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whatifyoulivelikethat · 3 years

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a kiss from the moon | jjk

pairing(s): jungkook x reader

summary: All these years, all these summers, Jeon Jungkook has loved you. His problem? You have no idea. Mostly because he has always said it far too platonically and thrown up in your lap after saying it. Drunk. Fuck. Oh, yeah, and you're also Park Jimin's best friend since preschool. Shit.

warnings: language; alcohol consumption; pining; JK gets distracted by (your) tits during his quest, typical; non-idol!BTS - purple-haired!Jungkook x sleepy af, noona!reader, ft Park Jimin and Kim Taehyung radiating big soulmate energy; childhood friends-to-lovers

yes, it's JK from the 'Butter' beach photos

“I love you!”

You lifted your head out of the mountain of pillows, groggy and hazy, squinting at the moonlight filtering through the floating curtains. The night breeze was warm, drifting in softly with the low hum of cicadas. But what was that other sound? That other sound was familiar, wasn’t it?

You heard your name being shouted, followed by, “Wake up!”

You made a face and stumbled out of the bed, sticking your head out of your bedroom window, your own hair flying back and smacking you in the face.

“Yah! Jeon Jungkook, are you trying to wake up the whole damn neighborhood?!”

“Get down here!”

You put on your best disgruntled expression and peered down at the form on your front lawn, shoving your own hair aside.

“What are you going on about?” you muttered, seeing Jeon Jungkook looking up at you, puffing his cheeks, long wet purple hair fading to gray because of the chlorine from swimming all night at that party Park Jimin had invited you to earlier today, to which you had responded, no thanks, I’m going to sleep all day, I worked three double shifts in a row and I have zero desire to be flung into your family’s swimming pool at this time, but I will acknowledge that your offer is very generous, and then promptly passing out for a good – you glanced at your phone with the pink bunny case Jungkook had given you two summers ago – ten hours and it was still not enough for you to comprehend why your best friend’s best friend was standing on your front lawn yelling at your parents’ house that you were watching for a month while they were in Italy getting drunk on far too expensive wine and eating cheese they probably couldn’t pronounce.

Jungkook was shirtless, clad only in orange swim shorts and sandals like a fucking hooligan. He was clutching a plastic red Solo cup and he threw it at the house, yelling your name again.

“Oh my fucking God, don’t litter, you idiot!” you bellowed back, throwing yourself away from the windowsill and crawling on the floor to your bedroom door like the evolution of mankind, making it from all fours to two legs by the time you got to the stairs – good thing too, you might have broken your neck if you were still disoriented – and you dragged yourself downstairs, yanking your white slip dress straight. Not your choice of pajamas. Your mom’s, who told you to be more ladylike, whatever the fuck that meant, and who also informed you in the same breath that it was your only choice of pajamas since they donated all your clothes from high school.

Awesome.

You go to university and your parents yeet all evidence that they had a child and go vacationing.

Good for them.

You wrenched your front door open and shoved your feet into your dad’s giant brown sandals and clapped your way over to the pink-faced, mildly drunk, shirtless man in swimming trunks on your front lawn.

“It’s two in the morning. Why are you standing here drunk and professing your love like some kind of deranged Romeo?” you sighed, rubbing your eyes. “Why aren’t you at Jimin’s?” You spied the red Solo cup and picked it up, whipping your head back to Jeon Jungkook.

He was staring at you with his mouth open.

Charming.

He didn’t say anything for a good ten seconds.

“Alright, fine, let me call my loser of a best friend and tell him to pick up his loser of a best friend, so I can go back to sleep,” you muttered, about to turn around.

Jungkook seemed to sputter back to life. “Wait, um, noona–”

“He speaks! He’s not dead.”

“A… Ah… Um…”

You squinted at him and reached up to knock the side of his head. “Hello? Anyone in there?”

Jungkook blurted out, “I love you.”

His breath smelled a lot like alcohol.

“Yeah, I got that. You also said that when I got you through your Chemistry and World History exams. Both times. You also say that to like, what, six of your guy friends? Don’t get me started on the amount of times you’ve said it and thrown up in my lap right after. Don’t do that this time,” you added sternly, prodding at his chest. “I’ve got one set of pajamas because my mom forgets that human beings change clothes, so throw up on the grass.”

“Uh… that’s pajamas…?”

“Lady pajamas,” you grumbled sarcastically, lifting the lid and chucking the crumpled Solo cup into your parents’ trash can. “Since I’m not lady enough apparently according to my mom, even though I’m ninety-nine percent sure giant band t-shirts are completely unisex but, whatever, it’s just a dress, not a big deal.”

“Um.”

You looked at Jungkook, who looked back at you, who put your hands up and gestured him to say something, who in response rose his hands and flapped them in confusion, giving you absolutely zero helpful communication. The movement reminded you he had gotten his right arm and hand tattooed in the last couple years, the black ink standing out against tan skin. You hadn’t seen him too many times during your university years, too busy completing research papers and staying late nights in laboratories, only to now end up working on hospital software and sitting on your ass all day. Life, eh? These past three days were spent on working through bugs for the next software update and you had maybe lost all social skills as you attempted to unravel lines of code that you stared at for forty-eight out of the past seventy-two hours.

Fun!

“Do you need a cookie? A shower? The Bible?” you offered, waving your hands. “Maybe tell me why you’re here, yes?”

He was staring and you realized you were slightly bent over in your gesture, your breasts firmly pressed into the cups of the slip dress. You straightened and Jungkook’s wide dark brown eyes went back to your face.

“I… I didn’t realize you had come back, noona.”

You raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? I told Jimin last week. He said he was hanging out with you and Taehyung. I figured he’d just tell you guys then.”

Jungkook shook his head quickly, gray-purple hair flying about. He pointed to the left, where Jimin’s house was several blocks over. “He only mentioned it just now, when he was throwing up in the bathroom from doing eight shots in a row because Taehyungie dared him.”

“…. Maybe he needs the Bible…” you muttered, shaking your head.

Then the realization hit you.

“Did you walk here from Jimin’s and straight up abandon the party?”

Jungkook tilted his head and thought about it. “Yeah.”

You looked around to find the camera and see if you were being pranked, but there was no camera because this life wasn’t purely for entertainment, right? Nah, this wasn’t The Matrix.

Mhm.

“Hah, well, what’s wrong? Are you upset I didn’t go to the party or something? I had three double-shifts this week, I wasn’t going to be any fun passed out before actually drinking–”

“Yoongi-hyung was passed out before drinking.”

“In some ways, I swear that guy and I are the same person,” you laughed, shaking your head. “Anyway, I’m sorry I didn’t go and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I really banked on Jimin not being an airhead, but once again he is, so maybe I should reconsider him as my best friend…”

“Noona, I…”

You looked up from your mental consideration of Park Jimin’s pros and cons, the first pro being he punched that ex of yours that cheated on you with some Tinder hookup and that was already enough to stop contemplating, so you blinked at Jungkook curiously, looking into wide brown eyes, long strands of ash-purple floating around his handsome face from the night breeze, brushing against his parted lips, highlighting the mole underneath them, placed perfectly in the center like a kiss from the moon itself.

“Can I take a shower and sleep it off here?”

You tilted your head. “Yeah, sure. You can borrow my dad’s clothes. You should call Jimin though. You don’t want him to panic that he lost you.”

“Y… Yeah, okay…”

Jeon Jungkook really thought he could say it this time.

Collected all his courage and ran, ran as fast as he could, couldn’t believe Jimin had neglected to say she was coming home over the summer for more than a day, days without her reminding Jungkook that he was a coward for not saying it when he could have, having lost his most important person in the world because he was too afraid of telling Park Jimin that he was in love with his best friend.

He remembered that smile wearing nothing but a large t-shirt, sitting on Jimin’s bedroom floor, crushing all of them at UNO and cackling as Jimin blew up for ending up in last place for the third time in a row, yelling that the game was rigged, and Jungkook remembered thinking, I should tell her tonight.

And he didn’t.

He remembered her saying to Taehyung that she just wasn’t into girly things. They were having this argument over pizza and Taehyung was waving his around saying she should at least try a dress on every once in a while, never know, might actually like it, and her rolling her eyes as she shot back that she didn’t have to do anything just because it was stereotypical for her gender. Taehyung told her to stop using big words and waved his hands, accidentally flinging his pizza slice into her lap, and Jungkook remembered thinking, I should tell her after we clean up.

And he didn’t.

He remembered seeing her prepare to leave for university once again, holding a small package from the internet and handing it to her, a small but practical belated birthday gift, both of them surprised when she opened it, not the matte black phone case he had ordered, but somehow mixed up with a pink bunny phone case that had no business being owned by someone who didn’t like girly things.

“Oh, shit, I’m so sorry, I didn’t order this–”

And she laughed, shaking her head. “That’s okay, I gotta go, thanks anyway, Jungkook!”

The years went by and every year Jungkook told himself, this is the one, and every year he just couldn’t say it.

He thought he could say it now, drunk and furious at Jimin for not preparing him for this moment, but on his way here Jungkook figured that perhaps this was preferred, that maybe it was better that he couldn’t sit around nervously overthinking what to say.

But, of course, the problem was…

He had already said it in a platonic way.

Shit.

He really fucked himself throughout the years.

Jungkook sighed, now wearing borrowed clothes, holding the note of her handwriting as he rubbed his hair with the towel.

I washed your shorts and they’re hang-drying now. You can sleep in the guest room. I left a glass of water and some hangover meds. If you need anything, I’ll be asleep but you can attempt to wake the dead if you want.

He walked down the hall, towel around his shoulders. Her bedroom door was open. He stood outside the entrance, sighing, seeing her sleeping form and her bedside table, her phone sitting on the charger.

His breath caught in his throat as he recognized that pink bunny phone case.

“Where’s Jungkook?”

“Probably at her parents’ place, confessing his love,” Kim Taehyung snickered, picking up the beer bottles left behind next to the pool.

“Hah, of course he would leave without cleaning up,” Park Jimin grumbled, pushing the recycling bin along as Taehyung tossed each bottle inside.

“You think he’s gonna tell her?”

“He didn’t even tell me,” Jimin muttered, shoving used napkins into the bag hanging off the side of the recycling bin that he was going to toss into the trash later. “I had to find out from you. I think he’s hopeless. Why does he like her anyway? She’s fun to be around, yeah, she’s good at school, yeah, knows a lot of random facts, yeah, if you get into philosophy with her like Namjoon-hyung does, you begin to question humanity and reality, yeah, but other than that…”

“You hitting on your best friend, dude?”

“I mean, she’s kinda hot, she wouldn’t say no to me.”

Taehyung snorted.

Jimin smacked him in the ass with the recycling bin.

“Anyway, he’s probably just standing in her bedroom creepily watching her sleeping.”

Jungkook stared down at her sleeping form.

He looked up, looking out the window into the late, late night. He was tired, and yet he couldn’t sleep, too busy wondering.

I don’t deserve her if I’m not brave enough to say it.

“Jungkook?”

You squinted at the large form in your bedroom.

“Why are you just staring moodily out the window?” you mumbled, rubbing your eyes. “Is something wrong? Are you hungry? I can make you a snack…”

“Noona, do you know what the worst feeling in the world is?” he asked softly, still looking out into the warm night.

You grunted and scrunched up your face. “Stepping on a Lego?”

You heard Jungkook laugh and you smiled a little despite your groggy state, hearing a little bit of his old self, the younger Jungkook hanging out with you, Jimin, and, later, Taehyung, the four of you getting up to no good. Somehow, in the past few years, he had gotten quieter and quieter, at least around you, but then again you only came home to visit for a day or two before going back to university.

“Have you ever been in love, noona?”

“Yeah, with the red bean popsicles they used to sell at the ice cream trucks, but then they stopped, those assholes, I’ve never been so heartbroken in my life,” you grumbled, remembering the day where the ice cream man told you they were sold out and your young teenage heart shattering.

“I love you, you know.”

Was this a fever dream? Why did he keep repeating himself? You looked over to his back, still looking outside onto the street, the street where you all used to run and laugh every summer, pretending you were surviving in the wild and not in the middle of a suburban neighborhood, sitting around sipping lemonade and complaining about the heat even though you all could have gone inside, lighting sparklers at night and seeing whose would last the longest even though such a thing was only based on chance anyway.

“Is that the worst thing you’ve ever heard?” he added quietly.

“The worst thing I’ve ever heard was accidentally hearing Jimin jacking off. Twice.”

Jungkook finally turned around, giving you a disgusted look. “What?”

You placed a hand on your face and sighed heavily, trying not to remember. “For some reason he thinks the bathroom isn’t echoey or something, like, at least do it in the shower, so the water masks the sound…” You chuckled, shaking your head. “Anyway, I would much rather hear you say you have love for me than listening to Jimin getting off.”

“I don’t have love for you.”

You raised your hand from your face and shifted your gaze to him, half-smile lingering on your lips from remembering Jimin’s carelessness. You made eye contact the second the words left his mouth, those brown eyes shrouded in shadows, but still so clear, a little helpless, a little sad.

“I’m in love with you,” Jungkook whispered softly.

Your eyes widened.

A soft breeze swept through the window, lifting the purple-gray strands from Jungkook’s face, revealing his lost, desolate expression.

The cicadas hummed.

A car alarm honked loudly, screeching through the night.

Both you and Jungkook jerked to face the window. You bolted out of bed and you both threw your hands onto the edge of the window, yanking it shut, wincing at the loud noise.

“Ah, jeez… what the hell…?” you groaned, slumping to the ground.

“What’s with people…?” Jungkook muttered, falling to the floor beside you, yanking the towel off his shoulders.

“Fuck, I pressed the wrong button!”

“Taehyung, what the hell, turn it off!”

“I was just trying to put the tangerines your parents gave me in my car!”

“I don’t care what you were doing, turn it off!”

“Anyway, sorry, you were saying something important and you got interrupted by some dumbass,” you sighed, nudging Jungkook with your shoulder.

“Uh… well, that was it…”

You blinked at him, tilting your head. “What, that you’re in love with me?”

“Y… Yeah?”

You blinked some more.

“Not the, want to go to the arcade and see who can get the highest score in PAC-MAN or go watch shitty action movies and rate the unrealistic plot lines or dare each other to eat whatever expired delicacy is in Taehyung’s fridge, kind of love?”

Jungkook made a repulsed face. “I regret eating that tofu. Don’t think I can ever look at uncooked tofu without gagging a little now…”

You leaned over and caught his eye.

“Do you mean the… want to date and get married and make babies, kind of love?”

His lips parted and the moonlight lit the small mole placed perfectly underneath his lower lip.

A delicate kiss from the moon itself.

Then you realized he was staring at your tits.

You yanked the neckline up a little and Jungkook started, looking back up at you with wide eyes.

“Sorry, I’m just not used to you in a dress, sorry, I’m being really rude–”

“It assures me that you’re at least interested in the making babies part,” you chuckled.

His ears turned red and he reached up to cover them, trying not to look down. “S… Sorry…”

“So…?”

He chewed on his lip, messing with his earrings with his fingertips. “Um… yeah, that kind of love. The latter kind.”

You lowered your hand. “You’re not messing with me, right? I swear, if this is one of Taehyung’s elaborate ideas to mess with me, I’m going to ki–”

Jungkook shook his head quickly, purple hair flying about. “I’m not joking around. I wanted to tell you for a long, long time, but…” His eyes darted about, panicking a little, before looking back to you helplessly. “You’re Jimin’s best friend, besides Taehyung, and what if… what if you thought I was gross or something and then I don’t think I could hang out with you guys anymore, but then you went to that prestigious university far away and I thought, I’m so stupid, I should have said something, anything, but every time I could even think about it, I didn’t know what to say, nothing seemed right…”

He let out a big sigh and tapped his head against the windowsill, closing his eyes.

“Also, I said it before and threw up in your lap right after, so that kinda fucked me up.”

“Can’t say I was really feeling the romance, yeah.”

He groaned and covered his face with his hands.

“I’d date you though. For real.”

Jungkook removed his hands and blinked at you. “What?”

You chuckled. “Why are you acting so surprised? I’m not going to date Jimin, blergh, I’ve known that guy since I was in preschool. I’m not dating Taehyung, I’m pretty sure he’s on a different brainwave than other human beings.”

You smiled at him and turned around to pick up your phone, holding it up.

“I don’t like girly things or cute things very much, but I kept your gift because it was from you and, funnily enough, I think it made me realize that I was rejecting femininity because society puts such a negative connotation on things young women like and because my friends growing up were primarily male, thus I wanted to seem cool or relatable so I rejected stereotypically feminine concepts…”

“… What?”

Now it was a confused what.

“Uh, never mind,” you laughed awkwardly, putting your phone back on your nightstand. “Anyway, Jungkook, you made me realize things about myself, and I love being around you, but I thought a handsome guy like you would want to date a pretty girl, and I’m not really that.”

Jungkook furrowed his brows. “What are you talking about? You’re the prettiest girl in the world. No one could ever be prettier than you.”

You felt your neck heat. “Yo, don’t inflate my ego when it’s not the truth,” you chuckled sheepishly, waving a hand. “You’ve been drinking anyway. Alcohol makes everyone prettier.”

“It’s the truth.”

Was he drunk or were you drunk? Why was Jeon Jungkook getting closer?

“Would you really date me?”

You stared into those chocolate eyes and smiled.

“Yes, I would.”

And you leaned forward and kissed him.

His eyes widened, staring at you and you closed your eyes, pressing your lips to his, inhaling his scent, memories of hot summers and mirthful laughter filling your head, standing beside Jungkook and kicking Jimin and Taehyung’s ass at table tennis even though Jungkook was doing most of the work, finishing a movie together after Jimin and Taehyung had passed out on the couch on top of each other and talking excitedly about it until you both fall asleep, getting lamb skewers after Jimin and Taehyung went off to eat ramen in a huff, unable to agree on the same meal as a foursome, but it was fine, no, better than fine, perfect even.

Because you were with Jungkook.

You broke the kiss and opened your eyes, smiling at him.

He blinked slowly, looking down at you.

“Noona…”

His hand raised, fingers spreading out longingly. You quickly reached up and pushed it back down.

“Jungkook, I swear, I do want to touch you in a less than holy way, but maybe not when you’re wearing my dad’s clothes, including his underwear, because that’s really fucking weird.”

Jungkook looked down at the brown t-shirt and beige shorts. “Oh. Yeah. Right.”

“You know, come to think of it, I feel like Taehyung has slowly stolen Jimin from me over the years, so maybe this was fated…” you mumbled, remembering at the moments you had shared with Jungkook were because your other two friends had abandoned you.

“I feel you, sometimes I feel like a third wheel…”

“I’m so sleepy.”

“I’ll tuck you in first, but I’m going to get us some water so we don’t die tomorrow morning.”

“Ugh, Jimin, bring another pillow please.”

“Hah, fine, but you’re buying breakfast tomorrow…”

masterpost

#jungkook x reader #jungkook fluff #bts fluff #jungkook x you #jungkook x noona #jeon jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook x you

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highqueenofelfhame · 3 years

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I’m not posting a tag list for this part because it’s late and I’m exhausted and wanna get it out for you guys. If it does poorly I’ll go back and tag but right now I’m just very over tag lists. Follow the “#hqoe f&f” tag or “falsehoods & fistfights” or “Hqoe writes” tags to more closely follow my work. You can also follow @highqueenofelfhamewrites and turn on post notifications if you want to be notified of my writing! I’m not doing this to be mean, I’m doing it to save time and frustration when the tagging system fails (as it often does)

Hugest shoutout in the world to @punkassbookjockey26 for being the best beta in the entire world. She helped so much with this update!! Give her a pat on the back.

Part One // Masterlist

Rowaelin // 5681 words

~*~

For the last several hours, the clatter of her clicking keyboard and the flipping of pages had been on a continuous loop. At some point, Aelin had opened Spotify and forgotten to turn on any music, clearly content to keep to her rigorous work pace in near-silence. The door to her office was closed, and no one had stopped by to bother her since she’d arrived. Only a handful of phone calls had disrupted her this morning, which meant she had gotten plenty of work done.

Except that it wasn’t morning at all— it was two in the afternoon, and she couldn’t quite figure out how the hell that had happened. She was still squinting at the time on her computer screen when a firm knock sounded at the door, and she called out, “Yes?”

“Have you eaten today?” At the sound of Rowan’s voice, Aelin’s head whipped toward the door. She was unable to stop the smile that spread wide across her face or stop herself rising from her chair to meet him. Aelin perched against her desk, accepting the brown paper bag he held in his hands. No, she hadn’t eaten, not since her half a bagel and cup of coffee before she arrived at work. She’d left a banana in her car for a snack but hadn’t wanted to run back down for it.

“Barely. I didn’t even realize it was past lunch,” Aelin sighed, looking back up at his face. Rowan was grinning down at her as she tore a bite of croissant off and popped it into her mouth. The man looked criminally good, wearing jeans that hugged his legs in all the right places and a white button-up shirt. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, and her eyes lingered on his tattoo that swirled down to his fingertips.

“Can I kiss you in here?” His question caught her off guard, a laugh bursting from her lips. “Because this whole…” Rowan gestured to her outfit. “It’s really doing it for me.”

“You like librarian Aelin?”

“Yes,” he said, leaning down to press his lips to hers. The get-up he referred to was a pinstriped pencil skirt that hit just above her knees and patent black stiletto heels that had her only a few inches shorter than him. She had a red tank top tucked into the skirt and, at some point, had discarded her white cardigan over the back of her office chair. Her lips matched her shirt in a bright, matte, red lipstick that she’d neglected to touch up throughout the day. Still, when Rowan pulled away, his mouth was tinged with the outline of hers. “I like this a lot. Fuck.”

“For the record, you can kiss me anywhere you want to,” she told him. “Especially in my office, especially when the door is closed.”

“Noted.” Rowan tugged on her high ponytail before sinking into one of the leather armchairs in front of her. Aelin continued to munch on the variety of pastries he’d brought for her while his eyes seemed to be glued to her legs. Aelin wondered if he was thinking about laying her out on this desk and having his way with her here, but she also knew he wouldn’t let that be their first time. No matter how badly she wanted it to be.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Mr. Whitethorn?” She asked, nudging his thigh with the toe of her shoe. The way he raked his teeth over his bottom lip before looking up at her told her that, yes, he was thinking what she was thinking. The way he quirked his brow at her also told her that, no, it wasn’t going to happen.

They were kind of dating, in the sense that they had been on a handful of dates. They had shared many heated kisses against the door to her apartment when he dropped her off, but he was being such a godsdamn gentleman about all of it that they hadn’t had sex yet. Aelin would have fucked him in the bathroom of the bar that first night, and they both knew it. But something was holding him back. To be fair, she couldn’t place all of the blame on him. She was holding back as well. Whatever this was between them felt like something that could be extraordinary, and she didn’t want to be the one that fucked it all up because she couldn’t keep it in her pants.

“I have a fight on Saturday, and I was really hoping you would want to come. Obviously, I would give you tickets, plus however many extra you want to bring whoever.”

“Just Aedion, I think.” Her cousin would likely die to be personally invited to one of Rowan Whitethorn’s fights, the same way Aelin knew he’d been having a bit of a mental breakdown when he found Aelin with him at the bar.

“Not your friends’ cup of tea?” He teased with a grin.

“Not even really mine, but you get like, almost naked for these things, yeah?” Rowan’s head tilted back as he laughed, reaching out to catch her fingers between his own. He squeezed them, shaking his head at her. “I’m just saying, any female fans you have are not because they want to watch you fight. I Googled you.”

“Of course you did.”

“And if coming on Saturday,” she paused, fighting the twitch of her lips at the innuendo, “is what gets me to see you sweaty and naked, I will be there.”

“Apparently, you can find that on Google also.” Aelin started to jerk her hand from his, but he laughed again and tugged forcefully enough that she dropped into his lap, his arms settling around her hips.

They didn’t have sex on her desk by the time he left, but he did have a trail of lipstick down his neck and red smudges on his collar.

~*~

There had only been a few times where Aelin had seen Aedion this excited. He was practically jumping out of his skin, trying and failing to keep his wide grin at bay. The whole way there, he’d talked about Rowan’s stats and how likely it was for him to win this fight. Apparently, it was very likely, and according to Aedion, if anyone bet against Rowan in the gambling pools, they were going to lose a lot of money.

This version of Aedion was almost completely opposite the one that had shown up an hour late to the bar a few weeks ago, only to find Aelin perched in his personal hero’s lap.

By the time Aelin spotted a familiar head of golden blonde hair making his way through the crowd, Rowan had stayed true to his promise. He’d bought her not one but two drinks, and she had a very happy buzz flowing through her.

“Aedion!” She hadn’t bothered to get out of Rowan’s lap; she liked the way his hand felt on her thigh, the other twirling a piece of hair around his finger while he talked to the tall, broody one— Lorcan.

“I’m sorry I’m late.”

“It’s okay; I made friends! And a fiancé!” Rowan laughed then, sticking his hand out for Aedion to shake.

“I’m the fiancé. Rowan Whitethorn. You must be the cousin she’s been waiting on.”

“I got held up at work. Aedion Ashryver, nice to meet you.” Despite the cool and collected exterior Aedion was giving off, Aelin knew without a doubt that he was dying inside. She spent several nights curled up on his couch while Aedion and his friends watched Rowan’s fights, though she’d never cared enough to pay attention. Usually, she disappeared to his guest room to read a book or snuck out after an acceptable amount of time to hang out with her own friends.

Aelin had heard about Rowan’s victories time and time again. When Aedion showed her different self-defense moves, he would say that Rowan Whitethorn took someone down with the same simple maneuver. To say that he admired Rowan would be an understatement. He damn near idolized him.

“Nice to meet you? That’s what you’re going with?” Aelin asked, mouth dropping open as everything Aedion had ever said about the man beneath her flooded her memory. Aelin looked at Rowan, shaking her head and pointing at her cousin. “All I ever hear about when you have a fight coming up is ‘Rowan Whitethorn this’ and ‘Rowan Whitethorn that.’ Yet now he’s here, and all he says is nice to meet you. Unbelievable.”

“Rowan doesn’t look like someone who particularly cares for fan service. Though if I’m wrong, correct me, and I will rectify that immediately. On my knees even, if he decides he’s interested in men at all.”

Aelin’s lips dipped into a drunk pout as she said, “I saw him first.”

“Technically, I saw you first,” Rowan interjected, a teasing tone in his voice. “And you rejected me.” A wrinkle appeared between her brows as she looked up at Rowan’s handsome face, disliking that she was already being ganged up on.

“I’m sorry— you rejected him?” Aedion sputtered in disbelief. Aelin flicked Rowan’s nose, and just like that, they settled into an easy banter that tugged on Aelin’s heart entirely too much.

Now, though, Aedion seemed to be nearly vibrating out of his skin with excitement. At will-call, they’d learned Rowan had set aside special floor seating just for them. When they walked into the arena, Aelin was pleased to see Rowan’s group of friends from the bar. She’d spent the most time with Fenrys than anyone else, and he welcomed her with a big hug, insisting she sit beside him instead of Lorcan. Aelin was more than happy to oblige, as Lorcan didn’t seem to have a taste for her. He didn’t even bother saying hello.

They settled into their seats, Aelin sitting between Fenrys and Aedion, both of whom had skipped the pleasantries and moved right into a conversation about the upcoming fight. Aelin leaned back into her chair and took in the surroundings. There were bits and pieces she remembered from her time barely watching matches with Aedion, but it was still different than what she expected. There was a large octagonal ring in the center of the room surrounded by black fencing that had to be about six feet tall. She wondered briefly if the fence was to keep people out or to keep the fighters in.

People were milling about, but Aelin realized that the arena itself was three levels high, and seats were piled around the room from floor to ceiling. There had to be thousands of them, and from the look of the crowds filing in, there wasn’t going to be an empty spot in the house. She hadn’t realized that MMA had such a following.

After about twenty minutes, the lights dimmed and the booming voice of the announcer filled the arena. People cheered wildly as the introductions for the fight were made and the sponsors were thanked. And finally, Aeling knew it was time. The announcer over-dramaticized the entrance for the first fighter and Aelin watched as a lean-muscled man walked up to the ring. He entered through a gate on the side, and people cheered as he made his rounds. Aelin sat on the edge of her seat for the announcer to start his next introduction, ready to see Rowan walking through the tunnel, when a different name was announced and a different man came strolling out. The confusion must have been all over her face when she looked at Aedion because he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.

“Rowan is the main event,” he said. “Which means there are a few fights before his.”

“Seriously? You mean I have to wait?” Aedion nodded and her scowl deepened. “How long?”

“Looking at the schedule, Rowan’s fight is slated to start in about two hours.”

“Two hours?! I have to wait two hours!?”

“Come on, Ace. It won’t be that bad. Just try to enjoy it.” Aedion turned away and was immediately drawn into the fight that had begun in the ring just a few feet in front of her. Aelin pouted, remembering all the reasons why she never stuck around to watch these matches with Aedion previously.

“All I wanted was to see Rowan sweaty and half-naked. I literally don’t care about anyone else,” she grumbled, mostly to herself. Beside her, Fenrys chuckled and threw his arm around the back of her seat as she settled back. Aelin frowned down at her phone, opening Snapchat to get a quick photo of her expression, which she promptly sent to Rowan.

It took him a good ten minutes to reply back to her, and it seemed he knew why she was pouting because the text across his photo simply said be patient.

After that, she didn’t want to bother him, and whatever pre-match rituals he may have, so she settled for scrolling through various social media apps to bide her time. When she found herself restless, she gave in and opened her book app to continue reading a romance novel she’d started the day before. The male love interest may have been a boxer and may have been incredibly sexy, and she may have downloaded it after searching for fighting-related books.

She had just reached a particularly steamy part of the book when she felt Aedion nudge her arm. Godsdamn him, the leading male was just about to give the girl the orgasm of her life when he’d interrupted. Aelin scowled up at her cousin, but the expression morphed into one of incredulity and excitement when she heard Rowan’s name announced, and he walked out into the arena.

Aelin immediately perked up in her seat, sliding her phone between her thigh and the chair. Rowan strolled out like a king surveying his kingdom, and the cheers were deafening. He wore absolutely nothing but a pair of forest green athletic shorts that left little to the imagination and some sort of fist guards over his hands. A wicked grin formed on his lips as he jogged up to the ring and hoisted himself up over the side with practiced ease. There was a very dramatic introduction, one that had the entire crowd screaming and getting to their feet. Aelin couldn’t help but join them, giving a standing ovation to the man she’d spent so many stolen hours with lately. Beside her, Aedion was absolutely losing it. It only made her smile more.

Even as the arena quieted while the referee explained the rules, nobody returned to their seats. Everyone stayed on their feet, and Aelin could understand why. Once the fight started and the hits and kicks started to get thrown around, she found herself filled with a restless energy that she couldn’t push down. Every time his opponent’s fist swung toward him, her heart began to beat frantically in her chest.

But Rowan ducked and dipped out of reach almost every time. The way the muscles of his arms and legs rippled every time he took a swing at the other man, Cairn, her mouth went dry. She hadn’t walked into the arena tonight expecting to find anything about the fight beautiful, but it was. The way that Rowan’s body moved was like watching a dance unfold before her. Every swing of his arm or swift kick of his leg sending her heart racing just like it had when she’d watched ballets growing up. It felt like such a bizarre comparison to make, but Rowan Whitethorn’s body was nothing short of a work of art.

But there was also a ferocity in it. Where ballet was soft and demure, Rowan was a force of nature. His face was hewn from stone, each strike with his hands or legs precise and controlled, but with an element of chaos surrounding it. He unleashed himself on Cairn, throwing punches and kicks swiftly, so quick that Aelin could not keep up with where the next one was going to land. With brutal efficiency, Rowan managed to get past Cairn’s guard to deliver several painful-looking blows in quick succession that had the crowd collectively wincing. It seemed that Aedion’s idolization hadn’t been misplaced.

Rowan breathed heavily, sweat dripping down every inch of his torso. His abdominals flexed with every exhale, showing off every hard line and sharp curve. The tattoo that swirled down his left side glistened under the bright lights of the arena. He looked like a god, and Aelin discovered that she found it quite difficult to keep her mind from falling off into the gutter when he looked like that.

When he made the final blow, a hit to Cairn’s face that had him unconscious before he even hit the floor, Aelin was surprised by how wholly turned on she was. He dominated the fight and looked damn good while doing it. Rowan was announced as the winner, fierce triumph written all over his face as the crowd completely lost their minds. Pride swelled in her stomach, and she couldn’t help her wide smile as she cheered along with the thousands of people in the arena. Even though it was televised, it felt special when he made eye contact with her and grinned before exiting the ring and heading her way.

Of course, he was intercepted about a dozen different times by dozens of different people offering their congratulations. When he finally got to her, he dipped down and hugged her tightly to his chest, pulling her feet off the ground. She could feel the heat of his body through the thin layers of her clothing, scorching her skin. The smell of him, a musky scent of sweat and the pine body wash she had come to associate with him assaulted her nose and she breathed him in deep. She felt the want ratcheting up in the most delicious way and knew that she would no longer be content with a night of only being pressed against her apartment door. Their kisses, no matter how desperate they had been, wouldn’t be enough to sate the need she felt for him. She needed all of him, and she needed him as raw and unrestrained as he had been during that fight. He pressed a kiss to her cheek as her feet met the floor, and he stepped back.

“Sorry, I’m sweaty.”

“You were amazing.” Amazing didn’t quite cover it, but it was the only word she could think of that came anywhere close.

“Does that mean you’ll come out with me tonight? To celebrate?” She wanted to say yes immediately. But with him in front of her, covered in sweat and looking like the only thing she wanted her mouth to touch for the foreseeable future, Aelin shook her head as her bottom lip tucked between her teeth. The disappointment began to cloud his handsome face, but she shook her head faster as though it would dispel his negative thoughts.

“I was kind of hoping I could steal you away. Celebrate with you alone.” Her voice was low and sultry, and she almost laughed because she could see him calculating just what that meant. The two of them. A celebration. Entirely alone, with no one else around.

“I— yeah. Yes. We can— yes. I have to wrap up here and then we can go to my place?” At all of his stuttering, she couldn’t help the bright laughter that bubbled out of her as the usually confident man in front of her stumbled a bit. His attention was drawn away temporarily when Aedion clapped Rowan on the shoulder and began to spew his admiration and congratulations. Rowan took it with grace, thanking him for coming while trying to keep his eyes off Aelin’s face. The way she bit her lip clearly wasn’t helping because his eyes kept dropping down to her mouth.

When a member of his team told him he needed to hurry— he had a short press conference post-fight and still wanted to shower before— Rowan dropped a chaste kiss to her lips and headed back to the locker room.

Aelin waited not-so-patiently, standing on the outside of Rowan’s group of friends in the parking lot while they talked. Aedion fit right in, pointing out the highlights of the fight with renewed vigor. He still seemed to be riding the adrenaline high from watching Rowan fight , and Aelin was sure he would implement something of what they saw into her self defense training.

When Rowan finally came out, they all cheered and shoved him around their little circle in celebration. He was grinning from ear to ear as he reached for Aelin and pulled her into his side, dropping a kiss to her hair. It was impossible to stop the tug she felt in her stomach, something between excitement and nerves. Everything inside seemed to be tied up in delicious knots as she leaned into him, enveloped by the scent of his body wash, the smell of pine equal parts comforting and arousing. “Where are we going tonight?” Fenrys drawled, throwing his arm around Vaughan. The quiet, dark-haired man tried to shrug out of it, but it only ended with him in a headlock.

“I will actually be stealing him away,” Aelin said before Rowan could even get a word in. Rowan’s hold on her shoulder tightened as he squeezed, and she squeezed him back where she had her arm around his waist, secretly thrilled that he was as on board with this plan as she was. His friends groaned in protest but Aelin and Rowan laughed. Lorcan looked particularly displaced about the revelation and was the first to step backward out of the circle and bid farewell. It didn’t take long for the others to follow and for Aelin to lace her fingers through Rowan’s and tug him toward his car.

While their pace could be described as leisurely, Aelin felt anything but. Now alone, she felt that want from earlier return with a vengeance. Rowan squeezed her hand, and her mind immediately wandered to those strong hands touching elsewhere, all over. A quick glance up at him left her reeling when she caught his gaze on her, and swore she saw every dirty thought that crossed his mind. It excited her, knowing that despite his cool, calm exterior wrapped around all of that cockiness, Rowan Whitethorn was just as affected as she was by what was to come.

When they arrived at his car, a sleek, black sports car that was perfectly him, Rowan opened the passenger door for her, ushering her in. Aelin turned her head towards him, and under the parking lot lights, she could see where Rowan had taken a bit of a beating.

Ducking inside the car, Aelin turned to look at Rowan, her thumb coming to brush over a bruise that was forming on his cheek. It was already a blue-purple color, indicating that it would only look worse over the next few days. Luckily he hadn’t taken too many hits, so this seemed to be the worst of his injuries. There was one other place near his temple that had drawn a little bit of blood but it was already on the mend, cleaned by the medics backstage.

“I’m okay,” he reassured her, his hand coming over to rest on her thigh. Aelin pulled hers away, startled by the softness in his voice. Her eyes searched Rowan’s for the lie that he was more hurt than he let on, but she saw nothing. She supposed it should have comforted her that Rowan knew what his limits were, but still, it seemed crazy that this man before her was the same one that had attacked Cairn in the ring and ended the fight in the first round.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” she said, her voice echoing the softness of his own.

“You just saw me get pummeled a few times and you’re worried about hurting me?” His voice dripped with disbelief, remnants of a laugh bubbling out. Aelin shrugged, cheeks stained a rosy blush.

“I don’t want to accidentally push on places that hurt.”

“I can assure you that anything you inflict upon me will be the sweetest kind of pain,” he promised, lacing his fingers with hers and bringing them to his mouth to press a kiss to her knuckles as he started the car and drove out of the dimly lit parking lot. Those knots in her stomach unspooled themselves into liquid heat as her bottom lip slipped between her teeth. “Don’t do that.”

His voice was rough with want, and it scraped over her, leaving small goosebumps on her skin. She shivered in anticipation, and ached to hear more in that deep, rumbling timbre. Reaching out a hand, she coyly ran her fingers slowly, softly up the taut skin of his arm. “Do what?”

“Bite your lip like that when I can’t kiss you.”

“If you drove faster, you would be able to kiss me,” Aelin teased, leaning over the center console to press a lingering kiss to his shoulder. Rowan’s knuckles turned white where he gripped the steering wheel, glancing over at her as the car rolled to a stop at a red light. Soaking up the opportunity they’d graciously been given by the gods, he deftly captured her chin and crushed his lips against hers, kissing her in a way that stoked the smoldering want inside her into an inferno. She felt the sinful slide of his tongue brushing against hers, of his teeth tugging over her bottom lip like he wanted to take a bite out of her. Aelin hoped that he would.

When he pulled away, Aelin’s eyes stayed closed, her lips stayed parted. A shaky breath tumbled from them, filling the tense silence in the car. It took everything in her to sit back in her seat and let him drive. If she were to do what she truly wanted to do, she would have him pull over and climb with him into the backseat, his apartment and privacy be damned.

Aelin wasn’t so sure that Rowan would stop her if she tried to coax him into it. How they had managed to go this long without tearing each other’s clothes off was a mystery to her. As she looked over at him, her eyes lingered on those strong hands gripping the steering wheel, hands that she wanted gripping her in the same way. She desperately wanted to have his fingerprints bruised into her thighs, to see the imprints of his teeth all over her chest. The idea of his back being covered with the marks of her nails only fed that growing fire within her.

The drive seemed to take an eternity, consisting of stolen kisses at stop signs and longing looks. It was hard to keep her hands to herself, and that seemed to be the case for Rowan, too. By the time they reached his apartment, his hand had drifted so high up her thigh that it was burning a hole straight through her jeans.

Rowan held her hand loosely while they walked inside the building and to the elevator. As soon as the metal doors slid shut, however, he was tugging her toward him and pressing her back against the wall. His hands slid from her hands to her waist, dropping down to her thighs to lift her up on the railing. Aelin couldn’t help the moan that she breathed into his mouth, her fingers twining into his hair while he tugged at her lip.

When the elevator dinged on his floor, Rowan was dragging hot kisses down her throat. It seemed to be too much for him because he had to take a moment before he pulled away. Rowan’s mouth stayed against her neck while he caught his breath causing goosebumps to rise all over her skin. The doors were beginning to close again when he finally pulled away and shoved his hand out to stop them.

Aelin laughed then, sliding down from the railing and tugging him down the hall toward his apartment. At the door Rowan fumbled with his keys, pressing kisses to the side of her neck as the lock tumbled and gained them entrance.

Any restraint he had left seemed to dissipate as soon as the door was shut and locked. Once again her feet left the floor as he carried her to his room and laid her down on his bed. Their kisses were hungry, starving as he lifted her shirt and tossed it onto the floor. His hands made quick work of the rest of her clothing, and before long they were just skin on skin, his mouth drifting lower and lower down her body.

All of it was pure ecstasy, almost too much for her to handle. It didn’t take long before she fractured beneath his mouth, her nails digging into his back, scratching desperately over his skin as he moved back up her torso to press his lips against hers.

When he pulled back to look at her, something had shifted. Gone were the frantic kisses, replaced by deeper ones that stole her breath from her lungs. An impossible feeling was tugging at her heart as their bodies moved together beneath the sheets. This time when she fell over the edge, Rowan went with her. Their bodies were so tangled it was hard for her to think clearly enough about where he started and she ended. Their gasping moans were a harmony she wouldn’t soon forget as he collapsed on top of her.

Aelin’s heel pushed down the strong muscles of his thigh, his calves, silently begging him not to move. His lips ignited sparks over her collarbones as he settled atop her while her fingers ran softly up and down his sides.

Eventually Rowan rolled off of her, and she would have frowned had he not tugged her into his side a heartbeat later. Aelin draped her leg over his waist and nuzzled her face against his chest, pressing a single kiss over his heart.

The last thing she remembered was the feeling of his hands in her hair and his low humming of a forgotten melody as she drifted off into a blissful sleep.

~*~

Soft kisses were being dropped over her bare back, leaving a trail up and down her spine. Aelin hummed in approval as a grin spread across her face. Her eyes were still closed, ignoring the rays of sunshine that were likely illuminating her face, when Rowan pressed a kiss to her cheek and the corner of her mouth.

“Good morning,” she said hoarsely, her lack of voice another reminder of everything that had transpired last night. She had woken Rowan a handful of hours after their first time, rolling on top of him and placing teasing kisses over his neck and chest until his calloused hands guided her into position. That time, Aelin had been control, her hands gripping the headboard through wave after wave of pleasure. There was an ache between her legs that made her want to beg Rowan to touch her despite how exhausted she was.

“Hi, baby.”

Aelin’s smile widened as she rolled onto his back and looped her arms loosely around his neck. Rowan kissed her properly then, long and slow until she was sure they were going to go for a third round in under twelve hours.

“So beautiful,” he murmured, fingers brushing her hair back from her face. Aelin wanted to snort in response, knowing last nights makeup was likely smeared around her eyes and she reeked of sex and sweat. But there was such reverence in his tone that she couldn’t bring herself to disagree, his green eyes bright in the morning sun as they traced over every feature of her face. “I still can’t believe you’re here.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Her hand moved from his neck to the side of his face, thumb brushing lightly over the bruise that marred his skin.

“You saw me fight. You watched me beat the hell out of someone and you didn’t turn and run. You didn’t balk. You still wanted me.”

Aelin was positive the confusion was written all over her face from the downturn of her lips to her furrowed brow, but still she said, “Has that been a problem before?”

“Yes.” Rowan pressed a series of kisses over her face starting at her temple and ending at her jaw.

“It’s not a problem for me,” she promised, voice barely a whisper against his cheek. Rowan was quiet for a moment, turning his face to look at her. “You’re a fighter. That’s what you are. I wouldn’t want you to be anything but what you are.”

A mix of emotions fluttered across his face, whatever he felt being a catalyst for kisses to her forehead, her cheeks, nose, and finally her lips. When he pulled back, he looked hesitant and unsure. It was the first time Aelin had ever seen him like that and it felt raw. Like he was exposing a part of himself he seldom did. She was ready to ask him what was going on when he kissed her so thoroughly she’d nearly forgotten the conversation at hand.

“What if I wanted to be something else?” Rowan gazed down at her, teeth grazing over his bottom lip. Again, she swore she saw uncertainty on his face and in his tone as the question rushed out in a single breath.

“Like what?”

“Like your boyfriend.”

She couldn’t help the joyful laughter that bubbled up and out like champagne. Rowan grinned too, so widely that his dimples were deep in his cheeks. Her thumbs ran over them as she kissed him, both of their smiles making it almost difficult. It was too cute, the way he’d seemed almost nervous and bashful in his delivery. It felt like high school all over again in the most innocent way.

“You can be that, too.”

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mpreg-is-always-possible · 2 years

Text

How To Choose

Story Summary

Valerie Jones had never had to put much thought into what her life would turn out to be - she was to go to school, find someone to settle down with, and get a job, that's the plan. But when her first day at her new job ends in an unexpected trip to a different dimention, how can she reconcile what she had planned and what life has dished out?

Masterlist

Chapter five: The Chase

It was quiet in Valerie’s apartment, the only sounds to be heard were cars passing by, the quiet chirping of a grasshopper outside the kitchen window and a faint sound of swing music from down the hall. The unit was dark except for the kitchen light above the table illuminating just where Valerie was sitting, hunched over a note pad writing a letter to Matt. To her left, a pile of letters was stacked haphazardly, each one addressed to a family member or friend.

Valerie’s face was scrunched up, her mind thinking deeply about what she wanted to say to Matt. It was her second day in the apartment – her sixth in the new world. With nothing but walks and reading to occupy her time, Valerie’s day was spent largely by thinking about home. She figured whatever processes were in place for missing persons were well under way by this point. Her brother Ryan and his wife Callie might have been at her parent’s house to keep them company, same with Matt. Her family was always close; Their highest priority was always each other and when significant others came into the picture, they were welcomed with open arms. After nearly five years, Matt was definitely comforting her mother in the wake of her disappearance. These thoughts plagued Valerie all day, so she decided to write them all letters. It was a habit she picked up when her grandmother died six years ago and again when her uncle died a year before. She’d write to those she couldn’t call and seal them away in an envelope.

The words seemed to spill out when she was writing to her parents, brother, sister-in-law, and friends, telling them all about what she had experienced, asking them about their weeks and telling them how much she missed them. But when it came time to write to Matt, she didn’t know what to say. ‘Hi, love, I miss you but it’s complicated because I am not ready to marry you and now, I have soulmates who are not you,’ didn’t seem right. She kept coming back to her connection with Steve and the ring she found in the sock drawer. Both made her nervous, she didn’t want either of them. But the connection made her want to want Steve. The ring was just unwanted.

A knock on the door pulled Valerie out of her thoughts. She shook her head and noticed that it had gotten dark around her brightened kitchen and that the clock on the microwave now read 11 o’clock. She got up from the table and went to open the door.

Steve was standing on her doorstep in a white t-shirt, leather jacket, and jeans. He was slouching in a way that only happens when a person just had a very long day. He stood straighter when his eyes met hers.

“Valerie, hi. I’m sorry for knocking this late but I saw your light on when I got back and wanted to check in,” Steve said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep,” Valerie said wrapping her zip-up around her body, suddenly aware she hadn’t showered or brushed her hair that day. “You just got back?”

“I had some paperwork I needed to do before I left.”

Valerie nodded. The two stood in silence for a moment not sure what to say. Valerie cleared her throat and asked, “Did you want to come in?”

“Yeah, uh, if that’s alright with you,” Steve said, surprised by the offer. Valerie had never been rude, but she wasn’t as open as she had been with anyone else. Valerie wasn’t sure what made her extend the invitation, but it just felt right. Whether that was because of the connection the two shared or her midwestern sensibilities, she didn’t know. Valerie stepped aside to let Steve in.

“Do you want something to drink? I have water, tea, uh, I also have milk,” Valerie said, leading Steve into the kitchen. Seeing Steve at the door made the letters slip from her mind. She quickly gathered them and placed them face down on the counter.

“Water is fine, Valerie, thank you,” Steve said. Valerie grabbed two classes, filled them with water and sat at the table across from Steve. “What were those papers?”

“Oh, I got a little homesick today, so I just wrote my friends and family letters,” Valerie said, her face getting red. Steve nodded.

“Yeah, it’s been about a week, I’m sure they are missing you a lot,” he said, “I’ve been here for over a year now and I gotta say missing your own place doesn’t really go away.”

“I’m sure it’s all a lot to take in,” she said.

“It’s still a learning curve, but I’d rather hear how you’re doing,” Steve said, resting his elbows on the table facing her squarely. “How do you like your apartment?”

“It works.”

“Are you comfortable here?”

“As much as I can be.”

“I’ve heard you’ve been researching soulmates and soulmarks, how are you feeling about those,” Steve asked. “I know you didn’t have them in your world, and it must be confusing.”

Valerie sighed; this was feeling more like a therapy session than a conversation. “The concepts are pretty straight forward, actually. And as for how I feel about them, I’m not sure. I’m supposed to be getting engaged to Matt when I get home and now, I might have the names of two men written on my shoulders forever.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you,” Steve said, his face now red. “I just wanted to see if there was anything I can do to help. I really hope we can get you home and I hope that mine and Bucky’s names don’t cause too much of a problem between you and Matt.”

Valerie rolled her eyes. “They most likely will.”

Steve looked down; this was not how he wanted this conversation to go. This wasn’t how he wanted meeting Valerie to go. He wished Bucky was here, he had always been better than Steve at talking to people. Steve could do big speeches about big ideas, but interpersonal relationships and connecting with individual people? That was all Bucky.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say to make you feel better, but I am here if you want to talk or vent,” Steve said, softly. Valerie took him in. His shoulders had rounded more and more as the conversation went on, until his usual rectangle shape turned into more of an oval. His bright blue eyes even seemed to turn a more stormy color. She could feel doubt and longing coming from his mark. She ran her hands through her hair.

“Thank you, Steve,” she said, her tone calmer. “I’m grateful for your help, I don’t mean to be rude.”

“I don’t think you’re being rude,” Steve said quickly.

“No, I am,” she sighed, “This whole situation is just insane and being your soulmate is just something I can’t even wrap my head around. I’m just scared that you have these expectations from me and our connection that I just can’t live up to.”

Steve moved to the chair next to Valerie and grabbed her hand. He looked at her with a stern face that would have been intimidating if he hadn’t started to stroke her hand with his thumb that left tingles in its wake.

“Valerie, when Bucky and I talked about what being with you would be like, the one thing we always came back to was just doing right by you. I just want to ensure that you have a happy life and if that’s doing what I can to get you home, then I’ll do it. You don’t need to worry about living up to my expectations, Val,” Steve said, his voice determined but had a loving edge.

Valerie pursed her lips. It sounded wonderful, if a bit dramatic for a relationship between two people who had effectively only spent less than one day together. But she read what usually happened between soulmates when they meet – they may go on a few dates initially, but on average people move in with their soulmate by the end of the first month or two. She read that in the 40s, people would move in the day they met their soulmate. She didn’t buy that he had no expectations.

“Really? You have no expectations from me or our connection? And why do you even want to make sure I have a good life? You don’t even know me,” she said, skepticism dripping from her lips. Steve sighed.

“To be honest, all my expectations of even meeting you, let alone being with you went out the window when I went in the ice, maybe even when Bucky fell. We promised each other that if one of us died in the war, we would go on for you and I tried but there was no way out of that last mission. Just the fact that you’re here exceeds everything I could have hoped for,

“And as for wanting to help you, why wouldn’t I? We’re soulmates - fate has determined that we’re good for each other and that makes me want to help you. I know you want to go home and if that is what will give you a good life, then I feel obliged to get you there. I did what I could to make Bucky’s life easier when he was alive, but for most of our time together, I was sick and scrawny, and we were both broke. I can do better for you; I promised him that I would.”

“You must really miss him,” she said after considering his words.

“Yeah, I do,” Steve said, simply. “I think about him everyday and I carry his picture with me everywhere. Despite being soulmates, being two men in love wasn’t exactly allowed. He would have loved being here and being able to just hold hands in public without risking a beating. I’d give anything to just kiss him or even just look at him one last time.”

Valerie gave a sad smile to the grieving man. He was clearly in love with Bucky, and it broke her heart to hear his words. She squeezed his hand.

“Can I see the picture?”

A smile slowly stretched across Steve’s face, and he pulled out his compass. He pulled his seat closer to Valerie and opened it up. Valerie looked down to see a black and white photo of a handsome darked haired man smirking up at her. His eyes had a gleam in them she often saw in the eyes of kids who had just done something mischievous. “He’s very dashing.”

Steve gave a laugh, “Yeah, he was, and he knew it. This was originally a photo of the two of us. It was Christmas 1944 and he had just snuck a kiss from me while the other commandos had their backs turned. That’s why he looks like he’s up to no good. He loved sneaking in touches or even kisses when no one was looking.”

Valerie looked to Steve, who had his eyes trained on the picture. Tears were forming in the corners of his eyes, and she snaked her arm around his waist and put her head on his shoulder. His breath caught in his throat, but he wrapped his arm abound her and put his head on top of hers.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think I’d get emotional. I don’t get to talk about him very often,” Steve said quietly.

“It’s alright, it seems like you needed it,” Valerie said.

The two stayed like that for a few more minuets until Steve noticed Valerie yawning. He got up from the table, saying he needed to get to bed and thanked her for the water. He left her apartment and walked down the hall when a blond woman walked out holding a laundry basket and talking on the phone. She quickly ended the call and turned to Steve.

“My aunt she’s kind of an insomniac,” Sharon said, throwing her phone into her hamper.

“You know, you’re welcome to use my machine, might be better than walking all the way down to the basement,” Steve said. He had talked to the woman a few times before and she seemed nice enough.

“Oh thanks, but I already have a load in. Besides you don’t really want my scrubs in your washer – I just finished a rotation in the infectious disease ward,” she said. Steve chuckled and raised his hands.

“Well, then, I’ll keep my distance.”

“I’ll see you around,” she said smiling. He went to walk away but she stopped him, “Hey, I think you left your stereo on.”

Steve looked back to his apartment door with a furrowed brow. Sure enough, he could hear the faint sound of a record playing one of his albums. He gave Sharon a crooked smile and excused his forgetfulness to her. She walked down the stairs and Steve’s shoulders straightened. He hadn’t even been listening to music when he left his apartment.

He made his way back outside, climbed the fire escape and slowly opened his kitchen window. His apartment was shrouded in darkness, the only light coming from the streetlamps and traffic lights outside. The music was louder and covered Steve’s light footfalls as he made his way through the kitchen and down the hall to the living room, grabbing his shield on the way. He reached the doorway and peered into his living room to see a shadowy figure sitting in the corner.

Nick Fury was lounging in the corner chair, looking like a man who knew and seen too much of everything. Fury turned his one good eye to Steve who sighed and slumped against the door frame. “I don’t remember giving you a key.”

“You really think I’d need one,” Fury said grunting as he sat up in the chair, “My wife kicked me out.”

“I didn’t know you were married,” Steve said coolly.

“A lot of things you don’t know about me,” Fury said.

“I know Nick. That’s the problem.” Steve said stepping into the living room. He turned on the light and saw Fury’s face bloodied and bruised. Steve’s breath caught his forehead creasing with concern. Fury put his hand up then turned the light off. He typed something on his phone and turned the screen towards Steve. It read ‘EARS EVERYWHERE.’ Steve’s tense posture loosened as he looked around the room. Fury spoke again.

“I’m sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash.” Fury showed Steve his phone again – ‘SHIELD COMPROMISED.’

“Who else knows about your wife,” Steve asked. Fury stood from the chair, holding his side with one hand, his phone in the other reading ‘YOU AND ME.’ He stepped closer to Steve, the light steaming in from outside across his face.

“My friends,” he said simply. Steve’s mouth became a thin line.

“Is that what we are?”

“That’s up to you,” Fury said. A moment later bullets shot straight into Fury’s body. He cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Steve grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the living room. He looked out the window and saw a man on the rooftop next door with a large gun. He laid Fury in his kitchen and Fury grabbed Steve’s arm before he could turn away. Steve looked down to see Fury’s hand outstretched with a long silver thumb drive with the SHIELD logo in his palm. Steve grabbed it.

“Don’t trust anyone,” Fury wheezed out. Steve looked at him in shock when the front door burst open.

“Captain Rogers,” a woman’s voice called out. Sharon, still in her scrubs, appeared holding a gun. “Captain, I’m Agent 13 of SHIELD, Special Service.”

“Sharon,” Steve said in disbelief. Sharon ignored him and walked into the kitchen.

“I’ve been assigned to protect you and Valerie.”

“On whose order?” Sharon stopped when she saw Fury laying on the floor covered in blood.

“His,” she said before dropping to the ground and checking for a pulse. She pulled out a radio. “Foxtrot is down, he is unresponsive. I need EMTS.”

Steve turned to look back at the man on the rooftop when Valerie appeared in his front door.

“What’s happening, I heard shots,” Valerie said, eyes wide. Steve didn’t look at her; he watched the man start to run.

“Valerie, stay with Sharon. Sharon, tell them I’m in pursuit,” Steve said. With that he gripped his shield tightly and ran out the window, jumping into the next building.

Valerie stood in the door with her mouth open. Sharon pulled her from her shock.

“Valerie, I need you come here and help me put pressure on these wounds,” Sharon said, calmly.

Valerie took a shaky step into the kitchen and gasped when she saw the damaged body of a man she’d never met before. His black clothing had a wet shininess to it that could only be blood and in his chest and stomach were two gapping bullet holes. Sharon was pulling gauze out of her pocket and handed some to Valerie.

“Help is on the way, but we need to put pressure on these wounds until they come,” Sharon said, making Valerie look at her. Her tone was so set and determined – it grounded Valerie, who had never seen a wound worse than a nosebleed. Valerie nodded and kneeled across from Sharon. She grabbed the gauze from Sharon’s outstretched hand and pushed it down onto the man’s body as hard as she could.

The next five minuets felt like the longest of Valerie’s life. She could hear the faint sound of windows breaking and eventually and gong like sound coming from the direction Steve ran off in. Sharon talked to Valerie, but the words didn’t seem to stick, all Valerie could think about was Steve. Was he okay, had he gotten the guy that did this? She didn’t have long to dwell on any of this before the EMTs showed up and took the man away. Sharon turned to her.

“Directory Fury is going to be escorted to the hospital with other agents, I’m gonna stay with you,” Sharon said. Valerie didn’t hear her though; she was staring at the blood-stained kitchen flood where the man had just been. Sharon grabbed her shoulder.

“Valerie,” she said, sternly. Valerie turned her head towards Sharon, her eye prickling. “Let’s go back to your apartment, okay?”

Valerie nodded wordlessly and let Sharon walk her to her apartment. This was not how she expected this night to go. After Steve left her apartment, she began to get ready for bed. She was brushing her teeth when she heard the shots. She had to do active shooter training for her job back home, but she never thought about being in this type of situation outside of school. It was terrifying and to watch Steve run after the shooter without hesitation? Something in her hated to watch him run out the window.

“Valerie, are you okay,” Sharon asked. Valerie turned to her slowly, her eyes darting across the room.

“Steve just ran after him, alone. Shouldn’t someone go help him,” Valerie asked.

“Steve is the greatest soldier in history, he can handle an assassin. Besides, he’d much rather I stayed with you,” Sharon said, putting a kettle filled with water on the stove.

“I’m guessing you aren’t a nurse,” Valerie said. Sharon gave her an apologetic smile.

“No, I’m a SHIELD agent assigned to protect you and Steve, though I probably will be reassigned after tonight.” Valerie nodded. She took a moment before asking, “How does your soulmate handle watching you charge into dangerous situations?”

Sharon looked surprised by the question, her brows raised, and her hand paused over the jar Valerie kept tea leaves in. She composed herself, opened the jar and put tea bags into mugs.

“I haven’t met my soulmate yet, but I’ve heard from colleague’s partners that it can be very difficult, though they usually don’t actually see them go into these kinds of situations.” she said carefully. Valerie nodded and rubbed her face. The pit in her stomach that opened up when Steve jumped out the window had been growing the entire time and Sharon’s answer wasn’t exactly helping. The kettle began to whistle, and Sharon poured the water into the mugs. She sat next to Valerie at the kitchen table and placed the mugs in front of them.

“I just think he should have some kind of back up,” Valerie said, quietly. Sharon gave her a sympathetic and knowing look. Valerie sighed, if Sharon didn’t know the two were soulmates, she knew now.

“If he doesn’t come back or call in the next 15 minutes, I’ll send someone after him,” Sharon said, softly placing a hand on Valerie’s arm. “He is very good at what he does, so we shouldn’t worry too much just yet.”

So, the two waited at the kitchen table, sipping on their tea. Valerie would have preferred to be waiting for the EMTs than waiting for Steve to show up; time seemed to slink by so slowly her own movements seemed to slow down. She didn’t want to worry, didn’t want to take calming breaths in order to make her mark on his body radiate a calming energy through him, but she did. She’s never been more worried about a person before, no one had ever given her a reason to. She didn’t even want to imagine what she would be feeling if she was actually with Steve. In this moment she really missed the normalcy of her own world. Valerie couldn’t take the silence after five minuets.

“Did you know when you were assigned to protect me,” Valerie asked in a whisper.

“That you were Steve’s soulmate? No, I didn’t, my superiors just said you were a friend in trouble and should be near him,” Sharon said. “When did you guy meet?”

“About six days ago.” Sharon nodded.

“Pretty early in the relationship then,” she said. Valerie shifted in her seat.

“We aren’t together, and we probably won’t be together,” Valerie said, avoiding Sharon’s confused gaze.

“It’s none of my business, but can I ask why?” Valerie sighed.

“I’m not from here – this world I mean,” Valerie said. She gave a condensed version of what happened to her, and Sharon sat quietly.

“I’m sorry you’re going through this, it must be very overwhelming,” Sharon said.

Valerie sighed, that was what pretty much everyone said when she told her story and it never comforted her. Before she could respond, her front door opened quickly. Valerie’s head whipped to the front door where Steve was walking though, breathing heavily. He dropped his shield in the hall and Valerie stood from her seat and walked towards him. She wanted to hug him, but she stopped herself before she threw herself at him.

“Valerie are you okay,” Steve asked, putting his hands on her shoulders, looking her over. She looked him up and down – no bleeding or breaks. He was fine and her worry hardened into annoyance.

“I’m fine, I didn’t jump out a window into the next building and run after an assassin with no backup or anything,” she said pushing his hands off his shoulders. “Why did you do that?”

“I needed to try and get the guy, that’s my job,” Steve said carefully. “I’m sorry I worried you, but he needed to be pursued.”

Valerie huffed, her ears turning red. She knew he was just doing his job, but she couldn’t help her anger that he would just run off after someone so dangerous alone. “So, you go alone?”

Sharon was still sitting in the kitchen listen to the argument. She got a message from Maria Hill that Fury had gone into surgery, so she stood and walked towards the couple.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt, but Fury just went into surgery,” she said. Steve’s lips formed int a line and he nodded.

“Valerie, I’m so sorry I worried you, and I want to talk this through, but I need to go to the hospital,” he said. Valerie rubbed her eyes and nodded.

“Yeah, go,” she said softly, tiredness overcoming her suddenly. Steve looked at her apologetically.

“I’ll call you in the morning, Val,” Steve said. He grabbed his shield and walked out the door. Valerie crossed her arms over her body looking at the door. Sharon stepped next to her.

“He was never in any danger he couldn’t handle, Valerie,” she said.

“I know, I don’t know why I was so worried or why I got so mad when I saw he was okay. I just couldn’t help it,” Valerie said turning back to the kitchen.

“The connection is – “Sharon began, but Valerie interrupted.

“Hard to ignore, I know. I’ve heard and read it more than I’d like. I don’t want to worry about him or feel anything for him but despite barely even talking to him, I do. It just feels like I’m betraying Matt or at least I’m about to betray him,” Valerie said, taking a sip from her now cold tea.

Sharon didn’t know what to say to that, she’d never met someone who didn’t want their connection. How did you comfort someone who wanted to go against something that was supposed to be natural? She sat next to Valerie and took her hand.

“I don’t think there’s anything I could say to make you feel better about everything, but I’m sure some sleep will make you feel better,” Sharon said. Valerie nodded and stood from the table. She thanked Sharon and went to bed.

Chapter 6

#stucky x reader #stucky x oc #stucky #original female character #soulmate au #Soulmate!Steve Rogers #Soulmate!Bucky Barnes #slow burn #HowToChoose #angst #also on ao3 #eventual smut #slight canon divergence

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livingasaghost · 3 years

Text

the foxes during pride let's GO

disclaimer: i know everybody has their own headcanons for what all the foxes' sexualities are so do not come at me if i give your character a different sexuality than you think they deserve! (except aaron that bitch is straight)

so obviously the foxes are Not Straight™️ (except aaron fuck that guy) which means the foxes during pride are just.....chaotic af....but also, it took them a while to figure out how not straight they are

they all decide they're going to the pride parade bc none of them have ever been and since they have so many Gays they need to support them and now that they're all friends it'll be way more fun

kevin does NOT want to go and argues about it for three days before andrew shuts him up

nicky is so excited that he asks erik to fly in just so they can go together

neil still doesn't really know a lot about pride since he didn't even realize he "qualified" since he "only likes andrew"

one night he shares his fears with renee because she seems like the only person on the team who understands his sexuality aside from andrew and she says that he seems like he's on the ace spectrum and that he definitely belongs in the community

neil spends the rest of the night on his computer looking up demisexuality and asexuality and a whole list of terms he never knew existed

the next day he shows andrew, happy to finally have a language to explain himself, and andrew just nods

as neil keeps talking and explaining romantic attraction, andrew starts to think that maybe he belongs a little on the aro spectrum...but he doesn't say anything. just keeps thinking.

eventually neil speaks up at one of the team's hangouts and shares that he's demisexual and he may also be questioning his gender

this sparks a huge conversation where everybody starts Questioning™️ and soon it's 2am and matt is sharing that he might actually be pansexual?

allison waves everybody off because "of course i'm not straight i never have been you guys just haven't noticed"

nicky gets very put out that so much of his team is Not Straight and they all acted like he was the odd man out for being gay

then allison decides to stir the pot a little more "actually, i've always had a crush on renee but i know that'll never happen"

which leaves renee and the entire team speechless

renee: "...i always though YOU were the one that was never gonna happen"

nicky: "WAIT? RENEE AND ALLISON LIKE EACH OTHER?"

matt: "andrew just won like $300"

nobody really knows what to do next, so allison and renee just kind of look at each other and the two of them silently agree to talk about it all later

nicky: "okay well y'all better spill the tea when you hook up because i want all the details"

dan shoves him off the couch

as the night wears on, kevin stays conspicuously quiet, and it isn't until almost everyone goes to bed that neil finally convinces him to open up

kevin: "the reason i told you that you shouldn't be homosexual is because.....i used to have a crush on jean"

even though neil doesn't really understand, he admits that jean does have a beautiful face and it's really really attractive when he speaks french

neil shares a little bit more about demisexuality and kevin wonders if maybe he falls on that spectrum somewhere...if maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if he wasn't entirely straight

after their Big Night of Sharing, dan talks with allison because "how did you know you actually liked girls?"

and the more allison starts to talk, the more dan realizes that all those girls she thought were pretty growing up.....weren't just women she admired

but she stills likes matt and she still finds some men attractive and she starts to realize that maybe she falls on the bisexual spectrum....or maybe just queer, she isn't sure yet

one day after practice wymack goes off on some tangent and eventually nicky spills that they're all going to the pride parade

wymack: all of you?

nicky, totally serious: okay, well, not aaron bc he's homophobic and he's also the token straight teammate

aaron: i am not homophobic

matt: i'm pretty sure you are

wymack almost asks about why they all want to go to pride because he's sure most of them are queer, but it's above his pay grade so he just tells them to have fun

almost everybody decides to dress up for the parade — kevin obviously refuses — and andrew surprises everyone by wearing armbands that are rainbow colored

neil tells andrew he doesn't care about dressing up but andrew buys him a rainbow shirt anyway

and then while they're getting ready allison insists on drawing a little demi flag on neil's cheek right over his scar and it makes neil feel like he finally belongs somewhere

nicky obviously goes all out and wears an outfit that matches eriks: short shorts, rainbow flag cape, rainbow socks, etc. he even wears heart-shaped pink sunglasses

the girls spend a few hours doing their make-up and they even convince matt to put glitter in his hair

renee gets a few disposable cameras for the occasion and spends the entire day taking cheesy photos of (and with) everyone to remember everything

halfway through the day neil looks over and sees allison and renee holding hands

at one point kevin gets recognized and people start asking him about his sexuality, wondering if he's just an ally and kevin almost bolts....but then he glances at neil, who's standing close to andrew...and he looks at nicky and erik....and then he notices allison and renee together.....and something in him just kind of snaps

kevin: "actually, yeah, i'm here because i'm bi. i'm bisexual."

the whole team just stares at him, most of them wearing proud smiles, and when the fans leave (inevitably about to share this news with the internet) they all gather into a group hug — even andrew — and congratulate kevin

and even though kevin keeps telling them to "GET OFF!" he's also secretly glad that he finally has people to accept him and love him no matter who he loves

andrew doesn't say anything the entire day, looking entirely unimpressed by the crowds and the parade, so neil pulls him aside at one point

neil doesn't expect him to say anything, just wants to give him space to breathe, but then andrew speaks up

andrew: i never thought it could be like this

neil: like what?

andrew: colorful

#aftg #aftg headcanon #this is so stupid and bad but IDC #it BROUGHT ME IMMENSE JOY #and i feel like people won't agree with me on some of the choices i make in this but I DO NOT CARE #aftg pride #pride #aftg hc #aftg shitpost

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comphersjost · 4 years

Text

All for You | 4 ➸ Brady Tkachuk and Matthew Tkachuk

thank you all so fucking much for all of your kind words and support and love. i though about making an epilogue type of part to tie up loose ends, if that’s what you guys want. let me know?

A week after Matthew walked out on you at the arena, his teammates show up at your door, dragging their wreck of a teammate to the only one he wants - but refuses - to see: you.

word count: 3.5k+

warnings: alcohol, using alcohol to cope, mentions of sex, quite a bit of angst

part one

part two

part three

part four

part five

masterlist

The moment the vibrating starts on your bedside table you know that something’s wrong. The Caller ID reads Noah Hanifin. You should have deleted his number really. Especially after the trainwreck of a game last week. But you couldn't bring yourself to do it, needing some sort of lifeline to Matt.

You watch as your phone stops ringing, revealing the notification for 4 missed calls from Noah and the time: 2:04 am. The screen lights up with a photo of him again, and this time you pick up.

“Hello?” you answer groggily, sitting up to turn on the lamp as you rub the sleep out of your eyes.

“Open the door.”

“What?” Your head feels heavy from being woken up in the dead of night. “Noah what are you-”

“Is that Y/N?” you hear through the chaos in the background, and your sleep addled brain faintly registering that the words came from Elias.

“Y/N!” you hear another voice exclaim, and suddenly you're wide awake. “Hi, Y/N, Hanny, dude, tell her she's the most beautiful girl in the world - Hanny listen to me - and her Instagram post was so cute - hey, Hanny!”

You hear more shuffling over the line, and a sharp “Shut up Chucky!” from Noah. Suddenly there’s silence, and Noah’s voice comes out clearer than before.

“Hey,” he says, “We’re bringing Matty up in the elevator, please open the door.”

“Why?” you ask, “He made himself pretty damn clear at the game that he didn't want to see me so -”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Noah interrupts, voice seeping with frustration. “He won't let us take him anywhere but here, okay? He saw you post that photo today and got all sad and mopey when he left practice and then Lindy and I found him like this. He’s been drinking since like 6 o’clock and we barely managed to cut him off like an hour ago and he's a fucking wreck so, please, Y/N, just open the door.”

Maybe that lifeline was a good idea after all.

Cursing under your breath, you reluctantly get out of bed, turning on the lights as you make your way through your apartment. Just as you're swinging the door open, Matt is stumbling out of the elevator, each of his arms thrown around Noah and Elias.

Matt’s eyes light up when he sees you, attempting to escape the grasp of his teammates to rush towards you. “Woah!” Noah says, grasping Matthew’s arm so he doesn't go anywhere. “Dude, relax, you can barely walk.”

You see Matt pout as they get closer, and for some reason the sight makes you tear up. There's something about the way he looks right now, helpless and wide-eyed, being carried by his teammates like a child, that makes your heart ache. When they finally reach your door you try to hide your grimace at the smell of liquor on his breath.

“Hi pretty girl,” Matt slurs with a grin, his head lolling to the side. “Did we wake you up?”

“Yeah,” you say softly, stepping aside to let Noah and Elias practically drag him inside. “That's okay though.”

Matt mumbles something unintelligible as his teammates deposit him on the couch. Noah turns to you when he’s sure Matt won't fall over.

“I'm sorry-” he starts but you put your hand up to stop him.

“It’s okay, Noah,” you reassure him, eyes flickering to the curly-haired boy on your couch. “Is he…?”

“No,” Elias pipes up from beside Matt. “He's the furthest thing from okay, Y/N.” You flinch at his harsh tone, even though you knew he was right. This was your fault. Elias’s expression softens when Noah shoots him a reprimanding glare. “I'm sorry,” he steps towards you, “I didn't mean to-”

“You're right,” you say abruptly, gaze focusing on Matt’s face. His eyes are closed but he's not sleeping, that lopsided grin still on his face. “You're right, Elias. Thank you for bringing him here.”

Noah opens his mouth to say something but is interrupted by a complaint from the couch.

“Why are you guys still here?” Matt whines, “I wanna hang out with my girl.” Noah and Elias both glance at you sideways at the last words, but you just sigh.

“You guys can go,” you say softly, “I can take care of him, I got this.”

The two men hesitate for a moment, glancing at each other and seemingly having a silent conversation. They seem to come to an agreement as Elias claps Matty on the back and stands from the couch. You follow the two of them to the door, leaning on it as the two turn to you.

“Guys,” you say, stopping them as they turned to leave. You pause, unsure if you should even ask but- “What did Brady say on the ice?”

Elias inhales sharply, looking at Noah as he attempts to mask the reluctance in his eyes.

“Please,” you whisper.

Noah looks at Elias for a split second before he sighs and his shoulders slump. “He said-” Elias cuts him off before he can finish.

“He said that if Chucky wasn't such a wimp that was afraid of his feelings he could’ve been the one to get the girl.”

You stop breathing.

“That little shit,” you seethe, curling and uncurling your hands before you punch something. “He's such a fucking instigator I'm going to kill him.”

“Why?” Noah asks, tilting his head in confusion. “I mean, Matty came at him for it but, he’s right isn't he?”

“What?” your head snaps towards Noah, eyes wide in shock. “What are you talking about? Brady and I tested the waters and figured we’d be better as friends. He started a fight because he could.”

“No way,” Elias says, “Chucky said-”

“He would have known if he just listened to me!” Noah steps back at your exclamation, glancing to each side down the empty hallway. Your voice drops to a hoarse whisper, “He would have known if he stayed in the fucking trainer’s room and let me explain!”

“You fucked his brother,” Noah reminds you.

“I was in love with Brady, Noah!” you snapped, “That was the point of this whole thing - of everything! And then he told me he loved me out of nowhere!”

Noah scoffs, though he doesn't miss your use of past tense. “It wasn't out of nowhere, Y/N, and you know it. He brought you to games. He brought you to team events. He bailed on us at least once or twice a week to hang out with you. Have you ever even seen him flirt with a girl since you've moved to Calgary?”

“I didn't know what to do! I’m sorry!”

“You don't have to apologize to us,” Elias reminds you, motioning behind you. “He needs you, he's been needing you and I don't - he can't keep doing this to himself. If he's not at practice or a game he's drunk off his ass and even then he can't stop fucking talking about you. God, Y/N, do something and fix this.”

You nod, wrapping your arms around yourself. “I'll try,” you whisper. “Thank you for bringing him here.”

The two bid you goodbye, leaving you alone with Matthew for the first time in months.

“Hi Matty,” you say gently as you find your back to the living room. You brush your fingertips against his forehead, pushing his hair back. His eyes flutter open, adoration and sadness practically shining through his gaze.

He reaches for you, making grabby hands until you sit beside him, maneuvering the two of you so that his head was in your lap. He hums contentedly as you run your fingers through his hair, scratching at his scalp lightly.

“I saw your Instagram post,” he says quietly. “With you and the ice cream? I love that place, it reminded me of when I took you when you first moved to Calgary.” You can't help the smile that tugs at your lips as he rambles. “I cried when I saw it. I cry a lot lately.” Your chest aches. “I thought it would be easier by now. I thought it wouldn't hurt as much but -” he cuts himself off. Neither of you speak for a few minutes, sitting in silence as the thoughts whirl around your head.

“Y/N/N?” The use of your nickname has you humming questioningly. He hadn't called you that in nearly a year. Whatever it is you thought he might say, nothing could have prepared you for the next words out of his mouth.

“Why don't you love me?” He doesn't sound sad, but his tone tells you he's given up, and you can feel your heart shatter. You stay silent, unsure of whether or not he even wants you to answer. You know it was the right decision when he keeps talking. “Like, why him? Why not me? I love you, did you know that? You know that. I told you, right? You're so pretty Y/N/N, did you know? And you're funny. So funny. And my friends like you, my friends never liked girls I brought around before you moved to Calgary. I didn't like them either - isn't that weird? I don't know why I even bothered. It was always you. Even when we were kids.”

You freeze your movements at that, holding your breath and waiting to see what he says next.

“I mean, I didn't like, know that, yet,” he continues, words slurring slightly. “I always just thought that like, if you asked, I guess, I don't know. But it's always been you. But you kept picking him and I just wanna know why I wasn't enough for you, you know? Elias keeps telling me I’m being dumb and shouldn't be mean to myself or whatever but like, you're it for me, and I just want you to love me like you love him.”

“Matty…” you start, but you're interrupted by a squeaky hic from Matt. You stare at each other for a moment, before the two of you burst into giggles.

“I have the hiccups,” Matty snickers, one hand coming up to grab yours. He intertwines your fingers together, squeezing as your laughter dies down. “God, I love you. You probably don't wanna hear that huh? Well, I missed you. So much.”

“I missed you too Matty,” you lean down to whisper the words against his forehead, kissing the spot gently. “I wish you would've let me explain.”

“Why?” He asks, scrunching his nose. “You love him don't you? I promised to help you and I-” his tone falters for the first time since he got to your place, and he pulls his hand away from yours. “I did what I promised and I thought - I thought maybe when you saw that I loved you like you wanted him to that maybe you'd realize. I thought maybe if I didn't tell you about Autumn you'd finally see that it was me that loved you this whole time. But then you just, you left when you found out and I - I’m sorry, Y/N. I should have never kept it from you. But it's always been him for you right?”

“Not always,” you say quietly. “Not since last year.”

Matt pulls away from you, staggering for a moment from dizziness as he stands up too quickly.

“You can't say that!” he cries desperately, tugging at his hair. “You can't say that to me when you're - when Brady - you and him -”

“Me and him, what, Matty?” you stand up as you ask, taking a step towards him and grabbing his collar to make him look at you. “Me and Brady, Matt, we’re not - I didn't mean for this to happen.”

“I know,” Matt murmurs, eyes flashing to your lips before he squeezes them shut. “I didn't mean for it to happen either.”

“He's still my best friend.” Matthew’s eyes fly open at the statement.

“Wha-what do you mean?” His voice is shaky and uncertain, but there's an unmistakable hint of hope. “Last week - at - at the game?”

You open your mouth to reply, finally say what you've been meaning to for so long and - Matt sways where he stands, his hand flying to cover his mouth as he turns on his heel and runs. You follow him quickly into the bathroom as he falls to his knees in front of the toilet just in time to retch out the contents of his stomach.

You rub his back gently, murmuring sweet things in his ear when his stomach has finally stopped heaving. He coughs a few times before slumping over to the side, head lolling back weakly. You clean him up as much as you can and flush, attempting to help him up. You struggle slightly as his 6’2 frame slumps against you.

“Matty, you gotta help me out here,” you nudge him gently, “I can't carry you, bubs, c’mon, stand up okay?”

He mumbles something about how tired he is, but still stands up as straight as he can. With Matt’s arm around your shoulders, you manage to get him to your bed, letting him slip out of your grasp as he collapses on your bed. You turn to leave the room but a soft groan from your bed stops you.

“Please don't go,” Matt whines softly, grabbing your hand, eyes shut as he lies still over the sheets. “Please.”

“I won't,” you brush his hair away from his forehead affectionately. “I just have to go turn off the lights and get you some water okay?” He hums in acknowledgement and reluctantly drops your hand. You turn off all the lights in your apartment as quickly as you can, grabbing a water bottle from the kitchen and a bottle of ibuprofen before going back to your room.

“See?” you said as you placed the water and pills down on the bedside table. “Not even two minutes.” Matty grumbles “Still too long” under his breath and you snort in amusement. You pull his arm so that he's sitting up on the bed, kneeling in front of him. His eyes flutter open, blurry for a moment before focusing on you. A dopey smile spreads on his face as he watches you take off his shoes and socks.

“C’mon, arms up,” you instruct, rolling your eyes when he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively at you. “Matt, you have to go to bed, arms up.” He sighs and relents, letting you change him out of his clothes without any more suggestive looks. You manage to get him into a pair of sweats and t-shirt he’d left months ago.

“Is this mine?” he asks tiredly, smiling softly when you nod. “Thanks for keeping it.”

“I don't steal your clothes just for the fun of it you know, I actually wear them?” you tease, pushing his shoulder lightly. He lets himself fall backwards when you do that, sighing as he pulls the sheets over him.

“You'll stay, right?” he whispers into the dark room after a moment. “Even if you kick me out in the morning, and Brady beats me up again, right now just, please don't leave me again.”

“I’m right here, Matty,” you reassure him, scratching lightly at his scalp. “I promise I'm not going anywhere.”

“Y/N/N?”

“Matt, what part of you need to go to sleep don't you understand?”

“I know lemme just -” he rolls over to his side to face you, resting his cheek against the palm of his hand. He stares at you for a few moments, blinking slowly to try and fight the exhaustion. “I'm sorry for fucking everything up.” Before you get a chance to respond, Matt is out cold.

When your eyes flutter open a few hours later, Matt is still dead asleep. It's times like these you're thankful for your body being used to waking up semi-early. You figured while Matt sleeps his hangover away you could make him breakfast, and maybe actually have a long overdue talk.

You're flipping the last piece of french toast when you feel eyes on you. You turn to see Matt standing awkwardly in the entrance to the kitchen. He seems hesitant, closed off, and you notice he’s wearing his clothes from the night before.

“Hey, good morning,” you smile gently at him, “I was just making some -”

“I should go.” The words are abrupt, and they feel more like a knife to the gut than a slap to the face. “I'm sorry about last night, it won't happen again.”

With that he's turning towards the door but really - you've had enough.

“Sit. The fuck. Down.”

He spins around quickly, eyebrows furrowed into a deep frown. “I really shouldn't be he-”

“No!” you shout angrily, ignoring Matt’s taken-aback expression. You transfer the last piece of french toast to the place and turn off the stove, taking a deep breath. “Do you remember anything about last night?” you ask quietly.

“Not much, bits and pieces.”

“Well you're not walking away from me again,” you hiss, pointing at the dining room table. It’s already set, the only thing missing being the plates of french toast and eggs in your hands. “Sit.”

Surprisingly, Matt does, watching you carefully as you set the plates down and sit.

“Why didn't you tell me about Autumn?” you ask slowly, watching as he tenses, sitting up straight. “Tell me the truth.”

He's silent for a moment, opening and closing his mouth as he tries to get the words out. “I was sick of seeing him hurt you,” he finally admits. “I watched him hurt you for so long, Y/N, I held you while you cried and I - I never want to be the one to make you feel like that.”

“It hurt more when Brady said you knew.” Matt grips the edge of the table so hard his knuckles turn white. “And then you said that you loved me and - we’d spent so long trying to get me to tell Brady how I felt that I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what else to do except walk away.”

“I know,” he says quietly. “I'm sorry.”

“I know,” you repeat.

Matthew clears his throat, eyes focusing in his lap as he says his next words. “Living without you is the worst thing I’ve ever had to do in my entire life. And I know it’s my fault. It’s all my fault. And I’m sorry.” A tear slips down his cheek and you hesitate for a moment, before reaching out and brushing it away with your thumb. You tilt his head towards you, taking in the defeated expression on his face. He keeps talking. “I should have - I shouldn't have told him for you, I shouldn't have told you that I loved you and I - god, Y/N, I’m so fucking sorry for everything.”

“You didn't let me explain last week either,” you remind him.

“I know,” he says, “He just - he said -”

“I know what he said,” you cut him off, “Matt, when you saw me and Brady in December-”

“I really don't wanna hear about you and Brady’s-”

“Shut up, Matt!” You know you're probably being too harsh on him, but you're so incredibly tired of feeling like there's something - someone - missing, and you need his stubborn ass to just listen to you. “Brady and I are not together.” Matt’s mouth drops open, before he frowns. You know what he's going to say and you speak before he can.

“I didn't just fuck him just because Matt, we were - we were testing the waters, okay?” You pause for a moment to try and discern his reaction. When he says nothing, you take a deep breath and say what you've been meaning to for too long. “It didn't work, Matt. Brady is my best friend but, he's not it for me.”

Matt’s eyes are wide, cheeks reddening with every passing second. He grabs a piece of toast and shoves half the thing in his mouth. He chews for a moment, swallows, and then clears his throat.

“He's...not it for you?” You shake your head.

“And…?”

You laugh, reaching for his hand. “And you are, Matty. It just, it took me a little longer than it should have to figure it out.”

Matt seems frozen in place, unsure of what his next move should be. Instead of speaking he wolfs down the rest of the toast.

“So you mean to tell me,” he stands, pacing in front of you, “that Brady was fucking with me?”

“Of course he was fucking with you,” you said exasperatedly. “It’s Brady. He's a dumbass though so he fucked with you over something that was causing you real pain. I - I was causing you real pain. And myself. And I’m sorry.”

Matt freezes, turning on his heel to face you.

“Say it,” he says, reaching a hand out to you.

A grin spreads across your face as you take it, letting him pull you up until you were standing chest to chest with him. He looks down at you with bright, hopefully blue eyes. He's already leaning down to meet your mouth with his when you say it.

“I love you too, Matty.”

fin (sort of)

#thank you guys so fucking much #matthew tkachuk imagine #brady tkachuk imagine #all for you series #calgary flames #ottawa senators #nhl imagine #hockey imagine #smut #angst

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producedbykayfabe · 2 years

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Event Review-ALL IN (9-1-2018)

Company: N/A (Cody Rhodes & The Young Bucks in cooperation with Ring of Honor)

Overview: Despite how stacked & star-studded this card is, I was more excited to hear that this was even happening than for what I may see on the show. Cody Rhodes & The Young Bucks are not bookers, they are wrestlers. They are used to being the ones getting booked as opposed to creating the show from top to bottom. This is the first & last ALL IN show..promotions like WWE, NJPW, ROH, etc. have massive legacies behind them. In execution this was a decent show. It had a very "sports entertainment" vibe without pointless "swerves" and attempts at humor that didn't work. The things that were supposed to get massive pops like the Resurrection of Joey Ryan, Ibushi facing off with Rey Mysterio, Jericho replacing Pentagon and attacking Kenny, Cody winning the NWA title etc. hit the mark as intended. The show had it's weak points BUT since we now know this collective took their talents to help build AEW, we know they went back to the drawing board and learned alot from this show.

Match Ratings:

Pre-Show Match-Opening Match-Tag Team Match-SOCAL UNCENSORED (KAZ & SCORPIO SKY) vs. THE BRISCOE BROTHERS (JAY & MARK) (7.9/10)

Pre-Show Match-Battle Royal-Over the Budget Battle Royal (7.9/10)

Singles Match-MATT CROSS vs. MJF (7.7/10)

Exhibition Match-CHRISTOPHER DANIELS vs. STEPHEN AMELL (4.5/10)

Women's Match-Four Corner Survival Match-TESSA BLANCHARD vs. CHELSEA GREEN vs. BRITT BAKER vs. MADISON RAYNE (7.8/10)

Title Match-NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match-NICK ALDIS vs. CODY (8.0/10)

Singles Match-Chicago Street Fight-HANGMAN PAGE vs. JOEY JANELA (8.0/10)

Title Match-ROH World Heavyweight Championship Match-JAY LETHAL vs. FLIP GORDON (7.7/10)

Singles Match-KENNY OMEGA vs. PENTA EL ZERO (7.9/10)

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. MARTY SCRULL (8.0/10)

Main Event-THE GOLDEN ELITE (THE YOUNG BUCKS & KOTA IBUSHI) vs. REY MYSTERIO, REY FENIX & BANDIDO (8.9/10)

POSITIVE NOTES ---------------------

The Pro Wrestling nostalgia was thick at this show with the appearance of Road Warrior Animal, Tommy Dreamer , Diamond Dallas Page, Tully Blanchard & Magnum T.A. and also with some of the spots in the matches..particularly the Jay Lethal/Flip Gordon match.

Jordynne Grace's spots with Brian Cage were great because they were believable unlike what we saw when Cage faced Tessa Blanchard in WrestleCircus. Jordynne is known for her strength and I was glad to see her in this competition because a win for her could have been huge. Imagine Jordynne Grace vs. Jay Lethal for the Ring of Honor Heavyweight Championship at the first ALL IN...would have been big for women's wrestling.

The reveal of Flip Gordon participating in the show and winning the Battle Royale was a necessary feel good moment for the show.

For a seemingly random singles match between two guys I don't really watch all that much...Cross vs. MJF was a good opener. It gave me high hopes for the rest of the show.

I've seen all the women in the Four Corner's match compete before and i'm usually unimpressed with their singles matches but together put up something that stood out as a highlight of the show and didn't disappoint.

Aldis vs. Cody had that big match feel. I wasn't thrilled with the finish, I would have liked for Cody to have won with the Cross Rhodes but it didn't hurt the match.

Aside from when Neville was champ in the WWE for the Cruiserweight Division, Pre-Show matches just aren't this good. The Opening Tag Match and the Over-the-Budget Battle Royal was exceptional for free content. That may have been the best Battle Royal I've seen since like the early or mid 2000's.

I'm not a fan of Joey Ryan's "dick wresting" gimmick, BUT they've been building the story between him and Page for months and the conclusion of that with Joey's resurrection and Penelope Ford revealing the boots and the guys in the "Dick Druid" costumes accompanying Joey to the ring...it all just worked.

I think it's understated how much Brandi Rhodes brings to the table especially in regards to Cody's matches.

Penta El Zero is quickly becoming one of my favorite wrestlers of this era. Not only is he just a good all-round wrestler but even without saying anything, you can tell he has a great handle on his character. He has a very Minoru Suzuki aura of intimidation about him as well as a Hayabusa "masked wrestler with no regard for human safety" type of a feel too. There were parts of this match where I thought Kenny may be injured for real.

Jericho showing up in the Penta costume was unexpected.

NEUTRAL NOTES & INTERESTING DETAILS ---------------------------------------------------

The exchange between Tenille Dashwood (formerly known as Emma in the WWE) & Mandy Leon toward the end of the women's match was so awkward.

-The whole Macho Man vs. Hulk Hogan dynamic between Jay Lethal and Flip Gordon was a little much. It didn't completely ruin the match, it was fine, the crowd was really into it but Lethal is the champ now and I just want to see great defenses, especially when he's in the ring with a guy like Flip who is so gifted in the ring.

Marty & Okada had the typical Marty and Okada matches. Everything was exactly as I expected to be, nothing special here, but props to The Villain for being able to hold his own with perhaps the greatest wrestler in the world.

The Tag Match being the last match didn't really make sense to me because there were no real stakes. It was a good match but it didn't really offer much to be excited about as far as the conclusion.

NEGATIVE NOTES -----------------------

As good as Christopher Daniels still is at this point in his career, he couldn't carry Stephen Amell to anything decent. There were some very Shane Mcmahon-esque spots in the match, almost seemingly ripped right of PPV battles we've seen from Shane, and I can't get excited by a guy who plays a superhero doing it when a 45 year old business man has already done these things and better.

Overall Rating= C+ GOOD FIRST ATTEMPT

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incorrectlumityquotes · 3 years

Text

FULL REVIEWS: “Something Ventured, Someone Framed”

I’m not gonna lie. Gus isn’t exactly in my fave five Owl House characters. So imagine my interest when we get our first Gus-centric episode. I was curious. I wasn’t sure what to expect.

But I did hear that we were headed back to Hexside. The writer in me couldn’t help but ask why ban Luz from Hexside if you’re just going to have her enroll anyway?

Why? Here’s why:

The cold open isn’t really funny, but it does set up the main plot of the episode. Gus is doing his thing at the Human Appreciation Society when a new kid, Mattholomule (thank you The Owl House wiki), tries to stir up some drama. He wants Gus out of the HAS and himself in as president. And this is why kids need video games. No video games equals bored kids. Bored kids think that taking over a school club is a worthwhile endeavor. It is not.

But I think this does say a lot about Gus as a character. He’s a kid trying to fit in a world of young teens. He’s trying to find ways to connect with them and not all of them work.

Matt (I’m not spelling Mattholomule every time) brings his own “human artifacts” and Gus tries to call him out by bringing an actual human to verify the validity of the artifacts. And we already know the one human in The Boiling Isles.

Unfortunately not only is Luz banned from Hexside, but Eda still hates the place. I get it. I still hate my old junior high and high school too. Fuck those guys.

Luz is frustrated though because we’ve still only see Luz learn the one spell in a show about a girl learning to be a witch. I guess to be fair the show is called “The Owl House” and we are spending a lot of time in The Owl House. I mean if the show was called Little Witch Academia and we didn’t learn shit then that would be a rip off.

Wait.

“I don’t want to hear another word about Hexside unless it’s, ‘Hexside’s on fire and let’s get front row seats.’”

I’d love to see my old schools burn down in flames too.

Then Gus pull the most common and laziest plot device ever: lying. Gus says he used his power and authority to get the ban lifted so Luz can visit. The fact that people still think the presidents of after school activities have any power whatsoever still makes my head shake. That’s just lame contrived plot points that only happens in cartoons and has no bearing on reality.

Wait.

Willow of course knows that this is a horrible plan that would never work because it relies on the laziest of plot devices and we get a couple of funny ass jokes that made me laugh out loud but I don’t have the screenshots for because god damn you The Owl House wikia I needed you for one god damn thing and you let me down so hard and it’s like why even bother man what the hell man what the actual hell Avatar Spirit dot net has every single second screenshotted why can’t you why can’t you be more like Avatar Spirit dot net huh HUH?

Sorry. I lost my head for a second there.

But Willow asking if Luz always has confetti in her pockets did make me laugh. I just wanted to share it with all of you. You can’t tell because this is a text review but I’m sighing. Sigh for me. Okay. Moving on.

So apparently ever since Luz busted into Hexside, Principal Bump has employed these Dementor looking mf-ers to literally sniff out troublemakers and dear god they’re ugly. Before I started doing these reviews I legit forgot that this was supposed to be a horror-comedy and now like every other episode is reminding me.

So to keep Luz from being busted, Gus decides to give her a kinda tour and we see a bit more of the school.

Still safer than Hogwarts.

Gus and Luz finally head to the HAS meeting and Luz does a sweet moonwalk THAT I CAN’T FIND THE GIF OF and we had another joke that made me laugh out loud and I STILL DON’T HAVE THE SCREENCAP FOR, and Matt gives a really fake cringy speech that don’t want to watch ever again.

But of course Mattholomule busts Luz to the Dementors and they’re all sent to detention. No big deal.

HOLY HELL! That’s detention?!? I take back everything I’ve ever said about Hogwarts.

...

...I take back some things I’ve said about Hogwarts.

Meanwhile in the B-plot, Eda decides that if she doesn’t want Luz to end up like Hooty (hoot hoot), maybe she should enroll Luz into Hexside.

Principal Bump agrees but only on the condition that she cleans up the mess she made. And by “she” he doesn’t mean Luz; he means Eda.

This is just some kind of sick revenge for Bump, isn’t it?

Eda does what she can to get herself on Bump’s good side so Luz can get into Hexside. Unintended rhyming aside, Luz and Gus get themselves and Mattholomule out of detention.

Eda tells Luz that the only reason she’s doing this is because she knows Luz is too smart to fall for the coven system’s conformist ways. Gus takes the heat for Luz and Bump names Mattholomule president of the Human Appreciation Society. Go nuts, kid.

Is that a fucking Ghostbusters reference?

FINAL SCORE: 3 - Meh

We get some big gamechangers in this episode. Luz is now enrolled into Hexside. So why ban Luz from Hexside when we were just going to enroll her in anyway? To show Eda’s character development. To me, that’s where the real big heart of the episode is. Eda hates Hexside and everything it represents but she’s willing to put that aside for Luz and her development. Compare that to the second episode where she mocked and laughed at Luz for wanting to be a chosen one.

There were two or three really funny jokes that made me laugh out loud. So why a three? I don’t wanna seem mean but I don’t know if Gus can really carry an episode yet. The jokes that made me laugh came from Luz, Willow and Eda. Not Gus. It’s not bad. It’s just not very memorable. I had to go back on my phone want watch some of it while I was writing this review. Which should not happen since this episode sets up a new status quo.

So the show had a bit of a dip, but the thing about dips is that they go right back up.

#the owl house #my works #full review #full reviews

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kim-ruzek · 3 years

Text

Contentedness

Summary: Antonio Dawson is back in town for a charity event, and gets to meet baby burzek.

Established Burzek, AU as it goes off the premise Kim never miscarried.

Word Count: 3.2k words

Read on AO3

Notes: This is just a lil fun fic, mostly formed from a conversation with Cíara (as, tbh, most of my fics now are!) @justanoffalygirl

I hope y'all enjoy!

Kim doesn’t know how life gets better than this.

It’s a warm spring day, the beginnings of summer starting to break through. She’s in the park, on one of the spacious fields, surrounded many of the people she loves so dearly, soaking in the sound of laughter and playful banter that fills the air.

Days like this, to be around so many people on her day off, are few and far in-between. She’s only recently begun to be more adventurous with where she goes, and how long she stays out, and when already it’s so hard to get everyone together with their own shifts and lives, it’s hard to organise. So when opportunities like this come about, Kim leaps at the chance, especially when it’s doing something for charity.

And if that hadn’t already made her commit to attending, learning that this was an event organized by a charity the Dawson siblings were involved in would’ve. Antonio and Gabby might’ve left Chicago, and maybe not on the best of terms, but the first responders of Chicago are a family, and so the Dawsons’ will always be their family as well.

Kim admits, at first she was a little reluctant to see Antonio. They were partners, they had been through so much together, and he had just...left. Without a word to her. She’ll always be happy for him, that he got himself clean, that he patched back up his life, but she can’t ignore how betrayed she felt at him just leaving. Especially with what happened in her life after.

But she finds it so hard to keep onto those feelings, not when, despite the lack of sleep, despite the way it’s made her have to relearn her own ethics and morals, despite turning her world on it’s head, Kim’s never been more happy, more content with how her life is.

The reason for her happiness squirms in her arms, and Kim looks down at her daughter. Alice Ruzek is only ten months, but Kim can’t remember what her life was like without her in it. Alice, or Ally as Adam affectionately nicknamed her from day one, has changed her life in so many ways.

No longer does she stay up late for fun, the way Kim used to think she was behind on shows with just her job now seems like a dream, her head is full of Children’s lullabies and Alice’s cries, and she can’t count how many times her and Adam has had such stupid yet infuriating squabbles about things just because of lack of sleep or stress from being away from her for too long.

But all of that pales in comparison to how the sound of her laughter, her babbles, is the most beautiful sound Kim has ever heard, to how Kim could stare into her eyes all day, to how seeing Adam holding their daughter, rocking her, singing to her is the most loveliest sight she has ever seen.

To how Alice has managed to do the one thing they’ve struggled to do for years, to make them learn how to be partners, to communicate, to not let the little things matter, and have allowed them to realise just how much they need each other, to be each other’s person. To how Alice has truly completed their lives, how she’s brought them peace and love neither knew was possible.

“Kim!” The sound of Antonio’s voice drags her away from cooing at her baby girl, and she turns around, ready to greet him. They had briefly seen each other when he was at the precinct the other day, but intelligence had a case and he was busy, so they hadn’t been able to say more than a hello to each other. Kim’s been here at the picnic for half an hour, enough for Alice to be cooed over by her various aunts and uncles, having only been left alone, now. Kevin had stolen away Adam—the only person who could distract Adam from his daughter—to help him, and Kim had been just enjoying the moment before she was going to go over to friends.

Antonio looks good, healthy, relaxed. She had thought so when she saw him the other day, but she can truly appreciate just how much good Puerto Rico and charity work has done for him now, when he’s dressed casually, and out in the sun.

Kim grins at him, happy she did decide to put aside all her hurt feelings on how he left. He’s grinning at her too, but as he reaches her and she turns fully around, his grin falls off, shock overtaking his face. She’s only confused at the change of his demeanour for a second, as before she can wonder too long, he’s speaking again.

“You’ve had a baby! Congratulations!” He exclaims, happiness for her replacing the confusion. Kim doesn’t wonder for a moment how he was so easily able to deduce that Alice is her’s, and not someone else’s that she’s just holding, having had way too many people tell her just how much her daughter looks like her. It’s something Kim does agree with, but at the same time, all she can focus on is all the ways she looks like Adam, loving how she’s a beautiful mix of the two of them.

Kim smiles down at Alice, her perfect daughter, before looking back at Antonio. “That I have,”

“Seriously, Kim. This is amazing news; I’m so happy for you. Parenthood is one of the best, fulfilling things you can ever do. And she’s so beautiful,” Antonio says, his words warming her heart. It’s nothing she hasn’t heard before, but she never tires at it, and hearing Antonio, her partner, one of the first people in intelligence to believe in her as a cop, say how happy he is for her is particularly heart-warming.

“So I’ve heard,” Kim replies. She had. Everyone and their mother had told her just how fulfilling parenthood is. A lot of the time it had come unsolicited, often with advice she didn’t ask for, nor want, but the times it came from someone she cares about—like Natalie, Voight, Herrmann—she really appreciated it.

Kim introduces Alice to him after that, Antonio immediately questioning, correctly, if her name is a little nod to Alvin, and he coos over her a little, holding her as they catch up.

The day progresses at that, Gabby coming over and meeting Alice as well, and them all mixing back into the crowd of their friends. Kim had participated in some of the charity events, Alice being with Adam when she was doing that, and with her honorary grandmother Trudy when they were doing stuff together.

Adam had joked at one point they should receive some of the raised money, with how their big responder family had all demanded time with their baby. Kim loves it, so does Adam, that their daughter was being raised around so much love and around so much wonderful people, getting the childhood neither of them had gotten.

It was a few hours later now, and Kim sits on one of the picnic blankets, next to Sylvie, the two of them soaking up the sun. Sylvie watched her man, Matt, chuck a ball with Kevin, and Kim watched where Adam sat with Alice. The sun’s high in the sky, and while it was getting past midday now, it’s still quite hot and bright, so he sits in the shade with her.

There’s an aching in her, that wants to get up and join them, join her family, but she resists, knowing she wants to make the most of getting the chance to be in the sun, knowing Adam will just shoo her away, making sure she enjoys something she wouldn’t have hesitated to before she was a Mom.

Instead, she settles for watching him, and continuing to fall so deeply in love with him at the way he so softly and lovingly interacts with Alice.

“Needing a break from her?” Antonio asks, sitting down beside her. Kim glances quickly at Sylvie, knowing her friend had told her that everything is okay and not awkward—well, not that awkward—with the Dawsons’ but doing it on instinct anyway, the nonplussed expression on her friend’s face reassuring her.

“No, it’s just hot. She needs shade and Mommy, mommy needs sun,” Kim replies to her. Everyone at work teases her about how easily both her and Adam slip into referring to themselves as what they are to Alice when talking about the girl.

“It’s okay. She’s with Adam,” Kim continues. There’s a pause, a silence.

“They’re very close, aren’t they?” Antonio says. His words seem careful, calculated, but Kim doesn’t focus on that, instead grinning at him, her heart fluttering once more at just how much fatherhood suits Adam.

“Yeah, they are.” Kim can’t keep the happiness out of her voice, not that she’d want to. She’s looking back at Alice and Adam, watching as Adam plays with her. She’s too far away to hear them, but she’s watched scenes like this so many times before that she knows exactly what he’s cooing at her, and knows exactly what her laugh sounds like.

“What does, uh, the father feel about that?” Antonio asks. Kim looks at him, frowning a little, confused.

“Happy, I’d think.” She replies, shrugging off the weirdness of the question, and turning her attention back to her family. Natalie has walked over to them now, and Kim watches as her friend coos over Alice, and how Adam’s face lights up with pride, at his daughter being so popular.

“I thought mommy brain was meant to be gone by now,” Sylvie says after Antonio leaves. Kim looks at the paramedic, confused. Sylvie’s looking at her amused.

“You do realise that question he asked—it means he doesn’t know Adam’s her father?” Sylvie tells her. Kim’s mouth opens, about to argue against that, because of course he knows that, but then the pieces fall into place and she realises she never actually told him, never told him that they’re back together, forgetting it’s information he wouldn’t automatically know.

“Oh.” Kim says. “Oh.” Sylvie laughs at her.

“It’s amusing, if you think about it. Every time you announced your pregnancy to someone, everyone guessed she was Adam’s before you told them, but Antonio didn’t. And he’s been seeing Adam with her!” Sylvie points out, making Kim laugh with her.

“Finally!” Kim laughs, remembering how just how many people asked if her baby was Adam’s, or didn’t look at all surprised when she told them, when she was pregnant.

“Is it bad that I kind of don’t want to correct him?” Kim asks after. “Just to see how long it takes,”

Sylvie giggles. “I might be bias because he’s my ex, but no, not bad at all. In fact, you rest, I’m gonna go tell everyone he might talk to about it and tell them not to correct him either,”

Kim laughs, loud, as her friend jumps up, excitedly, running off to tell everyone. Sylvie is such a ball of fun, never giving Kim a dull moment when she’s around, and Kim’s once again reminded that they made the right choice to make her and Kevin Alice’s godparents.

Her laughter has attracted the attention of Adam as, after securing Alice’s hat back on her head, he gets up and heads towards her.

“Having fun without us?” Adam asks, sitting down next to her. He looks down at Alice. “Hm, what d’you think, Ally? That we should be upset she’s having fun without us?”

Alice, in response, loudly babbles back, making large smiles spread across both Kim’s and Adam’s faces.

“Hey, Ally,” Kim coos at her. “Having your own fun with Daddy?” she holds Alice’s hands with her own, her heart clenching at the way her fingers wraps around hers in response. Kim looks from her daughter, catching Adam’s eyes, seeing how he’s watching them with such love, such adoration and fondness and Kim knows, then, life really doesn’t get better than this.

The day was coming to an end. All the events had finished, the money raised calculated and announced and most people had left. All who remained was the Dawsons’ first responder family and their charity workers, all of them helping to tidy up.

Kim stood among her friends, all of them chatting between them, winding down and getting ready to leave. Adam stands next to her, Alice in his arms as she makes sure everything is in her pushchair. Alice rests against her father, sleepily, and Kim knows it won’t be long until she’s napping once more.

“It was really good seeing you, and of course getting to meet your beautiful daughter,” Antonio is saying to her, standing on her other side. Kim smiles at him. During the events of the day, when they were catching up, Antonio had apologised for how he left, that he didn’t even tell her. Kim had waved him off, but she appreciated his admittance to that it wasn’t very good of him, depending they were partners.

“It’s been good seeing you too. I’m glad you sorted your life out,” Kim replies, knowing she’s being truthful, and knowing that finally she’s gotten closure on that part of her life, that no longer will she have any left over upset feelings over how he left.

“I’ll definitely keep more in touch; I’ll want updates on this one,” he says, indicating at Alice and Kim’s smile widens, happy that he doesn’t want to go totally no contact with her, with the 21st, again. The way being in this profession, the bond you have with your unit, your partner, isn’t something she can ever truly describe to anyone outside this life; the bond is indescribable, you spend so much time with these people, you trust them to have your back—so when someone just leaves, when you have no idea how they are, it leaves a hole in your life.

Antonio’s eyes drift beyond her, smiling. “Hey, Trudy,”

Kim turns to look at Platt, who’s approached, Mouch by her side. Kim doesn’t know if she’ll ever get used to seeing Platt like this, the person she is outside of work, when she lets a little more of her softer side oout

If you had told her all those years ago, when she first met the desk Sergeant, that she’d consider Platt family, one of the main people she feels comfortable confiding in, that Platt will be one of her main support during her pregnancy, that she’ll be her daughter’s honorary grandmother, Kim would’ve called you certifiably insane. But that’s how her life has turned out, and Kim wouldn’t change it for the world.

“I told you, it’s still Platt to you. You may not be a detective in my district, but I’m still your sergeant,” Trudy gives him a look, but her usual scariness is undercut by the clear affection in her expression. She then turns to look at Adam, or more importantly, the sleepy Alice.

“Now, how’s little miss Ruzek?” Trudy says. Kim thinks that if Platt was anyone else, she’d be cooing the words, but this is Platt, so it’s said still in a manner-of-fact kind of way, affection only an undercurrent.

“I know Adam can be scared at the stupidest of things, but calling him a girl is even too harsh for you, Trudy—uh, Platt,” Antonio laughs, and Kim grins, thinking he’s making a joke, until she realises he still doesn’t know Alice is a Ruzek.

Trudy fixes him a steely look, a true Platt stare through and through. “I was referring to my granddaughter, not her father.”

Platt’s voice is equally steely, as she accepts Alice from Adam’s arms as he passes her over. Antonio looks at the interaction, his expression comical as he processes the information. As he processes that Platt isn’t making a joke, as he processes Platt calling Alice her granddaughter, as he processes exactly why Adam’s been playing and holding Alice all day long.

“She’s Ruzek’s? Adam’s a dad?” Antonio says, shock in his voice, turning to look at Kim. “You’re finally back with Adam again?” He then looks back at Trudy. “Did you just call her you grandmother?”

“Someone’s got to be, and if we trust the ones who raised these two idiots, Alice will be lucky if she doesn’t need therapy and communication lessons before she’s ten,” Trudy speaks first.

“Hey! We communicate well!” Adam protests, before adding, “Now,”

“Listen, Ruzek. I was critising your parents, not you two. For all your past idiocy, you’re good parents.” Trudy looks down at Alice, who’s now sleepily lying against her. “You’ve got to stop crying so loud, Miss Ruzek, you’re deafening your father and god knows he’s already a big enough idiot as it is,”

“When did this happen? When did you get back together?” Antonio asks, once more bringing attention back to him, and his state of confusion.

“About ten months ago, give or take,” Kim grins. They don’t have an official getting back together date, as when Kim was pregnant they were still focused on primarily being co-parents, deciding they need to learn how to communicate well before even thinking of getting together, not wanting to subject their child to having parents like theirs, but they still behaved so incredibly like they were married already.

Their initial plan was to wait until Alice was a year before assessing if they should be more that co-parents, but after the stress that was Alice’s birth, and seeing Adam hold their daughter, Kim knew she’ll never want anyone else, never want to be more with anyone else but him.

“If was up to me, it would’ve been sixteen months ago,” Adam comments, his tone joking, even though Kim knows he’s being perfectly serious. Antonio frowns, connecting the dates and the age of Alice, his eyebrows raising.

“You mean...oh,” Antonio says, realising. Adam smirks, and even Kim finds the reaction amusing. At the start, when they first was telling people, Kim described announcing was more like telling people that she hooked up, unprotected, with Adam rather than telling people she was having a baby—Voight may have hugged her, but she’ll never get over the mortifying knowledge that she essentially had to tell him that she and Adam are each other’s booty call—but now, with Alice being ten months and her and Adam actually being together, Kim sees more amusement in this stuff than anything.

Antonio looks between the two of them, before shrugging. “Well, then. I guess congratulations, man. I’m happy for you,” Antonio shakes Adam’s hand, them going in for a bro hug. They pull back, and Antonio looks at Adam, proudness on his face.

“No wonder you’re so relaxed, fatherhood suits you.” He compliments and Adam beams. Kim knows that Adam still harbours some issues towards Antonio, but Antonio is still family, and family is important to Adam.

“Yeah. It may have been messy and complicated, but I love being a father,” Adam snakes his arm around Kim at that, pulling her to him and giving her a soft kiss on top of her head. Kim rests her hand onto his, squeezing it, and smiling up at him. And in that moment, in his arms, their daughter and family with them, and a contentedness in her heart, Kim couldn’t disagree with him even if she wanted to.

It may have been a messy and complicated journey, but now she’s here, now this is her life, Kim knows all of that was worth it; and that life really doesn’t get better than this.

#burzek #chicago pd #kim burgess x adam ruzek #burzek fic #Chicago pd fanfiction #ree writes #ree's.writing

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johaerys-writes · 3 years

Text

Dorian Pavus/Trevelyan

A World With You, Chapter 40: Some Rest For The Wicked

Everyone needs some rest from time to time, and these two most of all. Smut, fluff, banter galore, and just a little bit of plot :)

Read on AO3! Or read from the beginning

Tristan flopped on the bed with a sigh, kicking off his boots. The mattress was hard and lumpy, and there were hardly any feathers left in the pillows, but at least the sheets were clean, with only a faint smell of must. He stretched his arms and yawned, arching his back.

“Maker, I could sleep like a log.” He cracked one eye open to glance at Dorian, who was sitting on the armchair close to the hearth. “What are you reading there?”

Dorian looked up from his book, the firelight dancing in his eyes. His hair, still damp from his bath, was combed neatly back in glossy black waves, and his shirt looked freshly pressed, despite having been in his travelling bag for days. In the short time Tristan had taken to wash in the small and drafty room that served as the bathhouse of the inn, Dorian had lit up the fire in the hearth, brushed down his cloak and his leather overcoat, rearranged his clothes and his various tins and vials, poured himself a glass of wine, and was now reading one of the many books he had brought with him.

“Treatises on Time Magic, by Agrippina Evander. Excellent theories, very insightful, not very practical when it comes to the application.” He let the book fall closed, taking a sip of his wine. “How was your bath?”

“If you can call an old wine barrel a tub, and forget that bathwater is supposed to be warm instead of uncomfortably lukewarm, then it was fine, I suppose,” Tristan huffed, rolling his eyes. “At least you can heat up the water you’re in; I have to endure the tepidity.”

“Maker, what a terrible tragedy,” Dorian drawled, swirling the wine in his cup. “It really is ghastly. I don’t know how you put up with it. A martyr, I say.” He grinned behind the rim of his goblet when Tristan shot him a rueful glance. “I do hope you didn’t encounter any more unsavoury rebel types along the way.”

“No,” Tristan hummed as he arched in another deep, satisfying stretch. “Most of them have gone to sleep already, I believe. Those that haven’t are probably in Bull’s room as we speak. Apparently, two of them had some very specific questions about his horns.”

“Ugh. Someone will be bragging about this tomorrow, I wager,” Dorian scoffed.

Tristan laughed. “He never misses an opportunity, does he?” He rolled to his side, propping himself up on his elbow. “What about you? Got any questions for me?” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Dorian gave him an amused, if mildly bored look. “About your horns?”

“No, not my— wait. Is ‘horns’ another word for…” He lifted his brows again, even more suggestively, his lips curling in a smirk. “Because if it is: yes, please.”

Dorian let out a sound that was between a laugh and a groan as he sipped on his wine. “When you put it so eloquently, how could I ever refuse?”

Tristan grinned. “Why don’t you come over here, then?” He patted the mattress beside him.

“Soon. But first: this.” Dorian rolled out a matte leather sheet he had taken to carrying everywhere with him on the table, the black squares on it stark against the natural taupe colour of the leather. Then, he fished out a pouch filled with the smooth, black and red stones that served as pawns and set it next to the makeshift board.

“I’m in no mood for games,” Tristan murmured as he sank deeper into his pillow. He held out his hand, smiling invitingly. “Come to bed.”

“And so I will. After we play at least a few rounds of Calculi.”

Tristan sighed. He didn’t like that game; apparently it had been played in Tevinter for more than a thousand years, and was supposed to be even more challenging than chess. The rules had been relatively easy to understand, but the execution had left him befuddled on more than one occasion. Playing it late at night gave him headaches that had nothing to do with the Anchor, and made him grumpy and irritable, but Dorian insisted they play every night before he went to sleep.

Alongside the Fade-place of dreams that Solas had created, and the draught he was giving him to drink every day, the elf had suggested Tristan try to focus his mind and control his emotions, and through that he would be able to control the Anchor as well. Solas had tried to teach him how to meditate during the first couple days of their trip, but a few sessions was all it had taken for them both to abandon the notion. Tristan had never been able to sit still for more than a few minutes; staying silent and immovable for even an hour seemed to be a physical impossibility.

That was where Dorian had come in, saying he had a method that was even better than meditation, and had been taught in Circles in Tevinter for generations. And that was how Tristan had come to learn how to play Calculi.

“But I’m tired,” Tristan protested. “This game is boring.”

“Because you’re always losing?” Dorian asked sweetly, his smile widening when Tristan frowned at him. “Whether you like it or not is entirely irrelevant. I told you, you simply have to practice.”

He huffed as he got on his feet and dragged himself to the armchair opposite Dorian’s. He plopped down on it, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “Which are mine, the red or the black?”

“The black.”

“You always take the red, and you always go first. That is why I always lose.”

“No,” Dorian countered, “you lose because you don’t concentrate, amatus. If you want to win, you need to take this seriously. The mysteries of the game will unfold themselves to you in due course.”

“I am taking it seriously. I always give everything I do my full attention. Speaking of…” He leaned forward still with a sly smirk, his fingers trailing up Dorian’s knee under the table. “There’s something else that demands my attention right now.”

A light slap on the back of his hand stayed its course. “Is there? I’m sure I’d love to hear all about it. After we play a few rounds.” His eyes twinkled with amusement when Tristan sat back in his chair with a pout, then he started setting the pawns on the board. “There. All set. I do expect you to win at least once tonight.”

With a huff, Tristan stretched his arms over his head and cracked his neck. “I expect to win more than once, if you must know.”

He waited for Dorian to make his move, then made his own. His black pawns were surely, but steadily, getting devoured by Dorian’s as time passed, so much so that it seemed to Tristan that his own pawns were just flecks of black in a sea of red.

Soon, they were caught in a stalemate. Tristan was cornered and surrounded, clinging to his territory by the skin of his teeth- still, he held on. That, at least, he could say for himself. He took in a deep breath as he straightened, concentrating as hard as he could. A black pawn was lying just at the edge of the circle that Dorian’s red pawns had made around him. That was when an idea finally sprung in his mind.

“What happens if I move it here?” he asked, pointing at the squares behind Dorian’s pawns. It was a risky move, and if that pawn was taken, he would instantly lose. “Will it work?”

Dorian glanced up at him through his thick eyelashes, interest flashing in their silver-gold depths. He idly swirled the wine in his goblet before he took a sip. “You can certainly try.”

Tristan gingerly picked up the black, polished stone and placed it in Dorian’s territory. In one fell swoop, Dorian snatched it away with one of his own, declaring himself the victor.

“Hey! You said I could try it!”

“I did. And you lost.” He chuckled contentedly as he collected the pawns and set them aside, gathering them in neat stacks. “It was a bold move. I’ll give you that.”

Tristan clicked his tongue and sat back in his chair, resting his cheek upon his fist. Dorian flashed him an amused grin.

“Oh, come now, don’t pout. Let’s play another one. I might let you win this time.”

Tristan frowned, staring into the fire. “I’m not playing. I told you, I don’t like this game.”

“My, such a sore loser,” Dorian sighed as he set the pawns on the board regardless. He topped up his glass with some more wine, then crossed one leg over the other as he settled back on his armchair. “You can have the red ones this time, if you’d like.”

Tristan’s only response was a quiet harrumph. He leaned across the table and picked up Dorian’s glass, bringing it up to his lips. “I don’t want you doing me any favours.”

“No? Alright then, the black ones are yours.” The narrowed-eyed glare that Tristan shot him made Dorian laugh even more. When Tristan returned his glass back to its place, Dorian caught his hand. He brushed his thumb over his knuckles, his smile growing soft and tender. “My dear, I tease you too much, I know.”

“You do,” Tristan said, still pouting, but his annoyance promptly eased away by the warmth of Dorian’s touch. Before he knew it, his fingers had threaded through Dorian’s, his fingertips brushing over his many golden rings. “You like it when I lose.”

“I like it when I win.” Dorian brought Tristan’s hand up to his lips and pressed a kiss to his knuckles, his gaze never leaving his. “How about… we make the next game a little more interesting?”

There was a gleam in Dorian’s eyes now, that stirred Tristan’s interest. “In what way?”

“Let’s see…” Dorian tilted his head to the side, eyes narrowed in thought. The light of the fire painted the side of his face amber, bronzing his honey-gold skin. “Every time one of us loses, he has to take off one item of clothing.”

“Strip- Calculi?” Tristan said, an amused smile curling the edges of his lips. He had once been unbeatable at strip-Wicked Grace, and he was sure he would be able to win the next round once he’d set his mind to it. He had been this close the previous time…

He took another sip of wine from Dorian’s glass, then set it carefully on the table with a smug grin. “The game is on, my friend.” ~

Approximately one hour and seven games of Calculi later, Tristan was wearing nothing but his smallclothes, while Dorian had only lost his boots and his brightly coloured silk scarf. A swath of golden brown skin peeked through the opening of his shirt, glistening in the firelight.

“You said something about winning me out of my clothes, amatus?” Dorian hummed, his amusement only growing when Tristan rolled his eyes. “Never challenge a Tevinter, isn’t that how the saying goes?”

“No. You just made that up.” Tristan crossed his arms before his chest and shot him a disgruntled look. Really, if anyone was even more stubborn and competitive than himself, then that was Dorian. “I’ve changed my mind. I don't just dislike this game- I hate it.”

Dorian laughed under his breath. His silver gaze glided from Tristan's chest down to his neck, swept along his arms. There was already a dark look in his eyes when they moved further down, past his stomach, then rested at his navel. And there, they stayed. And stayed.

Just when Tristan’s cheeks were starting to feel warm, Dorian’s eyes snapped up to his own. “How about one more round?” he purred, voice smooth like silk, soft like fur. “There’s still one last article of clothing for me to win off you.”

Read the rest on AO3!

#dorian pavus #dorian pavus x trevelyan #dorian pavus x inquisitor #pavelyan #dragon age #dragon age inquisition #dragon age fanfiction #dorian pavus/trevelyan #dorian pavus/inquisitor #dorian x tristan trevelyan #tristan trevelyan #a world with you #johaerys writes

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let-me-love-you-loki · 3 years

Text

Reassuring Too Late

Nick

It was strange those first few days and weeks. It didn’t matter that I’d only been gone for a week… I’d walked out on my wife, my kids, my brother. I’d left them when they needed me, when Mattie needed me. After everything Y/N had gone through with Ty… selfish wasn’t even the word for it. Coward wasn’t even strong enough.

And God knew I hated myself every second of every minute of every day that I was gone. It ate at me the moment I started packing my stuff. By the time I was in the car, I felt like I was going to puke. I cried as soon as I pulled out of the driveway and sobbed all the way to my parents’ house.

I was still amazed that they’d let me come home. That Matt and Y/N had given me the chance to make all of this up to them was almost more than I could grasp. They had more grace and love than I could fathom. I didn’t deserve them, and I thanked God every day that they’d allowed me back.

For the first week after I came home, Mattie wouldn’t let me out of her sight. Matt and Y/N had pulled her from school, so she was home all the time. If I walked down the hall, she was right on my heels. If I stepped outside to do yardwork or have a place to think, she found a reason to sit with her feet in the pool or to do her homework at the picnic table on the patio. More than once, I found her bundled up in her sleeping bag outside the door of whatever bedroom I happened to be sleeping in.

Matt took a while to let me spend time with Y/N without hovering. I didn’t blame him, honestly. But I tried my best to show them both that I was sorry… that I wanted to make things right. Y/N just rolled her eyes at Matt and acted—wonderfully—as if nothing had happened. Yes, I could still see some of the pain in her eyes when she looked at me. Every second of seeing her in pain was like a knife in my chest, and I swore that I would never hurt her again. That I would die first.

“Dad,” Mattie said, appearing out of the blue at my elbow. “Can you help me with this?”

She pointed to the thick paperback book in her hand. Algebra. I cringed a little. “I haven’t done algebra in… way too long.” Her face dropped. I smiled. “But I’ll try.”

Her fingers wrapped around mine. There were new callouses on her palms, earned from long hours in the home gym or the training ring. She’d gotten stronger, and God knew that she looked more like her mother every day. My chest ached. I couldn’t believe I’d been such a coward as to leave her when she needed me.

We plopped down on the bench at the table. She pushed some papers aside, stacking her other books in a rough pile. Then she flipped open the book and slid it closer to me. “I don’t get how to do this,” she said pointing at the page.

I pulled the book close and tried not to look intimidated. After two read throughs of the problems, I figured I had some idea of what was going on.

“Okay, first, what does your teacher say to do?”

Mattie grinned, “You mean Mom or Hattie?”

I bumped her playfully with my shoulder. “Hattie. We both know your Mom isn’t the best when it comes to this stuff.”

She smiled even more and launched into a detailed explanation of her last co-op meeting and what had happened in her math lesson. I listened carefully, hoping something would ring a bell for me. Honestly, I’d spent more time in high school waiting to get home to train with Matt than I did listening to what was going on. Hopefully I wasn’t completely useless in this.

“So, when it says this…” she ran her fingers down the page, “then, you take this here and put it in this equation. But I don’t get this one. There’s too much going on.”

I looked over her shoulder. If f(x)=….. and g(x)=… and t(x)=…. Then what is f(g(t(x)))?

Holy shit, I thought, I have no clue what to do.

“Okay, give me a second…” I needed more than a second, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. “So let’s talk through what Hattie told you. If you see f(g(x)) and all you do is take the equation for g(x) and put it in where there’s an x in the original equation, how is this one different?”

Mattie stared at the page, the corners of her mouth turning down. I could see the frustration settling in on her brow. “I don’t know, Dad. I can’t do math. It’s stupid…. I’m stupid.”

“You are not stupid, Mattie. Not everything comes easy for everyone. Sometimes, you have to work extra hard and that’s okay.” I leaned over and kissed the side of her head. “You can do this. So look… let’s do Hattie’s lesson again.”

We sat there for what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes. Mattie recited what she’d been told by her teacher. I picked out problems that looked exactly what Mattie wrote on the paper, and we did them together. Three problems in I knew what she was supposed to do.

“Take a deep breath, and listen to me, okay? If you can do that with two equations…”

I watched. Waited. Held my tongue. She needed to figure it out on her own.

She perked up, looking at her book with wide eyes. “If you can do that with two equations, you can do it with three. Work backward! Plug t into g and then the result of that into f.”

I grinned back, holding up my fingers. “There you go, gimme a too sweet.”

She smiled so proudly that it made my heart nearly burst. She looked so much like Y/N in that moment. I tucked my arms around her and gave her a big hug. “Proud of you, Tea.”

Mattie pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Love you, Dad. I think I can do this now.”

“Shout if you need me, okay?” I dropped a kiss on the top of her head as I stood up and turned toward the kitchen. “I won’t be far.”

The moment my gaze focused on the kitchen, I felt my breath snatched out of my chest. Y/N stood by the sink, tears streaming down her cheeks, one hand pressed against her mouth, the other gripping her phone. Guilt stabbed through me as I closed the space between us.

“What’s the matter, Sunshine?” I asked, settling my palms against her cheeks. My thumbs brushed at the tears still flowing.

My wife looked up at me with the eyes that could stop my heart and make it race at the same time. She reached out, pressing her hand over my heart. “I just saw you with Mattie and…”

I squeezed my eyes shut and let my forehead press against hers. It ached to take a breath. “I’ll fix it, Y/N. I promise you, I’ll make it up to you. To all of you.”

***

Nick smelled like sunshine and heat and home. I marveled at it these days, desperate to burn every second into my memory, knowing that it could end at any moment. As much as I tried to put those lonely days behind me, I couldn’t help but feel the lingering fear that this bubble of happiness would burst and I would lose myself again.

I’d come upon them by accident. Nicole and the boys were at school. Baby Ty was asleep in the nursery. I had planned on getting started on lunch for when Mattie had a break. Yet, the moment I stepped into the kitchen I saw them at the table. Mattie, her dark hair pulled back in a messy knot, long legs folded beneath her on the bench, leaning unconsciously into Nick’s side. Nick, turned toward our daughter, his arm slung around her shoulder, head tilted sideways, brow furrowed in concentration.

I couldn’t help but take pictures. Dozens of them. The longer I looked, the more I cried. It was everything I’d ever wanted… a happy life with the people I loved the most in the whole world. Everything that happened had only made me more grateful for the moments I had.

“Oh, Nick,” I whispered, resting my hands on his ribs. “You’re here. You’re home, and there’s nothing else that I want.”

His blue eyes popped open. “Then why are you crying?”

I chuckled and leaned up to press a kiss to his cheek. “Because I’m watching you with our daughter. I’m watching you be a dad. And that’s the greatest joy I’ve ever known.”

Nick snatched me closer, burying his face against my neck. He hugged me tight, one hand cradling the back of my head. His chest rose and fell in gasping breaths, tears dampening the skin of my throat. I clutched him to me, falling into the strength and comfort and rightness of the way that it felt to be in his arms.

“You are enough,” I murmured over and over again. “You’ve always been enough, Nick. I love you so much. I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you. All I’ve ever wanted was to have this… this life with you.”

Nick sucked in a breath and leaned back, cradling my face with his hands. “I hated myself for so long… wanting what my brother had. For wanting you and everything that being with you would bring.”

I shushed him, smiling softly as I looked into his beautiful blue eyes. “Then I should hate me too, Nick. But Matt doesn’t hate us, so why should we hate ourselves? I have you. You have me. We have Matt, and we have these beautiful children. And God knows, the happiest moments of my life are watching you be a dad.”

Wriggling out of his hold, I picked up my phone and pulled up one of the pictures I’d just taken. He slipped the phone from my fingers and stared at the photo until the screen went black. I rested my forehead against his bicep.

“Dad! I’m stuck again,” Mattie called over her shoulder. I felt Nick heave a breath. He wiped his eyes and pressed a kiss to my hair.

“Coming, Tea.”

Tag List

@mox-made-me-do-it @not-that-kinda-gurl08 @lilred91 @imagineall-the-fandoms @maelleoute @librathepheonix13 @justamess44

#too late tales #the too late tales #nick jackson fanfiction #matt jackson fanfiction #nick jackson #matt jackson #young bucks #young bucks fanfiction #aew #aew fanfiction #mattie jackson #matt x reader #nick x reader #matt x reader x nick #polyamory #polyamorous relationships

41 notes · View notes

somefandomimagines · 3 years

Note

Hi! Im not sure if matchup request are still open but if it is here's my entry :))

Id like one for death note and/ or dsmp, but if you onky do one fandom per request, death note is k for me!

Im pretty tall (5'7) with smooth shoulder length black hair and dark brown eyes, slightly curvy and a bit tan. Im bisexual and my pronouns are she /her & they/them. I do not jave any triggers or disabilities, as far as i know just social anxiety because im insecure and self-loathing. Im known to be kind,sympathetic, responsible( well yes i very much like to take control if thats what they mean), thoughtful, approachable and optimistic. But i can be stubborn, indecisive, insecure abt myself.

im fond of music(classics to rock its pretty diverse.. Ithink) aside from horror, thriller and comedy. Also im trying to learn how to play the ukulele and the piano 😤🖐️. Im always up for science and anything connected to literature. Just dont... Pls keep math away from me, i beg you dont jusy dont.

Im sorry if this was very long, i got carried away teehee~ but yep tysm i hope you have a great day :)))

YOOO SO UM- HI GUYS IM ALIVE AGAIN? AFTER SO FUCKIN LONG! LMAO! But sorry for such a late response to this, I kinda lost interest in tumblr for a while so I'm gonna try and be more active!! For Death Note I'd match you up with.... MELLO! - You would kinda just join his gang one day, no one knows how it happened but he was drawn to ya - You'd quickly make your way up the ranks, your good leadership shining through!! - It also didn't take long for you and Mello to get surprisingly close! - Obviously he wasn't at the point he'd tell you anything personal, but you'd hang out with him and Matt! - You guys were comfortable to the point you'd both sit around quietly with rock music playing as Matt played his games - But one day Mello noticed you were more... I dunno, lifeless - Matt was out doing his own shit, so Mello scooted over to you on the couch and roughly put a hand on your shoulder - This would scare the fuck out of you, but you'd calm down once you saw Mello's face... Even if he was basically giving you a death glare - He'd simply ask what's wrong, no context or nothin' - You could tell he wouldn't take any bs... But that he also DID care - So you kinda just opened up to him about your anxiety and the things you were stressing about - This man took it seriously, listening to every word - He noticed at some point you were getting REALLY emotional... And Mello? He ain't good with that - He didn't know how to respond except to quietly listen, but when you were about to cry you quite literally had a piece of chocolate stuffed in your mouth - It definitely did calm you down a bit, especially when you looked at Mello and... His gaze was just so soft - At least softer than you've ever seen it - Serious but in a caring way - And since then you two got closer... He'd even just casually let you steal a chunk off his chocolate at some point - Matt wasn't happy abt that, he wanted chocolate too - BUT THEN - The main area of your guys' hangout got stormed - Bullets were flying everywhere and Mello didn't know where you were - He'd first think about killing the motherfuckers that got there but... He needed to know if you were ok - At this point he opened up to you even the littlest bit - And he cared so much about you - You were different than anyone he's ever known, he didn't know what these feelings were - Jk, he's a genius ofc he knew- but he wasn't used to them - When he found you holding yourself up, being all badass but barely holding yourself against the bad guys - He didn't think twice to help out - After the entire situation, he just held you close and muttered smth about how worried he was - You just... quietly held him back, which was exactly what he needed at the time - He realized how much you grounded him - When you guys started dating, he didn't even tell anyone - You didn't either, you guys would just casually sit really close on the couch - Matt damn well knew, but when Mello ONE DAY kissed your head, Matt knew that Mello would give the world for you - That head kiss took you so off guard - Mello isn't into PDA, but that? In front of Matt? WILD - You guys don't even need to tell each other words at some point, you guys just know what the other is thinking - You're sitting on a couch and Mello taps your shoulder without looking at you? You knew he wanted the TV remote to turn that shit off since Matt was raging - Anyways, you two have such a weird dynamic - Btw... Btw... When you two are alone Matt let's you rest your head on his shoulder and he'll wrap an arm around you - It's rare that you two get much alone time since you guys are so damn buisy - Also... kisses taste like chocolate THIS ISNT MUCH BUT IM LIKE- GOING BRR RN SO HERE YOU GO!

#mello #death note #matchup #death note matchup

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rdmdani · 4 years

Text

Plaid {STILES}

SUMMARY: Stiles gives Y/N rides to school in the morning. One morning Stiles was set on telling Y/N how he felt, only to be interrupted.

WORD COUNT: 2477

WARNINGS: Fluff, cursing

- - - - - -

"Stiles," you yelled throughout his house. You didn't bother knocking whenever you came over anymore, you practically lived there. Noah and Claudia had always seen you as a daughter, much like they saw Scott as their son.

Noah was sitting at the kitchen table when you barged in. He seemed taken back for a moment before he realized it was you. He gave you a sweet smile, "There's coffee in the pot. Your creamer is already set out. I have to head to work early so can you make sure he gets to school on time?"

"Of course I can," you gave a mischievous smile which caused Noah to look at you with slight concern, "I'll wait until you head out before I go up and get him."

Noah nodded slowly, slightly scared of the girl in front of him. Stiles and Y/N were practically on the same level of smarts and mischievous, but Y/N definitely had more of an evil streak than the boy did.

"I'll be taking my leave then," Noah laughed forcefully before hugging the small girl, "Just don't kill him, okay? I kind of like the kid."

"I make no promises, as always."

"I feared you'd say that," Noah grabbed his coffee to-go and headed towards the door. He looked up the stairs, hoping his son would come down before you went up there and attacked him. There was no sign of him. With a heavy sigh, Noah yelled out a goodbye to his son before closing the door behind him.

You stood by the door and listened for Noah's car to leave the driveway before running up the stairs towards Stiles. You could hear him shuffling in a panic right before you opened the door.

"I am almost ready I promise!" Stiles yelped when you opened the door. He stood in the middle of his room in only jeans, a shirt hanging loosely in his hand.

"No you can't wear orange today," you complained as you pointed at your yellow shirt, "We'll look like a walking fruit basket!"

"Fine! What would you suggest I wear then?"

Y/N rubbed her chin as she thought about his wardrobe, "Your blue and black plaid button up. I like that one on you."

"Oh you do?" he asked with a suggestive wink. You rolled your eyes at him, unimpressed by his sexual jokes.

"I do. Now get dressed already and let's go. Scott called a pack meeting."

You would never admit that you liked it best when he wore plaid shirts, mainly because you liked the way he looked when he was buttoning it up or unbuttoning it. You watched intensely as he skillfully worked the buttons. How his fingers moved and how his tongue slightly popped out from behind his lips in concentration.

"You okay there, Y/N?" Stiles asked, ceasing his buttoning to look up at you. You shook your mind free from the dirty thoughts that were swarming your brain and met his eyes with a bashful look.

"Yeah sorry just... zoned out."

Stiles knew you better than that. He knew you weren't telling the complete truth, mainly because he knew what the actual truth was. Scott had spilled the beans before when he was over once. He said that your hormones went crazy around him, especially when changing. Stiles was appalled at first. Y/N was his best friend in the entire world, maybe even more than Scott, so the fact that she had a crush on him wigged him out a bit. That lasted two days. He realized that it wasn't a one-way crush when he saw you flirting with a boy at school. He got angry. Angrier than he'd ever been. It was probably amplified even more because it was Matt, the Kamina master freak. In your defense, you needed the calculus homework and Matt was actually pretty smart.

"Oh okay," Stiles laughed lightly as a plan formulated in his mind, "You had me a bit worried there. You looked like you might pass out."

"No... no passing out. I'm fine, I promise."

Stiles merely nodded as he went back to the task of buttoning his shirt, only this time he made his hands tremble. Y/N noticed the trembling and glanced up at him in worry.

"Are you okay?" you asked as you stepped forward.

"Yeah, I think I'm shaking because I've been forgetting to eat lately," Stiles grumbled, still fiddling with the same button, "God I was doing it perfectly fine a second ago!"

You noticed his aggravation rising so you stepped forward, "Here, let me."

Stiles huffed sadly, allowing you to take over with the buttons. He watched how your tiny delicate hands softly grazed his chest before taking hold of the shirt. He never understood why you liked watching him button his shirt up until he was watching you. It was such a simple task, but right now it seemed like the most provocative thing ever.

You finished the buttons and smoothed down his collar, allowing your hands to rest on his shoulders, "Look at you! You're dressed! Can we go now?"

Stiles felt fire where your hands were set. As you went to move your hands, his shot up to keep them in place, "No."

His voice was low and hoarse. Stiles looked up at you through hooded eyes, a twinkle of darkness in his whiskey eyes.

"What?"

"I like this," Stiles whispered darkly, "How your hands are placed on me, how close you are to me..."

"Stiles, are you okay?"

He couldn't answer. Not after the look you gave him. When you asked, you looked up at him through your eyelashes. You looked so innocent, and you never allowed yourself to look so small and vulnerable but here you were... standing in front of Stiles with every wall and guard you've ever put up shattered into pieces on the ground.

"I'm fine," he whispered followed by a laugh, "But we need to talk about something."

"We can do that, but can I have my arms back?" Stiles begrudgingly let go of your hands, allowing them to leave his body. Suddenly he felt cold all over.

"Sorry... It's just that-" Stiles tried to speak, but was cut off by his phone. You both shot apart, moment ruined completely. Stiles didn't even have to check his phone to know who it was. He kept his eyes on you as he answered the phone grumpily.

"What Scott?---Yes I know you called a meeting but---Could you ju---FINE! We are on our way." Stiles angrily hung up before shoving his phone back into his pocket.

"I told you we ha-"

"If you weren't so damn cute I'd leave you here, now let's go," Stiles grumbled before walking past you towards his Jeep.

"He thinks I'm cute?" you asked the empty room with blushing cheeks, "Ha... He thinks I'm cute."

You and Stiles didn't talk the entire ride to the school or at all during the meeting. You honestly had no idea what was going on. You were too busy thinking about how weird this morning was. Stiles went total darkside on you and, from what you know, the nogitsune had been gone for a little while now.

When the meeting ended, Stiles and Scott walked out together. Stiles barely glanced back at you as he left, leaving you even more confused.

"Lydia," you called in anguish. She turned to you with her perfectly arched brows furrowed, "We need girl talk time."

"Finally."

Lydia had been trying to get you into the whole "girl talk" thing, but you never wanted to go to her about your crush on Stiles. It was something only you knew (aside from the meddling supernatural idiots she calls friends). Right now Lydia was having a full blown parade.

"What happened? When did it happen? Who was it? It was Stiles, wasn't it? He was acting weird during the meeting, don't you think? Did something happen? Where?"

"Lydia you're going to have to breathe and let me explain what happened because I was the one who was there. Trust me, you won't be able to guess the weirdo shit that happened this morning."

Lydia gawked at you, "Go on."

You went on to explain everything that happened. You mentioned how his hands were trembling at one moment, but then he held onto you completely still. How he looked at you, the glint that was in his eye. You even told her word-for-word what was said.

"He tried to make a move on you," Lydia groaned, "And then you asked for your hands back and threw him off. Scott calling only made it worse. But he was without a doubt about to either kiss you or recite love poetry."

"Normally I'd disagree and say that he doesn't have feelings for me but... he said something earlier that he'd never said before. He called me cute."

Lydia's banshee scream had absolutely nothing on her happy squeal.

"He's so into you, he can't even hide it anymore!"

"What do I do? How do I stop this?"

All of a sudden the room went deathly quiet. Lydia was staring at you with pure shock on her face, "You don't! You're absolutely crazy about him, N/N. Jump his bones the second the Sheriff leaves for work tomorrow. Do it or I will rip you limb from limb, hide your body in my car, and help everyone look for you."

"You're a monster."

"You love me."

"You terrify me."

Lydia decided she would drive you home instead of Stiles. She wanted you to stop at her house so she could find the perfect outfit for tomorrow.

"Lydia for the thousandth time, I am not going to go into his house in lingerie!"

"But you'd look hot!"

"I'd look like a slut. Need I remind you that Noah is still there in the morning?"

Lydia stopped and nodded, "That would be awkward... Wear this underneath your clothes then!"

Lydia handed you a cute black lace matching set. You could tell you looked at it too long because Lydia squealed in happiness and threw it at you before demanding you try it on. You didn't have the energy to fight her on it. Plus you wanted your hypeman to talk you up. So instead of fighting, you went into the bathroom and changed into the set. For a moment you just looked at yourself in the mirror, admiring your body for the first time in years.

"You look beautiful," Lydia compliments sweetly. You turned towards her with little tears in your eyes.

"I've never been able to say that about myself, but I think I see it now," you whispered sadly, looking back at your reflection.

"Keep it, you look better in it then I ever could," Lydia said as she hugged you lightly.

"Lydia?"

"Hm?"

"You do realize I'm half-naked and you're hugging me, right?"

"Everyone is a little lesbian," she laughed, "You don't have the right to judge me because you're my type." The two of you laughed loudly, nearly falling to the floor.

You truly loved this girl.

The next morning you walked into the Stilinski house a lot less energetic than usual. Noah waved at you, carrying over your cup of coffee.

"You look like you need it," he commented sweetly.

"Noah," you sighed, shaking your head, "Sweet Noah, you should never tell a woman that she looks tired."

Noah looked at you in panic, "I'm sorry I didn't mean that-"

"You're fine," you giggled, hugging the man, "Thank you for the coffee."

"Of course. Make sure he gets to school on time again please?"

"As always, Sheriff," you saluted. Noah shook his head as he laughed and left the house.

You looked up at the stairs, which seemed a lot taller than usual. With a heavy sigh, you began your trek up the stairs to what felt like your doom. When you finally reached his door, you tentatively raised your hand and knocked.

Inside the room, Stiles looked back at the door with furrowed brows. It couldn't be Y/N because you don't knock. He was sure that his dad had just left. Lydia or Scott would've called, too. So he carefully stood and made his way to the door. When he opened the door to see you, he frowned.

"You knocked?"

It took you a second to realize what he meant, when it clicked you nodded awkwardly, "I guess I did?"

Stiles stepped back to allow you into the room, which you did. Every step you took felt like you were stepping on lava. Stiles was watching your every move, concern taking over his face.

"Y/N? Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I just-" you stopped talking, feeling your throat closing up in fear. Stiles watched you expectantly, stepping closer to you in fear you'd faint.

"Do you need a drink?"

"No," you choked out, "No I'm fine. Just-uh..." you stepped closer to him and placed your hands back onto his shoulders just like yesterday, "I want you to finish what you were going to say yesterday. I want to hear it."

His hands moved without him even thinking about it. Stiles held your hands against him tighter, bringing you closer to him, "Okay, let's start with this..." he squeezed your hands tighter, "everytime you touch me it feels like my body is on fire. It feels like when you move your hand, there will be a mark left. But then, when you move them away," he removes your hands, keeping his whiskey eyes trained on your E/C eyes, "I go cold. Scary cold. Like you took a bit of my soul away when you leave."

You stared up at Stiles with doe eyes, unable to speak. He guided your hands to the back of his neck, your bodies pressing against each other. Stiles let his eyes wander over your face, admiring you.

"When I look at you, I see everything I want in life. I see perfection, beauty," Stiles stopped as his eyes dropped down to your lips, "love."

You couldn't hold it anymore. You jumped to your tip-toes and pressed your lips against his. Stiles didn't even take a moment before he was kissing you back, his fingers weaving through your hair. His hands clenched into a fist, lightly tugging on your hair. You let a moan escape your lips, venturing into his. Stiles pulled away for a second at the sound, looking into your eyes with a dark look you'd never seen on him before.

"I'm going to make you so late for school," he whispered before kissing you once more. You kissed him back with just as much passion. In your mind you were thanking Lydia for the outfit she gave you. Stiles was going to love it.

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hideawayintheimaginationworld · 3 years

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I adore your fazbear fright house au and would love to hear of lefty fixes bonbon for funtime Freddy but of course take your time that's just my suggestion for the boredom thing

Funtime Freddy knew he had been outside all night, he was sitting with his back against the house, his eyes shifted focus from place to place, like this garden outside, obviously which was not to be disturbed by him, he didn’t know if Lefty was the one who planted things or if this was someone else's place to do things. He knew Millie wasn't the only one living here, he didn’t bother to remember everyone, he remembered that kid Alec because he had the audacity to drop a stack of plates on his head once, he also knew about Sarah because of Eleanor mentioning her in every sentence, like it was an obsession.

Funtime Freddy always thought she was slightly creepy.

He preferred Ballora honestly.

Actually, he hadn’t seen her in years.

He couldn’t hear anything inside the house despite he knew he was outside of the kitchen, he didn’t know what Lefty was doing inside that house generally, he had seen enough of Lefty to know coming in uninvited was a big mistake. He couldn’t tell if Lefty locked him outside, he was slightly wary if he tried to open the door, he'd be met with an angry black bear.

The only thing that bothered him was how lonely BonBon might be. He hadn’t seen BonBon in years and he just gave them to Lefty, with a possible loosely veiled promise of repair. He would have liked to keep him but he wouldn’t argue with Lefty.

Dark had turned to light, he watched the sunrise above, lighting everything, seeing everything in a new light, he could see a tree that was showing flowers, the flowers themselves were coloured bright red, this whole garden appeared well kept, he could see the grass on the ground was cut down to size.

The sun had brought everything into perspective, how much time passed, and where he was exactly in this world.

He had always thought of the sun as a clock, being able to tell roughly the correct time by looking at its position high in the sky, a skill he had with some pride.

He started to wonder how long it would take, and how long he'd be outside for, he wouldn’t leave without BonBon at this point, he felt like an unreachable goal was now within his grasp and he didn’t want it pulled away now.

But the anxiety was killing him in a way.

The door finally opened and Funtime Freddy hurriedly got to his feet and backed away, Lefty came outside, he looked at Funtime Freddy almost inquisitively, “I thought you would run away. You've been outside for over 12 hours.”

“Not without BonBon,” Funtime Freddy answered.

“Well you've been out here for hours, I didn’t even think you'd sit still.”

“I have some self-control.”

“Not a hell of a lot though Funtime,” Lefty sneered, closing the door and standing near the doorway, clearly so he could go back inside quickly just in case, Funtime Freddy always noticed people would like to stand near the door whenever they were around him as a means to get away quickly, which indicated just how well-liked he was.

“Have you looked at BonBon?” Funtime Freddy asked him.

“Not really, it's a normal day for me, I haven’t gotten a spare minute until now, I wanted to see what you were doing.”

“Nothing!”

Funtime Freddy to Lefty sounded like a whiny child, which he had heard plenty of those, Funtime Freddy's voice, in particular, was grating to his ears.

“I need parts.”

“What?”

“I need parts to fix BonBon,” Lefty further explained, “And tools, ideally I'd need new parts, I don’t even know if some of the parts I might need are still being made.”

“That doesn’t really matter.”

“Yes, yes it does. We aren’t from the same generation, your exoskeleton is made of coiled wires that bend and move like snakes under the skin, my body is an advanced exoskeleton that is tough to break, you have a chest cavity, I don’t.”

“Wait you don’t?” Funtime Freddy frowned, he assumed because Lefty was just as big as him that he had some sort of storage tank in his abdomen somewhere.

“No, I don't,” Lefty repeated.

“What have you got then?”

“A lot of complicated mechanisms, that all simultaneously work around the clock, Henry builds the most advanced machines, the only reason why I can’t ever get rid of you for good is that William made you have almost the same strength level as me. Henry made us with the intentions to act as security guards.”

“How do we know Henry didn’t copy anybody?” Funtime Freddy asked.

Lefty turned sour, “You're asking that despite what you are? We aren’t the same. You are a dressed-up cage for children basically,” He jabbed his finger at his chest.

Funtime Freddy looked at his finger poking at him, then he looked at the house and remembered something.

“Speaking of children....”

“At school,” Lefty answered immediately, “They're all out of the house, I told them about what happened.”

“Even... Millie?” Funtime Freddy asked, not knowing if this was a question he shouldn’t be asking.

“Yes, I don’t want her safety threatened by your presence, I have a set of rules regarding her and the other kids that I want you to obey.”

Funtime Freddy should have expected this.

“Don't talk about death, ever, I don’t care if it's hypothetical or you think it's funny, you're not funny, no one wants to hear that,” Lefty said.

“Okay.”

“Do not ever enter the house unless you are invited in, and I only want you downstairs, you can be in the garage, do not go upstairs ever, if I catch you up there, I will throw you downstairs.”

“What if I have to?”

Lefty frowned, “What? Why would you need to?”

“Say Eleanor shows up, for that other girl... um, Sarah right?” Funtime Freddy suggested.

Lefty was silent before responding: “Then come to my room, it's the first room, do not go into anyone else's room, especially Millie's, are you clear now?”

“Yep.”

“This should go without saying but I know because of how much a nuisance you can be if you even make a threat to anyone, this little deal we have, is null and void.”

“Understood!” Funtime Freddy gave him a thumbs up.

“If I can’t fix BonBon, then you need to accept it.”

Funtime Freddy's happy demeanour dropped, “What?? But-”

“You aren’t modern neither is BonBon, there is a chance BonBon will require parts that are now obsolete,” Lefty explained.

Funtime Freddy shook his head, “Then I'll look in the Scrap Yard, I've found all kinds of things there, I could find–”

“I understand you want BonBon fixed, but this isn’t a guarantee, and I'm holding you to our deal, I will be fair, I expect you to be also.”

Funtime Freddy gave a smile, he saw Lefty immediately narrowed his eyes at him, so he stopped smiling.

“You are covered in filth,” Lefty told him, “Would you protest to being cleaned up?”

Funtime Freddy shook his head, he knew he hadn’t been washed in years, he knew Lefty was probably getting cleaned regularly, as he didn’t even have so much as a bad smell on him and he appeared very well groomed from top to bottom, Funtime Freddy knew he was covered in dust, dirt and other stains like paint, grease, and oil.

Lefty turned and opened the door, he then stepped aside, “Come in, but when I say leave, go back outside, no complaining.”

Funtime Freddy didn’t push his luck with a snide remark, he sped walked inside, Lefty closed the door and Funtime Freddy looked around more in the kitchen.

His eyes briefly rested on the knife block, before realising that looked bad so he looked at the dining table instead, seeing a folded newspaper there, along with a black coffee mug, which he presumed was Lefty's.

Funtime Freddy then looked around, he expected to hear something else aside from his exoskeleton loudly creaking and shifting with the movements of his neck— he could honestly do with a slight maintenance check, but it wasn’t urgent.

“Are you the only one home?” Funtime Freddy knew he said the kids were out but he knew some adults were living here too.

“Matt's bedridden, he picked up some sort of virus, he's been throwing up everything he eats, Stanley had the day off and said he'd deal with him, and Delilah been spending time with this new man she met, means I can catch up on some chores, then have some tea.”

“The kids don’t do any chores?” Funtime Freddy questioned the situation.

“They do the simple stuff, like washing dishes, washing clothes, mopping the floor... I mean the more intense chores, like cleaning all the carpets which usually takes a few hours, cleaning the oven...” Lefty explained.

“What can I do?”

“Sit in the kitchen, be silent, I'll clean up stuff.”

“What about BonBon?”

“I'll get around to it later,” Lefty shrugged, “If I have time.”

“BonBon isn’t an it.”

“Whatever, the thing is valuable to you, not me.”

Funtime Freddy felt offended by that, and he countered, “It's the same as you and Millie! You look out for her!”

Lefty stared at him coldly before answering, “You do realise you just compared your relationship to what is your friend to that of me and the girl you traumatised? Do you not realise my point of view now? You are the monster that terrorises her, Millie is still a child, her parents are overseas, her grandfather is elderly and he can't protect her from you, she hides behind me because of fear, oh but you wouldn’t know what real fear feels like? Would you?”

Funtime Freddy went silent, he then walked over the dining table and sat down on one of the chairs, he felt completely uncomfortable.

#Have part two #Funtime Freddy having separation anxiety #He wants BonBon #He misses his friend #Ask #Five Nights at Freddy’s #Fazbear Frights #Fazbear Frights House AU #Count the Ways #Funtime Freddy #Lefty #BonBon #Writing Drabble #anonymous

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loquaciousquark · 4 years

Text

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E91 (Jan. 21, 2020)

Good evening, everyone! Sorry about missing last week; @eponymous-rose was out of town and I had some other commitments. Regardless, here we are! Brian is looking handsome and cold, as are Sam & Travis on the couch. Everyone is wearing coats. Is the heat broken?

That said, tonight’s guests are Travis Willingham & Sam Riegel.

Brian starts us off asking Sam if he’s remaking the Wire in Beverly Hills. Sam basically embodies that hello fellow kids meme tonight in a hand-knitted beanie from his wife, a bomber jacket, a yellow tee, and skinny jeans. They quickly photoshop in smoke trailing out of his mouth. We’re just a few minutes in and this is off the rails already.

Announcements: The next issue (#5) of Vox Machina comics comes out Wednesday, Feb. 19! It’s also available online at Dark Horse Digital and Comixology. And that’s it! Huh.

Episode 91: Stone to Clay

Brian tells us this is the first time ever to have Sam & Travis alone on Talks. I’m stunned and so are they. Sam says, “between me, Brian, Dani, and Travis right now, there’s four tens on this show right now.”

We’re already into questions less than ten minutes into the show. Truly this is a remarkable night.

63 in game days and 21 episodes passed between Caduceus’s first mention of Stone (episode 71) and Fjord connecting the dots. Travis blames the internet connection and his really bad ADHD night, as that was the night he and Laura remoted in from the hotel.

Brian tells us that when Ashley used to skype in, she could only see Matt & couldn’t see or really hear anyone else.

Travis says there was a huge delay for him between mouths moving and the audio coming through, and then that audio was pretty distorted. Laura could handle it okay, but Travis just heard a jumble and couldn’t parse it.

Sam took a CBD bath the other day and found it exactly as relaxing as a normal bath. Sam & Travis commiserate about taking baths only to have their knees pop out of the water. Tall people problems smh

Caleb & Nott completed the spell in less than a week, including dealing with the Angel of Irons & brokering peace treaties. Travis though the laughter was going to be Helas.

Travis says he definitely didn’t hear the name the first time (he remembered dust but not stone from the lava pits). “Look! Yes! No, I was not listening before! Thursday nights are my times to enjoy my friends and food! Marisha is an amazing note-taker; why would I ever take my own? This is how I got through college!”

Sam says he keeps a mission checklist in his head and has for ages. He has a page in his notebook labeled “To Do” that includes things like visiting Kiri or Shakaste, in case they have downtime and need ideas.

Travis asks if he continues writing in his (apparently) very small handwriting, and Sam says he has to leave room for Laura to draw all her dicks. They all marvel that she is actually a very good artist.

Travis honestly still thinks the Stone name is a huge coincidence, especially since Taliesin didn’t have access to Fjord’s last name when he created Caduceus’s last name and backstory. Sam challenges Travis that even if that were true, doesn’t he think Matt will find a way to tie it together?

Travis says Fjord doesn’t want anything to do with the last name and it’s not even his real name. He’s not convinced this isn’t a coincidence.

Travis did a lot of research into orphanage naming conventions when coming up with Stone. He does have a backstory as to how the orphanage manager picked Stone as his name.

Travis thinks Matt would have emphasized the Stone name more sooner if it had been a true connection and not coincidence.

Brian: “He does like to take credit for coincidences, doesn’t he?”

Nott didn’t think there was a catch in the ritual; Sam was more surprised they were allowed to achieve the milestone at all. He was shocked it happened so soon in the story and that the spell is relatively easy to cast.

He didn’t know it would fail, but there was a moment when he wasn’t sure if he wanted to go through with it. Travis agrees everyone was shocked when it didn’t work.

Fjord’s current stance on faith and destiny hasn’t changed since the last time he discussed it. Faith is a slow thing for Fjord and he really does think the name is a coincidence.

Sam as a player is excited to see what comes next for Nott; “if she had been transformed into Veth at that moment, I would have been excited to see what comes next. The fact that it’s still Nott makes me excited too. I’m excited to see more of Nott since she’s the best character in the M9.” He also confesses he was a bit relieved, in part because it’s delayed the inevitable. At some point she must decide if she is going to stay or go with the M9.

Cosplay of the Week: @kajicosplays on instagram of a lovely lady Percy. Brian: “Isn’t it fun when Taliesin’s characters live?”

Deep down, Nott knows she will do the transformation at some point, but at that last moment where she had to make a decision she had to check in with herself to make sure she was ready. Sam Riegel as a D&D player also knows that you have to trust your DM and make choices.

Brian misreads the word “ribbing.” Sam teaches Travis what rimming is. We all learn a lot about each other.

Sam thinks Fjord can realize when the time comes to set jokes aside. He thinks Fjord was very respectful. Travis has honestly forgotten that the conversation took place.

Travis has Dani answer from Fjord’s perspective. It’s actually pretty insightful, talking about how Fjord recognized someone hesitant to give up these newfound powers that have become intrinsically tied to self-worth.

Fjord has always been loyal, and Travis sees his protectiveness of the M9 as a logical extension of this.

Right now, he has found some agency & self-direction and is hopeful to share that sense with everyone else (he especially mentions Yasha).

Sam & Travis start quoting from Half-Baked. This is chaos.

Nott does want to stay with the M9, but she also wants to go home for sure, both of those things. The kiss with Caleb wasn’t necessarily a goodbye; it felt like the closing of a chapter. It felt like something to mark the end of the experience.

Now they’re quoting Beverly Hills Cop. Oh, boy.

“You look like you wrote Pitch Perfect.” When did this turn into a roast?

Fjord has no memories earlier than the orphanage (The Driftwood Asylum). There were a couple dozen kids there aside from him; Travis thinks some of them might have been named Stone. It also operated as a small child-labor workshop for carpentry & woodshop stuff. “It was a terrible place all around.” He has no images of parents or being dropped off.

Sam thought the Nott transformation would be more endgame, though he feels it makes sense that it’s not. “While Nott transforming into Veth was my original goal, what’s great about these long games is that your goals can change two or three times before the end. Now I can explore all these other things: does she want to go back and be a housewife? How does she rectify her obligations to her husband and child to the life that she’s made with the M9? It’s so exciting and interesting.”

Brian asks a hypothetical: if she could transform back but lose all Nott’s memories, would she do it? Sam: “Oh, that’s tough. I don’t know.”

Fanart of the Week: a lovely piece by @pen_draws with everyone in the hot tub.

Travis is very trepidatious about returning to the open ocean after rejecting Uk’otoa. He wants to make sure the third temple is sealed. It feels like it would be too easy for someone not to come and try to collect the job he left half-finished. He also wants to go back to Darktow.

Sam doesn’t know if Nott is still in love with Yeza, although she definitely still loves him. He’s playing with the idea of a high school sweetheart being exposed to the world and then going back home. But Yeza’s amazing, a great guy, perfect. “I guess we’ll find out when/if she turns back into Veth.” Sam feels guilty talking about him. “He’s a fictional character and I feel guilty that he might be watching the show.”

Neither Nott nor Fjord trust Essek. Travis: “He just went from being cold and aloof to being really warm. I know there’s been time and he’s lived an isolated life, but...time will show if he’s being genuine. All of our haunches were up. All of us were on level five alert.” He’s being so helpful that Travis doesn’t trust Mercer with him.

Fjord never ever considered becoming a paladin of the Traveler. “No. Fuck no!” The Wildmother reached out and directly intervened to save him. Travis gets super creepy bad vibes from the Traveler’s relationship with Jester (Sam agrees).

Nott feels more pressure when her own problems become the focus. It’s hard for her to open up and talk about her feelings. She’d rather pick up on other people’s problems. Sam also acknowledges it’s more pressure on him (and anyone) as a player when the whole table is looking at you.

And that’s that! Is it Thursday yet?

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long post for ts

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Ducktales Reviews: How Santa Stole Christmas! or Scrooge is kind of a dick

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everybody! Christmas begins on this blog with the last new Ducktales of the season! Time to break out some eggnog, presents and warmth of good family, i’ve got a bushel of Christmas reviews planned for the season, and this one is just the start of htem. As you can probably tell by my enthusasim I love this holiday. Oh sure it has it’s bad sides, paticuarlly several jackasses making huge deals out of the fact some people say happy holidays because “there’s a war on christmas” when really their just petty morons who can’t accept theirs more than one holiday in the month and not everyone likes christmas. I do, but I know not everyone does, and that’s fine. But overall it’s a fine holiday with warmth, cheer, family, generosity and of course, what brings us here today, really damn good episodes and specials of television. It’s just a really warm and cheerful time that , whlie it can bring out the absolute worst in people.. can also bring out the best more often than not. And that’s why I love this holiday. If you don’t that’s just fine, but it’s my blog, I can love what I want. And I love this holiday.. and I loved this episode, a good end to a great run of episodes. So let’s rock around the Christmas tree and find out why Scrooge hates santa, this is How Santa Claus Stole Christmas!

We open with the classic night before Christmas poem.. only naturally since Della is reading it to the boys, it’s Scrooge’s version involving barbed wire and calling the man a traitor because what honestly did you expect. Though I find it ironic a man introduced in a Christmas story has a one-sided blood feud with Santa. The boys are annoyed with this and just want free presents and the presecne of a jolly fat man and don’t get why Scrooge hates him. And yeah.. all of that tracks. They were raised by Donald who, while he clearly spent several years at Scrooges tolerating this feud, likely figured the Feud was just some personal gripe of scrooges and that Santa had done nothing that terrible. Which given Scrooge isn’t personable on the best of days and the episode goes out of it’s way to point out Scrooge has no friends, is entirely accurate and Donald was, as always the sane one in this situation. Plus he was already mad at Scrooge, this was just another way to tell him to go fuck himself.

The boys hear what they think is Santa on the roof but turns out to be Scrooge, in full Scottish war garb manning traps with webby.. in full chimney camo... putting a knife to Dewey’s throat for siding with santa.. well okay pointing at his throat but still god damn. Every now in then i’m reminded how ready Webby is to murder someone. It never gets easier or less disturbing. The boys.. continue to make a good point: Scrooge says he’s the richest duck in the world and can provide them whatever.. but being Scrooge just gives them itchy hats made of cheap fabric, and bemoans them wanting a trampoline, a new electronic game, and a new phone. And while Scrooge can give them whatever he wants, it’s his money, he also could’ve put some actual thought into it and clearly views the holiday more as a transaction and less for hte acutal sentmient. Instead of giving them personal mementos, or making them personal mementos, or even just simply building them a sled or something, a simpler toy than what they want but still something nice that comes from the heart.. he just gave them the cheapest hat he could find and tries to guilt them for not liking his thoughtless present he probably bought in bulk for everyone in the manor and his employ because he’s kind of a dick sometimes. IT’s good storytelling though as it sets up that Scrooge.. can possibly be int he wrong, so when the main plot comes to his front door, quite literally, there’s some doubt as to wither he or santa is in the wrong. Speaking of which Santa is at the door. So cue the credits and cue the cut for the rest of the plot as is usual. Full spoilers, and full plot under the cut. Ho ho ho.

First a quick comment on the Holiday version of the theme, the same one from Last Christmas! IT’s really good, a really nice frank sinatra style verison of the theme. Good stuff. My only real complaint is like last time.. there’s nothing unique about it, it’s just the normal season 3 intro but with snowflakes. And that’s.. more on Disney than the creators. If Frank and Matt had the option they would likely do an entirely original intro.. it’s just Disney can be cheap when it comes to intros, see how possesed ludo stayed in the star vs intro long after that plot point was resolved, and only affords one a season. That being said they still have one up on most networks, who, with the exception of Netfix with she ra, never really let intros change more than once, if at all. I mean I get it, budgets are higher here than with anime, they can’t do a new song and intro every half a season.. BUUUT it wouldn’t kill more stuidos to do this more often and do a complete intro overhaul, as it adds freshness, and you can still use the same old theme, just over a new set of pretty images. Most just allow a few swap outs, Disney included, and while I get intros are expensive, this is something you can use for a whole season, or more, why are you like this?

Anyways one theme song and me complaning about an animation trend I don’t like later, we’re inside the Manor with none of the other adults present because this season hates me. I do actually get it this go round: Besides Della, Donald and Launchpad getting a full subplot in the other holiday episode, they aren’t really needed. In fact most of the episode’s present day is a framing device for the tale of how Scrooge and Santa met and why Scrooge hates him, so for once the minmal use of the supporting cast.. is actually done well. The focus is on Scrooge and Santa, a feud that’s had four years build up in real time, and two years in series and a bunch of months. So yeah, i’m okay with sidelining everyone for once, because this story really needed all of the space and there was no real place for them aside from the climax. This is Scrooge and Santa’s story, with Webby there as an impartial-ish observer. We’ll get to that in a moment. Also if your curious where in the fuck this episode fits on the series massively warped time scale.. i’m going with this and “The Trickining!” taking place before season 3, since “Astro Boyd” takes place in march, and “Forbidden Fountain” takes place in probably late april, huge thanks to a friend on discord for help with the timeline. Otherwise it just makes no sense whatsover and while it dosen’t TECHINCALLY need to, I prefer the series timeline at least making some rational sense. The world dosen’t have to but time still does. So the boys are at least 12, possibly turning 13. Congrats. Or maybe they just don’t age. I dunno.

Now time and plot concerns aside, Santa gladly gives the boys their gifts which is.. everything they listed: A mini tramp for Dewey, Legends of Legend-Quest 2 for Huey, and another phone for Louie, which Scrooge dosen’t get. But Louie gets it on 2 levels: One, the one he asked for is probably a nicer model and as someone who just got a very marginally nicer model on insurance, I get it, even if like Scrooge i’m fine as long as mine works, it’s still nice to have more space to do shit. And two, he plans to sell the old one and keep the money. So yeah the boys already loved Santa but now they have every reason to since, you know, Santa actually gave them what they asked for and Scrooge gave them itchy hats because he’s cheap not because he put the slighest thought into it. And no i’m ont letting him get away with that: Again, off list, perfectly fine. Right behind me on my sprawl of book shelves is Weird Al’s biography, a really fun, really intresting book with photos on his career. I did not ask for it, but my mom rightly knew I would love it and got it for me for my birthday, which is very close to christmas, the 16th if you were curious, anyway, and I’ve treasured it since.. and really need to re-read it. My point is you CAN get someone something they didn’t ask for and still have it be something they LIKE. I did that for most of my christmas gifts this year. Scrooge just, as I went on about above, didn’t give a shit and was a bit callous about it so yeah, Santa wins this round. But Santa naturally needs Scrooge’s help to save Christmas because his ankle’s sprained and he’s out of options. Scrooge.. naturally refuses because, as i’ve made clear this and past episodes, he can be kind of a dick and Santa is one of his worst enemies in his mind. Why help him? So Santa, reluctantly, offers Scrooge the one thing you can get for the man who has everything: An agreement to leave his house alone. The boys aren’t happy about it, but Scrooge reluctantly agrees to the deal. They prepare to mount up though the boys aren’t invited, as Scrooge thinks their too far in the Santa camp and Scrooge does not trust him. Which again is both accurate and fair on their parts as again, he gave them things with well meaning and love, he gave them hats he fished out of the dollar store clearance bin. I mean at least go for the dvd’s and blu rays man. Yeesh. Santa does lightly buy them off by offering them another present if their good boys. Though honestly given Santa in this universe, he probably was going to anyway and this is his nice way of getting them to stay behind to make Scrooge happy.

So as they take off, while Webby is wary of Santa, she is curious what happened, especially since earlier Scrooge actually did finally voice his gripe, if without any full length explination: Santa took Christmas From him. And Della might know that, Scrooge likely didn’t tell her or Donald the full story and Donald rightly didn’t buy it was that one sided. And it isn’t as we’ll see. Since the episodes divided up into two storylines, i’m once again splitting the difference. This time though I would like to mention the story is beautifully woven in, with both complementing each other: there’s some legit suspense as we wonder if Santa did something really that bad or if he’s lying to webby, or if Scrooge being Scrooge was just exaggerating or holding onto a grudge that was partly his fault. It’s genuinely well done to build up the story and helps really flesh Santa out as a character in both stories. i’m only not doing that because my short term memory, while good enough to hold the story for now can be spotty, and this is a lot less taxing on it. Also parts of this segment happen before the boys leave, but it’s easier this way. Sooooo...

Times Past: Santa’s Worst Christmas Some time ago... seriously I don’t know. Scrooge was born in the 1800′s and Christmas well existed by then, to the point there’s actually a story starring young scrooge published over seas. Granted the Duck’s are no stranger to christmas, as I already covered Christmas on Bear Mountain for Scrooge’s birthday, and will be covering “A Christmas for Shacktown’ sometime this December. It’s just something worth noting. But given this universe can do whatever it wants, having it invited sometime in the early 1900′s or late 1800s is fine just fine.

Scrooge is a coal salesman, selling people what they need but getting no shelter as he’s, again, an ass. But in the depths he finds Santa, whose having trouble puling his sleigh, and gets them in the previously closed door with kindess and saying he’s with me. We now get an idea of who Santa truly is: a kind, selfless soul who thinks nothing of himself, and is happy to offer a gift in exchange for something, but does so only in the most well meaning, warmest way possible. In short this Santa really is.. what Santa is at his best in stories; a kind, generous man who just wants to make people happy. He just gave a gift not because he wanted to bribe his way in, but because he was genuinely hoping for some shelter and wanted to be greatful. It also shows that clearly, even if something did happen.. Santa probably isn’t evil. A twist still could’ve come.. but spoilers.. it dosen’t. Santa is genuinely this kind and self sacrificing and noble. He’s just a good person.. and that would ultimately be the problem but we’ve got a lot of subplot to cover. So Santa parties with what are clearly going to be his elves, and turn out indeed to be elves at the end when the fire goes out and Scrooge is suddenly in buisness.. and he and Santa make a great team, as Santa talks him up and says he can deliver a whole year’s worth of coal all over the world by Christmas Morning, so Christmas DOES exist here, it’s just Santa didn’t which kind of tracks. Well played. I’ll keep my earlier mistake in there though. Keeps me fresh. But Santa offers to help.. after all what are friends for? And Scrooge says their not friends.. their partners.

And Santa says why not both. And a friendship is forged. And it makes sense.. while i’ts not as tight as it will be, Santa is a warm generous guy who helped Scrooge multiple times just to be kind: He helped him find shelter to repay his kindness helping him.. then helped him sell his coal, when he didn’t have to and while he upsold him on what he could do, did so not out of malice, but so his friend could sell MORE and with eveyr intention of helping. And this friend is someone he just met, is kind of cranky and rude.. but as we all know is a good person underneath and to Santa.. that’s what he sees.. the kind young man who helped him pull his sleigh when he didn’t have to and was already cold and miserable. And that.. that just warms my heart a lot. But Scrooge being Scrooge has a mystic artifact that could help: The Feliz Navidiamond, a mystic artifact that can seemingly control time he got off a spanish sailor needing coal. The two head in but encounter it’s guardians. The Magic reindeer! And that’s part of what I love about this episode: besides really getting christmas, we’ll get to that, it has a creative and intresting Santa origin baked into the show’s mythology that also shows off an intresting part of Scrooge’s past. Santa manages to pacify them with jingle bells and our heroes head inside. In the cavern they find a Giant Snowman.. because this show is fucking awesome and Santa’s attempt to be nice bacfires but Scrooge’s natural paranoia and gumption pull through. It shows off why they make a good team: Santa’s niceties helped them with the reindeer, and netted them future transportation, while Scrooge’s natural grumpus tendencies help when nice just won’t do it. They work well together: one’s a showman and the other hasn’t learned how yet, one is nice the other naughty. It’s easy to see why they worked so well together.. in both senses. They make it past the Snowman and find that the diamond slows down time running on “christmas time!”.. seriously a great pun and one of many this episode. This show had a chance to go all out on holiday puns this go round and they did not blow it.

But... sadly... and obviously the good times can’t roll forever and when we next return to the story it’s a year later. McDuck and Klaus coal is a MASSIVE concern, and Scrooge is eager to get started... but Santa.. wants to just give gifts instead. To do something Generous. Buisness just isn’t in him and he just wants to do something kind. It’s.. not a bad goal.. i’ts just not Scrooge. To Scrooge it’s a betryal of all he stands for: foreswearing profit to give something for nothing for seemingly no reason and to a younger even meaner scrooge.. it’s an utter betryal.. and a breaking point. Either his daft presents idea.. or Scrooge. And why yes this episode is dripping with ho yay and why yes this does resemble his painful breakups with goldie. And why yes is glorious.. Imean I wasn’t shipping Scrooge with santa before but now? Hot damn. But yeah the two have come to a parting of ways, and Scrooge bitterly leaves, while the elves reveal themselves. And my heart hurts “The Empire Builder from Callisota” bad so thank you and fuck you show. It also probably shows why Scrooge has exactly one friend, who also works with him so it’s complicated, in present day: He just dosen’t want to let people in... and now we know WHY. The first genuine friend he made, the first person he let into his heart.. betrayed him. It’s no wonder it took decades for Beakly, then the kids to get into his heart again: the guy’s been betrayed by goldie, in his mind betrayed by santa and as we’ve seen his own dad turned against him eventually. He had no one for so long, he built a wall all around him but the wall was too tall and it blocked out all the birds and the son. But this .. is a really damn good story that fleshes Scrooge out and explains his hardness. In the comics it was Glomgold.. here.. it’s much more personal and cuts much deeper. And I absolutely love it. This story could’ve neatly fit into life and times if it made any sense in Rosa’s timeline, and it would be just perfect there.

PRESENT DAY: Concentrated Awwww

The present day plot is a lot simplier but still fantsatic: Webby slowly warms up to Santa depsite herself.. despite Scrooge clealry seeing she is.. she sees the man is just.. nice. He gives her a new crossbow, a really nice one she probably didn’t even expect to get given you know, everything and knowing scrooge, and appricates the sentiment and slowly sees the man isn’t some monster, but just a jolly old fat man who wants to give presents. Even Scrooge seemingly warms up a little. We also get tons of cameos during delivery, as they visit tons of supporting cast.. sadly no Darkwing.. but this one was clearly meant to go anywhere and is clealry set before “Let’s Get Dangerous”, but tons of other great bits: We get the Drake recidence with Boyd getting a present.. and somehow also doofus whose filled his stocking full of.. something. I don’t want to know and you can’t make me ask. You can make me ask why the fuck Doofus gets a present, but it could be filled with bees or maybe Santa truly thinks theirs good in him.. which .. yeah tracks. I mean not their being good in him.. I think dr. loomis said it best.. I mean it was about micheal meyers but.. same diffrence minus the patricide?

I mean points for trying though Santa, you mean well you loveable bear in both senses of the word you. But anyways other cameos include Fenton, alsleep with his armor strewn about, aww, with the gizmo armor set to hit people with fruit cake. Thought that was against the geneva convetion but alright. Scrooge’s been hit with worse. We also get them visiting the boat and giving Donald and Della presents, awww. And of course I saved the cameo I put up top for last as Webby visits her closest friend and her gilfriend and gives both an adorable cheek kiss. Though only Lena reacts.. probably because this isn’t the first time Webby’s snuck into their bedroom at night but probably the first time it hasn’t been accidently creepy because she’s still learning boundaries. Also i did not realized they shared a room. Aww. Also it’s the first time we’ve seen their room, which as you’d image from a sorceress and a magical researcher/bookworm, it’s a massive sprawling library from what we see with a skull with a candle in it, a picture of a house, and a calender. IN short it’s perfect and i’m glad we finally saw their room.

So yeah things are going well and Webby finally realizes “Shit Scrooge is the bad guy in this scenario” at the end of the story, realizing Santa was just as hurt by the split as Scrooge was and that he had to make the harder choihce for the right reasons. Unfortunately, as i’ve said a lot this review, SCrooge is a dick and only coperated, as he wasn’t using the magical present sack, but his own filled with Coal to teach people about responsiblity. Thankfully, Scrooge realizes he’s been a dick to the globe when he happens upon little Jeniffer, a small pig girl who mistakes him from santa and takes his coal, meant to warm her fires.. and makes it into a doll. And resists his attempts to take “Coalette away”... Scrooge then rants and .. we actually get a good reason for why he’s being such a douche... as a kid he had nothing, and a gift of coal for his fires would’ve been welcmoed. He simply just.. dosen’t get the frivolity. He gets the warmth and joy of the season but not the gift part. And it’s only seeing this small, innocent child, play with a doll, he realizes “A warm heart can keep you going through the coldest nights”. And it’s then he finally realizes why his old friend did what he did.. because as i’ve been saying the real gift.. is in the giving.. of giving someone something that makes their memories glow and their heart warm. Even a lump of coal can do that in the right hands... a toy can get someone through the roughest times and it’s the WARMTH of the gift you remember, not the gift itself. I remember that book I mentioned proudly.. as do I remmeber the copy of the art of the venture brothers right next to me, or the copy of the people’s doonesbury my best friend mike bought me, and so on.. not because of the book itself... but because of the thought and warmth of someone getitng something for you because they care, not for their own reward, but just to make you feel nice this holiday season. That’s the true spirit of christmas. Naturally realizing the errror of his ways in true christmas story fashion, Scrooge is devistated by his own actions. And Santa is PISSED.. but Scrooge is now regretful.. if also pissed because Santa stormed in there and it turns out this was all a ploy to get his friend back... which destroys Scrooge’s anger as he realizes just how much his old friend missed him and how many years he wasted lashing out at him when , in the end, Santa was right. So with only so much Diamond power left, and time running out, what can they do to right this? Simple, Scrooge suggests splitting resources.

So we get a glorious shot of the three boys, and the twins riding the reindeer. Also we get Launchpad!

Who naturally wonders if he can crash a reindeer while Beakly thankfully stops him from murdering Dasher. So Christmas is saved and Scrooge and Santa exchange gifts: For Scrooge, a set of bells with their old company name.. and for Santa? a garage door opener. While Santa’s confused turns out.. it’s to turn off the traps. He’s welcome any time.. just use the front door. Cue a big hug, and Webby narrating us out as Scrooge wishes everyone a merry christmas once again letting people into his heart. I have.. the approirate response to that.

Final Thoughts: Excellent, easily one of the best of the season, the series and possibly of chirstmas show episodes all together, we shall see when I put together my list. And given how utterly excellent Last Christmas already is, it was hard to top.. but they did it. This was a warm, wonderful special that gets to the heart of christmas.. and really why I LIKE santa so much. For all the comercailsim around him.. he’ s a kind generous man who gets kids to belivie in magic for a while, wants nothing in return , with the offering of cookies just there to be nice and thank him for being a good person, and just wants best for people. He’s what’s best about christmas rolled into a person. And the series gets that and makes him the kindest guy around. It ends up being a story abotu Scrooge learning the meaning of christmas, an irony that’s not lost on me, but in a way that’s diffrent and unique from last time and works just as well. It’s just a warm wonderful epsiode with plenty of great gags and adventure and a beautiful, unique story at it’s core that could only be told here with tihs cast and this version of scrooge and that’s what makes it so damn magical. Easily a fantastic note to go out on. Next time on Ducktales: I don’t know! Next time this blog covers ducktales: We’re going back a few seasons to the only episode i’ve never seen, not even a little bit. It’s the treacherous summit of mt neverest! Until then, if you liked this review, reblog and all that good stuff, follow for more ducks, and if there’s an episode of any show you want me to cover, my cyber monday sale is still going till midnight central, and even past that if you get in a liittle past it, so you can comission a review of any episode for just 3 bucks right now, 5 if you get to this review after monday. So spend if you have it.. and if you don’t.. happy holidays to you anyway. Have a wonderful season.

#christmas #ducktales #how santa stole christmas #santa claus #scrooge mcduck #webby vanderquack #huey duck #louie duck #dewey duck #donald duck #della duck #violet sabrewing #lena sabrewing #weblena #launchpad mcquack #bentina beakly #doofus drake #boyd drake #fenton crackshell cabrera

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