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snowdice · 3 years

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Finding the Time to Study Fic 2 [Day 39]

Here is my starting post for today’s study break stories session. See this post for more details and feel free to send me asks to keep me going! It’s been a lot of fun so far! I will reblog this post with the story as I write them today. I’ll be constantly looking for ideas of times and places for Janus to have missions, so feel free to send in any you can think of at any point!

If you are a new follower or just don’t want all of these posts clogging your dash, please feel free to block the tag “study break stories” as all posts and voting about it will go there. You can still see the finished product of the story even if you are blocking that tag as I will not tag the edited chapters with “study break stories” but with the tag “folds in paper.” See edited chapters below. None edited chapters are under the cut.

My Masterpost Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15

I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted). It’s short, and not really for serious listening, but I had fun with it.

Alright. Time to get a bit of studying done.

Arc II What We Do to Each Other

Chapter 16:

As it would turn out, Janus and Virgil did not get in trouble for hooking up the old phone to Virgil’s integrator, mostly because it wasn’t really a mistake on their part. The phone cleared all virus checks that the tech people both from the university and the TPI ran on it. The phone should have been clean and should not have caused an issue.

In fact, they were still trying to pin down the code on the general university server. They could tell that something was mucking about on the system but what or how was a mystery. This also meant that there was no telling what information had been compromised and considering how many things Silver Mountain had its hands in, that was… a bit worrying.

Another worrying thing was there was suddenly more activity of late at the TPI. There were more time distortions popping up every day. Usually they would be few and far in between. There had been 3 total recorded the year before, but over 12 in the last week. Some of them were fake like the one Janus had investigated, but some of them were real. It painted a distressing picture and also was a drain on their resources. Khalid was actually looking to advertise positions to hire new recruits which was something she rarely did as she liked to keep appointments to the TPI in house.

They’d even loosed the number of field agents needed for each mission and Janus and Remus had been splitting up just to get everything done. Today, he and Remus had thankfully only two missions scheduled for the day.

“Are we going together or separate today?” Janus asked Remus.

“Think they’ll burn me at the stake for being a witch if I go alone to either of them?” Remus asked.

“I don’t know. Probably. I think we’re getting a bit late into the 1700s for that in Cuba, but I have no idea about Mesopotamia.”

“Let’s just go together. I did not like almost drowning yesterday because I was the only stranger in town when the weather was going wonky.”

“Surely it isn’t because you opened your mouth. Ever.” Janus said dryly.

“How was I supposed to know he was the local clergyman’s son?”

Janus rolled his eyes. “On second thought,” he said, pushing a button on his desk to choose Cuba as he next mission, and standing up. “I don’t want you coming with me.” Yet, he did not protest when Remus also signed up for the Cuba mission and he waited for him by the office door before going to talk to Rhi.

Rhi was a bit frazzled when which meant quite a bit as she was usually incredibly put together. Remus didn’t even seem inclined to tease her today.

“Okay,” she said once they’d closed the door behind them. She flipped through some documents on her desk. “Picani and Clockson. Camaguey Cuba 1755. Do you know Cuba?”

“Uh,” Janus said. “Yeah?”

“Like you’re reading the things, right? I don’t have to babysit you, right? You got it? The Seven Year War was happening, but it won’t affect you much as it hasn’t really hit Cuba. It’s the middle of the Camaguey Carnival. Everyone will be everywhere and there will be chaos so as long as you don’t really fuck up you should be fine. Um…apparent races.” She looked up at them and studied them each for a moment as thought looking at them for the first time despite having known them for years. “It’ll work. Go to costuming.”

“Shouldn’t we…” Janus said, “sign things?”

“…Yep,” she said, fiddling with her desktop and then sending documents over to their side to sign.

Janus and Remus both did before sending them back.

“Great. Good.” She stood and grabbed some things from behind her. “You can go.” She sat back down as they took their things and Janus noticed a message pop up on her desk. She looked up at Remus looking exhausted. “What?” she asked.

“Just open it,” Remus said.

Rhi tapped it and a photo opened.

“I got her a new mouse toy!” Remus said happily as Rhi looked at the picture of Diesel Fuel attacking a cloth mouse.

“That is… appreciated Agent Clockson,” Rhi said. “Now get out.”

They did, leaving to get their costumes on and checked. Costuming was just as busy and frazzled as Rhi had been and they actually had to wait for decon because there’d been a mix up with the agents leaving before them. They landed in Cuba without issue. Janus could already hear the festival in full swing outside the small building they’d were in. Remy was standing there with a very not time appropriate mug of coffee.

“Sue me,” Remy said when Janus raised an eyebrow at it. “Please just… get in and out without causing trouble. Seriously. I don’t want to have to deal with that on top of everything else.”

“We’ll do our best,” Janus assured.

Remy pulled his sunglasses down to look at him. He looked exhausted. “God please do more than your best.”

Janus nodded tightly. “We’ll be in and out,” he said, already glancing at his timepiece. It had been disguised as a golden bracelet which made it a bit harder to actually use, but wrist watches wouldn’t be invented for more than a century, so they’d have to make do. “The time distortion, if that’s what it is, should be in the middle of town. Let’s go.”

He and Remus exited the building onto the packed city street.

Janus was immediately bombarded with all types of sights, sounds, and smells. There were many colorful articles of clothing and costumes as people went every which way along the street talking to other members of their community, playing instruments, and dancing. There was the sound of people speaking Spanish, still mostly almost pure Castilian Spanish with perhaps a bit of influence from Taino as the Haitian revolution had yet to push the Creole language over to Cuba. People must have been hard at work cooking different dishes for the carnival as many different spices wafted through the air. It was sticky hot considering it was the middle of June in the tropics and Janus was immediately sweating despite the temperature appropriate clothing he’d been outfitted with.

He glanced around their immediate area, just scoping out the crowds. His eyes were immediately drawn to one person near them.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” he said out loud when he saw Pat. Remus looked in the direction Janus was.

Even if Janus didn’t recognize him the moment he laid eyes on him, he probably still would have ended up staring as he was the only person in the area who clearly did not know how to do the dance he was attempting.

Remus snorted and Janus shook his head in secondhand embarrassment. “Well, would you look whose boyfriend’s here,” he said to Janus. Make that firsthand embarrassment. “Has anyone told him the Mambo wasn’t invented until the 1900s and also that’s not how you do it?”

Chapter 17

Pat stopped dancing the moment he saw Janus approaching him, but he still bobbed cheerfully ( and unrhythmically) to the music. “Hi Janus,” he said pleasantly.

“You just have to rub it in, huh?”

There was a flash of confusion across his face, but then he smiled. “Well, I know where in our relationship you are. How was France?”

“You’re a bastard.”

“You stole the phone,” he laughed.

“You stole the bomb,” Janus countered, “and you wanted me to steal the phone. You booby trapped it.”

“No,” Pat correct, putting a finger up. “We have security on my phone because in high school I once forgot it in the school locker room and long story short, the three of us ended up in a lake. So, then Lo made sure I always had some sort of tracker on it. When I started time traveling, he updated it and when I met you we updated it again in case there was ever an opportunity like that. Lo calls it using our weaknesses to our advantage.”

“He’s a bastard too,” Janus growled.

Pat just laughed.

“Is someone talking about me?” Remus asked, stepping over to them. Janus rolled his eyes.

“Oh,” Pat said, blinking at Janus’s partner for a moment. “Remus.” He hesitated slightly. “How are you doing?”

“Me?” Remus asked. “Uh, I’m doing good. A little stressed out with work, but fine.”

“Good,” Pat said with just a little too much heartfulness to it.

“What?” Janus asked, eyes narrowed at Pat. “What is that?”

“What is what?” Pat asked. He met Janus’s eyes briefly and it made panic surge up Janus’s spine because the look Pat was sending him wasn’t one that said he was playing dumb. It was a warning.

Oh, Janus did not like this. That look told Janus Pat had some foreknowledge that he absolutely could not tell Janus about without messing up the timeline spectacularly. This was why this mess the two of them were mixed up in was so bad, but it seemed Janus did not have much of a choice when it came to Pat.

Despite how bad of an idea he knew it was, he still wanted to push, because whatever Pat was hiding could be very, very bad and it had to do with Remus. There were so many reasons Pat could be acting like that around Remus, but the worst ones were definitely the ones on his mind. Death, injury, illness. They were all possible especially in their line of work and especially with how time was being screwed with right now. And Pat knew. He knew exactly what the answer was, and oh did Janus want to push.

Experience knowing what worse things could come out of having foreknowledge made Janus bite his tongue.

“So, what are you two doing here,” Pat asked, and Janus unhappily let him change the subject.

“Oh, like you don’t know,” Janus replied.

“I don’t know,” Pat said innocently.

“There’s another time distortion,” Janus said, “and while you didn’t know what it was the last time I saw you, I’m pretty sure you do now.”

“Oh, I didn’t know there was a time distortion here. I can help you if you like,” he offered sweetly.

“Oh, yeah, sure. Then why are you here?”

“I wanted to see if I could find the Flying Dutchman,” Pat told him.

“And so you went to Camaguey?”

“Uh huh.”

“One of the farthest places from the ocean in Cuba?”

“Is it?”

“I don’t trust you.”

Pat just shrugged. “Well, if you don’t want my help finding the time distortion, I’ll just be on my way then.”

“Wait,” he said when Pat went to turn away. Pat paused. Janus turned to Remus. “Remus, do you think he’s bullshitting me so I let him wander off and do whatever the hell he’s doing, or do you think he’s bullshitting me into letting him come with us.”

“Hmm,” Remus said, looking Pat up and down. Janus could immediately tell he wasn’t going to get any helpful answer. “Well, if we’re going with the how much do I get to see his, admittedly very sexy, ass criteria.” Janus pinched the bridge of his nose. “Letting him leave now means instant gratification and a nice full image when he turns away. However, letting him go with us means many more opportunities to get a glimpse, but they’d probably just be glimpses. So, yeah that’s a tough call.”

“You didn’t even bother to give me an actual hidden suggestion with that bullshit,” Janus groaned. He glanced at Pat only to see him hiding his very red face in his hands. Janus blinked. “Oh,” he said. “You got him, Remus.” Janus was surprised. He’d expected a bit more tenacity for someone with Pat’s personality. Of course, Janus was used to Remus, so that perhaps had some effect. Pat made a muffled distressed sound behind his hands and Janus raised an eyebrow. “You really got him.”

Pat flapped one hand around while still using the other to completely hide his face. “It’s just. His face. Saying that. Is weird.”

Janus could not say that he didn’t feel a slight spark of joy at seeing Pat flustered. After all, Pat’s weapon of choice had often been flirting with Janus in the past. However, he still smacked Remus on the shoulder when it looked like he was about to continue with something likely far more inappropriate. “We are here for a reason,” he reminded. He turned to consider Pat and squinted at him. “You’re coming with us, I’ve decided. I don’t want to let you out of my sights. Don’t,” he said empathically turning to Remus as the man opened his mouth once more.

Pat had mostly recovered, though his cheeks were just a bit pink still. “Yeah,” he said. “I’ll go with you. Where do we start?”

Janus glanced at his timepiece. “It’s not showing up on our trackers yet.”

“It messed with your tracker last time,” Pat pointed out.

“I know,” Janus said. “Which means it could be another fake one or whatever is causing it hasn’t started yet. If things start going wrong, but it still doesn’t show on our radar, it’s almost certainly a fake one, but some of the fake ones haven’t blocked our technology.”

“Here, I can check,” Pat said.

“Please don’t pull out an iPhone,” Janus begged.

Pat stuck out his tongue at him, and then smiled. He reached for the bracelet on his wrist and twisted it back and forth a few times before pressing his palms together. He glanced around them quickly to make sure no one around them was watching and then peeled apart his palms like he was miming reading a book.

“What the fuck is that, and how do I get one?” Remus asked immediately. It was innocuous, whatever it was. If someone from this time caught a glimpse of the display, they’d likely assume it was a trick of the light, but staring right at it, Janus could tell it was a map of the surrounding areas with a softly glowing blue light marking their current location. Janus could see no screen or origin of a hologram. It looked like the image was drawn onto the man’s palms, but as he watched, the image shifted to zoom out.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything major yet,” Pat said wiggling his fingers a bit. The display changed slightly to some sort of colorful overlay Janus did not understand. Pat hummed. “Did you two come from that building recently?” he asked nodding at it.

“Yes,” Janus replied. “How do you know?”

“There’s sometimes a slight temperature change when people time travel,” Pat explained. “I can read it on here.” He tilted his head. “There also seems to be a big enough temperature change in a church a few blocks away that could indicate time travel. Want to check it out?”

“We might as well,” Janus agreed.

“And if it’s nothing, we can get drunk on the communion wine!”

“He’s going to get immediately struck by lightning,” Janus said.

Chapter 18

“If we see anyone,” Janus said as they entered the church. “You keep your mouth shut. Do you understand me? Remus, do you understand me?”

Remus immediately turned to Pat. “You know, I didn’t grow up Catholic,” he said to Pat who looked at him in confusion. “So the first time I ever entered a Catholic church, you can’t blame me for being a little confused about the whole cabinet thing with a wall between them. After all, everyone was singing about glory to god and what not. So I…”

Janus slapped him. “This is why you were almost burned at the stake yesterday.”

“Excuse you,” Remus said, putting his hand over his heart. “I was almost drowned.”

“You were almost drowned?” Pat asked, his voice seeming legitimately distressed.

Remus shrugged a smile on his face that caused a Pavlovian migraine to start up behind Janus’s eyes. “It’s one of the hazards of the jobs, and really it would have all been worth it if I’d actually gotten to drown in that man’s…”

“We’re in a church!” Janus cut him off switching from Spanish to Swahili in the hopes that no random passersby would be able to understand him in this time and place. “Don’t talk about lewd sex things. Don’t talk about sex at all. It’s a Catholic church!”

Remus continued to speak in Spanish with no regard for anything. “But not talking about lewd sex things takes away 3/4ths of my personality,” he pouted.

“More like 9/10th,” Janus grumbled, “and the other 1/10th is just normal stupid.”

“Hey, you shouldn’t be mean,” Pat scolded, in fucking English for some reason, “but Remus, honey, you probably shouldn’t be saying things like that right now.”

“No, no, he has a point,” Remus said switching to English.

“He’s my partner, I have the right to call him stupid,” Janus insisted.

“And I love you too!” Remus said in Greek because he was really, truly, stupid.

Pat looked between the two, but then seemed to accept it, dropping the concerned expression for a slightly amused one. “If you say so.”

“Can I… help you?” A voice asked. All three of them whipped around to see a young boy looking at them and seeming very confused. Which was fair considering that to his ears, they’d just been speaking nonsense.

“We’re here to pray!” Remus claimed, then he turned to wink at Pat and said under his breath in Swahili, “to that ass.” Pat went immediately bright red again, which was doubtlessly Remus’s aim. Janus subtlety stepped on his foot while smiling at the boy.

“Oh,” the boy said. “Okay.” Thankfully, he didn’t seem interested in questioning the random strangers in front of him further. “I’m going to go back to the celebration now.”

Janus smiled at him. “Have fun,” he said. He waited for the boy to leave through the front door before slapping Remus on the back of the head.

“Ow!” he whined sounding far too pained for how hard Janus had actually hit him.

Janus rolled his eyes. “Let’s just start investigating,” he said.

“Sure, sure, you never let me have any fun,” Remus said, pulling up his wrist and spinning the golden bracelets on his arm. “Hmm…” he said.

“What?” asked Pat.

“Either I put on the wrong jewelry this morning… or my timepiece isn’t working.”

“Well, then I’m guessing we’re in the right place,” Janus said. He turned to Pat. “Your stuff still working?”

Pat brought up whatever device was on his hands. “Yeah,” he said, “and it looks like something is just starting.” Just as he said it, there was a violent crash of thunder.

“Well,” Janus said. “We should probably find the source and soon. Which way?”

Pat glanced around himself and then motioned with his wrist. Suddenly there was a 3D display of the church in front of them.

Janus could see immediately where the problem had to originate. There was a swirling mass of some sort of energy centered at the top of the bell tower of the church. As he watched, he saw the picture of the church glitch out a bit. He had a bad feeling about that.

“Is there something wrong with your display?” he asked, or more hoped.

Pat shook his head slowly. “I don’t think so…” The room seemed to shift suddenly underneath their feet. It felt a bit like time travel, but also wrong. The picture on the display flickered harder, part of the building fracturing and dissolving before appearing back in place. The room settled after a moment, but Janus’s stomach did not.

“Whatever is going on,” Janus said, “We need to stop it right now.”

Pat nodded. “The quickest way up would be that way,” Pat said pointing. The display closed as he did.

“Then, let’s go,” Janus said.

The world was eerily calm as they all started off in the direction Pat had pointed out. In fact, it was almost too quiet.

“Where’s the nearest window?” Janus asked when they came out on the second floor.

Pat glanced at his hand. “There should be a couple a few feet that way.” Janus nodded and left them standing there. When he glanced out of the first window he came to, it appeared to be night. Yet, when he walked to the next window, he saw daylight.

26606

“Time is fracturing,” Janus informed them. “We need to be careful.” This time distortion was much more intense than any of the other ones the agency had been tracking down over the last few months. It had also come on much faster. Usually there was some time between when the time distortion began and it started having extreme effects on the environment. He was suddenly very glad that he and Remus had not split up today. He was even glad for Pat’s company, no matter how aggravating he may be sometimes. Not to mention, he was glad for the man’s technology that seemed to circumvent whatever was blocking Janus and Remus’s timepieces.

He backed away from the windows and returned to the others.

“Whatever you do,” Janus said. “Don’t let anyone be in a room alone.”

“I know what time fractures are this time,” Pat promised.

“It was as much for the idiot as it was for you,” Janus said.

“You accidently bring a bubonic plague infested rat to 900BC one time and you never live it down.”

“I’d say I should put a leash on you, but you’d twist it into something disgusting.”

“Probably,” Remus agreed.

“Where next?” Janus asked, ignoring him.

“That way,” Pat said.

They walked together to the door he’d indicated. “Please don’t be bullshit,” Janus prayed. He opened the door and immediately got bowled over by a stream of salt water.

Chapter 19

Janus landed flat on his back, a wave of water splashing over him and then quickly retreating, but still leaving him absolutely drenched. He sighed, looking at the ceiling. “Don’t,” he warned, “say a word.”

Of course, he was with the two most impossible people in all of space and time, so neither of them headed him.

“I thought you said we were far from the ocean, Jan,” Pat said.

“Yeah, Janny,” Remus immediately jumped on board because he was an asshole. “I thought we were far from the ocean!”

“Maybe I’ll achieve my goal of finding the Flying Dutchman after all!”

“Ooo ghost pirates! I’ve never gotten to fight ghost pirates before. Any good with a sword Patty?”

“My friend has a sword and he let me use it before… but all I did was cut a hole in our couch, and then Lo was mad at us.”

“I mean… just pretend the pirates are a couch and we’ll be good!”

Janus slowly sat up. There was still water on the floor and every so often a wave would crash into the room as though the door frame signaled the edge of a beach. Pat reached down to offer him a hand up and Janus slapped it away.

“Rude!” Pat claimed, but his eyes were alight with mischief.

Janus shoved himself to his feet on his own power.

“You deserve it,” he hissed. “For all of this!” he waved his arms around.

“Water you talking about. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You are on thin ice.”

He looked down at his feet with a contemplative expression. “Looks like water to me.”

“Arg!” Janus spat, throwing up his arms.

“I don’t sea why you’re screaming, Janus.”

“Yeah,” Remus contributed. “You seem overally emotional to me.”

“Yes, yes,” Pat replied. “Very em-ocean-al.”

“One may even say he’s pretty salty.”

“I know where you live, Remus,” Janus reminded.

“Alright, alright Remus, reel it in,” Pat said.

Remus opened his mouth to respond, but Janus cut him off. “Why don’t the two of you dedicate all of that brain power to figuring out how to cross the literal ocean in the next room,” Janus suggested hotly.

And it was a literal ocean. If one ignored where they were and the fact that there was a staircase climbing out of said ocean about 80 or so meters away. There was sand being washed up across the door frame and a seagull flying in the distance. At least it looked like a nice day in the room with the way the sun was glinting off the water. At least it wasn’t storming there. Yet.

Janus’s head throbbed with the thought of what had to be happening with the time distortion to plop a piece of the ocean into one single room in a church. Usually they’d be calling the TPI for backup or at least for information, but that was a loss. Even if they tried to get out of range of whatever was disrupting their timepieces, time was so unstable, they’d very possibly get dumped somewhere dangerous. It was better to just get to the time distortion as quickly as possible and stop it.

“Hmm,” Remus said. “I wonder how deep it is. Do you think there are man eating sharks in the water? Or giant jelly fish? Remember that one time I got stung by a jelly fish and almost died?”

“Yes,” Janus said, lips pursed, “and it was entirely your fault.”

“I just looked so squishy!” he declared, “I didn’t know it was a murder blob.”

“I think I have a boat,” Pat said.

They both turned to him. “What?” Janus asked. He was looking at his hands and just hummed in response to Janus’s question. The next thing he knew, Pat made some motion with his hand and a yellow raft started to autofill from his palm. “...Why?” Janus asked.

“I… recently started carrying a wilderness survival pack in my time device.”

“I’m not going to question it. It’s better than swimming.” By the time the raft was completely deployed, they’d all been shoved into the walls by it.

“Huh, on second thought. I probably should have put the raft in the room before blowing it up.”

“You think?” asked Janus.

Pat glared at him over it. “I never really thought about how to open it in a narrow second floor corridor.”

“Just try to shove it through the door without popping it.”

“Why are you looking at me?!” asked Remus.

They managed to somehow squeeze the raft through the door into the other room after a few minutes.

Pat squinted at the tottering raft he was holding to the door frame. “After you,” he offered.

Janus glared at him.

“You’re already soaked!” Pat defended himself.

Janus sighed and very carefully climbed into the raft. It tottered dangerously, but he didn’t immediately fall out, so that was a plus. The other two of them slowly also climbed onto the raft with him. They then sat in it for a few seconds. “Is there an oar?” Janus asked.

“Oh right!” Pat did something else with the device in his hands and an oar slowly unfolded from his hand.

“Seriously, I want one of those,” Remus said.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Janus said, snatching the oar. The staircase luckily wasn’t too far away. They probably could have swam it if necessary, but the raft gave them some modicum of protection. Everything seemed to be going in their favor, which of course meant everything was about to go incredibly wrong.

They were about halfway across the water when the entire world around them rumbled.

“…I hope that was a giant jellyfish,” Remus said.

It was unfortunately not a jellyfish or any sea creature at all. The world around them fractured, the ocean seeming to split right down the middle so the water right of the staircase was 6 feet higher than on the left. The sky flashed red and yellow before the water split completely like Moses splitting the Red Sea.

There was a millisecond as the split widened until it was only a few feet from them, to decide whether when they landed they wanted to be on the side with the water or on the side without it. On one hand, going towards the side without water could mean they fell to their deaths or the water crashed back down on top of them when it settled. On the other hand, if the fissure was closing or shifting to a new area, it was very possible that they’d end up trapped in the middle off the ocean with no connection to the church.

Well, the best chance to actually get to where they were going was probably the side without water. It seemed everyone had the same idea at once because as he grabbed for both of them, they both grabbed for him and they all went tumbling off the raft into what could have very well been a bottomless pit.

Janus learned after a couple of seconds of free fall, that it was definitely not a bottomless pit. He landed hard, flat on his back and saw stars. The next moment something landed on top of him, squeezing all of the air out of his lungs.

Something else fell half on top of his legs.

“Ow,” Pat said from near his ear.

“Yeah, well you’re the one on the top,” Janus groaned though his teeth.

“Wow, I never took you for a bottom, Janus,” Remus said from near his feet. Janus kicked up his legs into whatever part of him was on top of Janus and he gave an “oof.”

Pat snorted a bit and Janus glared at his… shoulder? He shifted around a bit so he was less thrown across Janus and more just on top of him. Janus blinked. There was a wooden ceiling above them, so that was a good sign, though there was also a giant dark hole of nothingness directly above them which was not as good.

Janus moved slightly. He could tell he was going to be bruised later, but he didn’t seem seriously injured. “We should,” he started, but was interrupted as the hole above them pulsated and dumped a bunch of sea water.

Pat shrieked as they were all drenched with the chilly water. Luckily, they seemed to be on higher ground because, while water kept pouring out of the hole, it drained away just as quickly instead of drowning them.

Water still hitting his back relentlessly, Pat peeled his head up to look Janus in the eyes. A giggle bubbled out of his mouth.

“It isn’t funny,” Janus informed him. Pat just giggled more, leaning his head against Janus’s chest and cackling.

Janus just rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, this is an entirely appropriate reaction. Thank you for your contribution to our very important mission.”

Pat seemed incapable of stopping laughing completely, but he did calm himself enough to peel himself off Janus’s chest and lean forward so their noses almost touched. “It’s hilarious and you know it,” he claimed.

“In what way is this ‘hilarious’?”

“In many waves,” was the joy filled answer.

“You’re horrible.”

Pat hummed. He hadn’t moved to get off of him even though they really should be moving in case something worse than water came through the hole in the ceiling. He hadn’t even moved his face away.

“No, no, you two just tell me when you’re done being gay for each other,” Remus interrupted. Janus was surprised to see he’d stood up at some point and was now hovering over them.

Janus flipped him off even while Pat laughed once again. Pat finally drew away and rolled off of him so Janus could sit up. Pretty much everything hurt when Janus moved, but he was able to stand up, so he was probably fine enough. “So,” he said looking around. “Where are we now?”

Chapter 20

Janus looked around himself while Pat booted up his map to try to figure out where they were. They were in a small room that may actually be considered a large landing as there were staircases on either side of it. The water that was still coming out of the ceiling was running down the staircase that led down from the room.

Something was stopping the water, creating a pool on the steps that was already about to overflow into the room. With the speed the water was flowing, they should have enough time before the room completely filled up with water and drowned them.

Janus wondered if they were in the church or not. It was not out of the question and there was church like décor around them, but who knew? He could feel a strange vibration in the ground and the one window in the room shone with green light.

“Hmm,” said Pat. “That looks not good.” He’d projected his map so they could all see everything.

The map itself was moving. Rooms were phasing in and out of focus and fracturing down the middle. One room was even spinning lazily around in circles. Janus could see the room they were in. It was connected to the bigger blob of rooms, and there was a black line connecting it to another room from the top which was obviously the hole spewing water at them.

“Well, at least the time distortion is still coming from the bell tower,” Remus said. Janus shot him an unamused glance. Said bell tower was currently upside down and shuddering as well as divided from any other room by at least two inches of empty space.

28842

“How are we supposed to get there?” asked Pat.

“We don’t,” Janus said. “It’s literally impossible.”

“There has to be some way,” Pat argued with a frown.

“If we try to use time travel, we’ll definitely get shredded by the warping time and space around it and walking there isn’t an option. There aren’t even any entrances!”

“Well, there were at one point.”

“Yeah, before,” he gestured wildly to the ceiling that was still pouring water into the room.

“So?” Pat asked.

“’So’?! What do you mean ‘so’?!”

Pat shrugged. “When one door closes, cut another one.”

Janus froze and looked at him for a long moment. “Where the hell did you hear that?”

Patton raised an eyebrow. “You.”

“I don’t think like that anymore.”

“Well then I guess we’ll die,” Pat said lightly. “Of course, that’ll make an even worse time loop considering I’ve met older versions of you.”

“Fuck,” Janus spat. “Fuck. Fine. Give me a minute to think. Not that I even know if we have a minute because,” he gestured once again to the room.

“Okay,” Janus said. “The room with the source of the time distortion is separated from us by a swirling pool of dark nothingness and there is no way to get to it. But, the only way we’re going to stop the distortion from ripping apart time and killing us as well as probably a bunch of other people is to get to it. That is an impossible situation. There is no solution. That door is closed to us. What other ways are there to look at it?” He looked at the visual representation of the rooms. One of them suddenly went spinning out and his eyes tracked it. We need to be in the same place as the source,” Janus said. “That is fact, but we don’t have to get to it.”

“Um, what do you mean?” Remus asked. Pat shushed him.

“If you want thing A and thing B to be in the same place, there’s more than one way to do it. If you can’t move thing A to thing B, you might be able to move thing B to thing A. Pat, you have a working time device. We can’t travel with it because that would kill us, but if we can make it do a stutter warp, it could draw the time distortion to it.”

“You…” Remus said. “Want to create another time distortion in hopes that the original time distortion will be pulled into this room?”

“Yes.”

“Well, sounds good to me!” Remus said.

He maybe had expected Pat to argue, but he didn’t. Instead, he moved his hand to his wrist. There had been nothing there before, but when he touched down on his wrist with two fingers, there was suddenly a metal bound around it that Janus immediately recognized from the times he’d seen Pat’s timepiece before. How was it made invisible? He shook the thought off as Pat offered it up wordlessly. Janus took it and Pat leaned over his shoulder to look.

Despite the fact that the device looked nothing like his own, the interface was surprisingly convenient. “I assume you have safety setting to prevent a stutter warp,” Janus said. “How do I turn those off?”

Patton pointed at a gear icon on the screen. “You put it under your normal settings?” he asked.

“I have to put in my password or use my fingerprint!” Pat defended.

“It doesn’t matter right now.” He navigated through the settings. He was interested to see that there were many different saved default security settings, but he didn’t get much of a chance to read what all they did. He just turned them all off.” It popped up with a message to put in the password and Pat pressed his fingertip to it. Another message popped up warning them that turning off these settings could cause damage to the machinery, the person using it, and time itself. Janus pushed “okay.” A message popped up that asked “Continue” and Janus pressed “yes.” One last message popped up that said “Security functions disabled.” Janus pressed “okay.”

“Anything else I’d need to disable?”

“Nope,” Pat confirmed.

He navigated back to the main screen and then bought up the manual travel input screen. Yet another message warning him not to do this flashed and Janus once again ignored it. He copied the space time coordinates that the device said they were currently at and put it in the ‘travel to’ location. “Well,” he said. “Here it goes. Let it be known that if I die, it’s my own fault for allowing Remus into a church.”

“Really?” Remus said. “That’s what you’re choosing to be your last words?”

Janus just raised an eyebrow.

“Love you too Janus.”

Janus nodded and hovered his finger over the travel button. He quickly mashed his finger to the button 22 times.”

The device warmed in his hand enough that he almost dropped it. Time literally froze for a few breaths as whatever Deity that may or may not exist processed their stupidity.

Janus was not a scientist or technician, but he had a good idea of how badly they were fucking up right now. The timepiece was attempting to travel over and over again to the exact same place and time. This basically punched a small hole through time, that if left unfixed would grow and disrupt space time all around them. As it was, their current position, all gathered around it and staring at it while one of them had it literally in their hand, was perilous.

There was a rumble under their feet and the world tilted on it’s axis. The all went tumbling down in a pile of limbs to new floor of the room which had once been a wall.

Of course, this change of gravity caused the water that had been building up in the staircase to dump on top of them.

Janus would have cursed, but he was too busy being under the water. He maneuvered himself away from the other two flailing bodies and managed to shove his feet against the wall turned floor. His head popped above the water in time to see the ceiling, or well, it would be the opposite wall, rip in two and the other walls/floor/ceiling start to fold in.

“Give me a boost!” Pat called over the noise of water rushing and walls crunching.

“Give you a boost where?” Janus asked.

“Up!” Janus wasn’t sure if ‘up’ really existed right now, but he still nodded. The water was a few inches over his head, so he held his breath and interlaced his hands so Pat could put his foot in it. He was shoved down into the water, but it gave Pat enough leverage to shoot up out of the water. When Janus resurfaced, he saw that the man had grabbed ahold of the crumbling wall and was pulling himself up into what for all appearances seemed to be absolutely nothing.

It took a moment, but then Janus blinked, and he was suddenly in a new room entirely or perhaps it was the same room. He honestly didn’t know at this point. Remus was next to him. He couldn’t recall if he’d been there before the shift or not, but they were both treading water. Pat crashed into the water next to them. Janus’s wrist buzzed as his timepiece came back online. “Got it!” Pat declared when he resurfaced, holding a device up. It looked almost the same as the device they’d found in France, but this one was definitely different if it was able to cause that much chaos that quickly.

Janus looked around and pointed at what appeared to be a set of stairs. The three of them swam over and pulled themselves out of the water.

“Where are we?” Pat asked.

“Looks like a basement,” Remus replied. “A flooded basement.”

Janus pulled up his timepiece and pushed some buttons to stabilize Pat’s timepiece. It slowly stopped vibrating and cooled. “Here,” he said, handing it over to him. “I suggest you put the safeties back on now.”

Pat nodded and took it.

“We’re still in Cuba,” Remus informed them, looking at his own timepiece. “Same church too, but in the basement and… two and a half centuries later.”

“Remy is going to be pissed,” Janus said.

Remus shrugged. “He’s always pissed… at least at me.”

“Well,” said Pat, slipping his timepiece back onto his wrist. “Thanks for being willing to pool our resources.”

Janus rolled his eyes. “Stop.”

“Ah, mi sirenito-”

“I hate you.”

“-never.” He disappeared with a pop which was when Janus realized, he’d never handed over device that had caused the first time distortion.

“…You bastard!” he yelled at thin air as though the man could hear him.

“Well,” said Remus, “that mission went swimmingly.” Janus reached over and shoved him back into the water.

Chapter 21

“We should probably get out of here,” Janus said, very much not helping Remus out of the water. Remus pulled himself back up onto the staircase and shook like a dog. Janus crinkled his nose as water droplets hit him. They didn’t smell salty anymore, he noted. In fact, there was a broken pipe spewing out water on the other side of the room.

Janus and Remus cautiously snuck out of the church, not wanting to be seen and blamed for the flooded basement. They came out on a city street that was much different than the one they’d entered from.

They walked down the street a bit, Janus’s eyes scanning the buildings. His eyes caught on a sign and he tugged Remus towards it.

They entered the small paladare and the person delivering food to one of the tables blinked at them both. Right. They were in clothing from the 1700s and were soaking wet. He met eyes with the woman, challenging her to say something. She did not.

They found a seat at one of the tables.

“Ah…” the worker said, approaching them. “English?”

“Ron,” Janus said, “por favor.”

Remus turned and started ordering the both of them food in Spanish. Janus didn’t pay attention to what he did.

After his second shot of rum, Janus sighed and brought up his timepiece to ping the TPI. The reaction was almost instantaneous from their perspective. Remy all but kicked down the restaurant’s door and walked over to them. “How the fuck?”

“Ah, Remy,” Janus said calmly. “Have a seat. We’re waiting on our food.”

He did, but probably only because people were looking at them. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s been a long day,” Janus answered, “and I’m hungry.”

“Yeah, it certainly looks like you’re interested in the food,” Remy said, eyeing the empty shot glasses.

“Let’s just say, I’m glad Cuba started letting paladares legally serve liquor a few years ago.”

It’s clear that Remy wanted to ask them what had happened, but he also was cautious enough not to make a scene here and Janus wasn’t planning on getting up until he’d at least gotten his food. “Why are you soaked, by the way?”

“Turns out the ocean isn’t as far away as we thought,” Janus said.

“Also, a church basement is flooded,” Remus said.

“Fantastic,” Remy replied.

They sat there mostly in tense silence until their food came, and then Remus and Janus ate. Remy slapped down some pesos once they were done and then proceeded to all but physically drag them out of the restaurant.

They were led to an alley way and then through an old almost hidden door. Remy immediately rounded on them. “What the hell happened?” Remy asked.

“The time distortion caused level 5 time fractures in its vicinity, we almost drowned three times, and the worst person in the universe fucked me over again.”

“To be fair,” Remus said. “He did save our lives before that.”

“I saved our lives first,” Janus said. “I don’t have to be fair.”

“Oh, yeah, Mr. Curl Up In A Ball And Perish. I’m sure we would have been fine without him.”

“Anyway,” Janus said to Remy. “If you want your lump of flesh, I suggest you take it now, because Khalid is going to murder me, and then fire me, and then rehire me so she can put me on desk duty and make me do paperwork until the end of time.”

#not writing #study break stories

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boogiewrites · 4 years

Text

No. 9: The Body

Chapter One

Characters: Diego Hargreeves & OFC Eve Corpuz

Summary: Eve, once a rebellious runaway had turned her life around through the help of others to now be a doctor. She tries to return the favor these days. When a mysterious man keeps popping up in her life, what will her natural talent for healing become when it finally meets someone else with abilities like hers? The introductory chapter.

Warnings/Tags: Meet Cute. Some medical/blood/injury stuff.

Click on my icon then go to my Mobile Masterlist in my bio for my other works and chapters. Please like, comment and reblog if you enjoyed it! It helps out us writers A LOT!

From the view from her apartment window, only slightly obscured by the fire escape, Eve looked out on the gloomy sunrise falling over the New York City street below. The fog and steam from the light drizzle on the street grates blended with the haze of her coffee cup as she took a moment to gather herself, feel the calm at the moment before the chaos of her job began.

Eve was all about function over fashion these days. Her childhood had held many questionable punk ensembles and thrifted, or even stolen pieces that were worn down to bare threads. But now her clothes usually consisted of scrubs, so she opted for comfort usually. She savors the last of her coffee and the peace of her small home and makes her way out into the world to begin another long, chaotic 12-hour shift.

The phrase, “business as usual” couldn’t really apply to work in an Emergency Room but when you worked an ER in New York, literally anything could be called as such. So the day began, and so did the rush of decisions, needles, charts, and blood as the job called for. She changed out her off duty uniform of pants that compromised mostly of spandex. For the season warm fleece-lined leggings were her go-to currently. Her boots needed replacing, as she’d bought new sneakers for work but neglected her everyday ones. What a metaphor for her life that was. You couldn’t really wear anything but boots in the city winter as the mess on the streets would seep through anything else. She peeled off her layers of a tank top, t-shirt, hoodie, and jacket to stuff into her locker and got into her sterile looking and feeling scrubs that served as her protection from whatever the wild night of New York emergency room drama would unfold. “Doctor Corpuz to the ER please.” She heard the intercom over her headphones. It was already starting. —

The night had been average, traffic accidents, assault, chest pains, overdose, nothing that would throw Eve off her game. Her years of residency had assured that. As usual, she became drained the longer the night went on, hitting the caffeine hard to make it through the last hours.

“Uh, hey, Eve we’ve got this guy in room 3 and he’s being…. a bit belligerent,“ the woman rolled her eyes as she casually leaned on the counter “He’s scaring the intern, you might wanna go help deescalate.” A half-smile that made it clear that the news delivered was something said more times than either of them could count now. “Since you’re so good at it and all.” She cracks her gum and even though it’s delivered sarcastically, the jab was actually true.

“Ugh.. why do I have to be the one that’s good at this?” She huffs and shrugs with heavy arms as she throws a playful pout her friend’s way. “Why can’t you just go yell at them? It sure scares me.” Eve quips as she stretches to prepare herself.

“I already did and he did not respond well to authority so… in you go Mr. Rogers.” She hits Eve on the shoulder with the patient’s file and she dramatically grasps it.

“Tired of being good cop. Let me yell at the next one alright?” She says back as she walks away.

“Got it Doc.” She answers as she begins to walk away.

Eve takes a deep breath and focuses before entering the room, trying to bring up that positive side of herself for the task at hand.

“I told you what I told ya, alright?” She could see from the chart and the bleeding man lying on a bed in front of her in a stance all black and leather ensemble. Her first thought was oh god what did he get stabbed with? He looks like he’s been at some BDSM party that went south, in the bad sense, and fast. It was multiple stab wounds to the abdomen and he was ready to be sewn up but wasn’t agreeing to be still despite the pain medicine he’d been given.

“Hey, dude we can we just shhh a little? Bring down the volume a touch?” She asks as the black-haired man turned his head her way. His dark brown eyes were glazed and he was clearly feeling the pain pills. A heavy brow lay low and angry as he sized her up a bit slower than he was accustomed to.

“Who are you?” He asks with a bite.

“I could ask you the same thing. I’m the ER Doctor tonight, Eve Corpuz. And you are?”

“I’m nobody.” He answers at a lower volume.

“Well Nobody, looks like I’ve got to stitch you up. Would you mind if I got to it?” She snaps on her gloves as the nurse pushes a tray with her instruments on it towards her.

“I need to get out of here.” He says, voice now at a more acceptable volume.

“If you let me sew you up you’ll be out of here right after and then we’ll all be happy, alright?” She gives smile his way that was softer than her tone. “I think I’ve got it from here Sherry. I won’t be needing any help will I Nobody? I can sew you up real quick and we can get on with our nights? Since you seem so busy and all?”

He looks to the other nurse and back to the doctor, muscles still tense but in a much more passive body language. “Yeah…okay.” He nods and his clearly scowling eyes kept on the nurse.

“Alright we’re good here. I’ll finish up and you can get Mr. Nobody here some pain control to take home ready?”

“I’ll be back in with the forms.” She responds, another way to let the doctor know she would be close by. After a shared nod, they said, “Yes I’m sure.” She was left alone with the scowling stranger.

“I don’t like her.” He pointed and laid back down on the table.

“That’s fair.” Eve shrugs, seeing a calm and casual approach was working best. “I just want to get you as best prepared as I can to heal up well, alright? I’m not gonna hound you for info like they were. That’s not my job.” She gives a humorous smile as she preps the areas on his stomach.

He blinks at her, looking down at her hands as she touches the wounds, and his nose twitches from pain. He says nothing as his attention is averted and her tone not aggressive and being reasonable with him.

“This part is gonna hurt. I’m not gonna bullshit you alright? But it’s not as bad as being stabbed so… Got me?”

His eyes meet hers. his round and partially, deep-set against full dark brows and goatee against his brown skin. “What kind of doctor says bullshit?” He asks with a head tilt.

“The kind that gets shit done.” She smiles and shrugs. “I’ve been on the other side of this situation before, I know it sucks and I’m not here to be the bad guy. I’m not a snitch… a narc or whatever, I’m just Eve and I wanna help. Because I know what it’s like.” She says earnestly and he doesn’t detect any bullshit as she’d said. He could read people, and he found her a little odd but… genuine.

“You been stabbed before?”

“I have.” She nods. “It fuckin hurts doesn’t it?” She laughs and nods, testing the equipment.

“Yeah. It does.” He gives a huff with a more relaxed expression before wincing.

“Where did you get stabbed?” He asks, brain still trying to read her.

“In the arm.” She nods casually.

“Ow.”

“Yeah ow.” She smiles he continues keeping her focus on cleaning up her space and open her tools.

“Why?” he asks.

“Why did you get stabbed?” she gives him a no-nonsense glance

“I was saving a cat from a tree.” his testy tone was full of pain med induced confidence.

“So did the tree stab you or the cat stab you with a 4-inch blade?”

“The cat.” He responds was as snarkily as she had in their back and forth.

“Mean cat.�� She replies with a more casual smile as they begin to feel each other out.

“Yeah. He was a real asshole.”

She begins tapping the area and he doesn’t react. “Think we’re good now. Don’t move, please?”

“Kay.” He nods and lets his head fall back. As she works he watches her face. “So how did you get stabbed?”

“Would you believe a cat got me too?”

He gives a little confused smile. “I wouldn’t actually.”

“Then we have that in common.”

He grunts in appreciation for her attitude. Guess he’d have to work harder to figure her out. She looked warm, yet severe and her faded tattoos peeking out from her collar and sleeves were proving very interesting to him. She didn’t look or more interestingly feel like a doctor to him. He was used to pretending to be things he wasn’t, but if she was, she was better than him at it.

“Looks like I need to get more stuff.” She mutters, looking around the room. She covers two of three wounds and sighs. “I’ll be right back okay?”

“Okay.” He says with a face that she believed. But it wasn’t the first time her caring nature would’ve been taken advantage of, and the entertaining stranger was gone when she returned to the room. Nothing but the blood left behind and a warm indent on the bed. He was good, she thought. Actually, she was downright impressed he got past her. It’d be a headache for paperwork later but a good story to tell at least.

————————————

The next night the stranger named Nobody was the farthest thing from Eve’s mind. She was enjoying her take out, the container in hand, and chopsticks tapping to the playlist titled “classical: chill”. She’d made it to play when she studied in school and during residency and apparently she’d conditioned herself to be more relaxed while she played it.

The sun had just gone down and the winter chill was heavy around her windows. In her functional fashion, she wore sweats and slippers and layers topped with a hoodie. She was swaying and focusing on how good cold lo mein could be. The light of her standing lamp illuminating the solid rectangle of open space that was her kitchen and living room. Much like her fashion, it was cozy and functional. Nothing brash or bold, just neutral colors and lots of comforts.

Eve was winding down to sleep off her last shift, making some time to eat and enjoy herself before having to get back to it the next morning. Her dark hair was damp and twisted on top of her head, glasses mended with floss sat unsecured on her nose as she ate with her eyes closed. During the weeks where she had close shifts she usually took it easy on herself, her hours could vary wildly, and sometimes that worked in her advantage and sometimes it didn’t. But it wasn’t anything new to her. She figured if she made it through residency she could make it through anything, and right now the coziness, the juxtaposition of inside her little warm home and the biting January cold that lay just outside the windows. They sat with curtains that fell ceiling to floor, mostly drawn. Being on the third floor she had never been too worried about anyone seeing into her windows. But perhaps she should have been.

That, forgotten in this moment, Nobody was taking full advantage of the small space left by the curtains. He peered in, watching her. He drummed his gloved fingers over two healed fresh scared marks near his ribs. He could find anything sinister about her. She wasn’t any sort of plant in the hospital and she wasn’t there looking for him. She seemed like a nice enough woman actually, but he knew there had to be something he was missing.

He continued this for days. He would follow her around, trying to figure out what her deal was. He’d become a bit preoccupied with it, as was his nature. Since his return to the city, he’d been going from vigilante case to case to distract himself. It felt like old times in fleeting moments, but when the chaos that had surrounded him recently came rushing back at him, he wasn’t one to wallow in his sadness. Rather it hung around as he decided to go back to doing the thing he knew best. Without connects at the police anymore he was left with that familiar feeling of being a lone wolf . He still wasn’t sure how he felt about it, and it wasn’t on his list of things to contemplate soon. So a mystery woman, ironically enough was what the doctor ordered when it came to distractions.

So far she was pretty boring. As far as people with powers went, he guesses. She liked coffee, take out. Nothing that interesting, except that he was now totally healed, scarred and the pain was only a memory. She was a doctor, sure, but he’d never healed that fast in his life. He’d worked himself up to conspiracy theories of her using some new medicine that was being tested on civilians without their knowledge. But he found nothing of the sort. There wasn’t a lot on her when he searched her name. First-year doctor at a hospital, went to medical school and college, what you’d expect. She spent most of her time working, goes out with some women she works with on occasion, then went home. No following her to a seedy alley for a secret meeting or her making coded phone calls. No, she was just a woman who left her curtains open and he felt like he’d hit a wall on the investigation. So for now, she remained a collection of scribbled notes in his apartment.

His other antics, most that involved fighting and men with guns and knives, understandably led to frequent injuries for him, most ones he could handle. But it just so happened next time he got really hurt, he knew exactly which doctor to go to.

—————

Eve got there early, a shoulder gunshot wound and a split open brow. A not unusual combination. She approached the room, and no one but her seemed to recognize the man that lay in the bed.

She noticed he looked almost relieved at the sight of her, which she wasn’t used to.

“I got it.” She says a nod to the nurse as he approaches him.

“Listen, Doc you gotta get me out of here.” He begins.

“Yeah I knew that was you…” she gives him a side-eye. “I think you need either new hobbies or new friends because this is the second time in what… a month you’re in here?

“You do recognize me.”

“Of course I do you know how much of a pain in the ass paperwork is when you disappear?”

“No.”

“Clearly since you ran last time.” She says more severely as she begins the usual process again.

“Look, I saw an opportunity and I took it. Nothing personal.” he offers with a shake of his head. “ This time there’s gonna be cops and you can’t let them in here. They’ll see me and arrest me and I don’t want that.”

“What’d you do?”

“Nothing.”

“Then why do they want to arrest you?”

“Because they think I did something.”

“Did you…?”

“No.”

She considers his eyes for a moment, whether he was being honest or not. “…What’s your name?”

“So you can tell the cops, yeah no thanks.”

“Fair…Then tell me how you got stabbed.” It was more of a demand than a request. A terms of service agreement for her involvement.

“I was after a bad guy and he fought back, then more bad guys showed up and one of them got me.” his response was as vague as he could get away with, they both knew that.

“You’re the good guy in this instance?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you some undercover…something-er-other?”

“No, not exactly.”

“Just a wanted criminal?”

“Wanted. Not a criminal.”

She sighs and he hisses as she begins to work on him. He notices her lips purse and her eyes making a decision beyond watching the work she was doing?

“Doctor Corpuz, there are some policemen that want to ask you some questions.

“Tell them I’m finishing up a procedure, to stay by the front desk and I’ll be out.”

“Yes, Doctor.” the nurse bows.

“Are you gonna help me or not?”

She stays quiet, finishing up sewing and reaching for a bandage. “Yeah.” she nods.

“Good, I didn’t want to have to hurt you.”

She swings her eyes his way in a clear glare that told him she did not find his joke funny. “You aren’t helping your case any random nobody who’s been stabbed multiple times in the past month. You clearly are good at making decisions, maybe I should tell them about you.” she retorts with more sting and she gives his stomach a harsher pat before moving away.

“Uh…it was..it would be funny if you knew me. I don’t want to hurt you…Eve Corpuz.” he glances at the tag and then her face.

“No, we’re back on a Doctor-patient relationship now.”

“But you’re still gonna help me get out?”

“Yes, fuck, I said I would already.” she shakes her head at him and motions for him to sit up. “I’ll have them at the front desk and distract them, and you go out the back way. You’ll get some attention, but not from them.”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re the coolest doctor they’ve ever met?”

“They haven’t actually. Usually, they’re too busy screaming in pain when we meet.” she cleans the space and begins to walk out the door as he catches her wrist.

“Thanks. Doctor. Eve. Whatever.”

“Well, you’ll owe me I guess. What good that does me when I don’t even know you’re name, huh? Just get out as quietly as possible, alright? Don’t make me regret this.”

“You won’t.” he nods and releases his grip on her.

#diego hargreeves #diego hargreeves fanfic #diego gargeeves x ofc #tua fanfic #david castaneda #tua fandom #tua fan fic #tua fan fiction #diego hargreeves fic #diego hargreeves fan fiction

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duskrelyk · 3 years

Text

song shuffle tag

rule: put your playlist on shuffle and tell us the first 10 songs, then tag 10 people.

i was tagged by @dangerous-button , thank you!!! he did a thing where he talked about each song, so ill try to do that too

my current playlist is only 8 songs long so to make this more interesting i did 5 songs from my playlsit from last semester and 5 from my current playlist, which is a work in progress!

hindsight (fall 2020 playlist):

1. walls - all time low

this song has a significance in that i first heard it when i was maybe 12 and it has stuck with me. the reason it's on this playlist is bc i felt the words "im gonna break down these walls", but specifically hoping that i could break down someone else's

2. home - cavetown

this song was a favorite of mine for a while, and its on this playlist bc it was still a favorite of mine at the time. a comfort song.

3. too good - troye sivan

ooooof lmao i got rejected last semester so this one made it on the list

4. i wanna get better - bleachers

in the aftermath of ~the incident~, this also made its way onto the playlist

5. iscariot - walk the moon

after a friend (cayden) got me to listen to more wlak the moon (i already knew some songs like anna sun), i found this song, and i really loved it

now for this semester! (spring 2021)

it's called "i may be depressed but at least im gay" (working title)

1. this manhattan man - the altogether

this song was my favorite song at the start of 2021, and was the first song on the playlist. the altogether is also featured in every other song on this playlist so far lol

2. ride home - ben&ben

this song has a bit of a story!! i had been trying to figure out where "im coming home to you oooooooooo" came from and i failed so many times that i took to my public snap story (which i almost never post on) to ask a bunch of people. my friend john figured it out using this app that identifies songs (i think? apparently it works with singing now) and then sent it to me and i realized i was from gaya sa pelikula/like in the movies which is one of my favorite bls/shows in general!!! highly recommend it 💜💜

3. sophie - the altogether

this song is another by the altogether! probably one of their more well known songs. it got stuck in my head for a while, so its on the playlist

4. landslide - fleetwood mac

this one is the most recent song on the playlist. it was added bc it got stuck in my jead and i started thinking about the fleetwood mac concert i went to with verse and i was feeling nostalgic

5. skyline - pp

another one of my favorite bls/shows in general is i told sunset about you. this version of the song (the chinese language one) is my favorite one, its so soft and beautiful, and i love it so much

tagging less than 10 people, and yall dont have to do it, but if you do, go for it! also if i didnt tag you and we are mutuals, feel free to say i did!

@strawberryjehan @dennysparkinlot @ritzcrackers15 @amyzingsantiago @beige @pass-me-jeez-it @sgtxam-blog @confusedpaladin

#tagging max even tho ik you dont blog bc roommate solidarity and you have to answer even if its in dms #tagged #tag game

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katahnisharma · 5 years

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the press tour [4] | t.h.

Word Count: 2.6 K

Warnings: none, i don't think??

Summary: You’re a new, inexperienced actress plucked from the obscurity of everyday life to play the lead in the reboot of a famous British Jane Austen novel, and Tom Holland just so happens to be playing your love interest.

A/N: This one was a little hard to write for obvious reasons. Also Tumblr apparently won't let me link things so if you’re looking for my masterlist, playlist, taglist, or writing challenge it’s in my bio <3 I also have to tag people a second time?? and because Tumblr screwed this up Saturday, I'm dropping the next chapter this Saturday

Tom had been moody all day. He snapped at his driver for being two minutes late, got upset that his coffee was cold, and made his makeup artist storm out of her trailer. It was completely unlike him to act like such an asshole.

In other words, he was a mess.

"Dude, what is going on?" Jacob asked during an interview break. Tom stayed silent, walking past him to enter his dressing room. Jacob followed, determined to get an answer. He wasn't just going to let it go.

"Nothing, it's nothing. I'm fine" Tom gritted his teeth, feeling himself get even more frustrated with all the questions. His mind was on you and on the date, he simply couldn't get you out of his mind. It didn't help that the news outlets had been reporting on the sighting of the two of you nonstop, even though Tom had been very careful to avoid paparazzi.

Everywhere he looked, there were pictures of you two. You looked so beautiful, Tom found it hard to remember that he wasn't supposed to be in love with you anymore. It hurt so much that Tom almost considered telling everyone he was going home to sleep for the next millennium.

He'd loved you and you'd rejected him in the worst way possible.

"Yeah right, you're behaving like a real movie star right now, you know that?" Jacob pressed, closing the door behind him. He knew Tom was never like this unless something really bad had happened. Jacob also knew that Tom hated being called a movie star.

Sure enough, he broke.

"If you have to know, it's about Y/N okay!" Tom yelled, spinning around and kicking a chair across the room. Jacob didn't flinch, he was just confused. He knew that Tom liked Y/N, and was planning to ask her out, but it seemed something had gone wrong. Which was odd, considering the paparazzi pictures he had seen told a different story.

"What, I thought you guys went on a date?" He asked, and Tom collapsed into a chair with his head in his hands. Jacob walked over and sat next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder gently. He could hear Tom sigh and sniffle, and it made him sad to see his best friend like this.

"We did, but it didn't end well." Tom whispered, sitting up and wiping his eyes. Jacob realized he was crying, and he felt a little guilty about making Tom break like this. He considered calling Harrison to ask what to do, but decided against it. Tom needed to vent, so Jacob would listen.

"There's someone else, I saw the text. The worst part was that she didn't tell me, I had to find out like that. It was humiliating." Tom said, getting up and pacing the room. Jacob watched him, still not believing that you would do something like that. He had met you once, and thought you were the kindest person he'd ever met. It seemed so out of character, for you to do something like this.

"Are you sure about this? I mean, Y/N is the sweetest person ever. Did you talk to her about it?" Jacob asked, coming to stand behind Tom. Tom shook his head, running a hand through his hair. He hadn't asked you about it, but he figured he didn't need to. Tom knew what he saw.

"No, but I know what I saw Jacob. It was pretty obvious, and I wasn't about to tell her I'd been looking at her phone. I'm trying to get over her, but it's so hard. I really like her, and I have to do press with her." Tom groaned, throwing a pillow at the wall. It burst into feathers, each one cascading to the floor below. Jacob grimaced, going over to pick up the sack.

"Well, you've got time to get over her. You're here for two months, I'm sure you'll forget all about it. You're going to be super busy anyway." He said, and Tom felt a little better. He wouldn't see you, so maybe he could just wish the whole thing away. At the very least, he could just lay low for a while.

"Yeah, maybe." Tom sat down again, staring at the wall for a couple of minutes. Just as Jacob was about to leave, Tom's assistant Samual walked through the door. He looked like he had been running, and he panted a bit before handing Tom a note.

"Your PR manager is here, he wants to talk." Samual huffed, giving Jacob a wave. Tom quirked an eyebrow, taking the note from Samual's hand and giving it a read. It was scribbled pretty hastily, but Tom could just make out what it said

We need to talk.

"What's this all about?" Tom asked, but Samual shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea, the note had just been passed to him and it seemed pretty urgent. Jacob stood by the door as Tom put on his jacket. He really wasn't in the mood to speak to David, but he knew that it had to be important if a note had been couriered like this.

"Where is he?" Tom asked, and Samual pointed to a car on the outskirts of the set. The black Mercedes was parked next to the road, and Tom could just see David sitting in the back on his laptop. It was highly unusual for David to come all this way for something that could probably be discussed over the phone, which made Tom a little suspicious.

"Hey, Jacob tell Jon I'm taking five. I'll be right back." Tom walked out the door and broke into a quick jog. When he got to the car, he rapped on the window causing David to jump. The window rolled down and David peered out.

"Really? You could have just called ahead." David said, giving Tom a glare. Tom smiled deviously, leaning on the car door.

"Where's the fun in that? You wanted to see me?" Tom asked and David told him to get in. Tom slid into the backseat, and David shut his laptop. With the click of a button, he rolled up the divider and turned to face Tom.

"What is this, Tom?" David pulled out his phone and Tom grimaced. There on the screen was an article titled Tom and Y/N, Hollywood's next IT couple? Damn, he'd never escape these stupid pictures. David was frowning, and Tom knew he was in some serious trouble.

"Nothing, I went on a date with Y/N and it didn't go well. So what?" Tom asked and David sighed, closing the window. He went on Instagram and typed in the handle tomhollanders_spidey. Tom recognized the account, they were a big fan account that had started when he first began to act. The first picture that popped up was one of the paparazzi photos of you and Tom. Tom furrowed his brow, why did David care so much about this date?

"Read the comments for me." David said, handing Tom his phone.

So Tom began to read.

Ew, is this Y/N?? It's gonna be a no from me.

Oh my god nooooooo, Tom is wayyy to good for her.

Jesus, was there no one else?!?!

Not a fan of this relationship, he could do so much better.

Damn Tom needs some dating help.

Honestly Tom would look better with Zendaya.

I do not ship them at all.

First of all, Y/N is ugly and Tom is hot?? Dude needs glasses or something.

They'll break up after two months, Y/N is just using him for publicity.

Please God not another Hiddleswift.

"What the hell? I thought they liked us together" Tom muttered, not believing his fans could be so terrible. But he remembered some bad experiences from before, and just groaned instead. David shrugged, taking the phone back and putting his glasses on. Tom was observant enough to know that this meant David was about to cut to the quick.

"I don't know what happened between you, but you and Y/N cannot be a couple. Most of your fans are heavily against it and the press isn't entirely favorable either. We need some major damage control, I don't want this hanging over you for the Far From Home junket. Sony doesn't want that either." David said, turning to face Tom. Tom pursed his lips, looking over David's shoulder and out the window. Life would have been a lot simpler if he hadn't been an actor. He would have been able to date whoever he wanted.

But these were the cards he was dealt, and he would have to deal with them as best as he could.

"So, what do we do? I'm assuming you already have some sort of plan." Tom said and David brought out a manila folder. Tom rolled his eyes, but he knew David had been thinking about this for a while. It was the folder he'd dubbed The Dating File. It contained profiles of actresses that fans had either shipped him with or had expressed an interest in Tom at some point. When Tom had just started out, David had compiled the file as an emergency fix in case of a PR disaster.

Tom had always hoped they'd never have to use it.

"God, no not the Dating File! Isn't there anything else we can do?" Tom whined and now it was David's turn to roll his eyes. He liked Tom well enough, but David was used to working with actors like John Travolta and Adam Sandler who had a smidge less integrity when it came to PR.

"Like what? If you have another idea I'm all ears." David said, leaning back while Tom rested his head on his hand. Truthfully, Tom didn't have another idea, but he would have done anything to avoid the Dating File.

"Couldn't we just ride it out? It's not that serious, it's just a couple paparazzi pictures and some pissed off fans." Tom reasoned, and David shook his head emphatically.

"Not that serious? Tom, the Sony execs called me today wondering if they should cut some of your interviews during the junket, so that promotions don't get overshadowed by your love life. Unless you have a better idea, this is our best bet." David finished his lecture and handed Tom the file. Tom took it slowly and opened it gingerly.

"Shit. Fine, I guess I don't have a choice then. So what, I pick one like on the Bachelor?" Tom laughed sardonically, flipping through the pages. There were some pretty famous actresses compiled, including Chloe Grace Moretz, Elle Fanning, Hailee Steinfeld, Ella Purnell, Maia Mitchell, Olivia Holt, Saoirse Ronan, Kiernan Shipka, and Zendaya. Tom sighed and dropped the file back into his lap.

"I don't know, David. Does it even matter who I choose? It's not like we're getting married or something." Tom huffed, handing the file back to David.

"Fine, then I'll pick. We need an actress that the fans really ship you with or one that has previously said they would date you." David flipped through the profiles one by one, taking out the ones that would work best. Tom sat up, realizing that he knew an actress that would fit the bill perfectly.

"Zendaya. Z is our best bet. The fans all ship us, they're always asking about us in interviews. They already call us Tomdaya or whatever, what about her?" Tom asked. David looked up, a smile on his face. Thank god they'd picked one, he was going crazy dealing with Tom.

"You're right, she'd be perfect. She's well known and already has an established relationship with you. Good, I'll call her in so you two can talk." David picked up his phone, but Tom stopped him midway.

"Wait, what do you mean call her in? Is she here already?" Tom looked out the window, and sure enough there was Zendaya with Darnell and her PR manager Aubrey. David smiled and waved, and they all waved awkwardly back. Tom spun around, looking at David for an explanation.

"What? I knew you'd pick Zendaya, so I called her ahead of time. She's been here for about two hours now? Before you ask, yes she agreed to the whole fake dating thing. All you need to do now is hammer out some conditions, a sort of contract if you will. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to Starbucks." David rapped on the divider and motioned for Tom to get out. Tom slid out of the backseat and David drove off, just as if he had never been here.

"Hey, you." Zendaya said, going in for a hug. Normally, Tom would have been happy to see her. But this whole situation was so awkward that Tom barely hugged her back, nodding at Darnell and Aubrey. Zendaya flipped her gorgeous hair over her shoulder and brought out a notepad.

"So... guess we should sit down and iron out all the specifics. Aubrey, I can take it from here. Darnell, can you wait over there?" Zendaya pointed to a croft of trees a couple yards away, and Aubrey left set for her car. Tom turned to her and felt a sudden urge to apologize.

"I'm so sorry, Z. I want you to know this was never my first choice, I know how awful it was with all the Tomdaya stuff. This isn't going to make it any easier on us, and things could get pretty ugly." Tom said, kicking a rock with his shoe. Zendaya sighed, but her smile was sincere.

"I know, it's not your fault. But remember, I agreed to this too so you can't take all the blame. It is what it is, this is the life we signed up for. As long as we keep is professional and authentic, we'll be fine. All they want is a show, and we can give that to them. We're trained actors, this is our job." Zendaya laughed, and Tom felt a little better. But the hole in his stomach convinced him that he wasn't over you yet.

"Right, let's write this contract then. We definitely have to keep feelings out of this." Tom started and Zendaya nodded.

"Agreed, even though I feel nothing for you. You're my friend, that's it. We also need a confidentiality clause, we can't tell anyone about this obviously. And very little kissing, of course." Zendaya said. Tom took the notepad and wrote down the clauses carefully and legibly. Usually David handled all the legal paperwork, but Tom felt better knowing he had written this himself.

"And lastly, either of us can terminate the relationship at any time. But said person must notify the other 24 hours before any major event or red carpet occasion. For convenience." Zendaya finished, and Tom wrote down the last clause with a flourish. At the bottom of the note, he drew two lines for their signatures. He offered Zendaya the pen first, and she signed her name in pretty cursive. Tom signed his well enough, and then closed the contract and handed it to Zendaya.

"There, all done. We are officially a couple now." Tom nudged Zendaya lightly and she laughed a little. She would have preferred choosing her own partner, but she couldn't think of that now. Instead, she tried to focus on how lucky she was that she would be "dating" someone she trusted, like Tom.

"Yes, the HMS Tomdaya ship has properly sailed. Brace yourselves, it's going to be a bumpy ride."

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland imagine #tom holland fluff #tom holland x you #tom holland x y/n #tom holland angst #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland fic #tom holland series #peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker fluff #peter parker angst #peter parker fanfiction #the press tour

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goldenxsunshine · 4 years

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50 questions you’ve never been asked

I was tagged by the lovely @softboylwt, thank you darling ✨

1. what is the colour of your hairbrush? edit: so I realized I didn’t read that correctly the first time around, but I don’t usually brush my hair, tho I do have one that’s brown

2. a food you never eat? it’s not really a food but i never eat plain butter, like in cakes and all that, when it’s cooked, alright, but on bread, in sandwiches or anything else it just grosses me out to no avail!! I can’t even touch it!! Also any sea food is a no-go for me, i just can’t!!

3. are you typically too warm or too cold? i think it can depend, but in general i tend to get cold very easily

4. what were you doing 45 minutes ago? i was catching up on niall and liam’s live and feeling very emotional about it

5. what is your favourite candy bar? here we call it kinder tranche au lait, which literally translates to kinder milky slice but idk if that’s what it’s called!! Anyways, it’s the kinder that you have to keep in the fridge with the creamy white thing in the middle, i just love it!!

6. have you ever been to a professional sports event? Nope never, i don’t really care much for any sports tbh afdhkj

7. what is the last thing you said out loud? “good night” to my little sister about five seconds ago

8. what is your favourite ice cream? salted caramel!!!!!! it’s my LIFE

9. what was the last thing you had to drink? water

10. do you like your wallet? I do actually!! I had another pink one that was too big but i received a small dark blue one for my birthday that’s just perfect

11. what was the last thing you ate? something very very VERY good!! it was a polish recipe: tomato soup with some homemade kluski (some sort of pasta i guess you could say) and basil

12. did you buy any new clothes last weekend? nope

13. the last sporting event you watched? as i said before i really don’t care much for any sports so i think the answer is none, if i did watch one well it was so long ago that i forgot afskdly

14. what is your favourite flavour of popcorn? sweet popcorn OR those with some chocolate you can buy, both are equally good

15. who is the last person you sent a text message to? well technically the last message i sent was on here to, but if we mean irl texting then an old friend of mine

16. ever go camping? nope not really, i went a couple times when i was younger with some friends but not anymore

17. do you take vitamins? nooe i don’t, but i should

18. do you go to church every sunday? nope

19. do you have a tan? as of right now, only the beginning of one on my back

20. do you prefer Chinese food or pizza? oof tough one, but im gonna have to go with pizza!! I actually had some today

21. do you drink your soda with a straw? nope not anymore

22. what colour socks do you usually wear? small white ones, sometimes black

23. do you ever drive above the speed limit? wellll since i still haven’t got my driver’s licence i can assure you that i’ve never once driven above the speed limit in my life 😌

24. what terrifies you? loneliness

25. look to your left, what do you see? i can see my bedroom door as well as my cupboard and the front door a bit further

26. what chore do you hate? washing the toilets

27. what do you think of when you hear an Australian accent? i have no idea tbh ajdsfkds 5sos maybe

28. what’s your favourite soda? i actually don’t really drink any sodas, but if i had to get one i’d say sprite or lemon iced tea

29. do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive-thru? i don’t think we have any drive-through here, or if there are i’ve never been, so i’m gonna say fast food place

30. who’s the last person you talked to? my little sister

31. favourite cut of beef? i have no fucking clue, i only eat beef when i eat burgers so that one i guess jsdkajl

32. last song you listened to? some song off a random sport playlist i listend to when i was working out earlier, it’s called hometown apparently

33. last book you read? if we’re talking last book i read through but haven’t actually finished yet, it’s une bête au paradis (a beast in paradise)

34. favourite day of the week? i don’t really have one tbh, i just know it’s not monday nor sunday

35. can you say the alphabet backwards? yes i can actually ajkdjfld, well i need to say it thorugh once in order (mentally is enough) but yeah i can

36. how do you like your coffee? i absolutely despise coffee, in any form

37. favourite pair of shoes? a pair of shoes that i found in italy a few years ago, but i just can’t describe them asjdhfk they have too many things idk how to say in english

38. at what time do you normally go to bed? i’d say usually it’s around 11pm or midnight, but lately it’s been more like 1 or 2 am

39. at what time do you normally get up? again usually would depend on my classes, but lately it’s between 8 am and 10 am

40. what do you prefer, sunrise or sunsets? i literally cannot choose one!! boht can be so magical, but maybe i’ll go with sunset cause i’m almost never up for sunrise ajdfkjl

41. how many blankets are on your bed? only one

42. describe your kitchen plates? i still live wiht my parents so they’re just plain white, but modern-ish

43. do you have a favourite alcoholic beverage? i don’t really have one, but the only alcohol i can enjoy drinking is vodka so anything with that i guess

44. do you play cards? ugh way too much, or well not anymore, but when i was in high school it was literally all my friends’ favourite thing to do and tbh i just don’t really like them

45. what colour is your car? again i don’t have a driving’s licence adjfhk

46. can you change a tire? there are too many questions concerning driving in this jadshkj, nope or well never tried, who knows maybe i have a secret talent

47. what is your favourite state/province? i haven’t been in the US, or well i went when i was much younger so i don’t remember!! But i’ll pick a country and say tulum, Mexico!! i went there once a few years ago and it was just magical

48. favourite job you’ve ever had? i haven’t had a lot of experience in real jobs i guess, but one of my favourite closest to a job thing was the internship i started right before this whole mess in something called psychopédagogie (i haven’t got a clue what it might be in english im sorry)

49. how did you get your biggest scar? i don’t have many scars and the few i have are pretty small, but i guess the “biggest” would be on my foot, i was at a friend’s for the summer and we were going around in quads, then there was a little slope and my dumbass panicked and pushed the accelerator instead of the brake and well....we bumped into a littel tree and yeah adfjhkjs

50. what did you do today that made someone else happy? i haven’t done much today i don’t think, but maybe helping to make dinner ? idk

I apologize in advance if you’ve already done this, but i’m tagging: @essercipertuttienonperse, @rosegoldeyelids, @ltpolari, @watermelonsugarhii, @bigsparrowharry, @herefortommo, @arouiis, @farmjpg and @strawberryhabit

#obviously feel free to ignore this #thank you again for tagging me this was quite fun to do :)#hope you're all feeling as okay as you can and stacing safe #sending you all my love #tag games

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my5hiningstars · 4 years

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15 questions tag

@floralminho has tagged me to answer some questions and i love to overshare (but i will put them under a cut bc this might get long and also like, i have no one to tag bc ur moots with all my moots skdjfh)

1. It’s your birthday! What did you ask for and did you receive it?

i don’t remember my last birthday presents/requests bc it was half a year ago but like, honestly i don’t ask for much these days, i just appreciate when someone puts a bit of thought into a gift for me like, one time a friend bought me nailpolish remover bc i used to paint my nails Constantly but i refused to buy it to remove it between, so i peeled it off and destroyed my nails in the process. some people might think that’s a crappy gift but like, she knew me dshjf

2. What was the last song or album you listened to?

the last song i put On was Holo by Lee Hi bc honestly emotional support song of the year, but rn i’m listening to mots7: the journey bc it was next in the playlist i was apparently in before i queued songs in spotify sdhjf

3. What is your go to snack when you’re hungry or bored?

unless i’ve specifically bought a block of chocolate to snack on, i don’t actually snack much? i might make a cup of tea or another hot drink to occupy my mouth if i’m feeling snackish tho, or just a cup of hot water lmao

4. What is your morning routine?

i usually lie in bed scrolling for like, an hour after i wake up if i don’t have to be anywhere in the morning, then make breakfast - usually banana on toast and a cup/pot of tea (green or black depending on how i feel), or if we have leftovers from the previous night i’ll just eat that for breakfast bc it’s easy. maybe i’ll shower too but idk, i have a pretty slow start most days

5. What mythical/cryptid creature would you be?

hmm a mermaid? or a siren? some kind of water creature that sings i feel like those things are pretty important to me

6. How do you interact with somebody that you don’t like?

i generally try not to if i don’t have to. and i make it my business to not have to talk to people i don’t like kshdjf

7. How do you define a toxic person?

someone who requires everything from everyone else, who disregards boundaries that have been set, who isn’t willing to show the same support others have shown them, who thinks you owe them everything when they don’t put the same work into a relationship. this is especially problematic when there is some kind of power dynamic in the relationship that makes it difficult for the one party to request that their boundaries are respected.... definitely not speaking from experience..............

8. Have you ever been to a concert or fan meet type of event? If not, would you want to?

!! i went to my first concert last november when day6 came to australia again and it was Very good. i also did the hi-touch and tbh would not recommend it was... rushed? like i didn’t even get to See jae and youngk that well bc i was being pushed along by staff... like it was still good and i had a great time and wow i met day6 even if only for 2 seconds between 200 other people... i think i prefer the style of fan meeting where you actually get to take photos and like, have a souvenir from it? not that i’ve done that before but for the price i paid for hi-touch, i do Not think i got my money’s worth...

9. Do you believe in astrology? Why or why not?

i don’t think it’s hard facts, but i do think it’s fun to think about? like i don’t look up a horoscope or anything but sometimes i look up stereotypical capricorn things and i’m like, they’re not wrong? combined with the rest of my chart like, idk i just think they’re neat!

10. If you had only one sense (hearing, touch, sight, etc.), what would you want?

the sense i fear Losing the most is hearing definitely. if i couldn’t hear i couldn’t listen to music, i couldn’t make music, i couldn’t do my Job teaching, literally my entire life revolves around music. as annoying as it would be to not be able to read music, i already have a pretty good ear? (i was like, i wonder if there are braille ways of writing out music before i realised i wouldn’t be able to feel braille if i only had one sense and uuuuuh i hate this question)

11. Who is your favourite celebrity or idol?

i do hate to pick favourites bc like, i really do have so much love for so many people i’ve never met oops... but perhaps the most recent idol group i’ve come to adore are wayv? literally every day they are there on insta just spreading good vibes, posting their good pets and being generally chaotic and it has made my life just that little bit brighter to have them in it 🥰

12. If you could talk to your favourite celebrity(s) for a limited time, what would you tell them?

most celebrities i’m like, idk man i don’t really have much to say other than i think their stuff is neat and i hope they’re having a good time making it, but the first person i thought of when i saw this question was jungkook? i would want to tell him that i find the way he sees the world really beautiful and inspiring, even if he thinks he’s not as bright as some or as skilled or talented or whatever, (i mean, a) he literally is that talented but anyway) the way he’s so humble and the way he cares so much and seems to feel so much and think so much is just, so beautiful to me and i just hope he knows that doing that is more than enough, and that it doesn’t torment him as much as it sometimes seems to. i just want all of my favourite people to find some kind of peace in the chaos..

13. I’m taking you out on a date and it’s your choice. Where are we going?

picnic by the beach? not On the beach bc sand and food are a bad combo but, bring me to the ocean and i might just fall in love

14. Do you like sweet or savoury foods?

both are good but, i don’t like very sweet sweets as much as i used to, and i’ve definitely grown to appreciate a good savoury the older i’ve become

15. Do you have any band merchandise or merchandise from any of your favourite artists? If so, what?

ok for shinee i own a few albums, a few solos and the current lightstick bc at least it’s a cute lamp even if i will probably never get to see any of them live 🥺

for bts i own Too Many Albums and 2019 calendar and season’s greetings, and only the seasons greetings/desk calendar for 2020 bc i missed the preorder...

and for day6 i own their light wristband thing that i bought at the concert, and a longsleeve concert tee bc they were out of the black tees by the time i got to the merch stand...

also i’ll tag nita @seokjinsel even tho we literally were tagged by the same person kjfhsd

#tag games #thank u for the tag!#some of these were kinda difficult ksjdhf #also by the time i finished this my music changed completely i'm listening to End of Love by Florence now #i just have my july playlist playing trying to find Any inspiration fro sotd but i might just have to do that tomorrow morning...#floralminho

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cabaretcal · 5 years

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tell me your favorite songs // c.h.

Hello! This is the second piece in my 9to5!sos series! In case you aren’t aware, my 9 to 5 series is the boys in like, normal jobs. I have already posted the Luke one where he is a waiter. Ashton will be a barista and Michael will work in a bookstore. Hope you guys like this fic in the series! I made a playlist to go with this fic in particular with every song I mentioned!

Word count: 2.9k

Pairing: record shop!calum x reader

Content: smut, praise kink, brief choking, a lot of fluff, and good songs

—

You parked your car in the mostly empty parking lot of the local record store. You just bought an apartment in your hometown after finishing college, and it was great to be back to what you knew. You were a frequent customer at this particular record shop before you left for college, so when you came back, you knew you had to stop by again. You walked in and were greeted by the sound of Rebel Rebel by David Bowie playing over the speakers and monotone voice coming out of nowhere, “Welcome to Josey Records, how's it going?”

You turned to the counter to see a boy with dark curly hair and brown eyes. He had a round face and strong brows, and he sported a Guns N Roses tee and plaid trousers. If looks could kill, you’d be dead on arrival. He looked bored to death as he sorted through some boxes of records. He looked oddly familiar, but you couldn’t quite put your finger on why.

“Oh, just potentially buying a new record. Not sure which, though.” The records were sorted alphabetically, and you looked through the J’s. Janis Joplin, Jimmy Eat World, Elton John, and even the Jonas Brothers were there. There was a good mix of every genre, and you were eager to check the whole place out after 4 years of being away.

“Looking for any artist in particular? I don’t know what music you like, but I also don’t know if you only buy vinyl to display or your wall and never play. Most girls are that type.”

You were taken aback at his comment for sure. If he was planning on getting any sales, that wasn’t any way to talk to a customer. “Pardon me?Most girls?”

He shrugged his shoulders, “Well, you just seem like the type of girl to buy a vinyl of The Neighbourhood or Ariana Grande to display on a shelf and collect dust rather than any good music is all.”

Oh, he was one of THOSE types of record store employees. A music snob. He probably worships The Rolling Stones or U2 just because they aren’t mainstream. But this is the only record store in town, and you weren’t going to just stop coming here. You walked up to the counter, and looked straight into his eyes, “Listen, uh, what is it,” you looked down at his name tag and back up at him, “Calum. Wait a minute,” Everything made sense. You did know him. 11 AM until 2 PM every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday you had music theory with him your junior year of highschool. He was a music snob back then, and obviously nothing had changed, “We had music theory together, Calum Hood. Obviously you’re still an arrogant prick.”

He scoffed, “Well, sweetheart, at least I have taste, because you obviously don’t.”

You rolled your eyes, going back to the J’s and picking up To Be Continued by Elton John and setting it on the counter, “I’ve been looking for this one for a while, so how about you ring me up so I can leave.”

He chuckled, ringing it up and telling you the total with a cocky grin, obviously glad he got under your skin.

You gave him exact change and grabbed the record, leaving without a word. You got back into your car and drove to your apartment, walking up the endless flight of stairs and going inside. You took your shoes off and went to the bedroom to change into comfier clothes. You then turned on the TV and picked a show on Hulu to watch and drift asleep to.

—

You awoke to the buildings fire alarm going off. You cursed quietly, quickly slipping on the nearest pair of shoes and running downstairs and outside. Everyone was also slowly exiting the building one by one, extremely groggy and tired. You looked at your phone to check the time, and it was 3 in the morning. You looked down at your attire— a crop top with extremely short sleep shorts. God, you’d do anything to not be seen in your sleep clothes. A tall figure stood near you and crossed their arms, complaining about the fire alarm going off at such an hour. You looked over and to your unpleasant surprise, it was Calum. Oh, great, he happened to live in your apartment building. Absolutely splendid.

“Oh, hey, Y/N, looks like you can’t get rid of me that easily.” He smirked and you rolled your eyes, crossing your arms to cover your exposed stomach.

“Unfortunately, Cal, I really fucking can’t get rid of you.” You were obviously annoyed. You thought you’d only have to see him when you went to the record store, but now here he was living in the same building.

He looked you up and down, liking what he saw. You crossed your arms around you tighter, despite the fact that it hid nothing. He chuckled, shaking his head, “Make sure you come back to the shop, if you wanna prove you actually have taste. You got lucky after buying that Elton John album, you gained respect from me, darling.”

You scoffed, shaking your head. The alarm turned out to be a fluke and everyone was told they could go back to their apartments. You silently went back up the stairs, trying to stop thinking about Calum’s request. Was he taunting, or did he actually want to see you? You got back into bed, not being able to think of anything else.

—

You decided to go back to the record store and prove to Calum you had good taste in music. You parked your car and made your way inside the shop, this time greeted by the sound of Lola by The Kinks and a cheerful greeting from none other than Calum.

“Hey there, neighbor! What are you looking for this time?”

Your mind thought of any album that might possibly impress Calum. Abbey Road? No, too basic. Slippery When Wet? You already owned two copies. You sighed, saying the next thing to come to your head, “Tell Me I’m Pretty?”

He went to the computer, typing it in and shaking his head, “By Cage the Elephant? Sold the last one a month ago and never restocked. Sorry, darling. Good choice, though. Even if they’re a little mainstream.”

You leaned on the counter, resting your cheek on your hand, “Why don’t you recommend me something? Since you apparently have great taste.”

He excitedly came out from behind the counter and led me to the G’s in the indie/alternative section. He pulled out a record with a boy with candle sticks on each of his fingers on the cover. He handed it to me, smiling with pride, “This album is called This Is It by The Greeting Committee. They aren’t very popular here. They’re from Kansas City, but they’re amazing. I think you’d like them. You’ve Got Me is my favorite song on there, also Don’t Go.”

You took a look at the track list, counting the number of songs. You nodded, “Okay, I’ll listen, but only if you let me recommend you something.”

He leaned against a display, “Alright, fine. Go get something and I’ll take it home tonight and listen. It better be good.”

You grinned, handing him his choice for you and also looking through the G’s. You pulled out How To Be A Human Being by Glass Animals and handed it to him, “Youth is my favorite track, but they’re all good. Pork Soda is great, too.”

He took a look at the cover and the track list, nodding, intrigued to hear your recommendation, “How about you give me another one just for the hell of it and I give you another one?”

You nodded, and you both parted ways to go find another. You went to the T’s and picked out Tame Impala’s album Currents. Take Impala was slightly mainstream, but they were your favorite, so you took the chance of giving it to him. You met him at the counter, second guessing your choice, “I chose Currents by Tame Impala, and I recommend you listen to Let It Happen, but you might not like it because they’re sort of mainstream, so if you want I can look for another-“

He interrupted you, smiling, “I’ll listen to whatever you want me to, regardless of popularity. I got you Fleetwood Mac’s wonderful album, Rumors! I remember you mentioning you’ve never listened to them before, and I think it’s a necessity in your collection. Listen to Dreams and Gold Dust Woman.”

“You were listening? When I walked into Mr Meyer’s classroom and I asked what song he was playing? Senior year?”

He chuckled, shaking his head, “Well, of course, I can’t go on with my life knowing you’ve never listened to Fleetwood Mac! That’s a sin.”

You smiled, nodding and handing him your recommendation, “Okay, I’ll listen tonight then.”

He grinned, ringing you up, “$16.12.”

You furrowed your eyebrows, slightly confused, “Did you forget to ring up the second one? That’s really cheap for two vinyls.”

“Second one is on me. For my favorite customer.” He put it in a bag, smiling at you sincerely.

You couldn’t help but blush before uttering out a thank you and leaving to your car.

—

I lose all control whenever you're around

Darling, don't you know

Now I must admit

I wouldn't last a single day

Without you in it

You sat on your living room couch, listening to every word of every song on the first album he recommended. The song playing was his favorite on the album, You’ve Got Me, and you couldn’t blame him for calling it his favorite. It was a good song, and it was beautifully written.

Meanwhile, Calum was listening to your first recommendation. He would usually not listen to music that had this sound, but he really enjoyed it. And the fact that it came from you made him like it even more. He wasn’t confused about what he was feeling in the slightest— he made a point when he gave you that recommendation. That album has tons of love songs. He was enchanted by you. He couldn’t stop thinking about you. There was something about you he just loved. Maybe it was your feisty attitude, or the fact that you made a point to prove yourself to him, but he would go into a trance when he saw you. He needed to see you now. He knew which room number was yours— you were only a few floors down. He decided to swallow his pride and go down to your room. He stood in front of your door and knocked; There was no going back now.

You answered the door, surprised to see Calum there, “Oh, hey. What’s up?”

He took a deep breath, thinking of what the hell he could say, “I was wondering if you’d like to join me for dinner at my place? I’m ordering takeout, and it’s no fun to have alone.” Nailed it. But now he had to pretend he didn’t just eat leftovers already.

“Um, sure, I’d like that.” You smile, slipping on your shoes that were by the door and quickly running to take the needle off of the record and put it back in the case. You then come back and close the door behind you as you exit your apartment.

He led you to his apartment, praying it wasn’t too messy. He unlocked the door and let you go in first, following behind and closing the door.

“I’m gonna order the food. If you want, you can choose a vinyl to put on.” He smiled at you, walking to the other room to talk on the phone. You looked through his collection, and it was impressive. He had every album by Joy Division on the shelf, and he also a few rare records displayed on the wall. You looked through the ones on the shelf, surprised to see a few Mac Demarco album. Calum walked back into the living room, sitting on the couch and waiting for you to choose an album.

“So, you’re a big Mac Demarco fan?”

He sat up, seeing his copy of 2 in your hands and blushing, “Uh, it’s a guilty pleasure.”

You put it on the player, moving the needle onto it and smiling at him, “I love this album.”

He smiled, patting the spot next to him, inviting you to sit beside him. You got up, taking his request and sitting beside him.

“Listen, I’m sorry for being kind of a dick that first day you came to the shop. I feel really bad.”

You shook your head, chuckling a bit, “It’s okay, Cal. Obviously you teased me because you like me.”

He blushed, “What? Where would you get that idea, I’ve never even looked at a girl!” He laughed, looking away from you and then back. He did like you. You were both silent as the sound of The Stars Keep On Calling My Name faded into My Kind of Woman. He wanted to kiss you. He needed to kiss you. His eyes flicked down to your lips and back up to your eyes, and he moved a piece of your hair out of your eyes, “Can I kiss you?”

You nodded, wrapping your arms around his neck. He leaned in and planted a kiss on your lips. At first, he was just gonna kiss you sweetly. Just to get the point across he liked you. That was all. But he wanted more than one little kiss. He kissed you again, harder this time. He pulled you into his lap, resting his hands on your hips as he moved his lips down to your neck. He paused, mumbling against your skin, “Is this alright, darling?”

You nodded, desperate for his touch. He then continued the action, peppering kisses here and there.

He came back up to look at you, singing the words of the song to you dramatically, “You’re making me crazy, really driving me mad!”

You giggled, blushing as he took your face in his hand, kissing you deeply.

He fiddled with the button on your jeans, looking up at you for permission. You nodded, and he pulled them off of you. You sat up, pulling your shirt off and throwing it across the room. He looked at you in awe, undoing his belt. His knee made its way between your legs, spreading them apart. He smiled, twirling a piece of your hair around his finger, “You’re so pretty, baby. The prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”

You blushed, shaking your head and looking away, “No no, not the prettiest.”

He frowned, putting his lips to your ear, “Let me make you feel like the prettiest girl in the world, yeah? Can you let me do that?”

You nodded, and he hooked his fingers onto your panties and pulled them off. He slowly pushed into you, allowing you to adjust to him. Your breath got quicker and heavier, and you gripped his shoulder, digging your nails into his skin. You couldn’t get any real words out, only moans.

He buried his face into your shoulder, gripping your waist with one hand to keep you in place, “You’re doing so good, darling. Taking me so well, aren’t you?” His lips met yours once more, kissing you sweetly and pulling back away.

You took his free hand by his wrist, placing his hand on your collarbones, hinting at something you wanted.

It took no time for him to understand, and he applied slight pressure to your neck. Finally, someone who actually knew how to choke. You gripped his wrist tighter, whimpering as he began to move faster inside of you.

“Are you gonna cum for me, princess? Are you ready?”

You nodded, feeling a pit in your stomach. Your walls clenched around him, and before you knew it, you came undone. You opened your eyes slowly, trying to catch your breath.

“You alright, darling? You did so good for me.” He ran his thumb over the marks on your neck, taking pride in what he left on your skin.

The doorbell rang, and Calum quickly put his jeans back on and throwing a blanket over top of you. He opened the door, and it was the takeout delivery. He quickly paid, telling the young guy to keep the change and closed the door.

He placed the bag on the coffee table, sitting beside you on the couch and handing you your clothes, “So… do you want the egg rolls or the dumplings?”

You were glad you fell for the dork from the record store.

Taglist!

@i-calumhood

@angelbabylu

@blahehblah

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incandescent-creativity · 4 years

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20 Questions Tag

tagged by @homesteadchronicles !

OKAY SO

I accidentally answered all of the ones Jake answered, before I saw he left questions for me at the end, and I didn’t want to waste all that time, so

This was originally a 10 Question tag, and I’m putting his questions first, but there’s 10 more below the cut because I say so.

1. When you find a book at the store, what about it makes you decide to buy it or put it back on the shelf?

Well, if it’s a book in a series or by an author I know and like, I’m going to get that. I barely look at the premise of new Stephen King books anymore.

But other than that, if the inside flap sounds like a good story, and if the first page sounds like something I can read and enjoy.

2. What would your book’s ideal cover look like, should you have access to any artist you’d want and any resources you would need to make it a reality?

I’ve already made mock covers, you can find them on the title slides of my comic sans presentations, so I guess they’d just look like those, but nicer?

Although, tbh, I’m a bigger fan of these SOLE fan covers by @writeouswriter. I think they capture the themes of the story better, and I might play around with remaking the SOLE cover soon, inspired by their work!

3. If you could rewrite one story - be it a book, game, movie, show, etc. - which would it be and why?

Two options:

One, the ending of Game of Thrones. I know that might be a cliche or expected answer, and I’m usually not one to critique works that I watch, but Jaime abandoning Brienne made literally no sense.

The other option is a book we’re reading for class: Phantoms, by Christian Kiefer. Inconsistent grammar, bad writing style, hardly any plot actually happening, fake deep sentences and weird descriptions... Ugh.

4. Have you ever given a story a second chance and liked it better the next time through? What caused your opinion to change?

Really, truly, changing the urban fantasy TREE Series to the high fantasy LORE Series was the best decision I’ve ever made. I went from feeling lukewarm about the story to feeling on fire, and it might be solely because of the opportunity to worldbuild so much.

5. What do you believe endears an audience to a character?

Relatability! A character has got to be relatable, at least in some capacity. That’s how you make good villains: you show that they are so far gone down whatever hole they’ve fallen into that they can’t be relatable anymore.

(Also what makes a good villain is making them just relatable and logical enough that you see where they came from. It’s a weird line that never appears in the first draft)

6. What kind of romances do you prefer to read about and/or watch unfold? (Soft and shy, hot and sexy, slow burn, enemies to lovers, etc.)

Soft and shy slowburn of best friends to lovers will get me EVERY TIME

Like do y’all remember Percy and Annabeth from Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series? That was the ULTIMATE romance of my childhood. I bet if I went back and read it, it would still hold up, too. Those two went to Tartarus and back with only each other. Peak Romance.

7. What type of AU’s are your guilty pleasures, be they for your stories or for others? (Modern, High School/University, Coffee Shop, Vampires, etc.)

I’ve never written a vampire story, but I think I’d like to try.

This was not the question, but I don’t really have any guilty pleasures! I write what I write and I write what I want and I hardly ever do AUs.

8. If only one age demographic would ever read your books, which would you choose and why?

“New Adult,” which I’m not even sure is a genre. Like, early 20 year olds.

9. If you could pay homage to one person in your life through your stories and/or characters, who would it be and why?

Probably myself?

These are my stories, and as much support as I’ve gotten from friends (and even the occasional family), at the end of the day, they’re most important to me, I’m the one who’s put the most work into them, and if I can represent and immortalize myself...

I think I’ll be happy.

10. If every reader walked away from your story having been changed in one significant way, what would you want it to be and why?

For the SOLE Project, I want readers to learn that isolating themselves will never solve anything, and will probably make things worse. Also, take action against climate change (but do it with other people).

For LiaHT, I want people to know it’s okay not to have all the answers, and be at peace with all parts of themselves.

For LORE, I want people to start treasuring the power of friendship and the power of hope.

---

SECOND BATCH

1. What are your character’s favorite foods or snacks?

Christian will snack on anything he can get his hands on. Nora likes cookies. Zach likes fruits and pastries, especially fruity pastries. Dr. Agau and Beth are (shockingly) very practical people: nuts, berries, cheese, handfuls of those... think of trail mix.

2. What playlists do you listen to when writing?

I use video game playlists! They’re usually wordless and motivating, which is nice. I like to use this playlist on Spotify, or this website (you can’t skip songs, but there’s also some weird metal and screaming songs on the playlist so like. Pick your poison).

3. Which OC is/was your favorite to create?

Dr. Agau is still my favorite, I think. She’s just so... I don’t know, in control? Obviously, she uses her control and power to abuse children, so she’s an awful person, but come on. Who doesn’t long for a sense of absolute control over circumstances in their life.

A close second are Ash and Zach. It’s fun to think of all the ways they balance each other and differ from each other, and the few areas they are similar in.

4. What is the first book you read that made you cry?

The only book that’s ever made me cry is the ending of Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman.

5. Do you hide any secrets in your books as a way of foreshadowing?

Not intentionally? The things I hide are mostly references to old drafts, like when Beth finds a body in Agau’s laboratories that’s named Kati (an old character who I cut out of the story).

6. What is the most difficult part of your writing process?

Starting.

Seriously, whether it’s starting a chapter, figuring out where to start the story as a whole, starting to resolve something, I just find beginnings... very difficult. I haven’t found a good formula for them yet.

7. Which of your characters would you like to meet or get to know irl?

I think Zach and I would get along fabulously!

I also have trouble with Matt’s character, and Hans’s, so maybe I could get to know those boys a bit better.

8. Was there a situation in your writing that you took from your own life?

I don’t take exact situations as much as I take feelings. All the pieces of my writing that are Beth having panic attacks, of Zach not knowing where he’s going with his life, of Nora stressing over school... Our circumstances may be very different, but the feelings are usually pretty direct.

9. Do your characters have reoccurring symbolism in their dreams?

Weirdly enough, I don’t think I’ve ever written a dream sequence for a character. I’ve written a nightmare, but only one, in all of my writing.

Huh.

10. Which Hogwarts houses would you sort your characters into?

Slytherin: Dr. Agau, Beth, Ash, and Maluka

Ravenclaw: Michael

Hufflepuff: Hallie, Hans, Zach, Olufemi, Finnigan, Nora

Gryffindor: Christian, Matt

Apparently I have a type.

#tagged in #about me

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snowdice · 3 years

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Finding the Time to Study Fic 2 [Day 42]

My Masterpost Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15

I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted). It’s short, and not really for serious listening, but I had fun with it.

Gotta finish my first draft of my research paper today, so let’s go!