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drwcn · 4 years

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... You know, I was just thinking about Hua Mulan ChengQing AU. Hahah, ha. This movie is SOMETHING. Handkerchiefs are necessary.

oh I HEARD? but idk if i wanna see it. I’ve seen other things Liu Yifei (Mulan) was in and i don’t really like her?

NOTE: OKAY so there were some confusion!!! Before ppl get offended, anon and I are taking about two different movies. The one that anon is saying is good is Mulan (2009) an original Chinese movie BC I had been asking ppl where to watch it and received many inbox msgs about it. The Disney film is what I won't be watching for so many reasons, including bc I know the actress's work and is just unimpressed by her in general on top of all the other reasons.

Oh boy, but like...what IF it’s reverse!Mulan, aka matriarchal society. Where Jiang Cheng is the “sneak into the army for my family c”!Mulan and Wen Qing is the “I wanted to be a doctor but then the Fire Nation exploded in on itself”!Shang. And I worldbuilded for no reason...

tw: minor character death (suicide). un-beta-ed, unedited, unproof-read, we die like nmj

WEN QING

Wen Ruohan was never supposed to be the Emperor, Wen Qing’s mother once told her, but the imperial court had allowed him to inherit because his late Empress Mother had no daughters to inherit the throne. As long as WRH promised to father daughters and pass on through them, then the Wen dynasty legacy would be preserved.

“What did his wife say, that her children must take his last name?” Wen Qing had asked her mother, wide eyed and curious. Her mother had shrugged and said, “Well some women don’t mind, I guess, especially if it meant her children would be heiress of the throne.”

Wen Qing had frowned at that. What’s so bad about children taking their father’s name, she wondered. Men may not be allowed the same liberties as women, may not attend public school or join the army or hold court with the Empress, but they were still children’s parents. Not all women agreed on this of course, but that was the way of their world.

Her father died of consumption some years after Wen Ning was born, but Mother never took a second husband or a concubine. Wen Qing liked that about her mother. Brave, loyal, true.

Wen Qing’s mother, Dafan-junwang, a distant relation to the throne, was a renowned marshal, hailing from a proud line of generals and marshals, trusted by the Wen imperial family as protectors of the realm, without fear of usurpation. The people whispered that Wen Qing had much to live up to, if she were to inherit her mother’s duchy and hold a command of her own.

Wen Qing never had much interest in war or martial arts, but she learned, trained, practiced and perfected her skills because she could never bear the thought of letting her mother down. In her heart (and in her free time), she learned the science and art known by father. He was a quiet man, a physician (quite skilled too), before he married her mother. He wasn’t what her grandparents would have wanted for their daughter, but Mother had been adamant.

Wen Qing’s mother hadn’t been good at expressing her love, but she did love her husband. Very much. Mother was only ever soft around Father, and Wen Qing only knew this because she’d seen them hold hands when they thought no one was watching.

Wen Ning, being the son of a wealthy aristocratic family, was destined to marry well when he came of age. Unlike girls, boys weren’t allowed to attend publicly funded scholarly schools or martial academies. Wealthy and noble families however were able to afford private tutors for their sons, so that they would know the four arts (play the qin, weiqi, literature, and art) and be elegant, competent husbands for their wives. If Wen Ning was competent enough, charming enough, and gave his wife daughters (because everyone knew it’s the men who control the sex of the baby), then she would be faithful to him -> at least that’s what their nanny said.

“How did they know, that men determined the sex of the baby?” Wen Qing asked her mother one evening when she turned thirteen and was given The Talk.

Her mother tilted her head and said as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. “My dear, women are the earth, we grow and birth life. Men are like the seeds. If you plant an apricot tree, the earth will nourish it and let it flourish, but the fruit will always be apricots, you will never have peaches.”

Once, Wen Qing had asked her mother if she could be a physician instead, if Wen Ning could take her place as general. Her mother had given her a very stern look and said, “No only is your brother of a sickly disposition, but you are my daughter. The duchy and my command can only be inherited by you. For your country, you do not have a choice.”

Wen Qing conceded, because she was good.

The days dragged on, and slowly it was becoming clear Wen Ruohan would have no daughters. Not only so, the sons he fathered were ill-mannered and haughty, unfit to rule. Wen Ruohan’s mind, too, was slowly leaving him, due to unknown reasons. The ministers of the court and notabilities of the peerage urged Wen Ruohan to take on the daughter of his cousin born of his maternal aunt, and to groom her as heir. This brought on much discontent from Wen Roohan’s two princes, who aligned themselves with lurking enemies from the north, and before anyone could mitigate the situation, the country was thrust into a full blown civil war.

Every bit her mother’s daughter, Wen Qing did not hesitate to mount her horse and ride off into battle. She had her duties and she would serve until her death.

Jiang Wanyin had a very pretty face - she would reflect in retrospect. Perhaps that was why she believed him when he showed up at her camp with a conscription missive claiming to be his older sister Jiang Yanli.

JIANG CHENG

The Jiang family was a wealthy merchant family situated southeast of the capital, in the province of Yunmeng. The current head of family is Jiang Ziyuan, known for her sharp business mind and sharp ways with her sword.

(the only reason i’m switching Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan’s last name is because it’s a matriarchal society, and Yu Cheng and Yu Yanli sounds way too awful as names, but Yu Fengmian and Jiang Ziyuan are actually not bad.)

There was a rumour that her husband Yu Fengmian of a Meishan Yu clan, had betrayed her with a wandering traveler from the pugilist world named Cangse...something something, and that he had fathered a son with her out of wedlock. If it were true, then by the conventions of the land, Jiang Ziyuan would have every legal right to divorce Yu Fengmian and send him back to his family to live out the rest of his days in seclusion, shame and repentance.

But when Yu Fengmian came to her with the little Wei Ying, freshly orphaned, Yu Ziyuan turned the boy this way and that, examined him for “abnormalities” and nodded. Then she summoned her son, and said to him, “Our manor purchased some new indentured servants. This boys is yours from now on, he is your responsibility. Keep him in line, find some uses for him, or get rid of him.”

Jiang Cheng looked to his big sister, but his sister just shook her head. Not quite understanding what was happening, or why his father was bowed down on the floor, Jiang Cheng took his new “servant” and left.

Watching them go, Jiang Yanli then turned to her mother and said, “Muqin, if I may be so bold, I have an idea.”

Jiang Yanli was not the heiress that Jiang Ziyuan had hoped for. Though incredibly intelligent, Jiang Yanli was of poor health and not suited for martial training. Jiang Ziyuan had been quite troubled by this for some time, fearing others would cause trouble once Jiang Yanli inherits. However, she was also hesitant to train her son Jiang Cheng, even though he showed both interest and aptitude. It was not often that well to do families would want to take on a too “rambunctious” boy as groom for their daughters. Yet to leave Jiang Yanli without close protection...

“Are you thinking that boy...”

Jiang Yanli nodded. “Father denies being Wei Ying’s paternal parent, but surely tongues will waggle regardless. Mother, you are within your right to dismiss father, but he is still my father, and if not for me, think of A-Cheng. One day he will marry, and what family would want a son with a disgraced sire. Wei Ying looks healthy and strong; as I am unfortunately unable to train with the sword, mother may yet train him. Surely you’re not worried about his future marriage prospects. Perhaps it is better yet that he never marries, for he will remain close to Lotus Pier and serve at my side.”

Jiang Ziyuan listened to Jiang Yanli’s words and decided that her daughter made very valid points. Her relationship with her husband could never be repaired but she had her children’s future to consider.

And yet happiness would not last for long. Two months after Jiang Yanli’s sixteenth’s birthday, she received news that her mother’s private boat, which she used to inspect her properties, had capsized in a terrible monsoon storm, killing everyone on board.

After the news reached Lotus Pier, Yu Fengmian took his own life in the dead of night, leaving a letter stating that he had owed Jiang Ziyuan too much to repay, that though Wei Ying was not his son, he had kept secrets from her that he swore he would not reveal in this life. Now that she’s gone, he would keep her company in her journey to the beyond.

The Jiangs mourned, but they survived.

Then when the boys turned seventeen, war broke out over the lands, and the conscription missives arrived demanding one female from every household. Jiang Cheng panicked. Wei Wuxian had been sent to Gusu on business and would not return for some time. The military missive was time sensitive, so Jiang Cheng didn’t have another choice...besides it’s not like A-Jie’s matchmaking attempts for him had been all that successful...he was next to blacklisted anyway after his last debacle with the Qin girl.

Jiang Cheng decided that he could pass as a woman if he dressed properly and redid his hair, but his voice...he'd just have to pretend he could not speak. That way, no one would know.

WQ: “Who are you?”

JC *hands her his letter*

WQ: “Jiang Yanli? The Yunmeng Jiangs? Of Lotus Pier?”

JC: *nods*

Her subordinate, “I didn’t know Jiang Ziyuan’s daughter was mute, they only said she was of poor health.”

Luo “Mianmian” Qingyang finds out first.

Mianmian: *GASP and points* You’re a man!

JC: *covers his body* SHH!!! Turn around! Don’t look at me! *turns to look away*

Mianmian: *naked by the river ready for a bath but too shocked to move* but, but, but, how?? How did we not know????

JC: Mianmian - no- Lt. Luo, please don’t tell the Young Marshal! Please, I only came so my sister wouldn’t have to -

MM: Cowardice! It is every woman’s sworn duty to -

JC: My sister is of very delicate health. She won’t survive! She’s my late mother’s only daughter, if she dies... I’m expendable. I don’t mind being cannon fodder, please don’t report me.

JC shivering in the snow. “You said you trust Yanli! Why should Wanyin be any different?!”

WQ stood impassively over him with a sword at his neck. Then, she closed her eyes and turned away. “A life for a life. My debt is paid.”

---

JYL: *Proud* “A-Cheng helped secure the future of our nation. The adopted young crown princess was too young to rule without a loyal regent, and Wen Ruohan’s sons colluded with outside forces...it would have been chaos. Millions would have died.”

WWX *teasing* “Sure he brought home a sword, if you ask me he should’ve brought home a wife!”

---

JC, “W-would you like to stay for dinner - ”

WWX: WOULD YOU LIKE TO STAY FOREVER?

JC: Wei Wuxian! She’s regent now, be respectful!”

WQ: Dinner...sounds lovely.

#cql #the untamed #chengqing #wen qing #jiang cheng #corie fics #Anonymous #corie replies #cql ideas

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imaginationintowords · 4 years

Text

Folklore [song series]

the last great american dynasty

Modern Day AU! Bucky Barnes x OC!Reader; Steve Rogers x OC!Reader

Plot: Inspired by Taylor Swift’s new album Folklore. The story follows the timeline of Bucky and Elizabeth’s life throughout the years.

Word Count: 4658

Warnings: maybe some swearing (don’t really remember), mentions of deaths, sadness, loneliness.

Previous Part

Series Masterlist

Age: 17

Year: 2012

Location: Brooklyn, NY

The last few months haven't been the greatest for Elizabeth.

She never did get to run for Student Body President during the months of October and November. Steve ended up running and winning. Elizabeth had even decided to leave student body council once campaigning started. She found no point in staying, everyone in the club didn't like her.

She had kept to herself. She no longer felt the need to make new friendships or continue the ones she had. The rumors made sure of that.

This was not how Elizabeth had thought her senior year would be. She thought she'd be crossing out he dates in her calendar feeling sad with each passing day, but now she's counting down to when she will never see these faces again.

She had also been approached by the principle right before school was dismissed for Holiday break. Principle Alvarez had told Elizabeth that she was the front runner for valedictorian. Elizabeth politely declined the offer, but Principle Alvarez told her to take the next three week holiday to think over it.

Elizabeth promised she would, but that was a lie. There was no way she would go in front of her classmates and give them a fake speech on comradery.

These people wouldn't know the first thing about that.

Instead she focused on anything besides school.

Her parents weren't oblivious to Elizabeth's sudden change in personality. At first they thought it was because of her breakup with Bucky. But Elizabeth had told them it was a mutual decision. They wanted to believe her, but they knew their daughter. They knew it was not what she had said.

They knew something must've happened, especially with the way Bucky has been actively avoiding running into them. Even going as far as running inside whenever he saw Mr. Sanchez get home from work.

Even Steve stopped coming around. That was another red flag.

Then they had found out from Sarah Rogers, Steve's mom, that Steve would be running for student body president, after Elizabeth stepped down and left the club.

They were shocked to hear the news.

How could she not tell them. Her parents had debated back and forth whether or not they should have a conversation with her.

She had been keeping this a secret for months. Whenever they would bring it up, she told them it was in the works. But she had lied. There was clearly something bigger going on.

They then received a phone call from Principle Alvarez the day before winter break started. She told them about Elizabeth becoming valedictorian but turning it down. Another secret her parents had heard nothing about.

"Mrs. Alvarez, we had no idea," Caterina, her mother, said.

"I figured which is why I called. I told Elizabeth to take the break think it over."

"Thank-you, Mrs. Alvarez," Brandon, her father, thanked, "Actually we were just discussing Elizabeth and her sudden personality change. Do you have any idea what might have happened?"

"Well," she cleared her throat, "I'm assuming you both know about her breakup with James."

"Yes, but she told us it was a mutual decision, somehow we don't think she's telling he truth," Caterina explained.

"I suppose she isn't. Unfortunately, I don't think it's my place to say. Her grades are not falling behind, she hasn't done anything that would create a cause for concern," she half lied.

"But she quit student council. She isn't even talking to Steve," Caterina explained, slightly frustrated with the situation.

"Yes, well," Principal Alvarez pauses, "There was some rumors going around at the beginning of the year, surrounding James and Elizabeth. Sadly those rumors favored James."

"Why are we just hearing about this now?" her father asked.

"I have spoken to Elizabeth, she had asked me not to say anything to you. In order to keep this a safe place for her and other students, there's some things that need to stay confidential.

"I didn't sense any danger and the rumors died down. Yes, she did quit student council, but you wouldn't be surprised by the amount of students who leave a club senior year." she explained to them.

"We have had no idea any of this was happening," Caterina, sighs softly, her eyes getting teary. Her husband softly rubs her back.

"What do you suggest we do? Should we confront Elizabeth about all these lies?" Brandon asks.

"I think Elizabeth is trying to protect you guys and herself. I can't tell you what to do. This is your child. But I can offer some advice," she says, "Give her some time. When it comes, I'm sure she'll open up, it might not be now, but it will be when she is ready. I've seen this a lot with seniors who get thrown a massive curve ball and it just throws them all off.

"It's what I like to call their first taste of the real world. How they get through it shows how they will handle these kind of stressors in the future. Some just go right off the handle and turn to some bad things to cope. Some repress their feelings, and let it all boil until they have some sort of snap. Some, learn and grow from it. Those that learn and grow, take it quietly, figure out what's to come afterwards. They stop worrying about what's happening now, and are ready to move on. The reason I haven't reached out is because I can see how Elizabeth is handling it. Yes, maybe she has changed, grown up a bit, but I still haven't gotten any major danger signs from her that say she isn't handling this in an unhealthy manner.

"Elizabeth has been meeting with our guidance counselor, about once a week. And that was something she had chosen to do on her own. We aren't necessarily obligated to tell parents that because of confidentiality reasons. If there was any cause for concerns you would've heard by now."

"So we should just wait?"

"Yes," she sighs, "I know it's probably not what you wanted to hear, but just know you have a wonderful daughter, who seems to know how to take care of herself in a healthy mature manner."

The conversation they had with Principal Alvarez brought some peace to their minds. Not completely, but enough to know that if Elizabeth really was in trouble she would go to them.

They had decided that it was probably best to get away for the winter break. Brandon and Caterina were able to work remotely during the holiday season, so they decided to take a trip to the family's cabin.

Elizabeth was excited to head to the cabin for the holidays. It meant that she wouldn't have to worry about running into anyone from school. And any reason to spend more time with her grandmother was exciting. Especially since she would be heading off to college soon.

Elizabeth had decided that Christmas to break the news to her parents that she had decided on the University of Stanford. She would be going as a Pre-Law student. The school was on the other side of the country. When she and her parents visited this past summer, Elizabeth fell in love with the campus.

Her last two choices were Stanford and Columbia.

With some talking to her guidance counselor and some major thought, she decided she desperately needed a change in scenery. A change in people.

For the first time since returning home, she had never felt more free. She was excited about the possibility of the future. She could no longer worry about what the hell was happening in Brooklyn.

Her parents were excited to hear about her choice. They were glad that she wasn't keeping this from them. They had decided that Principal Alvarez was right, Elizabeth was becoming such a strong woman in front of their eyes, and they had to trust that she knows what's best for herself.

Elizabeth and her grandma stayed that third week of break, while her parents were sent away by her grandma so she could have some quality time with her only granddaughter.

Elizabeth and her grandmother were currently sat in the living room going through some old photos. Elizabeth was helping her grandmother put them in some new photo albums she had gotten for Christmas.

"So, any new boy in your life?" her grandma, Sophia, asked.

"No, I'm done with high school boys," Elizabeth said, carefully going through the old photos.

"Good, high school boys are nothing but trouble."

"You're preaching to the choir," Elizabeth joked.

While grabbing another small box of photos, Elizabeth opened it up to reveal some very old letters and photos.

"What are these grandma?" she asked softly turning the box over for her grandma to see.

"Oh, I've been wondering where those went," she softly smiled, going over to sit next to Elizabeth on the couch.

Elizabeth handed her the box, and she pulled out a light yellowish envelope, the color from old age.

"Who are those from?"

"My old friend Rebekah," she said looking over at the letter.

"Rebekah? You've never told me about a Rebekah before.

"Well she was an old friend," her grandma said, handing Elizabeth a black and white photo of two young girls. One was her grandma and the blonde next to her must've been Rebekah. The photo was dated 1965.

"How did you guys meet?" Elizabeth asked.

"In junior high, we were both 12," her grandma handed her a photo dated 1960, it was of two even younger versions of the young teens.

"Oh, wow."

"From 12 to 21 we were inseparable."

"Woah, what's this?" Elizabeth asked, showing her grandma a photo of a quickie style wedding.

"Ah, that was Bex's first wedding."

"First?"

"Yup. Right out of high school, freshly 18. Adam Grant. Bex's high school sweetheart. Prom King and Queen."

"What happened?"

"Young love doesn't always last forever. Why do you think I was always so insistent with you not to worry about marriage until after you've graduated college and started your career."

Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders, "Just thought you thought I was too young, and you were right."

"Aren't I always," she winked playfully.

"What happened between them?"

"Adam wanted Rebekah to be a stay at home wife, to start popping out babies. That wasn't Bex at all. Bex was always the life of the party. She was a social butterfly, but she had dreams of making it to Broadway. Adam was set to take over his dad's mechanic shop.

"The marriage had only lasted a year, before they pulled the plug. After the divorce, Bex started to go on more auditions, while she waitressed part time, and once a month she would sing at a lounge in Manhattan. Now when I say she could sing, I mean she could sing. I believe she really could have made it," her grandma reminisces.

"What happened?"

"Bill happened," her grandma said, handing Elizabeth a photo of a man who appeared to be in his late 40s early 50s.

"Who's he?"

"Bill Carter. The richest man I have ever met. His family had oil money. He and his colleagues were in attendance at the lounge on one of the night's Bex was singing.

"From what Bex told me it was love at first sight. After that night Bex couldn't talk about anything but Bill. They were both so smitten over each other. I don't think I've ever seen Rebekah act like that. She started to clean herself up a little bit, to try and appease his family. But Bill loved her just the way she was when he met her."

"They were engaged two months later. This was both of their second marriages. Bill's parents desperately wanted him to have a prenup, but he was completely against it. He said that unlike his first marriage he knew this was the one. Plus Rebekah didn't care about all of that. She had had many opportunities to make some heavy cash by being a few married men's mistress, but that's not what mattered to her."

Elizabeth glanced down at the photo. It was a photo of the bride and groom surrounded by their friends, all of them have drinks and cigars in their hands, with big smiles on their faces.

Rebekah's hair was a everywhere, doesn't look like she bothered to comb it for the big day. Bill's tie was undone, along with his shirt being halfway unbutton, no suit jacket in sight. Her lips were dark in the black and white photo, which meant she probably was wearing a darker lip, judging by the lipstick marks on Bill's lips, cheek, and neck.

"Was this at the end of the night?" Elizabeth asked.

"No, this was just after the ceremony," her grandmother smiled, "Bex and Bill started the party after they said I do."

"The limo we all rode in together were filled with laughs, drinks, and cigars," she laughed.

"You guys knew how to party," Elizabeth smiled at her grandmother.

"Hey it was the late 60's," she shrugged her shoulders, handing Elizabeth another photo from the wedding.

"This looks small," Elizabeth remarked.

"Yeah, Bill's parents decided they weren't going to pay for the wedding when Bill refused to have Rebekah sign a prenup," she said, "So Bill and Bex decided to have a small wedding. Free of judgment. Just those that loved and supported them."

"That's nice," Elizabeth smiled at the thought of a small intimate wedding.

Elizabeth had never really given much though of how her wedding would be. I mean she and Bucky used to talk about getting married, but that was it. No plans were every truly made. Elizabeth also never truly saw herself as a big ballgown type of gal.

All that had mattered was her and Bucky. Now that's no more.

She felt her eyes get a little teary, she cleared her throat.

"So where did they go to after?"

"Rhode Island."

"Rhode Island?" Elizabeth looked at her grandmother, "Why Rhode Island?"

"They took a trip out there when they were dating, and fell in love with it. Plus Bex has always wanted to live on the sea. She said it made her feel free."

"Did his parents ever accept their marriage?"

"Sadly no," her grandma said, "Especially not after Bill's doctor told him to settle down with the party."

"Did he get sick?"

"Yes, around year 7 of their marriage, his doctor told him if he continued down this path he wouldn't live a long life."

"What did he do?"

"Bill told him he'd rather live the rest of his short life filled with happiness then become a boring old man who lived forever."

"Did he die?"

"Yes he did. He lived another three years, he and Bex were able to spend their ten year anniversary before he passed a week later. The summer of 1979."

"A week later?" Elizabeth asked shocked.

"Yeah," her grandmother sadly remembers.

"Rebekah was never the same after that," her grandmother says, "She never fully recovered from Bill's death."

"Did they have any kids?"

"Not together. Bill had two kids from his first marriage, but the kids only cared about their inheritance, that they never got."

"What?"

"Turns out Bill had changed his will when the doctor had first told him to slow down. He left everything to Rebekah," her grandma says, "That did not help Rebekah after his death either,

"Rebekah wasn't a heartless person, she made sure his children were taken care of, she created a fund for both kids. She never wanted Bill to do that, she didn't even know until the will reading two days after his funeral. All Bex wanted was her Bill. She would've given up all that money just for him."

"That's so sad," Elizabeth commented.

"Very. Even though Bex acted like none of the rumors bothered her, it did. Because that town was painting her to be this horrible woman. Calling her the most shameless woman they had ever seen, saying she enjoyed ruining everything. So she gave them what they wanted. She gave them the most shameless woman they would ever see. From what I had heard the partying got worse. She had parties every day, the house was filled with people from the city. She even got in a feud with one of their neighbors and stole his dog and dyed it green."

"What do you mean 'from what you heard'?" Elizabeth asked confused.

"Well, Rebekah and I weren't close anymore. The last time I had seen Rebekah was the week of Bill's funeral. Before then we hadn’t seen each other in almost 8 years.”

"What happened?"

"Well after I graduated in 1970, your grandpa and I decided to get married and settle down in Brooklyn," her grandma said, handing her a photo of their wedding day, "We were done with the whole party scene. We were ready to begin our own lives. Grandpa and I had already had good jobs lined up. We were ready to be adults. We were ready to start our family.

“Rebekah never understood that. She claimed ‘kids ruined everything’. She and Bill were living this extraordinary life. Kids didn’t fit the picture.”

“What about his kids?”

“They’d visit once per season. Their mother didn’t think that lifestyle was for them, and Bill never fought it,” she told Elizabeth, “And after I had your Uncle Eric in 1972, Rebekah couldn’t put her own feelings for children aside. It put a strain on our friendship, causing me to realize that I couldn’t be her friend if she couldn’t support what made me happy.

“I had supported Rebekah in every aspect of her life. When she wanted to marry Adam right out of high school, I supported her, hell I drove them. When she wanted to divorce Adam, I was there to hold her while she grieved her first failed marriage. She wanted to become a Broadway star, I was right there cheering and supporting her. When she met Bill, and everyone was against their relationship, I was their only support. When they decided to get engaged and married only 5 months after meeting each other, I was there, every step of the way. Did I have time? No, I was busy with school, but I made time.

“I was there for everything. I supported her through everything. But when I was ready to begin my own life, Rebekah couldn’t be there,” her Grandma sighs, “It made me question everything about our friendship.”

“It wasn’t until Bill’s funeral that I fully realized, she was just scared of being alone,” she says, “His funeral was filled with people. But not one of them was there for her.”

“How sad.”

“Rebekah and I finally talked that night,” her grandma says, “She told me all about the nonstop adventures she and Bill had.”

“Did you guys makeup?”

“Yes and no,” she says, “Rebekah was still against kids. She apologized for what she had said, but at that point I had already had three kids. We knew that our friendship would never be the same. We knew that the only way we could be in each other’s lives was if we kept our distance. If any one of us needed each other we knew we could call. But sometimes people come into your life only to be a small part of it. They don’t stay forever, but they make an everlasting impact.”

“Do you know what ended up happening to her?”

“She died, 9 years after Bill’s death. She was only 40 years-old,” she tells Elizabeth with a glimmer in her eye, “She died alone. While on vacation in Italy.”

“I’m sorry Grandma,” Elizabeth sympathetically says, she places her hand softly on top of her grandmother’s.

“It’s okay sweetie, time has come and gone. We all have to go through it someday.”

“What happened to that big house of her’s?”

“It’s still there. It never sold.”

“Why?”

“People claim it’s cursed,” she says, “so now it sits empty on that hill in Rhode Island.”

“They claim a crazy woman lived there, that anyone that were to live there would end up in the same fate as she,” her grandma says, “She wasn’t crazy. She was heartbroken. That whole town exiled her. Blamed her for everything. Made her out to be someone she wasn’t.”

“I get the feeling,” Elizabeth mumbled, looking down at her hands.

“She wasn’t crazy. She was a woman who lost the love of her life. She traveled the world to find anything to fill that void in her heart, and she never did. So she made sure to give that town everything she had.

“She was a very scorn woman. Filled with hatred, and anger to those that did her wrong,” her grandma says, clutching Elizabeth’s hands, forcing her to look into her eyes, “I don’t want you becoming like that Elizabeth.”

“I know whatever is going on in school, is not the easiest. But please, don’t let your heart be filled with so much hatred. I don’t want you becoming like Rebekah. She never learned to forgive.”

“It’s hard to forgive,” Elizabeth sniffled.

“I know, but it’s even harder to carry around so much darkness in your life,” she explains, “You should be able to go to college with nothing weighing you down. Not having anything negative reminding you of back home. You shouldn’t dread going back home, you should be filled with joy. Don’t exile those around you, just because they haven’t figured out that part of their lives.”

“Don’t let these last few moments of your high school life be filled with what those kids are saying,” she squeezes Elizabeth’s hands, “You know who you are. Those closest to you truly know who you are. We love you and support you. And are so incredibly proud of the woman you have become.”

“So please find it in yourself to forgive,” her grandma pleads.

“It’s hard being the bigger person,” Elizabeth sniffles again, silent tears streaming down her face, “they hurt me so much.”

“I know sweetie,” she pulls Elizabeth into her arms, “But let them regret what they have done. Don’t let them win by seeing you become this mad woman. Let them look back in their life, regretting the way they treated you.”

————————

Once Elizabeth went back home, the weekend before she was due to return to school from winter break. She had a lot to think about.

Does she listen to her grandma and forgive everyone for everything they’ve done. Or does she continue down the path she started on months ago.

She had to admit to herself, the path she was on was lonely. She didn’t like it one bit. She didn’t like what they made her become.

She decided to take her grandma’s words, and promised that once she returned to school on Monday, she would go back to being who she was. Not entirely, but at least not filled with so much hatred. She had to move on. For her own soul.

The first step, forgiving Bucky.

She knew that that was the only way to start. She wasn’t ready to talk to him in person, she’s not sure if she ever will be. So she sat at her desk and wrote him a letter:

Dear James,

(Yes, I called you James). I don’t know how to begin this. My grandmother told me I should forgive those that hurt me. You know my grandma, filled with nothing but wisdom. She told me a story about a friend she had, one that let the rumors consume her with hatred. She died alone.

I don’t want to be that person.

I know you don’t believe me to be that person, even after the things I’ve said to you.

But, I do feel myself becoming that person. Hating everyone around me, aside from my own family. (They still have no idea what’s going on with me)

So my first step in letting go, is forgiving you.

Letting all the pain and hate you’ve caused on me go...

I forgive you James.

I forgive you for everything you’ve done.

I don’t think I’ll fully understand why you cheated on me.

I know that’s not who you truly are. So I hope, that whatever you’re going through you come out on the other side.

This is harder than I thought it would be...

I loved you so much. I really thought we would end up together. Maybe that was just a childish thought.

Does anyone even make it out alive with their high school sweetheart?

But I want to thank you. For being my first love.

We were best friends to begin with, so falling in love with you was the easiest thing I’ve ever done.

Being in love with you was the easiest thing I’ve done.

It was just so effortless. And now I’m starting to wonder if that’s not how love is supposed to be...

But thank-you, for loving me the best that you could. You might not think it was the best, but it was.

You’re a part of my life forever. Even if you’re not physically a part of it.

You, James Buchanan Barnes, have left a forever imprint in my life.

So for that I want to thank you and forgive you.

I will always remember you as the 7 year-old boy who taught me how to ride my bike.

-Elizabeth “Betty” Sanchez.

Elizabeth walked across the street and placed the sealed letter in the Barnes’ mailbox.

As she walked back to her house, she felt this heavy weight lifted off her shoulder.

Come that Monday morning she was going to accept, Principal Alvarez’s valedictorian offer. She was also going to talk to the student council and see if there was anyway for her to rejoin student body. She was also going to apologize to Steve. He was just an innocent bystander that got caught in the crossfire. She couldn’t blame him for standing by his best friend’s side.

Monday, her life will officially be going down a different path. One filled with less hatred, and more understanding and forgiveness.

————————-

Age: 35

Year: 2029

Location: Rhode Island

“We haven’t had any interested buyers in decades,” the relator tells the happy couple, “Because of that, the house is basically a steal. The family that owns it just wants it out of their possession.”

“Now, it is a bit of a fixer upper, since no one has lived here since the late 80s. But that shouldn’t be any issue for you since you’re married to the youngest recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.”

The couple shares a brief smile with each other.

“But if I might ask, no one has every showed interest in this house, especially not a young family like yours. Why do you want to buy this house?”

“I think this house has been empty long enough. It’s time someone filled this house with lots of love and happiness. Like before,” Elizabeth smiled, small crows feet forming around her eyes.

“Well what better way then a family like yours,” the relator smiled, “There’s plenty of space for lots of kids.”

“This one is out last,” Steve smiled, putting his arm around Elizabeth, placing his hand on her growing belly.

“Three is enough for us,” She playfully poked Steve’s side.

They followed the relator to the back where two young children are running around playing.

“So what do you think?” Elizabeth whispered to Steve, looking up into his eyes.

“It’s definitely a fixer upper, but I love it,” he smiles, “Like I said before, wherever you go. I’m there.”

Elizabeth presses a soft kiss to Steve’s lips.

“Diane,” she calls out to the older relator who is running around with mini-me’s of Elizabeth and Steve.

“We’ll take it,” she smiles broadly.

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rachelkaser · 3 years

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Stay Golden Sunday: Family Affair

Dorothy’s son Michael and Rose’s daughter Bridget visit at the same time and get a little too close to each other. Blanche throws her back out.

Picture It...

Dorothy and Sophia are in the living room when Blanche comes hobbling in through the front door, hunched over. Her back gave out while she was in her aerobics class. The doorbell rings, and it’s Michael, Dorothy’s son. She and Sophia are happy to see him, but are not pleased that he’s not kept in touch. He’s currently unemployed after his last gig as a jazz musician ended over a disagreement with his boss, and Blanche offers to let him stay in her room for a few days. Rose arrives home with her daughter Bridget, who she introduces to everyone. Michael doesn’t hit it off with the college-bound Bridget.

BLANCHE: I would get up, but I’ve thrown my back totally out of whack. You see, what happened was-- MICHAEL: Oh you don’t have to explain. My mother already told me all about you.

Michael’s eating breakfast with his mother, who’s babying him against his will, and Sophia, who takes him out for lunch. Blanche, meanwhile, is upset that her doctor has told her she’s going to have to spend most of her time laying down, just not tin the way she’d prefer. In private, Dorothy confides that she’s worried about Michael. Rose comes in and gushes about the nice morning she had with Bridget, and says she’s going to miss Bridget when she leaves, as they’re very close. Dorothy says she used to be close with Michael, but they disagree over his life plans, as she wants him to find a stable job.

Blanche idly suggests that maybe Michael and Bridget should date. Rose and Dorothy immediately object, saying they don’t want to get involved in their kids’ personal lives. Later, Blanche bemoans how bad her back feels to Dorothy and Sophia, who are playing cards, saying she feels like she’s getting old. Dorothy and Sophia share their own experiences with their aging bodies, which Blanche is worried about having to experience “fifteen years from now.” When Dorothy asks where Michael is, Blanche reveals that she gave him and Bridget tickets to the symphony, annoying Dorothy who didn’t want Blanche to interfere.

DOROTHY: Being set up on a date is never fun. SOPHIA: In Sicily, everything is set up. Dates, marriage, death -- especially death. That’s why whenever I go into a restaurant, I sit with my back to the wall... except any diner in Newark, where if you’re against the wall you stick.

Later that night, Rose also finds out what Blanche did and is also annoyed, but Blanche protests it’s not a big deal and the kids came home hours ago. Rose goes to say goodnight to Bridget. Blanche tells Dorothy that she’s going stir-crazy, as it’s been days since she’s last been with a man. Dorothy at first makes fun of her, but gets progressively more disturbed at Blanche’s cabin fever and tells her to “get that look out of your eye and let go of my hand.” Rose suddenly cries out in horror and Dorothy and Blanche run out of the kitchen. They find her in Blanche’s room, where Bridget and Michael are in bed together.

Rose and Dorothy react with horror and disgust (Blanche doesn’t look particularly upset, though I’m sure her bed has seen worse). Sophia comes in and is equally unhappy with Michael, telling him she’s ashamed of him for embarrassing everyone. Bridget doesn’t help the situation by critiquing Michael’s performance (he apologizes for having too much wine), which shocks Rose. Blanche tells everyone they should let the kids get dressed and then talk about things like adults. In the living room, Rose and Dorothy get into a fight, as Rose accuses Michael of seducing Bridget and Dorothy calls Bridget a tramp. The fight ends with Rose storming off.

SOPHIA: Who are you, Mr. Spock? ROSE: I think you mean Dr. Spock, Sophia. SOPHIA: They’re both real smart and they’ve got big ears, so don’t get technical, okay?

The next morning, Dorothy and Rose are cold to Blanche for setting up their kids, and Sophia is in black, as Michael is dead to her. Blanche protests that she just wanted to do something nice and didn’t intend for them to hook up, and says these things do happen with young people (naturally having a story about how she herself once did the same thing). She tells them to at least talk to their kids about it. Rose and Dorothy apologize for taking their anger at their kids out on each other. Sophia, who’s trying to navigate with a black veil in front of her face, is less willing to forgive.

On the lanai, Dorothy confronts Michael and is not as measured as she’d like to be, calling him an “ungrateful brat” and asking why he would embarrass them like that. He apologizes and says he wasn’t thinking. Dorothy tells him that this is his problem, as he’s going through life without making plans and will need to grow up at some point. He apologizes and says he’s doing the best he can, and Dorothy tells him she loves him no matter what. Sophia comes out and Michael apologizes to her as well, and promises to keep in touch with her more often in the future. Sophia can finally remove her black veil.

BRIDGET: I want us to have an open, honest relationship. I want to be able to share my deepest, darkest secrets with you. ROSE: Couldn’t we just wear matching outfits?

In the kitchen, Bridget asks to talk to Rose. Rose wants to avoid the subject, but Bridget tells Rose she can’t always expect her to be perfect, as she’s bound to make mistakes, such as sleeping with Michael. Rose mistakenly thinks it was Bridget’s first time, and is even more deeply uncomfortable to learn that it wasn’t. Bridget says their relationship is going to have to change now that she’s an adult. Rose says she needs to get used to it, and the two share a hug.

Bridget prepares to leave to catch her flight. Coincidentally, Michael enters with packed luggage and says he’s found a new gig and is flying out to New Orleans. The Girls say goodbye to their kids, who both depart for the airport. After they go, Blanche enters all dressed up, ready for a date. The others protest that she should be in bed and listening to the doctor’s orders, but she protests she needs to get out of the house. Dorothy and Rose tell her she shouldn’t go, and Blanche and Sophia have one more exchange before leaving the house.

BLANCHE: Nonsense. Who knows my body better than I do? SOPHIA: Any man in Miami not attached to a woman or a respirator.

“I never passed out at the House of Fabrics. I passed out at the World of Wool.”

This is one of those episodes that I struggled on a rating for. I wanted to give it a three-slice rating because I hate giving two-slices, but honestly this is just one of those episodes that doesn’t click with me, and leaves me feeling confused. It’s not only boring and kind of inane, it doesn’t really make sense to me. Maybe this is the product of me not being a parent, or me not living in the mid-80s, but I’m not sure I really see what’s so dire about the central conflict, which apparently involves two young, attractive people sleeping together. And even when I give the Girls the benefit of the doubt, I’m not comfortable with the way this relatively minor conflict causes such an ugly fight between Rose and Dorothy.

Let’s start with this being the first appearance of Dorothy’s son, Michael, who will appear again in later episodes. He’s a jazz musician who’s bouncing from gig to gig, and recently left his latest one because he refused to wear a tie while performing. Now, maybe it’s just the fact that I’m still recovering from a COVID-19-related layoff, but I admit that does not leave me particularly sympathetic to Michael. I’m very close to Michael in age and I do relate to him saying he’s living his own life and doesn’t want his mother to treat him like a child, but at the same time, I can also see Dorothy’s side of things, wanting him to find a reliable job.

youtube

As for the big scandal of the episode, Michael and Bridget sleeping together, again, I think this is something that just doesn’t translate for me. Yes, it’s not a good time or place and it’s a bit tasteless to hook up in a house you’re sharing with your parent/grandparent. They probably shouldn’t have done it, but the language the Girls use in the aftermath: “I’m SHOCKED at your behavior... you’ve broken my heart... I’m ashamed to call you my grandson... where did I go wrong with you?” I just can’t even begin to see why what they did was so wrong.

I’m with Blanche: These things do happen. They may blame Blanche for it, but frankly, if they still felt like hooking up after listening to a Mancini Tribute to The Pink Panther, then I don’t think it would have taken much to push them in that direction. Again, I agree that this is not the right time or place for a hook-up, but it’s not quite the horrible betrayal that the other Girls seem to think it is, or why it leads Dorothy into a near-meltdown, thinking she’s failed as a parent somehow.

DOROTHY: *finding Sophia pinching from Rose’s food* Ma, what do you think you’re doing? SOPHIA: It’s a funny little habit I picked up. I call it “eating.” [...] ROSE: Wait a minute, where are the little wooden shoes I carved out of cheese? DOROTHY: My mother spread them on the tiny windmill you built out of Triscuits.

Actually, I think Blanche’s B-plot is the only somewhat enjoyable part of the episode, and it’s the only part of it I enjoyed watching. Blanche being confined indoors and getting progressively more sexually frustrated is funny because it implies that she can’t even last five or six days without sex without losing her goddamned mind. Rue McClanahan somehow manages to balancing being kind of cranky and irritable and the voice of reason in the A-plot. Given that she can’t herself go out and hook up, it sort of makes sense that she’d try to help the two kids along, though I do reiterate I think they would have hooked up regardless.

I also enjoy how much Dorothy doesn’t mind messing with Blanche in this episode, including telling her she’s marking Blanche’s abstinence down on her “Big Ships of the Navy” calendar. Blanche also gets the mid-episode monologue about being caught having sex while in finishing school. I think the line about how she waved politely over her boyfriend’s shoulder “with my foot,” is one of the more racy lines they managed to get past the prudes at the broadcasting department, so good for them.

BLANCHE: Oh girls, for the first time in my life, my body feels old. I feel like I can’t do the same things I used to. SOPHIA: Rubber Woman couldn’t do the same things you used to.

Sophia’s in a bigger part of this episode than you would think, considering she doesn’t play a huge role in either of the plots, but this episode, I think, marks a point where the writers are getting really good at working Sophia into each episode with a series of zingers and brief anecdotes. Most of them this time are at the expense of Blanche, which is always funny because Blanche never takes offense at any of Sophia’s jokes -- if anything, she seems to enjoy them. Sophia wearing a black veil over her face for no particular reason is also pretty funny. These are really the only things about this episode I enjoy.

I feel bad that the two episodes thus far that feature Rose’s children are getting low ratings from me, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence. For all that Blanche is critical of her own parenting and Dorothy’s relationships with both of her kids will be the subject of multiple future episodes, Rose’s relationships with those of her kids that we see is unhealthy in a way that the show doesn’t really acknowledge. Sure Blanche was a very distant and uninvolved parent, and Dorothy needs to learn to let her kids make their own choices, but Rose’s relationship with her kids almost seems to be based in a fantasy world of lies and willful ignorance.

BLANCHE: My back gave out. SOPHIA: I figured that would have been about the third thing to go. DOROTHY: Honey, what happened? BLANCHE: I was in my aerobics class when I noticed this gorgeous man checking me out. So during the buttocks lifts, he motioned for my phone number. Well, I didn’t want to appear easy, so I rolled over on my back and flung my legs over my head. SOPHIA: That’s what I call giving him the brush-off.

Just to recap, we already know she lied to her children for years, spinning an elaborate fiction that their father was a wealthy and successful businessman, and was willing to take that lie to the grave with her despite the damage it was obviously causing until it got to the point where she couldn’t look her granddaughter in the eye. Now we find out that she’s holding onto the idea that her daughter -- and the ages of the characters are nebulous, but I’m going to assume that Bridget is at least in her mid-20s -- is a virginal innocent who was “seduced” by Michael.

And Rose is willing to defend that delusion to the point that she starts slinging insults at Michael and being downright awful to Dorothy, then claims that Dorothy is “vicious” and “cruel” for hitting back just as hard, before finally storming out and slamming her bedroom door. I’m sorry, but this is not a healthy response to anything that happens in this episode. I know that the episode wants me to see Dorothy as equally culpable, because she calls Bridget a tramp for sleeping with Michael despite knowing him for one day -- and don’t get me wrong, Dorothy slut-shaming Bridget despite her behaving the exact same way as Michael is not something I approve of or like, either -- but frankly, Rose is the one who starts it.

BLANCHE: Maybe what Michael needs is a little exposure. ROSE: Exposure to what? DOROTHY: To plutonium, Rose.

It’s hard to make a valid judgement because Rose and Bridget’s relationship happens mostly in the background of the episode. Bridget appears in the opening scene, and then again when she’s in bed with Michael. Most of the episode is about Michael and Dorothy’s relationship. But I think the line that really cements it for me is when Rose says she wanted Bridget’s “first time” to be special, and Bridget tells her mother she lost her virginity four years ago, and Rose just responds, “Oh, I really don’t want to talk about this.” Rose being so out of touch and even calling her daughter behaving like a normal, young woman as like her being “a whole new person” is just not healthy, and it concerns me.

This is one of the episodes where the continuity problems are much more noticeable than usual. We know that Dorothy gave birth to a child when she was 17, and she is now roughly 55-60 years old, so at least one of her children should be pushing 40. Kate didn’t look anywhere close to that, and Michael is stated in this episode to be 29 years old. I can buy that Rose would have a daughter who may be studying in graduate school, but Dorothy not so much. Still, this won’t be as much of a continuity snarl as it will be in later episodes.

Episode rating: 🍰🍰 (two cheesecake slices out of five)

Favorite part of the episode:

Sophia spending part of the episode in mourning garb, with hilarious results:

#golden girls #stay golden #stay golden sunday #dorothy zbornak #picture it #blanche devereaux #rose nylund #sophia petrillo #s02e07 #family affair

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semi-imaginary-place · 3 years

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rewatching decadence part 2 because part 1 got too long

ep7: Getting to see the game Deca-Dence as a new player would with the opening cutscene, skipping the TOS, character creation and all was a good touch. Also the fact that Kaburagi could look like anything, but he wants to look like mid 40′s dad both times. I wonder who it was that decided Minato should vape. The conversation on the top of Deca-Dence is real interesting because its like only 20% of the actual conversation is spoken out loud and the other 80% left unsaid, so we have to guess what was left unsaid. Minato tells Kaburagi to not make things worse for himself, condoning his actions, but also vows to himself to help Kabu even though it is very dangerous for him. Kaburagi leaves after regretfully saying he doesn’t want to cause Minato more trouble, and yet his current and future actions are and will be doing just that. The obscuring fog in this scene adds to the sense of distance or disconnect between these two. Somewhere over the past 7 years they have fallen off the same page.

This episode again highlights how while for the Tankers this is life and death situation, for the cyborgs Deca-Dence is a game. We get a shot of some Gears lightheartedly discussing how fun the latest game event was, followed right after with what that event meant for the Tankers as we see a makeshift medbay in the streets filled with the dead and dying to really drive home the gap of compassion between the two groups. Minato is one of the few cyborgs we really see besides Kaburagi and the show uses him to show how cyborgs don’t think of humans as people. Humans to the cyborgs are just npcs in a game. Now anime and manga about videogames have been around a long time and were especially popular in the mid 2000s (mmorpgs especially) after which the genre dropped the “in a game” part but kept everything else which were today know as the isekai genre. Hot takes like “the videogame characters are actually people all along” aren’t new either, but Deca-Dence is one of the most successful in generating sympathy and compassion for the Other by flipping the script. Most of those series come from the perspective of the player and show the player coming to care about the npcs. This often isn’t done very well or comes off as patronizing, like the other characters act in service of making the mc look like a good guy instead of actually acting like fully realized people in their own right. (*cough* sao *cough*). In contrast to this, Deca-Dence initially starts from the perspective of Natsume who is human just like us the audience, and thus predisposing us to feeling with and feeling for her. So later when its revealed the humans of this world aren’t seen as people by the cyborgs or the the corporation that rules all their lives, it is granted greater weight in the context of all of us who have played videogames before and met npcs and maybe not cared all that much about them. Decadence places the viewer in the position of the npc, the Other.

Episode 7 is also the beginning of several letters exchanged between Kaburagi and Natsume. Its a presence that lingers long after the person has left and also acts as a contrast to the call/social networking apps of the cyborgs. In episode 5 we saw Kaburagi choose Natsume over following the orders of Solid Quake, but through to episode 7 he still believed in its system. Look even at episode 6 where he still believed that if he worked hard and played by the rules, the system would reward him and everything would be ok and compare that calm assurance in episode 6 to his mountain frustration in episode 7. He’s starting to see how thing are run in Deca-Dence makes life really hard and kind of terrible for the Tankers. This frustration at the system culminates at the end of the episode when he realizes the real human cost of perpetuating this system of oppression in how it hurts Natsume. I mean “Late stage capitalism made my adopted daughter Natsume cry, so I'm going to dismantle it.“ is a joke and pretty funny, but like, that’s what actually what happens. Both Kaburagi and Natsume further the theme of pushing the limits. Kaburagi realizes the limits of his society and why its time to break them down, while of Natsume’s side we see her struggle in the face of things much larger than her. Much like how the cyborgs are stuck in their lifestyles of working for Solid Quake, earning oxyone, and playing Deca-Dence, the Tankers are stuck in their role in society to leave their fates to the Gears and Deca-Dence. So Natsume asking everyone to take charge of their own lives and close that the hole is them stepping out of the comfort of what they’ve always done, which is leave it to someone else (deca-dence administration, gears, etc.). Natsume asks the Tankers to push their limits, the step outside of what they’ve always done and to believe in things they thought were impossible to do. We see Fei representing the belief a lot of Tankers that nothing needs to change, thus nothing should change and they will not act to bring change to their own lives. The Tankers live lives that are decided for them. The Deca-Dence administration controls their population, and the system eliminates any who would disrupt it. They don’t have a lot of control and are resigned to live like that, until Natsume comes along. This episode we see her do what she does the entire series, inspire people to be more. Natsume’s doing alright, she might not be where she wants to be but she’s taken steps in that direction. Where Nstsume is psychologically contrast Kaburagi who’s a bit of a mess realizing he can no longer live under the thumb of Solid Quake’s Deca-Dence system and is kind of floundering about. When kaburagi meets Natsume again... he is so awkward, I’m getting second hand embarressmen. and again the assault jokes have got to stop. The shot of the empty chair calls back to the first episode and another talk between Natsume and Kaburagi. I always love it when an anime plays the credits early.

ep8: again the importance of the individual over the group with kaburagi’s lines at the beginning on why he’s taking down the gadoll factory. I’m just thinking about how kaburagi is certain minato kept his avatar. and everyone just agreeing that minato has that vibe. I really love the avatar retrieval part of the first episode. Its a heist sequence. I love heists!. They also did a good job with pacing and tension in that part. Still can’t believe the creators put a sex toy in this show but at least this joke is actually funny. Oh Minato pulled strings to get Kaburagi out of the poor jail. I missed that part. but now the two of them are not only on different pages, but on different books. Minato doesn’t see the tankers as people and follows the Deca-Dence system on what is good and what is bad, so he can’t comprehend why Kaburagi is throwing away everything the Deca-Dence system values for something the system has deems less than worthless. While Kaburagi has formed a moral compass independent of this system, he sucks at communication and doesn’t explain anything to Minato. Interesting how Minato views bugs as bad but has made an exception for kaburagi and probably did some mental gymnastics to do so. It reminds of those homophobic family members that make an exception for their gay family member. Minato never wanted anything but to be by Kaburagi’s side so he prioritizes Kaburagi above pretty much everything else which is why while he defends the establishment, he also breaks rules for Kaburagi. Their little convo continues the same dialectic, Kaburagi’s been inspired by Natsume to push the limits of himself and society, to choose how he lives instead of letting the Deca-Dence system tell him. Kaburagi underwent character development when Minato wasn’t looking and he can’t recognize him anymore but desperately wants to. Kaburagi moving forwards without him and him realizing that he was never as much a priority to Kaburagi as Kaburagi was to him, means that Minato’s really hurting by the end of the scene, and he doesn’t take it out on Kaburagi, he just leaves. ...if it isn’t obvious by now, minato is my favorite character. gotta love the gay robot having a mid life crisis. (i mean his feeling aren;t necessarily romantic, but you know the joke I’m referencing). Turkey just wakes up and chooses evil every day huh. I predict someone on tumblr with a history of unhealthy relationships is horny for turkey.

ep9: why does the reactor look like a cyborg core? Again. WHYYY does Donatello have a gun??? idiots let him keep a working gun. I love the contrast of the actual pretty gritty situation of the prison riot being represented with super cartoony slapstick animations. This probably saves on frames as well as keep the series from getting too dark, because if you think about it the labor camp conditions are pretty horrifying but its disguised with cartoony designs and wacky characters. Kaburagi and Natsume are doing very important plot things, but the core of episode 9 are Sark and Turkey. Through them we see the same conversation that has been repeated through out the series of conforming to society and staying in line, that things won’t ever change so you should just duck your head and follow order, or the “I’m comfortable how things are” versus you should make your own choices with live life how to want to, to push your limits. Turkey sees the Deca-Dence system as absolute and eternal and thus tries to play by the system and help it continue by selling out everyone else. Sark is passive and doesn't really have an opinion of his own, just following whatever the others are doing whether its Kaburagi stealing his avatar or Turkey in betraying everyone. Sark unlike Turkey isn’t malicious, he wants the best for everyone but also isn’t quite willing to put himself at risk for others. After seeing everyone be destroyed as a consequence of following Turkey however, his new resolve and subsequent suicide bombing is the only reason the plan ends up succeeding. For total destruction of the gadoll factory two things were needed: flipping the kill switch on all the gadoll in the dome, and destroying the reactor powering the factory. We aren’t told how Jill and Kaburagi originally planned to destroy the reactor (like was he just suppose to wander around until they bumped into it?), but Sark’s explosion is what allowed Kaburagi and Natsume to get away from Hugin. Without Sark, Hugin would have totally caught them. So it was Sark taking charge of his own life and pushing his limits that saved them all. That said, if the explosion was powerful enough to reach all the way up the giant tube and destroy the reactor, why didn’t it break the tube and why didn’t it destroy everyone left in the prison? ah well it makes thematic sense so I’ll let this pass.

So I’ve talked before about how Deca-Dence’s ending could be improved to build on some of the themes established in the first couple episodes. The problem is that this show isn’t pushing a narrative of collaboration and the power of collective bargaining, its pushing an individualist narrative about how each and every person can reach out and better themself. Now I don’t think these two themes are mutually exclusive, but it would take a very delicate touch as well as an attentive and thoughtful audience to successfully weave these two theme together into a nuanced whole. And if a rewrite were to happen with the minimal amount of changes, I think ep 10 is a good divergence point. The final little arc is about the rogue gadoll outside of the Deca-Dence system and the threat of total annihilation by solid quake, and while big kaiju fights look cool, they don’t quite deal with dismantling systems of oppression at the hands of your corporate overlords. So, I would have preferred something like the cyborgs and Tankers coming together to seize the means of production, destroy Solid Quake, and take its assets for themselves. The ideal rewrite situation though would for this all to be 24 episodes and the big gadoll to be the episode 12 climax while taking down Solid Quake happen in ep 23-24. And since we’re doing a rewrite, Natsume kinda drops off as the main character after episode 5 and I’d like to see her back at the forefront of the show.

ep10: If this show had leaned more into the futility of Natsume seeking to improve herself within a system that rendered it meaningless, it would have ended up much darker, but I also think it would have been richer. Ah poor Natsume, she’s at a low point since the context of what she has been doing has wildly changed, afterall, what’s the point of improving yourself if nothing else ever changes and what you do doesn’t matter. The letter writing continues and it is good. So I’m not going to question how the exit tunnel is still intact, but watching into robot kaburagi angrily drive a car and swear is really funny. I’ve been wondering for a while, the humans literally live in a fuel tank, how is there enough light to grow plants in there? Like as part of the post-apocalyptic aesthetic, a lot of Tankers have little house plants which in addition to being inside the fuel tank, are also inside their houses. oh yeah for any who didn’t get it. The reason as a child Natsume went into cardiac arrest and her chip was read as dead wasn’t because of the severity of her injuries, Deca-Dence’s system had deemed her too dangerous to live and flipped her kill switch.

ep11: on a thematic level I might be meh, but the writing and execution are what really pull the ending through. Everything is nicely set up from the mutated gadoll the victim of animal abuse several episodes earlier to fighting hugin in the factory being how hugin finds out about natsume. I think about Jill’s lines here, that no matter how hard you try to keep things from changing, you’re just fighting the inevitable. Also Natsume took Kaburagi’s switching bodies really well like seeing someone you care about die in front of you but then surprise they just got another body would give most people such whiplash. “our bodies are under the system’s control, but our core’s are independent of it” I’m still thinking about this. It makes sense given how the first generation of cyborgs where humans with mechanical implants, but cyborg’s cores are still such a mystery. The things you can’t control are a part of life too. In Deca-Dence bugs are uncertainties that the master control system doesn’t know what to do with. More than just individualism good, here we get a little more nuance to Deca-Dence (the show)’s theme. Jill was one of the creators of the Deca-Dence game (giant mech, control system, and all), and they tried to create perfect system where everything was under its control and order could be maintained forever, and this inevitably failed (the show tells us). Trying to perfectly order everything is to attempt the impossible, disorder will always creep in and those little individual differences should be celebrated. and is to the backdrop of an old Deca-Denca(robot) part that is rusting away, plants and animals overtaking it much like how the Deca-Dence’s currently enforced status quo of the game will fall away in the face of those it deems bugs. wait did we ever figure out what the bug was that jill left in deca-dence? mmmm I’m still thinking about Minato logging out because the system told him to but unwilling to let things end this way so physically going back down to earth in his real body. Facing the possibility of truly losing Kaburagi forever is what pushes Minato to question following the Deca-Dence master control system. He totally became a bug for Kaburagi. I doubt Kaburagi had any idea how much Minato wanted to hear the words “let’s fight together to the end”, but offered the thing he truly desires, Minato probably would have done anything. mmm he’s got it bad. there’s also that linking Kaburagi and Deca-Dence’s core takes two people and yet, Kaburagi didn’t bring anyone with him. Which is terrible planning, but allowed for this really great scene. that he knew Minato would come after him. And then the last thing me sees in Minato. Minato truly is ride or die. literally. He could have gone back to the spaceship so that he’d survive no matter what, but he choose to stay. If the plan succeeds then he will see it through with/right beside/literally inside of Kaburagi, and if it fails and Kaburagi is annihilated when Solid Quake wipes the dome, Minato will also be annihilated along side Kaburagi.

ep12: so kaburagi just straight up demands admin privileges and the governing sys is like “sure”. Yeah pretty sure the governing system convo was a season 2 hook to show the big wigs. The independent all governing system tells Kaburagi that all this, him and bugs are a part of the system’s learning process, to which Kaburagi responds that all that doesn’t matter since he’s going to do what he wants independent/regardless of the governing system. the context in which you do things doesn’t matter. Also I never pointed it out since its like the 4th wall of scifi, everyone is just trained to suspend their disbelief, but oxyone is total bullshit. A non toxic liquid energy dense fuel that can be concentrated into orbit range lasers. The tankers all helping Natsume push the spare part is a feel good moment seeing everyone working together. Its an unnecessarily scene for the purpose of including the tankers in the action, since the part wasn’t ever really needed and the writers didn’t have to have it severed by the laser to begin with. the Natsume montage overlayed with the music is very good. wait. i just realized, limiter release can be reversed. Afterall, Kaburagi released his limiters with his first avatar, and if he had still been fully connected to it when hugin killed that avatar, cyborg Kaburagi should have died too but he didn’t and just immediately logged in on a different account. Kabu-Dence releasing his limits here and literally giving all of himself to destroy omega is fulfilling both for his character arc and on an emotional level. This entire show has been about pushing one’s limits and making your own choices, and it culminates here’s in Kaburagi literally releasing his limiter, thus putting him in mortal danger, and then giving every last ounce of himself to the path he has decided. The destruction of the mech fortress Deca-Dence is also symbolic of the end of the game of the Deca-Dence mmorpg as we know it. wait wait did Kaburagi hold on just long enough to hear Natsume thank him. aaaaahhh and then the ed song plays!! and then the play the new mmo intro scene. Still real weird that they’re using a cyborg brain as a ball.

#deca dence #deca-dence #decadence #deca_dence #anime #reviews

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wowweeharrystyles · 4 years

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Part 1 | Kindness & The Perfect Fit | 9.2k words

‘Sequins & Zippers’ Summary: An internship with Harry Lambert transformed into a job of a lifetime - Aurora Del Gatto finds herself touring the world with the one & only Harry Styles as his ‘Head of Wardrobe.’ Aurora is nothing but nerves & excitement as she packs her bags & almost 100 custom designer suits that belong to an unbelievably kind rockstar. She never thought she’d fall in love on top of it all.

A/N: So here’s part 1 of Sequins & Zippers. A MASSIVE shoutout to @niallhoranapologist. If it weren’t for Gwen I probably wouldn’t have continued to work on this story. Thanks for always helping me brainstorm ideas, listen to me talk about these fictional characters all the time & for continuously supporting my writing. you da best.

“Ugg, this is useless,” Aurora groans as she throws the t shirt she had in hand across the room. Aurora has been attempting to pack her suitcase for hours now. “How the hell am I supposed to pack 4 months worth of clothes in a single suitcase?” she whispers in defeat to herself.

“Rory? Everything alright?” Aurora’s mother calls from the other room. Rory is the nickname her mom gave her when she was only a baby. Her mother walks into her room and sees the frustrated look on her daughter’s face.

“25 countries? The weather is gonna be different in every freaking country,” Rory lets out a frustrated sigh, falling onto her bed. “I can barely pack properly for a weekend trip.”

“Hey, you’re thinking too hard and overwhelming yourself,” her mother says softly as she sits on the bed next to her. She places a hand on her shoulder, “Let me help. We’ll figure it out.”

Aurora is currently trying to pack for her new job. After the craziest year she’s ever had, packed with graduating college, moving to London to work with one of the most well-known stylists in the fashion industry and having the time of her life doing what she loves most, she was offered a career-altering job for the next 4 months. Never did Aurora think she would be sitting in her room back home in a small suburb of New York surrounded by cardboard boxes labeled with things like: “NYC Apartment - kitchen,” “London - winter clothes,” “School things,” “London Flat - bedding,” “I have no idea, from london.” Organized Chaos explained her life best right now.

“Rory, sweetie, where’s your list?” her mother asks, looking around to locate the papers she’s been carrying around for the past week that’s covered in scribbled notes, lists upon lists and small sketches here and there. “Should’ve really been keeping that stuff in a journal or something.” She finds the papers scattered on Aurora’s desk and a few laid on top of boxes. “Probably wouldn’t be so overwhelmed if you could be a little bit more organized,” her mother sighs gathering the papers into a stack, tapping the bottom edges on the desk to line them up. “You’re normally so much more organized,” her mother continues before pressing a kiss to Aurora’s hair.

“It’s a lot, Mom. I don’t know where to start.” She stands up from her bed and grabs her phone as it dings, indicating she’s received an email. “Finally!” she exclaims with a sigh of relief. “Harry’s just sent me my official itinerary and all of my flight info.”

“Harry Styles himself emailed you your travel plans?” her mother asks in disbelief.

“No, mom, Lambert. Harry Lambert, my boss.”

“Oh yeah, of course,” she laughs lightly, “How many mix ups has there been with that name?”

Aurora’s new job is ‘Head of Wardrobe’ for Harry Styles’ Arena World Tour. In all honesty, she has no idea how she got here. Well she does, but it still doesn’t feel real. Lambert’s original hire for the tour ended up needing to stay in London to help him with his styling work there and she was next in line, but she still isn’t too sure how she got this lucky. The past year happened so fast and it was one opportunity after another that landed her here. She’s barely had a moment to breathe after the holidays and some small jobs here and there to keep her busy. Last January, just over a year ago, Aurora traveled to London for a six week menswear design course at Central Saint Martins for some extra credits before her final semester of college. During this course, she was lucky enough to met Harry Lambert. After he saw her collection of work from the past few years, what her thesis plans were and what she had been working on during the CSM course he kept her information on file for the future. When Aurora left london at the end of the course she had no idea if she would ever hear from Harry Lambert again, but around mid march she received an email from him about an internship position he needed to fill and thought she would be perfect for. Starting the internship in NYC before she even graduated, May was a whirlwind and was the perfect indication on how the rest of her year would be. She moved to London in June and was put to work without a second to spare.

“Okay, so here’s what we’re gonna do,” Aurora’s mother starts before launching into a detailed plan on how they’re both gonna tackle packing up Aurora’s life for the next 4 months on the road, traveling. They’ve got barely 3 days until her flight leaves for London.

Nearly 4 hours later and they’ve organized Aurora’s room. Unpacking the appropriate boxes, written a new packing list, and they’ve also written a shopping list. They’ve got organized piles surrounding them. Again, Organized Chaos best describes Aurora’s life, always.

“Oh, what about that long pleated skirt you made last year? The emerald green one? You definitely need to take that.” Aurora’s eyes lit up at the idea. She loved that skirt, it was versatile enough that she could pair with heels or sneakers. Versatile pieces were key to packing she found out quickly. Her mom reaches into her closet and searches for it. “Probably at the back, haven’t worn it in awhile,” she motions towards her closet while sorting through the box of her bags, making decisions on which ones she’ll need with her.

“Oh gosh, Rory, look what I found,” her mom emerges from the closet with a handful of rolled up posters.

Aurora goes bright red knowing exactly what is on those posters. “Oh no. I kept those?” her mom sets them down on the floor but keeps one to unroll. Once the tape is off and her mom has got it flat, she turns it around to face Aurora. It’s a large poster of One Direction from a TigerBeat magazine. Aurora drops her face into her hands.

“Remember when you couldn’t see a bit of the wall cause of these posters? If I remember right, you liked that blonde one yeah?” her mom laughs, rolling the poster back up. “Maybe you should take one with you and have Harry sign it? He’d get a kick out of it, I’m sure.”

“Mom!” Aurora whines. “This is my job, my career. I have to be nothing but professional.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a joke or two. Gotta have fun still and honestly, he’d probably think it’s cute.”

“Mom, it’s embarrassing and I’m gonna be working with him and his team for the next 4 months.” Her mother can see the panic on her face. “I cannot just show up with a One Direction poster.”

“Ror, I’m just having a bit of fun with you. You need to relax or you’ll just be frustrated and stressed the entire time.” She sets the posters aside and goes to join Aurora on the floor. Placing a hand on her cheek, “Baby girl, my baby girl, promise me you’ll have some fun? This is a chance of a lifetime and I know you’ll work your butt off and do your job perfectly, but you need to enjoy it too. Okay?” Aurora nods slowly. She knows her mother is right, she always is.

“Okay,” she says softly giving her mom a weary smile.

“You’ll be okay, I know you will,” her mom says before leaning in and hugging her daughter. “I’m so proud of you.”

Aurora and her mother continue bustling around her room until the sun sets. By the time there is no daylight left there are 2 large suitcases completely full, all organized and packed with Aurora’s belongings. They spend the next hour packing up Aurora’s rolling caboodle. The large, rollable, sturdy set of drawers and compartments is from Aurora’s days as a competition dancer. It used to carry her stage makeup, extra pairs of tights, accessories and an emergency sewing kit. It was always covered in glitter and there were bobby pins in every nook and cranny, a few stray sets of false eyelashes too. But for the past 4 years, she’s used it for all things sewing and design. She never went to class or the design studio without it. Aurora and her mom empty the drawers and reorganize the contents. They make another list of things they need to pick up at the local sewing store the next day. Aurora pulls out her old sketchbooks and sets them to the side and adds a new clean book to the now empty drawer along with her cases of Micron pens, drawing pencils and prisma coloured pencils.

Aurora continues to organize each little compartment as her mother prints out small labels and adds them to the section dividers. Aurora loves to be overly organized and have everything in its place. It keeps her calm and stops her from getting overwhelmed in stressful situations. There’s nothing she hates more than being backstage at a fashion show and needing a simple needle and thread to fix a small seam quickly and having to dig through the drawers to find what she needs. Backstage life, anywhere, fashion shows, dance competitions, or even a world tour, can be stressful if you’re not prepared properly.

“Oh, keep the box of sequins and swarovski crystals in there. I actually might need them.” Aurora finishes the sentence with a giggle as she’s setting her scissors in their respective home.

“Really?” her mom laughs too.

“Yeah, some of the looks for this tour are actually pretty sparkly. You never would’ve thought. I actually might have to bedazzle a few things on the road.”

“You’re home!” her mother sing-songs. They both laugh again thinking about the countless hours they spent bedazzling dance costumes with 100’s of crystals.

After saying goodbye to her parents through a continuous flow of tears, Aurora got on an 8 hour flight. She kept herself busy on the flight to occupy her mind and stop her from overthinking or panicking about the next 4 months ahead of her. She landed in London on the 3rd of March, just a few days till she’d be back at this exact airport with the same luggage plus a few crates labeled ‘Wardrobe’ that she’d also have to care for. She made her way to the Air B’N’B that had been set up for her for the next few days and headed straight to bed. One thing Aurora, jokingly, prides herself on is the ability to sleep anywhere at anytime.

When the morning rolls around and her alarm wakes her, she’s preparing herself a cup of coffee when her phone rings. She notices Lambert’s ID on the screen. She answers and they exchange good mornings before he asks her about her travels from the day before.

“Okay, so, I’m sending a car to where you’re staying in about an hour to bring you to the arena.”

“Arena? I thought we were meeting at your studio?”

“Oh no, change of plans, sorry should have mentioned that in an email. Harry is in full rehearsal mode and everything for the tour is at the mock stage space at Wembley Arena. They’ve just finished the final tech rehearsals and Harry will be there today to start running the show,” Lambert continues. The new knowledge of Harry Styles being there on her first day makes Aurora jittery, small butterflies erupting in her stomach. She’s met Harry before. They’re friendly, but she was only just Lambert’s shadow anytime they were together. He was sweet and kind, just as everyone always says, but she was still a tad nervous. She will be with him almost everyday, on her own, without Lambert there to be a buffer. Aurora tended to be a nervous person, especially if she doesn’t know someone all that well. She can keep her nerves at bay and save a proper panic for after the situation ends most times, which is the best she can do right now. It’s something she’s working on. It’s what she hates most about herself, not being able to keep her nerves in check.

“Oh yeah, makes sense,” Aurora responds, surprisingly with no jitters evident in her voice.

“Great, I can have the run of show lookbook all put together for you when you arrive and we’ll go through it and make notes.” “Do you mind if I actually set it up when I get there? I would feel much better and more settled doing it myself as we do a walkthrough of the wardrobe.”

“Of course, Aurora, whatever you think will work best for you.”

She thanks him and they end the phone call after confirming the time and car that will be picking her up. She finishes off her coffee and heads to the living room where she left her suitcases last night. One of the large suitcases was lying on the ground, opened, exactly where Aurora left it last night. She ruffles through the contents of her suitcase, moving around different packing cubes until she finds the cube that contains her favourite black jeans. She locates a creme hooded knit sweater and some clean undergarments. She pops into the shower and continues to bustle around the small flat getting ready. At some point she turns on some music to distract her mind. There’s an airy feeling in the flat, the sun shining in london for a change and it calms Aurora down despite the nerves running through her veins. Aurora checks her watch, 10 minutes until her car is due to pick her up. She slides on her all white leather court sneakers and laces them up, tucking in the excess laces for a clean finish. She grabs her black bomber jacket and slips her arms in, then pulls out the hood from her sweater so it lays comfortably on the outside of the jacket’s collar. She takes a quick look in the full body mirror that leans up against the white brick wall across from the large, unmade bed. She’s reminded by the reflection in her mirror to text her mother and thank her for convincing her to pack her favourite clothes instead of all her fancy stuff. She looks put together but is still extremely comfortable, prepared for anything today has to offer her.

There’s a short honk from the street in front of the building. Aurora grabs her rolling caboodle and her purse before rushing out the door to meet the driver.

20 minutes later she finds herself stepping out of the car and thanking the driver for holding the door. He grabs her caboodle from the trunk and hands it to Aurora and wishing her well and to have a nice day. Harry Lambert greets her at the door giving her a big hug and exclaiming about how excited he is to have her there. He takes her an office where the tour manager, Michael is set up. The office is busy with several people working at desks on laptops and people taking phone calls. Lambert introduces Aurora to the team and gets her set up with her tour pass and all the nitty gritty stuff. Within half an hour she’s all set for tour and has her new lanyard tied to her on a belt loop. They walk through the never ending halls plastered with signs that state “Treat People With Kindness” and Aurora smiles everytime she sees another. Lambert points out different places, important notes posted on bulletin boards and casually introduces her to people as they quickly pass.

Everyone seems to be on a mission, darting in and out of rooms and talking on headsets. It’s a busy atmosphere but nobody seems stressed or upset. Aurora appreciates the hustle that everyone seems to have. There’s smiles and high fives passed between crew members and coffees getting pass along. Lambert points out where Harry’ band’s dressing room is and then Harry’s as well. Harry’s reads “Hershel” on the sign that sticks out from the wall.

“Hershel?” Lambert chuckles when he sees the confused look on her face.

“Yeah, Jeff, his manager, you’ve met him, calls him Hershel 95% of the time.” She nods along with a smile. After making their way through a few more halls they reach a larger dressing room. “Okay, so here’s our space for the week.” Aurora rolls her caboodle and sets it against the wall near the door for now and sets her purse down on an empty space on the counter that lines one of the shorter walls. On the wall directly across from the doorway there are 3 large black cases that stand about 6 feet tall, opened and filled with garment bags.

“Is everything here already?” Aurora makes her way towards the case farthest left.

“Hopefully!” Lambert picks up a large binder that’s sitting on the table across from a small leather couch. “That’s where we’re starting. Checking through each night’s look and making sure it’s all here.” She takes the binder that Lambert has handed her and opens it up to the first page.”

“Oh wow. I almost forgot how beautiful these suits are.” Towards the end of her internship in London, Lambert let her help him pick some options for the tour. She thumbs through the book quickly to get a glimpse of the beautiful designer suits. She notices quite a few of her favourites made the cut. The 2 of them sit down and devise a plan to best get through this large task of double checking the 60 looks in front of them. They’re about ¾ the way through around 1pm when they mutually decide to take a break and grab some lunch before they power through the rest of the wardrobe. After meeting more members of the crew and grabbing another cup of coffee, Lambert and Aurora make their way back to their dressing room.

“Hey, let’s go take a look at the stage,” Lambert said as he made a sharp turn in the opposite direction of the room they’ve been working in. “I haven’t seen the final setup yet.”

“Oh, I’d love that!” Aurora’s face lights up at the idea. They enter from the back of the stage. The stage itself is fully constructed but the light trees are currently hanging low to the ground and crew members are working carefully to change the direction, colour or size of each bulb. Lambert excuses himself as he takes a call, telling Aurora he’ll meet her back in the dressing room in 15 minutes. Aurora continues the theme from today and introduces herself to the stage crew. “Mind if I check out the stage?” she asks Jack, one of the crew members who introduced himself as the Stage Manager.

“Go ahead, just keep an eye out, we haven’t cleaned up much.” She nods and smiles while walking up the metal steps at the side of the stage. She takes careful steps as she steps to center stage. She looks out into the empty arena. The lights are low and the noise from the powertools is echoing through the arena.

Though there isn’t any music, the stage lights aren’t shining, and she isn’t in one of her rhinestoned costumes, she still feels at home standing center stage. The nerves she’s been holding on to all morning wash away as she takes a deep breath. Her eyes flutter shut for a moment and she remembers the last time she performed on a stage like this one. It was her senior year of high school at nationals in New York City. It was her farewell to her dance career. A smile starts to grow on her face, the nerves from this morning, the the whole trip to get here, completely washed away now.

“Oi!” a voice booms through the air, making Aurora jump and she searches for where it came from. She turns around, her hair following her as she turns. Her hair continues to follow her movement, falling in front of her face a bit but she can still make out the face the voice comes from. “What’re you doing on my stage?” She’s met with a smiley, broad shouldered Harry Styles. He’s got his hands in the pockets of the tartan trousers he’s wearing. The strong feeling of embarrassment brings heat to her cheeks as she looks down at the black and white vans he’s sporting.

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry, I-,” she starts rambling apologies. She watches his vans take a few steps closer to her. Aurora’s fumbling with her hands, a nervous tick of hers. “-I was told, told, I could, could, check out the stage,” she’s stuttering over her words and pointing in the direction of Jack. She finally stops talking when she meets Harry’s eyes. He’s still beaming and her stomach drops at the fact that he’s enjoying this situation. His confidence paints an incredible stark difference from her mumbling nervousness. Her brain is a bit fuzzy right now but that doesn’t stop her from noticing the way his eyes sparkle.

“I’m only joking, love” he says as he pulls his hands out of his pockets with a chuckle. “The stage suits you.”

“I’m sorry,” Aurora offers again. “I’m-” She’s reaching her hand out when he cuts off her introduction.

“Love, we’ve met. How could I forget you, Aurora.” She’s startled a bit when her name comes out of his mouth. “Ya fixed the hole in my pink jacket, remember?” He’s stepping closer to her and before she’s able to process what’s happening he’s wrapped his arms around her torso, his tattooed arm rubbing her back briefly before pulling away.

A small laugh leaves her mouth, “I remember, didn’t think you would is all.” Her voice is soft and trails off towards the end of her sentence.

“Not got much a reputation then if I’ve got people that work with me thinking I’ll forget them.” He lets out a soft chuckle and his smile elicits a dimple on his cheek.

“No, no, you’ve got a much better reputation than that, promise. You must meet a lot of people day to day is all.” Aurora is calming down, now, realizing that there is no reason for her to be so nervous around him. She’s interacted with him before, this shouldn’t be so jarring to her. Though this time is different. She wouldn’t be working behind Lambert or running errands. She’ll be with Harry just about everyday and she terrified she’ll never be comfortable, always anxiety ridden. Although his life is much different from hers, she’ll be getting a real taste of it and they’re close in age. They’re bound to find something in common. Right?. There’s a bit of silence before Aurora speaks up. “Well, your suits aren’t gonna organize themselves. I better go find Lambert.”

“Yes, of course. Don’t let me stop you from your work.” Aurora nods. She excuses herself as she makes a comment about how she thinks the stage looks great so far. Just after she’s walked past him she feels him grab her hand. “I’m excited to have ya on tour with us, love. Happy to have you making sure I sparkle just right on this stage.” He’s let go of her hand and presents his arms out to the sides as he mentions the stage.

She’s beaming back at him. “Packed extra rhinestones just for you.” She’s almost skipping down the stairs after that. A weight of relief falling from her shoulders in a light sigh. First, interaction with Harry? Check. She finds her way back to the room she’d been working in all morning. She settles down on the couch again, pulling the large binder into her lap. She jots down a few notes and adds to the ever growing list of things that need to be done. She stands up and walks over to one of the open wardrobe cases. She’s sliding hangers across the rack before she gets to the next look. Aurora takes the hanger off the rack. The sleek black hanger is labeled Yves Saint Laurent and an emerald green sequined button down shirt hangs off of it. There’s a pair of black straight leg trousers folded over the hanger as well. Aurora carries the ensemble across the room and hangs it on one of the vanity bulbs that sticks out from the light bulb framed mirror. She fixes the collar so it’s sitting straight. She takes a step back with one hand on her hip and another on her chin.

“What’re you thinking?” Lambert asks when he sees Aurora’s furrowed brow. She hums, still processing her thoughts.

“You know Michael Jackson’s black sequin jacket? The one he wore when he did the moonwalk for the first time?” He nods, following along. “Think we could play with that idea. What if Harry wore this open, with the Calvin tank?” In the small section of a wardrobe they’ve already gone through is a slew of clothing articles that will be used for multiple shows. The Calvin tank she’s referencing is one that will be, in Aurora’s opinion, an iconic, staple for the entire tour. It’s a simple white ribbed tank but on the left side, “Treat People With Kindness” is embroidered in black. “It’d be closer to Michael’s ‘Billie Jean’ performance in Munich that same year, but it’s the iconic sequin jacket that will sell it.”

“You really know your stuff huh?” Lambert chuckles, impressed by her knowledge and the way her brain works. Lambert walks away and grabs the tank from the rack and brings it back to Aurora.

A smile creeps onto Aurora’s face. “My mom loves Michael Jackson. Loves him like everyone loves Harry. I grew up dancing around the house to his music.” She takes the tank from Lambert after he slides it off the hanger. She’s quick to unbutton the YSL shirt in excitement but does it as carefully as possible. She hangs the tank under the shirt, turning it into a overshirt now. The smile on her face is growing. She’s in her element, doing exactly what she’s always wanted to do. Lambert places a hand on her shoulder and gives it a squeeze. A silent approval. Aurora walks back to the table and writes down their decision for this look in the notebook she’s been working with. They go through a few more suits and make a note that they’ll need an extra white button down from Gucci. Lambert is sending Aurora there sometime this week to pick a few more things up that are getting finished and some extra shoes for Harry as well. Lambert says Harry likes to wear his shoes to dust and that Aurora will have to make sure he doesn’t go on stage with holes in his shoes cause he will, especially his rainbow loafers. They finish going through the rest of the suits before calling it a day. Lambert fills her in on the next few day’s timeline to prepare her for the week. Aurora leaves the arena feeling like her heart could burst. She couldn’t have imagined a better first day at her new job. Aurora heads to bed early, after she orders a Domino’s Pizza, to rest up for the days ahead and beat the jet lag that’s bound to hit her in the next few days.

When she gets to Wembley the next morning, Aurora grabs a coffee from craft services and says hello to a few people she recognizes from yesterday. She’s thankful that everyone has a lot to get done and people are jutting off to their own areas to get to work. Aurora would be lying to herself if she didn’t acknowledge that she’s a bit overwhelmed by all of the new faces. She knows faces will become familiar as time goes on but right now she’s content with her coffee and knowing that she’s walking to a room to work on her own for awhile.

When she finds herself in the familiar green room she sets herself up for the day. Aurora pulls her laptop out of her leather bag and presses play on her current spotify playlist. She likes working alone, but not in silence. After collecting her notebook from yesterday and the envelope of images that Lambert left for her she sits down and starts putting together the final look book for tour. She’s organizing the book by tour dates, making a section for each city.

“Basel, Switzerland” is written on the top of the 1st page in bold all capital letters. Aurora tapes an image of the black glittered Gucci suit that Harry will wear for the opening night of his world tour. She copies any notes she made about this look from yesterday onto the space underneath the photo. After she’s finished the page for Switzerland she goes to the large cases and pulls the black glittered Gucci suit to the empty rolling rack that she set up yesterday. Each of the traveling cases will need to be organized by date to make traveling and set up easier throughout the tour. She continues this process for the next 2 hours. Once her coffee is empty at the end of the 2 hours she has almost 6 cities complete. Aurora takes her empty coffee cup as a sign for her to take a break. Before leaving the room to get more coffee she checks her phone. There’s a few notifications, emails from lists she keeps forgetting to unsubscribe to and a string of texts from her mother. She laughs at the first text - “I know you’re probably fine, but you’re in a different country and I need to hear your voice to make sure you’re still alive and it’s not some kidnapper texting me back” - then another text about 20 mins after that one reads “I love you, I know you’re busy, but please call me” and the last one delivered just a few minutes ago, “I’m your mother, it’s my job to worry.” Aurora shakes her head and feels a bit guilty because she hasn’t texted her mom as much as she probably should have and before knocking out last night she texted her back apologizing for not calling after her first day and that she was just too exhausted.

Her mom doesn’t answer and is greeted with an automatic voicemail greeting, “Classic,” she chuckles as she hangs up without leaving a message. She shakes her head, standing in the doorway as she sends off a text saying she’s taking a break and to call her back, adding a “I’m good, everything’s amazing! Just calling to chat” as she always does so her mother doesn’t worry any more than she is. As she finishes the texts she mumbled a bit to herself about how her mother is always worrying but never picks up her dang phone. It isn’t until a familiar voice rings through the hallway that she realises she was mumbling quite clearly.

“Sorry, everything alright, love?” Harry’s distinct voice travels closer to her as she looks up from her phone to him. She’s made her way into the arena hallway completely now. There’s a small furrow in his brow but a slight grin on his face.

“Ah yeah, didn’t realise I was talking out loud.” She holds her phone up, “You know mothers, always worrying but never actually answering their phone when you call.” Harry laughs, his shoulders shaking. “She sent me this string of texts about being worried and 2 minutes later doesn’t pick up when I call her.” She sighs before sliding her phone into the pocket of the track jacket she’s got on today.

“My mum does the same. Always saying we don’t talk enough or that she misses me and when I do get the chance she’ll text me back saying she’s out with friends drinking wine or s’thing like that.” Aurora laughs along with him. When she takes a proper look at him she notices he’s wearing black adidas joggers today with a white t shirt and a black nike jacket.

“Looks like we both had the same idea when we got ready this morning,” she continues to laugh while gesturing between to two of them. They’re dressed almost identical right down to the white sneakers. Aurora’s got on her favourite black lululemon leggings instead of joggers but her tshirt and track jacket look just the same as Harry’s. Harry takes a good look at what he’s got on and back to Aurora and his eyes begin to crinkle and his nose scrunches up before he’s laughing. The laugh is almost a giggle and Aurora has to hold back from flashing him the most endearing smile.

“Guess it’s a good thing that my Head of Wardrobe and I match. Must mean I’ve got the right person taking care of my clothing then.” He swings his arm around her shoulder before asking if she’s got a minute to grab a snack.

“Probably should eat and I definitely need some more coffee,” she replies with a smile and shoves her hands into the pockets of her jacket not knowing what to do with them. There’s something about Harry, it’s that thing that people always talk about, his ease around everyone, the way he makes you feel like you’ve known each other forever. His kind demeanor relaxes Aurora and she’s sure this is how he makes everyone feel. Harry starts to go on about different things that are happening around the arena as they walk to the green room, pointing out different people and what they’re working on. Harry doesn’t know this, but the more Aurora knows about her surroundings and the things people are doing, the more comfortable she feels. Aurora likes knowing what’s going on. She knows it’s got something to do with wanting control over as much as she can but she also knows that there is so much going on that she can’t control anything and she especially knows that it isn’t her job. But knowing is good for her. Just as they turn the corner to the green room her phone rings. She pulls it out of her pocket and “Mother” with a pink heart is flashing on her screen. She shows the phone to Harry and she slides out from under his arm. “Rain check on the snacks?” she offers him before answering the call. She smiles as he shoots her a grin and voices an ‘of course’ before he turns around and goes back the way they had came. She questions his actions for a moment before saying hello to her mother.

Aurora pulls out her notebook while she’s in the car the next morning to review what she needs to get done today. Written in red, at the top of the page under today’s date is: final fitting with Harry @ 12pm. She’s excited to get some of the newer pieces on him and finally have all the looks together. She’s nervous too. Lambert won’t be there again today or barely at all the rest of the week, her part time buffer ripped away sooner than expected. She knows there’s nothing to be nervous about. It’s just Harry. ‘Just Harry,’ she continues to mumble under her breath.

“Miss Del Gatto, we’ve arrived,” Steven, her driver, who she’s come accustomed to after the past few rides, announces. Aurora looks out the window and sees the Gucci store front.

“Thanks, Steven. I’ll only be a few minutes.” She smiles at him before stepping out of the car. She got dressed this morning in slightly more put together outfit that she had on yesterday, knowing she had to stop into a few stores on her way in to pick up some pieces that were still missing. Her black chunky heeled leather boots make a clacking sound as she walks towards the entrance. Before she can even reach for the door, she’s welcomed by a man in an all black suit that is welcoming her into the store.

“Welcome to Gucci.” His voice is deep but bright and welcoming, she thanks him with a smile.

Once she’s a few more steps into the door she adjusts the small gold airplane necklace that is sitting on the outside of her black turtleneck before speaking up. “I’m here to pick up some shoes for Harry,” she rattles out. A questioned look appears on the man’s face. “Harry Lambert and Styles.” She clarifies.

“Aurora Del Gatto, yes?” another woman’s voice speaks up from across the store.

“Uh, y-yes,” she stammers while turning towards the women.

“I’m Lauren. Nice to meet you, Aurora. Harry told me to be expecting you this morning.” Aurora shakes Lauren’s hand with a smile. Lauren looks like a seasoned pro, her black suit fits her perfectly and her greying hair is pulled up into an elegant low bun. “Go ahead and make yourself comfortable,” she says motioning towards the plush dark purple couches. “Would you like any water or coffee, dear?”

“Oh, I’m alright actually, thank you.”

“I’ll be right back with everything.” Aurora nods in acknowledgement while sitting down on the couch. She slides off the lightweight, long, camel coloured coat she’s wearing and drapes it over the couch next to her. She checks her watch to make sure she’s good on time. She’s got to stop at Calvin Klein as well before heading to arena to prep for Harry’s fitting. It’s just gone on 10am, she’s got plenty of time but still anxious at the thought of arriving just before the fitting, not getting a chance to set up. She’s brought back from her thoughts when Lauren returns with 3 shoe boxes in her arms and a garment bag.

“I think there are only 2 pairs of shoes I’m supposed to be picking up,” Aurora questions, “the rainbow loafers and the Spring 18 leather boots.” Lauren’s face lights up in a smile.

“Yes, those are both here and there’s a pair of sneakers here for you as well.” Aurora’s face reflects exactly what is going through her mind: surprise, shock, and other emotions she couldn’t put words to. Her jaw has dropped and her eyes are wide. “Harry called last night and wanted us to fit you into some Ace Sneakers for the tour.”

“Lambert said that?” Aurora is confused, giddy and nervous, always nervous. She doesn’t even know how to accept a gift like this. She’d also be lying if she hadn’t been looking at these sneakers forever.

“No, dear, Harry Styles.” Aurora is beyond caught off guard at this point.

“I’m sorry, I think there must be a mistake. There’s no reason for Harry to be giving me anything.”

“He specifically called these in for you. I don’t know the details, he just wanted to make sure you walked out with the perfect fit.” She set 2 of the boxes down on a glass table and brought over the 3rd box. “I grabbed the 7.5, I’m normally pretty good at guessing.”

“Well, you would be right.” Aurora laughs nervously. She slides off her boots in order to avoid the overwhelming thoughts in her head. She’s afraid if she doesn’t keep moving she might go into shock. She’s trying on the sneakers before she speaks up again, “Uhm,” Aurora starts to speak, “Does Harry, uh, do this often? I-I mean, uh call in for gifts?”

“I wouldn’t say often, but I’ve fulfilled a few of his gifting requests over the past few years. Just a handful though. There really hasn’t been many, if I’m honest.”

Aurora smiles to herself. She’s still confused about it all but still that same familiar feeling rushes through her when she’s reminded of Harry’s incredible kind demeanor. And before she knew it, she's walking out of Gucci with a smile on her face, a tingle in her fingers, a garment bag and not 2 but 3 boxes of shoes.

She’s setting up one last suit on the tall silver rolling rack before she checks her watch. 11:59. She made great time getting to Wembley after grabbing the pink plaid jacket and custom boots from Calvin Klein. There’s a light knock on the slightly ajar door seconds later.

“‘Ello, love,” Harry’s voice booms through the small, concrete walled room. Aurora turns towards the door. “All ready!” He exclaims as he makes his way towards her.

“Hi Harry,” Aurora responds before Harry has a hand at her waist and is placing a light kiss on the top of her cheek.

“How’s your morning been?” He’s now made his way to the rolling rack she had just filled.

“Good,” she wants to ask him about the shoes but she doesn’t know how to bring it up. “I did uh- I, I-”

“Can I try this one on?” Harry interrupts, suddenly distracted by the garments he hasn’t seen yet. She’s grabbing her book from the table across the room when she hears the sound of hangers hitting the floor. “Oooff,” there’s a chuckle that follows. “That one’s a bit slippery.”

“Oh gosh, yeah I need to add some hanger loops to that one,” Aurora sets her book down and rushes over to pick up the fallen garments and hangers. Harry utters a few sorry’s before stepping away. She swears she hears him mumble about being in the way. Once she’s got the fallen garments gathered on the crook of her arm, she grabs a hanger adorn in the pink plaid Calvin suit. “That’s what you get for being so nosy,” she quips at him and hands him the suit. His jaw drops slightly but before he can say a thing Aurora’s speaking again, “Try this one on first, please.” Aurora lingers on the please and shoots him a sweet smile. “There’s a small room through there you can change in.” She turns around after motioning towards the door and sees that Harry already has his trousers down to his ankles. “Orrrr you can change right there.”

“Oh, don’t wanna make you uncomfortable, darling,” he responds as you quickly turn away, sliding the plaid trousers all the way up and buttoning them just as fast.

“Oh no, you’re fine, don’t wanna be rude is all.” Aurora is flipping through her book finding the section for Stockholm. “The black ribbed tank was on the hanger with the jacket, yeah?” She asks as she skims over the page in front of her. He hums back letting her know it’s there. Aurora lifts up her coffee cup from earlier this morning to her lips, turning around to find Harry fully dressed in the Calvin Klein suit she picked up this morning. She frowns realising there’s no coffee left in her cup.

“What?” Harry asks, his brows knitted together in concern after seeing the frown on her face. “Does it look that bad?” He’s messing with the way he’s tucked the shirt into the waistband of the trousers.

Aurora giggles at his frantic hands. “Harry, nothing could look bad on you.” She shakes the empty cup in front of him. “I’m out of coffee.”

“Well, that frown was badly timed. I’ve got a brand new suit on and that’s the first reaction I get?’

“Oh you’ll be fine, rockstar. Plenty of ego pumping in the near future,” Aurora quips backs at him as she makes a circle around him. “They did great with this one,” she’s pulling at the shoulders of the jacket so it sits just right on his broad frame. “How do the trousers feel?” She asks as she smooths down the fabric of the sleeves before rounding back to face Harry straight on.

“The trousers? Yeah they feel good. Fit perfect, I think.” He’s pulled up the bottom of the jacket and is twisting his hips round. “Wha’ d’ya think?”

“I think Calvin Klein knows exactly what he’s doing,” she says with a smirk. “Okay, that one’s all set, go ahead and put this one on now.” She hands him another pink jacket, this one velvet with embellishments and it has a Gucci tag on it rather than Calvin Klein. She hands him black trousers with a gold trim as well. “You’ll wear this with a button down but just try with the tank. I just need to make sure all the alterations were done properly.”

“Did you stop at Gucci this morning? Lambert mentioned you were going,” he asks while handing her the plaid suit he just took off. Aurora busies herself with hanging them up.

“Yeah. Got your loafers and boots. I also-”

“Oh nooooo, Aurora,” Harry’s voice is panicky.

“Wha-,” is all she gets out before she sees and hears the beads rolling on the floor. “Ahhh I had a feeling that was going to happen. And THIS is why we try things on 100 times. Wouldn’t want you unraveling on stage.” She runs over to her kit that stands in the corner.

“I’m sorry, not sure what I did,” Harry’s face shows worry like he’s done something wrong.

“Hun, you didn’t do anything, promise. I think it might have been from the alterations.” Aurora is tying a knot in a piece of thread before walking over to him. “I’m just gonna close this strand up while it’s on you and I’ll re embellish it later.” The piece that’s come undone is on the right shoulder. She slides her hand under the jacket to find the back of the spot she needs to fix. Her hand brushes the skin of his shoulder, reminding her he’s only wear the tank underneath and he flinches. “Sorry, my hands are probably cold. This will only take a second.”

“S’alright, love.” There’s silence while she focuses on the work in front of her. Once she’s finished she carefully slips a small pair of gold scissors underneath the jacket and cuts the thread and needle she had been working with loose, detaching herself from Harry’s shoulder. “That was quick,” Harry says with a tone of surprise and Aurora thinks she can hear a little bit of disappointment as well. Aurora shrugs her shoulders in response.

“Could you put on the black version of that jacket for me?” Aurora asks as she grabs a spool of black thread. “Think we might have the same problem with that one too.” She slides the needle she’s threaded with black thread onto the cuff of her sweater so she doesn’t lose it. She helps Harry into the black jacket and hangs up the one he just had on.

“Aannddd there it is,” Harry says with chuckle as a strand of beads comes loose on his right sleeve. Aurora gets to work on the one on his sleeve as 2 more make themselves known on his back. “So you got my boots and loafers this morning? Up to anything else before I came in and ruined all the garments?” Aurora laughs and moves to his back to take care of the broken pieces there.

“Uhm picked up that Calvin jacket and your custom boots. Let me tell you, those boots are glorious. The glossed leather with the steel tip will look incredible with your suits. ”

“Oh can I see them when we’re done?”

“‘Course you can!” There’s some silence between them again as she concentrates on the job in front of her. She catches a glimpse of the white gucci bags that are sitting by one of the wardrobe cases and it’s like those new sneakers are burning a hole in her head. It clicks in her head now that he’s been directing the conversation this way trying to get it out of her. “Hey Harry,” she’s met with a hum, “can I ask you about something?” She continues to work on the jacket, keeping her hands busy. She’s thankful that the strand she’s working on is on his back so she doesn’t have to make eye contact with him.

“‘Course, Aurora.”

“Uhm, at Gucci this morning, they uh, they fitted me for sneakers,” Harry hums in response, “and um, I-I, um, that was very kind of you.” She’s stuttering through her words. It wasn’t until now that she got a tinge of nervousness. “Y-you didn’t need to do that. Really.”

“Aurora, I wanted to. And I thought you deserved some new shoes.” She can’t see his face but she can hear the smile that’s formed on his face. “We’ve got a few countries to trek around the next few months.”

Moments later she’s finished repairing what she can and she’s sliding Harry’s jacket off his shoulders. “Thank you, Harry,” she says finally after the black jacket is hung back on its Gucci hanger on the rolling rack near them. “Seriously, too kind.”

“No such thing as too kind, Ror,” he quips back and before she can comment on the nickname, he’s talking again. “Now what else do you need me to try on?”

The afternoon goes by quickly and Harry is patient with her. He stands up straight in each new piece and asks questions about different things she’s making notes of or checking off of her thousands of lists. She checks her watch quickly as she’s making one last note.

“How is it 3 o’clock already?” Aurora stammers out. “Sorry to take your entire afternoon from you.”

“Don’t worry about it, Ror.” Harry’s pulling down the hem of his white tshirt he walked in wearing earlier today, “Nice to spend some time with ya and seems like you’ve been able to check a lot off your list.”

“You probably have a list a mile long of things that need to be done this week too, though,” she rebuttals. “Or do you have someone to take care of those things for you?” she jokes.

“Oh yeah, don’t remember their name, but I just tell them everything I need done and they do it for me.” The look on Aurora’s face is utter disgust, unable to politely react because she wasn’t expecting that answer. There was no hint of sarcasm in Harry’s voice. Harry’s face is still and he’s silent for a moment before his nose scrunches up and a giggle erupted from his mouth. “Ror, I’m totally kidding.” He’s placed a hand on her shoulder now, rubbing his thumb soothingly.

“Harry,” she’s giggling along now too, “you had me for a second.”

Harry thanks her for her work and the time spent together today and leaves only after giving her a hug and a short kiss on her cheek.

The next few days are spent hand stitching gold and silver beads onto those 2 Gucci jackets, labeling every single piece of the wardrobe and then organizing the giant crates for the travel managers to take and get ready to fly. She walks through all of the wardrobes multiple time and completes fittings with all of Harry’s band members as well. Brief 1 hour time frames are scheduled with each of them, Clare, Sarah, Adam and Mitch. Lambert pops in to make sure the final fittings went well and pays complements to Aurora’s new sneakers she’s sporting with a knowing look on his face.

There’s one day left till the first tour stop and the arena is just about empty. The stage is packed up, the wardrobe crates have been taken from Aurora and the number of people in the arena is starting to dwindle down. Since everything is already loaded on a truck making its way to the airport Aurora didn’t have much to do today but she kept herself busy at the apartment she’s been at all week for the majority of the morning. She’s repacked multiple times getting everything to fit perfectly, almost committing the perfect folding techniques and order of adding things to her suitcase to memory. Everyone is to arrive at the airport early the next morning but Harry has arranged for a group lunch at the arena for one last collective meeting before the tour starts.

Aurora arrives a few minutes early to the lunch and says hello to a few crew members she’s gotten to know. Lambert is there too - seems that Harry has invited anyone who has helped with the prep of the tour regardless if they’re coming along or not. She also meets a few more new faces like Ayae, Harry’s hair and makeup stylist. She’s new to the tour group and hasn’t been needed for prep so this his her 1st time meeting a lot of the crew too. She sits down with Aurora and Lambert at a table and is engaging in a conversation about this and that when Harry comes up to the table with Jeff. Jeff is a familiar face to Aurora even though she has only interacted with him a few times. Jeff always seems to be everywhere - Aurora always makes mental acknowledgment about how he is consistently working on something but always is seemingly available to everyone.

Alicia, a woman probably in her late 30’s, is following Harry and Jeff with a grey rolling cart like you would see in an old cafeteria and it’s filled with large cardboard boxes. Aurora has met Alicia and remembers Lambert introducing her as the Tour Merchandise Manager.

“Aurora, Ayae, Harry, great to see all of you! Doing alright, I assume?” Jeff asks while rounding the cart and reaching a hand in the box.

“Got some tour sweatshirts for everyone, treat people with kindness and all that,” Harry adds in, running a hand through his hair. It isn’t until now that Aurora notices the length of his hair. It’s not as short as it was when she first met him but it’s nowhere near the length she remembers him having while still in One Direction. There is one curl that won’t stay back no matter how many times he runs his hand through it to push it back. The lone curl falls against his forehead one last time before he gives up.

“Oh, very humble of you, Harry,” Ayae says with a chuckle while examining the sweatshirt Alicia had just given her.

It’s a plain black Champion hoodie with 2 small pieces of embroidery, 1 on the left of the chest and the other on the inside of the right arm. Ayae is referring to the large embroidered “Harry” on the chest. Underneath his name is ‘World Tour 2018’. Hah. He’s gotta love this shit. His name written on everything. Clothing, signs, his name is branded everywhere.

“Heyyyyy,” Harry’s voice is slightly whiny, both of his eyes scrunch up and his brows furrow. The ‘hey’ turns into a giggle and they all laugh along with him. Harry then hands Aurora her sweatshirt. “Here ya go, Ror.” She thanks him softly after taking it from him.

Post lunch, Harry, Jeff and a few others talk about how excited they are and how successful the prep went all week. The Head Travel Manager, Daniel, reminds everyone to double check their itinerary when they get home tonight and to double, triple, quadruple check they’ve packed everything. Harry yells something about making sure everyone’s got their passport cause “long story short” he forgot his once and it was not a day full of kindness. The large group chuckles at his little antidote before the room begins to clear out and everyone heads home to get ready to travel the next day.

Thanks for reading !!! Feedback & comments are always welcome !!!

#harry styles imagine #harry styles one shot #harry styles blurb #harry styles x reader #sequins & zippers #aurora on tour #harry styles fanfiction #one direction imagine

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quirkdotcom · 4 years

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The Arrangement | Part Two- The Meeting

Chapter Summary: It's finally the weekend for (Y/n) so that means its time to meet this suitor of hers...but also the Number one hero Endeavor. Could things be any worse ??

Authors Note: I am so sorry for the late update !!! I have been having troubles with writers block, and a few personal things, but I am going to try and stay in this writing habit !! I am even working on a denki fic !! Anyways, enjoy !

Part One

"(Y/n), our guests are here, come greet them," your mother called from the front room, where you were dreading to go.

"Coming! Just a moment!" You called, smoothing down the skirt that you had bought earlier this week. You took a deep breath, taking a moment to send Maiko a quick message about how you were about to meet with Endeavour and his son.

As you made your way down the stairs, you could hear your father already laughing and making conversation with Enji Todoroki, but those were the only voices you heard.

"Ah, there's my daughter!" He proudly beamed, most likely fake as he was never proud of you...not like this.

You forced a smile onto your face, bowing your head slightly as you approached the two figures. When you looked back up, you first made eye contact with the pro hero.

He was intimidating, somewhere around six foot. Though it wasn't his height, or sturdy build, or even the scar across his face, that made him fearsome. No.

You found that it was the look in his eyes, they held very little emotion as he looked to you. If anything, they were scrutinizing and mean. The same that you had seen in your own father's eyes at times.

Quickly, you averted your eyes, now looking to his son, the guy who you were going to be forcefully placed into a marriage with.

After Maiko and you found out that Shoto was the son of Enji, and that you'd be meeting with him, your best friend had asked her coworker, Kirishima for his phone number, as they were classmates. And the redhead happily gave it to Maiko, who in turn, gave it to you.

You had tried your best to make the first text quick, and explain everything, but the dual haired boy had never responded.

You smiled politely to him. After being able to text him earlier this week, you hoped that Enji didn't know about the milkshake incident, or that you had tried talking to his son. But hey, luckily you were skilled at acting.

"It is a pleasure to meet you both, my name is (Y/L/N) (Y/F/N),"

"This is Shoto, and my name is Enji, but I'm sure you already know who I am,"

You nodded, "It is an honor to have you in our home, Im sure that my parents have already asked that you both make yourself at home here,"

Together, the four walked into the main living room, where Tea and some light snacks were readily made and kept warm by a maid.

Once seated, your mother began to speak.

"Tell me, Shoto, how are your studies? I heard that you attend UA!"

He looked up to her, thinking for a moment, "It's good. By now, the weaker students have been weeded out. I'm actually one of the top three students there currently,"

You perked up, wanting to see how much he'd tell about UA, what it meant to be in the top three, and whether or not it was anything like your father said.

"Really? Tell me more! I've heard a lot about that school, and I've always wished I had been able to attend," you started, but stopped shortly as a hand was placed firmly on your shoulder.

"(Y/N) Now don't bombard him. I'm sure that he doesn't want to speak about school on the weekend, " Your father gave you a side eye, in which you only nodded as a response.

It was silent for some time before you mother spoke up once more, "(Y/n), why don't you show Shoto to our garden, while your father and Enji talk details,"

"Yes mother," You said, masking your emotions with yet another fake smile, holding onto it until you and Shoto reached the backyard, where your mother's prized garden waited.

Upon closing the door behind you, you sighed heavily.

"You too huh?" Todoroki glanced over, his eyes reflecting the same amount of disdain for the situation.

"Yeah...this isn't quite how I'd like life to go," you shrugged, knowing that you didn't really have a choice.

At first, he didn't say anything, letting you lead the way further into the garden, and in the conversation.

"Oh and again, I'm really sorry about my milkshake...and for having to get your number from that Kirishima guy, I know that it isn't polite,"

As he stopped to hold the bud of a blooming flower between his fingers, Todoroki shrugged, "It's fine. No one was home to question me about the stains on my clothes, and Kirishima gave me a heads up,"

"Oh! It stained your clothes! Please let me make it up somehow!" You turned to face him, eyes widening some as you realized that he had been wearing a white shirt that day.

"But I already said it was fine? It's just a shirt, by now my sister probably cleaned it fairly well,"

"Oh…" you nodded once, rocking backwards onto your heels, "I guess that's okay then…"

He straightened out, "We should talk about the rhino in the room,"

You paused, "Uhhh...elephant,"

He stared at you, blinking slowly, then looked around, as if he was wondering if you and your parents had enough money to manage an elephant.

"The saying goes that there's an elephant in the room..not a...rhino?" You pause for a moment, "But uh yes, I agree…"

With that, Shoto nods once, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you also don't want to go through with an arranged marriage,"

"That's correct…but I really have no choice. I'd be facing my father everyday, met with a wall of un-forgiveness. I don't think I'd be able to handle it," You let out a long sigh, walking more until you found the bench put in by your mother.

He followed you, taking a seat after you had sit down. He wore a pensive look on his face, as if he was thinking about some past memory.

After a few moments he said, "But, it's your life…"

You looked away from him, holding your hand out, watching as you activated your quirk.

Around you, loose dirt and sand raised from the ground, coming together into hard clumps of dirt. As you closed your fist, the shot forwards and fell as their energy died out. You could do this with most organic substances, but sand, dirt and rocks always worked best.

Your father however, could do it with whatever he wanted. Object propulsion was what he had always called it. Brought things up, and then forwards at alarmingly fast rates.

"It's never been my life. If it had been my life, I would have attended UA, I would be in control of how I act and how I want to decorate things. What I say and how I express myself. " You dropped your hand, shaking your head, "As much as I wish to defy his rules, I know that I'd only be a bigger disappointment to him and the rest of my family. I'd bring shame to our name and unwanted publicity,"

He didn't answer as first, as instead, memories flashed in front of his eyes. The sports festival being the most prominent. How long had he repressed using his fire. How long had he resented his own reflection.

As he gazed at you, he could almost see some of the same traits.

"Well, if that's the case. I suppose that by accepting this arrangement, I would only be helping you." He stood up, holding his hand out to you, "In which I want to get to know you better, that way, a marriage in the future won't be just to merge two hero alliances, but so we can enjoy ourselves,"

You faced him, taking his hand and standing up, the two of you now shaking hands for a short moment.

"I'm looking forward to that," You smiled, feeling your cheeks heat up.

For the next half an hour, you and Shoto walked around your garden, taking turns talking about your interests and your lives. He told you about his siblings, and his mother. He talked about his friends, his classmates and his school.

You in turn talked about your best friend, your mother, what it was like at your own school, and your want to have a puppy.

"A puppy?? What kind? What would you name them?" He asked, stopping by some lavender colored roses, which weren't normally that color, but with your mom's quirk, the ability to change certain aspects about organic life, like color and size, made it possible. She always talked about the significance of this certain color but you couldn't remember.

"Any kind! If it was a boy, I'd name him Haku...and for a girl...maybe something like...Kiyo!" You beamed, a little proud of yourself for thinking of names on the spot.

Shoto nodded, never having thought much about getting a pet, but the idea seemed to grow on him more and more as he doted on the idea of seeing you with a puppy.

Before you knew it, both of your names were being called by your respective parents. Their meeting must have finished.

As the two of you walked up, Enji spoke, "The details have been set, once you finish this year, you two will be engaged, and half a year after, the marriage date will be set."

Then your father took over at that point, "From there, our hero agencies will be joined into one, making us all stronger together,"

You caught your mother's eye, she looked a little distant, but still gave you a warm smile, the best one she could afford at the moment.

Together, the five of you walked to the front door, and watched as Todoroki and his father got into their car, and drove away from your house.

You waited until you could no longer see their car before turning and walking inside, your father and mother following suit.

As you turned to walk up the stairs, your name was called once more, it was again, your father.

"(Y/n), do not forget what this means for us,"

"I...I won't" You didn't turn around, only continuing up the stairs and into your room, quietly shutting the door behind you, and sliding down it until you were sitting, knees hugged to your chest.

While the event had been surprisingly nice, Shoto definitely seemed a lot nicer now that he wasn't covered in a strawberry milkshake. And you two even got along pretty well.

But, his father and yours...they'd never understand. To your knowledge, your own father had married your mother to take over her mother's hero agency. Never for love. You weren't even sure if they had come to love each other.

After some five minutes you stood back up, moving to your bed and flopping down onto it, pulling your bunny plush to you, hugging it tightly.

Supposedly, now that the details have been set, you'd be seeing more of Shoto and his family...and that almost didn't seem so bad. Maybe, since you wouldn't be alone in all this, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

You then pulled out your phone, hitting the power button and watching as the screen turned on, notifications filing in one by one.

There were some from your group chat, and others from the few youtubers you watched, and then a few hidden text messages.

When you unlocked your phone and opened the text app, you of course had a few from Maiko, asking how the meeting had gone, and then surprisingly, one from Shoto.

You typed out a response to your best friend first, recounting how everything played out. From seeing how scary his father really was, to the walk in the garden. You kept having to delete things and rewrite them, trying to make it so you seemed more enthused than you were, though she'd definitely catch on either way.

Then, with a deep breath, you looked to the message from Todoroki.

It read, "Hey, (Y/n) today wasn't actually too bad. I look forward to actually being friends."

At first, you didn't quite know what to say. But as you pulled up the keyboard, you found yourself comfortably responding with, "Hey! Me too! Together this won't be terrible!" And hit send without even a second thought.

Not even a moment later, your phone buzzed, half expecting a text back, you were surprised to see that it was actually a call from Maiko. Well, not too surprised.

"Hello?"

"Mkay tell me everything, and not the half hearted 'it was so much fun' stuff because I know its a lie,"

You hummed, giving a soft laugh a moment later, "okay, okay, it wasn't exactly the best! His dad is really...really scary. I mean, even without the flames sprouting from his face. Not to mention, Endeavour in the same room as my dad?? I felt like the room drained of any good vibes."

"Ah so they didn't pass the vibe check," you could almost hear her shaking her head sadly.

"Oh definitely not, " you chuckled, rolling over onto your back, still holding the bunny, "But Shoto isn't actually that bad?? He seemed really nice...not at all like the pictures or how he was at the mall!"

She paused, "Really?? Because I could have sworn that he was ready to kill one or both of us back then,"

"Surprisingly it's true. He spent like ten minutes talking about his siblings and how they all had dinner the day before."

You both went on to talk about things for some time, passing the time away as your conversation drifted from Todoroki to the upcoming week of school, and the week in general.

At one point, you went to check your calendar app, and was met with another message from Todoroki.

"Ooooh Maiko I have a favor to ask…"

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #boku no hero academia x reader #shoto todoroki x reader #shoto todoroki #todoroki x reader #my hero academia x reader #bnha

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brucewaynehastoomanykids · 4 years

Text

Forced Marriage

Requested by Wattpad user principepena

This kinda goes in ties with my 'Damirae Week Day 5: Soulmates' chapter. (You can go back and read it if you forgot :)) It's the same sort of universe, but it's a bit of an alternative story to that.

_____________________________________

"Curse this day." I mumbled to myself.

I have always had a bad feeling about my father joining in alliance with the Al Ghul's. Ra's al Ghul was a snake to everyone he came across, who's to say his daughter, the current leader, would be any different? I suppose that's why they made the agreement they did, to show there was 'no harm, no foul,' but I personally don't buy it for a second, and I can only pray that father doesn't either. Truth be told, I have my suspicions that the only reason Talia al Ghul wants me to marry her son is to either use me against my own father or keep me prisoner strictly for the purposes of continuing the bloodline should she pass and her son rule. And the kicker of all of this? Her grandchildren would have the blood of Trigon the Terrible inside of them, as well as the now fallen Ra's. I must say, my children would be a true legacy.

I stare out onto the world. From Hell, the world above seems so small and meaningless, never really knowing it's purpose in this universe. Hell and Azarath, we both have... or should I say, had a purpose. Slaying down Azarath in the name of Trigon was the best decision I never made in my youth. It gained me the respect I deserved. And now, I lay in wait for that respect to be taken from me and be thrown into that confusing world to marry a spoiled brat.

I sigh. "I should sleep while I can," I told myself, "If I wait for tomorrow, tomorrow is coming. If I don't wait for tomorrow, tomorrow is still coming."

Though sleep was most definitely not an option. I ended up spending the night hours wondering and worrying about my future, and for my father. What if he was in danger by this? What if the League of Assassins just wanted him out of the way? Questions like this continued to make there way into my mind and before I knew it, it was daybreak, and I was to be married to a stranger in a few short hours.

There was no ceremony, no vows, or family visits as you'd see in traditional weddings. It was just me, my husband, and his mother in a room. She told us both to sign some papers and to exchange rings and, boom, we were married.

My husband, who I had just learned to be called Damian, was a very peculiar character. He didn't speak a word through the process of marriage and kept his stunning emerald eyes away from me. It was as if this poor boy was entranced to do this sort of thing by nature like he had practiced over and over again. Part of me wondered if he was doing this completely unaware of his surroundings.

That night, I had overheard him arguing with his mother. He, too, apparently didn't want this wedding as much as I had. He told her how it was a 'horrendous decision on her part' and that 'he alone was powerful enough to lead the League without the assistance of a partner'.

Once he had seen I was eavesdropping. He glared, looked me up and down and scoffed without saying a word.

"Look, I know this situation is... unwanted, for either of us, and I know we don't know each other well, but I'm still worried about you despite this. No one deserves to keep so much anger locked away." I told him, calmly.

He almost instantly stopped in his tracks and faced me. "Don't worry so much if you know what's good for you. I'll end up breaking that little empathetic heart of yours in two if you do." And with that, he walked away again.

"It's bold of you to assume my life hasn't already torn it to shreds..." I mumbled, mostly to myself.

Months have past sense. And while Damian and I are still tense, we at least talk to one another. We came to realize we had a lot of similar interests, such as literature and spirituality. I've found that, when he wants to be, Damian is a very kind person, but there is so much rage bottled inside of him that blocks that kindness, a rage that he takes out on anything and anyone in sight, even me. Even his mother.

And speaking of parental figures, I hadn't heard news of my father since my wedding. Though father is an all-powerful demon, the conqueror of worlds, and just all-around god material, I'm starting to grow worried for him, if I'm honest. I kept thinking to myself if what I had feared most were true, that the League of Assassins only wanted me to get my father out of the way, and if that's the case... may God spare Talia and Damian al Ghul from my wrath. I need answers. I need them now.

That night I decided to sneak away from Damian and wonder the palace looking for those said answers. I climbed out of bed and sipped on my cloak.

"It's too late for you to be out by yourself, you know..." Damian said, rolling his body over to face me at the door, "you could get in trouble of you stumble into the wrong area."

I scoffed, glaring at him slightly. "Oh spare me! Please stop pretending you care about me when I know you don't."

"And what exactly gives you that notion?" He cocked a brow.

"Well, for one, it took you weeks just to even hold a conversation with me that wasn't about how much you hate the marriage, which leads me to my other point: you absolutely despise being married to me and you know it."

"Actually, I quite enjoy your company. I'm just... shall we say, not good at this sort of thing? I've never had any friends let alone a wife. Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out how to speak to you properly as well as how to act. But you shouldn't use that to question if I care for you, because I do."

"Right... well..." I was a bit lost for words, honestly. Then, I remembered my father, and why I needed to leave, "I really do have to go, Damian." I walked out before he could question anything.

It was always so easy to get lost in this place without a proper guide, then again, I wasn't exactly going to just ask someone to accompany me while I go into Talia's room search through her belongings. I knew Talia wasn't going to be in her room for some time. A sort of 'business meeting' as she called it with an unknown allied group.

Eventually, I had found what I was looking for, the alliance agreement my father had signed upon. It was shocked at its contents.

"By signing this document, I uphold the agreement(s) stated today as they are as followed: no harm is done to Trigon the Terrible or his daughter, Rachel Roth, no harm done to the al Ghul family or the League of Assassins as a whole, fair usage of both sides with food, shelter, weapons, soldiers, and war should it come, and the marriage of Rachel Roth and Damian al Ghul as a token of solidarity to this contract. Know if one party is to break one of these agreements, punishment will be seen and decided at the ruler level (ie. Trigon, Rachel, Talia, and/or Damian).

Signed: Trigon the Terrible and Talia al Ghul"

"Alright... so perhaps this wasn't as bad as I--" it was then I saw another document. It was one I recognized, for it was my marriage document. I remembered Talia had covered the wording with her hand as she signed it. She didn't want us to read its contents.

I picked up the paper and began scanning over the words. Then, my heart sunk.

"By signing this document, the foreign bride/groom relinquishes all holding power to his/her old home/life. This includes monarch, subjects, and family, and must follow the same rules as the other rulers present. This includes, never leaving the palace walls unless it is needed, or until they are ordered to by a higher ruler, and should always be accompanied by soldiers when doing so to both ensure safety, and to ensure the mission is completed without the ruler going astray."

"So in other words... I'm trapped here... and the reason I'm not hearing from father is because... because I'm not allowed to be in contact with him, now that I'm an... an al Ghul." It was taking every bone in my body to not burst into tears right then and there. "No, if I am to cry... it can't be here. Talia could walk in any minute now." I quickly put the documents back in their places and hurry off to my room.

Damian was already waiting for me when I arrived. I kept my hood up so he couldn't see the sadness on my face.

"It's almost 3 in the morning! Where the hell were you?" He demanded, his arms crossed.

I was silent for a moment before responding. "I am never going to see my father again... this marriage has stripped him from my life, as well as my home... my father, he... he may not have been the best of fathers, but I loved him... he understood me--the real me. The me I never allowed my mother to see."

Damian raised a brow. "I fail to understand why any of this news should make a difference to me."

I looked up at him, stunned and wide-eyed before glaring, sneering, "I swear you have about as much compassion as a rock."

It was only when I heard Damian ask why I was crying had I noticed the warm fluid on my cheeks.

"I-it's none of your business." I said rather quickly, stepping away from him.

He grabbed my arm and forced me to look at him. "It's my business if you're crying because of me." This only caused the tears to spill more. His eyes softened, filling with what seemed to be worry. "No, no, I'm sorry--it's alright, come here." He said gently, pulling me into a hug.

I was stunned at first but soon gave in to the hug. "Why?" I asked. "Why are you being so... nice to me so sudden? I just don't understand."

"Does your father mean a lot to you?" He asked, ignoring my question.

I was quiet again before responding, "Yes... as I told you, he was the first to ever understand me for who I am: a demon. My mother, Arella... bless her. She tried her best to control that side of me... but it ended in her demise. I killed her and all of Azarath in the name of my father, so I could be with someone who got me. I love my father more than I could love anyone else."

"I understand," Damian sighed, "that's how I feel towards my mother. She can be... hard on me, and we may argue over her decisions from time to time, but she's still my mother, and I love her dearly. As for my father... I don't know him. I don't even know his name. I just know that he's 'a great warrior' according to both my grandfather and mother..." Damian let got of me, letting his hands rest on my shoulders as he smiled, "Rachel, I've been thinking. Since you're my wife now... it should only be fair we know each other better. I know I haven't been the kindest to you these past few months, but like your father to you... you really seem to understand me. But..." his smile dropped, "all I really know about you is your heritage and, well, your sarcastic nature. So... begin sharing? It could rid your mind of negative thoughts for a moment."

"Oh, okay," I said, a bit thrown off, "well, if I'm honest, I may come off as very shy and quiet, but I do have a fun and, dare I say, goofy side. I can be clumsy, and laugh at the most random of things... and I kinda like that feeling. It makes me feel... young. But, what about you? All I really know about you is that you're a bit of a brat with anger management problems." I laughed.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Well, actually, I'm not as stone-cold as you seem to think, Rachel," he playfully glared, "I have emotions too, you know."

We both shared a laugh then. It was the first time in a while I had genuinely laughed, and the first time I had heard Damian laugh at all. We spent the remainder of the night getting to know each other. Of course, we had already known of our common interests, but now, it seemed we were closer than we ever had been before.

As the sun began to rise, our bodies laid side by side on opposite ends. Our feet away from each other, and our heads close. It was quiet and peaceful.

"You know... we are so different... yet so similar in such confusing ways." I said, breaking the silence.

He only hummed in agreement before closing his eyes. "Rachel?"

"Yes?"

"Do you mind if I make a promise to you?"

"And what promise would that be?"

"To reunite you with your father as soon as possible."

I turned to look at him, surprised. "And break the rules? Why would you do that?"

His eyes opened slowly as he gave me a tired, but genuine smile. "Because, I haven't told you yet, because I didn't know the feeling before now but... I think I might be falling in love with you."

A small wave of heat rushed to my face as I smiled at him. "You know... I think I'm falling in love with you too, surprisingly."

He didn't respond.

"Damian?" Then, I noticed his breathing got heavy, his mouth slightly ajar. "Oh..." I whispered. "Goodnight then... love."

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charliehops · 3 years

Text

what is love? / owen, charlie, jane + nate

The last time Charlie had seen Owen at the party was when he was telling her to fuck off. Despite herself, she had actually looked for him. She had never previously felt the need to look for him at a party, as he would come to her whenever he needed her, but with everything that had happened this past week with him being arrested, her having to be his alibi and the mind games they had played with each other, she felt she had to look for him. It wasn’t like she had any idea what he was going to do, but that was the thing with Owen – you never knew what he was going to do.

As she walked around the party, she realised the only thing that connected her to these people any more was Owen. She suspected he had gone for the night and wasn’t coming back, so her purpose at this party was not needed. She felt alone. Not lonely, never lonely, but she noted that without Owen, she would always be alone at things like this. She didn’t need to be here.

She had crept out the back door to have a much-needed cigarette. A group of people stood smoking, so she went out the back gate to get some peace. Midway through the cigarette, she could hear footsteps and as if thinking of the Devil caused him to appear, it was Owen. He was storming through the alleyway as if he had a mission. Despite herself, she smiled. Only briefly.

“I didn’t think you would be back, mi amor.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve got business to attend to.”

He went to open the gate, but she applied a pressuring hand to his chest, stopping him momentarily. She searched his eyes and knew he was angry. Angrier than she had seen him in weeks, maybe months, and so she needed to know what was going on and if it affected her in any sort of way.

“What business?”

He sighed quickly, as if her very presence was inconveniencing him. She usually felt like an inconvenience to the people she kept around her, like Owen and her family, but this was different in some way.

He removed her hand in a pain-free, but forceful manner all the same. His eyes fired bullets into hers.

“You know when you told Amelia all about Nate… He’s fucking beats her up and she’s now covered in bruises.” His voice rose louder and louder with each word, so he was eventually yelling at her. “You and your fucking games.”

She flinched ever so slightly, feeling flecks of spit flying at her.

She hadn’t known about Amelia and Nate when she told her. She wouldn’t have done it if she had known, of course she wouldn’t, but her head could only process one simple thing as he told her this. He had gone to see Amelia tonight.

“Oh my God…”

It was all she could say as the realisation dawned on her. Owen was still in his fucking fit of rage, so he wasn’t noticing that Charlie’s eyes were glossing over. She was listening and the words were hurting just a little, but the thing she was realising was what was making her about to cry.

“You just fucking used her in a stupid game with me. You didn’t even think that your actions have fucking consequences. You act like I’m fucking evil, but look at you, you’re a cold, heartless bitch -,”

“You like her.”

Charlie cutting off Owen in the middle of his sentence caused them both to just stare at each other in sentence. Owen was shaking his head at what she said, but Charlie knew. She knew before Owen even knew it himself.

He would think back to this moment as a ‘of course he did’ moment. He wouldn’t have done this for anyone else. Charlie knew that. Owen would eventually know that.

Owen was currently here yelling at his girlfriend for indirectly causing pain to a stranger. He would have been congratulating her on being a cold, heartless bitch if it was with anyone else.

Charlie nodded once, before looking upwards to blink a hundred times to stop herself from crying.

She was alone and lonely. It was a feeling she could allow for just a moment.

She looked back at him and turned her lips upwards to distract him from her teary eyes. He was probably just shocked that her tear ducts apparently worked.

“Oh, mi amor, how does it feel?” She asked, cupping his face in her hands to search his eyes again, finding they had immediately softened since she told him what he didn’t know yet. “To like someone? It must be very strange.”

Owen opened his mouth and closed it a few times. No answer was coming. She kissed him instead, realising she didn’t want to know about how she was so different to Charlie and why she could be loved in a way that Charlie would never know from him. It was better not to know the answer to some things.

Pulling away, she smiled in a way that only lovers coming to the end of their time would know. It was full of bittersweet memories and uncertain futures.

“I think it’s time for me to go.”

She removed her hands from his face, but at the last second, he caught one of her wrists.

He wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but it felt like the right time to say something completely ridiculous. Something about love.

But he stopped himself.

“I guess this was always going to happen, right?”

Charlie nodded, blinking a hundred times again for good measure.

In a moment of softness that didn’t feel forced, he kissed the hand he was holding onto before letting it go. She thought, that’s what loving someone else does. It teaches you to be soft. Her monster had softened and she wondered whether she’d ever understand the word.

She walked away then, knowing she was finally walking forwards, not backwards, and there was nothing stopping her from doing what she wanted now. She didn’t blink anymore, she let tears fall.

She was free.

______________________________________

Jane was having a cigarette outside with some people she knew from college when she heard the yelling from just outside the gate. Everyone in the group giggled at the awkwardness of the situation, but Jane quickly realised who the voices belonged to.

Owen and Charlie.

This was most inconvenient for her and JJ. She needed them to remain on good terms. She considered things she was capable of doing to try and fix the situation. She could send Charlie flowers and pretend they came from Owen? That would work. In a world where Owen, of course, gave flowers out to people.

Never mind, back to the drawing board. It would probably be better to think about this when she was sober, she decided.

She waited until the voices died down, before tip toeing over to the gate and opening it just a peek to see who was there.

“Everything okay?” She asked, in a loud, overbearing voice, as if she was a Mum overhearing an argument between her daughter and their friend and just wanted to know what had happened.

Owen turned to little Jane’s face in the gate and shrugged.

“Yeah,”

He pushed open the gate, therefore discarding Jane to the side, and began to walk into the house.

Owen was about as easy to talk to as talking to a collection of rocks and Jane used to collect rocks when she was a very small child and sometimes talked to them, so she was talking from experience. She would need to be more annoyingly direct.

“Uh… I mean, you and Charlie are fine, right? Everything’s okay?”

Owen turned around in annoyance.

“We’re over. It’s over. Is Nate still there?”

“Nate?” Jane asked, unable to keep up the conversation. “I think so, I mean, yeah? But you and Charlie… over? What do you mean?”

But Owen was hardly listening now and was opening the back door. Jane screamed.

“Owen!”

He stopped and sharply turned around, balling up his fists.

“Charlie said as long as you’re together she won’t do anything with what you told her about JJ. You… you just have to get back together with her. Until JJ is in the clear. Otherwise she’ll fuck everything up, she already knows a lot. Imagine what else she’ll find. Owen? Owen, please?”

Her head went back to what Keira had said to her about fighting your own battles and Jane was doing a lot for JJ. Here she was again, pleading on his behalf. She felt pathetic, she felt like JJ’s life was just as important to her as her own life was and it exhausted her. He was exhausting her.

Owen took just one step closer to her.

“Look, I don’t give a shit. Charlie and I are done; I’m not changing that for JJ. I’m doing what I can, but JJ needs to start doing his own shit to get out of this, right? You’ve already done enough; I’ve certainly done more than fucking enough.”

He stomped away into the house and Jane wished she could walk away from all this now. She could have an easy life, flirting with a girl she liked, or trying to flirt, and just be done with all this, but she knew she couldn’t. She was too far in this now, too far in love to turn away from it now. How much further past exhaustion could she go for JJ? She was about to find out.

__________________________________

Owen confirmed Nate was still at the party and then went out the back, found a shovel in Jane’s garden and went back out the gate. He texted Nate to say he had gear and had a special discount tonight for loyal customers. He waited at that gate for him to arrive.

His head was less full of rage directed at Nate after the distractions of Charlie and Jane tonight, but that should maybe terrify Nate a bit more, because now he was going at this with a calculated anger.

Charlie told him the reason he was doing this tonight and in a way it made sense. She didn’t even know about the kiss, so what would she say about that? He wanted to tell her that if this was him liking someone, then it felt like whatever he did for Amelia, it would never be enough. He didn’t know if that was it was supposed to feel like and he couldn’t even be sure this was because of him liking Amelia or if it was just the fact that he couldn’t deal with any other women getting hurt by men, but what he did tonight would never be enough for her.

Something still tinged at him about Charlie. It was always heading down this path and if he didn’t have the confusion surrounding Amelia and what he needed to do with Nate, then he knew he wouldn’t have just let her walk away. She wasn’t supposed to be allowed to walk away, but maybe he had experienced some weird sense of growth?

It was a weird question to even have as held a shovel in his hand.

He heard footsteps coming towards the gate and he gripped onto it a little tighter.

“Hey, hey,” Nate said, shutting the gate behind him.

Owen pinned up against the gate with the point of the shovel, pushing all his weight and energy into it.

“Woah, woah, what the fuck is going on?”

Owen smiled without humour, pushing a little harder with his shovel.

“I know what you’ve done… been doing to Amelia, your girlfriend?”

“What? What are you talking about?” He had panic in his eyes and Owen liked to see it. He pushed harder so it was more effort for him to speak. “Whatever she said, she’s lying, you know -,”

“You beat up your girlfriend.”

“No, I would never hurt her, that’s – that’s -,”

Owen pushed harder and higher up his body, so he could barely hear what Nate was trying to splutter out.

“Sorry, Nate, I can’t quite hear you?” He said, cupping one hand to his ear for comic relief.

“I – I…”

“Now, I want to make it very clear to you what’s going to happen.” He pulled the shovel down, so it was still shoved up against Nate’s chest, but so he could stand incredibly close to Nate’s face. “You’re never going to touch Amelia again, you’re going to be done with her. If I see you near her for anything other than ending it with her, actually, no, you can do that on the phone, you don’t go near her. If you do, I will find a way to publicly list you as being one of my clients, I will make sure you are done for possession, I will make sure you never go to fucking university, I will make sure your parents know what a fuck up you truly are. And if that doesn’t sound like much of a threat, I would look over your shoulder every time you’re walking home at night, because I’ve got guys who’d want to beat a cunt like you up for fun. I don’t even have to pay them. Does this sound fair to you?”

Nate was spluttering and spitting, unable to answer the question quick enough.

“Yeah, yeah, okay.”

Owen hummed.

“I don’t know if I believe you, so let me give you a taster.”

He removed the shovel only to hit him hard with the back of it to his side, so he fell to the floor. He grabbed the front of his shirt in a balled up fist, so he could punch him in the face, making sure his face would bruise. He then threw him down and kicked his chest a few times so he was wheezing on the floor.

“Am I clear?”

Nate coughed up blood and nodded weakly.

“Good. Let’s see how you like being the bruised one.”

He walked over Nate’s body and started his walk home.

Nate would be found there fifteen minutes later when two partygoers decided to make out in the alleyway.

Rumours went around about who got Nate in this state and some people said they saw Owen come back to the party for a strange few minutes and it was around the time Nate got hurt, but it was just a rumour.

Owen loved rumours.

#lol yes to the cheesiest song being this para title #owen #jane #para #nate #what is love

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lokimostly · 5 years

Text

Polaris (Ch.4/?)

Loki x Reader, Pirate!AU Word count: 3,043 Warnings: mild violence Summary: Your life has always been set in stone. Born to a wealthy merchant family in the Caribbean, you’ve spent your years as an heiress in the daytime, escaping at night to wander the streets of St. Thomas. Now, on the eve before your life settles into mundanity for good, you discover someone who could change everything– if you choose to trust him, that is.

A/N: I know I’m using mostly Thomas Sharpe and character-absent gifs. I’m picky. We’ll get some Loki gifs in here eventually.

Chapter One ~ Chapter Two ~ Chapter Three ~ Chapter Five ~ Chapter Six ~ Chapter Seven ~ Chapter Eight ~ Chapter Nine ~ Chapter Ten ~ Chapter Eleven ~ Chapter Twelve ~ Chapter Thirteen ~ Chapter Fourteen

You were elated.

And your father, of course, was furious. You barely paid any attention to his rampage, trying your best to keep a straight face while he demanded to know what had happened and who was responsible. The poor dock workers scrambled to placate him. They knew who he was, of course -- the man who practically owned St. Thomas. And so they fell over themselves to explain what went wrong and offer some recompense.

“They left not ten minutes ago, sir–”

“there’s a storm coming up from Barbados–”

“–yes, and they weren’t keen on gettin’ caught.”

“They left?” Your father spluttered, face flushed with anger. “Well, send a boat and catch them!”

This gave them pause. One of the dock workers made eye contact with you and you shared a mutual glance of sympathy.

“With– with all due respect, m’lord, they’ve left the harbor already.”

“Then FIND ANOTHER SHIP!” Your father roared, looking like he might go into orbit at any second. The veins in his neck popped and his face was entirely flushed. The dock workers and valets scattered– while you, deflated and more than a little ashamed of his outburst, merely stared at him.

He cleared his throat and adjusted the collar of his suit, like smoothing out the wrinkles would soothe the atmosphere somehow. “It’ll be alright,” he muttered, mostly to himself.

This drew you out from your silence. “Oh, it’ll be alright, will it?” you asked. The familiar bubbling of anger started to fizz in your stomach again. “Are you that desperate to be rid of me?”

“I am not desperate,” your father corrected, straightening the scarf around his neck. “I am merely determined to secure your future.”

You clenched your jaw. “I think you mean your business venture.”

Your father turned on you and took a step forward, but you didn’t retract. You stood your ground and stared him in the eye, allowing your pent-up frustration to come through your face for the first time in too long. If your encounters with Loki had taught you anything over the past week, it was what intimidated you – and what did not.

He opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by one of the dock workers. “Sir, there’s one other ship bound for the same destination – but the accommodations are hardly –”

“That will be fine, thank you,” your father snapped, keeping his eyes locked on you. At his imperious beckoning, the valets took your trunks and headed down to the docks.

He opened his mouth to speak again, but you weren’t having it.

“My mother wouldn’t have done this.”

You could almost hear your father’s thoughts as he travelled through several degrees of anger at once. He reached out and grabbed your chin, turning you sharply to face him. His lip curled venomously, baring his teeth.

You winced and tried to pull away, but he held you in an iron grip. “Remember your place, daughter,” he snarled, in a voice so cold you felt like someone had dumped ice water over you. “I have been patient with you, but you will not test me any longer. Do you understand?”

You could only nod.

Your father released you and you stepped away, both hands going up delicately to touch your face as if to make sure that he hadn’t left marks there. Your chest shook with emotion. Tears pricked on your waterline. You blinked them away hastily, pressing your lips together and keeping your eyes low, when you heard one of the dock workers approach.

“The ship is ready for you, sir.”

Your father shook his hand. “Good lad.” He paused, waiting for you. “Daughter?”

You swallowed your tears and calmed your shaky breath. “I’m coming.”

You picked up your heavy skirts to descend down the steps and followed them across the wooden dock. The sound of waves gently breaking against the aged pillars that held up the boardwalk kept you in your thoughts – until you nearly ran into your father and stopped short, looking upwards.

Your new ship was hardly a luxury vessel. It wasn’t even a halfway-decent merchant ship. The name – The Bella Notte – had been painted so long ago that it was beginning to crack. The hull itself was covered in barnacles and half-rotting. The sails were yellowed, patches sewn over patches, and the crew themselves hardly looked trustworthy. If your father cared in the slightest about your well-being, he wouldn’t let you within a mile of this ship or its crew. He, of all people, was accustomed to a certain uncompromised standard of living.

But it was obvious to you now that he didn’t care – not really. He had only tolerated you up until this point, because up until this point it hadn’t mattered. Now, with a tie to the wealthiest shipping merchant in the Caribbean at stake, he wasn’t going to give you an inch.

If you did escape this marriage somehow – and you were determined to do so – you knew one thing: you wouldn’t be coming back to your father. Wherever your new life took you, it wouldn’t be here. You doubted that your footsteps would ever walk St. Thomas’s streets again. The night you’d snuck out your window, infiltrated the tavern, met Loki... that really had been your last night of freedom. Your life would never be the same.

At the thought of it, your heart broke inside your chest and you did your best to stave off the tears that kept welling up in your eyes. The valets took your luggage aboard, and you turned around to say goodbye.

You gave your father a watery smile, which he responded to by extending his arms for a hug. His embrace, as warm and comforting as it would have seemed moments ago, now felt like wrapping your fingers around the bars of a former prison cell.

A tear fell from your eyes, but you didn’t wipe it away. Instead, you let your father pull back and notice it, watched him click his tongue and brush his finger over your cheek to wipe it away. Let him think the tears are for him, you thought vacantly. This is the last time I’ll ever see him. Let it be a good memory.

“I’ll see you soon,” He said, squeezing your arms before letting go. You merely smiled – that same performative muscle memory – and turned around, heading up the gangplank.

You didn’t look back.

The Bella Notte set off and kept a steady course northeast. The captain – a respectable fellow, you decided – had assured you that you would reach the coast of Europe in around three weeks. Longer than a normal voyage, but time had to be allocated for avoidance of the hurricane.

Either way, it was plenty of time to think of a way to get out of your current situation.

You mingled on the deck for the first hour or so, but the crew made you uneasy. It wasn’t like you hadn’t been around sailors before. Quite the opposite. Your nighttime excursions had led you to some of the most unsavory persons, and merchant sailors weren’t usually included in that description. These men, however, wouldn’t take their eyes off you.

You heard more than a few mutterings about who you were, and why you might be here. The general consensus was that it was bad luck to have a woman on the ship. Others, more curious about your personal history, suggested that you were a bastard child. Some speculated about your marital state: that you were carrying some reprobate's spawn and being sent away to save your family’s honor.

Funnily enough, none of them seemed to consider that you were actually decently wealthy, or engaged to a merchant heir. This ship attracted people of low-quality, and if you were here, you must be one too.

So you retired to your cabin.

The Captain had been paid to give up his quarters for you. It was a nice room despite the exterior: a narrow bed, heavy oaken desk and hanging lanterns to light the darker corners. A small, paneled window above the bed showcased the cerulean sky outside.

You picked up your skirts and sat down in the desk chair, setting your elbows on the armrests and letting your chin fall into one hand. Hardly afternoon and this day was already exhausting.

Your eyes drifted lazily over to the desk and you spotted a quill and inkwell. There was paper in the drawers, no doubt. Perhaps you should write a letter to Loki.

You scoffed aloud and stood up, discarding the idea. How ridiculous, you scolded yourself as your face heated up. What could you possibly have to say that he’d want to hear?

But he had told you to write to him.

Had he been serious? Or merely joking? For the life of you, you could never tell. Still…

By the third hour of your self-inflicted confinement to your cabin, you had picked up the pen half a dozen times, found paper and set it out, and ruined one sheet by blotting the ink on the page.

You couldn’t think of a single thing to say.

And yet, here you were again: you crossed the floor with a newfound determination, sat down at the chair, picked up the pen, and––!

“Oh, hell,” You swore quietly, glaring at the blank parchment. “What am I supposed to say? ‘Dear soon-to-be brother-in-law, could you please help, I am perishing of boredom and I’ve half-decided to drown myself because your brother and I don’t suit each other,’” You recited mockingly, setting the pen down once more. You leaned back in the chair and put your hands over your eyes, groaning at the headache which had been steadily growing for the past half hour.

Your hands fell and you let your head loll to the side. You blinked tiredly. Maybe sleep would do you good. According to your window, it was around nightfall, anyway.

With a sigh, you heaved yourself out of the chair for the umpteenth time and practically fell onto the bed. There was no point in discarding your outer dress– no one here would care if you wore the same dress twice in a row. No one cared about you at all. Not your father, not Thor – though perhaps he did try – and certainly not the sailors.

You shifted onto your side and pulled a pillow towards you. The garnet on your finger glinted red. You stared at the gem for a moment before reaching out and spinning it slowly around your digit. The metalwork was finely crafted, securely wrapped around the heart-shaped gem. That didn’t make it less unappealing to you, but at least you could admire its quality.

When you did fall asleep, staring at the ring from your fiancé, it wasn’t him you were thinking of.

You woke with a start.

The lanterns in your room glowed brightly against the blackness – it was barely dawn, and the pale light of the sun had scarcely started to lighten the starlit sky outside your window. Your heart pounded with adrenaline at your sudden awakening. Why were you awake? The vague memory of more obscene dreams was falling from you like sand through your fingers. No, it wasn’t your dreams. something had happened outside your mind and pulled you from your slumber.

You could feel it. Something was wrong.

You sat up and swung your legs off the bed, setting your bare feet on the wooden floorboards. Your blood roared in your ears, making it difficult to hear anything that might be happening outside.

Then, footsteps above.

You barely had time to think of it before the doorknob rattled and shook, and the old oak door gave way with a splintering crack.

A shriek escaped your lips and you grabbed the closest thing you could find – a candelabra – and swung it blindly. It connected with shocking force, and the intruder dropped unconscious to the floor.

You stared down at him in horror and dropped your weapon. You didn’t recognize this man. His striped shirt, bald head, tattooed forearms – sure, all sailors looked somewhat similar, but you would’ve wagered ten guineas that this man wasn’t a part of the crew.

Before you had time to do anything about it, however, another man appeared in the doorway, heavyset and bearded. With a sword.

It clicked. “Pirates,” you said weakly.

The man saw his unconscious mate and roared, reaching out for you with large, calloused hands. You shouted, trying to escape, but the confines of your quarters were suddenly much smaller when he was in them. He grabbed your hair and yanked you back painfully.

You cried out and gasped, trying to think quickly. Your bare heel slammed back against the bridge of his foot. He shouted and his grip on your hair loosened, just enough for you to slam your head back against him – and he lost his grip entirely. His calloused hand ripped the fabric of your dress in a last-ditch attempt to hold on, but you pulled away and left him with only a piece of pale satin in his fist.

You wasted no time. While he staggered back with one hand wiping at the blood that dripped from his nose, you snatched up your candelabra, and swung it as hard as you could.

Two pirates on the floor.

You stared at them with wild eyes, your chest heaving, and let out a little squeak. “Alright,” you breathed, trying to calm yourself. “Pirates.” You swallowed. There would definitely be more on deck, and you couldn’t fend them off with a candelabra.

You set down your blunt weapon and knelt down, shoving the man over enough to reach for his sword. The thin rapier rang when you pulled it from its sheath, long and sharp and glinting in the lantern light. It was cold and heavy in your hands.

Footsteps on the stairs alerted you and you whirled around, holding the sword out with both hands. “I’m armed!” You shouted – it was the first thing that came to mind – and did your best to grip the hilt with your sweaty hands.

The intruder stopped short in the doorway, and your jaw dropped.

It was Loki.

You gaped at him in pure shock, staring into his sea-green eyes. This is a dream, you thought. It has to be.

But you could feel the blood pumping in your veins, the sweat prickling on the back of your neck. No, this was all too real. And for the third time, you were brought face-to-face with the man in your dreams, who was staring at you now in pure and genuine confusion.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” he said.

Like the night in the tavern, he was dressed in black pants and a puff-sleeved shirt that showed far too much of his toned chest. But for once, that wasn’t what you were looking at. His face was currently the most shocking thing about him. His genuine emotion was unmasked before your eyes, like seeing a glimpse of an actor instead of the character they played.

Loki shook his head and his brow quirked. He licked his lips, struggling to form a sentence, when footsteps above alerted you both.

Fear rose in your throat like bile and a distressed noise escaped your throat. “Loki–” you began.

“Do you trust me?” He asked abruptly.

You stared at him for a second longer. Your hands were shaking visibly. “No,” you said, a little hysteric.

“Smart girl.”

Before you could protest, Loki crossed the floor and grabbed you by the waist, snatching you up and dragging you up the stairs. The sword dropped from your hands with a yelp. “Hey!” You wriggled and fought against him, but his grip was even stronger than you’d anticipated, and he pulled you up with him onto the deck.

The pale light of dawn illuminated the merchant crew and captain being tied to the masts, bound and gagged at the hands and feet. The captain stared at you, wide-eyed, and made a sound that sounded vaguely like ‘help!.’ As if there was a think you could do.

“Check those knots!” a red-haired man shouted – the first mate, you assumed numbly – and the pirates obeyed.

You tried to move again, and Loki’s grip tightened painfully as he pulled you flush against him. “Play along,” He ordered through his teeth, in a gravelly voice that sent shivers down your spine. Loki’s fingers dug into your waist, tangled in the thin fabric where your dress had torn, one less layer between your skin and his.

Not the time, you thought desperately. If only your mind could obey.

The first mate reached up to stroke his beard and turned around, seeing you. And when he did, he found. “Cap’n. Who’s this?”

Captain? You wondered, before the cold metal of Loki’s sword was at your throat and you froze. You could hear Loki’s silky voice like it was submerged in water.

“The precious cargo. This little debutante is worth keeping alive. All you need to know,” He added, and you could hear the smirk in his voice, “is that she’s off limits.”

The first mate seemed to find this answer satisfactory, nodding and turning back to his task at hand. Your eyes flickered to the east, where the ocean was beginning to turn pink and yellow in anticipation of the sun. Were it not for the fact that you were currently being held against Loki– no, a pirate –with a sword to your neck, you might have found it beautiful.

You should have run away, on your last night in St. Thomas. You should have packed a trunk and ran.

“And what about the rest? The ship?” You heard the first mate ask.

You felt Loki’s chest swell against your back when he inhaled. The cold metal of his sword pressed lightly against the skin of your neck – nowhere near enough to hurt, but it frightened you nonetheless – and his deep, melodic voice sent a cold ripple through you when he spoke.

“Burn the ship.”

A/N: Did you see it coming? I mean, this is a pirate AU, but still. I’d like to think SOME of you were surprised. ;)

Tag List (OPEN): @neontiiger, @un-consider-it, @jessiejunebug, @nerdypisces160, @lokiisntdeadbitch, @e-wolf-90, @cursedmoonstone-blog, @kikaninchen-2, @bluebellhairpin, @evy-lyn, @midnight-queen-1, @travelingmypassion, @harrybpoetry, @adefectivedetective, @absolutecraziness13, @kumikokagato, @randomfangirl7, @timetraveler1978, @tarynkauai, @arcanethamin, @ornate-ribcage, @julianettedoe, @kinghiddlestonanddixon, @yespolkadotkitty, @befearlesslyauthenticc, @ladybugsfanfics, @thisisaclusterofablog, @groupies-do-it-better, @just-the-hiddles, @quenilla, @amyy-moonlightt, @pandacookieowo, @thatweirdwalangpake, @alexakeyloveloki, @littlemissporter, @yes-captainstark, @justawriterwithdreams

#loki #marvel #loki fanfic #loki x reader #loki x you #loki x oc #pirate #pirate!au #pirate au #loki x reader fanfic #tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston x you #alternate universe

221 notes · View notes

herocentral · 4 years

Text

Possible Hero 6

Evening folks Chapter 4 is here, sorry for the unfortunate delay I’ve been a little occupied with uni work. Plus I’ve been to see the Sonic the Hedgehog film, loved it loved the references and the action scenes, it defiantly deserves a sequel heck the games could learn from some aspects of it. Now without further delay heres chapter 4 of Possible Hero 6

I don't own the characters in this story this is just for fun!

Kim Possible & Big Hero 6 (c) Disney, 2020

Chapter 4: Train up Hero style!

Things couldn’t be any worse for Big Hero 6 not only did their mystery villain thief AKA Shego escaped from them, twice and Momokase escaping as well with her intentions unknown. Now they return to Hiro’s garage to find Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable waiting for them, this could only mean one thing.

“Hiro?” Hiro said but then coughed and straightened up. “Sorry Miss, uh Possible but I have no idea what your talking about.” He then acted.

“Yeah, Ki.. uh, complete stranger who we have only met once at the…”

“Okay drop the poor acting Fred.” Kim said interrupting Fredzilla.

“You, mean you…” Wasabi guessed.

“Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Gogo, Fred Frederickson, Hiro Hamada and of course Baymax.” Kim pointed to each member of the team in a Batman like style which confirmed that she knew their secret identities.

Everyone looked at each other in worry wondering what this could mean for the teams future.

“Oh guys it’s so not the drama, your secrets safe with me.” Kim then assured.

So one by one each member of BH6 removed their helmets/masks revealing their true identities and Honey Lemon put her glasses back on her face.

“So how’d you know it was us?” Hiro asked.

“Well for starters when I first saw Big Hero 6 and the tech they were using I could see that it looked a lot similar to each of your friends majors.” Kim began to explain. “Chemistry, mag lev suspension, laser induced plasma and of course Freds super hero theme all applied with the use of robotics, which with Hiro being a super genius could engineer.”

The team listened with interest and Ron as always was impressed by Kim’s deductive skills.

“Plus when you told me that robot gauntlet was a souvenir from Alister Krei I could tell by your micro expressions that you were lying.” Hiro could only rub his neck in embarrassment as Gogo glared.

“And the final thing being, Tadashi’s death, his connection to the fire at SFIT and Professor Callaghan AKA Yokai. The fact being that Big Hero 6 appeared during his attack on Krei tech that day. Plus the coloured visors they’re terrible identity concealers.” Kim finished.

Everyone’s jaws dropped with amazement how could she have put together all the dots in such a way to find out their identities.

“Wow very impressive.” Gogo said with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah told you she could do anything.” Ron added.

“Yeah that and being the daughter of a rocket scientist and brain surgeon doesn’t hurt.” Kim then added.

“But I’m surprised that you were obviously followed all the way here and didn’t even notice, you’ve got to work on your security training.”

“Wow, we do need to keep our eyes open or we’ll be blind.” Said a drunk Baymax.

“Uh is he okay?” Ron asked. “Uh yeah he’s just low on batteries.” Hiro explained.

Soon Baymax was out of his armour and on his charging station recharging his batteries. He begins to reinflate as he recharges. Meanwhile the rest of the team talk things over with Team Possible.

“So, now that you know are you going to tell my aunt Cass about this?” Hiro asked with worry.

“No I’m....” “it’s just if she ever found out about this she’d literally put me under house arrest she worries a lot like a lot and.” Hiro said interrupting Kim.

“Hiro!” Kim said getting his attention. “I’m not going to tell anyone about your identities.”

“Oh.” Hiro said. “Actually when I first heard about Big Hero 6 I started doing some research I’ve seen the work you’ve done to help people and I’m pretty impressed how you’ve handled supervillains and kept the city safe.” Kim explained.

“But I do want to know why you decided to become super heroes in the first place?” She then asked. “Yeah I mean every super hero has a cool origin story.” Ron added as Rufus nodded his head.

Hiro took his time to answer but knew that since Kim and Ron now knew who they were that it was time to share why they do what they do.

“Tadashi.” Hiro said then turned his attention to Baymax. “Show them Baymax.”

Baymax’s chest monitor then lit up and began showing his video logs of Hiro’s brother building Baymax.

“This is Tadashi Hamada.” He said introducing himself. Kim and Ron looked at the screen as did the rest of the team.

“And this is the first test of my robotics project.” Tadashi then said holding up a black board with the words test 1 on it and he began testing his invention.

“Hello, I am Baymax.....” Suddenly Baymax’s voice generated feedback which nearly deafens Tadashi.

“Stop, stop stop stop!” Tadashi said as he quickly shut Baymax off.

Kim saw who exactly this was whilst Ron was all but puzzled. However he saw the looks on the faces of everyone watching the video and could see some of them were happy and nearly brought to tears by the sight of this.

“So is that...” “Yeah that’s Tadashi.” Hiro answered Rons question.

The footage then moved onto the next entry log of the tests.

“The seventh test of my robotics project.” Tadashi announced. He then activated Baymax to test him again.

“Hello, I am Baymax.” Baymax said but suddenly began punching Tadashi with his inflated hands his left hand then flew off like a balloon quite literally.

Tadashi held onto Baymax to try and get him to stop.

“Wait wait stop scan stop!” Tadashi exclaimed.

The next log showed Tadashi was completely exhausted, with bags under his eyes completely sleep deprived.

“Tadashi Hamada again, and this is the thirty third test of my robotics project. He then said tired out.

Suddenly there was a spark and it completely took out the lights in his lab rendering leaving him in complete darkness.

Tadashi then shines a torch and looks over his creation though he was looking doubtful of making it work he wasn’t one to quit.

“I’m not giving up on you.” Tadashi sighed. “You don’t understand this yet but people need you, so let’s get back to work.” Tadashi said shutting down Baymax to begin testing again.

Kim just looked at the video in awe, she knew that Hiro’s brother built Baymax but didn’t know he saw difficulties doing it he persisted not giving up. She had to admit she was starting to admire him.

The footage then moved to the next log it was the afternoon and Tadashi was looking a little tired after working hard through the night.

“This is Tadashi Hamada, and this is the 84th” Tadashi sighed before continuing. “Test, what do you say big guy?”

Tadashi activates Baymax and waits for another fault.

“Hello, I am Baymax your personal healthcare companion.” Baymax said.

Tadashi could only look in complete shock and surprise to see that his creation was operational and working.

“It works.” He breathed. “IT WORKS!” Tadashi then shouted. ‘This is amazing! You, you work!” He said kissing Baymax in joy dancing with delight and excitement.

“I knew it I knew it I knew iiiit!” He squealed. “You work I can’t believe it!”

Ron nudged Kim’s shoulder and saw that there was a lone tear running down Hiro’s face and they could tell that he missed his brother.

“Alright, alright big moment here.” Tadashi said as he stepped back ready for the biggest test of all.

“Scan me.” Tadashi said and Baymax did as he was asked.

“Your Nero transmitter levels are elevated, this indicates that you are happy.” Baymax diagnosed.

“I am I really am.” Tadashi said in joy. “Oh man, wait till my brother sees you, your going to help so many people buddy.”

Honey Lemon hugged Gogo slightly whilst Wasabi put a hand on Fred’s shoulder.

“So.. many, that’s all for now, I’m satisfied with my care.” Tadashi said with a smile. The recording then ended and there was a minute of silence before Hiro broke it.

“He wanted to help a lot of people, he cared, that’s why he worked so hard to create Baymax.” Hiro said gesturing you his robot friend.

“So you became superheroes to, honour his memory?” Ron asked.

“Well it didn’t really start that way at first, we did this to just catch the guy responsible for his death.” Hiro explained as the rest of his friends came over.

“But after we saved everyone at Krei tech then after I enrolled at SFIT and stopping an army of rouge Baymaxes.” Hiro said. Kim could see where this was going.

“The last thing that Tadashi ever said to me was, someone has to help.” Hiro explained. “So, that’s what we decided to do.”

“Yeah Tadashi was our best friend, in a way his dream lives in all of us.” Honey Lemon added.

Kim couldn’t help but smile at what she’d just heard, she knew they had the best of intentions and couldn’t help but relate to that sure when she first started out she didn’t ask to be a hero but after saving a billionaire collector and many other things after that, she knew this was her path.

“I see, well I know you guys have the best of intentions but Shego isn’t like most villains you’ve faced.” Kim then said.

“I thinks that’s pretty obvious.” Wasabi said with a raised eyebrow.��

“Yeah even with our tech we have no way to fight her.” Honey Lemon said. “Come on guys we can’t just give up!” Gogo argued.

“Yeah didn’t stop us before won’t now!” Fred said standing dramatically.

“With our current skills I calculate our chances 0.000” Baymax explained. “Baymax no need for the number crunching.” Hiro said.

The team could see they would need to do something to be able to handle the likes of Shego but Kim seemed confident about what to do in this situation.

“No big guys we can handle Shego and Drakken just leave this to us.” Kim said. “Ron, Rufus let’s go.”

“Right behind you KP.” Ron said Hiro was all but shocked to see they were going to stop Shego by themselves however they had been following the case too and they couldn’t just let this go after tonight.

“Hold on!” Hiro said getting the duos attention.

“We’re coming too.” Hiro said standing forward.

“It’s okay guys we got this.” Ron assured. “No.” Hiro said with confidence. “We have to help, my brother would have.”

“Besides San Fransokyo is our turf, we’re not going to stand by and let this green lady or her boss wreck it.” Gogo said. “So you’ll need our help, like it or not.”

“Yeah.” Said the rest of the team. In response to that the teen hero could only smile in response.

“Good, that was actually a test, to see how committed you were to what you do, and I’m happy to say you’ve passed.” Kim said. “We could use help navigating this city.”

Hiro could only smile in pride and relief. “Oh yeah I’m sensing a super hero team up!” Fred said practically jumping up and down in excitement.

“Okay geek cool your jets.” Gogo said. “Yeah we still need a plan to take on this Shego.” Wasabi agreed.

“Well maybe it’s best if we first get our facts straight.” Hiro said gesturing to his board of all the locations that Shego has robbed over the past week.

“Hiro, you are due to wake up in 2 hours, sleep is recommended.” Baymax said

“I guess your right Baymax we’ll talk more in the morning.” Hiro agreed to which Kim nodded because even heroes need their sleep.

Drakken’s lair

Meanwhile as San Fransokyo slept Drakken’s evil mind was at work using the equipment stolen he began assembling something in his lair. All the while his henchmen were moving the components into place.

“Now thanks to those plans we stole from the Krei tech servers our plans are now moving into place.” Drakken said as he worked. “Soon the world shall know my name and tremble before my genius! MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“So you’ve said the last 23 times Dr.D.” Shego said filing her nails. “Quiet Shego your harshing my mellow!” Drakken said harshly.

“Yeah yeah whatever.” Shego said when she continued to do her nails. Suddenly an alert sounded from her phone and she looked to see she had received an email, from an anonymous sender. She opened it only to reveal a strange monster symbol in purple on her phone and then.

“Greetings, I have a proposition I’d like to discuss with you Miss Shego, I’ve attached directions come alone.” Said a voice from the phone. The message then disappeared.

Shego was very much surprised, how could someone know her contact details only Drakken knew that, but at the same time she wanted to know how someone could find her. There was only one way to find out.

The Water front San Fransokyo bay:

In the dark of the night fog surrounded San Fransokyo harbour all was quiet in the air soon a figure arrived at the waterfront she was wearing a dark green jacket brand new Club Banana. It was Shego, she had to admit she was a little skeptic about this meeting but was never the less curious.

It wasn’t clear but she could make out a faint light in the dark it was neon purple and it looked like a thin one sided skull face.

The fog cleared to reveal Obake standing in the fog.

“I see you decided to come.” Obake said smirking.

“Okay, you got my attention what do you want.” Shego demanded.

“Oh I have been watching you for a while my dear, and I merely wanted to meet someone of great potential.” Obake said simply.

“Watching me?” Shego asked. “Yes, ever since you and your employer Dr.Drakken arrived in the city.” Obake said. “And I must say the power you have has a lot of potential, potential such as that shouldn’t be wasted on an amateur like him, for you see there is no limit to the potential you have, I learned that from an old friend of mine long ago” Shego listened you what this stranger had to say and a small part of her couldn’t wonder if he was right.

“ That is why when the opportunity arose I decided to test you’re potential against another with similar ambitions.” Obake then said.

“Wait you sent that ninja lady!” Shego said in surprise. “Yes you see in truth I had no interest with that hard drive, I merely sent her to test your abilities against her. However the arrival of Miss Possible and Big Hero 6 did complicate things it did prove how much potential you have.” Obake said.

“You said you had a preposition for me, what’s that supposed to mean?” Shego asked.

“Why to merely have you consider what I’ve said, and to provide you with the means to expand your potential.” Obake said as he stood aside to reveal a small black crate. Shego was all but curious at this point.

“Consider this a gift.” Obake said as he walked away.

“Oh and if and when this scheme of your employers goes awry, you’ll know how to find me.” Obake said as the left side of his face glowed and disappeared into the mist.

Shego used her powers to give a light in the mist to look for the stranger but couldn’t find him all that was left was the small black crate that he left for her. Being curious she opened the crate and found something inside, something that intrigued her.

The following morning

As the sun shon on a new morning in San Fransokyo Kim and Ron were making their way to the Lucky Cat Cafe. They entered the cafe to see Cass seeing to her customers.

“Morning Cass.” Kim called. “Oh morning Kimmie” Cass greeted. “Please Cass call me Kim.” Kim insisted. “Oh sorry your mother still washes off on me, even after high school.” Cass said.

“Right so is Hiro around?” Ron asked. ‘“Oh of course Ron he’s in his garage with Baymax Gogo and the others just recently got here.” Cass said.

“Right thanks” Kim thanked as she walked through to the back. “So how do you handle being...” Kim quickly pulled Ron away before he could blurt out anything.

In the garage, the team was gathered, Hiro was working at his computer whilst Baymax scanned Gogo.

“Gogo, you appear to have fully recovered from your minor concussion.” Baymax said.

“Thanks Baymax but I’ve taken worse falls than that.” Gogo thanked.

“So guys is anyone but me excited for this super team up with Kim Possible!” Fred said bouncing round in excitement.

“Fred calm down.” Wasabi said. “Yeah besides this is a collaboration.” Gogo said. “Yeah to take down a common enemy.” Fred said “classic super hero team up, just like the time Captain Fancy teamed up with another super hero to take down their arch foes who teamed up!”

“You read Captain Fancy?” Called a voice and they turned to see Kim and Ron standing in the garage doorway.

“Oh hey guys.” Honey Lemon greeted. “Glad you could make it.” Hiro said.

“Now, let’s have the sitch about what Shego’s been doing in the city.” Kim said.

Soon Hiro pulled out his large board from the back of his garage showing all the Krei tech facilities that Shego has hit over the past week.

“Okay, over the last week Krei tech has had several break ins at their warehouses in the city and we’ve been tracking them.” Hiro explained.

“Yeah and at each one different things were stolen tech pieces both cybernetic and mechatronics.” Gogo then explained.

“At first we thought it might have been one of our enemies like maybe Momakaske or Yama.” Wasabi added.

“But it was actually Shego, who’s been taking these items for Drakken.” Kim eventually surmised.

“Yeah so what’s the deal with that blue skinned guy?” Fred asked.

“Right best you guys know what your dealing with, but it’s best to late Wade snow you.” Kim said.

“Who’s Wade?” Asked Honey Lemon. Then all of a sudden the holo computer near the front of the garage lit up showing Wade in his room at the computers.

“That’s me” Wade said startling everyone.

“Guys, this is Wade our resident super genius and our secret weapon.” Ron introduced. “Wade meet Big Hero 6” Ron then gestured to the team in the garage.

“Dude!” Hiro panicked. “Guys relax Wade can keep a secret.” Kim assured chuckling. “Yeah plus Hiro, he’s a super genius like you and graduated college at 13.” Ron added.

“All are true.” Wade said. “Well okay, I’m Hiro.” Hiro introduced.

“Hello I am Baymax.” Baymax introduced with a wave.

“That’s Gogo.” Hiro gestured and she just blew a bubble gum ball. “He’s Wasabi” “How you doing” Wasabi greeted. “That’s Honey Lemon.” “Hello there.” Honey Lemon greeted.

“And I’m Fred” Fred said introducing himself.

“Pleasure guys been reading up on you guys pretty impressive.” Wade complimented.

“Okay Wade show them everything we have on Drakken and Shego.” Kim said.

“Right showing files now.” Wade typed in some commands on his keyboard and showed files on Drakken and Shego.

“Well as you guys have probably guessed Shego is an ex superhero gone rouge, and she works with Dr. Drakken.” Kim explained. “Drakken is your typical mad scientist who wants to conquer the world, he never does though. His real name is Drew Lipsky he was once a friend of my Dad in college.”

“Wait he was a friend of your dads!” Hiro said in surprise.

“Oh.. a twist I’m liking this origin story more and more.” Fred said sitting down on a chair. Gogo just nudged him.

“Yeah but he dropped out when he couldn’t build a good robot and his friends laughed at him.” Kim added.

“Classic!” Fred said. “But what’s with the blue skin?” Wasabi asked. “Maybe he turned blue with sadness.” Honey Lemon guessed.

“Blue skin is often what happens when someone holds their breath for a long period of time.” Baymax diagnoses with a diagram on his chest monitor.

“I have a theory.” Fred said with a knowing finger pointing up. “When he was laughed out he must’ve accidentally fallen into a vat of chemicals which turned his skin blue and made him a little insane.”

Everyone looked in surprise, to what Fred just said Baymax just blinked.

“Wow that’s actually a good theory.” Wade said in surprise.

“Yep never underestimate the power of comic books” Fred said proudly.

“Okay, so back to the matter of Shego, what could she want with these components?” Hiro said.

“Knowing Drakken it could be another one of his take over the world schemes.” Kim said. “Now they know you guys are onto them we’ll need to work together to stop them and figure out what they’re up to.”

“Great, but don’t we need a plan we haven’t fought someone like Shego before.” Wasabi asked.

“Well you guys are good and judging by the security footage you stood your ground against Shego, but you need to learn how to fight better to stand a chance against foes like her.” Kim explained.

“So I’m going to train you guys how to fight and how to better use your tech in team work.”

“Oh yeah! IT’S SHUGYO TIME!” Fred exclaimed taking a kung fu training pose. “To the mansion!”

Fred’s Mansion the gardens

Soon everyone was gathered in Fred’s back garden which was rather large with very Greek like architecture structures and statues. Everyone was now dressed in training attire; Hiro wore a white shirt with his normal pants and sneakers, Wasabi was in his yoga gear which was a green shirtless vest with black pants and shoes. Gogo just wore her white shirt with her black pants and leggings. Honey Lemon was in her yoga gear and both were bare foot. Fred meanwhile was in a training suit.

“Dude this back yard is huge!” Ron said in amazement with Rufus looking wide eyes.

“Yeah we train here with our suits sometimes.” Fred explained “You see that statue over there.” Fred then gestured to what was left of a statue that was destroyed by something.

“Baymax wrecked it with his rocket fist when we first got our suits.” Fred then explained.

“Whoa!” Rufus squeaked. “But weren’t your parents tweaked about that?” Ron said concerned.

“Nah my dad didn’t like that anyway it was imported from someplace called the Southern Isles they didn’t want it for some reason so my mom bought it.”Fred then added.

“Alright guys gather up.” Kim called who was now dressed in training gear of her own which was comprised of a pink short sleeved crop top, dark pink yoga pants and sneakers with a grey shirt underneath. Everyone soon gathered as she placed down some training gear such as punching pads.

“Okay guys in order to stop your opponent you first need to know more about how they fight.” Kim explained. “So when you first fought Shego what did you see?”

“Shes fast.” Hiro said “Mean!” Fred said “Fights dirty” Gogo then added. “Loves the colour green” Honey added. “And uses plasma blasts!” Wasabi then said.

“All good answers.” Kim said with a thumbs up. “Shego’s style is all about attack and going on the offensive, and yes she uses energy blasts which trust me sting if you get hit.”

“Got that notion.” Gogo said remembering her fight with her last night.

“So, how do we fight someone like that?” Honey Lemon asked. “By learning how to fight better and use teamwork.” Kim said “Now lets get you guys in fighting shape.”

(Music Starts: Call me Beep me Sadie Stanley)

Kim holds up some punching pads in her hands and Gogo begins punching them followed by some kicks and Kim manages to block them all. Soon she and Wasabi are facing each other on the grass. Kim motioned for Wasabi to come at her, though he was a little hesitant at first he knew this was training so he charged forwards and threw a few punches which Kim dodged and then grabbed Wasabi’s arm and flipped him onto his back.

Hiro was lasting a little longer when training against Kim she threw a few punches and kicks whilst Hiro avoided some of them and Hiro threw a few punches of his own. However Kim did a leg swipe and tripped Hiro up.

He looked up and saw Kim offering a hand smiling which he took.

Ron meanwhile sat on the sidelines with Rufus, Mini max and Baymax. Those who weren’t training namely Hiro, Wasabi and Fred were sat resting and with towels.

Meanwhile Kim was doing a two on one with Honey Lemon and Gogo, they came at Kim with punches and kicks which Kim was able to block, and gave advice whilst doing so.

“Remember coordinate like a team.” Kim said between kicks and punches. So the two responded by working as a team Gogo slipped past Kim whilst Honey Lemon threw a roundhouse kick and Gogo came up from behind and performed a leg swipe tripping Kim up who was quick to recover. She looked to the two impressed knowing they were learning. She then came in with back flips and then performed several round house kicks.

From his viewing point Hiro was amazed by Kims fighting skills but given she said she was a cheerleader it did help a little, however when he looked to Baymax an idea soon sparked in his head.

Later at the garage, Hiro was typing at his holo computer keyboard and was looking at recordings of their training session and Kims fighting skills. He knew exactly what to do with this. However, he then noticed Rufus was in the lab and looking at Baymax’s armour lying around and he saw the little mole rat was pretending he was firing rocket fists from his hands. Hiro could only chuckle a little but he then got an idea and so slid his chair over to the rear desk and picked up a small scanning device.

“Hey Rufus.” Hiro called getting his attention. “Arms up and hold still.” He then said and Rufus a little confused held his arms up and Hiro scanned him creating a 3D render in his computer.

Back at the mansion Kim had set up an obstacle course for a training exercise the course consisted of several benches hoops and even a balancing beam.Fred was suited up in his Fredzilla suit. Kim then ran forward and performed some of her cheer leading moves back flips on the benches, swinging on the hoops and then bouncing on the beam to back flip and land on two feet. She then gestured for Fred to try.

“Oh yeah!” Fred said putting on the top half of his suit on then charged in. “SUPER JUMP!” He exclaimed. He performed a super back flip with the enhanced springs in his suit and then jumped and then swung round the hoops and launched forwards jumps on the board and finally span in a circle breathing fire from his suit and landed on the ground in a dynamic super hero pose!

Kim nodded in approval of Freds success. Soon she was facing Wasabi again and this time he was more confident in his hand to hand combat skills and was able to avoid Kims leg swipe and then performs a round house kick knocking her to the ground. She saw him offering a hand which she took. Hiro too was improving not only with his own knowledge of self defense compliments of his brother, but with Kims help.

He was able to avoid water blasts from water guns that Ron was firing at him from behind a cardboard cut out of Shego. Gogo who was now wearing her mag lev skates slide past all the water blasts grabbed Hiro’s hand and then swung him towards the target and gave it a round house kick.

Hiro and Gogo gave each other high fives. Back in the garage Hiro was transferring data to something and out of a disk burner came a small data chip coloured in green. He then placed Kims signature logo on the chip compliments of Wade. He then went over to Baymax and opened his access port revealing his health care and superhero chip.

“Okay buddy ready to take it to the next level.” Hiro asked. “Doing shugyo makes me a better health care companion.” Baymax replied and so Hiro placed the chip into Baymax which then retracted into his chest.

Soon everyone was taking a break from their training and soon Hiro arrived with Baymax armoured up. Hiro then laid out some small devices in the garden and then opened his laptop typed in several commands and then Wade appeared on his desktop.

“Okay Wade let it rip!” Hiro said “Right initiating training exercise.” Wade said as he typed in several commands and then activated devices which then projected holograms of several villains including Baron Von Steamer, Shego, High Voltage and Duff Killigan.

“Baymax Go!” Hiro said and Baymax responded by rocketing forward and the holograms became aware. Holo Steamer fired a huge blast of steam which Baymax then formed his wings flew up into the air then came slamming down to the ground fist first, knocking the hologram to the ground.

Holo High Voltage then attacked, and Baymax was quick to avoid it and rocket forwards performing a round house kick then saw Shego coming and backflipped over her back and in slow-motion fired his rocket fist from his left hand and knocked down the two holograms in one shot.

Kim was all but amazed by Baymax’s abilities and noticed how his fighting style was similar to hers, she then remembered how Hiro told her he’d made a chip full of combat programs for the original Baymax (the one Tadashi built) when they were starting out. So it was clear he had programmed him with her skills.

Holo Duff then fired some explosive golfballs and Baymax quickly reacted by deflecting two with his left hand then jumped into the air rolled into a ball then kicked away the next three that holo Duff fired which didn’t hit him but Baymax then landed in front of him and then just looked down on him.

“Aye I surrender!” Said Holo Duff and with that Wade and Hiro ended the exercise and the hologram disappeared.

(Music ends)

“Whooo!” Fred said in excitement. “That was amazing Baymax!” Honey Lemon said. “Not bad.” Gogo said. “Boyah Baymax!” Ron said excitedly.

“Spankin job big guy.” Kim congratulated. Baymax then turned round to Kim and lifted up his right fist.

“Uh..” Kim said confused. “Now we fist bump.” Baymax then said blinking.

“Wait you know how to fist bump?” Kim said with a raised eyebrow. “Yes Hiro taught it to me.” Baymax replied.

“Yeah I kinda did.” Hiro said rubbing the back of his neck.

“Come on KP just go with it.” Ron suggested. “Don’t leave him hanging”

Kim decided to just listen to Ron and the others and so.

“Okay.” Kim then fist bumped with Baymax. “Bah-la-la-la-la-la-la” Baymax then said wiggling his fingers in the air after the bump leaving Kim with an even more confused look than before.

Just then Kim’s Kimmunicator beeped and she answered it. “Go Wade.” She said.

“Kim you guys may want to check the latest news casts.” Wade advised then bringing up a news report from San Fransokyo and their reporter Duff Blunder was on the scene.

“This is Duff Blunder reporting live from San Fransokyo bridge where citizens are being attacked by what appears to be three individuals with jet packs.” Duff said through his microphone as he was on the bridge with panicking citizens. Suddenly dropping from the air came three armoured individuals two men and a woman each wore matching black armoured suits with grey underneath and red visors on their faces.

The first was a caucasian male with blonde hair and a muscular build, with a darker beard than his hair colour. The second was a dark skinned male who is bald and has a dark beard on his face and is more muscular than his compatriots. The woman was tanned skinned has long brown hair but a shaved off part on the right side of her head and wears red lipstick.

“I’ll take that thanks!” Jack said snatching the microphone off Duff blunder and looking into the camera.

“Hi there the names Jack, these are my compatriots Jaq and Jack” He said introducing his compatriots who took up action poses.

“Together we are the Mad Jacks, normally we’re mercenaries for hire but today we’re making an acceptation several months ago we were humiliated and defeated and so I hereby announce a challenge to Big Hero 6, unless they agree to face us at the bridge my associates and I shall detonate bombs at key points under the bridge.” Greg Jack announced

“So what’ll it be Heroes? you have two hours don’t keep us waiting.” Greg Jack said.

The team looked at the footage in shock especially Hiro and his friends.

“Old friends of yours?” Ron asked “Not exactly.” Hiro said.

“Yeah the Mad Jacks are villains we’ve faced before their an elite special ops unit who work for the highest bidder.” Fred explained.

“I’ve heard about them professional mercenaries for hire, and I thought Team Impossible gloated a lot.” Kim said.

“Well Hiro was able to help us stop them despite being sick and with a broken leg.” Wasabi then explained.

“Whoa talk about being a stubborn patient.” Kim pointed out. “Well if you think about it KP you went on a mission when we were full of a cold.” Ron pointed out remembering their Sick Day episode.

“So it looks like their back for a rematch.” Gogo said. “Then it’s time we put our training to the test.” Hiro suggested. “Hey guys care to give us a hand?”

“No need to ask we’re in.” Kim said confidently. “Okay guys suit up!” Hiro then announced.

The team each suited up in their armours and bore their gadgets, whilst Kim and Ron dressed in their normal mission clothes Kim span her hair dryer grappling hook round her finger then placed it into her belt pouch. Then Rufus appeared and Ron noticed he was wearing armour identical to Baymax’s except it was in the same colour scheme as Kims mission suit and he wore the armour on his chest and hands.

“Whoa Rufus sweet armour!” Ron said “Yep” Rufus squeaked. “Yeah saw him taking an interest in Baymax’s suit so I made him one of his own.” Hiro said and soon everyone was riding Baymax’s back as he rocketed across the city with his jet boosters.

Hiro rode on Baymax using his magnetic gloves and pads while Gogo, Honey Lemon and Kim held onto the wings while on Baymax. Rufus held onto Kim as well.

“Okay I’ll admit this is a killer view.” Kim said impressed. “Maybe if you were on his back!” Ron called as he and Wasabi were holding onto Baymax’s arms while he held onto Fred via his suit collar and he was posing like super man as Fred pretended to fly.

Ron wasn’t enjoying a single moment of this. “This is not cool man!” He said practically yelling.

“How’d you think I feel I’m terrified of heights!” Wasabi exclaimed to Ron.

Soon they were approaching their destination and the police were doing the best they could to barricade people off the bridge until the crisis was over.

“Look!” Called a woman and they saw Big Hero 6 and Team Possible arrive on the scene and the crowd cheered knowing the heroes had arrived.

Baymax landed on the bridge and the rest of the team disembarked, however there was no sign of the Mad Jacks anywhere.

“Where are they?” Honey Lemon said the rest of the team looked around but were a little cautious, Kim didn’t like the looks of this one little bit.

Baymax scanned the area for any sign of trouble and when he looked up he saw something alarming.

“Oh no” Baymax said and Kim looked up to see what he was alerting them about and her eyes widened in shock.

“LOOK OUT!” Kim shouted and everyone jumped out of the way of an incoming laser blast and were quick to avoid the impact. Everyone quickly recovered and got back up on their feet just as the Mad Jacks floated down using their jet packs.

“Well look who decided to show.” Said Jaq with a smirk.

“So you guys still sore about us beating you last time?!” Hiro said “Oh you mean how you outsmarted and humiliated us!” Greg Jack said with a smirk.

“Well now it’s payback time!” Jack grunted. “Oh and I see you have help, your going to need it.” Greg Jack said noticing the presence of Kim and Ron.

“Mad Jacks lets take em” Greg Jack yells and they fly in and attack, the team then scatter Hiro climbs aboard Baymax who takes to the sky after the three villains.

“Jack, Jaq, take care of the six on the ground I’ll take care of the big bot and their leader.” Greg Jack ordered. “Copy that!” Said the two Jacks. Baymax and Hiro began chasing Greg Jack in the sky whilst the rest of the team take on the other two.

The two Mad Jacks pull out their laser blasters and try to blast the team. Gogo and Honey Lemon jump to the left whilst Kim, Ron, Fred and Wasabi jumped to the right.

“We need to find those bombs if they go off everyone still on this bridge will be toast.” Gogo said.

Kim then reached for her Kimmunicator. “Wade scan for the bombs!” Kim said “Way ahead of you.” Wade said and after a few typing commands on his keyboard he soon heard a beep sounding that he found what he was looking for.

“Got it! They’re under the bridge on the centre support!” Wade relayed as he showed a diagram of the bridge.

“Wade put me through to Hiro!” Kim ordered. Meanwhile Hiro and Baymax were in a dog fight with Greg Jack who was trying to shoot them down with his laser bazooka.

“Eat laser bot!” Greg Jack exclaimed. Baymax was able to doge the blasts and Hiro held on to his back.

“Hiro you there!?” Kim said on the coms. “Yeah kinda busy!” Hiro replied. “We’ve located the bombs there under the bridge, near the centre support.” Kim relayed.

Hiro looked down to the bridge and with the scanner in his helmet scanned the bridge and zoomed in to see several bomb like devices attached to the bridge.

“I see them.” Hiro relayed.

Back on the bridge the rest of the team were contending with Jack and Jaq. Gogo used her mag lev skates to skate and avoid the blasts then jumps and throws her mag lev disks at Jack which he then deflects.

“That all you got speedy!” Jack exclaimed. “Okay time to use our training.” Gogo said

“Honey let’s ground these chumps.” Gogo said “ Thought you’d never ask.” Honey Lemon said as she typed in a formula on her chem-purse and made two chem balls and threw the, both at the bridge supports, they explode and expand into a splat wall of elastic goop.

(Music starts playing- Immortals Fallout boy)

Gogo then kneels down on all fours and revs up on her discs and launched herself forward into the ‘sling shot’ and pulled back all the way to the other end of the support until she was catapulted forwards into the air, heading straight for jack pulled back a fist then POW right in the face which sent him flying into the pillar at the far side of the bridge.

Gogo then skated as she landed on the ground and Honey Lemon rushed to her.

“Oh yeah Speed punch!” Gogo said “way to go Gogo!” Honey Lemon said giving her a high five. However they didn’t notice that Jaq was flying towards them.

“Guys heads up!” Ron called to them they turned and saw Jaq arming her arm cannons. “Your Jacked!” Jaq yelled but suddenly.

“SUPER JUMP!” Called a voice and she saw Fredzilla jumping in the air above her.

“FLYING DROP KICK!” Fred yelled and performed a drop kick mid air knocking Jaq to the ground. Honey Lemon peeped a Chem ball and tossed it to Ron. “Throw it Ron.” Homey said and so he threw it to the spot where Jaq landed and it created a pink goo ball trapping her inside.

“Grr!” Jaq growled as she couldn’t get out of the ball no matter what she tried.

“You just got gooped” Ron cracked. “Boo yah!” Rufus squeaked. He then noticed Kim was not with them. Kim was below the bridge using some magnetic discs. She held the Kimmunicator up to the bombs so that Wade could properly scan them.

“Kim I’ve got bad news!” Wade said. “Okay let’s hear it.” Kim asked.

“Well, the bad news is the bombs can’t be disarmed manually there’s about five different triggers.” Wade explained. “Is there a way to disable it?” Kim asked with worry.

“Yes disable the master detonator and that’ll disarm the bombs.” Wade surmised.

“Well where is the trigger?” Kim asked. “I’ll scan for it” Wade began scanning for the bomb trigger and soon found it.

“Oh boy.” Wade said

Baymax and Hiro were still in the air fighting Greg Jack who is chasing them with his laser bazooka Baymax was able to avoid the blast Hiro looks back and sees the Mad Jack behind them.

“Hiro there’s a way to disarm the bombs!” Kim relayed on the coms. “Okay what is it?” Hiro asked.

“The guy chasing you he has it, it’s located in his gauntlet on the left wrist.” Kim relayed. “Right that’s going to be a problem.” Hiro said seeing how Greg Jack was dead set on shooting the, down.

From the bridge Kim could see the issue and from her back pack forms her jet pack and rockets into the sky.

Back on the bridge the Police try to keep the crowd back within that crowd was Karmi who was trying to record what was happening. However she looked up to see Baymax and Hiro or as she knew them Captain Cutie and Red Panda fighting Greg Jack whilst the rest of the team deal with Jack who had regained consciousness. Then all of a sudden she saw a figure emerge fro, the bridge she zoomed in on it using her phones camera.

“No way is that!” Karmi gasped her phone camera showed her it was Kim Possible fighting alongside Big Hero 6 she couldn’t believe it.

Meanwhile Baymax launches his rocket fist at Greg Jack, who used his jet pack to avoid it then fires his blaster at them which Baymax quickly avoids it as his fist returns to him.

Then suddenly Greg Jack received a kick in the back delivered by Kim Possible he manages to stabilise himself and looked to see Kim just as Baymax flew next to her with Hiro.

“You got the drop on me impressive miss...” “The names Kim Possible, ring a bell.” Kim said answering Greg Jacks question.

“Oh yeah now I remember your the hero with a lame website it doesn’t even have a cool theme song.” Greg Jack cracked.

“Says the guys all called the same name, Greg” Hiro then cracked. “Wait your names Greg but your all called the Mad Jacks?” Kim asked “yeah it’s really a code name found that out when we first fought and won.” Hiro then added.

Greg Jack just growled with frustration. “Enough talk time to blast stuff!” He yelled as he blasted the two of them but they quickly avoided the blast.

He kept blasting the three heroes with his bazooka until finally he clipped the wing of Kim’s jet pack causing her to spin out of control.

“Kim!” Hiro yelled, Kim quickly managed to get her jet pack off but was still falling to the ground Baymax quickly rockets down after her and reaches out with his hand. Reacting quickly Kim pulls out her grappling hair dryer and fires it towards Baymax who grabs it and swings it round lifting her into the air for her to land on Baymax’s back.

Her grappling hook retracts leaving Hiro completely amazed.

“You always carry a hair dryer with you?” Hiro said in amazement.

“Never leave home without one, it’s saved me on multiple occasions not just life and death but also hair crisis.” Kim breathed.

Suddenly Baymax avoided another blast from Greg Jack and flew away as he chased him.

“He is still shooting at us.” Baymax said “no kidding, we’ve got to get that detenator!” Kim said to Hiro, “Then we’ll need to ground him.” Hiro suggested.

(Music ends)

Back on the ground Wasabi was using his plasma blades to deflect blasts from Jack who was recovered and blasting them with his wrist blasters. Ron was running quickly to avoid them.

“Yow, yikes!” Ron said avoiding the blasts. Fred then charged forwards and using his suits enhanced jumping skills he performed a triple back flip.

“Homey chem ball me!” Fredzilla said and she fired a pink chemball from her purse and on the third flip Fredzilla kicked the ball into Jack and the chemball exploded and stuck him to the ground.

“Boyah Fred!” Ron cheered. However their celebration was interrupted by the sound of laser fire they looked up to see Baymax, Hiro and Kim struggling against Greg Jack and getting the detonator from him.

“We’ve gotta help them!” Honey Lemon said. “They’re too high up and none of us can fly.” Gogo said knowing that Baymax was the only one on the team who could fly. Or was he?

Rufus pulled on Rons shirt and he saw that his mole rat friend was wearing armour similar to Baymax including its ability to fly.

“Wait, Rufus! You can help them!” Ron said and Rufus nodded and almost on cue wings emerged from his armour and he posed like superman and rocketed into the sky.

“Go get um!” Ron called which left the rest of the team skeptical looks as to how a small mole rat can help their friends.

Greg Jack is going all out trying to shoot Baymax down he was beaten by these heroes before there’s no way he was going to let this happen again it would be an insult to his profession.

However he felt a tap on his head and he turned to see a small pink rodent dressed up in armour with a jet pack.

“Whuh?” Greg Jack said in surprise. “Hello” Rufus squeaked he then kicks Greg Jack in the face who cries in. Pain as he got hit in the mouth Rufus quickly flies away and Greg tries to grab him but misses.

“Hold still you little..” Greg jack growled and Rufus just spits his tongue like a child which winds up the Mad Jack even more.

However he’s so focused on the armoured naked mole rat he neglected a certain someone coming right at him.

“Hey!” Called a voice and Greg Jack turns to see Baymax heading right for him with Hiro and Kim riding him. However strangely as Greg braces for impact he sees the flying red robot missed him as he flew right by.

“Ha! You missed!” He shouted. Suddenly Hiro lands on his back and then hits a button on Greg’s jet pack which releases it from his armour.

“Oh no...” Greg Jack gulped. “JACK DOWN AGAAAAIIIIIN!” He yelled as he fell to the ground and Hiro was falling right behind him but then Baymax swings in and Kim manages to grab him as they fly down and grab Greg Jack and lower him to the ground safely.

“Nice one guys!” Honey Lemon cheered just then Rufus hovers down and lands on Baymax’s shoulder who turns to see him.

“Flying makes you a better companion Rufus.” Baymax said and Rufus smiles and offers his tiny fist for a. “Fist bump” he squeaked.

Baymax raises his fist and they bump them.

“ “Bah-la-la-la-la-la-la” The two said. “So” said Greg Jack getting their attention. “You think this is over?”

“Uh yeah.” Kim said taking the detonator from the compartment in his gauntlet and presses a red button that said disabled. Below the bridge the bombs then deactivate.

“Your bombs are disabled, your revenge done.” Kim listed. ‘“Oh and look.” Kim then pointed and they saw a fleet of helicopters but they didn’t belong to the SFPD.

“There’s Global Justice already here to Cart you guys away to prison.” Kim then pointed out. “Seems you guys have worked for a number of people on their most wanted list and you’ve committed a number of offences on their radar.” She then explained.

“Yeah sounds like someone tipped them off.” Ron then added with a smirk.

“Grr how did you guys get so good!” Greg Jack then asked Big Hero 6.

“Easy ‘Greg’ we’ve been training.” Hiro smirked “with the best.” He said looking to Kim who could only smile.

Soon Global Justice took the three Mad Jacks away to be incarcerated at their jail facility, whilst an officer of GJ explained everything to the police officer at the scene.

“Okay guys seriously, were we awesome? Or were we totally AWSOME!” Fredzilla said in excitement.

“I’ll admit, that was cool we’ve never taken down an enemy of ours that easily before.” Gogo admitted.

“Yeah, did you see that sling shot move we did!” Honey Lemon bounced excitedly.

“Yeah I hereby dub that move the Slingshot Punch!” Fred said.

“Yeah not to mention I was totally alive out there!” Wasabi said. “What about me I was helping too I drew his fire!” Ron pointed out feeling left out.

“We acted very efficiently in neutralising the target.” Baymax diagnosed.

“We stopped the bombs, thanks to Rufus.” Hiro said thanking the Molerat.

“But Kim I have to know how did you know that the Mad Jacks were wanted by those GJ guys?” Hiro then asked.

“Oh that’s easy during the fight I had Wade do some research into them hacking their website..” “Cool theme some by the way.” Ron then interrupts Kim.

“...yeah anyway Wade found the list of a number of clients they’ve worked for in the past including a number of war lords, crime bosses and of course a few super villains.” Kim listed

“To cut a long story short forward the info to some fiends of ours in GJ and off to jail they go.” Kim finished.

“Wow, you really can do anything.” Hiro said impressed. Kim could only smile humbly by this compliment. Just then.

“Oh my, that was AWESOME!” Shrieks a voice and they turned to see Karmi standing behind them.

“An actually team up between Kim Possible and Big Hero 6!” Karmi said excitedly.

“Oh I’ve got to get a picture of this.” She then said holding up her camera phone to take a photo.

The nine heroes just stood bemused but decided to pose for a photo while Hiro just kept a natural expression. Karmi takes a photo showing her a photo of Big Hero 6 and Team Possible together.

“Oh I’m so writing a fan fic about this Captain Cutie teams up with teen hero Kim Possible!” Karmi said practically bouncing away in excitement and could already picture her fan fiction taking place featuring chibi versions of the team and Kim.

Hiro just grimaced at the thought of what she just said.

“Captain Cutie?” Kim smirked with a raised eyebrow “Don’t ask” Hiro groaned.

Meanwhile

Whilst events transpired at the bridge, far away in a old derelict warehouse on the dark side of town a lone figure stands alone in the darkness.

It was really Shego except something was different on her wrists she now wore metal gauntlet like devices with glowing green lines on them. Ever since her little meeting with Obake he left them for her as a ‘gift’. Though a little skeptical she decided to test his present somewhere away from prying eyes and she knew Drakken would just ask questions.

She looked at the gauntlets and they did seem to fit perfectly and surprisingly they didn’t clash with her outfit. However she was still unclear to their function.

“Alright let’s see what glow face’s toy can do.” She said to herself.

She infighter her powers as normal this then caused the gauntlets to activate which then caused her energy to glow brighter even her eyes started to glow a little.

She threw an energy blast at a crate in the warehouse and it immediately blew it into a million pieces. She was completely shocked.

“Whoa! My blasts were never that powerful?” She said in amazement. She looked to her gauntlets and when she touched one of the lines it took her energy and formed it into a blade comprised of her energy. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

She then smirked and swung her arm blade like a samurai and then with one swipe let loose a huge energy wave that completely incinerated two of the rear pillars.

She then bore a sadistic smile as her eyes glowed green and her hands burned with enhanced energy.

“Oh ho ho ho! Me likie.” She said “whoever that guy is he’s right it’s time to see what potential I have!” Shego said and let loose a huge blast of energy from her hands.

End of chapter 4

Whoa looks like Shego got an upgrade, looks like BH6 is gonna need that training Kim’s given them. Yes Obake has started to get involved in this story but still not the main villain (yet) The gauntlets were actually inspired by the KP 2019 live action film whilst they did make it look like the source of Shegos powers it didn't work for me so I’ve repurposed them as energy enhancers in this story.In terms of the Mad Jacks I always thought of them as the Team Impossible of the BH6 Universe except with more showmanship and cooler toys. So I was a bit gutted not seeing them in season 2 of the series lets hope they return for season 3 , but this did give me an idea revolving around their absence namely caught by higher authority. Chapter 5 coming soon.

#Kim Possible #Big Hero 6 #Big Hero 6 the series #ron stoppable #Rufus #Disney #Disney Channel #Hiro #Baymax #Honey lemon #GoGo Tamago #Wasabi #Fan fiction #Crossover #Cartoon Crossover #super heroes #cartoons and comics #Kim Possible 2019

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bbyyoungblood · 5 years

Text

I Believe In Us | e.d.

A/N: I wrote this fic starting at 11:00 pm, and it is currently 3:42 am. I got this idea and I could not stop writing. I hope it’s good. Sorry, it is not really edited!

New Jersey was beautiful this time of year. Actually, New Jersey was beautiful all year around, but there was something about the leaves in the fall that warmed your seemingly cold soul. Maybe it was the memories of bonfires and pumpkin patches, or maybe the special boy with chocolate eyes after a football game. Whatever it was, it was beautiful and you could not believe you were back in your hometown just in time to enjoy it.

Thanksgiving break, your sophomore year of college, was when you decided you needed to come home. Your parents were recently divorced, your father running off with one of his partners from his law firm, leaving your mom to an empty house. Nothing broke your heart more than seeing your mom in pain, so you packed your bags and headed to Jersey. This was not the most ideal situation, seeing as you were only a sophomore, but you had been in an academic rut recently. So, as much as the series of unfortunate events hurt your mother, it was an excuse for you to change your future plans.

When you told your roommate, Lauren, that you were planning on leaving, she called you stupid. This was understandable considering everything you gave up to go to Stanford. It was a lifelong dream to walk across the stage at Stanford, but your spark for learning was no longer there, not when your heart was pulling you home. You tried cutting all possible ties when you left. You broke up with your boyfriend, deleted all your friends numbers, and even got rid of all social media. Looking back, this was the exact opposite of how you should have handled the situation, but your life in New Jersey was your whole heart. Cutting ties seemed less painful than slowly losing communication to the most important people in your life.

Thinking back on all the people you left behind was still hard to swallow, especially considering you were back for an undetermined amount of time. Trying to get this off your mind, you though a good walk through the crisp November air would help. So, grabbing your purse and putting on your coat, you called through your childhood home to your mother, “Mom! I’m running down to Garry’s! You want anything from the store?”

You heard rustling coming from upstairs and then eventually loud footsteps coming down. Your mother’s slowly aging face came into view as she started to reply, “Yes, actually. I’m making some chili tonight, can you pick me up a tomato or two?”

You scrunch your face at the thought of tomatoes, but nevertheless shook your head, “I can do that. I’ll be back in an hour or so, okay?”

She just nodded and started tidying up the kitchen. You could tell she was stressed, cleaning always being a way to channel her negative energy into something positive. Just as you were almost out the door, you heard her call out your name, “Y/N?”

“Yeah, mom?”

“Maybe stop by the Dolan’s on your way back home. Lisa told me that Ethan misses you.”

Your cheeks turned bright red at the thought of the dark haired boy who has held your heart for god knows how many years.

“Yeah, okay mom,“ and with that you walked out the door.

The walk to Gary’s Supermarket was longer than what you remembered, probably because the last time you had walked there was before you could drive. You didn’t mind it though, the leaves were bright reds and oranges this time of year, and it gave you time to think about your forever crush.

Mr. Ethan Dolan had you wrapped around his little finger since the day you were born, two months exactly after him. Lisa and your mother had been great friends in cosmetology school, even living together before meeting their spouses. Because your mothers were best friends, you and the twins were destined to be best friends. Only everyone believed you and Ethan were probably meant to be a little bit more than that, and they were right. Ethan would pick you up on the playground and dust you off, Grayson would pull your pigtails. Grayson loved you, of course, but he saw you more as an annoying little sister, not a beautiful girl that could do no wrong.

The two of you stayed close your whole lives, and as cliche as it is, you were each other’s first almost everything. He was your first kiss, as a dare you might add, when you were tiny seventh graders. Ethan took you to your first high school dance, where he would later become the first person you made out with. He would also be your first time after a football game your junior year, where he just looked so good covered in a thin layer of sweat. You and Ethan were inseparable for the longest time, but you never made it official, which meant girls liked Ethan and boys liked you.

Mason Longmoore was your first boyfriend, one of the only firsts Ethan wasn't lucky enough to hold. He was a rich fellow who loved golf and beer a little too much. He was good to you, for the most part, and Ethan still was your best friend. Mason, however, was absolutely not supportive of the Stanford acceptance letter you got halfway through senior year. He expected you to stay almost until you were boarding the plane with your carry-on by your side. Deciding that someone trying to hold you back, like Mason tried, was not what you needed, so you broke it off right there in gate six.

Gate six. Not only was this the gate you decided Mason was no longer your boyfriend, this was the gate you apparently decided that Ethan Dolan was no longer your best friend. Looking back you were not proud of what you did, but it seemed as if it was the right choice because you were trying to start over. You told Ethan that you loved him and that you were going to miss him, but that it would probably best that you didn’t stay in contact. This shattered the boy’s heart, he had been in love with you since freshman year. Actually, probably earlier, but he refused to admit it. That was the last time you had talked to Ethan, coming up on almost two years now.

Shaking your head at the bad memories that stupid gate held, you walked into the Gary’s, taking off your gloves and putting them in your coats pocket. The rundown supermarket looked exactly the same as it did back in high school. Walking down the isles was almost like muscle memory at this point. You grabbed a basket and started towards the produce. Considering the time of year, the tomatoes were quite sad looking and you didn’t know if you were going to find a good one in the bunch. Finally, though, after some searching, you found a decent one. But soon the tomato would be dropped to the ground after a voice coming from over your shoulder startled you.

“Y/N Y/L/N, I don't think I have ever seen you so close to a tomato before.”

You turned right around at the sound of his angelic voice and holy shit did he look good. Ethan was maybe a little bit taller, hair shorter, older, with stubble gracing his chin. “Oh my god, Ethan! You scared me!”

Ethan grinned from ear to ear with a slight laugh coming from his pink lips. “How are you? It's been what, two years?”

You frowned at the mention of how long it had been since you last talked to your childhood best friend. Realizing your furrowed brow, you smiled slightly, “Yeah, just about. I’ve been good. It’s good to be home, with my mom, you know?”

“I heard, yeah, my mom told me. I was actually going to-” Ethan was interrupted by a feminine voice behind him, followed by a beautiful girl placing her hand on his shoulder.

“Ethan, whose this?” This girl was gorgeous. She had brown skin with light eyes and a body that could be on a runway. She made you pull your jacket around your body, a habit you had when you felt insecure. Ethan looked at the girl, to you, then back to the girl.

“Uh Nyah, this is Y/N. Our moms are super good friends. Y/N this is Nyah,” there was a pause, “my uh, my girlfriend.” After what happened to your mom, you didn't think anything could hurt you anymore. You were wrong, though, because his words sent a sword right through your heart. Knowing that you couldn't show your hurt, you kept a smile on your face. Ethan, however, could tell a genuine smile from your fake one. He knew that your smile was not reaching your eyes. Trying to cover your heartbreak took a step back and sucked air through your teeth.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Nyah. And good to see you, Ethan.” You needed to leave Gary’s and go back home so you could pretend this encounter never happened. “I would love to stay and catch up but my moms making chili and she needs this tomato, so I'm going to head out. Tell Grayson hello for me?”

Ethan’s face dropped just a little bit but he recovered soon enough, “Oh, yeah, of course. We’ll catch up later.” He waved at you as you practically ran away with a nod.

Nyah could tell that seeing this mysterious girl she had never heard anything about changed Ethan’s mood drastically. Concerned, she gave Ethan a look that seemed to ask ‘do I have anything to worry about?’

Ethan knew this look and just shook his head, because honestly, he had no idea.

Diner at the Dolan household was always an event, especially when all the kids were home. Well, Ethan was always home because he still lived there while attending the local community college, but when Grayson and Cameron were home too. Each child helped and had a ‘special role’ as Lisa called it. Cameron would help cut veggies, Grayson made desert, and since Ethan burns water when he cooks, he gets dish duty.

So, that's what Ethan was doing now. After an awkward run in with his first love and a dinner that made him gain twenty big ones, he was loading the dishwasher while his mom cleaned up the counter.

“So, uh, I saw Y/N today when I was at the store with Nyah.” Ethan glanced over at his mother to see she stopped wiping the counter at the mention of her best friend's daughter and was looking at him waiting for him to continue. “Maybe home for Thanksgiving or something. I don't know, we didn't get to talk long.”

Lisa sighed at her son and put the towel in her hand over her shoulder, “she's back for good actually. Rachael said Stanford was getting a little lonely, and with all the things that have happened lately, Y/N wanted to come home. She's going to start classes at C.C.C. after Christmas, I think.” Lisa knew about Y/N coming home for a long time but didn't know if telling him that the first person to break his heart was back in town would be a good idea. Ethan put up a tough front, but he was a softie.

Ethan’s ears perked up at the mention of Y/N taking classes at the same place he did, where his girlfriend did. “Central, really?”

“Apparently.”

“Hmm.”

Lisa frowned, “are you okay with her being back, after everything? I know you have Nyah now, but-”

Ethan cut his mom off, “I’m not going to breakup with Nyah just because Y/N is back.”

“Oh you know I am not saying that. I am just saying the you and her never got closure on whatever teenage feelings you had for one another.”

“Mom, we were just friends.”

“Mhmm.”

“We were!”

Lisa let out a laugh at Ethan’s persistence, “I am just saying you should talk to her.”

Ethan knew his mother was right, he never did get closure, and with you back, he didn't know if he could move on without it. He was happy with Nyah, she made him laugh, but he couldn't ignore the lingering feelings for you. “Do you think she has the same number?”

“I’ll text Rachael.”

“Mom it was so awkward! I hadn't seen him in forever, and he has a fucking-”

“Language!”

“Shit- sorry, freaking supermodel girlfriend?” The walk home from Gray’s was quicker than the walk there, maybe it was because you were trying to put as much distance between you and Ethan as possible. As soon as you arrived at your quaint little home, you word vomited about your encounter to your mom.

“Yeah, Nyah. Lisa says she's nice.”

“Ugh, of course she is.” You don't understand why you were so incredibly upset right now, you should be happy for Ethan because you broke his heart and now he's moved on. But the little devil on your shoulder is upset that he'd forgotten about whatever you two were, and you hadn't.

“Y/N, honey, why are you so worked up right now? You haven't spoken a word to him in what? Two years?” Your mom walked over to you and placed a comforting hand on your shoulder, “I’m not sure what you expected. Ethan wasn't just going to sit back and wait for you to be ready for him.”

You scoffed, “Ready for him? Ready for what? Ethan were only ever friends, maybe you could've added a best in front of that at some point. But that's it!”

“Oh, Y/N. I know that's what you pretended yours and Ethan’s relationship to be, but I caught you two making out in the basement when I was doing laundry one time.”

“Mom! Oh my god, and you didn't say anything?”

“Of course not, Lisa and I have wanted you two together since the day I found out I was having a girl.”

“Mom!”

“Shush it. Maybe you should talk to him, I don't know, to get closure or something. Just so you're on the same page.”

“He has a girlfriend.”

“He does, and It’s not you. So, when you talk to him, you're going to respect that boundary and not bring it up.”

“Mom, what if he doesn’t want me in his life?”

Your mom sighed. It hurt her that it was even a possibility that Ethan might not want you in his life, considering you had just cut all ties with him. She understood, though, because when Ethan would come into the salon after you left for Stanford, she didn't see the sparkle in his eyes anymore. Ethan was hurt, for a long time. “Well, if that happens, then you respect that too.”

That last bit of advice your mother gave you hit hard. Ethan hadn't been in your life for a long time, but suddenly the thought of him doing the same thing you did to him made tears well up in your eyes.

Seeing how her words made your eyes watery, your mom gave you a tight hug, “his number is the same, I know you still have it memorized. Give him a call.”

A whole five days after the supermarket fiasco, Ethan had yet to push the ‘Y/N’ contact on his phone. He was overthinking it, he knew that, but what was he supposed to say? What do you say to your childhood bestie that you fell in love with after you haven't talked in a long ass time? Giving up, Ethan puts his phone down on the couch next to him while running a hand through his dark hair.

As Ethan let out a huff, Grayson walked in the door. “What're you doing just sitting on the couch? Isn't your girly-friend back in town, you said she was coming back today.”

Ethan looked up at his twin brother and nodded, “Uh, yeah, she's back.”

“Okay, cool, then why are you sitting here in the dark?”

“Jus’ thinking.”

“About what?”

“Y/N.”

Grayson was almost startled by his brother’s words, he hadn't heard that name out of his mouth in a long time. “Y/N?” he questioned.

“Yup,” Ethan wished Grayson would just shut up, not wanting to speak his thoughts out loud.

“You gonna give me some explanation was to why you are thinking about Miss. Stanford?”

“She's back.”

“Back, like for break, or?” Grayson’s words wandered off.

“Like back, back. Like taking classes at Central back. Like I ran into her at Gary’s while I was there with Nyah.”

“Oh shit.”

“Yeah.”

Grayson walked around the side of the couch to take a seat next to his brother. They sat in silence for a few moments before Grayson spoke up, “you gonna talk to her?”

Ethan ran a hand over his face and sighed, “Mom thinks I should, says I need closure or something. Gave me her number, even. I’ve been contemplating calling for a few days now.”

“What’s Nyah going to think about you meeting up with the girl who took your virginity?”

Smack. “Oh fuck off, Gray. Why do you have to be so gross all the time!”

“Ouch! I was just’ askin!”

The boys fell to silence again, this time a little longer, falling into deep thought about the girl Ethan once loved, or maybe still did. Grayson thought back to when she left them at the gate, after she broke his brother’s world. It made Grayson a little angry, what you did, but he also loved you like a sister still to this day. He wouldn't mind having you around a little more often. Maybe Nyah a little less, because she thinks Grayson lacks manners. He calls it spontaneity.

After weighing the pros and cons of you being back in his brother’s boring ass life, Grayson spoke again, “can I see your phone? Mines dead.”

Ethan just patted around the couch until he found the small object, handing it to Grayson. He tapped around on the device for a couple seconds before handing over to Ethan, “there.”

Ethan was confused and furrowed his brow, “huh?”

“It’s ringing. You should probably put it up to your ear now.”

“Oh my fuck! Grayso-”

“Ethan?”

“Hi, um, hi Y/n.”

Coffee. That's what you and Ethan decided would be the best way to talk. He had called you the Friday after Thanksgiving, and it was now Monday, the day you were meeting. To be completely forward, you were shitting your pants. You had no idea where the conversation would go, or what you two would even talk about and that made up nervous.

Looking down at you watch, you saw it was time to go, but your feet didn't want to move. Finally, after a few minutes, you got the courage to walk and grab your car keys before walking out the door to your car. He goes nothing, you thought.

“Nyah, I promise it’s just coffee!”

“No, Ethan! Grayson said-”

Ethan cut her off, not caring what stupid shit Grayson decided to poison his girlfriend’s mind with, “I don't care what Grayson said! All that should matter is that I’m saying it’s just coffee!”

“She was your first time, right? You loved her, right?”

Fucking Grayson. “Nyah, come on. It's not a big deal. We grew up together and just want to catch up.”

“So there's nothing going on, no feelings?”

“Nada.” Ethan was a liar.

“Promise?”

“Mmhm.”

Nyah just sighed and walked towards Ethan, “I’m sorry I yelled.” She was such an amazing girl, Ethan didn't know why she would ever be with someone as un-put together as him.

Ethan hugged her and smiled slightly, “Its okay, I understand.” He looked down at his phone and saw the time, he had to go. “As much as I’d like to stay, I need to go. See you later?”

“Yeah. I love you.”

Ethan let go of Nyah and walked towards the door, glancing back and giving her a smile.

Ethan didn't say it back.

“Oh goodness, or that one time when you pushed me on the swing so high I fell off and broke my ankle!” You were laughing so hard talking to Ethan you were crying. When he first arrived at the coffee shop, it was a little awkward. Getting past the ‘what's new’ crap always was. Once the two of you started talking about old memories, everything fell into place, it was like you had never stopped communication.

“Man, we had some amazing times when we were younger, didn’t we.” Ethan loved reminiscing with you, it was so great, but he knew you were going to ask about Nyah soon.

“So.”

“So.” It was getting just a little awkward again.

“So, Nyah, she seems great.” There it is.

“Nyah, yeah she's great. Super smart and beautiful.”

“Yeah, I bet.” There was a slight pause in your words, “How'd the two of you meet?”

“Um, school. She moved here with her parents last year, we had a couple classes and just hit it off.” There was more to their meeting but Ethan was not going to go over the gory details.

“Oh, nice!”

“Totally. So what about you? Anyone special?”

Just you, Ethan, you thought, “Uh no, actually. I was just super school oriented, I never really had time to socialize.”

“Ahh, I see.”

You should have never brought up Nyah, things were going so incredibly well, things between you and Ethan felt okay again. After that you fell into silence, just sipping your coffees in peace.

After what felt like an eternity, you spoke up, looking him right in the eyes. “E? Are you happy?”

This question startled Ethan, because two weeks ago, yeah he was happy as can be. He had friends and a good job and a fucking smoking girlfriend, everything someone needs to be happy, right? Now, though, he didn't know. You sitting in front of him right now made him aware of the you sized hole in his heart. Everything was different in a matter of days and it was kind of making his head spin. Remembering the love the two of you shared, Ethan wasn't quite sure he felt much for Nyah. That makes him a shitty person, he knows, but you were back and that changed things. Figuring he can't leave you hanging for much longer for a reply, “I’m not really sure.”

As the days came and went, they turned into weeks, which then turned into a month and now it was Christmas. Throughout the month of December, you hung around the Dolan household like it was the old times. You and Ethan played tricks on Grayson, and you had sleepovers with Cameron. You felt at peace with yourself again, for the first time in a long time you felt complete.

Now, you were getting ready to go over to Ethan’s house for Christmas lunch. Lisa was nice enough to invite you and your mother over to celebrate with her family considering that you two didn't really have any. Also, your mom was her best friend, and with you close to her kids again, there was nothing more than Lisa would like to see than everyone together.

After putting on some makeup and the cheesiest Santa sweater you could find, you were ready to head over to the lunch. Looking out the window, you saw big while flakes falling from the sky. New Jersey in the fall was your absolute favorite, but snow covered Jersey was a close second.

“Honey? You might want to pack an overnight bag just incase the weather gets bad enough, okay?”

You just nodded at your mother's request, excited for the day to come.

“Is Y/N coming over?”

Ethan rolled his eyes at his girlfriend, “Yes, her and her mom, Rachael.”

Nyah groaned, “She's always here, Ethan. I thought family Christmas lunch was for family only. Hence the family.”

“Y/N and Rachael are family.”

“Your ex and her mom are not your family.”

“Ny, why are you always trying to pick fights about this?”

“Because you love her Ethan!” Ethan was completely shocked by not only her tone, but her words.

“What in the hell are you talking about?”

“I see it in your eyes, E. Its the same way you used to look at me.” Ethan’s heart hurt at the way Nyah’s eyes made him feel ashamed for loving another woman when he was supposed to love her. Ethan just looked away and shut his eyes.

“Nyah.”

“No, don't deny it, that makes it worse.”

“I’m so sorry. I wasn't trying for this to happen, she just popped back into my life, all the feelings with it.”

Nyah nodded. She understood, because if her ex-boyfriend, one who tragically passed, came knocking on her doorstep, she would've left Ethan too. “Don't apologize for how you feel. You can't help it.”

“I never wanted this to happen. I liked you, maybe even loved you, Ny, but Y/N, she's got my heart.”

She nodded again, “I think I am going to go. Tell your mom I say thank you for inviting me here today.”

Ethan looked towards her with a sympathetic smile, “Do you want a ride home, it’s the least I can do.”

“No, I drove here.” Ethan just nodded, not knowing what to say. Nyah grabbed the few things she had laying around Ethan’s room, putting them in her back before reaching for the door. As she opened it, she looked at Ethan and smiled, “You better tell that girl you love her, or this would all have been for nothing.”

“I will, I promise.”

“Good.” And with that she walked out of his bedroom for the last time.

Ethan did feel a little sad, he had really deep feelings for Nyah at some point and a million and a half good memories. But, as much as he was sad, he was relieved because he could finally tell you how he felt.

“E? Where’s Nyah going? We eat in like, twenty minutes.” Grayson says as he walks into Ethan’s room eating a roll.

“We, uh, we just broke up.”

“Damn, on Christmas? Why?”

“Y/N.”

“Figures.” When Ethan said that it was because of you, Grayson had no doubts. He was happy knowing you made his brothers world spin. “Well, she's down stairs if you wanna talk to her?”

“Yeah, actually, I think I will.”

Ethan made his way down the stairs and down the long hallway, palms sweating all the way there. He couldn't really believe that after all you two had been through that you were going to end up together, hopefully at least. As he made his way into the family room, he saw your smiling face talking to his grandparents. This sight made him so incredibly happy. Feeling as if ten minutes before food was served was the best time for his love confession, he walked over to you.

“Hey Grandpa, can I steal Y/N away from you?” Grandpa just nodded his head, smiling at his grandson. As he pulled your arm out of the room and up the stairs you looked at him quizzingly.

“Where are we going?”

“My room.”

“Why's that?”

“To talk.”

When you reached his room, he shut the door and ushered you towards his bed, sitting you down. You looked at him standing in front of you, worried, “Ethan?”

“Nyah and I broke up.”

This shocked you. As much as it hurts to watch them together over the last month, you thought they were cute. “What? Why?’

“You.”

“No, what? Why would you do that?”

“Stop listen, Y/N. I have loved you since you wore diapers and had uneven pigtails. I loved you when Tommy Silva pushed you on the playground, and when we got dared to kiss in middle school. I loved you at all the homecoming dances we went to together, and the ones we didn't. I loved you when you were under me, in this bed, and I loved you when you were all the way on the other side of the country trying to live out your dreams. I have loved you forever and I honestly cannot imagine my life without you anymore. We have been apart before and I never want to experience that again.”

“Oh Ethan.” You were speechless.

“You taught me to be in this world, to live, to feel no hurt. You know my dad always used to say you got to believe in something, and I am choosing to believe in us.”

“Yeah, E, I believe in us, too. I believe.”

You grabbed his face and kissed his lips, something you had been waiting a long time to do.

You know you said that you loved New Jersey in the fall, but really, you just loved Jersey because that's where Ethan is.

#ethan dolan #dolan twins #dolan twins imagine #fic #rec #grayson dolan #grayson and ethan #grayson dolan fic #Ethan Dolan fic #DT

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hunnybadgerv · 4 years

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Writer Ask Meme 3. What is your favorite/least favorite part about writing? 10. Pick an author (or writing friend) to co-write a book with 12. Which story (or: stories) of yours do you like best? why? 17. What things (scenes/topics/character types) are you most comfortable writing? 29. Is writing more of a hobby or do you write with the intention of getting published? 36. Post a snippet 49. Favorite fictional world?

Behind the Scenes of Fic Writing: 30 Questions for Authors

3. What is your favorite/least favorite part about writing? Getting started. Once I’m writing, I can usually find the zone. But it’s getting started that is always the hardest for me. Like this morning, I didn’t know where to even start. So, I opted to edit, since it is something I wanted to accomplish this week. And I know that in the revision process I also tend to refine my prose, i.e., write, so my editing and writing work today coincided.

I have, however, written every day this month and I’m hoping to continue that trend. But regardless of the time of day, getting started tends to be my biggest obstacle overall.

10. Pick an author (or writing friend) to co-write a book with. Must it only be one? Gosh.

There are so many great writers I know, more than I could ever even try to consider for this.

I’ve always admired @theoriginalladya for the uniqueness of her ideas and character development are second to none; I equally love and hate when she and I talk about her characters because I get super excited about them because of how amazing they are. Then I quickly become obsessed, which may or may not be the only “bad” thing. @painterofhorizons has angst super powers; even in a snippet of text she can rip your soul clean from your body. Her writing is so evocative and emotionally striking. Then there is @chyrstis, whose ability to seamlessly weave humor into her fics sparks more than envy. She manages to put characters into such believable, yet laughable situations that it only serves to endear them to readers.

I’m not sure I could ever co-write a piece, but I would count myself lucky to write with any of the writers I regularly associate with, especially one of these three. Apologies to all the amazing writers I know who I did not mention by name, but I already didn’t follow the question in the first place by mentioning three rather than a single one.

12. Which story (or: stories) of yours do you like best? why? Oh gosh. This is so cruel. One story! Really? That’s all. Honestly, First Watch of the Night (Guardians in the Darkness Series) is one of my favorite. I think that might be in part because of nostalgia--it is Nyx Shepard’s WIP. I actually have it planned all the way through ME3, though I’ve currently stalled in the revision process in the ME1 timeline. I’m not sure why either.

I find myself wondering if the reason I have not finished it is because once I know what happens, maybe I won’t have the drive to finish writing it. Maybe I can’t get past the block because I’m worried that finishing their story will vacate those muses from my mind, which I kind of don’t want. I really have grown quite attached to Nyx, Kaidan, and her crew.

Honestly, I think that might be the struggle I end up in with all my longer fics. Short fics in collection are so much easier because the story never has to end. A long fic follows a certain line and has a definite conclusion, which I think worries me.

17. What things (scenes/topics/character types) are you most comfortable writing? Umm, If you were to look at characters like Tayen Quick, Nyx and Feign Shepard, Furia, Remy McGinnis, Mari Ryder, Cyna Mahariel, and Laerke, you’d see a common thread connecting them. I tend enjoy writing strong female characters, especially those that are flawed or broken in some way. Honestly, Nyx and Furia, also to some extent Leah Rook, all share imposter syndrome to one degree or another--so does Mari. I always tend to have one or two characters that share a flaw. I have Mari, Laerke, and Furia who have all lost their entire families. Characters that come from big families. But I tend to write female protagonists more so than males.

29. Is writing more of a hobby or do you write with the intention of getting published? I published a short story in college. And I really would like to be published some day. Right now, I am mostly writing for me. I’ve got original fiction ideas, but I don’t work on them currently. I focus on my fandom work in order to practice and hone the skills and plans I have for future pieces.

I want to write something in the mix of fantasy/sci-fi. But I also have a strong sense of realism. I still hold tight to Mark Twain’s statement that the difference between real life and fiction is that fiction has to make sense. Things have to stem logically from one another in a story, and I always try to ground my writing in experience--sights, smells, sounds, textures that my readers can be familiar with--in order to add some sense of connection. I try to make my characters flawed in ways that feel accurate to them.

A part of me screams in the back of my head that I am a writer. I can be an author, but a part of me worries that perhaps it may not happen. I keep writing. And I keep trying new things. I’ll always be a storyteller. I will keep writing and falling in love with fictional beings and places that I cannot resist exploring.

36. Post a snippet This is from First Watch of the Night. I really love the characters and depth I managed to capture in this piece. Honestly, it’s one of the pieces of my own writing that intimidates me ... a lot. I don’t write the same way anymore. I feel like my writing lacks the same emotional depth right now. And I’m not sure why. It might have to do with how disconnected from other humans I have been in the last decade.

The scene here is Nyx Shepard and her father from Chapter 18:

The two Shepards watched one another for a long moment, before Taranis returned his attention to one of the soft cherries. The commander sighed, sipping her tea quietly while the captain waited. It was his usual tactic. He knew there was more and he could always wait her out. Nyx would talk to him in her own time, even if it had to be in carefully crafted abstractions. His daughter knew the drill. Taranis' methods were nothing new to her. He would take long pauses, allowing her to consider all the things she was not telling him. Then he would ask careful questions in case it was actually related to her current or a classified assignment--since need to know could interfere with her desire to disclose and his fatherly curiosity.

Whatever it was, Nyx held onto it much longer than usual, which told him she really did not want to bring it up. Despite this, Taranis knew she would relent because she kept glancing over at him with a look that suggested she was merely trying to find the way to bring it up. Nyx always came first for him; he redirected his career to give her the life she had, a life where there was always one parent there to hold her tight when things weren't just so. He knew it was not perfect, but he did everything he could to be there for her.

Nyx sighed as she set the tea cup on the table between them. "Fine," she breathed heavily.

It took another few moments for her to look up at him. Then she scooted a little closer, lowering her voice in discretion. Watching her carefully Taranis could not quite be sure what she was going to say, but she bit her lip and winced a little when she finally asked a question he never expected to hear.

"What did you do when you met Mom?"

Everything froze for a second or two as he stared at her. The little blush on her cheeks threw her father for a loop, but made him smile. "Well, damn."

The commander shook her head at him, trying to discourage him from thinking too hard about what she had just asked.

"Answer the question, please."

Captain Taranis Shepard rubbed his hand through the short stubble on the back of his head as he stared at his daughter in stunned silence. "I avoided her. Tried to just keep my distance. I even put in for a transfer," he admitted with a wry smile. "It got denied because I did not put in what command thought was a valid reason. Then, on leave, I talked to your Grandpa Shepard about it."

Nyx smiled and laughed. "And what did the old devil dog have to say about that?"

Her voice held a note of disbelief that her father was not surprised to hear. Taranis' father was a stickler for rules, regulations, expectations. He was strict and set high expectations. The captain could tell by the way his daughter eyed the dregs in her tea cup that she was as completely unprepared for what her father was about to say as Taranis had been when he heard it.

"He told me it was not a weakness to want someone to be part of your life."

Nyx's eyes darted to his. She was easily as shocked as he had been. Moving the tea cup, Taranis laid her hand out in his and covered it with the other.

"I told him all the things, I'm pretty sure you're telling yourself right now. All the excuses about regs, concerns, and bad experiences and stories you've heard," Taranis said quietly as he stroked the back of her hand lightly.

She leaned toward him. Her voice was tight with emotion. "And?"

Holding her hand tightly, her father smiled at her softly. "He told me that there are some things that outweigh the regs."

They were both quiet for a moment as Nyx let herself fall back in the chair. Her mind was clearly racing. Kirk Shepard had always stern, at best; he still was totally by the book in everything except when he met his wife. That was the only rule Taranis could think of his father ever even bending, let alone breaking out right. Nyx had been very close with both her grandfathers; she respected them as men and as marines. For her they were role models, people she that influenced her greatly.

"I'm going to tell you something you probably don't know. My parents met in the service, too. We Shepards seem to fall for our brethren," he said playfully. Nyx did not look relieved in the slightest. "He almost lost her on a mission. Even in love, your grandfather was still the same man. He couldn't justify risking the primary objective. The mission at all costs, you know?"

Taranis knew she understood it. Hell, he knew she lived that decree just as solidly as his father.

"She made it out alive, barely. Your grandfather, sentimental bastard, proposed to her when she woke up from surgery. Grandma Amelie was just as stoic as he was. Told him she would consider it, but only if he promised to do always put the mission first, even if she was in his command. She believed him when he said he would. Even lived up to it. Had to put her at risk once more in the field before they got married."

"And he told you this when you asked him about Mom?"

"Yep," Taranis said, nodding as he studied his daughter's reaction. "I was rather hoping I wouldn't have to tell it to you, but I guess it was too much to hope you'd break the trend of falling for servicemen."

She shrugged and looked at their hands for a long moment. "Seemed to be going well for a while," Nyx said quietly.

"Just tell me it's not the Zingel kid."

Her laugh made him smile, and brightened her eyes. "No, it's not Caz."

Taranis leaned back in his chair, fidgeting with his uniform for a moment. "So, tell me something about this fella."

The way she tilted her head at him suggested that the question might have been her maximum.

"At least tell me his name so I can start checking up and get a little peace."

"Da."

"Fine." Taranis let his hands fall on the arms of his chair. "Don't relieve your old father of the undue stress he is now placed under worrying about what kind of man his plucking his daughter's heart strings."

"Seriously?" she replied with a doubtful look.

They both knew she did not see herself as the type of woman who was plucked, but Taranis had a long and vivid memory and he could still recall the girl with the romantic sensibilities.

"What? I remember the shelves of Austen, Gaskell, and the Brontes. Then there were the sonnets your grandmother always sent you. And if I recall you were planning on marrying Captain Wentworth." He tilted his head at her slightly. "Perhaps I should have seen this coming after all."

They both laughed. Then Nyx sprang forward and hugged her father around the neck. "I've missed you, Da."

"I love you, Nyxy-girl."

Her lips were warm on his cheek. "Love you, too," she repeated before she stood. "I should probably go."

"We should do this again," her father offered, as he stood and proffered his arm. "Soon."

His daughter smiled and looked away for a moment. "Sure. As soon as I can."

Once they exited the little shop, they stopped and he touched her cheek before he bent and kissed her forehead again. He did not like her chosen phrase. Taranis knew she meant it, but he also knew the schedule she had kept for the past several years and there was little hope of relief given the most recent change.

"I'd prefer sooner," he noted.

It always killed him to say what he said next, the phrase was tradition, but always made his heart ache because he knew there was always a chance that he could lose his girl in the line of duty. He had been in her boots and hung them up for her. She had taken them up with fervor and so much more skill and determination than Taranis ever possessed.

"Good hunting, Commander," he said, a waver in his voice, as he saluted her sharply.

Nyx returned it as smartly as she would to an admiral. "Thank you Captain."

Taranis watched the girl with her mother's hair and his eyes weave through the crowds in the wards. He remembered meeting a boy once, at her basic graduation. Keith or Kyle or something that started with a K. He managed to stick around until a few months after her graduation from Exeter. Somehow the kid had stuck it out through three mission deployments before the relationship ended without so much as a whimper. The captain could not remember his name or much else about him. Even after a few years together, his daughter never hinted at the question she just asked. It elated and scared the hell out of him.

49. Favorite fictional world? I really enjoy writing ME and in SWTOR. They are amazing worlds full of science, magic, adventure, and drama. Though I’m also drawn to fantasy for the same reasons. But I think futuristic worlds and space are some of my favorites.

#Behind the Scenes of Fic Writing #30 Questions for Authors #Writer Questions #long post #painterofhorizons

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