#and then this bittersweet hurt/comfort decided to tag along for the ride | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

karlyboyyy · 1 year

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It's Been Three Days

Summary: What I'd like to imagine took place in the days following the events of episode 10 - lots of Kazuki sadness, Rei trying his best, hugs and tears, and talking about feelings. Because we haven't really seen much bonding between the two of them in the show! Fic tags: KazuRei, Angst/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Depression, Anxiety, Comfort Wordcount: 5.5k Also on AO3! << It's my first ever post on there :D

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It’s such an odd thing to realize just how quickly you get accustomed to the orchestra of background noises that fill your home on a daily basis. The video game jingle that plays on a loop and gradually speeds up when the player is nearing the end of the race. The soft *ka-tak ka-tak ka-tak* of a kitchen knife chopping vegetables on a wooden cutting board. The rhythmic humming of the washer and dryer, constantly running to keep up with the laundry that seemingly never ends. The half-broken toy that plays that awfully annoying song from that popular children’s television series and doesn’t have an off button. The sweet laughter of a young girl who loves spending the day with her papas...

It’s been three days. Three days since that bittersweet family outing and that final ride on the Ferris wheel. Three days without that familiar orchestra of noises. And man, is that silence deafening.

Rei assumed he’d be able to adjust to the quiet atmosphere pretty easily. “I’m used to this, after all”, he thought, having lived in lonely solitude for years before Kazuki came barreling into his life. But even after Kazuki made himself at home in Rei’s apartment, the two of them hardly spent any actual time together, unless it was related to their work. Kazuki would sometimes attempt to start a conversation as he cooked dinner while Rei played his video games in the living room. But he was lucky if he got more than a few words and the occasional “hm” out of Rei, who would normally have his headset on and couldn’t be bothered to pay much attention to his surroundings. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. The two of them got along well enough to consider each other friends, and they each trusted one another completely. In their line of work, trusting your partner was essential. So, they were work partners and roommates. Nothing more, nothing less. Of course, that all changed after Kazuki brought Miri home…

The morning after that ride on the Ferris wheel, Rei woke up before Kazuki. This was odd because Rei could count on one hand the number of times he’s been awake before Kazuki. But that day, he didn’t think too deeply about it. He knew that Kazuki was hurting and figured that leaving him alone to work through his emotions was probably the best thing to do. Besides, Rei had no idea how to comfort Kazuki in this situation and feared that he’d only make things worse if he did or said the wrong thing. So he made himself a bowl of cereal, sat down in front of the tv, and turned on some random program, leaving Kazuki to sleep in a little later.

The show Rei had landed on happened to be one he was familiar with, having watched it with Miri every Saturday morning. “Heh. I should record this for her to watch later.” As he grabbed the remote to set up the recording, the reality of the situation came crashing back toward him like a tidal wave. How could he forget so easily? Miri was gone. Knots began to form in Rei’s stomach and he could feel the onset of a migraine. After deciding to turn off the tv, he tossed the remote onto the couch cushion farthest away from him, pushed his barely eaten bowl of cereal toward the middle of the table, and abruptly plopped his whole body down onto the couch. Lying there, staring at the blank tv screen, he thought to himself, “this… sucks,” before drifting back to sleep. When he awoke several hours later, he noticed that no lights had been turned on, no food was cooking, no laundry was being done… there was nothing but silence. Kazuki hadn’t left his room.

The next morning was pretty much the same. Rei awoke to a quiet house, and the door leading to Kazuki’s bedroom remained closed. “Is he actually in his room, or did he go somewhere without telling me?” Rei wondered. “But if that’s the case, he would’ve left a note like last time… right?” Rei checked the front entry area and saw that Kazuki’s shoes and coat were still there in the exact same spot they’d been left the day before last. “Still home…” Once again, Rei made a bowl of cereal for himself but decided to eat at the dining table this time, hoping to avoid a repeat of the tv incident from the day before. After finishing his meal, he booted up his game console but quickly removed the Morio Kart disc that was inside and replaced it with one of his old shooter games. It suddenly occurred to him that he hadn’t played these types of games since Miri started living with them, fearing that the blood and violence would be too much for her to witness. “But I guess Miri did have actual first-hand experience with not one, but two gun fights. Hell, she probably would’ve thought this game looked fun. Maybe I should’ve played it with her…”

Around lunch time, the silence in the room was broken by the sound of Kazuki’s bedroom door finally being opened. Rei whipped his head around so quickly he could have sworn he felt something in his neck pop. But it wasn’t quick enough, as Kazuki had already shut himself in the bathroom. Rei felt like a creep as he stared at the door handle, waiting for it to turn and for Kazuki to emerge from the bathroom. When he finally did, Rei’s voice cracked as he called out, “H-hey. You hungry? I can order a pizza.” Kazuki paused for a moment, but didn’t look up, his gaze locked downward. “No thanks. I’m good.” Before Rei could say anything back, Kazuki was already back in his bedroom closing the door behind him. Rei spent the rest of the afternoon and evening alone. One would think that having a day alone to yourself in a quiet home would be relaxing, especially when your daily routine was typically consumed by chaos. But that was a far cry from this reality. For Rei, the silence weighed on him like he was being pulled further and further under water. It was suffocating, to say the least. He also began to feel incredibly anxious, because he knew that he wanted to comfort Kazuki in some way, but had no idea how to go about it. “I feel totally worthless…”

It was now day three, and Rei had had enough. “I can’t go back to how things were before… I just can’t.” He decided to try his hand at tackling some of the chores around the house. He thought that it would be really pathetic of him to expect Kazuki to continue taking care of everything for him now that Miri was gone. Sure, he’d always done so in the past, but things were different now. Rei realized that Kazuki was only ever truly happy when he had a family to take care of. But now that there was no longer a “family” here, Rei knew deep down that there was a very good possibility of Kazuki leaving. Would it be next month? Next week? Tomorrow? The uncertainty frightened Rei, but he refused to become the same useless mess he’d once been. Well… he had enough determination in this very moment to at least do a load of freaking laundry. Baby steps were better than no steps, right?

So Rei started off his cleaning crusade by sorting through the pile of clothes on his bedroom floor and picking up any stray articles from the living room on his way to the washer. After tossing everything in and latching the door shut, he stood there for a moment staring at all the buttons and knobs. “Why are there so many??” Kazuki had, on several occasions, shown Rei how to operate the machine, pointing out the various features and wash cycles, and showing him exactly how to measure out the soap. But did Rei remember any of that? Absolutely not. But he figured he couldn’t screw it up too much as long as he stuck with the “regular” cycle and only used a little bit of soap. Once everything was set, he hesitantly reached for the Start button and gently pressed it in. The machine came alive with that familiar sloshing sound that he’d so desperately missed these last few days. He relaxed his shoulders, let out a sigh of relief, and smiled to himself. “Nice.”

Suddenly, the soft clack of a door being opened echoed from down the hall. Rei peeked his head around the corner to see if he could catch a glimpse of Kazuki. But alas, he had just missed him yet again. Rei then heard the shower turning on and thought that he really would be a creep if he were to stare at the bathroom door waiting for Kazuki to come back out, like he did yesterday. So instead, he headed toward the living room to start picking up all of his garbage.

**********

Kazuki felt numb.

It’s been three days, and yet that feeling refused to subside. Kazuki struggled to pinpoint exactly what emotion he was feeling about this whole situation. Was he mad? Maybe a little. But when it came down to it, he knew that both Kyu-chan and Misaki were right. Allowing a five-year-old child live with two hitmen was dangerous, and he couldn’t come up with a valid justification to argue otherwise. At least, not one that wouldn’t make him sound like a selfish asshole. Was he sad? Sure. But again, he knew that Miri was safer this way. So how could he truly be sad about the fact that she was safe? He couldn’t. In fact, if he were being rational about the whole thing, he thought he should actually feel quite relieved. “Yeah right… I’m too greedy for that,” he thought. So he wasn’t mad, or sad, or relieved. He was just… numb.

Kazuki knew that it was pathetic of him to hole up inside his bedroom, but he couldn’t help himself. Coming home that night to the sight of toys strewn across the living room floor, child-sized dishes piled in the sink, the basket of pink flowery clothes that needed to be washed… all of it was just so overwhelming. Kazuki couldn’t bring himself to look at any of it, so he ended up going straight to bed that night. Over the next couple of days, he only came out to use the toilet or to grab a quick snack so that he wouldn’t make himself sick. But otherwise, he stayed in bed staring off into space. He felt sort of bad for ignoring Rei, but he knew that Rei struggled with expressing his empathy. Because of that, Kazuki was afraid that he’d end up snapping at Rei for no real reason or accidentally saying something hurtful that he didn’t really mean, knowing damn well that Rei wouldn’t know how to react and would most likely take it personally. So in order to avoid that tension all together, Kazuki chose to avoid Rei for the time being. “I hope he’s at least eating something other than cereal…”

By day three, Kazuki was starting to get sore from lying in bed for so long. “I should probably shower.” On his way to the bathroom, Kazuki could have sworn he heard the washer running. “But there’s no way… I’m not even sure Rei knows how to use the damn thing, even though I’ve shown him a million times.” Kazuki let out a soft chuckle as he turned the knob in the shower all the way to the right. There was a brief squeaking noise before the water started raining down from the shower head, and steam began to gradually build up in the enclosed space. Kazuki started to undress, removing the wrinkled clothes that he’d been wearing for three days straight. He glanced at the reflection of his naked body in the mirror, flinching at the sight. It was obvious that he hadn’t eaten a proper meal nor had he gotten any decent sleep in these last few days. He had dark circles under his puffy eyes, his hair was a greasy mess, and his face looked pale and ashen like a ghost. He was honestly quite grossed out by the state he was in, and felt sort of relieved that Rei hadn’t seen him earlier. After stepping into the shower and under the hot water, Kazuki felt his muscles immediately relax. He stood there unmoving for god knows how long, just letting the water pour over the top of his head and down his face.

Out of nowhere, Kazuki heard what sounded like a gentle knock, followed by silence. He wasn’t sure if he was hearing things or not, so he waited for a moment to see if another knock would come. Instead, he heard the *click* of the door being opened. “…Kazuki? Are you okay? You’ve been in here for a while…” Rei was so quiet that Kazuki could barely hear him over the running water. He pulled back the shower curtain slightly and poked his head out, ready to teasingly chastise Rei for coming into the bathroom while someone was in the shower. But the sight before him almost sent him into a fit of laughter. Rei had his head peeking around the door into the bathroom, but his eyes were tightly shut, scrunching his face. Kazuki thought it was actually quite adorable. “Yeah. I’ll be out in just a few minutes, alright?” he said, with a slight smile on his face that Rei couldn’t see. “Ah, okay then,” Rei said, as he quickly shut the door. Pffft! Kazuki didn’t realize in that moment, but that numb feeling was finally starting to ease, if ever so slightly.

**********

Kazuki walked out of the bathroom to find Rei vacuuming. Rei. Vacuuming. WHAT?! Kazuki was so stunned he nearly dropped the towel that he was rubbing his hair with. He stood there in awe, taking a look around the entire room. Not only was Rei vacuuming, but it looked like he did the dishes and picked up around house as well. “Ha! Maybe I really did hear the washer running this morning!” Rei hadn’t heard the bathroom door open, so when he finally noticed Kazuki standing next to the couch staring at him, he flinched and scrambled to find the power button on the vacuum. “H-hey! You’re out! You hungry? I’ve made something to eat if you’d like some.” Although he still spoke in his low, nearly monotone voice, Rei appeared to be a bit more flustered than Kazuki had ever remembered seeing him before. “Oh yeah? What’d’ya make?” Kazuki was impressed. Rei cleaned and cooked?? “Um… it’s just porridge. I found an easy recipe online. You haven’t eaten these past few days, so I thought maybe your stomach was upset. I figured porridge would be easiest to eat.” Rei felt a little embarrassed to be offering his measly porridge to a guy who practically lives in the kitchen. And let’s be honest, Kazuki doesn’t exactly hold any punches when it comes to critiquing food, so Rei’s worry was justified. Kazuki could tell Rei was nervous, and again had to hold back his laughter. “Why is he being so cute right now? It’s hilarious, but I can’t tease him too much or else he’d probably curl up in a ball and shut down.” Kazuki pulled out a chair at the dining table, sat down, and looked up at Rei with a grin. “I’d love some. Please and thank you!”

And so the two of them sat at the table, quietly eating the porridge that Rei made. Rei cleared his throat, having already decided that he’d had enough of the eerie silence that had been suffocating him over the past three days. “Hey… do you wanna hang out today? Like, together? We don’t have to go anywhere if you don’t want to. It’s just been really… boring.” Although Rei was definitely trying his best to communicate more with Kazuki, he wasn’t exactly ready to say that he felt lonely and anxious by himself. So he decided to play it off as boredom. Kazuki glanced up at Rei, and to his surprise, Rei was looking right back at him, their eyes locked together. “…Sure. Is there something in particular you wanna do?” Rei hesitated for a moment. Honestly, he wasn’t expecting Kazuki to say yes, and hadn’t really thought this far ahead. “Um… well, we can watch some movies. I guess? Oh but first, we should dry your hair. It’s still wet, and you’ll catch a cold. I’ll dry it for you, if you want.”

“Okay… who the hell is this person and what have they done with Rei?! It’s like the onigiri incident all over again…”

“Ah-haha, it’s okay. It’ll dry on its own. And it’s warm enough in here that I won’t get sick.” Kazuki was truly beside himself. He knew that Rei had started to step up more to take care of Miri. But he couldn’t think of any time before when Rei had offered to take care of him.

“Dude, just let me dry it. I used to do it all the time for Mi- uh… I mean. Well it’s not like you haven’t done the same for me before, so just shut up and let me do it, okay?” Rei scratched his head, annoyed with himself for almost bringing up Miri. He told himself just this morning that he would avoid saying her name in front of Kazuki at all costs, not wanting to upset him. But Kazuki wasn’t upset and could see how frustrated Rei looked. “Okay then. You can dry my hair.”

Rei sat on the couch, his legs far enough apart for Kazuki to sit on the floor between his feet. Kazuki held his knees close to his chest, his chin resting on top of them. The loud whirring of the hair dryer filled the air around them, as Rei ran his fingers through Kazuki’s soft hair. “Fluffy…” Rei absolutely kept that thought to himself, and could feel his cheeks burn with embarrassment.

“I can’t even remember the last time someone’s dried my hair. Maybe when Yuzuko and I first started dating?” Kazuki thought back on the memories of all those years ago and smiled. “But man, this does feel nice. And he’s being so gentle, it almost tickles. And this warmth… I could fall asleep.” A few moments later, the loud whirring ceased and Kazuki jolted in place, having truly almost fallen asleep. “All done,” Rei said in a soft voice. “Aw man, already? That was so relaxing!” Although Kazuki was only teasing, the words were true, nonetheless. “Um… I can brush your hair now, if you’d like? I don’t mind.” Although his words were nonchalant, Rei looked almost excited. And who was Kazuki to say no to that? “Okay.” Rei got up to find a hairbrush and returned in a flash to continue playing with Kazuki’s hair.

After a while, Kazuki was the first to break the silence. “Ya know, I really thought the three of us would be together forever.” He let out a soft chuckle before continuing. “How silly is that?” Rei paused for a moment, surprised by the topic of conversation. He didn’t think Kazuki was ready to talk about this yet. Before Kazuki could notice that his hands had stopped moving, Rei started running the brush through Kazuki’s hair once more.

“Like, I actually thought, ‘Hey! This is my second chance! I can build a life with these two, and we can be a real family. We can be happy.’ Why did I get my hopes up? I should’ve known this would all end eventually. I mean come on. Look at us. Two hitmen raising a child together? That’s some shit straight out of a manga. It could never actually work in the long run.” Kazuki closed his eyes and held his hand over his face, gently rubbing the furrowed skin between his eyebrows.

Rei was thankful that he was sitting behind Kazuki, and that Kazuki was unable to see his face in that moment. Because he could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks and could only imagine what sort of twisted expression his face was in.

“Hey, Kazuki?”

“Hm?”

“Are you… going to leave?”

“Leave? What do ya mean? Where’m I going?” Kazuki realized he sounded slightly exasperated and hoped that Rei didn’t pick up on it.

“I know… I know that you want a family. And now that Miri… now that it’s just the two of us, we aren’t really a family anymore, are we? So are you going to leave now?”

Kazuki could hear the slight hitch in Rei’s voice, and quickly turned around to face him. Rei’s eyebrows were contorted and his cheeks were flushed red. And his bottom lip trembled.

Kazuki panicked. “What?? What are you talking about? Why would I leave?”

“Because it’s not safe for you either! The organization… they’ve already made it very clear.”

“But that was just about Miri, right? It was about our work getting sloppy, yeah? But she’s safe with Misaki now. And we’ll just go back to how things used to be.” As much as it pained him to admit, Kazuki knew that the words coming out of his mouth were true.

“No! It wasn’t just about Miri… it’s more than that.” Rei paused and closed his eyes for a moment, attempting to level his breathing. He then looked directly at Kazuki with glistening eyes and spoke more softly. “Don’t you get it? I’m a Suwa. I’m expected to continue the Suwa family line, and to take over the family business. But I…” Rei closed his eyes again and shook his head. “I don’t want to! I don’t want to…” Rei could feel the hot tears welling up in his eyes and failed to keep them from breaking through.

“Then what do you want?” Kazuki said in a soft, low voice. He could tell that Rei was terrified and could feel the adrenaline coursing through his own veins, causing his hands to shake. The only word he could think of to describe this feeling was protective. It was almost as if he was prepared to single-handedly take down anyone and everyone who had caused the man in front of him to break down in tears. Because anyone who was able to cause this normally emotionless man this much pain… deserved to suffer.

“I just… I just want our family back. But I know that’s not possible right now, and it may never be possible again, no matter how much I miss Miri. And god, I miss her so much… But above all, I want her to be safe. So I know that she needs to stay with Misaki. And I also know that you’d be safer, too, if you left… if you got as far away from me as possible. But Kazuki… I can’t. I can’t lose you, too.” By now, Rei was no longer able to hold back the flood of tears rolling down his cheeks, and his breaths were coming in short, shallow bursts.

In the blink of an eye, Kazuki had gotten up, positioned himself next to Rei on the couch, and pulled him into his arms, holding him close to his chest. Kazuki’s left hand cradled the back of Rei’s head, while his right hand gently stroked the space between his shoulder blades.

“Rei. Listen to me. I’m not leaving you. I will never leave you. You hear me? We ARE a family. Even if it’s just you and me. We can still be a family. Alright? So stop crying. Please, stop crying.” Kazuki tried with all his might to comfort Rei, but could feel that he himself was on the verge of breaking down.

“But… you deserve a real family, Kazuki. You deserve to be with someone you love. You deserve to be a papa. Because you’re such a good papa…” Rei buried his face in the crook of Kazuki’s neck, attempting to stifle the constant sniffling. He desperately grasped at Kazuki’s shirt, pulling it back so much that it was nearly choking Kazuki. But Kazuki didn’t say anything nor did he stop Rei.

“Rei, you deserve those things, too. You also deserve to be with someone you love. You deserve happiness.”

“But I AM with someone…!” Rei let the sentence trail off, surprised by the words that he’d nearly blurted out, and paused to catch his breath. “I was happy with our family. And I’m happy with you. I’d never known that feeling before, until I met you. And having Miri with us… made it so much more obvious. So I know I’m being selfish by asking you to stay with me. But I don’t want to give up any more of my happiness. I don’t want to go back to how things were before. I can’t go back. So Kazuki, please… I’ll try harder, I promise. I’ll clean more and I’ll learn how to cook and I won’t complain as much. And I’ll protect you. I’ll do anything to protect you. So please…” At this point Rei was sobbing so much that he began to ramble and his words were somewhat difficult to understand. But Kazuki continued to hold Rei in a tight embrace, gently stroking his hair to try and calm him down.

“Hey shhhh, I already said I’m staying, didn’t I? So try to calm down, okay? I’m not going anywhere. And hey, you did so good today with the chores! I was so impressed. And your porridge was delicious. Make it for me again sometime, will ya?”

Rei nodded, his face still pressed against Kazuki’s collar bone. “Yeah, okay.”

Kazuki slowly pulled away from Rei, holding both of his hands in his own between the two of them. “Have you calmed down a bit?” Rei nodded without saying anything. The tears finally stopped, but his face looked a mess. Kazuki reached his right hand up to gently rub Rei’s cheek. “Good. Ya know, I must say… you’ve been acting awfully cute today. I’m not used to it,” Kazuki said, letting out a small sigh of relief mixed with a faint laugh.

“Shut up!” Although he had meant to sound forceful with his words, Rei instead sounded like a whiny teenage girl, which made him feel even more embarrassed and caused a fresh wave of blood to rush back up to his cheeks. He then realized that his face probably looked absolutely ridiculous after his meltdown and attempted to wipe his eyes and turn his head away so that he was no longer facing Kazuki.

But Kazuki only found this to be even more endearing, and immediately guided Rei’s face back to where he could see it more clearly. He then positioned his hand so that he cupped Rei’s chin in his palm, with his cheeks squished between Kazuki’s thumb and four fingers. “Heheh fish lips.” He couldn’t help but laugh at the sight and at the fact that Rei was even letting him mess with his face like this in the first place. Truly, he was not used to this side of Rei. But he was enjoying himself.

Kazuki’s laughter eventually trailed off, but he kept Rei’s face cupped in his hand, lightly squeezing his cheeks. Then the expression on his face softened as he continued to stare at Rei’s puckered mouth. After what was probably only thirty seconds, but felt like hours, Kazuki locked eyes with Rei. “Hw-hwat?” Rei stuttered, unable to enunciate due to the squished cheeks. He wondered how long Kazuki was going to hold his face like this and why he just kept staring. If he was being honest, he was starting to feel a bit uneasy. Rei had never really had anyone look at his face for this long or this closely before. He felt almost naked.

“Rei. Have you ever kissed anyone?” Kazuki maintained eye contact after asking the question, so he was able to see the exact moment the pupils in Rei’s deep blue eyes constricted to half their size.

“HUH??! What kind of question is that??” Rei flailed, yanking his face away and batting Kazuki’s hand down. “Seriously, what the hell??”, he thought to himself.

“Aww, come on. I’m just curious! You’re acting so adorable today, and I wondered if anyone else has ever seen you like this.” Kazuki already knew that Rei had probably never been in a real relationship before, so the words he spoke were only a joke. Still, he found himself slightly annoyed at the thought of someone else experiencing this side of Rei, but decided to keep that thought to himself.

“Why should I even tell you?” Rei continued to swat Kazuki away, but Kazuki was relentless.

“Hehe so I’ll take that as a ‘no’.”

“Ugh! Why do you even care??”

Quicker than Rei could stop him, Kazuki grabbed Rei’s face again, this time sandwiched between both of his hands. “Because. I do care. I care about you. And if we’re going to be a family, I want to know everything about you.”

Rei stopped resisting, and just stared back at Kazuki. “He looks so serious now…”

Kazuki’s gaze lowered slightly, and Rei realized just where he was looking. His mouth. Rei then noticed that Kazuki was slowly leaning closer toward him. “He’s not… ACTUALLY going to kiss me, is he?!” Rei didn’t know how to react, so all he could think to do was close his eyes and brace for impact.

Kazuki paused in his tracks and smiled to himself. Rei had his eyes tightly shut, reminding him of earlier that day in the bathroom. “He’s so funny.” Kazuki continued leaning in, closing his eyes and gently kissing Rei on the forehead.

Rei’s eyes shot open in surprise. A forehead kiss was NOT what he was anticipating, and he felt a little ashamed for expecting something different. But that feeling of shame melted away the moment he met Kazuki’s gaze once more and saw the slight shade of pink on the apples of his cheeks as he smiled a goofy grin. Rei couldn’t help but smile back and let out a soft, breathy laugh.

Kazuki carefully pulled his hands away from Rei’s face and stretched out his arms, taking a deep breath and letting out a loud sigh. “Haaaaahhh! So. Should we watch a movie now? Was there one you wanted to watch?” Kazuki leaned back into the couch, but not before pulling Rei to his side and wrapping his arm around him, his hand on Rei’s bicep. In this position, Rei was able to rest his head on Kazuki’s chest just under his arm, but he wasn’t sure where to put his hands. One arm was stuck behind Kazuki against the back cushion, so he didn’t really have a choice there. But the other was left out in front, hovering over Kazuki’s lower stomach. Rei hesitated for a moment, but finally thought, “Screw it,” and set his arm down so that it lay across Kazuki’s waist. After receiving no complaint from Kazuki about where his hand fell, Rei tightened his grip on Kazuki’s side ever so slightly and nestled even further into place. “He’s warm,” he thought. “This is nice…”

“Any movie is fine. Whatever you wanna watch.” Rei honestly didn’t care about the movie. He was just happy to be spending time with Kazuki. Happy to be pulled out of the suffocating silence.

“Hey, Rei?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry for avoiding you these last couple of days. It was nothing against you. So I hope you didn’t get too lonely.”

“…I was lonely. But it’s okay. I understood what you were feeling.”

“I might get like that again… I mean, I’m feeling a little better now. But it comes in waves. Ya know?”

“Yeah… I get it.”

“Then will you cuddle with me to make me feel better?” Kazuki said playfully.

“Yes.”

Kazuki only said that to tease Rei, so he wasn’t expecting him to respond so quickly or so matter-of-factly. But he found that Rei’s response made him insanely giddy. Kazuki tightened his hold on Rei, pulling him in even closer. “Good. That makes me happy.”

“…” Rei didn’t know how to respond, but knew that he, too, felt happy in that moment.

It’s been three days. And there was no telling how many more it would take before things finally started to feel normal again. Or maybe things would never feel normal again. Maybe there was a hell storm coming their way that they weren’t at all prepared for. These were all possibilities that they had to consider. But as they sat there embracing each other’s warmth, Kazuki and Rei both knew that they’d be okay, as long as they were together. If one was suffering, the other would be there to help pick up the pieces. If one was happy, the other would be there to celebrate in their joy. After all, isn’t that just what a family is?

#I did it guys #I wrote an actual fic! Woo!#kazurei #kazuki x rei #kurusu kazuki #suwa rei #kazuki kurusu #rei suwa #buddy daddies #buddy daddies fanfic #ao3 fanfic #angst with comfort #emotional hurt/comfort #I hope I'm using these fic tags correctly lmaooo

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darlingpetao3 · 3 years

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House of W (Multiple!Wells x Reader, Chapter 9)

Rating: T

Summary: After having to deal with the deaths of an infinite number of Harrison Wells in the Multiverse, you, a magic-wielding meta, have a breakdown and unwittingly create a happy, fictitious sitcom life with some of your favourite men. In a world of comedy and cameos, can Team Flash and an out-of-town magician break through your powers to save you? And what if you don’t want to be saved...?

A/N: Well folks, it’s the final chapter... I’m not sure it’s actually all that great, but here it is and I hope it’s well received, nonetheless! Thanks for coming on this crazy ride with me <3

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Eobard Thawne clutches his fist down beside him, surely feeling the surge of Speed Force energy running through his entire body once more. He looks like he’s just taken a hit of the most addictive drug—eyes flashing a dangerous crimson, his whole being vibrating at the speed of sound before everyone’s eyes.

The Reverse Flash turns to Libby and Belle—who both remain frozen in place out of sheer shock after realizing that this man isn’t who he claimed to be—and gives them one of his iconic shit-eating grins.

“Thank you, girls,” he says smugly. “I couldn’t have achieved any of this without you. The next time I have your real uncle under my boot, I’ll think of you wonderful girls.”

“What have we done…?” Belle whispers rhetorically to her sister. A speechless Liberty only shakes her head in reply.

Eobard locks eyes with Barry, who stands in the doorway to the kitchen. The villain smirks before he bolts off, running upward along the diminishing forcefield wall and out through one the holes forming in it. Barry watches on as he decides to let his adversary go. He’s learned by now it’s never the last time he’ll see Eobard Thawne. That bastard always seems to find a way back into everyone’s lives. He’s like a cockroach that won’t stay dead.

Yes… Barry will come face to face with the Reverse Flash again. He may not know when, but when he does, he’ll be ready.

Because right now, you need him.

Your world is falling apart.

Again.

The forcefield continues to fall slowly from above. Your time is limited. You know that in mere minutes, everything will disappear, including the people you love.

“Mom, we’re so, so sorry,” Belle tells you desperately. “We thought he was just teaching us how to perfect our powers. It felt like a game!”

“My dear, sweet girls,” you look them straight in the eyes as you explain to them, “I assure you both, it’s not your fault. Okay? You had no idea who he really was or what he was capable of. It’s not your fault, do you understand me?” They nod through their tears. “You two may have grown up incredibly fast, far too fast for my liking, in fact, but I am so thrilled that you were- are mine. You will always be my little girls. No matter what.”

“Thank you for being our mom,” Liberty says to you in all seriousness.

“No one is cooler or stronger than you,” Belle adds with a smile very reminiscent of her fathers’. If these two aren’t careful, you’re going to completely lose it in front of them.

Off in the distance, you spot Barry watching this heartfelt scene play out. You wave him over to meet his nieces, so he can see what you’ve created for yourself up close and personal. Libby and Belle should meet their real uncle, a true hero, before they’re…

Barry places a hand each on the girls’ shoulders. See, Barry? They’re real. And I’ll lose them too. Do you feel my pain now? This is what I live through all the time.

Barry’s eyes begin to glisten until the tiny bulbs of tears hold still, unwilling to fall just yet.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you both,” he tells them. “You’re both such bright stars.” They give bittersweet smiles up at him in silence. You don’t think they fully understand what will come to pass in mere minutes, but you do. You can feel it in your bones.

Barry steps back from your family unit so that you all can have one more last moment together. You take this final opportunity to bring your girls in close for a tight hug, letting a sob escape you despite trying to keep it together for your family. You wave a hand over to your husbands as if to gesture for them to get in on this family group hug, and quickly. They do so promptly, all four of them enveloping you, Liberty, and Belle as if to form a loving hug shield.

“I love you,” you make sure to say these three precious words, making eye contact to each and every one of those you have magicked into being here with you today… before they disintegrate before your very eyes.

And soon enough, you can’t even feel them anymore. The forcefield has vanished within the Lab’s basement, along with the Wells and the twins.

You cry. You shake and your body wracks with the sort of sobs that hurt your throat. Barry makes sure he holds you tightly. Caitlin approaches carefully and ends up holding your hand. Then it’s Cisco who puts his own hand on your shoulder as everyone else in the room looks on at your despair.

***

After some much-needed rest in the Medbay, you awake to a spookily quiet Labs. You’re not sure of the time (or day, even), but regardless, you figure it’s best to head home. Goodness knows it’s probably still in shambles. That’ll need to be fixed.

You heave a sigh as you leave the Cortex.

“Come on, you can sigh louder than that.”

You turn around to find the unexpected voice belonging to Zatanna. You imagine she must have had to recoup as well from the amount of magic she would have used to break through to your world.

“Oh, hey,” you say tiredly. “I take it you’re on your way, then?”

“Yeah, I have a show in Coast City in two days, so I better head off.”

“Listen, I’m really sorry to have brought you into all this madness.”

“No, please. If anything, I should thank you as well as offer my condolences... Your magic is something I've never seen before. Honestly, I’m still intrigued by it.” Zatanna hesitates. “Would it be weird if I gave you my contact information? I don’t come across many others with true magic. I’d love to keep in touch. Maybe we could learn from each other?”

“Yes, of course,” you agree. “I think that’s a great idea.” She hands you her card—a glittery black business card with her name and number.

“So, hey,” she says, “You going to be okay?”

You take a few seconds to think her question over.

“I think, in time, I could be,” you answer truthfully.

“I know it may not be much,” Zatanna says, “but one of my powers involves granting wishes. Before I go, is there anything I can do for you? You’ve been through so much. I’ve seen it. And everybody has something they're hoping for. Something they wish they could change…” She pauses, waiting for your answer, but also seems distracted. You wonder what kind of life this woman has led. What has she done in her past that she regrets or wishes for from the bottom of her heart?

“I only wish for Harrison Wells to be in my life,” you answer honestly. Is that so much to ask for? It seems to be that way.

“Is that what your heart most desires?”

You sigh. “More than anything.”

There’s another pause.

“You know, sometimes you’ll find that our wishes come true on their own, even without magic,” the magician points out ominously.

“That’s code for “I just can’t make that wish come true,” isn’t it?” you joke, somewhat.

“The people that we love—they’re only gone when we stop carrying them with us. How you choose to carry Harrison Wells is up to you.”

You let that sink in and press a hand to your heart. He will always be here with you. Right here. You’ll make sure of it.

“I wish you all the luck and magic in the world, (Y/N),” Zatanna says kindly. “It was nice to meet you.”

You nod in thanks, unsure of how to respond to that. With her aged, thick book under her arm, Zatanna Zatara walks down the S.T.A.R. Labs corridor, but you swear her body vanishes before she rounds the corner…

Despite all the trouble you’ve put her through—everyone, really—with all of this, you can still take comfort in the act of making a new friend.

As you walk through the empty hallways of the Labs, you make it to where the elevator lies. You go to press the button to summon the machine when a ding sounds before your finger even touches the button. The doors slide open, and the face that greets you shocks you to your very core.

“Hello, there,” he says.

In fact, you are so stunned that you take a step back, but in doing so, you stumble and begin to topple over. Luckily, a certain someone’s quick arms catch you in time.

The face you know all too well, Harrison Wells, that is, glows with a calm happiness as he looks down at you in his arms. Behind immaculate see-through frames, his pretty blues eyes twinkle like the stars. He smiles like he knows you. You stare up in disbelief, in relief, and in love.

“Hello… Harrison.”

#reader insert #harrison wells x reader #harrison wells imagine #harrison wells fanfiction #harry wells x reader #harry wells imagine #nash wells x reader #nash wells imagine #hr wells x reader #hr wells imagine #sherloque wells x reader #sherloque wells imagine #eowells imagine #eowells x reader #the flash imagine #the flash fanfiction

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n0-eyedtaissa · 3 years

Text

Don’t You Forget About Me (Outer Banks OC x The pogues): Chapter Five

tagging: @hughstheforcelou @reggiemantleholdmyhand-tle@cactiem& @kazinejghafa.

(the updated fic masterlist can be found here)

Part Two: One Year Later

key event: first introductions

Clementine had never moved before, so she didn’t know how much work it was. Alternatively, she didn’t realize how bad moving sucked. Her and her father eat all of their meals at the cardboard box coffee table, staring at the blank white wall where the tv would go once it got there. There was nothing on the walls yet and the few pieces of furniture that they had with them sat sadly in the middle of the living room until they figured out their permanent places throughout the house. Gat would be there tomorrow with the big moving truck with the rest of everybody’s belongings and Clementine couldn’t help but laugh about how this was the first time in her life that she’d ever been looking forward to seeing Liam Gatwin. She stopped hanging up the clothes in her closet, unfolding the handful of shirts and sweaters that she poached from Kimber’s room. The lingering smell of the jasmine oil her sister always wore was a bittersweet reminder of how far away from home Clementine truly felt.

It was late afternoon and the sun was setting, reflecting burnt orange shadows on the hardwood floor and baking the white walls. Clementine squints and puts her sunglasses on despite the fact that she was barefoot and in her pajamas. She slides down the dining room wall and sits down, closing her eyes to take in the sunlight and feeling like a small, cozy cat. She feels the shockwaves from her dad’s footsteps as he makes his way down the uncarpeted hallway, stopping short of the dining room where she was sitting crisscross applesauce on the floor. Lyle laughs as he watches his daughter bask in the sun, a wave of fondness rushing over him as he takes a moment to appreciate her cooperation with moving, trying to be more aware of just how hard it had been for her. His knees crack as he bends down to sit on the floor next to Clementine and he exhales loudly, feeling some of his tension alleviate. Clementine scoots closer to her dad and pulls out one of her earbuds to offer to him. He accepts graciously and the two of them sit next to each other in comfortable silence in their new home.

“You think we’re gonna be all right here?” Lyle asks out into the open room.

Clementine has to think about the question for a moment so the two of them sit quietly. She could make a list of everything that’s wrong in the world, everything that she could be angry about (and God, there was a lot), but Clementine was tired of that. She was tired of being sad and jaded and just wanted to relax now. She takes a breath and reminds herself to think of the good things. She had her dad and the two of them were closer than ever. That was definitely a good thing. It was good that they had a new house, and that her dad got a new job doing something he loved and that would pay him better for his efforts. Selfishly Clementine couldn’t help but appreciate the fact that she would be able to reinvent herself in the Outer Banks, no longer having to be the girl with the missing sister. She scolds herself for being relieved. Her heart hurts when she thinks of Kimber and she’s not immune to the gut wrenching curiosity that comes with not knowing what happened to someone. Would she ever know what happened after that last conversation with her sister, what happened to Kimber in between getting into Gat’s truck and wherever she ended up?

Clementine shakes the thought from her head, knowing that her dad was still patiently waiting for some sort of answer. She has to clear the tightness in her throat so she coughs, takes a long, deep breath and says,“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see”. There’s a beat of silence before the two of them both start laughing, the boisterous sounds echoing around the empty room and warming up the house.

~~~

That next morning Clementine is woken up by her dad playing music loudly over the speaker system he insisted in installing first thing when they moved in. It was the loud guitar riff from the beginning of ACDC’s ‘Back in Black’. Classic Rock meant Lyle was excited, and Clementine didn’t know if it was because the moving truck was coming today, or if it was because Gat was the one who was driving it. Gat had been an honorary part of the family for years so everyone with eyes was aware of just how deeply Lyle thought of him as a sort of surrogate son; Clementine thought it was obnoxious but Kimber always thought it was endearing, shooing away Clementine’s pessimism with something like “When you have a boyfriend, Clem, you’ll see,”. After the past year of being around Liam Gatwin, Clementine hoped that if she ever ended up with a guy like him, someone would try to knock some sense into her. Yes, Liam Gatwin was a vital piece of the crew on the Vita Caprice, but he was cocky. And he was mean-spirited, always poking at Kimber just enough for her to snap before retreating and claiming he was just playing around. Clementine didn’t like him and he knew that.

She rolls out of bed and plants her feet on the cold hardwood floor, goosebumps erupting over her bare legs as she leans over to rifle through half-unpacked boxes in order to find something to wear for the day. Clementine gets dressed for the day, clipping on her overalls and tying on her hightop sneakers before gathering her belongings up into her backpack and figuring out where her skateboard ended up being thrown in the shuffle. She grabs her stolen gas station sunglasses and puts them on despite being inside.

“Going somewhere, Cool Guy?” Lyle asks Clementine as she rounds her way into the kitchen.

“Thought I’d take in the local flora, you know, really appreciate our beautiful new home” Clementine rolls her eyes with a laugh, grabbing a bruised banana from the bowl on the counter. She tries to jump up on the counter but it’s too tall and she’s not, so she lands back on the ground with the dissatisfied smack of her sneakers against the hardwood. Lyle holds back a laugh and Clementine looks up at him sharply, only making him want to laugh more. “Don’t you start” Clementine warns her dad.

“I’m not starting!” Lyle laughs, wiping toast crumbs off of the kitchen counter. “Hey uh, Liam’s supposed to be getting in around 6. I was thinking we pull out the barbecue and cook up something nice for him, how’s that sound?”

“I’ll pass.” Clementine mumbles through a mouthful of banana.

“And where do you plan on going otherwise?” Lyle raises one of his bushy eyebrows at her, clearly amused.

Clementine shrugs, tossing her banana peel in the garbage can before tucking her skateboard under her shoulder. “I’ll figure that part out on the way.” She walks out of the kitchen and towards the front door without waiting for so much as a response from her father.

The minute she steps outside Clementine is affronted by a wave of hot, sticky air. She thought the Florida heat was bad? It wasn’t much better in the Outer Banks. The heat hung low and made the air feel heavy, like Clementine had to work twice as hard to move through it as she walked up the dirt driveway and the small hill towards the main road up the Cut. The ground is too rough and rocky for her to be able to ride her skateboard without worry so she struggles to carry it comfortably, the grip tape scratching at her arms. Clementine takes a second to stop and look around, familiarizing herself with the area that was now her home. Immediately she liked how green it was, how much nature was consistently around her. She took a detour to walk along the rocky shore of the marsh, picking up smooth rocks and dropping them in the front pocket of her overalls. Clementine decides to take the long way (which is what she called it when she got lost), but finally makes her way towards the small central town hub.

As she walks past the rows of small shops, Clementine can’t help but think it strange that everyone waved at her as she walked by — it was like they could tell that she was out of place. Or maybe it was that the town was so small they could recognize new faces if and when they came around. Or maybe they were just nice people, unlike the people back home in Florida. Clementine wanders towards the open-air farmers market, looking at the tables filled with fresh fruit, homemade jams and pies, beeswax candles and chapsticks. As much as Clementine wanted to support the local economy, she didn’t have the pocket money for the artisanal offerings of the farmer’s market so she ducks inside Heyward’s Seafood, a small grocery store and fish emporium. Clementine walks down the few aisles, looking at today’s fresh catch as it cooled on thick ice and crunches up her nose at the briny, fishy smell. There’s only a small array of snacks and other treats to choose from so Clementine grabs herself a glass bottle of lemonade and some sunflower seeds before making her way to the cash register.

“You know, we don’t get a lot of new faces around here” The man behind the counter says as he punches buttons on the register. If he wasn’t smiling Clementine would have thought it sounded sinister. But he had a quality about him that immediately put Clem at ease, he seemed personable, knowledgeable, like the kind of person you’d want to befriend on this island.

“Me and my dad just moved here a few days ago, he works over on the Vita Caprice” Clementine smiles politely, handing over her sweaty five dollar bill.

“Ah, what’s his name, ah, Adams?” The man asks with a knowing smirk and Clementine nods at him. “I’ve known all the men he’ll be working with for years, he’ll be in good hands” He promises. It seemed like he was someone who was in the know about what happened around Kildere, which Clementine couldn’t help but be intrigued by.

“Well, that’s always reassuring!” Clementine puts her change in the tip jar on the counter. “I’m Clementine. Clementine Adams” She offers her hand for the older man to shake.

“You got a good handshake, Miss Clementine! Nice to meet ya, dear, they call me Heyward.”

Clementine’s eyes go wide at the realization that this was his store. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Heyward” She smiles at him again as she gathers her snacks and heads back towards the swinging door.

“Welcome to the island, Miss Clementine”

~~~

Deciding to wander some more, Clementine loops her way through the narrow streets, trying to find new places to visit and try now that she's officially a citizen of Kildere County. She passes an ice cream shop she promises she’ll check out someday soon, and a surf shop she hoped sold skateboarding gear but sadly didn’t. She skates up and down the streets of new home, weaving around the small crowds of people who all seemed to know each other by name. She wonders what it was like to live in the same small town your whole life, going to school with the same people from kindergarten all the way until the end of high school, how families in the Outer Banks probably went back for generations upon generations. Clementine can’t help but wonder about Florida, if there was anything that changed since she left. She thinks about her old childhood home, now abandoned and empty, a ghost of everything that once was normal to her. She wondered if a family had moved in, or when one would. Who would move into her bedroom? Would they like the way that the mid-morning light came through the window? Did they notice that the third stair creaked just a little louder than the others, that the front door stuck when it got too hot outside? Would they paint over the height chart that was scrawled onto the door jamb by the kitchen? Maybe they would be able to feel that something happened there, something still unresolved. They’d board up Kimber’s old room so that nothing bad could happen to their children, to make sure the depression or the restlessness couldn’t slip through the air vents or through the cracks in the floor boards, so that no one else can sneak out through the window, never to be seen again.

Clementine was always wondering about her sister. Kimber was always floating at the back of her mind, waiting around every corner when Clementine wasn’t looking. She might have been missing, but Kimber wasn’t forgotten. No matter what Clementine said, no matter what Gat did, no matter what Lyle wished, none of them could move past the hole that Kimber left in all of their lives. It had been a year and everyone said that it was time to start moving on but Clementine disagrees. To move on meant to forget Kimber and everything that she was…and no one wanted to do that. In Clementine’s mind, Kimber was just one bedroom over, or reading a book at the breakfast table, or tucked into the corner seat of the couch watching reruns on the history channel with dad. Kimber wasn’t missing she was away at college, she finally got out of Florida. In some of Clementine’s more imaginative scenarios, Kimber was studying abroad in Europe, drinking cafe au laits in lush patio gardens and reading books by people who were long gone. Or she was on a beach somewhere, South America maybe; Or backpacking across somewhere foreign and beautiful. In all of Clementine’s scenarios her sister is alive and well and Kimber was always on her way home. But that’s all they were, made-up scenarios.

~~~

Deciding to be over with her little pity party, Clementine decides to look up from her shoes and notices the busy restaurant in front of her, immediately intrigued by the ‘help wanted’ sign that was taped in the window. The Wreck, Clementine didn’t know it yet but it was another Outer Banks staple. It was always busy, always filled with people from both Figure 8 and from the Cut. There were always tables to wait on, tips to pick up, and a line of people waiting to be seated. Noticing the expensive cars in the parking lot, Clementine thinks that this might be fate. She didn’t have any friends yet in the Outer Banks, but she could get a job and save up her money for when it mattered. A job would be good for her, she’d stay busy, out of the house and out of trouble, so Clementine opens the door to the restaurant and walks inside.

“Welcome in, sit anywhere” The dark-haired waitress says, not bothering to look up at Clementine as she moves from table to table with her busboy tote. The two of them looked to be about the same age and Clementine wondered if she would see the girl around school when it started up that fall, if she’d also be a junior.

She clears her throat, not interested in sitting down, getting a menu handed to her, or hearing about the lunch special that day. “No, uh, I actually came to see about the help wanted sign that you guys put up?”

The young waitress turns back to Clementine and looks at her quizzically, Clementine can’t figure out if this is because the girl can recognize that she’s new in town, or if she’s just surprised that someone new wanted to work at the restaurant. The girl looks up from the stack of dirty dishes, wiping her arm on the bandana wrapped around her head that was keeping her long, curly hair out of her face. “You’ll have to talk to the Boss” She gestures to a stressed out looking man who was working in the kitchen, handing freshly prepared dishes of food to waiters to dole out to their respective tables. Clementine takes one look at him and it’s clear that the “Boss” was this girl’s father, the resemblance between the two of them was undeniable. Something about that made Clementine like this place a little bit more, that there were dads and daughters working side by side just like at her house.

“Thank you” Clementine mumbles. “Oh, uh, I’m Clementine by the way. Just moved here…”

“Kiara” The girl, who now has a name, smiles at Clementine “Don’t worry, it only sucks here sometimes”

Clementine laughs, appreciating Kiara’s honesty. “I’ll have to keep that in mind” She says and Kiara politely excuses herself to get back to waiting tables. Clem walks up to the small kitchen window in the restaurant, trying to wait for a moment to catch the owner’s attention.

“Can I help you?” Someone asks from behind Clementine and she whips around. It’s an older woman, a mother’s age; older but young enough to still look pretty, just more tired. Anna, her name tag said, owner. Clementine can infer that this is Kiara’s mom by the way that the girl looks at the woman. There’s something about the way that Kiara rolls her eyes when she’s told to get back to bussing tables, though there’s still a whisper of a defiant smile on the corner of her lips.

“I noticed that you guys had a help wanted sign in the window and I wanted to see if I could apply for the job.” Clementine gives Anna a tight-lipped smile as she tries to stand up a little straighter, to make herself seem more adult and not a sweaty teenager carrying a beat-up skateboard.

Anna gives Clementine a secret once-over, her eyebrow arching up in question when she turns to ask “Well do you have any experience?”

“Oh yeah, tons” Clementine answers. “Back in Florida my sister and I used to work at this steakhouse, Rusty’s.” Clementine had worked there one summer, so it was only really a half-lie.

Anna looked pleasantly surprised. Just as she goes to open her mouth and say something, she’s cut off by the welcome bell and a big group of people walking into the restaurant in their varying shades of pastel shorts. She exhales a big breath and turns to Clementine with a sheepish look on her face. “How soon can you start?”

“Right now?” Clementine asks, not sure if that was what her new boss was alluding to.

“Perfect” Anna exhales.

She unties the apron from around her waist and thrusts it into Clementine’s hands, handing off her pen and pad of paper. Anna pastes on her fake smile as she goes to greet the group, scooping up an armful of menus. “Welcome in everyone, welcome, welcome! Let’s get you seated over here!” Anna puts on her perfectly crafted customer service voice as she corrals the group towards a long table. “This is our new trainee, uh…” Anna has to pause, realizing that she never asked Clementine her name.

“Clementine” She smiles at the table full of people, “What can I get you all to drink this afternoon?”

~~~

Clementine actually likes working, though she’d never admit that to her dad or anyone else. She liked being able to put herself on autopilot, to focus so hard on so many things at once that her eyed glazed over and she ran on pure instinct alone. A pitcher of sweet tea for the table, a round of waters, would you like to hear about today’s lunch special? Table five wants an order of ceviche for everyone, the kid at able three wants an extra packet of oyster crackers to put into his bowl of clam chowder. Clementine scrawls down orders in her small, slanted writing and hands them over to Mr. C, Mike Carrera, her other Boss. Clementine shadows Miss Anna all day, helps Kiara clear off tables and wipe them clean. She stays there for hours, impressed with herself and how she was able to walk her way right onto a job. When the lunch rush ends and the bulk of the customers had managed to roll out, Miss Anna walks up to Clementine and hands her a bundle of crumpled up dollar bills; tip money for her efforts.

“Thank you girls for your help this afternoon” Anna says, addressing Clementine and Kiara. “You two head out for the evening. Clementine, you’ll be in tomorrow for an actual training session, right?”

“Yes, ma’am” Clementine nods.

“Bye mom!” Kiara says, already turning on the heels of her high tops and getting ready to walk out the back door. She stops short and turns to Clementine. “Aren't you coming?”

“Oh!” Clementine is surprised that Kiara was talking to her. “Definitely” She responds quickly, picking up her skateboard and her backpack and following her outside.

Kiara leads the way outside and neither of them say a word until they make their way out of earshot from the customers sitting on the patio. The two girls walk towards the parking lot with the gravel crunching under their feet, sounding deafeningly loud in the mutual silence. They stop short at a beat-up looking SUV with a wicked dent in both the front and back bumper. Clementine thinks the juxtaposition between the expensive car and the dents is sort of funny, but she doesn’t want to say anything and piss off Kiara — who had been rather nice without particularly needing to be. Kiara opened the back hatch of her car and invited Clementine to sit in the laid-down back seat.

“I can’t believe my mom just threw you to the wolves like that,” Kiara laughs, “That feels illegal as shit”

“I’m just impressed that I actually managed to keep up” Clementine reveals. “At one point it literally felt like my brain turned off and I was operating like this little capitalist robot” She wiggles her fingers and Kiara laughs at her, knowing the feeling.

“At this rate, you’ll be employee of the month in no time” She tells Clementine matter of factly.

“Ouch, I didn’t mean to knock you out of your spot” Clementine jokes, hoping that since Kiara was playing around with her a little bit she would be able to play back.

“I never even stood a chance…” Kiara laughs.

“Sometimes not even nepotism can save you” Clementine shrugs and the two of them look at each other and start laughing.

“So how long ago did you move?” Kiara asks Clementine as she crosses her legs and makes herself comfortable in the trunk area of the car. She pulls out her sunglasses case and picks a joint out of it, offering it silently to Clementine and trying to see if she would take it.

Clem realized that Kiara was trying to gauge her and her interests to figure out that she was into and if she was cool enough to hang around. She retrieves the lighter that she always kept on her and sparks up the joint before answering “Three days ago”

Kiara blows out a big breath of smoke. “Fresh meat” She chuckles, handing the joint over to Clementine.

“I guess so” Clem laughs. “What about you, how long have you lived here?”

“My whole life” Kiara answers. Clementine can tell that she’s not a fan, though. There would always be something about hometowns; they restricted you. They were a lethal mix of claustrophobic and nostalgic, with memories all ready to peek their heads around unsuspecting corners. Looking around Outer Banks, Clementine wasn’t yet able to distinguish the good from the bad but she knew that in time she would.

“That bad, huh?”

Kiara shakes her head. “Only sometimes”

The two pass along the joint until it burns down to a small roach, making small talk. Kiara was from here, born and raised. Big house on Figure 8, which Clementine found out was the name for the rich neighborhoods built up with white marble McMansions. Her parents were Mike and Anna Carrera, owners of the Wreck, both alive and well and grossly happy in their marriage. No siblings, though Kiara said she used to beg for a little brother or sister all the time when she was younger because the house was too big for just the three of them. She’s a socialist who swears up and down that she hates rich people (despite being one). She’s a pescatarian and a virgo, she likes surfing, swimming, and political activism. Kiara realizes that she’s been talking about herself for quite a while now and she laughs it off nervously. “Sorry, the weed’s catching up to me…” The two of them laugh and then it was Clementine’s turn to share:

She was Clementine Adams, seventeen, born and raised not that far outside of Miami. Her dad was Lyle Adams, he worked as a commercial fisherman on the Vita Caprice. Her mom was gone, her sister wasn’t with them right now. She doesn’t say the word missing, just that Kimber didn’t move with the rest of them. Clementine hopes that Kiara doesn’t read too much into it. She tells her that she’s a cancer, though she doesn’t agree with how emotional her horoscope makes her out to be. She likes soccer, skating, reading books and riding bikes with her sister. She tells Kiara that she doesn’t know anyone in OBX yet and that was why she decided to get a summer job to make some money while killing time. This part, of course, was a morsel of information that Clementine threw out there in hopes that Kiara would ask to hang out again or something (though she’d never be the first person to initiate the conversation).

The sun had started to lower in the sky and the two of them were still talking. It was nice to have someone new to talk to, no one who’s opinion of you was already tainted by things that they’d heard about you from someone else. Neither of them seem to realize it but it was like they had this innate need to talk to one another, to purge some of the energy that was bubbling up inside each of them and threatening to boil over. Clementine and Kiara sit side by side with their legs swinging over the trunk of Kiara’s big, dented up car. They trade stories, small ones, bullshit moments that didn’t really mean much in the long run but were memorable enough to share with someone. There were lots of faceless names thrown around: John B, Sarah, JJ, Pope, Kimber, Gat, but it didn’t really matter who these people were, just that they mattered enough to be mentioned by Kiara and Clementine, even if only in passing.

“So can you ride this thing?” Kiara asks, spinning one of Clementine’s skateboard wheels with her hand and watching as it rolled, fast and smooth, before stopping.

“Only sometimes” Clementine laughs, calling back to Kiara’s comment from earlier. She points out a handful of scraped and bruises on her knees and lower legs that prove her point. “What about you, ever ridden one?”

“If you count a surfboard, then yeah” Kiara laughs.

“I don’t count that, no” Clementine grabs her board and tosses it on the ground with a clatter. “Like at all actually” She laughs and gets up from her spot next to Kiara and puts one foot on the old, beat-up skateboard, pushing off and rolling around the back parking lot area of the Wreck. Clementine shows off a little, popping an ollie or two, getting all four wheels of the board off of the ground and actually landing them.

“Okay so how do you do it then?” Kiara asks, her curiosity getting the better of her as she stands up, going to stop Clementine’s skateboard with her foot.

Clementine looks up eagerly. “You want to learn?” She’d been skating for a handful of years now, since she was going into her freshman year of high school and she decided that she was too cool for a beach cruiser. She remembered how many summer afternoons she spent in the driveway with Kimber and Gat (back then when he was Just Gat, a friend of the family and not Kimber’s boyfriend), falling and getting back up, laughing and getting laughed at. But she got the hang of it and gained a little confidence and soon her skateboard became her main method of transportation.

Kiara jumps up. “Why the hell not!”

Clementine beams at her, hoping that this was some sort of inclination that the two girls could end up being friends, not just coworkers who spent the lunch rush together pulling their eyes as they handed out hot plates to hungry tables. She holds the skateboard steady with her feet so Kiara can get on it, offering her hand to hold onto as Kiara finds her balance. She’s a little wobbly at first, clutching onto Clementine’s hand with a shaky smile. “Spread your feet like you would on your surfboard” Clementine instructs, pushing Kiara’s feet further apart so that her front and back foot were in line with the bolts on the skateboard. “Bend your knees”

“Like this?” Kiara bends her knees, immediately feeling the burning in her thighs. She makes an uncomfortable face and Clementine laughs.

“If your legs aren’t on fire, you’re not doing it right” Clementine laughs, grabbing Kiara’s shoulder and giving her a light little push so she started rolling across the parking lot.

Kiara lets out a little yelp. “Oh shit, I’m doing it!” She throws out her arms to keep her balance and Clementine runs across the lot, trying to catch Kiara in case she fell.

Clementine tries to kick any big rocks and pebbles out of the way of the skateboard wheels so that there was nothing to potentially trip her up. Back towards the restaurant Miss Anna peeks her head out of the back door and watches as Clementine and Kiara run across the parking lot riding along on the beat-up skateboard.

“Kiara! Are you corrupting my new employee already?” Miss Anna scolds, her hands on her hips as she stands out on the back stairs. Part of her feels conflicted, it was good for Kiara to make new friends but she didn’t know Clementine, so she didn’t know what kind of kid she was, if she was anything like the usual company her daughter kept. But she wonders if this was a good thing, a new friend for Kiara, maybe someone who would help her break the rebellious streak she’d been on. It was nice to see her daughter smile though, Anna could admit to herself. It had been quite some time since she had seen Kiara do anything but scowl, too mad at the world and everyone in the Outer Banks.

Kiara stops smiling just as quickly as she started, taking a shaky step off of Clementine’s skateboard as she planted her foot on the ground to stop herself. “We were just messing around” She scoffs, freezing up like Clementine had seen a handful of her friends do around their mothers. There seemed to be something about the way a mother could judge you so deeply and fully in the least amount of words. With a gesture, or a look; the sharp uptick of an eyebrow or the rude quirk at the corner of her lips. Kiara deflates and rolls the skateboard back to Clementine.

Clementine has an idea, though. She pulls her phone out of her pocket and see’s that it’s going to be 6:30 soon, so Gat should be there with the moving truck by now and her dad said that he was planning on barbecuing to celebrate his arrival and the beginning of the move-in process. She knows that it’s presumptuous to think that her and Kiara are anything more than co-workers, but she wanted to make a friend that day because she deserved to have someone to hang out with and confide in. Given the way that the two of them had been faring, why couldn’t it be Kiara?

She clears her throat and just asks the question: “Do you wanna come to my house for dinner? The moving truck just got here and my dad was supposed to barbecue, could be good. If you’re not busy, I mean” Clementine tacks that part onto the end of her sentence, giving Kiara a caveat in case she had somewhere better to be.

Kiara looks over Clementine’s shoulder, back towards her mom and the restaurant. She doesn’t answer right away and that made Clementine think that Kiara was surely going to turn down the invitation. But she doesn’t. “Sure, I could eat” Kiara shrugs off her mom’s comments and her shitty attitude and Clementine watches her light up a little easier.

The girls load up into Kiara’s expensive (but dented) car and take off. Kiara has no problem getting around the island, she knew the place like the back of her hand. She liked to brag about her sense of direction and how if she’d been somewhere once, nine times out of ten she could remember how to get there again. Kiara maneuvers her car easily through back streets and residential areas to avoid the traffic and the stoplights and soon they’re pulling up in the gravel outside the Adams household and parking next to the half-empty moving truck. Clementine gets out of the car first and Kiara follows cautiously behind her, not a fan of venturing into uncharted territory. There’s stacks of boxes on the front porch, with some propping open the screen door so Lyle and Gat can have a clear path as they bring in the bigger furniture — the entertainment center, the dresser, the kitchen hutch — all those kinds of things that you apparently needed “man power” for. The love seat is sitting on the lawn, little divots being dug into the grass from where the wooden legs sunk deep into the storm-saturated earth. Clementine gestures to the couch and Kiara follows her over to it, where both of them sit down and groan as they drop down into the plush cushions.

“Well, look who finally decided to join us!” Lyle calls out to Clementine as he hops off of the front porch step and crunches his way across the dried grass. He’s surprised to see a tangle of long dark hair next to Clementine as she splays out on the love seat, though he tries not to make a big deal out of it. “Who’s your friend, Tiny?” He asks, using the childhood nickname the Clementine was never fond of. Back in Florida he was always trying to encourage Clementine to go out and make more friends, or to invite the girls from the soccer team over for a barbecue or a sleepover. He wanted her to have more friends and be more social, wanted her to rely less on her sister. Clementine was always shy but after Kimber disappeared it was like what little light was left behind his daughters eyes went out completely.

“This is Kiara” Clementine gives her dad an awkward, closed-mouth smile. She stiffens up at Lyle’s use of the word friend since she’s not sure if that’s what her and Kiara were. “Her parents own The Wreck” Clementine adds.

“How nice, we’ll have to go and try it sometime, won’t we, Clem?” Lyle smiles at the two girls as he goes to pick up another packed cardboard box.

“Yeah well, I have to be there again tomorrow any ways, so…” She shrugs, thinking of getting an actual work training session from Miss Anna and not just being thrown to the wolves during the lunch rush again. Lyle raises his bushy eyebrow at his daughter in hopes that she’ll further explain, so Clementine continues, “I got a job there. That’s where I was today”

Lyle drops the big cardboard box, the contents inside rattling as they hit the ground. He’s clearly shocked by the idea that Clementine left the house to go on a walk and explore, only to come home with both a new friend and a new job. “A job? Wow, look at you, Tiny. I can hardly believe it!” He laughs. Clementine can feel her face go red and she looks over at Kiara, who’s toying with her phone to avoid overstepping into this weird, familial moment.

“It’s not a big deal or anything,” Clementine shrugs. “Hey dad is there food ready?”

“Yup, everything’s in the kitchen, you girls go on and help yourselves.” Lyle groans as he reaches for the box again, his back screaming at him to take it easy. “Make yourselves useful, though, and take a box with you when you go”

Clementine rolls her eyes as she goes to pick up a box labeled C’s Room. Kiara goes to pick up a box like Lyle suggested and Clementine panics. “Oh no, no, you don’t have to do that!” She insists but Kiara shrugs her shoulder and send her a quizzical look.

“I got it” She says casually, picking up the box like it’s no big deal.

Kiara follows Clementine up the porch and into the half-assembled house, dodging her way around randomly placed furniture, stacks of boxes, and other big plastic storage tubs. Clementine leads her down the long hallway and into what was becoming her bedroom. The girls drop the boxes in the corner, next to the other stacks of boxes, next to Clementine’s mattress that was on the floor. Kiara looks around the room, taking in what little was there and trying to figure out more about Clementine from the things around her that she could see. There’s a fish tank fully set up in the corner of the bedroom, where Clementine’s four fish are swimming along happily. Kiara walks up to the tank and touches the glass, watching as the fish follows her finger.

“You can feed them if you want” Clementine laughs, pointing to the little container of fish food off to the side of the tank.

Kiara accepts and drops a pinch of the funky smelling flakes into the water, watching the fish corral as they flapped their mouths open and closed. There’s a beat of silence as the girls watched the handful of fish, but Kiara eventually pipes up and says, “Your dad seems pretty cool”.

“He is, yeah” Clementine agrees, not caring if that was something that made her seem uncool. Her dad was trying really hard to be there and be present for Clementine, something that didn’t go unrecognized or unappreciated.

“Is it just you guys here?”

Clementine nods, knowing that this conversation would come up eventually. “Yep” She swallow hard and takes a second to figure out just how much detail she’s willing to divulge to Kiara after only a few hours of knowing her. “It’s just me, my dad, and Gat here right now.”

“Is that your brother?” Kiara asks again, and the mere idea of being related to Liam Gatwin was enough to make Clementine want to gag.

“God no,” She shakes her head, her short hair falling into her eyes. “He works on the Caprice with my dad, unfortunately the two of them are sort of a package deal. Gat and my sister dated for a really long time”

Kiara nods her head as she follows along. “So is she here? Your sister, I mean…” As an only child Kiara always thought the prospect of having an older sibling (or any sibling at all) would make life better. Especially a sister; Kiara thought having an older sister would be great, there was always someone there to keep you company, always someone there to show you cool new things.

“She’s not here right now, no” Clementine says simply. Because in Clementine’s mind, Kimber was never that far away, and she was always coming back.

Kiara seems to be satisfied with the answer to her question so the two girls go back to making small talk before heading to the kitchen to snag a bite to eat. There’s a plate piled high with chargrilled hamburgers and hot dogs ready to be fixed up to everyone’s liking, and a big family size bag of chips on the counter nearby with the bag left open crumbs spilling out. Men, Clementine thinks, swiping away the crumbs and getting a plate for herself and Kiara. Before Clementine hands off the chipped ceramic plate to Kiara, she remembers something that she said earlier that day:

“Aren’t you a pescatarian?” Clementine questions, suddenly nervous that she’d made some sort of grave mistake by inviting Kiara over to eat.

Kiara waves a noncommittal hand before grabbing the plate and loading it up. “Only when it’s convenient…”

A set of footsteps ring out from behind the two girls and Clementine turns around to see Liam Gatwin trudging towards the kitchen from the laundry room, where the side door led outside to where his trailer sat parked atop cinder blocks in the side yard.

“Nice of you to finally bless us with your presence, Clem” Gat rolls his eyes and scoots past Clementine, hip-checking her out of his way as he grabs a beer from the refrigerator. Clementine scoffs at him and hip-checks him back, because two can play that game, and she grabs herself and Kiara each a beer out of the soggy cardboard carton. Kiara starts to laugh but covers it up with a cough, suddenly becoming very interested in the food on her plate, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone.

“Rake it in while you can” Clementine deadpans, handing over the beer to Kiara while knowing that Gat wouldn’t tell on them. That was one of the rules that Kimber taught Gat if they were going to date while he worked for their dad. Rule #1: Whatever happens, we don’t tell dad. Gat mutters something rude under his breath and trudges back the way he came, leaving Clementine and Kiara in peace. Clementine hopes to god that it’s not awkward, that she didn’t make things weird by inviting Kiara back to her house and introducing her to her embarrassing dad and her sister’s jerky boyfriend. Just as she’s about to say something, to interject and ask if there was something she wanted to do or if she had someplace better to be, Kiara’s phone vibrates on the table.

She picks it up and reads the message, smiling, before turning to Clementine to ask “Do you wanna go to a party with me?” Before Clementine can really process the question, she feels herself nodding because yes, she does want to go to this party with Kiara. Clementine had already taken her fair share of risks today, what harm could one more do? It was going to be different now, here in the Outer Banks. Clementine was making sure of it.

#fic: don't you forget about me #dyfam #outer banks fic #outer banks oc #obx oc: clementine adams #kiara carrera x oc

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gameofdrarry · 3 years

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Wizards Hearts Recs: Canon Divergent

Wizards Hearts was a four-month-long Drarry reading fest. Players were given a playing deck of 52 tropes, and were asked to find 52 different fics to read and comment on to fill their decks. To prevent the same few fics from being read, fics were restricted to only being used for the game three times before being considered ineligible for further points. The tropes and submissions list can be found here.

Check out the masterlist of fics for this trope below the cut!

📜 Evitative by Vichan Rated: Teen Words: 222,452 Tags: Slytherin Harry Potter, Re-sorting, Dark Arts, Slow Burn, Dark!Harry Summary: In the summer before his fifth year at Hogwarts, Harry is drawn to a room in Grimmauld Place. Like the Gryffindor he is, he enters the room without fear. The room is a library, and Harry is surprised to find that he’s eager to learn. Then he gets the bad news: he’s been accidentally expelled from Hogwarts, and he needs to be sorted again. Everyone is confident that he’ll go straight back to Gryffindor, but with what he's been learning, Harry’s not so sure. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 The Secondary Task by ProfessorFrankly Rated: Mature Words: 50842 Tags: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Swearing, Frank discussion of teen sex, No actual teen sex, Canon-Typical Violence, If you've read GoF you know the last bit's where the violence and stuff is, Most of this fic has a "T" rating, Quantum Bang 2020 Summary: When Harry Potter’s name comes out of the Goblet of Fire, Draco Malfoy decides the Boy-Who-LIved needs a friend, whether he wants one, or not. With his mother’s backing, Draco sets out to make sure Harry knows he has someone in his corner, for now, and if Draco has his way, for always. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Outtake: The Second Task by MickeySLee Rated: Mature Words: 30824 Tags: Secret Relationship, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Hogwarts Fourth Year, Triwizard Tournament, Hostage Situations, Draco Malfoy is a Good Boyfriend, Harry Potter is a Good Boyfriend, Plot Twists, Romance, Fluff, Homosexuality, Homophobia, Good Draco Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy's A+ Parenting, Lucius Malfoy Being an Asshole, weekly updates!, Hogwarts Era, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Bashing, POV Hermione Granger, Hurt/Comfort, Consent is Sexy, Fairy Tale Elements Summary: Part of the series Outtakes and A Hard Story. Fourth Year. The Triwizard Tournament. The Second Task. What would happen if Dumbledore made a different decision when it was discovered Draco is who Harry would miss most? Instead of covering it up and declaring Ron to be Harry's hostage, Draco is the one at the bottom of the lake. No one could have foreseen how much trouble that caused. You may want to read A Hard Story or Throughout the Twists to Times first. This story is completed and will be uploaded one chapter per week on Sunday. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Parades, Pansy, and fuck I’m too gay for this by false_heteros Rated: General Words: 2227 Tags: Pride is at the end :), A lot of pureblood bullshit, Loneliness, Draco is Sad, Harry Needs a Hug, Pride, Pride Parades, Modern Era, Sirius Black Lives, Mentions of past child abuse, Cedric Diggory Dies, past homophobia, Gay Harry Potter, Gay Draco Malfoy Summary: After the war, Draco, who had been staying at home like a fucking hermit till Pansy came along, finally finds out about the LGBTQ+ Community, he dives head first into research and is amazed at what he finds. Harry wanders muggle London once every few days. Blending with the crowd and not feeling different for once. He comes along a group of people with beautiful colours around them. “What are they doing?” ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Closure is a state of mind by Quicksilvermaid Rated: Explicit Words: 12229 Tags: Morally Grey Draco Malfoy, Inappropriate medical/therapist relationships, Dubious Consent Due To Identity Issues, Lies, Self-Esteem Issues, low key stalking behaviour, Loneliness, Guilt, Therapy, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, taking advantage of a grieving person, Death of a Spouse, Character Death, (not Drarry), Disfigurement, Scars, Brief Mentions of Suicidal Thoughts, Drinking, First Time, Polyjuice Potion, Sex While Using Polyjuice Potion, pensieve sex, Voyeurism, wanking, Concealed Identity, Bittersweet Ending, H/D Hurt!Fest 2020 Summary: After Harry's husband Charlie is killed, his Mind Healer recommends a Polyjuice therapy company, so Harry can see 'Charlie' again and find closure over his death. Draco, whose life over the last ten years has gone from bad to worse, gets assigned Potter's case. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Harry Potter and the Yuletide Waltz by LakeWitch Rated: General Words: 3042 Tags: Yule Ball, Dancing, Hogwarts Fourth Year, six years later, Awkwardness, Meddling, Oblivious!Harry, more dancing, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Christmas, Holiday Season, Canon Divergence Summary: At the fourth year Yule Ball, Draco Malfoy asked Harry Potter to dance. Six years later, Harry Potter just might ask him why. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 When It's All Over by Erebeus Rated: Mature Words: 9292 Tags: Rape/Non-con, Unhealthy Relationships, Self-Hatred, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con (not between main pairing), suicidal/death idolization, Hogwarts Sixth Year, Non-Graphic Violence, Spy Draco Malfoy, Loneliness, H/D Hurt!Fest 2020, Betrayal, Attempted Murder, Brief flashbacks and moments of panic mentioned, non graphic torture, Azkaban (brief), Off screen therapy Summary: If killing you makes Harry happy, you really don't mind. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Catch 22 by jad Rated: Explicit Words: 49895 Tags: Romance, Fluff, Humor, Complete, Letter!fic, Sexual Content Summary: As if NEWTS weren't enough, Dumbledore's gone and had another one of his 'bright ideas.' If all ends well, the Houses will be getting along in no time. Or according to Harry's correspondent, an Apocalypse will be in order. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 (I don't know) what's right and what's real anymore by Ladderofyears Rated: Mature Words: 2101 Tags: Harry Potter and the half blood prince, canon divergence, no septumsempra, guilty Draco, pov Draco, ghostly Myrtle, attracted Draco, pre-slash, pre-relationship, Harry is a hero Summary: An alternative sectumsempra scene from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Kiss by xErised Rated: Teen and Up Words: 10764 Tags: Hogwarts Era, Light Angst, Mutual Pining, Secret Relationship, Getting Together, Kissing in the Rain Summary: For the second task of the Triwizard Tournament, it's not Ron that Harry rescues from the Great Lake, but Draco Malfoy. Hogwarts-era. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 It’s Not Christmas (without you) by LittleBozSheep Rated: Explicit Words: 79213 Tags: Fluff, Family Feels, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Getting Together, Christmas, Slow Burn, Serious Slow Burn, Everyone ships Drarry, Apart from Drarry, Divorced Draco Malfoy, Divorced Harry Potter, Kid Albus, kid scorpius, Everyone makes a camo, side wolfstar, Besides the last chapter it's rated G, Christmas Fluff, 25 Days of Harry and Draco, Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, Minor Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Minor Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Drunkenness, Drunken Shenanigans Summary: Maybe agreeing to host everyone for Christmas wasn’t Harry’s best idea. Luckily Albus’s best friend’s dad is an events planner who agreed to help, only issue, turns out the dad is Draco Malfoy. Sarcastic and grumpy to everyone but his son. Will Harry managed to catch him and keep Christmas from being a complete disaster? ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Leaves by TheLostLibran Rated: Teen and Up Words: 1190 Tags: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff without Plot, Healing, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Post-War, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence Summary: A lot of work goes on underground, invisible to the naked eye. Though it doesn't mean that no development is occuring, the hopes of a huge, fully grown tree standing strong in the near or distant future only start sprouting when the leaves do. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Okay But That’s Hot by Fuschaslime Rated: Explicit Words: 3640 Tags: Anal Sex, Riding, Dirty Talk, Frottage, Lapdance, Slut Shaming, Established Relationship, Friends With Benefits, Enemies to Lovers, Teasing, Begging, Safe Sane and Consensual, Bets & Wagers, Poker, theyre both over 18, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Banter, Perverted Harry, Slight fluff, Shameless Smut, AU where Lily Potter defeated Voldemort for good, and now everyone at hogwarts is kinda cool with eachother, apart from house tensions, Verbal Humiliation, Kinda Summary: Draco immediately regrets agreeing to a certain bet made at poker night when he realises he’ll actually have to hold up his end of the deal. Harry is ecstatic. OR Draco Malfoy bets Harry Potter a lapdance. He loses. ❤️ Read on AO3

#canon divergent au #canon divergence #drarry #drarry recs #game of drarry #wizards hearts #wh masterlist

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yikeslads · 5 years

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Dark! Stalker! Loki x Reader ~ Whispers in the Dark :Part 1

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Hello beautiful people! I meant to do this all in one release, but wow its turning out to be much longer than I thought, so I decided to break it up! Anyway, I should be finishing it soon and I hope you guys enjoy it!

also @person-born-winchester here’s your tag!

Warnings: None yet

Italics is the past

Bold are song lyrics

I will be the one that's gonna hold you

I will be the one that you run to

My love is

A burning, consuming fire

You had dedicated a lot of your time to building the statue for Loki’s remembrance. But some things just weren’t adding up. It seemed that Odin was wanting to spend a lot more time with you lately. You told yourself not to be rude. After all, he did just lose his wife and his son. You couldn’t blame your king.

Strolls in the garden, dinners together, the occasional calm horseback ride, whenever you weren’t spending time on the Loki commemoration you were spending time with the AllFather. It was… exhausting. Yes, of course you were honored to serve your king, but you missed having more alone time just wandering around or getting into random conversations with strangers in the palace that you ran into.

Meandering through the gardens with the AllFather, the pair of you stopped where you always concluded for the day. At the large crimson rose bush. And it ended today just like every other day. Odin handing you a crimson rose and dismissing you with a kiss on the back of your hand. Curtseying for your king, you respectfully left the AllFather’s side as usual. But you were going to make today different, for once. Instead of heading into the townt to make sure everything was coming along, you headed back towards the castle. Today, you were going to take a day off.

You were tittering with happiness as you made it to your room, drawing yourself with rose petals. Lighting candles that were strewn about the bath, you undressed yourself excited for the relaxing soak. You were half way through undressing when you realized with a groan that you had left your book in the library. Sighing you hurriedly threw your clothes back on and headed down the corridor to the library.

You had always loved going to the library. It was a place of both exploration and relaxation for you, a little place that you could escape into your own world. It’s where you and the raven haired prince had spent countless hours together. It was a bittersweet feeling to go to the library now. It reminded you of your loss, but you had hoped that Loki would be happy with the contributions you had made for him to be honored and remembered.

You finally made it to your favorite section of the library when you looked up and saw… Odin? reading in the same chair Loki always read. He glanced up when you immediately dropped into a curtsey.

“My apologies, AllFather,” you said quickly, dismissing yourself as fast you could but still snagging your book on the way out, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible. You still wanted most of the day to yourself. But as you walked back to your chamber you couldn’t help but think of how odd that meeting was. It was so unlike Odin to be prowling around the libraries, especially in the middle of the day. Especially in Loki’s old nook. You shook your head and brushed it off.

Maybe Odin just missed Loki more than he let on.

Deciding not to read to much into it you ready yourself for your relaxing bathtime once more.

The day had flown by so quickly, but as the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun. You found yourself lazily dressing yourself in a deep green gown, simple as you liked, but elegant enough to be fit for dinner.

Entering the dining hall, you saw Odin at the head of the table, awaiting your arrival. A soft smile pulled at the corners of his lips as he saw you enter the room.

“Ah there you are, love. You look lovely,” he beckoned you, but you paused, almost as if a haze around you was beginning to lift.

Loki used to call you love.

“Little dove?” The AllFather called once more. Shaking your head slightly, you shook it off and proceeded to take a set next to him at the table.

“My apologies, my king. I was just being a little absent minded,” you excused, to which Odin nodded.

“Are you feeling well, little dove?” He asked, as servants came to dish up some food for the pair of you.

Nodding slightly, you gave him a shy smile. “I am sure it was nothing, AllFather,” you essured, glancing around the room for a second. It was a beautiful night out in Asgard. You could see the stars twinkling between the large columns, torch light illuminating the room giving the room a soft glow.

You thanked the servant as she placed your plate in front of you, before all of the servants were dismissed, leaving the pair of you alone as usual.

“If I may, AllFather, why do you always dismiss the servants?” You asked him gently. You had always allowed the servants to stay in the dining hall while you ate when you were back in your courts. Sometimes you ate with them, whenever your parents were busy.

“Force of habit, little dove,” Odin said with a light shrug, brushing past the subject.

That’s odd. Odin didn;t dismiss the servants before Freya and Loki had died.

“I see. We just didn’t dismiss the servants in my court is all,” you said absent mindedly, but quickly regretted what you had said. “Not that Im complaining! I am very very happy here in Asgard, and I am so thankful that you have offered me refuge here for so long!” You corrected, not wanting to seem ungrateful

A chuckle resounded from Odin’s chest as he gently patted your hand in a comforting manner. “Easy there, little one. You have said nothing wrong,” he eased, a smile dancing across your face at his comforting.

“After all, taking you in was the best thing Odin ever did,” he said, reassuringly but your blood ran cold at his words.

Odin? Why was he referring to himself in the third person? Unless…

It all came crashing down around you in that moment.

On your last birthday you went on a star light walk in the garden where you admired the rose bushes and told him the crimson ones were your favorite.

And everyday, Odin always gave you a crimson rose after your garden walk.

Being in the library.

Sitting in Loki’s chair.

Calling you love.

Using Odin’s name.

You knew Loki was good at trickery, but you would have never assumed he would take it this far. But if this person in front of you isn’t Odin, then where is he?

You'll never be alone

When darkness comes, I'll light the night with stars

Hear the whispers in the dark

Beginning to withdraw your hand from under Odin’s you were quickly halted by “Odin” you grabbed your hand, as if he had realized his mistake.

“A-AllFather, I think I am feeling ill. I should return to my chamber,” you tried, wanting nothing more in this moment to flee.

“Let me walk you to your room then, little dove,” he pressed and you knew you wouldn’t get your way without causing a scene in the dining hall which wouldn’t play out well for you. You needed to talk with him privately.

Nodding slightly, you stood up as he released your hand. All the color had drained from your face and you had broken into a cold sweat.

The walk back to your chambers was the most tense walk in your life. Neither of you spoke.

What felt like hours later, you finally arrived at your chambers and stepped in, the man soon following, closing the door behind him.

It was silent for a few more moments, and you were the first to speak up.

“Loki, show yourself,” you demanded, eyes locked onto his face though your lower lip quivered.

He opened his mouth to argue, but knew there was little he could say to persuade you from the truth. Sighing, a golden glow came about him as the face of Odin melted away to reveal the Raven Haired Prince.

A surge of overwhelming emotion came over you and you placed your hands on his chest and shoved him as hard as you could, which did little to the god.

“How could you?! I mourned you for months! I still mourn you! What about Thor? He misses you dearly and he fled because of it!” You hissed at him, careful not to shout too loud and draw unwanted ears to your chamber.

Against your will, tears began to pool in your eyes and you bit your bottom lip to keep from crying. “How could you do this to us? To me?” You whispered, hurt seeping into every syllable of your words.

The man in front of you paused, for the first time in his life at a loss for words. Taking a few moments to gather himself, he spoke up.

“Love, you have to trust me on this. There is a lot going on that you wouldn’t understand,” he tried, taking a step towards you, only for you to jerk back.

“Don’t call me that!” You snapped, putting your hands in front of you protectively. “And don’t come near me either. You have deeply and utterly betrayed all of us,” you spat, even though there were tears streaming down your face.

Silence encompassed the pair of you, as Loki waited with baited breath to see what you would do next.

“Where is Odin?” You whispered, voice shaking with intense emotion. After a few more seconds of silence, you asked again, this time louder.

“Loki, what the hell did you do with Odin?” demanding an answer, you were dismayed to see Loki take a deep breath, readying himself for the answer.

“Let’s just say I don’t have to worry about him interferring anymore,” he said with confidence to your upmost horror.

“Oh Loki, what the hell have you done?!” You cried, using your sleeve to wipe your tears away, as you glared at him. Taking a few more moments to compose yourself, you took a deep breath before speaking again.

“Get out of my chambers, now,” you demanded, pointing at the door, but keeping your eyes down, locked on the floor.

“Love…” Loki began to plead, but you refused to hear his words.

“Get out of my chambers now before I scream and everyone comes running to this room to see what’s wrong,” you threatened, which Loki sighed at.

“Alright. I shall leave you be, but this isn’t over,” he reminded before transforming into a servant woman and leaving your chambers without suspicion.

You openly wept as soon as you knew he would be far enough away where he wouldn’t hear you. How could he do this to you? He watched you mourn for months and did nothing. And on top of that, he must have done something terrible to your king. Where is Odin?

You didn’t know, but you definetley didn’t want to stick around to find out. Quickly, you began packing. Grabbing a large satchel, you placed everything of value that you could sell for a high price in there along with all of your coins and a change of clothes. That should be all you needed for now.

Before you left your chambers for good, you snatched the crimson roses you had in your vase from the last few days of walks and tossed them into the fire, watching them burn for a few moments.

Quickly leaving the palace, you made your way to the stable and chose a trusted horse. Mounting, you rode as fast as you could out of the castle grounds and towards the capital city, never looking back.

You'll never be alone

When darkness comes, I'll light the night with stars

Hear the whispers in the dark

So here you were, in a tiny shack on the outskirts of the capital, hiding in your closet underneath bedding like you did every night. Evey night you feared he would come for you. After all, he had found you in the past before.

When you lived at an Inn in the capital, mysteriously crimson roses would appear on your bed stand. When you lived in a manor as a servant for a lord for a couple weeks, your favorite book from the palace library miraculously showed up on your pillow in the servants quarters.

He was toying with you. He was sending a message. That he could come and get you whenever he wanted. That he was watching you, no matter where you went to hide.

You had moved six times now within the past four months because of the “gifts” and just overall paranoia. You had sold everything of value, and you had little options left.

Suddenly, you heard a knock at the front door.

You'll never be alone

When darkness comes, you know I'm never far

Hear the whispers in the dark

Pulling yourself into the tightest ball possible underneath the spare bedding in the closet, you waited with baited breath praying that whoever it was would go away. But you were not so lucky. A few moments later you heard the door lock click open and you instantly knew that somebody used a charm to unlock your door.

You heard sure footsteps exploring your most humble abode, looking for something. Or someone. The footsteps halted in what sounded like the middle of the hallway before a voice called out to you.

“I know you’re scared, love,” the voice called and tears instantly welled up in your eyes.

Loki.

“Come out and come home with me. I can explain everything,” he called out to you, as you did everything you could inside of yourself to not panic.

He took a few steps more down the hall, towards your bedroom.

“Love, I need you to come with me. I need you by my side as I rule Asgard. You were made for me and you know that,” his voice drew nearer to your room.

A few more moments passed and you could hear his footsteps stop just inside of your bedroom.

“I’ll make you a deal with you because I know you are frightened. If you come out on your own, I won’t have to punish you. But if you make me come and get you, which you know I will, well my mercy can only be extended so far. I’ll give you to the count of five to reveal yourself and come with my peacefully,” he bargained, and you did not doubt his words. You knew he would find you and drag you out if he had to. You would be a fool to put it past him.

“One,” he began, his voice stern, leaving no room for argument.

Your heart leapt into your throat, as you fought to keep the tears in your eyes. This couldn’t be happening.

“Two,” he continued causing your breath to hitch. Gods you were so terrified, and you definetely did not want to find out what the punishment was if you disobeyed.

“Three,” he took a step towards your hiding spot and you knew he knew exactly where you were.

“W-Wait,” you called softly from under the sheets. “I-I’ll come out.” You sat up on your knees from where you were crouching, the bedding falling off around you in a pool as you rose to your feet. Meekly, you made timid steps toward the trickster, eyes locked onto his shoes as you approached him.

Tilting your chin up with his hand, your teary eyes met his deep green ones, and you felt a whole new overwhelming wave of emotion.

“Now what am I going to do with you love?” Loki whispered, as he brushed a piece of your hair out of your face.

#loki #loki x reader #xreader #marvel #marvel fanfiction #coyambition #songfic #dark fic #stalking #stalker x reader #stalker loki

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