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lyjen · 2 months

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Freeway 710

Summary: When (Y/n) drives home from her work, she meets the 710 freeway wrong-way driver. The 118, including her fiancé Evan gets dispatched to the scene. When the 118 finds the car on the scene, (Y/n) is barely conscious and Evan tries to keep himself together.

Request by: @shauna-carsley

Taglist: @oliviah-25 @shauna-carsley

9-1-1 Masterlist

(Y/n) stepped down on the gas pedal as soon as she entered the 710 freeway in Los Angeles. Driving on the freeway was always something that made (Y/n) nervous, even though she had to drive over that road every single day to get to work and back.

But on the other hand, driving was like some kind of therapy for her. It was one of the moments she could empty her mind, something she really needed after a day of work. She didn’t have a typical 9 to 5 job everyone talked about.

(Y/n) worked for the 9-1-1 Metro Dispatch Center in Los Angeles. She loved the job, but it could be heavy sometimes. You would be expecting the most normal calls, the house fires, someone breaking into someone's home or someone having a medical emergency. But apparently there are so many more kinds of emergencies, but you wouldn’t know until you were an actual dispatcher.

A yawn left (Y/n)’s mouth as she looked over her shoulder to see if she could switch lanes. With her left hand she clicked the blinker on to the left and switched lanes.

The job was fun, sometimes tiring, but it was something she was born to do: help people. And the best part of it was the fact that she could stay anonymous. Something she didn’t like was being in the spotlight, and this way she could do both.

All she wanted right now was to get home, drop herself on the couch and sleep, or maybe watch some trash tv.

(Y/n)’s thoughts wandered, something that sometimes happened as she was tired. She would start daydreaming. She knew the route from home to work and back like the back of her hand, she could dream it if she wanted to. She would stay focussed on the road, but after driving this road so many times you start to get used to a routine.

Her sweaty palms held onto the steering wheel as she switched the blinker up, gesturing to the other drivers on the 710 that she was going to the right lane. With another quick look into her blind spot, she moved the car to the other lane again.

Her hand reached out for the touchscreen panel, trying to skip the song that was currently on. (Y/n)’s eyes wandered back from the screen towards the road as she could hear other drivers in the distance from her start using their horn. Something that would make her mad and her anxiety rise if it came from the cars behind her.

“Really?” she sighed as the honks kept sounding over the freeway. But when the cars in front of her started to move towards the side and her eyes were completely in focus with the two headlights in front of her.

She felt like a deer looking into headlights, literally. Her pupils grew wide as she tried to react to the sudden situation she was in. But suddenly she didn’t know what to do, she felt like she was frozen. She couldn’t think, or act. Like the connection between her brain and her nerves system was cut off, as if some kind of error had occurred.

Just a few feet before the car would’ve smashed hers, she yanked the steering wheel towards the right to avoid the wrong-way driver.

The second she saw the other driver pass her car, she thought she had made it through without any scratches. It wasn’t until another car hit her passenger side, her forehead connects with the steering wheel as the airbag goes off and lashes her head back against the headrest of the carseat.

(Y/n) could feel the car start to spin. But those spins quickly made the car flip to the side and go over the head multiple times. A loud squeal left her lips as she could feel her body being shaken up. It felt like her stomach together with all the intestines almost came out of her mouth.

The smell of the engine fought its way through her nostrils.Her throat was burning from all the screams and cries that had left her mouth as the car finally stopped rolling.

A groan left her lips as she had a throbbing pain in her head and her ears were ringing due to the airbag going off, it was hard to focus on anything really.

She could feel all the blood from her body go towards her head, which made her realize that the car was flipped upside down.

Her eyes filled with panic, she tapped her fingers onto the display where her phone was connected to. It wasn’t reacting to the contact of her fingertip.

Broken. Of course.

She could feel herself slip away, as she tried to keep herself conscious, but she didn’t know how. She needed to find her phone. She squeezed her eyes closed for a second, trying to get back her vision, but it only became worse.

And the fact it was dark outside didn’t help much either. The mix of a blurry vision and the darkness outside didn’t give her an advantage.

Her breathing was becoming shallow, and she could feel the blood dripping off her forehead, into the car. She scanned her surroundings, until her eye fell onto a black haze. That had to be her bag.

She tries to reach out, but as she tries to make her body longer, a scream leaves her mouth and a throbbing sensation spreads in her leg.

Short breaths were passing her lips. Her leg was killing her, her head and arm were starting to hurt even more. The adrenaline must be leaving her body.

But she had to get to her phone. How was someone going to find her otherwise? She needed to get through the pain and call for help, it was the only way.

With her arm she reached out for the black blur that must be her bag. She bites her lower lip as she could feel the pain in her leg becoming worse as she reached further and further. Her fingertips brushed the handles of her bag.

Another scream leaves her mouth as she reaches another small inch further and finally manages to grab her bag. She quickly rumbled in her bag as she fished out her phone.

Her eyes wandered over the screen as she couldn’t see anything but a blur. She could blink for minutes, but it wouldn’t matter because her eyes wouldn’t stop projecting a blurry vision.

How was she going to call someone if she couldn’t read the numbers?

She held the on and off button, as soon as she heard the tone that Siri was activated. “Siri call nine, one, one” She watched the phone go to the caller screen as a few drops of blood fell off her face onto the screen.

As she waited for an operator to pick up, her vision was starting to project black dots. Her ears were still ringing, but she could hear the phone trying to connect with dispatch.

“9-1-1 are you calling about the pile up?” The familiar operator's voice sounded through the phone. It was a young one, and there only worked one younger person there than (Y/n) .

It was May, Athena’s daughter.

Her voice sounded dull in the back of her mind as a gasp fell off her lips. “I think.. I-.. I was in it.” she stumbled with a soft voice, as if she was whispering. She was trying to breathe away the pain she felt in her entire body.

“First responders are on scene and working, you should be able to see them.” May said as she typed details from the call on to the log.

“I- don’t see.. anyone” her weak voice said as she looked around the car, seeing nothing but the night sky and feeling her own blood dripping off her face onto the roof of the car. Which was now connected with the ground.

“Are you injured?” the younger girl’s voice asked through the phone.

“I think my leg is stuck” she claimed. The black and white dots in her eyes were expanding and multiplying until she couldn’t see anything at all.

“Are you there? Ma’-” May's voice sounded on the background, getting duller with each letter she was pronouncing, but the call got cut off. The only thing she could see right now is the color black as she heard the beeping sound fade out.

Evan was just walking beside his captain, as he heard Sue’s voice over the radio. “Dispatch to one eighteen, come in. This is Sue” the voice from Sue, the supervisor of the Metro Dispatch Centre, sounded over the channel on their radio. Evan’s eyebrows furrowed at the sound of Sue. Why was she talking over the radio? That was something that rarely happened.

Bobby wrapped his hand around the radio as he pushed in the button to speak. “Go for captain Nash” he said as he let go of the button which turned his microphone on. Evan and Bobby kept walking over the freeway, scanning the scene if there were any more persons trapped in their cars or in any other way of distress.

Evan’s eyes swept over the scene, crashed cars, broken windows and mirrors, and lots of damage. And this all because a woman was drunk and decided to get in the driver's seat. He couldn’t believe that the woman in this situation had a little underage boy in the backseat.

“Captain Nash, we received a call from a woman, who claims that she was in the pile up on the freeway seven ten.” The sound of Sue sounded through the radio clipped on Buck’s turnout jacket.

Did they miss someone? It couldn’t be. Buck was sure he had checked every vehicle, every small corner. But he was starting to question if he didn’t miss anything.

Bobby seemed confused, his eyes furrowed at Sue’s words. Evan could read on his captain’s face that he was going off some kind of mental checklist. “I’m sure we’ve already extricated everyone that has been in this crash, are they sure she was in this crash?” Bobby knew for sure he and his crew already checked every vehicle.

“Hold on captain, we are trying to get the phone’s coördinates” Sue’s voice said again. In the meantime Evan and Bobby stopped both in their tracks, waiting for Sue to find the exact location of the phone that sent her the coordinates. Evan focussed his eyes down onto the asphalt of the freeway, trying to make out if maybe he did see anything.

Evan did remember lots of cars crashed into each other, but he didn’t see any other vehicles get off the road somehow. He would’ve spotted it. He never missed a victim.

His eyes shot up as he could hear the noise from the radio pop up again. “The location from the caller is the forty-three exit ramp” the female voice spoke.

Evan’s eyes wandered over the scene to see where they were. When he couldn’t find any signs telling him where they were, he quickly turned around. His eyes found those green freeway signs, telling him exactly where they were.

Exit ramp forty-six.

His stomach turned as his eyes read the sign. They were three exits further than where another car had crashed? Evan slowly turned back around towards Bobby. “So.. this car wasn’t in the pile up.” He concluded.

“She was in front of it.” Bobby added to Evan’s conclusion.

How didn’t anyone else see that one car? People behind the car that got hit should’ve seen it, right? “Everybody on me! Come on, let's move!” Bobby said loudly as he waved his team over as he was running towards the truck.

They needed to get back to exit ramp forty-three as soon as possible. This victim was hurt, and was in need of immediate medical attention. Every second counts in these kinds of situations.

Just as Evan jumps in the truck as the last one of his team. He shut the door with a bang as he made a fist with his hand and banged it against the roof of the truck, as a sign that the truck could go. “Let’s go!” Evan’s voice spoke as Miller stepped on the gas pedal.

Even though Miller’s foot touched the bottom of the truck with the gas pedal, it felt like a dozen minutes until they arrived at exit ramp forty-three.

Evan’s eyes didn’t leave the sight of the window he was looking through. He was on a mission. He was going to find that car that he couldn’t have missed. And he for sure wasn’t missing it now.

The truck pulled to a stop, even before it pulled to a stop, he flung open the door and he jumped out. Scanning every inch of the entire scene.

His eyes rushed over the scene until his eyes fell onto the sign ‘Exit 43’. He let his eyes wander not even an inch lower, until he spotted tire tracks in front of the sign.

His veins were being filled with adrenaline as soon as he saw those tire tracks. “Hey hey! Tire tracks! Right here!” Evan pointed out as he looked over his shoulder, looking at his team, silently asking if they were seeing it too.

From a distance he could spot a small amount of smoke floating into the air and spreading itself. ”Let’s go let’s go!” he yelled at the team as he started running towards the side of the road, following the tire tracks into the grass. Just at the edge of the grass he stopped in his steps as he scanned the scene. Suddenly his stomach turned at the sight.

A blue Mini Cooper.

******

A soft smile was projected on (Y/n)’s face as Evan held the door open for her and she ducked a little to avoid hitting her head against his arm. She walked through the doors of the bar where she and Evan had spent their Friday night.

No date, no alcohol, just a few drinks with a friend. It was nice, having someone to talk to who didn’t do the same job as you. (Y/n) didn’t have many friends, and most of the time after her shift at the dispatch center all she wanted to do was to go home.

But when she got that text from Buck, asking if she wanted to grab some drinks after shift. She couldn’t say no. Mainly because she had a bad shift, and she needed to vent to someone, but also because somehow she couldn’t seem to stay away from the firefighter.

“Thank you. I really needed this” (Y/n)’s voice spoke up as Evan caught up and was walking on her right side. With her hands in the pockets of her beige thin corduroy jacket, she glanced over at Evan who gave her a small smile. “Glad I could offer that listening ear for you.” his voice said as he nodded, happy that he sent that text message.

There was silence, not the awkward kind. It was nice, she felt comfortable.

Evan stopped in his tracks. “Hey, do you need a ride home?” he carefully asked, he didn’t want to push her into anything. She gave him another small smile as she stopped walking too and was in front of him. “That’s sweet of you, but…” she opened her bag and dug in the small compartment, as she fished out her car keys from her bag.

”Already taken care of that” she smiles as the hanger of the key chain was balancing on her index finger, moving it slightly as if it was some kind of price.

“Always thinking ten steps ahead” he chuckles.

A small laugh fell off her lips as she looked down at her feet, and let her eyes slowly wander back to his face. “Well then, can I maybe walk you to your car?” he asked, as he scratched the back of his head.

“That would be nice, thank you” she said as Evan quietly asked her which way to go. She pointed towards her left, where a small parking lot was stationed a few feet away from the restaurant and where they were now.

As they made their way towards the parking lot, (Y/n) could feel her arm brush against his. “You know, I was going to offer to even walk you back to your house” Evan spoke up. “But then I realized, I didn’t know where you live” he continued as he looked to his left.

“Very subtle” she laughed as she looked back at him. “Just a few minutes from here actually.” she added as they entered the parking lot. Fidgeting with the car keys in her hand she felt Evan’s fingers brushing against her hand.

“This is me” she smiled, pointing at the blue Mini Cooper and unlocked the car with a click on her car key. With his eyebrows furrowed, he looked at the car and back to the girl he had spent hours talking with inside the bar. “Not what you expected?” she reacted as she waited for him to speak up.

A laugh rolled off his lips. “It’s just.. I didn’t..” he couldn’t even finish his sentence, because he didn’t know what he would’ve expected otherwise. “Because if you were expecting me to drive a Toyota Prius, I’m not that kind of girl.” she teased him, as he was finding the right words.

His fingers traced over his chin, as he was thinking of what to say. “Apparently you’re a blue mini cooper kind of girl” he concluded as he pointed at the car. “Are you making fun of me?” she shot back as she took a step closer.

She could feel her breathing becoming slower and deeper. “Me? Oh I wouldn’t dare..” he said as he took a step closer, closing the distance between each other.

She could feel his deep breaths on her skin. Their noses almost touching each other. “Evan..” she sighed as she felt his hand brush over her shoulder, getting rid of the strands of hair. “(Y/n)..” his soft voice said. As the hand traced from her shoulder to the side of her face. Slightly wandering over her cheek.

“We shouldn’t..” she breathed as she felt his fingers touch hers. Their faces are dangerously close to one another. “Tell me we’re just friends..” he whispered as his hand went from touching fingers to grabbing her hand, brushing his thumb over the back of her hand. As the thumb of his other hand brushed over her cheek. “I can’t..” she said softly as she leaned in to the touch of his thumb.

She felt him leaning closer and closer, as she turned away her head, making a bee-line for his cheek. Her warm lips touched the soft, stubbled side of his face. “Goodnight, Buck”

******

Evan was sure his heart just dropped from his chest down to his feet. It was her. It was his own girlfriend, trapped in her blue Mini Cooper that was flipped upside down.

Without thinking clearly, he ran down the oblique concrete blocks. His voice screaming her name, making his throat hurt from the loudness and his legs were moving faster than his head at this point.

He didn’t know how many times her name fell off his lips, he needed her to react. To give her some sign of life.

He let himself fall down onto his knees next to the driver's side as he tried to get a visual of (Y/n). The glass windows were broken in the crash, the opening where the glass window used to be, was pancaked a few inches smaller because of the rolls it made over the concrete blocks.

It was smaller than usual, the window. But he could see her.

Cuts and bruises were spread over her face, and the blood from those wounds were smeared all over her face. “I see her!” he yells at his team as he stands up and backs away from the door so Eddie could break open the door. Eddie places the halligan he was holding between the door and the frame of the car, trying to open the jammed door.

He popped the door open, and not even a second later, Evan wormed himself through the door opening of the driver's side.

His eyes fell onto the blood on her face, dripping off her face and onto the inside part of the roof. A large stain of blood had appeared on the roof fabric, meaning she had lost a lot of blood, but he could see the blood still dripping from her head. “Looks like she has lost a lot of blood!” he concluded.

In the meanwhile, Hen had squeezed herself through the passenger's side of the car, placing her fingers against (Y/n)’s neck. “Her pulse is racing!” Hen says as Evan scanned the environment, seeing her leg being pinned between her seat and the dashboard. “Leg is pinned between the dashboard and the seat! Possible broken leg.” Evan says.

Evan could hear Bobby commanding the others of the team to go and get the hydraulic spreaders. But he needed her to open her eyes, give him some sign of life. “(Y/n)? Can you hear me?” He asks as he softly patted his fingertips against her cheek, trying to get her conscious again.

Hen in the meanwhile, got a c-collar and put it around (Y/n)’s neck. “Please, open your eyes” Evan begged her. She was still there. He knew she was.

A groan left her mouth as she could hear his voice in the back of her mind, with her ears still ringing of the blow from the airbag.

Her eyes felt heavy, almost like there was someone trying to push them down again. As if someone didn’t want her to wake up. She fought the feeling of her eyelids closing, but she couldn’t. It felt like all her energy was being sucked out of her body.

So she needed to find her voice, and use it. “Leg..” she groaned as she felt the stinging pain in her leg become worse within the second. Evan’s eyes grew wide as he heard her soft, quiet voice through his ears.

“Hey, hey, hey! We’ve got you” He tried to keep her calm. “I need that spreader over here!” Buck said towards his team. But just as those words left his mouth, Eddie came over with the spreaders and Hen left the passenger’s side to get to the ambulance and get out the gurney.

“Okay, (Y/n).. this might hurt” Eddie says as he placed the spreaders between the chair and dashboard so the tool can push the dashboard away from the seat and her leg. Evan took off his turnout jacket as he held it as some kind of shield in front of her body and face.

She placed her hand onto a part of Evan’s leg, curling up the fabric of his turnout pants in between her fingers.

Just as an inch of the dashboard was pushed away from her leg, she felt a heavy, painful shot of pain going through her leg. She could feel the tears because of the pain welling up in her eyes as she let out a loud scream.

The scream that left her lips went through Evan’s bones, he wanted to do anything to take her pain away. With every scream her hand became stronger and pulled more and more the fabric of the turnout pants.

Multiple squeals, and screams later, her leg was free.

He felt her hand loosen her grip on his pants. Evan threw aside his turn out coat as he crouched down to finally get her body out of the upside down position she was in. But when he called out her name, to get her attention. She didn’t react.

Panic started to build inside of his body as he could feel his heart stop. There was this pressure on his chest, telling him that this wasn’t good. “(Y/n)?” he called out her name again. But as he placed his two fingers in the crook of her neck, his gut feeling was right.

She didn’t have a pulse.

“I can’t find her pulse!” he yelled, as he could feel his soul leaving his body. No. This wasn’t happening. In the middle of Evan’s panic, he could vaguely hear Bobby shouting orders, and that was when Eddie entered the passengers side. “We got you” he tried to reassure himself but also the woman in the seat.

They didn’t have time now to go and splint her leg. They needed to cut her loose and start CPR.

With his eyes locked on Eddie, he watched and heard him countdown. Eddie was holding a seatbelt cutter in his hand as Evan’s hands held both her shoulders, ready to guide her down. “One.. two.. three” Eddie’s voice counted down as he cut through the fabric of the seatbelt. Evan guided her body down, so she would land on her back. They straightened her body so Evan could carry her out through the driver’s side.

It was horrifying. Seeing someone talking and breathing and within the snap of a finger, she was unconscious and in cardiac arrest.

He placed his arms underneath her arm pits and pulled her out through the driver’s side. He guided her neck and head and placed it gently onto the backboard. Evan let himself fall onto his knees as he interlaced his right hand on top of his left hand. “Starting compressions!” he called out as he started pumping up and down his fiancé’s chest.

“Buck” Bobby’s voice spoke from behind him, as he felt a hand being placed on his shoulder. But he made a turn with his arm, telling him quietly to get off. He was busy. Saving the love of his life. “Twenty five, twenty six..” he breathed through the chest compressions.

“Buck..” Bobby said again, but this time with a more commanding tone. But he ignored it. Again. He knew he had a team of paramedics around him. He knew he could’ve just asked Hen, Eddie or Chimney to take over. But he felt the urge, a responsibility to do it himself. He needed to know what he did all he could to save her.

But that chance of saving her was taken away from him when he felt two arms gripping his upper arms, pulling him away from the lifesaving actions he was doing.

A cry left his mouth, “No! I need to save her!” he screamed. The visual he had of her, was becoming smaller and smaller every feet he was being dragged back. He could see Hen taking over the chest compressions. He wanted to break free from the grip someone was holding him in. But Bobby jumped in front of him, trying to calm him down, blocking his view of his girl.

Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. All the screams, all the people running around him. And he couldn’t do anything. Every single thing Bobby said, didn’t even enter his mind. As if he was muted.

“I got a pulse!” Hen’s voice entered his mind, and just as he heard those four simple words. He lost it. He stopped fighting. The arms around his upper arms slowly loosened, as he didn’t fight back.

He saw Chimney and Eddie carrying the backboard with her on it, placing it on the gurney and racing down the asphalt towards the ambulance. As he watched her being wheeled away, he could feel his knees caving in.

“Buck? Are you alright?” Bobby asks as he tries to get some kind of contact with his team member he was standing eye to eye with But the firefighter didn’t react. His eyes were locked onto that gurney, and didn’t leave its sight.

His knees buckled as he fell down onto his knees. Just as his knees wanted to connect with the asphalt beneath his feet, two arms were curled up around his arms. He could breathe again, as if the blockage inside his airways were being taken away and he could take a proper breath again. He held onto Bobby’s arms as tears rolled down his cheeks.

She was alive.

_____

There she was, connected to all those wires and tubes. Both her left arm and left leg were casted. Her arm was in a sling, it was a cruel sight, something you even didn’t wish your worst enemy to happen.

Evan had been sitting in those horrible hospital chairs, sitting next to the side of her bed, silent. Hoping that some kind of miracle would make her breathe on her own.

With his hands clasped together dangling between his legs, his eyes shot at the door as he felt the presence of someone in the door opening.

“Hey, I came as soon as I could” the voice of Evan’s sister sounded through his ears. He saw Maddie stepping over the threshold, already with her arms wide open, ready to give him a hug.

Evan stood up as she pulled him into a hug, wrapping her arms around his neck. He had no tears left to cry, he wrapped his arms around his sister's body as he buried his face into the crook of her neck.

After a few counts she loosened her grip and pulled back from the hug.

“What happened? Is she okay?” Maddie asked two questions at once. Evan looked down to the ground. “I don’t know” he silently whispered.

All they knew right now was that she was stable. She had a broken arm, a broken femur, multiple cuts and bruises over her body and a concussion. And the worst sight of it all, was her being connected to a ventilator.

Two minutes and forty seconds. That’s how long her heart stopped on scene.

The doctors put her in a medically induced coma and connected her to a ventilator to minimize the injury to the brain.

He wished he had never had to see this. It was horrible to see the one you loved with a tube down her throat and a machine doing all the work. The beeping inside the hospital room wasn't really helping Evan to calm down.

His breathing was shaky as he searched for the right words. “W-we got a call about a pile up… Then dispatch told us there was another woman stuck.” He tried to explain, with a trembling voice.

“(Y/n)” Maddie concluded as she kept her eyes on her little brother, whose hands were starting to shake as a leaf. A broken “yes” fell off his lips, as Maddie placed her hands onto her brother’s. Telling him she was there for him, that it was okay to be scared of the unknown.

“She wasn’t in the pile up Maddie.” His slightly less trembling voice was sounding through the room. He was on the edge of crying, again. He wasn’t sure how many tears he had wiped away from his cheek in the last hours. “She was in front of it.” He added as he looked down to his hands.

“I just.. wished I would’ve found out sooner.” He said as his eyes wandered back to (Y/n). Breathing in the oxygen that came from the ventilator. Evan feels one of Maddie’s hands being placed onto his upper arm as she shortly rubbed her hand up and down.

There was a silence between the siblings. Maddie let go of Evan’s hand and his upper arm as her gaze went to (Y/n). Slowly she walked towards the right side of the bed, as her brother took place on the other side.

He watched his sister take her hand and gently rubbed her thumb over the top of (Y/n)’s IV’ed hand. He could see the tears welling up in Maddie’s eyes. “I still remember the first time when I introduced you two to each other..” Maddie’s voice sounded quite dreamy but ended with a small sob.

Through the small amount of tears, a small laugh fell off his lips. Of course she had to bring that up. It was in the exact same hospital as they were in right now. Not the kind of location you’d think of to meet the love of your life.

******

With in his right hand a tray filled with two to-go cups and in his other hand a small pink box, he stepped out the elevator as soon as the bell rang. Letting him know that he had reached the level where his sister was staying the last few days.

At first she was staying in a hospital in Big Bear, but all she wanted was to get out of that hell hole that reminded her of her dead ex-husband she killed out of self defense. She needed to go to Los Angeles and did whatever it took to be transferred to the same hospital as Chimney.

Even though his sister told him that she was fine, and he didn’t need to visit her that often. He still came over during visitor hours, he didn’t care if she told him not to. Evan needed to see for himself that she was fine. He knew Doug was dead, but it killed him from the inside that he wasn’t there to protect her when she needed him.

He walked through the hospital hallways, the atmosphere here was always so chilly. Everything was white, the employees were always dressed in scrubs: pink, green, blue, navy blue, even black.

Not the kind of location you wanted to spend your days inside. Even though Evan came here multiple times a day sometimes to drop someone off at the emergency room, he’d rather be somewhere else. You’d think as a firefighter you’ll be working more with burning buildings. But believe it or not, overall there are more medical calls than actual fires.

Evan took another turn, and finally got his eyes on the room where his sister was in. With his gaze locked on the to go cups, keeping an eye on the cups so he wouldn’t accidentally spill any of the drinks. He stepped over the threshold.

“Hey Maddie I wasn’t sure what you wanted so I-” he stopped mid-sentence as his eyes scanned the room. Realizing that there was another person in the room. “Oh- I didn’t know you had a visitor” he stumbled awkwardly.

The girl gave him a small, but gentle smile. Evan on the other hand, was tongue tied.

“Oh it’s okay Buck, I wanted to introduce you two anyways. So you can finally visualize a face to all the stories” Maddie says as she pointed at the stranger and back to him. Evan furrowed his brow, so she had told him stories with her name in it before.

He placed the two to go cups and the paper bag he had onto the small table next to his sister’s bed. He wiped his hands clean quickly on his thighs, getting rid of the warmth on his hands.

“(Y/n), this is my little brother Evan.” Maddie says as her eyes wander from (Y/n) back to Evan. The name sounded so familiar to him. He had heard that name before, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“And Evan, this is my colleague (Y/n)” Maddie continued. He stepped closer to the colleague of his sister and held out his hand. She placed her hand into his as she shook it. “Buck, nobody really calls me Evan.” He corrected Maddie.

“Buck..” she repeated him, his name fell softly off her lips. “I heard some great things about you.” she continued as she gave him another smile. A smile that made him weak at the knees. She had one of those smiles that made the rest of the world smile too.

“Oh no.. what did she tell you?” Panic was slightly building up in his chest, Evan knew that Maddie sometimes would give too much information. ”If she told you about stealing evidence from the police-” he added, as he gets interrupted by his sister.

“Wait, you stole evidence?” she asked with a confused expression projected on her face. Evan turned towards his sister. “I thought you knew?” Maddie shook her head with that same expression still on her face. Wow he was really making a fool out himself now.

There was a silence between the siblings.

“Anyways.. for example during the earthquake, when you guys helped save a man and a woman from the tilted building. Pretty impressive.” She spoke. Trying to make things right again. “Just doing my job” Evan smiles as he places his hand on the back of his neck.

“She helped at one of your calls during Christmas, the overworked guy who ended up in a box?” Maddie jumped in on the conversation. “There was a dispatcher that kept calling the man’s phone for the team to find him.” She added, trying to help her brother to refresh his mind.

His eyes grew wider; he knew he had heard her voice before. “That was you?” He asks, pointing at her. “The one and only” she laughed. Evan wasn’t sure if she was laughing because of the surprised reaction he gave or the fact that he looked like some kind of fanboy.

“That action of yours saved us so much time. That was insanely smart.” He complimented her as his eyes wandered from her addictive smile towards her eyes. He noticed her looking down to the floor, avoiding his gaze.

“I’m just.. trying my best. But really, you guys are the real heroes though. We’re just sitting behind a desk answering calls” she says. But Evan didn't quite share that opinion. They needed dispatch. Without them they were just some confused firefighters, not knowing where to go and what the situation was. They could see things that the firefighters couldn’t when they were on scene.

“Nonsense, your job is as important as mine. You are our eyes in the skies.” Evan said.

What was this? A compliment challenge? Who can give the most compliments wins?

A shy smile appeared on her face, (Y/n) could feel her cheeks burning. Almost blushing. Compliments like that she gets from her co-workers, never from anyone who wasn't a dispatcher.

As if everything in the room had disappeared and they were the only two left. The two of them just stared at each other. Evan wasn’t sure for how long, but Maddie broke the silence in the room by clearing her throat.

When Maddie cleared her throat, it worked like a stinger snap. Snapping (Y/n) right out of her thoughts. “Anyways! It was really good to finally meet you. Evan- I mean Buck.” She corrected herself.

She hung her purse over her shoulder as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as soon as she stood up straight again. ”But I have to go.. feed.. my cat.” She stumbled, (Y/n) gave Maddie and her brother a quick goodbye as she left the room.

Evan’s eyes followed the woman out of the room, even when she left the room he followed her movements through the window. “You think she’s cute, don’t you?” Maddie’s voice made way through his eardrums, getting him back to reality.

“What? No! No.” His voice was defensive at first, but at the second denial his voice sounded more soft. Evan walked towards the table where he had placed the two to go cups and a small paper bag.

“Oh you so do..” she said as she noticed him turning his back to her to get the cups. “Maddie, you know I’m done dating first responders.. I’m not doing that again.” He stuttered as he handed his sister the right cup.

Maddie accepted the cup from her sibling and held it between her two hands. “Uhuh.. oh and.. for the record..” she started, and stopped to open the cup and threw in a small bag of sugar. “She doesn’t have a cat.” She continued, taking a sip from her coffee.

Evan shook his head as a smile appeared again on his face. His sibling was way too good at reading him.

Maddie swallowed her sip of coffee as she was already bringing the cup to her lips. “So.. when did you steal evidence? And why?” she asked as she took another sip of her coffee.

******

“I knew from the second I introduced the two of you, that you’d end up together.” Maddie stated, as she kept her eyes on the girl in the hospital bed. Evan’s eyebrows were raised, surprised his sister would say something like that. But on the other hand, it was Maddie.

Maddie’s voice kept on going on the back of Evan’s mind as he took a look at the devices his fiancé was hooked up on. Evan wasn’t much of a doctor or a paramedic, but he noticed the smallest kind of difference in the device that measured her heart rate.

His eyes wandered from the devices back to her body, he scanned her body, every sound of her heart beat, every breath.

Something is wrong” he said under his voice.

His stomach turned at the sight of his fiancé. This whole time when he looked at her, he felt fine. But right now in this moment, something felt off. He couldn’t describe what or why, he just knew.

He watched her breathing become faster within every second he spectated. Evan held out a hand towards his sister, as a stop sign, to tell her to stop talking for one second. Her breathing was as if she had run a whole marathon, while the machines were starting to beep faster with every breath she took. “She can’t breathe..” Evan said. He felt the panic rising inside his chest, but he didn’t hesitate and clicked the emergency button above her hospital bed.

He pushed himself from the side of the bed and sprinted down the room, towards the hallway. He repeated the same sentence multiple times, each time he let those words leave his mouth it became louder and louder.

Before he knew it, a few nurses came running down the hallway, aiming for (Y/n)’s hospital room. They entered the room as Evan was still standing at the door, not knowing what to do with himself.

In the meanwhile Maddie gets guided away from the bedside, so the nurses could do their job and figure out what is wrong with his girl. Maddie made a beeline for her little brother, as he could see the tears in her eyes.

He could sense his sister’s hand onto his shoulder, saying things like “she’ll be okay” and “she’s stronger than you think”. But at this moment, the sight of the nurses disconnecting her from the tubes made him question if they actually knew what they were doing.

Why were they disconnecting her? What was going on? A thousand questions were running through his mind at the same time.

“They put her on ECMO three days ago.. and now they’re already telling me that they want to get her off.” Evan said as he stood eye to eye with the window that looked over her hospital room. “Isn’t that what you wanted? For her to be healthy and to wake up again?” Eddie asks as he looks at his best friend.

Evan looked like a ghost wandering the halls of the fourth floor of the hospital. He was here day and night, at least.. until one of the nurses or doctors had to kick him out of the hospital. It was like he was stuck to that chair in the room and he drank that terrible hospital coffee.

Every now and then friends of Evan, or (Y/n) came to show their support during visiting hours. They’d bring drinks and food, they knew how horrible the drinks and food were in the hospital.

He leaned his palms onto the small frame of the window, With his eyes still locked on the window he shook his head. “But what if it’s too soon?” he said. He knew the consequences back and forth of getting someone off ECMO and out of a medically induced coma.

“They’re doctors, they know what 's best for their patients.” Eddie explained. Evan sighed, he knew Eddie was right. Eddie turned ninety degrees to the right, now fully facing the side profile of Evan. He crossed his arms as he waited for a reaction of his best friend. “There’s something else that is bothering you, isn't it?” Eddie asks.

Eddie knew him too well to miss this signal that he was giving him. Evan pushed himself up with the palm of his hands and turned towards Eddie. He scratched the back of his head. “They told me she may suffer from amnesia” he admits, keeping his eyes on Eddie. Waiting for some kind of reaction.

“You’re scared she won’t remember what happened?” Eddie asks, trying to get some more clarification. “I mean, what do I do when she won’t remember the accident? Hell, what do I do if she won’t remember me?” God he sounded so desperate. But he needed to share the questions inside of his head before it’d actually become too much for him alone to handle.

Eddie pressed his lips into a thin line, trying to find the right words to motivate and support his friend, who felt more like a brother to him, in these difficult times. “Buck..” Evan’s name fell like a sigh off his lips. But before he could even speak, Evan’s voice spoke up. “I don’t know if I can handle that Eddie.” he sounded like a sixteen year old again, doubting himself with making choices.

Eddie’s eyes softened at the sight of his best friend looking like that. As if he didn’t go through enough already. He placed his hand on Evan’s shoulder, and gave it a soft squeeze, getting his attention. “It’s going to be hard, but you can’t back out now. She’s your fiancé, and in the worst case scenario she won’t remember you. Okay, fine. It will hurt. But I’m sure, if you just love her, care for her, just like you always have done. Everything will fall into its place.”

Deep down, he knew Eddie was right. But there was this feeling of fear of the unknown inside his body, making him feel anxious with everything he did. “But is that enough?” his voice was on the edge of breaking. Eddie simply patted Evan’s shoulder as he disconnected his hand from his friend's shoulder. “I guess you’ll have to see and find that out for yourself bud.” he answered as Eddie’s eyes wandered across the hallway. He motioned with his head, Evan immediately who it was, and what was going to happen.

“Good luck” Eddie said under his breath as he made his way to leave the window of (Y/n). Just when Eddie passed Evan, he quickly patted his shoulder again.

Evan turned around to face the person who was walking towards him. “Mr Buckley” the female voice sounded. “Shall we?” she said as she held out her arm towards the entrance of the hospital room (Y/n) was in.

He took a deep breath in, trying to calm his nerves. He got this. (Y/n) has got this. They were going to be fine. Everything was going to fall into its place.

He followed the doctor and nurse into the room, as the doctor explained what the plan was and what was next. He watched the doctor and nurse do their jobs.

It could take two till twenty four hours for her to actually open her eyes. He didn’t care if he needed to wait a hundred hours for her to wake up, he would stay with her until she woke up. He didn’t want her to wake up in an empty hospital room.

Evan was tossing and turning, trying to find back a comfortable position in the chair to doze off in again. He pushed himself up, with his eyes squeezed slightly open because of the small amount of light that was peeking through.

He rubbed his eyes for a second as he tried to adjust his eyes to the brightness of the light. Getting some sleep out of the corner of his eyes that annoyed him. But just as he turned to find a comfortable spot to sleep in, he could hear a small, soft cough.

Wait he was alone right? With (Y/n)?

He shot up out his chair as his eyes wandered towards his fiancé. She was trying to breathe on her own over the tube. But the second he came closer to the bed, he could see her eyelids lift.

He couldn’t do anything but watch her, her eyes kept on opening and closing. With every time they did that, the gap between the lids became bigger and bigger. Her head rolled to the side. Evan could feel her eyes burn into his skin as she finally found him.

A wide smile spread across his face, this was where he had waited for these past days. He placed his hand onto the headboard from the hospital bed she was in and clicked on the emergency button. “Hey” he panted. He didn’t know what to say. He had waited so long, and he had so much time to think of something. But here he was, speechless.

She gasped. When she realized she couldn’t speak, her right hand wandered towards her mouth. “No, no, no” he said as he grabbed her hand and he could see the panic building in her eyes. “It’s okay, just don’t try to talk.” he says as he keeps her hand in his, placing it on his chest as he loosened his grip on her hand.

Slowly, her hand wandered from his chest towards his cheek. Her fingers tracing over his skin as he could see her eyes softening when tears filled her eyes. She remembered him.

He leaned into her touch, placing a kiss on the inside of her wrist. “It’s okay.. everything will fall into its place” he sighed as he grabbed her hand once more, and kissed the top of it. “I’m here” he whispered.

#911 #911 fox #911 abc #911 imagine #buck imagine #buck x reader #evan buckley imagine #evan buckley x reader #evanbuckley #imagine

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paimonial-rage · 4 months

Text

unraveled - alhaitham

synopsis: after hearing a rather interesting rumor about your boss, how could you give up the chance to test its validity?

ship: alhaitham x reader

notes: 4.8k, prompt given by @milkstore more than a year ago lol

You heard something extremely interesting the other day while walking around the Akademiya. Now let it be said you were never one for gossip. Not that you viewed yourself as above gossip or anything; it just rarely had anything to do with you. This recent tidbit that drifted into your listening ears, though, it had you stopping cold in the middle of the morning Akademiya rush. It was shocking. It was discombobulating. It was absolutely world-shaking! Alhaitham, your boss…

… was apparently interested in someone.

You were used to hearing many rumors about Alhaitham—how he was planning to change Akademiya hours to a strict 9-5 schedule, how he destroyed the self-esteem of toddlers for fun, how he was secretly raised by Inazuman Rifthound Wolves with the blood of the abyss flowing through his veins—but those were easy to ignore. As his secretary, you were privy to his plans and personal information. You knew what was true and false (not including toddler thing—that was up in the air). However, Alhaitham interested in someone? Now that was interesting.

Your first reaction was to dismiss the rumor. Your boss followed a strict schedule that didn’t leave much room for other activities. That wasn’t even mentioning the sheer number of people that filed complaints regarding his tongue. Sad to say, he didn’t get along with most people.

And, while you’ve never been in a relationship with someone before, you’ve seen how others acted. They became sweet to their lover, engaged in much physical contact, noticed them even in most crowded of rooms, and spoiled them rotten. Could you imagine Alhaitham doing such things? You most absolutely positively could not.

But when you thought about it more, it was often said that love changed people. Even the grouchiest of grumps could turn into the softest of softies, right? It was a possibility. Added to that, he made it a point to leave when his time for the day was up. He had a decent amount of time after work to woo and court to his heart’s content. Yes, as you contemplated it all, you came to a set conclusion.

Your curiosity was piqued.

So, let it be made known now that you knew it was wrong to do so. You knew that if you got caught, you’d get sent straight to the scary General Mahamatra. But you had a duty and it was this duty you would uphold. You were an alumnus of the Akademiya and you would follow in the footsteps of your predecessors. Desperate times called for desperate measures, as they said, and desperate measures called for engaging in a long-supported research method.

Stalking Observation.

It was a brilliant plan, perhaps one of your smartest. If the Acting Grand Sage was interested in someone as rumors implied, observation would be the best method to discover the truth. To ensure your plans would go off without a hitch, you slammed through your work for the day. You even skipped out on Shawarma Wrap special hour at Lambad’s Tavern. Sure, your stomach may had been causing a ruckus, but such sacrifices were necessary. Today you would find the truth!

You were ready the moment 5pm hit. Your work was done, you were in civilian clothes and clocked out for the day. He didn’t even notice you weren’t seated at your desk when he walked by toward the exit! Judging from how everything was going so far, it seemed that your mission would be far easier than you thought!

And it was! In fact, it was rather boring! His first visit was to the House of Daena. You hoped he would be there to meet someone, but he instead made a beeline for the new book section. After glancing over a few here and there, he picked out a few, checked them out with the librarian, then left. They weren’t interesting books either. As you peeked out from under a desk, you could catch a glimpse of the cover of one of the books about Inazuma. It was written by “Hat Guy.”

Hm.

Anyway, your heart pounded in excitement when he began heading in the direction of the Grand Bazaar next. You heard he recently became acquainted with a dancer from the Zubayr Theater. Perhaps the secret lover was her? But he disappointed you once more. He spent a total amount of five minutes glancing over stalls, looking at some ugly pieces of furniture, before quickly departing once a crowd of people began filing in for a show.

As you followed him to your next destination, your initial reaction to this whole debacle started to become more and more plausible. It seemed all that was on his mind was errands, nothing more and nothing less. If anything was strange, though, it was how you didn’t seem to be disappointed by the turn of events.

Though it was clear Alhaitham didn’t get along with most people, you personally liked him quite a lot. When you first came to the Akademiya from Mondstadt, you had a difficult time. You weren’t sure why at the time, but you tended to annoy people. No matter how friendly you tried to be, they sneered even more. It wasn’t until an explosive confrontation that you learned why. They saw you as disruptive and nosy. You lacked any pride. You were too idealistic.

You weren’t like them.

You spent much of your time to yourself after that. You didn’t know how to act. You didn’t want to do anything wrong. Despite its warmer climate, Sumeru somehow felt colder than the winters of your homeland.

You first met Alhaitham on a joint project. As usual, you kept to yourself through much of it. Being the only member of your darshan there, you knew you should have brought up your points of concern, but fear held you back. And sure enough, the project ended up heading in a direction that would inevitably hit the roadblock you predicted. You would’ve kept quiet had Alhaitham not spoken up.

“Are you planning on contributing anything worthwhile to this project?”

His words came so out of the blue you could only splutter in response, “Excuse me?”

“I recommended you for this project because I thought your research papers showed complex reasoning and a thorough work ethic. However, it seems I was mistaken. Not only have you not offered anything useful, but you insist on keeping quiet despite your knowledge of possible issues. So I ask you again. Are you or are you not going to contribute anything worthwhile?”

There were so many things you could’ve said, so many things you should’ve felt. It wasn’t like you weren’t doing anything! You fulfilled your set duties for the project. But despite your work, you were being labeled by him as essentially useless. The only logical response was to feel upset, even anger. But instead, a hesitant warmth filled your chest instead.

“Wait. You recommended me?”

Though his expression didn’t change, somehow you could see he was judging the strength of your intellect.

“Your studies relate to this project directly. Why wouldn’t I?”

You floundered, gesturing wildly for a few moments before finally getting out, “But nobody likes me!”

He simply stared at you deadpan, communicating through body language alone, “That is my problem how?”

“Are you sure you want me to speak up? You won’t get upset?”

He sighed.

“You were brought onto this project for your expertise. If anything, I would be upset if you did anything but that."

His words were astounding. They were game-changing. They were earth-shattering! In his eyes, you were not an outsider from Mondstadt. You were a scholar, and it would only be your merits upon which you would be judged.

You knew he didn’t exactly like it, but you found yourself sticking around him even after the project was successfully completed. With everything you dealt with at the Akademiya, Alhaitham was like a breath of fresh air. Sure, he did tend to point out the fallacies in your logic and personal flaws that would get in the way of achieving your goals, but that really was it. It wasn’t like he was ever wrong either, so you didn’t mind. At least you weren’t getting criticized merely for existing.

As for how he felt about you, you really weren’t sure. He wasn’t exactly the most expressive person in the world, nor the most feelsy either. Really, he could probably be replaced by a Rishboland Leopard and you doubted there would be much difference.

Still, if there was anything you did know, it was that he never pushed you away without reason. Even when his nose was buried in a book during his free time, he had no qualms letting you ramble to your heart’s delight. And when you finished, he would respond with his own thoughts, always surprising you with the fact that he was listening all along.

There also was the fact he requested you personally as a secretary when he was forced into the role of Acting Grand Sage. Sure, working at the Akademiya after graduation in administration made it easier for you both to keep in touch, but you didn’t think he still kept tabs on your work ethic. So maybe, just maybe, the feelings he felt toward you were higher than simple toleration. And you were content with that.

So lost you were in your musings that you almost didn’t catch him turn onto Treasures Street. You nearly bumped into a few people while correcting your course. But he didn’t head in the direction of his home like you assumed, however. Instead, it seemed he was making his way to Menakeri's Treasure Shop. Which was rather strange. That shop had been out of stock for the past year. Unless he was planning on reserving something with Khalid?

Upon peeking inside, it seemed he was examining quills and fountain pens. You nearly gasped audibly. Was he perhaps finally listening to your advice and purchasing himself new writing utensils? You didn’t know how many times you nagged him about those terrible ParchmentMate quills that anyone could buy in bulk. They didn’t give a consistent line, were prone to getting clogged, and were all around cheap garbage! It was about time he got himself something fitting of his position.

But… Wait, was he…? It was the moment he hummed in thought and picked up a particular brand that you found yourself called to action.

“Just because Zilot H2 fountain pens are popular doesn’t mean they’re actually good!” You exclaimed, rushing over and plucking the abomination from his fingers. “Even when you’re right-handed, they still tend to smear like crazy! Also, the quality is not consistent throughout the pens, so you can get some that clog constantly!!”

You were quick to plop the pen right back where it belonged on the display. Such a monstrosity would have no place in your boss’ office. No way. It was a good thing Alhaitham was essentially a lazy person who despised putting up with inconveniences because arguing with him was the last thing you wanted to do today. And thankfully, he did not disappoint!

“I see, then which pen would you recommend?” He asked with his fingers against his chin in thought.

Oooh~ At the sound of that beautiful question, your heart quickened within your chest as a rosy flush found its way to the apples of your cheeks. He’d always wave you away whenever you brought up this subject before (probably because he knew very well you could ramble about the glory of stationery for a good hour), so what changed his mind? Well, who cared what did! You weren’t about to squander this chance he so graciously gave you!

“Well, there are many great fountain pens and quills. Monstadt is Teyvat’s biggest producer of high-quality pens, though Inazuma and Liyue have some notable brands too. I’d recommend…” You hummed as you scanned the display before plucking two that caught your eye. “A KWSBY Eco or a KAMY Safari.”

“And the difference between the two?” He asked as he stepped close to you.

Though the fact that you could feel the warmth he radiated against your arm and his gaze upon your face was distracting, the excitement within your chest overpowered any presence he had.

“Well, while they both write very well, the Eco holds more ink and, in my opinion, requires less maintenance. It’s more eco-friendly as well because it doesn’t take cartridges. But I’d say the Safari feels better in the hand and requires less pressure, so it’s less straining to write for long periods of time.”

“Then which one would you recommend?”

You tilted your head to the side. That was a good question.

“Well, personally, I would recommend the Eco. While you do write a lot, I think the hassle of replacing cartridges and going out to buy new ones is something you’d find annoying after a while. However, both are rather cheap, so it wouldn’t be much out of your pocket to purchase both to see which one you like more. Then you could use the other as a backup pen, or maybe one to keep at home.”

He hummed.

“I see. And why were you following me this whole evening?”

Well, that was the easiest question he asked by far!

“Because I heard rumors about you and I wanted to see if they were true!” You exclaimed with a wide smile on your face.

Wait, that question wasn’t about pens at all… In fact, that was… You paused and realized something for the first time. Alhaitham was looking at you. Like… he knew and was cognizant of the fact that you were standing in front of him. Which meant…

“You used those pens to lure me out, didn’t you!?” You cried out in betrayal.

He shrugged.

“It’s not my fault you’re easily baited with stationery.”

You groaned in frustration. He wasn’t wrong about that. Anyone that knew you knew quite well how much you enjoyed talking. Blame it on your Mondstadt blood, but you were too talkative for your own good. Often times you’d surprise people by making conversation in long lines or when their pretty outfits caught your eye. More than that, you loved helping people and giving advice, even when you weren’t exactly needed. Really, it was a smart move on Alhaitham’s part.

“So, what is it this time?” He asked with a cross of his arms and a raised brow. “It’s not the rifthound wolves rumor again, is it?”

You shook your head.

“Of course not. You know you were there when I checked that one,” You exclaimed with a roll of your eyes. “This rumor is way better than that one. They say that you’re courting someone.”

He sighed.

“And you believed that?”

You shook your head once more.

“Well, no. But rumors like that don’t come out of the blue. So I thought there had to be some truth to them. Maybe you’re interested in someone.”

“Oh? And it bothered you enough to follow me after hours?”

You laughed.

“Well yeah. Who wouldn’t want to see the sarcastic and straight-laced Alhaitham getting starry-eyed over a special someone?” You replied with a shrug.

His eyes shut, shaking his head in exasperation.

“And how exactly would my getting ‘starry-eyed’ look?”

“Well obviously–”

Your stomach grumbled. Loudly. You winced. Apparently not eating lunch today was coming back with a vengeance. It seemed that your companion noticed the sound as well as his brow raised while glancing down at you.

“Did you eat yet?”

You coughed.

“No.”

He nodded in acknowledgment.

“Then you can tell me over dinner.”

Your heart jumped as a smile leapt to your lips.

“Are you paying for dinner too?” You asked, your eyes glittering.

His eyes narrowed as he placed a hand on his hip.

“If I’m not mistaken, the last time, I was the one that paid.”

You coughed once more.

“Th-That may be true,” you began with a stutter, “But… I’m not the one with the salary of a grand sage. Surely it wouldn’t be too much out of your wallet to pay for your overworked assistant?”

He stared at you, his eyes half-lidded in exasperation shutting them in unwilling acceptance.

“Fine.”

With a joyous fist pump, you rushed to follow him at his side as he began to make his way in the direction of the tavern.

“This is why you’re my favorite boss, Alhaitham!” You exclaimed with a grin causing him to snort.

“If I recall, just yesterday you were calling me the worst for excusing you when you sneezed.”

“That’s because right after, you gave me tips on how to sneeze quieter,” you shot back. “I can’t help the way I sneeze, you know. I was—excuse me—born that way. Besides, nobody in Mondstadt ever–”

Your brow furrowed as yet another person bumped into you. It seemed the true rush hour of Sumeru finally hit as the roads were covered with people. You wanted to roll your eyes. Of course, nobody was walking into Alhaitham. He seemed to have a two-foot forcefield around him. Not that you were surprised. Though you liked him, even you could admit that the vibes he exuded were not the most welcoming.

But as you kept musing to yourself about Alhaitham and his unkind vibes, the more you found yourself getting pushed and shoved away from him. Thankfully, you knew the direction he was heading, so it wouldn’t be too hard to simply meet him there–

“They’re not going to move unless you make them.”

Your eyes widened as you felt a hand grasp yours. With a gentle tug, you found yourself pulled from the crowd. There Alhaitham stood with a brow up, daring you to argue. You pouted.

“You could’ve done that earlier.”

He shrugged.

“I was waiting to see if you’d do it yourself.”

“Well thanks, I guess,” you replied, rolling your eyes. Still, you squeezed his hand gently because you were, though a bit exasperated, also grateful.

With him at the forefront to part the crowd, he led you by hand to Lambad’s Tavern. Despite being a busy night, it didn’t take too long for you both to be seated. After being guided to a square table, he took his normal place diagonally to your side instead of across from you. In the back of your mind, you assumed it was so that you were easier to hear, but there wasn’t any point to putting much thought into it than that. With your orders put in and a round of drinks on the table, you took a hearty swig from your glass before leaning back.

“So here’s what I envision for an Alhaitham in love,” you began, eager to continue your conversation from before. “I…

Hm…

“I um…”

That was a good question. How would a starry-eyed Alhaitham look?

“Well, you see…”

Though you found yourself ready to wax poetic about a normal person in love, when you really thought about it, Alhaitham wasn’t the most normal person around. He didn’t laugh much, let alone smile. He was more mean than he was nice. That wasn’t even mentioning his sheer lack of friends.

“Can’t think of anything?”

“No, that’s not it. I’m just realizing you wouldn’t act much different,” you began. “I think you would still treat them the same, but you’d always have an eye out for them. You may talk about them from time to time, maybe pay for their meals as well. I can see you wanting to be nearer to them than most people. You’d prefer their company more. Things like that.”

His head cocked to the side in thought.

“That doesn’t sound like I’d be very much in love with them at all.”

You shrugged.

“You don’t need to look in love to be in love, you know. It’s just that you wouldn’t be as obvious about it as most.”

It was then his turn to shrug.

“Really? I think most would say that I’m not capable of love.”

You snorted.

“Oh, come on,” you began with a humored grin. “We both know that’s not true. You’re a human just like anyone else. You’re one of the kindest people I know.”

“I know many people that would disagree with that.”

“And I would disagree with them. You don’t judge people. You see them for who they are. You always tell the truth, even if it may hurt. You don’t like it when people are troubled, so you give them words to help them change. Though you try to avoid company, you don’t hesitate to help the people you care about. You don’t abandon people in their time of need. You’re kind, Alhaitham.”

He took a sip of his drink.

“You make it seem like I’m doing this out of the goodness of my heart. I merely don’t like being troubled by other people’s problems,” he replied with a shake of his head.

“Maybe,” you admitted with a shrug before giving him a knowing look. “But if you really hated it all that much, I think you would’ve gotten rid of some people in your life a long time ago.”

He turned away.

“I think you’re looking far too into it.”

“And I think you just feel exposed for being a softie,” you shot back with a laugh.

He didn’t speak after that, not that he needed to. You knew he knew there was no point in trying to argue. This was something you brought up multiple times in the past, much to his dismay. As much as he tried to ignore it, you saw him for how he really was. Which was why…

You sighed.

“Do you really like someone though? Are the rumors true?” You asked nervously.

“Was it that important to you that you had to follow me to find out if it was?” He questioned.

You shrugged.

“Well, I mean I did want to see you get all starry-eyed, but… the thought of you having someone so important to you in your life and me not noticing a single thing bothered me. I mean you’re the person I spend the most time with. Can I even be called your friend if I didn’t notice something so big?” You asked, a bit dejected.

“Is that the only reason?”

When you frowned in confusion, he continued.

“You say it’s because you’re my friend. Are you sure it’s not for any reason more than that?”

As he spoke, his gaze did not waver from you. It was as if his eyes were piercing you through. It seemed as if he was searching for something, but what? Was there truly a reason more than that? You weren’t so sure.

Before you could respond, your plates were set before you, prompting your stomach to let out another long and loud grumble. You flushed. Of course, your stomach had to interrupt such a serious moment.

He sighed.

“Let’s eat.”

Really, you truly did mean to play around with his words in your head as you ate, but the moment the food touched your tongue, any and all thoughts were out the window. Lambad’s Shawarma Wraps were always top-notch. The flatbread was soft and warm and the sauce was tangy and fresh. Despite living here for the past few years, you still weren’t quite used to eating with your hands, but such problems never detracted from the taste.

When you were almost done, you turned your gaze to your companion with stars in your eyes.

“Do you want to share an Ajilenakh Cake with me?”

Though you knew he wasn’t one for sweet food, you didn’t know anyone who could resist the sweet nuttiness of Ajilenakh Cakes. They were warm and soft and the jam complimented the flavors wonderfully.

“Sure,” he agreed with a shrug.

And with an excited grin, you put in the order and went back to your food. In the back of your mind, you remembered the time Alhaitham mentioned he preferred meals with you. When you asked if it was because he enjoyed your company, he said that you were always so focused on eating that you barely had any time to speak. You hated how you always proved him true because once the dessert was placed before you, again any thoughts you had of continuing the conversation quickly came and left.

As you ate you mused it probably would be a good idea to go on a diet after this. Alhaitham barely had a fourth of the Ajilenakh Cakes, not that you were surprised. He wasn’t exactly one for sweets. But that meant you ate the rest, and with all the Shawarma Wraps you’ve been eating as well… it did not bode well for your waistline.

“I don’t think it means anything. Me being bothered, I mean,” you finally announced as you wiped your lips clean. “I think any normal person would want to know what’s going on with one of their friends, you know? Besides, you say that me being bothered could mean something more. What more could it mean?”

He shrugged.

“It could mean that you’re interested in me and worried that I may have found someone else.”

You leaned back as you crossed your arms in thought. Well, when he put it like that, it certainly was a possibility. Perhaps you were afraid of being replaced by someone else. You enjoyed being at his side, after all. But that being said, being interested in him? It didn’t seem very likely.

“No, I don’t think so,” you replied. “I’ve never really thought of you in that way before.”

He sighed.

“Then that’s a shame.” When you asked why, he continued, “Because the rumors are true. The person I’m interested in, the person everyone is gossiping about, is you.”

“And that’s what happened,” you finished as you sipped your wine. “Can you believe it? The source of the rumors, the one everyone was talking about, was me!”

“W-Wait. He literally told you that? He just went out with it!?” Kaveh exclaimed in disbelief.

As Kaveh sat across from you, you wanted to laugh at the sheer look of confusion upon his face. He was utterly dumbfounded. Not that you could blame him. It was a rather crazy story, after all.

You nodded.

“Yep! I mean looking back, all of the signs were there. We spend a lot of time together for work, he likes sitting next to me at restaurants, sometimes he pays for me… He even holds my hand from time to time when the roads are packed! I don’t know how it took him explaining it to me to finally realize the truth!”

And really, it was embarrassing on your part. Growing up, you’d love to while away the hours in the Knights of Favonius’ library reading mystery novels. Nothing was more exhilarating than getting the culprit correct. So really, this was something you should have figured out from the very start. But nevertheless, being given the answer to this mystery didn’t make the outcome any less exciting. It made you wonder if you should investigate more Akademiya rumors in your free time. It certainly would be fun.

However, a quick glance at Kaveh showed he wasn’t exactly sharing your thoughts. Instead, his face still held that same dumbfounded look from before, if not a bit more intense.

“So what did you do? What did you say? Alhaitham didn’t seem any different when he came home! Oh Gods, and to think I scolded him that evening for leaving his books out! I really must’ve sounded like a jerk!!”

You frowned in thought. Was there something lost in the communication here? You didn’t see anything worth panicking over.

“Well, after he told me that, I tried to argue with him, actually. Honestly, can you imagine me being the answer? That’s way too easy. But then he explained everything to me and eventually it made sense. After that, he paid for dinner and then we went home.”

His jaw dropped this time.

“That’s it!? You went home?? After all that???”

You tilted your head to the right.

“What do you mean? The mystery was solved. What more did we need to do?”

He dropped his head into his hands and pulled at his hair before them on the table.

“What do you mean!? Alhaitham confessed his feelings to you. And you just nodded and went home!? I can’t believe you’re making me feel bad for him! You really don’t think anything about it?”

Your head tilted this time to the left. Kaveh groaned.

“He likes you. Don’t you feel anything about that?”

Feel anything about him liking you? Him… liking you. He… liked you.

Oh.

First your eyes widened, then your hands dropped to your lap, and then, with the fury of a thousand suns, you felt your face burn up.

“I’m happy… I think?”

#genshin impact #genshin x reader #alhaitham #alhaitham x reader #my writing #i apologize ahead of time on behalf of reader #they are uhh.... an idiot #also because i started on this like a year ago it doesnt have the same writing style i've been using as of late #but then again this is meant to be more romcomish so hopefully that's okay #also let me take the chance here to say that PILOT G-2 PENS SUCK #WHY DO PEOPLE BUY THEM ALL THE TIME? THEY TAKE SO LONG TO DRY #why not go with pentel energel? theyre amazing #also if you're wondering about that ending i stole it from gsnk #miyako said that when ryuunosuke(?) told her his feelings

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lauraneedstochill · 2 years

Text

Can’t help falling in love

summary: 5 times Aemond was in love with you + 1 time he finally confessed his feelings

warnings: friends to lovers (at the age of 9, 10, 15, 17, 19), a pinch of angst (Aemond healing after losing his eye), but overall so fluffy and sweet you may want to skip dessert

words: ~ 5500 (I got reeeally carried away with that love confession)

Aemond is weeks away from his tenth birthday and he feels as miserable as ever. That feeling is an iron weight upon his heart, his mood irritated and face features grim more often than not. He is still without a dragon — and it’s the only thing he can think of, day and night, steadfast and stubborn in his obsession that most of his family finds to be blown out of proportion. It might have stang him less if only it wasn’t for the constant teasing and pitiful jokes that added to his distress and the never-ending heartache. He learns to keep a straight face and act as if he doesn’t really care, but deep down he does, way more than he’ll ever admit.

His training sessions are a way to channel his anger, and he lashes out at a straw man, again and again, clinging to the thought that, at least in these moments, he is not entirely powerless. He keeps his focus on the target, attentive to Ser Criston’s advice — “Soften your knees”, “Keep your feet light, your hands heavy”, and for a couple of hours he forgets about his misery.

It’s when the training comes to an end, the dreaded realization sinks in again, and Aemond is lost in his thoughts, mindlessly twirling the wooden sword in one hand, his gaze wandering around the yard.

And then his eyes fall on a bright green spot — and all of a sudden, he sees you. A girl of his age, the hem of your green dress a bit dusty, boots covered in dirt, a few strands of hair fallen loose, a coy smile on your face. You meet his gaze and wave at him excitedly.

Aemond looks dumbfounded. A girl in the training yard. Waving at him. He blinks once, twice — and in the next moment, you’re standing merely a few steps away, glancing curiously at his sword.

“It looks so hefty! Is it heavy? What is it made of?” a string of questions, your voice sweet and joyful.

There’s a brief pause and maybe you mistake his stiffness for arrogance as you are quick to add:

“Oh, my manners!” gasping but showing no actual regret. “Forgive me,” you curtsy, your smile growing even wider. A timid smile appears on his face in return and he finally comes to his senses.

“It’s made out of red oak. It’s not very heavy, you get used to it,” Aemond raises the sword, letting you take a closer look. Within another blink of an eye he finds himself talking to you, your questions endless and maybe a bit naive but he genuinely enjoys it.

That’s until you both hear a loud cry.

“Lady Y/N!” your nanny comes running in, out of breath and scowling. “I told you not to wander around...,” she chokes on her words at the sight of the young prince. She curtsies, too, but it isn’t nearly as cute as when you do it.

She sprints decisively in your direction. “It wasn’t very polite of you to interrupt the prince’s training, you little menace!”

And then Aemond, to his own surprise, moves to stand in her way.

“She didn’t interrupt a thing,” he disagrees, lips thinned into a tight line.

The nanny stops and looks at Aemond dubiously, switching her gaze from him to you.

Ser Criston is the one to resolve the conflict — he comes from behind, with a polite smile plastered on his face.

“Young lady can watch from the balcony. The guests are very much welcomed,” he calls for the maid to escort you and your nanny up there. While you’re away, he looks at Aemond with a grin:

“Already wooing the ladies, my prince? Let’s hope you are as good with your sword as she thinks you are.”

He does make Aemond work for it but the prince fights back, winning one bout after the other. He keeps glancing at you and you wave at him every single time.

Aemond is too young to know what love is, too shy and guarded to even entertain the thought of it. But when you look at him, with your childish grin and your eyes bright with mirth, he doesn’t feel lonely anymore. 2.

It’s been two weeks since Aemond lost his eye and he hasn’t left the bed. The pain is still blinding, burning and constantly making his only eye water. But what hurts even more is the humiliating disability. The triumph of claiming Vhagar died down, and now the prince was faced with the harsh reality he needed to adjust to and the process wasn’t an easy one. The fever has only recently gone down, leaving his body weak and freezing from the lack of movement, but he couldn’t bear the thought of stepping out of the room.

His mother wouldn’t leave his side and even Aegon often came to visit, clearly blaming himself for not being there for his little brother. Yet their presence barely brought Aemond any comfort and most of the time he would pretend to be asleep to avoid any conversations. He knew they only meant well and he was being cruel but he couldn’t help it as his pride was shattered and he gave in to sadness.

That is until one night he wakes up to a weird sound. He’s only half-awake when he hears a vigorous tapping that clearly comes from the outside. Except it's not from the other side of the door — but rather outside his window.

He’s startled by this guess and suspiciously walks closer. It takes him a few seconds to focus his gaze and discern a human’s silhouette — and then another few to realize that it’s you standing on the window sill. He feels like his heart will jump out of his chest as he rushes to open the window.

You climb through and clumsily drop to the floor. But before he can get worried, you are on your feet again, eyeing him with concern.

“Oh, Aemond,” your gaze and voice are both so soft, it makes his lower lip quiver. You carefully approach him and put your hand on his shoulder, gently sliding it on his back in a soothing motion and then cuddling him. He welcomes your company with a sigh of relief. You smell of oranges and you give the best hugs.

“They told me no one was allowed into your chambers,“ your hushed whisper burns his ear. “The silliest thing I’ve ever heard!” you pull away from him, still lightly panting, cheeks flushed and hair messy. “I knew I had to find a way to come see you.”

You examine his face, frowning at the scar that’s still healing.

“Does it hurt?”

He only nods, afraid that if he opens his mouth, he won’t be able to hold back a sob. You move closer, resuming the gentle motion of rubbing his back.

Ever since that day in the training yard, you kept in touch, regularly sending each other letters, chatting about everything and nothing, sharing your little secrets and observations. You recently mentioned that your parents allowed you to come see him again, but with the tragic change of events, Aemond completely forgot about the preplanned visit.

“I will take his eye,” you say out of the blue, caressing the unharmed side of his face, your voice laced with anger. Aemond thinks he might’ve heard it wrong.

“...Whose eye?”

“Luke’s! I shall take his eye, as payment for yours,” you tell him with zero hesitation. For a girl of your age, you’re way too eager to plan such a thing, yet he somehow has no doubts that you can actually do it.

Aemond shakes his head.

“You shouldn’t,” his voice quiet but firm. “The King was very adamant about that, no payment is needed.”

“Well, maybe he is too old to think straight,” you retort. “You are his son and you lost an eye! Justice must prevail,” you tilt your head at him, clearly thinking that you’re in the right.

And he knows that you are but he also knows no justice will be served. It’s the last straw for Aemond — he looks away in shame as tears, hot and angry, start falling down his cheek. You waste no time hugging him again, letting him cry on your shoulder, and the two of you stay like that for what feels like an hour.

And then, in the comfortable silence of your embrace, he hears you asking, very seriously:

“Are you sure I can’t take his eye?”

At that moment, he can’t stop himself from letting out a laugh — a weak one and barely audible, but still, he laughs, for the first time in two weeks, and you are the sole reason for it.

Your cheek is pressed to his, your fingers running through his hair, and Aemond realizes he can’t lose you.

He begrudgingly persuades you that taking Luke’s eye isn’t worth the trouble.

By the age of fifteen Aemond becomes quite accustomed to the eyepatch and it gives him a boost of confidence. Losing an eye only made him train harder and his persistence pays off when he’s the one to win, time after time, no matter who his opponent is. His hair grows longer, now silky smooth and with no sign of his boyish curled ends, his face features sharpen. He learns to walk with his head high and hands clasped behind his back, mastering the intimidating look that makes most people want to stay away from the one-eyed prince.

His tricks could’ve never worked on you, though.

You come to visit him a few times a year, and he eagerly awaits your arrival. All the days in between, you keep talking through letters, them getting longer as you get closer. He keeps those letters locked in a hidden compartment of his table. And sometimes, for no specific reason — or maybe for the reason he can’t yet formulate — he is drawn to reach for them, which always ends with him rereading the letters for hours. Some of them he knows by heart and yet it never stops him from having the pleasure of seeing your handwritten stories and little jokes that were only meant for him.

Today is no exception and Aemond is so enthralled by reading, he almost misses the knock on the door. The sound brings him to reality but he is in no hurry to react. The knocking comes again, and the prince groans, annoyed at the maid’s persistence. He carefully puts the letters back and goes to the door, armed with his cold gaze.

And then he opens it — and it’s you standing in front of him.

Aemond barely has time to register what’s going on when you launch yourself at him, your arms immediately enveloping him in a tight hug, your laugh ringing in the air. He hugs you back and, while you can’t see it, he’s grinning from ear to ear.

“I swear you’re getting taller every time we meet!” you look up at him, beaming, and he lets you in. “I soon will need a ladder just to hug you properly.”

“I’ll be sure to let my body know of your disapproval,” he sneers and you stick out your tongue.

“While you are at it, shall you also work on your friendly face? I overheard the maids being frightened to go into your chambers,” you try giving him a scolding look but end up giggling at his reddened cheeks.

“I am friendly enough!”

“Yes, nobody glowers quite like you,” you snicker and flop right on the floor, the move always making him smile. Aemond tried persuading you to sit on any other surface that’s actually meant for sitting but you insisted that his fluffy rug works just as well, so he eventually gave up, deciding to join you. He never complained since.

Before he knows it, he’s immersed in the conversation while you enthusiastically share the recent news and everything that’s happened to you on the road. Only about half an hour in, he notes a small bag you’re clasping in your hands.

“You come bearing gifts?”

“Oh, I almost forgot I had it,” you laugh, abashed. “I decided I should bring you something to replace this crumpled-looking thing”.

It takes Aemond a minute to realize that you’re talking about his eyepatch. But he has no time to protest as you silence him with a gesture of your hand.

“I took it upon myself to count for how long you’ve been wearing this one already,” your tone gets serious. “I must say, that number is disturbing.”

There’s a moment of silence and then he clears his throat, his voice unsure. “Very kind of you to think of that, I shall replace it later on.”

He reaches his hand to take the bag but you quickly cover it with yours, fingers brushing over his, and he freezes.

“Are you still not convinced that I can take a look at it?” you try to make eye contact but he averts your gaze.

“Aemond, I was with you and I think I’ve seen enough back then — none of it scared me.”

“It is not a sight for the faint of heart,” the prince mumbles, his bravado faltering.

“Well, I don’t remember fainting the first time. You should have more faith in me,” you try to reason, holding his hand.

Aemond ponders for another minute — or maybe ten, he isn’t sure, and you patiently wait, not wanting to press him any further. Then he finally makes a decision and, after taking a long, sad sigh, he removes the eyepatch and looks at you, the sight of him is the very definition of insecurity.

You stay silent for about five seconds before concluding:

“Oh, it healed so nicely!” with no hint of uncertainty in your voice. Your smile reassures him a little as you peer at the sapphire, looking very pleased.

“The gem compliments your eye very well,” you give him your verdict, taking the new eyepatch out.

“We might have a different understanding of what a compliment is.”

“This is me trying to say that I really like the way it looks,” you chide him lightly. “And I consider myself to be quite understanding, thank you very much. Will you stop pouting and let me put it on?”

At this point he surrenders, giving you permission, and you move closer, giggling with excitement. You gently fix his hair, making sure it’s all combed back, and then lean to put the eyepatch on. You have a habit of biting your lower lip when you’re too concentrated on something, and Aemond can’t help but gaze at that part of your face while your teeth graze over the pillowy surface.

He’s never let anyone this close — and not just in the sense of physical proximity. The moment is very intimate, and the softness of your movements tugs at his heart. He is suddenly very aware of the very short distance separating you two, and he holds his breath. You are oblivious to his stare and soon lean back, satisfied with the result and glancing at him with something akin to fondness.

He wishes he could paint a picture of you right at this moment, so tender and caring and sitting by his side.

He also wishes he could kiss you — and that thought scares him to death. And yet, once it appears, it never goes away.

Aemond is seventeen and his life has been pure torture since you stopped visiting him. He hasn’t seen you in over half a year (seven months and eleven days, not that anyone is counting). It’s not your fault as your father has unexpectedly fallen ill and you couldn’t leave his side. The prince exhausted the maester with questions, asking for advice to write back to you, worried sick that your separation would be stretched for way longer than he could handle.

Luckily, the Gods took pity on him, and he was glad to learn that your father got better, and you will come to King’s Landing soon. Your visit coincided with Aegon’s birthday, but Aemond didn’t care about the feast, his mind only occupied with the thought of seeing you. He was both nervous and excited to the point of not even hiding it, which led to Aegon teasing him relentlessly. Helaena, on the other hand, wholeheartedly supported Aemond’s feelings for you.

“She will be delighted to see you, too, I am sure of it,” his sister tells him the day before the event.

“But the reason for it might be of a different nature,” Aemond remarks, and Helaena gives him a compassionate look.

“You will never know her true feelings unless you ask,” she encourages. “The two of you are so close, I consider her part of the family.”

Aemond knows that he’s of age and his mother hinted that, despite him showing no interest in courting, some ladies still found him attractive. He dismisses the idea but then finds himself thinking of it from time to time. When the realization forms in his head, it’s nerve-wracking but oh so compelling — he thinks he would’ve really wanted to marry you. He just doesn’t know how to tell you about it.

The day of your arrival comes, and Aemond wakes up at dawn in anticipation, determined to confess his feelings. He tries to come up with a speech, but it feels wrong and sounds weird, and he decides it will be better to improvise. He all but runs to the courtyard to be the first one to greet you. However, when you step out of the carriage, smoothing your dress, and your eyes meet, Aemond stops dead in his tracks and the world around him stands still.

His confidence might’ve blossomed — but not nearly as much as your beauty did. Somehow in those recent months, you’ve matured into a woman that takes his breath away.

It’s not a drastic change, it’s all in the details: the contours of your face are more defined, the cheekbones prominent, your hair knotted up high in a perfect style and even your pace is much slower and gracious. You walk towards one another, both suddenly cautious. But when you are a couple of meters apart, a well-known smile appears on your face and you hold your arms out to him and he finally hugs you again, after all this time. Aemond relaxes, inhaling the familiar scent of fruits that you undoubtedly munched on your way here.

“You look exactly as I remembered you,” you say as you slip from his embrace.

“And you are a sight to behold,” he breathes out, taking you in, and your cheeks heat up at the compliment. You’ve never been shy with him before, so this is also new. He wonders what might’ve caused this change.

As the two of you walk around the castle, it feels a bit awkward at first, and you keep glancing at him with emotion he can’t read. But Aemond is too happy to see you to give it much thought, and within an hour you ease into the conversation, too. By the time the evening comes, the tension disappears, and you are laughing at his sarcastic remarks again, and he savors every second of it.

The feast in honor of Aegon is lush and crowded, but you stay by Aemond’s side, enjoying each other’s company, and he only has eye for you. When the music gets too loud, you sneak out and soon find yourselves in his chambers, just like in the good old days.

Aemond is in the middle of telling you about Aegon’s recent foray to the Flea Bottom, when you say. “It’s just the two of us,” your fingers sink into the fluffy rug. “You don’t have to wear it with me. You know it, right?”

He wears the eyepatch with everyone, only taking it off before going to sleep. Moreover, he actually cherishes it because it’s a gift from you.

Aemond hesitates. “I thought you quite liked it.”

“I only gave it to you because yours started to look like it was pulled off a dead man’s body!” you laugh.

Before he can think of an answer, you lean closer — your shoulder brushing his, your hand touching his face, the same gentle warmth he remembers so well, — and remove the eyepatch yourself. The sight doesn’t bother you in the slightest as you confess:

“I accept you the way you are, Aemond,” and then, a moment away from him opening his mouth and saying the thing that’s been on the tip of his tongue for the duration of the day, you add, “That’s what friends are for — and you are my best friend.”

And just like that, with this word alone, his plan goes out the window.

A friend. Aemond can’t even be upset at the reveal, because, honestly, being your friend feels like a blessing in itself and he wouldn’t trade it for the world. How could he be so selfish and foolish to even think about risking it all, risk losing you?

So he keeps his feelings to himself, locking them away deep in his heart, and doesn't argue with you.

Maybe he should have.

By the age of nineteen Aemond reaches the conclusion that he wants to take the risk. Otherwise, he thinks he might actually die as his heart can not hold all his feelings anymore. In two years' time, there isn’t a single thing about you that he hasn’t come to love, and keeping it a secret becomes harder with each day.

Aemond is ridden with doubts to the point where he can’t hide it any longer and he decides to seek advice — and the prince can’t think of a better person to talk to than his mother. Unbeknownst to him, Alicent was the first one to notice. Years ago, when you were kids, she quickly sensed the effect you had on her son, and it brought her joy as she watched the two of you get closer with time.

So when Aemond bursts into her room, anxiety radiating off of him as he starts jabbering away, his pacing erratic and voice trembling, it takes her about a minute to realize what's going on.

“My dear, I think you must talk to her,” she approaches him, an understanding look on her face.

Aemond cuts his speech short, eyeing her with wonder:

“You don’t seem surprised.”

“Your affection for her is as bright as a fire blazing,” Alicent chuckles. “I believe she is the only one who doesn’t see it.”

“Should I tell her...?” he doesn’t dare say it out loud, not yet.

Alicent briefly takes his hands in hers, squeezing them. “You should tell her the truth.”

Her encouragement gives him a dash of hope, lifting a weight off his chest. Aemond knows in an instant that the letter won’t cut it, and you must have the conversation face-to-face. Fortunately, your next visit is in a month, so his suffering won’t last for much longer.

Aemond almost reaches the door but then sharply turns to his mother again, his cheeks flushed:

“Will you give me your approval?” and this time, he looks straight at her as he wants to see her genuine reaction.

Alicent smiles, quick to reassure him. “Yes, Aemond. Your betrothal would only make me happy.” The prince feels elated, almost euphoric, as he finally goes to meet you and runs the remaining distance from his chambers to the yard. But when he sees you, the smile disappears from his face because he notices that something is wrong.

You look visibly upset, your eyes watering and fingers fumbling with the dress, even though you try to force a smile in return. The hug you give him is weak and you keep looking at your feet.

“What is the matter?” he’s never seen you this sad, but you brush him off.

“It’s just a headache, no need to worry.”

Yet that’s exactly what he does, offering to call for the maester, or to prepare you a warm bath, or bring you some tea...

“A cup of water would be nice, thank you,” he leaves you in the hallway to go and get it himself, the task only takes a couple of minutes. When he returns, you stand with your back to him, your shoulders are shaking — and he hears quiet, muffled sobs. If it wasn’t for the nearby table, he would’ve thrown the cup away, his focus on you alone. As he rushes to envelop you in a hug, you don’t fight it, instead nestling your face against his chest, not hiding your tears anymore.

Aemond gives you some time before asking again.

“This doesn’t look like just a headache. What is the cause of your anguish?” now he’s the one running his fingers up and down your back.

You let out a sound that’s a mix between a groan and a whine.

“My father says I am to be betrothed soon. He says I am of age already and... and he wants me to meet some of my cousins,” you sniffle. “I told him I have no wish to get married but he refuses to listen,” you bite your lip, not wanting to cry again.

Surely, that’s not how Aemond wanted to ask you. But he decides to take his chance.

“Mayhaps there is another way out that could make you feel better.”

“Please don’t tell me Vhagar will burn them down,” you jest but the smile doesn’t reach your eyes. Aemond thinks your idea isn’t that bad — but he has to try his first.

“If he insists you should marry but doesn’t have a particular candidate, maybe you can pick one yourself?”

“I’ve met all my cousins — and half of them are imbeciles, the others are too old to survive a wedding,” you scoff.

“Then pick someone you are not related to,” Aemond suggests.

“Do you have a particular candidate in mind?” when you ask with a tinge of annoyance, you don’t think he will answer. And then you look at him — and see him grinning before he says:

“Me”.

You glare at Aemond with eyes wide and mouth agape, the expression frozen on your face for a good minute.

“Are you laughing at me?” you manage to say.

“I wouldn’t dare,” his nerves are as tight as a wound-up string.

In the blink of a moment, your face lights up. You are looking at him indecisively, searching for words, agitated. But Aemond mistakes your confusion for rejection.

“At the very least you will marry someone you know,” he tries to reason — but it backfires, wiping the joyfulness off your face.

Taken aback, you inquire. “You pity me?” He doesn’t grasp the poor choice of his words yet.

“You pity me and that’s why you want to marry me?” you give him a look of disbelief, your eyes glossy, and he can’t get his head around what just happened.

“Oh, it was so silly of me to think that...,” you choke back a sob, putting your hand over your mouth.

Never in his life he thought he would be the reason for you looking so heartbroken. Aemond covers your hand with his palm — and you let him, as he tries to gather his courage.

“I only meant to say that I —”

And then you recoil, snapping your hand back.

“Aemond, don’t,” you take a step back from him, then another one. “You have said enough. Please, let me be,” you turn away and leave the hall in a hurry before he can utter another word.

... 1.

He finds you at your usual spot, under the blossoming cherry tree. You’ve always said you liked the color of it, little white flowers reminding you of early spring, your favorite time of the year. You don’t know that Aemond insisted on planting that tree specifically for you. Just so he can sit nearby and, as you were basking in the sunlight with your eyes closed, he would get a chance to look at you with all his unconditional love and have those moments engraved in his memory.

Come to think of it, he had so many memories of you — and every single one of them was bliss, and he can recall them so easily like it was yesterday.

And so he does.

“When we first met, you wore a green dress,” his voice startles you, but you don’t turn to face him, sniffling with your arms folded. “It was the color of forest trees. Black lace around the hem of it, the matching hair ribbon that you kept losing,” he keeps his distance, his hands shaking.

“Yes, I remember it pretty well,” you sigh, avoiding his gaze, baffled by his sudden outburst.

“The second time was when you climbed through my window, almost gave me a heart attack,” there’s a hint of a smile in his voice that you catch even without looking. “Blue dress, you tore a huge piece of it and couldn’t care less. You were the first person to make me laugh in two weeks even though it seemed impossible. But not with you.”

He sees your eyebrows furrowing, hands sliding down to rest on your knees.

“Helaena’s name day came next, your dress was bright pink. Luke tried to make fun of it and you threw a cup full of water in his face. To this day, it’s one of my fondest memories.”

You dare to look up at him, perplexed, your eyes wet from crying.

“Three months after was the light-blue dress, then the peach one and the brown one. Then the white one which didn’t survive the horse riding lesson, and Helaena gave you one of hers. Light green, too long for your liking, even though you pretended otherwise to please her,” the corners of your lips tremble, your face softening.

“Then for a year you only wore violet, much to your nanny’s dismay as she thought it made you look ill. And I thought you were the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen, no matter what dress you were in,” he can’t take his eye off you.

Your face expression melts into a stunned one.

“I didn’t realize it back then. Or maybe I didn’t know how to call it. I just knew that your visits only brought me happiness,” he takes a step toward you, uncertain, but you don’t move from your spot.

“When you were fourteen, you picked the autumn colors — orange, dark yellow, deep red. Your started braiding your hair, tried to braid mine,” you can’t hold back a smile. He was fussy when you first voiced the idea but he ended up loving the process so much, he would allow it just to feel your fingers flowing through his hair.

“I think you actually enjoyed it,” you mumble, and Aemond smiles, too.

“I did. I enjoyed every minute that I got to spend with you.”

You stand up then, feeling your pulse quickening.

“The day you brought me the eyepatch, you wore emerald green. I was terrified to show you the scar,” he pauses, catching his breath. “You assuaged my fears with your kindness. But then I was terrified to learn that I wanted to kiss you.”

You think you are dreaming. Is it possible that you fell asleep under the tree? You don’t want to get your hopes too high, but when he looks at you like this, your own fears start melting away.

“Then was the black dress, the grey one, another white one. The golden one you wore to meet Vhagar,” when he saw you that day, he almost forgot how to breathe. You showed no sigh of apprehension as you fearlessly approached the dragon. He was absolutely besotted.

“And then came the agony of not seeing you for over seven months,” he closes his eye for a second, overwhelmed. He almost misses it when you speak:

“Seven months and twenty-five days. Not that I was counting,” his eye snaps open, instantly on you again.

You gravitate toward each other without even noticing. Aemond’s heart skips a beat when you’re at arm’s length, your eyes shining and lips slightly parted. Even in the state you’re in, you look so beautiful, it’s mesmerizing, and the words are stuck in his throat. You are the one to break the silence.

“Aemond, please don't give me false hope,” your heartbeat is too loud, you don’t hear your own voice. He does.

“I do not wish to marry you out of pity,” Aemond takes the last step. “I want you to be my wife because I am in love with you,” he wipes away the remaining tears off your face, his fingers linger, making you shiver. “I’ve been in love with you for quite some time. For a few years, actually,” his voice gets low. “For what feels like an eternity,” Aemond murmurs.

“Why haven’t you told me?” you pout, nervously toying with the collar of his shirt.

“I was afraid you didn’t feel the same. I still am but maybe... Maybe I am wrong?” his gaze is fixed on you, one of his hands following the contour of your waist, your body warming at the touch.

“Tell me that I am wrong,” he whispers, begging.

You look at his lips, the soft curve of them that you’ve dreamt of for so long.

Aemond always thought yours were the most kissable he’s ever seen.

You don’t know who closes the distance first — but his mouth is suddenly on yours and the sensation leaves you disarmed. Kissing him is like being swept with a wave of tenderness, and you’re floating in it, his lips so fervid and supple — truly perfect — your head is spinning. The kiss is not awkward nor modest as you hastily cling to each other, his hands gripping your waist, your chest pressed into his.

Aemond feels like he’s drowning, and he wants more of you — all of you, and then your fingers tug at his locks, eliciting a groan from him, and it is simply a miracle that his heart doesn’t explode. You move in impeccable sync, in the passionate harmony that erupts from years worth of mutual pining. His lungs burn but he resists the urge to break the kiss and stretches it out the best he can until you are breathless, too.

“Never knew that you were so fascinated by my wardrobe choices,” you tease, and his hum turns into a chuckle.

“You know what my favorite memory is?” you ask, your forehead resting against his.

“When we were ten-and-three, and you were teaching me how to hold a sword. I tackled you to the ground and scraped my knee,” you both smile at your then enthusiasm. “And you set everything aside to spend the rest of the day with me even though it was hardly a wound. And I remember thinking,” you hook your finger under his chin, “that there’s nowhere else I would rather be than with you, with this favorite boy of mine.”

The air around you is tense, and you are enchanted by each other.

“Did that help to prove you wrong?”

“I may need some convincing,” his breath fans over your lips.

“You can take your time,” you laugh — and then the sound of it is muffled by his athirst mouth. His favorite memory will be this.

And every other moment with you that’s to come.

author’s note: I’m sorry if this came out messy and rushed. I tried my best to write a shorter fic (this is short for me lmao) and idk how I feel about it. I much rather prefer them longer because I’m a sucker for stories about two people getting to know each other and falling in love BUT I get it that others don’t want to read long ass fics (which kinda breaks my heart but I'm being so very brave about it) anyways, thank you for reading! 💙 the longer version of this fic might have looked like this (yes, this is a shameless plug! because I adore this one to pieces!! bite me) 🎵 the title is a quote from Elvis Presley’s song (duh). there are quite a few covers of it but one of my favorites is by Twenty One Pilots. there’s also a female version — by Ingrid Michaelson — and I think both of them fit the story really well. 💞 my masterlist P.S. I’m also on AO3 (lol, who isn’t), in case you prefer to read fics there.

English is not my first language, so feel free to message me if you spot any major mistakes!

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avokaidoll · 10 months

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⑅ Self Discipline ⑅

Self-discipline is like having a personal cheerleader in your head, helping you stay focused and achieve your goals. It's the ability to control and direct yourself, making choices that align with your long-term objectives rather than giving in to immediate impulses. Think of it as the secret sauce for personal growth, productivity, and success. It involves setting priorities, making conscious decisions, and consistently putting in effort to reach your desired outcomes. Self-discipline empowers you to stay on track, overcome challenges, and ultimately become the best version of yourself.

Let's break down the essence of self-discipline in dfrnt aspects of your life

1. Morning Routine Magic:

Your morning routine is like crafting a daily sanctuary. Beyond skincare, imagine incorporating moments of tranquility like yoga or a quick workout. It's not just a checklist; it's setting the stage for a day of conquering.

2. To-Do List Love:

Your to-do list is a dynamic tool, more than a mere inventory of tasks. It's a glam planner, outlining your roadmap to success. Writing down your ambitions transforms them into tangible goals, making the conquest all the more empowering.

3. Snack on Goals, Not Junk:

Goals aren't just targets; they're your daily sustenance. Instead of mindless snacking, consider each accomplished task as a delicious victory bite, satisfying your hunger for achievement.

4. Wardrobe Power Moves:

Dressing for success isn't a superficial act; it's about embodying confidence. Your outfit becomes a statement, shaping your mindset for the day. It's akin to wearing a tangible boost of self-assurance. I want you to wear for the day you want, not the day you have !!!

5. Breaks Aren't Breakdowns:

Taking breaks is a strategic recharge, not a sign of weakness. It's not about slacking off but strategically powering up. These moments are not breakdowns; they are breakthroughs, allowing you to return with renewed sparkle. So don't beat yourself up when your really need the rest :)

6. Learn, Don't Stress:

In the face of challenges, see them as opportunities for growth. Self-discipline is not a pursuit of perfection but a commitment to a journey of continual learning. Remember, nobody is born with all the answers; it's about evolving.

7. Consistency is the Glow-Up Secret:

Consistency is more than a routine; it's the highlighter of your life's narrative. It infuses your journey with an extra pop, turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. Even on tough days, maintaining consistency becomes your guiding light.

8. Celebrate Small Wins:

Every step toward your goals, irrespective of size, is a cause for celebration. It's not just recognizing achievements; it's throwing a confetti party for yourself. Celebrate not just the destination but the entire journey.

9. Consistent Routine:

Envision self-discipline as a daily sanctuary, akin to your skincare routine. Skipping it is like neglecting a crucial step in your beauty ritual. Embrace it daily for a consistent, empowering glow.

10. Setting Goals:

Picture self-discipline as the GPS that is guiding you to your dreams. Establish small, attainable goals as waypoints on your journey. These goals serve as markers, leading you steadily toward your grand aspirations.

11. Prioritizing Tasks:

Think of self-discipline as your wise older sister, advising you on what truly matters. Prioritize tasks that contribute to your glow-up, whether it's acquiring a new skill or taking care of your well-being.

12. Resisting Temptations:

It's important to saying no to that extra slice of cake when you know you're full. Self-discipline aids in resisting temptations that might divert you from your goals, whether it's procrastination or unhealthy habits.

13. Building Habits:

Like establishing a routine of daily water intake, self-discipline helps in cultivating positive habits. These habits become second nature, contributing to your overall well-being and success.

14. Time Management:

Imagine self-discipline as a magical time-turner. It assists in managing your time wisely, allowing you to balance academics, self-care, and the pursuit of your passions effectively.

15. Learning from Mistakes:

Self-discipline is forgiving; it encourages learning from mistakes rather than dwelling on them. It's a compassionate guide, acknowledging that growth comes from understanding and overcoming challenges.

16. Celebrating Achievements:

Consider self-discipline your personal cheerleader. It not only recognizes but actively celebrates your achievements, big or small, in your journey of self-improvement and success.

Visualize self-discipline as your personal superhero cape, guiding you through the journey of glowing up and being super productive. You're on the path to becoming a true girlboss.

Keep shining doll !

Xoxo signing off,

Angela ꒰⁠⑅⁠ᵕ⁠༚⁠ᵕ⁠꒱⁠˖⁠♡

ps: this is my first post I hope it was informative enough as I am also in my own journey of being better mentally and physically and I see self discipline as something essential for that to happen.

#girlblogging #it girl #pink pilates princess #glow up #that girl #wonyoungism #self discipline #motivation #tips #self improvement #self care #girlboss #this is a girlblog #avokaidoll #first post #first tumblr post

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drunkenlionwrites · 5 months

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alright curveball what typical archetype would boothill be in a high school setting and what would he be like with his partner >:) (hc format please)

Boothill HS AU headcanons:

OMG OMG nonnie, that’s such a cool ask. I honestly would’ve not thought about this concept myself, cause school was so so long ago for me, but I’ve got the vision of HS Boothill right away when I read it💖 CW: none, g/n reader

So Boothill as the archetype would be ‘the classmate who looks like a local thug but is actually the kindest soul.’

Imagine your classmate who is not really studious and can disrupt the lesson by loudly laughing and talking in class and does this 5/5 days per week. He’s loud and brush and sometimes vulgar.

Once, he kicked and cussed out the vending machine out in hallway so loudly when you passed by that it made you physically jump. Even though he’s noticed that and tried to apologize to you, calling out your name through the hall, since that time you’ve decided that you don’t like him.

You are slightly annoyed by this and never approach him, but he’s got a big presence in school, so you see and hear things about him from time to time, though you don’t know which rumors are true and which are not. Some of them sound crazy: once he beat 4 to 5 upperclassmen alone. Some say it was 10 of them. Some say he’s got something on the principal; hence he doesn’t get in trouble with anyone. Some say it’s cause he’s the principal’s kid. Or lover. Those all sound crazy and unrealistic, but who knows?

Once you see him really beating up someone behind the school building with your own eyes. You stand there and watch for a bit, thinking about reporting this to someone, but then you notice Boothill coming up to a smaller kid, sitting on the ground not far away, comforting him and picking up his bag, helping the kid to pack the contents inside. You just hear never-ending ‘thank you’s in between small sobs and Boothill’s warm laughter afterwards.

Another day, you hear him quarrelling loudly with a teacher, which sounded again completely disrespectful from his side. Later, from murmurs around school you learn that he stood up for the shyer kid when he thought that they were unjustly reprimanded.

Once you saw him in the street after school on the day when he was missing, presumably staying in sick or something. He shouted out your name from the tree, causing you to flinch again. Turns out, he spent hours trying to get one stubborn kitty to come to him, skipping classes cause of it.

It was a bit awkward when you started dating, cause being in his orbit meant that you too became more known in school and began noticing stares and hearing whispers about you.

Boothill is a total sweetheart with you, even though he can be slightly obnoxious and is not good at reading the mood from time to time. It doesn’t matter since his positive outlook and mostly always good mood is oh so infectious.

He’s also very physical, not minding the pda at school. Walking with you holding your hand, hugging from behind etc.

He doesn’t mind spending the whole day at school attempting to study, especially if you’re a diligent student. Though he is a student who’s always ready to and will bail classes and will try to talk you into skipping school with him cause it’s just too much fun stuff happening outside that seems much more important to him.

I see the dynamic as a he’s a good influence in terms for teaching his s/o to be more assertive and confident in themselves and in return being the one who needs to be stopped and calmed out a bit when he acts on a whim.

#lion writes #hsr x reader #honkai star rail x reader #boothill x reader #hsr x you #hsr x y/n #boothill x you #boothill x y/n #hsr fluff #hsr imagines #hsr headcanons #boothill headcanons

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the-anime-enthusiast · 3 months

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pls shoto / hawks type of women

MHA CHARACTERS TYPE IN WOMEN

#2 Keigo Takami - Hawks

KEIGO TAKAMI - PHYSICAL

He likes his women a lil shorter 😌🫶 Like 5'2 - 5-6 buuutt will GLADLY take on a model height baddie ANY DAY OF THE WEEK "what's the point of wings if I can't use them to fly up and kiss you??" 🤧

AN ABSOLUTE ASS MAN he loves the legs, the butt, all of it and in between but besides be a total tweaker for a nice ass he has a special place in his heart for boobs 🫶 specifically b-c cups though 🌚 he doesn't know why but he likes a smaller size 😉

Siren eyes are his ULTIMATE WEAKNESS something about someone who looks so intense and like they're about to eat him alive bc hes so fucking annoying GETS BRO GOING 🤩 He can tease you all day any day but if you act like he's just another guy to you HE WILL CHASE YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE DAMN EARTH ‼️‼️

Sucker for dimples 😌 Loves to see some chubby cheeks with the cutest dimples 🫡 AND SMILE LINES OMFGGG 😍😍😍🙏🙏🙏 he doesn't even know what it is about them but it makes his heart SKIP A BEAT

He LUVS a sun kissed skin look 🌞 like a slightly tanned face with some redness left over from a sunburn, freckles starting to pop up everywhere HE LOVES IT 💥💥💥

Short and stout or tall and skinny he loves it all 🫡🫡🫡 Bro is NOT PICKY 😭 As long as ur face cute hell love you until hell freezes OVVVERRR BRO 🌚🌚🌚

KEIGO TAKAMI - MENTAL

Literally just someone he can vibe with 🙂‍↕️ If you match energy he will worship you like THE AIR HE BREATHES 😍 Just someone laid back and chill but also can have a fub time and a positive outlook on the future "pessimists are my worst enemy" was once scratched from an interview 🌚

While he loves an optimist and like minded folk realism is the most important thing he could ask for -- Someone who understands his job and the things he has to do 💯 (this stems a lot from the twice incident which i will touch on at the end of this)

Can we all admit he's fs got mommy issues ✋ he would die for a lady who will hold him in her arms at the end of the day and just let him exist in the peace and quiet of his home with her 🙂‍↔️

SMART WOMEN 😍 he loves someone smart, youre working to get ur PhD? SMASH‼️ A teacher ?? SMASH‼️ Literally any job or skill that requires emotional strength and a BIG BRAIN and he's weak in the knees 🤭

KEIGO TAKAMI - RANDOM

Blissfully unaware people who will lounge in bed all day reading a magazine then running up to him as he gets home from work peppering him will kisses is like a very specific want of his - 😭 bro just wants someone to love him fr ✊😔

Has a weird thing for teachers -💀 Anytime a girl is like "Oh yeah I never told you? I'm a Pre-K teacher!' his eye twitches and he feels like he's going insane 😶‍🌫️ (in the best way possible)

You're the only person he's ever told this or would let do this to him - but give him back scratches at the base of his wings AND HE EVAPORATES 🫠🫠

NERDS 💯💯💯 A secret fangirl???? He's never living it down. EVER. He'll bring you home limited edition, u released, ect ect merch for, not only him, but ALL THE TOP HEROES bc he gets first dibs from being so high in the charts 😌

Going of off nerds again, IF YOU CORRECT HIM ON SOMETHING (literally anything...it's concerning) HE GETS SOOO HOT AND BOTHERED he's never been able to figure out why but being out in his place by someone so intellectually advance does something to him 🧍‍♀️

THATS THE POST!! (but here's some end credits and comments rq 😉)

About the twice situation, although he recognizes what he did was wrong, he doesn't regret it, because it truly changed the tide and outcome of the war, and he needs someone who sees that and defends him whole heartedly ✋

ANYWAYS I HAD SO MUCH FUN DOING THIS REQUEST ‼️ I've never been a huge fan of hawks so it was SO much fun coming up with stuff and diving more into his character ‼️‼️ I hope y'all enjoy 😉

also...idk if y'all can tell... but I NEED HIM AND FUYUMI TO BECOME A THING PLEASE HORIKOSHI ID GIVE YOU MY LIFE (the head cannons have nothing to do with that shit it's all separate it just happens to line up VERY well) 😍

BYYEEEE THANKYOU ‼️

#mha #bnha #mha hawks #keigo takami #mha takami keigo #bnha keigo #keigo x reader #keigo tamaki #hc #headcannons #bnha hawks #hawks x reader #hawks headcanons #hawks #my hero academia #boku no hero academia

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thatbitchery · 9 months

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SUCCESS FORMULA 101

Lets talk about what really makes a person succesfull. No I don't mean the recycled stuff & the magical thinking manifesting stuff. Let's talk the real stuff. What really, like really really makes a woman succesful?

1 . The idea- decision gap

Planning is a productive form of procrastination. You overestimate the amount of control you have over time- space reality if you think you can anticipate the future & hold your own. Exhibit A: covid. Yes get your skeleton nailed down and have a second third fourth opinion but you have three days after the idea to begin execution. Do not overplay your power, you don't have that much control and your powers of perception are based on the past, not future. If you must plan get the first draft down then work with that. Here's a secret- you know those ultra succesful people you know? They're making it up as they go. Adaptation>> planning. If you want success reduce your idea to execution gap to max 3 days then go get it. Risk aversion is the enemy of innovation.

2. Embarrassment

My mentor taught me to not only anticipate but be fully amenable to embarrassment. Especially if you're looking at a career in creative and performed arts you can NOT skip this one. You want to be a singer? Writer? Influencer? Blogger? Vlogger?There will be a reddit thread about how much you suck. This is the fabric of success. Resilience is a woman's best friend. Embarrassment is the portal to growth. First day in the office messing everything up asking stupid questions underdressed with that accent- that's the price you pay for sitting on that CEO seat one day. The way to the top is from the bottom.

3. Boredom

Success is found in the small, mundane, repetitive, boring day to day tasks. It's hard to get far especially in corporate spaces because the boredom is crippling & we are innately a progressive species which means dopamine & adrenaline seeking so you leave your boring tasks for the high of chasing a new goal- no. Get very comfortable with boredom or move to creative arts. Success is found in consistency and consistency is found in repetition. Closing that million dollar deal isn't what made you succesful. It was the repetitive boring practises of sitting through meetings with a collective IQ of 18 that taught you patience, negotiation, jargon and attunement. It's not meeting the right guy that gave you a successful relationship it was your 8 year long friendships that you no longer pay attention to that taught you to communicate, empathise, have boundaries , the right way to love & be loved and recognize value. We tend to credit the spikes for the outcome when it's the consistency of the mundane that got us where we are. Success is the really boring stuff. Really really boring stuff. Success is a buildup.

4. Hierarchy

The swapping of "self sabotaging stupidity" with "feminism & empowerment" is easily one of the greatest downfalls of our generation. Social species= hierarchical you're not being a boss babe queen by speaking to your superiors in a condescending manner & inserting your opinions bc "you have a right to whatever". Uh , you don't. You don't have the right to embarrass your boss or call him out, you don't. Be the boss first then you can call the shots don't let rich kids on tiktok trick you into thinking you can get away with disrespect. Know your place. Power isn't taken its transferred. Meritocracy >> democracy if you want the right to throw your mouth around be the CEO then you can call the shots till then act your paycheck & plan your exit or social climb to a point your opinion matters because meritocracy will always trample democracy. Don't be stupid.

5. Baby & the bathwater

Another culprit for my generation's failure is the witch hunt & self righteous campaign that's cancel culture & virtue signalling. Influencers build their reputation on it so Candace Owens gets to call Beyonce out but you shut your mouth. Learn the concept of dichotomy and learn to take what resonates with you &go. The higher you climb the success ladder the lower your morals go & the more terrible people you have to tolerate so you'll sit 4 hours on a table with a sexist ugly pig making wild sexual innuendo because once that deal is signed your dreams come true. If you're walking a path of self proclaimed righteousness where you can't talk to people who do this and that don't bother. & this level of dissociation & delusion that allows you to think of people as good or bad will get you manipulated left right center. You want to be succesful? Not your monkeys, not your circus. Take what's yours and go. Don't lie to yourself & sabotage your own progress bc you're on a little righteousness campaign.

6. Learn to use people

The greatest resource on God's pretty beautiful earth is human beings. And time. Every single thing you want will come from a person, learn to use people & be used by them bc a relationship requires an exchange of value, don't be a greedy leechy taker. The most important part of success is human resource. If you're struggling with communication & negotiation dedicate everything you have to fixing it. The capital city of success is mutually beneficial relationships ie relationships where people consciously consensually use each other in an equilibrium of value exchange.

7. Emotional intelligence

Sucess doesn't like emotions. In fact those two are sworn enemies since the dawn of the planet. When emotions walk through the door success jumps out the window. Now, I want us to understand- when I'm saying this I'm not saying be a robot- you're not. Emotions are important. They're a compass. You look at them, listen to what they're saying and decide what to do with that. I'm not saying make an enemy our of your humanity, emotional intelligence isn't synonymous with emotional negligence. I'm saying you don't make decisions based on them. You don't express them in public unless it serves you to. You don't shut them down- don't be a psycho- but also don't make them something theyre not- an identity. It's a compass. You need it to move in the right direction, but you carry the compass not the other way around.

8. Offensive

This is where women in particular mess it up- never play defensive. Ever. Unless it's a backhanded game & manipulation tactic always play the offense. Defending yourself is weak af. Find a way to be on the offensive. Victims don't make it. They don't. They get the sympathy & provision & that's it. Success is a literal jungle hun especially corporate your little tearjerkers might get your bf to not leave you but in your office they'll get you abused & disrespected & shamed. Again- it is within the nature of a social species to attack its weak & at home you're safe bc your friends & family really do care about you but corporate & success is a competition. They hit low. They hit hard. It's merciless, you're competing for the same thing. Always play the offense. Always be in the offense. It's better to be the bully, if you get bullied you bully them worse &let everyone know yeah no I bullied him now what? Exactly. Be the mean girl. Be the bully. Take the offensive. Offensive is progressive. Defensive is survival.

9. Routines

Ive found that most people don't know the difference between routine & schedules. Wake up @5 to workout is a schedule. Working out before breakfast is a routine. I'll tell you this as someone with ADHD but an unbreakable routine, if you can not keep up with the time you'll mess up. You don't need to allocate time to set a routine. A routine is a sequence of events that's turned habitual. So if my routine is wake up work out drink water get my vitamins in it doesn't matter if I wake up @ 5am or 1 pm that's the sequence of activities that will take place. Routine is about muscle memory. It has to be subconscious. You have to instinctively know this is whst I should do & have it so ingrained that you don't even think about it it just happens. Training your muscle memory is a superpower. >86% of your day is governed by muscle memory. Think about that. If you just subconsciously headed to the gym and made a healthy meal & studied. Like, while spaced out. Just think about it. Like I said success happens in consistency & repetition. Quick take a guess how muscle memory is formed.

10 Reality

Success is delusion averse. Take the world for what it is and people for what they are & reality for that- reality and stop trying to substitute millions of years of evolution & adaptation with cheap politics, values and morals. Don't be dumb. See the world as is not as you wish it was. Forget all the self soothing politics you're buying into and go science. You can not undo in one century what's been in motion for eons though. Sociology & politics are just self soothing distractions. The world is what it is when you die it'll be exactly what it I'd, you're the one that'll have burned herself. Don't be stupid. Women can't be stupid.That XX is synonymous with Xtra Xmart okay? Okay.

TBY

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toxicanonymity · 1 year

Text

night walks masterlist

Updated: 8/6/24 (neighbor stuff)

mood board by @milla-frenchy 🖤

This is an AU moreso than a series. Very little plot. Joel, an older neighbor you've been walking with late at night, asks you into his basement to sell him weed. Turns out he's a little obsessed with you. You find him irresistible, despite your initial efforts to stay away.

OVERALL WARNINGS: Non-outbreak AU, drug use, Dubcon, unsafe P in V, dirty talk, stalking

LATEST: Beach Walks

gif by @iamasaddie. see bottom of post for more art

reader curated spotify playlist

MAIN TIMELINE

NIGHT WALKS (2k) - ORIGINAL. Joel gets you in his basement and you fuck.

"Deleted Scene" - Joel reveals his breeding kink.

✨neighbor stuff (800) - Grocery store run-in

Night Walks 2 (1.9k) - When you don't come back for more, Joel takes matters into his own hands.

Night Walks 3 (1.4k) - Joel breaks in and has his way with you. (Darkest, can skip)

Liquor store run-in (350) - You run into Joel in public and he gropes you.

Night Walks 4: All dressed up (1.3k) - You run into Joel at a gas station and end up fucking him.

Restaurant drabble (400) - You run into Joel when you're out with your friends.

Night Walks 5: Harder (2.8k) - You get jealous. You hang out and can't get enough of him.

BLOW (2k) - You do a line of his dick then give him an amazing blow job and later he puts it in.

Night Walks 6: Morning After (900) - You wake up at Joel's and he's not ready for you to leave.

Night Walks 7: Soaked (3.5k) - You're still there and it's storming so you stay for a while.

Night Walks 8: Menace (4k) - You're set up on a date, but Joel reminds you why you want him.

Interludes: 4th of July (200?) - You go to the pool. POV: Neighbor (Ethyl).

Night Walks 9: Late Night Dip (2.3k) - You go to the pool and he dicks you down. Interlude: Ethyl's house.

Beach walks - Prequel (3.8k) - Joel is acting shady and you hook up with someone else.

Beach Walks (7k) - Joel can't let you go. surf shack lore

HCs, ALTERNATE READERS & TIMELINES ⤵️

Headcanons

NSFW Alphabet - Various HCs in a standard format.

Pregnancy - How would he react to pregnancy?

If someone refused him - What would Joel do if someone flat-out refused him and really didn't want it?

Alt. timelines (AUs of AU)

PREQUEL: Night Gawks: Before Night Walks (450) -. Joel notices you as soon as you move into the neighborhood and jacks off.

FUTURE: Sleeping beauty (750) - You and Joel have a consensual non-con agreement. He breaks in, chloroforms you, ties you up.

FUTURE: Day walks (150) - You and Joel are out hiking and he's being irresponsible.

night caulks (100) - Joel being a rascal

ALT: Leopard print (4.5k)- ft. Tommy

DIFFERENT READERS (AUs of AU)

(2003) Night Chalks (400) - Joel takes a liking to Sarah's engaged teacher and starts to seduce her.

Night Chalks 2 (380) - Joel gets her in the back seat of his car.

(2008) Night Talks (2.8k) - Joel gets Sarah's best friend high and takes her virginity.

(2018) Night Drives (1k) - You order a lyft after a girl's night out and end up in Joel's basement.

Misc: If you're desperate: Dr. Rock has NW roleplay (1st person)

NIGHT WALKS GHOSTFACE

Every inch

Every inch 2

Every inch 3

main joel miller masterlist

Art & Visuals

TRAILER (video) by @iamasaddie

POV Ring doorbell by @swedishscumfuck.

Joel on vacation w/ blurb.

Man cave/basement floor plan

Booty text by @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog and @missannwinchester

meet me in the moonlight by @iamasaddie

mood board by @milla-frenchy

gif by @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog

Pumpkin mood board

beach walks collages by @lunitawrites

nw collage by @selfproclaimed-moviecritic

beach walks by @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog

sleeping beauty by @milla-frenchy

✨night walks vibes by @xdaddysprincessxx

#joel miller x reader #night walks!joel #joel miller smut #creepy!joel miller #dark!joel miller #neighbor!joel miller #toxicanonymity ☠️#pedro pascal fic #joel miller masterlist #toxic masterlist #nightwalks☠️#tw flickering #💝

2K notes · View notes

queenie-official · 2 months

Text

Part Two Of Summer Love: ‘The Lie’

series masterlist celebration event camp logo

pairing: Modern!Anakin Skywalker x fem!reader

word count: 11k next part

Monday, 5:00 a.m.

"way too fucking early" you grumbled to yourself staring at the date and time on your phone.

"you'll get used to it" Padme says; walking into the room already dressed for the day with wet hair she was letting air dry.

you groan, every cell in your body screaming at you to crawl under the blankets and go back to sleep. you could actually do that, campers won't arrive till 8:30; of course, if you did go back to sleep now you won't have time for a shower beforehand unless you skip breakfast.

"what are you plotting over there?" Padme asked with an energy you envied, you look over at her wondering how anyone could be so peppy this early.

"world domination" you answer dryly, falling backwards and letting out a soft 'oof' as your back hits the mattress.

"pretty bold plans for someone who can't even get herself up to use the bathroom" she quips; you grab the pillow from beside you and chuck it vaguely in her direction not bothering to aim because that would mean having to properly get up.

"you'd be surprised what you can get done lying down" you argue only to get smacked in the head by the same pillow you just threw.

"Yeah, like what? more sleeping" you hear her say, the words muffled because you don't bother moving the pillow off of your head.

"also napping, dozing, snoozing, resting- the list goes on really" she pulls the pillow off of your face and gives you an inquisitive look.

"first of all, those are all synonymous. second of all i'm not letting you rot in the bed and skip breakfast" you close your eyes letting out an annoyed whine. "let's go, up and at em" she grabs your hands and starts pulling you up; instead of helping, you relax your body completely forcing her to deal with your dead weight.

she groans but doesn't relent, shifting to let gravity do most of the work and aid her in getting you up. "this trick doesn't work on me y/n, i did it on my older sister growing up" she grunts, somehow pulling harder now. "and guess what she figured out the trick to winning, now i know too" she finally gets you up with one last tug and you slam into her from the momentum.

you both yelp then Padme stumbles backwards causing you to trip on her feet and the next thing you know you're both on the floor. a tangled mess of limbs and wheezing laughter.

"you're stronger than you look Amidala" she giggles then gently pushes you off of her.

"and you're heavier than you look" you gasp dramatics in full swing now.

"how rude" you huff, pulling yourself up from the floor and pretending to storm off angrily. grabbing your shower supplies on the way out.

you drop the act when you turn to close the door behind you smiling brightly at her and sharing one last laugh.

╚═*.·:·.✧ ✦✧.·:·.*═╝

its easy to forget you and Padme have a third roommate, not just because you two spend all of your time together when you're in the shared room or the fact you both pretend she doesn't exist but mostly because Jasmine seemed pretty content with you guys ignoring her- with everybody in the camp ignoring her in fact.

whenever you ended up in a room alone with Jasmine she would remove herself from the situation. sometimes physically, other times by just busying herself with her phone.

this unspoken system worked great for the entirety of staff week, unfortunately, now campers were going to be introduced. which meant you had to put aside your morals and differences in order to communicate with one another. the campers' safety came first, so an exchange of numbers was in order.

after your shower, and once breakfast was over all the staff stayed in the Log hall for a final speech from the Camp directors before the Campers finally arrived. during this time you all exchanged numbers with one another. obviously you didn't have everyone's number but you all had enough to be able to communicate with one another through at the very least a mutual.

the number you were currently staring at belongs to Jasmine. Padme had given it to you, she bit the bullet and asked her for it while you were busy smiling at the number you'd just received from Anakin.

"i wish i didn't delete her number from my phone after camp last year, then i wouldn't have had to talk to her at all. i just really thought she wouldn't be back this year." Padme sighed. she was sitting next to you, hunched over and leaning into your side. it was like the exchange with Jasmine drained all the energy she had for the day.

"i could have asked her for us" you honestly felt guilty she was the one who did it. as much as you didn't like Jasmine you at the very least had the advantage of not truly knowing her like the rest of the camp did, it would have been easier for you to pretend.

"if i can prevent you from ever having to interact with her one on one, i would do it again one hundred times" she says while turning off her phone, she had to unblock the number once it was added again.

you could only hope that you'd never have to use her phone number. Padme said that it was probably unlikely as long as Jasmine doesn't lose the kids she's in charge of and vice versa, and as long as an emergency doesn't arise.

emergencies weren't a common occurrence at Camp Wookiee and the staff took great pride in that fact, so as far as you were concerned this meant you'd be able to remain contact-free with Jasmine. what could possibly go wrong right?

“you two look rough" Rex's voice pulls you and Padme's attention away from each other and your thoughts.

"thank you Rex, that's just what every lady wants to hear first thing in the morning" Padme's voice was dripping with sarcasm, a sour look on her face as she glared at the man who now sat in front of you two.

"happy to be of service" he answers back just as sarcastically. it's not long before Anakin and Ben find and join you guys.

Ben sat beside Rex and elbowed him in the ribs as a greeting. "the hell was that for!" Rex grumbled and Ben just shrugs.

"you probably deserved it judging from the looks on their faces" he answers with the cross of his arms and a smile. you don't bother hiding your own smile that grows on your face, the corner of your mouth twitching from the urge to giggle.

"you guys ready for the campers to arrive?" Anakin asks from beside you. his choice to sit beside you any chance he got no longer phased you but it still confused you. especially when there was an open seat right beside Padme, you chalked it up to him being nervous to sit next to her.

"yep, we got the list of names from Bail this morning; i've got a lot of returning campers to look after" Padme spoke up first and Anakin leaned in closer towards her, what good it did with you in the middle of them you didn't know.

you leaned back only slightly, fighting off the warmth in your cheeks from how close his face was to yours. his lashes were long and there was the cutest little mole on his chin that you hadn't taken the time to truly notice before.

Ben cleared his throat and Anakin pulled back to look at him, you internally thanked him when you noticed he'd done it for you. you hadn't even realized you'd been holding your breath and took the space from Anakin to breathe again calming your racing heart.

his brows furrowed and he grumbled a 'what' to Ben who just rolled his eyes at his friend's ignorance. Padme nudges you and you can see the knowing smile on her face out of the corner of your eye.

"who'd you get for campers y/n?" Rex asks curiously. you honestly hadn't checked yet, it didn't feel necessary until you were face-to-face with all of the campers anyway. it's not like you'd be able to recognize them.

you pull out your phone and open the messages app to Bail's contact after swiping out of Honey's chat. there's a hitch in Anakin's breath from beside you that you decide not to address. "uhh here you guys can just look, i won't know who they are anyway" you hold your phone out to them.

a smile grows on Ben's face when he sees the name of one of the campers "ooo Anakin's gonna be mad about this one" he points at the screen and Rex snickers.

Anakin reaches over and snatches the phone from you, you take a moment to process what just happened before turning to the boy with an annoyed look on your face.

"no way!! You got Ahsoka" you squish your face next to his to look at your own screen, you feel him tense for a moment at your action before he forces his body to relax.

"who is she?" you ask curiously pulling back as he hands you your phone back.

"only Anakin's favorite Camper" Padme answers and you raise a brow. "he's had her the last two years working here." she continued and you turn to him for confirmation.

he has his arms crossed and the beginning of a frown starting to form on his face. "yea and i figured she wasn't coming back this year because she wasn't on my list" he's fully frowning by the end of the sentence.

"Why is she your favorite?" you ask curiously, Ben speaks up before Anakin can.

"honestly she's almost everyone's favorite. Ahsoka's the one kid you never have to worry about following the rules. she even helps the other kids stay in check." Ben answers before Anakin can.

"well maybe she chose the crafts center as one of her activities- and even if she didn't you'll be able to talk to her during breakfast and lunch." you say in hopes of making him feel better.

Anakin opened his mouth to respond but was swiftly interrupted when you were all called to attention by Qui-Gon. the campers had just arrived and were loading off of the Buses.

╚═*.·:·.✧ ✦✧.·:·.*═╝

when you first had lunch with all of the staff members last week it was incredibly loud and there were only forty of you. now as you stand in front of 100 ornery children you realize just how quiet you guys were in comparison.

The second the campers were loaded off of the bus camp director Windu led them to Center hall also referred to as the camp auditorium. the kids had already been told who their camp counselors were and to ensure each kid was where they belonged you were instructed to look over the roster that was given to you on the way into the hall and check off each name.

the way this worked was simple, there were twelve kids per cabin. Padme, Jasmine, and you were responsible for all twelve kids at Naboo cabin. however, to make things easier each counselor was given four names out of the twelve to look after in particular. so theoretically you only had four kids to worry about.

the three of you stood off to the side waiting for your names to be called so your campers knew where to go. it was awkward, Jasmine stood directly beside you and no one was allowed on their phones. so the usual method of escape was a no-go.

the silence from all three of you was loud. Padme kept busy with the clipboard in her hands fiddling with the pen chained on it. you had reread the twelve names on the list at least twenty times already in lieu of making the situation any more uncomfortable.

Padme and you both shared a breath of relief the second your names were finally called and saw kids stand up and head towards your direction. you both put on your best fake smile and prepared for the fact you'd now have to pretend to like Jasmine at least a little bit.

"Hey everyone!" Padme started off the introductions. "i see a few familiar faces from previous years and some new ones. here at Camp Wookiee we welcome all" she said with a sugar-sweet smile, most of the kids seemed to like her.

you couldn't help but notice the two boys in the back who were snickering to each other though. you made a mental note to keep an eye on them. "let's do roll call" Jasmine spoke up, this was the first time you'd heard her voice and boy was it weird. it felt almost wrong to hear.

what truly shocked you was how cheery she sounded, it's not like you'd really given much thought as to what she sounded like but if you had to guess that never would have been it. talk about a direct contrast from everything you know about her and how she portrayed herself.

Padme looks down at the clipboard in her hand "alright here's how we're gonna go about this, when i say your name you say here and i'll check you off as present. when your name is called the counselor who will be looking after you will raise their hand for you to join their side, of course all three of us will be here if you need something though so don't think you're limited to just your sole carer."

it was interesting to see this side of Padme, she'd always been a tad on the serious side but there was always a more joking aura to her. As she spoke now it felt like encountering some type of politician- okay maybe that was a stretch but honestly, she was a great leader and it showed in the way she spoke to them.

"Ahsoka" Padme read off first, you raise your hand and she greets you with a smile as she walks to stand by your side. "Aubrianna" she says next and you raise your hand once again.

"you can call me Aubri" she corrects and Padme nods, then writes 'Aubri' next to her name. the little girl smiles proudly and comes to stand at your side next to Ahsoka.

"Colton" the shortest boy of the bunch, steps forward and over to the small group forming next to you when he sees your hand raised. he doesn't say anything, looking rather overwhelmed by all of this. you watch as Aubri tries to spark up a conversation with him and he practically folds in on himself.

you softly call Aubri's name and she happily turns to you, a small gesture for her to come over to you and she's giddily rocking on her feet standing directly at your left side. Colton relaxed the second he was alone again and although he didn't say anything you can tell he felt relieved.

Just about every other kid in the group is named before you get the last one for your group. "Zion" Padme finishes with a smile. he was one of the kids snickering earlier, Zion drags his feet over clearly not happy about the arrangements.

the friend he was snickering with, Matteo, was one of the kids under Padme's responsibility. followed by Lily, Quinn, and Ren.

Jasmine got the most boys out of the group to look after. Henry, Jason and Theodore- well Theo actually, that's what he told Padme he preferred to be called. then there was Mia, the one girl assigned to her, she seemed like a sweetheart honestly. not even the look of a complaint on her face when she skipped over to the group.

"Alrighty well now that everyone is accounted for we can get started" Padme was once again the first to speak, very much the natural leader of the Naboo cabin. "we are gonna show you guys around as one big group and then we can split off for free time before lunch, how's that sound?"

Matteo raises his hand and Padme gives him a small nod as a signal to go ahead. "are we gonna be able to hang out with whoever we want during free time?" Padme's brows crease slightly at the question, a sympathetic look growing on her face that makes the boy's instantly sour in turn.

"sorry but we're going to be dividing so that your primary counselor can get to know you better" Matteo scoffs with the most annoyed look an eleven-year-old can muster.

"that's stupid!" he shouts and crosses his arms pouting. Padme doesn't deter nor does she take offense by his very clear distaste towards her at the moment.

"i'm sorry you feel that way, i understand how frustrating it can be to do something you don't want to do, especially when you just want to hang out with your friends." she lowers herself slightly to his level while speaking "but i have to remind you that stupid isn't a nice word and we don't use mean words here."

Matteo seems to fluster in embarrassment at the way Padme is talking to him like a small child, which of course he was but no middle schooler ever wants to admit something like that. "if i promise that we'll have free time later where you'll be able to hang out with your friend, do you promise not to use that word?" she gives him the ultimatum and he doesn't seem sure what to say clearly having expected more of a fight.

it's only when Zion starts laughing that he seems to snap out of it and mutter a quick 'whatever'. Padme is quick to move on from the situation and redirects the whole group to start heading outdoors.

╚═*.·:·.✧ ✦✧.·:·.*═╝

you plop down on one of the picnic benches near the Camp's Lake. you'd all just finished the tour and gone in your separate directions. Ahsoka, and Aubri seem to get accustomed to you quickly. they both sat directly in front of you and befriended one another instantly.

Colton and Zion on the other hand were proving to be difficult. Zion didn't wanna talk to anyone not out of shyness but simply because he didn't think you guys were worth his time, rather than sitting with the group he sat as far as you would let him. in other words against the nearest tree.

Colton's lack of words was a little bit of shyness and lack of interest, but he at least made the effort to sit with the group. he was on your side of the bench about an arm's length away from you every so often throwing you a glance like he wanted to say something but wasn't sure.

you wanted all the kids to get along but it's not like you could force them to enjoy each other's company, so you decided to do the next best thing. work on getting along with them individually and work your way up.

since the girls were busy chatting and Zion was content sitting by himself and chucking rocks into the lake you decided Colton would be the first on your list to befriend. you just had to figure out how to approach him without scaring him away.

"i like your shirt" you start simple. at first he doesn't acknowledge you but when he realizes that statement is directed to him he finally turns to look at you.

"t-thanks, it's umm Gravity Falls" his eyes are darting back and forth between your face and the ground unsure how much eye contact was considered too much.

"i love Gravity Falls, Waddles is my favorite character" You watch his eyes light up and know you've nailed it.

he scoots slightly closer to you and points to Bill on his shirt "He's my favorite!" he says happily there's a big smile on his face as he flaps his hands excitedly at his sides.

there's almost an instant switch with how quickly He opens up to you- sure it was just him excitedly rambling on about the show but that's a lot of progress from him not talking to you at all. also, you weren't lying when you said you loved the show so it was just as fun for you to listen to him talk about it and discuss theories.

"Hey Snips!" you and Colton's conversation gets cut by Anakin's voice yelling towards your group. Ahsoka's head snaps behind her so quick you're shocked she doesn't get whiplash.

"Skyguy!" Ahsoka cheers perhaps a little too loud as both you and Colton flinch. Colton instinctively covers his ears, squeezing his eyes closed until the noise dials down.

Anakin and Ahsoka share a bear hug before pulling apart. Anakin does what any annoying older brother would do and places his hand on her head tussling her hair, she huffs and shoves his arm away making him snort.

the rest of Anakin's campers finally catch up to him, he must have jogged ahead of them when he spotted Ahsoka. while the two seem to catch up you wave his campers to come join yours, and they happily oblige.

Zion starts talking to the boys and Aubri the girls. oh how you don't miss being a kid when boys thought they couldn't be friends with girls, you had to hold back a laugh at the thought they still might think cooties existed. Colton hadn't left your side, now preferring your company rather than being alone.

you didn't mind, now you had a buddy and if you could provide a space he felt safe to be in that's all that mattered. Anakin Plops down in his usual spot right beside you as always invading your personal space. "so how's she treating you?" he asks Ahsoka while nudging you with his elbow.

Ahsoka takes a minute to access the interaction between you guys before a smug smile appears on her face. "pretty good, we haven't talked much yet but i think that's gonna change pretty soon" Interesting phrasing you weren't going to question her though.

Anakin throws his arm around your shoulder pulling you into him. your face burns and you're pretty sure your heart just stopped altogether before kicking into overdrive, should it be beating that fast? "You're gonna love her" he tells her and gives you a squeeze.

literally what was happening, you two hadn’t even hugged before let alone whatever this was. maybe this was just some one-off thing because he was excited. you let out a nervous laugh but don't push his arm away from you. he put it there what harm could it do to enjoy it?

Ahsoka's eyes lock in on his arm and you can see the gears turning in her head, she's definitely plotting something. you clear your throat feeling like if you spoke beforehand nothing would have come out. "Ahsoka what activities did you choose?" you ask, trying to pivot the conversation just a tad.

"Arts and crafts, Zip lining, Archery, sports, and woodshop" Anakin smiles brightly when she lists off crafts first, looks like he would be able to talk to her more than he thought.

he lets his arm slide off your shoulders making you feel disappointed as much as you are relieved. "you're in for a treat then, you're gonna have to deal with me and Rex" Ahsoka grimaces slightly.

"in the same room? you're both idiots though" you choke on your spit unable to hold back your laugh.

"hey we aren't that bad!" Anakin defends himself looking back and forth between you two as if you'll stop laughing and back him up.

"just the other day you and Rex were fighting over friendship bracelets" you laugh and he dramatically lets his mouth drop open in faux shock that you would further smear his name.

"friendship bracelets really Anakin" Ahsoka deadpans at her former counselor and shakes her head in disappointment.

"hey he started it, i was just defending myself" you hear her mutter 'and you’re the adult' as well as Anakin mumbling 'snippy' right after. suddenly the nickname made more sense you just smiled and turned away briefly to examine all the kids and make sure they weren't doing anything they shouldn't be.

they were all chucking rocks in the lake now, attempting to skip them rather unsuccessfully. except Colton who remained on the other side of you, comfortably swinging his legs back and forth occasionally knocking his shoes together so they would light up.

"who's this?" Anakin asks, turning to get a better look at the little boy beside you. Colton doesn't acknowledge him, he was either in his own world or just simply didn't want to talk to him.

"this is Colton" he turns to look at you slightly when his name exits your mouth but shys away when he sees Anakin looking at him.

Anakin's face flashes with recognition before a small smile appears on his face. "Cool name, when i was little i had a stuffed Dolphin that i named Colfin which is like the same name if you think about it" Colton wrinkles his nose in disapproval.

"it's not the same though and i don't like dolphins" he says rather bluntly Anakin doesn't deter and just nods in acknowledgment.

"the bullies of the sea right?" Anakin asks and Colton nods. "how about sharks?"

Colton ponders the question over for a minute "they're cool but i prefer Jellyfish" there was a brief glint in Anakin's eyes that looked an awful lot like he was going to tease him but ultimately decided against it.

"why jellyfish?" he asks instead which results in Colton's undivided attention ready to explain his stance without a second thought.

"they're the coolest marine animal- did you know there's a type of jellyfish that's immortal!" he's speaking animatedly now explaining how the jellyfish can revert to a younger state by reprogramming its cells.

the key to getting Colton to open up was simply just having a conversation he wanted to participate in. the four of you keep the convo alive while the other kids play exchanging questions as well as your likes and dislikes. it was a peaceful way to spend the rest of free-time.

╚═*.·:·.✧ ✦✧.·:·.*═╝

The rest of the day went by smoothly, all of the kids were getting along well, Zion got his hang out with Matteo at the bonfire later in the evening and you were right to think they were troublemakers. one of the first things they did was find a stick that they tried to set on fire with the intent to chase the other around with it.

safe to say you and the other camp staff did not let that happen, the second they got close to the fire their plan was snuffed. thankfully that was the only real concern that arrived today and currently, you were helping the campers settle into the cabin.

Padme was helping too and as much as you'd like to give Jasmine the benefit of the doubt and say she was helping too, that would be a lie. in truth she seemingly abandoned her kids once they were all in the cabin and went to your shared staff bedroom. it's not like you needed her help and even if you did the rooms were directly connected so she'd be able to hear, but it was the principle of the matter.

you were all responsible for these kids and even though she seemed to handle them fine it was clear she couldn't care less. honestly why was she here? you try not to let your frustrations show as you help one of Jasmine's Campers, Theo, set up his bed.

"alrighty kids lights out at Ten so you all have a little over an hour to just talk and settle in for the night" Padme announces from somewhere behind you as you finish up.

all the kids give her their own versions of okay and continue with their conversations. Theo thanks you and jumps onto his bed with one of the other boys Henry. it was always nice to see how quickly kids were able to befriend each other.

you glance around the room and relax, no unhappy kids that's a win for the day. even Colton was chatting away, him and Ahsoka seemed to get close. the conversation during free time earlier definitely helped.

"we can leave them alone now y/n" you turn to Padme, she's smiling at you from the doorframe ready to head into the other room. you nod and follow after her. plopping onto your bed and truly relaxing for the first time today.

"tired?" she snorts and you turn to her. she's braiding her hair in front of the mirror for the night.

"definitely, you aren't?" she shrugs in response, finishing off the braid and tying it with a small elastic.

"it'll hit me more in the morning when we have to get up early again" she states while walking over to close the door so she can change. you groan already dreading it. "it's not like we'll have to be up as early as we were today" she offers thinking it would make you feel better. it doesn't.

"why did i choose a summer job that requires me to be up this early" you put your hands on your face dragging them down dramatically. "i'm not built for this Padme" she giggles and sits down next to you on your bed.

"you'll be fine, you've just gotta whine about it first" she snorts and you smile, kicking off your sneakers and scooting over more so she can have more space. she takes the invitation and lays beside you so you're both shoulder to shoulder.

"gosh you're starting to know me too well" you laugh, turning on your side so you guys can look at each other better while speaking.

"ooo is Honey gonna get jealous?" she jokes while turning onto her side as well.

"she'd probably be more jealous of me than you" Padme's brows shoot up in confusion.

"She totally thinks you’re amazing and insisted i become besties with you so she can as well through association" You pull your phone out and go onto Honey's chat to show Padme the messages between you two during one of your debrief sessions.

Honey🍯💛: 'i think i’m in love with your cabin mate y/n ngl'

you: 'she's amazing right?'

Honey🍯💛: 'the total package honestly, you have to become besties with her 🙏🙏 i'm not exaggerating when i say i need her energy in my life'

you: 'wow im chopped liver i see'

Honey🍯💛: 'never you'll always be my number one 😚😚'

"oh my gosh" she laughs while reading over everything. "you two are something else"

"friendship goals you mean?" you swipe off of the app and let your phone fall from your hand once you switch it off.

"oh absolutely, i honestly wish i had a friend where i was that comfortable with them. im close with my friends but not that close" you gasp in faux offense at her words.

"i thought we had something" you fake sniffle, pushing your lips into a pout. your ready to put on the most dramatic performance of your life when Padme lets out a loud laugh at your antics.

you break character and smile, she's quick to pull you into a hug. "we definitely have something" you cheer while hugging her back and she laughs more.

you hear your phone ping and pull out of the hug to answer. "is it Honey?" she ask curiously, peering over to look at your screen. your frozen in place from the contact name that appears, Padme on the other hand is smiling like a madwoman. "you okay there y/n?" she asks teasingly.

"why wouldn’t i be it's just Anakin" you do your best to brush it off, but the flush in your cheeks and panic in your eyes gives you away completely.

"just Anakin" she pushes further and you give her a nervous smile. "i didn't know you texted"

"we don't but it makes sense that we start right, we're friends after all" you grimace at how high pitched your voice is getting as well as your own defensiveness.

"of course it does, especially since you’re friends with a mutual crush" you turn your head off to the side unable to look her in the eye, you’re burning alive here.

"he doesn't have a crush on me" you grumble and you can tell she wanted to oppose your statement but instead she focused on something else entirely.

"you're not denying that you have a crush on him though!" she says with a gasp of excitement and you can feel your heart racing, when your silence remains she shoots up energetically. "i knew it!!"

you hush her, the walls here were thin and you could not handle the campers finding out about this. "i don't know- i don't dislike him" she deadpans and gives you that look she always does.

you flop backwards laying flat on the bed with a huff. "y/n i love you girl but we gotta work on your honesty with yourself." she hovers above you forcing you to look her in the eyes while she speaks.

"i can hide from my own desires if i want to" you protest, grabbing your pillow and placing it over your head.

"oh so Anakin's a desire now" she pulls the pillow off of your face and holds it out of your reach. "how quickly the truth tumbles out"

"has anyone told you you’re insufferable before?" You say annoyed and she laughs.

"no i'm usually told i'm a delight in fact" she gives you a blinding smile and you roll your eyes but smile back nonetheless.

"they'd unfortunately be right" she lets out a quick 'aww' while placing her hand over her heart jokingly.

"so are you gonna answer his message orrr" you purse your lips together in thought. "if you don't do it i'll do it for you."

you gasp "you wouldn't dare" she gives you a ‘try me’ look and you suddenly regret ever sharing your phone password with her. "diabolical" you mumble before picking your phone up and staring at the message notification.

'hey you ready for tmr?' it was a really simple message so why was it so hard to work up the courage to respond. Padme stands up and climbs the ladder to the top bunk leaving you to figure this out on your own.

"okay you can do this" you whisper to yourself, sitting up and cracking your knuckles finally opening up the chat to respond.

'totally' you type and then sit there for a good minute trying to figure out what else to say so your message doesn't come off dry and uninterested. maybe you should of consulted with Honey first for back up, it was too late to back out now though.

still coming up empty you just give in and press send hoping for the best. to your horror the message is read instantly and he responds just as quickly.

'three minutes just to type totally, didn't realize i was talking to a granny' mortifying was the only right word for this. you knew he was probably just teasing but that did not help one bit.

one negative about acknowledging you have a crush on someone, you begin to fumble over everything you do. second guessing your every action, why couldn't you just be normal- no, this was fine you can salvage this.

you bite your tongue and ask yourself how you would normally respond to someone saying something like this to you. you take a deep breath and start typing 'not everyone can be the flash when typing'

'much quicker this time trying to fight the granny allegations y/n?' you groan but relax; one bonus of it being Anakin you're talking to, you could always count on him to be unserious and joke around.

'i'm not fighting anything, besides i was talking to Padme when i typed that out so i was a little distracted' a little white lie never hurt anybody, Padme wouldn't mind anyway.

'alright i'll let it slide this time, only because Padme was involved' your stomach twists and you suddenly feel a little nauseous. it was like the universe loved to torment you.

'you know she's practically my bestie here, maybe i can put in a good word for you' if the universe loved to torment you then it was only fair to say you were devoted to torturing yourself even more.

'why would you do that?' you can't help but furrow your brows in confusion, what did he mean why?

you brush it off and reply 'because we're friends and friends help each other out'

'right, i gotta help Ben with the kids so goodnight. i'll see you tmr' strange, you shrug it off and send back a goodnight after liking his message.

you look at the time 9:56 just about time to tell the kids lights out. you turn off your phone and stand up. "do you wanna come with me to turn off the lights" you ask openly, Jasmine of course doesn’t respond but Padme does.

"you've got this, but if any of the kids need something and you aren't sure how to help let me know" you nod at Padme's answer and walk into the other room.

some of the younger kids already put themselves to sleep the rest were either busying themselves or still chatting with friends. "hey guys everyone into their own beds alright, i'm going to turn off the lights for bed"

there is a few groans of protest but they all do what you say anyway. you walk over to the lights before asking if everyone is comfortable and when there's a unanimous yes you flip the switch off and head back into your room closing the door.

you finally change out of your clothes from the day into pajamas and are just about ready to turn off the lights in your room when there's a light flurry of knocks on the door.

you open the door to see Colton, he looks uncomfortable and you can’t help the worry that washes over your face. "is everything okay bud?" you squat down to his height and he looks around behind him before whispering to you.

"i can't sleep in new places" his voice was barely audible not wanting the other kids to hear him. you frown sympathetically and hold your hands out for him to take; he hesitates at first, unsure whether he wants to make physical contact but in the end he takes you up on the offer placing his hands in yours with a big breath of air.

"is there anything i can do to help?" you ask quietly giving his hands a small gentle squeeze in hopes of comforting him.

he shrugs unsure "i don't know…" you let him think on it, taking all the time he needs. "i don't really like the dark" he settles on and you nod immediately scanning through your mind for a solution.

"how about this, we have a little portable lamp that i can set up on one of the shelves in there and i'll leave our room cracked open so you can come and get me if you need anything else" you suggest and he pauses in brief thought.

"but then the other kids will know" you smile softly and tell him to trust you. he's very clearly uncertain but eventually gives in and lets you do your plan.

while he climbs back into bed you head back into the room and grab the lamp off of Padme and yours dresser. placing it on the shelf closest to the hallway and switching it on. Thankfully Colton's bed was closest.

"guys i’m gonna leave this lamp on so it's easier for you all to see if anyone needs to get up and use the bathroom alright?" the kids who are still awake give an okay, or well some of them did, others sorta just grunted like cave dwellings.

you look at Colton who seems much better, still a little uncomfortable but it was still a new environment and It wouldn't be that easy of an instantaneous fix. But you were glad to help even just a little bit.

you left the door open just a smidge like you said you would and then flipped off the lights for the room finally crashing onto your bed- hopefully for good.

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to your body's exhaustions' relief there were no interruptions throughout the night. Padme had even managed to get you up this morning without too much of a fight, in other words without having to physically drag you out of bed.

getting the campers all up and ready in time for breakfast was way more difficult than you thought though. a good majority of the kids were in fact worse than you, which according to Padme is a massive feat.

"tired already y/n?" Ben's voice calls you over from the food line.

"not as tired as Anakin" you joke gesturing over to Anakin's tired form at the table closest to the door. you wait for Ben to exit the line so you can both walk over to him together.

"he looks like he's ready to make a run for it" you snort once he's filled his tray. you both start walking toward the aforementioned man who was as usual barely awake.

"yea a run for it straight into his bed" Ben quips and you giggle before taking the seat next to Anakin.

the man in question gives a grunt for a greeting not even bothering to open his eyes. "pathetic honestly" Rex says before joining you three. "you do realize we have to be fully functional in an hour right?" he kicks Anakin from under the table to wake him.

Anakin opens his eyes just to death glare him "an hour is all i need" Rex puts his hands up in defense before he starts eating his breakfast.

"No offense Anakin but you look like you need a lot more than an hour of resting your eyes" you poke his cheek and he swats your hand away.

"you're right, and i've got just the solution" you raise a brow but your question is quickly answered when he rests his head on your shoulder, completely placing his weight against you and closing his eyes. this wasn't actually happening right, you turn too look at the two boys in front of you with burning cheeks.

Rex doesn't even seem phased as he continues eating like this was an everyday thing, Ben isn't any better as he just shrugs with a smug smile. maybe you just needed to relax, after all you did stuff like this with Honey all the time.

you decide to just focus on your food and ignore the soft snores that have started coming out of Anakin's mouth. how he could fall asleep that easily with the noise level in here you weren't sure but boy did you envy it.

you did your best not to read into the situation while finishing up and just chatting with the other boys until it was time to leave. you honestly felt bad having to wake Anakin back up but he was surprisingly not too grouchy, guess that hour of sleep actually did help.

the way today was going to work was easy, now that breakfast was done you'd all head to the bonfire pit where you'd divide into who you worked with. then the campers would go to whichever group was part of their first activity, after that there would be a quick roll call then you'd walk with the kids to the crafts center.

rinse and repeat this process each period throughout the day till lunch, then free time followed by the last two periods till dinner. this of course was just for today so the kids knew where to go as well as knew their schedules a little better. Come tomorrow they'd be in charge of getting to their activities on their own.

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"are you sure that's what you're supposed to do?" you hear one of the kids ask Rex from the table near yours.

all the kids at your table were just about done with the activity, working on cutting out the flower petals just like you'd shown them. it was one of the easier crafts you'd found as long as it wasn’t rushed through. you decided the kids would be fine on their own and stood up to take a look at how Rex was doing.

"pretty sure kid" he mumbles and the kid beside him grimaces before looking at their own, it looked better than Rex's but that wasn’t hard to beat clearly.

"Rex you’re butchering it man" you look over at Anakin who's on the opposite side having stood up curiously at the same time you did.

"i am not- it looks just like y/n's does" he argues and you honestly take offense to that statement.

"mine does not look like that" he snaps his head towards you with a frown.

"that's honestly an insult dude" Anakin adds and Rex chucks the paper plate on the table, crossing his arms annoyed. the kids are laughing at the situation, only making Rex grow more annoyed.

"maybe you should stick to organizing the materials Rex" you pat his shoulder encouragingly.

it was the last period of the day, you'd been doing the same craft each time so you'd think by now he'd have gotten it down. to his credit he got it right the first period but somehow has gotten worse each time since.

"i can't believe the camp directors stuck you in crafts" Ahsoka's voice garners the attention of all three of you.

"not you too" Rex frowns, running a frustrated hand down his face.

"i mean Anakin's not much better but he's still doing significantly better than you are" Anakin scoffs at her.

"hey i'm doing great thank you" he defends. you snort walking over to him and pinching his cheek like he was a small child.

"yes you are sweetie, don't let anyone tell you different" you joke; and his cheeks flush, probably from embarrassment as he swats your hand away.

"you guys are cute together" Ahsoka states and You both snapped towards her at the same time.

"you know we aren't together snips right?" he asks crossing his arms with a deadpanned expression, not wanting to come off as joking.

"i do know that yea… do you?" she asks half teasing half serious. you think you see him blushing but that can't be the case.

"he likes Padme" you interrupt doing your best to save him from her teasing. Ahsoka just wrinkles her nose before shrugging off your response.

"everybody likes Padme" okay, factually correct but you know as well as she does that's not what you meant.

Rex clears his throat, "hate to interrupt whatever this is but it's time to get these kiddos to the lodge hall for dinner." you turn to look over at the clock and sure enough it's almost six.

"right" you clap your hands together a few times to get the attention of all the kids, when they clap back you can’t help but smile.

"it's time to clean up so we can head out to dinner. so i want everybody to stand up and throw out any paper clippings or trash you see on the tables while Anakin, Rex, and i put away the supplies we used today, okay? then we can all line up at the door to go" they all give an okay before standing up and doing what they were told.

it didn't take long for the crafts center to look like it did at the beginning of the day, it was a good thing all of the kids were hungry enough to do as asked without much of a fight.

╚═*.·:·.✧ ✦✧.·:·.*═╝

dinners were handled differently than lunch and breakfast. at dinner everybody had to go to their assigned tables to sit with the people at their cabin, it was easier for the counselors this way as the kids would all be in one place to walk back to their respective cabins.

that's how you ended up with Colton seated to your left and Padme on your right while catching up on how your respective days went. well you and Padme were anyway, Colton had headphones to help block out the noise while he ate.

what stopped you mid-conversation with Padme however was something one of your older campers said right in front of you.

"Quinn what did you say?" you ask her completely shifting your attention from Padme to make sure you'd overheard the girl correctly.

"i was just telling Ren how you and Anakin were a cute couple" you felt your mouth open and close a few times at Quinn's words, searching for the right thing to say right now.

"omg Anakin asked you out!?" Padme practically shouts and you feel your whole body tense as the fight or flight urge to run away kicks in.

"No!" you shout back and then turn to the two girls in front of you "who said me and Anakin were a couple!? we are not dating" Quinn tilts her head in confusion.

"all the kids who have arts and crafts with you guys is saying it" she shrugs. "it's okay if you are, no one's judging you guys for it" you truly wanna curl up into a ball and wither away. maybe have the room swallow you whole while you're at it.

"yea i mean we all see how you guys act together it's pretty obvious" Ren adds and your jaw drops again rendered completely speechless.

Padme is snorting from beside you now very much unsuccessfully holding back laughter. "oh my gosh this cannot be happening right now" you stutter out, putting your hands over your burning cheeks just wanting to hide from everyone.

"hey it's time to clean up and head back to the cabin" Jasmine's voice interrupts your spinning mind. she was talking to the kids but it was also directed towards you and Padme.

the kids all do as she asks before you even get the chance to clarify to Ren and Quinn that you and Anakin were definitely not dating or together in any way for that matter. you turn to Padme with pure fear written on your face and she places a hand on your shoulder.

"hey it's fine relax" was it fine? what if Anakin heard the kids talking about it and thought you were the one who started that rumor. "y/n deep breaths hun, you look like you're gonna pass out"

"i'm freaking out Padme" she gives you an ‘i can tell’ look.

"i promise you it's not that deep, you know it's not true and kids are gonna believe what they want" she shrugs a little too calm for your liking.

but of course she wasn’t freaking out it's not like the rumor was about her and who she had a crush on, no it was about you and someone who had a crush on her. there's that torment the universe loved to inflict upon you.

Padme chucks out your trash for you and puts the tray away. then she takes both your shoulders into her hands and guides you out of the lodge hall back to the Naboo cabin.

it wasn't until you sat down on your bed while Padme took care of the kids by herself that you finally touched back down with reality. you look up at the bunk across from you where Jasmine is sat on her phone, living in her own world. as much you hated her for what she did you were very much envious of her right now.

oh what you would do to only have to communicate with your friends back home. home, god you missed Honey right now. a ping comes from your phone, talk about speak of the devil and she shall come.

'hey pookie ☺️ i miss you' it's times like this you swear your both telepathically connected because what're the odds.

'so much happened today Honey it's not even funny' you send back after hearting her message.

'tea time?' you let out a sigh and fall back on the bed as you type out a long rant going over today's events from breakfast to dinner.

'are we sure this is a bad thing?' the question makes your brows furrow.

'how on earth is it not' you wait for her to respond as the speech bubble appears, your attention briefly flickering to the the door as Padme enters.

"i turned on the lamp for Colton so don't worry about him alright?" she whispered to you, not wanting the other kids to overhear. you give her a quick thumbs up, currently too drained to use your voice. she just smiles back at you and closes the door to change, then reopens the door just a crack like it was last night.

your phone vibrates and turns your focus back onto your conversation with Honey. 'i mean i'm not saying it's a good thing, but if even the kids can see you belong together maybe it's a sign✨'

you fight back a smile 'now is not the time to be delulu Honey' she dislikes your message before responding.

'wrong it's always time to be delulu. it's called manifestation and it works😌' you smile fully this time and allow yourself to feel better.

'yea but what about Anakin's what’s he gonna think?' you argue, it was the only real thing that plagued your mind about this.

'we can't assume what he's going to think, you'll just have to wait and see babes' she's right of course but boy do you hate it. 'you could always bring it up yourself and talk about it with him tomorrow, if you're that concerned he'll think it's you who started the rumor. clear your name and all that'

you scrunch your face together at that suggestion. you hated confrontation, she knew it too, but you also knew this was the best plan you had so it was time to Women up and do just that.

╚═*.·:·.✧ ✦✧.·:·.*═╝

you tried your best to act normal during breakfast, especially when Anakin pulled a repeat of what he did yesterday. resting his head on your shoulder and effectively passing out. the entire time all you could think about was how this was probably fueling the kids' imaginations right now.

you could hardly even focus on eating which Ben and Rex both seemed to pick up on as they shared a concerned look. "are you alright y/n?" Rex was the first to ask.

"i'm fine yeah" you don't sound convincing but he takes it as a sign not to push.

"if you ever wanna talk we're all ears, or if you feel more comfortable texting you're always welcome to message." Ben reminds you and you give him a grateful smile.

"Yeah no matter how late it is, and i'm sure Anakin would agree. besides he's up later than all of us anyway so if anyone's likeliest to answer it's him" Rex is quick to add, wanting to double down on what Ben said.

"thanks guys, i appreciate it" you relax a bit as the pit in your stomach starts to settle, morphing into exhaustion instead. you don't even realize you're doing it until you see Rex elbowing Ben, a silent way to say 'are you seeing what i'm seeing' and Ben swats his arm away in a wordless way of saying 'of course i am'.

you had rested your head right on top of Anakin's, you fought the urge to pull away in fear it'd look suspicious. suspicious of what you weren't sure but it's what your brain said- or maybe it was your way of justifying staying in the position you were in.

his hair was soft and smelt of sandalwood and coconut, it was kind of calming. you wondered briefly if Anakin thought similarly of you when he rested his head on your shoulder, but quickly pushed the thought away when you realized he probably didn't pay attention to something like that with you.

you do eventually lift your head up only when it's time to get up and leave the lodge hall and start the day. today was at the very least going to be a little easier as you all would just be walking straight to the crafts center.

with a few shakes of your shoulder, Anakin wakes up. sitting up straight and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. completely oblivious to your previous actions which you were internally grateful for, mostly out of fear he'd think it was weird.

the walk to the crafts center was quiet between the three of you, a peaceful silence. you and Anakin walked side by side, Rex in front of you two a few feet ahead.

"do you know which project you wanna do for today with the kids?" Anakin asks through a yawn.

"yea i think we're going to do the paper bag kites, Padme said it's gonna be windy today so they could use them during free time later" he nods before getting lost in his own thoughts.

maybe you should bring it up now, this was probably as close to alone time as you'd get with him. you turn your head to examine him; he still looks slightly sleepy, there's a bit of a slouch to him with the way he's walking right now making you promptly decide against talking to him about it. who were you to ruin his sleepy mood after all?

the three of you walk inside the Crafts center and start setting up all the supplies on each table for the kids. it's not long before they all start filing in, and as usual you lead; today was a much easier craft than yesterday's honestly. most of it consisted of just decorating the paper bag to their liking, then either Anakin, Rex, or you would attach a long string to it for them.

the kids liked this way better as they had much more creative freedom, you took a mental note of that so you guys could plan accordingly.

you're helping one of the little boys, Darnell, cut out a bat shape to glue on his bag when you hear a few kids talking about you and Anakin again. it makes your heart stop, you have to force yourself to focus and finish quickly before you start to panic too much.

"hey y/n is there any more purple glitter" one of the girls at the table, Sasha, asks and you blink away your thoughts to process her question.

"um, i'm not sure i'll check for you" you hand Darnell his bat cut-out and head to the back where the supply closet is, biting the inside of your cheek nervously and silently praying to whatever god will listen that Anakin doesn't hear any of the kids saying you two are dating until you can address it with him.

your digging around the closet when another person joins you. you turn to look behind you meeting eyes with Anakin who smiles at you.

"what are you looking for?" he asks while grabbing some extra glue sticks, it's honestly insane how fast kids go through those things.

"purple glitter, do you know where it would be?" he points to the top shelf above you, and sure enough there's a line of different glitters. in rainbow order too so you could only guess you had Rex to thank for that.

you grumble disgruntledly to yourself while standing on your tiptoes to try and reach it. "you know you can ask for help right" Anakin huffs from behind you.

"why, i've got this" you can feel the amused stare from behind you as you prove to him you very much don't have this. you're about to step on the bottom shelf for a bit of a boost before you stop completely at the feeling of Anakin's chest against your back.

he reaches over and grabs the glitter easily and holds it low enough for you to grab. your brain buffers for a moment before you actually do grab it and by the time you turn around he's already heading back out of the closet, glue sticks in hand.

you head over to Sasha, taking her small tube of empty purple glitter and refilling it. your mind is still reeling from what just happened, this man was going to send you into cardiac arrest at this rate. you force yourself to take some deep breaths and calm down after handing her the little glitter tube and walking to put the rest back in the closet.

was it too far to be thinking about how much you enjoyed the slight pressure and weight of his chest against the back of you? well it's not like anyone can hear your thoughts so you allow yourself to indulge just this once.

╚═*.·:·.✧ ✦✧.·:·.*═╝

the next few periods go back quickly and simultaneously slow as molasses. without a doubt you overheard kids talk about you and Anakin as if you were a happy couple multiple times each period. the final push for you was when Anakin was walking by the same table you were during clean-up before lunch and heard kids talking about it.

he didn't say anything but there was no way he didn't hear it so you decided to confront the situation on the way to lunch. you let Rex lead the line of kids out this time and walked at the back with Anakin, it was time to stop procrastinating and get this over with.

"are you alright?" Anakin asks and you tilt your head slightly. "you've been acting weird all day" he crosses his arms unwilling to back off even if you try to deny it.

you press your lips together into a thin line before speaking up "i… it's just the kids have been- have you heard what they've been saying?" you mentally slap yourself, of course he heard, and even if he didn't you need to just spit it out.

he just shrugs nonchalantly, which gives you nothing. was that an 'i don't know i haven't been paying attention' shrug, or an 'i have heard but don't care' shrug?

"they're all saying we're dating, and each time i deny it they only seem to think we're dating even more." you finally spit it out and feel a huge weight on your shoulders lift off.

"oh, that's it?" you come to a full stop and so does he, why is he being so nonchalant about this what the hell? your brows crease together.

"that's not weird to you, or annoying?" you ask and he licks his lips in thought.

"i mean some of the kids at my cabin brought it up yesterday, i denied it and they didn't believe me so i sorta just accepted the fact they wouldn't believe me." he explains and now you feel dumb, all that overthinking for what.

"shouldn't we address this with them?" this time his face scrunches up in confusion.

"why? they're clearly not gonna believe us, honestly we're better off just saying we are then maybe they'll let it go" you blink dumbly up at him, the last part of his sentence on repeat in your head.

does he not realize they wouldn't be letting it go at all, sure they would move on but in their little ten to fourteen-year-old brains it would be a confirmed fact. not like to them it wasn’t already though… maybe he did have a point. or more accurately you just liked the idea of confirming to everyone you were dating.

"do you really think that would work?" his eyes twinkle with something you're not quite sure of before he answers.

"i mean it's worth a shot right? let's just pretend we're dating and then they'll leave us alone" okay woah wait a minute, how'd this go from just saying you were dating to pretending you were dating? to be fair it's synonymous right? but when he says pretending, does he mean just a simple 'yea we are' or fully method acting the situation?

you decide to just take the chance, what harm could come out of this right? if it was just confirming then you could live with that, and if it was more than that at least you could satisfy your little crush on him. yea he likes Padme but she was very clear on the not liking him back department.

"okay yea, let's do it" he holds his hand out to shake on it. "looks like you just got yourself a fake girlfriend" you joke, shaking his hand. "Honey is going to have a field day with this" you laugh once your hand slips out of his and you see him look at you with both shock and confusion.

your brows crease worried that you said something wrong. "Honey is someone's name?" he asks bewildered. oh, that's right you haven't brought Honey up in conversation with Anakin before.

"yeah she's my best friend and that’s her name, why?" you watch him go through a shit ton of emotions all at once before he settles on a relieved smile.

"nothing, don't worry about it. let's go to lunch" he turns and walks ahead of you, you don't let him get too far before you pick up the pace so you're once again walking side by side.

a/n: here she is the much anticipated Part 2 ☺️ i hope you enjoy!!

i only proofread this once instead of the dozen times i usually do so if you spot a mistake please pay no mind 💀👩‍🦯

see you all next week for the final part 💋💋

Tag list: @anakinskwkler @anakinstwinklebunny @divineani @huayan @poppysrin @bxbyysstuff @dollhobigem @skywalkercinema @corio-letit-snow @avatarobsessedgirly @kelsxxyawn @tartine-de-pain

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