drastically through her pregnancy and her time as a nursery queen? Motherhood wasn’t an obligation- it quickly morphed into her identity. Her loyalty only began to shift as something more important entered her life. Kinktail’s tough demeanor was forged from motherhood. Both of them are strong, closed off mollies well regarded for their fierce, tough attitudes, but for entirely different reasons. As a result, I think them merging, Kinktail teaching Tiger Breeze to embrace motherhood without compromising her strength and Tiger Breeze teaching Kinktail to be less unhealthily reliant on motherhood, teaching her to move on from the dark parts of motherhood that haunt Kinktail? I think there’s SO much room for growth and depth there.Tiger/Feather. Okay. If Sketch somehow manages to steal Tiger Breeze from my grubby little fingers, I think there’s potential for a fun opposites-attract type thing with these two. Feather is the embodiment of friendliness and kindness, Tiger Breeze is the embodiment of “lmao why the Fuck are you looking at me” and seeing those two personalities merge together would be hilarious

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Ok these are gonna be shorter bc I’m starting to lose steam here.

Tiger&Butterfly and Tiger&Firefly. Ugh. The complex relationship these three have? SO fun and interesting and cool to watch. I hope that someday, as Firefly and Butterfly get older, sentient enough to realize how fucked up the situation they, Tiger, and Fading all had? They gain a close relationship with her where Tiger has a soft spot for them, protects them and spoils them ever so slightly, and Firefly and Butterfly can count on their aunt Tiger Breeze to be there for advice, to yell at people who fuck with them, so on and so forth. I really wanna see how they turn out once they’re teens/adults, and Tiger gets a little more separation from responsibility over them.

Fading&Tiger. Everyone knows what a soft spot I have for sibling relationships, especially ones as complex as this. I hope that, someday, when Fading gets to overcome the trauma he went through and gets a little more aware of how fucked that situation was/is, they can someday have a heart to heart and find some sort of middle ground/some respect for one another, even if it’s from a distance.

My unpopular opinion about this character

Tiger Breeze isn’t as bad a caretaker as everyone says she is. There, I said it. Is she a perfect caretaker? Would she be on the cover of “World’s Best Moms” magazine? Absolutely not. But I also firmly believe that Tiger Breeze does what she believes is right by those in her care, and even if sometimes her view of what’s right for them is a little bit skewed, I think she does care about those she looks after and does what she thinks they’ll need to grow up strong. She’s just a bit of a believer in tough love.

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon.

I wish Tiger Breeze would fall in love. I’ll be the first person to admit a romantic interest a. should not be necessary for a cat’s storyline, b. should not be used as a means of “fixing” or “changing a cat (especially “for the better”) but I think Tiger Breeze, in particular, would be a really fun cat to see slip up with her feelings. So much of Tiger Breeze’s character is formed around the fact that she’s independent, she’s a bad bitch, she always knows what’s best, she’s being held back by the other cats around her, so on and so forth. Constantly, to her, she’s being forced to fall to a lesser standard because other cats won’t stop latching onto her when all she wants is to be alone. And it’s for that reason I’d love to see her finally deal with her, herself, holding her back because she feels herself starting to get attached to another cat. I want to see her lose her train of thought because she saw her crush out of the corner of her eye, I want to see her up giving the gathering announcements and pause just for a split second because she saw the cat’s eyes staring up at her, their attention fully on her. I want to see her lash out and tase this cat as some half-hearted way to distance herself from them- all because she blames them for how her mind has slowly been being taken over by thoughts of them. Maybe I’m just a stupid fucking romantic but there’s nothing that I love more than seeing strong cats fall victim to their own feelings.

#tiger breeze #im so tired so please excuse this making no sense #Anonymous

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theskyexists · 4 years

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she-ra 4

the reason i stopped watching she-ra is the same reason i stopped watching the dragon prince.

the narrative doesn’t take the situation seriously. instead of leaning into the anguish of war and violence (atla, teen titans) - they make light of it. EVEN when the characters’ guardians are KILLED!!

when Angella died and they spent 2 seconds on Glimmer’s grief at the end of season 3 i was like......actually fuck this. HOW can i take any of these stakes seriously when they insist on brushing them off???

anyway just had to complain about that - especially because the start of the first ep of 4 is them joking AGAIN about something as grim as Glimmer now carrying all the responsibilities of her mother - who may i remind you IS DEAD

but catradora became canon apparently so now i have to struggle through

her aunt, her mother’s sister, is fuckin, joking about cakes, her friends are laughing at the joke. COME ON! how goddamn unrealistic and insensitive. EVEN if they wanna make a point of it - it’s silly! because the narrative PARTICIPATES in making light of the situation. if it was just the characters it would be less jarring

‘we’ll make sure this day is perfect’ WHAT? how could it EVER BE IF HER MOTHER IS FUCKING DEAD????????? AND THAT”S THE ONLY REASON SHE’S QUEEN????? ‘must be hard’ YEAH IT’S HARD - IN FACT IMPOSSIBLE. instead of pretending to be happy maybe you can show some genuine sensitivity. these people are so crazily emotionally underdeveloped my god. what age are they supposed to be? 16? 17? The problem that She-ra has (just like the dragon prince) is that there are no relevant adults. Oh sure there’s a Queen, and some Soldiers, and a Sorceress. But there isn’t a single relevant competent adult around who is concerned with running a bureaucracy or the emotional stability of children

I do like how Catra has overcome her fear of Hordak. but i think i remember being fuckin furious at her for almost destroying the whole world and hurting Scorpia and betraying Entrapta just to spite Adora. vaguely.

the rebellions problem is that they’re all extremely stupid himbos. like literally, in the whole story, only catra and shadowweaver have any smarts, while glimmer gains the ability to think during full moons on wednesdays. meanwhile everybodys is a slave to their emotions - which destroys any brain cells that shadowweaver or catra (or angella or anyone) might have managed. they could literally have killed hordak the entire time but just let him order them around because they’re so hot for acknowledgement

I’m glad Glimmer reflects my frustrations now hahahahaah

‘everyone is already acting like she doesn’t matter’ - yeah dudes, you fucking insensitive bastards

‘im supposed to take care of you glimmer’ - but unfortunately i have the emotional intelligence of a crab! FUCK!

this is another thing about this show that makes me groan. sappy quick resolutions of emotional turmoil through re-affirming the fuckin power of friendship in the first episode of the season.

also couldn’t Adora have done this she-ra stuff from the very beginning

that was badass.....miss glimmer’s other hair though. ok the emotions at that hologram and statue though...

the coolest part of she-ra for me is finding out more how the ancient systems all fit into Etheria and the She-Ras and Hordak Prime etc.

THIS IS A GOOD SPEECH. love this badass.

love Hordak getting put in his place. Love Catra realising she has power - love Hordak reaping what he sows. its unfortunate that she’s a shitty brat who JUST can’t get over her inferiority complex

if i could endlessly teleport i would do what glimmer does

also, glimmer was willing to fuckin murder catra before and she DEFINITELY will be now lol. love that for her.

why did they only introduce adora learning to transform her sword NOW ahahaha, theyve had SO MANY SCENES in which she doesnt have it and then suddenly does - and then its gone again

scorpia is the funniest and most likeable person in the whole show

they really suddenly can’t take five people on with she ra and fuckin huntara on their side??

i remember that little sadistic righteous twist in my stomach when Adora finally was like: FUCK!!!!!! YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! Catra!!!!!!! and the stupid idiot got it

FINALLY A GLANCE AT THE PEOPLE OF ETHERIA AGAIN! i love the party sequences in this!!! the people of etheria are so beautiful! nobody ever comments on the main characters all looking plain human in contrast....

‘and i fell for it!’ yeah cos you DUMB AS BRICKS ADORA

so first they quietly take out the guards....and then literally break open the door hahaahahahahaaha

‘we forgot the bots regenerate’ - yeah cos you DUMB AS BRICKS ADORA

i just dont understand why they insist on making the main characters so DUMB ahahahahaah

Adora and Catra are great at hitting where it hurts. the difference between them is that Catra KNOWS that she’s hurting Adora - she does it deliberately.

wow that could be some pretty angsty stuff constantly leaving her to struggle on the floor while painfully electrocuted. Catra has also moved to kill Adora straight up so many times. im sure she really wants to (but it would destroy her later). But now, Adora swept something at Catra that might have actually killed her. I get Catra though, I would’t want to get beaten by some blonde, blue-eyed, glowing golden kid who always gets to win and do better. this is truly the first time Adora has moved to kill Catra......

does flatterina not have parents who’d be like: uhhhhh maybe leave the soldiering for a couple more years?

catra truly burning all her bridges. hahaha. it’s so satisfying to see her use her anger and power to truly destroy herself - because of guilt!

no other villagers were like - HMMMMMMM this random new kid is here? weird..... i didnt see that coming either.

Adora doesn’t think about what Catra might have even been doing there - cos she’s DUMB AS BRICKS

the interesting thing about this show is that they’re setting up a dichotomy. they’re treating war like a high-stakes game because they have the good side adhere to an aesthetic of ....magic. they will not make the two sides equivalent in any way - which makes questions of morality moot. the show is purely an emotional drama. the horde is an army of brainwashed kids in an industrial wasteland - they fight with tech and guns. but the good guys cannot fight with an army or tech, they fight with cleverness and magic. they’re called the ‘rebellion’ - they HAVE to be underdogs because they have to follow the script of good - even though what’s really going on is war, not a rebellion. That’s why they have a single strike team that do ‘missions’. They are presented as FUNDAMENTALLY different - on the level of identity which they cannot change lest they destroy themselves - and in that way the good guys can never become the bad guys. it is ALMOST meta. think they’re gonna do something with that at one point. i hope

also Netossa has such a super cool design.

‘everyone knows you’re needed in bright moon’ - uh. really? i dont know. some random person i’ve never seen before demands you go to meetings. so? is that important? why?

spinerella can literally FLY???????? why has she been in the background this whole time??? hahahaha military inefficiency.

there was an explosion that ripped trees apart - but bo’s alive!! honesty why didn’t they try explosive suicide bots before. they’re very lucky he was still alive to heal

‘could they be tracking she-ra?’ WHAT? isn’t the obvious suggestion - A SPY???? they just assume that the general is right hahahahaa.

i love how double trouble is so meta.

actually, why wasn’t glimmer trained as a sorcerer anyway?

glimmer is upset about her growing magic plants but not her having magic ingredients

why do they present good strategic thinking (for once) as evil influence from shadowweaver

what a fuckin badass. honestly - glad that this show finally utilised glimmer’s extremely op powers like they should be. honestly, she’s much more powerful than She-Ra.

that bit with spinerella was so contrived jfc.

‘by using me as a decoy’ adora says, pissed off. uhhhh YOU went off on your own to get smushed by fuckin bots adora. Glimmer didn’t do that to you. she just used your stupidity.

glimmer really left catra to die. hahahahaa

i like adora best when she’s on her own and being a dork

they definitely managed to foreshadow that Light Hope was evil but im glad they picked up the thread now

am i seeing this wrong or did scorpia have two mums??? but also. where the fuck are they

lolololololol because everybodys dumb as bricks and emotionally volatile they’re incredibly easy to manipulate

‘i cant risk hitting flatterina’ pffft - ALL YOUR ARROWS ARE NON-LETHAL BO. ugh i cant deal with these contrived stakes

I LOVE THIS BADASS EFFICIENT HARDCORE GLIMMER

they’re really gonna spin it like this is a bad development? fuck off. finally some grit.

‘you took things way too far’ - but she got results! dumb as bricks adora

(this may seem harsh but adora is DUMB shes so fucking DUMB!!!! and she has many good qualities (such as an almost innate sense of morality) but goddamn. i guess its good to sometimes have a show about all around dumb characters. i mean, it’s not unrealistic per se, it’s just.....weird.)

the interesting thing about these characters is that you can SEE every single one of them struggling with cognitive dissonance. thats the big story of this show. they see the world a certain way - and then when something challenges that, they fight to the death to destroy or deny or ignore that new information - to everybody’s detriment. and they can’t back down because every step they’ve taken - would turn to sins they can’t live with. it’s interesting and its also a kind of conflict that‘s frustrating if not resolved at SOME point. thats why i love this season for its characters going off the rails. adora aiming to kill catra, catra destroying her last relationships, glimmer growing more and more militant.

they’re all acting like teens - that is - highly volatile - unable to keep from provoking others or be provoked - but they ARE teens.

‘catra doesn’t care. she’ll hurt people to get her way (implied: EVEN people on her side)’ - we must remember that Scorpia was entirely fine with KILLING the trio (it was Catra that wasn’t at the time).

‘you’re a bad friend’ OH OUCH. Catra - who’s always been treated as a whipping girl by those in power - does the same to those she is in power over. But on some level she doesn’t WANT to be that. she’s just always always been rejected and take advantage of and lashed out at and abandoned by the people she considered important (shadowweaver ---- doing the same to catra that was done to her is so goddamn....it’s the story of this show. the simplicity and banality of damaging and hurting others and that carrying over to harm even more people - is the story of this show and it’s immeasurably frustrating and REALISTIC)

she still flinches at Hordak’s lashing out. but she imprints on him the exact lesson she’s trying to school herself in. If you don’t need anybody - you don’t want anyone - if nobody matters but the mission and winning - then you can’t be hurt. she wants to prove her worth - but she doesn’t realise that inherently means that she’s putting somebody in power over her - again and again and again.

mermista coming in clutch with the braincells: there’s a spy! I love how this is played as completely implausible and just Mermista nonsense (who i love learning about) - while it’s so obviously true/

i actually love Adora when she’s being serious and heroic, or a huge dork. and she has the wit to RECOGNISE good ideas. but i just don’t understand why Adora is being big b about being used as a distraction. like....why?

i love that the underside of Mermista’s sneaker has a figure. but why the fuck is a common soldier with them (flatterina) and do they really think they can interrogate the whole castle filled with some shitty guards and...what - the guerilla troops they sometimes employ? where do they even live? ah in a tent city. ok

why is the GENERAL in front line combat WITHOUT SOLDIERS???? oh wait. glimmer did that too when she was general. lolololol

i understand why Adora doesn’t trust Shadowweaver and doesn’t want her around most of all - and Glimmer getting buddy buddy with her is hurtful. but...it’s not helpful to needle glimmer about it. but dismissing the guards around shadowweaver however? stupid of Glimmer. unnecessary. ‘what has she done but help us?’ - uhhhh she kidnapped you, corrupted your powers, almost wiped Adora’s mind. I wish Adora had summed up those things instead of leaving them implied.

so perfuma and mermista come across inconsistencies in the stories - but then. forget about it? i just...... UGGHGHGHGHGHGHGH. people really aren’t this dumb are they? they’re just NOT.

‘no more secrets and doing things without us’ - that was a good speech. but like, glimmer is right - she’s surrounded by INCOMPETENT IDIOTS lolololol. but good leadership is corralling idiots, Glimmer. not going off on your own. but she’s already planted the bait about the dining room.

‘we were the only ones who knew about the plan to take back dril’ ---- THEN WHY DID YOU INTERROGATE OTHER PEOPLE AHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHA

‘stop questioning my choices, stop whining about being a decoy’ YEAH FUCKIN HELL ADORA STOP BEING SUCH A FUCKING SHIT. IS THIS REALLY ‘TAKING CARE OF GLIMMER’????

‘all you do is question my authority, it’s exhausting.’ yeah god...it really is. adora needs to fucking BACK! OFF! but im loving these fights because it brings out the grievances. Adora is right to be worried about Glimmer no longer including her in her decisions. and she makes a good point that that’s bad. She makes a good point that Shadowweaver cannot be trusted. And Glimmer makes zero good points - except that it’s been hard for her and has garnered 0.1% understanding from the people around her. Oh they were working together. BUT those were definitely real grievances.

GLIMMER CAN ALREADY DO A CONTAINMENT SPELL LIKE THAT??? godDAMN. castapella completely flunked her responsibilities to Glimmer but shadowweaver did NOT.

hmmm so Solinius was....destroyed. but like, did the people die? like....the people? that’s the important bit isn’t it? i mean, they were under the sea right?

i suppose the problem i also have is that this show will NOT hurry up. normally i love filler stuff but ...the characters are too.....cheery. too flat. their quirks are fun and funny until they’re literally character flaws.

are the horde just literally attacking civilians? jezus. the war crimes. how did shadowweaver ever expect to trick Adora when she was released into the field?

‘you can’t just keep going off on your own!’ - SHE LITERALLY SAVED THE WHOLE FUCKING TOWN. SHE’S THE QUEEN! EVERYBODY SHOULD LISTEN TO HER! lolololol

the problem with Adora’s points is that everything about their dynamics are always so nebulous. why cant glimmer keep showing up to help out? WHY??? she’s the most capable fucking soldier in the field! she’s supposed to have full fucking authority! like, Adora isn’t in the right here. the problem is that her needling is only a symptom of her worries - which is that Glimmer doesn’t trust her any more. but the needling does NOTHING but make her seem like an idiot

i do love this trope reversal here - Seahawk deliberately damselling them to let the princesses save the boys? pffft

love catra getting the consequences for her actions regarding Scorpia. You can’t keep lashing out at people and expect them to stay my dear cat.....

oooohhh Glimmer.... you’re treading close to very hurtful territory. Blaming Adora for the Rebellion failing? for things she couldn’t do anything about? stupid.

really?? you’re really gonna fucking fight-resolution BLOCK ME? are you FUCKING kidding me? edging me for the whole GODDAMN SEASON??? and finally Adora cries at Glimmer going over the line???? fuckin I HATE the narrative decisions in this stupid show I FUCKING HATE THEM FUCK THESE WRITERS GOD FUKCING DAMMIT!!! this has been the whole GODDAMN SHOW!!!!!! ARGHGHGHGHGHGH

i’ve been waiting for a fucking resolution for Adora and Catra the whole! goddamn! SHOW! NOTHING! else matters! you do the exact same for glimmer and adora and now you let it fester again??? because of some no-stakes BULLSHIT? just give me the fucking godddamn PAYOFF for watching these kids be IDIOTS.

this fight on the boat is COOL and really wonderfully animated

really? Glimmer’s response to Adora being hurt and not wanting to be TOUCHED is to be angry herself? what a fucking IDIOT. god i can’t stand this. I CAN’T STAND IT

is this how people act? do they never take a moment to breathe and think and reflect and realise their priorities and take a step back and fucking apologise?

jezus FUCKING! CHRIST!

‘no matter what glimmer thinks of me’ oh that HURTED. oh damn. that’s so relatable. it’s a way to run, it’s a way to internalise the hurt and then prove the things that hurt wrong. the one that hurt you

I know Bo is supposed to be the emotionally intelligent one but he’s also too soft. He should go up to his friends individually and ask them the sharp questions. not - ‘communicate more positively’.

I just like Adora so much better when she’s alone. Her friendships’ positive moments are always so sappy or so....like over-exaggerated, the negative moments always so fucking annoying. Alone, Adora is generally driven, tragic, and cool. the problem is perhaps that i don’t care for the constant fucking drama

god i LOVE Mara so much - she’s so beautiful. and i LOVE learning more about the Old Ones. So they were trying to study Ehteria’s magic.... but then Bright Moon and the princesses were already here. The Magic-Like systems of the Old Ones are pure tech.

wow! even Mara’s transformation is way cooler.

so why was the first one’s tech (she ra) responsive to the magic? why does Raz know about She-Ra? when she ra is first ones tech????

WAIT ONE SECOND. She-Ra is ‘magic’ ??? it’s the SWORD that’s the first one’s tech! She-Ra is Etheria’s magic ! but how if the First Ones chose Mara. Did they steal She-Ra from Etheria?

so what im getting is that. the Old Ones colonised Etheria. Etheria has magic, and when Mara was chosen they made that girl an elite soldier - giving her a first one’s tech sword so she could ‘control’ Etheria’s magic. Then Mara was told to study the magic of Etheria - the ship implying that she’d not been on the planet before. then they created a Heart of Etheria project - which will probably turn the magic into a weapon. this was going to be used against Hordak Prime, im sure. I mean, Mara saved Etheria, but she did doom the rest of the universe to...extinction.... like, judging from Hordak’s strategy, Hordak Prime just literally exterminates planets and repopulates them with his clones....

But why would the planet choose a girl from amongst the colonisers - twice?

OOOHHH that anguished scream. i love anguished screams

why dont they put fucking safety belts in these ships. it’s not like the ship didn’t survive. only Mara got splatted (i guess)

also i love Mara. but damn Adora just got some more shit on her plate. why the fuck was she pushed through a portal again? for a She-Ra chain reaction?

I love madame Raz.

So they didn’t explicitly use it against Hordak Prime. and it wouldn’t have destroyed Etheria back then but it will now...

guh this showmakes it so hard to enjoy catra’s pain.

well they did finally have a good talk about it. I have to say, Glimmer is making good strategic sense - it’s just that this show only rewards harebrained schemes

Catra having a crazy panic attack cos she can’t find Scorpia and she’s completely lost and she knows its her fault. kinda love that for her. my heart

my dear Glimmer, theres a difference between absence of trust and absence of agreement.

they’re bringing king micah back just when angella is dead? oh fuckin lol

the horde....exiled micah? they exiled Micah instead of killing him???

why do they ALWAYS interrupt important conversations? i hate that shit. it’s cheap. it’s unsatisfying.

now THIS is what im here for - that unstoppable WILL!! john gonzalez is right - we watch stories for characters overcomign obstacles. writing, is creating the obstacle course. .....what does that say about me and my life....hmmm.

‘light hope told me everything i need to know’ - uhhh no she didn’t. she didn’t tell you how to harness the energy at all. ugh

how the fuck did double trouble escape. seems to me that they didn’t actually. they were let go....

it’s always so stupid when people try to tell other people: oh no you’ve got no plan - this is too risky! when that’s NEVER a problem

Glimmer is going to activate the weapon just in time for Hordak Prime to use it. And naturally she misses the return of her dad. fuck this

they’re gonna have Hordak and Catra fight? hmm

Double Trouble is right - this IS good for her - and it IS Catra - except for Shadowweaver’s case - she was an abusive bitch

I love Scorpia’s new cool fight music and also glowy eyes

is glimmer going to throw herself into lava??

the unfortunate thing is that Hordak Prime is right on the doorstep and he took over the whole universe or whatever. so they could probably have used that weapon. i mean the Old Ones must have seen something coming. there must be a reason they’re all GONE maybe????

why did Adora assume that all those stars would be destroyed?

THE ANIMATION ON THAT FINAL STUFF WAS INCREDIBLE AND EPIC

how the fukc are they going to beat Horde Prime lolololol.

i guess Glimmer really shouldn’t have done that. but at least she was in time to bond with Catra.

#my stuff #vidi #she ra

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luminisvii · 4 years

Text

okay im gonna go black out and write some bullshit about my Thoughts on Literary Analysis and Character Writing bc i love writing and i love trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t. i am an unfortunate fan of fire emblem, so the real joke is on me, but let’s do this anyway. using a lot of bold as always! it makes me feel special.

Why is Leonie such a divisive character?

as per usual, here is my disclaimer that it’s okay to like Leonie. it’s also okay to dislike her, as long as you’re not being a massive dick about it. lord knows people are rude to me about lorenz and i didn’t ask for their opinions. if you like leonie, i am not out to get you, i’m not going to tell you that you shouldn’t, i’m not even mad at you. Neat! you like a character i don’t! and that’s just fine. i honestly don’t care! go have fun!

so let’s talk. theres a TL;DR at the end so be ready.

i’ll make no bones about it: i’m in the camp that dislikes her. i don’t have the energy to hate her as i do for faye, but leonie is pretty obnoxious as a character and it’s an uphill battle to like her. i’ve played VW like three times since i’m a self professed GD stan so i’ve dealt with her a lot, read most of her supports, and seen her as a character in actual cutscenes and stuff.

the short answer: making a character obsessed with another one and having that be most of their personality is really annoying.

the long answer: let’s start on that now! these are my personal thoughts and analysis, so you’re free to disagree with me if you think i’m falling short.

one statement i will make right away is that i’m not offended by leonie being mean to the player. a lot of people who stan leonie like to argue that people dislike her because she’s one of the few characters who doesn’t kiss byleth’s ass immediately. that’s fine. that doesn’t bother me. after all, seteth and hapi are mean to byleth at first too, and those two are far more beloved… in fact, it’s funny that they’re mean to byleth. i would also argue that my favorite lord claude is not buddy buddy with byleth at first either, but if these popular opinion threads have proven anything to me, people love taking claude’s lying ass at face value. that’s besides the point—it’s okay that leonie isn’t immediately friendly to byleth. that is not an objective character flaw. characters need something to conflict over in the narrative, and not being instantly friendly to a player insert is not a problem in the slightest.

the major flaw in leonie’s character, imo, is that the writers decided it was a brilliant idea to make her obsessed with a man who barely seems to acknowledge her. this is an extremely unfortunate reoccurring character trope in fire emblem. notable other victims that more modern fe fans may recognize are faye and cordelia, faye being the worst offender. luckily, leonie isn’t as bad as faye. but it really is irritating that leonie, along with these other women, seem entirely driven by men who cannot acknowledge them. within three houses, you have similar traits in male characters as well: cyril is another notable offender, and to a lesser extent, dedue’s fixation on dimitri. now, we do see jeralt talking to leonie at the very least, and he does speak about her at least once in my memory, and positively at that. so it’s not as pathetic as the likes of faye.

outside of that, leonie cannot stop fucking reminding everyone she comes across: she loves captain jeralt. she’s his only apprentice. and you, dear player, who is his child, are not good enough, because you don’t love him as much as she does. practically all her convos with byleth are about how they don’t love jeralt enough, save for a slight turn around in the A support where she talks about her promise to protect byleth in jeralt’s place. to be honest, i usually ditch her in any run i’m forced to take her (hello sylvain, the superior idiot redhead cavalier) so this promise is just cute.

the arrogance in this attitude is insensitive at best, and as seen in her B support with byleth, potentially malicious and self centered at worst.

let’s not beat around the bush. the main point of contention for leonie is her B support with byleth, which is locked to jeralt’s death. you cannot get this support until jeralt has kicked it. and if you’re on GD, chances are you have gotten enough support points with leonie to get it immediately upon his death. the man’s grave is still fresh. what does she have the gall to say to her beloved mentor’s child?

“I've spent my whole life working to become a great mercenary like your father. There were so many times when I wanted to ask his advice, but I couldn't. I just had to make do. That's how I've made it this far. Just hard work, all on my own. But then you come along... And it's like you don't appreciate Captain Jeralt at all, or how lucky you were to have him around your whole life! Ugh! It still really bothers me! You might be his kid, but I'm still his best apprentice! Got it?!”

YIKES.

no matter how you dice it, saying that to someone whos father just died? NOT GOOD. it doesn’t matter what her reasoning is. a lot of people argue that this is realistic, that she’s acting out of grief. maybe so. however, if the game wants me to like her, they’re failing, no matter how realistic her reaction is. if this was supposed to be seen as a moment of weakness, that would be one thing, but it’s clear leonie never learns anything from this. she never gets better. she spends the rest of her life constantly centered on jeralt, and sees byleth as a competitor and obstacle to his affections, even after he’s dead.

i don’t want to entirely make this about byleth, because let’s be real, byleth is only one of her many supports. but it is the most easily noticeable, and the least charitable to her character.

also fun fact i did a basic search for jeralt in her supports and thats 37 times hes mentioned lmao this isn’t even accounting for her non support dialogue! which is still a lot!

so a decent chunk of her supports still involve her talking about how great jeralt is as if the man is jesus. her better supports don’t involve him at all. i don’t have easy access to a lot of her dialogue by chapter, but quite a bit of her regular dialogue references jeralt too, be it by name or title, and a good chunk of her endings, especially her solo one, have her just taking up his title and job and drinking habits. it’s supposed to be seen as cute.

this woman is in her 20s at the beginning of the game. she’s my age. this kind of behavior is worrying.

so you’re thinking “tell, you’ve spent a LOT of time talking about how leonie won’t shut the fuck up about jeralt. what about the rest of her character? unlike faye, she actually has one!” right you are! i will concede that. leonie does have things going on for her outside of her constant screeching about jeralt! what are they?

we see that her personality has her as a hard worker and frugal person because she’s grown up in a life that has less than many of her peers. she’s rational and rather keen, capable of assessing her opponents correctly and outsmarting them. she likes to help others. her supports with claude are fairly interesting as they talk about their own perspectives on the world to each other in a friendly manner. she talks to bernadetta and praises her skill in craft and manages to befriend her. in fact, all her supports where she doesn’t mention jeralt at all are pretty good. she can be headstrong and sometimes quick to jump to conclusions, but leonie isn’t one to be too beholden to preset ideas and shows a capability to learn and change.

wait, this sounds like a pretty well rounded and likeable character i’m describing! what happened here? this kind of portrayal is almost contradictory to the side of her that only thinks of jeralt.

a lot of people who like leonie like her for these aspects. at first, i had thought her to be interesting, since she’s the poorest student in the entire school, here on money raised by her entire village, which must have been extremely difficult for them to do. she doesn’t understand how nobles can be so frivolous, and butts heads with the likes of hilda, who has been raised in luxury her whole life and she clashes even harder with lorenz, who is obsessed with nobility. in a way, leonie is the slap from reality that many of the rich students from garreg mach need. and she also serves an important function in the dynamic of the deer—she’s a bit of a hapless straight man to all their bullshit. they always need one of those! in the lions, that role falls to ingrid, while edelgard plays that to her own house.

so yes, there is merit in leonie’s character. there’s a lot to like about her here. however, in my opinion, it’s not enough to make up for the incredibly abrasive aspects of her fixation on jeralt. it really just comes back to that—that someone decided that it would be a fantastic character trait to have her never stop thinking about a man, and flaunt this to the man’s child. constantly. almost all her dialogue directed at byleth is about jeralt. post skip, a lot more of her lines become about jeralt and making him proud. it’s like she thinks that he’s her dad. she’s a grown ass woman! leonie is one of the older students! she is an adult by the time the game starts! an adult with some actual worldly experience, unlike her peers! what went wrong? why is she like this? why did they make her so fucking annoying when it comes to jeralt?

so yes, that’s what i think is the major flaw of her character. a flaw that is not easily overcome. cyril is a largely derided character for similar reasons. another simple control+f tells me that rhea is mentioned in cyril’s supports 59 times so uh, woo! he has leonie beat there.

worst of all this is a flaw that narratively, she does not overcome. she never grows and gets better from it. she never changes her single minded determination to impress jeralt, even long after he’s dead. a good chunk of her endings have her taking up his business and acting just like him, taking his title too. somehow lorenz is the more likeable character, and lorenz starts off as a much worse person than her! he starts as a stinky incel classist and somehow, especially over the course of verdant wind, manages to learn and grow and change into a much better person, while leonie remains stagnant in who she is. her own peers outdo her in almost every aspect, in that they appear to be capable of growing up while leonie, already an adult, never seems to show any signs of maturing over the course of the game. we see ignatz turn from a meek nerd to someone who’s willing to do what it takes to protect what he cares about. marianne grows from suicidal and depressed to finding the will to live because it means she’ll be able to spend more time with things she enjoys and people she loves. lorenz goes from snobbish and distant over his complex about nobility to being one of the kindest members of the deer, willing to go against his father for the greater good. even hilda matures! hilda starts the game lazy and unambitious, trying to avoid work, saying she’d never risk her life for her friends, to fighting against some of the strongest forces in the continent and ESPECIALLY on CF we see her refusing to abandon claude in his time of need, no matter how bad it gets, even if it costs her life. what does leonie do? leonie seems to forever be stuck in the mindset that she has to impress jeralt, no matter how far she goes.

this is incredibly nitpicky, i’ll admit, this isn’t really part of the character analysis, but i find she under performs as a unit too. she may have ungodly speed and no weaknesses in her skills, but damage output wise she’s easily outdone in house by the other canon paladin of lorenz and his wonky statline, and out of house sylvain has basically the same ability as her, the same color hair, and a crest + relic that make him way more effective. the man has bulk, too. so, that’s a small ding to leonie as well. i had the same problem with sully in awakening. for all the talk about how these women are just as good as the men, they appear to under perform quite a bit.

and i’m gonna talk real quick in a basic list format of arguments i’ve seen for people defending leonie, since i’m running out of like, a coherent way to talk about some of this stuff.

-She’s realistic.

maybe so, but the game intends for me to find her as likeable and sympathetic, as it is for all recruitable characters. her reactions to byleth and sometimes others may be realistic, but don’t paint a charitable image of her. again, the moment in her B support with byleth is so bad, it makes her seem like she’s acting towards them with cruel intent. while i don’t care about byleth’s feelings since byleth isn’t a real person, what it does is it paints leonie as malicious, no matter what her intent was or how realistic it is. yes, she’s in grief, she’s lost someone important to her, but in what context is telling someone who just lost their dad that they didn’t love him enough supposed to garner anything but hatred? even if she apologizes for it in their A support, that means she basically took years to do so and still seems to think of byleth as an obstacle to her being like jeralt.

although as i have said before, the rest of her personality is fine. i find her non jeralt stuff is much more well written. she’s a down to earth person amidst a sea of lunatics. that’s not a problem.

-People don’t like her because she’s mean to Byleth.

this is probably true in some regards although i can’t say for certain. because byleth is a player insert and some might take it personally, but otherwise i find this isn’t much of a good universal claim since there’s more to the disdain to that. personally, i think it’s hilarious when video game characters are mean to me, but that’s just My Opinion, so no, i’m really not offended by leonie being mean to me. other characters are also mean to byleth, and that leads into the next point...

-Other characters act similarly towards Byleth and they’re popular.

one, look at those stupid unpopular opinions threads on twitter. they’re not as loved as you think. two, a lot of the characters who are listed for these things are often the likes of seteth and felix, and let’s talk about the context of their actions there. seteth is indeed mean to byleth at first, but his intent is wildly different from leonie’s—he’s suspicious, and rightfully so, of this mercenary who came out of nowhere and rhea is suddenly showing a lot of interest in and is giving a position of power to. seteth is not acting out of malintent or jealousy, he’s acting out of concern for the students and his daughter as well as rhea. because his core intent is “protect everyone around me” it comes off as far more palatable and dare i say, endearing. this is vastly different than “i’m jealous towards byleth because i love their dad and hate that they’re getting attention i can’t.” with a character like felix, this is outright incorrect—felix is not necessarily more rude to byleth more than he would be anyone else. felix is angry with the faerghus four in particular, but everyone else gets the same level of vague disrespect from him otherwise, so his behavior is not centralized to byleth. again, i don’t care about byleth’s feelings. there is also cyril, who is similarly obsessed with rhea, and is just as irritating as leonie for it, if not worse because he gets an extra layer of being a poc character obsessed with a white one who saved him.

tl;dr: context and intent matters. a lot. i know this is a ton to ask of the fe fandom to consider taking things beyond face value, but please consider the context of characters actions and their intent behind them.

-People who don’t like Leonie are misogynistic.

i won’t discount that there are bad actors who are likely extra critical of leonie because she’s a female character. it could be and has been argued that the reasons that characters like edelgard and ingrid are so controversial is because they are female. but not everyone who raises criticisms is strictly doing so in bad faith. most people i’ve seen criticizing leonie do it for the same reasons i am, which is that she’s an abrasive character. these traits would not be any better on a male character and in some regards could be worse. so for this one, it’s better to take it as a case by case situation, and pay attention to how people are talking. those doing so for less savory reasons often let it slip eventually, somehow. i’ve been avoiding using the word “bitch” in this entire thing for this exact reason.

-Her non-Byleth supports are good.

this is highly subjective imo and comes down to what you personally like in a character. i do like some of her non byleth supports, but she still has an unfortunate habit of bringing up jeralt in non byleth supports, so the only ones that are truly good are the ones where she doesn’t talk about him at all. even then, some like her one with marianne can do the same accidental portrayal of her seeming like a pretty unpleasant person. this isn’t saying that leonie can’t be flawed or short tempered, after all i adore felix and he’s got Some Fuckin Issues, but her portrayal as a kind and bright person clashes with how she’s portrayed surrounding byleth and jeralt. far too much. i like her supports with claude, i like her line with bernadetta, and her seteth one is good too, but i’d also argue that as a personality she doesn’t bring much to the table. she’s a perfectly serviceable character when she’s not dealing with byleth, but i personally fail to see more appeal to her. she isn’t particularly enrapturing like some of the others, and unlike someone like ingrid who has a similar role in BL, doesn’t have the shared history and integration with the deer that grants ingrid a unique perspective on her peers. although again, this is highly subjective, so it’s tough to argue about this. i’ll grant that yes, the writing that doesn’t surround jeralt is WAY better and almost makes leonie a redeemable character.

-Other characters are worse.

very true! i’ll cite faye again as the bottom line for “this is how abysmal this character could be” and in feth itself there is, as stated many times before, cyril. however it doesn’t mean that leonie is better by association. and i also often see people citing seteth as an example over the rudeness to the player too, but once again that’s about context and intent. hapi is a lesser example, due to a similar mistrusting nature, and there’s quite a bit of the cast who are cold and rude because that’s just who they are. now, thank fucking god that leonie actually talks about things that aren’t jeralt. like, seriously, i’d die. she still talks about him too much, but i really should go through all of faye’s dialogue to do a proper count.

so now you’re probably thinking—if you even got this far—“gee tell, you sure do like running your fuckin mouth, eh? so what’s the point of all this?” let’s wrap it up.

the TL;DR:

what this all boils down to is that leonie’s got a serious problem in her writing where her entire life revolves around a man, and the way it’s dealt with isn’t particularly great. she doesn’t have a dynamic character arc like some others that redeem them from their problems, and the personality she has outside of her relationship to jeralt and byleth often clashes with the one she has with them, particularly centering on byleth. when dealing with byleth, the image it paints of her is extremely negative, and not one easily shaken—again, the B support moment is just THAT BAD. that is the most cited moment for why people hate her. it just seems like for all the flaws she has, they are not compensated for or grown out of like other characters in the game do for theirs.

theres also that tweet about how we put more thought into these characters than intsys does, so. yeah. definitely doing that right now. thanks, intsys, you did it again.

i will also point to the argument that we should hold the writers accountable, not the fictional characters who aren’t real and don’t have feelings. i don’t think leonie needs to be held accountable for her bullshit. i just wish the writers could have treated her better.

this is personally why i find leonie so difficult, and hopefully if you didn’t understand why people don’t like leonie, this can help enlighten you. i’m willing to hear people out if they have something to say, and as always, if you are a leonie stan, please go enjoy yourself, have fun, and don’t let me ruin your parade. i just enjoy trying to figure things out and talking a lot along the way! so that’s all, here’s hoping that in the future they do better, and remember that GD is the best house okay bye take this picture of me typing up this whole ass thing

#don't tell me tell #i should probably make a separate tag for when i lose my fucking mind like this

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