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#but god my 6 year old cousin sticking to my
rain-in-the-clouds · 1 year
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I don't normally vent on this blog, despite it being my main, mostly I just try and share what I love and whatnot. But like so many my age, older and younger, I have a love/obsession/hatred of tiktok.
It's a fun app that can be so nice and a great place to build community, have fun and be silly. But my fucking gods, that is not what its like 99.99999% of the time. And no I know I'm no one special in saying any of this. But I gotta vent, and at least here I can scream into the void knowing if anyone is gonna scream back it's gonna be about something completely different and probably about cats, food, boobs, or Fandom, and honestly that's what makes this the best site.
Anyways, I've struggled with anxiety for the majority of my life, depression as a side helping, and a medley of other things. About six months before the pandemic my anxiety skyrocketed, I started having massive panic attacks every day multiple times a day. At one point it felt like I was just existing through the day to eventually deal with a night filled with the feelings of death.
It was awful, I was barely living.
This is a tangent, but if anyone knows the song Overkill by Colin Hay, I used to sing that song a lot as a kid, like 6-7 years old singing that song, one day to gorw up living the life the song depicts. The lyrics that stick with me: "I can't get to sleep. I worry over situations I know will be alright. Day after day it reapers, night after night my heart beat shows the fear."
It was night after night after night, months went by like this. By middle of 2020 I was.... I wasn't ok. A way I had helped myself during that time, before I got some help and the meds I need, I would use tiktok. Now I'd use its worst attributes to my gain.
It's short form content and use of short attention spans was, especially in the moment, very helpful for subduing (most of the time it just delayed the panic attack) but my goal was never to outright stop the panic attacks, cus I had no way to do that, but to distract my brain long enough to get tired and pass out. It worked for a good while. It especially worked for stopping an attack right as it was starting.
Fast forward to now. Just like prior to the panic attacks I use tiktok to have fun, goof around and see cool stuff, (don't get me wrong I'm all about activism, and I use tiktok like any other for that too, but that's for when I'm in a good place mentally) but now, idk it's like I've let it corrupt me. The past year especially, I've gotten into more arguments in tiktok comments then I've gotten into arguments irl, doesn't matter if the argument was valid or not or even worth arguing over.
And I know it's the internet, nothing stays innocent forever, yes I know. But what I'm saying is tiktok in particular has somehow become more toxic then the majority or surface level internet. To me, it seems like it's trying to become the next 4chan more then the next tumblr. And I had hopes that it was heading in the direction of this hellsite, the Fandom elements there, book lovers, science, all of it: seriously seeing people ask ScienceTok, or BookTok, just makes me flashback to the days of "Science side of tumblr what does xyz mean?"
But no, instead we get the love child of vine and 4chan, it's half cousin-brother reddit somehow looks better next to tiktok.
It's dumb, it really is, cus yes the simple answer is, get off tiktok. But it's not simple, my livelihood relies on social media, for many reasons, like many people. The answer I've been going with is limiting myself on time spent, and I've been successful, I go a week or two without even opening the app, then hop on to check in, post and get a good laugh. But somehow, even if it's just one day, it has the power, (that I give it by gods) to suck me in and make me mad at something, even if it is something to be mad about, doesn't mean it's something I have to let get so under my skin it causes this to happen, (the this being moving to my og site and venting my woes)
It's just such a disappointment. At least I'll always have tumblr.
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oloohyeah · 1 year
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To find the right title, I must stick to the origin. It fills me with many clues in which I begin my thorough research. Believe it or not, he is so-called, a type of devil. Now understand if indeed he is a type of devil, it does not mean that he has more physical strength than an ordinary man. No, that's not the formula. I took a lot of resources from people who had an experience with him like Ruby who after receiving a black eye, she agreed to travel with him from NY back to Philly to file a false assault complaint and a restraining order (which automatically framed the biggest hoe of Babylon, an ex-wife that surely instructed ruby the way to do it ) coz guys what a 21 years old girl have to do with a restraining order. And why did they even let her do this crime when they knew she is going to be back soon after her trip ended? I am completely clueless about their unthinkable conspiracy plot against me. So, she blamed me, the one who spit blood to elevate her to a better place in life. Do you believe this horrible act by Ruby came because she was in a cape fear? I don't know, I don't think so.
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If we take Gianna's incident, she arrived early in the morning on the last day of the weekend. Tbh, she looked more beautiful than ever. But something with her face looked weird. A locked simile that somehow reminded me of an ecstasy smile, more like a surprise expression than a scared person. I don't know. in any case, when she appeared at my apartment, her eyes were locked towards the ground, a kind of ecstasy smile that locked her expression for long hours. Every now and then, she would lick her lower lip, which was swollen. I, who was deeply concerned by her swollen lips, went into hysterics, my God, I shouted, just not again, another complaint to the police. She was quick to point out to me that she didn't go to the police, but I will never forget the two weeks that followed. After all, from the moment Ruby filed the false complaint, it took the Philadelphia police about 10 days until they knocked on my door. They sure got a long backlog. Again, it's a bit off course of the point that I want to make, but Gianna's famous sentence went out to be the one that strikes me the most. Has she said it after hours, starting to an invisible point without today a word. just kept the locked face I already mentioned. suddenly said: Gia, what the fuck did you see last night? Right then she turned her face looked into my eyes and said: I saw the devil himself.
And never to say a word after. I know Gia is very good this time she said it is so genuine that it sounded better than any truth. I became so confused and overwhelmed. Of course, Ricky wasn't even a suspect. But my cousin Yossi. He also can claim this notorious title. After all, he is my age, and when we were teenagers, we were like brothers. So I knew him well, he was a violent person. And even his DOB suited 13/6/66, so it's funny how Ricky came as Teflon once again. Again, the main focus I gave to the names is the most used as DEVIL or SATAN. What I have discovered was something extraordinary peculiar lol: devil<lived and Satan ( what the Hebrews call it) Satan< Natas = Natas = נטש in Hebrew is Leave but look at that the world devil is also leaved I know you will shout hey it's wrong spelling 😉 and I will calm you down and say God vibe he's not dealing spelling so live sound leave and Satan is leave* too. Think a moment, and perhaps it's our way to face this evil individual. As he will leave before the face-off
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emeraldcreeper · 3 years
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I’ve learned that I will die without time completely by myself
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caro-amante · 2 years
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ONLY A HUNDRED
Kiara (Kie) Carrera x GN!Reader
A/N: I wrote this a long ago when I had just watched OBX, and the writing style and quality might not my typical one, so I apologize for that. Also, I no longer write for this fandom, so please don’t send in requests for it.
contents/warnings: The reader is mentioned to be tall and speaks spanish. Mentions of drinking, partying, kissing, etc. The reader’s class is left unmentioned, so they can be a kook or pogue.
» POC friendly
· ───────── · ꒰⚘݄꒱ · ──────── ·
Your uncle eyed your half-asleep form on the leather couch, watching Blue's Clues on the TV with your little cousin. Tired eyes stayed closed for a few seconds every time they blinked. He had enough of this laziness: of you sitting around his house like a useless houseplant, instead of helping him clean the hurricane's mess.
He slammed his fist onto the kitchen counter, creating a loud bang, which startled you and your little cousin. You quickly turned around, confusion written all over your features.
"Huh-?"
"It's time for you to get off your lazy ass and do something with your time." Before you could even vocalize a word, he dug into his pocket. His red leather wallet, adorned with a golden stitched tiger, opened by his chubby fingers. A crisp, 100$ bill soon in between his index and middle finger came into view, "Ya want this?"
You squinted your eyes in suspicion. "Hundred dollars?" You furrowed your eyebrows, soon glancing at JC beside you. From the eye contact shared, you noticed the 6-year-old himself had his doubts. You slowly glanced up at your uncle again, "for what..?"
A genuine smirk slid along your uncle's face, his golden tooth shining proudly among his white teeth. "Go and clear the mess out there, and you’ll be receiving this beauty by the end of the day."
You immediately groaned. You knew it was hot outside- burning hot. "Noooooo..."
"Yeeeeessss..." Uncle Jarome gave you a tight-lipped smile. He sauntered over to the couch, picking JC up with his muscular arms and resting him on his hip. " Go on before I make you do it without pay."
He then whispered something into his boy's ear, earning an even more suspicious look from you.
"O si no, papi le va a decir a tu papi que..."
The little boy’s eyes quickly darted to his father’s, your uncle whispering into his ear once again.
"Que te de una patada en tu cola."
You rolled your eyes as your uncle smiled mischievously, your little cousin soon following suit. They then disappeared from the living room, leaving Steve's voice echoing through the room from the TV.
"Ughhh..."
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The sun was now setting, shining its last rays of heat on the murky waters of the canal. Your squinted eyes gazed at the grey, cotton clouds floating up in the sky as squawks of the passing birds filled your ears.
You had been working all afternoon, clearing out the broken branches and palm tree leaves from the backyard. The loose tanktop rested upon your torso, sticking to every inch and crevice of your body.
God, that sexy, green piece of paper didn't seem so appealing now as it did then.
As you sat on a beach chair with your chest heaving and sweat dripping on your forehead, your aunt's figure sheltered you from the light. She held out her arm and handed you a cold bottle of water with a sympathetic smile.
"We're done packing for the trip, so we're about to head off. You need anything before we leave, sugar?"
"No, I'm fine. What time will you be getting back on Sunday?" You opened the cap, the coldness making your hands numb.
"Prolly 'round," She thought for a few seconds, "uh, 4 PM? Sometime in the afternoon." She watched you as you chugged down the water, thirst taking over your body.
You wiped your mouth with the back of your hand, "mkay, uh- so feed the dog and water the plants? That's all I gotta do?" You looked up at her, finding she was examining all the work you did.
"Hm? oh yeah, and keep it clean, please." She continued to scan your surroundings with a rather impressed face. "Did a pretty good job, kid." She got closer and grabbed your cheeks, squishing them till your lips pucked. After giving you a small smile, she patted your cheek and walked away. "bah-bye!"
"Bye."
By the time you completed all the work around the house, faint voices shouting from who knows where can be heard. It was probably another party some kooks were throwing. Who cares. As your bare feet stepped on the wet blades of grass, someone called out your name. If you weren't so tired, you probably would've realized the shout came from your smiling girlfriend.
You didn't see anyone; it was just you in the dark backyard and murky waters illuminated by the white moon.
"The idiot's probably sleeping." You could decipher a faint, masculine voice coming from across the canal.
The loud whirring of what you assumed was a boat's motor soon became louder and louder as it got closer. You jogged to the edge of your uncle's backyard, feet stopping on old, damp wood. Your head whipped to the left as your body slightly leaned forward, eyes furrowing as you squinted your eyes.
There they were, screaming and shouting to you. John B, JJ, Pope, and the one and only Kie. Your tired state left your body, replaced by annoyance and fear. You weren't allowed to have any friends over while you were house-sitting, something explicitly and thoroughly made clear when the rules were being explained to you.
Ever since a tiny- well, not so miniature- incident happened last year, you haven't been able to have more than one person over while your uncle and aunt were away.
Your tall figure stood dark from your friends' view, the panic on your face unnoticeable by them. As they neared, they kept screaming at you. Though you were too busy to respond, instead, looking around the houses for any sign of ‘danger.’
"Hey, you!!" JJ shouted, his toothy smile aimed towards you. Before you could tell them to shut up, John B decided to cut in.
"We brought beer! Your favorite one, yeah?" He shot you a smirk, eyebrows shooting upwards too. You rolled your eyes, quickly climbing on the boat with the help of Pope's hand, earning a small greeting from him too.
Before you scolded the group of teenagers for the blatant noise they created, your eyes immediately find Kie's. A smile replaces your frown, though not as big as the one decorating her pretty face. Her arms are held out as if reaching for you. You quickly walk up to her and place your hands on her waist, pulling her close. A disgusted groan could be heard from someone, most likely JJ.
You snap your head towards the group of friends, all examining the interaction between your girlfriend and you. "Shut it. Now stop looking at us, it's weird." They all simultaneously look away, carrying along with their conversations.
Turning back to your girlfriend, you notice she was gazing out into the dark waters. You lift your hands from her hips and wrap them around her face for her to look at you. You tilt your head down, delicately kissing her as a soft smile bloomed upon both your faces.
"Hi." She squeaked out, both of you studying each other's faces. A wide grin split across your face, then sprinkling quick pecks on her lips.
"Hey, pretty girl." Her arms, which were resting upon your shoulders, tightened you into a hug, pulling you down from the height difference. You took this as an advantage to extend your arms further down, gripping her thighs and pulling her up. She wrapped her legs around your hips and pulled her face from the crook of your neck.
Before either of you could utter a word, JJ's voice cut through the silent atmosphere. "Ok, that's enough lovey-dovey shit, I can't take it. Time to party, bitches!" He quickly pulled the lever and the engine started whirring.
You sighed, instantly giving in. $100 can buy a lot of booze, can it not?
· ───────── · ꒰⚘݄꒱ · ──────── ·
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rose-wild · 3 years
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heroes of olympus ranked by the saddest/worst childhoods:
(my opinion. you don’t have to agree, that’s okay).
1. HAZEL - i think this is self explanatory. black girl in southern america in the 30s, bullied badly. then watched her mother get possessed by the earth mother, father didn’t care, forced to move on her thirteenth birthday to alaska. was repeatedly told she was a bad, sick child. then was forced to do unspeakable things by marie/gaea, used her powers to make a body for a giant, then had no other choice but to kill herself and her mother to stop gaea from rising. THEN gave up elysium so her mother wouldn’t get the field of punishment. in the Son of Neptune, during one of her backstories, Hazel says, “Hazel felt as if she were expanding to the breaking point, just like that spire in the pit. Her misery would soon become to great to hold inside, and her skin would shatter.” excuse me while i go and sob 😭
2. Reyna - girl her backstory is so fucking sad. watched her dad become insane and paranoid. her dad collected weapons and turned their house into a fortress, and locked her in her room, and when she and her sister would sneak out and get caught, he would throw furniture and yell at them. then he becomes convinced that reyna and hylla are the enemy. ghosts of her ancestors would watch reyna from afar (creepy af). then julian becomes a mania and after they snuck out one day, reyna was TEN, julian got so angry he started glowing, ripping up their house and threw a chair at hylla. reyna then thought her sister was dead as it knocked her unconscious, then had no choice but to kill her own father. a ghost appeared before her and taunted her, telling her she would never flee her crime and never forget her past, calling her a murderer and traitor. then she went to circe’s island and that got destroyed by yours truly percy jackson and annabeth chase, then she was kidnapped by the pirates (who did gods knows what to her) for months and then managed to escape. then she and her sister parted ways after all those years together where they had no one but each other. okay, maybe reyna should be number one.
3. Nico - lots of people would think he needs to be 1, but i don’t think so, and i’m talking about backstories only. he saw his mother walk into a hotel and then watched it explode after it got struck by lightning. then he got his memory wiped and then they were left with a bank trust and a lawyer would come in to check them every once in a while. oh, and then he got stuck in the lotus hotel for seventy years, which they only thought was a month. then westover hall. then bianca dies. yeah.
4. Jason - ugh this boy. his mother left him at the wolf house and told him that she’d be back, but never was. so jason, a little two year old boy, was left crying in the ruins and yelling for his mom and thalia. he was then taken in by wolves (can you imagine how scary that must’ve been for a little boy?) and was raised and trained like a roman soldier. there was no weakness. he wasn’t allowed to, or else he would be eaten alive. yeah. then he made it to camp jupiter and was offered first cohort for being a son of jupiter but denied it. he befriended the least popular kids and went on the least glamorous quests, but was still considered a prince and had everyone’s eyes on him from such a young age. he spent twelve years in the legion and was always the leader. then he led the assault on mount othrys and defeated the titan krios with hand to hand combat, and toppled kronos’s throne. this isn’t tragic, but what is tragic is that he and the legion never got a thanks from the gods.
5. Leo - his fucking nanny tia callida laid him in an actual fire pit and sang him lullabies like some sort of psychopath. and tia callida gave him knives when he was three. she told him to poke a rattlesnake in the grass with a stick (oh that’s super smart for a four year old boy to do). his cousin raphael bullied him. his aunt rosa made him eat with dead people. then, when trying to hurt gaea, she made him angry and made his hands catch on fire. leo fell into a rage and tried to save himself and his mother, but accidentally killed his mother and burned her alive. and then his aunt rosa turned his entire family against him (called him the devil) and told the social care workers to take him away and stuffed him into foster care. he was bullied badly and would run away from his foster care homes and, when he was in between foster homes, would sleep under an actual bridge.
6. Annabeth - since she was a demigod, annabeth was a target for monsters which caused constant fighting between her dad and her stepmother who felt like she was putting everyone (as in her two twin stepsiblings) in danger. she was assaulted by spiders, her worst fear, for three days each night as a seven year old girl. she would scream for her father but he was never there and her stepmother didn’t believe her. as a seven year old girl, she believed her family hates her, so she ran away and smashed monsters with a hammer with the guidance of her immortal mother for MONTHS. then she was taken in by luke and thalia and they became her family. then they found grover and were chased by monsters sent from hades, who was looking to kill thalia for revenge. grover took wrong turns and led them into a cyclops lair on accident. then the cyclops lured everyone except annabeth, who stabbed one of the cyclops in the foot. the group was chased by a pack of hellhounds and all three furies on their way to half-blood hill. she was forced to watch thalia be overran by monsters and killed and dragged away by luke. she heard the great prophecy when she was ten and had nightmares about it because chiron told her she “would have a big part to play”, and that brings us to tlt. damn.
7. Percy - strangled a snake at a day care center when he was two (this is pretty traumatic). was bullied and abused by his stepfather from a very young age and had to watch his mother be in an awful relationship. was bullied badly by other people. he was in military academies where they believed “paddling is good for the soul.” he was stalked by a cyclops in the third grade.
8. Frank - his mother died in a military accident and was then raised by his grandmother. he was then told, at his mother’s funeral, that his whole entire life depends on this little piece of fire wood that if burned, he would literally fall over dead. then, that same evening, he was told he was going to be shipped off to wolves and then to camp jupiter (if he survived its trials ofc).
9. Piper - she fell off a horse when she was six and drove past a meat processing place that made her sick 😭 (this is a joke). but for real, her rich super star dad avoided her and didn’t pay any attention to her, which caused her to act out. she was bullied for being cherokee. and then she finds out months of her life was just a trick of the mist and that her boyfriend doesn’t actually like her at all? sad man.
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jar-of-ectoplasm · 3 years
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sale headcanons because an anon told me to do it
a/n: ugh sale my beloved
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-Sale can play guitar like a fucking GOD
-he can also skateboard
-actually is related to Squalo, they're cousins (nobody but Tiziano knows though)
-shares one braincell with Zucchero but that's basically canon
-uses Kraft Work to stick shit to the wall when he doesn't have a place to put it
-has a bearded dragon named jellybean
-has a little sister who's around 6-8 years old (she named the bearded dragon jellybean)
-would die for David Bowie
-can't cook for shit so he mostly orders takeout
-does that cheesy "fake yawn and put an arm around the person you're sitting next to" thing all the time to his s/o
-wears the skinny jean+high top vans combo on the daily
-slut for forehead kisses
-has a studio apartment
-favorite flowers are marigolds
-keeps his hair in a braid when he isn't out in public
-king of thrifting
-terrified of everyone in la squadra
-hates the cold
-calls his s/o dude and bro more than cute pet names like babe or honey
-uses kraft work to stick his and his s/o's hand together when he doesn't want them to leave
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ssa-babygirl · 3 years
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Out of my League [Part 6]
Pairing: Spencer Reid x Single mom!Reader
Word count: 3.3k
Summary: JJ gives you some bad news and Spencer feels like he’s only making matters worse. For both of you.
Warning(s): Angst, mentions of grief and death, allusions to relapse, swearing, mentions of drinking, this is lowkey a mess so i may have missed a couple of warnings
Author’s Note: IT’S HERE!!!! YAY!!! that’s the happiest you’re gonna be all chapter. The next one may take a bit of time and i am SORRY for that because this may or may not have a sorta cliffhanger you should just read it to find out!! also heads up there are a lot of perspective changes later on please just imagine how it would be cut together in a movie that’s how i wrote it OK ENJOY DON’T BE MAD JUST TRUST ME OK??
[Previous Part] [Series Masterlist]
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Washington, D.C., 2011
(Reader POV)
You’d gone to three different funerals since moving to D.C. Three more than you would have liked, obviously, no one ever really wants to go to a funeral.
The first had been your father’s. You had Jamie and your mom, but you needed Spencer. He was out on a case and you couldn’t blame him for not being there, but he made up for it a million times over. Your dad’s death wasn’t unexpected, and while it hurt to say goodbye, it was relatively easy to move on.
The second had been for Aaron’s ex-wife, Haley. You didn’t really know her, but Aaron was your friend and you wanted to support him. That and Jamie got along very well with Jack, acting almost as an older cousin, and you know how important family is when you lose a parent.
The third and most recent funeral was the worst one: Emily’s. She was there one day, raring to go and take on the world, gone the next. 
The day you found out was just terrible. JJ had called you herself to tell you. You managed to stay calm until you hung up, when you practically threw your phone onto the kitchen table and collapsed into a chair, tears pouring down your face as silent sobs wracked your body.
Jamie ran in at the sound of you crying, “Mom? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
You shook your head, unable to speak. Jamie wordlessly wrapped his arms around your shoulders and held you as you struggled to regain your voice. When you could finally breathe and relay the news you just received, you choked out, “Aunt Emily died last night.”
Then Jamie started crying too. He curled up into your shoulder and sobbed into your shirt, soaking you to the skin, almost like he was little again. You crumbled at the sound of his whines and cries. Every part of your chest ached with the weight of your grief. 
“What happened to her?” He finally whimpered.
“She has a dangerous job,” You didn’t even notice the tense you used, “A bad man was after her.”
“Well, is everyone else okay? What about Uncle Derek? What about Doc—”
“Everyone else is fine, baby, no one else was hurt. Doc’s fine.”
You sat still for God knows how long, silent, clutching each other like a lifeline, praying this was all just a dream and that you’d get a call from Emily telling you it was all some sick joke. Of course, you’d be furious with JJ, but at least there wouldn’t be a hole in your family where Emily had once been. 
Your mother came over to help you cook, the same role you had taken years prior while your father was sick. She consoled you and Jamie for the next two days and then drove you to the funeral. You got out of the car and walked in silence to the church, clutching Jamie’s hand as you entered. 
Aaron was the first at the door. He wasn’t one for hugs, but when he saw you, exhausted and barely standing, he pulled you and Jamie in tight. The hug was brief, but it helped, God, did it help. Dave was just behind him, and he didn’t hesitate. He ruffled Jamie’s hair and gave you a kiss on both cheeks. JJ was holding Henry in the corner, and Will gave you a weak smile. Derek and Penelope were holding one another, both shaking as they cried. Your grip on Jamie’s hand grew tighter, tighter, tighter until you saw him.
You then dropped Jamie’s hand as you ran over, arms open wide as your son followed close behind, “Spence--”
He returned your hug instantly, burying his face in your hair, “I’m sorry I didn’t call--”
You felt Jamie join the hug, but you kept your head buried in Spencer’s chest, “No, I’m sorry too, I didn’t know what to do.”
“Me neither.” He pulled away, wiping away some tears and sniffling, “I’ve just been holed up in my room reading Vonnegut all for the past three days.”
Of course, “What books?”
“Mostly Slaughterhouse-Five, it was her--”
“Her favorite,” You nodded as you spoke the last part in unison with him.
“Yeah. I read it out loud just…” His voice cracked and the words looked painful to get out, “Just in case she could hear me.”
Your heart broke imagining him wrapped in blankets, eyes rimmed red as they glazed over the worn-out pages. You ached at the thought of his voice cracking just as it did before as he read for hours and hours, begging the universe to let Emily hear him, “She did. And she loved it.”
“I just hope she didn’t realize I was crying,” he muttered, and it shattered you, “She wouldn’t want us to cry for her.”
“You’re right, but I know she’d be unbelievably offended if we didn’t cry just a little bit,” Spencer’s tearful smile was enough to make you feel slightly better. There was still hope.
Your mom took Jamie home after the wake, knowing that you needed time with the team to feel like a person again. You went home with Spencer. He shouldn’t have to be alone anymore.
“You’re really good at taking care of me,” he smiled weakly, sipping the tea you made for him.
“Yeah, I had a good teacher.” Your mother was always there when you lost someone. You had your ups and downs, but she was a good mom.
“Does it get easier? Losing someone?”
“No. It always hurts just as bad,” you sigh, “But moving on used to be a lot harder.”
“Do you still miss him?”
“Of course I do, but less than I used to.” You still talked to your dad sometimes, something you did as a kid when he wasn’t home, just telling him about your day or narrating what you were doing. Even after all these years, you still found yourself explaining to no one that you had to run to store and buy bread to make Jamie’s lunch.
“I see little pieces of him everywhere I go. Jamie has the same exact smile. His favorite book when he was little was the same one my dad read to me. No one ever really leaves. Family, friends, they stick with us.”
“I’ve never lost a friend before. When Gideon left, I knew he was out there. Same with Elle. I could have Garcia find them right now and call them up to see how they’re doing, but Emily--” his voice cracked too much for him to want to continue, so he dropped it altogether.
“Did I ever tell you about my college roommate, Juliet?”
“No.”
“We were best friends. We did everything together: Movie nights, parties, all that. The night of our last final senior year, we decided to go clubbing to celebrate.”
You told him the whole story. The drinking, the dancing, the guy. You don’t remember his name, but you remember trusting him. He was sweet and Juliet liked him, so when she came to you at the bar after dancing with him telling you she was going home with him, you let her.
“I was happy for her! She had just gone through a breakup a few months before, so it was nice to see her getting some,” you let out a weak laugh, “I remember the last thing I said before she left was ‘Okay, have fun, call me in the morning, we’ll get brunch. I love you.’” Spencer winced, almost as if he knew where this story was going. Given his line of work, he was expecting far worse, but he at least knew that we didn’t get lunch the next morning.
“I went home a little bit later, I got bored, so I got a taxi home.”
You close your eyes and sigh deeply, “I’m in the back seat when I get a call. It was Juliet’s phone.”
“She wasn’t calling you, was she?”
“No, it was the police. Juliet didn’t have a good relationship with her parents, so I was her emergency contact.” You had to plan the funeral, invite her parents, look them in the eye and lie to them that Juliet wanted to make amends with them. The horrified guilt on their faces almost made it worth it, “The car she was in got t-boned when the guy ran a red light. He wasn’t as sober as we thought he was.”
“She didn’t make it.” Spencer guessed for you.
“No. She was dead before they got her out of the ambulance.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. If Juliet hadn’t…” You still couldn’t bring yourself to actually say it, “I wouldn’t have moved home, I wouldn’t have gotten back with Kyle, and I wouldn’t have Jamie. I don’t wanna tell you that something good will come out of this, because that’s a horrible thing to hear, but looking for an opportunity to find something good can’t hurt.”
“I can’t just look for something new when all i can think about is how I should have been able to help!”
“You really think I didn’t blame myself for what happened to Juliet? That every night for years after I thought I could have done something differently, and sure, I could have, but it’s not like I knew what was going to happen, and I couldn’t keep blaming myself.”
“It’s not the same, you don’t get it.” His fingers ghosted over old scars on his forearms, scars you didn’t want to think about where they came from.
“I do, Spencer. Emily was my friend too. And because she was my friend, I know she would never let you blame yourself for it. She knows you can’t save them all. All we can do is save ourselves,” you took his hand in yours, he still tensed up, “‘cuz that’s all the people we lose want us to do.”
He turned his head up from the floor and met your eyes. Once you gazed into those deep hazel irises, the tension in his hand melted away. His shoulders slumped, and he let out a deep breath, squeezing your hand like a lifeline, “Thank you.”
“Of course, Spence.”
“I’m sorry for snapping.”
“You apologize too much.” You had nearly forgotten exactly what he said to you that night in the hotel bar in Vegas all those years ago, but clearly, he hadn’t, he couldn’t, and he didn’t, because after a few moments of staring into your eyes and slowly drifting towards you in peaceful silence, he closed the gap between you both and kissed you.
Spencer Reid was kissing you.
This was happening.
Nearly two decades of being friends--
Years of being totally, ridiculously, and most importantly, cluelessly in love with each other, Spencer Reid was kissing you. You were almost so overjoyed at that moment as you started to kiss him back that you nearly forgot that your friend was dead and you were supposed to be comforting him. This wasn’t comfort, this was what Kyle did to you all those years ago.
You broke the kiss before he did something he’d regret, “Spence…”
“Oh my god,” he removed his hands from your face and shifted his entire body away from you, “I’m so sorry.” 
“No, don’t-”
“Oh my god, I’m an idiot!” He ran his fingers through his hair, pulling at the strands as his hands landed at the back of his neck, forcing his head to stare in his lap.
“No you’re not! Hey. Genius. Look at me.” He didn’t. “You’re not. You’re just in a bad place, I get it.”
“No you don’t. This time, you don’t.”
“What do you m—”
“Look, I don’t wanna kick you out but I really think you should leave.”
“Oh… yeah… sure… okay.” You slowly rose from the couch on weak knees. Whether it was from adrenaline or anxiety, you couldn’t tell.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be! Just… please, take care of yourself?” You glance around the room for your belongings, “Shower, eat something, get some rest, please. And call me if you need anything--”
“Y/N, please, just go.”
You felt tears sting your eyes as you reached for the doorknob. You turned your head just enough to look over your shoulder to say, “Goodnight, pretty boy,” before you left. You closed the door behind you and leaned against it, breathing heavily. 
           (Spencer’s POV)
Why was I kicking her out?
Why was I telling her to leave?
Why was I pushing her away?
Why did I kiss her?
Why did she push me away?
Why did she call me “pretty boy?” She never--
The pieces fell into place as they often do, all at once with the force of a car slamming into a pole at fifty miles per hour. 
“Goodnight, Pretty Boy.”
“Goodnight, Princess.”
She remembered that night.
She remembered that night when I drove her home and put her to bed and--
And I told her I had a crush on her in high school.
And I almost said I loved her.
And I almost kissed her then.
God, I wish I had. Any time would have been better than now.
          (Reader POV)
You didn’t know you could miss someone so much while they were behind just one door. You could’ve turned around right then and knocked and waited for him to be ready to talk about what just happened. About him kissing you. About you kissing back. About you stopping him. About that drunken night when you let it slip how pretty you thought he was.
You should’ve just waited.
But you couldn’t stand to be that close to him while he wanted to be as far away from you as possible.
So you ran.
You practically sprinted down the stairs and out of his building as quickly as you could, getting in your car and pulling out of the parking lot and getting the fuck away before you hurt anyone else, including yourself.
          (Spencer POV)
I couldn’t just let her walk out like that.
I had to say something.
I had to go after her.
I had to get her back.
I needed her.
But when I opened the door, it was like she had never been there. 
I leaned on my door frame staring at the staircase down the hall, wishing I had the energy to run after her, to catch her before she reached her car, to stop her from driving away, to tell her I was sorry, to beg her to please, please, come back upstairs and talk to me, but my feet were fixed to the floor and my legs were weak. I just closed my door with my back and slid down to the floor, unable to bring myself to cry anymore. I sat there for god knows how long until I found the energy to crawl over to the coffee table where I had left my phone, picked it up, and dialed a number.
          (Reader POV)
You jumped slightly at the sound of your phone ringing, you shuffled through your bag in the passenger seat, desperately trying to find it before the light turned green. Some foolish part of your mind told you it was Spencer, you wished it was Spencer, you wanted nothing more than to turn your car around and talk it all out with him, tell him you were sorry, that you loved him, that you needed him, but your heart sank when you looked at the screen and saw the number.
It was a just fucking spam call.
You threw your phone back in your seat and beat your fists against the steering wheel, groaning and wishing the fucking light would just turn green already. When it finally did, you slammed on the gas a bit too quickly, sending the car jolting forward. You barely stopped the entire rest of the ride home, the universe must have sensed your impatience. As you finally pulled into your driveway, your skull felt as though it was packed with cotton, your tear tracks drying on your cheeks.
You raced up the steps to your door, fussing with the keys and trying to unlock the door as quickly and quietly as possible. You inevitably made noise as you entered, prompting a light to turn on in the living room. Your mom rose from the couch she had been sleeping on, her face dropping from annoyed to concerned.
“Toots, you’re home already? I thought you wouldn’t be back until morning.”
You had thought that you were fresh out of tears, but apparently, you still had more to spare, seeing as you broke the second the words left her mouth.
“Oh my, what happened?” She raced towards you, wrapping you in a hug, “Is Spencer okay? Did something happen?”
As confused and sad as you were, you couldn’t stop the smile that had suddenly appeared on your face, “He kissed me.”
“He what?” She broke the hug, holding your face in her hands and wiping tears off of your cheeks, “Then honey, why on Earth are you here?”
          (Spencer POV)
“You kicked her out? Why?”
“Why do you think I called you, Jennifer? What do I do? How do I fix this?”
“Well, what exactly happened?”
“I freaked out, she came over, we talked, I,” I took a deep breath and braced myself for her reaction, “I kissed her—”
She almost choked on her coffee, “And you didn’t lead with that? Don’t you think that’s a little important?” 
“I was trying to avoid reliving it for as long as possible.”
“You’ve wanted this since high school, why wouldn’t you want to relive it?”
“She pulled away.” There was no anger or sadness behind my words. I don’t sound hurt as I recount the scene, “She took my hand, I kissed her, she stopped me.”
JJ’s hand brushed over my shoulder and I flinched away slightly.
“I apologized immediately, she wasn't mad or anything, I just…” I trailed off, unable to admit that I just couldn’t look at her anymore. I never thought I’d get tired of seeing her face, but I had needed her to leave. When she pulled away, all I could think about was the sound of Alexa Lisbon sneering at me as Kyle and his goons tied me to that goal post.
“She wanted to help me, and I know she did, but…”
“She couldn’t.” JJ finished my sentence.
I shook my head, “Not this time.”
“But now you want her to come back?”
“And I don’t know how to tell her that because I fucked up.”
“What did she say after you told her to leave? Did she just go?”
          (Reader POV)
“I told him not to feel bad and to take care of himself.” You hadn’t had time to tell him how much you wanted to kiss him but neither one of you was in the right state of mind for that. 
“Right, yeah, and did he say anything else?”
You winced at the memory of how his voice sounded. “He kept telling me to leave, so I just went for the door and said--”
          (Spencer POV)
“‘Goodnight, pretty boy,’” I grumbled, “That was the last thing she said.”
“Okay?”
“She never calls me Pretty Boy.” I told her the whole story. When I was done, her eyebrows were drawn together and lips were pressed together in a thin, worried line uttering, “Spence…”
“What?”
She sighed, saying nothing and smirking slightly to herself, but saying nothing.
“Jennifer.”
“She loves you, genius.”
“Then why’d she leave?”
“Because you told her to. And…” she hesitated, almost scared to say anything else. I was scared to hear it. JJ took my coffee away and dumped it down the sink, a silent indicator that I had enough and needed to go to bed.
She turned back to me and leaned over the table again, making sure I'd look her in the eyes, “She’d do anything for you.”
I just stared down on my hands on the table, unable to say another word, unable to defend myself, unable to fight anymore.
Because I knew she was right.
Taglist~~~
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canary3d-obsessed · 4 years
Text
Restless Rewatch: The Untamed - Episode 02
Warning: Spoilers for all 50 episodes!
(Masterpost ) (Previous Episode) (Next Episode)
Donkey Riding
way ho and away we go, donkey riding donkey riding way ho and away we go, riding on a donkey
Wei Wuxian and Apple are doing their best for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. 
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Xiao Zhan had trouble riding the donkey sitting side-saddle, so the Department of Questionable Practical Effects made him a fake leg to wear while riding regular style. 
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Can you spot it? It’s very hard to spot. It is very convincing.
Simple Pleasures
Wei Wuxian takes his time wandering up the nearest mountain, and half of the cultivators in the land also wander up this mountain because...Night Hunting! The cultivators are hot and thirsty from walking because they forgot that they all know how to fly. 
Wei Wuxian relaxes by a well and listens to people stanning him. 
Also
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I’m going to say it: Wei Wuxian never met a drinking vessel he couldn’t blow.
Everything is Beautiful at the Ballet
The actress who plays A-Yan is named Zhang Linran. She probably has studied dance since she was 4 and now she gets her big break which turns out to be feeding an apple to a donkey. So let’s pause for a second to look at how beautifully she moves.  
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Reunions are Awkward, Part 1
Wei Wuxian meets up with one of his family members and it goes super well. 
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I...like Jin Ling? He’s much less of a douchebag than his dad, his uncles Jin, Jiang, and Mo (the three stooges), and every damn one of his Jin cousins. He’s genuinely brave (his Dad’s primary good quality) and his hair is on fleek. He’s still a whiny diaper baby, but I like him. 
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(much more after the cut!)
Then Jiang Cheng shows up, looking fine as hell and radiating peak arrogant-prick energy.
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When he discovers that ‘Mo Xuanyu” stuck a piece of paper to Jin Ling, he tells the child to literally murder him. Excellent uncleing! A+++++ would recommend.  
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“In fact, literally murder anyone who uses Yiling Laozu’s tools, like talismans, lure flags, or spirit compasses - basically murder everyone in the Lan Clan plus those other fanboys we saw coming up the hill. Then get out there and make some friends, goddamn it!”
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These nets full of cultivators on this daytime night hunt are the only time we ever see anything in a net during a night hunt.  In fact dudes constantly go night hunting and the only prey we ever see is rock lady, murder turtle, and a couple of rag mops in the lake. 
You Are Not Qualified to Speak to Me
Also radiating arrogant-prick energy on this occasion is Lan Wangji. He has been using pettiness as a weapon since long before he met this Jiang Cheng turkey, and he *brings it* when Jiang Cheng tries to have a conversation with him.
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Letting your eyes wander everywhere except to his punchable face while you ignore his passive-aggressive questions? Quality work. 
Dropping a silence spell on his child and then letting your own child explain it to him? Golden. 
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Lan Wangji is never ever going to forgive Jiang Cheng for what he did on cliff day, and his silence here is as pointed as an ice pick. I suspect the last words Lan Wangji actually spoke to him were “Jiang Wanyin, stop it,” sixteen years ago. 
Jiang Cheng is actually the bigger person in this particular interaction, visibly mastering his temper and telling Jin Ling to take his medicine. 
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Reflecting
Wei Wuxian hangs out by a beautiful river and hallucinates for a while. River Jiang Yanli is nurturing and River Jiang Cheng is pissed off, so there are no surprises there.  River Jiang Cheng thinks that Wei Wuxian is a promise-breaking douchebag. He’s not exactly wrong. 
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Courtesy of convenient gossiping cultivators, Wei Wuxian discovers that the 16 year old arrogant kid from the Jin clan who his brother from the Jiang clan has custody of is actually and quite obviously Jin Rulan.
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Well fuck I guess now I care about something, that’s inconvenient. 
Needing to help parent the child of the sister who parented him is what draws Wei Wuxian fully into his new life. 
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As soon as he has this realization, Apple comes back from roaming around, and never gives him any trouble after this for the rest of the story. Which...probably doesn’t mean anything. 
Wen Gravesite
Does Wen Ning hang out here because it’s where he and his (dead) people came from? Oh great, now I am sad. 
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Judging by all the leaves on this grave thingy I’m going to say that this grave tender dude is, ah, not very good at his job. 
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Get him, Jingyi!
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I feel like maybe we all focus too much on how Lan Jingyi is so hilarious and sardonic and not enough on how he is a such a biscuit. 
Soul Grass
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As mentioned in the previous post, Chinese spiritual concepts don’t always translate well into English. Soul grass? Sure, why not. 
This is where Wei Wuxian’s Sherlock Holmes brain starts to work, although he still doesn’t remember really basic stuff about Dafan Mountain. Dying and changing bodies is rough on the old neurochemistry. This creates more opportunities for flashbacks, however, and if there’s one thing The Untamed deffo needs more of, it’s kissing flashbacks.
Temple Statue
Presumably grave-tender dude is also in charge of clearing away spiderwebs at the temple, because it’s not getting done. 
Jin Ling walks into the temple blaspheming at full volume. 
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Since this isn’t a Greek story, he isn’t immediately struck blind for this. Then when he wishes for the statue to come alive, it obligingly does.  Everything’s coming up Rulan!
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Wei Wuxian shows up to rescue all the kids by throwing talismans at the monster which does not tip anyone off to who he is. 
Baby Cultivator Babysitting
Lan Wangji chills out in the cultivators’ pavilion with Jiang Cheng and their mutual hate boners.
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Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian forgets all about his nephew and turns into cool professor guy, explaining the basics of soul-eating to the baby cultivators and gleefully encouraging their fear of Hanguang-Jun’s punishments. 
Because the Lan babies are good filial children they are super respectful and engaged with this random adult who is lecturing them. They also - like their own Hanguang-Jun at their age - see and admire Wei Wuxian’s intellect. It’s easy to forget how extremely smart Wei Wuxian is, because of how extremely dumb Wei Wuxian is.
Lan Jingyi suddenly figures out Wei Wuxian is not crazy. 
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Bis. Kit. 
Then Rock Lady shows up and Jin Ling sticks 6 arrows into her while Lans Jingyi and Sizhui stand around not bothering to draw their swords.
I see a lot of comments about the bad effects in the statue sequences but I think Rock Lady is all right. The figure animation is decent and the lighting is no worse on her than on everything else in the scene. Her hair is nice, for a rock person.
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Admittedly I just finished watching Guardian which has CGI monsters so bad they may have injured my retinas and possibly also my DNA, so the bar, for me, is pretty low. Rock lady clears it with room to spare.   
Note: Wei Wuxian’s flute playing does zippity towards controlling the statue. Not sure what his plan was here.
Wen Ning Kicks Ass
Now we get to meet Wen Ning, who appears to be a stone-cold badass. Later we will discover how hilariously inaccurate that assessment is. 
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While all versions of Wen Ning are delightful, this version of Wen Ning is also...strangely attractive? He’s got a Patti-Smith-Horses-Era vibe here, instead of his more usual lost-baby-dork vibe. And his dreamy “I have nails in my head” expression is intriguing. 
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I mean, he’s not a total snack like zombie Song Lan or pre-zombie Song Lan or blind Song Lan or post-zombie Song Lan, but this look is a good one for Wen Ning, is what I’m saying.
Reunions are Awkward, Part 2
Lan Wangji, who has 99% already recognized Wei Wuxian because of the haunted sword and the fierce jawline and beautiful neck and tiny tiny waist, is summoned by his flute playing as inexorably as the Ghost General was. 
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Jiang Cheng also recognizes Wei Wuxian and goes into full beatdown mode, thwarted (silently) by Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian attempts to preserve his incognito by sassing Jiang Cheng in as sibling-like a manner as possible. 
Hanguang-Jun’s Pro-Ghost Agenda Has Been Clear for Some Time
This Jiang/Lan fight is hilarious when you consider the implications.
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Macroexpression vs. Microexpression
Mo Xuanyu brought Wei Wuxian back using sacrifice summons, a dark ritual invented by Wei Wuxian that he, most likely, did NOT show to Lan Wangji back in the day. So it’s a pretty safe bet that Lan Wangji doesn’t know that Wei Wuxian was gifted a body, rather than stealing one.
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when your brother turns around, you must whip him you will never live it down unless you whip him
When Jiang Cheng lets loose with Zidian, it’s not just because he’s angry. He’s using purple power to force Wei Wuxian’s ghost out of the body he’s apparently possessed. And Lan Wangji instantly STOPS him from doing that.
Clan Leader Jiang: this person has been possessed, against their will, by an evil ghost
Future Chief Cultivator Lan: Counterpoint: I am banging the ghost
Flashback Time
Welcome to your 30-episode flashback!
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Once I used to join in Every boy and girl was my friend Now there's revolution, but they don't know What they're fighting
Let us close our eyes Outside their lives go on much faster Oh, we won't give in We'll keep living in the past
Road Tripping to Summer School
Gosh I’m looking forward to younger, kinder, more relatable Jiang Cheng.
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...prick. 
Incidentally, until now this episode didn’t know that Jiang Cheng has smile muscles, and neither did the person who glued his wig on for him.
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I Like Rabbits
Here we have our first rabbit in a large collection of rabbit iconography that appears in The Untamed. 
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Instead of sending everyone to the Wikipedia page for Tu'er Shen I’m going to take this opportunity to rec the short film Kiss of the Rabbit God by Andrew Thomas Huang (tw: blood, tw:body-mod cutting) which you can read about and watch over at  Nowness.com 
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Particularly if you are a queer person of Chinese heritage, check it out. 
So. What the fuck are these? Are they food? 
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Are they made from wax? Or corn starch? or pig intestines? 
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Wei Wuxian runs off to get laid drunk and Jiang Cheng grumps about it. Jiang Yanli reminds him that being free is a Jiang Clan Rule, so really Wei Wuxian is following the rules by not following the rules. Does that mean he’s not free? My head hurts. 
Jiang Cheng: yes but grump grump grump
Jiang Yanli: Nothing bad will ever happen because of A-Xian’s choices, trust me
Outro
Wei Wuxian faint tally: one  Caught by: the cold hard ground
Soundtrack: 1. Donkey Riding by Great Big Sea 2. Living in the Past by Jethro Tull 3. Whip It by Devo
Fic prompt:  Lan Wangji’s internal monologue while he sits in the pavilion with Jiang Cheng 
If you write a fic from this prompt and want to share, please post a link in comments!
Bonus: Wang Zuocheng, macro-expression king
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Episode 03 Restless Rewatch coming soon!
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myblueeyedbuggers · 3 years
Text
My Boys
Chapter 12
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11  Chapter 13 Chapter 14
Pairings: Steve Rogers X Reader (Best Friend) Bucky Barnes X Reader
Word Count: 2420
Warnings: Slight bit of swearing
Summary: After being abandoned by her parents in Brooklyn in 1929, y/n makes a living for herself by working for the Црни лабуд gang until she meets two boys in a back alley and her life slowing begins to change.
Eyup My loves! Soo How’s your week been? Good I hope, so a bit of news for you all, there’s only  two/three more chapters left till this book is finished and then we’ll be moving onto (Drum roll) The First Avenger! Woooo! I hope you’re all as excited as I am. Anyways without anymore rambling, I give you chapter 12, enjoy!
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So I can safely say that the rest of the week passed pretty quickly, with only a few ‘minor’ incidents, one of em being a massive food fight caused by yours truly and Steve getting himself stuck in the basement for 2 hours after seeing, and I quote ‘a possessed girl dressed as undead batman’.
I still haven’t told him that was me….oops
Apart from that it was pretty normal, cut to today where I’ve been blessed with the task of lookin’ after my best girl for Buck’s parents anniversary whilst they go into the city to celebrate, I mean it’s the least I could do for em. Plus, the last time the lads were trusted with lookin’ after Becca, Buck’s parents came home to the entire house covered in flour with Becca laughin’ at em cause they managed to lock themselves in a cupboard. We had to call the fire department to get em outta there.
Anyways, we kicked the boys outta the house so Becca and I could have a girls day in, now don’t get me wrong I absolutely adore this girl and I would practically do anything for her.
“Y/n can we play princesses please?! Mama got some dresses from our cousin we can wear!”
I can literally feel my soul burning right now. I honestly tried to say no, there’s nothing more I hate more that being forced into them things but one look into her bright little eyes made all my resistance die away and so I uttered the words that sealed my doom. “Of course, Becs only if we can have a tea party in em”. So here we are, me in a navy style party dress, lace covered my arms and the hem of the sweetheart neckline resting just on my collarbone,  the knee length satin skirt covered my legs.
Honestly, I wasn’t as bad I thought it were gonna be, I even let my hair outta the classic ponytail it’s always in so Becca could style it a tiny bit, to her credit she did a decent job. My h/c locks fell in small waves across my back, with the longer strands near my face tucked behind my ears and Becs even convinced me to pop on some of her mama’s makeup. Now I ain’t a fool, I know makeup’s pretty expensive and only let her pop on a shimmery light gold eyeshadow and some tinted lip balm, much to her disappointment I confiscated the mascara, I refused to let that death stick near my eyeballs.
Becca looked absolutely adorable, we’d managed to find her dance dress from last year and it suited her down to the ground. Baby pink lace covered her arms up to her wrist, the middle part had little gems dotted here and there with a pink satin ribbon separating the skirt from the top, from the looks of it the skirt was made outta some layered netting that poofed outwards when she span around. Don’t ask me how but I managed to wrap some ribbons in her braids and added a lil tiara on the top of her head and if you’d asked me, she looked like a real-life princess to me.
“So, your highness, what would one prefer to do? Would one like to have tea in the parlour or waltz in the ballroom?” my attempt at the British accent was apparently appalling, judging by the level of giggles coming outs Becca’s mouth. Eventually she calmed down enough to give me an answer “I think a waltz would be most fun lady y/n” she said in an equally bad accent. Slowly a smile spread across my face as I moved over to the record payer, I didn’t even pay attention to which one I put on before I turned back to Becca and offered her my hand, lowering myself into a bow that looked like a squid tryin’ to tap dance. Very elegant I know.  
You’d think after the past few weeks I’d been with the Barnes family, I’da got used to being tackled by the siblings, but alas I am surprised every-time, hence why I’m on the floor with a hyperactive 4 year old sat on top of me. Becca’s giggles filled the entire room, she quickly got off me and started jumping around to the sound of the jumpin’ jive and leaving me to slowly die on the floor, for all of 5 seconds before she yanked my arm outta my socket to get me dancing with her. I swear this girl isn’t even human, one second she’s sweet and delicate the next she’s bulldozing people to the ground and pullin’ em to the next life, I mean she’s 4 she shouldn’t be that strong!
Thank the lord she’s adorable. Quickly the music took over my mind, my feet moving along to the music, Becca was doin’ some twirls around me with the biggest smile on her face, I don’t know what made me do it but I grabbed her gently by the waist and spun us around in time to the music, her little arms reached into the air as we both laughed our heads off. Of course, me being me, I lost my balance and my butt suddenly met the sofa, with Becca landing next to me with a small yelp, it was quiet for all of 2 seconds before we burst out laughin’. Think it took us about 3 minutes before we calmed down, a comfortable silence fell between us, the music slowly faded to a stop as the record reached its end, and we stayed like this for a while before Becca broke the silence.
“Y/n, can you sing like mama? She don’t do it often cause it reminds her of my nana….” My eyes drifted over to Becs, her lil eyes dulled a little when she said it and now they were filled with a small glimmer of hope, and I really didn’t wanna be the reason for that light goin’ out. If I were being completely honest singin’ wasn’t something I ever wanted to do again, during my time with the Црни лабуд, singing was the only thing that made me feel like….well me I guess. It was the only sliver of light in so many years of darkness and once I was free from them I made myself a silent vow that I’d never do it again, that I was a new person. But one look in her little eyes was enough to make me break it. “I ain’t too bad, only know a couple of songs on the piano but I can try if you wanna”
Apparently Becca didn’t need to be told twice, in a flash of pink she was off to the other room, bellowing for me to follow her, I mean it ain’t like I gotta choice in the matter is it ? the sound of something hitting the floor in the room opposite me made me move even quicker (if that were even possible). Becca was stood in front of a oldish looking piano, a small bench was tuned over in front of her, and a white sheet was discarded on the floor next to her as she bounced up and down excitedly, I couldn’t help the smile on my face as I turned the bench over on it’s feet. Not even 2 seconds later Becca clambered up on it and looked at me with a bright smile, I swear she gets cuter every second like how does this happen ? I try it and I end up put away in a mental asylum.
“You got any requests princess ?” my legs carried me across the room and towards the seat, cracking my knuckles together and stretching out my fingers before turning to look at the younger lass, a look of concentration covered her face in response and it took her a few seconds to answer. “Dream a little dream of me ? think that’s what mama calls it” I swear I tried to stop the soft smile, but I really couldn’t help it this time. “sure sweetheart” and with that I hit the opening notes, the feeling of the keys under my fingertips were so familiar it was like no time had passed since I last played, I kept my voice soft and quiet as I sang. I think I was halfway through my second verse when I felt Becca cuddle into my side, she ducked her head under my arm and put her head in my lap, a soft yawn left her mouth as her eyes started to close to the sound of the music. It was at the end of the song that I looked at her again, soft snores escaped her mouth and her hand was grasping gently at the top of my skirt, I felt my heart melt even more that I thought possible, completely unaware of the small audience I’d gathered until a small cough came from behind me.
Aw shit…..
Bucky’s POV
If you’d told me a year ago, that after spending a couple of hours at Coney island with my best mate I’d come home to what must be an angels voice singing my sister to sleep. I’da never of believed ya, think you coulda imagined our confusion when me and Steve heard piano coming from the dining room. Steve shot me a look of pure bewilderment, and I couldn’t blame the guy to be honest, “thought you’d said your mama gave up piano couple a years ago”. I’m guessing my face mirrored his, cause I ain’t the slightest clue either, mama stopped playin’ years ago so who the heck could it be? “yeah she did bud, swore she’d never set her hands on it again…..”. I’m completely and utterly baffled at this point, where’s Y/n when ya need her ? she’d figure this out.
We both took a step towards the closed door, eager to know what the hell was going on when something stopped me, the sweetest sound I’d ever heard in my life sang along with the melody, I coulda sworn it sounded like the lullaby mama sang to us when we were kids. I guess I spent too long listening cause Stevie boy pushed past me and walked in, the sounds were so much clearer and more vibrant it felt like I’d died and gone to heaven right then and there. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I realised just who was creating this beautiful sound, there she was, sat in front of the piano as her fingers danced gracefully across the keys. Her voice, oh god her voice sounded like that of an angel, the weak afternoon sun shone over her hair and made her look even more angelic than humanly possible. I barely even noticed Becca asleep in her lap before Y/n finished her song and the ever-living pain in my ass decided to reveal that we were there. I mean he coulda chosen any other way of revealing our presence but no he had to let out the tiniest little cough, coulda got her back for the eyebrow incident….
Y/n literally went stiff as a board before she turned to look at us, her cheeks were red as a rose and a sheepish smile covered her face, it was only a couple of seconds after that both Steve and I noticed what she was wearing, he burst out laughin at her but me, I for once in my life couldn’t say a damn thing. She looked absolutely breath taking, her hair fell down in soft waves and framed her face, the shade of blue in her dress brought out the small flecks of green in her e/c eyes and brought out her hourglass figure. Her lips were drawn into a natural pout and it was that second it dawned on me she asked me somethin’….shit.  
“whaaaa…….” Nice one Bucky.
Steve, the lil punk, could barely stop himself laughin’, at some point he’d moved to take Becca off Y/n and stood behind y/n with his fist in his mouth to smother his laughter. My best friend ladies and gentlemen. If looks could kill he’d be 10 feet under right now.
“Buck ? I was askin’ if you were okay ?” Y/n’s face showed a tiny bit of confusion and much to my horror amusement, “YeAh I’m okay….” And just at the moment puberty strikes in the form of a voice crack, as if this weren’t embarrassing enough. At this point Steve was barely keeping it together, he had actual tears coming outta his eyes and went bright red in the face tryin’ to stop himsen laughing, in front of me y/n furrowed her eyebrows and did look genuinely concerned for my mental state. She didn’t say anything for a few seconds, just looked at me before she lifted her hand to my forehead and held it here for a minute, thank god Steve chose to leave the room before this or I’da never heard the end of it.
“You sure you’re okay, feelin’ a bit warm and ya actin weirder than usual Buck” okay quick say something before this gets even more embarrassing, first thing that pops into ya head in 3,2,1…
“Yeah I’m sure, think I ate somethin’ funky down at the pier, makin’ me real gassy”……why am I like this? Normally I can charm any girl of their feet but with y/n, I’ma bumbling mess.  She didn’t say a damn word, she just raised her eyebrows whilst a small smirk covered her face, before she turned and left me to have a very small breakdown underneath the dining table.
Meaning I let out a noise that sounded like a bear stubbing it’s toe in the middle of winter.
I thought my luck couldn’t get any worse, but nooo old lady luck decided today I needed a second helping, cause the second I did that Y/n walked back into the room. Brilliant. I was too busy stumbling over my words to processes what she was doin’, before I knew it she’d walked back to me and stood on her tip toes….then planted a small kiss on my cheek.
“You’re cute when you’re flustered Barnes”
And just like that, she left me with my jaw on the ground and heart beatin’ outta my chest, cause I’m starting to think that she was right. I’m sure as hell coming down with something, and I’m pretty sure it ain’t a regular ol’ bug…..
SOOO, if you got this far hope you enjoyed it, as always any feed back or constructive criticism is welcome, thank so much for reading and hope you have a great day/night/week.
lots of love
Rose xxx
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I’ll Be Home for Christmas - Chapter 6
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Pairing: Bucky x Reader
Fic Summary:  When (y/n) is invited home for Christmas, Bucky volunteers to play the role of “dutiful boyfriend” and to fend off questions from annoying relatives, especially her parents. All the while both of them harbor secret feelings for one another.
Chapter Summary: The family Christmas party
Chapter Word Count: 2500~
Previous Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5
Masterlist
For the party, you’d chosen a nice green velvet dress with black wool leggings and black heeled booties.  Bucky had chosen a black cashmere sweater with dark jeans. He’d chosen to tie his hair back in a man bun, but hadn’t shaved, giving him a rugged but sophisticated look. And you were once again reminded how truly handsome he was.
              “You sure clean up nice, Sargent Barnes.”
              “You do as well. Shall we?”
              “If we must.” You exited the room and saw your aunt Marie, uncle Michael, and cousin Heather had arrived with her husband Jared.
              “Ohhh boy.” You said under your breath.
              “What’s up?”
              “My cousin Heather. She was always a snob growing up and it only got worse. Her husband works for some high-power executive. Big money.”
              “Ahh, well, I think I saw your mom whipping up a batch of rum punch.” Bucky offered
              “Thank god for small miracles.” You said, descending the stairs.
“Merry Christmas!” You exchanged warm hugs and kisses and stepped back. “This is my boyfriend, Bucky. You might recognize him maybe?” you said. You didn’t want to directly say he was an avenger and brag, but maybe just wanting to rub it…just a little.
              “Oh yes! You’re that man who works with Captain America!” Marie said, making you and Bucky laugh.
              “That would be me. Bucky Barnes, ma’am. Nice to meet you.” He said offering a handshake but she pulled him in for a warm hug.
              “If you’re dating (y/n), you’re family.” She said, then introduced your uncle Mike who gratefully shook Bucky’s hand and thanked him for all he’d done, making Bucky truly smile. Then Heather stepped forward, not bothering to introduce her husband but going right to the point.
              “So, you and (y/n) are dating? I’d LOVE to hear the story.” She said, looking at you. Bucky stepped forward, almost shielding you.
              “We met at work. (y/n) works for Stark Industries. I’m sure you’ve heard of Tony Stark.” He said, his voice getting a littler firmer. Something in you felt a little warmer and brighter at Bucky standing up for you like this. Heather seemed to back down, for now.
              “Well, I’m so happy for you,” she practically hissed. After a moment of awkward silence, her husband coughed and introduced himself, also shaking Bucky’s hand and thanking him for the work he’s done. Bucky smirked “A duty and an honor sir.” He said, seeming to ignore the daggers Heather was glaring. The two of them went more into the house, leaving you and Bucky alone.
              “How strong is that rum punch, doll?”
              “Probably not strong enough for you, Buck.” You joked.
              More and more guests arrived; family, friends, some neighbors from the area whom your parents had made friends with. Soon the house was teaming with voices, laughter, and music. But the best moment was when your uncle Kevin arrived with his wife Jane and your 7-year old cousin, Tyler. Instantly, the young boy was on Bucky, his eyes widening at the metal arm and marvelling even more at having a real-life superhero here. He proceeded to ask Bucky no less than 1000 questions about not only himself, but the rest of the Avengers.
              “Is Cap’s shield really unbreakable?”
              “Almost. It took a giant from space to break it.”
              “Does Spiderman really stick to walls?”
              “The walls, the ceiling, even the hulk’s arm.”
              “Can you lift Thor’s hammer?” This made Bucky pause. And that haunted look came back to his eyes for a moment before he smiled.
              “You know, I’ve never tried. But I’ll let you know.” Bucky said. While Bucky was interviewed extensively, you told the story of how you met to the few guests who’d asked. All the while, Heather listened, her eyes narrowed.
              “So, you two have been dating for a year and a half, but no ring?” She spoke up finally. “Jared and I were engaged after only 9 months.” She bragged. But the smile never left your face.
              “We’ve discussed it,” you lied smoothly. “But we’re waiting just a little longer because of Bucky’s hectic work life.”
              “I imagine he can’t be home much.” Heather said. You clenched your jaw, knowing what she was trying to say, but you weren’t going to let her.
              “I knew when we got together what I was committing to,” your eyes went to Bucky, still involved in a q&a session. “But it’s worth it. He makes me so happy and even if he’s gone sometimes, he always comes home to me.” You said, speaking truly and smiling. Heather was about to say something before your mom announced the start of dinner.
              Your mom had truly gone all out, preparing an immaculate buffet style spread with lasagna, baked mac n cheese, fried chicken, roasted potatoes, a vegetable medley with cheese sauce, a mushroom risotto for vegetarian option, and not to mention countless different appetizers. And for dessert, every type of cookie, cake, candy, all frosted with red and green; more than enough sugar to send everyone into a coma. Bucky’s eyes raked over the tables (your father had gotten out the extra folding table from the garage so there was enough room for all of the food) and said to you,
              “Make sure to text Steve and tell him I’m going top need an extra hour at the gym for…at least a month.” He said, making you giggle.
              You chose to sit and eat with Bucky on the love seat in the living room, the seats usually occupied by Heather and Jared.
              “So, Bucky,” Heather started and you internally rolled your eyes. “You and Captain America seem rather close…” she said, knowing exactly what she was implying.
              “Is that a problem?” Bucky asked in return.
              “Not at all, I just didn’t know how close you two were compared to you and (y/n).” You clenched your jaw, ready to tell her to fuck off but before you could, Bucky stepped in.
              “Steve and I were together, a long time ago. Another lifetime. And we were together briefly in this lifetime, but we had a long talk and now Steve is very happy with his boyfriend. And he’s my best friend.” You were a little in shock. Normally Bucky didn’t like talking about his past relationship with Steve. “Besides,” he continued, taking your hand. “I’m very happy with my own partner.” He kissed the back of your hand, leading to a small ‘aww’ from the rest of the guests.
              After supper and a bit more mingling, your mom called everyone into the living room for the yankee swap. She explained the rules briefly, then started around the circle of people.
“Bucky and I submitted a gift as a couple, so we’re going to choose as a couple.” You explained when she got to you.
              “Oh okay,” your mom said, offering you the Santa hat full of numbers. You chose a paper, and were the last number; a great pick cause you had your choice of all the presents.
              The yankee swap went smoothly. Your dad ending up with a battleship type game but with shot glasses instead of miniature ships, and your mom with a lovely mug. Tyler was the one who ended up with Bucky’s and Cap’s action figures. You pulled your uncle aside and explained if he could convince him to send the action figure to “Santa” for a few days, you could promise a signature from Captain America, which he instantly agreed.
              Then finally, it was yours and Bucky’s turn. A square box wrapped in powder blue paper with snowflakes and cartoons of snowmen skiing all over. You found it to be a bit heavy and the clinking inside reminded you of the sound of your mom’s pyrex. You sat back down on the sofa with Bucky as you both unwrapped it. And when you saw it was, you had to laugh, and laugh, and laugh some more. Both you AND Bucky were in hysterics. While the rest of your family just stared in confusion. It was a fondue set. A truly lovely one, to be honest.
              “Well, you see, when Bucky and Steve were in the army back in the 40s, Steve thought fondue was code for,” you glanced at your younger cousin. “…dating.” You said, hoping people would get the message. “So, it’s always just been an inside joke among the team.” You explained. You looked at Bucky and both of you replied
              “We’re keeping it.”  The number one spot had actually been your younger cousin, and there was a better chance of Loki giving up the tesseract than him giving up those action figures. So the small gathering dispersed.  Your aunt came over to you and Bucky.
              “I’m glad you two like it.”
              “It’s perfect, not even just for the joke but it’s a lovely set. It’ll be a hit at movie night at the compound!” you said.
              “Look at you, all grown up and dating a superhero. You seem so happy.” Bucky’s metal hand intertwined with yours.
              “We are.” He said. Your aunt gave you a quick kiss on the cheek before heading off to refill her wine glass.
              “Let me go get my phone! We can send a picture to the group chat.” You said, heading to the kitchen.  But just as you were at the door frame, you heard your cousin Heather talking.
              “You don’t think he’s really dating her, do you?” she said and you heard your one of the neighbor’s voice in response.
              “They are really happy…” But your cousin shot in
              “No way. She’s paying him. I can believe she works at Stark Industries. She was always too smart. But dating an avenger? No way. She has the social grace of a wet mop. And as far as looks go…well…let’s just say she got her father’s genes there. He’s probably just here out of pity. She was always so pitiful, could cry at the drop of a hat…” you couldn’t stand to listen anymore, rushing up the stairs to your room, not stopping to listen to your mom or anyone else. Instead, you sunk onto your bed, crying.  A few moments later, you heard the door open and close; you turned to see Bucky standing there and somehow that only made you cry harder.  He sat down next to you, wrapping one arm around you.
              One your sobs finally started to subside, Bucky asked “What happened? Your dad?” but you shook your head.
“My fucking god damn cunt of a cousin, Heather. That’s what happened She said…” you sniffed; you didn’t want to talk about this with Bucky. Well, you did. But realistically, you couldn’t
              “Come on, doll. You can tell me.” Bucky promised, taking your hand, squeezing softly.
              “She said…” you sat down on the bed. “She said you were only here with me cause I paid you. Or because of pity.” Both of you were quiet.
              “Doll, that’s not true. And you know it.”
              “But it is!” you sobbed.  “Don’t tell me it’s not! Why are you here? We’re not dating, you don’t like me…” you almost wanted to say ‘I don’t like you.’ But you couldn’t. So instead, you said “You don’t need to be here. What other reason would you but pity?” you said, sobbing into your hands more. The bed shifted as Bucky sat next to you.
              “But I do love you, doll.” You looked at Bucky, did…did he say? “You’re one of my best friends I have.” Oh. Bucky continued on as you felt your heart truly start to crumble.
“I mean, I love Steve, but Steve didn’t teach me all about the 21st century, Steve didn’t bring me up to Maine, bring to me a Christmas carnival with the most beautiful ice sculpture garden, and let me kick his ass 25 times in a row at monopoly.” You both chuckled. “I love you, (y/n). And I may not be your boyfriend, but I’m always going to have your back.” Bucky brought you fully in for a tight hug.
Inside, everything still hurt. But, you realized, no matter what, Bucky was there for you. He’d been there for you when you needed help moving into an apartment, when work became too much, and he was there when you needed someone to help you survive your family. And maybe…maybe that was enough. You pulled away from the hug to look at him as he wiped your tears away.
“Thank you, Bucky. Thank you so much for being there.”
“Of course, doll. I’ll always be there for you.” Bucky held you a little longer then tapped your shoulder. You looked back up at him and he had a smile that could only be described as looking like The Grinch when he got an idea. A wonderful, awful idea. “You want to make that bitch eat her words?” He asked.
“More than you could ever know.”
              “C’mon.” He took your hand, making sure the tears were wiped from your face. And brought you back downstairs where people were chatting and milling about.
              “Are you alright?” your mom asked.
              “I’m fine, where’s Heather?” you asked.
              “Oh, in the living room I think.” She replied and Bucky pulled you over without another word.
The two of you stopped in the doorway and there you two stood under the mistletoe. Bucky coughed, not really trying to get the attention of the whole room, but at least grabbing your cousin’s, and just as you were connecting where this was going, Bucky took your face in his hands and kissed you; deeply and passionately. In the kind of way you think he would if he came home from WWII alive. The way that made every nerve of yours stand on end. The kind that made you realize, even if Bucky would never love you the way you did him, you could go to your grave tomorrow a happy woman that he had kissed you like this.          
              Your hands tangled in his hair while his moved down around your waist. His tongue ran against your lips and you were about to let him, but your father coughed and you looked to see that you definitely had EVERYONE’S attention. Your face heated up but not in shame, rather in a very shy way.  But what brought a smile to your face was looking at your cousin and practically seeing the flames on the side of her face.
              “Well, that concludes tonight’s entertainment portion.” Your father joked and everyone laughed, then resumed as normal.
              The party went on for an hour or so longer until group by group the guests filed out. And you made sure to give a VERY warm goodbye to Heather, before shutting the door behind her.
“Seriously Bucky, you could give Loki a run for his money with your trickster ways.” You told him, before the two of you headed upstairs for bed.
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amor-immortalem · 3 years
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My Adoring Fan Chapter 6
Chapter 5
Before he knew it, a week had passed. It was the start of a new school term. As Aurelius rolled out of bed, he shut off the alarm so it wouldn’t go off at its normal time. He didn’t sleep well the night before, not because he was excited to return to his studies but more like he was debating if he should really betray his parents’ trust when it came to meeting with this girl who’d sent him the letter. If he was being honest, the half demon was hoping that the letter was forged.
Ever since he’d met her that night, Aurelius often found his thoughts wandering back to her. He wasn’t lying when he told his sister that he thought she was pretty. No one had ever had this effect on the sixteen-year-old before so why was she so different?
“I don’t have time to think on this any longer.” He sighed. “Maybe some tea will take my mind off things?” The half-demon makes his way out to the kitchen and is only slightly surprised to see his mother in the kitchen already making herself some tea. He doesn’t know why, but he still figured she’d be asleep at four a.m. like a normal person.
“Aurelius, good morning. Why’re you up so early?” Arella asks as she sets the kettle on the stove. “You should go back to sleep for a bit.”
“No, I’m good, Mum. I can’t really sleep all that well anyway. Can I have some tea?”
“Sure. Do you want to talk about it?”
“Yeah, I guess that couldn’t hurt...” He lays his arms on the counter as he’s leaning against it, chin resting on top of his arms. “Or maybe this is something I should talk to Dad about? I don’t know...”
“Oh, I didn’t realize it was one of those things...”
“No, no, no,” He waves his hands about as a blush covers his cheeks, reaching down to his neck and up to his ears, “It’s not about that kind of thing. More like... relationship advice? Girls in general? I don’t know.” Arella only laughed softly as her son let out a groan. “Please don’t laugh, Mum.”
“I’m sorry, Sweetheart.” Arella sighed as she pulled the kettle off the stove and got two cups down for them, “I wasn’t laughing at you, more like the misunderstanding. If you feel more comfortable talking to Dad about this then that’s fine, but you know you can talk to me about relationships or girls too as well, right? I’ve had more than my fair share of relationships with women as well so I think I can provide some helpful insight too.”
“Yeah... It’s about that girl I met the other day. You know, the one who I can’t be sure sent me that letter?”
“Yes. She hasn’t tried to contact you again, has she?”
“No, but it’s just.... I can’t stop thinking about that little bit of time we interacted. I’ve never really given much thought to anyone I’ve ever met before but she still sticks in my mind for some reason. Is there something wrong with me?”
“No, not at all. It’s perfectly normal to have someone on your mind at this age.”
“So... there was something wrong with me before then?”
“No, that’s not true either. You’re perfectly normal, Son. Some people just aren’t interested in things like that and that’s okay too. What worries me is who this girl is. You don’t know all that much about her and the fact that she may have sent you that letter doesn’t bode very well. It makes me worried for you.”
“If we have classes together at RAD, I’ll have to talk to her since she’ll likely take a seat next to me at some point and I have a reputation to uphold- well more like I don’t want to be rude. And I kind of want to talk to her too. If she was a fan, she pretended not to be and it makes me wonder if she was being considerate since I nearly trampled her trying to get away from ‘Zalea. She was... normal. I’ve never gotten that from someone outside of our family.”
“Well,” Arella slid the teacup toward Aurelius. “I can’t stop you from talking to this girl. You seem rather dead set on it too. But please, for the love of your grandfather, don’t go off with her alone.
“’for the love of my grandfather,’ why do you guys always say that? It’s not just you and dad but my uncles too. What’s with that? I’ve always thought it was a weird saying. And Max says something similar. Are they related?”
“Yeah, they are. You see, your Father and Uncles- save for Uncle Satan- were once angels a long, long time ago. All angels are “created” by God so technically he would be considered your grandfather as everyone in our family still refers to him as ‘Father’.”
Aurelius nods, “Oh, Alright. I always just thought Dad had always been a demon... but wait don’t you have distant heritage from the Celestial Realm too? That’s where you and I get our magic from, right?”
“It’s… messy. Technically, the angel I’m descended from was reincarnated into a human and Angels aren’t actually related by blood to begin with in the way you’re related to your siblings so really, it was anything goes when it came to me- genetically speaking that is.” Arella was skirting around her connection to Lilith as much as she could as they hadn’t yet told any of the kids in the family about this kind of thing. “I really wouldn’t think too hard on it if I were you. It’ll give you a headache.” The boy only nodded as he sipped on his tea. He had never seen his mother trying so hard to skirt around something she didn’t want him to know. “Anywho, are you hungry? I can start on breakfast.
“Yeah, thanks. I can help if you want.”
“Thank you, that sounds lovely.”
“Also... Can I have that letter back...”
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Getting up and dressed for school was difficult for Persephone. Ever since she’d overheard her dormmates snickering about the letter they’d forged and sent to Aurelius, she’d been dreading the idea of seeing him at school. She wanted to get to know him but now he was probably going to avoid her at all costs. As she looked herself over in the mirror, she hoped he hadn’t put two and two together yet or that the impression she made on him that day would be enough to tip him off that something was wrong.
Instead of having breakfast with her dormmates, the succubus just headed out for school. She was too nervous to actually keep anything down. She kept looking around, Persephone was hoping to spot the object of her affections. And then she saw them, the three girls that he lived with at the House of Lamentation: his sister, cousin, and a sorcerer-in-training that had come to stay with them. But Aurelius was nowhere to be seen.
Persephone moved to trail just behind them, just far enough away to not look like she was eavesdropping but close enough to be able to hear their conversation.
“A new term, a new start!” Zulima smiles as she stretches. “It sucks that I’m grounded. What I wouldn’t kill to go out shopping after school for skin care products. There’s a new line I’ve been interested in trying that comes out today.”
“Hey, that’s all on you, Missy!” Azalea grumbled. “And what’s worse ya got my brother booted out of the dorm and grounded too for doin’ your dirty work.”
Zulima squawked at that as she threw her arms around her cousin. “That wasn’t my intention though! I said I was sowwy.”
“Hey, hey, hey none of that cutesy shit, got it? Cut it out.”
Zulima pouted at that as Max laughed softly.
“Come on, Zulima, you have to admit that you were in the wrong even though it all panned out in the end.” The human smiles.
“MAX!”
“Huh? Oh shit- Sorry, Sunshine, it slipped.”
“Wait... Wait did my plan actually work?” The silver-haired girl’s eyes lit up. “It did, didn’t it?! Stars, I have to tell Daddy.” The sixteen-year-old dashed off.
“Zulima stop! Don’t- aaaaand she’s gone...” The half-demon only sighs,” Damn, what are we gonna do with her...? You know we’ve just unleashed a monster, right? She’s gonna tell everyone.”
“Yeah, I mean we could just go public with it ourselves. That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”
“Well, no, under normal circumstances it wouldn’t, but I still have enemies at school. Sure, it's no secret that you’re important ta me but if our classmates knew we were datin’, they’d go after you ta get ta me. I know you’ve been workin’ on improvin’ your magic and Solomon even gave ya that charm that’ll mostly protect ya from most attacks from demons but it still makes me nervous since I take advanced courses while the rest of y’all take regular classes and I can’t be with ya ‘cept for homeroom and lunch. I mean my family can know, that’s all well ‘n good. They all like ya anyway but the reason I didn’t want Zulima knowin’ is that when it comes to secrets, she’s got the loosest set of lips this side of the human world...”
“Aww thanks for being worried about me,” She slung an arm around Azalea as they walked.
The white and black-haired girl stiffened slightly. Even after a year, she still wasn’t really used to someone outside of the family showing her any kind of public displays of affection, platonic or otherwise.
“Sorry, are you uncomfortable?”
“N-no. I like it. Don’t stop. Anyway, love, we should go. Aurelius is waitin’ for us.” The half-demon’s voice was quiet as they kept going.
Watching from a safe distance, Persephone laughed softly. Azalea had a reputation for being an unapproachable tough girl so to see her being so soft with a human was interesting. She wondered if she could manage to get close to his older sister and her girlfriend, she might be able to get close to Aurelius. Was it wrong to use Azalea for her own purposes? Yes, and Persephone knew that but if the letter was still a factor, she had to prove that she didn't mean him any harm.
Hurrying to school, she thought of a way to introduce herself to the girls ahead of her. What she wasn’t expecting was to bump into Azalea and fall on her face.
“Hey, watch where yer goin’!” Azalea growled as she puffed out her chest, that tough girl front making its first appearance for the day. “Ya almost knocked me over.”
“Azalea, be nice. Are you okay, Miss?”
“Sorry, I thought I had more room. I didn’t mean to bump into you and yeah, I’m alright. Thanks for asking.”
“Whatever, just make sure it don’t happen again, got it?” Azalea's blue to gold gradient eyes studied her appearance. “You go to RAD? I ain’t never seen ya around before. You new here?”
“Ah, yes. I just transferred here. Today’s my first day.” Persephone smiled as she held out her hand.
Max reached out to shake her hand and Azalea thought about stopping her but that might not be a good idea. As she regarded Persephone, an eyebrow raised slowly, remembering what her brother told her about the girl he was unsure had sent that letter.
“What’s yer name, girly? I heard about a transfer student from my brother. That you?”
Persephone’s eyes widened. He talked about her? How does she answer? Does she tell the truth or does she lie? Ultimately, the succubus nodded deciding the truth was best.
“Stay away from my brother, got it? Yer gonna regret it if I find out about ya harassin’ him. He already gets enough of that and you don’t need to addin’ to that. He’s already thinkin’ about quittin’ the one thing he loves ‘cuz of crazy fans like you.”
Max could sense that Azalea was getting more and more worked up. Before the situation could get out of hand, she grabbed her girlfriend’s hand and drug her off so she didn’t do something she’d regret later.
Well that option was out. As they walked off, Azalea turned her head back toward Persephone with a warning glare. The former idol knew now she had to set things straight. She knew what it was like to have crazy fans too.
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Homeroom was the first class of the day, having been dropped off by his mother, Aurelius was able to get prime seating at the back of the class where the teacher could hardly see him and therefore wouldn’t call on him if they thought he wasn’t paying attention. He pulled out that letter, waiting for Persephone to show up. They were all in the same year and there was only one homeroom teacher for their year so every student in their year- advance courses included- had the same homeroom hour.
The teen watches the door with baited breath.
“I hope this is the right room.” She mumbled. When her eyes met his she looked away. They were the only two in the class room.
“Hey again.” He smiled, using his charm to his advantage. “Come here, I’d like to speak with you.” She was a little hesitant to begin with but ultimately, she decided to sit with him. “So...” Aurelius slides the letter over to her. “I want you to tell me the truth. Did you actually lie to me when we met last week? Did you really know who I was all along and still chose to lie to me?”
Persephone stared at the letter with horror. “Y-Yeah. I just didn’t want you to feel bad about knocking over a fan of yours...”
“Thought so, well thanks for thinking of my feelings. That was considerate of you. And by the look on your face, I take it you recognize what on the table.”
“I didn’t send this letter. It was forged by a dormmate of mine.” The former idol panicked about losing her one chance at getting closer to him.
“Mhm... Well, I’d believe it. And I think I know who sent it. Would you like to read it and tell me if anything in it is actually true?”
“Your sister told me you’re getting harassed.... I’m sorry you have to go through that.” she said as she nodded.
“You’ve already run in to ‘Zalea, huh? She didn’t say anything or threaten you, did she?”
“She told me to stay away from you or I’d regret it. Should I move before she gets here?”
“No don’t. I called you over here because I wanted you to sit with me. You’re going to end up with a few of my self-proclaimed ‘super fans’ nipping at your heels though. Just ignore them, alright? And if my sister tries to start anything, let me handle her.”
“Okay, also... this letter is really creepy but a couple things are true... I do have all of your issues of DevilStyle Teen and I am a big fan. But I want to get to know you. I know there’s more to a person than what you see in a magazine. Would that be alright?”
He’s surprised at this, but it was a welcome surprise. “Yeah sure. I’m kind of grounded at the moment, but we can hang out here in the morning and talk. The teacher unlocks it at 6 a.m. so meet me then. After I’m out of punishment, we can hang out outside of school too. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in getting to know you as well. Also, stop trying to charm me. It’s not going to work. Like my mother, charms don’t work on me.”
The succubus blushed as she sputtered apologies and a deep embarrassed blush covered her cheeks. She hadn’t even realized she was using her powers on him- the same powers that skyrocketed her to fame as an idol.
He only chuckled at that. “If you really want to earn my affections, you’re going to have to put in the hard work.” He teased.
“G-Good to know.” She squeaked as other students began to enter and she and Aurelius began to chat casually.
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91percentpynch · 3 years
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if the world was ending - kevaaron au pt 6
we‘re slowly getting our happy ending i think? anyways shout out to the guys who sticked around ever since part one and encouraged me to publish the parts!! hope you enjoy this one as well! stay hydrated, eat something, feel hugged (or take a finger heart if you don‘t like physical contact) and know that i love you!! also this one‘s out of aaron‘s pov!!
the song of this part is if the world was ending by julia michaels and jp saxe
check this out for part 1-5
Aaron only planned to get to his dealer that night, just wanted the voices to stop, just wanted the feeling of numbness again
What he didn‘t want was landing in the hospital, but when did anything ever work out the way he wanted?
So when he was on the way to his dealer, tears clouding his vision, he didn‘t see the stop sign. He didn‘t notice the truck. And that was how a truck landed in the passenger side of his car, Aaron losing consciousness and somehow waking up in the ER of Chicago Hospital
„We called your emergency contact, they said they would come as soon as possible honey“, a nurse told him.
What they apparently did not know was that his emergency contact was Nicky, who left him for Germany.
Aaron wasn‘t mad. He got it. Nicky gave up so much for him and Andrew, never getting the love he deserved, he did his best.
Plus Nicky would probably call Andrew his way so he wasn‘t alone until he got the first possible flight to sit by his side for a few days before returning to his picture book perfect family.
Aaron wasn‘t mad. He really wasn‘t. He just missed his cousin. The only constant in his life, the only good part in his family.
Having a twin brother is pretty nice as well - in theory as well. Until said twin brother refuses to talk to you. Until said twin brother chooses his stupid boyfriend over you. Until you realize said twin brother doesn‘t care about you.
But Aaron couldn‘t blame him. He wasn‘t interesting enough for anyone to care about.
Aaron slipped in and out of consciousness
„I can‘t get morphime, I‘m an addict“, he said in one of his moments of consciousness. Not that he would particulary mind getting morphime, he wanted to get high after all, but Kevin‘s stupid little voice wouldn‘t let him go. „Why do you only call me when you‘re high Aaron?“, Kevin‘s face when he came to see him earlier, the day they decided to go to rehab together as friends and it ended up as them falling in love
„That‘s alright honey, we got you“, the nurse replied.
The next time Aaron woke up after that was in a white room, alone in an uncomfortable bed. Alone with his thoughts because Nicky wouldn‘t be here for at least another day. His brother was somewhere with Josten. The only person he really wanted to see refused to talk to him. Which is understandable to be fair.
Taylor, fuck he needed to tell her where he was.
Aaron was just about to look for his phone when someone kicked his door open, hurriedly crossing the room to be close to him.
Slowly Aaron raised his eyes, looking who it was. Kevin fucking Day was in his fucking room.
„You fucking idiot, what have you done?“, Kevin was close to tears, for whatever reason. Obviously not for Aaron, right?
„I don‘t need your fucking pity“, Aaron replied, shutting himself down, it was safer that way.
„Did you tell them you can‘t have morphine? Because you might relapse, i mean you already did but we don‘t want it to get worse. And this is not pity, this is Nicky yelling at me in Spanish cause you‘re in the hospital and he‘s in Germany and I‘m the closest to you and he does not want his son to be alone“, Day ever so unimpressed by Aaron‘s walls replied.
Nicky worrying about Aaron that much made the blonde feel warm inside, important, loved.
Nonetheless Aaron couldn‘t stop thinking about the person that didn‘t care to show up.
„Andrew didn‘t care to come, did he?“, Aaron‘s voice was barely audible as he hid his face in his pillow, in case those traitous tears made their way down his cheeks.
„Andrw does care about you, he‘s just shit at showing it, that fucking asshole“, Kevin replied in a soft voice, Irish accent slightly audible, the voice he used when he‘s about to be emotional or scared or mad or overall feeling strongly. „C‘mon what have you done Minyard?“
Was that worry in his voice? Could it be that he actually cared? No, no that couldn‘t be. Not when refused to talk to him.
„Car accident, not that its any of your fucking business“, Aaron replied, trying his hardest to sound as if he didn‘t care that Kevin was there with him, trying to push Kevin away, to protect his heart from another rejection.
„How are you?“, Kevin said, his Irish accent becoming a little stronger, voice thick with worry. Worry? Why would he worry about Aaron?
„Fucking great, I should let a truck drive into me more often. Very freeing. Very calming“, Aaron answered sarcastically, looking anywhere but Kevin‘s smaragd green eyes, maybe even the green of the lake they used to go in rehab, in the fluroscent light of the hospital.
„A truck. Drove into you?“, the Irish accent was now so strong Aaron could barely make out the words.
Aaron couldn‘t take it anymore, he turned around. Maybe Kevin would take the hint that he wasn‘t able to be close to him, not without being hurt, not without feeling empty. „Not that you would care“, he said, voice barely more than a breath against the pillow.
„Aaron first of all I can see you naked ass and not that I wouldn‘t mind the view and I‘ve seen it often enough but the nurses don‘t have to see that too. And secondly of course I care. I always did. Always will“
Something about Kevin mentioning Aaron‘s naked ass made the blonde boy blush as he turned back towards Kevin. Aaron didn‘t even notice that those strangers undressed him. That made him feel slightly uncomfortable.
„Why wouldn‘t you listen to me if you care so much? You‘re exactly like like Andrew, you guys only ever care when I‘m about to die or do something that doesn‘t sit right with you. Never about me as a person. The conecept about me maybe, but me? Me as a person? No one cares about that“, Aaron replied to the earlier statement, because he wanted to hurt Kevin, wanted the other boy to leave him just like the rest, just like he deserved. Aaron didn‘t need empty promises and lies - God know he had enough of those in his miserable life. Aaron didn‘t need pity or words of comfort or kindness. Aaron didn‘t need Kevin Day. Unless he did.
„You are Aaron Minyard. Born on the 4th of November, 8:31:45 am. You grew up in California in the house next to Nicky. Nicky and you were always close and you didn‘t have many friends because of your mom. Your mom might have abused her and I might hate her for that but you still love her and I get that because on some fucked up level I still care about Riko. You are allergic to cats, peanuts and house dust. You have a freckle right on your right hip, under your navel, from under your left eye over to the nose to the corner of your right eye. You like it when you are hold when you can‘t sleep but you hate showing affection in public. You were 13 when you started exy, because it gave you an escape, but you had to stop because the bruises from your mother‘s beating got to obvious. So you started getting into medicine. You borrowed every single book on medicine you could find and read it at night, always hidden from your mom. You had to have straight As or the beatings would be worse. Your mom did go out to have ice cream with you when it was especially bad. That‘s why you hate ice cream so much, especially vanillia because it was her favourite. Your secret hobby is skating. You feel free when you do it. You want to live at the coast, but not close to Cali, never back to Cali. You want Andrew to notice you and you hate how easily he let Neil in because obviously deserve it more and I get that. You tried drugs to escape, to see what was the appeal. Your uncle never helped you but he brainwashed you into believing he did. You grew up very religous and in an extraordinary homophobic household, you watched your cousin and only friend getting shipped away because he was different, not right, so you confinced yourself you were different. Heterosexual. When in reality you knew since you were 15 that you preferred guys. You liked girls as well. At least you thought but it‘s so much more complicated. Actually it isn‘t. You‘re asexual, you do however like the feeling of sex. You think the process is disgusting, but you still like the feeling. It has to be the right person though. It doesn‘t matter wether it‘s a boy or a girl or something else entierly, all that matters are the feelings the person makes you feel. It took you years to accept that you are not wrong, that you wouldn‘t have to go away like Nicky. You apologized to Nicky. You thought you had to be against their relationships, because that‘s what they made you believe. Old habits die hard. But you got over it and I am very proud of you. You sleep with a teddybear or with another person that cuddles you because the thought of being alone scares the living crap out of you. Your favourite flowers are sunflowers because yellow is a happy color. You hate sweets, you prefer salty snacks. You prefer coffee black, like your sould. You use sarcasm and humor as your coping mechanism. You stole my history books because you love history as well. You also love art but you don‘t think you are good enought to become an artist. You would love to work at Jean‘s studio but you are afraid to ask. You and Jean used to be friends but you cut him off and isolated yourself because your anxities and insecurities took over you again. Sometimes you have depressive episodes, in these you crave drugs more than normally. You want to stop it, you really do but somehow your brain tries to tell you you need it. You would love to have five dogs. An Irish Red Setter, an Irish Wolfhound, a poodle a big one though, a labrador and a golden retriever. You also want to adopt at least two kids. You don‘t want any child to go through what you had to go through or Andrew. So don‘t you dare tell me I never cared for you. Because I do. I listen when you tell me things. I remember every single time you came to me, black out drunk, crying and telling me you‘re worthless. Because every single time I wanted to tell you you aren‘t. You are a wonderful human being and I don‘t understand why I wasn‘t enough for you to stay but I will not let you tell me I never cared about you. Because that‘s some fucking bullshit“
Whatever Aaron expected to happen it certainly wasn‘t that. No one ever payed attention to him. No one ever listened to what he had to say. No one ever showed him that they cared about him. No one ever payed enough attention to him to see that he was worth their attention.
„You really did listen“, Aaron said, quietly, not able to put his feelings into words.
Aaron Minyared was never good with words. Causing pain with them? Yes. Sarcastic comments? Sure. But declearations of love? Or a simple thank you? Or really anything that would fit this situation? No, Aaron couldn‘t do that.
„Why wasn‘t I enough for you?“, the voice with tears, words hidden behind the strong Irish accent, was what made Aaron look up. Looking up into eyes the color of the lake they used to go to in their summer spend in the rehab clinic, tears falling down his beautiful cheeks, uncontrollable and messy.
„You? Not enough?“, Aaron whispered, eyes locked with the taller boy, „I was not enough. I was never enough. Not for my mother. Not for Katelyn. And certainly not for the Queen of Exy. I was never a good enough player, I was never a good enough student, I was never a good enough person. You deserve the best. Someone that loves Exy the way you do, someone as passionate and beautiful and strong as you. Not a burden. Not a no one like me. You deserve the sun, things that are bright and warm and beautiful. Not some broken, poor trailer trash. Not some drug addicted wannabe doctor. Some who can give you the love you need. Not someone struggeling to accept themselves. Not someon who can‘t even look at themselves accepting that they fell heads over heels in love with a man, struggeling to accept that, thinking someone will come and beat the shit out of them because it‘s the only thing you know. I don‘t understand the yearning, I don‘t understand the wanting, I don‘t understand the pain your absence causes me. Because I was never loved. Not properly. I mean sure I know Nicky loves me, but that‘s different. You deserves someone who‘s not too fucked up to be able to show love, not someone so fucked up they don‘t even understand the concept of love. You deserve somoene who can give you things. I can‘t offer you anything. Nothing. Nothing but a heart screaming your name. Nothing but a mind you reign. And I am so fucking sorry I ever left you without saying goodbye. I am so fucking sorry for being a coward. It was never because I stopped loving you. In the contrast. It was because there was not a single day where I thought I was good enough for you. There was not a single day the little voice in my head would shut up about how you are way to fucking good for me. You deserve so much more than I can offer you. So much more“, Aaron‘s voice broke at the last more.
„This was never your choice to make. I am a grown up fucked up man, I can decide who I can and will love very good on my own and I know you never wanted to hear it. But I chose you. I‘ve been falling in love with you ever since I met you. Started with a cute little crush. Ended up here“, Kevin said coming closer and closer to Aaron. „You talk about being so fucked up, well guess what? So am I. I am sick and tired of being seen as the Queen of Exy, of being reduced to Exy and my past alcohol problem. It‘s like I am nothing but the stick in my hand. I am nothing but the sport my mother invented. I am not even a human being anymore. At least that was what I was told. Until I met you. You and your stupid sarcatic remarks. The thougt of you seeing me was enough for me to keep trying to impress you somehow, make you see something worth keeping. But it was never enough. It would never be enough for someone to stay“
„Kevin Day. Born on the 22nd February 1986. Excuse me I don‘t know the exact time but about 7:15 pm. Your favourite color is red, not the Ravens red, the deep dark red of the Trojans because you associate it with Jeremy Knox and he was some kind of fucking sun in the nest. You had something with Jean in the nest. Riko that absolute fucking asshole somehow found out and tried to force you to do terrible things to Jean. But you couldn‘t do it. Not because you are weak like you like to think, no because you are kind and have heart of gold. I can‘t believe I just said that I want to vomit. Eww. Anyways you have massive self-esteem issues because you either think you‘re a walking failure or you have a god complex and there is no fucking in between and I love that about you. You have a constellation of freckles on your back and a little tattoo on your left hip. It‘s a little sun and a little moon on the right. Because you love the sun because it‘s bright and warm and you like that. The moon is far away, it‘s cold and lonely. The sun is your mother. You are the moon. Over your heart you have your mother‘s signature tatooted. Because she watches over you and unlike mine you actually can associate nice things with her. You want to move to Ireland once you retire. Because you want to be closer to your mom. You have your whole ass wedding planned already, because you love planning events like that. It‘s like your fucking secret superpower. You think cows are adorable and you want to pet one so badly. You are scared of chickens and swans and ducks. You are lactose intolerant and you have sport indicated asthma. You don‘t like when other people touch your arms and your back. You like forhead kisses. You like holding hands. You like showing affection, but not in public because you‘re scared what people think of you. You pretend to be arrogant and an asshole but it‘s all just walls around yourself to protect you. Secretly you just want someone to see right through it. Unlike me you do actually paint and you love photography. I know you rented a secret little atelier. Your favourite historical period is the 20th centuriy and you are oddly obsessed with eastern european and Irish history. You love horses. You love cows. You want to do horse riding once. You try so very hard to be more than just Exy. Hyperfixations are your coping mechanism. And spontaniously buying like 10 books. You love reading. You love tea. Your favourite genere is in fact not historical fiction but fantasy fiction based on history. You love rambling about random historical facts and I loved listening to it. You love soft kisses more than the hungry ones. You hate that people want you for your body, not your personality. You hate being sexualized. You hate being an object. You hate your title. But at the same time you love it. You just want to make your mother proud. And your dad. Right now you‘re wearing your mother‘s ring around your neck. Wymack found it somewhere and gave it to you. You haven‘t put it down ever since. You want to paint your nails because you think it looks pretty but you worry too much what people would think about you. You listen to classical music. You play the violin and the piano. You learned it at Palmetto somehow. You learned it because your mother used to play the fiddle, said it made her think of Ireland somehow, and when you were sad she played you some Irish lullabies on it. You love the Irish culture. You love Ireland. And your biggest dream is to get married on one of Ireland‘s cliffs. Because the ocean calms you down. Helps your anxiety. In summer your face is covered in freckles and not only your face. Oddly. You actually love swimming. Or sitting at the water. Looking at it. You collect books. You collect stones. You collect whatever you think is beautiful. You also like collecting shells. You hate to label yourself but you always preferred boys. There are days where you feel more feminie, days where you feel more masculine and days where you feel like neither. Today is a masculine day I see. Jeremy made you braclets when you
told him you were like him. You feel terrible about leaving Jean back but you also know that it was necessary. You are strong and beautiful and I know you canno see that and I know you don‘t want to hear that. You are more than your body. You are so much more. And the only reason I was stupid enough to leave you was because I thought I was not good enough. And an unhealthy amount of internalized homophobia. I just hear my mother‘s voice inside my head when I hold your hand or kiss you and I hate that. The moment I had to sleep without you the voices grew louder and it didn‘t even take a week before I had to find a dealer. I called you when I was high because the voides were silent. I called you when I was high because admitting that I missed you and that I need you was easier than. The two to four hours I slept were filled with you. In my dreams you were with me. You kissed me. You held me in these ridicously strong hands. You were with me and the world was okay. And when I woke up and you weren‘t here I just didn‘t want to get up. My grades got worse because I wasn‘t able to concentrate without you. Yes I am able to funciton without you, it was just nice to have something good in my life once. And yes I will be able to keep it up without you. A B or C here and there won‘t hurt too much. I will probably be able to become the neurologist I want to be. I will get through life. It will just not be the same. It will just be grey and black and white. With you I had colors“
„That was hard for you to say right?“, Kevin asked, tears still silently running down his cheeks.
Aaron nooded, watching as Kevin‘s face came closer and closer until he could feel his breath against his cheeks.
He was about to ask someone as a loud knock was on the door and the door was opened rather aggressivly, making Kevin get away quickly.
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josiecarioca · 3 years
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Waiting (one-shot)
Requested by @artisticreptilequeen and @latitsoso
Summary: Soren Snape has chosen a lonely path for himself that not even his closest friend can help him walk. 
(Soren Snape x Audrey Blake, characters mentioned: Severus Snape,Evelyn Black and Eloise Snape)
Also available on Ao3 https://archiveofourown.org/works/30010311
Tagging:  @snapescapades  @mafagafobebum  @marvelschriss @codename-thedoctor @zealouspickleeggdragon @green-oasis @drawnfromthedead @snapescapadesafterdark @serosvit @snapecentric @hayalee8 @oliverlandomens @sleepysnapesnake @lily-themadqueen-andpinky @paracosim @the-witches-son @aikersen @violet-knox @viper-official @be-zoar @thepomegranatejuice @alwyssnpe @siriuslysircadogan @hbprincealice
     …
“Soren, are you alive?”
Soren opened his eyes and looked around, searching for that familiar voice. He didn't know the place around him. It looked nice enough, though. A small livingroom, with teal colored walls covered in classic movie posters and a moon themed tapestry hanging next to a tall bookcase, loads of colorful cushions and, in front of him, a square coffe table with food and cooking themed hardcovers and a notebook filled with a round and small handwritting he knew all too well. He found himself laying on a soft white couch, “Golden Girls” was playning on the TV in front of him.
He sat up, feeling as if the room was moving around him like a ship in open sea. His clothes were sticking to him, tight and uncomfortable and his mouth was so dry he felt a bitter taste in his tongue. He didn´t remember drinking any water since right after curtain call.
Soren heard the sound of something frying, before the smell hit him. His stomach growled. He couldn't remember when he had last eaten anything that day.
“You´re getting glitter all over my couch.” that voice...Soren shook his head, suddenly angry at himself. How had he ended up here of all places? Idiot!
“Audrey, I...” he called out but his head felt like it just about split in two when he raised his voice. “I mean...how did I...”
“Here...” the voice approached. He looked up and there she was. Audrey, in a dusty pink turtleneck wool dress that hugged her plump figure, black leggings and boots, her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, with thick bangs framing her roud, dollish face. She looked like she was either going to a date or  coming back home from one when he, at least he assumed, crashed-landed at her door.
She held a plate in front of his face and it smelled something like heaven is supposed to smell.
“This is what you eat when you're flat on your arse drunk, if I recall correctly. Rashers, eggs benedict and your mother's cheddar, chive and potato pancakes. Right?”
“You...know how to make mam´s pancakes? ” he smiled, hoping foolishly that small talk would delay the earfull he was about to get. “She never gave anybody this recipe. Not even my cousins.”
“I lived with your parents for a whole year remember? I've seen auntie Lyn make this more times than I can count.”
Even though he felt like somebody had taken an axe to his skull and split it clean in two, Soren had to smile.
“Thank you. You didn't have to.”
“I sort of did have to, though” she let out, sounding tired “I found you laying on my doorstep, looking healf dead. Trust me, I was tempted to just walk around you and leave you there, but then what would I say next time I visit your parents? Besides, my landlord and neighbours wouldn't be too happy. Here, you´re going to need this. You must be dehydrated.”
She put a gallon of water on the table in fronto of him. Soren shugged nearly half of it before he could even begin to think about eating.
“Now, pray tell...what has gotten into you?” she crossed her arms and stood before him, looking far taller than her 5 feet, maybe 5'3 including the boots. Soren looked at her, pleased to notice she had put on weight. She looked like her normal self again, he thought. Last time he'd seen her she looked gaunt, almost.
“What do you mean?”
“What do I mean? Is it a normal occurence for you to prance about town drunk off you mind and pass out in front of people´s doors dressed like Beetlejuice and Dr. Frank'n'Furter's lovechild?”
“Oh, this!” Soren looked down at himself, finally remembering...
The effin' costume. Yeah, she was right. Her neighbours wouldn't be none too pleased to see a 6´2  man in full make-up wearing a leather corset-garter combo with stockings and high heels under a stripped trenchcoat passed out drunk in the hallway.
“I was...working.”
“Working? Is this an honest-to-God opera costume, or the Ministry for Magic had you go undercover in a fetish brothel?”
“Costume. The Ministry doesn´t usually have me dress up nice and sexy  when they want to get me fucked. Hardly pay me as well as they should for it either.”
“What opera are you in this time around?”
“Orphée aux enfers...Our director decided to give the  Kosky version a run for its money, so of course genderfuck drag was the way to go. Because why the fuck not? ”
“We're just going to pretend like you didn't love the idea...” she smirked. That was good...he hoped.
“Well, yeah, we decided to have a few drinks after the performance, and Henri thought it would be hilarious to just go out partying in full costume.”
“Who?”
“Henri Fournier...he played Orpheus”
“Of course...” Audrey, sighed, no longer amused.
“He's a riot, you should meet him.” Stop digging, Soren. She´s already mad at you, no need to act like a bufoon.
“And you should shower and change.”
“I´m afraid I don't have anything to change into...Unless, what's his name, your...”
“Ethan, his name is Ethan.”
“Yeah, him, unless he doesn´t mind me borrowing his things...”
“I´ll see if he left something here...”
“Left...I thought you two were...”
“He moved out.”
“When was that? Last we talked you we...”
“Come on, finish eating go have a shower, I'll find something for you to wear.”
“Hey, Shortcake, I...” He let out without even thinking. It had been so long since he last called her that, years maybe, but somehow it just poured from his lips.
“Don't...call me that.”
“I'm sorry...I really am. About this whole thing as well, I really don't know how I ended up at your door, I would never...”
“You don't have to apologize. Just eat, take your shower and...” she sighed “...we´ll see.”
Soren was tripping over himself so badly Audrey had half a mind to offer help. But eventually he got himself to the bathroom. She glued her ear to the door, half expecting to hear him collapse inside. The sound of the water running reassured her enough to step away and try to find something for him to wear, hoping Ethan had forgotten at least a pair of shorts or something.
Typical Soren to put her in this situation without even thinking. He never did think, did he?  Just did whatever he wanted to do and everything else be damned. Nevermind that his parents were constantly worried sick about him, that his sister had to keep calling him to remind him he had a family and he should go see them sometime. Audrey was almost sure neither his father nor his mother knew what he was up to.
That he was spying for the. ministry.
His father would never allow it.
Audrey had been only a spectator, entirely foreign to their world of magic and wars no one of her kind was supposed to know, but she knew well enough, apparently even better than Soren, that it was a disastrous idea for the son of Severus Snape to be a spy. To collect inteligence about the very same criminals who still had a reward out for his father's head. Soren was born with a target on his back. Even as a child, Death Eaters had tried to get to him, the same with his sister, Eloise. And why wouldn't they? What better revenge on the man who brought down their leader than to harm his children? Audrey knew from hearing whispers and bits and pieces of conversations when she had lived with his parents in Glencoe, right after deciding to go no contact with her mother. She knew from what Eloise told her, in a vain, desperate attempt to get her to help knock some sense into her brother.
But Audrey also knew there was nobody on earth who could keep Soren from doing what he wanted. Sometimes she was tempted to tell Severus and Evelyn what he was doing behind their back. If they knew...They thought Soren was travelling around the world singing. A successful baritone, touring Salzburg, Paris, New York, Lord knew where else. Surely that shouldn´t prevent him from coming home now and then, however...But he would go months without showing up, so his parents, maybe, just thought that if he didn´t show up for Christmas or Easter it was because he was somewhere in a nightclub or a bar, partying. And sometimes that was true, but not always. At times, she wondered how and when they would find out, and hoped it wasn´t through some tragedy.
But...sometimes she also wondered if they didn't already know. If they were just waiting for him to finally be honest with them. Maybe neither Severus nor Evelyn could bring themselves to believe Soren would do that to them, so they acted like they didn't suspect, when in reality, they knew. Maybe they were just hoping he'd show himself worthy of their trust. Just waiting for him to come around.
So Audrey said nothing. It wasn't her place to, after all. If Eloise hadn´t, then she certainly had no right.
She finally found something. And old t-shirt and some pajama pants. Good thing Ethan was tall, she thought. This would do for Soren to at least make it back home, or wherever he was staying in London. Come to think of it...She shook her head and left the clothes on the bed where he could find once he was done showering.
“Soren?”  She called once the water stopped running and she could hear him in her bedroom.
“Yeah?” he sounded a bit more sober.
“I'll call your sister, do you have her girlfriend's number? Maybe they can pick you up.”
Soren didn't answer answer immediately. Instead he took his time to get dressed and came back to the livingroom, sat on the couch and took another swig of water from the bottle.
“So, should I call her?”
“I would literally rather you hand me over to a dementor.”
“Maybe if I knew how. Eloise is my next best choice.”
“Eloise will never let me hear the end of it.”
“She wouldn'r be wrong, now would she?”
He didn't answer. He just made that face. That face he put on when he knew he was wrong, when he knew he had no good excuse. The corners of his mouth turned slightly upwards in an odd, clumsy smile, and his nostril flared slightly as he breathed out, then he looked away. Thinking of the next joke, of the charming comment that would deflect questioning, the next change of subject.  Had been that way since he was a boy. Soren always knew when to leave an argument well enough alone. This way he wouldn't have to admit he was wrong.
“As soon as my head doesn´t feel like the the 1812 overture is playing on surround sound inside my skull, I can see myself out.” she shrugged with that devil may care grin that could get him whatever he wanted.
Audrey sighed. She didn´t have the energy to argue, And true to be told, if she hadn't found him passed out drunk at her door after nearly a year of no contact whatsoever, she would be happy he was there. Wasn´t this what they used to do, back when things were different? Staying up at night, huddled up on the couch, watching old TV programmes reruns till the wee hours of the night? She missed that. She missed having Soren around, she missed his stupid jokes, his impromptu performances. She missed him singing “Largo al factotum” early in the morning as he shaved, his voice filling her bathroom till the upstairs neighbours complained.
But she didn´t miss what came with it. She didn´t miss the disappearances, the weeks and months without a single phone call, the excuses, the worry, the panic...
“You already ruined my couch with all that sodding makeup” she sighed, sitting next to him “Might as well spend the night. But you´ll have to be out before noon. I´m working the lunch shift this week.”
“How's that going? Mam told me you made it to sous-chef.”
“Yeah, which sounds impressive until you realize it just means I'm the first in line to be verbally abused when Bastianinni wakes up on the wrong side of the bed.”
“I worked with a Bastianinni once...It was for the best sharp knives are not part of our line of work, or the whole cast would have used him for target practice, down to the children's choir. When a tenor decides to be a diva, oof...”
“So, you´ve been talking to your mother?”
“Yeah, I called her and dad last week from Salzburg...to apologize for not showing up for Christmas again. She told me you were there.”
“I was. I assume that's how you got my address...”
“I...I mean...is not like she” Soren stammered like a little boy caught with his hand in the biscuit tin.
“Did you really think your mother would give you my address if I didn't tell her it was ok?” Audrey smiled “I´m just surprised you asked.”
“Why wouldn't I ask?”
“You tell me...For the past four years I´ve seen more of your parents and your sister than I´ve seen you. And you don't call anybody, just go off for months on end...”
“You know why that is...”
“I do. That´s why I don't wait for you anymore. It's pointless. But then when I give up waiting, you decide to show up.”
“Is not like I planned to just...”
“You never do.”
“Audrey, I...”
“I´ll get you a pillow and some covers, it's getting late.” She couldn't let him speak. If he started he'd take her in again. And before she knew it, she would be waiting again...for a phone call, a message, waiting for that moment she'd finally be fully a part of his world. A moment that would never come, no matter how long she waited. Not for her and not for anybody else. Soren had chosen a rocky path that only fit the steps of one person: himself. She couldn´t walk with him, and it would be fooolish to wait for him to come back any time soon.
“You said you were working lunch shift tomorrow.” the sweetness on his voice reached her as she got up from the couch, disarming. “Can´t you stay a little while longer?”
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key201303 · 3 years
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50 things about me / birthday special ❤🎂
Okay so today it’s my birthday and I wanted to make something special but didn’t really know what to do. I thought about writing a drabble with my ult bias but I’m lazy 🙂 So I thought it could be a great idea to enumerate 50 things about me so you guys can get to know me a bit better! ❤
Welcome to 50 things about me that nobody actually cares about 🙂 Enjoy ❤🤪
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My real name is Kiomara (everyone calls me Key)
I got my nickname from @msmadness99​ and @ain4i​ and at first it was going to be “K” but then upgraded to “Key” and here we all are 🙂
I was born on March 20th 2001 (Turning 20 today 🤪)
I’m from South Spain (ole mi andalucia ostia😂)
I don’t have siblings
I’m studying psychology on college and I have wanted to study that since I was 13
I have never in my life had a broken bone but I have had tons of injuries on my ankles and knees
I need to get massages on my back pretty often because it’s broken (like my bank account 🤪)
I can sleep for hours when I’m sick with a fever (my record is 18h 🥵 don’t know what’s wrong with me)
I hate broccoli but love cauliflower
I H A T E if someone touches my feet (I can literally kill you if you do so)
I love wearing rings, you’ll never in your life see me without any ring
I’ve been singing since I was 6
I found out I wanted to sing “”””professionally”””” when I was 8 and after performing for my mom and uncle on New years eve.
I’ve always loved dancing but never found a good teacher so I ended up learning with YouTube
I can’t play the piano but if you give me a Youtube tutorial I’ll learn it and play it like I knew what I am doing without having any idea
I have been taking singing lessons for 4 years but got braces and had to stop because I looked like a singing robot 🙂
I laugh for absolutely everything. You can just say “hello” to me and I’ll be dying on the floor laughing
People think I can’t be serious because of the 18 thing but actually I can be really serious when the situation ask me to be serious
My life motto is “smile and laugh, there are already too many bad things on earth to add more drama.”
I love being home alone so I can play my kpop playlist on my TV spotify with max volume without having my parents around telling me to turn the volume down
I have a cat and I have always had pets
I have a cousin who is 2 years younger than me and that I consider my little brother since both of us are single kids
I have a file on my phone that I use for writing stupid and irrelevant things people tell me and that I care nothing about
I’m still on my highschool groupchat because I don’t want to be the first one leaving and giving all my classmates the image of the antisocial kid I actually am 🙂 (if you're an old classmate... Well... Hi🙂)
I haven’t watched Harry Potter
I haven’t watched Game of thrones either
And I’m spanish and I haven’t watched “La casa de papel.”
I’m not flexible. Like, I look like a wooden stick
When I was a kid and my mom came to pick me up from kindergarten/school instead of my grandad I started crying and denied to go with her because I wanted my grandad to pick me up
I always fought with my uncle during lunch time when I was little because he enjoyed teasing me by just staring at me and he never failed to get on my nerves
Once, my uncle dressed up as Santa Claus when I was 4 years old and I was mesmerized when he entered my grandma’s house. When he came back dressed up normal as my uncle and not as Santa Claus I told him “Oh my god, you’ve missed him!! His teeth looked like a lot to yours.” Blessed innocence 🤧🙏🏼
I once fell from a chair while I was brushing my teeth because I was messing around acting like I was playing a trumpet
I can spend 15h watching Youtube when I have nothing to do
I’ve been studying english since I was 3 and I was always the maknae of the class
I don’t have an specific favorite color, I change every day depending on my mood. Today it is yellow 💛
I hate orange and everything related to this fruit except the juice
I’m allergic to dust
I have never fainted but I have had some drops of blood pressure 
I’ve been part of KristAL for 4 years now and it is one of the best things that ever happened to me
I like classic music
I really enjoy editing videos and filming random vlogs (maybe someday you’ll get to see some making offs in our Youtube channel 👀)
I love Canary islands accent 😍 (my grandad was from there so yeah)
I’ve never imagined I would have so many internet friends but here I am 🙂
My favorite food is pizza
i LOVE cheese and anything related to it
I live only for memes
if you ever want to make me laugh, make weird noises. I can’t resist them
I spent an entire week laughing nonstop to Kazoolarity (ask me if you want to see it) Thanks to @ain4i​ for showing me such a masterpiece
I love every single one of my followers and can’t feel more happy of what you guys did for me. 
I want to thank every single one of you, because these past few years hasn’t been really easy for me and you guys, without even knowing, have helped me a lot with your encouraging messages ❤❤ Thank you all so much ❤❤ Happy birthday to me!! ❤🎂🙏🏼
51. BONUS: If I had to make a birthday wish, it would definitely be to have all of you by my side this year as well ❤ Thanks for being the highlight of my year ❤
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theteaisaddictive · 3 years
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finally fall book tag
got tagged by @cinderellasfella -- thanks, conor!
1. In fall, the air is crisp and clear: name a book with a vivid setting!
one that really sticks out to me right now is The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang, a fantasy grimdark re-imagining of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. the setting, while clearly inspired by real history, also stands on its own two feet regarding class interplay, religions inspired by chinese myth, and how the characters relate to their setting
2. Nature is beautiful… but also dying: name a book that is beautifully written, but also deals with a heavy topic like loss or grief.
one of my favourite heavy books is Deerskin by Robin McKinley, which is a retelling of the fairytale Donkeyskin and comes with a massive trigger warning for rape and incest. it's not just the subject matter itself, but the way that she puts the herione back together again afterwards that makes up the bulk of the book and is written beautifully and sensitively
3. Fall is back to school season: share a non-fiction book that taught you something new.
i recently finished Revolting Prostitutes by Molly Smith and Juno Mac, which argues for the full decriminalisation of sex work using the framework of worker's rights. it was fascinating to read their arguments and to learn not just about the legislation of other countries, but also my own.
4. In order to keep warm, it’s good to spend some time with the people we love: name a fictional family/household/friend-group that you’d like to be a part of.
part of me wants to say the rivers cousins from Jane Eyre, although st. john is massively creepy and also just very annoying, god bless. next option would probably be the girls from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, they had a fun little found family going by the end of those book.
5. The colourful leaves are piling up on the ground: show us a pile of fall-coloured spines!
i put actual effort into this so you're not allowed to judge me
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6. Fall is the perfect time for some storytelling by the fireside: share a book wherein somebody is telling a story.
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern is made of stories from top to bottom -- people tell stories, are in them, try to escape them, and create new ones. rather meta, i loved it very much (although the run-on sentences were a bit much)
7. The nights are getting darker: share a dark, creepy read.
i did somehow get jumpscared by The Turn of the Screw by Henry James when i had to read it for undergrad (the very last scene with the little boy, if you're wondering), but the one that i actually found the most unsettling to read was Misery by Stephen King. it was a very visceral, creeping book, and imo far scarier than It as a reading experience
8. The days are getting colder: name a short, heartwarming read that could warm up somebody’s cold and rainy day.
a book that i was surprised to love as much as i did was Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland, about a young woman who works in a bookshop and must process the complicated emotions surrounding her troubled childhood. it was darker than i expected going in, but also made me feel that much better when i got to the end
9. Fall (luckily, it’s my favourite season) returns every year: name an old favourite that you’d like to return to soon.
i would like to reread the lunar chronicles soon -- i have two of the books in my flat with me -- and would also like to reread Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis at some point since i'll probably ask for the sequel for christmas.
10. Fall is the perfect time for cozy reading nights: share your favourite cozy reading “accessories”!
i don't really have reading accessories -- usually just a cup of tea, or a flask if i'm reading outside!
i'll tag @stagepresenceofapotato, @wizardysseus, @laughingmistress, @jimmyandthegiraffes and anyone else who wants to do this, consider yourselves tagged!
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is0gild · 3 years
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Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Bonus Chapter 6
Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC
Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.
Word Count: 9,761
FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER
Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!
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Ice chips.
A whole paper cup full of them.
This was my current mission. My purpose. My whole reason for existence in this one very specific moment in time.
For if every wholesome, family-friendly sitcom from the 90s were to be believed, ice chips were like crack to women in labor - they just couldn't get enough of the stuff.
Why? No one knows, least of all me… okay, maybe doctors knew but if they did, not a single one had yet to clear up that little mystery for me.
The why didn't really matter anyway. All that mattered is that Rayne wanted them. And what Rayne wanted, Rayne got.
Especially when she was about to shove a brand new tiny person through her body and out into the world any second now.
...at least, in theory anyway.
I thanked the attendant at the nurse station and turned with the freshly secured cup of ice chips in hand, heading down the hospital wing back in the direction of Rayne's room in the delivery ward. As I hurried along, I anxiously ran my free hand down my frazzled braid, grimacing at all the little wisps coming loose before shifting to smooth my fingers along my rumpled dress that I'd been wearing since yesterday. Turning one last corner, my eyes immediately went to Rayne's door-
-only to be brought up short by the sight of fluffy, squishy, huggable reindeer plushie nearly twice my size already waiting politely outside it.
Well there was something you don't see every day.
It only took me a second to spot the shoes poking out underneath that had to belong to whoever was holding the thing from behind where I couldn't see them. I squinted.
I knew those shoes.
With a tiny, tired smile, I put one foot forward once more and approached the giant stuffed caribou with a lightly teasing, "If you're looking for the North Pole, you're off by about a couple thousand miles, Prancer. Or is it Blitzen?"
"Har, har. You're an absolute riot," came a voice from the other side of the massive doll. Though I couldn't see the eye roll, I could distinctly hear it in his tone.
Shaking my head with a soft snort, I dug my phone out of my pocket to check the time. "...1 p.m. already? Can't believe she's been in labor for nearly twenty-one hours." Twenty-one extremely long, extremely sleepless hours for the mother-to-be, not to mention all her loved ones here to support her. Tucking the phone away once more, I told him, "Thanks again for covering my early shift, I really appreciate it. Hope it wasn't too hectic of a morning over at the Ice Palace."
"Hey, don't mention it," Kristoff poked his blonde head up just over the plushie's shoulder. "If it's a choice between the two of us, it's no contest: Rayne'd much rather have you here with her than me." He paused, eyeing the closed door leading into her hospital room with a tiny frown. "...so, still no baby, huh?"
"Still no baby," I sighed, then tipped my head to one side. "Care to explain the reindeer? I didn't even know we made Svens in this size."
"We don't," he shifted his hold on the thing for a better grip. "We got a small batch to try and sell as a test run last year, but no one was really buying 'em. Still had a couple stowed away in back just gathering dust, so got the okay from Frozone to steal one for welcoming the new little Hewley into the world."
A grin pulled at my lips, "How sweet. I'm sure Rayne will love it." I then quirked an eyebrow at him. "...why were you just standing outside with it anyway? You know you could have just walked on in, right?"
His gaze darted to the door once again, then back to me. "...is the yelling still happening?" he whispered with a nervous little wince.
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes as I deadpanned, "It's the beautiful blessed miracle of life, Kristoff. Rayne's allowed to yell as much as she wants. Now come on, there's already one baby on the way, we don't need you being a big old second one." With that, I reached for the door knob, pushed it open and made my way inside.
And straight into the madhouse that was Rayne's hospital room.
"You did this to me, you bastard! I'm gonna KILL you for this, you smug son of a bitch!"
Ah, and there was Rayne now, shrieking her head off.
To be fair, if you'd been in labor for nearly a full day now, you'd probably be shrieking your head off too.
"Yes, hon."
And that'd be Riku, the absolute picture of patience and composure as he smiled lovingly through the abuse, both verbal and physical as Rayne's death grip just had to be murder on his hand right now. But he was soldiering through it like a champ.
Huffing and puffing, Rayne spat, "Don't you 'yes hon' me with that stupid, sexy, annoying, beautiful, infuriatingly perfect little grin of yours, pal! When I'm through with you, you won't have anything to grin about!"
"Yes, hon," he chuckled softly, gently sweeping a few of her messy bangs out of her face before pressing a light kiss to her sweaty temple.
"Oh-ho, no! None of that!" she snarled, narrowing her eyes at him. "It's stuff like that that started this whole damn mess, jerkface!"
"Yes, hon."
We were all handling being included in this special moment in Rayne's life a bit differently, each doing what we could to keep her happy and distracted from the contractions. As could be seen, Riku was doing his part by being a flawless model husband/punching bag combo. Sora-
"What does every moogle need in the morning?"
Sora was trying to make her laugh.
"A kup-o coffee!"
...and was doing a rather poor job of it.
As Rayne stared blankly up at him, Sora gave a tiny sheepish laugh from where he stood at the foot of her hospital bed as he scratched the back of his head. "That one was a dud, huh? Okay, okay, how about this one? What do moogles use when they go shopping? ...Kupons!"
More crickets from Rayne. This time accompanied with an unamused little eye squint.
Undeterred, Sora smiled brightly and held up his hands, "Wait, wait, I gotta million of these! What did one cactuar say to the other? ...looking sharp! What does a cactuar wear to a business meeting? ...A cac-tie!" Why did the chocobo cross the road? ...he was going for a wark!"
His new rapid fire approach did not seem to be helping matters.
"Alright, no, hang on, I'm gonna get you with this one for sure! You ready? Okay… Knock knock."
Rayne's eye twitched. Patting her hand, Riku obliged his cousin with a sigh, "Who's there?"
Barely able to contain his glee now, Sora replied, "Interrupting chocobo."
"Interrupting ch-"
"BWARK!" Sora crowed in delight.
The expecting mother-to-be looked just about ready to hurl the beeping heart monitor at him.
"Look, Ray, look!" Kairi suddenly chimed in, swiftly coming to her boyfriend's rescue as she shoved her phone in Rayne's face. For her contribution in keeping Rayne's mind off the pain, Kairi had elected to sit in the bed with her to provide cuddles and hundreds upon hundreds of pictures of adorable baby animals. "Aren't these little piggy-wiggies the freaking cutest?"
Frowning at the screen, Rayne said flatly, "...they'd look even cuter in the form of crispy bacon on a bun slathered in barbecue."
Kairi gasped in horror, snatching her phone back to hug protectively to her chest, "Not the piggy-wiggies!"
"Sorry, Kai, but I'm starving and they won't let me eat a damn thing until this little bundle of joy gets the hell out of me," she grumbled back.
She pursed her lips to one side, swiping her thumb across the screen several times now, "Guess I'll skip these pics of baby cows and chicks and- you know what? No farm animals at all, how about that?"
Sora was now sidling up along one side of the bed opposite to Riku, both hands covering his face as he went.
Oh dear.
One could only assume this was leading up to his latest attempt to get a laugh out of her and I was almost dreading how the next couple seconds would unfold.
"No frowning. No sad face. Okay?" he muffled out from between fingers as he blindly inched closer to Rayne. "This birth runs on happy faces, so ya gotta look funny… like me!" He suddenly threw his hands out wide to reveal he was wearing a pair of gag glasses, complete with a comically large plastic nose and mustache. "I-"
Rayne yelped in surprise and socked him in the stomach.
Yup. That'd gone about as well as I'd expected.
And correction… it seemed the role of punching bag would now be played by Sora.
Quite literally.
Eyes growing round as she clasped both hands over her mouth, Rayne said, "Oh god, Sora, you okay? I'm so sorry, but you scared the everliving crap out of me!"
"No, no, it's fine," he wheezed out a chuckle, doubling over and clutching at his gut while Kairi shot him a sympathetic pout as she rubbed his shoulder. "You're bringing a new little life into the world, so you get a free pass!"
Smothering his snickers behind a hand, Riku shook his head at him, "Where did those ridiculous things even come from?"
"These?" Sora held up the gaudy spectacles. "Saw 'em in the hospital gift shop and thought everyone might get a kick outta them."
"Or at least a punch," Kairi teased, sticking her tongue out.
Kristoff and I hadn't been spotted yet. Sensing an opening as the rest of them devolved into light laughter, I was just about to insert myself into the conversation when-
"Beep beep, coming through! Move it or lose it!"
Jolting, I just barely jumped out of the way in time to narrowly avoid getting steamrolled by Anna as she suddenly came charging into the room. Her arms were stacked so high with hospital pillows that she couldn't really see past them, so I suspected she had no clue that she'd just beeped-beeped her own sister.
Yesterday when we'd been racing our way back to Twilight Town, I'd called Anna to make sure she'd heard the news that Rayne had gone into labor. Since we still had had several hours left on the road to go yet before we'd be back and I'd been worried about missing the birth, I'd wanted to make sure that Anna could at least be there in my stead. However I discovered I needn't have even asked, for my sister had already been burning rubber out of Arendelle to get to Twilight Town herself even before I'd called. Thankfully we'd arrived with time to spare - plenty of it, as it was turning out. And bonus, I'd been getting to personally witness Anna's own unique brand of pitching in... that is, by doing anything and everything in her power to make sure Rayne was as comfortable as humanly possible.
Which to Anna apparently meant stealing every last pillow in this medical institution to offer up as tribute to Rayne.
"Ta-da!" she chirped as she dumped the tiny mountain of cushions onto Rayne's bed with a big, delighted grin. "I'm back with a whole friggin' variety this time, so pick your poison! I got soft ones, firm ones, big ones, small ones, some as big as your- you know what? Do you wanna go with all of them? Let's go with all of them! Sound good? Good!" With that, she began gently but eagerly stuffing them one by one behind Rayne's head.
"Anna, sweetie… do you think we're maybe approaching the point of too many pillows here?" Rayne delicately asked, shifting her back slightly against the already substantial collection behind her that Anna had managed to amass in the past several hours.
She wrinkled her nose with a snerk, "What? Nonsense, there's no such thing as too many pillows! And I think you'll be singing a different tune once you get a load of this puppy here," she proudly held up and fluffed a particularly plush looking pillow. "This right here is the Holy Grail of hospital pillows! I earned this bad boy too! Had to throw down with some greedy, wrinkly old fart who was trying to horde all the good bedding for himself!"
"Let me get this straight… you beat up an elderly old man and stole his pillow?" Riku gave her a dull look.
"I didn't beat him up! Just… got in a bit of a tussle, that's all," she brushed off with a tiny shrug. At all the blank stares she received, she huffed, "What, he was crotchety and mean and fought dirty, kept whacking me with his cane! The old coot friggin' deserved it!" She turned her head away with a razz of her tongue before her face lit up once more. "Besides, nothing but the best for the soon-to-be mommy, isn't that right, Ray-Ray?" she cooed as she fondly tucked "the Holy Grail" of hospital pillows (which was the last of her latest haul from all her ransacking and pillaging) behind Rayne. Then she clapped her hands together, "Now! Be right back with more in a jiff!"
Before Anna could dash off again however, Rayne snagged her wrist with a hasty, "No!" As my sister glanced back at her, Rayne winced and lowly hissed her way through what looked to be another contraction before blowing out a relieved puff and exhaustedly chuckling, "The thought's appreciated, sweetpea, really, but try as you might, I just don't think we can quite cram the hospital's entire supply of pillows in this one teeny room."
"But-"
"Ah-ah!" she interrupted her protest, holding up a finger. "Trust me, I'm good. 'Sides, if you keep going at this rate, soon there'll be no room left on the bed for me."
The corners of Anna's lips turned down in a tiny sulk. "I suppose you're right," she hung her head as her hands smoothed over Rayne's bedsheets, flattening any wrinkles. Then she froze mid-gesture, face brightening once again as she looked up with a delighted little intake of breath. "I can get you more blankets! So many blankets! All the blankets!"
"What?! Anna, no, I'm not even-"
But my sister had already blurred out of the room with nothing more than a quick, "Hi, Sis! Bye, Sis!" to me. She didn't even acknowledge Kristoff. Don't think she saw him behind the caribou.
"...cold," Rayne finished with a defeated sigh. Then she seemed to notice me for the first time. More specifically, what I was holding. She immediately perked up, "Ah, there she is! C'mere, oh Great Bringer of Ice! My Ice Babe, my Ice Queen, my Ice Goddess!" She stretched out her arms towards me, making grabby hands. "Gimme!"
Ah, my role in keeping Rayne happy.
Which if it hadn't been obvious already, that greeting should have just made it abundantly clear.
This was actually my first time being present for the birth of somebody's child. And if I was being totally honest here, I had to admit that the experience did make me a bit awkward and anxious. Gussy it up however you like, but the "miracle of childbirth" was some animal kingdom nonsense that I'd normally rather take no part in. It was all just so... er… messy. But this was an important day for Rayne and I wanted to be there for her. Which meant I just had to do what I did for all important things that made me awkward and anxious.
I let it go and did them anyway.
Taking in a breath to quell my jittery nerves, I braved a smile as I approached her bedside and held out the cup which she greedily snatched up. "Got it back here as quick as I could, hopefully it didn't have a chance to melt too much."
Popping a few frozen chips into her mouth, she closed her eyes with a contented hum. "Ahhhh, that's the stuff! You always treat me right, boo! Keep the good shit coming."
"D'aw," I grinned softly, reaching out to lightly pat her cheek, "you make me feel like I'm your drug dealer."
"Don't act like you don't like it," she crunched down on the ice with a cheeky little wink before digging a few more out of the cup to slip between her lips. Then she looked past me and went stock still. She blinked once. Then twice. Then, "...um?"
I glanced back to realize she just now seemed to be noticing the comically large, dopey reindeer in the room. How she hadn't spotted it sooner was beyond me. In any case, I cleared my throat and stage whispered, "Pssst… Kristoff!"
"Right." Taking that as his cue, he started jauntily bouncing forward with the thing, making it do a floppy little jig in the process. Remaining hidden behind the colossal doll the whole time, he adopted a deep, goofy voice to speak for the plushie, "Hello, my name is Sven and I'm gonna be your new lil gal's bestest friend! I'll make sure to give her all the snuggles and huggles and wub she'll ever need!"
For a second, Rayne's expression was unreadable as she just continued to stare at the thing's big, silly face. Then she burst into tears.
Fudge, was this a good crying or a bad crying?
With all the drastic mood swings she'd been experiencing since labor started, it could really go either way at this point.
Everyone began to scramble. Riku was murmuring softly to her as he caressed her cheek, Kairi was frantically trying to pull up what she was claiming to be an absolutely adorable picture of a dog and duck that were besties, and Sora was desperately shooting off lame, punny jokes so fast now that the punchlines were getting all jumbled and mashed together into pure gibberish. However it all turned out to be unnecessary as Rayne suddenly wailed, "Oh my god, I love him!"
Whew, okay, this was a good crying.
False alarm, people, stand down.
"Really?" Kristoff stuck his head up from behind the deer, flashing a lopsided smile.
She nodded her head vigorously, sniffling. "He's perfect for our baby girl! And good news! You've officially just been hired as our full-time nanny!"
He gave a bashful chuckle as he found a corner to deposit Sven in, "Shucks, you don't hafta-" But then he stiffened as her words really sunk in. "Wait, what?"
"Yup! Don't worry, I'll talk to the Ice Palace for you so they'll work your shifts around it. Ah, we're gonna have the happiest kid in the whole wide universe now that she's going to have her own talking, dancing, prancing reindeer to play with every day!" she clapped in glee.
"Every-" Kristoff spluttered and paled. "Now hang on, I never agreed to any of-"
"Da-dun da-dun! Candygram!" a new voice loudly sang out. We all turned to discover Lea now standing in the doorway, grinning like a madman with his arms loaded down with junk food. Way, way too much junk food.
"Good lord, where on earth did all that come from?" was the only greeting he got from me as both eyebrows shot up my forehead.
He shrugged, grin somehow defying all odds to stretch even wider. "Raided the nearest couple o' vending machines and picked the things clean. Hope all you boys and gals are famished cuz tonight we feast like Candyland kings! And you get a chocolate bar!" he tossed one to me, which I fumbled to catch before sensing Rayne's gaze narrowing on me and I hastily hid it behind my back. "And you get a chocolate bar!" This one went to Kristoff. "And you and you and you!" Sora, Kairi, Riku. "Annnnnd…" Lea stopped mid-throw to Rayne, smirking as he retracted his hand. "...not you cuz the Doc said that was a big fat no-no for you, Missy! Guess that just means more for me," he smugly singsonged as he made his way further into the room now.
Nostrils flaring, Rayne growled, "You are such an asshole, Red."
"One," he struck up a finger as he unceremoniously plopped down into a chair against the wall opposite of her, letting all the sweets pile up in his lap, "that's just part o' my roguish charm and you know it. Two, you said a naughty word." He tsked with a shake of his head as he began to peel the wrapper off a Snickers. "Now is that any way for a young lady who any second now is gonna be responsible for molding a young, impressionable mind of our future generation should be talking?"
"Fuck off," she spat out.
"That's more like it!" he laughed, toasting her with the candy bar before heartily taking a bite.
And this, my friends, is how Lea was doing his part to help distract her from the pain.
By being a royal pain in the butt himself.
Fighting fire with fire, as it were.
"Mm-mm-mm!" Lea hummed, putting on a show of enjoying his snack a little too much. "The way that chocolate just melts in your mouth and mingles with all that sweet caramel and peanuty goodness… golly, would I hate to be anyone who's not allowed to eat right now," he slyly broke off another piece between his teeth as he eyed Rayne.
She mutedly worked her jaw for a moment. Then in a dangerously low voice, she said, "Sorry, Elsa, but I'm sending your boyfriend to an early grave."
"Please don't. I'm actually rather fond of the little troublemaker," I snorted as I made my way over to him, quick to smother his mouth with my hand even as he opened it to spout off something else that would surely only tighten the proverbial noose even further around his neck.
I anticipated the little kiss he pressed to the inside of his palm. What I didn't anticipate, however, was him simply taking hold of my wrist and yanking my down into his lap (a rather awkward seat, mind you, considering I was sharing the space with all that candy) where he hugged me tightly, pinning my arms to my sides in the process so I could no longer silence him. Nuzzling his nose to my cheek, he then turned his head to regard Rayne once more as he chirped, "Just consider it incentive! Think about it: the sooner ya squeeze that kiddo out, the sooner ya get to throttle me! Now lessee here, where was I…"
Releasing his hold on me, he retrieved another bar from the heap, tore it open and chomped down. "Mmm… Almond Joy? More like Almond Nirvana! Seriously, this is too good. Raindrop, wanna bite?" he held it out towards her, giving it a little wiggle with an impish gleam to his eyes.
Pretty sure I could see a vein bulging on her forehead for a split second. Then she tried to lunge straight for him and it was only thanks to the combined efforts of Riku, Kairi, and Sora holding her back that she stayed put in her bed.
It seemed Lea was playing his part a little too well.
"Lemme at him, I'm going to murder him!" she snarled as she fought against all the hands restraining her.
"Ah-ah," Lea waggled a finger at her - a finger I hastily grabbed and forced him to lower in a futile attempt to keep him from antagonizing her further. "What did I just tell ya? Baby first, then murder."
Rayne's lips parted, a particularly nasty retort surely on the tip of her tongue, but then she sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth as it appeared another contraction wracked her body and she bellowed out wordlessly instead.
As if her howl was a summons, a new person suddenly came bustling into the room with a chipper yet soothing, "Hello, I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion."
Mind you, I was using the term "person" in the loosest sense of the word. Baymax here was actually a robot of some kind, though a rather odd one at that - I usually didn't picture robots as big, round, soft and inflatable. Then again, this was the first robot I'd ever met, so what did I know? It seemed it (he?) was some sort of prototype on loan to the hospital, making rounds in the role of a nurse as a sort of a test run to see how viable mass producing more like it (him?) might be.
The future is now, apparently.
"Yes, yes, so you keep saying every. Damn. Time that you come in here," Rayne panted out in reply to the bot, her grip firmly squeezing Riku's hand once more.
"On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?" Baymax asked amiably as he began to lift her blankets to check how far along she was while the rest of us discreetly averted our eyes.
She huffed out a bitter noise that may have been some crude approximation of a laugh. "Trust me, we left ten in the dust hours ago."
"Good news" Baymax announced, still in that mellow yet upbeat tone he seemed to be programmed to never deviate from as he settled her bedsheets back into place. "You are dilated enough now to begin the birthing process. I'll page Dr Finkelstein so we can get started right away."
"Oh thank fucking god!" Rayne cried out.
Baymax turned to address the rest of us, "If everyone besides the father-to-be could please vacate the room and give us privacy, it would be most appreciated. Thank you and have a nice day."
As the rest of us quickly filed out of the room into the hall, I could spot Anna turning a corner down the way, her arms bursting with blankets now as she sprinted at full speed. Her gaze widened slightly when it landed on us and as she skidded to a halt, she asked, "What's going on? What happened?"
"I did it!" Lea chuckled triumphantly as he handed her a Butterfingers, which she bemusedly accepted. "I shit you not, I actually did it! I managed to annoy that baby outta her!"
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"Huh. We really would make a cute lil anklebiter, wouldn't we?"
I blinked, taking my eyes off my phone screen to glance down at Lea instead. "...pardon?"
The two of us had laid claim to a row of chairs in the waiting room that were sans armrests and pushed together to form a makeshift bench of sorts. I was currently seated in one on the end with Lea sprawled out across the rest of them, using my lap to pillow his head. Looking up from his own phone, he showed me his screen. "Got curious and put our photos in one o' those 'what'll our baby look like' websites. Just lookit this adorable lil fucker."
I was greeted with the sight of a computer-generated yet still rather life-like picture of a little boy. He had short hair that was platinum blonde like mine, as well as my blue eyes, but favored Lea's more sharp angular facial features, especially in the nose. "He is rather cute," I grinned, one hand pocketing my mobile while the other gently stroked his wild hair. Nibbling on my bottom lip, I hesitated for a heartbeat. Then, "...what brought this up?"
Retracting his arm and turning his phone back towards himself so he could stare at the picture once more, he shrugged. "I dunno… Raindrop and Riku's lil squirt's gonna be here any minute… Mom made that comment 'bout the two of us making a kid…" He paused and shrugged again. "Hard not to get curious what with all that baby fever going round right now, I s'pose."
"You think about that kind of stuff?" I tipped my head to one side, my finger idly singling out one of his crimson spikes to fiddle with in particular. "You want children?"
"Well yeah," he laughed, tucking his phone away as he sat up, now only occupying the seat beside me. Grinning sheepishly as he rubbed at the nape of his neck, he added, "Not anytime soon, of course. But one day somewhere down the road with the right person? Definitely."
The corners of my eyes crinkled. There was absolutely zero doubt in my mind that Lea would make an amazing father some day. His words did sort of beg a certain kind of question however. One that I wasn't really sure I was ready to hear the answer to one way or another. Still, as I lowered my gaze to where my hands were fidgeting together in my lap, my face warmed as I couldn't seem to help but ask, "And do you… see me as the right person?"
Lea reached over, engulfing one of my hands in his and weaving our fingers together, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles. I lifted my gaze to meet his and he smiled softly, "Maybe… yeah, I'd really… really like to think you could be." He used his free hand to tentatively sweep some of my bangs behind my ear, his palm lingering against my cheek. "...is that okay, El?" he murmured.
He was worried his answer might freak me out, make me feel pressured. And to be fair, it was the type of thing that probably normally would have. However, it wasn't a cold panic I felt seeping into my chest now, but rather a pleasant tingle, tiny but warm. I leaned into his hand, covering his fingers with my own as one corner of my lips turned up and I gave a small nod, maybe surprising us both a little bit as I whispered back, "Yeah, that's okay."
His grin stretched to the point of threatening to split his face in two. Then he leaned down to kiss me soundly, resting his forehead against mine after he drew back.
Personally, I'd never before really pictured children in my future. Not that I had seen myself not having any, but I hadn't particularly seen myself having them either. It just hadn't really been something I'd thought much about, to be honest. And it didn't help that like I said, the whole process of childbirth made me a bit squeamish. But now… thinking about the prospect of maybe one day having them with Lea…
...sounded like it might be nice.
But that was still years and years and years away, trust me.
Still… it was a pleasant possible future to think about.
A deep yawn suddenly overtook Lea and he gave a massive stretch before slouching further down into his seat, slinging an arm around my shoulders and tugging me into his side. "Yeesh, it's been almost two hours now, what is taking that kid so damn long? I've heard of showing up fashionably late, but baby girl is really pushing it."
His yawn was contagious for I found myself doing the same as I reached for his hand. Absently toying with his fingers, I hummed a tiny laugh, "Maybe she stopped to pick up a latte on her way here."
"Well then, that kiddo better come outta Raindrop with a cardboard to-go tray bearing enough coffee for everyone."
I smiled drowsily, but made no response. Seated across from us, I could see my sister cozied up with Kristoff in another pair of seats, quietly chatting and giggling. As for Sora and Kairi, they were off grabbing a bite in the cafeteria. We'd decided to go in shifts so that there would always be someone in the waiting room in case news came at long last. Lea and I had been the first pair to go, with Kairi and Sora being the last.
As the hospital speakers paged a Dr Sweet to report to surgery, Lea piped up again, "Ya know, a lil caffeine infusion might not be a bad idea. The hospital coffee here is shit, may as well be piss for all the good it does. Once the kid's made her grand debut at long last and we can finally split, I was originally thinking we'd head back to my place to catch some Z's. But how 'bout instead we swing by Lucky Cat for some quality bean juice so we can get a jumpstart on moving your stuff over?"
"Move my stuff?" My brow furrowed and I turned my head to look up at him. "...where's it going?"
Lea blinked owlishly at me. I blinked owlishly right back. "Didn't we…?" he began slowly, then groaned, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. "Shit, I haven't actually brought that up to you yet, have I? Maybe I really do need that nap." His hand shifted down to scratch at his cheek now, "But c'mon now, El, think… the kid's almost here."
"Uh-huh," I nodded.
"And she's gonna need a place to sleep," he went on.
"Of course." Obviously. I wasn't exactly sure where he was going with this.
He looked at me pointedly. "...in a nursery."
I quirked an eyebrow. "Right." Still lost here.
His eyelids drooped. "Babe... your room's the nursery."
I just stared back at him blankly, not saying anything at first as my brain took a minute to churn over his words.
A rather long minute.
Give me a break, I'd been awake for close to thirty-four hours straight now.
But finally it clicked.
I gasped, "I need to move out!"
"There it is," he snorted, his hand rubbing my back.
"Crud, in all this flurry of baby chaos, that part completely slipped my mind." I was on my feet in an instant, hands wringing my braid as I began pacing back and forth. "Fudge, I'm entirely unprepared for this! What am I going to do? Where am I going to go?" I stopped momentarily, looking at Lea. He opened his mouth to respond, but I was already furiously pacing once more, muttering, "Well, not entirely unprepared. I of course knew this was coming, already had some of my things packed, been on the hunt for a new apartment, I have, I really have! You know I have!" Again I paused. Again his lips parted. Again, I resumed my patrolling without giving him a chance to speak, "But there's nothing lined up yet! Gah, the baby wasn't supposed to be due for weeks, I was supposed to have more time! But now there is no more time and… and…" I came to a halt once again, face hardening and shoulders squaring as I tapped the side of my fist into my palm with a firm nod. "Time to revisit the whole living in a box idea!"
Did I mention the whole thirty-four hours without sleep thing?
"Woah now, hang on! No one's gonna be living in a box," Lea hopped up with a chuckle, hands going to my shoulders and giving them a squeeze. "Doubt the new happy family would kick ya out just like that and make you homeless, they'd work something out for ya while you looked for a new home." Now his eyes darted to the left as he softly cleared his throat, "There's... another option though that, ya know... I'd like to think is slightly more appealing to all parties involved…"
I cocked my head. "There is?"
"Yeah." He took both my hands in his, holding them to his chest as he beamed, "Move in with me!"
"Move in with…" I echoed slowly, trailing off as I stared up at him.
Processing… processing…
I gasped again, "Oh no! No, we shouldn't- That's isn't- I couldn't possibly do that!"
"Aw, why not?" he pouted.
"Moving in together is a big step, Lea! A huge decision! One we definitely shouldn't be making spur of the moment like this, not to mention when we're both delirious from lack of sleep! There's so much to consider, so much to think about!"
He used the hold he still had on my hands to pull me to him and wrap my arms around his waist, freeing up his own arms to hug me instead. "What's there to think about? You're already practically living with me anyhow, you stay over almost every night as it is. I'd love to have you there, Bruni and Marshmallow would love to have you there… it's three against one, El, you're outvoted."
I drooped my eyelids up at him. "The dog and salamander don't get votes."
"You'll hafta take that up with them once you're all moved in and settled," he pressed a quick peck to my forehead before flashing a cheeky grin. My expression remained unamused and he snerked, "C'mon, is it really such a big deal? We were just talking 'bout having kids. Compared to that, the idea of shacking up together seems like small potatoes!"
"Yes, theoretical kids in a theoretical future. Me moving in with you is very real and very right now. We haven't even been dating for five months yet, that's way too soon to be living together."
Lea shrugged, "And you were with your ex for five years before almost tying the knot with him and we all know how that ended. Who's to say what's too soon and what isn't? All we can do is what feels right, and this feels right… doesn't it?"
...it actually kind of did.
Damn him, it did.
It didn't help that those beautiful green puppy eyes of his were murder on my resolve.
But my stubbornness flared and I hastily looked away. I wasn't ready to relent just yet and I weakly scrambled to maintain my defense, "But… it's just too soon, Lea. It hasn't even been a year yet, we haven't even… celebrated all the big holidays yet!"
Even as I blurted it out, it sounded lame even to me.
But it was the best I could come up with, dammit!
His eyebrows reached for his hairline and he fought a tiny smile. "...so just to be clear here, it's important to you that we observe all the major holidays in a calendar year together before making any further life-changing decisions."
I hitched my chin with a lofty little sniff. "Yes. Yes it is."
This was the hill was I choosing to die on, apparently.
"Duly noted," he glanced towards the ceiling with a tiny shake of his head before settling his gaze on me once more, eyes crinkling. "Fine, let's not call it moving in together then, call it… a temporary solution."
"...temporary?" I turned my head slightly, giving him some dubious side-eye.
"Mm-hm! Face it, babydoll, even though we both know Raindrop and Riku will be more than happy to accommodate ya, it's still gonna be a tight squeeze with all four of you in that tiny ass apartment while you're searching for a place. Wouldn't it just be more convenient for everyone if temporarily," he reiterated for emphasis, "you stayed with me instead just until you've found your new home? You know there's more than enough space for you and your things at my digs."
I tucked in my bottom lip. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation talking, but darn it, he actually seemed to be making a lot of sense. Still, I hesitated. "...I don't know what to say."
His eyes lit up. Great. Now the big dork knew he was winning. Hugging me more tightly to him, he grinned, "That's simple: say yes."
I squinted up to him, pursing my lips to the left. Then to the right. Then, just as I was slowly opening my mouth to speak-
-a throat suddenly cleared nearby.
Like, really nearby.
Both Lea and I tensed before turning our heads to discover none other than Saïx standing not two inches away from us looking quite perturbed.
To be fair, Saïx usually looked perturbed. It just seemed to be his face's default setting. But this was more perturbed than usual.
Lea quirked an eyebrow at him, but grinned, "Hey, big guy! Ya mind? Kinda in the middle of something here."
"And I do so hate to interrupt, truly," he said flatly, his cold unblinking gaze locked on his brother, "but I fear we have a rather pressing matter to discuss that cannot wait."
His eyebrows knit together. "...which would be?"
Saïx's hard stare was unyielding. "Do you think there is quite possibly something you may have forgot back at our mother's house?"
Cocking his head, Lea seemed even more genuinely confused now. Clearly racking his brain for a couple seconds, he then shrugged with a small shake of his head, "Like what?"
"ME, you DOLT!" Saïx snarled, slugging Lea in the shoulder hard enough to force a pained grunt out of him.
I inhaled sharply through my nose, eyes widening.
There was no way we'd actually-
We couldn't have honestly-
We didn't-
...did we really?
I thought back to yesterday, though it was a struggle to remember a clear picture through the fog of grogginess. Had Saïx been in the car with us on the trip back? Had he not? Try as I might, I just simply could not remember one way or another. But I suppose it could be (and in fact was) completely possible, especially considering Lea had had Saïx's car keys and I had had his code to start the engine.
In our state of panic and rush to get out of there, had we really just totally spaced on the fact that we didn't have him with us?
"Oh gosh, Saïx, I'm so sorry we left you behind!" I bemoaned in horror.
Lea laughed, "Relax, El, don'tcha know that with me as your boyfriend, that makes everything my fault? You're off the hook, I'm the only one he's mad at."
"He's right, I don't blame you at all." Although Saïx was talking to me, his irked gaze never left Lea. "You're not the one who forgot your own brother."
No, I just simply forgot a whole person. For a whole car ride. In his own friggin' car.
Elsa, Queen of Memory Lapse.
"Bah, I didn't forget ya, I just… thought you were in the backseat the entire time being really quiet!"
That earned Lea another punch to the arm.
Giving an annoyed huff as he rubbed his knuckles, Saïx asked with a bit less bite to his tone now, "I presume since I find you all still here at the hospital, the child has yet to be born?" At our silent nods, he moved to the nearest set of empty chairs and sat down with a soft huff, crossing his arms.
Huh. Guess he was going to join us for sharing Rayne's and Riku's joy in this blessed event.
I gingerly took a seat next to him, Lea plopping down in the chair on my other side. As his arm wrapped around my shoulders, he piped up with a huge smile, "Got some good news that I think'll clear up that black rain cloud hanging over your head there, Mr Grumps McSourpuss: El's moving in with us!"
My back stiffened and I whipped my head around to narrow my eyes up at him, "I haven't said yes yet."
Saïx was eyeing me oddly from the corner of his peripheral. "...you mean you weren't already living with us?"
"There ya have it! Saïx's official stamp of approval! Now ya gotta say yes," Lea beamed, smoothing his hand up and down my arm.
My eyelids drooped. "...one, in what universe was that even remotely a stamp of approval? And two, no, I don't 'gotta' do anything, least of all say yes."
"But you will," he winked at me, pressing a kiss to my cheek. Then he was looking past me towards Saïx once more, a thoughtful frown twisting his lips. "Hey… since we jacked your wheels, how'd you even get back here?"
Saïx fixed him with a dull stare. Then he shifted his crossed arms more tightly against his chest, closed his eyes and hitched his chin. "...wouldn't you like to know."
Lea snerked. "I would in fact, thus why I asked."
"What's that inanely childish saying you do so love to spout of? ...that's for me to know and you to find out?"
"C'mon, man," he groaned out. "This is gonna bug the crap outta me now until ya tell me."
One corner of his lips cruelly curled up. "I know."
Apparently, Saïx was swift to enact his vengeance when the need arose.
A tiny scowl emerged on my boyfriend's face, but before he could shoot off whatever acerbic retort he undoubtedly already had locked and loaded, I stopped him with a touch to his arm as I said, "Lea." He glanced down at me and I nodded towards the far corner of the waiting room. "Look."
He followed my gaze to a familiar woman with silver hair pulled back into a ponytail made of several tiny braids and the same green eyes as Lea. Aranea apparently was not aware that we had just noticed her, for she was too busy inspecting the selection available over at the hospital's coffee station with her nose wrinkled.
"Ah," Lea breathed, gracing his brother with a mildly sour look. "That's how ya got back. Ya bummed a ride outta our old lady."
Saïx said nothing, just continued to stare stoically straight ahead.
Blowing out a breath that made his lips flap, Lea turned his eyes towards his mother once more. A heartbeat of hesitation. Then making a sound that was half growl, half sigh, Lea muttered. "Be right back. Ma and I have some unfinished business." I smiled softly as he planted a smooch to my temple and I gave his hand a quick squeeze before releasing it as he stood up.
I watched Aranea perk up as she spotted Lea approaching. They exchanged a few words that I was too far away to hear, her grinning the whole time, him ruffling his fingers through his hair as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Then it seemed they decided to find somewhere else to have their talk for they then walked out of the waiting room.
Off to a good start at least, it seemed. Letting go a tiny exhale of relief, I glanced over at the chairs across from us once more to where Anna sat as I considered possibly shifting over to a seat near her. But seeing as she was currently otherwise, er… occupied with, hrm… inspecting Kristoff's tonsils with her tongue, I decided against it.
Ugh, gross, I did not need to see that.
Instead, I turned my attention to Saïx. My lips parted and I took in a breath to say something, but then I hesitated and clamped my mouth shut, staring down at where I was fiddling with my fingers in my lap. Then I cleared my throat, looked over at him once more and tried again, "Would it... really be okay with you if… if I decided to move in?"
His eyes flicked over to me briefly without turning his head. Then releasing a nearly inaudible sigh through his nose, he stared straight forward once again. "I consider you among a small, select handful of people I can tolerate and would even go so far as to say enjoy the company of. If my asinine fool of a brother has against all odds actually managed to persuade you somehow into agreeing to move in with him, then by all means, your presence on a more permanent basis could only be a considerable improvement on our day-to-day lives around the apartment." He paused and for a second it seemed that was all he had to say on the subject. Then then added a bit more quietly, "Besides, you make my brother happy. Far be it from me to stand in the way of that, even if I wanted to."
A small smile tugged at my lips. "...he makes me happy too."
Saïx gave a low hmph at that, closing his eyes. "I would hope so. Otherwise, what would be the point?"
On that note, the conversation ended. As he seemed more than content to remain in a companionable silence, I reached over the seat Lea had vacated and towards the little table on the other side, plucking up one of the outdated magazines provided by the hospital from it and slowly began flipping through its pages.
A short while later, I heard a door opening and I glanced up to see that Lea and Aranea were walking back into the waiting room. Neither one looked like they wanted to murder each other, so I took that as a good sign. In fact, they almost, almost seemed somewhat chummy.
I set the periodical aside and both Saïx and I rose as they approached, which prompted a chuckle from Aranea, "No need to get up, I'm not staying. Just wanted to give my other knucklehead kid one last hug before hitting the road," she embraced Saïx, which he accepted as stony-faced as ever. Then she turned to me with a sly little smirk, "Plus I hear congrats are in order."
My eyes blinked. "...they are?"
"Course! You two lil lovebirds are gonna be living together soon, after all!"
I twitched, then shot Lea a flat look. "I haven't said yes yet."
He grinned, stepping closer to take my hand and bring it up to his lips. "Key word there: yet."
Oh-ho, he thought he was being cute. Even as I opened my mouth to prove just how wrong he was however, Aranea suddenly snagged me into a bone-crushing bear hug as she chirped, "Take care, shortcake!" She gave me one final squeeze before releasing me to rest a hand on my shoulder, "And if either of my boys give you any trouble, you gimme a call, I'll be only too happy to knock some sense into 'em!"
Smiling, I nodded, "Thanks, I'll be sure to do that. Have a safe trip back."
Lea received a hug from her as well and though he returned it stiffly, it was remarkably warmer than the one they'd shared yesterday in the foyer of her home. With that, she made her way towards the exit, waving goodbye to us over her shoulder before disappearing through the door.
"I take it you two are getting along now," I said to Lea as I settled into my chair once again.
He took a seat too, stretching his arm out along the backrest behind my head. As his fingers began to idly toy with my braid, he pursed his lips to one side in thought. Then, "Ya know how you and your folks 'get along' now?" he brought up his other hand to form air quotes. At my nod, he said, "Well, it's kinda like that. We're… gonna work on it."
I reached for his hands, lacing our fingers together as I told him gently, "I'm glad you decided to give her a chance."
"I think I am too," he admitted, albeit somewhat begrudgingly.
Just then, the same door Aranea had left through opened once more, Sora and Kairi being the ones to step through this time, laughing over something they'd been talking about. It seemed their timing was impeccable, for that was also when the double doors on the other side of the room parted and in walked a very familiar white, inflatable robot. All of us immediately zeroed in on him and were on our feet in an flash as he greeted us with, "Hello, I am Baymax, your personal healthc-"
"Yeah, yeah, we know all that already, get to the good part, you giant balloon!" Anna hastily cut him off, rolling her eyes. "Do you actually have anything new to tell us? How's Ray-Ray doing?"
"The delivery was a success," Baymax announced, managing to sound almost pleased somehow despite there being no actual change in the mechanical tone of his voice. "Everyone is happy and healthy. The new family is ready to accept visitors and have welcomed you all back to their room."
There was a mixture of whoops and relieved sighs all around before all of us, Saïx included, followed the robot as he led the way past those doors and towards the maternity ward. Not a minute later found us all crowding back into their hospital room. I spotted Riku first at his wife's bedside, facing her so his back was to us. As for Rayne, she looked absolutely exhausted and like she'd been to hell and back twice, but she positively radiated pure joy and love for the little bundle I could now see her holding in her arms. As she looked up at our entrance, she proudly beamed and said, "Everyone… I'd like you to meet Aria."
"...and Cayde," Riku added, smirking as he turned around to reveal he was cradling a second baby.
"TWO?!" Lea gaped, wide-eyed gaze darting back and forth between them while the rest of us were too stunned to even speak.
"That's right! Two!" Rayne chirped in delight.
Sora was the next one to find his voice, only to blurt out, "Twins?!"
"No, we liked the first one so much, we decided to randomly steal a second one from one of the other cribs when no one was looking," Riku deadpanned before snorting with a shake of his head. "Of course they're twins, doofus."
"But you never said anything about twins," Anna was already adopting a baby voice as she approached Riku, wasting no time making funny faces at Cayde.
Gently rocking little Aria as Rayne watched her fondly, she said, "We didn't know. No one did, not until Cayde shocked us all by showing up hot on the heels of his big sis. Guess the doctors missed him during all those check-ups and sonograms somehow."
"How do they miss a whole other baby inside of you for months?!" Kristoff shook his head in disbelief.
"Who knows, but it's not unheard of. We're not the first couple this has ever happened to." Glancing over to Cayde, Rayne grinned as she reached out a fingertip to tickle the underside of one of his tiny feet. "...he was a surprise, that's for sure, but a happy one."
"I'll say!" Kairi giggled, stepping forward to gently squish Aria's cheeks as she cooed, "This just gives Auntie Kairi and Unkie Sora twice the niblings to wub, doesn't it? Doesn't it? Yes it does!"
"Speaking of which… Kristoff." The man in question stood up straighter as Rayne suddenly locked eyes with him and told him in no uncertain terms, "We're gonna need a second reindeer."
He dragged a hand down the side of his face and sighed. "...I'll talk to Frozone."
Rayne crinkled her nose as she hummed a soft laugh, then her eyes landed on me as I approached her bedside. "Oh, Elsa, there was something I… we," she amended, exchanging a glance and a tiny nod with her husband, "wanted to talk to you about… we'd absolutely love it if you'd be the twins' godmother."
The finger I was waggling at Aria froze as my gaze widened and snapped up to meet hers. "Who, me? Really?" By the look in both the new parents' eyes, they were serious. Dead serious. "Oh! Why, uh… yes. Yes of course! I'd be very honored," I smiled.
"And Sora," Riku chimed in now, causing his cousin to pause mid-sticking his tongue out and crossing his eyes at Cayde. "We were hoping you'd be their godfather."
Sora blinded us all with his signature huge, thousand-watt grin. "Absolutely! I'm gonna make the best godfather ever, you'll see! I- wait…" His brow furrowed and he gasped, whipping his head around towards me now with a slight look of panic. "Does… does that make us... god-married?"
"Yes. It does."
And who was it, one might wonder, to deliver that answer in full earnest and with a completely straight face?
Saïx.
That's right. Saïx.
Which is probably why Sora took him at his word and didn't even think to question it. Nostrils flaring and with a steely look of determination now, he informed Lea, "I promise to take good care of her."
Not missing a beat, Lea nodded firmly, "You better, lil man, otherwise I will end you."
I elbowed my boyfriend in the gut, forcing a wheeze out of him. As everyone else sniggered around us, I sighed, "No, Sora, that doesn't make us god-married, it doesn't make us god-anything."
"Oh good! Whew!"
At that point, conversation for the most part subsided in favor of everyone trying to squeeze in to fawn over the new babies. After a minute of this, I decided to take the opportunity to snag Lea (dragging him away from playing with Aria's "widdle toesy-wosies" - his words, not mine) and pull him off to one side of the room away from the others. They hardly even noticed us stepping away, so enamored were they all with the little ones.
I faced him, holding both his hands in mine as I took in a deep breath and released it before uttering a single word. "Yes."
His face immediately lit up, but he quickly schooled his expression and cleared his throat, asking casually, "Yes? Yes what?"
Ugh, he knew very damn well what, he just wanted to hear me say it. Rolling my eyes but unable to fight a small grin, I said, "Yes, I'll move in with you. It just makes sense, after all, now that they have twins, there's even less room for me in their apartment and-"
I didn't get to finish that sentence as he smiled fiercely and grabbed my face, planting a firm kiss to my lips before laughing as he hugged me, picked me up and spun me around.
"Temporarily," I insisted, arms instinctively latching around his neck to steady myself.
"Yeah, yeah, of course, temporarily," he agreed, putting me down while still grinning like an idiot.
I poked his chest a couple times, "I mean it. I'm going to keep looking for my own place and the second I find something, I'm moving right back out."
"Whatever ya say, babydoll!"
Funny thing is though…
...I never did end up actually moving out.
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Author's Note: MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Hope you all enjoyed the millions of teeny references I sprinkled in - my aesthetic, as I'm sure you're all aware at this point xP (My fave was something Lea said towards the very end, did you guys catch that it was a reference? I hope so :3) Regarding Sora's lil stand-up comedy act, I unfortunately cannot take credit for any of his material - I just googled a bunch of Final Fantasy jokes xD I can't even take credit for the cactuar jokes for even tho I couldn't find any ACTUAL cactuar jokes out there on the internet, I just googled cactus jokes instead xD And yes, there are IN FACT cactus jokes out there, and a LOT of them lawl! And woo, Lea and his mom made up… sort of! xD Sorry that happened off screen, part of it was I thought it wasn't a conversation that Elsa would really be present for, part of it was I didn't want to take focus off the main points of this chapter, and part of it was I was just too lazy to write it at this time xD Maybe I'll go back at a later date and write a Lea POV chapter for this lil chat with his mum, we'll see! But for now, at least we got a lil closure on that front! And aaaaahhhhh, our ice and fire bbies are taking a big step and moving in together, yaaaaaay! :3 I knew that was definitely a relationship milestone I wanted to cover in one of these bonus chapters and this just seemed like a fun way to bring it about xD
The next one-shot is set during Christmas time! Which I know, lil late, should have posted it today xD But I'd kinda locked myself into the baby chapter with the way the last chapter ended and the babies are born in September, so couldn't combine them into one chapter xD So consider next week's update just a bit of a belated Christmas present! And I'll say this about the next bonus chapter: It's gonna be pure crack xD Trust me, there will be no substance whatsoever, it's just mindless silliness and slightly scandalous and mildly salacious (but still 100% family friendly… ish... haha!). Basically, if PG horny hijinx doesn't interest you, you might wanna skip the next chapter xD You've been warned!
Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!
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