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calm-and-wine · 4 years

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(I’d be) everything you need

hello beautiful people - here is a little fun story written for the @1dffchallenges quarantine challenge.

huge thank you to @booksncoffee for another stunning banner and to @yourpolaroid07 (i have no idea why i can’t tag you) for being the greatest gem and reading over it for me and correcting all my stupid mistakes.

so, here it is, hope it will make you smile because i sure did have a lot of fun writing this. if you like it, please come talk to me

(I’d be) everything you need

(Niall’s texts are in bold, Katie’s are in italics)

“Mum, I swear I’ll be fine. I’ll place an order and just get some takeaway tonight.” Katie assured, having had this discussion pretty much every time they spoke over the last few days.

“Bug, you have no idea how long an order is processed right now. It can take up to a week, if not longer. You can’t order all your meals,” her mum reasoned.

“Well, what do you want me to do?” she huffed irritated. Sure, she knew her mum had the best intentions and was probably worried, but she had just gotten off the flight. It was an especially cold and windy night in England and all she wanted was to get into her bed. Even the perspective of having to spend the next two weeks locked up in her flat, didn’t make her crave home any less.

“Just call Niall. I’m sure he’d be happy to help.”

Katie rolled her eyes, glad her mother couldn’t see her. She mentioned asking Niall for help before Katie even left the country. But she did not want to contact Niall. Her and Niall weren’t exactly friends. Sure, they’ve known each other for years, but Niall Horan was Josh’s friend, not hers. Did she have a crush on her older brother’s best friend? Well, that was a whole other story and not the point at all.

She hadn’t even seen Niall in forever. The last time they were both back home was over a year ago. And now she was just supposed to call him up and ask for help? Katie did not like asking for help, having to rely on others, owe any favours. Especially from people who weren’t her family. Or family-like.

“Okay, mum, I’m getting into the cab. Have a good night, yeah?” she said, partly because she did indeed hail a taxi, but mostly because she didn’t want to go in circles in this conversation, they’ve been over it already. Sure, Katie didn’t really have anyone close enough to rely on at times like these, she had a few colleagues, but those were mates to go to a pub with once a month or have a small chat in the break room, not burden them with groceries, because of the mandatory quarantine upon her return.

Her mum sighed, knowing she couldn’t make her daughter do anything. “You too, sweetie. Keep in touch, please. Let me know if anything is wrong,” she said, the worry evident in her voice.

“Of course, love you,” Katie replied, her irritation dissolving slightly. There wasn’t a doubt in her head that her mum’s heart was in the right place, but she hated when people worried about her like that, some part of her always felt guilty for making them feel that way.

1st day of quarantine

“Hello?” Katie answered her ringing phone, curious about who it might be. It was usual for her to get unknown calls on her work phone, but not her private one.

“Kitty Kat!” She didn’t even have to ask to know who was on the other side of the line, not only the booming happy voice was familiar, but there was only one person who called her that. And even though she spent years telling him that the nickname was awful, after not hearing it for so long, it made her smile.

“Hello Niall,” she said, setting her laptop down on the coffee table and focusing on the call.

“Heard you need some help. I did hesitate to accept though, because I was quite hurt it was Josh calling me and not you.” He sounded exactly how she remembered, his voice laced with a joking undertone, his usual easygoing attitude seeping through.

“I… I’m fine, really.” Katie was gonna kill her brother. Maybe he wanted to help, but he made her look incompetent to take care of herself, which she did not appreciate.

“Oh, so you’re not stuck at home for the next two weeks with an empty fridge?” She didn’t even have to see Niall to know he just raised a brow in mock surprise. She could just tell from his tone. But she did wonder what he looked like now. Whether his hair was still natural brown instead of the blonde he used to dye it. Whether his shoulders were even wider than the last time she had seen him. Whether he still had a very small belly from all the beer he had been drinking or maybe he had abs now.

“Umm.. No, I have some leftover takeaway from last night,” she assured, just slightly embarrassed.

He sighed. “Look, it’s no problem, I promise. Just text me the list, I have a few hours before work anyway.”

Katie hesitated for a moment, but no matter how much she hated admitting it, she really did need help. “Okay, thank you.”

“Oh and text me your address, too. How does your brother not know where you live?” He sounded surprised, which she understood, considering she had a pretty good relationship with Josh.

She chuckled. “Because he’s a little prick who hasn’t visited me yet. And surprisingly enough, he never orders me any gifts.”

Niall snickered. “He’s twice your height, I think that’s barely ‘little’. And he’s older.”

“Heeeey, he’s not that much taller than me!” She whined offended, even though he was.

He let out a laugh, a true belly laugh, one she hadn’t heard in years actually. But she’d know that laugh anytime anywhere, he just had one of those special ones. “Sure, sure. And he’s not even that tall either, you’re just tiny.”

“No, I’m not!” She disagreed, although she definitely didn’t count to the tall part of the population. But she was not that short.

“That’s okay, you’re cute.” His words made Katie blush. She was sure he thought nothing of them, the words slipping easily off his tongue, like he didn’t even have to think about them. “Oh and don’t do that thing when you’ll try and buy everything for the next two weeks, I really don’t mind doing a few more grocery runs for you. Wouldn’t want you to get sick from unfresh foods.”

She licked her lips to keep from smiling, because of how thoughtful he was. “Thank you.”

“Okay, I’m hanging up then, it’s good to talk to you again, Kitty Kat.” The whole conversation made her heart beat a teeny tiny bit faster, the warmth of hearing a familiar voice and Niall being so nice, flowing through her entire body.

“You too, Niall. And thank you, I’ll send the list in a minute.”

So she did, trying to keep it as basic as possible, only the actual necessary products. Her intercom rang a mere hour later. She buzzed Niall in and waited behind closed doors, having to restrain herself from observing him through the peephole. He knocked on her door softly to let her know he was leaving the bags. She waited a few seconds, giving him time to leave safely, after all the whole point of this was avoiding interactions with other people. She brought the bags inside and pretty much sprinted to the window, hoping he hadn’t left yet. She was lucky enough to have a window going out onto the entrance of the building.

It was a few seconds before Niall appeared outside. Katie didn’t have a clear view of him, especially not his face, but she noticed his hair was darker, long gone was the blonde he used to dye it into. He seemed taller, though that was pretty unlikely. More muscular. He looked grown up. Seeing him like this, after quite some time, she felt a slight flutter in her stomach. It made her excited. And Katie wondered whether he thought about her like that, imagining what she looked like now, whether she changed, what hairstyle was she wearing, whether she gained weight or slimmed down, what kind of makeup did she like now. Was he excited to find out?

She didn’t like admitting it, but truth be told, she always had a little crush on Niall Horan. And Katie hated it, because it was such a cliche, liking your older brother’s best friend. But she did. Niall was funny and kind. He loved bickering with her, but it wasn’t like her brother’s teasing, it made her feel special. He had a nickname just for her. Kitty Kat came to be because Josh liked calling her Kate, knowing she hated it, it not being her actual name. But Niall’s nickname didn’t make her irritated, no matter how much she pretended it did. It made her warm inside, like she was important enough to be referred to in an individual way.

But she had to stop thinking those thoughts Niall was helping her because he had a good heart. And because he was a family friend. That was it. He did not have a special place in his heart for her, no matter how much she imagined he maybe did in the past.

She moved from the window a few minutes after he disappeared and went to unpack the groceries. She was irritated there was no receipt, Niall was supposed to let her know how much she owed him, having refused when she offered to transfer some money beforehand. But there was another piece of paper. A post-it note stuck to the carton of eggs.

please let me know as soon as you need anything else. i’ll be doing some shopping for myself later in the week, so it’s no problem. happy to help, N xx

She refused to dwell on the xs. But the note as a whole was very sweet. In fact, Katie may or may not have put it on her fridge.

5th day of quarantine

Katie was trying to work through the splitting headache, but it was not going well. The last three days, she felt like the headache and burning eyes were her only constant companions. Other than that, she was feeling okay. No cough, no temperature, nothing. It was just because she was staring at the screen all day (and some nights), working and working, crunching numbers, filling and checking spreadsheets. Her eye actually started twitching yesterday, which wasn’t a good sign. Unfortunately, she ran out of ibuprofen. And magnesium. She was quite desperate, the pain making it near impossible to focus on anything.

So eventually, she gave in, sending a text to Niall.

very sorry to be a bother, but could you maybe possibly go to the pharmacy for me?

She did not expect her phone to start ringing just a second after. Since that first day, Niall hadn’t called her. He checked in on her a few times (almost every day, sometimes just sending her memes or funny things that happened to him, instead of starting the conversation with “are you alright?”), but it was always through texts. But now he was calling her and she was so shocked, it must have been at least a fourth ring when she answered.

“Hiya, sorry, it’s okay if -” she started.

He didn’t let her finish though, rushing out his questions, sounding a little bit worried. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, I’m okay, just ran out of ibuprofen,” she explained.

“Do you have any symptoms?” he asked, not entirely convinced.

“No, no, it’s not that,” she assured. “Just a splitting headache from too much work and computer time. And also a magnesium deficiency, probably.”

“Are you sure?” he asked again, but this time his voice was much calmer, almost back to normal.

“Yes, I’ve been drinking a shit ton of coffee everyday to even attempt to keep up with my work and I’m just a bit wiped out.”

“Okay, I can’t really go out right now, I’m at work, but -”

This time Katie was the one who cut him off. “Oh, it’s fine, really.”

“BUT,” he continued despite the interruption, his voice a bit more stern, “I just texted my roommate, so it shouldn’t take too long.”

If only he could see her now, he would notice a look of horror that crossed her face. “No, Niall, I don’t want to bother anyone.”

“Oh stop, he’s a nice guy and he can leave his work for half an hour. He owed me a favour anyway.” Niall made it seem like the most trivial thing and she really did need the medicine, so she gave up fighting.

“Well, be sure to thank him for me,” she said instead. “Buy him a nice beer.”

He chuckled. “Okay, I will. But you’re really okay? You’d tell me if you were getting sick, right?”

“Well, it’s not like you could come take care of me anyway.” She meant it as a joke, expecting Niall to let out another of his signature chuckles, but he did quite the opposite, sounding a bit exasperated.

“Why not?”

“I can’t exactly see people at the moment, remember?” She said gently, not really sure about his mood.

Niall huffed. “Do you really think I’d care about that? Just let you be alone if you were sick?”

She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. All she wanted to ask was ‘why wouldn’t you’, but she bit her lip, too afraid, not wanting to make things weird just because she probably thought a bit too much about his words.

Katie took a breath before speaking, trying to sound lighthearted. “Well, it’s good I’m not sick, so you don’t have to risk your own health.”

“You’d let me know though, right?” He persisted.

“Yeah, I would.” She wanted to add another joke saying she’d need someone to get her medicine, but the mood was not light and funny, the atmosphere suddenly very thick.

“Alright, good.” It seemed like he finally exhaled after getting his answer. “Well, I have to go back to work, I’ll text you when Pete brings the meds.”

“Okay. Thank you,” was all Katie could muster out through her fighting thoughts.

how’s the headache?

completely gone, thanks to your brilliant roommate

heeeey i’m the one who sent him on that quest!

hahahaha

i know

thank you, again

damn, i never thought i’d be saying so many thank yous to niall horan

can’t say i’m complaining

but on a more serious note, do you like pop quizzes?

hmmm yeah? i think i only did pub quiz like once or twice, but it was fun

why?

me and a few mates are doing one tomorrow, you should join

how bad is your memory? i can’t go to the pub

who’s talking about a pub?

we’re doing it on zoom

it’s still staring at the screen, but it’s not work and it seems like you need some fun

yeah, i guess i kinda do. thank you, but i don’t want to impose

you won’t, i just invited you

still…

it’s just a few mates, i promise it’s all good. i actually already told them you’re joining

and they hate being blown off

oh yeah, no pressure

haha no but seriously, if you don’t want to that’s fine, but i think you’ll enjoy it

okay. thank you. you’ll send me the details?

of course

should i prepare anything?

nope, just yourself. and your brilliant mind

we’re switching, someone else preparing questions everytime, so you have to wait your turn

The mention of her becoming a part of their regular quiz made her stomach flutter slightly. She dared having this little hope of actually becoming friends with Niall, or rather maintaining some form of contact, but this was still unexpected. But also very nice to know he kind of wanted that too.

6th day of quarantine

When Katie’s phone started ringing and she noticed her brother’s face lighting up the screen, she smiled. The last time they had spoken was when she called to give him a piece of mind for calling Niall for her, but she actually loved and appreciated her brother very much. Maybe they weren’t the absolute closest, but they had a good relationship. There was this knowledge deep down that they’d jump through fire for the other, if need be.

“Hiya,” she answered, wrapping up the email she was writing (she might or might not be getting some work done on a Saturday).

“Why is Niall calling me asking about your favourite alcohol?” Josh asked right away, no hello needed. He sounded very curious, loving to pry into her life a bit.

Katie laughed, having received a text from Niall informing her of a package waiting outside her door, which turned out to be three bottles of wine and a note saying quizzes are no fun without booze.

“What can I say, he takes good care of my needs,” she replied, half-jokingly.

“I told him it’s whiskey,” her brother informed, very much knowing she did not like whiskey. The only drink she was able to swallow was whiskey sour, but it was definitely not her favourite.

“Wow, thanks for that, Jojo,” she said, her words dripping with sarcasm.

He whined at the nickname he hated, but had to endure since they were kids.

“He did call bullshit though and asked about wine. So I told him red, naturally.” Just by his tone, she could say he had a shit-eating grin on his face, very proud of himself.

Katie furrowed her brows. All three bottles that were sitting in her fridge currently were white. Either Niall knew her brother well enough to catch the lies, which he probably did after years of friendship, or he somehow knew her.

“You’re a dick,” she laughed.

“That’s what older brothers are for, Kate. But in a serious matter, I hope you’re not getting too buddy-buddy, I couldn’t stand you two ganging up on me.”

She bit her lip, deciding it was probably best to not mention her plans for tonight. It wasn’t a big deal anyway, Niall was just a nice guy, who was probably feeling sorry for her, because she had no friends here and was sitting alone for days, spending most of her time working.

“Oh we’re gonna be best friends in no time, you should be very scared.”

Katie was nervous. In fact, she was nervous about a number of things. First of all, the quiz with Niall’s friends. She didn’t know any of those people and she was scared of making a fool of herself. Secondly, she was about to skype with Niall. He offered to have a little chat before the quiz, so he could introduce the group a little, explain who’s who and all that. But it was going to be the first time she’d truly see him and he, her. Well, through the screen of course, but still.

And now she was worrying she might have gone a little overboard with her look. It was nice to have a reason to dress up in something fancier than leggings and an oversized sweater, to even put some makeup on. But, because it was the first time Niall will see her in quite a bit (especially up close), she made an actual effort. (But she didn’t care about that, she was not wondering whether he’ll even pay attention to her looks, not at all).

When the music she was playing suddenly cut off, replaced with the ringtone of an incoming skype call, her throat instantly dried up. She took a sip of her wine before answering, her laptop screen taken over by Niall’s smiling face, literally brightening it up.

He was wearing a button down, it wasn’t necessarily an elegant one, but still a nice one, his hair looked styled, like he actually took the time to tame it. It seemed like he made sure to look good, like he cared. And it excited her because maybe, just maybe, he wanted to look good for her too. Or maybe he liked someone from his friend group and was dressing up for them.

“I see you’re putting the wine to good use. Did I pick a good one?” he asked, taking a sip of his beer, a proud grin on his face.

Katie smiled, her nerves slightly easing. No matter how much he might have changed and grown, he was still familiar.

“Yes, thank you. Although I am a bit worried what kind of idea you have of me based on the amount of bottles you got me,” she joked, taking another sip.

He let out a booming laugh, one that made something in her flutter. “Nah, there’s just never enough wine,” he shrugged. “Although personally I'm more of a beer guy. But you have over a week more of quarantine, you may need it.”

“I heard you sought some guidance from my brother,” she inquired with a raised brow, sly grin taking over her features.

Niall grunted, covering his face in embarrassment. To her, it was incredibly cute that he went to so much trouble just to get her something she liked. “Did he really sell me out? What an asshole.”

“Yup,” she replied, actually proud of her brother for telling her. “But, surprisingly enough, you didn’t buy red wine. Nor whiskey, thankfully.”

“Yeah, I figured he was lying, I remember how much you both loved teasing each other,” he chuckled just at the memory of many fights and banters. “Apparently, still can’t let the opportunity pass.”

“Oh, never,” she laughed along with him. “Okay, talk to me about your friends. What should I expect?”

“Wait, before we get to that, why do you actually need to quarantine? Were you on some crazy vacations?” he asked the question that’s been on his mind ever since his roommate asked him about it.

“Oh. Well, not really, I was visiting Frankie, that’s my best friend from uni. She lives in Brussels now. I was thinking of cancelling, but we spent most of the time just staying in or being really careful, you know, not taking any unnecessary risks, so I guess the worst part was the flight.” She shrugged, constantly wishing her two best friends weren’t scattered around the world.

“I see,” he nodded in understanding. “Had a good time, then?”

“Oh yeah, very! Haven’t seen her in forever. Really needed that as well. I, um…,” she tucked her hair behind her ear timidly, looking down for a second. “I don’t have many friends here, really. As you might have noticed,” she chuckled nervously.

“Finding it hard to meet people?” he asked with furrowed brows, but didn’t even wait for a response, another question coming to his mind. “Actually, how long have you lived here? I think the last I’d heard, you were in Chicago?”

“Seattle,” she corrected. “Yeah, I left like 7 months ago. I got offered a transfer here and a little promotion, I guess, a chance to prove myself, which was an amazing opportunity. I had to go to San Francisco for 4 weeks of training, before coming here though.” She explained, hoping he wouldn’t dig deeper on the subject, because it was not a conversation she wanted to have with him right now.

“That sounds amazing, congrats,” he said simply and she exhaled in relief.

“Thanks,” she chuckled. “But yeah, so I’ve been here a while, but haven’t really made friends yet.”

“I guess working from home is not really helpful, huh?” he observed.

“No, it definitely isn’t.”

“Well, I’m always around if you want to hang out. Or go out once this whole pandemic calms down,” he proposed and she smiled appreciatively. “Okay, let’s give you some dirt on my mates, then.”

The quiz was actually very fun. Katie hadn’t laughed that much in a bit, it would be a very long time if she hadn’t counted her time in Belgium. She met six of Niall’s friends, two of them were friends from work, plus a girlfriend of one of them, one was a friend from his little soccer team and the last two were friends from uni, who were also a couple. Everyone was incredibly nice, making sure she felt welcomed and included, going as far as explaining most of their inside jokes.

They had this tradition of one question dedicated to each person taking part, so they gave Katie a minute to come up with her own question about herself, since they didn’t know her well enough. She panicked a bit, her mind going blank, so she went with what came to her mind first, which was who she went to prom with, the answers being her ex that she broke up with a week before, her best friend or alone. Surprisingly, no one got it right, not even Niall.

“Did you really go to prom with your ex?” he asked, when they talked right after the quiz. It just so happened that they ended up being the only two left on the call, everyone else disconnecting as soon as they were finished.

“Yup,” she laughed, filling up her wine glass. They were both pretty tipsy already, on their path to drunk. “But we were friendly! You know, we were just going to different unis and stuff, it just wasn’t that serious. And everyone else was already taken!”

“Well, you could have always asked me,” he said, shrugging nonchalantly.

“Are you kidding? You used to tease me about it whenever I saw you my senior year!”

He did, whenever he came home from uni (which was a lot during his first year) and saw her, always asking whether she had a hot date yet.

“Yeah, ‘cause I wanted to take you!” Niall exclaimed.

“What? Now that’s just lies,” she chuckled incredulously.

“Absolutely not, I had a little crush on you.” Niall’s eyes were focused on his fingers picking at the beer bottle label.

“No, you didn’t,” she shook her head, although her mind went straight back to the question about him in the quiz - who was his first crush. The answer choices were his teacher, his friend’s mum or his friend’s sister. As soon as it was asked, he whined, a blush flushing his cheeks. But when it was announced that the correct answer was his friend’s sister, she was pretty sure his eyes were trained on her, like he wanted to see her reaction. As much as a rational part of her brain didn’t want to misinterpret the whole situation and get false hope, she did wonder if there was a possibility that it might have been her.

“Excuse me, I think I know my feelings better, thank you very much,” he said, pretending to be offended. “I just hid it well. Maybe too well.” Niall added the last part as an afterthought, quietly, but not enough for her to miss it.

Maybe it was the wine, or maybe just Niall’s (virtual) presence that had her feeling brave, like he made her giddily nervous, but also brought a sense of safety and calm. Whatever it was, she was feeling brave enough to say, “funny, I had a crush on you, too. What a cliche, huh?”

He scrunched his brows in confusion. “How so?”

She shrugged, little half-smile on her face. “Liking your brother’s best friend.”

“More cliche than liking your best friend’s little sister?” He inquired, before taking a gulp of beer.

She laughed, her mind a bit too fuzzy to comprehend that they just admitted to liking each other. Once upon a time, at least. “I guess we’re just a pair of walking cliches.” Katie quirked as she hid her timid smile behind her wine glass.

10th day of quarantine

Katie was fucked, there was no other way to put it. She was usually so good with planning and thinking ahead, always trying to be prepared, but at the most unfortunate time, it slipped her mind. She forgot her period was coming, or rather she forgot she was running out of tampons. And now she was stuck in her apartment, pondering if the possible fee for violating the quarantine is worth saving her from the massive embarrassment. Even though she was actually too responsible to go out now.

If Niall was a good friend, she wouldn’t have that much of a problem asking him for it. She would have no problem asking him if he was a woman. And she would definitely have less of a problem, if she didn’t like him.

But, no matter what, she had a problem and he was pretty much the only person she could count on to help her right now. So she swallowed her pride, pulled all of her courage and rang Niall, because she felt like, no matter how embarrassing, the situation required a proper call, not a text.

He answered on the second ring. “Hey, everything good? You’re not dying, are ya?” His words were joking, but his voice had a serious undertone, he even sounded a little worried.

“A bit,” she chuckled nervously, “but not because of the obvious. You’re not going to the shop today by any chance?”

“What do you need?” he asked, instead of answering her question.

“Well, this will be awkward, but…” Katie started, but hesitated for a second, biting her lip.

“Hit me,” he encouraged.

“I got my period and I forgot I have like one tampon left.” Even though she obviously couldn’t see him, she closed her eyes, like her shame burned them, spitting out the words as fast as possible.

“Oh,” he let out a little sound of surprise, clearing his throat right after to mask it. “Alright, just send me which ones you want and I’ll get them.”

“I hate being a burden.”

“Stop it, you’re not a burden,” he reassured right away. “I was actually going to the shop anyway, need a few things. Just text me, so I don’t forget and add whatever else you want, yeah?”

Niall’s words made her smile, she wasn’t sure if he really was going shopping, or just said it to make her feel better, but she just appreciated his reaction, not making a big deal out of it, just accepting her ask and thinking nothing more of it. She knew a lot of guys who would be so lost hearing that kind of request, but Niall was nothing if not alright. And that was just another great quality of his that she needed to add to the list in her mind that was growing scarily quick.

“Okay, thank you. You’re saving my life, kinda.”

“Mmm, I’m sure we’ll figure out a way for you to pay me back, no worries,” he laughed, before ending the call.

An hour later, Katie got the text to pick up the bag from her door. There was no sign of Niall, as usual, but there was a bag with not only the tampons she asked for, but also with two different types of pads, a bag of chips, frozen pizza, some fresh fruits, four different chocolate bars and cookies n cream ice cream. There was also another note inside.

thought some of those might help make you feel better, N xx

And there he was with the xs again. It was probably just the way he signed everything. Either way, the care package was incredibly thoughtful, so Katie picked up her phone to text him.

was not expecting a package like that. that’s a lot of stuff. but thank you, that’s very sweet

just wasn’t sure what you like. El always ate pretty much sweets only, while Lil loved stuffing herself with salty snacks and fast foods

Elaine and Liliana were his older sisters, Lil was married and with a child on the way, five years older than Niall, while Elaine was just two years older than him. Maybe that was the reason why he had no problem helping her today, having grown up with sisters always made guys act a bit different, or at least that’s what her mum always said.

wasn’t sure about the ice cream flavour though, so played it a bit safe

cookies and creams is a good one

what’s your favourite?

pistachio

okay, noted

Katie couldn’t explain why, but even little comments like that made her heart beat just a tiny bit faster. It wasn’t just because he was attentive to details, but it was like he wanted to know more about her, to soak every piece of information in. And then there were comments like that, the kind that made her think about the future, not just the immediate one right after her quarantine, but the actual future. Will they just stay friendly? Become best friends? Or will one of them be brave enough to make the first step into more? Katie didn’t know if there was more in the cards. When it came to her, it wasn’t just that stupid crush from her youth that came back. The feelings grew and were constantly growing, as she got to know more and more of Niall. But she didn’t know how he was feeling. Maybe there were signs, but she was never that great at reading them. Time will tell if one of them will pluck the courage to take that leap of faith, or if she just misread the situations. A part of her was very anxious about it, but another part was excited. And all of her was hopeful.

12th day of quarantine

“Catch me up on your life. I feel like the last time I really knew what was happening with you was high school,” Niall inquired, folding his hands to rest his chin on top. He looked adorable like this.

It was a Friday night and they were skyping. Just the two of them, having drinks over video call. As it turns out, they do their pop quiz every other week and so he asked her if she wanted to hang out with him to survive her last days of solitude.

“Oh, you think you knew what was going on in my life back then?” Katie chuckled, a sly grin on her face.

“Well, I was in your house like every other day,” he reasoned.

“Please, even I didn’t know what was happening in my life at that time.” She joked, because, if she was being honest, high school was a mess.

He laughed. “Yeah, okay, point taken. But still, how was uni for you? How did you end up at the company you’re working for now?”

“Uni was fun. Stressful, most of the time, but I have some good memories. And the company was just a fluke,” she shrugged, taking a sip of her wine, the last bottle of the three Niall bought her last week.

“Was it hard leaving Seattle behind?” he asked.

“Um..” she got embarrassed, nibbling on her bottom lip, clearly thinking over her answer. “Yes and no, I guess. I mean… I had a boyfriend,” she admitted, going into the story she didn’t like retelling, but actually didn’t mind that much right now. Not only because she trusted Niall, but because she was over that whole situation, even if it still brought up some unpleasant memories. “We had been together for about two years. And he didn’t want to move here with me. Like, didn’t even consider it. Just outright told me to reject the offer, basically. And most of our friends took his side. I guess they were mostly his friends to begin with, but it still stung. So yeah, it was hard, but there also really wasn’t much left for me there.” When she finished, she shrugged again, hoping to look quite unbothered, as it really was just a thing of the past. Katie took another sip of wine, while Niall looked at her with a look that she couldn’t decipher. But thankfully, it wasn’t pitiful.

“Okay, first, I’m sorry,” he said after a second. “But second, that was such a dick move. I mean, it was a huge opportunity for you and he expected you to just give it up? Like an ultimatum? Not even ‘we can work it out’ or something?” He sounded genuinely surprised, even a little disgusted, which made Katie smile slightly, his reaction making her feel better.

“It was more like ‘if you’re even considering taking it, then fuck you’, so yeah, pretty much,” she said, her words feeling much lighter than before.

“Wow,” Niall chuckled humorlessly. “He really did not know how lucky he was to have you.”

“Stoooop,” she said, her face growing hot.

“No, I’m serious. I’d say good riddance to him.”

“I kinda see it now too, to be honest,” she admitted, a faint smile on her lips. “It did make me realise how he didn’t really love me. Noticed a bunch of not great behaviours, actually. So hey, it’s all for the better.”

“Oh for sure.”

“What about you? Any tragic love story?” Katie asked, reaching for her glass.

“Umm…” he took a big gulp of his beer, while she raised her brow, indicating it was her time to grill him. “Kinda the opposite of your story, actually,” Niall admitted.

“You’re joking,” she gasped, her eyes growing wider.

“Nope,” he shook his head, a half-smile on his lips. “I followed my girlfriend here. She got a great job, so I came with. It wasn’t far anyway, but yeah, she was the reason. I did say no to a proper job opportunity myself for that, actually. And then she dumped me four months later. Taking most of our mutual friends with her as well.”

Katie was pretty much speechless. She did hear he had a girlfriend, they moved in together here, but she hadn’t heard when it ended and definitely not how. “Wow,” a shaky laugh escaped her lips. “Bad breakup?” she asked after a second.

Niall licked his lips. “Not the worst, I mean, there wasn’t any cheating or anything, although she did get another boyfriend like two weeks later. But it did suck. We got a flat together and everything. I get that you can fall out of love with someone or whatever, but I did rearrange my life for her, so you know, if she was having doubts back then…” He let his voice linger. It’s been a while since he thought about her, even the last time they accidentally crossed paths a few months ago, he hadn’t really felt anything anymore.

“She should have said it,” Katie finished his thought and he nodded.

“Yeah. It felt a little out of the blue. But it’s been over a year now, so I’ve dealt with that. It was the most exciting story about my life, though. Other than that it’s just work, footie, pub quizzes and booze,” he chuckled, taking another gulp of his beer, as to prove his point.

“A boring life is the best kind, though,” she noticed. “I think it’s so underrated. I’d take stability over drama anyday.”

“Yes! Thank you!” Niall got excited, scooting a little closer and even pointing a finger at her through the screen. “That’s what I think too.”

“Great minds think alike,” she laughed, moving her finger between them two.

It was probably the most personal conversation she had ever had with Niall. And it felt good. Maybe not exactly because their stories were good, but because she felt like there was a certain level of understanding. He was such an easy person to talk to, no matter the subject. And this conversation, hearing his story, made her appreciate him even more, especially his character. Being willing to sacrifice himself for love was a big thing. She just hoped that he still had it in him, that the past didn’t make him close his heart off, but by his honesty and vulnerability, she didn’t think that was the case. And that really did make her happy.

They were quiet for a moment, at first just kind of looking at each other with soft eyes, feeling somehow connected, even through a computer screen. But then Katie furrowed her brows before crossing her eyes, which made Niall also pull a face, before they both burst out laughing.

“Well, I didn’t know the friends who took her side, but the ones you have now are pretty great,” she said, closing the subject. “Thanks for inviting me to the quiz last week, it was a lot of fun.”

“Thank you for joining us. And you know you’re already invited to the next one.”

Katie smiled, looking down for a second. When she raised her eyes again, Niall was giving her a weird look, like he couldn’t figure her out.

“What?” she asked.

He shrugged. “You say thank you too much.”

She chuckled, “well, I was raised right.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to say it for everything. We’re actually just hoping you won’t blow us off when your quarantine is over,” he said.

“You? Never,” she said, her words making matching grins appear on both their faces.

1 day after quarantine

To be honest, Katie didn’t know what she was doing. It was the first day of her freedom and she invited Niall for dinner. She was making a dish that was his favourite when they were younger, her mum used to always tell Josh to invite Niall around, when she was cooking it. She wanted to do something nice for him, to repay him for all the help. Another reason might have been the fact that she really wanted to see him. As nice as texting and skype was, she wanted to be face to face with him, hear his voice clearly, not slightly distorted by her laptop speakers. Maybe even touch him.

To say she was nervous would be an understatement. She went crazy yesterday, cleaning the entire flat, then ironing half of her clothes, because she couldn’t decide on one outfit she might want to wear. She eventually settled on a casual black skirt, with a slightly sheer, emerald blouse. Her hair was pinned up a bit messily, while she still hadn’t decided if she’s gonna keep it that way or let it loose, or maybe tie it up… She put some makeup on, but didn’t want to overdo it. It was just a casual dinner with a childhood friend, after all.

Just seconds after she turned off the stove, her doorbell rang. It was like the sound went to her heart instead of her ears, making it beat just a little bit faster, excited about the person waiting outside.

Katie pulled off her apron quickly and went to welcome her guest, finally.

“Hiya,” Niall said as soon as she pulled the door open. He squeezed in next to her, handing her a bottle of wine and taking off his jacket. “Oh my god, do I smell chilli?” he asked, turning to face her as soon as he hung it up.

Katie smiled, just seeing him made her happy, but his words and the excited glint in his eyes made her even happier. “Yeah. I got my mum’s recipe, so hopefully it’ll be at least half as good as hers,” she shrugged innocently, trying to check him out as discreetly as possible.

He looked good, the screen did him no justice and he looked good even then. In the flesh he looked more buff, definitely spent his lockdown working out. His hair looked softer and more fluffy and there was a slight stubble on his face. The simple t-shirt he was wearing clung beautifully to his bicep.

“That recipe is like your family’s best kept secret,” he said, eyes wide.

She laughed. “It’s really not, my mum just didn’t want yours to have it, because she loved you coming over and praising her.”

“Oh and you’re hoping for that same praise, aren’t you?” Niall asked, with a raised brow.

She chuckled again, shrugging her shoulder like she didn’t even know what he was talking about. And then he took a step closer and wrapped her in a hug.

“It’s good to finally see you properly. You look beautiful,” he said so close to her ear, she could feel his breath on her neck, raising goosebumps on its way.

It only took her a second to settle into the hug, her arms around his waist, her face nuzzled into his neck, breathing in the mixture of freshly washed clothes and his cologne. The thing was, Niall was an amazing hugger. She knew it before, but now that he was slightly bigger, he was even better. And he smelt amazing. Katie had to force herself to pull away before it became an awkwardly long embrace.

“You look good as well, it’s nice to actually hang out.”

“Thanks for inviting me.”

“Thanks for all the help. Come on, I just turned the stove off, so we should eat while it’s hot.”

She gestured for him to go first into the kitchen, creating herself an opportunity to unashamedly look at his ass, which looked pretty good in his dark grey trousers.

Katie had been stressing all day if they’d have something to talk about. They had skyped twice and texted throughout most days, they were about to run out of topics to discuss at some point, right?

Well, apparently not anytime soon. They spent the whole meal talking between bites, Niall pretty much moaning at the first taste of chilli, which made Katie laugh unattractively, covering her mouth in an attempt to keep the food from spilling out. But the conversation just flowed so naturally between them. They actually sat at the table, in front of empty plates for almost an hour, just chatting, before they ran out of wine which eventually prompted them to move. They cleared the plates, opened another bottle of wine, this time the white one Niall had brought, and moved to the sofa.

“Can I ask you something?” Niall asked, waiting a second after they settled, while she was quickly responding to a text from her mum.

“Sure,” she said, putting her phone down and twisting her body towards him, one leg bent on the couch.

He looked down for a second, then licked his lips, before meeting her eyes again carefully. “Is this a date?”

“Well…” She bit her lip. “It was meant as a thank you, but I guess…” She hesitated for a second, but then saw a small flash of light in his eyes, which gave her that little bit of courage she needed. “It could be. If you want it to be.”

“See, that’s a tricky question,” he said with a grin, which made Katie raise her brows in question. “Because yes, I would very much like to be dating you, but it’s also weird not being the one organising the date, especially the first one. I just showed up, while you planned the whole thing.”

She laughed, her heart feeling instantly lighter, looking at him with admiration. “You can always take a lead with the second one.”

“Deal.”

He brushed the hair that escaped her updo out of her face, putting it behind her ear. Katie was pretty sure he was about to kiss her, but she didn’t want to wait a second longer, his earlier words giving her enough courage to lean in and be the one to initiate the kiss.

He tasted like wine and chilli, probably exactly the same way she did, but somehow the kiss was sweet, their mouths finding their rhythm easily, almost like they were meant to work together.

When they parted, she let out a soft laugh. One of disbelief. And happiness. She just kissed Niall. And now she had a bunch of butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

“What are you laughing about? Was it that terrible?” he asked, his voice a little bit panicked.

“No, god no, it was great,” Katie rushed to assure him, in case he couldn’t tell her emotions by the huge grin on her face. “It’s just… Unexpected. I really did not think we would end up like this.”

“How so?” His arm was holding her hip, as if he was making sure she didn’t pull away.

“I mean… Well, did you ever think we’d be here?” she asked him, not really sure how to explain her thoughts.

“Um… Not really, no. I used to think we’d date at some point, but when we had both gone to uni that hope kinda died,” he admitted.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Why are ya so surprised?” He chuckled at her reaction.

“I mean…” Katie hesitated for a moment, reaching for his hand to play with the ring on his finger. “Yeah, we apparently had a crush on each other back in the day. And we’ve known each other forever, but we also didn’t know each other that well, not really.”

“Yeah,” Niall sighed in understanding, “it’s this weird feeling of knowing someone for years while also just truly learning about them now. But it’s not necessarily bad though, is it?”

“Not at all, I like learning more about you. Getting closer to you.” She gave him a gentle smile, which he returned right away,

“That feeling is very mutual.”

“Life just works in a weird way, doesn’t it? We’ve been living pretty close to each other for months without even realising. And we haven’t spoken for over a year, but now it just…”

“Something clicked,” he shrugged, flicking her palm to trace mindless patterns on the back of it.

“Yeah, it did.”

“Maybe it was meant to be.” His words were so light, but at the same time, they held so much conviction, they made Katie’s heart soar.

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see, huh?” she asked cheekily. “I think it all depends on what you’ll prepare for that second date.”

He chuckled. “Oh wow, well, that chilli is gonna be hard to beat. But I feel like all the shopping I’ve done for you should count for something, you know, like a little advance.”

“Oh great, we haven’t even started dating properly and you’re already slacking. Nice one, Horan.”

Her words made him let out a booming laugh, his head thrown back. And all she could do was look at him and admire the beautiful man beside her, thanking the universe for giving them a chance to find each other.

“Do you have a morning shift tomorrow?” Katie asked, when another episode had ended. They talked some more, then kissed some more, before eventually settling down to watch some tv, enjoying the quiet moments of just holding each other, having more than enough words between them that night.

Even the small fact of him choosing a tv show to start watching together instead of a movie made her do a little mental note in her head. Because it was one more thing indicating that he wanted to do this again. If she even had any doubts still.

“Mmmm, no,” he says, rubbing at his eye sleepily. “I’m starting at two in the afternoon.”

Katie learned he had 3 possible work shifts when he texted her at midnight that he’s at the shop and they’ve run out of the cereal she wanted. He was an IT support specialist, which she found very interesting, although she didn’t understand a lot of his explanation when she asked him about his job.

“Do you wanna stay the night?” she asked. When he looked at her surprised, a flush appeared on her cheeks. “Just to watch another episode and go to sleep, I didn’t mean… like..”

“No, yeah, of course, I wouldn’t want to…” he rushed to say.

“Oh, you wouldn’t?” She looked at him with an arched brow, playful smile on her face. “So you’re not into me?”

“What? Shit, no, of course I am, come on, you should know that.” He raised his brows and both their minds went back to a moment when they were kissing earlier (well, some people would probably call it making out) and she felt his hardening dick on her tight.

She bit her lip to sustain a smile, because it was nice to feel that way, to feel wanted, but also for the other person to be open about it, not afraid to admit his feelings towards her. It’s been a while since she felt like that. Sexy, free, confident. A bit vulnerable, but safe.

“Yeah, I guess I do,” she said with a wicked smile, planting a kiss on his lips.

It was crazy how comfortable she felt with him. She didn’t hesitate to cuddle up to his body, didn’t think about going in for a kiss, even despite it being just hours since their first one. With Niall, there were just no doubts, not anymore.

“So sleep or one more episode?” he asked, his arm tucking her closer to him.

“Are you gonna fall asleep halfway through?”

“Nope, I’m pretty awake now, your proposal made me come alive again,” he chuckled, tickling her side, which made her yelp in surprise.

So they watched two more episodes before eventually getting ready to sleep. Katie took pride in being a good host, providing Niall with fresh towels and a toothbrush, before he even got the chance to ask. She also made him take the bathroom first, so she could put the blanket covering her bed and all the extra pillows away. She did a quick scroll through her socials, deliberately avoiding a text from Frankie, asking how the night had gone. She could wait until tomorrow, when Katie would call her for a proper gossip.

“Do you mind if I sleep in just my boxers?” Niall asked, walking out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped securely around his waist, his glistening chest on full display. He had definitely been working out. “I can wear a shirt too, if you want me to.”

Katie shook her head. “Whatever you’re comfortable with, I’m good with whatever,” she said, passing him with a smile to take her turn getting ready to sleep.

She tried to be as quick as possible, removing her makeup and brushing teeth. When she emerged, Niall was tucked in bed, on the left side, which was exactly the one that had always been empty, since she slept on the right.

Her pajamas were simple, consisting of cotton shorts and a simple t-shirt. After all, they still had time for something sexier, you shouldn’t play all your cards right away.

“First date and you already got me into bed,” he said watching her climb under the sheets. “Damn, woman, you’re good.”

There was a huge grin on his face, which made it impossible for her not to mirror his expression.

“You took my side,” she said, fluffing her pillow before lying down. The bedside lamp was the only source of light in the room, which bathed them both in the golden glow. Niall couldn’t tear his eyes away from her, she looked stunning.

“Oh shit, sorry, it actually looked less slept on,” he started explaining, making a move to get up. “We can switch.”

Katie laughed, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “I’m just messing with you, you got it right.”

“Uhhh I hate you,” he whined, burrowing his head in the pillow. For a second he wished he really was on the wrong side, because then the pillow would smell of Katie and not fabric softener.

“Oh but you don’t. I’m pretty sure you said you liked me, actually,” she chuckled, loving the joking atmosphere that felt so natural between them.

“You’re lucky I have a soft spot for you,” he turned his head to look at her again. She moved closer, resting her head on the edge of his pillow, before moving after a second to plant a kiss on his lips.

It was impossible to not feel how his lips stretched into a smile during the kiss. It seemed like they spent the whole night just smiling and kissing. But neither of them were complaining.

With Niall it was all so easy. Sure, at times she might be a bit nervous, especially right before seeing him or talking to him, but once she felt his presence, most of it went away. She felt free. He had seen her do so much stupid shit over the years, she just knew he wouldn’t judge or be put off. It was just that level of comfort and familiarity, that was what he brought her. And she didn’t understand how, but at the same time he made her feel giddy and excited. It was like he calmed her and made her heart beat faster at the same time. It was against her logic, but she decided not to question it. Because there was no question to her that it was a good thing. She liked that feeling. She craved that feeling.

It was crazy how unexpectedly things could happen. Two weeks ago she didn’t even want to call him, not wanting to bother him, any relationship between them vanished over more than a year ago. And now she wanted to keep in contact with him as much as possible. She wanted to talk to him everyday. Somehow, over such a short time, he became a constant part of her day, whether it was sharing memes, random thoughts or having actual deep conversations. She never even thought she’d be here, falling for someone so fast. Least of all, falling for Josh’s best friend. But that was a funny thing about life and love, it crept up on you when you least expected it. And sometimes, it did so in simply the best way.

The pandemic was a horrific thing that affected countless people’s lives, but in a surprising twist of events, it gave Katie a light in such a dark time. And that light went by the name of none other than Niall Horan.

#1dff #1dffquarantine #1dff challenge #niall horan fanfiction #niall horan oneshot #one direction fanfiction #one direction one shot #niall horan fan fiction #niall horan one shot #one direction fan fiction #one direction oneshot #eyn

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puppyluver256 · 3 years

Photo

[Image Description: Three fan-made Pokemon made to resemble the northern cardinal bird, one of which is presented as two sexually dimorphic individuals.

The first Pokemon is a young bird with yellow feathers, tipped red-orange at the wings and on the tail. It has a small rounded blue beak, blue legs, and big dark blue eyes. It has its wings tucked against its body and is looking to the left of the image as it faces the right. The feathers on its head stick up to imply the beginning of a crest. Light blue text to the right of the image reads "Cardling".

The second Pokemon is a juvenile bird with tan feathers on its body and red feathers on its wings and tail. It has a blue beak and legs and light blue markings around its dark blue eyes. Feathers on its head stick up in a crest. Its legs are pulled up against its body and its wings are outstretched in flight. Light blue text to the right of the image reads "Purdinal".

The third Pokemon are two adult birds with large three-feathered head crests, maroon beaks and legs, blue facial markings, dark blue eyes, and turquoise talons resembling icicles. The individual on the left is a little larger and has bright red plumage with blue tipped wings and tail, while the individual on the right is a little smaller and has dull tan plumage with bright red belly, wingtips, and tail. Their wings are tucked up to their bodies and they are positioned to that their bodies are facing each other, while their heads are facing away. Turquoise text outlined in light blue to the right of the image reads "Frostinal", while smaller text in the same colors reads "male" and "female", indicating the larger red individual is a male and the smaller tan individual is female.

End ID.]

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Cardling - Chick Pokemon | flying While Cardling are capable of flight a lot earlier in life than some bird Pokemon, they are almost incapable of dealing with the cold until maturing. They tend to become quite close to their parents while they can before they make the trip back north. / Cardling are very susceptible to frigid temperatures, and as such their parents must nest much further south than the typical location of their home. They feast upon a wide variety of berries several times a day in order to build their strength.

Purdinal - Fledgling Pokemon | flying They are capable of fluffing up their down undercoat in order to provide some better cold resistance than they previously could. They seem to be quite fond of Snover berries, but their opportunities to taste them are quite rare. / Beginning to develop some mild cold resistance, Purdinal sometimes travel further up north than they could as Cardling. They are still not fully capable of living in cold climates, merely visiting to briefly reunite with parents while they are still fairly young.

Frostinal - Cardinal Pokemon | ice/flying It lives in the northernmost parts of Cantessy, except for during breeding season when mated pairs will travel south to raise their less resilient young. Males can be seen feeding females berries plucked from Snover during courtship. / Its talons are as cold as the snowy north it calls home. A mated pair will fly south to warmer climates during breeding season as their young cannot withstand the cold very well until fully grown.

I know the tradition with Fakemon stuff is to introduce all the starters and their evos together, but I wanted to post the full evo lines for my starters pretty close to posting people who would reasonably use them, ie. the player(s) and the rival characters. So we're gonna wait a bit on Calflame's evos for now and instead focus on Cantessy's "Route 1 bird": Cardling! And of course its evolutions Purdinal and Frostinal! Compared to the origins of the starters' inspirations, the Route 1 bird was fairly simple to figure out. I knew when I was figuring things out that I wanted my Route 1 bird to be based on Kentucky's state bird, the northern cardinal. I see 'em all over the place here, and they're really not hard to spot, especially the bright red males for which the species gets its name. (fun fact, when I first learned about catholic cardinals I thought they were named after the birds, luckily I was old enough to have the critical thinking to realize it was probably the other way around pretty quick on my own hehe) So Cardling are based on a mix of the babies and fledglings, Purdinal on the juveniles, and Frostinal obviously on the adults. This is going to be the only Cantessy Pokemon to have a gender difference, as I wanted to reference how the females are closer to olive drab rather than that iconic vibrant red. Better egg camouflage, y'know?

Thanks to my buddy Tav for suggesting the final stage of this evolution line gain the ice type! This was the only major hang-up I had with this line at any point, tbh. I knew I wanted it to gain a secondary type, but I didn't want to just play into the red coloration and make it fire type, and becoming fire would also make it too similar to Talonflame with fancy colors. They suggested ice, and I was reminded of all those winter images and holiday cards that have cardinals on them, not to mention the red plumage would artistically stand out against a snowy scene in a really lovely way. (come to think of it, that's probably why cardinals are used in those images hehe) And speaking of ice-type cardinal Pokemon, please check out the Pokemon Cardinal series on YouTube! It's a really cool Fakemon series and I think y'all would liiiike it O:

Also if anyone wants to suggest other moves for these guys to learn and some physical stats (ie. height and weight, idk much about scaling hehe), feel free to throw ‘em at me :3 Links to their info pages will be provided in the replies!

💖🐶 Check out my pinned post for ways to support my artwork, among other things! 🐶💖

~If you like, please reblog to show your friends! Likes are appreciated, but reblogs let more people see my content! If you have something to say, feel free to give feedback in tags/comments/replies as well!~

Pokemon and related concepts © Nintendo/GameFreak Cardling, Purdinal, Frostinal, the Cantessy region, and artwork © PuppyLuver Studios

#pokemon #fakemon #cantessy region #cardling #purdinal #frostinal #jess drew the thing #sfw #image description #BIRB #long post

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shining-red-diamond · 4 years

Text

Ch. 20: A Path

Cast of Characters//Ch. 1//Ch. 2//Ch. 3//Ch. 4//Ch. 5//Ch. 6//Ch. 7//Ch. 8//Ch. 9//Ch. 10//Ch. 11//Ch. 12//Ch. 13//Ch. 14//Ch. 15//Ch. 16//Ch. 17//Ch. 18//Ch. 19//Ch. 20//Ch. 21//Ch. 22//Ch. 23//Ch. 24//Ch. 25//Ch. 26//Ch. 27//Ch. 28 (coming soon)

Words: 1.6k

Pairing: ATEEZ OT8 x OCs

Genre: Adventure, Pirate AU

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: mentions of deadly traps, bug attacks, blood, and venom

A/N: Italics means they’re speaking Korean

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Phoebe asked as she rushed over to help him up.

“Yeah,” he nodded.

Grace-Anne then kneeled down to get a good look at the stone staircase. The open itself was about as wide and long as a large cardboard box with a descending stone staircase. Each step disappeared more and more into the dark underground, and the cold dampness cut through the jungle’s humidity. Pulling out her flashlight, Grace-Anne switched it on and shined it down the staircase. Nothing out of the ordinary except for a few dead snakes, but she felt uneasy about immediately taking the steps down.

A rock sat idly next to her, and it was immediately serving as a guinea pig. She tossed it down where it could still be visible by the light beams. Landing on a stone in one of the steps, it sank down halfway, and a spear shot up from the middle of the stone. The rock was split into two pieces before falling away somewhere.

“Do any of the notes say anything about this?” Grace-Anne asked as she stood.

Hongjoong was already ahead of her and reviewing the notes on both the map and the journal.

“Yes,” he nodded once he found the page. “Any of the stones with a golf-ball sized hole in the center has a deadly spear. Have your flashlights ready.”

One by one, the crew switched on their lights just before descending down the stone steps, tip-toeing over each holed stone. The air seemed to grow colder and more dense, and a soft blue glow could be seen up ahead. When they reached the bottom, a foul stench attacked their noses as they turned a corner.

“If I see one more corpse,” Dinah threatened, “I will kick a stalagmite.”

“I don’t think it’s a dead body, we’re smelling,” Grace-Anne replied as they walked a little further. “It smells more like mud after the rain.”

The sound of a river rushing could be heard overhead. Hongjoong used his flashlight to read the notes again. “The blue light tells us that’s where the next piece is.”

“What is that light anyway?” Mingi asked as they strolled closer to the light.

“Yeah, there doesn’t seem to be any electrical fixtures down here,” added Yunho.

An opening marked where the blue light was hiding, and once the crew walked in, the light turned out to be what seemed to be twinkling blue clusters sticking to the wall and reflecting off of clear quartz fragments blooming from the ground to the ceiling. With this kind of light, the crew switched off their flashlights.

“Glow worms, of course!” Dahae recognized. “Their bioluminescence gives off a sort of blue or green light.”

“But where’s the diamond piece?” Seonghwa reminded her as the crew looked around. “It could be anywhere here.”

Jongho was about to try to move a quartz piece to investigate any nook and cranny, but Dahae stopped him with a gasp.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“These aren’t just any of the regular glow worms you hear about,” she explained. “These quartz’s have minerals that provide this species with their nutrients, and they’re aggressive if they’re touched by any other living organism. Touch the crystals, and a few of them will attack.”

“They’re not poisonous, are they?”

“They just give you deep cuts, but the bleeding is bad no matter where the laceration is.”

“Found it,” Taeran declared as she looked up something in the ceiling.

Surrounded by clusters of the glowing blue, a shining fractal seemed trapped in another microvine structure surrounded by crystals. Beside it was a sort of lock code identical to a lock combination, but rusted into the ceiling.

“What’s the code?” Dahae asked.

Hongjoong flipped through the journals and notes a few times, scanning each page individually in case he missed it. He found something on the exact lock, but no direct answer as to free the diamond.

“There’s a riddle,” he shrugged as scratched his head. “‘Not a full circle, not an angle, not even a cute angle, only a straight path will you find the key.’”

“What path?” Dinah exasperated. “The only way out is the way we came in, and even then it’s deadly.”

“And we can’t exactly pry open the little binding it’s in without touching the surrounding crystals,” Grace-Anne added.

“Maybe it’s talking about the sun, hills, and a path on a hill,” Seonghwa guessed.

“We’re in a freaking CAVE!” Dinah retorted while motioning towards their surroundings.

Taeran stared up at it and recited the riddle. Circle, angles, path. Circle, an angle, a cute angle, path. A cute angle stuck out to her. Did it mean an acute angle?

“Wait a second,” a lightbulb went off in her head. “It’s not a regular piece of land at all. It’s geometric angles. A full circle is three-hundred and sixty degrees, a cute angle is an acute angle that’s forty-five degrees, and a right angle is ninety-degrees. What we’re looking for is the straight ‘path,’ and it’s a straight line. One-eighty degrees.”

“1-8-0 is the code?” Phoebe asked.

“It has to.”

“How are you going to reach it?” Dahae wondered. “The ceiling is taller than Yunho and Mingi.”

…

Finishing up in the bathroom, Celestia took one last look at herself in the mirror, double-checking for any fly-away strands of hair before standing back and seeing her pregnant self. Her stomach wasn’t as huge as a typical pregnant woman’s, but she still found it cute despite feeling like a bloated fish some days. Baby girl kicked, and the mother-to-be smiled.

“You’re so gorgeous,” San commented groggily as woke up.

“Hi, handsome,” his wife replied as she waddled back into the room.

The curtains were opened just slightly to allow some sunlight in, but not enough to disturb San in his sleep.

“How are you feeling?” Celestia asked as she eased herself on the bed.

“Better.”

“You look better, too. Your color is back. Are you sore?”

San shook his head. “I can move more freely, but it only stings when I move my back a certain way.”

“Dahae said it’ll be like that for a bit, but you’ll be back to exploring our next destination.”

A smile nearly bloomed on the young man’s face, but abruptly stopped. He wanted to see the new site, but Celestia couldn’t go anymore when she’s days from delivering.

“I don’t want you to be alone,” San shook his head.

“I won’t be alone,” she promised. “The girls will rotate out on who stays with me at each stop.”

“But what about when it’s time for you to give birth? We would have to flag down an ambulance or something to get you to a hospital if needed.”

San had wanted his wife to give birth in a medical facility that was safe, and she and the baby would receive proper care; but Celestia had put her foot down on having the birth on the boat since Dahae would help with delivery. However, she was becoming more open to having the aid of a medical facility if things were to go wrong.

“I’ve heard you can’t plan for how a birth is going to go,” was all Celestia could say. “But we can be prepared.”

San just smiled and kissed her on the cheek. “Such a clever woman, you are.”

Celestia scoffed playfully before asking, “Are you hungry? Grace-Anne left us some breakfast.”

“Can you get up?”

“Watch me.” Immediately she scoot to her edge of the bed, sat up, and rolled to one side to stand. “Cake.”

San giggles as the love of his life waddles out of the room and towards the kitchen. Celestia found her meal of eggs and Greek yogurt covered in plastic, and San’s bacon and omelettes were in the same shape. She removed the covering and put them in the microwave for about a minute while she retrieved both of their drinks.

A fit of childlike giggles erupted from San back in the bedroom. Celestia thought his medicine was making him loopy until he started baby-talking and cooing in his mother tongue. Was he looking at the ultrasounds and somehow talking to the baby? It wasn’t until she returned with their breakfasts when she saw what had happened.

“Angel, we’ve got a little stowaway,” San smiled as he was now petting a Siamese cat sitting on his stomach. “Isn’t she cute?”

“She is,” Celestia smiled as she set the food tray on San’s nightstand. “Hi, kitty.”

She held her hand to the feline, palm open and face up; and after a couple of sniffs, the cat licked her fingers and rubbed her face against Celestia’s hand.

“Friendly, aren’t you? How did you get on here?”

“She must have wandered up the landing gear from outside,” San guessed. “I managed to sit up, because I had to pee; and when I came back from the bathroom, there was a super cute cat sitting on your side of the bed.”

Celestia gave the purring cat a few more scratches behind her ears before thinking for a moment.

“What’s the captain gonna say?” she asked as she sat on the edge of the bed.

The captain had a thing with animals on the ship. It wasn’t that he didn’t allow it, it was that everyone had a job to do and wanted everyone to always stay on task that getting a pet for one crewmate or for all to share seemed impossible. Everyone, including Dahae, had begged Hongjoong multiple times for a furry friend, but he always said no.

“Well,” San thought, “I mean we already have a baby on the way, so he might say our new friend has to go; but since you’re going to be here on each stop, maybe she can help keep you company.”

As if excited by his idea, the cat leapt off of San’s lap and tip-toed to Celestia’s bump. She began to purr as she rubbed up against it. It was as if she now knew there was something precious being nurtured and developed in a protective shell.

“I think we might have found our guardian for Baby Choi,” San jokes with a chuckle.

Tagging: @not-majestic-bluenicorn @actuallythatwaspromise @barsformars @philosopher-of-fandoms @daybreakx @lilhwahwa @hongism let me know if you’d like to be added or removed

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gullethead · 4 years

Text

Writing In Eternian

Hey! I made a post about a little season 5 easter egg yesterday (not linking it here because for some reason it blocks the post from showing in the tags)and while I was poking through the tags, I noticed that a lot of people want to learn how to use First Ones writing! Writing and orthography are actually things I'm really interested in, so I decided to make this guide for people. It's a bit more in-depth than the official press release, so if you just want to use that, feel free!

Here’s the original tweet from the She-Ra Twitter account, which has more examples: twitter. com /dreamworksshera/status/1055474341553623040

Here we go! Putting it under a break so it doesn't eat up your whole screen.

THE SOUNDS OF ENGLISH & THE IPA

So first of all, we need to start with a brief introduction to the IPA. (If you’re already familiar, you can skip to the next big heading.) Lots of languages use a lot of different letters or other characters to represent certain sounds, but when you're working with linguistics, you need to be able to say exactly what you mean. So, we made the International Phonetic Alphabet. This is a long list of individual letters and markings that represent very specific sounds, and you use them by placing them between slashes, like /d/, and sometimes to distinguish, you place the actual writing between corner brackets, like <d>. So for instance, /t/ and /h/ make the same sounds that <t> and <h> make in English, but <th> (usually) makes either the /θ/ or /ð/ sounds. These change based on where you live, but in general the consonants are the same for all English speakers.

Knowing this is important, because something I love about the First Ones alphabet is that it isn't just a letter substitution! Many "secret language" alphabets I've seen in kid's series (like Artemis Fowl, for instance) are just simple one-to-one substitutions for the Latin alphabet we use. But First Ones writing is actually very different! It uses the actual sounds made in the word. So if you wrote "cat" in the First Ones script (which I'm gonna call Eternian, after Eternia from He-Man, which flows better than "First Ones script"), it would actually look like "kat", because the letter c can be used for the sounds k or s, so it doesn't translate.

The alphabet we're using right now was created for the Latin language, derived from the Greek alphabet, which itself has a very long history behind it. English is NOT descended from Latin - it's a Germanic language, and the Germanic family is only kind of related to the Romantic family that developed out of Latin. However, a lot of our vocabulary has a Latin infusion because of mixing with Old French in the 1000s-1100s, and even before that, we used the Latin alphabet because it was the most common. This means that in order to express all the sounds we have, English speakers writing English had to combine different letters together; this, plus over a thousand years of different spellings and dialects, means that our orthography - our way of writing the sounds we say - is FUCKED. The Eternian alphabet is actually a much more efficient way of writing these sounds!

This is the total list of English consonants:

A few notes here:

To make sure you're not lost, /ŋ/ is <ng>, /j/ is <y>, /θ/ and /ð/ are <th>, /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are <sh> and <zh> (the French <j>, not usually distinguished in English writing) respectively, and /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ are <ch> and the English <j> respectively.

Most consonants can come in voiced and unvoiced versions (although, because English is weird, these are called "fortis" and "lensis" because we pronounce them with different amounts of energy). /b/ is /p/, but pronounced using the vocal chords. Only the nasal sounds, the "approximants", and /h/ don't have pairs in English, although /h/ DOES actually have a common voiced pair, and you can technically pronounce the others voiceless in some languages although it's very rare.

The /x/ sound, famously the end of the Scottish word "loch", is only found in Celtic accents (Scottish, Irish, Welsh) and in the South African accent (because of influence from Dutch). Other English speakers realize it as /k/.

The /r/ sound is weird. What /r/ technically represents is a trill, like in the Spanish <rr>. However, in English, that trill is very rare; what we use <r> for is called a "postalveolar approximant", [ɹ̠]. However, it is usually easier just to write the letter r, so that's how we transcribe it for English's IPA.

English also sometimes has what are called "syllabic consonants", which are consonants that can act as the center of a syllable in the place of a vowel. In English, these are mostly /l/, /m/, and /n/. For instance, the word "bottle" is technically pronounced [ˈbɑɾl̩] in General American English, and the same goes for words like "rhythm" and "button"; however, because this would complicate things a lot, phonologists consider it to include a very small vowel, so with the example of "bottle", it would be /ˈbɑtəl/ instead.

The vowels are a bit more weird than the consonants. Our alphabet was originally created for Latin, which only has ten vowel sounds, long and short a, e, i, o, and u (although technically the short vowels are /a ɛ ɪ ɔ ʊ/ instead of /a e i o u/, because fuck it I guess). However, we have a MUCH different vowel "inventory" in English - instead of the uniform 10 paired Latin vowels, in General American English we have anywhere from 11-13 vowels depending on your interpretation along with three diphthongs (combinations of two vowels used as a single vowel):

If you look at the British (Received Pronunciation) chart it's much different from that, which is why the accents are so distinct; however, Eternian is made with GA English in mind, so I'm just going to focus on that.

More notes:

/ə/ (a schwa, like in "uh"), /ɜ/ (very similar and hard to distinguish in writing), and /ʌ/ (something between an "uh" and an "ah"), are all very close to each other and sometimes interchangeable, especially between the first two.

/oʊ/ is usually simplified to /o/, and /eɪ/ is sometimes simplified to /e/, since the normal versions of those sounds don't show up so we don't have to make the difference clear.

A lot of accents in North America make /ɔ/ sounds (similar to "aw" or "au", like in "caught") into /ɑ/ sounds (the o in "hot").

Now, let's move on to the alphabet!

ETERNIAN GLYPHS & SIGILS

The "letters" of the Eternian alphabet, in my opinion, are better described using the more general term "glyph". This is because, while they are distinct shapes that mean specific sounds, they are used kind of artistically and variably within one large interconnected word-shape called a "sigil", much different than we would consider letters in the English alphabet. These glyphs are organized in words by lines starting at the basic shape of the sigil and stringing them together in order.

Eternian glyphs are split into two major categories that differ by shape: consonants and vowels.

CONSONANTS

The system of glyphs for Eternian consonants is actually very easy to remember, once you get the shapes down! Let's go back to the voiced/voiceless pairs. English has eight pairs of these, four plosives (made by quickly starting and stopping air with your mouth) and four fricatives (made by constantly moving air through your mouth). These eight pairs - along with another pair for /r/ and /l/ even though they aren't voiced/voiceless, because they're also closely related - make up most of the sounds in English and most of the consonant glyphs in Eternian. In each of these pairs, the voiceless (and /l/) have a basic, empty polygon shape; the voiced pair (and /r/) use the exact same shape, but with a dot in the middle. Like so:

Outside of this, English has four more vowels - /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, and /h/ - and two "semivowels", which can be used either as a vowel or a consonant. One of these semivowels, /j/ (the English y), is used as a vowel in Eternian, while the other, /w/, is treated as a consonant. Except for /w/, these remaining consonants are all marked by the fact that they’re solid color; they also all use the same basic shapes as many of the others, but aren’t related to the sounds which share their shape:

Pretty simple once you get the hang of it! Excuse the messiness; if you want a more precise rendering, you can reference the original release at the top.

I'm pretty sure this is all accurate, but there's one thing that seems weird to me. In English, <th> can be used to express either voiceless /θ/ or voiced /ð/. However, in Eternian, they gave us a "dh" glyph. I assume that this is meant to represent /ð/. However, in Wrong Hordak's "Smooch The Chef" apron, "the" is spelled with the glyph used for /θ/. But honestly I'm just assuming human error on that one, especially because /ð/ is very rare at the beginning of words except for articles or pronouns like the and these, most cases of <th> at the beginning of a word are /θ/ like in "thorn".

Now, for vowels!

VOWELS

Like I said earlier, this bit is much more complicated to get than the consonants, but luckily, this is actually much better for English than Latin letters!

Eternian vowel glyphs are divided, seemingly at random, into two subsets with a single exception. First are line-glyphs, which are formed by altering the connective line between two geometric glyphs. The others are circle-glyphs, the ones used for /ɛ/, /i/, /u/, and /o/. These function in the exact same way as the consonant glyphs, except that they are all circles where none of the consonants (except /n/) are.

There's a few issues here with transcribing words, but they mostly come out of simplifying English's horrible vowel fluidity. For instance, there's no distinct letter for writing the schwa /ə/, but it can be folded into the letter for /ʌ/. That, and combining /ɔ/ with /ɑ/, simplify 16 sounds into 13 letters. The last letter, /j/, is the other semivowel I mentioned above; <y> in English can be used for either /j/ or /aɪ/ and /ɪ/, but this letter specifically represents the /j/ sound like in "yes" or "yak".

BRINGING IT TOGETHER

This is where things get very interesting. Let's start with the basics, walking through how to write the word "Adora".

Eternian, as a writing system, is much more artistic by design than Latin, and words and sentences can be constructed in many ways which are all read the same way. Eternian words - better called "sigils" - are read right-to-left, like Hebrew, Arabic, or traditional Japanese and Chinese. We form the sigils starting with a line sloping down in that direction book-ended with dots. The exact angle and length doesn't matter, but the right side is always noticeably higher than the left, like this:

We then add two additional decorative lines built off of that base, which end in dots:

These flourishes can be curved, geometric, or a mix of both, and often inform a lot about the "personality" of both a sigil and its writer, and can distinguish one sigil from another. They're like the sigil's signature. They can be any shape or length, but never overlap with themselves or other lines.

The next step is to begin adding the sounds. Much like the flourishes, these are constructed differently for every sigil, although again they are all read from right-to-left and the symbols are placed with that in mind. These are strung down from the sigil's base, connecting with straight lines. Let's start by placing the a-sound in "Adora" near the right-side edge of the line (this is the /ʌ/ line-glyph, like the u in "fun"):

Because the /ʌ/ glyph is a line, it replaces the normal connecting line. Let's finish this syllable line with the /d/ glyph:

...and then add another line with the glyphs for /orʌ/:

Generally, when a cluster ends with a line-glyph, it connects back to the base line. Clusters not at the end cannot end on a line-glyph (though I'm not sure about what to do for line-glyph-only words like "I" or "a" - perhaps the base line is changed, the line curves in an arc, or it ends at the changed portion?). Additionally, line-glyphs are always turned in the direction they're going - the beginning and ending /ʌ/ glyphs are flipped from each other, because the ending glyph is turned upwards going towards the base line while the beginning is stemming from it.

The important thing to remember is that sigils can be formed in a variety of ways - the flourishes, line angles, how you structure the syllables, all of these are dependent on the writer, so long as they follow those general rules. I constructed that sigil “AD.ORA”, but it could just as easily be “ADO.RA”, and in larger words there’s much more potential for structural changes.

Sigils in a sentence are connected through lines which meet the word next to each of the flourishes, and which bend to fit the shape of the sentence. Sentences are not read in any specific direction, but words are clustered in aesthetically pleasing ways and sentence order is shown by these connecting lines. However, The initial word in a sentence only has a line connecting on its left side, the final word only has a line on its right side, and words in between connect to the previous word on their right and the next word on their left.

Let's try extending this to a simple sentence - "Adora is She-Ra." We already have the She-Ra sigil from canon, so we just need to connect them with the word "is".

First, let's write the next word, below and to the left:

And connect the two with a line:

And then repeat with the "She-Ra" sigil.

...and finally...

There we go! You've officially written a sentence using Eternian glyphs! I hope you have fun with it! If you have any questions feel free to shoot me an ask. Thanks for reading!

#she ra #spop #she ra and the princesses of power #first ones writing #conlang #calligraphy

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expectingtofly · 4 years

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My Darling, My Dearest, My Dear

1k dean/cas fic

also posted on AO3

The thought first strikes Dean one night while he’s watching Dr. Sexy M.D.

Dr. Sexy and Dr. Ellen Piccolo call each other “babe” about a hundred times in one episode and, while overdone as most aspects of the show tend to be, it makes Dean realize something.

“Hey, Cas,” he says as Castiel returns to their bedroom from a shower. “Why don’t we have pet names for each other?”

“We’re not pets?” Castiel says, standing in his underwear as he rubs a towel through his wet hair.

“No, pet names, names couples give each other.” Dean turns off the TV and throws the remote on the nightstand. “Like babe, or sweetheart.”

“Oh.” Castiel drapes his towel on the desk chair and climbs onto their bed on top of the covers. “I don’t know. Should we give pet names to each other?” He sits in front of Dean, straddling his legs.

“Well, why not?” Dean reaches out to grab Castiel’s hips and pull him closer. “We’re a couple aren’t we?”

Castiel smiles. “Yes, we are.” He kisses Dean, then tugs at his shirt. “Off.”

“Alright, alright.” Dean pulls off his shirt. “Impatient angel.”

Castiel takes Dean’s shirt and tosses it to the side. “Slow human.”

Dean sighs. “We’re not off to a very good start, are we?”

Their efforts at choosing pet names end there, both of them focused on the more pressing matters at hand, but the following morning they resume their efforts with greater vigor.

“Pass me the salt, babe,” Dean says. “No, that doesn’t feel right.”

Castiel hands him the shaker. “Here you go, honey.”

“That’s too cute.”

“We’re never going to come up with one if you keep saying that.”

Dean rolls his eyes and tosses salt onto the scrambled eggs he’s making at the stove. A stifled laugh makes him spin around to see Sam standing in the kitchen doorway.

“How long have you been standing there?” Dean demands.

Sam pushes himself off the doorframe and walks over to the coffee pot. “Long enough to wonder what the hell is wrong with you two.”

“We’re trying to pick pet names for each other,” Castiel says before Dean can shoot him a warning look. “It’s not as easy as it sounds.”

“Doesn’t Dean call you buddy?” Sam sits at the table with his coffee mug.

“That’s not much of a pet name,” Dean says. “I can call anyone that.”

“You can, but you won’t,” Castiel frowns at him. “Sugar,” he adds.

“Nope.” Dean scrapes the eggs onto a plate and sits at the table across from Sam. “Pass me a fork, Angel Eyes.” He looks at Castiel expectantly and Castiel only stares blankly back at him.

“Is that a reference to something?” He hands Dean a fork and sits next to him.

Dean groans. “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?” Castiel shrugs. “Why do I even bother showing you the classics?” He digs into his breakfast. “Sunshine.”

“Flower.”

“Dear,” Sam suggests.

“I’m not a fucking housewife,” Dean says. “How about Baby? No, that’s just wrong.”

“I’m not your car, Dean,” Castiel says.

“No, but you ride like—wait, no, I can drive you—”

Sam clears his throat loudly and Castiel shakes his head. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It got the point across. Lovebug. Shit! None of these work!”

“You’re trying too hard, Blondie,” Castiel says.

Dean points at him in excitement. “I knew it! I knew you remembered the movie!” Castiel grins.

But Blondie doesn’t seem to do the trick, so they continue trying new names as the day progresses. They even enlist the help of Jack, who googles pet names and rattles off a list which includes such monstrosities—Dean’s phrasing—as pookie, boo, and main squeeze.

Things go quickly awry when Jack tries to explain the word “bae,” causing Dean to grow more distraught. Castiel insists “Love” is suitable, but Dean refuses on principle, saying he’ll be damned before he sounds like one of those stuck-up British Men of Letters.

They dive into other languages: mi amor, cariño, mon petit chou chou. That last sends Jack into peals of laughter when he learns its translation.

“Why can’t I call you Angel?” Dean asks as Jack continues laughing. “It’ll have two meanings, it’s clever.”

“But then what should I call you? Human? That’s too strange.” Castiel looks over Jack’s shoulder at the laptop screen. “Baby Daddy.”

“No,” Sam speaks up from across the map table where he sits with his laptop.

“Gotta agree with Sam on that one.” Dean sits next to Jack. “Partner.”

“Mate.”

“I don’t think you guys are meant to use pet names,” Jack says.

“Jack has a point,” Sam agrees.

Dean waves him off. “No, no, we’ll figure it out. What do you and Eileen call each other?”

Sam reddens. “We don’t call each other anything. We’re not even dating.”

“Jack, tell Sam to stop being a wuss and ask Eileen out already.”

“Sam, you should stop being a wuss and ask Eileen out already,” Jack parrots.

Sam shuts his laptop and leans back in his chair. “So I’ve heard.”

“How about something in Enochian?” Castiel suggests, moving to stand behind Dean and wrap his arms loosely around his neck.

“Will I be able to pronounce it?”

Castiel sighs. “Probably not.”

“Then I don’t see how that’s helpful, honeybear.” Dean leans his head back to look at Castiel.

“That has potential.”

“It really doesn’t,” Jack says.

They continue experimenting with different names throughout dinner, deciding if one pet name doesn’t do the trick, several might, along with a healthy dose of adjectives.

“Thank you for making dinner, my glowing, cheerful, obstinate honeybee,” Castiel says.

“You’re very welcome, my winged, dorky, uptight loverboy,” Dean replies.

“Those words make sense individually,” Sam says.

“Maybe Jack was right,” Dean admits as he pulls back the covers on their bed that night. “Why do we need pet names anyway? So we can act like some TV couple? It’s gonna take a whole lot more than nicknames to make that happen.”

“Nicknames have to happen naturally anyway,” Castiel says, getting into bed next to Dean. “We can’t force it.”

“Right.” Dean puts his arm around Castiel and pulls him closer. “Goodnight my fluorescent, iridescent sunbeam from Heaven.”

He knows Castiel is fighting back an explanation of why those words don’t make sense together so Dean kisses him as a distraction and settles onto his pillow. “Night, Cas.”

Castiel nestles against him. “Goodnight, Dean.”

Who needs pet names when he has an angel who says his name like that?

Tagging: @spnwaywardone @good-things-do-happen-dean @becky-srs

Let me know (message, ask, comment) if you’d like to be tagged in my destiel fics :)

#deancas fic #spncreatorsdaily #dean and cas try to choose nicknames for each other #sam dean and cas are jack's parents #sam and jack are done with dean and cas' domestic shit #very fluffy and very silly #expectingtoflywrites

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theladyofdeath · 4 years

Text

Alone in the Ashes {4}

A Court of Thorns and Roses fanfction, characters belong to Sarah J Maas. Modern au. Revolves around Nesta x Cassian, Feyre x Rhysand, and Elain x Azriel. Other characters appear throughout. Based on multiple prompts sent in by anons tbr below.

Warning: Mature content. Alcohol abuse, verbal abuse, sex, language, eating disorders.

For summary & chapter index, click > Alone in the Ashes {Acotar}

Word Count: 4.0k

A/N: Sexual tension, anyone?

Also, shoutout to John Hughes for making some kickass movies in the 80s.

Comment to tell me what you think, or to be tagged! x

“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.” ― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

“I’m gonna fuck you so hard you that you forget you ever met that asshole.”

Feyre’s eyes flared, her fingers slowly running down Rhysand’s chest. His skin was warm, his heart nearly pounding out of his chest. He’d forgotten how to breathe.

“Is that so?” she crooned, those slim, delicate fingers trailing down his abdomen, until they were looped in the waistband of his jeans.

A strangled noise fell out of his mouth, his head tilted back, his eyes closed.

“I love exploring you,” Feyre whispered, her lips pressing tenderly against his neck, just below his jaw, down to his collarbone. “Your neck, your shoulders…” Her tongue slid down his chest, lips pressed against his stomach, praising each defined muscle.

His jeans came undone.

Her lips wrapped around his-

A loud crash came from the kitchen and Rhysand shot up in his bed, sheets wrapped around his body. The crash came again, and Rhysand was on his feet. Between his bed and the end of the hallway, Rhysand thought of as many horrible, miserable things as possible to help his heart stop racing, and his cock not be so painfully erect.

“Feyre?” he called, rounding the corner into the kitchen.

She was standing on the countertop, one of Rhysand’s shoes in her hand, concentrating on a corner above the cabinets.

Rhysand let out a long, slow breath. “What the hell are you doing? It’s seven in the morning.”

“Yes it is, and I’m getting ready for work,” Feyre said, keeping her concentration.

Rhysand’s eyes lingered on her legs, her black boyshorts, for a second too long. “I think we need to set a rule of wearing robes in the house when we aren’t wearing pants.”

Feyre did look over her shoulder at this, brow raised. “Don’t act like you’ve never seen a woman in her underwear before. Just because you didn’t get any last night doesn’t mean you’ve never gotten any.”

An image popped into his mind from the dream he was so horribly awoken from with her obnoxious banging. He looked to the floor where a pan and a cookie sheet had landed. She must have knocked them down when she was climbing across the countertop.

“If you’re done mocking me, would you like to enlighten me as to why you’re finding such fascination in the tops of the cabinets?” he asked, leaning against the doorway.

“Yeah, well,” Feyre sighed, leaning up on her tiptoes. “I was about to make myself some eggs, right? Then a bigass spider came out of nowhere, and I panicked, so I started trying to kill it - obviously - and...well, it climbed up, and now it went somewhere up here, but I lost it.”

“So, maybe you should come down, then,” Rhysand laughed, coming up behind her. “Come on.”

He grabbed her waist and pulled her down. With a yelp, Feyre fell into his arms.

She looked at him, eyes narrowed, and Rhysand couldn’t convince himself to put her down. Her hair was a mess, her face clear, eyes bright. She was smiling, brightly, as she looked up at him, her arms around his neck.

“Thank you,” she said, laughing. “Now, if you could find Harold, it’s time for him to meet his death.”

Rhysand grinned. “Harold?”

“The spider, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Rhysand repeated.

They stood like that for a moment, the early morning light pouring into the kitchen, Feyre cradled in Rhysand’s arms.

Feyre’s smile had grown soft. She was still looking up at him as he cleared his throat, and set her down on the tile.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me,” Feyre began, quietly. “I have to get ready to go.”

“No eggs?” Rhysand asked, taking a step back.

“No time! Spent it all hunting a spider,” she said, disappearing down the hallway. “Have to be in the office at eight.”

She closed herself in the bathroom at the end of the hall.

Rhysand couldn’t move from the middle of the kitchen.

He wanted her.

His body ached for her, it was all he could think about it. All he could dream about. Just now, holding her in his arms, against his chest, smiling up at him...He was in love with her.

Being in love with someone who didn’t love you back was an odd sensation. A personal hell, one that he never wanted to leave, because if he left, he would lose her, and having her as his friend was better than not having her at all.

Then again, what if he did tell her? What if he risked it, and pulled her aside, and poured out his heart and his soul? Even if she pushed him away, wouldn’t it be better to get everything out, lay everything out on the table?

But it was that chance, that risk, that part of him that knew that if he told her, she would have him. She would control him. And it wasn’t that he didn’t want to be controlled by her. Being controlled by Feyre was not what scared him.

But having his heart broken by her terrified him.

If he told Feyre how he felt, and she didn’t feel the same, and he lost her...the thought was unbearable.

He was still standing in the kitchen when she got out of the bathroom, and by the time she had gotten dressed and left her bedroom, he had at least moved to the table and was sipping a cup of coffee.

In a set of deep purple scrubs, she pulled a cup out of the cabinet and poured the rest of the coffee in it before securing it with a lid.

“Wanna do take-out tonight?” she asked. “Maybe watch a movie?”

“Sure,” Rhysand said. “I’ll be home just after seven.”

She nodded, ruffled his hair, and left.

Rhysand stayed at the table for an hour, his coffee cup empty for the majority of it, before finally getting off his lovesick ass and getting ready for work.

~~~~~

“Uncle Az,” Mila called from where she sat on the garage steps, playing a game on his phone. “I’m hungry.”

Azriel had the garage door up and his tape-measure out. The Archerons had cleaned all the bins out the day before, thankfully, because it had been full of clutter.

“Look in the backpack,” he said. “There’s some crackers.”

“I want chicken nuggets.”

“Maybe for lunch.”

“When’s lunch?”

“A few hours.”

Mila groaned. “I’m so bored.”

“We’ve only been here for twenty minutes.” It was going to be a long day, Azriel was sure of it. Bringing a four year old to work wasn’t ideal, but he had to do what he had to do.

He got another hour and a half in before she had to use the restroom. He sighed, setting down his water bottle, and knocked on the door that went from the garage to the kitchen.

Elain opened it a second later, as if she’d been sitting just inside.

“Hey, sorry to bother you,” Azriel began, rubbing the back of his neck. “I have my niece with me.. Can she use your bathroom?”

Elain blinked. “Of course. Come in.”

Azriel stepped inside, Mila close behind, yelling, “I have to pee!”

Elain laughed, quietly. “Just around the corner.”

With a mumbled thanks, Azriel walked her to the bathroom. Mila closed the door after ordering Azriel to stay put, right outside.

“Can I get you anything?” Elain asked, from the end of the hall. “While you work?”

“No, Azriel said. “Thank you.”

“I have a few board games,” Elain began, nodding toward the door. “I have nowhere to go. She can play with me while you work.”

Azriel hesitated. He was protective of Mila, but then again, Elain was Feyre’s sister, she couldn’t be that bad. She seemed a little too into herself, if Azriel had any say in it, but harmless. “I don’t wanna be a burden. I’ll try to find a sitter after toda-”

“I really don’t mind,” she said, smiling.

Azriel nodded, curtly, as Mila opened the door.

Azriel narrowed his eyes. “Wash your hands?”

Mila nodded.

“Alright, this is Elain, she says she has some games you can play together while I work for a while,” he said, head tilted. “Cool?”

“Cool,” Mila repeated. “I like games.”

“Come get me if you need anything,” he said.

Mila nodded, and clapped, excitedly. “Yay! Games!”

With a chuckle, Azriel nodded his thanks to Elain and went back into the garage. There would be a lot to do, and in these big projects, Azriel always found himself overwhelmed at first. He had to remember not to look at the end product, but at each little project, individually.

By the end of the afternoon, he had the garage door out and had framed the replacement wall. After packing up his truck, he let himself inside, where Mila was sitting across the kitchen table with Elain playing Go Fish.

“Uncle Az!” Mila beamed. “Lain is so much fun. I want to play with her again tomorrow.”

“Yeah?” Azriel asked, looking at Elain before looking back to Mila. “I’m sure she’s busy.”

“Oh, not at all,” Elain smiled. “I’ll be home for...the next few days. So, she’s more than welcome. I had fun, too.”

Mila jumped up and down, only stopping when Azriel picked her up.

“Well, thanks,” Azriel said, attempting a smile. “I appreciate it.”

“Of course,” Elain said, clearing her throat. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

Azriel nodded, slowly, unable to look away from her bright, brown eyes. “Yeah. Tomorrow.”

They left, and the moment Azriel strapped Mila into her carseat, she was yawning.

Instead of driving home, they drove to a bar and grill close to Azriel’s apartment and met Cassian, who was already seated at a table near the bar.

Mila was still asleep on Azriel’s shoulder as they slid into the booth opposite of him.

“Get worn out working, did she?” Cassian asked, in way of greeting.

Azriel snorted. “Yeah, well - she played with Elain all morning, and all afternoon, so.”

“Yeah?” Cassian asked. “Feyre said she’s going through some shit. Her fiance cheated on her a few months ago.”

Azriel hadn’t known.

Although Azriel wasn’t sure what to think of Elain, no one deserved that.

“Do you remember her from high school?” Azriel asked, patting Mila on the back to keep her relaxed.

“She was in our class, right?” Cassian asked. Azriel nodded. “Cheerleader, if I remember, and smart. Too smart. The kind of girl that knew she was smart. Annoyingly smart.”

Azriel nodded. “Annoyingly smart.”

Cassian shrugged. “Oh, well. Still hot?”

Azriel rolled his eyes. “She’s pretty, yes.”

“Pretty and hot are not the same thing,” Cassian explained. “Ah, here he is.”

He waved his hand in the air and Rhysand came strolling over.

“Hey. How’s it going?”

“Well, I rebuilt a motor today, and Azriel here spent his day thinking Elain Archeron is pretty.” Cassian grinned, looking across the table. “Also, talked to Amren today. She’ll be back the same day as Mor. Looks like we’ll all be in town for the Summer.”

Azriel smiled, fondly. Having everyone back for the Summer made it sound like they were young again, out on Summer vacation. Back then, they all went to the beach and smoked pot all day, every day, until school started back up. Now, Azriel’s summer consisted of working and taking care of a four year old.

Which wasn’t a complaint.

Although he could use a tray of Cassian’s old famous brownies right about now.

“Nice,” Rhysand grinned. “Well, tell me what you want. You can have my discount if you pay before I leave.”

Mila woke up just before their oven-baked pizza arrived half an hour later. She cried for not having chicken nuggets; which, Rhysand wouldn’t have, and brought her a giant plate full.

And when they were done, they hopped in Azriel’s truck and drove home.

He didn’t get out of the truck right away, though.

He could see her standing on his doormat from the parking lot. He was going to put it in reverse, was going to get away, but it was too late, because Mila had already seen her.

“Mama!” she called, excitedly.

And with a sigh, Azriel got out of the car and carried Mila to the front door, where she wiggled down and ran toward her mother.

She wore big, dark sunglasses and a baggy jacket that drowned her frame. “Hello, little brother.”

Azriel watched Mila jump into her mother’s arms.

“Amarantha.”

~~~~~

Nesta stormed into her apartment and slammed the door behind her.

Fired.

She’d been fired.

Four years she spent slaving away to that man, giving into every wish and demand that he had so that she could get a shitty paycheck every two weeks.

And he had fired her.

She hadn’t even done anything to deserve it. Sure, she had been late a few times, had shown up high once or twice, but it never hurt her performance. He kicked her out the door, told her that she no longer fit the position, and that was it.

No longer a bartender.

Surely, there were plenty of other bartending jobs in the city, but it had been a miracle she’d gotten that job with her interviewing skills. The thought of going through another round of interviews was agonizing.

She threw open the fridge, grabbed a beer, and popped off the top before bringing it to her lips. She suddenly wished Tomas was still around, wished he could distract her with the slightest bit of fun and pleasure. Even though it was Tomas, and he was lacking in those two categories lately.

“Fuck!” she screamed, her voice echoing in the silence. She leaned back against her kitchen counter, her face falling into her hands.

She was hardly getting by as it was.

Living paycheck to paycheck.

Rent was due next week.

Her phone rang.

By the ringtone, she knew it was Elain. She couldn’t talk to her right now, couldn’t have a conversation with sweet, gentle Elain. Nesta would only bite her head off.

She let it go to voicemail.

After another sip from the bottle, Nesta lit a cigarette and took it out to the balcony. Summer had come, and the breeze coming off the Sidra was the only thing to keep her cool as she plopped down in an old lawn chair.

Maybe she should get a dog.

No - dogs were too energetic, too….friendly.

A cat.

She should get a cat.

A cat would be better company than Tomas. At least she would be able to hold an interesting conversation with a cat.

The door slid open at the apartment to her right, and Cassian stepped out. His chest was bare, jeans low on his hips. He didn’t see her, didn’t acknowledge her, as he sat on a wooden stood, a glass of what looked like whiskey in his hand. His golden-retriever laid at his bare feet.

He was handsome, and for someone who had only had Tomas for so long, the sight of him half-nude on his balcony made Nesta thirsty.

But he was cocky. Far too sure of himself. She could tell, but the way he spoke when he picked her up on the side of the road, from the way that he looked at her.

He thought he was better than she was.

Thought she was a trashy, low life woman with nothing going for her.

And maybe he was right. What did Nesta have going for her? She finished high school, barely, didn’t go to college. She knew how to mix drinks, thanks to all the parties she crashed through the years, which was how she landed her last job in the first place.

What the fuck was the purpose of it all, anyway?

Graduate. Get a job. Get married. Blah, blah, blah.

It was pointless.

Nesta glanced back at Cassian, who drained his glass and was scrolling through his phone. She wondered if that’s what he had done. Gone to school. Graduated. Got a job. Was there a woman? What kind of woman would he even want? What kind of woman would even want him?

Some whore, no doubt. She imagined he liked things a particular way in bed, liked to be dominant, liked to be in charge.

He probably liked to be in charge all the time. He radiated alpha male, dickwad energy.

Mother help the woman that ended up with him.

No matter how well he knew his way around the bedroom.

Or a kitchen table.

Nesta picked up her phone and listened to Elain’s voicemail. Hey, Nesta, it’s Elain. I assume you’re at work. Dinner, friday night! I’m cooking. Feyre’s coming, too. Don’t forget - bring Tomas! Love you, Nesta. Talk to you soon.

Bring Tomas. Ugh. Nesta would reflect on that later. She didn’t have the patience for it right now.

“You know, it’s more fun if we drink together. No point in drinking alone.”

Nesta looked over to Cassian, who was now leaning against the side railing, looking at her with a stupid grin on his face.

“Just because we’re neighbors doesn’t mean you have to try so hard to be friendly,” she said, setting her beer on the ledge and crossing her arms.

He nodded to her cigarette, “Smoking is bad for you, you know.”

Nesta snorted. “I have a feeling you’ve done a lot worse in your time.”

His grin widened. “Come over. Have a drink.”

“No, thanks, I’m fine.”

“Are you always this welcoming?” he asked, head tilting to the side.

Nesta’s eyes narrowed. “If you’re implying that I’m a bitch, you’re not the first one to do so.”

“I would never say such a thing to a lady,” he crooned.

Nesta shook her head, cigarette between her lips. “I’m no lady, but I’m sure you’re already thinking that.”

“Come over,” he said, again.

“No.”

“Alright,” Cassian sighed. “But if you change your mind-”

“Look, asshole, I’ve had a shitty day. Okay? The last thing I need is you bothering me, so if you don’t mind, shut the fuck up.”

Cassian chuckled, shaking his head. “All the more reason for you to come have a drin-”

Nesta was shutting her sliding door before he had the chance to finish.

~~~~~

Feyre got home with a bag of tacos. It had been a long day. At one point, a tiny, angry chihuahua came in for its shots and Feyre, as the vet’s assistant, had to hold it down the entire time. The yapping never stopped, nor did the biting.

Chihuahua’s were not dogs. They were an entirely different creature of beastiness.

She took a quick shower and put on a sweatshirt and some shorts, not bothering with a bra. It was the end of Monday. Bras were irrelevant.

She was unloading the to-go bag when Rhysand came in, groaning.

“Bad day?” Feyre asked, holding out a taco.

Rhysand went to the kitchen island and sat on top of it, gladly taking the taco from her hand. “That’s the simple way of saying it,” he muttered, unwrapping the goodness before devouring it. “You?”

“Spent nearly an hour with an angry chihuahua,” she muttered, finishing off her taco and grabbing a second. “So.”

Rhysand chuckled. “Well, at least the work day is done. What’s our movie of the night?”

“You pick.”

“I’m too tired to pick.”

“Then it looks like we’ll be standing here all night, staring at each other while we eat these magnificent tacos.”

“They’re pretty good,” Rhysand laughed, unwrapping another. “Doesn’t sound like a bad night.”

Feyre watched him through the side of her eye. She couldn’t help but remember that morning, Rhysand’s arms around her, her face way too close to his. It hadn’t been horrible, either, the thoughts that had gone through her mind at his touch.

Her and Rhysand had been in more compromising positions before, but this time it was different. This time, a feeling sparked in the pit of her stomach, and she could imagine leaning in, tasting his mouth.

And the thought was nice.

But it was Rhysand.

The lanky little freshman who she was paired up with for a biology assignment, who she clicked with instantly...they were inseparable, the two of them, ever since. He was the boy her parents never worried about, had no reason to worry about, because they were only friends.

He was her closest friend.

He was her family.

He surely didn’t feel anything romantic, that she knew. Even before Feyre had started dating Tamlin all those years ago, he never tried anything. Feyre had been living with him for weeks, now, and he was the same Rhysand he had always been.

Is this what a rebound felt like? Gravitating toward someone after a long, horrid relationship. But it was Rhysand. Rhysand. She would never do that to him, would never put him in such a position.

As time went on, whatever she felt that morning would fade.

She knew it.

“Why do I feel like you’re in deep thought?” Rhysand muttered, tossing his trash in the garbage.

“Blame it on the chihuahua,” Feyre muttered.

Rhysand snorted. “Wanna drink?”

“Pour me something sweet,” she grinned.

She watched him as he opened up the cabinet above the dishwasher and pulled out two wine glasses. He took a bottle of peach moscato from the counter and stuck it in the freezer.

“The Breakfast Club,” Rhysand said, leaning against the counter by the fridge. “Or, Sixteen Candles.”

“Ah, so we’re going back to the eighties today, then,” Feyre chuckled. “Our two most watched movies in high school.”

“As someone who was a nerd in high school, I found any movie with Anthony Michael Hall to be highly relatable.” Rhysand grinned, noticing Feyre’s amused expression at his self-proclaimed nerd status. “And, Molly Ringwald always gets the guy. Happy ending, guaranteed.”

Feyre chuckled. “Must a woman get a man in the end to be happy?”

Rhysand’s eyes softened as he crossed his arms. The look, the gesture, made that same tingly sensation grow in the pit of Feyre’s stomach. “No, of course not. But it doesn’t hurt, either.”

Feyre nodded, nibbling on her bottom lip, her half eaten taco forgotten on the island behind her. “You were right. All those times you said that I shouldn’t have been with Tamlin. You were right,” she said.

Rhysand’s smile faded, completely, eyebrow arched. “I thought you said I pried too much. That I should keep my mouth shut.”

Feyre nodded. “When you’re with someone for a long time, you just start thinking that’s the way it has to be. I started dating Tamlin when I was seventeen, before I even knew who I was, and by the time I found out who I was….you were right. I shouldn’t have been with Tamlin. We weren’t right together.”

Rhysand kept quiet, but he nodded, slowly.

“Tamlin was right, too. You’re the reason I left him,” Feyre said. “But not because of what he thinks. Because you reminded me that there’s something more out there for me and I can’t spend my life being unhappy with someone just because I’m so damn used to being with them. I stayed with Tam because I had been with him for so long, but you gave me the courage to leave, Rhys.”

Rhysand cleared his throat and took a step closed to Feyre. “So, you’re thanking me for endlessly butting into your love life, then?”

“I suppose so,” Feyre said, huffing a laugh. “I’m grateful for you, Rhys. Grateful that you’ve always been there for me.”

He was close enough now to reach up, to brush the hair out of her face, the hair that had fallen out of her braid.

That damned sensation returned to the pit of her stomach.

His eyes flared, as if he felt it, too; but, surely, Feyre was just imagining it. It had been a long day.

“Wine,” she breathed.

Rhysand blinked, his hand falling back down to his side.

She swore his hands were shaking as he turned around, opened the freezer, and pulled out the bottle of wine.

“Chilled?” Feyre asked.

“Chilled enough,” Rhysand said, voice low.

He pulled the cork out and filled the two glasses on the countertop. He handed a glass to Feyre, and held up his own.

“To angry chihuahuas and middle aged men who leave shitty tips,” he said, smiling now.

Feyre laughed, clinking her glass against his before taking a sip. “I vote Sixteen Candles.”

Rhysand nodded, yanking on the end of her braid as he passed her. “Sixteen Candles, it is.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tag List (to be tagged, comment or send me an ask!)

@throne-of-ashes-and-beauty

@photofeesh

@mariamuses

@tswaney17

@amaranthas-whore

@awesomelena555

@danika-defendyr

@rachaels14

@hashtolanashoba

@poisonous00

@chemicha

@mynewdreamwasyou

@candid-confetti

@my-fan-side

@ifangirlninja

@sleeping-and-books

@burritowithfeels

@morebooks-pls

@sannelovesreading

@halstudies

@amren-courtofdreams

@wifeofchrishemsworth

@goldr0ses

@humanexile

@booksbooksbooksworld

@girl-who-reads-the-books

@mis-lil-red

@shhhimreading03

@emilyrose111294

@negativenesta

@argentumstella

@itsme-malin

@flora-and-fae

@feyrethedarklady

@starryandbooks

@gingerglides

@gloriouspaintercreatorbandit

@6255igntm

@littlehoneyybee

@the-regal-warrior

@awkward-avocado-s

@aelin-rowan-whitehorn

@julemmaes

@regular-nessian-trash

@ugh-avila

@superspiritfestival

@the-dark-swan

@girlgotattitude448

@eversincebeirut

@midnightrose-reader

@lord-douglas-the-third

Prompts:

{ “I’m gonna fuck you so hard that you forget you ever met that asshole” - Feysand } -anonymous

{ “How about Nessian needing to fake date when they go home for the holidays?!” } - anonymous

{ “could u pls do like an elriel fic where azriel is like this mysterious bad boy and elain is a goody two shoes lik aaaaa i cant get that image out of my head” } - anonymous

#acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas #fanfic #fanfiction #modern au #nessian #feysand #elriel #nesta #cassian #feyre #rhysand #elain #azriel #archeron #tacmc AITA #sjm

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userastarion · 3 years

Note

for the ask game! i was going to go with sam wilson but that's too obvious and someone might have already beaten me to it lmao so if that's the case: baby yoda/grogu just bc he's adorable

no one beat you to it!!! so i'm gonna do both because.... i love this ask meme and i have no shame

sam wilson

favorite thing about them: i think it's the combination of his determination and his compassion! like. the way he talks to karli like a person and the way he takes on the mantel of captain america in spite of the hardships he knows it will bring him because he wants to make a difference. and the quote he has - "the only power i have is that i believe we can do better." like. FUCK. i love him so MUCH

least favorite thing about them: god i have no idea??? there is literally nothing i dislike about him. um. i really can't come up with anything slkdfjsdlf

favorite line: oops i already mentioned it BUT since i said it i'll use one of my other faves, which is really just the whole moment with isaiah in the museum: "now they'll never forget what you did for this country. never."

brOTP: sam & sharon :)

OTP: GOD i really love sam x each member of the cap quartet individually tbh i think they all make great ships dlfkjsdkf

nOTP: sam x sharon, actually, i think? i'm... not into that idea. idk if that's even been tossed out but. meh

random headcanon: sam tried to take the wings for a joyride because he loves how it feels to fly (and it would be nice to do so when people aren't, ya know, shooting at him), but since they're technically "government property" bc of the accords, he couldn't get away with it and he pouted for the rest of the day

unpopular opinion: idk if it's an unpopular opinion so much as a less-widespread one, but someone on tumblr pointed out sam didn't get much time to be Actually Emotional in tfatws and i realized they're 100% right. i want him to have the chance (and be allowed) to express and feel a FULL range of emotion.

song i associate with them: "trouble man" by marvin gaye, of course

favorite picture of them: this is the screencap i used for my icon and i just love it

grogu under the cut bc otherwise this would be rly long lol

grogu

favorite thing about them: i really really love how much of a personality he has!!! and i like that he's evolving as the show goes on

least favorite thing about them: it's hard to hate on a literal child but he did eat frog lady's literal eggs so that's kind of not cool grogu

favorite line: not really a line (bc... he doesn't much have those) but him sipping that cup of soup was a real Moment(tm) lol

brOTP: i'm gonna use this like i do my "fam" tag and say him and din!!! found family binch!!!!

OTP

nOTP

random headcanon: he 100% understands when he's being a pest to din but he likes to do it because it means din pays attention to him and he's found it's a surefire way to get din to engage w him

unpopular opinion: i feel like we were all dunking on his name when we first found out it was grogu but tbh it's star wars and there are names like jar jar binks and ahsoka tano and chewbacca so like what was everyone expecting lmao

song i associate with them: is the mandalorian theme too much of a cop-out sldkfjslk

favorite picture of them: OH MAN uhhhh wait it has to be this:

which was actually my header during the holidays lol

#out of everything in this ask game i did not expect the headcanons to be the hardest part sldfjsldkfs #i don't know why every headcanon i've ever had just. WHOOSHES out of my head #anyway! tysm for sending!!!#b:answered #spaceslayer

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what-is-your-plan-today · 5 years

Text

CSI: Rogers and Barnes The Serious Cereal Serial Killer

Prologue: Aye Aye Captain.

Series Intro: Captain Steve Rogers and Sergeant James ‘Bucky’ Barnes are hot on the tail of Brooklyn’s latest criminal- The Serious Cereal Serial Killer. Captain Rogers assembles the best officers from the Brooklyn 101 Murder Unit. This specialist team, nicknamed The Avengers, are working in the dark as the killer leaves behind no clues, other than their choice of murder weapon- whichever beige cereal he/she chooses.

The team are in a race against time as the bodies begin to mount. Can they catch the perp before it’s too late?

Episode Summary: There’s a lake, and Steve’s in a suit. Someone he clearly has feelings for appears and we get the impression that he may have done something a little bit dumbassy… Episode Warnings: Bad Language words. Dark Comedy themes. CSI:NY + Brooklyn 99 = CSI: Steeb!

Episode Pairings: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark (will they, won’t they, did they???)

Song for Episode: Alien by Cary Brothers

A/N: Inspired by THAT picture of Mr Evans on set in his suit by the lake, myself and @icanfeelastormbrewing put our heads together and we present to you CSI: Rogers and Barnes- The Serious Serial Cereal Killer. I really hope you’re ready because this is a journey into our very, very odd minds but we promise there is a decent plot underneath all our Avengers and Stark Spangled Banner Easter Eggs and jokes! You don’t need to have read that series to understand or enjoy this, but we’ve used the Universe to spin this from.

Our knowledge of American Policing is limited, so bear with us if we slip up, but at the end of the day this is a fiction so we’ll claim any mistakes as creative license!!

Episodes will be given individual warnings, summaries, pairings and songs so please pay attention to those.

PLEASE REBLOG and COMMENT!

Tags are open.

CSI Rogers and Barnes Master List

Main Masterlist

“Nice suit, punk.” Sergeant James Barnes smiled at his Captain, Steve Rogers, who sighed, dropping his hands to his hips.

“You’re a jerk, Bucky” Steve replied simply, eyeing his best friend through his Aviators, a small smile playing on his face.

“Ready for your big speech?” Bucky questioned.

Steve took a breath and looked around. It was a gorgeous, sunny May evening. The Lakehouse which had been hired by the NYPD for the Ceremony was full of people all milling around inside and out.

“Yeah.” he nodded “I think so.”

“Think so ain’t gonna cut it Steve.” Bucky chuckled “You got half the force out there. The Deputy Commissioner, the Commissioner…” “Buck, just don’t” Steve sighed “I’m well aware of who’s here, thanks.” “Well it’s hardly surprising…” Bucky said, taking a pull from his beer “It was a pretty big case. Thanos and The Children were terrorising Brooklyn for years. “And it was the 101that put him away.” Steve smiled “It was a good team effort.” “You gonna take that time out?” Bucky asked. Steve shrugged.

“I dunno.”

“You work too hard.” “Criminals don’t exactly take time out because we want to a holiday you know.” Steve said, looking at him. “I’m sure the Unit wouldn’t fall apart if you took a week out.” Bucky said “Stark’s right, you need to get a life man.” “Fuck you.” Steve shot back and Bucky snorted a laugh.

“Whatever.”

At that point, Deputy Commissioner Nick Fury approached them, and Steve nodded to him

“Sir.”

“They’re ready for you now Captain.” he said “You do your speech and then Senator Ross will join you on stage to hand out the Commendation to you and your Unit.” “Yes Sir.” he nodded.

“Knock ‘em dead Punk.” Bucky smiled, and Steve shot him one last look, before he took off his aviators and tucked them into his pocket, Bucky making his way to his seat.

He passed by the other members of his specialist unit, smiling as he went. Detectives Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff aka Clintasha on account of them hardly ever being apart, Patrol Officer Odinson, aka the Bungalow on account of him ‘not having much upstairs’ according to Bucky (which was ironic seeing a the guy was about 8 feet tall) and then on to his support staff- Tony Stark and Bruce Banner his forensic experts aka the Science Brothers, their Assistant Peter Parker, Sam Wilson, the lead Pathologist and Police Technician Wanda Maximoff.

After acknowledging them all, he walked up the steps to the stage to a round of applause and wolf whistles, and smiling he pulled his pre-written speech out of his pocket.

“Thank you.” he spoke into the microphone, squinting slightly against the sun “It’s my pleasure to welcome you to this celebration of achievement for the Brooklyn 101 and their efforts which led to the removal of a dangerous crime lord from our streets.” he paused as Clint gave a little cheer, followed by a shout.

“Go Avengers!”

More cheering and Steve smiled at his team before signalling with his large hands for them to settle down. As the noise died down he cleared his throat and glanced down at his notes again.

Bucky watched him, smiling to himself. Steve was good a public speaker, his ability to command an audience and simply make people listen was one of the many reasons he had risen through the ranks so quickly, alongside the fact that he had an impressive ability to manage people and a huge number of solved crimes to his name. Bucky was incredibly proud of his best friend. The tall, broad man on the stage was a far cry from that skinny little blonde haired punk he had grown up with, bailing out of fights constantly on the streets they had roamed as kids.

Steve caught Bucky’s eye, and his Sergeant flashed him a wink and he smiled before continuing.

“Months of hard work, long days and even longer nights went into putting Thanos away. And each and every single member of the 101 had a huge role to play. From Sergeant Barnes who commanded and led the team to Wanda who kept all our paperwork and reports water tight. No matter how meaningless you may have felt your contribution seemed on the outside, every single bit of it was influential in bringing Thanos to justice, and he I am over the moon to be able to thank you all for your efforts and service today.”

He paused and looked out and that was when he spotted her, gently weaving her way through the crowd that was stood up at the back of the seats. Not that it took much effort, he could have found those big green emeralds among millions of people. Her hair was different, not only shorter, but different. It curled round her left ear and her bangs swept across her face sweeping down and finishing in a longer point along the right hand side of her jaw. But those eyes were piercing through him the same way that they had always done. Steve had seen them shine with excitement, sparkle with laughter, darken with lust and close with utter bliss… he had also seen them water with disappointment and shrink with anger.

Just like they were doing now.

Steve had always been one for containment and keeping his emotions at bay, he was the righteous Captain everyone in his team looked up to after all and couldn't afford to let his emotions get in the way. At that moment though he struggled to focus on the page in his hands which he was surprised to find were shaking slightly. With a deep breath he steeled himself, cleared his throat and resumed his speech. Had he let that scrawny Brooklyn kid he once was come out, he would have stayed there slack jawed with nothing to say.

Bucky sensed something was off, he knew Steve too well not to notice. He turned around to follow his best friend gaze only to find a brunette young woman with gorgeous green eyes dressed in a sleeveless dark green cocktail dress adorned with little golden pineapples. Bucky turned back to the front and glanced at Natasha, whose sharp eye had also noticed Steve’s reaction. Bucky shrugged and motioned with his head to the back of the seats where the woman was stood. Natasha glanced back and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. She nudged Clint who turned to look, before he shared an imperceptible knowing glance with Natasha.

Ok, so they knew who she was. Bucky still had no idea.

When Steve finished his speech and the crowd erupted in a big round of applause, Senator Ross approached his spot on the stage and handed out the Commendation, giving Steve a brief hug and pat him on the back. Steve then showed it to his team mates who were now stood, cheering him from the front row under the stage and that was when Bucky saw Katie approach Tony, dropping a kiss to his cheek. As he looked at the faint resemblance between the two, understanding suddenly flooded his system. This had to be Katie Stark, the youngest child of the late Commander Howard Stark, Steve’s one time boss and mentor.

As Steve was dragged to the side for photos with the Senator and Chief, he continued to watch the unit out of the side of his eye. Tony said something to Katie’s ear as his arm curled round her shoulders and that smile Steve would have died for threatened to spread across her pretty face. Steve swallowed, and allowed himself to be rearranged for more photos with the Senator and Chief, before all to soon he was being dismissed to leave the spotlight to mingle with his friends to celebrate.

Get yourself together Steve, you can do this.

He took a moment to inhale deeply and give himself a pep talk, before he drew himself tall and walked over to where the members of the 101st .and Katie were.

As he approached he saw Thor sweep Katie into a huge hug and drop a kiss to her cheek. "Little Stark, you look fantastic. It's good to see you." "You too big guy" she grinned before she stepped forward to hug Clint and Natasha, her one time team mates "and you two." Steve shuffled uncomfortably, his collar and tie felt real tight. His hands slipped into his pockets and he rocked to and fro on the balls of his feet, a little tick he had whenever he got nervous. One that didn’t go unnoticed by Bucky.

"Not that we're not happy to see you but...what you doing here?" Clint asked, releasing her. "Was on a rare few days off and came to visit Tone" she said, smiling at her brother. "He insisted I come...share your success. Was a pretty big case you guys smashed." "Well me and Bruce were the ones that actually linked him to 30 crimes forensically but I don’t wanna brag..." Tony quipped and Katie rolled her eyes. "And he’s so modest about it too." Bucky grinned, flashing a huge smile at the girl in front of him "James Barnes, Bucky." "Pleasure to finally meet you Bucky." She smiled "I heard a lot about you. I'm Katie, Tony's sister." "You're Howard's daughter?" Bucky cocked his head to one side and she nodded. "Your dad was a legend. Sucks what happened to him and your mom. Choking on fondue...no way to go." "Thanks. He was good man." Katie said. And then her eyes flickered to the blonde Captain who took a deep breath as her green eyes grew colder. "Hi Katie" he said softly.

"Captain Rogers." Her reply was a little curt, and it cut him to the bone that she could be cold towards him, especially after everything they had been through over the past almost 10 years. But deep down he couldn't blame her. He had been a total jerk. He deserved her indignation.

“How are you?” he asked.

“Good thank you.” she said.

“I hear you made Sergeant.” he said, and she nodded.

“Yeah, month or so back.” “Congratulations, you deserve it.” “Yeah, thanks, err…” She turned to Tony “Any chance we can get a drink, I’m gasping.” “For you kiddo, anything. Anyone else want one?”

Pretty much the entire unit nodded and they headed off to the bar leaving Steve and Bucky alone.

“Ok…” Bucky turned to his friend “What the fuck was that about?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Steve sighed, looking back at him.

“Bull crap.” Bucky shot back “I thought you and here were fiends. When I was in Russia, for 5 years all I got was emails and shit telling me about her and what you’d been up to…now she looks like she wants to kill you.” Steve snorted “She probably does.”

“Wait, did you…” Bucky frowned, before his mouth fell open “You did didn’t you! You slept with Howard’s daughter!” “Shhhhh keep your voice down.” Steve hissed.

“Was that before or after he died?” “Bucky shut up.” Steve pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, looking at his friend.

“Does Tony know?”

Steve gave a derisive laugh “Do you think I’d still be alive if he did?”

“Good point, he’d have probably designed some kind of murder-bot to kill you in your sleep…” Bucky mused. “You sly little punk, I didn’t know you had it in you. Well, she had it in her more like, but that’s by the by…”

“Buck, I swear to God…” Steve’s nostrils flared at his friend’s crassness and Bucky gave a howl of a laugh.

“I’m just toying with ya Stevie…I’m impressed. She’s hot.”

“Not a word.” Steve glared at his friend as the unit started to make their way back, various beers and glasses of wine clutched in their hand.

Bucky mimed a zip closing across his mouth and smiled, slightly surprised as Natasha handed both him and Steve a beer.

“Thought you might need a drink.” Natasha said quietly to Steve, shooting him a knowing look as Clint did the same. Steve groaned, he should have known. Nothing got past Clintasha. He swore the pair of them had been fucking spies or secret agents in a past life.

“So Katie…” Clint turned to the youngest Stark. “How’s DC?”

She smiled “I love it. It’s a beautiful place. Not home though.” “She misses me.” Tony interjected and Katie slapped him on his shoulder, rolling her eyes.

“Like a hole in the head.”

Bucky laughed “What made you move over there?” he asked, ignoring the deep breath of annoyance from Steve to his left.

“Well, I wanted my Sergeant stripes” she said, nonchalantly “I was told there was no progression available in the 101st so imagine my chagrin when they replaced me with one.” Steve bristled slightly but he didn’t reply.

“Wait…I was your replacement?” Bucky frowned, looking at Steve.

“It wasn’t like that.” Steve said gently “The budget for a sergeant was only provided to me after you left Katie.” “Sure.” she shrugged “Anyway, it’s irrelevant now. The position in the SHIELD unit was too good to turn down so…” “Yeah you guys got a good result on the Mandarin Case.” Peter Parker looked at Katie

“It was hard going…” she nodded “I was undercover pretty much for a month, hence the haircut.” “Ha Steve knows all about being undercover….” Bucky snorted

“Shut up.” Steve said.

“What?” Bucky looked at him innocently “I was merely referring to your impressive moustache man…” Steve gave a groan as the unit began to laugh.

“As part of the Thanos op, Steve had to infiltrate the gang.” Tony looked at Katie who was frowning, not understanding the reference. “He basically shaved his beard off but left this God awful tache…he looked like a 1970s German Pornstar.” Katie snorted “Beard murdering…” she looked at Steve who simply shrugged giving her a small smile.

“Yeah well its coming back.” he shrugged, gently stroking his chin where there was a faint smattering of stubble.

“Hmmm.” she made a small noise, and then looked around, and smiled with a wave as Deputy Fury caught her eyes “Excuse me guys, I’ll be back in a moment.”

Steve watched her leave before he turned back to his team listening to their conversation. But he couldn’t focus. Just seeing her again was enough to send his head into an absolute whirl. She looked amazing, not that she hadn’t always. Maybe it was the fact he hadn’t seen her for 5 months that was making it worse. But all he could remember was her touch, the way her head would rest against his chest when he hugged her, the smell of her shampoo, the softness of her hand when she would take his…and then the feel of her lips on his, the smoothness of her skin…

Fuck! He had been a grade A jack ass.

Steve took another long pull from his bottle of Stella and looked around. Katie was just finishing a conversation with Fury and Pierce, before she excused herself and headed for the bar after shaking hands with both men.

Now or never, Rogers…

"I’m, err, going to get a refill..." speaking for the first time as he showed his team mates his almost empty beer bottle, "be right back."

“Course you are…” Bucky mumbled, as he watched Steve slope off. He turned to Natasha.

“So what’s the deal…” he asked, dropping his voice and turning side on to face her so that Tony wasn’t looking. “I mean I kinda figured something went down but…” “Well we don’t know for sure…” Natasha said “But they went home together after the Christmas party in December. Was a long time coming, they’d been dodging around each other for years.” “Yeah, both dating other people when it was clearly obvious they were head over heels for one another.” Clint added.

“But it got frosty. Like real frosty and she put in for a transfer request.”

Bucky sighed and looked over at Steve who was now stood by the woman. Stevie had always been useless with women, Bucky had all the luck in that department when they were growing up. That was until Steve went to University and discovered the Gym and signed up for an experimental Nutritional Programme called ‘Operation Rebirth’. 3 months later Steve’s physique had changed dramatically. Gone was the lanky, twig thin kid and in his place was a stocky, ripped, 6ft 2 adonis. Frankly it had put Bucky’s nose well out of joint as the women flocked around him. But he needn’t have bothered, he was still as fucking hopeless has he always had been,

And seemed he still was.

“What?” a voice said, and Bucky turned to see Tony stood there, looking at them, his brown eyes flashing as he glanced from Natasha to Clint and then to him.

Shit.

****************

When Steve reached the spot by the bar where Katie was waiting patiently for her Martini to be served (made with gin, obviously, he recalled as he had bought her enough- I’m not a heathen, Steve…) he gently touched her forearm and she turned around slowly with a sigh to face him. Steve know she had sensed his presence even before he touched her, she always could. Many years of friendship did that to you.

"Are you avoiding me?" he asked lightly.

"Does that surprise you?" she replied looking at him directly in the eyes.

"No, not really." he said looking shyly at the grass beneath his shiny black oxfords. With a sigh he looked back up, straight into those deep green orbs "Look, Katie, I hate how we ended things, I..."

"How WE ended things?" she cut in, "Are you for real? I didn't end anything, Steve, because there wasn’t actually anything to end was there? You made sure of that!"

"I'm sorry, Katie, I truly am." he spoke again.

"Sorry for what exactly?" she fired back.

She was pissed. He could sense it in the rising tone of her voice and the way her eyes seemed to squint in the way they always did when she was winding up for an argument. He had to do something before they attracted too much attention and Tony made an entrance.

"Look, can we maybe go for a walk by the lake?" he looked at her, his eyes pleading. "We can talk and errm..."

She sighed "Fine." and with that she started to make her way through the rest of the people at the reception heading towards the calm water. Once they reached a spot under a tree near a small jetty she stopped and turned to look at him.

"What do you want, Steve?" she asked shielding her eyes with her right hand from the sun that was beginning to set.

"To check in. I care about you, Katie" he answered looking at her with an almost apologetically.

"So, you care about me.” She snorted “That's rich."

"Of course, I do!" he almost yelled. "We've been best friends for what, almost ten years?"

“Were, Steve.” she stared at him, “Past Tense…”

He took a deep breath and looked away, the lump in his throat growing even larger. Her words feeling like a slap in the face, but he wasn’t sure exactly what else he had expected. Things hadn’t been the same. They hadn’t actually spoken since she had left for DC. And he was the reason she had left, regardless of how she dressed it up and pretended otherwise to everyone else.

He looked back at her, and saw her eyes. They bored right through him, a mixture of anger and melancholy.

He had to try and fix this, he had to….

“Look, Katie, I know you must hate me..."

"Steve..." she said putting a hand over his forearm, before pulling it back immediately, almost like it had been an involuntary reaction. And the fact she wasn’t comfortable showing him that type of friendly affection anymore made him feel even shittier than he already did. "I..." she was fumbling with the words and he remained silent whilst he waited for her to gather her thoughts. “You know what, you’re right, I did hate you. I hated what you did but…you know what the worst thing about all of this was?”

He looked at her waiting for her to continue.

“Was that I mostly hated myself" she finished quietly, her voice beginning to break and she looked away.

Steve was aghast at her statement. "Wha... what do you mean?" he asked stuttering. He wasn't prepared for something like that. Over the last few months his mined had conjured thousands of possible conversations and things she would say to him when they finally met each other again…but not that.

"I hated myself for letting you in, Steve" she inhaled deeply before looking back at him and continuing, trying to keep the tears at bay. "You knew how long it took me to get over Grant, you knew what that bastard did to me because you were there, you were my best friend. You wiped my tears, held me when I cried myself to sleep, you helped me pick up the pieces of myself, told me I was worth more. But then, when it came down to it…I clearly wasn’t, not to you anyway.”

Steve couldn't stand her gaze and looked down to his shoes, jaw clenching. "Katie, I..." he started to speak but did he know what to say?

"Let me finish, let me say this, Steve, please." she pleaded. "I trusted you, you knew how I felt about you, and you know how much it took to tell you that and let you in…" she swallowed hard "You broke through every goddamned wall I put up around me and what’s more, you broke me too."

"Breaking your heart was never my intention, doll" was the only thing he managed to say, swallowing thickly. He didn't even know how he could have possibly formed those words in his brain and actually uttered them, he was numb and wanted to tell her she meant so much to him, so much more than she could ever imagine…but the words just wouldn’t come.

"But you did." she said quietly, tears now threatening to spill. "And I need time to heal, Steve. There’s not going back from what happened. We can’t just go back to being best friends and hanging out…it doesn’t work like that.”

“Kiddo?” They both jerked a little at Tony’s voice as he approached. She hastily wiped at her eyes and Steve stood back, taking a deep breath. “You two alright?” “Yeah, just catching up.” Katie said, smiling at Tony.

“Huh, that what they call it?” Tony said, his voice somewhat steely and Steve felt himself blanche. He turned to Tony but before he could say anything, the man’s fist had connected with his face, cracking his nose, making him reel backwards.

“Tony!” he heard Katie say, loudly, and as Steve recovered from the blow he looked up to see her stood with her hands on his chest, pushing him away gently.

“I can’t believe you, you son of a bitch!” Tony was spewing, glaring at Steve. The Captain was relieved to see that Bucky and Thor were hastily making their way over. They were well enough removed from the crowd for this not to be seen, thankfully.

“Stark…” Thor said in his deep breath “Come on, calm down…” “Calm down, calm down?” Tony’s face contorted with fury “I just find out, he slept with my sister, and then…”

“I’m a big girl Tony.” Katie said gently “I don’t need you fighting my battles for me, not like I did when we were kids…”

“I knew there was a reason you ran off to DC, and all the time it’s been him!” he said, looking at her, before he glared back at Steve. “You’re a piece of shit, Rogers…”

Steve waved off Bucky who had stepped forward to check he was ok.

“Come on…” Katie said, pushing Tony’s chest, “Time we left…” With that she turned to Thor and Bucky, gave them both a smile before she locked eyes with the Captain “Bye, Steve" she said turning around and beginning to walk away with Tony. Steve could do nothing else but watch as she walked out of his life for the second time in less than 6 months.

“I’m sorry” Bucky looked at his friend as he wiped at his bleeding nose with a handkerchief. “He overheard me and Natasha and…”

“I’m surprised it’s stayed a secret as long as it has.” Steve sighed “I deserved it, he’s right, I am a piece of shit.”

“We all do stupid shit bud.” Thor said, “Doesn’t make us bad people.” Bucky looked at Thor “That’s pretty smart for you.”

“I have my moments.” Thor shrugged, before he frowned “Unless you’re my brother, of course. He is inherently bad…but that’s another story.”

There was a pause, and then Bucky looked at Steve.

“Think you need another drink.” he said, clapping him on the shoulder. “I’ll go grab you one.”

Steve smiled, knowing full well it was Bucky’s way of saying “I’ll give you a moment…”

His friend squeezed his shoulder before he turned and walked away leaving Steve stood, looking out across the lake. The tall blonde stood there, mulling the conversation they’d just had over and over in his mind. He knew he’d hurt her but now he understood the extent of that, he hated himself even more.

Steve Rogers was a man of honesty and principles. A man who believed that you faced up to your actions and took the consequences whatever they were, not merely hid from them. But here he had gone against every single thing he stood for. He’d let Katie walk away all those months ago without so much as a fight. Because it was easier, easier than being honest and explaining why he had done what he had done.

If time travel was possible, he’d go back and do everything differently.

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