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whump-town · 4 years

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BAU Pool Fic

I wrote @davidrossi-ismydad bau pool fic... it’s 3,000 words bro I took it way too far

“Jack Attack!” Emily Prentiss finds herself with an armful of overly excited five-ear-old. “How are you doing baby?” She brushes a strand of his hair back from his face, rubbing in a spot of sunscreen on his temple. She loves all her nephews. They’re her maternal outlet and Jack just eats it up. Even if that does crush both her and Hotch.

Jack smiles broadly, “I’m super!” He moves, twisting so she can see the floaties on his little arms. “Look!” Jack points on his floaties, “Daddy got me floats with Cap’n ‘merica!” Sure enough, a cartooned Captain America is sitting on his bicep. “Uncle Dave is gonna let us swim!”

Emily is nodding along, used to his quick pace. She knew about the Captain America floaties last week when Dave first brought up opening the pool. Hotch went from timidly sipping the Scotch Dave gave him to panicked because Target hadn’t gotten in their superhero floaties yet. Of course, in the safety of Dave’s office, she’d chuckled at seeing his DadMode activate. Then she had Garcia show Hotch how to order the floaties online, where they were in-stock.

“I know,” she agrees, trying to match his enthusiasm. “Are you excited to swim?”

Jack nods, “Daddy said he would too!”

A sigh comes from behind her and Emily turns to find Hotch. He’s got a beach bag over his right shoulder while his left-hand twists his sunglasses by the side. “Buddy, I said I might swim.” He loves his team, really does, but getting in that pool with both sets of ‘the boys’ might be a bit much. That and he has to do his best to keep water out of his ears unless he wants to nurse an ear infection all summer long.

JJ and Garcia laughter cut through any further conversation, coming in through the side door. Their drinks already in hand, sent by Rossi to greet whoever he heard just pulled in. The two of them had been expecting Emily, she’d sent a text as a ‘heads up’ when she stopped for gas on the way here. It’s just a pleasant surprise to find Hotch and Jack too.

“So, that’s what you’ve been hiding under all those suits.” JJ cocks her head to the side, smirking at Hotch. She, of course, knows about her best friends rocking bods. Everyone has seen Morgan topless, so he’s no big surprise. The real treat in today’s plans was 100% figuring out what Hotch and Reid hid under way too many layers of clothes.

Garcia agrees too, sipping some white fruity white canned alcoholic drink. “You look hot, sir.”

Hotch looks down at himself. He’s wearing a dark green, thin button-down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He hadn’t buttoned the first three buttons, leaving a good bit of his chest visible. His trunks are dark blue and come up just above his knees. They were shorter than what he’d expected when he ordered them but pants are always a problem at his height. So he considered it an overall win they didn’t come up higher.

Compared to his usual attire around them, he might as well be naked. Not to mention his pale skin which is startlingly bright in the light of Rossi’s parlor. Hot isn’t exactly what he’d seen in the mirror when he’d put it on. Just… clothes.

“Thank you,” he responds, with a tense smile. He really needs to work on accepting compliments. “Nice… bathing suits.”

That is the understatement of the year.

JJ has on a one-piece that cuts up very high on her hips. She’d chosen the color maroon and damn if she wasn’t right about it being her color. It’s cheeky and risky and Garcia was absolutely here for it. Refusing to hear JJ’s excuse she couldn’t pull off bathing suits like this one anymore. She has a mom-bod.

Emily’s rebuttal had been that JJ was right. She does have a mom-bod because JJ is a total MILF.

With two hype-women, JJ had to get the bathing suit.

Garcia’s own is white with red and blue flowers. There’s a perfect triangle cut out between her breast, drawing tasteful attention to them. Her selection had come easy, ‘I don’t need your help on this one. It’s speaking to me’. She too looked killer but saves her boss any grief on his compliment falling short.

Emily snorts at the comment but covers it up by addressing how her best friends had betrayed her. “Evidently, this year we were going one piece.” Emily gestures to her own body, to the bathing suit she’s hidden under a maxi dress. “I didn’t get the memo.”

Garcia caves first, “babe, we said we were sorry!”

Seeing this as his only ticket to get away from a conversation he has no idea how to be a part of, Hotch extends his hand to Jack. “Come on buddy.”

Emily puts him down, patting his head as he takes Hotch’s hand and follows his father with a little skip.

“See daddy,” he says brightly. “I told you, you looked han’some!”

Emily watches them leave, tucking her arms around her body. It’s protective and comforting. She smiles sadly at Jack’s comment, it turning bitterly into a frown

JJ cups Emily’s cheek, “we are sorry.”

The worst part is, she’s not mad they got one-piece bathing suits. It’s about her own insecurities. JJ has smooth, perfect skin, and Garcia’s gunshot wound makes her look like a badass. The memory is… murky but she’s a fighter because of it.

Emily’s scars are tainted. A reminder of just how awful their lives have been lately and when she takes her dress off it’s just going to be that much more in their face. She’s a walking horror film, a damn slasher movie.

“It’s fine,” Emily promises. “I’m just…” she blows out a breath. “I’m in a mood, I guess.”

Her arms are still crossed so JJ finds that a little hard to believe but before she can start to dive into a line of question and dredge up whatever is bothering her.

“I didn’t know the party was in here,” Rossi states, stepping into the house. He sees the tension in Emily’s body, frowning when Emily places her hand over the one JJ has on her cheek. Squeezing the thin digits before moving them away. “Bella?” His relaxed smile falls, “is there something wrong?”

Pappa Rossi has come out and he’s a fierce mister to mess around with.

Emily shakes her head, picking up her bag and stifling all her concerns. “I’m fine,” she promises. She motions for the other girls to follow and she meets Rossi at the door. “You just worry too much, vecchio uomo.”

Old man? She wounds him.

He’s dressed simply, no desire to swim in the pool with those little animals (whom he loves dearly but the point still stands). Dad jean and an opened button-down, he looks too good. He squints his eyes but his sunglasses hide his skepticism. “Mhmm.” He opens the door for them, “you’d better get out there. You’re missing out on a party.”

The party greets them before they can fully get out of the door.

“Oh, Spence,” JJ covers her mouth, the only person merciful enough to hide her smile at the sight of him. “Honey, what did you do?”

Someone, definitely Derek, had pushed him into the pool. He looks like a drowned rat. An adorable drowned rat but a rat none-the-less and in his clothes too. He shakes his head, looking down at his wet clothes. “I got pushed in.”

“Uncle Derek,” Jack explains helpfully, padding up to them. He’s visibly wet, obviously an eyewitness given his pleased smile.

“Yep,” Henry confirms from his best friend’s side. Smiling just as bright as Jack. “Untle Derek push’ted him in!” He jumps happily at the end, nodding his head to his mother.

The uncle in question sneaks up behind the boys, grabbing them by their waists and hoisting them up. “Are you boys tattling on me?” One on each side, Morgan looks between them faking an angry frown. Both boys know exactly what he’s going to do and start squirming excitedly. Claiming simultaneous denial.

Morgan’s face sobers for a split second, his attention on the adults. “Pretty boy had it coming,” he says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “I brought him a bathing suit and he wouldn’t put it on.” He shrugs and his playful smirk sinks back into place as he announces, “and since someone tattled on me… I’m forced to get my revenge.”

“No! No!” Henry and Jack shout, gleefully screaming as Morgan turns around and heads for the pool.

“Hold your breath boys!” Morgan jumps in and there’s a large splash as all three submerge. The boys pop up first like little apples, laughing uncontrollably.

Reid is standing in front of them shivering, looking rather pathetic soaked to the bone. “I pulled him in with me,” Reid states, moving to get past them.

Poor Reid had not been expecting it at all. He’d gone to the pool’s edge to talk to Henry and Jack. They were chatting away, Jack showing him the Captain America’s and Henry telling Reid that he was gonna learn how to swim without floats with Uncle Hotch too. So he and Jack could both be big boys.

That’s when Morgan had come up from behind, lifting Reid off his feet in a swoop and throwing him in.

In his mind, it was payback. Morgan brought Reid a very bright red speedo, a gag gift of course. After that fun had ended, the fun being seeing how red he got having to hold the atrocious garment in his hand, Morgan had gifted him light purple swim trunks.

So that he could swim. Except, Reid refused. So Morgan took the matter into his own hands. Then he felt guilty.

Offering Reid a hand up had, of course, been a mistake because the second the genius’ hand met his Morgan felt a sharp pull. Then he found himself in the pool.

Jack and Henry, who hadn’t recovered from how hard they’d laughed watching Reid get dunked in were wheezing by the time Morgan’s head popped back up.

It seems as if they really did miss a party.

“Prentiss,” Hotch greets, walking up alongside her with a drink. “It’s a strawberry daiquiri, Dave said it’s your favorite.”

She takes the drink with a smile, watching her friends mingle and laugh amongst themselves. While she stands off to the side, isolating herself. She takes a small sip from the top, smiling. God, if Hotch and Rossi weren’t just the sweetest men she knew. Which is a strange thought to have once she considers it. Hotch is the bad cop to her good cop and Rossi is the reason they have such strict fraternization rules.

“Do you think I can just be Emily, today?” she asks hopefully.

Hotch smiles, nodding. “If I can be Aaron,” he barters. They tap their glasses together, a silent agreement. He takes a sip of his beer, watching the others around them. He’d gotten word, from Dave, about Emily and the bathing suit thing. She could play the other’s stupid but no one can lie to David Rossi. Not even Hotch. “Not swimming?”

She sighs and she knows exactly what this is. “Aaron...” she sighs, shaking her head but she can’t think of what to say. She can’t say he doesn’t understand. Her wounds might be larger but he had more. Quantity to quality and God, that’s awful.

He takes her hand lightly, his eyes intense and sad.

And she’s terrified.

He lets go and she thinks that it. He’s going to let it go because they’re messing with demons here and she’s learned her lesson with stirring them up. But he does something so much worse.

He takes his shirt off.

“Hotch-”

His hands are trembling despite this being some act of courage because it’s only been two years and he knows the scars look awful and-

“Uh-oh!” JJ yells from the other side of the pool. She’s very drunk and drunk JJ is very supportive… and has no filter. “DILF alert!” She sends them two thumbs up and Will waves, a stressed smile stretched across his face.

Hearing the commotion, Garcia turns away from Morgan and their current conversation. “Holy shit…” Garcia mumbles, pushing her sunglasses down to get a better look. “Does the FBI do a wet t-shirt contest or something? We have to get you boys in it.”

Hotch tilts his head expectantly.

“Oh shut up,” she rolls her eyes and sits her daiquiri down. She takes back every nice thing she’s ever said or thought about him. Especially that internal monologue from before about him being one of just the sweetest man she knew. In fact, she doesn’t like men at all anymore.

Pulling her dress up over her head, she shakes her head.

That’s right, the Aaron Hotchner, a certified DILF, and federal agent had turned her 100% gay… well, until she forgives him.

She frowns at him, realizing how dumb they both look just staring at each other mostly naked. “Satisfied?”

He raises an eyebrow, playfully shaking his head, “are you trying to get us both sent to a sexual harassment meeting, Agent Prentiss?”

“Morgan and Garcia could use the company.” She’s trying very hard to keep her eyes on his face which is also making it hard to be mad at him. The scars aren’t even that noticeable and, while his abs might not be as defined as Morgan’s they are still visible. And nice.

Before this conversation or frankly, anything else about this day, can get any weirder, Rossi calls out that the burgers are done.

First come first served.

Which really means Reid, Henry, and Jack eat first while the rest of them fend for themselves.

The chaos, as always, really gets going after dinner.

JJ, Emily, and Garcia were standing and discussing whether or not Emily should get a different bathing suit for the beach trip her mother’s planning when the boys come from nowhere.

Will, Reid, and Morgan.

All three girls end up in the pool. Garcia slung over Morgan’s shoulder. JJ scooped up by Will. Emily dragged kicking and screaming by Reid. It’s declared war and Emily, seeing Hotch chuckling at the sight of them, decides it’s against all of the men.

The other three aren’t that hard to get.

Will is lured in the way any man is into a trap, by thinking with the wrong head. JJ takes him out at the knees and Emily is the final blow. Execution style. Will considers it to be a bitter defeat.

Morgan is stupid. Emily sends off to get more drinks and together Garcia and JJ rush him as he walks past the pool. He goes in mid-wave to Jack and Henry, who are playing in the shallow end.

Emily just picks Reid up, doing the same as he’d done to her. Ego soaring and the alcohol she’d consumed clouding her judgment, Emily takes on her main target. Aaron Hotchner.

He’s standing at the edge of the pool, with his shirt back on but completed unbuttoned, and telling Jack and Henry to come to get another layer of sunscreen on. His back is completed turned when Emily pushes into him. She’s expecting to hear his body hit the pool water and then her name to be grumbled out when he bobs back to the surface.

It’s like hitting concrete. The man goes nowhere.

He turns to face her, frowning disappointingly. “Is that all you got Emily?” He shakes his head and turns back to the boys, “chop! Chop! The faster you get out the faster you get right back in.”

Emily attempts to conspire with the others but they’re cowards.

“Oh, no, princess. Not a chance in hell.” Morgan shakes his head, he already thinks she’s crazy for trying the first time.

JJ is too drunk to really tackle.

Garcia thinks it would be cruel. Hotch has done nothing wrong.

Will is a coward.

Reid is scared of him.

Rossi is too old.

“You’re all boring,” she pouts. So she tries again on her own.

The boys are back in the pool, Hotch asking when the last time they had some water or a juice box was. That alone almost stops her. Because it’s adorable. She decides she really doesn’t care and takes the approach of shouting his name and then tackling him.

He catches her. She hits his body but he moves at the last second and wraps his arms around her waist. “Is this what you were trying to do?” Right over his shoulder she goes, plop- right in the pool.

The boys get a proper kick out of it.

Emily, with a towel wrapped around her shoulders, sulking in a chair watches as Jack and Henry shout for Hotch. He pretends to be surprised as they run at him. They jump up and he catches them to his chest, making a dramatic show of pretending to be knocked back into the pool.

When he comes to the surface he shakes his hair out of his face and she frowns, hating him for making that look hot.

Ick... men.

The afternoon wraps itself up well.

Rossi lures the boys out of the pool with sweets and movies. It’s a picture perfect moment.

Jack and Henry are exhausted and the moment they settle in the living room, both sharing Uncle Dave’s lap in the lazy boy, they’re out like lights. There’s the smallest bit of chocolate smeared on their lips and Rossi dares Hotch or Will to take his boys away. They can stay the night.

And they do.

Emily says goodbye to all three, pressing kisses to their temples.

“Did you have fun, Bella?”

She got free food. She got drunk.

Her boss took his shirt off in front of everyone to make her feel comfortable in her own skin and then dunked her in the pool.

She laughed until she cried with JJ and Garcia.

She played a very dangerous game of chicken with Morgan and Reid...

“Yeah,” she admits. “I had a lot of fun.”

Rossi’s eyes crinkle, “mission accomplished then.”

#BAU pool party #emily prentiss #is the main character #think about it #reid is a baby #and totally wears purple swimming trunks #hotch is a dilf #i'm just going over things we all know #criminal minds fanfiction #aaron hotchner #jennifer jareau #derek morgan #spencer reid #penelope garcia #david rossi #jack hotchner #henry jareau

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lvnatiq · 4 years

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Cheers to the mess pt.1 |

Nicky Valentino x Reader

a/n: Hello, my love. So this was based on the idea of Jealous!Nicky Valentino. Let me know if you have any suggestions or questions about anything concerning my writing or Nicholas Valentino because my heart, soul and ass belongs to him truly. By the way, I proofread for the first time so make a wish while you’re at it lmao.

-Italic phrases in quotation marks are indicating readers inner monologue, meanwhile, words in italic are used to emphasize the meaning of the word itself-

warnings: usage of inappropriate language, slight angst.

The night is still young, the speakeasy is filled with the late-night conversations of people with humorous expressions and the delightful sound of the jazz music. You, on the other hand, curiously explored your surroundings as the sweet and sour taste of your booze lingered on the tip of your tongue. You asked Ralph to let you have some time with yourself while you were waiting for Nicky to come. You two spoke on the phone, arranging your rendez-vous, approximately two hours ago. Now, there you were sitting at a casual table in the speakeasy for an hour waiting for your sweetheart. Worried that something might've happened to him.

"Where is he? I hope the meeting didn't take a turn for the worst."

You thought to yourself as you tapped your fingers against the wooden material of the table, letting your anxiety get the best of you. Your eyes focused on the entrance gate of the speakeasy, wishing for him to stroll in at that moment. Today seemed like it wasn't your lucky day as your wishes are not being granted. The feeling of loneliness soon turned to utter boredom. The more bored you got, the more attractive the thought of losing yourself at the bar became.

"If I am about to let my stress romance it's way into giving me a nervous breakdown, at least I should get it a nice drink. It would be rude of me not to."

Your desire for a Manhattan led you to take a couple of steps towards the bar. Settling down on the stool, you slowly took off your gloves. The feeling of warmth left your fingertips, the cold surface of the glass table taking its place. The bartender took his shaker as he made his way towards your spot. You opened your mouth, eager to spill the magical name of your remedy.

"A Manhattan-"

"A Singapore Sling for the lady."

Your words were cut short by the silhouette of a stranger located behind your stool. This moment felt too familiar for your liking, almost like a Deja Vu. You slowly turned your head towards the unknown figure as they casually sat down beside you.

"Very rude of me to not introduce myself."

He said, extending his hand in your direction. The bartender's eyes followed the young man's gesture, holding an unreadable expression. You could feel the unusual tension in the air, nevertheless, you remained unbothered. Looking at his hand and then meeting his gaze, you extended your hand for a handshake. Your attempt went unnoticed as he gently turned your hand placing his lips on top of it.

"Matteo Bianchi."

The moment Matteo said his name, the bartender dropped his shaker, practically spilling whatever was inside of it. Shaken by the sound you averted your gaze to the bartender. His hands were shaking, hurriedly trying to clean up the mess he created. He glanced at you, his eyes had panic written all over them as if he was trying to tell you to be cautious, making you even more curious.

Unaffected by his gesture you slowly pulled your hand back as you directed your gaze back to the drink menu.

"Pleasure to meet you, Matteo."

You said, paying him no attention what so ever. Matteo laughed under his breath as he studied your figure. Your drink came into sight, you were still upset at not having your Manhattan.

"Where are you, Nicholas ?"

"I'm impressed that I managed to choose a drink that suited your aura well, miss...?"

You didn't want to give him your name but the reaction that the bartender gave at his name made you reevaluate your choices. Not wanting to cause trouble to anyone including yourself you took a sip from your drink as you responded.

"(y/n)."

You paused as you turned to him, letting your curiosity do the talking.

"How come this drink suits my aura well, Mr. Bianchi ?"

He smiled as he lifted his drink pointing it at your way.

"You seem like a bittersweet woman. Just like the drink."

You laughed, entertained by his way of using words, you decided to let yourself loose by following his game. Observing his looks for the first time, you realized that he was quite charming. His face reminded you of Paul Newman.

You let your thoughts wander as two women with enchanting appearances passed by greeting Matteo with flirtatious looks, giving you a death stare on the side.

"Alright, you seem pretty involved with bittersweet women."

Matteo laughed throwing his head back.

"Enough about bittersweet women-"

"Oh, so you want me out of here? Because I'll make it happen."

Your attempts at escaping failed as he caught you by your waist. Making you feel inevitably uncomfortable.

"Matteo, please-"

"Hands off."

The voice of the man you craved for the entire day has finally appeared. Nicky's harsh tone made Matteo take a step back. Then Matteo opened his arms wide, followed by his sarcastic tone.

"Man of the hour, Nicholas Valentino to whom do I owe the pleasure?"

Nicky placed his hand at the small of your back as he pulled you closer to him. His grip on you was tight, making you feel safer than before.

"I thought that we were supposed to meet next week."

Nicky said his eyes burning through Matteo's skull, filled with enough rage to kill him right on the spot.

"I need to settle it now, I have a meeting with Romano tomorrow. You don't want him to get the deal do you?"

Matteo said unconcernedly. You could hear Nicky curse under his breath. You placed your hand on his giving it a squeeze, trying to reassure him.

"Alright then, let's get this over with."

Nicky let his hand loose as he started to walk to the booth alongside Matteo. Appalled by his behavior, you started to follow their steps. They sat down and you moved to sit beside Nicky. Noticing that you followed them Nicky turned to you lowering himself as he whispered in your ear.

"Toots, would you mind giving us some space while you treat yourself at the bar?"

You looked at him, getting angrier each second passing by. Being kept in the dark wasn't something that you fancied.

"Excuse me? Are we really doing this again Nicky?" You said, your tone exposing your frustration. Your mind brings up memories of your first time in this speakeasy, where Nicky left you stranded because of business. But now you are a part of the Valentino family, so what was the problem.

His expression softens as he takes in a deep breath. You tried your best to understand what made him so uptight.

"You two... are you together?"

Matteo's voice made you snap out of your thoughts as you turned to Nicky, who was definitely not in a good state of mind seeing that he froze.

"Nicholas-"

"We're not together."

His words hit you like a ton of bricks. The waves of shock washed over you as you dropped your gaze on your hands. The thought of leaving right now seemed like a good idea but something inside of you was telling you to dig this situation deeper. This wasn't Nicky, you had to find out what was disturbing him so profoundly.

"Still that doesn't explain your overprotective response, Nicholas. Nonetheless, I am glad if Venus is single by any means."

"Let's get this venture over with, shall we Matteo?"

You wouldn't be lying if you said that this was the first time you saw Nicky this aggressive. He looked like he was so close to shot Matteo dead. You didn't say a word throughout their conversation. Patiently waiting for Nicky's breaking point.

The business they fussed about didn't seem skeptical at all. It was the usual, large amounts of illegal cash transactions and exchanging men for personal protection. Still, your questions remained unanswered. So you decided to follow up with plan B.

"If that's all, it's time for us to leave. Buona serata, Matteo."

Nicky said as he stood up. You, on the other hand, remained unruffled as you grasped your glass tightly completely ignoring him.

"So, Mr. Bianchi, you and Nicky seem to have a history. Do you two go way back? Based on something other than business-related, of course."

Upon hearing your voice Nicky slowly sat back. Taking in a deep breath, he averted his eyes to the bar. Trying to avoid Matteo's gaze.

"Oh, he didn't tell you?"

"No, he did not."

Matteo let out a breathy laugh as he took a cigar out of the silver case placed in front of him. Nicky's hand sneaked up on top of yours under the table, holding it firmly. You intertwined your fingers with his.

"Have you ever heard of The Count of Monte Cristo, (y/n)?"

"Alexandre Dumas, how can I not? One of my favorite novels."

"You become even more interesting by the second, my dear."

Nicky started to pull on his collar to get it loose. His grip on your hand gets even tighter. You can feel the distress radiating over him but you had no choice, he wasn't planning on opening up to you when he should've.

"Our situation is similar to Dantès, Mondego, and Mercédès love triangle. Nicky thinks that I am the Mondego of our scenario."

Finally, it sinks in. Still searching for more clarity you ask,

"You betrayed him, by stealing his lover--"

"Aha! That's the part I am trying to justify for the past five years. I didn't steal her- Minchia! I didn't know that she and Nicky had a thing. I mean she ran after him for quite some time but Nicholas didn't give a shit. How could I know?"

"Matteo cut the bullshit."

Nicky said, eventually joining to your conversation. You most definitely understood the situation at last. At this point it wasn't important whether or not if Matteo was right or wrong, Nicky was insecure at the fact that there might be a possibility of such a thing happening. He couldn't take risks when it comes to you, so he just acted like you meant nothing to him as if that would make Matteo uninterested.

Now that your worries came to an end, your only interest was to get Nicky all riled up.

"I think I heard enough."

Both of them stopped their bickering, turning their appalled gaze towards your direction.

"It looks like we are dragging out our dirty laundries. Well then, let me do my part."

Your devilish smirk took over as your playful aura filled the air.

"So, there is this guy, or more like this utterly, unbelievably handsome fella that makes my heart flutter."

"Oh? Tell me more Venus."

You focused your gaze on Matteo, eyeing him from head to toe. Knowing damn well that Nicky was watching your every move.

"He is compassionate, determined, enthusiastic, fearless, hard-working, kind, loyal, and everything that only a real man can be."

"Gesù Cristo! Who is this man? Are you sure that he isn't just a piece of your beautiful imagination?"

You laughed at Matteo's words. You were savoring every second of this mess, meanwhile, Nicky was chugging his whiskey on rocks.

"I would say that he is a gift from the gods, but unfortunately he is lacking something very important."

"He must've stolen the devil's dime. What does such a man lack that made you back up?"

You looked at the pair of hazel eyes intently watching you. You took a couple of seconds, staring adoringly into his beautiful eyes. You caught yourself getting lost in the honey hue of them. His feelings dripping from his glance, telling a story that only his eyes could tell.

"He is not honest."

You said without separating your eyes from Nicky's. Matteo raised his eyebrows, looking at Nicky and then back at you.

"Do I know this fella?"

"I don't know. All I know is that I like my men bare, in various ways."

Nicky laughed under his breath, placing his hand on top of your thigh.

"Oh my, do you?"

You grasped his tie pulling him to yourself, your lips almost touching his.

"You have no idea-"

Matteo cleared his throat,

"I should get going, you wouldn't want your girl falling for me. I know that my charming nature could cause trouble for a lot of people."

He said as he gave you a wink,

"Get lost Matteo."

Nicky hissed as Matteo approached you taking your hand in his giving it a goodbye kiss.

"Pleasure to meet you, (y/n). I hope that one day you can introduce me to the guy that got you head over heels."

He said jokingly as he turned to leave. Nicky slowly leaned in to kiss you but you stopped him midway.

"I don't kiss random men that have nothing to do with me, Mr. Valentino."

He gave you a smirk that summarized his plans for tonight.

"I might have nothing to do with you, but I certainly have a lot to do to you toots."

You took the last sip from your now empty glass and lifted it in the air.

"Cheers to the mess, my darling."

Vocabulary:

Minchia: in this context used as fuck, as exclamation of surprise.

Gesù Cristo!: Jesus christ!

Buona serata: “have a good evening”

#nicky valentino #two against the world #fictif #nix hydra #the arcana #mc #nicky valentino x reader

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dansnaturepictures · 3 years

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My 10 blogs to celebrate highlights of my wildlife/photography 2020: Post 7-The early autumnal signs in the summer and the rest of my autumn

This post of mine each year always seems to begin with me noticing some signs of autumn over the summer. This year just like the butterflies this seemed to happen earlier than ever, or perhaps it was I noticed it more due to having so many wildlife and photography walks whilst working from home. My walks at Lakeside at lunch and that were especially the place I noticed most early autumnal leaves, I first noticed one tree with what appeared to be autumn leaves on 1st June! And by mid-July when I wrote this first paragraph I was seeing a fair bit of autumnal colour in the views of Lakeside, on some greyer days and wetter ones really brightening things up, after I’d also seen things like blackberries, other types of berries, apples and the odd mushroom so this was an interesting feeling enjoying my summer and all it brings as my other highlights blogs show but having reminders of autumn to come around a bit and the hope it would bring once the year more naturally started to take a wind down and move away from the height of the year temperature and sunshine wise. The curtain raiser to autumn continued as we went to Millyford Bridge on a Monday I had off work in the New Forest in July and saw loads of mushrooms I photographed some too a key sight and sign of autumns for me which I saw increasingly those few weeks when out a bit like the autumn leaves more so in the very immediate places at home but also elsewhere it all happening that little bit early. I continued to notice berries and autumnal leaves on my Lakeside lunch time walks that following week continuing the autumnal feelings.

On 11th August I took the first picture in this photoset of trees looking autumnal leave wise on a day more autumn leaves I photographed were looking quite stunning against a bright blue sky. In the overall all-encompassing heat and bright sun during the heatwave that day some trees I saw around the estate didn’t just look slightly autumnal as I had noted in proceeding weeks a lot but looked very autumnal with lots of coloured leaves yellow especially. So this was an interesting fusion of two seasons summer and autumn in a notable way. And I loved looking at it. I had noticed a lot during that time and did that day at Lakeside how the Black-headed Gulls were really loosing their notable summer plumage - those chocolate coloured heads. When seeing a House Martin that day at Lakeside I reflected how all the Swifts had seemed to have left our shores now or in this area anyway their time in the UK was brilliant but went in a blink of an eye this year. A sure sign at that stage like the leaves that the year was for turning whilst that patch of weather was unforgettable very evident through everyone outside at Lakeside enjoying the sunshine and heat in and by the lakes which I noticed a lot on those days. The next day I photographed very bright red berries and leaves in yet more scorching weather at Lakeside, a day I ate blackberries too with autumnal early signs all around and I felt very at one with nature. I also took my first DSLR camera picture of some painted stones in honour of the NHS and key workers under a tree I loved seeing this year around the estate day so a memorable day. Alongside berries and leaves of the red varieties yet again that week and more white-headed Black-headed Gulls on my Lakeside walk the next day I enjoyed some fidgety Mallards on the lake there having a good splash in the water and I noticed the males had started to go through their eclipse with their green heads gradually going. Working from home this year meant I was observing some different things to the usual showing me the season was changing or about to change which I enjoyed. I took the second picture in this photoset of these Mallards with the young Great Crested Grebes at the park this year in it too. The next day at Lakeside I remarked how with it cloudier and grey the landscape didn’t look so tired as it normally might in late summer with colour perhaps disappearing but the autumnal colour of berries and leaves especially on trees brightened it up a bit. I felt very much like I was in autumn then. The next day at Matley in the New Forest I saw and for some photographed autumn leaves, chestnuts and mushrooms (a beefsteak fungus we felt shown in the third picture in this photoset on a tree) a bit further from home. The late summer characteristic of the very purple heather looked glorious in the rain that day too. The heather at its purple I expect of late summer but the autumn really was seeming to have come early in this strange year that day.

The next day at Hayling Island’s Earnley Triangle and oyterbeds I saw more nice berries and autumnal leaves scenes, noticing all the various berries out at the start of autumn was something I’d never appreciated and noticed so much as I did last this year so it was a nice real unique theme of my year which I enjoyed. The next day autumn was so apparent all around outside and my photos reflected that that I felt it was time start my Facebook autumn album early a collection of my autumnal subjects I enjoy doing each year for months such as autumn leaves, mushrooms, berries especially this year and more which was telling.

When we got back from our Devon and Cornwall weekend away in August which I talk about in my next of these posts on my first Lakeside walk at lunch time when back a decidedly more muddy scene than the glorious summer conditions I had before we left for the trip away on the walk after some storms signalled for me that the dizzy days of summer were numbered. The next day I was delighted to see some lovely sloes and take pictures of them at Lakeside alongside other berries, the red berries on the trees in a particular spot beside the bowl area had overcome the landscape to create a scarlet glow amongst the sea of green something so delicious to see which I took the fourth picture in this photoset of. The next day I had an amazing moment watching and photographing the Starling’s descend on our garden on mass what a sight to behold they are so noisy and lively I enjoyed this so much through the summer. But of autumnal relevance was that as I did for those few weeks a few times when they flew off I noticed they flew off in a large group just like they were doing a murmuration an iconic sight of British autumn and winter with the local population bolstered by the young ones at this time of year I often see the mini murmurations at home ahead of the bigger ones usually at different and more wild locations so this was nice. That night though summer clung on a bit in a sunny patch after a day that had thunder and lightning I took a wonderful walk at Lakeside and enjoyed once again this year seeing the group of House Martins I got very familiar with this year gliding over with a Swallow too against a lovely sky which was a great moment.

On that Friday I got a great autumnal migrating bird moment when I enjoyed one adult and two juvenile Common Terns at Lakeside, as I said in my favourite birds highlight blog as an add on this is not always a common sight here when I saw one pass through this spring my first of this year this urban, modestly sized and well used lake dominated country park so its brilliant to observe them here I was so excited again. Two of the three of them fished and dived to the backdrop of a sun glowing through a thickly clouded quite dark sky with it raining a fair bit, which was just spectacular and magical to see with music starting to play from the nearby Concorde club a restaurant and concert venue nearby which I had heard when here in the dark looking at bats two weeks earlier as darkness seemed to hint upon its arrival that Friday night. It was a day where at times it felt so autumnal in the summer months still, a subtle autumnal chill in the air and just feelings of the season and I could not believe how far the year was coming on. The slight autumnal chill was present a little as I had another key moment in the late summer/early autumn outbound bird migration in Hampshire the next day at Workman’s Lane, Hook-with-Warsash seeing a group of my first Yellow Wagtails of the year seeing these charming and key for this time of year birds for me scuttling around by ponies and cattle’s feet and faces it was a very thrilling and satisfying experience for me. We moved onto Farlington Marshes that day when the small bird migration fest continued with Wheatear, my first Whinchats of the year and memorably a second group of Yellow Wagtails in a day during a big influx of them in Hampshire. Farlington Marshes was looking redder and redder with those same berries as Lakeside growing and growing too. A packed and generally amazing Saturday that day as I referenced in other highlights blogs too. The migration fest continued on Bank Holiday Monday at the gorgeous Old Winchester Hill in the South Downs seeing Spotted Flycatchers and with them my first ever Pied Flycatcher a female and an amazing moment which I mentioned in my first of these posts about my birdwatching year. The next week the Tuesday after bank holiday back at Lakeside on one of a few social distant catch-up walks with my Dad I did once restrictions allowed I live with my Mum and her husband who share the photography and birdwatching etc. interest in case you didn’t know I usually stay with my Dad two nights a week though which was suspended in its usual form when I started working from home in March. On this walk I saw two of the Common Terns again from the Friday before with one fishing and spectacularly diving and one sitting down on a buoy on the lake. Amazing to see and lovely that their stop over was longer than the first of my year I’d seen in spring. That day I took in some nice autumnal colour sights and I also noted that dragonflies I wrote about one I saw in my last blog about my butterflies/other insects part 2 in my year for them were rather replacing butterflies as the key insect to see in my walks at Lakeside which is a sign of autumn I perhaps overlooked in years gone by as the dragonflies start later than the quintessential spring and summer butterflies and even damselflies and their season goes on longer into autumn months with a good few around so this was interesting.

The next day alongside autumnal sights I loved seeing two Common Terns again an adult hunting and a juvenile on a buoy which I got really close to and photographed. So nice to see them here again as their stopover continued. That walk, an overcast lunch time at the beginning of autumn, was eerily quiet. No constant warbles of Whitethroat, Blackcap and most commonly Chiffchaff that uplifted me at the beginning of lockdown here. Or the same unceasing buzz of insects mostly butterflies and bees in the meadow areas or chirps of the full circus of young birds on lakes that came to define the months that followed. I have remarked many times how my walks at lunch times whilst working from home, my hour of freedom locally to do what I love watching wildlife and more than when commuting in working in the office of the photography I love, have meant so much to me. I still remember the sadness as it became apparent lockdown was what we needed due to this virus coming here for everyone’s safety and the strong restrictions on our lives but everywhere spring was in abundance my favourite time of year from butterflies flying to migratory birds. But in the moment that day I realised that the most horrific thing I have seen the human race face in my lifetime came at actually the best time of year. It at that stage had pretty much always been spring or summer when we’ve faced these strange times and more often than not been very nice weather. It was in this moment that day I’ve really thought about how much being outside has meant to me in these times. And there is a sense of sadness again that the spring and summer was coming to an end. And I think this was adding to an underlying feeling I’d had at that time that this feels like the end of the year or the end of the summer holidays when I was a kid a bit as the season changes and all the feelings it brings. But it’s the way of the seasons, how they immerse you to be able to give you these familiar feelings of what one month should look, feel, taste and smell like to the next, which makes nature a powerful force which it has been amazing to be so close to every day.

That Thursday alongside seeing the Common Terns pretty close and making the most of the House Martins yet again, on the theme of bird migration I loved this year’s late summer/early autumn one I got one of my birding moments of the year and working from home when I was astounded to within a flock including a Chiffchaff and tit species Blue and Long-tailed see two Spotted Flycatchers and get pictures including the fifth in this photoset. It’s a bird I still see as a little scarce when I see them in the New Forest or wherever and I certainly did not expect to see them at the urban country park right next to where we live. This like a few other bird, butterfly, dragon/damselfly and flower moments I’ve had on my working from home Lakeside walks really opened my eyes to just what my local patch can host when you just look and listen and hope I guess and it made me so happy I was over the moon. Coming the week I saw the Pied Flycatcher with Spotted Flycatchers at Old Winchester Hill my first ever and the latest in a longer list than ever of Spotted Flycatcher sightings for me in a year it allowed me to really celebrate my connection to and relationship with this bird, they are a bird that always seem to turn up at sites often unexpected local ones generally in a year in Hampshire in numbers at the end of summer/beginning of autumn I have very delicious feelings towards that time for year for them and for that to come to my doorstep was amazing! They did get added to my B list of favourite birds in September too. What a moment.

The next day I liked seeing mushrooms on the green out the front that Friday evening, something I love photographing and taking in every autumn and always excites me for this naturally rich season. I saw yet more Yellow Wagtails by cow’s feet as it showed its always worth looking at this time of year at Pennington in the Lymington-Keyhaven nature reserve a week after the first this year getting cracking views of three birds. It was the first time I had ever actually seen them at three locations in a year/a late summer/autumn. Everyone was seeing these birds at that stage too it was amazing to be a part of it. I enjoyed seeing bright red berries and fungi on that walk by the sea too. I did a spot of mushroom hunting at Ashley Walk in the New Forest the next day finding some nice ones including some big white ones wrapped in bright purple heather which made for a good photo opportunity I took the sixth in this photoset of it and was great to see. At Lakeside the Monday that followed as I walked behind the steam railway station and visitor centre on a path at Lakeside I remarked at how the bright green leaves synonymous with seeing a White-letter Hairstreak butterfly I find that I looked for there most of the summer had turned to yellow as I’d photographed. But autumn did a vanishing act in that part of the country park as I couldn’t see the yellow leaves on trees that day. Most likely as August’s storms had displaced them leaving the yet-to-turn green leaves to give the impression they were never there but I did see some further down the path. And further on in my walk I spotted some delightful bright red mushrooms on the woodland floor. That Wednesday I photographed two more lovely red autumnal signs at Lakeside a fallen bright and nice red leaf on the grass and an apple too which I loved photographing. Red berries were something I enjoyed so much that day too and as I sat on a bench for once and took in the world that lunch time I was immersed in noisy Starlings gathering in the nearby allotments a highlight of this time of year. The next day at Lakeside as I noted an interesting transition period in hot and sunny weather with lots of summer scenes out in the landscape as well as autumnal ones I saw a cracking purply/brown mushroom a big one too as well as leaves visible from the house turning yellow on a tree as bright green as a lot of the rest of the landscape.

I had a fungi fest on the green out the front on a Friday the next day as I was so happy to see a usual one here which I love and one of the few I know shaggy ink cap pop up on the green at the front of the house. I photographed that morning and evening on walks as well as some stunning and big brown ones on the evening walk which looked lovely in the sun. The pictures made them look like plastic. I remarked on how I was loving the fungi season ramping up and pleased once more with my new macro lens for quality and detail it can produce just like with butterflies, flowers and other insects and really excited for the fuller season ahead. Of autumnal note the next day at Farlington Marshes were lots of nice red berry scenes, a great view of some blackberries which I photographed alongside much more, Starlings beginning to murmurate in a hot and sunny patch against a bright blue sky which was great, for a third Saturday running yet more Yellow Wagtails and another bird I got my best ever views of that day quite a big bird for Farlington in late summer/early autumn and one its known you can see very well in autumn the spectacularly looking wader the Curlew Sandpiper with two seen by us that day with a Dunlin. Martin Down the next day where we so often go in spring and summer felt different for us to see with a pinch of autumnal colour mostly from berries but some leaves too than when we normally go. I enjoyed yet more mushrooms on the green out the front the next day and enjoyed some berries at Lakeside. The next day alongside colourful slight autumnal sights at Lakeside in a heatwave on my walk I was sad to see all the mushrooms mowed over when the green out the front was mowed. I said it in this highlights blog last year when I noticed some shaggy inkcaps deliberately knocked over on the green one of the pitfalls of an urban area I suppose whilst I have loved exploring the world immediately around me this year. The next day at Lakeside I noticed among mushrooms and other autumnal coloured leaves on my walk a very small amount of red leaves on the usual prominent and tall trees I have noticed go really nice and red for years. Looking at Facebook memories the next morning though I saw the first picture I took of one of these trees in full bright red colour was taken five years to that day and the very small bit of red was nothing compared to the full tree of that day in 2015 I started to realise maybe in terms of coloured leaves this autumn wasn’t so early after all or somehow managed to slow down but this is only one type of tree I suppose. The landscape took a much greener look during that September heatwave though so it was like going backwards at home a bit. That next day I did spot more red autumnal leaves and berries in different parts of Lakeside, as well as apple trees and a nice few michaelmas daisies a key part of autumn I always think not something I’d seen at Lakeside before so this was great. I enjoyed lots of autumnal sights when we went to Norfolk in September as my ninth highlights blog this year mentions, and when we returned home from that on the Saturday there was a sprinkling of autumnal colour including at Lakeside and out the front on a little walk more so than when we went away in places which I enjoyed.

The next day that Sunday at Fleet Pond we had a very autumnal walk around. Notable that day compared to before we went on holiday was the autumnal chill in the air that you always seem to suddenly notice at this time of year warranting my jacket on for the whole walk, as well as lots of chestnuts and acorns around in the woods the first time this year I had seen so many. This was added to by signs of autumn I had already taken in a lot this year, red berries, multi-coloured leaves like I had noticed some more of in the woods visible from my bedroom window that morning in the sun it was a nice sunny day mostly that one and mushrooms. Indeed among a few others I noticed my all-important first red fly agaric of the year my favourite and an iconic mushroom in woods up and down the country in autumn. But unfortunately they’d been knocked over, seeing some was nice just a shame they weren’t in tact. I saw so many Black-headed Gulls sharply in winter plumage that day at Fleet Pond too. The next day I enjoyed more autumnal sights at Lakeside like berries and some flowering together which I took a picture of, and in truth the whole place took on an ever so slight crimson glow thanks to some leaves that had turned red, not least the tall trees I look at every year in autumn that go the best scarlet shade that just had some leaves red now which made for some great landscape opportunities on a memorable walk that day for me due to wildlife sightings and photos taken with so many as I posted about in other highlights posts this year the autumnal features made for good landscape and other opportunities. The next day I was very happy to see another shaggy ink cap mushroom on the green out the front of the house that had grown up which I photographed, alongside more autumnal colour in a leaf in the front garden and Lakeside I photographed on a sunny lunch time walk. That week I noticed a lot of little flowering on trees almost like blossom but obviously not in autumn and on the Wednesday I took a picture of the red with white behind flowers in a flower pot at the front of the house which was great. Bramble flowers was something I enjoyed seeing a lot in autumn this year.

The next day on lunch as I walked out also I took a landscape a nice angle looking over trees in autumnal colour I noticed the view from this angle walking down the street during that week but I didn’t have time to take a photo on the day so I wanted to have a go at it again and that day after a sunny start and then clouding over the sun just started to come out so it was quite nicely lit and I was pleased with the photo. What I noticed when looking at this photo on my laptop was that in someone’s window visible in the background you can see a drawn rainbow on paper stuck in the inside of the window. Something many of us did to show our appreciation to our National Health Service for the incredible work they’ve done during the pandemic and always, become a strong symbol in these past few months and one of the defining images of lockdown and the coronavirus pandemic in the UK and 2020. So it was great to photograph this or have it in my photo anyway. And it was fitting to take the picture on a Thursday as Thursdays for 10 weeks during the strictest parts of the first lockdown we all came to our balconies, windows etc. to clap for our care workers and key workers one of the most heartening things about 2020. So it was nice to take this picture this Thursday. It rained a little bit as I walked to Lakeside via the path running to the north of it outside of the park in the estate but the sun was never far away. These conditions giving me great opportunity for raindrop and reflection photos on the lakes something I loved doing in early autumn. Going along it became fittingly to open the autumnal month of October a very autumnal walk with some nice colours in the trees. It was interesting this really told me seeing these we were getting towards peak colour festival for how the leaves on trees look now. It wasn’t just one tree here or there or leaves starting to show colour as it had been for a good few months with an early start to autumn this year now but everything was starting to really go into sweet colour. And I must say I don’t think locally over Lakeside or around the estate I have celebrated autumn leaves here as much as I should have over the years. So seeing it that day made me think of the New Forest and Richmond and Bushy Parks places I have seen glorious autumnal colour over the years and it gave me the same sense of ripeness which excites me as at those places showing the amazing things I can see very locally once again a big theme for me of this year.

The next day I noticed just how red the trees were starting to look my favourite colour, photographing this at home, Lakeside and on a nostalgic visit to a childhood haunt I am proud of and other bits of Eastleigh which I hadn’t seen for a while and found charming to again Grantham Green. That day was a very wet day showing the weather was looking more autumnal then with quite a few minor floods and big puddles at Lakeside and home and wet weather wanderers snail and slug on our door when I left for my lunch time walk. This autumn I noticed a lot when it rained and Lakeside looked wetter and fuller being able to notice differences in water levels as I walked there most days. Specifically posted in other highlights blogs this year it was a marvellous Friday of birdwatching with lots of species I don’t normally see so locally so the rain possibly put things in different places. I also saw decent amounts of House Martin and particularly Swallow after not seeing many there for a while at Lakeside as they were close to migrating. The next day that Saturday at Farlington Marshes I had the all-important autumn moment seeing my first Brent Geese of the season far off in a day I saw waders and other birds in great numbers including Ringed Plover and Little Egrets. We had a really nice walk around, as the sun came out but stormy weather that we were right in the middle of Storm Alex at that time never stayed far away with dark skies in places which were really quite dramatic to see. In fact of the 28 pictures I produced that day 24 were landscapes and I don’t think there’s one of them which doesn’t have a dramatic sky scene within it. So this made this one of my best ever days for taking pictures with nice and dramatic skies in I think and seeing skies generally typical scenes for the start of autumn really which made me feel really good. It was interesting then to have a bit a theme running through my photos that day which helps define the day in my head a bit. Having done so many Saturday visits here over those few months from June onwards there is overlap between the landscapes I take in each one but so many of this set of photos were unique. Such a memorable afternoon because of that. There was also more nice autumnal colour in the landscape a strong theme on our walks at that stage.

I had one of my best moments of the autumn with two more key moments of any autumn on a fairly wet day walking from Blackwater in the New Forest the next day. I saw my first two un-knocked over red fly agaric mushrooms which I loved studying and taking in their fantastic and bright colours a flat and a round one I took pictures to. I enjoyed so many mushrooms that day with some nice brown ones seen too and so many white ones, lots together at many points with some amongst some heather again as well. Then on a packed walk for wildlife sightings we also came across a herd of Red Deers during their rut which was fantastic to see. We spent some amazing minutes watching a stag with big antlers and some females I really was so happy to see them. On a generally great day of deers with a Muntjac seen too as I mentioned in my New Forest highlights post the fourth one I was just so thrilled to see a group of Red Deers in the brilliant New Forest I had not seen them here nearly enough whilst I’ve seen them so well in other locations over the last decade. They are one of the star piece of wildlife in the New Forest so it was just smashing to see them. Some great moments with one of my favourite mammals. I took the seventh picture in this photoset of one of the females.

On the day after I liked seeing some very little mushrooms on the green out the front which I photographed that day and enjoyed all of that week, some autumnal leaves with flowers in the garden and yet more nice autumn leaves and red berries scenes at Lakeside, mostly notably I liked observing that with the red autumn leaves I see every year and enjoy here I was noticing them gradually turn red with one special patch of this which I took a photo of going bright red so I rather enjoyed that. The next day in one of the floods that had formed on the Friday at Lakeside I loved seeing Mallard wallowing in it on a field a lovely natural moment with dragonflies flying over this nice little bit of water too as I mentioned in my second butterflies and other insects highlights post this lived long in the memory. I enjoyed lots more great autumnal colours on that walk and that evening seeing the regular Greylag Geese that I hadn’t as much as over the spring and summer over Lakeside flying past the house to the backdrop of a lowering sun felt like a nice autumnal moment geese flying and flocking a strong autumnal motifs of nature bringing back memories of the Pink-footed Geese I loved seeing flying in at Norfolk as I mention in the ninth of these posts. I enjoyed more autumnal colour scenes the next day at Lakeside as I did all of that week and it was nice to see Pied Wagtails over the house as I did the next day too a winter visitor to the garden alongside a few of those like Robins that had been coming in over that time a key part of autumn seeing signs of natural parts of winter or winters of ours of the past to come. Yet more autumnal colour and some more shaggy ink caps and other mushrooms on the green out the front awaited me on an amazing Friday I had for wildlife and photos that Friday as I took pictures of all of this and reflected on how I liked how much time working from home gave me to really observe mushrooms out the front this year. The shaggy ink caps on the green is something I watched around working in Winchester On a mostly very sunny day I saw some nice sky scenes I did so much that week with night drawing in taking so many memorable sky pictures from the house. I also saw a moon out in the day time something I enjoyed a lot this year that day and got a picture.

The next day before going to Bushy Park on the Saturday I had a dental hygienist appointment in Winchester, I switched dentists after my Eastleigh one stopped doing evening appointments to one in Winchester as I work there before I began working from home in response to the pandemic hence why I went on a Saturday morning. Before getting picked up by my Mum to come home I had a little walk around from the dentist opposite St. Thomas Church to near my office in glorious sunshine taking in some wonderful autumnal coloured leaves especially more red that week scenes which I always say Winchester is so good for I took some phone pictures of this. The next day whilst Swallows still hung on by the coast at Pennington I got some memorable autumn moments when alongside some coloured leaves in the landscape I loved seeing lots of waterfowl notably many Wigeons and Shoveler and some Pintail my first of the season come in a key bit of autumn. As I mentioned in my general birdwatching and New Forest highlights posts we also got the amazing moment of seeing the blown in by autumn storms Grey Phalarope and mega bird the Wilson’s Phalarope a new one for us that day one of the best moments of autumn birdwatching we had this year and ever for sure getting beyond cracking close views of both. I took the eighth picture in this photoset of the Wilson’s. The next day was a key Monday of my autumn as I enjoyed some nice autumnal sky scenes that morning, shaggy ink caps on the green, yellow autumn leaves on our plants and more autumnal colour at Lakeside I did a closeup photo of some of the red leaves I like looking at every year that day which was interesting. Also alongside masses of the usual suspects and a Blue Tit I don’t always see I noticed my first Pied Wagtail in the garden of the season that day after a few days of seeing them in the area. In winters 2018-19 and 2019-20 they had become a winter visitor to our garden and that alongside the sheer numbers of everything else made me feel the days of winter ahead and the natural world getting ready for it in a sense which is what autumn is all about. It fascinates me each year now how the Pied Wagtails and other birds just seem to know it’s time to visit the garden and nearby when they need bird feeders with natural food harder to find and that through winter months, they are such fascinating creatures and it’s nice to rely on birds to tell you the time of year out of habit. I loved seeing the Greylag Geese flying over the house and at Lakeside that day even if they’re not a migrating population species there is something so autumnal about geese flying in flocks.

The next day when I walked at lunch time I loved seeing the shaggy ink cap mushroom colony on the green at the front of the house again. They looked brilliant and had grown up so much since the day before when I first noticed them, some were still white, others had morphed nicely into the familiar bell or lampshade like figure they become which I liked photographing. But then I noticed a few of something I had never seen for these mushrooms before, in between the white column of the mushroom and the final shape they were flat, I found this great to see and really interesting, you can certainly see how they get their name with that sticky ink like substance on them almost dripping from them I did really enjoy seeing this and getting photos. On the walk at Lakeside that day I took in some stunning colourful autumnal leaves scenes once more getting to see some real ripe and vibrant colour. It was probably one of my best days of the autumn for views of autumn leaves and mushrooms and photos I took of them that day which was great I was pleased with what I took of the scenes. The next day I enjoyed more great views of a silvery looking a great colour shaggy ink cap mushroom out the front, as on a sunny day I enjoyed a plethora of autumnal colour particularly red but some yellow in the landscape visible from and right around me at Lakeside I even photographed a red fallen leaf which was fascinating to see. A comforting day of autumnal colour, as that day I also walked around the roads for additional exercise and photographed a line of trees down a road which I had photographed in nice purple blossom from the other end admittedly in late March days before the first strict lockdown which felt so recent still at that stage as discussion of the need for another strict lockdown dominated the nation’s minds there was interesting parallels in sandwiching those dizzy summer days of rich green the two staging posts in the year of these trees and the year of us all. I saw a Pied Wagtail again on this walk around getting a memorable picture of one on a roof.

On 15th October in glorious sunshine and in that crisp and useful for photos sunlight of the time of year, with some nice raw autumnal light too just before getting to Lakeside I liked photographing more shaggy ink cap mushrooms I saw more mushrooms on the green out the front when back too as well as take in yet more red and yellow gorgeous autumnal leaves in the sunshine at home and at Lakeside, where a view of a Jay among others reminded me what an autumn bird they are with their association with acorns. Another peaceful, relaxing and mushroom and red and yellow autumn leaf particularly certain trees some of the tallest at Lakeside gone yellow dominated sunny day awaited at Lakeside the next day. With the night’s drawing in an early evening Friday walk became a walk at sunset as I took in stunning views of the sun coming down and felt nice walking back along the streets to be in the sunset scene I usually see from my room to a degree a great day that one. The next Friday I had a work online social after work the weekend before the clocks went back so this walk became a fitting last second Friday walk of the year something I really enjoyed especially in the summer.

As mentioned in my New Forest highlight post on 17th October we went to Ashley Walk/Leaden Hall in the New Forest getting exciting view of wonderful Ring Ouzels on autumn migration and other birds as well as it being a memorable day for mushrooms. On the walk I heard a Fallow Deer stag barking a lot and we saw it with its quite large hareem of females looking very dark and with big antlers. A great moment during the fallow rut, it was nice to see fallows during those few weeks where I saw so many deer species and loads so well in various parts of the country a real celebration of deers for me and fallows really began my love for deers being the first I really saw up close when really interested in wildlife and my first favourite I now have three deers on my list of favourite mammals. Sticking with mammals and the grazing animals of the New Forest on the way home by Bramshaw I was delighted to see my first pigs out for pannage this autumn so when commoners exercise their right of pannage to turn out pigs and allow them to roam the forest to eat the acorns of which there was a very large crop of this year very notably which meant the time period pannage lasted was extended which are harmful to the ponies. I enjoy seeing pigs freely roaming around the New Forest every year it is a popular sight in the forest and so important for the management of the New Forest with helping out the ponies. We saw a handful of pigs together and I loved taking pictures of them in a very nice looking typical New Forest village and countryside area near to Bramshaw. We got some great views of them as well as sheep and donkeys behind a fence as they walked down the lane. Whilst watching them I was delighted hear the noise they made as they munched through the acorns on the floor which were clearly visible and I was reminded what all this was for. A special and classic autumnal or you could say “only in the New Forest” moment. Ending a fantastic and joyful afternoon out where we saw iconic New Forest wildlife and sights. The next day at Gilkicker Point and Stokes Bay, after seeing another Pied Wagtail on the garages at home, as well as some autumnal colour and views of Michaelmas daisies a large group of them brightening up a grey afternoon alongside a good few other nice flowers seen there as Sunday rather became my flower day this year I was thrilled to see another Grey Phalarope this autumn getting more cracking and close up views of this stunning bird as one was blown into Gilkicker Pond. I very often go onto see more of them in a year once I see one. Such a nice autumn moment to follow it for a fantastic few minutes getting those stunning views and observing it from above and at eye level. One of my best nature moments of the year. It was nice how lots of non-birdwatchers noticed and were impressed and intrigued by this distinctive little bird close by that day really nice how a Grey Phalarope united people and got people talking about nature. Other highlights at Gilkicker as well as Jays seen flying from the car in a field and on the ground on the way you see so many Jays in autumn as I was reminded of nicely this year with them stashing acorns were; Greenfinch, Carrion Crows in some interesting positions like on a car roof and picking seaweed and with other interesting things in their mouths and gathering in a large group with Herring Gulls I got a picture of mine of the group in the Hampshire Chronicle via the camera club a nice bit of urban seaside bird action and Kestrel with prey in its talons. I was also fascinated by Gilkicker Point’s position sticking out into the solent allowing me to see the Spinnakar Tower and other bits of Portsmouth one side, Fawley power station the other and Ryde and the rest of the Isle of Wight ahead over the water. I detected a light brown colour different to green when looking at the island in the landscape and picked out the beautiful former royal residence Osborne House imposing itself on the landscape which was nice. This brought back strong childhood memories of Isle of Wight holidays. That Sunday we came home via Hill Head further down the coast where I loved seeing loads of Brent Geese more than my first autumn sighting of them at Farlington on the sea close in by the shore further down and a beautiful flock of mostly male Eiders out to sea seen very well a cracking view really. Also here and further up the coast a sort of early sunset occurred over the water in a gap between the Isle of Wight and the mainland a red glow in the afternoon, something I had seen elsewhere last winter which made me feel a little wintery as did a bit of gloom that afternoon I must say which again is what autumn is very much about.

The next day and the one after and that whole week I enjoyed taking in many more red and yellow autumnal leaves scenes including the canopy visible from my room and tree visible from it in lovely sunshine I enjoyed taking a unique photo of the former fittingly in a week where “#Autumnwatch” was the photo theme in a Facebook group I am in ahead of the BBC’s series of that this year one of my favourite TV programmes the Springwatch edition particularly inspiring and uplifting for me this year as they took the spirit of optimism and re-connection to nature and touched on Black Lives Matter very well during strict lockdown key themes of this year here. This year I put lots of my pictures into different groups on Facebook as well and that’s been something massive to come out of my time working from home, taking pictures during it and how I post them and use my time that I’m now posting my pictures onto different themed Facebook groups as a ritual. This group, the Hampshire Chronicle camera club which has allowed me among online associations and many moments sharing and seeing other’s pictures has allowed me to get some of my pictures into the Hampshire Chronicle newspaper which I am so thankful for, general wildlife and birding groups, the Self Isolating Bird Club launched by Chris Packham, Megan McCubbin and co. quite on theme, a cloud and sky picture group I’ve been in for ages all big groups so I just like posting the pictures somewhere and interacting with strangers because of them it’s really been a great way for me to stay connected in these times. I love my Twitter friends and I love tweeting my pictures that page and this one for me are everything I have ever wanted as somewhere to post my photos and experiences with lots of lovely people and a fantastic broad community and I always get so much out of sharing with you but it’s just quite nice for the Facebook groups each day thinking right what photo did I take for this theme etc and get me thinking and a nice way to further share my photos on my platforms in more specific themed groups. On both of those days I took pictures of the tree out the back with some red/yellow autumn colour what I first ever noticed this tree for in autumn taking pictures of the coloured leaves and the second day it looked that little bit redder interesting symmetry to spring as I said in my first butterflies highlights post when this tree blossomed and seemed to have more blossom on it every time I looked out the window to it so this was nice. Photographing it that day 20th October my Dad’s birthday meant I photographed it exactly two years on my first or one of my first photos of it on my Dad’s birthday in 2018, but in 2018 the leaves were all really yellow there was a lot of green on them on 20th October this year so maybe the fast autumn wasn’t quite keeping pace with other years. On the Wednesday I saw another nice shaggy inkcap mushroom on the green out the front, it was also nice to notice a Magpie picking amongst fallen leaves on the green the fallen leaves a common sight and theme of that October week on a fairly rainy lunch time walk as well as a Pied Wagtail including it chirping nicely around the garden again. On the very sunny Thursday of that key autumnal week for me as well as mushrooms out the front and shaggy inkcap actually in Lakeside and the usual bright yellow and red colours that week looking so nice in the sun I noticed a tree I’d photographed nice and green the Friday night before with autumnal colour now and that tree out the back was redder and yellower as it seemed to come into autumn leaf quite fast too. On a day I produced loads of pictures on a sunny day with how many were autumnal subjects it did feel a bit like a pinnacle of my autumn. I loved taking some different types of pictures of just some autumn leaves on the ground red and yellow like the ones in the ninth picture in this photoset that Friday at Lakeside a day at lunch time I saw some interesting looking mushrooms which seemed to resemble nipples which was quite funny.

There was more entertainment and much more fungi the next day as we went to Pig Bush in the New Forest for our usual October visit as that’s when we first went to this place we love so much one of my favourite New Forest spots as it looks as it did that first visit that month and this October marked a decade since we first went there, and for the first time in that decade we saw some pigs there at Pig Bush! Or on the walk from Pig Bush. As we walked down towards woods by a railway bridge we saw three and then a massive group of about 20 of them, young and adult, completely pink, black spotty or half black and half pink so a true variety and we loved watching them for a good few minutes our second pigs out for pannage seen this year. The most pigs I have ever seen together before, one of my best days ever for pigs. That wet New Forest walk was also perhaps my best ever day for fungi as in the autumn wonderland of the woods beyond the ford nearer to the car park there were many fallen leaves so perfect for the nutrient loving fruiting bodies of the fungi, the mushrooms of which we saw a huge variety of for shapes, size and colour. There really was a mushroom everywhere we looked on that forest floor it was a real feast for the eyes, I took so many pictures of them that day one of my best ever autumn moments. This really captivated me which is what its all about. This completed perhaps my best ever week of autumn photos. The next day was another New Forest classic in which I produced over 40 pictures in my first visit to Rockford Common since 2018 a very nostalgic visit for me coming here in autumn when we so often came here between 2014 and 2017 I would say so many memories, another very beautiful spot. It was that usual first post-clocks going back walk, with a jacket needed on for the whole walk and a certain feel to it when the sun shone but a gloomy shadow across the landscape when it did not. That day became another brilliant day for autumn leaves and mushrooms as I saw so many more of the latter of a great variety and especially it was brilliant to see lots of red fly agarics my favourite mushrooms I’d maybe never seen so many at once before in a great autumn for me for them I took so many pictures with my macro lens of them that day the first of those with my macro this year as I had taken some at Blackwater before with my big lens. One of those Blackwater ones actually I made my Twitter display picture for a monthly rotation that day the first mushroom picture ever to be this for me. It was a fantastic fix of fly agaric that day at Rockford Common I was honoured to see so many taking one of my best ever pictures of one too and I have photographed so many over the years. That photo also appeared in the Hampshire Chronicle as part of a lucky and amazing run where I was so fortunate to have one of my photos published in it for six consecutive weeks. That day I was also thrilled to see my all-important first Fieldfare and first Redwings of the autumn with Starlings in good numbers on the heath too. Before that I took pictures of the tree visible in someone’s garden from my room really looking bright and yellow hitting its peak for colour and some colour in the landscape visible from my room. The next day more autumn leaves at home and Lakeside where I enjoyed so many more lovely colourful scenes again that week, nice brown mushrooms out the front and at Lakeside and a Pied Wagtail by the garden again all greeted me, a day that a rainbow shone in the mostly sunny day in the morning it was surreal the sun setting before I finished work in my room.

That Wednesday at Lakeside I noticed whilst some autumn leaves were still on trees, after wet and windy weather a lot were on the floor and it was as though someone had flicked the switch from autumn to winter with swathes of bare patches on trees in the landscape. That day I also loved noticing a large charm of finches over Lakeside, containing Goldfinch or Siskin or likely both big flocks of these do come here in the winter which threw me forward to those days. I also saw that day maybe my biggest mushrooms of the season as helped by the inspiring BBC Autumnwatch I realised what an amazing autumn for mushrooms as well as so much else in a rich one it was. The next day it was nice to speak to some fellow admirers of the lonely tree that goes bright red by the visitor centre at Lakeside at a safe social distance to comment on how lovely it looked as I photographed it looking very rich in colour which was lovely. I also saw my first winter thrush at Lakeside of the season seeing a noteworthy Fieldfare on a tree north of the steam railway station. A Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit flock of decent numbers and a great variety of garden birds again at home before the walk were pleasing moments that day too. The amount of birds seen especially little ones seems so synonymous with this time of year. That continued the next day a gloomy and blustery affair for sure with the tits again, Starlings and Black-headed Gulls on my walk around the green out the front and Lakeside. That week with it being the kid’s half term the steam railway train at Lakeside was running and seeing it shoot along the track out of trees emerging quite a lot in rainy and misty conditions was so atmospheric and beautiful. A variety of coastal birds including lots of lovely Brent Geese flying over, Spotted Redshank, other waders and lots and lots of Wigeons, as well as nice interesting and atmospheric light for the time of year amongst it the novelty still of being out when the sun set when out on weeks was waiting for me the next day. I took the tenth and final picture in this photoset of autumn leaves on a bush in our garden in a bit of sun before we went out that day. I wrote about the end of my autumn in my 11th bonus highlights blog the last one about my November and December.

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thisselflovecamebacktome · 3 years

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How I interpreted the Folklore love triangle

So I’ve been thinking a lot about the love triangle ever since the Long Pond sessions and after talking with @protectivedeanstan, it hit me just how differently we as fans of the same artists, have all read into this narrative and decided to share my thoughts so that I have them somewhere.

Order in which the songs were written, added to the narrative and occur within that narrative:

All of what I am about to say is gut feeling only and I have nothing to back it up.

From the first listen of Folklore, I’ve always felt that while Cardigan was one of the first songs written for the album, it was the last to be added to the triangle.

If I had to guess, I think Betty was the key piece of the love triangle with the other two songs written around it to complete the story.

I also think that within the narrative of the story, James’ apology and Betty as a whole is the only side told at the time the events actually occur. Alternatively, I see Cardigan being Betty reflecting on her first love in a moment of loneliness in her early to mid-20s and I see August being a story that is told to children/grandchildren later on in life after August’s child/grandchild’s first heartbreak. Basically, while not quite a warning, it’s August looking back and laughing at herself at how naïve she was for not only thinking it was going to work out with James, but that he was the be all end all of her relationships. This is part of the reason August as a song is not as descriptive as the other two songs, because it happened so long ago and she has had enough distance from it to move on completely.

Influences to how I interpreted the triangle:

The events of the triangle, and particularly Cardigan and Betty, feel extremely reminiscent of the breakdown of my first relationship back when I was 14. As such, I couldn’t help but relate the triangle back to that and acknowledge that many of the headcannons/interpretations I have are based off of that.

As part of that, I have to note that I find it hilarious knowing that if I had heard these songs back in 2009, I would have 100% identified with Betty and seen August as a villain, but just as Taylor’s perspective on cheating has changed over the years, so has mine. As a result, I see both Betty and August as different but equally hybrid versions of both me and the girl my first partner cheated on. If anything, I see more similarities between myself and August or even James upon hearing these songs in 2020.

How I picture the trio at the time of the ‘affair’:

Betty: Betty is a typical white Christian, middle class family schoolgirl. She is on the shyer side. She is friends with the popular kids who let her hang with them on the first day and she's been with them ever since. She's a bit of a hopeless romantic but also is a little full of herself and unaware to her own flaws. One such flaw, and the one that is most detrimental to the triangle in my interpretation, is that I see Betty as someone who tries to be nice but doesn't have the guts to confront her friends about them being horrible to others (James and Inez included).

James: To me, James is definitely a boy. The song Betty gives off too much of a ‘dumb teenage boy’ vibe for me to ever think otherwise. In my mind, James is a person of colour and comes from a poorer background which has led to him being outcasted for most of his school life. While 'stupid friends' may just mean friends who called James out, this interpretation also gave me the impression that Betty's friends felt they were too good for him and made sure he knew that at all times that he was with Betty. Though not one of the trio, I imagine the guy Betty dances with is someone who is popular and someone Betty’s friends have been trying to hook her up with for a while, hence why James felt an extra layer of insecurity. James’ background of unpopularity and being discriminated against adds to why he chose to go with August rather than fix things with Betty because he’s not used to people being in his corner and felt Betty was just another person to cast him out and choose someone else instead. When considered alongside general teenage lack of experience and communication, that is a dangerous mix for relationships and ultimately causes the end of theirs. When considering August, in my mind, James doesn't realise she loved him. He didn't go with her to be vicious, he was just very careless and didn't really think about her at all.

August: August is Inez. In my mind, she has loved James for years and was friends with him long before Betty came along. She is also a person of colour, from a poorer background and unpopular. This shared background is why James chooses Inez to spend the Summer with, because overall, he has more in common with Inez and feels that he can be himself around her. These moments are a comfort point for James, but also make Inez more sure that she belongs with him because there's that level of understanding that Betty will never achieve with James. Before the ‘affair’, she felt resentful towards James for dating Betty as she felt that it was an act of betrayal and that he left her to be unpopular alone. That is also why she's so gossipy and feels vindicated in telling Betty about the ‘affair’, because to her it's a 'sucked in, your popularity and money mean nothing. He still chose me.' moment to the girl who enables her friends to be assholes to others. Outside of the ‘affair’, Inez is someone who comes off as completely full of herself and acts above everyone as a defence mechanism, contrasting with Betty who unconsciously and more subtly had moments where she is full of herself.

Does James end up with either of the girls?

No.

After having James pick Betty over her a second time, any sign of friendliness let alone friendship dies between Inez and James, at least on Inez’s side of things. However, I imagine they meet up years down the line and remain on civil terms, just not as friends and certainly not as lovers.

Alternatively, I think James and Betty try to give it a second go, but ultimately James’ insecurities and lack of communication skills continue to be an issue and Betty takes it as a sign of childishness and moves on without him.

I also don’t see the two girls being friends after what happened, but I imagine they find themselves at the same event decades down the line and have a good laugh over how dramatic the whole situation felt at the time.

#taylor swift #folklore #betty #august #cardigan

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saiilorstars · 4 years

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It Had To Be You

Ch.23: A Broken Family // Story Masterlist

Fandom: The Flash

Pairings: Barry Allen x Female OC

Pronunciation of OC’s name: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: Belén's sister comes to an important realization that could put both Belén and Barry in danger.

{Previous chapters}

"What...are you even doing?" Maritza crinkled her nose every time she witnessed her brother telekinetically raise a dead rat from floor. Rayan had taken refuge in the old warehouse where he was once kept. For time now, he seemed to be off in his own world doing tricks of his own with his powers. Maritza could see fine progress in his powers but she also saw a deterioration in his health. She was scared they were both interrelated.

Currently, Rayan watched with a straight face as he levitated the dead rat off the floor again. He tilted his head a bit and missed the big flinch Maritza gave behind him after one of the rat's bones cracked.

"You shouldn't be so soft, Maritza," his voice was cold and flat. "After all, being soft is what drove Belén away from us."

Maritza looked down at the ground. She suspected a big part of Rayan's detachment from their group was due to Belén capturing Noah. It solidified where their sister stood and it was no easy thing accepting she declared herself their enemy. Rayan had always been close to his sister - they were twins after all - and now that he was truly going to have be without her was something difficult.

"Angie wants to find Noah...she's been making more appearances in the city now," Maritza thought Angie's wrecklessness would at least incite some type of irritation from Rayan but she was wrong.

Rayan gave a mere shrug of his shoulders and let the rat drop back on the ground. "Let her. She's obsessed with Noah anyways. I'm better here, working on the control..."

"Yeah, on a rat!" Maritza stalked over to her brother and pulled him away from the rat. "That's just gross!"

Rayan met her with dead eyes, emotionless. "I need something to practice controlling the nerves of the body. Telekinetically moving parts of another person's body is no easy task."

"Rayan, please," Maritza put her hands together in front of her, "Snap out of whatever this is. I'd say it's unhealthy but I think we're long past that. We need plans, we need to do something-"

"-like what? Belén is gone, Noah's gone...and these headaches just won't go away!" Rayan tapped the side of his head rather aggressively, making Maritza even wince. "My head feels heavy, Maritza. I can't do anything right now..."

"You need to rest," Maritza set her hands on her brother's shoulders. "Maybe after some sleep you'll feel better."

Rayan rolled her eyes and for the first time displayed an emotion at her. "You know what I really want? I want to kill the Flash. Anyone involved with him. That way Belén can be alone just like she left me." He turn around and headed back to where his dead rat laid on the ground.

Maritza gaped at his back. He was actually talking about...hurting their little sister? The even scarier part was the fact she didn't know if he was joking or already planning something.

~ 0 ~

"Yeah, they're not taking it well," Barry told Belén while the two walked alongside each other on the street of Belén's house. He'd just told Caitlin and Cisco their suspicions about Dr. Wells and while Cisco seemed a little more inclined to believe them, Caitlin was having big trouble deciding who to believe.

"They've worked with the man for a long time, it's natural they have doubts," Belén said, though she was sure the two would come to believe Barry instead. They had to remember he would never lie about something so big like this.

"I just hope they don't go doing something stupid like directly asking Wells," Barry sighed. If anyone gave Wells even the slightest slip of what they suspected him off, he would no doubt get away from them. Barry didn't want to risk losing him again.

Belén stopped when she saw her sister taking Axel from Mrs. Andrews. "I didn't know she needed a babysitter today. I have the day off!" But that was Maritza, she was always going off doing things on her own...though Belén never pushed Maritza about it considering she did the same thing with STAR Labs.

"Auntie Belén, look what I made!" Axel shouted as soon as he saw Belén on the street. He was waving a white paper over his head while Maritza led them towards the house. Belén and Barry crossed the street to follow them home. Axel shook his hand from his mother's and rushed up to Belén. "I drew a house that I'm going to build when I grow up!"

"His father was an architect," Belén whispered to Barry for his understanding. She took the drawing from Axel and laughed with Barry as they examined the house Axel was so proud of. It was a bunch of squares with the traditional triangle roof but there were many small circles around, making the two metas wonder what Axel was planning on those being. "This is great, Axel."

"Mrs. Andrews said that she would live in it," Axel said, even more proud. "I told her could."

"So nice of him," Maritza ruffled his dark hair. "Where've you been, Belén?"

"Went out to the park," the younger sister said cheerily.

For a split moment, Maritza heard Rayan's wish and felt a terrible pit in her stomach. Axel tugged on Belén's arm, motioning with his hand he wanted his drawing back. "Auntie Belén, are you going away with Barry again? Remember you said you were going to have dinner with me one day?"

"I said that?" Belén looked up at her sister for confirmation, and when Maritza nodded Belén glanced at Barry. "I may have said that..."

Barry chuckled. He looked down at the hopeful boy, knowing how much Axel loved his 'auntie Belén' and decided their plans could wait for another day. "We could go out another night," he told Belén, "I'll call you tomorrow."

"Or..." Maritza began before she even realized what she was doing, "...you could stay for dinner?"

The request made both Belén and Barry stop and look at each other. Belén was sure this was too fast - having dinner with a family member when they'd only been dating for a couple months was too fast...right?

Axel beamed at the idea. "Ooh! Can we? I'll help clean up!"

"Maritza," Belén made a face that indicated the request was too out of the blue.

"I don't mind," Barry's response made the ombre-blond snap her head in his direction. She was sporting a light pink blush...just like he was. "I-I mean if you d-don't mind...I meant..." He understood it was out of the ordinary and yes it made him nervous actually sitting down and having a conversation with Belén's sister, but...didn't they deserve to have a nice night after so many things were happening at STAR Labs?

"I don't mind," Belén quickly clarified, putting a hand over her chest. "I definitely don't mind, I was just...maybe you had plans or something..."

"My plans were with you, remember?" his small smile of reminder made her smack her forehead.

"I'm so stupid," she mumbled.

Barry laughed. "No, you're not." He looked back at Maritza who was already smiling at them. "I'd love to."

"Great, any cravings we could go by?" Maritza asked from them but Axel was the one to raise his hand to answer.

"Oh! Oh! Can we have spaghetti!? With meatballs!? Oh! And ham! Let's have spaghetti!" he put his hands together and smiled as wide as he could for the three adults.

Maritza looked down at her son. "I don't know, honey. Barry's our guest, he gets to pick remember?"

Axel very innocently inched closer to Barry, tugging on his arm until Barry bent down in front of him. "You can pick. Do you want to pick spaghetti?"

Barry couldn't help but laugh. He rarely got to be around children so Axel made his heart swell with happiness. "You know what, I do want to pick spaghetti."

Axel beamed and turned to his mother. "See? He picked spaghetti!"

"I wonder why," Maritza's sarcasm didn't register with the boy. "We'll see you later, Barry," she said as she grabbed Axel's hand again to lead him back home.

"You really didn't have to do that, Barry. I want you to know that you're not under any obligation to come," Belén said as soon as her sister was inside their house. "It's too fast - even for the Flash - and I would get that completely."

Barry smiled at her, genuinely happy in that moment. He surprised her with a kiss that may have lasted a minute or two...and may have been broken by the sounds of a car passing by. He had one hand resting on Belén's cheek, and his smile that just grew the more he stared at her. "I want to. We deserve something nice and besides, your sister invited me. I was not going to turn down the big sister."

Belén chuckled. "Maritza can't hurt a fly."

"I'm not taking the chance."

"You really okay with this?" Belén's voice quieted down. "I know you have a lot on your mind and...I don't want you to-"

"Bells, I'm really okay. I do have a lot on my mind but being with you helps me more than you think," Barry reached for one of her hands and gently tugged her closer to him. "Let's have a nice dinner with your sister and your adorable nephew."

A big smile spread across Belén's face. "I can't wait."

~ 0 ~

"This makes it the third break in this week," Cisco huffed at his computer as if it were at fault for Pixel breaking into another jewelry store. "This chick's obviously mad we locked her boyfriend away."

"How do you know they were together?" Caitlin asked beside him. She was sitting down at the desk, with her computer turned on but she wasn't really doing anything with it.

"Believe me, that face she makes every time she sees the security camera is for us," Cisco said, making a face each time he remembered the blonde woman glaring at the camera feed. "She's basically saying 'come at me'. She's mad."

Caitlin made a shake of her head and reached for her mug on the desk. She took a small sip of it then lowered her mug. She let a moment pass before she spoke again, and when she did it was much more quiet. "Have you thought about what Barry told us?"

Cisco raised his eyebrows and leaned against his chair. Of course he thought about it. It was the only thing he'd thought about since Barry talked to them that morning. "Oh yeah."

"And...? What do you think?" it was easy to see the turmoil Caitlin was in. She was torn between believing the guy who'd risked his life countless times to help others...and believing the man she'd worked for years now.

"Look, I gotta be honest, it does have some logic," Cisco continued to think about the flashes of Wells killing him. Though he didn't understand what it meant yet, he was sure it had to do with all this.

"But it doesn't make sense," Caitlin gripped her mug's handle. "Dr. Wells has done nothing but help us. How could he be the same man who murdered Barry's mom and Belén's father? It - it doesn't make sense."

"No one said it would be easy to understand," Cisco shrugged.

"How are you so calm about this?" Caitlin shot him an accusing glance. It was as if he was throwing away all those years he worked closely with Dr. Wells.

"Because Barry said we were going to come up with a way to prove all this," Cisco thought he was acting appropriately. He wasn't going to freak out but he wasn't going to discard everything Barry said. He needed to see evidence before they could make a complete decision on their next actions. Besides, Wells didn't know anything at the moment so it would be a quicker process to gather that evidence.

Caitlin's eyes had barely returned to her computer when the screen started blinking in an alert. She put her mug down and ignored Cisco's groan.

"If it's that woman again-"

"-it's Pixel," Caitlin offered him an apologetic smile.

"Homegirl is working my last nerve..." Cisco muttered as he grabbed his phone to call Barry. "I can't wait till we lock her - Barry! Pixel's on 5th street and Main! Jewelry store! Yeah, I know, again-" Cisco rolled his eyes but Caitlin grabbed his phone to hurry Barry along.

"Seriously, save it for later," Caitlin disapprovingly shook her head at Cisco. She took his phone and dialed for Belén's number next with the intention of handling the call herself.

~ 0 ~

Pixel had shattered almost every display case to personally pick out the pieces of jewelry she loved. She had all the employees and the unfortunate customers huddled in one corner, anxiously waiting for her to take what she wanted and leave. She didn't even flinch when she felt wind pick up behind her. She was currently trying on a blue stoned ring.

"Too much?" she glanced back at Barry with her hand in the air, wiggling her fingers.

"A little," Barry's tone was flat. He was tired of the same game she'd been pulling all week. She wasn't even selling what she was stealing - it was clear she was just doing it for attention and, above all, to irritate the team.

"The color's beautiful though," she turned around completely, letting her blonde hair cascade over one shoulder. "It reminds me of Azul...you wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"

Barry was about to answer when he noticed the sneaky vines crawling underneath the display table. With a smile on his face, Barry shook his head. "Nope. And even if I did, I don't think my partner would let you have him back. She's mad."

Pixel smirked. "Oh, I bet she is." Not a second later did she feel something wrap around her ankles. Before she knew it, the vines had yanked her down, letting her hit the floor headfirst. Barry flinched - as did the civilians in the room - when he heard the crack noise no doubt from Pixel's nose breaking.

"You're going right where Azul did!" the Azalea was formed by her trusty vines. There were blotches of green patches on her skin and Barry was happy to see her no longer bothered by them. It was still a challenge for her to control but it was getting easier when she allowed the random patches to appear instead of forcing them away. It was the first step.

Pixel raised her head up and touched her broken nose that was also bleeding. "Bitch," she mumbled under her breath. She disintegrated there and then, leaving the two metahumans in an alert state.

"C'mon, get out of here," Belén decided to get the civilians out before Pixel returned. She hurried them along towards the entrance doors but as she was helping the last civilian she felt a streak of energy hit her on the side, knocking her into one of the display tables.

"That was for the nose," Pixel had reappeared across the store and was now coming for Belén, both hands ready to shoot again, "And this one's for whatever you did to Azul." She fired again but Barry sped Belén to another part of the store.

"You okay?" he noticed her left forearm had a long gash that was bleeding.

"I may have glass inside," Belén gave a quick shrug before setting her eyes on Pixel. "But she's going to be inside a pod today."

"We'll see," the blonde metahuman wiggled her fingers just as her feet began disintegrating.

"Nope!" Barry sped forwards and rammed her into a wall, forcing her to stop the disintegration if she wanted to go in one piece.

Pixel, however, was quick to retaliate. She brought her knee into his stomach, making the speedster groan and instinctively duck. Pixel fired her energy directly at him, blowing him back across the room. Belén acted fast when she saw the blonde going for a third blow of energy and snatched a display glass with her vines. She threw it directly at Pixel, hoping to crash it over the woman but Pixel's energy made the glass shatter instead.

Barry picked himself up, though felt groggy from the throw. His vision was a bit blurry but he was able to see Pixel making a run out the street. He and Belén rushed out only to see Pixel disintegrating halfway down the street, only God knowing where the hell she would appear next.

"Dammit!" Belén hissed. Her frustration grew every time they lost Pixel, especially since it was always the same way.

~ 0 ~

Caitlin immediately set to take the shards of glass from Belén's arm, but it was hard to do when the metahuman was still raging over their loss and moving her arms around to do her wild gestures.

"She's toying with us! She's having fun just messing with us!" Belén's shouted in the medbay room. "She's not even a hard metahuman to deal with - she's a pesk! That's what she is! A pesk!"

"Belén, please stay still," Caitlin calmly instructed her. With a loud sigh, Belén put her arms down and glared in silence.

"It's that disintegration trick she does that gets us," Barry was leaning against a desk in the room. Caitlin had already taken a look at him after Pixel's attack but he was fine - he was mad, but fine.

"She's crazy and annoying, a horrible combination," Cisco shivered just at the thought of Pixel.

"And getting to be a dangerous one at that," Dr. Wells' voice made the group look out into the cortex to see him coming towards them. The air shifted in the room into a much more tensed one. "Before we captured Noah, this woman had never really appeared in the city. She's not going to stop until she either gets Noah back or we put her in the pipeline."

"We've been thinking the same," Belén said in a quiet tone.

"Perhaps there's something we can use to disrupt her teleportation ability," Wells looked to Cisco and Caitlin for that task.

"Yeah, we'll get started on that," Cisco threw Caitlin a look, hoping the brunette wouldn't slip anything while they worked with Wells.

Caitlin pursed her lips together and nodded. "I just need to stitch Belén's cut first."

Wells agreed and took a head start to Cisco's workshop.

"I don't like lying to him," Caitlin then said once they were alone again.

"But he's been lying to us," Barry was quick to remind. She sighed and went back to her stitching. "Caitlin, please don't say anything."

"I won't," the brunette promised. "But I don't think this can be true-"

"-we'll look for evidence, trust us," Belén promised her. "But in the meantime, please don't act so weird around him. He's smart enough to suspect anything if we do."

Caitlin wasn't happy but what else she could do?

~ 0 ~

"That was stupid of you! Why the hell would you do that again!?" Maritza's shouts echoed throughout the warehouse. Pixel - or Angie who was now dressed in civilian clothing - merely rolled her eyes and stared at her new ring. "You're going to get yourself thrown into prison - or wherever the Flash stores all his prisoners."

"Jesus you yell so much, how does your kid take you?"

Maritza's eyes flared at the mention of her son. "Don't you ever mention my son, do you understand?"

Pixel shrugged and went back to admiring her ring. She pulled herself over an empty crate and crossed her legs. "I have to send a message that I'm going to keep causing trouble until I get Azul back."

"Rayan, tell her she can't do that," Maritza called to her brother but of course he never spoke up. Maritza groaned and turned to see her brother sitting cross legged on the floor, still working on that damn dead rat. "You have got to be kidding me! Rayan!"

Rayan let the rat fall to the ground but never glanced back at the two women. "Who cares? She's making life miserable for Belén and the Flash. Maybe that'll cause some strain between them."

"If you want to come with me I'm sure that'll leave some arguments between them," Angie suggested with a smirk. Now this made Rayan glance over his shoulder. "No doubt the Flash wants to put you in prison just like Noah, but Belén will definitely want something else for you. You want to make your sister miserable? You're the way, stupid."

"Stop that," Maritza hissed at the blonde. "He does not want to hurt his sister-"

"Why shouldn't I?" Rayan pushed himself up from the floor, turning to face the two while he dusted his hands against his jeans.

"Rayan, what's happening?" Maritza scowled at him. Her heart actually raced with fear for Belén. "The plan was to get Belén to join us but even if she doesn't...would you really hurt her?" Rayan's straight face practically gave the answer. "Rayan, she's our sister..." she whispered. "I love her, and you do too."

"But she doesn't love us," Rayan countered with absolute certainty. "Her feelings for that speedster made her forget about us. She's no good woman, Maritza, or else she wouldn't be leading that poor civilian boyfriend of hers like she is. She's not good and therefore what does it matter if we fight her?"

"This wasn't the plan," Maritza shook her head. "I can't fight my sister-"

"-then don't," Angie hopped off the crate. "We will."

"I've practiced a good deal for today. You want to get lunch, Angie?" Rayan smiled for the first time in a long time, but it wasn't a smile that Maritza knew of his. It was dark, crazed. There was a new sparkle in his eyes Maritza had noticed for a while now and...it didn't give her a good feeling.

~ 0 ~

"You sure you're okay?" Barry asked as Belén walked into her house. He watched as she tugged her cardigan's sleeve over the stitches on her arm.

"Yeah, just mad in general," Belén muttered and plopped down on the couch. "That bitch Pixel is gonna get thrown into the pipeline, I swear it!"

Barry learned from the Brie Larvan incident that whenever Belén cursed, she was an extra special type of mad. He surmised, though, that most of this anger wasn't solely directed for Pixel - it was for her brother. He took a seat next to her on the couch and put a hand on her back. "We'll find your brother soon, okay? And we'll give him any help he needs."

Belén had told him what Noah told her days ago. If it was true Rayan's health was deteriorating because of his powers, then STAR Labs would take every measure they could to help him.

"If he even wants to see me," Belén said quietly. "I captured his team member and when I get Pixel he's going to lose it."

"He'll have to understand it was for the best," Barry rubbed comforting circles on her back. "But please don't put any blame yourself. He made his decision and you made yours."

Belén knew he was right. She didn't regret choosing her team - choosing to be a good person - rather than be with her brother, but it didn't mean it didn't hurt. Her family was already broken - her father was dead, her mother was in Starling, her sister had lost her husband...

Barry saw her getting lost in thoughts he assumed were all bad. He wrapped an arm around waist and pulled her closer to his side. He lowered his head so that he could nuzzle his nose against her cheek. "Bells...?" his soft call earned a smile from her. He pressed a kiss to her cheek and purposely let his lips linger against her skin. "...Bells?"

"Barry, if you don't stop doing that we're going to have a problem," Belén shivered in a way she'd never really done. His touch was comforting no doubt, but this time she felt a necessity to have his arms around her and his lips on hers. Barry knew no such thing so he just kissed her cheek again, thinking it would at least annoy her and help her forget her problems for a moment. "Barry stop! I'm going to kick you!"

"How rude," the speedster frowned at her. She playfully rolled her eyes. "I guess I just won't kiss you anymore. Ever."

A snort slipped out from her. "As if. We both know you like to kiss me. You started to on your own right now."

"Yeah, to distract you!"

"Meaning you can't survive without my kisses. It only took you a couple months to be addicted? I'm good," she smirked proudly.

Barry shook his head. He stared at her for a good minute until he decided there was no actual problem with that. Yeah, he liked kissing her - so what? He'd never had a relationship like theirs and he wasn't going to be ashamed of it. He snaked an arm around her waist again and pulled her closer to him for another kiss. Even though she hadn't been expecting it, Belén smiled through it. Her hands ran up his chest to come rest over his shoulders.

Barry pulled away only slightly to speak but when he did his lips brushed over hers. "I'm never going to be sorry for being addicted to your kisses."

Belén blushed a bright pink and smiled. "I like your idea on how to end disagreements," she admitted.

Barry gave a smug smile and tilted his head. "I'm good too."

"Yes, you are," she moved her hands to grip his jacket's collars. "Now let me show you some of my ideas for...future references." She flashed a smile at his puzzled face then planted her lips on his. Even if Barry wanted to pull away, Belén had gotten a good hold on him and was progressively pulling him closer to her. She scooted back little by little, bringing him with her, until Barry was hovering over her on the couch.

The two were drawn to each other with each kiss they shared. Belén's hands slipped under Barry's jacket and ran all over his shirt, purposely pressed firmly against the fabric that wasn't as thick as one would have thought. Just as Barry was starting to kiss alongside her neck, something strange happened. As soon as he felt himself actually vibrate, he recoiled from her altogether.

"What...?" Belén slowly sat up, eyes dazed and confused.

"I'm sorry! I don't - I'm sorry about..." Barry felt his face warm, and he didn't need a mirror to know he was probably red from embarrassment. What the hell was that?

Belén languidly took in a breath, her hands passing over her hair. "That's unexpected," she admitted with a light chuckle. "But a good sign for my part." Barry dropped his hands from his face and gave her a puzzled look. She giggled and leaned forwards. "You like me."

Despite his embarrassment - which Barry thought would follow him till the day he died - a laugh slipped from him. "Clearly."

"You haven't actually dated someone since you got your powers have you?" Belén came to realize it was the same for her. No one ever really considered how having powers would affect all parts of their lives. Barry seemed to have gotten a small taste of that tonight. It was honestly hilarious to her, but she would hold in her laughter for his sake.

"No, so I...Bells, I'm sorry," Barry shook his head, but Belén scooted closer to him again.

Her arms draped over his shoulders, giving Barry that same tingle as before. "I'm not," she bluntly admitted. "Nothing wrong happened. I liked what happened...didn't you like what happened?"

"Kissing you? Like that? Of course I did," Barry said without putting any thought into it. Sure, they'd kissed a lot before, but so far it'd been those short types of kisses. Sometimes when they were in moments of comfort, they were longer but to say that they'd actually had a make out session before would be a lie. And tonight that they had...he'd done that.

"Barry it's okay," Belén chuckled only slightly. She didn't want to make him feel worse. She purposely kissed his neck once, then twice, and looked up to see him making an effort not to fall under her charms again.

"Belén..." he sounded strained, like was restraining himself from responding.

Belén tilted her head up to meet his gaze, smiling innocently. "Have I mention that I really love this relationship? Like...you're just it. I don't think I could imagine myself with anyone else. It honestly had to be you. It had to be you who helped me with my brother, who helped me get through my dad's death, who made me realize that...I could have feelings for someone again despite being...green and ugly."

A smile came to Barry's face, suddenly no longer tainted with embarrassment. "You're green, but you're not ugly," he started off with. He ran a hand through her hair, letting his fingers play with some strands. "You're the first the woman I've ever really done all that stuff for. I mean, I'll help whenever I can no matter who, but...I'm really glad Caitlin got us to go to that karaoke bar." Belén laughed just at the memory of him going up to the stage to sing. "And I'm really glad that I shouted in the streets that I wanted to go out with you." It became no problem to lean forwards and kiss her again. Unlike the last time, it wasn't heated but it was sweet, gentle kiss that expressed his desire to just be with her. He left her lips to press soft kisses down the side of her neck, one by one and slowly.

Belén closed her eyes and tilted her head. "Just perfect..." she whispered. When she opened her eyes she had Barry already looking at her again. "You're perfect," she leaned on him, resting both her hands on his chest. "Oh, and I can feel your abs and I just want you to know that I like."

Barry closed his eyes to laugh, lowering his head to hide his reddened face. "Belén, you always make me laugh, I..." he opened his eyes and looked at her with nothing but fondness.

Belén would have said more if it hadn't been for her sister's car making noise as it pulled up into the driveway. "Dammit, Maritza."

"That's my cue to go," Barry started getting up with the intention of speeding through the backdoor.

"And we were having such a nice time," Belén rose up from the couch. "One of us seemed to have a really good time."

"For the love of God, please never tell anyone," Barry put his hands together in a praying form. "Cisco would never let me live it down."

"Your secret's safe with me," Belén put a finger to her lips.

"Thank you," Barry gave her one more kiss before heading out.

When Maritza and Axel walked into the house, both carrying grocery bags, they found Belén sitting on the couch, smiling so widely but at nothing. Maritza raised an eyebrow at her sister and kicked the door shut behind her.

"Belén, if you're done smiling at the wall, we could really use some help," Maritza watched her sister practically get up in a brainwashed manner. Belén walked over to them and took some of the bags, still wearing that smile that Maritza now deemed as a 'dreamy smile', and headed into the kitchen.

"Mommy, what's wrong with auntie Belén?" Axel asked as soon as Belén was in the kitchen.

"I think she's just happy, sweetheart," Maritza concluded. It made her wonder how Belén could still continue to harbor feelings for that Flash when it was clear she really liked Barry. She didn't take her sister to be a woman who would cheat on someone.

~ 0 ~

When Barry returned to the Palayta residence, he was changed into more appropriate clothing and a lot more nervous. He went with a dark blue, buttoned up shirt, dark pants and shoes. He tugged on his open black blazer, feeling warm despite the night being cool. Yeah, he was nervous. He didn't even want to consider how a meeting with Belén's mother would ever go if he was reacting this way with the sister.

He knocked twice before the door opened up to reveal Belén on the other side. "Wow, you look...so, so pretty..." His lack of vocabulary came at the wrong moment.

Belén laughed nonetheless. Her face turned pink for a moment. Like him, she'd gone and changed into better clothing. She wore a white blouse with loose long sleeves and a magenta colored skirt. Her shoes matched the skirt perfectly. Her lips were colored a deep pink that honestly made it difficult for Barry not to swoop down and kiss them. Her hair was pressed to one side, curled, and with a couple tiny clips over the top of her head that created twisted rows.

"I can say the same for you," she pulled him into the house and gave him a short kiss.

"Auntie Belén!" Axel came rushing in from the backdoor.

"Axel, don't run!" they all collectively heard Maritza's call from the kitchen.

"I need help tying my shoes," Axel raised his left food where his white laces were dangling to the sides.

"Is that dirt I spy on your pants?" Belén bent down to tie his shoe though eyed the dried mud patch towards the bottom of his jeans.

Axel made a face but quickly shook his head. "Nooo..."

Belén looked up at Barry, both smiling. "As you can see, he still has problems telling the truth."

Belén's comment elicited a little frown from the boy. "I tell the truth!" Axel stomped his foot. "I was not playing! I was..." he paused to probably come up with an alternative, which made it all the more amusing for the others. "I was looking."

Belén laughed on the spot as she got back on her feet. "You were looking? Axel, you're too funny sometimes!" she swooped down and picked up the boy, peppering his face with kisses. "That's why you're my favorite!"

"He gets that funny thing from you though," Barry remarked before be suddenly frowned. "Hey - I thought I was your favorite?"

Axel bared his teeth in a wide smile. He wrapped his arms around Belén's neck. "Auntie Belén's my favorite person and I'm hers."

"We can share her though...right?" Barry stepped closer to them.

Axel shook his head. "Nope!"

Belén laughed while Barry took in Axel's bluntness. "Aw, don't feel bad. Of course I can handle my two favorite boys." She leaned forwards and kissed him on the lips. "But no one tell Cisco he's been bumped to number three."

A smile came to Barry's face but Axel's "yuck" made them remember it wasn't just them at the moment. Axel wiggled until Belén put him down.

"No kissing, it's yucky," Axel shivered and ran towards the kitchen. "Mommy! Can we eat now!?"

"For the record, I do not think kissing is 'yucky'," Barry said as they headed for the dining table. "Feel free to kiss me anytime you want."

"I'll remember that," Belén chuckled.

~0~

Dinner consisted of a delicious tasting spaghetti and bread sticks filled with gooey cheese. There was salad out for anyone who wanted, but the other two dishes took the main interest.

"Axel, please use a napkin," Maritza sighed in resignation as her son continued to drop marinara sauce all over his shirt. The little boy really loved spaghetti.

"I don't blame him, this is really good," Barry loved the taste of the sauce as soon as it hit his taste buds. "I've tasted spaghetti countless times before but this one is really different."

Belén patted his arm while he took another forkful of spaghetti into his mouth. "You forget we're half Italian, Barry. That automatically makes us better at spaghetti."

"I love this!"

Belén laughed, as did her sister. Barry became aware he was putting on quite a show for the family. He cleared his throat and gently put his fork down. "You cook really well, Maritza."

The woman in question smiled. "It wasn't just me who cooked. Belén helped too."

"And me!" Axel momentarily stopped eating to remind of his contribution.

"So you write, you dance, and you cook...?" Barry hoped Belén knew he also meant to add in her badass heroic talent in that. "I'm beginning to think you're the triple threat in this relationship."

"No reason we can't both be," Belén smirked. She reached for a napkin on the table, accidentally allowing Maritza to catch sight of the stitches Caitlin had put in earlier in the day.

Maritza blinked and slowly put her glass down. "Belén, what happened there?"

Belén followed her sister's gaze to her arm and panicked. "I, um...I...I had...an accident at work."

"At work?" Maritza considered the excuse for a moment before reminding Belén of one important detail. "I thought you had the day off?"

Crap! Belén brought her hand to her head to cover her when she briefly glanced at Barry. The speedster had another excuse up and ready. "We visited Iris today," he spoke up.

"I tripped," Belén quickly jumped on and even laughed. "You know me. I got into one of my rambling states and I tripped. It was no big deal."

Maritza had stopped listening after reminding Belén she didn't work today. Her mind had raced back to her earlier meeting with Rayan and Angie. Could Angie have done that to Belén today? Maritza felt her stomach churn with guilt. They'd fought Belén before, sure, but it was never their intention to deliberately hurt her for the hell of it.

"Maritza, you're a kindergarten teacher right?" Barry's question pulled Maritza from her thoughts. He was eager to change topics before she started asking even more questions.

She nodded. "Yeah. I eventually got hired."

"That must be hard, though, right? Having to take care of so many kids? Especially at that age?"

Maritza gave a light shrug. "I've been teaching for years now. Plus, I kinda have one of my own..." she nodded over to her son who in the middle of sucking in a spaghetti noodle.

Axel grinned at the attention. "Mommy says I get to go to kindergarten this year."

"I didn't take him to preschool because of what happened to my husband, Chris, but...he'll start later in the year," Maritza smiled at Axel. At the moment, he was the only thing that made her days worthwhile.

"I want to go to school and be in Mommy's classroom!" Axel exclaimed.

"I don't think that might happen, Axel," Belén cautiously went around that topic. He had all these ideas about what school would be like and she didn't want to be the one to burst his bubble with reality. "But I'm sure whatever teacher you get will be a fun one."

"Kindergarten teachers are always fun," Barry nodded his head. "Mine used to teach us the alphabet with these purple laminated cards that had little pictures next to these cartoons."

Belén smiled at him and chuckled. "Wow, you were a nerd back then too. What five year old even knows what laminated cards are?"

"Just because someone actually cared about their education doesn't make them nerds, Belén," Maritza playfully scolded her.

"He knows I'm just messing with him," Belén innocently smiled at Barry.

"Not really," he dramatically sighed. "Your sister is surprisingly mean."

Both he and Maritza smirked when Belén gasped in offence.

"I know that. You know, when we were young, she used to steal my clothes and hide them in our backyard bushes," Maritza could see Belén making a cutting motion across her neck. "I caught her and you know what she said? I should have let her borrow my shoes. My shoes."

Barry gawked at Belén who was staring at her plate. Though they couldn't see it, her face was red as the marinara sauce of the spaghetti. "You were evil," he started to laugh.

"No-" Belén's head shot up to defend herself, "-I wasn't! I was young!" she glared at Maritza who was beginning to laugh at Belén. "And I was just pissed that my sister wouldn't let me borrow a pair of shoes she didn't even use!" she huffed and crossed her arms.

"Why are you making auntie Belén mad?" frowned Axel. He looked at his laughing mother to Barry, wondering why they were being mean to his aunt. "Stop laughing! It's not nice!"

"Your aunt's not nice, Axel," Maritza sobered slowly from her laughter.

Barry kissed Belén's temple and grabbed her hand (though he had to uncross her arms first). "You have the most unique childhood stories, you know that? You're just amazing."

At his words, Belén started to come back from her fit. "You think so?"

He squeezed her hand and nodded his head. "You're my triple threat and I'm not letting you go."

Belén's smile seemed like it would crack her face from how wide it was.

As Maritza watched them get into one of their couple moment, she just couldn't understand how Belén could ever have feelings for another man besides Barry. The way Belén looked at Barry was enough to convince strangers that she was head over heels for that guy. And it was clear as day that he liked her - a lot - and that he cared for. She knew that while she'd been M.I.A. during their father's murder, Barry had been with Belén. He was the one to pull Belén out of her near depression - God knew how but he did. And the measures he'd gone to get one date from her sister were ridiculous. He liked her. Period.

Maritza knew that. Belén knew it.

So what the hell was going on?

~0~

The next day at STAR Labs, Belén arrived in the cortex eith s tray of Jitters coffee. As she dropped off coffee for Caitlin and Cisco, the two scientists exchanged bemused glances since their metahuman friend had 'dreamy smile' on her face the entire time.

"You okay, Belén?" Cisco finally asked.

"Of course," Belén took a sip of her own coffee. "I mean, I know how things are but right now I feel...good."

"Any reason why?" Caitlin raised an eyebrow.

Belén shrugged and drank some more coffee. "Barry and I had dinner with my sister last night. You know, since my mom's in Starling City, my dad's dead, and my brother's evil...it was nice having one normal family dinner."

"We're happy for you," Caitlin smiled. At least something remained normal and happy around here.

But it was as if her thoughts were heard. A minute later the cortex erupted with alarms.

"We have a robbery in progress," Cisco announced while Caitlin jumped on the search beside him.

"Not another jewelry store," the brunette pointed out, hoping that this would just be a petty break in by a normal non-metahuman criminal. I never thought I'd say that in my life.

"Where is it, then?" Belén hurried behind her two friends' chairs.

"Hold on, there's two metahumans attacking at the same time!" Caitlin caught the second incident while Cisco remained working on the first. "This one's at the park!"

"Dammit!" Cisco's exclaim made both women then their heads at him. "I swear to god I'll go fight Pixel myself!" he soon realized what he said and acknowledged what he would be up against if he followed through on his word. "Never mind, Bells she's all yours." Belén playfully rolled her eyes.

"Actually, Barry's closer to her. She's attacking a clothing store near the precinct," Caitlin informed them just before she got ahold of Barry.

"I'll take care of the park then," Belén started going for her suit. She just hoped her other side would be in a cooperating mood today.

~ 0 ~

The Azalea arrived at Central City's main park ready to bring in a new metahuman who thought they were so smart they could get away with terrorizing people in broad daylight. She stood over her favorite water fountain and looked around.

"What...the hell?" she whispered. People were running away but because objects - daily life objects and public street objects - were flying in the air threatening to crash over people. She had to duck when a mailbox threatened to hit her. It clanged against the cement upon its fall.

"Belén? What do you see?" she heard Cisco ask.

"Weird stuff..." Belén couldn't think of a better explanation than that. "Things are just...moving...on their own?"

"We're not dealing with a ghost, Bells. Although, that would be cool-"

"Cisco!" Caitlin hissed. "Belén, things don't just get up and move on their own. Someone has to be controlling them like, like-"

Belén's face dropped when she made the realization. "-someone's who telekinetic..."

"...Belén, hold on, Barry will be there as soon as he can," Cisco said rather urgently. Both he and Caitlin knew if this was truly Rayan making an appearance, Belén would have a hard time figuring him. They were just glad Dr. Wells wasn't with then at the moment because if things were true about him then he would have no problem ordering Belén to fight her twin brother.

"I can take care of - AAH!" Belén shouted when an invisible force threw her off the fountain, making her crash into park bench.

"Belén!?" Cisco called but only heard her groans from the other line. "Belén!"

Beside him, Caitlin was doing her best to get ahold of Barry. "Barry, hurry up and get to the park!" the brunette scientist exclaimed.

"I'm trying!" the speedster was in his own problem at the moment. "Pixel's a lot harder to catch when she can disappear into thin air!"

At the park, Belén sat upright and cracked her back. "That hurt," she frowned.

"Kinda the point, Belén," she heard the indistinctly voice of her brother. She looked ahead and saw Rayan, under a black mask, coming towards her. "You hurt me, I hurt you. Just like when we were kids, right?"

"We never did this as kids!" Belén quickly got up on her feet. "We argued and, yeah maybe we threw each other things but...this!?" she gestured to the destruction he was causing. "How could you get up to this?"

Rayan flatout laughed and it pained Belén because it was a mirthful laugh. He didn't care. "I think the right question is how did we end up here? Brother and sister, fighting against each other, while our father is dead thanks to some metahuman?"

"Rayan, please. You're not well," Belén could see that her brother wasn't all the way there like Noah had said. Even with his mask on, she could see his eyes were widened and...dark. He kept flexing his fists, opening them and closing them, like he was anxious about something. "Let me take you back to STAR Labs where we can help you-"

Rayan's response was to pick up the park bench behind her and bring it over her. Belén yelped and struck vine through it before it would crash over her. Rayan didn't hesitate to strike again. He swung an arm to the left and created that invisible force strong enough to throw Belén to the side. Her body tumbled on the ground, landing on her back. She breathed hard and started feeling the other side of her powers creeping over her. Blotches of green crawled over her skin, forming light green scales.

"Belén? Are you awake?" Cisco called through the comms. Both he and Caitlin could see her vitals spiking, and since they had done their recent training with her, they were well aware of what was happening.

Rayan turned his palms over and made a swing towards the fountain. Belén was about to crash into the fountain when a green vine wrapped around it and allowed her to make a swing back to her brother. She kicked him in the stomach and watched him stagger back. Angrier than before, Rayan prepared his fists and started throwing whatever he could pick up around him.

"STOP!" Belén screamed while she deflected what she could, but her brother wouldn't listen.

Vines sprang from her body without her order, acting on their own as they swung on Rayan. He couldn't keep up with the different vines threatening to capture him - and some even attempting to choke his neck - until he balled one fist and brought it down. Belén gasped as her left knee suddenly bent forwards. She fell on it and no matter how hard she tried to get up, her leg wouldn't listen.

A malicious smile came to Rayan's face. "Like it? I've been working on a rat to try and get the right control over the nervous system. My telekinetic powers are advancing and I guess you get to be the first human I use."

"Rayan...I'm your sister." Tears filled Belén's eyes while she started coming out of her 'other side'. The green around her skin started retreating now that she was getting emotional over her brother.

Rayan tilted his head at her. "And yet, you turned your back on me. You left me for the Flash and all your little teammates."

"No, I-I didn't. I love you. You're my brother and-" but she screamed when Rayan managed to twist her second leg, forcing her completely down on her knees. She couldn't budge from the position and even when she tried to move she could feel the force of Rayan's powers inside her legs. It hurt like hell.

"Belén!?" Caitlin shrieked from the other line. She switched comms. to get ahold of Barry. "Barry! Get over to the park now!"

"I'm trying!" Barry shouted back. Pixel was deliberately wasting his time and he knew it. Still, he couldn't just leave the civilians to her mercy. "Call Nina!" he said as a last resort.

"You're a traitor," Rayan was having his go at the park. "You wanted to be a hero for this city? It came at the cost of your own family and you didn't care. So now I stopped caring about you." He looked around and spotted a vendor cart left on its side. He picked it up with his telekinesis and launched it at his sister.

Belén squeezed her eyes shut and awaited the blow.

"Enough!" Plasticine threw her purple mass to force the vendor cart away. Belén cracked open an eye and saw Plasticine shooting purple directly at Rayan. He hadn't expected it so he was thrown into the fountain.

Belén immediately felt the pressure off her legs when her brother went under the water. She got up on her feet but even then she fell forwards. Yup, her legs hurt. Badly.

"You are out of your mind!" Plasticine shouted at Rayan. "The hell are you doing with all this!?" she gestured to the park and barely kept herself from pointing at her sister behind.

Rayan got up from the fountain and set a deadly glare on Plasticine. "You are going to betray me too?"

"You are sick," Plasticine spat. "And I'm not gonna let you do something you'll regret when we get you medical health."

"You'll have to put me down if you want this to end."

"Fine," Plasticine spat. She started shooting again, pelting Rayan with the purple mass that - with the water - stuck to him.

Belén couldn't understand what the hell was going on but she knew her brother was going to get away any moment. She stared blowing her azalea poison into the air, forcing Plasticine and Rayan to breath it in. The two started coughing, as predicted, and just when Belén was going to strike with a vine she saw the pixelation of the one and only Pixel forming in-between Rayan and Plasticine.

A minute later, Barry joined them and took away the poison. He came in directly to punch Pixel - for the woman owed him - but she disappeared and reappeared behind. Plasticine attempted to punch him but he ducked and punched her instead. She went down and looked up in time to see Pixel clamber onto his back.

"Get the hell off me!" Barry exclaimed. The fact she was actually light didn't make it easier to shake her off.

Pixel smirked and put her hands the sides of his face. "Get ready to see stars, Flash." Her hands emitted a type of energy that Barry felt to the core of his head. He screamed and was forced down to his knees.

"Leave him alone!" Belén cried. She couldn't believe what was happening. Her brother was stuck to a fountain after fighting her and now they were moving onto Barry and here she was unable to move. "Please!"

Plasticine glanced at her sister to see her eyes shining with new tears. Belén was looking directly at the Flash, crying for him? Anyone a mile away could see she had feelings for him, that she cared for him. How could she do that? Barry is such a nice guy and I know she cares for him too. How could she do this to him?

And then the bell went off in Plasticine's head.

Her hand covered her mouth just as she gasped. Her head whipped in the Flash's direction, her eyes wide to the impossible. Without thinking, she shot a purple mass that forced Pixel into the same fountain Rayan was in. She rushed into the fountain and picked Pixel up. "Get us out now!"

Pixel threw her a glare but seeing the Flash getting up meant they had about a second before he grabbed them all. She grabbed Plasticine's arm then reached for Rayan. "Tough luck, little sis," she winked at Belén before disappeared with her two comrades.

"NO!" Belén shouted in vain. She scrambled to get up but each time she did, her legs buckled and down she would go again.

~ 0 ~

"You are very lucky that you didn't break any bones or twist either leg," Caitlin was still reading off her results when she told Belén she hadn't sustained major injuries. "You look pretty good."

"Except for the cuts," Belén pointed to her face that held a couple cuts from Rayan's attacks. "And my broken heart due to the fact my brother attacked me...because he's evil." Her voice shook terribly, making Caitlin look at Cisco and Barry. "But yeah, I'm fine." Belén got off the bed and when her legs buckled, Barry stepped in to keep her steady. "When the hell can I walk normally again?"

"It'll take a couple hours for your nerves to re-adjust," Caitlin stepped aside to Barry could take Belén into the cortex.

Dr. Wells was looking over the public video feed they had from the park. He rubbed his chin while looking particularly at Rayan's attacks. "It's actually quite interesting how Rayan has managed to advance his telekinesis."

"Very interesting?" Belén couldn't help her sourness. "Seriously?"

Wells looked up with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, but this is the first metahuman we encounter who has advances his own powers to control parts of the body."

"Rayan is sick and we need to help him."

"We will," Wells' reassurance meant nothing for her. As far as she knew, he would try to kill Rayan too.

"I'm gonna take her home," Barry said, hoping Wells wouldn't keep them around to discuss this fantastic new ability of Rayan's.

"Get rest, Bells," Cisco rubbed a hand on Belén's arm. "Anything you need, you call us." Caitlin nodded beside him.

"Thanks," Belén's voice was barely heard but the two knew what she'd tried to say.

Barry picked her up in a bridal style manner and headed for home. He wasn't surprised when she'd asked him if he could stay with her for a while. Maritza's car wasn't in the driveway so he figured if Belén had to vent, now would be the perfect time.

"Can we go out to the backyard?" she asked him after he carried her in. "I can walk it if you want to put me down."

"I don't think so," Barry's response made her smile. She leaned her head against his chest while he walked them towards the backyard. He came out and helped her sit down on the grass, against the lone tree in the yard.

"Do you need anything?" he asked her after. "Water? We could get dinner? I could go to Jitters and-"

"I don't want to eat anything," Belén said quietly.

He didn't push hard for dinner knowing that he would only get her even more upset. Instead, he took a seat beside her on the grass and reached for her hand. They stayed silent for a couple minutes until Belén started sniffling out loud.

"He attacked me. He actually fought me," the more she told herself it happened the less she was able to believe it. "My twin. He's my brother and he said he stopped caring about me. He stopped loving me."

"He can't do that, even if he says he has...he can't," Barry didn't think that even in a crazed state Rayan would be able to forget Belén was his blood - his twin.

"He nearly broke my legs, Barry. He didn't care what he was doing," Belén angrily rubbed away some tears off her face. "He looked me in the eyes and said that I stopped caring about him so he stopped caring about me. I drove my brother away!"

"No, you did nothing wrong, Belén," Barry shifted so that he faced Belén. "You have done nothing but try to find him and he never appreciated it. I think..." he sighed, hating to be the one to tell her this, "...I think Rayan stopped being your brother the day the Particle Accelerator went off. It wasn't his choice to get his powers but it was his choice to stay away from his family."

"I could have tried harder-"

"Belén, listen to me, please: you did everything you could. Rayan just didn't want your help," Barry gripped her hand between his. "None of this is your fault."

"Then why do I feel so awful?" Belén burst into sobs.

It absolutely broke Barry's heart to see her like that. He took her into his arms and held her tight. He repeatedly told her it was alright and that it wasn't her fault, but he knew his words carried no weight for him. All she knew was that her family was essentially broken.

In that moment, neither of them heard when Maritza had returned home. Without her son, Maritza intended on getting herself together before going to pick him up from Mrs. Andrews. She heard her sister in the backyard, however, and upon realizing it was sobs that she heard, Maritza hurried into the kitchen. The moment she saw Barry was with Belén, she dove to the side and barely peered through the small window over the kitchen sink. Due to the backdoor still being open, she could hear perfectly.

Belén was crying over them, over their brother...

And Barry was there to help her, to sooth her, support her...

Maritza closed her eyes and moved away from the window. Barry was the Flash. Of course it made sense. Belén could never be the type of woman to lead on two different men. Maritza had seen Belén give the same look at Barry during their dinner and then again for the Flash during their fight. It was the same look of fondness, of care...of feelings. She only liked one man and that man happened to lead two lives. And so far, all she and Rayan had attempted to do was hurt the Flash and anyone around him. Now apparently it meant hurting Belén too.

This isn't what she wanted. For a long time, Maritza hadn't really known what she wanted. She'd been drifting day after day, and now suddenly she had one furious brother on one side and a brokenhearted sister who'd been hurt by her own siblings.

#arrowverseocs #ocappreciation #the flash #barry allen #the flash fics #barry allen fics #the flash imagines #barry allen imagines #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #fic: it had to be you

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caps-lockdown · 5 years

Text

Operation Man Flu: Part 3

I got done with Part 3 a little earlier than I thought I would, so here it is! I’m 3000% sure it’s my favorite part of this series, and I blame all of the gifs and pictures from Red Sea Diving Resort. Haven’t seen it yet, trying to protect my ovaries. Anyway, enjoy!

Summary: As a hacker nobody agent of S.H.I.E.L.D you get roped into what might possibly be your worst nightmare come to life. Will you survive the long weekend? Will you have a chance to get closer to a certain reserved Captain during this extremely stressful (and hilarious) situation?

Pairings: Steve x Shield Agent Female Reader!

Words: 5,672

Extra Warning for this part: Get ready for Confident/Flirty Steve Rogers. And some adult(ish) situations. Reader discretion is advised.

Ratings/Warnings: I’m going to put hard R here for the whole thing because there’s going to be cussing, mentions of sickness, alcohol consumption, physical fights, mental breakdowns. Jealousy, love triangles (sort of), angst, drama, and lots of crude humor. Also as of part three some adult situations. Just strap in.

Also no Beta so my mistakes are my only thing to claim, I don’t own any characters either, with the exception of the reader, a doctor, and some random characters here and there.

It is in Y/N (Your Name) L/N (Last Name) format. Enjoy!

(Flashbacks are completely in italics) (Picture of outfit isn’t mine, found it on the webs)

Part Three

Saturday, 1000 hours

You were awoken to the sound of a quiet knock on your door, you rubbing your eyes to look at the clock on your nightstand before attempting to get out of bed. You hadn’t had the best night of sleep, your hair looking like something from a horror movie and your rumpled matching penguin pajamas not helping matters.

“Hold on a damn minute. Jeesh.” You called, bringing your hand to the knob and throwing it open.

You came face to face with a very happy looking Sam Wilson.

“Y/N you sly fox you!”

“Sam, it’s ten in the morning. You are way too happy and I have way too much blood in my caffeine system to allow that much happy.” You went to close the door in Wilson’s face but he calmly pressed his hand into it, keeping you from returning to your bed.

“Ah but I come bearing gifts!”

Your arm shot out to grab his offering of coffee, you sighing in complete bliss as the warm latte hit your lips.

“Hazelnut. You remembered.”

“Sure did! Now let’s go we have much to discuss.” He began to pull on your arm, a quizzical expression covering your facial features.

“Sam?”

“Yes my sleepy seductress?”

“I need to change out of my pjs first.”

Your close friend looked down at your current attire and nodded his head in a “Yes you do” kind of way that would have offended you if you were more awake.

“True enough. Wear the outfit you wore to the movies with me last Wednesday!”

“That’s oddly specific Wilson, any reason?”

“I’ll explain that on the way just do it!” Sam clipped at you, shutting the door behind him as you began to look through your closet.

“How bossy.”

Going through your various garments you finally found the combination of pieces your question evading pal had demanded you put on.

“Now what was the reasoning behind this demand?” You chose to ignore Sam’s low whistle as you shut the door to your room, bringing the coffee to your lips to take another sip.

“I heard from Tony about an hour ago that our favorite Captain woke him up at five this morning to talk about YOU!”

“Me?” You sputtered, almost dropping your coffee cup but managing to keep your trembling hands steady, Sam nodding enthusiastically.

“Yes you! Did you really tell him that you could wave a flag with your feelings in red, white, and blue letters and he wouldn’t notice?”

“I was tired Sam, and he kept rambling on about how wonderful I was. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that, and honestly I didn’t think he would catch on.” An embarrassed huff left your mouth, Wilson only smiling back at you.

“Well I for one am super proud of you!’

“Yea thanks but what did he say to Stark?”

“What makes you think I’m a snitch?” You gave him a flat look as you entered the elevator to head up to Quarantine. “Fine, I’ll tell you…”

~~Saturday Morning, 0500 hours~~

“Stark….Tony…Wake up!”

“Shit Cap…someone better be dying.”

“Just you. Now I need your help!” Steve helped a cranky Tony sit up in his bed, the only light available coming from the small office they had been using for supplies.

“What’s going on Rogers? Do I want to know what time it is?”

“….It’s early.”The Captain had a sheepish smile on his face as Tony checked his watch on the table next to his bed, groaning as his eyes strained to read the time. “Listen it’s about Y/N…”

“I saw you leave with her last night. Did you finally make a move?”

“No, but I think she did.”

Steve proceeded to tell Tony about your conversations you two had the entire day, Tony only nodding off a couple times but Steve couldn’t bring himself to be mad at the man. After all it was his fault the superhero was even up at this hour, and he clearly didn’t want to be.

“So lemme get this straight. Y/N has been giving you signals ALL day, and not once did you act on it? Damn I knew you were slow Cap but this is a new one for you.”

“I wasn’t sure if she was just being nice! I always thought her and Sam had something!” The blonde man whispered angrily, mostly at himself for not seeing it sooner.

“Did you mean what you said to her?”

“Every word.”

“I see.” Tony nodded, his mind lost in thought for a moment before moving himself back down to a sleeping position on the bed. ��You need to talk to her Steve. Tell her how you feel.”

“When?”

“Obviously not now.” The sick Stark growled out, shooing the soldier away. “Go get some sleep and leave me to get some myself. I’m seeing three of you and that’s three too many for this time of day.”

“But Tony what do I…”

“Goodnight Cap.” Steve rolled his eyes as Tony began to fake snore, taking the obvious hint and climbing into the spare bed next to him. Sleep didn’t come easy, but he managed to get some rest in before he awoke to the biggest case of sinus congestion he’d ever had.

1010

“Sam that’s great and all, but we both know that neither of us is going to do anything. I mean our relationship is strictly professional. I don’t even know his favorite color!”

“It’s blue.” Wilson stated with another stupid smirk, you looking down at your outfit and back to him.

“You don’t say?” Rolling your eyes you brought your attention to the shouting that was getting louder as you neared the group of ill men.

“Tony I’m your wife and you are going to listen to me and take your stupid medicine before I shove it down your throat myself!”

“Pepper must be here.” You chuckled at her shouting.

“You don’t say?” Sam mimicked you, earning a smack in the arm.

You walked in to seeing Pepper Stark straddling Tony on his bed, attempting to get him to open his mouth to take the same medicine Bucky had taken the day before. Clint and Bruce were taking bets on who would win, and Bucky for once was remaining silent.

“Oh Y/N, Sam, right on time! Help me out here would you?” You shook your head at the head of Stark industries, coming up alongside the bed to grab one of his arms to hold it in place, Sam holding down the other one from the other side.

“What betrayal is this? Et tu Brute?” Tony whimpered as Pepper forced him to down the liquid, coughing and tossing his head from side to side.

“Next time you straddle your husband, don’t ask me for help. It feels weird.” Sam muttered, avoiding eye contact with Tony as he stood to his full height.

“That’s what she said.” You giggled as Pepper rolled her eyes, Bucky bursting out laughing, which was the first noise he had made since you got there.

“Where’s Rogers?” Sam questioned, looking around the room.

“On your left.” You heard a small voice croak out behind you, your body instantly turning around to gaze at the bed next to Tony’s.

“Rogers…you look like shit.” Your words fell out of your mouth as Steve nodded in agreement. He was in the same clothes as the day before, his skin paler than normal, and his face was puffy. He sounded even worse, if that was possible.

“Damn Cap, looks like you went a few rounds with Muhammad Ali. And lost.” Sam managed to get out, the Captain in question keeping his eyes on you, never acknowledging Wilson’s comment.

“How’d you know blue was my favorite color?” You smiled sadly at Steve’s croaky congested voice, looking down at your outfit before making eye contact with Sam.

“Lucky guess.” You shrugged, the soldier’s smile widening as you bent over to feel his forehead with the back of your hand.

“You’re a bit hot.” Frowning you withdrew your hand, making a mental note at how the blonde’s eyes closed when your skin had made contact with his.

“Thanks Doll, you’re not too bad yourself.”

“Ahem…clearly Rogers has something, he’s not acting like himself.” You scratched the back of your neck, trying to hide your face.

“Nonsense. I feel fine L/W.” To make a show of his honesty he promptly shot himself up in the bed, causing you to jump back and nearly land on Tony. “See?”

You noticed as no sooner had those words came out of his mouth, the super soldier began to sway back and forth before finally falling back on the bed, rather ungracefully. “I…I may have been wrong.”

“Don’t move!” You demanded, feeling a twinge in your heart seeing him in such a state.

“ Ya easy there Pal, Wilson gave you some strong medication earlier. You’re in for a hazy day my friend.” Bucky commented, Sam nodding to the bottle on Tony’s table.

“Will you help me Y/N? I don’t...”Steve coughed into his shirt while you brushed his hair back out of his face. “I don’t think I can do this without you…”

“I’m not leaving you. I promise. Now be a good soldier and stay right here, I’ll get you a washcloth for your head.”

“Thanks…Y/N, I don’t..I don’t deserve you.” He choked out, placing a hand on top of yours for a brief moment, you heart fluttering in your chest as he smiled at you. Even looking like hell he still managed to look breathtakingly handsome.

“Sure you do…Steve. I’ll be right back don’t move.” You reassured him, taking off to find your supplies.

“Don’t plan on it!” He called back, Sam giving you a thumbs up as you pushed past him to get to the office.

What had made him so flirty? It had to be the fever. He wouldn’t do this if he was perfectly healthy.

“That went SUPER Y/N well done!” Sam praised you, shutting the door to the bathroom while you ran the cloth from the supply closet under cold water.

“Easy Sam, he’s obviously affected by the meds and sickness. He’d never be that open with me normally.”

“Yea but you still need to give him a shot! I don’t know what more you want!”

“It’s really simple.” You rung the cloth out, turning to the soldier and giving him a sad look. “I want him to ask me how my day has been. I want him to ask me out on a date and not feel like he was guilt tripped into it by you, or Tony, or even Bucky. I don’t want this sickness to give him the courage to do something he wouldn’t do in his right mind.”

“Y/N...” Sam started, a deep frown covering his face as he brought his hand to his mouth.

“I know, pathetic.”

“No it’s…I think it’s high time you get your ass out of this bathroom.” Sam commanded before running into the nearby stall and slamming the door shut. You didn’t stick around but heard him retching as you closed the door.

“Where’s Wilson?” Clint asked confused as you came out of the bathroom alone.

“Worshipping the porcelain god Barton. I’ll go ahead and make his bed ready.”

1300

“I brought Lunch! And help!” Pepper called out to you, your eyes lighting up at seeing Natasha and Wanda enter the room with her.

“Ladies you are a sight for sore eyes!” You beamed, giving each of them an emotional hug. You weren’t the only woman here anymore, you weren’t going to have to deal with these men by yourself any longer. Thank you to whoever is listening.

“Man Y/N, you miss us?” Nat snickered at your rumpled state.

“Yes. Yes I have and I’m not ashamed to admit it. These guys are the absolute worst.”

“Hey!” You jumped as the men all complained in unison.

“See what I’ve had to deal with?”

“You poor woman.” Wanda muttered sympathetically, looking at all of the sick bed inhabitants as she and Nat took off their coats.

“It hasn’t been all bad. Clint, Bruce and Thor have all been excellent patients. Barely any issues with them. Save for Thor’s incident earlier…” You trailed off to look at the pile of wood that used to be the table next to the God of thunder’s bed. It was covered in purple liquid.

“That medicine was foul Y/N, I only did what was necessary to avoid future consumption.”

“You realize the Doctor left us with tons more right?” The three other ladies and you laughed at his hurt expression, walking into the office to set the food on the counter and start dividing it up.

“You sure Chinese food is a good idea Pepper?” You questioned the red head as you pulled the pints of kung pao chicken out of a large paper bag.

“My mom always made me eat Chinese food to clear out my sinuses when I was sick.” Pepper loaded the contents of her bag onto some trays, Wanda effortlessly lifting them to float on their own out of the office.

“I could get so much done if I had super powers…”

“Tell me about it.” Nat agreed, helping you carry the remaining containers, Pepper ending the line with a couple pots of hot tea.

“DUDE IS THAT CHINESE FOOD?” Sam piped up, rubbing his hands together like a kid on Christmas as he sat up in his bed, Bruce and Clint obviously perking up as well.

“Thank god I’m starving.” Tony exclaimed, his elation ending as soon as Pepper placed a bowl of soup in front of him. “Uh honey? What is this?” He looked at the mostly broth concoction, his wife patting his head.

“It’s wonton soup sweetheart. Don’t want you eating anything super heavy when it might come up later.”

“This is the second time you’ve betrayed me today and it isn’t even two o’clock in the afternoon. Did I forget our anniversary again?” Tony scratched his head as if trying to figure out where he messed up.

“Of course not Tony. Just consider this a little karma for being an absolute child recently.” His wife kissed his cheek lovingly before taking a big bite of her chow mein in front of him.

“I don’t want this! I want sweet and sour pork!”

“Should have thought about that earlier when I had to hold you down to get you to swallow. I know it tastes bad but you just have to get over it.”

“That’s what he said.” You said quietly, Sam and Bucky chuckling in response.

“You can want all you want sweetie but it won’t change anything. You get what you get and don’t throw a fit.” The female stark cooed, Tony pouting in sadness.

“Stop talking to me like I’m a child.”

“Stop acting like one then.” Her retort caused you to snort into your fried rice, the rest of the Avengers taking time to hide their own laughter. You had taken a seat at the edge of Sam’s bed, Steve taking up nearly all of his and you didn’t want to cross any lines. You had no idea how giant this man actually was until you saw him sprawled out on the hospital mattress.

“Hey Y/N can you pass me some hot mustard?” You complied, distractedly handing Sam some of the condiment packets, your eyes not leaving the stricken super solider a few beds down. No one had really spoken to him since this morning, and his downcast eyes were breaking your heart.

“Just go ask to sit with him, you know you want to.” Sam nudged you along, you looking over at him briefly before gathering your food and walking over to him. Nat had taken a seat next to Clint and Bruce, while Wanda ate alongside Thor, eating and laughing. You felt a twinge of guilt as you neared the Captain, memories of school and eating alone coursing through your mind.

“Care if I…If I join you?” Your voice was quiet and you stared down at your food, Steve’s blue eyes crinkling as he broke out into a large smile.

“I would love that Y/N.” You offered a small smile as he moved his feet, allowing you to sit at the end of his bed, boots handing off the sides.

“You haven’t changed your clothes from yesterday.”

“Good observation. I can’t really move let alone drag myself to take a shower and change. So unless you’re going to help me…” You felt your face grow hot as you heard Tony behind you start to cough.

“I’m sorry I must have missed something. Who are you and what have you done with Steve Rogers?” You asked, bringing your gaze up his body slowly, blue eyes meeting yours and you could practically feel your skin sizzling from the heat behind his gaze. Watching his jaw tighten you held your breath as he leaned forward just a bit, never breaking eye contact with you .

“Right here Doll. I’ve always been right here.” The statement came out like a breathless whisper and you clung to your plate, Steve giving you a flirty wink before going back to eating. You slowly released a breath you hadn’t realized you were holding, your nerves a now bundled mess.

“Oh man would you two just get a room already?” Tony’s voice breaking you out of your trance, “Seriously, I’m trying to eat here.”

You avoided Steve’s face the rest of lunch.

1700

“I’m telling you, I think Stark is hallucinating. He called me Maria earlier.” Nat nearly spat out her drink as her and Wanda looked at you, taking in what you had said.

“Wait like, Maria Hill? Agent Hill?”

“I’m assuming so, I don’t know any other Maria’s.” You shrugged, Wanda looking warily over to the man in question.

“I’ll go check on him.” Nat squared her shoulders, walking away from you and Wanda. The three of you had been speaking to Thor and Bruce before when you had brought up what Stark had called you. The demi god and doctor seemed to be on the up and up, body temperatures back to normal, both of them able to keep their food down. You were fairly certain that the two of them would be back to normal tomorrow, as long as Thor continued to take the medicine. Which was proving to be a feat in itself.

“Helllooooo nurse.” Your ears perked up at the sound of Stark whistling, although very poorly, at Nat as she stepped over to his bedside.

“Ohhh boy this is gonna be good.” You heard Sam mutter and you moved to get closer, in case something terrible happened. Shooting your arm out you managed to grab Sam’s phone as he went to capture whatever was about to go down.

“What the hell Y/N?!” Sam whispered angrily, you shushing him as you tapped the record button.

“I have the better angle.” You winked, his demeanor changing immediately, quickly turning back to the action.

“Tony…who am I?” Nat questioned the delirious man, only getting a laugh from him.

“You’re my amazing wife. The love of my life. My favorite person in the whole universe…besides the Kid. Shit I shouldn’t have said that.” He grimaced as Nat’s eyes slanted in suspicion.

“Stark, I’m not Pepper. It’s me, Natasha.” The red head went to touch his forehead, Tony reaching to grab her hand and pull her close to him within an instant.

“Damn he may be sick but he ain’t slow.” Sam commented and you found yourself trying not to laugh, fighting to hold the phone steady as Nat’s body language changed on a dime.

“Do you have a kiss for your favorite hero sweetheart, or are you going to make me beg?”

The resulting slap was so loud it woke Bucky up from his after lunch nap.

“I DIDN’T DO IT!” Barnes shouted, the room erupting in laughter as he looked around, obviously panicked.

“For once you’re actually right.” Sam attempted to calm the shocked man down, you ending the video, laughing too hard at everything going on to hold the phone.

“Is Maria okay?” Tony asked, your laughter only getting louder as everyone else chimed in.

1800

“No way. HELL NO!” Your voice was shrill, anger reaching its absolute limits.

“Come on Y/N. You just have to sit outside the bathroom and make sure Rogers and Wilson don’t die in the shower.” Nat encouraged you, your head whipping to the side to stare at her incredulously.

“Absolutely fucking not. You can’t pay me enough to even consider it!” You crossed your arms over your chest in defiance.

“Listen we aren’t happy either. Do you think I want to risk seeing Clint naked?”

“Or I Bucky?” Wanda cut in, you pinching the bridge of your nose as you weighed your options. Pepper had already helped Tony up to their suite, getting him cleaned up after the “mistaken identity” accident. Doctor Hooper made a house call to put him on different medication. He seemed to look a ton better, smiling and talking to his wife about future meetings for the company. Not that he would likely remember any of today.

“Fine. Fine. But if anything happens YOU are paying my therapy bills.” You conceded, already hating the idea of having to play bodyguard to your crush and close friend. Sucking up your attitude you calmly walked over to the elevator, Sam and Steve already waiting for you.

“Cheer up Y/N, you could have been stuck giving Tony a sponge bath.”

“Just don’t make me regret this Sam. I have never seen you naked, and I’d like to keep that record thank you.” You grimaced at the idea, all of you cramming into the small steel box.

“We’re showering in my room.” Steve finally spoke up and you noticed Sam was shaking his head.

“Not happening Rogers, my room is closer. And I ain’t using your feminine ass hair products.”

“Why don’t we just leave you there on our way to my room then?” The Captain challenged, Wilson not backing down.

“Why so you can keep Y/N all to yourself? She was my friend first Cap, and regardless of you two’s pent up sexual tension, it’s bros before hoes.”

“You two keep this up and I’m going to drown both of you.” You snapped, both of their voices dying down. “This is how it’s going to happen. We’re going to Sam’s room first so he can shower quickly. I’ve seen him in and out within ten minutes before, and he’s not nearly as grimy as he is after a mission. Then, we can go up to your room Rogers, and you can take as long as your pretty head needs.”

“Fine” The two men agreed as you stepped out of the elevator, quickly making short work of the hallway leading to Sam’s room. You sat on his bed while Steve took the only chair in his room. He was right on the money, in and out of the shower in less than 10, fresh night clothes that weren’t stained with Chinese food and possibly bile.

“You’re wearing the pajamas I bought you!” You squealed upon seeing him in the green shirt that said “Sleeping is my cardio” in bold white lettering, along with matching flannel pants.

“Hell ya I am. They’re really comfy. You’re the sweetest.” You noticed Steve’s jaw lock up, his expression tense with deep thought. You’d kill to find out what he was thinking, he almost looked…jealous. But this wasn’t the first time. He had been acting strange with you all day, even the others had picked up on his weird vibes. He remained silent as the three of you started your trek to his room, the only sound being an occasional cough.

“I’ll wait out in the hall, you two take your time…” Sam crooned at you, Steve sputtering as you giggled, never having set foot in Steve’s room before. Watching him open the door, your eyes widened at the sheer space of it. So being the first Avenger does pay well after all. You thought, taking in the simple blue décor and clean smelling furniture.

“Sorry we don’t have time for a tour.” He said sheepishly, taking a towel out of a closet before opening his bedroom door. “Shall we?” You had to remind yourself to stay calm and keep your heart rate in check.

“Your bathroom is in your bedroom?” Gulping hard you looked at him, the blonde only nodding slowly. Peachy. This was it. This is how you die.

“Yours isn’t?”

“My whole room is like, a third of this space. That doesn’t count.” His laughter rang in your ears as he opened the door wider.

“If you’re nervous, how about I just leave this door open?”

“I’m not nervous,” You answered, again way too fast for your liking, “but that would be greatly appreciated thank you.” He nodded at you before stepping through his room and into his bathroom, the door shutting behind him. You felt a little bummed out that you hadn’t gotten to see him shirtless. But he was also very sick. And mostly helpless. And once you heard the shower start to run you realized there was one door standing in the way of you and a very naked, very sick, and mostly helpless Steve Rogers. The steam coming out from under the door had your mouth watering at the thought. It’s not like his suits left a ton to the imagination. An extremely loud thud awoke you from your impure thoughts long enough to grasp your courage and race into his room.

“Steve? You alright in there?”

“Yea Y/N I’m fine, just dropped my body wash.” You leaned your back against the door, hand on your hammering heart.

“Thank god. About gave me a damn heart attack Rogers.” You joked, calming down some. Sadly you didn’t hear the water flow cease. Your balance was thrown off when the door was pulled open, you jolting backward until you felt your back hit bare chest. Your blood was rushing in your ears as you felt an arm instinctively wrap around your waist to steady you. Fighting the urge to take in deep breaths of his intoxicating scent, you slowly and reluctantly peeled his arm off of you.

“Sorry!” The apology came out as jumbled mess as you went to step out of the way, careful to avoid looking at him, lest your ovaries explode upon contact.

“It’s alright Y/N, really.”

“No it’s not I should have moved sooner.” You heard footsteps and felt a large hand touch your shoulder. Your mind flashed with memories of yesterday, feelings overcoming you and willing you to turn around to look at him.

Sign your last will and testament now, because you were sure you were going to die. Water droplets clung to his half naked body, his damp hair hanging in his face. You were extremely thankful his other hand held on to the towel that was wrapped loosely around his waist, but you’d be lying through your teeth if you didn’t take an extra minute to appreciate his abs before forcing your eyes to meet his.

“You can fall into me anytime Y/N.” His tone was hushed, blue eyes crinkling as you began to close the distance, a sudden burst of confidence pushing you two closer together.

“Promise?” You whispered back to him, feeling his hand on your shoulder move to sit at the base of your neck, pulling you closer to him until you could feel his body heat mixing with your own. You watched his eyes dart from yours to your lips and then back again, as if battling with himself for a brief moment before bringing his face to yours at a deliciously slow pace. Your eyes began to close on their own, feeling his breath on your lips and your hands reaching to touch his chest.

“Hey you two done yet?”

The two of you jumped apart like you had been shot, your face burning with the intensity of the sun as Sam stood, looking totally slack jawed at the scene before him.

“We are now. Thanks Wilson.”

“I’ll uh…I’ll wait outside.” Sam’s apologetic face was almost comical as he back peddled out of the room, nervous laughter escaping you when he was finally gone.

“You should…um..put on some clothes. I’ll just…be out in the hall.” Your eyes met his momentarily before you dragged yourself out of his room. You didn’t look or speak to either man the entire way back to quarantine.

1930

“We are out of here!” Bruce brought his hand up to high five a very happy looking god of thunder.

“Well two down, five to go.” You muttered to yourself as Bruce and Thor were given the all clear from Doctor Hooper before she left for the evening, the two men more than elated to break out of there.

“I’ll miss them. They aren’t the problem.” Wanda spoke, you giving her an agreeing nod as they came over to you.

“Y/N you have been the most wonderful caretaker. We owe you a debt.” Thor grasped your hands in his before pulling you into a hug, the air being squashed in your lungs as he tightened his grip, picking you up a few inches off the ground.

“Easy there, you and Banner were the LEAST of my problems. I’ll gladly help you out anytime you fall sick.” You gasped as he set you on the ground, Bruce simply patting you on the back.

“Sorry you’re still stuck with them.” The doctor smiled at you sympathetically, all three of your gazes looming over the fighting Tony and Bucky. Again.

“I don’t CARE what you think, I KNOW what I’m talking about!”

“This coming from the guy who didn’t KNOW Nat wasn’t his wife an hour ago! I don’t believe a damn thing that comes out of your stupid mouth right now Stark!”

“Y/N, please give these idiots some sedatives so I can get rid of this headache.” Sam pleaded with you, Thor chuckling as he and Bruce turned to leave the hall.

“Best of luck Y/N. We’ll be sure to supply you with plenty of alcoholic beverages when this is all over.” Bruce smiled, you waving while the ladies walked them out.

2100

“Y/N would you kindly inform Barnes here that Lion King is far superior to Aladdin.” Tony asked as you began preparing doses of an extra strength equivalent to Nyquil for the remaining men.

“Sorry Stark, I’m prefer Beauty and the Beast.” You giggled at Tony’s hurt expression, a shocked gasp leaving Bucky’s lips and Sam rolling his eyes in annoyance.

“I’ll take that first Y/N, the sooner I down that nasty stuff the sooner I can forget these conversations.” Sam deadpanned, greedily taking the medicine and swallowing it in one gulp, throwing his body dramatically in the opposite direction. He pulled the pillow over his head, you shaking your own as you passed the other two men their shares.

“Here’s lookin at you kid.” Tony winked as he slowly drank the thick liquid, his lip curling in disgust as he laid down, eyes falling shut after a mere ten minutes.

“Damn out for the count, what a baby.” Bucky whispered before drinking his dose.

“Unlike you, some people didn’t sleep most of the day away.” You quipped, him waving you off.

“Details, details. Go give Rogers his. I’ll even sleep on my side to give you two some privacy.” It took everything not to smother him with his own pillow, Bucky waggling his eyebrows at you before being true to his word and turning away.

“Nightcap for Cap?” You shook the bottle as you neared his bed, the blonde only letting out a raspy chuckle. He moved over so you could sit at his side, uncapping the potent concoction while he continued to stare at you. “How ya feeling?”

“Like you’re avoiding me.” His retort was short and curt, causing you to guiltily shuffle your boot along the floor.

“I’m not I just…I needed to process…what almost happened earlier tonight.” You answered honestly, blue eyes softening and sucking you in again. “You’re sick and I almost took advantage of you in this state and I’m sorry for that.”

“Y/N you weren’t taking advantage of me at all.” His hand covered yours as you went to hand him his small cup of medicine.

“You’re killing me Steve.” You groaned, watching as he downed his dose, nostrils flaring at the unpleasant taste and setting the medicine on the table. His hand returned to yours and you sighed at the returning warmth. “I’m never like this.” You confessed slowly, eyes never moving from your joined hands.

“You really have no idea what you do to me Doll. What you’ve been doing to me for weeks now.” Breaking away from your hands your face came back to stare at his intently.

“Really?” You asked, your head tilting to the side, nearly swooning as he bit his lip with a nod.

“Really. Now before I risk making an ass out of myself I suggest we both get some sleep. We can talk about this when I’m not sick. That way you don’t feel like I’m not myself or like you’re taking advantage of me. Which let’s be clear, you just have to say the time and place and I’ll gladly be there for you to take advantage of me any way you want. “ He rubbed your cheek fondly, a sleepy goofy grin on his features.

“Deal. Sleep sweet Steve.” You stood up from the bed, leaning down to place a chaste kiss on his forehead.

“Sweet dreams Y/N.”

For the first time in months you dropped like a sack of potatoes on your bed, sleep coming swiftly, your mind filled with the most wonderful dreams. Mostly about a certain blonde in a towel.

Tag List: @kaytizzle @cuffski @giggleberts

#steve rodgers x reader #captain america #fanfic #marvel

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crazy-little-cool-cat · 5 years

Text

Hand in Glove - Chapter 2 | Ben Hardy x OFC

A/N: I was so blown away by the love the first chapter got, wow! Thank you so much! You're all so lovely! Anyways, I decided to take advantage of the fact that there's a storm outside to write the next chapter and it just came pouring out. So, there you have it! Now I won't feel bad if I won't have the time to write during the week because adulting is hard, y'all. Anyways, this chapter's flashback's are from Annabelle's POV and are in italics, so don't get it twisted.

Word Count:~2.6K

Warnings: Swearing. Ridiculous amount of fluff. (Like, sickening. Utterly disgusting.) Also, a few more drunk shenanigans and mentions of sex (but none actually happening? Is that even a warning?)

Chapter 1

***

Ben and Annabelle had knowingly started something they couldn’t finish. The dimly lit room was filled with sounds of the soft rustle of clothes on sheets, muffled moans and grunts and the humdrum of the TV playing in the background.

“You’re killing me, woman,” Ben groaned before he bit his bottom lip as Annabelle dragged her fingernails over his t-shirt and down his back, “Jesus.”

“I could stop,” laying under him, Annabelle raised an eyebrow, challenging Ben with a cheeky smirk, “wouldn’t want you to die.”

“Don’t you dare,” he snaked one hand under her top and up her ribs and took her bottom lip in between his teeth, nibbling on it gently with a content hum, “I just can’t get enough of this.”

“Enough of what?” she feigned innocence, batting her eyelashes at him.

“Enough of you,” he could feel goosebumps forming on her skin under his lips and chuckled softly, “seems like the feeling is mutual.”

Annabelle tilted her head back and to the side with a sigh and closed eyes, as Ben covered every inch of her neck and face with kisses. When she opened her eyes, she let out an audible gasp.

“Is it really light out?” she wondered and caused Ben to stop his kissing attack and turn his head to look at the early morning sun illuminating through the window as well, “did we really make out like horny teenagers all fucking night?”

“M'fraid so,” he shrugged and smiled lazily, “haven’t pulled an all-nighter like this one in ages.”

“It’s a good thing neither of us has work tomorrow,” she furrowed her brows, “er… today.”

“True,” he said and snickered when Annabelle yawned loudly, “am I boring you, love?”

“That’s impossible,” she kissed his lips sweetly and reached up to brush the back of her hand against his cheek, “I think my brain just realised how long I’ve been awake.”

“We could sleep,” Ben rolled off of her and laid next to her, turning on his side to face her, “or at least try.”

“But I hate alcohol sleep, it’s the worst sleep,” she pouted and snuggled closer up to Ben, burying her face in his chest, “you smell so nice.”

He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her even closer, resting his chin on the top of her head. His heartbeat lulled her to sleep, but Ben was wide awake.

***

I was late. Gwil invited me over for dinner with his mates and I got caught up on set, and now I was rushing like a madwoman because being late makes me horribly anxious. I let myself into Gwil’s flat, assuming everyone else had already got there by now but was surprised to find Ben sitting on the couch, alone.

“It’s just you here?” I looked around, “where is everybody?”

“You sound disappointed,” Ben smirked. This is the first time I’ve ever actually been completely alone with him since we first met, and I found it oddly exciting.

Sometimes it felt like our friends will do anything to make sure it’s never just him and me, alone. Like they enjoyed cock-blocking us. Tossers.

“Oh, no,” I walked over and put my hands on the back of the sofa, leaning forward on my arms, “quite the opposite.”

Ben’s eyes slowly raked up my body, his tongue poking out to lick his lips. Just then, the door burst open and Gwil, Joe, Rami and Lucy rushed in like a hurricane, ruining the moment before it even started, as they always did.

***

Ben stared blankly at the Top Gear re-runs playing on the TV while Annabelle slept, listening to her breathing softly. He couldn’t feel the arm she was laying on anymore and he assumed his bladder is about to explode, but he dared not move. He pushed her long, straight, brown hair over her shoulder and let the palm of his hand travel from her cheek, down to her jawline, softly caressing down the side of her neck.

“Feels nice,” she mumbled against his chest and wiggled her toes, “how long was I out?”

“About two hours,” he spoke so softly, yet she could feel the low rumble of his voice echoing in his chest.

“Did you get any sleep?” Annabelle leaned back to look into his bright green eyes, her cheeks flushed from sleep, and pouted playfully when he shook his head, “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Ben grazed his thumb over Annabelle’s lips and smiled when she kissed it softly, “did you sleep well?”

“Strangely, yeah,” she ran her fingers through his hair and he closed his eyes as he smiled, “what time is it, anyway?”

“I'm guessing it’s around Nine,” he grunted as he stretched to reach for his phone on the bedside table, “I need to take Frankie out for a walk before she pees all over the floor.”

“Oh.”

“You can join us,” he sat up and whistled for Frankie, smiling warmly as he heard the patter of her paws on the hardwood floors as she scrambled to jump on the bed, “if you want.”

***

It wasn’t even my idea. Gwil insisted that I brought my friends over to the pub one night because he felt like he was stealing me away from them. I warned him not to. I told him how annoying we all are, but he wouldn’t listen. So now, he got to witness first hand the weird little ‘love-triangle’ we had and his competitive side kicked into gear. Ben, Gwil, Rami and Joe were determined to ‘out-friend’ us and they were losing, fast.

“Do you people ever get sick of each other?” Gwil asked, looking from me to my two cast-mates.

“No,” we choired.

“We’re just as bad as you are,” Clara, who plays my sister on our series, gestured with her hand across the table where Gwil’s cast-mates sat alongside him, “if not worse.”

“Disgusting,” Joe shook his head mockingly, eliciting very animated nods from Rami, “positively repulsive.”

“I know you are,” I tried not to slur but I was way past drunk by now, “but what am I?”

“Bloody adorable, is what you are!” Jamie, who plays King Henry VIII, pinched my cheek playfully.

I noticed Ben grit his teeth at that very moment, and shot him a puzzled look. In the blink of an eye, his face turned neutral again and he was calmly sipping his beer, avoiding my questioning gaze.

“Alright, you royal pains in the arse,” Clara clapped her hands to get our attention, “time to go. Long day tomorrow!"

“What’s happening tomorrow?” Joe looked like a confused puppy, making me giggle uncontrollably.

“Tomorrow,” Jamie drawled as he twirled a lock of my hair around his finger, “King Henry finally gets a taste of the one he can’t have. Yet.”

“Seriously?” Gwil was incredulous, “the one day we can finally come visit you on set and I have to watch my cousin’s sex scenes?”

“Woo!” Joe high-fived Ben as if they won something.

“It’s not a sex scene!” I felt my cheeks burn.

“Boo!” Joe and Ben chanted and frowned, causing Rami to bang his forehead against the table and Gwil make gagging noises.

***

Annabelle stared at the last text Ben had sent her after he and Frankie walked her home for what she felt like was hours, but was actually just a couple of minutes.

‘I could still smell you here when I got home. I can’t wait to get you alone again.’

She didn’t really know what it was she was doing with Ben, exactly. She never experienced anything like this before, an inexplicable chemistry and attraction with one person that just felt so incredibly right and natural. Annabelle was never one to commit very easily, but she doesn’t date or hook-up much, either. Most of her friends are guys, most girls hate her for being surrounded by men all the time, even if they were just her friends.

Frankly, she hated the dating “game”. It always ended up going to shit, and she could never seem to know how to pick the 'right' guy. Even Jamie, as much as she adores him and despite the attraction and chemistry, was all kinds of wrong for her and she constantly beat herself up for even going there in the first place. When shit hit the fan with Jamie, as it did with everyone else, she opted to waste her time with him in a non-comittal way and give up on dating altogether. They had such a horrible dynamic as a couple, brief as it was, that they went right back to being friends with benefits, no questions asked.

But with Ben, it was completely different. Since the very first time they had met, Ben had the ability to make her stomach flutter and her heart lurch, but still make her feel comfortable enough to be her true self. The way he had always looked at her made her feel oddly special, like he can’t see anyone else besides her whenever she’s around. She found that she always looked at him for his reaction when she told a story or spoke to him and his friends, and whenever the rare occasion happened that they were left alone for a couple of minutes, she couldn’t help but think about what his lips would feel like.

Then the other night happened, and she finally learnt what his kisses tasted and felt like and how her body and his body just fit. Now he knows what she looks like when she wakes up after getting completely sloshed, and she knows what it feels like when his body is pressed up to hers, covering every inch of her.

She completely forgot she made plans with Gwil for the rest of the day, and as she washed the dirty dishes in the sink and made herself tea still wearing last night’s clothes, she was totally lost in thought about the previous night’s events.

When Gwil entered Annie’s flat using the spare key she gave him after knocking on the door five times with no response, he could hear her singing in the kitchen while dishes clattered. He closed the door loud enough for it to be considered a slam and walked over to the kitchen, chuckling when he saw her wearing the same clothes she did the night before.

“I take it you had a good night, then?” Gwil cut her train of thought and she jumped, startled by his sudden appearance in the door to her kitchen, “whoops, didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Jesus Christ almighty, Gwil!” she panted, her hand pressed to her chest, “stop sneaking around!”

“I called and texted you like, a hundred times!” He went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of beer, opening it with a hit on the cap against the edge of the counter top.

“Keep up with the cheek and I’ll take the key to my flat back,” she hopped on the counter and stuck her tongue out at him, “you Praying Mantis.”

"Oh, that’s a really good one, calling me a bloody insect,” he scoffed, “did Jamie at least drive you home this time?”

“Why would Jamie drive me home?” she stifled a yawn and rubbed her eyes.

“Didn’t you meet him at the pub?”

“Uh,” Annie fumbled with the lace trimming at the hem of her top, “no, actually.”

“Who did you meet, then?” Gwil raised an eyebrow.

“Ben," she felt like a deer in the headlights, knowing her confession will be followed by a thorough interrogation, threats to her life and a lot of wailing on Gwil's behalf. This isn't the first time she took a special interest in one of his mates and he never took the news too well.

“Come again?” he lowered his beer bottle and blinked in confusion.

“I was out with Ben.”

“My Ben?” he gasped, "please tell me there's another Ben..."

“Our Ben.”

***

Ben and I walked down the path in the nearby park, side by side, as Frankie trotted happily, ears flapping and tail wagging, on her late morning walk.

“C’mere for a second,” Ben wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to him, leaning down to kiss me, “thanks, that would be all.”

“Glad to be of service,” I rolled my eyes and stumbled when Frankie pulled hard on the leash, desperate to run and play, “can we release the poor girl?”

“Sure,” Ben took out his pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his back put one in his mouth, letting it dangle from his lips as he spoke, “want one?”

“Not my thing,” I crouched down and unhooked Frankie’s leash from her collar, smiling when the pup bolted in a clumsy little stampede on the grass.

When I stood back up, Ben took my hand and led me to a nearby tree we could sit under. Leaning against the tree, Ben spread his legs and bent them for me to sit in between. I leaned back into him, using his knees as armrests.

“This is so weird,” I mused, “I don’t think I’ve ever been this comfortable around another person who doesn't share some part of my DNA, ever.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” He kissed the top of my head before taking another drag from his cigarette.

“You’d better,” I smirked, “but really, isn’t this weird?”

“It’s unusual, yeah,” I felt him nod slightly, “but I like it.”

“Obviously,” I turned and tilted my head back to look at him. He glanced down at me and nuzzled his nose with mine, “aren’t the boys worried about you not answering their texts?”

“Let them worry,” he shrugged and inhaled deeply, finishing off his smoke, “I think they’ve probably guessed that I’m busy.”

“I bet they’re jealous of whoever stole you from them.”

“I know they are, for a fact.”

***

The boys sat in the catering tent for their lunch break, catching up on each other’s whereabouts during the weekend. Somehow, it turned into Gwil sharing lovely tales about Annabelle’s party-girl past and her conquests during that very self-destructive phase of her life. There was even one story of how Gwil walked in on Annabelle and Jamie in the loo at the wedding they had all attended just a couple of months earlier.

“Let me get this straight - you’re telling me that you went out with a girl you actually claimed was 'illegally hot', both got drunk, went back to your place and didn’t bang?” Joe raised an eyebrow.

“I call bullshit.” Rami announced.

“I don't care,” Ben scoffed.

“She told me the exact same story, actually,” Gwil chimed in as he reached for his can of soda, “and she’s not shy about admitting to her occasional slaggish tendencies.”

“Call her a slag one more time,” Ben pointed at Gwil with his fork, “I dare you.”

“Oh, relax, Romeo,” Gwil rolled his eyes, “but seriously, she swore all they did was dry hump like the cute little puppies in heat that they are.”

“Thanks for the mental image, man,” Joe pursed his lips to stifle a laugh, “I still find it hard to believe.”

“So, what,” Rami said after listening to the heated discussion, “are you her boyfriend now?”

“Nope.” Ben replied, his eyes fixated on his plate.

“They’re taking it slow,” Gwil made air-quotes with his fingers, eliciting sneers from Rami and Joe.

“Oh, fuck off,” Ben threw his utensils on the table and slammed his hand down, before he abruptly stood up, making his chair fall behind him, “knobheads.”

“Come on, mate! We’re just taking a piss!” Gwil called after Ben’s receding back, to no avail. The only response he got from Ben was his middle finger up in the air.

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bakudekuficlibrary · 5 years

Note

hi! do you guys know of any good love triangle fics? maybe with bakugou and todoroki crushing on deku?

Hello! Here’s the link to our One-sided Todo/Deku + Jealous Bakugou mini-list. Below are the rest of the love triangle fics out there. Some aren’t confirmed as to whether or not the endgame is BakuDeku, and so I’ll make a note of which ones those are 😊 There are no repeats of the fics in the other list in this one, and this one is separated based on the one-sided ship.

-Ellie

24 Works.

Todo/Deku & BakuDeku & Kiri/Baku

The Other Side Of The Door by Dontmindme9 ( G | 130,129+ | 49/? )

Izuku becomes Prince Shouto’s personal servant. Because Izuku has to follow him around every day, they get really close. When Izuku gets lost while on an errand, Shouto does everything he can to find him again. Meanwhile, Izuku is saved by a wild Bakugou. Inside the angry teen, Izuku see’s a side of Bakugou that no one has taken the time to see. Both take a liking to the innocent green haired boy, and refuse to give him up.

{ Curator’s Note: Unclear endgame }

Whatever It Takes by casschad ( M | 46,458+ | 15/30 )

Shoto and Kacchan are the sons of the Head of the League of Villains, and next in line to succeed when he retires. When they’re assigned a mission to spy on the All Might-led Hero Coalition, they set off with a few other villains to train alongside those with the best quirks in the hero capital undercover.

Enter Izuku Midoriya- a gifted trainer with a passion to find the best heroes to defeat the League of Villains. Meeting two very talented brothers with insanely powerful quirks has been nothing but a chore so far, but the three will come together to change the world as they know it, and maybe make it out alive.

[Graphic Depictions of Violence | Emotionally Abusive Parent]

{ Curator’s Note: Unclear endgame }

[Abandoned] "Yeah..." I turned back around and he was waiting for me ( Not Rated | 1,180 | 1/1 )

“Sorry.” I hide my head from his face which was slowly turning into a smile.

“Did you think I’d believe that?” He questioned.

“No.”

“I didn’t, I know you Kacchan.” My heart ached. Was this lie bringing us closer together?

Fuck yeah.

I just nodded, my face red. He’s the only one who can call me that.

{ Curator’s Note: No endgame cause abandoned & orphaned }

Todo/Deku & BakuDeku

Wildfire by Tenkku ( E | 117,868 | 19/19 )

With his family in dire straits, omega nobleman Izuku is sent to marry the strongest alpha warlord, Katsuki Bakugo. But Bakugo wants nothing to do with him, and the marriage is for political and military purposes only. Izuku doesn’t see himself as a weak omega and wants to fight on the battlefield side-by-side with Bakugo. Izuku will find friendly comfort in Shouto Todoroki, the prince of the Western Territory, and Bakugo’s prisoner of war. Todoroki will see the qualities in Izuku that Bakugo refuses to see in a Dom-Omega mate, but Bakugo doesn’t like to share, especially when Izuku belongs to him. Izuku will do whatever he can to ensure that he stands beside his alpha mate on the battlefield and help to bring change to the hierarchy world of alphas. Izuku will have to choose between happiness with one alpha or duty with another; he can’t have both.

Go to Bed, Dumbass by sunsetsundae ( M | 37,128+ | 17/? )

"What the fuck are you doing here at two in the morning?" The blond male asked in a voice that was closer to a growl as he curled the weight he was holding.

"I could ask you the same question," Izuku replied with a small smile as he headed for the bench press.

[Internalized Homophobia]

Dreams Can Become Reality by KingKagura ( T | 140,679+ | 25/? )

Just as a quirkless young girl is about to give up on her dream, her destiny changes with the meeting of her idol, All Might.Midoriya Izuku is able to become a hero. After gaining the One For All quirk from All Might, Izuku embarks on her own action-packed adventure, full of friends, rivals, enemies, and romance.

Full House by Hana ( G | 12,881+ | 6/? )

"Izuku, honey you must endure it. I am sorry your mother is weak, but this is the only way I could support us since your father's death." Midoriya Inko says as she caresses her daughter's tear stained cheeks.-------------------------

It was so many years ago that Izuku and her mother had to work as maids for the Bakugou family. For her mother,she endured endless years of bullying from her master, and loneliness from her distant coworker who she could never confide in. Never in a million years would she think that they would both fall for her. Not only that, who would have thought a butler would have turned out to be an heir to the Todoroki company?

[Abandoned] Artifical Feelings by FujoshiKingdom ( T | 4,199 | 2/? )

Bakugo Katsuki was created for one reason: Protect Izuku Midoriya. Nothing Else.

Katsuki, a stubborn and prideful Demerian would not simply obey a timid human lacking self-preservation, yet he can't help but experience an unknown presence whirling in his stomach when he first laid eyes on the green-haired omega.

[Graphic Depictions of Violence]

{ Curator’s Note: Endgame unknown }

the green-eyed leviathan by amphitryte ( E | 21,904+ | 7/? )

Izuku Midoriya is a respected pirate who has voyaged the seas for years, creating a life for himself that was both fulfilling and satisfying. The crick in the neck for King Enji, Izuku finds himself with a bounty on his head to be brought back to the unruly tyrant dead or alive. However, another King, much younger and volatile than the one aforementioned, sinks his claws into Izuku first, and he has his reasons to keep the young buccaneer at his side.

Even better is the fact that the Crown Prince, Enji’s son, has also been taken by this hot-tempered King. Thrown into a rowdy mix of politics, drama, and scandal, Izuku will fight to obtain his life again. That won’t be easy, however, when he has two sets of royal stares tracking his every move with interest, curiosity, and lust gleaming in their eyes.

omegaverse | pirate au

[Graphic Depictions of Violence]

{ Curator’s Note: Unclear endgame }

Gifted with a Curse by JunNoAce ( E | 29,371+ | 5/? )

Updated to Explicit for future chapters. There will be sex and some possible deaths and possible trolling to readers. Main ship is KatsuDeku, some others may be present.

~~~~~~~~19 year old Izuku and his mother moves in a new village in the country side.Izuku has the strange hobby of studying and learning about the mysteries behind magic, curses, and so on.He meets Shoto a traveler who seems to have been on many adventures. Izuku is very curious about what stories the boy may have to tell but feels embarrassed by how nice the other treats him.One day his mother leaves to visit a shop in their old town and doesn't make it back home on time. Izuku worried goes to search for her and comes across an old castle.Here is where he meets him, a cursed Lord Katsuki filled with rage and with the appearance of a beast.

Meteor by kxro_2 ( E | 5,523+ | 2/? )

Midoriya didn't remember the meteor that hit Japan 10 years ago and injured him, nor did he realize his body was changing in complex ways due to it. Worry not! A prestigious school had recently opened up and only accepted the victims of injury of the meteor, due to the blood deformities it caused.

Katsuki realized how toxic he had been towards Midoriya when they were kids, which is why he pushed him away and refused to talk to him. He wanted to make things work out, but he was horrible at it.

Todoroki was just interested in the pleasant smelling boy and wanted to maybe court him. Maybe not, since all he got were death glares from a jealous Katsuki

A/B/O AU No superheroes

{ Curator’s Note: Unclear endgame }

He’s Mine by TheCommonPerson ( E | 1,364+ | 1/? )

Izuku was a rare nine-tailed fox, one of the last of his kind. His parents were killed when he was only three, and soon after the renown eight-tailed alpha lion, All-Might found him. A few years later when Izuku turned ten, he experienced his first heat and presented as an omega soon after that All-Might was called away and Izuku, was then left in the care of Shoto Aizawa, a four-tailed beta lone wolf. For five years Izuku lived in the central mountains with Aizawa until one harsh winter forced them from their home, they traveled into the eastern territories until they reached the cusp of the thick eastern forests where the beginnings of the eastern plains began.

The Bakugou pack controlled the Eastern forest while the Todoroki pride controlled the Eastern Plains, settled in the disputed land where the plains and the forest meet, Izuku encounters Katsuki the Six tailed Alpha wolf heir to the eastern forests pack and Shoto the Seven tailed Alpha panther heir to the eastern plains pride. Both Shoto and Katsuki view Izuku as their mate to be, and both intend to take him by whatever means necessary.

{ Curator’s Note: Unclear endgame }

Autumn Leaves by aftermath24 ( T | 28,713+ | 6/? )

It was a comfort that not many people had – to be able to pinpoint the exact moment their brains decided to go insane. For Izuku Midoriya, he'd be able to point at this moment with great confidence - the moment he saw nothing but empty clothes, and, instead of the classmate or even that loud blonde boy that he'd accidentally fallen on, a rat and a cat glaring at each other.

The fruits basket AU, where people turn into animals on physical contact

SeriesPart 1 of Nightbird

{ Curator’s Note: Unclear endgame }

[Abandoned] A Poppy in the Field by Midnight_Solstice ( M | 8,540 | 4/10 )

Shouto gets a glimpse of his future with the help of the future-seeing quirk from one of his father’s sidekicks, and finds out he dies protecting the person he loves the most at the age of eighteen.

He doesn't know what to make of this information, so he simply turns a blind eye towards it.

After all, Todoroki Shouto doesn't... "fall in love".

{ Curator’s Note: Unclear endgame }

[On Hiatus] Witch's Heart by Xyerose ( M | 5,953+ | 2/? )

Midoriya was fortunate enough to be a survivor of the Witch Hunt, one that wiped nearly the entire population of witches. He lives his life in complete solitude with his mother and his childhood friend, Bakugo Katsuki, encompassed within a world of false security and comfort. Within a flash, it all changes when the humans find him.

Right in front of his very eyes, his mother is burned at the stake.

...Enter Todoroki Shoto, the Witch Hunter with a wish he'd be willing to risk his own life for.

[ TW: Mentions of rape/non-con elements. I don't condone rape in any way nor do I support it. There is no actual rape within the story and there never will be. ]

[Graphic Depictions of Violence | Rape/Non-Con | Dehumanization]

{ Curator’s Note: Unclear endgame }

Dramatic Love by AsakuraHannah ( T | 2,428+ | 2/? )

It’s more than just triangle love. It’s something your heart decides who you should stay with, even through hard time.

{ Curator’s Note: Unclear endgame }

Summer Breeze by CapersAndPines ( T | 5,293+ | 5/? )

Summer AU! Todoroki and Midoriya were childhood friends separated by distance and time. Summer has come and a mysterious boy has appeared. Is this what they call fate? Where does the summer breeze intend to take them?

{ Curator’s Note: Unclear endgame }

Izu/Ocha & BakuDeku

Of What ifs and time machines by Maru_Chan ( T | 47,765+ | 7/? )

Because the harsh reality was, that Izuku Midoriya was getting married tomorrow afternoon, and that no matter how Katsuki felt about it, there was nothing he could do to change that fact.

Or maybe there was.(Or: in which Bakugou Katsuki gets the bad end, and later gets another shot at rewriting it.)

Not Stated

You get a heart by Nephel_Cloud ( E | 35,486+ | 6/? )

At four years old, Izuku was deemed quirkless and useless for the world, his one close friend that he had trusted left him.His confidence and hope dimnished little by little as the years passed, the bullying adding more damage to him than only the physical scars.On a day, where everything seemed to happen at once, his life suddenly turned around. His hope had dimnished, but not the still colorful and detailed dream of becoming a hero. Unexpectedly, he finds help on his way to his dreams, and a rekindled relationship between two childhood friends ensue. How will the road towards heroism play out, for both of them?

[Graphic Depictions of Violence | Underage | Sexism]

{ Curator’s Note: This work has the “Love Triangles” tag, but I can’t find where it states who is involved in the love triangle. }

His Kingdom by ElopeToTheSea ( M | 15,462+ | 4/15 )

"The kingdom or him?" Ochako asked. Her voice was low, full of disdain. "What will you chose?"

Izuku smiled, there was no fear in him. There was nothing he could ever regret in that second.

"My answer hasn't changed, princess," he responded. "And it never will."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Pitiful."

[Graphic Depictions of Violence]

{ Curator’s Note: Same thing. Love Triangles tag, but unclear who is involved. }

The Dragon King's mate by twilightwings ( E | 23,424+ | 7/? )

Izuku decides to go after a rare flower that only grows, on a mountain in the Dragon King's territory. She discovers someone from her past living with the dragon, she is plunged into his world where she fell in love with him all over again. however there a noble knight who wants her hand in marriage. But However, there something sinister in the wake, when is a threaten force from the past is threating to return.

[Graphic Depictions of Violence]

{ Curator’s Note: Same thing. }

HypoThalamus [Hiatus] by ToxicPooPoo ( Not Rated | 41,131+ | 7/? )

Coming across old friends wouldn't cause you to discover more about the global mass murderers, an unusual dreaming ability, and the problem of seeing too much, yet Izuku Midoriya found himself in these conditions. The boy is driven by his concealed passion to rescue the innocent despite how illegal it is. With four hours of sleep every night and a hidden power that no one has acknowledged, he manages to complete vigilante duties at midnight. Izuku soon realizes that secrets aren't permanent, tragedies are the future's best friend, and that you should never ever play with fire.

Going on a hiatus, I'm not really motivated to continue this at the moment. I have another fanfic idea involving cool lookin' creatures and I wanna do that first since I'm more into that. When I get ahold of that fic, I'll also try to write these chapters and then post them every week when I feel it's where I want it to be.

{ Curator’s Note: You already know it babey. Read the notes above. }

Todo/Deku & BakuDeku & Shin/Deku

Why Me by Nonstopshipper ( T | 1,196 | 1/1 )

“Will you go out with me!!!”Izuku found himself surrounded by 3 people all asking for the same thing.

{ Curator’s Note: No endgame }

Todo/Deku & BakuDeku & Kiri/Deku

[Abandoned] We Found Love in a Hopeless Place by rap_cinna_mon ( G | 1,698 | 2/2 )

This is an AU where myths and legends exist.Forbidden forests, magical creatures, special abilities, curses and cure.

Adventure, fantasy, and romantic comedy.

This story is really slow paced.

{ Curator’s Note: No endgame because it was abandoned }

135 notes · View notes

fireintheforest · 5 years

Text

Outside

“Have you thought of cutting your hair?” Amara asked, admiring the mother-of-pearl bracelet that Saufinril had given her. Saufinril, some steps away from her, was spreading the oil on his wet hair and raking it with his fingers, down to the tips. He turned slightly to her.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I guess it’s just so long, you know? Doesn’t it bother you?”

“Not at all.” Saufinril replied, grabbing a comb to spread the product more evenly, “It took one a long time to get here, one might as well keep it around for a while.”

“Is it usual for Altmer to have such a long hair?”

“Some do, as long as it’s tied back.”

“But you don’t tie it back when in the Den. Or sometimes out of it.”

“Mmm true.”

“What does Lillandril say about that?”

Saufinril’s voice changed to a deeper, grumpier one as he moved his hand in a theatrical manner, “ ‘Pah! You call that hair? Don’t tell one that’s what the Empire calls nowadays ‘fashionable’, looking like a lunatic with those locks out to get mingled. To call that hair. Hmph! Should one wish to, one could make tresses that shone like gold in the sunset. Pah!’ “ his voice changed to his usual pitch and tone as he turned his head to the side to comb it, “You know, the usual.”

Amara stopped looking at her bracelet to give Saufinril a look. “That sounded nothing like Lillandril.”

“One thinks one did a good job.” Saufinril put the comb down as Amara stood up, “So what happened here while one was gone?”

“Y’mean, the weeks you left or the days you slept?” “One didn’t sleep that long!”

Amara gave Saufinril an arched eyebrow as she tied her hair up. “My friend”, she began, “You came from that trip, did a round of greetings and small talks, then soaked in that bathtub for long enough that we thought you had drowned, then slept one whole day. I kept my eye on you these days, past that façade of you working at the Den like nothing happened, and I have not seen you eat more than once a day since you came back. Not to mention, this is the first day you’re going out since returning. So…” she arched both eyebrows again. Saufinril sighed and asked, “…both. Tell one.”

“Well,” Amara linked her arm with Saufinril’s as they both left his room and went down the hallway, then down the stairs, “My sister got me the second part of ‘Tales of Farida’, but Muraz has it now. My comb finally is done. Samin and Huuhna got in yet another fight for Mineron-”

“Really?”

“Yes really. It was so stupid. Especially because,” she looked around and then leaned closer to Saufinril, who neared her as well, almost bending completely to catch her whisper, “because he got Elisi pregnant.” She nodded at Saufinril’s wide eyes, “She told me herself.”

“Can we not do something about this guy?”

“You know not, he’s such a frequent client.” They went on to the exit, “Even if everyone rolls his eyes about this dumb love triangle.”

“It’s not even a love triangle, it’s the stupidest mess in Valenwood and for what? he’s a jerk.”

“Mhm.” Amara agreed as Saufinril opened the door for her. Both stepped out, heading to the market. Amara inhaled deeply and exhaled, a smile forming on her face.

“See? Isn’t it nice to be outside and socialize instead of mope around the room and not eat?”

“Get a life.” Saufinril teased, lightly bumping his shoulder with Amara’s as a smile peeked through, “One has eaten.”

“Oh? When was the last time?”

“When one…you know-”

“I mean a full meal, not some-some slices of cheese or bread and fish. An actual meal. And not just once a day.”

“…”

“I thought so. Let’s go left, I have a skirt to pick up.”

They made a detour to the seamstress alley, where Amara entered a store and made a beeline to the salesmer, who greeted her usual customer excitedly while Saufinril lingered outside. When it became clear to him that ‘picking up a skirt’ was code for ‘picking up a skirt and ordering twelve more’, he got in the shop to where Amara was comparing silks for pants and tapped her back gently.

“One is going to look around, probably to the Upper Level.”

“Sure. Oh! We can meet by this-there’s a new tavern I want to check. It’s by Dennaris’s shop, you can’t miss it. See you there, let’s see, three hours before sundown?”

“See you there, then.”

With the rendez-vous point assured, Saufinril stepped back out to the street and headed to the Upper Level, passing so many Bosmer chattering with their quick, bird-like tongue. And though the Bosmer that walked alongside stayed the same, the shape and size of stores and quality and quantity of the products changed until he recognized the Great Trunk Artisans Court. With the products put in display and merchants and businesspeople working on luring the customers, some bartering, others filling the sales, and most of them surrounded by people looking at what to buy, Saufinril felt for the first time a sense of ease. He quietly feasted in the tranquility of being the closest he could be to his Caste back in the Isles right now. That aside, he had to start looking. He had a vague idea of what he was looking for, but maybe when he saw it he’d know. He still had some coin left, and he knew a couple of points in this city where he could go get jobs to save up and return to Cyrodiil. Speaking of which, Dar-Shur was probably back, he could go and get the means necessary to send him a message now that he was in the commerce cour-

A swift force to his left side twisted his arm back and made him step to the side and look back to see who he had run into. The person he’d collided with, an Imperial man, also seemed to have felt the impact. ‘Man’ was employed to represent his race, however, since it seemed this human wasn’t older than 23. He had fiery red, almost orange hair, a pale face full of freckles and a deep-set scowl on his face.

“Hey! What’s your damn problem?!” he yelled, hands balling into fists. Yeah, he didn’t have the time to deal with this. Saufinril showed him his palms in a vague gesture of apology and turned, resuming his walk. That is, until he felt someone grab his arm and turn him by force back around. It was the ginger Imperial.

“I made you a question, freak! Who do you think you are?” Saufinril yanked his arm back, “Do you even know who I am??”

“Calm down, there was no big incident. It was an accident.” Saufinril replied coldly

“No big incident?? You ran into me, you asshole! On purpose!”

“How do you know it was on purpose? The street is full of people, you could’ve run into anyone at this point.”

“Anyone?” he pushed Saufinril, “You’re trying to piss me off!” No, you’re trying to piss ME off. Saufinril thought with gritted teeth as a crowd started to form around them.

“You think you’re so clever? Huh? So brave? I can’t hear you, wuss! Come to my face and apologize to me! You dirty knife ear!”

“One said,” Saufinril hissed, stepping closer to the Imperial as he immediately took three steps back and the two men that were accompanying him stepped forward, as if intervening. Saufinril either didn’t see them or didn’t care, “it was an accident. And one will not apologize to some whoreson! Now, is there anything else you want to talk about?” he asked sarcastically. The Imperial, at first, had seemed genuinely surprised that this Altmer had stepped towards him and used a hostile tone, but it was replaced back with the scowl. “You-” he took his hand to his sword, cueing Saufinril to summon magic to his hands.

“Step back, let’s not cause a scene in public.” One of the men that had been walking with the ginger interceded, stepping between the two. He had crows feet and a black beard with silver in it peeking here and there, and was evidently trying to calm down the heated tempers.

“How is one causing a scene, when he started it?” Saufinril snapped. In the back of his mind the weight of guilt settled on his stomach for talking back to someone that was just trying to fix this situation, but honestly he’d been holding back the indignation for too many weeks for him to swallow it back right now. The man seemed unbothered, as if Saufinril had asked that in the most polite of manners.

“I know. I know.” He said in a lower tone than before, then regained his previous volume and said, “We will get on our way. I suggest you do the same.”

He was still in public, and this man was obviously, as nice as he could be, on the redhead asshole’s side. And with Thalmor and city guards walking around here and there, yeah. This was the wisest choice. Besides he still had to get the present and meet Amara at the tavern, and she seemed really excited to get Saufinril to be outside. He wasn’t going to ruin her excitement to get him out with a fight. He took a deep breath to cool down, turning around once again to continue his way-

THUCK! Something hard hit him on the back of his head, yanking out an exclamation. When he turned around to see, the most obvious rock he’d ever seen was sitting nicely in front of him, as if waiting for Saufinril to notice. He just had to look up to see the ginger’s smug grin despite the bearded man’s scowl and the other man (one with tawny skin and a shaved head) look at Saufinril as if he were expecting a confrontation.

You know what? He waited for Amara, she can wait for him.

He immediately summoned the shield spell he needed on the left hand and the fire spell on his right. Both the tawny-skinned man and the one with the black beard drew out their swords as the ginger man stepped back, crossing his arms and keeping his smug smile. That’s alright. One quick firebolt, straight to his fucking face-

A strong hand grabbed his right one, as a stern voice with a familiar accent barked, “What is going on here?” And just like that, both of Saufinril’s spells disappeared, caused by the very blocking spell that the Thalmor agent holding him was using. The men sheathed their swords back and the ginger fuck was now openly giggling. A mix of loathing and dejection filled Saufinril as he shyly turned to look at the pair of yellow eyes that was glaring at him.

“It was…nothing.” He said. The Thalmor agent’s cold gaze remained on Saufinril.

“You were disturbing public peace.” He hissed, “Do you know the punishment for this?”

“Nothing else to watch, move.” The Thalmor agent’s partner, an especially tall mer for an Altmer, ordered, making the crowd disperse. She turned to Saufinril with displeasure, “You, move along! This is your first and final warning. You get caught again and we’re taking you to the Embassy to process you. Is that clear?”

“But-but-but one-”

“See how he was handled?” he could hear his ginger foe bragged as he walked away with his bodyguards, “I wasn’t even scared! You just have to show them who’s the boss.”

“Don’t stammer! Is that clear?” she snapped. Saufinril took another deep breath.

“Yes, serah.” He replied. Only then did the tall agent’s partner release him, adding a harsh “Don’t think this incident’s been forgotten.” Saufinril took two steps back, gave a brief head bow, then turned and continued walking. The indignation will die, he figured, when he puts his focus on his task at hand. It took him several hours and a visit to eight merchants but he finally found a white veined marble ink pot with quality ink in it, exactly (if not better than) what he was looking for. Thanking the merchant profusely after the purchase (after visiting eight merchants, the ninth with just what you need is just godsent), he headed at once to Dennaris’s shop. Amara said it was a new tavern, hard to miss. What he could see from this shop was the shadow puppet theatre that was playing an outdoors show, filled to the brim with children that were encouraging the protagonist and his Imga companion, some individuals and couples walking around…at last he saw the tavern, with open holes in the wall to allow for more ventilation. In a table by said windows, Amara had sat down and was waiting. Saufinril entered and headed at once where she was, making her perk up.

“There you are!”

“Have you been waiting long?”

“No, I just arrived. How’d it go? I got so many new things. Are you hungry?”

“Eh. You’re not going to believe what happened to one earlier…”

#fourth era sau #in which sau tried to pick up a fight lmfao #in which Amara is a good friend and Sau knows and tried to honor those nice feelings but #ultimately this fucker is going DOWN #altmer #Imperial #Bosmer #Redguard #tes #tesblr #fourth era #I was gonna name this 'Unleashed'#not to be confused by the Epica song from their 'Design your Universe' 2009 album #but I remembered Sau already has a memory named 'Unleashed' so I was going to call this 'gossip' since he and Amara indulge in this a lot #and they were gossiping at first and at the end of the memory #but you know what #'Outside' will do

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neuxue · 6 years

Text

Oathbringer thoughts

I was hoping to be able to liveblog Oathbringer, but it turns out I was too optimistic by half. Well, by about 5/28 anyway, given that I have two and a half WoT books left. I thought about just waiting to read Oathbringer (if there’s anything liveblogging WoT has taught me it’s patience) but I’m going to the Sanderson signing tomorrow so I was running out of time. Anyway, here are some thoughts upon finishing, for the 2 or 3 of you who are interested. I was reading probably a little too fast, so probably missed everything and will at some point need to reread, but here you go.

LOTS OF SPOILERS BELOW. ALL THE SPOILERS. HERE THERE BE SPOILERS.

In no particular order (but there are 10: a nicely Vorin number to go with my coincidentally Vorin username)

1. Talenel. Taln. Talenelat’Elin. Stonesinew, Herald of War, Bearer of all Agonies.

That guy.

Taln was a Problem for me literally from the moment he was introduced in the Prelude (offscreen! He didn’t even show up on-page! Why am I like this?!) with the line “Taln had a tendency to choose seemingly hopeless fights and win them. He also had a tendency to die in the process”. A doomed last stand in the form of a character. Why would you do this to me.

So I’m sure you can guess that Chapter 38 (‘Broken People’ what a chapter title) thoroughly broke me. I mean, it wasn’t even anything we didn’t already know, really. But... “The nine realised that one of them had never broken.” And “The Bearer of Agonies. The one abandoned in Damnation. Left to withstand the tortures alone.” And the fact that it took four and a half millennia for him to break.

I’ve long had a fascination with the idea of ‘everyone has a breaking point’ (when I was 11 I tried to write a novel based entirely on the concept of someone who does not - or cannot - break; the ‘cannot’ turned out to be a rather interesting thing to explore, but the story overall was terrible because, amongst other reasons, I was 11) and with the idea of breaking characters, and what it would take to break certain characters, and what the result would be.

As I mentioned, I also have a thing for doomed last stands, so basically Talenel was created to be my breaking point, it would seem. (“Herald Talenelat during several of his many, many last stands...” just @ me next time)

And then. And then

“Four thousand years?” She held his hand tighter. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” [...] “Four thousand years?” Taln asked again. “Ash...” “We couldn’t continue--I...we thought...” “Ash.” He took her hand again. “What a wonderful thing.” Wonderful? “We left you, Taln.” “What a gift you gave them! Time to recover, for once, between Desolations. Time to progress. They never had a chance before. But this time...yes, maybe they do.”

And then...lucidity abandons him, because he is broken, and it’s been four thousand years. But in that one moment, in the moment when he is briefly himself, it’s as if he isn’t broken at all. The fact that this still exists within him, even if the rest of the time he’s found a refuge in madness or forgetting or in the recitation he gives over and over, the advice he needs to give to humanity, the duty he has to them. It’s like name, rank, serial number. It’s very probably the thing he held on to throughout those four and a half thousand years, the thing he could not allow himself to let go of or forget, even as he broke. And the thought that the one point he fixed on, the thing he held fast to even as he broke, was his duty to humankind, is...a lot.

2. Speaking of Taln, let’s talk a little bit about Kaladin

There are plenty of things I could say about Kaladin, but I mostly just want to throw a few quotes out there For Your Interest. Because...I don’t know if there’s anything to this but here.

Quotes about Taln:

“The one who wasn’t meant to have joined them in the first place, the one who was not a king, scholar, or general”

Um.

“One of them had never broken.”

Quotes about or by Kaladin Stormblessed (surgeon’s son, neither king nor scholar nor general):

“That granite will, that warrior’s poise.”

(As an aside, how do granite and obsidian exist on a planet with no tectonics? How???)

“Ten spears go to battle” [Kaladin] whispered, “and nine shatter. Did that war forge the one that remained? No, Amaram. All the war did was identify the spear that would not break.”

One unbroken, of ten.

Eight months. Eight months as a slave, eight months of slop and beatings. It might as well have been an eternity. --from Way of Kings

An eternity of torture? Also Taln’s Scar is high in the sky during Kaladin’s time as a slave. Maybe meaningless.

Why were they going through all of this? What was the point? Why were they running so much? They had to protect their bridge, the precious weight, the cargo. They had to hold up the sky and run, they had to... --Kaladin’s thoughts, WoK

Take that just a little out of immediate context and that last part especially sure sounds like someone tasked with endless agony for the sake of the world

Yet the sheer glory of what he did seemed at odds with the desolation he caused --Kaladin’s thoughts, WoK

Somewhat less relevant to the thing I’m sort of vaguely postulating but still an interesting choice of words, and the Desolations happen when the Heralds break and return, so.

“His body dead, but not his will” --Hoid, WoR, telling the ‘Fleet’ story

Taln dies a lot. It’s sort of his thing. But his will takes four millennia to break.

“Then I hope I end up in Damnation.” --Kaladin, WoR

I’m just saying.

Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it’s leftover from one of the things I got hilariously wrong when first reading WoK - obviously Kaladin was gaining the powers of a Radiant but I really, really wanted him to somehow be Taln. (Amusingly, I read Way of Kings before I started Wheel of Time, otherwise it would be easy to see where this notion came from). Maybe it’s Maybelline. Regardless, it’s an interesting set of possible parallels.

3. Wow, he just up and told us what caused the Recreance in book three.

And it felt like the perfect time for it. It’s the sort of thing you’d normally expect an author to sit on for more or less the entire series. I was tentatively prepared to wait for at least the first five books before getting this much stated outright on-page.

I’m so glad Sanderson gave it to us now, instead. For one thing, it felt oddly refreshing to have such a big question answered so early. Playing the long game with reveals can work, obviously, but it’s fun to mix things up a bit. It also plays into some of what I ended up talking about in the ‘Dalinar’ section of this list regarding plot twists and the execution thereof. The Recreance is a good example, because it was revealed in full at the point in the story when it could have the impact it needed to have. In-story, it was both the probable and logical time for the secret to come out - it would have started to strain suspension of disbelief if that many characters had some knowledge of it, and none of them ever put it together on-page either in their own thoughts or for the other characters. For the reader, it brings everything together at a point when it’s all very relevant, and at a point when there’s enough information to figure it out if you’re careful and lucky, but not so much that it loses all surprise value whatsoever (For the record, I was close about a lot of it, but there were some pieces I missed and/or put in the wrong place. It did, however, satisfy the one thing I was really hoping it would).

Narratively and thematically, it makes sense alongside the other questions that are being asked or otherwise addressed - the issue of colonisation and ownership and agency, the question of war and protection and the justifications for either or both, the contrast of unity and division, and of course the question of oaths and honour and betrayal.

Answering this question now also makes the whole story suddenly feel so much bigger, because when something set up to be this much of a central question is almost just handed to you, it serves to put it into perspective. It makes the rest of the story, and next set of questions we’re starting to ask, and the questions we don’t even yet know to ask, seem so much larger, and the story so much vaster.

4. OH THANK THE LISTENING GODS THE LOVE TRIANGLE SPUTTERED AND DIED BEFORE IT COULD EAT EVERYTHING

I breathed an actual literal sigh of relief. I hate love triangles so much, mostly because I usually struggle to maintain ‘bored indifference’ rather than outright irritation at romance subplots in general, so love triangles are almost always intolerable because not only do they double the romance but they turn it into a point of conflict and miscommunication and angst and I cannot fucking stand it. If I had a dragon for every unnecessary love triangle I’ve had to read, I’d have been able to take over the world a long time ago. Or have the world’s most epic bonfire.

Anyway. Through WoR (and I guess WoK but to a lesser extent) I was torn between trusting Sanderson to avoid or subvert that particular cliche and...not trusting him to do that. There are a lot of things I do trust him with as a storyteller (especially one who has clearly evolved in his writing, storytelling, and awareness) but I wasn’t sure if I could trust him on this. He earned quite a bit of trust from me for how he ended up writing this, actually.

The exact moment I breathed that sigh of relief? It was the conversation Shallan and Kaladin had about her particular coping mechanism. Specifically:

“No. No, Shallan! I wish I could do the same. [...] How nice would it be, if I could simply shove it all away? Storms.” [...] “This way, I’ll never face it,” Shallan said. “It’s better than being unable to function.” “That’s what I tell myself.”

Because this was the moment when it became exceedingly, abundantly, absolutely clear that Sanderson was doing this on purpose. I had hoped he was, because this was something that felt off about Kaladin and Shallan during their chasms conversation in WoR as well (the ‘she smiled anyway’ thing), but then there was the possibility that it was...accidental. Now, though, I have significantly more faith in Sanderson, because this is a really...I can’t think of the word but I’m glad he did this the way he did.

And I am SO INCREDIBLY GLAD THE LOVE TRIANGLE DIED. And the way in which it died. And the fact that everyone involved respected its death. And that it didn’t stop the characters involved from communicating with and trusting one another. And also that said death included the line “Shallan. he can literally fly.”

(Adolin Kholin is not straight. Just tossing that out there).

(Shallan consistently using the word ‘passion’ when thinking about or describing Kaladin is interesting, though, in light of certain other reveals. Not sure if there’s actually anything to that, but it’s just a thing that stood out).

5. Dalinar

So the identity of Odium’s Champion was one of the things I saw coming as soon as the champion idea was mentioned in this book. (It was brought up in previous books and this was one of my theories but I definitely wasn’t certain, and I was also Distracted by what I wanted to have happen, which is not something that would ever actually happen. I’ll write the fic at some point).

Anyway, it was predictable...but that didn’t matter, because it was beautifully executed. “You cannot have my pain” is a cool line out of context, but in context it was magnificent.

I like the way Sanderson does plot twists, because unlike with some authors, it doesn’t feel as if his sole intent is to be able to say ‘ha ha, tricked you, aren’t I so clever’. His goal, it seems, is to tell a satisfying story. Rather than withholding all of the information relevant to the ‘twist’ to make it actually impossible to guess (which doesn’t make you a master of the plot twist so much as it makes you an asshole), he includes the necessary and sufficient foreshadowing to allow the ‘twist’ to make sense and not feel like it came out of nowhere.

This means, of course, that some readers are going to guess it in advance. That’s just how it works. If you put the information out there, some people are going to put it together correctly and completely. Some people are going to put some of it together, and have a sense of where things are heading. Some people are going to be absolutely sure of where it’s heading...and then be completely wrong. Some people are going to have absolutely no clue. The truly impressive plot twist, I find, is the one that can satisfy people in all of those categories. YMMV of course, but having been in each of these positions at least once while reading Sanderson’s books, I feel like he manages this impressively well. It’s fun if it’s at least a little bit of a surprise, but even when it’s not, it’s satisfying because it’s written as part of the story - as a point of emotional or narrative impact, or a turning point for the characters - well enough that it still has the desired effect. Mostly because ‘gotcha’ isn’t the (only) desired effect.

I digress somewhat.

So before we move on, I’d also like to point out that Dalinar Kholin and Lews Therin Telamon clearly need to form a support group for men who murdered their wives in a fit of madness and fucked with the psyche, memory, and identity of their future selves.

6. “The apocalypse is coming; we don’t have time for bullshit gender roles”

Adolin being absolutely here for Shallan-with-Shardblade. Kaladin going ‘yeah okay’ to women joining the Windrunners. Dalinar learning to read. Jasnah as queen because honestly was there ever actually another choice?

This is another one that’s just so refreshing to see, especially because it’s clearly something that’s being deliberately examined and played with, but is also integrated into the story. It doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb the author didn’t know what to do with, but it also plays a very real role in the story. It’s not just there so the author can point to the one sword-wielding woman in a cast of thousands of dudes and say ‘but I gave you a Strong Female Character’.

This ties into something I really appreciate about Sanderson, which is his demonstrated ability and willingness to learn and grow when it comes to issues of representation - not just in terms of including it, but in how he includes it.

7. Venli

I don’t have a lot to say about her except that I was genuinely surprised by this one. So well done on that, Sanderson.

Also, given his propensity for writing brothers in love with the same woman, I’m almost surprised we didn’t get some sort of reveal about Venli and Eshonai loving the same person.

8. Cosmere convergence

There was a lot more than I expected at this point in the...series? Continuity? Mass of interconnected stories that have evolved into a semi-eldritch being? I enjoyed it and had no problems with this, but I’d be curious to know what someone who’s only read Stormlight thought - does it still work? Do they just play as intriguing and mysterious characters alongside all the other intriguing and mysterious characters, or has it reached a tipping point where you actually need to have read some of the other books?

Also Cosmere-related...Hoid. He’s sure getting more and more screen time, isn’t he? I’m Interested. I have Thoughts. I need to think about them more but I definitely have some Thoughts on who and what he is. Regardless, any character who can say “if I have to watch this world crumble and burn to get what I need, I will do so. With tears, yes, but I would let it happen” is going to Interest me. Not to mention the sheer number of times he tells various characters not to trust him. And then there’s “you turned your back on divinity.” Which is...um. Yeah I’m fine this is fine.

9. Odium

Has to be number 9, because of reasons. Odium was great. Nice subversion of imagery there, and to great effect.

10. Ideals and Oaths

I mostly find it amusing how a book called Oathbringer is the first to plainly exhibit failed Ideals. Elhokar. Kaladin. (My best guess at the Windrunners’ Fourth Ideal would be something along the lines of “I will protect those I can, and forgive myself for those I cannot” but I’ll have to reread and see if that holds up). The broken Oathpact (there’s a part of me that really wants the gem-encrusted probably-a-fabrial-of-some-sort pillar to be the Oathpact; its manifestation or sealing or what-have-you. Not sure that holds up though). It’s a fun little irony.

#definitely need to reread #thoroughly enjoyed it though #I had been feeling a little unsure #because his most recent book(s) in other series #felt a little underwhelming #but this definitely made up for it #oathbringer #oathbringer spoilers #stormlight archive #stormlight archive spoilers #cosmere

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fanofawesomethings · 7 years

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Worlds Cross Part 1

Another one of @bixbitesmeepmorps‘s OC adventures.

If you want a fan fic of your own, message me and I will tell you my prices and availability which is almost always open.

Wheat Town’s prized baker, a round man whom Bixbite calls White Stomach because of his apron, laid out a triple layered cake on a table outside the bakery. A collection of colored frosting at his disposal he planned to paint the naked cake when he spotted Bixbite enter the town’s square.

“Oi, Red Girl, ‘mere!” He called. “Yur gonna love what I got for you toda!”

Bixbite saw the three layer cake on the table and assumed it was for her which made her rush straight to him.

“Golly gee, is that for me?” Bixbite asked, her mouth watering because she’d tried the baker’s pastries before.

“Nonono!” The baker jumped in front of the cake, arms held out to protect it from the ravenous Gem. “I mean inside, not this one! Let me go get it!”

Afraid she might eat it with his back turned, the baker walked backwards watching her like a dangerous animal and then rushed inside. She heard metal objects crash and fall because of his haste. He came out holding a tray of baked turnovers with white frosting inside; but all Bixbite saw was triangles with white inside.

“Enjoy,” he said.

The heat of the turnover didn’t affect her, Bixbite ate it. She swirled the mush around in her mouth—her way of tasting it. “I like it, White Stomach!”

“It’s Roberto, I tell you that every time you come here,” he sighed.

As Bixbite at the tray clean, she couldn’t help eying the cake she was so quickly denied. Roberto began covering it with the base white layer of frosting and moved on to adding splashes of colored icing when Bixbite was halfway done with the tray.

“White—I mean Roobarto, why couldn’t I eat the cake?” Bixbite asked.

“Because, dear Red One, this cake is for a special occasion. Gorgi’s daughter is getting married and she wanted me to make his wedding cake. Genio! It is perfect! I spared no skill.”

“What’s a married and what’s a wedding?”

“What? You don’t know? Child, married is…is…amore at it’s finest! It is when you tell your sweetheart you want to be with them and only them forever.”

An image of Onyx popped in Bixbite’s mind the second he finished. She was flustered.

“And this is the piece to make it a great night: the wedding cake! And make it the best cake in all of Wheat Town. Al inferno con quell'altro panettiere, I am the greatest!”

Bixbite eyed the cake differently, eyes widening with wonder. Eating the cake wasn’t her intention with it anymore. Roberto finished icing the middle layer, moving down to the bottom, when he noticed Bixbite staring at it with a longing expression.

“You got a someone in mind, Red Girl?” He smirked, bobbing his brow at her.

“Onyx,” Bixbite said out loud and then she slapped her hand over her mouth when it came out impulsively.

“Haha! You are in love, Red Child! Amore is beautiful! It is everything, I live for it! So tell me, tell me, who is the lucky someone?”

It was too late to deny anything. “H-How would I know—if I’m in love?”

“Adorabile!” He laughed which made Bixbite pout because he wasn’t taking it seriously. “Listen, child, only you will know when you are in love. It means you want to be with this someone forever. You like making them laugh and when they cry you cry. You do anything for them. Al diavolo questo! Here!”

Roberto dipped his knife into the cake’s middle layer and took out a small piece. He placed inside a plastic containing alongside an edible rose and a tiny Bride figurine.

“You give this piece to your sweetheart, you tell them you love them and you want to be with them!”

“What? B-B-But…I…” Bixbite stuttered.

“Nonono buts. Life is short! Go give it to her and come back and tell me about it!”

Bixbite was walking out of Wheat Town, passed Jason’s house, holding the piece of wedding cake inside the plastic container when she wondered to herself what happened. Roberto’s words made her self-conscious and when she came to the entrance of her forest she hesitated to step inside.

“What do I do? Should I—? But I really want to—give—it to her.” Bixbite paced around in circles while her mind did the same.

She thought about Onyx. Bixbite somehow always found time everyday to think about Onyx. She loved thinking about her. Every time Bixbite thought her it made her smile. The memories of being alone in her mountain for so many years seemed distant almost gone to her. Even I-14 and that night did not affect as much when she thought about Onyx. She held the cake with higher regard and she finally entered the forest towards her cave.

The cave entrance was open. When Bixbite left she sealed it because Onyx had also gone out for a run; she was beside herself with joy because she was ready to give Onyx the piece of cake. Bixbite held it like a precious rock, both hands keeping it steady. She entered, joyful and giddy. But her stomach fell and the hold she had on the container loosened with her shock. It wasn’t Onyx.

Lime green skin, though obscured by the darkness inside, ran up and down a slender thin and tall body. A figure stood inside inspecting the cave while ignoring Bixbite at the entrance; at one point their eyes met, but the figure went back on to exploring. It was another Gem, whose stone was embedded in her navel. It took a moment to remember but Bixbite had seen this kind of Gem before; they were standing at the doorways, bowing at the blurred Gem elites when Bixbite was made. Those Gems had a distinguishing feature that—even though was covered in shadow—the figure had: a long nose. A Pearl with short hair framing her head like a bowl with a large yellow bow tied around her neck like a noose.

She finished her inspection, her nose held high above her head, and started walking around further back. To Bixbite’s horror she stopped beside the pile of rocks and Onyx’s chair. She bent down and plucked out the bubbled Plum, holding it with indifference.

“Um excuse me,” Bixbite beckoned staying at the entrance.

“What is it?” The Pearl asked; a nasally voice coated by an air of superiority that seemed miles high for someone who was inside another person’s abode. “I’ve very busy you know.”

“A-Are you another Gem? I-I’m Bixbite.” Bixbite inched closer, cautiously. “I-It’s nice to meet you.”

“Yes I’m certain it is. Anything else?”

Bixbite circled her and stood opposite her with Plume in between them.

“How did you know I was here?”

“Frankly speaking that is classified information. Suffice it to say I have what I came here to get.” When she turned the ends of her giant bow slapped Bixbite across the face. The Pearl carried Plume with her out.

“Wait! That’s Onyx’s friend, c-can you give her back?”

“Onyx? Psst, figures she had a part to play in this betrayal. Inform her that I will return for her Gem later. Good bye.”

Alarmed, Bixbite acted without thinking and jumped in front of the Pearl’s way.

“What do you want with Plume? Who are you?” She demanded.

The Pearl then inspected Bixbite with a wondering eye that focused primarily on Bixbite’s breasts trailing to her backside. Bixbite covered her body. The other Gem exhaled and her gemstone lit up. A small ball of light flew out and formed into a device the Pearl took in her other hand. She flipped the machine on and sparks flew out; lightning fast, she stabbed Bixbite in her stomach.

All Bixbite felt was a jolt of pain and a burn on where the Pearl stabbed her. SNAP! Bixbite dropped the cake. Her body exploded in a puff of smoke, and her Gem fell on the ground.

“What a failed experiment,” said the Pearl.

As she walked out of the cave she stepped on the plastic container, not even feeling it.

Comfort. A blanket of tranquility wrapped itself around Bixbite. She couldn’t move her body, she couldn’t feel any of her fingers, yet she wasn’t alarmed by it. There was no cause for alarm despite everything. It was like sleeping in bliss. Bixbite didn’t want to escape it.

She saw herself floating. She was nude. Light covered her body; her hair was gone and her skin was no longer magenta. Strangely, Bixbite felt an urge to make her hair grow. The thought appeared in her mind and she watched her own hair grow, stopping when she saw it happen. As if nothing else mattered, Bixbite then felt mischievous. She concentrated on her breasts and jokingly thought they should grow. The Gem’s bosoms expanded and Bixbite giggled to herself.

“Bix!” Onyx’s voice penetrated the void Bixbite found herself in.

Her Gem glowed until the light blinded her. On the outside, Bixbite’s Gem floated off the ground. The projection of light that was her body appeared until it was fully formed, and then Bixbite dropped to the ground. The light entering the cave stung her eyes; focusing she saw Onyx holding her.

“Bix, what happened? Are you hurt?” Onyx cried, tears on the edges of her eyes.

“O-Onyx…what…happened?” Bixbite rubbed her eyes and then she noticed a weight pulling her forward with a lung.

Much to hers and Onyx’s surprise, Bixbite’s chest was much larger than what it was last time. Round mounds of flesh with a weight the magenta Gem wasn’t ready for pulled her down.

“Were you…always that…big?” Onyx asked.

Bixbite shielded her chest, embarrassed, until she remembered what happened. “Onyx, a Gem took Plume!”

“What?! Who?!”

“She was a Pearl and she said was going after you when she gets back but she took Plume!”

Onyx’s chest puffed in outrage. “She hurt you and she took Plume! Did you see which way she went?”

“No. She hit me with something and then—” Bixbite spotted her slice of cake on the ground, crushed beneath the cracked container. She let out a small whimper of sadness which was when Onyx spotted a footprint of icing.

Onyx slammed herself on the ground and followed the trail into the forest. “I’ll crush her!”

The ground cracked with the weight of Onyx’s rage. She threw the boulder out of her way and leapt into the forest after the trail than was thinning and thinning with each step the Pearl took.

The broken pieces of the wedding slice turned to dust in Bixbite’s devastated hands. The frosting was mixed with the dust on the floor and the cake itself was broken. She dagged the tip of her finger and tasted the icing, only to make herself feel worse. The forest was being split by Onyx’s rampage. Bixbite picked herself up and followed.

Not too far from the cave the icing footprints were gone. Onyx put her hands in the dirt, examining the consistency in the forest floor before looking for any irregularities. She had combed enough of the forest to know what was normal and what wasn’t. Every stick on the ground, ever leaf scattered, she noted. Everything seemed the same until she spotted a miniscule twig, snapped in two. Luckily she didn’t have relay on small clues when a bigger indication startled her and Bixbite.

An explosion of smoke and fire rocked the mountain. The smoke bellowing from it soared into the in a matter of second after the thunderous roar. Another tremor shook them a few seconds after. Onyx didn’t give it a second to think, running before the second explosion. She ran passed Bixbite without saying a word to her; Bixbite saw the rage crinkling her face. Bixbite tried to follow but she would never be as fast as Onyx.

The Pearl twirled the orb on the ends of her fingers like a plaything. Shaking it violently the floating Gem inside didn’t move much, and she was disappointed. Another ball of light hovered out of her navel Gem, a small device appeared and the Pearl pushed a few buttons on it to turn it on. The screen above the little button turned on and a red light started flashing. She was halfway across the Battlefield when the explosion startled her; her proud composure was shattered and she nervously darted her head towards the source. She regained her snobbish calm when the source wasn’t near her.

Nearby, the Pearl was able to see the bright lights Bixbite and Onyx didn’t. Flashes and light followed by smaller explosions lit up the forest on the other side of the mountain. She could also hear battle cries. The Pearl looked at her device again and then made it retreat in her Gem. Without any rush and a smug face full of curiosity she strolled leisurely towards the noise.

“On your immediate left, Amethyst!”

“I’m on it!”

“Steven, above you!”

“Thanks, Garnet!”

The Pearl’s nose peaked through the bushed before her eyes. She saw three Gems surrounded a corrupted monster. The other Pearl caught her attention. Her lime eyes followed to the next and widened when she saw the small Amethyst and strange Gem she’d never seen before. But most importantly she was stunned at the small human that accompanied them.

Pearl blocked the monster’s dagger-like pincers from the front, keep its many eyes focused on her while the other were behind. Garnet seized its back claws and held them down; another row of eyes were on its back too. Meanwhile the pincers for legs it had swung at Amethyst who snapped her whip from a distance. The monster spun around, throwing Garnet and Pearl off, and aimed one of its mouths in the sky. A spout of white substance shot out and flew into the sky where it erupted seconds after. The shockwave tossed Steven over like a napkin.

“Its got a real fire in its belly, huh,” Steven remarked, giggling mostly to himself.

“We have to keep both its eyes distracted,” said Garnet. “Also, nice joke, Steven.”

“I’m all over this one!” Amethyst yelled.

Grabbing the ends of her feet she spun into her spinning ball form and shot herself onto the monster. Once attached she circled all around its body, making sure to loop over its eyes.

“What’re ya’ waiting for!?” She screamed.

“She can’t hold it for very long. Garnet, break its front legs and Steven, catch it with your shield when it falls,” instructed Pearl. Garnet complied, leaping into action. Steven scurried after, at a much less graceful speed.

The monster stomped its four legs into the ground in a panic for its stolen eyesight. Garnet dodged the sharp ends left and right, not flinching even if the leg buried into the ground inches from her. She grabbed the first and then second front leg and squeezed on them tight. The monster screeched with pain and fell forward, onto Steven’s shield that he manifested beneath it, catching it.

Pearl jumped under the shield. She aimed the tip of her spear towards the monster. A ball of dancing light formed on top and she shot it up. The ball of energy struck the shield and propelled the monster on the other side high into the air.

“Wow, Pearl that was amazing! I didn’t know your energy thingies had so much oomph to them!” Steven praised, bright eyed.

“Well, there’s still a lot of myself I haven’t told you,” said Pearl, just a little bit smug.

“HEY!” The three back on the ground look up. Amethyst clung to the monster’s orange, scaly body for dear life. “Did you forget about me?!”

“Oh my goodness I did!” Pearl gasped. Suddenly the confident Pearl became skittish and frantic. “We—we have to do something!”

“I’ve seen her go higher,” said Garnet, calm as ever.

Amethyst clung to the monster’s scales. Thankfully they held against the strong wind zooming passed her. Finally able to see, the monster thrashed around in the air until one of its legs brushed by Amethyst; the monster spotted her. The leg swung and snared Amethyst by the collar of her clothes. Amethyst barely knew what was going on before the monster swung her off, throwing her across the forest. In throwing her, the monster threw its trajectory off and it veered to the opposite side.

“We need to poof and bubble that monster before it gets away,” said Garnet.

“R-Right,” Pearl agreed but only just, concern for Amethyst.

“But what about Amethyst?” Steven asked.

“She’ll be alright, Steven, let’s go,” Garnet ordered.

Steven took one last look back, unable to shake the feeling of unease he felt. He watched her purple speck in the air land before following after the two Gems.

The Green Pearl took another look at the device. The blinking red light continued to beat with the same pace as when she pressed the buttons.

“The ship will be here any minutes to retrieve me,” said the Pearl, but a greater worry made her unsure. “But Alabaster said every Off Color I see I have to incapacitate and bubble for her. Well…I supposed one more shouldn’t hurt.”

Her pencil thin body allowed for her to travel as a swift speed when running. Ignoring the condition the forest way to hide her presence, she ran nonstop until she finally found a downed Amethyst in the middle of a crater.

“Ugh, my head. I’ve got to start bringing bandages. Steven’s not the only one who has to protect his looks,” Amethyst joked to herself, rubbing the bruises running up and down her arm. She flung her hair over her head and messed it back to its original shambles. “Come out, I heard you a mile away.”

The Pearl recoiled, surprised she was noticed. But the green Gem was clever, diabolically so; she remembered the other Pearl whom the Amethyst was friends with. She cleared her throat.

“Amethyst, it’s me, Pearl,” she imitated.

“Hey, P. You stayed behind, what about the baddie?”

“You’re more important to me than bubbling that monster.”

Amethyst blushed a little. “Aww, Pearl, no need to be so gushy over me. I can take a beating or two.”

“But all I care about is you, Amethyst. I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt.”

Amethyst was speechless, blown away by the abruptness.

“Come here,” said Pearl.

Enamored, Amethyst got up and awkwardly waddled towards the brush. She was on the edge of her seat, wondering what Pearl had in mind. But when she was close enough, the green Pearl came out of the bushes, holding the weapon she used on Bixbite earlier.

Amethyst didn’t have time to dodge. The Pearl plunged the weapon into Amethyst’s stomach. Her body lit up, streams of light like zigzags appeared and scurried all over her body. The last thing Amethyst saw was the face of her friend on a different form. SNAP! A second later, Amethyst was poofed, her gemstone landing at the Pearl’s feet. She waved her hand over the Gem and a bubbled formed enclosing it.

“That’s too wrong Gems. On a single excursion no less. Maybe I’ll finally get my say on the ship,” said the Pearl, looking into both of them she had juggling for space above her hand. “Assuming Alabaster can fix you, of course. If not, I supposed I could shatter you. You two did, after all, cause me so much stress.”

The Pearl held the two bubbles close to her navel. A light radiated from it which swallowed the Gems inside. She shivered an uncomfortable sensation off. Suddenly something caught her eye.

Across the empty field she could see Onyx running at her fastest speed towards the forest, no doubt, she thought, going to the source of the explosion. The off world Gem had yet another malevolent form in her wicked mind.

“If they destroy each other it will mean less effort on my part to bring in more wrong Gems. Alabaster will love them, especially that sneaky little Off Color, Onyx.”

The Pearl called upon her gemstone once again. An Amethyst appeared, but the glimmer on the gemstone was different from the one once on Amethyst’ chest.

“A fake substitute wasn’t a waste after all, was it, Pearl?” Green Pearl waited for Onyx to enter the forest and get into earshot. She picked up a large rock and threw it against a tree; the crash caught Onyx’s attention and raced towards her. The Pearl hid in the shadows.

Onyx found the crater where Amethyst landed but no one else. Her anger ad her hurry to find the Pearl who took Plume distracted her, making her miss the details in the area that pointed to the perpetrator watching from afar. Suddenly another explosion sounded nearby; Onyx gritted her teeth and dashed. Just before she took off, the Pearl jumped out and threw the fake gem like a discus. To the Pearl’s smugness it got caught on Onyx’s suit, tight.

“Make sure you’re rough on those Rebels,” said Green Pearl.

#steven universe au #au #steven universe #writing #bixbite #commission #fan fiction #fanfiction #fiction

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newsfromnewdelhi · 5 years

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Adventures in Rajasthan

My trip to Alwar, the oldest city in Rajasthan.....

The train journey was pleasant as I’d booked an ‘executive seat’ in the first class carriage which included a meal.

Alwar is not on the tourist map, being a very poor city. Apart from the museum and fort there’s really not much else to see. On arrival at Alwar station about 8pm, it was dark, and the tuk tuk driver who was supposed to take me to my Hotel, as well as overcharging me, dropped me off at the wrong place so that the hotel manager ended up having to come and collect me on his motor bike! The hotel, although very modern looking was up dirt track quite a way from the city centre and my room was very small and smelt awful, although at least they did upgrade me to a much better (but still freezing cold) room.

The following day I caught a tuk tuk to the museum then the fort which from which there were incredible views over the city. The tuk tuk driver waited faithfully for me at each of the venues including Dominoes Pizza, so I shared my pizza with him and tipped him generously!

I should have just stayed one night at the hotel as the following day, I had 7 hours to kill just wandering between the main park (where a sari clad woman tried to weedle money out of me and two teenage boys asked me and for a ‘selfie’) and Dominoes Pizza. It made me feel very uncomfortable being stared at the whole time - a relief to get back to Delhi.

Alwar Museum

19th Century artwork, Bundi School. Krishna making an offering to an elephant, Gouache on paper.

Alwar fort. Good to be up above the smog.

Mud huts just the other side of the wall from the Hotel - view from my window.

Alwar station

Golden Triangle Tour

Pros:

You get taken everywhere and don’t have to worry about finding your way from A to B. We had a great driver who was very friendly and drove carefully so we felt safe with him the whole time.

You get a tour guide to show you around each of the sites. We had a different one for each of the cities we were in and all were extremely good. They knew their history and brought it to life through their great story telling skills.

The hotels were warm, clean and comfortable and I was lucky enough to share with someone who didn’t snore! Breakfast was included in all the hotels and dinner was also included in the third hotel in Jaipur.

There were just four of us on the tour so it was a nice sized group. We all got on really well together, two were from Ethiopia and one was from the US although originally from India.

It was good to travel by road to realise that it’s only the cities that are really crowded. Going in winter is the best time to see these sites as the heat is bearable enabling one to spend much longer out in the open looking around.

Cons:

The drivers recieve commission for taking tourists to certain restaurants for lunch. As these cater solely for toursists they are naturally more expensive.

The tour guides also receive commission for taking toursists to certain shops and cafes. For example, we were taken to a carpet shop in Delhi where they import beautiful hand-made carpets from Kashmir. We were shown how they were made and offered tea, but then came the hard-sell which left us feeling awkward. Because of this visit which wasn’t in the tour brochure, we missed seeing Humayan’s tomb.

Everyone needs tipping which gets quite expensive: The driver, tour guides, hotel porters, waiters etc. The venues where there is no entrance fee levy certain charges (e.g. the Jasma Masjid Mosque charges 300 ruppees to take your mobile phone inside, a fee for the robe you borrow and you’re expected to pay a tip to the man who looks after your shoes and another tip to the man who shows you Mohammed’s beard hair, and so it goes on...).

It wasn’t made clear in the tour guide brochure that the entrance fees to the sites were not included in the overall price, so there was a lot of extra expense for which we’d not budgeted.

All the sites have many, many people trying to sell you souvenirs. It can get quite exhausting constanlty having to say ‘nahin’; the sellers are extremely persistent!

It’s hard to process the fact that places like the Taj Mahal are making huge amounts profits whilst there is such abject and widespread poverty within a stone’s throw of these sites. Why aren’t the profits going towards developing the cities’ infrastuctures?

So here’s a brief run down:

Day 1 New Delhi:

The present New Delhi was designed by Edwin Lutyens, and its main architect was Herbert Baker. In 1911 the capital of the British Raj was shifted from Kolkata to Delhi. Today it is the seat of power of the country and a major Gateway to the country for the tourists.

Ghandi’s memorial

Raj Ghat is located on the banks of the river Yamuna. Mahatma Gandhi’s Memorial is situated here, where he was cremated following his assassination in January 1948. The memorial lies in the midst of landscaped gardens and made of a simple square platform of black marble inscribed with his last words “Hey Ram”

Jama Masjid (Friday Mosque)

Made of red sandstone and white marble, completed in 1656. It is India’s largest mosque where more than 20,000 people can kneel in prayer at one time.

Mohammed’s footprint (supposedly).

The Qutab Minar

The landmark of Delhi, a huge tower of victory started in 1199 and completed in 1368. The Minar is 72.5m high with a diameter at the base 14.4m and 2.7m at the top.

The India Gate (42m)

Commemorates the 70,000 Indian soldiers who died in the 1st world war. 13,516 names of British and Indian soldiers killed in the Afghan War of 1919 are engraved on the arch and foundations. Under the arch, glows the Amar Jawan Jyoti flame commemorating Indian armed forces’ losses in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971.

Day 2 Agra A medieval city on the banks of the Yamuna River. It was founded by Sultan Sikandar Lodi in the year 1506. Agra achieved fame as the capital of the Mughal emperors from 1526 to 1658 and remains a major tourist destination because of its many splendid Mughal-era buildings. Most notably the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri, all three of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

World famous monument The Taj Mahal overlooking the River Yamuna, is a classic example of Mughul architecture, with the Taj itself built as a mausoleum at the northern end of an extensive formal walled garden designed in the charbagh style and structured on the Islamic theme of ‘paradise’. The whole site was built by Shah Jahan between ad 1632 and 1653 as the final resting place of his favourite wife Arjumand Bano Begum (also known as Mumtaz Mahal) who died in ad 1631 shortly after giving birth to their fourteenth child. Upon his death in ad 1666, Shah Jahan was buried alongside his wife in the Taj.

The Taj Mahal... true love or megolamania?

Agra Fort was originally a brick fort and the Chauhan Rajputs held it. It was mentioned for the first time in 1080 AD when a Ghaznavide force captured it. Sikandar Lodi (1487-1517) was the first Sultan of Delhi who shifted to Agra and lived in the fort. During the time Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz lived there, he he had beautiful marble rooms built for his wife and two daughters. His second eldest son, who wanted to be king, killed his brothers and put his father under house arrest, so Shah Jahan lived out his remaining years in a section of Agra fort from which he had a view of the Taj.

Beautiful marble rooms commissioned by Shah Jahan

The room overlooking the Taj, where Shah Jahan lived out his remaining years under house arrest.

Day 3 Fatehpur Sikri

A beautiful and deserted medieval city, built by Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great in the 16th century to serve as the capital of his vast empire. It was mysteriously abandoned after 15 years due to scarcity of water. Today, it is perfectly preserved as a ghost city built at the height of the empire’s splendour.

Day 4 Jaipur Founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh - II, the ruler of Amber, Jaipur was the first planned city in India.This town is also referred as Pink city for the colour of buildings in its wonderful old city. The city was painted pink to honour the visit of Prince Albert of England in 1882.

Amber City Fort is situated 130m high with the Aravalli hills around 11 km north of Jaipur. It was the ancient capital of the Kachhawaha Rajputs till 1037. Massive gateways, courts, stairways, pillared pavilions and palaces recall the glory and wealth of Amber’s association with the Mughals.

The City Palace still houses the erstwhile Royal familyJantar Mantar.

Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds, with 1043 windows) built for the royal ladies to watch the activities on the market street below without being observed themselves.

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theclacks · 7 years

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Buffy - Season Three Thoughts

So… that was a thing.

Where do I start on season 3… Okay, I’m going to recap in chronological order and then do over all thoughts (especially compared to season 2) because if I start with overall thoughts, I’ll be here all night and probably not make much sense.

So yeah. I really like Buffy’s period of mourning. There’s something very cathartic about watching characters mourn. And watching characters get mad at each other. And the first two episodes did that in spades, I love how Willow acted dismissively cheerful and then just LAID into Buffy later. I love how Buffy’s originally close-friends party turned into a random party and the one overheard line along the lines of “do you know who this party’s for? I don’t know, some girl who just got out of rehab” just hit stone cold.

And then Angel showed up.

Now I know Angel was GOING to show up because 1) he was in the credits and 2) he goes on to star in his own spin-off, but I don’t know… I was expecting the whole first half of the season to be a life without Angel/search for Spock Angel kind of thing. And I was really liking the whole mourning/slowly accepting Angel’s death so for him to come back as SOON as Buffy put down her ring I was like “……okay?” but then I also couldn’t complain because ANGEL.

And then it turned out he was feral Angel which was cool but then THAT got resolved in a single episode which was another kind of “…..okay?” then again. ANGEL.

I’m just glad they had Buffy’s super quick temp boyfriend Scott dump her because that would’ve been an even more annoying obviously-one-ship-is-the-preferred-ship love triangle than Twilight.

Oh, speaking of love triangles… quadrangles… things. The Willow/Xander sudden attraction love fest thing. Not a huge fan. But it lasted comparatively shortly and didn’t destroy the Oz/Willow pairing (in fact kind of strengthened it) and it gave way for adorable Cordelia/Wesley flustered shenanigans AND Cordelia subconsciously summoning Anya, so overall I don’t mind where it ended up leading the series in the slightest.

Although I do want to talk about Faith.

I hate Faith.

Maybe she gets better in later seasons (if she’s in later seasons? I assume yes even though I hope no), maybe part of my hate is just missing Kendra and viewing Kendra as the superior alt!slayer. Although Buffy did make many references to Mr Pointy this season, so I guess Kendra still lives on in spirit.

But yeah, the gang had such a chill, well working groove this season that the ONLY way to cause tension was to throw a Faith-shaped socket into the works. Like she was pretty much only there to stir trouble and be a pity fest and I’m sorry Faith fans, but it’s an EXTREMELY big leap to go from bitter “Buffy’s more popular than me” to “I’m going to join forces with the dude who wants to murder the town because he gives me things.” IDK, I think it would’ve actually made more sense for her skip town entirely, forge her own path? But maybe she wasn’t brave enough for that? IDK. Her darkside turn simultaneously didn’t feel as fluid (i.e. didn’t make sense) OR as shocking (i.e. she’d always been the “bad” girl) as the Angel losing his soul thing did.

Although speaking of Angel losing his soul, THAT EPISODE WHERE FAITH TRIES TO CAST IT OUT OF HIM. And at the end she’s like “guess I’m the best actor in the world” and Angel suddenly goes “second best” and it slips into slo-mo, I gasped. I literally gasped. I’d been going “nooo not a repeat” while also going “soulless Angel is extremely entertaining” and then in just 5 seconds everything turned 100% awesome again.

Which, yeah, Angel and Buffy. I think I love Angel and Buffy the most when they’re working together as I team which is why I loved the second half of season 3 more than the first half. They finally got their groove back and he was helping out in fights (even after Buffy said “let’s take a break” and Angel said “let’s break up”) and they just worked. There were a couple earlier episodes, especially the one where Giles drugs Buffy of her powers and regrets it and Buffy’s mom gets kidnapped and Buffy goes off to save her alone that I was like, “ummmmm… bring Angel with you? I know the ‘theme’ of this episode is doing this alone, but in-character Buffy, you should really be caring more about getting your mom out alive than episode themes”.

So yeah. Angel and Buffy watching an erotic indie film together, Angel and Buffy fighting seaside cave demons together, Angel and Buffy acting together to pull one over on faith. That is the best kind of Angel and Buffy and I’m glad the show finally veered back into that direction before he ultimately left the show.

Which leaves the Mayor and the overall plot arc of Season 3.

So I honestly thought the Mayor was going to be a multi-season villain (same with Mr Trick) and was really kind of shocked when he just ate it (along with the library and half of the school building). But more than that, I think I was a little disappointed by the Mayor just because of HOW LONG it took for him and Buffy to face off… which is really my one complaint about season 3, that is, the overall plot arcs weren’t as defined as they were in season 2.

Season 2 had two very clear halves and evolving goals for both sides. The first half had Buffy and Angel’s will they/won’t they on the heroes side and Spike’s wanting to heal Dru on the villain’s side. They both get their wishes near the middle of season and that’s the greatest thing because it ends up being an Into the Woods type thing with their granted wishes causing new problems. Buffy/Angel’s relationship causes Angel to turn evil and Dru’s restoration causes Spike becomes useless in a wheelchair. The goals in the second half suddenly flip on their heads: find a way to either restore Angel’s soul (or kill Angel) on the heroes side and Spike wanting Angel out of the picture and Dru back on the villains side. There was a constant forward momentum, a goal to strive for.

And so wrapping back around to what I THOUGHT season 3 was going to be about, getting Angel back so soon kind of killed that momentum. There wasn’t any greater goal the heroes were really striving for over the course of multiple episodes. Even when Faith turned, the gang didn’t seem to care that much. It was kind of like “good riddance, at least she’s not back-stabbing me anymore” from Buffy’s side. They just sort of went along through their senior high school days with minimum drama.

Which don’t get me wrong. It was nice. It was fun. And I’m probably going to be missing the minimum drama in later seasons. And overall, the quality of the individual episodes was stronger (I’m looking at you Lovers Walk, The Zeppo, Doppelgangland, Enemies, Earshot… heck what am I saying, all the episodes from that until the end). But I really did miss that constantly-striving-for-something feel that Season 2 had.

But then I’ll also give credit where credit is due and just be grateful that I wasn’t emotionally deadened like I was at the end of season 2. If the series had ended at season 2, it would’ve been the most depressingly awesome bittersweet series ending ever. If it’d ended at season 3, it’d be a super entertaining and sweet bookend.

I didn’t even place together the connection until I started writing this review, but I think this season more than anything else was about Buffy’s acceptance, both of her accepting herself and of the Sunnydale community accepting her. This season started off with jocks half-joking/chanting “no more mysterious deaths!” and the guy at Buffy’s welcome home party thinking she was some sort of drug addict. It ended up with Buffy getting crowned (umbrella’d?) as Class Protector and the entire graduating class taking up arms and fighting vampires and a demon alongside her. I mean, regardless of what happens later, those are some firm, shining YES moments.

Final/stray observations

Favorite episode was Lovers Walk by far. I am a Spike fan and not afraid to admit it. Between him falling asleep drunk and his hand catching on fire, drinking cocoa while having a heart to heart with Joyce (and asking for marshmallows), taunting Angel behind Joyce’s back when he can’t come inside Buffy’s house, reminiscing about a park bench where he and Dru killed a homeless man, and cheering up at the end because he’s realized that all he needs to do is become the man he was and torture Dru into loving him again… yeah. That episode was a pure treasure.

I loved the resolution to the Wesley/Cordelia thing. I’ve had those kind of kisses before, the kisses that make you go “oh, umm… awkward, nevermind.” This show, it reads my soul.

While I hated Faith, I loved the addition of Anya to the cast. I knew by her name that she’d become a series regular so when she first introduced herself as “Anyanka” I was like “no….. it can’t be.” And then it was. And she rambled about her past curses to Xander at the prom. And it was awesome.

Also Oz’s thoughts in the mind-reading episode. Grabbing from a transcript because they’re just too good to paraphrase:

Oz (thinking): I am my thoughts. If they exist in her, Buffy contains everything that is me and she becomes me. I cease to exist.

Oz (speaking): Hmm…

I just love Oz so much. He is one of the characters I had no idea existed going into this and I’m scared for what’s going to happen to him because I know Willow eventually gets with someone else, so he’s either going to leave or die. And I’m REALLY hoping he doesn’t die.

Also are we going to eventually get a human!Spike/William flashback episode? Because we’ve gotten two Angel/Liam flashback episodes and one Dru flashblack episode. I DEMAND A SPIKE FLASHBACK EPISODE.

As for thoughts and guesses on what’s going to happen in season four, I have no idea. All the plot threads are resolved (except for, I guess, Faith kinda, who I don’t care about), everyone graduated, and Angel’s off in his own spin off land. I did cheat though and I watched the first three minutes of Angel + opening credits before I started writing this and Angel and Cordelia being spin-off bros? I don’t know how that’s going to happen but sign me the hell up! I’m guessing she just decided to leave Sunnydale since her dad went broke and all and Xander’s not her BF and yeah? There’s really not too much there for her anymore.

Anyways yeah. I’m planning to watch BTVS AND Angel simultaneously now which means these recaps will become a biweekly thing.

Of course both shows are leaving Netflix this week which sucks (pun not intended). Originally I was going to grab the DVDs from the library but apparently the rest of the city had that idea. Buffy season 4 went from having 3 open copies to 10+ holds over the course of the past couple days. I reserved Angel no problem though and I ended up ordering a used copy of BTVS complete series off Amazon because, hey, it was half off, I’m super enjoying the series so far, and some times it’s nice to pay.

#buffy the vampire slayer #buffy meta #btvs meta #meta thoughts #/////#clacks from theclacks

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sugawithtae-blog · 7 years

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Youth | Pt. 2

I hope you’re enjoying this so far :) I want you to connect with some of the other members, so there isn’t a lot of Yoongi in this chapter, sorry! Next chapter shall have plenty of Yoongi x Reader :) - Hana

Focus: Yoongi x Reader

Word Count: 2.5k

Genre: Fluff, Angst, College!au, Gang!au

Summary: A gang of delinquents go to your university. After your first encounter, things have been a crazy ride.

Warnings: Light alcohol and drug mentions, swearing.

A/N: Also there are no love triangles in this, so ya’ll can relax in case you get the wrong idea hahahahah

Trailer | Pt. 1

For the rest of the day, you stayed clear of the group of delinquents, especially Namjoon. The day was over as you had finished attending all your classes, so you started to make your way home. As you walked, your thoughts took you to dark places, filled with your problems of life. You began thinking about your family. Your childhood wasn’t exactly a bright and happy one, as it should’ve been. Your parents were harsh on you from the very beginning, controlling your life as if it wasn’t even your own. You even became a little depressed at one stage. Sure, you made some mistakes, but your parents never let you forget them.

They were always yelling. Constantly fighting. They could never talk out their differences. And whenever it came to you, they just told you to keep studying. Start a money-making career. Get married, and pray you don’t fall into a relationship like theirs. Both of their careers kept them busy. You were also pretty sure they had, at least once, slept with someone else. They just didn’t love each other anymore.

So growing up, your life was completely study orientated. You barely went to any social events during high school, which left you with very little friends. There was this cold nature you had built towards your parents, who had taken away any fun that you could’ve had during your childhood. Even still, now old enough to make your own decisions, your parents controlled your life.

They always gave you crap for not studying hard enough and not being the perfect daughter. Sometimes, you didn’t feel appreciated at all.

You couldn’t see anything ahead in your future. You didn’t know what you were working towards. All you knew was that you liked art. Loved it actually. You were obsessed with it. But that could never be an option.

You saw your street approaching, but stopped. You didn’t want to head inside just yet. Your parents wouldn’t be home for another hour and a half. So, you decided to take a detour around a few blocks.

Your mind wandered to a certain group of boys. You questioned what they wanted to do with their lives. All they seemed to do was create mess and destruction, not giving a damn. You realised you hardly knew anything about any of them, even though the entire school seemed to think so. What was their family like? How on earth did they even tolerate them? What did they do besides occasionally attending classes? How did they come to all meet and know each other? So many questions…

They sure were an interesting bunch, you thought.

You soon found yourself winding through alleys, where the brick walls were covered in illegal street art. You stopped to stare at some, admiring the different styles of artwork and the different stories they told. You’d always wanted to try spray painting yourself, only used to using your precious water colour paints and array of pencils. But it was vandalism, a crime. You couldn’t dare risk it.

The sun was beginning to set and you realised that you had been outside for a long time. But before you decided to head home, you stopped by a mural and began to admire it. After a few seconds, you heard a cough, along with spraying of a spray can. Curious, you peered around the corner, discovering none other than V, another delinquent.

V. Yes, that was his name.

He took a sip from a bottle of liquor and continued to spray some paint on the wall, looking incredibly concentrated on what he was doing. As if he sensed your presence, he turned to spot you lurking in the corner. You must of looking like a creep, because he suddenly got into a defensive posture.

“Who are you?”

“Uh… I go to the same university as you. Um, I was just walking home. I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything, I promise,” you said quickly, suddenly feeling really awkward. You probably looked really amusing to him, because he suddenly smiled and let out a chuckle.

Wow, he has a really unique smile.

God, Y/N. You’re so embarrassing.

“Hey, I think I’ve seen you around campus before. You look familiar. Aren’t you like, super smart?”

All of a sudden, you felt slightly at ease. The tone of his voice was playful and friendly, and you wondered how he could be friends with someone like Namjoon or Yoongi. Maybe there really was a whole lot you didn’t understand, just like everyone else, because right then, he looked like the most innocent kid you’d ever seen. Well, besides the liquor bottle and spray can he was holding.

“Um… I don’t know… I guess I just study a lot. Uh, I’m Y/N. You’re V, right?”

He shook the spray paint bottle a couple of times before gesturing towards you.

“Yeah, I am. Have you ever done this before?”

“Me? Never.”

He smirked, and said, “Wanna give it a try?”

You hesitated. You wanted to. Really bad. Maybe this is what you needed. A little rebellion. A fresh change in your normal and boring routine. However, you still paused. He sensed your hesitation. Sure, he was nice and all, but you just met the guy and didn’t completely trust him. He could tell. He sighed, lowering the bottle, and stared up at the wall.

“Taehyung.”

“Pardon?”

He faced you again. “My real name is Kim Taehyung.”

You looked up at him, surprised.

“V is just a nickname, of course. I’ve had it for a long time, so it kind of stuck.” He raised an eyebrow at you and said, “You sure you won’t give it a go?”

I really want to. Gosh, do I want to. But…

Ahhh, screw it.

You walked up to him and slowly took the can out of his hand. No going back now.

He smiled at you, with a tinge of pride. You weren’t sure if this was something to be proud of.

“Wait. I don’t know what to paint,” you realised. He looked down at you. The height difference was quite significant. He said, “Paint what first comes to mind then. It can be anything. There are no limits here.”

You thought about your parents. And suddenly an idea sprung.

You looked up at the wall in determination. Without any more hesitations or mental restraints, you raised your hand to shake the can and sprayed the first bit of paint onto the brick wall. It took you some time, your strokes were slow at first. But then your emotions took over, and your gentle strokes turned into rough streaks of messy paint. Meanwhile, Taehyung stood back, taking chugs from his bottle, and watched your first piece unfold. You were left with an image, one that spoke levels to you.

It was a girl, just like you, with her hair being pulled back by two pairs of hands. However, she was unable to speak, with a piece of tape covering her mouth.

“That is something…” Taehyung spoke softly. You hummed in response.

“It’s missing something, though,” you said.

“Like what?” You stood, tracing every stroke with your eyes until finally taking in the entire piece as a whole. You stepped forward, and underneath, in messy letters, spelled out your main message.

‘Let me breath.’

“Let me breath? What does that mean?”

“It means exactly what it says,” you replied.

Taehyung looked down at you with an unreadable expression. In his eyes, you saw something deep, like a connection was forming between the two of you.

“You’re quite an interesting person, you know,” Taehyung said with an enlightened voice.

“You’re quite surprising yourself,” you chuckled. Taehyung smirked playfully, stretching out his hand to offer you his drink. Before you could even consider accepting his offer, a voice behind you yelled out.

“Hey! You two!”

Taehyung grabbed your upper arm and pulled, his eyes wide looking over your shoulder.

“Quick! RUN!”

It was a police officer. Well, fuck.

A sudden burst of fear and adrenaline ran through your body as you quickly followed Taehyung, who was running as fast as he could. You were definitely screwed.

This was such a shitty idea.

He lead the two of you out of the alleyway and started heading to the edge of town. It was almost dark outside now and you could feel the cold air grasping your cheeks. The officer was chasing after you, but you were slowly losing him. You didn’t dare look back.

You reached a junk yard, or at least that’s what it looked like, with old train carriages that hadn’t been used in a long time dumped all over the place. It looked empty and deserted, but there was a fence blocking your way.

“Hurry! We’ll lose him in there! We gotta climb over this!”

“Wait, what?!”

“Quickly!” You mustered up your courage and started climbing the fence with shaking hands. Taehyung jumped off on the other side as soon as he reached the top, but you took a little longer climbing down. It went all too fast for your brain to keep up. Taehyung grabbed your upper arm again and pulled you alongside him to hide between different carriages. It became a maze, taking turns everywhere, trying to get the officer off your trail.

“I think he’s gone.” You both stood still for a moment, holding your breaths to listen for any other signs of movement. The only sound that could be heard was the distant roaring of cars and your heavy breathing. You looked around, realising the sky was much darker now, and you could barely make out what was there a few feet in front of you.

You felt on edge once again because you had no idea where you were and you were with a guy you barely knew. A sense of panic built within you as you realised your parents were probably worried sick.

“Taehyung, I really think I should head home.” He looked at you with a disappointed face.

“But the night’s only just beginning. Don’t you want to have some fun?” He said in a playful tone. Didn’t he have a home to get to? Is this what he did everyday after school? Get chased by cops and drink liquor?

“I don’t know… My parents are probably freaking out. I should really go home,” you lied. Your parents probably didn’t care too much, too busy yelling at each other.

He thought about this for a minute and then said, “Before you go, can I show you something?”

“Show me what?” He grinned.

“You’ll see. C’mon.”

You opened your mouth to protest, but he had already decided for you and cut you off by pulling on your jacket. Together, you walked down the train tracks, following his footsteps. In the distance, you could see an orange glow that caught your eyes.

“A bonfire?”

He didn’t reply and kept walking, pulling you along with him. You started to hear people talking, laughing even. You had a feeling you knew who it was and you prayed it wasn’t. You could see a makeshift shed next to the fire and then saw faces surrounding the small fire.

Of course.

“Hey, I’m here! And I bought a friend with me!”

The six faces all looked up at you and Taehyung. You gulped, really nervous once more, your eyes scanning each expression. First finding Jimin, who looked at you with a cheeky grin and then gave you a wink. Hoseok was next to him, another member of their group, who just looked up confused. Jin didn’t even lift his head, too entranced by a small polaroid in his hand. Jungkook had a look of wonder and curiousity on his face, however Yoongi, who was sat next to him, just looked bored. But he stared at you, and you could see a hint of curiousity in his eyes. Namjoon looked like he wanted to say something, his eyes glaring into you.

“Yah, V! You can’t just bring strangers here! This is our place! What if more people find out?” Namjoon said, clearly pissed off. His glare turned to you once again. “And, you. How dare you come here-”

“Hyung, it isn’t her fault...” Taehyung explained. “We were spray painting together and then a cop caught us, so we ran and I brought her over here...”

“You two were spray painting together?” A voice you didn’t expect to hear spoke. Yoongi looked curiously between the two of you and you flushed.

For what specific reason, you did not know.

You felt awkward standing there, and so desperately wanted to just crawl and disappear into a hole. You probably looked like it as well. As if sensing this, Yoongi walked up to you from his position on an old looking couch, his distance a bit too close for comfort, and said, “I told you not to bother us again. Go home.”

Gladly. Except, I don’t know where I am or how to get out of this dump. Oh, not to mention it’s dark out and I was just being chased by a fucking cop. Also, nothing wrong with the fact that this place is probably infested with creepy men who wouldn’t think twice about taking advantage of a poor girl like me. No major problem here.

You didn’t know what to say or do. How could so much happen in just one day? Your brain and body could not keep up. You were tired, scared, annoyed, and in desperate need of a shower. It dawned on you that you just committed a crime. My first act of rebellion. You weren’t sure if this was a moment to be proud of.

“Hyung, don’t you think it’s a little unsafe for a girl to be walking home alone at night, in this place?” You looked behind you to see Jimin with a worried expression on his face. Worried for me?

But you didn’t want to spend more time with either of them. “It’s okay. My house isn’t far,” you lied. I can walk myself. Sorry for intruding.” You gave a quick bow and started walking away from them.

“Wait, Y/N. I don’t think that’s a good idea...” Taehyung frowned, not pleased that you were leaving so quickly and that you were going alone. But what else could you do? First of all, you were clearly not welcome. Second, your parents were waiting for you, and oh god, what were they going to say about this? Plus, you were tired as hell. So you saw it in your best interest to leave.

“No, it’s fine. Really.”

You turned to make your way home, leaving them staring at you from behind. Sighing in frustration, you took your anger out by kicking a rock. You just wanted to go home and make a quick sketch. It had been too long since you’d drawn something. After your graffiti incident with Taehyung, you really wanted to start painting again. Was that so much to ask for?

Looking ahead, you tried to map out in your head where you were and where that spot where you climbed over the fence was. Realising that was impossible, especially with the night beginning to settle in, you took a few turns that looked like they would lead you out.

A pair of footsteps brought you out of your frantic thoughts. You flipped around, suspecting someone was following you. But when you turned to look, the footsteps went quiet and you couldn’t see anything.

I swear it’s my imagination.

But once the footsteps started again, you knew it wasn’t.

Oh great, just great. I’m fucked.

Pt. 3

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