#r town chapter 13

[girl8890]

R Town | Ch.13

Namjoon x Daisy (FemOc)

3.4k

POV: Namjoon

Warnings: Pining, Heartbreak, Breakups.

Index | Ch.14

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I never thought it would happen. I never thought I would meet a girl in a town like this that actually made my heart beat a little bit faster for her.

My dreams never involved love. I never thought about the possibility of love. My radar was always on becoming an actor and quitting this dead-end job at the town's only movie theater. I still want to be some big star like Leonardo DiCaprio or Angelina Jolie. A name that when someone hears it, they can automatically think of multiple movies they loved that they were in.

It's still my dream! Just now, for the first time in my entire life, I have a new dream on top of it. A dream of being with the blonde-haired and blue-eyed girl that's been coming in and out of the movie theater recently.

At first, I was just stunned by her beauty. The day I met her, I didn't see her walking up to the snack counter, but she came asking for the average customer order of popcorn and a soda.

"One popcorn and a large coke, please," She said with such a sweet voice.

I rolled my eyes, internally annoyed by someone coming in for an early bird movie. It's usually always grouchy old people that come in this early, and even though her voice was young and sweet, I didn't register what she looked like until I turned around, and then my brain short-circuited.

Her eyes stared at me, and I saw a thousand stories unsaid behind them. Her hair was long behind her, casting waves that I found out later to be her natural hair, but beautiful nonetheless. Her lips looked like they were constantly pouting, but that's because her lips are naturally plump and full. Only a bit of lipgloss on them to cast a shine.

It wasn't until she raised a confused eyebrow that I realized I was staring at her and not saying anything.

"One coke and p-popcorn... sure." I cursed at myself under my breath as I started her order because of the stutter and how my voice sounded. Like I was a prepubescent teenager that just hit puberty. I try to clear the awkwardness I just created by putting on my Hollywood-worthy smile and starting a natural conversation. "So, you visiting from out of town?"

I've never seen her here before, so it was one of the basic questions I ask when I see an outsider come in. The girl wasn't expecting a question, but when she heard me speaking to her, she raised herself on her toes when speaking. "Oh! No. I just moved here, actually."

"Nice," I say as I put her food on the counter. "What movie are you going to see?"

I was honestly expecting her to say, The Hating Game or Love Hard. Two chick flick movies that girls that look like her, all pretty and clearly taken by some athlete type, go to see. But instead, her answer surprises me, "The Man from Toronto." She saw my surprised reaction and smiled. "What? You didn't expect a 'girl like me' to want to see a movie like that?"

"W-well, I... you see..." I stuttered like a fucking idiot, honestly thinking she just read my mind, but luckily she showed another beautiful thing about her next; her laugh. A perfectly pitched, girly laugh that I found the corners of my lips twitching upward for.

"I'm fucking with you. It's okay. Not many people expect me to watch those types of movies, especially when they find out the reasons behind it."

"What's the reason?"

Her smile brightens. "The actors." And she steals my fucking heart. "I love Woody Harrelson. He was good in Zombie Land, but nothing beats his role in-"

"2012," We both say at the same time. That was the first time we exchanged the look. The look of two movie buffs that we're having a moment. A moment that I thought would be a perfect time for me to ask for her number, and I thought she felt the same way... until she looked away. She looked down at her food, cleared her throat, then asked, "How much for the popcorn and soda?"

"Um... d-don't worry about it. It's on me." She nods her head, gives a quick thanks, then starts to walk away.

I guess I was feeling nostalgic today, though, because right before she enters the theater, I call out with a loud "Hey" to get her attention. She spins around, waiting for me to say something. "What's your name?"

Her beautiful smile spreads again, and I swear it's so bright that her teeth were shining from a few feet away. "Daisy."

Then she entered the theater.

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This wasn't the last time I saw the girl my heart decided to have a crush on. I honestly didn't even realize what it meant until the next time I saw her. That time, she asked for my name. Then the time after that, we exchanged numbers. Then the time after that, she came in for the first time without planning to watch a movie. Coming for me, and me only.

I'm not sure if I should call this a date since I'm technically still working, but right now, it's a slow Tuesday, and Daisy and I are sitting on the floor behind the counter, asking questions to each other and playing a game with skittles.

"Alright, my turn," Daisy says right before she threw a skittle into my mouth. "What's your favorite... color?" I smirk and raise my eyebrow. It only took a few glances at my hair, and Daisy understood instantly. "Ah! Blue, duh."

I chuckle at her, then dig into the pack of skittles to fish out another one. I throw it into her mouth with ease, and I love her successful smile because of it. "If you could have any job you wanted, and I mean anything at all, what would you do?"

Daisy leans back on her hands and stares up at the ceiling, thinking. It's then I have to look away from her, feeling my face heat up when I see the way she's leaning on her hands. It's making her big.... cleavage.... area pop out even more than before in her blue and white shirt.

"Hmm..." Daisy says in thought, but then I see her bright smile return. Indicating she knows exactly what to say as her answer. "I would have to say a hairdresser."

My eyebrows shoot up into my hairline. I wasn't sure what I expected her to say, but a hairdresser wasn't something that came to mind, truthfully. "A hairdresser. Interesting. Why don't you go for it then?"

Daisy looks down at her shoes, and I try really hard to keep my eyes on her eyes while she rocks back and forth. "I just... haven't."

Her answer is simple, but something about her strange demeanor change has me pushing the subject. "Oh come on, Dais." She looks back at me through her hair at the sound of the nickname I gave her. "Why don't you try? I just so happen to be friends with the boyfriend of the hairstylist in town. I could set you guys-"

"No," Daisy interrupts urgently. I watch her cheeks heat up, and she sucks her bottom lip into her mouth from embarrassment. "I'm sorry. That was rude. I meant, no, my life is too complicated to do that. A dream like that just isn't possible for me... You, on the other hand. I would love to one day say, 'You know that guy, Namjoon, who just won a Grammy? Yeah, I used to throw skillets in his mouth from behind a movie theater snack booth."

Daisy giggles, and I can tell she's trying to change the subject. What I don't understand is why. I leave it alone because I would hate to make her feel uncomfortable, but even as she gives me her trust of thinking my dreams will come true, I feel it secretly in my heart that I would rather have hers come true.

。・°°・°°・。 。・°°・°°・。 。・°°・°°・。

A few weeks have passed since that day, and I have three words to explain how I'm feeling about Daisy: I'm in love!

Beautiful, deep, teenage pining type of love! Daisy is just so perfect. We finally ended up going on a date, although we did not use the word "date." But I would consider a marathon of watching classic movies together at my apartment as a date, especially when every time our hands touch, we both look at each other and feel the sparks fly.

The first time we did this, I thought for sure we would be watching movies all night, and maybe I would find the balls to kiss her for the first time, but when 10 o'clock rolled around, she had to leave. It felt off, her having to go to work at ten at night, but I didn't question it. I never questioned anything Daisy did because the last thing I wanted to do was run Daisy away from me. That was quite literally the last thing I wanted.

But just like today, I felt off. We continued these little movie marathons in my apartment, as well as her meeting up with me at my job when it was slow, and just like all those late nights, she decided to leave thirty minutes before ten at night.

"Oh my god! I-I have to go," Daisy always says like she has lost track of time.

I don't know why this time made me ask. I don't why tonight, of all nights, but I decided to pry more into her life. Maybe because the frown on her face was extra deep, and watching her eyes widen when she realized the time was enough for me this time. "Where do you have to go?"

Daisy stops putting on her jacket and looks at me, stunned that I actually asked that question. "I've told you. I-I work overnights. I got a shift tonight."

"Yes, but where exactly do you work?"

Daisy smiles at my question, but it doesn't quite reach her ears. "I... it's hard to explain, Namjoon. Will talk about it next time."

Daisy goes to reach for my apartment door, but I stop her by jumping off the couch, running over to her, and then gently grabbed her by the wrist. She doesn't turn to face me, but she doesn't continue to leave the apartment either. The silence stretches between us, and I continue to hold onto her dainty wrist. I whisper her name, and I know she heard me because her back straightens for a second. Indicating she also heard the pled in my voice.

After a moment, she asks me to let go of her wrist, and I do. She turns the knob of the door, and I let her. I let her walk out the door without any answers about her life once again.

I watch her through the window of my apartment, get into her car and drive away. I should have just stayed put. I should have just let it go and continued being the guy that doesn't get into her business, but I don't. For the first time since meeting her a month again, I do something that could potentially have her run away from me. I grab my jacket and walk out of my apartment after her.

I don't take my car because she knows what it looks like. I've picked her up from her house and drove her to mine enough times that she even knows the license plate by heart.

I ran in the direction she drove, and I somehow kept up with her slow driving. Her car isn't able to go over a certain MPH since it's a hunk of junk and old, and this is the first time I'm glad she has a piece of shit of a car.

When she stops at a red light, I hide in the bushes and wait for her to start driving again. Feeling my adrenaline spike as I wait to see where Daisy is actually going.

Truthfully, I thought, maybe she has a boyfriend. Maybe she has another guy in her life outside of me, and she just hasn't found the right time to tell me. I know she can tell I have feelings for her, and I think she has feelings for me too. We haven't voiced it, and neither of us has made a move on each other yet, but I've caught her eyes lingering on me enough and see the blush on her cheeks that happens whenever I compliment her to think she has feelings for me.

Daisy's light then turns green, and I continue to follow her. I continue to follow her until she parks behind Jeon's game store, and I plant myself in another set of bushes nearby. I sigh in relief when I realize she's probably just working part-time with Jungkook, and she only works the overnight shifts there since it's open 24/7.

But when she gets out of her car, instead of walking in the direction of the game store back entrance, she towards the Lee club.

I watch her walk to the back door, knock on it three times, then the owner, Felix, I think his name is, answers the door. The guy looks wasted and stares down at Daisy with a smirk and eyes her like a piece of meat ready to be eaten. I feel a spike of anger coarse through me because I like how he's looking at her right now. I watch them exchange a few words, Daisy shaking her head multiple times while they do. I'm too far away to know what either of them is saying, but I can tell by Daisy's stance she's not liking the conversation at all.

At one point, though, Felix's lusty smirk falls. Daisy's back straightens, looking like she is nervous by the way her bodies shaking, and I ready myself to intervene if something bad happens. Her anxiety is radiating to me from twenty feet away.

But instead of Felix doing anything, or either of them exchanging any more words, nothing happens. He moves to the side and lets her walk in. After she crosses the thresholds, Felix and Daisy quickly disappear behind the door when it closes. The metal door makes a loud smack when Felix shuts it.

I regret a few things that night. I regret not asking her more questions, and instead of being the nice, non-pushy guy that I am. I regret not taking my car because I feel a sniffle coming on, and I regret waiting there and not leaving after the door has shut.

It's obvious what she does for a living now. It's obvious why she's here and hasn't told me about it either. It's clear as fucking day, but I still sit there in the cold and wait for her. I sit there for hours behind the bushes.

And within those hours, I'm thinking about a bunch of different scenarios of what will happen when I see her again. Some bad, some optimistic, and others where I just chicken out. I think about chickening out and just leaving a thousand times throughout the night. Thinking about also never speaking to Daisy about this and what it could mean for us, but I also know that I've chickened out of way too many things when it comes to Daisy.

There have been so many opportunities for me to tell her my feelings, to kiss her, to hold her hand, to ask her on a real date, but I've done none of it. Now, I'm here outside the Lee club, and I'm not leaving until I see her. I can't just let this go without talking to her, as much as past me is telling me to do exactly that.

It's nearly three in the morning before Daisy leaves the Lee club and is seen at the back door again. I stand up, and I have to practically run over to her because she's speed walking to her car, only a few feet away from the club.

Looking back, it was kind of stupid coming up behind her, but I didn't think when I touched her shoulder to turn her around, she would pull a knife on me! I raise my hands, scared she'll stab me if I don't, and yell out, "Woah! Woah! Daisy, it's me! Namjoon."

Daisy breathes out a sigh of relief, but the look of confusion is then clear on her face when she realizes it is me. That expression soon turns to horror no more than a second later, and she quickly wraps herself up in her jacket. Too little too late, though, because I saw her fancy light blue lingerie underneath it already. I'll be honest, she looks extremely sexy in it... but she didn't wear it for me.

I feel a spike of jealousy hit me, but that soon turns into confusion when I notice her regular clothing hanging out of her purse. That only makes me think she didn't want to stick around at the club to get changed.

Before I could think into that information any further, Daisy asks, "Namjoon, what the hell are you doing here?"

"What the hell am I doing here? What the hell are you doing here? Are you a s-stripper or something?" I didn't mean to raise my voice or stutter, but I was actually hoping - no, praying - that she would say yes. Confirming she was only a part of the stripping at this club and nothing further. That or something for this club did not involve her at all.

I would be okay with that. I would be okay with her working here as only a stripper. Although it makes me very jealous to know so many other guys have seen her that way, I would still be okay with it. I wouldn't be that person to tell her what to do, but at the same time, if she's the or something...

But her face answers my unasked question before her words do. "Um... Yeah. That's part of my job."

"P-part of your job? What other parts are there?" I hear my voice get horse, and it's because I'm afraid of her answer.

Daisy nods her head, and I see the tears start to form in her eyes. Her lip juts out, and it's wobbling uncontrollably. She's trying and failing not to cry while she says her next words...

"I'm also a prostitute, Namjoon." My heart cracks. "And... I'm sorry, but I can't see you anymore." It cracks some more. "I think it would be better I-if we just s-stoped seeing each other. My life's too complicated to have you in it. I'm— I'm sorry." Then Daisy gets into her car and drives away.

I watch Daisy drive away, and I just stand there stunned. Stunned by her admitting to being a prostitute and stunned by her breaking off our relationship. Did we even have a relationship? That's not important right now...

Daisy just broke us off, and honestly, even when I thought it was a clear possibility after she walked into the club, I was never thinking about breaking up our friendship. I never thought of kicking Daisy out of my life. I couldn't. Not now that I know, I love her. I love her, and I want to help her. I was going to tell her that I could help her leave this life, help her get a job with J-hope, and support her until she was back on her feet. That's what I was going to say if the possibility was confirmed, but thinking it over and actually knowing it's the truth... I'm such a fucking coward.

I stood there, shocked from the instant heartbreak of her words, and let her drive away. Even now, looking at the back of her car stopped at the stop sign at the exit of the plaza, I continue to stare at her car and do nothing.

Another regret for me today... doing nothing.

I let the beautiful, movie-obsessed, skittle-throwing champ, comic book collecting, lover of Adele and Sia, and classic movie enthusiast Daisy leave me. I let the person I love leave.

When her car finally turns, and Daisy is out of my sight, my heart completely breaks.

-

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Index | Ch.14

[rorywritesjunk]

Let's be one another's present tense

Buggy 'rescues' you from an abusive situation, and after a less than stellar introduction, he has you audition for his crew to keep you safe. You want safety, security, and joining a circus seems like the best idea. Rating: R-ish for now. Warning: First chapter has bruises and talks about abuse (not from Buggy), though Buggy has his explosive moments. There's an asshole much older ex-husband in this story. Swearing. Nose bonks. A/N: This has been sitting in my head as I worked it out for an Anon's request. I have been really intrigued by this and wanted it to be just right. Also, it gave me the chance to ask my circus obsessed friend about different routines and we bounced some ideas off each other. This is also a touch different than other things I've written, which is why I've been taking so long to work on it and get it posted. Enjoy! Title comes from "Crater Lake" by Lady Lamb.

Chapter 1 + Chapter 2 + Chapter 3 + Chapter 4 + Chapter 5 + Chapter 6 + Chapter 7 + Chapter 8 + Chapter 9 (NC-17) + Chapter 10 + Chapter 11 + Chapter 12 + Chapter 13

Chapter 1

“So we have a deal then?”

“Yes… yes, we have a deal.”

The clown pirate grinned at the old man sitting across from him. Buggy cheerfully cut a chunk out of the apple in his hand with his knife, tossing it into his mouth before he suddenly slammed the knife down onto the table, letting it stick into the wooden table top. The old man jumped while you flinched as you stood beside him. The bartering to keep the town safe from Buggy and his crew had finally finished and now it was just an uncomfortable time to be in the room.

Buggy looked at you and winked before he retrieved his knife, turning his attention back to the old mayor. “That your daughter there? She’s cute.” 

“No, she’s my wife.” He replied; Buggy had just taken a bite of the apple only to spit it out across the desk at the man in mock surprise. The man did his best not to react while you covered your mouth with a look of disgust on your face.

“Wife?” Buggy chuckled. “You have one foot in the grave and you’re married to someone who looks young enough to be your daughter?” He shook his head. “And people think pirates can be disgusting. They don’t really care what their local politicians are up to, do they?” Buggy took another bite of the apple, giving you a once over before he grinned. “Throw her into the deal.”

“I-I suppose we-” The mayor started but you cut him off.

“No, I’m not going with some disgusting pirate like you!” You snapped. “Who knows what you would do to me!”

Buggy locked eyes with you in that moment, the playful attitude gone and replaced with something you couldn’t quite figure out. He stood up and approached you, knife in one hand and apple in the other. The mayor just sat and watched, trembling in his seat, refusing to do anything to protect you. The captain smiled at you as the knife cut into the apple; you could hear the fruit cracking from the force of the knife, saw the juice spill over his fingers, soaking into his gloved hands.

“What did you say about my nose?” He asked, voice eerily calm as he tossed the bit of apple into his mouth. 

“I didn’t say anything about your nose.” You spat as you looked him up and down, crossing your arms. “Though I doubt I could say anything about it that you haven’t heard before.”

He smiled at that before raising the knife up and throwing it into the wall behind you. You turned to see where it landed but his hand was on your throat, backing you up to the wall and next to the knife. Buggy held you there for a moment, the smile disappearing as his hand tightened its hold on you. 

“You’ve got quite the mouth on you.” He murmured as you grabbed his hand with yours, trying to pull him off you. Buggy suddenly smirked and let go of you. “You’ll fit in with my crew. Though, I should warn you, every time you mouth off I cut off a bit of your tongue.”

You rubbed your throat, breathing heavily as you turned to your husband. “You’re… you’re just going to let him take me?!”

“He’ll destroy the town if I don’t!” The mayor wailed. “I can’t allow that to happen! Sa-Sacrifices have to happen!”

“I’m not a sacrifice!” You exclaimed as your hand went to where Buggy was just touching you. You felt… weird from that, never having been touched in that manner before. You were used to aggression, pain, fear. His touch was… strong but there didn’t seem to be malice, but more of a performance. He caused you discomfort but there wouldn’t be a bruise left on you from him that you could tell. You shook your head and looked back at Buggy. “What do you plan to do to me?”

“Target practice, maybe.” Buggy shrugged. “I got this new thing I wanna try where I cut off a volunteer’s clothes with my knife throwing, y’know. Getcha right where the seams of your clothes are and see if I can cut through them.” He looked you up and down as he reached out to touch the fabric of your blouse. “Though, this is nice fabric, I don’t know if I want to risk damaging it.”

You slapped his hand away before turning to slap your ‘husband’. He recoiled at your touch but you didn’t care. He had no issue giving you up to some dirty pirate like this. Sacrifice? You were not some animal to be led for slaughter, you were a person, and you would take out Buggy and his crew even if it killed you. As you turned to face Buggy, he was already at the door of the office, but a hand was in front of you, holding a small red ball. With a squeeze, red smoke burst out of it and everything went dark.

~

The rope around your wrists was tight, scraping and irritating your skin. You were groggy as you came to but you were on a soft surface, fabric rubbing against your cheek almost comfortingly as you tried to get your head to stop spinning and for the nausea to cease. It took a few minutes for you to recall what your last moments were. Slapping a hand, your ex-husband, and some kind of smoke. 

Oh shit you were captured by a pirate. A clown pirate with a bright red nose who was sensitive about it.

You moved your tongue around in your mouth, relieved that it was still whole. He didn’t cut it out yet, but was that empty threat or was he really going to do it? And what was he actually planning on doing with you? Stories often went around about pirates and what they were known to do to their prisoners, and you had heard many of them to give you some idea what to expect. Would he kill you after he was done with you, or would he kill you first and toss you into the sea to be food for the fishes and sea kings?

Heavy footsteps were approaching your room. You shut your eyes, hoping whoever it was would see you were asleep and would leave you alone. 

Except that was expecting too much. 

“Get up.” Buggy said as he walked over to the bed and grabbed the rope, pulling you into a sitting position. You glared up at him and he smirked, patting you on the cheek just enough to emit sound without the sting of a slap. “Rise and shine, cupcake. We need a new freak out there and you gotta earn your keep.”

“I will do no such thing.” You snapped as he pulled you up to your feet. Your body was still feeling the effects of the smoke and when you stood up you were off balanced, falling into him. To your surprise, he caught you, steadying you on your feet before he led you out of the room and down a walkway to another. You didn’t want to follow him, choosing to let your legs give out and falling to the floor. He stopped and turned to look at you.

“Really?” He shook his head and picked you up, slinging you over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “You haven’t even had one performance and you’re already acting like a diva.” 

“Excuse me?!” You wriggled around, trying to get him to drop you, but he laid his hand over your back, steadying you as he walked. “Put me down now!”

“You seem to think you can tell me what to do, cupcake.” He chuckled as his hand slid from your back down to the top of your ass. Without warning he gave you a pinch, causing you to yelp in surprise. “You may have been that loser mayor’s wife, but here? You’re just another freak like us.”

He set you down in a chair and stood behind you. There was a mirror in front of you with lights all around it. You didn’t want to be looking in the mirror right then, seeing the bruises on your face, the black eye that was healing, or the cut on your cheek that was scabbing over. You shut your eyes and took a deep breath. What was this clown playing at?

“Now, we both know I didn’t do that to your face.” He murmured as he put both of his hands on your shoulders and leaned down towards you. “That old man did, didn’t he?” He touched the cut and you jerked away. “Weird, he seemed scared of you back there.”

“He was scared of you.” You hissed as you opened your eyes to glare at him. Buggy put his hand on your other cheek and you flinched, jerking backwards and nearly headbutting him. “Don’t touch me!”

“Cupcake, I just gotta do your makeup.” He told you calmly as he moved just in time from getting a bloody nose. “Cover up your battle scars, y’know. Can’t have the audience thinkin’ we rough up our performers here.”

You jerked again in your seat, trying to get out of reach of him. You didn’t want him touching you, speaking to you, or being near you. You didn’t want to go home but you didn’t want to be here. Why did this happen to you? 

“Red lipstick would look wonderful on you, y’know.” He murmured as he leaned forward, looking at your face. “Or maybe I just throw you out there and let me and Cabaji practice our knife act on you.” He grinned. “I don’t want to waste makeup on you if you’re going to start crying out there.”

“Fuck you!” You spat as you threw your head forward, colliding with his nose. He reared back, swearing loudly as he clutched it while you slumped in the chair, dazed. You didn’t think it would do anything but he fell to the ground on his ass, stomping his feet in pain from the hit.

“Agh, you bitch! Why there?!” He shrieked, covering it with his hand as he tried to breathe through the pain. “Fuck, is your head a cannon ball? It felt like being hit by one!”

You lifted your bound hands to your head, rubbing your forehead. You could say the same thing about him, but then again you didn’t make it a habit of headbutting strange men. Your head felt a little rattled from the attack and the sharp pain in your forehead was throbbing.

“I didn’t think I’d hit your nose!” You shot back as you shut your eyes in pain. “Fucking asshole!”

He gave your chair a kick before getting to his feet, cursing you, headbutts, and noses before storming out of the room and leaving you by yourself. Your head was still hurting and you wondered if you were going to have a new bruise to add to the collection, but at least this one was from self defense, and you'd do it again to him if you had the chance. 

“Fucking clown.” You sighed as you leaned back in your seat. You needed to figure out what was going to happen next.

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

“Being a pirate is all about going your own way.” // “Come with me, Buggy!!”

is this post totally redundant after the similar post i made last week? idk. i guess the main difference is that this time i’m looking at the same topic in an unambiguously romantic light? the shipper goggles, as they say, are on, and i want to talk about these scenes in that context. so, if you’ll forgive me for repeating myself a bit, let’s talk about this again:

as much as i enjoy the heartbreak of “they always thought they’d be together but miscommunication tore them apart” takes on shanks/buggy, the very first flashback we get about them—the first things we learn about them at all, really—tells us this isn’t true.

and i think what we get is more romantic.

Chapter 19, Pages 12-13. i know last time i said they’re at most 12 here, but looking at these lanky-ass teenaged designs that’s nuts. i fully believe oda hadn’t thought through their ages/the timeline at this point, and they were originally supposed to be about luffy’s age when buggy got his devil fruit. which is not relevant to this post in any way, but it’s my post so i get to go off-topic if i want.

Shanks and Buggy have their own goals as pirates, and at this time they understand them to be mutually incompatible. Buggy thinks Shanks’ travel-and-adventure-oriented take on piracy is soft and foolish; Shanks doesn’t care for Buggy’s exclusively treasure-focused take. They’re sometimes friendly, sometimes not, they’ve fought side by side, but they know this time as allies and crewmates is temporary. (Buggy plans on taking his treasure map and the Devil Fruit and leaving the crew immediately.) Maybe they’ll become friendly rivals, ‘fighting to the finish’ when they run into each other like Roger and Whitebeard do, or maybe the next time they see each other they’ll literally fight to the finish. Who knows?

“That’s also what being a pirate is all about.” It’s very sensible behavior. Smart planning for the future.

Which means the contradictory ways they act later—Buggy secretly deciding to follow Shanks, Shanks bluntly asking Buggy to come with him—are not about these characters thoughtlessly clinging to the status quo. They are not in a “we were always together and I never thought that would change” situation. Deciding to stick together is a considered, emotional decision: “I know we don’t make sense together but I don’t care, I want us together anyway.”

Chapter 1082, Pages 8-9. i was cursed the moment i saw these pages with Unable To Stop Thinking About It disease; only time will tell if seeing it animated makes it worse or cures me.

This argument is a codependent breaking point. Buggy’s pinned all his dreams on Shanks, hoisted that poor boy up on a pedestal, and it all falls apart when Shanks reveals thoughts and plans that don’t match Buggy’s perception of him. He can’t bear to be around him now that the false image has been revealed. (Shanks, poor thing, seems to have had no idea any of this was happening.)

But if Shanks hadn’t said no to Laugh Tale in this moment—or maybe if he’d offered a soft no of, idk, “okay, sure, once we’ve got a strong enough crew”—Buggy would have gone with him, still projecting wildly onto Shanks. He’d convinced himself that being a member of the Pirate King’s crew was enough for him, that he didn’t need to be Pirate King himself if Shanks got the title and he was with Shanks.

…but would he have actually liked being a member of that crew?

Like, looking at the things the Red-Haired Pirates do, would Buggy have enjoyed being one of them? Wandering East Blue, hanging out in friendly port towns, collecting treasure here and there but spending a lot of time getting drunk and making friends with the locals? Eventually becoming famous for having a large, weak fleet of subordinate pirate crews Shanks has to sometimes physically step in and protect?

God, no, he’d’ve been miserable. Just seething with thwarted ambition, furious at the perceived disrespect. A real power hungry first officer stereotype, the kind of character that makes you think, Why’s he working for this guy if he hates him so much?

And Buggy must have suspected it would go something like that. But if Shanks hadn’t rejected Laugh Tale, he would’ve gone with him anyway.

(Better to be miserable with you than a loser on my own.)

Or say Buggy agreed to come with Shanks. Obviously his presence wouldn’t change the crew makeup significantly enough to skew the Red-Haired Pirates towards his way of thinking, but for the sake of argument: if he had convinced Shanks to do things his way, would Shanks have enjoyed the kind of piracy Buggy engages in? Taking over and destroying East Blue port towns, ordering your crew killed on a furious whim, single-mindedly hunting down treasure maps and single-mindedly hunting down treasure chests and paying no attention to anything along the journey? Eventually becoming the boss and administrator for a bunch of bounty hunters and mercenaries?

No way; most of that behavior is totally repellant to Shanks. If he let Buggy do that kind of thing under his banner, you’d be left wondering What happened to his morals? Why does he let this guy walk all over him?

And Shanks knew the kind of pirate Buggy was and wanted to be. But he asked Buggy to come with him anyway.

(Better to be miserable with you than have fun apart.)

It’s hard to see a way to make these very different styles of pirating work together. It’s probably doable… with a lot of compromise and honest conversation. The younger Shanks and Buggy had a point, when they said each going their own way was the obvious choice! It was certainly the easier one. Was it the happier one? Who can say.

[ashbrat488]

Foul Play - Henry Cavill Fanfic - Complete

Rugby AU Enemies to lovers Word Count: 41,847

Trigger Warning: Assault/R@pe (I'll put another trigger warning on that chapter) Drug Use. Violence.

Millicent "Milly" Bailey loses her mother just before her high school graduation and decides to move to England with her newly found father, Darren, she didn't know about until she turned 16. Now she's an American from a small town in Iowa, thrown into a new country and a new culture at one of the most prestigious colleges in the world. She's quiet and mostly likes to keep to herself until she catches the eye of a handsome rugby player, Henry Cavill.

Henry thinks it's funny to tease Milly, bullying her with the help of his friends. That is until his last year of school where he really needs to buckle down and obtain the proper grades if he wants to be scouted for the England Rugby Team. Neither of them are happy when the dean, Milly's father, puts them together in their last year for Milly to help him graduate. Can they learn to see eye to eye and get along or will everything fall apart before graduation?

Started: June 15, 2023 Finished: September 27, 2023

Wattpad link here

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Epilogue

[blackmoonlightexpress]

TTEOTM Master Post

Opinion/Explainer Articles

TTEOTM vs. the Industry: Or Why TTEOTM is much more than a TV show (link)

About the Mixed Responses in China and Why I Think TTEOTM Will Prevail in the End (link)

Clarification: There were never 58 episodes (link)

How TTEOTM made "clam town" famous (link)

Further Reading

Novel English translation: Happy Ending Chapters 127, 128, 129, 130, 131 (credits go to Micha101), Full Novel

Novel vs. TV: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (WIP!)

Screenplay: Cut Scenes from the Ending (link)

Worldview & timeline logic (link)

Easter Eggs: Part 1 (plot), Part 2 (production), Part 3 (costume)

Compilations

Viewership Data: TTEOTM is the most viewed non-dangai xianxia drama since Ashes of Love (link)

Costume Count: Luo Yunxi (41), Bai Lu (35), Chen Duling (16), Deng Wei (18), Other Main Characters, The Uncles

Fun Facts: Creative Team, Production (link)

Merchandise: Top 7 Officially Licensed Merch (link)

Promotional Materials: Videos (link), Poster: Main, Dunhuang, Three Lives, Character Portraits

Concept Art: Part 1, Part 2

OST with English subtitles (link)

Complete OST guide with timestamps (link)

Luo Yunxi's many talents (link)

News/Updates

TTEOTM nominated in the 2023 Seoul Drama Awards (link)

TTEOTM finally reached Top 1 TV programme in Singapore (link)

Goodbye message from Luo Yunxi (link)

Goodbye message from the screenwriter He Fang (link)

LuoYunxiActing is #1 trending topic in China (link)

Reddit Episode Discussion Threads

Hostage Prince Arc: 1-6, 7-8, 9-10

Dream Arc: 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, 17, 18

Jing Kingdom Arc: 19, 20, 21-22, 23, 24, 25-26, 27, 28, 29

Cultivation Arc: 30, 31-32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40

More on r/TilltheEndoftheMoon!

Shui Long Yin 水龙吟

The Official Announcement (link)

What do we know so far (link)

[whumpty-dumpty-doo]

“We Are TroubleD” Masterpost

Welcome to the "We Are TroubleD" masterpost! Here you will find a list of things related to my OC whump fic "We Are TroubleD"! If any links aren’t working, please let me know!

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Story Overview:

Two college boys have their peaceful lives ripped apart when a ransom-seeking stranger abducts D, the son of wealthy parents. The kidnapper gets more than he bargained for when T, D’s roommate is home during the invasion. In captivity the friends must lean on each other to survive their harrowing situation and find a way out of their shared hell.

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Rating:

18+ - contains mature themes

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Series content warnings, Chapters, FAQ and more below the cut!

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Content warnings:

Please note that each chapter/entry will have its own individual content warnings listed at the top of its page. Not all of these elements will appear in every chapter (especially the more intense and mature things, those will come much later in the story and will have clear warnings, so you should be safe for a while if you want to avoid that stuff!)

Overall warnings for this story’s content include (but aren’t limited to):

abuse (physical, emotional, and mental), blood, bondage, cages, captivity, crying, distress, drugging, dub-con, emotional whump, fear, forced participation (in sexual and non-sexual acts), gaslighting, hunger/starvation, hurtful language, injuries, insults, kidnapping, manhandling, non-con (both sexual and non-sexual), pet whump, physical violence, shocking, sickness, stress positions, swearing, things that are neither safe nor sane, thirst, threats, restraints

This list will be updated as things come up or need to be removed.  

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Character Profiles:

Coming Soon!

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Canon story:

Coming soon!

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Misc. entries and one-shots (some might be worked into the canon story later):

Listed in chronological order, even if they were posted out of order due to an event/whump prompt.

Saturdays Are For Soup - (Pre-Capture) - T pushes himself too hard and needs a hand from D. - Day 9 of WoW's Birthday Whump Event!

The Capture (D's POV) – D comes home to an unwelcome surprise after a night out on the town – Day 1 of WoW's Birthday Whump Event!

It's Never Enough – D and T are in need of sustenance, but their captor likes to play sick games – Day 2 of WoW's Birthday Whump Event! --- 3 part mini story ---

Cut Me Loose – Part 1 of 3 - A crazy stroke of luck allows the boys a chance to escape if only they can cut through their bonds. – Day 3 of WoW's Birthday Whump Event!

A Shocking Offence – Part 2 of 3 - T must find help if he hopes to save both D and himself. – Day 4 of WoW's Birthday Whump Event!

Feeling Bushed – Part 3 of 3 - With their captor so close, T must be very careful to avoid being spotted. – Day 5 of WoW's Birthday Whump Event! BONUS CHAPTER!

Feeling Bushed - Trailing Behind - You never know who's watching...

A Breathtaking View - D is desperate to buy T more time to find help - Day 14 of WoW's Birthday Whump Event!

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak no Evil - D's captor returns from searching for the escaped T, and D is left wondering just what happened to his friend. - Day 8 of WoW's Birthday Whumpe Event!

White Out - D slowly loses himself mentally, physically, and emotionally. - Day 6 of WoW's Birthday Whump Event!

Reunited and Ignited - Things heat up when D and T's reunion does not go how they hoped it would. - Day 15 of WoW's Birthday Whump Event!

Burning For You - D has T's back, but who's got his? - Day 13 of WoW's Birthday Whump Event!

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Alternate Universes (AUs):

Coming soon!

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Art:

Coming soon!

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FAQ:

Are “T”, “D”, and “Their Captor” really these character’s names? For now, yes, but probably not forever! They are stand-in placeholder names until I can think of proper names for these guys. I wanted to get the entries that I wrote for WoW's Birthday Whump Event! posted in time, so they don’t have names yet. Can’t rush those things, yanno? Hopefully when I’m ready to post the actual canon story they’ll all have real names!

How old are the characters in your main story? D and T are college age, though Iʻm not sure what specific ages yet. Theyʻre both beyond legal drinking age, and D is slightly older than T. Thatʻs all I know for now, as Iʻm still writing the main canon story.  They might be older or younger in side fics/AUs. If so, Iʻll state it in the post of the story entry itself.

Why is the “D” capitalized in “We Are TroubleD”? Because right now the characters stand-in names are “T” and “D”, so “T”rouble"D”! “We” are T and D, and they are in trouble because they are whump characters.

How often will you update the canon story? Hopefully frequently once I get it off the ground, but you can never really predict that. Iʻm going to try to have as much as I can done of the whole story before I start posting in earnest, so hopefully once it starts going you wonʻt have to wait long!

Can I draw/write about your characters? Sure! Though it might be a bit challenging without references or profiles for them yet. Fingers crossed Iʻll have those made for the future! The one thing I ask is that if you create anything with my characters, please link back to me and donʻt claim them as your own. Thanks!

[anki-of-beleriand]

The house at the edge of the world Ch. 12

Summary: Y/N is the owner of an Airbnb at the edge of the world, a place in which Wanda would either heal or become what everyone is afraid of.

Pairings: Wanda Maximoff/SW! x Female!Reader

Warnings: Minors DNI! +18, angst, drama, slow burn, friends to lovers, pregnancy, romance, fluff, mentions of depression and self harm, healing, jealousy, R owns an Airbnb that welcomes many known characters from Marvel, R has powers, Wanda needs healing, and so does R. Idiots in love. Smut. Yeah, there is sex. Magical sex? More warnings as the story progress.

Author's Note : I'm back and this chapter is full of drama and insecurities, Natasha finally reveals why she is Italy and Reader will have to face some harsh decisions while Wanda is not sure as to what she needs to do. Either way, someone makes the decision for them.

Remember that English is not my mother tongue so I apologise for the grammar, spelling and funny mistakes. It's so good to be back, I hope you guys like this new chapter!

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Epilogue

Chapter 12

If there was a chance of you being happy

The world was full of secrets.

Wanda had learnt some of them on her own, sometimes the secrets were good and they brought a smile to her face whereas some others had been terrible and she had paid them in blood and tears. After the Blip and Westview, Wanda was brought to a new world in which she discovered many secrets about the world and herself that were helping her heal.

The wind of winter came to her face brushing away the discomfort of the heavy morning sun on her skin, the sound of the waves hitting the rocks and the beach made the muscles in her body flexed comfortingly. Her green eyes lifted to see you laughing in the distance with Yelena and Sprite, the waves lapping at your feet while Sprite created another illusion to answer the challenge in Yelena’s voice.

Every morning, ever since her and you started their relationship had been a new discovery something Wanda discovered about herself. You had taught her about forgiveness and happiness, she found in you a world she thought she didn’t deserve and you had made her questioned what she wanted for her future.

Up until that day, Wanda had forgotten about the world outside and had seen in your and Vernazza a way to started anew.

She was so comfortable with the new experiences she was living at the moment she forgot the world outside was still recovering from her mistakes. That Natasha and Yelena had brought with them a dark cloud that was threatening to soon broke the peace she had found in your arms and the town lost in time in Italy.

And soon, whether she wanted it or not, she would need to make a decision that would change her life forever.

But for now, she had her eyes on you loving the childish game you started and the way her heartbeat whenever you turned around to share a smile or a secret wink that made her blush like a high school girl.

You winked at her blowing a kiss before a wave came right at you and you ended up falling on your back, Yelena and Sprite high-fiving laughing at you. Wanda chuckled blushing lightly while turning her attention back to the conversation Ajak and Natasha seemed to be holding about the changes in the world.

Wanda didn’t need to hear much to know the word was changing. She could feel it in her fingertips and the way the magic inside her stirred with emotion. The young woman lowered her gaze, her lips curling slightly at the sound of your laughter; Natasha was looking at her with surprised written in her face whereas Ajak smiled with a knowing glint in her stare. She had been there from the very beginning, and she had seen the changes in both women with growing hope in her heart. The both of them deserve the happiness they were starting to reach.

“I didn’t know this beach existed in this place.” Wanda finally commented serving some more fruit on her plate, Ajak nodded pouring the tea before glancing at Natasha then at Wanda.

“It’s a private beach, down the road there is an old Roman Villa, it belongs to a private tenant that allows us from time to time to make a good use of his property.” Ajak offered a kind smile to Natasha who couldn’t help the glint of suspicious whenever her eyes fell upon the woman.

“Well, then I’m glad we can make a good use of this place,” Wanda turned to Natasha noticing the glint of suspicion in her eyes, she sighed lowering her gaze before turning to the place where you and the others seemed to be in deep combat, “I think this is a good place to have the conversation you had been evading ever since you got here, don’t you think, Nat?”

Natasha shifted on her spot, pressing her lips together before taking a sip from her tea.

“I guess it is.” Natasha tilted her head, her eyes falling upon Ajak. “I’m curious to know how you could keep such a low profile that not even the Red Room had any knowledge of you or your people.”

The story about Ajak and Sprite had been rushed and without any specific details, and while for Natasha was obvious there was more to tell, neither you nor Ajak spoke a word afterwards. For the moment, the Widow would let it pass, but her own secrets and stories could not be held any longer and she knew sooner or later she would need to speak with Wanda and Y/N.

Ajak tilted her head, her smile softening slightly.

“My people have been here even before the Red Room.” The woman straightened up, and the flash of sadness was so genuine Natasha had to look away from that stare. “I guess our low profile could be translated into inactivity.”

Wanda shifted slightly, her eyes drifting to Natasha then back to Ajak.

“We can’t expect everyone with special abilities to come in and save the day.” Natasha finally said, her tone of voice neutral though her eyes narrowing slightly. “Not all of them were born to be heroes.”

“Not all heroes are what they appear to be, Miss Romanoff.”

“Natasha.” The young woman replied, her lips breaking into a smile.

Ajak nodded at her smiling back, “being a hero has many meanings, and some are meant to be a part of history while others are meant to be in the backstage, don’t you think?”

Natasha stiffened at this, her eyes drifting away from the older woman before she nodded lightly.

“I guess you’re right.”

Wanda was quite confused by the conversation, but before she could say something you and the others came right in with huge smiles and laughter in your lips. That was all the young woman needed it to forget about the conversation, you sat down by her side and your hand soon found hers bringing a pleasant warm to her soul making her and Scarlet stirred in pleasure.

“So, what are you guys talking about? You have serious faces and we thought we may come all the way here to animate this.” You commented leaning in to steal a strawberry, Natasha and Yelena glanced at one another just as Ajak and Sprite changed glances.

“We were just having some light conversation.” Wanda leaning in resting her weight on your side, your heart squeezed tightly in your chest at the gesture.

For a moment it seemed as if you missed the interaction between the other women, however there was a tension you could sense a mile away. It was something Natasha had brought with her from the world outside, and something Ajak had felt the moment you finally introduced them to the Avenger and her sister. The worlds Wanda and you were part of joining in a single moment of time, Ajak knew the reasons behind this, but she wasn’t sure if it had been wise or not.

“I think by the faces everyone is making that we need to have a serious conversation, am I right?” You leaned back, eyeing everyone around the beach.

“I think we do.” Natasha finally said looking around the beach, they were the only ones in there and the midday sun gleamed with intensity right above your heads.

Wanda straightened up, her hand never leaving yours though her heart was beating hard against her ribcage when her eyes met those of Natasha. There was something solemn and serious in the other woman; Yelena stirred on her spot but her stare was completely focused on you.

“Well, what is it? You guys had been weird since coming here, and I’m starting to think there is something bad going on.” Wanda finally stated pressing her lips together when Natasha centred her attention on her.

“Something happened after you left Westview.”

The mention of Westview made Wanda dizzy.

For a brief moment, every single moment she lived there came back rushing in a wave of memories and emotions she had learnt to sort inside her heart and mind. The presence born out of her mistakes in that town stirred with anger and regret, sadness came right in when the memories of the harm she did and what she lost threatened to overwhelm her.

She didn’t notice her own reaction, but you had sensed it.

The way her eyes went wide, and then her temperature dropped leaving her hands completely cold. You could sense the changed in her magic, the fear growing in her mind while she was on the brim of losing herself again. You wrapped your hand around hers, and without even thinking about it you opened a magic link to her. A soothing caress of the light in you, brushing lightly with the chaos that was hers.

Wanda lowered her gaze to your hand and hers, her heart stopped beating for a moment until she let go. Scarlet purred inside her mind and soon she too opened herself to the sudden caress of your magic.

Natasha furrowed her brow, she stopped for a moment before speaking of what had happened ever since she left Wanda in Italy and went back to the States.

“The ex-director of SWORD escape right after he was arrested by Monica Rambeau.” Natasha started a story of how Tony had come forth to try and minimize the damage of what Westview had signified for people with special powers and the Avengers in a particular.

The mention of the former director of SWORD, Tyler Hayward, made Wanda’s blood boiled. The man’s only purpose had been to see if she would be capable of giving enough energy to the body of Vision. She had fallen right into the hands of two players she wasn’t even aware of in the midst of her grief; the fact she was hearing the man escape made her worried.

“A lot of people became interested in what happened, and Hayward took advantage of this to escape and take with him the remains of Vision.”

Yelena shifted on her spot, the air around them changed slightly electrifying their senses. Wanda was trying to conceal her real emotions, but it was quite clear by the way her eyes changed colour and the tension on her shoulders and lips that she was angry.

“What do you mean with remains?” This time around it was Ajak the one to speak, the older woman furrowed her brows in clear confusion.

Natasha and Yelena glanced at one another before they settled their eyes on Wanda. The tension was quite evident in the air, whatever mood of happiness or relaxation had left the scene the moment they sat down on the beach. Wanda let go of the hand holding hers, she stirred lightly putting her shoulders back lifting her head to look at the ocean existing right in front of her.

The silence was deafening.

You didn’t take your eyes from the woman sitting beside you, you heard the story not only from Natasha by from Wanda herself. The story of her former lover, and the one she had loved to the point she was ready to leave reality to be by his side. Your heart pressed against your ribcage, the doubts filling your mind came back poking at your thoughts just as you cut the link you tried to open with Wanda.

Natasha let her eyes drifted to where you were sitting, she could see your eyes settled on some spot on the sand though she could tell your attention was on Wanda. How did she miss this? How could she not predict this could happen? Watching the Wanda she was seeing at the moment, to the one she left months ago Natasha was happy to discover something good had happened between the both of you.

Still…

This news was surely shaking something inside Wanda, and you didn’t look too happy with her reaction. Natasha wondered if perhaps her intervention, and the news she brought could have been spared and if they could have dealt with everything on their own.

“Vision was my…we…” Wanda hesitated for a brief moment she felt empty, the darkness she thought was no longer part of her sneaked inside her mind and Scarlet came forth trying to give her the strength she was looking for.

“He was my former lover.” Wanda finally revealed, this much Ajak and Sprite knew the both of them turned to you but it was clear you were not ready to be confronted.

“He was not human, more like a sintezoide…” Wanda trailed off furrowing her brows at the explanation she was giving. Vision was more than a machine, he had a soul and he had loved her. “He wore an infinity stone, the Mind Stone. He was…”

“He died in the fight with Thanos and was not possible to bring him back.” This time around Yelena intervene when it was quite obvious Wanda would not be able to complete her explanation. “The problem is, since he was not human but an android his parts are pretty important but they haven’t been able to reproduce the energy the Mind Stone gave him to bring him back.”

“This Hayward…he wanted to bring Vision back?” This time around you spoke, your eyes devoid of any emotion and you were careful to centre your attention on Natasha.

“That seems to be his original plan, yes.” Natasha then shot a quick glance at Wanda before looking over at you. “He stole the body again, and right now is on the run. But things back in the States are getting almost impossible to control since this only brought back problems we thought were over.”

“The Sokovian Accords.” You nodded in understanding; the world had always been afraid of what they didn’t know or understand. It had always been that way, and people like yourself and the ones sitting on the beach with you had always been subject to the hatred and the sheer desire of seeing you either dominate or destroyed.

Wanda put a hand on her face, she was starting to understand the extension of her actions and the consequences they brough upon the people she loved.

It’s not our fault. We just wanted to be happy.

Why are we still paying for all of this?

The question went unanswered, Scarlet could sense the distress coming from Wanda and the lack of warmth you were providing. Neither one of them dare to poke into your mind, to even look at you or go back to the hand-to-hand touch. They were afraid of the rejection, of the realisation that they were more of a problem that someone you would want nearby.

“They can’t extend their influence over here.” Sprite chimed in, her brows knitted together as she spoke. “This problem is mainly in the States, but it has nothing to do with fear but with control. They know someone like Wanda is powerful and having her under control would give them a great advantage over other countries.”

Your lips broke into an easy smile, everyone had their attention on the young red-haired woman. Sprite had always been sharp, and while she looked young her mind was that of a great strategist. She had always read politics pretty well and had always been the voice of reason when humans in general went right into the same pattern of war and hatred.

“This Hayward…he is the real problem.” Sprite then settled her eyes on Natasha. “Why are you really here? Why is the disappearance of the man and the android so important?”

“Because my powers come partially from the Mind Stone.” Wanda revealed finally understanding what Natasha had been trying to say. “Hayward is looking for me?”

“That’s what Tony and Monica suspect.” Natasha let her eyes travelled around the people sitting at the beach, the bright sun above their heads and the dark clouds coming from the sea was the right contrasts of the situation they were living at that very moment.

“How can Wanda bring him back?” Ajak straightened up, she never turned her eyes to you but it was quite obvious in the way she held herself and the coldness in her tone that something was bothering her. “In what state will you bring him back?”

Wanda snapped her head back to the older woman, the redhead woman furrowed her brows with her shoulders put back and her chin lifting slightly in defiance. Much like the weather that day, Wanda was a mixture of contradictions at the moment.

“What do you mean in what state?” Up until that moment Wanda had not really thought of the hidden message in the conversation. It wasn’t until Ajak had posed the question that she realized what Hayward was trying to do.

Bring Vision back.

Was It possible?

Was it possible she could bring Vision back? That…

The harsh caressed of the cold breeze made her shivered, she remembered the day she saw his body. She had tried to sense the soul and the heart of the man she had loved only to find she could no longer feel him. Vision was no longer there, and Wanda had never felt as alone as she felt at that moment the only thing she could think of was taking him with her and giving him a proper burial.

It never crossed her mind to…to bring him back.

She never thought it was a possibility.

Chaos magic…that’s what Agatha said to us. She said I could re write reality and…

Wanda, is this what you really want? Is this what we want? Is he…

It was at that moment that Wanda felt the weight of your eyes on her. Her green eyes found yours, and from a brief moment there was nothing she could see in them. You had said nothing at all up until that point, your thoughts had been yours and the best defence you found to the tempest that was your head and emotions was the silence and blankness in your stare.

You could see the doubt in her eyes, the glimpse of hope at the mere thought her powers could bring him back. You heart broke. Something that had started a couple of weeks ago was nothing to what she had lived with the other man, machine or not, he was the love of her life. She almost lost herself for him, she almost lost herself to grief because of him…

Who were you to change that?

“You were saying he is not human, a machine that came to be thanks to an infinity stone, and I’m not sure you know the extend of the powers of this gems.” Ajak shifted slightly crossing her stare with yours. “He may not be what you expected him to be this time around.”

“Whether that’s the case or not, Hayward thinks it’s possible and Tony agrees with him.” Natasha chimed in, her eyes pinning Wanda to the spot. “Vision’s body is strong and a powerful weapon, in the wrong hands could be disastrous.”

“That’s what we are here.” Yelena shrugged, though her attention was on you. “To make sure you were sane enough for us to take you back and try to find this asshole before something bad happens.”

“I’m sorry you have to go through all of this all over again, Wanda, but we really need you.” Natasha all but whispered, her heart heavy with guilt knowing she was breaking the one chance the redhead had to recover for everything that had happened in her life. A chance to the happiness she seemed to have acquired with you, Natasha still remembered the conversation she held with Wanda, she held the secret of Wanda’s feelings for you and she knew this sudden news would change what you two had been building in the last couple of months.

Nothing else was said, at that very moment thunder broke into the sky falling on the calm waters of the Mediterranean. You clenched your jaw standing up, your eyes gleaming slightly before you soothe your soul and mind.

“We better go, that seems to be a thunderstorm.” And without any other word, you turned around leaving everyone on the beach with the heavy weight of destiny hanging above their heads.

The storm came as soon as you stepped into your home.

Everyone was filling out the living room, with Sprite and Yelena running to the TV and Natasha and Ajak going directly to the kitchen to prepare some tea.  No one said anything, but you found yourself alone in the hallway with Wanda standing awkwardly right beside you.

The sound of blowing wind and water falling on the rooftop threatened to overwhelmed your senses, you creased your brows turning around and making your way to your room.

That part of the house was in darkness, your windows had always been perfect to show the outside world and this time around it was not an exception. You had always marvelled at the sight silver lightning igniting the skies, the twirling wind and water dancing around the glass while the sound of the storm filled the silence in your room.

You didn’t need to turn around to know Wanda had followed you there.

The air around you were charged with magic, her whole being had been shaken by the news brought by Natasha. She was restless, and the magic in her was reacting to her emotions; you sighed knowing there was a conversation you need to be held at the moment and you wished you could run from it.

“This doesn’t change anything.” Her voice broke the silence, and the softness behind her words and the doubt dripping from them didn’t change your mood or your thoughts.

“Please, don’t lie to me.” You turned around and your eyes found those of Wanda. It was clear by the one her left eye gleamed red that she and Scarlet where with you in the room.

You could almost sense the reflection of the witch right behind you, but you stood there unmovable with your heart beating painfully hard against your chest. Your mind filled out with doubts, just as Wanda stood in front of you with the gleam of hope in her stare.

“I’m not lying.” Wanda bit her lower lip, her right arm holding onto her left forearm. She hadn’t said it, and that moment was not the right one to tell you about her feelings for you.

She was afraid and confused. Everything came into her without her asking for it, her feelings for you, the guilt of what happened in Westview, the possibility of Vision coming back to life. Everything was a mixture of feelings she could barely controlled at the moment. The only thing she knew, the only thing she and Scarlet wanted was to reach out for you, to make you understand…but she didn’t know how to do it.

She didn’t know how to say it without it sounding wrong.

Your lips broke into a bitter smile, “I know what this means to you, Wanda. You came here to heal, and you have been doing wonderfully, but right now Natasha present you with a possibility you didn’t even know was out there. This change everything.”

Wanda felt as if your words hit a sore nerve inside her soul, she furrowed her brows trying to justify her actions. It wasn’t as if what she had lived up until that point with you meant nothing, because that was not the case but she did owe Vision and everyone to at least try and do something.

“I never thought about it, but if there is a chance…if I can make things right…” She started and you huffed breaking the eye contact and looking away from the other woman. “I owe them everything.”

“You owe them nothing!” You exclaimed without meaning to.

You had seen the suffering in her heart, you had been there hearing the stories, sharing with her the moments in which she tried to recover after giving everything to a world that was never grateful for what she sacrificed, if anything the world seemed ready to ask more from her that she should give. It had been five months in which you had seen the darkness lurking in her eyes, you had felt the magic corrupting her as she tried to seek out happiness and right the moment she was finally finding peace and perhaps happiness the world came back with this.

Was it fair?

“I know that I don’t owe them…but…” Wanda hesitated, her mind dancing around a million thoughts and her heart beating fast just as it broke at the sight of your enraged posture. “I have to try it, to make it right…what if…”

The world was still out there. 

Natasha and Yelena spoke of what had happened to the inhabitants of Westview, they had talked about the legal actions many wanted to take against Wanda and the government for being incapable of defending them in their time of need. As if that wasn't enough, the lack of control the government had over organisations such as SWORD and even SHIELD was something that the military and the Department of State was taking up very seriously in the face of new superheroes and villains showing up after the Blip. 

“What if there is still a chance? What if we can make it right?” Wanda was not sure as to what she was talking about, she really was not sure what she was hoping for.

The last couple of months had been like a dream, and little by little the wound left by the loss of Vision and the mistakes she made was only possible because you had been right there for her. She wrapped her arms tightly around her body, the doubts that had always assaulted her came back, and she was not sure as to what was expected of her, what she should do. Who she should chose.

"It's not your responsibility, Wanda."  You finally snapped, the gravity of the news and the implications of what was being said didn't go amiss by you but it was quite evident this was not an issue only for Wanda to carry on her shoulders. “It will never be your responsibility, that’s not what being a hero means.”

"How can you say that?" Wanda turned around to finally face you. “That you are afraid to go out there and do something to change the world doesn’t mean everyone has to do the same! That you are so afraid you prefer to turn your back on them doesn’t mean we have to do the same!”

Another thunder broke into the sky, your eyes opened wide at her words.

Fear of the world outside.

It wasn’t fear, you clenched your fists looking away from her. Wanda opened her eyes wide, stepping closer only to stop herself.

“I won’t stay here running away from everything, Y/N.”

“Of course not, you prefer to go back to a world that has been afraid of you to lick up their boots instead of…” You trailed off, your lips clenched tightly as you shake your head crossing the room with firmed, enraged strides.

Wanda stood there wondering what the hell happened.

You hated the tears forming in your eyes, and before anyone could do or say anything you left the protective walls of your house and flew right into the storm.

The rain was falling strongly on the land.

The wind and the cold made you shivered, but your anger and frustration were far greater and thus you took advantage of this to let out your emotions through a session of training with your magic and your fighting forms.

You were frustrated, you could not stop thinking about the happenings of that day.

The conversation kept on running in your head over and over, the words from Natasha your conversation with Wanda everything was coming down on you feeding up your fears and insecurities as much as your frustration with the whole situation.

You knew a part of you was being childish, Wanda had gone through some bad things in her life and the last thing she needed it at the moment was for you to not support her. You told Yelena and Natasha that you were ready to live with her everywhere as long as it was with her, so why were you so sensitive about the topic?

Your feet slid through the ground, you spined around stretching your arm in a half strike that was easily blocked by Ajak. Your eyes opened wide at the sight, the older woman offered a half smile before her closed fist came right into contact with your jaw.

You fell on the ground, the water creeping in with mud and grass.

“Ajak!” The woman laughed taking a fighting stance, you huffed jumping right to your feet and going into the offensive.

Your feet danced around the terrain, your legs stretching up with your elbows up and fists closed to protect yourself while also kicking halfway to the other woman. It was a nice exercise and soon, whatever anger and frustration you were feeling was replaced by the sadness and the insecurity the situation brought to you.

Ajak stopped the last punch to her face and soon her arms were tightly wrapped around you.

“I know what you are experiencing, Y/N. I don’t pretend to understand it, but I know.” Ajak put you at arm’s length, and you couldn’t help but show your shaky smile.

“I’m just…I haven’t felt like this in such a long time, and now…” You passed your hand over your hair, the cold barely affecting you just as you finally let go. “I’m afraid this is it, that I will lose her and she will…”

Ajak softened her features, her hand cleaning up the mud on your face and putting a strand of hair behind your ear.

“Don’t you trust her, Y/N? Don’t you trust what you feel for her? What the both of you have built so far?” The questions were quite simple, and you knew what the other woman was trying to find out.

“A part of me does, Ajak. The other part…hesitates.”

“And why does it hesitate?”

You sighed stepping back, you hated it when Ajak confronted you with your own emotions. With those thoughts you knew would be the final sentence of what you were living with Wanda. It was part of your nature, of who you really were.

“Because…I wish I could be selfish and keep her with me.” You mumbled shaking your head. “But I will give her anything she ask for without a single doubt, I…if this is what she wants, if he is…I will…”

Ajak nodded offering you a tender smile, you huffed again shaking your head.

“How fucking pathetic I am.”

“You’re not pathetic.” Ajak glanced at the sky before settling her eyes on you. “You loved without measure, and you have never been envious nor have you been selfish. This is hard on you, but you have to trust in what you and her have lived so far.”

You shook your head; the doubts plague your mind but you decided to just let it go for the time being.

“I wish it was that easy.” You mumbled. “I’m just…”

Whatever else you were about to say was suddenly interrupted but the sound of heavy explosions. Your eyes opened wide, Ajak turned around to the source of the sound where your house was located.

“Wanda!” You exclaimed before taking off and running down the hill with Ajak close behind.

The place was a complete disaster.

You heard guns, and another explosion.

Your house was on fire and Natasha and Yelena were engaged in a fight with two soldiers while Sprite was running around trying to get to the guest house. Your eyes gleamed gold, your hands stretching around while your fingers wriggled reading your magic.

“Y/N!” You heard your name but before you could do anything at al, your eyes fell upon the unconscious form of Wand and then another explosion that sent you flying to the other side.

The last thing you could see was the plane above your heads flying away. Then everything went dark.

______________________________________________________________

TAG LIST!

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[allandoflimbo]

I  C  E    P R I N C E S S  13

Pairings: Popular Girl!Reader x Outkast!Bucky

Explicit Content - Smut - NO MINORS

Summary: 

Bucky Barnes is the quiet boy who gets picked on. 

The Reader and her friends run with the popular crowd at Stark High. 

As the Winter Ball approaches, she is partnered with Bucky Barnes for a class project. They grow close in an inadvertently secret friendship, which later turns into love.

Only catch is…she’s Steve Roger’s ex girlfriend, and before she was partnered up with Bucky, her friends had planned to use and turn Bucky into Stark High’s new it boy to try and get back at Steve; a disgusting bet. 

Another catch: She’s a figure skater at the town’s arena every Tuesday and Thursday nights. Bucky works part time at the rink resurfacing the ice. The other doesn’t know.

Modern AU High School fic - later goes into adulthood.

M A S T E R P A G E - FULL SERIES

Warnings: This story will have a lot of angst, a lot of fluff, a lot of cursing, and a lot of sex. Oral, praise kink, body worship, overstimulation, etc. you know me. There will also be loss of virginity in this. 

Please support your content creators and writers and leave a review.

P R E V I O U S   C H A P T E R

Song this chapter is based on is Red by Taylor Swift, but the Tyler Ward Version. (Because it's Bucky's POV)

This chapter is more angst than usual BUT this isn't the angst part I was warning about yet lol. I apologize for any typos. I just got back from vacay and I wanted to push this out for you guys ASAP.

Enjoy!

___

EVERYTHING still felt so surreal; and in the best way possible. The rest of the trip at the Cabin had gone well. Bucky was becoming even more comfortable with your friends, even almost calling them his friends at this point. Everyone except Murdock. You and Bucky ignored him and his brooding energy the rest of the stay there. After confirming everyone’s suspicions that you were in fact now dating, you both stayed glued at the hip. You ended the last night cuddling on the couch watching some action movie.

The next morning, Bucky had picked you up in his car for school. You shared a quick kiss as you buckled yourself in. The ride there had gone great as you both shared sweet words and hand squeezes. Sometimes even a thigh squeeze from the other.

You should’ve known it was going too well to be true. You and Bucky had gone separate ways for just a minute to go into your own locker to grab your things. On your back way to meet him at his, since you finished first, you had walked in on the altercation.

You felt your blood run cold as you watched Matt towering over Bucky. Bucky’s back up to his locker as he stared back at Matt angrily. There was already a little audience. Not big, but two or three other girls that were getting their own things in the locker next to Bucky’s.

“You think because you’re so quiet, Barnes, and because you put up this act that you don’t think I know what you didn’t do. That’s what.” You could hear Matt say.

There was something about Matt’s tone and words that set you on edge. Bucky’s jaw clenched.

“You need to stay the hell away from me.” Bucky says back, confidently.

Matt’s lips twitch and his eyes squint.

“Finally grew the balls to use your mouth properly?” He moved up even closer to Bucky, their faces now only inches apart, “That disgusting rapist mouth of yours.” There was a collection of gasps from the small group of girls and Bucky’s nose flared. You felt your own blood boiling now as you ran up to them, “I saw her damn neck. Hell, I heard her crying that night. You don’t deserve to be anywhere. Only place you deserve is behind a damn jail cell.”

You were disgusted by what you heard him say, and as you pushed a hand to Matt’s chest pushing him away from Bucky, you couldn’t help your temper.

“Get the hell away from him! Now.” You say through clenched teeth.

“Don’t worry, I have this.” Bucky says quietly, grabbing your hand and holding it in his. Matt’s jaw clenched. Bucky took a step closer to Matt, “I’m going to ask you politely once, and only once, leave me and leave her the fuck alone.”

You looked briefly at the girls who were still looking and you shook your head.

“It’s not true,” you say. You then look at Matt, “He’s right. Leave me alone. Leave all of us alone. I was willing to put up with it, but what you just said to him has crossed the line, Matt. He’s my boyfriend. Bucky is my boyfriend. I care about him. And about my hickeys? You want to grow up and ask my about them to my face next time since you’re so curious about being in my business?”

“You know I’m just trying to protect you.” Matt says.

“You’re doing everything except protect me or be my friend right now. Bucky didn’t do anything to me that I didn’t want. I don’t know what your problem is but you need to stay away from us.” You say with finality.

Matt shakes his head to himself, that fiery anger still in his eyes. He then moves at a speed that takes you a second longer to comprehend what he’s doing. He has Bucky’s collar in his hands and he’s pushing him up against the locker.

“Really, dweeb. You? You?”

“Fucking, stop!” You shout, pulling Matt off of him. Matt drops his hand like it’s burned and he steps away from you and Bucky abruptly. 

He’s breathing hard as he looks between you and Bucky and then he storms away. You and Bucky try to ignore the new stares from the hallway and you turn to face him. Bucky’s is still watching Matt walk away as you nuzzle your face into his chest, his right hand going to the back of your head.

“The hell is his problem?” Bucky asks quietly, completely confused.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Bucky was nervous. He was also so excited and anxious. As he rolled his black dress shirt up to his elbows, he looked at himself in the mirror. He also looked all those three things. His blue eyes were brighter than usual and for the first time in a long time he felt comfortable in his own skin.

It was all because of you.

His heart skips a beat as he feels the little note in his pocket move around along with his ticket.

“Well, don’t you look sharp.” The sweet feminine voice comes from behind him and he turns around to meet his mother’s eyes. 

She was smiling at him knowingly, her arms crossed over her chest.

Bucky blushed. He walked up to his desk and grabbed his phone, sliding it into his back pocket.

“Thanks, mom.” He says. He walks up to his mother and gives her a kiss on the cheek, “You don’t think I’m overdressed for a play?”

His mother looked up at him and smiled. 

“Not at all. You have the note?” She asks.

Bucky nods.

“Yeah. Just like how dad did it.” He says with a chuckle.

His mom reaches up and kisses his cheek this time.

“She’ll say yes,” Bucky knows. He was sure of it, too. Him and you just…clicked. This wasn’t high school sweethearts. This was something else. Something stronger, “Drive safe.”

Bucky nods and grabs his jacket. He double checks he has everything he needs.

“Tell Y/N we say hi!” Bucky’s father yells out, just before the front door closes behind him.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

When Bucky parks at the school, he doesn’t hesitate one second after the car’s off to run to your side and open the door for you.

“Thank you.” You thank him softly.

He closes the door behind you. His eyes meet yours as he pushes one of your hair strands behind your ear and you swallow hard.

“You look gorgeous,” his eyes drifts down your nose, “You always have.” He adds quietly.

“Bucky.” You say.

His gaze returns to your own. You’re the one to initiate this kiss. Your hand goes to his peck and up his shoulder as your lips meet. It’s a sweet kiss. Innocent and PG13. He returns your kisses and you pull away with little smiles.

“Yeah?”

You could feel a tightness in your throat as you imagined yourself with him, many years from now, happy.

“Promise me that you’ll take me with you when you visit New York City?” Your question stuns him for a moment, and because of that he doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. He observes your face, dragging the backs of his fingers over the skin of your temple and cheek, “Please.”

He leans forward until his forehead is against yours. He brings his left hand to your waist and pulls you in closer to him. Both of your eyes close at the same time.

“I promise, Squirmy.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The play was adorable. You and Bucky loved every moment of it and you held hands the entire time. You didn’t let go of his hand once.

After the show, Carol meets you both at your seats and gives you both a hug, thanking you for coming to see her.

The night is a Christmas fairytale. 

Bucky tickles your waist from behind as you reach his car and you laugh out loud.

“Bucky stop!” You shout, giggling.

He does once he has your back against the side of his car and he’s staring intently down at you.

He leans forward and kisses you on the tip of your nose.

You giggle again. He kisses your right cheek, your cupids bow, and then your bottom lip.

“I’ve never felt like this. With anyone.” You say, dragging your fingers over his neck. He can feel the cute little ring you’re wearing on your pinky dragging over his skin and he loves the way it feels.

“Me either,” he whispers back. When he looks into your eyes this time there’s an intense look in them, “I want to ask you something.”

You feel your hear skyrocket.

“Okay.” You whisper back.

He smiles so sweetly as he looks down at your lips that you absolutely melt into your short red heels.

“Will you go to the Winter Ball with me?” You melt even more if possible and you smile back at him just as wide.

“Of course I’ll go with you.” you say quietly. You rub your nose against him and chuckle, “Yes. I’ll go with you.

Bucky nods and licks his lips. You watch as he reaches down into his pocket and holds something in his hand. Curiosity eats away at you.

“One more question,” he says. You nod, “Go to prom with me?”

You get so happy and ecstatic. So much that your hand wraps around the back of his neck and you let out a little noise of excitement. Prom. With Bucky. You’re forming your lips to say yes, duh, when you remember your promise to Steve.

Bucky’s looking at you, waiting for your yes, when he watches you dramatically deflate and your face falls. He feels his own dark pit in his stomach grow bigger as he realizes you’re not saying yes and you’re actually looking like you’re about to say no.

He frowns, swallowing the hard lump in his throat. 

“Y/N…”

“I—“ your voice cracks and tears bloom in your eyes. You wanted Bucky. But your promise, “I—” he catches on quickly and he lets out an exasperated sigh, through no fault of his own. Your hand drops his neck.

He didn’t expect thing. He doesn’t know what he didn’t prepare for you to say no. Maybe it’s because he was so sure it’d be a yes.

It’s prom for fucks sake. He’d remember that night for a very long time and he really wanted it to be with you, and now here you are, shutting that fantasy/dream down.

“I understand.” He says hoarsely. He didn’t expect his voice to sound so broken so he clears his throat.

“Bucky—”

“It’s fine,” no it’s not, “you don’t have to explain.”

“But I do. And maybe you can help me.” You say desperately, putting a hand up to his chest. He stares at you confused, and so emotional. He furrows his brows at you and shakes his head.

“Help you?” “Help me decide.” You clarify. He looks at you for a half a second longer before scoffing. It hurts, but you expected no less. So you continue, “Steve. I went out with him for years. He’s been my best friend for longer. We’ve always talked about going to prom together, we promised each other. A pact so to say. I can’t just break that, even though — fuck — even though I’d much rather go with you because what I feel for you—” your voice is the one that breaks this time and you sniff away tears that are starting to build up.

“Steve, the guy who cheated on you?”

“That’s not fair. You don’t know the story. You don’t know our story.”

Bucky nods, looking away from you.

“Right. The high school sweethearts.”

“Bucky—”

“Seriously, you don’t have to —” there’s a certain malice to his tone and you cut him off again.

“I feel stronger things for you than him. I want to go with you more than him. I want this with you. I want to say yes.” You say seriously, not looking away from his eyes once.

You and Bucky are both looking at each other heartbreakingly. He gnaws at his bottom lip.

“Then —” he starts and stops, “If you have to even think about it, I think my answer is already there.”

“That’s not fair.”

“I know it’s not,” he sighs and grabs your hand and holds it to his chest right above his heart, “but you said you made a promise, right?” His voice cracks again and you both hate this, “I feel the things you’re are feeling, too. About me, I mean. I also feel them for you,” he laughs humorlessly, “so much.”

You whimper.

“I can speak to him.” You say.

Bucky doesn’t know what to suggest or think about right now. Yes, he’d love for you to say yes and come with him as his date, but he’s surprised to a certain level that you’re even comparing what you feel with him to what you felt with Steve. Even if you did make a promise. He feels a frustration he can’t explain.

Which is why he pulls your hand off his heart and squeeze it once before letting go. It’s then that you feel the little paper in your hand. 

Your tear filled eyes look at the little white folded paper in your hand. You start to unfold it.

“Don’t,” he stops you, “you don’t have to read it now. Later, please. I know you didn’t say yes, but you did say yes to the ball, right? I still want you to have the note,  because I still mean everything in there. Your answer didn’t not change anything.” You nod your head, “Let’s take you home, Squirmy.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The car ride is mostly silent. Occasionally one of you will say a comment that makes the other chuckle, but it’s short lived. 

You know you just need the night to just let it all sink in, but everything would be alright.

When you kiss him goodnight, he kisses you back just as deeply.

Bucky watches as you walk to your front door. His head rests on his left hand, left elbow on his car door, and his right hand stays tight around the steering wheel.

He feels a sadness, jealousy, and anger he had never felt before yet in this relationship. Hell, he knows it’s only been a few days, but he could not take the feelings boiling inside of him. 

When he gets home and slams his own front door closed, his dad’s already yelling at him.

“Hey! No slamming doors, Buck.”

Bucky knows his father is right, he was raised better than that, but he was upset. He doesn’t even acknowledge him as he rips off his jacket and hangs it up on the mini coat rack.

Bucky walks into the kitchen for a cold water bottle out of the fridge.

“How’d it go?” He hears his mother ask from the living room. He knows what she’s asking. He’s also a bit disappointed because she should be in bed resting. She’s been out of her bed, which the doctor told her she should stay in, more often than she should be.

He uncaps the bottle and downs a few ounces. 

It helps only a little.

“She said no.” Bucky mumbles, voice wavering as he makes his way up the stairs and to his room.

He lets his door close quietly behind him, but he’s still feeling the same way.

He places his water bottle on his desk and stretches his arms out onto it. He takes in a deep breath and tries to calm himself down.

He was being dramatic. 

It’s just a stupid high school dance.

It’s just a stupid high school dance.

Feeling his nerves relax just slightly, he blindly reaches for his bottle, but the edge of it catches on his notebook, causing it to fall to the floor.

“Shit.”

Loose pages had fallen out at his feet. He bends down to pick it up and puts them properly inside. 

It’s when he lifts the last paper than he sees the beautiful rose from all those weeks ago that he had found at the rink. The one he had stored safely in the notebook.

Its color has faded now and it was dry. But preserved.

With delicate hands, he picks up the rose and places it back inside the notebook.

It’s then that he sees one of the pedals had fallen off.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

You regret opening the note the second you fall back behind your front door, thankful your parents had the graveyard shift tonight.

I’ve always hoped to live wishes and dreams I’ve only ever heard about 

To know I’m living that right now with you is the best gift i’ve ever received

I hope to keep living out my wishes with you and dreams if you let me

You’ll be my princess at the ball and prom, and I’ll be your prince.

I knew you’d say yes, because you and me, this is real. 

I’m not living a dream, you’re my dream.

You break down into tears.

_____

N E X T C H A P T E R

Tag list: @dinoswierdmom @sebsgirl71479 @wintasssoldier@melimelbean @steadygoopangelhairdo @prettywhenicry4@bonkybarnes106 @undeadhoneydew @midnightvitality @ene-rene @ccmarvelxx @hanahkatexo @gr33nleo​ @missaprilt23​ @lfaewrites @charmedbysarge @tilltheendofthelinepal9950 @buckybarnesandmarvel @ducks118 @lokisdrottning @kianamka @toadstools119 @adoringsebstan @troubledhemmings@buckybarnesandmarvel @charmedbysarge@buckybarnesandmarvel​ @redbarn1995​ @chloe-skywalker 

[ro-presents-under-the-nola-stars]

[ORIGINAL POST HERE]

(CRIMINAL MINDS FIC) JENNIFER “JJ” JAREAU x JASIRA BOUDREAUX

RATED R

CANON DIVERGENT ALTERNATE UNIVERSE FIC

While in New Orleans, having just wrapped up a case and unwinding with her team, Jennifer “JJ” Jareau sets sights on a young woman that she finds herself completely enthralled by. Seeking her out whilst hoping for a hook up, JJ gets lucky, but soon realizes that the connection between them is so much stronger than that of a one night stand.

This is the love story of Jennifer Jareau and Jasira Boudreaux.

A space to say something or ask questions to either myself or one of the characters.

GUIDELINES HERE

HERE

AFTER JONES: A NIGHT IN THE CITY

PG-13

crude language. alcohol consumption. lustful thoughts, intentions and brief sexual tension, smut, vaginal fingering (jasira receiving), slight public displays of sexuality (provocative dancing as well as sex in a dark alley) and mentions of scissoring. implied sex under the influence. alcohol consumption. mentions of grooming, inappropriate age gaps, past domestic abuse and abuse of a minor, stalking, violation of a court order. mentions of violence and racism, such as lynchings/hate crimes, racially motivated police incompentence/neglect. mentions of a serial killer (referencing the Jones killer). mentions of a character disappearance. vague mentions of child neglect, parental abandonment and character suicide.

It's been a long week. The team had just wrapped the Jones case, and JJ could finally be free from Detective Lamontagne's excessive and unprofessional flirting. She wants nothing more than to get back home and enjoy a few days off, but when she checks in with the pilot so the team can get back to Quantico, she's informed that there are engine troubles and there are currently no other jets available. Upon breaking the news to her team, Derek and Emily are overjoyed by the guaranteed vacation time and suggest a night on the town. While out having fun with her team, JJ spots Jasira Boudreaux, a stunning young dancer with a bit of a bit of a troubled past and colorful upbringing, and feels her world fall away. Completely entranced by her and only her, JJ awaits the perfect moment to introduce herself to the beautiful young lady. Upon meeting, the two of them hit it off and JJ spends the night with her. But, when the morning comes— rather than being regretful, both women find that they don't want their time together to end.

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

LONG DISTANCE: KISS ME THRU THE PHONE

PG

crude language, discussion of past domestic violence, grooming, sexual assault, stalking, threats, anxiety, PTSD, racism, racially motivated police neglect, discussion of violence between children, sexism and misogyny, sexual harassment in the workplace, unprofessionalism, mentions of serial killing and gore, vague implications of racism, alcohol consumption.

After the one night stand, JJ stews in her feelings, reminiscing on the one night stand and contemplating upon whether or not she should pursue the connection further. After a few days, she decides to give Jasira a call, but it doesn't go the way she hopes. Rather than being discouraged, it fuels BJ's desire to pursue her. When the two connect, it's a clear that desire to move forward is shared. Quickly, the two become very consistent pieces of each other's days to day lives despite their distance. As they talk on the phone more and more, both women become more and more attached to one another.

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

Ten Days in DC

Rated R

crude language, alcohol consumption, unsafe operation of a vehicle.. weapons (guns and knives) mentions of tension between law enforcement and civilians, implied racial tension, racism, homophobia. body and gender dysmorphia. anxiety meltdowns, angry outbursts, trauma triggering, PTSD,, trauma response. discussion of past domestic violence (strangulation), grooming, inappropriate age gap, sexual assault. mentions of child abduction, molestation and attempted murder (seven seconds case mention). mentions of parental abandonment and neglect. vague depictions of sexuality and sensuality (such as seductive dancing in public, making out in public, groping and general PDA). smut (such as sex under the influence, car sex, vaginal fingering (jasira recieving), oral sex (jj receiving), scissoring/tribbing, titty sucking).

After about two and a half months of constantly talking on the phone and skyping, the time has come for the two women to meet only for the second time. Deciding to stay with JJ in her apartment during the duration of her stay in Washington DC, for Jasira, this is a make or break trip. She's determined to truly get to know the quiet girl she's been spending all her time talking to these past couple months. Ten days living with her gives her true insight about who Jennifer Jareau is, what her life is like and what it would be like if this relationship blossomed beyond their casual courtship. Is this a lifestyle Jasira can be okay with?

CHAPTER ONE: part one | part two

CHAPTER TWO

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Sunday, May 12th

JOYCE: (off camera) Buffy? BUFFY: (sitting up) I'm up, Mom! JOYCE: (off camera) Don't wanna be late for your first day! BUFFY: (to herself) No... Wouldn't want that.

~~Welcome to the Hellmouth~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Stakeout by MamaBewear (Angel/Spike, M)

We Have Forever by MadeInGold (Angel/Spike, M)

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[Chaptered Fiction]

I Need A Bad Idea, Chapter 45 by Skyson (Buffy/Giles, E)

The Bone's Prayer, Chapter 9 by mabus101 (Ensemble, multiple crossovers, M)

Thirty-ish Days (and Thirty-ish Years), Chapter 30 (complete!) by Dynapink (Buffy/Giles, T)

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Dawn Rising, Chapter 63 by Luna_delCielo (Ensemble, Tolkien crossover, T)

Gemini, Chapter 7 by BuildMeUpButtercup_x (Buffy/Angel, M)

Never Let Me Down Again, Chapter 9 by BuildMeUpButtercup_x (Buffy/Angel, E)

We're in this together, Chapter 5 by AnkiKind (Spike & ensemble, M)

The Stars to Hold Our Destiny, Chapter 16 by Hermione2be (Buffy, Star Trek Strange New Worlds crossover, G)

Recommencer, Chapter 12 by FridayQueen (Buffy/Faith, M)

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L.A Seems Fun (Part 2) by Enigmatist (Angel, Cordelia, Spike, Connor, not rated)

Love Lives Here, Chapter 60 by Passion4Spike (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

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Afterburn: In The Dark, Chapter 9 by Melme1325 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

What Love Looks Like, Chapter 4 by DeamonQueen (Buffy/Spike, R)

A Ripple In Time, Chapter 27 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

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The Kitten That Killed Slayers, Chapter 7 by Desicat (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

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[Fandom Discussions]

what a waste that the council of watchers isn’t the ultimate big bad of buffy by isagrimorie

I am surprised anew every time I remember there are people that didn’t see the “Spike actually went to Africa to get his soul” twist coming by nicnacsnonsense

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Cordelia Chase and Anya Jenkins deserved more screentime together by takaraphoenix

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Seeing Red is on Tv right now and I just saw *that scene* again by writingfanficsfan

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[reddiesworldsblog]

i’m thinking about the end of IT chapter 2 when eddie made it out of neibolt alive and when all the losers (including stan because he’s alive and well too duh) went to the quarry to rinse off and how when they got there reddie had a moment where richie was like “hey man i’m, like, STUPID gay and in love with you” and eddie was like “holy SHIT me too! i literally HATE my wife now kiss me ya dumb dumb” and then they smooched in the water and got together and then later on their way out of derry richie showed eddie the R+E he made on the kissing bridge when he was 13 and eddie was like “dude same!” and showed richie his R in a heart carving that he also did when he was 13 and then they kissed again then left town to start their happy gay life together. this is literally canon guys, i remember the ending so clearly.

[cendriilon]

March 9th / Requiem / AVD ✶

Aqua Hoshino x Reader

This is PART ONE, check out other parts in the link below!

REQUIEM: Sixth New Genesis!

What's to come: [Reader likes both genders], [This part is a lore heavy chapter, so no Aqua content here yet...], & [This is posted on Wattpad]

[Songs of the Chapter: "My Love is a Hellfire" by SLAVE.V-V-R feat. MEIKO, "Salvage" by Rulu, "RUMA" by Karikibear]

[4,196 words]

˚⋆୨ ✶ ୧⋆˚

Today is March 9th.

Today, you assume, will be your death date, but it might not be. Even if you survive a minute past 12:00, then you would win. You win and the cycle might finally end.

How do you know? Because you have already lived 4 separate times before this. Each time, you died on the same day. March 9th. The only difference is, you have been one year older each time. 12, 13, 14, and 15 respectively.

*In your first life you were born as a sickly young girl with blonde hair, not that you had it for too long. The body was frail and as a result was stuck in the hospital all the time, but that's when you were gifted with those double digits. When you were younger, you had these three other girls that you would play with all the time. You wouldn't say you were gifted musically or anything, but it was fun pretending that you all were in a band together.

You all promised each other that you'd become an official band and make their fans smile when you got older, but they did. You didn't.

When the calendar was marked March 9th, you flatlined with your brother desperately holding onto your hand. The pain was hard to handle at first, just as how people said it was like, death was nothing but a sweet black embrace.

*Your next life, you were gifted with a healthy body, one of a peppy and pushy pink haired girl. You were somewhat boy-ish, but life was fun. That's when your eyes gazed upon the pretty idols dancing on the TV's screen: they were beautiful.

You wanted to be just like them from the age of 8, and when you turned 13, you achieved that dream and officially became one of them. You were in a group of 4, and you guys trained hard for the debut! It took months to prepare for, and by then, you had just turned 14.

You weren't in the center of the stage, but that's okay, as long as you could finally make people smile, then you'd smile right next to them. Something horrible happened when you were on the second song though. A whole stage light fell, and it fell right on top of you.

Farewell to a normal idol debut.

Your body was small, could you believe that it fully entrapped you under it? You couldn't hear or see what the audience's reactions were, nor your own coworkers next to you, either stepping away in horror, screaming or trying to help you. So...

*The life after that, the moment your blue haired body could start moving, you searched for what happened to your last self. Well, back then the internet wasn't really a thing, and Japan's news was fast paced. You never found out. This time, your father was a nice man. He owned a café and a karaoke bar! You were so lucky to have him, but you were most lucky to have your auntie!

She was basically your mother, but she moved to America once this new body turned 12. So without her, you were back to her lonesome. Of course you made a few friends... actually, you met this girl. She was really cute, and she had this extreme talent for singing! You did too, so you together decided to make a singing group to perform at your dad's café and see the smiles on the customers faces!

When you turned 14, your dad finally broke the news to you. Your auntie never went to America. She died from an illness that you never found out about, and apparently... you were the only person who didn't know. In fact, the entire town knew, and they were keeping it from you.

The town you thought was your family, all lied. You ran out onto the street in anger and with a tear stricken face, then BAM! Crash! A truck rushed into you.

*In your most recent life, you were back in the hospital. Though this time, your soul wasn't the one on the bed, no, you were the older brother, and your sister's sweet voice was taken from her. She was hoarse, it pained you to see it all, especially since she was still so young.

You wanted to make her smile, she loved musicals, so you decided you would play one out for her, and she smiled. You made that smile. After months without a single flinch of the face, you finally managed to do something extraordinary! You were 15 when you decided to make your own troupe and start making other people smile. Suddenly, your sister's condition worsened. So, on your own free will, you made the decision to undergo surgery and donate one of your kidneys. The surgery was on March 9th, can you guess what happened next?

*You've always had this goal to make people smile with music, and you still do now. You made a name for yourself as "Jasminsi." Believe it or not, you have grown somewhat of a following! You want to save people with your music, even just one person would be enough.

To be honest, you only came to this realization about a year ago. So instead of playing your life like some sort of game, you decided to try and better yourself. So, you hired someone to take care of you. She's about your age, 16, and honestly you can't help but feel that you have fallen for her.

The time is 11:05, only 55 minutes until it's no longer March 9th. It's about time for you caretaker to leave for the day. You feel safe whenever she's around, you want her to stay with you. You want to say goodbye.

You want to say something, anything—

"Alright Kazumi, it's time for me to leave," Hanae says, grabbing her coat off my newly built coat rack, "Goodnight."

"G-goodnight." you say, clawing at the kitchen table's fabric. You watched as she smiled and left your apartment, you heard her lock the door.

Oh how you wish you could've said something else to her.

You double checked everything in the house to be extra cautious. Locked doors, closed windows, unused appliances are turned off. There isn't anything in this house that could kill you.

You sigh as you trot back into the bedroom, crawl into bed and stare at the ceiling. 10 minutes had passed by, nothing was wrong. You smiled to yourself. Recently, life has been nice. You don't want to let it go just yet, you want to be someone that Hanae can love.

You have learnt a lot about her throughout the past year, how she plays the drums, she likes to sing, her favorite food is apple pie, and how her all time favorite person is an idol. Her name is Ai.

Miss Ai is about 16 years old right now, you are her age. You doesn't have a massive following like her, but what you have isn't exactly something to laugh at either. You always loved and enjoyed idols, but never in this lifetime have you truly loved one like Ai.

You can see what most people find appealing about her, but when you asked Hanae, she told you it were her—

You smell something burning, you can hear the crackling of fire. Your eyes widen as you bolt out of bed and open your door. There's a fire in your apartment, coming from the kitchen. It's already blocked the one exit. You're 7 stories high in the sky, there's no way you'd survive if you tried to jump from a window.

How could this happen? Your eyes widened even more as you harshly smacked yourself on the head, "I never checked the stove. Hanae and I were cooking a meal to get ready for tomorrow". You don't know how the surroundings caught on fire, but you hold your breath as you walk back to your room. You check the clock, 11:55.

Five minutes, and it'll no longer be March 9th. The cycle will end and you might be free. Either way, this life will mean nothing. You're trapped. The fire moves quickly, the light reflecting off your eyes as you grips your bedsheets. The heat already hurts, tears threaten to roll from your eyes.

Eyes.

That's right. Hanae's most favorite thing about Ai were her eyes. You really like them too, they are quite beautiful. Maybe if you had those, Hanae would have fallen for you as well.

The fire envelopes your body, out of all the deaths, this is the most pain you have been through. You cry out in pain, no words, just screams. You're sure someone could've heard her. You can feel the skin on your body melt off of you, while you're still conscious you try to avoid the pain to the best of your ability by staring at the clock.

The clock strikes 12 as tears roll from your eyes. It's no longer March 9th. You fall to your knees as the fire sways inside of you.

ⁱᵗ'ˢ ᵃ ˢʰᵃᵐᵉ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᵐʸ ᶜˡᵒᶜᵏ ʷᵃˢ ⁵ ᵐⁱⁿᵘᵗᵉˢ ᵃʰᵉᵃᵈ.

˚⋆୨ ✶ ୧⋆˚

Hanae shakes as she runs back to the apartment complex, she had forgotten to turn off the stove after making a nice stew for you. By then, an hour had basically passed by.

Her eyes widened in terror as her eyes trailed up to where your apartment sat. It had been set ablaze. Not only the it's surroundings, but slowly making its way to the homes next to it.

Hanae dropped to her knees, parallel to how you dropped to yours as you were engulfed into flames. Hanae's soft, perfect knees fell onto the pavement as her precise hands quickly rummaged through her bag to find her phone.

She dials *1-1-9 as she speaks in a shaky voice: "H-hello? I'd like to report a fire."

-End of March_9th

You open your eyes once again, the cycle continues. The woman holding you had a soft look on her face, you could tell that you were going to be gifted with amazing genes.

You were born with [hair-color] locks and gleaming eyes, eyes that were just like Ai Hoshino. You guess that the world really did feel bad for you. Your parents, Juria and Mihiro [last-name], were kind. You did well, without them knowing, you had your fair share of no-limit internet time. Catching up on all that you missed.

Though, the only goal you really had in mind was to find Hanae again. Of course you couldn't say that directly to anyone, you can barely move your stubby little body around crying out loud!

Both parents were teachers, so they didn't have a lot of time to spend with you. You were chucked over to a nanny who barely did her job. Luckily for you, you have the memory and knowledge of a recently deceased 16 year old, and 4 others for that matter. All these thoughts stuck in a small little baby's body. If you wanted to, you could've become a child prodigy, but it's not like your family had the resources or outlets to get known even if you were one.

You sat watching the TV for hours on end since you didn't have a phone to use. No phone meant no internet, no social media. However, if you were lucky, the babysitter would leave her phone out when she fell asleep on the couch. Easy for you to open the blue birds app.

You still remembered your password from your previous alias, "Jasminsi", so you used it. Apparently Hanae had remembered the password too because she made a post saying that you passed away on March 9th during a tragic house fire.

There hadn't been any updates on the account since.

The stars in your eyes shone bright as you went through the numerous people giving me their condolences, you thought it would be best if you didn't interact with anything like that. You wouldn't want people thinking Hanae was a liar.

You had your mind set after your past failed attempts at living. You still want to make people smile through music, and you want to survive another March 9th. You want to break this chain of events.

But for now... You can just sit back and relax. Watch as things go on in the real world.

You are [name] [last-name], and this is your new life... and you're gonna make it worth your while.

˚⋆୨ ✶ ୧⋆˚

You've always had a gift for music. Whether it's keeping with the tempo, singing, creating songs, mixing, or playing on a toy xylophone. You decided that since you had time, you would make your own brand. Quite ambitious for a 5 year old, but you need something to do. Plus, you had the brain of a high functioning 16 year old and a few other lives.

Since a few years ago, there's been a rise of internet celebrities, and a good chunk of them have kept their real identities a secret. You're aiming to be one of them.

You can be an idol, a virtual idol. Which, after hearing the tragic incident with Ai, it's the safest option you could think of for creating content that would make people smile.

Onto the drawing board you go, you need to test what this body could do. If you could sing, you'd be set.

"Yureru faiyaa sakebu furai hai atashi somarereba," You sang, facing the mirror, watching your lips move instinctively, "Futari no shiawase toka tsumoru jounetsu wo ageru wa..."

It was a simple melody, a song that has stuck with you since the depths of fire swallowed you whole. Hanae loved this song. Back when you were frail and small, but not anymore. You decided to keep that in mind whenever you needed sympathy points.

˚⋆୨ ✶ ୧⋆˚

You started your channel off when you were 8, you still had free reign over all your devices. At first, it was videos on how well you could draw. Then it turned to small animations. Then you posted your first ever video of you singing. Clearly it didn't gain any attention, but it was a starting point.

The older you got, the higher the quality of your videos became. Soon, you encountered a new phenomenon.

You felt as if you were running out of time. You're 14 now, and you're an internet-obsessed-shut-in-teenager, in other words being a 'hikikomori'. This isn't how you planned for your life to go.

You posted cover after cover, hoping somehow you'd make it big. You'd only gotten about 17 thousand followers on your Twitter account and about 2/3 of that amount on your YouTube.

That's when you found out about your fathers heart failure. You felt sad, but your mother had become a shell of her old self. She cried for days on end, but you only felt sadder because you didn't feel the way she felt. You couldn't feel her devastation. The loss of a father, no, perhaps you had too many fathers to feel any connection, even if he may have been a good man.

However, you made a song out of that feeling, you basically used your mother. You're glad you did. That song got over a million views in less than a week. Of course those numbers kept going up and up. Soon enough, you were making revenue money off of it. You thanked your mother and sent her back home to her real family, somewhere in the countryside of Japan. Were you cruel for that? You assumed as much, yet you felt this was best, for your mother and for you. You had a goal to achieve.

This wasn't your first time living alone, you could handle it all. Now you could spend all your time making music and living it up! *Song after song, you were breaking milestones again and again. Even with simple covers. People here thought that 300 thousand was amazing while you sat on your high and mighty throne of a million.

Not only that, you've officially become what you dreamt of being. *You officially became a virtual idol as well, the model you used for streaming was absolutely beautiful. You were a [fantasy-creature]. An absolute goddess of music. You were so happy and impressed that you got to this point in so little time. The name was [alias].

You don't think your eyes have ever been brighter!

You are now a world renowned faceless singer that everyone in Japan has heard about at least once. Heck, even people from other countries have talked about you. You've seen their support in your comments.

You still have to go to high school though, and maintain a social life even when you haven't dared step foot inside of middle school in this lifetime. You were smart enough to pass into any school you wanted, you just had to choose which one.

You set your sights on Yoto High School, it's divided into two sections. One for general academics, and one for talented celebrities and influencers. People like those get spots in famous companies right after graduation, usually, so it would be nice to spend some time with them, but you decided to dedicate your fame to staying faceless. So you went with the general program.

You're now 16 again, and you're finally stepping into school after three years. Your uniform is freshly cleaned thanks to the work you've learned from Hanae and you can go on with an average high school life while secretly being an influencer.

-End of Requiem

You were assigned to class 1-D in the general course. Though, as you passed the gate, you saw many famous faces. From actors to models, the variety was huge. On the other hand, the people in general education were mostly chill. The girls styled their hair to fit the latest trends to stand tall and fit in with the famous people surrounding them, and the boys were... boys.

You sat in the back of the class, taking these very needed steps into the real world were very hard for you, especially since you've barely had any contact with strangers for the past 16 years. You wouldn't say that your body was weak, but it did come to your attention that you had inherited your 'fathers' heart defect.

You smile as people start flooding into the classroom, however, one person caught your eye. A tall boy with messy, but somehow at the same time, tamed blonde hair. What really caught your attention were his eyes. Just like yours, he had a star embedded into his right eye. Someone like you, that's rare.

Fortunately for you, he took the seat next to you. So, as a first step, you decided to make your first conversation of the school year. You suck up the anxiety growing in your stomach and turn your head towards him, "Hi there," he turns his head to face you. His eyes widened, almost as if he's seen a ghost, *"I noticed your eye there, it's really cool, just like mine☆!"

"Yeah... they really are just like yours." He smiles, "My name is Aqua Hoshino, what about you?" The star in his eye grew dull, morphing into a slightly darker gray.

"My name is [name] [last-name]," You let out a small smile as you give him your hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you!☆" He looked down at your hand, contemplating for a second before shaking it, "Would you like to take the honor of being my first friend?"

"Gladly." Aqua nodded, you let go of his hand first. The eye contact was uncomfortable to say the least. He just kept staring into your eyes, you looked away as you sweat. You couldn't understand what was going on in his head, but even if he wanted time to pause and keep examining you, class started soon.

You sat back on your chair, sitting straight as you opened a page of your newly bought notebook as you waited for the teacher to start class. Even then, *You don't think Aqua stopped staring.

˚⋆୨ ✶ ୧⋆˚

School was never something you liked going through, especially since the start of social media. Luckily for you, having lived 5 other times has really come in handy for education. For example, in your first life, the time spent at the hospital was full of studying since you didn't have anything else to do. As of being in grade 10, *you've been taking the general course, and you're on pace, just like the average majority in Japan. You did need a back up plan if becoming an internet celebrity wouldn't work out after all.

You scanned the classroom around yourself, your classmates had already made their friend groups, though, they were probably just clinging on the ties they had from middle school. This would be the perfect time to jump in to make friends, otherwise, there would be no time for you to make any more anymore. The girl who was sitting next to you had jumped out of her seat to confront you with a smile on her face.

"My name is Eruru Osawa," The girl with short magenta colored hair stated, "I went to Matsushita Middle School! I really like your phone's case, I think it's really pretty!"

"O-oh! Thank you, Osawa." You smile back, "I bought it at the mall a while back, I think that [color] really suits me, what do you think?" You stutter out awkwardly, the energy this girl emitted from her small body was crazy overwhelming.

"I think it fits great! I love the star theme throughout it, it matches your eyes!" She smiled, pulling a seat to sit next to you, "You know, I've never seen someone with eyes as unique as yours! Well... there was this one girl on this poster I saw a few years ago... I can't seem to really remember her name though..."

"Ai?✶" Your eyes gleamed.

"Yeah! I think that was her name!" Eruru jumped out of her seat, hands balled into excited fists, "Ai! What a wonderful and pretty name!♡" Eruru's shouting seemed to have caught the attention of the blonde next to you. You could feel him stare again.

"Ai was an... idol. She passed away over a decade ago though. The story was absolutely horrifying, you should really look into it before you make any hasty decisions on becoming an idol- ★If you ever wanted to of course." The stars in your eyes darkened as you rest your head on the palm of your hand.

"Oh... well, I wasn't really planning on becoming an idol anyway" Eruru sighed, a smile still on her face, "There's a family business calling to me! Even if I have 3 other older siblings that are all runner ups, but... I have hope that it'll be passed down to me!"

"That's nice... I'm glad people still have hope." You sink down onto your desk.

"Oh, didn't you bring lunch?" Eruru tilts her head, taking out a box from her bag, "We could share if you want!"

"Huh? No it's alright, I have my own lunch." You lied.

"Well I have some candies here!" Eruru sifts through her pockets and grabs out a handful of candy. She tossed them onto the desk, she had a real variety: toffee's, lollipops, gum, sour candies, even a whole apple, she had it all. "Take any you want!"

"Oh, I'm fine Osawa-"

"Hey, could I get one of those?" Aqua asked, dragging his chair to my desk, it was getting quite crowded. "The gum's fine." Eruru smiled brightly as she handed him a piece.

A few minutes of lunch passed, it was in complete silence, not one you would consider enjoyable but Eruru soon broke it for you. She whispered in your ear, all smiles as usual, "[name], I think that Aqua likes you! He's totally staring! Hehe!♡"˚

-End of A_Vauge_Discommunication

Thanks for reading this far! Click the highlighted red text to check out the full series! Updates will come out slowly because technically these are three chapters all in one. If you want the new chapters in real time, check out my Wattpad! (aliusworld)

Wanna see more? Check out the other chapters here! {CLICK ME}

[crimson-phantom-designs]

Fiction Archives

Fox and the Rose 🦊🌹🔪

1836 central London, December 29th.

After the death of Jacob Marley, Ebenezer Scrooge, not wanting to return home just yet, visits the nearby town to a local pub. The man normally content in his life, Ebenezer looks to appease the nights particular lonelyness with a little comfort when he meets a charming, educated gentleman unlike anyone he ever met in his life. Someone who resurrects the desire to have something more in his life he long gave up on. However, there is more than meets the eye with his new companion.

This is the established main storyline. It is still being worked on, chapters update as it can.

R

Stand Alone Stories

Like What You See?

A reflection shows much more than what's on the outside but what is going on beneath the gaze regarding the one who's staring back.

Is it disdain of seeing a stranger from what time lost familiarity to or the watchful gaze of a lover to reunite the reflection with its bearer?

R

Keep a Closed Door Locked

An absent-minded unlocked door causes chaos in the Osman home when a small red haired child enters, interrupting their plans. What event spurs a series of events following that makes Ebenezer realize what he now experiences behind a closed one. What he thought he would never have...

PG-13

House of Cards

Ebenezer loses a bet, and whatever it is, he's gifted one Christmas day. It's pink, and Eb aphores it! Use your imagination and have fun! It's chocked with funny, spicy goodness!

R

Short Drabbles

A Dashing Mustache

Ebenezer changes his appearance on Francis return. Seems some lip hair also gave him a more saucy personality.

PG-13

Surprises

Ebenezer returns to his office from an outing but Francis is no longer here yet he hasn't left.

Just two grown men acting like children.

PG

Character Studies

NSFW Alphabet of Francis Osman

NSFW Alphabet challenge for Francis from my series The Fox and the Rose. If anyone wants one on Scrooge I can but he really wouldn't have much to add to this presently that hasn't already been done because the man is innocently unaware about any of it until its thrown at him. He's curious but the knowledge just isn't there. He just accepts it like, "Whelp this is how I die. Life's been nice." :T

R. Obviously. X'D

The Interesting Case of Francis Osman and Ebenezer Scrooge. The Golden Pair.

This is a long worked on character reference I have expanded upon to breakdown Francis personality and what uniquely draws him to a person such as Scrooge as well as Scrooge's unique personality traits. This took forever! Ha ha.

If you read the story The Fox and the Rose it is recommended to read this to get a good understanding what makes both characters tick.

No spoilers for the story, it just touches theoretical events mildly without spoiling the situation itself.

R

[dhr-fics]

Author: provocative_envy

11:00 AM (5KB - One Shot - PG-13) Draco grits his teeth as the town car hits another goddamn pothole.

Bite Marks (57KB - 2 Chapters - NC-17) Draco’s mouth falls open. He clutches his cookie and ignores the shower of crumbs littering his grey cashmere fingerless gloves. He can’t decide if he wants to fuck this girl or fight with her. Maybe both? Maybe at the same time? “So—you’re upset,” he says with a nonchalant nod and discreet adjustment of his slightly too-tight khaki corduroys. She blinks at him, her expression alternating between indignation and incredulity and flat-out fury. He had been right about her being pretty beneath the intimidation tactics.

Beck & Call (5KB - One Shot - PG-13) It isn’t the kind of restaurant anyone would go to twice; not on purpose, at least.

bitter/sweet (24KB - 3 Chapters - R) When I finally came, it felt as if I had been flayed open, spine exposed, a cachet of fireworks set off in half-second increments along my vertebrae as he murmured my name so reverently I could not help but think that there must be some magic to it, to me, to him.

Bleach (5KB - One Shot - PG-13) The bane of her otherwise peaceful existence.

Blow (5KB - One Shot - PG-13) Draco Malfoy was supposed to be dead.

By the Way (70KB - 18 Chapters - PG-13) It was exquisite, the way his face fell, the way his eyes grew round, the way his mouth dropped open: he was a study in disappointment, his dashed hopes cluttering the space that loomed large and noticeable in between us.

Dead Weight (11KB - One Shot - PG-13) Draco asked for a pet snake, once.

Difficult (240KB - 30 Chapters - R) "I should," I repeated. "But I don't want to." And then he smiled, and I was wrecked.

Disasterology (66KB - Incomplete - NC-17) She wakes up at exactly midnight on the eve of her nineteenth birthday—She screams.

Fixed At Zero (5KB - One Shot - PG) Draco had always thought the end of the world would be a bit more exciting, truth be told.

Gag Reflex (81KB - Incomplete - NC-17) She blinks some more. “You’re—I mean—you’re the worst person I’ve ever met.” “Worse than Cormac Mc-Doge-Coin?” Malfoy asks in disbelief. “Seriously?” Hermione pauses. “That feels . . . like a trick question.” “Jesus fuck,” Malfoy says, looking appalled. [ALTERNATIVELY: the prestigious-but-at-what-cost summer internship au]

Her name is Hermione Granger. (5KB - One Shot - PG) Draco wastes two and a half weeks watching her—from a distance, from the shadows, from behind shimmering spider-web walls and misty-eyed cigarette smoke windows—before he decides to make his move.

The History Of (5KB - One Shot - PG-13) The breakup is as amicable as it can be, considering.

Hostage Situation (5KB - One Shot - NC-17) The gold-plated analog clock sitting on the farthest corner of Hermione’s desk reads 3:45 PM when it happens.

Lightning (11KB - Incomplete - PG-13) I remembered the times he'd made me cry, warned me not to, the times our bare legs had entwined themselves in his bed sheets, and all the while I'd felt ashamed, disgusted, atrophied, in the aftermath.

A Little Piece of Sincerity (125KB - 18 Chapters - PG-13) Hermione Granger falls in love with the harshly realistic words written on a small scrap of paper she finds on her way to Potions. She loses it, only to have fate play a part in making her the victim of Draco Malfoy's deception.

Lockjaw (5KB - One Shot - PG-13) It isn’t Ron’s hand that Hermione reaches for when she understands what she has to do.

A Mandatory Alliance (60KB - 13 Chapters - PG-13) A mandatory correspondence with a foreign wizarding school and a chance encounter with two Gryffindors start a chain of events that leaves Draco Malfoy reaching an inevitable conclusion: he is madly in love with Hermione Granger.

Penalty Shot (5KB - One Shot - PG) It’s corporate tax season, so it takes Hermione a couple of days to notice that something has gone terribly wrong.

Permanent Ink (5KB - One Shot - PG) Draco is sixteen when he wakes up to a searing, almost effervescent pain blistering across the inside of his right wrist.

Plans for the Weekend (24KB - Incomplete - NC-17) “Draco,” Lavender chirps, dipping her chin. “And Hermione! Gang’s all here!” Hermione forces herself to smile back. “Lavender. Good morning. We are not a gang.”

Prism Sounds (5KB - One Shot - PG-13) When it finally happens—when it finally blisters, and burns, and bursts into flames—it’s the fourteenth of February, and there’s a door between them.

Ready Set Go (5KB - One Shot - PG-13) Modern, non-magical, high school AU

Reset (24KB - One Shot - R) And the fear—the fear that he’s learned to swallow, choke on, bury the crushed and fragmented shards of—it's turning the space between him and her and the last six weeks, the last six months, into a gaping yawning brutally invincible chasm; a wall to scale and a cliff to jump and a step he’s never quite been brave enough to take. She takes it for him. Of course she does.

Stronger (105KB - 19 Chapters - PG-13) My whole life had been leading up to this moment, this second of tragedy. I couldn’t imagine anything less of a disaster, less of a letdown. There was nothing anticlimactic about the wrenching of my gut, the roaring of my blood.

The Science of It All (131KB - 21 Chapters - R) That clutching, awful, cold, hot, flashing, clawing, cluttering sensation curling its way through my stomach, tearing its way down my vertebrae, winding and trailing and ending up somewhere in my throat.

Skin & Bones (5KB - One Shot - PG-13) It’s a crisp, clear day in early November when it happens. Hell freezes over.

Spider Web (10KB - One Shot - PG-13) “We were discussing Draco’s latest…distraction—the girl who thinks we should dissolve tax brackets and replace Mount Rushmore with a Stalin statue.” “That isn’t what she said—” Draco snaps, just as their waitress approaches to take their order. “Yes, hi, I’ll have the eggs benedict—make sure the Canadian bacon is extra Canadian, will you?”

Summer Whatever (KB - One Shot - PG-13) Her name was Hermione Granger, and Draco was going to keep her.

Upper Body Injury (13KB - One Shot - PG-13) "Careful," he says dryly. "Or I might think you're trying to flirt with me." "Oh, you'd know if I was trying to flirt with you." "Maybe," he concedes, flicking his hair back with a practiced nod of his head. "But would you?"

Tip Toe (5KB - One Shot - PG-13) Draco has loathed Hermione Granger from a safe, perfectly practical distance for about as long as he can remember.

Ultraviolet (5KB - One Shot -) Modern, non-magical, drummer!Draco + college student!Hermione

Universally Speaking (5KB - One Shot -) Modern, non-magical AU; tattoo parlor owner Draco, florist Hermione

Untitled #6 (5KB - One Shot - PG) Hermione’s first few weeks of school are…adequate.

Untitled #18 (5KB - One Shot - PG-13) “He’s a dick,” she retorts. “And he’s a dick who only ever shows up when you’re working.”

When Tomorrow Comes (17KB - One Shot - R) I'd wanted the rest of the world to know, the same way I did—elementally, with every last scrap of blood and plasma and grey matter that called my brain its home—that she was mine, that I'd managed to dislodge my head from my arse long enough to recognize that perfection personified had a name, and it was Hermione.

With Teeth (21KB - One Shot - R) Albus Dumbledore had been wrong about Voldemort’s horcruxes.

[k-indie]

Miscellaneous

⇝ Bleach, KNY, KNB, Hq + various characters from JJK and Tok. Rev.

❄️the way she sings for me

🔹thirst trap pt 1 🔹

❄️my sweet neighbor

Jujutsu Kaisen

❄️why don't you like me | s. gojo

❄️the night | kento n.

❄️for the first time | toji f.

❄️the maid | sukuna r., toji f., s.geto

❄️have you ever | s.gojo

❄️smooth operator | s.r.

❄️megumi fushiguro

❄️go to town | s.r.

❄️show me | s.r.

❄️kaisen dreams | crack

❄️when you ask them | crack

❄️ soft jazz | s. geto

❄️emulous | s. gojo, s. geto

❄️surprise | n. kento (full drabble coming soon)

❄️who knew he was a yandere | s. geto

❄️sex drabble | s. geto, s. gojo

Tokyo Revengers

🔹but did you like it | rindo h.🔹

🔹 sorry || i ain't sorry| haitani brothers🔹

🔹 big bet|rindo h. (probably will re-write) 🔹

🔹 what is it | ran h. 🔹

🔹 textversation | ran h. (chaptered fic soon) 🔹

🔹 tough deal | chiyo s. 🔹

🔹 have a nice trip | chiyo s. 🔹

🔹 revenger dreams | crack🔹

you can check out my old Wattpad for bleach fics I wrote when I was 13 and then later in the more recent years and current fics I started when I got back into writing recently on my new Wattpad

© pulchritxde 2022 | do not copy, repost, or translate

[mackerelphones]

The Road to Oz, Book Five of the Oz Series

“PLEASE, miss,” said the shaggy man, “can you tell me the road to Butterfield?” (13)

Together with John R. Neill’s almost ghostly illustration, this makes for a striking start to The Road to Oz, the fifth installment of the Oz series. This is the fourth of my posts about the original sequels to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and I recommend reading each of the ones that preceded it. Sorry for giving you homework, but this will make some of my commentary below will make more sense. And they’re interesting posts in their own right.

Each Oz book is, physically, an art object. Uniquely, The Road to Oz has no color illustrations. Instead, in the first edition of 1909, the text and pen drawings are printed directly onto colored paper, so that the book has a rainbow pattern, from yellow, to violet to light green to lime green to orange to brownish green to neon green to brown.

There is no clear meaning to the points at which the page color shifts. It makes for a highly unique volume, physically, and alludes to the character of the rainbow girl Polychrome, a sky-fairy like those Dorothy glimpses in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.

These photos demonstrate the effect of the text and drawings on colored paper. This edition is apparently the first reprinting to reintroduce the original colors. While this accounts for the lack of full-color drawings, Neill lavishes his pen artwork with exquisite detail.

The Cowardly Lion pets his old friend, Toto. Neill now draws the Lion wearing spectacles and, on the copyright page, a rather haughty monocle.

Neill crams in the Wizard, Toto, Dorothy, Button-Bright, Polychrome, the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and our beloved Jack Pumpkinhead. They are not all in the palace yet on the point at which this picture appears, but it is lovely all the same.

On page 163, the Tin Woodman has a tin statue of Dorothy “just as she had first appeared in the Land of Oz” (162), as well as of Toto. Amusingly, Neill draws the statues to look exactly like Denslow’s illustrations, so his Dorothy contemplates the previous illustrator’s.

In previous Oz novels, every chapter heading has received a unique illustration. That is true in The Road to Oz as well, except that the tiny unique drawing, always a portrait of a character, fits within one of two designs that alternate each chapter. The first of these is a sort of Ozite cartouche containing a portrait of a character.

The above is a chapter heading illustration. And, for comparison,

Isn’t it shaped like the front of a thong???! That is my first thought! 😅

This ornament alternates with a disturbing design in which a ghostly ring of merry children’s disembodied heads surrounds the unique illustration. The way they are chained together makes me think of some horrible monster by NFT salesman Ito Junji (probably the thing in “My Dear Ancestors”). Did people actually find this cute in 1909, or did Neill just not realize it was creepy?

Continuing the pattern began in Ozma of Oz, Dorothy does not have an adventure in Oz but has an adventure in reaching it. The plot this time around is that while out in Kansas one day, Dorothy meets a vagrant, the shaggy man. He asks for directions to Butterfield (I suppose the town in Missouri?), where there is a man who owes him fifteen cents, and abducts Toto while Dorothy is putting on her sunbonnet. This means that when Dorothy and the shaggy man find themselves walking down the road and ending up in fairyland, Toto is once again with them. Bizarrely, Toto yet again never talks, unlike every other animal in fairyland. Rather, Toto busies himself being aggressive and attacking most other creatures, though Toto’s bad disposition might not be a surprise considering that he leads a rough life: Uncle Henry whips him for chasing the chickens (155). A bit of a chicken-and-egg situation (pun intended).

Between Toto and Eureka, Dorothy’s pets are menaces. That bumble bee is clearly a person!

Following what turns out to be the road to Oz (an accurate title for once), Dorothy and the shaggy man also pick up a pigheaded young boy named Button-Bright, who does little but indicate he doesn’t know anything, and the aforementioned Polychrome, the Rainbow’s Daughter, who slid off the rainbow when she got dancing too near its curved side. They learn, from the towns along the road, that Ozma is a renowned person throughout fairyland and that her birthday is coming up. All the monarchs want to attend. (Ozma’s birthday is 21 August. Mark your calendars.) Along the way, Button-Bright’s head is magicked into a fox head, and the shaggy man’s into a donkey head. But once the four cross the Deadly Desert on a “sand-boat,” they reach the Truth Pond in the Country of the Winkies, which transforms Button-Bright and the shaggy man back to normal. From there, Ozma reveals she is responsible for warping Dorothy into fairyland to attend her birthday. “I thought I should have to use the Magic Belt to save you and transport you to the Emerald City,” says Ozma. She continues, “But the shaggy man was able to help you out both times, so I did not interfere” (204). Then many, many fantastical guests attend Ozma’s birthday, there is a feast and music, the Wizard performs tricks, Button-Bright heads home, Polychrome returns to the rainbow, and Ozma warps Dorothy and Toto, in their sleep, back to the former’s bedroom in Kansas.

You can read the rest of the post, including a bit of literary analysis (oooohhh), right here. I would appreciate it if you could share this post around, if you happen to see it and enjoy it.