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#two characters who I thought had nothing romantic between them just said they broke each other's hearts
falderaletcetera · 1 year
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simultaneously delighted that platonic love and relationships are being recognised in media and anxious that there are fewer obvious cues to read to indicate romance or the lack of such
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jarujaruj · 1 year
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Some Repliku, Riku, and SoRiku thoughts
Was reading through this article again, highly recommend: (8) Blowing Off Some Steam on Tumblr
And I realized I had some further analysis to contribute to this topic. Specifically with regards to how Repliku fits into all this.
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I think it's interesting how Riku gives Way to the Dawn to Repliku. People already pointed out that it's like Riku doesn't need it anymore at this stage of his character arc (dawn has broke, he's embraced his right to exist in the Realm of Light), but Repliku still needed it. He still needed to reach his light in the dark. To reach his dawn. To help the person he knew he could never have a real relationship with, despite her meaning so much to him.
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I think Riku empathized with that. I don't think it's a coincidence that both Riku and Repliku make very prominent self-sacrifices in this story.
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(Notice the light-entwined-with-dark visual parallels here)
I also think it's very interesting how Riku instinctively knows why Repliku was sacrificing himself, and who for. Namine wasn't a topic Repliku and Riku discussed even once in any of their scenes together. That was always a Repliku/Sora discussion point. Yet Riku instinctively knows there's only one context in which he, the real Riku, would sacrifice himself like that, so he connects the dots almost immediately. Hence why Riku has the endgame scene where he picks up Namine. It's him honoring the last will and testament of his fellow hopeless romantic.
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Also, and this might be me stretching a bit, but I feel like this final scene between Riku and Repliku can be read a very particular way. Repliku tells Riku someone else needs the vessel more, and that Riku knows what he means. Riku immediately connects the dots using his knowledge of his own heart and the person he cares about most to figure out what Repliku intended.
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And finally, we get the last moment of this scene. Both boys are staring at each other, both are thinking about the person they love most and what they'd be willing to sacrifice for them. It's a long moment of silence, as there's nothing to be said. They understand each other completely. And then, as Repliku fades away, he gives one final sentiment.
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You could say this is him saying good luck in the battles ahead, which would be valid, but given the context of this scene, and the long stretch of silent understanding that comes just before this line, I'm inclined to think he's talking about Riku's own love story. Repliku's reached the end of his tale and done all he can do for the one he loves, but Riku's story is yet unwritten. Knowing this, Repliku's parting words are to wish his Other good luck in the pursuit of his happily ever after.
That's my two cents on the topic, anyway.
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elialys · 1 year
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I’ve finished season 2 of The Newsreader two hours and a half ago, and I’ve yet to be able to talk about my feels with ANYONE, so I’m doing what I do in most cases when I have too many feels about something—opening a new word document to write things down.
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This season genuinely surprised me so many times. I had no actual expectations, but I had thoughts on what might happen from the season promo and the episodes' synopses. Most of the time, turned out I was absolutely wrong, and I’ve never been happier to be wrong.
This is not very coherent, more ‘string of thoughts’ than anything else, and I’m skipping soooo many things but here are my main thoughts/emotions on each episode:
Episode 3 Greed and Fear
I knew it would be about Helen’s past being dug out and was so worried. Didn’t expect to be laughing so much?? Like, only a couple of scenes but god those were genuinely funny. Gerry’s wife telling Helen’s about her torn vagina from giving birth? Lindsay’s song about Charlie being hit hard in the economic crash? Absolute gold.
The "hey let’s get married to give that columnist something else to write about” idea from Dale and Helen’s reaction to it went about as well as I expected it to go.
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I have to say, I did not expect the Helen & Charlie’s interactions to get that real that fast but I…kinda liked it? I still think Charlie’s a shit head but I loved that they made him feel like an actual human? Genuinely fond of that scene of him and Helen in his office waiting for midnight, with her on his couch telling him about her past, it just felt genuine.
Don’t get me started on Helen and Dale on HER couch at the end of the episode though. Just, I want to live there, in that scene. With them cuddling on that couch, and nothing bad ever ever happening to their couple, ever.
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Episode 4 The Hungry Truth
This episode was a punch in the gut. The way the approached the Bicentennial event and the Aboriginal side of the story was so poignant and heartbreaking. That shot of them watching the cheery News at Six promo at the end instead of the planned interview with Lynus was captivating in a ‘I feel sick in the stomach’ kind of way.
Helen’s convictions and hard work being cast aside and spat on again at the last second was infuriating, she tries SO HARD to stand up for those who don’t have a voice and she hits walls every step of the way.
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Dale’s real proposal? I'm still recovering. When I read the initial synopsis, I worried he was going to do something *big*, but he didn’t. It was intimate and romantic and sincere, and holy hell couldn’t have happened at a worse time ??? I know there was no way for him to really ‘hide’ his preparations from Helen at that point but ugh.
That end scene had me in tears tbh, both Sam and Anna just killed me. Because you can tell Helen loves Dale and he loves her yet she turns him down and everything hurts?
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Episode 5 A Model Daughter
Let me just say I’ve loved Kay’s character. I love the extra depth it brought to the Walters family, and I love how she allowed for the very real issue of heroin addiction to be explored this season. And obviously, I love how her story intertwined with Helen’s and the way it made this episode unfold, like, DAAAAMN.
But first of all, Helen and Dale. Oh the pain. Oh the sweet sweet pain. I binged so I barely had time to process any of my feelings, but I felt all the feelings. It was dramatic without being overdramatic. Again, all of it felt so human. I wish we’d seen more actual conversation between Helen and Dale with Helen explaining exactly why she doesn’t want marriage and why she broke it off completely, but there’s enough there to get it and just hurt with them.
That scene of them in the make up room, after Dale realizes there’s been some ‘flirting’ going on between her and Charlie? SO many things are said without them needing to actually say them, it just hangs in the air and OH THE DELICIOUS PAIN.
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That award party was so good, they were all so drunk and I was so worried about Dale. And then the whole Gerry, Tim, Dale thing was wholesome for about two and half seconds. I wasn’t sure when the ‘gay club’ scene would happen or how Dale would end up there, I didn’t expect things to happen that way, it was like watching a car crash in slow motion. I feel sad for people who ship Dale and Tim because I’m sure this is not how they hoped Tim’s character would come back—and that the random dude Dale wakes up next to is not who they were hoping for. Dale’s whole spiraling out this episode was just painful in a painfully perfect way.
Everything about Kay’s interview, every character involved…ugh so damn good. The interview itself made me cry, but that’s probably because of my own issues haha. Kay going to Helen and begging her to take her part off the story, not knowing Lindsay decided to make the story ALL about her and her parents against Helen’s assurances that they wouldn't do that.
Helen’s demeanor sitting at that desk, finally deciding that enough is enough. HELEN STANDING UP, GETTING THE TAPES AND DESTROYING THE TAPES WHILE WALKING OUT.
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Actual Queen. Might be my favorite sequence in the entire season, but don’t take my word for it yet. Of course she goes to Charlie and jumps on him right after that but everyone’s human hahahaaaaa.
Episode 6 Fireworks
I don’t even know what to say, I’m still trying to process this. They gave us time with everyone, and I loved every second of it, but I still begged for more time with Helen and Dale, individually and together. Now I get what Sam meant by ‘Dead Dale’. Oh yes he’s the Big Guy now with the Big House, King of News and all that but he’s clearly dead inside too, so that’s nice I guess.
The way they resolved the issue of “Helen and Charlie” being a thing in under 3 minutes combined was beautiful to be honest. I was losing it watching that short, extremely distressing montage of Charlie and Helen like, might have clawed at my face a bit. But the way she threw him out of her life the second he dared say some shit about Dale? Beautiful.
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Lindsay needs to die in a fire though. I’m so glad Dennis punched him in the face but someone needs to push him in front of a bus. That scene between him and Helen in his office was just VILE. What a pathetic excuse for a human being, all these things he did to her and SAID to her, I am not okay. And him sabotaging her at her new job like, DIE ALREADY OMG.
Was it really Gerry who told the columnist about Tim though??? Because that scene between Gerry and Dale, all unspoken? GOD. This damn show.
Gotta end with Helen and Dale. I am so upset. I think/hope they will find their way back together WHEN we get a 3rd season, and I believe them learning to live apart is needed and necessary, BUT GOD I AM GENUINELY HURTING. Helen’s desperate proposal was so upsetting. The fact that Dale was too dead inside to tell her more than “no” and “just do your job” like.
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I don’t even blame him because he’s a hot mess trapped in his own catatonia but THE PAIN. That airport scene, someone put me out of my misery please, how dare they use THAT song (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, anyone??). Also, I realize I’m extremely biased given how much I love Anna Torv but??? She doesn’t say a single word in that scene as she watches Dale on the tv yet you know exactly what she’s thinking and feeling and everything hurts.
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Noelene and Rob? So sorry I didn’t mention you at all in this post yet, you were so lovely and precious and so necessary for my emotional sanity, absolutely love how they “mirrored” and contrasted Helen and Dale, even if it adds to my pain as a Helen/Dale shipper who just watched three failed proposals in the span of 8 hours.
This show better be renewed. I need them to fix this mess. Wonderfully crafted mess but still a mess.
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teklarn · 3 years
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hi, this is my first ever ask so I'm not sure I'm doing this correctly, if that's the case I'm sorry; I don't know how tumblr works just yet >:')
would it be possible for you to write something about bakugo, pining incredibly hard for fem!reader and initially hating how strongly he feels about her? because they're not even friends, they only exchange few words occasionally and she doesn't even glance at his way whereas he slowly finds himself unable to divert his eyes from her during classes? shes always with damn deku and his friends and doesn't even seem interested in him at all but his heart can't ignore the way she looks at him proudly whenever they spar together, the way she sends him small confident smiles as they fight each other with all they have; so he thinks that maybe, maybe he might have a chance. basically bakugo liking reader so much he's completely lost in self-hatred because he always thought feelings were for weak romantics and not great people like him, but everytime he sees reader doing some badass things (again, like sparring with him and basically matching his skills etc...) he's reminded of how badly he likes reader? but when he finally accepts he's fallen for reader, after ignoring and trying to forget about how she makes him feel, he masters up the courage to confess? and it's a very clumsy confession because he's awkward and has no idea how to deal with those feelings? and he tries so hard to make reader realise he's never been more serious than now? and reader is startled and speechless before rejecting him? and at that point he's just completely humiliated, so he nods and walks away.
it might be a little dramatic but I've always been into unrequited love and one-sided pining. thank you, its okay if you don't want to write about this, i'll understand <33
𝓫𝓻𝓾𝓽𝓪𝓵 - 𝓴. 𝓫𝓪𝓴𝓾𝓰𝓸𝓾
character(s): katsuki bakugou x fem!reader (my hero academia) 
reblogs are greatly appreciated! 
a/n: AHHHHH this is so cute <33 honestly this is super exciting for me and this ask made me so happy, lovey. i’m fairly new to tumblr, i’m usually just a reader but i wanted to migrate here from wattpad so this made me so happy. here u are my love <33 i hope this lives up to what u wanted !! :)) a bit lengthy, but i had a lot of fun writing it !!! 
summary: bakugou finds he’s rejecting his feelings for you in fear of becoming weak, however he just can’t seem to ignore you. 
genre: fluffy, fluffier than the clouds istg, however the clouds are sprinking a little teeny weeny droplet of angst. 
warnings: cursing (bakugou, duhh), one-sided pining (on bakugou’s part) second hand embarrassment (on bakugou’s part bc we can all agree he’s a complete idiot when it comes to trying to get someone’s attention), just bakugou being a jackass, i gave the reader a quirk 
word count: 3,859 
(pls excuse any typos or mistakes, i edited to the best of my ability but i miss some things sometimes !) 
- - - 
part 2 is here my loves <3
brutal. it was utterly ruthless. he couldn’t focus, couldn’t think right. his hands were already exceptionally sweaty, but gosh when he saw your damn face, he was ready to explode. literally. 
what the hell was it about you? was it your stupid smile? or the way you just seemed to carry every battle on your back? was it all the undeniably sweet things you do for others ‘just because’? 
it made him angry that he thought about you, but gosh he couldn’t wait to see you every day. 
just like any other day, bakugou found himself staring at the large door to the classroom, awaiting the moment you would bounce into his day, skirt shifting around your legs, bag slung loosely around your shoulders. 
his leg was bouncing eagerly. 
bakugou didn’t know when the feelings came. his cheeks just started flaring up all of a sudden and one day you just looked...different. you hadn’t done anything different to yourself. it was just him. not that he would ever admit that, to you or anybody else. 
you were insufferable. you were stupid and obnoxious and so...so damn... 
“y/n! come look at this!” 
you’d come walking into class just as expected, and as soon as you did, that stupid nerd had called you over. 
it didn’t help that deku sat right behind him, either. the two of you had recently gotten closer. bakugou noticed it last month when he yelled at the two of you to shut up about all might and get to work. he’d turned around to find you leaning over deku, hands resting on his shoulders while you peered at his phone. 
“sorry, bakugou,” you’d said, barely acknowledging him. you had waved him off like an annoying fly. is that all you were to him? some nuisance that got in the way of your oh-so-entertaining conversations with deku? 
all he heard nearly every day was your chipper voice talking to deku. always, “oh my gosh, midoriya, did you see the fight edgeshot was in last night?” or “midoriya! i have something to add to our quirk analysis book!” 
that was the one that took the cake. you two dorks shared a notebook, occasionally passed between one another, and filled it with junk about quirks and pro heroes. but no matter how much he tried to tune you out, no matter how he tried to zone off and think about something else, you were always there. it made him want to vomit how much he thought about you. 
you were doing an adorable shuffle over to midoriya’s desk and leaned over the table as you usually did while he angled his phone your way. “did you see this hero report?” 
deku let you slip the phone out of his grasp to get a better look. 
“no,” you breathed. “was this just recent?” 
“yeah,” deku said, taking the phone back. “last night.” 
“holy—” 
“can you guys shut up over there?” bakugou said, his voice quaking. 
“sorry, kacchan.” deku scrolled through the article. 
dammit, bakugou thought. “i wasn’t talking to you, nerd. i was talking to shitface over here.” he jerked his head towards you. his eyes flared in anger when he saw you were looking down at your phone, now focused in on the article yourself. “i was talking to you, asshat!” 
your eyes flicked up to his. you looked around for a moment before slowly pointing to yourself as if to say, “me?” 
his face scrunched. “yeah, you. you’re so damn loud.” gosh, he hated how his voice was cracking, how he could feel his ears and cheeks lighting up in a swollen, cherry red. his stomach flipped. 
she’s looking at you, gosh i’m sweating. i’m going to throw up. she’s so gorgeous. what the hell? they’re ugly as shit, i don’t think anything of them. 
his eyes bore into yours. 
“did you...need something?” 
your voice broke his trance. 
“kacchan, are you okay? you dozed off there for a second. you look like you’re burning up.” 
bakugou looked to deku who was currently stretching out of his seat, arm extended. he pressed the back of his hand to bakugou’s forehead. “you’re really warm, kacchan. should we call recovery girl?” 
it took him a moment to realize what was happening. his vision got blurry every time he was with you. bakugou smacked deku’s hand away. “i’m fine!” his voice lifted at the end, cracking. “i’m not sick. don’t you think i’d take better care of myself?” 
“i don’t doubt you take good care of yourself, kacchan, but everyone gets sick once in a while. there’s nothing wrong with that.” 
“i never get sick!” besides, if i got sick, i wouldn’t want you to be the one taking care of me. 
he was still pissed. he was always in a bad mood, however, more so right now because you’d gone straight back to your phone and that stupid hero article that was supposedly so damn interesting. 
soon enough, the bell rang, and you were seated at your desk. it was jirou’s old spot, however, after much convincing, you two had switched spots so you could be closer to deku. just a few months of getting close to the idiot and you two are suddenly best friends. jirou hadn’t minded one tiny bit, claiming she needed a break from how loud that section of the room was. 
late as always, aizawa came trudging into your room. thankfully, his entire body wasn’t obscured by a yellow sleeping bag that smelled of something unwashed and coffee and gasoline. (for some reason, aizawa’s clothes always smelled of it.) 
“lucky for you,” he began while shuffling papers on his desk, “all of you are doing training for these first periods.”
the class cheered in perfect unison, followed by their individual chatter. you had erupted with glee along with them, and bakugou was sure he felt his heart clench and then explode. just a tiny bit. but he shoved the feeling down just as quickly as it had come up. 
“go out to the field and wait for further instructions. don’t make a sound in the halls otherwise, i’ll expel all of you.” 
this shut everyone up in almost a second, the sound draining out just as water does. the first years trailed out into the hall, single-file mimicking the positions baby ducklings would take when following their mother. 
bakugou found himself walking faster when he saw you take up your spot in the line, hoping to land his spot right behind you. 
unfortunately, this idiot who considered himself bakugou’s friend tugged him back. “bakugou!” a familiar voice rasped. 
“shitty hair, let go of me.” 
“hey man, chill out. wanna partner up if we’re doing training in pairs?” 
bakugou glanced at the line, the spot that should have been reserved for him now taken up by sato. 
bakugou tugged his sleeve from kirishima’s hand. “whatever,” he snapped. 
“sounds good!” kirishima flashed him a toothy grin and a thumbs-up. the bubbly feeling in bakugou’s chest died down as he stood behind sato, the overwhelming scent of sugar filling his nose, various candies that would go straight to your arteries. 
“you smell like ass, damn,” bakugou remarked, squeezing his nostrils together. 
luckily, sato was tall enough to not hear the insult, as he towered over bakugou by just another head. the line began moving like a sloppy train down to the change rooms. 
bakugou scoffed as he listened to your giggle. he should be making you laugh. 
“you’ll be given partners randomly from this box.” aizawa held up a familiar red box. “inside are all your names. i’ll select one, then that person will come up and pick another name from the box. that will be your assigned partner for today. as soon as you have your assigned partner, i want you guys to get straight to work.” 
denki raised a hand, speaking before being called on. “sensei, why are we getting random partners? we’re always allowed to choose.” 
“in the real world, you’re going to come across different villains every day. you’ll never improve your skills or your quirks if you keep fighting the same person.” 
denki sighed, slumping back. 
dammit, bakugou thought, gritting his teeth together. there wasn’t any way he wanted to be partners with you. it’s obvious he’d win the fight in the first few seconds. 
yes! exactly right! bakugou internally grinned. his fluctuating feelings had finally soothed themselves. you were just another extra, and he had no room for you in his head. 
aizawa took a moment to fiddle with the slips of paper inside the box. soon enough, he pulled out a name. “todoroki.” 
todoroki walked up, digging his hand into the box when aizawa held it out for him. he pulled out a name, delicately unraveling the slip. “uraraka, you’re my partner.” he deadpanned. 
the brunette grinned. “great!” 
the two found their own spot on the field, and the class’s attention was once again diverted to their grouchy teacher as he pulled out another name. 
“bakugou.” 
bakugou strutted up without a worry in his mind. he pulled a name to find... 
“y/n,” he said, voice a low growl. instead of the annoying fluttering in his chest, his eyes met yours, and they were filled with a different, new ferocity. he crumpled the paper in one hand, letting it twirl to the ground. 
you looked at him, unsmiling. your eyes gave away nothing, and to bakugou’s knowledge, all you saw in him was another opponent. 
it took him a moment to realize you had both locked eyes for about a minute. perhaps the two of you would have stayed as you were if aizawa hadn’t snapped at the two of you to get moving as yaomomo’s name was called. 
bakugou was on his way to the back of the field, you followed close behind. while there was plenty of room still, he chose a secluded area. while it was still open enough to view everything going on so nobody got hurt, it was often nobody chose to train here. for whatever reason, you weren’t sure. 
“wait up, bakugou,” you said. after a bit, you caught up to him. 
“if you can’t keep up, then...” then what? he looked at you from the side of his eye. “then don’t keep up...” gosh, here came the embarrassing, disgusting feeling of redness in his cheeks. 
you laughed. “what?” 
“shut up.” 
“you’re an idiot, bakugou.” 
“i said shut the hell up!”
“what, so you can call me shitface in front of the entire class but you get all pissed when i call you an idiot?” 
so you had heard him! 
he tongued his cheek, curling his hands around an invisible ball, explosions sparking in the centers of his palms. “don’t expect me to hold back, dumbass.” 
“i wouldn’t dream of it.” 
gosh he loved that about you. 
bakugou caught his thought in the air. 
ahem...gosh he hated that about you. 
you both charged in at the same time. his cry was louder than yours, but you struck first. 
he admired your quirk. while he’d overhead you explaining all the drawbacks it had, it was strong, and you were strong because you knew how to control it. 
purple arrows flew from your arms, going in your desired directions. if you lost focus for one moment, they’d vanish and weaken. if you focused too hard or long, you’d be plagued by a splitting headache. 
he’d spent too much time obsessing over your strengths and weaknesses.  
your arrows were weightless, however they were solid objects capable of carrying any mass, any thing, and worked as extensions of your body. 
the violet arrow had shot out at him, twisting around his right gauntlet and crushing inwards. it’d snaked around him without him noticing, slithering along his back. 
bakugou struggled to get the air-light arrow off his wrist, but it was no use. he glared back, only to see your focused, furrowed brows. he’d expected to see your cocky ass smiling. it was nice to see you weren’t. 
that was one thing that had also caught his eye. you never underestimate your opponent, but you never underestimate yourself, either. 
you conjured a larger arrow. it snaked around your right arm as you hurled bakugou into the air, releasing your grasp on him. you shot your other arrow into the air, and it raced into the sky. 
it swerved. bakugou’s eyes went wide as the tip of the arrow came down on his chest. if they weren’t intangible things, he would have been bleeding out. 
another drawback: the arrows, while they could solidify, they couldn’t do any actual damage. you had to use your surroundings to inflict harm on your opponent. 
he coughed out as the arrow shot him into the ground. he hadn’t even touched you, and here he was, vulnerable and so...so... 
you stood over him, hands on your hips. 
vulnerable and so lost in that adorable, winning smile. 
“get away from me, idiot,” he grunted and turned onto his side, his back crying out in pain. 
“i think i won this fight, bakugou,” you chirped, rocking on your heels. 
“don’t get arrogant, shithead. you won’t be winning against me anymore.” 
you grinned, arrows shooting out behind your back. 
the dorms were exceptionally quiet. you were typing away in the common room, bakugou on the couch reading. everyone was off doing something else. it was the weekend, luckily. he’d expected you to go bounding out with everyone else, however you’d stayed back, claiming you had some homework to catch up on. 
bakugou being classic bakugou had stayed back. he was excited to have the dorm to himself, but your dumbass was stuck here with him. couldn’t you have done your typing in your room? 
you were so aggressive on that poor keyboard. 
“oi, quiet down with your shit typing.” 
you barely grunted in response. 
“don’t ignore me.” 
“i heard you, mom.” 
“the hell did you call me?” 
no response. only your aggressive typing is a bit less aggressive. 
“i can still hear it,” bakugou remarked, eyes fixed on your back. 
“‘kay,” you said. your typing slowed a tad, and your pressure on the keys lessened. 
it was quiet now. bakugou should go back to his book. he shouldn’t still be looking for a reason to talk to you. 
the pages crinkled in his fingers. he bit his tongue, keeping his snarky comments in. 
“you’re a fucking idiot, you know that? doing your damn homework. it’s due tomorrow.” 
you turned, pursing your lips. “and how would you know what i’m working on? are you stalking me?” 
“i- what? no. you’re such an idiot, of course i’m not—” 
“i’m messing with you,” you breathed, face un-moving. 
“o-oh,” bakugou stuttered out. he blinked awkwardly. 
“gosh, what’s gotten your panties in a twist?” 
“you’re annoying.” 
“you’re a jackass.” you returned to your work. bakugou settled with reading in his room. reading consisted of jumping onto his bed just as the stereotypical high school girl would in an eighties movie. he buried his face in his pillow, face burning bright red. he cursed you for making him feel this way, and hated himself even more for how much he enjoyed it. 
the next day came swiftly. you’d left early to go train with midoriya. there were many improvements needed to be made, but you weren’t doing too bad.
you propelled yourself forwards with an arrow, and your green-haired friend shot back, lightning flickering around his body. 
landing back on the ground, you panted and swiped the sweat from your brow. from the corner of your eye, you could make out both kirishima and bakugou coming to the training grounds. 
bakugou stopped in his tracks, frowning at the sight of you. 
it was evident he hated you a bit more than everyone else. he was always making his annoying comments, he was always snubbing you. you saw no reason to talk to him, so you didn’t. either way, even if you tried, he would still get angry for no reason. 
it’d taken you quite some time to get used to his obnoxious attitude. tuning him out had been the best course of action, in your opinion. 
the way you and midoriya had bonded was through bakugou, in a way. the first day of school, bakugou had snapped at you for tripping over your laces and nearly crashing into him. later that day, midoriya had stepped up and apologized for his old friend’s actions. 
you two had never been too close until now. the recent incidents going on with the league of villains had snagged your attention, and it seemed you were the only person who didn’t mind listening to him ramble on about heroes. 
you were just as passionate and just as dorky, but midoriya could talk your ear off. you never minded, and he always took the hint when you didn’t want to listen. 
you brought your leg up, twirling in the air with ease and watched your heel collide with midoriya’s face. he grunted, stumbling back. 
you were about to charge in again when a hand landed on your shoulder, big and rough. you turned to see bakugou standing behind you, a scowl on his face. 
“fight me again,” he demanded. 
“excuse me?” 
“don’t act like you didn’t hear me.” 
“i’m in the middle of fighting midoriya right now.” 
“so?”
“so if you think that i’m just going to ditch my friend because you want to fight, i won’t.” 
“you’re being stubborn.” 
“i’m being reasonable. back off.” 
“y/n?” midoriya rubbed his jaw—right where you had struck him. “what’s going on?” he jogged up to you and bakugou. 
“he wants to fight me in the middle of our fight. it’s nothing serious. don’t worry about it, midoriya. let’s just ignore him.” 
bakugou made a sound someone would only make if they were choking. “the hell did you just say?” 
“we’re ignoring you!” you waved him off and placed your hand on midoriya’s shoulder, wandering away. 
-
it was new to him, not getting what he wanted. and what he wanted right now was to be around you. again, it wasn’t like he would ever admit that to himself. 
“dude? you good? i thought you went off to fight y/n. i was so ready to cheer you on, dude,” kirishima’s chipper voice piped in. “she’s not fighting with you? why not?” 
“the dumbass was just probably scared of getting her ass beat by me.” 
“dude...that sounds really weird.” 
“whatever, shitty hair. let’s go.” 
the clock ticked. his ears were on fire. again. 
gosh, it was happening again. it was all you. his face scrunched up, his voice would surely crack if someone were to ask him what was wrong. 
bakugou was once again stuffing his face in his pillow, hiding his expression from no one. why did you have to go train with that shitty nerd? why were you always around deku? deku, of all people. what did he have? why was he so great? 
bakugou was a man of many insecurities, but losing to deku? that was possibly his biggest fear. 
perhaps he wasn’t the nicest, or the most soft person out there. bakugou could admit that, at least. but he was smarter than deku. he was stronger and he was better and people liked him more. right? 
what was so...amazing about deku? 
it was often bakugou would find himself obsessing over little, insignificant things such as these. 
you were what he was thinking of most of the time. just yesterday, he’d gotten a test returned. he was expecting an eighty at the lowest, but more so expecting a high ninety. it’d come back exactly sixty percent. 
sixty. percent.
bakugou vividly remembered staring at your face. he also remembered not being able to focus because of it. his grades were dropping because of you. 
you were the only person to be able to do this to him. 
his heart grew quiet, but the pounding of his didn’t cease. he lifted his head. 
“alright, fine,” he said aloud. “you win, y/n. you win.” 
he settled with getting over his feelings the way he’d read them in his collection of romance manga. 
bakugou left his room and knocked on your door. (he was banging on it, but it was his nice way of knocking.) 
you answered, looking around awkwardly. “yes?” 
his hands shook. how was this supposed to go? sure, he’d seen it in romance movies and read it in books but it was always easy to tell whether the guy would get the girl or not. 
in this instance, bakugou was clueless. for once in his life, he was clueless. you stood, tapping your foot with a hand on your hip, waiting expectantly for him to tell you why he was here. 
“um.” he scratched behind his neck. “you uh- i uh...i’m sorry i called you a, um...a shitface.” 
“okay? is that it?” 
what? come on! it was already unlike him to apologize. what else did you want from him? 
“did you...i’ve been thinking, maybe? maybe we could..train together as...friends?”  
“...what?” 
gosh dammit, as friends? 
“whatever, um...the uh...” oh gosh, what did the boys do in all the books he’d read? right! bakugou stretched out his arm, resting his forearm on the door, leaning to the side. 
although he didn’t, really, because like the clumsy jackass he was, bakugou missed completely and nearly toppled to the floor. 
this earned a snicker from you. 
his stomach flipped and churned, and bakugou found himself unable to reach your eyes. “uh, would you maybe..? okay, um. do you want to go on a date with me? you absolute fucking dumbass.” 
your eyes flew wide. “...what?” 
“no, that’s not what i— i mean i didn’t mean the last part. um, i meant the first part. the first two parts. the part where i was asking you if you wanted to go on a date with me and then before that when i said maybe because it’s still a maybe until you say yes. or...or no because that’s an option too.” 
he swallowed. 
you resisted the urge to mock him, just a little bit. “um, bakugou, listen.” 
he leaned closer. “yes?” 
“it’s going to be a no. i’m sorry, but i’m just not interested in you like that.” 
it took him a moment to register everything. his shoulders sagged. gosh that was brutal. 
“oh, alright.” 
“yeah, uh, sorry about that.” you offered him a weak smile, still a bit shocked yourself. he did his best to return it, and when you closed the door, his face was ready to explode. 
it was so damn difficult to deal with these feelings, but maybe it was better this way. knowing where you stood on your end, he knew he wouldn’t miss out on anything. 
perhaps it was alright to admire from afar. things could happen in the future, right? 
right now, he’d just wait. for a long, long time. bakugou pressed a hand to his chest, feeling his erratic heartbeat. maybe it was alright to not have you right now. perhaps he could better himself for you. just for you. 
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alisonsfics · 3 years
Text
scare you away
pairing: steve rogers x reader
summary: steve rogers has always been someone you looked up to. you always ignored your romantic feelings for him because he was much older than you. when he starts ignoring you, you realize you can’t hide your feelings anymore. (requested by anon)
word count: 1.6k
warnings: significant age gap, swearing
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You walked into the kitchen, still only barely awake. You were greeted by Steve, who was chopping up an apple for breakfast. “Someone’s tired” he said, smirking as he looked over at you. You just leaned into his side, too tired to hold yourself up.
He chuckled and wrapped his arm around your shoulders. You were so small in comparison to the muscular super soldier. You felt the butterflies appear in your stomach, just like they always did when Steve was around.
It was a stupid crush. He was old enough to be your dad even if you ignored the fact that he was technically over a hundred years old. You knew that he probably thought of you as just a kid.
What you didn’t know about was the huge crush Steve had on you. It made him feel horrible and creepy. You were so young and innocent, and he was an old man lusting over you. He was raised in a time where it was taboo to marry someone that was more than five years younger/older than you, but there he was: in love with a nineteen year old.
“Do you want to spar after breakfast?” He suggested, really only desperate for any excuse to see you. You slowly nodded your head. Your sleepiness was visible to the eye, from your half-open eyes to how you were practically moving in slow motion.
Steve couldn’t help but chuckle and point towards the coffee machine. “I made coffee. It might wake you up” he said, amused as he watched your eyes light up.
You quickly walked over to the cabinet and reached for a coffee mug. You struggled to reach, even on your tiptoes. “Here you go, sweetheart” Steve said, easily grabbing it and handing it to you.
Once the coffee had passed your lips, you felt ready for the day. He handed you a bowl of apple slices. “Is this where you give me a lecture about how important breakfast is?” You teased, gladly accepting the bowl.
A small grin slipped onto his lips. To him, you were the human form of perfection. He loved hearing you giggle or watching you get excited. All of your silly jokes managed to put a smile on the old man’s face.
“I still hate that they made me do those dumb high school videos. They just made me seem like an old man” he said. You loved to tease him about those videos. It was a nice little inside joke that the two of you had.
You both ate together in quiet silence. Once you finished, you jumped down off your stool. “I’ll take care of your dishes” Steve volunteered, already taking them from you. You couldn’t help but smile to yourself.
“Thanks. I’ll go get changed and meet you in the training room?” You suggested. He nodded in agreement, giving you a peck on the top of your head. You froze, shocked by the sudden action. He quickly apologized and bashfully looked down at the ground.
You felt the heat radiating off your cheeks as you walked back to your room.
Steve had always been a mentor to you, and you both were normally pretty affectionate. It wasn’t out of the normal for you two to be cuddling and watching a movie on a Friday night. There were sometimes when things would get a bit too affectionate, whether it was a kiss on the forehead or holding hands.
He always left you with a fluttering feeling and a schoolgirl smile on your face.
You grabbed a sports bra and some leggings out of your dresser and got changed. After throwing your hair into a ponytail, you headed down to the training room. You didn’t normally opt for a sports bra, but all of your athletic tank tops were dirty. So, you threw a light jacket over your sports bra.
You saw Steve through the giant glass windows. He was already lifting some weights. You opened the door, and he looked up to meet your eyes. He greeted you with a small smile.
When he turned around to set down his weights, you took the opportunity to admire his back muscles. You set down your workout bag and unzipped your jacket, throwing it on top of your bag.
Steve turned around to face you, and you saw his eyes go wide. You noticed his eyes roll down your body. Then, he forced himself to look up at your face. “I—ummm. I’m sorry” he mumbled over his words.
His cheeks were on fire as his face became bright red. He didn’t know where to look, so he settled for the floor. He was too ashamed to look into your eyes, but couldn’t stare at your body anymore.
“Actually...I can’t—I mean, I have to go,” his words were rushed and frantic. He didn’t even pick up his bag before quickly jogging out of the door. You were left all alone.
You looked back at where he had just stood, feeling nothing but confusion. You didn’t even know what to think. He hadn’t said much of anything before running out the door.
You slung your bag over your shoulder and went back to your room. You set your stuff back on your bed and heard people talking outside your door. You peeked out the door and saw Steve talking to Tony, Nat, Wanda, and Sam, who were all sitting on the couch.
You kept your door only cracked open, so they couldn’t see you. “Oh come on. Just tell her how you feel. It’s better than running around avoiding her” Natasha told him. Steve put his head in his hands. He had no idea what to do.
“She probably knows anyway. You aren’t exactly the most subtle. You two and your little movie nights” Sam said, chuckling. You wondered if Steve liked you and that’s what they were talking about. “You knew about that?” Steve’s cheeks became an even darker shade of red.
You could hear Wanda and Natasha whispering to each other about how cute you both looked when you were cuddling. You could feel your heart racing.
Did Steve really like you?
“Come on, Cap. How do you feel about her? Do you love her?” Tony asked, aiming for a serious answer.
The room was quiet for a moment. You thought they could hear your heart pounding as it rang in your ears. You stepped into the room, so you could hear better. They all saw you, but didn’t make any gesture so Steve wouldn’t know.
“Of course I’m in love in her. I think about her all the time. How could I not? She's the sweetest person I’ve ever met, and I love being around her. I love how she giggles when she tells jokes, and how she gets flustered when anyone compliments her. But at the end of the day, I am so much older than she is. She’d probably think I’m a creepy old man if she knew how I felt. She definitely doesn’t feel the same way, so what the fuck am I supposed to do?” He asked, running his hand through his blonde hair.
You couldn’t form the words to respond.
“Steve?” your voice sounded weak and vulnerable. He spun around and met your eyes. You saw the panic wash through him. “Oh shit” he mumbled to himself.
You could only think of one thing to say. “Is all of that true?” You asked him, still having a hard time believing. He nodded, but hung his head in shame.
“We’ll give you both a minute” Wanda said, before they all exited the room. You walked closer to Steve, but he still couldn’t look you in the eye. “Look at me” you said, softly.
His big blue eyes met yours, and you could see all of his worry. “So do you think I’m creepy yet?” His voice broke. You let your fingers slip through his, interlacing your hands. His eyes darted to your hands.
“I don’t think you’re creepy. I think you’re kind of cute” you said, bashfully. He tilted his head towards the side, confused by your words.
You watched his eyes glance down at your lips. “Can you just kiss me already?” You practically begged him. He chuckled before slipping his arms around your waist. He leaned in and slowly connected your lips.
He hesitantly pressed his lips against yours. Your grinned as you noticed his nervousness. You slid your tongue against his bottom lip, encouraging him.
You wrapped your arms around his neck, toying with the ends of his hair. You both pulled away as you heard whistling. You looked over your shoulder and saw Sam watching you both.
“Come on, let’s go” Steve said, taking your hand and pulling you towards your room.
Sam wolf whistled again at the both of you. “Ignore him” Steve whispered in your ear, before closing the door behind you.
You laid down on your bed and pulled him down with you. “How about we watch a movie?” You suggested, running your fingers through his hair.
He nodded his head before adjusting himself on the bed. He sat with his back against the headboard, and let you sit in between his legs with your back against his chest.
You ran your fingers up and down his legs beside you as you started the movie. He pressed a kiss to your temple.
“So why did you run out of the training room this morning?” You asked, glancing back at him. He chuckled to himself before answering you. “The sight of you in that sports bra. I felt like a creep ogling at you. I knew I couldn’t stop myself. I didn’t want to freak you out” he told you, scratching the back of your neck.
You felt the heat rush to your cheeks. “I wish you would’ve told me that. I was having a hard time not staring you, Mr. Muscles” you teased, leaning into his touch.
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heyyyharry · 3 years
Text
Happier
(inspired by happier by Olivia Rodrigo)
Word count: 2.4k
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I'm selfish, I know, I can't let you go So find someone great, but don't find no one better I hope you're happy, but don't be happier
Part 1: Drivers License
Part 2: Deja Vu
A/N: I edited the original lyrics to match the POV :)
.
.
.
Harry had come up with a thousand scenarios of how this day would play out. Actually, he’d been thinking of this day since the moment he’d received the news. He didn’t dare to hope that she’d say yes to coming back for a sequel. He’d been sure that they would write her character off, give a lame excuse for how his love interest could not make a return and make his character forget about her completely to move on with a new girl in town. It would have been great if it was that easy in real life. Once someone was written off the script, they were gone for good. Real-life relationships were not that simple. Goodbye didn’t mean ‘never see you again’. You would still share the same friend circle and social bubbles, and it was worse when you two worked in the same industry. Harry didn’t know how he’d lasted a year without running into her, not since the Grammys.
“Didn’t you two date?”
“No.” Harry shook his head, but his eyes stayed glued on Y/N from across the room. She wasn’t looking his way, too busy saying hello to everyone else. “No,” he repeated, more to himself than to his co-star. “We didn’t.”
“But she wrote an entire album about you,” said the other twin. What was her name again? Lulu?
“Luna!” cried her sister, Lex. “You can’t ask him that!”
“No, it’s okay,” Harry said with a tight smile, slightly annoyed by the blonde twins, but he didn’t want to seem like an ass on the first day of filming. “And I don’t know if it was for me. You should ask Y/N.”
“Ask me what?”
Harry flinched when he looked up and saw Y/N padding towards them. She hugged the twins, who seemed way too excited. Harry guessed they were Y/N’s fans. They gave off crazy fangirl vibes, probably just pretending not to know the drama to interrogate him. He couldn’t blame them for assuming he was the villain and definitely could not blame Y/N for portraying him as one. It was more important that he knew who he was and how much he had changed since his last relationship. Maybe they could finally be friends.
“Were they bothering you?” Y/N asked him once the twins had left.
Harry nodded. “They’re your friends?”
“Oh, I met them last year on tour. I’m surprised you don’t know them. They were on Disney.”
“I don’t watch Disney,” Harry admitted with a smile. “Well, not today’s Disney.”
“Understandable.” Y/N nodded and bit her lip. She seemed guarded with her straight back and hands hidden behind her. She eyed him up and down, quite subtle yet noticeable. “How have you been?”
“Pretty good,” he said, nodding slowly. “You?”
“Yeah, but mostly tired because of tour.”
“You’re done?”
“Yup, last night was the last show.”
“Nice.”
Y/N raised an eyebrow. “Nice?”
Harry blinked. “Did I say something wrong?”
“No.” Y/N giggled. “You still sound very...you.”
“Well, shouldn’t I?”
“Yeah, you should. But it’s been a year so…I mean, you haven’t changed much.”
“Right,” he said lowly, his eyes falling to his feet. Harry supposed he should say something else, perhaps bringing up another random topic to discuss, but all he could think about was what had happened between them. Things had been messy, hadn’t they? How could they go back to before that? Before her first song about him. Before he’d chosen someone else over her.
Or he could talk about her new relationship. She’d been in a happy relationship for almost six months, right? No wait, hadn’t they broke up two weeks ago? He wasn’t sure because he hadn’t been catching up. If they’d broken up, he’d sound like an ass to even mention her ex’s name. He should just stay quiet.
“I’ll see you later?” she said, gesturing at her stylist who was waiting by the door.
Harry could ask her right now -- the reason she’d agreed to film the sequel to their first movie together. He’d heard from a very reliable source that she’d specifically asked her agent to decline any project that he was in. So did this mean they were good? That she didn’t hate him anymore? He could have gathered his courage and got the answer right then…
“Yeah, see you.”
...but he didn’t.
And so she gave him a smile and a little wave, then happily returned to her stylist.
.
.
.
“See you tomorrow, Y/N!”
“See you, Annie!” Y/N said as she put the rest of her things into her tote bag. Her new driver had got her schedule mixed up, and so she had to wait here for another half an hour. She was in no rush. It had been a light first day, and she’d had a fun time getting to know the new cast members and catching up with old friends.
She sat on the sofa in the lobby, legs crossed, texting her best friend about her day. She’d purposely left out the short off-screen conversation with Harry, and her best friend didn’t even bother to ask. In their world, he didn’t exist, and his name was censored in every conversation like a curse word that was even worse than ‘cunt’. Nevertheless, she didn’t hate him anymore. She was doing just fine on her own, being busy with her career, and she’d been in a happy relationship after her fall out with him.
She and the guy, a model, had broken up two weeks ago due to long distance and some differences that they could not change. They had ended on good terms and decided to stay friends. They said you could only stay friends with your ex when you still had feelings for each other, or you had never loved each other that much in the first place. For her, it was probably the latter. Her previous relationship had been more platonic than romantic, apparently. So she had nothing but the best to say about him.
As she was going through her camera roll, just reminiscing about the past, she heard footsteps approaching and looked up to find Harry. He offered a smile and gestured to the spot beside her on the sofa. “May I sit here? My ride is late.”
“Yeah, sure.” She hurriedly scooted over.
“Good job today,” he said. “You were great.”
“Thanks, so were you.” She smiled, and they both looked away at the same time. This was so awkward. She hated small talk. She’d never had to have small talk with Harry. Conversations with him used to be so easy and natural and silly. Whatever this was, it wasn’t them.
“Can we just be normal?”
At first, Y/N thought she’d been the one who’d said it, so when she realised it’d been Harry, she was speechless.
He swallowed and sat a bit straighter, still not looking at her. “I don’t want us to be weird and awkward.”
“Okay,” she said.
He cleared his throat. “Wanna try again?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Okay, not to sound like an ass but when Joey kept forgetting his lines, I was so pissed off, I could throw a chair at the wall.”
“Right?!” exclaimed Y/N, feeling free to have finally broken out of her shell. “Like, he doesn’t even have many lines. I know he’s new but damn...you can’t get far if you don’t learn your goddamn lines.”
Harry shook with laughter. “Oh God, we sound like dicks, don’t we?”
“Maybe.” Y/N laughed, covering her mouth. “But you know what? We can’t be nice in this industry. It’s impossible.”
“Shhh, if someone heard this, we would be into big trouble.”
“Oh please, I’ve had worse articles written about me than ‘Y/N speaks facts about her lazy co-star’.”
Harry tossed his head back and cackled. “The worst one I’ve got this week was ‘Harry Styles hates therapists.’”
“What?!” Y/N gasped. “No way! That’s so stupid!”
“Right?” Harry rolled his eyes. “I could get all my therapists to speak up for me but I’m kinda immune to bullshit now.”
“Therapists? Like plural?”
“Yeah, one in every city.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah.”
Y/N rubbed her hands onto her legs. “Rough year?”
Harry’s eyes rolled to the back of his head as he leaned back. “You have no idea.” Then he swept his hair out of his eyes, sucked in a breath, and finally looked at her. “I wish I could have talked to you, though.”
She bit her tongue, knowing what she was about to say next would disappoint her best friend so much, but she had to. “So do I.”
Harry looked taken aback before his lips curled into a smile. “It’s silly, isn’t it? I haven’t talked to you in a year, and I feel like I know everything that’s happened to you except that I don’t.”
What he’d just said might make no sense for most people, but Y/N knew exactly what he meant. She nodded and wetted her lip. “You only know as much as everyone else does.”
“Yeah, I got updates on you from the news and our friends.”
“Same.” Y/N smiled back. “I hate how they write articles about your new haircut but not mine.”
“I like your new hair colour.”
“Thanks. I like your new car.”
Then they both burst out laughing. It was fun and also a little bit strange that Y/N didn’t feel the same anxiety talking to him as she used to. It must be because they had grown and were now meeting again as better people.
“Damn, my ride's here,” Y/N said as she read the text from her driver. “I gotta go now.”
“Oh, okay.” Harry stood up and followed Y/N to the entrance. “Hey, just wondering--”
“Yeah?”
“Am I...am I still blocked?” He looked a bit flustered as she tilted her head and squinted her eyes. “On your phone. Because I remember you having my number blocked--”
“I unblocked you on your birthday.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah.” Y/N shrugged. “I should’ve sent you a happy birthday text but...I didn’t want your girlfriend to get the wrong ideas.”
“My ex.”
“Yeah, I know.”
They smiled at each other one last time before saying goodbye. Y/N knew it was silly, but she was hoping he would go after her.
Ding.
A notification popped up when she was in the car. She was almost home, and it was from Harry’s number. He’d sent her a link with a message that said, “Hope you like it :)”.
Curious, she tapped on it and was directed to an audio file titled ‘Track 5’. The upload date was last year. About two weeks after their short conversation at the Grammys.
Hurriedly, she fumbled inside her bag for her iPods and put it on before she pressed play.
“Hey, Jeff, I couldn’t sleep so I wrote this song. Listen and let me know if it should go on the album.”
Then came the piano intro. It sounded good, so Y/N wondered how it hadn’t ended up on his last album.
But when he started to sing...
We ended a while ago Your friends are mine, you know, I know You've moved on, found someone new One more guy who brings out the better in you
And I thought my heart was detached From all the sunlight of our past But he’s so nice, he’s so funny Does he mean you forgot about me?
Oh, I hope you're happy But not like how you were with me I'm selfish, I know, I can't let you go So find someone great, but don't find no one better I hope you're happy, but don't be happier
And does he tell you you’re the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen? An eternal love bullshit he might not even mean Remember when you were with me I meant it when you heard it first from me
And now I'm pickin' him apart Like cuttin' him down will make you miss my wretched heart But he’s charming, he looks kind He probably gives you butterflies
I hope you're happy But not like how you were with me I'm selfish, I know, I can't let you go So find someone great, but don't find no one better
I hope you're happy I wish you all the best, really Say you love him, baby Just not like you loved me And think of me fondly when your hands are on him I hope you're happy, but don't be happier
The song was for her. He’d written it when her new relationship had gone public. Y/N sat there, staring blankly ahead until the honking of a car tore open her inner peace, and reality came crashing back in. The driver dropped her off at her house. Instead of going inside, she stood on her front steps and replayed the song one more time. When it ended, she decided to text him: Why didn’t this make it to the album?
She didn’t know where he was now, but it showed ‘typing’ in less than a second, as if he’d been waiting in their chat since he’d sent that link.
You would’ve hated me, Y/N.
True, she replied. Still, I would’ve loved the song lowkey. And added, I love it btw.
He took so long to type that it was driving her crazy. She flopped down on the concrete stair with her phone clutched in her hands, her heart thundering against her ribcage. Anxiety popped like a balloon when his message appeared: Were you happier?
She reread it again and again.
No.
I wasn’t either, he responded. I kept getting deja vu.
Ha, nice reference.
That song is my guilty pleasure. Love listening to you roasting me on loop.
That last message made Y/N bury her face into her palm and giggle like a fool. She thought for a second and wrote: I could come roast you in person now if that’s what you prefer. I think we’ve never had a proper roasting.
Can we meet, Y/N? Or are you busy now?
No, not busy.
Great, I’ll pick you up.
Just tell me where, she responded with a smile on her face. I got my drivers license now :)
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sleepysnk · 3 years
Text
i just had to do it after all the talk, thank you to my friends on discord who helped me with ideas! <3 i hope you all enjoy!
Dilf Sugar Daddy Headcanons
Characters: Jean Kirstein
Warnings: NSFW
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Jean Kirstein:
- SFW:
- it was actually pretty funny how you and Jean first met, you worked at a coffee shop to make some extra cash and he came into the shop in a huge rush.
- he ended up becoming a regular at the coffee shop and you could remember his order like the back of your hand, not to mention, Jean found you to be one of the most attractive baristas he had ever seen; he was a huge charmer.
- he ended up giving you his number and the rest is history.
- he almost spat out his drink when he found out you were 21.
- Jean offered to become your sugar daddy after he heard you talking about the debt you owe to your college and how your rent was starting to become an issue, he was a businessman, he made too much money, why not spend it on a cutie like you?
- Jean got you anything you wanted, he had no issues getting what you needed. you want something from Gucci? you got it. you want to go out to the fanciest restaurant in town? you got it; he spoiled you whenever he could.
- he has the nicest cars, he'd pick you up in something new everytime he came. it always astonished you.
- he looks so fucking sexy in suits, whenever the two of you go out people always stop and stare at how great the two of you look. he buys you the nicest outfits to wear out with him, you're his sugar baby, you deserve the absolute best.
- Jean would for sure cook for you! i see him inviting you over to have a special dinner, plus his house is so nice. it's in this fancy gated suburb and you always like coming there to spend time with him.
- HE TAKES YOU ON SOME AMAZING VACATIONS. he has a private jet 😩😩😩😩😩.
- he takes you out shopping every weekend, it's literally his favorite thing to do.
- he literally is the hot neighbor that has cookouts every weekend and all the fucking moms try to get with him. HE IS SO FINE AND ALL OF THEM ARE FERAL FOR HIM.
- now about a few months into your agreement, Jean revealed something to you that was very personal.
- Jean told you he had two kids, his wife had actually left him and the kids to be with some man, and he took care of them.
- of course you weren't pissed, it takes a lot of balls to get up and support your kids without another parental figure. you respected Jean after that and you told him kids weren't a problem, it didn't impact your agreement one bit.
- HIS KIDS LOVE YOU SO MUCH. their favorite thing is when you come over, Jean loves to see their happy faces whenever you come by.
- Jean is a sweetheart, okay?
- about six or 7 months into your agreement, Jean began to fall for you. at first, he thought he only liked you for sex or having someone around, but he later realized how much he thought about you. he would always have a smile on his face whenever he saw you, he genuinely liked you, and he wanted something more.
- his biggest fear was rejection, what if you were uncomfortable? sure, he was older than you by about five years, but feelings weren't exactly apart of the agreement.
- he decided one night to tell you after he cooked a meal for you both, he spilled out everything he had kept in and it was all a shock to you.
- but to his surprise, you smiled, you told him how you had been feeling the same way and you wouldn't mind having something more. he was a sweet guy and you loved everything about him.
- Jean promised to take care of you, he told you that he'd never make you feel like you weren't enough for him. he was very reassuring about all of it and he didn't care about what anyone else had to say, you were everything to him. he wanted to be with you.
- he is such a romantic <3 you wouldn't be disappointed.
- NSFW:
- oh boy.. oh boy.. sex? with Jean? DILF JEAN? oh lord..
- now let me clarify, Jean never forced you into having sex with him. it kind of just.. happened? one day you both came back from a date and the tension between you broke, the sex you had that night was so good and it was so hot.
- after that you two decided to bring sex into it, of course, Jean would never do anything without your permission.
- the sex with Jean is so hot and passionate, he is packing, when he fucked you for the first time you swore your brain turned to jelly. you could barely form sentences.
- Jean would so buy a car just to fuck you in it, the amount of times you two have had a quick fuck in his car, or the times you have gave him road head are so big. you two are so nasty with each other and all you crave is Jean.
- he loves when you sit on him and ride him, he favorite thing is to see your face all scrunched up as his cock presses into you. he loves to hold your hips and bounce you on him, he thinks it's so fucking hot.
- sometimes you'll show up to his job to give him a quickie or to have a quick fuck, he loves to bend you over his desk and smack your ass.
- when you fuck at his house he has to cover your mouth because of his kids, he doesn't want them to wake up and sometimes you're too loud. if he's feeling cocky he'll edge you, or if you wake the kids up, he'll totally stop and make YOU put them to bed.
- "shh.. if you keep moaning like that you aren't gonna cum tonight."
- he loves to breed you, he loves the idea of you being pregnant with his kids. he wants to make you a mom so bad.
- when Jean began to catch feelings for you, he got really possessive. whenever you mentioned another guy, Jean would deadass get so fucking annoyed he would fuck you rough. THE DIRTY TALK IS THE BEST PART, YOU'D BE PUTTY IN HIS HANDS WHEN HE DOES IT.
- "keep talking about other guys.. i'll fuck you so good you wouldn't be able to fuck anyone else without thinking of my cock buried inside of you."
- he'd mark you up, he would leave hickies or marks on your skin to let people know you're his.
- Jean would finger you in the car if he was feeling really horny, especially if you were wearing something that gives easy access. he'd deadass spread your legs apart while driving, put two fingers in, and keep focus like nothing happened.
- OVERSTIM TO THE MAX 😩
- whenever you two fuck, he'd get up and not even five minutes later you'd get a notification saying "You have received $7000"
- ride his fucking thigh or cockwarm him, it is fucking hot and he'd leave you an absolute mess.
- he buys expensive lingerie for you to wear for him, he thinks it's really hot, and he'd be the one ripping it off later.
- if you're a girl, he eats pussy like a fucking God. you wouldn't be disappointed at all.
- fucks you anywhere and everywhere, the counter, his bed, the car, his office, on his desk at work, the couch, EVERYWHERE.
- has made you squirt
- Jean has a lot of experience under his belt, sex with him is just so different compared to sex with those lame college guys. he is a man that knows how to take care of you, he'll make sure your needs are fulfilled and he'd never leave you unsatisfied.
- his after care is amazing, he'll take a shower and massage anywhere he was rough. sometimes he'll kiss your body before you fall asleep to let you know that he loves the way you are.
- morning sex.. i said what i said.
- I WANT TO BANG JEAN BYE.
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lovelycleon · 3 years
Text
So I decided to make an analysis about the last scene of Infinite Darkness
But before I start with the fun part, I just want to tell you that my history with “angst ships”
I had a bad experience with another ship, soul mates full of angst tropes and true love, beautiful... and a really bad ending because the showrunner fought with the actors (I wasted years watching and I regret it).
Anyway, after suffering that kind of pain, no other ships and angst scenes can hit me hard enough. I'm numb or just got used to it. You choose.
So maybe the scene of Leon and Claire's argument wasn't that impactful for me because of that. But for all the fans who felt hurt, I understand and it's okay to feel that way, because the scene was meant to hurt. The scene exists because of that. And your feelings are valid.
So let's get to the fun part.
spoiler alert, it's not that fun, it actually hurts 😅
The scene starts with Leon going to meet Claire at the gates of the White House.
I don't think anyone denies the fact that, whatever Leon is doing, he just wants to protect Claire. And he doesn't want her involved because of it.
But this dialogue makes this even more evident if we analyze how it begins.
Nothing in a show or movie is by accident. Everything is handpicked for one reason or another. The meaning is not always that deep, but there is still a meaning behind it all.
So when – of all the ways a conversation can be started – they decide to make Claire joke that she sneaked out of the hospital, Leon takes it seriously and she has to clarify that it's a joke, there's a reason:
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Show that Leon is taking what happened to her too serious, and Claire not that much.
When Claire makes a comment about when he's going to stop treating her like a kid and he says probably never. There's a reason:
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Show that Leon wants to protect her (or being overprotective) and Claire doesn't like it.
Of course, some might argue that this specific line is capcom trying to show that their feelings aren't romantic and sink the ship completely. And, ok, people are free to think that.
But if they really wanted to sink cleon forever, they shouldn't have done the scene of Leon saving Claire the way they did. They did it because they knew it would tease a certain part of the fans... They knew exactly what they were doing...
And there's simply no reason to tease a ship you want to sink.
So no, I don't think that's it...
For me the scene means the classic and simple: "stop being worried about me🙄" "noooo🗣️"
Another way to intensify Leon being overprotective is Claire's broken arm. A reminder that she was injured following his plan. Just as she was hurt the last time they saw each other in Harvardville.
And yes, I know Degeneration made Claire hurt to take her out of the action. It is undeniable. But somehow I don't think the same situation and reason applies to Infinite darkness.
Because Claire was already out of combat, following Leon's plan and showing no intention of doing anything different. It's not like she's going to attack the monster that is several platforms higher than where she is. She couldn't fly around and there were no guns where she was anyway.
So why hurt her to get her out of combat if the story itself has already done that?
Again, you are free to think differently. Capcom made Claire dirty, she was underestimated and they wasted her potential. I won't argue with that, I'm also on the team Claire deserves better.
I just don't think it fits this specific situation.
The injured arm is there and a awkward conversation about Leon being overprotective starts because of it. I think it makes sense.
So moving on.
Claire mentions the chip and Leon looks disappointed for a moment and says he thought they were going to dinner.
This is to indicate that he didn't come to see her with the intention of breaking their friendship. Leon just wanted to spend a good time with her and nothing more. Some place a little more normal, maybe?👀
But Claire wants the chip and tells Leon her plan. The same plan that Shen May was killed trying to convince her partner to follow. Is there a parallel here?
The only difference is that Jason broke her neck while Leon decided to break Claire's heart.
Okay now I could show more parallels between them, but I won't because this is already too long and I know maybe I'm reading too much into this. Resident Evil isn't that deep most of the time 😂
Anyway, Claire asked for the chip and Leon said no.
And that's the point, right.
The climax of the conversation and the turning point in their relationship.
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Note that Leon took a few seconds to say he couldn't. That was the moment when he made his decision...
He went to meet her for dinner, remember? He didn't expect to have this conversation or make a decision like that. But he had to.
Now, I'm not from the US and I don't trust politicians in general, fiction or not. But I admit this sounds realistic.
Just imagine if the president makes a speech about peace and prosperity and whatever and the next day the media reveals that members of the government are involved in BOW and planning an attack on another country.
At the very least, it won't look good.
In the worst case, it will be a catastrophe 😂
So... I don't agree with Leon, but I understand why he chose this.
It's an important decision, however. And how long it takes him to say something and how he's quiet after saying it shows he knows what's on the line. Not just the security of the country and “peace”, but also his relationship with Claire.
And despite everything... He didn't lie to her.
It would be much easier for Leon to simply say "the chip was destroyed in the fight" when she asked. Claire would never know about it and probably never doubt him. And they would still be fine with each other and having dinner.
But he didn't lie. Why?
Because their relationship is not based on lies. And it's not based on betrayals.
And while it may be hard to believe right now and it hurts to think about it, this relationship is still based on truth and trust in each other. And now their relationship is being tested.
It's easy to trust someone you're on good terms. How hard it must be to trust someone who has let you down.
There is a lot of room for development here.
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Obviously Claire felt hurt in this moment. Maybe even betrayed. Heartbroken. I think we all feel that same way.
But Leon played fair there. He said he had the chip, showed it to her, and then said he wouldn't give it to her.
He was honest with her. And this act also shows respect.
They are two people with different points of view and that truth hurts.
There is silence as they look at each other. She never asked his reasons and he obviously never told them. The exchange of glances is enough for them to understand what was happening.
When Claire says “you do things your way and I do mine” it's almost like “do you know what that means? ”
Then Leon nods and another moment of silence. The time they need to accept that the relationship is broken.
Now that's angst
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Interesting choice of camera angle. Showing her broken arm as a visual reminder of why he was pushing her away like that.
Claire leaves, but looks back and says again that his outfit doesn't suit him.
What's interesting here is that the director has done a few interviews over the past few weeks and he always said that the suit is a representation of Leon's position in government.
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Claire commenting that it doesn't suit him is basically the writers/producers/directors admitting that this position doesn't look good.
And while all the characters praising Leon for his success, Claire is the one who sees this reality and who he truly is out of the suit (position)
And that's good angst.
Claire walks away and Leon with a sad look watching her leave and he has to say to himself "I will stop this".
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Could it be just one of his one-lines? Yes.
Could it be a way for him to remind himself why he's doing this, even if it means sacrificing his relationship with Claire?
It's already done, now he has to make it worth it.
Whatever happens after that is a mystery.
I don't think Claire believes that Leon is going to cover up the government's involvement in things (their discussion would be much more intense if that were the case), she probably thinks he's going to resolve it internally without taking anything public, which is precisely what she wants to do.
I also don't think Leon believes Claire is going to give up on the investigation, he probably thinks it's going to take some time to her to get real evidence and he has time to carry out his plans.
But this is capcom... They are masters of forgetting plot points. So who knows.
Angst is only good if it has a good closure. I hope they keep that in mind.
In any other tv show that used this kind of angst trope and drama I would be completely fine...
I would expect a sequel to this plot. The characters find each other unexpectedly, having to work together and acting awkwardly because they don't know how to stick around each other after the argument. Then the story would develop and they would gradually mend their relationship.
That's the trope.
So that's all I can hope for.
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the-marvelclub · 3 years
Text
Don’t forget me
steve rogers x reader
Summary: Steve and reader are happily married, so what happens when a mission goes wrong and Steve is pronounced dead? And what if he comes back but she’s already in a relationship?
Warnings: Fluff, a lot of angst, main character death (?) but with a happy ending.
masterlist
Author’s note: Happy because i finished this in just a few hours, hope you enjoy it! Feedback is always appreciated.
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Little caresses of soft fingers running up and down your bare back made you shiver, waking you up, your eyes flutter open.
You groaned and buried your face in the pillow. Steve's chuckle echoed throughout the room before you felt wet kisses being spread all over your lower back, slowly making their way up to your shoulders. Fingers moving your hair to one side exposing your right ear. 
"Good morning, Dollface" he whispered in your ear in his husky voice, which honestly always sounds like that when he just woke up, and he bit your ear lobe making butterflies erupt in your stomach and making you a little giddy.  
You had spent the night in Steve's room, the light soft reddish color coming through the windows and painting the white walls of Steve's room making you aware that it was probably just dawn, the atmosphere was calm and familiar and his bed was certainly a thousand times more comfortable than yours could ever be. 
"Good god, Steve. I bet you it's not even 6:00am" you mumbled sleepily, he might be a super soldier but you needed your 9 hours of sleep. Steve let out a chuckle in your ear again, bringing shivers all over your body. 
"You really look cute when you're half asleep like that" he replied still talking into your ear, running his soft hand all over your back only to then grab your waist, letting his arm rest there. "I want to marry you." 
You smiled before turning your body to be face to face with Steve knowing he wouldn't let you sleep anymore, you pulled the white silk sheet in your best effort to cover your body looking up at him. He was leaning on his left elbow, his right arm still wrapped around your waist, his torso was naked, the sheets on his hips.
"But I already said ‘I do’, baby" you smiled showing him the ring on your left hand and remembering your wedding day. You had been best friends for what seemed like forever before a mission which required you to pretend to be married led to you both confessing your feelings, then you had realized it had all been a plan by the others to finally get you to admit what they had already known for quite some time, that the mission never really required you to go as a couple, but you couldn't be mad at them, quite the opposite, you felt a deep gratitude towards them, because you would never have been able to do it on your own. A year later, Steve had taken you to the roof of the Compound where you could see the distant lights of the skyscrapers of New York, where he had prepared you a dinner with your favorite meals and a bottle of wine and had gotten down on one knee, opening the little red velvet box with the most beautiful ring you had ever seen, he really was a 40s man, full of romance and chivalry.  Six months later you were married.
"Right, but I'm talking about a vow renewal, I just can't believe you're mine, you're like a dream" he let out, the pink painting his cheeks matching yours.  His dirty blonde hair was a mess and his eyes sparkled with pure adoration.  
"You really are full of compliments today, huh?" you smiled bringing your hand to his hair and giving it a little squeeze. You loved this Steve, he had always been romantic and protective of you, but this Steve, the one you only knew in the early morning hours was driving you crazy, the sentimental Steve, full of compliments and caresses and without shirt on. The Steve who could look into your soul with just one look and that lazy smile. The one only you knew. 
"Stop complaining, you know you love it" he said smiling mischievously, like a little boy.  
"I can't complain" you shrugged, sliding your fingers down his hard chest, imagining how good it would look with a couple of tattoos on it. You bit your lip thinking about it before returning your gaze to him, who already had his eyes on you, his eyes glowing, fingers at your waist squeezing. Before you could register what was happening, he had lunged towards you pressing his lips hard against yours, you sighed as you felt his lips sucking on yours and grabbed his cheeks pulling him closer to you, his hands taking your waist and lifting you up to get you on top of him, he bit your bottom lip asking for entrance but you put both hands on his chest putting distance between the two of you, ending the kiss and shaking your head. You still hadn't brushed your teeth. 
He grunted with discontent and pouted, completely adorable, but kept his arms around your waist. You stroked his hair and he closed his eyes, sighing. 
"I really love you" he let out, looking into your eyes, with an expression you couldn't read, he suddenly looked worried and even a little scared. "I would do anything to protect you, you know that right?". 
You frowned. 
"What is this all about?" you asked leaning your face on his chest looking into his eyes. “What’s on your mind?”
He shook his head before giving you a small smile, wanting you to forget the subject. 
"It's the mission, isn't it?" you sighed.
He looked at you for a long moment and you knew the answer. 
Steve along with Fury had been tracking a dangerous organization for months that for some reason were targeting Steve. They both believed it wasn't that big of a threat. They had only sent Steve a couple of death threats, but being Captain America and part of the Avengers, there were always enemies. But when one afternoon, a threat had come to you, Steve got to work and he and Fury had been tracking the origin of these for months and now they finally had a lead.  
"It's probably nothing," he said, "don't worry about it, Fury will go with me on this one. Maybe the lead will be useless." You knew he didn't want to worry you but you couldn't help it, you wanted to go with him this afternoon but you as well as everyone else had other missions to attend to. 
You nodded and kissed his chin reassuringly. 
He placed a kiss on your forehead and released you by turning you to your side of the bed, before getting out of bed, putting on his sweatpants and putting on his white shirt. 
It was your turn to pout, missing his warm body. 
"Come on, Dollface." He said placing his palms on the mattress and leaning over to you "I'll make you those chocolate chip pancakes and when I get back from the mission we're going to watch that Jason Bourne movie you love so much."
You let out an excited squeal and hugged him by the neck pulling him back into bed.  
"You sure know how to spoil a girl."
_
Steve never returned from that mission.
That afternoon you were in the kitchen preparing popcorn for movie night with Steve and the next minute, Fury had come out of the elevator doors, concern filling his face and honestly it was the most you had ever seen him show any emotion, he had quietly approached Tony, ignoring the greetings of the team that was hanging out in the living room, he had taken him to the briefing room and they had been inside for quite a while. You had been watching the elevator doors waiting for Steve to come out of them before deciding to ask Fury, but before you could even take a step, Tony had left the room and the moment you looked at his face, your stomach sank, a horrible feeling surrounding you. You had never seen Tony like that before, the look in his eyes was something you would never be able to describe, he was pale, his eyes seemed sunken and he kept looking nowhere in particular. A few moments later that seemed like hours, he had uttered the words that broke you inside.
Steve hadn't made it.
You don't remember much after that, all you remember is popcorn strewn all over the kitchen floor, a deafening scream that you never realized you had let out, and the pain in your knees as you fell to the floor. You remember screams coming from the others, asking Tony and Fury for explanations and a lot of commotion. But what you could never forget even if you wanted to was the pain of your heart being squeezed inside you and the horrible feeling that now everything would be different.
That had been 1 year and 6 months ago. Since the news everything had been a blur. It was as if you were seeing everything from outside your body. The first few days, you didn't leave the living room couch, your gaze focused on the metal doors of that gray elevator, you didn't eat, you didn't sleep, waiting for Steve to show up with his suit dirty from the mission and the shield in his hand, telling you that it had taken a little longer than usual but that everything had gone well, that he had nothing but a few scratches on his body and that he would take a shower before cuddling up with you in bed.
The day you understood that Steve would never walk out those doors, you couldn't help but be angry at him for leaving you alone that morning after breakfast and not asking for help from the team, but more than anything you were angry at yourself for not doing anything about it. You thought it was a routine mission, just to confirm that the clue was legit. You never gave the subject much thought. You couldn't believe you had been so naive and you knew it was your fault.
The next few months after that you and the team as well as Fury had been immersed in the case, trying to track down the organization and the man responsible for Steve's death. Thousands of leads were emerging every day but they all led to a dead end. The team wasn't much better, everyone blamed each other for Steve's death but you knew it all affected Tony the most. Natasha and Wanda were there for you but Bucky was the one who were constantly with you during the first few months, supporting you and looking out for you. But you could see he was hurting too, Bucky had gone back to his old self, he was withdrawing from everyone, except you. Barely making conversation with the others and most of the time going out without telling you where he was going. You wanted to ask him about it but you knew he needed time. Hell, you needed it too. A year and a half later it seemed like everything was back to normal, even though you knew that inside you were all different people. Losing family wasn’t easy.
Thank God you had Matthew, an agent who worked at the coumpound, he had been in charge of the funeral and since then, he always made sure you were okay, at first it was small talk in the hallways, telling you how sorry he was and asking you how you were feeling, then it was little gifts, he always brought you coffee and gave you a smile when he saw you filling out reports in the briefing room, before you knew it he had become a great friend. His blue eyes and the way he treated you reminded you of Steve, and you knew you were drawn to that sense of familiarity and comfort. Then at that party, he had kissed you and although his kisses were nothing compared to Steve's, you accepted a date with him when he asked you the next day.
"Are you okay? You look distracted" Wanda's thick accent brought you out of your thoughts, you turned to look at her and her eyes were looking at you with concern.
You cleared your throat. "Yeah, I'm fine." You replied avoiding her questioning eyes, taking your necklace between your hand squeezing it. The wedding ring now taking its place on this one and not on your finger. Everyone was in the kitchen; you were sitting at the table peeling an orange and Wanda was next to you. Natasha was next to Bruce making himself a sandwich while Tony was complaining about the coffee grounds they had toss out in the sink, you let out a small chuckle, you knew it had been Sam who was sitting there reading a magazine completely ignoring Tony. Clint was spending the weekend with his family and Bucky was nowhere to be seen.
"I know this may be a difficult day for you" Wanda murmured moving closer to you, making sure no one else could hear. "We completed the mission. We arrested the bastard who..." she sighed "I know that maybe you thought this would bring you relief. But everything gets better with time, believe me I know." She had promised never to read your mind and you knew she had not. You smiled at her, you loved the fact that she knew you so well that she didn't have to use her powers to know what you were thinking.
2 days ago, the mission had been completed, they had found the person responsible for Steve's death and had dismantled the organization, surprised to find that they had some infiltrators right there working in the Compound, people you looked at every day, people who had seen you suffer and they were responsible all this time. You pushed those thoughts out of your mind quickly as you felt rage growing inside you again. You sighed deeply and remembered that Fury was taking care of it. Everything would be okay now.
"So how are things going with Matt?" Natasha asked approaching the table as she munched on her sandwich. Before you could answer, Fury appeared through the kitchen door. You frowned. It was unusual to have a visit from him at this hours of the night.
"Briefing room. Now," was all he said before turning and walking out of the kitchen. The whole team was surprised but followed him without a word. Entering the briefing room, you leaned against the wall in one of the corners waiting for Fury to speak.
"Two years ago we became aware of an existing threat that was harming one of our team. We mistakenly thought it was something minor, it wasn't until a year and a half ago that we discovered it was all part of something bigger and more dangerous. Something highly sensitive that if not handled correctly could harm us and the nation by exposing secrets of our operations."
"We already know that..." Tony began speaking, with one hand on his head, looking exhausted.
"Maria and I came up with a plan that we would put into action once we got the first lead" he interrupted, ignoring Tony's comment. "If we made them believe that they had achieved their goal, we would have an ace up our sleeve when it came to dismantling their organization, which we have done successfully, thanks to the help of this person..." he sighed and looked at the floor "I ask you to please try to understand."
I frowned, just as confused as the whole team.
"What are you talking about, sir?" You let out and he turned to look at you, sighing once more before shaking his head pointing towards the door.
"Hello, Dollface."
Everything happened in slow motion, the room filled with a deafening silence, you turned towards the door directing your gaze to the source of the voice. And if it wasn't for those blue eyes that wouldn't take their eyes off you, You knew you'd pass out right there.
Steve.
He was standing in the doorframe. And he looked different; his hair was longer, his beard covered half of his face and he looked 10 years older, he had dark circles around his eyes as if he hadn't slept since that morning when he had woken up next to you kissing your body. He was wearing a dark blue suit, and Bucky was standing next to him.
Realization fell over you and you felt your stomach sunk. Tears stung your eyes and you couldn't breathe. You walked slowly towards him, not trusting your own legs and planted yourself in front of him, he was like the ghost of the old Steve, only this one was rough around the edges, his eyes looked at you with adoration but also regret. Before he could say a word, you slapped him.
The sound of hand against cheek echoed across the room. Steve didn't seem surprised. Suddenly the whole room was filled with commotion, everyone started talking at the same time, but you couldn't take it anymore, you felt that at any moment you would fall to the floor. So you just walked out of there, but not without giving Bucky a death glare. The bastard knew it all along.
You ran to your room, ignoring the calls of Steve running after you and the commotion of the place. You locked the door to your room and locked yourself in the bathroom, where you couldn't hear Steve knocking on your door over and over again. You looked at yourself in the mirror, you were a mess, the tears wouldn't stop falling even though you didn't feel them and your face was pale, with trembling hands you ripped off the necklace with the ring and threw it on the floor before sitting down on the floor and started crying.
_
It had been a week since Steve had returned, a week that you had been avoiding him, against your better judgment you had gone to Matt's apartment where he had offered you a place to stay, the coumpound being the last place you wanted to be. You felt your body move and perform the simplest of tasks like washing the dishes, folding your clothes or even watching a movie but your mind just wasn't there, you were like a zombie, and it was already starting to affect your relationship with Matt, you knew it wasn't fair to him but you couldn't care in the slightest, not for now. You hated to admit it but you missed Steve, you missed his voice, his laugh, the way he looked at you, his kisses, his touches. And knowing he was so close to you was driving you crazy. But he had betrayed you. He knew it, he knew it all that time and he didn't tell you, he didn't dare to tell you that morning when it was just you and him. He had let you suffer for a year and a half. To hell with the plan, he had broken your heart. The next morning after he came, you had sneaked into Natasha's room and left the necklace with the wedding ring for her to give back to Steve, she tried to talk some sense into you but you had already made up your mind, after that you had left with Matt.
"I like this part, it's when she realizes the alien is with her on the ship" you heard Matt's voice speak, you two were watching a stupid sci-fi movie, your gaze on the screen but you weren't paying attention to it, your mind wandering elsewhere.
"Mmmh."
"And then she befriends the alien."
"Uh-huh."
"And then they move in together and play badminton on Sundays."
"Interesting."
"That's it" he said letting out a sigh before grabbing the remote and turning off the TV, snapping you out of your thoughts. "You're not even listening”.
Guilt wash all over you.
"Sorry, I was just a little distracted that's all." you said quickly.
He turned to look at you and gave you a smile but it didn't reach his blue eyes, which now that you took a good look at him were nothing like Steve's at all. "This isn't going to work, is it?" he finally asked but you knew he already knew the answer.
You sighed and shook your head slowly. He was a sweet boy and deserved better.
"I'm sorry" you said "I don't want you to think I'm just using you to get over Steve, I really like you, it's just... things are really complicated in my life right now" you finally admitted.
"I know" he said wiping away a tear you didn't know had escaped. "I knew from the moment I heard he was back. I can't even imagine what you're going through right now" he murmured.
You gave him a weak smile "I know I haven't been fair to you the last few days and I'm sorry, I know you deserve someone better, a woman who is completely crazy about you, and who will be because you are kind, thoughtful and deserve better than someone who is broken."
"You're not broken," He assure you. "I just think you really miss him and need him, and I'll let you in on a secret...he does too."
"Thank you, Matt." you said before getting up from the couch and grabbing the few things you had brought with you before heading for the door.
"I know this job demands a lot from us but there is nothing you two can't overcome, you are Steve and Y/n after all" he spoke behind you "just give him a chance to explain himself, you both deserve it."
You turned and gave him a small smile before walking out the door.
_
Steve was sitting at the bar, drinking his whiskey even though he knew he couldn't get drunk no matter how much he wanted to. He was twirling your wedding ring between his fingers. Ever since Natasha had given it to him he hadn't been able to take his eyes off it. Everything had gotten out of control. He took one more sip, savoring the burning sensation in his throat when he did, a hand patted his shoulder and he watched as Bucky sat down beside him.
"You're missing the party," he said sipping from his beer.
"Did you know that she's been staying at Matt's apartment these few days?" he blurted out completely ignoring his friend's earlier comment.
Bucky sighed, not quite knowing what to say.
"I remember Matt, I used to train him when he was first recruited, a good guy" he muttered "He can give her the life she deserves".
"Come on dude" bucky snorted "they've been dating for a month, it's not like they're getting married".
"It's not like she can't" Steve said "I'm sure she'll be sending me the divorce papers any minute now".
Bucky gasped.
"Impossible, she's crazy about you." He said continually shaking his head.
"I messed it up with her, Buck" he said finishing his drink before getting up and heading to his room, he was in no mood to party.
He had messed up, that morning he just thought it would be a simple mission and that he would be back that afternoon but then the lead had turned out to be more important than they had thought. Fury had told him the plan but there was no time to think about the pros and cons, they were up against the clock. So decisions were made and as much as it pained him he knew that was the only way to keep her safe, because they would come for her, of that he had no doubt. And he would do anything to protect her. Anything.
_
You could hear the faint sound of music coming from downstairs, the party was in progress as you walked down the empty hallways leading to the bedrooms, relieved that everyone was at the party and didn't see you coming. Matt’s words surrounding your thoughts, maybe what you needed was to hear it from Steve before you could move on with your life. You didn't realize that you had unconsciously made your way to Steve's room until you opened the door and looked inside, the room that for a year had been empty was now occupied by his things. With trembling hands you closed the door behind you and looked at his things, a shirt was on the bed and you couldn't help but pick it up and smell it. God, you had missed him so much.
Tears began to flood your eyes again but you were sick of crying so you left the shirt where it was and sat on the big bed, memories about that morning before he left filling your mind.
"I would do anything to protect you, you know that right?". 
You shook your head at the memory, pushing those thoughts out of your head and placed your head in your hands.
You heard the door to the room being open and you cursed under your breath. You knew you had to face him but you didn't think it would be so soon, he was supposed to be at the party, his party.
You quickly raised your head and watched him walk in, he was wearing a completely black suit, his long hair was perfectly combed back and he still had that beard, he looked like a dream, butterflies erupting in your stomach and you had to take all your willpower not to jump him. There was a lot to talk about.
He had his eyes on the floor but when he looked at you an expression of surprise covered his face. This was the last place he thought you would be. He called your name in surprise and you quickly got out of bed.
"Sneaking out of the party?" you let out a nervous laugh at his intense stare, he hadn't moved a muscle "Come on, Steve. You know that’s not nice."
Several seconds passed and he didn't speak, maybe this was a bad idea, coming to his room was a bad idea. You turned to grab your bag off the bed and get out of there when his voice spoke behind you.
"Can I hold you?" he blurted out, startling you. You turned to look at him, he had his hands shoved in his pockets and looked shy, as if he was sure you would tell him no.
Your heart skipped a beat and you nodded your head slowly. There was a lot to talk about but you missed him more than anything in the world and you needed him. Without you having to repeat it to him, he took long strides to where you were and took you in his arms, pressing you against him, burying his head in your neck and inhaling your scent, making you shiver. You slipped your arms around his neck and shoulders and held on to him, he smelled just like you remember, of his favorite cologne and mint, and now a little whiskey too. You felt tears fill your eyes and you squeeze them shut to keep them from coming out. It felt almost unreal, while he was gone you had dreamed a thousand times of holding him in your arms, you didn't think you would ever be able to feel him again, to hear his jokes, his laughter and the way your name came from his lips. It was all too much.
Just as quickly as he had walked towards you and hugged you, he broke away from you and walked to lean against the wooden door he had entered through, too far away from you for your liking, his gaze fixed on the floor and his hands in his pockets. "I need to say this, and I can't do it if you're too close to me," he let out in a hurried voice and continued, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all the hurt I caused you during the time I was away, that morning I didn't know things would end up so badly, but it was worse than we thought and everyone was in danger...you were in danger. And I couldn't let them harm you because of me. There wasn't enough time to think of a better plan than the one Fury had come up with. I promised myself I would tell you I was safe but we realized there were infiltrators here in the building, I knew they would be watching your every move, I would put you in danger if I told you. So I told Bucky to look out for you. I know that it doesn't justify what I put you through but I needed you to know." He sigh closing my eyes. "I understand if you hate me, I know I ruined us and Matt is a great guy, I always knew you deserved someone who didn't have such a complicated life or put you at constant risk but please, I just want you to know... not only am I deeply in love with you, you are my best friend."
You couldn't breathe and you were aware that you were crying again, so without thinking twice, you advanced with a determined step towards him and when he looked up, you took his face with your hands wiping his tears away and planted a kiss, pushing your body to his, you took him by surprise but it only took a second for him to grab you by the hair and get you closer to his mouth. You had missed him so much, and yet it was as if you still knew his lips by heart and he knew yours, both matching perfectly. You let out a small groan as he lowered his hands to your waist and grabbed one of your thighs indicating you to jump, turning you around pushing you to the door, the new angle allowing you to kiss him better since he was much taller than you. After a few seconds you broke away to take a breath of air. You leaned your head back against the door running your fingers through his beard, taking your time to memorize him, he was the same yet so different but you definitely liked it.
"Stop looking at me like that, you're making me weak" he mumble hiding his face in your neck, his beard scratching your bare skin making you shiver and let out a giggle.
"I really like this beard, please don't ever shave it off". You sighed as he gave you little kisses on your neck, tickling you.
"Mmmh."
He planted one last kiss on your neck before you brought your legs to the floor again.
"I think you have something that belongs to me" you whispered as you reached into the small pocket of the black shirt; the small wedding ring. You had felt it when you were kissing him. You took it and placed it back on your finger. Steve looked at you confused but at the same time a full smile appeared on his face. You pressed your forehead to his and placed your hands on his chest.
"Don't leave me like that again, you scared me." You whispered to him.
"I promise I won't, Dollface" he whispered back. You knew there was still a lot to talk about but what you were completely sure of was that Steve Rogers never breaks a promise.
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bored-storyteller · 3 years
Note
Hey! I really like how you write about Sally Face, I love how you highlight his kindness but also his strength. It struck me a lot how he wonders if anyone will ever love him, I guess it's hard for him to believe in someone's love for him, from a romantic point of view. I thought ... could you write something about a reader in love with him, who gets rejected for that reason but still loves him until Sal dies? You don't have to do it (also because you prefer angst / comfort right?), But I try to ask you ... I'd like to see it written by you. It will hurt but it will be worth it.
Dear Anon,
I hope you like this because I suffered the pain of hell writing this :3
But jokes aside, I hope it does justice to your expectations, I hope I have treated everything with the right delicacy.
Warning: ANGST and SPOILER (I say this for safety)
The story is set in the canonical plot, even if there may be slight differences (after all there is always one more character, you). But for those who haven't played Sally Face this could be revealing.
77- Sally Face, Sal Fisher x reader (Angst)
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“The sunflower that cannot bloom “
"I love you."
Those words had slipped off your lips with one of the most beautiful smiles Sal had ever seen.
You weren't perfect, but you were tailor-made for him. Somehow, he had thought that from the first day he met you, by mistake, on a black day. You had offered him a sunflower, a huge yellow flower that shone like the sun in the midst of his misfortunes, and his black day had grown better.
This was you, what he needed when the weight was too much to carry, when he found himself snorting one too many times, when he felt like crying.
Still, even though you were tailor-made for him, he wasn't tailor-made for you.
He would have liked to believe you, with all his heart, he would have asked for nothing more than to be loved by you.
But he couldn't believe it.
"No, you don't ..." His voice was gentle, as if he were explaining something important to a little child.
Your brows had furrowed as you pointed your gaze into the depths of his soul.
"You do not believe me?" Your tone wandered between uncertainty and offense "Do you think I'm lying to you?"
A sigh rang through the empty hollows of his mask: “No, you're not lying to me. I just think you… don't really know what you're saying. "
Your expression deepened as you prepared to argue back. He had seen the wound open inside you and he had looked away; he couldn't watch you while he hurt you.
Oh, he was so good at making himself loved. The river of emotions that had overwhelmed you had died out as soon as his one living eye was separated from you.
Disappointment, anger, sadness had disappeared in favor of affection for him.
His mask was flat, helpless, cold towards his heart, yet he communicated more than anyone else with that immense little soul of him.
"Sal ..." finally you called him gently, reassuring, while your fingers lovingly brushed the cheek of the cold prosthesis.
"I love you." You repeated it, and he turned to tell you to stop. He couldn't be loved, he didn't feel capable of being loved.
He would never have a love like that of movies, or even like that of normal people, like Maple and Chug. He, as he was, could never have been loved, not even by you.
He was going to tell you, to tell you everything, but you stopped him softly: "but it's okay if you don't want to."
You barely laughed, as if everything was really okay with you, and you leaned on his shoulder, cuddling against his neck.
"I have my whole life to make you understand." You said cheerfully, and he just looked at you, accepting that little stubbornness of yours.
Even though he was aware that one day he would see you happy in the arms of someone you really would love, for the time being it was okay for him to bask in that little illusion you were giving him.
---
Life had been cruel.
"I had no choice."
Those words had pierced your brain.
The first time he had told you with a force that you almost confused with anger. His body had never been so rigid in front of you, motionless, sitting on the other side of the table in the visiting room of the prison, surrounded by other inmates like him.
You wondered if you were sane, because you looked into the eyes of a murderer, a killer who had exterminated families, who had even killed a little girl, yet your tears were for them, but also for him.
Whatever it was, Sal hadn't changed, and behind his mask he was more broken into pieces than you were. He hadn't had a choice, for some reason he hadn't had a choice.
It was weird and unreal, but you had no doubts about him, even though your mind still couldn't believe what happened, and Sal probably didn't really realize it either.
However, the second time he told you "I had no choice" his voice was different. He was different, and so were you. You had grown up, but both of you had stood still in what had happened. At that moment he was telling you so that you believed him, so that you knew it was not what he wanted, because if he could have chosen at that moment you would have been together in front of a pizza, telling you how boring the day had been.
"I beg you ..." You whispered so as not to let him hear how broken your voice was "... tell me what I have to do to save you."
It was the first time you used that word, out of pure desperation.
For a moment he hesitated and hoped you wouldn't see his uncertainty behind the mask. Finally, Sal shook his head in silence; he didn't know if it would do any good, but at least he would try to protect you.
Your hand was holding his for the first time in years, and you both knew it would be the last time you would hold it. You had done everything to be able to have that last contact, to still be able to hold him before they took him away from you forever.
You didn't want to cry, you wouldn't have done it on your last time together, but your heart was so heavy that you thought you would die as soon as you separated.
While you massaged the back of his hand with your thumb, you tried to record every detail in your mind that belonged to him, to burn the heat of his palm against yours, to remember the exact weight of his touch.
I love you, you wanted to tell him, you never stopped doing it, not a second you stopped giving him your best side, and you would have given it only to him also in the future.
"You are so important to me, Sal ..." your blue sky under which sunflowers bloom.
"Thank you ... for always being with me."
Part of you died when you let go of his hand that day.
---
Until the last you hoped that something would happen. A ghost that suddenly appears, an angel, a new discovery ... anything, as long as he was kept away from that electric chair.
When your phone rang, you were deluded for a moment.
"Hey…"
"Sal?"
"They ... allowed me to call whoever I wanted ..."
Your heart fell on hearing his voice. It was his last day, his last day in your own world, that was his farewell to you.
"Sal, I-" Your words broke into a sob you couldn't hold back "I'm with you, I'll always be with you."
Silence invaded the line between the two of you as you tried not to give him your tears as your last caress.
"I know it." He was holding back the crying, you could hear it "And I'll always be with you too, know that."
You were tailor-made for him, and his heart would remain for you, even if you moved on, you would love someone worthy sooner or later, or at least he hoped you would, that the demon would not devour your future. .
"Bring me some sunflowers if you can ... ok?" That request trembled "They always make me think of you."
You forced yourself to cover your mouth with your palm to stifle your agony: "I'll fill you with sunflowers."
Something told you that even if you couldn't see him, he was trying to smile: "It's a bit a cliché but ... be happy."
You would have preferred to have died in that very moment.
"Sal, wait!" You begged for him now, holding on to the phone like it was him, like you could hold him there.
He hesitated at the desperation of your voice.
"I can't ..." his voice was soft, light, like when he consoled you years ago, when all this seemed simply impossible.
“I beg you…” You didn't know who you were really praying for, but you weren't ready to hear his voice go out.
One more minute, one more touch, a hug.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry you had to put up with this." A sob from him too. “Please… fight for your happiness, okay? You deserve all the happiness in the world. "
"Sal ..."
The answer that followed was the only intermittent sound of the blank phone line.
It's over, you'll never be able to hear Sal's voice again. You won't be able to talk to him anymore.
And he never believed you loved him.
---
How could you ever be happy?
His mask still looks at you as it always did, but behind the empty gaze there are nothing but blades of grass growing above his burial.
How could they bury him without his mask? He will feel uncomfortable.
Now you don't have to be strong for him anymore, you can collapse, break, destroy yourself, scream like you've never screamed, ask him to come back, because you need him.
Your fingers caress the cold, hard cheeks of his prosthesis as they always did, as if he were still behind it. Next to it, the sunflower he asked you for, like the one you gave him the first time you saw him.
"I love you Sally face ..." your words now go to the wind, they cannot be refused.
"I really love you."
---
Where you don't know, where you are not, a guy who has the weight of the world on his shoulders thinks about how much he could never be loved as people love each other in movies, or how people love each other in the world. But suddenly, like a ray of light, in the darkness he is facing, the yellow of a sunflower blooms. It's just a thought, but for a moment it's warm, and sweet, and it carries your voice with it.
You exist only within him, but you give him the love he needs, the one he didn't believe in, but which instead exists.
It is a tormented love, which suffers, but still welcomes him and wraps him as your arms did.
You are not there, you are far away, unreachable.
But he feels it, you're still there with him
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uraveragelonelygay · 3 years
Note
hey bestie! i love gamora and you probably don’t get a lot of requests with r x gamora, soooo i’m doing it <3
may i request a fluff blurb f!r x gamora, where gamora shows R (her gf) off to the guardians?
Pairing: Gamora x reader
Warnings: none
quick a/n: thank you for giving me a chance to write for Gamora, i adore her. also i don't like peter quill so sorry not sorry for how i portrayed him lol.
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Gamora shot you a reassuring smile as she walked with you towards the ship that housed her friends...no, scratch that. Her family. You and Gamora had met when the Guardians stopped by Earth to go over some business with Nick Fury. Gamora took a wrong turn when looking for the bathroom and found herself accidentally walking into your bedroom. The two of you locked eyes and it was as if Gamora’s world had stopped. She never envisioned herself falling in love. Peter had mentioned some “unspoken thing” between the two of them, but she knew what love felt like, and she felt none of it for him. But you? You were different.
You shot her a warm smile and introduced yourself.
“Hi, I’m Y/N. You must be Gamora, I’ve heard so much about you! You’re such a badass!” You had excitedly exclaimed.
That voice had to have been her new favorite sound in the entire galaxy.
And then you giggled when she told you she had been looking for the bathroom, and she decided your laugh was even better.
After months of contacting each other via an intergalactic device that Tony had given each of the Guardians to stay in contact with the Avengers as they travelled the galaxy, Gamora knew you were the one. And when she told you that on a call one night, she was ecstatic to hear that you felt the exact same way.
It was hard, though. Long distance within earth is one thing, but when two beings in love are on entirely different planets? It got lonely. The two of you wanted nothing more than to be in each other’s arms, since you hadn’t been able to see each other since you had first met, 9 months ago.
So now, here you were, finally with your girlfriend. Gamora had insisted that the Guardians make a stop on earth, as she had someone to introduce them to. Although, she almost didn’t want to. It wasn’t that she didn’t want her family to meet you, not at all. It was more selfish than that. She had finally gotten you in her arms, and now she would have to share you? Not her cup of tea.
But she was willing to do it for you, since you had requested it.
The door of the ship opened to reveal the cast of characters you had heard so much about.
The only human of the crew, Peter, you assumed, approached you with furrowed brows.
“Gamora, who’s this? You brought us all the way back to Earth to meet a friend?”
A raccoon then pushed Peter to the side. Rocket.
“Calm down, Star Munch, let the woman talk.”
A few more beings gathered around you, and you identified them as Groot, Drax, and Mantis.
Gamora glared at the two, more specifically at Peter, before speaking.
“She’s not a friend. She’s my girlfriend. Everyone, meet Y/N, she’s an Avenger here on earth.”
Everyone’s eyes widened.
“Is there something wrong?” You said anxiously.
“I am Groot.”
Rocket nodded. “Yeah, Groot says he never thought miss scary green lady over here would fall in love, and I can’t help but agree.”
“Or if she did, we all thought it would be with me,” Peter said, half-cocky, half-jealous.
The ship went silent. Gamora wrapped an arm around your waist defensively.
Just as Gamora was about to yell at Peter, a loud belly laugh from none other than Drax broke the silence.
“Speak for yourself, Quill!” he said. “I personally think this earthling is much more her style.”
You smiled at him, feeling your anxiety slowly trickle away.
Mantis then approached. “May I touch you?”
“Uh...sure?”
She placed a hand on your head, closing her eyes. She then pulled away, smiling. “She feels romantic love.”
You blushed, and Gamora smiled at you, pulling you into her side. “I feel it too,” she whispered for your ears only. Your smile widened.
The group of you sat around and chatted for a few hours before Gamora pulled you aside.
“Okay, now you’ve met them, sharing time is up. Now can I have you all to myself?” Gamora said impatiently.
You laughed at her antics before pulling her into a soft kiss. “Of course, love. Let’s go.”
As the two of you walked off towards your room in the Avengers Compound, hand in hand, you couldn’t help but be grateful that Gamora’s family (save for Peter) had accepted you with open arms, paws, and branches.
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fangirlovestuff · 3 years
Text
Never Too Late - Chris Evans x reader
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a/n- hey lovely people!! i hope you’re all doing well:) i’ve been working on this one for a while, and i’m super excited to finally share it! because it’s Chris’ birthday, i wanted to have some fun with this, so in the story, chris says 3 things that are quotes / paraphrases of some of his characters’ quotes (like 3 things his characters said in movies lol). see if you can find all 3 of them;) enjoy<3
Summary: Romance is an illusion. Unattainable. Absolutely unrealistic. No one can have a fairytale love story. But maybe, you don't need a fairytale. You just need each other. (In which you and Chris have each given up on romance, but then you meet, and… sparks fly.)
Word Count: 9.6k (hello longest oneshot i’ve ever written!!)
Warnings: some curse words, (responsible) alcohol consumption, slight angst?? honestly it’s just obliviousness, slow burn!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
This was a waste of time.
I'm sorry, the text read, something came up. Raincheck? ;)
Douche. He was the one that asked if you could do this today instead of tomorrow, so you moved your meeting. But apparently, that didn't matter, since he wasn't planning to show up anyway.
You blocked his number, leaving your place at the bar and heading towards the exit. You were in the middle of typing out a furious message to your friend who set you up on this blind date, when you collided with someone in your path quite harshly. You rubbed your arm where you bumped into the person and gazed upwards to meet his eyes.  
"Sorry," you both said in unison.
The man let out a chuckle. "Sorry," he repeated, his amused eyes gazing into yours.
"No, I'm the one who should apologize," you said, "I wasn't looking where I was going," you lifted up your phone, gesturing to the reason.
"I'm sure it was important," he made a dismissive gesture with his hand, "don't worry about it."
"It really wasn't. Again, sorry," you grimaced.
"It's fine," he reassured you, "I was actually on my way to get another drink so it's not like I spilled anything, no harm done," he smiled.
"Well, I'm really glad. Have a good rest of your night," you smiled back. Thinking that was the end of it, you turned to continue your walk towards the exit, opening your texts to write that message to your friend, but as you were turning around the man reached out and grabbed onto your wrist, not harshly but enough to make you turn around to face him once more.
He immediately let go of your hand, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Sorry, I don't mean to intrude, it's just… you seemed kind of upset when I bumped into you, are you alright?"
You sighed, shaking your head with a smile, "I'm fine," you looked up at him, "just got ditched by this blind date. Guy didn't show, so I was writing a furious message to my friend who set me up," you chuckled, "that's why I wasn't paying attention."
"Sorry," he said with a sympathetic grimace. "So why were you writing to your friend and not to the guy? I mean, he's the one who bailed."
"No offense, but I learned not to expect as much from the male species," you smirked, and he chuckled in return. "Got bailed on one too many times to have high expectations. Honestly, I was only willing to go on this date cause my friend said this was a great guy and, according to her, I was 'on the sure road to becoming a spinster'. So, I appeased her," you shrugged. Your confession left your lips with such ease, you were almost taken aback by how easy it was to talk to this complete stranger this openly. Maybe, it was easier because you were strangers.
"Ah, I know what that's like. I mean, not the spinster part, the part about appeasing your friends," he chuckled. "They're over there," he gestured to a table a little to the back, "to 'cheer me up'. Said I needed to leave my house more. Although I don't know if they're still sober enough to remember that's why they're here," he smiled affectionately as he looked at his table. Sure enough, the guys looked pretty drunk, but the man didn't seem to resent them for it, he was just amused.
"What did you need cheering up for?" you asked once his gaze went back to meet yours.
"Well, I got dumped. We were together for a few years. I even had a ring," he raised his eyebrows, "but she said it wasn't working out anymore. At least she didn't know about the ring yet," he smiled bitterly.
"Small victories," you nodded sympathetically.
"Yeah," he chuckled, "anyway, she just finished taking the last of her stuff from ou- my place. She was really lingering with it, we broke up like a month ago. Didn't have the heart to rush her."
"I'm sorry," you put a comforting hand on his shoulder, albeit a bit awkwardly. He seemed to appreciate it anyway. "Your sob story's way worse than mine," you joked, getting a small huff of laughter out of him.
"I guess," he said. "But that means I get where you're coming from on the whole no dating thing. It just seems pointless," he shrugged.
"I'm sure this is the part where anyone else would've told you that it'll be okay and you'll find 'your person', but since I'm shittier than that I'll be honest – romance is dead and we'll both probably die alone," you said flatly.
Your blunt tone made him smile, which in turn made you smile, and you nodded as your words sank into the silence between you. You started giggling, and soon he followed, and you were both laughing softly for a while.
"I'm sorry," he said, still grinning, "I don't know why I'm laughing. It's sad."
"Very sad," you agreed, a grin on your face as well. "to be fair, spinsterhood doesn't sound that bad. Except for the cats thing. I'll never be a crazy cat lady," you shook your head, "they hate me, every single one. I'd get dogs though," you mused, "have a little army of 'em."
"Sounds fun," he smiled.
"Right?" you smiled back, "I'm telling you, it's not as bad as people make it out to be."
Wrapped up in your conversation, you were both still standing next to the bar, and another man pushed past you to get to the bartender. The bubble around the two of you exploded, and you remembered that you were still in public, at the bar.
"You should go get that drink you were here for," you said, gesturing towards the bar.
"Alright," he chuckled. Just then, the man finished ordering, so he told the bartender what he'd like to have, then turned to you.
"Hey, romance might be dead, but chivalry isn't. Let me buy you a drink," he grinned.
"Be still my beating heart," you feigned emotion, before a smile crept back onto your face. "I'll have whatever you're having," you shrugged, and waited as he told the bartender to bring you two another drink.  
"So, if you're buying me a drink, I feel like it's only fair I should know your name," you smiled.
"That does seem fair," he sent a small smile your way. "I'm Chris," he put out his hand and you shook it, telling him your name in return.
"So, you come here often?" he smirked, prompting the both of you into another fit of laughter.
"For real though," you said once you got your drinks, "I'm really not looking for anything romantic right now. I hope that's okay."
"Of course," he reassured, "I'm not either."
"Okay good cause this is like, really tasty, so I wouldn't mind having a couple more," you held up the drink he got you with a grin, making him laugh.
You did have a couple more, with Chris. You ended up sitting at the bar, his friends not really noticing he was gone, and talking about anything and everything. You were almost reluctant to end the night, but you really should get home, which is what you told Chris before getting up and getting your wallet.
"Hey, no," he said and gestured for you to put it away, "I was serious, I'll pay."
"Really? I mean, this wasn't a date so I just thought-"
He shook his head adamantly and you put your hands up in surrender and smiled. "Okay. Thank you," you told him as you put your wallet away.
"You're very welcome. Although, there is something I still want to ask you. Can I get your number?"
You opened your mouth to protest, but before you could he spoke up again.
"Nothing romantic, I swear," he chuckled, "but it was really fun hanging out tonight. We should do it again. Completely platonically." He smiled sincerely.
You narrowed your eyes in mock suspicion before laughing. "Alright. Sure, you can have my number," you said, and he grinned before giving you his phone. You put in your number and gave it back.
"See you around, Chris," you smiled before leaving the bar, the smile lingering on your face all the way back to your house.
And when your friends asked you how the date was, you told them he bailed and you went home, never mentioning meeting Chris. You knew how they'd see it, and it wasn't like that, so you just… kept it to yourself. For now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
On your way to Chris' house, you picked up the takeout from the place he told you about, before texting him you got it and you were almost there.
It's been a couple of weeks since you met him, and so far he was proving to be a great friend. You texted back and forth most days, but never found the time to meet up again, until today, that is.
You had texted him about your crappy day at work, and how happy you were this week was finally, finally over, so he invited you t his house, and suggested you watch a movie. And well, you accepted. A movie night with a friend was just what you needed to put this shitty week behind you.
"Hi," you greeted him once he opened the door.
"Hi!" he took the takeout bags from your hands and gestured for you to follow him inside, and into the kitchen. "So," he started, while taking out the food, "I realized forgot to tell you; I have a dog," he smiled apologetically, "I don't know if that's a problem, he's in my room upstairs, I won't-"
"Are you kidding?" you nearly squealed, "of course that's not a problem! I told you if I could I'd be a crazy dog lady," you giggled. "Can I meet him?"
"Great!" he chuckled at your enthusiasm, "sure, I'll go get him."
As he went upstairs, you stood there, looking around his kitchen. You weren't sure what to do, it seemed like he got all the food, and it wasn't your house, so… you just stood there.
Fortunately, you soon heard the patter of footsteps, and just as you were about to call out to Chris to ask him if there was anything you could do to help, you heard him yell out.
"Dodger!"
And just then, a big whirl of movement came towards you, and before you knew it a large dog was resting his paws on you, nearly knocking you back. You regained your footing before you crouched down to your knees with a beam.
"Hey," you cooed at the excited dog, who was wagging his tail and still trying to climb onto you, apparently. "Hey," you repeated yourself, rubbing behind his ears affectionately. "It's so nice to meet you," you kept cooing and stroking his fur. He propped himself up and licked your cheek, making you giggle. "Thank you, you're so cute," you scratched his neck affectionately.
"Sorry about him, he gets excited around new people," Chris came into the kitchen apologizing.
"No worries," you grinned as the large dog laid down on his back, exposing his stomach to you in a silent request for belly rubs which you willingly provided. "He's adorable," you looked up at Chris, who was grinning back at you.
"He really is," he agreed, going to finish putting the food in plates before lifting them.
"Can I help with anything?" you asked, still crouched down and petting Dodger.
"Nope, all set," he smiled, "let's go."
He led the way to his living room, where he set the plates down on the coffee table and picked up the remote. "So, what do you wanna watch?"
"Oh, I don't know," you shrugged as you sat down on the couch, "you can pick."
"Well, I would, but we're here because you've had a shitty week, so you should pick whatever you want."
"Ugh, don't remind me. See, Dodger would never do this to me," you turned your gaze to the dog, who has settled at your feet, and started petting him again. "Right? Of course you won't, you're the cutest dog," you cooed.
Chris burst out into a short laugh. "Are you going to steal my dog?"
"It's a very real possibility," you said dryly, shrugging. You turned your gaze to him, your hand still petting Dodger, and smirked.
"Okay, so are you gonna pick a movie now that we've settled that?" he asked, smiling.
"I don't know what to pick," you admitted, "I don't wanna put on anything you don't like, I guess," you mumbled.
"Awwwww, it's fine," he assured with an easy smile, "pick whatever."
You caved and put on a movie you really liked – The Princess Bride. As he realized what movie you were putting on, Chris chuckled.
"Really? That's what you're going with?"
"See? I told you I'd put on something you wouldn't like. Forget it, we can just-"
"No, no!" he cut you off, "I really like this movie," he grinned, "I just wouldn't expect that from someone who claims romance is dead, that's all," he chuckled.
"Well, movies have… dragons in them. Do you think dragons are real just cause they're in movies?" you reasoned.
"Okay, I see your point," he raised his hands in mock surrender.
A comfortable silence stretched over the both of you from that point, the only thing filling it was the sound of the movie playing and the occasional shuffling sound when either of you, or Dodger, shifted on the couch.
A bit later, Chris spoke up. "Hey, want a beer?"
"Uh, I probably shouldn't have any. Driving myself home and all," you shrugged.
"Yeah, that's smart," he chuckled. You were both lowering your voices, as if not to disrupt the movie which was still playing. "Mind if I have one?"
"Not at all," you answered truthfully, "It's your house."
He let out another short chuckle, nodding before getting up. When he heard Chris getting up, Dodger lifted his head from where he was laying, and swiftly followed him into the kitchen.
When they returned, Chris brought you a glass of water, and gave it to you before sitting down. Dodger jumped back up onto the sofa, curling up beside Chris, laying his head on his stretched-out legs.
"Awwww," you softly smiled, "that's adorable. He really loves you."
"Not nearly as much as I love him," Chris replied, smiling and fondly rubbing Dodger's head.
"See, that's good love. Love that lasts," you remarked. Thinking that was the end of it, you turned your head back to the movie.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Huh?" you turned your head back to Chris.
"What did you mean by that?" he repeated.
"Oh, nothing," you shook your head. "Just, you know. I know I seem very opposed to romance, but I'm not against love. I love my family," you shrugged, "because they made me the person I am today. They're a part of me. I just don't think that a love between two people who aren't family can last in the same way."
"Yeah. You're probably right. What about dogs though? They're certainly not blood related to us," he joked.
"Certainly," you laughed, "But dogs aren’t as fucked up as humans, so it's not really comparable. Dogs don’t stay up thinking about something embarrassing they did five years ago. Dogs probably don't even get embarrassed, really. They don't have as many doubts and… restrictions. Barriers. They don't have to make everything complicated."
"But humans do."
"Bingo," you chuckled dryly.
"We really do, don't we?" he sighed. "No one really knows what they're doing or who they are. How can you know someone else enough to truly love them when you don't even know yourself?"
"Exactly. You get it," you toasted your glass of water against his beer bottle. "it's too much effort for something that lasts so little."
"Not necessarily little," he suggested, "but never enough. You know, in movies, love is this big force of nature that draws two people towards each other so strongly… it's undeniable, unavoidable. Meant to be," he chuckled. "That feels so far away from anything I've ever experienced."
"Me too, if that's any comfort," you grimaced sympathetically. "Maybe we're just meant to be alone."
"Maybe. Anyway, that's grim," he chuckled, shaking his head. "Sorry."
"No, it's fine," you smiled. "Every time I talk about it with my friends, I get told I just haven't found the right person yet, and to keep on hoping and everything will magically be sunshine and rainbows," you fluttered your eyelashes cynically. "It's fun to know there's at least one more realistic person out there," you sent him a small smile, which he returned.
You both turned back to watch the movie, which was heading towards the end at this point. The handsome prince saves the brave princess. He's not really a prince, but, you know. Same difference; it's a fairytale, a legend.
Something no one can ever truly have.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Chris and you had developed a habit of calling each other on Mondays, since they were the worst, and you both needed to vent. You were in the middle of one of those calls when something he said made you abruptly stop making your dinner.
"How come I didn't know it was your birthday?" you asked, surprised, at his admission that his birthday was yesterday.  
"It never came up," he said. "Besides, it doesn't matter. The party's on Friday anyways, if you wanna come. You can bring some friends too, if you want. There's plenty of space."
"Yeah, okay," you smiled to yourself, "sure. Happy belated birthday, Chris."
"Thank you," he chuckled. "So you'll come?"
"Yeah, I'll be there, I guess," you sighed dramatically, prompting him to laugh.
"Great! See ya Friday," he said.
"See you."
After you hung up the call, you returned to your dinner, but not before texting your friends to invite them along. If you were getting on so nicely with Chris, you assumed the rest of his friends were nice people, so would in turn get along with your friends. Who were also nice people, obviously.
Or maybe, not so obviously.
There was an immediate flood of messages asking about who Chris is and how you met and if he's cute.
You ignored them in favor of finishing making your dinner, and only then sat down with your food and answered their questions, except for that last one.
He's a friend of mine I met not long ago, nice guy, you replied to the group chat.
And?? one of your friends texted.
And he invited me to this party he's throwing for his birthday, and told me I could bring friends, so now I'm inviting you guys. Hopefully, I won't regret that.
But is he cute???
I don't know, and I don't care. You know I'm not looking for anything right now!!
You're no fun. Fine, we'll come and see for ourselves ;P
You scoffed to yourself and continued to eat your dinner, unbothered. Maybe they should come, you mused, just to see that it's possible to make friends without dating them, like a sane adult.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Happy birthday!" you exclaimed as Chris ushered you and your friends into his house. "I brought you a wine," you extended the bottle and he took it.
"Thank you!" he said loudly, to overpower the music that was playing. "Is it good?"
"How should I know? I didn't drink from it, it's your gift!" you joked. He laughed before giving you a one-armed hug and waving at your friends. "I'm gonna put this away," he pointed towards the kitchen, "But you should go to the living room, everyone's there."
You gave him a thumbs up and led your friends towards the living room.
"He even laughs at your bad jokes," your friend cooed in your ear, and you sighed and rolled your eyes.
"We're not a couple!" you reminded her.
"Maybe not yet, but I'm just saying you'd make a good one," she shrugged, a twinkle in her eye.
You ignored her, and continued walking. On your way to the living room, you did see a whole bunch of other people, but still, the party wasn't huge, especially compared to Chris' large house. There were no more than probably about 80 people there, not including yourself and your friends.
Pouring yourself a drink, you sat down next to your friends, who were already making small talk with another group, and joined the conversation.
Some time went by before the conversation turned to romance, and everyone started sharing funny stories about their significant others.
"What about you?" asked a woman from the other group. She seemed friendly, an easygoing smile on her face. "Everyone has a story to tell."
Before you could answer, one of your friends chimed in. "Oh, she doesn't do romance," she teased.
"Sounds mysterious," the woman laughed.
"Yep," you smiled, amused, "that's me. Dark, brooding, and mysterious."
As you were all laughing, Chris came down to sit next to you. "Having a good time?" he asked the group with a smile, a model host.
"Yeah," one of your friends answered, "we were just talking about how this one never dates anymore," she pointed at you, and you caught Chris' look, amused. "What do you think about that?" your friends asked, oblivious to the silent exchange.
"I think she should do whatever she wants to," he answered with a smile.
"Oh, don’t be diplomatic," she said, "don't you think she should find someone?" she pressed.
"I think she should do whatever she feels like," he persisted.
"Whatever," your friend rolled her eyes with a smile. "Every pot has a lid. Sooner or later, you'll find yours," she said, your words pointed at you now.
You were quiet for a brief moment before speaking up. "Oh, you're done talking about me like I'm not here. Sorry, you were saying?"
The entire group burst into laughter, and you caught Chris' gaze again.
Sorry, you mouthed, shrugging.
It's fine, he mouthed back with a small smile.
The urge to kill your friend subsided when you saw Chris didn't take her pestering too seriously.
For the rest of the night, you proceeded to have a good time, making conversation with a few other people and only running into Chris one more time.
"Enjoying yourself?" he asked, toasting his cup to yours.
"Yeah. You throw a great party," you smiled.
"I'm glad you think that," he returned your smile.
After that you returned to your friends, and a little while later you all decided to head home. You searched for Chris, thanked him for hosting the party and wished him a happy birthday, and went home.
"You're telling me there's nothing there?" your friend asked you on the ride home.
"There's nothing there," you sighed. "I don't know why you all want there to be."
"We just know what it's like being in love. And we want that for you. It's fun," she smiled.
"Parkour also sounds fun, that doesn't mean I can or am going to do it," you retorted. "You know what I think about being in love. Different people have different paths and abilities. I can be happy without a sweeping romance."
"I know, you're a strong independent woman and you don’t need no man," she rolled her eyes. "Just… don't close yourself off to the opportunity. That's all I'm saying."
"Okay," you shrugged.
Shortly after, she dropped you off, and you went to sleep, thinking nothing of the whole ordeal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She came by today.
When you got the text from Chris on Wednesday, you were puzzled for a few moments before you realized. His former fiancée. I mean, almost fiancée.
Shit
Is everything okay?
It only took him a couple of seconds to reply.
Yeah, I guess.
On an obviously unrelated note, wanna come drink?
You chuckled before texting him your ETA, quickly changing from the already rumpled clothes you had worn all day, and driving to his place.
You texted him when you were outside, and when you walked up to his door it was already opened, and he was waiting for you, a bottle of beer in hand.
"Aw, you drove yourself here?" he asked, before ushering you in, "I told you we should drink."
"Yeah," you chuckled, "but it's not like there's anyone I can ask to drive me on a random Wednesday. It's fine, you drink."
"But I don't wanna drink alone," he whined. "Can't you just spend the night then? I have a guest bedroom."
You opened your mouth to refuse, but then assessed it again. You were in pretty comfortable clothes, you were starting work a little later than usual tomorrow, and well… he needed a friend, and he asked you.
"Okay, fine," you chuckled, "gimmie one of those," you gestured at his beer.
He made a little celebratory motion with his hand before going and getting you another beer.
"So," you started as you took a swig of your beer, "how was your day?"
He let out a short, bitter laugh. "Great. Yeah, just… just great," he took a large gulp of his beer. You waited, giving him the space he needed to speak again. "She wanted to get back together, actually," he scoffed. You frowned, but still refrained from speaking.
"You know, I… I still have the ring," his voice broke and he cleared his throat. "I still have the ring because I wanted her to come back. But when she finally did I… I couldn't say yes to her. Because it's forever or nothing. And I don't think I'm meant to have a forever. Certainly not with someone who broke up with me anyways," he took another sip of his beer.
"If it's any comfort, I don't think there's such a thing as forever," you shrugged, and he looked at you quizzically. "I told you," you said, "all romance is momentary."
"Maybe that's true," he sighed again. "At any rate, I am now stuck with this ring, which is just… fantastic. Really awesome."
"Can't you bring it back to the shop?"
"Tried to. They won't take it back, say it's been too long for their return policy. That money's lost," he took another sip of beer.
"Well, you know, if it's lost anyways…" you smiled, "I think I have an idea of what to do with it. but first," you raised your beer in a toast, "we do need to be a little drunker for this."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few too many drinks later, you and Chris were stumbling in a park near his home.
"How do you know where we are?" he asked, before nearly tripping on his face, making you giggle as he managed to catch himself on a nearby tree.
"I've been here before," you explained, a little less drunk than he was but still positively buzzed. "It's really pretty."
"It is," he agreed, taking in the trees around you as you kept going. "It's also very isolated. Are you going to kill me?" he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"No," your loud laugh rang through the park, breaking the silence of the night. "I'm not gonna kill you. Promise. Now c'mon, we're nearly there!" you beckoned him to follow you as you ran forward.
The rest of the way went by quickly, the both of you striding hurriedly, or as hurriedly as your inebriated minds would allow, engulfed in the comforting silence of the night. Finally, you got to a clearing with a large lake.
The crescent moon reflected in the water, and the lake was shimmering slightly as the wind disturbed it. The only sounds were those of your slightly labored breath, the soft trickling of the water, and the occasional flap of a bird's wings. The silence surrounded you, but it wasn't suffocating, it was as clear as the water in front of you.
It was finally broken when Chris spoke up again.
"You got me drunk so you could drown me in a lake?"
You burst into another fit of laughter. "First of all," you said in between giggles, "if anyone got anyone drunk it's you convincing me to drun- drink."
It was his turn to laugh at your mix-up. "Shut up," you said, slapping his arm lightly. "Now c'mon. You have the ring, right?"
"Yep," he said, fishing it out of his pocket. "But why did you want me to bring it?"
"Well, the fact I'm not gonna drown you in the lake doesn't mean we're not drowning anything."
"My ex-fiancée?" his mouth dropped open into an o shape.
"No!" you facepalmed. "The ring. You're gonna throw the ring in the river!"
"I am?"
"God, I'm starting to think I got you too drunk," you rolled your eyes. "Okay. Here's what we're gonna do. You're gonna think about your relationship. You're gonna reminisce about everything, good and bad, and you're gonna put it in this ring. In your head, of course," you added before he could chime in.
"So I can let go," he nodded in understanding.
"Exactly," you smiled. "We don't need romance. Fuck romance. Fuck forever. You're better than that!"
"Amen!" he said, toasting an invisible glass in the air, making you laugh once more. It was probably the alcohol, but you hadn't laughed like this in a while. It was fun to laugh loudly, freeing. You wondered why you didn't do it more often.
"Alright!" you clapped your hands once, shaking from your thoughts. "Let's get this show on the road!"
You both stepped closer to the lake, and then Chris held out his hand in front of him, his palm open with the ring on it. He stared at it intently for a few moments, then his gaze snapped up to meet yours and he nodded shortly. You didn't speak, you just reached out and closed his fingers around the ring, before stepping aside and gesturing for him to go ahead. He stared at his fist for another moment before taking a swing and throwing the ring as far as he could. You held your breath until you heard the sound of the ring hitting the water, which made you release a breath full of awe.
"You did it," you said softly.
"I did it," he slowly repeated. "I did it!" he yelled out and you laughed in surprise. "I did it!" he yelled again, and in a few short strides he was next to you, picking you up and spinning you around in celebration.
"Put me down!" you shouted at him between fits of laughter, "Lunatic!"
He put you down, grinning widely. "I can't believe I just threw that ring into the lake. That was so stupid."
"It kinda was," you laughed, breathless.
"It was your idea!"
"I know! It's still stupid," you kept laughing, nearly doubling over. "Felt good though, didn’t it?"
"It really did," he let out a bewildered laugh. "Fuck. It really did," he said, and started laughing, which made you start laughing again, and before you knew it you were both laying on the grass, laughing until your cheeks hurt.
"My cheeks hurt," you pouted.
"Awww, I'm sorry," he drawled, reaching out to pinch your cheek, making you swat his hand away, glaring at him. He just giggled again, laying on his back and looking up to the sky.
You laid back as well, staring up.
"I wish I knew something about the stars," he said out of the blue.
"What do you wanna know?"
"Oh, just anything. I don't know jack shit about 'em."
"Well, I'm pretty sure that's Orion's Belt," you said, pointing up to a group of three stars. "So now you know that about the stars."
He said your name, making you turn your head to look at him. "You're a good friend," he smiled.
"You're a good friend too," you smiled back at him.
"No, I'm not. All I ever do is moan about my stupid ex."
"I'm sure she wasn't stupid," you reasoned.
"She was! She was stupid with two o's," he mumbled in disdain. You giggled at his words. "I'm not hung up on her," he continued. "I'm just… disillusioned. I thought she was the one. And now that she's gone… I don't know if there's gonna be a one. Which is sad. So I've been sad," he said matter-of-factly.
"I was sad too when I started thinking that," you whispered, sobering up a little. "But we don’t need 'a one', Chris. Romance is dead, but life goes on. We're on our own, but that doesn't mean we can't make the best of it."
"I spent so much of my life looking forward to spending the rest of my life with someone. And now that I realize that might not be the case… I guess I just realized that this is it. The rest of my life. I needed to throw that ring to make peace with that."
"Glad I could help," you gave him a half-smile, taking his hand in yours and giving it a small squeeze.
"Yeah," he returned a squeeze of his own, "me too."
"C'mon," you said, leaving his hand and getting up, before helping him to his feet as well. "We should get going."
You stumbled your way home, leaning on each other for some parts of the way. Sleepy and still a little buzzed, you finally got to his house, and he led you to the guest bedroom.
"Goodnight," he said, smiling.
"Goodnight," you whispered back, before he turned and walked up the stairs. You listened to him climb, and heard the sound of another set of footsteps, soft cooing coming from upstairs, and then heard the sound of a door closing.
Dodger, you thought with a smile, before closing your own door and plopping down on the bed.
In the last minutes of your wakefulness, you thought about how lucky dogs were.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So, are you dating him?"
"No!" you said indignantly, "have you listened to a single word I said?"
"Oh, so you're just not putting a label on it? you're a little too old for those games if you ask me, but suit yourself," your friend shrugged.
"Come on! He's just a friend," you huffed.
"If that's what you wanna tell yourself," she smirked, but then her look became more sincere. "Look, I know you. I know that every time we talk about him, you're happy. Why can't you admit that you like him?"
"I do like him, as a person! I like all of my friends!"
"You're impossible," she rolled her eyes with an affectionate smile.
"You're impossible," you retorted weakly before smiling at her.
"You know we all just want you to be happy, right? That's all we want."
"I know," you said softly, "and I appreciate it. I really do. But I am happy, on my own."
"If that's the case, then I'm happy for you," she sighed. "I don't want you to feel like a third wheel, especially with Sarah's wedding coming up. You're the last of us who hasn't tied the knot yet."
"I'll be fine at Sarah's wedding," you rolled your eyes.
"I know, I know," she raised her hands in surrender, "But I'm just saying, I know you're anti-romance, but I also know you're not anti-company. Maybe you should bring Chris. As your friend, if you insist" she added when she saw you open your mouth to object. "Just, you know, everyone's coming with someone, and I don't want you to sit alone."
"I appreciate you looking out for me, I do, but seriously, I think you're underestimating my social skills. You do realize I can talk to people I don't know, right?"
"I know," she huffed. "Just… consider it, okay? For me?"
"I'll think about it, I guess," you shrugged.
You had no intention of following through on that. Except, well, it did come up when you were talking to Chris.
"What are you doing Friday?" he asked, his voice mechanical through the phone. "I thought we could finally see that movie you're always talking about."
"Nope, can't do Friday," you said, the phone pressed between your shoulder and your ear as you were folding your laundry.
"Aw, that's a shame. I was really looking forward to you finally shutting up about it," he teased, making you chuckle. "What're you doing Friday then?"
"First of all, if you'd listen to me and see it, you wouldn't wanna shut up about it either, because it's awesome. Second, I'm going to a friend's wedding. I'm gonna sit aside, drink some wine, and make fun of all the drunk couples."
"Sounds like a real fun night," he teased.
"Yeah," you said sarcastically. "I am really happy for her though. I know she wanted it for a long time," you said, sincere now.
"Hey, um, if you want, maybe I could come laugh at drunk couples with you? So you'll have some company," he offered.
"Oh, you don't have to," you dismissed it, "I know it sounds like a bummer, but really, I'll be fine."
"No, really. No one should have to sit alone at weddings," he said.
"Another friend of mine told me that as well."
"Well then, this friend of yours is smart. Believe me, as a veteran of many sit-alone weddings myself, I can confirm it's indeed a huge bummer."
"Fine," you chuckled, "I guess if you want to come so badly you may," you said, making him laugh.
"Great, text me the details?"
"Yep," you smiled. "Talk to you later?"
"Sure, bye!"
You hung up the phone to get up and start putting all your clothes into the closet. After you were done with that, you sent Sarah a text to let her know you will be bringing a plus one at the end, asking her if that'd be okay.
Is it Chris????
Yeah
Then it's fine!! :)))
You chuckled to yourself and kept putting away your clothes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~      
The night of the wedding, as a close friend of the bride's, you arrived at the venue a couple of hours beforehand, along with all of your friends. Chris came some time after guests started to arrive, and it didn't take you long to spot him in the crowds, looking a bit lost. You excused yourself quickly from the conversation you were in with some of the groom's friends and went to greet him.
"Hey!" you waved as you walked towards him, "Chris!"
Grinning when he saw you, he also began moving towards you, until you finally met in the middle.
"I'm glad you could make it," you smiled.
"I am too," he said, "seems like a nice wedding."
"Yeah. C'mon, you're just in time. They're gonna start the ceremony soon," you explained as you grabbed his arm and started leading him towards your seats.
"Oh-kay," he chuckled as you dragged him forward with surprising determination.
As you took your seats, you waved at your friends, and they freaked out over Chris being there, but you paid no mind to them, as Chris was leaning towards you, whispering, "You know, for someone who doesn't seem to enjoy romance, you sure do seem excited about this wedding."
"Well, I'm happy for Sarah. I've learned that me and my friends have a different outlook on that, and that's fine, it's useless to argue about it or whatever. I'm just happy she's gonna have what she wanted, even if I don't really believe in it."
"So how does that work? If you don't think romance is real and bring joy then how come you're happy your friend has it?"
"Chris, if one of my friends told me they found a way to adopt a unicorn, I'd be happy for them, no questions asked. Everyone should do what they feel like," you shrugged. "Now shhhh, they should be starting every minute now."
The ceremony was a beautiful one, and Sarah looked gorgeous in her white dress. As she walked down the aisle with a beaming smile, Chris' words echoed in your mind.
If you don't think romance is real and bring joy then how come you're happy your friend has it?
Despite your quick answer, you didn’t really know. The short answer was the one you told Chris, but the long one…
For the longest time, you believed romance just wasn't durable. Wasn't real. But maybe you just didn't believe that you can have that kind of romance? You just never really had someone to challenge your perception like that, because no one ever took it seriously, they just told you you'd find your person.
But that wasn't something you wanted to think about now, so you filled it away for later.
"It was a beautiful ceremony."
You and Chris were a little far out from the dancing crowd, somewhere a little quieter, but you could still see the dance floor from the bench you had found.
"Yeah, it was," you agreed with him.
"Not beautiful enough to make you cry, I guess?" he teased.
"Ha ha. I don't cry at weddings."
"I could've guessed that," he chuckled. "So what do you usually do at weddings? I mean, all your friends are married, so I'm assuming you've been to quite a few."
"What I'm doing right now. Sitting aside and drinking," you raised your glass in mock salute before taking a generous sip.
"Solid plan," he nodded slightly. "So you've never like, danced at weddings or anything?"
"No," you frowned, shaking your head slightly, "Why would I? I'm not a dancer, really.
"Well, how 'bout we go and change that?"
"Excuse me now?"
"I'm just saying, if you're really happy for your friend, maybe you should show her that. Enjoy yourself."
"I am enjoying myself," you deadpanned.
"Do what people are meant to do at weddings," he rolled his eyes.
"I thought you were here to silently judge everyone with me. Don't make me regret inviting you," you jokingly waved your finger at him as if you were telling him off.
"That's still the plan. We could just probably still do that on the dance floor," he shrugged. "Your call."
There was a short-lived silence before you sighed. "Fine. One dance," you warned.
Getting up, he offered his arm to you, which you took, and you made your way o the dance floor. You started dancing to the end of the upbeat song that was playing, but just then it changed into something a little slower, and people were pairing up.
"This is the money time," Chris winked, and offered you his hand. You took it, almost instinctively, and you started dancing to the song, his other hand on your waist while yours was on his shoulder.
"What do you mean money time?" you whispered.
"Okay. We're gonna turn around, and you're gonna look at the couple that's gonna be behind me," he said, turning the both of you around casually as you danced.
"Oh my god," you suppressed your laughter. "That's… I don't even know what to say. Are they even a couple or is he her da- oh nope, he just kissed her on the lips. God," you grimaced as Chris laughed at your expression. "I at least hope he's rich for her sake."
You both chuckled, and it was only a couple of moments later that you gasped with a smile. "Don't be obvious cause they're pretty close, but look at the couple to my right."
"Oh shit," he chuckled. "Remind me not to go to any secluded corner of this wedding. These two are probably this close to running off to do things I definitely wouldn't wanna see."
"Right?" you said, amused, "They're practically eye fucking. Have some decency!"
You both laughed again, and then Chris nodded his head subtly in another direction. "Look at those two."
They were a couple that wasn't dancing, they were sitting at a table close to the dancefloor, their foreheads touching, seemingly murmuring to each other.
"Betcha they're the kind of couple who does the whole 'no you hang up!' thing," Chris continued with an amused grin.
"Oh they so are!" you burst into laughter. "They probably share a single spaghetti from both ends."
"Lady and the Tramp style," you both said at the same time, prompting you to tear your eyes from the couple and look at each other, giggling.
You continued dancing through the next song, and the next one, and the one after that. For pretty much the rest of the night, you two danced together, continuing to invent silly stories about the people you saw, laughing at each other's cheesy anecdotes.
When it was getting late and the party was winding down, Chris offered you a ride home, since he hasn't drunk, and you gratefully accepted. You came here with your friends, and they were all probably staying longer, but you were getting a little sleepy, so you decided to call it a night.
"Let's just go say goodbye to Sarah," you said and he nodded, letting you lead the way.
"Hey, I'm getting pretty tired, so we're gonna leave. Congratulations," you smiled once you had gotten to the table the happy couple was sitting at. As Chris was shaking the husband's hand, you had bent down to wrap your arms around Sarah in a tight hug.
"So you admit you're a 'we' now? You and Chris?" she teased, whispering in your ear.
"We're not," you rolled your eyes.
"Whatever you say," she smiled knowingly. "Thank you for coming," she said louder once you let go of her.
"It was a pleasure, congratulations," Chris smiled at the both of them, and you all gave your goodbyes.
On the way back, you were already lulling into sleep in the passenger's seat, and Chris smiled to himself.
"Chris," you mumbled from your half-asleep state.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. For coming with me today. You're right. Dancing with you is better than sitting alone."
"Wow, what a compliment," he drawled sarcastically.
"Yeah, don't let it get to your head buddy," you chuckled, before shifting around in your seat so your head was leaning on the window. "Can you wake me up when we get there?"
"Sure," he smiled, "Sweet dreams."
"Thanks," you yawned.
When you got to your house, Chris gently nudged your shoulder a few times to wake you up. You woke up, confused for a second, but quickly regained your composure and thanked him for the ride.
You went into the house, barely changing out of your dress before plopping down on the bed.
It was kind of weird, honestly. Usually, no matter how tired you were, you wouldn't manage to fall asleep in a car, or a plane. Even a bed that wasn't yours was sometimes harder to sleep in.
But you were in your own bed now, so you didn't have a lot of time to mull that over before you sunk into a deep sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
"Hey," Chris greeted over the phone one Monday.
"Hi! How's it going?" you smiled.
"Fine. I mean, actually, do you wanna come over?"
"Right now?" you frowned.
"I mean, why not? Have the Monday chat in person."
"Um, sure. Yeah, I'll be over in a bit," you said. Hanging up, you didn't think too much of his invitation. He sounded fine, and he said he was. He was probably just being nice.
Soon enough you were knocking at his front door. It opened to reveal a very excited Dodger pouncing on you, and you giggled as you crouched down to pet him. "Yeah, hi Dodger! How's the cutest boy doing?"
"Ouch," Chris joked from the doorstep.
"Hello to you too, I guess," you said dryly, but with a grin on your face.
You all went inside, and Dodger went straight to his bed, curling up. "Your knock woke him up," Chris explained, smiling at the sight.
"Oh, sorry," you gave him a small smile.
"It's fine. As you can see, he has no problem going right back to sleep," he chuckled.
"Yeah," you giggled. "Is everything okay? I mean, is there a reason you wanted me to come except to enjoy my magnificent presence?" you teased.
"Well, that was mostly it," he laughed, "but actually, I did want to talk to you about something. Wanna go outside?"
"Um, sure," you said, frowning slightly before forcing yourself to smile again.
You stepped outside into his garden, sitting in the big lawn chairs.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" you asked, turning your head to look at him.
"That's Orion's Belt, right?" he evaded, pointing at a group of stars in the night sky.
"I'm pretty sure it is," you shrugged.
For a moment, you were both quiet.
"I've changed my mind," Chris started. "This isn't the rest of my life. It's just my life."
"Okay," you said, not getting where he was going with this.
"You know, all these cheesy couples we made fun of at Sarah's wedding? I think they have it right."
"How come?"
"They realized that romance isn't about forever. It's about right here, right now. It’s in the little things. I've been so opposed to romance lately, and I was constantly thinking about how I wouldn't have a forever, so much so that I forgot what's going on now."
"And what's that?" you asked softly.
"Something much simpler than that. Happiness."
You stared at each other in silence, a slight frown still on your face.
"You make me happy," Chris admitted in a soft voice. "You make me really happy. And I don't want to lose your friendship, but I have to ask you this, because otherwise I don't think I'd forgive myself. Do you really not believe in romance? At all?"
"I don't know," you whispered. Clearing your throat, you continued a bit louder. "I don't believe in everyone's version of it. The happily ever after, forever. I don't need anyone to complete me either."
"There's always a middle road. Maybe not everyone has someone, and we don’t need romance, but that doesn't mean we're not allowed to want it. We shouldn't have to sit alone at weddings," he said sincerely. After a breath, he continued. "I'm not asking you for forever. I don't want to. But I want to ask you for now. And I don't think I'd complete you, just like you don't complete me. But you do make my life a whole lot better."
"Chris, you know I'm not looking for anything, I told you that when we met," you said weakly.
"I know. I also wasn't looking for anything. And yet I found… something. And I'd be a coward not to pursue it. We can make our own kind of romance; not a happily ever after, but a happy here and now. No big cheesy gestures, or unreasonable promises, just… being together. And that means I can't promise you it'll work, that it'll be perfect. Hell, it'll probably be messy, and hard, and mundane, at times, but that's how life is. But I can promise I'll try. And even if it doesn't work out, I'm willing to regret you for the rest of my life."
You thought back to every romantic relationship you've had. Every date you've been on. A lot of them were disappointing, but some of them were good.
None of them made you as happy as being with Chris did. Not one of your actual dates managed to top just hanging out with Chris. You didn't know why, but you felt safe with him, like you can be entirely yourself. You felt happy.
You didn't want to risk that. You didn't want to lose that. But what if taking this one risk would make it all that much better? You thought back to all of your friends, how happy they were with their significant other, how in love. What if putting your heart out on the line, for the first time in a long while, would make you happier than you had ever imagined?
Of course, it could also make you devastated. It could crush you. But that's the risk, isn't it?
There isn't any other person you'd rather take that leap with, you realized. In the few months you knew Chris, he already managed to become one of your favorite people in the entire world. You trusted him, cared about him, more than you'd let yourself realize up until now. And like he said, not exploring that would make you a coward. And you're not.
You took a deep breath. Chris gave you the time you needed, simply looking at you softly.
"I haven't dated anyone in a while. I might be rusty," you chuckled finally.
"I'm willing to take those odds," he smiled. "Is that a yes?"
"Yes," you nodded, a grin slowly making its way onto your face. "If there's anyone I would do this with, it's you," you admitted softly.
He grinned, getting up from his chair and extending his hand out to you, and you accepted. Gently, he pulled you up on your feet, using his momentum to bring you to stand closer to him and wrapping his other arm around your waist. Slowly, you two inched closer, until, finally, his lips were on yours.
There weren't fireworks, or butterflies. There was just this moment, right here, right now. No doubts, or hesitations, it was peaceful. It felt right.
This moment was all you could ever ask for. All you'd ever need.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You look so beautiful in the mornings," Chris murmured, burrowing his head into the crook of your neck.
"You too. Happy birthday," You whispered back, weaving your fingers into the hairs on the nape of his neck. He hummed in response, and you giggled, feeling it tickling your neck.
You laid there for a while more, just basking in each other's company. But when you looked at the clock, you started nudging Chris away from you. "We should get up," you said softly, "We have a party to prepare for."
"The party's not until the evening," he whined, "Stay in bed," he wrapped his arm around your waist, pulling you towards him.
You ended up leaving the bed at noon, eating a big lunch before tidying up for the party. A few minutes later, you slipped away, to set up your surprise.
"Hey Chris?" you called from the other room, "Can you just come over here for a second?"
"Coming!"
He entered to find you and Dodger in matching little party hats, and you were holding one out for him too.
"Wow!" he burst into laughter, putting the party hat on his head. "What's all this for?"
"I thought we should celebrate a little before the guests arrive," you shrugged. "And, you know, Dodger looks so cute in that little hat."
"He does," Chris cooed. "How did you manage to put it on him? He would never let me put anything."
"Well, he just likes me more," you smirked. Chris scoffed amusedly. "Okay fine," you rolled your eyes, "I may have bribed him with a treat."
Dodger's ears perked up at the word and you both laughed at the suddenly interested dog.
"I shouldn't have said that," you giggled.
"Probably," he agreed. "Thank you," you put his arm on the small of your back, nudging you closer to his side.
"You're welcome. Happy birthday," you smiled, tilting your head up to press a soft kiss to his lips. He cupped your cheek in his hand, deepening the kiss, but before it could get any further Dodger was barking and putting his front paws on the both of you.
"Yeah, yeah, don't get jealous. We love you too," you and Chris laughed, petting his head affectionately.
Honestly that day was a perfectly normal day for you and Chris. Being in love for the two of you didn't mean big highs and lows. You had your moments, but most of the time, it was just this peaceful bliss.
Later that night, the party was already in full swing. You and Chris separated from each other at some point, but you were making the rounds, so you knew sooner or later you'd meet up again.
In the small crowd, it was easy to spot your friends, sitting with the same group they did last year. You smiled to yourself, going up and greeting everyone warmly.
"How's everyone doing?" you asked, sitting down for a moment.
There was a chorus of "fine"s and "good"s before the conversation continued. You joined in, talking to your friends and catching up with the other group.
"Hey," Chris' voice was suddenly next to you. He came up and wrapped his arms around you from behind, talking softly next to your ear. "I'm gonna get myself another beer. You want anything as well?"
"Um, yeah. Can you bring me one too?"
"Sure," he smiled.
You tilted your head so you could reach and kiss his cheek, "Thanks."
As he walked away, you turned your attention back to the rest of the group, only to find them all looking at you with knowing grins.
"I thought you didn't do romance," said the woman you had spoken to last year, a teasing smile on her face.
"I didn't. I guess I changed my mind," you smiled softly, watching Chris’ back as he dissappeared into the kitchen.
Maybe romance wasn’t so bad after all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
did you catch the three references? tell me:)) i hope you like it, and if you stuck through this entire story, thank you so so much for reading!! as always, i’d love to hear your thoughts, and remember to stay hydrated and take care of yourself<3 happy chris day!!
special shoutout for @animnerd who gave me some motivation when i needed it<3 
Taglist:  @horny-nd-bored @shannon124 @perfectlyharolds @wintersoldierslut @iceebabies  @sleepingpapermouse @steverogerswasalwaysworthy @holtzkinnon @angelicl-y @stydia-4-ever @thatoneperson5000 @fangirlfree @kaitcordx25 @bequeening @steve-barry-damon-logan @itscrazycherryblossomcollection @hollandxmarvel @stargazingfangirl18 @readsreblogsfics @onetwo3000 @beritmetal @harrystylesholland @jazbot2000 @anobscurename @xxxtwilightaxelxxx @peggycarter-steverogers @evansphnx12 @starlightcrystalline @procrastinatingsapphictrash @imvivian
Chris & co. taglist: @patzammit
if you wanna join / be removed from a taglist, comment/message me! much love <3
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ijustwant2write · 4 years
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The Nice One-Fred Weasley x Muggle!Dursley!Reader
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(GIF credit to @avocadosalad2​)
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Prompt List
Tag List: @obsessedwithrandomthings​
Requested by anonymous: 'I have this idea about Fred Weasley falling in love with Harry’s muggle cousin. a dursley. Maybe y/n and Harry were always really close and she obviously knows all about magic. She’s the only person, Harry actually loved and trusted as a child and that didn’t change when he found out he was wizard so there really close, he sees her as a sister. Maybe he wants to introduce her to ginny because Harry wants her approval. And reader ends up liking Fred, and Fred likes her back.'
Characters: Fred Weasley x Muggle!Dursley!Reader, Harry Potter x Muggle!Dursley!Reader (cousin), Weasley Family x Muggle!Dursley!Reader (platonic), Hermione Granger x Muggle!Dursley!Reader (Platonic)
Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name
Warnings: Mention of neglect/child abuse, lots of fluff
                                     *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sitting back in a plastic chair, I looked out of the huge window of the coffee shop, sighing as I realised it had started to rain. I never minded the rain really, but it had been like this since May, with no sign of a proper English summer in sight. Harry returning to the table with two mugs of tea distracted me, and I smiled as he set them on the table, sitting opposite to me.
“It feels like ages since we did this.” I said, blowing over the top of the tea.
“Yeah, I’m sorry I’ve not called or contacted you in any way recently.” he apologised, casting his eyes down.
“Harry, you don’t have to be sorry for anything.” I reassured him.“You’ve been making your life in...well, your world. We’ve all grown up, had to get used to becoming adults and such. Though it is a shame we haven’t seen each other for over a year.”
“Year and a half actually.”
“I wasn’t surprised when you invited me here though. Of course, this is under better circumstances. I’m not having to drag you out of the house to avoid my parents.”
“No, this is much nicer.”  he chuckled.“How are they by the way? I was able to see Dudley last month.”
“They’re fine, same as always. I don’t see them as much as I should, though I do call them often. Sometimes it’s hard you know, especially after all that’s happened in the last few years.” I took a sip of tea, finally able to start drinking it.
Harry seemed hesitant to speak again.“Actually, I was wanting to ask you something.”
“Yeah?” 
“Do you remember me talking to you about a girl called Ginny?”
“Ooh, has my little cousin fallen in love?” I was teasing until I saw the genuine smile on his face.“Wait, Harry, do you really like this girl?”
“W-well...I h-have for a while, we actually told each other our feelings when, when other things turned serious. And it’s been going good between us, really good, which leads me to my question.”
I was confused as to where this was going, but waited for him to carry on.
“I was wondering if you would come meet her?”
“You want me to meet her?” I excitedly repeated. 
“Yeah,” he smiled back,“there’s going to be a birthday party for me at her family home. She’s a Weasley.”
“Wait, isn’t that the last name of your friend Ron?”
“It is.”
“You’re dating your best friend’s sister?”
“I’ve already talked about it with him! Do you remember I stayed with him over that summer, and I wrote to you from there?”
“The Burrow!”
He nodded.“They’re more than happy to have you there.”
“Of course I’ll come Harry! For now, you have to tell me everything about this Ginny girl.”
The party was two weeks away, and I could not contain my excitement as it got closer and closer. Although Harry had told me much about the wizarding world, he was the only wizard I had ever met (unless I counted that giant man that had tracked us down when Harry first found out he possessed magic, though there weren’t any introductions), and I was extremely excited to meet more of them. Would they constantly be using magic? Would they just conjure up food and drink? And would they be comfortable with me there? I knew that Harry wouldn’t leave me alone unless I was one hundred percent comfortable with everyone.
It was surprising that Harry hadn’t become irritated with me on the day of his party. He was coming to pick me up, and I had greeted him with an over excited tone, setting off a party popper which made strings of confetti land on his head. I had never been able to celebrate Harry’s birthdays publicly, always sneaking into his room or under the cupboard to give him a small present and a hug to wish him happy birthday (once I was earning my own pocket money, or sweetly asking dad for a few pounds, I would buy him cupcakes as a birthday cake, stashing away sweets for him after he saw how much we were given). Dragging him into my flat, I demanded he close his eyes, dashing in and out of the kitchen with a stupid grin on my face. Counting down from three, I giggled as Harry opened his eyes, smiling when he saw me holding a cupcake with a candle in my hands.
"You didn't forget."
"Of course I didn't. Is it...is it alright?" I became worried, wondering if I had brought up bad memories.
"No, no, I actually missed this. It was one of the things I looked forward to each year."
He blew out the candle, sighing when I urged him to close his eyes and make a wish. Harry then pushed me to get a move on, his eyes widening when he saw me pick up two presents with wrapping paper, as well as a smaller one on top. I walked past him before he could say anything about them, handing him the keys to lock up.
As we turned up at the infamous Burrow, I couldn't help but stand back in awe. It was like nothing I had ever seen, and although shabby looking, very put together, it had some sort of charm to it, it was so different to other houses. Harry had already taken a few steps forward, stopping when he noticed me not move.
"(Y/N)?"
My eyes snapped back down to him."Oh, sorry."
"It's going to be fine." he said, coming to stand beside me.
I just nodded, walking next to him and standing back when he knocked on the door. A short woman opened it, squealing with excitement when she saw Harry, and as she dragged him in for a hug, she playfully scolded him for knocking, claiming that he could waltz in whenever. Staying outside, I poked my head in, still holding the presents in my arms. I watched as Harry was engulfed in numerous hugs, everyone wishing him happy birthday as well as joking and laughing with him. It shocked me. The only time I saw him this happy was when I was able to cheer him up as kids (and that was extremely hard to do when he lived in the hell hole I called home), but a sudden wave of emotion attacked me, I was so happy to see him being treated right.
"Everyone, this is my cousin, (Y/N)." Harry interrupted my thoughts once again, gesturing for me to step inside.
Sheepishly walking in, I held onto the presents a little tighter, smiling through the awkwardness. There were so many of them standing there.
"Here, let me take those from you love." a man who seemed to be the dad offered, placing the presents on a nearby table. Now I was out in the open.
"So this is the decent one?" one of the younger lads said to break the silence.
"Ronald Weasley, you mind your manners!" the woman scolded him."Don't mind him dear, it's lovely to meet you. Harry has never stopped talking about you."
"He's right though," Harry said,"this is the nice one."
"It's nice to see that Harry stayed in such a lovely place, and with lovely people."
Really (Y/N)? That's the first thing you come out with?
"Oh what a sweetheart." the woman gushed."Believe me, they look like angels, but they don't act like one."
Harry soon broke us into a general conversation, attempting to introduce me to everyone. This family was so different to mine. It felt more loving, as if they didn't hate to be around each other all the time. They included each other in every conversation, they laughed together, joked around with each other. And they also included me.
We were sat around a long table, squeezed amongst one another with food and drink laid out. I had Harry one side of me, and his old friend Hermione on my other. I believed that she and Ron had romantic connections, but I was hoping she would shed some light on Harry's love life, as Ginny was sat beside him.
"They've only recently become public. Everyone knew that they were together, it was bound to happen. But we all acted surprised anyway." Hermione and I giggled, drowned out by the sound of everyone talking.
"Oh bless him, he seemed very happy when he mentioned her. That's why he invited me actually, he was wondering what I would think about her. They don't seem to be able to keep their eyes off each other."
"Someone else seems to have their eyes on someone." she smirked.
I followed her eye line, seeing one of the twins looking in our direction before averting their gaze. I had remembered that they were each wearing the same jumper but with different colours, thankfully making it easier to tell them apart. It had been Fred looking my way, and I hated that I was blushing already; no one had looked at me like that for a long time.
"I'm sure that was nothing." I mumbled.
"If you say so." I heard Ginny say, making me whip my head round to her. She was leaning forward to look at me, and I saw Harry holding back a laugh.
"Come on, I haven't even spoken to him."
"Maybe you should. Perhaps this was meant to happen."
Molly stopped all chatter across the table, standing up to announce that it was present time. Heaps of presents were pushed down to our end of the table, Harry was shocked by how many there were, but stuck right in. After thanking all of the Weasley’s for their sweet presents, especially Ginny. With my presents left, I felt all eyes on me, nervous as to what they would think of my gifts.
One was a collection of books he read when he was younger (until my brother got angry at him and ripped out the pages), the other was two shirts I knew would look nice on him. The last present was a photo book, which I had had personalised; on the front it said ‘Harry’s Memories’, in a beautiful swirling style of writing. The toothy grin on his face fell slightly, and I began to panic again. Everyone waited for him to open the book, a slight tension in the air. Harry slowly opened the book, reading the message I had left for him in his head. It entailed fond memories we had, and how proud I was of him for setting out to school by himself, and how many times he was brave enough to put himself on the line for his friends and family. Turning the next page, a breathless laugh left his lips when he saw the photos I chose. Unfortunately there weren’t many of us together, or of him in general, but I had raided our old cameras back home to find any photos I had taken of him without my parent’s knowledge. After flipping over another page that turned out to be blank, he looked up at me, as did everyone else.
“It’s blank so that you can fill it. I knew you wouldn’t want memories of home, just...just me I suppose. But I’m sure you’ve got better memories to put in there now.” I shyly explained.
“This is amazing, thank you (Y/N).” Harry said, hugging me tightly.
“The pictures aren’t moving?” Ginny questioned.
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.“Your pictures move?”
Once dinner was done with, along with a round of singing as the birthday cake came out, we all broke off into smaller groups. This would have given me an opportunity to speak to Ginny, I had a strong feeling that she was absolutely perfect for him, they seemed well matched, but I still wanted a chat at least. However, Harry had stolen her away, and it wasn’t the right time to intervene. As I thought about who to talk to, Fred walked up to me, leaning against the kitchen counter top as I was.
“Thought you looked a little lonely over here.” he said, but it wasn’t in a cocky way, he was being genuinely kind. 
“Thanks.” I laughed.
He smiled.“I-I didn’t mean it like that.”
I looked up at him.“No I know what you meant. I was actually thanking you.”
“Ah.”
There was a moment of silence as neither of us were sure what to say next. Suddenly, something popped into my mind,“You know, I’ve seen you before.”
“What?”
“When you came to rescue Harry, in your flying car. I was in my room, but my room was next to Harry’s, so I could just about see you and your brothers.”
“That was so many years ago.”
I nodded.“I just remember how shocked I was when I saw the car, but also how relieved I felt when I saw Harry get in there. I was in trouble for not going to my parents straight away though.”
“You don’t sound like a typical Dursley at all.”
“I suppose I’m not. I was never the favourite, for some reason Dudley was. But I was so focused on keeping Harry somewhat happy that it didn’t matter. I just got good results at school, made friends and kept the biggest secret in the world.”
“It is slightly strange having a Muggle about.”
“How do you think I feel? The dishes are doing themselves over there!” I gestured to the sink where there was a floating plate and sponge. He laughed at that."That would be so useful to have at home, especially after a long day."
"So," he crossed his arms over his chest, leaning towards me,"what do you think about our families combining?"
I took a sip of my drink, following his eye line to Harry and Ginny."I can't express how happy I am for him."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. And I'm not just saying nice things because Ginny is your sister. Harry had a long talk about what happened in the past, he's mentioned her, well, all of you, a lot. You've all been able to give him much more than I have."
"That's not true. Harry has expressed multiple times how he didn't know what he would have done if you weren't there for him."
"Seems like everything has worked out perfectly in the end. It even feels right me being here."
"I can agree on that."
"Even if I'm a Muggle?"
"Can't say that's the first thing I noticed about you."
My eyes widened slightly, slowly looking down into the content of my cup."Fred, if I didn't know any better, I would say you were flirting with me."
"Thank god you noticed, thought I might have to start using pick up lines."
"You still can if you want to."
"Nah, think I'll save that for a first date."
"If you're asking, then the answer would be a yes."
"Well, glad that's been sorted."
I giggled quietly, trying not to show how much I was enjoying this."Do I get to find out where you're taking me?"
"If I'm honest, I wasn't sure if I would get this far."
We laughed together, catching the attention of his parents who were with Hermione and Ron. We quietened down, finding it hard to hold back on giggling. Before we could even continue speaking, Harry was approaching me, and I knew he wanted to find out what had happened since he left me alone.
"So, uh, what are you two talking about?" Harry failed to play dumb.
I rolled my eyes, placing a hand on his shoulder."OK, whilst you interrogate my date, I'll go talk to your girlfriend. Sound like a deal?"
"D-date?"
"Don't act like you weren't listening. Relax Harry, this is your party after all."
I heard him sigh to Fred as I walked away."You two are going to be trouble, I just know it."
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kass-storycorner · 3 years
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Heyhey! May I request childe with a reader who is very generous and like caring? Like if someone doesn’t stop her she’ll give and give and give and give until there’s nothing to give? Thank you
ooooh! Thank you for the request (and for being the first person requesting something yay!). I had so much fun writing this, I didn't knew if you wanted to go this the more platonic or romantic route, in the end I made it kinda romantic? Well, I hope you like it! I also kept using Childe as his name in this because my brain can't keep up with more than one name Title: Genre: Fluff, Humour, blossoming romance? hehe Rating: SFW Content Warnings: None! Except you need a warning for Zhongli voicelines then here it is.I quote Zhongli in this. May the Archons forgive me haha. Characters: Childe x gn!reader Words: 1546 “You look worried,” Childe was pulled out of his thoughts by your familiar voice. There you were sitting down next to him at the table in Wanmin restaurant, looking at him with concern. “Hey comrade, I’ve been waiting for you”, he smiled at you and grabbed the menu. “So, what do you say we eat today? I haven’t had Grilled Tiger Fish in a while”, Childe continued in the hopes of you dropping the topic. “You are really alright? If there is something I could he-“, before you could finish Childe already interrupted you. “I’m fine, don’t be such a worry wart, I just have been thinking about what we should order.” With a waving of his hand, smiling at you you dropped the topic and both of you concentrated on your meal. It was a good thing you didn’t try to pursue the topic further, although Childe knew just all to well you would try to talk about it with him later. But how could he tell you that what he was so worried about was you? Since the day he met you he couldn’t stop to wonder if you even knew the word “No”. Whenever a citizen of Liyue asked for your help, you were always there to do so. No matter how difficult or time-consuming a task, if they needed help you were there to help. Helping with the laundry? No problem. Listening to their troubles? You leaned them your ear. Playing with the kids in the Harbour? Arr, you’re the pirate now. Someone forgot their wallet today? You were happy to pay for the meal (Childe made sure that because of this you would never go out to eat alone with Zhongli – his taste might not hurt a wallet filled with the Mora of the Fatui, but the one of a normal Liyue citizen.). Whatever they asked from you, whomever asked for your help you were always up to the task and eager to do so. Without any kind of compensation. It worried him to no ends, you were always so generous with your time and energy, caring so much about everyone in Liyue. Childe wondered if you ever were selfish. You deserved to be. Just as you two were finishing up your meal, the whole time you told Childe happily about the million errands you ran today for the people in Liyue, he saw someone approaching the table you two were sitting at. “Ah (Y/N), I’ve been looking all over for you!”, Childe groaned internally when he saw the man in the clothes of the adventure’s guild approach you. It was as clear as a Crystalfly to Childe in which directions this was going to go – you helping that man out on one of these guild commissions without even taking the rewards. You greeted that man with a smile, at first you chatting a bit, but then- “You know, I was wondering if you could help me out with a com-“. “Ah, too bad”, Childe interjected himself now into the conversation. “(Y/N) already promised to help me with something, so they won’t be able to help. But there are surely some other Adventurer who will help you with whatever you need.” You gave Childe a confused glance. “I’m sorry, I can’t today. Maybe I can help you the next time,“ you told the Adventurer. With a disappointed face the man quickly told his goodbyes and went on his way. “Okay,” you looked at Childe “so there was something bothering you earlier!” With a sigh Childe put the Mora for the meal, stood up and took your hand. “Just,” he began looking at your now curious face “come with me, okay?” You both made your ways down to the docks of Liyue Harbour, just standing next to each other in silence for a few minutes looking at the ships coming in and out while the
sun started to set in the distance. “You see these boats? They um- ah, what does Zhongli always says about them?” You had no idea where this was going, but you couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “You mean,” and you said the following trying to mimic the way Zhongli always says it, “ ‘Boats are made for transferring commodities back and forth, and those that come across Liyue tend to stay a while.’ “At that Childe laughed a bit too. “Yes, I meant exactly that. But you missed something,” and now it was on Childe to mimic the way Zhongli gestures and talks “ ‘so it is where many things come to settle.’”. Now both of you couldn’t help yourself and laugh. “Okay, okay. Now you told me what Zhongli always say about boats… why exactly?” “Because I want to tell you that you’re like one of those boats”, he gestured at the ships in the Harbour. “Umm, thank you?”, a bit confused you laughed at his statement. “I mean this is in the nicest ways possible Childe, but do you really know what a boat is?” “I know what a boat is, what I wanted to say is-“ “that I am a boat?” “That you need to learn how to say no,” Now even more confused you shook your head. “Now you lost me, how did we get from ‘I am a boat’ to ‘I should say no’?” With a frustrated sigh Childe shook his head, seriously he was asking himself the same question. He put each of his hand on one of your shoulders and looked you straight in the eyes. “Look me in the eyes (Y/N). What I wanted to say is that- okay, the boat thing wasn’t the best way to bring my point across, but what I need you to understand is that you are too generous and caring. Every time someone in Liyue has a problem, no matter how big or small, you drop everything in order to help them.” “You say this as if this was a bad thing.” in the tone you used Childe could hear that this wasn’t really a topic you expected to talk about… and wanted to talk about. “It is! You keep on giving and giving and giving to the people around you, not wanting anything for yourself in return. And while I admire you for this, for how you always care for everyone around you, it’s not good for you. One day there will be nothing of you for yourself left.” His voice was filled with worry and so were his eyes. ‘Oh,’ you thought, ‘so that was this face was about earlier.’ “Listen Childe,” you began, trying to get out of his grip, but he wouldn’t let you go nor let you finish what you were going to say. “I’m serious,” you could hear that in his voice, “please care for yourself just as you would care for someone else. You wouldn’t just stand by and watch how a friend overworks themselves, gets taken advantage of, without them even noticing it?” Embarrassed you averted his strong gaze now. “No, I would not” you mumbled. Childe let go of your shoulders, taking one of your hands in his own and rubbing his thumb over the back of it. When you looked back at him you could see how his eyes were still fixated on you. “Promise me you won’t take on so many tasks in the future. Think more about yourself, be selfish. Please.” Childe didn’t intend to pour all his feelings for you into that please. It was just a simple please and still, he had the feeling that he just told you everything with his voice. “I promise,” you answered, trying not to get lost in his ocean blue eyes. There was a tension now between you two and for Childe it was just… it was too much. He let go of your hand and looking back at the Harbour, seeing how the setting sun coloured it in a warm orange. “Now to make good use of your promise,” Childe broke the tension continuing the conversation with a more light-hearted tone “is there something you want to do? Be as selfish as you want! Come on tell me, we can do that then!” He looked back at you, surprised by the playful smile you had. “Oh? Everything I want?”, you stepped a bit closer to Childe now, he started to feel a bit nervous now. An unusual feeling. “Y-yes, like I said. Be as selfish as you want!” Did he just stumble a bit over his own words? “Then,” you looked in his blue eyes again and Childe could see a glint of mischief in them “how about I kiss you?”. Childe was not one who got easily flustered, but he could feel how he started to blush. “I mean- if that’s what you want, I’m fine with it,” did he sound nervous? He felt like his voice didn’t sound right when he just said that. You came now even closer to Childe and then – you gave him a quick peck on his cheek. “Huh?” Confused he looked at you. “I didn’t say I would kiss you on the lips,” you winked at him, smiling at him and then you turned around, starting to walk away. “Hey, (Y/N) wait that doesn’t count!”.
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weuschoiceheart · 3 years
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⋘I-Land (OT9) / Enhypen⋙ Love, I-Land
A special collection of stories, for a special group of boys...Happy anniversary to eggies, it’s been a year since I-Land announced the first batch of trainees, a year since we all dive into this roller coaster ride of a show.
~ Inspired by Taylor Swift’s love songs ~
Tagging: @mari-kigold @akira-star @affectionaterainoflove @enhypenthusiast @periwinkle-ink
Warning: suggestive in K’s part (just a brief makeout session), angsty in some parts BUT there’s fluff to make up for it, cursing (literally all my works have curse words in them, I can’t write without making the characters curse at least once lmao)
Word Count: 6k+
K - Wildest Dreams ; passionate love
You didn’t know how you two ended up like this.
It was just a simple school project, and you’ve told yourself it was going to be nothing more than that. That's what you kept repeating in your head, over and over again as you called him over. Yet in your heart, you knew you just wanted him all over you again, even if it’s just temporary, even though you knew it would tear you apart.  
Nothing lasts forever...but this is gonna take me down.
You shouldn’t be doing this.
You shouldn’t be making out with the school’s enigma, you shouldn’t have invited him to your house in the first place, knowing it would end up like this, with your lips latched onto his. You shouldn’t be reciprocating the kiss, his mouth hot against yours, one hand tangled in your shirt to bring you ever closer, the other wrapped tight around your waist that you knew it would leave bruises. And most of all, you shouldn’t be enjoying this as his lips moved down your neck, his warm breath tickling your sweet spot, tongue flicking over your collarbone.
Because you knew this moment would be your last, before he disappears and leaves you with a gaping hole in your heart.
K finally pulls away, panting slightly as he tilts his head, a cute gesture that doesn’t match the smirk on his face. “Your lips are so red.”
Bringing a hand up to touch them, you knew they were swollen from the amount of times he bit and nipped at them. Your eyes flicked to his, before looking away. “Well, so are yours.”
K studied you for a bit, his gaze searching, making you feel suddenly small under his glare. What is he thinking? After a moment, he lets go of you, standing up and straightening out his shirt. “I’m going to go. See you tomorrow.”
And suddenly, you felt that panicky feeling in your chest again, and the fear came rushing back. You don’t know if you’ll see him tomorrow, or ever again. Those were just casual words, something to say instead of “goodbye,” because some part of you, maybe it was just wishful thinking, hopes he feels the same. But K isn’t like that. He’s like the autumn breeze that comes and goes, before sending your life into winter without his presence. He never abides by the rules, and floats in that gray area in between, where your relationship with him also lies.
You knew what you were getting into when you kissed him on the rooftop that day, knew that it would only cause you pain. You don’t want your time with him, all these passionate moments of love, to disappear until you can only recall them in your wildest dreams.
Your body reacts before you can think, grabbing his arm as he turned to the door. He stiffened in your grasp, but didn’t make an effort to break away.
“Stay, please.” You mentally curse your voice for sounding so weak, the hand on his arm trembling.
K turned around to face you again, his cold, calculating eyes softening as they met your uncertain ones. His arm finally relaxed, and he sat down again.
“Alright.”
Heeseung - Superstar ; idol love
“I swear to god, why aren’t they picking up?” you tapped your phone in frustration, frowning. As if on cue, a message lit up your screen, and you opened it, curious to see the reason behind your friend’s unresponsiveness.
Sorry, I won’t be able to make it to the concert. I’m working on a project with K.
“K, huh?” you shook your head at your friend’s words. “Aren’t they afraid that he’ll break their heart? Project, my ass.”
Sighing, you pocketed your phone. There’s not much you can do to convince them that their relationship with K was only going to hurt them, but you couldn’t stop the two from having their hands all over each other, ever since your friend came to you screeching about their first kiss on the school rooftop. Like some romantic K-drama where a bad boy falls for the good girl.
Well, not like your love life is any better....
You shook your head, deciding to push these thoughts out of your head and go enjoy your school’s spring concert by yourself. At least you’ll be able to stare at Heeseung all you want without your friend teasing you.
A small twinge of sadness echoed in your chest at the thought of Heeseung, but you quickly pushed that out of your mind. You weren’t here just for him, of course. Youngbin and Geonu were doing a duet, Seon had a sexy solo that he’s been bragging about for weeks, and Nicholas, Jaeho, and the rest of their dance team prepared a special stage as well. So no, as much as you like spending most of the time ogling Heeseung, you were there to support your friends, have a good time off from your studies, and ignoring these annoying fangirls that always surround him—
Yeah, right. You knew it all circles back to Heeseung eventually.
Kicking at some pebbles on the ground, you sighed and realized that the guards were about to close the entrance doors soon. Joining the queue of parents and students, you handed your ticket to the theater teacher (who fixed you with a scrutinizing stare, perhaps remembering you as that problematic theater student she took under her wing a few years ago) and entered the auditorium. The lights dimmed, and the show began. 
You screamed yourself hoarse during the performances, cheering on your friends (turns out Seon’s performance did live up to the epic stage he was talking about, you saw the girls—and some boys—practically drooling), and the thought of Heeseung left your mind. Until the final encore, that is, when he and Geonu took center stage to cover “Butterfly” by BTS.
Your eyes widened as he started singing, heart racing a million miles per hour. A smile unconsciously made its way onto your face, and your breath caught in your throat as his eyes flickered over the audience. As if reading your mind, they landed on you, leaving you breathless. Please notice me...oh my god, his eyes are so pretty....
“Did you see that? He made eye contact with me!” the girl beside you squealed, and the moment was gone. The smile wiped off your face, and you turned to her, seeing her beaming at the same boy you were looking at before. Your gaze broke away to scan the masses of people staring at the boys on stage with love-struck expressions on their faces, and suddenly you just feel...alone. Some part of your heart broke, and it was like reality struck you across your face.
You were just another wide-eyed fan desperately in love with a superstar who doesn’t even know your name.
That revelation followed you outside after the concert ended, and as if the weather understands your thoughts, it had started pouring outside. Rummaging around in your bag, only to come up empty, you gulped down your tears and resolved to walk home without an umbrella. Damn it, you should’ve come prepared!
Well, you can’t really prepare for heartbreak, can you?
You hadn’t gone two paces however, when you felt something opening up above you, and turning, you almost had a heart attack upon seeing Heeseung standing beside you. He held an umbrella over you both, his eyes darting from you to the ground, a small blush painted across his cheeks. He seemed fidgety, unlike the confident boy on stage moments ago, and you’re left speechless. An awkward silence passed between you two, before he cleared his throat.
“You’re really cute—I mean, you’re Y/N from my research class, right?” You nodded, internally screaming at the fact that he just called you cute. “I...I, um, I saw you didn’t have an umbrella and it’s really pouring out here, so uh-” he laughed nervously, a small grin forming on his lips as he stared at you expectedly. “Do you want to share?”
Jake - Fearless ; first love
“Bleh, sappy couples,” you shook your head, wrinkling your nose at the scene in front of you. Then again, everyone basically called you and Jake a sappy couple, so you really shouldn’t be saying anything.
Speaking of Jake, you caught him running down the road towards you, his umbrella jostling over his head. Laughing to yourself, you watched as the umbrella caught on another, then got tangled in a whole mess of umbrellas. Jake quickly disentangled his from the rest, apologizing profusely to the party of concert-goers who only shook their heads and motioned for him to go. Giving them a slight nod, he ran up to you, thankfully with no further mishaps, stumbling to a stop in front of you.
“Hi,” he said breathlessly, beaming at you. You swear every time you look at him, it was like falling for him all over again. Despite the cold and the rain, the feeling spread all over you and you felt suddenly warm and fuzzy.
“Let’s go.” You grabbed his hand, and he tucked you under the umbrella, arm wrapped around your waist. The two of you began walking home. “How was the concert?”
“Amazing, though I still wish you got to perform,” you snuggled up to his side, unable to keep a smile off your face. Jake sighed, somewhat regretfully.
“You know I have to work overtime this week, or I won’t be able to pay the rent for the apartment.”
“I know, I know.” You turned to him, eyeing the dark bags under his eyes. “You look exhausted....hey, you should’ve gone home to rest, not come out in the rain to pick me up. You can catch a cold—”
“I don’t want you to walk home by yourself after dark, it’s too dangerous,” Jake interrupted. He grinned at you, and you felt like your heart was gonna melt. Is this what love feels like? Then I’m glad that he’s my first.
The two of you were almost home, when you realized that you were approaching the abandoned parking lot near your house. An idea struck you then, and you suddenly grabbed Jake’s hand, startling him out of his rant about the shitty customer at the cafe.
“Come on, let’s dance in the rain.”
“Huh?” Jake’s eyebrows knit into a frown. “Weren’t you worried about catching a cold a few minutes ago?”
You shook your head, a cheeky grin on your face. Your heartbeat quickened, a shot of adrenaline rushing through you. You weren’t usually like this, but you thought back to the shows you watched, and well, first love means trying something new, right? “The rain is letting up Jake, we’ll be fine. Please?”
A flicker of doubt crossed his face, and you thought he was going to say no, before he nodded and closed the umbrella. You let out a gasp as the cool drops hit your face, and a loud squeal when Jake grabbed your hand and twirled you around the parking lot.
You thought this only existed in movies, but it’s all real. You’re dancing with the love of your life, fearlessly, in the middle of a rain shower. His hands clasped around your waist, a wide smile stretching from ear to ear as you grabbed onto his shoulders and he lifted you off your feet, like the ballroom dances in these old fashioned films. The wind whistled in your ears, the rain splashing on the sidewalk sounds like music. You couldn’t stop laughing, and neither can he, and you knew you were going to remember this moment for the rest of your life.
However, your strength gave out after a while, and the two of you stood there, swaying side to side. At this point, you couldn’t care that your clothes are wet and sticking to your skin, and you lean your forehead against Jake’s. He giggled, small droplets of water trailing down from his soaked hair. And he slowly leans in, the distance between you two shortening, your hands begin to shake as your breath quickens.
Is he going to—?
Sensing your nervousness, he grabbed one of your hands in his, pulling you in. You felt a little more brave as you tugged at the front of his shirt in your other hand, and connected your lips, at last.
It’s a first kiss, it’s flawless, really something, it’s fearless.
Jay - Ours ; long distance love
Lucky Jake, you muttered to yourself, sighing as you rested your head on the counter. He doesn’t have to deal with stupid customers at this time, and at least he has more experience with people yelling at him. Or maybe you’re just jealous that he has someone to hang out with, go on dates with, and laugh by his side.
You smiled sadly to yourself and took out your phone, opening the photo gallery. You felt a pang of nostalgia and wistfulness as you clicked on the first photo of you and Jay. It was from your date at the shopping mall, where Jay had chosen several outfits and forced you to try them on. It was a time where you had let your insecurities get the best of you, and Jay was having none of it. The photo was of him hugging you after you tried on one of the outfits he picked out.
You look beautiful, you can hear him say. Stunning, amazing, don’t ever doubt yourself again.
I won’t, you had murmured back. Thank you, love.
“Seriously, is this some sort of playhouse? Can’t even do their job right....”
Your head quickly shot up, eyes widening at the intimidating businessman in front of you. Fuck, not him again....
He rolled his eyes at you. “Two large cups of mocha latte with a half shot of espresso. And make it quick, I’m in a hurry.”
You purse your lips in disdain. “Yes, sir.”
Putting your phone away, you sighed as you began making his order. If Jay was here, he would’ve made you laugh by making fun of his attitude, or just straight up told the man off. But he’s not here, and he’s not going to help you out, you thought to yourself, gritting your teeth together as you mixed the coffee. He’s working for that fashion company in Paris, so just let him live his dream. C’mon, Y/N, just make this damn coffee, give it to that damn businessman who can’t keep his damn mouth shut—
“Be careful, you idiot! You’re going to spill them!”
You snapped out of your daze, again, by the harsh voice of the customer, who grabbed the two coffees, spilling foam over your hands, causing you to hiss in pain. And he had the audacity to walk away muttering, “Gosh, I’m never coming back to this shitty place again.”
Swallowing the pain, you went to wash your hands at the sink. It’s part of the job, there will always be some people yelling at you, it’s not your fault, you tried to comfort yourself, though you were sick and tired of this. This endless routine, the fake smiles you have to put on, a gaping hole in your heart you can’t cover up. It’s been over a year since Jay has gone, and suddenly, you missed him more than ever. Frustrated, you turned the faucet off, almost yanking it off the sink in the process. Burying your face in your hands, your mind wandered to something Jay had told you, right before he left for the trip.
Don’t you worry your pretty little mind, people throw rocks at things that shine.
You smiled at Jay’s words, and took a deep breath, calming yourself down. You will get through this. Drying your hands off on a towel, you smooth out the wrinkles in your shirt and set your face in a hard line. Just a few more hours, and you’ll finally get off work. You can do this.
Making your way to the counter again, you prepared to put on your custom smile and act like the cheerful barista you were supposed to be. “Hello! How may I—”
“Y/N?”
Your breath caught in your throat, as your eyes met the person you were just thinking about. No, it’s not possible, how— The two of you stared at each other in disbelief, before Jay’s face relaxed into a bright smile, and he opened his arms.
You ran out from behind the counter and wrapped your hands around him. Nuzzling your face into the crook of his neck, you held on tight, and that’s when the tears came, happy and sad at the same time.
Jay didn’t say anything, for there was no need to use words when actions and feelings showed it all. He grasped you in his arms, body shaking slightly as he blinked back the tears from his own eyes. I’m finally back home.
The two of you stood there for who knows how long, but you couldn’t care less. No matter how many annoying customers you have to face, no matter how many times coffee spills all over you, nothing can separate you from what is yours.
You can say what you want, but this love is ours.
Sunoo - Sparks Fly ; pure love
You and Sunoo quietly crept out of the cafe, not wanting to disturb the couple hugging by the counter. Unfortunately for you two though, it had started raining outside, and none of you brought an umbrella.
“Really? And the forecast said it wouldn’t rain,” Sunoo grumbled, pouting. “The weather person needs to get fired.”
You laughed at his words, resisting the urge to pinch his cheeks. “They’re just trying to do their job, Sunoo. I mean, it’s not that bad....should we just make a run for it?”
Sunoo gasped dramatically. “And mess up our hair? How will I take our end-of-the-date selfie with our soggy selves?”
You rolled your eyes, “we can use our school bags to cover us. I mean, it’s either that, or be late to our movie night.”
Sunoo mulled over it for a moment, scrunching his nose in concentration. “Oh, fine. But we’re sticking to the cover until we have to cross the street.”
“Deal.” The two of you shuffled along the awning of the cafe, until you reached the end of the street where the crosswalks are. You two looked at each other, hunching your bookbags over your head. One hand holding onto your bag, you stretched your hand out to Sunoo, a smile crossing both of your faces as he took it.
“One.”
“Two.”
“Three. GO!”
The two of you dashed out into the rain, laughing and screaming like little kids. A wild, childish bliss took over you, and you couldn’t stop giggling as you gripped tightly onto Sunoo’s hand. He looked over at you, and you can see that he was having the time of his life as well, smiling so much that his eyes seemed to disappear. You wish time could stop at that moment, as rain poured down around you two, the happy feeling in your chest expanding with love.
All too soon, your journey ended as you two rushed up, panting, to the door of your house. Letting your bags fall over your shoulders, the two of you turned to each other and laughed. You reached over to part the hair from his eyes, and he playfully flicked his head, spraying water on your face. You let out an indignant yelp, before lightly pushing him, then reaching to catch him again before he slips down the wet steps. Sunoo held onto your arm, trying to contain his laughter, though his bright smile gave it away.
“Gosh, we’re a mess,” you said as you tried to catch your breath. Putting your bag down, you fumbled in your pocket for your keys. “But you know what? Let’s do that again next time.”
“Well, hopefully we’ll actually remember to bring an umbrella next time,” Sunoo said, shaking out his wet bag. He grinned at you, and you swear you can see sparks fly whenever he smiles.
Jungwon - Mine ; enduring love
You trudged down the street, not minding the fact that you’re thoroughly soaked by the rain. Everything felt like a blur around you as your mind kept replaying the scene from moments before, and the tears came streaming down your face again, mingling with the drops from the sky. The sound of laughter pierced through your reverie, and you turned to see a couple giggling together at the front steps of their house, the sight making your heart squeeze.
What went wrong?
We were like them too, so what happened to us?
Sniffing, you wiped your nose with the back of your hand, turning away from the scene. Looking around, you realized that you had walked farther away from the house than you expected, and that it was already dark. Should I go back? As much as you don’t want to confront Jungwon right now, you don’t want him to worry either. Would he even worry though? Maybe this really is the end...
Making up your mind, you resolved to just keep walking, until you finally decided on what to do. Taking out your phone, you texted your friend whether you can stay over at theirs tonight. Slipping the device back into your pocket, you continued plodding along.
Until someone grabbed your arm, and you screamed.
“Y/N, it’s me! It’s me.”
Whirling around, your heart rate slowed as you made eye contact with your boyfriend. The rain had slowed to a drizzle now, and you saw that his eyes were red, like he had been crying too.
“Jungwon...” you extricated your arm from his hold, and took a deep breath. “What are you doing here?”
“I ran after you,” he mumbled, looking down at the ground. “After you left.”
You blinked in surprise, not expecting that answer. “O-oh.”
Not knowing what to say, the two of you stood there, and each passing minute felt like a wall growing bigger and bigger between you two. You didn’t know how the two of you even ended up like this—an offhand comment, which somehow led to yelling and cursing, and then you were running out into the streets alone, crying. And now, to this silence. It felt like hours before Jungwon spoke up.
“I’m sorry.”
Gulping, you forced the words out of your throat too. “I’m sorry too. I should’ve stayed instead of just running away like that.”
He shook his head. “No, this was my fault. I shouldn’t have yelled at you...talked to you in that way.”
You sighed. “Well, let’s just say it’s both of our faults, then. It doesn’t matter.”
Jungwon nodded hesitantly, peering up at you. “Should we go back to the dorms?”
You bit your bottom lip, thinking. Everything felt too much, like a fragile heart broken into a million pieces, each one jagged and misshapen. “I already texted my friend that I’ll stay over at their house tonight. Should we—should we just take a break, Jungwon? These days we’ve just been arguing and fighting with each other, I don’t know how we can continue this, if we can even—”
Your voice cracked, and the whirlpool of tears finally broke free as you sobbed, face in your hands. Your body tenses as you feel Jungwon’s arms wrap around you, relaxing slightly as he patted your back, trying to soothe your sorrows.
“Y/N, do you remember when we first met?”
He was working part-time at a restaurant as a waiter, and you thought he was pretty cute. You found that he was going to the same school as you, and the two of you became best friends. You fell for him a few months later, and ever since then, he was always by your side. Until everything fell apart a few weeks ago, when your tempers ran short and tension climbed high.
“I thought you were so beautiful...and remember our promise? I swore I was going to stay with you, that we won’t make the same mistake as your parents. You are the best thing that’s ever been mine. I know it’s hard to be together right now, when both of us are so busy that we don't have time with each other anymore...but I’ll always have time for you, Y/N. I know this sounds cheesy and all, but I just want to say that I love you and I don’t want to let you go.”
Sniffing, this time the tears flow because of his words. Turning around, you gave him a cheeky grin as you wiped your face. “Didn’t know you were such a romantic, Jungwon.”
His cheeks turned a shade of pink, and he shyly held out his hand. You took it, and the two of you started walking back home.
Niki - Jump Then Fall ; childhood love
Never mind, I’m going home tonight.
You raised your eyebrows at your friend’s message. Probably some couple problems with Jungwon. You were about to text back a reply, before you felt your pants get splashed with water.
You lifted your eyes to the sky, exasperated because you already know who did it. Sometimes I wonder how I even have a crush on him. I waited for him after dance practice and this is what I get? Turning around, you faced your friend, or as you like to call him, your greatest enemy, Nishimura Riki.
He has his usual mischievous grin on his face, jumping from foot to foot as he kicks at another puddle. Thankfully, you jumped out of the way just in time. Narrowing your eyes playfully, you said, “I see how it is...this is war.”
The rain had left numerous puddles on the sidewalk (probably due to the potholes your school refused to spend their money to fix), and you chased Niki down the street, splashing him with water. He laughed loudly and reached up (dangit, why is he so tall?), grabbed one of the branches of a tree, shaking the water from it. Gasping, your eyes widened as you got drenched from the drops. You glared at him, only causing his smile to stretch even wider from ear to ear. “I won,” Niki announced triumphantly.
You pouted, rolling your eyes. “Oh, fine. But it’s not fair, how did you even get this tall?”
Niki shrugged, as if it was no big deal, though you want to wipe the smug grin off his face. “I grew 13 centimeters last year.”
“Impossible,” you huffed. He shoved his hands in his pockets, raising his eyebrows at you as if challenging your statement. Shrugging his dance bag over one shoulder, Niki started walking, and you followed. “You just want to brag about your height.”
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t,” Niki teased in a sing-song voice. “Either way, I’m still taller than you~”
You smiled grudgingly, stealing a look at him from the corner of your eye. It seems like yesterday when you both were kids, and he was this bouncy little boy who loved to annoy the hell out of you. He still does, but you felt a twinge of nostalgia as you see how tall and mature he had come, and even more good-looking as well. If only he knows how much I like him.
Sensing your stare, Niki wiggled his eyebrows at you, making you laugh at his expression. “What are you looking at?”
“Nothing,” you turned away, embarrassed. You really need to be less obvious, though Niki’s too oblivious to know anything about your feelings for him. 
“No, it’s something,” he leaned closer to you, and suddenly you forgot how to breathe properly. “Is there something on my face?”
You shook your head quickly, gaze wandering anywhere but his eyes. Spying a puddle in the corner of your vision, an idea flashed through your mind. Leaning closer, so that your faces were only inches apart, you noticed that Niki’s cheeks were blushing pink at the close distance. Maybe this isn’t so one-sided after all.
“Actually, there is something.” 
“W-what?” You expected him to pull away, but his eyes were dreamy, getting lost in your own. Or maybe you were the one getting lost in his. Tearing your gaze away, you grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the biggest puddle near the curb of the street. Taking a deep breath, you jumped straight into it, causing a huge splash that doused both you and Niki in water. You wished you could capture this moment on camera: Niki’s flustered face when you took his hand, his eyes widening comically as water sprayed his clothes. You laughed out loud, smirking at him. “I won,” you said, mimicking his voice from earlier. 
Your smile faded when Niki didn’t say anything back, the shocked expression still on his face. Confused, you asked, “what’s wrong?”
Clearing his throat, he motioned his head towards your intertwined hands. “Um, you’re still holding onto my hand.”
Maybe it’s cliche, two childhood friends falling for each other, but what’s wrong with cliches? You tightened your grip on his hand, grinning as his face flared red. “Is there something wrong with it?”
“Nothing,” he looked down, making you giggle. Oh, how the tables have turned. You took a step closer. 
“No, it’s something.”
He glanced up at you, unable to conceal a shy smile. You loved the way his hair falls in his face, slightly damp from jumping into too many puddles.
And all I can say is come closer, take a deep breath and jump then fall into me.
Daniel - Fifteen ; platonic love
“When are they going to confess already?” you snickered, eyeing the two teens playing in the puddles. Daniel followed your stare, shrugging at your words.
“When they finally get in through their heads that their feelings are mutual,” Daniel said. “Who knows how long that’ll take.”
You fold your arms across your chest, turning away and gazing wistfully into the distance. “Maybe one day I’ll find love like that.”
Daniel raised an eyebrow at you. “You got time, you’re still fifteen after all.”
Your hands dropped, and you sighed as your shoulders sagged. “I can’t believe I’m fifteen already...high school is so hard.” 
Daniel laughed at the whine in your voice, reaching over to ruffle your hair. You pushed his hand away, glaring at him. “Hey, don’t laugh. You didn’t get any of the difficult classes this year.”
“That’s because I already know I want to major in art so...there’s no need to take these classes anyway.”
You stopped and turned to him, narrowing your eyes. “What in art, specifically?”
Daniel's eyes flickered to yours, looking away in embarrassment. “Oh, just something in music.”
You grinned slyly, probing further. “What in music, exactly?”
Daniel gulped, hoping you wouldn’t laugh at him this time. “Um...well, I really want to become a rapper…”
Your eyes widened and you gasped. “A rapper? Daniel, that’s amazing!”
Your friend blinked in confusion, surprised at your excitement. “You-you think so?”
Nodding fervently, you started walking again. Around you, the streetlights flared to life. “Yeah, I mean, you seem pretty passionate about it. I remembered how the teacher caught you writing lyrics in the back of the textbook when you’re supposed to be paying attention during class.”
Daniel humphed, his long strides quickly catching up with yours. “Hey, math is boring, alright? You weren’t listening either.”
You decided to concede with him on that point, because math, indeed, is a pain in the ass (also because you were afraid he’ll stop letting you copy his homework right before class). “Fine, but I’m just saying that you shouldn’t be ashamed of your dream. You’re dedicated, I know you can do it.”
Daniel smiled shyly at your words. “Thanks, Y/N.”
You smiled back half-heartedly. “And here I am, with nothing planned out. I still don’t know who I want to be, or even who I am.”
“It’s fine if you haven’t figured yourself out yet, just go with the flow and do things that make you feel happy. Then you’ll discover where your interests and dreams lie,” Daniel said sagely, making your eyes roll at his tone. He bumped your shoulder with his. “I’ll always be here for you, yeah?”
“Thanks, but I just...you know how you’re at that time in your life, when you’re just questioning everything? Like, what is the meaning of life? Why am I here?”
“Just to suffer,” Daniel whispered, flinching away as you whacked him on the arm. “Ok, ok, I didn’t know you were going to get this deep.”
“Maybe I should be an English teacher then,” you said thoughtfully. “Make all the students analyze the meaning of the universe, like how Mr. Kim is forcing us to analyze Romeo and Juliet.”
“Romeo and Juliet…” Daniel stopped suddenly, making you bump into him. “Oh no...I forgot my copy of the book at school!”
You gave him a look. “Seriously? I told you to get it out of your locker!”
Daniel scuffed his shoe on the sidewalk, avoiding your gaze. “Well, you know how loud and chaotic the dismissal was...I couldn’t hear you.”
You shook your head in resignation. “Whatever, I’ll just send you pictures of the pages we have to read.”
Daniel’s head shot up, eyes staring hopefully at you. “Really? Y/N, thank you so much, you know you're my best friend right?”
You rolled your eyes. “Just make sure to remember it next time, or you’re on your own.”
(Jokes on you, Daniel knows you’ll grudgingly share your book with him for the rest of the year if he keeps forgetting it).
Sunghoon - Love Story ; forbidden love
“Sunghoon!” you whisper-shouted, grimacing as your boyfriend stepped on a stick. The sound seemed too loud in the quiet darkness, and you looked around wildly. Grabbing his arm, you dragged him behind a rock, lips pursed in a tense line. Heart pounding, you felt both worried and exhilarated at the same time. 
“Sorry,” Sunghoon said sheepishly, scratching the nape of his neck. “Didn’t see that.”
You frowned at him, turning around. “And I thought princes have stealth training as part of their schooling.”
Sunghoon scoffed. “All they teach us is how to look buff and strong so we can pick fights with your family.”
Stifling a laugh, you took his arm again, pulling him along. “True true, that sounds a lot like what they teach Youngbin too...though Youngbin isn’t the fighting type.”
“Your brother’s too soft,” Sunghoon muttered, “I feel sorry for him sometimes...he’d rather be kind than argue.”
Your lips quirked up in a sad smile. “Yeah, but there’s not much we can do about the feud, right?”
Nodding, Sunghoon carefully stepped over a pile of leaves, hand clutching tight onto yours. As the two of you cautiously stepped around the bend in the country road, Sunghoon let out a light gasp seeing what lay ahead. You grinned at his expression, quickening your pace until you two stopped in front of an enormous garden. Its gates were made up of interlocking flowers and vines, a sweeping archway of overhanging branches from two willow trees, and an open field lined with flowers of every kind laid beyond. Pushing away the branches, Sunghoon watched as you unraveled the flower gate and stepped into the beautiful utopia.
“A secret garden,” Sunghoon commented in awe. “How…”
“Youngbin and I used to go here all the time, whenever our families fight,” you answered. “Now that he’s confined to the training field, I feel too lonely being here all by myself.”
“Are you sure Youngbin wouldn’t mind?” Sunghoon asked, not wanting to intrude in sibling affairs.
You cast a funny look at him. “No, I’m sure he won’t. Besides...you’re the person I’m closest to besides him.”
The comment made Sunghoon blush, and he followed you down the path. On each side of him bloomed hundreds of colorful blossoms, making Sunghoon wonder who lived here long ago to tend to them all. Marigolds, roses, lilies, fuchsias, tulips, flowers of every kind decorated the leaves and vines. He reached out to pluck a red rose from the fray, careful not to prick his fingers. Stopping every now and then to admire the flowers, you tugged him towards the open field. Sitting down on the grass, you leaned your head against his shoulder.
“Look, the sun is rising.”
And indeed it was. Sunghoon smiled as you two relaxed in silence, watching the sunlight streak over the horizon in different shades of pink, yellow, and orange. A new day, a new beginning, he thought. He turned when he felt something being placed on his head, only to meet your grinning face as you adjusted the flower crown in his hair. 
“There,” you said, pushing a stray hair away from his eye. Leaning back proudly, you nodded at how the wreath of white daisies complemented his raven hair. “You look pretty, flower boy.”
Sunghoon took the red rose, breaking off the stem, tucked it behind your ear. “No, you’re prettier.”
“Whatever,” you said, though Sunghoon saw that you were trying hard not to smile. “Do you know what this reminds me of?”
“What?” Sunghoon asked, laying back onto the grass. He took the flower crown off and held it up to the sky, scrutinizing your handiwork. You mirrored his movement, turning on your side to face him.
“There’s this story I read in the library a few days ago, about how two young lovers woke up at dawn so they could watch the sunrise together.”
“Oh?” Raising an eyebrow, Sunghoon motioned for you to continue.
“Mhm,” You gazed off into the distance, a thoughtful look on your face. The sunbeams have gotten brighter, and they cast a glow on your face that Sunghoon couldn’t describe, other than ethereal. “It reminded me of us.”
“Who knows,” Sunghoon shrugged. “Maybe someday someone will write a story about us too.”
“A forbidden love story?” You snickered. “Who would write something like that?”
—— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— ——
~ Which story is your favorite? ~
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Zuko & Katara's Relationship Dynamic
This is like the third or fourth time I've tried to write up this post so please bare with me.
Oh wow. That video. Hopefully everyone has seen it now. Not only did it articulate arguments I've been making for years, but it also brought up ideas I had never thought of or noticed before. Watching that and watching the second half of Book 3 again (because it's my favorite) made me want to redo my zutara dynamic post.
I'm going to be using the tiny bits and pieces the show gave us to see how Zuko and Katara's relationship looks and how it would look if they gave us more because...Bryke really fucking hated zutara. I mean, I guess they did.
Katara is compassionate; Zuko is empathetic
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A lot of anti-zutara arguments have said that Zuko and Katara could never be together because they would constantly fight and hate each other and it end sooner than later. Not only does this actually describe maiko, but that argument would need to ignore the characters' actual character.
One of Katara's biggest character traits is how compassionate she is. She has a drive to help others and ease their pain. Whether it's getting Aang out of the iceberg or healing a Fire Nation fishing village, Katara will go out of her way to help someone in need.
Katara: No. I will never ever turn my back on people who need me.
Zuko is very emotional and passionate person. As much as he tried to hide it to appease his father, Zuko does want to open up and connect with people. Unfortunately, aside from his uncle, most of the other people he knows are like Zhao and Azula. Not the most understanding of crowds. But because of this he can pick up what people are really thinking and feeling. Think of it as a defense mechanism he developed growing up around people like Azula.
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Get these two kinds of people together and you get the crystal catacombs scene. Katara lashes out at Zuko until she breaks down. When she does Zuko opens up with empathy since they have something in common. This creates the beginning of an understanding between the two. Zuko uses that to finally open up to someone who isn't his uncle and Katara listens and reaches out to help. Contrast to the first episode of Book 3 when Zuko tries to voice his thoughts and concerns to Mai and she...doesn't really care.
Something similar happens during The Southern Raiders. Zuko figures out that Katara is taking out her anger of being separated from her father by The Fire Nation onto him and even connecting her mother's death to him.
It's not the first time Zuko has done this either. He easily figured out that Sokka was planning on going to The Boiling Rock. He does it again during Sozin's Comet when he tells Katara that Aang needs to figure out what to do about Ozai by himself.
There's a noticeable pattern of behavior by the time Sozin's Comet arrives. Zuko voices his concerns about meeting his uncle again and Katara is right there to help him through it.
Zuko's empathy combined with Katara's compassion creates almost a cycle of understanding and emotional vulnerability that the two can't really get with anyone else. One notices the other having concerns or problems and goes to give comfort by words or by actions.
Zuko still has a temper but so does Katara
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Even after Zuko's fever dream character change thing, even after The Day of Black Sun, he still has it in him to yell at anyone who commits even the slightest transgressions against him:
Aang: That one felt kinda hot. Zuko: Don't patronize me. You know what it's supposed to look like. Aang: Sorry, sifu hotman. Zuko: And stop calling me that!
Sokka: So all we have to do is make Zuko angry. Easy enough. *pokes him with his sword* *annoying laugh* Zuko: All right! Cut it out!
Maybe it's the firebender in him or maybe he really is just like that. Basically if you annoy him, he'll let you know. What people sometimes overlook is that while it takes Katara a bit longer, she also gets worked up when people upset her.
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Toph: What's the matter? Can't handle some dirt, Madame Fussy Britches? Katara: Oh, sorry, did I splash you, mud slug?
And remember, it was Katara getting angry at Sokka that even broke the iceberg that revealed Aang.
Katara: Ugh, I'm embarrassed to be related to you! Ever since Mom died I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier! Sokka: Uh... Katara? Katara: I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, NOT PLEASANT! Sokka: Katara! Settle down! Katara: No, that's it. I'm done helping you. From now on, you're on your own!
The point is that it is both Zuko and Katara that are very passionate and emotional people. One of them isn't emotionally dominating the other because they both wear their emotions on their sleeves.
This also comes in to play when they set goals for themselves. When Zuko sets a goal, he puts everything into it. Katara is the same way. The difference is that Zuko's drive sometimes gives him a one-track mind while Katara is more flexible. Like for example Zuko being so focused on finding Aang before Sozin's Comet that he ignores Toph's story about her childhood versus Katara wanting to go to the North Pole but taking time to stop and help whoever they come across.
This passion also fuels their values and how strongly they stand by their beliefs. I already put The Painted Lady quote up above but Zuko's morality is what is making him so angry at himself during The Beach. He knows what he did was wrong, but he couldn't face it yet.
Sometimes their emotions get the better of them, but it's only because they are passionate about what they're doing.
Their natural teamwork is amazing
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I can't provide a lot of clues in this bit because it's more of a visual thing. Just consider how flawlessly their plans worked during their attack on The Southern Raiders. Especially when you consider that it was a stealth mission so they barely even said anything to each other during and it still went incredibly well.
You could see it again during their mock battle with The Melon Lord. Sokka must have noticed because he paired them together to deliver some "liquidy-hot offence." And they pulled it off, again, without having to say anything.
They've only been a team for a few weeks(?), days(?) but they act as if they've been doing it for years.
They trust each other's judgment
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Piggybacking of the previous point, Zuko and Katara have only been a team for a while but there seems to be a level of understanding in terms of judgement. They both know that whatever the other chooses is going to be a well-thought out decision. Maybe it's because they see each other as the mature members of the group even though Sokka is the same age as Zuko? I don't know.
Aang disappears right before they embark on their fight against the Fire Lord, and out of nowhere, Katara puts Zuko in charge.
Zuko: Get out of the bison's mouth, Sokka. We have a real problem here. Aang is nowhere to be found and the comet is only two days away. Katara: What should we do Zuko? Zuko: I don't know. Why are you all looking at me? Katara: Well, you are kind of the expert on tracking Aang.
and that wasn't the first time in that episode that she went along with one of Zuko's decisions
Katara: Aang, don't walk away from this. *She begins to walk towards him as a hand touches her shoulder to stop her from doing so.* Zuko: Let him go. He needs time to sort it out by himself.
As a lot of people have pointed out during the entirety of The Southern Raiders, Zuko never gives a suggestion on what he thinks Katara should do. Aside from making it a stealth mission, he follows her lead the entire way.
Katara teases Zuko (and he lets her)
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The fun one. This one has two parts: pre and post The Southern Raiders.
Before The Southern Raiders, Katara was tolerating Zuko. She was still angry with him about the betrayal at Ba Sing Se. Getting little jabs at him was the only thing that was really helping her from loosing her cool around him.
Katara: I'm sorry. I'm just laughing at the irony. You know... how it would have been nice for us if you lost your firebending a long time ago? Zuko: Well it's not lost. It's just weaker for some reason. Katara: Maybe you're just not as good as you think you are. Toph: Ouch.
He just finished yelling at Aang and Sokka but all he does is glare at Katara. She does it again, but to be fair, he kind of set himself up for it.
Zuko: It's a sacred form that happens to be thousands of years old! Katara: Oh yeah? What's your little form called? Zuko: ...The Dancing Dragon.
Then comes post The Southern Raiders and...yeah, she's still picking on him and he still lets her. Granted it's a lot more playful this time around.
Zuko: They make me totally stiff and humorless. Katara: Actually, I think that actor's pretty spot on. Zuko: How could you say that? Actor Uncle: Let's forget about the Avatar and get massages. Actor Zuko: How could you say that?! (Cut back to Katara wearing a satisfied grin on her face and she looks to an expressionless Zuko as he slouches in his seat.)
I love pointing it out every time. She teases him and he does nothing about it.
Katara: Er, no. I was looking for cooking pots in the attic and I found this. Look at baby Zuko! Isn't he cute? Oh lighten up, I was just teasing.
And she admits it!
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So what can we take away from this? From what little time they were given together (thanks, Bryke) it seems that Zuko and Katara really understand each other on an intimate emotional level. They can sense when the other is distressed and offer comfort. They're both passionate in and out of combat, for better or for worse. They're comfortable with each other as if they've known each other for years even though it's such a short time. Katara also likes to add a little bit of playfulness in there with Zuko letting her have her fun, again, showing how comfortable they are with each other.
I do think their relationship could have gone to romantic sooner than later if you would have given it a bit more time. Like first half of a hypothetical Book 4.
To me, at least.
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