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twomanyideas · 3 years

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The Grill Next Door

A collaboration by @mdelpin and @oryu404

Gratsu Week 2021 Prompt(s): Impress, Smile, Smokey Pairing: Gray x Natsu

AO3

Summary: Natsu had to repress a loud snort when he caught his first glimpse of his neighbor. The guy was dressed in only a pair of black boxers, his fair skin slick and shiny from the thick layer of sunblock he had applied. His back had white streaks and missed spots all over it from where he hadn’t been able to distribute it evenly, and some of the lotion was sticking to the dark hairs on his neck.

But the absolute worst thing of all was that he obviously had no idea how to use a barbeque properly.

0-0 Summer was arguably the worst time to be moving. Who in their right mind would want to spend all day inside unpacking boxes when it was 90 degrees outside? Definitely not Natsu, and yet here he was, dragging another box full of stuff up the stairs in his new home. He was grateful for his friends, who had been there when he’d gotten the key and helped him clean the house, paint some walls, and install the larger pieces of furniture. But now that there was only the smaller clutter left, he was on his own, and he was missing out on all the summer fun. His friends were all enjoying themselves without him; spending their free time at the beach or the pool, barbecuing in their yards, raiding the ice cream parlor… “Soon…” Natsu sighed to himself. Soon, he could join them again. He just had a few more boxes filled with necessary items to go.

He’d already unpacked the ones filled with kitchen utensils and Happy’s stuff. All that was left were his toiletries and a few clothes. He’d sort through the rest of his crap bit by bit, one or two boxes every night until he was done. That way, he could still get the most out of the vacation days he'd pulled out for moving. He opened the box he’d brought upstairs with him and groaned; of course, he’d grabbed the wrong one. Instead of towels and shower products, he was looking at some of the housewarming gifts he’d gotten. A key hanger from Lucy, because he was always losing his keys. A baking set from Erza, which Natsu had to admit was the most optimistic gift he’d ever gotten, and a cute houseplant from Wendy, carefully wrapped up in brown paper, with wet paper towels to keep the soil moist.

There were a few more small gifts, but Natsu’s attention was drawn to the flat package at the bottom. More specifically, to the image that was on it, giving away what was inside: a bright pink flamingo kiddie pool. “So you can have a pool in your backyard!” Sting had grinned when Natsu unwrapped the gift. It was obviously a gag gift, and at the time, Natsu had seen the humor in it. He’d even joked that he’d call Sting for a pool party once he was all settled in, but right now, it only fueled his longing to do something fun. Actually… Screw unpacking, he’d do that later. One look through the window, at the bright blue sky and the burning sun, was all it took to finalize his decision. He picked up the box and took it downstairs again, quickly watering the plant before it could die in the summer heat, and putting it on a windowsill. Leaving the rest of the box’s contents for now, he took out the inflatable pool and started digging through one of the other boxes in search of his swim trunks.

He’d done enough for today. He was going to sit in his backyard and enjoy his stupid pool, damn it. Once he’d changed into his swimwear, he applied a thin layer of sunblock he’d found during his search for a towel. He went outside with the pool under his arm, sticking his foot out when he slipped through the sliding door to keep Happy from sneaking outside.

“Sorry buddy, you can’t go out yet,” he apologized, knowing that it was for the best.

They'd only moved in a few days ago, and Happy needed to get used to his new home. If he were to run away, he'd get lost trying to find his way back to their old apartment, and the last thing Natsu wanted was to end up like Rogue, who had spent all night frantically searching for Frosch when he had just moved in with Sting and failed to shut the front door behind him fast enough. Still, Natsu couldn’t help but feel guilty at the sight of Happy pawing at him from behind the glass. Maybe he could get him a cat leash tomorrow, so he could at least explore the backyard safely. One thing was for sure, he’d definitely give him some of his favorite fish treats to make up for a few hours of sitting alone inside. With that in mind, he smiled and took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh summer air and the delicious smell that came along with it. It was one of his favorites, and he instantly recognized it. One of his neighbors was grilling in his backyard. Too curious for his own good, Natsu followed the scent. His nose told him it was coming from the house to his left, from the backyard that was only separated from his by a tall wooden fence. Tall, but not tall enough to keep Natsu away. He was just able to peek over the top if he stood on his tippy toes.

He wanted to get an idea of who was living next to him, that’s all. Okay, and maybe he wanted to live through them a little as they indulged in one of his all-time favorite summer activities. \

Natsu had to repress a loud snort when he caught his first glimpse of his neighbor. The guy was dressed in only a pair of black boxers, his fair skin slick and shiny from the thick layer of sunblock he had applied. His back had white streaks and missed spots all over it from where he hadn’t been able to distribute it evenly, and some of the lotion was sticking to the dark hairs on his neck. But the absolute worst thing of all was that he obviously had no idea how to use a barbeque properly. “You know, your food is going to cook more evenly and taste a lot better if you close the lid,” Natsu suggested, bursting out in laughter when the guy jumped and almost dropped his tongs. “Idiot!” He whirled around and glared at Natsu, waving the tongs in the air as he stomped closer. Damn! This guy was actually pretty cute when he was mad.

"I almost burned myself. What were you thinking?!"

"That you weren't doing those ribs the justice they deserve," Natsu retorted, frustration rising within him once he managed to tear his eyes away from his half-naked neighbor and focus back on the grill. All that delicious aroma-filled smoke that would've added so much flavor to that gorgeous meat was getting away!

It was a fucking crime.

"Pay attention to what you were doing, you jackass! You gotta flip them over!"

The guy quickly returned to his grill to tend to his ribs, cursing as he fumbled with the tongs while trying to keep a safe distance between the searing heat of the barbecue and his own bare ribs.

"Man, you really suck at this," Natsu couldn't resist pointing out.

"Oh, and I suppose _you _could do better?"

In all honesty, Natsu was a terrible cook. He lacked the ability to multitask in the kitchen, always made an enormous mess, and often combined ingredients that his friends insisted should never be combined.

However, cooking and grilling were two completely different things to him. His dad had taught him how to cook meat on an open fire or a makeshift grill during camping trips since he was little, and he had it down to a fine art by now.

"You're damn right I can," he scoffed, taking the question as a challenge and being kind enough to climb over the fence and invite himself to his neighbor's backyard so he could show him how it was done.

"What are you doing?!"

"Saving your meat, of course! Move over."

Too stunned by what was happening, the guy didn't protest when Natsu snatched away the tongs. He just watched with his mouth open as Natsu flipped the ribs and set the grate to a higher level, making sure they'd cook slower. And much to Natsu’s amusement, it wasn't just the grill he was staring at.

Satisfied with his intervention, Natsu closed the lid and stepped back. "There, that should do it!" he grinned, putting the tongs down on a plate on the nearby table so he could hold out his hand in greeting. "I'm Natsu, by the way. I just moved here last Wednesday."

"... Gray," his neighbor replied, frowning warily but still accepting Natsu's hand and shaking it briefly. "Do you always stick your nose into other people's business like that?"

“Just wait, you’ll be thanking me soon enough.” Natsu said, amused by his neighbor's grumpy tone. “Anyway, you should be fine as long as you leave the lid closed for about an hour.”

“An hour?” Gray complained, “I thought grilling was supposed to be faster.”

“I mean, do you want fast, or do you want good?” Natsu drawled suggestively. He wasn’t sure if it was the beautiful weather or just the high he felt from having had a hot guy so obviously checking him out because normally he wasn’t much of a flirt, but he felt the urge to test the waters. “Cause I could show you both.”

Gray surprised him by laughing heartily at his innuendo. “There is seriously nothing subtle about you, is there?”

“Nope.” Natsu agreed and laughed along. “Well, it was nice to meet you. I’ll leave you to your grilling, gotta go set up my pool.”

He climbed the fence to get back into his yard, hearing Gray yell behind him. “You’re going to get yourself killed. Just use the gate next time.”

“But then, how could I show you my best asset?” Natsu retorted once he was safely over, chuckling as Gray muttered something he couldn’t quite make out. He wasn’t too worried, though. After all Gray had said next time.

0-0

Gray looked back at the grill, already tempted to open the lid and check on the ribs. What was he supposed to do for an hour? He’d mowed the grass earlier, and he didn’t feel comfortable staying inside while the grill was going.

The sun felt overly hot on his skin and he found shelter under a tree in his backyard. Playing on his phone had netted him ten minutes of entertainment and two group conversations he wasn’t all that interested in.

Maybe Natsu did know what he was talking about because the smell of the ribs cooking was making his mouth water in ravenous anticipation. Thinking about his new neighbor brought a smile to his face, especially since he heard odd noises coming from the other side of the fence. Didn’t he say something about a pool?

With all this time to kill, maybe he should go return the favor and see what he was up to.

With that in mind, Gray walked over to the fence and peered over it, unable to hold back a snort when he saw Natsu sitting on the ground and puffing air into a pink flamingo-shaped pool.

"Wow, I guess you really are full of hot air."

Natsu looked up at him, flashing that grin Gray was quickly developing a weak spot for. "So you think I'm hot?"

Yes, he sure as hell did, but he wasn’t about to give Natsu the satisfaction of saying so. At least... not yet.

“I think you’re having an awfully hard time blowing, which is… disappointing.”

"Huh. Never had any complaints before." Natsu shrugged, returning his attention to blowing air into the flamingo.

“Why don’t you let me show you how it’s done?” Gray said, feeling confident.

God knows he’d blown up a ton of these things for his brother’s kid. He’d quickly learned there was a little trick to it. You had to squeeze the valve as you blew into it or the air wouldn’t get in properly. Clearly, his hot dumbass of a neighbor didn't get that.

“You want to show me how well you blow?” Natsu tilted his head, looking amused by Gray’s suggestion. “How can I say no to that?”

Gray let himself into Natsu’s backyard, using the gate that connected their properties, like a normal person, and grabbed the pool away from Natsu. Using his trick, he quickly filled both rings of the pool.

“Color me impressed.” Natsu whistled in appreciation once Gray set the pool down on the grass. He filled it with water from the hose, which he oh so charmingly put between his legs, giggling to himself as he swung it around.

How the guy could go from flirting to acting like a five-year-old within the blink of an eye was beyond Gray, but he had to admit that it was oddly endearing.

Natsu jumped in with both feet as soon as the pool was filled, watching with glee as water sloshed out onto the grass from his efforts. He sat down, stretching his legs out in front of him, and immediately propped his arms around the pool’s rim.

“That feels so much better!” Natsu moaned happily.

Now that Natsu was inside it, Gray couldn't help but notice that the pool could fit two people, albeit a little snugly considering their size. And though normally he wouldn't be caught dead in one of these things- especially a pink flamingo one- it was a very hot day, and Natsu’s yard was a lot shadier than his.

"You want in?" Natsu asked, his lips stretching into a mischievous smile.

Gray’s eyes were drawn to the slightly pointy canines, finding them incredibly sexy, and he immediately wondered what kissing that mouth would feel like as Natsu patted the empty spot next to him invitingly.

What had gotten into him? He’d just met the guy, knew next to nothing about him, yet here he was acting like a hormone driven teenager. It wasn’t like him at all, but he couldn’t deny the chemistry that sizzled between them, so palpable he could almost touch it.

Besides, what was wrong with having a little fun? It was summer, and he had been in a bit of a dry spell for months.

That thought decided him.

“I suppose I could join you for a bit.”

He had just stepped one foot inside the pool when, to his surprise, Natsu stopped him. “Hang on a minute. I didn’t say you could come in. I only asked if you wanted to.”

“If you want in-” Natsu winked at him. “It’s gonna cost ya.”

“Cost me?” Gray sputtered in protest. “You can’t be serious.”

“Dead serious. I will be more than happy to share my pool with you on this incredibly hot day, but only if you share some of those ribs with me.”

Gray had already been planning on doing that, but it was infinitely more fun to make Natsu work for it.

“I don’t know,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, which only netted him greasy fingers from the sunblock he’d slathered on earlier. “It seems to me like you’re getting the better end of the deal here. This is just a kiddie pool after all.”

“Alright, you drive a hard bargain, but I can respect that. How about this then? I’ll throw in some of my world famous special sauce.”

“World famous?” Gray scoffed, “It’s probably just something you picked up at the grocery store, but… okay, I’ll bite.”

“You promise?” Natsu gave him a cheeky smirk, one that ignited a need in Gray to get in that damn pool right the hell now and show him what he intended to do.

“You’ve got yourself a deal,” Gray said. “Just don’t complain if it ends up being more than you bargained for.”

Gray was so determined to get in there that he completely forgot he was already partly in the pool, and tripped over the edge when he tried to step in. He caught himself with his hands but still ended up splashing Natsu, not to mention had the wind yanked out of his sails.

He looked up to see the damage. The water had darkened Natsu’s pink hair and flattened it against his face, softening his features and somehow making the bastard look even more attractive. Gray watched in rapt fascination as a drop of water traveled from Natsu’s cheek, joining others on its way down his neck and over his chest until rejoining the rest of the water at waist level.

“You’re right,” Natsu laughed loudly, slicking his hair back and away from his face. “That was definitely more than I bargained for. Nice entrance, by the way.”

Gray was utterly mortified, and he scrambled to sit down, desperately trying to come up with a witty comeback, but before he could say a word, Natsu had already splashed him.

“There you go. No need to make that face. It’s a pool. We were going to get wet, eventually.” Natsu shrugged, his expression gradually changing to distaste as he looked at the water.

“Dude, what did you use for sunblock, SPF lard?”

“I burn easily!” Gray protested, smoothing out the bits of sunblock he could see on his skin.

“Yeah? Then maybe you should actually get it on all of your skin. Turn around.”

“It’s hard to reach back there! Besides, you just want an excuse to get your hands on me,” he argued, but did as he was told anyway, turning his back to Natsu.

“Yeah, that’s the idea. Are you complaining?”

Gray pouted but remained silent.

“That’s what I thought.”

It was hard to miss the smug tone in his voice.

Natsu’s hands spread the globs of lotion evenly across his back, occasionally stopping to knead on one of his muscles and then concentrating on his shoulders. Gray closed his eyes, biting his lip so as not to let on how much he was enjoying it. If this was what he got in exchange for some barbecued ribs, he'd love to know what other types of food Natsu liked.

“There you go.” Natsu said, giving his shoulders one last squeeze. “You can turn around now. It should be safe for you to walk in daylight again.”

Gray turned just in time to see Natsu lean back into his previous position.

“Are you implying I'm some sort of vampire? Cause I’m not the one with the pointy teeth.”

“No, but you are the one who offered to bite me.”

“True.” Gray laughed, and not wanting to lose the mood, he made his move, adjusting from a sitting position to a half straddle. He leaned in, close enough that he could feel the slight puff of Natsu’s breaths on his face as he murmured, “I can still make that happen.”

“You talk too much.” Natsu said just as quietly, peering into his eyes for a split second before closing his eyes and bridging the distance between them.

Gray hadn’t expected Natsu’s body to feel so warm against his, especially considering they were both wet from the pool water, and he instinctively pulled him closer. As arousing as the kiss was, and Natsu sucking on his tongue was definitely doing things to him, he realized he had no urge to push for more.

That should have been his first warning.

But he wasn’t really thinking about anything. His world had narrowed down to sensations. The torrid heat of Natsu’s mouth, the sharp sting of teeth nibbling on his lips, and the tingling pleasure of his hair being tugged, coupled with the sounds they were both making. Needy moans that would have embarrassed him if Natsu hadn’t sounded the same.

Gray liked it all a little too much. Already, the thought of separating filled him with a sense of dread. And perhaps that should have been his second warning.

He was busy running his hands up and down Natsu’s back when he felt him let go of his hair. His hands trailed down to his chest, but no lower, and he pulled away, leaving Gray to chase after him. Confused and more than a little disappointed, Gray opened his eyes. Natsu sat perfectly still, his eyes slightly widening as he sniffed the air. “THE RIBS!!!” Oh crap! He’d forgotten all about the ribs!

“Go open the lid,” Natsu urged, scrambling to get up and out of the pool. “I’ll be there in a few minutes with the sauce.”

Gray watched Natsu enter his house and then hurried over to his yard. The food smelled even better than before and when he opened the lid and poked the ribs with the tongs; he saw they were indeed done, the meat tender and ready to fall off the bone. Rather than stand around waiting awkwardly, he grabbed two beers from his fridge along with plates, napkins and utensils to bring outside.

He opened the sliding door that led to his backyard and found Natsu brushing sauce onto the ribs from an unmarked blue bottle. There was a content smile on his face as he worked away, and Gray felt a flutter in his stomach at the sight.

Shit!

He’d never been one for one-night stands, so why had he thought he’d just be able to go along this time? Because Natsu was hot and seemed willing?

Gray wanted to know more about him, but he wasn’t sure if Natsu felt the same way or if this was just a game he liked to play. What would happen if he played along to its inevitable conclusion? Would that be the end of it? The two of them- probably awkwardly- moving on as just neighbors who happened to have hooked up?

Was it wrong of him to want more?

Natsu looked up then, waving at him and gesturing him over. His smile widened when he noticed the beer bottles Gray was holding.

“Ooh, beer wasn’t part of the deal! I must have kissed you real good!” Natsu teased, accepting the bottle and easing some of the uncertainty Gray had felt about whether things would turn awkward after their make-out session in the pool.

“You’ll notice this is only domestic beer, so I wouldn’t get too full of myself if I were you.” Gray retorted, still playing along.

“Meh, beer is beer, and it goes great with ribs.”

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that.”

The back and forth was nice, but Gray was itching to ask what was really on his mind.

Can I keep you? Or will you run off after the next pretty face that strikes your fancy?

The lid of the barbecue closed again, and Natsu walked over. “They should be ready in about five more minutes.”

He clinked bottles with him and took a swig. Gray followed suit and decided to just go for it. He’d rather know what to expect than hope for something that wasn’t meant to be.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” he blurted out, sounding a bit more eager than he would have liked.

“Sure, shoot.”

Natsu gave no sign he knew what was coming, or at least that’s what his relaxed posture seemed to broadcast.

“Do you do this kind of thing often?”

“Moving? God, no, I hate it with a passion. Might as well bury me here cause I’m never doing it again.”

“No,” Gray frowned. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know.” Natsu mock sighed, “I’m just trying to think of an answer that won’t go to your head.”

“What?” Gray didn’t know what to make of that answer. Was he trying to find a way to let him down gently?

“No, I don’t do this type of thing often.” Natsu admitted, meeting Gray’s eyes and holding his gaze. “Look, you’re hot and turned out to be fun to mess with, so I figured there was no harm in seeing where that led. But I’m not expecting anything if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Gray wanted to ask if that meant that he’d like to date, but to his chagrin, all that came out of his mouth was, “You think I’m hot?”

“See?” Natsu said, sounding amused. “What’d I tell you? Right to your head!”

He put his beer bottle down on the table and traded it in for the tongs and the plates before hurrying back to the grill to check on their food. Satisfied, he turned it off and heaped a large serving of ribs onto each plate.

Gray followed him to the table, only then noticing the sliced watermelon Natsu must have brought with him from his house. He bit into one to buy himself some time to organize his thoughts.

Next to him, Natsu had already begun to dig in, messily devouring the ribs, stopping only long enough to take a sip from his beer. Gray shrugged and did the same. It wasn’t like his table manners were anything to write home about, either. The moment the meat from the ribs touched his tongue, his taste buds were assaulted with flavor. Sweet, salty, spicy… all blending together in perfect harmony. It was by far the best ribs Gray had ever tasted. He could hardly believe they’d come off his grill. He glanced at Natsu admiringly. Not that he noticed, focused as he was on his plate.

“So, what other things can you make?”

Natsu looked up at his question. There was a glob of sauce at the corner of his mouth, driving Gray all sorts of crazy with the urge to kiss it off him, but he held strong.

For now.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but this is it. I can’t cook worth a damn.”

“That’s too bad.” Gray tried but failed to suppress a smile. “Guess I’ll just have to show you all the best places to eat around here, then. You busy tomorrow night?”

Natsu shook his head, breaking into a smile so blinding it wiped every single thought out of Gray’s head. Save one.

"Nope, I'm all yours," Natsu answered after what looked like a brief moment of contemplation.

Gray sure as hell liked the sound of that.

“There’s just one thing…”

Natsu tilted his head and scrunched up his nose in silent question, which was just perfect.

“You’ve got a little something there,” Gray said, leaning in and licking the sauce off before claiming Natsu’s lips hungrily.

The kiss tasted like sauce and beer, but most of all, it tasted like more. And more was definitely bound to follow soon, tomorrow night, and many more days after.

Gray could feel it.

#fairy tail #gratsu #gratsuweek2k21 #natray #gray x natsu #natsu x gray #Gratsu Week 2021 #fics #other #prompt: impress #prompt: smile #prompt: smokey #humor #flirty

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enochianribs · 3 years

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Chapter 2 of the Cabin AU is up now!

Read on Ao3 here, or under the cut.

(Reblogs appreciated!)

The roof had a leak. Dean woke up to a growing wet spot on the pillow next to his. He laid still, eyes crossing as he stared at the ceiling, watching the bead of water run across one of the unfinished boards, suspending itself for an entire minute until it plopped right next to his head. Slowly, his mind pulled itself out of his dream, though the haze lingered. The roof had a leak. Dean woke up to a growing wet spot on the pillow next to his. He laid still, eyes crossing as he stared at the ceiling, watching the bead of water run across one of the unfinished boards, suspending itself for an entire minute until it plopped right next to his head. Slowly, his mind pulled itself out of his dream, though the haze lingered.

“Mmm...great.” Another item on his to-do list.

Dean was willing to bet there were more leaks in the living room.

For a moment he debated allowing himself to be lulled back to sleep. It was all too easy to slip back to that dream again: blurry hands, soft mouths, quiet murmurs, everything he missed and everything he’d never had. Not really.

Rain gently pattered against the outside of the cabin, the storm grinding in from the East and then settling its haunches right over the hills to stay for the night. The sun was rising, and the pink sky cast shadows from the drops on the window pane, little spots phantom dripping down his sheets.

It was the first morning since he’d gotten to the cabin that he’d slept in past sunrise. Sluggishly, he sat up, diggin the heel of his hand into his eyes as a yawn fought its way out of his chest. He turned his head, and reached out with a hand to wake his companion, before reality caught up with him and his hand fell to the mattress, going through the ghost.

That’s right , he thought. His mouth tasted like ash.

If he laid there any longer his chest would become heavy, and his breaths ragged, so he tossed the covers off, and trudged over to the shower. The cold water bit through the fog better than anything else could, and he leaned his temple against the glass door waiting for it to heat up and fill the room with steam.

Normally, he’d air dry, but it was chilly and an urgency hung around him. He grabbed the bleach-spotted towel hanging sadly by the door towelled off quickly.

He wandered idly, picking his daily morning tasks up and dropping them before he’d complete them. Something pulled him around the house. He was forgetting something.

Dean was midway through folding the quilt and draping it on the sofa arm when they caught his eye.

Two large feathers sat in the middle of the massive dining table (he still wondered who had built and what they’d been thinking— the thing could seat the knights of the round table if necessary). Tugging the fridge door with one hand he reached blindly for the pot of coffee he kept iced, and nudged it closed with his knee, never taking his eyes off them.

They were captivating. He continued to stare as he poured himself a cup, spilling some of the coffee onto the counter. He’d forget to clean it up, and it would stain, but that was okay. If they asked, he was experimenting with wood staining.

Dean could examine them once he made himself some kind of breakfast. Those were the rules: remember to feed yourself, and then you can do whatever you want to with your day. Breakfast ended up being toast and jam, and he plopped it down at the end seat of the table, and reached for the feathers before he took a bite.

The color on the first one was so dark it looked heavy, but it was as light in his hand as any feather should be. He held it up and squinted, twisting his wrist back and forth. It caught the light and reflected a shimmering oil slick back at him. The colors shifted, hues iridescent.

At first glance it could be a raven’s, but it was at least four times bigger than that.

The second one was more muted, the black towards the base of it dappled into a brown and white, and it was downy soft where the other was sharp and precise. Yesterday he’d thought it was grey but better light proved that it was a grey-brown.

He’d assumed that it was from the same bird— creature , but now he wasn’t so sure. Dean didn’t know the first thing about birds. However, he knew several people who did.

▵▿▵

“Hey, Bobby. Can I talk to Rufus?”

“He’s kinda in the middle of some’in’, Dean.” The roll of his eyes was audible, as someone yelped in the muffled background. “Can I call you back?”

“Please?” Dean asked, grinning cheekily even though he wasn’t there to warm Bobby over in person.

Bobby made a disgruntled noise and paused, before sighing. “You’re doing the face aren’t you?”

“Maybe.”

“Fine. You never want to talk to me .”

“You know that’s not true.”

“Hm.” Bobby replied. Out of spite, he kept the phone next to his face as he shouted for his attention. “Rufus! It’s Dean.”

Ouch , Dean mouthed wincing at the volume, as he listened to the sound of two old men grumbling at each other before fabric shifted, and Rufus picked up the phone.

“He lives.”

A smile burst its way through Dean’s concentration. “Hey Ruf, gotta question for you.”

“Coulda called us sooner. We were beginning to wonder if you’d sold the cabin and moved somewhere warmer with pink flamingos.”

The image made Dean snort. Him at the beach? Unlikely.

“Nope.” Dean quipped. “Still here and freezing my ass off. You guys ever think about installing a damn heater?”

“And pay that bill? Hell no. We added a fireplace, what more do you want from us.”

Good ol’ crabby Rufus. “What do you know about birds?”

“A lot.” As per usual, he was being obtuse.

“Know of any big enough to leave behind two foot feathers?”

Rufus whistled. “Not in North America, unless you’ve got ostriches running around.”

“That’d be a negatory. So there’s nothing you can think of?”

“Nope. Did you find something, kid?”

“Holding one right now.”

“No shit.” He could hear the bewildered tone of his voice over the shitty connection. “Well, I guess keep an eye out. It’d be real hard for something that big to hide, and even harder for it to sit comfortable in those pine trees with the branches so dense. I’d say you’re about to make the biggest zoological discovery in North America in the past century. Keep us posted?”

“Will do.” Dean said, and he heard Rufus handing the phone back over to Bobby.

“Hope everything’s okay up there, Dean.”

“Everything’s peachy, honestly. Anyways—” He checked the clock on the stove. 8:30. The hardware store would be open in a half hour. “I’ve got some errands to run, so I’ll leave you to whatever it is a couple of old farts do in retirement.”

“Hey—”

Dean grinned to himself. “See ya, Bobby.”

“Take care of yourself.”

“I will.”

The line went silent, and Dean shoved his phone back into his pocket, bobbing his head to the side in thought. Though he didn’t get a definitive answer, at least the call had eliminated the options of native fauna.

▵▿▵

At nine in the morning, Dean was usually one of a small line of people waiting outside Lafitte’s Goods to needle Benny’s brain for fixes and tools of the trade. Pamela was waiting against the brick wall, hand shielding the summer morning sun from her eyes, reading a 99 cent paper back with interest.

“Hey, Pamela.”

“Dean-o. Call me Pammy.”

“Really?”

“No, of course not. But Pam works. I’m not your mother.”

“You call your mom by her first name?”

“Fair point. What’re you here for?” She nodded her head and bounced off the wall, as Benny unlocked the doors. A couple of grizzled old men shuffled in ahead of them, beelining it for the plywood.

Porch season.

“Roof’s got a leak.”

“Leak season.”

“Apparently. This is the third one since I got here.”

She squinted at him, like he was omitting something important, and popped the bubble of gum in her mouth. Dean started to itch under her scrutiny. He hated being studied like a lab rat.

What was the woman? A witch? Why was she peeling back layers of his get-up without warning.

Dean coughed, and used Benny’s presence as an excuse to wiggle out from under her gaze. “Gotta— yeah, see you.” Turning on his heel he fled towards the adhesives, face contorting with embarrassment.

Holy fuck, somehow he’d gotten even more awkward.

Dear god, help me.

Benny never pried unless Dean seemed interested in offering up information, and for that Dean was actually incredibly grateful. Most days he didn’t want to talk about anything, certainly not his past, but Benny and his bushy beard and warm eyes had managed to wiggle through his walls, just a little.

“Benny.”

Benny stared at him from behind the register, inquisitive expression considerably easier to cope with than Barnes' hungry expression. A friendly smile danced across his face as he assessed Dean’s no-doubt rosey cheeks.

“She’s got her claws in you, huh.”

Dean ducked his head, glancing sideways at the brunette woman still looking at the different kinds of rope. A tramp stamp peeked out from under the bottom edge of her tank top. Dean tapped his fingers on the pock-marked wood counter and turned his attention back to his friend. “Is she always like that?”

“Sure is,” Benny drawled, ringing up everything Dean had haphazardly shoved onto the counter in his escape. “You just happen to be the newest, prettiest , plaything in Pringle.” The burly man winked.

Pink crawled up Dean’s neck from his collarbones and spread into his cheeks once again. Christ, there was no escape from these people. Still stammering, Dean practically ran back to the Impala.

▵▿▵

The phone vibrated in his back pocket. By the third ring, Dean had parked Baby in her usual spot, and he struggled to tug it out of his pocket, checking the Caller ID.

California.

He pumped the window down, the air getting warm inside the car, and he flipped the phone open, inhaling sharply. He should have called before now. Shouldn’t have let so much time pass. In the fall, he’d be too busy to take any of Dean’s calls anyways.

“Hello?”

“Dean?”

“Sammy.”

Several seconds of too-long silence passed between them.

“Where have you been?”

Dean swallowed, thick, guilt permeating the small space.

“Sorry, I just—” He didn’t have an excuse. “I didn’t know what to say.”

“You still could’ve picked up the phone. I tried to call you about six times. You don’t always need to have something to say, y’know… It just would’ve been nice to know you’re still breathing.” His brother’s voice was basically a whisper at the end.

“I know.” Dean closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing shakily. “I know.”

“I had to hear it from Bobby. Dean—” Sam’s voice pitched up to that octave it always did when he was upset. “Dad’s gone again.”

Fuck.

“And that’s fine. It’s not like I’m ten and incapable of caring for myself but I thought— I thought he’d be back by now. It’s been a couple of weeks.”

“Shit, Sammy.”

“I think he’s fine. He sent a vague text a couple of days ago, it’s just with school starting in two months I get worried. Not even for him, just for us. I can’t pay for school myself, and I can’t afford to miss anything because of Dad. If my grades drop, I’m out.”

“I know.” God, Dean knew.

Sam was a late bloomer for college. The kid was brilliant, but he’d been dealt a bad hand, and it was a miracle Rufus and Bobby had invested in a saving fund for the two of them decades ago. At twenty-two, Dean knew that he’d already had trouble securing the scholarships. Stanford wanted the best and brightest, not the kid with seven schools on his high school transcript and an overabundance of unexcused absences.

The guilt piled up and perched itself on his shoulders until he sagged into his seat under the heaviness. It was his job to keep John out of trouble, not Sammy’s. And instead he’d run away from that responsibility.

The repair materials sat in the backseat, and his heart twisted in his chest. The meadow sat peacefully in the late afternoon sun, just across the short distance of woods, and it still kept its secret. He didn’t want to go back. Not yet. Not until he’d had his fill of independence.

“Look,” He could kick himself for how his voice cracked. “If John doesn’t turn up by the end of the week, I’ll come back. I’ll help. Promise.”

For what it was worth, a facet of his brother’s relieved sigh sounded apologetic.“Thank you, Dean. I don’t know how to do this without you.”

“Okay then.”

“Bye.”

“Talk to you soon, Sammy.” Dean’s jaw clenched involuntarily, as he flipped the phone closed and tossed it against the passenger door. His frustrated shout echoed between him and the trees, but he didn’t feel better.

Always this .

Historically, John would do something stupid and irresponsible and Dean would drop everythign to clean up the mess and no one would thank him. Not really. That was fine.

Family was supposed to break your heart.

▵▿▵

The leak proved to be an easy fix.

Dean fought the attic door that led to the roof, following the small staircase up until he was on the balls of his feet, head sticking out as he pulled himself onto it. The shingles were rough, cracked and damaged from the winters, and he scrapped the length of his arm against it.

The source of the leak took only a minute to find. Five or so shingles were missing, leaving nothing but the wood underneath, which did nothing but absorb any and all precipitation. The rubber sealant smelled terrible, and he gagged dramatically, almost dropping the metal can in the process. Done applying, he plopped his ass down, determined to see it dry properly before he went back inside.

Half assing things had always resulted in a stern talking to in the least, and it had been something he’d struggled with growing up, his mind yanking him a thousand directions until his head was spinning and John was disappointed.

Dean grit his teeth, purposefully dragging the raw scrape against the rough roofing, the burn biting through the thought, bringing him back down from that far off place he so frequently wandered to. He didn’t even know how he got there, but he found himself lost, shrunk down, smaller than the hand-me-down leather jacket he tried to fill.

From the roof he could see almost everything. It turned out that Rufus and Bobby’s cabin foundation was built onto a gentle slope.

The rain clouds had dissipated, migrating to the flat plains further south, and it left a crisp atmosphere behind. The sun poked through the remaining gargantuan cumulonimbus clouds, sunbeams gently caressing the grass. Grey mist rose from where the creek beds greedily absorbed the heat. It reminded him of the paintings of cowboys, sitting on a stallion, bathed in golden light, their backs to the audience, all the edges illuminated and throwing everything else into stark purple shadows.

The burn of the scrape subsided as a sense of peace settled Dean, his body melting into the shingles. An hour passed before his stomach growled, and he climbed back down for lunch.

▵▿▵

Tapping.

Tapping at the window pane only inches from his face.

Groggy and only slightly encrusted (gross) Dean opened his eyes and was met by dark blue ones, a tawny human hand pressed up against the glass.

Dean’s soul evaporated out of his body, back pressed to the headboard as he scrabbled for the small knife he kept under his pillow. Before he could look again, it was gone.He launched himself out of bed, so very entirely grateful that he’d had enough sense to go to sleep in his boxers and his worn-out threadbare Kansas shirt.

Holy hell.

Fingers trembling, he opened the window, leaning almost all the way out, hovering a few feet above the ground.A single feather slowly came to rest soundlessly on the pine-needle carpet. The view from the window remained unyieldingly motionless.

Black-eyed susans had begun to sprout in the shade, despite themselves, and now they quivered where they grew between the pine-roots even though the morning wind had not pierced through the woods yet.

Craning his neck, he glanced up, half expecting the last thing he’d ever see to be a terrifying bird man staring down at him like he was lunch. Nothing.

Dean practically fell out of his room, chanting under his breath in a poor attempt to calm himself down as he stumbled down the short hall to the living room.

It’s human.

“No,” Dean spoke to the picture frames on the walls. He had no idea what he was denying, but the situation begged to be denied. He paced back and forth in the living room, no doubt wearing the floor down despite the fact that he was wearing socks— the ones with the holes in the heel. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

Oh my God, it was so very not okay.

Suddenly, the couch seemed like the perfect place to suffocate himself to unconsciousness. Someone else could deal with this.

No , he thought. You wanted this to happen, you dirty liar. Stop panicking and deal with it.

Wings was human- or at least partially human. He looked like a man. Dean’s thin eyelids fluttered closed, and the image was painted on the backside of them with crystal clarity. Square jawline, arrow-straight nose, curiously arched eyebrows… and the eyes . They were so blue. And they had been looking right at him. Watching him.

It was entirely ridiculous that his eyes overshadowed the massive lurking darkness behind him, of what had to have been his wings.

A human with wings.

This was crazy. Everything was crazy.

The way he saw it, there were two directions this could go: he could pretend he hadn’t seen anything, and this would be tucked away into the delusion box that he kept under lock and key at the back of his mind and he could grow old being none the wiser of whatever breach of reality this was, or he could go find it.

The first option was sounding real nice. Normal. Well adjusted.

He was well adjusted.

Besides, Dean wasn’t entirely convinced it wasn’t a dream. this entire thing was a fever dream and he was in some hospital bed back in Lawrence, stuck in a coma. Dean pinched himself, viciously and stared at the white marks left on his forearm, helpless.

Nope.

“Okay.” He barked out a laugh.

He should call Jo.

After a few more minutes of pacing and hyperventilating, he decided against it. He would tell her— of course he would! —but when it came up.

The Harvelle’s were good people and they’d shown him nothing but kindness.

The situation had to be broached with care, or the small home he’d built in the life he wanted to live would topple in on itself, and the rubble and dust would drown him.

Trust issues were a problem of his, and he’d been aware of them since high school, when he’d had too many secrets to keep and any semblance of a support system was states away.

God, he knew the way he clammed up was obvious, but sometimes he surprised even himself. If he was being honest, there was a lot more to it than a strong need for privacy. Didn’t matter though. In the end, after all the nit-picking and self beratement, it boiled down to fear.

Jo could keep her mouth closed, but there was always a chance she’d accidentally tell someone, and there was a high chance it would be the wrong person. If he let it slip that this thing existed, who knew what would come packing. And he knew sooner or later, someone would bring the heat. Words got around easily in a small town like Pringle and he knew everyone would be at his door, wanting a chance to see the freak of the week.

Which… was a thing that existed. A human with wings, that called the small clearing his home.

His heart skipped a beat at the thought. He felt protective over the man, almost ferociously so.

The day’s hunting trip wasn’t happening— now Dean was paranoid.

What if he accidently shot him? Or scared him off permanently?

His stomach churned, acid and bile climbing their way up his throat. The burn was familiar. Half his childhood had been spent subsiding panic attacks and anxiety, calming down Dad or Sam or both at the same time.

▵▿▵

The tin echo of a gunshot managed to penetrate through the thick log walls of the cabin.In a heartbeat, he was scrambling for the ancient shotgun. The front door swung open, the little voice in his head told him to close it behind him, but his feet carried him quicker than his mind and so he left it swinging on its hinges at his back.

An anguished scream gargled its way from somewhere deeper into the woods, due south of the cabin. Rocks dashed the soles of Dean’s feat and he swore out loud, having forgotten his boots at the door.

Shit shit shit.

Someone was nearby, and they were ballsy enough to fire a weapon despite the illegality of hunting on private property. His mind raced at the same speed he ran towards it, a limp skewing his gate every few steps. Stray branches caught the sleeves of his shirt, tearing through the fabric as he refused to slow down.

It’s just a deer.

He knew better.

They’re just after a deer, or a bison that wandered away from the heard or an elk or something—

Another blood curdling scream erupted from amongst the pine, this one loud enough to rattle the crows out of their nests. They cawed, the sound of dozens of pairs of wings taking flight muting the pained groans.

He knew better.

Please— please. Not Wings.

He faltered over a boulder, panic overtaking muscle memory and skidded to a halt at the crest of a ledge. The scene below knocked the breath out of his chest, leaving a vacuum in its wake.

Campbell, one of the more elderly hunters of the area was standing over another tawny body. Giant black wings sprawled out, twisting and twitching in the dirt and mud, feathers slightly splayed underneath his back.

Campbell’s face distorted in pain, a tense moment passing before his wild eyes landed on Dean, the whites of his too visible, even from ten yards away. Blood pumped out from a wound on his neck, and he had a hand clamped down onto it, slick with red, he held a shotgun limply in his left hand, the butt of it dropped heavily to the ground.

Semi-satisfied that Campbell didn’t seem interested in shooting again, Dean fixated every ounce of attention on Wings and his breath hitched. Smeared across his mouth and chin was a copious amount of blood. He’d bitten Campbell. Dean’s heart swelled with pride.

Good .

His short encounter with Campbell prior had proved that the man was a bag of dicks, cocky and far too keen on the killing aspect of hunting. It skeeved Dean out then, and it certainly did now. Campbell was still looking at Wings like he was prey. Though no component of the scene begged to differ: the man was naked, teeth bared, but he was incapable of escaping, the gunshot wound in his abdomen bleeding him dry.

Dean leveled the end of his shotgun at Campbell’s head. “Get the fuck away from him.”

Campbell backed away from Wings, the muscles in his right arm tensed, like he wanted to put it up defensively, but it was necessary he kept pressure on the wound. It looked like Wings had gone for the jugular. “It attacked me, Winchester.”

“And?”

“You’re fucking crazy.”

Dean would put money on the fact that he looked the part, he could feel his chest heaving, something akin to dull rage pumping through his veins. He prayed the tremor in his hand didn’t betray his hesitation. “I said move .”

Obeying his orders, Campbell stepped back, never taking his eyes off of the strange man. Agony flashed across his face where he laid in the dirt.In his hands, he held a silver blade. Wings looked from Campbell to Dean, expression visibly softening.

“Give me your coat.” Dean didn’t have much time, glancing at Wings, he saw that a red gleam of blood was starting to trickle from the corner of his mouth and his eyes moved frantically. He slid down the slope and went to take off his jacket and remembered his was only in his boxers. “ NOW .”

Campbell shirked it off and threw it at Dean, staying exactly where he was. Moving quickly, Dean pressed the thick fabric to the wound, moving his other hand to the back side to see where the bullet went. There was no opening there, and he was thankful that Wings was naked. He could skip the sometimes detrimental process of removing his clothes to assess the wound better.

He tied the jacket around him and slid one arm under his legs and the other across his shoulder blades, lifting him up carefully. Dean had to get him back to his house immediately, before Wings lost too much blood.

One last time, he regarded Campbell. He felt the sneer tug his lip up, his voice like acid trying to eat through the other man’s bones until he was nothing. “Get the fuck off my property. And don’t tell anyone about this. He’ll be fine, not that you care. But you won’t be if I see you here again, or if I hear about this from anyone. Do I make myself clear?”

Samuel’s eyes darkened clearly at war with Dean’s threat, but his skin was taking on a pallor akin to lethal blood loss. He nodded curtly, acknowledging the agreement, at least for the moment.

Reasonably satisfied that Campbell wouldn’t shoot them in the back, Dean turned and left, the body draped over his shoulder too warm.Dean’s hand wrapped around, hand feathering over his taut side, avoiding the wound. He could feel his fingers wet with blood.

Wings was whispering something feverishly, though Dean couldn’t catch a word of it, his eyes glazed over with pain, searching the sky for something with a fervor of a religious man with hell hounds on his heels.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.” Dean murmured, straining to carry the both of them the distance to the cabin. “I’ve got you.”

Wing’s head lolled to the side, and his body went slack. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes, but Dean couldn’t afford to cry now. If he did, he wouldn’t be able to get them inside safely. He swallowed the terror. He ducked and wove through the undergrowth, fearing that the drooping wings would catch on a branch or boulder.

The time it took until he could lay Wings down on his dining room table felt like hell had manifested on Earth, keenly able to feel life slipping away in his arms.

Once Dean managed to put Wings on the table without his head smacking the wood, he tore the kitchen apart for salt and a bowl of water and some clean washcloths, and sprinted to the bathroom, yanking the drawers out and emptying their contents onto the counter and sink until his eyes landed on the tweezers and isopropyl alcohol.

It wasn’t a perfect med kit, but there was no other choice. It had to do.

Dean approached the table cautiously, worried that too much movement would set him off. The dark wingspan spread out almost three feet on either side of the table and Dean swallowed a stone.

He had no idea what to do next, not really. The closest experience he’d had to being a doctor had been treating John’s stab wound when he was thirteen and John had come home more beaten than usual.

He stared helplessly down at Wings.

“He...help.” Wings voice was like a ghost’s, he barely heard it, and he was standing right next to him. He looked up at the cobwebbed chandelier lighting like it was something holy and mesmerizing and Dean realized he was losing him.

“Shhh… it’s okay.” His forehead was sticky with sweat and drying blood, and Dean pushed some of the unruly black wisps from his eyes, humming low. “I’m gonna help you.”

Wings hand shook, following the edge of the table, feverishly searching for something to hold onto. Tentatively, Dean slid his fingers between his, feeling his calloused palm against his own. “Wings. Wings, you gotta listen to me. Wings, please . You have to lay still.”

He had no idea if the man understood a single word he was saying, but it seemed to do the trick. Over the span of a terrible minute, his breathing slowed down, and his grip on Dean’s hand went from frail to almost bone crushingly alive.

Wings’ blue eyes were on him, flickering a little in the low light. Dean waited, untrained, unable and unwilling to play operation on him while he was still conscious, eyes desperate to look at anything but the daunting task before him.

Eventually, he passed out, his painful grimace replaced by a soft one, and Dean began to remove the shrapnel bullet, praying to anyone who was listening that it had not shredded his insides beyond repair.

▵▿▵

At some point in the night, Dean had gotten up to draw the curtains and lock the door, willing to sacrifice only a moment to seal them away from the rest of the world.

Now, sunlight pierced through the cracks, illuminating them both in thin lines of white light. He watched Wings toss and turn, his face gnarling into pain each time he moved.

What if Dean had fucked it up? What if the next breath he drew was his last? His mind raced, punishing him for every moment’s hesitation that could very well lead to his death.

Dean caught himself following Wings jawline, examining the stark contours of his face like he would never see them again. Please, just please make it out alive.

“Don’t die on me, Wings.” The words slipped out subconsciously. “Please, God, don’t die on me.”

Dean had the decency to cover him up with the quilt. The two’s hands were still tightly entwined long after the heartbeat in Wing’s wrist lulled Dean into sleep, tumbling heart over head.

#honestly i think i'm gonna reverse the title #I HATE TITLES what kinda corny ass things i come up with lmao #but for now.#that's what its called #cabin au #*#mine

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twstarchives · 4 years

Text

Trey Clover・Voice Lines

Additional Voice Lines: Star Send-Off Garments Event Card

School Uniform - R

Unlock Card “It’s important that you be cooperative if you want to get comfortable with this school. There’s no harm in listening to what the vice dorm leader says, don’t you think?”

Groovy “Watching you brings me back to when I was a new student.”

Home Setting “How are you feeling?”

Home Transitions “Something smells sweet? ...Oh, I baked a cake earlier. There might be some left if you run to the lounge right now.”

“Don’t Ace and Deuce ever annoy you? They’re not bad people, but they’re definitely an exhausting set of juniors.”

“Hahaha, it feels like you’re still nervous wearing your uniform. What? That’s not a bad thing. It’s innocent and endearing.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “Hey, are you done with your classes for today? Don’t get too wild and bother the teachers, alright?”

Home Taps “Riddle has always stood out, ever since the moment he arrived here. It caused a huge fuss when he became dorm leader.”

“It’s important to study, but you’ll get nothing out of it if you work so hard that you make yourself sick. Taking it slow is the best thing you can do.”

“You should get dental exams just as often as your regular check-ups. Should I refer you to a recommended dentist?”

“If you want to know how to get along with your classmates, go ask Cater. He’s got a lot of friends.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m a little busy right now; could we do this later?”

PE Uniform - R

Unlock Card “Well, ‘easy does it,’ right? Getting too carried away isn’t a good thing.”

Groovy “You’re challenging me to a game of magift? Haha, alright. I’ll let you have a head start.”

Home Setting “Are you done warming up?”

Home Transitions “Ow... While we were in the middle of stretching, Lilia pushed my back down as hard as he could... I even told him to be gentle.”

“It’s really important that you exercise every once in a while and not just stay cooped up in your room. Well, I do understand not feeling up for it.”

“My glasses always get in the way when I’m playing sports... Maybe I should try contacts some time?”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “I’m really not that fond of exercising... But, I’m not necessarily bad at it.”

Home Taps “I used to play soccer a lot in the past. My parents were always really insistent that ‘You need to be strong for making sweets!’”

“Coach Vargas kept yelling ‘Show me what you’ve really got!’ at me today. I wasn’t exactly trying not to put in effort, though.”

“Cater was very insistent that I tell him how to grow taller. I told him that I didn’t really know, but he’s not the type to take no for an answer.”

“I agree that Flying is an important course to take, but the truth is, I don’t like it that much... Keep that between us, alright?”

“Since you seem to have so much energy today, could you go buy some things for me?”

Lab Coat - SR

Unlock Card “This kind of work is more my speed. No need to worry; let me handle things.”

Groovy “Work steadily and carefully. That’s important for both when you’re experimenting and when you’re cooking.”

Home Setting “What do you want me to make?”

Home Transitions “Have you gotten used to our school yet? You won’t exactly find a library or a botanical garden as big as the ones we have anywhere else.”

“They grow herbs and fruits that are kind of unusual in the Botanical Garden. Don’t go around carelessly touching them, alright? It’d be dangerous if one turned out to be poisonous.”

“Deuce was begging on his knees for me to help him with his work... I have to applaud him for that enthusiasm.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “Why don’t you stop by the science club if you’ve got the time? I think Rook would be happy to see you too.”

Home Transition (Groovy) “I made caramel yesterday with some leftover ingredients I had. Would you like some? I have so much.”

Home Taps “I like chemistry. It’s a lot more time-consuming than magic, but in turn the satisfaction you feel when you see the reactions is much stronger.”

“Err, where did I put my glasses... Oh, here they are. I’ve been misplacing them a lot lately.”

“Professor Crewel is sort of... intense, but his teaching style is very thorough. He helps us a lot with our club.”

“Cooking is one of the science club activities too. It counts as a type of chemistry, doesn’t it?”

“If you honestly just can’t sit still for a few minutes, I’m worried about how you’ll be in the future.”

Home Tap (Groovy) “Watching you guys reminds me of my little siblings. They were always causing a racket; I never knew how to manage them. Hahaha.”

Ceremony Robes - SR

Unlock Card “If you don’t want to lose your head, then behave during the ceremony, alright?”

Groovy “C’mon, are you sure you should be here right now? You’ll be in trouble if you’re late to the ceremony.”

Home Setting “Let’s hope nothing bad happens today...”

Home Transitions “What? Ace was trying to ditch the ceremony? ...I see. Thank you for letting me know.”

“Should you be wandering around by yourself here? We’re relying on you to look after Grim, Prefect.”

“You want to take my picture? I’m not that comfortable with things like this... Cater, on the other hand, would be thrilled to take one with you.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “Alright, there’s a lot I need to get done today. Come let me know if you’d like to help out with anything.”

Home Transition (Groovy) “Standing in the Ramshackle Dorm in your ceremony robes is definitely... an interesting sight.”

Home Taps “I know people have conflicting opinions on this, but I don’t think there’s a more fitting dorm leader for Heartslabyul than Riddle.”

“Lilia seems so bombarded with work on ceremony days. Being Diasomnia’s vice dorm leader must be rough.”

“The Headmaster takes very good care of the apple tree in the courtyard. That reminds me, which do you like better: apple pie or tarte tatin?”

“I don’t know how I ended up with Cater; it just happened. When I’m with him, I don’t have to be careful about anything—it’s very comfortable.”

“It’s for your own good that you stay obedient during the ceremony. It’ll drag on forever if you make the Headmaster angry.”

Home Tap (Groovy) “Riddle has everything put together, so there’s not really anything for me to do as the vice dorm leader. I’m kind of like a decoration.”

Dorm Uniform - SSR

Unlock Card “I was in the middle of painting the roses, but... I guess I can’t turn you away if you need something.”

“The preparations for our parties must always be perfect. But don’t worry about it; I’ll handle everything.”

Groovy “It’s stressful having so many difficult people around. Make sure that you be good, alright?”

Home Setting “There’s nothing better than wearing clothes you’re comfortable in.”

Home Transitions “Here’s a chew toy so that Grim can clean his teeth... ow, ow, ow! Alright, I’m sorry! I get it—he can brush his own teeth!”

“Cater, I swear. He ran out on his flamingo feeding duty again. I have to admit, that silver tongue of his really is impressive.”

“Not a single rose can be overlooked while we prepare for our tea parties. They can’t be pink, green, or aquamarine; they all have to be red.” ¹

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “Tea parties and croquet matches are both special, traditional events in Heartslabyul. As the vice dorm leader, I have to work hard for them.”

Home Transition (Groovy) “Are you coming to our next Unbirthday Party? I’d like to hear your opinion on a new tart I’ll be making.”

Home Taps “The fireworks we use for the Unbirthday Parties are... What? Isn’t it obvious that we’ll be ending the party with fireworks?”

“‘Why aren’t our rose corsages painted all the way?’ It’s supposed to represent the moral that ‘You must not forget to double-check everything.’”

“I like hats, so I have several of them. This is a special one I had custom-made to match our dorm uniform.”

“Riddle and Cater are both so demanding when it comes to decorating the tables. Who do they think is the one who has to do it all...?”

“Oh, I know we’re supposed to have our buttons done, but... My bad; I’m out of uniform.”

Home Tap (Groovy) “‘When do I get mad’? It’s true, I guess it doesn’t happen very often... But isn’t that a good thing? It’s not like you want to see me that way, right?”

Duo Magic Trey: Sometimes we gotta show everyone our senior pride, Cater! Cater: Anytime’s fine by me, Trey! ♪

Birthday Celebration Outfit - SSR

This card was only obtainable during Trey’s birthday event (Oct 23 - Oct 29, 2020).

Login on Birthday “Haha, I’m kind of getting embarrassed. Thank you. According to the rules of the Queen of Hearts, you’re allowed to be selfish about anything on your birthday. So what should I ask you to do...? Oi oi, don’t get so tense. Wasn’t it obvious I was joking?”

Unlock Card “I’m glad that you’re all celebrating for me, but I think I’m better suited for being on the party planning side.”

“Today’s my birthday, huh...? I’d want to spend it as quietly as I can, but that’s impossible knowing this school. Honestly...”

Groovy “It’s actually kind of nice seeing you celebrate for me so passionately. I had fun thanks to you.”

Home Setting “I feel like this outfit makes me look like a birthday cake.”

Home Transitions “When you eat sweets at a party, make sure to brush your teeth thoroughly that night. That’s not one of the Queen’s rules, but I recommend it.”

“I used to bake the cakes for my little siblings’ birthdays when I was back home. I would burn them a lot when I first started making them.”

“Rook gave me a hat with a posh feather in it. ...What outfit would go well with this?”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “You remembered my birthday? Thank you. Let’s enjoy the party without going too over-the-top.”

Home Transition (Groovy) “Now, since it’s my birthday, what should I ask you to do...? Don’t get so tense; I’m just joking. Just wishing me a happy birthday is enough.”

Home Taps “Cater and Riddle told me that I’m banned from entering the kitchen today. Am I really that predictable?”

“Lilia from my class told me that he used to get excited for his first 50 birthdays, too... What a weird joke.”

“Ace and Deuce asked me what I wanted for my birthday... and so I told them ‘juniors who actually listen to their seniors.’”

“Earlier, Chenya randomly showed up, said nothing but ‘Happy birthday,’ and vanished. He’s always so unpredictable.”

“This brooch’s design looks like rose vines in the shape of a club. Do you want to see? I could take it off and show you.”

Home Tap (Groovy) “I drink my favorite tea every year on my birthday. If you’d like, I could pour you a cup too.”

Duo Magic Trey: Oh, you came to celebrate too, Ace? Ace: As always, thank you, Trey!

Tutorial “We have to go soon. Or we’ll lose our heads.”

Lv Up “Haha, leaning on others for help sometimes is nice.”

“This wouldn’t have happened without you working so hard with me.”

“Yeah, I’m feeling really confident about this.”

Max Lv Up “I don’t want to let my juniors see the sides of myself I’m not proud of. That’s why I tried so hard.”

Episode Lv Up “I have a lot fun being with you. ...Hm? ‘That sounds like a lie’? What could I say to make you believe me?”

Magic Lv Up “My magic has gotten stronger than it was before. This is the result of the intensive training we’ve done together.”

Limit Break “I know this doesn’t sound like me, but... I want to try seeing how far I can go. Would you like to join me?”

Groovy “I’m happy to know even I still have room for improvement.”

Lesson Select “You seem kind of sleepy. I won’t wake you up if you fall asleep in the middle of class.”

“It’d be nice if our first-years here were just as dedicated to their studies as you are...”

“My best subject? I guess I’d have to say Alchemy... but I’m pretty average with everything.”

Lesson Start “Alright, time to focus.”

Lesson End “Good job today; let’s keep this up next time.”

Battle Start “I don’t really want to have to get violent...”

Battle End “I’m not that good at getting fired up about things.”

Other

Profile Quote “Sorry, but would you mind helping me paint the roses red?”

January 2020 Trailer “Whoa there! Be careful not to plant any white roses by mistake.”

Countdown Poster “Perfect timing! Would you mind helping me paint the roses red?”

Player Birthday Wish “Happy birthday. I went all out baking a special birthday cake for today. Now, what exactly is ‘special’ about it... you’ll see once you eat it. Everyone’s waiting for us. Let’s go.”

Valentine’s Gift Letter (2021)

These letters were originally in English. I didn’t translate or edit them in any way. They came with official merch from Aniplex, and are not present in-game.

Hey you, Thanks for the gift. I didn’t expect anything from you, so you kind of surprised me. Now what should I give in return… I don’t want to give you something you don’t like, so please tell me: Is there anything you want? If there is, I’ll try to find it for you! Hope you have a great one!

1. They can’t be pink, green, or aquamarine

This references a line from “Painting the Roses Red”

#twisted wonderland #trey clover #voice lines

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kookscrescent · 3 years

Text

Prompt List

I've created this random list of prompts in hopes that it will spark some inspiration and some creativity in me again. Some of them I've come up with myself, and some I've seen in various places and really liked. Please feel free to leave me an ask with 1 - 2 prompts for a short drabble or maybe it will inspire a longer fic who knows and please specify the member and genre of your choice, if you don’t have any that’s fine too - it just makes it a bit easier for me to know what you want:)))

❀ Fluff

"Seriously, fuck you for being so goddamn beautiful!"

"How come every time you smile I get butterflies in my stomach?"

"I could spend all day just looking at you."

"Kiss me."

"Rest your head on my shoulder."

"Just sleep."

"I love you."

"I'm right here if you need me."

"I promise I'm not letting go."

"Let's just get married! Like right now!"

"Kiss me again."

"Can you hold my hand please?"

"You are home to me."

"You're lucky you're pretty."

"Please be mine."

"You look absolutely stunning!"

"I can't take my eyes off of you even if I tried."

"I fell in love with you the moment you bit my head off for almost running over your foot."

"I trust you with my life."

"It's you and me forever babygirl."

"I feel like my heart might leap out of my chest."

"Let me see that beautiful smile."

"That's one of the many reasons why I love you."

"You are the brightest star in my sky."

"I missed being in your arms."

"I missed you."

"You're my person."

"We only need each other."

"You're the greatest blessing in my life."

"Let's go together."

☹ Angst

"You can't go in there!"

"Please, don't."

"You look hideous!"

"Please! You have to believe me!"

"Stop running away from me!"

"I'm not going to have this conversation with you when you're drunk."

"I hate you!"

"Please don't go. Stay. Please."

"I wish I could go back in time."

"I wish I didn't love you."

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck, that's not fucking good!"

"You are such a fucking asshole!"

"You're giving me a headache."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I swear I didn't do it!"

"Are you okay?"

"Why are you bleeding?"

"Why don't you just shut up."

"Fuck you."

"I didn't realize I needed your permission."

"Do I look like I give a shit?"

"Who asked for your opinion. I sure as hell didn't!"

"Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out."

"Yes, but the difference is, that I'm going to remember this in the morning and you are not."

"We can't do this any more!"

"You put me through hell and back, and you still have the fucking nerve to lie to me!"

"You're drunk."

"Everyone has bad days, but tomorrow will still come."

"Don't tell me you love me if you don't mean it."

"I just want to see you smiling again."

❥ Smut/Suggestive

"Why aren't you wet yet?"

"This isn't really the time or place to have sex."

"But I want to do it now."

"You'll get your hoodie back when I get my virginity back!"

"When was the last time you had sex?"

"Can I sit on your lap?"

"Let's try something different tonight."

"We both know we can't resist each other much longer."

"Was it always this big?!"

"Wait, they have flavored condoms?"

"You know what happens when you tease me like that."

"Baby... baby, slow down."

"Make me."

"I can't take anymore."

"I want to do it again."

"Why is your dick poking me in the ass?"

"You're ready to go again?!"

"Fuck! I'm not on the pill!"

"Listen, I'm trying my best to be a gentleman here, but if you keep looking at me like that, bad things will happen."

"Thank god we had lube."

"Is there a reason you're naked in my bed?"

"Is there a reason why you're not lying naked in my bed yet?"

"I'm not going to have sex in your brothers bed."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're trying to seduce me."

"Do you have another date with the hot tinder guy?"

"How big are we talking?"

"Seriously? Right now?"

"How can you be pitching a tent right now? It's so inappropriate!"

"Is that all you've got?"

"I bet he's compensating for something."

"Do you have condoms?"

❋ Miscellaneous

"What are you going to do if I say no?"

"Well, the sun's out, so my bun's are out."

"We're out of milk."

"Why would you tell my parents?!"

"Why did you buy me a pink flamingo floaty?"

"It's seriously annoying."

"What are you doing?"

"No no, it's fine... it wasn't that expensive."

"Okay, but that's kinda creepy."

"It's just around the corner."

"Did you borrow my One Direction cd again?"

"Okay, but I really need that back by the end of the week. I have exams coming up."

"Did you fail the exam?"

"Is it working?"

"I think it's the engine. I see a bunch of black smoke coming from the hood of the car."

"But why are you dressed like that?"

"But do you really need to wear socks?"

"Are you sure you don't have a fever? You look really clammy."

"Go back to sleep. It's 4 in the fucking morning."

"I love your mom! She's fucking fantastic."

"Is that a cow?"

"Better yet, why wouldn't you want to dance naked in the rain?"

"Why is the music so loud?"

"Have you seen what's going on in the hallway?"

"When did you get back in town?"

"I like sunflowers and ice coffee."

"That really isn't something you should be saying out loud."

"It's been fun, but I gotta get home and do... anything else than this."

"Let's just forget that this ever happened, okay!"

"I forgot to lock the door."

"Oh look, it's raining."

I'll add more if I stumble across some that I like or I suddenly think of some myself.

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fandomlurker · 3 years

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A Ponderous Rewatch: Jockey For Position

Now that we’re done with that long cameo, it’s time for our feature presentation for tonight, and it’s a doozy!:

We open with Pinky frantically running on a spinning globe while Brain stands above him on the…globe holder? I don’t know if that part has a name or not.

“[winded gasps] Can I stop now, Brain?”

“Not until I finish my demonstration.”

Brain, that’s just… Well I was about to say it was mean, but given that Pinky understands the details of his plans better when Brain demonstrates it or draws elaborate diagrams, maybe it’s for the best? I doubt Brain could make that large globe spin just by using his hands, and Pinky’s been seen a lot of times running on the mouse wheel in their cage so he’s gotta be pretty in shape. Still, it feels like Pinky’s been running for a lot longer than he needed to…

You know what? I change my mind. It is a bit mean, Brain.

“When I build my reverse geotropic arrestor, Pinky, and throw it from the North Pole like this…”

The word “geotropic” doesn’t quite sound right. I wonder…

…Okay, yeah, Brain’s getting worse at naming things.

“…In a matter of seconds the cable will become taut, gravity will cease, and everyone will fly off the face of the Earth!”

Oh my GOD, Brain. This has got to be the stupidest plan you have come up with yet! Nothing about this will work.

Well, there goes poor Pinky.

“Leaving us alone to assume control.”

It’s still “us”, huh? Noted.

Long Pinky.

“Egad, Brain, brilliant! Haha hehe heh—!”

Pinky, sweetheart, I know praising Brain is kind of your thing but this is one time I’m going to have to call you out on your bias because this is super not brilliant and I’m actually a little worried for Brain’s mental state.

“—Oh wait, no, no. What’s going to keep us from flying off the Earth?”

That’s one flaw of many, Pinky, but I guess it’s as good a start as any.

“We will duct tape ourselves to a tree.”

Because the tree will totally stay in the ground when the Earth abruptly stops spinning. Not that it will stop spinning, because none of this makes any sense.

Brain, did this idea come from, like, a dream you had or something? Is that why the plan is working on dream logic?

I know this is a comedy cartoon and this is all a joke but sometimes Brain’s plans are so fucking out-there I just have to roast him for it.

“Unfortunately we still need to raise money to buy a one billion ton magnet. But I have a solution!”

Oh boy, can’t wait to hear the solution to this one. It’s gonna be stellar if the whole plan today is anything to go by.

Oh nice, Brain’s the one sewing for a change! Usually this is Pinky’s area of expertise, but it’s always nice to see that Brain can do some classically domestic things too.

“Tomorrow is the running of the Kentucky Derby. Do you know what that is?”

Most of my knowledge on it comes from “My Brother, My Brother, and Me” goofs, so my mind keeps autocorrecting it to “Kenfucky Derby”, but go on.

“Umm… Oh! A very large hat?”

“Promise me something, Pinky. Never breed.”

“I’ll try.”

Well, that’s going to come back to haunt them.

“The Kentucky Derby is the biggest horse race of the year. There’s a one million dollar purse going to the jockey riding the winning horse.”

“And I am going to win that purse!”

Okay, first off: Pinky, are you just going to stand there and stare at Brain as he gets changed? Like, I understand they’re naked normally and this is the exact opposite of stripping but umm…

Secondly: Brain, did you really have to get that up close to tell Pinky this? You two are making this too easy for me.

“Zort, Brain! A million dollar purse?!? Ooooh!~ You’re going to need matching pumps and earrings for that!”

Pinky’s got his priorities in order.

“Focus, Pinky, focus!”

“Now watch.”

And now Brain’s ordering Pinky to watch him dress and I just…I have no words. This is all so suspect. Why do you two even need a dressing screen if you’re usually naked anyway? And it shouldn’t matter if anyone sees you get dressed unless this is some weird reverse nudity taboo you two have developed and if that’s the case, why are you allowing Pinky to watch? And if it’s for a dramatic reveal WHY ARE YOU ORDERING HIM TO WATCH YOU CHANGE???

This episode is already so goddamn wild.

I am really not sure how I feel about that pan-up of Brain when he’s thrust his pelvis forward. At least the outfit is cute, though.

“Narf! Oh, Brain, I get it! You’re a beautiful lawn ornament!”

“Beautiful”, huh? Also noted.

“Look at me, narf, I’m a pink flamingo! Ahahaheh!”

Oh LORD, Pinky, how are you—?!?

“I’m a cement deer! Ah hah!”

PINKY, STOP, YOU’RE SCARING ME! D:

“Oh, I’m one of the seven dwarves, Brain!”

That’s more acceptable but Pinky, sweetie, warn me if you’re going to nightmarishly shapeshift again, okay?!

I guess we can add that to the list of random abilities Pinky has.

“Stop it, Pinky, or I shall have to hurt you.”

You are much calmer about this than I would be if this happened in front of me, Brain.

“Oh. Right-o, Brain. Narf.”

“Now let us make haste, for we have much to do before the race begins.”

“Poit.”

So then we cut to Churchill Downs, and I can only assume another roadtrip adventure was had off-screen.

“First, Pinky, we must visit the stables.”

“Inside, we will find the winning horse.”

“Err… How are we gonna do that, Brain?”

“The racing form, Pinky.”

My bet’s on... [squints] hLUUNO the horse.

“By analysing the velocity-based pace line, mile turf win and bayer speed figures, we’ll find a grade one stakes claimer who’ll give us a key horse situation.”

“Key Horse Situation” would be a great band name. Also, whoops, little bit of an error on the name plaques, background artists.

What do your mouse eyes see, Pinky?

“Err, can’t we just ride the pretty one?”

SHE!

So here she is, one of the few characters debuting in the Animaniacs run that will matter to PatB lore going forward aside from our main duo.

A fun fact for you all: Phar Fignewton’s name is a triple reference joke. “Phar Lap” was a champion thoroughbred race horse in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Fig Newtons are small pastries filled with fig paste. Lastly, “Fahrvergnügen” was a slogan for Volkswagon starting in 1990. Translated, it means “driving enjoyment”.

Phar Fignewton makes a whinnying noise and ends it off with a goofy laugh.

Brain is not impressed.

“Heavens, they’re multiplying…”

Pinky is instantly smitten with her.

BONK!

“This is a business trip, Pinky!”

“Oh. Right. Sorry, Brain.”

“Here is our horse.”

“’Daddy’s Little Angel’…”

I guess it’s an ironic nickname.

“Pinky… Are you pondering what I’m pondering?”

“Whu… I think so, Brain, isn’t Regis Philbin already married?”

…

Now I’m wondering if Pinky is suggesting that one of them marry Regis or if he’s suggesting that Regis marries the horse. Either way, what the fuck?

Yeah, same.

“The race, Pinky. By combining the statistics and my low body weight, this horse cannot lose! The prize money will be ours!”

GAH! Brain, I’ve had enough minor heart attacks from this episode because of Pinky’s eldritch morphing ability, I don’t need another one of your bizarre close-ups to do the same!

“Now I must take the place of the real jockey.”

“Hello?”

“Is this the Jockey who’s going to ride ‘Daddy’s Little Angel’?”

“Yeah.”

“This is Ed Mcmahon from Publisher’s Smearing House. You’ve just won ten million dollars.”

Pinky delightedly and silently listening in and chuckling in the back is precious.

And honestly, Brain, I don’t know why you’re crouching here, but it’s also cute.

“I won ten million dollars… I WON TEN MILLION DOLLARS! I am outta here! Later!”

The mice are lucky that he’s so excited about winning all that money that he forgets to do basic things like ask when and how he’ll get the money.

“Louie! Louie!”

“Later!”

“Who’s gonna ride my horse? I mean, Louie is the smallest, lightest jockey in the entire world!”

Did you know that there’s a weight requirement for jockeys, but no height requirement?

“Not anymore!”

“[GASP]”

Whoops, I just noticed another error, though it’s minor: Brain’s jockey outfit throughout this scene is light tan and purple instead of the pea green and purple that it’s supposed to be.

“You’re a jockey?!”

“Actually, I am a mouse in the early stages of an elaborate scheme to take over the world.”

The more this happens, the more I’m starting to think that Brain does this shtick on purpose to emotionally and mentally disarm people who would otherwise suspect that he’s not human. The fact that it works shows you just how idiotic the human beings of this world are.

“Well, fine, we all need a hobby but…will you ride my horse?”

Oh, sir, I think it’s much more than a hobby at this point. If only you knew…

“I shall ride! And win!”

His design is a little odd here, but it’s still a good pose.

So Brain next has to be weighed to make sure he meets the requirements.

“Saddle: Seven pounds. Saddle and rider: Seven pounds 3 ounces.”

So if you can recall from the previous rewatch post, a house mouse on average weighs 19g, and a common wood mouse weighs 23g (it can be up for debate which type of mouse Brain is). Converting Brain’s 3 ounces of weight to grams would result in him weighing 85.0486g.

Brain does have a bit of a cute little potbelly thing going on, but he’s also consistently much smaller in height and width than the average adult mouse in the series. I think the incredible difference in weight is mostly coming from the heft of Brain’s, well, brain and skull…and the muscle mass packed into that tiny body to help keep him upright.

“A genetically perfect jockey! This is fantastic!”

Please don’t phrase it like that.

“…Let’s look into early retirement.”

That jockey on the left is going through some shit, man. He looks like how I feel after working an eight hour shift on the holidays.

And so we skip to the beginning of the race!

That poor, poor jockey…who changed colour schemes for some reason.

There’s Phar Fignewton with a jockey who honestly looks like he’s high.

And here’s our little mousey fella, who has somehow managed to make this aggressive horse obedient.

“Camptown race is five miles long, do-dah, do-dah.~”

He’s so happy he’s singing to himself! This is honestly so precious that I completely forgive him for not getting the lyrics correct.

Coincidentally, Daddy’s Little Angel is positioned next to Phar Fignewton.

“Ooh, isn’t this exciting, Brain?”

Uh oh.

“Pinky, what are you doing here? Your weight will disrupt my winning calculations!”

I don’t know if it’d be that off, Brain. The combined weight of two mice is still much less than that of a human jockey.

“But Brain, it’s too exciting! I—“

[TARGET LOCKED]

“Oooh! Heh. Hello.~”

I think I’m going to save my thoughts on this whole…thing until the end. Right now I will say, however, that I wasn’t quite expecting the tongue-hanging-out-of-gaping-mouth lovestruck/horny??? reaction.

“Pinky, the race is starting!”

Too late, Brain.

And we’re off!

Bye, Pinky.

“There’s baloney in our slacks…~”

Pfft.

So as the race goes on, we get to know a few more of the horses’ names: Isle of Yap (a nice callback to the first PatB short), Flamiel (which is apparently the WB writers’ favourite word?), and Leggo-my-Egoiste (a double reference to an old Eggo slogan and the name of a cologne).

The other jockeys are more than a little surprised by Brain and his steed taking the lead early in the race.

Phar Fignewton is trailing way behind.

Meanwhile, Pinky’s woken up from fainting, seeing the oncoming horses—

--and promptly freaks out and stumbles back down again.

“Victory, she waits for me! Oh, the do-dah-day!”

You really have to stop tempting fate like this, Brain.

Phar Fignewton’s very tired, but what’s this?

Is that…Pinky in harm’s way?

ThePowerOfLove.mp3

Determined and fueled by her inexplicable crush, Phar Fignewton starts gaining ground on the other horses.

Brain didn’t calculate for this!

…Oh! Hi, Warners! Looks like they’re cheering Phar on.

“Oh no! Yah! Yah! Yah!”

I didn’t think whips were allowed in races like the Kentucky Derby, but apparently they are. Their use was only restricted—not banned—in the summer of 2020, which is alarming to say the least.

On a different note, I know some of you folks are now jotting down the fact that Brain knows how to use a whip. I see you.

She makes the save!

And she also wins the race! Way to go, Phar Fignewton!

“In the words of the great Willie Shoemaker: ‘Nuts!’”

It was a good try, Brain, but honestly I’m glad you failed this time if only so that you wouldn’t embarrass yourself with your actual world domination plan’s failure later. Maybe take a couple nights off to rest up a bit and formulate plans that aren’t totally bonkers, hmm?

I might as well go ahead and talk about this now. I…am conflicted on this whole Phar Fignewton thing. It makes for a very strange one-off joke about Pinky instantly falling in love with a distaff counterpart of his that’s a horse for whatever reason…but the fact that she’s not a one-off character is baffling in and of itself. Like I’ve said before, she’s mentioned a couple of times going forward as being Pinky’s girlfriend, or as a bizarre joke at Pinky’s expense about him being in/having been in a relationship with a horse. There’s even a small running gag about Pinky’s reaction to people’s disgust about it: “People can be so intolerant!”. I don’t know if the joke is supposed to be one about racial segregation or a wink and nod to queer folks in the only way that the writers could get away with in a cartoon at the time (in a “see, Pinky’s down for a relationship with anyone, even outside of his species!” type of way).

Phar Fignewton herself is a sweetie but besides that she has no personality to speak of and we’re just meant to assume based on physical appearance that she is equivalent to Pinky. And like, she hasn’t been uplifted to human levels of intelligence and sapience like Pinky has because of Acme Labs, but she seems to be naturally sapient for some unknown reason and just simply unable to speak English.

On top of all this, the relationship is very shallow and the only reason we’re given as to why Pinky likes her is because he finds her pretty. It’s perfectly in character for Pinky to easily fall in love, as he does so with other animals a couple more times in the spin-offs, but it just feels weird that this is the one that sticks around purely to become a running gag that gets mentions that are sometimes literal years apart from one another.

And listen, I know the writers most likely made this a thing just because they thought it was a funny joke and a few of them managed to remember about Phar and would use Pinky dating her as a gag. I know this. But it doesn’t make it any less confusing and weird. I remember the jokes about Pinky and horses from way back when I first watched Animaniacs and the PatB spin-off when I was a kid and I never had any context for it because I don’t think I ever saw this specific episode. Coming back as an adult and seeing all these episodes in order and watching this one in particular and finding out the context is “Pinky thinks a horse is pretty and the horse and him are in love and long-distance dating now” is both underwhelming and leaves me with more questions than answers.

…Also, if my earlier theories on why the writers made this joke are correct, does this mean Phar Fignewton is metatextually a beard for Pinky?

I just don’t know, folks. You’re welcome to leave your thoughts on this in comments.

Let’s wrap this up.

So as we can see, Brain is, as usual, back to work on another plan that involves—

—a goddamn cannon, holy shit! What is he using the glue for? That’s a little ominous, given what’s been involved in this episode.

There’s a hammering noise in the background and we see Pinky putting up a photo of Phar Fignewton.

“Pinky, will you please stop that? I’m trying to concentrate on tomorrow night!”

Wow, you’re more irritable than usual, Brain. I didn’t think some delicate hammering would annoy you that much.

“Mwah!~”

…Despite my ramblings earlier, that’s very cute of you, Pinky. I’m sure you could’ve gotten a better photo, though.

“Why, Brain, what’re we gonna do tomorrow night?”

Try to take over the world, of course! Right, Brain?

“Guess.”

…

Umm, wow. That’s a first. You look like you’re absolutely enraged, Brain. All this over some hammering sounds?

This had me taken aback a bit when I watched it the first time, not gonna lie. We’ve seen Brain after a plan’s failure plenty of times before. He’s been frustrated, sure. Humiliated at times, or maybe he just sighs in resignation and walks off into the sunset. It always ends with him simply using these feelings to fuel the fire in him to do better tomorrow night.

This is the very first time we’ve seen him jumpy and irritated at the most minor of things and so angry that he literally refuses to participate normally in his and Pinky’s shared catchphrase. And this was for a plan that was just to fund the real plan! So why is this time any different?

Oh.

OH.

Okay, that’s… That makes a lot of sense, actually. Damn.

Hey, fanfic writers? Ya’ll ever use this as the very first time Brain experiences romantic jealousy? Let me know.

“Oh yeah, try to take over the world. Right.”

I think even Pinky’s put off by this development, if his hesitant and quiet finishing of the saying is anything to go by.

And that’s what we end off with.

All in all, this episode is a wild ride of strangeness in small moments and bizarre additions to lore and ends on the first subversion of the long-running closing gag of the series. It’s not exactly a great episode, but that ending is intriguing enough for one of the main purposes of this rewatch. In short, I’m just baffled.

Luckily the next episode is much better. Next time, the mice head on down to Tennessee to seek world domination via country music.

See you then!

#Pinky and the Brain #PatB #Jockey For Position

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thatsgay-writes · 4 years

Text

Kipo x Reader Part 2

Summary: Kipo is finally able to turn you back into a human along with her mom. Season 3 final episode with two different endings.

Warnings: Light cursing? Spoiler if you haven't watched Season 3.

After capturing Scarlemagne and retuning to the Timbercats forest, Kipo immediately started working on a way to deal with Emelia and to turn you and her mother back to normal. It was lonely inside your head, it was just you and your panther, if this was what it was like for Song for all those years it must have been terrible. It also sucked to be so close yet so far from Kipo. At least you got to watch Lio question Kipo about your relationship and laugh at how much she blushed and went over some details of what had happened in the last months. It did sadden you however, where after talking about a memory with you, she started crying. You wanted to just turn into a human and hug the crap out of her.

You were stuck as a panther all through Kipo trying to make HMUFA and would try to go everywhere you could with her. Most days were boring since you weren't allowed inside the Timbercat's home and some days Kipo couldn't come and visit you and tell you about her day. It had been a few days since you've seen Kipo but when she turns up she's not alone. Following Kipo is her father and your friends. She seemed to be holding this small pink dart and was walking slowly, making sure not to drop it. You knew from how careful she was with it that it was very important and stepped back to let her go to her mom first. You watched as Kipo hugged her mom's finger and stuck the dart into it, taking it out once it was half way empty. You watched for a few seconds in silence before you watched, in shock, as Song slowly turned back into a human and got to meet Kipo as a human for the first time in years. You were smiling so wide at the happiness that was radiating off of Kipo and her family.

You almost forgot that Kipo still had half the dart left but remembered when she walked up to you. You're heart was beating out of your chest, you were about to be able to hug Kipo again, hold her, kiss her, love her. Sadly, you would lose the mute side of you but you didn't have an anchor or anything so it wasn't the big of a loss. You leaned down as Kipo got closer and held your paw to her. Seeing her up close made you realize that she had been crying, tears of happiness of course. You flinched a little as she stuck the needle into your skin but froze as she took it out. There was another second of intense silence before you felt weird and felt yourself start to shrink.

After a couple of seconds you were almost eye level with Kipo, you are taller than her. You look down at yourself for a couple seconds in shock before looking back up at Kipo, who had the biggest smile on her face and even more tears running down her face. "Kipo..." You whisper, your voice cracking some after not using it for a while. Kipo immediately launches into your arms and you spin her around some holding her just as tightly. You put Kipo back down and put your hands on her cheeks with a big grin before pulling her into a kiss. You almost forget anyone else is there until you hear Lio clear his throat. You pull back with a blush in your face and turn to look at your friends and Kipo's parent with a smile. You walk up to them with Kipo still wrapped around you and greet everyone. "It's great to talk to you guys again.

*Boop Boop Time Skip*

"Kipo! You gotta get up!" Lio yells as he held Song close to him. "Emilia's lost it!" You yell in concern as you watch the mute version of Emilia hold a building over her head. "We gotta do something!" Benson says in concern. You hear some rummaging and look to over to Lio and Song just in time to see Scarlemagne take off in his flamingo car. "What is he doing?" You ask in concern as you watch him get closer and closer to Emeila. "Holy..." Your eyes get big as you watch Scarlemagne hit Emilia causing her to fall and for him to go flying through the sky.

You notice that Kipo is slowly waking up and run to her as she changes back to normal. You help her stand and watch as Mute Emilia runs away. "Where... Where's Scarlemagne?" Kipo asks after she catches her breath. You watch as Lio and Song look over to where smoke was coming from the ground. "No." Kipo says as she collapses into your side and puts her hand over her mouth. Lio reaches out and outs a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It'll be fine, me and Song will go check on him. You guys should probably go deal with Emilia." You nod your head as Kipo turns into a Mute again and let's you, Benson, and Wolf hop on.

"There she is." You say and point towards a cowering Mute Emilia. You all hop off of Kipo and let her turn back to normal. Kipo takes the last dart from Wolf and walks up to Mute Emilia. You debate silently whether or not to follow Kipo as she walks up to Mute Emilia.

(I'm being extra so there is two ends depending on what you do. I'm also not writing in Hugo's death or the flash forwards because I feel like I'm making this run on too much😅.)

You don't follow Kipo:

You stand with Wolf and Benson with your arms crossed. "I guess it's over after this... huh." You say as you all stare ahead and watch Kipo interact with Mute Emilia. "Yeah it's been a crazy ride." "Seriously." Wolf said agreeing with Benson. "What are you guys gonna do after this?" You say looking over to Benson and Wolf. Benson shrugs, "Probably do something with Troy, maybe take a vacation." "Yeah I could dig that." You all stand in silent as you watch Kipo turn Emilia back to normal. Then you all run up as you watch Kipo push Emilia, causing her to fall into a kid like goo. "Holy..." You say as you stand behind Kipo. "It's over... it's officially over." She says as she leans back into you, exhaustion finally seeming to set in. You turn her around to wrap your arms around her and hug her. You give her a kiss on the side of her head before speaking. "After checking on Hugo, you and I are going on a long vacation... Or sleeping for a week straight." You feel Kipo chuckle against your collar bone before nodding her head. "I'm good with either as long as I'm with you."

You follow Kipo:

You follow behind Kipo a little, taking time to take in how big Emilia's mute form actually is. "And to think... She turned into what she wanted to get rid of just to take you out." You say thinking out loud. "She definitely got desperate." Kipo doesn't respond and has a quick conversation with Mute Emilia before finally pricking her finger with the dart. You watch as Emilia slowly turns back to normal and sits on the ground. You make sure to stand next to Kipo to seem more intimidating in case Emilia tried something. "Why did you change me back?" Emilia asks with some confusion in her voice. "No one deserves to be stuck like that." Kipo sticks out her hand to Emilia. "You've been stuck in the dark for a long time Emili, but you have a choice. You can stay there or fight through it."

You watch as Emilia seemingly thinks for a minute, weighing her choices. You watch warily as Emilia grabs Kipo's hand. Something about this doesn't feel right to you. You watch in slow motion as Kipo pulls Emilia up, only for her to lunge at Kipo with a piece of glass. Your body goes into immediate protection mode and you push yourself in front of Kipo. As Emilia stabs you, you punch her across the face. Emilia flails for a moment, off balance, before falling back and over the edge. You let out a breath of relief before feeling an intense pain in your stomach. You look down to see a large glass shard sticking out of your stomach with blood coming out fast.

You stumble back a little and start to fall as Kipo catches you and lowers you to the ground. "No no no no." Kipo says as she cradles the upper half of your body. You hear Wolf, Benson, Dave, and Mandu run up. "Oh no..." You wince as Kipo puts pressure on your wound, mumbling like crazy to herself in worry. "Ow... Kipo. Kipo stop!" You say as you grab her hand away from your wound. "It's okay, everything will be okay." You say trying to reassure her. You knew you were too far away to get help from anyone and were losing to much blood to make any sort of journey. "It's not okay! It's over we won! You can't give up now!" Kipo says as she's sobbing. You put one of your hands on Kipo's cheek and cringe a little when you see blood on your hand.

"You're right we did it, we won. And I couldn't be any more prouder of you." Kipo leans down and puts her forehead against yours. "It's not fair I just got you back, I can't lose you again. Especially not permanently." You close your eyes tightly trying not to let any tears spill over. You look over to see Benson hugging Dave and Wolf hugging Mandu. "You'll be okay, maybe not immediately but one day. You still have our friends by your side and I'll be watching over you. I promise." Kipo just shakes her head not wanting to respond. You can feel yourself slipping away and hate it. It wasn't supposed to end like this, after all the work you did, why couldn't you get a happy ending. "I love you so much. All of you. I am so glad I got to meet such amazing people and to fall in love with one of them." You pull Kipo's head away from yours to look into her eyes one more time. "I love you so much." You say as the world around you blurs and you close your eyes for the final time.

Lio and Song watch as Kipo in Jaguar form walk up to the building there at, kneeling next to Hugo. They watch as her friends slide off her back and are confused when they don't see you. Before they could open there mouths and ask, they watch as Kipo turns back to human form and is carrying you in her arms, tears still streaming down her face. "Oh no."

#kipo and the age of wonderbeasts #kipo x reader #female x reader #Female Character #kataow #x reader

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darkestwolfx · 4 years

Text

Grandma Tourismo - Re-Review #44

Wouldn’t we all love to have a Grandma like Sally? Yes everyone, meet Sally. It was, after all, about time someone gave her a name besides ‘Grandma’.

“It’s Sally. Call me Sally.”

For the record, I still adore these dice. They are exactly the type of thing I can imagine fitting in with the Tracy boys lives. I think they belonged to Jeff, or the boys’ Granddad.

And the rescue operation is in full swing!

“Virgil are you fully prepared for today’s mission?”

“Everything’s A-Ok, John.”

“Sure you don’t need backup?”

“Situation under control. Cargo pod is go.”

Yes! Hang on... cargo pod? Yeah, not quite the rescue I originally thought they were setting it up to be.

Those dramatics zooms! It’s only Grandma, remember!

“Let’s do some shopping!”

“This is going to be so much fun.”

I don’t think you could possibly be any more sarcastic, Virgil.

And let the shopping list of Tracy Island be unveiled. P.S. I always thought it was a shame that the paper covered up whatever grand expression Virgil probably made at the sheer length of it.

Suppressant something (Grandma’s hand is in the way)

Toilet Paper

Hairspray

Hawaiian Shirts (this one makes so much sense after ‘The Long Reach’ too, but really, where were the Pink Flamingos? Still raging)

Plant food

Protein Powder

Celery crunch bars (um, last episode’s vow forgotten so speedily Gordon? That’s the last time luck with give up promises ever works for him)

Toothpaste

Piano Strings

Fire Extinguishers

Tanning lotion

Tofu

Multivitamins

Snooker cues

Apple Pie

Bagels

Lemon squeezer

Pillow case

Anti-rust spray

Extra cable

Oh, I know - let’s play a game! Assign someone to every item on the shopping list. I know I have my ideas about what is for whom.

Also, it’s nice to see a really sneaky TOS nod there.

Played in ‘Operation Crash Dive’, ‘Move and You’re Dead’, ‘Security Hazard’ and ‘Thunderbirds Are Go’. I believe there was also a scene shot for ‘Edge of Impact’, but I can’t remember off the top of my busy head whether it made in into the final cut or not. So, I wonder where they’ve been hiding this on Tracy Island?

“Grab some of that super shine gel for Scotty. I’ve never seen a boy spend so much time combing his hair.”

This. This is one of my absolute favourite lines ever in the history of TAG. Because we all knew this was Scott without it needing to be confirmed - and this is also definitely where Gordon gets his nickname streak from.

“Detour!”

Grandma really is a task shopper. And you know what, I love how Virgil knows exactly what that sole word means.

Remember this scene from ‘Unplugged’? Well, this is that episode, but in series 2 and a lightly new form. The thing which has stayed the same? The team up of Virgil and Grandma. Interesting choice for that pairing, but it makes so much sense for it to be Virgil. He’ll joke, but never at her expense, he defends her cooking, he accompanies her on shopping trips, he listens to her, he even seems to take after her. At this point in time, I always thought this was just a nice way to explore that relationship - by the time we get to ‘The Long Reach’ it’s a whole lot more than that. One thing that storyline didn’t disappoint on was tying up this relationship in a neat little bow.

“We’ve got a situation.”

Of course we do, because this family can’t even get through shopping without interruption - which I’m guessing might be the norm as they speed out of the shop with non-paid for goods (note, us normal humans would all be arrested on the spot for this, so do not attempt it in your local store).

“Hey!”

“Put it on our account!”

Or maybe they - like many others - just didn’t want to argue with Grandma. Wisely so.

“This is my job, Grandma.”

“And worrying about you boys is mine.”

Just a really nice little family moment here. The nuggets like this are part of what made this show for me. They tell more than any massive display could.

What a great landing - in fact, there were many great landings in this episode.

Talk about just going along for the ride, hey? I think there was a lot more than that on display.

“I can’t be two places at once, Thunderbird Five.”

“You don’t have to be, I’ll go.”

“Grandma there’s no way you can steer through a storm.”

“Isn’t that what you have your fancy autopilot for?”

“She’ll be safe in Thunderbird Two.”

“The ship will do the work. I’m just going along for the ride.”

“Okay, I’ll program the autopilot to take you straight there and back. You won’t need to touch anything.”

I love how all that concern was disguised with the same look he gives Gordon to not touch his ship.

“Look after her.”

After all these years, I still can’t work out exactly who this line is for. It’s one of those beautiful lines which has such a lovely level of ambiguity. It’s obviously about Grandma, but it also references his ship and there is just a gorgeous level of family and responsibility balanced out in this episode.

“Grandma...”

“I didn’t touch a thing.”

And lovely little chunks of humour interspersed.

“Can you reprogram the autopilot to do that?”

“No. For that we’d need Virgil to pilot remotely.”

Even the communications were all go in this episode. Honestly, sometimes John is so much more than go-between.

“Is Grandma ok?”

“She’s fine, but she needs your help with the rescue.”

“The storm’s about to hit here. I need to get these guys out.”

“The storm’s already here. And this young woman isn’t going to make it, unless you help me get this ship to her.

“Sorry guys, this will just take a minute. Someone needs are help.”

“Go for it.”

Well, those guys weren’t really in a position to say no, were they? I mean they need IR’s help too, and I probably would have been tempted to leave them there if they started getting on their high horses. Good people besides the Tracy’s do exist in the world of TAG and this episode had a really nice mix of them. No obnoxious rescuees.

“Let’s just hope I can do this.”

“I heard that. Of course you can do it.”

“Perfect!”

“You did it!”

Of course he did. He’s Virgil Tracy of International Rescue, and that’s his Grandma.

“There’s no getting out in this! We need to stabilise the building.”

“John, we’re gonna’ have to ride it out down here. Can you make sure Grandma stays put?”

“I’ll tell her to put on the coffee pot.”

“You’re with International Rescue?”

Never judge a book by it’s cover.

“You could say that. I’m the Tracy boys Grandma.”

“Kate. And I’m really pleased to see you Grandma Tracy.”

This was so interesting to watch! What you do when you’re stuck in a Thunderbird.

“I’d offer you something to eat, but I’m all out of homemade cookies. As the boy’s would say, lucky for you.”

And one of my favourites;

“John, be a dear.”

I love it when Grandma says that! We saw her do it in ‘Volcano’ too and it was grand.

“Now if we’re lucky all we do is sit here until this blows over.”

I’ll just clear my throat at the idiocy of saying that as Virgil slides expertly across the floor to hold the roof up. And yes, it was possible to do and type this sentence in the time that move took.

“International Rescue, we have a situation.”

“I think our luck may have just run out.”

Predictable...

“The shifting sands are putting extra weight on the structure. It’s not gonna’ hold much longer. John, if we don’t find a way out of here, we’re not gonna’ make it!”

“Yes you are! I’m coming to get you!”

“Grandma, there’s no way. The storm is interfering with my autopilot, and I’ve got my hands full. I can’t remotely fly you back.”

“Don’t need remote control or autopilot. I’ll do it.

“You?”

“Have a little faith, boys.”

Yeah, have some faith. I think there’s a song lyric there;

You gotta have faith

Back to the conversation at hand;

“Who do you think taught your Dad to fly?”

“But that was a single engine plane.”

“And a long, long, long time ago.”

We so often see Grandma sat here at the desk (like above), so in this episode it’s really nice to see her in the driving seat. Age doesn’t have to stop anyone, and this episode was a brilliant piece of script writing to showcase Grandma’s place in IR. She is far more than just anyone’s Grandma and I love how the tension of this episode really built up with the pressures of duty and family.

Oh, the history that is here! I adored that little chunk of life we got a look into.

“You’re following your dream. Good for you.”

Do this, people, it’s one of the best pieces of advise on the planet. I’ve been doing it, and it’s working out pretty well for me so far. I’ve interacted with animals I honestly thought I would never meet, met amazing people and seen the world from many angles. Whatever your dream is, it’s worth doing it.

“Was this your dream?”

“It was my son’s dream, to help people. And now it’s my Grandsons. And I’m happy to support them.”

“Virgil, how are you holding up?”

“Oh, it could be better.”

“Well don’t you worry, I’ll be there any minute. You tell the others.’“

“My Grandma says don’t worry. She’s coming to pick us up.”

“Your Grandma?”

The look on Virgil’s face which just speaks not to underestimate her.

“I can do this. I think.”

“I heard that. Of course you can do it.”

“Of course I can.”

This moment is the sort of writing I live for. It was so nice to see Grandma’s own words thrown back at her. Everyone needs a little positive reinforcement from time to time. I’m sure Virgil can forgive the little scratch on Two’s paintwork.

The hats! It was a really nice touch and look at how happy Grandma looks in hers. Kate doesn’t know what she’s got herself in for in meeting this family. Little taps of those dice for luck.

“Hurry, Grandma, CO2 levels are critical.”

“We’re not gonna’ make it.”

You were saying?

“I’ve never been more glad to see anyone’s Grandma in my life!”

Too right you haven’t. And Virgil had move moves than Kayo in this episode, even with all his equipment on. I love the fact that Virgil is holding the dice now! Oh, they were so a small thing, but they managed to make them matter so much. Sometimes it’s the little things which matter the most.

“Not so fast! We gotta go back and finish our shopping!”

I think that might be the face of someone who would prefer another rescue than a conclusion to the never ending shopping trip from hell!

Oh well, Virgil’s still in one piece for episode 19 so he must survive and get that shower at some point.

This is another of my favourites though really. The balance of family and danger and normality and duty was just spot on.

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queencarolinemikaelson · 4 years

Text

That One Time Caroline Forbes Lied to the Truth Circle

//klaroline au week// - day 7 - trope x trope best friend’s little sister x first time sex This is a long one, folks. NSFW. Enjoy!

xxx

There were many moments in Caroline Forbes’ life that led her to this excruciating moment.

God, dammmmit, how she wished to be literally anywhere else but here.

But she wasn’t anywhere else. She was here, and this was happening.

“Tyler after the football finals, in Junior year,” Elena stated.

“No, wasn’t it Matt? At that New Year’s party?” Bonnie chimed in. “Sorry, Bekah.”

“I’m well aware of Matt’s romance before me with not one, but two in this circle.”

“You know, Caroline,” Katherine said. “I don’t think I actually know this story?”

“Wait, I don’t think even I know this story, either,” said Elena.

“I don’t know if I want to know this story,” Stefan mumbled.

Bloody hell, bloody hell.

She could feel the honest truth forcing its way from her, she could not defy the sanctity of Truth or Dare! The mixture of honour and tequila in her blood wouldn’t allow it!

“What was the question again?” Caroline asked, feigning ignorance to buy a tiny bit more time.

“Who did you lose your virginity to?” the group chorused.

It was a story Caroline had kept as close to her chest as her heart itself, for more reasons than she could count, the main of which were sitting in that circle right now.

In a somewhat out of body experience – maybe brought on by the quart of tequila in her system, or maybe just from the sheer mortification of it all – Caroline could see very clearly every moment in her life that progressed her on this path. Whence she was but a wee four-year-old, all the way to the 22-year-old she was now.

It all started when her father left her mother, admitting he love for another man. It rocked the little conservative town of Mystic Falls, and left the little Forbes family a little littler. But at the end of the day, Caroline loved her father, loved her step father, and loved that they were happy.

Then there was her mother. Elizabeth Forbes, while rightly distraught about the divorce, was self-aware enough to know that her relationship with Bill was not true love. So when her high school sweet heart happened to move back to Mystic Falls, two motherless kids in toe, Liz took it as a sign from the universe. Only two years later, Liz Forbes became Liz Salvatore, and Caroline gained another step-father and two brothers, Damon and Stefan.

Caroline supposed Damon deserved an honourable mention in this memory-lane-trip. Because, at seven years her senior, Damon was a built-in babysitter for the youngest in their blended family. And Liz and Giuseppe grew quite comfortable with that fact, thank you very much. But as soon as Damon got his first set of car keys, there was no way in Mystic Falls – or even in hell, for that matter – he was sticking around to babysit his 9-year-old sister?

Of course, once Damon would no longer babysit Caroline, the Forbes/Salvatore parents just had to find someone. After all, Damon wouldn’t do it – because “DUH I have a life? Why are you trying to ruin to it?” – and Stefan, well Stefan was old enough at thirteen to get himself to and from school and extra-curricular activities. But he was certainly not old enough to mind Caroline. So who better to ask than Elijah Mikaelson. He was polite, whip smart, gracious, kind and the most charming teen in town. Elijah’s role in this entire saga, however, was to come into play years later.

And of course, of course, Stefan played a huge part. Stefan was her other big brother, and he was her yard stick for something that was cool. And, more pertinently, Stefan chose to become best friends with another of the Mikaelsons, Elijah’s younger brother, Klaus. But she would get to Klaus later.

Caroline supposed, there wouldn’t be this story without the rest of the Mikaelson family, would there? Finn, Kol, Rebekah, and Henrik. Finn didn’t really play his part, as innocuous as he was. But the three younger Mikaelsons certainly did, and their mother, Esther. If it hadn’t been for them, the events of that weekend, that Caroline was so reticent to share, happened as a direct result of their existence.

Caroline knew she had to take some responsibility. She had organised tonight’s event. She suggested playing their old high school favourite game. She was there that night. And it took two to tango, after all. But god, couldn’t they just drop it?

Which just brought her back to Klaus. None of this would be possible without Klaus.

Klaus was Stefan’s best friend, since nearly before Stefan was Caroline’s brother. The two had been inseparable their entire middle school lives, with not much changing well into their high school and college life. Klaus was smart, funny, and gorgeous, just like Stefan, and so of course they were quite the dominant pair strutting around Mystic Falls high.

Bloody Klaus. He always starred in the bits of her life she was most closed off about. He was the only one who saw her her bikini strap break when she was 13, leaving her chest completely bare. He’d quickly given her the giant pink flamingo he had been floating on, instructing her to use it to cover herself, while he grabbed a towel she could use. It was a moment that had completely mortified Caroline, but they had never mentioned it again.

He was also there when, at the age of 15, she had gotten tangled in the strappy sandals she was wearing to a party and fallen flat on the bitumen. He’d doubled over laughing, until she sat up dazed, blood running from a nasty, dirty cut on her face. His mirth had vanished and he rushed her to his house, which was much nearer than hers. She was his best friend’s little sister, of course he would look after her. That’s just what good people did. Caroline would never forget his 17-year-old fingers tenderly cleaning her wound, while she fidgeted distractedly. It was another moment they’d never spoken of again.

And of course, he played the starring role in the story they were trying to needle out of her right that very moment. It was a moment he had once again never mentioned again.

“So uhh... the question again…” Beetroot-red-Caroline squeaked.

“Come on, Caroline! Stop trying to weasel your way out of this!”

“A lady never kisses and tells,” Caroline said, positively willing the swelling in her face to go down. “Why are we playing this dumb game anyway?

“Caroline Elizabeth Forbes,” Elena said, sternly. “You will not sully the purity of the truth or dare circle!”

“You’ve been making all of us confess to our deepest darkest secrets for years, because of your insistence upon the integrity of this dumb game,” Bonnie chided.

“Yeah, Caroline,” Marcel drawled. “You made me admit all the stuff I did with Charlotte, while my new girlfriend was in the circle. You can cough up one lousy virginity story.”

Caroline helplessly looked from her friends to her brother, who just shrugged sympathetically. Stefan loved his sister, but she did have quite the way of squeezing people’s deepest secrets out of them.

“You’ve made your bed, Care,” Stefan said, ruffling her hair. “What do you think, Klaus, think she’s gotta suck it up and give us a bit of a story?”

Caroline turned her imploring eyes to Klaus.

“Please, I really don’t want to share this story,” Caroline said pointedly, almost as if she was talking directly to Klaus. “It’s private, you know.”

The protests from the group were instant. Caroline was usually the first person to tell you that you had to be honest and truthful, especially in truth or dare. It was the rules and what a better way to have hilarious fun that making people spill their secrets.

Klaus didn’t know why she was so reticent to sharing her first time story. Tyler had been her boyfriend, nothing saucy to ruffle her beautiful feathers. Just high school sweethearts trying things.

“Guys please,” Caroline beseeched.

“Nope, no way Caroline, those puppy dog eyes will not get you out of this!” Elena said, stubbornly.

“Come on, Care, it can’t be that bad!”

“Tyler wasn’t a bad guy even if he did peak in high school!”

“You gotta tell us!”

“Car-o-line! Car-o-line! Car-o-line!”

Suddenly someone in the group started chanting her name, the same way they chanted U-S-A on game days.

“Car-o-line! Car-o-line! Car-o-line!”

More and more people joined in, until the whole group was shouting, “Car-o-line! Car-o-line! Car-o-line!”, and crowding in on her.

“Fine!” she shouted, a little more aggressively that she would have liked, but it had the desired effect of shutting everyone up.

“I will not tell you who it was with, because that is my business,” she said, pompously. “But it was at that Founders’ Christmas party senior year.”

Before anyone else could protest her caginess, or even respond, Caroline was up and gone.

“The Founders’ Christmas party senior year?” Elena said, confused.

“I wasn’t there when you guys were seniors,” Stefan said.

“Neither was I,” Katherine added, and a number of the Mystic Fall alum nodded their absentia. “Esther hosted it, I think? I remember Elijah complaining about how tense Mama Mikaelson was about it.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Rebekah said, her eyes flicking to Klaus, shrewdly.

“Wait, Klaus, that was the year were there, right?” Stefan said, his brow furrowing, trying to pull details from his mind. “My parents and your mom roped you into going home to stay with Caroline, and help your mom. Do you remember Caroline hanging around anyone?”

“Not to my knowledge, no,” Klaus said, with every ounce of cool, calm, collectedness in the world.

“Caroline was so mad our parents made her have a babysitter,” Stefan chuckled at the memory. “It was probably because she wanted to shag this mystery person without anyone being any the wiser.”

“And none of us were!” Elena said. “I can’t believe she never told us! Why is it such a secret?”

“Who knows,” Kat said. “But also who cares, she’s not here anymore. Truth or dare, Stefan!”

As his best friend chose dare, Klaus sighed in a bit of relief, but also in revelation.

Opting to take a moment to collect his thoughts, Klaus left the circle to get something stronger to drink than beer; a goodly amount of the bottom shelf whiskey to be precise.

He gulped it all in one go because he lied. He lied to the whole truth circle.

Klaus did remember someone hanging around Caroline that weekend.

It was him.

xxx

Four years earlier.

It was four years prior to that fateful night when Elijah’s role in the humiliation had starred.

Elijah was Caroline’s faithful – or fateful as this case may be – babysitter all the way up until she turned 12, and Elijah regretfully moved away from college. Caroline would miss him, as he had been minding her twice to three times a week for the past three years. But when he left, Liz and Giuseppe, fell into the trap many parents do with their youngest, and decided Caroline was definitely mature enough at the ripe old age of twelve to take care of herself after school.

Sometimes she would hang out with Bonnie and Elena. Sometimes she would have an after school activity. Sometimes Stefan would let her tag along to whatever he was doing. But most days though, Caroline took herself home, and hung out by herself until her brother, or parents came home.

It was a good, independent life, even if a tad lonely. Perfect for someone as old as her.

So, imagine when, in her final year of high school, after six whole years of being her own babysitter, Giuseppe and Liz were going to be away for a week on a business trip, turned mini-vacation, and they insisted on finding someone to stay with Caroline. As she was too young to stay by herself, for a whole week after all.

This offended Caroline on many levels.

She was eighteen, for heaven’s sake. She would have school during the day, she’d been a lone ranger in the after school hours for years. She wasn’t suddenly going to be terrified at night by herself?

And what was she supposed to get up to at night anyway? Sure, she was a party animal, and the best party planner her age, but there was absolutely no way any of the year would go to an illicit party at the Salvatore house. Caroline was the daughter of the town sheriff; that wrath was a fate no teenager would willingly bring on.

Caroline made these arguments loudly, infuriatedly, and petulantly. But nope her parents would not have it.

“You can look after yourself sweetie, we know,” they implored her. “But we just don’t want to be worrying about you all alone while we’re trying to relax.”

Caroline’s protests didn’t change, but neither did theirs.

They, of course, asked Stefan first.

“Please Stefan,” they said over the phone. “She’s your sister, and you love her.”

And Stefan did love her. Caroline was his favourite girl in the whole world, and he couldn’t wait until she lived in the same college town as he did so they could party their lives away together. But there was no way in hell he was giving up a weekend just to go home and mind his baby sister. Not this close to finals. Not when he almost convinced Valerie Tulle to finally go out with him.

And especially not because Caroline had text him before their parents even called him, and threatened the life of his Bon Jovi vinyl collection if he agreed.

So Stefan had politely declined his parents, citing a very imminent, very important, but also quite vague exam in his reasoning.

So, the Forbes-Salvatore parents half-heartedly ran the request past Damon.

“Please Damon,” they begged him. “She’s your sister and you love her.”

And Damon did love her, at least begrudgingly – it was hard not to love the bouncy ball of blonde. But there was not a chance that he would leave the office for an entire week, only to drive from New York to Mystic Falls to mind his younger sister.

And especially not when Caroline text him, begging to turn down their parents. She just wanted some alone time.

So he declined his parents – “Wall Street doesn’t just take vacations.”

Maybe if Elijah had never been he babysitter, Caroline’s mother and step-father would have left their search at Stefan and Damon. And given up the whole search as a bad job.

But no.

This was when Liz and Giuseppe even went as far as calling Elijah.

Luckily, for Caroline though, her former babysitter, as touched as he was that they still thought so highly of him, was busy in the first few months of a new job, so was unavailable.

And after that, Caroline honestly thought she had won. Who on earth would they ask? She was 18! She didn’t need a baby sitter. No one in their right mind would agree to baby sitting an 18-year-old.

At least, that’s what she thought, until approximately three days before her parents were due to leave and Liz came in to where Caroline was studying to talk to her.

“So, Klaus is going to be here at about 5pm on Saturday, does that sound okay? You’ll be okay for the rest of the day?”

“Wait, what?” Caroline exclaimed, slightly thrown.

“Klaus is staying here while we’re away this week, remember? I thought I’d run it by him, given that Elijah was always so reliable, and he is, after all, Stefan’s best friend,” Liz said, seemingly baffled that her daughter didn’t know this information. “I told you all this last week?”

“Oh my god, what? No you didn’t?!”

“I did wonder why you didn’t put up more of a fight,” Liz mused. “Well, this isn’t up for discussion, Caroline. He’s basically just here anyway so we don’t have to worry about you here alone at night. Klaus is here for the week, and that’s final.”

And with that, Liz turned on her heel and went back to packing, leaving a tongue tied Caroline in her wake.

And so sat a truly grumpy Caroline that Saturday, waiting exasperatedly for her ‘babysitter’ to arrive.

When the knock at the door came, just after 5pm, as Liz had promised, Caroline pulled open the door a fiery look in her eyes.

“What on earth were you thinking?” she griped, without so much as a ‘hello’. “Did it not occur to you that I’m actually an adult? I don’t need a sitter.”

“Well hello to you too, love,” he drawled, giving her that wicked grin he always gave when he was stirring the pot. “I wasn’t aware that I was so unwanted in this household.”

“Don’t be cute with me, Klaus,” Caroline snipped, not having any of it. “Like, didn’t you even ask Stefan? Did it not cross you little mind to go ‘hey, best friend, your parents want me to babysit your adult sister for a week, why can’t you do it?’”

The final sentence Caroline put on her best mockery of his English accent, and flopped melodramatically onto the nearest couch.

“If you had asked that,” Caroline continued, now addressing the ceiling in the living room. “You would know that they did ask Stefan and he refused because I asked him to. I don’t want baby sitting! I just want to be able to use my house the way I want to for a change!”

Caroline felt her own frown so deep, so petulant, on her face, that she wryly admitted to herself, maybe she wasn’t as mature as she liked to think she was. But that wasn’t the point.

“I could have eaten whatever I wanted. Danced to loud, cringe music. I could have studied with no pants on! And now I don’t have that!”

Klaus just grinned his little grin, and picked up his bag.

“I’m sorry for ruining your no-pants plans, Caroline.”

Which was all he said before trying to dart upstairs to put his bag in the spare room.

“That’s your take away?” Caroline cried, dragging herself from the couch. “That I just wanted to wear no pants for the week? Nothing about the fact I can, as a matter of fact, look after myself!”

Klaus laughed at her, she really looked so completely stubborn and done with him already.

“Love, eat whatever, dance to whatever, wear pants, wear no pants, it’s all the same to me,” Klaus replied. “You can pretend I’m not here as much as you like. In fact, that might be the best outcome for us both.”

With that, and a wink, Klaus shut the spare room door in Caroline’s face, which only served to infuriate the Forbes woman even more.

With another giant huff, Caroline stomped back down the stairs, and flopped again on the living room couch again.

It was a few hours later when Klaus resurfaced.

In those hours, Caroline hadn’t done much more than sulk about her situation, but she also baked a cake, and started cooking dinner, feeling ever so slightly bad about her nastiness and petulance.

He was, after all, just being a good family friend, even if it did irritate Caroline’s personal preferences. And she liked Klaus. Of course she did, she’d know him forever. And it would be a little bit not awful to not have to be alone the entire week.

As he strode down the stairs, the garlic-y smells of a pasta sauce filled his nose.

If he were honest, Klaus had been wary of agreeing to this week. Rightly so, apparently. She was his best friend’s little sister, not exactly the top of the list of activities for a college student.

But soon after he got the call from Liz, and before he had a chance to talk to Stefan, Klaus received a call from his mother, Esther. And Esther told him, in no uncertain terms, he would accept Liz’s offer. Much like Caroline’s, Klaus’ protestations had fallen on unsympathetic ears. Esther’s insistence that Klaus came to stay with Caroline was just as much about her own personal gain. As a self-employed event planner and mother of six, Esther found herself with more to do than sense most of the time.

She was putting on the biggest event of the year for Mystic Falls, and with still three kids at home she thought she may forget to feed them amidst all the kerfuffle which was the week leading up to the Founders’ Christmas party. So, when Liz mentioned asking Klaus to stay with Caroline, Esther knew she would feel much better with an extra pair of hands on deck.

“During the school hours, Niklaus,” Esther said, sternly down the phone. “You will cook food for the fridge, and the freezer, so the kids can help themselves. You will run any errands I need of you. And you will do the school pick up and drop off.”

Klaus had, obviously, groaned, but was secretly glad for the excuse to say yes. He enjoyed going to Mystic Falls, because college sometimes became a little too much. It would be good to unwind a little. And even if his mother was going to be in her high-strung planning mood Klaus could vanish in the evening, because after all, he had an obligation to Caroline.

It would be a nice week.

“So,” Klaus said, leaning on the kitchen bench, feeling a little awkward. Sure he and Caroline had spent a small amount of time alone over their lives, but definitely nothing like this, and definitely not in a number of years.

“So,” Caroline mimicked.

“I suppose, I hardly even know much about you these days, sweetheart,” he said, flashing his signature dimples at her. “Your hopes, dreams, everything you want in life.”

Caroline just scoffed while stirring the pasta, though unexpectedly, even to himself, Klaus was delighted to see a slight blush, and just a feather of a smile settle on her face.

“Come on, Caroline,” he said. “I’m serious! You have to talk to me at some point. I am here all week, remember?”

“Uh! Don’t remind me!” she groaned. “Why did you agree to stay here anyway?”

“My mother is planning the Founders’ Christmas thing next weekend,” Klaus said, picking at some of the carrots Caroline cut for the pasta. “She demanded I agree to stay with you, so I can help her while you’re at school.”

“Why couldn’t she just ask you to stay with her and help her?” Caroline asked.

“I assume because she thought it would be a much more attractive offer for me,” Klaus shrugged. “Here with you is likely to be a lot calmer fro me than if I stay there.”

Caroline nodded, but was distracted from answering, as Klaus tried to nab a couple more bits of vegetable to snack on.

“Hey!” she chided. “That’s to go with dinner, keep your grubby paws off!”

Klaus laughed, and waited until she turned back to the saucepan on the stove, before grabbing a piece anyway and popping them into his mouth.

“I heard that,” Caroline snapped. “See, I’m already regretting you being here.”

From there, the rest of the evening was fine. Caroline was still mildly annoyed she had a babysitter, but, she reasoned, Klaus wasn’t so bad.

If the task had fallen to Elijah, Caroline would definitely have felt obliged to be a host the whole week. If it was Damon, he would have made her be his minion the entire time. If it was Stefan, the week would have been them having a semi-party every night, and Caroline would have gotten absolutely no work done.

So, if there was any outcome that required a babysitter, this was the best one.

Klaus gave her company at meal times, but gave her space when she wanted it.

Though, when school finished on Tuesday, a couple of days later, Caroline felt herself not wanting as much space as usual. It had been a long, boring day at school, and even though cheer practice after school had been fun, Caroline was still looking for a bit of interaction.

“Klaus,” Caroline called as she came in from practice. “Klaus, are you here?”

There was no answer.

Curiously, she nosed her way around the house, looking for her current housemate. There was definite evidence that he was around, his car in the drive for one, but there was not a sound nor a movement to alert her to his whereabouts.

“Ka-lau-ssss,” she said, exasperatedly. “Jeez, I finally start wanting you around the damn house, and now you’re suddenly Harry Houdini!”

“Oh, you want me now do you?”

Caroline jumped about a foot in the air, as Klaus spoke into her ear.

“What on earth is your game?” Caroline shrieked, punching him in the chest. “You’re supposed to be babysitting me! Not trying to kill me!”

Klaus just laughed at her – a habit that was becoming far too common, if you asked Caroline.

“Not trying to kill you, love,” he said, mirth still laced in his voice. “Just trying to entertain myself.”

“Can’t you entertain yourself by getting yourself off, like a normal college student,” Caroline huffed, still trying to slow her heart rate.

Though, her statement didn’t do a great job of slowing her heart rate, as she considered the substance of what she said.

“Been thinking about me getting myself off, sweetheart?” Klaus said, slipping a little flirt into his voice, before he could stop himself.

“No! I just… I was just saying… shut up!” Caroline spluttered, going an excellent shade of pink.

“Come on, love,” he goaded, still with that inexplicable flirt in his voice. “It’s not that disgusting a thought is it?”

His eyes were locked with hers, and she could feel herself crumbling a little under his gaze. He had kissed boys before, and done other things with them, but she’d never really explored much. And it was wildly inappropriate to wonder about her older brother’s best friend as a sexual being, but she definitely found herself doing it in that moment.

She had to shake herself a little after a moment, and unable to find the right way to answer to Klaus’ question, she ignored it.

“I thought we could have pizza for dinner,” Caroline said. “Maybe go for a walk or watch a movie? I’m still full of energy after cheer practice, I don’t want to just sit in my room and ignore you like I did last night.”

Klaus opted to allow for the change of subject.

“Have extra energy, love? I’m sure I can think of something we can entertain ourselves somehow.”

Well, almost.

Caroline rolled her eyes, hard, and stalked away from him.

“Fine!” she growled. “I thought it could be nice, but since you can’t keep your mind from the gutter, Klaus, I’ll just…. Entertain myself!”

Caroline by this point, was at her bedroom door, and managed to slam it in his face. And she felt quite proud of her timing, until she heard a hearty laugh from the other side of the door, and Caroline realised exactly what she said.

She groaned loudly to herself. Though was inconveniently still thrumming with energy from the day, just now with a second lot of energy joining the rest.

Later that night, it was Klaus’ turn to cook Caroline a silent apology meal. The same way she cooked for him the night he arrived.

He wasn’t sure what had got into him. Winding up Caroline was just such a delicious exercise. The shades of pink she turned, the entendres she inadvertently made, the adorably over the top facial expressions he elicited. It was just quite fun.

But after an hour of feeling a little pleased with himself about it all, he started feeling a little guilty.

She was an adult, and she was an exceptionally beautiful adult – although he’d never let himself admit that to himself before and never would again (she was Stefan’s sister after all) – but she was still young. It wasn’t like he was 1000-years-old and she just 18 – he was only two years older than her – but he didn’t know where she was on her sexual journey. Flirting her into knots when he was quite confident in his sexuality, and she not so much, just felt a bit ick.

Klaus decided as much fun as flirting with Caroline had been, he was going to leave that ball in her court, so to speak. If she wanted to flirt with him overtly, then he would pick up what she put down, but wouldn’t initiate it.

“Hey Klaus,” Caroline said softly, when she finally surfaced for dinner. “This isn’t pizza.”

She still had a bit of pent up energy, but was wary because of before. Although it felt surprisingly good to flirt with Klaus, she felt it was a bit of a dangerous line to toe.

“Well spotted,” he intoned, sardonically. “I thought we could partake in a well loved, alliterative tradition; Taco Tuesday.”

Caroline smiled a little brighter. If he wasn’t going to mention earlier, then neither would she.

“That sounds nice!” she replied. “I have some tequila upstairs if you want margaritas to go with it?”

“Caroline Elizabeth Forbes!” Klaus exclaimed, in mock indignance. “It’s a school night!”

She rolled her eyes in response, and flounced upstairs to get the bottles she needed.

When she came back down, she set to work on the cocktails for the two of them.

“You know Caroline,” Klaus said. “I still don’t know much about you anymore. Tell me about yourself.”

“What don’t you know about me? You’ve known me since you were like eight?” Caroline said, squeezing a lime.

“Be that as it may, I hardly paid you any mind while in high school, and now I don’t live here,” Klaus reasoned. “Have you made any decisions about what or where you’ll study?”

“Not really,” she began, before thinking a couple moments longer. “I’d obviously love to do event planning or management. It would really be in keeping with skills I already have, but on the other hand, why waste money on a degree in something I’m already basically professional at. Another thing that was interesting to me was broadcast journalism, but as mom so rudely, but very fairly, pointed out, I barely watch the news as it is. I could do nursing, though blood makes me a bit squeamish.”

As Caroline continued to chatter about what she might want to do with her life, Klaus watched her, and noted the fondness he felt toward her. It was nice listening to her.

“I’m just rambling though, sorry,” Caroline said, a little embarrassed of herself. “I’m always doing that.”

“Not a problem in the slightest, Caroline,” Klaus said, throwing her a genuine smile. “It is nice.”

Caroline smiled shyly back at him, and blushed a little. He sounded so sincere, and it was so at odds with her usual interactions with Klaus.

“Any other thoughts on your future?” Klaus asked.

“Not really,” Caroline said. “I know people think I’m so planned and structured. But I think I want to go with the flow for a while, work out who I am before I settle for anything.”

“That’s very wise, love,” he said. “And I believe our food is ready.”

“Perfect timing!” Caroline grinned. “Margaritas are too!”

“Shall we take our dinner in the lounge?”

“No way, you animal!” Caroline laughed, grabbing the margarita jug in one hand and the glasses in the other. “We are having party food, which means we dine in the party room!”

“The den, I take it?”

“Correct!”

With that, Caroline was off, leaving Klaus to bring all the dishes for dinner into the den, where Caroline was setting up some elaborate game for them already.

“Steady on, sweetheart!” Klaus laughed at her. “How are we supposed to eat and play beer pong at the same time?”

“Oh, Klaus, honey, this isn’t beer pong!” Caroline laughed. “It’s the greatest board game you’ll ever play. I’m prototyping a drinking game for when I go to college.”

“Silly me,” Klaus drawled. “Explain the rules while we eat. But tuck in love, before it gets cold.”

The two friends whiled away the next few hours playing Caroline’s game. Klaus had to hand it to her, the girl knew what made a good drinking game.

It was just after 11pm when they decided to stop playing. Even by that time, there was not a clear winner.

“This is why I am prototyping, Klaus!” Caroline said, swatting playfully at him. “So I can discover where there are holes in the game play. I obviously have to work on the point system more!”

Both of them were definitely well past tipsy, but not quite properly drunk yet. They were in that happy, buzzing period where everything was that little bit heightened. Jokes were funnier, jibes were more meaningful, and flirts were more sensual.

“I probably should go to bed,” Caroline said through her buzz. “Or I’ll regret this in the morning.”

“How could you regret such quality time with me, my love?” Klaus teased.

“Oh so I’m your love now, am I?” Caroline giggled. “Not just a plain old love.”

“You get special consideration for making me laugh,” Klaus stated, matter-of-factly.

“I get it,” Caroline said, as she sprung up from the couch. “There’s levels, am I right?”

“And what on earth do you mean by that, Caroline,” he replied, getting up to follow after her.

“Oh you know,” she said, as she began climbing the stairs. “Everyone gets ‘love’, right? The ones you like a little more get ‘sweetheart’. And then the best people get ‘my love’?”

Caroline stopped midway up the stairs to turn around and raise her eyebrows triumphantly at him. Klaus, stopped his ascent when he was just a step below her, and he was awfully close to her. But in this tipsy state, he didn’t much mind.

“That’s right, my love,” Klaus said, cockily.

She leaned in, her face so close to his, he could count the freckles on her cheeks. Even though she was a full step above him, she was just at his eye level. Her heavy eyes bored into his and Klaus could have sworn her eyes flicked to his lips. And he certainly would by lying to himself if he said his eyes didn’t flick to hers.

“That’s what I thought,” Caroline said, her voice as low as he ever heard it.

With her eyes still locked with his, a tiny, mischievous smile lit her face, and she began chewing on her bottom lip.

It was Caroline unlike he’d ever seen her before. Enticing, intriguing, exciting. And that was enough to make him want her. But add just a hint of the forbidden in the mix, and boy, did it make her that much more alluring.

She leaned in a fraction closer, and Klaus was sure he was about to feel the glory of her lips on his, when his phone started buzzing loudly in his pocket.

Caroline visibly shook herself, apparently regaining her composure much faster than he was able to.

“You should get that.”

The voice was still Caroline’s, it was still kind and melodic, but he couldn’t help but feel he lost something secret.

“Klaus, the phone,” Caroline urged.

Finally pulled from his trance, Klaus reached into his pocket to grab his still ringing phone.

“Hello,” he answered.

“Klaus!”

Caroline only heard a loud voice excitedly say Klaus’ name, and she already heard enough.

With nothing more than a gesture upstairs to her bedroom, Caroline was off to sleep.

She didn’t escape fast enough, before she heard the tail end of Klaus’ conversation.

“I’m busy,” he said. “Hanging out with the best people. Goodbye.”

Hearing that made a warm glow spread through her.

It was still alight within her the next night when she and Klaus were sitting in the lounge watching a movie after dinner.

“So, am I invited to the event this weekend?” Caroline asked, about 45 minutes into the movie.

“It’s the founders’ Christmas party. You are part of two founding families, Caroline,” Klaus replied, sardonically. “I think you have a weightier invitation than I do.”

Caroline just laughed.

“But in all seriousness,” Klaus said. “Mother made a point of saying just today to make sure you come along. You’ll be the only representative of the Forbes and Salvatore family in attendance this year apparently.

“I guess that’s right,” Caroline said, pondering. “I will be all alone!”

“You will hardly be alone, love,” Klaus said, chuckling at her dramatics. “Elena and Bonnie will be there.”

“No actually,” Caroline said. “Elena and Jeremy are going to some family reunion thing out of town, and Bonnie is will be visiting her cousin.”

“What about my siblings?”

“Come on, Klaus,” Caroline chided. “All of them will have their friends there. Plus, your sister is dating Matt, my ex. Not super keen to hang out with those two just yet, as much as I like them both.”

“Well, there’s nothing else for it,” Klaus stated, with a tiny wink. “You’ll have to be my date for the evening.”

“I’ll have to be your date, will I?” Caroline asked, a little coolly.

“Yes you will, my love,” Klaus teased.

Caroline laughed, her faux-cool exterior cracking.

“Fine, I’ll be your date, Klaus,” Caroline said, that flirtatious smile back on her face. “But only if you wear a suit, and court me somehow. And get me a gift, obviously. I don’t put out otherwise.”

“I wouldn’t dream of you putting out for me, sweetheart,” he replied, trying desperately to play it as cool as she seemed to be. “But I can definitely find a suit.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” she replied.

At that moment, she hauled herself up from the couch, and began to pick up the plates in front of them, left over from dinner.

“Don’t worry about that yet, love,” Klaus said, covering her hand with his, and gently indicating to leave the chores for later.

Caroline flicked her eyes from their joined hands to his eyes.

“Stay,” he urged.

Caroline let herself be pulled back onto the couch, although this time she was far closer to Klaus than she had been, and he did not let go of her hand. And she wasn’t quite sure why, but she felt very comfortable to stay tangled up in him.

For the remainder of the film, neither of them spoke much, other than a bit of banter dragging the movie, but their bodies stayed close, and their hands locked. Every now and then Caroline would stroke her foot delicately along Klaus’ leg, or Klaus would draw circles with his thumb on her skin.

After it finished, they stayed in a similar state of sweet, both ignoring the complete insanity of what they were doing; just chatting, laughing, teasing.

And that’s how it was for the next couple of days. They spent every possible moment together; furtive glances, lingering touches, and enough entendre to keep both of them dizzy for each other. Though they still hadn’t taken it any further. While it was just implied attraction, it seemed much easier to deny.

When Saturday morning dawned, Caroline could hardly contain her excitement.

Now, she had been giving herself stern talking tos all week, because she knew once her parents were home, and Klaus left, things would go right back to the way they were. It would be like he was never there.

She knew that. She knew it would be that way, she knew it would have to be that way, she knew, no matter what this dalliance was, Klaus wouldn’t let it be any other way. And frankly, she wouldn’t let it be any other way.

But gosh, for the moment, it felt damn good to be so wrapped up in someone.

“Morning, my love,” Klaus yawned, as he came down the stairs the morning of the party. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah! Really well,” Caroline replied. “I was thinking of making pancakes for breakfast. Sound good?”

Klaus nodded his affirmative, before turning to put a pot of coffee on.

“What plans do you have for the day?” Klaus asked, just as the coffee machine began to whirr.

“Not really much, just breakfast, relax a bit, then I’ll start getting ready for the party at some point,” Caroline replied, smiling at him. “I have a very handsome date tonight?”

“Do you just?”

And boy, did she just.

Because later that day, as she descended the stairs, she nearly choked. For, standing at the bottom of the steps, with that god-damn perfect smirk quirking his lips, was Klaus, looking positively devastating in a crisp dark, navy suit.

“You scrub up well, Mikaelson,” Caroline praised, managing to keep her cool, and keep from actually choking.

“As do you, Forbes,” Klaus replied. “You are stunning.”

And she was. Her off-the-shoulder dress was the perfect package, for such a beautiful woman. Klaus honestly wasn’t sure how he was going to go back to Caroline being just his best friend’s little sister. Maybe he could never go back.

“I got you something,” Klaus said, handing her a long, thin box.

Caroline’s brow furrowed slightly, even though her eyes were wide, as she took the gift. She popped the lid of the box, and was met with a sparkling bracelet twinkling back at her.

“Klaus, it’s beautiful,” she said, in awe. “But I can’t accept this.”

“Come now, Caroline. This is that gift you demanded,” Klaus chuckled, taking the bracelet from her hand and beginning to attach it to her wrist. “Although, I still don’t expect you to put out, even though I met your demands.”

Caroline laughed out loud, remembering their conversation from days before.

“You really know how to make a girl feel special, don’t you?” Caroline asked.

“Only the very best,” he replied, winking. “But we best be off. Mother will have my bow tie, and the head above it, if we are too late.”

“Yeah, you know the bow tie? Weird choice.”

Before too long, the two of them were stepping through the doors of the Mikaelson Mansion – the scene for the party that particular evening.

Caroline really was in awe of Mrs Mikaelson and her unrivalled ability to put on a show. Everything was twinkling, or sparkling, the soft music playing in the background was classy but not the usual boring string music that normally played at this sort of thing.

“Niklaus! Caroline!”

The hostess herself swanned over to the almost couple the moment they were through the door.

“It is so lovely to have you both here.”

“Thank you for having me, Mrs Mikaelson,” Caroline said, sweetly. “This place looks amazing.”

“Yes, mother,” Klaus interjected. “You’ve truly outdone yourself.”

“Oh, stop it,” the older woman beamed. “I’m glad you two are here, now the grand total of young people is at about 15. I did so hope more of your classmates would come along, Caroline.”

“Me too,” Caroline sympathised. “But you know this time of year, just so busy!”

“Yes, yes, well, I suppose,” Esther said, as another few guests arrived. “I must be off, do enjoy yourselves, and say goodbye before you leave.”

With that, the Mikaelson matriarch was off, leaving Caroline and Klaus to the party.

The two of them walked deeper into the house, a little awkwardly. They had been cooped up all week, just the two of them, and now they were out in the open, not particularly sure how to interact.

“Maybe we get some drinks?” Klaus said.

“Yeah, as if they’ll serve us alcohol. We’re both underage. Your mom’s the host, my mom’s the sheriff!”

“We can have orange juice or coke, sweetheart,” Klaus chuckled.

“Hi you two!” a voice said, from behind them.

It was Rebekah, who was holding a bit too tightly to her boyfriend’s hand.

“Hi,” Caroline said back, tensing a little. She was over Matt, she had to remind herself. “You guys having a good time.”

“Yes!” Rebekah exclaimed. “Most of my friend group is here. Not many seniors though, just you and Matt as far as I can tell.”

“Yeah,” Caroline said. “Honestly, though, without Bonnie and Elena, I’m pretty fresh out of my best buddies.”

Rebekah laughed in response, and then launched into her thoughts on Caroline’s current routines about the cheer squad.

The two girls spoke for a while, Matt and Klaus making gruff males-who-don’t-have-much-in-common small talk, until the lights lowered further, and the stately classical music, gave way to more popular tunes played by a DJ.

“Oh my gosh, Matt! It’s our song!” Rebekah shrieked, as a fairly non-descript pop song began to play.

With that, they were off into the middle of the crowd, dancing joyfully.

Caroline felt a little pang in her chest. Partly out of the loss of such an easy boyfriend, as Matt was. But more for the fact that she and Klaus didn’t have a song, and never would. Tomorrow, her parents would be home, Klaus would be gone, and their moment would be over.

She and Klaus stood watching the crowd for a few minutes, when the song changed, and a Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas began to play.

“Care to dance, my love?” Klaus asked, almost tenderly.

She smiled, and let him lead her into the fray.

He pulled her close, close enough to drive them both crazy, but still far enough away to maintain that increasingly elusive plausible deniability.

“Does that make this our song?” Klaus murmured to her as they held each other.

“Do we need a song?” Caroline asked, doubtfully.

He didn’t answer, but he did pull her fractionally closer, even as he cast his eyes downward for a moment.

They remained silent for the rest of the song, though as the next started, Caroline’s face cracked into a smile.

“You know what, yes,” she said. “That is our song. I’ve had a really great time this week Klaus, no matter what.”

“Me too, my love,” he said, softly.

“Why don’t we get going?” Caroline asked, as though making an internal decision. “We can play loud music back at the Salvatore mansion, and maybe make our fun.”

Klaus nodded briskly, and she strode away from him. Following after her at a slower pace, his heart sped up slightly at the thought of what Caroline maybe had in mind. His best friend’s sister she may have been, but Klaus couldn’t deny the way his body had been consistently reacting to her the past few days.

“You two leaving so soon?”

Esther caught them as they were right at the exit. Klaus hoped Caroline would have an excuse because he certainly didn’t know how to explain to his mother that he was leaving her party early, with a girl, to go back to the girl’s empty house.

“Yes, Mrs Mikaelson,” Caroline said, with sincere sadness in her voice. “I have been trying to be really strict with my curfew lately, being a senior and all. I’ve got to keep my nose down if I want to get into my first choice college.”

“If it’s for college, I suppose I can’t fault your commitment to your studies.”

“I can send Klaus back after he’s dropped me off, if you’d like?”

“Only if he wants to, Caroline,” Esther replied. “I have a feeling he only came today because you were interested. Niklaus will do what Nikaus wants, and nothing more.”

“Okay then, we better get going then,” Caroline said with a bright, charming smile. “Thank you so much for having us. You wait until I tell the girls at school what they missed because they had plans!”

Klaus bid his mother goodbye, and the two were off.

“You should win an academy award for that performance, Ms Forbes,” Klaus quipped.

“That’s because it’s not untrue!” Caroline said to him, as they both clambered into the car. “You’ve been a horrible influence on me! Since the start of semester, every week night, I’ve been in bed before ten, and every weekend I’ve been in by eleven. Admittedly, it’s only nine now, but still.”

“I didn’t realise I was in such proper company,” Klaus joked.

“Oh shush, I can party after I get into college, and I have no idea what I want to do, so I’m keeping my options open.”

“So, if I call on you for a party the moment you finish finals, I can be sure of party animal Caroline in full force.”

“You sure can, Klaus, and that’s a promise.”

Klaus smirked, as he started the drive back to the Salvatore house. He fully intended to collect on that promise.

“So, what do you want to drink?” Caroline asked, when they arrived back.

“Whatever you’re having love,” Klaus said.

“I don’t think I’ll have any,” she said, before winking. “I don’t need alcohol to have fun.”

“I’m sure you don’t, sweetheart,” Klaus said. “But it sure can help get the fun started.”

“Yeah, I know,” Caroline said. “But, I meant what I said to you earlier. I’ve been really bad this week. It’s been so fun with you, but I want to at least be able to look my parents in the face tomorrow and not have to lie about boozing all night tonight.”

“Right you are, love,” Klaus smiled. “Not an enviable task I’m sure; lying to the sheriff.”

“Do you want something to eat?” Caroline asked, striding into the kitchen. “The food at the party was lovely, but it sure was small.”

Klaus chuckled, he knew what she meant. Finger food was always the choice of snack for that sort of party.

“We came back to have our own party,” Klaus replied. “So party food is always a good start.”

Klaus was leaning against the kitchen bench when Caroline pulled out some ingredients to make grilled cheese sandwiches for them both.

When they polished off the sandwiches, Klaus looked at Caroline, his head tilted to the side.

“What now?” he asked her.

“Are you sure you don’t want a drink?” she checked.

“My eyes will be as open as yours, Caroline.”

“Do you want to watch a movie?”

“That could be nice,” he replied, though he noticed an unfamiliar, but exciting glint in her eyes.

“Or we could do something else,” Caroline said, as she pushed herself off the counter to looped her fingers though his belt loops and pulled him closer to her.

Klaus settled his hands on her waist, his mouth a little dry, and his heart pounded a somewhat faster. She was looking at him with such determination, and any resolve he pretending to have wavered.

And then she pressed her soft lips to his, and it completely crumbled.

When Klaus would replay that night in his head, as he secretly would many times in the years to come, he would always edit in a pause, where he showed some semblance of restraint, where he didn’t kiss back straight away.

But in reality, so lost was he in instant euphoria, he fell headlong into the moment.

He brought his hands up to cup her face, pulling it even closer than it already was. He tilted his head to the other side to open his mouth, and deepen the kiss.

For the intensity of the moment, it was still quite innocent.

After a few more seconds, Caroline pulled away, her nose and cheeks delightfully rose coloured, her pupils dilated.

She sucked her lips a little nervously, and looked at him through her long lashes. She ran her hands down his arms to interlock her fingers with his. Without saying a word, unable to get enough, he placed a few chaste kisses to her lips.

“Klaus,” she said, her voice laden. “Do you want to go upstairs?”

He softly, playfully, ran his nose up the side of her face, until his eyes met hers, he smiled faintly, and nodded.

Caroline used their linked hands to lead Klaus from the kitchen, up the stairs, stopping at her bedroom door.

“Are you sure, Caroline?” Klaus asked.

“Are you?” she replied.

“Yes.”

The word hung between them, signing away any plausibly deniability. But they were both too wrapped in each other to quite mind.

Caroline opened the door, and let him in.

For the first time since Caroline kissed him, Klaus was curious to the world beyond her. He had never been into her room before, in all the years he’d been in and out of that house.

It was tastefully decorated, of course it was, and had such an eclectic mix of trinkets and doo-dads from Caroline’s life. A photo of her, Elena, and Bonnie as young girls, a souvenir model of the Eiffel Tower, a figurine of Harry Potter, her Miss Mystic Falls trophy. It was such a study in Caroline, and he felt his heart clench at the thought that beyond tomorrow, he would no longer be able to study her.

As Klaus appraised her room, Caroline appraised herself in her mirror. She noted her extra flushed complexion, and her mildly smudged make up. She noticed her slender shoulders, and how striking she actually looked. She wondered how Klaus saw her.

As she gazed upon herself, she wondered if this was the right thing to do. She had always imagined having sex for the first time with someone she loved, or at least someone she was in a relationship with. Klaus was neither of those things.

Sure, she fancied him a bit. And had for a long time, but in the way girls tended to do about their older siblings’ friends. She’d fancied Damon’s friend Ric for a while as well, didn’t mean she wanted to sleep with him.

She wasn’t sure what it was about Klaus, but she wanted him.

Plus, she was sick of pretending. Half the people at school thought she’d slept with Matt, and the other half thought it was Tyler. Even Bonnie and Elena just assumed she had. They never really asked her, more wrapped up in their own drama. And it was always something she was too awkward about to correct.

With both Matt and Tyler, they’d done some stuff, but Caroline had never felt comfortable enough with them or with herself, to want to take that next step.

But with Klaus, boy, she wanted it. She had been aching for him all week. In a way she hadn’t before. And she may not have had sex, but she knew how to help herself out thank you very much – and she had.

The long and short of it all was, she was ready. She wanted it to be this way. It may not have matched the picture in her head, but it felt better. And that, more than anything, steeled her resolve that this was what she wanted.

She turned away from the mirror, and faced him.

“So,” she said.

“So,” he repeated.

He moved toward her, and placed his hands on her bare shoulders, gently rubbing his palm back and forward over the exposed skin.

She leaned up to catch his lips once more, this time a little more passionately than the last.

Klaus responded instantly, sliding his hands from her shoulders to begin exploring the curves of her waist, and butt.

Caroline began walking them backward, until they hit the bed, and she pulled him on top of her. Being horizontal with him, on her bed, amped up the ever rising excitement in her, and she couldn’t help the pushing herself up to alleviate some of the pressure.

“That felt nice,” she murmured to him, between kisses.

They remained in that position for a while, Caroline not particularly sure how to progress things along, but also not wanting to admit this to her lover.

Though, before too long, the increasingly impatient Klaus, sat up to rid himself of his button down shirt, before settling himself on propped elbows above her.

Caroline was in total awe of his body. In high school, Klaus had never had a dad-bod or anything, but has also never been particularly jacked. But the man above her now was toned and defined in an incredibly alluring way.

Before she could stop herself, Caroline was running her hands softly over his skin, trying to commit to memory every dip and crevice in his body.

“Sorry,” she said shyly, when she shook herself out of the stupor.

“I am yours tonight, Caroline,” he replied, his eyes hungry for her. “Explore all you want.”

Caroline smiled appreciatively at him, and briefly wondered if he knew what he was doing. But she brushed that off almost immediately. That was for future Caroline to fret about.

After a little longer exploring his body, Klaus began slowly running his hands down from her shoulders again, though this time, he caught her dress on the way down. It pulled down easily, and soon revealed Caroline’s perfect body to his eyes.

“You are a picture, Caroline,” he said, with a strangled note to his voice, as he took in the matching red lace strapless bra and panties.

Caroline smiled, a little abashed by the look in his eyes. Though buoyed by it also, Caroline reached for the zip of his pants, and undid it. Rather than awkwardly wriggle under him to make her attempt with her hands, Caroline laid back down and brought her flexible legs upward, locking her dainty toes into the waistband of the pants. She deftly manoeuvred the pants down his legs enough that he could simply shake them off himself.

She internally congratulated herself on that move. She’d seen it once in an adult movie she watched, and she was stoked that she managed to do it without it being completely awkward.

Now both almost completely naked, they resumed their kissing, though this time everything became a little more frenzied. Both of them were losing the little self-control they had, their skin rubbing together intoxicatingly. They only paused when Caroline rid herself of her bra, leaving her breasts to bounce freely.

Klaus immediately cupped with mounds with his coarse hands, further tightening the spring in Caroline’s abdomen. He honestly didn’t think he’d ever touched such perfect breasts before, and it was driving him wild.

Klaus changed positions and suddenly he was kissing himself down her body, before he went to place an open mouthed kiss on the apex of her thighs through her underwear.

“What are you doing?” she asked, a little alarmed by this turn of events.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Klaus replied, instantly looking guilty. All the girls he’d tried this on with had been like putty in his hands. “I thought you might like…”

“Umm, I guess,” she said, self-consciously, turning bright red. “No one has ever…”

She left the sentence hanging, and looked just about anywhere than at his face between her legs.

“I don’t have to, Caroline,” he said, trying to calm her unease. “But if you want me to, I’m more than happy to oblige.”

“Do I have… to um… I guess…” she said, stumbling for the way she could say what she wanted. “Will you want the same?”

“I don’t know who you’ve been sleeping with, Caroline,” Klaus chuckled, completely missing the guilty look Caroline’s face. “But I will not make you do anything you don’t want to do. And I won’t even hold your own pleasure to ransom for it. There’s no fun in that for me.”

“Oh, okay, I guess I…” she started, still not quite sure what she wanted. “Can you… umm… do your thing… for a bit, then we see?”

Klaus nodded. Though, before he went back to his task, he crawled back up her body, and kissed her lightly on the mouth, looking deeply into her eyes.

“You’re beautiful, Caroline,” he whispered. “Just relax, and make sure you tell me what you want. I’m not some high school jock solely interested in my own pleasure.”

He winked, and kissed her again, before adding in the most diabolical voice Caroline ever heard, “I’m very interested in your pleasure too.”

That was enough to halt her embarrassment, and have her spring coiling again. There was something particularly sexy about someone wanting her pleasure, as well as their own.

She caught herself briefly pondering whether Klaus would spoil her for boys her own age, but before she could explore that thought any more, the thought was whipped from her mind, as Klaus hooked his fingers into her strappy panties, left her bare in front of him, and placed his mouth on the heat between her legs.

It felt quite unlike anything she had experienced before

He kissed at her a few times, before he started flicking his tongue back and forward over her clitoris. It was fire. He slowly added one of his fingers into her, then two, pulling them in and out at an increasing pace. She couldn’t help the small whimper that escaped her mouth.

“Klaus,” Caroline asked, after a few minutes, her voice a lot more strangled with want than last she spoke. “I want you now, I think.”

Klaus had never heard anything sexier in his life, and he was all too willing to abide. He gave only a few more thrusts of his fingers, before he pulled them out, and finally pulled his own underwear off.

With both bodies now completely nude, the tension in the room buzzed up a notch.

Klaus settled himself back over her, and kissed her, hard.

Caroline could now reach his cock. And reach it she did. She took it into her hand and began to stroke up and down, imagining with each stroke that he was pumping into her.

“Condom?” Klaus asked, trying his absolute utmost to be responsible, when all he wanted to do was thrust into her, consequences be damned.

She scrambled from the bed, and went into her en suite, to pull out a couple of the little foil packets.

As she crossed back to him, he grabbed at her waist to pull her down onto him as quickly as possible, and he began attacking her lips again. They lost themselves in that for a moment before Caroline pressed the condom into Klaus’ hand.

He moved off her and onto his back, to tear the packet open, and remove the item. He reached down to roll the latex over himself, then rolled back so he was bearing over her once more.

Caroline’s breathing hitched with every breath, anticipation sizzling every part of her body. Klaus reached between them to grab his cock, and guided it toward her opening. He teased her a little with it, running the tip of his penis along her folds, until she mewled for more.

Delicately, Klaus began to push into her. He pushed slowly, centimetre by centimetre, until she fully gloved him.

“You feel…” she said, barely able to get the words out. “Amazing.”

“God, Caroline,” he said, nearly embarrassed at how desperate he was to move in her. “This is incredible.”

“Move, Klaus, please.”

Only too happy to obliged, Klaus pulled himself from her and slid back in, with more speed that the last time. Then he went again, quicker still.

Soon, Klaus was set in a steady rhythm, and Caroline couldn’t believe what she was feeling. She clung to him, and was astounded to feel herself wanting more and more. Her hands made their way to his muscular ass and gripped it. She found if she used her grip on his butt to push him further into her, they both let out moans of pleasure

She found her breathing grow a bit ragged, as she studied Klaus face, his brow furrowed, his mouth slightly open from the pleasure.

“Caroline,” Klaus said, his voice strained. “I’m going to come.”

She couldn’t help but gasp at the pure need in his voice, then again when she felt the twitch from his cock as he came into her.

They both lay there panting for a few moments, and Caroline couldn’t believe what had just happened.

He kissed her tenderly, before easing himself out of her. He got up and padded into her bathroom, to dispose of the condom, but was back as soon as he could. He felt the loss of her body instantly.

Caroline smiled shyly at him again, like she had earlier in the night.

“Sorry I didn’t…,” she said, once again not finding the right words. “You know… come for you.”

Klaus’ face twisted, a little bit in embarrassment, little bit in sympathy, but mostly in amusement for her innocent remark.

“Caroline, I would have been more offended if you had faked it,” he said, kissing her on the forehead. “I should be apologising for not helping you get there.”

“I don’t really know how to get there,” she admitted in a whisper. She never admitted it out loud before, and she was mortified with herself that she had then.

But Klaus smiled understandingly at her.

“I don’t think that’s uncommon,” he said. “And practice makes perfect, right?”

She laughed, and swatted at him. She was also a little bit in awe that he had made her feel comfortable about something that had brought her such anxiety.

“Also, again, you’re sleeping with the wrong people if they don’t help you practice.”

Caroline blushed, and covered it by kissing him. She didn’t know why she was too embarrassed to tell Klaus this was her first time, when she so obviously gave him pleasure. But she just decided it was too much to share, she didn’t know if she would be able to if she tried.

“How about I get us a snack, and then we kiss some more?” he said, playfully, as he sprung out of bed to find something to cover himself.

When he left the room a minute later in nothing but a towel, Caroline relaxed back to stare at the ceiling.

Unsure of how to feel.

Her body was still buzzing in the after glow, and she thought, even though she hadn’t had one of those really loud, body shaking orgasms she had seen the few times she watched porn, she’d also read enough articles about first times to know that this one had been a pretty special one.

By the time Klaus was back, chocolate bars and cups of tea in hand, Caroline had regained her most of her faculties, and she grinned at him.

“Well that was fun,” she said, as he handed her one of the mugs.

“That it was,” Klaus replied, chinking his mugs to hers. “Repeat?”

“When?” Caroline laughed.

The mood shifted slightly, both of them immediately a little uncomfortable with the question that had been chasing them all week.

What happens next?

“I’m not sure,” Klaus said, looking down at the drink in his hand.

“Me neither,” Caroline replied.

They were an absurd picture, Caroline was sure; a young couple, sitting completely naked, in silent awkwardness, drinking tea from dainty china cups.

“I don’t want to pretend this never happened,” Caroline confessed. How could she pretend? “But I understand if you do. Because of… you know… Stefan, and I’m in high school, or whatever.”

Caroline lips were tight, and her jaw was set, Klaus knew it was hard for her to say, and he appreciated it. But honestly, he didn’t know what he wanted to do.

“We did complicate things a little, didn’t we?”

“Yep,” she replied, popping the p audibly.

“It doesn’t have to be complicated,” Klaus posited, an underlying question in his voice.

“It doesn’t?” Caroline asked, raising her eyebrow.

“The age thing isn’t weird, especially since your brother dated your best friend and you had to be okay with it?” Klaus said, remembering the awful time throughout their final year of high school and first year of college when Stefan and Elena dated.

“Oh yeah, because I could ever have made Elena realise it was totally weird for me,” Caroline scoffed. “I love her, but she has got no self-awareness, and frankly no concept of a world not revolving around her.”

“Yes, I can imagine if you told her about this… about us, she would go all hysterical at you, all distraught about how I’m the reason she and Stefan broke up,” Klaus laughed.

“You’re so right, she hates you, I forgot!”

“Yes, and Bonnie doesn’t like me much either,” Klaus noted.

“Oh my god, I wish she would get over that! You and Stefan played one prank on her, and she will never let it me, or anyone else, forget it!”

“I’m still not sure how Stefan has been cleared of all charges, and yet I am still in the dog house after three years!” Klaus exclaimed. “Speaking of Stefan…”

“Honestly, he’s a wild card,” Caroline said. “He’s usually pretty understanding, but sometimes is a totally over protective ass, you know.”

“I can imagine he would avenge your innocence in subtle ways,” Klaus said. “Like would drop into random conversations with ethical questions about dating their friend’s siblings.”

“Yeah, probably,” Caroline giggled. “Imagine Elijah! ‘Niklaus! I used to babysit that girl!’”

“Yes! And ‘you are far too brutish for a sweet girl like, Caroline,’!” Klaus added. “Oh and think of Rebekah.”

“How could you sleep with my brother!” Caroline cried, in a high pitched, mock-English accent, imitating Rebekah. “How could you sleep with my ex, Bekah, if we want to get into the weeds on the girl code.”

“Bekah and Matt have slept together?” Klaus asked, sharply.

“Oh come on Klaus,” Caroline chided. “Given the conversation we’re having, maybe we not judge your sister for anything she wants.”

“There’s the rub though, sweetheart,” Klaus said, sadly. “That’s how the judgement will happen.”

“Does it matter?” Caroline asked, trying not to sound hurt.

“I don’t know,” Klaus said, honestly. “But rest assured you won’t be my dirty little secret. I refuse to let something I enjoyed so much be something I feel guilty about.”

There was such conviction in his voice that Caroline could have cried. And she did have to take a few deep breaths to stop the tears from visibly springing to her eyes.

“Okay,” she said, decisively. “We won’t tell people, but we won’t lie if asked. That seems okay right?”

“Seems fair,” he replied, as he put his arm around her shoulders and drew her closer to her, and placed a gentle kiss to her mouth.

“And leaves it open for something else in the future,” she winked.

“Now that,” Klaus said, genuinely smiling. “Would be my pleasure.”

Caroline smiled back at him, and kissed him again, feeling content with their conversation.

It wasn’t until the next afternoon, when Liz and Giuseppe returned home, and thanked Klaus for being company for Caroline while they were away, did Caroline fully comprehend the feeling of sadness that was mixed in with the contentment.

“I’ll see you out,” Caroline said to Klaus, as he grabbed his bag and headed for the door.

“Chin up, my love,” Klaus said, nudging her with his elbow. “We don’t need your parents thinking I’m a bad babysitter. They’ll never ask me here again.”

“I had a really great time this week,” Caroline said, earnestly, as he packed his bag into the boot of his car.

“As did I, Caroline,” he replied. “I am looking forward to when you’re in college, maybe you’ll join me and Stefan. It would be nice to have you around.”

Caroline glowed a little from the compliment.

“And in any case, perhaps, when you’re done with senior year, and that party animal you promised me comes out to play,” Klaus said, cheekily. “Maybe you will invite me for one of your events.”

Caroline grinned at him, before wrapping her arms around him for a hug.

“I’ll see you,” she murmured.

“Thank you, Caroline.”

And with that, he was slipping into the front of his car and was driving off, leaving Caroline to just wave at his tail lights as he went.

xxx

Let me know what you think!!!

#klaroline #klaroline fanfic #klaroline fanfiction #klaroline drabble #more of a one shot #kcauweek2020

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paintingraves · 4 years

Note

I think I get ten asks before tumblr blocks me, so here's ten things for you: (1) Graves is a Beatrix Potter fan. The reason he's a Beatrix Potter fan is because when he was a little kid he used to go to stay with his grandpa to feel grown up, and his grandpa had one shelf of kids books in the entire house and it was full of Beatrix Potter. Graves' favourite story is of the pie and the patty pan, because Grandpa Graves put on a silly voice for the dog and it made him laugh.

(2) Graves has, over the years, attempted to grow untold numbers of house plants. The reason the numbers are untold is because the buggers keep dying on him, and he has no idea why. It's got to the stage where he's given up and he refuses to have any plants anywhere near him in case he kills them, but then someone gives him a succulent for Christmas and he just kind of puts it on the edge of his desk and ignores it. Three years later, it's still going strong, and this year it even flowers.

(3) Image is everything. Because of this, Graves drinks bitter black coffee, strong enough to dissolve spoons and make all the junior aurors fear him. What they don't know is that he has an industrial sized bottle of hazelnut latte syrup hidden under his desk, and the coffee he ends up drinking is actually more sugar than caffeine.

(4) Graves does not fly. He can fly, if he absolutely has to, but he has yet to find a circumstance where he absolutely has to, so he does not. If ever did (which he won't) then you'd see that his flying method involves wrapping both arms and legs round the broom, positioning it vertically so he can still see where he's going while being laid flat along it, and wobbling very slowly forward. He looks like a terrified koala on an ent.

(5) Graves' favourite animals are pigeons. Not the pretty ones people keep as pets, the grey ones, often mangy, stealing scraps from hot dog stands. This might seem odd, given how many fantastical creatures the magical and non magical world boast, but Graves appreciates the lack of fucks they give and the way they're impossible to ever get rid of. Also their commitment to a striking monotone colour scheme. Gotta admire that.

(6) Not many people know this, but Graves has a really nice singing voice. It's kind of soft and husky, the sort that hums songs he half remembers and breaks into one or two lines of song when he gets to the chorus. He sings when he cooks, because his mother used to, and every now and then if the office is quiet he sings to the succulent on the edge of his desk, just in case it gets lonely when he has to go home for the night.

(7) Speaking of cooking, Graves is an excellent chef. There's a lot of Italian influence, of course, but also random things he's picked up around the place. His comfort food is carbonara, proper carbonara with egg and panchetta and no cream but plenty of pepper. When he's stressed he makes spanakopita, because filo can't be rushed and the repetitive folding makes his thoughts go quiet. On really bad days he ends up with more than he can eat and drops anonymous trayfuls off in the office kitchen.

(8) You would think, looking at him, that Graves would tan in summer. In a gentle, cloudy summer, you would be right. In most summers however he ends up with a glowing scarlet stripe that starts on the tops of his ears, continues over his ridiculously high cheekbones, and scoots over the bridge of his nose. Seriously, the man can /drown/ himself in sunblock, but whatever he does he can never stop his ears burning.

(9) Graves accidentally trained a cat to make sure he left the office on time. She's a stray (he's pretty sure) and he got in the habit of saying hello to her on his way home. Then she had kittens and ended up alarmingly thin from looking after them, so Graves started bringing her scraps, then treats, then square meals every time he passed her corner of the street. She doesn't have kittens now, but if Graves works too late she appears on his windowsill and mrows demandingly until he goes home.

(10) The reason Graves didn't appear in Crimes of Grindelwald is because he was so damn miffed that no one noticed he was replaced that he quit his job in spectacular, pyrotechnic fashion in the middle of an ICW meeting, and is now permanently ensconced in the Caribbean and refusing to take anyone's calls. He has a pink cocktail, sunburnt ears, the most outrageous flamingo sunglasses, and he even took the cat with him. He's reading Beatrix Potter to her on the beach.

----

MIMI. MIMI.

I CANNOT COPE - these headcanons are so fucking cute I have turned into a pile of gooey, fuzzy feelings rn 😭 😭 ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ i love this man so much but you give him so much depth of character by focusing on the little details like this I... I cannot. thank you.

#you're adorable he's adorable I LOVE HIM AND YOU AAAAAAH #*bites fist*#ask #percival graves #GAZE UPON THIS PEOPLE PLEASE #aethelar

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blankdblank · 5 years

Text

The Cabin

Day 8!! - Here’s a slightly dramatic Modern AU Thranduil ramble :D

*You are sitting around a campfire. There are stars shining in the sky. Someone asks “If you had the power to change one person’s life, how would you do it?”*

…

“I am gonna burst,” You squeaked in the middle of the third landing between endless flight of steps to your eighth floor apartment making you sigh and say, “Hot pants it is.” Rushing to the heavy door you crashed through it and bit your lip gripping your bag that had split hours earlier in your bow legged trot to the seventh door on the left. A frantic knock on the yellow door was followed by equally as frantic shuffling and a loud thud mingled with a string of curses until the door flung open and the wide eyed towering blonde behind the door stared at you. “Hot pants man,”

Heavily he sighed muttering, “That was a costume, I was mint green.”

You nodded and bounced in place making him look you over curiously, “Green hot pants man, ya, I usually don’t do this, but the elevator’s out and I’m not going to make it another five flights of stairs, can I use your bathroom?”

Smirking at you awkwardly he stepped back pointing at the open door opposite the open kitchen, “Straight through there.”

You nodded and rushed over to it dropping your bag on the blanket and clothes covered couch earning a loud groan form under the now shifting blob making you trot around the couch and straight to the bathroom, “So sorry, gotta go.” The door closed and the dark haired Elf with a knotted half afro hanging into his face glared at his roommate standing by the door angered at being woken.

Thranduil moved closer to him harshly whispering as you flicked on the water to mask your fumbling disrobing mess of a self and bursting dam of a bladder you felt coming, “It’s squirtle girl, and you will not embarrass me like last time!”

“I did not embarrass-,”

His mouth was covered and a finger was pointed at him while he eyed Thranduil’s dark thick brows lifting over his momentary irritated pout, “Elrond, I swear! Last time you told her I’d been looking for a squirter my whole life! She went months without talking to me! Months! Now you will be polite and say nothing!”

Thranduil’s hand lowered and his brows twitched up at the emphasizing point making Elrond smirk and lay back down covering himself again at the flush. A few moments later you were out again when the tap turned off and flashed Thranduil a weak grin when he shot up fidgeting with the ties on the sweats around his waist subconsciously flexing in your stolen glance at his shirtless self. The grin on his face twisted realizing his hair was in a bun on top of his head and he had a face mask on to help ease his dry skin after being in heavy make up for his play role for the past few weeks. “Thank you, again,” Rounding the couch you lifted your bag and patted the ankle of the Elf under the covers, “So sorry.”

Elrond raised his arm from under the covers to give a silent wave stirring a curious grin onto your face as his arm fell down lifelessly again. Again looking up he looked you over watching your mint green highlighted white curl filled loose bun shifting in the tilt of your head to lock your silvery green eyes on his icy blue pair after his glance over your pink leotard under a grey tilted baggy t shirt long enough to be like a dress with black leg warmers in a tilt from your clear rush from your usual lunch after rehearsals for your show. “Your show’s on Thursday, right?”

You nodded, “Ya, double show,” he chuckled awkwardly as you looked over his face again, “Well I can’t wait, we got tickets,” Your brows inched up and he turned his head to the ringing phone Elrond raised his arm to pat around for the receiver he pulled under the covers.

“Hello?”

Wetting your lips you replied, “Ya, I’ve seen your show too. It’s really good. Your part too.”

“I dance with a guy in an Elk costume.” He playfully retorted making Elrond chuckle behind his hand remembering the act popping up seven times in the two hour long play.

You nodded sending your bun bobbing making him smirk at a strip of curls breaking loose across your face you blew away only for it to swing back into your face, “I doubt anybody could get that shimmy jete combo down like you,” making him mouth scrunch up and his head tilt back in a sharp inhale to hide his embarrassment.

Elrond mumbled, “No, we’re not going to the pool party.”

At that you gasped saying, “Pool party, shit!” Turning you grabbed your bag saying, “Sorry, I promised I’d go and bring one of those stupid inflatable flamingos, which I have to buy…”

Thranduil said, “Turin’s shop has some! Elrond call him,” he leapt over the couch parting your lips in his rush to his bedroom, “Meet you in the lobby in twenty!”

Elrond peeked out from under the covers and you glanced at him with brows raised and waved then pointed to the door, “Guess, I’ll be, going…” He nodded, “Again, sorry,”

He shook his head and hung up the phone to dial Turin’s number, “Not a problem.”

…

That was how it began, a masterful friendship, keyword, friendship. A lap top seat offered by your cousin and an advance from a highly flirtatious brunette. The mistake was cleared up within a month but by then there was a third date planned, so friends you remained with his hope that things might change before long. Though somehow it always seemed that you were trains just barely missing one another in the station of life. All through art school and into the beginnings of your careers your lives blended together and a solid support system was formed no matter what.

It was clear for all to see how evident the love was there and after nights out together in your hectic schedules with his acting jobs, your dancing and Elrond’s makeup and special effects careers led you both together and apart to mingle with the rest of your group. Relationships came and went, for the men at least. Elrond, Glorfindel and Elros all settled into their own relationships while Thranduil slammed hard into absolute enamor-ment with his girlfriend quickly leading them to an engagement.

From one wedding to another you claimed your seat and ignored the stares of those around you when your plus one was never claimed. You weren’t alone, you just didn’t want to bring another one of your dates the guys always hounded to their special days, group dinners once a month was enough. They weren’t bad guys, they were wonderful, from doctors to a trio of firemen you had happened across in your very safety conscious part of town you lived in across from their usual lunch spots, they just never seemed to be ready to commit, something you never pushed on because if you were honest you weren’t either. At least not with them.

Panic flooded Thranduil and all the way through the planning for the big day it only got worse and it wasn’t until he was ready to throw his tie he couldn’t secure that Elros grabbed him and claimed the tie from Glorfindel saying, “Don’t take it out on the tie that you proposed to the wrong woman.”

Thranduil’s lips parted in a scoff and Elrond added in fixing the buttons over his middle on the tailed jacket, “Come on now, you dated her to make Tiny jealous when you didn’t know the guy she was with was her cousin.”

Thranduil, “I love-,”

Glorfindel, “We’re not saying you don’t love Kiki, we’re saying you love Tiny more.”

Those words echoed in his mind, for twenty four years since that wedding, where his wife should have been the one cast in moonlight in a sea of glowing petals in a melodic choir slow motion agonizing sea of flashbacks replaying through the entirety of his marriage.

He did love her, and he was faithful to her. He was the best Husband a woman could ask for both when he was home and when things had to go long distance when his roles took him away from her. She had her freedom as did he and he encouraged her in her avant-garde art shows until she made a name for herself in that world easing her mildly hidden jealousy of his fame to a low simmer until he helped use his name to help build up the attendance on her shows.

Her jealousy though never did cease when your name came up and from a single mention to Elrond’s wife Celebrian on her thinking of saying something to Thranduil about him having to choose between you that single scoff in their early dating years made it clear who would win. Your shows were non negotiable, your group visits she tolerated that when you were in the room he would be focused on learning more about the changes in your life. It bothered her, at first, but then even she saw it, you were staying away for her, there was little physical contact to none and never pushing any visits or anything close to something that could change any future plans except for five times, and each time was offered to her, not him. Clearly you knew the rules, who had the ring and who had won his heart and after a few years of hearing how little family you had even she had begun to believe that you had thought of your group as family.

Twenty four years however was a long run, and was nothing to be scoffed at, in fact the weight of it hurt all the more as the stress of her career and time apart from Thranduil had sent her into the arms of another. It wasn’t just another fling, it was a slow burn over the years with the gallery owner who showed her art, a shoulder for her when her façade broke before a show. A decade now all she wanted was to complete their perfect life, yet a lazy ovary and a hard kept schedule for her fertility with his latest string of six month filming jobs halfway across the world between two month tiny tv spots only worsened the matters.

A positive pregnancy test however was finally achieved, though only after they had decided to sleep apart to calm down and try to return to their relationship outside of the sexual and reproductive side while they approached having a family through a surrogate and a donor egg. A family friend, Hobbit no less, had gotten the pregnant results without trying it seemed and that must have ticked a switch in Kiki’s lazy ovary, because after eight months of sleeping apart she faced the horrifying aspect of sharing that she had her perfect man and little family she always wanted.

To his credit Thranduil took it well, she had seen him angry, she had seen him furious and outside a twitch of his eyebrow he remained almost painfully calm in the whole matter. The papers were easily drawn up, they had kept separate accounts and all that was left was the house, which they both hated the neighbors in so he kept the deed to the new house they had bought and she had followed through to moving in with her new man to start planning their nursery. All together twenty four years was neatly wrapped up in the minimum two months the courts had demanded, and the dream crib she had wanted was achieved all the easier with a big bow alongside a pair of tickets for the cruise she had always wanted to go on for her and her new fiancé. The perfect husband, and the perfect ex, she wanted a baby, husband home each night and a lovely home perfectly furnished to invite friends and family over to, with her art to escape into.

“I’m Pregnant.” The words he had wanted to hear for so long, and yet in his mind, he had been home for eight months and had been away for five before that. Clearly it wasn’t his and with how hard it had been to try and schedule nights to conceive and he really didn’t need to hear who it was, he could tell she had leaned on him. A grin here and there when saying his name, just how she had once said his, he never pushed her away from him, after all how fair would that be when his heart had been breaking over making himself lose you. He had to honor his commitment though, and never make her pay for what she didn’t ask for.

At the table he inhaled and simply stood almost making her flinch if not for his turn away to the office nearby, from which he brought out a pad and pen. All the details were drafted out and for three hours everything was listed and each room was divided to his and hers ending with the arrival of their lawyers that had been called at the beginning of it. To their shock it was already drawn up on legal pads and all that was left was to have it officially printed and for her lawyer to drive her to her new home to share the news while he had to head to work.

She felt bad she had waited till then to do it when he needed to focus. The worry was unnecessary as though it did sting to be cheated on past that all he felt was free. A quarter of a century and he was finally free to tell you how he felt. You had been single for half a year now since a cheating ordeal of your own with a Doctor caught slipping on a different type of glove for someone other than you when you had shared your offer of help to your best friend.

The news was shared and as usual when he was down and out you came to the rescue, planning a weekend trip away for the whole group. Grinning madly he climbed in his car and started to drive eager to get there early even if it meant having to wait hours for even you to arrive in your usually over early habitual ways.

An offer was made, Thranduil was struggling and it sort of just exploded out of you, “Use my eggs.” Instantly you had to lay down on the floor of your kitchen leaving the tea you had been waiting for later to calm yourself through the rest of the conversation. Details were traded over the email and when this was through you swore to yourself that you had to break this tie, you had to let him go. This was getting to where you couldn’t breathe and almost on the edge of tears, and now you had said basically that he could have your dream baby and raise it with someone else.

Work had been ruthless lately and sure you had little time for dating, a great thing after your recent discovery about your ex, and yes you wanted babies too, something the hormones to donate only made worse. Sure you would be a part of the child’s life but if you were anywhere close hopped up on hormones on your worst day you couldn’t deny the thought of abducting Thranduil and your baby to run off together somewhere she could never find you. Ring or not, she had what you had burned for inside and out and your patience was wearing thin. Sometimes the strongest way to say I love you is goodbye, or at least that was what you told yourself each night.

The apartment you shared with your ex was now belonging to someone else and halfway to homeless with all packed in a moving truck to fill a storage bin countries away a phone call came from the father you hadn’t heard of since you were a teenager halted you in your tracks. Turning around almost at the border you made your way until at the airport straight to the private airstrip you found your baby half sister being helped off your father’s private jet, little red headed hazel eyed Tauriel all of four years old along with all her belongings were loaded up into your car for the drive to a five star hotel. Just like he’d dropped you when you were a child at your gran’s and never looked back, only contacting you on birthdays and holidays to send checks like his other children before you.

Giddily the three year old bounced on top of the bed while you secured plans to move in to your Gran’s pool house for a short time until you could find a place of your own. Hanging up at the arms looping around your shoulders after leaving a message to Ecthelion about his latest listings you would need to look at you turned to play with your sister and tire her down before dinner and then bed to a film of your choosing. The future you had planned changed rather drastically, but you hoped at least having her here you might be a lot less psycho possessive over the baby you had helped Thranduil conceive.

It only took a week for Tauriel to settle into her new life here really as she was just down the street from your friends and their children she bonded with right away in your weekly dinners, the latest of which had you almost screaming. “Divorced? Since when?! We were just at their anniversary dinner!”

Glorfindel shrugged saying, “None of us saw it either, it all went down quietly in the minimum two months, but apparently she’s found someone else,”

Elros snorted and set down his drink he had almost choked on saying, “You’re missing the biggest part,”

Elrond swatted his arm as you twirled your untouched glass of wine between your fingers above your lap, “Apparently she’s pregnant too, getting her dream family finally.”

Thunderously your heart raced and you asked trying to hold back your tears, the expression on your face making the men inch closer to you at how deeply his pain had continued to affect you. They caught the same ‘fix it’ flinch in your gaze and they realized they had to act to stop this plummeting plane crash you were strapped into. You had loved him, been faithfully there for all of them, far from clingy except when you truly needed someone and always you were all in to defend or protect when possible. The marriage was one thing, but clearly at the offer of donating an egg Thranduil should have seen it, he should have drawn the line and yet he didn’t the thought of a baby with you was too much to pass up and he didn’t realize that he wouldn’t be raising your dream baby with you but in fact hurting you by taking it away and out of your reach.

Not leaving it to chance Glorfindel said, “We should go up to the cabin this weekend. Just like in school, to start over the right way. Campfires, some drinks, burgers, smores. Go back to the good old days.”

You couldn’t argue, not when they kept on bringing up past stories and before long they had walked you back to your gran’s and gotten her to agree to watch Tauriel for the weekend for your trip. In their stroll back they had called Thranduil and shared the news himself, only fibbed a bit saying you had brought up reliving your glory days up in the cabin that was your group getaway.

Packed and ready you were off in your car, not as early as you had hoped after packing just a bit too much to prep for anything, especially when each time before you had been missing something each time you had gone up there leading to your laughable trio of suitcases the men would no doubt laugh at. Hours the path from the city to the country you drove tapping your fingers and humming awkwardly loud to the song on the radio trying to force yourself to be calm remembering the days by the lake and lounging in the hammock outside the cabin on lazy days no doubt bringing you face to bare pectorals with that recently divorced best friend of yours. Still to get back at him, subconsciously of course, you’d packed that same bikini from that pool party your friendship began in prepping for, tiny and neon that hugged you perfectly keeping his eyes so hungrily on you all night before whatever you did that turned him off of you.

The welcome of the long dirt road through the post card perfect town you passed seemingly readying for something brought you up to a tire track bearing dirt drive through a set of winding hills up to the two story wood cabin resting under an oddly grey sky. Shifting your gaze downwards you spotted a familiar truck mostly unloaded and the front door to the cabin open. Parked beside the truck you opened the door and huffed at the blast of cold air shockingly far from the late summer temperatures from the city surely scared off by whatever storm was coming. Unbuckled you climbed to your feet and closed the door behind you then strolled around the back of it to grab the final two bags from the back of the truck containing blankets and pillows making you smirk.

Up to the door you strolled hearing boot steps coming closer to the open door. At the base of the front steps you looked up seeing a fellow blonde bun bearing Elf, “Hey Hot Pants Man.”

Rolling his eyes that same smirking chuckle broke from him spreading an instinctual smirk from you at his retort, “Bout time Squirtle Girl.” He said grabbing a bag from you turning to look you over in your own long sleeve shirt hanging over the tops of your favorite jeans covering most of your boots, an outfit similar to him except for his flannel and leather jacket over it he hadn’t worn in years you loved to steal from him back in school.

Peering around you said, “Colder than I thought it’d be.”

He nodded and added the bag to the spare room he’d filled with his other supplies making you smirk wider as your not being the only one to over prep. “Yes, seems we’ve beaten a storm in.”

“A, hope the guys get through alright.”

Thranduil chuckled, “No doubt Glori will love flooring it through the storm like the old days. He’d race after a Balrog that one.”

You giggled widening a smile across his face, “Oh yes, just like that one tornado.”

“Yes. Exactly, Celebrian’s in labor and he’s off chasing tornados for the perfect picture.”

You shook your head, “I honestly am so concerned for his parents, how they manage to live knowing he’s out there on his own left to his whims,” making Thranduil laugh in his turn to join you out to your car.

“How’s Tauriel? Elros texted me about her. How, is that affecting things, he said you were thinking about moving.”

You nodded, “Ya,” opening your trunk making him laugh at the suitcases and bags of food you had bought along the way, “Don’t laugh, Mr I packed my whole bed with supplies.”

He shook his head, “Just, like minds. You were saying?” Taking up armfuls to carry in behind you and your supply.

“Well, I moved out, got a moving truck,” at that his heart was racing wondering if you had still wanted to move after this, “Got to the border when my dad called. Was just in time to pick her up at the airport,” you set down the bags of food in the kitchen he helped you put away, “Asshole sent her off alone on a jet. Well, gran let me rent her pool house and Ecthelion is coming up with a list of houses for me to look at.”

Turning again you went to grab your suitcases you brought inside into your usual room. Once again you had peered up at Thranduil at his awkwardly silent self ending when he blurted out, “Take a hike,” Your brow ticked up, “We, we should take a hike. If the guys are going to be late, no use in just waiting around, and we can break into the old pattern after our usual trail. They should be here by then.”

With a nod you replied, “Sure, sounds good.” Grabbing your jacket you pulled it on following him to the door he locked behind you both and led the way off to your usual path with his hands buried in his pockets.

Not long into the walk he stole another glance down at you seeing you reach out to grab a tall stalk with a tiny bundle of white flowers on the end you couldn’t quite remember the name of you spun between your fingertips. Hastily he wet his lips then said, “I got divorced.”

Glancing up at him you nodded, “I heard. You could have said something.”

He shook his head trying to ease the hint of pain in your voice, “It, it’s really hard to describe.” He sighed, “We just, it was the distance, and it all seemed so easy, and then the fertility came up, and my work pressed that harder for her stress on trying to schedule ovulation and all that. She suggested sleeping alone, for months before, to try to, date again I guess, rekindle things. Well, she did relax, and fell harder for the gallery owner, which I support, he was there for her, loves her, can give her what I couldn’t.”

He wet his lips again and blurted out looking at you, “I’m keeping the baby,” freezing in place you looked up at him, “Not, that I never would have, I always was,” he sighed and shook his head then started over, “I wanted you to know, my plans on that front haven’t changed.” With tears in your eyes he inhaled again and you nodded and took another step making him tear his hand from his pocket to grab your arm turning you, “Tiny.”

Facing him again you shook your head and sniffled wiping a stray tear from your cheek, “I’m a terrible person.”

Stepping closer his hands settled on your arms, “You’re nothing of the sort!”

“I wanted to help you. So much.” His eyes narrowed trying to hold back his own ache to cry at your tears, “You wanted a baby, and I wanted to help you. Then I did,” you sniffled again and his lips parted just barely, “Then it hit me, it’s a baby, and suddenly I had nothing to do with it, so I wanted to leave,” Your voice cracked and he moved close drawing you into his chest feeling a tear stream down his cheek finally realizing what he’d done. “I’m such a terrible-,”

“You are not terrible. Nothing of the sort!” Reaching down he curled his fingers under your chin he tilted it back, “I am so sorry. I am the one who should apologize. Just assuming that having a baby with you to raise with someone else, how hard that would be. For Bella, it’s not her egg, she’s been a surrogate before, from a family where that’s a common gift. I should have known how hard that would be for you. This is not just my baby, it’s ours, and the papers are going to say that. As soon as that test went positive I knew it would be hard to have a piece of you and trying to push you into an awkward triangle of parenting where you would be pushed aside when you were the one who gave me this baby. I never knew how hard this would be, and I am so, infinitely sorry for not sitting down to actually think it over, especially for you.”

Unable to think of what to say you nodded and kept walking on and you said, “I found a cute crib.”

Making him smirk down at you as you dried your cheeks with your sleeves. “Oh? Do tell.” For nearly an hour in the dropping of the temperature you chatted strolling closer and closer together all the way under the darkening clouds above all the way around back to the cabin again.

Outside it you looked around saying, “How are they still not here?”

Thranduil shrugged, “Maybe they left a message.” You nodded and followed him up the steps into the cabin saying, “You check the machine, I’ll start on the fire.”

Over to the fireplace he went and crouched while you made for the phone seeing a blinking light on the message machine. Finger outstretched you hit the button and Elros’ voice filled the empty cabin, “Tiny, Thran, ya, turns out there’s a big storm headed out to the cabin and there’s one brewing here at home. Sniffles are going round through our little ones and we can’t leave our Love’s alone in this, so, you two enjoy the weekend, maybe if things pick up we might make it out tomorrow if we can beat the storm.”

The scent of a comforting fire filled the room and you caught Thranduil’s eye with a quick grin, “So, sniffles.”

Nodding back he replied smoothing his palms together trying not to seem too anxious to be alone with you, “Supper then.”

Precooked pot roast, your favorites of his recipes, was put in the oven to warm up and already he was beaming lighting the lanterns along the walls and on the table when the sky darkened even more. Wine from dinner soon bled into whiskey and the bag of smores supplies was too much to ignore anymore. Under the flickers of stars through the spreading clouds a warm fire pit was lit and your giggle filled mess of a conversation continued on between sloppy bouts of feeding one another smores. Only delving into more giggling trips down memory lane as his playful nip at your fingers had come without just a splash more of liquid courage to take it as anything but the liquor fueled accident you assumed it to be.

Up again in a rocking fit of laughter you were seated on blankets and pillows around the campfire with flickers of stars shining in the sky both adjusting the spare blankets wrapped around you for extra warmth. Wetting his lips Thranduil beamed at you brightly as you said, “Miss Marya, and those daily questions on the board. Oh, her favorite,” Thranduil laughed again remembering the one you meant and then nipped at his lip aching to just close the distance and kiss you. “If you had the power to change one person’s life, how would you do it?” Giggling again in his chuckling downing of the last of the whiskey you passed him, looking him over with a lick of your lips in doing so. “What about you? What would you do?”

A single adorable tick of your brow and the bottle fell from his hand at his side to the blanket. Over his shoulders the blankets around him shifted in his cupping of your cheeks, warmly his lips crashed into yours molding against them in the slip of his knee knocking you onto your back. Still holding your cheeks a slip of his thumb dipped between your mouths in a moments pause for him to shift his left leg between yours with his right. And in the darkened gaze up at him and the flick of your tongue against his fingertip the hungry kiss began again with tongues searching blindly for a common rhythm in the mingling of hums. Up around his neck your hands slid keeping him from drawing back again when his hands fumbled the blankets from between you to wrap you around him under his blankets and himself for warmth. A gasping glance up at the clouds releasing a single snowflake was the least clear moment you had in the dip of his lips down the side of your neck.

Nestled under the covers a final crack of the dying fire your eyes flickered open in Thranduil’s waking grumble retracting his foot under the covers at the cold, still wrapped around your chest holding you tightly his lips met your neck in your reach up from his back to pull the covers back. “Feels colder.”

Lifting his head Thranduil squinted into the night then felt his eyes snap wide open at the dip of snow you were both in he looped your legs around his middle. And he brought all your snacks, shoes, clothes and blankets between the two of you in the cocoon of blankets he covered you for the trot through the snow to the front door. Giggling to yourself you stayed in his hold while he pushed the door shut with his foot and reached out to lock it, as if that could keep the cold away from you. Straight to the living room where your former snuggling pit was he set you down and coiled up in his blanket after covering you in yours to relight the fire. Again he nipped at his lip and hurried back to you pulling more of the still slightly warm comforters he’d brought to cover your snow coated blankets he tossed away along the wall and wrapped his arms around you laying at your side.

Swallowing dryly he looked you over and his hand sank from your hip over the thigh you shifted to lay on top of his leg, “Are you busy Thursday?”

With a smirk he hummed back, “I’m fairly certain we’ll still be here Thursday.”

Easing your arms around his neck you sighed back deepening his smirk in the subtle tug bringing him against you again, “What ever shall we do?”

He shrugged and playfully replied, “I’m certain we could think of something. Decorating our home for one,” kissing your cheek sweetly then moving his lips back to your neck to hum again, “planning a nursery,”

“Our home?”

Drawing back he cupped your cheek to lock eyes with you, “Oh you’re moving in with me, you and Tauri both. It’s still all boxes, nothing close to ready for our baby.”

Playfully you smirked up at him, “You really think I would just move in with you like that? I mean, I’m going to need a little something extra to convince me.”

“Oh really? How expensive is this something extra?”

You shrugged, “I might settle for you wearing those hot pants of yours to bed.” Making him roll his eyes and crash his lips into yours again wrapping your legs and arms around him in his move above you again muffling your giggles through his deep chuckle

Truly the storm did pick up, and sure enough well into the next week you were trapped, though to keep as much time to make up for lost time you were still enjoying your break when the guys arrived eager to see if you’d coupled or killed each other after the phones going down due to the now passed storm.

All –

@himoverflowers, @theincaprincess, @aspiringtranslator, @sweeticedtea, @ggbbhehe4455, @thegreyberet, @patanghill17, @jesgisborne, @curvestrology, @alishlieb, @jogregor, @armitageadoration, @fizzyxcustard, @here2have-fun, @lilith15000, @marvels-ghost, @catthefearless, @imjusthereforthereads, @c-s-stars

Hobbit/LotR – @abiwim, @jotink78, @pastelhexmaniac

X Thranduil - @evyiione, @sweetlytenacious25, @tigereyesf, @pastelhexmaniac

#Theincaprincesswritingchallenge #30daywritingchallengebytheincaprincess #hobbit #lotr #Thranduil x Reader OC #Snowed In

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throughtheglassdarkly · 5 years

Text

Missing Pieces, part 8

Welcome back. When last you were here, Bella went all murder-hobo and I drew some dicks. Onward.

So once we determined that Bella wasn’t going to immediately collapse into a lifeless puddle of goo, we decided to leave a note for the spymaster of the Knights of the Widow’s Walk. It took me a minute to come up with the right wording, but I eventually settled on this:

“Dear Sir and/or Madam Spymaster:

We have located the loyalist, who is a former associate of Buck’s, and have determined she is working with several Fetches and a pair of non-Court affiliated changelings. One of the Fetches is dead and the other is in our possession. Please advise as to how you wish to proceed.

Love and kisses,

Derek, pledged courtier of the Autumn Court”

With that taken care of, we all went our separate ways, leaving Day’s Fetch in his care. The next couple of days were quiet. A little too quiet. I realized after about three days that we hadn’t heard anything from Bella and she wasn’t answering any texts or calls. Pam, Yova, and I decided to go pay her a visit (Day was having a little too much fun tormenting his Fetch). I made tres leches cake and Pam worked up a world-class guilt trip.

Before we sought Bella out, Yova suggested that we Facebook stalk the Fetch as much as possible to get an idea of what we might be dealing with in the fallout. The Fetch seemed to keep most of the personal stuff on its Facebook on friend lock, but did have some public things, like its work with the university. We couldn’t help noticing that in some of the photos it was with a very tall, handsome dude with short dark hair. The comments all identified him as “Carlos <3 <3 <3”. We could see there were a couple of worried comments on the Fetch’s page in the last couple of days, but since most of the page was private, we couldn’t see anything more than that.

So the three of us traipsed over to Bella’s apartment. Nobody answered and there wasn’t the sound of anyone inside. The next logical step was her workplace, a magic shop that also sold tons of incense and crystals and new age crap for all your Wicca needs. When we got into the place, I was bracing for a huge waft of patchouli, but thankfully the dominant smell was cinnamon, due to the giant stack of cinnamon brooms near the entry. The Professor Trelawney clone who owned the place greeted us and asked how she could help us. When we told her that we were some friends of Bella’s and hadn’t been able to get a hold of her, she told us that Bella had asked for some time off. “And I was very worried about her, something about her aura seemed much darker than usual,” she said. Yova discreetly indicated that there’d been a death in the family and Professor Fauxlawney nodded sagely. She gave us a healing crystal and asked us to bring it to Bella. She was also pretty obviously anxious for us to buy something. Pam and Yova picked out some incense. And I wasn’t going to buy anything. I really wasn’t.

She had geodes. They were so shiny.

Now, lest you think that Bella was in some absolutely horrendous danger, I’ll cut that off at the pass. She was perfectly fine. Physically. Physically, she was perfectly fine. She was staying in a Spring Court safe house alongside Duke Lamington, the Chatelaine who was Mistress Lilly’s second in command. And as it turns out, Bella had not had a good couple of days. She was on autopilot more than anything and wasn’t processing things anywhere nearly as quickly as she could have been. She didn’t remember how she got from one place to another and was having really unpleasant memories of Arcadia, like Amberleigh’s coldness and Lamashtu screaming in her face.

Fortunately, Duke Lamington is a very decent dude and he was giving her some space and letting her try to work through it himself. He did check in on her and on the morning we went looking for her, Bella said that he sat down and told her that he hadn’t experienced it himself, but that he’d heard how jarring and unpleasant confronting a Fetch is. “And I can’t help but notice you’re missing a bit of the exuberance which caught our Court’s attention in the first place,” he told her. He asked if she wanted him to call us, but she wasn’t really in the mood.

Knowing a losing battle when he saw one, Sir Duke asked her what she would like to do and if she would like to go out and have some fun. “Yeah, but I don’t want to do what you do for fun. I don’t wanna go to The Container Store or Bed, Bath and Beyond,” Bella snarked. “There is nothing wrong with Bed, Bath and Beyond except their exorbitant prices,” Duke Lamington said. Despite her being horribly insulting, he told her that he’d arrange for her to have some fun that evening.

Bella told me later that she’d been curious about what Duke Lamington did in the Spring Court and asked him if he could show her what he usually did. He seemed surprised, but went off to get his computer. When he brought it back, he had each and every Excel spreadsheet open. “People want to think the Spring Court is all frivolities and careless pastimes, but there is effort that goes into organizing and maintaining this Court and that falls to me,” he said. Bella was goggle-eyed at how many details he had organized and just started scrolling through the spreadsheets. He told her that they were in the process of planning the Spring Fling, the Court’s inaugural party. “If you want to throw a truly good party you one, spare no expense, and two, arrange everything months in advance so you can book the best venue and hire the best band and arrange for the best caterer and make sure everything goes according to plan.”

While Bella was looking over every single micromanagey detail that he had written down, he told her that he had the numbers portion done, but that they hadn’t yet considered a color scheme and asked if she had any considerations about colors or décor. Apparently last year was a hibiscus theme, which he thought was a little corny but Mistress Lilly insisted on. The year prior was ivy and white lilies (there are a lot of floral themes, apparently). The year that made him shudder in recollection was 1997: the year they did the surfer theme. When she heard that, Bella asked him how old he was and how long he’d been back. He didn’t answer her directly, but told her that wasn’t long after he made it back and that it was one of the things that made him realize how badly the Spring Court needed someone to help organize their ideas. Bella suggested a few ideas for the Spring Fling, like coral and cream fiesta and pink and green flamingos. Duke Lamington nixed the flamingos but agreed to run pink and green by Mistress Lilly. They spent the rest of the afternoon planning the party and hanging out, which Bella said was a nice contrast to her feeling like she was going to die.

Now at this point, Pam, Yova, and I had absolutely no idea any of this was going on. We were walking and talking, trying to go over Bella’s shopping habits as we made our way back to my apartment building. I was still carrying the cake or else I would have been staring at my geode the entire time. So shiny. I asked if we should try the Hot Topics in the area and Yova told me that apparently that wasn’t exactly Bella’s goth aesthetic. Pam was ready to put out an APB at this point.

Our convo got cut short when we got back to my and Yova’s apartment building. Buck was waiting outside at the bus stop, clearly looking for us. We approached and he waved awkwardly. He told us that someone had gone to pick up Day’s Fetch and that he was here for business. “So you got our note,” Yova said. “Oh, yeah. This guy,” he pointed at me, “he’s fucking good.” If it had come from anybody else on the planet, I might have taken the compliment. But being the petty bastard I am, I decided to just give him the cold stare. Yova invited Buck up to her place after I made it clear that he was not getting anywhere near my place without taking off his shoes. “No, no, Derek, your apartment’s been defiled enough in recent memory. But you are taking off your shoes,” she told Buck.

They made their way up right to Yova’s apartment and I stopped off at my place to drop the cake off in the fridge and pick up Paisley. I was not going to be without my attack gecko.

When I got up there, Buck clasped his hands behind his back and said, “So, business. Right. So, awkward, I know. I hear that Aurora is involved,” he said. We nodded. He took in a deep breath and said, “So what you gotta understand is what we were up to was survival. But the thing is if she’s thinking she can wriggle her way back into the good graces of whatever patron she’s found herself now, that’ll mitigate any of the damage done by our fuckup with you guys.” “So losing us did a blow to her reputation?” Yova asked. “Oh, yeah. She was working directly under Scáthach. You don’t piss off a Lady like that,” he said.

Pam delicately asked him, “You know that Scáthach isn’t any more, right?” His eyes got to be the size of Kennedy half-dollars and he said, “What? You’re fucking with me.” We told him the brief details about how she’d lost her title and her keep and her spear. He looked stunned for a few minutes before he got out, “Holy shit. Holy actual shit. Then… it means one of two things. Either clean slate or we got the problem of being attached to a fuck-up. And she’s gotta work three times as hard to pick herself up.”

He told us that he’d brought us a list of her previous places in the Hedge where she’d go when she needed to recuperate. We thought at first it was the Knights wanting us to do their work for them, but he told us he wasn’t there for the Knights, he was trying to give us some information to help us. “I don’t know what you guys got in mind as far as payback you want to do, but she’s obviously got your Fetches under her thumb, or at least two of them.” “She called them her babies,” Yova said. “Yeah, she… she does that,” he said, sounding a little creeped out. He told us he didn’t know if she made our Fetches herself, but if she didn’t, she got somebody to provide her with excellent quality building blocks.

Before he left, Yova asked Buck how he felt about Aurora. He said he missed the old life he had, but he wasn’t sure if he missed her or the illusion of power being a loyalist brought. “Don’t get me wrong, our lives sucked, but we weren’t you guys and that does something to you when you kind of hate the position you’re in,” he said. We asked if he wanted to help capture Aurora or seek some revenge. He said he didn’t want any part of it and wanted to put that behind him. He tossed a notepad to Pam and made his way to the door. As he walked out, I tossed over my shoulder, “Don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.”

Pam looked in the notebook and saw a hefty list of locations in the Hedge and the mortal world with sporadically active trods we could use to get to and from those places. Yova asked what our thoughts were and I said that we obviously weren’t at full strength now, but that we needed to strike before she was able to recover too much. We agreed that we needed to let Day get his Fetch claimed and then grab him and in the meantime figure out just what the hell was going on with Bella.

Thankfully, during her time when she was considering joining the Spring Court, Yova got Duke Lamington’s phone number and she gave him a ring. He was polite as always and asked her how he could help. She told him that we didn’t know where Bella had gone and hoped he would have some idea, which is when we learned that she was safe and in the Spring Court’s care, though he did admit she wasn’t doing terribly well. Yova asked him if he could pass on the message to her that things were happening that had to do with the night Bella killed her Fetch. He agreed and put her on hold so he could ask Bella what she wanted to do. When he got back on, he said that Bella was being very vague and not paying a huge amount of attention.

Duke Lamington told Yova that he and Bella were going to go out that evening and Yova proposed he give her the location of where they were going so we could bump into them and see how Bella was. He agreed, then asked her if he could get her advice on where to take Bella. “This is a sort of lifestyle that I have absolutely no familiarity with. There was a 90s night at the local beer hall, would that be appropriate?” he asked.

When he asked this, Yova pulled the phone away from her ear and looked about as pained as I’ve ever seen her. She very quietly said, “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” I sat next to her with Paisley so she could cope.

Yova turned back to the phone and, with a look of abject agony on her face, asked, “What sort of thing did Bella ask for, specifically?” “Loud music and flashing lights, I did confirm the flashing lights,” Duke Lamington told her. Yova proposed that she act as the outsource for this and quickly called one of her Juilliard contacts, asking where the best place in Albany was for a rave. She managed to get the address of a rave that was held in an empty store area of one of the malls in town and passed that on to the Duke. He ran it by Bella and she said, “I can’t even see you at a rave. But yeah! Let’s do it!”

While all this was going on, I still had Paisley in my lap. I looked down to her and asked, “So, girl, you up for a rave?” She looked up at me with a quirked head. “Rave, uh. Loud music, flashing lights, lots of drugs?” I asked. She considered for a second and then, if I’ve ever seen a gecko shrug, that was it. She stayed home.

The next few hours we spent raiding Yova’s closet to try and get outfits for a rave. And yeah, yeah, I know what you’re going to say. I have club wear, I don’t have rave wear. I did not get the gay dancing gene. Bella also took Duke Lamington out for appropriate rave attire. He got a snazzy neon bow tie and suspenders. Yova also called Marigold and asked her if she wanted to meet us there. She jumped at it.

Bella and the Duke were the first ones to get to the rave, not long after it opened. He mostly was there to chaperone Bella, though he did do a little dancing to humor her. We got there about twenty minutes later and thankfully managed to spot the Duke quickly enough, with that neon blue bow tie. Bella actually seemed like she was doing much better; she was going through her usual Bellaisms. We made our way over and she waved at us, looking happy. “I didn’t know you guys were going to be here!” she said. Pam and Duke Lamington shared a look – we’d all heard him telling Bella that we were going to be coming along.

While Pam and I tried to figure out what was going on, Yova got a text that Marigold was there and Yova sent her a picture of what she was wearing. She made her way over to the bar, where Marigold was sitting, dressed in her normal Wednesday Addams getup and nursing a hot pink drink, looking delighted. Yova greeted her (with a nice kiss on the cheek – yes, I was watching) and told her she looked happy. “Oh, I am! This is fascinating!” Marigold told her, going on about all the social dynamics. Yova was looking positively charmed and warned her about taking anything from anyone who offered it. “I’m not that naïve,” Marigold scoffed, pulling out her bag. “Look, see, I have a whistle, and a can of mace, and this straw is supposed to change colors if you put it in a drink that has date rape drugs in it.” Bless that child.

Yova brought Marigold back over to where we were on the dance floor and we all greeted her. Pam told her how nice she looked and some of us proceeded to dance awkwardly (Duke Lamington doing the two-step, Pam doing a shimmy, Marigold swaying in place, me doing the cabbage patch) and others less awkwardly (Yova dancing around Marigold, Bella just having a good time).

But then. As we were dancing, both Yova and I spotted a couple of young women pushing their way through the crowd toward us, looking surprised and emotional. We pointed them out to the others and Bella quickly recognized them as old friends of hers. She turned, completely freaked out, and started making her way in the other direction. Yova, thankfully, reacted quickly. By picking me up and throwing me like a goddamn discus at them. They were pissed as hell at me and it stopped them from moving forward, but didn’t stop them from spotting Bella and they darted off through the crowd after her. Yova swooped in, picked me up, and started acting like a running back. I looked up at her and managed to get out, “When we get out of here… I’m gonna kick your fuckin’ ass.”

Yova managed to stop one of the girls by running into her, but the other caught up with Bella and asked her what was going on and why she was acting the way she was. “And what is up with this look?” she asked. Bella tried to affect a Spanish accent, making like it was a case of mistaken identity. Around this time, the rest of us managed to catch up. “What is going on, is this cold feet or something?” Between Bella’s denials and Yova’s insistence that the girl was mistaken about who Bella was, she finally left, but was clearly unhappy about it.

We made our way outside the mall and Duke Lamington gently told Bella that she was going to have to deal with what happened with her Fetch. I realized that this was probably the time to let Bella know what she might be dealing with and I pulled the ring out of my pocket and handed it over to her. “What’s this?” she asked. “I found that in the pile of rags that was your Fetch the other night,” I said. She didn’t seem to be putting it together, but Yova reminded her that the girl mentioned getting a case of cold feet. Bella looked at the ring a minute longer, then put it in her pocket and stormed off, saying, “Not my problem!”

Duke Lamington told us that it wasn’t exactly the Spring Court’s place to deal with this, but he wished us luck. “I’ll go check on the little miss and make sure she gets home all right, whether it’s to her own place or our locale,” he said. He promised to let us know where Bella ended up. She ended up asking to go back to her own place and Duke Lamington escorted her there. She told me that when he dropped her off, he told her it was a pleasure hanging out with her and that it wasn’t often members of the Court sought him out. All together now: awwww.

That left me, Pam, Marigold, and Yova hanging outside the mall. Yova apologized to Marigold about the night ending prematurely. “Oh, no, it was fascinating!” she chirped again. She did stare through her glasses after the girl who was traipsing off and, getting a bit more serious, told us that we should be careful about the police in case she talked to them about what was going on with Bella. “I think we might have a bit of help with keeping that at bay, with Officer Break. Did she ever end up contacting you?” Yova asked. Marigold’s shoulders slumped a bit and she said, “Yes… yes, she did. And I was just about to call her back, but then Miss Stella dumped a pile of research projects on my desk.” “She’s good at that,” I said. “Yes, she is. You know, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t sleep,” Marigold said.

We ended up piling into Yova’s crappy pickup and dropped Marigold off at her apartment first. It wasn’t the best part of town, but her building looked nice. Yova then dropped Pam off and drove me back to our building. She parked the car, looked over at me and made a peace offering. “I’ve got a bottle of vodka and mixers upstairs.” “Deal.”

Now, that might have been the end of it. Except that when Pam got home, she could feel the aftereffects of Glamour. It wasn’t hostile or wrong, but she definitely could feel something. As she looked around her apartment, she saw a long, thin thorn pinning a parchment envelope to the wall. Mentally noting that she was going to have to spackle that later, she pulled out the thorn and opened the envelope, breaking a messy wax seal. Inside was a small note that read: “HEY KIDS, WE’RE BUSTIN OUT. -C P.S. TELL THE OLD MAN I’M GONNA PUNCH HIM.”

By this point, Yova and I were upstairs in her place. I was starting to put together some Moscow mules and she was trying to change out of her thigh highs. Pam called me and I picked up, saying, “Fallen Angels Abortion Clinic, you knock ‘em up, we knock ‘em down, we have a special on twins today, how may I direct your call?” Pam took a second to respond, then said, “I’m sorry, I think I have the wrong number,” and hung up. I cackled for a few seconds, then called her back.

“Oh, Derek. I think that somebody has your number,” she told me. “No, no, that was me,” I said. “He’s a shit on the phone!” Yova called from her closet. “So, what’s up?” I asked. “Well, I just got a note from Cassi. It said they’re breaking out,” she said. I felt my feathers spring up into full alert and I snapped my fingers to try and get Yova’s attention. “What? What is it?” she asked, leaning out of her closet dangerously. “THEY’RE BREAKING OUT!” I yelled. “OH SHI –” she yelled, losing her balance completely.

“Oh, that sounded painful,” Pam said. “Yeah, it was like watching a sequoia go down,” I said. “Uh, we’re going to – Yova, how long is it going to take you to change?” I asked. “Five minutes!” she said, contorting herself to try to get those damn thigh highs off. “Right. Um, we’ll be there in ten minutes,” I said. “I’m just going to change into something that’s not – this.” “I don’t know, Derek, I think Adrian would find that very fetching,” Yova said from the floor, pointing to my mesh shirt. “Shut up, Yova!” I yelled, darting for the door.

And so that brings our current story to a close. When next you come back, I’ll tell you all about the next fine kettle of fish we managed to get ourselves into. Until then, may your friends never use you as ballast for their Olympic tryouts.

#Changeling: The Lost #changeling #ctl #recap #ic #please don't throw me over the fence miss trunchbull

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quantumdanger · 5 years

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[[ As much as Duck speaks negatively about Rev, he gravitates towards him the most. He’ll make fun of him for being a cuckoo bird since duck is an aquatic bird, but in the end, he cares and feels for his fellow bird. Most likely because he’s the only other bird on the team. They bond over bird tropes and sometimes engage in little squabbles but they confide in each other, especially during moments only avians understand.

Like molting.

Feathers everywhere. Their molting periods sync up and they end up hiding in either Duck’s or Rev’s room until their feathers return. They do not want to be seen. If anyone comes knocking to get them out, one of them might go. “You mammals are lucky because when you shed, you at least have some fur underneath!”

Preening

Birds gotta preen to keep their feathers clean. Usually, after coming back to HQ, they go off to their rooms to preen instead of doing it out in the front room because those mammals would give them weird looks. Sometimes, they might help each other with those hard to reach areas, more so Duck because his neck isn’t as long as Rev’s so he might not see a feather out of place. Stroke those feathers backward and ruin all their hard work “We will maim you.”

Dust Bathing

The purpose of dust bathing is to rid the bird of excess oil, dry skin, debris, and parasites. Being in the year 2772, they most likely have a special conditioner to use. If one birdie runs out of their special conditioner, they most likely will ‘borrow’ the other birdie’s. But I, for one, love the dust bathing idea too. Like “Yes, we’re rolling around in dirt. Keep walking.“

Gossiping

Legit, Duck and Rev like to tease about other birds such as peacocks and flamingos. “Ooh, look at me. I’m full on pink and sleep on one leg. Fancy.” “Peacocks are bad enough with their famous plumage but, they also have crowns too? What has the world come to?” “Penguins can have that super sub-zero habitat. I’m staying here where it’s warm.“

#OOC #Long Post #About the Muse #revvedxup

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genyatta-ss · 6 years

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Just Kiss!

Hiya! NeonCandies here to drop off my gift for @d-sel!

I’m sorry if it isn’t 100% mutual pining, but hopefully you enjoy it nonetheless! I’m happy to have been able to participate in the secret Santa and I’m happy to have had the chance to write this fic!

I will also be posting this fic on my AO3 as well! Once again, hope you enjoy it! Happy Holidays!!

———

Located over Dorado’s bay lay Castillo, the remnants of a fort from the past. Here in this fort was a quaint little bar under the name Calaveras. Over the years, the bar has seen many different patrons, sometimes patrons from opposing sides. Yet no matter what kind of character showed up, there was a rule that everyone followed. “Calaveras is neutral territory”. Because of this, the bar has recently had customers from very questionable backgrounds. To put it bluntly, this was a place where you could find both Overwatch members and Talon members. Hostilities were left out the door and inside they were merely “people”. It was one of these instances where something long overdue happened.

The day had started out the same, Overwatch being sent out to foil Talon’s plans and causing them trouble like the “pests” they were. Yet once the sun started to set, both sides found themselves showing up in Calaveras.

Sombra was leaning against the bar, her upper body being supported by the wooden counter. To her left was McCree, the two of them sharing a rather large bottle of a fruity whiskey. On her right was Amélie, the sniper nursing a glass of red wine.

At one of the booths sat Lena, Genji, and Ana, the three of them nursing their own kinds of drink. Though the atmosphere seemed calm and the conversation casual, one of the patrons seemed quite… Anxious.

Genji was sitting in his seat, rapidly tapping his fingers against the counter. Usually it would be Lena practically vibrating in her seat, but she seemed subdued compared to Genji’s incessant jittering. Ana had made a point to ignore it, but the clacking was slowly starting to get on her nerves.

She quirked a brow at him, giving him a pointed look with her one eye. Genji froze, ducking his head sheepishly and quickly snatching his hands from the counter top.

“Sorry.”

Ana hummed, sipping at her tea. “What has you so anxious?”

“You’re acting like you’ve got ants all up in your wires.” Lena added, shooting the cyborg a concerned smile.

Genji glanced off to the side, “Ah, well, I am just waiting for master Zenyatta to arrive. He is usually very punctual, but he should have arrived half an hour ago.” Genji forced a laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. “I guess I’m just worried!”

The two women shared a quick glance, both smiling lightly. Leaning over the table, Lena reached up to pat his shoulder. She offered a reassuring smile, squeezing comfortingly.

“Aw don’t worry, love! I’m sure he’s on his way! I bet’chya he’ll be here before you know it!”

Genji relaxed, though not by much. His shoulders slumped and he sighed, “You’re right. Sorry.”

Just as Ana opened her mouth to add some more words of comfort, the door to Calaveras opened. It only took a moment before Genji was zipping out of his seat faster than the two women could blink.

“Master! I saved you a seat!” Genji said in ways of greeting, offering a quick bow to the monk as he floated into the bar.

Zenyatta was accompanied by Satya, both of them taking a pause in their conversation. Zenyatta tilted his head in ways of a smile, inclining his frame in a small bow to return Genji’s.

“Oh, thank you, Genji!” To Satya he laid a hand on her shoulder, a sweet smile in his tone. “I would love to continue our conversation another time, my friend.”

Her lips quirked up slightly in a ghost of a smile, “Of course.”

Leaving Zenyatta, she made her way to the bar, joining the two Talon members and the single Overwatch member. Zenyatta, focusing back on Genji, let himself be led to the table he had previously been sitting at. As the two of them settled in and Zenyatta swapped greetings with Ana and Lena, Genji was still shifting restlessly in his seat.

“Master, how was the flight?” He asked, barely refraining from asking why he had been late.

Zenyatta turned so he could visibly give Genji his full attention. With a tilt of his head, Zenyatta hummed in amusement. “It was quite peaceful. Satya makes for great company and Athena made sure we arrived here safely.”

Genji relaxed slightly, though he ended up tensing once again when Zenyatta continued speaking.

“Though something tells me that’s not what you wish to ask me, is it?” The knowing tone of his voice clearly hinted he already knew the answer.

With a deep and heavy sigh, all of the tension left Genji slumping in his seat. “I was worried about you.”

Instantly Zenyatta’s demeanour shifted from amused teasing to gentle concern. He hesitated a moment before placing his hand over Genji’s, offering a small squeeze of comfort in the hopes to get Genji to look at him. It worked, thankfully. Zenyatta spoke, keeping his tone low and soothing.

“Oh Genji, I never intended to make you worry. Had I known I would’ve been held up, I would’ve contacted you beforehand. I promise I’m fine and that there’s nothing to worry about. Should this happen again in the future, I’ll try my best to let you know.”

Genji huffed, staring at where Zenyatta’s hand rested on his. “It’s not that I’m upset you didn’t tell me. I would’ve been worried regardless… I’m always going to be worried about you.”

Zenyatta chuckled, nudging Genji’s shoulder with his. “And I will always be worried for you, even when we are apart.”

Across the bar being her nosey self, Sombra was listening in on the only conversation going on. She quirked a brow, nudging Jesse with her hip and flicking her eyes towards the booth when she had his attention.

“When did that happen?”

Jesse set his glass down and twisted his head, staring in confusion for a moment. He watched Genji and Zenyatta pull their hands from the other’s grasp, though still remaining as close as before. Smirking, Jesse snorted before looking back at Sombra.

“That is something that ain’t even happened yet.”

She let out an incredulous sound, “You’re kidding me. Every time I see them they look closer and closer! And every time you tell me the same thing. Are you sure they aren’t in a relationship? Like, come on you and Genji are close, right? You must know something!”

She was smart enough to keep her voice low, not wanting to be heard by the duo they were currently talking about. Though it wouldn’t bother her much if they did overhear, maybe then it’d shove them in the right direction.

Chuckling under his breath, Jesse poured himself the remainder of the whiskey. “Now Genji may have said something, but he didn’t outright say he has feelings for Zen. Getting that man to give a straight answer is like pulling teeth, an uphill battle that leaves you with more gaps than you’d like.”

“Pretty sure that isn’t how it goes, but whatever.” Sombra waved a hand, “It’s obvious he feels something. Now we just gotta figure out about the monk…”

“Zenyatta has spoken to me before about his feelings.” Satya spoke up, examining her nails as if she hadn’t a care in the world.

Sombra promptly shoved Jesse out of the way, ignoring his yelp of indignation. “Oh? Gimme the deets, girl.”

Raising a perfectly trimmed brow, Satya hummed and lowered her hand. “Well, I do know that he cares more for Genji than he lets on, if it wasn’t obvious. I would say their feelings are mutual. The only ones unaware of it are-“

“Themselves.” Amélie finished with a roll of her eyes. She muttered something under her breath, setting her glass down. “This is painful to watch.”

“You say that, but think about how we feel.” Jesse jabbed a thumb in the direction of the booth. “We live with it.”

“I pity you.” Came the emotionless response, though still somehow managing to hold a chilly amount of sarcasm.

Sombra, ever the schemer, drummed her cybernetic nails against the counters. “Hold on, mis amigos. I’ve got an idea.”

Around five minutes later, the four of them had made their way to the booth and stood before it. Lena paused in her animated retelling of her and Emily’s trip to the water-park, her bright smile still in place even as she chirped a hello to them. Ana raised a brow in question at their appearance, but raised her cup of tea in lieu of a verbal greeting.

“Genji! Come here for a moment, we gotta talk with you.” Sombra wasted no time in slinging an arm around Genji’s and practically dragging him towards the other side of the bar, Jesse following while Satya and Amélie stayed behind. Genji’s protests went unanswered, as did the confusion directed towards the two women.

“Master Zenyatta, can we have a word with you?” Satya asked, gesturing towards the opposite direction Genji had been dragged in.

Tilting his head curiously, Zenyatta stood from his seat. “But of course. Lena, Ms. Amari, do excuse me for a moment.”

“Sure!” Lena chirped, grinning and watching Zenyatta being led away by the two women. Only when they were out of earshot did she speak. “You think they’re going to try and address the thing going on between Genji and Zen?”

“Let’s hope so,” Ana grunted, sighing heavily. “If I have to listen to Genji talk about his “friend” who’s in love with someone one more time, I’m going to lock the two of them in a closet and throw the key into the sea.”

“Harsh.” Lena laughed.

In one corner of the bar, Genji was forced to sit on one of the plush chairs, Sombra and Jesse sitting on either side of him.

“You two had better have a good reason for this.” Genji grumbled.

“We do. Ya see, we’ve noticed for a while that you and Zen may or may not have some… Chemistry. And while I ain’t saying it’s the most noticeable thing-“

Sombra cut Jesse off, “It’s more obvious than a hippo wearing pink and trying to pass itself off as a flamingo. Dude, everyone knows you’re crushing on Zenyatta.”

Genji stiffened, the valves on his shoulders opening and allowing steam to bellow out in large white plumes. “W-what?! What do you mean it’s obvious?!”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Jesse tried to find the best route to go. Obviously Sombra wasn’t going to be any help in the “subtle” department. “Well ya see, you always wait for him to arrive in the mess hall before you eat.”

“It’s only polite!”

“And you’re always willing to meditate with him no matter the weather outside.”

“Meditation is important to me, Jesse.”

Sombra rolled her eyes, letting out an annoyed groan. “Look, idiota. Even us over at Talon know you and Zenyatta have something going on. We even have a betting pool! I’ve got 50 riding on you being the first to confess. Even Gabi is betting, though admittedly not for you confessing, but he’s still betting! And we all know that he never puts money on something he thinks he’ll lose at!”

Genji would find it offensive that his love life was the topic of a betting pool, but he was a little busy focusing on the fact that it had been so obvious that he felt something for Zenyatta. Sighing, Genji leaned forward, resting his head in his hands.

“What am I going to do? I can’t confess to Zenyatta! He’s a monk! Plus he probably has so many better options than me.”

Sombra snorted, “What options? Literally he’s part of your little vigilante group that hides out on an island secluded from the population. The only interactions he gets are when he’s out on missions. Which practically means nothing in the ways of developing a relationship. So unless he’s crushing on someone else that’s a part of your little band of misfits, then I’m pretty sure you’ve got no competition.”

Risking a glance up at her, Genji lowered his hands slightly. “You think?”

“Buddy, we know so.” Jesse pat Genji’s shoulder, glancing towards where Zenyatta seemed to be in a heated discussion with Amélie and Satya.

Genji followed his gaze, sighing wistfully as he watched Zenyatta. “It’s just…. He’s helped me so much. When I was at my lowest, he helped me climb out of the darkness. He gave me the materials I would need to find my way back on the right path. He supports me and defends me, I can rely on him in and out of battle. If I’m at risk of losing myself, he’s there to catch me and pull me back. I never fear being consumed by my anger when I’m around him. He is… Everything that’s wonderful in the world. I see everything so differently when I’m by his side. Zenyatta is so important to me. I wouldn’t want to ruin what we have just because I’m being greedy and wanting more.”

Sombra and Jesse shared a look, both of them slinging an arm around Genji’s shoulders. Poking his chest, Sombra chuckled. “Look, I’m going to put this bluntly. From how you two act around each other, you’re practically married. The only thing missing are the rings. But I swear it’s all there. That romantic support and all those flowery good feelings. I mean do you know how many times I’ve taken one of those orbs to the face when I get just the slightest bit closer to you in battle? It’s like he’s got a sixth sense on knowing when you’re in danger.”

“Yeah buddy, I see it all the time. When you’re out on a mission, Zen gets so worried and restless. Can’t sit still, fretting like crazy till you get back. And if you even got a scratch on you he’s there ready to heal you. The both of you got it bad, trust me.” Jesse added, sending Genji a reassuring smile. “It’s all there, Genji. Ya just gotta go and grab it. And what better time than the present?”

Genji audibly swallowed, his hands clenching and unclenching nervously. He looked away from Jesse and Sombra, instead focusing on Zenyatta who was currently stifling a giggle. He felt his heart beat quicken and a warmth seep throughout his body. Truly he was a gift sent from above. With a firm not of his head, Genji let their arms fall from his shoulders, the cyborg standing up and making his way over to Zenyatta, a determination in his steps.

–

When Zenyatta had been led to the corner by Satya and Amélie, he had a feeling it had something to do with what their little group had been whispering to each other about at the bar. Ever the patient monk, Zenyatta waited for them to speak up before asking his own questions.

“Zenyatta, I apologize, but it seems I’m not the only one who has noticed your feelings for Genji.” Satya began, getting straight to the point.

Pausing, Zenyatta processed this new revelation before he chuckled, shaking his head fondly. “I had thought you were kidding when you said it was obvious, but clearly I was wrong. Well I guess there is no reason to beat around the bush.” Glancing at Amélie he inclined his head, “I assume Satya is referring to you, Ms. Lacroix?”

“Amélie.”

Zenyatta made note of the quick way Amélie had corrected him. Nodding his head subtly to show he understood, Zenyatta continued. “I am quite curious as to why this requires you to take me aside to discuss it. Surely if it is as obvious as you said, then being secretive is unneeded.”

Satya sighed, rolling her eyes, “Perhaps, but while it is apparently obvious to everyone, Genji seems to be unable to take the several hints you have been dropping.”

Crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head from side to side, Zenyatta hummed. “True, but I find Genji’s earnest actions and responses adorable.”

Amélie paused, a spark of interest flashing behind her cool gaze. “You’ve known this whole time that Genji loves you.”

Satya’s eyes widened at Zenyatta’s innocent giggling, the monk placing a hand over his mouth-seam. “Of course. While I wasn’t aware my feelings were so obvious, I never said that I had no knowledge on how clear Genji’s were.”

Sharing a wry smirk, Satya and Amélie chuckled along with Zenyatta. “How sly,” Satya rested her hands on her crossed legs. “Is there a reason as to why you haven’t mentioned anything?”

“A warrior’s greatest weapon is patience.” Zenyatta said in a sing-song voice, “Besides, I know Genji will eventually come around to confess to me when he is ready. Rushing it would just make a mess, I’m perfectly fine waiting for him.”

“But does it not get annoying?” Amélie frowned, raising a brow. “You’ve obviously been waiting a while for him to confess. What if he never does?”

Zenyatta glanced away from her, a smile in his voice. “Oh, I have a feeling he will.”

As if to answer Zenyatta’s statement, Genji stopped a few feet away from the trio. He fidgeted where he stood, shifting from foot to foot with his arms locked firmly to his sides.

“U-um Zenyatta, can I speak with you for a moment? Outside?”

“Of course,” The monk stood, excusing himself from Satya and Amélie before following Genji outside.

It was a little chilly outside, the night air bringing along the promise of winter. Zenyatta took note of the temperature drop, making a note in his files that he’d have to buy Genji a scarf so he wouldn’t get cold. He already had enough sweaters, some stolen from the closet of their teammates, so Zenyatta didn’t have to worry about that.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Genji clearing his throat. The cyborg shifted restlessly for a moment longer before he reached up, pressing the buttons that would release his facemask. It popped off with a soft hiss, exposing Genji’s face to the cool night air. He cleared his throat once again, reaching down and taking one of Zenyatta’s hands with his free hand.

“Z-Zenyatta, I have something very important to ask you.” Genji took in a deep breath, willing his nerves away. Only with Zenyatta did he become a stuttering mess, rarely as suave as he was in his youth.

Tilting his head in a smile, Zenyatta squeezed Genji’s hand encouragingly. “Yes, Genji?”

Licking his chapped lips, Genji refrained from letting his gaze leave Zenyatta’s face. He had to keep eye contact, this was important! “Well… We’ve known each other for ages now and over these years, I’ve realized how important you are to me. Every day I wake up and feel blessed to have ever met you. You’ve seen me at my worst and helped me return to my best. You’ve been there for me when I was consumed by rage and drowning in my own misery. And you have no idea how grateful I am for that. Just having you here with me in Overwatch, fighting and saving others by my side is a blessing. I’m happy to have you here, I’m happy to have ever met you. And… I guess what I’m trying to say is… I love you.

“I love the way you talk and laugh. And I love how gentle you can be with your teachings, but have force behind your actions if you need it. I love how you’re always willing to listen and offer advice, even if you don’t understand the full situation. And I love how forgiving you are and how you don’t hold anyone’s mistakes against them. You’re wonderful and beautiful, I’ve never met someone who makes me feel this way. I know you’re not perfect, you’ve told me many times you aren’t, just like I know I’m not perfect. But that’s ok, because I don’t need you to be perfect. I’d love you no matter what because you’re you. And you being you is enough for me.”

Zenyatta’s fans had picked up speed with every word Genji said, his excitement growing. Though he was aware Genji shared his feelings, no amount of preparation could stand up to the actual confession. Zenyatta’s circuits were going crazy, his knees feeling weak and threatening to make him collapse. He somehow managed to continue standing and find his voice.

Starting out softly, Zenyatta reached a hand up and laid it over Genji’s cheek. “Oh Genji… I too find myself amazed that I was so lucky to meet you. I can’t believe I’ve had the chance to get to know such a brilliant soul. Truly you are a gift, one that keeps on giving. You’ve allowed me into your heart, allowed me to help you. You are simply wonderfully Genji and every moment I spend with you, I cherish. I enjoy every second spent in your company, even if it’s in silence. I love you Genji and every day I’m reminded of all the qualities about you that I love.

“I love how joyful you can be, how your optimism doesn’t get in the way of serious matters, but helps ease them. I love that you are willing to fight and protect those that matter to you, even if they have wronged you so severely in your life. You have such a kind and sweet heart, I see it in everything you do. I love you so much Genji and it makes me so happy to hear that you love me as well.”

Genji’s cheeks hurt from how wide his smile was. He laughed breathlessly, leaning down so his forehead could rest against Zenyatta’s. His chest was fit to bursting with all the warmth practically bubbling throughout every part of his body. He chuckled again, letting go of Zenyatta’s hand in order to run his fingers along Zenyatta’s cheek.

“I’m glad our feelings are mutual.” He murmured.

“As am I,” Patting his cheek affectionately, Zenyatta hummed. “Since our feelings are mutual, would you like to go out, Genji?”

Genji’s eyes widened and his blush deepened, “I-if you’d like! I would love to go out with you.”

Zenyatta chuckled, “Wonderful…”

They continued to stare at each other, foreheads pressed comfortably against the other. Genji licked his lips once again, chewing on his bottom lip as he gathered the courage to try and ask Zenyatta something else. Yet before he could voice his question, a voice cut in through the lovely silence.

“Dios mio, just kiss already!!”

“Sombra shut it!” Jesse hissed, slapping a hand over her mouth.

Glancing up towards the bar door, Genji stiffened and his blush grew to cover his entire face. Peeking through the cracked doorway was Sombra, Jesse, and Lena. Jesse and Lena had the decency to offer a sheepish smile, the latter blinking away the moment they were caught. Jesse grabbed a hold of Sombra’s arm, dragging the cursing hacker back into the bar and closing the door.

“Well… That was… Interesting.” Genji mumbled, sharing a look with Zenyatta. The two of them burst out laughing, the two hunching close to each other and doing nothing to stifle their giggles.

Zenyatta took in a deep, unneeded breath, unable to keep the mirth from leaking into his voice. “Though Sombra is right. I would very much like a kiss, if you don’t mind.”

Genji grinned, “I aim to please.”

And with that the two leaned forward, only a second of hesitation before Genji pressed his lips to Zenyatta’s mouth-seam. Zenyatta hummed, wrapping his arms around Genji’s neck and leaning against him. Despite the embarrassing moments, Genji couldn’t find any fault with how this day had gone.

Pulling away, Genji gave Zenyatta a dreamy smile before putting his face-plate back on. “Shall we go back inside?” He asked, offering his hand to Zenyatta.

“Mmm.” Humming his consent, Zenyatta slotted their hands together and followed Genji back inside.

#fanfic #submission #genyatta

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