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watchmegetobsessed · 3 years

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Hey Angel - Harry Styles

a/n: since i had so much time on my hand at work lately (not anymore unfortunately) i used it wisely and cooked up this PA themed fic bc i absolutely love this trope. it’s lengthy and kinda emotional? kinda, lol. hope you’ll like it and as always, feedback is much appreciated!!

warning: sexual content

word count: 11.5k

masterlist

Harry likes to pretend he is tall enough to comfortably rest his chin on the top of your head when he stands behind you, but that’s not true. He has to push himself a little to his tippy toes and push you down at the same time to fit his chin above you, his arms weighing down on your shoulders. You stopped arguing him that you need to push your hips forward when he does this so you don’t carry his whole weight.

“Tha’s rude, you do not have to do tha’!” he defended himself every time you brought up, so you just stopped.

Now as you watch the game of air hockey unfold in front of you, a half empty pint in your hand, you don’t even budge when you feel a chiseled chin resting on the top of your head, you push your hips forward without a second thought to shorten your height. You catch a glimpse of a tattooed forearm on your shoulder, Harry’s chest presses against your back gently.

He doesn’t stay in this position too long, it’s making it hard to drink so soon enough, he wraps his left arm around your shoulders, coming to stand next to you, sipping on his tequila on the rocks.

“Hey you,” you smile at him as he gives you a side look, a boyish smirk tugging on his pink lips. “Everything alright?”

“Everything is fine.”

“You need something? How much have you had to drink?” you ask furrowing your eyebrows, looking down at his glass that was certainly full when you last saw him about ten minutes ago.

“Shush, stop pretending like you’re working,” he waves at your face, his words melting together, definitely thanks to the alcohol he has consumed tonight.

“I know I’m not working, I’m just tryna’ be your friend and look out for you.” Bringing your own drink up to your lips, you give him a look, but he just smirks at you playfully.

“Uh-huh, whatever. Don’t worry about me.”

“I always worry about you, H,” you sigh dramatically and it makes him laugh with his head falling back.

“Is this the part where you tell me I’m some spoiled brat celebrity you ‘ave to babysit for your living? And that I always do ridiculous shit so you ‘ave to keep an eye on me at all times?”

You can’t push your smile down at how far this statement is from reality. You just like to tease him about being a typical, asshole rockstar when he is literally your favorite person in the world without a doubt.

“Oh Angel, you can’t fool me,” he cackles, squeezing you to his side before taking another sip from his drink.

“Wouldn’t even try to,” you mumble with an amused smile. “Havin’ fun, birthday boy?” you ask, leaning into his side. You would never admit, but you love how touchy Harry can get sometimes, not really caring about physical boundaries, especially when he drinks. The hugs, the squeezes, the touches, they always make your heart flutter even after knowing him for years.

“I’m havin’ a blast. What about you?”

“What about me? It’s not my birthday,” you chuckle shortly.

“So what? I can’t make sure you’re enjoying your night?” he frowns at you dramatically that just makes you laugh.

“I’m having a great night. It’s just that my boss keeps coming after me even though I’m supposed to be off the clock.”

You peek up at him to see the grin on his face at your teasing. The dynamic between the two of you has been like this since day one. The constant bickering and teasing is what really brought the two of you close, you are so similar, it’s like you can see a male version of yourself when you look at him.

“Tell the dude to fuck off,” he mumbles into his drink and you bump your hip against him, but he just holds you tight to his side as an answer.

Soon enough, Harry joins the game and you watch him play from the side, obviously cheering on his opponent to annoy him, earning some pretty dirty looks from him whenever they score against him and you let out a “woho!” in victory.

“Y’know, it’s not too nice to cheer against the birthday boy, is it?” he calls you out when the table is taken by someone else and he joins you at the side again.

“Am I not allowed to choose who I want to cheer to?” you ask with a faked puzzled look and he presses his lips into a thin line, glaring down at you intently.

“Don’t test me, Angel,” he grumbles into your ear before walking off to join his friends who came out to celebrate with him today.

It’s a pretty lowkey celebration, since he is still in the middle of filming Don’t Worry Darling, so he couldn’t really travel far from the set, but some of his dearest friends were able to come here and celebrate with him and his cast members.

You stand at the bar and your eyes find him every time you scan the place, not able to keep your gaze away from him for too long, he just demands the attention. Or at least yours.

You’ve never met anyone like him. When you got the chance to be his personal assistant four years ago at the very beginning of his solo career, you never thought how he’ll move right into your heart and never leave it. Whether you look at him as your boss or your friend, you can’t deny that he changed your life and you’ve learned so much from him, you can only hope he thinks of you somewhat the same. However you always tell yourself: what could you possibly give for The Harry Styles? He has everything in the whole wide world.

Harry catches you staring and he arches a brow at you, abandoning the conversation he has been in for the past minutes, mouthing you “what’s up, Angel”, his accent thick even without hearing his voice.

He’s been calling you Angel for longer than you can remember. When you asked him why the nickname, he said it’s because One Direction’s song Hey Angel was written about you. It was a fat lie, you haven’t met him when the song was written, but his words still tightened your chest, playing with the thought of Harry writing a song about you.

As cheesy and cliché as it is, you fell for him faster than you’d like to admit. You tried to fight it for a while, convince yourself it’s just a silly crush, but you soon had to realize you outgrew that after the first few weeks working with him. How could you not fall for him? He is everything any woman could wish for and he has you wrapped around his fingers, just like he has half the female population, probably.

You shake your head in his way, not sure how to tell him you just got lost in your thoughts about him. In fact, he occupies your mind pretty much all the time, but he doesn’t have to know about that.

He excuses himself from the table and walks up to you, a slow breath leaving your nose as you watch him approach you.

“Tired?” he asks, stopping in front of you, placing his empty glass to the counter.

“Kinda,” you nod.

“Want to head home soon?”

“Don’t worry about me. I can just call a taxi and go home, you don’t have to come.”

“Don’t be silly, we go to the same place, obviously we’re gonna go home together.”

Since filming has started, Harry and you’ve been sharing a nice apartment near the set. It was his idea to rent a place for the two of you, rather than to stay at a hotel. At first you didn’t think it would be a good idea, but of course, he convinced you to live with him for the months while the movie is being filmed. So now you basically live with Harry, share pretty much all your living space with him, except your bedroom.

“But it’s your birthday, stay as long as you want,” you tell him, not wanting to snatch him away from his friends on his big day.

“We’re filming in the afternoon tomorrow, can’t drag the night too long either way,” he shrugs, trying to make you believe it’s really nothing.

No matter how badly you try to convince him to stay, he doesn’t bulge and starts saying goodbye within an hour, calling the two of you a car to take you home. He is clearly tipsy, but not drunk. Once you’re in the car, Harry’s hand finds yours and he pulls you closer in the backseat until your thighs are pressed together. He curls an arm around your shoulders, holding you tight to his side, sinking down in the seat. You let your head rest on his shoulder, enjoying the closeness of his body, pressing down any worrying thought that usually makes its way to your mind every time Harry gets a little cozier than the usual.

The rational side of your brain knows you should be keeping some distance from him for the sake of your own sanity and emotional health, but you just can’t. Denying these little moments from yourself would be like pure torture and your heart can’t take that for sure.

“What are you thinkin’ about?” he murmurs, his nose nuzzling into your hair and you just shrug your shoulders.

“Nothing,” you mumble your lie.

“Liar, I can hear the gears turning in that pretty head of yours,” he grins down at you as your eyes lock for a moment. Thank God for the darkness in the car, because you can feel your cheeks heating up. The last thing you need is for Harry to see how nervous he can make you feel with just a simple compliment.

“Stop being nosy, you don’t have to know everything all the time.” You poke his side with your elbow, it makes him jump a little before he snuggles back to your side.

“That’s not true, you know I’m entitled to hold every knowledge in the world.” He tries to hide his smirk, but he fails miserably and you just laugh at him with your head falling back to his shoulder.

“Harry Styles, you are something else,” you sigh shaking your head at him.

Arriving home Harry keeps an arm around you as you walk up to the front door, fishing your keys out of your bag since you’d bet Harry didn’t bring his. There’s a chance he hasn’t even used his copy since you’ve been here, he knows you always have yours and you haven’t really left without each other so far, always staying around the other.

“Want to shower first?” he hums, walking inside, his arm leaving your shoulders and though you feel lighter without the extra weight, you wish it was still there.

“Go for it, I’m gonna clean up the mess I made when I got ready earlier,” you tell him, heading into your bedroom where the floor is littered with half your wardrobe from earlier, when you were trying to figure out what to wear for the little outing.

Harry disappears in the shared bathroom and a moment later you hear the water running. You go around your room, picking up the dresses you voted against, placing them back into the wardrobe and then you put away your makeup you left on your bed in your hurry.

“Bathroom is yours!” Harry calls out just when you finish, you hear his bedroom door open and close so you grab a clean oversized t-shirt and a pair of cotton shorts before occupying the bathroom.

The warm shower feels nice, it’s been a long day since you started on set, Harry had a few scenes to film before you could leave in the afternoon. You wash away the day, scrub your makeup off and then take off the rest with your wipes once you’re out. You brush your hair and use some lotion for your dry skin before getting dressed and leaving the steamy bathroom.

Padding down the short hallway you hear nothing coming from Harry’s bedroom and you wonder if he’s already asleep, but once you step inside your room you see that he is cozied up on your bed, your covers pulled up to his naked chest, a pillow tucked under his head as he scrolls through his phone so shamelessly, as if it was his own room.

“Did you take the wrong turn in the hallway?” you ask with an arched eyebrow as you throw your dirty clothes to your temporary hamper, which is basically your emptied out suitcase.

“Nope,” he grins smugly, you have to roll your eyes at him. He locks his phone, dropping it to the side table, watching you move around, getting ready for bed and his eyes on your figure feel like they’re burning down on your skin.

“You know, it’s rude to stare,” you comment not even looking at him, but you just know he is still staring at you. Grabbing a hairtie from the little dresses in the corner of your room you reach back to loosely braid your hair, but his voice stops you.

“Wait,” he pleads and you furrow your eyebrows at him. “Can I do it?”

You give him a confused look as he pushes himself up into a sitting position, his green eyes are glimmering from the tiredness and the alcohol he has consumed tonight.

“You want to braid my hair?”

“Yeah,” he nods. You hesitate for a moment but join him on the bed at last, turning your back against him, giving him full control over your hair.

A shiver runs down your spine when you feel his fingers raking through your strands. He is so gentle and careful as you feel him section your hair off to three parts.

“Didn’t know you can braid,” you tell him, eyes fixated on the sheets in front of you.

“Gemma taught me, but I’m not the best at it.”

“So I’ll look atrocious?” you tease him smiling to yourself. He pokes the back of your neck with his fingers before continuing his work.

“You could never look atrocious, even if you tried.”

“And you are such a flirt,” you sigh. Over the years you’ve gotten used to his flirty act, it’s just who he is and though in the beginning your breath always got caught in your throat when he said something cheesy, now you just brush it off, only thinking about his words when you are alone in the night, struggling to fall asleep because you’re once again, thinking about him.

“M’telling the truth. Have I told you how beautiful you looked tonight?”

“Mmm,” you hum. He has told you that you looked pretty when the two of you left and he saw you walk out of your room in your black skinny jeans and flowy sheer top on, your hair loosely curled, but you didn’t really know what to say, so you just smiled at him and it’s the same now. You’re not the best at taking compliments.

“You really did. You always are.”

“And once again, you are such a flirt.”

“Complimenting a pretty woman is being a flirt?” he asks pretending to be offended as he carefully works on your hair and you wish you could see his focused face as he is trying to keep track of the sections between his fingers. At a lack of a witty comeback, you just shrug your shoulders, fumbling with your fingers on your lap.

You both fall silent as he concentrates on your hair and you manage to stop thinking, just focus on how his fingers keep brushing against your back every time he crosses two sections over each other.

“Hairtie, please,” he asks, his hand appearing next to you with his palm upwards. You place it in his hand and he finishes up his masterpiece. “There, it didn’t turn out as bad as I thought,” he comments once he is done. Reaching back you run your fingers over the braid and it feels good, he did a great job.

“Thanks,” you smile at him shyly, turning around. He leans back, making himself comfortable once again and you arch an eyebrow at him. “Need me to walk you back to your room, sir?”

“No, I’m perfectly fine here,” he grins smugly, tugging his arm behind his head as he takes up the right side of the bed.

“You’re planning to sleep here?”

“Please, don’t make me sleep alone on my birthday!” he pouts, giving you those damned puppy eyes. How could you ever say no to him?

“You better not push me off the bed in your sleep,” you mumble before getting under the covers.

You turn off the bedside lamp and the two of you start moving around, finding a comfortable pose to sleep in and you end up facing each other on your sides, Harry’s face squished into the pillow as his eyes are roaming over the hand you have laid between your faces.

His fingers start to inch towards yours until he hooks his pinky with yours, the touch sending a warm feeling down your spine.

“I hate sleeping alone,” he mumbles into the semi-darkness.

“Why?”

“Don’t you like it when there’s someone next to you? When you wake up and you’re not alone?”

“I like it, but I don’t hate sleeping alone either,” you tell him as your eyes fall to your linked pinky fingers. “Why do you hate it? You have the bed all to yourself, and there’s no chance of waking up to someone snoring or talking in their sleep.”

He huffs out a laugh as he buries his head deeper into the pillow.

“It makes me feel lonely. Which is ridiculous, because I’m never alone.”

“But lonely and alone are not the same, so it’s not ridiculous. You can feel lonely when you’re not alone.”

“I know,” he nods, his eyes watching your linked fingers intently, before he moves his hand so it’s now covering yours, his warm palm wrapping around your much smaller hand. “I’m never lonely with you, though.”

“So… you are only lonely when you’re sleeping or in the bathroom, because we basically spend every moment of the day together.” You smirk at him and see his dimple form in his cheek as he smiles at you nodding.

“That’s right. We are like glued together.”

“How aren’t we sick of each other already?”

“That’s never gonna happen.”

“You sure about that?” You raise your eyebrows at him with an amused smile, he is too sure about that answer.

“One hundred percent. You’re my favorite person.”

“Is that what you tell everyone?”

He gives you a look, but you just chuckle, sinking further into your pillow. His fingers start playing with your hand as he draws a deep breath.

“I only tell this to m’ mum and Gemma. No one else.”

Your heart starts racing at the thought of him seeing you on the same level as his closest family. You know how much his mum and sister mean to him, but you never thought you are anywhere near them in his eyes.

“You’re my favorite person too,” you whisper as your eyes meet over your joined hands. He smiles at you warmly, his floppy curls falling into his forehead and you want to run your fingers through them, feel how soft they are under your touch. Harry scoots closer, your faces only a few inches away from each other as he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

For a moment you just watch him, thinking how good it feels to have him in your bed. How amazing it is to end the day with him so close to you. You wish all days would end like this, you wouldn’t have another bad day with him next to you.

Lying there and watching him slowly fall asleep, his hand still on yours, the bitter thought eats itself into your mind that he is only here because he feels lonely and wanted to be close to someone, not you particularly. And though you’re glad it’s you he ended up next to, you try not to get too accustomed to the feeling, because you’re just a temporary fix to his loneliness.

The door to Harry’s trailer opens and he walks in wearing his blue dress pants and crispy white dress shirt, fumbling with the top buttons to undo them. You glance up at him from your laptop where you’ve been working on his schedule for the upcoming weeks while he was filming.

“Hey, how did it go?” you ask as he places his water bottle to the vanity and then sits in the chair he spends his mornings in while his hair is being styled and tattoos are covered.

“Good. Messed up only a few times. Whacha’ working on?”

“Just your schedule, I’ll email it to you when I’m done, though you never check it.”

“Hey, I do check it! I like your color coding. I just suck at using it and you’re always here to remind me of the important stuff.”

You roll your eyes, continuing to type away on your keyboard as he moves around, having a snack and texting back people.

“Florence is coming over for a little after we’re done. We can order something,” he speaks up grabbing your attention again.

“Cool,” you nod with a small smile. “Is she staying the night?”

“No, we just thought it would be nice to hang out a little without dressed like this,” he chuckles looking down at himself.

“What’s wrong with Jack’s clothes? You look neat.”

“Do I?” he cocks an eyebrow cheekily, placing his hands to his hips as he looks down at you.

“Yeah. It’s a nice change after all the grandpa clothes,” you tease him and he gasps pretending to be offended at your words, though you both know you have nothing against his style. In fact, you love how he just wears whatever he wants, not caring what others would think.

“Watch your mouth or you can’t wear my bode jacket again,” he warns you holding up his pointing finger, shaking it at you, but you just chuckle at him, finishing up what you’ve been working on before shutting the laptop down.

“How long until you’re done?”

“Just a few more scenes. I think we can leave in about two hours.”

“Alright.”

“You done working?”

“Mhm, for now.”

“Come and watch the filming. You’re always so hidden in here.”

“Because I always have work to do,” you point out, putting the laptop to the side from your lap.

“Yeah, but you’re done now, so come out and watch me be the next Leonardo DiCaprio,” he smugly tells you, and it makes you roll your eyes at him.

“You’re so humble, H. Is something that comes with the age?” you tease him standing up from the small sofa, grabbing your phone from the table.

“You’ll find out in a year,” he smirks back as you follow him out of the trailer, back to the set.

Later that day you, Florence and Harry are chilling back at your apartment, munching on the pizza you ordered, watching some documentary on Netflix, just enjoying a lazy evening. You’ve become quite close with Florence, her personality is a lot like yours so you got along well from the beginning, the three of you often do things together outside of set.

You and Harry are sharing the couch while Florence is curled up on the loveseat. The temperature at the apartment is always nice, but you often catch yourself feeling a little cold in the evening, but it has more to do with the tiredness rather than with the heating of the place. When you pull your legs underneath you to warm your feet, Harry notices the action and knows right away that you’re starting to feel cold as always. Reaching down he grabs a blanket from the basket next to the couch and he wraps an arm around you, pulling you closer to him.

“Come ‘ere,” he mumbles, draping the blanket over the two of you. You shuffle closer to him, making yourself comfortable at his side as he makes sure you’re fully tugged in. Then he leaves an arm around you, his fingers gently grazing your shoulder as he turns his attention back at the movie.

Glancing over at Florence you see the puzzled look on her, but you ignore it biting into your bottom lip, turning back to watch the movie though you’re having a hard time focusing. All you can think about is Harry’s touch on you.

It’s almost midnight when Florence calls herself a taxi. Harry picks up the glasses you used and volunteers to wash them, leaving you and Florence alone in the living room.

“So, what’s up with you and Harry?” she questions right away without beating around the bush.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that you two has always been close, but now… it seems all too… couple-like.” She narrows her eyes at you, hands on her hips, looking like a mother questioning her daughter.

“Don’t be silly.”

“I’m not,” she scoffs. Then you pretend to be busy with folding the blanket, but you can feel her intent stare on you before she speaks up again. “You like him, don’t you?”

“What?” you huff with a not too Oscar-worthy expression on your face that was supposed to hide the panic in you. “Well of course I like him, he is my friend and boss.”

“But not just like that. You like like him.”

“Florence,” you sigh, just when Harry walks out of the kitchen, oblivious to the conversation that he just interrupted.

“You sure you don’t want to spend the night?” he politely asks her, but she just shakes her head.

“I’m not really up for spending the night on the couch.”

“You wouldn’t have to, you can sleep in my bed,” he simply offers and something is telling you he shouldn’t open his mouth again.

“You’re not taking the couch because of me.”

“I wouldn’t, I usually sleep at Y/N’s,” he states as if it was nothing, but you instantly freeze.

Yes, ever since his birthday he has spent way more nights in your bed than in his own, always raving to you how well he can sleep when you’re next to him and you couldn’t bear the thought of him feeling lonely, so you’ve been letting him occupy half of your bed through the nights. He usually holds your hand falling asleep and then you wake up tangled together, sometimes he is cuddling you from behind, other times you’re the one curled up to his side. He treats it so casually, like it really is nothing, he just always goes on his day when you wake up so you decided to not make it into a big deal either.

Florence gives you a wide eyed look that you try hard to ignore, while Harry is so oblivious to what he just caused with his statement.

“I uhh—thanks but I’m fine going home. Besides, I think my car is already here. See you guys on set tomorrow. Y/N?” she calls out walking towards the front door.

“Hm?”

“We’ll talk later,” she tells you and it’s a strong message that she won’t just leave it at that.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” you nod awkwardly, waving her goodbye.

You and Harry clean up together and as always, he is the first one to use the bathroom and by the time you’re done, he is in your bed, waiting for you to join him. You don’t comment on his presence anymore, part of you afraid he would stop spending the night in your bed and you definitely don’t want that. Not much is left from filming, meaning that soon you are forced to go home where you and Harry do not live at the same place so you’re gonna have to sleep alone, like you did before. Only now you are way too hooked on the feeling of having him in your bed, even if it’s not in the way you truly want, it’s better than nothing.

The moment you get under the sheets, Harry reaches out and pulls you to his side. He hasn’t done this often when you went to sleep, only sneaking some small touches, but you don’t mind him being a little extra clingy.

“Filming is almost over,” you mumble into his chest, your hand lazily resting where his ribcage ends in his chest.

“Mhm.” There’s a short silence before he speaks up again. “What about it, Angel?”

“It’s just that it’s going to be weird going home. I got used to living here.” It’s your way saying that you’re gonna miss having him around all the time, but you’re not sure if he understands the hint. It doesn’t really matter anyway.

“You like cramped together with me?” he chuckles lowly.

“Was kinda nice,” you smile.

“Remember how you threatened me to throw my shit out if I leave my dirty clothes on the floor?”

“I do,” you smirk, thinking back to the conversation where you agreed to live with him while he is filming. “Didn’t find any clothes on the floor, so you get an A for that.”

“Wow, was this… a compliment?”

“Shut up, I always compliment you!” you laugh smacking his chest gently.

“Oh, no. You don’t compliment, you just tell me when I managed not to fuck something up,” he corrects you and your cheeks are heating up about how well he knows you.

“Those are compliments in my book, don’t be greedy.”

“M’not. I love how grounded you keep me with treating me like this.”

“Like what?” you ask furrowing your eyebrows.

“Like a normal person. With you, I don’t have to be afraid that I earn something because of who I am. You give no shit about my name, you always keep me in check and I appreciate that.”

“Can’t let you have a too big of a head,” you smirk, closing your eyes. He laughs with you, squeezing you a little before you both fall into silence, drifting off to sleep in each other’s arms.

You’ve managed to avoid Florence in the past few days. Her burning look has been making you way too nervous, you know she wants to know more about what’s going on between you and Harry, but truth to be told, you have no idea what to tell her.

Yeah, I’m definitely in love with him and we’ve been sharing a bed for a few weeks because he feels lonely alone at night, so he uses me to ease the feeling while I just let him because as I said, I’m in love with the man.

No, you can’t tell her that.

Now there’s only two days left from filming, meaning that only two more nights to spend with Harry and it’s making you a nervous wreck to think about sleeping alone in your bedroom.

You round the corner in the maze of the trailers after a phone call you had with Jeff when you run out of luck and bump right into Florence.

“I’ve been looking for you, Y/N. Come have lunch with me in my trailer,” she smiles sweetly, grabbing you by your hand so you can’t escape her this time.

“Oh I wanted to call—“

“Do it later,” she simply cuts you off.

Soon, you find yourself in her trailer as she eats her burger while she eyes you with suspicion.

“So, you and Harry sleep together?”

“Well, not like that. We really just sleep in the same bed.”

“Oh, makes perfect sense, sleeping in the same bed as your boss. Very casual.”

“Don’t make it sound so weird,” you frown at her words. You definitely don’t see Harry as your boss. You do work for him, but it never felt like he stands anywhere above you, the two of you have always been equal even before you became close friends.

“You gotta admit it’s pretty unusual,” she points out and you just look away from her. “So let’s talk about how you’re in love with him.”

“What? I never said that!” you protest, but she just gives you a look that says ‘cut the crap, girl’ and you know there’s no use to try to trick her, she sees right through you. “Don’t fucking look at me like that, I have enough shit on my plate without your judgment.”

“Oh, I’m not judging you. I’m just wondering why you two are not together already.”

You practically snort at her statement, finding it quite absurd and ridiculous.

“What? You two are perfect for each other and I’m pretty sure Harry loves you too.”

“Yeah, as a friend.”

“That’s not how friends act, Y/N. He wouldn’t beg himself into your bed every night if he was just your friend.”

“He is just lonely. He doesn’t need me, just someone to be with him.”

“That’s bullshit,” she scoffs. “You two are just being idiots.” Just as you are about to answer, your phone starts ringing. Harry’s smiley face appears on the screen, making you extremely nervous because of the conversation you are having with Florence.

“Hey,” you breathe out answering the call.

“Hey, where are you?”

“Just, talking with Florence. What’s up?”

“I got an email from Jeff and I have some questions.”

“I’ll be there in a sec.”

“Thank you Angel,” he hums before ending the call.

“I gotta go. Please don’t… bring any of this up for Harry,” you ask Florence, heading to the exit.

“You’ve gotta sort your shit out. This is not ideal, Y/N.”

“I know it,” you growl under your breath, leaving the trailer. You chew on your bottom lip nervously as you march back to Harry’s trailer. You feel so confused and anxious about this whole situation and the worst thing is that you have no idea what to do about it. Telling him how you feel seems like a stupid idea, but mostly because you’re terrified of rejection. What if it all meant nothing to him? If you were right and he is just lonely and uses you to help himself, it has nothing to do with you. You wouldn’t survive the heartbreak it would give you if he told you he doesn’t see you more than just a friend.

As you walk into his trailer he is sitting on the sofa with his phone in his hands. He glances up at you, a warm smile tugging on his lips as you take a deep breath, feeling very much out of place suddenly. Unfortunately, he immediately senses your discomfort.

“Everything alright, Angel?”

Angel. This nickname could make your knees go weak in a heartbeat and you hate how much effect it has on you. Especially in this state of mind you’re currently in.

“I just…” You shake your head shutting your eyes. “Why do you keep calling me that?” you ask, sounding way more desperate than you intended to. Harry puts his phone aside, looking a little puzzled at your sudden weird act, but he seems more worried for you.

“I, uhh—“

“And don’t tell me it’s because Hey Angel is about me. We didn’t know each other back then.”

You have no idea where this is coming from or why you even questioned him about it all of a sudden, but Florence just totally threw you off with what she just said. Harry stares back at you, probably vigorously looking for the reason why you are acting up now, but luckily, he doesn’t try to turn it into a joke as always.

“I call you Angel, because you remind me of the song. It wasn’t written about you, but the lyrics match up with… you.”

“What?” you ask in confusion.

“I wish I could be more like you, do you wish you could be more like me?” he quotes the song, not singing the words, simply just talking them as he stares back at you. “I see you at the bar, at the edge of my bed, backseat of my car, in the back of my head,” he continues and you feel your throat doing dry just from the way he softly speaks, standing only a few feet away from you. “I come alive when I hear your voice, it’s a beautiful sound, it’s a beautiful noise.”

You never really gave it another thought, but now that he has told you this, it hit you hard in the chest. You weren’t expecting, especially because those lines are rather meaningful, to you at least.

“I thought of it once not long after we first met and thought calling you Angel would suit you. Do you mind it? I can just… stop calling you that if you don’t like it.”

You shake your head. You never want him to stop calling you that even if it’s not that meaningful for him. If it’s just some game. It’s great to know that something reminded him of you.

“No, it’s… it’s alright.” Your voice is small, barely more than just a whisper. It’s a little too much at once. Florence’s words are still stuck in your head, and what he just said has felt like he just gripped your heart even if he doesn’t know.

You take a shaky breath, forcing yourself to come back from this hazy state of mind.

“So, what about that email?”

“You alright?” Reaching forward he takes your hand and you try not to flinch at his touch, just smile at him nodding.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” He squeezes your hand before dropping it and he luckily doesn’t ask any more questions.

You stay oddly quiet for the rest of the day and Harry surely knows something is wrong, but he respects you enough not to bug you about it any longer. He just stays close to you as much as he can, trying his best to take your mind off of whatever keeps you occupied.

On the way home you and Harry drop by a supermarket, buy some quick dinner, not wanting to stack the fridge when you’re leaving so soon. Then you sit in the living room, eating and watching some random movie that’s on TV. You snuggle to his side on the couch naturally, he doesn’t even have to pull you close this time. The thought of having left only one more night in the apartment makes you want to sue every little moment you have left in this bubble.

Harry makes you have a shower first tonight and when you come out from the bathroom, your bed is already nicely made, inviting you warmly. He is quick to finish with his shower and joins you in bed barely five minutes later. You move towards each other instantly, his arms curling around your form soothingly as you make yourself comfortable, melted into his embrace. You feel his lips pressing against your forehead and you almost start crying at the small action.

“Angel, I don’t know what has upset you, but I’m here for you, alright? You’re not alone,” he murmurs softly.

“I know,” you whisper. “Thank you.”

“No need to thank me. I would do anything for you, just like you do so much for me. You’ve got me.”

I wish, you think to yourself. You have him, but not the way you’ve been desiring. His hand moves to cup your face as he lifts your head so you are looking into his eyes in the darkened room, but there’s enough light coming through the window that you see his features. He runs his thumb across your cheek, gently caressing your skin and everywhere he touches you, it feels like your body is in flames. This something has been building up inside you and now you’re not sure how long you’ll be able to control yourself. And just as you think about how you really should put some distance between the two of you so you won’t regret it later, the unexpected happens.

Harry pulls you up just enough so when he moves his head he is able to place his lips on yours, kissing you out of the blue. His lips feel so soft, so fitting on your mouth, you let out a whimper when he goes further than just a gentle kiss, taking your bottom lip between his properly. It’s an out of world experience, you’ve imagined it so many times, but you never thought it would actually happen and now that it is very much happening, your whole mind goes blank and for a split second… everything feels right. You kiss him back with fever and with each passing moment the kiss grows more passionate and way hungrier than how it started. Harry’s arm tightens around you, almost pulling you on top of him and you can’t make yourself stop, not that you want to.

With a little force, Harry pushes the two of you around so now you’re lying on the mattress and he holds himself up above you, his lips never disconnecting from yours. He licks into your mouth, pulling and tugging on your lips, making your whole body go weak just for him.

But then, as if reality hit you in the head, you realize what’s happening.

“Harry,” you gasp pulling back, gasping for air. “This—We…”

“Angel, let me take care of you. Please,” he begs out of breath.

“What…”

“I want to make you feel good. I want to take care of you, please let me.” He sounds so desperate, like he would do anything for this and you are not strong enough to deny it from him.

It’s just his pity. He’s been using you for his needs, now he wants to give some back, it’s nothing more, you think to yourself. It can’t be more.

You lack the willpower to make a rational decision, so as you stare up into his eyes that appear so dark due to the lack of proper lighting, you just nod before he leans down and kisses you again.

He holds himself up on one arm while his free hand wanders down your body, touching you at places you have never felt him before. He palms your left breast, squeezing it gently and it makes you moan into his mouth before his hand moves down the curve of your waist until it reaches your sleeping shorts. Your body is burning for him and you can’t stop it from reacting to everything he does. You buckle your hips up when you feel his fingers gently graze along your pubic bone, even though you’re still fully clothed.

“What do you want me to do, Angel? I’ll do anything you want me to,” he pants between kisses as his hand moves to cup your heated core, making you moan again from the sensation of his touch there.

“I need you,” is all you manage to get out.

“I’m right here. You got me. What do you want me to do? Please, tell me, Angel,” he whines, forehead pressed against yours and his hips fall, pressing against your thigh, making you realize how excited he has gotten. His erection is hard under the fabric of his boxers, almost aching to be freed. There’s no way you can take any teasing or a long foreplay. You need him inside you now before you burst.

“Harry, I need you inside me. Please,” you whimper, almost cry, before he kisses you again, hard and demanding as he simply pushes your shorts down, revealing your naked sex since you don’t wear any underwear to bed. You grab the waistband of his boxers too and push it down until he can wiggle his legs out of them, leaving him completely naked in your bed while you still have a top covering your upper body, however he is quick to change that. He grabs the hem and starts pulling it off, your hands helping him so a few moments later you’re completely naked underneath him.

“Fuck, Angel,” he breathes out, his perfect, pink lips attacking the side of your throat, kissing and nibbling on the skin, going down to your breasts, giving the same amount of attention to both while you turn into jelly under his touch. lacing your fingers through his hair you cry out his name as you can feel him leaving a mark on your left breast, his tongue swirling against the spot he just completely destroyed before he brings himself back up so he can kiss you again and again with so much hunger, it’s hard to tell where you end and where he starts. Everything melts together and you’re such a mess in every possible way.

His hand gently reaches down between your legs and parts your shaking thighs before he cups you drenched pussy, his middle finger sliding between your folds, a shameless moan slipping from your mouth, right into his as your lips are still attached.

“So wet, I can’t wait to make you feel good, baby. Let me make you feel good.”

“Harry, just… please,” you pant, surely feeling yourself lose the last bits of your nerves.

“D’you have a condom?” he asks, head lifting up a bit so he can look into your eyes.

“I-In my, um, the makeup bag,” you try to explain gesturing towards your dresser where your makeup bag sits on top, two condoms somewhere inside it. Harry pecks your lips before pulling away from you, the lack of his weight on top of you making you shiver.

He digs into the bag until he finds what he’s been looking for, tearing the packaging open with his teeth and he rolls it on while he walks back, not wasting another moment. You cling onto him like a koala bear once he is back in bed, his massive body covering you again.

“Just tell me how you like it, I’ll do anything,” he mumbles against your shivering lips as he pushes the head in first, stopping for a second before the rest of his cock buries inside you, completely taking your breath away. He is bigger than anyone you’ve ever been with, filling up every inch of you, your walls stretching around him as he stills once he is all the way inside you.

This is it. This is the moment you’ve imagined oh so many times, feeling him the closest possible, his cock buried inside you, his cheek pressed against yours as he holds himself up on top of you. Years of yearning and endless nights when you imagined your hand was his… and now it’s your reality. And though you know it’s gonna change everything, you can’t tell yourself to stop.

Harry lifts his head, pecking your lips gently, calling you Angel over and over again as he starts moving, the friction between your legs growing with each thrust. He fits inside you so well, you won’t be able to enjoy sex with anyone else now that you’ve experienced it with Harry. All of a sudden, he has become the epitome of your whole life.

“Tell me what you want, Angel. Do you want me to go slow or fast? Tell me how to make you feel good.” His lips brush against yours with each word while you’re just trying to catch your breath, fingers digging into his back, the euphoria building up inside you gradually.

“A little faster,” you breathe out, speaking feels like a hard task at the moment. Harry picks his pace up, finding just the right rhythm that makes you wrap your legs around his waist so he can go even deeper with each thrust he makes.

“Look at me, Angel. Let me see your eyes,” he begs, his hand cupping your cheek. He runs his thumb along the line of your lower lip before he takes it between his lips, tugging on it gently, kissing you like you’re his last breath on Earth. He is devouring you, body melts together with yours, all your senses are strictly focused on him. He is all you see, hear, feel and taste.

Your gaze meets his and the way he looks at you, like you’re his whole entire world, it makes your eyes tear up. You want it to be true, you want it to be reality, you want it to be more than just about needs and satisfaction, but it’s not and your consciousness is not letting you believe otherwise.

“Oh Angel,” he softly hums, wiping away a tear that escaped the corner of your eye and ran down the side of your face. Keeping up his rhythm he kisses along your jawline, your cheek, your lips, the side of your face, the bridge of your nose, everywhere he can before returning to your lips with a hungry, passion filled kiss.

“Harry…” you whimper, holding your thighs tighter around his waist as you feel yourself nearing the edge.

“Let it go for me, Angel. I wanna see you feel good, cum for me,” he tells you, eyes never leaving yours as you are ready to burst underneath him.

“Harry, I-I need you!” The words fall from your lips as a desperate beg, arms wrapping around his torso tight, as if he could disappear from your embrace any moment.

“I’m right here, Angel. Right here,” he soothes you, kissing your lips sweetly as proof that he is not just a trick your mind is playing on you. “Are you close, baby? Are you gonna cum for me?”

“Yes! Yes!” you pant, losing control over your body and all your senses. It’s gonna be intense, you can tell and it hasn’t even started yet, you just know it’ll shake you to the core.

“Good girl. Let me make you feel good.” “So good,” you breathe out before Harry occupies your lips with his once again.

It doesn’t take long. He keeps thrusting in the perfect angle and it throws you right over the edge. Harry demands you look him in the eyes when your orgasm wash you over and the intensity of it all almost makes you cry again. You burst, lose yourself under him, screaming his name as if you were praying to all higher forces. In a way, you are, because for a moment you really think you completely vanish from this world.

Harry follows you just a few more thrusts later, falling out of his rhythm as he grunts and moans your name, face buried into the crook of your neck while you tug on his hair, the feeling of his soft locks between your fingers is like pure heaven.

He stills, but stays inside you as he looks up, his eyes filled with satisfaction and contentment as he cups your face again, kissing you long, taking his time with you.

As you come off your high and the clouds of euphoria clears off, reality sets in more painfully than ever. Your limbs are paralyzed and you feel like you are outside your own body, just watching everything happen as if you were a third person in the room. Harry rolls to the side, chest heaving wildly as he is trying to regulate himself. Once he is able to breathe without panting, he pecks your shoulder gently and makes a quick round to the bathroom. You hear water running and then his feet padding on the floor, but you can’t bring yourself to move, you just lie there, completely drained out. It doesn’t change even when Harry gently cleans you off with a damp washing cloth, throwing it to the side to take care of it in the morning. He pulls the covers over the two of you and scoops you into his arms. You manage to bring your arm up to his chest as your head rests on his shoulder. His fingers are dancing up and down your arm, his steady breathing keeping your overcrowded head grounded. And then… he starts singing so softly, it’s almost just a whisper.

“Hey Angel, oh, I wish I could be more like you. Do you wish you could be more like me?”

Your eyes shut close, the damn tears flooding again, but you keep your sobs drowned in your throat. Instead you force yourself to sleep and hope you live to see the morning, because you feel like your heart is about to give up on you.

When you wake up, you genuinely feel like you’ve drunk through last night and now have the worst hangover. It’s like you’ve been hit on the head with a chair. You slowly come to your senses and realize that you’re completely naked in bed and there’s a body curled to your side, equally naked.

The shock sets in first because you realize, once again, that what happened last night wasn’t just a fever dream, it actually happened. And then you basically jump out of bed when you look at the small digital clock on the bedside and see that the two of you have ten minutes to leave if you don’t want to be late to the last day of filming.

“Harry! Harry get up!” you smack him, kicking the covers off and grabbing your top and shorts from the floor, quickly putting them on. The man in talk growls, just rolling to his back without even opening his eyes. “Harry damn it! We have ten minutes or you’ll be late!” you snap at him and it somewhat wakes him up. With furrowed eyebrows at puckered lips, he lifts his head up and looks around.

Those lips were kissing you last night.

“What?” he mumbles in confusion.

“We overslept, get up. We have… eight minutes left.”

“Shit,” he mumbles under his breath, finally getting out of bed, reaching for his boxers.

It’s a shitshow as the two of you try to get ready on time and though you are running just a few minutes late, the driver of the taxi manages to speed down the streets fast enough that you arrive to set just in time.

During the whole ride, you feel Harry’s burning eyes on you, but thank God, you get a call from Jeffrey the moment you get into the car and it lasts the whole ride so you don’t have to talk with him about what happened last night.

“Y/N,” he tries when you’re still on the phone and he is already done with hair and makeup, heading to set to start filming.

“What?” you mouth at him.

“Can we talk later?”

“I’m busy. Go, I’m sure they are waiting for you,” you whisper to him and he looks so disappointed, but he nods and walks away. Your heart breaks as you lower the phone. You have been out of the call for some time, just didn’t want to talk to him.

Quite frankly, you’re not ready to talk to him about what happened last night. You don’t want to hear him say that he was just trying to help you out last night, that it wasn’t anything serious, just some messing around. It was just two people trying not to feel lonely.

Walking back into his trailer you can feel your chest tightening, a sharp pain shooting right into your heart the more you think about him. It was a mistake, you shouldn’t have done it because you are the one with the feelings and now you are the one struggling with the consequences of your little get together.

The more you think about it, the worse it gets and you feel like you’re about to suffocate. You need to get out of here, there’s no way you can face him now.

It all happens so fast. Before you can even second guess your decision, you’re on your way back to the apartment to pack all your stuff and get on the first flight back home. You need to put distance between you and him, spending one more night in the same apartment would make you go nuts. So while Harry is filming, completely oblivious to what you’re doing, you pack up your room as fast as possible and head to the airport to hop on the plane that leaves at four pm.

With a racing heart you check all your baggage in and make it through security when Harry first calls you. At first, you want to ignore it, but then you find yourself swiping your thumb across the screen.

“Hey,” you shortly greet him.

“Hey, where are you? Have been looking for you everywhere.” “I um… I’m at the airport,” you answer and the silence on the other end is deafening for a moment.

“You are at the what?” he then snaps.

“I had a, um, kind of emergency, so I’m heading back home now. Sorry, I would have called you, but didn’t know when you’d be off set.”

“You fucking packed and left already? You’re really at the airport?” He is fuming, Raging. You can tell he is pacing in the trailer, vigorously running his fingers through his hair, ruining it without a care. You almost feel guilty, but then again, you just know facing him now would break you. You’ll get back to him when you’ve pulled your shit together.

“I am, calm down, alright? Not a big deal.” “You just left on our last day here without a fucking word! And when am I seeing you again?”

“I, uhh—I need to be home for a while, but you’ll be fine. I’ll stay in touch with you in email and text.”

“Fucking text? Email?” he is barking now. Good thing you are not there because it would be a disaster. “Y/N, you can’t be serious. We-we were supposed to talk. You can’t just fucking disappear like this.”

“We’ll talk, alright?”

“When?”

“Later,” you simply tell him at a loss for a better answer. Hopefully, never, you think to yourself, but don’t say it out loud.

“Okay, you’re not doing this. Don’t you dare get on a plane, I’m going to the airport right now. You’re not leaving.”

“Well, I am and you’re not coming here,” you clap back, but you can already hear him moving around, probably gathering his stuff so he can leave right away.

“Swear to God if you get on that plane, I’m—“ He cuts himself off, no idea what to really say and you just sigh, closing your eyes. People rush by you and as you glance at the big screen you see that your plane is boarding.

“Harry, just… it’ll be better like this, alright? You’ll be fine, I’ll see you… when I see you. Have fun on your last day on set.”

You end the call before he could get another word out and put it on airplane mode right away as you grab your backpack and head to your gate.

Using your time on the plane wisely, you put together a very detailed schedule for Harry so he knows everything about his next few weeks and you can minimize your contact with him. You even set up a bunch of reminders in his calendar so he won’t miss his appointments.

When you set feet on the ground again, you expect the distance between you and Harry to feel comforting and freeing, but it’s the opposite. An ache in your chest is getting heavier as you get yourself a taxi and head home, feeling more alone than ever in your life.

Your home doesn’t feel like a home. Not without that one person who could make any place your home, but you can’t see him right now, not until you learn how to exist around him without the urge to faint.

Going to bed alone is pure torture. Every moment you are waiting to hear Harry shuffling around in the apartment, you miss his little snorts when he is watching the TV, his singing coming from the shower, but most importantly, you miss having him so close to you in bed. Now that you’re lying on your own, your bed feels so cold, it brings you tears as reality sets in. You miss him. You miss him more than anything and you can’t imagine a time when it won’t hurt anymore.

The crying pushes you into a shallow slumber sometime in the middle of the night, however, you’re rudely shaken back to consciousness when you hear someone banging on your door like crazy, pushing the doorbell constantly.

“Jesus fuck,” you mumble with a grimace, pulling a hoodie on as you make your way to the door hazily, probably still half asleep because you open the door without checking who it is through the peephole and you end up staring up at none other than Harry. “What the—What are you doing here?” you breathe out, panic sets in fast and your hands start shaking at the sight of him.

Harry steps inside without invitation and closes the door behind him, a stern expression on his handsome face.

“Y/N, what the fuck were you thinking when you left like that?”

“I-I told you, it was an emergency.”

“What kind of emergency? Because I called your mom and sisters, they all said nothing happened in the family, so what could possibly happen that needed you here immediately?”

“I don’t have to explain shit to you.” Shaking your head you try to step back to put some distance between the two of you, but he doesn’t let you, taking a step forward at the same time.

“Well I think we have a lot to talk about after last night, don’t you think?”

“I don’t want to talk,” you shake your head biting into your bottom lip. This wasn’t supposed to happen, why couldn’t he just stay where he was? “How did you even get here so fast?”

“Left as soon as we wrapped.”

“Where are all your stuff?”

“Left everything there, I’ll just go back and pack it up, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that for a girl who genuinely hates any form of working out, you ran pretty fast from you today.”

Any other day you would have laughed at his comparison, but not today. You just stand there, chewing on the inside of your cheeks as you try to figure out what to do or say. You were not ready to face him so soon.

“What do you want me to say?” you ask desperately, throwing your hands into the air.

“Tell me what it meant for you,” he calmly answers and you want to shake him. How is he so peaceful?

“No,” you shake your head. “I’m not doing this to myself, okay? I need time, Harry.”

“For what?”

“So I can get myself over this, alright? I need time, I—fuck this,” you growl, feeling the tears flooding your eyes again. Damn it!

“Why the fuck do you want to get yourself over it?”

“Because it obviously didn’t mean the same thing to me as it meant to you!” you snap at him and he raises his eyebrows at you in a way that tells you “you’re stupid”.

“What do you think it meant to me?”

“Probably nothing,” you scoff rolling your eyes, but the anger that bursts from him quickly washes your attitude away.

“Fucking nothing? You think I would get on a fucking plane first thing after filming for ten hours straight just to come after you? You think I spent all my nights with you these past weeks because you mean nothing to me? You know, for a smart girl, you can be pretty dumb sometimes.”

You blink at him in utter confusion, his words knocked you off your feet. He exhales sharply, long fingers running through his messy curls as he tries his best to calm himself down. When he is finally breathing somewhat normally his wildly vibrant green eyes meet your widened stare.

“Y/N, I thought we were on the same page. What did you think it was all about?” he softly asks, seeing how shook you still are.

“I, uhh—I thought this was all just some kind of distraction. You said you were feeling lonely, I thought you were just… kind of using me. And then last night was you returning the favor.”

“Hell no,” he breathes out shaking his head as he steps closer and this time you don’t back away from him. You let his hands run down your arms until they find your hands. “I thought this was clear, but I’m gonna say it then. I’m in love with you, Y/N, have been for a long time, I was just being a pussy and didn’t know how you’d take it. But then, when you didn’t kick me out of your bed the first night we slept together, it got me hoping and it was all heading just the right direction. Then last night happened and I was so damn sure this would be our turning point but then…” He breathes out shakily again, as if the thought still upsets him. “When I called you and you said you were at the airport… I love you, Angel, but I was ready to murder you.”

You let out a faint chuckle, feeling the tears bubbling in your eyes.

“Why did you run away instead of talking to me? Did you not trust me?” he asks softly, a hand coming up to cup your jaw gently.

“I didn’t trust myself,” you admit weakly.

“Oh Angel…” Leaning down he kisses your forehead tenderly, his lips feel like soft feathers against your hot skin. “Do you need me to tell you again how in love I am with you or are you gonna believe me? You’re not planning to run away again, are you?” he teases you making you chuckle as you shake your head.

“I’m not gonna run away, but I would love to hear you say you love me again.”

“I love you. I love you so fucking much, Angel, don’t you ever think otherwise for a moment, okay?”

You nod, lips curling into your mouth as your teary eyes meet his green orbs.

“I love you too, Harry.”

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear you say that,” he chuckles breathing out in relief and it makes you smile. “I would never just use you. Love you way too much for that, Angel. You are everything to me.”

“Wish I knew that earlier,” you mumble with a bitter chuckle. It would have saved you a lot of tears.

“I will never stop saying it to you.” His forehead rests against yours, noses touching as his arms curl around your frame, pulling you close to him until you’re pressed up against his hard chest. “Just out of curiosity, what were you thinking when I told you, you reminded me of Hey Angel? Because I think it pretty much gave me away, but apparently, I was wrong,” he chuckles lowly, pulling back a little so he can look you in the eyes.

“I honestly have no idea,” you admit with an awkward chuckle. “I just had a conversation with Florence before that where she called me out about my feelings for you and I was still kind of in shock. Probably took it as just your usual flirty behavior.”

“I’ll admit I do flirt some, but haven’t you realized it’s different with you?”

“I guess not.” “Angel, you are… something else,” he chuckles in disbelief before leaning down he finally presses his lips against yours. You giggle into his lips, arms wrapping around his neck as he lifts you up from the ground, twirling you around, a squeal slipping from your mouth.

“So, now you have to go back to pack your stuff?” you question, still wrapped into his arms completely and you don’t want to exist any other way. This is where you belong.

“Yeah. Had to chase down this Angel who thought she could run away from me.”

“So how are you planning to get to New York by four tomorrow when you’re still here and have to go back to pack? Have you checked the schedule I sent you? You’re not gonna make it.” You cock your head to the side with an arched brow.

“Did you just go back to full assistant mode right after we confessed our love for each other?”

“Someone has to be responsible and we both know it’s always me.”

“I’ll just hire someone to do it for me, I’ll leave to New York from here. Happy?” he grins at you as you nod.

“Very. Because this means you can stay the night here.”

“Seeing the fact that I literally have nowhere else to go, because even my house keys are in the suitcase I left back… I very much need to stay here for the night,” he points out.

“Good. Come on, my bed felt empty without you,” you giggle, pulling him towards your bedroom and he follows you eagerly.

“I can definitely help that.”

Thank you for reading! Please like/reblog if you enjoyed!

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wakaoujisenhime · 3 years

Note

Hi, I just happened to stumble across you and now I’m addicted!😅❤️ anyway, I was hoping you could write some headcanons for a crack head rakuzan manager.

A/N: Hi there you two! Since your requests were for the same trope and the more or less same scenario, I decided to mash these two together, hope that’s ok with you guys! ( ´ ▽ ` )

Luckily, I grew up around some people that fit in that description, nevertheless this was a pretty new experience for me, so I hope I managed to deal with this successfully (I’m sorry in case that I didn’t ;-;)! Anyways, please enjoy and heed the warnings! ヽ(´ー｀)❤️

Tags/Warnings: Rakuzan x reader ✅ tw.drug mention/use ✅ tw.mention of bullying ✅ fluff ✅ friendship ✅

━━━━☆ ━━━━☆ ━━━━☆

Rakuzan is known as an elite school, harboring only the crème-de-la-crème of students and yet you still couldn’t comprehend why you were a part of it

everyone was driven by either perfectionism or greed, the teachers only cared for themselves and their salary, and the expectations society put on every student that wore this school’s logo were downright inhuman

so could someone really blame or shun you for being into drugs? —No, they couldn’t...and yet some still tried

every time you skipped a class to go on either the rooftop or that one dark alley in the very back of the luxurious building to roll a joint, someone random would always come looking for you

they’d try to push their ideals onto you and pretend that they are some kind of Samaritan who only wants the best for you and your future

Yeah sure...you don’t even know my name, do you?

the first few times really annoyed the hell out of you and their hypocrisy almost made you lose yourself once, but as these scenarios started repeating themselves you grew used to it and learned how to completely ignore them

depending on your mood and the amount of dopamine you’re releasing there were even times when you’d get sassy with them or downright challenge them to a fight, knowing fully well that as the goody-two-shoes they were they’d never accept it

the teachers were also aware of your addiction, but were too scared for their own reputation and decided that it’d be easier if they just left you to your own devices and wait until you either failed their classes or graduated

and just like that, you lead a rather peaceful school life, until a certain someone decided to disturb it...

when you skipped classes for the umpteeth time you waited patiently for today’s candidate who’d drag you over the coals for your ‘unsightly behavior’

after you’d taken the third pull on your joint you finally heard light steps which were just around the corner

without moving your head too much, you simply glanced towards the figure that had appeared and chuckled to yourself

“Woow, the teachers must be quite desperate to send their star pupil in order to get me” you sneered after blowing some of the smoke right into his direction

the red-haired young man who’d arrived was none other than Akashi Seijirou, a student whose school record was full of nothing but perfect grades and perfect remarks from everyone who had entered this school

you didn’t know much about him except the typical gossips and the fact that he was the complete opposite of yourself

for a while none of you said anything so you continued to smoke shamelessly in front of him, hoping that you could provoke some kind of reaction from him...though in vain

if words weren’t provocative enough you decided to see how far he’d allow you to go until he had to open his mouth

“You want a pull?”

much to your surprise he actually extended his hand towards you, so with wide eyes you carefully handed him your joint

So even flawless students like him need to let go sometimes, huh?

he eyed it for a while and the next thing you saw was how he let it drop and stomped on it

“Was that really necessary? You could’ve just refused it, you know?”

“I want you to join the basketball team as a manager” he then said in a calm and pretty serious tone

....

...What?

you began laughing as if he had said some kind of hilarious joke, but much to your disappointment he simply raised his eyebrow

“W-Wait...are you being serious right now? You want me to take care of the basketball team?”

seeing him simply nod with the same stoic expression he’d arrived with made you realize that he wasn’t one to joke around

Akashi took out a handkerchief and wiped his hand, without bothering to hide his disgust and then simply turned his back to you

“I’ll be waiting for you at the gym after school and I hope you’ll be there...for your sake.”

and with that threat, he left you by yourself, confused and utterly speechless

you soon began giggling to yourself and you wanted to blame it on the drugs but deep down you knew the truth ...

as the school bell rang for the last time today you lazily packed your stuff and without paying any attention to neither your teacher nor your classmates you trotted out of the classroom

you hated admitting it but the red-haired young man’s words had haunted you for the entire day, but you weren’t one to simply obey whatever others told you

just as you were about to walk down the stairs someone muscular bumped into you, almost knocking you off your feet

as you looked up to see who it was you saw a dark-skinned and bulky man towering above you with a grim look on his face

“(Y/N)?”

you hesitated to answer for a moment, but his challenging expression downright forced you to respond, though it was merely with a small nod

“Excellent, follow me” he ordered after turning around and you did

while he was walking in front, you noticed that most of the students were intimidated or scared by his towering frame and now that you were behind him you realized how truly lonely he must be

“We’re here,” he began, “Akashi! I brought her!”

at the mention of that name you immediately wanted to just turn around and leave, but with that broad man next to you any type of escape was shut down

a pair of heterochromatic eyes looked in your direction and a proud smile adorned the rather emotionless expression of the red-haired young man who signalized the other club’s members to take a short break while he strolled towards the two of you

“(Y/N), I’m glad to see that you picked the right choice to come here. Now...follow me.”

you simply glanced up at the broader man next to you with a pleading expression, but he simply grinned and gave you a thumbs up

Akashi led you to a bench where an older man had already taken a seat, reading through some papers

he was so into it that he didn’t even bother to look up at you two

“Alright your task is simple, I want you to learn the basic rules of basketball and everything else that surrounds it. You have a week and then I’d like to test your knowledge during a practice match. There are also several other things I want you to fulfill, but this will be enough for now” he took a short breath and looked at his team players with a slightly annoyed gaze before he continued “I also provided you with one of those ‘how to’ books so I hope you won’t need long. Any further questions?”

Where do I even start?

“Listen up, I never said that I was going to be your team’s manager or anything like that, you literally forced me to come here by sending that giant after me! And you can’t be serious with all of this right? You guys are a pro team and you want me - a mere amateur - to manage you? Starting next week? I don’t even th-“

“I don’t remember giving you a choice in this matter and yes, you’ll learn it all until next week. You being a student at this elite school speaks for itself, so learning the basic rules of a mere sports game isn’t going to cost you much. Now sit down and start reading.”

his condescending and overall rude tone made you more than just mad, but before you could utter any kind of comment, he had already turned his back to you and was heading for the court

“If I were you, I’d just agree with whatever he says” commented the older man whose gaze was still on the papers before him

you clicked your tongue and put both of your hands on your hips as you stared at him and asked whether that was how he usually dealt with him

“That’s how I learned to deal with him. A genius like him is only getting held back by simple-minded people...or those,” he paused and finally looked up, eyeing you judgingly before he finished his sentence, “that can’t read the mood.”

you were absolutely speechless and enraged, so before you completely lost your wits you grabbed that stupid book Akashi had gotten for you and purposely stomped towards the gym’s entrance doors to roll yourself another joint

you spent the entire duration of their training outside and even though you didn’t intend to really read the booklet, you eventually started and got into it, until you heard a loud whistle and Akashi’s voice announcing the end of today’s practice

“I’m expecting you at tomorrow’s practice as well, (Y/N)” said the red-haired captain as soon as you re-entered the gym to take your bag and go home

you answered with a simple nod and left, figuring that you’d just go along with him for a while but secretly do whatever you wanted

or at least that was supposed to be your plan, but something quite unexpected happened

while you had set your mind to obey whatever the captain wanted from you, you caught yourself actually having fun during the guys’ practice

you did know a little about basketball even without the book’s help, but as you gradually read chapter after chapter and actually witnessed the real thing before you every single day, you came to truly enjoy it

there were always some rumors that Rakuzan’s basketball team was on an entirely different level and you finally saw why

the four players that always accompanied Akashi on the court were some kind of prodigies the others referred to as the “Uncrowned Kings” or the new and improved version of “The phantom sixth man”

during your first days of hearing those rather over the top nicknames, you couldn’t help but laugh out loud

These four having such titles? Don’t mess with me, that’s just hilarious!

and even if you were the only one laughing at it while the others simply looked away, your laughs were shut down pretty quickly as soon as you saw how they played

seeing just how powerful and overall perfect they seemed to be made you even more pissed off than you already were

luckily you were standing right next to the gym’s door so you cracked it open, leaned yourself on its frame, and began smoking one of your self-rolled joints

“Wow (Y/N), I didn’t know you smoked! You look really cool!”

the sudden compliment from the cheerful blond with the sharp canine caught you off guard, not to mention that he was the first one besides Akashi to even attempt some sort of conversation...and it made you unexpectedly happy

“Thanks, I guess?...would you like to have a pull?”

you couldn’t help but smirk at how his eyes lit up after nodding multiple times and just as he was about to take the softly smoking joint from your hand, someone snatched it and threw it out, closing the door in the process

that someone was Reo, whose eyes looked down on you with a rather hurt and sad expression

out of nowhere, he took a gentle hold of your cheeks and softly tilted your head up so that you could look him directly into his mesmerizing eyes

“I’ve been meaning to tell you this, but smoking is bad for you (Y/N)-chan. You’re such a beautiful young lady and being a crackhead just doesn’t suit you, you know?”

thanks to the soft tone with which he’d complimented and lectured you, you just couldn’t be mad at him

but before you could even say anything you felt a big and strong hand slap your back with so much force that you almost fell right into Kotaro’s arms

“Geez, Nebuya you brute, how many times do I have to tell you to be more careful!”

completely ignoring the tall man’s protest the more muscular man simply laughed and took a tight hold of your upper arm saying: “All she needs are more muscles and meat on her and she’ll make a great opponent!”

the way the three of them had surrounded you while laughing at each other’s comments and even making you part of their discussion warmed your heart, and you caught yourself thinking that being the manager of this team might not be such a bad idea after all...

the day of the practice match came along and you were a bundle of nerves

who would’ve thought that you’d actually prefer going to the gym to check up on the players instead of straight-up heading back home

much to your surprise, it didn’t even take you three days to get almost every club member to respect you, sure there were obstacles along the way, but you managed to deal with them rather quickly

not too long ago, you had actually helped out Mayuzumi, who usually avoided you and barely ever talked to you

you had been on your way to your usual spot to light up a joint and just before you cut the corner you heard some loud voices

“Just ‘cause you’re in the basketball club, doesn’t make you special!”

“What’s with those dead-looking fish eyes of yours anyway?”

“C’mon guys, don’t you see that we’re wasting his precious reading time here? Let’s hurry up and scram so that he can continue reading his novel!”

you had no idea just what the hell was going on, but it sounded a lot like someone was getting bullied and you weren’t in the mood to let it slide

“Ok guys, I need you to wrap whatever this is up. I’m in a rather bad mood right now and I really need a smoke, so get going” you said in a rather dark tone

the students who had encircled someone you couldn’t quite identify yet jumped a little at your sudden intervention and turned their attention to you

all remarks they had prepared for you were gone the moment they realized just who was standing in front of them

nevertheless, the group remained stubborn and tried to chase you away by asking you to wait for a little

while you were dealing with the group, the person they had ganged up on stood up from the ground and that’s when you finally recognized who they were bullying

Isn’t that...Mayuzumi?

and at that moment something inside of you clicked

with confident steps, you made your way to the tall young man and placed a hand on his shoulder

“There you are and here I was thinking you’d bailed on me” you began as you gently squeezed his shoulder, giving him a signal to make him play along before you continued, “I got your stuff, you got the money?”

thanks to his constant poker face and slight nod the group of bullies was instantly on their guard

in order to give them their last push you pulled out a small and transparent bag with white powder out of your pocket

“You guys are still here? Sorry, but if you wanted a package you should’ve told me beforehand. Just so you know, it isn’t going to be cheap.”

seconds later the group finally gave up and stormed off, murmuring something about it not being worth the trouble

as soon as they were gone you let out a loud sigh of relief and crouched down, exclaiming how relieved you were that it was finally over

your sudden reaction caught the young man off guard and at first, he was stomped at what to do but he eventually crouched down next to you

“If you were that scared you shouldn’t have helped me in such an...unorthodox way. They might snitch on you, you know?”

you couldn’t help but giggle at the rather clumsy way he tried to thank and reassure you

“It’s fine even if they do, the teachers wouldn’t be surprised anyway and besides...that bag contains nothing more but some makeup powder I got from Reo to...to hide the bags under my eyes.”

even though you whispered the last part Mayuzumi still heard it and then chuckled

since then he actually began listening to you and even talked to you whenever no one was around

the other three were fond of you since day one so you had no trouble dealing with them whatsoever, or protecting them for that matter

someone was making rude remarks about Nebuya while he ate his daily portion of meat (which equaled five of yours)?

you’d tap them on the shoulder, lean on them and say that they were lucky enough he didn’t hear them, or else he might actually devour them instead

hearing how people made fun of Reo’s way of talking and even shun him for his behavior behind his back?

you’d directly go up to them and intentionally talk in a loud voice for everyone to hear how cowardly they were and how their behavior would drag their beloved school’s reputation down if you decided on making it public

witnessing how naive and warm-hearted Kotaro got roped into some even shadier business than what you were up to with sugarcoated words?

you’d do something similar to how you saved Mayuzumi back then: threats and bluffs and luckily all of them worked out in your favor

the only one who needed more time to warm up to you was Akashi

it was obvious that he hadn’t approved of you despite your (in your eyes) good performance during the first practice match

he’d simply nodded in the end and coldly stated that he’d accept this rather poor performance, warning you that there would be consequences if you don’t improve yourself

back then the others had joined you on the bench and were trying to cheer you up by saying that the red-haired young man was usually that demanding, but only towards people he knew had the potential...in a way he was trying to bring forth your hidden talent

with these sweet words and your own ambition to prove yourself to the seemingly perfect emperor, you finally started taking the club more serious than you’d originally intended

What did he just say..?

“Sei-chan, y-you....you can’t be serious”

“Akashi...”

said man turned towards you guys with a warm but twisted smile as he stretched his hand out towards you

“I swear to you, that if we lose this match, I will leave the club and...gouge both of my eyes out, and give them to you.”

after that proclamation each of the players gave it more than just their all, even you who could do nothing but cheer them on from the bench began analyzing everything you could from your team’s opponents

during that very emotional match, you found yourself praying multiple times that your team wins and not only because of Akashi’s oath but because you knew just how much they had trained for this

additionally, Kotaro and the others told you that this match was of utmost importance to the captain and his former teammates, all the more reason for you to worry

sadly in the end you guys lost and you were too overwhelmed with everything that had transpired in the last quarters

Zone? What the hell is that?

Another Akashi? How is something like that even possible?

the entire Rakuzan team walked back to the locker room in complete silence and that silence remained until all of them had changed their clothes

“(Y/N)-chan, let’s go,” said Reo in a gentle and silent tone as he gently squeezed your shoulder

“Y-You guys can go on ahead, I still have to check something” you answered with an apologetic smile

you were thankful that the young man could read the mood and agreed, so you re-entered the locker room, looking around searching for something

the moment you wanted to take a step forward, your legs gave out and you fell to your knees

H-Huh..? What’s w-wrong with me, I-I need to get up...

no matter how hard you tried you just couldn’t muster the strength to stand up, and before you knew it, tears had started rolling down your cheeks without stopping

frustration, despair, anger, and sadness overcame you and at some point you caught your thoughts drifting off in a direction you had never taken before

with trembling hands, you took a small package full of some kind of powder out of your jacket and looked at it

you weren’t the type to resort to real hardcore drugs and as of late you had been so busy with the team that even your usual smoke breaks became less and less, but now...

just as you were about to open the small bag in your hands the door to the changing room slowly opened

“A-Akashi...?”

the young man looked at you with a worried expression and as soon as he saw what you held in your hands he grew even sadder

without saying anything he simply walked towards you, kneeled down, and embraced you

you were quite shocked at first, but too emotionally tired to resist at this point so you simply let him comfort you

he told you that these overwhelming emotions you were going through right now were normal and absolutely understandable in this situation, and even without you saying how guilty you felt for the boys’ loss he calmed you down by stating that one person alone could not be at fault for an entire team’s failure

that day engraved itself in your brain and you promised yourself that you’d give it your all and even go further beyond it, just so you wouldn’t have to see the sad faces of the people who had given you a chance and loved you for who you are, including all of your “flaws”

unbeknownst to you, they had also found the same resolution as you

the day on which they had lost their match against Seirin made them realize that there was indeed something lacking in their way of playing basketball, and in order to improve that they had to start with a rather peculiar mission, namely to make you, their manager, proud and make sure that you never cried ever again...

#knb headcanons #rakuzan x reader #knb angst #━𝙺𝙽𝙱 #━𝙰𝙽𝙾𝙽'𝚂 𝙴𝙲𝙷𝙾 #━𝚅𝙸𝚂𝙸𝚃𝙾𝚁'𝚂 𝙴𝙲𝙷𝙾 #fun-times-oflife

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maonuis · 3 years

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[ENG TL] Oogami Koga - Idol Story 3

Proofreader: 310mc and Fiore

Original Writer: 木野誠太郎 (Kino Seitarou)

Season: Summer

Koga: (Hell yeah! I knew I’d get lucky if I went to the CD store after school… I finally got my hands on the new album ♪)

(Big shots from overseas only release albums once every ten years or so.)

(As a fan, nah, as a lover of rock music, I've been waiting for a new release for years!)

(Aaah, I’m gonna kiss this album! Thank you for letting me hear such awesome rock music!)

(Thanks for continuing to make music...♪)

Yuuta: Oh? Oogami-senpai, is that you? What a coincidence~

Koga: Awoogh?!

Yuuta: Whoa there. I’m not a ghost, so please don’t jump like you just saw one.

Koga: Tsk… It’s just Yuuta. You almost gave me a heart attack…

Don’t see the other one ‘round ya, did ya get into a fight or somethin’?

Yuuta: We don’t always get into arguments… We aren’t you.

Actually, didn’t I tell you about it? 2wink is a “two-in-one” unit, which means we split the work between us for everything, be it jobs or just our daily life.

Koga: Right, y’all doin’ that now.

Hinata’s been doing the sales promotions, project planning, and part time jobs… And while that’s happenin’, you get to play around and have fun with your hobbies, yeah?

You sure are cherished~ aint’cha, “Yuuta-kun”?

Yuuta: Uh, why did that sound a little passive-aggressive?

Koga: Ha. I wasn’t trynna be. You’re overthinkin’ it.

Besides, artists aren’t supposed to be involved in backstage work like that.

Ain’t being an idol about making a living thanks to the support of your fans and sponsors?

Which means that right now your hobbies are being cherished more than the job in front of you.

Yuuta: Hmm~ I think you’re right, but I didn’t expect to hear that from you.

I thought you’d tell me to quit fooling around and get back to work, you know?

Koga: Huh? Who do ya think I am? I’m the rock ‘n roller Oogami Koga.

Working to make my dreams and ambitions come true is one thing, but working for money alone ain’t my style.

Yuuta: Ooh, I get it… Yeah, you do look like you’d suck at part time jobs~♪

Well, from a social standpoint, people who work are held in higher regard, so it’s been weighing on my mind a bit.

But Aniki… Hinata-kun has been telling me that it’s okay to stay like this.

Koga: You don’t hafta worry. Rock’s about destroying common sense and order; that’s what makes ya look so damn cool ♪

The roaring music, the howling basses… It’s a cry of the soul that reverberates through the entire world...☆

That’s the very spirit of rock ♪

Yuuta: Erm, I’m not aiming to become a rock and roller, though...? I only ever plan to be an idol working with my twin brother.

...Truth is, I came to check the CD store as a way to pass time, ‘cause I’ve been trying to expand my music taste by checking out new genres.

Koga: Expand your music taste…?

Yuuta: Yup. Lately, people have been wanting to know my own opinion as an individual, rather than as both of us twins, and well...

That made me decide to learn more about what this world has to offer, sooo...

I’m hoping to use this as a reference for how to sell myself in the future as both an idol and 2wink’s hobbyist.

Koga: So basically, you came here to listen to the various songs in the sample corner[1]?

Yuuta: Well, yeah, something like that… ♪

I’m trying to save money as much as I can, that’s why. I didn’t feel like it’d be right of me to splurge on my interests, I guess? Especially since Aniki is out there taking part-time jobs.

Koga: Guess I got no choice, I’ll just have to lend ya the CDs I got back in my dorm room. You’ll just get bored of listenin’ to samples over and over, anyways.

And it ain’t gonna look good for you if you stick around the shop for too long, since you’re an idol and all.

You’re also part of the Light Music Club and the band circle we have at the dorms, so I think even if it’s just for general knowledge it won’t be bad to give it a chance.

Anyways, check this out. I bought a brand new baby today!

What’cha think? Ain’t this cover so cool it gives you chills?

Yuuta: No, no, you’re being too pushy. I haven’t even agreed to borrow your CDs…?

Koga: Huuuh? Ya tellin’ me you don’t wanna hear my recs~?

We’re pals from the same band, so we gotta share our taste in music, y’know?

C’mon, I’ll show ya the way to my room!

Yuuta: Uwaaah, what did I just get myself into...~? This is why all our newbies in the Light Music Club run away in fear, y’know~?

Koga: Shut yer trap. Shouldn’t you be happy that your senior is so kind?

The rock ‘n roll that I love so much might change along with the times, but its spirit is the one thing that remains untouched and crosses through generations.

If ya wanna know more about the world, you should stop being so picky with your tastes and give it a chance at least once. So take a moment to listen to the awesomest music that rocks my very soul...☆

[1] Music sample corners are a corner that can be found in some music stores in which you can hear previews of some albums using headphones. An image example: https://www.emuz.jp/imgs/music/photo1.jpg

#Enstars TL #c:Koga #c:Yuuta #u:2wink #u:UNDEAD #w:kinosei #engstars #season:summer

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grailfinders · 3 years

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Fate and Phantasms #187

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re making Yagyu Tajima-no-Kami Munenori, living proof that you can prevent spoilers by spoiling other things. Anyways, he’s an Inquisitive Rogue to defeat his foes with facts and logic, as well as a Samurai Fighter to defeat his foes with a goddamn sword because he’s in the saber class.

Check out his build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!

Next up: Domo Arigatou, Kaa-san Roboto

Race and Background

Yagyu beef is still a Human, but he’s a Variant Human for the extra skills. This gives him +1 Wisdom and Dexterity, as well as proficiency with Investigation to put that big brain to work. That’s not enough skills though, so grab the Skill Expert feat for another +1 to Dexterity, as well as proficiency with Animal Handling for your riding skill and doubled proficiency with Perception. I know we didn’t get regular proficiency yet, but it’s happening at level one so it’s fine.

Yagyu might have been as rich as a noble, but that doesn’t mean he was one. We’ve been using Mercenary Veterans for swordsmen for a while now, and I see no reason to stop now. This background gives him proficiency with Athletics and Persuasion.

Ability Scores

First up make your Wisdom as high as possible. Yagyu’s a clever boy, and wisdom-based skills are the more applicable part of that equation for you. Secondly, your Dexterity has to be good- Yagyu is a master swordsman, and he’s not exactly swinging a greatsword around. His Intelligence is also pretty solid, but it’s just lower since it’s not quite as directly helpful for the build. Yagyu’s Constitution isn’t half bad, he’s got to be tough to survive feudal Japan. That means his Charisma is pretty low- he’s scary, but not much else. That means we’re dumping Strength. He’s an old man, and we don’t really need it for the build.

Class Levels

Rogue 1: Starting off as a rogue nets us a couple extra skills, more than we’d get from multiclassing in later. Rogues start off with proficiency in Dexterity and Intelligence saves, as well as four rogue skills, like Deception, Insight, Intimidation, and that Perception we mentioned back in the Skill Expert feat. Told you not to worry about that.

They also get Expertise in two skills for double their proficiency bonus. Double down on Insight for more logic and Intimidation to put that logic to good use scaring the crap out of people. You also get a Sneak Attack once per turn, dealing 1d6 extra damage as long as you are using a finesse or ranged weapon and either A) have an ally next to your target or B) have advantage on that attack. It’s complicated, but we’ll make it real simple soon enough.

Oh yeah, you also get Thieves’ Cant. It’s a language.

Fighter 1: Okay, the underhanded stuff is done for a while. Bouncing over to fighter gives you the Dueling, adding 2 to damage rolls with a one-handed weapon, like a short-sword, which you can now wield since you’re proficient with martial weapons. You also get a Second Wind each short rest that will heal you as a bonus action. Taking a break when you need one is smart. You’re smart, so you take breaks when you need one. That’s the transitive property.

Fighter 2: Second level fighters can use all that break-taking to push themselves once per short rest, making an Action Surge to take two actions in a single turn. Fighting your hardest can also be the smart thing to do sometimes.

Fighter 3: Third level fighters get their martial archetype, and as a Samurai you learn to unleash your Fighting Spirit, spending your bonus action to gain some temporary HP as well as advantage on all your attacks for the turn. You can do this three times per long rest.

You also get History proficiency. It’s almost cheating given that you’re a historical figure, but hey, we had to get another proficiency here.

Fighter 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Dexterity. Your sword uses dex, your armor uses dex, it’s just a really good ability to improve upon.

Rogue 2: Going back to rogue lets you stuff even more into a single turn thanks to your Cunning Action, letting you dash, disengage, or hide as a bonus action. I’m not saying you’re faster than a monk now, but you could definitely keep up with one for a bit.

Rogue 3: Third level rogues get 2d6 in their sneak attack, and they get their roguish archetype. as an Inquisitive, you gain an Ear for Deceit, so your insight checks to determine lies always get die rolls of at least an 8. You also have an Eye for Detail now, letting you spot hidden creatures with perception or find clues with investigation as a bonus action. You’re really getting a lot out of those things, huh?

Continuing the bonus action train, you can use Insightful Fighting as a bonus action, forcing a contested insight check against a creature’s deception. If you win, you can use sneak attacks against that creature for up to a minute without needing advantage or a nearby ally. Your fighting spirit has limits, but you can use this one as many times as you need- just keep in mind you can only target one creature at a time.

Rogue 4: We’ve got more feats we want, so use this ASI to become a Defensive Duelist. Use your reaction to add your proficiency bonus to your AC for one melee attack, potentially avoiding the attack entirely. You need to be holding a finesse weapon, but somehow I don’t think that’ll be an issue for you.

Fighter 5: Fifth level fighters finally get their Extra Attack, letting you attack twice per action. You can still only use your sneak attack once per turn, but now missing once isn’t the end of the world!

Fighter 6: You get another ASI now, so lets grab Keen Mind to show off how clever you really are. Your Intelligence bumps up by 1, and you’re really good at keeping track of yourself in time and space thanks to knowing which way north is and the number of hours left until sunrise or sunset. Most importantly, you have a photographic memory of the last month.

Fighter 7: Seventh level samurai are Elegant Courtiers, giving you proficiency with Wisdom saves to prevent your emotions from getting the better of you. You can also add your wisdom modifier to persuasion checks now. I’d prefer that to be intimidation, but if you can’t talk your DM into that it’s not the end of the world.

Rogue 5: Fifth level rogues get an Uncanny Dodge, using your reaction to halve damage from one attack. Defensive Duelist would reduce the damage more, but even enemies score natural 20s sometimes. Also, your sneak attack grows to 3d6. It’s been a while, just wanted to make sure you remember that.

Rogue 6: At sixth level you get another round of Expertise; double down on Investigation to be a clever boy and History to prevent your party from repeating it.

Rogue 7: Seventh level rogues can deal more damage with 4d6 sneak attack, and they can avoid consequences of using that damage thanks to Evasion. If you fail a dex save you only take half damage. If you succeed, you take 0.

Rogue 8: Use this ASI to max out your Dexterity, giving you the most accurate and deadly swordplay available to mere mortals. It also makes your AC good as a side effect.

Rogue 9: Ninth level inquisitives gain a Steady Eye, giving you advantage on perception and investigation checks as long as you move at half speed that turn. It’s not quite Reliable Talent, but it’s still pretty useful. This also means your sneak attack grows to its final size, 5d6.

Fighter 8: Use your final ASI to bump up your Wisdom for better Insightful Fighting, Wisdom saves, and perception checks.

Fighter 9: Ninth level fighters are Indomitable, letting you re-roll a failed save once per long rest. Even when you fail a wisdom save you succeed it, that’s how solid your mind is.

Fighter 10: Tenth level samurai get a Tireless Spirit, so if you start a fight without any Fighting Spirit, you get one back for free. Also, your fighting spirit gets a bit better, giving you 10 temporary HP when you pop one.

Fighter 11: Your capstone level is simple, but effective. Another Extra Attack lets you attack thrice per turn, up to six times with action surge.

Pros:

With a maxed out attack stat and plenty of attacks per turn, you can dish out pretty consistent damage, especially if you use your fighting spirit to fish for critical hits. 6d6 per turn without spending any resources is nothing to sniff at.

As befitting any rogue, you’re also very skilled out of combat, lending insight and knowledge to the party.

I know I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating- mixing a fighter’s health pool with a rogue’s damage reduction techniques makes for a very solid combo, especially when you throw Defensive Duelist in as well for an even higher AC and Fighting Spirit for extra health to chew through.

Cons:

You have great AC and some extra health in reserve, but that doesn’t change the fact that your HP is rather low for a front-line fighter. Your damage reduction makes up for it, but it’s something it has to make up for, you get me?

You’re too focused on your sword. It makes you really good with your sword, but not very flexible in combat. If you’re playing to character, you’ll have trouble with flying creatures and those that resist or ignore nonmagical attacks. (Assuming your DM doesn’t give you a magic weapon. Hopefully your DM’s nice enough to notice you’d be hosed without one, but for a guide like this it’s best to assume the DM gives you nothing.)

You need your bonus action to activate your fighting spirit, cunning action, eye for detail, and insightful fighting. Similarly, your reaction is split between opportunity attacks (which are super useful for rogues with their sneak attack), uncanny dodges, and defensive duelist uses. Basically, your main action is too simple, but everything else is really complicated for some reason, and you’ll have to sort all these options out for yourself.

Hey, nobody said being smart was easy.

#fgo #Fate Grand Order #D&D 5e #DND #Yagyu Munenori #fighter #rogue

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prettywordsyouleft · 3 years

Text

The Cowboy - Part 3

Summary: Leaving the city for a rural area called Blayne seemed simple enough. Your task was to convince the people to agree with selling their land for a resort redevelopment. But once there, you soon realise that your city ways are entirely different to theirs. Winning their trust was going to take some effort, and when you start to fall for a local cowboy, you wonder if you really needed Blayne more than the city life after all.

Pairing: Jung Jaehyun x female reader

Genre: cowboy au / drama / romance / if you squint there’s some enemies to lovers up in here.

Warnings: Jung Jaehyun is a cowboy, need I say more? (a bit of angst and drama, and it sometimes might feel like you’re reading a Nicolas Sparks book, so I’m told lol)

Word count: 2054

This series will be updated every Thursday and Friday.

Preview | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

“What are you handing me those for?” you asked when the man you had arranged to meet with at eleven shook your hand in greeting and then placed a pair of gumboots up on the hood of your car. You eyed the footwear and then looked back at Avery McConnell with interest.

Avery chuckled. “I know how expensive those boots are.”

“It’s not muddy, though. I’ve come at the end of spring.”

“You’re in for an awakening, Y/N. Trust me, put them on.”

You took Avery’s advice and followed him over to his truck. Climbing inside, you then glanced at your guide. “Thank you for meeting with me today.”

“Hey, it’s my pleasure. Always nice to see a new face once every three or so years,” he teased, and you laughed with him.

“So I’m learning. Not many venture out here.”

“It would be nice if people did.”

“Right?!” you enthused instantly, gesturing to the mountain ranges in the distance. “This place has so much untapped potential.”

“You won’t get to un-tap it, Y/N,” Avery told you upfront as he swung the vehicle out onto the main road. “But I wish there was a happy medium. If we could create more jobs and better housing, it would improve our farming. It’s hard to get help to come out here when services like Amazon don’t.”

“Wait, they don’t?!” you groaned heavily at the concept of not being able to order coffee pods in bulk.

“You’ll have to set up a PO Box in the township over. And if you need to have any internet meetings, it’ll be best to do them there too. The internet reaches out here, but the signal drops so frequently that no one bothers.”

“Why hasn’t anyone asked for services to be improved?” you asked and Avery smiled at you knowingly. “What? You can request cables to be laid, and I’m sure if you pay half the cost-”

“There’s not a huge focus on the internet out here when the sun rises in the morning for outdoor productivity. Most of us just have mobile phones to ring one another when we’re out on our property. And even then, the signal can be dodgy.”

“But there could be improvements,” you insisted, and Avery nodded.

“You’re persistent.”

“Well, it’s not the primitive age. I appreciate there’s a historical factor and a tight-knit community here, but this land is capital, and you could all win from some modern intervention.”

“I’m not your enemy,” Avery admitted, parking the car up on the side of a country lane. “I went to the city to escape how plain Blayne is.”

“You did?”

Avery nodded.

“Then how come you’re back?”

“It’s my home. It’s strange. Not a lot of people get why we live like this, but to us, it makes the most sense. Plus my old man got sick and needed me to help take care of the steer.”

“Okay, I’m going to sound really ignorant for a moment, but is a steer some kind of deer?”

“You came out here without knowing your basic farm animals, Y/N?” he asked with a laugh, and you rolled your eyes. “Come on I’ll show you why we need gumboots around here.”

Holding your nose, you attempted to listen to Avery’s speech about how the pigs of Blayne were some of the best meat pigs in the country. However, you were overstimulated by the smells and the sounds of the barn that you couldn’t quite keep up with the knowledge he was passing on to you.

“Ah, so this is where you were,” a voice mentioned, and you spun around, letting go of your nose and gasped for air. The newcomer smirked, his dimples deepening.

God, you wanted to hate him for being so attractive.

“You know me. I’ve got to help any damsel in distress out.”

“Where is she?” he teased, and you rolled your eyes. “Oh! Miss City, are you getting snippy with me?”

“Thank you for the warning about the owl.”

He grinned. “You’re welcome. So, seen enough pigs and want to go back to the city yet?”

“Not a chance.”

“That’s a pity, should we take her out into the cattle fields, Avery?”

“No need to be that eager to get rid of me,” you bit back and Avery, who had been watching the two of you, started to laugh heartily. You realised then how similar it sounded to May’s laugh. You pointed at him. “Wait, are you two-”

“Sadly, I’m related to him,” Avery admitted dramatically, and you glanced at the scowl on the other man’s face. “Come on Jaehyun, who wants to be your cousin anyway?”

“I never asked to be related to you either but here we are!”

“Jaehyun,” you breathed, and the man in question blinked at you curiously. “Oh, I didn’t get your name last night, you see.”

“I thought you had,” he answered back, grinning again. “Mr Cowboy, isn’t it?”

“Well, you do look like the typical cowboy in the movies when you go around in your boots and hat,” Avery defended, which you couldn’t help but snort a little at.

Jaehyun folded his arms across his chest. “Cattle fields, next. Right?”

You followed them out onto the field, watching where you stepped. Now you knew the reason for the boots. If there hadn’t been enough dung and muck in the pig barn, you certainly had seen more than enough of it out in this field. Climbing up the hill after the two men, you huffed at how easy it was for them.

“I guess there’s no need for a gym membership out here,” you muttered, sucking in a deep breath.

Jaehyun turned and looked at you then. “Come on, Miss City. The cows are over here.”

“I never wanted to see a damn cow, I came to survey the land for suitable resort spots,” you grumbled out of earshot, grateful when the slope evened out, and you reached the top of the field.

Stopping to catch your breath, you blinked at the view. In every direction you looked, the mountain range was so beautiful. All you could see was an expanse of land, which held a lot of possibilities. A golf course, a swimming and spa resort were merely two of the possibilities for Blayne’s development. Being close to nature whilst enjoying leisure pursuits could really put this place on the map.

You turned again, smiling at the wondrous thought of redevelopment until you saw what had come upon you. Backing up from the impossibly large beast, you raised your hands in defence.

“Nice cow.”

“She sure is a beaut, isn’t she?” a voice mentioned at your side, and you yelped in surprise, slipping on a cow patty.

Strong arms reached out to balance you before you hit the ground and you looked up into the face of your saviour, Jaehyun washing his gaze over you momentarily.

And then he started to laugh. “Wow, Miss City, you sure are jumpy! Feeling a little scared, are we?”

“You scared me first!”

“Was it me or the cow?” he questioned with a chuckle, and you yanked yourself free from Jaehyun’s grip, skirting around the curious animal and dashing over to Avery’s side.

He seemed equally amused. “You sure this is a place for you?”

“I’m adaptable,” you muttered, blinking rapidly.

Even you didn’t believe your words now.

“Wow, I’m exhausted,” you mentioned when you arrived back at your residence, falling down onto the couch with a groan.

Jaehyun had joined you for the rest of your exploration with Avery, much to your disdain. Every time you got close to discussing some sort of loose plan with the man, Jaehyun would distract you or shoot down your ideas entirely.

You glared up at the ceiling. “Stupid Cowboy. What would he know?”

The phone rang then, and you whined childishly, hauling yourself up from the couch and going over to answer it. “Oh good, you’re there!”

“Ah, yes. You have a nice home here, June.”

“You think so? It was once the home I raised my children in until we built the one we’re in now. Ah, that’s why I called you. I’ve made extra food and wanted to invite you around for dinner.”

“That’s too generous of you.”

“It’s the least I can do after knowing how long the boys had you out for. I told them to take it slow since you weren’t used to our ways yet. I bet your feet hurt.”

“They do, I’ll admit it,” you confessed and June giggled down the line with you.

“That’s it then! I’ll send Jaehyun around to fetch you!”

“Oh, it’s fine. I can drive myself there if you give me directions.”

“He’ll be there shortly, dearie. I pushed him out the door long before making this call.”

“Well, he should be here then,” you mentioned, glancing outside the house with some unease. “I’ll get ready!”

“See you soon, Y/N.”

After placing down the phone, you dashed upstairs to freshen up your appearance, pulling out a floral boho styled maxi dress that you had bought specifically for your country adventure. Picking up a straw hat and accessorising your middle with a woven belt, you laughed at how carefree you looked out of your usual business attire.

“He should be here by now,” you guessed, looking down the drive for Jaehyun’s truck. Collecting your bag, you stepped out of the house and locked it, slipping the keys into your purse and then jumped when you heard a loud whinny.

Turning to the field adjacent to the drive, you gaped at the sight before you. Jaehyun watched you for a moment before leaping down from the wagon. “It’s a good thing I had to run errands for Dad and didn’t bring a horse for you to ride instead, huh?”

“You didn’t bring the truck?”

“You asked if it was legal yesterday. I doubt you would have gotten in it.”

You eyed the large animal warily. “And you expect me to get up there?”

“Miss City, don’t tell me you’re scared of a mere horse. Back before any car, they were man’s best friend.”

“I thought that was a dog,” you murmured as Jaehyun leapt back up onto the cushioned seat of the wagon, his hand reaching down for yours.

“Ever seen a dog plough a field for crops?” Jaehyun asked with a chuckle, his grip firm around your wrist as he helped you up.

You sat down and looked around yourself hopelessly. “Do I need a seatbelt?”

“You really haven’t experienced much in life, have you, Miss-”

“Y/N,” you interjected, smiling nervously. “Please, call me Y/N.”

Jaehyun stared at you again and then smiled, picking up the reins. “You can hold onto me if you get scared, Y/N. I won’t tell anyone that our city slicker is frightened to ride on a horse wagon.”

“Why did I agree to go out tonight?” you wondered with a groan, shrieking and grabbing onto the front of the wagon when it started to move. Jaehyun laughed at you before eagerly asking the animal to move faster, your hands gripping on more tightly to the bar. “You’re working too hard to get rid of me, Jaehyun.”

“Really? Is it that noticeable?” he wondered and smiled when he watched you loosen your grip. “You’re adapting to this pretty well, though.”

It was your turn to look at him, a smile forming on your lips. “I am, huh.”

He glanced at you and nodded. “Who knows, maybe you’ll last more than a week.”

“Talk to me again when I make it to a month.”

“You’ll be riding a horse by that time,” he suggested, and you scoffed loudly.

“No, thank you. I’m not here to play farm. I’m here to work.”

“Farming is one of the hardest jobs out there. I thought you were here to see how us Blayners tick?”

“Well…”

“I guess you better think about what you’ll wear for a horse riding lesson tomorrow then.”

“I never agreed to it,” you objected and then sat back in your seat when Jaehyun leaned towards you.

“I like your dress by the way. It’s pretty.”

“Still full of yourself,” you mumbled, fanning your cheeks with how hot they grew with his compliment.

Jaehyun grinned. “Still enjoying it, aren’t we?”

_________________

Part 4

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teshamerkel · 3 years

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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

[Chapter 9] (16 Pages)

<< First | < Previous | Next >

Nia and Tobias have their combat capabilities tested and meet their assigned trainers. Meanwhile, Nia’s new friends have some doubts about the riolu’s hot-tempered partner.

Nia trails nervously behind Tobias as they climb the tree’s staircase, desperately trying to think of the moves she’d read about in her books. There were lots of punches, she thinks. Does she even know how to punch? What if she can’t bring herself to actually hit someone? Her thoughts cut off when they finally enter what is presumably the training floor, and she stops in her tracks.

The open space is busy despite the early hour, Pokémon sparring and practicing moves either against each other or on cloth dummies. Nia watches with wide eyes as a giant bee with drills for hands (What on God’s green Earth?) dances gracefully around their fighting partner before lunging and managing to slam the other Pokémon in the chest with the blunt of their drill.

Yikes.

“Tobias!” A feminine, oddly delighted voice calls.

Nia turns to see a humanoid, flower-like Pokemon walking—no, strutting—over to them. Long green petals flow behind her like hair, and what looks like thigh-high pink boots stretch up her long legs. The Pokemon is beautiful and carries an air of confidence, and Nia tries not to feel too intimidated.

“You really sent Archer into a tizzy the other day, destroying another dummy,” she says, and Nia can hear the grin in her voice despite not being able to see a mouth past the Pokemon’s petal collar.

Tobias snorts. “He should just be glad I didn’t use him as my training dummy. He fits the bill.”

The flower Pokemon laughs loudly, then seems to finally notice Nia. “Oh! Well, hey there! You must be Nia, right? Maggie’s little charge?”

Nia offers a shaky smile. “Y-Yeah, that’s me.”

“Nice to finally meet you, honey! I’m Azami. A tsareena, if that helps at all. I’m one of the trainers here at the guild. Speaking of—” She looks to Tobias again. “What’re you here for today? It’s not one of your usual days to train.”

“We’re here for assessment,” Tobias says, straightening up. “We’re a Seeker team now.”

Azami lights up. “Finally! Virizion knows you’ve been itching for battle for years now.” The tsareena turns an appraising look on Nia next. “So you’re Spitfire’s partner?”

Nia stiffens, glancing at Tobias, but the charmander doesn’t even react to the nickname. Nia hesitantly nods.

“Have to say, I’m curious to see what a human brings to the battlefield!”

Nia tries not to look too terrified at the mention of actually fighting. Even worse, of being graded on her fighting.

Azami giggles and turns, beckoning them along. “C’mon! I’ll get Val to help us out.”

They follow her to the back of the open gym, where a large, wooden mat area is marked off by a white rectangle of paint. A Pokemon is on their hands and knees knocking at one corner of the mat, checking for breaks if Nia had to guess.

“Val!” Azami presents Nia and Tobias with an overdramatic flourish. “New Seekers needing assessment.”

The Pokémon, Val, looks up, standing to her full height and towering over Nia and Tobias. She certainly looks like she belongs in the training area. She has gray skin, but what almost looks like rounded yoga pants and head adornments in a dark shade of pink that perfectly matches her lips. Yellow marks accent her “pants” and bead her forehead. Nia’s surprised by how humanoid she looks.

“New recruits?” The new Pokemon asks, voice dusky. Dark, serious eyes peer down at the two of them. “Names and team title.”

“You know my name,” Tobias grumbles with a roll of his eyes. “Team Scarlet.”

Val narrows her eyes at him, but doesn’t push, looking to Nia instead.

Nia jumps. “U-Uh, Nia! Team Scarlet.”

Val nods, motioning for them both to follow her to the middle of the training area. They do, Nia casting Azami a nervous glance over her shoulder. The tsareena gives her a wink and settles on the sidelines to watch.

“Charmander first,” Val says.

Huh. Is there a reason she’s calling him by his species and not his actual name? Tobias steps forward without comment, so Nia retreats, scurrying back to Azami’s side.

“Attack me as if I were an outlaw,” Val instructs. “Do not hold back.”

Tobias frowns, looking insulted. “I’m not weak.”

“I did not say you were. Attack.” She settles into a loose stance, arms up and at the ready, feet placed wide.

Tobias growls. “Fine.”

The charmander launches at her, claws gleaming with a metallic shine. Val ducks under his attack and rolls the charmander over her back to land on the ground with a heavy thud. She returns to her stance, looking unbothered.

Tobias snarls and goes straight at her again, swiping and snapping his jaws in a frenzy, occasionally trying to spin and slam Val with his tail. She moves around him like water in a stream, dodging and stepping aside with inhuman grace to avoid every move. She doesn’t even have to touch the charmander to trip him up. It doesn’t help that she’s so much taller than him, with longer limbs, but Nia has a feeling that Tobias would be losing regardless.

“She’s amazing,” Nia breathes.

“Isn’t she?” Azami says, a gleam in her eyes. “Val’s one of the best fighters in the guild!”

Tobias steps back for a moment to recover. Val simply waits, staring emotionlessly at the charmander’s heavy breathing.

Tobias snarls and darts forward again, feinting right before rolling left, popping back up and spewing a huge plume of embers at Val. Nia tenses up, but the pink Pokémon simply seems to shift through space, to glitch, easily moving through the fiery attack without getting hit by it. When she steps around behind Tobias again, Nia notices her eyes glowing orange.

Azami must notice her confusion. “Val’s a medicham—half fighting type, half psychic. That move was detect. It basically lets her dodge moves easier.”

Nia nods, leaning forward eagerly. She’d read about that move, actually! It’s so much cooler seeing it in person. Tobias takes a few more swipes at Val, attacks slowing as he tires out. Then, almost too fast for Nia to follow, Val slides behind the charmander. She grabs his arms, yanks them behind his back, and uses a foot to sweep his legs out from under him. In one smooth movement, Tobias is pinned on his belly, teeth bared as his face is smashed into the ground.

Wow.

Val nods to herself, as if making some sort of decision, then releases the charmander to stand up. “Riolu.”

Tobias snarls and pushes himself up, spinning to swipe at the medicham again. Val simply smacks his hand to the side.

“You are done. Sit down.”

Tobias stops, huffing, before stalking over to Nia and Azami.

“Uh, good job!” Nia says, giving the charmander a shaky smile.

Tobias glares at her, face red from the workout. Or embarrassment. “Shut up.”

He plops down beside her, pointedly looking ahead of him. Nia cringes but doesn’t push, nervously following Val’s beckoning and moving forward into the training area. The wood feels almost springy underfoot.

“I-I haven’t really fought before,” Nia says, voice high with nerves.

Val‘s lips purse, face unreadable. “You are the former human, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Did you fight as a human?”

“I-I don’t think so?”

Val makes a quiet, unreadable noise, and then falls into the same stance. “If you want to be a Seeker, you must fight. Try.”

Nia swallows, heart pounding. Frantically, she tries to remember the bit of reading she’d done yesterday on fighting types. Punches and kicks, right? Just start with a punch! Apparently it’s supposed to come naturally, but that’s if you grow up as a riolu, not become one suddenly as an adult. There was a move called bone rush too, she thinks? Or aura sphere? She—

“C’mon, Nia! Kick her butt!” Azami whoops.

Val is still waiting for Nia to make the first move. Holding her breath, Nia balls up a fist and throws it forward, stumbling. Val immediately catches her fist.

“If you punch like this, you will injure yourself,” Val says. She uncurls Nia’s fist, moving her thumb out from inside her other fingers. She helps Nia close her fist again, thumb lined up on the outside now.

“Hit with these two knuckles,” she continues, tapping the top knuckles of Nia’s pointer and middle finger. “Not the flat of your fingers.”

Nia tries to pay close attention to Val’s words, nodding.

“Keep your fist lined up with your arm. Tilting leads to broken wrists.” Val lines up Nia’s arm, stepping behind her to turn her shoulders, twisting her torso. “Stance wider.”

Nia follows her instructions, feeling incredibly awkward and unnatural. But she definitely trusts the medicham’s knowledge over her own.

“Try a punch. Use your legs and torso, not just your arm.”

Nia focuses and tries it, punching at the air. Oh. It’s kind of like how she used her momentum and the twist of her torso when she was swinging her branch. Like batting. She casts Val a nervous glance.

Val says nothing, expression unchanged, but nods. “It will become more natural with practice and repetition. Now kick.”

Nia nods and tries not to look too stupid as she kicks at the air, just managing to not fall over. She hears Tobias snort, and when she looks at him he’s not even bothering to hide his grin. Jerk.

Val moves to correct her form once again, and then has her repeat a few punches and kicks in the air. Then, she teaches her a basic block with her arms, showing her how to properly use the mounds of bone on her forearms as a defense without damaging them and having them crack.

After a minute or so of crash-course training, Val steps back and nods. “That will do for now. Do you know how to use your aura powers?”

Nia’s ears flatten. “N-No. Sorry.”

“Do not apologize. We must all learn.”

Nia offers her a thankful smile. Val doesn’t smile back, but oddly enough Nia doesn’t feel unnerved by the Pokemon’s stoic expression. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t sound angry, just…calm. Patient. The medicham turns to Azami and Tobias. The charmander stops looking bored, straightening up.

“Azami. I will train these two myself, if you would be willing to assist with Charmander.”

Azami laughs, throwing an arm around Tobias’ shoulders. Nia is still shocked that he doesn’t look upset by her casual, friendly attitude. “Sounds great! I’d love to show Spitfire the ropes. You’re sure you won’t be too overworked, Val?”

The medicham shakes her head, resolute. “I will handle their primary fighting technique, and Riolu’s aura training.”

Nia blinks up at the medicham, a bit awed by the Pokémon. “Y-You can help me with my aura?”

“My psychic abilities are similar. I can teach you the basics.”

Azami drags Tobias over to the two of them, and the charmander steps into line beside Nia while the two older Pokémon face them.

“Have you taken the knowledge assessment?” Val asks.

“Not yet,” Tobias says.

“As long as you pass that test, you should be cleared to go on E-rank missions!” Azami says, hands on her hips.

Nia’s surprised. After she clearly showed she doesn’t know a single move?

Val must be able to see what she’s thinking, because she explains, “You are inexperienced, but expectedly so. You are strong, and you listen. You will learn fast. As long as you have your partner to cover your back—“ She gives Tobias a pointed look. “You will be fine. Learning in the field is the best method.”

“But you two will need to stop in for training at least two times a week, for Val to check your progress and correct any faulty form or techniques. And for Nia to practice her aura abilities, too! Sound good?” Azami asks.

Nia nods, grateful to hear that she’s not being completely thrown to the wolves to learn on her own. Tobias grunts.

“You should probably go take the knowledge assessment next,” Azami says thoughtfully. “As long as you pass, you’re free to spend the rest of the day however you like before your first mission tomorrow!”

“I recommend coming back here to train,” Val says. “Riolu, you are far behind a regular Pokémon in knowing your own body and abilities. Charmander, you are strong and have good instincts, but your temper and your reliance on straightforward tactics will only hold you back.”

Nia nods, glancing at Tobias when he huffs and crosses his arms. Oh boy. Why does she already get the feeling that Tobias isn’t fond of the medicham?

In the end, they leave the training area and return to the floor they met Riley on earlier that morning. An adorable ladybug Pokémon gives them each a separate test (Nia’s verbally, due to her sloppy handwriting) regarding their knowledge of crucial Pokémon info. Typings, abilities, identification of different kinds of Pokémon and items...Nia’s surprised by how much she remembers from her many hours of reading over the last week. She’s still a nervous wreck, though, and she winces every time she knows she gets one wrong.

And yet, at the end of the test the cheery ladybug Pokémon happily announces that they both passed. Nia just scraped by, she’s sure, but it was enough. She gives Tobias a relieved smile, and even he looks like he’s holding back excitement at the news.

They’ve officially made it. They’re a Seeker team. Team Scarlet.

Tobias immediately heads towards the training hall to return to practicing, but Nia suggests they get something to eat instead. Her stomach has been growling for an hour now.

Tobias looks tempted by the thought, but then shakes his head. “I’m gonna train. I’ve gotta get a hit on that stupid medicham or it’ll drive me crazy.”

Nia can’t help feeling a little hurt by the rejection, but tries to smile as he turns to go. “O-Okay. Catch you later, then?”

The charmander doesn’t answer, turning a bend in the hall, and Nia’s smile drops. She didn’t expect him to soften up to her overnight, but they are a team now, right? She thought that would mean something!

Sighing, the riolu turns and hopes she can find her way to the cafeteria. It’s nearing noon, so by time she does track it down, the place is packed. Nia squeezes through all of the Pokémon, glad for her species’ smaller size, and finally steps into a random line. The next problem is where to sit. She has her tray of food, but the tables are all more or less full of Pokémon she doesn’t know. She’s considering taking her food down to one of the tunnels on the base floor, but then she hears someone calling her name.

“Nia! Nia, over here! Hey!”

It’s the green deer Pokémon she’d met here the other day! Andyn, she thinks? Andyn is hopping up and down on one of the table’s benches to catch Nia’s attention, so she hurries over to the deer Pokemon’s side. There are two other Pokémon clustered around her with their own trays, chatting as the riolu approaches.

“Hey! Good to see you! You should sit with us if you don’t have a place to eat,” Andyn says. Nia’s eyes flick nervously to the other Pokémon, but they’re both looking at her with open curiosity.

“Oh! Is this the human you told us about?” A black weasel (or cat?) Pokémon asks. He has one black ear and one ear a striking, feathery red, a golden charm on his forehead, and when he points excitedly at Nia, she sees that his hands are basically just long, curved claws. “She looks just like a regular riolu!”

“I told you that, dummy,” Andyn says, rolling her eyes.

The weasel-cat sticks his tongue out at the deer before turning back to Nia. “I’m Ezra. A sneasel! Ice and dark type. Incredibly fast, and incredibly cool. Literally!”

Andyn groans as Nia laughs, charmed by the cheeky sneasel’s attitude.

“I’m Jaz,” the pink Pokémon across from Andyn offers. She’s smaller than her teammates, and Nia doesn’t know how else to describe her other than saying she looks like an adorable stuffed animal version of a red panda, with soft fur and blunt paws. Something about her demeanor feels calmer than Andyn and Ezra. “I’m a stufful. Fighting and normal type.”

“Oh, right! And I’m a deerling. Grass type.” Andyn adds.

“Take a seat,” Jaz says, patting the spot beside her. “We don’t bite. Well, most of us don’t.”

“That was one time!” Ezra protests.

Nia smiles and sits down by Jaz, picking up a berry and watching the friendly banter unfold between the group.

“I had no choice!” The sneasel adds, in a tone that says they’ve argued about this before. “You were confused, Jaz! I had to snap you out of it somehow!”

The stufful shoots Ezra a dry look, pointing a paw at her ear where a sizable piece of it is missing. “By taking a chunk of my fur?”

“Cannibal!” Andyn jeers, giggling madly when Ezra starts yelling at her about how he didn’t even eat Jaz so it didn’t count.

“You guys seem close,” Nia says quietly to Jaz.

Jaz huffs a laugh as Andyn nearly knocks her tray of food off the table mid-argument. “Team Evergreen, at our best. These two are always like this.”

Nia nibbles at her food—a pecha berry, she thinks?—and basks in the friendly ribbing. Even if she feels slightly out of place, it’s nice to be included in such a friendly group.

“So what have you been up to since coming to the guild?” Andyn eventually chirps, finished with teasing Ezra. “Still helping Maggie out?”

“O-Oh! Um. I’m actually part of a Seeker team, now. We just registered today.”

Andyn and Ezra perk up at that.

“That’s so cool!” Andyn says, beaming. “I never would’ve pegged you as the Seeker type! Who’s your partner?”

“Tobias.”

Immediately, the jubilant mood of the group takes a nosedive. Jaz and Ezra exchange a confused, concerned look, and Andyn looks outright upset.

“What? Why in Celebi’s name are you partnering up with him?”

Nia just blinks at her, unsure how to answer.

“He’s so rude and mean, a-and—he’s just a jerk! For no reason! He’s always been like that.”

“I actually agree with Andyn,” Jaz adds, tone careful. “Tobias is...aggressive, at best. And you seem sweet. A little shy, even. I have to say I’m wondering how you two even get along.”

Nia winces. They kind of just…don’t. “W-Well, we sort of ended up deciding to try this out together?” No one at the table looks reassured, and Nia adds, “P-Partnering up was actually, uh, my idea. He just accepted.”

Jaz’s expression smooths out at that, and she goes back to her meal. Ezra is still staring at Nia with a frown. It looks out of place on the mischievous Pokémon’s face.

“So you aren’t worried he’ll like...ditch you in the middle of a dungeon or something? Or that he won’t have your back? It’s super important that you trust your partners in the Seeker business. It can be a matter of life or death.”

At that, Nia hunches down a bit more over her tray, trying not to let her doubts surface. She certainly doesn’t trust Tobias with her life, but he’d never just…leave her behind, right? He didn’t the first time they met, but…

“I certainly wouldn’t trust him,” Andyn huffs, poking at a berry on her tray and nearly mashing it with her hoof. “There’s a reason he has no friends our age. He’s not a good Pokémon. Some of the older Pokemon are nice to him, but they have to be.”

Nia feels like she should defend her partner. He isn’t that bad! He seems to really care about Maggie, at least. Still, when Nia opens her mouth to protest, nothing comes out. She knows she should defend the charmander, but...she doesn’t want to make her potential new friends upset, either. And he is still pretty mean to her. Nia finally settles on shrugging, looking down at her food to push it around. She’s not so hungry, all of a sudden.

There’s a beat of awkward silence. Then, Ezra says, “Well, maybe he doesn’t suck as much as we all think he does?”

Jaz sighs. “Just be careful, Nia. What’s your team name?”

From there, the conversation slowly rises back to normal spirits, and Andyn and Ezra even get into another lighthearted squabble. Soon enough they’re all finished eating and returning their trays, Nia hesitating at one of the food lines.

“What is it?” Andyn asks, holding still while Jaz ties the bow around her neck for her. It’s a dark reddish-pink tone, kind of like Ezra’s ear.

“I was thinking maybe I should grab something for Tobias. I don’t think he ate yet.”

Andyn groans. “I can already tell that you’re gonna be way too nice to him. Don’t let him step all over you, okay?“

Nia smiles at Andyn’s concern. “I won’t. Thanks.”

The team heads out on a mission, waving goodbye and telling Nia that she needs to join them for lunch again. By time she gets a sack lunch of food to take back to Tobias, her chest feels happy and filled to burst. She’s making friends! She had Maggie before, of course, and maybe Xander, and everyone else has been really nice to her, but...something about talking and eating with a group of Pokémon her age makes her happy.

She practically skips back to the training hall. When she finds Tobias, training with Val and still stubbornly trying the same charge-and-slash tactic as before, she sits down on the sidelines to watch. He really just needs to mix up his approach and he’d probably do much better.

It’s another few minutes before Tobias finally slows down, falling to a knee and literally steaming with exertion.

“Enough. Take a break,” Val commands, stepping back. There’s not a scratch on her. In fact, she doesn’t even look winded. Her gaze flicks over to Nia. “Come here.”

The riolu jumps, scrabbling to her feet.

“I can still fight!” Tobias huffs between breaths. He’s shaking.

“Go rest,” Val repeats, voice hard.

Tobias growls under his breath, looking like he wants to argue, but then he staggers over to Nia’s side, collapsing onto his back. Nia debates on bothering him, but then gingerly picks up the sack lunch and sets it near the charmander’s head. “I-I brought you some lunch. If you want it.”

She hurries off before he can respond, squaring up with Val. The medicham tells her they’ll wait a couple of days before beginning Nia’s aura training, so she is more settled in and her emotions are in order. Instead, they return to practicing her physical movements. In addition to simple kicks, punches and blocks, Val teaches her how to roll, sidestep, and dodge.

After a particularly sloppy roll ends up with Nia sprawled on the ground, she looks over to see Tobias watching them train as he munches on a berry. Nia smiles as she moves to try the maneuver again. At least the charmander is eating!

Soon enough Tobias wants to join back in, so Val switches to discussing a few basic forms of tactics to use when fighting. In addition to full frontal assault, there are sneak attacks, defensive maneuvers, bottlenecking using tight areas, distraction techniques...Nia never dreamed there would be so much to learn about fighting!

In no time at all, the sun is setting, and Nia is more tired than she has been in her entire life. Probably. Definitely more tired than she has been since becoming a riolu. She falls back onto the training mat, breathing hard. Her muscles are screaming, she’s hot as heck, and her brain is tripping over itself trying to remember and repeat all of the new basic techniques she’d learned today. It’s no surprise to Nia that as soon as her and Tobias trudge their way upstairs to Maggie’s quarters without even a bite to eat for supper, they both immediately head to bed.

“Hard day?” Maggie asks, laughter in her voice.

Tobias grunts, flopping face-down into his nest. He grew to accept Val’s expertise and superior strength throughout the day, but Nia would bet anything he was still grumpy that he couldn’t land a single hit on the medicham.

Nia leans against the wall and tries to keep her eyes open to talk to the meganium. “I could fall asleep right here.”

Maggie chuckles, reaching out a vine to smooth back the fur on Nia’s head. Oh, that feels nice. “You do look wiped, my dear. One more question, and then I’ll leave you be so you can rest. What did you two name your team?”

Tobias snores from his nest, and Nia gives the meganium a tired smile. “Team Scarlet.”

“Lovely choice,” Maggie says, expression warm. Nia wonders if she has an idea of where the name came from. “Why don’t you get some sleep? You have your first mission tomorrow, from what I hear.”

Nia nods, yawning, and carefully steps around Tobias to lie down in her own soft nest. She’ll be sore tomorrow for sure. Still, she feels...good. Accomplished.

Excited.

#pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon #riolu #sneasel #stufful #deerling #pmd seekers of soul #tesha writes #tesha draws

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welllpthisishappening · 3 years

Text

falling feels like flying ['til the bone crush]

Someone should revoke her title.

They’re trying, Emma supposes. Inevitable death probably means people can’t call her savior anymore, but they shouldn’t call her that now and that’s almost entirely because of what an absolute and complete liar she is. Telling Killian she would have done the same after he admitted he didn’t get rid of the shears isn’t her most massive lie, although it might be her most ridiculous. And they both know it’s not true. She wouldn’t do the same thing, she has. More than once.

AN: That gif has nothing to do with the story! Here is approximately 3.5K where I once again force Emma and Killian to acknowledge their trauma. Not in the Underworld this time, though! So maybe we’re all evolving here. I blame this gif set, which I saw this morning and felt compelled to write something about. Maybe that evolution is also a lie, actually.

———

“I lied.” Killian hums, exhaustion clinging to the sound, and Emma understands that. Less so why she’s talking right now, but neither one of those words seemed particularly interested in preserving the quiet calm of this particular moment, and she’s never been a lightweight quite like this. In more ways than one, she supposes. Hazy thoughts drift through her brain, muddled as it is by buttered rum and the steady flicker of flames in the fireplace because naturally this is the sort of house that has multiple fireplaces, and she burrows her face closer.

To Killian’s chest.

Takes a deep breath, not quite slow, but maybe a little greedy, and they ordered both things. Pizza and Chinese, half-finished egg rolls and beheaded slices of cheese with extra peppers strewn across the coffee table because Emma always likes that extra bit of crust and Killian’s nothing if not a frustratingly endearing sort of pushover.

With her, especially.

She closes her eyes.

“I lied,” Emma repeats, “in the hospital, I mean. Wrong verb tense.” “You’re not making any sense at all, darling.”

Her nose must be cold — if the way Killian tenses as soon as it brushes his skin is any indication, but Emma knows it’s far more than that and far deeper than that and she might be the world’s biggest idiot. Looming death does that to a person, she supposes.

Breathing isn’t particularly easy. And that’s not only because she ate four pizza slices worth of crust. Still, using death as an excuse again seems like an emotional crutch and an unreasonable reason, her muddled mind capable of clinging to every single letter in that particular endearment. It might be her favorite.

She’s not sure she’s ever told him that.

Stupid, really.

“I told you that I get it; what you did today, and that part’s definitely true. But, uh, the rest of it. That I would have done the same thing? Total lie, right? I mean, I did it. That’s what happened.” Nothing. Just flickering flames and the quiet hum of a TV, neither one of them has been interested in actually watching all night. Emma doesn’t even know what channel they’re on. For all she knows, the remote’s in the kitchen.

She counts inhales. Tries to keep her exhales measured, most of her face still pressed into the collar of Killian’s shirt as it is. And it takes about five full seconds before his hand moves, starts tracing a calm line up her spine, following that path until he reaches the base of her neck and the goosebumps that have already exploded on her skin and oxygen is overrated anyway. Holding her breath as soon as his fingers card through the ends of hair is basically instinct at this point.

“Felt wrong to point that out at the time,” he mutters, “all things considered.” “Been kind of a long day.” “Reuniting with long-lost relatives will do that.” Scoffing is not the best reaction. Nothing about this is funny. Includes far too much death and dismay, and Emma’s gaze flickers up. Of its own accord and something much deeper, like the absolute refusal to accept a world where he does not exist.

Goddamn Captain Hook.

She loves him so much sometimes she thinks she’ll simply burst with the force of it all.

It’s a gross thought, honestly.

And they’ve already spent far too much time in the hospital today.

“Is he ok? Li—” Cutting herself off, Emma grits her teeth, but one side of Killian’s mouth is already tugging up, and the kiss that lands on her forehead is as soft as anything. Maybe bursting isn’t so bad, actually. So long as she can come up with another word for it. “God, that’s so weird.” Killian hums. “Indeed.” “Thoughts, feelings, et cetera?” “Vast. And none of them particularly pleasant.” “Seems fair. That sort of day, huh?” “Indeed.” They need more blankets. Need more things that are theirs in a collective sort of way, but that’s a dangerous and disingenuous train of thought, and Emma’s fingers twitch towards the fire. To ward off the sudden chill that’s settled between her shoulder blades, and it almost works, but it does absolutely nothing to help the sway of her stomach and the acid lingering in the back of her throat, threatening to burn far more than what these meager flames are able to do.

“Should have finished high school,” Emma mumbles, “then I could choose more accurate verb tenses from my inevitably vast vocabulary. Did. Have done. Would do again, several thousand times over.”

“That’s the future tense.” None of his words come with any kind of pointed emotion, but Emma hears it all the same. Can see the tightness that lingers in the corners of his mouth and the way he’s holding his shoulders, straight as a line, and some joke about rigging that she no intention of making, and the furrow between his brows makes every muscle in her chest twist. Ache too, for good measure.

With the promise of everything she wants to say and everything she hasn’t or can’t and—

Fuck magic, quite honestly. And the rules no one’s bothered to mention until now. Seems like poor planning on everybody’s part.

“You heard me.” “I did,” Killian agrees lightly, and his hand has never actually stopped moving. It’s nice. Steady. Something Emma can almost nearly time her breathing too. “I would also choose that particular tense. If given the choice, that is.” “Do you not think you have that?” “I don’t particularly enjoy the thought. I’m rather partial to the option of whim, you see. Pirate and all that. We don’t much abide by schedules and fated decision.” “Seems like it’d be in the by-laws.” “Well, by-laws by their very nature are rather contradictory to the entire pirate notion, but you’ve got the gist of it at least.” Emma laughs. Doesn’t quite regret the sound, even as out of place as it is — just presses it into the edge of Killian’s shirt and the buttons he never bothers to do, trying to brandh the smell of him and the feel of him into every corner of her memory and she’s not really sure what happens after. Once the prophecy is fulfilled, and all that.

She’s got too much unfinished business.

To totally leave this particular plane of reality.

She doesn’t mention that either. Not when the crux of that business is breathing steadily under her hand, and Emma can’t remember when she moved her hand, only that Killian’s warm under her touch, and he’s always so much warmer. Than just about anything else she’s aware of.

“I thought you were dead.”

Of all the things Emma expects to happen in the midst of this night and this moment — and it’s really not a very long list, admittedly — that did not even make the cut. Wasn’t a consideration or a fledgling idea in the back of her mind, several different vertebrae almost audibly objecting when she jerks her head up. To find Killian staring straight ahead, lips not much more than a thin line across his face.

Seriously, the rigging jokes almost write themselves. Which is more than Emma can say about her clearly piece of shit list, as metaphorical as it might be.

“I don’t—” “—When I saw you,” Killian interrupts, and none of the words shake. Come out like a stream of consciousness and memories neither one of them have able to shake yet. Or talk about. Can’t possibly be healthy. “Chained to that stone, blood dripping into my mouth, and then all of a sudden, there you were. Worried I’d simply dreamt you up, couldn’t imagine how you looked quite that lovely in that hell hole, otherwise.” “Oh, that’s kind of insulting, actually.” “Hair like the bloody sun.” “Better,” Emma murmurs. Reaching up, her fingers tangle with the charms around his neck. Pieces of luck and trinkets she hasn’t learned all the stories to yet. The idea that she won’t makes her nauseous. “You told me ‘you shouldn’t be here.’” “Aye, and I meant it.” “Because you thought…” “Living people don’t often appear in such a God awful place, do they? Not without something tragic happening, and my mind was impressively efficient on that front.” “Which one is that?” “Every threat that’s ever lingered, every person I would have gladly run through if it meant you were safe. Half of goddamn Camelot.” Emma might snicker. Killian’s arm tightens, though. And that’s all she’s really worried about. “I think I could have taken Arthur. Y’know if it had come to that.” “Likely not a very good swordsman,” Killian nods, but that’s only so his lips can trace Emma’s temple and the top of her hair. More than once. Like he’s still making sure. “Pampered prince—” “—He was totally a king, babe. That’s like...the most basic Camelot knowledge.” “Ask me in five minutes if I care at all about anything to do with Camelot.” “Should I time it, or…” He scoffs. Presses another half dozen kisses to any spot he can reach, and he can actually reach a fair amount of places. Emma’s impressed. Swooning too, but also pretty impressed. “I kept thinking about you,” Killian says, softer than the last few words have been, and it sounds like an admission and another promise, and it’s weird that it can be both. At the same time. “This house. What it was and wasn’t. All those possible verb tenses.”

“I’m sorry.” “Ah, that’s not your fault, love. None of this is, really, but—well, it did make it so seeing you, realizing you were there...left all of those thoughts crashing down around my ears, so to speak. Falling apart, like an avalanche of what hadn’t been and what I still wanted so desperately. No matter what Hades did.” “Stupid stubborn.” “I believe there’s something about a pot and a kettle in this realm.” “Don’t have that cliche in the Enchanted Forest, huh?” “Not that I’m aware of, no.” “Maybe you just didn’t go to a good college.” “Tell me every Greek word you know,” Killian challenges, and Emma rolls her eyes. Ignores the first few flutters of a headache brewing at the base of her skull. “It didn’t seem fair.” “Which part?” “All of it is also rather vast, but mostly that if you were there, then it happened again.” Narrowing her eyes, Emma tries to piece together those letters and the syllables they make, only to be marginally annoyed when she can’t make sense of them. Killian kisses the bridge of her nose.

She might have to go get Tylenol soon.

“Losing you without fighting, without challenge the goddamn reaper myself, was worse than anything He could have done,” Killian continues, and he doesn’t have to be more specific. “Worse than whatever pain I’ve ever suffered. Cut off twenty more limbs; it wouldn’t even come close.” “Do you have that many?” “Your humor lacks a little something; you know that, Swan?” “It’s a defense mechanism.” He noses at her hair. Drags the soft hum of what could very well be either an agreement or the opposite, or maybe even the sort of deep-rooted understanding that’s allowed him to sneak his way into the center of everything, across her skin. The specifics don’t matter, only that Emma’s magic roars under her skin, an inferno, and a symphony, meeting the challenge that no one has really laid down yet.

“Do that again,” Killian mutters, a low chuckle as Emma’s scratches at his side.

“I’m not sure I can, honestly.” “Pity.” “Something like that, yeah. And you’re not totally right, you know?” “Ah, and that’s almost rude.” “I’m serious,” Emma says, “that’s—none of that was your fault either.” Tilting his head only ensures that several strands of hair he still hasn’t bothered to cut fall almost artfully across his forehead, and Emma is grateful to a variety of gods, Greek or otherwise, that Killian doesn’t mention how much her hand shakes. When she tries to brushes them away. His hook finds her wrist instead, cool metal against freezing cold skin, and the state of her tongue is going to be a problem. Large as it is in Emma’s mouth, making it all but impossible to properly swallow while Killian’s lips sweep the bend of her knuckles.

“Charmer.” “Aye, that’s my endgame.” There’s not enough room between them for him to run his hand across his face like Emma knows he wants to, and part of that isn’t really a bad thing, but the rest just seems like another entirely unfair thing, and Emma knows the rest is coming. Makes tears burn her eyes all the same. “They were just...gone, you understand? No chance to do anything about it. One moment they were living and breathing. Then Liam was dead. Slumped in my arms in the corner of a cabin he was supposed to spend the rest of his career in. He—he would have been a very good captain.” “So are you,” Emma says, fierce and determined, and Killian kisses in the inside of her palm. She’s moved her hand again. To cup his cheek.

“For a time, maybe. But then she was gone too, and I thought I could feel it, you know. The exact way her heart crumbled in his hand, tiny bits of dust that I never wanted to blow off the deck. Like some of her still managed to stay. Is that—” The muscles in his throat move, jaw clenching, and Emma has to blink. She hopes the moisture on her cheeks isn’t tears. She’s not sure what’s a better option, really. “Must sound daft.” “No. I—I get that too.” “Do you?” “Not the only one who’s watched Rumplestilskin hold the heart of someone you loved.”

He can’t be holding his breath. His chest is moving much too quickly, but the burst of air that all but flies out of Killian is enough to ruffle the ends of Emma’s hair and possibly even dry some of the tears she’s still refusing to acknowledge, and she can’t get closer to him.

She makes an admirable effort all the same.

Like occupying the same few inches of space will ensure that she stays there.

“Did you—” Killian starts, looking almost pained as the words war for his voice on the tip of his tongue. “Did you like her?” That didn’t make the list, either. It’s entirely possible that Emma is just garbage at making lists. She nods. “Anyone who loves you as much as I do is fine with me. Better than, even.”

His expression shifts again. Light lingers in his gaze, cautious hope, and misplaced optimism, gears whirring in his head that Emma can’t almost convince herself she hears. Her verb tense was on purpose that time.

That’s a confidence boost, all things considered.

“She was something fierce,” Killian says, sounding reminiscent and not as sad as Emma has worried he must be. “Once she got away from him. Could get a grown man to do her bidding with a single look, the kind of glare that’d set you on fire from the inside out. It was—they loved her too. Men on the ship, would have followed her to the ends of the Earth if she’d asked. Probably even if she hadn’t.”

His next inhale becomes an exhale almost immediately.

“She never would have asked,” Killian adds, almost entirely to himself, but then his eyes are back on Emma, and they’re a little glossy and just as blue and she’s holding her breath now. “She liked you too, I know it.” “I think she thought I was crazy, actually. Gold didn’t really have much tact in the...introductions.” “Ah.” “Right?” “Right,” he echoes, a pale imitation of her voice that makes Emma’s cheeks ache. From smiling. Legitimately smiling. Huh. “But I suppose that’s part of it, though. She was there again, and I—” “—I’m sorry. For...for all of it.” “Still not your fault, love.”

“How did you know?” she asks, and her voice doesn’t sound much like her either. Wobbles and warbles and some other word that fits the alliteration. “About me. And not being…”

“Dead?” Killian’s eyebrows jump. “Strawberries.” “Excuse me?” “That soap you use in your hair. Smells like strawberries, or strawberry adjacent maybe. Manufactured just a bit. I think it’s my favorite smell in the world.” “Backhanded compliment.” “No, no,” Killian shakes his head. His hair moves again. “It’s not. It’s—well, it’s you, love. Smells like everything that you are and—”

“—I’m manufactured?” “If you let me finish,” he chides, and Emma all but yanks her lips behind her teeth, “It smells like home. Smells like falling asleep next to you and a distinct lack of blankets.” He nips at the tip of her nose. She scoffs again; that’s why. “And your distractingly cold feet, and leather jackets, and how the smell clings to the collars, no matter how long it’s been since you’ve worn them. Lingers on your pillow too, and the fronts of my shirt. You fall asleep against me quite often, you know that.” “Can sleep anywhere,” Emma reasons. “Might be my greatest talent.” “I don’t know about that.” “If I call you charmer again, will you hold it against me for lack of synonyms?” “Tell me how charming I am again.” Emma scrunches her nose. “Now it sounds like my dad.” “Let’s leave the prince out of this. He’s only a prince, aye?” “Far as I know, yeah.” “Good, good. Strawberries, love. Touching you helped too, though. If we’re being frank.” “Anything except blunt force honesty seems silly now, doesn’t it?” Killian nods. Slow and measured, like anything else will snap this tenuous peace, and maybe they can just sleep on the couch. Getting up is an impossible prospect right now. Maybe they can make out a little before they fall asleep.

“It’s a very big house,” Emma whispers, and they should really figure out a schedule for conversations like this. Talking about it all at once is exhausting.

“It is.” “You don’t want to expand upon that?” “Oh, I want a great number of things I shouldn’t,” Killian admits, “but as much as I appreciate this fresh round of honesty we’re engaging in, the false hope would—” “—There’s no such thing,” Emma interrupts. “False hope. It’s an oxymoron, ask my mother. And I think you should get some sort of crew again.” “How would you suggest I populate such a thing?” She shrugs. Nearly hits Killian in the chin in the process. “Untold stories. Dwarves.” “I will not have dwarves on my ship.” “See, I knew you’d have opinions. And there was a possessive pronoun in there that time.” “Was there not before?” “No,” she says. “Just called it the ship. Like it’s not the most important thing you have.” “Well, it’s not.” Emma’s cheeks warm. “That was very smooth.” “Someone did guarantee I was a very good captain earlier.” Space continues to be relatively minimal between them, but Killian’s nothing if not adaptable, and he works with what he’s got. Swinging Emma’s legs perpendicular over his, she’s nearly sitting on his lap, an arm slung over his shoulders, which makes it even easier to get her fingers into his hair and his head to rest against hers, and he takes another deep breath. “I know you understand, Emma,” he says, soft and serious, and she doesn’t bother doing anything except cling to him. With everything she’s got left. “All of it, from the very start. So I don’t think I’ll apologize, actually. For what I’ve done, or what I’d still be willing to do. I won’t give up on you, do you understand me?” “Didn’t,” Emma says, only a little optimistic that’s the right verb tense. Maybe she can get her GED, or something. Before all of this ends. “In Camelot, or after. Accept or acknowledge, and I probably would have—”

Announcing that killing Gold for what he’d done to Killian regularly crossed her mind in the twenty-four hours or so before they finally made it to the Underworld doesn’t really have the right sentiment for this conversation. Far too violent, and just as honest.

She’d consider killing him now, too.

For everything he’s doing, and everything he hasn’t, and she should have shoved him in that river.

Killian doesn’t smile. At least not in a way that reaches his eyes, the same ones that are looking at Emma again, all blue and earnest, and his shoulders shift. When her fingers graze his chin, more than stubble there because, she imagines, spending a day or so underwater with a sibling he only sort of wants and kind of knows doesn’t leave much time for facial-type grooming.

It’s a good look, though.

Most of them are, in Emma’s experience.

“This entire time,” she continues, “you haven’t given up on me yet.” “Works both ways, darling.” “That one crosses realms, huh?” “Pick up things spending so much time with you.” There’s nothing extra in the words. No sap-filled sentiment or promises she’s only a little hopeful will become actions. And they haven’t talked about the rest; might not even have time, but Emma will let herself think about all these empty rooms anyway, of the exact shade Killian’s eyes go when he stands at the helm, and she hopes he doesn’t cut his hair. Not yet, at least. Longer strands make it easier to touch him, to leave a lasting mark, and settle into his center the same way he’s taken root in hers.

They fall asleep on the couch.

#cs ff #captain swan #cs fic #captain swan fic #captain swan ff #laura writes canon #force characters to talk 2k4ever #also remember when i wanted to write about killian not getting to see milah in the underworld?#have some of that here too #just for fun

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maxismatchccworld · 4 years

Photo

Welcome back to our latest - and last! - Deep Dive into the gameplay of The Sims 4 Nifty Knitting Stuff Pack. I’ve really enjoyed sharing the designs and development of this pack with you, and I hope to continue doing these sorts of posts in the future. It’s been a super cool experience, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading these! In today’s post I’ll talk about the feature that is core to everything in this pack, Knitting! Once again, I have to remind you that we’re still in active development on the pack and so some things may change between now and the final game. Now, let’s talk about some nifty knits!

READ IT I PROMISE YOU GONNA LIKE IT!

In order to start knitting, you’ll need to purchase a Yarn Basket from the Build/Buy catalog. You probably remember voting on these baskets a while back. This was the winning design, presented to you now in all its colorful glory! Don’t like color? That’s okay, because we included a solid black and white variant.

We have one more knitting basket coming too! Remember this one?

The basket acts as the crafting catalyst(neat term, huh?) similar to the Easel or Woodworking Bench in The Sims 4 base game. But unlike those examples, the Yarn Basket is meant to live in a Sim’s inventory so that they can take their knitting anywhere they want to go. Knitting itself is relatively straightforward: click on the Yarn Basket in your inventory, OR, with the basket in your inventory, click on the chair you want to sit in while knitting (perhaps a rocking chair?) and select the Knit interaction. Your projects are saved to your Sim, so you can pause your progress at any time and resume later, and even juggle multiple projects at once. Starting a project costs a small amount of Simoleons for the cost of yarn, but nothing too outrageous.

(Children can knit too!) As a Sim levels up their knitting skill they’ll have access to new patterns. They’ll start with knitting socks and beanies, but as they grow more skilled they can tackle more challenging projects like sweaters and toys for kids. But if you only want to specialize in one thing - perhaps knitted mailbox cozies? - that's fine too! Just keep knitting anything and everything, and you’ll be level 10 before you know it. Speaking of knitting skill, sometimes your skill is reflected in your knitted work, or rather your lack of skill. Knitting projects can fail, and when they fail they can get weird. But it’s all subjective, and maybe you’ll end up accidentally knitting the cutest derpy companion, or the perfectly itchy sweater. No mistakes, only happy accidents!

(Just own it.) One of the niftiest parts of the knitting skill is unlocking the ability to Teach to Knit, where Sims sit down together and have a knitting pow-wow. We wanted this to feel special, so we got a really sweet animation for it (Thanks Haeju!). Now that you can infect other Sims with the knitting bug, no yarn ball will be safe!

(The knitting needles aren’t finished on the Teach To Knit interaction yet, but trust me it's SUPER CUTE.) So, what can you do with all these knitting projects? Lots of stuff! Not only can knitted objects be listed on Plopsy, but you can also Donate them to charity. If you want to surprise a loved one, try Gifting a knitted object too. If you want to destroy all traces of your knitted failures, you can Frog the object and start again! If it's a particularly nice Sweater that you made, consider Adding it to Wardrobe to make it available in Create-A-Sim to all family members.

(Everyone appreciates a nice gift!) We want Sims to be able to knit something for their whole family. Not only will Sims be able to knit Toddler Onesies, but Baby Onesies as well. So put your little grubworm in a handmade knitted outfit. I’m sure they’d thank us if they could! (And if they didn’t like it I’m sure they’d be polite about it.)

(Here’s a sneak peek at some of the concept art for new clothing for the littlest of Sims!) It also felt like a good idea to add an Aspiration to tie this passion for knitting all together. So if you want to master the fuzzy art of knitting, consider signing your Sim up for the Lord(or Lady) of the Knits Aspiration. With yarn running through your veins, there will be no knitting mountain too hard to conquer! Master the Aspiration and you’ll be rewarded with the Sacred Knitting Knowledge trait. What does it do? Lots of stuff! What does it unlock? Something special! Am I being vague? I am! Come on guys, I can’t share all the secrets quite yet.

As I’ve mentioned previously, we’re trying to get as much cross-pack functionality for knitting as we can. Cats can play with Yarn Baskets and Yarn Balls, there will be new Club rules for Knitting, new class electives at University, and knitting counts for Emotional Control, just to name a few. I’m hoping Knitting feels nice and snug alongside our other gameplay systems. Now let's have a chat with our lead Object Modeler, Beth Mohler! Conor: Can you tell us a little bit about what an Object Modeler does on The Sims 4? Beth: As an object modeler I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make objects work in The Sims 4. This is actually a very involved process, and somewhat different from the wonderful work our environment team does. We work with designers, concept artists, engineers, animators, vfx artists (basically everyone!) to make sure that Sims can use an object properly in an animation, or that all of our objects will work with each other. Once we understand the design for a new object, we will create a rig, a block model (a very generic version of the object used to help us make more of the same object in the future), and a footprint (tells us where the object can go and how Sims move around it). Once those are tested by animators and other disciplines we can model the final version, create UVs, and add textures. We also hook up and test everything in the game to make sure it all looks good. There is a lot to think about when it comes to making objects because we know players can find so many interesting ways to place and use them in game. That makes it a very fun challenge to make them work with everything else we’ve built before. Conor: What feature are you most excited to work on in Nifty Knitting Stuff? Beth: I’d say I am most excited to work on the rocking chairs! I love that we are bringing them to the game and can’t wait to see them in some cozy living rooms or on porches. Conor: What are some of the challenges you are facing working on this pack? Beth: One of the biggest challenges is ensuring that the knitting itself looks good and is fun to watch! This is a challenge given that it needs to work for everything you can create. Figuring this out takes a lot of iteration between modeling, animation, engineering, design, and art direction so that we come to a conclusion that will work the best given our time and technical constraints. Another interesting “challenge” is the fact that I crochet as a hobby myself! When you are knowledgeable about something (yarn!) in real life, working on it in the game it can sometimes be hard to separate the things you know and may expect in reality from what is possible or best within a video game. I have to make sure to keep a balance and to conceptualize how we can best convert the knitting experience into The Sims 4. As someone who also generally enjoys interior design and architecture, this is actually one of my favorite challenges and one of the things I love about working on objects in The Sims 4. Conor: What is your favorite feature you have ever worked on in The Sims 4? Beth: I think it has to be a tie between the mini fridge or the robotics table in Discover University. That pack was the first time I got to really take an entire feature from start to finish. I’ve been with Maxis for a while, but I’m relatively new to The Sims 4. Both of these objects had some complex features we wanted that required a lot of iteration. I learned a ton about the technical aspects of our game during the process as well. I’ve also worked on a few very cool things between then and now, but those can’t be shared yet ; ) As a fan of The Sims since the very beginning I am so happy to be able to share a little about what I do on a daily basis on The Sims 4 with you! I haven’t been on The Sims 4 for quite as long overall, but some of you may also recognize me from my time on Sims Mobile where I shared some of our workflows on Twitter for making a juice bar. Thanks! Conor: You shared a screenshot of the In-Progress Rocking Chair in our Rocking Chair Deep Dive. Can you share an updated screenshot now that the Rocking Chair is further along? Beth: I would love to! I hope everyone has been enjoying seeing the progress on this object so far! Here it is a little further along. This program allows us to set the rules for the object materials, footprint size and rig it should use, as well as all the color variants and swatch colors you see in the catalog.

Thanks Beth! By the way, Beth is on Twitter @SimGuruBeth, so be sure to Follow her! And thanks to all of you Simmers for following this pack’s development, this has been a really fun project in a very crazy time. A big thank you to my Stuff Pack teammates, and especially SimGuruSarah who edited my inane ramblings and wrangled the miscellaneous bits for these posts. While this concludes my design Deep Dives, we still have more forum posts with development insights on the way! Keep checking the Community Stuff Pack forum and we’ll have more fun stuff to show off in the weeks to come. Until next time, SimGuruConor

Source: The Sims Forum

#s4cc #s4mm #ts4cc #ts4mm #maxis match #thesims4 #S4 news

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mymoodwriting · 3 years

Text

LØV3

F!Reader x Hyungwon

Genre: Yandere AU

Warning: Electrocution, Ambulance, Hospital, Burns

Words: 6.2K

Chapter Six

(Prev//Next)

Prompt: NexGen is the leading company for all of humanities technological advances. Their recent project involves creating a higher functioning AI, one with basic knowledge of the world, and programmed to learn. The project is a secret from the general public, and you, the company’s head programmer, were chosen to be the AI’s teacher. You wish you could reject the assignment, but the decision was made. Now with an AI at home things were different. Although it might not be such a bad thing, perhaps you could learn and help each other out, for better or for worse.

“That’s it… I’m done…”

You couldn’t believe that you had actually finished your project. The code was done, you had actually finished. It was a cause for celebration but you felt kinda sad. Chae was checking over your work, but became aware of your demeanor.

“What’s the problem?”

“Nothing, I just can’t believe we’re done.”

“You’ve worked hard. And this looks good, so you should be proud.”

“Yeah, but it means our time together is coming to an end.”

“We still have trial runs to do, and will most likely have to tweak the code from there. We’re not quite done yet.”

“You’re right.”

“Perhaps you should call Hyungwon.”

“Huh?”

“Today is a day of celebration, and you seem sad. I’m sure he can pick up your mood.”

“I don’t know, he’s probably busy or something.”

“You won’t know unless you try.”

Next thing you knew your phone, which was on the desk, lit up and opened up your messages, sending a text to Hyungwon, asking if he was busy at the moment.

“Chae!”

“You’ve earned a night of fun, so you should enjoy yourself.”

“I-”

Your phone chimed, revealing a message from Hyungwon. He was free and was asking if you wanted to make plans for the evening. You gave Chae a look but took your phone and answered, asking if he would like to hang out. He was more than happy too, and offered to come by and pick you up in two hours. You accepted and went to shower, having a date to get ready for. While you dressed Chae was resting in his charging port.

“You know, you’ve worked hard too, Chae.” You said. “You need to celebrate too. We should do something special for you.”

“Me? I don’t see how a celebration would be in order.”

“Think of something. A movie night, go out on a trip. I want you to have good memories with me, not just work related things.”

“I see, I will think of something.”

“Good. I look forward to it.”

Hyungwon texts you when he arrives. You did a last minute check to make sure you had everything you needed, and Chae was on your wrists. You met Hyungwon out on the street in front of your house. He was such a gentleman, opening the side door for you, happy to see you. He drove you into the city, asking if you had eaten. Since the answer was no, he took you out to eat, treating you to your favorite.

“Well this is very nice.”

“I wanted to ask… what’s the occasion?”

“Hm?”

“This was all sudden.”

“Oh, did I catch you off guard? I should have called in advanced and not just-”

“No! No you’re alright, I was just wondering if today was something special for you.”

“Ah, well, a bit.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah… I… well I’ve finished my last project for the company I work for.”

“Last project?”

“Yes. What I’ve been working on, it’s most likely my last project.”

“They’re letting you go? Why? You’re great, talented, how could they just do that to you?”

“You don’t even know where I work, or my skill level.”

“Well, I’m pretty confident this company is making a mistake.”

“I’m okay with it. I’ll finally have a life.”

Hyungwon chuckled. “That’s one way to look at it. I hope this means I’ll be seeing more of you.”

“I hope so too.”

After eating it was still early in the day so you went out for a walk, Hyungwon surprised you with some flowers. He was well aware the day was a minor celebration and he felt a gift of flowers was appropriate. When he finally drove you home it was getting late, yet you asked him if he wanted to come in for a while for some coffee. You felt maybe it was too sudden, but he said he’d like that if you were sure you wanted him to stick around. You did.

This was the first time he was in your house. He was quite impressed, and also very cautious not to wander off. You realized your place was kinda big, so showed him around a bit. You started a pot of coffee and told him to wait around in the living room. You went to your room to freshen up a bit, telling Chae to return to his charging port and rest up. He promised to stay on alert in case something happened since Hyungwon was still somewhat of a stranger in the house. You assured him you’d be fine but agreed he’d stay alert.

Once the coffee was made you gave him a mug and sat down. You turned the TV on for background noise, but the two of you mostly talked. You had grown comfortable around him, capable of sharing anything. He made you happy, and it was easy to just spend hours talking, and talking, until you could barely keep your eyes open. Hyungwon took the empty coffee mugs, washing them in the sink and when he returned you were asleep.

He smiled, you looked so peaceful, and then he carefully picked you up in his arms. Hyungwon laid you down in bed and tucked you in. For a moment he debated kissing your head, but decided against it. The little orb on your nightstand caught his attention though, seeing a white glow slightly fading and illuminating He didn’t think much of it and left, quietly making his exit, and taking note to text you in the morning.

As soon as Hyungwon left the room, Chae got off his charging port. He checked on you, and you were sound asleep, then he pulled up the security footage. He watched as Hyungwon left the house and got into his car, driving away. At least he thought you enjoyed yourself, so that’s what was important. He had plenty of energy so he figured he could do something. He went to the home office sending the finished code to Changkyun for review, while also emailing the corporation and proper associates in order to set up trial runs of the code. He roamed around the house for a while, making sure everything was in order, and taking note of kitchen stock. Once he was satisfied he returned to the room. He didn’t go to his charging port, instead went to rest with you on the bed, finally calling it a night.

♥♥♥♥♥

You had no idea what time it was when you finally woke up. The sun was out and peeking in through the blinds. As you sat up, rubbing the sleep from your eyes, you noticed Chae wasn’t on his charging port. Then you began to remember last night, and that you had fallen asleep on the couch, while Hyungwon was still around. You quickly felt embarrassed and looked around for your phone, which wasn’t on the nightstand.

Now you were very much awake and stumbled out of bed, going to the living room. You were in a panicked rush, so you were completely unaware of Chae in the hall and wound up running right into him. You hit your head against him and fell to the floor. Chae immediately turned orange and then black, lowering himself to check in on you. He was a faded blue, checking your vitals and hoping he didn’t hurt you in any way.

“Are you alright?”

You laughed. “I’m fine. I was wondering where you were.”

“I was gathering ingredients for lunch since it seemed you skipped breakfast.”

“What time is it?”

“Nearly noon.”

“Noon! Why didn’t you wake me?!”

“You seemed very exhausted by last night’s events, so I believed it was important for you to get as much rest as necessary.”

“Chae, we still have things to do!”

“I am aware. I have already sent the code file to Changkyun for review and requested trial run dates. An email confirming the days was actually just received an hour ago. I assure you there is nothing you need to concern yourself with at the moment.”

“Oh… thanks… I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Neither do I.”

“Very funny.” You playfully shoved him away and got up. “Do you know where my phone is?”

“On the coffee table in the living room.”

“Do I have any messages?”

“One. Hyungwon left a message saying he hopes it was okay to put you in bed last night, and to please message him when you wake up so he knows you’re alright.”

“Ah, that explains why I woke up in bed.”

You texted Hyungwon, thanking him for getting you to bed and spending time with you. He was glad to hear from you, also having enjoyed the night. He suggested you take it easy that day and not work too hard since he was sure you’d still be tired. You thanked him for his concern and promised to take an easy day.

“Since I have dealt with the most recent matters, perhaps we can have, what do you call it, a movie marathon?”

“Oh, did you pick some out?”

“I’ve made a list and also think you’d enjoy them as well.”

“Sounds good. Let me just make some lunch first.”

As always, Chae was your assistant. After preparing lunch you sat down on the couch and started the movie marathon. They were quite enjoyable, and Chae watched intently, paying attention to every detail. And the conversations after each one were also great, he was certainly a good viewing buddy. You ordered take out for dinner, and even though there were still a few films on the list, Chae insisted you go to sleep and fix up your sleep schedule. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer so you did as he said.

You had days to yourself and to spend with Chae as the trial run date approached. On that day you were certainly nervous as it was another step closer to your retirement. It was also the day you’d get to see your work in action. You just hoped everything would go well without too much of a problem. You woke up early to get ready, the trial runs expected to take a couple hours, so that would be your whole day. Once you were all set you waited around for your ride.

“Shouldn’t we get going?”

“I asked Hyungwon if he could pick me up and take me, then I can treat him to dinner.”

“This is work related. He’ll discover who you work for and what you do?”

“These trial runs just mean I’m that much closer to being let go. It doesn’t matter if he knows at this point. What do you think he’ll do with that information.”

“There are many possibilities.”

“So the question is does he seem like the type. You’re the one who approved of him.”

Your phone chimed, and the message was from Hyungwon, he was here. Chae got on your wrist and you headed out. Hyungwon got the door for you, such a gentleman as always. It wasn’t long before you were on the road.

“So, you never told me where you work. I don’t know where I’m going.”

“I know.” You giggled. “So I guess you get to find out today.”

“Alright, can I get you anything for breakfast first?”

“You don’t have to.”

“You’re offering dinner, the least I can do is offer breakfast. Just a quick drink at least, something to wake you up.”

“Fine, something small though.”

“Got it.”

You gave him the name of a place on the way. Thanking him for the drink. From there you just gave him directions, playing around and building suspense. After the last turn though, the company’s name was clear.

“You… you work for NexGen?!”

“Worked, past tense.”

“This is the company that’s letting you go? That’s the biggest mistake they’ll ever make.”

“You don’t even know my position there.”

“Still! It doesn’t matter if you’re the head programmer or an assistant, you’re great and they’re just letting you go.”

“Business stuff.”

When you got to the gate you handed over your ID to the security guard. They checked everything and approved your entry. Hyungwon took the ID, examining it.

“You’re the head programmer! Why are they-”

“Hyungwon, please drive.”

“Oh, right, right.”

He drove in and found a parking spot, but you knew the conversation was far from over.

“Did they find someone better than you or something? It’s like firing the CEO, it doesn’t make sense.”

“It’s complicated, but like I said before, I don’t mind.”

“Well, I was gonna offer you to join me with freelance work but, NexGen, I suppose the severance packet is good.”

“Can’t forget the NDA, I probably won’t be able to work for a few years.”

“Now that’s stupid.”

“Head programmer, remember, I know all their secrets.”

“Dangerous, aren’t you?”

“Very.” You chuckled. “So, I’m gonna be a few hours. You can hang around the parking lot, or head out and do something until later. You had your parking pass for this place, which is good for the day, so don’t worry about getting back in.”

“Hm… so I can’t go in with you?”

“No, this is… well… I don’t think so…”

“I was joking first off, I don’t think I should be allowed to go in with you.”

“You’re right, but the idea is nice. Maybe some other time.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“What are they gonna do? Fire me?”

“Funny.”

“Anyway, I’m off. I really hope you don’t stay here for the next couple hours.”

“Nah, I’m a go buy you flowers or something.”

“Don’t, food would be good though.”

“Snacks it is, you’ll probably be hungry when you’re done.”

“Most likely. Thanks. I’ll see you later.”

For a moment you nearly leaned over to give him a kiss. You’ve never been in a serious relationship, not like this, yet it kinda felt right to just kiss him goodbye. Although you managed to catch yourself and give an awkward wave before getting out of the car. You two still hadn’t kissed, and you weren’t sure why. Things were going well, but you couldn’t tell if you were scared, or Hyungwon was being patient, or he couldn’t make a move either, you weren’t even sure if who was supposed to make the first move, if any. Then it dawned on you that maybe you were both waiting for the other to make their move first. All this was giving you a minor headache, but thankfully you had something to distract you with.

You went through security again, and made your way over to the designated area. You did the code work, but someone else actually worked with the drones system, so this would be a joint trial run. You hadn’t actually done this before, usually Changkyun did, but last project, and a big one, so the company insisted you do this yourself. So this was your first time actually meeting anyone from the engineering department, and you had no idea what to expect. You knocked on the door, a voice from inside telling you to come in.

“Hello… I’m looking for Minhyuk?”

“That would be me, and you must be y/n.”

“Yes. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Same. Now, I have everything set up, so we can just start, although I was wondering… if I could meet them…”

“Them?”

“Yeah… the AI?”

“Oh… I didn’t… you know?”

“Who do you think designed it? I’m assuming it’s the watch?”

“It has a name.” Chae got off your wrist, returning to orb form. “Chae.”

“Chae?”

“Yes. Y/n helped me choose. It’s just a surname for now.”

“Wow.”

“Chae!” You grabbed him. “Just cause he said he knew about you doesn’t mean you can just reveal yourself!”

“It’s fine.” Minhyuk assured. “Who do you think designed his shell? I’m very in the know about this project, it’s why I’m the one here with you.”

“Oh… I see…” You let Chae go. “Sorry for my outburst.”

“You’re fine, I think you should apologize to Chae.”

“No, I should apologize. I shouldn’t be revealing myself unless given permission or it’s absolutely necessary.”

“I still shouldn’t be grabbing you out of the air and yelling at you.”

“I understand the circumstances and accept your apology.”

“I didn’t even say sorry yet.”

“I know you’re good for it.”

“Still. I’m sorry, Chae. Do you wanna get started?”

“Yes.”

So there were a few drones that had the updated code, in case, you never know what could happen. Since you knew what changes had been made, you knew what to test for. The drones were in a projection chamber, so it could be placed in certain scenarios and see how it reacted. You explained to Minhyuk some of the upgrades so he could create the environment for it. The simulations started out simple, and slowly the complexity would change to see if the drone could keep up.

Everything seemed to be going well, and scenarios were run multiple times. There were minor issues here and there with processing the right choice. Although the bigger issues were scenarios where multiple courses of action can be taken, and the drone needs to decide. Your code stated it’d choose the option that causes the least amount of harm, given the drones were now equipped with rubber bullets and tasers. Minhyuk would add to the complexity, trying to create a scenario where the level of intensity would increase.

“Your code is good, there have only been minor issues.”

“Why’d you say that? You’re gonna jinx it.”

Min laughed. “Nah, you’re fine.”

“We’ll see.”

You didn’t really let yourself feel proud of your work at first, worried about the hundreds of things that could go wrong. Now, you felt a bit better, and got a reminder that you’re only human and not perfect. Although you were pretty sure a lot of these good runs were thanks to Chae looking over your work.

“I’ve made note of all the issues that needed to be fixed.”

“Thanks, Chae. I’ll have something to do tomorrow. How many more tests?”

“I have one more scenario we could run.” Min said. “I’ll let you go soon, so don’t worry.”

“I was expected to be here for a long while, so let’s do this right.”

“Yes, boss.”

You chuckled. “I’m not your boss.”

“You’re higher up in the company than me so in a way you are.”

As the last test began you got a message from Hyungwon, asking if you’d be finishing up on time or would be going over. You told him you’d be out in a bit so he didn’t have to wait long. Of course you called it though. Half way through the test the drone started spinning around and then just fell to the floor, shut down.

“What happened?”

“A malfunction.”

“Min?”

“I’m not sure… the processor got fried or something.”

Min put his tablet down and rushed into the testing area. You quickly panicked and told Minhyuk not to go in there, but he said the drone was offline. Chae followed in as well, and you chased after him. It was your first time seeing a police drone, and it was nearly as big as Minhyuk as he was crouched down.

“How long will a diagnostic take?”

“I’ll have it done by tonight, at best. You can get going if you have plans or something.”

“Yeah, Chae, we should get going.”

“Understood.”

Suddenly the drone came to life and shot up. It knocked Minhyuk down and spun around a few times before honing in on you. There wasn’t really time to react before you were on the floor and seizing, having been shot with the taser. Your vision was fading in and out, and you were still twitching, no longer aware of what was going on.

“Y/n… y/n can you hear me?”

“Chae… Chae… where…”

“Stay awake…”

“… what…”

“Minhyuk, call an ambulance… the malfunction… she got hit with a higher voltage…”

“Chae…”

“Keep talking… stay with me…”

“Are you… are you ok…”

“I’m fine… just…”

You could vaguely hear him, but there was a slight ringing in your ear that was getting louder. There was a burning pain in your chest, but you certainly couldn’t move. What little you could see was changing, you felt yourself being moved, probably emergency services. You tried to talk, you didn’t know if your words were getting through. At some point there was something on your face, but after that everything was just a blur.

♥♥♥♥♥

It was hard to focus when you were surrounded by white, scrunching your eyes from the pain until your sight adjusted. You were in a hospital room, hooked up to an IV. You still felt this exhaustion, and you could barely move. You seemed to be okay, although you didn’t like being alone, that is until you realized Hyungwon passed out on the chair next to the bed.

“Hyungwon…” You tried to move. “Hyungwon…”

He took in a breath and got up, quickly waking up when he noticed you were awake as well. He rushed over, taking your hand.

“Are you okay? How do you feel? Where does it hurt?”

“Easy… that’s… too much…”

“Right, sorry, I was just so worried.”

“What… what happened…”

“Well, as I understand it, something went wrong, and you got badly hurt. I’m sorry, they didn’t tell me much, and I don’t know what you were doing in there.”

“That’s… where’s my phone… my smart watch…”

“Uh, here.” He grabbed your phone. “Are you sure you can use it?”

“Call… call Changkyun… please…”

“Yeah um… can you unlock it?”

“Ugh… I’ll give you the password.”

“Sure.”

You gave Hyungwon and had him dial Changkyun. When he picked up Hyungwon expected to explain the situation, but Chang was already ranting.

“Y/n, are you okay! I heard what happened, did you need surgery? Any head injuries? Are you-”

“I’m fine… I’m fine…”

“Thank goodness. When I heard what happened… where are you? I should-”

“What happened?”

“Huh?”

“I don’t… it’s all vague…”

“Oh, the drone malfunctioned and shot you with the taser. The voltage was way higher than it should have been. You’re lucky you only got hit with one of the prongs.”

“One?”

“Yeah, the other missed, well it didn’t miss, Chae-”

“Changkyun, you’re on speaker.”

“Oh… um…”

“Hold on.” You looked up at Hyungwon. “Could you take him off speaker and hold the phone to my ear? I can’t move my hands…”

“Yeah, sure. I should have done that from the start, I feel like I know things I shouldn’t now.”

“It’s fine, I’m sure it’s all… rubbish to you right now anyway…”

“Yeah… here…”

“Chang? Hey, we’re off speaker, what happened?”

“Why was I on speaker?”

“Chang, what happened?”

“Chae got hit by the other prong, so he malfunctioned a bit. His orb is damaged and Minhyuk is fixing it right now.”

“Is Minhyuk okay?”

“Yeah. After you got hit the drone shot off some rubber bullets, so he’s just got some minor bruises.”

“That’s good. Nothing else went wrong did it?”

“No, the drone’s offline now, battery got pulled out, and the whole department is focusing on figuring out what went wrong.”

“Okay. Do you… do you think you can… bring my smartwatch over?”

“Your smartwatch? Oh, uh, yeah, when Min is done I’ll come by with it.”

“Thanks. I’ll text you where I’m at.”

“Okay, get plenty of rest.”

“I will, thanks.”

“See you soon.”

Chang hung up and you took a breath. The memories of the event were vague, but at least knowing what happened was a relief. Hyungwon texted Chang the hospital location and put your phone down. He was about to speak when the doctor walked in.

“You’re awake, that’s good. I’m Doctor Lee, but you can call me Wonho if you’d like.”

“Wonho?”

“Any friend of Hyungwon is a friend of mine.”

“You two know each other?”

“Yeah.” Hyungwon explained. “We pretty much grew up together. I was kinda hoping he’d be assigned your case.”

“If you’re uncomfortable with this I can have someone else treat you.” Wonho offered. “It’s no problem.”

“No, you’re fine. I suppose you can tell me about my injuries?”

“Yes. The shock was pretty excessive, I didn’t know a taser could do such a thing. You have a first degree burn from where the prong hooked into you, and you might still be experiencing some numbness in your body. There’s no real permanent damage, so you’ll make a full recovery. I do recommend you stay in the hospital for a few days until you can get back on your feet.”

“Thank you… do I need any medication?”

“No, just plenty of rest for now. You should eat if you’re hungry. I can get one of the nurses to help you if you need to.”

“That’s alright… I think I can bother Hyungwon for that.”

Wonho chuckled. “Alright. I’ll have someone bring you food shortly.”

“Thank you.”

Hyungwon had no problem feeding you, even though you did try yourself at first. You could move your limbs a bit, but not to their full extent. It was kinda weird to be trapped in bed like this, but at least you had company.

“I know you didn’t hear much, but the drone… and all this, you can’t tell anyone.”

“Got it. My lips are sealed. I’m at least glad to know what happened. I was waiting for you and then an ambulance came and you were wheeled out.”

“Sorry to scare you.”

“You just focus on recovering.”

You watched TV, glad no news channel was reporting on the emergency that happened at NexGen. Hours later, Chang came by with some flowers.

“Hey, you found your way.”

“I’m not bad with directions.”

“Doesn’t mean you couldn’t get lost.”

“Funny. You’re okay right?”

“Yeah. Nothing too bad, just lots of rest. I’ll be fine.”

“Good, I was worried.”

“Don’t be, I got great insurance.”

“Yeah you do.”

“Did you bring what I asked?”

“Yeah.” Changkyun pulled out a watch from his pocket. “Here. No damage.”

“Thanks.”

As soon as you grabbed Chae a thumbs up emoji appeared on screen, you smiled. Chang hung around until visiting hours were coming to an end. Hyungwon was getting up to leave too but you asked him to stay.

“You want me to stay?”

“If you can… I don’t really want to be alone tonight… but you don’t have too…”

“It’s okay. I can stay.”

“Thank you.”

“This chair is pretty comfy so-”

“You… you could just… sleep with me… in the bed! I mean, we can share the bed… it’s… it’s big enough…”

“It’s okay, I don’t want to take up space.”

“But I don’t want you sleeping in the chair… I asked you to stay, the least I could do is make sure you sleep well…”

“And what about you?”

“I’ll be fine. It’s not like I can move much right now.”

“It’s okay, you-”

“I insist. You’re gonna make me feel really bad if you don’t.”

“Later then, when I feel sleepy.”

“Alright.”

You watched TV until you dozed off. You didn’t know it, but Hyungwon stayed up, waiting for you to fall asleep, so he could sleep in the chair. He wasn’t going to bother you, especially now that you were sleeping. In the morning Hyungwon also woke up first, stepping out to get you breakfast, and check in with Wonho over your recovery. When you woke up, which was to the smell of good food, he was sitting in the chair, texting.

“Hi…”

“Good morning.”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Hyungwon laughed. “I slept well, comfy bed.”

“I never felt you get in.”

“You must have been asleep.”

“Hyungwon.”

“You should eat before it gets cold.”

You dropped the conversation, not knowing what the truth was, and knowing he’d hold his stand. You looked at the food, your stomach growling.

“So much for last night’s dinner.”

“It’s fine, we can have a delicious dinner when you get discharged.”

“Thank you for staying, I appreciate it.”

“No problem. Now eat, I can feed you if necessary.”

Hyungwon stayed with you until work called him away, but he promised to come back and stay the night again if you needed him too. When he left you were alone, and finally had the chance to talk to Chae. He was about to shift to an orb but you stopped him.

“You can’t here…”

“Ah, right. I’m sorry about what happened.”

“Why are you sorry? It wasn’t your fault.”

“I failed to predict the malfunction. You got hurt.”

“I’m fine now. Besides, it was a malfunction, I don’t think any man or machine could have predicted it.”

“All I managed to do was take part of the hit.”

“It… it wasn’t an accident?”

“I managed to understand the drones next move milliseconds before it shot you. So I intercepted one of the prongs.”

“Oh Chae… you could have been severely damaged. You shouldn’t have done that.”

“Your injuries would have been worse if I hadn’t interfered.”

“I was told Minhyuk had to repair you.”

“Just my outer shell, my systems are fine. I was just over charged. I assure you nothing is wrong with me.”

“I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“As am I.”

Later in the afternoon Hyungwon returned, and you did ask him to stay. You had regained most of your movement in your arms, but your legs were still a bit stiff, so you needed help moving around. Wonho suggested a bit of physical therapy to help your recovery, which you agreed to. You kept Chae on you at all times, and Hyungwon always joined your sessions as well as your cheerleader. You felt a bit ridiculous but no one was making fun of you, so you worked hard. The only problem came at night, as you began to have trouble sleeping away from home.

“Hey… you okay?”

“Hm…” You rubbed the sleep from your eyes. “I just wanna go home…”

“Wonho said you can go home in a few more days. You can almost walk again.”

“I know… I just miss my bed I guess.”

“I do too.”

“You really don’t have to stay every night.”

“I don’t want to leave you alone, especially now.”

“Thanks, you’re really nice.”

“Well, isn’t your boyfriend supposed to be nice and supportive?”

“Ah… we haven’t used titles yet…”

“Oh… so I shouldn’t-”

“No, I like it…”

“So I can call you… my girlfriend?”

You blushed. “Yeah.”

“Well don’t I have a pretty girlfriend.”

You blushed harder. “Stop it.”

“But it’s true.”

“Sh!” You laughed. “Don’t make me regret this.”

“Nah, I won’t tease you too much. You should get back to sleep.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“You should try.”

“Will… will you get into bed this time?”

“What?”

“I know you don’t get into bed. You wait till I fall asleep.”

“Busted…”

“It’s okay… but maybe this time… I… maybe having someone with me will help me sleep…”

“You want to cuddle?”

“I’ve… never really done that before.”

“Me neither, I hope I do it right.”

Hyungwon got into bed with you, carefully taking you into his arms and making sure you were comfortable.

“You’re warm…”

“Thanks. Now try to sleep, you really need your rest.”

“I know, so stop talking.”

He chuckled. “Okay, good night.”

“Night.”

Your head rested on his chest, and his calm heartbeat helped lull you to sleep. Hyungwon was a bit hesitant to touch you, and then slowly pet you, watching you sleep. Thanks to him you could sleep through the night. You continued to sleep that way until you were finally discharged. Hyungwon took you home, helping you inside. He had brought some groceries as well, offering to cook something for you as a welcome home gift. You thought everything would go well, but of course there was someone you are forgetting.

“What are your intentions with y/n?”

“What?”

Hyungwon looked around the kitchen, knowing you hadn’t spoken to him. Before you could spit out some weird excuse Chae was off your wrist and back in his orb form, going right up to Hyungwon’s face. He had been very quiet at the hospital, as he had to be, but now that you were home, he didn’t have to be so careful. Although this was very uncalled for an unexpected.

“I asked you what are intentions with y/n?”

“Chae!”

“Chae?” Hyungwon stared at the orb perplexed. “Um… is this thing… talking?”

“Yes I am speaking to you. What are your intentions with y/n?”

“I…”

“Chae, what the hell!”

In your attempt to rush over to him you stumbled over yourself and fell. You could walk, but fast movement, like running, was still outside your grasp. Both Hyungwon and Chae went over to you, Hyungwon getting you into a chair. You were embarrassed, and grateful, and also angry. You grabbed Chae.

“What are you doing! You can’t just reveal yourself to a stranger!”

“What is going on?”

“Hyungwon… it’s complicated.”

“He hasn’t answered my question.”

“And why are you even asking? You picked him!”

“Circumstances have changed.”

“Chae-”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I am really confused right now.”

“Right…” You took a breath. “Hyungwon, you can’t tell anyone about this.”

“About what?”

“About Chae…”

“Chae?”

“I am Chae.”

“Wait… the orb… is Chae?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah, Chae here… is an AI…”

“AI?”

“I know, it’s complicated…”

“AI aren’t that… it’s not some guy connected to a microphone somewhere?”

“No, I assure you, this outburst is all Chae.”

“What…”

“Okay so… NexGen is working on advanced AI, and Chae here is the most advanced to date. He’s programmed to learn and has been with me for months now.”

“AI… this… advanced… I…”

“You can’t tell anyone. This project is super secret.”

“Wait, wait… you told me NexGen is letting you go… but they gave you this… project?”

“It’s my last… for the most part Chae has also learned coding… from me…”

“He’s your replacement? They literally had you train your replacement like this?”

“It’s not officially stated, but given the expectations on me, it’s very likely y/n will be let go once the police drone upgrade is complete. The accident has given us more time together, but I am aware that the deadline is fast approaching. It seems I will be leaving her in your care and I need to be sure you will look after her.”

“What?”

“Chae… was the one who signed me up for a dating app… you talked to him before our first date… he was playing matchmaker…”

“Your AI screened me. I can’t… I can’t believe any of this.”

“It’s a lot to swallow, I know.”

“So what’s the point of… Chae?”

“With more advanced AI, they could help better society. Instead of drones running on human programming, with AI like Chae… our machines could take better care of us…”

“Damn…”

“Yeah… didn’t really think of it like that till now.”

“Chae… you gave it a name?”

“Surname, one day I want him to pick his own name.”

“Ah, that’s very kind of you.”

“You can’t tell anyone about Chae. He’s doing well, but this project isn’t ready to go public.”

“I get that, we’d all be in a lot of trouble if word got out. So, Chae, right?”

“That is I.”

“I heard you got hurt too.”

“I took part of the hit for y/n to help minimize her injuries. I suffered mild damage but I am fully functional now.”

“Wow, taking a bullet… you two must be close…”

“Very. With that said, you can understand my concern over y/n and your intentions with her.”

“I like her, Chae. And I will look after her while you go off and better the world. Promise”

“I will keep you to that promise.”

You couldn’t help but hide your blush. You were glad they could get along, especially since you didn’t have to keep this secret anymore, but the conversation topic was making you burn up. You couldn’t look at either of them for a while.

“So, what exactly do you do with y/n? Besides learn how to code?”

“I study human behavior in order to better interact with them in the future. Your relationship has given me much to examine. I’ve also grown to help y/n around the house where necessary.”

“Like what?”

“With cooking, as well as day to day reminders of tasks that need to be done.”

“Cooking? That’s impressive. I suppose you can help me with lunch?”

“Yes. I have analyzed what you brought, and with what is available, we can make her favorite.”

“Perfect. Is that okay with you y/n? Y/n?”

“Yeah… sorry… it’s just gonna take some getting used to… you and Chae… I’m not used to him talking to anyone besides me… I’m glad you’re getting along though.”

“Yeah. I’m sure we’ll be fine, so sit back, food will be ready in a bit.”

“Thanks, can’t wait to see what this new duo cooks up.”

“You’ll love it. I guarantee it.”

41 notes · View notes

dajaregambler · 3 years

Text

HeliosR - Waterfront City Guide - Chapter 5

Translation of chapter 5 of the event ‘Waterfront City Guide’ from ‘Helios Rising Heroes’.

----Several days later.

Marion: First is the museum, and then the art gallery…. Ah yeah, this pancake place was on the sightseeing route too

Marion: Women will enjoy this place, not only because of how the pancakes taste but the interior is clean and you’re able to relax.

Ren: It’s also a place you often go to, right

Marion: Ah, yes. It’s a good choice to include it in the route

Marion: Besides that, there’s the chocolaterie “En Ciel”, and the shopping mall… looking at it from here, there’s more than enough points of interest.

Ren: Are we going to go to all these places to inspect? All of it in one day….?

Marion: Of course. We’re just looking around, it’s nothing hard now is it

Ren: We’d have to cover a lot of ground to thoroughly see all of Blue North though...

Marion: Is that what you were thinking about. If you get tired, you can opt for a taxi….

Marion: We’re heroes. Think of it as training.

Ren: G-got it

Marion: Ren, make sure to not get lost today. We won’t be putting time aside to go looking for you if you end up disappearing on the way.

Ren: Wuh….

Marion: And one more thing

Marion: It’s important to memorize the contents of the plan while we are looking around but, satisfying guests is our utmost priority.

Marion: Briefly put, you’ll have to learn about “The mind of hospitality”

Ren: Hospitality….

Marion: I believed that you’d have some friendliness in you since you’re of Japanese descent, but that’s not the case at all, is it?

Marion: I’ve been told that these are words describing a way of thinking that originates from Japan. Having the nuance of embodying the very spirit of friendliness and generosity.

Marion: Compared to the previous mission where we had gone to a Chinese restaurant, this time you have to also put effort into entertaining the customers.

Marion: In general you aren’t lacking, and due being the type to regularly read you have an abundance of knowledge, so that’s not what I’m worried about.

Marion: It’s rather that you…. have a lack of “sociability”.

Ren: Sociability…..

Marion: Yes. What should you always do when citizens greet you while you’re on patrol?

Ren: You shouldn’t ignore them.

Marion: Of course you shouldn’t.

Marion: That’s the most basic of basics. And a more proper, sincere response would be?

Ren: S-slightly nod at them…..

Marion: With what feeling?

Ren: Feeling…?

Marion: Seriously….

Marion: I won’t go as far to tell you to smile. Asking that of you is setting the bar too high to begin with.

Marion: However, NEVER forget the feeling of gratitude. Even if thousands of people were to approach you, each taking turns, you have to convey your appreciation to every single one of them.

Ren: T-thousands of people?

Marion: The other day you say something about being pandas at a zoo or whatever, but first you need to be able to be just as conscious

Marion: Since even these pandas are thanking the guests that come and see them.

Ren: …..They, do that?

Marion: If I knew it was like this, I would’ve let you more in charge of customer service back at that Chinese restaurant

Marion: Well, whatever, if you don’t have the confidence then come to me. And when I’m not around, use the ones around you as a reference.

Gast: ……..

Marion: Oi, Gast

Gast: ……….

Marion: GAST!!!

Gast: UOH!? What’s with the whip!?

Marion: What are you spacing out for…. Where’s your motivation?

Gast: I-it’s here! Right here! So put your whip away….!

Marion: …..

Gast: M’bad. It’s just…. uh, the weather’s nice, was all like wonder if Jack’s gettin’ the laundry done~ and all that

Marion: Jack?

Gast: Y-yeah, yeah, just that kinda stuff on my mind and all…. I’m really sorry, I’ll take it seriously from now on so forgive me

Marion: …….. Come on, don’t be too laid-back

Marion: Ah… we should get going to see the art gallery. I’ll be explaining on the way but pay attention to what you’re seeing. Ren, don’t you forget what I said either.

Ren: Ah, yeah. Understood….

Gast: What did he tell you, Ren?

Ren: ……. How about you worry more about yourself than me

Gast: Eh….

Ren: You’ve been blatantly acting strange ever since you heard that women are involved.

Gast: Gah!

Ren: Why is it that bad for you?

Gast: It’s just….

Ren: …..Is there some clear reason as to why you hate them?

Gast: …… It’s not that I hate ‘em though…

Gast: Reason, huh….. right, a reason…..

Ren: ………..

#heliosR #helios rising heroes #gast adler #marion blythe #ren kisaragi

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springfieldblues · 4 years

Text

my long ass review for S32E03 Now Museum, Now You Don’t

warning: LONG because i rambled about history more than i thought i would

id been looking forward to this one because i like art history, especially after seeing how they tried their best to stick to historical accuracy in the previous episode I, Carumbus. this time however….they didnt try that hard. i dont know why i thought theyd go through that sort of trouble again LMAO

but its okay, i dont really expect the simpsons to be the paragon of historical accuracy or anything. especially in anthology episodes told through a particular character's lens (in this case, lisa, whos already feverish so whatever)

first i just wanna say that this is, i guess, less of a review and more of an accidental list of history fun facts. so im just gonna get my general thoughts out of the way first.

the episode was fun! to me at least haha. i mean it got me to think and do a lot of research on my own so that must count for something. besides a couple of really weird ones, the jokes were good. anthology episodes tend to be….not that good but i thought this one was one of the better ones so far. idk.

anyway on to lisanardo da vinky its the renaissance! jesus christ the italian accents in the beginning of this segment were annoying as hell but i also feel like that was the joke lmao. ill be real i kind of tuned out for a second there when grampa started rambling so idk what he said.

i told myself i wouldnt get nitpicky with historical accuracy if the jokes were funny (final edit: so that was a lie) but this meh bit with the pizza guys and mascots was really not worth ignoring the fact that its impossible for italy to have any tomato-based food in the 15th century (tomatoes were brought to europe from the americas in the 16th century, and pizza as we know it today—flatbread, cheese, tomato—originated in the late 18th century)

oh this next part was kind of legit tho. lisanardo, like the real leonardo, became andrea del verrochio's apprentice at his workshop. i loved this next bit:

"Whoever paints the sweetest cherub will have the honor of having MY name signed on their work. That's what great artists do!"

SO YEAH as it turns out, lisanardo painted the sweetest cherubs. the painting here is called The Baptism of Christ, and the real leonardo assisted verrochio in finishing it. specifically, he painted the cherubs in the corner.

this causes verrochio to quit and go someplace with less talented people: a music school (yes, verrochio did quit painting after getting owned by young leo and his mad angel painting skills. he never did anything with music tho, he was more of a sculptor)

alongside lisanardo, in mr largo-verrochio's workshop we have barticelli (botticelli bart), dolphatello (donatello dolph), ralphael (raphael...ralph) and mediocrito (no one that i know of. sorry milhouse) (and kearney i guess but they dont refer to him by name). botticelli and donatello are said to have also been apprentices at verrochio's workshop, but raphael came a couple of decades later so he couldnt have been there. and donatello was too old so that claim is a bit questionable. but anyway

it IS true that leonardo's peers envied him, to the point where he was anonymously and purposefully accused of being gay (a major crime punishable by death in 15th century florence) while he was still working at verrochio's workshop

we are then treated by what im pretty sure is the fourth time the show has used 'at seventeen' by janis ian, this time sung by a dejected lisanardo (man they really do keep making yeardley sing these days huh) who only wishes to be appreciated and not envied.

"I'll show them all! I'll show them all in a secret diary that no one will decipher for 400 years!"

some of lisanardo's future inventions. who wouldve known

so after barticelli, for some reason (revenge??? or something?? what was his plan here idgi) steals lisanardo's diaries full of blueprints of her inventions and takes them to mr burns who i have to assume is pope alexander VI here, they decide to use her inventions for war.

"With these, we can kill the most evil people in the world!! ....Slightly different Christians."

leo actually did this of his own accord. im surprised this is what they decided to do with lisanardo instead of talking about leo's love of nature and vegetarianism (not a single mention of that in this episode? come on...) then again, trying to do good only to end up indirectly making things worse is a very standard lisa storyline. i guess they didnt want to miss the chance to have evil pope burns (very fitting, especially for that era since they were all about money and controlling the people)

so lisanardo decides to leave for france, unlike the real leonardo who was more or less persuaded by his ultimate fanboy king francis I to move to france.

"Lisanardo, I have many questions. Why are you hitting yourself? A nerd says 'what'? And how is it possible that I am rubber and you are glue? Et cetera, et cetera."

that line may seem a little random, like hes just nelson saying nelson things (and i mean, obviously he is) but the real francis also "had an unquenchable thirst for learning, and Leonardo was the world’s best source of experimental knowledge. He could teach the king about almost any subject there was to know, from how the eye works to why the moon shines." so yeah, he did have many questions and lisanardo, finally being appreciated for her intellect, was happy to answer them all. its very interesting how lisa assigned this role to nelson in her retelling of da vinci’s life :^)

and so she lived the rest of her days in france, nat king cole's 'mona lisa' plays because duh, and they make a da vinci code reference because duh. and the segment ends. and not a single time did they show the actual mona lisa painting. the fuck?

(ngl i was fully expecting bart to say 'leonardo da vinky' for a second here)

so this next segment is about french impressionist painters, most likely the batignolles group, a name adopted by the early representatives of impressionism. its much more vague than the lisanardo segment since no one here is referred to by name (except moe, more on him in a sec) but i dont feel like it really matters in this case. bart is prrrrooobably claude monet but its hard to say, this segment is kind of a mish-mash of a lot of things. also i gotta say i really liked how lisa introduced the story to bart with an 'if you hate the formal study of art' and not 'if you hate art' because thats exactly my headcanon. i LOVE the concept of artist bart and whenever its referenced it just makes perfect sense to me.

anyway the segment opens in 1863 at the école des beaux-arts (back then it was actually known as the académie des beaux-arts), preserver of traditional french art styles. skinner reviews his students’ paintings one by one. praises the plain, unimaginative paintings depicting your typical european countryside landscapes. very run-of-the-mill (haha get it...cuz theres….a windmill) (although the real académie didnt approve of such basic stuff, they wanted artists to draw epic historical and mythological scenes) then he gets to barts painting and he gives him an F- because the painting made him think.

(the paintings in this scene arent real famous paintings as far as i know but they are inspired by real paintings enough to get the point across)

in comes barney dressed as bacchus as a model for the students to sketch, which i just loved:

barney: “You prefer robe open or robe off?” skinner: “Just cover your privates with this walnut shell.” barney: “Whoa!!! So roomy!”

skinner gasps in horror at bart’s sketch, which “looks nothing like him” and bart explains that “it shouldn’t; we’re making the art that we feel because we can’t compete with a camera.” damn, you go bart. take that, realism. draw what you feel!!

(also no, you didnt need to hold still for 17 hours for a daguerreotype. 30 min tops.)

nelson haw-haw of the week: FOIE-gras!

so here they are at the moulin rouge (“enjoy it before baz luhrmann ruins it” hey shut up. i love that movie), which wouldnt be built for another 26 years, but it is the most widely known gathering place for bohemians in the public consciousness so i can understand why they went with the moulin. nelson delivers this anachronistic line:

“This époque keeps getting beller and beller!”

which alludes to la belle époque, the golden age of france usually dated from 1880 to 1914. made me snort so ill let that slide

and heres moe! as henri de toulouse-lautrec, who was actually born a year after the year this segment is set in. yo moe szyslak he was just 1

toulouse-moetrec introduces himself as the chronicler of the demimonde (not an actual job). an iconic figure associated with the moulin rouge (largely due to his affinity for alcohol and prostitutes), toulouse-lautrec was also a painter, having illustrated a series of posters for the moulin himself. he simply had to be in this segment, anachronisms be damned, just because they decided to include the moulin. cant have one without the other.

and yes he did have a walking cane where he kept his liquor.

i love how everyone drinks absinthe in this place. theyre bohemians what else would they drink

toulouse-moetrec points out that barts paintings are the greatest thing hes ever seen (and hes seen like five things!) and that hes a genius. milhouse realizes that they should stop doing what the teacher says and use their own minds to instead...start doing what bart says lmao. to the easels!

next we have skinner hyping up chalmers about the art his students made for the salon de paris, an art exhibition that the emperor of france will attend. he assures him that none of these paintings will encourage debate, provoke thought or be out of place at a dentist’s office. when they unveil the art, theyre both SHOCKED at how scandalous the paintings actually are.

this reaction was kind of accurate. impressionism was severely rejected at the salon de paris, due to paintings not looking finished enough to them, they thought they were ugly and vulgar for depicting nudity in a contemporary setting (historical and mythological nudity was fine). these impressionist paintings were sent to the salon de refusés, which is. yeah. the place where they sent the rejects. the salon de refusés does not make an appearance but this scene makes a reference to it when the artists get expelled from the royal salon. also:

“What about our student loans?” “Oh they’ll be refunded. We are not barbarians, I mean, come on.”

(god if only)

so the painters are down because they want the emperor to actually see their paintings. toulouse-moetrec pipes in once again with an idea.

“There is one thing the emperor loves more than anything.” “France?” “No, he hates France.”

apparently the emperor really loves cheese, which makes sense since its napoleon III (who loved cheese) and homer (who loves cheese.) so the painters roll into the salon inside a giant wheel of cheese (obviously.) as lenny said, “Eh, you know French cheese. Very runny.” napoleon III chases after the wheel into a room, where the wheel falls apart after getting chomped on by the emperor. now that they got his attention, the painters proudly show the emperor their impressionist art, which he couldnt be more indifferent about because he just wants to eat his cheese dammit, and he awards them with the royal medallion just to kind of get them out of his way. skinner immediately starts kissing ass (as he does) until marge’s like ‘hey wait a minute. you expelled these students from the royal salon’ and an executioner immediately starts ominously measuring skinners neck.

“Uh, sir...is your tongue sticking out because you’re dead or because you’re mad at me?”

and thats the end of that lmao (gore in this episode, gore in the last episode, and next week we’re getting gore too cuz its THOH, what the hell is goin on)

we get a short intermission with maggie, who wants a story for her too! lisa tells her that renaissance artists loved to put babies in their paintings, especially baby angels.

here she is showing her The Triumph Of Galatea by raphael:

King David Playing The Harp by peter paul reubens:

and a very simplified version of pretty much any depiction of hell by hyeronimus bosch lmao:

not much else to say about this one, really. but i really liked that sky!

the last segment is about frida kahlo and diego rivera. or as bart puts it ‘the one about a fat guy whos wife is too good for him.’ i was REALLY looking forward to this one because i love frida and i thought itd be a cool opportunity for animators to go bonkers and do really cool shit with her art as inspiration…..but the segment is not about frida, its about diego and his selling out to capitalism. and its also yet another story with homer and marge drama. no funky cool animation here. sigh i guess i’ll take it

the story begins in 1929 at la casa azul, frida’s home (now museum dedicated to her life and work.) frida and diego are getting married. this courtyard definitely did not look this way yet back in 1929. also theres something very cringy yet funny about lovejoy saying spanish words the way he does, i honestly cant decide how i feel about that one

the writers know theyre being cringy with their gringoness so they go along with it.

moe: “Spanish for ‘best wishes’!” mel: “Spanish for ‘congratulations’!” bumblebee man: “Spanish for ‘muy bueno’!”

OH YEAH BUMBLEBEE MAN this is his new voice actor, eric lopez! hes not mexican but its still great to finally have a latino actor voicing a latino character and hes very excited to be part of the show so i hope to hear more of him!! im rooting for him

el barto/zorro makes an appearance which i am very confused about. he has jack shit to do with frida and diego and mexico in the 20s-30s. el zorro was set in the spanish california of the early 19th century. their use of the original theme song makes me think they just wanted to flex their disney privileges tbh

lets not talk about that that whole scene was bad

anyway diego announces he and frida are going to new york, without even asking her first. frida is obviously pissed.

“Don’t worry, as a woman, you’ll be treated with much more respect in America.”

so in new york, diego is having a bit of a business meeting with mr burns as one of the members of the rockefellers, who is commissioning him to draw a mural for the rockefeller center. its kinda funny how he refers to him and frida as socialists even though they were very much communists lmao its okay you can say it. ok so far, but then frida says ‘yes, we hate the capitalists! right now, a young socialist is being born who will take them down! mr. bernie sanders. i hope hes quick about it’ and that was a simple enough joke and couldve been left at that but then its immediately followed by this weird as fuck family guy-esque cutaway gag to bernie as a baby:

“Getting a cootie shot should not cost your lunch money. And if you don’t listen to me, listen to the Bernie Babies! What? Everybody’s got goons.” *larger babies start beating up this other baby* “I disavow that, and welcome it.”

this confused me so much that i had to ask one of my american friends to help me understand, but even she was like ‘uhhh yeah thats a weird joke,’ especially now that hes been out of the race for months (then again these episodes take almost a year to produce. i guess they couldnt be bothered to replace it with something more relevant.) whatever that was weird and confusing and unfunny moving on

frida is pretty irked that diego is going through with this deal. after all, it goes against everything they believe in. im not sure how the real frida felt about diego doing the mural, but she did feel a bit of rage during her visit to the united states, especially the obvious disparity between rich and poor. she hated having to interact with capitalists and found americans very boring. in this segment, frida seems to be acting more like the american communist party, which diego got kicked out of for accepting commissions from wealthy patrons. in any case, frida is pretty upset about this whole thing.

and finally we get the first and only kind of surreal frida moment. kinda. maybe. its more cartoonish than anything but im desperate ok

interesting how they felt like they had to add a “don’t smoke” in big letters after showing patty and selma flying away on their giant cigarettes. i wonder if this is something theyre making them do now? i remember hearing something about them toning down patty and selma’s smoking

diego comes home to frida, drunk as hell, followed by the marx brothers. i cant believe they didnt make a marxism joke come on it was RIGHT THERE. THE MARX BROTHERS. KARL MARX. COME ON

frida paints her feelings.

this makes diego realize that frida is a genius and he is not half the artist she is. he proclaims he will now show his awe of her by sleeping with other women, starting “an hour ago.” to which frida replies, “and i will start sleeping with other women, starting two hours ago.” yes this was pretty much their relationship. though im just wondering how the hell did diego not know frida was this kind of artist until now? i know homers an idiot but jeez. art was how frida and diego met, diego knew from the get-go that frida was an incredible artist. i guess the fame got to his head or something. again, homer just being stupid.

“well enough already, while the art is still deco, okay?”

its time for the mural diego painted, Man At The Crossroads, to be unveiled:

rockefeller examines it. good and great so far, and then...uh oh

“Who’s that fellow…? With the beard, and the bolshevik smile…” “That’s the founder of Soviet Russia, Lenin!”

“B-b-but he’s a communist!” “Oh he just attended a couple of meetings.”

rockefeller will not have this communist in the temple to capitalism that is the rockefeller center, so he orders diego to paint over it. diego stands his ground and refuses. despite rockefeller’s threats, diego says that theres only one person he wants to be proud of him no matter what and in true homer & marge fashion, frida is touched by this. they happily leave the rockefeller center.

now, the real story of Man At The Crossroads and the rockefeller center was actually not that different. as soon as the rockefellers found out diego had snuck in a portrait of lenin into the mural, they ordered him to paint over it, to which he refused. diego even offered to include abraham lincoln and even american abolitionists in the mural as a compromise, but the rockefellers simply did not want any references to communism whatsoever. they did not complain about the hammer and sickle, though. yes, they did know diego was a communist and hired him anyway. what did they expect? lmao. diego said:

"Rather than mutilate the conception [of the mural], I shall prefer the physical destruction of the conception in its entirety, but preserving, at least, its integrity."

so they decided to destroy the mural before it was even finished and they never talked to each other again.

diego then repainted the mural at the palacio de bellas artes back in mexico, this time known as Man, Controller of the Universe. this new version included even more communist leaders and a depiction of john d. rockefeller jr. drinking at a nightclub, right underneath a depiction of syphilis bacteria. cue nelson haw-haw:

this was the version they used in the episode also, since the original was, well, never finished and also destroyed. only a black and white photograph of it exists, taken by diego before it was destroyed so he could remake it.

right so, homer!diego then pulls a Barthood and finishes the episode with a large mural summarizing the entire episode. he says some rick and morty thing i didnt get because i dont watch the show idk idc

the end

ALRIGHT NOW ITS TIME FOR THE STORY OF VINCENT VAN MOE

#if you read all of this bless you #the imageless gdocs version of this is 8 pages long #hope you...enjoy?!?! these art history fun facts?!?!#dont let me do something like this again but also let me know if i should do something like this again #i was really only motivated to do this because im already passionate about the subject so idk if i could do it otherwise #anyway. this took me all day yesterday because the power kept going out #but im finally done #bye

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crystalninjaphoenix · 3 years

Text

MerMay 2021 Day Six History Lesson

“You ever notice how all the cool shells are always far out at sea?” Muirin picked up a scallop and turned it over in his hands. “Like, the ones that make it to the shore are always small or broken.”

“It’s because of the waves and stuff,” Sereia said, peeking into a rock crevice to see if there was anything inside. “They like...break them up. Friction.”

“Are you sure you can carry all that, Muirin?” Chase called from where he was laying on the ocean floor nearby. “You didn’t bring a bag, did you?”

“I got it, we’re not too far out,” Muirin said.

Sereia rolled her eyes. “All the kids at school are gonna be sooo jealous of your seashell collection.”

“Hey, you never know.” Muirin grabbed another shell. “Look at this one, it’s like a uhhh...turret shell, I think. You know, in the old days, before they had money, they’d trade shells for stuff.”

“Not sure how accurate that is,” Sereia mumbled. “I’m pretty sure, like ancient Greece had money. Like coins and stuff. Right, Dad?”

“Huh? Uh...” Chase flicked his tail. “Greece is that...that place with the pyramids, right?”

“No, that’s Egypt,” Muirin said. “Ser, I don’t think merms are gonna know stuff about human history. Much less if ancient Greece had coins or not.”

“But Dad went to human school, right?” Sereia looked over at Chase.

“Well, I went to one year of human school,” Chase explained. “And I wasn’t very good at it, probably because I was missing a lot of background knowledge. Math and history were probably my worst, but biology was neat, even though I had trouble understanding. I liked art. Painting was fun.”

“Oh! Hey, I have an idea.” Sereia swam over to Chase, turning upside down to look at him. “Can you tell us some merm history? Can you, huh huh?”

“I thought you hated school, Ser,” Muirin teased.

Sereia stuck her tongue out at him. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like finding out new things. I just don’t like tests. And mermaid stuff is cool.”

“Hmm...” Chase considered this for a moment. “Well, there’s a lot of history, some of which I don’t even know, but I could give you guys some basics, if you want.”

In unison, Sereia and Muirin swam over to the patch of sand Chase was resting on and settled down, lying on their stomachs with their heads in their hands in identical positions. They briefly looked at each other and giggled before going quiet.

Chase smiled. “Alright, then. If you’re so eager.” That caused a few more giggles. Chase couldn’t help but laugh, too, then adjusted his position to be more upright. “Okay. So...where to start? I’m gonna assume a lot of early human history and early merm history is pretty similar, like the bits about hunting food but then learning to farm and making civilizations. Is that right?” Sereia didn’t answer, but Muirin nodded. “Alright. So, in that case, merm history from there is divided into four eras: ancient, monarchy, shipwreck, and modern. The lines between these eras are kinda blurry but they’re just really general outlines. Ancient is the oldest, of course. Those were when the first civilizations started to get really big.”

“Oh! Mesopotamia is the oldest human civilization,” Muirin said proudly. “It’s 6000 years old. We learned about that this year. It made the first writing system!”

“Six thousand? Wow. That’s pretty old.” Chase whistled, impressed. “I’m pretty sure the first merm civilizations are around that old, too. But don’t take my word for it, it’s been forever since I learned the exact dates and names. I do know that the first merm alphabets were around that time, too. But you see, humans kinda kept up with all their different languages; that’s not the case for merms. Ancient times were just about the only time period where merms all spoke differently. They were also when we interacted the most with other water races, like sirens and selkies and merrows and—”

“Those guys are all myths!” Sereia said excitedly. “So they’re real?! Does that mean other fantasy creatures are real, too?! Like on land?”

Chase shrugged, adjusting his cap. “I don’t know anything about land. But I do know that a lot of ancient water races eventually merged together into what merms are today. A lot of families have traditions from those different roots, but some might have different ancestors and not even know it.”

“Okay, so after the ancient era came the monarchy era, right?” Muirin prodded. “What was that?”

“Ah. Well, a lot of merms might call that the golden era, because we did pretty well back then. There were all these cities being built, people made and wrote down history and stories in books, art and politics happened...lots of stuff. It was called the monarchy era because a lot of...what’s a good word...a lot of countries were created and grew bigger, ruled by monarchies.”

“Like feudal kingdoms?” Muirin asked. “Like, where there was a king in charge, who had lords, who were in charge of knights, who were in charge of serfs?”

“Uh...I think there were some like that, yeah,” Chase frowned. “But there were a lot of other monarchies under different systems, too. This is just the basics, though, and quite honestly, it’s been a while since I learned about monarchy systems anyway, so we’ll just leave it at that.”

“Okay, so what’s with the shipwrecks, then?” Sereia asked, flicking her tail excitedly. “Was that when mermaids would draw pirates to rocks and stuff?!”

Chase hissed inwardly, trying to think of a way to describe it. “Okay so...you had all these cities and kingdoms under the monarchy era, right? Well, a lot of merms weren’t happy with how things were, so they revolted against the rulers. The old monarchies didn’t go away for a while, but there were all these new systems as well, and the countries were a lot smaller, but there were more of them. You know, something I thought was interesting in how different humans were from merms, was that you just...stayed in cities. And actually, your cities got bigger. It was kind of the reverse for us. We all started spreading out, and some groups went back to wandering and hunting.”

“So why’s it called the shipwreck era?!” Sereia repeated insistently.

“Because there were a lot of shipwrecks,” Chase explained. “Just like you guessed, merms would draw a lot of human ships and make them wreck, so they could take the things inside. That’s when merms with siren blood made the best use of their powers.”

“So...merms didn’t like...eat humans or anything?” Sereia asked.

“Sereia!” Muirin gasped.

“What?! That’s what they always say!”

“Humans have a lot of myths about merms that aren’t true,” Chase said patiently. “No, that never happened. All the shipwrecks caused by merms were to get the human-made things on board. You can think of it like pirates, if you want. Stealing and plundering. A lot of trade was raised around human-made items.”

“But merms don’t wreck ships anymore, do they?” Muirin sounded like he definitely didn’t want that question confirmed.

“No, that stopped happening a while ago.” Chase traced an idle pattern in the sand. “That’s when the modern era started. Part of the cause of it was a lot of merms continuing to leave monarchies and even other groups, making more and more smaller sections. And part of the cause was human diving, as humans explored deeper and deeper into the ocean. Any large merm settlements were left behind. Some merms continued to scatter, and some went deeper into the ocean, but I don’t know what’s happened to those groups, if they’re still around. So nowadays, merms tend to be either on their own with their families, or gathered in small schools.”

“Whoa...” Muirin breathed. “It’s like...the apocalypse happened.”

Chase frowned. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“You offended him,” Sereia whisper-shouted, nudging Muirin’s arm.

“No, I wasn’t offended, don’t worry,” Chase assured them. “It’s just that the apocalypse is...well, a bad thing. And things aren’t bad now, and weren’t really that bad once merms started all separating. It’s just a different way of doing things than humans. I mean, I expect you two to look at it in a human way, that’s how you were raised. But it’s not like merms are behind humans or anything. We still do all the things we did before, just all spread out.”

“I think the thing about one language is cool,” Sereia said. “So we’ll be able to talk to any merm anywhere and understand them.”

Chase chuckled. “Well, there might be some differences in the way we speak. Like different accents. You’ve probably already noticed that.”

“Yeah, all your friends talk differently to each other,” Muirin agreed. “Like...Schneep is very different.”

“Well, he’s from a very different area. And Marvin and Jameson are freshwater, so that’s even more different. Heck, they probably have a slightly different history from what I’ve told you.” Chase looked up towards the surface. “Hmm...it’s getting late. Your mom will want you home soon.”

“Aww...okay.” Sereia pushed off the ocean floor and into the water. “C’mon, Muir.”

“H-hang on.” Muirin was having some difficulty gathering up all the shells he wanted to keep. He kept dropping them.

Chase smiled. “Here, use the hat.” He took off his cap and handed it to Muirin. “You can put some in there.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Muirin said, relieved, as he started putting shells inside. “Oh, and thanks for telling us about merm stuff. That was pretty interesting.”

“Come on, you guys!” Sereia performed a flip in the water, clearly ready to move.

“We’re coming, we’re coming!” Chase said. “Don’t you worry, shelly.”

And so, the three of them headed back to the shore.

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticeye fanfiction #jacksepticegos #septic egos #septic egos au #jacksepticeye au #chase brody #brigid writes fanfiction #mermay snippets

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not-close-to-straight · 4 years

Text

Hexes and Honeysuckle (Two)

Welcome back to the story!

I’d like to preface this part by saying that while I usually do an insane amount of research for my fics and stick close to accurate information, for the sake of this witchy one I’ve mixed and matched my favorite ideas from varying spiritual beliefs. I’m only warning you guys so no one gets offended like “that’s not what (we) believe!”-- it’s just for the sake of the verse and so I can sprinkle in whatever spiritual/mystic things I want without having to do hours of research to make sure they are witch/belief specific.

Enjoy!

MASTERLIST HERE

*******************“

I’ve never actually been out this way from town.” Tony commented as he picked his way over the cobblestone path that led off the main street and towards the woods. “Why do you live here when most the witches live on the other side?”

There was no answer from Bucky and Tony twitched his nose irritably then continued, “How far is it anyway? My paws can only take so much walking before giving out. I have delicate beans, you know.”

“Delicate beans.” Bucky readjusted his pack over his right shoulder and glanced back at the familiar. “What does that mean?”

“My beans.” Tony repeated. “The soft pink part of my feet?”

“You call them beans?”

“Uhhh the nice people who pick me up and tell me I’m adorable and perfect call them beans.” Tony said flatly. “Why, what do you call them?”

“I dunno.” the witch glanced back again. “Cats are meant to be apex predators, ain’t ya? Why don’t you call them feet. Feel like lions and tigers don’t call ‘em beans.”

“Well they aren’t as pretty as I am.” the familiar paused to sniff at a flower growing from the cracks of the cobblestones. “Honestly though, how far out do you live? My beans are a’barkin’ and there is no end in sight to this cobblestone roadway here. I feel like a proper witch would offer their familiar a ride. “

“Feel like a proper familiar would be able to walk a couple miles without a runnin’ commentary.” Bucky readjusted his pack for the third or fourth time in so many minutes and then motioned ahead. “We’re here anyway, s’just right here through the willows.”

“Oooh willows.” the familiar sat up on his hind legs and batted at one of the hanging branches. “Good choice. Is your magic linked to nature or are you more of the elemental variety?”

“Um, I dunno.” the question bothered Bucky the same way any questions about his powers did, and he grimaced as he crossed the thresh hold of the clearing, the base of his neck buzzing as he moved into another witch’s space. “Does that matter?”

“Of course it matters. And also, it’s not a question you should be shy about, it’s as common as me asking your name. Sheesh, I knew you were a newbie witch but that is--”

-- Tony stopped stock still, one paw lifted over the boundary of the clearing, electric blue eyes narrowing in confusion. “This isn’t right. Why isn’t this right? Whose house is this?”

“Mine.” the witch pulled out keys and opened the door to the cottage. “You coming or what?”

“No, I’m not coming.” Tony put his paw down and backed up several steps. “No. Bucky, as a familiar I can’t cross into another witch’s space uninvited but I should be able to cross your space invited because we’ve been bound by the match makers. So why are my whiskers actually buzzing right now telling me to stay the hell off this property?”

Bucky didn’t answer right away and the familiar backed up another step, sat down to really look at the clearing and the little cottage at the center. There was no ash tree planted near the northeast corner of the home to settle roots and bring healing with every sunrise, no honeysuckle planted in the boxes at the sill to ward away malcontent spirits. No pieces of moonflower at the doorway to call the blessings of the lunar cycles nor sage dried and hung ready for use in spells.

There wasn’t even a symbol inscribed on the door frame to mark the cottage as a witch’s property much less as Bucky’s property and Tony twitched his tail once, twice, then realized-- “This isn’t your house.”

“Well, I guess not in the technical sense.” Bucky shrugged half heartedly. “I’m renting.”

“YOU’RE RENTING?!” The feline shrieked, and Bucky jumped at the noise. “What the hell kinda witch rents?! You have to have an ash tree on your very own property! You have to have roots at your home base! Why don’t you have roots to steady your magic!?”

“Because I’m renting.” the witch repeated. “Guess the lease agreement didn’t have a clause about an ash tree. What’s the harm?”

“Oh my god.” Tony’s left eye twitched a few times. “Oh Medusa I’m actually having an aneurysm right now. What’s the harm is that if your magic doesn’t have roots, your magic might as well be fireworks. Just blasting out there and making noise, looking pretty but accomplishing basically nothing. How do you not have an ash tree?”

Bucky pursed his lips. “I’m renting. You coming or not?”

“I have to be invited onto another witch’s property.” Tony shook his head. “Can’t cross the boundary without burning up a little bit and since my beans are extra sensitive today anyway--”

“You and your goddamn beans.” The witch rolled his eyes hard enough to hurt and then snapped his fingers and pointed to the Welcome mat in front of the door. “Tony! Please come here! You are officially invited onto my rented property!”

Cautiously, carefully, Tony placed a paw over the clearing boundary and when his whiskers didn’t catch fire, he took another few steps in and huffed out a relieved breath. “Okay, not going to combust. Here we go, walking into another witch’s rented house. First time for everything I suppose, can’t help but wish maybe this time around Pep and Tasha had--eep!”

The cat yelped in surprise when he was suddenly scooted right into the house courtesy of the gentle but still pretty damn pushy side of Bucky’s boot. “Hey hey hey hey HEY! Easy on the goods witchy boy! This booty is my most valuable asset!”

“I don’t um--” Bucky paused, then shook his head. “You know what, I don’t even know where to begin with that. Just get inside so I can shut the door, air conditioning isn’t free and you’re letting it all out.”

“Air conditioning isn’t free, he says.” Tony mocked. “Conjure yourself up a stiff breeze and quit bitching about it.”

“If I didn’t know I needed an ash tree, why d’ya think I know how to make the wind blow?” the witch pointed out and the familiar practically screeched,

“Because learning about ash trees is Lesson One of witchery and magic! What sort of witch doesn’t know about an ash tree or about--” Tony stopped mid shout, partly because he was frustrated that his cat-form shouting wasn’t half as fierce as he wanted, partly because Bucky’s face fell and Tony had the sudden, uncomfortable realization that he was being mean.

“Never mind.” Tony cleared his throat and flexed his claws into the carpet a few times. “Where is your potion room? I’d like to see what you have so I know where to start with your training.”

“Uh…” Bucky unwrapped a loaf of bread and pulled out a knife to start slicing it. “Over there by the table?”

“Your potion room is a shelf by the table.” Tony twitched his nose as he measured the height of the table, then with a little mrrrp! leapt up onto the surface and sniffed curiously at the few assorted bottles crammed haphazardly into the corner. “Meditation and… healing. That’s it? These other bottles are empty! Where’s the rest of your potions?”

“Don’t need anything but those ones.” Bread sliced, the witch opened the fridge and rummaged around for last nights left overs. “No sense in making the rest if I don’t need ‘em.”

“That’s not true at all.” The familiar stated flatly. “You need at least ten-- several potions of varying degrees of strength, at least one healing infusion though judging by the way you carry that shoulder you should have more on hand, and you definitely need a few salves. What happens if you get hurt?”

And with a sideways glance at the witch, “Or if your present pain gets worse?”

“Band-aids.” Bucky plunked down a box of bandages and went back to making food. “Wrap a couple of those one whatever’s bleeding and everything’s fine.”

“Uh-huh.” Tony just blinked at him. “What happened with your arm anyway?”

“Nothing.” some day old veggies were tossed in with a liberal amount of garlic and set to cooking on the stove. “Nothing serious, anyway.”

“Bippity boppity bullshit.” Tony snorted. “What happened? Witch’s and familiars aren't supposed to have secrets.”

“Well I don’t want to talk about it.” A pan slammed down a little harder than necessary. “Why don’t you tell me why you’re cursed to be fuckin’ fluffy?”

“I told you, I sassed my Auntie.” the feline sounded bitter. “There, now I’m not keeping secrets from you, so you should stop keeping secrets from me. What’s with the arm or lack there of?”

“You sassed your Auntie.” Bucky looked as if he didn’t believe it a single bit. “Your Auntie? I’m sposed to believe your Auntie is powerful enough to bind you to four paws and a tail? Nah, now I’m calling bippity boppity bullshit.”

Tony narrowed his eyes but the witch just waited, and finally the feline twitched his tail and muttered, “Think whatever you want then.” and stalked away to explore more of the cottage.

If Bucky didn’t want to kick start their bond by sharing secrets then fine. It was pretty obvious this particular match wasn’t going to solve Tony’s problem anyway, so if the witch didn’t want to get chummy… fine.

He’d just get started being nosy and hopefully bedtime would come soon.

The cottage was nearly bare in the way that most rentals were, the bed pushed into the corner covered by a generic quilt, the pictures on the wall carefully neutral so no residual witchy influence could enter the home through a portrait or painting of anything with specifically magic connotations.

There was a spell book on the corner of a beautifully oaken desk-- expected of course, since oak meant knowledge and a connection to the spirits-- but while the desk was polished to a high shine and obviously carefully preserved, the spell book was faded and pages torn, the binding stretched and worn, the clasp hanging crooked on its hinge.

This was a book that had been used for a very long time, but not cared for, most likely slammed in frustration, carted around out of a sense of duty not of reverence and Tony put a careful paw on the cover so he could test the thrum of power through the pages.

But the spell book was weak, emanating nothing more than a light buzz which meant most of the magic had leeched away and most of the spells were lying dormant, useless without a witch to give them reason to exist.

A witch with no ash trees to put down roots, a rented cottage and a faded spell book. Scars and trauma and no idea whether or not his magic was linked to the basic elements or the life spell of nature herself. Bucky moved like he hurt but had only one half used pain potion, he wasn’t old enough to have forged a strong enough familiar bond to be devastated over a loss but the witch had gone to match makers to find a companion like only the most desperate did.

There was clearly more to Bucky besides a lack of interest and knowledge in most things witchy and Tony wasn’t sure if Pepper and Natasha had purposefully left it out of their discussion to force Tony to share something emotional with his new witch--

--or if the formidable pair with all their wisdom honestly didn’t know.

“What’s this box?” Tony paused in his exploration by a deep box stuffed with freshly laundered but clearly worn blankets. “Do you keep something in here? Artifacts maybe?”

“They said I was gettin’ a cat, so I figured I should get you a bed.” Bucky said from the kitchen. “Didn’t know how many blankets you’d want so you can add more or get rid of some or whatever you want.”

“You think I’m going to sleep here.” The familiar stated. “In a box. You think I’m sleeping in a box?”

The witch kept stirring his food and shrugged, one shoulder lifting and falling, the other barely moving at all. “I guess?”

“Well guess again, Hocus Pocus.” Tony snorted, and Bucky’s lips lifted in what might have been a barely there half smile. “A box. What the fuck.”

The cat kept muttering but Bucky tuned him out and kept working on dinner, or at least the left overs that were passing for dinner. He didn’t cook much these days, but truth be told, Bucky hadn’t ever cooked much ever. An appetite seemed just as difficult to come by as a decent night’s sleep, the energy required for cooking a waste of effort when food pretty much tasted like sawdust ever since he’d lost his arm.

Almost seventy years now and Bucky hadn’t ever gotten used to the emptiness on his left side, the phantom pains had gotten worse as time went on and his clumsy attempts at healing potions hadn’t helped in the least. Established covens didn’t take well to lone witches, and even the communities willing to initially accept him had taken one look at the scars, at the mark on his shoulder and set him right back on the road alone.

This town had only been another stop on the map, another check in with a magical place because even though Bucky wasn’t welcome anywhere, being around other witches even from a distance helped with the loneliness. This cottage had been for rent and the absurdly ancient Natasha had found him in the grocery shop and decided that he apparently needed a familiar and now--

-- well now at least Bucky had a place to stay. The cottage was bare was livable, the town tiny but so far friendly, and though Natasha and her love Pepper made his skin prickle with their barely restrained power, at least Natasha had seen his scars and his star and her green eyes had dimmed in sympathy instead of widened in fear.

So now he had a place to stay, and a couple witches that were willing to have him in their town, and also a familiar who was not quite a familiar but more of a mega powerful witch cursed familiar and it wasn’t the best situation but hey, it was better than everything else this too long life had given him.

And besides, Bucky was sort of a failure of a witch and Tony seemed like a failure of a familiar… maybe they’d get along for that reason alone.

“Uh Tony?” He turned around to talk to the cat, offer some dinner or maybe even an attempt at actual conversation since he’d shut down the mention of his arm earlier. “Do you want any—“

“Can’t hear you!” The feline called, nothing more than a hind paw and a fluffy tail disappearing around a corner to the bathroom. “No time for chit chat while I’m being nosy!”

“Should have got a dog.” Bucky muttered. “Dogs always wanna hang out and eat. Pooch never would trade sittin’ with me to be nosy, would come running right over here to sit with me. Dang cat.”

It turned out eating dinner with a cat ignoring him was pretty much like eating dinner alone so Bucky started in on his plate, methodically eating bite after bite, putting his fork down to get a drink, picking it back up and forcing himself through the motions. Since food didn’t really taste good anymore he only cooked one meal a week and ate left overs the next several days, and since tonight’s meal was day six of this particular fare, it was harder than usual to clean his plate, to take in the calories his body required just to function.

Bucky missed the days when simple tasks didn’t feel impossible.

Still, the witch was nearly finished when he finally tuned in to the indignant huffs and the sting of staring eyes, and Bucky looked up in surprise, startling when he found the familiar glaring irritably in his direction. “What’s the matter? I thought cats liked to be ignored.”

“Well first of all, I’m not actually a cat.” Tony picked his way carefully between the dishes on the table, wrinkling his nose in disdain at the wilted flower arrangement. “I’m a familiar and I’m not actually a familiar, I’m a witch cursed to the familiar form. And second of all, I hate being ignored. I prefer to be the one doing the ignoring.”

“I don’t care about any of that.” Bucky stabbed at another piece of meat and tried not to sound so exhausted. “Besides, I tried talking to ya earlier, but you showed me your butt and said you’d rather be nosy. Wasn’t that you pretty much demanding to be ignored?”

The familiar made a noise that might have been a snort and then said, “I’m hungry.”

“There’s a pond out back.” Bucky took a bite of his food again, washing away the bland taste with a drink of water. “Go fish or something.”

“What!” Tony’s hair poofed up all along his back in shock and if Bucky wouldn’t have been so annoyed with his not-really-a-familiar he might have laughed at it. “I don’t eat fish! And I definitely am not going to catch my own dinner! Be civilized!”

“My god, you really are a pain in the ass.” the witch shoved back from the table and went to get another plate, grumbling under his breath the entire way and missing how Tony’s eyes lit curious, magical blue as the familiar stared at where Bucky’s left arm was missing, as the cat watched him fumble around trying to work with one hand.

“Here, have some of my dinner.” Bucky finally made it back and scooped part of his meat-potatoes-and peas onto the plate and shoved it towards the cat. “How’s that?”

Tony bent down and sniffed the food a few times, then sat back on his haunches and waited until the witch looked up again before promptly batting the plate right off the table with a swipe of his paw.

“WHAT IN THE–”

“I don’t like peas.” the familiar said primly, then very un-primly shrieked when Bucky grabbed him up by the scruff of his neck and carried him towards the door.

“Yeah, you’re sleeping outside tonight.”

“Wait! No!” Tony was pretty sure a full pound of hair stress-puffed off his body when he was suddenly and unceremoniously plopped onto the Welcome mat and the cottage door was closed in his face. “Bucky! Damn you, come back and let me inside!”

“Can’t your beans open the door?” the snarky witch called from inside and the familiar looked down at his little feet and muttered, “They’re pretty beans not magic beans.”

And then louder so Bucky could hear him, “You know, most witches would be thrilled to have a familiar like me! I’m beautiful and smart and when I don’t look like a Muppet I’m pretty damn powerful! A few quirky habits will have to be tolerated!”

“Flinging food off my table and makin’ a mess isn’t quirky it’s goddamn annoying!” Bucky retorted. “S’gonna take me half the night to clean up all the pieces without cutting myself.”

“Or you could use a cleaning spell like a real witch and stop being--” the second the words left the familiar’s mouth he was biting down on his tongue to try and take them back, another uncomfortable ripple of mean under his skin.

“...what I mean to say is that if you don’t let me in right now I’m going to caterwaul at your window until sunrise.” he said instead, because something wrong was tickling at the back of his mind and he needed some time to unpack exactly what it was about Bucky’s situation he was apparently missing. “Or you could let me in now and save us both my unfortunate rendition of Memories.”

“Bucky?” he called a few minutes later, and scratched his claws into the door. “Not liking peas shouldn’t be a deal breaker with this! Let me in!”

But the witch kept ignoring him, so with an irritated grumble Tony tiptoed his way off the porch step and down into the barren garden plot, skirted around a few rocks so he could see the window closest to the bed inside, then gave a little wiggle and a determined meow and leapt up onto the ledge--

--and yowled at the top of his lungs until the sun had sank below the horizon and the night sky was lit with stars and the lights inside the cottage had turned off so Bucky could try and get some sleep.

Tony sang Memories in his scratchy cat voice, he rolled over onto his back and wailed along to ‘I Will Always Love You’ which wasn’t half as beautiful coming from a kitty as it had been back when he’d seen it performed by the witch Whitney, whose heart had been broken so badly by her human lover that she’d used the power in her voice to break the hearts of everyone else before disappearing entirely.

Then it was ‘Smooth Criminal’ by the rebellious familiar Michael who’d shed his cat form and dealt with an ever changing human form so he could stay with the mortals until his coven called him back decades later.

The best singers were always magic and Tony loved music, as a witch he’d traveled incognito to every venue to hear the greats wherever they were found-- the symphonies, the concert halls, the piano bars, the raves. Tony had loved it all and now he missed it. Music didn’t sound the same to cat ears as it did in a human form, certain chords made his hair stand on end, anything too loud made him hiss and hide.

So yes, his terrible singing was partly to annoy the hell out of his new witch, but also because music had been the one indulgence he’d hoped to keep after he was cursed, and the hex had taken even that away from him.

The hex had taken everything.

“...Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.” the familiar sang mournfully, looking up at an uncaring moon. “Nobody knows my sorrow. Nobody knows the trouble I’ve--ack!”

Tony mrrrowww!ed in surprise when the window jerked open and one very tired witch glared out at him. “If I let you in, will you shut the hell up?”

“I can’t promise that.” Immediately snarky, Tony stuck his nose up in the air. “But I can promise if you grab me by the scruff of my neck again, I’ll scratch the shit out of you. I’m not actually a cat, I’m a familiar and I’m not actually a familiar I’m simply cursed to this size so you should watch it cos when I get back to my real body--ACK!”

Bucky scooped the cat up and chucked him lightly towards the bed. “If you stop talking, you can sleep on the bed.”

“I’ll sleep on the bed cos I want to.” the familiar sniffed, and then waited until Bucky went to flop back into the mattress before using a little bit of magic and poofing the pillow out from beneath the witches head and re-poofing it on his side.“Also I’ll be needing this pillow.”

“Should’ve got a dog.” Bucky heaved himself up and stalked over to get another pillow from the linen closet. “Should make you sleep in the damn box.”

“I’m going to do something terrible to your juice in the morning.” Tony informed him and the witch threatened, “Gonna shave you bald while you sleep.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Call you a goblin cat.”

“No!”

“Make you wear a sweater over your wrinkly ass.”

“How dare--!”

Bucky grinned to himself when he heard the cat practically spitting in frustration, and rolled over to try and get some sleep, feeling like maybe he’d won the exchange and feeling like maybe that meant things would be okay.

...but when he woke in the middle of the night to eerie blue eyes no more than an inch away from him and kitty fangs bared in a devilish smile, Bucky screamed at the top of his lungs and fell right out of bed to the sound of Tony’s near hysterical laughter.

Alright, maybe the witch hadn’t won that little exchange after all.

Damn cat.

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