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intubatedangel · 3 years

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Cold Snap : Chapter 9

So... It’s been a while. Sorry for that. Things got in the way, and the last couple of months were considerably worse, but i’m still here. I won’t make any promises in regard to updates, they’ll happen when they happen. Still, i hope you enjoy.

Story Index

***

Anna stood to one side, watching the continuing attempts to resuscitate their patient. The young woman on the table was still in full asystolic cardiac arrest. It was hardly surprising. A glance at the monitor told Anna that Shona's core temperature was still only 21c. Barely out of the realm of profound hypothermia and a far cry from the normal human body temperature of 37. Anna knew that the hypothermia was buying them time, but looking at the clock she couldn't help but feel a reflexive twinge of despair. Shona's heart hadn't so much as twitched on its own for 45 minutes. Just two days ago that had been the point at which they had regretfully ceased their attempts to resuscitate Amelia. Anna's mind lingered on her for just a moment, she still didn't know if Amelia had been her sister, disconnected by Anna's own adoption, or if their similarities were purely coincidental.

Anna shook her head, clearing away the thoughts. The clinical part of her mind reasserted itself. 45 minutes was well within the limits when it came to hypothermia. 2 hours could pass and still result in a favourable outcome. It would be tougher without a full ECMO machine. A dialysis machine could warm Shona's blood, but it couldn't oxygenate or circulate that blood. Once they got her up to 32, they would have to hope she responded to their efforts.

As if responding to her thoughts, the doors burst open. Anna looked up to see a technician wheeling in a trolley with the dialysis machine. It sparked a fresh burst of activity as Carl organised the team. "Good, thanks for coming so quick Jerry. Right then people. Anna, I want you back on her chest. Trish take over the bag and Kirstie, I want you assisting me." Once he finished the team counted to 3 in their heads before they moved as one, almost like a dance, rotating around Shona's body, slipping into their positions with barely a single pause. Anna mounted the step, her hands coming together, fingers weaving together and landing in the centre of Shona's chest in a single smooth motion. She started to press down, once again feeling the chill of Shona's bare skin, even through the foam of the AED pad. Once she settled into the rhythm, her eyes wandered.

Shona's head gently rocked as the force of Anna's compressions translated through her body. Trish's regular squeezes of the ambu bag forced warm air though the ET tube that was held in Shona's mouth by the strips of tape. Even through that tape Anna could see Shona's lips were icy blue. The hair that framed her head had already dried out.

Turning her head the other way, Anna looked down the rest of Shona's body. Wrapped in the temperature blanket her arms barely moved, but the slight bobbing of her shoulders caused the plastic of the blanket to squeak. Her abdomen bulged each time Anna's hands compressed her chest, the movement travelling down to her legs. The splinted leg swayed gently, but the other was held firm by Kirstie’s hands. Her thigh had been unwrapped to give Carl access. In his hand was a wide bore IV catheter, which he lined up with the large vein, and gently inserted. Altering position slightly he inserted a twin, one line out, one line in.

Anna looked away, eyes back to the monitor, and the perfectly flat line of her heart’s rhythm. A line beneath it bounced each time Shona's heart was squeezed between her sternum and spine, the pulse of blood reflected by the monitor, a sign that Anna's compressions were providing the required circulation. That Anna was doing her job. As was the rest of the team. Anna just hoped it would be enough.

* * *

Carl quickly finished hooking up the lines of the dialysis machine. He glanced at the machine to confirm it was set up for the situation. Jerry had done as expected, taking the filters out of the loop, leaving just the warming unit. Within a minute blood was running into the machine, through the heater, then back into Shona's body. Jerry confirmed that everything was working fine, then retreated to the corner in case there was a problem.

Carl looked at the monitors, assessing the information. Shona was still asystolic. Her temperature was now at 22. Neither was a great reading, but there were some positives. Her blood pressure was well supported by Anna's compressions and the warmed fluids they were pushing into her body. Her o2 saturation was also pretty good, holding at 96, could be better, could be worse. Her ETCo2 was in a similar position. Carl suspected there may still be some traces of water lingering in her lungs. Better to deal with it sooner rather than later.

"Ok, let's suction her lungs out again, Kirstie, get the LUCAS ready and prepare the ventilator Trish" Carl ordered as he moved around to Shona's head. Trish slipped out of his way, plucking the ambu bag off the end of the tube, dropping it on the bed before moving to the ventilator in the corner. Carl slid the suction catheter down the tube, pushing it down deep. A few small traces of water were pulled through the thin tube. Once it seemed to run dry Carl withdrew the suction tube halfway, wiggling it a little, hoping it would descend into Shona's other lung. He was rewarded by another small trickle of water.

Meanwhile Kirstie had unpacked the LUCAS, handing the large body off to Roger, while she took the yellow backboard and lining it up, ready for Anna to pause her compressions. Carl pulled the suction tube out of Shona's endotracheal tube, satisfied her lungs were now clear. He reconnected the bag, squeezing in two breaths, before disconnecting it once more. By this point Trish had the ventilator in position and ready to go. Carl attached the hose to the end of the ET tube and as soon as Trish hit the button it let out a woosh as it pushed warmed air into Shona's lungs, inflating her chest.

"Grab me a tube holder." Carl ordered as he tore the tape from Shona's ghostly pale cheeks, gently removing it from the tube, careful not to pull on it. By the time he was done Trish had already unwrapped the blue Thomas tube holder. Carl spun the screw far enough to allow it to slip around the tube, then lowered it, putting gently pressure on Shona's chin to open her mouth and allow the integrated bite block to go between her teeth. He threaded the strap beneath her head, trapping her hair as he fixed it the other side of the blue plastic.

As he tightened the screw, securing the tube in place, he checked the progress of the others. Everyone was ready to switch over to the LUCAS, they were just waiting on Carl's order and for Anna to finish compressions. Carl handed Trish the unneeded ambu bag, stepping around opposite Kirstie. "Ready when you are Anna." In preparation Carl slid his arm beneath Shona's neck, his hand worming under the large rubbery vest, ready to lift her enough for the backboard to slide under.

* * *

"28...29...30!" Anna stressed the last word, her intention clear. She pulled her arms back and a fraction of a second later Carl levered Shona's limp body upwards, her head hanging, neck extended. As soon as there was enough space beneath the vest Kirstie pushed the backboard through. She quickly aligned it, then stepped out of the way allowing Roger to move in with the main body of the LUCAS. Anna reached out, grabbing one of the legs, guiding it into position and clicking it into position on the backboard. Roger, having done the same, pushed the plunger down firmly onto Shona's sternum, right in the centre of her chest over the front defibrillator pad. He started the LUCAS, the plunger immediately slamming down with a click, pressing Shona's sternum down two inches.

Her body flexed under the mechanical compressions. Anna could feel the force translating through Shona's body as she lifted the young woman's arm and strapped her wrist to the machine. With a moment to stop and breath, Anna felt the burning in her arms, the pins and needles in her fingers. She shook her arms out, dropping of the step. Out the corner of her eye she noticed Carl's slight movement towards, ready to catch her if she stumbled. For just a moment she flirted with the idea of falling into his arms, but settled for stepping in close leaving just a few millimetres of space between them.

"Doing okay?" He murmured. She nodded her head ever so slightly in reply, keeping her eye on the table. On Shona's body as it continued to be battered by the aggressive resuscitation efforts. With the ventilator providing breaths and the LUCAS's mechanical compressions giving consistent circulation, there wasn't much more for the team to do. "It's a waiting game now." Carl said, as if reading her thoughts.

Anna looked around the room at the other members of the team. Kirstie stood next to the bed, in reach of the LUCAS and the defibrillator that sat upon the crash cart. The small monitor on the unit showed a barely moving line, mirroring the larger monitor near the end of the bed. Trish was keeping a close eye on the ventilator, making sure the settings were adequate. Roger busied himself with the chest tubes, dialysis lines and IV's, checking that everything was flowing and switching out some of the empty saline bags for fresh warm ones. Jerry and Dave stood in a corner, quietly discussing the clinically dead girl on the bed in the middle of the room. Just outside the doors stood the other paramedic, Lucy, watching the fully automatic processes trying to preserve Shona's life.

"Where are we on time?" Carl asked absently. With everyone else occupied, Anna stepped over to the chart, wincing slightly as she read it.

"Just over an hour." She reported clearly for the team, as she began to fill in the details. Heart rate 0. Rhythm, asystole. BP and O2 holding steady. Perhaps the most important reading at the moment was Shona's core temperature. It was now up to 25. She was getting warmer, at a faster rate, but there was still quite a way to go before she would be warm enough to try and bring her back. Anna hoped all the effort, all the chest tubes, dialysis and warm saline being pumped into her wouldn't be for nothing.

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myherowritings · 4 years

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hearts intertwined | t.s.

— You and Todoroki have been roommates for months now but have barely had more than a two minute conversation. When quarantine hits and everyone is on lockdown, you find yourself forced to spend more time with him and actually end up...enjoying it?

pairing: todoroki shouto x reader word count: 3,055 genre: roommate au, pro hero!shouto, fluff warnings: suggestive content, 16+, mc and todo are both mid-20s

a/n: this is written as part of the crackhead sanctuary’s server collab! (pls excuse my server name lmfdkgfdg i have terrible naming skillz) i hope y’all enjoy and pls lmk what u think!! xx sof

In many ways, Todoroki Shouto was the perfect roommate.

He cleaned up after himself, always made an extra serving of food and set it aside for you (though it may only have been because he sucked at measuring out ingredients rather than him intentionally planning on leaving you leftovers), and generally kept his volume to a minimum when entering the apartment at ungodly hours of the night.

There was also the fact that he was the most attractive person you had ever shared a living space with in your life, and seeing him shirtless on his way to his bedroom from the bathroom was a definite bonus.

But despite all that, he was never someone you considered yourself close to.

You needed help paying for rent and expenses and he happened to be a friend of a friend of a friend who was looking for a place in the city to stay. Call it a divine intervention, a gift from the gods, or even fate… But you still wouldn’t consider yourself his friend.

It wasn’t as if you didn’t want to befriend him--Todoroki seemed like a sweet person. It was more along the lines of neither of you having the time. While you spent most of your day in the lab studying and doing research, Todoroki was always working in his office or out in the field to fulfill his new hero duties.

This quarantine was probably the first opportunity either of you had to be in the same building for more than thirty minutes at a time. Which was why, as the two of you sat side-by-side on the living room sofa, no one knew exactly what to say.

“So, the weather--”

“Looks warm out--”

Both of you opened your mouths and shut them at the same time.

“Sorry,” Todoroki said with a small smile. “You first.”

“I-- Oh… It was nothing,” you managed, clearing your throat in an attempt to compose yourself. “Just trying to make some small talk.”

With a tight-lipped smile and wide eyes, you slowly craned your head away from his view. Who admits they’re trying to make small talk? That breaks all the rules of how to properly talk to someone.

The faint sound of the television playing old infomercials buzzed in the background while you and your roommate sat in silence. You never struggled to talk to him during those brief moments of passing, so why now?

Looking at the screen to pass time, you noticed an outdated commercial of an older Tamagotchi game playing and felt yourself breaking out into a grin.

“Aw, I miss that game!” you cried as you turned to Todoroki with an excited glint in your eye. “Don’t tell anyone, but in elementary school I used to play it in class and since I was such a goody two-shoes, the teacher never suspected a thing.”

He raised an eyebrow in response. “I see we have ourselves a rebel in disguise here.”

“It’s our little secret, though. To everyone else, I am the epitome of innocence.”

You couldn’t help but notice the way his gaze travelled down your body and lingered on where the fabric of your oversized pajama shirt stopped and the expanse of your thigh started.

“Sure. I believe you,” he said in what was almost a teasing tone.

You felt your face growing hot but you paid it no mind.

“As you should,” you sniffed, crossing one leg over the other haughtily. When he chuckled, you turned back to him. “How about you? Are you a secret bad boy who played with his Tamagotchi in the back of class?”

Todoroki shook his head. “I never had one. I actually never even knew what it was until high school, I think.”

“Really?” Your eyes widened. Sure, the hand-held game was marketed to girls, but to never have heard about it through your whole childhood? You weren’t sure how that was possible. “Not even your older sister had one?”

Now, you didn’t know much about his personal life (whether or not he was dating someone, if he slept on the left or the right side of the bed, which leg he put in his pants first, et cetera), but you did pick up on a few things about his siblings from the previous interactions you’ve had with him.

“Not to my knowledge,” he said, looking away thoughtfully. “My father never afforded us such luxuries.”

You frowned. “What about toys like Pokemon? Oh! Or Yu-Gi-Oh cards?”

“Yu-Gi-Oh cards?” repeated Todoroki slowly, as if he was unsure what you were talking about.

Your jaw dropped in disbelief. “You never played--? Oh, never mind. How about family games like Twister or Just Dance?”

As far as you were aware, Todoroki Shouto came from a rather affluent family. So it was a wonder why he never participated in at least one of these experiences that characterized a whole generation’s childhood.

Again, he shook his head. “Never did those either. I wasn’t exactly allowed to play with my siblings, let alone other kids my age. My father always made me prioritize my training.”

“That’s not right of him.”

You winced. Of course he never had the opportunity to have a “normal” childhood. How could you be so insensitive? It was no secret Endeavor had a troubled relationship with his family, but you weren’t exactly sure to what extent. You didn’t focus much on the whimsical world of heroes and, ever since you were a child, you know you wanted to pursue the field of research rather than use your quirk. The lives of heroes--even top ranking ones--was something you never paid much attention to. Still, even you have heard some gossip about the estranged Endeavor.

“Sorry for pressing you,” you said, toying with the hem of your shirt. “I didn’t mean to be so insensitive.”

He gave you a nonchalant shrug and a small smile to let you know it was okay.

“Don’t worry about it, Y/L/N. You didn’t mean to,” he comforted. “Besides, it’s been a long time. It would be useless to hold a grudge against my father for this long.”

You tilted your head to the side. “Forgiveness, huh? That’s very mature of you, Todoroki. I think I admire you.”

His shoulders moved upward in silent laughter. “Thank you. I admire you, too.”

Ignoring the faint heat you felt in your cheeks, you beamed. “Thanks. Anyway-- You know what I just realized?”

“What?”

“You did not have a childhood.”

While his face remained passive, you could have sworn you saw his eye crinkle in amusement.

“I suppose I can’t argue with that,” he said in agreement. “My youth was spent quite differently than most.”

You nodded profusely. “Right. And while I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with that, per se, it could be beneficial to do these things you haven’t had the chance to!”

He examined you curiously as you bounced up from your seat on the sofa with an excited grin. After a few moments of silence, he craned his neck, prompting you for clarification.

“You’re bored on lockdown, I’m bored on lockdown,” you stated matter-of-factly. “What better time to reclaim your childhood than now?”

Todoroki didn’t bother to hide the small smile making its way across his face at your determined words. “Okay, then. Count me in.”

- - - - -

When you decided you wanted to help your new friend Todoroki reclaim his childhood, you expected your days to be full of cute Beanie Babies and Webkinz, as well as the presumed amounts of chaos that followed edible bubbles and candy kits. And while the first few days of the week consisted of that, the tone changed rather drastically when a certain game was introduced. Of all things, what you expected least was to be practically panting on top of Shouto as you braced your muscles and tried not to collapse onto him.

“Left hand, blue,” he called after flicking the spinner.

How he managed to turn the spinner with one hand and keep his body balanced with the other on a Twister mat without toppling over was a mystery to you.

Stupid heroes with their stupid, bulging muscles, you thought crossly as you relived your many previous losses. You tried to ignore the bead of sweat dripping down your face as you struggled to stay up.

Somehow, you turned your head just enough that you had the perfect view of Todoroki’s flexed triceps as he held himself in a modified pushup position of sorts. There was a look of concentration on his face and, while you found his furrowed brows to be rather cute, you still couldn’t help but focus your attention on his arms. He had a lean type of muscle that you thought would feel especially comfortable wrapped around your waist--

“Y/L/N, do you forfeit?”

You blinked, feeling lightheaded both from this game which you lacked the stamina for and from the lack of oxygen that travelled to your brain as you held your breath while staring at Todoroki.

Once your mind processed his words, you huffed. “Forfeit! Me? Never! Why would you think that?”

“Because I called ‘left hand, blue,’ minutes ago and you still haven’t moved.”

Blood rushed to your face and you were thankful you had the exertion to blame it on. It wasn’t your fault Todoroki’s arms were so toned and strong and...distracting.

“No,” you said, unsure if there was even a question asked for you to reply to. “I don’t quit!”

Your eyes scanned the mat feverishly, looking for a blue circle to place your left hand on that would cause the least amount of strain. Shouto had already won the first two rounds and you’d be damned if you were to let him win again. (As much as you loved witnessing him succeed, your pride would simply be too hurt if you lost a third time in a row.)

“Find a spot yet?” he asked in amusement. “I’m not sure how much longer my arms can hold.”

Of course, just the mention of his arms drew your attention from finding the optimal Twister position to staring stupidly at his triceps again.

As you attempted to tear your gaze away from him, you spotted hints of a smirk lingering on Todoroki’s face.

Did he notice your staring? There was no way…

You looked at him, wide-eyed and dubious, and almost choked when you saw his shoulders start to shake as he tried to hide his laughter.

His laugh was muffled by his shirt in an attempt to keep his volume down, but it still rang rich and deep in the air. It was the first time you heard him laugh like that and you wanted to do anything to hear it again.

With a shake of his head, he removed his hands from their spot on the Twister board and sat upright beside you.

“I concede,” he said when he saw you eyeing him with curiosity. “You win this round. My arms were getting too sore.”

After hearing the sweet sound of Todoroki saying, “You win,” you let yourself collapse on the floor, rolling onto your back to get a clear view of your cream-colored ceiling.

“For some reason, I sincerely doubt that your arms were getting sore,” you said, stretching your own--genuinely sore--arms out in front of you. “But seeing as I was about to fall flat on my face if I waited any longer… Thank you for conceding.”

“Doubt I’d be sore?” he repeated, craning his neck to peer down at your face. He placed his left hand on his right bicep and gently massaged it with his thumb and forefinger. “What for?”

By then, whatever rational thought was left in your brain had been fully replaced by Shouto’s arms and Shouto’s arms only, and you couldn’t even complain.

“Mmm, what did you say again?” You blinked, clearing your throat. You suddenly had the desire to chug a cool glass of water.

Todoroki’s only reply was another small--almost imperceptible--smirk. It would have been easy for someone to miss, but to you, someone who was perhaps being more attentive to their roommate and newfound friend than they’d care to admit, it was clear as day.

“You’re totally messing with me!” you groaned, covering your face with your hands as you continued to lie with your back on the floor. “Aren’t you?”

He let out a breathy laugh and shrugged, the corners of his lips quirking upwards. “Sorry. It’s just cute seeing your reactions. I didn’t know you liked my arms so much.”

You could’ve sworn he flexed once more for dramatic effect and an indignant squeak escaped your mouth.

“I-I don’t!” you protested, making sure to look anywhere but his arms. “I just never noticed how...proportionate they were before! Just thinking about how da Vinci would admire them. For scientific purposes, of course.”

“Sure.”

You gaped at the knowing look on his face. “How did you even notice? Aren’t you a bit of the oblivious type?” With wide eyes, you slapped your hand over your mouth. “Wait-- I’m sorry. That was rude to say.”

Todoroki waved it off with a smile to show he wasn’t offended in the slightest. “I guess I was rather oblivious in the beginning of high school. But as I grew up I became more accustomed to picking up on such things.”

You hummed in silent contemplation. Of course he had to have grown used to people making moon eyes over him. He probably got it all the time.

“I usually pay it no mind,” he continued as he stood up, peering down at you sprawled out on the floor. “But when you do it, I find it sort of cute.”

As if he didn’t just say something that caused your heart to skip a beat, Todoroki extended a hand out to help you up.

Ignoring the heat rushing to your cheeks, you gently placed your hand in his.

“Thanks,” you murmured as Shouto pulled you off the mat and towards his body, a feeling of lightheadedness overcoming you at the sudden motion.

One hand held yours while his other was placed firmly above your elbow to help you steady yourself.

“You okay, Y/L/N?” he asked, a hint of concern in his voice as he watched you regain your balance.

“Oh, yeah! No worries. This happens all the time, to be honest,” you admitted, vaguely taking note of how your chest was almost fully pressed against his. “Whenever I move my head too fast I get a bit dizzy. And whenever I stand too fast my knees sort of just crack.”

Your words did nothing to soothe the worried furrow between his brows.

“Is...Is that not normal?”

He blinked.

You grimaced. “Okay. Guess not. Maybe I need to work out more.”

“You can work out indoors with me,” Todoroki suggested with a small smile. He looked so sincere you were just about to agree until he opened his mouth for a second time-- “As long as you don’t spend the whole workout gawking at my arms.”

With an indignant cry, you pulled yourself away from his loose grip, face burning with such intensity you wouldn’t be surprised if he were able to sense the rise in temperature. “I never gawked at your arms.”

He hummed.

“Well, okay, maybe I did,” you relented with a huff, bending down to fold up the game mat in front of you. “They look very strong. Being a hero must be hard work.”

Todoroki shrugged, helping you clean up. “It’s worth the toll it takes. I can imagine your research requires hard work too.”

You tried to hide the look of surprise on your face. You briefly talked to him about what you did during the roommate-finding process, but you didn’t think it was anything interesting enough for him to recall. It brought an odd warmth to your stomach knowing he cared enough to remember.

“I guess. But I’d say it’s nowhere near as difficult as hero work,” you brushed off. “Not everyone has what it takes to be a good hero.”

A faint blush colored his cheeks as he followed you into the kitchen for a glass of water.

“There are lots of great heroes,” he stated, filling up two cups and handing one to you.

“Yeah, there are. And greatness is one thing, but you’re a good one-- In the heart.” Your gaze flitted to his, unsure why you were filled with the sudden urge to have such an intimate conversation after a game of Twister. Still, you rolled with it. “I know we haven’t talked much prior to this lockdown...but even I can tell how caring you are. And I’m looking forward to getting to know you more.”

A comfortable silence filled the air as he took a seat beside you. If Shouto was taken aback by your sudden compliment, he did a good job at hiding it, simply giving you a small smile as he let his shoulder rest against yours. You glanced over at the point of contact and bubbled with elation.

“Todoroki?” you called quietly, the edge of your pinky brushing against his.

He looked down at the gentle touch of your hand and didn’t move away. Instead, he took the initiative and placed his fingers on top of yours, his hand surprisingly soft despite the calluses on his fingertips. The back of your neck heated at the sudden movement, but you decided you rather liked how his hands felt on yours.

“Hmm?”

“Thanks for letting me drag you along to play these childhood games,” you said, letting out a sigh of contentment. “It’s a nice change of pace while we’re stuck indoors.”

Shouto shook his head. “I should be the one thanking you. These are much better childhood memories than the ones from my actual childhood,” he admitted with a light laugh. “I’m glad we had the opportunity to spend more time together, Y/L/N.”

By now your fingers were intertwined with his, his thumb lightly stroking the peak of your knuckle.

He continued, “I hope this continues even when quarantine is over.”

“I hope it does, too.” You couldn’t stop the grin from spreading wide across your face as you nuzzled your head on his shoulder. “Let’s keep making memories together, okay, Todoroki?”

“Happily.”

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helliontherapscallion · 4 years

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Bonding (Adrenaline Junkie Chapter 12)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17

Spotify Playlist (collaborative)

Warnings: nightmares, swearing, mentions of death/injury

Word count: 3,383

(A/N): it feels good to get back to this story

A week and a half went by in a flash. In that time, you and Arthur grew closer. You absolutely loved how he was so interested in innovation and engineering, you felt like he was the perfect choice for your apprentice. To pass the time, you would teach Arthur the basics of redstone working. You taught him everything from how to properly store it to the beginnings of using repeaters. Occasionally, Philza would join you two in lessons.

“Then, you just connect the repeaters together with redstone and set each for the desired times. Et voila! You have properly working timed pistons.”

Looking up from your demonstration, you stifle a chuckle at the two sitting in front of you. Arthur, the ever vigilant student, was frantically scribbling down notes into the journal you gave him, his face scrunched in concentration and his tongue poking out the corner of his mouth. Your father, however, looked downright confused. The poor man was staring down helplessly at the two repeaters in front of him, the whole set up he had looked slightly flimsy in structure. Redstone dust messily formed a line between the iron contraptions with the occasional tiny break in the dust. Judging by the positioning of the repeaters themselves, they were in the right place but they were haphazardly placed. Sure the positioning of the two repeaters relative to each other would work, but it was just something that you wouldn’t do. You always hated clutter in your contraptions. The only true flaw in his build was the messy line of redstone.

You walked over to the table your dad was working at and started to explain why the machine wasn’t working. “So your only mistake here is the cleanliness of your redstone. With it being this messy, there are plenty of potential breakages of the wiring,” you gently swept the redstone into a neat line with your hands and watched as the entire contraption glowed red. Pistons started moving in succession of each other in timed bursts. “One more thing, just a little nitpicky thing, the repeaters are set right, they’re just… messy?” You watched as Philza watched the movement of the pistons with a blank look before he looked up at you with a slightly annoyed look.

“Other than that, the settings of the repeaters were set right!” You sheepishly grinned at him before realizing that he wasn’t going to be reassured by your weak reassurance. You looked over to Arthur, “Arthur buddy you wanna try?”

You watched as his eyes lit up in excitement as he looked up from you from over the brim of his journal. Without a word, he quickly got to work. You and Philza watched him as he continuously looked between his journal and his work.

“I didn’t know working with redstone was so hard. I just thought it was easy with how fast you invent things,” Philza said dejectedly.

You reached over to pat him on the back, “it took me a while to figure it out. I remember four years ago when I started I was completely lost.”

You felt the vibration of his chuckle, “I remember when you almost crushed your wing in a piston. You were so lucky it only caught the ends of a few primary feathers.”

You chuckled bittersweetly, “not that it matters. I lost that wing a few months after that.”

You could practically hear his mind start churning, “but you made a new one, you can still fly.”

“It’s not the same Dad. I hate having to spend thirty minutes putting the sensors on my back. I can’t feel the air moving through my feathers anymore. It feels like a part of me is constantly missing and this hunk of useless metal doesn’t take that feeling away.”

He fell silent as he continued to watch Arthur work. You always felt bad whenever you dumped your trauma on him, he was always looking for ways for you to feel better. But there were just some things that couldn’t be fixed with reassurances and small gifts. He didn’t understand that and you didn’t have the heart to tell him that his kind and caring nature would never get you your wing back. It was gone forever and nothing can bring it back.

You tried to not be bitter about it, it happened three years ago afterall, but you couldn’t help but feel a bitter taste on your tongue and a pang in your heart whenever someone mentions a time when you still had both wings. Whenever someone mentioned you having both wings, you could still remember the feeling of the air working itself through the nooks and crannies of the spaces between your feathers, the way that both wings would hang off your bed because they were too large (you never got to ask Philza about how he covered his wings), the way that they would both puff up behind you when you tried to intimidate your brothers during a snowball fight. You didn’t want those memories, they were of a better version of yourself. You didn’t want to be reminded of what could’ve been if you didn’t go deeper into that damned cave.

“...Sorry, that was uncalled for.”

“Don’t apologize, I should’ve realized how you felt before bringing it up.”

“It’s not your fault, you didn’t know.”

You watched as his eyebrows furrowed and he looked at you with confusion, “why’re you just now-”

“(Y/n) I think I did it! Come look!”

Without a second glance at your dad, you hurried off to inspect Arthur’s contraption. It was perfectly set up; the redstone was in a neat line with no breakages, the repeaters were set perfectly and spaced evenly apart, and the pistons were successfully moving together in timed spurts.

You grinned at Arthur, “well done! This is perfect, you’ll be moving onto making your own inventions in no time. I couldn't have asked for a better apprentice.”

Arthur basked in your praise and listened to your words like they were being sung to him by an angel. He was practically beaming with how proud he was of himself. If the redstone smeared on his cheeks could be activated by emotional response, it would be glowing a brilliant red.

You reached out to wipe away the redstone from his cheek with your thumb, “why don’t you go clean up so we can grab some lunch. I bet you’re hungry.”

“I’m not hungry, I just wanna work with you more!” Arthur tried to convince you, but the rumbling of his stomach told you otherwise. You chuckled as the redstone slowly got camouflaged into his reddening puffed out cheeks.

He looked away in embarrassment as he started to stalk up the stairs, “...I’ll go clean up.”

Alongside teaching Arthur the basics of what you know, you were working on a plan to somehow release the souls from the Warden’s captivity. You felt a sort of survivor’s guilt when you thought about how you returned to your family and Hugh did not. Your family could survive without you, but Hugh was Arthur’s only family. It was unfair that such a kind, loving boy had his only family ripped away from him at such a young age when he needed his brother most. The least you could do for Arthur was free his brother’s soul from it’s endless torment.

You kept a journal that you would write out your plans in. The plans ranged from fighting the Warden with your very limited swordsmanship to blowing the entire cave to smithereens. No matter what plan you came up with, it would always result in you getting seriously wounded or dying for the last time. Most of the plans you came up with wouldn’t work anyways; the Warden was just too powerful. Asking Philza or Techno was out of the question, you didn’t want to risk their lives. That, and they would never let you go kill it. This was something you had to do on your own.

The mere thought of facing the Warden stressed you out extremely, giving you more and more nightmares about the monster.

The Warden somehow entered your house. You could hear it’s booming footsteps working its way through the hallways and stopping at each room. You could hear how it slaughtered your family brutally. You could hear their screams slowly becoming integrated into the horrid cacophony of the souls’ as their souls were absorbed into the Warden’s being. Finally, as the Warden reached your room, you could hear your family’s voices over the harsh screaming of the other souls.

“You promised me that you wouldn’t let it get me.” Arthur.

“I thought you’d always protect me.” Tommy.

“Why’d you let me die?” Wilbur.

“I’ve done so much for you and you just let me die.” Techno.

“It should’ve been you.” Philza.

Just as the Warden’s clawed hand swung down towards your face, you bolted up from your bed and flattened yourself against the wall scanning your room for the Warden. There was not a single thing out of place in your room. You wiped away the tears that were streaming freely down your cheeks and grabbed your automatic crossbow you had leaning against your wall. Grasping it with an iron grip and your finger hovering over the trigger, you reluctantly left your room and made your way down the hallway. You opened Philza’s door and peered into his room. You could see his wings sprawled out behind him and his chest rising and falling gently. He was still alive. You closed the door quietly and made your way to Wilbur’s old room where Arthur was currently sleeping. Bracing yourself to find his corpse, you opened the door. You only saw a mop of brilliant red hair poking out of the blankets. You couldn’t see movement, oh god was he even breathing? You rushed over to his bed and pulled back the covers.

You could see his peaceful face looking back at you. Putting your hand under his nose, you held your breath as you waited for air to hit your hand. Finally after what seemed like forever, you felt a gentle burst of air hit your hand. You covered Arthur back up and stalked out of his room. Your family was alive. The Warden was still in that cave. It was just a dream. It was just a dream.

You glanced at the clock, it was about half past four in the morning. You’d have to wake up in about two hours, so you just made your way down to the kitchen to make yourself a cup of coffee. Not that you’d be able to go back to sleep after that nightmare anyways. Time moved infinitely around you as you became engrossed in your thoughts. You needed to make better plans to kill the Warden. You needed to be better.

You didn’t notice when Arthur and Philza entered the kitchen. You were fully zoned out staring at the now cold cup of coffee in your hands, lost in thought. It wasn’t until you felt a hand on your shoulder that you snapped out of your trance. Recoiling violently and reaching for the crossbow you had propped up against the chair, you whipped around and pointed the weapon at the thing that touched you. Instead of the Warden standing there ready to devour you, you were met with a startled Philza stepping back with his hands in the air. Arthur was hiding behind him fearfully.

Your eyes widened as you lowered the crossbow. You could feel your wing start to puff up and retract itself back in reflecting your horror as you hastily put the crossbow back onto the table. “I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t- I wouldn’t do that. Shit what time is it, I haven’t made breakfast yet. I’ll start. I'm sorry.”

You pushed passed them as you rushed over to the chest and pulled out the ingredients to make pancakes. Your shaky hands struggled slightly to pour the exact measurement of flour before someone stopped you.

“(Y/n), I’ll make it.” It was your dad once again.

“No, I got it.”

“(Y/n), I’m not asking. Go sit down.”

You sighed as you started walking to the table. You could hear Arthur’s breath hitch in his throat when you grabbed the crossbow and stalked up to your room to hide it. You could feel guilt, shame, and horror rise up from deep within you from what you almost did. You couldn’t believe that you almost just shot them because of your stupid delusion. It would’ve been fatal too, your automatic crossbow never failed to kill. It was one of the many downsides to the weapons you invented, you had to live with the fact that people are getting killed because of your inventions. In a way, you indirectly killed many people per day.

You walked down the stairs as slowly as you could so you could avoid having to face them. You couldn’t forget the look of pure fear on Arthur’s face as he hid behind Philza, you were the cause of that. You promised that you would protect him and he fully trusted you to do so. This morning you took that trust and destroyed it the second you reached for that crossbow.

When you reached the dining room, you sat down as far away from Arthur as possible. You could hear Philza pause his movements when he saw you enter the room before he started stirring again. He was probably trying to see if you came back with a stronger weapon so he could protect Arthur. You were a monster.

Soon enough breakfast was ready and a hefty plate of pancakes covered with maple syrup was placed in front of you. Breakfast went by quietly, the only sound coming from the clanking of silverware against plates. You didn’t eat much of your breakfast, you were too busy trying to think of a way to apologize to Arthur and Philza. In the middle of your thought process, you were interrupted by Arthur’s voice.

“(Y/n)?”

You jumped slightly and looked up at him, “yeah?”

“Can you look at my blueprint? I got an idea for something yesterday and I wanna see if you think it’d work.”

You looked at the young boy in slight confusion, “...Sure just finish your breakfast first.”

“I’m done, I’ll go grab it!”

Without giving you any warning, he jumped out of his chair and raced up the stairs.

“You gave us quite the scare this morning hun. What happened?”

“I’m sorry-”

“Don’t apologize, just tell me what happened.”

You sighed and ran a hand through your hair, “I just had a bad nightmare last night. I couldn’t go back to sleep so I just… came down here to wait a bit so I could make breakfast.”

“Nightmares are understandable, but why’d you have a crossbow?”

“I thought I needed something to protect the house if it came.”

“If the Warden came? I thought you didn’t get nightmares about it anymore.”

“Well, I still do, just a lot more frequently-”

Arthur burst through the door and ran over to you, slapping the paper on the table in front of you. You squinted at it, trying to decipher the messy handwriting. It was a layout of a secret door, which was popular in the world of redstoning. You didn’t have the heart to tell him that though, especially with how excited he was to show you what he made. So, you smiled at him.

“It looks good buddy, do ya wanna try to build it today? I can help you.”

“Yes! I’m gonna go get dressed so we can build it!”

He once again dashed up the stairs, leaving you and Philza alone in the kitchen. Philza chuckled, “he reminds me of Tommy when he was that age. Except… a little more mellow.” When you didn’t respond, he turned to look at you. “What’s wrong?”

You sighed, “he was so scared of me this morning. I promised to protect him and I almost ended up killing him.”

“...Ya know I almost stabbed you and your brothers multiple times when you guys were younger because you guys startled me right?”

You felt the corners of your mouth twitch, “of course I do, and you would always get us ice cream after.”

“Did you ever resent me for it?”

“No, you were just trying to def- oh, I see where you’re going with this.”

“Ever the keen one,” he chuckled. “Arthur’s more understanding than most kids his age, I bet he understands that you didn’t mean to do that. You just gotta make it up to him.”

“Alright, thank you Dad. I think I’m gonna go get dressed so Arthur doesn’t have to wait long. I think if I have him wait any longer he’s gonna explode.”

After you got dressed, you walked downstairs and grabbed the materials Arthur would need and a couple of extra supplies you might need. Walking outside, you were met with an excited Arthur. You two worked on his contraption all day. You knew exactly what he needed to do to fix any problems that arouse, but you only gave him little hints that would push him in the right direction. You wanted him to stop relying on you so much for the little things. Sure, you were always going to be there for him when he was stuck, but you wanted him to be more independent.

Eventually, the sky took on hues of pinks and yellows as the sun started to disappear behind the treeline. “It’s getting late, Arthur. You made good progress today.”

He nodded as he walked alongside you back into the house as you led him to the couch. “Arthur?”

He looked at you, his brown eyes clouded with exhaustion and confusion. “I’m so proud of how fast you’ve improved. I have something for you.” You reached into your bag and pulled out a new pair of goggles and leather gloves.

“I know it’s not much, but-”

“I love it.” He whispered as he stared down at his presents in his hands. Without warning, he flung himself into your side as he tightly hugged your midsection. You froze before you wrapped your left wing around him in a feathery hug. Your hand reached up to stroke his hair as you chuckled. “It’s no problem kid, you deserve it.”

You two sat there for a bit before you patted his back, “dinner’s almost ready. Let’s go clean up so my dad doesn’t throw a fit. You have redstone and dirt all over you.”

After you two cleaned the dirt off from your faces and hands, you led Arthur down the stairs. You nudged his shoulder when you got to the end of the stairs, “race you to the kitchen!”

You broke off into a speed walk as Arthur started to sprint, laughing boisterously as the distance grew between you two quickly. Grinning, you shouted out, “oh no, I can’t go any faster! You’re gonna win!”

You dramatically yelled out a stretched out “no” as he bolted into the kitchen and sat at the table. You sped walked into the kitchen and sat next to Arthur. “How’re you so fast? I couldn’t catch up to you if I tried.”

“Yeah, you’re a speed demon Arthur!” Philza agreed from the stove between laughs. He forgot how much missed having his kids race each other to the dinner table, having Arthur around the house was really refreshing for him. He was ecstatic that you were getting closer to Arthur, it meant that he was going to get another grandson soon.

Dinner went by a lot smoother with laughter and banter being tossed around freely. Arthur would not take the goggles off and wore them proudly at the top of his head. Philza would cast knowing looks over to you when he was sure you were looking at him, which confused you, but you just brushed the feeling aside. You were happy sitting at the table eating with your little family; you couldn’t wait for your brothers and nephew to finally meet Arthur. They’d get along well with your apprentice. Until then, you have a mission to complete involving a certain monster.

General taglist (comment if you want to be added):

@crybabyjabby @izzybobizzy13 @goldenstarofthunderclan @bunnyz-pxstel @averytiredfanfictionwriter @dcml04

Series taglist (comment if you want to be added):

@acecarddraws @ravennightingaleandavatempus @dirtydiavolo @yeiras-world @immadatmostthings @hee-hee-haw @jackalopedoodles @m1lkmandan @vanhakirja @im-a-depressed-gay @coolleviauchihadreamerlove @questioning-sanity @camisascam @bongwaterflavoredgatorade @kakamiissad @jayistrash4 @lifestylesleep @speedymaximoff @sun-shark-tooth @appetiteofapeoplepleaser @lestrangenymph @kinismanditory @dragons-lurk-here @rinzyx05 @the-wandering-pan-ace @sparkling-gayyyy @angelic-scent @shinipii @dont-hug-me-im-a-fander @izzydimensional @used-avocado @laura--444 @wing-non @lovely-echoo @i-am-scared-and-useless-bisexual @mysteryartisticwriter @momo-has-a-gun @mosstea-png @w-0-r-n-n @v-kouya @kusuinko @kiinokochii @cheybaee @dulcedippers @jaciahbabes

#sbi x reader #sleepy bois x reader #sleepy bois inc x reader #philza x reader #technoblade x reader #wilbur soot x reader #tommyinnit x reader #sibling reader #platonic #mcyt #mcyt x reader #tw: nightmare #tw: swearing #tw: death #tw: injury

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josefavomjaaga · 3 years

Photo

Auguste of Bavaria, vice-queen of Italy, and her two daughters, usually referred to as “mes petits choux” or “mes deux anges” by their father, Eugénie (7 months, sitting on Mama’s arm) and Joséphine (3, clearly not interested in the geography of Hungary that her mother is trying to teach her). Painting by Andrea Appiani

***

During the Austrian campaign of 1809, Eugène for the first time was separated from wife and children for a longer period of time. Perfect husband that he was (in Auguste’s eyes at least), he wrote to her at every occasion. Some excerpts:

July 18:

Good morning, my dear Auguste. My first thought, as every day, is for you and my beautiful children. [...] I know that the emperor was kind enough to announce the armistice to you through one of his squires; I only learned of it thirty-six hours later, and during this time I was fighting on the March, so that the last cannon shots were for me.

July 19:

[…] Last night, Tuesday, I was thinking about our little games and regretting them very much. I hear that in Eisenstadt I will be very well off; they say there is a superb park with plenty of game; I will hunt every morning, work afterwards and think of my little family all day.

July 22:

Here I am back from my journey, my dear Auguste, and I hasten to give you my news, which is very good. [...] I saw Louis [Ludwig, Auguste's brother] this morning; he has improved a great deal since I last saw him; we lunched together at the Emperor's; I hope we shall see each other often during the few days I shall be here; you can well imagine who we talked about. You have been the constant subject of our talks, as you are always the subject of my thoughts. The news of Eugenie's two teeth has given me great pleasure, and everything leads us to believe that she will also be able to get all her teeth. [...] Farewell, my dearest Auguste, I hope that we will no longer be absent for as long as we have been. I kiss you and my two little sweeties and love you with all my heart. Your faithful husband and friend.

Of course, whenever a writer all of a sudden calls himself “your faithful husband”, I wonder why he feels the need to do that ... but that’s just me.

July 26

I am sending you Bataille with this letter, my good and dearest Auguste. Your name day is coming up, and I hope it will arrive just in time. I am sending you a trifle from Vienna, which I thought was pretty; I wish it to seem so to you. I will not make any new declarations of tenderness and attachment to you for the 3rd of August: these feelings are the same, and will be for all days and all times. I am sending toys to my little angels; I hope that Joséphine will pay you her little compliment and I am sorry I am not there to teach it to her. I see Louis every day; I am even having dinner with him today; this morning I gave him your letter and urged him to answer you by Bataille; he promised me to do so.

July 28

Louis leaves today to visit our last battlefields; he will also go to Austerlitz and Raab. I dined yesterday with Duroc and Bessières; it had been five years since we had been able to reunite this trio. We then wanted to walk in frock-coats on the rampart, but as soon as we arrived a great crowd followed us, because we were recognised; I had already been there the two days before and I had enjoyed the greatest incognito, […]

I guess having such a nondescript face does have its advantages. But as soon as you’re out with Bessières and his hairdo from the last century, no way people won’t recognize you.

August 2

[…] They say that the plenipotentiaries will meet tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, and we don't know any more than that, but what I do know is that I love you with all my heart.

August 3

Today, August 3rd, is your name day, my dearest Auguste, and I think with regret that I am not with you to talk to you about my feelings. How happy everything near you is at this moment! [...] I slept last night at Schœnbrunn, because the theatre play finished late, and this morning I went hunting with the Prince of Neufchatel. We returned for the parade and to lunch with the Emperor. I returned a few hours ago from Schœnbrunn, and I bathed, as it is very hot. Aubert has just told me that your foot is still hurting; why didn't you tell me about it? If you need Aubert, please let me know, I will send him to you immediately. Farewell, my dear Auguste, I like to think that in the midst of the pleasures of your name day, my regrets will have been thought of a little.

All quoted from A. DuCasse, “Memoires et correspondance ... du Prince Eugène”, Volume 6

***

As for the painting above, Auguste sent it to Eugène on his 28th birthday (September 3) which other than that apparently had gone pretty much unnoticed, even by himself. He writes to her the other day:

September 4

I thank you a thousand times, my dearest Auguste, I have seen Annoni yesterday. I came back here at eight o'clock in the evening tired from the heat of the day and the hours I had been out, not thinking at all that I was already twenty-eight, and as soon as I got down to my lodgings, Annoni was announced to me. You can't imagine how happy I was when he gave me your letter and your charming present; the idea is charming, the portraits are very similar, especially the one of Joséphine; in short, it's all admirable. I shall always carry this pretty picture with me everywhere, it will remind me, each time I look at it, of the happiness I enjoy with my little family. I am going to mount my horse shortly, the Emperor has asked me to pass some more reviews. I am sending Annoni to Vienna, where I shall be late this evening, and I shall keep him for a few days so that I can talk about you at my leisure.

Adieu, my good friend, I have no time to express to you how deeply touched I am by your attention, and how happy you make me. Farewell, my dear Auguste, you deserve and possess all the tenderness of your faithful husband and friend.

#napoleon #napoleon's family #eugene de beauharnais #leuchtenberg children #auguste von bayern #vienna 1809 #fifth coalition #austria 1809 #pointless historical fluff #jean-baptiste bessières #geraud christophe michel duroc #louis-alexandre berthier

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gaemkyuu · 4 years

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The Meeting

Warnings: implied intercourse, but not described A/N: First story that I am posting! I have four more parts, so if you like it, leave me a comment and I will post the others :) Disclaimer: This is a FICITONAL writing piece on Charlie Gillespie. In no way do I claim or declare that Charlie’s portrayal is accurate to real life. I do however, own Teagan Valencia :)

Masterlist

The Teagan Valencia Series: The Meeting / The Fight / The Proposal / The Present / The Recovery / The Future

The Meeting

“Quiet on set...! And...Action!”

Teagan watched in silent adoration as Charlie delivered his lines. She didn’t always have the opportunity to sneak away from work to watch him work, but today was an exception. The second season was well underway in the filming process and their popularity was increasing. Kenny noticed Teagan out of the corner of his eye and motioned her over so that she could watch the scene from the monitor. She was amazed at how Charlie looked playing Luke. She had met him three years ago when he was filming Season 1, but yet the boy on camera looked exactly like he did that same day three years ago.

***

Teagan had been visiting Vancouver that weekend to visit family and help her sister get settled. Her little sister had been accepted into the University of British Columbia in the Business program studying Accounting and Finance. She was the pride and joy of filipino immigrant parents as she was attending an esteemed university and getting a degree. All the while their oldest, Teagan, had opted for a non traditional method of getting into the marketing industry by working for a popular canadian clothing brand. Her sister was going to be a university graduate while Teagan worked her way up the ladder in a retail store. Teagan always knew that going to school wasn’t where her path was taking her, but she always knew that hard work, determination and experience were valuable assets in the job market. Something her parents would never understand.

“Charlie watch out!”

They were walking around Gastown in their cute summer dresses killing time before their dinner reservation, when Teagan was knocked over by another person. As she got her bearings, she felt cold liquid on her chest and the weight of another body. The other person quickly scrambled to their feet and profusely apologized, helping her stand as her cousins stood there in shock. She heard a couple more footsteps rush over to where she were standing, dusting off her butt and looking her tackler in the face. In an instant, Teagan had forgotten what had happened as she got lost in the deep green pools of the man in front of her. It wasn’t the eye colour that stole her focus, but rather the intensity of emotions that he conveyed through them. Teagan could see and feel the embarrassment, regret and sincerity of the man.

“Teags?”

Her cousin’s voice broke her trance and she blushed when she realized she had been staring. She noticed that two other people stood behind him, in which she assumed was her friend. One was fairly tall and blonde and the female with long auburn hair and a beanie. Teagan forced herself to focus on what the man was saying rather than the beautiful eyes in front of her.

“I am so so so sorry. I completely didn’t see you and didn’t mean to ruin your dress or tackle you to the floor” Teagan looked down at her once cute summer dress covered in iced coffee from Starbucks. “Is there any way I can make it up to you?” Teagan stood there speechless.

“Uh-uhm- D-Don’t worry about it! It’s totally fine” Teagan felt slightly flustered and out of breath, her blush deepening as she heard her cousin scoff on the side. “I can quickly just go and buy something else to wear”

“Please let us pay for it! We feel horrible!” the man’s female friend offered coming closer to Teagan motioning the other two males as well.

“Seriously, it’s fine! I’m totally fine! Don’t worry about it!” Teagan couldn’t quite understand why she felt embarrassed when they were the ones who were at fault. “What happened anyway?”

“Our friend thought it would be funny to run away with my iced coffee and wasn’t looking where he was running. It’s my fault too because I was chasing after him” the blonde one shyly confessed, rubbing his neck apologetically. “I hope we didn’t ruin your night”

“We were just killing time waiting for our reservation. It isn’t for another half an hour, so we have ample time to grab Teagan a new dress” Teagan silently thanked her cousin as her brain was malfunctioning at the handsome man in front of her.

“We seriously feel so bad, can we please make it up to you somehow?” the female tried to offer some sort of compensation again.

“It’s totally fine, no hard feelings. It wasn’t like it was on purpose right?” Teagan’s brain started to slowly function as she declined the offer of the female.

“Seriously, we need to make this up to you two. I won’t take no for an answer and if you do say no, I’ll just follow you around until you say yes” The handsome man took a step closer to Teagan, causing her breath to catch and swallow deeply.

“Uhm, okay! I mean, if you won’t take No, I’d much rather just make new friends instead of gaining a stalker!” Teagan could feel her words tumble clumsily out of her mouth. Thus began the start of a new friendship. Teagan, her cousin and their new friends ventured to the nearest H&M to find something else for her to wear. Turns out that the other female, Savannah, had excellent taste in clothing. They all came to learn that they were all in the same age range, with Tegan being born in 1997 and Owen, the blonde being born in 2000. Teagan also came to learn that her handsome tackler’s name was Charlie and that all three of them were actors for a new Netflix project that was scheduled to air in the New Year. The three ladies got along incredibly and their shopping trip turned into all five of them going to dinner. They had lucked out when a table of 5 before them no-showed the restaurant. They spent the evening getting to know one another and a deep friendship was easily formed. Throughout the night, Charlie and Teagan connected on several levels and at times forgot there were three other people at the table. Occasionally the two would banter or tease each other, even though they had met that day. As their dinner came to an end and bills were paid by none other than Charlie, the girls exchanged contact information, planning to hangout on their next day off. But before Teagan could walk away for the night, Charlie slipped a piece of paper in Teagan’s hand apologizing one more time for running into her.

‘Coffee? This time I won’t spill it on you’ was messily written on the one side, with his phone number on the other. Teagan’s cousin didn’t notice the smile that lit up her face, but she quickly snapped a picture of it and tucked it in her purse for safe keeping.

That coffee date with Charlie ended up becoming a regular occurrence, though the only one who would be drinking coffee would be Teagan as Charlie always settled for tea or whatever dessert or smoothie he wanted to explore that day. She appreciated his adventurous side as she was creature of habit at times. She learned a lot about the industry and the many quirks of Charlie Gillespie. Soon, coffee dates turned into dinner dates and dinner dates turned into weekend cuddles and relaxation, but filming would eventually wrap and the holidays approached, leaving Teagan and Charlie to make a definitive decision in their relationship. Teagan didn’t expect to extend her Vancouver visit from a week to about a month and a half. Reality was coming fast ans soon Charlie would be back to LA and Teagan working in Edmonton.

“Charlie, what are we?” she asked him as both sat on the couch of his apartment. Mama Mia played softly in the background on the TV as she turned to face him.

“Well what do you want to be?” he cheekily asked her, flashing one of his killer smiles.

“Je suis sérieuse. Tu retournes à LA toute suite et moi à Edmonton. C’est quoi ça?" Charlie knew that when Teagan spoke to her in french she was serious. It was one of the things he learned early on about Teagan. He was pleased to know that she was fluent in french, having taken an IB course in high school, but they often bantered about their accents. She understood how french was a huge part of who he was and she didn’t speak to him in french unless it was important. She knew it got his attention right away since he was so used to being around people who only spoke english.

He paused the TV, complete silence filling the room, both of them facing one another. Charlie was off to Vietnam for the holidays and Teagan planned to spend hers with her family in Edmonton, seeing as she had made an impromptu extension to her trip in Vancouver. He knew that the next time they would be seeing one another they would be crossing borders to visit one another and to be honest the distance felt a bit overwhelming. But Charlie couldn’t shake the fact that there was something about Teagan that he didn’t want to let go.

“What’s going to happen when we both go back to living the way we were before one another?” Charlie chuckled softly to himself, knowing his decision. Teagan cocked an eyebrow at his response.

“Well nothing’s going to go back to the way it was before Teags” she loved hearing Charlie use her nickname. He said it in a way that sounded so comforting to her ears. “You’re mine right?”

“Define: mine” Teagan smiled coyly at Charlie, already understanding what he meant. “I need help understanding you. I don’t speak Charlie Gillespie Language” Charlie rolled his eyes and got down in front of Teagan, settling in between her legs.

“Teagan Jillian Valencia, will you be my girlfriend?” He jutted his lips forward ever so slightly to create the perfect pouty lips and then he comboed them with his best puppy eyes. Teagan shook her head at the dramatics of the man in front of her and kissed him on the lips, pulling him up and forward. “So, that’s a yes?”

She nodded and kissed him again, this time a little more aggressively. Charlie took the hint and started getting all handsy, but Teagan broke their kiss. “As much as I would love to do this right now, Owen comes home in 30 minutes and I would much rather him not walking in on us, again”

“Well let’s make this quick and move to the bedroom!”

#charlie gillespie #charlie gillespie x reader #fanfiction #charlie gillespie fanfiction #charlie gillespie imagines #imagine

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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YYH Recaps: Episode 4 “Requirements for Lovers”

Hello, everyone! It's been quite a while, huh? Ah, the endless cycle of wanting to write and yet, astoundingly, not writing. I know it well.

Good ol' writer's block has skedaddled for a time though, so let's make good use of that and dive into Episode Four: "Requirements for Lovers."

Ohhh, YYH getting spicy with its titles 😏

Actually wait, I shouldn't be making dumb jokes just yet. First I want to acknowledge a slight change to future recaps: YYH, RWBY, and anything else I might try my hand at. Namely, a lack of pictures moving forward. A few weeks ago — months? I honestly can't keep track — tumblr implemented a new limitation where no post can have more than ten images in it. It's a move that, while I'm sure has its justifications, makes sharing analyses of visually-based media all the more difficult. I'll be doing my best moving forward to describe scenes as needed, as well as combining connected images together to stretch out my limit, but I'm not going to pretend that it'll be the same as getting the visual play-by-play we’re used to.

Tumblr certainly is a website, huh?

Anyway, we open on Yusuke once again lamenting the difficulty of hatching a spirit beast that doesn't immediately devour him from the head down. On the one hand this is an admittedly easy way to reset the story over the course of this arc — the storytelling equivalent of waking your character up each morning — yet I cannot deny that if I were undergoing a resurrection test, it would consume my every thought too. Can't really blame Yusuke for endlessly bringing the conflict up when the conflict is this deadly.

Well, deadly for a ghost, anyway.

Specifically, he's worried about how embarrassing it would be to get eaten by something that came out of an egg this tiny. I'm torn between reminding a fictional character that things grow — a pissed off chicken could kick my ass and it started out in an egg too — and just shaking my head over the absurdity of worrying about embarrassment when, you know, you would cease to exist. It's not even a matter of, "What if I die and then I'm embarrassed about it in the afterlife :( " Yusuke is already IN the afterlife. He's got nowhere to go but oblivion!

Luckily, Botan takes a more practical approach to these worries, pointing out that he'll be just fine provided he does some good deeds. Yusuke starts a rant about how do-gooders are only ever out for themselves.

Yusuke, you dumb-dumb, you're a do-gooder now. What was all that help for Kuwabara, hmm? As said, these early episodes exist in a semi-reset loop, where Yusuke needs to stew in his main character flaws for a while before any real growth starts to stick. Those flaws being, primarily, "I'm a pessimist" and "also I hate myself."

Case in point, Botan accuses him of always seeing the glass as half empty. Which, while true enough (outside of his confidence in fighting, anyway), by now we've got a pretty good sense of where Yusuke developed this attitude. He affirms this by talking about how Koenma's got him by the balls, "just another idiot abusing his power!" With an alcoholic mother and those teachers from last episode, it's no wonder Yusuke thinks this way. Mr. Takenaka's interest and Keiko's care aren't enough to combat the rest of Yusuke's experience, not when Takenaka is an outlier and Keiko is Yusuke's peer. Her desire to keep him on the right track reads only as an inevitability at best (the downside of having a perfect childhood friend), or a legitimate annoyance at worst. Or, as we'll continue to see in this episode, a way for them to flirt.

Is it any wonder Yusuke would sneer at Koenma's offer then, expecting the worst? The fact that Yusuke is still undergoing the challenge at all, no matter what he says, speaks volumes to me.

However, Botan is less than comfortable with his criticisms. She panics a bit at Yusuke insulting the (junior) ruler of the underworld so blithely. That, and the fact that he's carelessly tossing his egg around.

(Yes we’re using precious picture space for memes are you SURPRISED?)

Anyway, Botan isn't just concerned for the sake of concern. She cautions Yusuke against speaking too freely because there may be investigators checking in on his progress. No sooner does he ask what those investigators look like than one appears.

Thunder! Lighting! An energy so intense that Yusuke is briefly blinded! It is, as he says, quite the entrance. What kind of being could possibly be at the heart of such an astounding show?

Why, this teeny-tiny cutie, of course.

Remember, few appearances in YYH coincide with the character's true self. Would you ever assume this is the all-powerful investigator who holds Yusuke's future in her hands? Of course not. That's the point.

The investigator introduces herself as Sayaka and immediately demonstrates that she has no more patience for Yusuke's attitude than Botan does. "These damn kids," he mutters and my brain briefly blue screens because Yusuke. You're fourteen.

Plus, Sayaka and Botan clearly have some sort of eternal youth situation going on, so there's that too.

Sayaka is, in a word, fantastic. She pulls no punches with Yusuke, teleporting away from him with what can only be described as a shit-eating smile, all while refusing to tell him what exactly she's investigating. “I’m sorry, but that’s a secret!” However, Keiko is clearly at the forefront of her interest. She refers to her as Yusuke's "girlfriend."

Botan is more than happy to point Keiko out — because of course they're still following her around! — and pulls a Et tu, Brute? on Yususke, leading Sayaka right to her. Like most of the Underworld, Sayaka is rather shocked that the pretty, popular, scholarly girl is supposedly into the delinquent. It's the power of childhood friendship, you fools! Specifically, Sayaka references the "positive markings" that Keiko has accumulated, but the audience already knows by now that such markings are suspect at best. Yusuke himself is proof of that. So if his terrible marks don't preclude him from being a young kid's savior, should we really view Keiko's as proof of superiority?

I mean, Keiko is fantastic, but that's not really the point here.

Starting her own investigation into Yusuke's life, Sayaka begins with one hell of a bombshell: "There's no point in doing [the resurrection] if the people closest to you don't care." WOW. Not only is that a harsh assessment, it's one I don't think I can personally get behind. The offer to restore Yusuke to life is built on the acknowledgment that their system is flawed (even if there's no work to change or dismantle that system): they thought he was worthless, his sacrificial death seems to have proven them wrong, and now they want further evidence, in the form of this trial, that Yusuke is a good person at heart. The whole point of this challenge is to give him a second chance, with testimonies like Mr. Takenaka's emphasizing that Yusuke has always been capable of more, so long as he applies himself. This, as we'll see throughout the series, applies to relationships too. The Yusuke with one friend he play-fights with, a distant mother, and a school worth of kids who are terrified of his very name is not the future Yusuke they expect him to become, so... why base his resurrection on what he's already (not) accomplished? Granted, the show is very unclear about what, if anything, Sayaka will do if she decides that Yusuke doesn't have a life worth going back to (even if I have my own theory discussed at the end), but the fact that this is suddenly a factor at all seems grossly unfair, not entirely unlike Kuwabara's rigged promise. We as the audience know that people love Yusuke. Yusuke himself is beginning to acknowledge that. But if this fourteen year old delinquent truly had no one that wanted him back from the dead... isn't that all the more reason to allow a resurrection and give him the chance to build a life where he would be missed?

This stupid shonen got me thinking too much istg.

Yusuke, ever the self-deprecating pessimist, bypasses all of the above thoughts and jumps straight to, "It's clear if [Keiko] had any sense she'd want me gone." I'd find that attitude incredibly sad if I wasn't distracted by how cute Botan and Sayaka are, sitting on the oar together. The spirit girls who fly together, thrive together!

Botan starts teasing Yusuke about having a crush, which just feeds his temper and Sayaka's confusion. Deciding that she needs to gather more info, they follow along for an average day of school because these earlier episodes are, apparently, ghost-stalk Keiko hours.

We see her reading aloud in class from Heart of Darkness (not the easiest book for some middle schoolers), scoring a point during volleyball practice, refusing to let one girl cheat off her homework, but happily helping another who runs up with a question. So she's pretty, athletic, and academically successful, the trifecta for any good love interest. Sayaka is impressed not just with her "nearly perfect" scores, but also the maturity that Keiko demonstrates, such as maintaining her morals about cheating while remaining compassionate.

Actually, I really love the contrast this provides for us, the viewer. Meaning, Keiko is shown to be at her least mature when in Yusuke's presence. Not that her responses aren't justified, but watching her dramatically snatch gum from his mouth, slap him across the face, or pull crazed expressions as she yells at him is a far cry from this calm, poised, soft-spoken Keiko. It's a way to visually show us that she's comfortable in his presence, despite the suspect humor attached. Not that the Keiko we see at school is faking or anything — she is legitimately that kind and articulate — but we see that being with Yusuke allows her to relax in a way she doesn't with others. School!Keiko is, as Sayaka says, pretty much perfect, 24/7. Yusuke's Keiko is a little rougher around the edges, in a way that implies a multifaceted personality shining through.

However, the only conclusion our trio draws is that, given Keiko's accomplishments, any attraction must be one-sided.

Poor Yusuke lol.

In a plot move that is so ridiculously contrived, just as Yusuke is grappling with the accusation that Keiko couldn't possibly like him back, a "handsome boy" arrives to ask Keiko out. He says that he couldn't bear it when she stopped reading Heart of Darkness because he's fallen in love with her voice. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

Please excuse me while I lose my shit over how ridiculous this is. I legitimately straight up cackled when I watched this scene.

Luckily for Mr. Absurd, Keiko takes him seriously — and lets him down easy. She says she can't be his girlfriend and when he presses the "Why?", asking if she already likes someone else, Keiko confirms that she does. This is done through a shot of her feet. Not a POV shot given the angle, but close enough that it feels like we're stepping into Keiko's shoes (haha), shyly staring down at the floor in embarrassment and regret.

Rejection complete? The guy screams.

I mean he screams.

I mean this nobody we're never gonna see again unhinges his jaw and lets out an unholy shriek the likes of which makes me shriek in utter GLEE.

It's insane. It's wonderful. I'm going to use one of my coveted image spots to show you his face:

Look at that and tell me this show isn't amazing.

Okay, I'm focusing again. As Keiko runs off Botan and Sayaka start dragging Yusuke, teasing him about how Keiko chose him over that "charming handsome boy."

...Please scroll up and look at that image again. I find YYH's definition of "charming" and "handsome" to be hilariously wrong.

Yusuke, as per usual, throws himself into damage control, claiming that Keiko didn't say who she liked, so really it could be anyone. They're not buying it. “'I like Keiko' is written all over your face!” Botan crows. Meanwhile, Sayaka is scribbling in her little investigator's journal that feelings on both side are severely misunderstood. "Suggest serious counseling."

Fantastic idea, Sayaka. I'd personally suggest counseling for the whole dying/best friend getting resurrected thing... but relationship woes work too!

We cut to later when school is out and Keiko has gone over to Yusuke's. To say that Atsuko has done a poor job of keeping the house clean lately would be a serious understatement.

Keiko points out the old food and broken glass specifically, cluing us in that this isn't just a messy environment, but a dangerous one as well. This is proven when she accidentally knocks a stack of books over and a used bowl falls onto Yusuke's face. What's interesting is that Keiko says that things are "back to normal" now, though I'm not sure if that's in reference to the state of the house, or just the note Atsuko left behind, asking Keiko to take care of Yusuke while she's out. I'm inclined towards thinking it's just the note, partly because of Keiko's shock when she first arrives, because the house wasn't shown to be in this state prior to Yusuke's death (first image above), and because the note is accompanied by a great voiceover that makes Atsuko sound quite sloshed when she left. That's what's normal, the drinking and carefree attitude, not the state of her home. If we buy that reading, it allows for another fantastic look into Atsuko's mental state. If she's already an alcoholic, the trauma of her son's death and the following revelation that he's coming back might make her struggle in other ways. Like finding cleaning to be an impossible task.

She's depressed. It doesn't excuse the state she's left Yusuke in and, as previously acknowledged, YYH is definitely not a show interested in this nuance, but I still find it fun to take what little we've gotten and run with it.

However, Keiko is firmly on team "WTF Atsuko." She hurries to make sure Yusuke wasn't hurt by the falling bowl, bemoans him being "covered in garbage," and says that leaving him in this state should be considered a felony. Knowing it's far beyond her power to fix Atsuko's failings, Keiko swears to come here after school every day until Yusuke regains his body. It's as she's cleaning him of the dust that's gathered that Keiko becomes entranced with Yusuke’s features. Particularly his lips. The soft lighting returns, their theme song swells, and Keiko gets thiiiis close to kissing Yusuke for the first time.

Which is a little weird, right? I mean, we know why Yusuke is freaking out. Beyond the embarrassment of a middle schooler receiving his first kiss while two ghost girls eagerly watch on, he's made a hobby of denouncing his interest in Keiko to anyone who will listen. But for the average viewer — for Keiko herself — don't we care the he's, you know, dead? Or if not technically dead, very unconscious? Don't get me wrong, I fully understand the appeal of this situation in a generalized, cultural sense (with the side disclaimer that I'm reading a Japanese product through an American lens). Sleeping Beauty exists for a reason and there's definitely an element of that here: a gender-reversed setup where Keiko’s kills may break the "curse" of Yusuke's untimely death. Even his in-between state of being mirrors the "death like sleep" of the fairy tale. But when you strip away those Disney-esque thoughts, we're left with a girl about to kiss an unresponsive body, not as a common gesture of care (the parent who kisses their child while they sleep), but as a first time, romantic milestone.

It's a little weird lol.

But embrace the romance! As well as its inevitable interruption. Just as Keiko is about to land a peck, the neighborhood watch committee announces a heat and fire warning, startling Keiko out of her thoughts about Yusuke's "beautiful face." (There's another gender reversal for ya.) She gasps at her almost-action, conveniently remembers that her mom wanted her to do some shopping, and hightails it out of there before embarrassment can really kill them both.

So she runs off for food... in a sweater? The outfit is cute and all, but I wonder what the animators were thinking, putting Keiko in a puffy pullover during an episode all about a heat wave.

It's about at this point that the plot goes from cute romance to absolutely buck wild. The fires the neighborhood watch committee mentioned are not, in fact, due to the overwhelming heat, but an arsonist that's going around tossing molotov cocktails through open windows. Why is he doing such a thing? I don't know. Arsonists be doing arson, I guess. The important bit is that Yusuke's place is his next target, considering that Atsuko forgot to lock the windows when she went out. Within seconds all that garbage is set ablaze, quite obviously putting Yusuke's resurrection chances at an all time low.

"Wake up, stupid!" he shouts at his unconscious body. Mood, Yusuke. That's me every morning.

So this is a full scale emergency now and everyone is scrambling trying to think of something to do. Yusuke comes up with the idea to possess himself like he did Kuwabara — nice attempt at a loophole there — but since it would technically count as his resurrection, no dice. Botan decides to go get Kuwabara himself, even though he's too far away to do anything. It's still worth a shot. Sayaka, meanwhile, watches all this unfold with a somewhat clinical detachment. She's not quite indifferent and she's definitely not cruel... she’s just not as emotionally invested in this as the other two. Which not only re-emphasizes her purpose here, as an observer judging Yusuke, but also highlights the bond Botan is forming with him. As mentioned before in regards to her hanging out with Yusuke rather than ferrying souls, Botan is well past someone assisting Yusuke simply because it's a part of her job. He's her friend.

We get some shots of the growing fire which includes a hazy texture to the animation I quite like and then we cut to Keiko several blocks away, shopping bag in hand. Word of the new fire spreads, with one bystander mentioning that it's the twelfth today.

"This is eerie.”

“Yeah, I can’t help feeling we’re under attack.”

That's because you are! Someone stop that man!

Sadly, I don't think the arsonist is mentioned again, let alone captured. We'll just have to relegate that to my incredibly niche fic wishlist.

Keiko also overhears that the latest fire is on fourth avenue, which of course is where Yusuke lives. Recognizing that he might be in trouble, she takes off at a run.

Meanwhile, Botan finds Kuwabara practicing his kicks against a Yusuke dummy. Amazing resemblance, right?

Watching for the purpose of recapping, I'm picking up on a lot of details in the animation I quite enjoy. I don't think anyone would claim that YYH, at this point in time, has the most impressive or flashy animation (the fight scenes later are another matter entirely), but there's a clear love for the product that shines through. The scared expression on Kuwabara's dummy. His unexpectedly dainty kick, complete with pointed toes. Botan's more translucent coloring to emphasize her supernatural status compared to Kuwabara. There are a lot of nice touches despite the overall simplicity.

Plus, you can't forget the lovely irony of Kuwabara fighting a defenseless "Yusuke" while the real guy actually lies defenseless amidst a fire. We already know that despite his tough talk, Kuwabara would be horrified to learn that his friend rival had died (again) in such a manner.

Capitalizing on that transparency, Botan runs a hand through Kuwabara's back to catch his attention. He gets his "tickle feeling" and instinctively looks around towards Yusuke's house, seeing the smoke. "Something tells me I should go that way." Gotta love a guy who drops everything to chase a vague, supernaturally induced hunch.

As Kuwabara leaves we cut back to Keiko arriving at the house, staring in horror at the blaze. We get an audio flashback to her talk with Yusuke where she promised to take care of his body until he got back. So she tries to run in, only for a couple of the onlookers to snag her, quite correctly keeping her from undergoing a suicide mission. We learn later that Keiko absolutely would have died without Yusuke's sacrifice, so her "You cowards!" is born more of emotion than justified accusations. It's not cowardly to look at the raging inferno in a small apartment and realize that recklessly running in will only result in two dead teens, not one.

I mean, the flames are already right there, licking the door. Even if Keiko somehow managed to avoid burns, the smoke alone would do her in. Still, Keiko tries to mitigate the damage by dumping a bucket of water over her head. As a kid I remember thinking this was the smartest thing ever. Utterly inspired. Keep that in the back of your mind, kid Clyde, for future reference. As an adult... I have no idea whether this would actually help or not lol. Any firefighters doubling as YYH fans?

Recklessness and iffy precautions aside, I can't express how much I appreciate the story giving Keiko things to do. Yusuke recognizes that she's the only one with the maturity and open-mindedness to believe in his resurrection. She's the one picking up Atsuko's slack regarding his day-to-day needs. She never hesitates for a moment, heroically throwing herself into this blaze for Yusuke's benefit. Yeah, a lot of that still falls into the emotional/domestic sphere — what we expect of the love interest in a 90s anime — but too often action stories don't have a clue what to do with their non-action characters, not even when it comes to just supporting the fighters. They're simply... there. Keiko, however, isn't window dressing. Whether it's helping Botan survive an upcoming, supernatural plague, or cheering the team on at the Dark Tournament, Keiko is an important part of the story, despite lacking the fighting prowess of the rest of the cast.

Just as important, this episode establishes a core equality between her and Yusuke. We just watched Keiko reject a (presumably) accomplished guy for him, telling the audience that these surface differences — academics, power levels, popularity, looks — don't matter to them. Yusuke is not Keiko's lesser just because he doesn't have the same scores in Sayaka's book and Keiko won't become Yusuke's lesser just because she doesn't have spiritual power like he does. The only important thing here is that they love each other and they're both willing to sacrifice everything for the other. In the span of about ten minutes, Keiko nearly gives up her life for Yusuke and, in turn, Yusuke gives up his resurrection for her. The level of care they show towards one another is balanced, despite those differences.

They’re a good ship, y'all. Even if this recapping's got me noticing Yusuke/Kuwabara potential lol.

To get back to the plot, a drenched Keiko charges into the fire, yelling Yusuke's name for the drama of it because we all know he can't respond. Despite the audience (hopefully) recognizing Keiko and Yusuke's equality, that memo hasn't reached Yusuke yet. "You're a lot more important to this world than I am!" he yells, hammering home that despite everything — knowing he instinctively saved a child, watching his loved ones grieve for him, helping Kuwabara just because he can — Yusuke still, deep down, believes that he doesn't deserve to come back; that he doesn't measure up to those around him. The self-sacrificial nature this insecurity produces shocks Sayaka. She points out that if Keiko doesn't save his body, he's not coming back. "What's the point of being alive if Keiko has to get killed for it?"

Keiko means more to Yusuke than the rest of his living existence. Jot that down in your notebook, Sayaka!

Kuwabara arrives and runs into one of his friends who informs him that Keiko just went inside. “Yusuke’s girl? The one we saved from those thugs?”

BOY does that tell us a lot about their rivalry! I mean yeah, we've already established several times over that Kuwabara — just like Yusuke himself — is not the cruel street thug he'd like to present himself as. If these characters actually wanted to hurt each other outside of a martial arts challenge, don't you think Kuwabara would capitalize on the "Yusuke's girl" bit? Everyone seems to know that they have feelings for each other, but Kuwabara never once wields that as ammunition against Yusuke. There are no taunts about him not being good enough. Or rather, I should clarify there are no serious taunts — Kuwabara is well known for his teasing. There's also no attempt to steal Keiko out from under him, the common treatment of the love interest as a "prize" that many stories fall into. Indeed, later this episode YYH will deconstruct this a bit. Yusuke sees Kuwabara grab Keiko's hand and yells that he better not be getting "fresh" with her. But it's purely Yusuke's worries shining through. The audience gets a crystal clear picture of the situation and knows, categorically, that Kuwabara has only the most innocent of intentions in holding Keiko's hand.

(Well, running from the police isn't innocent, but...)

I keep getting sidetracked. Plot! Keiko makes it to Yusuke's room and finds that he is already on fire. She then proceeds to try and put it out by patting it with her hands. I take back what I said about Keiko's smarts in this scene. Now we know where that supposed recklessness comes from though. Apparently they're both immune to fire! Nothing to worry about here, folks.

JK she's actually in danger, despite the animation choices. By this point everyone, including Keiko, realizes that there's no way out: the fire has blocked the door. Sayaka then reveals that there is one way to save her. If Yusuke throws his egg into the fire, the energy of the spirit beast will release and guide her to safety. The catch? Hatch the egg early and it won't complete its intended function of guiding him back to his body. This beast is gonna guide one person and that is it.

Cue Yusuke's near immediate decision to sacrifice his life for Keiko's. Granted, it's not precisely one life for another. Yusuke's resurrection was always contingent upon the beast not devouring him whole — something Koenma claims would have happened at the end of the episode — meaning that it's not technically a fair trade. Yusuke might have sacrificed Keiko's life for his own... only to fail to get that life back anyway. (There's a tragedy for ya.) To say nothing of how Yusuke is currently dead and has been for at least a couple of days, whereas Keiko very much is not. There's some sort of philosophical discussion there about potential being pit against current reality.

BUT that's not the point! The emotional point is that he sacrificed his life for hers — the potential of his resurrection, the potential of that life he might have led — all technicalities aside. And I, for one, think that's very neat of him.

A blue light shines as the egg's energy is released, providing a lovely contrast to the fire surrounding them. A path forms to the door and Keiko, recognizing Yusuke's presence, follows it. "We'll make it, Yusuke," Keiko says, which is one hell of a sucker-punch now that we know she's just carrying a corpse. Unbeknownst to Keiko, Yusuke is very much not making it. That's the only reason why she is.

Kuwabara appears to help them the rest of the way which is also a pretty awesome thing considering that, from everyone else's perspective, the fire is still raging and blocking the door. Despite his spiritual awareness, Kuwabara gives no indication that he noticed this strange light, or Yusuke's hand in the rescue. Which basically means he lunged into a bunch of deadly fire for Keiko and doesn't question how in the world he isn't burned.

Keiko's hands are fine, Kuwabara's whole body is fine... fire immunity must run in the friend group!

Yusuke has another rare moment of vulnerability — "They're both okay" — and I cackle happily at the "both" because see. You love Kuwabara too, Yusuke! All this bluster about hating him and finding him annoying. The second he rushed into that fire you were crawling up the walls.

Except then that happiness gives way to something that sounds a little more shocked. Devastated. "Well, I sure am... relieved..." Kudos to Cook's voice acting. You can hear the exact moment Yusuke realizes what he's done. Not that he regrets it, but the consequences are finally sinking in. He's relieved that they're safe, yes, but now he's never going to be able to rejoin them.

As Yusuke has an(other) existential crisis, Kuwabara peels back the blanket Keiko had wrapped Yusuke in, revealing his face. “What are you doing with Yusuke’s body?! Are you some type of sick grave robber?” he shouts. God I love when a story actually keeps track of who knows what. Kuwabara, for all his recent involvement in the plot, doesn't actually know what's going on. From his perspective Yusuke died, he made a scene at the wake, he saved "his girl" from a bunch of thugs, lost a huge chunk of time only to wake up with her randomly hugging him (then slapping him), participated in a bet with his awful teacher and had a couple weird, Yusuke related dreams while studying, and has felt the presence of ghosts perhaps a little more frequently than usual. Now he's trying to help save Keiko from a fire only for her to reveal she risked her own life for Yusuke's body. Of course he's freaking out! What's she doing with that?

What's utterly fantastic though is that Kuwabara takes all of five seconds to process this and then enters immediate Ride or Die mode for Keiko. She's been hoarding Yusuke's body for undetermined reasons? Well, who is he to judge? The important thing here is that people are arrested for keeping bodies, so they've gotta skedaddle before the firefighters show up.

Hence, hand-holding and avoiding arrest.

As Yusuke starts threatening Kuwabara not to get "fresh" with her, Botan sadly reminds him that he no longer has a say in who Keiko does or does not fall in love with. The switch in tone is jarring. Whereas before Botan would have teased him mercilessly for the crush, now she knows that nothing can come of that — and it would be cruel not to remind Yusuke of that too.

"Oh no. I didn't think..." Yusuke whispers, further establishing that he knew the risks of using his egg, but hadn't allowed them to sink in yet. Now they have.

He gives a fake little laugh with, "Just when it was getting good" and I cry at the development in the span of just four episodes. Despite what I said at the beginning about the show resetting each week, there has been a lot of change thus far. Yusuke wants to live now! He wants to be there for Keiko! He looks down on his tiny family and screams at the unfairness of it all! They're talking about how they can't wait for him to come back and now that's never gonna happen!!

It hurts, friends. It hurts a whole lot.

During this conversation between Keiko, Atsuko, and Kuwabara, we see that a couple of hours have passed (it's nighttime now, the fire is out) and Atsuko is apologizing for putting them all in danger like that. And by that I mean yes, she does technically apologize with an "I'm sorry" and everything, but it's also a one sentence apology pit against... well, near death for the three people standing (and sitting) before her. Atsuko seems just as concerned by Keiko losing her hair as she does Keiko nearly burning to death and she kneels by Yusuke's wheelchair, baby-talking to him about how he forgives her, right? I love Atsuko, she's great, but objectively speaking she is not a good mother. Not right now, anyway.

Oh yeah, and just to reiterate that: Keiko's hands are fine after patting down Yusuke's on-fire body, but her hair, which I'm pretty sure never catches, has to be cut short. Ah, anime logic. Funny thing is, YYH isn't the only story to take the love interest and give her a cool, short cut thanks to a traumatic event. Anyone read Ranma 1/2?

During this conversation we also learn that, sometime between the fire and now, Keiko filled Kuwabara in on everything that's happening with Yusuke. Makes sense. He kneels beside the wheelchair, joining the others in telling Yusuke that they'll wait patiently for his return. Yusuke, above them, continues yelling about how they're waiting on a dead man.

“It can’t be helped. He made this decision on his own."

Except it can, in fact, be helped!

Just as all hope is truly lost, Koenma appears and announces that Yusuke will be returned to life. Why? Because sacrificing his egg for Keiko is a better indicator of his worth than the egg itself could have been. Despite feeding on his negative outlook and heading towards biting Yusuke's head off — something the animation backs up by showing us teeth during the fire

— Yusuke's act demonstrates a tendency towards being a "decent human being" that is "so rare." Wow. That's depressing. Still, yay that Yusuke has those qualities! And this, to my mind, helps explain Sayaka's presence. Koenma recognized that judging Yusuke couldn't be left to the egg alone and indeed, Sayaka took note of his worth before he ever threw the egg into the fire. First it was questioning why someone as amazing as Keiko would go for him, then it was solidified through the shock of Yusuke announcing that coming back to life was meaningless if she wasn't in it. Even if Keiko had somehow, miraculously escaped the fire before Yusuke's sacrifice, I bet Sayaka's report would have tipped him in resurrection's favor anyway.

Everyone is, of course, overjoyed and my heart swells at the intense gratitude Yusuke displays. My favorite part though is when Koenma cryptically says that “Your added experience with death could make you very useful" (a nod towards future events that goes right over Yusuke's head) and his response to this is a yelled, "YOU THINK I'M USEFUL?" This poor kid. The God of everything ever is chucking out revelations left and right, about resurrections and spirit beasts, but the only thing that really penetrates is the realization that someone thinks he's useful. Talk about relatable.

You know, I've been thinking about why this moment works so well. I mean, there are a lot of other stories where undermining the consequences our hero faces — either with humor, or by erasing them completely — can feel like the audience was cheated. I think YYH dodged that with a couple of crucial factors. First, Yusuke's consequence isn't something new that he's now avoided, it's just a permanent extension of something he was already dealing with. We did get to watch him inhabit the space between life and death, grappling with whether he'd ever be able to return. The story didn't deny us that growth, it just confirmed something we all instinctively knew: this tale won't end here with Yusuke permanently going to some afterlife. Second, the Deus ex Machina fix doesn't happen too soon. Yeah, it's only a couple of minutes in a single episode, but we (and Yusuke) still get to sit with that outcome for a while, soaking it in before its removal. Finally, there's no doubt that Yusuke earned this reprieve. Koenma's timing might be sudden and (if you're not genre savvy) unexpected, but looking back at the series as a whole thus far, we're able to agree absolutely that Yusuke deserves this. Far from feeling like we were cheated, this solution invites just as much celebration as we're seeing on screen, for the simple reason that we can buy into Koenma's reasoning. We know now that Yusuke is a good person. We saw him selflessly sacrifice his future for Keiko. We agree that he deserves a second chance.

Thus, the episode ends with Yusuke flying up to fill the screen in his joy, a far better, final shot than Harry Potter and The Prison of Azkaban managed 😰

And that's it for Episode 4, folks! See you later for Episode 5 💕

#YYH #Yu Yu Hakusho #YYH Recaps #mymetas

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thejilyship · 4 years

Text

11. A Step Behind You

Hey everyone! I wanted to post this last week, but I only just got the internet situation figured out, so thank you for your patience! This is the third prompt that I’ve written for Jilytober from my list that you all voted on!

Muggle office romance au

WC: 2.2k

James just wanted to get home before Sirius, Remus and Peter ate all of his mother’s Christmas biscuits.

He had tried to steal a couple before heading into the office, but Mia Potter had insisted that he had to wait until tonight and then kicked him out of the house after she caught him in the kitchen ten minutes later, again, trying to knick a biscuit before he had to go to work.

Also, he was angry that he had to be in the office this close to Christmas in the first place.

He typed away at his computer, wondering why his boss had been so adamant that he wanted James in the office, when he clearly could have finished up these reports at home.

There were a few other people scattered through the office, looking just as miserable as he felt.

He was falling into a hypnotic state, hearing nothing but the sound of the keys at the ticking of the clock. Still thinking about the Christmas biscuits.

And then, out of the corner of his eyes, a flash of red.

His breath hitched and he whipped his head around, spotting her rushing down the hallway.

He didn’t know her name, he only saw her every few weeks, and he’d never been able to work out which department that she worked in. He didn’t want to be a creep either, so he couldn’t try too hard. He had just kept hoping that they would eventually run into one another.

Now, she was carrying a watering can.

And that just felt like the kind of thing he was allowed to follow her down the hallway to ask about.

He jumped up from his chair, work and biscuits pushed from his mind, as he followed after her.

“Excuse me!” He called out, spotting her at the other end of the hallway.

She stopped short, her hair swinging back and forth like a pendulum in her plait. She spun around to face him. “Yes?”

“What are you doing?” He asked, his hand jumping to his hair now that she was looking directly at him. Her eyes were green. He hadn’t noticed that before. They were a brilliant shade of green as well.

She looked down at the watering can and then up at him. “I’m surprised no one else has asked me yet,” She gave him a small smile and his heart skipped in his chest. “I came in to pick up my plants before Christmas break, but then I noticed that almost everyone in my office left plants here, so I thought that I would just water them so they’re not all dead when everyone comes back next week.”

“Oh,” James blinked, not knowing what he had thought her answer was going to be, but the one that she’d given him was just so damn sweet. “Would you like some help?”

She smiled again, dimples forming at the corners of her mouth. “I’d love some help.” Then she waved for him to follow her and turned around, continuing down the hallway.

James jogged after her so he could catch up.

And he found out that she worked on his floor.

For the last few months, all he had to do was follow her down this one hallway and he would have found out that she worked in billing, on the same floor as he did. How had they not ran into one another?

“My name is Lily, by the way.” She said, turning to look over her shoulder as she stepped into the first cubicle in the room and then turned to carefully pour water on a fern on the corner of the desk. “I’m not sure that we’ve met before.”

“We haven’t.” James said, and then he furrowed his brow. Did he say that too quickly? “I’ve seen you around before, but I didn’t know that you worked just down the hall here. My name is James.” He knew that he needn’t have said all of that and he could feel his ears warming.

Luckily, she didn’t notice his embarrassment, because she was now focusing on a second fern on the other side of the desk. “Well, I walk past your office almost every day, so I’ve definitely seen you around before.” She looked up and smiled at him, and then she was off to the next cubicle.

He blinked after her and then followed her again. “What can I do to help?”

Lily shrugged her shoulders. “I was hoping that you wouldn’t get wise on me, but I only have one watering can. I was hoping to keep you around for the company so that I could ask you for a favor in a few minutes.”

James had already been intrigued by this girl but she had him on her rope now. He crossed his arms over his chest. “The company? And what if I have important things I should be doing right now?”

She turned to face him fully, smiling with her dimples again. “Then you probably wouldn’t have offered to help me water plants. Here,” She handed him the watering can and then riffled through the top drawer for a pad of sticky notes and a pen. “Go to the next one, I’ll be right there.”

James didn’t even question why he was listening to her, he just did as he was told. Which, if anyone who knew him could see him just then, they would think that was very strange. James Potter never did something just because he was told to do it.

But now he was watering plants, and Lily was following behind him with the sticky notes and the pen.

“What are you writing?” He asked after the fourth desk.

“Goodbye notes.” She said, drawing a very embellished heart.

“But they won’t see these notes until they see you again. Aren’t we watering the plants because-” He stopped and pushed his glasses up his nose. “You said that you were coming to collect your plants.”

Lily nodded. “I did say that. I got a new job that I started after the new year. My last day was yesterday.”

James frowned and Lily smiled at him.

“This is where most people would congratulate a person.”

“Right,” James nodded, “Right of course, congratulations! Where is your new job?”

“At a primary school a few blocks west of here,” Lily smiled. “I’ve finally gotten my degree finished, so I get to start teaching!”

“In the middle of the year?”

“Yes,” Lily grinned. “One of the teachers went on maternity leave a week ago, so I’ll be taking over her classroom until she gets back.”

“Well that worked out perfectly!” He should have tried to talk to her before today.

“Yes,” Lily was still grinning and James’ heart was still jumping around in his chest. “I’ve actually had a string of good luck lately.”

And now she was about to tell him that she had a boyfriend and demolish his hopes even further.

“Like when you asked me what I was doing. That was lucky.”

James narrowed his brow. He hadn’t been expecting that. “Why was that lucky?”

“Because I’d never had a reason to go into your office, so I’d never had an opportunity to talk to you before. And I’m never going to have a reason to come back into this building, so,” She shrugged and the peeled off the sticky note and stuck it to the pot that James had just watered. “I don’t know, I’ve got nothing to lose here so I might as well be honest, yes? I think you are rather handsome.”

James blinked at her, taken aback at her straightforward comment, but also completely shocked that she had noticed him in the same capacity that he had noticed her.

“Biscuits?” He said stupidly and Lily wrinkled her nose in confusion.

“Excuse me?”

“I- I,” His hand was already buried in his hair at this point and he furrowed his brow. “That isn’t what I meant to say.”

“I thought not,” Lily nodded and then started tapping the pen on her pad of sticky notes. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable-”

“You didn’t.” He said quickly. “I think my brain just- listen,” He dropped his hand from his hair to his side and thens et the watering can down on the desk. “I have obviously noticed you around the office before, and a moment ago I was just kicking myself for never trying to catch you in the hallway.”

She was smiling again, and James took that to be a good sign. “And you said biscuits because…”

“My mum is having a holiday biscuit party tonight. I’ve been thinking about them all day.” He shook his head. “Which sounds dumb, but I’m trying to ask you if you’d like to come with me. Unless that’s a terrible idea. I’m saying it outloud and it sounds like it might be a terrible idea.”

Lily’s smile disappeared. “Is it a terrible idea?”

“I just asked you to come to a family Christmas party for a first date, that definitely sounds like something that will scare you off.”

“But it’s a biscuit party.”

“Yes.”

“I like like biscuits and I’m not afraid of meeting people either. How many biscuits could I eat before people look at me weird?”

James started smiling again. It felt very nice to know that his intuition about this girl had been right. “I mean, so long as we don’t see the biscuits that you eat again, no one is going to look at your weird.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “So you want to come then?”

“Yes,” Lily nodded, poking his arm with the end of the pen.

“Do you have an ugly Christmas jumper?”

“Of course.” Lily bounced on her heels and James laughed. “I love Christmas parties and it’s been a while so I’m very excited. Let’s finish up here so I can get home and change!”

James laughed again and nodded, “Alright, let’s go.” And he picked up the watering can again and headed to the next desk, now even more anxious to get off work.

He still didn’t think that it was a good idea to bring Lily on a first date where not only Remus and Peter would be, but also Sirius and his mother. It actually seemed like a terrible idea when he remembered that Sirius and his mother would be there. It was almost a guarantee that they would scare her off.

“Are you sure you want to come? I can take you-”

“I’m sure I want to come,” Lily cut him off, peeling off another note and sticking it to another coworkers desk. “The fact that you’re second guessing so much only makes me want to come more.”

“Giving me a hard time already? We haven’t known each other for more than twenty minutes.” James sighed as he moved on to the next plant. “You’re going to fit right in at this party.”

She looked over at him, her eyes sparkling. “I knew I was going to like you.”

“Yeah, well, just remember that when my mum starts asking you how many kids you want.”

She laughed out loud, startling him slightly, but then he was chuckling along with her.

“Six.” She said suddenly, looking back at her sticky notes.

“Six?” James’ eyes widened.

“Four?” Lily offered, looking back up at him. “I’m not entirely sure, but I know it has to be an even number more than two. I was one of two, and my sister and I don’t get along. I think if there were a few more siblings, then we would have had more people to fight with and it would have been spread out more.”

“I was an only child growing up, so my mother will be thrilled with that answer.”

“Excellent.” She poked him with the pen again. “Alright, I think that’s everyone. Can you help me carry my things down to my car? I don’t know how I managed to accumulate so much stuff over the last year.”

“Of course,” James set down the watering can and followed her to a counter on the back wall that had two boxes, one full of plants, the other full of books and trinkets. The contents of either box could comfortably fit into the other. “This isn’t so much.”

“I had a bigger box that I took home with me yesterday.” Lily admitted. “But I uh,” She cocked her head to the side and eyed him before picking up the box with the books in it. “I wanted to make sure that I had enough stuff left here for two boxes so I could ask you for help.”

“You know,” James picked up the box of plants. “For someone who hasn’t had the nerve to just walk into my office and talk to me, you’ve got a lot of nerve.”

Lily laughed, “Yes, well, you’re bringing me home to meet your family. My confidence has been bolstered.”

And as he followed her down to her car, carrying a box of plants that she’d packed separately just so she’d have a reason to talk to him, his heart skipping happily in his chest and his cheeks already sore from all the smiling he’d been doing, he had a feeling that he was stepping into the rest of his life.

Because he was quite certain that there weren't many places that he wouldn’t follow Lily.

#jily #jilytober #muggle au #jily au #office romance au #jilytober 2020 prompts

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jlalafics · 4 years

Note

Could you please reblog your lesbian!Peeta story for me

Sure! I hope this is the one you’re thinking of!

_______

“You can shut off the lights now.”

Delly Cartwright, Peeta’s friend and business manager, looked to her and gave a sympathetic smile.

“You did well for a new business owner, Peeta,” she continued. Gathering some of the go-backs, Delly started to head over to the racks. “You opened a record shop. It wasn’t exactly going to be busy every day, but from a business standpoint, you did well for your first week.”

Peeta gathered her golden locks into a ponytail and took the broom next to her to sweep up.

“I guess you’re right,” Peeta replied.

She had fair sales for her opening week; it had always been her dream to open a shop of her own and her love for vinyl clinched her decision to open a record store. There was hope of expanding to a used bookstore, but it seemed that it would be awhile before that would happen.

“Don’t you have a husband to get home to?” Peeta asked her friend. “Thom must be annoyed that you’re spending all your time with me.”

“Thom wouldn’t have a full-service coffee bar if it weren’t for his wife’s business savvy,” Delly retorted. She pushed herself onto the wood counter. “He can sacrifice time so I can help out one of my best friends.”

“Really though.” Returning the broom to its place, Peeta met her friend’s light eyes. “Thanks.”

“Of course.” Suddenly, Delly’s mouth formed into a smirk. “I mean it wouldn’t hurt if you had a partner to support and help you out. I met this great girl at Thom’s bar—”

“You know what—” Peeta lifted her petite friend off the counter easily, placing her by the front door. “—I think you should go home. You’re obviously exhausted.”

“You win this round, Mellark,” Delly declared with a chuckle. “We’ll see you for Sunday brunch at our place.”

Stepping out, Peeta watched her friend get into her car and drive off before walking back into the store.

Sighing, she let herself admit that she was lonely.

It had been two years since her last relationship and about six months since her last date. Her brothers were both in long-term relationships; Dean, her eldest brother, married to Olivia, his college girlfriend, with two kids and one on the way while Rye, the middle child, engaged to Johanna, one of Peeta’s closest friends and her former roommate.

While she, the youngest and only girl, was still single.

Peeta wasn’t looking for just anyone.

Whoever she was had to be more.

So, for the time being, she would just have to focus on getting the store up and running.

++++++

Locking up the store, Peeta buttoned her rust peacoat and headed towards her bus stop. Her place was fifteen minutes away—just a few blocks—but the fall season had caused the city to go dark once it hit six in the evening.

“Hey girl!”

The group of guys from the bar across the street called out. There were a few catcalls and she ignored it, speeding up her pace towards the bus stop at the end of the block. Her heart stuttered in nervousness as she heard the footfalls heading towards her.

Suddenly, one of the guys was standing in front of her. “Where you heading, sweetheart?”

Peeta didn’t reply, only taking in a description of the guy…mid-twenties, dark beard, medium height, sharp dark eyes wearing a grey hoodie, black tank, and dark jeans.

So, basically any random guy.

Dean was a cop and he had always taught her what to do if she was in a situation like this. However, it didn’t seem to be helping as she found herself surrounded by the rest of the group.

So, Peeta went for Rye’s method and fully rushed at the guy in front of her, trying to knee him in the groin.

He pushed her and Peeta was knocked down, the back of her head hitting the concrete.

There was the pain of impact…and then darkness.

++++++

“Miss Mellark…can you open your eyes?” Peeta blinked, her vision blurred and the white light causing her eyes to close again. “Take your time.”

She followed the kind voice, allowing herself to adjust before opening her eyes once more.

“There you go,” the voice said gently. “You gave us a scare when you came in.”

Her vision cleared and the warmest set of eyes greeted her. Almond-shaped and dove grey, the eyes were set in a heart-shaped face along with a pert nose and rose lips, her skin was a soft olive and her raven hair was tied back in a neat braid.

“Where am I?” she asked as the bed was slowly elevated.

“You are in the hospital,” the woman in the blue scrubs informed her. “My name is Katniss and I’m your nurse. You were mugged; the perp got your credit cards but left the rest of your wallet since there wasn’t any money. Can you tell me your name?”

“Peeta. Peeta Mellark.”

Katniss looked at her in confusion. “Your ID says Pieta Mellark.”

“When I was born, my parents tried to teach my brother Rye how to say me name properly, Pee-et-ta, but he couldn’t get it and kept pronouncing my name as Pee-ta. So, it kind of stuck.”

The nurse chuckled. “I like both your names.” Katniss looked over her chart and then to her. “We’re just making sure that you’re CT scan comes out clean and then we can release you. Do you have anyone that we can call? Your family?”

“I don’t want to worry my parents and they’re an hour away, and my brothers have families,” she explained. “Once I’m released, I’ll just head on home.”

“Your name fits you,” Katniss remarked. “Pieta means compassion. A lot of people would milk themselves getting injured, but not you. You’re more concerned about everyone else around you.”

“Give me a day or two and I’ll be at home, feeling sorry for myself,” Peeta replied. “Your name is a plant.”

The nurse grinned. “How did you know?”

“When we were all kids, my parents took us camping,” she explained. “And my Dad told me that if for some reason, I got lost in the woods then I just needed to find you to survive.”

Katniss blushed, her cheeks flooding with color, and Peeta found herself breathless in the prettiness of it all.

“I suppose that could also apply to non-camping situations,” Katniss responded. “Get some rest, Peeta, and I’ll check up on your results.”

++++++

“I’m really alright, Haymitch,” Peeta assured her business partner on the phone. “They kept me overnight for observation, but they didn’t see anything in the CT scan.”

“We should install cameras in the front,” the man insisted. “You could’ve been killed or assaulted!”

“Well, they checked if there was any trauma down there and everything seemed right as rain,” she assured him. “My vagina is perfectly intact.”

There was a cough and she turned to see Katniss standing before, a black bomber jacket over her scrubs and her hair down in long waves.

“I really didn’t need to hear that,” the man muttered. “Just call me when you get home, okay? Also, get an Uber and put it on our business credit card.”

“Ah…you should probably call about that,” Peeta replied. “Some of my credit cards are missing.”

“I’m right on it,” Haymitch responded. “Go home and get some rest. I’ll open the store tomorrow.”

“Thanks.” Hanging up, Peeta stuffed her phone into her jean pocket before turning to the woman. “Getting off?”

Katniss looked to her in confusion. “Excuse me?”

“Work. You off from your shift?”

The blush invaded her lovely face and she nodded quickly. “Oh yeah! Just heading out. How about you?”

“Yeah, just needed to check in with Haymitch, my partner,” Peeta explained.

“Oh.” Katniss’ expression dropped. “Why wouldn’t your boyfriend pick you up?”

Peeta snorted at the idea.

“Haymitch is my business partner.” She looked to the woman beside her. “You heading home to your boyfriend?”

The woman shook her head. “I’ve got some leftover pasta and A Walk to Remember on Netflix, but that’s about it.”

“Would you want to join me for a cup of coffee?” Peeta found herself asking. “Thom, my best friend’s husband owns a coffee shop a few blocks down. It will be on me—or on Delly, my best friend—your coffee, I mean…”

Shit, Peeta was going about this all wrong. She didn’t even know if Katniss was into girls.

“Sure.”

Her head snapped up at Katniss’ response and Peeta smiled. “Okay.”

They headed onto the sidewalk in front of the hospital. It was a beautiful morning, chilled but brimming with potential to be a gorgeous day of clear skies and temperate weather.

“How long have you been a nurse?” Peeta asked as they headed down towards Thom’s coffee bar.

“About three years,” Katniss said. “Got this job right out of school. My mom was head nurse at the hospital before retiring a few years ago and I guess nepotism worked in my favor. I might actually be a really crappy nurse.”

“No, you definitely aren’t,” Peeta argued. “You have a natural empathy.”

“How so?”

“When I woke up, I was scared as hell,” she told the woman next to her. They stopped at the crosswalk and Peeta met Katniss’ gaze. “But, when I heard your voice, I knew that I would be okay. You made me feel safe.”

“That’s a lot to put on a girl,” Katniss said quietly. “But I’m glad that I could help.”

Their eyes met and it was like a magnetic force that Peeta found her hand tucking back a tendril of Katniss’ hair behind her ear. Her fingers lingered, feeling the softness of her dark waves and Katniss’ breath caught at the gesture.

Her hand covered Peeta’s and the sensation drew a sharp gasp from Peeta’s mouth.

It had been a long time since she had felt like this.

Stepping towards Katniss, she waited to see if the woman would retreat.

However, Katniss remained still, her mouth parted and her eyelids going half-lidded as Peeta close the space between.

The kiss was careful, her mouth slanting over Katniss’ gently. The feeling of her soft lips caused a groan to draw up from the pit of Peeta’s stomach and escape between their mouths.

It was scary but exhilarating all at once and Peeta never wanted to let her go.

However, Katniss hummed against her lips and reluctantly she pulled away.

“I probably wasn’t supposed to do that,” Peeta told her.

Katniss looked disappointed. “Oh, okay.”

“I mean not without taking you out on a date first.”

Katniss let out a relieved laugh. “Well, we just cut out the needless tension of the first kiss, didn’t we?”

“I guess so,” Peeta replied, taking her hand. “So…”

‘…would like to stay indefinitely?’

“Would you like to have coffee first and then dinner later?”

“And, between then?” Katniss asked, her thumb caressing the top of Peeta’s hand.

“Whatever we want, I have all day.”

I have forever for you.

“Okay.” Katniss beamed. “Let’s start with the coffee.”

#anon #repost #lesbian!Everlark #genderswap #Everlark Fanfiction #Everlark

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peanut-in-the-goal · 4 years

Note

Ouch OUCH that hurt Ya know what would put my heart back together...a part 2 where Coops work it out and end up even more in love than ever before If you have time🥰

@kielemarie @candy--floss--kid here’s part 2, part one can be found here

The wonderful world of Sweater Weather is by @lumosinlove

This isn’t what you asked for sorry but in my defense you did ask an angst writer for fluff

-----------

Remus is tired of all the stolen looks, the awkward glances they share with each other. He hates the tension that’s separating them, pushing each other away when all he’s looking for is some kind of string that will pull Sirius back to him.

He loves him, of course, he loves him. The further apart they grew it felt like his feelings were getting stronger as if that was even possible. He wanted nothing more than to run back to him, to be wrapped in Sirius’ arms again and feel safe.

But he can’t. He’s not allowed to do that anymore, not allowed that comfort Sirius once brought him. It hurts, aches deep in his chest. He thought the pain would have subsided at least a little, faded as time went on. It had been almost a month since the breakup, but apparently, a broken heart doesn’t mend like broken bones do.

Sometimes time can’t fix certain wounds. It can’t fix that empty feeling that you’re left with after something so normal evaporates with nothing to show as if it was ever there. The one thing you were so sure of, and then it’s just… gone. Taken, and he isn’t really sure if it was real, to begin with.

He thinks of the fight, every time he closes his eyes he can see it.

Every shouted word, Sirius’ cold eyes, not the ones full of love he was so used to seeing. The stony expression that he had when he was staring down Riddle on the ice. He hated the look whenever it crossed Sirius’ face, but when it was aimed at him was surreal.

He wonders if he’s ever felt a pain like this, but then again he’s never loved anyone like this before.

It probably won’t be this easy to love again.

---

Sirius lays in bed at night, staring at the ceiling. His head is swimming with thoughts and what ifs.

They shouldn’t have fought, he shouldn’t have left. He wouldn’t, he said he wouldn’t after the first time. What hurt the most was that when he left, the last thing he heard Remus say was, “You promised.”

It was a whisper, quiet, and broken before the sobs came. Like he didn’t want Sirius to hear but he did, and it took everything in him to not turn around and go back to him. To collapse on the ground next to where Remus was left kneeling with his hands over his face. To hold him, and apologize, and beg for forgiveness.

But he had too much pride for that.

So he left. He turned his back on the one person that ever loved him and left. He drove, considered driving away, just disappearing without saying anything. He almost did as he came to a traffic light. He could turn left, get out of town for at least the night, or, he could go straight.

Going straight would lead him back to his house, where the walls had pictures of him and Remus, and James and Logan, the team.

He built a new life here, one away from the snakes, his parents, his family. He got away from all the people who treated him poorly, with their over the top expectations and Toujours Pur.

He built a life here. And he just threw it all away. God, why was he such an idiot?

---

Regulus watches the world around him fall apart.

The Snakes… Fuck the Snakes. They made him pretend to be someone he wasn’t, trying to mold him to be their puppet. He had to say things about his brother, agree with his parents and their stupid beliefs. He was stuck, trapped, there was no way out.

He didn’t see a way out, lost hope a long time ago that someone would help him. He couldn’t do it on his own.

Then, he got picked for All Stars. More time to spend with Snape. Oh joy, how fun.

He wasn’t looking forward to it.

Sirius was playing. He was picked, of course, he got picked, best in the league and all. But Regulus couldn’t wait to see his big brother. Whether Sirius hated him or not, he didn’t know. He wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know. Either way, he’d take what he could get.

His heart clenched painfully when he saw his brother. His shoulders were tense, eyes steely and cold. Sirius reminded him of Orion, someone he tried so hard to get away from.

It felt like someone stabbed him in the heart, twisting the knife at the hilt when that glare was directed at him. His brother thought he was no better, no better than Snape, or Riddle.

He was wrong. He had to be, Regulus, he wasn’t like them… Was he?

That was then, about a year or two ago. It’s been a year since he was free from the Snakes, from his family. He should have gotten out sooner, should have followed Sirius to Gryffindor. When they were younger, before the NHL, they’d talked about staying together. Never be separated by anyone.

He broke that promise, and now he wanted to make things right. Now that he could.

Remus and Sirius were fighting. Regulus could sense it even if he wasn’t there during it. Remus stopped coming over, every smile and laugh that came from his brother seemed less genuine. More forced like he was trying to cover something but didn’t want to shut down completely.

In some ways, this was worse. Seeing his brother overwork himself with hockey, his boyfriend, and his social life. Trying to maintain this fake face, and mask all the time was draining him quickly.

Regulus found a life here, his own found family, well Sirius’s found family, but they used to share everything, this was no different. He was accepted here, and while he still felt somewhat like an intruder, he was so much more comfortable than he ever was with the Snakes.

And if his brother wrecks this with letting the one thing that mattered the most to him slip through his fingers… He’d be damned if he allowed that to happen.

---

Regulus sighed, cornering Sirius in the kitchen. James had gone home once Harry started getting fussy, promising to be back later. Sirius had finally emerged from the rink, in the search of food.

He looked dead on his feet, the bags under his eyes only got darker as the days went on.

“How’s Remus?” Regulus winced at his own insistence, way to be subtle, he thought. Sirius seemed to hesitate for a moment, his eyes going wide from where he was leaning against the counter, a large portion of his sandwich still shoved into his mouth.

Sirius looked at the former Snake skeptically, chewing slowly to stall for time.

Regulus shifted uneasily on his feet as Sirius finally swallowed.

“He’s fine.”

“Bullshit.” He learned years ago that the only way to get Sirius to talk was to push, and keep pushing until he broke, and the words tumbled out like a damn breaking.

“I said he's fine, kid.” Sirius’s voice was sharp, leaving no room for arguing. Although Regulus had a thing for being where he wasn’t wanted didn’t he?

“Okay, I call bullshit on that.” Regulus kept his voice composed, strong, even though he wanted to shrink away from his brother’s stare.

God, it reminded him so much of their father.

“I don’t know what you want me to tell you kid, or what you want to hear, but he’s fine.” Sirius took another bite of his sandwich.

“I don’t know, maybe the fucking truth Sirius?”

“That is the truth.”

“Fine.” Regulus pushed himself off the counter, taking a step closer to him. “How are you then?”

“I’m fine Regulus, spectacular even.” Sirius dropped the face, opting to shut down rather than fighting back with his fake stupid mask.

“Tout est putain de fantastique et super ma putain de vie est parfaite,” Sirius rambled off, sighing and putting his sandwich down again. “I’m fine.”

“Sure you are.” Regulus drawled.

“I’m fine,” Sirius said again. His voice wavered, like he was trying to convince himself more than Regulus.

“Sirius…” Regulus took another step forward, and Sirius broke. The words tumbling out of his mouth faster than he could register.

“We broke up. Me and Remus broke up. We fought, it’s over, I fucked it up, I fucked it up. It’s my fault, my fault. He was the best thing to ever happen and I fucked up, I left again. I promised I wouldn’t and I did, I’m such an idiot. Merde, je suis tellemente stupide.”

“Sirius.” Regulus held his hands up for a moment, trying to get the word vomit to stop for just a moment. They broke up? When, how, why?

Regulus always thought that they were perfect for each other, the way his brother looked at Remus made that clear. He’d never looked so fondly at someone before, like he’d cross oceans for them, or move mountains just to make them happy.

And somehow that connection, that bond, was broken.

“I told him I hated him mon étoile.” Sirius’ words shook him back, out of his thoughts. Sirius was probably looking for more answers than he was.

---

Regulus left when James showed up. The two had been better brothers these past few years than Regulus and Sirius had.

Sirius was grateful to see James, but it didn’t make it any easier. Harry wasn’t here this time, Lily had kept him home to let Sirius and James talk by themselves. Harry was a good buffer sometimes, but they didn’t need one right now. They just need them, two brothers to talk.

He was happy for that, as much as he wanted to see a mini version of his best friend, he didn’t want Harry’s uncle Padfoot to break down in front of him. The kid was too young to have to think about everything wrong in the world. He didn’t want to take Harry’s childhood from him like his was taken.

He was feeling somewhat better, the pain was still there. The emptiness engulfed him and made him feel alone, back to step one. He didn’t want to have to start over again, with a new team, in a new place.

He didn’t want to start over with anything or anyone. He wanted Remus, not someone who would be second best. He’d fight, he’ll fight for him. He can’t lose this easily, he won’t give up.

---

Remus has been crying all morning. He’s been staying at the Potters in their guest bedroom. He knows he should leave, he’s imposing on their family.

But he just can’t find it in him to go back to his apartment. Usually, he’d stay at Sirius’s but lately, he’s found himself here. It’s silent when he walks around. When he curls up on the sofa under the heavy wool blanket he loves so much, it still feels like something is missing.

As much as he tries to pretend everything is normal, it isn’t. It hasn’t been for a while now, and it’s so annoying because he just wants to fix it. But they don’t teach you how to mend a broken heart when they teach you how to heal a broken bone.

He wants to go back to the apartment, but he just… can’t. He didn’t even want to be there in the first place. It held too many memories.

In the kitchen, his first real phone call with Sirius. When he was making dinner, Sirius called him, and they talked. Really talked.

His room. Where they woke up together and fell asleep together. They made memories there, the way he laughed when Sirius was trying to brush his teeth and take his shirt off at the same time.

They also made memories doing… other things there.

Of course, there was also the spot that he called his parents, coming out to them and Sirius held his hand the whole time. Hell, even the porch, the front door, and the entry room meant so much to him. When Sirius came to him after the holiday, he stayed with Remus instead of going back to his house or James’s of Dumo’s.

Because he trusted him, he loved him. And Remus lost him.

They officially called it off yesterday. Remus told him from the beginning that he wasn’t going to wait forever. And he didn’t. If Sirius wasn’t going to come around and instead try to distance himself without telling Remus, what he did wrong, he wasn’t going to wait.

He’s waited enough.

---

Remus steps out of the guest room. He didn’t leave very much, opting to curl up on the bed and wallow rather than leave. He came out for meals, normally skipping breakfast. He’s thanked James and Lily numerous times and apologized for staying for so long. They brushed him off with a “stay as long as you want, we care about you, Remus.”

Lily was sitting on the couch in the main room, TV playing some kids show for Harry who was playing with blocks on the ground in front of her.

“Hey, Re.” Her smile is gentle like Remus is fragile. And if she makes any sudden movements he’ll break. He hates that they see him as breakable, then again he did spend the last few days crying in their guest bedroom, so it was only fair.

“Hi Lils,” he puts up a smile. A fake one, but it’s the best he can muster. “I just wanted to say thanks for, you know, letting me stay.” He gestures vaguely with his hands.

“Of course Re! I’m your best friend.”

Remus’s smile is a little more genuine this time. He loves Lily, not like he loves Sirius but she’s up there.

“Yeah, you are. Um, I just wanted to tell you that I was going to go stay with my parents for a bit.” It came out as a question, his voice going slightly higher at the end.

“Oh.” Remus winced. Lily looked... surprised, but also like she wanted to hug him and not let him leave. “Are you sure? I mean you could stay here, we don’t mind, really.”

Remus shook his head before she even finished talking.

“It’s okay Lils, I already called. I’m flying out tonight at 8:00. I just wanted to say thank you for letting me stay so long. I’ll be back before the season starts again.”

“Of course, do you need any help packing or anything?” She shifted, moving to stand up. Again, Remus shook his head. He gestured to the small duffle bag he was holding, everything he had with him at the Potters stuffed inside.

“I’m good I think. I have stuff there.”

Lily gave him a sad smile, moving forward to hug him.

“Okay,” she mumbled. “Be safe.”

Remus smiled, wrapping her arms around her. “I will be. I think… I think I’m going to go back to my place before I do.” He bit his lip hard against the rising emotion that was bubbling up.

Lily looked at him one more time, her eyes flitting over his face, searching for something. “If you’re sure…”

“I am Lils,” Remus sighed, “I have to go back sometime right?” He tried for a laugh, but it didn’t work.

Lily nodded slowly before sighing again. “I’ll walk you out.”

Remus heard Harry asking “Where unc’e moony going?” as the door swung shut behind him with a soft click.

---

The drive home was silent, empty. His heart ached and couldn’t help the tiny bit of hope that Sirius would be there when he got home. He wanted to go back, see what he did wrong and fix things.

He wanted that security he got when Sirius was there with them. When it was just them, there, together in the moment, without a care in the world. The way how when Sirius smiled like that and the laughter that they shared echoed off the walls

He wanted the memories to mean something. Not be thrown away because of an argument. They were adults, they could hopefully work past this. He was willing to try.

But he also wanted fresh air. He wanted to be away for a while. Hopefully, he could stay home with his family, catch up with his little brother. He wasn’t looking forward to answering questions from the media when he got back.

His breath caught when he thought about it. This was supposed to be break. Their break to spend together. They should be doing things together like the movies, going on trips, hell they should be at Sid’s getting pizza. And Sirius should be making fun of the way he gets pineapple on it but instead, Remus is alone, again.

He’s tired of putting his heart out there just for someone else to take it and stomp all over it.

---

“How is he?” Sirius asks, his eyes are flitting over James’ face to make sure he doesn’t lie.

Sirius knows Remus is at the Potters. He’s known since he got the call from James saying that Remus turned up, crying and a mess.

“He’s… He’s not doing so good, can’t be in much better shape than you are.” James winces.

“I’m fine,” his words are harsh.

“Mhm, and I’m a cactus.” Sirius furrowed his brows, starting to feel annoyed by his chosen brother. “Oh sorry, I thought we were saying things that aren’t true.”

Sirius huffs. “Je vais Bien.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” James leaned forward from where he was sitting, elbows resting on his knees as he fixed Sirius with a hard look.

“Did you want to break up with him?”

“Wow, way to be blunt Potter.” Sirius scoffed, looking away from James. He didn’t want to meet James’ eyes and let him see that he was slowly breaking inside.

“Answer the question.” His tone was the same, harsh.

“What does it matter? It doesn’t make a difference. Ce n'est plus comme s'il m'aimait plus.” Sirius whispered the last part, James wouldn’t understand anyway.

“I don’t speak French asshole.”

“I’m aware.”

“Rude.”

“Fuck off. And answer the question, because it makes a difference.”

Damn, Sirius was actually starting to feel a little better. The banter was normal between them, an odd thing that made him feel safe. He doesn’t understand why, but there’s a lot of things he doesn’t understand. Like why his parents are the way they are, why Grayback just had to tear apart Remus’ shoulder… Remus…

“No.” He whispered. “Non, I didn’t want to break up with him.” The dam broke.

James was there in a second, tugging Sirius’ hands from his face from where he curled in on himself.

“Then why did you?”

“He wasn’t happy. I had to let him go.” His voice broke, he refused to let the tears fall.

“Were you happy?” James’ voice took a new gentle tone.

“I had him. I had no reason to not be happy.”

James made a sad noise, gripping Sirius’ hand tighter.

“Then fight for him, go after him. Show him how much you love him, Sirius.”

“But what if he doesn’t want me anymore?” Sirius sounded so sad, and yet still refused to look James in the eye.

“Look at me Pads.” Sirius took a minute to comply. “He still loves you — don’t roll your eyes at me — he does. But you can’t expect him to do all the work.”

“I’m not! I want to fight, I want to put in the work. I just want Remus back.”

“Look.” James sighs and runs a hand through his already untamable hair. “He’s at my house, if you really want to fix it come home with me, go talk to him. Okay?”

Sirius is nodding before he finishes talking, “Oui, yes, I want to see him, please.”

James nods. “Okay.”

---

They were too late.

He remembers Lily opening the door with a sad smile on her face.

They were too late. Remus already left. His plane would leave in half an hour. He won’t make it in time. He missed his chance.

That doesn’t mean he won’t try.

He was out the door before he could think twice about it. James’ keys in his hand as the engine roared. Everything was a blur, the lights on the cars merging together as he sped by.

He hovered over the speed limit the entire time, swerving in and out of cars a bit recklessly. It didn’t matter to him, not if it meant he got to Remus on time.

He parked somewhere by the airport, he doesn’t remember where, it’s not important.

He practically runs into the airport, buying the first ticket he sees and throwing money at the cashier. He doesn’t wait for the change.

He curses at the long line in security, praying to whatever higher gods out there that he’ll make it in time.

He checks his watch. 19 minutes. He wasn’t going to make it.

Shit shit shit

12 minutes. He’s hardly moved.

8 minutes, he’s made progress.

3 minutes. He’s not going to make it.

0 minutes. He missed it.

Sirius stares at his watch, no. He missed his flight, Remus was gone. It was over.

He considers turning around, leaving, and giving up. He’ll go home and train. Shot after shot, trick after trick. He’ll play until he can’t anymore, shoot until the stick is falling out of his numb hands. He’ll—

“Sirius?”

And suddenly time stops. He looks up at the familiar voice, trying to find his face in this crowd full of people.

“Re?” And Remus nearly sobs. He hasn’t heard that voice directed at him in so long. He finds those stormy grey eyes from across the huge lobby and suddenly nothing matters but him.

He allows himself to hope, hope that Sirius still wants him.

Sirius spots him, a wide grin stretching over his face, and before he knows it Sirius is trying to get out of line, and he’s running towards Remus, running towards him and doing his best not to run into people but honestly who cares?

Why would he care when Remus is right here and he’s back. He hasn’t left yet. Why hasn’t he left yet?

Sirius finally made it out of the stupid queue line and ran. He ran as fast as he could, almost slamming into Remus when he went to give him a hug.

“Baby, I’m sorry.”

“Mon Loup, I love you.”

They both laughed, their faces close enough to feel each other’s breath. Remus’ little puffs of breaths as he laughed nearly melted Sirius’ heart.

“I love you too,” Remus whispered, his chin tilted up to look at Sirius.

And Sirius could have sobbed in relief, attacking Remus’ face in small bursts of kisses while cupping his face in his hands. It didn’t matter who was around, not when he had Remus.

Things were far from perfect, but they could work through it.

“I thought I missed your flight,” Sirius whispered. Remus smiled a little timidly, pressing a kiss to the tip of his nose.

“It got delayed.” Sirius smiled so wide his cheeks hurt.

“It looks like the universe is on my side today then.” Remus laughed, shaking his head.

“You and your crazy superstitions I swear.”

Sirius only pulled him closer.

---

Things were a lot better. It had been a few weeks since they met at the airport. Sirius couldn’t express how happy he was that his flight happened to get delayed that day.

He couldn’t express how happy he was that Remus let him back in. That he didn’t give up on Sirius when Sirius was giving on on himself.

They had talked since then, both apologizing profusely the entire time. They stuck close by each other, not wanting to be pushed apart again.

They have to send James and Lily a thank you card now don’t they?

---

Remus is falling harder than he did before. He values all the little cute things Sirius does so much more now that he’s lost them once. The way he fidgets with his fingers when nervous, or cuddles up closer to Remus when he thinks he’s asleep.

He loves the small flecks of brown and blue in Sirius’ eyes. He loves the way Sirius hugs him after a win, holding on as tight as he can whispering, I love you, we did it, in his ear.

He’s definitely falling hard, and he’s okay with that. He doesn’t think he could love Sirius more than he does right now.

But then again, when he wakes up every day he’s proven wrong isn’t he?

#GG writes #wolfstar angst #coops #sweater weather #lumosinlove #break up #Sirius Black #Remus Lupin #james potter #lily evans #harry potter

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peaceoutofthepieces · 4 years

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~^~

Saturday, 13:20

Song: Benny - Boys Will Be Boys

Jens watches the story again, watches a redheaded girl he doesn’t know wrap her arm around Lucas’s neck and pull him into the frame. The two of them grin cheesily at the camera, Lucas’s eyes squinted exaggeratedly, happily, as the girl hollers a ‘happy birthday’ and presses a kiss to his cheek. Next is a full shot of the party, reposted from the same girl, then a recording of Lucas’s own, with a shorter girl with a head of curls who Jens thinks is Isa, and then the boys he recognises as Kes and Jayden. All of them giving Lucas the same cheerful, enthusiastic wishes.

Happy birthday.

He had woken up to Lucas’s post, with the balloons leaving no doubt as to its purpose.

He’s startled from examining further when his door opens and Moyo slips inside, smiling easily at him and instantly flopping onto his bed. “Hey man. Oh, is that Lucas’s party? Why the fuck didn’t we know it was his birthday?”

Jens stares at him, brows raised and lips slightly parted. “What are you doing here?”

Moyo raises a brow back. “You invited me?” He gives a small laugh as Jens continues to look on in confusion. “Dude, where is your head at these days? Remember on Thursday at lunch when Lucas was talking about going home and you got all pouty so I asked if you wanted to hang out? And you said to come here?”

“Right,” Jens eventually allows. It does poke vaguely at his memories, but it’s quite unclear. Still, it isn’t as if he’s going to turn Moyo away. He has no reason to. It’s better than staring at his phone any longer. “Cool.”

Moyo snorts. “Okay, cool. I also texted you when I was leaving my house. And you didn’t reply. Which is why your mom had to let me in.”

Jens furrows his brows before drawing down the notification bar on his phone. He purses his lips when he sees the text from Moyo, wondering how he had taken on such an absentminded focus that he missed it completely. “You did.”

“But I can see you were preoccupied,” Moyo raises his brows. “Didn’t you already see them when you woke up?”

“Yeah,” Jens mumbles.

“So what’s the obsession?”

“I’m not obsessed. Just, trying to see who I know.”

Moyo snorts again. “If you know anyone other than Lucas in those dark, blurry ass shots, I think that’s a little bit obsessed. I know he’s your new favourite toy but surely you can survive without him for one day.”

Jens feels angry, suddenly. He isn’t sure if he’s right to be, knows that Moyo probably doesn’t mean anything by it, but he’s already upset and so incredibly tired. It leaves him wrinkling his nose in distaste and sitting up and away. “Why do you always have to make it out like everything is so gross? You know there’s a way to make a point without fucking making fun all the time?”

It feels surprisingly good to get it out, and where he expects regret to claw through his chest, a small stream of relief flows through him instead.

However, it leaves Moyo’s brows shooting towards his hairline. “Sorry, man. What has you so pissy?”

He sits up next to Jens, bumping his elbow gently, and now he begins to feel a little bad. Still, the upset hasn’t quite run out. “Why do you think it’s so wrong for me to care about Lucas?”

“What?” Moyo frowns. “I never said that. Lucas is cool, I’m glad we’re all friends with him.”

“He’s not my friend.”

The words slip out before Jens can stop them, and then there’s no taking them back.

Moyo’s frown melts away in his confusion as his brow furrows again. Then he lets out a small, somewhat nervous laugh. “What, are you that pissed you didn’t get to join the party?”

“I am,” Jens agrees easily, then has to pause, has to center himself. He thinks of Robbe yesterday, so happy and understanding, and of Lucas just before he left, so happy and excited, and of Moyo a year ago, laughing at the idea of anyone being bi, nose wrinkled at how ‘gross’ it appeared to him.

Then he thinks of how that was a year ago.

Then he says, “I am pissed, because my boyfriend didn’t even tell me it was his birthday and I don’t know why and because it doesn’t surprise me that the first thing you did is make fun of it.”

Moyo’s lips part, and he simply stares at him as they fall into silence. Jens looks back, trying not to let himself falter, trying not to let his fissures show or crack any further. It’s difficult, more so than he thought it would be, and he puts it down to the tumultuous feelings already raging through him after the surprises this morning. It also feels somewhat more terrifying to be voicing it in this room, under this roof. Perhaps this is where it should feel easiest, that it should be a safe place, but he finds his eyes flickering towards the door instead, making sure it’s shut tight. It’s not like it had been, wrapped up in Lucas’s warmth in their own little universe or under Robbe’s gentle gaze in a familiar setting. It’s nerve-wracking and nauseating, to listen for footsteps and watch Moyo look away from him.

Jens is inches away from pulling his hair out when Moyo finally turns back, appearing cautious as he licks his lips. “So you’re...you’re bi, or something?”

Jens’s heart clamours as he nods.

“And you’re with Lucas?”

“Just for about two weeks,” Jens says quietly.

Moyo’s brows raise, but he nods, once again licking his lips and averting his gaze. He focuses on a spot on the duvet as he speaks again. “Like...you’re into him? Like you would want to have sex with him, and everything?”

The little flicker of irritation returns. “Yeah, man, maybe, and I don’t need you telling me how it disgusts you or whatever, okay? Just—“

“I don’t think I ever want to have sex. With anyone.”

Jens snaps his mouth shut as his friend meets his gaze, surprised to have been interrupted.

He certainly hadn’t expected to be interrupted with that.

“What?”

Moyo makes himself small, hunching his shoulders slightly, but he keeps his gaze on Jens. It’s oddly full of nerves, alive with apprehension, overcast with doubt. Below it all, there’s a small hint of relief. Jens suddenly understands what’s happening.

“You don’t like sex?” he carefully pushes.

Moyo curls in on himself further, shrugging without opening his shoulders back up. “I’ve never had an actual experience to base it on, but the idea of it doesn’t actually appeal to me, no.”

All of this is admitted quietly, almost tersely as Moyo picks a thread loose in the sheet. Jens lets him, watchful and thoughtful, wondering where it is he’s supposed to take it from here. He hadn’t been prepared to come out to anyone today, but he hadn’t even considered the possibility that someone else would come out to him.

He has to admit, however, that he’s a little confused.

“But you talk about it all the time. About getting with girls, about what you’d do, and all your shitty dirty jokes?”

“That’s what we all talk about,” Moyo points out. “Aaron was whining over getting laid for months before Amber and it’s not like you’ve ever been shy about it. It’s what we’re supposed to talk about. Even Robbe isn’t as shy about it now. Like shit man, what else am I supposed to say?”

Jens eases up, letting his expression soften as he shifts slightly towards him, setting his phone aside entirely. “The truth,” he says gently. “Anything other than digging yourself into a deeper hole.”

“Yeah, because I wouldn’t have been the butt of the joke, the prude, if I just said I didn’t want to join in right?” Moyo scoffs, shaking his head as he turns to lean back against the headboard. “Don’t give me that.”

“Moyo,” Jens tries, but the words aren’t there. He knows, no matter how much it disappoints him, that his friend is right. They would have joked, and Jens would have been the main instigator.

He realises, with a sort of derisive amusement, that he’s as much the reason Moyo hadn’t come out to them as Moyo is the reason Jens hadn’t come out himself.

“I didn’t even realise what was wrong with me, why I revolted against it even while making dumb jokes or random passes. I thought it was just like, frustration, or jealousy even, that I didn’t actually have the experience. I knew that talking about it, wanting it, was the normal thing, the guy thing.”

Jens’s heart twists, and he’s instantly shaking his head back. “Bullshit. There’s nothing wrong with you.”

Moyo snorts, shaking his head. He still won’t look at Jens. “Isn’t there? Fuck, I didn’t even understand it until Noor came onto me and I had to literally shove her away.”

This is another new surprising piece of information.

“Noor? Seriously?”

Moyo closes his eyes, nods his head, doesn’t say anything else. Jens remains quiet, as well, absorbing the information and giving Moyo room to think. It’s a dead sort of silence, not comfortable or awkward, but heavy. It’s only when Jens realises that Moyo isn’t going to offer anything else that he pushes a little further.

“When was that? I mean, the thing with Noor?”

Moyo shakes his head slightly, shrugging again. “Like two months ago maybe?”

“Two months?”

“I know.” Moyo purses his lips, picking at his nails as he stares down at his lap.

Jens thinks. “You’re not...forcing yourself to do anything, are you?”

Moyo finally looks at him, head whipping around as his brows knit together. “What? No. It’s not like that. Since then, she’s been helping me figure my shit out. Because I...I don’t know, I went into like this panic mood. It wasn’t even about kissing or sex it was like I realised I wasn’t attracted to her at all. Not physically. Like I know that Noor is beautiful, but it’s like I didn’t care. My mind could understand it and my body just didn’t feel it. And then I started to think about it and I’ve never actually been attracted to anyone. Not just Noor, just in general. Girls or guys. It confused the hell out of me, because I thought I did like her but I just...don’t think I can like anyone like that. Sexually.”

“Okay,” Jens nods slowly. “I’m still just not really understanding all your talk about something you have no interest in.”

“I’ve already told you. That’s what’s expected, y’know? That’s how you be a man.”

“Where is that shit coming from? Because I know it’s not your parents, and I hope it isn’t us.”

“No, not my parents, but what about the rest of my family? My uncles and even some of my cousins, I don’t know, it’s like fucking ingrained in them. I’ve ingrained it in myself. Even with you and Robbe, it’s different. They’d see it as like this minor error, but at least everything still works the same. With me it’s like...I don’t work, like this thing just isn’t there at all and—“

“Hey, hey, Moyo, woah,” Jens cuts him off, laying a placating hand on his friend’s shoulder. He waits for Moyo to steady himself, taking a deep breath with a clenched jaw, and then he gives a light tug to his shoulder. He has to do it again before Moyo actually gives in and looks at him, and then Jens keeps his expression serious. “Everything about you works whether you have sex with someone or not. Look at it like this. Your dick could be chopped right off, never able to use it, and you’d still be Moyo.”

He makes a cutting motion with his hand and then a sweep to the side as he makes a ‘phew’ noise through his teeth. It has the intended effect of making Moyo crack a smile even as he cringes, slapping Jens’s hand down with a shiver.

“And you said I make everything fucking gross, man. Jesus.”

Jens cracks, too, letting a small laugh escape as Moyo’s smile widens and his shoulders relax just so. “But it feels better, right?”

Moyo shrugs again, drawn-out and ashamed. “Still abnormal either way.”

“You’re not. You’re just asexual, I think.”

Moyo’s brows instantly shoot upwards. “You know what that is?”

Jens blinks at him. “Do you?”

“Dude, it’s been the only word in my head for weeks. Why do you know about it?”

“I kind of researched into everything when…”

He trails off, letting Moyo pick up on the implication himself, watches him purse his lips and give another nod. “Have you told anyone else?”

“Robbe, and only yesterday,” Jens admits. “You? Apart from Noor?”

Moyo purses his lips, shakes his head. “I’m sorry I didn’t react better to you actually...I mean, Jens, you know I have no problem with it right? What I said last year, it was really stupid. That’s not how I think anymore. Or at least, I’m trying not to think like that.”

“It’s okay,” Jens says softly. “I think I definitely understand a little better now. I’m sorry I haven’t made it easy for you to tell me, either.”

“We can circle back to me, okay? Right now we’re gonna talk about Lucas. You really didn’t know a thing about his birthday?”

Jens kind of wishes they could continue talking about Moyo, because in the last few minutes, he’d forgotten all about his own predicament. Now he’s forced to face it with a groan as he drags a hand over his face. “No. And I was telling myself it wasn’t that weird, because maybe it just hadn’t come up or he didn’t like celebrating or something, but now that you’re asking I feel like it’s weird.”

“Well maybe it is that. It looked kind of like a surprise party,” Moyo offers. “Maybe he just didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. Not with a new relationship.”

Jens isn’t quite sure why he flushes at that, but it makes Moyo’s lips tick slightly upwards. “Yeah,” he blows out a sigh, “but he also hasn’t messaged me. Like things were good yesterday before he left, and he fell asleep on the phone to me last night, and then like an hour later,” Jens makes a vague gesture, only waving his hand back and forth, but Moyo nods with a grimace.

“Maybe he’s stuck in bed. Hungover.”

“Maybe. It just freaks me out, ‘cause I know this is what he does when he’s pissed, or when something’s wrong. Gives me this radio silence. And I can’t go see him at his flat when he isn’t there.”

Moyo hums, then simply says, “Fuck. I’m kinda glad I’m not in this relationship game.”

Jens snorts, rubbing his hand over his face again as Moyo locks an arm around his shoulders and gives him a brief squeeze. “I thought Luc was going to be easier. These past few weeks have been, but,” he breaks off on a sigh, slumping back against his pillows as Moyo slips his arm out from behind him.

“You know what I think?” Moyo says. He waits for Jens to look at him before producing an unopened bag of weed. “I think you need some of your chill back.”

Jens only hesitates for a second before grinning and snatching the bag out of his hand.

#van der stoffels #vds #wtfock #skam nl #sink or swim #vds season fic #sos clip #thank you again sarah you’re an angel 🥰

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miss-tc-nova · 4 years

Text

Et Tu - Riku x Reader

Hi all! Been a hot minute, but have a Valentine’s Day fic! I mulled over a lot of different ideas (including cliff diving) before I finally came down to this. And yes, I’m aware the title is a bit convoluted.

And thanks again for the request Xeha-non, I too have been all over Riku for the last few weeks.

~~~~~

Jamming along to the song on my phone, I prance around the kitchen, collecting items to throw in the bag on the table. I’m making a mess of my house but I couldn’t care less, a beaming grin on my face as I toss the marshmallows in after the chocolate.

Today is Valentine’s Day; more importantly, it’s the first Valentine’s Day I’ll have with my boyfriend since his crazy adventures ended a few months ago. I didn’t beat myself up or hold his past absences against him—it was just another day to me. But this year, oh, I’m so excited for this year. I’ve been happily hopping around my home all day, trying anything and everything to make the time pass.

The sun is hanging low in the sky by the time there’s a knock at my door. Thank goodness I’m not strong enough to tear the door off its hinges as I rip it open to lunge at the man on the other side. Laughing, he spins me around before setting me back on my feet.

“Excited, huh?” he greets, pressing a peck to my forehead.

“I get to spend Valentine’s Day with my boyfriend! You have no idea!” I say, bouncing on my toes.

“Considering the number of texts I’ve gotten today, I think I have a decent idea.” I jut my tongue out at him. His cheeky demeanor slides into something softer, scattering the butterflies in my chest that always bustle in his presence. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” I return.

The ensuing kiss is gentle, just like Riku himself—when he’s not picking on me. It lingers just long enough to spread a rash of goosebumps and send the butterflies soaring. It leaves me indescribably happy, even when it ends.

“So, are you ready to go?” he asks.

The question breaks the serenity, sending the giddiness back into full swing. Scurrying back into the house, I scoop up the bag. “Yep! You got your swimming shorts?”

“Yeah.”

“Perfect!” The door slams behind me. “Let’s go!”

We make our way to the small island where we set up a little camp on the beach just out of reach of the water. Because the sun is starting to set, the place is quiet and empty; even those wretched birds have vacated for the day—it’s perfect.

Splashing, swimming, floating: water occupies our time as the sun says its last goodbye with the vanishing sunrays. I hold onto Riku as he keeps us afloat, looking to the violet sky where the first stars are beginning to peak through.

“When I moved here, I didn’t think I’d like island life,” I hum.

“I used to hate it here,” he says just as thoughtfully. “But you really start to miss the place you call home when you manage to escape it all. Especially when you find out there are people waiting for you to get back.”

I realize he’s talking about me and my stomach flips. Nevertheless, I grin and pinch at his vulnerable cheeks. “Aww, sweetheart, you missed me?”

Riku suddenly stands; I hadn’t realized we drifted so close to shore. My arms wrap around his neck as he lifts me from the water.

That sneaky simper stops my heart. “Of course I missed you, babe.”

And with that, he throws me out into deeper water.

Clawing my way back to the surface, I chase after the boy. I am in no way an actual threat but he humors me in running away. Somehow it all ends with me clinging to his back while Riku treks back onto the sand.

“Alright, I’m sorry,” he gives. “Can you get off now?”

“Mmm, no.” I press a kiss to his cheek.

“So if I just fall backwards?”

Riku leans backwards. Panicking, I cling tighter and brace for impact but, just before he falls, he steps back to catch himself.

“Yeah?” he goads.

With a huff, I let go. “Fine.”

Ruining my fun as usual, Riku helps me get a fire going in the pit and settled into the sand. Right as I’m about to break out the sweets, he holds his fist out.

“Here.”

I eye him for a moment, growing suspicious. “What is that?”

Green eyes roll. “Just take it.”

“Rikuuu! I told you not to get me anything,” I complain.

“Oh come on. You planned this,” he retorts.

“Yeah, but I planned this for both of us.”

“Are you being ungrateful?”

My mouth clamps shut as I scowl. Knowing he’s got me, Riku smirks and takes my hand to drop something metal in it. I stare down at the trinket. At the end of a silver chain hangs a gleaming, purple charm with an emblem inside. There’s a vague feeling in the back of my head that I’ve seen this emblem before.

“I hope it looks alright. I didn’t really get to pick what it looked like,” he says.

“What do you mean?”

Riku taps the trinket. When it suddenly lights up, I nearly drop the thing. Light grows and expands until, like a balloon, it bursts. My jaw drops. Fluttering rapidly in the air is a round, fluffy bat creature with a big grin. I watch it flap its way to Riku, where it rests on his shoulder.

When I finally get my voice back, I shout, “What the hell is that?!”

“This is my Dream Eater,” he explains. His fingers scritch at its chin like a cat and the thing practically melts. Meanwhile, all I can do is stare at him like he’s insane. “Uh, they usually live in the Realm of Sleep, eating nightmares. He helped me through my Mark of Mastery exam. You can pet him; he doesn’t bite…hard.”

I glare but Riku insistently waves me closer. It takes a little bit of courage before I finally reach up to rest my hand between the creature’s large ears. It leans against my palm, practically purring.

“Aww!” The way the Dream Eater coos and bats his eyes makes my heart soft. “So why is he here?”

“Because I want him to watch over you.”

“What?”

“Things are different now, but I still can’t guarantee I’ll be around all the time, so I want him to stick around and watch over you; that’s why I asked Yen Sid for a charm that would bring him to our Realm.” A hand under the Dream Eater’s feet moves him from Riku’s shoulder to mine. He gives me a look full of soft adoration. “You know I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, right?”

My ears are burning but I refuse to let him see me fluster. “So you gave me a babysitter for Valentine’s Day? Thanks,” I deadpan. It turns to giggling as the bat fluffs and nuzzles against my face.

“More like a guard dog,” Riku replies. “Plus he makes a pretty unique pet.”

“Giving me a pet without asking—so irresponsible,” I tease. “What’s his name?”

He shrugs. “Doesn’t have one. When I got him, I was kinda busy with other things.”

“Well that’s just a shame. Isn’t that right?” I coo at the bat. He cheerfully squeaks. Honestly, he’s so cute I could just squish his face all day. “Isn’t that right, Ceasar.”

“Ceasar?”

“Yeah. I like Ceasar. And I can’t just run around yelling ‘hey you bat!’”

“Fair enough.” A beautiful shade of pink tints his cheeks as he asks, “What you smiling about?”

I lean into the fluffy boy. “Thank you, Riku. I love him.”

That shade darkens. “Good.”

“Alright!” I announce, changing the subject and pouncing for my bag. “Now, I have been looking forward to this all week!”

My boyfriend chuckles. “You mean mauling me in the ocean wasn’t the main attraction?”

“No no no. That was fun and all but tonight’s main attraction—until you brough Ceasar—is smores!” I toss him the box of graham crackers.

Ceasar dances in the sand, looking surprisingly excited for a creature that’s probably never had a smore.

“Oh I see now: today’s just an excuse for you to eat sweets,” Riku says.

I shove his shoulder. “Come on! When’s the last time you had a smore?” I jam a marshmallow onto a stick for roasting.

Riku scratches at the back of his head. “I dunno. Maybe when I was a kid?”

“He says as if he’s an adult,” I mock.

A finger prods my cheek. “I’m more mature than you are.”

“I can be mature when I have to be.” I lean away from the poke. “You, on the other hand, seem to need a lesson on acting like the kid you are.”

His indignation is clear. “What’s that mean?”

“It means stop acting like you’re not a kid.”

“Hey, I’m a keyblade master.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Keyblade Master—you’re still not eighteen. You still got a few months for that. And I know for a fact that you’re not above being childish.”

“Oh yeah? Like when?”

“Like throwing me in the water. Like that time you stole my ice cream and made me get another. Like that time you hid in my closet to scare the ever-living hell out of me!”

“I forgot about that,” he snickers.

“I know we’re kinda out here on our own, but we’re kids. We’re big kids, but we’re still kids; so I know it wouldn’t kill you to act like it more often.”

His laugh dies down. “Sorry. I guess all this keyblade business kinda gets to me sometimes.”

There it is: the seriousness that plagues him even in his brightest moments. His face downcast and all light gone from his eyes—it’s like he’s reliving one of those terrible memories. We’ve been having fun these last few months since he got back, but there’s no denying that he went through hell. He laughed and smiled and teased me, but I could always sense a weary darkness deep in him.

I sigh. “I know. And that’s why you have me. I may not be a fighter but…” Looking him in the eye, I use Riku’s own words, “You know I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, right?”

He stares, awestruck, a second blush overtaking his face. Normally, I would’ve taken a jab at his moment of weakness, but this time, I simply return my attention to the marshmallow.

It’s on fire.

“SHITSHITSHIT! DAMMIT!” I jam the flaming chunk of charcoal into the ground and shovel sand onto it to put it out. “Aww!”

A new kind of laughter, something pure and light, rings through the air. I look back at my boyfriend and, this time, it’s my turn to blush. For once, the darkness is gone—this is pure happiness and it makes for the perfect Valentine’s Day.

I grin. “What are you laughing at?! That one was for you!”

“I know you struggle with a lot of things, but I didn’t think roasting marshmallows would be one of them.”

“Shut up! You can make your own smore!” I retort, pulling the stick from the sand to throw at him.

The projectile bounces off his arm and the young man retaliates by pulling me into his lap by the arm. His strength makes escape impossible and I break into a giggling mess at the mercy of his peppered kisses. His victory ends with a much more loving kiss against my cheek.

“I love you,” he murmurs.

The confession ignites a fire in my chest. Only hiding my face against Ceasar, hopping into my lap to join the cuddling, can save me from the embarrassing blush.

“I love you too,” I utter meekly.

One last kiss meets the top of my head before Riku reaches for the marshmallows. “Now let me show you how to actually roast a marshmallow.”

Rolling my eyes, I play with Ceasar’s wings. “He’s so mean, isn’t he, Ceasar.” The bat happily squeaks. “That’s right.”

“You know he’s only kissing up to you so he can have a smore, right?”

I gasp, holding the Dream Eater at arm’s length. “Ceasar! You would betray me for a smore?!”

Happy cheep.

“Pretty sure he’d sell us all out for a piece of cake,” says Riku, offering the bat a chocolate that instantly disappears.

“You traitor!”

Ceasar’s grin never falters. “Squeak!”

#Riku #kh riku #riku x reader #riku kingdom hearts #xeha-non

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awanderingdeal · 4 years

Text

5 times a Tremblay sibling kept a secret and 1 time they did not - Sydney

The second part of this fic! And it’s Sydney’s turn. For the record, I know zero about hockey or Canadian prep schools, so despite some research there are probably many inaccuracies in this. Sorry!

CW: Pressure to go to university. Please message me if you would like any content tags added or feel I need to add to this list.

Rating: G

See my masterlist for future and previous chapters

Thank you to @the-mouse-in-a-jumper and @anderperries for betaing this for me :)

And last, but most certainly not least, a massive thank you to @lumosinlove for the creation of the sweater weather universe and the wonderful OC’s (including the Tremblay siblings) within it.

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

Sydney felt like she couldn’t breathe as she walked the halls. She was supposed to be heading to math, but her mind was spinning and there was no way she was going to be able focus on derivatives at the moment.

When her coach had sent for her, Sydney had assumed that it was a quick last minute question or update before the game this evening. That had been two class periods ago and she had only just left.

She found her favourite place to sneak an unauthorised break, a quiet corner where there were only bathrooms, and checked her watch as she slid down a wall. In fifteen minutes, the deserted oasis would be a jungle as students rushed to relieve their bladders in between classes. Sydney breathed in and out slowly, trying to control her breathing in the way her yoga teacher always told her to.

She had asked her coach to print out a copy of the email that she had received. The paper it was printed on felt like it had weight. One letter sized piece of paper had never been so heavy.

Coach Figg,

Thank you for sending Sydney's tape. After reviewing it, I would be very interested in coming to see Sydney play in person. I took the liberty of checking your fixtures and noticed you have a game this evening. I am watching another player in your local area this morning and as such, would be available to see Sydney in the evening. Please get back to me as soon as possible to confirm this would be okay.

Ryan Lemont,

Montreal Stars Scout.

As she read the words again, it dawned on Sydney that this was actually real. It was actually happening. She’d dreamed of playing hockey professionally since her first fumbling steps onto the ice. She had to tell her parents.

Of course her parents knew she played hockey. They even knew she planned to continue playing hockey after high school. This prep school; renowned for both its academics and its hockey programme, had been a compromise on the travel hockey that Sydney had wanted to play. It allowed her to play competitively whilst still leaving her eligible for NCAA schools in the US. The fact that she was going to college was assumed.

When she had given her coach permission to send the tape, it had been with the belief that nothing was going to come of it. It would put her on the radar for when she was ready in a few years time.

Sydney wasn’t self-depreciating, she knew that she had talent. A local newspaper had once described her as ‘a budding young talent. Quite the goalkeeper, even at fifteen.’ Scouting started early in hockey. American schools trying to halt young Canadians on their path to junior league hockey, so they could play for their colleges later. She'd spoken to schools and had good feedback. She was confident that she’d play hockey somewhere. This was different though. A professional team. It was too much for her barely 17 year old brain to comprehend.

"Squid?" Logan, her brother, interrupted Sydney's thoughts. "Ca va?" he asked, walking towards her. The students in this school came from all over Canada, and so, despite being in the countryside of Quebec, people usually leaned towards talking in English. Logan clung onto his native language more than most.

"Hey Lo," Sydney smiled up at him. He'd had a growth spurt in the last few months and her baby brother was looking more and more like a man as the days passed. "What are you doing here?"

Logan gestured to the doors further down the corridor, " J'allais aux toilettes," He glanced at Sydney before joining her on the floor, "I could ask you the same. C'est quoi?"

Sydney didn't have time to answer Logan's question about what the paper was before it was being plucked from her hands. His eyes widened more and more as he read.

"Sydney," Logan gasped. "The Stars! What did Papa et Maman say?"

Trust Logan to get to the tricky questions straight away. Sydney played with her lip between her teeth, "I just found out, Lo. I'm still processing."

"What about university? You know Papa will say that you have to go," Logan asked, playing with the edges of the paper.

"Don't do that," Sydney grabbed the letter back, smoothing the wrinkles out. Superstitions were rife in hockey, and she couldn't shake the feeling that if the paper got damaged it would affect her performance tonight. "You think I haven’t considered that?" she whined, pushing her knees up and dropping her head into them before letting out a noise of frustration.

"My sister, playing for the Montreal Stars. That is so cool," Logan said, and Sydney could hear the grin in his voice.

She looked up at him, "Calm down. They haven't even seen me play yet. It could be nothing."

"And it could be everything," Logan argued. "You have to be positive. I'm going to go to Harvard and then I'm going to play for the NHL.” The confidence in the words reminded Sydney of their older sister, Aubrey. Most would have dismissed it as the lofty dream of a fourteen year old, but if anybody was determined enough to make it come true then it was her brother. “Just tell Papa et Maman. They'll come around," Logan continued. There was that confidence again.

Sydney scoffed, "Easy enough for you to say. You could tell them that you had murdered somebody and they would help you cover it up. You're spoiled."

"I can't help being charming," Logan said with a laugh. "Non, mais sérieusement, tell them. Papa is not a tyrant, he wants you to be happy. He just thinks university will give you the best start in life. I’m sure he can be convinced otherwise.”

"When did you get so wise, little brother?" Sydney smiled, pulling Logan close to her side. He pretended to resist for a token few seconds, but he had always been affectionate and soon squirreled in to her. "If you plan on going to Harvard, you should probably stop skipping English"

"I told you..." Logan started, but Sydney waved him off.

"There are three sets of bathrooms between here and your classroom. Trois," Sydney smirked. "You might have the rest of the world wrapped around your little finger, but you forget I know you, Lo."

"You forget I know you, Lo," Logan mocked before his features morphed into a picture of perfect innocence. "You're still going to give me your English notes though, aren't you?"

"More than likely, yeah." Sydney laughed. "Maybe I'm not so immune to those puppy dog eyes after all."

"Thanks, squid, you're the best," Logan hugged her a little tighter. "And you're going to be amazing tonight. Papa et Maman are going to be so proud, I promise."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just remember me when you're hoisting the Stanley cup, eh?" Sydney said, flicking Logan on his forehead.

"Oww, that is assault," Logan whined, rubbing at his brow far more dramatically than warranted, making Sydney snicker. "I think you'll be lifting a cup before me anyway," he added.

"Alright, enough with the sucking up. Class is about to change. Maybe actually go to your next one?" Sydney said, shoving Logan away from her with a grin.

#sydney tremblay #logan tremblay #lumosinlove #university pressure #college pressure #prep school #Sweater Weather #Coast To Coast

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