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jeontaeil-archived · 3 years

Text

Turn Right Onto Oh Shit Avenue //

~ for @renhyucks "The First" collab ~

Pairing: Haechan x Fem!Reader

Genre: Smut, Crack, Non-Idol AU

Words: 2.27+

Warnings: 18+ content, Read at your own discretion

Your first road trip with your boyfriend Haechan was simply unforgettable.

You were out on a journey with no destination and that decision was proving to be worse than you thought. After getting on the path that you were on for four hours straight, Haechan suggested that you get off the highway and detour to a small little off-road lane. At first, the daring exit seemed promising. But before you knew it, you had driven over a sharp stone, thereby puncturing not only your front tire but also the back tire adjacent to it. Having only one spare, there was no way you could make the repair. To add to your misery, when Haechan attempted to call roadside assistance, he was unable to do so as there was no cell service. The only way you’d be able to get some help was if you went back to the main road. However, neither of you were willing to leave the car behind - even though you knew that no one would try and steal a broken down car - and so, after a competitive round of rock-paper-scissors, it was decided that Haechan would make the trip back to the highway on foot underneath the blistering midday sun while you sat in the car, chilling peacefully in the ac.

It took him quite a while to return. He came bearing good news. A tow truck would arrive at your location in about two to three hours. Until then, all you both needed to do was sit tight and try not to panic in the lifeless location that you were stranded in. That was easier said than done.

There wasn’t much of a view beyond the windows. Just miles and miles of dull, dead grass. Not having much to do other than sit idle, Haechan grew bored quickly. He turned to you with a stoic expression. “Wanna fuck?”

You scoffed at his ridiculous suggestion. “In the middle of nowhere? Umm, absolutely not,” you answered, earning a whine from him. “The fact that there’s no one here makes it like ten times more ideal. There’s no chance of us getting caught,” he urged. You rolled your eyes even though he had a point. “Still, I didn’t bring any condoms.”

Haechan narrowed his eyes at you. “When I suggested that we go on a road trip you should’ve known that car sex was included. I shouldn’t have had to explicitly state it.”

Was he being serious? If you guys hadn’t made this stupid detour and were still driving along the highway, was he going to pull over and bone you while unsuspecting civilians drove past you both? Or worse, would he book a room at some cheap hotel for twenty-something minutes of undeniable pleasure?

“Well too bad for you then,” you chided, crossing your arms. “If it was a part of your plan, you should’ve prepared better.”

Haechan threw his hands up. You were unbelievable. He never thought he’d see the day when you refused sex simply because you had no protection. “I can always pull out you know.”

You laughed sarcastically, though you actually found his words genuinely humorous. “I didn’t wanna be the one to tell you this, but your pull out game sucks ass Hyuck.”

Haechan gasped dramatically at your accusation, taking full offence. “Aren’t you the one who likes it messy? How can I not be messy if half-ass my pull out game?”

You raised your brows in a false sense of surprise. “So you’re telling me that you fake it then?”

“I don’t fake it. I just do it on purpose,” he corrects. You nodded, not believing him. “Oh really?”

“I could always prove it to you,” he presented triumphantly. You smirked. “Okay fine. Let’s fuck. but you can’t pull out and jerk yourself off. Otherwise, it won’t count.”

Haechan smiled and crashed his lips onto yours, pushing your seat back so that he could hover on top of you. He spread your legs apart, settling in between them and slipped his hand under your shirt, drawing small circles into your side. You tugged at his shirt, urging him to take it off. He was quick to do so, throwing the material in the back seat. Haechan peeled your shorts down your legs, bringing his hands to your clothed clit. You bucked your hips against his fingers, gasping into his mouth. Haechan took this as a chance to let his tongue run over yours. He squeezed your breast over your bra and pushed the flimsy fabric up to your neck. You fumbled with his pants, managing to grab his partially hardened cock. Haechan hummed and pushed his pants down all the way, letting his member spring free. You licked your lips in anticipation, playing with his tip. Haechan pushed your panties to the side and rubbed his tip along your plump folds. You held onto his arms when he finally pushed into you. He set a steady pace, rocking his hips into you comfortably. Your head fell back against the cool leather of the seat, legs spreading wider for him to go deeper. With one hand on your shoulder and the other on your thigh, Haechan kept his eyes glued to your cunt. He bit his lip, seething at how warm and tight your walls were. You began rubbing your clit, impatient to reach your climax. Haechan didn’t mind. In fact, he fucked you faster, pulling your body down the seat and throwing your legs over his shoulder. He held onto the headrest to maintain his momentum. Loud moans left your gaping mouth. The usually talkative Haechan said nothing, concentrating solely on his approaching high. You were the first to cum, walls clenching around his member. Haechan groaned as he felt your arousal gush down your walls, slicking up his cock. Gripping your thighs, he started rutting himself into you, ignoring your cries when the sensitivity started to settle into. Keeping your condition in mind, he hissed and kept going, right until he was about to nut.

An amused chuckle left you as he pulled out and haphazardly emptied himself over your pussy. You wrapped your fingers around him and stroked his length, milking him dry of every last drop.

“Does that count,” he asked, pulling his pants back up. He handed you a tissue to clean yourself up. “It barely makes the cut,” you replied, straightening yourself up again. Haechan snickered. “Just admit that you like it messy and we both win.”

About an hour into your wait for the tow truck, another disaster took place. The car’s battery gave out, leaving you to slow bake in the intense heat. Haechan had it easier, leisurely, splaying in his seat with his shirt off. You figured you could do the same, but there was no way of knowing when the towers would show up. Not wanting to waste the little amount of cool air in the car, Haechan forbade you from cracking the windows open. All you could do was sit and fan your face with the car’s insurance papers.

Almost a century later, a loud horn sounded from behind you on the road, startling you both. With a glance in the rearview mirror, you realised it was the towing people. Haechan scrambled to pull his shirt on and got out of the car, wincing as he shielded his eyes from the sun.

You watched Haechan talk to them from the window. He turned to you, motioning you to sit tight. After a while, They pulled your car up into the back of their truck and offered to take you back to their garage from where you both could book a cab and return to the city.

Since there was no space up front, they let you sit in your car, popping the windows open so that you wouldn’t die of suffocation. When the truck began moving, you were finally able to let out a breath of relief. It was still considerably hot out. But the sharp wind that hit your face was incredibly refreshing. Haechan’s once sweat matted hair was now fluffy and dry. Both of you were at ease, feeling grateful to have escaped that dreaded off-road where not a single soul was present. It was nice to be around life again.

It took some time but you eventually reached the garage in one piece. After collecting all your essentials from the car, you both headed out to a small diner nearby to recharge yourselves with some food and beverages. It was quiet between you, for the most part, both of you were equally exhausted from all the long and tedious travelling. It was safe to say that you’d lived out enough of your road trip fantasies for now.

After paying for your food, Haechan took out his phone, ready to book a cab. That’s the exact moment he realised that his phone was out of battery. A look of horror struck on his face. You cursed in frustration and pulled out your own phone. Luckily, it still had some charge, though barely surviving. Much to your dismay, however, you didn’t have a cab booking app and you knew downloading one would take ages. Still, you had to try.

As you had assumed, your phone ended up dying during your wait. Haechan was going to cry. Knowing that you both would be in the car for the majority of your trip, neither of you had brought your chargers. There was one back in the car but you couldn’t use it. Haechan was on the verge of tears. He had no idea what to do and neither did you.

“Should we just hitchhike?” Haechan stared at you blankly and shrugged. “Do we have any other choice?” You traced the rim of your cup, letting out a tired sigh. “Maybe we can spend the night at some motel and wait for our car to get fixed. We’ll have to come back to pick it up anyway so why not just stay till it’s ready?”

Haechan couldn’t argue with that. A waitress informed you of a cheap motel around the block. You both set out on foot, reaching it in no time. The building wasn’t too impressive. But it wasn’t like either of you were expecting much out of it anyways. You just wanted to lay on a soft bed and take a shower. You couldn’t stand how sticky and dewy your skin had gotten.

After booking a room, you both burst in through the door and headed straight for the bathroom. “Are we going in together,” Haechan asked when he saw you peeling your shirt off? You slipped behind the shower curtain and turned on the water without answering him. He got the memo and mimicked your actions before joining you in the small space. Leaning against his chest, you closed your eyes, letting the cool water cascade down your body. Haechan wrapped his arms around your waist, resting his chin on your shoulder.

“I can’t believe this is what our trip led to,” you spoke, snickering to yourself. Haechan scoffed. “At least we’ll never forget it.” You turned around, throwing your arms around his neck. “Never in a million years.” Haechan smiled at you, leaning forward to press a quick kiss on your lips. Pulling him closer, you kept his lips on yours a bit longer, not wanting it to end just quite yet. Haechan stumbled back towards the wall, smirking as things started to escalate. You could feel his member beginning to harden up. Haechan let out a choked moan when you took a hold of his length, pumping it with vigour. His fingers found your clit, rubbing quick circles into it. “Fuck, turn around,” Haechan voiced, switching places with you. He pulled your hips back, bringing his tip to your entrance. Pressing your face to the cool bathroom wall, you moaned as he stretched you out with his cock. Haechan gradually brought himself to a steady pace, grunting in delight. Your head fell back, breathy moans filling the expanse of the small bathroom. This was the perfect way to destress after your terrible day.

You guys had quite a lot of fun in that motel room. Two times in the shower and once on the bed. Now, you two laid next to each other, naked and completely drained. Haechan giggled at the ticklish sensation of your fingers drawing shapes on his chest. You were cuddled up into his side, leg thrown over his lap underneath the covers. Both of you were seconds away from falling asleep.

“You know what y/n,” Haechan whispered, not wanting to disturb the peaceful ambience of the room. You hummed, looking up at him. “I think we should go trekking.” You couldn’t help but laugh at his ridiculous idea. “After today I don’t think we should ever leave the house unsupervised,” you retorted. Haechan shook his head. “Just think about it. We get lost in the mountains and get a chance to see life through Tarzan’s eyes.” He sounded fascinated by the thought. You rolled your eyes. “Shut up and go to sleep. You’re going crazy.” Haechan groaned. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s sleep.”

He turned on his side, facing you. Snuggling deeper into him, you wrapped your arm around his hip, sighing into his neck while closing your eyes. His gentle and calm breaths were like a silent lullaby, helping you drift off. Just before you blanked out, Haechan gasped. “What is it now,” you asked, ready to kick him if he said something stupid? “I think I left our keys at home.”

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enhypia · 3 years

Text

SN ; bestfriends

bestfriends answers questions with the choice of drinking instead of answering

pairings: kim sunoo x gn!reader

genre: fluff

words: roughly 1.3k

masterlist ⸺ series masterlist

~guides and warnings~

italics - reader speaking

bold - sunoo speaking

[enclosed] - interviewer speaking

italicized bold- both reader and sunoo speaking

[enclosed bold or italics] - question (depends on who's speaking)

heavily inspired by: rec.create lie detector games, cut truth or drink

warning: contains and mentions of !!! drinking and swearing

i don't promote underage drinking, save your livers

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

hi i'm sunoo!

and i'm (y/n)

and we're bestfriends~

[okay, you guys were invited here today as bestfriends for a fun little drinking game, you guys aware of that right?]

yup!

we'll probably answer everything honestly

but we're still drinking

*they high-five

[how long have you guys been bestfriends?]

for about 5 years now?

6 years if you include our dead period

*sunoo laughs

[dead period?]

it was a time where our label as 'bestfriends' was basically dead

it was a year where we weren't in the same class and both of us found new friend groups

we still talked but i could count all the times we hang out that year in one hand

honestly we still considered each other bestfriends, we just didn't look and feel like bestfriends

then the 'dead period' joke was born

[did you guys fight during the 'dead period'?]

there was just tension at first but then we talked about it

like the mature adults we are

*sunoo rolls his eyes

it was a period of growth too, so we didn't fight, we just understood each other better

yeah if it happened years earlier, we would probably hate each other right now

[how did you guys become bestfriends?]

*both burst out laughing

i'm not sure if we can say that on video

no we're not cowards, we can say it

*they have the classic bestfriend eye conversation

we shared the same dislike towards a person

*(y/n) laughs

dislike is putting it mildly

shhh *sunoo does the shush gesture

so that was the main reason and then we just got to know each other better and here we are

still hating on the same people

shhh *this time (y/n) shushes sunoo

don't expose us too much

*both laugh

[how about we officially start the q&a between you guys?]

*both nod and played rock paper and scissors to determine who gets to ask first, (y/n) wins

let's see *(y/n) picks up a card and laughs after reading it

[if your significant other and i don't like each other, will you be on my side?]

you better choose carefully kim sunoo

first of all,

*sunoo drinks

okay, friendship over i guess 😒

let me finish, gosh 🙄

first of all, why would i even date them in the first place if you didn't like them?

very true, but still, you know i won't hold you back from a person just because i don't like them

yeah but i'd be on your side if ever that happens

*(y/n) grins

*sunoo picks up a card to read

i already know the answer to this one

[if i got arrested and needed 10M won, would you pay for it?]

HELL NO ?!?

*both burst out laughing

that's like 8,500 dollars? i could buy a car with that

i wouldn't bail you out too honestly

bestfriend who? idk them

*they take a shot for fun

[did you like me when you first met me?]

probably ?

i didn't like you when i first met you

who asked?

*they roll their eyes at each other

[why didn't you like him?]

because he was so bright and sunshine-y ?? and i'm always sus of nice people

they have bad history with fake nice people

but i eventually learned that he wasn't like that

awwww

his halo is held up by thorns

*sunoo's mouth drops in shock while (y/n) laughs at his reaction

*(y/n) pats sunoo's head as he pouts

it's okay i accept you for who you are

yah~ !

[have you ever considered to stop being friends with me?]

nope

*sunoo does a heart to (y/n)

you know too much about me

*sunoo is shocked again

i would never release anything you shared to me even if we stop being friends !!!

*he is pouting your honor, don't tease him

*(y/n) laughs at sunoo's cuteness

i know, i know, i'm just kidding, i'll stop now.

[is there something that i could change to be a better friend?]

*sunoo drinks as revenge

*(y/n) :OO

if you stopped teasing me 24/7 then maybe i'd think you're a better friend

yah! you act like you don't do the same to me

once he-

*sunoo cuts (y/n) off by clamping their mouth with his hand

let's drink to that bestie, cheers!

*he removes his hand from (y/n)'s mouth and basically forces them to drink with him

i told you, halo held up by horns

*sunoo grins widely as if he was innocent.

[would you slap me for 10M won?]

do i even have to answer that?

let's use the 10M won to travel

let's go to paris

and then i'd slap you as well so we both have 10M won

i like the way you think

*they high five and takes a shot together

[regardless of sexual orientation, will you ever date me?]

*awkward silence

aha ha haha

*both reach for a shot, they even clink their glasses together

*after, they just smiled at the camera

[if we're still single by 30, would you agree to marry me?]

man would we even reach 30?

that's what i was thinking

if we're both single, i might think about it

let's get married and enjoy the benefits from various marriage laws

what if we end up like in those crime documentaries where you get life insurance

then you kill the partner for the money

... .. .

no murder in this household please

*they burst out laughing

[question for both: what's something you want to say to each other?]

do i go first or?

yeah, you first

okay but don't look at me

*sunoo rolls his eyes but looks away anyways

we rarely talk about our friendship because once one starts, the other teases

*sunoo laughs while nodding his head in agreement

okay uhm, you know i would never say this on a normal day but i really am thankful that you gave me the chance to get to know you, despite my initial slight hostility towards you. thank you for being by my side no matter what. and even if we constantly clown the word "bestfriend" there's no one i'd really call my bestfriend other than you.

*sunoo smiles softly

your turn. *(y/n) looks away as well, purely because they will combust if sunoo looks at them with that soft loving look

just like you said, there's no one else i'd give the title of bestfriend other than you. thank you for giving me the chance as well and for trusting me. i'm not one to talk much about what's going on with my life but you're always there to make sure i don't pile it all up and explode. thank you for being my rock.

*both eyes are glassy

don't cry, if you cry, you'll pay for my food for a whole week

don't ruin the mood, (y/n)

*they both laugh, instantly lightening up the air around them

oh wait that was the last question

we still have alcohol left

can we take this home? *(y/n) holds up the bottle of alcohol

*the crew laughs

[we'd allow it, if you answer one more question}

okay! let's go~

[was there a time where you felt just the tiniest bit of butterflies because of each other?]

*sunoo and (y/n) look at each other, both holding in laughs

*they reach for their glasses and take a shot

and that's the end!

bye~ thanks for having us!

»————-　♡　————-«

bonus: youtube comments

masterlist ⸺ series masterlist

a/n: for this one i wanted to keep the feelings for each other thing kind of open?? like the vagueness in those moments are up to you guys if you want to give it meaning or not. you guys are free to think if you want those feelings to be romantic or platonic.

also!!! this series is about to end omg :(( i can't believe we're down to one post before it ends aaak. thank you so much for all the love so far!! ni-ki's will be uploaded next! please look forward to it~

#enhypen #enhypen imagines #enhypen scenarios #enhypen x reader #enhypen fluff #speak or shot #enhypen series #enhypen x gender neutral reader #enhypen sunoo #kim sunoo scenarios #kim sunoo imagines #kim sunoo x reader #sunoo imagines #sunoo #kim sunoo #sunoo scenarios #sunoo x reader #kim sunoo fluff #sunoo fluff

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mrsalwayswrite · 3 years

Text

A Ship’s Arrival (Ivar x reader)

Here is my (second) contribution to @ofmanderley 300 followers celebration challege! Thanks again for doing this challenge!

My prompt was a gif set you can find here. Check it out!

Fun Fact: Hnefatafl (‘King’s Table’ in English) is the board game most commonly associated with the Viking Age, I’m guessing this is what Ivar and Aslaug were playing in Season 4 when he was a child.

Warnings: fluff, Ivar being a prickly boy who is really a softie.

Words: 2600

Tag List: @youbloodymadgenius

(Note- this gif is not mine. It is apart of the gif set I chose, so all the credit goes to @ofmanderley)

Earnest blue eyes stared out over the water with all the intensity of one seeking answers from the gods themselves. Those who worked the docks bustled around him, making sure to stay out of his way and his reach. The youngest Ragnarsson ignored them, too focused on watching the water between the fjords and leading to Kattegat. His piercing gaze eagerly sought for the ship's promised arrival. He knew it made more sense for him to watch and wait on the overlooking hills; from there he could see farther and be out of the way. But he did not care. He wanted to be here when the ship docked. If he was above Kattegat, it would take too long to crawl down and be at the docks in time.

He looked up at the bright sky. Sol drove her chariot upwards; the sunrise having faded hours ago. Now the azure sky matched the glistening water below. Tonight was a full moon. The thought released a torrent of emotions through him, threatening to overwhelm his otherwise shrewd mind. The feeling he chose to focus on, that he hoped would drown out the fear and insecurity within him, was a giddy excitement.

Tonight, you were supposed to return.

*****

The festivities raged around him, filling the Great Hall to the brim with useless noise of laughter, conversation and drunken singing. Ivar sat at one of the long tables near the thrones, only one filled with his beautiful mother. Alone, he watched the revelry around him in his usual aloof manner, shooting glares of disdain frequently. Sipping on his horn of ale, he wondered how soon he could leave, or how much trouble he would get in if he stabbed one of the drunken men that kept knocking into his table and bumping his crippled legs.

He considered crawling over to sit on the empty throne next to his mother, but seeing her glassy gaze as she stared into her horn, he knew he would be just as alone beside her as he currently was.

Used to being ignored, surprise filled him when someone slid across the table from him. Expecting one of his brothers, a sharp barb laid on the tip of his tongue, only for it to dissipate when he realized who it was.

You relaxed on the bench across from him, elbows on the table and leaning slightly forward. What startled him the most was the way you were obviously studying him with your head slanted to the side, eyes intent upon his face. Without a word, he matched your scrutiny, unwilling to lose this silent battle to some maiden. He had seen you before around the Great Hall, although you two had never spoken, let alone made eye contact. This was the first time either of you acknowledged the other's presence.

Your father was an accomplished tradesman, recently expanding his route to include Kattegat. The first time he came to inquire about trading here, he spoke with the Queen. With her approval, he left with promises to return soon. This time he arrived with goods from foreign lands that caused many to marvel. What most caught Ivar's attention- this time your father brought you along.

After several minutes of the silent staring, each moment further making Ivar grit his teeth and his fingers itch for an axe to bash into your head. What upset him the most, you looked so serene staring at him; like his furious gaze, that sent many before you cowering in fear, had no hold over you. He refused to break the silence, to break the stalemate you two were obviously locked in. He could read the stubbornness in the curve of your lips, the slow blinking of your eyes that remained solely focused on him. Clearly you forgot he was Ivar the Boneless, being obstinate was a specialty of his.

Finally, you broke the silence. "I heard you are one of the best players of Hnefatafl."

"It is a game of skill, cunning, and strategy. Things I excel in, unlike most." He scoffed, trying to determine what you hoped to get out of your statement. There were none that could beat him in the game, only Floki ever came close. He wondered not for the first time if his father was around, if he would actually provide adequate competition for his youngest son.

"I bet I can beat you."

His jaw threatened to drop at your blasé statement, said so easily, so casually, like it was a fact. His blood boiled. How dare you think yourself better than him? Leaning forward, he snarled at you. "No."

A smirk caused your lips to turn upward, infuriating him even more.

His fury spilled forth with vitriol coating each word as he sneered at you. "You are just some tradesman's daughter. Just like any other useless, pathetic girl. I am the son of Ragnar Lothbrok. You have no chance of ever beating me."

You leaned forward, your posture reflecting his. Though your demeanor was serene, like a still lake; while his body trembled like a wildfire, threatening to burn everything within reach.

"Prove it."

His mind froze for a brief moment, unable to believe what you just said. "Are you…. challenging me?"

"It's only a challenge if there is any hope of you actually beating me."

His rage resurfaced, clearing his mind of the surprise. A dangerous excitement coursed through his blood. This would give him an opportunity to teach you your place, to remind you of those who will always be above you; and he planned to destroy you in both the game and in tormenting afterwards. Oh, this could be the most fun he had in a while. "Tomorrow."

Your smirk widened. "Tomorrow." You confirmed with a single nod. Without another word, you rose gracefully to your feet and walked out of the Great Hall.

*****

The dagger spun easily in his hand, twisting, turning, an extension of his hand. The sun had risen to its zenith, the light making the water sparkle and shine. Still, Ivar refused to move from his spot on the dock.

His mind drifted to the new axe he was working on at the blacksmith's. It was supposed to be done by now but his impatience had gotten the better of him one day. After that, he was forced to start over completely. He wondered if you would want to come watch him work. Would that interest you?

Suddenly, his attention was diverted to a ship heading towards the docks. He straightened up, eagerly watching its arrival. As it drew closer, his excitement dissipated like smoke, replaced by annoyance. The ship was one he recognized as a larger fishing ship. Not a tradesman's ship. Not your ship.

Frustrated, he ran his hands through his hair. He should return to the Great Hall, either to spar with his brothers in the training yard or help his mother. Do anything but sit here pointlessly. Waiting around for some girl sounded like something he would cruelly tease his brothers for doing. Yet here he sat, unmoving. His gaze focused once more on the horizon, as if his will alone could summon you to appear faster.

*****

Over the next fortnight, countless games of Hnefatafl were played between Ivar and you. To his immense pleasure and frustration, you were good. Not just good enough to barely entertain him but good enough that Ivar had to actually work for each win. The only other person who came close was Floki. But here you were winning, just as many times as he won. He internally debated if he loved or hated that.

Soon your competition expanded to other activities, making even mundane activities into fierce battles. He was slightly better than you when it came to archery, which brought him immense pleasure. You were better at fishing, which all the brothers found humorous. Even at meals, you two would compete who could chug your ale the fastest. Something Queen Aslaug disliked immensely but kept silent about for her joy of her youngest son finding a friend overshadowed her displeasure at some of your antics.

During this time, the two of you were hardly apart. Though on numerous occasions, Ivar still considered splitting your head with his axe. He found that each day the violent feeling lessened and his excitement to see you increased. His brothers tried to tease him but his mother quickly silenced them with a sharp look. It did not matter what those fools thought, none of them ever held his interest, his attention, his respect like you did.

When the fortnight drew to an end and your father began preparations to leave, Ivar found himself trying to create excuses to delay the impending departure, no matter how ridiculous they sounded.

That last night found you and him sitting alone on the dock, looking up at the starry sky above. All the dock workers were either at the meal in the Great Hall or in their own homes.

"Father says we'll be back on the next full moon. Trade here has been good." You said, tracing a knot in the wood below you.

"Why do I care?" He scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "You are an annoying person to have around. I plan on feasting and celebrating once your ship leaves tomorrow."

"Good, you waste your time, so when I return, I will beat you in archery since I plan on practicing every day."

"You could practice until Ragnarök and still never beat me."

You shrugged, his mockery amusing you more than anything. You had learned over the past two weeks that taunts and ridicule flowed from his mouth easier than any kind word. "We shall see."

A comfortable silence settled around you two once again. The gentle crashing of waves and the call of seagulls filled the air, lulling you both into contentment. You shifted to lay down on the dock, raising a hand to trace the constellations in the sky above you. After a couple of minutes, Ivar laid down next to you, your shoulders touching, as he watched your hand.

"Next full moon?" He confirmed quietly, his raspy voice just above a whisper.

"Try not to miss me too much." You quipped.

He chuckled, turning his head to look at you beside him. "I won't."

"Good. I won't miss you either."

Smiling, you mirrored his action. Time froze as you two stared at one another, realizing how close you actually were. As if on its own accord, Ivar's gaze drifted down to your lips, so close to his own. Suddenly, your tongue darted out to wet them causing Ivar to jerk his eyes back up to meet yours. Insecurity and doubt prevented him from moving, from kissing your lips like he had dreamt about so many times. At first, he had rejected the dream, convincing himself it was pure foolishness, that he could never be interested in someone like you. Yet over the passing days, the dream never abated. When alone with his thoughts, sometimes he would retrieve the dream from his mind and turn it over like a treasured item to admire before putting it back on its shelf.

With widening eyes, he laid there stunned as your gaze dropped to his lips and that hand that had been tracing the stars now gently caressed his bottom lip. His mouth opened in a gasp, beyond astounded by your action, but more surprised by the feelings it invoked in him.

A shout from the end of the dock shattered the intimate moment. You rapidly sat up, your attention fully on the person who yelled your name. Moving slowly, Ivar pushed himself up and looked down to the end of the dock to see your father standing there. You waved in acknowledgement, a nervous giggle slipping from your mouth.

"I have to go."

Even as disappointment tainted his world, he refused to let it show, making sure to keep his tone harsh and mocking. "Finally, I was starting to doubt I could get rid of you."

You laughed, starting to rise to your feet but froze for a moment. In the next moment, you scooted closer, grabbed his face and kissed him. It was only a gentle press of your mouths, full of innocence and familiarity, yet it felt like a promise. Before he could respond, you pulled back and practically sprinted down the dock. He watched you disappear amongst the buildings of Kattegat at your father's side. Once gone from view, he turned back to look at the stars. Though his focus remained solely on the tingling sensation on his lips and the memory of your first shared kiss. In the moment, Ivar wondered if the gods were finally smiling down on him.

*****

Footfalls approached him from behind. The steady steps slapping against the wooden boards of the dock let Ivar know who it was without him even having to look. The ruffling of his hair confirmed the person's identity. Only one person was allowed to do that to him.

"Still waiting I see." Ubbe asked, looking out over the sparkling water. "Mother is getting worried. You've been here most of the day."

"Let her worry. As you can see, I am fine."

"Mmmm…. you sure it is just friendship between you and y/n? I have never seen you wait for anyone else so relentlessly to return from a trip."

"Say another word and I'll gut you." Ivar narrowed his eyes at his brother, a growl clawing at his throat to erupt at the teasing.

Ubbe just chuckled at the threat. He reached over to ruffle Ivar's hair once again but Ivar smacked his hand away with annoyance.

"I'll come back for you for the evening meal." Ubbe started to turn when something caught his eye. "Ivar…. a ship."

Ivar tried to straighten up further in a futile attempt to see farther. It was a few more minutes before he was able to see what caught his brother's eye. There slipping through the water was a ship, one he recognized. A smile lit up his face without him even realizing, diminishing his usual severe expression into a boyish glee. Though he made no comment, Ubbe certainly took notice.

The ship slowly approached, the men at the oars bringing the ship closer to Kattegat's docks. Ivar found himself tapping his hand on the boards beneath him as if that could somehow speed up the ship's arrival.

As the ship prepared to dock, your face popped up over the side, eyes scanning the dock furiously. When your gaze landed on him, a smile split your face that rivaled the warmth of the sun. Soon as the ship was tied off, you scrambled awkwardly over the side and ran straight at him. Ivar barely had time to brace himself before you dropped to your knees beside him and cupped his face, bringing your lips to his. This time, he was ready. He grabbed your head, keeping your mouth on his. What was meant as a sweet kiss quickly turned greedy with the way you both demanded attention using teeth and tongues.

When the two of you separated, lungs screaming for air, you stared at each other, your lips swollen and eyes alight.

"Did you miss me?" You asked breathlessly.

"Not at all." He quipped, though you both knew it was a lie. Especially when he pulled you back in for another searing kiss that left no doubts of his true feelings towards you.

#ofmanderley300 #vikings #vikings fandom #vikings fanfic #vikings fanfiction #ivars heathen army #ivar the boneless #ivar lothbrok #ivar x reader #ivar ragnarsson #ubbe #ubbe ragnarsson #mzwrites

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comehomeducklings · 3 years

Text

Present [Part 4] (Obsession)

Tom Riddle's Moodboard

Main Character's Moodboard

~////////////////𓆙////////////////~

1943 ~ 6th year

“What would be the purpose of a wizard or witch to prepare a Polyjuice potion?” Slughorn asks. “Yes, Mr. Riddle?”

Tom drops his hand from the air, “The potion grants the drinker to take the form of another.”

“Yes! And what would happen if said drinker tried to transform into an animal?”

I know this one so I lift my hand.

“Go ahead.”

I clear my throat, “When the human drinker tries to transform into an animal they would not take its complete form. Only sections of said animal.”

Slughorn nods his head, “Can they reverse after a bit of time like normally?”

“No,” I answered. “It takes an extremely long time to wear off, and you might even have to go to the hospital wing.”

He grins and continues to write on the chalkboard. Even though he can enchant the writer's tool to note down itself, I’m guessing he prefers the old-fashioned way.

Tom and I are even on points. When he answers correctly, I also do right after him. I can see him noting down both our points on the corner of his parchment. The black tally marks standing out. Our points are on my paper as well, just in case he decides to cheat. No chances are being taken today, or tomorrow.

“How long does the potion wear off if made correctly?”

Riddle and I both shoot our hands up. His demeanor is calm and collected while I'm sitting on my feet to have my arm raised higher than his. It’s not very fair that his arms are the length of mine to the third power.

“Mr. Nott, what do you know?”

“A single dose could last from 10 minutes to 12 hours.”

Another question wasted by not getting called on. I don’t mind that much since it doesn't keep me behind. Riddle seems to care a little bit too much. His competitive side is showing and I guess his pal is ruining the race.

Professor stole our textbooks for this pop quiz. The rapid-fire questions should “already be memorized and known,” down to the molecular detail. My knowledge only goes so far.

I trust myself, to a point. There’s definitely going to be a question I get wrong and I’m already dreading it. Every answer that falls out of my mouth is examined and thought over ten times before the action of answering arises.

“For something a little different, Mr. Riddle come to the front of the classroom and write four ingredients that are needed for the potion.”

He stands up and pushes his chair in. His eyes as cold as The Black Lake. While he makes his way toward the board I cross my fingers, hoping he forgets one. I know that’s not the kindest, but nothing with him is necessarily “kind.”

There he goes, writing all four ingredients with ease. His handwriting is beautiful. How does he honestly do that? Does he practice every single day to get it that precise?

Maybe I should practice to improve as well. Honestly embarrassing how bad my handwriting seems next to his. We compared essays once, never again. That was the most embarrassing moment of my life. He just laughed at me and kept pointing out how weird my f’s looked.

I swear my letters weren’t that bad. It’s just that he overachieves everything. Now I rewrite every “f” letter that appears on my homework. Thank you for the new insecurity, Riddle.

“Very good! Very good, your turn,” he points towards me. “Three more ingredients this time.”

While I stand in front of the board, I check out what he has already put down. Lacewig flies, leeches, okay not bad. Knotgrass and the hair of the person the drinker will transform into.

He numbered them so I continued on from that.

5) Boomslang skin

6) Fluxweed

Last one, let's see. We already put Lacewig flies, Knotgrass, hair, the skin, and Fluxweed. I hesitate for a little bit, my brain working at high speed. Anxiety levels are higher than Mount Everest.

7) Powdered Bicorn Horn

There we go, I smile to myself proudly. When I turn back around my eyes meet his. He smirks and nods while he writes down a point for both of us. I’m not sure that it counts for four points, just one.

The questions go on for quite a bit. Our tally marks are piling higher and higher. Each of our count's neck and neck for the top spot.

“What is the brewing time?”

“About a month.”

“How does the potion look before the addition of the final ingredient?”

“Thick like the mud after it pours.”

“It also is bubbling.”

“How does it look after adding the final ingredient?”

“Depends on who the witch or wizard made the potion to look like.”

“Varies in taste and color.”

He seems to be done with questions so Tom and I start counting the marks. On my paper, I seem to be .5 points ahead of him. I quickly look his way to see him come to the same conclusion. He takes a deep breath and casts his eyes to the side. Tom then tilts his quill my way signaling that I did indeed win.

I’m about to squeal quite highly but then I recollect I’m in a classroom. Full of people who are terrified to be anywhere in this castle. That would be quite inappropriate of me so I keep my excitement to myself.

Professor Slughorn wipes the whole board away. Clearing all the information we were learning and reviewing about.

“When I pair you up, each of you will grab the right ingredients for this potion and lay it near the front of your desk,” he says. “It should be laid in the order you would normally use when making the concoction.”

“First up, Miss Horn and Miss Yellowbo.”

The classroom starts to move with life as students pair with one another. Some cheerful noises and annoyed ones from who they ended up with. Most of us here know each other. I don’t think I would mind having anyone in this room as my partner.

“Mr. Riddle and-”

Of course, it’s me. Starting to think the pairings’ on purpose. His face shines too brightly for it not to be well planned out. I make my way to the shelves to start out picking the ingredients.

There’s always a moment where my mind decides to give up on me. Most of the elements are obtained. A few are missing.

I’m going over the variety of bottles containing different substances when I feel a looming pressure on my back. An arm slightly grazes past my ear and picks up Fluxweed.

“How do you manage to forget the very ingredient you wrote down on the board?” Toms whispers right by my ear.

I shift my eyesight to the side to see him already looking at me, “Sorry, I blanked out a little.”

He starts seizing half of the ingredients into his hold. I don’t really mind carrying a couple, but I’m just left with one bottle after he takes most of my possessions.

“Taking all the credit now I see,” I tilt my head as I raise my chin to meet his tall build.

“You were about to spill everything. I’m saving you from embarrassment,” he responds cockily.

I started to argue but he already made his way back to the desk, “Everything was perfectly stable in my arms.”

He continues to ignore me and sets down everything. Including the one bottled ingredient in my hand that he snatched just a few moments ago.

“Nothing is ever perfectly stable with you.”

I’m about to whisper a word no children should hear before Slughorn makes his way to our table. Saving Riddle from my rising annoyance.

“Wonderful! You too got all of them perfectly,” he starts. “I would expect no less from my star students.”

All I do is smile brightly in respect. Trying not to drive any more attention to the outburst of pride he has for us.

“Thank you, professor,” Tom says. He starts picking the ingredients off of the table, still barely letting me take any.

Riddle just walks off while our proffesor continues around the room. When he comes back I just about finish wiping the desk of any accidental spills.

“I won our little game this time,” I nudged his shoulder with my own.

Tom slightly rolls his eyes with a small smile, “I see that you have. Just this one though.”

“And many more to come,” I exclaim.

Our attention seeks back to our teacher, “You’ll all be writing an essay about an imaginary way this potion could go wrong. I expect it to be turned in before class tomorrow.”

I hurry to get my textbook off of my area and head towards the back of the classroom near the doorway.

“Everyone split into two groups. This half will go with Riddle while the other is with me.”

I turn my head once more to look at Tom, he’s reassuring one of the students that they are going to be okay.

I only look for a couple of seconds before leading my half of the group out first. A few stops along the way to make sure perfects are keeping order. Most of my group of students have been dropped off. A couple still lures behind me, I picked them up as I worked my way through the castle halls.

They were also dropped off and now I scatter along the hallway to make sure everyone is where they are supposed to be. Like every other period, the routine stays the same mostly.

My robes have a few wet spots on them still from the tears of younger students attending this school. I fully believe it won’t be too long until the headmaster and the ministry deal with whoever is making our lives miserable here. The murders will surely not go unjustly.

As I am turning a new hallway I happen to meet up with Riddle.

“All good?”

“Of course,” he responds. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

He seems to look around quite a bit. Like he’s searching for something.

“Head back to your class, I will look around once more.”

That’s the last thing he says before moving around me with his hand on my shoulder. Quickly slipping past me.

~////////////////𓆙////////////////~

“No, no no,” I whisper to myself as I crumple yet another paper in my hand. I throw it on the ground next to me and huff out a breath.

Writing this bloody essay is taking more time than I predicted. It usually comes naturally to me but I can’t seem to write correctly. Every time I make a mistake I have to start over again. My handwriting failing to write neatly for once.

My whole structure and information is already figured out. Writing is what’s taking me the longest. No matter how hard I try, the letters never seem to come out correctly from my quill.

Especially the f’s.

Infuriating really. I only have an hour left until the library closes. It already technically shut down but the librarian gave me an extra three hours as long as I lock up.

Perks of being Head Girl I suppose.

My head is in my hands as I compose myself. It’s late and I’m tired, it’s not even safe to be out at this time. At least if I happen to die I wouldn’t have to write this essay.

“How long have you been trying at this-” a low voice asks behind me.

I jump in my seat, “Oh it’s just you. Well, it’s been-”

“And failing?” Tom finishes as he takes the seat next to me. The chair turned slightly to me.

I roll my eyes and fall further back into my seat. My head turned upwards, admiring the flying books in the ceiling. Finding their place, their way home.

“Probably an hour and a half,” I sigh. “You’re completely right about how bad my calligraphy is.”

He just nods his head and takes a fresh new sheet from the middle of the table. His quill magically appears from inside his robe. All the papers that have the plans for my essay start to float around his head and workspace. Occasionally glancing up at them from time to time and then going back to writing.

His lips are pursed in concentration, “I write my F’s like this. It’s easier that way and extremely easy to practice and write quickly.”

My head peers over his shoulder as I watch him effortlessly indite.

“You try,” he opens up my fingers that were closing my hand and places a quill in them.

I furrow my eyebrows and start to practice my letters on a separate piece of paper that I originally scrapped. I don’t want to waste paper and there’s no reason to get a fresh new one.

We both work quietly in the night until the last few minutes of opening time. Before I left the room I saw him quickly go far back into the library. I never got to ask him why he arrived here so late.

Never saw the need to.

~////////////////𓆙////////////////~ Taglist:

@empath-bunny

@jinxqsu

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blackswaneuroparedux · 3 years

Text

The Great Drive: James Hunt and Niki Lauda at Fuji, 1976

I feel really sorry for Niki. I feel sorry for everybody that the race had to be run in such ridiculous circumstances because the conditions were dangerous and I fully appreciate Niki’s decision. After an accident like he had, what else could he do? Quite honestly, I wanted to win the championship and I felt I deserved it. But I also felt Niki deserved to win the championship – and I just wish we could have shared it.

- James Hunt on winning the Japanese Grand Prix 1976 to become F1 World Champion

James Hunt’s epic title battle with Niki Lauda, during what many see as the definitive F1 season, was topped off by a thrilling race in the land of the rising sun. It became an instant classic, one of F1’s Great Drives.

With everything to lose, in treacherous conditions, and with late drama, James Hunt's drive in the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix was one of the greatest of all time.

James Hunt delivered his greatest drive in spite of himself. It wasn’t just the peak moment of his career, but also a defining drive for F1.

The British gentleman racer conquering the world’s best in far away lands – Hunt embodied it.

Despite this, the Brit’s landmark drive came in the midst of late night escapades, mechanical disasters, psychological warfare and F1 politics.

As the ‘76 season approached its climax in North America and Asia, it seemed all might be lost for the McLaren team and its lead driver. Hunt had been duelling with Ferrari’s Niki Lauda throughout the year, but losing his British Grand Prix win to disqualification (announced by the FIA at Round 14 in Canada) seemed to have derailed his season for good.

McLaren team manager at the time Alastair Caldwell describes the state of affairs as they approached the North American leg of the season: “We abandoned the idea of winning the world championship. I let him misbehave in Canada and in Watkins Glen. On both occasions we were pissed on race eve, both of us in a bar after midnight getting rotten – me on alcohol and him on women, because he was always very successful with women.

“James met a girl – the leader of the band at the motel in Montreal – and so he came to the race dishevelled, in the same clothes as he’d been wearing the previous night – and he won the race!

“Even then we still thought we were out of it. Then we won Watkins Glen too! So suddenly we became serious again.”

Lauda had scored 4 points to Hunt’s 18 in this period. With the championship fight back on, the rejuvenated team and driver looked at the season finale in a new light. The championship fight was back on, and as a result, McLaren prepared for the Japanese GP with renewed vigour.

James Hunt had been in Japan a fortnight, ostensibly to test at a circuit new to him. Delays at customs, car problems and bad weather had severely restricted his running, but at least now he was totally orientated and, in his inimitable fashion, ‘relaxed’. That meant when he wasn’t strutting his stuff on the hotel’s squash court, he was billing and cooing with its latest migratory flock of pretty air stewardesses to bed. It beat jogging.

Lauda arrived later, low-key and at a low ebb. The spirit that held the demons at bay during his remarkable Monza comeback had evaporated in Canada and America. Now running on empty, he was full of doubts. While Ferrari team manager Daniele Audetto attempted to whip up retro oppo to McLaren’s ‘illegal’ testing, his star driver looked the other way and wished it over: Lauda was sick of Enzo and his minions, of a season in its 10th month and of press intrusion.

McLaren’s earlier preparations were in sharp contrast to the rest of the field who arrived just for the race weekend itself. According to Caldwell, “The others all turned up on the Thursday, including Niki, you can see them all get off the plane knackered and then trying to find where this new racetrack was.”

It wasn’t just through testing and acclimatisation that Hunt and McLaren stole a march. Caldwell thought he might use interactions with the press to his advantage: “Just for a laugh we spread a rumour. A journalist said to me ‘what’s the track like?’ I said ‘It’s is good but it’s got a lot of loose gravel on it.’”

Enjoying the effect the track surface story had on the rest of the field’s preparations, Caldwell thought he’d develop the rumour into a full-blown design feature.

“Because we were bored and had nothing else to do, the mechanics made mesh covers for all the air intakes on the car, to “protect” the brake ducts and air intake.

“Then Niki (Lauda) came down to our garage, which he always did – he spent more time in our garage then Ferrari’s. He would joke with us and do mechanic’s repartee.

“Psychologically we had them on the back foot right from the start.”

“Niki had come to see what we’d done with the cars as he was also a spy. So I told the mechanics, ‘just by mistake’, to take the covers off the cars so you could see the mesh covers on all the intakes. They did this and then they put it back on in a hurry while I ‘looked displeased’.

“And so then Niki broke off the conversation, trotted back to Ferrari and said ‘f**king hell, McLaren have put vents near these grilles over everything in the car, we got to do the same.’

“The whole Ferrari organisation went out to find these grilles, find where they came from and make them for their three cars. Then we put our three cars in the pit road and took all the grilles off the T-Car. Niki came down and said ‘You f**king bastards!’ They came down the pitroad and Ferrari had this shit all over their car – these grilles all over the radiators.

“He had to tear back and tell them to take them all off. Psychologically we had them on the back foot right from the start, there’s all this psychological warfare.”

Niki was plastered across front pages because of his near-death experience on the track; James was on them because of the life he led off it. Their battle and clashing personalities, though they were good friends, had made the world championship a global news shit-fight. Hunt, outgoing but often lonely in a crowd, pretended to be okay with it. Lauda didn’t.

Friday’s practice sessions provided blessed relief, therefore, even though both men suffered understeer on the stickier Goodyears made available to its faster teams because of the rare presence of Bridgestone and Dunlop on one-off Japanese entries. The title rivals finished the day one-hundredth apart on a provisional third row.

Each improved on Saturday – Hunt to second, Lauda to third – and James, a notoriously slow starter who, by his own estimation, needed to win the race in order to become world champion, was in a much-improved mood. Niki’s never budged.

Then it rained. And rained. And rained some more.

The storm that swept in from China a day later than forecast was the last thing Lauda needed: another element beyond his control. Mist shrouded the snow cone of Mount Fuji, which supposedly bestowed good fortune – when visible – and Niki felt hemmed in by circumstance.

The mind-games might well have been in vain, for the monsoon weather which rolled in on Sunday looked like putting the race in jeopardy. If the Grand Prix was cancelled, Lauda would be handed the World Championship.

Not that Hunt was enamoured with the situation. He spoke privately with Lauda and agreed an attempt to have the race postponed – albeit not before he stressed that he would take the start if necessary and race as hard as Niki forced him to.

The Grand Prix Drivers Association had been formed to have some influence on such matters, to stop the interests of teams, the governing body and sponsors taking precedence over drivers’ well being. Hunt and Lauda were both members and convened prior to the race start in an effort to have it stopped.

“They were adamant the race wasn’t going to be held. Bernie (Ecclestone, Brabham team boss) and I were in the race control tower trying to convince them to hold the race.” says Caldwell “And James kept on saying ‘No no, we’re not going to race’. I tried to explain to him that no race meant no World Championship. He replied “No, no, no, it’s totally unsuitable, we can’t race”.

Alistair Caldwell, McLaren Team boss, resorted to more imaginative tactics to swing the mood towards starting the race.

“I was going down (to the pits) getting my car mechanics to start the engines every half an hour, which would make all the other teams start doing it – they didn’t know why. The engines were making this noise ‘woop, woop, woop’”.

The engineer then turned his attention to activating the spectators.

“I was trying to get some enthusiasm from the passive Japanese crowd, they’d been there for hours doing nothing. They weren’t even talking, just sitting in the rain – miserable.

“I said to our tyre man Lance Gibbs ‘Do you think you could get the crowd going?’ So he got up on the pitwall with his ACME Thunderer whistle, which had been given to the boys to use as a horn, for when they pushed the race cars around the paddock.

“He went ‘beep beep’ and hundreds of spectators did the same – got them doing a concert. We then did the business of slow clapping, when it gets to the end, people can’t keep up, they lose co-ordination and you get a huge noise.

“I went back to the tower and the geriatric Japanese officials and said, ‘Look, you’ve got a riot on your hands’ Bernie was there and he said ‘Yeah, you’ve gotta hold the race. Otherwise you’ll have trouble’. So they said ‘Ok we’ll have the race.’”

With the decision made, the cars finally lined up to start at 4pm. The deliberations had been going on so long that the light was now beginning to fade, reducing the limited visibility even further.

Hunt, nervously retching and hacking more than ever, was so distracted that he took a leak in full view of the spectators. Cue polite applause. Ominously, he then walked a plank laid across a puddle and stepped aboard his McLaren M23. He tipped his helmet back against its roll-hoop and closed his eyes in contemplation. Lauda, crushed by all that had gone before, hunched forward in his 312 T2’s cockpit. Both knew that fate was about to be sorely tempted.

Hunt made a blinding start and held a huge lead by the end of the opening lap. As the rest pecked hesitantly in his rooster-tails, he was out of sight, both physically and metaphorically.

Meanwhile, Lauda, unable to blink because of his burn injuries, was drowning in the pack and questioning his sanity. He formulated an answer by lap two. The Ferrari – “a paper boat in a storm” – rolled into the pitlane and drew up at its garage. Measured. The team descended while designer Mauro Forghieri craned into its cockpit to ascertain the problem.

After just 1 lap, Lauda had seen enough. Deeming the conditions too dangerous, and having already nearly lost his life at Nürburgring that year, the Austrian decided it simply wasn’t worth carrying on. He pulled his Ferrari into the pits and walked away from the 1976 World Championship. Lauda, the reigning world champion, had the skill but not the will to continue. It was “murder” out there – and life was for living.

Hunt, as drivers without a world title feel compelled to, pressed on and kept his date with destiny. Hunt being Hunt, of course, he almost missed it. Not until his post-race red mist lifted could he be persuaded that he hadn’t.

With Lauda out the race, Hunt’s task was now a little more straightforward. He simply had to finish third, and the title was his.

The McLaren driver pressed on and by lap 10 his lead had doubled to over 8sec. Meanwhile, interesting movements were afoot further back in the pack.

Local hero Kazuyoshi Hoshino, driving a privately-entered Tyrrell 007, had made his up to third, from 21st on the grid!

More worrying for Hunt was that March’s Vittorio Brambilla had overtaken Andretti and was beginning to hunt him down. By lap 20, Brambilla had closed right up behind the Hunt.

On the next lap, the March driver decided to go for it. Brambilla, known for an erratic driving style, conformed to type on this occasion by inadvertently out-braking himself as he dived down the inside of the McLaren.

Hunt had been wary of Brambilla and was monitoring the situation constantly. In a moment of brilliant anticipation, he allowed the March to spin in front of him, performing the cutback and before carrying on as if almost nothing had happened.

Brambilla dropped to fourth, the danger to Hunt being over for now. Andretti at this point was gradually dropping back through the pack. It was Hunt’s team-mate Jochen Mass who was behind him now, with a McLaren 1-2 now looking very much on the cards.

Seeking to control the race from here on in, the team’s new concern was the drying line which was now appearing on the track. Caldwell put out a pit board sign telling his drivers to cool their wet weather tyres – this was done by searching for wet sections of the track, the water preventing the rubber from overheating.

To his team manager’s frustration, Hunt didn’t appear to be heeding the warnings: “As soon as Mass saw the sign, he pulled over in the water right in front of us. Then on the next lap he came down the right hand side of the track, splashing through the puddles, which cools the tires down, (while) James didn’t react.

“The next lap we gave it to Hunt again, the next lap again, he still didn’t do it. So we took away the pitboard, just gave him the ‘cool tyres’ sign and he still didn’t react. So then everyone in the team started pointing at it (the sign). Everybody in the team pointed, Teddy (Mayer, McLaren Managing Director) and everyone else and he still did nothing.”

Hunt carried on down the dry line, running his tyres way above their recommended temperature, seemingly oblivious to the warnings.

If Hunt wasn’t going to heed the warnings, then Andretti was: “Because we were emphasising this so much, Andretti saw it and started to cool his tyres. So he started running through the puddles. He didn’t have to stop (as a result).

“But James just resolutely drove down the middle of the dry track, and we could never bring him in, because he was never that far ahead. It was never possible to tactically stop him because there’s a big long pitroad at Fuji.”

Jochen Mass, benefitting from his team’s tyre advice, now began to reel in his team-mate. If he got past, he would have no trouble driving off into the distance to take the win.

However, the German’s diligence came to naught, as he spun off and out of contention on lap 36. This would have a huge bearing on the race later.

For now, Hunt was again in the clear. Another challenger, Shadow’s Tom Pryce, moved into second, but he too retired as his Cosworth engine expired on lap 46.

As the grand prix wore on, Hunt remained in a seemingly trance-like state as he stuck to his line, the situation became critical.

Whilst yet another to danger to Hunt had abated, the McLaren driver was now deciding whether to play the percentages. He could either pit to replace his worn tyres – and lose track position – or try and stick it out at the risk of losing so much grip he would be overtaken anyway.

Hunt took the second option. He could afford to drop to third, and this is indeed what happened. On lap 61, he was overtaken not only by Tyrrell’s Patrick Depailler, but also the resurgent Lotus of Andretti.

If Hunt managed to hold position, he would be world champion. For the next 7 laps, the plan appeared to be working. Then, on lap 68, disaster struck.

The McLaren driver suffered not one, but two deflated tyres – both on the left-hand side of the car. They were, as Caldwell puts it, “worn down to the air”. Hunt managed to drag his car round for half a lap before scraping into the pits.

F1 jacks at the time were not designed to lift a car with puncture at the front and rear of the car. While the jack was used to lift the rear of the car, TV shots show Caldwell and other team members lifting the other end of the car themselves to replace the front-left tyre.

It was a long pitstop, and once out, Hunt found himself back in fifth place. There were four laps left and Hunt was two places down on where he needed to be.

Two more laps passed and the Englishman was no further up the order. It looked as if he may have lost his championship chance.

Then, with two laps left of the race to go, Hunt started the fight back. At the exit of T1 he managed to get past the Surtees of Alan Jones. One more place and the championship was his.

Next up was the Ferrari of Clay Regazzoni. It turned out there were some Scuderia politics at play which would work to Hunt’s advantage.

Caldwell filled in the back story: “Ferrari’s reaction to Niki’s crash was to sack Regazzoni (for 1977). He had already been sacked (by Fuji).

“So he was pissed off at Ferrari. When James came charging along, he just stepped out of the way and let him by.”

After benefitting from Regazzoni’s apparent generosity, Hunt was suddenly back in the golden position, the third place he needed to clinch the championship.

The McLaren man just had to keep it on the road for two more laps and he’d take the title. The tension mounted, both in the team pit and back in the UK, where his family were watching the live television feed at 3am.

Despite two nerve-wracking final laps, the Englishman duly brought his McLaren home in third place. He was the new F1 World Champion.

Photographs show Hunt angrily remonstrating with his team as he climbed from the car. He hadn’t realised he’d got the job done.

Caldwell himself had mixed emotions about the whole affair, “He didn’t look at the board and when he came into the pits he started shouting at us, because he didn’t know what happened. He was incredibly annoying on the day. He did drive magnificently, he kept it on the road – that’s one point of view. From my point of view it was the most frustrating day – I could’ve hit him with a baseball bat! He could have won the race, just strolled the world championship. All he had to do was read this pitboard and drive in the water, which is what Andretti did, so he didn’t wear the tyres out and could paddle across the line with the same ones.”

In spite of Hunt seemingly making a championship-losing decision, he had still managed to pull it off.

However, such was Caldwell’s consternation, the two didn’t discuss afterwards.

I was so angry about it. We flew back to England and I wasn’t talking to him on the plane. He was pissed as a newt anyway – we were all pissed as a newt and totally exhausted. He just went to sleep.”

The two never discussed the reasons behind the events, but it didn’t change the result. Three years after making his F1 debut, Hunt was the world champion.

Ten weeks later Hunt arrived in Argentina to begin his title defence feeling underwhelmed and under-prepared. A few celebratory cigs and tins with his friend Britain’s newly crowned 500cc motorcycle world champion, Barry Sheene, at Fuji and a riotous return flight had been followed by a disorientating whirl of meetings, interviews and engagements. The race-by-race title chase had been thrilling: a sequence of one-day stands. Making it official had cooled the relationship. The love affair was over.

Though both men would retire summarily during the 1979 season, Hunt did so because he felt frightened and disillusioned, whereas Lauda did so because he felt nothing, which frightened him.

Niki, though, had a system – plus a plan to run his own airline – and ultimately would return to the F1 cockpit and be successful. James, whose theories were sometimes somewhat scrambled, would not. He bred budgies instead. You do what you have to do.

Lauda’s decision to stop at Fuji ensured that he would be able to continue. Hunt’s decision to continue ensured that he would have to stop sooner rather than later. One racing mind wiped clean, the other cluttered – and racing.

In spite of his career’s decline, Hunt’s endeavours had captured the imagination of the wider world in a way no racing driver had done before.Hunt knew that life was for living, too. Tragically, however, he had just discovered how best to when fate too soon snatched it from him.

87 notes · View notes

jaesqueso · 3 years

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The Bachelorette: NCT edition - Ep. 7

The season of love is finally here! An interactive series where you’ll get to choose who goes home each week and ultimately who Y/N chooses in the end!

pairing: nct(ot23) x fem!reader

summary: For the first time a week goes smoothly without much drama but could this make the bachelorette’s decision even harder?

episode guide

word count: 4,902

warnings: mentions of alcohol (all responsible!)

☽ ・・・・・ ☾

Last week on the Bachelorette:

The big mystery remains in the air with no one willing to step forward and make a confession,

Nevertheless some bonds were strengthened while others are stopped to save a broken heart.

Unfortunately at the end of the rose ceremony a heart did get broken leaving a not so pleasant goodbye that startled everybody.

5 bachelors remain on this love quest but after tonight one of them will be going home.

Who will she choose? Who will she reject?

Find out on the Bachelorette!

“Hi everybody!” Chris Harrison walks into the guest house. “Excited for another week?”

They all cheer for new opportunities to amaze you and get closer to that last rose and your love.

“Great because things are about to change!”

The boys look around at each other, what does he mean change?

“So far each date, wether individual or in a group, gave you the opportunity to win a rose ahead of the ceremony and secure your spot here for another week to compete for Y/N’s love, Well from now on there are no more date roses.”

“What does that mean for us?” Taeyong asks the question that’s on everybody’s heads.

“That means give it your all on the dates and the cocktail party because all roses will now only be handed out on the ceremony.”

Mixed feelings run around the room.

“But since there are less and less of you there are also more opportunities for alone time with our beautiful bachelorette as there will be no more group dates. This week you’ll have 1 one-on-one date and 2 two-on-ones. But don’t worry, since no roses will be hand out before hand that also means no one will be sent home on the dates too.”

Breaths of relief come out of everybody’s mouths.

“Alright, enjoy your dates and I will see you at the rose ceremony!”

As Chris leaves, the siren his heard and all eyes focus on the TV.

I hope you’re all having as much fun in this journey as I am. And I think it’s time we celebrate.

The bachelors look intrigued.

Jeno and Jaemin, hope you’re excited to join me tomorrow!

“Yes!” The two boys high five happy to be paired together on a date with you, over the weeks they not only bond with you but also ended up growing closer to each other.

“Wait, you’re going to celebrate without us?” Yuta groans.

“I bet you’ll get to celebrate too in a few days.” Jaemin comforts him.

“And don’t forget one of us will still be going on an individual date this week.” Jaehyun looks between Yuta and Taeyong,

“That’s right!” Taeyong excitedly says.

The following day Jaemin and Jeno get ready and enter their ride that’s already waiting outside to meet you. They are taken to a near by city where a parade is about to start and that’s where you’re waiting for them in a pair of light washed jeans and a cute flowy top.

“Hi guys!” You greet them with a big smile. “I found us a great spot to watch the parade, shall we go?”

“Yes!” They say at the same time following you to a nice place by the fence where you had an amazing view.

They stood by your side as you watched the marching band, the decorated vehicles and the big balloons being pulled by the villagers. You explained the guys what the parade was about along with a little story of the city and they actually seemed more interested in what you had to say than the parade itself.

You start to feel shy having all their attention on you, their piercing gaze, beautiful smiles and light touches on your arms. These two have definitely touched your heart and you can’t even imagine how you’ll make a decision if it ever comes down to the two of them.

Once the parade is over the three of you walk around the streets exploring the city. Everywhere you look is decorated because of the festivities and you’re having a great time.

You then decide to stop by a grocery store to get some food to go and watch the concert in the park. After finding a nice place with a good stage view you all sit down on the grass.

The sun starts setting as the band begins playing a nice smooth tune that sets a very romantic ambience all around. You look at the two boys sitting next to you and you couldn’t be happier with the choice you made today, even without saying a word their presence just makes you feel so comfortable, you can imagine your life with either one of them at this point.

In the guest house Taeyong, Yuta and Jaehyun talk about the changes in the game.

“How do you feel about no more roses in advance?” Yuta asks.

“Honestly I don’t know how to feel.” Taeyong starts. “This could be good or bad.”

“It definitely makes me more nervous,” Yuta comments, “those date roses were very reassuring and you could relax a bit ahead of the ceremony.”

“Absolutely!” Taeyong continues. “I feel like I’m a little bit of an underdog here, we only started to really bond recently so having to wait until the end of the week really makes me anxious.”

“I think you’re making a big deal out of nothing.” Jaehyun steps in the conversation. “We just gotta keep working hard on the date and the cocktail party just like we did until now. If we’re still here, there’s still a chance.”

“I guess you’re right…” Taeyong says before he’s interrupted by the siren.

“Let’s see who’s next.” Jaehyun gets up as they walk to the living room.

It’s good to go out and celebrate but it’s also nice to have a more chill and relaxed time.

They wonder if this will be another two-on-one date or the individual one.

Sometimes I just like to get on my car and drive around. Yuta, I’d love for you to join me on that ride tomorrow.

The mentioned boy cheers on his seat.

“Well, that means it will be us fighting for her attention after.” Jaehyun taps Taeyong’s back.

“Bring it on.” Taeyong tries to sound excited but deep down he’s scared about his future here.

As the band finishes their last song the crowd claps including the three of you and with the last beat of the drums a loud pop is heard starting a wonderful firework show. Your eyes sparkle at the splashes of color in the sky and you feel a hand gently overlapping yours. You look to your left and see Jaemin still looking up at the sky as if his touch wasn’t making his heart beat faster just like yours.

“Wow, that was amazing!” Jeno says as the last explosion disappears in the air.

“It really was.” Jaemin agrees.

“I’m glad you two enjoyed it, I’m so happy I got to share this moment with you.” You smile brightly as you look at them,

You let your back fall into the grass and they lay down too.

“You should be up there.” Jeno comments pointing at the night sky that now shows all the beautiful stars.

“But then I’d outshine them all.” You tease.

“Ok, you’re right.” Jeno chuckles.

“I think you’re good right here, next to me.” Jaemin lightly squeezes your hand making you turn your face to him as he does the same.

“Hey hey, I’m here too ok?” Jeno playfully says as he lifts up his torso separating your hands making you all laugh at his jealousy.

You lay there for a while talking and observing the stars until you decide it’s time to go back. On the ride home you almost don’t want this day to end but you try to calm down your heart thinking about the other bachelors back at the guest house.

“Can I ask you a question?” Jeno says as you exit the car.

“Of course.” You’re impressed with how talkative he is today, he’s usually quiet around other the other guys but you believe it helps that he gets along so well with Jaemin. Whatever the reason is you’re happy he’s loosening up.

“If you had a rose to hand out today who would you give it to?” Jeno asks.

You chuckle as Jaemin hits the other boy in the arm.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” You wink. “Thank you for today guys, goodnight.”

“Thank you Y/N, goodnight.” They both say as you walk to the mansion.

“She would totally chose me.” Jeno says as he and Jaemin go back to the guest house.

“Right, keep dreaming!” Jaemin ruffles Jeno’s hair as they both laugh.

The next day a car horn is heard and all the boys go to the front of the guest house where they see you inside a convertible.

“You ready Yuta?” You call out.

“Oh I was born ready!” He almost runs to the vehicle taking the passenger seat.

“Bye guys!” You wave at the others as you step on the gas.

You drive pass the town, headed to the coast, feeling the warm air run through your hair. You tell Yuta how much you love the freedom of just driving around without a destination, observing the life around you without a plan. The sea breeze relaxes you as the low rays of sunshine embrace your skin.

You two sing along to the random songs that come on the radio, laughing at the misspelled lyrics and lines out of tune. Maybe your lonely car rides could be fulfilled with some good company like this.

You stop the car on the side of the road next to some picnic tables facing the sea. You both get out of the vehicle and you get a bag out of the trunk walking to one of the tables.

“Hungry?” You ask him.

“A lit bit yes.” He smiles taking a seat as you take out some bento boxes out of the bag making his eyes sparkle at the delicious food. “Wow! Did you prepare all this?”

“Yes I did.” You proudly state. “Let’s dig in!”

You start eating watching the sun slowly go down.

“This was really good Y/N, thank you.” Yuta complements the meal.

“You know,” you start saying, “it’s been a while since we went on a date just the two of us so I thought I’d make something familiar, a little birdie told me you like this type of food.”

“Oh yeah?” He grins. “That little bird seems to know me well, you should keep him around.”

You two laugh recalling a conversation you once had where you talked about food where he told you this.

“But I’m really glad you chose me for this date.” He continues. “I was starting to feel us drift apart and that’s the last thing I want.”

“I don’t want that either.” You reassure him. “I really like your company, Yuta, and I’m enjoying getting to know you.”

“Good to know.” He releases a relieved breath making you giggle.

“But the date is not over, I have one more thing planned for us.” You wiggle your eyebrows. “Shall we go?”

“Let’s go!”

He helps you pack everything and return to the car, driving off to your next destination.

Back in the guest house the dates are the focal point of the conversation.

“How did it go yesterday?” Jaehyun asks the two boys.

“It was really awesome.” Jeno cannot hide the excitement that still runs through his body.

“It really was, Y/N has done a great job planning these dates.” Jaemin agrees. “You know Jeno, if it’s us two fighting for that last rose I don’t mind sharing.” He winks.

“Well I do!” Jeno protests making the others laugh.

“But hey hey!” Taeyong interrupts with a frown. “What do you mean you two fighting for the last rose? Should I just give up?”

“Oh c’mon we can’t all be in the final pretty boy.” Jaemin ruffles his hair.

“Are you two excited for tomorrow?” Jeno asks the two who are still waiting.

“Very much.” Jaehyun replies.

“And nervous!” Taeyong adds.

“Don’t be, it will all be fine.” Jaemin cheers him up before the siren is heard and the gather around the TV.

Taeyong and Jaehyun don’t think I forgot about you, there’s a special place I’d like to take you.

The boys brighten up.

Hope you like dark places with neon lights. See you tomorrow!

“You guys going to a strip club?” Jaemin widens his eyes.

“Of course we are.” Jaehyun laughs.

“What could it be though?” Jeno wonders.

“I guess we’ll have to wait for tomorrow to know!” Taeyong says still feeling intrigued by your message.

You turn to a drive in movie theatre as the night takes over. You get some popcorn and a couple of drinks before park right in the middle of the space having a great view of the screen.

“Should we get into the backseat?” You suggest.

“The backseat? Right here in front of everybody?” He smirks wiggling his eyebrows.

“To sit more comfortable you pervert!” You chuckle, playfully hitting his arm.

You two follow your suggestion right before the film starts. It’s a simple sci-fi movie that you recall him mentioning liking the genre.

Halfway through, the now empty bag of popcorn is put on the side as you snuggle closer to your date. Yuta wraps his arm around your shoulder as your heads rest against each other.

Once the movie is over you two stay in his embrace while all the other vehicles leave the place, wanting to savour this moment a little bit longer. You then get back into the front seats to drive back to the guest house.

You decide to take the long route so you can talk a bit more a discuss the movie that honestly you didn’t pay that much attention to as you almost fell asleep against the warmth of Yuta’s body against yours.

“Thank you for today, I had a really great time.” He says as you drop him off.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” You smile. “Goodnight Yuta.”

“Goodnight Y/N.”

He watches you drive off before entering the house with a huge smile on his face.

The following day Taeyong and Jaehyun excitedly leave the house to go meet you. During the ride they discuss what could possibly await them on this date. All doubts come to an end when the car stops in front of a museum where you wait for them in a beautiful short white dress.

“Do I hear wedding bells already?” Taeyong asks as they walk to you.

“Not yet!” You chuckle. “This museum holds temporary exhibitions and once I heard they were having a neon themed one I just knew I had to come. Are you excited?”

“Yes!” They both say.

“Well let’s go then!” You lead them inside.

As you enter the building you get into a dark hallway that leads into a purple themed room. It looks like something out of a dream, the lights playing with the mirrors on the walls making it look like there’s infinite space.

The next room is blue. Wavy lights decorate the space making it look like you’re under water.

“This looks like the aquarium we visited last week!” Taeyong excitedly says.

“It really does! Minus the fish.” You two chuckle leaving Jaehyun feeling a little bit left out. He tries to play it off by pretending to be distracted by the room setup that you don’t even notice the sadness on his face.

You then enter a room that looks like a fantasy garden. Neon green lights fill in the space with fake plants and trees. It almost feels like you’re in a magical forest where a mystical creature will pop out any moment.

The next area is yellow. The brightness almost blinds you and Jaehyun takes the opportunity to hold your hand to guide you inside. You’re startled by his action as you were not expecting it but let him lead you around. When Taeyong notices it he decides to hold your other hand making you giggle at the small trace of jealousy.

The orange room that follows the yellow one is very fruit having neon signs shaped like all sorts of exotic fruits. Your mouth gets watery at the sight.

As you walk into the following space it seems like you entered the red light district. There are suggestive images on the walls and even a pole in the middle. The guys seem to be too distracted by the spicy surroundings almost forgetting you’re there.

“C’mon lets get into the next one before you start getting ideas!” You pull them and they laugh realising they were staring.

Entering a a pink area the environment feels more tropical with flamingo light structures everywhere. Taeyong seems to really like that room and you recall a previous conversation where he told you this is his favourite color.

The last room of the exhibit is a combination of all colors making you feel like you entered a scene from Alice’s wonderland.

“Wow, that was really cool!” Taeyong sounds like a kid who just went on his first rollercoaster ride as you get out of the museum.

“I know right?” You agree. “But I gotta say, that orange room made me hungry, should we go somewhere to eat?”

“Yes, I’m starving!” Jaehyun supports your suggestion.

You all head off to a near by restaurant that seems to carry the neon light theme.

“Now I see why you wore white today, you’re shining brighter than all the lights in the room.” Taeyong complements you making you blush a little. Luckily they can’t see that over the lighting in the room.

You order some drinks that funny enough reflect the neon colors all around and come in glasses that look like lab material. You make a toast to having a good time together as the food arrives.

The conversation is cheerful but you can’t help feel like Jaehyun is holding back a little. Could he feel intimidated by the other guy who seems to be having the time of his life?

Taeyong really has changed is attitude and you’re glad he did. He gave you the chance to get to know him better and get closer to him, bonding over all the things you have in common and even the ones you don’t carefully listening and learning from each other.

Jaehyun seemed to have this fight in him before but now he seems to be too relaxed. Could it be that because you gave him a quick kiss on your last date he got comfortable and started taking his position in the competition for granted?

As you wrap up the meal the three of you go for a walk admiring the city lights before you head back.

You say goodbye to the boys when you leave the car and enter the mansion taking a deep breath. This week all dates went pretty well making it harder for you to decide on someone to send home.

You join the boys in the cocktail party that are excitedly talking about all their experiences this week. They welcome you in, encouraging you to give your perspective on all the activities, which you gladly do before you start talking to them individually.

As there are less and less people in the house it’s easier to catch up with all of them before making the ultimate decisions of the night.

The first one to call you outside is Taeyong. You could still feel the rush from the date exuding out of him as he excitedly thanks you for taking him to the museum. You understood is a very cultured guy that enjoys these type of activities which is something that attracts you in him. Despite all the happiness he also discloses how worried he is thinking he might have taken too long to try and build a connection with you but he’s glad you were willing to take a chance on him which you assure him you don’t regret doing at all.

The next bachelor to talk to you is Jaemin. As always, your heart skips a beat when he takes your hand and leads you to sit outside. As always, he wants to know how you’re feeling and if there’s something going on inside your head. As always, you let it all out with him, this week went really well but that actually makes it harder for you to make a decision. As always, he comforts you and makes you feel like everything in the world will turn out alright as long as you’re by his side. And as always you feel like your heart is going to explode with this inexplainable connection you have with this guy since day one.

After a while you see Jeno walk outside and Jaemin calls him out leaving you two to talk. Just like Taeyong, Jeno still looks pretty excited from the date. You’ve been growing closer and closer to him and you’re not sure if this is a good things because everything is getting so messy inside your head. Nevertheless you enjoy every single second by his side and you appreciate all the efforts you see from him, trying to open up more to you and even around the others too. He does seem to be here for the right reasons and you definitely appreciate all the effort.

Next in line is Jaehyun. Now this is a hard to read guy. Sometimes he seems so in sync with you, other times so off. Some moments you spent together in the past drew you close to him and made you imagine a possible future but other times it feels like he’s not really here, or maybe he just got too comfortable. You start to regret going back and giving him that kiss. Maybe if you didn’t he would still make an effort to earn it. Tonight he talks to you like you’re the only person on the planet but in the date with Taeyong he didn’t feel like the same person. As you get closer to the finish line and choosing the man you want to share your life with, could this be a setback?

Finally you spend some time with Yuta. You’re glad you chose him for the only individual date you had this week because you haven’t had that much alone time with him almost since the beginning of this journey. Of course you talk to him in the other cocktail parties and in the group dates, but it’s different. When he mentioned he felt like you two were losing your connection you felt bad because you realised you felt the same way and you don’t want that. He’s a very nice guy and you’d like to keep him around. Even if he’s not the one you end up with you’d still like to keep him as a friend because he’s an incredible person to have in anyone’s life. You’re glad you were able to reconnect with him this week and realise that some of that initial sparkle between the two of you is still there.

After talking to all of them you feel as confused as ever. All of them have strong points on their favour and you’ll really have to evaluate what’s more important to you. It breaks your heart having to send people home week after week but you came here to find love. One true love. You just didn’t expect the production to do such a nice job casting and presenting you such amazing guys the make you more confused than you ever thought you’d be in this journey.

Before Chris comes to take you upstairs, you take some time to talk to all the guys in a group again. It feels good to be here drama free. The environment seems lighter and you all joke and laugh having a genuine good time. You like seeing them all get along despite being in a competition against each other. The good mood helps them focus on what they’re really doing here and that’s proving they’re the one for you, not bickering with each other and forgetting you’re the one they should impress, not each other.

Chris finally enters the room and you know it’s time to reflect on the outcome of tonight. You thought that by now you’d have your mind made up but you’re as confused as ever.

“One more week has passed, how are you feeling?” Chris asks as you two sit down in the decisions room.

“Mixed feelings inside me Chris.” You honestly say. “I feel like I’m really bonding with all of them so it’s really hard to think of someone to let go of.”

“Very understandable. How did you find it not giving out roses ahead of today?”

“It was weird but it was also good because I genuinely wanted to give a rose to everybody after the dates!” You two laugh.

“Well we couldn’t have that!”

“It’s really harder than it looks, I’m not only breaking their hearts but I’m also hurting myself a little bit by sending someone home.”

“Do you have any idea of how you’ll make the decision tonight?”

“I think at this stage I have to think about every single detail to be able to single some one out.”

“It is a hard and important decision as every week. I will leave you to it and be back in awhile so you can share the verdict with the nervous boys downstairs.”

“Thank you Chris.”

As he leaves the room you once again stare at the pictures on the wall trying to make sure you don’t regret whatever choices you make tonight. You feel like you can see a future with any of these 5 men but that’s not how it works, you came here to find the one and for that you’ll have to send them home one by one until you get to him.

You and Chris walk down the stairs joining the 5 boys that anxiously await to hear your decisions.

“Good evening gentleman. 5 of you stand before us but there are only 4 roses to be handed out tonight so that means one of you will be grabbing his things and going back home.” Chris then turns to you. “Y/N, whenever you’re ready.”

You thank him as he leaves the room and grab the first rose facing the guys.

“Before I start let me say I really like every single one of you and I feel like we’re building very strong connections. Unfortunately I can’t keep you all here. I want to find love and I’m modern and open minded but not that much.”

You all laugh at your comment and then you take a deep breath before starting calling them out.

“Jaemin.”

His eyes sparkle hearing his name.

“Do you accept this rose?”

“Absolutely.” You two smile as you pin the rose to his jacket. “Thank you, Y/N.”

He walks back as you pick up another one.

“Taeyong.”

The boy widens his already big eyes.

“Do you accept this rose?”

“One thousand times yes!” You feel him shake under your touch. “Thank you so much.”

You grab the next rose.

“Jeno.”

He sighs in relief.

“Do you accept this rose?”

“You scared me there for a second! Of course I do.” You giggle as you pin the rose. “Thank you.”

You bite your lip as you take the last rose on the bowl.

“Yuta.”

A smile opens up on his face as he steps forward.

“Do you accept this rose?”

“Definitely.” You pin it to his jacket. “Thank you so much.”

Chris walks back in.

“Jaehyun, that means that unfortunately you and Y/N are not meant to be. Thank you for being with us. You can now say your goodbyes.”

The other bachelors gather around hugging him. You patiently wait until he finally comes your way.

“I’m so sorry…” You mutter.

“It’s ok, Y/N.” Jaehyun wraps his arms around you, pulling your shaky body in for a hug. “I’d have to go eventually. Your prince charming is here but I knew I’m not him.”

“Thank you for everything, Jaehyun.” You say when he lets go, wiping a tear that fell on his cheek.

“I didn’t think it would be this hard to go.” He chuckles. “But it’s time, thank you, I had a great time.”

You watch him walk out with sadness in your eyes. The other guys gather around you understanding how hard these decisions are. As you get closer to the finish line it’s practically impossible not to get emotional when someone leaves. You only hope Jaehyun is right and your prince charming is really amongst these 4 men.

In the next episode:

4 guys remain on the quest for love and it gets harder not only for the bachelorette but also for the bachelors:

“You should be careful, you’re getting a little too cocky.”

“I feel like I’m deluding myself.”

“What are you talking about?”

And someone else will go back home.

“I knew it was only a matter of time.”

“I really don’t want to go.”

Stay tuned for next weeks episode premiering 01/08.

☽ ・・・・・ ☾

Episode 8

a/n: jaeeeeeeee T_T I know this chapter is way smaller than the other ones and I’m posting this later than usual but I was out of the country this week with zero time to write so apologies if this feels rushed… I promise to do better in the future! (for real this time) also want to wish a happy birthday to the person who commented on this episode’s voting that this will be their birthday 🥳 do give me some feedback please! ❤

taglist: @skrtbabe @yutahoes @yokshi-unbeliebubble @nakamotonudes @n0hyuck @negincho @love-and-other-possibilities @readers-posts @sylviacxt @tyongf-sunflower99 @princessjunnie

If you’d like to be included in the taglist for the series do let me know ❤︎

#cznnet #nctcreations #kpopscape #the bachelorette nct edition #nct imagine #taeyong imagine #yuta imagine #jaehyun imagine #jeno imagine #jaemin imagine

25 notes · View notes

ms-a-z-u-l · 4 years

Text

More than Gold (Caster Gilgamesh x Reader)

Summary: There was something she didn’t realized over the course of time she stayed, and it was that from the moment she arrived, there was not a single woman coming out his chamber anymore.

Category: Angst, Romance

Warnings: Only forced kissing if that counts

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A/N- This was the one I so far liked the most out of the three, so thank you for reading and hope anyone likes it!🦋

(Also I wrote this in one night and by the end my brain was malfunctioning :v )

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The first time he saw her was when Enkidu was still alive. Claiming to have lost her way from a place called Chaldea, she didn’t know how to get back and fortunately saw the city of Uruk from a distance. Mind you, this was also at the time Gilgamesh had no shame in bedding any woman he wished for, married or not. Did he had the same plans for her when he saw her so lost and nowhere to reside? At that moment, yes he did, but this time he somehow wanted to take his time taking her to his chambers, not forcefully but willingly.

Plans change however. She was more defiant, although not in an overbearing, annoying way that would get someone else executed. She was full of sarcasm, and rejected any type of advances from his in a smooth way that even left him dumbfounded. Her retorts were always given with a small, cocky smile, as if she was the one laying the cards in the table, winning the game.

By that point, the king had mostly given up on his initial plan and overtime just let her stay, unconsciously getting used to her presence.

Everything was serene until after his best friend’s death. It left him numb, and afraid of dying himself, losing everything in the process. Everyone around noticed the change in demeanor. Most of the time, it looked as if he was lost, but no one dared say anything. She was the exception though.

It wasn’t the first time she had seen his chamber, he had sometimes been insistent that she wake him up, and lately it wasn’t because he had other intentions but simply because he wanted to hear her. But now the situation was different. It started with her checking up on him and ended in having the king’s wrapped around her waist and neck.

“You won’t do it” he heard her say calmly. For the position they were in, she didn’t look scared at all. “And what makes you think that? I’m not in my right mind at the moment and I can do what I please with anyone, including you” He sneered, holding her more tightly.

“Because it wouldn’t make it any better, it won’t really satisfy you” She managed to choke out as his grip on her neck was getting stronger. Gilgamesh stared at her for a couple of seconds, as if completing his next move. A moment later, she could see he had made a decision and before he took action he simply said, “Then you’re the most foolish woman” He smashed his lips against hers, rough and immediately pushing his tongue past her closed teeth aggressively, wanting to taste her more. She wasn’t reciprocating at all but wasn’t pushing him away, just letting him kiss her to his whim. His grip on her neck had loosened, and after pulling away for air not before pulling on her lower lip and started trailing kisses down her jaw and neck. It was when he placed in her shoulder blade that she felt it. Trailing down her arm slowly, she felt as tear by tear started falling and he had stopped nay ministration on her body. His hands were holding onto her wrist, head laying on her shoulder as he let the tears fall silently.

Feeling for him, she hesitantly raised a hand and placed it in his blonde locks, slightly stroking. Gilgamesh was holding tightly onto the fabric of her dress like a lifeline and didn’t let go until calming down and he was able to speak, more rationally this time. “I don’t know what to do, y/n, if to go and kill that cursed goddess or just stay until death eventually takes me as well. Tell me, what do I do”

She felt his anger, his frustration, but most of all she felt how much the king missed his friend, the one that he could ever see as equal now taken away so cruelly. Even remembering Enkidu’s soft expression and light smiles, it felt like a pierce through the heart. it had affected everyone who knew him, but everyone knew it inwardly destroyed the young king. As y/n continued stroking his hair, she stared outside at the now dark sky. Trying to find her words, she started, “I believe that answer can be found by only you. You can go and kill her, you can stay still. Scream, cry, curse. Or- you can choose to be a king, protect your people even from the gods and watch as your city grows. I don’t know what he would’ve wanted, I can’t put my words in his mouth, but he understood you as you did he. I’m sure you would want to fulfill any promise left. And I know he wouldn’t have wanted you to be alone, which is why Siduri and I are here. We cant replace him, of course, but we’re here in our own way, Gilgamesh. Whatever you decide to do, this time I won’t defy.”

Moments passed as he contemplated. What did HE wanted to do? As he though about it, he raised his head and came to his decision. Instead of letting death take him, he would find a way to win over it. He had a duty, and it was to see the life of humanity and its progressive path. He couldn’t do that if he died before it ended. Making his decision, he fully looked at y/n. “I’m not dying. Even if it takes me to the underworld, I will find a way to live until it’s the end for everyone. I’m going away for a while. I trust you and Siduri will take care of things here for me, so just hold still until then.”

“I won’t dare ask how long its going to take, so alright. This time I’ll follow orders from you, your majesty” He knew that tone, the one she used to lighten the mood whenever he was tense. It seems it never failed as it pulled a small smirk form him. “Look at you so obedient, I would’ve hoped you were like that regarding other things too.” He retorted suggestively. She knew however, it wasn’t a serious implication as it used to be before and laughed mockingly, “Ha! Right, I would’ve been out of the ziggurat by now if I gave in so easily”

He huffed indignantly, “You would’ve been the first woman I wanted to keep” She stayed quiet at that, sort of put off and not knowing how to take that comment, didn’t even noticed he had a hold of her hands, “You... still kept me here though”

“At first it was still in attempt to lure you in, but I must admit I now have other reasons I won’t tell until I come back” He stated, looking at her quiet curiously with a glint in his eyes. “Keeping me in suspense I see” she sighed and continued, “Alright, I’ll wait here then, not like there’s an alternative. But promise me this” Eyeing her curiously, he answered, “Making commands now?”

“A promise I said. I want you to not only come back, but to come back being you, being who you find yourself to be out there, and knowing that we’ll be the first ones to see you back in Uruk. Looking ahead and finally figured out what you need to do in reality, not what duty was assigned to you.” He looked at her incredulously, having expected to ask something for herself. “You aren’t greedy at all, aren’t you”

“I am, believe me for what I’m asking you, I am. But that’s also something I won’t say until you come back.” She said shaking his hands holding hers. “Fine, I’ll grant you that one wish as much as I can” Y/n smiled at his answer and held his hands tighter. “I’ll be waiting here then, how long it takes, Gilgamesh” before letting go of his hands, she leaned in quickly and placed a chaste kiss in the corner of his lips. She hurriedly walked to the door outside, and before leaving, she swore she could hear the words, “I won’t lose you to them either.”

...............................

A long time passed until y/n saw Gilgamesh coming back from his journey, and as promised, her and Siduri were the first ones he saw. He was different, longer hair and much less clothes than he worse before. But it wasn’t only that. She could see it, something had indeed changed in him and just from that, y/n could tell he came through with his promise. The king didn’t obtain immortality, but he realized it wasn’t something he needed any longer.

After more time passed, y/n hadn’t seen the king much after he came back until the particular morning Siduri woke her up and said Gilgamesh wanted to see her at his throne. When she got there he still was not there and waited a few minuted. When she heard footsteps and looked up, greeted by a different sight she expected. He looked different with purple markings on both his shoulders and a horned garment atop his head. He still minimum clothing, that hasn’t changed. Although a bit shocked, nonetheless she knew it was him, and she let a soft smile take over as he walked up and sat on his throne. Leaning his hatching on his left hand, he offered his right one to you. “Standing a few feet away, she questioned, “Yeah, before that, you haven’t told me what you said you were gonna keep until now”

“You tell me yours first and I will” Y/n grunted, persistence in her gaze, but after seeing he wasn’t going to let up, she silently agreed. Taking a deep breathe and preparing to say what she considers the most embarrassing thing, she answers. “It was you. I said I was greedy because I wanted you to be back, and I wanted to be the first one to see you, and that’s why I wanted you to promise that. Because despite how you were before and the certain intention you had with me, you allowed me to see more than that. You allowed me to see a vulnerable side and less harsher side, the side that felt lonely and the side that could actually consider someone else a friend. I know you had more than the king who took everything for himself, and I honestly found all sides admiring in a way. But that’s why I’m greedy, because I wanted you back no matter how many years it took, and because honestly I’ve been wanting to feel you in not just one way, but I had more pride than i allowed myself to show.” After she finished, y/n noticed Gilgamesh’s still stretched hand. He was still waiting for her to take it after all that, “My answer is short, by taking my hand and standing beside me you should know it, so stop stalling woman, and I’ll make sure to make you more greedy as you spend your life with me” widening her eyes slightly, she gaped at him, a little bit of red on her cheeks. Collecting herself, she walked up and took his hand, rough and calloused.

She intertwined hers finger with his and held tightly as he as he pulled her to stand beside his throne. They both looked ahead as the sun was becoming brighter and brighter, still loosely holding hands.

“You and him. Indeed you are more than all the gold I could ever have”

#fate grand order #fate go #caster gilgamesh #gilgamesh #caster gilgamesh x reader #gilgamesh x reader #fate series #angs #romance #writing #fanfic #one shot

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miruko-will-fight-god · 4 years

Text

Class 1A x Immortal reader

Warnings: death, Reader death (But revival), talks of pain

Reader info:

Quirk: Complete Restoration (This quirk allows the reader to completely heal from any injury, even allowing them to regrow organs and limbs)

A/N: I swear this isn’t angst, tbh I dont even know what to call this since it isnt fluff, crack, or angst enjoy anyway tho (Also Mineta is replaced with Shinso but that shouldn’t really be a problem lol)

You walked into the room of class 2-A greeted by the faces of your new classmates and Eraser Head, who you had met a few days prior, was lying on the floor wrapped up in his blindingly yellow sleeping bag. You walked through the door, the exhausted teacher sluggishly sitting up. “Alright, introduce yourself quickly, we have things to do afterwards” he grumbles before slouching back down.

You stepped beside the podium, reciting your rehearsed introduction from memory “Hello, I’m [Y/N] [L/N], I’m a new transfer from [Country]. I look forward to getting to know you all!” You finished, looking over towards Aizawa who was now standing, only half covered in his sleeping bag. “Alright,” he said, “now that that's over with, everyone get suited up and meet me at ground gamma.”

You followed the rest of the class towards the lockers to change into your costumes Your costume was simple, it consisted of a simple black full bodysuit that had two large pockets running down the outer sides of your legs containing rope for restraining, and some combat boots. Since your quirk didn’t give you any offensive properties, your weapon of choice was a scythe, which was quite noticeable as you paraded out of the locker room with it.

You, Ahisdo, Shinso and Midoriya were the first ones out of the locker rooms. You stood in awe of the massive industrial training grounds, as Ashido and Midoriya tried to convince you to tell them what your quirk is and Shinso looked like he was planning. As the rest of the class gathered up, you were greeted by your grumpy homeroom teacher and the frail form of all might. When all of you had arrived, All might began to brief you all on the exercise. “Today the battle will be a free for all, The border will be marked by a large red line that will shrink every minute, get pushed out of the border and you’re out, become immobilized, you’re out. Someone will win when they’re the last person standing within the border. We’ll give a 45 second grace period, for you all to get into a position, just make sure that you stay within the border.” He finished explaining. “Does everyone got it?” he asked, eliciting varying ‘yeses’ from you and your classmates. Before the class was told to begin Aizawa added something on. “One more thing, [L/N] and Shinso” your features became riddled with confusion. “As you most likely guessed this test will be an evaluation of you skills. And if I feel like your lacking what it takes to remain in this class, I will expel you.” You jumped at the notion of expelling while Shinso only narrowed his eyes, you knew that Eraserhead has expelled entire classes of students before, you were no exception to this.

You calmed your nerves just as the pair gave the signal for the grace period to start. All of you ran in, some moving faster than others due to their quirks. An overly loud horn blew throughout the arena just as you reached a safe area near the edge of the border.

‘I guess that was the signal’ you thought, starting to come up with a plan

You knew that you had the benefit of them not knowing your quirk, you were told of them and their quirks and you remember seeing them in the sports festival from last year. So your best bet would be sneak attacks and to knock people out of the border since you only had a limited amount of rope, you figured the stronger and more ballsy of your peers would be near the center, so the majority would be around the outskirts like you.

You were taken out of your thoughts by tape narrowly avoiding your face. You towards your right, to find the person of origin perched on top of a pipe. You readied your weapon in front of you, The memory of the sports festival last year coming back to you. The grip you kept on your weapon tightened as you ran towards Sero, dogging and cutting tape as it was shot as you. Once you were close enough to the pipe you jumped up, hitching your scythe into a vertical pipe adjacent to where you were jumping using the momentum to pull yourself up. As your feet landed on the metal with a soft thud, you pulled your weapon out, grasping it with both hands.

Without hesitation you run towards your current opponent, making your way between the two streams of tape he shot at you. Once he was within range of your weapon, turning the blade around so he was hit with the heel of your scythe. You watched as he fell off of the pole landing on his butt. Before he had a chance to get up or even register the slight pain in his tailbone, the large red line marking the perimeter began to move inward, leaving him outside the line. You slightly felt bad but remembered that there was still a challenge going on. However you knew you were definitely going to be apologizing.

Your next destination was closer to the center of the arena. While it was still fairly early in the game, you had no doubt that quite a few people were out. After a while navigating, only accompanied by the sound of your footsteps and the sound of fights off in the distance. Before you knew it you reached what you assumed was the center. Primarily due to the fact that the area seemed more cleared out compared to other places in the structure. The area seemed almost under ground due to the lack of pipes at the bottom but random pipes acting similar to a roof only letting stray beams of light worming their way to the ground. Within the large cleared out area three people stood the arena. Three who you recognized from their files Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugou, and Hitoshi Shinso.

You remembered them specifically since one only transferred to the hero course this year, and the other two were fairly powerful. From where you stood you noticed a few other people, their either eyes trained on the scene in front of them waiting for an opportune moment to take one of them out or fighting someone else. The boys were currently engaged in a three-way battle trying their best to keep each other at bay while also trying to keep each other down.

The boy in the green seemed to have a slight advantage since he seemed more skilled in close ranged hand-to-hand combat than the others. The blonde was stuck primarily on defense and the purple haired boy seemed to have a decent balance between defense and offense. You remembered Aizawa’s words, the threat of expulsion still slightly terrifying you. You took a deep breath and formulated a plan.

As the battle continued you scaled your way up the pipes avoiding the other spectators. You eventually made you way to the end of a pipe that led directly over the battle- well as direct as you could be considering how much they moved around. You did your best to stay as quiet as possible as your made your way across the pipe until something caught your eye. Quite a bit ahead of you, the pipe got unstable due to it missing quite a few screws. It was unstable enough that probably if you applied enough pressure the pipe would collapse causing a domino effect to the few pipes below it. You knew if you spent anymore time thinking it over you would psych yourself out of it.

You got a running start and jumped onto the pip fell with it was everything collapsed. The trio below you saw and each to appropriate actions to save themselves. Bakugou jumping back using the force of explosions to power himself back. Shinso using his capture weapon to move larger pieces of debris out of his way. Deku jumping off of the falling rubble to make sure none of it fell on himself.

That portion of the Arena was covered in a layer of dust causing everyone to cough. As the dust started to settle, letting everyone open their eyes and get fresh breaths of air into their lungs, that's when they noticed it. You were dead…? You laid on top of the rubble, only small pieces laying on top of you. There was quite a noticeable head wound, and a hole in your stomach. Almost like a piece of metal had passed clean through you.

No one dared to move, the sight of a dead body causing some of them gag, trying to keep the bile in their stomachs. No one’s eyes dared to stay fixated on anything your body, like if they looked away you would really be dead. The most stoic of your classmates were unable to keep their unwavering facades together. Everyone's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden yelling from the pile of wreckage “THAT HURT LIKE A BITCH!” You yelled, sitting up unaware of the state of your classmates. Tears started to flow as some of them finally gained the courage to run up to you bombarding you with questions.

You chuckled at the familiar questions of “what?” “how?” “weren’t you dead?” Aizawa looked through the screen, a shock that was unknown to his colleague riddled his mind. He knew what your quirk was, but he didn’t know it was to that extent. He had seen healing quirks at work before, but he had never seen someone just come back to life like that. Aizawa ended the training session early giving you his logical ruse spiel while also reprimanding you for being that reckless.

Soon enough lunch rolled around, and you sat with a large group of one 1-A students ending up next to the green haired boy from earlier. As soon as you sat down you were bombarded with questions before you chuckled. “I can’t answer all your questions at once, one at a time please.” Midoriya asked his questions first which were basically all the practical ones.

“What is your quirk?”

“It’s called complete restoration, I’m just able to heal any injury on myself, including ones that are fatal.”

“So you’re immortal?”

“Pretty Much.” you answered curtly, continuing to stuff your face.

“Do you feel pain?” a red head asked sheepishly. “Not in the slightest! But I can tell when I get hurt, it’s like some sort of sixth sense. And “dying” is practically just waking up from that weird falling feeling ” You shrugged. “But it makes it really fun to jump off of buildings and stuff!” you finished giggling. Your classmates looked at you with a mix of awe and disbelief, continuing to ask questions throughout the lunch period.

#Bnha #Mha #mha imagines #bnha imagines #Class 1a #class 1-a x reader #bnha x reader #reader insert #Katsuki Bakugou #Izuku Midoriya #Hitoshi Shinso #eijiro kirishima #Mina Ashido #Shouta Aizawa #Toshinori Yagi #Possible Part 2 I just wouldnt know what to do with it #I rlly like the potential for this quirk #I only added a scythe cuz before I wrote this I had just rewatched soul eater for the 5th time #tw: death

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inventors-fair · 3 years

Text

Club Decks: What We Play

Fifteen decks, fifteen archetypes, fifteen strategies. For my students, not everyone can make a good deck, and/or they don’t necessarily have the resources to make what they’d like. Commander and stuff is the most difficult, but they enjoy Oathbreaker with the inexpensive and more or less accessible planeswalkers, and they don’t usually worry about Standard, Modern, or Pioneer.

Club decks have a number of cards of different rarities that I use to model them off of my first starter decks, back in Alara. There’s a fair amount of repeats and a good chunk of power, and they’re easy enough to model so that students can make their own.

Depending on the year (2020-21 being pretty disruptive), there are different criteria for “leveling up,” which means beating a number of students and then beating me to get a booster pack and a level in my ledger. There’s no limit, except you can’t level up more than once a week. Hey, I make enough to make kids happy, but not enough to give them a zillion packs.

Below the cut are my club decks, some notable cards, and why I made them the way that I did. Enjoy this little slice of Magic! If you’re looking to start similar programs or you’d like details as to how things are run, let me know and I can provide extended decklists and explanations.

1. White Equipment Voltron

Notable cards include:

Healer’s Hawk

Taj-Nar Swordsmith

Strata Scythe

Little things turn into big things. With a little bit of destruction and a whole lotta keywords, this deck is all about building up to a single aggressive Voltron creature that wrecks shop. It’s good about teaching different card types and keyword interactions, and hey, it feels good to swing with an 11/11 creature that started off as a 1/1, right?

2. Blue Tempo Control

Notable cards include:

Pestermite

Everdream

Tidespout Tyrant

This is the deck for advanced players. The big blue comes out with a lot of disruption, and this is the deck that often gets described as either “unfun” or “my favorite deck.” Bounce it, counter it, bounce my land to cycle, return your threat, disrupt, and so on and so forth. Not every deck has a difficulty curve like this, but it’s satisfying to say the least.

3. Black Sacrifice Everything

Notable cards include:

Butcher Ghoul

Whisper, Blood Liturgist

Priest of Forgotten Gods

“Synergistic” is an understatement. The number of death triggers and sacrifice triggers can easily win someone a game if they know how to interact properly. Forcing decisions upon your opponent and exploiting some awesome stuff from your side of the field makes this deck easy to play if you want to have things die and VERY easy if you know how to manipulate the board.

4. Red Discard into Madness

Notable cards include:

Spinehorn Minotaur

Dragon Mage

Glint-Horn Buccaneer

I’ll admit, this deck is a bit of a pet project and one of my favorites. Ditching cards to draw cards feels great to me! I love madness, I love looting, and I love throwing a bunch of stuff away to make big things before getting it all back later. As much tuning as it needs, this deck is another advanced joy for people that love to make niche ideas work to the best of their ability.

5. Green Lands & Boys

Notable cards include:

Timbermaw Larva

Howl of the Night Pack

Kalonian Twingrove

Sometimes you just want an easy ramp deck. The small end of this gets lands and has some landfall, and the big end just wrecks shop with the big and powerful creatures that we all know and love from green. It’s easy to play and it’s easy to win with and sometimes, stomping is all you need to do. A great card for the Tim-Tams of the world.

6. UW Fliers Beatdown

Notable cards include:

Squadron Hawk

Watcher of the Spheres

Windreader Sphinx

I recently got my butt handed to me with this deck, and it’s not to be trifled with. Each deck has its own kind of evasion and whatnot, but this deck has got the early-game down and the late-game? Unstoppable. It’s designed to massacre you in the air and that’s what it does. Pumps, beats, and more. One of the first decks the kids loved.

7. UB Surveil Control

Notable cards include:

Notion Rain

Price of Fame

Thief of Sanity

“Really?” Yeah, well, here’s the thing: I built this deck when I didn’t have a whole lot of spare cards sorted, and that’s why I did it. As a block mechanic, though, surveil really is fun, and as a control player, the deck is pretty darn sweet. It’s beefy, powerful, and great flavor for the city. Fun fact: the Thief of Sanity I had is actually a misprint! It’s missing the rare sticker.

8. RB Goblins Snarl Rage Win

Notable cards include:

Goblin Instigator

Fodder Launch

Weirding Shaman

And this is another deck that the kids absolutely love. Fast fun, and furious, Goblins is a great tribal introduction that people go to when they want to show how easy and cheeky it can be. Burn ‘em out, make ‘em attack, turn ‘em sideways. This isn’t necessarily an easy deck, but if all you know is attacking, then you’re golden. Or, you can kill someone only through noncombat damage!

9. RG Monsters of the Jungle

Notable cards include:

Ruination Wurm

Footfall Crater

Mina and Denn, Wildborn

This is, surprisingly, the deck with what I feel is the lowest barrier to entry. You give big things trample. Now, there IS a fair bit of complexity in the number of combat tricks, with some buffs and some bloodrush cards along with it, but everyone knows that big things are big. The difference is in the variety of strategies available to you with access to red mana.

10. GW Token Swarm

Notable cards include:

Raise the Alarm

Selesnya Guildmage

Growing Ranks

If you can be fast with this deck, then you can run someone over faster than they could ever react. If you can be slow with this deck, you can build up enough life and army power that you literally can’t be beat. There’s a lot to love about this deck and it’s not as easy as it might seem. Tokens are popular with a subset of MTG players, and I’m glad that they have lots of support.

11. BW Ghosts of your Past

Notable cards include:

Pillory of the Sleepless

Vizkopa Guildmage

Ethereal Absolution

Basically, this is in the same vein as the surveil deck, but like the surveil deck, this has been modified so you get the best out of the deck. There’s a little nasty sacrifice, some draining, lots of good stuff. This is a deck for players who want to be mean, but with the option to beat down as well. After all, the best games are one you play in good spirits!

12. GB Elves Reclamation

Notable cards include:

Eyeblight’s Ending

Shaman of the Pack

Immaculate Magistrate

Everyone loves elves. Except for the people that hate elves. You get them out, go wide, or go narrow. Either way, you’re beating in face. This deck can be impossibly fast and I love it, but without breaching the barrier of being overpowered. Heck, I’ve won and lost with all of these decks, but elves put up a struggle, and I love that for them.

13. UG Defenders and Butts

Notable cards include:

Axebane Guardian

Assault Formation

Feed the Pack

I’ve been 100% blown out by this deck before by a student who I underestimated. That’s fantastic. This is the kind of deck that students don’t understand until they see it being played, and that’s honestly great. It’s fantastic to watch them learn and I love watching them pull out all the stops to get the biggest butts possible. Can’t beat seventeen angry wolves!

14. UR Spellslinging Recursion

Notable cards include:

Thermo-Alchemist

Thoughtflare

Call the Skybreaker

Flashback, Jump-Start, and Retrace: people love to cast spells. There’s so much fun stuff that can happen in a stormlike brew, and though it’s definitely not storm, it encourages playing spells, and that’s what makes it fun. It appeals to burn and control players alike and makes them feels skillful to the max. It’s Izzet in everything but perfect flavor.

15. RW Combat Control

Notable cards include:

Thatcher Revolt

Intimidation Bolt

Citadel Siege

I actually let my kids down with this deck before. It was an underpowers Firesong and Sunspeaker deck, and it just wasn’t working. What else can you do? Blow things up and make ‘em big. This deck is a powerhouse of unimaginable proportions and I love playing with it. Smart combat makes for some tricky strategy, and it’s humbling for the reckless opponnent.

That’s all for now! Ask me about questions and I’ll tell you no lies. And hey, if you know any kids, play around with ‘em and see how they engage with MTG. What do they lean to? How can you use that to teach them? It’s an amazing game and I’m glad to be sharing it with you, too.

—Abelzumi

#mtg #magic the gathering #inventor's fair #tuesday blog #student judges #education

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jungshookz · 4 years

Note

I would love a uni!yoongi & y/n drabble💓💜

🌿pairing; min yoongi x reader

🌿genre; uni!yoongi, university!au, fluffy fluffy fluff!!!!!!! uni!yoongi owns my heart and my whole ASS

🌿wordcount; 2.8k

🌿what to expect; “and another fun fact! the mistletoe plant actually contains toxic amines, and eating its berries can cause vomiting and stomach pain.”

🌿note; outraGEOUS that a mistletoe emoji has yet to exist!!!! unfortunately i wasn’t able to do a 12 drabbles of christmas this year due to finals but i hope this drabble makes up for it :-) if i’m a little rusty it’s only because this is the first drabble i’ve written in a while,..,,. hopefully i’ll have another drabble up before christmas!!! happy reading :^)

»»————-　✼　————-««

if yoongi had a dollar for every time he wanted to scream at you for being denser than a block of tofu he would most definitely be a billionaire

he’s had this thought time and time again but he really doesn’t understand how someone so smart can be so dumb at the same time

he could be holding up a flashing neon sign pointing to him that said ‘i 100% like you and am giving you the green light to ask me out so all you have to do is ask!’ and you would still be like .,.,.y’all hear sumn?

anyways he doesn’t have time to think about when you’re finally going to make a move because it’s that time of the semester ladies and gents

yep

it’s finals season

now, traditionally, the way yoongi handles finals season is that he kind of just goes with the flow

as in he goes to the library and studies for two hours and decides that that’s enough time and dedication he’s putting into a particular class so he pretty much deserves the rest of the day off

and this technique has worked ever since his first year in uni so he’s stuck with it ever since

as long as he doesn’t flunk out of anything he’s fine!!!

but since getting to know you yoongi has adopted new techniques into his studying routine that doesn’t just include skimming over poorly taken notes from class for 5 minutes and then scrolling through instagram for 45 minutes and then taking a 2 hour nap

no no

now he has highlighted notes

now he has insanely detailed google docs

now he has flash cards

and not just flash cards

colour coordinated flash cards

crazy, isn’t it???

this is probably your guys’ fifth study session together and yoongi doesn’t want to toot his own horn or anything but he thinks he’s going to absolutely nail this chemistry final

he can tell anyone about the main types of chemical reactions without blinking

that’s how confident he is about his knowledge

and he knoWs it’s all because of you which most certainly doesn’t help him suppress his attraction towards you

how can he noT be attracted to the person who’s bumping up his GPA??

but yes

yoongi is confident and he feels like he doesn’t need to go over what synthesis reactions are for the tenth time in a row

(also he forget a stack of flash cards at home that u reminded him three times to bring with him today to which he responded with ‘i’m NOT going to forget them just relax’ and he’s hoping u forgot about them because you don’t play around when it comes to flash cards)

he wants this study session to be a little more lax

a little more chill

a little less conversation and a little more ACTION (but not in,.,. not in a pervy way or anything)

yoongi decided to bring a little special something just to make things a little more interesting aND to celebrate the holidays!!

he’s being festive!!

he even taped strips of jingle bells to the edges of his skateboard :-)

“okay, hydrogen bonds.” you flip your notebook onto its front before whipping around and letting out a breath “hydrogen forms hydrogen bonds with three elements. hydrogen is fun. hydrogen is fOn. hydrogen forms hydrogen bonds with fluorine, oxygen, and nitrogen.”

…yeah that sounds right

you turn back around and flip over your notebook before quickly searching for your notes

yes!!!! you got it!!!! hydrogen is FON!!!! hyDRoGEN iS FON!!!!!

“up top, y/l/n!” you grin widely before giving yourself a high five

niCE

“just when i thought you couldn’t get any weirder.” you jump three feet into the air when you hear yoongi speak up and you let out a breath before placing a hand on your chest

“yoongi!” you clear your throat and lean back against the table a little bit

you’re just going to play it off as if you didn’t just tell yourself to give yourself a high five

“what, uh, what took you so long?”

yoongi raises a brow before checking the time on his phone “i’m three minutes early.”

you turn back a little to look at the time on your laptop

huh

would you look at that

yoongi is early

and of course you’re here before scheduled because of who you are as a person

“…well, what are you doing just standing there? let’s get to work!!” you clap your hands together before looking at yoongi expectantly and gesturing for him to take a seat

“just so that you’re aware, i’m pretty sure i know more about the different types of chemical reactions than you.”

you raise a brow before crossing your arms

that is certainly a vEry bold statement because you could talk about the different types of chemical reaction for hours and hours on end

“oh, really?” you scoff playfully as you turn to wipe down the whiteboard

you’ve been tutoring yoongi for the past couple of weeks without expecting anything in return

honestly it’s just fun to ramble on and on about something that you’re confident about aNd it’s fun to see the panic in his eyes when you ask him a question about what you just talked about

and!!!! teaching someone else about the thing that you have to review yourself is actually a pretty effective studying strategy

you tried the practice test the other night and you got 98% so it’s safe to say you’re going to make this final exam your biTCH-

“yep.” yoongi sighs and leans back against his chair “in fact, i bet you that i’ll get every single one of your questions right this session.”

“what happens if you don’t?”

“if i get even one question wrong, i will… play one of your dumb studying games.”

your eyes widen in excitement

“charades for chemists??” (an exciting upgrade from the original version of charades)

((u have to try to act out a reaction))

((it’s a lot more exciting than it sounds))

“but if i get every single one of your questions right, you’ll have to play one of my games.”

“…what kind of game?”

“you’ll just have to find out, won’t you?” yoongi smiles sweetly “it’s nothing like your dumb charades game, i can tell you that.”

you narrow your eyes suspiciously and yoongi shrugs

there’s no way he’d be able to get all of your questions right

obviously it’d be great if he got all of them right because that means these tutoring sessions are actually working but then again it’s yoongi

yoongi who uses pipettes to squeeze tiny spurts of air in your face just because ‘it’s fun!!’

yoongi who has the balls to juggle glass beakers in the middle of a lab in front of the professor

it’s yoongi

of course the idiotic things he does in class doesn’t exactly correlate to his intelligence

he actually did pretty well on the last lab report

“you have three seconds to decide if you wanna do this or not otherwise the offer’s off the table.” yoongi waves a hand in front of your face and you straighten up a little before sticking your hand out for him to shake

“alright, min yoongi. game on.”

the corner of yoongi’s mouth twitches in a devilish smile

honey, you’ve got a big storm coming.

you flip your notebook open to the page where you have a bunch of practice questions written down and you skim the list

alright

you’ll throw yoongi a bone

“we’ll start off easy. what’s the difference between exothermic and endothermic reaction-“

“endothermic takes in energy - for example, ice melting - and exothermic gives off heat - for example, lighting a match.” yoongi answers without blinking

…

okay

that answer was word for word what you have written down in your notes

you should probably reconsider the whole throwing a bone thing

if anything u should probably take a couple bones away from yoongi

your competitive streak immediately kicks in once you realise the score board is 1-0 and you’re on the 0 end

“what does synthesis gas consist of?” you raise a brow

“before i answer that - you forgot to add a tally under my name.” yoongi points to the whiteboard and you kiss your teeth before whipping around and begrudgingly drawing a tally on the scoreboard “good girl.”

(you’ll never admit to him that hearing him call you that made your stomach do a little flip)

“answer the question.”

“synthesis gas is a fuel gas mixture consisting of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. it intermediates in creating synthetic natural gas and for producing ammonia or methanol.”

.,,.,.and that’s 2-0 to yoongi

what in the hELL is going on

u know what

it’s fine!

it’s fine

maybe he’s just having a lucky day

all he has to do is screw up once

“-due to the conjugation double bond character in alkyl halide.” the fact that yoongi’s inspecting his nails as he answers your final question is oddly vERy irritating

you can’t believe it

yoongi got all 10 of your veRy tricky questions right

you should be proud because it’s because of you that he knows that he’s talking about but at the same time you didn’t think you were doing thAt great of a job at teaching him!!!!

but you’re looking at the scoreboard and it’s 10-0

there are 0 tallies under your name!!! ZERO!!! under youR NAME!!!

and now you have to play yOOngi’s dumb game instead of charades for chemists

if anything it’s his loss

“i told you you have to close your eyes to play my game.” yoongi reaches over to shut your notebook after he catches you glancing at it (to make sure he actually got the answers right and you didn’t misread anything) for the fifth time in two minutes

you have to accept defeat whether you like it or not

you let out a sigh before crossing your arms and shutting your eyes “what are the rules of this game? how does one win?”

“i’m going to show you something-“ you hear yoongi unzip his backpack “and you have to identify what it is and tell me what its purpose is within 30 seconds.”

huh

sounds easy enough

“so i win just by doing that?” your brows furrow and you resist the urge to open your eyes

“i guess you could say that.” you hear yoongi’s footsteps against the carpet and you freeze when you feel him standing right in front of you

“alright, open your eyes.” you immediately open them and-

“so, tell me, y/n-” yoongi lets out a sigh before glancing up at the mistletoe that he’s holding up in between the two of you “what do we have here?”

you swallow thickly and keep your eyes glued on the mistletoe

u know what that is

and u know what its purpose is

you could easily win this game right here and now so u don’t know what’s stopping you

you can feel yoongi staring at you and you know that if you make eye contact with him right now you will definitely combuST into flames

“that’s, um, well, i’m not a, uh, i’m not a botanist or anything, but that is a… that’s mistletoe.” you clear your throat “that is… mistletoe.”

“uh-huh. and, remind me again - isn’t mistletoe particularly special this time of the year?” yoongi hums and takes a step closer to you

you jump a little when you feel the bottom of the whiteboard dig into the small of your back

the little metal tray holding the whiteboard markers clatters a marker plops to the ground but you’ll deal with that later

because now it’s time to do what you do best

D E F L E C T

“mistletoe are actually hemiparasitic plants in which they kinda just suck water and nutrients from their host tress. did you know that?”

yoongi resists the urge to roll his eyes

he knows exactly what you’re doing (out of nervous habit) but for your sake he’ll play along

“oh yeah?”

“yep. and another fun fact! the mistletoe plant actually contains toxic amines, and eating its berries can cause vomiting and stomach pain.”

“…didn’t you say you weren’t a botanist-”

“-but if we’re talking about its relevance to the christmas holidays, then… well, traditionally, people, um, people… kiss underneath them.” you finish quietly and your eyes instinctively flicker down to yoongi’s pouty lips

“i like you a lot, y/n.” yoongi breathes out and you feel your heart hiccup

your cheeks flush and you feel the heat rushing up to your ears

o god

a couple seconds of silence goes by and you wonder if yoongi can hear your heart pounding in your chest

“if you don’t feel the same way, i-“

“i like you too.” you murmur shyly and yoongi lets out what sounds like a breath of relief

before he gets the chance to roAST you for taking so long to finally admit it to him, you’re pushing your lips against his in a gentle kiss with your hand pressed against his cheek

it takes yoongi a second to register that you initiated a kiss with him but once his brain catches up to his body, he starts kissing you back

a smile tugs at his mouth when you take a step closer to him and he automatically loops an arm around your waist before carelessly tossing the mistletoe aside

yoongi tilts his head as he deepens the kiss and the quiet ‘fuck’ he lets out when you nip at his bottom lip almost immediately makes you lightheaded

it’s when you’re reminded that literally anyone passing by the room would be able to see you through the glass door that you drag yourself away (reluctantly) and yoongi unintentionally lets out a whine

“so did i win?” your cheeks are still rosy and your heart is still racing but you’re trying to play it off as if you’re totally cool about kissing yoongi and that you’re totally cool about the mutual attraction between the two of you but that fact that you’re kinda bouncing on the balls of your feet like an excited child is probably not helping your case

and yoongi’s smiling so widely his cheeks are starting to hurt but it’s totally worth it

:-) !!!!

“you won but i’m still marking you down for killing the mood by talking about vomiting and stomach pain.”

help me help you make your wishes come tru (aka send me a request)

drabble tag

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mochideleche · 4 years

Text

You can’t keep away from fate | CH4

Pairing : Percy jackson x demigod!reader

summary : The daughter of destiny- literally, along with inevitability, compulsion and necessity. Being the child of a primordial goddess doesn’t really assure you a quiet calm life but when you return to new york after five years of being shipped off to boarding school, your once mundane life says goodbye.

contents page

Percy was excited for the first game of capture the flag of the spring . School had finally finished and he departed for camp for the week to the north shore of long island - he’d be back in his second home, cabin 2, along with all of his friends and of course- you.

He was scared that you’d change your mind and end up going back to europe whilst he was in the city, and he’d be unable to say goodbye to you- but fortunately you had been persuaded to spend up until the end of spring break training at camp. And of course, during the short time percy spent away you constantly sent iris messages to each other- phones not being a good option, and you had even managed to travel to see him a few times after school.

And now he was pumping with adrenaline, standing at the centre of the forest facing the opposing team - your team. For some reason, he felt the need to win, make you see just how awesome he was in real life, not just from the stories of his past adventures. He was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, readjusting his grip on riptide, ecstatic with exhilaration.

He had managed to catch your gaze, you stood side by side with annabeth- which was common now a days, you two were basically inseparable. Your long caramel hair was tied up in a ponytail, percy could see now that your black roots were more obvious now, perhaps an inch longer than when he first saw you. You held no weapons, which wasn’t fooling percy as he saw the two diamond and pearl bracelets you were wearing which you revealed to him would extend into 2 elegant drakon bone swords.

Your eyes locked onto his , which had been on you for a while now, and he raised an eyebrow at you as if to say “ready to lose?”

You grinned back at him and rolled your eyes, “as if”

Then the horn blew and your two teams retreated into their bases.

Percy was leading a small group defending their base- of course his team had opted him to protect the flag, they wanted to see the two of you fight.

It was common knowledge now that you held a lot of power but no one saw anything of it through the few weeks you had spent there so far. Today was the day they were going to see it, by putting you up against the camp’s most powerful demigod.

“It’s too quiet, you think it’s a trap?” Connor asked, shifted around side to side to check for threats.

“Yeah, it’s not like annabeth to attack late into the game, and clarisse would never want to stay away from a fight” Percy wondered out loud as his group made their way swiftly through the trees.

Then out of nowhere, several arrows rained down on them.

A few of the group immediately held up their broad shields, deflecting the arrows, but that only delayed their attack as multiple campers came as if out of nowhere and began to attack.

Percy was glad to finally have something to do, he slashed and parried as if it was second nature and was able to but the held of his sword into an ares kid’s helmet and he fell to the group with a satisfying THUMP.

Then out of the corner of his eye he saw blur dashing through the trees a few feet away. Surely to have been missed if percy wasn’t doing his best to keep his head attached to his neck.

“Percy go! we can hold them off!” Connor shouted over the heads of his attackers with a cunning grin on his face.

Percy gave him a short nod and ran off into the tress before anyone could stop him.

It wasn’t long till he found the place. The blue flag was stood in the centre of a clearing, which percy was glad to see- and around it curved a creek as if it was protecting it. He saw no sign of anyone there standing by it- including the guard. katie gardener was meant to be protecting it with a few of her siblings but he saw no sign of them...

It was oddly silent, he knew there was something wrong.

He stepped into the clearing, and cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, “Come out then! I’m here!”

And a heard a soft giggle from above.

He cranked his neck and there you stood, arms crossed casually and leaning against the large elm tree you were in, “it isn’t very smart to scream at the top of your lungs when you’re trying to track down an enemy”

Percy smiled up at you.

“The flag’s down here you know, why didn’t you take it?” Percy raised an eyebrow as you pushed yourself off the tree.

You then jumped down, landing with the upmost grace and unfolded your arms, “where’s the fun in that?”

A smirk made it’s way onto percy’s face, “ you sure you know what you’re asking for princess?”

You paused a little then flicked out both hands. The two bracelets extended, unwrapping themselves from your wrists and transforming into two white drakon blades.

You lifted your left sword and beckoned percy forward.

He scoffed, then charged.

He slashed and thrust his sword with all his might but all you did was parried and blocked, not even attempting to hit him. It was almost as if you were putting in no effort, lazily swinging your sword as if your were doing it absentmindedly.

Percy liked to think you hadn’t tried to strike him because he was too fast to give you a chance, but it was more like- you were just making him tired.

As soon as this thought popped into percy’s head, his moves faltered. He’d been so preoccupied with trying to impress you with his excellent swordsmanship that he’d competed forgotten the aim of the game. But as he pondered on this in that millisecond, you crossed both blades over the hilt of his sword and pushed back causing riptide to fly out of percy’s hands and land 20 feet away.

You raised your eyebrows, looked him up and down the jerked your head to the side, trying your best to hide your smile, “is that the best you can do?”

“You play dirty L/N” Percy shook his head, crossing his arms and stood as if he was scolding you.

“Don’t be a sore loser” you chided.

“Who said i was losing?” and with that percy lifted his left arm and swiped it across him.

You looked to your right and saw a turret of water making its way towards you with high velocity.

You immediately put up your hands, your swords retransforming back to your bracelets and you summons a large gust of wind to shield yourself from the water.

The stream made impact with your wall but it was travelling at such a high speed you were pushed back a few feet, your shoes skidding on the dirt.

During this, percy casually made his way to where his sword was lying, but he never made it to it.

Suddenly he felt the water disappear from his control and he looked back just in time to get a face full of the creek. He was thrown off his feet on impact, getting soaked in the process and he felt his back land firmly on the ground.

Percy sputtered, blinking the water out of his eyes and pushing himself up on his elbows.

he had no idea what had happened or why his water had suddenly committed mutiny, but he had no time to worry about that as you grabbed the blue flag and bounded off into the woods.

crap.

Percy pushed himself up but only succeeded in lifting his torso up as he fell back down, his head colliding with the ground, something was pulling him down.

ignoring the throbbing pain in his skull, he craned his neck to look at his feet. There, encasing both his ankles, were two solid mounds of dirt, they looked like they’d been grown around his ankles- but how did that happen?

He frantically looked around but there was nobody there, and the demeter kids were on his team!

But, who else could have done it?

Percy turned his head to the side to see your retreating form running with his team’s flag flying behind you and as he watched you disappear out of sight the mounds of dirt began to crumble and set percy free.

Just how powerful were you?

As soon as you made it back to your base the fighting that was occurring on your side seized, much to the others team’s dismay, and cheers erupted all around you.

Annabeth who had been standing guard hugged you immediately and then followed after that multiple hands were clapped on you back and before you knew it the ares cabin had lifted you up into the air.

It was amazing, you felt so elated. And sooner or later the ares boys holding you up were chanting, “Y/N! Y/N! Y/N!”

You couldn’t help but laugh.

The flag was still in your hand and you couldn’t believe you had actually achieved it, percy did put up quite a fight- you were very sure if you hadn’t got rid of his sword he would’ve skewered you.

the campers of your team were gathered around you, parading their way out of the forest, carrying you along with them.

Over the crowd you saw the other team clapping- at least they were good sports, you saw chiron laughing and grover who was blowing a conch horn. And then, you saw percy- leaning on a tree with his arms crossed.

He was still drenched- and you laughed at the thought, and laughed even more when you imagined the surprised look on his face when he realised that was your doing.

His eyes were narrowed and a smug smile was plastered on his lips as if to say, well played.

You shot him an apologetic smile but it gradually turned into a grin of pure happiness as he slowly began to clap for you, joining in with the cheering campers around you.

And he slowly drifted out of your view as the ares cabin rallied you down to the pavilions, the blue flag still displayed in you arms.

#percy jackson #percy jackson x reader #percy jackson and the heroes of olympus #percy jackson and the gods of olympus #percy jackson imagine #percy x reader #percy jackson fanfiction #percy jackson fanfic #percy jackson fandom #the heroes of olympus

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be-ready-when-i-say-go · 4 years

Text

What Do We Have?

Based on the word: Onsra: n., the bittersweet feeling that occurs in those who know their love won't last.

What happens when what you have with someone isn't quite what you wanted it to be?

***No one has my permission to repost this fic, including translation***

Reader Insert, No specific gender, race, or sexuality!

Is lovers to friends a trope? Because, I think I want it to be a trope.

Enjoy my masterlist

____________________________________________

Calum’s not sure when he first noticed it. It might’ve been somewhere between all the nights sitting out in his backyard as you both sip from sweating glasses and all the afternoons at your place where you’d show him some recipe you wanted to try and he agreed to be sous chef. Some of those dishes turned out better than others. But somewhere in between all that, Calum knows. Call it a self-fulfilling prophecy or call it intuition. After making his mistakes, having his wild youth, Calum was ready to set his life on cruise control and take the bumps and lumps but enjoy the ride.

It was different for you. He saw that. You took every opportunity by the horns and if it blew up in your face, there was hell to pay for it. Every blue was more vibrant. Every spark shined ten times brighter. Calum would be a liar if he said he didn’t like that. If that didn’t tickle his fancy to see the passion in you. But it made him ponder. It made him wonder would you leave at the first hitch. Would you cut ties when he had to go? That’s the inevitable truth. He would have to leave eventually, with touring and promotion.

“You’re thinking too much.”

Calum looks to his left, where you are curled up with Duke on your lap. The afternoon sun is just cresting its peak. It’s warm out, a breeze blowing through the privacy shrubbery every so often that helps the both of you forget that sweat is pooling down your backs and on your foreheads. “It’s not a crime to think.”

“But it might be a crime to think too much.”

“And what do you suggest that I do instead hm?” You had come over, just to hang out. Your latest binge together on Netflix had been fully consumed. The two of you sat on Calum’s couch scrolling endlessly through the suggestions but there wasn’t anything that caught either of your eyes. That’s when you suggested just taking a dip in the pool, or at least just stepping outside for some fresh air.

Now, you grow restless. Wanting to do something, go somewhere, see something, taste something new. It doesn’t really matter the specifics. “The new arcade place just opened up near the mall. We can go there.”

Calum nods. There’s no shock that he feels at your suggestion. He sees the twinkle even behind the way you bite down on your lower lip. There it is, the insatiable urge to take on something. “The least I can do is kick your ass in skee ball since you took today off.”

Fixing Calum with a glare, you stand, Duke safely tucked in your arms. “You’re on, Hood.”

He watches you, feet silent over the concrete as you saunter back into the house. His fingertips don’t ache like they used too. He should’ve run after you, tickled your sides, or pinched your ass and made you laugh. But instead, he sits, watches you go and wonders if he’s actually going to beat you or not. He wonders if his skills can handle his own trash talk. It wouldn’t hurt his pride if his skills were lackluster.

In the car, he lets you control the radio. You fiddle for a moment before your phone connects and softly through his speaker he hears an old school funky bassline. You watch the cut of Calum’s jaw and the way he reclines into the driver seat. The sight makes your chest warm but you wonder if Calum really wants to go to the arcade. You worry he’s only going because you want to go, because you can’t sit still. Would he ever grow tired of you? Would he ever try to tie you down, make you into something that you weren’t?

It would wear him thin eventually, you figured. He had a much slower pace that he liked to consume life at. You chalk it up to the fact that he’s life can be so jammed packed for months if not a year at a time with touring that when he can get a moment to relax, he savors it like children and ice cream before dinner. You didn’t truly think he would try to make you into something you’re not. Though the thought and worry never fully escapes you. It seems like no one would ever fully escape their fears, just enough to let the delusion settle in. Everyone would escape just enough to let their hair down and not look over their shoulder at every moment, just every once and awhile.

In bright red and pink neon lights, Arcadeocity blinks in front of them. Calum pulls into a parking spot. It’s not terribly business given it’s the middle of the week and the summer hasn’t officially hit just yet. “Ready to get your ass kicked?” he teases, one hand guiding the seatbelt as it slides back against the inner frame.

“The question is are you ready to pay for drinks after I kick your ass?”

“I was born ready.”

Inside, it’s dim and there are some kids running about. But it’s quiet. Calum heads to the counter, gathering the quarters. You look over, seeing the racing games, the ones where you sit and the ones with the bikes. A machine goes off, lots of buzzing and high zings. You look over to see one of the machines lighting up, the conditioned response for any winner. Two small boys are cheering, arms raising above their heads as the machine spits out the tickets in return.

There are tables off to the sides, for parents to sit, sip at their drinks and pray their children can keep occupied enough to not worry them for a small blimp of time. Though their gazes never leave their children for too long. One mother raises her hand, calling out the child’s name. “You’re going too far.”

“Oh, it’s not going to hurt them,” the father counters. “You remember the code right?” he calls outs.

You spot the small child, dressed in blue overalls and high top sneakers. “I remember Dad.” They’re no older than eight or so, you figure.

He waves them on. “Go head. Just make sure to check in after every game, alright?”

The child nods, a grin on their face. “Thanks, Dad!”

“Should we work our way up to the main event?” Calum asks, rejoining you now. His pockets jiggle a little.

You turn your attention to him, thinking for the slightest moment that Calum would be that kind of dad, if he ever wanted to be. That would let his kid go and be free. But the second they needed him he’d swoop in. That’s what he did. Calum kind of swooped in it seemed to be his MO especially since that’s how the two of you met. You’d be lying if you said otherwise. You hadn’t even seen him in the aisle, preoccupied with trying to avoid the kids that had just cut the corner. You stumbled, managing to avoid them and right when you thought you’d wind up smacking into the shelves holding up rice and pasta, strong arms wound around your arm to keep your balance.

“Racing game first?”

He nods. The dimness cut by the lights and glitz of the games, his eyes look like blackholes. Or maybe more like tunnels with a light at the end of them with the shiny reflection right in the middle of his pupil.

Calum wins the first race and nearly beats you for third in the second race. As you both slip off the motorcycles, you collect the tickets from your machines. “I’m better with four wheels,” you laugh.

With a thumb over his shoulder, he grins. “I’ve got a pocket full of change. Prove it, sweets.”

You do. Pulling ahead of Calum in both races. You come in third while he comes in fifth in the first. You manage a dirty fourth place, leaving Calum in seventh. It shouldn’t have been fourth but somehow you landed on a shortcut that saved you from eighth up to fifth. It was a fight for fourth but you managed it as you downshifted into fifth gear in the game and took the straightaway with ease.

“What the actual hell?” Calum laughs, after seeing you actually using the clutch and stick shift. “I didn’t think any of that actually mattered?”

“Dad taught me how to drive stick shift and now it’s just a habit now, I guess.”

It’s with a click of his tongue that Calum nods but admits his defeat. The both of you are observing, wondering where to go next. He asks you, if there’s anything that interests you. You could spend hours here, playing every game in sight. But you let him choose. You let him set the pace. Maybe it’s in the hopes that you can keep hold onto Calum for just a little bit longer. “You wanted to come here. I’m sure you’re dying to play something,” he concedes.

“Let’s shoot some hoops,” you suggest.

“You don’t--you sure?” It’s a silent nod and a gentle grasp of his wrist before you lead him to the basketball hoops. You two don’t even need to make it a competition. Just for fun. Just something to laugh while you do, attempting to throw him off his rhythm by flattering but never being successful. In the end, you don’t read the red numbers at the screen, just take the tickets it does give you.

“Skee ball?” he asks, folding his tickets. It seems to go on forever, the end hitting the floor and somehow crawling over it too just a little.

“Sure. If you’re ready to cry of course.”

Calum’s ears are full of the sounds of the game, taunting them, praising them, lighting up and shouting at every ball that sinks into a hole. But right below that is your laughter, your shriek, “You’re supposed to let me win!”

He has no rebuttal, just a feeling. Something like amusement and a tiny bit of guilt. Like maybe he should be more mindful, like maybe he should be toying more carefully. But at the same time, his chest flutters, when you shove at his shoulder and let out an indignant squawk that turns up into a laugh. He won by 100 points. “Round two?”

“Of fucking course,” you huff. Calum drops the quarters into your upturn palm and you guys feed them into their slots simultaneously. He wins again. 75 points as the lead, which stings less, but still. “It’s just an off day,” you say. There’s a smirk on your face and you can accept the defeat but not without a little bit of stink about it.

Over the course of an hour, you two play more games, stopping for a quick snack break. At the end, you go up to the counter first, Calum excusing himself for a moment to the restroom. There’s a small stuffed dog hanging on the second most top shelf. His ticket cost is high but after some successful rounds on the racetrack, you manage to squeak just enough to get him. When Calum returns, you’re standing with your arms behind your back. “You hiding something.” It’s more of a question but it comes out factual.

“Me? No, never.”

He laughs. At the counter, Calum looks over the possibilities. Part of him knows he should go the extravagant route. He’s done it before, with the stuffed animals and big ticket items. But he spies some alien trinkets instead and grabs two for you. He still has a stack left, so he grabs the small bean bag toy in the shape of a soccer ball. “You’ve still got quite the haul left,” the attendant states.

“Save ‘em for the next kid.”

“If you’re sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. They’ll need them more than me.” Before Calum can reach you, you hold the stuff toy in front of your chest. “Very cute.”

“For you.”

His brow twitches, pulling down like he can’t quite believe it. “Me?”

“Yeah, you.” You urge him to take it and swallow down the urge to tell him he can give it to Duke. You want him to know it’s for him. No matter what. You did it for him.

“Thank you.” Almost sheepishly he exchanges the stuffed toy for alien trinkets. One’s a keychain and you smile. “Perfect for the collection?”

“Of course.” It is perfect. It’s thoughtful. And part of you wants to kick yourself for not getting the inflatable soccer ball, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Because clearly those are more Calum, those are more thoughtful than just a stuffed animal. Calum makes a show though, buckling the dog into the backseat, after shifting the towel that Duke usually rests on and maybe, it’s not such a bad gift after all.

It’s in the car as Calum ponders aloud choices for dinner that you asked to be taken back to your place. You do have an early morning and Calum doesn’t think too much of it. It’s not until that gets back home and settles the stuffed dog onto his bed that he remembers the recipe the both of you were going to try. He had gone to the grocery store and everything. It feels wrong to try it without you. He can’t let it go to waste though.

I’m going to drop you off a plate. That’s the text from him not even ten minutes after he drops you off. You remember all at once the dinner plans. How could you have forgotten that? Truth be told, you had fun. Arcadeocity scratched that itch to get out. But you didn’t want to intrude too much on Calum’s free time. Which, when the hell did that start being a concern? Calum was pretty direct and honest if he needed time to himself.

Maybe it was just a time thing. You were starting to understand Calum more and even though he would be vocal about needing space, you knew how much he valued it. And you valued your own space too. Truth be told, you were starting to want more of it. Or maybe it was more time to do whatever by yourself. Or maybe the reason really didn’t matter because now, sitting on your own couch, you feel a little less like you’ve been stuffed into a box.

Calum arrives at your door with a reusable bag full. “I just made the whole recipe and split it in half. You can take it into work tomorrow.”

“Thanks.”

It’s a quick brush, his lips pressing into the flesh of your forehead. “Of course.”

___________________

Of course that feeling comes back. When Calum calls and hears the rattle of music in the background, he knows you’re out. It’s the second weekend in a row you’ve walked out on the town. The second weekend in the row you’ve made those plans without really consulting Calum, just going. Not that you thought you’d be out again. But when your coworker mentioned wanting to go out, you didn’t want the opportunity to pass you by. Letting Calum didn’t quite cross your mind either.

Part of Calum feels like he should be fighting more against that, fighting to maybe get more time. But he doesn’t. “Have fun. Let me know if you need a ride,” he says, unsure if he needs to shout to be heard over the receiver.

“Okay, will do!” The call ends and he drops into his sofa. Part of him is relieved, strangely. He doesn’t have to worry about having to do something. He doesn’t have to muster up the energy. He had it. If you weren’t out and about, he wouldn’t have minded doing something but he’d rather sit at home.

Was he wrong for that? Was it wrong to thank the high heavens you had already preoccupied yourself without him? Was it wrong to know something wasn’t going to make it all the way to the end but just wanting to take the ride while it was still offered? He enjoys his time with you. He enjoys the laughs and the crazy adventures. But god, did he like doing nothing too. There was nothing wrong with that. Right?

His phone shakes again, later in the night with a text from you. Made it home safely. Am buzzed and I should never wear clothes with buttons ever again when drinking.

He calls in response. “What happened with said buttons?”

“Fly was open,” you sigh in return, sinking into your own mattress. “Embarrassing.” His giggles cut through the slight fog of alcohol. “Don’t laugh.”

“Sorry, that’s a laughable offense, sweets.”

“Humph!”

“Need me to come over?”

“Nah, not that drunk. Have-have you got no faith in me?”

“No, I have all the faith in you. Drink some water, okay?” You hum in your agreement, mumbling a good night to him.

______________

“How long’s the tour?”

“Just shy of seven months. There are breaks, of course.”

You nod. “Of course.” They needed them for their own sanity and health. “I’ll watch Duke. You know I don’t mind.” He hasn’t asked. And Calum doesn’t really need to ask. You’ve always taken the chance to watch over the old man when Calum’s gone. You think you should’ve noticed Calum’s stubble before now. It’s not quite stubble really any more, on the cusp of being the start to a true beard. He usually doesn’t let it get this long.

How long has it been? You’ve texted and called. But somehow in the catalog of your mind you can’t place the last time you saw him in person for longer than a few minutes. It doesn’t feel wrong, in the sense that you’re worried that things are falling apart. But it is strange. It’s almost like air between you--something that you know is there but can’t quite put a finger on it. It’s somehow distance but not distant. The strange new normal the two of you have created. And you want to be sad. It’s a strange guilt to see now more than ever what’s been expanding between the two of you, but not being upset that it’s happening.

“I scheduled his appointments already,” Calum says, sliding a couple sheets of paper over to you. “Well, the major ones. I know your summer schedule’s a little different so I tried to keep that in mind too. Thanks again.”

“You don’t have to thank me.”

Calum’s sure this will be the start of the end. And you are too. But that doesn’t stop you from messaging him just shy of three weeks from the start of the tour. Rehearsals are getting longer and more tiresome. His answers to text and calls are coming later in the night. I’m dropping off a plate for you. You send it on your lunch break, hoping that by the time you get off, Calum’s replied.

And he has: Only if it’s not too much of a bother. Thankyou.

It’s not long after returning home that you’re back in your car, Calum’s food resting on the floor to keep it from tipping over. At the gate, you worry it’ll take you too long to reach Calum to get inside, but thankfully, Luke and Michael are just ahead of you and let you in. The three of you wander back into the studio space. Michael explains at length the mechanics of a game to Luke. You’re not sure if he’s convincing the taller man, but Luke takes in each detail with a thoughtful face.

“Please tell me you’re teaching any of this,” Luke teases, glancing at you.

“Dude, I’m just dropping off food. I’ve got nothing.”

He laughs but agrees ultimately to give a test to Michael’s latest video game obsession. As the door to the space opens, you can’t help but let the soft smile crest your face at Calum’s stretched out figure on the floor. You’re not sure if he’s sleeping, but you know from experience if he gets too relaxed in any position anywhere he can and will fall asleep. “It would be such a shame,” you start, voice bouncing off the walls. Calum cracks a smile even though his eyes are still closed. “If this bowl of pad see ew just happened to take a bad stumble.

“You wouldn’t dare,” he calls out from the floor. He’s slow to look up at you. But when he does, it’s a long gander. You’re still in your work clothes, though the shoes tell him you definitely did go home first.

“Home cooked,” you offer, lifting the glass container and setting it on the table where Luke, Ashton, and Michael have gathered.

“Really, thanks. It means a lot.”

“Of course.”

Calum thinks about that phrase for long after you’re gone and long after he’s consumed the sweet and yet savory noodles. Like, of course--like you wouldn’t be doing anything else but helping him out majorly. Of course, you’d go from a crazy day at work to fixing him dinner. Like of course he shouldn’t have to worry constantly. Like of course this is normal. And it is normal, in some ways. But it’s not normal in others. It’s not normal, he thinks, to go weeks without seeing you and not feeling a super deep ache. There was the missing he felt when he wanted to see his mum, or his sister. But they had always kind of been away from him, ever since he moved out. Calum did miss you, but it never fully consumed him. Never made him mope, or be too down. Or maybe it was normal? Maybe it showed how much the two of you were secure with each other.

____________________

Did you want to spend a few days together? Rehearsals are pretty much done. I know you’re still working though.

Calum can’t seem to hit send.

That last sentence is his out. It’s a way for you to say no without having to feel like an asshole. He knows that. He knows you’ll know that the second you read the text. But he can’t bring himself to delete it.

With a swift kick of boldness, Calum taps the up arrow. The text lifts and then settles and Delivered sits right underneath the blue text in gray. It’s only an extra ten minutes from your place to work. I don’t mind.

Most mornings, of the four that you spend with Calum right before the shuttle bus comes to get him, he whines as your alarm goes off. “You can spare five more minutes,” he mumbles into his pillow, one arm raised, not fully like the limbs much too heavy for his body to carry. And at this time in the morning, half past 6, it probably is too heavy to carry.

“Only five,” you laugh before sliding back into bed, but not under the covers.

Calum always curls back up into your side, arm thrown across your torso. “Can’t believe you’d leave this nice, warm bed.”

He almost never mentions leaving him. He doesn't mention leaving you. It’s always the nice, warm bed you’d be leaving, that he’d be leaving. This nestle of comfort and known territory being the only thing tying the two of you together.

You have to stop yourself from saying it’s just a bed. That any old bed can be nice and warm. Because it always could be any old bed that can be nice and warm. But do you want any old bed or do you want Calum’s? Do you want somebody else? Do you want to fly across skies? Or do you want Calum?

“It is a nice, warm bed,” you say instead. It’s an agreement that whatever it is between you is nice. Though, you’re not convinced it’ll last.

The first week of Calum on tour turns into a second. That second one turns into a third. And by the third week rolls around, the most your phone buzzes or chimes with anything related to Calum is a quick picture attached with a few lines about what’s going on in his world. You’re not even sure besides keeping him updated on Duke when you’ve talked about your life if you told Calum about the impromptu trip to Vegas. Or if you told him about your promotion at work.

Somehow all of that just seems so mundane and so not the thing he’d care to hear about until he calls. It’s an early morning for you. “I see your end of the globe hasn’t gone up in flames yet.”

You shake your head with a tuft of laughter. “No, it’s still thriving. Just adjusting to this new job.”

“You quit your old one? Do you need anything to tide you over?”

“No, no, just a new position.” You almost start to say that you had to have told him. But if he’s asking, if he’s concerned, then you must have forgotten.

“Tell me about it.”

“My job is not exciting,” you call out, grabbing your clothes from inside the closet.

“Doesn’t matter. Bore me with the details.” You do. Enough so that, when you’re finally dressed and sitting down to eat breakfast, you can see him with his eyes drooping. “Bored him literally to sleep,” you laugh.

“I am not asleep,” he responds with a sleepy mumble.

“Sure you’re not.”

A month into the tour, Calum works it to have you flown out. Calum’s greet you in the car from the airport, the two of you laughing, falling into each other’s side, but ultimately always shifting back into place, resting into the back of the seat instead of each other. Calum’s not phased, not when you run ahead up to the historic hotel. He’s not phased when you run ahead of him at the museums are long the streets during your visit. But he knows it’s killing you. When the bands backstage, and you stare out of the windows, he knows it’s killing you not to get out there. Not to see the country, the cities, the people.

“Tomorrow we can go adventuring,” he tells you, leaning up against the wall as you’ve curled yourself up into the window sill.

“You’ve got another show tomorrow.”

He just winks at you, leaning forward to kiss the top of your head. And then he’s gone, back to the sofa, laughing as someone shows him something on their phone. The guys fall instantly back into their chaos. You watch, knowing you could fall into it too. You know their antics and their sense of humor. But yet, you sit in the window sill. You watch the birds fly pass. You watch people wander. You hear the slight cry of fans waiting for them and you know this isn’t really meant for you.

This isn’t something that would saitatee you in the long run.

You find out later after the show and he’s had a chance for a quick shower, that in the wee hours of the morning, just eeking pass one, Calum and you wander through nightlife. Arm in arm, you meander down streets, up city blocks, stopping at storefronts just to oogle over their displays. The skies are a little clearer. You can stop, leaning up against some random fence to watch the stars for a little it.

“It’s weird to think that I’m watching some stars last breathe. Like we’re so close, but so far away from the heavens. And they really just go on forever,” you whisper.

Calum hums, sliding his hands into the pocket of the hoodie draped over your body. His fingers wrap around yours in the pocket. “But it’s almost like they are giving us their last wish, maybe. Giving us one last guiding light.”

It’s almost four am when you find yourselves back at the front doors of the hotel. You’re laughing at Calum’s slurred speech due to drowsiness. He’s going to regret this in the morning maybe and you can only hope that there’s a pot of coffee big enough to help. His slumber is heavy next to you. Your brain is wired. You can feel it buzzing in your fingertips. How do you tell Calum that you don’t want to lose him but maybe the romanticism between the two of you isn’t there anymore? Was it ever really there to begin with?

With three days left on this trip, you don’t say anything at first. How do you even verbalize that? What are the right words? You don’t sleep that night either. When Calum reaches out for you, his arm feels like hot steel. Like it’s burning you for feeling any different. On the second night, you slip further into the seats in the back of the bus--there’s no stopping at a hotel this time--, your blanket pulled up to your chin, nothing plays on the TV in front of you. You know you can’t avoid him. Not at a time like this. But you’re still not sure if you can mention is just yet, if you have the nerves to do it.

The door slides open and Calum is there, leaning against the faux frame and his body moves with ease at the jostle of the bus. “Mind if I pop a seat next to you?”

“Of course not.” It’s an automatic reply. And really you don’t mind. But you can tell by the way he nods, biting his lips and settles next to you but not into you that he’s aware of something too. But you’re aware now you can’t duck out of this conversation. There’s no turning back now.

“You say ‘of course’ a lot, you know?”

“Something tells me that now isn’t the right time to say ‘of course, I know’ so I’ll refrain from using it.”

His laughter is a quick exhalation, facing the blank screen too. “Are you--” he starts and then stops. He fiddles with his thumb nail for a second and then turns, bringing one leg up under the other and his hoodie cladded arm rests on the back of the sofa. “If it’s not--I’m not sure if our relationship is what it was before.”

You exhale. Your shoulders straighten under the blanket and you shift, sitting to face Calum more. There’s no sadness. Not even the clench of his jaw which he does when he’s trying to hold something back, when he doesn’t want to say what’s fully on his mind. “I-I don’t think so either.”

He gives a thoughtful nod, resting a hand on your leg, over the fuzzy black fabric. “And it’s not that I don’t have love for you. Nothing has happened, like nothing you did or said, or anything bad but.”

“It’s just different between us.” Different doesn’t feel quite whole, so you unfurl finally from the mass and out of habit, pick at the fuzz on the end of his sleeves. “Well, more like, I’ve realized maybe what we wanted wasn’t what we needed? If that makes sense?”

“It makes sense.” Calum watches your fingers, pinching and rolling at the small balls of cotton. “I-I won’t mind if you stay or go. I’d like you to stay. There’s the museum you always wanted to go to in our next city, but if it’s too weird or anything, I totally understand.”

You shake your head, gaze lifting to his. He’s still chewing over his lip but he looks mostly calm. The nerves are obvious but this conversation is going better than you could’ve anticipated. “I don’t feel pressured to leave at all. I just, do you need space? If you need me to go, I’ll take the next flight out. You’ve got a job to do and I don’t want you to be in a weird headspace with me around. And I would hate--,”

He cuts you off with a squeeze of your hand. “You’re rambling. And no, I don’t want you to leave. I haven’t properly seen you in a few weeks. I still really enjoy your company. But it’s just, not like before, you know. Besides, you still owe drinks from when I kicked your ass in skee ball.”

His grin is small at first but it grows when you flap, releasing your hand from his hold and fold your arms across your chest. “The way I remember it, you would owe drinks if I beat you. Not that I owed drinks for losing.”

When Calum giggles, you have to laugh. In all the previous breakups, you know laughing immediately after shouldn’t be happening. But everything’s different with Calum. All along the two of you were shifting, settling into the version of the bond you needed with each other, not necessarily the prescribed one from society, or the one that you wanted.

“Would you be, like, upset if I took a separate bunk?” you asks.

“Of course not,” Calum returns with a grin.

Honestly, you feel relieved waking up the next day, for the most part. It should be awkward, but there’s something between you and Calum. There’s something you both get about each other that even in the face of change this bond doesn’t feel broken. It feels mended, finally and completely free too. No guilts, no second thoughts and what you should be doing or what you think Calum expects of you.

It definitely carries a small sting. There’s no lying, a small bit of your routine and your normal is now gone and that worries you for when you go back home. Like, is it still acceptable that you steal his Santa Cruz hoodie? And when Calum catches your gaze from the otherside of the dressing room, he wonders if he can still kiss your forehead, still hold your hand? Or is that crossing the line? He airs on the side of caution for now, just smiles at you and you smile in return.

Just before leaving, you fold his hoodie up, placing it on his bunk next to the not fully folded blanket that reveals his iPad.

When Calum goes to his bunk he sees the hoodie. His heart drops, he won’t lie. When he picks it up, it feels heavy. Not physically, but he kinda wanted you to keep it. Something crinkles. He unfurls it. Nothing falls out but he can hear something. So he continues until he finds the hoodie pocket.

I know, I know. I wanted to give you this back. Just for the moment. We’re still good like we said before. But I know it’s your favorite right behind the Empathy one. Kick ass on stage. Rock out.

Calum smiles, neatly folding the note and slips into his bag that he takes into the venues. When the months slip by, show after show mildly interrupted with Duke updates and occasionally things about yourself, Calum finally finds himself able to sit on his own couch. Kick his feet up on his own coffee table. He’s able to decompress. He decompresses enough to fall asleep. A knock at the door jolts him awake. Wiping at the corner of his eyes and his mouth, he jumps from his couch.

“You were totally asleep,” you grin when the door swings open.

“Was not,” he retorts. Duke bars from below, jumping at Calum’s leg. “Oh, bubba. How are you?”

“Good, just missed his pops.”

Collecting Duke into his arms, Calum stands. “How are you? How’s life?”

“I’m good. Life’s good.” You lift the bag on your arm. “I brought you a plate. Or maybe like four.”

“You--you didn’t have to,” Calum returns. “But of course you did anyway.”

“Of course I did,” you laugh. “Mind if I come in? You can just love on Duke. I’ll reheat the spaghetti.”

He nods, allowing you inside. It’s much more than a plate as you unload the dish and a few other sides. It’s enough for him to eat dinner for a week almost. You always fixed more than he could ever eat. “How’s the move going?” The last time the two of you talked you mentioned needing a new place. Something a little bit bigger to accommodate your needs and the potential of housing your own dog or cat. You’re not entirely sure right now.

“It’s going slow. But it’s going. Trying to sort out what to toss.”

“I can help, if you want.” Calum watches as you set the plate down in front of him. “Be the voice of reason when you know you really should toss the thing, but can’t do it without a nudge.”

“Or be the nagging voice that tells me to keep it. You know how this goes.”

Calum nods, setting Duke in the seat. “I know.”

“What are you doing? Sit. Eat.”

Two scoops of spaghetti or heaped onto a second plate. You manage to keep Duke away from Calum’s food. The plate hits the table with a muted thud. “If it’s not too much too soon, eat with me? ”

“Of course.”

“There it is again,” he laughs.

“What? I’ll leave. Don’t think I won’t.”

“Whoa, slow down. Eat. Then you can huff and puff and blow my house down.”

With a click of your tongue, fork posed in hand, you watch Calum return to his seat. Duke in his lap, just like you knew would happen. “That sounds like a good idea.”

#calum hood #calum hood fanfic #calum hood fic #calum hood imagine #calum hood blurb #calum hoos 5sos #calum 5sos #5sos #5sos fanfic #5sosfic #5sos imagine #5sos blurb #5 seconds of summer #5 seconds of summer fanfic #5 seconds of summer fic #5 seconds of summer imagine #h writes #calum hood x reader

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afoxysunny · 4 years

Text

I've been thinking of so much more for my Lazybug AU but stress at work and my contused hand made it impossible to write anything down or try to draw any more

So, to give you at least a little content you didn't ask for while my hand only hurts a little:

I present to you

The different fighting styles of each Miraculous Holder

Lil explanation: though it's never directly stated in Miraculous Ladybug canon i see it ad heavily implied that, when a Kwami powers up a human, they somewhat fuse. Not like the fusion Ha dance. But a human will display not only physical but character traits from the Kwami of their Miraculous. They're still clearly the same person! Just with a few tweaks to their priorities most of the time. So yes, pointing this out so clearly brings this close to theory or headcanon territory but shhh it's my au, i make the rules

Trixie as Lucky Bug

Lucky Bug has a strong instinct to fight, there are only very few things that could stop her from heading into battle.

Trixie is always set for confrontation and Tikki has the unwavering urge to always do whatever is possible to help. The combination of these two working together as one gives Lucky Bug her strength to take on everything that stands in her way.

When in battle She will make sure to keep her opponents attention fully on herself. She holds the strong belief that while she bears the brunt of attacks she can make sure nobody else gets hurt and that's how she fights. Thanks to the weapon her Miraculous grants her she can exceed in close combat as well as having quite ranged attacks. The lather she will mostly use to pull someone's attention away from others if necessary. Closer ranged combat is definitely her preference though. Here she can use her magical yo-yo like a morningstar and really hammer down in fight. A yo-yo with endlessly extendable cord is incredibly versatile and Lucky Bug is smart enough to always find new ways to mobilize this weapon but good old brute force shouldn't be underrated.

Stephanie as Pitch Serval

Pitch Serval always has an urge to move and that definitely includes battle. Once she gets going there is nothing that'll get her standing still again.

Stephanie will literally jump at any opportunity to start moving and help others, Plagg has deep confidence in his abilities and will let everyone know. In combination that makes Pitch Serval a little bit of a show off. While well able to quietly observe a situation, once she gets into action she will not stop until the job is done.

Watching Pitch Serval fight looks more like watching a professional dancer who just so happens to beat people up while performing. The extendable pole she got as a weapon seems almost to become part of her body. In fluid motions she is capable of a variety of attacks that are both unpredictable without the music only she must hear and so natural that it becomes mesmerizing to watch. Whether she actually fights with the pole for proper hits or uses it to propel herself around, it will be effective and beautiful.

Sportacus as Álfurildi

Álfurildi is not a fan of fighting in a confrontational sense, however, practiced as a sport he finds great enjoyment in it. To him the only reason to actually fight is to protect others.

Sportacus was already a locally famous hero before receiving a Miraculous and brings all the best qualities this encompasses to the table. Nooroo however is a hurt soul, as a surviver of horrible abuse by a past master it took him a long time to extend enough trust to willingly give his powers to someone else again. The combination of these two makes Álfurildi appear a lot more calm or even reserved compared to the Sportacus we all know and love. It makes him worry more and more careful but he's still very energetic, confident and capable in basically anything he tries.

This of cause reflects in his style of battle. Until he's made sure his opponent cannot be swayed without it he won't go in for an attack so most of his battles he spends dodging his opponents attacks while making sure to stay close enough to keep tge encounter from breaking off. He encompasses the phrase "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" as watching him avoid the incoming attacks looks almost supernatural at times, like gravity just doesn't apply to him the same way it does to others. His in depth mastery of most sports in existence surely help with that. Once he switches lanes to actually attacking himself he will use the cane that is his assigned weapon almost exclusively like a bat or racket or other similar sport equipment. You surely can image the punch that packs.

Robbie as Bullock

Bullock is not one to start a fight but he sure is great at ending them, by winning obviously.

Robbie has efficiency, wit and persistence on his side. Stompp, caring and deterninted, speaks his mind without hesitation. These two together give Bullock a reserved and stubborn appearance but when fending for what is right those are strong attributes to have.

Bullock operates best when following a plan so he will mostly be seen as a detached observer which can be accurately described as the calm before the storm. The phrase "mess with the bull, you get the horns" might as well have been coined just to describe him. Once he starts fighting he is quite literally going to bulldoze his opponent. With the ease from a Kwami's powers elaborate movements require no effort anymore do the usually so lazy man can now go all out, but old habits die hard so he aims to be done fighting as quickly as possible. This results in his attacks coming in rapid fire blasts of assaults. Using his armored fists and legs for precise hits, the chain of his tail like a whip and even his horns make him an overwhelming opponent in close combat. At distance, any distance, his miraculous granted weapon, his darts, never miss a target he locked on to and can only be removed by him so no fight will stay at distance for long.

Pixel as Spectra

Spectra needs a good overview of the ongoing battle to unleash the modt effective Amok but that surely doesn't stop him from getting physically involved once the chance arises.

Pixel follows his strong intuition and always has a quick and effective solution to help others out, Duusu is straight forward about everything and easily get enthusiastic. With this passionate combination Spectra often jumps into battle with his friends despite that not being the most logical step. His powers and costume lend themselves a lot easier to defensive fighting, more blocking, enduring, studying and only then striking. Thanks to his extensive theoretical knowledge from video games he knows an expansive array of moves only someone fighting with a fan as their weapon can use so once he gets his chance to actually fight he is far more effective than he would expect from himself.

Jives as Grinder Turtle

Grinder Turtle is really not much of a fighter. But there will never be anything in his way when he has someone to protect.

Jives is a very calm guy, the human embodiment of the gentle giant trope. Wayzz has persistence, patience and a deep respect for everybody. This combination makes Grinder Turtle incredibly passive in battle. He will use his shield only to push people away, which works great because as someone who is much taller than almost everyone he always has the high ground; but for the most part he finds his spot in the back of the team to set up his Shell-ter for them and be content holding up a safe space for everyone.

This style of fighting unfortunately takes a lot of energy out of him, leading to him quickly losing the turtle miraculous to Stingy.

Jives as High Duke

High Duke finds his flow in fighting. Here he can let lose and push himself to his limits.

Again, Jives is calm and unshakable, always too passive to not get along eith everybody. Now, Xuppu playful and mischievous, holding enjoyment to high value. Their combination makes High Duke a force to be reckoned with. They fuse in perfect addition to each other, making him a well confident, experimental fighter who does exactly what feels right in the moment. His wish to protect everyone around him, now fueled with confidence from a new perspective, allows him to move swiftly during battles like he never did anything else.

Thanks to the flexibility this transformation gifts him with he doesn't just stand back and wait anymore, he jumps head first into the fight. His favorite ways of attack is to duck down all the way to the ground and use his weapon, his staff, or the rope he has as a tail to trip his opponents, and to use the dtaff as leverage to jumo high in the air and strike from up above with great force.

Stingy as Vault

Vault is a presence that demands attention, with powerful attacks to back it up he is a heavy hitter even though he isn't so prone to charge to front line.

Stingy's determination and confidence elevate his sharp focus even more while Wayzz is anchored, calm and has a great sense of duty. The combination they create gives Vault a presence of security everyone can feel. He is strong and unwavering in what he does and knows it full well.

There is a weight in his stance like nothing can make him falter, even when not creating a Shell-ter around himself he is undeniable at the center of something powerful. With this mass of confidence he doesn't just hold on to his shield to push intruders back but it also becomes a projectile weapon to knock opponents out from afar. Though he isn't as animated as others on the team each move he makes carries weight and purpose everyone can see.

Ziggy as Mouse the Mighty

Mouse the Mighty looks harmless compared to what he is capable of. He will fight with all he has for what he believes in.

Ziggy is a simple guy, excited by the best qualities of a hero and deterninted to work as hard as possible to achieve whatever goal he has. Mullo has an optimistic approach to everything and shies away from no challenge. Together they make Mouse the Mighty eager to show everyone the qualities of a true superhero

Fueled with so much excitement he could overflow he sonetines bites off more than he can chew. When he rushes into battle, blinded by the chance to prove himself his flight response is a little too strong and he uses his Miraculous power to split into many tiny versions of himself to run away, halfway through running he remembers who he id though, how powerful he now is and that his friends need him and he comes back with even more confidence and determination than he started with.

He has all it takes to be an outstanding hero and once he gets going he shows all he got. Armed with the knowledge of pop culture and the brain of a suorrhero obsessed boy he can quickly switch styles drastically mid movement. This unpredictability together with his size varying from one bear to many mice makes him practically unstoppable. Not only does he have brute force at his disposal but also he uses his weapon, a jumprope, like nunchucks or to trip people or any other way he once saw and thought looked cool.

[Redacted]

I hope you enjoyed this. I was just hoping i could breath a little more life into the characters I've been playing around with for a while now but you so far only got one still image of each (also hoping to change that soon, I'm really working on that story)

For some of the Kwami's there's just barely any info about them, i hope it doesn't show too much where i was just winging it

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amomentintimeblackcattales · 3 years

Text

A Moment in Time - Descending in The Darkness

Descend of the Darkness

Fanfiction.

Pairing - Darkseid/Batman Bruce Wayne

suspense/mysteries/police/action/adventure/space/sci-fi/lemon/explicit/pwp/romance/yaoi/gay

comic

batman/new goods/ justice league

resume:

I don't know if it was once, it was in the battle of the dark multiverse alternative versions, discover countless hidden secrets and mysteries, he returns, plans, games with the hidden beings of the multiverse, does he win, the prize? travel through the multiverse, back, in conspiracies and plots, prevent future from happening, starting to relate to Darkseid have sex with him, both have plans, the new god having his own your plans, conspiracies, manipulatives and possessives desires PWP

Chapter - 00001

During their marriage, which lasted 6 months ...

It was a period when he faced the dark world, and saw something that only the other versions would see, it changed his pragmatic mind into something more interesting to see and do ...

Bruce realized that he had trouble relating, his connection with CatWoman, he realized that it was more ... Sexual, not emotional, he had difficulties connecting, so he went to make a plan to end this situation between them .. .

Some time later...

Bruce had to save the world, sometimes he hoped that Selina was relatively well in the mansion, or looking at the cave, but that's not what he found ...

When he arrested those villains, tied towards the police station, arriving at the cave with the batmobile ...

Alfred was waiting for him.

- There's a problem, sir. - Said his faithful butler, he had just arrived from a mission to rescue Kara from Apokolips, he felt guilty, and wanted to talk to the butler, but the air of the issue, made him stop and stop his thoughts and guilt.

- What there was? - He asked.

- Selina was arrested. - Said Alfred, he realized that by the air of the word.

- Why was Selina arrested ...? - Bruce asked walking towards his old friend.

- She was stealing. - Said Alfred.

- What? - That was the worst ...

Bruce was at the police station a few hours later, he asked to enter the interrogation room, hours after she was released.

Being able to say that what the police did not do, Bruce did, without being guilty of domestic violence of aggression against women, much less feminicide, he had Amasteus by his side, making it clear that nothing he did would come out of there.

Being able to say again, that she cried with pain and he with rage.

- You don't pay attention to me. - Selina shouted.

- Women do not go out on the street for there to steal because their husbands do not pay attention. - Bruce said.

- You lost our son. He shouted.

- My body my Rules. - Said Selina.

- Not when you have a baby inside. - Bruce said.

- Since we are talking about my body my rules. - Bruce said, when he received a spit, after being slapped in the face.

- You want attention. - Bruce said roared.

- Then, I'll pay attention. - Bruce said.

Then Bruce was turning her on his knee to spank her, he just didn't do it anymore because when he took off his pants belt to hit her, which was not the drop, in the middle of Selina kicking, and trying to escape to getting punched in the face, so that, in and of itself , was the last straw.

In the end, she came out crying from there, at that moment, there was no evidence, bribing police and the justice to cover up her lack of control.

At that time, when she was caught in the act, and he didn't even think to get her out of there, the anger and betrayal were greater, in fact, he talked to Amasteus, an old lawyer from his parents' time , he helped him to cover up the beating.

In the end, no one believed her, when she shouted that she was beaten by her husband, they put it in the crime exam that the injuries were all due to falling through the roofs in the middle of the escape.

The divorce papers arrived when Selina was still awaiting trial in jail, this time, he would make sure she stayed there for at least a year ...

Reports said that Selina had a fit and almost ate the divorce papers.

He had his escapades, but he was not caught, Bruce should know that nothing between them would work, which even what Selina did, helped and gave an excuse for ending.

It was six months of an unhappy marriage in general opinion, not that it was bad in fact, but there were rumors, that the divorce was quick and fell in the mouth of the people, the media fell on them, all because Lois leaked in some way that he never came to understand.

There were those who appeared there in the middle of the trial, claiming that she was Selina's lover, from villains to pickpockets, who had occasional deals , which in the end became a circus, he was the horn, all of that, all the secrets of what she was supposed to did on your back.

All her secrets she was supposed to have been unearthed, for him and Amasteus, thankfully that Alfred traveled, practically drugged and put on a plane with a security guard to prevent him from returning before two years.

It was in general opinion, a quick marriage, unlike Selina, who was caught in the middle of a robbery, along with two more villains, was the Cat man and the calendar man .

In addition to Nocturne, who managed to escape, but were caught by Batman in his escape , which he did on the way back, when he arrived from Apokolips, when he least expected it to happen so soon.

Selina, in turn, fell between alleys, when a policeman, shot in his direction.

Without knowing it, he could have caught her, halfway to Gotham, on his way back.

Incredible as it seemed, they will testify against her, all for a witch hunt, of hooded thieves.

Decreasing their sentence, using it as if they knew the creator of the largest diamond in the world, and the jewels in the British crown, that she was the mastermind of the crime.

According to her, she should not be caught, which at that time, she wore a panther suit, to differentiate it from the Cat Woman, as if another cat suit with electric weapons was a big change, which did not prevent her from being unmasked in the Final.

Which was a good thing, it would be a problem if they remained married , he had new plans, and he could not stay married to Selina for so long if he continued like that, which he didn’t count on, when he stopped paying attention to the woman and continued with the vigilantism.

Bruce had said, by hiding his identity better than she, that somehow Selina was taken to the hospital, that's when she lost their baby.

Crime exams were done, what hurt most was the fall, it was what the exams said, to be a miscarriage, due to the fall, even though he said she should have stayed at home or expected the child born to be able to return to the supposed fight against crime, in the end ...

Selina had her secret escapades, while he faced Darkseid and returned to pick up thieves from a museum, Selina stole, all in the spirit of escapes.

At that time, Bruce made Alfred go.

- I need a year alone. - Bruce said. - Or more than two. - He said towards Alfred.

The concerned butler did not agree, he offered a coffee towards the butler, when they drank, the butler fell into his arms.

He paid the extended holiday Alfred that would be a year, not to stay there, so he could put his plans into action , actually .

On second thought, Bruce thought it best, two years, away from him , putting Alfred drugged in the direction of a private plane, in short, the old man woke up in a luxury hotel.

Seeing that next to the bed, a personal friend of Bruce who would keep an eye on Alfred and would not let him return anytime soon, so that Bruce could continue with his plans.

The poor butler called him angrily about rights and kidnappings, but Bruce was literally adamant.

What that didn't coincide with his return, doing that kind of thing to a man who had treated him like a son and was a supposed father to him, Bruce laughed and said, that life wasn't always how they wanted it.

Forcing the old butler, for a trip around the world, with everything paid for, to get to know every part of the planet earth, he would have a guide who would keep an eye on him, to leave him in peace, and with that, not stop him from doing what he had in mind ....

- Like you, you can do this to me, I did everything for you . - Said the butler on the phone.

- I don't understand, what's going on? Shouted Alfred.

- Alfred, you won't be able to return before a year, there's no use in that, I need you to stay out of Gotham. - Bruce said.

- I don't need any of that. - Said his butler.

- By the way. - Bruce said. - The cards would be blocked and monitored, for withdrawals and certain amounts, they would have to call me directly , and you can not return, before the established time.

- Damn it, boss, this is kidnapping. - Said Alfred.

Bruce needed to plan, and those plans did not include Alfred, nor his prior knowledge of what he intended to do.

- No, it is not kidnapping, I did not put you in private prison, nor did I arrest you anywhere, I am sending you to various parts of the world, you may as well enjoy your time. - Bruce said.

In Selina's case, that year, he wouldn't have to worry about her for a long time, unless she ran away.

She would be one year stuck in Black Gate, not run away, and if it did, it would be a fugitive, at that time, would have time to plan what to do as he would have neither Alfred nor Selina to disrupt.

Dick keeping away, and any of the boys, and also a plan to keep away members of the Justice League.

He would have a few weeks to plan ...

4 weeks later ...

Bruce got involved in gambling, and it was a bookmaker that no hero would enter, but with demons who would , that was just an invitation, which he accepted, it was interesting to say, that he was inspired.

Initially, he shouldn't have, but he did, it wasn't against the rules, but neither did anyone stop him from doing it.

4 weeks after the demons bet ...

Bruce was falling towards some ruins, there was an earthquake, he fell from the crater, falling towards cracks and with a part of his trunk being drilled, vertically.

He had a pointed rock, which had a vertical perforation on it, its thin point, with a thick extension, pierced from his shoulder towards a lung.

As he broke his spine with the fall, at that time, Bruce didn't know if he was going to die from the hemorrhage, or his punctured lung , or if they stayed alive on a bed .

There were several pointed rocks, close to his column, the fall itself that made him break his column, he did not move, above him, he had seen, not counting the fact of that pointed rock.

That was Superman who was on his side, a part of the tip of the pointed rock, had pierced Superman's shoulder that was on top of him.

- Bruce ... - Superman tried.

- I know you are a good person, but I don't think, I will last. - Bruce said.

- They will arrive. - Said Superman.

- Do not speak. - Bruce tried. - Stay quiet. - Bruce said.

- It's so beautiful. - Bruce said.

Superman felt the hot blood splash and spread on that floor, his body in Bruce's, feeling the blood, there was debris around them.

- I do not know. - Bruce said. - I had faith in you, that you would not do anything wrong. - Said.

- Shut up Bruce. - He requested. - I hear your heart.

- You are heavy, Kal. - Bruce said.

The vision of the man beneath him, blurred, he saw a light, he was a beautiful person, he did not know if it was a man or a woman, what mattered was that he, he was beautiful, and held out his hand,

- Come with me. - Said the voice.

- Yes, I will go with you. - Bruce said, he raised his hand from the arm that was not pierced, whose blood spread on the floor, he took the hands of this beautiful red-haired man.

- It's so beautiful. - Bruce said, you're calling me, he held out the hand that took it.

Bruce Wayne fell unconscious, when, he heard a scream, followed by a light.

Three weeks earlier.

There was a particularly loud earthquake and it was not destructive because of Superman and some Kryptonians.

Occurring on the busy streets of Metropolis, it fractured in some properties of Luthor, which in the meantime was an old building, or even what was Luthor's property, were working directly for him.

In the experts and scholars, and scientists to do studies they were sending, scholars and archaeologists, that they had in the course of research.

They discovered ruins, an old city with temples relatively intact underneath the sewers of Metropolises the whole city, had other buildings that they were researching, among these were an ancient civilization, mummifications, and old ones, prior to the year 1300.

There were tunnels that collapsed, that for more than a month or more were doing the research.

Among them was organized by Luthor, who were financing it out of pure interest, besides that there were many relics and monuments, in addition to what would be an image, statues of what would be an immense bat man.

These were three images that were interspersed with a reptile man like that of a demon or dragon, there was the shape of a man in the center and at the end a hybrid form between the three shapes, there were inscriptions, I would give money with excursions and tourism.

It all started a few weeks before ...

Many archaeologists were hired and he was directly committed to

It was not easy to be poor, and neither was aging ...

Because of Joker, he couldn't keep Batman's persona for long, spent his afternoon with a headache, and headed towards the cave, he was what he thought, going out for a drink, thinking about his retirement.

The man did not speak, if a miracle arose and he changed his mind, yes.

He needed some time, the headache really increased to the point of seeing a doctor.

It was at the end of that week, he had some tests done, the diagnosis came.

Terminal brain tumor, stage 4, there was no stage 5 ... which would be unnecessary and all a cheap emotion.

There were some investigations, which would prevent this, if he told someone they caused a commotion, which he did not need.

It wouldn't last long as a crime fighter, if he, in turn, did not see a miracle beyond the lazaro wells, or that he earned some money that would prolong his life, but let's be frank .

Bruce didn't want to prolong his life for long ... unless he could do it in a way that would have less consequences, Poços de Lazaro was out of the question.

Now, he found that it wouldn't last, he needed some time away, he wouldn't even live, his life gave what it had to give, it did its best.

Lately, he thought about sending a letter, to avoid complications, everyone there, needed a break, a sabbatical year on the cover, which wouldn't really be a year.

It would be an extra life, but he changed his mind, and simply said, when he had an urgent meeting in the watchtower gathering all the heroes there around the big table and meeting.

- I will take a gap year for myself, at the end of the month I will travel. - Said. - And if all goes well I will come back. - Bruce said.

- Today is going to be my last day in the justice league. - Bruce said. - At least for a while. - Bruce said.

- What are you going to do, bat? - He Green Arrow.

- I go on a journey of self discovery, and train again. - Said Batman.

- Will you come back later? - It was Hal.

- Not for now, I won't be going back. - Bruce said.

- I'm getting too old to fight. - Bruce said.

- Many people are appearing stronger than me. - Bruce said.

- I also don't want to go back yet, I have to enjoy it a little.

- Take a gap year. - Bruce said.

- I have to keep the bones that I still have. - Bruce said.

- I want to enjoy my old age that is coming. - Bruce said.

- I don't want to fight anymore, at least for now. - Bruce said.

- I will leave the new generation. - Bruce said.

- So, a year without you, bat. - Said Hal.

- One year. - Bruce said. - I will travel at the end of the month. - Bruce said.

As far as he knew they were projected, like holograms, and was seen on all televisions, just the back of their bodies as seen.

The Presence appeared above them, accompanied by others, like Lucifer and Neron and the others who appeared beside him at the bar, which Bruce drank, he looked around.

His images appeared like mirrors of water, above the clouds and buildings of Gotham City, Metropolises, Central City, Star City and all other super heroic cities.

Superman appeared above the skies and the Metropolis buildings and tried unsuccessfully to punch the faces of The Presence, but passed right by him.

- We didn't come here to fight. - Said Lucifer. - But to propose a deal. - Said the morning angel.

- We are here to announce to all the heroes, a way to earn money. that will be worth gold. - Said The Presence

- We propose to all heroes, they are not obliged to do if they do not want to. - Said Trigon.

- What do you think we would do that for? - Asked Superman. - Do you think we will do something for you? - Asked the man of steel.

- They will not be obliged, but if they do. - Said Trigon. - You will receive 700 billion dollars and 30 gold bars.

Two innocent heroes of sin from each of the cities, without being obliged to do so, must, if they want to kill, in two weeks, 7 innocent people. - Said Trigon.

- The villains are not worth it, you may or may not kill by spontaneous will. - Said Trigon. - Without being forced. - Said Trigon.

A sky of gold appeared above the clouds, and an immense pointed tower floating at its end a box of dollars, opening them, and revealing to everyone appearing in front of all the heroes the gold bars and dollars, and then returning to box.

- You kill if you want. - Said Trigon. - They are not obliged. - Said the demon.

- Within two weeks, you must decide whether to kill or not. - Said Trigon.

- The tower is protected, and will not be able to leave there in less than two weeks, those who try will regret it. - Said another creature.

It was announced in the news, and the internet was broadcast, broadcast on all television channel networks, and nothing else was said, moreover during the two days in a row until the end of the week.

Everyone saw and heard the story, everyone there, felt the pressure and the power ...

Yes, they said only the heroes they could kill.

Superman looked towards the sky, and seeing there around him the black tower with the gold on its tip at the top of it.

- It can not be. - Said Superman.

- Who would kill for money, a hero would not do that.

Superman called a watch tower meeting later that afternoon.

The heroes gathered in the watchtower, if that was enough, Luthor set up a demonstration and a press conference, about the danger of Superman, that even the Boy Scout would not be able to ignore a sum of money with this.

Superman saw Bruce's chair being occupied by another Batman.

- What would he gain to give money for us to kill.

- See how much we lower ourselves? - Ravena made an attempt.

- He could see us corrupt and with that, he would have innocent souls being taken to the abyss of fear. - Said Ravena.

Batman looked at everyone and said. - Corrupt. - Said. - At best.

- Why didn't he choose a villain? - Zatana asked.

- Do you really think we will make money if we kill an innocent? Asked Constantine. - If they said that anyone could kill, then in the first hour they had already killed. - Said Zatana.

- It is much better to see a hero corrupting and keeping than a villain, he has already been corrupted, and they kill for money, anyone would see, that there would be no fun in not having rules. - Said Batman.

- Then. - Said Green Arrow. - The cool thing is to see who's first. - He said.

Superman flew towards the bat cave, Bruce had already returned to the mansion, he was feeling weak, the drink and the pressure didn't go down well, if he had problems to contain Superman at his best, falling on the weak cave floor, it didn't seem like a good situation.

Bruce ignored the calls from the league, he turned off the computers, the cell phones, everything, stayed in the dark, thinking of a backup plan, in case they would literally want to kill, but he was thinking about Superman.

He alternated with wiretaps and trackers in each of his allies, Bruce supposedly spent time drinking, he actually took a laptop and followed in the footsteps with cameras scattered around the cities, following in the footsteps of each hero that each city.

Bruce ran towards the bathroom, not holding on, it was there that he heard Superman flying towards the cave, he couldn't stop vomiting, he heard more than one step, it was someone else ...

- Bruce. It was Dick, who had his hands on his shoulders.

Bruce when he finished throwing up on the toilet, he turned.

- You drank. - Said Superman. - All week.

- Still thinking about traveling? - It was a strange question asked by the man of steel.

- We are not at the end of the month yet. - Bruce said. - But I'm not well. - Said. - Something in the drink. - Bruce said.

- Hangover at best is not well. - Said Superman. - But it is not a reason for that.

- Do you intend to kill yourself from drinking so much? - Questioned Diana appearing beside them.

- What do you want here? - He asked wiping his mouth with toilet paper, and getting up, he was wearing only brown pajamas.

- I left the league, go away. - Bruce said staggering.

- I am no longer useful to the justice league. - Bruce said. - I am out.

- We thought you knew. - Said Superman accompanying him around the cave.

- That was shown in all cities. - Bruce said.

Some lights were off, and the computer was drizzling with the screen, there was little lighting, the cave and the mansion were in darkness.

Bruce fell towards the chair away from the computer on a table in the corner, his head hurt, he was in a rag, there was a large travel backpack in the corner, his temple was aching.

- God ... - Bruce said. - Crap.

- I would say yes, Bruce. - Diana said.

Bruce found himself in the mirror, deep dark circles, thank goodness that Alfred died, he wouldn't see him, with a beard to do, and his hair tousled.

If anyone tried to get Batman out of his cave, Jocker had the party in Gotham, but apparently, there was no one to get him out of his grave.

- I'm tired. - Bruce said.

- We are having problems. - Diana said.

- You can have any problem whatsoever, but I left the league. - Bruce said.

- I trained, you Dick, enough to succeed me. - Bruce said.

- I will not help. - Bruce said.

- There's another Batman doing the job. - Bruce said.

- But not even a piece of advice? - Asked Superman.

Bruce looked towards Superman.

"No," he said.

- I want to be left alone. - Bruce said.

- There are so many heroes and watchmen in Gotham. - Bruce said.

- I trained most, if not all. - Bruce said. - One hour you find out what to do. - Bruce said.

They looked at each other and left the cave.

Bruce looked towards a computer, he waited a few minutes and turned on a computer, he was then on, turning on several screens and showing each of the heroes of the cities.

- Idiots. - Bruce said.

- Fools. - He said.

Within the first week that followed, almost at the end of Friday, all the heroes are included, two heroes from each super heroic city, will be able to kill seven innocents, from the first to the last, the one who kills, must be an innocent without sin.

Everyone there with nervous nerves, they were constantly irritated, there was a clock clocking the time.

Heroes, gods, villains and everyone there, saw and heard what the gods said.

- Interesting. - said Luthor. - I couldn't have done it better.

In a villain bar ...

Luthor was sitting at a table with poker cards and smoking a cigar.

Luthor watches around, he realized that they wanted heroes to kill, who was he not to help, to make Superman a villain.

- I bet Superman will succumb. - He said.

Joker, and some villains gathered at a round table to chat and play poker around them among smokers and underworld villains.

- I bet I can make Batman kill. - The crime clown said.

- Whoever gains something from this, is the hero, not us. - Said Senhor Frio, besides killing for money. - Said Cold.

- I don't see, Batman killing around, not even for money. - Said Mr Frio.

- Actually, I only see a Batman, but I don't know if this is the original. - Said Penguin.

- Even if he needed to. - Said Penguin.

- But did you notice anything, Joker? Asked Poison Ivy.

- What, dear? - Questioned the clown.

- We haven't seen him in weeks. - Said the green woman.

- You, like all of us, know that what we have here is not the original. - Said Poison.

- And you know he doesn't kill. - Said Crocodile.

- But we don't know about this new one. - Riddler said.

- He had thousands of opportunities to kill you and he didn't, and it was free. - Said Penguin. - Because he would kill an innocent, even now for money.

- Power corrupts, doesn't it? Asked The Riddler. - And greed makes you do crazy things.

- We can play a little, make them angry, enough to cause a complication and go crazy to the point of killing and discounting an innocent. - Riddler said.

- Does murder by mistake committed count? - Riddled questioned.

- Come on, see the biggest madman who caused chaos to the point of driving him crazy, would be you. - Riddler said.

- Since we're not doing anything. - Riddler said. - Why not? - Nygma asked.

- Wouldn't you do it for money? - Said. - Did you see that amount? - Two Face asked. - It is 700 billion dollars and 30 gold bars. - Said. - That leaves anyone with greed. - He said.

- What would we gain from killing him? - Asked Joker. - Besides of course seeing him kill an innocent. - Said. - Come on people, watch the circus catch on fire.

- He could share the money with us, if we found the victim. - Nygma proposed.

- Since when, would any hero share money with us? - Questioned Crocodile.

- Why not? - Nygma asked.

- Because if a person kills an innocent, since when, he would care not to kill us? - Questioned Harlequin appearing.

- What if we kidnapped a hero's ally. - Nygma proposed. - If we have any hostages. - Tried Riddler.

- He wouldn't mind a villain. - Said Harlequin. - And it would kill everyone in front of you.

- How about we have fun at least, forget that part. - Said Joker. - How about chaos for chaos. - Said Joker.

- Yes. - They said around. - Clinking glasses.

They would try to get the gold.

While the most idiotic, in every way, all to a lesser and greater degree were transformed into animals, in addition to being electrocuted, a mountain of pigs walking back while trying to get the money boxes from that pointed tower.

Among the villains began to occur bets on who would kill first.

Lois Lane was looking for a story, ignoring most hero screams and craziness.

During that week, reporters were addressing the heroes on those issues.

The heights were the crime in each of the cities, they took several hostages throughout the week, in themselves, each time they appeared and a hero appeared, the villains used children as a shield.

There were several cases of kidnappings throughout the week.

Lois Lane was covering the story of super heroes on murder innocent.

- Lois. - Perry said ahead of him in the newsroom of the daily planet.

- You are excused for the rest of the month. - Said.

- What...? - Said Lois.

- No ... - Said Lois. - No ... - He said again. - It's not right.

- It is the source of all Superman's problems, some stupid villain can use you to force him to kill an innocent. - Said.

- Don't come back here before the end of the month. - Perry said.

- Who said Superman kills? Cried Lois.

- Street informants. - Perry said. - They stole a shipment of kryptonite, and fear gas. - Perry said.

- Who said that? Asked Lois.

- Me, - said Jimmy. - I discovered a leaked informant that they stole coming to Metropolises

- Hallucinating men have done the worst. - Perry said.

- While��drugged aliens, they hallucinate and kill, even if they don't want to. - Said.

- He may think you are the Apocalypse. - Perry said.

- In addition to making a story about his death, I will make a story supporting Luthor. - Perry said.

- The rules are clear, Perry, he can only willingly kill an innocent. - Lois said. - And no thanks. - Lois said.

- That's not what I heard. - Perry said. - If you stay, I will call the police and you will be escorted off the daily planet. - Said. - I will claim national security. - Perry said.

- Chief, please. - You tried Lois.

- If you prove it to me. - Perry said. - That she will not be killed by Superman. - Perry said. - Thinking that you are a super villain. - Perry proposed. - I allow. - Said your boss.

Steaming Lois went to his table, picked up his things, and headed down the street by the elevator.

Bruce, followed Lois, with his sunglasses, he bumped into her even coughing and feeling sick, almost falling, the woman almost got angry, but turned around in time when she realized that the man was feeling sick , it was a good leper disguise that , being unrecognizable.

- My God. - Lois said. - You are well? - She asked.

- I'm going to get better, sitting on the bench, a little wobbly and unstable.

She released him, when he got up, without realizing that he put a tracker on her, watching her, and then following her the next day monitoring her, and watching Diana's actions, throughout the day, and throughout the week.

Some of them bet on Batman, even if they had not seen him for a long period of time, since the previous month , they would manage to induce him to kill.

There were several press conferences that Luthor made, arguing that Superman was as fallible as anyone who would be a danger to the world, and should be jailed throughout the week until the test period is over.

Wonder Woman was about to break a villain's neck and her sword almost pierced the shoulder of an innocent man caught in an ambush and used as a shield.

Each of the heroes at some point, were caught in crossfire between villains who looked like an assault group, they appeared, took Superman, Wonder Woman seriously, they made an attack, came and went the moment they acted.

That week , Wonder Woman was restrained by Superman who was trying to prevent her from killing one of the criminals who used a hostage as a shield, in addition to bombs attached to him.

After they calmed down, Superman also lost control of the ensuing revenge and assault group.

- Do you think they would really give us money in case an innocent person dies? Barry asked.

- Even if they drop money, I wouldn't do that. - Said Superman.

- Even if it is, it is a lot of money, in addition to losing my soul, I would become rich, but my soul is very important to me, Barry. - Said Superman.

- Yes. - Barry said. - For me too. - Barry said. - But what if it were by other means, like winning the lottery, what would you do with 700 billion dollars, in addition to 30 gold bars.

- What a dream, Barry. - Diana was laughing. - It's a lot of money, really. - Diana said.

- I have no idea. - Said Superman sitting in the leisure room of the tower.

- I would at least distribute a part. - Said. - There are a lot of hungry people with no money around the world. - Said Superman.

- Scout as always. - Diana said. - It's a good idea. - Diana said.

- You wouldn't do that, with that money. - Said Superman. - If there was another way.

There was the attraction and seduction of sin itself, once, it was almost tempted, there was temptation.

All the heroes almost killed an innocent, even if it is an almost, they were attracted to a persecution.

Investigating and following heroes, he demanded his part in his body, everyone thought he was drinking, or feeling sick in the corners, but really, he didn't sleep, it had been four days.

They had constant fights, Superman, Wonder Woman, several sprinters.

His lack of sleep, he was going to five, he was taking energy and eating a lot, which he saw several heroes being cornered, and villains that were surrounding Diana.

Those bastards were doing double work for some heroes, in the matter of the sixth day, Luthor, made an appearance, and invited Bruce to go out together, the man managed to reschedule three times, four, until he could not find an excuse to avoid that find it.

They were sitting in silence in the watchtower, after a tiring day of humanitarian aid, they almost killed or left children who were kidnapped by a villain, Superman almost dropped a child towards a precipice.

- I can't continue to fight. - Said Superman.

- What there was? Diana asked.

- I need to go to the fortress. - Said Superman.

- What's going on, Kal.

- I'm not as steel as I imagine. - Said Superman.

Bruce Wayne, was following Superman, Diana, and several heroes, to a greater or lesser degree, were being tempted.

There was a fight at the end of helping some girls, they were angry, and they went to fight.

For hours, they didn't even speak.

Bruce started making excuses enough to avoid even his children, some reporters, even avoiding contact with Clark, former colleagues in the justice league.

He had deep dark circles and he didn't look well, thin, he couldn't hide, even with makeup, he was pale and bent, he had white streaks on his head .

It was strange even for him, he looked with constant expression of pain on his face, that moment, Bruce was shaking.

Well, he went to Luthor's Tower, panting, in a dark suit.

- What do you want, Luthor? - He said.

- Apparently I scare him. - Entering your room.

- The finite situation. - Bruce said.

His vision left Lex unresponsive, he looked worse, deciding that it wouldn't do to wear his makeup or anything.

- You are sick. - Luthor said looking.

- A little bit. - He said, taking a glass of wine offered, his lips were dry and blue, looking at himself in the mirror after what he felt, it was not scary.

- So your trip is for that. - said Luthor.

- Yes, I have a trip to resolve this at the end of the month. - Bruce said.

- Do you intend to return? Asked Luthor.

- I intend to come back better. - Bruce said. - It's just bad days. - He said.

- I understand. - They were heading towards Luthor's dinosaur museum, taking the elevator down with it.

- You had something to share with me, before you saw me. - Bruce said.

- That Kryptonian, and the league know? Asked Luthor.

- They just know that I'm taking a gap year. - Bruce said.

- If why, I did not say, and they did not notice.

They are coming here. - Said Luthor. - I have something to share with you. - said Luthor.

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