#(and then waking up in extreme pain and being horrified at what she’s done. as a treat) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

anarchist-sloth · 2 years

Text

If it’s not fine it’s not the end

Chapter: 3/7; (previous chapter) (first chapter) (next chapter)

Pairing: Jakexfem!MC;

Warnings: Spoilers from episode 10, dad hating (?);

Words: 6.7 k;

Author’s note: This is a story that will follow what happens immediately after episode 10′s ending. I’m not a native English speaker, so any mistakes are due to that. Thank you for liking my previous chapters and I hope you you are gonna like this one too. Enjoy! :)

It was as if you had forgotten how to breathe, but it wasn't just your lungs that were struggling: your vision was blurred, just like when you were diving underwater, and your mind, always so full of thoughts, especially this past month, was completely devoid of words. It was peaceful, far too peaceful, but you didn't care, because in that moment you had just disappeared from the rest of the world. You wished you could always feel this way.

A muffled voice was calling your name, insistently so, and you found yourself strangely annoyed by it.

You wanted to prolong this delirium. You were having a hard time finding the right words to describe this sensation.

It was as though, finally, everything you had worked so hard for had amounted to something. All the pain, all the tears you had cried weren't just scars destined to fade with time. All this sorrow wasn't just a lesson for the future you that only years of therapy could fix. Maybe, just maybe, you could start to feel hopeful.

You had never once in your life felt this much... Relief.

You were so incredibly relieved.

Because Jake was alive.

This didn't mean he was entirely safe, that much you knew. Hannah had just told you that she saw him being chased by the FBI. It was still a very dark and horrifying reality, one that if you had the power to change you would have done so in a instant. Being arrested by the government may have been a far worse fate than a little fire in a underground cave, but you heart was flourishing nonetheless.

Because Jake was alive!

Maybe it was selfish, desiring he would rather be alive in a prison cell (if the FBI really just wanted to imprison him, you unfortunately didn't know a lot about Jake's supposed "crime") than dead in a filthy mine. Jake was clearly a man of principle, meaning that there was the possibility he would have chosen the latter if the occasion presented itself.

But that was before he knew you. He had promised you he wouldn't have let himself get caught. Because he wanted to stay with you. He wanted to a have a life with you. He had promised you that. And for the first time these last 3 days, you believed he would come back.

He only needed to run away from the agents. You weren't naive, you knew that evading from the federal police was no easy task, but he had already done so, no? That's how you were trying to convince yourself. Like Lilly had said, if there was someone who could have managed to get away from that situation alive, that was Jake. You recalled what he had confessed to you while he was searching for Hannah in the mines, how he had been on the run for 4 years: he must've planned some trick up in his sleeve in case of dire scenarios like this one.

Your only option to keep yourself sane was to believe in this conjecture.

Like many times that day and the day before, you rapidly unlocked your phone to see if he had texted you in a sudden, ecstatic rapture.

His love confession greeted you once more, no new messages in sight. It was delusional, thinking that Jake could answer in any moment now that you knew he didn't die in the mine, and yet you weren't able to do anything but wait for Jake to turn online.

"MC!" "Uh-?!" Hannah's voice finally reached you, waking you up from your trance. She looked extremely worried, her brows narrowed.

"MC, you weren't answering me! Are you okay?" She asked, laying a hand on your shoulder.

You watched for the last time your chat with Jake and once you accepted that he wasn't going to be online any time soon, you left the messaging app.

"Sorry Hannah, I don't know what overcame me...but, but I-I'm okay! So please don't worry" you clumsily stuttered, shoving your phone in your pocket.

You sighed. "It's just...Jake's-"

You stopped talking once you heard the sound of footsteps coming closer. For some reason, perhaps in a weird sixth sense, you knew that whoever was about to enter was none of your friends. That proved to be true. With no regards for privacy, a man and a woman burst open the door's room making you and Hannah gasp.

"Mom, Dad! You could have k-knocked!" Hannah hurriedly said, taken by surprise.

Upon seeing Mr. and Mss. Donfort, you promptly took notice of which daughter looked the most similar to. Lilly was the spitting image of her mother: she had inherited the brown, inquisitive eyes and her soft facial features. She had aged gracefully, not showing many wrinkles nor white hair- but you imagined she was dying it to appear younger. Hannah, by contrast, resembled her father. They both had big ice blue eyes, the kind of eyes that everyone who'd have killed for- you included, which were even more noticeable thanks to their dark hair. He was just as handsome as their daughters.

They appeared drastically tired, which was probably due to what their poor daughter had just been going trough; however, they regained their vigor once they acknowledged you.

Both Mr. and Mss. Donfort rushed to your side and engulfed you in a tight and a bit uncomfortable embrace.

"You're MC, right? You're the girl that saved our dear Hannah?" The mother murmured, her tone wavering. She was tugging hard the back of your shirt in search for some kind of stability.

"Y-yes Mam'. It's me" you confirmed, only now returning the gesture.

"We own you one, Miss. You brought our daughter back to us." Mr. Donfort spoke softly, shaking your hand. He offered you a pearly, radiant smile but you found yourself unable to reciprocate.

A sudden wave of disgust took you over once you remembered one tiny, microscopically detail: this man wasn't simply Hannah's and Lilly's father, but Jake's too.

It was probably unfair to judge Nathan Donfort without even knowing what he had precisely done. After all, for all you knew about him, he could've had Jake before he even met Miss. Donfort. And perhaps Jake's mother had never revealed to him she was pregnant with his child, meaning he also didn't know about him. Those were plausible scenarios.

Somehow knowing this very notion didn't prevent you from resenting him.

Jake had told you Hannah's and Lilly were the only family members he had left. You couldn't help but think, if his father was really clueless and innocent about this whole ordeal, wouldn'thave Jake mentioned him in that audio recording? If Jake had never said the truth to Hannah in fear of breaking her family apart, didn't this mean his existence was problematic for the family dynamic? Didn't this prove that Nathan Donfort was burying his head in the sand, neglecting his own son, his own flesh and blood?

You feel hatred for this man.

You recalled Jake's words. How he had lost everything he had in one single night: his home, his identity, possibly a loved one. How he had been on the run for 4 years now, hunted by the government, risking his life everyday fighting for what he believed was right. You were also reminded of the minor things: the way he kept shifting the blame to himself, his trust issues, his sense of hopelessness, his so called "weakness".

You were furious. Furious that someone as amazing as Jake had it so rough trough out his life. Especially because to you he was nothing but thoughtful, respectful and kind. He was so scared of losing you that he preferred putting his life in danger, as he declared you were the only thing that mattered. You bit your lip.

For how much time did he live alone, knowing that nobody would have cared if he died? How many people could he have relied on? Was there even someone, apart from you and his half-sisters recently, that cherished him in this world?

You wanted to shield him from the pain and to be the one protecting him, not the other way around: what would you have given to be the one to make him happy, just like he made you so incredibly happy.

You asked yourself if the man in front of you could have provided him a better life.

For starters, you imagined, he would have grew up in a big house with a fridge full of fruit and vegetables, and two stepsisters who would have surely loved him. He would have had someone to talk to, so that even if he had struggles with interacting with new people, at least he wouldn't have been lonely.

In this scenario he would have had a regular life, pursuing a stable career without worrying about being caught if he wasn't being too careful. He would have had a normal sleep schedule and a comfy bed. Of course, if this had happened, you two would have never met each other, but you loved Jake so much that you would have rather being strangers if it meant he lived a nice life with his family.

Lucky for you that wasn't the case, but at the moment you could only feel a weird mix of rage and frustration building up on you.

Your eyes started to prickle and you gritted your teeth, as you tried with all your might to not respond to Nathan Donfort with a petty comeback like: "Yeah, I brought your daughter back but your son is still missing, asshole"

Jake wouldn't have wanted that, and you respected his decision.

You locked eyes with him and faked a plastered smile. "There is no need to. I'm also glad Hannah's safe and sound."

All of you glanced over the door as you saw your friends dashing into the room. They looked preoccupied, perhaps scared that Hannah's and Lilly's parents might have heard something they shouldn't have had. You reassured them with a thumps up that everything was okay without the couple noticing it.

Mrs. Donfort got up from the bed in a hurry, drying her wet cheeks with the palm of her hand.

"I'm glad you are here for my baby girl. It's truly touching how much Hannah's friends love her." She exhaled, not hiding how your presence was making her feel. Her eyes were still glossy but the smile was genuine.

"My husband and I will never be thankful enough for all you have done for us"

"Don't mention it, madam" Dan chirped, always the knight in the shining armor.

"Dan's right, Grace. We also wanted to have Hannah back with us" Cleo replied, gently patting Mrs. Donfort's back. The mother latched onto her, glad to have her daughter's best friend support. You could tell by just looking at them how close-knit they were; you guessed Cleo had been there for Hannah's parents during this hard time.

"I have a wonderful idea! I think you should stay for dinner, it will be our formal thank you to you all! Don't you think so too, Grace?" His cheerful demeanor only made your blood boil in anger, but your stomach didn't seem to agree with your heart as it started to growl just by thinking about food. You had skipped breakfast entirely and at lunch all of you had ended up not ordering anything, too distracted about the conversation's topic. You scolded yourself for your lack of self-care. God knew how much you needed that. Fortunately, Nathan Donfort's voice was so blaring that no one noticed your poor stomach's laments.

"If there's one thing my wife is good at, that's cooking! Probably the only thing, haha!" He whispered, nudging you. Ugh. You were never going to like this man, forget Jake.

"You are very kind Mr. Donfort, but we wouldn't want to impose-" Jessy intervened, but Grace Donfort was already leaving the room rolling up her sleeves.

"I agree with my husband for once, it's a miracle! I think it would be lovely if you remained here- plus I always cook far too much!"

"Come on guys, it's useless to debate with them" Lilly commented, already surrounding herself to her parents' demand. You had no option but to accept Hannah's parents' proposal, but at least your tummy was glad to indulge.

Once everyone had left the room, you delicately tighten your fist around Hannah's wrist. You exchanged a knowing look.

"We'll come right away, just give us two more seconds to catch up!" Hannah yelled to her parents, buying you more time. She rushed to her door and this time, she locked it. You both stayed close making sure you didn't hear anyone outside. Once you were sure you were alone, for real, you returned to the bed.

"So, how's Jake?"

You swallowed.

"I just got from you that he's not in the mine anymore"

"Oh" she was understandably overwhelmed. Fidgeting with her fingers, Hannah looked straight at you.

"And...do you know more?"

"...No. I don't" you murmured, averting her piercing gaze. "But I believe he will text me once he's away from the FBI."

"You don't think they took him, do you?" Hannah said in a hushed tone.

"He promised he wouldn't." You reassured her, but really, you were reassuring yourself.

Hannah seemed more convinced, at least.

"Okay. If you say so, then... I want to believe it too" she unlocked the door and you left the room.

The house's kitchen was majestic, the kind of interior design that you could only admire on magazines and advertisements; it was spotless and every utensil was perfectly positioned. But now the lovely kitchen resulted a bit cluttered as it hosted five members. Grace Donfort had assigned a role for each one of you, once she realized she couldn't work solo if she really wanted to feed 9 people. You had to resist the urge to not comment how his husband wasn't contributing at all, but you knew better and decided to be quiet. Actually, all the men were happily chilling in front of the TV: you weren't mad at Dan and Thomas, as the former was a bit incapacitated and the latter was taking care of a distressed Hannah. You weren't going to excuse Nathan Donfort's laziness.

Cleo was helping Grace to cook: they were a pretty efficient duo, which was a given, considering their abilities. Cleo at the moment was cutting the bread in identical cubes for the Caesar salad, while Mrs. Donfort was accurately scaling the sea bream. They worked in a religious silence and no one dared to disturb them. You, Jessy and Lilly were taking care of setting the big table in the garden's house. It was ridiculous to you how even the fricking backyard was a pleasure to the eyes: the grass nicely trimmed, the flowers blooming in cute, handmaiden pots, wires of lights hanging from the trees.

"Lilly, your parents' house looks like a Pinterest dream board. It keeps reminding how broke I am." you lightheartedly joked. Both girls laughed at your remark.

While the blonde was cleaning the dirty surface, you and Jessy gathered enough chairs for everyone. As you placed the last one, Lilly instructed you to where her family kept the unused tablecloths.

You followed her directions, leading you to the laundry room. As you tried to pick a tablecloth that suited the garden's aesthetic (you didn't want to disappoint Grace Donfort's taste, jokes aside) a big thump behind you startled you, but you covered your mouth quick enough.

"Sorry!"

You turned around just to see Thomas stumbling into the laundry chest.

"Phew, it's just you Thomas" you chuckled, folding the chosen cloth. The past events made you jumpier than usual.

"What are you doing here?" "Actually I..."

You stopped your course once you noticed how nervous he looked. It seemed like he wanted to say something important, but he was struggling to articulate his sentence. You gave him the time to find the right words.

"I wanted to apologize."

That made you step back. You didn't expect he would have done it now.

"Oh" "It's just...I realized I've been a real dick to you. I dragged you into our lives and then I only messed things up." "Thomas-" "I wanted you to know that I'm sorry. For, well, everything. And I hope you can forgive me."

You closed your eyes. You didn't really know how to answer back. In one hand, you were glad he had finally took the guts to apologize. You had looked forward to it. And now he had done it. By just looking at him you could see he was genuinely in pain. You knew that Thomas never hurt you on purpose. He was just terribly careless, and terribly in love with her girlfriend. You understood that.

Yet your mind went back to all the times he had put a spanner in the works. You recalled how he had left you hanging after the police had found a body in the woods, how he kept trespassing without telling you the reasons why, how he had voted against you. You were reminded of how disappointed you were of him for using Hannah's phone, after the many times you and Jake had explained it would have delayed the investigation. The last drop was his total disregard of your life. He had basically begged you to die. Well, to be technical about it, he wanted you to swap places with her girlfriend and best friend. But it was idiotic to not think that the Man without a face wanted your head, especially during that point in time. Could he really have been unaware of that?

"I...I can't deny it, Thomas. I was hurt. I am hurt" you gripped the fabric of the tablecloth.

"From the start I've been trying to overlook your behavior because I knew you were going trough a lot. I wanted to be sympathetic, because that's what you needed. But you kept hindering the investigation...and I didn't know what to make of it. When you asked me to go to Ironsplinter,"

He flinched at the memory.

"I felt pressured by you to go. I know you probably didn't mean to, but I felt like I was being guiltrippen. That if I didn't go to the mine I would be considered selfish."

Thomas wasn't looking at you anymore. "...I'm really sorry MC. That was never my intention. I-"

He had a lump blocked in his Adam's apple that he was attempting to swallow, failing miserably.

"I was so scared of losing Hannah that I wasn't able to see I was hurting my friends. That I was hurting you. Love made me... irrational, but that doesn't excuse my actions."

Your grip on the fabric loosened as Thomas' words slithered into your thick skull. Who could understand his struggle better than anyone if not you? Weren't you going to sacrifice yourself for your friends, for him, just because you cared about them? Weren't you willing to give up on your life too see them smile? Of course, in a normal situation, you would have never accepted such offer. Because it was crazy, wasn't it? Risking your life for people you had just met. And yet, it had happened. You had completely disregarded your safety. Only love could have done that, couldn't it?

"I don't blame you if you can't forgive me. I've been awful. I'll accept whatever you decide."

You chuckled. Dan was right, you thought, as you watched him. He really did resemble a puppy when he was scolded, dewy-eyed and slouched. You got closer to him and awkwardly bumped your fist to his chest.

"I know. Maybe it'll take a while for the anger to subside but I see myself forgiving you." You warmly smiled.

"I should return to the girls or they might hunt me for real" He giggled a bit. In the end, you were grateful to hear his laugh: you only wanted to hear your friends' sounding laugh from this point forward. No more tragedies. No more secrets.

"Thank you, MC."

As you had expected, the seam bream and the Caesar Salad tasted heavenly. You already knew Cleo was exceptional at cooking (you hadn't asked, but judging from her Instagram account she was some sort of...cooking influencer?), but you were left positively surprised by Mss. Donfort's abilities. The fish was juicy and you hadn't found any fishbone inside. You guessed Nathan Donfort was right, after all.

During dinner you had kept quiet, except for those moments someone was asking you a question (and even then, it was mostly from Hannah's and Lilly's parents). You weren't participating that much, as you were ruminating on what Thomas had done. His apology had reminded you what you all desperately needed: tying all the loose ends. If there was something this journey had taught you was that ultimately, keeping secrets and not communicating well with the people we care about can only come back to haunt us. Sure, some secrets can't be avoided and some white lies may even be necessary, but you should still trust your loved ones with your burdens. While you were chewing the last remaining chunks of sea bream left, you eyed Lilly and thought about your next move: telling Hannah the truth about Jake.

You didn't know if Lilly had told Hannah who Jake really was, but you could bet on it that she didn't. Not that you blamed her, she was going trough a lot and you had noticed trough out these weeks how challenging it was for her to be honest with her feelings. Your mind flew back to when you and Lilly had organized the #IamJake movement: she was having an hard time explaining what was going on to the group so you had volunteered in her place; you were planning to do the same thing today. You wanted to reveal the truth together.

Once dinner was over, you were appointed to wash the dishes, and luckily for you, Lilly was charged with drying them. You made sure everybody was far enough to not hear you talk and then took your shot.

"Lilly? I've got something to ask you" you whispered, agitated.

Lilly took notice of your hushed tone and started to look around. She probably knew you were about to say something important.

"What's up?"

"You haven't told Hannah about Jake, did you?"

She looked stunned, almost dropping the plate to the ground.

"You...you mean about our...uhm, connection?" She wavered, drying it faster.

"Precisely that" you affirmed, squeezing the sponge.

"Then no." Lilly wasn't looking at you anymore. You lied your wet hand upon her dry one, and you lingered for a bit. It was important for you that she understood she didn't need to do it alone, and that, most of all, she was able to overcome this. You thought carefully about what to say.

"I know it's hard...and I get that you probably don't want to upset Hannah further."

She stopped working.

"I just wanted to pretend that our family is okay. Since Hannah disappeared nothing makes sense anymore." She rambled

"I can't even imagine how hard it must be. You can't have a break." you commented, still trying to lock your gaze with hers.

Lilly nodded.

"Yes. I-" her voice broke a little, but she immediately regained her composure.

"I don't want to keep picking at an open wound." She returned to her mansion, hoping her little speech was convincing enough. Unluckily for her, you were strong willed.

"I see" You turned off the tap.

"I see why you would prefer that, Lilly. You just want to rest for a while. And well, It's a hard weight to carry"

You were facing her back now. Lilly was still fixated on the dishes, but she was moving a little slower.

"But you don't have to carry it alone. I don't think you would be able to fully recover from this if we don't come to a head."

"Then can you promise me that?"

"Uh?"

Lilly faced you, her gaze intense but still moist. She was gripping hard the marble counter and looked as determined as ever.

"Can you promise you'll be there with me?"

"Of course I w-"

"I don't mean just for the conversation. I mean- you won't leave us now that it's over?"

You were left speechless. You hadn't even considered at this point the possibility of leaving them. You had gone trough so much because of them but the thought of abandoning your friends was out of this world for you: they were the only who knew your pain, and the only ones who could soothe it. And apparently, judging from Lilly's reaction, the same applied to them.

"Lilly I- of course I'm not leaving. Hell, even if I wanted, I don't think I would be able to. I promise. I...care about all of you. Really."

You took her hands into yours. She had softened upon hearing your promise, and you hoped she felt safer now with you.

"So...when should we do it?" "Well, since I'm here..." "You mean today?!" Lilly softly yelled, holding your hands tighter. "It'll be like ripping off a band aid. The sooner, the better."

She stayed quiet for a moment, staring at the window on the garden's side. Turning around you saw Hannah sitting on a chair, her head tucked under Thomas' head. She was visibly laughing after hearing Dan's punchline. It warmed your heart seeing her like that. Lilly touched your arms, bringing you back to her.

"Okay. Let's do it"

One by one, once the sun left the sky, everyone took off. You were starting to think it would last forever, as Nathan Donfort proved to be a true entertainer and kept narrating Hannah's and Lilly's childhood stories; the girls were both dark red as their father shared their most embarrassing memories. He was probably trying to lift the spirits up, but you weren't laughing much, and you noticed Lilly wasn't either: hard to guess if it were for the cringy flashbacks or the same reason you were hating it. After Thomas kissed Hannah goodbye, you were finally alone with the sisters.

"Miss MC, did you have fun today?" The dad asked you after closing the door.

"Yes, I did Mr. Donfort. I enjoyed my stay here." You gave him your best smile.

"I'm glad, then! At first I thought me and my wife were bothering you, haha!" You stirred. Your wife isn't the problem, you dick.

"Nonsense, sir! You were both lovely" You quickly glanced at the clock on your cellphone. It was past 10 pm.

"I know it's late, but i was hoping I could catch up with Hannah a little bit? It won't take long, I promise"

Hannah looked at you inquisitively, but didn't say anything. Lilly soon stood by her side and whispered something in her ear without her parents noticing.

Meanwhile, Miss Donfort cheerfully nodded. "Of course, MC! You don't even have to ask." Mr. Donfort wrapped his arm around his wife's hips. "Just like my wife said, you'll be always welcomed here."

And with that, you returned once again into the sisters' room. After making sure no one could eavesdrop on you and that the door was securely locked, Hannah spoke up.

"Did something bad happen?"

Lilly was quick to answer.

"No Hannah, it's not that. Well, I mean-" "She means nothing bad happen, don't worry." You interrupted her when you realized how stiff Hannah was being. You didn't want to cause any panic or anxiety attacks.

"...But you might sit down. Again, we don't have any bad news but it's still kind of heavy." "Yeah" Lilly added, thankful for your interference.

What you had said wasn't totally honest: in any normal situation discovering that the guy you had a crush long ago was in fact your step-brother would have put anyone in a spiral. But considering the recent events, you didn't want her to believe someone was in danger or not who she thought they were. You proceeded cautiously.

"We wanted to talk about Jake."

"Oh" she seemed calmer upon finding out the conversation's topic, to even cracking a small smile.

"You know, when I asked him for help I didn't even considerate that he would have collaborated with you guys. He's always been pretty reclusive, I imagined he worked solo. I'm surprised."

"Well, at first he mostly talked with MC" Lilly explained, mischievously smiling.

"Really?" Hannah asked, curious to know more. You started blushing as you noticed what Lilly was referring to.

"We were a pretty good team." You stated, scratching your head. "We are a pretty good team." you rapidly corrected yourself.

Hannah was happy to hear that.

"Well, he must've noticed you were trustworthy right away. He's an amazing judge of character."

"Yeah, he is amazing..." you bashfully commented. In the back of the room Lilly rolled her eyes.

"...But that's not why I'm here!" You erupted, remembering why you were there. "Hannah, do you even know why Jake contacted you years ago?"

She appeared flustered, but answered anyway. "I don't know, actually. Too many years passed...god, did he really tell you about those times?" She hid her face behind her long hair. You just knew she was recalling her crush towards Jake. This was going to get awkward.

"More or less." "Hannah, we do know why he wrote you years ago" Lilly responded, and you noticed she was starting to tremble. You thought she should reveal the truth, but if things got too hard for her you were going to help her.

"You do?..." "Yes, we do. You see, during the investigation I-I may have put Jake in a...an uncomfortable situation. He had to leave us."

Tsk. That was an euphemism. But you allowed it, as she was doing her best.

"Basically, for a while we thought he wouldn't be able to return investigating. And since we still didn't know how he was linked to you, he sent us a video...in which he explained some things."

Hannah wasn't smiling anymore, now caught up in what her sister was trying to say.

"What kind of things?" She asked cautiously. "He...he told us who he really is." She knitted her eyebrows. "Who he really is?..." "Yeah" Lilly was clearly stalling, but you were letting her proceed at her own pace. Rushing wasn't going to solve anything.

"Lilly, I don't understand" Hannah was sweating cold. "There isn't a nice way to say this." She sat near Hannah or her bed and grabbed her hand.

"Jake is our step-brother."

Just like when, hours back, Hannah had told you about Jake's escape you had freeze in your place, Hannah now looked lifeless. She stared at the both of you like a fawn about to be hit by a car.

"How?..." she could only say. "We don't know the logistics," you clarified, stepping in. "But not only he did say that, but he showed Lilly photographic evidence"

"T-that's true," Lilly took out from her jeans' pocket her cell phone. She went directly into her gallery and showed her a picture of her father hugging an unknown woman.

"This is Jake's mom and-" "And that's dad." Hannah finished for her sister.

You wanted to see how Jake's mother looked like, but Lilly was holding the phone directly towards Hannah's face. You could only see the content of the picture thanks to your peripheral vision, but aside from that, his mom was just a blurry figure from your point of view.

"In this picture you weren't born yet," Hannah thought out loud. "Here dad looks younger, I see no white hair. I don't know if mom was with him at the time..."

You kept your theories for yourself: you didn't want to worsen the mood. And it wasn't the most important part of the conversation, anyway...

"You accepted the truth immediately" Lilly noted, surprised. Hannah sadly cackled. "It's just...Some things make sense now. At least I know I wasn't the problem"

You also sat on the bed next to her.

"You were never the problem, Hannah. If there's one thing I got to understand by working along side him, is that he loved you. A lot." You wanted her to know that. Maybe it wasn't the kind of love she hoped for, but there was love nonetheless.

She simply nodded.

"I was prepared for anything but this." Hannah added, playing with wisps of her hair. She was pondering something, but you weren't exactly sure what.

"Lilly, should we tell mom and dad?" "I think we should, yes." "What are you talking about?!" You loudly objected, slightly irritated.

They looked at you dumbfounded, not believing you could react like that. You were annoyed: how could they not see what they were doing? How could they disregard Jake's opinion on the matter? Which youknew, for a fact, that he would have disagreed upon?

"MC, what's the problem? I think mother should know-" Hannah questioned you, but you weren't listening to her reasoning.

"Jake has explicitly said that he didn't want to break your family apart! Do you think your mom wouldn't be mad at your dad for cheating on her? Also, shouldn't Jake's opinion count?"

"MC, we should decide for our family." Hannah pressed.

"And Jake isn't part of it? Maybe he doesn't want his father and stepmother to know about his whereabouts! For all we know, he might even hate your dad! You can't just assume he'll roll with it!"

You were a river in flood.

"Also, would you tell the whole truth? Because you either reveal he's a wanted hacker, or you keep building your throne of lies until it crashes down! How-"

"MC." Lilly physically blocked you. "Calm down. No one did anything. It was just an hypothesis."

Your heart was beating like crazy, so much so that you feared you were going to vomit it out. You inhaled and exhaled several times and while your mind cleared itself, you mentally scolded your behavior. You had clearly overdid it. You believed what you had said, but that wasn't the way to go. Hannah and Lilly probably felt unsafe from you now. Damn it. You were supposed to be the stable one. Now you truly got what Thomas meant whenhe said love made him irrational. Well, maybe it didn't make you irrational, but surely more on edge.

"I'm sorry girls I- I overstepped. This is your family, thus your decision. I shouldn't let my feelings interfere."

To your surprise, Lilly hugged you. It was a warm, gentle hug, like a sun ray. You hugged her too, glad she saw trough your outburst.

"I know you care about him. And I know his absence is debilitating...But you don't have to keep protecting him like this."

You feared you were about to cry and you absolutely didn't want to explain to Nathan Donfort why your eyes were red.

"I feel like that's the bare minimum after what he did for me. I don't want him to get trough more stuff." You tightened the embrace.

"Same goes for me. We won't act right away, right Hannah?" You peeked over Hannah, who didn't seem to get what was going on. She kept her doubts to herself.

"Right"

"When Jake will come back, we'll ask him what he wants and only then we'll take a decision. Sounds good?"

You let Lilly go.

"Sounds good"

And with that, you left Donfort house. You called a cab (no way you were walking all those miles in thedark...) and drove back to your Motel room. Thankfully, Miss Walter was probably already sleeping in her bedroom so you victoriously avoided her questioning. Last thing you wanted was getting heated about Jake, again. You dropped your exhausted body on the mattress and checked once again your phone. No new text messages from Jake, like usual, however you had been added to a new group chat.

Hannah: I've been thinking a lot these days on what I should do. I was scared to move because I thought no matter what I did, I was destined to hurt people left and right. I've always thought I might be bad, and this feeling never left me rest, to the point I had to see a therapist to sort out my emotions on the matter. Maybe I'll never fully recover from what happened 10 years ago, nor from what has happened recently, but I know something: my lack of decision has led me here, today. I want to learn from my mistakes, but I also think I deserve a break from all this suffering that has never left me alone these past years. That's why I'm not going to turn myself in. Perhaps I'm selfish, but at this point, I want to be happy for once. I want to move forward. For Richy and for Amy, too. Maybe the truth was always meant to be shared with the people I care about. You.

I know I'm asking for a lot. In fact, if you think that you don't want to see me anymore after this, then please don't feel forced to stay. I understand. Thank you for fighting so hard for me. I love you all.

Thomas: I'll always be with you Hannah, especially now. I'm glad you decided to move on.

Dan: You're not a weight, kid. We get it. We wouldn't have asked your opinion if we hadn't taken into account this choice.

Cleo: He's right, Hannah. We'll stand by your side. We need each other to overcome this.

You were flattered that your speech had helped her come to this conclusion. You weren't counting on it, especially after your little breakdown in her room. You texted your friends and decided that tomorrow was the perfect time to go to the police: you couldn't wait for them to take you in for questioning. You knew they hadn't come for you yet only because they were taking care of more pressing matters, like securing Grimrock for the public and investigating more about Richy's entalgment (Duskwood police department was very small, after all)-but you doubted they would deny to hear your testimonies. A part of you desired to post pone the interrogation to a much later date, but deep down you knew how useless that would be. Just like you had said to Lilly, it was like ripping off a band aid: the sooner, the better.

Once you discussed about what to say, you texted each other good night and went offline. You were about to drift asleep when a notification made your phone vibrate. Faster than light, you grabbed your phone and rapidly opened the messenger app. You hopelessly wished Jake had texted you, but, to your delusion, it wasn't him. It was Hannah.

Hannah: MC? Can i ask you something?

You gave your phone a puzzled look.

MC: Sure thing

Hannah: Do you like Jake? Like, romantically?

Oh boy.

MC: I haven't been really subtle about it, did I? Yes. I do.

Hannah: I thought so. The way you defended him earlier...

You gripped your phone harder, embarrassed by your reckless behavior.

Hannah: I think only someone in love would go to such lengths.

MC: Does that bother you?

You were afraid of her answer. You weren't exactly sure why, but you valued her opinion on this.

Hannah: That you like him? It doesn't. I get why you would, you know? He's smart, interesting, and rational, and yet so sweet and considerate at the same time. And he is quite handsome, too 🥲

You were blushing hard under the bed covers. You had never seen Jake, so your imagination always had to work hard to figure out what he may have looked like; however, as the weeks passed, you realized that his appearance wasn't relevant anymore. You loved him for his personality first and foremost. But if he really was as handsome as Hannah was describing him... God, you didn't know how you could handle him. An amazing personality AND looks? That sent a chill down your spine.

Hannah: God, now I'm weird for ever thinking about him that way 😣 MC: Well to be fair, you didn't know!

You laughed sincerely. It seemed like she wasn't holding a grudge.

Hannah: Well MC, I must say I'm pretty tired after today. I’ll go to bed now MC: Goodnight Hannah 😊 sweet dreams Hannah: Goodnight to you too! 😊

You dropped your phone on the nightstand, a gleeful expression on your face. Tomorrow was going to be a stressful day, that was for sure, but for the first time after Hannah's rescue you felt hopeful again. Perhaps you could survive.

#duskwood #duskwood fanfiction #duskwood everbyte #duskwood jake #duskwood jakexmc #duskwood richy #duskwood jessy #duskwood hannah #duskwood lilly #duskwood cleo #duskwood dan #duskwood mwaf #duskwood mc #duskwood thomas

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marveliter · 2 years

Text

Chocolate | Doc Ock

Summary: Still feeling a little insecure, Otto decides to give back to you for helping him.

A/N: my mom got me those Dove chocolate shaped hearts and oh my god are they the BEST I could eat five bags by myself; also!! Drop some adjectives or nouns for me so I can get ideas for some more chapters! If I choose your word for a title, you may get a shout out ;)

The Single Word Series

The pain always pulsed like a heartbeat, with his heartbeat. And it always hurt. Always. There was no remedy, no cure for anything. The actuators were fused to his spine, in addition to their waistband being permanently stuck around his waist, they could never come off. Doctors tried once, but that was after everything that had happened with the nuclear fusion, the miscalculation, Rosie. . . It’s why he feared you growing scared if he told you about himself before that fateful day you found him in the harbor. He was forever grateful to you for that. You opened his eyes, like he was waking from a dream, and that sunset. . . He felt new. Felt different. He felt safe. In that moment of confusion, cold, and sickness, he felt safe with you, and he didn’t even know you. He remembered getting angry at you when he awoke in your bed, and how he came at you from behind, but your kindness--you, reeled him back. He hadn’t known peace in days before he met you. Otto wasn’t sure if it was because the actuators had messed up his mind already, but he was extremely fond of you. And that’s the word he used, because the voices in his head were saying otherwise.

Do you love her? one had asked. Of course he does, another one had spat. He’s weak. He’s always been weak, a third voice had interjected. You’ll hurt her, just like you did with Rosie, a fourth voice had told him.

Since being with you, Otto had tried talking back to the voices when you were gone for work, or when you were fast asleep still on the couch. “She’s done so much for me--for us,” Otto had once said, peeking out of your bedroom to take a look at you on the couch, fast asleep, peacefully dreaming. “Why don’t you like her?” he asked, looking around at all the actuators before slipping back inside your bedroom.

She’s a problem, the first voice snapped. She’ll ruin everything, the plan will be ruined, the second voice retorted.

Otto had shook his head, brows furrowed and lip quivering. “Wh-what plan?”

Our plan, the third voice rang. We want to kill Spider-Man, the fourth voice hissed.

Otto had staggered back, eyes wide as he looked around at all the open claws. “No,” he said hoarsely. “N-No, no, no--I-I don’t want to do that.”

But you will, hissed the first voice. You want to kill Spider-Man, whispered the second.

“N-No!” Otto had whispered harshly back. “I won’t!”

Yes, you will, pressed the third voice. Yes, sang the fourth voice, you will kill Spider-Man.

“No,” Otto growled. “I won’t--not. . .not while we’re here right now, not with her,” he had whispered your name. “I can’t do that to her. . .I won’t do that--no. I will not succumb to your desires.”

Our desires, will become yours, the first voice had whispered. Always have, said the second. Always will, croaked the third. Always. growled the fourth.

“No,” Otto had breathed, his body shaking, the thought of you looking horrified at him after what the voices wanted him to do. “I won’t do that,” he whispered your name again. “Not to her.”

That little conversation had terrified Otto to the present day, where just the other day, you had confessed your insecurities to him on a whim of bottled up emotion and embarrassment. You had shared something so confidential with him, something that took a lot of energy and courage, no matter how trivial it seemed to larger worries. It was brave, he admired you for that, and he was flattered because you told him. A criminal. A monster. He was curious about you. Your kindness, it was like a gift, a superpower--how could you be so kind and helping, so selfless and still have the heart to help him? Otto knew he didn’t deserve this. Didn’t deserve anything you were giving him. He made you take back your bed, that was the start of his way of giving back, but he needed to do more. It could never amount to what you were doing for him, but besides cleaning when you had the extremely late and long shifts at the hospital, Otto knew more needed to be done.

He was nervous, but he had made his way to the store after you had come back from one of you late night shifts into early mornings. He made sure to keep his hood up, head down but not too suspecting or suspicious, and bought chocolate cake mix--he also made a run to Des Bonbons to grab your favorite treats: SnoCaps, and of course, a few other sweets you had enjoyed from the time you both went before. Maybe it was silly, but it was all he could do, and he knew that if he could make your day a little brighter, take off some of the stressors in your life such as cleaning a dusty apartment, he knew you’d be so appreciative. And how right he was when you walked out of your bedroom in the evening after showering earlier and sleeping all day from your long night shift into the morning. You’d have the next three days off, and Otto had said that you and him could make the cake mix tomorrow, but it was such a kind and fun gesture that you decided to do it now.

“Are you sure you don’t want to relax a bit more?” Otto asked, already planning ahead to doing the dishes himself in the future. “I don’t want you to worry about the mess we’ll make--I’ll clean it up of course--” “Otto,” you smiled at him, eyes moving off the cake mix box. “I appreciate that, really, but of course I’m going to help you clean up. We’re in this together.” We’re in this together. Your smile was enough to convince him. The actuators clicked and whirred, and you caught the glare Otto gave them. You decided to test the waters to see how’d they react to you, since you knew they hadn’t taken a liking to you. A part of you didn’t care, because they weren’t Otto, you cared what he thought, but then again they were a part of Otto. If you liked Otto, then the actuators were going to be around for a very long time. “They still don’t like me, don’t they?” you asked Otto. All four actuators snapped their closed claws in the direction of you, like they were all shocked at how you called them out. Otto smiled at this, and kept smiling when they looked back at him as if to say, You’re going to let her talk to us like that? Otto ignored what all four actuators were telling him, and replied to you, “They are very stubborn, I’ll tell you that.”

Stubborn, the first voice hissed. He’s trying not to scare her. taunted the second. Just wait, growled the third. She’ll see what a monster you are. muttered the fourth.

Otto ignored the voices for now as you both poured measurements into measuring cups, pouring a little too much sugar into the bowl of dry ingredients, and then adding a great serving of sprinkles within the batter. You both laughed and talked as you made the cake, and when it was in the oven, you both sat on the pull-out couch in its bed form, passing an extra chocolate icing can that Otto had bought at the store. “How’s your back been sleeping on this?” you ask him. “I feel terrible for taking the bed back.” Otto, pulling the spoon out of his mouth after eating a big spoonful of chocolate icing off it shook his head. “You didn’t take it back, I gave it back to you, and please, don’t feel bad about it. I’ve been fine, and remember, my back always hurts.” He had hummed a smile as he passed the can back to you, but you stared at him and held the can, your lips forming a slight frown. “See, Otto, I can’t understand why you accept the pain,” you tell him. “If. . .if you don’t mind me asking, if there was a way to remove the tentacles, would you do it?”

All four actuators jumped at your remark, looking between you and Otto.

Did you hear her? the first voice asked. She wants to get rid of us! the second cried. What do you see in her? She wants us gone! the third whined. She’s an obstacle, Octavius, get rid of her, the fourth growled.

Otto shook his head ignoring the voices once more. He half shrugged then sighed. “The pain for me is a reminder of everything I’ve done to make myself hit rock bottom.” he told you, looking down at the floor. “I won’t ever forgive myself for all the things I’ve done, all the stupid, dastardly actions I’ve committed, I--” “Okay,” you whispered, your hand reaching out to touch his. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” You give his hand a little squeeze, something gentle. “I wasn’t suggesting anything,” you eyed the actuators, whose open claws looked like they were going to pounce at you. “I was only wondering. And I promise you, Otto, you’re not a bad person.”

Not a bad person, Otto thought to himself. How could you say that? So genuinely? Filled with so much truth that he almost believed it himself.

Just wait until she sees, hissed the first voice. She’ll be terrified of you, whispered the second. She’ll want nothing to do with you then, growled the fourth. Not unless he kills her first, added the fourth.

Otto was glad the oven went off for the cake as you were focused on that, handing back the can of icing to him as he let his face fall. Not unless he kills her first. No, Otto wouldn’t. . .would he? How could he ever bring himself to think of that--the voices were getting bad. They were taunting him--he did have some control over them, but that was only for his movements, what control did he have over what they made him think and act? Otto didn’t feel too good anymore, and he was so consumed by his own fears and thoughts that he didn’t hear you calling him from the kitchen. He still didn’t reply, being wrapped up in his thoughts, but you knew. You could tell something was bothering him. Letting the cake cool down on top of the stove, you walked back over to the couch, coming around on Otto’s side, all the actuators hovering around him. They clicked and whirred, looking at his face, but Otto’s eyes were set on the floor, wide and concerned. “Hey,” you touched his shoulder, which brought him back to reality. The actuators jerked as you sat back down across from him on the pull-out. “Forget I said anything,”

Realizing that you didn’t know what he truly worried over, Otto shook his head. “No, no, it’s not you,” he gave you a weak smile. “It’s. . .me.” Your face slightly fell, your lips pursed into a tight smile that wasn’t all too genuine, as you can tell there was more going on. You were going to say more, to try and get him to tell you, but the actuators whirred and clicked, and Otto stood up. “I want to get a look at the cake,” he told you, already walking towards the kitchen. “It came out alright, right?” You decided to let it go for now, but from the way all the actuators were staring back at you with open claws, you figured they had something to do with it.

Once the cake had cooled down, you both decorated it in thick chocolate frosting and dove in with big slices for yourselves. You both talked about making a strawberry cake next, and buying strawberries from the store to slice up and decorate the cake with. Maybe you’d even buy food coloring and white icing trying to make the most vibrant shade of pink you could until it was so pinky you wanted to vomit at the sight. Then, Otto talked to you about your books on your bookshelf on the side of the wall. “Good collection, it’s nice to see some classics with some newer books that were put out this year,” he told you. “Though, you could use more Sci-fy.” You groaned and rolled your eyes. “I can’t stand Sci-fy,” Otto’s eyes went wide. “What do you mean?” “It’s like Star Wars stuff, and I just don’t think my mind can handle things like that--like all the made up words in the universe for normal everyday objects--just call a spoon a spoon, you know?” you replied. Otto laughed, “No, no, no, Sci-fy in literature is not what you’re thinking of--at least, that’s not what I’m thinking of. I mean more like The Invisible Man, or Jekyll and Hyde,” With a helping of cake in your mouth, you pointed your fork at Otto. “That’s Sci-fy? I’ve always been interested in reading Jekyll and Hyde.” “Oh, it’s wonderful,” Otto smiled at you. “It used to be my R--” he stopped himself, and quickly fixed his sentence, “--used to be a friend’s favorite.”

“Whose?” you ask, catching that change. You didn’t want to pry, but you did want Otto to know that you cared about all the secrets he kept hidden in his head, and that you could be trusted. Though, it wasn’t that he didn’t trust you, you knew this, in terms it’s that he wasn’t ready to tell you. “Just a friend,” Otto nodded as he took another bite of the cake. You nodded, and carried on with the conversation. Well, Otto did since he looked over at your bookshelf and smirked. “I did take a look at some of the books on the bottom shelf,” he smirked, to which he had you blushing immediately, but you were laughing. “The plot is all the same, but it’s good--Otto, they’re good!” “They’re trashy!” he laughed, but he was only joking and you knew. “That’s why they’re good!” you laughed with him.

When the evening grew later, and the cake was put into the fridge, you and Otto were on the pull-out, mindlessly watching whatever was on TV, flipping through channels whenever the program changed from something you liked to something boring. You were growing tired again as Otto flipped through the channels, his own eyes growing tired and closing slowly every few seconds, but trying to stay awake because you were still up too. But you wanted to run tomorrow, and you had slept well today and decided that in order to get moving tomorrow you needed to go back on a run in the early morning. You got up from the couch, giving the actuators more room for them to curl and swirl up onto the left side of the pull-out. Otto watched you get up, and you sighed. “I’m going to bed. I’d like to get a run in tomorrow.” Otto smiled, but his brows furrowed. “You’re still going to get up early even after you worked all last night?” You yawned. “Yeah, I haven’t ran in a couple of days, and the morning air is so cold it wakes me up. So, I’m hitting the hay. Goodnight, Otto.” He smiled and hummed a chuckle. He told you goodnight and watched you walk back to your bedroom.

Otto smiled to himself as he looked back towards the TV. However, the smile quickly faded when he felt the pull of his spine, and the pain that pulsed with it. Had that not always been there? Did he zone it out while you were with him? The pain pulsed like a heartbeat, with his heartbeat. And it always hurt. Always. There was no remedy, no cure. But his pain always ceased, fell into the back of his mind whenever you were with him.

#doc ock #doctor otto octavius #doctor octavius #otto octavius #doc ock x you #doc ock x reader #otto octavius x reader #otto octavius x you #marvel #marvel fanfiction #marvel fanfic #spiderman #spiderman nwh #peter parker

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therealvinelle · 3 years

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Hi, your metas are super interesting, and even if I really enjoy fanon twilight, it's really cool to read opinions based only on canon too!

So my question is about the sexual orientation of the Cullens, do you think they all straight?

For example i saw someone saying that Edward maybe was demisexual and it left me thinking, so i just wanted to know your opinions about it :)

In short, no.

In alphabetical order:

Alice is with a man, but without getting into the mess that is Alice/Jasper here, I don’t think theirs is a particularly physical relationship. I mean, if Alice wanted to get laid, she could just decide to fuck Jasper, enjoy the vision, and bam. Itch scratched. Thanks, Jazz. Alright, I’ll be serious. Alice and Jasper are with each other because the other represents salvation, not so much because of a personal or physical attraction but because of mysticism. So to me that doesn’t really say much about Alice’s preference. All the same I can’t see Alice having a particular preference, she’s too... Alice. Although it is easier to picture her with women. She is also the second half of the Alice/Bella homoerotic extravaganza, which makes heterosexual Alice even more farfetched to me. So, bisexual or lesbian Alice.

Bella shows clear attraction to women as well as men. She’s attracted to Rosalie, Alice, Edward, and Carlisle. I’ll just give you guys quotes: Of the three boys, one was big — muscled like a serious weight lifter, with dark, curly hair. Another was taller, leaner, but still muscular, and honey blond. The last was lanky, less bulky, with untidy, bronze-colored hair. He was more boyish than the others, who looked like they could be in college, or even teachers here rather than students. The girls were opposites. The tall one was statuesque. She had a beautiful figure, the kind you saw on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, the kind that made every girl around her take a hit on her self-esteem just by being in the same room. Her hair was golden, gently waving to the middle of her back. The short girl was pixielike, thin in the extreme, with small features. Her hair was a deep black, cropped short and pointing in every direction. (Twilight, page 9) This is the Cullens’ introduction. I won’t spend much time on it, just notice the difference between Rosalie and the others. Rosalie is highlighted in a way Alice is not, and Edward is at first glance only the boyish one of the guys. Rosalie was the Cullen whose beauty immediately stood out to Bella. It was hard to decide who was the most beautiful — maybe the perfect blond girl, or the bronze-haired boy. (sic.) Bella has realized by now that Edward’s a grade A hottie, but she’s still torn between him and Rosalie. Bella then gets to know Alice, and they become friends who take showers together(!). Rosalie may be the most attractive Cullen woman, but Alice is the one Bella gets emotionally close to. We get this in New Moon: UNNATURALLY STILL AND WHITE, WITH LARGE BLACK EYES intent on my face, my visitor waited perfectly motionless in the center of the halt, beautiful beyond imagining. (...) I locked my arms around her, gasping to inhale as much of the scent of her skin as possible. It wasn't like anything else—not floral or spice, citrus or musk. No perfume in the world could compare. My memory hadn't done it justice. (New Moon, page 191) Bella never thought she’d never see any of the Cullens again, so for her to be hysterical and ecstatic upon seeing her second favorite is not by itself damning. I’m sure she’d be ecstatic to see Emmett too. It’s that fact that she’d missed Alice’s scent that’s interesting. The scent of her skin was something Bella was aware of before they parted. And while it may be tempting to say “it’s because they’re vampires, Bella’s admiring them like she would a work of art!”, Bella never dwells on Esme, Jasper, or Emmett in this way. Jasper and Emmett especially are not admired beyond the introduction of their characters. We never hear about what any of them smell like, nor does Bella remark upon their beauty after waking up a vampire. Carlisle and Edward, by comparison, are men she keeps noticing. Bella finds Carlisle blindingly beautiful when she first sees him as a vampire, and there’s this from New Moon: Though it erased the sting, it reminded me of the gash, and I watched Carlisle's face carefully to distract me from what his hands were doing. His hair gleamed gold in the bright light as he bent over my arm. (New Moon, page 18) There’s thinking someone is pretty, and then there’s gazing lovingly upon their face instead of pain killers. Bella is bisexual.

Carlisle moved in with a very gay man, had a close relationship with him, lived with him for the sake of his company for decades, and only left because of dietary differences. We don’t know for sure whether they actually had an affair or not, but the fact remains that of all the Cullens, Carlisle is the one who is implied to have had a homosexual relationship in canon. He loses his straight card based on that alone. Also gonna link this clip, because I’m Mac listening to Edward talk about how young Carlisle lived with this sexy Mycenaean Greek for a few decades when he was young. Aro is all the santas. Carlisle is bisexual.

Edward... oh boy. His brain is supposedly seventeen, and yet this very interesting thing happens in his relationship with Bella where he never notices her body. Not ever. By body I mean curves. Edward notices Bella’s skin, her frailty, her humanity. He praises her blushes, her doe-like eyes, her warmth, her softness, her swan-like neck, her delicious scent. The feminine aesthetic. He does not once notice her tits. The only tits he is on record noticing belong to Siobhan, and it’s because she has an impossible to ignore rack: She was profoundly female in shape—aggressively, forcefully female. (Midnight Sun, chapter Probability) It’s one thing for him to be old-fashioned and too quintessentially Edward to even think the word “boob”, but in 700+ pages of Midnight Sun there’s just this absence of this seventeen-year-old noticing her curves. More damningly, when seeing Alice’s vision of vampire!Bella, Edward is horrified at the sight of his love cold and hard. He doesn’t describe vampire!Bella by any of the positives, like “flawless”. Edward is attracted to the human, not the woman. What that means for his sexuality... well, I’m going to go ahead and point out that he is very weird about Carlisle, and it’s damning that the personality he projects onto Bella is so similar to Carlisle. I hesitate to apply a label here, but in my own, personal, headcanon we’re veering towards homosexual. Deeeeeeply closeted homosexual.

Emmett is straight. Straightest guy ever to straight.

Esme is pretty clearly taken with Carlisle. Though if she were to feel attracted towards another woman, I imagine she’d have no idea what to make of that, if she even recognized it for what it was. She’s from a very different time and still living in that time, and she continues to be very sheltered. Still, as per my personal headcanon, I see her as straight.

Jasper, who knows. Though if he’s into guys, he has probably gone for it in the past. I suppose I should write a meta on vampires and sexual norms in general, but in short I don’t think they all live monogamously like the Cullens. STDs and pregnancies are unheard of, as is social ostracizing. Vampires are hedonistic, Twilight vampires more so than any other. Which in turn means I don’t think Maria and Jasper were monogamous. A couple, sure, but I don’t think Maria would say “oh noes, I can’t, I’m with Jasper!” if someone she was attracted to made an overture, and same goes for Jasper. So, if Jasper was into guys, then sure. I can see Jasper/Peter happening, or even Charlotte/Jasper/Peter. Jasper is certainly into women, with the possibility of guys as well. And if so, then it’s probably happened.

Rosalie I’m shocked is with a guy in the first place, everything about her screams lesbian. However, she’s clearly into Emmett, so apparently she’s bisexual.

(I’m not including Renesmée in this, since she’s three months old by the time the series conclude.)

This all being said, several of these people are from very different times and wouldn’t have the same concepts of sexuality internalized as we do, so how they’d identify is a very different matter.

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amethystpath-writes · 3 years

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A Lesson Learned

(NOT A PROMPT)

Hello :) Could you write a piece where the extremely flirtatious villain notices that the hero isn’t taking care of themselves and tries to get them to and promises not to do anything (capture them, etc), but (surprise!) then they do? Haha sorry if it’s a bit specific, adore your writing!

******

“Why, doll,” Villain cooed from behind the bench which Hero sat upon. The bench was old, wood in the process of rotting. Speaking of rot- Villain rounded the park bench, coming face to face with that once-handsome, now-perished face. “Don’t you just look like you sprang from Hell? Yeesh.”

Hero shrugged, not even caring that Villain was here to taunt him yet again- to pick at him with compliments. Usually, anyways. Now, she was insulting him. Did he really look that out of it? Hero felt like it, so it shouldn’t have been so surprising to him. “Don’t feel great- get out of here.”

“And do what? I’d miss the grumble in your voice too much. Come now, my dear, tell me what has that pretty hair of yours so tangled.” Villain’s hand grazed the locks atop Hero’s head, fingers skimming his scalp. She hummed her delight. “How pretty,” Villain whispered into Hero’s ear. “Even if it is greasy.”

“Look, I’m really not in the mood for this.”

Good God, what is that stench? Villain could gag- not could; Villain did gag on the smell. “When was the last time you showered, sugar?” Hero certainly didn’t smell like sugar, but it was in Villain’s nature to shoot a flirt at him anyways.

“Don’t know. Would you get your hand out of my hair?”

“You don’t know?” Villain sighed, dropping her hand and rounding the bench until she came to the front, facing Hero and his abnormally large eye sacks. “Oh, darling…” you have jellyfish beneath your eyes. “You should take better care of yourself. I could help you, you know?”

Hero’s eyes grew as wide as they could with eyelids made of lead. “Help me do what? Bathe?”

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t mind helping you do that- think of how close we would be, my sweet doll.” She sat beside the broken-beyond-repair hero, dragging a fingertip along his dirtied pants. Villain sighed, slightly bored of this game of chess. Her flirtations were slipping away like a wet bar of soap. What an ironic comparison.

Villain said, “What I meant is this; I’ll give your handsomeness a break- or your ugliness, rather. You need to regain your looks, hence the break.”

Ignoring the insult, Hero said, dead-panned, “And I’m supposed to believe you.” A soft tut.

“Have I given you any reason not to? On this pretty night?”

“Beyond the not-so-subtle insults,” Hero thought aloud, and finished with, “I guess not.”

With a scoff, Villain said, “I wouldn’t call those insults. I could have said much worse- and anyways, you know I’m a tease. I feel even more concerned that you’ve forgotten such a vital detail about me. More reason to leave you alone. Right, my love?”

“I still don’t know if I believe you.”

“Why would it matter what I did or didn’t do when you don’t even care to look after yourself?”

She makes a good point. Still… “What would you do then?” Hero didn’t particularly care to have this conversation right now, but- well, he was a hero. Even if he were too exhausted to take care of himself, it was still his responsibility to protect the people. Just because Villain was saying she’d leave Hero alone didn’t mean she’d leave the citizens alone.

“What would I do? Sulk, mostly. I’d miss your pretty little face while I sat alone on my couch.”

“Right. Because I always sit on a couch with you.”

“There’s a taste of that precious fire. You’re beautiful when you’re sarcastic- and healthy.”

Hero sighed. It didn’t matter what he said, did it? He could tell Villain she looked like a horse’s rear-end mixed with a jackal’s paw and she’d continue sticking around. “You said you’d give me a break.” Of course, Hero still didn’t believe Villain’s words. It was her one and only nature to torment him with pointless compliments- and harmful insults apparently.

As if I didn’t already know I look like crap. I’m tired; that’s all. No motivation to do anything but sit on the park bench. He didn’t even feel like getting up to stretch his legs, despite knowing it needed to be done. Hero would rather deal with the aches of standing than to be forced into using so much energy while sitting. How draining it was- standing up from his position now. That’s why he stayed put, even with Villain’s hand circling in his hair once again.

This time, the hand in Hero’s hair was actually soothing. The tender scrape of Villain’s nails against his scalp. The gentle pull through the hair as her fingers caught on tangles, though the larger knots were a tad painful. Hero hummed his delight at the two former feelings, finding himself leaning into the arm which offered such relief.

On a regular day, one not so adorned with absent motivation and sourness, Hero would have slapped Villain’s hand away- would have told her to go find a dog in the park to pet. Naturally, he would have regretted saying it, thinking that Villain might claw its eyes out instead of petting it. Okay, maybe she wouldn’t do something that serious, but she might have stepped on a puppy’s tail, making it screech- if only to horrify the owner.

“Isn’t this a nice break, sugar?” Villain asked, but, of course, there was more to it than this scalp massage. When Hero fell asleep, with his head on Villain’s shoulder, she would give herself a break- not him.

******

Eyes still closed from having just woken up, Hero pulled his shoulder back against the hard- hard? I thought I was in- His eyes cracked open.

White ceiling. Or, mostly white, at least. There was some water damage that Hero could see even through his blurry and freshly woken eyes. The yellow and orange stains did not belong on his ceiling.

He shifted slightly, body still stiff, but he wasn’t willing to stretch yet- just in case there was…a certain someone…paying attention. Damn Villain, Hero thought, because who else’s home could he be in if it weren’t his own?

It was with this thought in mind that Hero sat up. No use in lounging around. Better off to find a way out before Villain-

“Nice to see those starlit eyes of yours.”

Great. Turning his head, he saw Villain casually sprawled across a couch.

Well, one thing was for certain; Hero had the motivation to get up and run again. At least he could thank Villain for something, even if it were simply the desire to escape.

Sitting up, slowly and stiffly, Hero said, “A break. You were supposed to give me a break. It’s what you said, what you told me you’d do. You would give me a break to take care of myself and you would sulk.”

He could almost imagine Villain’s voice answering with an easy lull, ‘I didn’t say what the break would entail, love.’ Love. Darling. Doll. My dear. Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting.

“I gave you a break. Two of them, if we’re being technical. The massage and the shelter. Actually,” Villain smiled at him from her couch cushion, eyes closing just slightly as her cheeks gathered higher and higher. “I might call it liberation- instead of a break. Infinite freedom versus periods of mass depression and showerless nights.”

Hero felt his jaw tick. “What are you talking about?” he asked, voice low- just the way Villain liked.

He wasn’t helping his case any, now, was he? Being all cutesy. It only allowed Villain to enjoy this whole situation more.

“You wake up in your stalker’s home and don’t even think to check your body for modifications? What a pity you are sometimes,” Villain giggled. She meant it as a compliment; it was her way of calling the hero cute and favourable.

Stalker. Well, Villain might as well have been considered as such. She showed up just about everywhere Hero was, only to hold hostages for no other reason than to have control over someone, to hear the fear in their high whines- and to see the fear glistening low in their eyes. Villain was wicked, and she was wicked always in Hero’s presence. Stalker- maybe that’s what the news would start calling her if they, or Hero, ever managed to stop Villain.

Villain grew impatient with Hero’s procrastination of observation. “Explore yourself, won’t you?”

And Hero did now. He looked down his arms, torso, legs, anything that was in his perspective, but there was nothing out of the ordinary, except- “Do not tell me you actually washed me.” His arms were speck and dead-skin cleaned.

“A wet rag against your arms and legs, nothing else.”

Hero simply took her word for it, trying not to imagine how he’d feel if she were lying. How horrendous.

Then what is it? Nothing- absolutely nothing- was irregular, so why was Villain going on about…Hero’s fingers skimmed something along his neck- one of the few things he couldn’t see with his own eyes.

No…no. Not just along his neck. There was something inside of Hero’s neck. “What did you do to me?” His voice came out as a horrifyingly quiet whisper, one that squeaked in the back of his throat.

“You wouldn’t take care of yourself, Hero. I had to step in.”

“I don’t- no. No. Whatever you’re doing, you- you need to- I need to go home. I need you to stay away from me and I need- I need-” Oh no. Was he hyperventilating? He couldn’t- God, he couldn’t breathe. Hero was panicking, scratching at his neck, at the irregular shaped lumps. Get out. Get. Out. Getout. Getout. Getoutgetoutgetoutgetout.

A gasp sounded in the room as Hero’s head hit the ground, trying to dodge the zap that occurred at the front of his throat, right where he was scratching so madly.

“Well, I guess that’s a lesson learned rather quickly. Darling, you didn’t even know what those were, and yet you were trying to rip them out. It might have killed you.”

“Uhah.”

Villain quirked her head to the side. “Didn’t get that, sorry. Must have fried your vocal cords- better that than you build up a bunch of infectious bacteria.” Truth be told, the zap wasn’t so bad that it would permanently damage Hero- only give him little tics and make him fret.

“You’ll be so very happy that I took that rag over your skin- otherwise you’d have woken up to your own stench while I was injecting the little stun rods. That would have been difficult,” Villain laughed, legs extending until they laid on the arm of the couch.

“Now,” Villain piped, “there is an outfit laid out in the bathroom- down this hall here”- she pointed- “and second door to the right. Get a shower, bath, whatever you want, and get dressed. I have plans and I’m not leaving you here alone.”

Swerving her legs over the arm- despite having just put them there- Villain planted her feet on the ground and placed her elbows near her knees, leaning forward, all amount of humour aside. “I’m the only one who gets to torment you, you hear me? Not even you have my permission to do harm to yourself or otherwise slack in personal healthcare. If you are in any kind of bad condition, it will be because I allowed it. M’kay?”

She stood, walked several paces to where Hero still sat on the floor and patted his cheek. “I’m making myself food before we leave and while you take a shower. Don’t disappoint me by trying to escape, my dove. You’re in my cage now.” Villain gave Hero a tap on the head as she pulled a remote control out of her pocket with her other hand. For extra measure, she held one of the buttons for three seconds, sending Hero onto his back once again, writhing on the floor- though avoiding scratching his neck.

A lesson learned indeed.

“Believe it or not, I do intend to be kind to you. I just wanted to show you what happens if you decide you’re not worth taking care of again.”

One last click of the button and she was gone, leaving a panting hero behind in the dust.

#NOT A PROMPT #request fill #A Lesson Learned #2038 words #As you may have noticed- I found a new way to answer asks without having to officially answer them.#Requests are still *only valid when sent through an ask.* I just won't be answering them with a link anymore since I've been having so much #trouble with notes. I stopped writing stories in asks because I like to have titles for easy reference (on both our ends).#Anyways. No change worth mentioning- just different formatting <3 #AGAIN- Requests are only accepted when sent as an ask (just as usual :) <3)#hero x villain #hero x villain story #hero x villain drabble #hero x villain snippet #possessive villain #possessive whumper #villain whumper #hero whumpee #evil villain #good hero #hero #villain #heroes and villains #hero and villain story #hero and villain drabble #hero and villain snippet #whump #whumper #whumpee #intimate whumper #intimate villain

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dongofthewolf · 3 years

Note

Omg I’m sorry for not realizing u had a list 😅 but I wasn’t wondering if u could do 41 with Abby and could u make it like rlly angsty but with some fluff or smut at the end

Everything Good in Life Seems to Lead Back to You

Abby Anderson X Reader

Prompt: 41. Overhearing they have feelings for you

Warnings: blood and injury, canon typical violence, swearing, fluff, angst (I tried anon I tried), Owen slander once again (sorry not sorry)

Gender neutral pronoun for the reader (if you’d like your request to use specific pronouns please add to the ask)

Link to the prompt list here

A/N: it’s safe to say that I wrote this with the speed of a thousand blazing horses if that even makes any sense. I hope that you all enjoy this lovely word vomit (esp if you requested) it was a blast to write !!

btw the Virginia Woolf reference is from her letters to Vita Sackville and the Jane Austen one is from Pride and Prejudice. What can I say? I guess I’m just a hoe for old love, baby.

Abby spent a lot of time reading; so much so that she had created this false expectation of what love was supposed to feel like. Abby believed that love was supposed to be strong, and passionate, and bright—an everlasting devotion. Of course she shrugged it off at first, they were just books after all—pieces of fiction to fantasize and dream about. Love wasn’t something you could define in a book nor could it ever live up to the likes of Shakespeare or Virginia Woolf.

Abby had never been in love; she sometimes believes she came close to some iteration of it when she was with Owen, but looking back now she realized that what she felt wasn’t love. It was a desperate attempt to be wanted—to be needed, a manifestation of her desire for approval. And after her falling out with him, Abby had come to accept that she simply wasn’t made for love, and that if by some miracle she ever did fall, it definitely wouldn’t be like the books.

That was Abby’s initial perspective on love, but oh how times have changed. The moment you waltzed into her life, every sad, pathetic notion she had about love was thrown out the window in a matter of seconds. Never in her most outrageous dreams did Abby expect to fall this hard, especially since the two of you were practically best friends.

In fact, it had been very platonic at first; Abby was your superior and you often worked together on missions. She didn’t know what compelled her to talk to you but when she did, the two of you hit it off immediately. You started training together, then working out together, and eventually you were spending almost every minute together. The two of you could literally correctly predict every thought that went through each other's head, all except of course (in Abby’s case) for one. It even got to the point where you both somehow knew when the other couldn’t sleep, so much so that Abby had grown accustomed to opening her door to see you holding a glass of milk and a plate of cookies like a little kid on Christmas. She had spent so many sleepless nights alone only to realize that the one thing she was missing, was you and your adorable midnight snacks.

Abby never entertained the thought of professing her slightly less than platonic feelings for you, because she had become content with the idea that you’d simply never feel the same. However, while she had come to accept her unfortunate situation to be a permanent one, it still hurt her when she saw you flirt with other people. And she’d be lying if she said your absentminded touches didn’t still send her soaring. Sometimes she hated how naturally affectionate you were, it made it so hard for her to not love you.

The box that Abby had continually shoved herself into so she wouldn’t fuck up your friendship was almost starting to feel like home, and as uncomfortable as it was, she knew it was for the best. Almost nothing could compel Abby to leave this torturous, self-inflicted prison she was trapped in. Almost nothing.

—

The mission was supposed to be a simple one: get in, get the weapons, get out. A mission so simple, the both of you could’ve done it in your sleep. In fact, on a few occasions after a long night of drinking, you had practically done just that. You met up with the group of traders who you were well acquainted with, and the deal went down smoothly. Everything was going according to plan, which is why you and Abby were completely caught off guard when a group of rogue hunters suddenly began firing shots like it was a fucking carnival.

Turns out there was a new rival group in town, and someone had tipped them off. You and Abby luckily were able to find cover from their relentless fire, but not before you got a bullet straight through your left thigh. You didn’t even realize it at first, the adrenaline coursing through your veins still working to protect you from the devastating pain that was to come. When you did notice it, you had already lost copious amounts of blood. Then the dizziness began to set in, and soon after the pain. Abby hadn’t even realized you were injured till you slumped over on the ground next to her.

Looking down in horror, Abby lifted you into her arms. “Y/N? What’s wrong? Why are y-” Then Abby noticed the blood, and suddenly she was panicking. “Oh shit. Oh fuck, Y/N we have to get you out of here.”

“T-the package, we need the package. Can’t leave without it.” Your response was weak, desperate. You had to finish the mission, the WLF was in dire need of these supplies and you were not going to be the one to tell Isaac you failed.

“Fuck the package, we need to get you back to base.” Abby removed her belt, turnoqueting your leg with such surprising ease that you nearly didn’t notice the agonizing pain in your leg. Nearly.

You groaned when Abby hoisted you into her arms bridal style, careful not to move your leg too much before she booked it to the truck. When she plopped you down into the passenger's seat and began to speed away from the scene, you suddenly felt your eyes becoming heavier. You were so tired. You had lost so much blood already and your body felt like it was shutting down.

Abby was frantically racing towards the base, eyes fixed to the road until she heard you let out a small whine. “Abby, I‘m so tired. Need to sleep.”

Abby noticed you drifting off and she reached her arm out to shake your shoulder violently. “No. No sleeping, you gotta stay awake Y/N.”

Though Abby didn’t mention it, she was terrified. When she looked over at you, you were pale and cold to the touch, drifting off while your leg continued to bleed profusely despite her tourniquet. This could be it; you could die right now, and Abby would have lost the one person in this world she cared about most. She couldn’t let that happen, she wouldn’t.

You were equally as terrified as Abby; every natural instinct in your body was begging for you to sleep and you were becoming tired of trying to ignore it. The last thing you remembered was the look on the face of the girl you had fallen for, her eyes brimming with tears while she wore a desperate, horrified expression.

—

You laid unconscious for what felt like an eternity and Abby never left your side. She had abandoned her duties (with Isaac’s permission) and spent every second next to you, her head resting on the edge of your bed while she waited for you to wake up. The only thing that prompted Abby to step away was Manny, who had heard what happened and went to check on her.

Manny knew full and well that Abby was in love with you; in fact, almost all of Abby’s friends knew. Abby had confided in him during many torturous nights and he was a surprisingly good listener. He understood her circumstances and never pushed her to confess her feelings for you, even if it did annoy him how oblivious Abby was to the fact that you obviously felt the same way. “Abby, I heard what happened. Is everything okay?”

Abby was exhausted, she hadn’t slept at all since you made it back to the base and she couldn’t get the memory of your cold, pale body out of her head. “I almost lost them, Manny. Y/N could’ve died out there without ever knowing how I feel about them.” Tears threatened to fall but Abby did her best to keep her composure.

“It’s going to be okay, Abby. Y/N’s here and they’re alive, and that’s all that matters.” Manny’s hand was on Abby’s shoulder, trying his best to comfort her. “You should tell them how you feel though.”

“Huh?” Abby hadn’t expected that. Manny knew her situation well enough to know that telling you how she felt was a bad idea… It was a bad idea, right?

“It’s like you said, Y/N could’ve died without ever knowing how you feel about them. Wouldn’t it be better to have no regrets at all?” The words stopped Abby in her tracks. She never thought she’d actually agree with Manny.

“It’s just- I love Y/N so much, and I don’t want to lose them this way.” Abby was on the brink of tears, her voice turning into a desperate plea.

“I’m not going anywhere Abs.”

Abby froze, turning around slowly. You were gripping to the doorway for support, limping on one leg and looking extremely weathered.

“Y/N!” Abby immediately ran to put your arm around her shoulder while she carried you back to your bed, setting you down carefully. “You shouldn't be on your leg, you could make it worse.”

There was genuine concern on Abby’s face and in that moment you weren’t sure you could love her any more than you already did. She was so incredibly sweet and caring and no one had ever shown this much concern for your safety and well-being. You had heard her through the door and you couldn’t stop yourself from interrupting her. There was so much about Abby you absolutely adored and she had no idea. How could she not have known you were hopelessly in love with her? Was she truly that oblivious to your obvious flirting? All the subtle touches, the pathetic excuses to sleep in her bed, the fact you literally went out of your way to find rare coins so you could bring them back to her, it all just flew over her head. You couldn’t believe it.

Abby was still rambling about your leg, clearly trying to pretend like she didn’t just profess her love for you while you were standing right behind her. Instead of speaking, you wrapped your hands around her neck before leaning in, silencing her with a kiss so perfect you could’ve passed out right there. You could tell she was stunned at first, but soon enough she was kissing you back. Her fingers were running through your hair and when you pulled away she leaned her forehead against yours, not wanting to part from you.

“Did you mean it?” You pulled away to look Abby in the eyes, your hands still wrapped around her shoulders.

Abby had a dumbstruck look on her face. “Mean what?”

“When you said you loved me, did you mean it?” Your eyes searched her face for an answer while your heart was beating a million miles a minute.

Abby smiled, her eyebrows furrowed as she spoke. “Y/N, I have loved you for as long as I can remember. I’m so hopelessly in love with you that it’s almost pathetic. You have no idea how essential to me you have become—how many nights I’ve stayed awake because you weren’t there to hog all the blankets. Y/N, you have no idea how ardently I love you.”

You smirked “Abigail Anderson did you just quote Virginia Woolf and Jane Austen?” You couldn’t help but let out a small laugh, Abby could be such a nerd sometimes.

“I just confessed my ever-lasting love for you and that’s the first thing you say?” Abby was smiling widely now, relief flowing through her now that she no longer had to conceal her feelings for you.

“I love you too Abs, so fucking much. Also I do not hog the blankets, your comforter is simply too small.” Abby chuckled before she leaned in for another kiss, the worry suddenly disappearing the moment her lips touched yours.

Although Abby had never really known what she expected love to be, this is what she imagines it’d feel like, and you bet your ass it was better than the books. To tell the truth, it was better than any other conceivable thing on this entire planet. Nothing could beat the way Abby felt now that she had finally broken free from her excruciating self-inflicted prison.

Abby pulled away from the kiss, gazing at you lovingly. “Are you hungry?”

God damn Abby, it was like she knew exactly what you were thinking. You didn’t know how long you had been unconscious for, but you were ravenous. “Starving.”

And almost as if you were telepathically communicating, the both of you spoke at the exact same time.

“Cookies?”

“Cookies.”

#abby anderson x reader #abby anderson imagine #the last of us imagine #abby anderson #abby tlou #tlou2 #the last of us 2 #fluff #angst #requests #perhaps cookies will be our always #yes I did use an AURORA song for my title #that song literally cured me okay #if you made it down this far just wanted to let u know that I’m big gay #okay bye

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empressapprentice · 3 years

Text

Arcana Headcanons: Infidelity + M6

I’m back with more headcanons, and will be sharing even more soon as I have more free time! My last batch was super sweet and fluffy, these are decidedly not. I’m doing these headcanons as character study exercises, and since the LIs are so devoted to you in-game, I wanted to think about what could possibly motivate them to cheat. Not all of these involve sex because I thought that certain characters would consider emotional interactions cheating on their partner. But warning for non-explicit sexual content for several of the M6--I’d say this is PG-13. These are kind of long, but I felt I needed some good exposition to set things up. I hate how much I enjoy angst :( Feedback and requests are always welcomed: if you hate it or love it, let me know why so I can improve! Plus, check out my Ao3 here, where I’ll be posting these as well.

Asra

Asra will never, ever regret giving up half his heart for you. But one night, he can’t sleep, feeling regret for the friendships and relationships he missed out on because it’s so difficult to form connections with others. He wishes that while he waited for you to recover from the resurrection, he’d been able to let others into his life.

He’s slept with people other than you (Julian, for one), but not since you woke up after the ritual. He realizes that he can’t remember any of his previous encounters. He completely forgot what anyone other than you feels like to hold and to touch.

The next day, he tells you that he wants to take a quick overnight trip to Nopal. With such late notice, you can’t tag along. He just wants to spend some time alone and actually get to know the villagers for once, intending to practice his social skills and break the cycle of isolation he unintentionally maintained with the people there.

When he sits around the fire, eating and sharing stories with the villagers, a handsome young man approaches him. He says that he’s always had a crush on the mysterious magician, but could tell that Asra was never open to getting to know anyone. Asra, remembering that he doesn’t know what it’s like to be close to someone else, starts flirting back. Before he knows it, his lips are brushing against the stranger’s.

The moment their lips meet, Asra pulls back sharply, overcome with guilt for betraying your trust. He shakily apologizes to the young man, saying he didn’t know what came over him. He runs back to his hut, gets on the Beast and travels back to Vesuvia as fast as possible. Faust comforts him as he sobs silently, thinking about never wanting to leave your arms again.

Nadia

Nadia is visiting a neighboring territory and sitting through a very, very boring dinner with dignitaries. She’s been away from Vesuvia for a week and anticipates having to stay for at least one more as negotiations drag on. She’s loath to admit it, but she’s lonely. The letters you’ve exchanged via Chandra only make the separation more painful.

So when a diplomat approaches her with questions about Vesuvia, she’s happy to have some company. She clearly admires Nadia quite a bit and compliments the work she’s done to turn Vesuvia around.

While basking in her companion’s kind words, she unconsciously moves closer to the other woman. It doesn’t take long for the conversation to become personal, moving away from professional networking. And even more quickly, the conversation becomes flirty. When Nadia moves her hand to touch the other woman, her intentions are clear. The diplomat is flattered, but hesitant, asking, “Aren’t you married?”

Nadia is momentarily stunned by the question, but refuses to lose her composure. The lie comes easily, from years of schmoozing fellow politicians. She replies that her marriage is open. The diplomat smiles, unaware of the shame pooling in Nadia’s core. She sheepishly invites the Countess back to her room.

Though the dinner is long over and the party moved into the sitting room for a digestif, many having already left, Nadia finds herself worried how it would look for the two of them to leave together. She hates herself for worrying more about appearances than you, but she’s been particularly hungry for the feel of a body next to her in bed and she’s frustrated at not being able to get what she wants for once. So, she agrees.

She excuses herself, saying that she must retire for the night, and waits a few moments for the diplomat to leave as well.

Nadia excuses herself after the shameful act, saying she must be in her own bed when servants come to wake her in the morning. She spends the rest of the night staring at her ceiling, vowing to never tell you about her indiscretion. You find out, of course, knowing your wife too well for her to hide that something’s wrong.

Julian

One night, he goes to the Rowdy Raven and is mid-tankard of Salty Bitters while animatedly telling the story of how he helped defeat the Devil. When he finishes weaving the tale, he heads back to the bar to another drink. Before he can get his coin purse to pay, an extremely attractive stranger tells Barth to put it on their tab--payment for the entertaining story.

Julian gratefully accepts, sliding into a seat to chat with the stranger. Whether consciously or unconsciously, Julian turns his charm up even more, wanting to make sure he keeps them entertained. They swap introductions, Julian’s natural tendency to call people affectionate names and his rakish attitude being interpreted as flirtation.

As the stranger returns the affection, Julian realizes what’s happening but doesn’t want to stop it. He’s practically glowing from the kind words flowing from the mouth of his new friend and is addicted to the feeling. A nagging voice tells him he should get back home to you, but it is quieted when the stranger moves closer to him, running a finger over his chest.

The stranger downs their drink and gets up abruptly. They tell Julian to finish his drink and meet them in the alley outside, with a cheeky comment about seeing what else his mouth could do thrown over their shoulder as they walk out the back of the tavern.

Julian’s breath catches at the thought of a clandestine alleyway quickie, and he can’t deny how appealing the idea seems to him. He stares at the drink remaining in his glass, fighting a mental war over whether to finish it quickly and run to the alley.

Barth approaches Julian, noticing he was about to finish his latest drink and anticipating a request for a refill. While waiting for Julian to finish, he makes light conversation with him. When he asks how you are doing, Julian bolts upright. His face reddens at the mention of your name, knowing he made a grave mistake even considering the stranger’s offer.

Julian leaves the rest of his drink untouched. He awkwardly gets up, says goodnight to Barth and hopes that he won’t run into the stranger when he exits the Raven out the front door. Mercifully, he doesn’t, but he might not have even noticed, he was so focused on getting back to you.

When he reaches the front door of the place you share, he’s sobbing. Even though it’s late, you are waiting up for him, knowing that he often needs you to offer him water and get him to eat some food after a night out. He falls on his knees before you, utterly broken by the kindness of you waiting to take care of him, and begs you to listen to him one last time. He tells you, again, that he is no good for you and it is inevitable he will break your heart. He confesses everything that happened at the bar, his voice breaking when he says how close he was to cheating on you. He admits in a small voice that he will never be worthy of you--despite all he’s changed, he’s always one step away from hurting you.

Lucio

Lucio is dressed in a new outfit, finely made and very flattering. He is about to attend a party at his estate in honor of the summer solstice. The last step in his pre-party ritual before joining you and making a grand entrance fashionably late is to admire himself in the mirror. He poses and struts in front of it, hyping himself up for the night, but stopping short as he notices a grey hair in his meticulously coiffed style.

Moving closer to the mirror, he is horrified that several other grey hairs have popped out since the last time he dyed his hair, not long ago. Stepping back, he frantically tries to change the style to hide them, shrieking as he realizes the wrinkles on his forehead are deeper than he remembers. The time-honored ritual, which has never failed to put him in the right mindset for a night of socialization, has only made him more self-conscious about his age than ever.

He starts pacing around his room, heels clicking and mind racing. He feels a strange sense of longing for his old life, when he had no responsibilities and never worried about the consequences of his actions. He’s old now, and he wishes for the freedom and stupidity of youth.

When he makes the grand entrance with you at the party, his heart isn’t really in it. He immediately heads for a servant, demanding a glass of hard liquor instead of his usual sparkling wine. One glass turns into several, and it’s not long before he’s very intoxicated. You see Lucio drinking more than usual, but you keep getting distracted by guests and can’t figure out what’s going on with him.

Once he’s drunk enough to not care about anything--just as he intended--he makes eye contact with an attractive woman in a slinky gown and winks. His rough flirting works, as the woman comes up to him. He feels a mixture of pride and shame that he’s still attractive and powerful enough to draw someone in with nothing more than a wink.

They chat briefly, but they both know Lucio desires more than conversation and the guest is more than willing to oblige. He takes the woman’s hand, leading her to an alcove far away from the party and they begin to make out. Soon his pants are at his ankles and they’re doing far more than kissing. It’s rough, messy and fast, exactly the thing he would have done in his life before he got the plague and before you.

The woman leaves him panting when they’ve both finished. His stomach drops as he realizes that this cheap attempt at feeling young again only made him feel worse. He realizes with a start that he jeopardized the thing that actually fulfills him and makes him truly happy.

Muriel

Muriel dislikes social interactions with pretty much everyone, especially strangers. How could he possibly cheat on you when he can hardly stand to spend time around his friends?

But as he becomes more comfortable with being around people, he starts spending time around the Palace. Usually, he’s waiting for you to finish your duties with Nadia so he can walk you home or go back to the shop for dinner, but sometimes he comes early so he can spend a quiet moment in the gardens.

The more time he spends at the Palace, befriending some of Lucio’s poorly-behaved albino animals and trying to train them, the more time he spends with a certain servant determined to befriend him.

At first, they don’t even catch his attention, he’s so used to tuning other people out. But this servant notices his gentle nature and sometimes brings him some water or tea and a pastry while he’s sitting by the fountain. They claim that they’ve been trained to always serve the needs of their guests, but they’re mostly interested in getting Muriel to open up.

After several weeks of Muriel becoming used to the servant and accepting that they can be trusted, he begins exchanging a few words with them beyond a grunted thanks for the refreshments. The way the servant approaches him reminds him of you and he finds he doesn’t mind light conversation to entertain him and distract him from Lucio’s pets.

One day, he realizes with a start that he not only trusts the servant and enjoys their company, but that he finds them attractive. He panics, not knowing how to tell you. He feels so ashamed of himself for letting someone new in and he’s never felt attracted to someone like this before, other than with you. He’s confused on how to handle his feelings and how he should tell you, if at all.

He confesses the situation to Asra before going to you. Asra is very kind and supportive, saying that it is natural to find other people attractive and that it’s a good sign that he is willing to let a stranger befriend him. But Muriel can’t shake the idea that he’s done wrong by you and refuses to come back to the gardens.

Portia

Given how much Portia likes secrets and romance stories, I think a part of her would love the idea of a sneaky romance. Portia is a deeply practical person, but there are times where she can get carried away with romanticism. The thrill of getting away with it and using her knowledge of the secret passages in the Palace, etc. to hide a tryst holds some appeal to her, but she’d feel ashamed of even fantasizing about it.

She has to work on the first night of the Masquerade after the events of the game due to her new responsibilities at the Palace. Out of solidarity, you work too, creating real-time magical spectacles to surprise guests. To keep up the aesthetic, you’re both still wearing costumes and masks.

While Portia is in the ballroom, she’s fretting over the floral displays and a heavily intoxicated person knocks into her, sending the vase flying. Before Portia can even react, she falls into strong arms, rescuing her from the splashing water and strewn flowers. She turns to thank the stranger, and they say she can express her gratitude by granting them a dance. In the spirit of the Masquerade, she accepts.

She and the stranger twirl around the dance floor to a fast-paced song. The stranger is a fantastic dancer and leads Portia through the steps flawlessly. They end the song by dipping her low. The music switches to a slow ballad while the lights dim. Still breathless, the stranger pulls Portia close, and she loses herself in the moment. The ambiance is incredible, and kissing a gorgeous masked stranger at a ball could not be more storybook-perfect. Their lips touch, until a swirl of magical energy brushes her and she remembers you. She steps back from the stranger and runs off, forgetting about her duties, the flowers on the ground and the rest of the Masquerade. She feels horrible about kissing someone other than you but can’t shake the smug pleasure deep inside her that loves her fairytale romance coming to life.

#the arcana #the arcana headcanons #the arcana main 6 #asra alnazar #julian devorak #nadia satrinava #lucio morgasson #portia devorak #muriel of the kokhuri #pain and angst #nic arcana headcanons

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taem-min-archived · 3 years

Text

Love for You Chapter 1 [Sequel of Sweet on You]

Chapters: Teaser | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

Pairing : Taemin x female reader

Genres : Fluff, Angst (by now all of you must be well aware about my obsession with angst)

Warnings: Slight cheating

Summary : Not everything went as planned and as perfect as you wanted it too, and that was the beauty of love.

WC: 3k

Warnings: extreme fluff, angst

A/N: This is a sequel to Sweet on You. I highly recommend you read it before this since it will have elements of that. This was requested by my Bibi @imkyunies and @herefortaem . I hope I haven’t disappointed you. Thank you @purebredtrex and @chaoticdreaminisode for helping me with the moodboard and the fic! Also, once again the biggest thanks to @aquamarinenymph for helping me write this fic~

Tagging: @buttvi @chaoticdreaminisode @whatudoing @midnightmoi @spacebyuns @nctisthecity @fifty-shades-of-mischeif @xavi-in-kpopland @cloudyhaos @joyfools @tokki-geek @ahsshilee-me @random-kpop-user @sexykpoprincess-blog @cookiechristie @unknownt-123 @miyuuraiura (If you want to be added, let me know!)

He pressed his lips against hers as she wrapped her hands around his shoulders pulling him down onto the bed.

His lips always felt like home. Soft, plush and inviting.

She felt his hand run over her shirt, slipping underneath it. She moaned into his mouth as his soft hands explored her skin.

His kisses moved southwards, towards her neck and she sighed at the tingling feeling his lips were leaving as he left wet kisses after kisses until he finally reached her collarbone.

At first he kissed it slowly, and then began sucking on it causing her to gasp.

“You are so beautiful.” he whispered, making her blush.

Slowly, she ran her hand through his soft locks.

“I love you too.”

She wished things were as simple as they were before when they were innocent and didn’t have much complications in life.

She sure didn’t know love could be this painful.

Was this how Taemin had felt all these years?

She sniffled once more, as she glanced at the clock.

It was almost 12 and Taemin still hadn't returned from ‘project work’. He had promised her that he would get this done quickly so that they could go out on a date. For the past few weeks, they had been seeing less and less of each other, even though they lived in the same apartment.

Trudging herself to the bathroom, she removed her fancy dress she had worn, not daring to glance at the mirror.

She knew she must be looking ugly, she had been crying for hours. And yet she risked a glance at the mirror.

Her eyes were swollen and red, she had a runny nose and her hair was a mess.

Another sobbed escaped her mouth as she realised something horrifying.

What if the reason Taemin had stopped loving her was because she had become uglier? Because Seulgi was much prettier than her?

And while she had ignored his love at first because she was too blind to see it, Seulgi had actually loved him.

Taemin would occasionally talk about that one night they had danced together. And maybe it was her imagination, but he looked like he wanted to turn back time and stay in that blissful night forever.

Washing her face so that her eyes weren’t bloodshot anymore, she climbed onto the bed after wearing some comfortable clothes.

She didn’t want to sleep. She really didn’t. Especially since the past few days she had been getting the same nightmare over and over again.

The same nightmare where Taemin wasn’t hers, but Seulgi.

And she would wake up to an empty bed, either because Taemin had woken off early, or because he had never even slept with her.

So she lay there for a long time, unable to decide whether she wanted to go to sleep or stay awake.

All of a sudden, she heard the keypad password being typed in and she froze. He was back and she was still wide awake.

She pretended to be asleep when she heard the bedroom door open, hoping Taemin would just ignore her.

She couldn't bear to see his hurt face, it just hurt her more.

She felt the bed dip beside her, indicating that he had sat down.

She could hear his breathing, but she ignored it, ignoring the memories attached to it.

"Are you scared?" He asked her, already wrapping his arms around her.

"Yes." Her thirteen-year-old self said, shivering in fear.

They had just watched a horror movie and now she wished they hadn't.

Burying her face in Taemin's chest, she tried to forget about it.

It was only when he began rubbing circles in her back did she slowly start calming down.

"It's okay." He whispered into her hair. "I'm there."

She nodded slightly, and tried focussing on his breathing instead.

It was steady and calm, and all of a sudden it gave her a feeling of reassurance. That nothing could happen if they both were together.

And ever since then, it was always his breath which calmed her down.

The breathing of her best friend made her feel like home.

She felt him gently touch her shoulders and she tried not flinching. But it was hard, because nonetheless hot tears began spilling again.

"Love?" Taemin asked, his voice shaking slightly. "Love, I know you are not sleeping-"

At his words she turned away from him so that her back was facing him instead, not even bothering to muffle her sobbing sounds.

His hands gripped her shoulders a little more tightly in his attempts to turn her towards him. When she refused to budge, he leaned towards her so that his face was above hers.

"Baby." He whispered, worry evident in his voice. "Please tell me what's wrong-"

"What's wrong?" She snapped at him, finally facing him. "I don't know Taemin. Maybe you should ask your new girlfriend about it? Why do you always forget our date nights?"

"Date-" he blanched. First he looked horrified, and then guilty.

"I'm sorry-"

"You are not sorry!" She yelled, pushing herself up into a sitting position, away from him. "If you were even a bit sorry you would be spending time with me, and not with Seulgi. "

"I was doing a project work, and not whatever you are thinking. " he hissed at her.

"But those seem more important to you nowadays!" She sobbed, covering her face with her hands. She had never felt ashamed to cry in front of Taemin but all of a sudden, she was feeling vulnerable.

"It's because I'm ugly right? It's because I didn't love you back then right? It's because-"

All of a sudden Taemin engulfed her in a hug, causing her to stop mid sentence.

"Baby." He whispered, his warm hands causing her to cry even more. "What nonsense are you talking about? You are the prettiest person I've ever laid my eyes on."

Maybe it was his words, or maybe it was the warmth and familiarity of his hug, but she felt her will power crumble.

She felt all her will power and anger crumble away as the familiarity of his scent engulfed her senses, and she mercilessly soaked his t-shirt with her tears.

“T-Taemin.” she sobbed, his touches making her breakdown even more. She wanted to stay in his arms forever, never having to doubt herself or his love for her ever again, but she knew that such fantasies rarely happened.

“I’m sorry.”he whispered, running his hand through her hair. His touches were like magic for her, and soon she began to calm down.

“I’m so sorry.” his lips ghosted her head, and she found herself getting lost in him again. He had the power to make her forget about everything, and right now she was bathing in his existence.

“I’ll make it up to you tomorrow, okay?” he said, gently pushing her back onto the bed.

She blinked at him, her eyes still wet from the tears, He ran his soft hands gently over her cheeks to rub away the tears, and her eyes fluttered at his gentleness.

She felt his soft lips on hers, and for a second she forgot everything in this world. Slowly he pulled away from her, and instead laid down beside her, pulling her close to him.

“Tomorrow.”he promised her, sleep evident in his voice. His deep drowsy voice was making her stomach roll, and she really wanted to stay up all night until he made it up to her but all the tears had made her sleepy too.

And for once, she didn’t dream about Seulgi and Taemin making out.

Her eyes fluttered open and for a second she panicked that she had woken up alone again. But upon hearing the familiar heartbeat of Taemin, she relaxed once more.

She looked up back at him and found her breath being taken away.

He was so beautiful.

His mouth was slightly open, making him look innocent. She loved the way his hair fell over his eyes giving her a mad urge to move them away and kiss his forehead.

She lifted her hand and was about to touch his cheeks when his eyes fluttered open.

Her hands froze mid air, as a small smile appeared on his lips.

Slowly she placed her hand on his shoulders and he pulled her in closer by her waist.

"Hey baby." He whispered, his husky voice making butterflies to erupt in her stomach.

She felt his fingers ghost over her jawline and her eyes fluttered closed.

"How do you look so beautiful even early in the morning?" He groaned and she felt her cheeks heat up.

He laughed at her blushing self before leaning in closer to place a soft kiss on her heated cheeks, while stroking her jaw with his thumb.

“I love you.” he whispered, before brushing his lips against hers lightly. She pressed her lips against his as his hand moved towards the back of her head, gently pulling her even more closer to deepen the kiss.

She felt like she was on cloud nine, oh to wake up in the arms of your lover and to be kissed like nothing could stop you. But it was all shattered when Taemin’s phone rang, causing them to break the kiss.

He checked the phone’s caller id and kept it away, smiling at her apologetically.

She pursed her lips. She never bothered who called him, but judging from his expression she was sure of the person who had called her: Seulgi

“I’ll make breakfast, hmmm?” he offered, giving her one last kiss on her forehead before getting up and going to the bathroom.

She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to enjoy his presence and the way he had kissed her a few seconds before instead of thinking of Seulgi.

She realised that it had become a constant worry for her. She was always scared Taemin would leave her for Seulgi, her insecurities even more all thanks to her previous boyfriend. She was scared that she wasn’t enough for him, that she couldn’t express her love for him enough. After all, she had missed seeing how he loved her for almost eleven years of their friendship.

As Taemin exited the bedroom, she got up and walked into the bathroom and splashed some water on her face, trying to clear her thoughts. No. Taemin loved her. Why else would he keep loving her despite her having a boyfriend? Why else would he love her despite Seulgi showing him more love than she had?

She walked into the kitchen to the amazing smell of fried eggs and bacon, and she went and stood behind Taemin as he cooked.

Placing her head on his shoulder, she wrapped her arms around his waist and she felt him tense under her touch.

She giggled, as a memory of both of them came back to her mind.

“What’s so funny?” Taemin asked.

“Remember the time we were trying to bake a cake?” she asked, now standing beside him so that she could see his reaction.

His face broke into his signature smile, her heart fluttering once more. She loved his smile so much. She loved the way his cheekbones rose up and she loved the way his lips quirked up with his smile. Everytime he smiled, she just wanted to wrap him up in a soft warm blanket and kiss his button nose.

"Yes I remember. " he said softly, as he placed a peck on her lips. "You were so upset about it and it broke my heart. And then you didn't stop eating once we went to the cafe and I thought I would end up broke."

She laughed at the memory when an idea popped into her head.

"Taemin, there's a new restaurant I saw the day before yesterday. Can we go there for lunch?" She asked eagerly.

But her smile dropped as Taemin looked away, so that she couldn't see the guilt in his face.

"I-I can't. I have to still complete the project-"

"How long is the project?" She asked, stepping away from him, anger returning to her.

He refused to meet her eyes.

"Tell me, Taemin. What do you exactly do there with her-"

"It's not what you think!" He snapped, equally angry now.

"Look, I hate being away from you too. But we barely get any work done. We get sidetracked easily and there's nothing I can do about it!"

She opened her mouth to argue, but closed it immediately. Instead, she walked back to her bedroom and changed into slightly better clothes before walking back into the living room.

"Where are you going?" Taemin asked, as she walked towards the main door.

She didn't respond, she was still fuming inside.

Just before she could open the door, she felt Taemin grab her by the shoulder and turned her to face him, and slammed her against the door.

"Where are you going?" He growled.

On any other day, such a scene would have made her stomach roll and she would be craving for more of his touches and kisses.

But today, she was angry. No. She was furious.

"Why do you care?" She asked angrily, trying to push him off her.

Taemin never questioned where she went unless it was late at night, so she figured that he must be really angry with her too.

He opened his mouth but closed it, and instead sighed.

"Love." He said, his voice sounding strained. "I'm sorry, I swear. I really want to spend time with you but I need to get this project done too-"

"You finish this and come back to me." She said, shoving him away from her.

This time when she opened the door and slammed it shut, Taemin didn't stop her.

"He's always with her!" She said angrily, slamming the book shut.

Jongin raised an eyebrow at her. "So are you saying he's cheating?"

"No!" She said, and then huffed. That question had crossed her mind before, but she had pushed it away hastily.

"It's just that….he doesn't even spend time with me any more! I offered to go out and eat and he refused just because he had to meet her."

Jongin sighed. "You both need to talk it out, you know. And by talking, I mean actually talking and not just ending up in make out sessions without any conclusions being drawn."

She looked down.

"It's just that...when I'm in his arms it's like I forget everything. Even the reason why I'm angry with him." She said sadly.

"And that is exactly the problem between you both." Jongin said, closing his book shut too. "Both of you are so scared of losing each other, him because he couldn't get you before and you because your ex shattered you, that you both don't see the long term problem. You just see the short term solution as being able to enjoy each other's presence and then forget the long term problem that you need to talk about. You guys used to be so much better than this when you were just best friends. What happened?"

She rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming. "I don't know Jongin...I just...don't want to lose him."

Jongin reached out and patted her arm. "And he doesn't want to lose you either. So guys better talk okay? Kisses aren't going to solve the problems alone."

She gave him a weak smile.

"But he's going out probably for the whole day, when will I talk to him?"

"You can talk to him at Johnny's party right? He's coming too."

"Oh right. Then I better get going." She said and got up to go, but Jongin caught her arm.

"Watch this movie with me, please?"

She sighed.

"All right. Just one."

The party was so crowded that she badly wanted to get out of there.

Even though she and Taemin had come together, they were still at silent terms with each other and had parted away as soon as they came.

She had talked to some of her friends and drank a little, but soon she got bored as her mind kept wandering back to Taemin.

They had always spent their time in parties together, being the introverts they were. In fact, they had met for the first time at a party.

She smiled at the memory, as she remembered her five year old self offering the crying boy her half eaten cake.

The memory bought a stabbing pain in her heart, as she remembered how much she missed Taemin.

So she began looking for him in the crowd, sure that this was the best time to talk to him.

She knew she couldn't find him in the sea of students present, so she tried searching for the familiar faces of his classmates.

Finally, she found one and walked towards him.

"Hey Chanyeol. " she said, smiling at the tall boy.

He smiled back at her, moving closer towards her to listen to her sneak over the loud music.

"Hello. How are you? Care to have a drink?"

"No, thank you." She declined politely. "Have you seen Taemin?"

His smile fell a little. "You, uh, don't know?"

She suppressed the fear that was rising inside her.

"No. Why?"

Chanyeol looked away. "Um, they went that way." He said, pointing towards the darker side of the party.

She felt her stomach turn cold.

They? He couldn't mean-

Thanking Chanyeol, she made her way towards that direction, searching the crowd for her boyfriend.

Maybe it was because of the sudden closeness of the bodies, or maybe it was because she was panicking too hard because of what Chanyeol had said, she was finding it hard to breathe.

Unable to find Taemin, she turned around and was about to walk away when her eyes landed on the far corner of the room.

There, pinned against the wall was Kang Seulgi, heavily making out with her boyfriend.

A/N: Please do tell me what you think about this story!! I worked really hard on it and I would love to know everyone’s thoughts on it~ Comments and reblogs are appreciated!

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ladyeliot · 3 years

Photo

I’ll fix it

Pairing: Tony Stark x Avenger Female Reader.

Summary: Everything changed the day Tony Stark felt your body fall apart in his hands, from then on a struggle to try to bring you back to him began.

Warnings: Angst, Mentions of death. Time travel.

Word count: 6283

A/N: Avengers Endgame. Some of the dialogue is taken from the film. Sorry for my spelling and grammatical mistakes, English is not my native language, I am learning.

Reader’s abilities: Master Martial Artist, experienced in espionage, talented Hacker.

There was a turning point in Tony Stark’s life, that moment when everything changed, when like ashes you scattered through space, when your body disappeared leaving motes of your essence in his hands.

The battle to save humanity was lost the moment the time stone, protected by Doctor Strange, found its way into Thanos’ Gauntlet, leaving only a single chance to deal with a successful end to the final battle. All of you present had led the fight with acuity, but there was little you could do, you knew that as you fell one by one. Your bodies lay in the ruins of the once superpowered planet, waiting for someone with the will to continue fighting death, Tony was the last one standing until Thanos managed to strip him of his own Iron Man suit, stabbing him in the side with the sword Tony had created with his nanonites. Something snapped inside you, causing the relentless pain in your joints to fade and you managed to get up, before the wizard offered him the last stone and Quill unsuccessfully tried to stop him before Thanos vanished.

“Tony,” you whispered awkwardly reaching out to him, wrapping your arms around his body.

The exhaustion was such that you both let yourselves fall and ended up sitting in the ashes of that place. You brought your faces close together, facing each other, letting them rest, feeling your connection again. The bruises showed what you had suffered, open wounds that allowed blood to spread freely over every part of your face. You had just lost too much, it was a break between before and after, but the one thing you couldn’t bear to lose was him. Tony covered his cut with the last of his remaining nanonites, expressing an inward groan of relief, allowing himself to think again about what had happened.

“Why would you do that?” he muttered pleadingly, looking at Strange, who stood a few feet away from you.

“We are in the endgame now.”

That had a meaning, only Vision’s name came to mind, he was the only one who could stop that, the one who possessed the last stone, the mind stone.

Little by little, the reunion of those present was the only thing that eased the pain, you were all there, none of you had suffered worse consequences. The silence of the planet made your skin crawl, warning that this could happen to the earth if the snapping were to happen. You and Tony stumbled to your feet, watching as Peter came to you.

“Something’s happening,” your gaze connected with Mantis who had just said those words.

You had never felt so much fear inside you, until you saw how his body seemed to extrapolate and turn into ashes that disappeared moments later. The mental and bodily blockade came over everyone present, the terror professing itself through their features. Tony’s fingers clung to your right arm, barely moving from where Mantis was before he vanished.

You all looked around anxiously, hoping to find some answer to the event that had just occurred, but you only saw Drax turning to ashes, joint by joint disappearing.

“Quill?” Drax looked at him as little by little his friend’s body parts dissolved.

“Steady, Quill,” with those words Tony increased the pressure of his fingers on your arm, showing his own insecurity.

“Aw, man,” Quill whispered before melting into the wind.

It had happened, no one could have stopped him, Thanos had gotten the five infinity stones and had done the snap. No one present had any idea how it had happened, but it was clear, your worst fears had been realised.

“Tony,” Strange muttered, causing the few of you present to focus your gaze on him. “There was no other way.”

And so it was that another one turned to ashes. But it wasn’t over yet.

“Mr. Stark?” Tony and you noticed that Peter was starting to wobble, your gazes were horrified at him. “I don’t feel so good…”

“You are all right,” Tony’s words sounded confident, but hid the fear he felt inside.

“I don’t know what’s – I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t–” Peter managed to reach you, falling into Tony’s arms, who wrapped his arms around him and pinned him to the ground. “I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna go, Mr. Stark, please. Please, I don’t wanna go. I don’t wanna go…” his voice was broken with sobs. “I’m sorry.”

You walked away from the scene, holding your hands to your face as you watched your partner’s body disappear, leaving a void in its place. So, in that moment you realised that your terror was based on the loss of your loved ones, of your family that they had become, you were not afraid of disappearing, you were afraid of them disappearing. You staggered a few steps away, unable to come to terms with what you were witnessing at that very moment, although you didn’t have time either, as a faint tingling sensation appeared in your lower extremities.

“Tony…” a faint tone came from within you, but his reaction was immediate.

“No,” he said, standing up.

You’d never seen him look at you like that before, it broke you to contemplate his watery eyes and fully dilated pupils, expressing desperation, being unable to do anything about it to stop it.

“I…” your voice trailed off.

“I got you, I got you,” his voice was broken, but rigid. “I- I promise I’ll fix this, I’ll fix this.”

You could feel his arms around your body with intensity, the warmth of his body reaching yours, but it was only an instant before you stopped feeling everything and disintegrated into ashes in his hands.

The secular emptiness came a few seconds later to Tony, it was the moment when he understood what had happened and what it meant. He belonged to that 50% of the population that had a second chance, but you were that 50% that had turned to dust from one instant to the next. A feeling indescribable to his mind invaded every inch of his body, he was lost, looking around him, hoping that it was all a nightmare from which he could wake up, but it was clear that he was living in real life, because you were not the only one who disappeared. Completely shattered, he walked through the ruins looking for an answer, some sign to hold on to, to tell him what to do, but it never came.

Time became his enemy, what happened made him realise that every step without you is a moment of his life lost. First it was days, then weeks, then months, then years, he spent a long period of time working against the clock, looking for a way to solve what happened, to come back to you. Thousands of ideas were discarded without coming to a definitive conclusion that could counteract the effects of the snap. Tony knew that if he gave up it would mean losing you forever, the life you had imagined so many times, which you never got to because of the countless missions and obstacles along the way. You were almost on the verge of touching it with your fingers once, after all that happened in Sokovia and the signing of agreements you opted to embrace the simple life, but Thanos and the stones came along and shattered your lives.

Tony had converted the cabin he built for you and didn’t have time to show you, into his own lair. He spent the hours locked away, barely sleeping, at least for the first four years, then he declined, until one day, the light seemed to brighten and his old companions appeared, offering him one last chance to get what he was looking for.

“Now, we know what it sounds like…” Scott was leaning against the wooden porch.

“Tony, after everything you’ve seen, is anything really impossible?” Steve looked at him with concern, Tony’s appearance had deteriorated over the years. He looked exhausted and full of unresolved doubts.

“I must say I sometimes miss this foolish optimism,” he grimaced, a grimace resembling a smile. “Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?” his tone rose. “In Layman’s terms, it means you’re not coming home.” he paused. “What do you think I’ve been doing for these five years? Do you think I haven’t thought about it already?”

“I came back,” Scott interjected.

“No, you accidentally survived,” Tony cut him off. “It’s a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a…. What do you call it?”

“A time heist?” said Scott smiling nonchalantly.

“Yeah, a time heist. Of course,” Tony frowned putting his index finger to his lips. “Why didn’t we think of this before? Oh, because it’s laughable? Because it’s a pipedream?”

“When did you give up?” cut Steve off with rudeness in his tone of voice. “When did you give up? When did you give her up?”

Those were the words that made Tony rise from his seat, tilt his face to one side and force his facial expression.

“You have no idea,” she approached him, pointing her index finger at him. “Where have you been for these five years? Creating an armada of joint therapy groups? Has that helped?”

“Tony…” Natasha interjected, but he barely paid attention.

“While you were out here with your army of crybabies I was out here, day after night trying to find a solution to undo this mess we’ve created,” Tony paused, clenched his jaw and sighed deeply. “So don’t come to me now and say I’ve given it all up for lost.”

It was clear that Steve knew how to set Tony’s mind in motion, he knew where it hurt and how he could reignite their old friendship, it only took him naming you for him when the group left to pick up on every loose end he had created over those last few years.

It was hours of thought processes, of proposing to himself the quantum possibilities that could work, but more importantly the consequences, what could happen and what number of percentages existed to bring you all back. It didn’t take him long to come up with a way out, completely illogical to anyone except those who were as crazy as he was. So it was that after all this time he arrived at the New Avengers facility.

“Why the long face?” the car stopped in front of Steve. “Let me guess, it turned him into a baby.”

“Among other things,” Steve shoved his hands into his trousers pockets and looked straight ahead. “What are you doing here?”

“Not giving her up,” Tony shrugged and got out of the car, introducing himself to Steve, who smiled. “Mind you, I don’t plan to participate in any of your open tears.”

That opened a process of slow reconstruction of the events of the past years. It opened wounds, showed the aftermath, but also reunited all the Avengers who had managed to survive Thanos’ snap. The important thing is that there were enough Pym particles for a round trip for everyone present. But the important thing was to find out where the stones were located depending on the time.

They were fortunate, or rather lucky, that three of the stones met at one point in their own history in New York City, precisely during the Chitauri invasion. That was bound to cause a bitter memory for Tony, but it suddenly changed when he found out what it meant, he would go back there, he would do that mission, and you would be there. You were there when in 2012 the Avengers faced the invasion in New York, it was your first mission, when you were all recruited, when you met for the first time.

“Okay, we have a plan,” Steve reported after he had organised the teams. All eyes were focused on a screen showing the stones and their location. “Six stones, three teams, one shot.”

It was clear that what they were about to face was something completely new, none of them had had time to perhaps acquire the necessary skills to tackle this new job, new mission. It was back to the past, at least they had the advantage of knowing what the future held, of knowing what would be in store for them if they failed to succeed in their tasks.

“Five years ago, we lost.” Steve began a speech to his colleagues positioned in circles on the starting platform. “All of us. We lost friends… We lost family… We lost a part of ourselves,” Steve and Tony’s eyes met. “Today, we have a chance to take it all back.” he paused slightly. “You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. But it doesn’t mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we’re gonna win,” silence filled the room.“Whatever it takes. Good luck.”

After those words, which were encouraging for all the events that were to follow, a space loop embraced each of them, transporting them through time and space, rendering their matter insignificant. Their bodies separated between space cavities transporting them to the right time.

Tony, along with Bruce, Steve and Scott, appeared in an alleyway in New York City in 2012. The smell of dust and molten iron wafted into their nasal cavities. Everything around him was in ruins, the great skyscrapers looked like they were part of a film of the earth’s extinction, it reminded him of some of his worst fears, but it didn’t distract him because he knew how it was going to end.

“We all have our tasks,” Steve informed them, looking around at an overturned car. “Two stones on the outskirts, one in the centre. Keep a low profile,” he shifted his gaze to Tony, who nodded, raising his hands. “Keep an eye on the time.”

Given the orders the group made a point of dispersing, but Steve held Tony’s arm for a second, focusing his gaze on him.

“Are you going to be all right?” His blue eyes showed concern, including his voice as well.

“Of course,” he shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ve been through this once, I can do it again.”

With that said, Tony attached the Iron Man suit to his body and disappeared from the scene. Although his statement exuded self-assurance, he seemed to crumble a little when he reached the top of the Chrysler Building, finding himself in front of Stark Tower. His android vision allowed him to take in the scene taking place on the top floor of his old Tower. There stood the group of Avengers, surrounding Loki, holding him back, he knew that moment as if he had lived it only yesterday, but what almost made his heart stop was to find your figure there. The thrusters of his suit brought him closer to the Tower, accessing the interior through one of the open windows and keeping himself hidden behind some sculptures.

The suit disappeared from his body, becoming Tony Stark again, it was almost unheard of for him, there you were, as if time had never passed. His steps were slow, but he seemed to be completely lost, watching your every move, as if he had no job to do, and his only mission was to watch you. He could not escape the hundreds of memories that came back to him, he even felt guilty about numerous things he had said, done, or not said and done.

“Alright, who gets the wand?” you said holding up Loki’s sceptre.

Your words at that moment came to 2023 Tony with a wide smile, to hear your voice so close to him again and not through any electronic device made a lump form in his throat.

“Are you all right, dude?” Scott cut the moment short.

Tony realised at that very moment that Scott had been on his right shoulder the entire time, a fact that brought all his senses back into focus on the scene he was reliving. The lift opened, ushering in the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, who were actually Hydra, but none of you knew it at the time.

“All right, you’re up, little buddy. There’s our stone,” Tony whispered to Scott.

“All right,” Scott took up position on his partner’s shoulder. “Flick me.”

There Scott’s mission began, and he made his way to the Tony of the past to join him. The scene on the top floor of Stark Tower continued as if nothing strange was going on.

“You got it?” you asked the past Tony, watching as he put the tesseract into the briefcase.

“Yep,” he replied, closing the case and looking at you with a half smile.

“By the way, how about that drink afterwards Miss Y/L/N?”

“Interesting that you can think of a drink Mr. Stark,” you said crossing your arms over your chest.

“Oh, when I buy someone a drink I’m not just thinking about drinking,” he winked at you to which you narrowed your eyes and headed towards the lift with the other companions. “Is that a yes?”

“Well I try,” muttered the Tony of the present to himself, who inevitably couldn’t hold back a smile as he saw with his own eyes that moment and your way of rejecting it, for it was the beginning of too many things. So, as you all disappeared down the lift he too made his way to his new assigned position.

“ Okay, Cap, I got our scepter in the elevator just passing the 80th floor,” he informed Steve over the intercom. “I’ll head down the hall.”

Steve had his mission, to get the sceptre by pretending to be a Hydra agent in front of those who really were and were now guarding the briefcase. Meanwhile, Tony took over one of the security uniforms of the Shield agents, to impersonate one of them and get the briefcase that had the tesseract inside that was now in the possession of the former Tony.

The avengers arrived at the lobby, Scott in thumb size’, that’s what Tony liked to call him, had to get inside the reactor of his victim to produce a small shock, and so everyone would focus their gaze on the old Tony, while the one from 2023 got hold of the briefcase, but things didn’t go as planned.

“I’m looking forward to going to Shawarma Palace,” Tony was standing next to you, “We could take it as our first date, what do you think?”

“Interesting,” you said, barely looking at him but with a slight smile on your face, “It’ll be great to say that genius billionaire Tony Stark asked me out for shawarma on our first date.”

“You forgot about philanthropist and Playboy,” he added, raising an eyebrow.“So that’s… Oh, Mr. Secretary!”

The conversation with Shield’s superior began, it was the ideal time where Scott had the opportunity to carry out his mission, for the tesseract was disappearing at that moment, and it would be tricky to access it again.

“All right, move it, Stuart Little. Things are getting dicey up here. Let’s go,” Tony informed Scott over the intercom.

It looked like everything was going down the drain, as Scott was in trouble for giving him a cardiac arrhythmia, however, everyone was stunned when at that moment Tony’s body stopped, and then began to convulse and fall to the ground. Your expression suddenly changed, as did the others.

“Tony?” you asked, dropping down beside Tony, worried about what was happening to him.

“Medics!” exclaimed the Tony Stark of 2023, taking in the scene. “You guys, some help!”

“Talk to me,” you said grabbing his face, which was completely flushed since he couldn’t breathe.

“Aw, she’s worried,” the present Tony muttered to himself.

“Is that the machine in your chest?” Thor, who was standing next to him, asked.

Meanwhile Scott, who had emerged from the reactor in the chest of the Tony of the past, pushed hard on the briefcase so that the Tony of the future could take it in his hands and go in search of a way out, but in that instant the Hulk suddenly appeared knocking Tony down, opening the briefcase, making the tesseract fly out and land at the feet of Loki who took it in his hands and disappeared.

“Come on Tony breathe,” you said looking at Thor hoping he would do something about it.

“I’ll try something, but I don’t know if it will work,” Thor brought his hammer to Tony’s chest, specifically the reactor and offered him a small shock, bringing the air back into his lungs. “Yes!”

“Whew, that worked a treat,” he said between gasps, looking at both of us. “Dude, that was crazy,” he thought. “The case.”

“Uhh, the case is…” Thor looked around.

“Where is the case?” you asked getting up trying to intercept him with your gaze.

“Where is Loki?” exclaimed Thor. “Loki!”

Meanwhile, ten meters away from the scene, the Tony from the future was completely knocked to the ground, after the Hulk knocked him down.

“Oh, we blew it,” Tony said without barely getting up, listening to all the conversation you had a few feet away.

The Tony of the future got up and opted to walk through the door leading to the stairs before anyone noticed him, for due to the Hulk’s untimely and shocking appearance, there were hardly any people left in the hall, apart from the Avengers and the Shield agents, of which he was undercover. However, as he was walking down a long corridor on the third floor, something stopped him.

“Excuse me agent,” your voice appeared as if it were an apparition behind him, causing him to stop his steps. “I must ask you to stay in the hall, we need to question everyone present in case we find evidence of what just happened.”

This was completely new, Tony hadn’t experienced it, he didn’t know what was going to happen or how he would best act on this occasion, but he knew that if he turned around you would most likely recognise him, as the black helmet and goggles barely covered his face, leaving the lower part of his face uncovered. At the same time, you kept a SIG Sauer P226 in your hand just at hip level, waiting at all times to watch the reactions of the man in front of you.

“Of course,” said Tony, changing his tone of voice slightly, making it deeper than usual, but still he just kept his position, his back to you.

“Could you turn around and come with me?” you asked with a frown, brushing your fingers over the gun and feeling a bad feeling inside you, for there was something that didn’t sit right with you.

Tony took a deep breath and lowered his face, there were a thousand ideas running through his mind right now, he didn’t know which one was worse than the last, so he connected several pieces and took one that would produce some personal gain, for worse than they were already, perhaps, things couldn’t get any worse.

“Are you sure?”

Slowly Tony’s body turned 180 degrees to face you. His features were obvious, his brown eyes accompanied by honey-coloured flecks, his beard so neatly trimmed, and those full lips, all 100% Tony Stark. But it was obvious to you that this was a trap, Loki had disappeared and you were aware of his every ability to deceive, after all he was the master of mischief. You didn’t stop for a moment to take the gun in your hands and point it firmly in his face, you had a clean shot.

“Loki…” you whispered frowning and squinting one eye to improve your aim.

“Not exactly,” Tony held up his hands retreating back a step, but showing no nervousness at all at the situation. “God, how I resent you mistaking me for him.”

It was at that precise moment, when he had you two metres away pointing a gun to his head, that he realised how long those five years had been, five years without being able to look at your face, without hearing your voice, without your caresses, without your kisses… for which he would die in those moments of your gunshot. He found himself with his hands raised, his body totally paralysed and his lips half-open, in love with you. You were not really the woman he had left behind, it was 2012 and many of your features were changed, but it was you.

“Where is the tesseract?” you asked, bringing him back to his senses. “What have you done with it?”

“That’s what I want to know,” he replied casually and slowly lowered his hands, knowing that bullet wasn’t going to be fired at him.

Tony’s mind worked fast, he was quick in his thoughts and in his actions, although sometimes that could get him into serious trouble because of the consequences of his actions, so he had no idea what he was doing at that moment, because his whole body was begging him to have a meeting with you and so he did. Now it was time to figure out where to go with the situation, but Tony was not a great planner, he flowed with time.

“By the way, did you get rid of that damn FBI agent yet? What was his name?” Tony knew how to test you to make you realise he wasn’t Loki. “Ah yes, Agent Chatter, god, how I hated him. I would have loved to see you spill champagne all over his scalp.”

“How do you… How do you know that?” your voice sounded gruff, but quizzical at the same time, even though you had no intention of conversing with him you were curious as to how the hell he had found out that information, as Tony was the only one who called Matthew ‘Agent Chatter’.

“You told me,” he said taking a step towards you, closing the distance, causing you to back away. “I told you, I’m not Loki.”

“I’ve never told anyone what happened with Matthew,” your breath hitched as you realised you didn’t understand what was going on.

“Well, you haven’t really told me yet,” he narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to one side.

You remained thoughtful for a couple of seconds. “I know exactly what you’re doing,” you tightened your grip on the gun, your hands beginning to sweat. “Your mind games aren’t going to work on me.

The moment was complex to explain, Tony had hundreds of possibilities to offer you in that moment and for you to discover that it wasn’t Loki in front of you, he knew how he could deal with the situation, but he wanted you to be the one to figure it out for yourself. He was playing with fire, he knew better than anyone how space-time worked, but he had an ace up his sleeve, an ace that Steve was carrying at that moment and he would use it later.

Tony slowly brought his hands to his face, causing you to fix your aim again with his moments, you feared what he might do next, for anything was to be expected with Loki, but Tony merely removed his helmet and goggles, dropping them to the ground exposing his full face to you.

A strange feeling came over your body, it was obviously a familiar face, you had spent numerous hours with Tony Stark in the previous weeks, but it wasn’t really your Tony standing before you. The features looked aged, more wrinkles were in the key parts of his face, grey hair was showing through his hair and also in his beard. Concentrating on analysing each of his features made you soften your grip on the gun.

"It’s me,” he murmured, making another attempt to move towards you, and succeeded, bringing the barrel of the gun down on his chest, clattering against his reactor. He gingerly reached out his arm, reaching up to your face and brushing aside a lock of your hair. “I can’t explain too much, but…”

“Tony?” a new voice joined your encounter, snapping you out of your abstraction. “What are you doing?”

Again you put distance between you and Tony, wary of what had just happened and rather guilty for letting yourself be bamboozled by Loki. You looked at the Captain who was coming from the far end of that long hallway and was just now standing metres away from you.

“It’s not Tony, Captain, it’s one of Loki’s tricks,” you explained without looking away from Tony who was looking at Steve a little guilty about the situation that had been created. “Captain, warn the others, inform them that we have Loki on the third floor of the west wing.”

“I. Am. Not. Loki,” Tony qualified each of his words somewhat irritated that you still believed it was Loki. “Can you tell her Cap?”

“Tony, what the hell are you doing?” Steve used a gruff tone, now the one who sounded irritated was him, as he was unaware of where Tony’s plans were headed.

“Shit,” Tony whispered turning his gaze towards him.“When they put that serum in your veins they offered you the gift of inopportunity, didn’t they?”

For you everything was much more confusing, your quick analysis of the situation and the two figures that stood before you had many gaps of information. You knew those guys, you had spent more hours of your life with them than with your family, you had studied them, you had analysed them and really that Steve and Tony that were before you were not the same guys, and there was only one Loki, both could not be Loki, at least within your logic, although with Loki anything goes. But what you realised was that the captain was holding the sceptre, why was the captain holding the sceptre right now?

“I’m sorry Tony, but we have to go,” he repeated firmly, which brought you back to reality.

“I don’t think either of you are going anywhere,” you quickly pulled a new pistol from the back of your suit, two guns for two people standing in front of you.

That elicited a sigh of disgust from Steve, who raised his hands, raising the sceptre in one hand and the shield in the other, halting his stride in his tracks.

“What was your bright idea Tony?” he asked seriously.

“I don’t know Cap, you know I like to improvise,” he shrugged his shoulders without taking his eyes off you, raising his hands and giving you a wide and warm smile, which didn’t affect you at all.

“Great, so improvise if you don’t want me to,” Steve sentenced him without moving from his position.

“She’s mine,” Tony slowly brought his hand to his chest, where he offered himself a couple of taps and the armour ran over every millimetre of him, covering his limbs.

Was Loki really capable of that? Confusion engulfed you, it had all your senses alert, your mind asking a hundred questions you couldn’t answer. But if it’s not any of them Loki who are they?

Tony looked at Steve’s sceptre, that was the only key way out he could think of, but since he had laid all his cards on the table, he wasn’t going to leave without doing one thing first, so he started to close the gap with you.

“If you take one more step…” you began to say, backing down the long corridor of Stark Tower.

“Honey, surely my 2012 self would punch me if he knew his 2023 self was going to do what I’m about to do,” he started to approach you which made you stand on guard, “since I’d take all the credit away from him, because he won’t do it for another two years or so, but…” between the words and his approach you blocked and pulled the trigger of the gun pointed at him, causing the bullet to hit and fall to the ground. “Hey! That hurt, well, not physically, but you just hurt my feelings.”

“Don’t come any closer…” you muttered, aiming both pistols at Iron Man’s armour.

Your gesture was profoundly in vain, as your footsteps stopped and Tony was close enough to grab the pistols tightly and wrestle them out of your hands, throwing them into the distance, unable for you to avoid. At that exact moment, Iron Man’s suit disappeared, allowing you to look at him again, much closer than the first time. You didn’t know if it was a mind game, but you could almost feel a strange connection between your gazes, the way he looked at you as if he wanted to tell you something, as if he was hiding a long way in them.

“God, I’d almost forgotten what your face…” Tony’s words were inconclusive, but he voiced a smile at the end of them.

What? you wanted to ask out loud, it was so strange, so incomprehensible to you that you were almost terrified at that moment. His eyes looked at you as if they had known you all your life, as if you had lived too many moments together to remember them all, and you just wanted to ask him about it, but you did not. Tony’s arm was around your waist before you could even react and he pulled you close to him, his lips firmly against yours. For Tony it was one of the best sensations of his life, every limb seemed to fill with energy, his skin bristled, he placed his other hand on your back preventing you from fleeing if you had any intention of doing so. He felt your body scent envelop him again after so many years away from you and it brought a lump to his throat. He didn’t want to separate from you, he couldn’t separate from you, he was terrified inside, he could hardly move his lips, for he feared you would run away if he did.

On your part it was something completely unexpected that you didn’t know how to carry out, it seemed that your common sense was lost somewhere, as if it had extrapolated from your body and didn’t act. Your eyes remained open for the first few seconds, observing the nothingness, but when you felt his second hand on your back to bring you closer to him, they closed very slowly, as if you expected to receive an answer from this act to your numerous doubts. You held still, with no intention of separating yourself from him. You wouldn’t deny that you hadn’t thought about what it would be like to kiss Tony Stark, but that wasn’t the Tony Stark you knew.

It was time that decided when to end it, Tony’s face was the one that put distance, but his minus was still glued to your back. He leaned his forehead against yours, exposing his ragged breath against your face.

“Who are you?” you whispered against his lips without opening your eyes yet.

Tony pulled back a few inches, opened his eyes and brought his hands to your face analysing every facial feature before him, running his thumb over your cheeks and lips.

“I promise I’ll fix it,” he whispered feeling himself. “It’ll be all right.”

“What… What will be alright?” your hesitation felt present in your words, it was incomprehensible what he was saying.

“I…” began Tony.

As if the breath stopped in your lungs, you took one last exhale before everything went dark and you hips surrendered in Tony’s arms. The tip of the sceptre had grazed your body causing you to enter a deep sleep from which when you awoke you would possibly think that everything you had experienced was a dream, or that it was really Loki who was playing with you.

“It would have been rather more gentlemanly of you to let me do it,” Tony looked at Steve spitefully as he held your body in his hands.

A fearful sigh escaped Tony’s lips as he carefully laid your body on the floor and ran his palm over his face, facing a voice that told him he couldn’t leave.

“Tony, we can’t leave any loose ends,” Steve whispered as he watched Tony continue to hold you in his arms. “I know how much you want to get back to her. So the sooner we get this over with, the sooner you’ll be reunited,” Steve rested his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “By the way, where do you have the tesseract?”

“Interesting question…”

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aks3raao1 · 3 years

Note

Uhhh, well first there was this torture game involving my family (everyone died in front of my eyes by different methods(Mom: Hand mangled, infected and blood loss; Grandpa: Pecked by a bird, crushed by an aeroplane, Rest killed off screen by drowning in a flooded chamber)) and then I went to Egypt to look for a cure with Shuichi Saihara and Korekiyo and Shuichi was telling me a story about how two rivals became two rivals (which was exactly what had happened in the beginning of the dream where Nagito talked about his love™ for Hajime except he introduced a fan of the spy character (me) and made the spy character a male) which caused me to become wary of him. Then we all reached the Pyramids where there were people cosplaying the gods from the Egyptian Pantheon and Korekiyo began monologuing on The Book Of The Dead (which talked about resurrection due to dream logic apparently). And Shuichi and I became extremely involved in that resurrection drama. Shuichi was also trying to unlock the mystery behind Korekiyo and he is a serial killer who kills girls to send as "friends" to his deceased sister. However there are multiple theories behind what actually happened which Shuichi talks about later on) while I was more interested in the resurrection and the ways to do so.

And then there was an abrupt scene change to my school which had opened after the quarantine (and I was weirdly relieved because I had successfully done something but after the teacher thing, it became apparent that the success wasn't about school) and my mom was somehow alive again but I was shown to be staring at her hands and remembering what had happened (I had memories of the last two incidents) while she was just being normal and called a teacher to ask about me while I shrunk away (#just student things) and our school resembled a church in the middle of a garden type thing. There were white chairs laid out and I remember thinking that they looked like gravestones and shivered and then told mom that I was going inside because I didn't want to think about *that* now.

Our school looked....weird to say the least. They had renovated it so everything felt wrong because the colours were darker and earthy instead of the light ones I was used to and the stairs were all arranged differently as well. I grabbed a friend and we both went to find our class. Instead of two sections, we had four sections now and were very confused where to sit because we hadn't been informed of it prior to this. We sat down in a random section and I began doing my English work (which I had actually been doing when I fell asleep irl) but the time came and went and no one entered the class (Class eight for some reason), so we realised that we had made a mistake and we remembered that we were in ninth and I was like, "Oh fuck, the time is nearer than I thought" and we ran to our actual class where our classmates were. She went and started talking to another friend and I was left alone to find a seat. I saw Makoto Naegi (Protagonist of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc) who looked extremely nervous for some reason and said in narration,

"All the protagonists have been sent back in time to steer their respective classes away from the Killing Games and prevent the apocalypse before it starts. Will they be able to do it?"

Then the POV went over to Shuichi who had extremely distorted memories from the Killing Game was playing Detective on himself to figure out what they meant. He remembered that he desperately needed to figure out what was going on with Korekiyo, that Tsumugi was important and that Kokichi was dangerous but the other memories were too disjointed for him to figure out.

He tries to get Kokichi who's trying to. Uh, nail Tsumugi to the bulletin board with actual nails and hammers. Shuichi's horrified and believes that Kokichi is the one responsible for his Killing Game due to this kind of malicious attitude (and also because Tsumugi is a damned good actor at playing the victim + she might not be actually planning the Killing Game then) and he tries to actually restrain Kokichi who sees Shuichi and flees while Tsumugi falls to the ground crying. Shuichi runs over to comfort her and thinks of how Kokichi while pranking others never felt malicious at all but now he realises that he could have made a mistake. However it's also implied that he wants to get information about why Kokichi behaved the way he did since he obviously knows more than he lets on.

POV shifts over to Kokichi for a brief moment to show that he's the one with all memories intact but he cannot divulge them for game balance.

Then we see Shuichi who has remembered Korekiyo's case and is devising two theories on it:

a) Korekiyo is a loony delusional serial killer who loves to kill girls and is just using his own sister as an excuse (who he has killed himself too)

b) His sister was a dangerous psychopath (visualised by her turning into a snake and wrapping herself around his body in a sexual manner while he's in pain™) and that she emotionally manipulated him to do this and her ghost didn't abandon him even when he died.

As he's ruminating on this, the POV shifts to Hajime who's talking to Nagito and Chiaki and has a brief flashback to his time as Izuru Kamakura.

Now this is a divergence from actual canon in terms of backstories as we see Hawks grab Izuru and tell him that he will make him feel (in a fatherly found family way) something. A time period elapses where there is a part where Hawks takes Izuru to a fair and is talking about how great chicken nuggets and other chicken dishes are while Izuru emoily licks an ice-cream.

At the end of the time period, Izuru claims that he still can't feel anything and Hawks goes, "Well....I failed then" and flies him to a rooftop. Izuru is confused slightly when Hawks bends over him (no, not sexually, enough sex is enough) and then blood splatters onto Izuru's face and he realises that Hawks is bleeding from a fatal wound and that he had done that to save Izuru from being attacked. Hawks falls down, heavily injured as Izuru sits up and sees Tanizaki who's somehow an assassin here and is flying as well somehow. Izuru asks Hawks why he did this since Izuru could have saved himself too and then Hawks goes, "Because I am a hero", not really expecting Izuru to react much. (Note that chronologically, an apocalypse is going on now and Tanizaki has probably fallen into Despair and Hawks is tryna save the world or whatever). However Izuru does react and starts crying because this is the first time anyone saw him as a person who needs to be saved too.

It's implied that Hawks died here in actual memory but then Hajime pushes forth and invents a part where Hawks actually doesn't die there and instead gets up and fights Tanizaki.

Now Hawks's death was the reason Izuru wanted to save the world (mine was my family, Shuichi's was basically everyone but mostly Korekiyo, Makoto's was everyone), but since Hajime wanted to save everyone, he wanted to save Hawks as well.

However if he saved Hawks, then his reason to save others would vanish in that instant, causing a paradox and things to be reset.

Then I woke up with the message that, "Our traumas along with our happy times influence who we are now".

.............you be waking up to life lessons daily mah dude * finishes popcorn and claps* talk abt inspiring. Other than that, do you need a hug?

#danganronpa #mha #danganronpa x mha #dream #danganronpa dream #bnha #crossover #Hawks #shuichi saihara #kokichi ouma #drv3 korekiyo #izuru kamukura #our traumas along with our happy times influence who we are now

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juliettalfacharlie · 3 years

Text

Day 5, alt: "I'm sorry."

CW illness, vomiting, and injury. Shameless plug for the house I designed.

Kya awoke to the sound of violent retching, and she immediately threw off the covers and hurried down the hall. Lin had begun a new medication for chronic pain. A lifetime spent on the police force meant her body had been bruised and battered more times than Lin could begin recalling, and her spinal discs had worn out far more rapidly than others her age. She experienced pain and stiffness, which otherwise would have had a chance of being manageable, but she also had weakened muscle control and infrequent numbness in her legs. She'd been forced to retire years before she'd ever planned, and it had been extremely difficult for her to cope with.

Walking had become a challenge on the worst days, and even when she retained feeling in her lower body, she felt fiery pain in her back whenever she moved. The spine wasn't an area with abundant bloodflow, and healing couldn't repair collagen; Kya was absolutely miserable watching her struggle, unable to assist in any physical way.

Lin was nauseous in the late afternoon, a few hours after taking the pills. She'd insisted on sleeping in the guest room so she wouldn't wake Kya if she felt ill. Kya had firmly opposed, but Lin wouldn't be swayed. In the end, Kya gave in, hoping it was just because Lin believed she'd weather the illness better alone.

Now, standing atop the wrong carpet, looking into the wrong bathroom, Kya was filled with extreme regret over not fighting her more. Lin was leaning heavily on the sink, forearms supporting most of her weight. Her legs trembled, as she was clearly experiencing partial paralysis, and her chest shook with heaving breaths. The room was almost pitch black, like she hadn't had the time to turn on the light before she heaved into the basin.

"Lin?" Kya called, voice soft. She couldn't be sure if Lin was aware of her presence, incapacitated as she was.

Her girlfriend gagged though nothing came up. She grunted, trying to clear her throat. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" she asked, uncharacteristically quiet. Her throat was horribly sore. "I should have gone to the treehouse."

Kya had moved to Lin's side, and she froze, horrified. "Losing an hour of sleep is nothing compared to you struggling without any support." she chided, wiping sweat from Lin's cool forehead.

"I shouldn't need support, it's only emesis." the younger woman countered, hands clenched into fists. Kya hardened, easily seeing through Lin's spiked boldness.

"If you're sick, I want to be there. Please don't try and hide it from me. I shouldn't have let you sleep alone." Kya murmured, carefully rubbing a hand over Lin's shoulders.

The metalbender shuddered, eyes fluttering shut. Her brows were pinched, and Kya couldn't tell if it was due to physical discomfort or a conflict of emotions. Lin had never wholly embraced being taken care of, and it had worsened immensely as her body began to break down.

Lin's muscles tensed, once again heaving into the sink. Her stomach had emptied itself of her lunch, and instead she coughed up a surge of bile.

The sting in her throat made her gag, gut twisting painfully. She swiped at the faucet handles, turning the tap on full blast.

Kya bent water around the basin, cleaning the sides, before she brought a globe of fresh water to Lin's face. Her wife opened her mouth and rinsed out the taste, then Kya also sent that down the drain.

Lin instinctively wiped her mouth though it was dry, before rubbing away the tears that had formed in the corner of her eyes. Kya shut off the water, keeping a small amount on her palm, and she raised her hand to Lin's neck.

The younger woman tilted her chin up just so, allowing Kya access to heal the irritation along her throat. It was a process that only took a few moments, and soon enough Lin was clean and well once again.

Lin struggled off of her forearms, pressing her palms into the counter as she slowly straightened her back. She exhaled in pain, eyes once again falling shut.

"Will you come back to bed with me?" Kya asked, and Lin nodded once, holding one arm out.

Wordlessly, Kya slipped under it, supporting some of Lin's weight as she stood fully.

The first steps Lin took were terribly shaky, knees and ankles not bending correctly, but Kya was used to the imbalance. She tightened her arm around Lin's ribs, helping her break through the stiffness. By the time they were in the hallway, Lin had more control over herself, and she stopped hanging off of Kya's neck.

The pace was slow, neither wanting to risk a misstep, but with tired minds the time seemed to pass by quickly anyways.

Kya brought Lin to the edge of their bed, carefully letting her sit. The earthbender's face was still tight with pain.

"Uh, would you mind getting the warming balm?" Lin whispered, and Kya quickly replied in the positive.

A mix of camphor and menthol seemed to the the only relief for Lin's back pain, as she didn't typically want to try ingestible pain reliever. This night was the first time she'd caved, though it clearly hadn't helped; Kya would certainly have a word with Lin's physician come morning.

Jars of the salve were kept across the house, and Kya grabbed the one kept inside the nightstand. It was most frequently replaced, as any niggling pain made it difficult for Lin to sleep.

Lin reclined and turned onto her side, back facing Kya. The waterbender unscrewed the lid, taking a healthy dollop onto her finger before she set the container on the bedside table. She slid her clean hand under Lin's t-shirt, pushing it up her back.

Neither woman spoke as Kya rubbed the salve into Lin's muscles, trying to ease some of the tension within. It was relieving that Lin had asked for help in the first place. When she was tired she was still prone to shutting Kya out, as she'd done at first, but a lot of progress had been made regarding clear communication. Lin's progressive decline had caused a hiccup in their seamless coexistence, though it never affected their relationship beyond a few hours of brooding here and there.

As the balm began to take effect, Lin's back finally relaxed. Kya felt the tension slowly ebb until she'd all but melted into the mattress, clearly exhausted.

Kya removed her hands, pulling Lin's top down to cover the balm. One hand lingered atop Lin's hip as she leaned in, placing a kiss on the back of Lin's neck.

"Thank you." Lin spoke, gravely and weak. When she cleared her throat Kya could imagine the pinched annoyance on her face.

"You're welcome. Of course, Lin," Kya responded, "All I want is for you to feel like you can rely on me for help." she said.

Lin slowly turned onto her back, taking Kya's hand in hers. "It isn't that I don't trust you. I hope you don't think that," she sighed, considering her words. She’d been silently working to articulate her feelings, not wanting Kya to ever doubt her role in Lin’s life.

"It's- I'm telling you, it's all me. I've always been against letting people see my... imperfections, or- weaknesses. Weaknesses. You know my retirement was hard, and spirits, the press. But what felt even worse was just, how.... you were so understanding, always. I'd have a bad day and you would simply work around it, like it was no big deal. You stayed with me during Vesak instead of spending it on the island, and I was terrible to you that day. I felt so much loathing for myself, and I still do. I'm so grateful to have you, but I- it's," she paused, a noise of frustration in her throat. It was hard enough to procure the words to what she was feeling, but she was also extremely mindful not to say something that could be taken harmfully. She went over her thoughts to weed out phrases that sounded ungrateful, or implied she didn’t trust Kya, as it was the opposite of what she wanted to communicate.

Despite the silence, Kya didn't speak; Lin was telling her, it wasn't a conversation. The metalbender needed to voice her thoughts without comment. Any words of affirmation refuting her statements only made her retreat. Kya was able to show Lin, later on, how she herself saw things differently.

"I never saw myself having this future. Not only the retirement part, however awful it's been, but our relationship. When we were younger it was because of our ages, but even when you came out I didn't think you'd ever look my way. While I wasn't romantically attracted to you, I always pictured you finding that perfect partner; brilliant, beautiful, selfless, adventurous, maybe even someone who shared your terrible sense of humour. Whoever it was, she’d have all of your wonderful qualities as well. I think- I’ve been putting far too much pressure on myself to live up to that, I suppose,” Lin was partially speaking aloud for herself at that point, voicing niggling thoughts and realizing their truth. “I’m sorry I’ve been difficult.” she mumbled, though it was the wrong thing to say.

Kya tsk’d, “You’re not allowed to apologize for being upset or feeling unwell.” she reminded firmly, and Lin squeezed her hand.

“I’m sorry I tried to hide from you, then. You don’t deserve that.” Lin corrected.

“I’m glad you’re speaking to me now. I know everyone copes in their own ways, and I understand your silence, but if you need help it’s pertinent I know,” the waterbender said, scooting closer to Lin’s side, “You’re aware of it, and I know you’re trying. I’m not upset.” she emphasized, and Lin turned her head into Kya’s chest.

“I love you.” she said, bringing their joined hands up to shoulder-level. Come morning she’d hopefully be able to explain more, but she’d exhausted both her mental and physical reserves. Sensing it, Kya’s other arm went around Lin’s stomach. She was halfway-sideways and halfway on her stomach, laying atop her girlfriend, and Lin enjoyed her warm weight.

“I know.” Kya replied, tucking her chin down on the crown of Lin’s head. “I love you too.” she murmured, finally letting her eyes fall shut.

#i began this on the 4th & thought i was very well ahead #i was wrong #kyalin #lin beifong #kya lok #angstpril #cw mental health

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iamnightduchess · 3 years

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Hi Queen ❤

I love your headcanons so much and I don’t know if you’ve ever done one of these, but I’d really like to imagine what it would be like if Mikasa and Reiner fell in love after the end of the manga, what this discovery would be like and how they would deal with this!

(Forgive me for my lousy english hahaha)

Hello dear, thank you for the Ask! 💖 It really helps me to envision a more ideal post-ending universe because the potential ending right now does not look promising that both of them will somehow survive (together) because I am foreseeing one of them voluntarily dies to save another person. I hope i'm wrong! 😢 I've only done a tiny snippet of ReiKasa in this Post-Rumbling HC AU. But, here's what I envision how it could possibly be IF they survive & they happen:

Reiner x Mikasa (ReiKasa) Post-Rumbling AU (Gen) Headcanon #16

Before we delve into Post-Rumbling period, it's interesting to observe the tiny moments where the seeds of trust and possibly, love between these two former enemies turned allies might have possibly begun sprouting.

The Rumbling

We've seen the way Reiner had implied on the plane in ch.133, how Eren might want to be stopped by someone. Reiner was using himself as a pretext; an example. If HE was the one with the FT & somehow finding himself unable to control it, he'd want to be stopped by someone he knows is capable of doing so (someone more powerful & stronger than he is) When he said that sentence, he was gazing at Mikasa.

There are 2 implications here, i) He is indirectly admitting in front of everyone that Mikasa is his weakness, like a failsafe. The one he knows who can take him down if he's the one with this enormous power & he's losing control, ii) Because to him, ever since they were younger, Eren is her family & a sensitive subject to her. Him voicing out his opinion and indirectly hinting that Eren is beyond the path of no return will hurt Mikasa's feelings & emotional state.

During the Paths Intermission, the moment Eren basically told the alliance to go fuck themselves, that he will keep moving forward for his freedom, while the alliance members are free to fight him if that is what they want; Reiner was horrified to know that Eren basically confirmed his deduction & how much pain and devastation Mikasa would be in upon receiving the awful truth from Eren himself. Even after pleading to Eren to let her share the burden of his sins, which as direct as it could have been to "I don't want to be so far from you. I want to be with you through both light & darkness inside of you. Please come back to us." Mikasa still believed that the previous Eren that she knew is still there somewhere, which is no longer the case.

The shock-induced tears in Mikasa's eyes - seeing her in pain, hurts Reiner too. He'd knew how heartbroken she would be.

In Ch.135, when everyone was on the verge of dying as they're losing the battle with the raised forms of past titan shifters, Mikasa reached her breaking point & Reiner felt helpless, because he was at his last limit & Mikasa was planning to make herself the primary target just to buy the rest a little bit more time.

There's this woman who's fighting towards an expected death in front of him - any man would be an idiot for not seeing how foolish yet selfless and brave this last female warrior of Paradis was. She's always been a fearless woman who has their backs and protects their fronts. He has never stopped respecting this woman. This might have been the starting point for that seed to have sprouted inside Reiner.

If Annie's timely rescue never came and they truly met their end there, the only regret Reiner has was he couldn't do anything else but watch this woman's final moments without being able to do anything to support her before his own ensuing end.

When Levi, Jean and Connie all collectively & firmly agrees that killing Eren is the only thing that stands between the world's survival, Reiner was silent the whole time. He believed he has no right to say anything, but he saw the vulnerable look on her face the moment Jean reiterated their ultimatum: "We need to kill Eren."

Reiner did what he does best: he took charge. When Reiner told her, "You go help Armin." He was indirectly telling her, "You do what you can. I will shoulder your burden with Jean. Let me be the strength for you to do what needs to be done." This was Reiner's way of telling her, he will carry her burden for her and shelter her from an unbearable pain. Just like how she told Eren much earlier in Paths. Reiner's indirectly telling Mikasa that she's important to him too.

This was the moment that the seed had sprouted within her heart. She realized that Reiner's communicating to her in the way only she would understand. How much she feels for Eren, Reiner feels for her in the same way because you can't give a reason why you care for or love someone. You just do. It just happened without signs. Annie, however, was able to catch that short but impactful interchange between them.

Post-Rumbling

They barely survive the last stand against Eren's final form but they did with Ymir's divine intervention in Humanity's New Dawn.

Reiner sustains extremely heavy injuries on his physical body. Mikasa is emotionally & psychologically affected by Eren's true death.

The remaining humanity struggles to rebuild from the ashes of destruction. It was beyond devastation. The world is almost completely annihilated but hope is a powerful energy. Hope persists.

Reiner sees her grieving - like a pair of wheels suspended in motion - trapped while the rest of the world moves around her. She refuses to eat, she barely sleeps but when she does, she would toss and turn around restlessly. Annie tells him in passing that when Mikasa sleeps, her body contorts and freezes simultaneously like she's in a lot of pain.

Seeing her drifting through the days like a soulless vessel pains him a lot. No one could humanly survived what she had to go through without serious ramifications towards her emotional and psychological state. Mikasa becomes withdrawn and sullen.

Yet, he retains his distance like he always does & watch silently from the sides as Annie, Armin & Jean tried to reach out to her to no avail. Reiner himself is haunted by his failed attempt to hold the Founder's original form down that, in a way, had forced Mikasa to do what needs to be done. He feels responsible that he couldn't prevent her from having to go through those painful yet pivotal moments of securing humanity's survival. The day the alliance managed to save the world, well, the world that she built for Eren inside her heart was destroyed in return.

One day, she mysteriously disappears without trace. A panicking Armin searches on his own but Annie tells Reiner that Mikasa's missing, nowhere to be found. Reiner and Armin later found her at the crater where Eren's last resting place had been. The exact same location where she had to slay him with her own two blades.

Mikasa says that she just feels lost and empty. Like there's a huge dark void inside her body that she can't escape from. She just sits there amongst the dust and debris, staring blankly at a makeshift, unmarked grave. She confides that she's terrified of falling asleep because she sees Eren's face in her nightmares.

Armin wants to console her but Annie holds him back as she notices Reiner already making his way forward and settles himself next to her. Armin understands what Annie was trying to do.

Reiner only tells Mikasa, "You don't have to do this alone...Lean on us." He offers his hand, despite knowing she wouldn't even touch him. "When you feel that you can no longer breathe, I'll breathe for you. If you feel like you're drifting, I will hold you."

It takes her a while but she accepts his hand and he holds it tight in his. Reassuring her that he is here to stay for as long as she needs him to be.

Little either of them know that it would possibly be forever.

It is Annie who helps to bridge these two together with Armin's help.

Ever since the day they talked, Mikasa slowly finds herself regaining an ounce of strength. Reiner talks a lot to her and offers his silent company as they go for walks together so she does not feel alone.

Reiner makes sure that he'll check in with Mikasa from time to time when he's not supporting the remaining forces with rebuilding, too frequent not to be noticed by everyone close to them in the survivor's settlement. However, none of them questions him about it. It is an understood, unspoken notion that Reiner cares a lot about Mikasa, and her for him eventhough she's being subtle about it. Armin could see Mikasa's eyes lit up whenever Reiner is nearby.

Mikasa shares a living space with Annie and Pieck. When her night terrors get too much that Mikasa thrashes around, screaming in pain despite being in a deep sleep, the two former shifters know that they couldn't possibly restrain the Ackerman girl physically on their own. They called for Armin, Jean and Reiner for help. When Armin and Jean hesitate to hold her down, it is Reiner who holds her tight even when Mikasa's unconsciously trying to struggle against him. They could see Reiner's face holding back his own physical pain from fighting against the immense resistance coming from her. But he'd never released his hold until she eventually wakes up and calms down. He stayed with her until the break of dawn.

After that night, however, Reiner seems to be pulling himself away from Mikasa as he couldn't get over his guilt and his helplessnesss as he also didn't want Mikasa to think that he's trying to take advantage of her vulnerability. The problem is, when he avoids Mikasa, she reverts back to the darkness she's slowly overcoming with Reiner's help and he's becoming miserable himself.

This frustrates Armin, Annie, Jean, Levi and even Pieck because it was fairly obvious to everyone but the two people in question that both Reiner and Mikasa are self-sabotaging and self-punishing themselves from pursuing something more than friendship despite their beating hearts calling out for each other.

Mikasa feels she's betraying her memories of Eren and she's afraid of moving on lest she would forget about him. Reiner feels he has no right to offer Mikasa anything more than friendship because she deserves someone better than him.

Mother's Intuition

Reiner's mother, Karina, finds herself naturally drawn to this young woman who seems to have her son's attention, even when he's trying very hard not to be obvious about it. She catches Reiner staring (longingly, she dare say) at the female warrior of Paradis from afar.

Apart from Mr. Leonhardt's daughter, she too, helps to bring her son and Mikasa closer. Karina has witnessed this woman's bravery and have heard from both Gabi and Reiner of her selflessness when she had saved both her son and her niece's lives. Through Reiner's story, Karina sympathizes with the pain this young woman is going through.

Reiner tells her that he feels helpless that he isn't able to help Mikasa and that she hasn't been eating well. Therefore, Karina brings her homemade meal and visits the young woman, wanting to get to know her better. Mikasa doesn't want to be impolite and relents to having the sudden company.

However, the moment Karina holds her hands to offer her comfort, Mikasa breaks down. She had lost 3 mothers/maternal figures in her life: her own, Carla & Hange. For some odd reason, she feels grateful to have an opportunity to be held by a mother again, even if it wasn't her own.

Karina finds herself growing fond of this young woman and deep inside believes that Mikasa and her son are meant for each other.

It is Karina who advises Reiner to fight for his own happiness and her mother's intuition tells her that his feelings isn't as one-sided as he thinks. Karina urges her son to tell Mikasa how he really feels and after all the years of fighting wars for Marley, Reiner needs to fight one last war: the one within his own heart and to win the heart of the one woman who had conquered his.

However, the relief entourage that arrives from Hizuru, led by Kiyomi Azumabito prevents him from telling Mikasa how he truly feels. He knows that she is destined to become the new empress of Hizuru and that her future would be brighter without him being in her way.

Mikasa tells him of her decision to ascend the imperial throne and Reiner feigns happiness for her decision, reassuring her that she will make a great empress and that she would have a better future there. Mikasa takes Reiner's words as him indirectly telling her to move on with her life without him in it.

Reluctantly, Mikasa leaves for Hizuru. Karina is upset that her son is still sacrificing himself & his own feelings even after being relieved of his Titan powers and its curse.

Karina tells him, "You've lived your life for me and for our family, Reiner. Now it's time for you to live for yourself."

Reiner thinks he's lost the only chance he still has left as Mikasa is already en route to the East Sea country. It is Armin who tells him that the Azumabito's ship is still docked at the nearest harbor because Armin has suspicions that Reiner will change his mind.

When Reiner, Armin, Jean and Annie reach the harbor, the sun is almost setting and Reiner finally revives his dwindling courage to tell her how he truly feels about her and he would like to remain by her side if she'd allow it.

Kiyomi forewarns Reiner that if he is serious about her kin, then he would have to sacrifice his newly-found freedom from being a soldier and titan shifter to become prince consort to their new imperial monarch.

Reiner only says, "I am as good as dead without Mikasa and my freedom means nothing if I'm spending the rest of my life without her."

In the sunset of the New World built from ashes, the two young loves finally seize the courage to pledge their hearts to one another with a kiss; the first of the many in their life together, which is only beginning.

*Continues in Pt. II

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

Thank you once again for the beautiful Ask! I truly enjoyed working on this ❤ Also, please don't ever feel that you need to apologize to another ESL speaker/writer for the language. We're always learning 💖 Take care! xoxo

#ReiKasa #ReiKasa asks #ReiKasa headcanons #ReiKasa reimagines #ReiKasaverse #ReiKasa canonverse au #reiner x mikasa #reiner braun #mikasa ackerman #snk headcanons #snk reimagines #aot headcanons #post rumbling au #post-rumbling AU

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writings-of-a-hufflepuff · 4 years

Text

Close Call

Fandom: CSI

Pairing: Nick Stokes x Reader (No Gender Prounouns etc. are used)

Warning: Very angsty based around S1 Ep.6

Writer: @writings-of-a-hufflepuff aka @thequeenofthehobbits

Summary/Requested: Nick never wakes you up when he comes home, he always lets you sleep. But not tonight. Tonight is different.

Note: Reader has glasses because I do and I can’t imagine waking up and not putting them on so...

Archiveofourown

Normally he wouldn’t have woken you after a long shift. Normally, Nick would have tiptoed into your shared apartment, quietly kicked his shoes off and gotten undressed without making too much of a sound. He would have been careful when sliding under the covers next to you, not wanting to wake you up, not wanting to disturb your sleep. You always slept so peacefully. He’d smile as he looked at you next to him, before nestling into his pillow and letting the exhaustion of a hard day’s work lull him to sleep. But, today hadn’t been normal, his shift had been anything but. He hadn’t even been able to drive himself home. Grissom had done that, his hands had been shaking too bad, the adrenaline still running laps around his circulatory system. The fear, the realisation of his own fragility, shook him to the core.

He sits carefully down on the bed, not undressing like he normally would or pulling the covers back to go to sleep. Instead, he turns to look at you, at the smoothness of your expression, how everything about you seems relaxed when you sleep, the gentle breaths that help your chest to rise and fall, and the bedhead he always made fun of. It should calm the shakes in his body, the anxious bubbling in his chest, but it doesn’t. It makes it worse because for a second he thinks of what he might have lost and of how it all might have hurt you.

It’s a gentle call of your name and the soft touch of a warm hand to your cheek that starts to stir you awake. At first you’re confused, in that bewildered and dazed moment between sleep and wakefulness you’re not quite sure what’s going on or why that southern accent is so familiar. But, you blink away the sleep turning towards the voice, hand fumbling on the bedside table for your glasses before pulling them on to turn the bleary blurry shapes clear in the low light.

“Nick?” Your voice is heavy with sleep but concern rides your voice at the sight of tears in his eyes. They’re red and blotches cover the skin underneath them like he’s already cried once tonight. He’s gnawing on his bottom lip so hard you think he might hurt himself. You reach out with a gentle hand and pull his bottom lip free of his teeth, before cupping his jaw as you sit yourself up to meet him. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

He isn’t a crying sort of man, Nick. He’s sensitive and he’s sweet, but he doesn’t often cry. He’s one of the most composed people you know. Tears come from Nick only in the most extreme circumstances, a bad case, a horrible death, rarely does it mean something simple or easy to handle. It sends a horrible feeling to your gut and you know without him saying a word that something happened on the job, something bad enough that he woke you in the night to talk when he’d normally let you sleep.

You scoot yourself forward, legs wrapping over his, tangling together as you pull yourself as close to him as you can before pressing kisses across his cheekbones, his jaw, his nose, his chin. You do this because you don’t know what else to do while you wait for an answer.

His breathing is shaky, rough, like he’s holding in a sob and you kiss away the tears that quietly fall over his cheeks in slow rivers. Arms wrapped around his broad shoulders as if you could shield him from whatever happened, whatever wanted to hurt him, whatever might still hurt him.

“I...she was gonna shoot me...she was gonna shoot me.” You don’t ask who, you don’t need to know. You have to physically stop the gasp that wants to leave your throat knowing it won’t help, knowing it’ll make him feel worse, that he’s scared you, that his pain is your pain. So you hold it in your throat like you hold the tears in your eyes, in a desperate attempt to be strong for the man that nearly died tonight. For the man that is always so strong for you.

“It’s okay, baby, i’m here, and no one is going to hurt you. Do you understand me, Nick? No one is going to hurt you while i’m here.” You press your cheek to the crown of his head, pulling his cheek against your shoulders and holding him tightly as he cries.

He cries so hard and so loud that you think he might fall apart, but you’re determined to hold him together, even though your heart is breaking and your own fears have almost been realised tonight.

Nick has always been the one to tell you not to worry, that he’d be fine, that he’d come home safe after every shift. It had always been you that would worry, you that understood his mortality, the reality of his job and the risks. For the first time it seems like Nick really understands that he could die, that he could get hurt. It’s a fear you’ve always held deep in your heart, that horrifying sinking in your stomach when you don’t hear from him, when you have time to think that maybe something happened while he was on a case.

“I love you...I love you so much.” You whisper it into his ear, hoping beyond hope that the love you have for him can in some way soothe the fear, the pain, the thoughts that are cycling through his head and the feelings that are rushing through his bloodstream.

It feels like hours that you sit there rocking him, keeping him pressed against you as he cries and mutters and mumbles. It feels like hours, like your voice will go hoarse from all the reassurances, all the I loves yous, all the words that you hope will soothe him. It can’t in truth be more than an hour, and your voice is not hoarse, but his is. Rough from all the crying and the emotional confessions that fall from his lips, things that make little sense but he says them because they hurt him and they come to mind. It’s ramblings, but you understand that feeling, the fear, the sadness, how it can all bubble out of your mouth in streams of words, your thoughts made vocal, real. So you let him.

When he finally goes quiet and the tears have stopped you gently pull him to lie down on the bed, helping him untie his shoes and pull them off, to undress before tucking him under the covers. You follow suit, not wanting to be far from him, holding him tight hoping that maybe you can offer some semblance, some feeling of safety and protection.

When his breathing is finally even, when you can sense the calming of his body, the muscles relaxing, you allow yourself to cry. You cry out of fear, out of a deep worry that one day he might not come home, that tonight he could have died and you wouldn’t be able to tell him all the wonderful things that bubble inside of you whenever he’s around, that you wouldn’t have any more years together. It is an utterly paralysing thought to think that the man you love was inches away from being murdered tonight, that he could be taken away from you with little effort. So you cry, you cry as you hold him tight in his sleep because you know come morning you need to be strong for him and you know that letting this fear fester and wallow inside of you will do nothing good.

There is no doubt in your mind that tonight was a close call. There is no doubt in your mind that you could have lost Nick and it reminds you to hold him closer, love him harder, and never leave things on an angry conversation or a harsh word. It reminds you to always say I love you.

#nick stokes x reader #nick stokes/reader #nick stokes #csi #csi reader insert #csi imagine #readerinsert #reader insert #angst

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luci-in-trenchcoats · 4 years

Text

A New Kind Of Misery (Part 2)

Summary: After a night out, the reader wakes up the next day to discover her soulmate mark is now on her body. Except she has no idea who they are…

Pairing: soulmate!Dean x Actress!reader

Part 1

Square: Slow Burn

Word Count: 5,900ish

Warnings: language, brief nudity

A/N: Written for @spndeanbingo

____

“Alright,” said Dean as you sipped on a beer on your couch, Dean pacing back and forth in the family room. You watched him go, smiling at him as you took him in. “I’m obviously not explaining this correctly or else you’d be freaking out.”

“Your mom was killed by a demon which led to your dad going on a vengeance trip in which you and your brother got dragged along. You were raised on the road and into this hunting life. Your dad died, the demon is dead but a whole lot of other stuff happened and you hunt monsters. I don’t think I left anything out,” you said. You held out the still full beer sat on the coffee table to him. “You got to try it. It’s from this brewery out near Napa and-”

“You are a little celebrity. I’ve been on the most wanted list. I’m legally dead and a criminal. You and me, we don’t mix.”

“Just because I act doesn’t give you a right to talk down to me,” you said. You got to your feet and he rolled his eyes. “I earned everything in this house. It wasn’t given to me. I did that.”

“My point being is that you live in an incredibly nice house and have money out your ass and your biggest worry is probably who sat next to who at some celebrity party or whatever. My problems? Life or death, every single day.”

“I thought I made it extremely clear,” you said, putting your drink down and getting in his face. You grabbed his arm and tugged down his jacket sleeve to reveal his matching mark. “We’re soulmates. I’m with you, you’re with me. There’s not getting out of it.”

“I’m not...listen,” he said, putting his hands on your shoulders and guiding you to sit down. He went with you, giving you a forced smile. “So we’re soulmates. It does not mean we have to be together. You can stay here with your life and I can go back to mine. This never has to be an issue.”

“You’re something else,” you said, shrugging him off. You stood and left the room, heading upstairs to your room. You sat down on the floor and leaned back against the bed, reaching underneath for a shoebox. You pulled it out and opened the lid, taking out the small drawing you’d done years ago. It was a ring of fire, something you’d done in school when you learned about your marks. It was supposed to be an exercise on reflection and what you thought you mark would be. You remembered being scolded for drawing it but holding it up to your wrist, it was a near perfect match.

“What’s that,” he asked. You hadn’t heard him come in and shoved the drawing back in the box. “I remember doing that in school too. I drew the flames in a circle back then.”

“Why don’t you want me?” you asked quietly. He sighed and sat down on the other side of the box, tucking his knees up.

“Not a matter of what I want, sweetheart. It’s what’s right and what’s wrong. Getting you killed doesn’t seem very right to me,” he said. He flipped off the lid of the box, staring inside. “That a picture of you and your family?”

“Yeah. My parents and older brother,” you said.

“You’re cute,” he said, skimming through a few pictures. “These are important to you.”

“Our house had a fire when I was little. I took my bear and box out with me,” you said.

“Maybe it’s why we got flames. We both had fires growing up.”

“I don’t care what you do or how dangerous it is. It sounds like you’re really important actually. But no matter what you do, the most wrong thing you can do in the world is reject your soulmate.”

“You will die in my world. Even if I wanted to teach you, something will hurt you, take you, torture you, kill you, all before I even have a chance. You will be in pain and horrified and I might not be able to stop it. It’s not an if, it’s a when. And I can’t do your world. I just can’t. You live in the spotlight. I hide in the shadows. Coming here once was a risk I could justify but anything more and something might follow me and come after you. This conversation is all it can ever be,” he said.

“Be selfish and tell me what you want.”

He turned towards you and reached his hand up to your face, pulling you into a deep kiss. His jaw was a gentle kind of scratchy, his lips so damn soft and you could feel your wrist warm at your mark. He broke off and looked down, a deeper black making it up now.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” he said, squeezing his eyes shut. “Fuck.”

“Cementing our bond? Tough shit. Now we need to-”

“You need to-” he said before you felt like you’d been hit in the gut. You gasped, a rush of who he was down in his soul hitting you. He grunted and grabbed your hand, riding through it himself. It felt wrong though, so much pain and trauma filling you up in your core. “Y/N. Y/N, breathe. It’ll be over in a second.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” you said, taking another gasping breath. “You’re not feeling this bad ever again.”

“Y/N, you don’t understand. It’s not-”

“We’ll make it work,” you said, his hands catching you as you started to fall. The dark pit in your stomach began to subside and you shut your eyes, putting your head between your knees. Dean picked you up and sat you on your bed, sitting close by as he ran a hand over your head. “What was that?”

“I may have left out the part where I was in Hell for 40 years,” he said. You jerked your head up and stared at him, water forming in your eyes. “Don’t cry about it.”

“I’m sorry I care about you. It’s not like we’re connected on every level or anything,” you said. You rested your head down again, Dean moving his arm over your shoulders.

“I spent 30 being tortured. Then I couldn’t take it anymore so I picked up a blade and tortured for a decade. I became the star pupil,” he said. You risked a glance over, Dean staring at the bedding.

“I don’t know how you lasted that long. I couldn’t...s’not your fault for doing that. You had to stop the pain,” you said. He pulled his arm away and rested his hands in his lap. “Dean. It’s alright.”

“That is the tip of the shitty iceberg. You have to stay away from me.”

“No,” you said with a smile. “I’m sorry but no.”

“Why?” he asked. “You don’t know me.”

“I don’t, but we kinda do. You would not have come here if you could really stay away. We’re connected. No matter our situations, it’ll work,” you said.

“God, you’re as stubborn as I am,” he said.

“Looks like it. Can we agree to try at the very least?”

He was quiet, absently staring at his wrist. He ran his thumb over it and you caught sight of some light scars on his body.

“Your life is scary but it doesn’t mean the scary stuff is going to make me run away. I’ll learn and so will you,” you said.

“I can’t date the lead actress in one of the biggest Netflix shows,” he said. “The second I’m in the public eye-”

“There are ways around the public eye, Dean. No one even knew I spent most of the past year dating someone,” you said.

“Really?”

“Really. I can sneak out of here very easily. We know we can’t walk away from each other.”

“I’m in charge though. I need to stay away, I stay away.”

“I’ll let you think you’re in charge if that makes you feel better,” you said with a smile. He grumbled and you moved over to his lap, his pretty green eyes watching you the whole time. “It’s not me, right?”

“What’s not you?” he asked softly.

“You being so hesitant. It’s because you want me to stay safe, right. It’s not because you don’t...you know...like me,” you said. Something in his face changed and there was a fluttering in your chest. He slid his hand up to the back of your neck and kissed you slowly, hot breath fanning over your face when he moved away an inch.

“Don’t ever say something like that again,” he murmured. “I need you and that’s scaring the shit out of me.”

“I completely understand,” you said. “My brother told me it feels like you’ve known them forever and you just met them all at once.”

“Pretty good way of putting it,” he said. “Y/N.”

“Yeah?”

“I can’t stay,” he said. He was looking over to the doorframe and you saw another man there. You jumped off of Dean but he held up a hand. “It’s just my little brother. That’s Sam.”

“Hey,” said Sam with a quick wave. “De. The nest. We gotta go before it starts to get dark.”

“Nest?” you asked as Dean stood up.

“Yeah. Vamp nest. It’s what brought us to LA in the first place. It get dangerous if we wait until night. I’ll be back later, okay?” said Dean. You nodded and watched as he headed out of the room.

“Be careful,” you said, catching them in the hall. He smiled and you returned it. “Wait a second. Can I come?”

“No,” he said, the smile wiped clean off his face.

“We said we’d try though.”

“Y/N. Stay. I’ll be back later,” he said.

“Alright. You guys can stay here tonight if you want,” you said.

“I’ll be back,” said Dean. “Don’t worry, sweetheart.”

He took off down the stairs with his brother and you frowned, hearing the front door shut. You jogged down to your office and sat down behind your laptop. You grabbed a notebook from the drawer and a pen, turning over a new page before you were on the internet. For a beat you paused but then you were searching vampires and writing down anything and everything you could about them.

Four Hours Later

“Hey,” said Dean, knocking on your office door. You jumped, Dean smirking to himself. “You weren’t-”

“Oh my God,” you said as you stood up and saw him covered in blood. You were wide eyed but he laughed. “You need a hospital!”

“This is from the vamps. I have a few bruises I think but that’s all,” he said. You walked up to him and looked him over, Dean carefully keeping an eye on you. “Y/N? You gonna freak out on me?”

“No. You can clean up in my shower,” you said. “I can order takeout.”

“Alright,” he said, glancing over at your computer. He followed you upstairs and to your bedroom. You flipped on the light as you headed into the bathroom, Dean taking it all in. You found some big towels for him and set them down on the counter. He was staring in the mirror when he seen he’d been caught by you. “You have a gorgeous bathroom and I look like a brute.”

“It’s just a bathroom,” you said, showing him the shower. “Feel free to use my stuff to wash up. I’ll try to clean those clothes of yours up for you while you’re in here.”

“Bleach and elbow grease normally works,” he said as he started to take off his jacket. “You really don’t have to. This stuff is gross.”

“Blood in clothes doesn’t bother me,” you said. “I’ll uh, give you your privacy.”

“Doesn’t really matter,” said Dean. “It’s not like were not going to see each other naked at some point anyways.”

He undressed and left his wallet on the counter along with his phone and watch. He got down to a pair of black boxer briefs and you cocked your head.

“What?” he asked.

“You have a very cute butt,” you said. He smirked and shook his head. “What?”

“Should have seen your own ass in season 1,” he said.

“Take your shower, goofball,” you said, rolling your eyes. “Oh. How do you take your steak?”

“Medium? Why?” he asked.

“I’m getting us takeout, remember?” you said.

“We have very different definitions of takeout,” he said. “Don’t get me like some vegetable on the side please. Vegetables aren’t my thing.”

“French fries?”

“More than okay,” he said. You found your hooded robe from your closet and put it on the counter as well, hoping that it was oversized enough to at least get his top half covered up for dinner. You ducked outside and went to the laundry room to grab the empty basket, returning to the sound of the shower on and Dean’s bare backside greeting you.

“Damn,” you said to yourself. He looked over his shoulder with a shy smile but he didn’t cover himself up. You felt heat in your cheeks and quickly gathered up his clothes and took them to the laundry. You called for some dinner before you set out trying to clean the clothes, quickly realizing this was going to be more difficult than you thought. You pursed your lips, quiet footsteps behind you.

“I can get that,” said Dean in a towel around his waist. His hair was damp and you spotted a few stray droplets he’d missed wiping off of his chest.

“It’s alright. Relax. You had a rough night,” you said. He smiled and stepped beside you, taking the bottle of stain remover from your hands.

“You got some gloves?” he asked. You pointed up to the cabinet over the sink and he reached up to pull down two pairs of rubber ones. He slipped it on and bundled his clothes up in the sink before he grabbed a bucket on the floor and filled it up with some water and mixed in some bleach. He set the bucket in the sink and poured some on his clothes, humming as he started to roughly scrub the clothes between his gloves and you began to see red stain come out. When it looked good he would toss it in your washer and wash what he could down the sink. “Easy peasy.”

“Do you not have any other clothes?” you asked.

“I’m not much of a clothes guy,” he said. “I have my duffel in my car with some. I didn’t really think to grab it before Sammy went back to the motel.”

“A motel? He could have stayed here,” you said. He shrugged and took off his gloves.

“We’re simple,” he said. “Your uh, robe was a little short.”

“What size are you?” you asked, pulling out your phone.

“XL. Why?” you asked.

“One hour delivery,” you said. “I’ll get you some clothes. Dinner’s going to take a bit anyways. Do you like salmon?”

“To eat?”

“No, the color,” you said, showing him a hoodie on your phone. He raised an eyebrow and you glanced in the washer. “Black?”

“Black is good. Really, Y/N, you don’t have to.”

“I can’t hunt and I’m not great at washing up vampire blood apparently but I can do this for you,” you said.

“Alright,” he said. You turned on the washer and you headed downstairs, getting Dean a blanket to wrap around himself while he took a seat on the couch. You gave him the remote and ordered a few things for him before going into your office and putting away your notebook. When you returned he was watching an old episode of Scooby doo and you smiled, taking a seat on the couch beside him. “Were you researching vampires while I was gone?”

“A bit,” you said.

“I have a journal I can send you. It’s got the actual information you need in there,” he said. “On anything and everything.”

“Cool,” you said. “I’m guessing the garlic thing isn’t real.”

“No, no. The sun irritates them but it’s not like they can’t go out in it. I had a buddy who was one, wore sunglasses and a coat out and he was pretty good,” said Dean. You went wide eyed and he smiled. “Not all monsters are bad just like not all people are good. It’s a gray world. I have a good friend that’s a werewolf.”

“Your life is so weird.”

“My best friend is an angel. My other friend is the Queen of Hell,” he said. “Oh and I help raise the son of Lucifer.”

“I can’t believe you’re not besties with God too,” you laughed. He rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Chuck’s a dick but he’s dead at least,” said Dean.

“Did you just say God is dead?”

“Like I said, it’s a gray world.”

“Right.”

You slumped back into the couch and shut your eyes.

“When you said your life is dangerous…”

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s a lot of weird stuff.”

“How do you get through it? Who takes care of you?”

“Me and my brother just push through it. It’s what we’ve always done,” he said.

“It seems like an incredibly hard life.”

“It has it’s moments. Your life can’t be easy either.”

“I make a TV show,” you said. You crossed your arms and absently watched the cartoon. Dean moved beside you and you felt his arm slid around your waist. “I don’t even watch horror movies because I get scared. Your life is a horror movie.”

“Yet you’re still here,” he said. “Not only that, but you’re trying. Let me try and do the same.”

“I make a TV show,” you said again.

“You’re telling me there’s no pressure involved with that?”

“No. There’s an incredible amount of pressure. It’s not life and death though.”

“Yeah but you doing a really good job, that gives a ton of other people jobs. It puts food on their tables, pays for the roof over their head. You sacrifice your privacy, your time. Your job is harder than you make it seem.”

“If it wasn’t me in the job, it’d be some other actress,” you said.

“Trust me, people watch for you,” he said.

“Do you...watch the show?”

“Yeah. We always binge the new season when it comes out. It’s good,” he said.

“Thanks,” you said, something tickling at the back of your mind. You took out your phone and checked your messages, groaning when you saw the one’s from Patrick. “I completely forgot I’m supposed to go to a party tonight. It’s for Danny, my co-lead. He’s like my brother. I…”

“Go,” said Dean with a smile. “It’s okay.”

“You could come if you wanted? After dinner,” you said. Dean made a face and you smiled. “It’s private, I promise. Danny’s a quiet guy.”

“Okay,” said Dean.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’m sure people are going to notice your mark appeared anyways. I don’t think introducing me to some trusted friends is a problem,” he said.

“Thank you,” you said, kissing his cheek. “I’ll let him know we’ll be a little late.”

“My black hoodie is dressy enough?” he asked.

“It’s a backyard party with beer and a bonfire. You’ll fit right in.”

“That steak was so good,” said Dean, rubbing his stomach as you got out of your car at Danny’s house.

“Good. You deserved it after going all Buffy today,” you said.

“Was that a tease, princess?” he smirked.

“I think it was, Buffy,” you laughed. You grabbed his hand, led him around to the back gate and walked around the house to the patio. There were less than ten people there and you knew all of them, Danny turning his head and catching you. “Hey birthday boy!”

“About time! Seriously though, you just met your soulmate today. You didn’t have to come, Y/N,” he said, giving you a hug. “I’m Danny.”

“Dean,” he said, shaking Danny’s hand. They shared a strange look with one another before they broke off.

“Winchester?” asked Danny quietly. He nodded and Dean smiled. “Haven’t seen you in...fourteen years?”

“I’m 32 so that’s about right,” said Dean. “How’s the family?”

“Good. We laugh about it now,” said Danny. “Tell your dad thanks again when you get a chance.”

“He died a few years back.”

“That’s too bad,” he said before he looked at you.

“Keep her safe,” said Danny.

“I plan on it,” said Dean.

“Well there’s drinks in the fridge or you’re welcome to the liquor cabinet. Y/N can show you,” he said.

“How do you-” you said as Danny shook his head.

“Some stuff, you just don’t talk about, Y/N,” he said. “We’ll keep him under wraps tonight.”

“Thanks, Danny,” you said. You guided Dean inside and set Danny’s present down on his kitchen table, heading over to the counter where he’d set out some alcohol. “So. How do you know him?”

“Ghoul case in his town when I was about eighteen. He was a few years younger if I remember. Him and his brother Joe got into a bit of a mess. We got them out of it,” he said.

“How many people have you saved?” you asked.

“What?”

“How many have you saved?” you asked as you started to make yourself a whiskey sour.

“I don’t really keep track of that sort of thing. I think more about the ones I couldn’t save to be honest.”

“I’m going to guess you’ve saved more than you lost,” you said. “Cut yourself a break.”

“Self-hate is kinda my thing,” he said with a chuckle.

“We’ll see about that,” you said, grabbing another glass. “You want one?”

“Sure,” he said. “You know, just cause we’re soulmates and we’re trying doesn’t mean you’re gonna fix me.”

“I’m not trying to fix you. I just...wish you saw what I did.”

“You barely know me.”

“True. But my soul knows your soul very well. Let’s call it a gut feeling,” you said. He hummed and you made another drink for him, Dean carrying it out to the backyard. You introduced him to a few more people and found a pair of seats by the fire. He relaxed more the longer you were there but you knew he was nervous. After a few hours you said your goodbyes and headed home with him, Dean easing up once you were back at the house.

“It’s getting kind of late,” he said.

“Do you want to head to bed?” you asked.

“I think...I’m going to grab my stuff and head back to the motel. Sam and I have a long drive in the morning,” he said. You stared at him and he rubbed the back of his neck. “This’ll never work. I can’t...I can’t pretend. I could barely pretend in front of eight people tonight. We don’t live in a bubble. I’m sorry, Y/N. This isn’t going to work,” he said.

“Then leave,” you said. You went upstairs to the laundry room and took his things out of the dryer, carrying them down and shoving them in his arms. “Never come back.”

“Y/N. If you weren’t-”

“But I am, Dean. I’m in the public eye and you hide from it. Fine. Go hunt and I’ll stay here and we’ll both be miserable. I was never asking you to give up what you do, you know. It scares me but I was willing to try. You lasted two hours at a party with my friends who think you fix cars for a living. It’s obvious you wanted a way out. You’ve wanted out since you came here. So just go and stay away.”

He looked down and went outside, waiting on your front steps for about twenty minutes before you heard a car pick him up.

You wiped off your face and went up to bed, crawling under the covers and wishing you’d never met him in the first place.

Three Months Later

“Back off!” you shouted at the guy dragging you down a hall in a sketchy warehouse. You kicked your leg back and hit him hard but he didn’t budge an inch. He dragged you over to a chair and tied you to it before pulling out a sharp looking knife. “I have money. You can-”

“I’m a demon, sweetie. I need to talk to your boy toy,” he said.

“I haven’t spoken to him in months. I barely know the guy,” you said.

“Hm, not what your internet search history says. You suddenly into the supernatural now?”

“Why is a demon checking my browser history?” you asked.

“Honey, the second word got out that Dean Winchester’s soulmate was out there, every demon with a bone to pick with him went looking for you. I just so happened to get lucky and possess a guy in your manager’s office.”

“Lovely,” you mumbled, swallowing when he pointed the blade at you. “Maybe we can negotiate a deal before you use that.”

“My deal will be with Dean, not you. He’ll be dead and so will you so I wouldn’t-”

“Cory my dear,” said a female voice behind him in the darkness. He glanced over his shoulder and shot straight up.

“Rowena! How nice to-”

“Cory. What did I tell you about the Winchesters?” she asked.

“They’re hunters. There’s no such thing as off limits hunters,” he said.

“Go,” she said, snapping her fingers. You stared as she stepped into view and she gave you a smile. “Hi dearie. Don’t worry about him. He’s off in purgatory.”

“Dean said you guys were friends, right,” you said.

“Yes,” she said with a smile. “Would you like to go see him?”

“Not-” you said, suddenly in the middle of a large room. You spun around, books everywhere, tables here and there and Dean eating cold pizza out of the box at one of them.

“Y/N?” he said, getting up and looking to Rowena. “What happened?”

“Troublesome demon took her. She’s fine and he’s dealt with. It was nice meeting you. I’d stick around but you two look like you need to have a conversation,” she said. She disappeared and you blinked, Dean walking over to you.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” you said, pulling your hand away when he reached for yours. “Just drive me home.”

“We’re in Kansas.”

“...Well, drive me to a rental car place and I’ll drive home myself,” you said. “How do I get out of here?”

You tried to go past but he caught your arms, sliding his hand down to your mark. You glared at him and he sighed, running his thumb over the skin there.

“This changes absolutely nothing you realize. Stay out of my life,” you said. You tugged on your arm and he let you go. “Where’s the exit?”

“Just...give me a second,” he said. He went over to a cabinet by the wall and opened a bottom drawer, pulling out a folder. He set it down on a table and opened it up, an ID and other documents in there. “I need to be anonymous. It has to be just us. No friends. No family. It’s too dangerous. But we can go places and be alone. You can come-”

“Anywhere I go there is a chance I am recognized and a chance someone takes a picture and it ends up on the internet. People are already dying to know who you are. This only works if you give up what you do or I give up what I do and that’s not fair to either one of us.”

“Then from now on in public, I’m Dean Campbell. It’s what I go by around here. I’m just a quiet Kansas boy who works on cars for a living who will try to stay out of the limelight and the other part of the time, I’ll go do my job,” he said.

“Just like that, you’ve changed your mind.”

“Not just like that. It takes time to forge a new identity. People will ask questions. Now they have answers,” he said. “This stuff is out there if anyone wants to go digging. It took time to get it in place.”

“How long?”

“About three months. We have to do it ourselves and to make it credible, it takes time.”

“So what was your next move?”

“Get out to LA. Stand at your door. Hope you could understand.”

“A demon kidnapped me today.”

“I don’t guarantee that doesn’t happen again,” he said. “All I can offer is my crappy soul.”

“It’s not crappy,” you said, taking a seat. “Dean, you walking away like that hurt. A lot. Even for good reasons, it hurt. I’m not ready to try and date you.”

“I get it,” he said.

“Friends?”

“I’m okay with that,” he said. “I know I’m pushing but would you want to stay the night?”

“Sure. Just as friends though.”

“Just friends, I promise.”

Two Months Later

“Did you see that!” you said, Dean shaking his head as you jogged back over to Baby. “I shot a ghost!”

“That’s real good, sweetheart,” said Dean as he kept trying to light a match. You spotted the ghost behind him again and shot, Dean nearly jumping down into the grave.

“Sorry!”

“It’s fine,” he said before he tossed the match in. He took a deep breath and walked back over to you, giving you a once over. “Not bad for a princess.”

“I’m supposed to be getting ready to go to a network party right now,” you said.

“Yeah but hunting’s more fun,�� he said, wiping a bit of dirt off your cheek. “Get scared at all?”

“Oh definitely! But I think I got that adrenaline high thing right now,” you said, Dean chuckling as he took the shotgun from you.

“Just a smidge,” he said. “I got a surprise for you.”

“What?”

You blinked and found yourself back home in LA with Dean, Rowena giving you a wave before she disappeared from view.

“Want to go to your party?” he asked.

“Why are you here though?” you asked.

“Because after a hunt, you go out and celebrate.”

“What about Sam? And the car?”

“Baby’s fine with Sammy. Come on. I bet I look good in a tux,” he said.

“Dean,” you said, smiling at him. “Want to stay home instead?”

“Yes,” he said and you let out a big laugh. “The party is fine too. Just...home is better. Actually a diner would be amazing.”

“I know a place,” you said. “Let’s go take a ride.”

“You have the best pie,” said Dean to the waitress about an hour later. She laughed and you munched on a french fry, Dean already wolfing down his last bite.

“Can we get another piece of the cherry for him and I’ll take a slice of that chocolate looking one,” you said.

“No problem,” she said. After a moment she returned with the food, Dean diving into his pie again.

“I knew you liked pie. This must be really good,” you said.

“I place it at number four. Above Sally’s in Bismark but just below 511 outside Phoenix,” he said. “This is high quality pie we’ve got here.”

“Part of the after hunt tradition?” you asked.

“On the good hunts, yeah,” he said.

“What we did tonight, that was super easy, wasn’t it.”

“Yeah. But you start small. I wouldn’t mind keeping you away from the big hunts permanently,” he said.

“Going soft on me there, Winchester?” you asked.

“Maybe,” he said. He leaned over the table and gave you a kiss. He smiled when he moved back to his seat and took a bite of his pie with a hum.

“You kissed me. In public.”

“What’re you gonna do about it?” he said, smirking to himself.

“I hadn’t realized we shifted into dating,” you said.

“Y/N. If you never wanted me to be anything more than a friend, I’d live with it. I deserve it for how I acted before. But-”

“No, you don’t,” you said, standing up and sliding into the booth beside him. “I want us to be together because we want to, not because you felt like you owed me.”

“What about the rules of being soulmates?” he asked.

“Screw the rules,” you said. He smiled and slid his plate of pie in front of you.

“Well I don’t share top ten pie with just anybody,” he said. “Maybe next week I can go to your premiere party.”

“You don’t have to,” you said.

“I know. I want to.”

“Okay,” you said. He took your hand under the table and returned to eating, absently brushing his thumb over your mark. “Dean?”

“Mhm?” he said.

“Don’t call your soul crappy again. It’s beat up but not crappy.”

“Maybe that’s why it’s you. I need someone to believe what I have a hard time doing myself.”

“We’ll get there,” you said, kissing his cheek. “Now how about that pie, Winchester.”

_________

#spndeanbingo #supernatural #spn #dean x reader #dean winchester #supernatural fanfiction #dean winchester x reader #dean #winchester #dean spn #au

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cinderspots · 3 years

Text

LEGENDS AU -

1. The legends consist of a dark legend, light legend, ice legend, fire legend, and electricity legend. Dark will be Anne. Light will be Jane. Ice will be Cathy. Fire will be Anna. Electricity will be Catherine. Ice’s opposite is either red or orange but after being kidnapped and genetically altered Kat is now purple and free from her predisposed destiny causing her to instead befriend the legends. But this chapter will purely be retelling the folk lore of the legends, referring to each legend as their consecutive powers.

2. The six go to a special school filled with people who have the gene to be legends, but are chosen by upper beings. The school principal brings the yin and yang bombs that cause whoever is chosen to briefly be in pain and for their power to surge. Jane and Anne collapse on the floor before their mark appears on their cheek and their black [anne] and white [jane] wings appear. Jane and Catherine had previously been best friends but after becoming a legend Jane leaves her behind causing her to become bitter.

3. Anna is bullied a lot and she loses her temper finally, causing a demonic tail and horns to appear and for her fire powers to spark and her mark to appear as well.

4. Catherine’s father is a drunk and abusive and one day she can’t take anymore and she runs. It’s storming outside and she makes it a few miles before she collapses in a ditch. Lightning builds above her but she stays oblivious until she can hear it and she looks up before it strikes her, causing her powers to emerge as well as her mark. She super speeds her way back home before publicly super speeds her way to school later on, announcing her legend status. However she is extremely bitter towards Jane still and refuses to talk to her and is downright cruel to her at times, but she befriends Anna

5. Cathy has had her powers since she was a small child but her parents made her hide them, causing her to become more quiet. After her father beat her mother to death she shot him in revenge and became homeless. She befriends Kat though, but one day Catherine and Jane both team up on her, Catherine having forgotten what it felt like to be normal and she loses her temper, causing her powers to surge before her alternate personality comes out, causing her eyes to turn red and she attempts to murder the two.

6. Kat shows up and protects them, lighting a purple fire with a flick of her newly revealed tail. She’s captain of the cheer team, and Cathy’s best friend but she fights off her other personality ‘Raven’ before Cathy resubmerges and has a breakdown, her mark on full display. She refuses to join the legends in an act of revenge for all they’ve done to her, but Kat convinces her to join. Cut to Cathy’s head where we formally meet Raven, and two other personalities named Samantha and Catherine (much to her annoyance). Samantha is a form created for water purposes, Catherine for air purposes, and Raven for defensive and more violent purposes, while Cathy is the main and ice.

7. The six all get to know each other.

8. Kat trains them in combat before putting them through trials designed specifically for their powers. Catherine goes through a labyrinth made of ice that also puts enemies and after a few minutes adds a poisonous darkness that makes it so she can’t stop or turn around. Anne goes through a few challenges of stealth and light. Jane goes through more offensive challenges against mannequins made of darkness. Anna goes through a few ice challenges and Cathy goes through fire challenges.

9. Their ‘sidekicks’ make their entrance. Catherine’s sidekick, Maria, has matter manipulation and time manipulation powers. Anne’s sidekick, Maggie, has powers over emotional love, but can also affect other emotions. Jane’s sidekick, Joan, was a hydra capable of multiplying herself as well as greek fire. Anna’s sidekick, Bessie, is capable of telling the future. Cathy’s sidekick, turns out to be her supposed dead mother (Maud) who was brought back to life and was able to communicate with animals and the dead.

10. They fight against their opposites, dark versions of them that represent the complete opposite and their worst fear. Bessie has a vision of how all of them die, but stays quiet.

11. Kat’s past as a kidnapped expiramentee is revealed as well as her rape and abuse past.

12. Their big challenge appears and they’re forced to go on a magic journey throughout the world to face down opponents meant for each opposite. Yin and Yang are sent into the clouds to fight a dragon that changes skins to absorb their attacks and it ends up eating Jane briefly after ripping her wings off before Anne forces the dragon to throw her back up and heals her wings back on. Fire and Ice go to a Tundra and Dessert and fight off opposites before Anna gets blinded and Cathy ends up fighting both sides before her throat gets slit. She cheats death by freezing her blood in place briefly until she can finish fighting. Electricity and Kat who was recently revealed to be the paragon of the long lost lust, part of the emotion family. They nickname themselves as creed when Catherine reveals that she too went through an assassin program against her will in a brief heart to heart about her past at being briefly stranded on an island and taken prisoner on many ships and places before a dragon appears. They almost win when the dragon unexpectedly shoots spikes from their tail, impaling Catherine's stomach and causing her to begin to bleed out, and Kat has to beat it by herself.

13. Everyone regroups and Jane heals everyone, starting with Cathy, then Catherine, and then Anna, then she does the rest of the group. They realize that the marks that were glowing in the sky that represented the time of the legends now had a new one, purple to represent kat who would now start the line of the combat experts.

14. They arrive at their final destination where they meet Henry, the immortal, he’s been going against legends for centuries and he tricks all of them but Kat, who’s new, into draining themselves of power and giving it to him, but the previous legends visit all of them while Kat defends them. They get advice from their predecessors while Kat and the sidekicks keep Henry in line. They all wake up and have a power surge causing them to briefly overpower him before he surges back up and forces them down. They realize the machine that they were just hooked up to was the key to putting him down but they need someone to absorb the dark energy, and power the immobilizer. Anna is sent to find a better power source since the one already in place was failing. Henry is immobilized and he watches them all scramble to turn the machine off. The absorber fails and so Anne locks herself in the room and begins to absorb the dark energy. Catherine detached the power source and hooks herself up. Both start to glow from over power and burn from the inside out due to the power filling them. Anna comes back empty handed when a tremor shakes the cavern and the rocks above her fall on top of her. Jane is begging both Anne and Catherine to stop and let them find a new way when they both dissolve, and Jane is suddenly hit by a jagged rock falling and it goes through her cleanly, effectively killing her as well. Cathy and Kat are horrified and Kat realizes that Cathy is going to lose it and we see that every single ice legend has watched their other legends die and immediately reacted badly with a power surge. Before Kat can stop her Cathy screams and shoots ice everywhere, turning the machine off, but sending the entire human race back to the ice age. Kat survives, but Cathy does not.

15. Epilogue

#six the musical #legend au #magic #catherine of aragon #anne boleyn #jane seymour #anna of cleves #katherine howard #catherine parr #maria de salinas #magaret lee #joan #Elizabeth blount #maud green

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