#“yep totally wanting to fix our marriage” | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jimlingss · 4 years

Text

The Seven Year Itch

➜ Words: 5.2k

➜ Genres: 99% Fluff, 1% Angst

➜ Summary: The seven year itch is the curse of all marriages. Your own parents divorced after seven years. Your friends separated after that doomed number too. And now, you're trying to prevent the same downfall from reaching your marriage with Yoongi.

➜ Warnings: Implied smut and discussion of sexual topics.

You and Yoongi met at eighteen. It was during a crazy New Year’s festival on the beach around a bonfire when you were introduced to one another from friends of friends. Much to your mortification, you were totally drunk that night and hit on him while insisting he should make you s’mores since his toasted marshmallows were the best. The two of you started dating at twenty two after a few years of friendship and a tedious period of time wondering if he liked you like that. That New Year’s Eve was spent on a cute, romantic date holding hands while watching fireworks by the river. And now at thirty two…. “Did you do anything over the New Years break, Y/N?” Kijung asks as she stirs sugar into her steaming mug of coffee, leaning against the kitchen counter. She’s your colleague of several years now and part of the marketing team that attributed much to the profits and sales — or at least that was your opinion as part of the finance department. But your manager who has a stick up her ass and has a fixation for the research department would adamantly disagree. “Nothing much,” you reply. “Did you?” “Not really, but my boyfriend and I went on a road trip on New Year's Eve to the hot springs and we managed to catch the fireworks.” Kijung smiles and your eyes light up. “Oh, I went there a long time ago with Yoongi. It was nice.” “Yeah, I really enjoyed it.” Her cheeks are rosy and you muse how pleasant it is to be young and in love. Those old days of dating and shy flirtation seems so long ago. “Did you and Yoongi do anything special for the countdown?” “I don’t remember…” you murmur gently while you try to recall. These days, everything blurred together. Waking up, eating, television, bed time. “I think we just slept through the countdown.” “You make it sound like you’re fifty,” Seokjin laughs much to your chagrin, entering the kitchen and firing up the coffee machine. “Easy for you to say,” you retort back to your coworker with a light scoff. “Weren’t you having back problems a month ago?” “Nothing my chiropractor couldn’t fix up.” The human resource manager dramatically stretches out his muscles and rolls his broad shoulders as if to prove it. Much too early for his shenanigans, both you and Kijung exchange unimpressed expressions and choose to ignore him even when he begins to loudly protest. “Oh yeah, isn’t your wedding anniversary with Yoongi coming up?” Kijung asks, remembering that a few years ago, you took a long vacation to celebrate right around this time. “Yep.” You smile. “Seven years.” “Wow, that’s a long time,” Jin notes as he sips on his coffee. “My cat hasn’t even been alive for that long.” You’ve never really thought about it before. “It has been a long time, huh?” you hum. Kijung grins. “Congratulations.” “Thanks.” Time was so gradual, one day after the next, one moment after another. It was only when you stopped to turn around did you realize how long and extensive the journey has been. That you discover that you’ve actually been married to Yoongi for seven years now. Seven years…. Seven. Suddenly, it hits you. There’s a sickly feeling pooling in the pit of your stomach. It makes you nauseous like you’ve dropped from a ninety degree roller coaster. It propels you forward, making your mouth and throat dry, your face drained of all colour. You can’t believe you could’ve forgotten— The infamous seven year itch.

The seven year itch is a curse. It’s known to be the point where marriage satisfaction begins to decline. It’s the average length of a marriage. The point of no return. To some, it may just be a myth or a simple statistic, but your own parents were together for only seven years before getting themselves into a nasty divorce. And you know friends who were only together for seven years — Hoseok and Jimin were separated six months after their seventh year anniversary. Jungkook and Eunbi left one another before their seventh year… You can’t believe you’ve allowed yourself to forget about the cursed number seven. And now that you’ve realized, you’re worried you’ve allowed your marriage to become stale. “I’m home.” The house is quiet and dark except for the sound of sizzling coming from the kitchen. You follow the dim light and cross your arms, leaning on the doorframe as Yoongi turns from the stove. “The patties in the freezer were about to expire,” he says as if to explain what he’s doing and you nod. “Burgers for dinner then?” “Uh-huh.” Your husband is dressed in gray sweatpants and a black shirt oversized on his body, dark hair in a disarray as if he just rolled out of bed an hour ago. It might not be too off the mark considering he’s been working from home for a few months now, an arrangement he’s fallen in love with. Namjoon might never be able to drag him back to the office after this. “I fixed the plumbing issue in the shower, by the way,” he calls out as you drag yourself down the hall. You stick your head out the door. “You didn’t have to call Taehyung?” “Nope.” This was your life with Yoongi. He’s stable, a grounded and secure force, who lives in a consistent routine. It’s peaceful and you love it. It’s all you could have yearned for after your chaotic childhood and crazier teenage years. But now, you wonder if these habits you cherished will someday be your downfall. This mundanity might breed boredom and then discontentment. It’s only a matter of time now. “—took me two hours at the hardware store. But then I managed to find—” “Hey, Yoongi,” you interrupt him in the middle of his story in the midst of dinner, unable to shake the thought off your mind. There were more pressing matters to you than Yoongi trying to prove to Taehyung that he doesn’t need his help. The man blinks at you. “What?” “Do you want kids?” Yoongi puts his burger down, visibly taken aback by the sudden change of topic. “I mean, if you want to. But I thought we were going to wait until we were finished paying off our mortgage and had more saved up.” He’s right and having kids won’t make your mundane marriage any more exciting. If anything, it might just make it worse. “Where’s the diapers?” you would screech to the other while holding the howling baby in your arms, your phone sandwiched between your shoulder and ear in the meanwhile. “I thought you bought them!” Yoongi would emerge from the bathroom, juggling the other two shrieking babies in his arms with his shirt unchanged from a week ago and still stained with milk puke. Triplets, you can envision them as clear as day. A luck of the draw or a curse, you wouldn’t be sure of. “What?!” You dispel the horrible vision from your imagination, crashing back down to reality. “Never mind.” Yoongi catches your long sigh, but doesn’t comment. That night, you turn to him while you’re both in bed and the warm sheets are pooled around your laps. And more enthusiastically than you intended, you declare, “We should make our sex lives more exciting!” He flinches from the sheer volume of your voice but it seems to catch his attention and his brows lift curiously. Yoongi puts his phone down. “What are you thinking?” Your eyes are big and excited and you lean over as if to whisper a dirty secret in spite of being the only ones in the bedroom. “How about...anal?” Yoongi’s blank expression remains unchanged. “We already tried that and we weren’t into it, remember?” Oh. Right. You quickly retract, stuttering and bumbling, “I-I meant you can be the one on the receiving end—” “We already tried that in college,” Yoongi reminds. “How about role-playing?” you offer, a last ditch attempt at trying to come up with something creative that the both of you haven’t attempted in your fourteen years of being together. “We tried that on Valentine’s two years ago. It didn’t work out well,” Yoongi recollects. “Never mind then.” You sigh, giving up. You’re going to need to put a lot more thought into how to keep your marriage from being so mundane. But for now, you crawl out of the sheets to the bathroom and Yoongi takes off his rounded spectacles, placing them on the nightstand. He watches your backside with his lips pouted and his brows slightly furrowed, wondering what’s wrong. // For the following days, you begin to brainstorm ways to spice up your marriage with Yoongi and keep the seven year curse at bay. You read a few articles here and there and ask some married folks around the office how they keep their marriages exciting — to which they give you too many details over their sex life that you never wanted. But your attempt at a candlelight dinner ends up with the candles blown out when the tablecloth nearly sets aflame. Yoongi also cooks again when you undercook the fish. You try to surprise him by getting naked but you give up when he takes too long in the shower and you start violently shivering from the brisk air conditioning. You pull the whip out from the back drawer too to get freaky in bed, but one spank has you cussing him to stop. And when Yoongi denies you of your orgasm, you throw in the towel and call it quits, deciding to go at it the old-fashioned way for just some simple love-making. The two of you aren’t as young and adventurous as you used to be — it was something you were quickly realizing. But you weren’t going to give up so easily, not when you were so desperate to keep your marriage with Yoongi alive and keep boredom out of your partnership…. And it’s when you’re putting away the old leather whip to the back of your closet that another box comes tumbling out. It’s a memory box, full of high school yearbooks, knickknacks at amusement parks, and a bright pink book with pages and tabs sticking out of it. “I forgot I had this,” you mutter to yourself, holding your worn diary that’s filled with memories and nostalgia. Opening it up, the spine cracks and you’re met with your sixteen year old self encapsulated between the pages. There are scribbles and doodles, entries from random days, notes that you passed to your friends, pictures and movie tickets taped to the pages. There’s even a whole section dedicated to your old celebrity crush — Lee Hyun — and you cringe while reading the small blurbs around cut outs of him describing certain scenarios. First date. First time he held hands. First time he proposes and how the paparazzi go wild and you become famous too. But as much as you cringe, it’s kind of wholesome. You forgot what a hopeless romantic you were. Flipping the page, you’re taken aback by the decoration, vivid colours and washi tape. It lines the paper, bright markers that bleed to the next paper. But what takes your attention is the bold letters at the top. It’s written: Couples Bucket List. Your eyes skim the rest of the page.

Flowers delivered on doorstep :)

Receive a love letter!!!

Be confessed to***

Be serenaded outside a window!

Dance in the rain.

Go stargazing~

Take a long walk on the beach <3

The first on the list is to have flowers brought to your doorstep — which you muse has been completed many years ago. Yoongi did it once on Valentine’s….mostly because he had to go to work and you were busy running errands with your mom, so he had no other choice but to leave his gift for you at the doorstep. It still technically counts though. The second goal you have written is to receive a love letter. That would be impossible. Yoongi doesn’t do declarations like that. He’s not one to talk about his feelings. But ironically, the third point on the list you wanted to achieve with your future significant other is being confessed to and he technically accomplished that one too…. In tiny text, there’s a description of your fantasy — how your crush would call you out to the back of the school and declare it underneath that giant tree that kids used to climb. It’s utterly ridiculous but you find yourself standing, grabbing a red pen from your vanity and putting a check mark next to it. Yoongi might’ve never professed his love in the way you imagined it but you remember how he proposed to you. It was supposed to be in private, but the ring box fell out of his pocket and you noticed, picked it up, and he scrambled to get on his knee in the middle of the park. You smile at the memory. The fourth thing on the bucket list is to be serenaded outside your window. And you burst out laughing at the mere thought of it. Yoongi can’t sing for shit and he wouldn’t do it even if you paid him to. The following point is to dance in the rain, but your husband would never. He hates the rain. Yet the sixth task on the list has been completed. The two of you had gone to a planetarium on one of your first dates and you’ve spent many late nights outside together during winter where you were able to see the stars past the light pollution. You’ve taken a long walk on the beach too, holding hands and watching the sunset. It’s something you did on your honeymoon and you grin while recalling it. You flip the rest of the pages in the diary, giving it a skim before you’re about to tuck it back where it belongs, but you hesitate. Your hand tightens on it. You can’t let it go. There are still things that you have yet to complete. // “Hey, do you remember when we used to write notes for each other?” Yoongi’s eyes are plastered on the television playing some random Netflix original series that was on his recommended section, one you had not bothered to pay any attention to. He mumbles past his cheek full of food, “Kind of.” Your eyes pin onto your husband’s profile and you rest your cheek in your hand, elbow propped up on your knee. “We should do that again….or maybe we could write a really long letter to one another.” It’s still lingering on your mind — the couples bucket list and your unfinished task of receiving a love letter. “Why?” Yoongi chews haphazardly and goes quiet for a moment to watch the action on screen before he speaks again. “We did that when we were living apart. If I need to tell you something, I’ll just tell you now.” You hold your sigh in your nose. He’s not wrong, but it was still worth a shot. You fail to notice the way Yoongi glances at you, obviously aware of your disappointment. But he doesn’t ask. It’s already been long established that you can come to each other for anything. Yoongi knows that you’re fully aware of that. So while he doesn’t pry, it doesn’t stop him from wondering what’s the matter with you. // It’s a Sunday afternoon when you’re quietly watching the rain pitter-pattering on the ground outside and against the window frame, spraying like an artist splattering paint on their canvas. It’s showering, enough to collect puddles and to wash the grime off the driveway. The peaceful sound of the droplets hitting against the roof is interrupted by Yoongi coming up behind you with crossed arms and grunting, “Looks like we can’t pick up groceries today. We’re running out of toothpaste though. Do you want to pick that up tomorrow after work?” You don’t answer. You merely turn around as an idea flickers into your mind. A mischievous smile spreads into your features and you grab hold of your husband's wrist. “Let’s go outside.” It swirls in the forefront of your brain — dancing in the rain. But at once, Yoongi’s expression blanches and he looks as if he ate rotten eggs. “What?” “C’mon! It’ll be fun!” You drag the grumpy, old man and he stumbles forward from the sheer force. He whines childishly, already pouting at the thought of it. “We’ll get wet.” “That’s the point!” Yoongi’s not impressed with your antics whatsoever. When you open the door and try to haul him out, he protests and grips the doorframe like a child not wanting to leave a toy store. But he ultimately relents at your insistence and is yanked outdoors to the downpour of pelting rain. You burst out laughing the moment you see him despite his glare. Yoongi’s black hair shags down in front of his forehead, nearly pricking into his eyes. His clothes are becoming drenched, heavy on his body and dragging down. The sleeves of his flannel pulls past his fingertips. His tender features are wrinkled into distaste, lips pouted, his eyes unamused and full of hatred of the rain. Yoongi looks like an angry, wet dog. Unable to resist, you cup his cheeks, lean in and kiss his lopsided mouth. It’s a short peck, one you can’t draw out when you’re grinning and he refuses to reciprocate. “It’s cold!” Yoongi shouts as the rain becomes heavier. You giggle and tug on his arm, dragging him further out onto your driveway where the neighbours might be able to see and conclude that the pair of you have absolutely lost your minds — something you’re sure isn’t too far off. But you don’t dwell enough to get self-conscious. You clutch Yoongi’s hands tightly and slowly walk in circles as if you’re playing ring around the rosy. “C’mon, husband, you can be more enthusiastic than that!” you laugh much to his dismay. You step forward and back, dancing stiffly and Yoongi’s body is like jelly. He allows you to pull him along as you please even when you lift his arm, twirl around and land back in them. “Why are we doing this? Why?” True to himself, he’s trying to act like he’s not at least enjoying this a little bit. You’ve known Yoongi for long enough to see the way he’s trying not to smile and opts for whining instead. “I already showered, you know!” “You can always shower again!” Yoongi lets you move his body like a marionette doll, dancing along with you, and your giggles finally lets a smile on his face slip. But at that moment, lighting flashes over the horizon and thunder booms loud enough to shake the ground. The pair of you jump and rush back inside. You both enter in the midst of laughter and then Yoongi sighs lightly, looking at the mess on the tiled floor. “The floors are all wet.” “You were going to mop them today anyway,” you cheekily retort and he playfully spanks you, ordering for you to get into the shower before you make an even bigger mess. The two of you hop in together, but Yoongi finishes faster. He gets himself dressed while you enjoy the steaming water for longer. As he’s drying off his hair haphazardly with a towel in the bedroom, he picks up his phone. Yoongi notices the low battery percentage and searches for his charger. When he’s unable to find it in its usual spot, he assumes you stole it again and pulls out your vanity drawer. Yoongi doesn’t find his charger, but he discovers something else inside. A bright pink book with worn pages. Curious, he picks it up and flips it open. It automatically falls to the doodled page that you’ve been studying most recently these days and he skims it. After a moment, Yoongi scoffs. But a softened smile stretches into his face. // “You’re happy,” Seokjin comments passive aggressively as he observes your expression while stirring his mug of coffee on this cold Monday morning. “Yeah.” Your grin widens and your dismayed colleague wonders if you know that the week has barely begun. “I am.” These days, you’re having a lot of fun trying to find ways for Yoongi to secretly fulfill your wishes, even if it’s silly and childish. There were only two more things that needed to be done on your bucket list — receiving a love letter and being serenaded to, things you’re sure Yoongi would rather be killed than be seen doing. But your new fixation and ambition has kept you preoccupied from thinking about the seven year curse approaching in three weeks time. It’s a win-win. The bucket list might, quite literally, be the solution to the seven year itch. Completing it might just be enough to deter the curse and keep discontentment at bay. After a long day, you arrive home while brainstorming a strategy to get Yoongi to profess his love for you in a letter — perhaps something you might enlist Taehyung’s help in. But your thoughts are interrupted when after dinner, Yoongi suddenly grabs his coat. “I’m going out. Don’t wait up for me.” “What?” You’re utterly confused at why someone who was as an intense homebody like Yoongi would want to step outside the comfort of his warm home at such a ridiculous time of night. “We still need toothpaste, remember?” he says nonchalantly. “You forgot to pick it up after work.” “Oh. Well, I can always get it tomorrow.” “It’s alright. I’m going to stop by Jimin’s too. That brat keeps telling me I should come over, so don’t wait for me.” “Okay.” You nod, bidding him farewell. It’s a bit of a foreign sight, one where you can’t tear your eyes away from until the door shuts and he’s gone. You end up surfing the internet and playing on your phone for a good half hour in the serene silence before your boredom spurs on yawns. You decide to head to bed early and brush your teeth, completing your whole nightly routine. But before you crawl into the toasted sheets, an unfamiliar envelope on your vanity catches your attention. It's thin and rectangular without postal stamps or an address — only your name written on it in sloppy cursive. You approach the dim light of the lamp on your bedside table to get a better view and you rip it open. Immediately, a gasp tears out of your mouth. Your heart stutters in your chest. Your breath holds. It’s Yoongi’s chicken scratch writing. To my beloved wife, It’s me. Your lovely, amazing, best husband, Min Yoongi. This is really embarrassing and I don’t know what to write either. But I was just thinking about how difficult it is for us to meet and be together. If you think about it, there’s almost eight billion people in the world but we still met each other. I don’t know if it was luck but I’m relieved to have met you. I also can’t believe we’ve been married for seven years now. Thank you for making so many memories with me. Love you, Yoongi. P.S. please stop digging your ice cold feet into my feet at night. go to the doctor it’s not natural. You choke on your own saliva, tears flooding your vision as your overwhelming emotions swell into a lump in your throat. It’s Yoongi’s love letter. Everything that’s so unabashedly him encapsulated in a few sentences — not cringey, a bit distant, but tender all at the same time. You don’t know why he’s written this so out of the blue or how he knew you wanted this so badly, but you don’t care enough to question it. You hold the letter to your chest, head falling as your tears rise to squeeze out of you — but before you can melt on the carpet, you’re startled by a giant rock slamming against the window. You jump, screaming, and your face drains of colour. What’s left on the glass window is a jagged line split in different directions and you rush over in shock, opening up the latch to figure out who the perpetrator is. What you find is your dumb-ass husband standing below your window. “What the hell are you doing?! You cracked the window, you idiot! We’re going to have to get it fixed,” you hiss into the dead of the night. “Shut up, will you?” he sharply whispers back and your eyes adjust to the darkness. From the glow of the street lights and the lamp on your table, you’re finally able to discern the acoustic guitar slung over his body. Oh my god. Before you can even burst out laughing and tell him to get inside, much to your mortification, Yoongi begins to sing in spite of his tone-deafness. “If I should stay, I would only be in your way….” He strums one chord, the wrong chord, and it jumbles with the false notes streaming from his vocal cords. Yoongi stares down at his fingers, stretching them across the guitar neck and he strums every other sentence. His singing is awful and it’s noisy, especially when you begin to laugh. You’re tempted to grab your phone and record him, but decide to savour the moment first-hand. Your husband struggles and at some points, the pitch goes too high and his voice cracks so horrifically that he stops singing altogether. Yoongi’s only put out of his misery when across the street the lights inside the house turn on and there’s a grumpy voice shouting— “Shut up! Some people are trying to sleep!” You end up running downstairs at the same time he’s finally coming inside and you’re still giggling as he sets his guitar down, leaning it against the wall. “Where did you even get that?” “I borrowed it from Hoseok,” Yoongi sighs. “He kept on asking so many questions. I had to tell him that I was bored at home and wanted to give it a try.” You close the distance and encircle your arms around his neck. Yoongi’s hands immediately find purchase on your waist and you plant a fat kiss on his mouth before leaning away, confused curiosity not allowing you to prolong the affection. “Why’d you write me the letter and why….this?” Yoongi answers you by moving away to the entryway table past the foyer that’s there more for decoration than usage. He goes for the second shelf and holds up your worn diary. That’s when you realize you’ve been caught and Yoongi’s brows lift with a tiny smile. “I hope I got to fulfill the rest of your wishes, even if they were back to back.” The pair of you gather together in your cozy bedroom, guitar tucked safely away and the letter still displayed on your vanity where you’ll be able to see it for the rest of your days. But those silly antics are far from being over and you know it with the way Yoongi’s been looking at you. “You should’ve just told me if you wanted to do those things,” he says as he rips off his socks and changes into comfortable pajamas. “Yeah, but you would’ve refused…” You twiddle with the hem of the duvet and Yoongi hums after a moment, crawling into bed with you. He realizes that you’re right. He probably would’ve scoffed at the idea of writing you a love letter or serenading you if you asked up front. “I thought there was something wrong. You got me worried for a few days.” “I’m sorry. I just…..I know I’ve been a bit off.” You sigh, locking your gaze with your husband as you finally confide your concerns to him. “You know how our seven year anniversary is coming up, right?” “Yeah. What about it?” “I know this is going to sound really, really stupid and dumb, but I was kind of, a little bit, worried about the seven year itch.” Yoongi’s brows furrow and he squints. “The what?” “You know, the seven year curse thing.” When his expression remains blank, you exhale and explain, “it’s when marriages are known to go downhill and divorces happen because people get bored. My parents got divorced after seven years, remember? So did a bunch of our friends and I don’t know, the thought kind of freaked me out.” Yoongi softens and the corner of his mouth quirks. His arm reaches over and around your shoulder, and he pulls you closer to him in a loose hug. “I don’t know about you, but I have no plans of divorcing you any time soon.” You mold yourself against Yoongi’s embrace, allowing yourself to melt into his comfort. It was soothing to hear his deep timbre next to your ear, to let him reassure you in such a way. In one instant, all your doubts seem to vanish. “I’m not bored of you, Y/N.” Yoongi smirks and you lean your head on his shoulder. “I don’t think I’ll ever be.” “Are you sure?” “As sure as I was when we made our vows,” he consoles without even needing a second to think about it and pulls away with a tender, thoughtful smile. “Plus, we’ve survived this ‘seven year’ curse anyways.” You frown. “What?” “Didn’t we start dating ten years ago? Yeah. It’s our ten year anniversary of being together. So we technically passed it three years ago already.” You’re puzzled — you’ve sure the seven year itch only applies to marriages, but in a way Yoongi was right. It’s not like you want to disagree with him anyways. But the pair of you have been together for considerably longer than seven years. Your relationship had begun much farther back. You lean in, planting another kiss on Yoongi and it’s one he happily obliges to deepen. It’s a familiar kiss, but not one you’re discontent with. It’s practiced, skilled and full of technique. Not hesitant, lackluster or sloppy like the first time. Yoongi kisses you the way he knows you like it. After so many years and spending so much time with one another, it’s been perfected after all. He pulls apart and you snuggle in him with a giant smile, digging your cold feet into his warm ones much to his dismay. But this time, he doesn’t complain and molds himself against you. Yoongi plants one more kiss on top of your head, feeling sleepy and too tired to even turn off the lamp on the bedside table. “Is there something special you want to do for this year’s anniversary? We still haven’t talked about it yet.” “I don’t want to stay in,” you hum. “How about a road trip up to the hot springs? Kijung was talking about it and it sounded nice. We haven’t been up there in a while.” “Okay.” Yoongi is happy to oblige. “Sounds like a plan.” You and Yoongi met at eighteen. After four years of being friends, the both of you broke the barrier and started dating. It took only three years for him to put a ring on your finger and for you to share his last name. It’s been seven mundane but wonderful years since. And while it seems so long ago, you’re certain there will be many, many more years to come.

#bts fanfic #bts scenario #yoongi fluff #bts fluff #yoongi fanfic #yoongi scenario #yoongi married au #yoongi marriage au

1K notes · View notes

alittlextrathatway · 3 years

Text

So I had a thought...

Season 9's miscommunication was totally foreshadowed in 8x09.

And by foreshadowed I don't mean because Gabby came back and that's the source of the problem.

Some people may not find this shocking because, like me, you head canon that 8x09 was closure for Matt and Gabby, but I'm here to propose that it's not just a head canon or an "interpretation".

Because I'm here to say, it was literally closure and the first time Brett put a meaning behind Casey's words that he didn't intend to fit her own assumptions about his feelings for Gabby.

Let's look at that scene between Brett and Casey at the end of the episode, shall we?

"Hey!"

"Good morning."

"How'd it go with Dawson?"

"Great, actually."

"Oh, that's...so so good to hear."

"Thanks for talking me into that."

That was it. That was the extent of the conversation. And Sylvie's response is to assume that being with Dawson is what made Matt happy which, in turn, allows the audience to assume that as well.

(Inserting cut here because this is gonna get long.)

But I'm here to suggest (as I've done in fanfic time and time again) that being with Dawson isn't actually what made Matt happy. (Not that he'd explain that to Brett and certainly not with Foster standing right behind her.) What made Matt happy is finally achieving closure with Dawson. Why do I think this was closure even though Derek wants us to think it wasn't?

Well, for starters, both Monica and Jesse have called it closure.

But aside from that, before their hook up Gabby asks if it's a mistake because she's leaving in the morning and Matt says, "I know and I'm staying. But that doesn't make this a mistake."

That is not something you say when you want to seriously rekindle a romance, guys. That's something you say when you know you're in the middle of a one night only event. Both Gabby and Matt knew this one night wasn't going to lead to anything else. Nothing had changed between them since she left at the beginning of season 7.

Gabby is living a life that makes her happy far away from Chicago and she's very successful at it so why would she stay? Matt is settled in Chicago. His family and work family are there along with the job that he loves. Why would he leave? This wasn't some romantic reunion intended to be the beginning of them fixing their marriage. This was the goodbye they never got the first time around, for Gabby at least.

For Matt this was a chance for him to have a say in how their story ended. He chose to go to Gabby's room and he also chose to leave without saying goodbye the next morning. Also not something you would do if you were wanting to rekindle a relationship.

Matt closed the door on Gabby that night and decided to move on with his life. That is the real reason he's happy when he shows up at the Firehouse. So, when he thanks Brett for talking him into it he's actually thanking her for helping him achieve closure only she doesn't know that because, once again, Matt answered the "How'd it go?" question in the vaguest terms possible.

Does that remind anyone of "You were right. I needed to hear it."? Or is that just me?

The more I think about this the more I am convinced S8 was about Matt achieving closure and finally moving on. As much as S9 has hurt my heart, it is slowly allowing me to see the larger journey from a different perspective (When Derek says Brettsey is years in the making I truly believe him. The evidence is all there.)

S7 was about proposing the idea of Brettsey to both characters. By the end of it, Sylvie thinks she's reading too much into it and I think Matt thinks Sheffield's return is a sign that he and Sylvie should stick to being friends.

Upon reflection, I think the early part of S8 was about Matt trying his damndest to stay friends with Sylvie Brett. Likely because he wasn't sure if he was ready to move on or completely over Gabby. So early in the season we see him hooking up with Smart Girl and then trying to simply be a good friend to Sylvie. We see a little jealousy with Ryan but ultimately he does encourage her when it comes to him and then continues to encourage her when things with Ryan come to an awkward end.

We all love what he says to Sylvie there but I think we can agree that while it shows how much he values and respects her, it's a largely platonic sentiment. He's trying to be her friend despite the crush we can obviously see he's still harboring (though this is the only episode in the early part of the season where the crush truly shows itself).

Gabby's return is only a couple of episodes after that. Matt is hesitant to go to the gala and I think that's because he's not sure it'll help him achieve the closure he wants. He may have a bit of a crush on Sylvie but above all else they're friends and he trusts her to give him fair and accurate advice. So, in my opinion, he goes and finds out it was exactly the closure that he need it. (Except for that voicemail which I am convinced is Derek ship baiting again as he did in 9x09 and probably also him planting the seeds for the doubt that caused Matt to say "I don't know" in 9x02.)

Now, what begins to seriously happens after Gabby leaves?

Yep, you guessed it, Brett and Casey begin to grow closer. Matt begins to seek out reasons to spend time with Brett and actively invest in their friendship. It slowly develops into a deep connection that is well beyond platonic as the season progresses. To me, it appears that he's leaning into his feelings and beginning to let himself move on. Maybe he doesn't realize that's what he's doing as it happening but that's definitely the end result.

It is not a coincidence that all of that begins to happen after his one night with Gabby. He was holding back in 8x01-8x09 but after he gets his closure all bets are off. He wants to be around Sylvie -- to be near her, talk to her, and learn everything he can about her.

The timing of that should not be lost on us and that timing means that 8x09 is actually the very first time Brettsey miscommunicated and is, in fact, the source of all our problems in S9.

My theory: Derek brought Gabby back not to further Dawsey but to cause a complication for Brettsey.

I am convinced and I will remain convinced until the show explicitly tells me I'm wrong.

Derek has been playing the long game with them this entire time. He'll continue to mess with our heads however he can because that's simply what he does, but it's clear he truly has been planning this journey between Sylvie and Matt for years. Brettsey endgame is coming, but Derek's gonna drag us through hell to get there so buckle up, guys.

Buckle. Up.

Sorry, this got so long, but I had an epiphany today and had to type all of it out immediately to get it out of my head. I found it very encouraging so hopefully someone else will too! <3

#Brettsey #chicago fire #sylvie x matt #brett x casey #matt casey x sylvie brett

69 notes · View notes

aelin-queen-of-terrasen · 4 years

Note

Fake dating/marriage + "Maybe, just maybe, if I get a free drink I might consider talking to you." for Rowaelin PLEASEE

note: thank you for the prompt, love! I'm so sorry this took so long. I'm a little proud of the way it turned out tho. if you'd like to check out my other fics, here's the Masterlist!

--------------

Rowan is exhausted by the time he reaches his apartment—the sleepless nights catching up to him. He has had a bad week and he is looking forward to spending his weekend locked up in his bedroom when the sound of a text makes him groan to himself. Rowan only knows one person who still texts him, aware of his dislike for texting. He pulls his phone out to see a message from Aelin: I need a favour. Rowan is tempted to ignore the message but given her hatred for him, it has to be something important if she asked.

He replies: What have you done now? She is a little hellion after all. Rowan regrets the day he agreed to go on a blind date with her.

Lysandra insisted they go on a date together and he had always thought she was beautiful and he'd agreed. The date had gone horrible as could be. Rowan showed up late because of traffic, the food was cold and tasteless and Rowan managed to forget his wallet home. In hopes of redeeming himself, he proposed a romantic walk around the beach and get ice cream except the ice cream shop was closed and it rained, drenching them both in cold water. As if it wasn't bad enough, his car broke down in the middle of nowhere when he tried to drop her off. Ever since, Aelin texts him after every date to give tips on how to not be a total disaster.

And gods, the woman can get under his skin like no one else ever has.

His phone rings, Aelin's name flashing on his screen before he picks up, grateful that for once she decided not to text. She says by way of greeting, "Look, I ran into my ex and mentioned I have a boyfriend. He thinks I'm shitting him and I need you to come "pick me up" so I can shove our relationship in his face. Pleaseeee?" Rowan isn't sure if he's more annoyed or amused.

He settles on amused. "And why do you need me for this? Why only me?"

Aelin huffs in annoyance and there's complete silence on the other line before she admits, "I bragged a little too much about how hot he is and now, no one fits the bill but you." Yep, definitely amused.

"You think I'm hot?"

"You know you're hot. You shouldn't need me to tell you that." Another huff from her side. "So will you help or not?"

Rowan considers it. The idea of hanging up is tempting but she's desperate. He doesn't need her hating him more. "Maybe, just maybe, if I get a free drink, I might consider talking to you." He sits up, still dressed well enough to pick up his girlfriend. "I'll charge extra for pretending to be a perfect boyfriend."

"Name your price."

Rowan only smiles. "I'll let you know when I get there."

The nightclub Aelin's at is close enough to his apartment that it takes less than fifteen minutes to get there. It's an expensive place for people with lavish tastes—the kind Rowan would never be caught dead at. Everything from drinks to decorations screams Aelin. He's not surprised this is the club she hangs out at. It's as ridiculous and fancy and over-the-top as her. He spots her leaning against a wall, her face turned towards someone.

She wears an off-shouldered black dress with a dangerously high slit in it. Her blonde hair tied in an elegant side bun, she looks prettier than he remembered.

She looks in the middle of a tense, unwanted conversation when Rowan arrived. "Aelin! There you are." He hopes his smile is convincing enough.

Rowan doesn't like the way she looks with her arms crossed over her chest in a defensive manner, her lips pressed into a thin line and eyes trained on the floor. She has shrunk into herself, made herself small and fragile and timid. She looks unlike the fiery spirit who sends him tips on how to plan a good date every so often just out of spite because he fucked up one evening of her life months ago. He decides immediately that he hates whoever makes her feel like this person in front of him because this is certainly not the Aelin he knows.

To his pleasure, Aelin relaxes the moment she notices him. "Rowan! Just the guy I wanted to see." Then she rises on her toes, kissing him on the cheek.

Rowan hoped he looked better than he felt, his insides in a turmoil even once Aelin pulled back. "Sorry I'm late, love. Traffic was insane."

She placed a comforting hand on his arm, jerking her chin towards her companion. "Ro, that's Chaol Westfall. Chaol, this is Rowan. My boyfriend." As if to back her words up, she puts an arm around his waist and pulls him closer. Rowan lets her do as she pleases.

Chaol extends a hand. "Nice to meet you, Rowan. Aelin talks about you a lot."

"Yeah? She didn't mention you much and that's saying something considering we've been dating for almost ten months now." That was around the time the two of them went on that damned date. Chaol couldn't have dated her after the whole thing because thanks to Aelin's insulting little tips, he knows about all the guys she's gone on a date with and if he's as bad as he seems, he'd have remembered Aelin talking about him.

One look at her confirms his suspicions. Aelin quirks an eyebrow when he brings her a drink. You're having too much fun with this whole thing.

Yeah, well, Rowan shrugs, I might as well enjoy this. The guy's an asshole.

Aelin nods, taking another sip of her drink as the three of them decided to sit down for drinks. Rowan is feeling underdressed in this place, especially with Aelin looking like a literal goddess by his side.

Chaol beats around the bush with easy questions about his job and all until: "No offense, Rowan, but you don't seem like Aelin's usual type."

"None taken. People's tastes do tend to improve over time." Aelin chokes on her drink and Rowan feels a little bad for being mean to a man he barely knows but then he remembers the way Aelin looked when he entered and the flushed look on Chaol's face makes his forget about all the shit he's had to deal with this week. He probably shouldn't be having as much fun with this as he is.

Aelin loops an arm around Rowan's. "I think we should go home now." She downs the rest of her shot in one big gulp before rising from her seat.

She turns towards Rowan, eyes shining under the dim lights of the private booth. She smells of alcohol and something sweet and floral—jasmine, maybe?—eyes shining alight with a question he can read in her eyes, a small smile playing on her lips. Can I kiss you?Rowan can feel Chaol's eyes fixed on his back but when he nods, he finds that it has little to do with pissing a stranger off and a lot to do with Aelin.

Aelin kisses him and his whole world erupts into fireworks. From the second their lips touch, there's only her and her lips and her hands roving his back and that gods damned scent driving him insane. He doesn't know why she's kissing him but Rowan is not kissing her to piss someone off or to prove a point. He wonders how this evening would've played out if that night hadn't gone to shit—if this kiss would have been real instead of pretend, if they would have lasted ten months. He's terrified of finding out.

Rowan almost groans when he pulls back. The grin on her face strikes him stupid. She whispers in his ear, "How's that for payment?" Aelin grabs his hand, leading him out of the club.

He doesn't spare a look at Chaol, doesn't miss a single beat as he replies: "Hmm, I need more for all the insults I pulled." They are almost outside when Rowan continues, "How about a chance? I want a chance to change your mind. You, me, another date. I'm sorry the last one went as bad as it did and you probably hate me and you're gonna say no, of course—"

"I don't hate you."

He's not sure he heard her right. "Huh?"

"I don't hate you," Aelin repeats. "None of that was your fault. It was a bad day is all. I waited two weeks for you to ask me out again to make up for it though. When you didn't, I took matters into my own hands to text you about the only thing I could think of."

Rowan gapes. "Pardon? You're telling me the whole tips ploy was what? A ruse?" His mouth hangs open.

"To keep us talking, yes. Besides, it was fun pissing you off," Aelin says.

He did always think it was strange how for someone who claimed to be so mad about having wasted one evening on a bad date, she sure spent a lot of time sending him tips and bantering with him over texts afterwards. He had apologized to her numerous times afterwards but he'd never considered that she might still want another date. To think of all the months he'd wasted.

He shakes his head but he's smiling. "Will you go on a date with me, Aelin?"

She chuckles, face brightening. "I can honestly say there's nothing I want more." As the two of them part ways, Aelin kisses him on the cheek. Rowan watches her leave silently, a big smile on his face. No more wasting time, he promises himself.

---------------

I quite like this and I hope you did too. let me know if you'd like to be tagged. If you haven't already, check out my 1K celebration.

Tags:

@thesirenwashere // @judexcardanxgreenbriar //@fangirltrash74 // @the-dark-swan // @queenofgreenbriar // @clockworkgraystairs // @julemmaes // @rowaelinforeverworld // @mymultiversee // @queen-of-glass // @strangely-constructed-soul // @mijaldraws // @http-itsrebecca // @aesthetics-11 // @lord-douglas-the-third // @flowersinvegas // @towhateverend17 // @aelinchocolatelover // @justabunchoffandoms // @cool-ish-nerd // @faerie-queen-fireheart // @sad-book-whore // @didsomeonesayviolin // @atozfantazyxx // @hizqueen4life // @the-gods-killer // @booknerdproblems // @annejulianneh111 // @aelinfeyreeleven945tbln // @b00kworm // @mysweetvillain // @curlyredqueen06 // @moondancer-204

If any of y'all from this taglist would like to also be tagged in my Acotar fics, please let me know because Acotar will have it's seperate taglist!

220 notes · View notes

embracethecringeside · 4 years

Note

OK, here's one: do you think that there's any genuine good in Rick? I can't make up my mind about that one. I don't think he's evil or a sociopath (a lot of fans called him that in the early days, that term is so misused), but his intense self-hatred seems to be the only redeeming thing about him. He must have some sense of morality because he knows he's done horrible things, but he makes zero effort to stop doing horrible things unless it benefits him somehow.

My short answer is yes, Rick has genuine good wrapped up in there but my full answer is a bunch of examples from the show that I would like to call Soft Sanchez moments, where Rick either does something good/says something real and genuine/or his goodness is talked about in some fashion.

Meeseeks and Destroy

Morty: Look, I want to leave now. You win the bet, okay? (Searches Rick's lab coat for the portal gun) Just give me the portal gun and let's go, please!

(Rick sees the badly beaten Mr. Jelly Bean walk out of the bathroom and pieces together what happened)

Morty: Please, I just want to... go h-home. (Tears up and holds onto Rick)

Rick: Okay. Listen, Morty. I just won a bunch of shmeckels. Why don't we use 25 of them to pay slippery stair here for a ride back to the village, and then we'll give the rest of the shmeckels to the villagers, huh?

Morty: Really?

Rick: Sure, Morty. Yeah. You know, a good adventure needs a good ending.

Rick: Good job, Morty. Looks like you won the bet.

Morty: Thanks, Rick, but I don't know if I should. You know, you were right about the universe. It's a crazy and chaotic place.

Rick: Well, you know, maybe that's why it could use a little cleaning up every now and then, you know. This one's wrapped up neat and clean because we did it Morty style.

(They portal away, but Rick makes another portal back and sticks an energy pistol through it and shoots Mr. Jelly Bean, splattering him all over the screaming villagers)

A Rickle In Time

(Puts his own collar on Morty, who disappears)

Rick: I'm okay with this. Be good Morty. Be better than me. Holy shit, the other collar! I'm not okay with this! I am not okay with this! Oh, sweet Jesus please let me live. Oh, my God I—I've gotta fix this thing, please God in Heaven, please, God, oh Lord, hear my prayers. Yes! Fuck you God! Not today, bitch.

Mortynight Run

Rick: Screw this. I’m out.

(Rick forms a portal and leaves through it. Morty tries to start the car as a Gromflomite approaches, but it stalls.)

Morty: Oooh…! Come on, come on!

Gromflomite: Get out of the vehicle made of garbage or we will open fire!

Morty: *still trying to start the car* Oh no no no!

Gromflomite: Open fire!

(A portal appears directly above the guards and water pours out of it, flooding the room. Another portal appears on the floor, and the water and Gromflomites are sucked into it. A third portal then appears and Rick emerges through it, walking up to the car.)

Rick: Stupid-ass fart-saving carpet-store motherfucker! *shoves Morty out of the driver’s seat and takes the wheel* Move!

Auto Erotic Assimilation

Rick: You got that right. But... baby, listen. Y-you're talking about taking over planets and galaxies, you gotta... you gotta just... remember to let go sometimes, you know.

Unity (Administrator): I can let go! Hey, look! You see that town across the river? Watch this.

(Planes fly past and bomb the town, blowing it all up)

Rick: Whoa!

Unity (Administrator): Ha ha! Woot!

Rick: Whoa! That's not what I meant!

Unity (Administrator): [laughing] It's okay! It's okay, I evacuated! I evacuated the town, look!

Unity (Townspeople): Hey! Right here! We’re fine!

Rick: (laughing) Oh, that was awesome! My grandkids weren't in that town, right? A-are my grandkids alive? ... H-hey, my drink is empty

Get Swifty

Rick: Take it from me, Ice. *burp* You can’t just *burp* float around space not caring about stuff forever.

Morty: Tammy… gross. Birdperson, you always stick up for Rick, but he doesn’t care about anyone but himself. He doesn’t think about the consequences of anything he does.

Birdperson: And as a result, he has the power to save or destroy entire worlds. And he is the reason you and I know each other. And the reason I’m alive at all.

Look Who’s Purging Now

Arthrisha: Wait, stop! Please, don't kill me! I-I never intended to harm you, I swear. I am trying to end the festival. W-w-what do you mean? I was going to use your ship to destroy the rich assholes that run our society and save my people from the horrors of this yearly festival.

Rick: I'm not here to judge. I'm just a guy from another planet. But this girl is one of your poor people, and I guess you guys felt like it was okay to subject her to inhuman conditions because there was no chance of it ever hurting you. It's sort of the socio-political equivalent of, say, a suit of power armor around you. But now things are evened out, so, Arthrisha?

Morty: I can't help but feel ashamed about what I did back there, Rick. I guess you were right. I've got a lot of repressed stuff. I need to deal with.

Rick: Don't worry about it, Morty.Remember those candy bars earlier that we got in the first act?

Morty: Yeah, what about them?

Rick: Turns out they have a chemical in them called purgenol that amplifies all your violent tendencies.

Morty: Oh, boy. Whew! Thank goodness for that, huh? That's a relief.

Rick: Yep. Don't even sweat. You're still the same old Morty. Your character's totally protected. (camera pans out to reveal the label on the chocolate bars reads “now purgenol-free”)

The Wedding Squanchers

BirdPerson: The guest list at this wedding includes 17 of the federation's most wanted. We have committed numerous atrocities in the name of freedom.

Rick: But... but... Here's the thing. Birdperson is my best friend, and if he loves Tammy, well, then I love Tammy, too. (Cheers and applause) To friendship, to love, and to my greatest adventure yet... opening myself up to others.

The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy

Rick: And you know what? I’ll cop to it. I put a lot of strain on your marriage. It wasn’t fair. I’m sorry.

Jerry: What?!

Rick: I didn’t respect your marriage. I certainly didn’t do it any favors. And for what it’s worth, I’ll apologize to Beth for it when we get home. Whoo! Whirly Dirly! Yeah!

Pickle Rick

I’m trying to let the scripts show all the ways Rick is good before I jumped in but since this is really weird without just watching the episode I’ll just explain that Rick doesn’t kill Jaguar after he finds out he has a daughter and then they work together to escape.

The Old Man and The Seat

Tony: Can I look at a photo of my wife while you kill me?

Rick: Sure, but I'm doing her a favor. She either has terrible taste, or she's trapped in a marriage to a toilet thief.

Tony: She's dead. And I don't mind joining her. Life has been hollow since I lost her. Using your toilet was nice, though. I'm a bit of a shy pooper. I'm ready when you are.

Rick: Stay there. (goes through a portal, comes back with another Tony) Tell him what you told me.

Other Tony: What is this? What's happening?

Rick: Tell him what you told me.

Other Tony: My wife's still alive. Sh... sh... she went into remission 10 years ago.

Rick: And what did you do today?

Other Tony: Oh, I, uh, pooped on a really awesome toilet I found... Oh, ow, ow, ow, ow, oh! (Rick shoves him back through the portal)

Rick”: Don't use your dead wife as an excuse. You ( Bleep ) on my toilet because you don't know your place, and your place is nothing. So next time you stumble onto a toilet that feels too good for your ass, trust me, it is.

Tony: You're not gonna kill me?

Rick: Don’t tell me what to do!

Tony: You can make a perfectly-realized, toilet-filled simulation of heaven, but you can't share a toilet?

Rick: Don't insult my craft. The chemical is Globaflyn. It connects the whatever-you-want section of your brain to the whatever-you-have section. If your heaven is toilets, that's on you.

Tony: All of these people...

Rick: Are living their wildest, meaningless dreams and leaving me out of them.

Tony: People you refuse to kill and refuse to let into your life.

Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerry

(Rick reveals he has saved what he could of PhoenixPerson)

Okay and on to the big one where I am actually going to talk instead of just letting the script go off Rest and Ricklaxation. We see two sides of Rick, Healthy Rick and Toxic Rick. After Healthy Morty slaps Healthy Rick, and he slaps him back, he discovers the machine doesn’t actually know the difference between what is truly healthy and whats actually toxic, it goes by each person’s individual definition. Shortly after we as the audience learn that Healthy Rick? Is actually apathetic. He doesn’t care about others. All the caring and emotions are wrapped up in Toxic Rick. Everything Healthy Rick did and said is all stuff he believes are good, he apologies, he takes responsibility for his actions, he’s polite, he’s trusting, and he doesn’t try to control others, but he is doing all of this simply because he thinks he should. So it is completely selfless when he makes the bargain so Toxic Rick will merge with him, because, and he even says it, he hates having what he considers his toxins inside of him, but it’s the right thing to do.

Then of course Healthy Rick calls Toxic Rick out, knowing that he is the one with all his, “irrational attachments” as he puts it, and as much as Toxic Rick no longer wishes to be a part of Healthy Rick, he merges with him under the pretence that he will then be able to save Toxic Morty. Both act selflessly for different reasons, Healthy Rick believing it is the right thing to do, while Toxic Rick does it for Morty.

So do I believe that there is good in Rick?? Heck yes!! Good is stored in the garbage grandpa!

#rick sanchez #rick and morty #this took forever im sorry #ellie answers #long post #rnm #ram #rick sanchez has morals and a heart y'all #ellie's answers #love my awful grandpa

105 notes · View notes

reachexceedinggrasp · 4 years

Text

Fated to Love You here reaffirming my long held conviction that no pure romance drama should be 20+ episodes.

This show is... really something. It is, in the fullest possible sense, A Lot. It starts out as an all-out screwball comedy wrapped around a troperiffic romance fluff plot. Wall to wall clichés, but not in a bad way; in a meta, self-aware, peak performance, finest Velveeta way. And if you’re not familiar with screwball comedy, think ‘light-hearted crack fic with slapstick and farce’. There is nothing believable or grounded about any aspect of it, it starts at Bonkers Level: Platinum and it only climbs higher as it goes on.

(On a side note, this results in the leading man being possibly the most memorable love interest in romcom history. His introduction scene is nothing short of batshit insane and you can't reliably predict how he will respond to anything. I have never seen a main character like this, he is all over the shop and utterly singular. Your first reaction to him is ‘wtf?’, your second and third reactions are ‘really?! this guy??’, your fourth reaction is ‘okay he do be mad hot tho’, your fifth and final reaction is ‘I cannot believe this performance exists, I have no idea what he is doing, but it is amazing.’

Appropriately(?) the actor who plays him is an uncanny Korean doppelgänger of Johnny Depp and- between the resemblance, the mannerisms, and the fearless total commitment to a bold as fuck acting choice with the very serious chops to back it up- I’m not convinced they aren’t half brothers separated at birth.

They do sabotage my happiness several times by starting to randomly style his (long, beautiful) hair very weird, fixing it right when the plot is rapidly circling the drain so he looks his hottest just as the show becomes briefly unwatchable, and then ruining him for the entire second half of the series by shearing it all off. WHY, my anguished cry goes up. Why do you do this?! Why does he have like seven hairstyles over the course of the show? Much later they even briefly give him that ubiquitous Kdrama Second Lead haircut with weirdly forward combed fringe in a solid straight line across the brow all the way back from the crown. It looks terrible on everyone and I hate it so much. This version was less bad than most but it is still bad. Anyway.)

So it’s an incredibly fun time to start but there are some problems with the tone and plot even in the first 9 episodes, including when the lovers start getting along really well right away and they’re both thoroughly decent people so there’s nothing keeping them from having a lovely time together making the best of the circumstances (forced/fake marriage). And, instead of introducing new conflict or advancing one of the dozen conflicts previously established and actually moving forward, there is a painfully contrived rehash of something they already dealt with which is then just never resolved. They make the hero leap to a conclusion his wife is nefarious after he’d already decided once that she isn’t (though it was completely reasonable for him to think she was- the fact that he decided to trust her so quickly just speaks to what kind of person he is), never try to find out more or talk to anyone about it, start pushing her away because of it, and have all this come to absolutely nothing. It only exists so he’ll stop being so incredibly nice to her and they won’t fall in love too fast.

You’d think they would have to eventually clear the air before the romance advances right? No. It wasn’t a real plot point, it was just a reset button to get them estranged and hostile again after they connect over their kindred spirits and we’ve spent a bunch of time showing how profoundly supportive and honourable our hero is. He’s being beautifully mature and selfless because he’s a really good dude (unusual for a romcom drama, right? for the main guy to be nice and considerate? to accept responsibility even if he doesn’t have to? Gun’s weird but he’s wonderful), but the writers need him to be cold and standoffish, so they just make him act like an unreasonable idiot for a while. He’s been thus far hugely proactive and direct and honest about everything, it’s one of his most prominent character traits, but suddenly he’s going to avoid confrontation in favour of being super passive aggressive?? Then the writers never solve it. Never! It just goes away. He got over it, I guess? He decided he doesn’t care if she’s a gold digger who deliberately trapped him? God forbid we have motivations that make sense and organic character drama, right? It's not like he didn't have totally valid reasons to be suspicious that could have led to legitimate conflict our heroine would struggle to vindicate herself from.

But anyway, apart from that kind of lazy bullshit, it’s a fine romance plot with extremely endearing characters who have great chemistry. They are fun and well-rounded and incredibly human despite all the silliness and OTT antics. Their relationship is hugely, hugely engaging and the dynamic is perfect, they really complement each other as characters and organically drive each other's arcs. There's the genuine depth and warmth and quiet pathos so often lacking from this kind of show. Things progress at a semi-reasonable pace. They work up to confessing their mutual feelings and get into some cute shenanigans before making out. It happens soon enough that you are not frustrated, but there's still plenty of build-up. Then- uh oh! We’re only 9 eps in and we have another 11 hours to fill with this fluffy plot!

Time for a bunch of absolute fucking nonsense. Time for our show, which has been so goofy and removed from reality it occasionally resembles a Monty Python skit, which has been so light it asks you to ignore the frankly incredibly fucked up implications of its premise for the sake of comedy (they were both drugged and proxy raped resulting in a pregnancy- the FL was a virgin prior to this and Gun had a girlfriend he wanted to propose to- and it was the FL’s family who did this to them: SUPER FUCKED UP), so farcical that it makes Some Like it Hot look like a gritty crime drama, that show to cover a bunch of serious heavy shit.

First, the rankest of melodrama. The families and the world all turn on our couple, but their love is true and will conquer all- UNTIL, he randomly collapses and gets convenient Soap Opera Amnesia. He’s forgotten their entire relationship and a series of coincidental pieces of misconstrued evidence, the machinations of his scheming ex girlfriend, the Soap Opera Doctor’s advice, and his closest confidants all going along with this conspire to make him believe (AGAIN) that his wife just wants his money.

This whole terrible episode is mercifully brief, but it just gets worse after his memory returns. This is where we get into the Noble Idiocy. The ‘pretend you don’t love them to “save them” from getting hurt by hurting them and making their important life decisions for them as if they don’t have a basic fucking right to decide that themselves’ kind. Which goes on for three FUCK years in the show. He wastes three years of their lives they could have spent together because he’s worried he might die young (in a terrible way) and doesn’t want to put her through that. And, of course, they inevitably get together later, so all he did was make it infinitely worse for her either way. To say nothing of how he thus couldn’t be there for her through the loss of their child. Possibly my most hated fucking trope of all time when done this way.

And, yep, you read that right. This show that has the single most batshit bonkers over the top slapstick I have ever seen in a kdrama, this show has a storyline where the fluffy romcom trope accidental pregnancy ends in massive trauma. Because she was standing around in the street after realising he does remember her (he continued to pretend he had amnesia after his memories came back, it’s all part of the stupid noble idiocy so I glossed over it) and gets hit by a car in the middle of their angst staring.

It is nearly Meet Joe Black levels of hilariously abrupt and incongruous.

so, blah blah, they lose their baby (there’s a very stupid whole thing about her telling everyone to save the baby instead of her- the baby is not far enough along for this to have been remotely viable. She is like 3 months pregnant. They all act like there’s a choice to be made between them and she’s mad at her husband for choosing to save her, but there was NO CHOICE. Either she lives or they both die! ffs I’m so irritated about this) and then he dumps her ~for her own good~~ because he loves her too much to make her go through losing him? So she loses him sooner?? right after their baby died???

Why do people in these stories always think being betrayed and abandoned for no reason and being incredibly angry at someone you love while also not getting to be with them is somehow less painful than making the best of your life together and then losing them against their will? ‘I will make her hate me and then she won’t be sad we broke up/I died!!!!’ is such a fucking galaxy brain take and I despise it with the heat of ten thousand suns. Fuck you, Spider-Man. You aren’t protecting anyone, the villains still know you love MJ and will still use her against you, you clod. Emotionally torturing the person you love is not going to make them not a target because the villains are not as fucking stupid as you two. Anyway.

Amnesia was right where I started fast-forwarding and skipping around (because I couldn’t bear it), but it only goes downhill from there. Maybe I would have toughed out more of the wretched middle part plot twist if they hadn’t cut all the hot guy’s hair off. If I’m going to watch total nonsense tedious melodrama, I need it to at least be pretty. I understand it was a Symbolic Haircut but damnit! Let me have this!

And it ultimately does the thing that kdramas seem obsessed with and which makes me want to claw out my own eyeballs with frustration. There’s a giant time skip, the female lead gets a personality transplant, all narrative momentum is lost, and the characters who eventually (at ENORMOUS length) get together permanently are essentially completely different characters with a completely different dynamic than the couple you were shipping for 90% of the story. It is so FUCKING unsatisfying and it is EVERYWHERE.

Not so much with this one because this one still had a lot of very romantic scenes late in the game, but most that do this, it’s also like all the romance is sucked out of the post-time skip episodes and the ending is a consolation prize instead of a triumphant culmination. Inevitably, the heroine abruptly cools off and is suddenly wary of the hero and wants this Important New Career she never mentioned until the penultimate episode but is now her one true life’s dream. What the apparently irresistible appeal is of these contrived separations and demure conclusions is I CANNOT FATHOM. I’m here for the fucking romance guys, you have not made Citizen Kane, please just indulge me with a big schmoopy finale.

And if not that, it’s frequently that there’s been so many random mood swings and so much shitty behaviour by the end that the relationship doesn’t make sense and you don’t know why they even bother to get back together.

I’m not inherently against all misunderstandings (they are the bread and butter of low stakes romance let’s be real) or attempts at noble idiocy from misguided characters, but the duration and seriousness of the drama these generate needs to be in proportion to how ridiculous they are. If your entire plot can be solved by a thirty second conversation there is NO REASON not to have and the continuation of the misunderstanding is a result of someone just NOT SPEAKING UP when any functional human being would have spoken up seven times by now IT’S BAD.

Do little cliff-hangers, whatever, but don’t draaaaagg out silly misconceptions into Shakespearean tragedy, it’s just wearying. It makes me hate the characters for acting like emotionally constipated toddlers with terminal stupidity. If there is so little trust, so little understanding, and so little basic patience between these people, they probably shouldn’t be dating, so try fucking harder, writers. And noble idiocy that is more than an impulse they fairly quickly see the error of is just insulting. You are not helping the other person, you are being domineering and selfish. I have a whole complex about wasting time and seeing endless parades of characters flushing years down the toilet for literally no reason gives me hives. Especially when the whole issue is about time!

(And, btw, so much of the plot is about how desperately the family needs an heir and everyone still wanting them to have kids the second time they get together- while the ~dilemma used to keep them apart is a GENETIC DISEASE which could STRIKE AT ANY TIME. Do you SEE THE PROBLEM WITH THIS WRITERS????? NO, I KNOW YOU DON’T. ommmmmmmmggggg that’s awful! So they’re just dooming more kids to Soap Opera Brain Disease? And maybe growing up without a father just as Gun did? And no one even considers suggesting adoption??? He never considers that he shouldn’t have biological children despite thinking he shouldn’t have a wife?)

ANYWAY. Please do watch the first nine episodes and the last three, it’s bananas. They are cute as fuck, Gun is The Best, and the tropey romance scenes are top quality. You don't get those things executed so well, it doesn't happen, so you need this in your life. The acting is of a calibre you never usually see in modern romcoms; these are people at the top of their game committing utterly and taking these characters completely seriously. In that way it is pure wish fulfilment for me as someone who loves romance and is almost always disappointed by popular romance media, and thus the show is incalculably special. But skip the middle. Just skip it. It's not worth the suffering. I find the tone whiplash honestly just this side of crass.

I’ve been thinking about it for over a week and I truly love the main characters so it did plenty right, but I just cannot with wedding the two things this show is trying to be together, especially when it goes so hard in two mutually exclusive directions. but also the Meet Joe Black sudden car accident device is not redeemable under any circumstances. Can we never do that again, please.

#fated to love you #kdrama #jang hyuk #writing

29 notes · View notes

zenonaa · 4 years

Link

Chapters: 1/2 Fandom: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fukawa Touko/Togami Byakuya Characters: Togami Byakuya, Fukawa Touko, Hagakure Yasuhiro, Naegi Komaru, Asahina Aoi, Naegi Makoto, Kirigiri Kyouko Additional Tags: togafukaweek2020 Series: Part 6 of TogaFuka Week 2020

Summary: Byakuya and Touko tell their son about the events leading up to their engagement... with help from their friends.

Comments: Day 6: Family and Wedding! It’s a two-part fic, so the second part will be posted tomorrow.

***

For as long as Aloysius Togami had been alive, his parents had been married. His father had always been Byakuya Togami, and his mother had always been Touko Togami. He knew she used to be Touko Fukawa, but she more than happily disowned her family name upon marriage and adopted her husband’s.

On multiple occasions, Aloysius paged through their wedding albums. Saw their smiles, saw their friends, saw the western theme. What he didn’t know much about was what led up to the wedding, and that was something he was especially interested to know about, now that he found himself at a similar phase in life.

“Mother. Father,” said Aloysius, holding his hands behind his back. “There’s something I need to talk to you guys about.”

His parents stared up at him, sitting on their living room couch.

“Y-You’re not dying, are you?” said Touko as a hand flew up to her mouth.

“I... no,” said Aloysius, flinching his head back.

Byakuya inclined his head and said sternly, “Are you doing drugs?”

The bravado that Aloysius brought with him crumbled as their wide eyes digested him.

“No, I’m not,” said Aloysius, growing more flustered.

Touko slung her arms over her husband’s shoulders and borderline wailed, “Did you sign up for a game show where you’re locked into an old school building and forced into a killing game?”

Her bottom lip wobbled as distress rocked her body. Aloysius pouted.

“That’s not it at all,” huffed Aloysius.

Rather than let them keep guessing, Aloysius dipped his hand into his jacket’s inner pocket and pulled out a burgundy velvet box small enough to fit in his palm. Byakuya and Touko leaned in, with the latter squeezing her husband’s shoulder, as Aloysius opened the box. It parted its jaws with a gentle click, and on its cushioned tongue perched a platinum, three stone engagement ring.

“It’s... an engagement ring!” Touko gasped, eyebrows jumping, and she slapped a hand against her cheek. Byakuya studied it closer.

“Round cut, one diamond flanked by two sapphires,” murmured Byakuya. He adjusted his glasses. “Impressive.”

“Yep,” replied Aloysius with a bob of his head, pleased with their reactions, then he glanced away, slightly bashful. “I picked it up from the store this morning.”

Touko and Byakuya fixed their eyes onto him at the same time.

“When are you going to propose?” asked Byakuya.

“How are you going to propose?” Touko chimed in. Aloysius rubbed his wrist sheepishly.

“That’s kind of why I wanted to talk to you about it first,” he explained. “I plan on proposing to Ichika today but when I propose, I want it to be special. How did you propose to Mother, Father?”

Byakuya cupped his chin. Meanwhile, Touko clasped her hands together, beaming.

“I r-remember it so clearly!” she gushed. “We were in a restaurant, and...”

“Hold on,” interrupted Byakuya, flinging up a hand for silence. “You’re getting ahead of yourself. Before I proposed to you, I purchased the ring. I know you have already done that, Aloysius, but I want to tell you my story from the start...”

He folded his arms over his chest.

“I remember it well...”

***

On a warm morning in July where the temperature had yet to reach its peak, I arrived at a jewelry store with Naegi and Hagakure. The storefront was sleek black, with golden cursive written across the top that said the shop’s name. When we approached close enough, the double doors parted, granting us entrance. I headed the group, brimming confidence as I strode inside, and I heard the doors whoosh shut behind us.

Circular lights covered the grey ceiling hanging above a dark, polished flooring. Various photographs adorned the desaturated yellow walls, portraying smiling people I didn’t know. Though my gaze lingered longer on the photographs with closeups of rings, even those didn’t capture my attention for long. Of more interest were the glass cabinets either side of me, filled with mannequin shoulders and hands that boasted different jewelry.

Hagakure let out a low whistle and rested his hands onto his hips, looking around. “This place is mighty fancy.”

“Yeah,” agreed Naegi, his eyes flitting about nervously. I nudged up my glasses and resisted the urge to roll my eyes. A low cluck escaped me.

“You two will be fine, so long as you don’t touch anything,” I assured them. They both shot wary looks at each other.

We didn’t have to dawdle long before a man in a white-blue checkered shirt received us. I can’t remember much about his appearance. Your grandmother had a photographic memory, you know. Anyway...

“Good morning, gentlemen, how can I help you today?” asked the salesman. I stepped forward.

“I’m the one you have business with,” I told him, and when his attention narrowed onto me, I added, “I need an engagement ring.”

The salesman nodded. If he had a hat, he would have tipped it. He gave off that impression. “Can do. Do you have anything particular in mind?”

“Diamond, with an interesting pattern,” I told him. “However, while I don’t want it to be plain, I don’t want it to be over the top or gimmicky... It needs to be original but elegant.”

I could tell that the salesman hadn’t been listening by the glazed look in his eyes, but he nodded anyway.

“I’m sure I can help you with that,” said the salesman. He led us to one of the glass display cabinets and swept his hand across the top. “This brand has a lot of standout designs. Do any of these tickle your fancy?”

We peered in. A lot of engagement rings that I had seen prior to this were similar - silver band with a diamond, whether it be a princess cut, oval cut, cushion cut or another, and indeed, some rings shown to me then didn’t stand out from many others I had seen not just in passing, but during my research online.

To give credit, alongside these standard engagement rings were others that had a hint of originality to them: one had a blue topaz gemstone, another had a band that wasn’t plain smooth or encrusted with smaller gemstones, but more ornate, and a ring near it had a band resembling interlaced vines.

After some deliberation, I soon set my eyes on the ring I wanted to give to Touko. It -

***

“I wouldn’t use the word ‘soon’ here,” came a slightly muffled voice.

Byakuya, Touko and Aloysius turned sharply to where the voice originated from. Yasuhiro Hagakure stood in the doorway of their living room, straddling a toothbrush between his teeth. His dreads, despite being restrained to a ponytail, were still voluminous, framing his head like rays from the Sun. He popped the toothbrush out of his mouth and padded over.

“Hi, Uncle Hiro.” Aloysius lowered his shoulders now he knew who it was. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“Neither did we,” said Byakuya, squinting.

“Family doesn’t need a reason or invitation to visit family, ‘right?” said Yasuhiro, and he quickly continued talking before anyone could answer him, wagging his toothbrush. “Anyway, Togami-chi, I overheard you telling little Aloysius-chi here about the time we went to buy an engagement ring of Touko-chi, and I couldn’t help noticing that some details might have been a bit fuzzy in your memory.”

Aloysius wasn’t little. He was in his twenties. But he said nothing, too curious.

Apparently, so was his father.

“Oh?” went Byakuya, cocking his head.

Yasuhiro hit himself on the chest with the hand holding the toothbrush. “Yep! But don’t worry, I remember the scene as clear as a bell! It went like this...”

***

So, Togami-chi called me and Naegi-chi the night before, asking us to come help him pick out an engagement ring. Being the good friend that I am, after I asked how much he was willing to pay for our services and he said nothing, I conceded and said I’d do it for free because we are such good friends, ‘right? The next day, we met at my place, and Togami-chi was anxiously going, “We need to go now! We need to go now!”

***

“I said that once,” Byakuya grouched. “And I wasn’t anxious. Just annoyed. You were taking too long to put your shoes on.”

“Whatever you say,” Yasuhiro said dismissively. He perched onto the armrest of the couch. “So...”

***

I drove us there in my car - I’ve still got old reliable, by the way - and the place really was as swanky as Togami-chi made it out to be. The sign above the doors was so elegant. You know, I could make a living as a person who writes shop names on signs, my penmanship is that neat, and I even said that. Naegi-chi wondered if there was even a job just for that and Togami-chi just gave us this blank look. I totally rendered him speechless', ‘right?

We walked in, and the entire place was amazing. Aloysius-chi, I can’t overstate how fancy the place was. I felt like a celebrity at a fancy dinner party. I remember whistling and saying how fancy the place was. Everything sparkled. Jewellery twinkled from within their glass cases, and light reflected off polished services. Totally ethereal.

Naegi-chi agreed with me. We couldn’t touch anything without risking millions in damages. Togami-chi was full of concern seeing us fidget, and he said, “You two will be fine, so long as you don’t touch anything.”

As we waited to for someone to come over, his demeanour changed. Nerves got the better of him. He gritted his teeth, looking around for a salesperson. Not long after, this guy came over to greet us and let me tell you, he was... wow!

***

Yasuhiro thumped himself on the chest, his lips stretched out as he beamed widely.

***

So this guy. His hair was, I would say, mahogany brown and slightly wavy, hanging just past his shoulders, and his moustache and goatee were well-trimmed. Not a hair out of place. He gave us the warmest of smiles I’ve ever seen and waved to us with a friendly gleam in his eyes. A guy like that should have been working as a model or something.

Togami-chi wanted to see some jewelry, and the guy - Katsumi Suzuki, by the way - took us to one cabinet. Katsumi-chi listened with utmost patience as Togami-chi described the ring he sought.

“Diamond, with an interesting pattern,” rambled Togami-chi, one hand on his hip and one hand pointing a finger at the ceiling. “However, while I don’t want it to be plain, I don’t want it to be over the top or gimmicky. It needs to be original but elegant.”

Katsumi-chi nodded attentively and showed us some. Togami-chi then tucked his hands behind his back and bent forward, practically pressing his face against the glass as he ogled the rings in there.

***

“I didn't do it like that,” snapped Byakuya. Yasuhiro shrugged and carried on.

***

There was at least condensation splattered onto the glass. Anyway... Togami-chi had Katsumi-chi take out, one by one, basically the complete collection. Each time, Togami-chi adjusted his glasses and went cross-eyed as he examined the latest ring. And every time, he would click his tongue and pick out another one for Katsumi-chi to show him so he could do the same thing again.

We went through the entire collection before Togami-chi twitched his head back and sneered, “Is that all you have?”

When Togami-chi’s nervous, as you know, he gets cranky. He drummed his fingers against his arms and groped his glasses the whole time.

Katsumi-chi was all professional, full of smiles, and he clapped his hands together. In a breezy voice, he said, “I have another collection for you! Please, follow me.”

No joke, we went around the entire store until Togami-chi finally decided on a ring.

***

Byakuya scowled. “I was not nervous. Now, be quiet. I’ll tell the rest.”

***

I was impatient. I didn’t leave this to the last minute, so I had no reason to be nervous. That man kept showing me rings that didn’t fit the image in my head, and I didn’t have all day. I had other things planned. Some of those rings I knew I could get online for far cheaper if I wanted... though, of course, I didn’t want those. He dared show me some alloy zircon rings that I could obtain elsewhere with the same amount of money one might find down the back of their sofa!

When he realised he risked losing a customer, he squeezed his hands together and begged, “I have another collection for you! Please, follow me!”

My refusal to be ripped off or go away with something neither me nor Touko would be satisfied with paid off. In the end, I spotted three rings that I most approved of.

One was a silver band that didn’t connect the whole way. A round cut diamond punctuated one end and affixed on the other end was a diamond shaped into a flat flower.

For the second ring, the golden band looped twice, and on it was a round cut pink diamond gripped in golden claws, and around the claws, silver rose heads were embedded into the band.

Finally, the third ring, gold-banded, was studded with clear diamonds, and it contained a purple diamond surrounded by small golden leaves.

After a lot of thought, I went with the ring with the pink diamond. I even managed to buy it for a cheaper price than usual. Naegi and Hagakure had their faces buried in their hands, in awe of my debating skills the entire time.

***

“It was more like cringing than awe,” said Yasuhiro, wrinkling his nose. His face smoothed when he turned to Aloysius. “So anyway, Aloysius-chi, that’s how Togami-chi bought his engagement ring.”

Touko sighed happily, slumping against her husband’s side. Aloysius rubbed the back of his neck.

“Uh... thanks,” he said with a lopsided smile. “That was an enjoyable story, but I’m more interested in how the actual proposal went down. That’s the part I’m at now.”

Byakuya lifted his chin, puffing out his chest.

“Hagakure, make us some coffee,” instructed Byakuya, pointing at Yasuhiro, who rose and shuffled into the kitchen. Then Byakuya folded his arms over his chest. “Aloysius, part of the reason we explained that part of our engagement story was to illustrate to you how much thought went into every single stage.”

Touko nodded fervently, squeezing her knees. “T-That’s right... but I think it’s my turn to tell the rest of the story.”

She sat back, raised her hands and laced her fingers together.

“I remember it so clearly...!” said Touko. Her gaze unfocused, and a toothy smile spread across her face. “Unbeknownst to me, Byakuya spent a long time planning the perfect time to propose to me...”

***

I bit on my thumbnail as I peered into my opened wardrobe, a purchase from a thrift shop. It didn’t contain enough clothes to fill the entire thing. Half of the contents consisted of work clothes, plain blouses and long skirts of the muted colours with dark purple being the most colourful of the lot. The other half offered more variety, like a canary yellow dress with a low neckline, allowing for me to wear a frilly white blouse underneath.

Still. Nothing flashy. I held my breath as I lifted the hanger off the rail and pulled out the yellow dress. It swayed a bit before stilling.

“That’s way too casual!” groaned Komaru, standing off to my side. Even after so long, I can remember her fists balled beneath her chin, her chibi head too big for her body.

Her sudden vocalisation sent a shock wave ripping through my body that made me twitch. I clenched the hanger tighter with both hands and pressed it against myself.

“I was just checking it,” I replied, and once my heartbeat returned to normal, I put the hanger back on the rail. With my hands free, I curled my fingers into my palms and knocked my knuckles together. “For my date with Byakuya-sama, I have to consider all possibilities.”

For example, though I knew we were going to a restaurant, what if we decided to do something else afterwards? It would be dinnertime, leaving the rest of the night available for us to fill. We could go on a walk, or spend the night together at his apartment. Then I would have to wear something comfortable... and something easy to take off. Heheh... Ah! As I was saying, it could rain, or become cold, or too hot. There were so many factors to account for.

Komaru crossed her arms.

“It’s not like you don’t know how it will play out. You’ve been on loads of dates with Togami-san already,” Komaru pointed out. I whined.

“Yes! B-But that doesn’t mean I can slack!”

Honestly, I could have tugged on my hair with frustration. Komaru grabbed a hanger off the rail and waved it around.

“Fine. What about this one?” she asked.

I snatched it from her, and as I twisted my body from her, I protected it from her with myself as a shield.

“This one is way too flashy! I’d stick out like a sore thumb,” I hissed.

The hanger in my hands held a sleeveless dress gifted to me by not just Komaru, but her brother too for my last birthday. It was knee-length and pale pink with red petals printed around the skirt, more condensed toward the bottom, like the petals were falling from above and joining the pile below. A black, translucent lace shawl attached to the dress hung from the shoulders to where the skirt of the dress began, matching the colour of the collar.

“It’s perfect!” Komaru announced. She propped her hands onto her hips. “You should tots wear it.”

Admittedly, I was hesitant, because the dress wasn’t exactly like what one would expect at a formal do. The pattern on it stood out, was very striking, but at the same time, it wasn’t casual. That was why I had yet to wear it - I didn’t know what sort of situation it was most appropriate for. Not around the house, but if I went somewhere fancy, people might think it was tacky. I stood there, biting my lip as I studied it.

“Come on, Touko-chan,” Komaru pleaded, clasping her hands together and shaking them.

She persisted, and in the end, I relented, putting it on. When I was done, Komaru uncovered her eyes and beamed.

“You look amazing!” Komaru cheered, throwing up her arms. My eyes narrowed. I grumbled, averting my gaze and trying not to smile.

Byakuya met me at the front gates of the school grounds. As soon as I saw him, I ran over. The weather indulged us that day. A clear blue sky stretched overhead, and the warm temperature didn’t oppress or cling too tightly. My heels clacked against the pavement, sounding like the crackling of fireworks. He scooped me into his arms, and I could have stayed against his chest forever. Tempting though that was, I receded, slightly winded. If I remained there, I wouldn’t be able to stare up and admire him, let alone go on our date.

“This dress isn’t tacky, is it?” I asked once I came out of his embrace. I pinched at the skirt.

“No,” he replied, studying it. “It has an interesting pattern.”

I let go of my dress and grinned wider.

As expected, Byakuya opted for a suit, dark green, consisting of a jacket with a waistcoat underneath and a shirt that was ever so slightly tinged pink. He was absolutely dashing, as always, and he took my hand as we slipped into the taxi.

On the ride there, I gently leaned against him, watching the urban scenery flit by through the window. We disembarked in the car park by the restaurant and walked inside together, gave our names and let a waiter lead us to our table. A candle flickered between us, encased in a clear orb. Our surroundings were all cheerful browns, some accented with other colours, like the green leaves of a plant or white tablecloth. Shortly after we were seated, we ordered drinks - red wine, I recall...

***

“It was a blend of grenache and syrah,” Byakuya interjected.

A grin exploded across her face. She grasped her hands tightly together.

***

Yes! That exactly. I remember how Byakuya raised his glass and announced a toast, and I couldn’t quell my smile as he clinked my glass against his. First, the pork gyoza arrived... They were divine. A crispy bottom and tender top encased juicy innards, shaped like crescent moons that could fit easily in one’s palm. Truly an amalgamation of textures. I p-picked up one with my chopsticks and offered it to Byakuya.

To my delight, he opened his mouth. I could see his teeth, and his cute pink tongue... I popped it into his mouth. Then he picked up a gyoza and offered it to me! My face heated up as I opened my mouth with an aah, and he slid his pork between my puckered lips...

***

The tables in the restaurant retreated in puffs of smoke, and when they cleared, the sleek brown furnishing had disappeared, revealing the living room’s white walls and a painting of Byakuya, Touko and a four year old who used to be Aloysius many years ago. In the painting, the streaks of silver that Byakuya’s hair had now weren’t visible, but other than a few less wrinkles, Aloysius’s parents hadn’t changed much. Those shadowy figures at the restaurant tables vanished, and the only people left were gathered around a couch that popped out of the carpet. No longer did they chatter - their voices became the rumble of distance traffic.

A low laugh rumbled from Touko. Her gaze clouded over.

When Touko didn’t continue speaking after a few seconds, Aloysius coughed, and Touko gave a start. Byakuya pursed his lips. Both were used to how Touko’s mind sometimes wandered. The smile on her face dripped off as she recollected herself. She wiggled, sitting up, and Aloysius waited for the rest of the story.

However, the next person to speak wasn’t her. Not either of them.

“Are you telling the story of when you got engaged?” piped up Komaru from behind the couch.

Touko squawked and bent over sharply. Aloysius’s shoulders twitched. Even Byakuya had jolted slightly and needed to adjust his glasses. That was definitely Komaru, olive eyes, brown hair and all. Komaru tilted her head to one side, eyebrows raised in confusion as both her hands rested on the top of the back of the couch.

“D-Don’t sneak up on me!” Touko said, hand over her heart and glaring over her shoulder.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I thought you saw me come in,” said Komaru, wincing a little. She gave a small wave with one hand and directed a nod across the room. “I waved as I came in, and Hagakure-san waved back, so I thought you knew...”

Everyone looked at Yasuhiro, who stood near the doorway to the kitchen, carrying a tray of drinks. He tensed, then gave a small laugh and cupped the back of his head, keeping hold of the tray in his other hand.

“I didn’t want to interrupt the story!” he explained, showing a lot of teeth in his grin.

“How long have you been here for?” Byakuya asked, and when Aloysius turned to him, he saw that Byakuya had fixed his stare on Komaru.

“Enough to know what point we’re at,” Komaru said. She folded her arms over the top of the couch and leaned her weight into it. When Yasuhiro set down the tray of refreshments in front of them, she faced Aloysius and chirped, “Hey, let me tell you the next part. Otherwise we won’t ever get to the juicy parts. Touko-chan always gets caught up on the little details.”

A crease formed on Touko’s brow, darkening her features, and Touko opened her mouth to object, but before she could, Komaru started speaking anyway.

***

Okay, first off, I did not have a chibi body. Let’s make that clear. Just because I was the cute little sister type, doesn’t mean -

***

“I didn’t mean it literally, you pea brain,” grumbled Touko. Komaru put on a sulky pout, but Aloysius could tell that she wasn’t offended. Byakuya held in a sigh.

When one of Aloysius’s other aunts, Aoi, said those three could put on a comedy act together, she hadn’t been kidding. Yasuhiro smirked at them.

Aloysius raised his hands, facing his palms toward Komaru. “Um... can we get back to the story, please?”

Komaru wiped off her pouty look.

“All right,” she said, still slumped against the couch. She straightened.

***

We spent ages getting Touko-chan ready for her date. Like... hours. Now, though Touko-chan invited me over to help her get ready, I knew something she didn’t. The night before, Togami-san called to tell me about his plan to propose to Touko-chan at their next date.

***

“You then spent the next ten minutes quizzing me about it,” Byakuya remarked with an annoyed frown. Aloysius snorted.

Komaru, who had tapped her nose when she revealed her secret, lowered her hand. She peeled her body off the couch completely and parked her hands onto her hips.

“And what’s wrong with that?” she asked.

***

This way, I knew exactly what to do. I came over to her place after lunch and helped her prepare for what would be, unbeknownst to her, a life-changing experience. Touko-chan stewed over what to wear for almost forever, dithering nonstop at her wardrobe, and when she seemed like she planned to choose this plain yellow dress you might wear on a trip to the seaside, I couldn’t just stand there idly and nod, nod, nod to appease her. See, I knew how big a deal this would be to both of them. I needed to act, and fast.

“That’s way too casual!” I blurted, making Touko-chan jump.

“I was just checking it,” she replied defensively, but she returned the hanger to the rail. She fidgeted her hands, grimacing, and added, “For my date with Byakuya-sama, I have to consider all possibilities.”

Of course, I knew that. In fact, I knew more than her. This date was extra special. I couldn’t let her know that though. While I couldn’t let her be too casual, I couldn’t let her go extreme the other way.

“It’s not like you don’t know how it’s going to play out. You’ve been on loads of dates with Togami-san already,” I said, hoping that would keep her expectations high but not like, crazy high.

“Yes! B-But that doesn’t mean I can slack!” she replied shrilly.

Poor Touko-chan could get herself worked up over an anthill. To be honest, she still can. Don’t give me that look, Touko-chan! You know it’s true.

It was a good thing Togami-kun recruited me to make sure everything went according to his plan. Who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t been there? Touko-chan might even have turned up at the restaurant three days late. Remembering the dress I bought her for her birthday - with help from Makoto’s paycheck, I pulled it out of Touko’s wardrobe and showed it to her.

“What about this one?” I suggested.

Touko-chan already described it so I won’t bore everyone with the details, but it was a really pretty dress, let me emphasise that. The lace at the top was attached to a black collar and collars make almost every outfit seem just a bit smarter at the least, you know? I thought it would add a bit of oomph to her wardrobe. It’s so dreary otherwise... like she got all her outfits at a museum.

She screeched like a cat having its tail trodden on and tore the dress from my hands, shielding it with her body. “This one is way too flashy! I’d stick out like a sore thumb.”

I stuck out my chest. “It’s perfect. You should tots wear it.”

We bickered a bit but with my charm, I triumphed. Touko-chan sulked as I did her hair, tying it into a bun on top of her head. She has so much hair. The whole time, she kept checking her phone for messages or to keep track of the time. Anyway, as soon as she spotted Togami-san at the gates, she perked up and ran over to him. When she reached him, she stumbled over in her high heels, but Togami-san managed to catch her.

***

“You didn’t need to mention that part,” muttered Touko, hunching her shoulders. Komaru waggled her tongue at her.

***

What? It was cute! Thankfully, they avoided a night in a hospital room. I remember wishing I could be in a situation like that with someone. Not the hospital room thing! The thing that actually happened! It was just like from an anime.

They talked then held each other’s hands for a moment before getting into the taxi together, but of course, that’s not the end of the story. Togami-san had told me the name of the restaurant, and I couldn’t not be at my best friend’s engagement, so I roped in three of our friends to make sure it worked out perfectly. So me, Kyouko-chan, Aoi-chan and Kanon-chan got on our bicycles and -

***

“You what?” said Byakuya and Touko at the same time, and then, also in synchronization, they jerked their heads back. Komaru clasped her hands together and oozed a guilty smile.

Then, by herself, Touko said, seething, “I w-wondered how you all showed up so quickly when - ”

“Don’t spoil the story!” Komaru said loudly, flapping her hands.

Touko sank back into the couch moodily, letting Komaru continue. Byakuya draped his arm around Touko and rubbed her shoulder.

***

As I was saying, we got on our bicycles and made chase whilst ensuring neither of them realised we were keeping close tabs on them. Sometimes, we scattered, or took shortcuts through alleyways.

Togami-san told me he planned to propose after dessert, so we didn’t have to follow them into the building right away. In fact, it would have been better to wait until after they settled down, lowering their guards, so until then, the four of us popped into a local ice cream parlor and all had some ice cream in the meantime.

Then, after we finished, we thought we would check out a few stores before sneaking our way into the restaurant. Meals always take forever to come in those sorts of places, so I reckoned we had an hour minimum to spare. Kanon-chan wanted to see if the sports store stocked her baseball bat line - dedicated to her cousin, may Kuwata-san rest in peace - so we went there, and they had some, so we...

***

Touko held her head in her hands and fussed, “You were complaining about how I would never get to the ‘juicy’ parts, and now you’re going off on a tangent about your shopping trip. No one wants to hear about that.”

She shook her head, eyes downcast, baring her teeth.

“My Aloysius wants to hear about the suspense! The drama!” Touko insisted. “Not... Not what ice creams you got, or what you bought in a sports shop!”

Aloysius fixed his eyes on Komaru.

“Drama?” he repeated curiously. Komaru raised her fists with a moody expression.

“Fine! You want an exciting story, I’ll give you one,” she said.

***

So while Togami-san and Touko-chan were being really interesting eating heavily described food or whatever, full of metaphors and similes and junk, the rest of us were walking out of the arcade, Kyouko-chan holding a giant plush penguin in her arms that Aoi won for her, when we heard a huge BANG!

***

Komaru mimed explosions with her hands. Aloysius stared.

***

Out of nowhere. Bang! I nearly jumped out of my skin. The four of us all exchanged eyebrows-up looks, mouths hanging ajar, and then around us, people started yelling and running... At first, we didn’t understand what they were responding to, but then we noticed they were all yelling and running away from the area that contained the restaurant.

Within seconds, smoke started to bleed into the sky, as black as coal.

Okay, I know, I know. Black as coal? Hey, Touko-chan’s the writer here, not me. The smoke was thick and contaminated more and more of the sky as seconds sprinted past.

“What the hell was that?” asked Kanon-chan, shielding her eyes with her hand.

“It sounded like an explosion,” Aoi-chan said, hovering a hand nervously by her mouth.

As always, Kyouko-chan was ready.

“Come on,” she said in that quiet but firm voice of hers, gesturing with the arm not carrying her penguin toy, and the four of us hurried down the street, heading toward the source of the smoke.

Dodging past screaming civilians who either stumbled, cowered or both, my mind swam with possibilities of what could have caused such a scene. Had someone tried setting off a firework in the early evening? Into the velvety violet sky? Did a car veer and crash into a building, blowing out a cloud of dust not unlike something from an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine?

That was an old British children’s television show, Aloysius.

A little voice in the back of my head kept asking, ‘What if something happened at the restaurant?’ The screams and spluttering of footsteps helped drown it out, but my chest tightened like a fist clenched around it. No matter how much I screamed in my head, I couldn’t block that worry out completely.

When the restaurant slid into frame, it confirmed our suspicions. I froze, staring at the partially demolished restaurant. A scream got trapped in my throat. My eyes watered at the acidic stench of destruction.

#togafuka #touko fukawa #byakuya togami #danganronpa #dr3 #makoto naegi #kyouko kirigiri #yasuhiro hagakure #komaru naegi #aoi asahina #fanfiction #togafukaweek #round robin

28 notes · View notes

bssaz97 · 4 years

Note

Think you would do another part to the missing for a year ask

Missing For A Year… (II)

What originally was supposed to be a day of remembrance and comfort to those who had mourned the ‘death’ of the two leaders of (R)WBY and (J)NPR, quickly became a revelation of confusion and shock. For after almost a year after their supposed passing, Ruby and Jaune returned to Beacon at the day of their own memorial with more than a few surprises. Many of the friends family felt relief that their friends/children/sibling while others had.....unique reactions.

Glynda: For the love of-I JUST HAD THIS SCHOOL FIXED! (Starts to repair the damages done to the door) Mr. Pine would you be so kind as to bring back Miss Schnee and...the newly announced parents. Preferably before she tears the courtyard apart.

Oscar: I’ll try but I can’t make any guarantees.

Glynda: Understandable. Now hurry!

Oscar starts to sprint after them in order to calm matters before they escalate. Meanwhile, the remaining friends of Ruby and Jaune take in the new situation.

Blake: Are they going to be ok? Weiss seems pretty mad.

Neptune: Yeah she’s fine, the two of them... well not so much.

Sun: By the way, how’re you doing babe? I mean we just did get a major truth bomb dropped on us.

Blake: I’m really not sure what I’m feeling. Shock, elation, grief, betrayal.....it’s a mixed bag at the moment.

Sun: Hey take whatever time you need. In the meantime, want to go see the new babies!

Blake: .....Sure. I think that’ll be nice.

Neptune: Also should we get Ren? He’s been still as a statue for a good minute or two. I think he’s also forgotten how to breathe.

Ren: godchildren...godchildren...I’m a godfather...

Sun: Ok buddy come on let’s go. *Grabs him like a cardboard cutout*

Meanwhile....

Ruby: ‘Huff! Huff! Huff!’ I think we lost her

Jaune: *Kneeled over in exhaustion* Man, here I thought we were gonna be having a nice reunion with everyone. Not to run in our own funeral.

Ruby: Technically it was a memorial.

Jaune: Haha. Oh yeah like that’s way better.

Ruby: Look, let’s just see if we can talk to her. She seems pretty upset about it all. Can’t imagine what she’s going through. I mean we basically were proclaimed dead by everyone then to suddenly just stumble back into their lives unannounced and without warning.

Jaune: Yeah that would put her in a questionable state of grief.

Ruby: I wish we could make it up to her you know.

Weiss: Maybe you can by accepting your punishment... *Peeking over the bush they were hiding in*

Slowly the couple turned their heads backwards to see their assailant right behind them. Nervous expressions written on their faces due to the unnervingly calm the SDC heiress/huntress was being.

Ruby: Weiss...hey, how are you?

Weiss: Good...heard you’re married now...and with children.

Ruby: Y-Yeah. Had a really busy year.

Weiss: Oh I had a busy year too. By busy I meant that I spent most of the past year in grief over the death of two of my dearest friends.

Ruby: Oh...that sounds terrible.

Weiss: It was...but do you want to know what’s worse than grieving over the dead?

Jaune: What’s that?

Weiss: Finding our that all your grief was wasted on two absolute morons who didn’t even know the proper way to send a letter to their grieving friends. But who also managed to start up a new life entirely ignorant of the pain their absence caused others. But you want to know the bright side?

Ruby/Jaune: .....what’s the bright-

From a birds eye view, newly installed cameras recorded the sudden appearance of a massive snowy explosion in Beacon’s courtyard. The sound of the sudden explosion alerted the attention of the deputy assistant to the headmistress, as he saw a large amount of snow built up seemingly out of nowhere.

Oscar: Oh no...Welp! At least I know where they are. *Starts running*

It takes Oscar about five minutes to get to the epicenter of the explosion as he had to walk through all the snow built up from the explosion. There he finds Weiss holding onto a supply bag and a rather large ice cube.

Oscar: Weiss, did you have to do this in the courtyard?

Weiss: Yup.

Oscar: ‘Sigh’ Honestly I don’t blame you. By the way where’s Ruby and Jaune?

Weiss: Close by. *Uses Myrtenaster to spin the ice cube to reveal everything but the faces of the couple encased in the block of ice*

Ruby: *Teeth chattering* H-H-hey Oscar... how’s it...ha-hanging?

Oscar: I’m good.....are they ok?

Weiss: Oh don’t mind them they’re completely fine. This is just the punishment they are going to endure being stuck in one place for the remainder of the day. Right? *Glares at the two leaders*

Jaune: *teeth chattering* Y-y-yeah! To-Totally...no problems here! R-R-Right Ruby?

Ruby: *teeth chattering* Y-Y-Yep! Totally... peachy!

Oscar: Somehow I don’t believe...

Weiss: Oh you worry too much. They’re not going to get hypothermia from being in there. There Aura will protect their body temperature and the worst they can get from this is a cold.

Oscar: How kind of you.

Weiss: Do you want to go in the cube?

Oscar: *puts hands up in surrender* No! I’m good! I’m completely ok with being outside the cube.

Weiss: Good! Now come along you too, a LOT of people probably wish to see you right now. Weiss then uses her summoning glyph to bring out the Arma Gigas, who takes block of ice and carries it for her. With Oscar by her side the two begin to walk back to the main auditorium of Beacon.

Glynda: There you are Miss Schnee, did you manage to reconcile with- Why do you have a giant ice cube?

Weiss: Yes. I did in fact reconcile with my leader and her...husband. And for why I have this ice cube, see for yourself.

The Arma Gigas leaned down so that Goodwitch could see the couple’s faces.

Glynda: .....So I see. Well in any case, a lot of the Xiao-Long and Arc Families are eager to see these two. So would you mind if you could-?

Weiss: Of course.

Weiss’ summoning places the ice cube down and pushes it inside, causing the block to slide against the floor until it’s in the middle of the room.

Ruby: H-H-Hey everyone!

Taiyang: Ruby! *Runs over everyone in his path to get to her* My precious little bud! I-I can’t believe you’re here and alive! .....I...I thought I lost you too. *Hugs the cube*

Ruby: O-Oh Dad....I’m s-so s-s-sorry! I would h-hug you if-f-f my arms we-weren’t f-frozen.

Taiyang: It’s ok sweetie...you’re being here is all I need.

????: JAUNE MILES ARC!

Jaune: O-oh Crud...

A middle aged blonde woman marches over to the ice cube, with a frying pan in hand. Her eyes seemed to project fire despite having no magic.

Jaune: M-M-Mom! H-H-Hold on a s-s-second! I c-can exp-plain!

Mrs. Arc: Young man.....you...*drops the pan*

Jaune: Huh? *Face gets cradled*

Mrs. Arc: My baby...my baby boy.....*sobbing*

Jaune: M-M-Mom..... *Gets tarry eyed* I-I’m sorry for making you g-g-go through that.

Mrs. Arc: Oh Jaune...you have nothing to be sorry about my little blessing. You’re here now.

Nora: Awww! What a wonderful family reunion!

The others began to gather around the cube to ask their questions about where the two leaders have been this entire time, and the couple did their best to answer the many asked questions. Weiss even lessened the temperature of the ices o that they could say complete sentences without the cold stuttering.

Blake: Where happened to you two when you two defeated Salem?

Ruby: Well do you remember how she used her magic to bring the temple up to the atmosphere? Well when it was descending we saw that it was heading straight to the face of a mountain so luckily, both of us clung to a straying falling fragment in time while Jaune amplified our auras to withstand the impact of landing.

Jaune: Still has a bit to spare to heal us enough so that I could carry us to a nearby village. It was a fairly new settlement that probably was uncharted on most maps at the time.

Ren: Which means we wouldn’t have been able to find the village...

Jaune: Bingo!

Yang: *Holding Summer in her arms still, while the baby was contently playing with her hair* What happened to you afterwards?

Ruby: Well after Salem’s defeat, Jaune and I decided that we both wanted to take a little bit of a break from huntsmen work, so we decided to do some traveling. We already confessed to each other after the first month and got our marriage license in the second month at a court house. By that time we had gone from Mistral to Vacuo. But at the time of the third month.....I started to get sick, a lot. Didn’t take us long to go to a doctor to see why and to both our surprise I was a couple weeks along in my pregnancy.

Jaune: So we put exploring the world on hold and settled down in a local down in Southern Vale.

Weiss: How did you keep you’re presence under the radar for so long?

Ruby: Honestly we didn’t even know people were looking for us since Salem’s defeat so we just dressed like normal citizens and kept our hunting gear in our briefcases.

Weiss: Of course you did. *Face palm*

Nora: Welp looks like everything worked out in the end! All’s well that ends well!

•

Jaune: Um...Nora. Where’s Rowan?

Nora: Huh?

Jaune: The baby you were holding before we ran off you were holding onto him and now you’re not.

Nora: I’m not! *Looks all around herself, but finds nothing* .....Uh oh.

Jaune: .....Nora, you were watching him did you give him to somebody else?

Nora: I don’t think so!

Ruby: What! Nora did you lose my baby!

Nora: Ren did I give him to you?!

Ren: No I haven’t even gotten to hold him. *slightly disappointed*

Nora: Uuuuuhhh no, oh gods. *starts to hyperventilate* I don’t know what I did with him! I LOST THE BABY!

????: Ahem!

Nora and the others look to the source of the voice and there they see Whitley looking upwards.

Whitley: I think I found your missing baby. *Points Up*

Everyone looks up and to the parents surprise/horror, Rowan had somehow climbed up to the ceiling and was crawling on one of the ceiling beams.

Rowan: *Cute Baby Noises and waves at them*

Ruby/Nora: AAAAAAAAAAHHH!!

Nora: Don’t worry baby I’ll save you!

Weiss: Whitley! Why didn’t you tell us this sooner?!

Whitley: *Still looking up* He was doing fine climbing up there by himself so I wanted to wait and see if he could climb down.

Nora: *Up on the beams, slow to approach the infant* Hey there baby Rowan! Hi sweetie~ Listen why don’t you come over here to Auntie Nora. Come on~

Rowan: *Baby noises and crawls the opposite way*

Nora: Wait. No Rowan! You’re going the wrong way! Over HERE! Towards ME!

Rowan: *Baby noises but looks down to see the giant ice cube.* Aaaaaah! Ma! Ba!

Nora: Yes you want to go see mommy and daddy right? So just come over to me and I’ll take you to them. Ok sweetie!

Rowan: Hehehehe! *Falls over the edge*

Nora: NO! *Trues to catch him but fails*

Ruby/Jaune: ROWAN!!

Rowan falls down from the ceiling and just before he gets close to the ground his descent is slowed down before it stops completely leaving him completely suspended in midair. Then he is levitated over to his savior, Miss Goodwitch.

Glynda: Young man. I should let you know that playing in the ceiling is no place for a child to play.

Rowan: ..... *blows raspberries then laughs*

Glynda: *Smiles* You’re very lucky you’re not one of my students. Not yet anyway. Miss Rose, I believe this is belongs to you. *Levitates the baby over to Taiyang, who was standing right by her*

Ruby: Oh! My sweet baby boy, I’m so glad you’re safe!

Rowan: *cute baby noises* Ma!

Everyone: Awww.

Nora: AAAH! *Falls to the ground* .....I’m ok! Ow!

-End of Part 2-

Hope you guys like this second addition to the Missing for a Year post I made a month ago. Stay safe and I’ll talk to you all later!

#rwby #jaune arc #ruby rose #weiss schnee #yang xiao long #blake belladona #sun wukong #neptune vasilias #nora valkryie #lie ren #oscar pine #glynda goodwitch #lancaster #rwby lancaster #anonymous asks #sequel to previous ask #missing for a year

74 notes · View notes

echoes-of-the-clockwork · 3 years

Text

Book Three: Pestilence (Ignis x Reader) Chapter Sixteen

A/n: Honestly, I think this chapter is utter crap. But I hope someone enjoys it.

EDIT: This chapter has been rotting in my drafts for a while (almost 6 months) and I apologize for this book's long hiatus. I hope you enjoy! Love you all!!! ••••••••••••••••••••

Pestilence combs her fingers through her snowy locks as the sea breeze whipped through her hair. She tried to tame her wild tresses but sighed when they continued to be unruly. "Now I remember why I detest boats..."

"Y'know," Prompto spoke up, diverting (Y/n)'s attention from her hair to him. "I've always wanted to go sailing like this."

"Not many opportunities living in Insomnia," Gladio said.

"I'm assuming the lot of you never truly ventured outside the city for a vacation?" The Horseman asked.

"No, we never really found the time to go on any vacations," the sharpshooter confesses. "But out here, it's just us and the horizon! It's amazing-it's life changing! What about you, (Y/n)?"

"I traveled a great extent with my father. Altissia was one of the various places we visited during our archaeological travels."

"Oh, maybe you could give us a tour!" The blonde cheered jubilantly. "I totally want to get pictures of the best parts of Altissia!"

"We've quite a ways to go until we reach Altissia, so keep gushing to your heart's content," Ignis stated.

"So, could you?" The gunslinger begged, smiling at (Y/n).

"I'm not so sure, Prompto. Altissia may have changed since my time on Eos. I only truly explored the city when I first met Raiden," she responded.

"Who's Raiden?"

Ignis' body tensed at the question, which was detected by the girl sitting beside him. She placed a hand over his, which was resting atop his knee. "Raiden was the man I loved before I died. He is originally from Altissia, but I met him in Galahd a year after my father's death. After he passed and before my mother forced me into marriage with another man, we snuck out of my hometown and ventured to Altissia for a week." She looked at Noctis', Prompto's, and Gladio's faces, noticing they wanted to ask more. She sighed with a smile, no longer reserved about her past thanks to Ignis. "He was with me the day I died. Edric, the man my mother chose as my husband, found out about our elopement and chose to end our life together before it could even begin."

All the boys were silent. Ignis already knew of her past, but it still was painful to listen to. He grasped her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. (Y/n) smiled at him before deciding to change the subject for the other's sake. "Altissia should be wonderful this time of year. With the Rite of Leviathan around the corner, the festivities should be in full swing. A few people in Lestallum were discussing the various stalls decorating the streets."

"Oh, man! I can't wait!" Prompto chanted, shattering the suffocating tension.

Gladio glanced around at his companions at the mention of the Tidemother. "What sort of deity are we dealing with?"

"A serpent said to embody the roar and rage of the sea," the tactician answered.

"We'll have to "sea" for ourselves," Noctis said, earning a huff of laughter from Pestilence when she heard the pun he made.

Once the group started chatting about Lady Lunafreya, (Y/n) stood up, disconnected her hand from Ignis', and headed toward Cid. She stood beside the older man, peering through the window and staring at the vast ocean in front of them.

"Y'know, Reggie talked about ya and your sisters a lot," Cid suddenly spoke up.

Pestilence turned her head in his direction. "I never met His late Majesty, but Death spoke well of him. I do wish I could've spoken to him once."

"He believed you four would play a major role in changing Eos alongside his boy." Cid coughed before continuing. "He wasn't wrong. I've seen your sisters around and how they've helped."

"You've spoken will my sisters?" (Y/n) inquired, taken aback at the revelation.

"Yep. Never thought I'd live to witness the day the Four Horsemen returned to Eos. Meetin' ya and your sisters was somethin' I never thought possible. How's the huntin'?"

The young girl sighed dejectedly. "Not well. It seems the draugr has fled and I know not of where to. I joined the group in hopes my hunt would prove to be more successful. How were my sisters when you spoke to them?"

"Death delivered the news of Reggie's death to Hammerhead before headin' back to wherever y'all come from. Famine, too kind and sweet for her own good. And War...don't get me started."

Pestilence giggled at hearing about the redhead. "I'd a brief rendezvous with War at Cape Caem. It assuages me to know they are faring well regarding the current circumstances."

Suddenly, the two heard sputtering. The boat began to slow down, which puzzled the Horseman. She eyed the old man beside her. "What seems to be the issue?"

"Damn engine," Cid spat. "Rusty and needs replacin'. I was hopin' the temporary fix would've held 'til we arrived at Altissia. With the empire runnin' about, securing a new one was out of the question."

"Would a quick jolt be enough?" (Y/n) asked curiously.

Cid nodded. "Might do the trick. How do ya plan on doin' that, though?"

She raised her hands up and wiggled her fingers. "Magic."

As she was about to place her hands on the console, the boys walked up behind her and Cid. "What's going on?" Noctis asked.

"Engine's old 'n rusted. The little lady was just about to give it a jump start," the mechanic replied.

All eyes fell on (Y/n) as she placed her hands on the console. Concentrating, she focused her magic into the palms of her hands and sent a bolt of lightning through the console. When the engine came back to life, Cid chuckled victoriously. "You should come by Hammerhead once 'n a while. Could really use that magic 'o yours."

The Horseman smiled at his words as they continued their journey to Altissia. She turned and saw the four boys smiling at her. She glanced between the four of them in confusion. "What is it?"

"We'd be stuck in the middle of the ocean if you weren't taggin' along," Gladio stated.

"But-"

"He's right, (Y/n)," Prompto said, interrupting her before she could belittle herself.

"Yeah," Noctis nodded in agreement. "Glad you decided to stick around."

Pestilence frowned as she was reminded of War's words earlier. She clasped her hands together, squeezing them tightly. "As am I." Lowering her head, she walked past them and headed to the stern of the boat. She could hear footsteps following her even with the rushing sea breeze filling her ears. She folded her arms across her chest, rubbing her hands up and down her arms as goosebumps began to appear on them. "I know we've only known each other for a short time, but it seems I'm an open book to you, Ignis."

The royal advisor stood beside her, staring at Lucis in the distance. "You are quite the read," he smirked lightly. "What seems to be the issue?"

(Y/n) smiled for a brief second before it transformed into a frown. "I had a brief chat with War. What we spoke of worries me deeply."

Ignis glances at the girl beside him. "What troubles you, (Y/n)?"

The Horseman dug her fingernails into her arms as she decided to not remain silent on the subject. "I fear I've grown too close to you and the others. I never knew I would be given another chance to love again, but it seems our time together is already limited and my dream of love will, once again, be shattered." She inhaled deeply before explaining further. "Once I've slain the draugr, I will be granted passage back to the Inner Sanctum. When that times come, I will be forced to leave you and the others behind. The joy I've experienced since my return to Eos has been phenomenal and I would never trade such dear memories for anything else. You will move on with your journey as if I was never a part of it."

Ignis glances toward the others, who were talking amongst themselves and paying no attention to him or (Y/n). Once he realized no eyes were on them, he placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her to face him. "Your obligations as a Horseman take top priority. I know all too well how important responsibilities are."

Pestilence felt wounded by his words, but she wasn't surprised. She knew his dedication to Noctis was unwavering and never expected him to stop her, but deep down, she wanted him to try. When she went to turn her back to him in order to hide her melancholic gaze, she was stopped when a finger curled under her chin and tilted her face upward. She stared into Ignis' jade eyes as they exchanged a short, gentle kiss. "Though I refuse to relinquish our relationship so easily."

(Y/n) smiled warmly at him, the wounds created from his previous statement now mending. "I do, as well. Once we arrive in Altissia, I would enjoy some time alone with you. After all, the city is quite a perfect romantic getaway."

Ignis smiled faintly down at her. "I look forward to our time together without interruption."

With her worries set aside for the time being, (Y/n) followed Ignis as he rejoined the others.

Prompto, who was now sitting on the leather seat, groaned slightly after learning how long they'd been traveling across the ocean. "Are we there yet?"

"Didn't you just say you always wanted to go sailing?" Gladio remarks.

"Yeah," the gunslinger admits. "But all this ocean gets kinda bland after a while."

"Last time I checked it was "amazing" and "life-changing"," the shield retorts.

"I find it quite serene and refreshing," (Y/n) spoke up. "You might change your mind once we arrive in Altissia, Prompto."

"As long as I can get the pictures I want," he grinned jubilantly.

After silence befell the group, they listened to the whistling sea breeze. A few minutes passed and Cid decided to spark up a conversation. "So, soon you'll have yer old man's ring back."

"Yeah. When we arrive in Altissia," Noctis replied.

"Good thing. To him, it was his heritage."

Noctis glanced toward the older man. "Is that what my dad said?"

Cid nodded. "Carrying a royal line ain't a task to be taken lightly. For a small thing, that ring can sure weigh heavy. After he became king, I only ever saw his face in the paper."

Gladio's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Wait-weren't you at the coronation?"

Cid shook his head. "Nah, I was long gone from the city."

"Must've been invited at least," the raven-haired boy stated.

"Had a fallin' out o' sorts with your old man. Right at the end of the trip."

Prompto was shocked by the revelation. "You did?"

"I was given to understand you stayed in touch," Ignis chimed in, sitting beside the sharpshooter.

"We buried the hatchet years later, but never talked face to face again," the mechanic confesses. "Shoulda paid a visit while I had the chance. Well, no use dwellin' on it now. Got the Regalia in the hold, but y'all gonna stay in Altissia for a good while, right?"

The strategist nodded. "Yes, we believe so."

"In that case, I'll tune her up for y'all. Not that I'll have much to do, though, what with Cindy lookin' after the old girl."

Prompto grinned like a child in a candy shop. "If you say she's good, she must be great."

"Oh," (Y/n) spoke up after a long silence, grinning toward the young boy after detecting his change in attitude. "Am I detecting a slight hint of adoration?"

"W-What are you talking about?" The blonde tried to feign ignorance. "I think Cindy's amazing because of how dedicated she is to her job."

"Mhmm. I would say I believe you, but I'd be lying," Pestilence snickered. "You're quite an open book, Prompto."

Prompto covered his face as his cheeks turned red. He sunk back into the seat as he couldn't look at the others, especially Cid. Gladio chortled as he smirked at the younger boy. "Looks like even (Y/n) can tell you're crushin' on Cindy."

"Please, stop..." The freckled boy begged.

The Horseman placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently. "No need to be embarrassed. I've seen the work Cindy has performed. She's excellent at her job."

Cid chuckled heartedly at hearing the ivory-haired girl praise his granddaughter. "She was never afraid o' hard work. Heaven knows she had a hard childhood."

Prompto uncovered his face, lowering his hands into his laps as he sat up. ""A hard childhood"?"

"He means her parents," Gladio cleared up.

"Lost 'em both when she was little. Was big enough to understand, though...an' to hurt. But ya wouldn't guess that, seein' her now," Cid explained.

"Not at all. She's always so cheerful," Prompto said with a sorrowful undertone.

"Well, that oughta tell ya how far she's come."

"Man," Gladio sighed, deciding to change the subject. "You must have seen your fair share of Altissia by now."

"Yeah..." Cid cleared his throat before continuing. "Only done been the once. Stayed a good while, though."

"What's it like?" Prompto inquired eagerly.

"Big ol' city."

"Big," Noctis parrots. "Okay."

Cid decided to explain a little further. "Well, it ain't the Crown City."

"Insomnia and Altissia are different sides of the same coin," (Y/n) chimed in. "While both beautiful cities, they each have their own unique attributes."

"Different. Got it," the azure-eyed boy said, making a mental note.

"You'll see for yourself: foreign lands seldom lend themselves to trite explanations," Ignis stated.

"Change o' scenery oughta do you good," Cid shrugged.

"Well, I'm all talked out," Gladio exhaled. "Can't be far to Altissia now, right?"

"We'll be there in no time," the mechanic replied. "Nice having the wind at our backs."

"Lodgings are our first order of business," Ignis exclaimed.

"All work and no play..." Prompto began.

"Makes Ignis a dull boy," Noctis finishes his best friend's sentence.

"Someone has to babysit you two," Gladio voiced. "But guess that responsibility will fall onto me."

"Why's that?"

"Iggy and (Y/n) can't have a proper date if two kids are breathing down their necks."

The Horseman's eyes widened at Gladio's words. She swore none of them heard the conversation between her and Ignis earlier, but maybe she was wrong. "What gave you such an idea, Gladio?"

The shield crossed his arms, his lips tweaking upward into a grin. "Just a hunch. After all, you two just hooked up and we're goin' to a city that's a perfect place for a date. Why the hell not?"

"Dear Astrals..." (Y/n) sighed, looking away from him.

#ffxv x reader #ffxv #final fantasy xv x reader #final fantasy xv #ignis x reader #ignis scientia #prompto argentum #gladiolus amicitia #Noctis Lucis Caelum

6 notes · View notes

artsybanchou · 4 years

Photo

I’m a big fan of 80s/90s anime and Ranma 1/2 played a big role in my childhood. The premise has sooooo much food for thought when it comes to looking at gender and specifically the performance of gender. I’m about to get INTO it, so, here’s your warning-- read more is a ramble. (LONG ramble)

Oh ho ho ho! WELCOME TO MY HELL!

Aight, so let me set the stage for you-->

Two people, who should not be parents, have a kid. The father, Genma, a fairly successful martial artist, takes their just-born son on a training journey without consulting the mother. By training journey, I mean that they travel all over the world with little to no money, either stealing from or scamming people in order to make sure they can eat, under the guise of training the son, Ranma, to become the greatest martial artist of the “Anything Goes” school of martial arts. One of the most frequent scams the father pulls is promising his son’s hand in marriage to various families in exchange for a dowry before running off with both his son and the dowry, never to be seen again. This-- inevitably-- comes back to bite them in the ass. But more on that later.

We don’t get to see a lot of Ranma’s childhood on the training journey, just the occasional incredibly horrific flashback to something that would become a national incident were it to happen in the real world. For example, at one point in time, his father finds a Chinese pamphlet of an ~ancient lost Chinese art~ that is INCREDIBLY POWERFUL!!!!! wow! It’s called Neko-ken. So he decides to teach his six-year-old this technique, although he can’t actually read Chinese so he does it based off the diagrams-- which detail a process of collecting a good number of cats, starving them for a few days straight, and then tossing his son, covered in fish sausages (possibly tied up, can’t remember), into the pit to fend for himself (and not be eaten alive) for hours on end. Surprise, surprise, Ranma comes out incredibly traumatized and with an intense fear of cats (something his father would’ve seen coming if he was able to read Chinese as the pamphlet says that someone would have to be crazy to try to teach someone this technique and that it causes severe psychological damage-- also could’ve been avoided if his father had any common sense or fatherly instincts, but hey that’s just asking too much of Genma). This is not the result his father wanted, so he tries to “fix” it by doing the exact same thing multiple times, just with different cat foods wrapped around his son because... I genuinely don’t know what his thought process was but yeah. So that’s just a tiny snapshot of what his childhood was like as well as how much of a massive idiot his father was. And since Ranma never interacted with his mother, guess who had the greatest influence in his development (yay........). (save him) (also this is based off my memory from watching the anime YEARS ago, so some small details might be wrong but the big, overarching “his dad is a terrible person” thing is still very much true even if some of these smaller details aren’t)

When Ranma is a teenager, his father brings him to a Chinese training ground full of cursed springs. The tour guide repeatedly tries to explain what exactly this place they’re visiting is, but the father and son pair are two hard-headed idiots and get right to sparring. Ranma knocks his father into a spring pretty quick only to be caught off guard when his father reemerges from said spring as a panda and grand slams our protagonist into another one of the cursed springs. Our manly man martial artist protagonist emerges from this spring as a dainty, busty teenage girl. /The horror./ The panic from both Ranma and his father’s deeply shaken fragile masculinities gives the tour guide enough time to reveal that they had fallen into the cursed springs of the drowned panda and the drowned girl (one guess who fell into which one) and that anyone who falls into a cursed spring will take on the form of the life form that drowned in it. They can return to their original bodies by being splashed with hot water but, from now on, every time they’re hit with cold (or even apparently lukewarm) water, they’ll change into these new cursed forms.

Now, I’m sure you all saw this coming from the type of man that Ranma’s father is based on everything I’ve said so far, but Genma is the worst(TM). So Genma is all, “no SON of MINE can be a GIRL! >:((((((” and Ranma, who has been raised for his entire conscious life by this man, and only this man, is also very much not Okay(TM) with this because he’s a man, a manly fighting man who was raised to be the manliest of fighting men who fight. He can’t be a GIRL.

Except he totally can. Because these two start taking advantage of Ranma’s feminine body pretty much immediately in order to continue running scams so that they can eat and whatnot while traveling. Of course, Genma constantly shames Ranma by saying things like, “I can’t believe my son is such a failure of a martial artist, being a girl! I’m so ashamed!” and whatnot at every opportunity but especially when they are in an argument and Ranma is winning or if he needs Ranma to do something for him. He frequently manipulates his son by using this kind of guilt-tripping language as though it’s Ranma’s fault that his body is like this. Nevermind that they both frequently profit off of Ranma’s female body for scams, Genma still puts Ranma down for having it and Ranma internalizes that because he’s 15 and his father is the only person he’s ever known.

And I’m sure we all hate Genma now, as we should, because fuck Genma. What kind of woman would ever marry Genma? (And we assume a woman is married to Genma because how could a man this bigoted do anything other than marry a woman all traditional and whatnot). If only Ranma wasn’t taken from his mother so young. Maybe he would’ve turned out a better person~ Well, uh, bad news, lads :/ So, by the time we meet Ranma’s mom in the series, we’ve known most of these characters for a chunk of time. It’s already quite well established how terrible of a human being Genma is. Ranma may or may not have started the episode out admitting he doesn’t know much about his mom after being asked about her. A standard set-up. I don’t quite remember all the details of the episode, only the important things-- here’s the important thing: Genma’s wife, Nodoka, made Genma swear something to her before he took their toddler on a training journey all around the world. He had to raise Ranma to become “a Man among Men” (and we’ll talk about how she defines manliness) and, if he failed, then both he and Ranma must commit seppuku.

Yeah, that's right.

If her son isn’t enough of a man by her standards then he has to commit ritual suicide.

Her son who now transforms into a girl every time he is touched with at least a ladle’s worth water that isn’t steaming.

(hey have i mentioned save Ranma yet? save him seriously)

Her definition of manliness? All the shit the misandrists of tumblr swear is the inherent evils to all men. She thinks her son needs to be unapologetically forceful in /all/ he does. Especially in his romantic forays :///// (yeah this is going where you think it is)

When she does decide he isn’t manly enough (because Ranma was being sexually harassed by an old man who forcibly put him in a sailor outfit, no im not kidding, happosai, said old man, is a whole other element of the show that like holy shit) and tries to get him to commit seppuku, the solution the cast comes up with is to have Ranma “peek” at (his friend? girlfriend? fiance? frenemy? roommate? it’s weird-- technically they’re the two romantic leads but their chemistry is like -5 because she constantly physically hits him for things that really aren’t his fault and just ://) Akane while she is bathing and that will prove his manliness to his mother so that he doesn’t have to literally die. Will having Ranma be a fucking voyeur prove his manliness to his mother, you ask? Yep. This is Manly(TM) and so Ranma gets to live another day. Yay. Once again, molestation saves the day. (aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa) All of this is played off as a joke, for the record. No character is really acknowledged as being “a bad person” for any of this behavior-- not molester Happosai, not trying-to-kill-her-own-child Nodoka, etc.

So these are the people who made Ranma. Who shaped this kid with the ability to spontaneously switch between male and female bodies (presuming he has water on hand). Also, obviously, Genma had more influence seeing as Ranma never saw his mother between the ages of two and (I think) 16(?), but. regardless, these are the people who shaped his understanding of gender. For all intents and purposes, our lad should be such a pressure cooker of toxic and fragile masculinity that he just about commits seppuku himself every time he ends up in his female body.

But he doesn’t. In fact, Ranma is largely comfortable in his female body as long as his father isn’t trying to hold said body against him (wait did that come out wrong?). Ranma has no hesitations taking on his female form for something as little as a discount on ice cream. He makes the statement, “when it comes to eating out, being a girl is the only way to go”-- because he’s able to get an extra scoop for being “cute”

There’s a scene very early on in the series about exactly that which has always stuck with me. It opens with Ranma in his female body at a cafe with Akane and they both order fancy ice cream parfaits. Ranma is extremely excited and exclaims, “I’ve always wanted to try one of these!”

Akane replies with, “don’t tell me you’ve never had ice cream before.”

And Ranma proceeds to explain that he’s never had ice cream like /this/ because it would be too embarrassing for a guy. When Akane asks if he isn’t embarrassed now, happily shoving huge spoonfuls of ice cream into his mouth, he responds with, “hey, I’m a girl now. It don’t count.” Akanes shoots back with a “REAL girls don’t eat like that” (because our lad is eating with such gusto-- he’s living, he’s thriving, he is demolishing that parfait and there is ice cream all over his face)

He goes, “I’ll eat it however I want.” And then finishes the whole thing off and proclaims that he wants to order the chocolate one next.

Moments like that were the ones where I loved the show the most. We can see Ranma’s insecurities about his masculinity (thank you /soo/ much for that genma) in that he isn’t willing to perform an ‘unmanly’ action in public in his male body. He can’t be *seen* eating girly ice cream. But when he is admonished for not living up to feminine standards in his female body (eat more daintily), he just goes, ‘i’ll do what i want’. Young me really resonated with that, being born with a female assigned at birth body and growing up in Texas.

It feels like there’s a trans narrative buried in the steaming hot mess that is this work by Takahashi Rumiko-- and it is abundantly clear that was never her intention so I wouldn’t exactly recommend trying to give her an award or anything. She said that she wanted to write a work with a male main character but was so worried about how many male readers she had, she made the decision to make (as she described) a half-male half-female main character (essentially so she could have her cake and eat it too if you will-- all the self aggrandizing fantasies of a male protagonist her male readers could imagine themselves as along with a copious amount of fan service-- the great majority of which was at Ranma’s unwilling expense in his female body which like ://////// (remember that old man I mentioned before??)-- with the female protagonist body). And, like, I’m not saying Takahashi Rumiko is a terrible person or anything-- I don’t know what her beliefs are, I only know her works which are quite old at this point. Takahashi Rumiko is a big deal in the mangaka world because she was one of the first big shonen mangakas who was openly a woman. Normally, men wrote shounen (which literally translates to boys) manga and women wrote shoujo (which literally translates to girls) manga-- the genres were literally divided along gender lines in terms of their intended audiences but also, to a certain extent, their creators. If a woman wanted to write/draw shounen, usually she had to use a pen name that sounded fairly masculine in order to not impact the perception of her work. Takahashi Rumiko was working in that environment so I would understand why she’d want to be careful but, at the same time, I still kind of hate a lot of the things that she normalizes in her works. Especially assault. Both physical and sexual assault she constantly used as a punchline. Not as much anymore. Her most recent work I’ve read was Rinne and the punchline with that one was that the male lead is super poor, literally penniless, and is constantly starving so hahahahha humor amirite? Pain being funny seems to be her through line now that assault is off the table. At least he isn’t constantly getting whole ass tables thrown at him by his love interest as though that’s supposed to be a cute relationship dynamic (Akaneeeeeeeee). I digress. Takahashi Rumiko’s works played a big fucking role in my childhood from Ranma to Inuyasha to Lum (which I encountered well into my teens and therefore didn’t jive with at all because I’d finally learned sexual assault =/= funny and this was one of her more dated works) and so on and just-- I don’t know if I can watch her older stuff the same way I used to. I’m scared to try, honestly. Because some of the ideas behind her works are so interesting-- like Ranma 1/2-- but then you have to sit through episode after episode of a teenage boy in a girl’s body being sexually assaulted by a remorseless old man only to try to fight back at which point he is physically assaulted but also he still has to grovel to and respect said old man because he’s his father’s master and therefore he has to learn martial arts from him but the old man is constantly wagering Ranma having to pose for him in incredibly skimpy outfits if Ranma wants to learn literally anything and alsso RANMA IS FUCKING FIFTEEN/SIXTEEN JESUS CHRIST IS THERE NO FUNCTIONING ADULT ANYWHERE IN THE VVICINITY SAVE HIM!

I NEED TO DIGRESS

It feels like there’s an unintentional trans narrative buried in this anime. It’s not a fun one (but most trans narratives aren’t either so). This is a boy who knows he’s a boy-- even when his body disagrees. He frequently asserts that “he’s a boy” even when in his female body because he is. He’s a boy. He’ll reference being a girl “in appearance” like with the ice cream parfait scene earlier, but when it comes to identity statements, he’s always a boy. This narrative is about him navigating gender presentation and societal assumptions in order to live however he wants. He’s constantly contending with his own forms of gender dysphoria, whether that be his own gripes about doing anything unmanly (eating ice cream) or the very real threat of his mother fucking killing him if he does anything unmanly (aaaaaaaaaaaa), and he navigates tons of threats by choosing how he presents himself.

There are characters that are in love with the male “version” of Ranma and want to kill the female “version” of Ranma (who, for the record, goes by the name Ranko) and vice versa. The Kuno siblings are a great example. Kodachi is in love with Ranma (and is not above literally fucking using date rape drugs on him to get to him) and wants to fucking kill Ranko whereas Tatewaki Kuno, her brother, is in love with Ranko (the lovely pigtailed girl, he calls her) and has literally sent assassins after Ranma. Ranma essentially has to choose between being sexually assaulted or physically assaulted every time he runs into either of them in terms of what body he is presenting.

I feel like I should let you know, ye who have actually read this far, that Ranma is able to protect himself pretty well from the assault. Like, our boy ain’t dead. Later on he literally fucking kills a god because he’s really passionate about martial arts so he puts all of himself into it and god damnit does his effort show but, honestly, his ability to protect himself shouldn’t mean that it is okay to assault him. Assault is assault. And just because he can fight back doesn’t mean he always does. Akane, his main love interest, regularly sends him through roofs and across town with the force of her Up + B (aka magically appearing hammer), usually for things that aren’t his fault in any way. Akane actually came to the conclusion that Ranma was a pervert when she (fully dressed) walked in on him (naked because he was in the bath) even though the bathroom was obviously occupied. She constantly gets mad at him for things that are beyond his control and then takes her frustrations out on him by literally beating him up and he never fights back-- which is admirable of him but also made me never want to root for their relationship because that isn’t a red flag, my dude, that’s a red planet. the whole of mars is out here trying to warn everyone that this relationship is the most toxic thing since RoundUp.)

Usually, when watching a show, you get really invested in the character’s aspirations. You want them to ‘get the girl’, ‘get the promotion’, ‘become the pokemon master’ and whatnot. All I ever wanted for Ranma was for him to fake his own death and run far, far away from everyone who ever knew him as “Ranma”. He’d have to fake his own death, obviously, because otherwise his father and Happosai would track him down because, for his father, Ranma is a walking meal ticket and, for Happosai, Ranma is a teenage girl he can sexually assault at any time. Those two would chase Ranma to the ends of the earth if they thought he was trying to get away from them so--

Ranma. Help him.

There’s so much more to dissect with this show. It’s kind of accidentally a great way to look at gender presentation, especially all the terrible negatives that come with constrained gender roles. I use He/Him pronouns when talking about Ranma because it is abundantly clear that he sees himself as a man and I respect that. Sometimes nonbinary-me is like, but think what a gender-fluid icon our boy would be-- literally switching perceived genders via fluids-- and I think that version of Ranma would be a lot happier than the canon one but, I think the canon Ranma is an important reflection of what a lot of people go through, cisgender, transgender, and beyond, when trying to parse what it means to present a gender and the roles you’re supposed to play.

Maybe Ranma can go on a journey of self-discovery with his own gender after faking his death and escaping Nermina.

I was all over the place writing this but this isn’t an essay and I’m not being graded so ha fuck you (excpet no not really fuck you because you either a) read this whole thing or b)scrolled down to the bottom to see if i’d get to the fucking point already-- which for the record, I don’t really-- and either way it means you were a little curious what I had to say so thanks I guess). None of this is exceptionally well-thought-out. I wouldn’t exactly stamp this with any kind of official gender discourse seal. It’s all just food for thought.

#my art #ranma 1/2 #dont click read more seriously youll regret it #i just ramble for a really long time about nothing #technically about ranma and gender #save ranma jesus chrsit he doesnt deserve all the bullshit

70 notes · View notes

mfackenthal · 5 years

Text

The MFackenthal Show and Cordonian’s Gone Wild!

Anitah: Hello fabulous audience members! We are so glad you’re here. I know it’s a little early for the show to start, but if you could please try to take your seats quickly and quietly, that would be super helpful.

Alicia: As you all know or can guess, we’re the guest stars for today’s show.

Pam: But what you don’t know, because Megs doesn’t even know it yet, is that we are taking over today’s show!

Gen: So … really, we’re in a bit of a hurry here … we need to start this show before Megs gets on stage. Can you freaking be seated already?!

Pam: (whispering loudy to Gen) Yo, asshole, be nice to the audience.

Anitah, Alicia, Gen, and Pam all take a seat behind or on the desk that Megs often sits behind to start her show.

Anitah: Sit, sit, sit, everyone.

Alicia: Roll the cameras.

Gen: counting down using her fingers In 3 … 2 …. 1 …

Pam: Welcome everyone to the Cordonian’s Gone Wild edition of The MFackenthal Show!!!!

Anitah: You may be wondering where Megs is - don’t worry, she’s in hair and makeup. She should be out soon.

Alicia: For those of you who don’t know, I’m @leelee10898 - You can call me Alicia or Leelee, whatever you want. This is @ao719 AKA Anitah.

Anitah: The other girls call me Nita so that works too.

Pam: I’m @speedyoperarascalparty: Pam is my name.

Gen: And I’m @cocomaxley - Genevieve or Gen or asshole. Okay party people - Parties are not set up with an audience - so get your butts out of those seats, move your chairs to the left side of the room where the MFackenthal staff will help clear the room and bring in some more comfortable couches.

Anitah: Then, help yourself to a glass of Maxwell’s Purple concoction.

Pam: And don’t ask, we’re not allowed to share the recipe.

Alicia: Seriously, as to what’s in it … just don’t ask.

Gen: Anyways … everyone get a glass so we can raise a toast.

The audience scrambles out of their seats, following the directions as best as they can. The whole room is quickly transformed, a disco ball is hung from the center, a dance floor being laid down in the middle of the room, couches are set up around the dance floor and there’s a table stage left with about a dozen punch bowls filled with Maxwell’s Purple Concoction.

Pam: Does everyone have a drink?

Anitah: Everyone, please raise your glass.

Everyone raises their glass. The girls stand center stage - which is now the center of the room - and just as they’re about to raise their glasses, Megs comes walking out.

Anitah: To Cordonia!

Pam: And loyal, hot men!

The audience parts for Megs and the room gets quiet.

Alicia: To … choices? Why is everyone so quiet?

Gen: Welcome to your show, Megs!

All: To Megs!!!!

The audience: To Megs!

Pam hands Megs a glass of Maxwell’s drink. Megs takes it and slowly does a full 360 looking around the room.

The audience is cheering and clapping loudly.

Megs: Damn, ladies. If i didn’t know this was my stage, I’d never recognize it! Tapping her foot, is this a dance floor? Is this Maxwell’s purple concoction? Do you know what’s in it?

The audience: Don’t ask!

Megs: laughs. Oooookay … well, the producers are telling me we are already rolling soooo …

Anitah: So hello Megs and welcome to your show!

Megs: Welcome indeed! Megs takes a sip of the drink and a steadying breath. So … okay, well …

Gen: Well, in case it’s not obvious - we’ve taken over your show. We know what the people want-

Pam: Don’t worry - we’ll give the people what they want.

Alicia: So, just take another sip and let us take over.

Megs looks at the girls, shrugs her shoulders, looks around, and takes a seat next to an audience member.

Megs: Alright, ladies. It’s your show.

Anitah: Oh! That was easier than I thought it would be. Alrighty! So … ladies, what do we think the people really want to know?

Megs: Looking away from the stage and putting a hand over her hand to muffle her voice, she loudly says: What brought each of you to the fandom? Looking forward and feigning innocence Whoa, who said that?

Gen: laughing real smooth Megs.

Pam: I was going through Drake withdrawals. It was between books and I needed a fix.

Gen: I found TRR after seeing numerous ads on social media for the Choices app. I spent a ridiculous amount of money to binge TRR book 1 and book 2. Then, like Pam, got super thirsty for Liam, sorry not sorry Anitah! I found AO3 first then after some google searches, I found tumblr.

Anitah: It was a total and complete accident! I was googling something about the game while (im)patiently waiting for a new chapter to be released in book 3 and I saw a link to a fanfic. I had never even been on tumblr before and had zero clue what it even was. But was so glad when I found this glorious fandom!

Alicia: @darley1101. Someone shared a damien fic she wrote on the choices fandom FB page.

Megs: Oooh - here’s some insider information - @darley1101 has been booked to be on this show in the future. Hey, so tell us - When did “Cordonian’s Gone Wild” get started? How did it get started? What’s the real story here?

Anitah: Seriously Megs - chill! We’ve taking over! But, great question! So we all joined a huge chat group with what...10 other people? Lol. It was pure madness. Pam started writing one shots for people in that chat. Bringing their real selves into fics with their LI’s. And the four of us began talking in a separate chat and one night we were talking about how crazy, ridiculous and fun it would be if we all went to Vegas (with our pretend husbands because the IRL ones aren’t as much fun)

Pam: Or as 🍆

Anitah: So then I wrote One Night In Vegas...and we posted it just for fun and people really seemed to enjoy it. Do any of you remember who or how we got Cordonians Gone Wild?? Because I do not! lol

Pam: Nope!

Gen: This was Anitah or Pam. I know that. But it worked out because we all had different LI's after I got thirsty for Rashad.

Megs: I wondered how Rashad came in to the picture and had to assume someone latched on to him ... or, don’t be mad ⁨Genevieve⁩ ... he was the “leftover” (straight) male

Gen: Actually this was @boneandfur’s fault. She wrote some Rashad one shots and I loved him after that.

Megs: Ooooh, I wonder if she wants to be on the show? Hmmmm...

Anitah: As we were saying … Then as we went on each of us kind of developed these character traits I think (feel free to chime in guys lol) but example...in Mardi Anitah steals the royal jet and that became her thing- lol - so I always steal the jet and Liam gets pissed (which is exactly what I want)

Gen: Yep! I became the resident asshole which isn't too far off from real life. Actually it's exactly like real life.

Pam: Yea I mean, Pam is based off me. Gen and I realized we used to live right by each other in Illinois before I moved back to Michigan. I'm a marriage and family therapist. Went to Northwestern, so we wrote in Gen and I lived in Chicago together.

Anitah: Well, if I had a jet in real life I'd steal it…

Alicia: Shaking her head like she’s been zoned out … Actually I think I was the one who came up with the name lol. I remember mimicking it after girls gone wild.

Meg starts to get up to ask a question, but Gen is standing behind her and places both hands on Meg’s shoulders to push her back into her seat.

Gen: If I know Megs, she’d now ask a process question, like How do you decide who writes for what couple? Or how did you decide? Is it set in stone?

Megs glares up at Gen while she asks the question. Then she nods and waves Gen back to stage.

Pam: The couples are set in stone. They are our LI. Some of us are more committed than others..pam and anitah stare down gen and alicia. Some should cower in shame.

Gen and Alicia appear to be utterly unphased.

Gen: (cackling) I can't help it! I have a soft spot for Mr. Sinclaire!

Anitah: Pam and I are just less adventurous.

Pam: Trust...honesty....FAITHFULNESS!

Anitah and Alicia mock Pam’s words and movements

Alicia: Leo Rhys is my husband and has my heart.... I just have a soft spot for, Colt, Logan, Matt, Adrian, Damien, Earnest.. am I forgetting someone?? Oh yeah Bryce and Beckett.

Pam: Cough..whore..cough

Alicia: sticks up middle finger

Anitah and Gen: continue laughing

Pam: We all write all the couples, but the pairings don’t change...even if avatars do

Gen: She's talking about you Alicia.

Anitah: As far as who writes for what couple, if it’s a group fic we all participate, but each of us writes the respective couple if it’s a one shot or what not.

Gen: Usually someone comes up with an idea and someone else will be like - I'll write it 🙋🏻‍♀️… Or sometimes it's crickets …

The whole stage gets super quiet, everyone seems to be listening for the crickets. Megs gets up and the four girls glare at her.

Megs: No, no, I got it - your show. Why don’t you all simply discuss who has read which choices books and what is everyone’s favorite while I go and refill my drink?

Megs winks to the camera and walks to the table to get a refill.

Anitah: Oh god...there’s such a long list...

Pam: Anitah and I will sit this one out…

Gen: Prudes! I'll say it again, I love Mr. Sinclaire. But I've played AME, Bloodbound, VOS, TCATF, ROE (blah), PM and a bunch of others. But not a lot of the newer ones.

Alicia: Did you seriously just BLAH my husbands book?

Gen: Yes the fuck I did!

Alicia: The only one I have NOT read yet is most wanted. I have started the haunting of braidwood manor, both it lives and passport, but have yet to finish those. Otherwise I have read all books fully released and am up to date on current ones.

Gen: Most Wanted is so good!

Pam: Drake…

Gen: (pats Pam’s hand) We know, Pammy. We know.

Alicia: Some I have read numerous times.... like Ride or Die.... perfect match and blood bound…

Megs has come back to her seat.

Megs: Who is your favorite OTP?

Anitah: Liam x MC

*Everyone looks at Pam waiting for Drammy to be said 👀*

Pam: Drammy! I'm consistent

Alicia: Ah shit ummmmmm ...

Gen: Liam x MC

Alicia: Colt x Ellie

Megs: Poor Rashad and Leo! Shakes her head.

Gen: They’re fine.

Alicia: Oh! You know what we should talk about? Ourselves! Our jobs, our hobbies, our favorite things - what we do when we’re not writing …

Pam: Okay then … when I’m not writing - I work, play with my kids, I'm a brownie troop leader for my 7 year old, I fantasize about Drake Walker

Gen: Working...always working. Jobs are stupid. And I have this part time gig called a husband and two teenagers.

Anitah: Playing with my kids, being annoyed by my irl hubby and photographer on the side.

Alicia: Be a mom and all the "Mom" stuff that comes along with it..... oh and work...

Megs: And for fun?

Anitah: Photography for fun. I love taking pictures and scoping out new places to take them.

Gen: I used to crochet a lot. I taught myself to cross stitch. I like hobbies that keep me away from electronics.

Alicia: ummm good question. Write?? Crafts. Garden. I actually really didn't know how much I enjoyed it until last year.

Pam: Writing is my favorite past time currently. I also like to do arts and crafts with my kids, cooking..not baking, just to be clear...I like doing home improvement projects, painting, playing with my kids, hanging with my IRL hubs. Also, auditioning for a spot on Nailed It.

Gen: OMG! The first communion cake! It was amazing!

Megs: I should have made you make us a cake to go with this punch, Pam. Alicia mentioned favorite things … What’s your favorite work that you have written? Feel free to answer this as a group and about your work individually.

Anitah: Definitely NOLA is one of my favorites

Alicia: Same

Gen: NOLA was amazing!

Megs: And that stands for???

Anitah: Oh - New Orleans! I didn’t write it but it’s still one of my favorites

Gen: Max hugging Pams feet saying, “don't take my puppy, Bertrand.”

Anitah: Omfg I forgot about that part!

Alicia: NOLA, and Never Give Up.. does rhys smirk. That I've written Amsterdam.

Pam: I loved In Another Life, Amsterdam, Harry Potter

Anitah: I liked In the Doghouse too...it was rough but...angst🤷🏼‍♀

Gen: says the queen of angst.

Pam: Yes!!! Loved Doghouse

Alicia: Ooh and Christmas. With max and the cow

Pam: I liked Naked and Afraid, but it was a bitch to write. Dates was fun too. Hawaii...the dance🤤🤤🤤

Anitah: OMG YESS 😂🤣😂😂

Alicia: the vein

Anitah: (laughing) The vein(s)

Alicia: Yes. But it was the 1st time Leos Rhys’ vein was displayed

Pam: Pony will never be the same

Alicia: Leo naked tackles me in the water

Pam: Yep....Drake’s junk over my face...🤤🤤🤤 Guys...I think I might have an oral fixation. For real.

Alicia: no shit. And i mean that it the nicest way

Pam: I need something else to do with my mouth than suck Drake’s dick

Alicia: Suck his balls?

Pam: That could work...🍊🍊

Gen: And the crazy train just went off the rails…

Megs: LOL, well - you can find a full listing of their work now showing on the screen here.

Anitah: Awh, thanks Megs! Oh! The producers are indicating that it’s time for a commercial break. So we’re all going to refill our drinks and then we have another surprise in store for Megs. Megs - don’t forget to refill your drink and then join us on stage after these messages.

The 4 ladies and Megs are now center stage. Everyone’s glasses have been refilled.

Pam: Megs, as the hosts of your show and now that you’re two glasses of purple drink in - we have some questions for you!

Gen: How did you come up with the idea to do these interviews? I think it's awesome because it really helps get to know the other people in the fandom. Oh! And what's your favorite color?

Megs: The idea behind these interviews came from multiple conversations I had with some friends, especially @tmarie82, @lizeboredom, and @maxattack-powell. I wanted to give back to this community but I wasn’t inspired to write fanfiction. So I talked with them about different ways I could give back. I wanted ways that were non-competitive and ways that I could highlight the work of a specific author or visual artist. Multiple people mentioned how awkward it could be to reach out and start talking over tumblr but that they were always interested in process and the lives of the artists and I was like - I have no shame in asking all of the questions! Let me ask and share what I learn. Then I did a follower post - I think I had maybe 100 followers? Maybe 150? People had to enter - so I figured it was self selecting group and I did my first interview. The Ellen saw my interview and offered me her time slot.

Oh! … and my favorite color is mint green.

Anitah: How do you read so many fics to do your reviews? It’s amazing that you take all that time to do that and signal boost these writers to the fandom!

Megs: Awh, thanks! The true answer is two fold. One - tumblr mobile on my iphone. Two - I’m a huge nerd. I wake up and pretty much immediately start reading. I read in line at the grocery store. I read while waiting for the programs we use at work to switch between screens - because shit if that doesn’t sometimes take 5 minutes. Why should I stare at the screen while the wheel of death turns when I can read a couple paragraphs about the men in my life?

Pam: How do you decide what to read? Are writers or fics recommended to you or is it just luck?

Megs: At this point - tumblr tags probably play a larger than appropriate influence on what I read. I tend to check my notifications first and start there. I’m a sucker for having a conversation, sharing a joke, or getting a response from another person - be in the author or another fangirl or fanboy. I definitely take recommendations though. And, on the off chance that I can just choose what I read, then I go through my feed and see what strikes my fancy.

Alicia: What's your favorite thing you have read so far? And what is your funniest tumblr moment?

Megs: I have no clue what my favorite thing is that I’ve read. There is so much amazing work … but before I talk about my own funnies - I will mention two stories that had me laughing. One is by @hellospunkiebrewster called Blackouts and Bad Decisions and let’s just say that Bertrand has a tramp stamp. If that doesn’t make you laugh - nothing will. The other one was published far more recently by @laniquelovewrites. It’s called The Lion Prince and it’s inspired by The Lion King. I thought it was so funny that I read it to my husband. Who also thought it was funny. Hmmmm … as for my funniest tumblr moment … it’s probably been those times when I find a way to make an author’s characters ask for what I want. Like in this post - where I pretend Ethan and I are changing the clocks in the author’s house so that I can get the next part of the story sooner. I mean, I think I’m funny at least.

Well ... that’s about all the tim-

Pam: Oh Megs, Megs, Megs, not so fast. Did you think that our big surprise was asking you questions? No, the final surprise is yet to come.

Anitah: Yes, Megs, with the help of your amazing audience, we are going to play …

Alicia: drum roll please …

Gen: Never Have I Ever - CGW on the MFackenthal Show edition!

Megs: shakes her head and smiles So … how does this work? Like, when do I have to drink?

The four girls look at each other and shrug their shoulders.

Well?

Pam: You drink when we tell you to drink.

Gen: Yeah, down what’s left of that glass and we’ll get you another!

Megs: laughs … okay, well, I’m already buzzed … uh, can I say that on my show? … well, kids, everyone here is old enough to drink. Don’t drink and drive. Everyone who has been drinking will be taking a ride-share home!

Anitah: Okay, first question from the audience … Never have I ever been on The MFackenthal Show

Gen: this is my first time! So do I have to drink to this or not?

Pam: Looks like I'm popping my cherry!

Anitah: I’m drinking.

Alicia: 1st time… I'll drink to that!

Megan: haha, well, not as a guest … takes a drink.

Anitah: Second question: Never have I ever fantasized about a fictional character.

Gen: Omg! Who hasn't? Because I'm thirsty. Always thirsty for my pixelated men...I mean man.

Pam: Hahahahaha...snorting and laughing hysterically. Oh..wait...you're serious?

Anitah: all the time (chugs drink)

Alicia: *Guzzles drink*

Megan: anyone who says no is lying … takes another drink

Alicia: Never have I ever cheated on my partner.

Gen: I've never cheated on my IRL hubs. I've never cheated on Rashad either. Mr. Sinclaire doesn't count! 😂

Pam: I won't even cheat in my pixelated hubby by playing other books or romancing other LI...I believe honesty and trust are the foundation of all good relationships. STOP ROLLING YOUR EYES, ANITAH!!

Anitah: Never cheated

Alicia: NO!

Megan: Nope! I have a hard time even “playing the field” in the choices games. If I want to see what it’s like to be with another LI, I have to do another full playthrough.

Alicia: Never have I ever...had sex outside.

Gen: In real life, yes I have. In CGW I haven't. So I guess that's a draw.

Pam: Yes in real life and Pixelated life.

Anitah: (laughing hysterically) Well pixelated life we know the answer to that because...kinky king. And real life, yes.

Alicia: IRL yep. CGW Yup!

Megan: Indeed I have.

Gen: Never have I ever Given a blow job in public like Pam.

Gen: (hides face) yes. More times than I care to admit.

Pam: laughs...yea let's just say my hubby enjoyed one of the star wars movies intimately.

Anitah: eyes wide as she chugs her drink

Alicia: takes a drink silently

Megan: *takes a big drink* shaking her head from side to side

Gen: Never have I ever said your fictional husbands name in a moment of passion? ... No. Thought about during a moment of passion? All the time. Do NOT tell my husband.

Pam: In my head? Over and over and over...lol. I did however call my husband Drake once, just in passing. He was less than pleased.

Anitah: Not in a moment of passion but I have absolutely thought about it. I did however call my 3 year old son, who’s name starts with L, Liam, and he proceeded to correct me with his full name while giving me the stink eye.

Alicia: no. Have I thought about it…. Hehehehe

Megan: No. If I had, I’d never hear the end of it.

Pam: Get to drinking, Megs! Next question from the audience, never have I ever tried to see how many marshmallows can fit into my mouth.

Gen: Marshmallows, saltines, cinnamon - this was bad. Really bad.

Pam: can't say I have!

Anitah: I sure did.

Alicia: no, I have not

Megan: Marshmallows make me feel sick to my stomach. I tend to claim I’m allergic to them, even though I’m fairly sure that would mean I’m allergic to sugar. LOL

Pam: Never have I ever given someone a lap dance/received a lap dance

Gen: not in public…

Pam: Oh I've been to A LOT of bachelorette parties..so yep!

Anitah: Yes!

Alicia: sorta

Megan: Yes … my husband does this dance to Brittney’s toxic … Give me one of those questions. Takes a set of note cards from Pam and flips through them. Okay ... Never have I ever broken a bone.

Gen: I've never broken a bone! Yes I'm proud of that!

Pam: Nope!

Anitah: knock on wood - no I haven’t.

Alicia: I have not!! Even though I am an absolute klutz.

Megan: I haven’t either! Which is amazing because I have fallen out of a tree - totally sober, btw.

Anitah: Drink up, Megs!

Megs: finishes her drink … Okay, never have I ever told my real life husband/partner about my pixelated hubby.

Gen: No, he already thinks I don't love him. This would prove it.

Pam: Yep! My hubby is actually super supportive. He has helped me plot a few fics...the Drake and Pam chocolate wax disaster was made exponentially better by his suggestions. He is known as our cinnamon roll and Gen wrote him into a fic as owning a cinnamon roll shop..LOL. When Drake and I eloped, I made him call me Mrs. Walker the entire weekend and would not respond to any other names. I'm such an asshole

Anitah: (laughing) No way! He knows nothing! He doesn’t know about choices or that I’m in love with a pixelated man. He doesn’t know about tumblr or that I write. No one I know in real life knows anything about this. It’s like...my dirty little secret.

Alicia: yes and no. He does know about choices, he does know about Leo.. he does not know my level of infatuation with him.

Megs: Yup! My husband often asks “are you playing your stories?”

~~~~~later~~~~~

Megs: lifting her head off the armrest of the couch and blinking her eyes open hhhhhuh? Where …? Ooooh, my head is killing me … How is my studio back to how it looked before? Was that a dream? Megs gets up and pads over to her on-stage desk where she picks up a note and reads aloud, “You passed out shortly after our game. We partied hard with your audience and then put your studio back together. Whenever you want to do this again - let us know. I’ll steal the jet. Luv, CGW!”

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

And now for the tags! If you want to be added to the tag list for these or removed, please let me know!

@hopefulmoonobject @queen-among-writers, @hopelessromantic1352, @lilyofchoices,

#The MFackenthal Show #The MFackenthal Show with Cordonian's Gone Wild #Cordonian's Gone Wild #This show was a blast to produce #I can't believe they made me drink so much #Wait yes yes I can #Anitah will steal the jet for me!#Long post #Amazing community #So much fun #Thanks for all who submitted Never Have I Ever questions #Thanks for the suggestion Nonny #These women are truly fantastic!#Truly a joy!

101 notes · View notes

ahgaseda · 6 years

Text

made of stone || chapter 05

⇥ synopsis : when you return after years apart to pursue a divorce from your husband, Mark, you fall back into a contentious relationship because your partner still refuses to give up his dangerous fighting career...

⇥ warnings : this story in its entirety includes but is not limited to strong language and dialogue, descriptions of blood and violence, alcohol or drug use, and explicit sexual content, and is intended for an adult audience only!

After Mark left, you stared at the door he had slammed shut behind him, wanting more than anything for him to walk back in and apologize. But you knew better. Lifting your hand, you touched your fingertips to your lip, feeling the lingered effects of his tender kisses.

With a heavy sigh, you dropped your arms in defeat and set out to wash the dishes Mark had discarded by the sink. It was the least you could do after he made breakfast.

A fifteen minute drive to the gym later, Mark said nothing as he brushed past Jinyoung and dropped his bag next to the bench. Pulling off his shirt, he stretched a bit before proceeding to the nearest machine to work his arms.

Never one to be ignored, Jinyoung sauntered into his friend’s field of vision and teased, “I take it your balls are still blue?”

Mark glared, focusing on a steady set of reps that tightened his chest.

Jinyoung plopped down across from him and exhaled loudly. After a pause, he questioned, “Isn’t she worth giving it up for?”

“Of course, she is,” Mark replied without missing a beat.

“Then, what’s the hold up?” Jinyoung pressed, even though losing Mark would mean giving up his biggest source of revenue. Jinyoung had enough respect for his friend to let him go when the time came.

Mark held the bar in place across his chest, breathing rapidly as he struggled to maintain the weighted position. “Because if I do that… it’s like rewarding her for leaving me,” he snapped bitterly.

“Ah,” Jinyoung said, unconvinced.

Mark stopped to gulp down a mouthful of water and let his elbows rest on his knees. With a softer tone, he continued, “I can’t give it up, Jinyoung. It’s a part of who I am.”

“So you say,” Jinyoung replied. “But have you actually ever tried to have a life outside of fighting?”

“No,” Mark huffed with an empty laugh.

Jinyoung rubbed his hands together and said, “Let me level with you.”

“If you must,” Mark groaned, leaning back into position and resuming his reps.

Jinyoung and Mark had been friends for a long time and Jinyoung was there through thick and thin. He was undoubtedly the only one who could get away with saying, “I think that you think you are the exception to the rule. That you found your soulmate so young and you’re guaranteed to be stuck together for the rest of your life.”

“Where’s the lie?” Mark quipped dryly.

Jinyoung ignored him and continued, “She has kept up with you all along. Have you ever thought that maybe she’s ready to grow up and settle down?”

“We’re married with a mortgage,” Mark whined, increasing the pace of his lifting. “How much more grown up can we get?”

Jinyoung shook his head. “Your wife is smart. I don’t know how you landed her, but that’s beside the point. She’s not a risk taker, you are. She’s never going to move to the next step until you’re ready.”

“Fuck,” Mark groaned in tandem with a pump of his arms. “You mean babies?”

Jinyoung smirked. “I mean babies.”

“I’m the last person on this planet that should be a father,” Mark said morosely, his heart aching at the thought.

“No, Yugyeom outranks you there, but you are a close second,” Jinyoung teased, using humor to alleviate the tension.

Mark chuckled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“How long are you going to make her wait for you? She gave you a little taste of your own medicine. How’s that working for you?”

“It sucks,” Mark spat.

Jinyoung glanced over as Jaebum appeared, sweat dousing his neck that he quickly dabbed with a towel draped over his shoulder.

“Where’s Jackson?” Jaebum asked irritably. “He was supposed to be here.”

“He needed to make a little trip,” Jinyoung replied, calm and cool.

Mark furrowed his brow.

Jaebum whined, “I’m supposed to be training him. Hello? You could have told me.”

“It was important,” Jinyoung interjected, trying to convey with a sharp glance to Jaebum the need to be quiet.

When he realized what was implied, Mark let the bar slam back into its place above his head and hopped to his feet, growling, “Leave her alone.”

Jinyoung shrugged with a knowing smile. Mark rolled his eyes, imagining you stuck at home with a spastic and nosy Jackson.

There was a knock at the door nearly fifteen minutes after Mark had left. You weren’t the least bit surprised to see his closest friend and wittiest sparring partner waving excitedly at the peephole.

“Hey, Jacks,” you droned with a faint smile as you opened the door.

Jackson bolted inside and wrapped his arms around your shoulders in an overwhelming bear hug. “You are home!” he exclaimed with glee. “Damn, I owe Jinyoung twenty bucks.”

You retorted, “Come on in.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Jackson sang, sashaying into the living room and plopping down on the couch. “When he said you were back, I didn’t believe him.”

“I won’t be here long,” you explained, following him and sitting on the opposite side of the sofa. “I’m leaving once Mark signs the divorce papers. Which he refuses to do.”

“And that surprises you - why?” Jackson teased.

Rolling your eyes, you groaned, “Come on, Jackson.”

“The two of you love each other. Hell, you fight. Yeah, every couple fights.”

“I left,” you reminded, borderline stern. “He didn’t come after me.”

Jackson leaned back and countered, “You’re both also stubborn.”

Narrowing your eyes, you said nothing, but after a pause, you deflected, “How you been, Jackson?”

“Good. Good,” he answered with that beaming smile of his. “And you?”

“Fine.”

Jackson chortled at your obvious annoyance, but was totally unaffected. “What does he have to do to make you stay?”

“Give up fighting,” you answered without missing a beat.

Jackson clapped his hands together and said, “And therein lies the caveat, because you screwed yourself.”

Your brows stitched. “What do you mean?”

Jackson explained, “If he gives up fighting, he will see it as giving in to what you want. Then, he’ll assume that anytime you want something that he won’t give you, you will just leave him to force his hand.”

“Ugh, for fuck’s sake,” you murmured, pinching the bridge of your nose as you felt the warning signs of an oncoming headache.

Jackson studied your reaction, still smiling. He was happy to see you though he wished under better circumstances. Changing the subject on your behalf, he said, “I heard you were at the fight last night.”

You nodded. “Yep.”

“Did Jong-kook see you?”

Tilting your head in confusion, you asked, “Who?”

“He’s been hanging around the underground lately,” Jackson explained, clearly holding some distaste toward him given the soured expression on his face. “He wants to recruit me and Mark for his league or something.”

You recalled the man that had silenced you the night before; the one Mark told you not to worry about. “Why does it matter if he saw me?” you asked, curious.

“He’s a little pushy. Seriously, he doesn’t take no for an answer and he’s been coming around alot.”

“No means no,” you retorted.

“Funny you should say that, because…” Jackson trailed, giving you a look.

Your gaze narrowed.

Jackson teased, “What has been Mark’s answer to the divorce?”

“You think you’re cute, huh?” you grumbled, but it was hard to be mad at Jackson.

The conversation was light-hearted after that exchange. You lost track of time as Jackson regaled you with the ever-predictable way of life you had been missing for the past two years. Still, he never failed to make you laugh, which was welcome in your book after the tense night before.

When Mark appeared like a whirlwind through the front door, impatience was clearly written on his face and he completely ignored you to bark, “Jackson, what are you doing here?”

“Hey, brother,” Jackson replied, taking the agitation in stride. “I’m just catching up with my sister-in-law.”

Mark’s reply was scathing, “You know we’re not actually related, right?”

Jackson put a hand on his chest, over his heart. “You wound me.”

“Not yet, but the next time we share a ring, I might,” Mark threatened, his voice dropping lower.

“Mark,” you called in reproach, taken aback by his anger.

“It’s okay,” Jackson sighed, bristling at his friend’s attitude. “He’s got a lot of pride, your husband.”

“I’ve already given Jinyoung a piece of my mind. The two of you need to keep your noses out of my business.”

“She’s our family, too,” Jackson defended, holding his ground. “Not just yours. You’re not the only one that’s missed her. And maybe we don’t want you chasing her off again.”

Your eyes burned at his words, filled with emotion.

“Out,” was all Mark said.

Jackson sidestepped around his friend, lips in a taut line with defiance. Mark returned the aggression and followed him to the door, shutting it loudly behind him.

“Well, that was mature,” you grumbled, rising from the couch and moving toward the kitchen.

Mark followed you with heavy footsteps and barked, “Since when do you want our friends meddling in our marriage?”

“We were just catching up,” you countered, voice getting louder. “It was harmless.”

Mark snorted.

Putting your hands on your hips, you bitterly asked, “If you’re so goddamn protective of this marriage, then why don’t you try fixing it with me?”

“Because it’s not broken,” Mark smarted.

“Are you kidding?” you screeched. “You know, the first step is admitting there’s a problem.”

Mark pointed a finger at you. “Me giving you what you want after you throw a tantrum is not fixing anything.”

“Unbelievable,” you huffed, throwing up your hands. “I married a child.”

“And I married a selfish brat that left me when I needed her the most,” Mark yelled at the top of his lungs, stomping past you and into the hallway.

You watched him go, flinching when he slammed the bedroom door behind him. When you heard the shower kick on a moment later, you finally released the breath you had been holding. With the reprieve, you scurried to the bathroom at the other end of the hall, tears slipping from your lashes the moment you closed the door.

Bracing your hands on the sink, you cried until you could cry no more and eventually gathered enough courage to look in the mirror. And as his words echoed over and over in your head, you resented the reflection staring back at you.

chapter 04 ⇤ chapter 05 ⇥ chapter 06

Hey there, beautiful! If you enjoyed this, please leave a like or reblog or follow me! Or maybe buy me a coffee so I can keep writing? Or check out my masterlist here for more stories! Thanks for reading :) - Katya

This work is fictional and for entertainment purposes only, but is licensed and protected under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial-noderivatives 4.0 international license. Any instances of plagiarism will be dealt with accordingly. Do not re-post or translate without my permission.

#got7 fanfiction #mark tuan scenarios #mark tuan imagines #mark tuan reactions #got7 scenarios #got7 imagines #got7 reactions #mark tuan fanfiction

214 notes · View notes

jennycalendar · 5 years

Text

very really married (8/?)

read it on ao3!

return of the s1-rewrite fake-married giles/jenny fic!!! i am feeling extremely good about myself right now.

also there’s a lot of giles and jenny being Very Soft in this chapter, which i will justify by saying that canon had them making out all over school property. so this is definitely not too much of a stretch

“You’re kidding, right?” said Buffy. “You want to know if my Slayer sense is picking up on anything spooky about Ms. Calendar? As in your wife who sometimes brings us pizza Ms. Calendar? As in Willow’s favorite teacher Ms. Calendar? As in—”

“—yes, yes, my wife is incredible, I just wanted to check,” said Giles irritably, who was beginning to realize how ill-conceived his idea of asking Buffy’s opinion had been. “There have been a few…oddities…in our relationship as of late—”

“No one needs to hear about your sex life, Giles,” said Buffy, wincing a little. “Frankly, I’ve seen enough of it to know I never want to hear about it.”

“Buffy, I most certainly would not be discussing those portions of my life with you,” said Giles flatly. “Ever.”

“Why? Too busy having sex in a morgue drawer?”

This sort of thing was exactly why Giles would prefer death over telling Buffy about his drunken Vegas marriage. “We weren’t—never mind,” he said, hoping against hope that he didn’t look as flustered as he felt. “My point is that the way Jenny reacted to vampires was rather unusual, and I thought your Slayer sense might be of some use in ascertaining whether—”

“You trust me?” Buffy beamed, flipping her hair over one shoulder. She looked genuinely touched.

Giles sighed. “Quite,” he said.

Buffy rolled her eyes a little. “Then trust me when I say I get no bad vibes from Ms. Calendar,” she said. “The only thing spooky about your wife is that she’s spooky cool.” She giggled at her own bad joke, then added, “And anyway, Giles, I came in here to tell you that I think Xander’s being possessed by something. He’s been hanging with the mean kids, teasing the kids nobody likes, and he’s dressing super weird!”

Giles looked at her for a long second. Then he said with some disbelief, “So your slayer sense tells you that Xander is being possessed?”

“Uh huh!” Buffy nodded impatiently.

“He’s taken to teasing the less fortunate?” Giles began, echoing Buffy’s words.

“He has.”

“And there's been a noticeable change in both clothing and demeanor?”

“Yep,” Buffy agreed.

“And his spare time is spent lounging about with imbeciles,” Giles finished.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Buffy asked anxiously.

“It's devastating,” Giles agreed matter-of-factly. “He's turned into a sixteen-year-old boy. Course, you'll have to kill him.”

Buffy glared. “Giles, I’m serious!”

“So am I!” Giles objected, then amended, “Except for the part about killing him.” Off Buffy’s frustrated look, he explained, “Testosterone is a great equalizer. It turns all men into morons. He will, however, get over it.”

“I cannot believe that you, of all people, are trying to Scully me!” Buffy began.

“Who’s trying to Scully who?” came Jenny’s voice, and Giles winced. “Oh, Rupert. That makes sense.”

To Giles’s absolute horror, Buffy turned to Jenny, gave her an assessing look, and said, “Ms. Calendar, you know stuff about weird stuff going on in Sunnydale, right?”

Jenny blinked, flushing. “Wh-what?”

“You know that this town isn’t exactly what it looks like,” Buffy persisted.

“Buffy, don’t—” Giles began.

But Jenny held up a hand, eyes on Buffy. “What are you getting at?” she said almost warily.

“I think something’s going on with Xander,” said Buffy seriously. “I think he’s in trouble. He’s been acting super weird and I don’t know why—”

“Buffy, boys can be cruel,” Giles cut in, exasperated. “They tease, they prey on the weak. It’s—”

“Don’t boys-will-be-boys this situation,” said Jenny sharply. “Buffy, keep going.”

Buffy, however, had a strange expression on her face. “Wait,” she said. “Giles, what did you say?”

“They…tease?” Giles said tentatively.

“They prey on the weak,” said Buffy slowly. “I’ve heard that before. Where have I—” She stopped, eyes wide, then stared. “Xander has been acting totally wiggy ever since we went to the zoo!” she burst out. “Him and Kyle and all those guys, they went into the hyena cage. Oh, God, that laugh...”

Giles opened his mouth to point out how very unlikely it was that Xander had been turned into a hyena (or perhaps just start giggling), but Jenny was frowning a little. “Buffy, can we talk for a sec?” she asked, sounding a little uneasy. “This might not be a conversation we should—I mean—” Her eyes darted to Giles.

“Whatever you have to say to Buffy can certainly be said in front of me,” said Giles indignantly.

“I don’t know about that,” said Jenny.

“If it’s about the weird supernatural stuff, definitely say it in front of him,” said Buffy pointedly. “I said all this stuff to him and he totally brushed me off!”

“Rupert,” said Jenny reprovingly.

Giles exhaled, frustrated. “Buffy’s evidence is spotty at best!” he persisted. “In most of these ultimately unproven cases—”

Jenny was getting the same look in her eyes that she’d gotten when Giles had inadvertently (and then intentionally) insulted computers. “No,” she said. “You know what? Buffy’s right. This town is weird. Weird stuff happens. And I’m certainly not brushing off a concerned student. Whether or not Buffy’s right about Xander and some other kids being taken over by a hyena, the fact still remains that as a faculty member, it is absolutely my job to take a look at whatever is worrying Buffy.” She fixed Giles with a pointed glare. “And your job too, for that matter.”

“Jenny—” began Giles, helpless.

“Herbert!” Willow announced, running into the library. “They found him.”

“The pig?” said Buffy.

“Dead,” said Willow dismally. “And also eaten. Principal Flutie's freaking out.”

“Testosterone, huh?” said Buffy to Giles.

“Hyena it is,” Jenny agreed. She hesitated, then sighed, crossing the room to Giles. “You’re still a high school faculty member,” she said. “Even if you took this job so you’d have some time to research, you have to take care of these kids.”

There was genuine disappointment in her eyes, and that fact made Giles feel worse than any of her anger and frustration ever had. “You’re right,” he said quietly, because she was. Buffy had come to him with concern for her friend. Even if he was first and foremost a Watcher, he was beginning to become aware that compassion towards his charge was still important. “I’ll—look up hyenas, then?”

“I’m sure I can dig up some articles,” said Jenny, and stood on tiptoe, giving him a soft kiss.

Buffy gagged.

“Can it, Summers, I’m helping you,” said Jenny, a laugh in her voice as she pulled away from Giles. “Okay. I’m going to boot up that library computer and see what I can find about animal possessions. Rupert, you’ll look through your books?”

“You’re taking this claim quite in stride,” said Giles, feeling a strange mixture of suspicious and smitten.

“My husband’s an occult nerd,” teased Jenny. “I pick things up.”

Jenny found an astonishing amount of relevant articles in a very short amount of time. “Part of the job,” she quipped, even though it really wasn’t. Giles, meanwhile, was finding himself rather jealous of the star-struck way Buffy and Willow continued to regard her, especially since her motives were now in question. She was certainly witty, and intelligent, and kind, not to mention stunningly beautiful, but the fact remained that he couldn’t trust someone who had clear knowledge of vampires and wouldn’t tell him anything about them.

Granted, said a rather infuriating voice in his head, you are continuing to do the exact same thing with her.

Stuff it, Giles informed the voice, going back to paging through the book he’d been looking at.

“Anything useful?” Jenny asked earnestly, peering over his shoulder. Seeing the illustrations, she winced. “Yikes. This whole thing doesn’t look at all pretty. And if it’s what’s happening to Xander…”

“…then direct action must be taken, and soon,” Giles finished, glancing over at her. “I’m sure if we figure out exactly how and why this happened, we’ll be able to piece together how to help him and the others.”

“Hopefully before they do something really awful,” Jenny added. “Any kind of soul placed in a body that wasn’t meant to hold it—” She stopped, a strange expression on her face. “Anyway,” she said awkwardly. Bemused, Giles waited, but she didn’t elaborate.

“Why couldn’t Xander be possessed by a puppy, or some ducks?” Willow was saying plaintively.

“That's assuming 'possession' is the right word,” Buffy answered.

“You bet it is,” said Jenny, all but hurrying over to the girls. Giles, still frowning a bit, followed. “The Masai of the Serengeti have talked about animal possession for generations.”

“I should have remembered that,” Giles added ruefully. Jenny gave him a clear yes you should have expression, but still tucked her arm into his.

“So how does it work?” Buffy asked.

“There’s this sect of animal worshipers, Primals,” Jenny began before Giles could start. “They’re pretty much of the mind that human consciousness is this whole unnatural dilution of the spirit, and that the animal state is holy. They came up with this way to draw the spirits of different animals into their own bodies through trans-possession.”

“Succinct,” said Giles, impressed.

“Yeah, Giles takes way longer when he’s briefing us,” said Buffy, then clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide.

“Um, on studying things!” Willow added hastily. “In study group! Where we all study together! It’s not like Giles ever talks about the occult with us, ever, at all!”

“Calm down,” said Jenny, amused. “I know more than anyone that Rupert’s almost always working on research for his occult book. It’s not exactly surprising to me that he might bring it up with you kids on occasion.”

“Oh,” said Buffy.

“Occult book,” said Willow.

“That makes sense,” said Buffy.

Giles did his best not to look too worthy of suspicion.

“Anyway,” said Jenny, “the Primals are really only big on the predatory-type animals, so it makes a lot of sense that Xander might have ended up with a hyena spirit in him. My articles talked about that…”

“…and my books gave us a rather graphic depiction of what might happen if that spirit goes unchecked,” Giles finished, handing the book to Buffy and Willow.

Buffy took one look at the book, then set it down, face grim. “I have to find Xander,” she said flatly, then hurried out of the library without waiting for a response.

“Yeah, that’s fair,” said Jenny, squinting at the illustrations. Willow looked a little pale. “Rupert, I think we should start looking into ways to reverse this trans-possession. Something that’ll get the hyena back into the hyena without putting it in anyone else.”

“I don’t know if my books contain that ritual,” said Giles apprehensively.

“I’m sure the web can find something,” Jenny began.

There was a knock on the door, and a small sophomore peered in. “Um, Mr. Giles, Ms. Calendar?” she said uncertainly. “Emergency faculty meeting. Vice principal says all staff have to—”

“Thanks, Emily,” said Jenny, giving Giles a worried look.

Giles quite understood Jenny’s unease. Emergency faculty meetings almost always meant a death. Very deliberately, he took her hand, squeezing it tightly. “I’m right here,” he said quietly. “Remember?”

Reluctantly, Jenny smiled, though the worry hadn’t quite left her eyes. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah. You are.”

Principal Flutie had been found, completely devoured, in his office.

“Oh,” said Jenny, much too loudly, right after the vice principal delivered this news. Then she got up, shrugged off Giles’s hand, and all but ran outside. The vice principal looked too distressed by the news to object to anyone leaving, so Giles followed, hurrying after her and making sure to shut the door behind him.

Jenny was leaning against a locker, her face in her hands. Her shoulders were shaking.

“Jenny,” said Giles. His heart caught in his chest at how small she looked.

Jenny straightened, looking humiliated, and roughly scrubbed at her face with a sweater sleeve, but she was still shaking too much to stand upright. Without hesitation, Giles crossed the hall, taking her in his arms.

“He’s the reason we got married,” Jenny said, her voice shaky and thick with tears. “Or…” She trailed off, resting her cheek on his shoulder. “He’s the reason we stayed married,” she said. “He’s the reason we’re married right now. It was all about appearances, remember?”

Giles was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “I don’t think it’s…I think this marriage might be something else, now.”

Jenny raised her head. “I don’t like that,” she said. “Make it stop.”

“I—”

“No, okay, maybe not,” Jenny whispered, and buried her face in Giles’s coat, taking a steadying breath in. He felt the way she relaxed in his arms, felt her curl closer, and realized in that moment that he couldn’t at all imagine what his life would be like when Jenny left it. It wasn’t the loneliness that would hurt—it was the absence of her. Small and kind and fiercely loyal.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly.

“For what?” Jenny mumbled into his coat.

For a lot of things. Most of them things he couldn’t tell her. “I feel as though I’m an entirely unsuitable husband for a woman of your caliber,” said Giles, which was true enough that it alleviated some of the guilt.

Jenny snorted, raising her head. “Bet you wouldn’t have said that on that plane ride,” she said. “All that stuff you had to say about decency and respectability—”

“Sod decency, Jenny,” said Giles with a wet laugh. “Decency didn’t bring us here, did it? Our marriage is a horribly unromantic story, but I don’t know if I could handle this town alone. I’m grateful I don’t have to.”

Jenny suddenly looked rather nervous. “I don’t know if I’m up for long-term commitment,” she said.

“Is this that?”

“Well, we’re married,” said Jenny awkwardly. “And we never actually talked about what all that kissing meant, I just thought—”

“Jenny, no amount of kissing means that we have to stay married,” said Giles, alarmed by her presumption.

“We just started talking about feelings and how this marriage wasn’t just appearances—”

“We are in an entirely unusual situation,” said Giles, choosing his words carefully. “You yourself mentioned that before our date was derailed.”

Jenny exhaled. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, okay. I just—it’s hard for me to wrap my head around this whole thing. I mean, god, I like you, I really do, but marriage isn’t ever something I would have chosen for myself. Being in a relationship with you means I’m at least considering—”

“It absolutely doesn’t have to mean that,” said Giles firmly. “This marriage is only a marriage from a legal standpoint. Even if no one but us knows it, we’re really just two people who have realized—albeit in the strangest possible way—that we would like to know rather more about each other.”

Jenny smiled slightly. “So this is just us dating,” she said.

“Yes.”

“But, like, we’re also legally married.”

“I did say it was the strangest possible way to get to know a lady,” Giles quipped. His smile softened. “If it would help, even a little…would you like to set an end date? Some point in time where we—”

But Jenny shook her head. “I don’t think that’s what I want,” she said, and reached up, lightly touching his cheek. Giles’s heart fluttered. “I meant what I said about not wanting to be married, Rupert, but…so far, marriage to you has been kind of okay. Stamping an end date on any possible relationship seems kinda pessimistic.”

“So—”

“I think we’ll know when it’s time to split,” said Jenny simply.

Giles found that he agreed. “All right,” he said. “So for now we’re legally married. But that’s a side thing that we can work out if this doesn’t.”

Jenny nodded, then settled further into his arms with a shaky sigh. “It’s been a really tough day,” she said. “And it doesn’t help that people are being eaten on campus, but…I’m glad I’ve got you here too. Sunnydale can’t possibly be a fun town to live in by yourself.”

“Principal Flutie was married, I think,” said Giles distantly.

Jenny raised her head. “Well, he wasn’t married to me,” she said matter-of-factly, as if by determination alone she could keep Giles from anything that might wish him harm. The look in her eyes made Giles quite believe that she could.

“I trust you, you know,” he said, and it was more for himself than for her. An affirmation that this was, in fact, someone he could trust, regardless of the secrets she might be keeping.

Jenny blinked, then smiled, and the guiltlessness of her smile confirmed it: whatever it was she was hiding from him, she didn’t think it something that might hurt him in the long run. He could understand that sort of secret. “I trust you too,” she said, a half-laugh in her voice, like she couldn’t possibly understand why he might want to tell her this.

Giles tried to smile in return.

They walked to the library together. Jenny, while still clearly shaken by Principal Flutie’s death, did seem comforted; Giles had no idea what he was feeling. Almost all of the secrets kept from Jenny had been justified by the fact that she would eventually be leaving his life, but now…true as it was that he didn’t know everything about her, it was also true that she was clearly a woman to be trusted. Staying married to her while not telling her what she had signed up for felt thoroughly dishonest.

Thankfully, the children were discussing the matter at hand when they entered, which meant that Giles was once again back on the Watcher clock. “Right now I'm a little more worried about what the rest of the pack are up to,” Buffy was saying, and Giles felt Jenny wince next to him.

“The rest of the pack were spotted outside Herbert the mascot's cage,” said Giles, doing his best to keep his tone steady. He wasn’t quite sure if he managed. “They were sent to the principal's office.”

“Good! That'll show 'em,” said Willow emphatically. When Giles and Jenny didn’t respond, she faltered. “Did it show 'em?”

Jenny let out a shaking breath, her hand tightening around Giles’s.

“They didn't hurt him, did they?” Buffy asked, but it sounded as though she already knew the answer.

“They ate him,” said Jenny quietly.

Willow sat down, slowly. “They ate Principal Flutie?” Buffy asked.

“Ate him up?” Willow added.

“According to the vice principal, wild dogs ate him, but, uh, that’s about as likely as…” Jenny trailed off, waving a hand.

“A science teacher with his head missing,” Giles finished darkly. Jenny flinched. Belatedly, Giles remembered that this amount of death wasn’t something Jenny was at all used to. “Jenny,” he said quietly, “we can continue to look into this without you, if you need some time—”

“No,” said Jenny. Her hand was now gripping Giles’s tight enough to cut off circulation.

“Xander didn’t eat anybody, though,” said Willow suddenly. “He was with Buffy.”

Jenny let go of Giles’s hand to step towards the book cage, which was when Giles noticed the slumped figure of Xander lying across the floor. “Oh!” he said. “Well, that’s a small—no, Jenny, don’t get too close,” he added sharply, pulling her hastily back. “We don’t know what he’s capable of.”

“Guys, how do we stop this?” Buffy asked, still visibly shaken. “How do you trans-possess someone?”

“We’re missing a lot of pieces,” said Jenny, “and we’re running out of time.”

“There’s some talk of a predatory act, but the exact ritual is, um…” Giles trailed off, thinking. “The Malleus Maleficarum deals in—”

“That’s demonic possession, Rupert,” said Jenny shortly. “We don’t want the demon transferred from human to human, we want the hyena back in the hyena.”

There was a strange, surprised silence. “You know my books,” said Giles, unable to stop himself from smiling.

“Light reading,” said Jenny, blushing. “My point is that until we know more—”

“Betcha that zookeeper could tell us,” said Buffy suddenly. “Maybe he didn't quarantine those hyenas because they were sick.”

“We should talk to him,” Giles suggested.

“Okay,” said Buffy, and took two steps towards the exit before stopping. “Oh, wait, somebody's gotta watch Xander—”

“I will,” said Willow.

“No way,” said Jenny sharply. “If he wakes up—”

“I’ll be fine!” Willow objected. “I know Xander, it’s—”

“That’s not Xander, Willow,” said Jenny. “That’s something else. If you’re staying, I’m staying with you.”

Giles’s mind immediately jumped from dead pigs to Flutie’s remains to coming back and finding Jenny in pieces across the library floor. “Jenny, I don’t think—” he began.

“You’re not leaving a teenager alone with a possessed kid!” Jenny snapped. “That is a recipe for more people dead, and I won’t be having any more deaths today if there’s anything I can do to stop them!”

Buffy and Willow both looked a little impressed at this, though the latter also looked somewhat annoyed at being labeled a teenager. Jenny had a point, Giles knew, but the thought of leaving her anywhere that wasn’t with him, especially when there were possessed hyenas on the loose…

The words tumbled out of Giles before he had quite realized what he was saying. “You talk so much about the deaths you want to prevent, Jenny,” he said. “What do you think it would do to me if I knew I could have prevented yours?”

The furious look on Jenny’s face froze. She looked honestly speechless.

Giles found himself stunned by his own words as well. Trusting Jenny was one thing, but this unexpected depth of emotion she inspired—this was altogether another. “I care—deeply—about you,” he said clumsily; it felt woefully inadequate, but it would have to do. “I think you should know that.” Turning to face his wife, he took her hands. “You’re right to stay with Willow,” he said. “And it’s selfish of me to want you at my side. Please, dear, just be careful.” Nodding to a stunned Buffy, he let go of Jenny and headed out of the library, not entirely ready to look back. If anything happened to Jenny while he was gone, he didn’t know what he would do.

Of bloody course the pack would come back for Xander. The abject terror that Giles felt as he raced through the hallways was unlike anything he had experienced before. Jenny had stayed behind to help. If anything had happened to her…

Giles caught sight of Buffy hitting one of the pack members with a fire extinguisher, and then Jenny tumbled through the half-open classroom door and into his arms. On impulse, he kissed her very hard, then held her tightly to him as Willow stumbled through as well. “I’m so sorry, I hadn’t thought they’d come back for Xander—” he stammered, all but dizzy with relief.

“Adds some spice to life, doesn’t it?” said Jenny, just as they caught sight of three other pack members down the hall.

“Run!” Buffy shouted. Willow obliged. Giles, absolutely unwilling to let go of Jenny, scooped her up in his arms before she could object. “Rupert!” she shrieked, but he was already following Buffy and Willow into the computer lab, slamming the door shut behind them. Buffy pushed past him to lock it; he set Jenny down.

“God, are you five?”Jenny demanded, face flushed. “I can run by myself!”

“I didn’t—want—I thought you might be dead,” Giles managed, touching her cheek very gently.

Jenny blinked, startled, then gave him a small, relieved smile, leaning into his hand. “Well,” she said. “I’m not. So no worries.”

“If you two are done being married,” said Buffy, but without as much of her usual exasperation behind it, “we’ve gotta get the pack back to the zoo.”

Giles wavered. “Individually, they’re almost as strong as you,” he began. “As a group, they’re—”

“Tough,” Buffy finished, “but getting stupider. You guys head to the zoo and I’ll figure out a way to get them there.”

Giles nodded, taking Jenny’s hand. Willow followed.

“There’s the Hyena House,” said Willow, pointing down the path. “Where’s the zookeeper?”

“He must be preparing for the ritual,” said Giles. “I’ll go in to help—” He paused, glancing at Jenny. “Jenny, would you come with me? Your expertise in this area has served us well thus far.”

“Just laying on the compliments tonight, aren’t you?” said Jenny, looking genuinely flattered. “Willow, warn us as soon as you see them coming.” She fell into step with Giles as they hurried down the path, then tugged on his sleeve, stopping them once they were a good distance away from Willow.

“What is it?”

“What you said,” said Jenny. She looked a little nervous. “About…caring about me, and, and wanting me next to you. And then kissing me like that when you got back, I didn’t know…I mean, I knew you and I finally reached a kind of okay place, but Rupert, I’ve never seen you like that before.”

“This is uncharted territory for both of us, to be honest,” said Giles, which was the closest to the truth that he could give her.

Jenny gave him a small, fluttery smile, one of those special ones that he’d begun to realize only came out around him. “Hey, c’mere,” she said softly, and gripped his scarf, pulling him gently down into a quiet kiss.

“Um, Giles?” called Willow from up the path, sounding a little exasperated.

Jenny pulled back, wincing. “Duty calls,” she said, looking a little embarrassed.

“And here I was sure it was too dark for her to see us,” muttered Giles, grabbing Jenny’s hand and pulling her along. As they ducked under the tape, he called, “Doctor? Um—zookeeper?”The zookeeper rounded the corner, face painted. “Ah,” said Giles, relieved. “The traditional Masai ceremonial garb. Very good.”

‘We all set for the trans-possession?” Jenny asked.

“Almost,” said the zookeeper.

Giles then noticed the markings on the floor. “Oh, right, yes!” he said. “The sacred circle! Yes, you’d need that to…” He trailed off, frowning. “But this would be here when…”

“Rupert,” said Jenny slowly, “it’s not possible to pull off a trans-possession without some planning beforehand.”

“I’m quite aware of that, Jenny,” said Giles, looking again at the zookeeper. The man was watching them both with a sharp, wary expression.

“People died,” said Jenny. Her eyes were flashing as she tugged her hand free of Giles’s, stepping forward and towards the zookeeper. “You are so much worse than some fucking vampire. People died because of your stupid attempt at a power trip. Kids are going to have to deal with the knowledge that they ate a person.How do you justify inflicting that on children?”

Without warning, the zookeeper lashed out, hitting Jenny hard with his staff. She fell to the ground, unconscious.

The last thing Giles thought before the staff swung in his direction was I really need to get better at figuring these things out.

He woke up in a cramped storage closet, Jenny leaning against him. Wincing, he pulled himself to his feet, keeping a steadying hand on the small of Jenny’s back.

“Does every night with you end with us knocked out?” Jenny mumbled as he opened the door.

“I’d say it’s an unfortunately safe bet,” said Giles ruefully. “My apologies.” Blinking up and around at the Hyena House, he added to Buffy, Willow, and Xander, “Did we miss anything?”

“More like everything,” Buffy began, then winced sympathetically. “You guys get knocked out?”

“The amount of head trauma that this job entails is ridiculous,” Giles muttered, hugging Jenny to his side. “You’re all right, dear?”

“Ugh,” said Jenny.

“My sentiments exactly,” said Giles.

“Listen, you guys should, uh, probably head home,” said Buffy, who was looking a little worriedly at the disoriented Jenny. “Or maybe to a hospital?”

“No, I’m cool!” said Jenny, tried to stand up without help, lost her balance, and fell into Giles’s side. Giles fell into the wall.

“Sure,” said Buffy, mouth twitching. “Okay. You two can meet us at the car, then?” Without waiting for an answer, she turned to Willow and Xander, beginning to gently fuss over the latter.

“Hey, I actually have a quick errand to run,” said Jenny, raising a hand to rub the back of her head. She still looked a little shaky on her feet, but she wasn’t quite as unsteady. “Is it okay if I meet you back at home?”

“Jenny—” Giles began, then stopped.

“Yeah?” Jenny met his eyes, holding his stare with a determined resolve.

Giles considered. Then he said, “I’ll see you at home, dear. Do be careful,” and dropped a kiss to her forehead.

He trusted her. It felt like the right choice.

#fic #very really married #big hopes that i can finish this fic at some point soon!!!!#it's getting very close and i'm excited about it

5 notes · View notes

fiddler-unroofed · 6 years

Text

Creek Wedding Headcanons

-After like a billion years of being together Tweek starts dropping some hints that they might want to consider taking their relationship to the next level... nudge nudge....

-And Craig is just really confused because "tweek we've already had sex" "THATS NOT WHAT I MEANT" "lots of it, actually" "HAJSHJAHAHA"

-Until finally he's hanging out with Kenny and he's complaining that "tweek's been acting so weird lately, he keeps on saying how much he loves me and that he wants to take our relationship to the next level and that we should start thinking about the future and tax benefits and stuff... what do you think he means kenny"

-And Kenny just picks up his newspaper, rolls it up, and whacks him on the fucking head with it

- "ow! kenny why did you do that?" "MMPPH MPH MMM!!!" "what?? marriage??? tweek... wants to....MARRY me?????"

-Cue a very flustered blushy boy who grabs his things, tells Kenny he needs to go, and rushes to find a jewelry shop

-Meanwhile Tweek figures Craig will never get the hint, so he goes off and does some ring shopping of his own. You know, to get the ball rolling already

-That very night they're lying on their couch watching TV together, and it's commercial break, and Tweek is wearing nothing but an oversized coffee stained shirt, a pair of Craig's boxers and a relaxed expression on his face as he eats popcorn from Craig's hat (currently a makeshift bowl)

-And Craig decides this is the perfect time to propose.

-So he slips off the couch claiming he needs to go to the bathroom, then returns a minute later with a small black box

-Except Tweek isn't really paying attention because the commercial break is over and he's watching TV again

-So Craig picks up the remote, turns off the TV, and is promptly almost murdered by his boyfriend

- "WHAT THE FUCK, MAN!! I WAS, NGH, WATCHING THAT!!!!" "tweek calm down i have a surprise for you" "YEAH WELL I DO TOO!! ITS CALLED A KICK IN THE NUTS, ASSHOLE!!!!"

-Craig just fucking shoves the box in Tweek's face so he'll calm down

-And Tweek opens it

-And there's the most beautiful ring he's ever seen

-And he gets even angrier

- "Wh-- WHAT!!! ARE YOU PROPOSING TO ME!!!!" "yep" "NO NO NO YOU CANT DO THAT!!!!!!"

-And Craig is even more confused, not to mention a little worried he's about to get dumped-- "i thought this was what you wanted?" and Tweek just groans, even while blushing like a tomato

-And he reaches under the sofa pillow and pulls out a black box of his own and sulkily hands it over to Craig

-And that's when Craig realizes what's just happened

-Cue lots of bickering on who technically proposed to who, kisses, and "yeah i'll marry you... you're still an asshole though". They then proceed to cuddle all night long.

-Now it's time to make wedding arrangements, which actually doesn't go too badly-- Craig doesn't really give a fuck about things like seating charts and flower arrangements, so Tweek has full creative reign

-Craig's parents offer to pay for most of the expenses because they, unlike Richard "Selfish Bitch" Tweak, actually care about their son's happiness. Tweek doesn't want them paying for everything though so he takes initiative to work twice as hard at the coffee shop as well as get a second job as a cashier elsewhere

-Craig, who figures this is way too much pressure for his boyfriend fiance to cope with, kicks him out of both jobs and takes them over himself

- "you just deal with flower arrangements, honey, i'll work." "no, ngh, IM NOT--" "no need to thank me 😘"

-They end up hitting their first major hitch with the invite list.

-Both Tweek and Craig can agree on the main people they wanna invite (Craig's family, Token, Jimmy, Clyde, Kevin Stoley) but beyond that it's a bit of a mess

-Tweek wants to invite his parents (Craig figures that since his parents have always been dicks and didn't even offer anything for the wedding except Tweak Bros coffee samples for the guests, they shouldn't be invited) and Stan (Craig would rather eat his fucking socks than have that sexually ambiguous jock at his wedding)

-Craig wants to invite Thomas (Tweek isn't too partial to the idea of inviting Craig's first crush to their wedding, of all things) and Kenny ("oh, so we can't invite stan but we can invite, ack, KENNY???" "cut me some slack babe")

-They finally compromise by only letting Tweek's mom come, letting Stan come only if he brings Kenny as his date (because lol), and inviting Thomas to the reception

-This brings them to their second (and final) major hitch: outfits.

-In all the weddings they've ever been to they've seen at least one person, or maybe both, wear the dress. This has led to them both being convinced that one of them also has to wear a dress. And, problem is, neither of them want to.

- "YOU HAVE A, NGH, BETTER FIGURE!!!" "now we both know that's not true. your ass is way better suited for a dress" "AGSHHAHAH!!!"

-This leads them to a big fight that lasts for basically the remainder of the wedding prep. So now it's the day before the wedding and they're still fighting

-After trying (and failing) to reach an agreement, they both finally storm off. And then feel bad ten minutes later.

-What do they do to fix this? Both of them privately decide to wear a dress and surprise the other one at the altar. And of course they decide this without telling each other.

-So now it's the day of the wedding, and it's a beautiful autumn day, and Tweek is standing at the altar (because let's be real, walking down the aisle would be way too much pressure for him) in a brilliant blue dress blushing like a mess

-And after waiting for a good half hour, Tricia finally skips down the aisle throwing carnations every which way and revealing [cue drum noises] Craig.

-Who is also wearing a dress.

-A floor length green one, to be precise. He already looks pretty awkward, but after seeing Tweek, who's also in a dress, his face just fucking freezes

-As he makes his way down the aisle, he's torn between flipping off Clyde who's sobbing like a baby ("our little boy, token!! he's all grown up 😭😭") or Jimmy, who whistles at him

-And when he gets to the altar, he immediately starts to bicker with Tweek under his breath about the whole dress thing while the priest reads their vows

-And finally Tweek hisses "well could you have even walked any slower down that, ack, aisle?? i could feel spiders weaving their webs in my hair!!" and Craig is like "oh, sorry. i was too busy trying not to fall over the dress that i wore for you. i don't even like green" which is a total lie and they both know it

-Then Tweek discreetly stomps on his foot from under the hem of his dress, and Craig can't help but grin, because wow. He's marrying this man

[Bonus Stan at the reception like "dude you guys realize you could have both just worn suits right" "SHUT UP STAN"]

-I just have a lot of feelings for ridiculous Creek weddings okay

#south park #sp creek #tweek tweak #craig tucker #creek wedding #south park headcanons #south park hcs #fiddlewrites #i aint tagging everyone #also sorry for how long this is... when i say i have feelings i mean it rip

221 notes · View notes

carmineclock · 5 years

Text

> A few days before, on Christmas~

Trace 12:47 AM

> Grabs Fin sometime during the holidays and pulls him aside. "So, when do we wanna do it?"

Fin 12:51 AM

" Do you have the rings ?"

Trace 1:02 AM

"Yep." > Pull two boxes out of the pocket and hand Fin one.

Fin 1:04 AM

"Then we can do this today why not?. I got a fine whiskey saved up for something special we can drink that or do you want champagne?." >Open the box and well...cry a little bit "Its really going to happen hu?"

Trace 1:10 AM

> Grin. You're nervous too, alright. "You're not gonna back out, are you?"

Fin 1:13 AM

"Of course not. Today of all days i'm feeling sort of brave" >smile at your lovely shark and hug him "How are you feeling though. You are the one who knows her the best. Are you ready?"

Trace 1:27 AM

> Take a deep breath and then smile. "Yes. I think. I'm sure. Do we want to do it when everyone is getting together or later when we're alone?"

Fin 1:33 AM

"Just because i get a bit of stage frights lets do this alone for now. We can get down to celebrate with the rest later"

Trace 1:36 AM

"Alright." > You stand there and shift a little, nervous and excited, then give Fin a kiss. "I can't wait."

Fin 1:45 AM

"Wait shouldn't we change into something better?"

Trace 1:47 AM

> ... "Better than this?" > I mean. You got a few other suits in your wardrobe.

Fin 1:50 AM

"You can always do better. Let's get changed. Besides wouldn't you want to wear something olive?"

Trace 1:50 AM

"I suppose. Will you do me the honor of dressing me?"

Fin 1:52 AM

"Of course, lets fix your suit first then i will get changed. Let's do this quick before somebody sees us"

Trace 1:53 AM

"Okay." > Time to get fancy.

Fin 1:55 AM

>And fancy it is, of course that Fin has bought already shirts and coats that would fit a olive aesthetic in case they decided to be all gay with Nepeta. >Fix up your boyfriend first. "So what are we going to say ?"

Trace 1:59 AM

> You're very feeling fancy. And maybe a bit uncomfortable because these aren't your usual clothes that you're so used to. Or it's just the nerves. "That we got a gift for her?"

Fin 2:00 AM

"Sounds good. Do you think you cand o the talking? your knees look weak tonight" >laugh

Trace 2:02 AM

"I can definitely do the talking. Just not the standing maybe."

> Grin and kiss him. "Managed to do it with you too."

Fin 2:07 AM

"and you almost die." >Finish tying his tie good one nice color pap pap. "Alright let me change and we can go...oof. I wish i was more prepared i feel like crying everytime, good thing i dont wear make up" >Fan yourself to stop from crying again

Trace 2:19 AM

> Cackles and kiss his cheek. "Save the tears for when we ask her, she'll love it."

Fin 2:25 AM

"I can't ! i feel like you've opened a shower on my eyes god damn" >undress at the speed of light this needs to happen soon or you will continue to cry until you are dry as a raisin "Are we missing anything? we got the rings, we look awesome. Where should we do this ?"

Trace 2:27 AM

"Her room, inbetween all the cats? Or, on the roof like our moment?""

Fin 2:28 AM

"I mean roof wins dramatic points. but the room has something cute about it. i will let you decide" >change your clothes meanwhile

Trace 2:29 AM

"Dammit, Fin."

Fin 2:32 AM

"Dammit indeed... I mean i would pick the roof because i love dramatically awesome things. But how can we call her there without raising any suspicion of you know...something big happening?"

Trace 2:34 AM

"Does it really matter if we raise suspicion if the big moment is coming right after?"

Fin 2:36 AM

"I mean whats the point of doing it with a bang if the bang was suspected to happen ?. Maybe we can tell her to go first cuz we gonna have a drinking party, tell her its about celebrating maybe our ashen stuff? so its not only us 3?. Hmmmmmmmm or we could just go with that and hope shes tired enough not to care why. I'm sorry i tend to get all twisted about these things...i..i want it to be perfect"

Trace 2:37 AM

"Shhh." > Kiss him. "It'll be perfect, no matter if she expects something or not. I don't think she'll expect that to happen though."

Fin 2:40 AM

>fix your hair nervously "I'm really trying not to peek on the trails right now. Ok lets just go before i die"

Trace 2:43 AM

> Help him fix his hair a little. It's tempting to just ruffle and mess it up again, but the two of you are already nervous. "Your idea isn't bad though. We should invite Clover anyway."

Fin 2:58 AM

"Later , once we got her yes. I kinda want to have this moment for us only. Is that too selfish of me to ask ?"

Trace 3:06 AM

"Not at all. That's fine."

Fin 3:08 AM

>sigh ok everything is fine "shall we then?"

Trace 3:17 AM

"We shall." > Up you go. > On the way there you send Nepeta a message. 03: Hey, come join us on the roof 03: It's a wonderful night today.

Fin 3:18 AM

05: got some nice whiskey too lets party kitty

05: let that partitty out

>walk in circles while craddling the bottle

Trace 3:19 AM

03: Already on it

Fin 3:24 AM

>jump jump jump "Oh boy oh boy here we go its happening"

Trace 3:26 AM

> Cackle. "If you don't want her to suspect anything, you're doing a very bad job at it. Come sit down with me."

Fin 3:27 AM

"right right" >join your nerd

Nepeta 3:29 AM

:33 < theres titties and booze? im in!!! be right there! > Right now you are mainly suspecting something kinky. Its always something kinky with them, yes? > You are ready for that in either event and quickly make your way up to the roof. Kitties here! "Is this where the hot shark party is at?"

Fin 3:45 AM

(so 35nep?)

Trace 3:57 AM

"Hot sharks and a party. Can confirm!" > Wave her over to where the two of you are sitting. Actually, you move over a little so she can fit between you.

Fin 3:59 AM

>pat the space between the two of you and wave nepeta welcome with the bottle in hand. "We saved you a nice spot !"

Nepeta 4:05 AM

> Fuck yeah, shark party! You flop down between them, giving each of them a little smooch on the cheek. "So! What are we celebrating, sharksomes?"

Trace 4:08 AM

"Oh you know. Christmas. Being together and all."

Fin 4:10 AM

"Also my amazing ass of course that's always worth celebrating"

Nepeta 4:39 AM

"Oh, so it's the ass kind of party" > Yeah, totally a kink thing. Definitely.

Trace 4:40 AM

"It's always an ass kind of party. But we got another gift for you first."

Fin 4:45 AM

>sweat sweat sweat "y-yes! a good gift!"

Nepeta 4:51 AM

"Oh? Is it... a dick purrhaps?" > Eyebrow waggle.

Trace 4:52 AM

"Better." > Grin and try not to look too nervously.(edited)

Fin 4:55 AM

>Look at trace like now? or do you want to say something first, come on telepathy WORK "Oh much much better"

Nepeta 5:04 AM

"Two dicks!" > The most sparkly anime eyes. Could it be? Trace dick night?

Trace 5:08 AM

> Crack up. "No. Yes. I mean. But no." > Take her hand. And stare at it nervously. "We were gonna ask. Would you- Do you want to marry us?" > You pull the little box out of your pocket, waiting for Fin to do the same.

Fin 5:11 AM

>when Trace moves to grab her hand you do the same and start shaking, you almost drop your box "We feel like it's the logic step for us. We both love you to death and we want to be with you forever" >Oh no you are crying AGAIN "Would you take us as the trashiest most sexiest husbands in all Midnight City?"

Trace 5:12 AM

> The two of you show her a pair of matching rings, obviously meant to go together, and obviously meant for her.

December 30, 2018

Nepeta 2:25 AM

> Oh. You did NOT expect that, not at all. They are both already married after all, to each other! And you are a troll...do you even DO marriage? Well, it's not like you were raised on Alternia anyways, but still. Is it legal to marry two people? Does it matter if it's legal to marry two people, when nothing about your lives is anways? > There's a lot of thoughts running through your mind as you cover your mouth with your hands to muffle the shocked gasp. Are you crying? Oh god, you are totally crying. > You honestly never thought anyone would ask you that. Despite your obsession with romance, you never even dreamt of it. And yet... "Y-Yes! Oh my god, yes. Of course... You fuckers. I didn't expect... Fuck. Of course I want to." > You are crying, but you can't stop laughing either. Damn it, you really do love these assholes.

Trace 2:35 AM

> For a terrible second you have to wait out the shock and realization. Waiting for that answer, and then it finally comes.. Aw. Gosh, she's so adorable. You immediately pull her into a hug and kiss her very wet face with a wide toothy grin. "Your fuckers now."

Fin 4:31 AM

>you have been holding your breath for what I felt as an eternity until you hear that sweet yes and you finally let yourself take a deep breath "I swear you won't regret it . I will do my best to make you both so happy"

Nepeta 7:42 AM

> You reply to Trace's kiss with a very wet kiss of your own, but on the lips. That's what you do with your fiancé, right? Not like you really give a damn. "You were already my fuckers. Only difference is that now I'll be officially stuck with you." > Fin gets his very own wet smooch as well. "God damn it. I never thought...Shit. You guys are so gay."

Trace 2:38 AM

> The kiss just slightly catches you off-guard, but you can't say you mind. Not the first of these kisses you shared, and something tells you it won't be the last. "You already knew we are." > You laugh happily and release her to let her hug and kiss Fin too. This gives you the chance to realize your face got a little wet too and wipe away your own happy tears.

#logs

2 notes · View notes

bethhxrmon · 6 years

Text

All I Ask of You Pt. 10

“To going against the grain, going insane, going mad.” - “La Vie Bohme” from RENT

Pairing: Peter Parker x Female OC

Word Count: 4,534

Warnings: Underage drinking

Summary: It’s the holidays and everyone’s happy right now!

A/N: It may be late, but it’s still Saturday so that’s what counts! I was super excited to make this chapter and I hope you all love it as much as I do!

MASTERLIST

Playlist

Christmas Eve felt almost like a desperate attempt for Annie’s parents to make up for the last couple months. Though, it obviously wasn’t enough and Annie couldn’t help pointing that out every chance she got. Whether she was being too harsh or not, she really couldn’t be bothered to give a damn. However, she would have been lying if she said she didn’t enjoy constantly pointing out their mistakes and affairs whenever she wanted to get away with something.

Of course it pissed her parents off, but it probably pissed them off more that Annie wasn’t wrong. It was using their failing marriage as a scapegoat that led to Annie being outside in the winter evening with a small wrapped package. The odds of running into Spider-Man were pretty slim, it was a holiday after all. Despite it only being six at night, the sky was dark with only streetlights, cars, and electronic billboards there to light the way.

The temperature drop that winter brought always left Annie cursing her choice to be a superhero instead of a street magician. She had even put a few shirts underneath the white hoodie she had on and she was still shivering. Stealing some electricity to attempt to warm up was her best bet, but even that wasn’t exactly working.

With the streets bustling with the absolute last-second holiday shopping, it was difficult to find any real crime going on as she lurked in an alley. That was when she heard a jump. Without giving it a second thought, Annie swerved around and launched the ball of electricity that was in her hand at none other than Spider-Man himself.

He quickly sidestepped the electricity and held his hands up, “Hey, it’s okay, it’s just me.”

Annie sighed a little, “You can’t just sneak up on me like that! If I hit you then that’s who knows how many volts straight to your chest.”

“Oh, it’s cool. Mr. Stark made my suit electricity-proof. Sorry I scared you, Swan. Merry Christmas, by the way. What’s that you’ve got in your hands there?” he asked, talking as though Annie hadn’t told him to leave her alone a week ago.

Annie glanced down and the package, “Um… it’s not much, but it’s for you, actually. Kind of a ‘Merry Christmas, sorry I yelled at you and I actually do kinda enjoy working with you’ present.”

“Well that’s great! I got something for you too! It’s not much either, but uh… it’s something I thought you’d like,” he replied, handing her something that was in a paper bag.

Annie handed him the wrapped parcel and took the thing he gave her, “You seriously didn’t have to,” she said, pulling out a long sleeved shirt.

“I should probably mention it’s got a little heater in it. I know you said to not follow you, but I saw you kept getting super cold and I uh- well I sort of stole it from Mr. Stark,” Spider-Man said sheepishly as he unwrapped his present to find a Santa hat.

Annie smiled a bit, “Thanks, that’s way awesome. I wasn’t really sure what to get you that you didn’t already have, and I know it’s super cheesy and I totally get it if you don-”

“It’s great, Swan, really, I love it, thanks,” he replied, hugging her.

She laughed a bit, “No problem, I’m just sorry I’ve been such a bitch, and I should probably apologize in advance for when the exact same thing happens again for whatever reason I decide to get mad again.”

“Hey, I get it. You’ve been alone awhile and you’re not used to having yours truly making things a bit easier on you,” he claimed.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, “Actually I get more nervous when you insert yourself and expect me to cover you. I mean, come on, my powers could crap out on me.”

“I don’t think that would happen, obviously your powers work better when your more emotional, so they work better when your stressed,” he said, shrugging.

Annie frowned, “You’re not wrong… but still, it’s so damn stressful.”

Feeling a huge sense of accomplishment at fixing things with Spider-Man, Annie was able to get back to her apartment with a weight lifted from her chest. With gifts already bought for everyone, there wasn’t exactly anything worth worrying about. Instead of going out to hang out with her parents, Annie spent the remainder of her night reading.

By the time morning rolled around, Annie was in the same clothes that she had been when she was reading. She couldn’t remember putting down her book or being on her bed in the first place. Still the computer monitor across from her confirmed that it was Christmas morning, and she crawled out of bed, heading out to the kitchen where a small Christmas tree was set up.

Underneath the fake, silver tree were a handful of presents. Two of them were for her parents and there were a few for Annie. She could tell that they were probably trying to compensate for the affairs, but she couldn’t have cared less. A part of her just liked having a scapegoat. Besides, it was more of a “being bitter about how her dad tried to explain her being a failed science fair project” thing rather than being angry about her parents cheating on each other.

The whole infidelity thing was their thing to solve and Annie wanted no part in it. She padded over to the coffee maker and put some water and more grounds in it before starting the machine. As it heated up, Annie checked her phone, tempted to call Harper and wake them up extremely early simply to be a pain in the ass. After a few minutes, she was just about to pick up her phone to dial her friend when she saw Harper’s contact name on the screen.

Annie answered, trying to not laugh and wake up her parents, “What the hell are you doing awake at like… four in the morning?”

“Because I know you and that you’d probably wake me up anyways,” Harper replied, a smirk audible in their voice.

Annie rolled her eyes, finding a mug to pour her coffee into, “Okay, but that doesn’t explain why you’d wake up so early.”

“Bold of you to assume I ever even went to sleep. I had gifts to wrap,” they said, sighing a bit.

Annie chuckled lightly as she poured some coffee in her mug, “Who are you spending all this time wrapping presents for?”

“My parents. If I wrapped all their presents for their godforsaken business partners then they said they would give me ten grand to do whatever I wanted with,” they responded.

Annie frowned a bit, “What do you need ten thousand for, exactly?”

“I’m splitting it up between charities and college. Did I mention that I heard back from NYU?” they asked.

Annie raised an eyebrow, retreating to her room and sitting at her desk, “Nope, I didn’t even know you were graduating early.”

“Oh, well, surprise, I am! And I heard back from NYU and their fashion program, so I’m just about set up to start there in September,” they said, yawning.

Annie’s jaw dropped, “Wait, so you’re, like, going to NYU, like, Manhattan?”

“Yeah, is there another one that I didn’t hear about?” Harper retorted.

Annie grinned, “That’s fucking awesome! You’ll be here with me and you can finally meet my new friends, it’ll be great!”

“What’ll really be great is when I can get out of this hellhole,” they muttered, huffing a bit.

Annie rolled her eyes, “Harper, you’re the kid of a CEO, people would kill to be in the position you’re in.”

“But what good is any of it if they’re not gonna pay for any of my school? They’re basically kicking me out after graduation, which might be for the better. I could just be talking too much,” they replied.

Annie took a sip of coffee, “Yeah, that might be it, you should get some sleep. You got my present in the mail, right?”

“Yep… I may or may not have opened it already,” Harper admitted.

Annie sighed, “Well, by the sound of that I’m guessing you liked it.”

“Obviously! New colored pencils like I’d been talking about… oh and I ate half of the almond butter you got me last night, whoops,” they said.

Annie shook her head, “Of course you did. Well, I’m glad you liked it.”

“Speaking of liking presents, I hope you liked what your friends got you. Especially that one Peter guy, he sounds really into you,” Harper started.

Annie felt her face go red, “I doubt it. He’s just a really nice guy. Besides, things are really complicated at the moment… the last thing I need is a relationship.”

“What’s so complicated about dating the guy you’ve been wanting to kiss?” Harper asked.

Annie stared at her coffee, only her breathing audible over the line, “Because there might be more than one guy I wanna kiss?”

“You know I hate it when you answer something like it’s a question. For fuck’s sake, please tell me you’re not into both of your guy friends? Or is it that one girl, Tina? You’ve been around her a lot, or Michelle?” Harper started to trail off.

Annie coughed, “No, none of them. Ned’s just my friend and Tina’s got her own shit. I don’t know if I know Michelle enough to be crushing on her.”

“Then who?”

“It’s stupid, really.”

“Not if it’s making you question everything you’ve been feeling for weeks.”

“I think I like Spider-Man. It’s just… he’s so damn infuriating, but I never wanna fight with him so we always get through our arguments and he’s just really sweet and funny and… I don’t know what to do, Harper.”

“Funny, you like them both for the same reasons… maybe you should wait it out,” Harper suggested, “But I gotta sleep otherwise I’m gonna blow up my parent’s place and then we’ll have a bigger problem than your boy troubles.”

“Alrighty, well I’ll talk to you later, then. Have fun sleeping,” Annie replied before the line went dead.

When Annie’s parents finally woke up, she made her way back into the kitchen. Though it was just her dad pouring himself a cup of coffee. Seeing him, Annie was just about to slip back into her room, but he already saw her so instead she sat at the dining room table. She was halfway through her cup of coffee and it was still warm.

“How’d you sleep?” he asked.

Annie shrugged, “Alright, I guess.”

“You must’ve been pretty tired, I walked in and you had your book on your face,” her dad replied, chuckling a bit at her.

Annie looked up at him, “So you moved me?”

“Well, yeah. I’m your dad, Annika, and sometimes I screw up, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t care about you,” he told her as he sat across from her.

She nodded, looking at her cup, “Right… are you being nice because you’re about to talk about getting a divorce?”

“No. God, no, Ann, we moved so we could fix things. We wouldn’t drag you out here to just give up now,” he said.

She sighed, “Okay, good. Otherwise I think I’d run out of here if you pulled that today.”

“I wouldn’t do that, we wouldn’t,” he assured her.

“We wouldn’t do what?” her mom asked as she padded into the dining room.

Her dad paused, drinking some coffee, “Get a divorce and tell her today.”

“Oh, sweetie, no. We’d stay married until you were an adult just so it wouldn’t feel like we moved for nothing,” added her mom.

Annie nodded again, not saying anything for a moment, “So… um… should we get to the fun gift giving thing? I kinda said I’d meet my friends to exchange gifts and stuff.”

“Yeah! Of course, of course! You’re gonna love what I got you,” her mom said, pulling a bagged present from next to the tree.

The gifts weren’t as much of pleas for forgiveness as Annie had expected. That was for the best, though, otherwise she may have felt a pang of guilt for using them so she could get out more often. She noticed that they did seem to get them with her interests in mind, though. Some soundtracks and books. Even a hoodie or two, her parents liked what she got for them. It was always hard with adults because the things they wanted were things that she would never get enough money to buy. Hell, some of the things they wanted had nothing to do with money. Not that she could blame them.

“Also, there’s one thing that we also got that we can’t really give you,” her dad began.

Annie’s russet eyes squinted, “What do you mean?”

“Well, tomorrow we’re leaving for a couple’s retreat to try and fix things. We thought the least we could do is make a real effort at trying,” her mom explained.

Annie nodded, smiling a bit, “When do you get back?”

“January second, we’ll be back early because classes start up the day after,” said her dad.

She smiled at the both of them, “Th-that’s great, actually, thanks you guys.”

“We thought you’d appreciate it because of how much these problems were meaning to you,” her dad replied.

The day passed by easier and for the first time in weeks, Annie felt comfortable as she moved around the apartment. Knowing that her parents didn’t just stop caring did leave her feeling lighter. Not to mention the ideas that were flooding her mind as she fully realized that they would be gone through new year’s. Though, those were plans to talk about when she saw her friends next.

Before she knew it, it was time to get to Peter’s apartment where she was supposed to meet up with Peter, Ned, and even Tina. Apparently they had talked to her before they asked Annie to come. It raised plenty of questions that Annie wasn’t even sure of how to ask. Still, she left her apartment with some ginger snaps that her dad had made as well as the gifts for each of them.

She made it to the other apartment without any issue and she knocked on the door. It had been so cold outside and Annie was left wishing that she had chosen to wear a better jacket rather than a sweatshirt. Not to mention how the presents had been kind of difficult to carry while walking a few blocks in New York traffic. Despite the holidays, the streets were as busy as ever. Though, maybe she shouldn’t have been so surprised.

Aunt May opened the door, smiling, “There you are! The others have been waiting. Merry Christmas by the way! How’s your day been?”

“Merry Christmas! I’ve actually been pretty great. My dad baked a ton of ginger snaps and I thought you might like some,” Annie greeted, nodding at the top box which was a tin.

May took the tin off the top of the pile, “Thank you, this is lovely!”

“No problem!” she replied, waltzing right into Peter’s room.

“Hey, look who decided to show up,” Tina commented, getting up to help Annie with the boxes.

Annie rolled her eyes, “Whatever, you guys told me to show up now, so there’s obviously something you’re all hiding.”

“You don’t know that!” Ned protested.

Annie smirked as she sat down on Peter’s bed, “Right, well I got all of you presents, so I expect only the best from each of you.”

“Annie! I told you not to get me anything,” Tina responded, crossing her arms.

Annie shrugged, “Well then I guess my hand slipped and wrapped something up for you.”

“You’re gonna love what I got you, go on, open it,” Ned insisted, handing her a box.

Annie opened it only to get a litter box and cat litter, “Um… okay, it’s great…”

“I told you it was a weak idea, I got you this,” Tina said, handing Annie a bag.

Annie got a food bowl with some cat food and she raised an eyebrow, “Did you guys… no. There’s no way.”

“Okay, you’ll love this,” Peter insisted, starting to burst out laughing as he handed his haphazardly wrapped gift.

Annie ripped the paper only to get cat toys, “Okay, there’s no way you guys got me a cat. No, I couldn’t, really, you guys.”

“Who said anything about a cat? We didn’t get you a cat,” Ned replied, only to be stopped by a meow that came from Peter’s closed closet.

Annie looked at the three of them and stood up, walking over to the closet and opened it. There was a cat carrier and in the carrier was a cat with patches all over its face and a crooked tail from where it had probably been broken in the past. She picked up the carrier and opened it, coaxing out the cat. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was opened and grinning. No words were able to leave her mouth.

Tina smirked a bit, “I’m guessing we did good.”

“What’s his name?” Annie asked.

“Well, the shelter named him Patches,” Ned said.

Annie scoffed, “That’s a dumb name… I think I’m gonna name him… Erik, yeah, definitely Erik.”

“Like The Phantom of the Opera? Come on,” Ned commented, laughing a bit.

Annie sighed, scratching the cat behind the ear, “I really can’t thank you guys enough, now I feel like I totally fucked up with what I got you guys.”

“Nah, there’s no way, let’s see them,” Ned insisted.

Annie handed each of them their presents, trying to gauge their reactions. Of course, none of them were exactly a pet that had been carefully hidden from her for the time that she had been there. At least they each kinda meant something though. Well, she hoped that they would.

Peter smiled, tugging the Santa hat on his head down a bit as he looked at the planner and pen, “It’s great, thanks,” he said as he opened it, reading the inside of the planner.

Because she hadn’t wanted to confuse Peter with the gift she wrote something. Though, it was possibly influenced by other feelings that were running through her head at the time. The note read: Peter, I know that half the time you’re a disorganized mess (in the best way, duh) and figured this might help in case you get super stressed. Even if it doesn’t, you can always call me or something. I don’t really know where I was going with this, but Merry Christmas!

Ned laughed a bit, beaming at the lego store gift card, “This is perfect! I could get a Millenium Falcon set with this, thanks so much!”

Tina carefully unwrapped her present, “I really didn’t need anything…” she looked at the journals and pens, “How’d you know?”

“I saw you in that stationery store… my hand slipped and bought a few things,” Annie claimed, shrugging.

The group spent so much time talking in that circle, somehow all huddled up on Peter’s bed. They squished between each other, and that was when Annie asked them to come to her place for new year’s. She’d even told them to spend the night if they wanted. It had been Ned’s idea to call and ask Michelle to join them. By the time they all left for their homes, Annie had plans for while her parents were gone.

When she got home carrying her cat and all the things to take care of him as well, her dad didn’t even try to protest it. All he said was that she had to take care of him and that he wouldn’t do it for her. Erik was a really sweet cat, wanting nothing more than to lay on her bed and be petted. At least, that was how he was acting right then. A part of her figured he’d start running all over the apartment like crazy in a day or two.

As she opened one of the plastic packages of toys, Annie noticed a small box. When she opened it, there was a necklace of a masquerade mask necklace. Her jaw dropped, hardly able to believe that Peter had gotten her anything aside the stuff for the cat. She really didn’t need or want anything else. Though there was also a folded up note that read: Annie, I know you said you just wanted a cat, but I thought you should have something else to. So I thought I’d let you know that you’re more of a Christine because you’re too good to be anything else.

That not was the only thing that she could think about until new year’s eve. It wandered into her mind when she worked with Spider-Man a couple of times that week. He was constantly wearing that Santa hat and Annie wore that shirt with a heater in it under her sweatshirt all the time. Though, just when she started bantering a little bit too long with Spider-Man, she couldn’t help but think about how much Peter had cared. It made her wonder if Spider-Man would do the same for her if he had the chance.

One right after the other, Peter, Ned, Michelle, and Tina came on in. It wasn’t like Annie had a huge party planned out, she just didn’t want to be alone for the holiday. Not when she could have the chance to stay up late with her friends. Even though Christmas had passed, Peter was still wearing a Santa hat like he had on Christmas.

“Pete, isn’t it a bit late for Santa hats?” Annie asked, toying around with the pendant on her necklace.

Peter’s face reddened, “N-no, I wouldn’t say so.”

“I think she’s got a point, unless you’re wearing it for a specific reason,” Michelle said, looking up from her book as she laid on the couch.

Annie chuckled a bit as Peter seemed at a loss for words as she poured some hot chocolate for all of them, “Don’t worry, it’s cute.”

“Enough flirting, you two, otherwise you’re both gonna need to find a room,” Ned commented, flipping through the channels on Annie’s television.

Peter frowned, “I-I wasn’t… we weren’t doing… a-anything.”

“So you weren’t flirting?” Annie asked, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

He shook his head, “N-nope.”

“Oh, okay,” Annie said, handing him a cup of hot chocolate.

The night went on as a group sleepover should. The group watched some dumb comedies while eating food and drinking warm drinks. It felt like things were just fine, and even Tina appeared to be relaxed around all of them. Both her and Michelle seemed to enjoy being left on their own to read or write while Ned, Peter, and Annie were left to do most of the talking.

As midnight drew closer, Annie looked at the others, “Hey, what do you guys think of some champagne to ring in the new year?”

“I can’t have any… I’ve been going straight, but I can watch you guys to make sure no one does anything dumb,” Tina offered.

“Alright, what about the rest of you guys?” Annie asked as she got up from her comfy chair.

Ned and Peter shrugged, “I guess it’s cool with us,” Ned replied.

“You could hit me up with two if you wanted,” Michelle responded.

Annie laughed a bit, “Okay, I’ll be right back.”

In a few minutes, Annie was back with a glass that was generously full for everyone. She’d filled the glass for Tina with some sparkling cider because everyone deserved a nice new year’s drink. It was five minutes until 2018 and Annie had a decent feeling about the new year. They all talked about what they really wanted to do for that year and all the things that they hoped would happen.

“I just wanna get an apartment and start over, you know? Just have everything be fresh and to move on finally,” Tina said, cheating and sipping some of her drink before midnight.

Michelle nodded, “Fair enough, I want some more books and more time to read them, honestly.”

“If I managed to pass this next semester I’d be happy, but really I just want to prove I can do stuff, like, theatre or something else, just I don’t want to be doubted,” Annie admitted.

Ned sighed a bit, “I wanna hack some stuff, nothing huge, but just enough to where it’s super cool.”

“Yeah… I-I think I want my internship to go further, I’m doing a lot already, but I wanna do more,” Peter said, looking at the clock.

Ned grinned, starting to count down, “Five. Four. Three. Two. One…”

“Holy shit it’s the new year!” Annie exclaimed, drinking her champagne.

They all started drinking, Peter seeming to be almost unaffected by it. Michelle went back to her book, drinking and not paying too much attention to the others. Ned and Annie, however, were tipsy halfway through their glasses. Everything seemed to be so funny and Annie wasn’t sure why. And Peter looked so damn cute and she wanted to pull him close and kiss him. She wish she’d done that already, why hadn’t she?

By the time she finished her glass, she wasn’t exactly herself when she talked to her friends, “Y’know, ‘m real glad y’guys came… I woulda been so depressed if I’re by m’self.”

“Yeah, me too, ‘m happy I came,” Ned replied and the pair started laughing, “Y’know, ya should talk to Peter, he wants to tell ya somethin’.”

Annie giggled, pulling Peter closer a bit by his sleeve, “C’mon, tell me in my room.”

She dragged him right to her room and she sat on her bed, patting the space next to her. When he sat down she had her arms around him and buried her head into the crook of his neck. Annie hummed happily, starting to play with Peter’s hair.

“What did ya wanna tell me?” Annie asked, looking up at him.

Peter shook his head, “You’re drunk, it’s a terrible time to tell you.”

“Oh c’mon!” Annie whined, pouting.

Peter sighed, “Nope. But did you wanna tell me something?”

“Well, yeah, you’re real cute, just all the time. An’ I can’t understand why you won’t like me back, but everyone says you do,” Annie replied.

Peter smiled a bit, his cheeks flushing, “Really?”

“Yeah,” she said, looking at him and yawning, “I should sleep though, I feel like you’re trickin’ me into sayin’ too much.”

Peter nodded, pulling back the covers and helping her lie down, “Can ya stay with me?” Annie asked.

Peter thought about it a moment and nodded, “Sure, yeah.”

Annie pulled him close, wanting to feel him so close to her and Peter didn’t mind. Though he also wondered how much of it was real and how much of it was just her being drunk. At the same time, he didn’t want her thinking he was a creep, so when she fell asleep he left the bed and slept on the floor.

Tag list: @flushings-here / @upsidedownparker / @gaypanda / @ijustdontknowsometimes / @lionsfandomsandbearsohmy / @thwipparker / @buzzinglee (just ask to be added to the tag list)

#peter parker #peter parker imagine #peter parker x reader #peter parker x you #peter parker fanfic #peter parker x oc #mcu #marvel #trans peter parker #trans spider-man #spider-man #spider-man x reader #spider-man x oc #fanfic #original characters #writing #all i ask of you fic

9 notes · View notes