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#i am honestly so pleased with how this conversation went because ultimately it was a simple direct speech from her that he needed to hear
blackjackkent · 4 months
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The city is hovering on the edge between summer and autumn, and the night has just the slightest hint of a chill on the air as Hector climbs the stairs to the balcony of the Singing Lute Inn, where Karlach told him to meet her.
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She's already seated at the table; he can see her fidgeting nervously as he approaches, and her head snaps up, startled, at the sound of his footsteps. Then the nerves are wiped from her face as she grins brightly.
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"Hi. Hi! You made it!" she says eagerly. Leaning forward, she pushes back the chair next to her at the table; her eyes run over him from head to foot, drinking in the sight of him in this place so far from camp or combat. "You look nice," she murmurs.
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Hector has been nothing but excited to come out and spend this time with her, ever since she suggested the idea - but now, to his own surprise, he feels a pleasantly warm, bashful feeling settle into his chest and realizes he is blushing a little.
Their relationship has been rather backwards and jumbled, he reflects. Months of hoping, wishing, pining after someone he could not even touch, let alone have... and then the collapse, barely over the course of a day, into passionate love - which was new enough for him, when it happened. This, a more traditional romantic moment, is perhaps even more unfamiliar to him now. But unlike so many of the things he has faced that were new and terrifying... this is new and joyful, because it is with her. He is safe, with her eyes on him, no matter what.
"So do you," he murmurs, looking back appreciatively, and he is gratified to see a similar dark flush rise in her cheeks as well at the compliment.
"Thank you," she answers with a bright smile. Shifting nervously in her seat, she picks up the menu hastily and peruses it with an intense studiousness.
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"Hmm. Baldurian seafood stew. No thank you..." She peers at him over the top of the sheet. "What do you think you'll have?"
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He is conscious of the surreal feeling that they are performing a play for each other, each of them trying to sort out what "acting normal" entails, with a little warm thrill as they successfully hit each beat in the scene. "The grilled rothe ribs sound good," he says with a slight smile.
She grins with an air of relief. "Just what I had in mind," she agrees. She waves eagerly at the innkeeper, a broad and rather surly orc gentleman. "Two of the rothe ribs, please," she says firmly. "And two glasses of..." She pauses, looks questioningly at Hector.
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"Wine," Hector puts in, pointing at the item on the menu.
"And two glasses of wine," Karlach finishes, and nods with satisfaction.
As the bartender stalks off, she leans forward, resting her elbows on the edge of the table. Her eyes narrow, taking on a playful air as she starts to relax into the moment.
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"So... you're an adventurer, right? How's that going?"
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Hector grins, mildly bemused. "You've been by my side for a lot of it, you know," he points out.
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She gives him an gentle nudge in the shoulder. "I know, but this is our *first date*, remember?" she says conspiratorially. "Tonight, you're a mystery to me."
His eyebrows lift in understanding, and he opens his mouth to try and answer in kind, continue the conceit of them being strangers to each other... but then he stops, and grins sheepishly. He's neither actor, liar, nor orator at the best of times, and if he is honest, he is finding the way she is looking at him... distracting.
"I'm not sure I can pretend I don't already love you," he says ruefully.
She hesitates, then laughs, shaking her head. "It's all I can do to keep my hands to myself anyway," she answers, and snorts softly. "We're terrible at this."
He reaches out, puts a hand on hers on the table, grinning at her slight discomfiture. "Want to get out of here?" he says teasingly.
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Her eyes widen and her face flashes through a mix of eagerness and determination in rapid succession. "No! ...Yes-- No. We came to have a nice date, and that's what we're going to do." She crosses her arms over her chest and looks at him with a stubborn smirk. "Go on. Date me. I dare you."
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Hector laughs softly. "You're right. So... erm... where did you grow up?" he tries, after a moment's thought, trying to determine what he might ask her if he had never met her before, if the scent and warmth of her were still things he had yet to experience. This is still not his strong suit - but he will make the effort if it will make her happy.
She brightens up excitedly and settles back into the moment with only a little awkwardness.
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"Right here in Baldur's Gate, more or less," she says, gesturing out to the view of the city below them. "My folks are long gone now. But they raised me in the Outer City. Dad was a porter in town, mum did laundry." She smiles nostalgically. "Still think of her when I smell clean sheets. We were poorer than dirt, but my gods we had fun."
He leans back in his seat, just enjoying listening to the sound of her voice, her excitement, her happiness at being back in the city, all washing over him. He's heard some of this from her before - but not all of it. Perhaps this 'pretending to be strangers' bit has even more merit than he expected.
"What about you?" she asks him curiously.
(A/N: The three options here are "much like yours," "i don't like to talk about my past," and "I'm from baldur's gate too, I wonder if we crossed paths"; none of these are actually relevant to Hector's experience of growing up at the monastery. So we're going to skip over this line. XD )
He has told her some things about his life among the monks of Silverlight before - but fairly little about his childhood there. He finds himself starting to talk about it now, though. He has no real stories of joy and excitement like those she describes, and on some level he has started to realize just how barren his life was in these particular regards until he met her... but there were good memories too. He ends up telling her a little about the lessons he received - how he started being trained as a scribe before they discovered his fascination with the ancient tomes and texts of their historical library...
She listens with rapt fascination, just as he had listened to her, a slight, blissful smile on her face.
It's hard to say how long they sit there, caught in the conversation, trading stories back and forth; both of them have started to relax into this 'first date' conceit and Hector feels his cheeks starting to hurt from smiling. They're only interrupted by the eventual arrival of their food... which is wrong.
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Two plates of seafood stew land on the table in front of them, along with the two glasses of wine. Karlach looks down at the plate with an air of some disappointment - but is met with a curse from the irritable innkeeper who stalks away when she tries to ask for a change.
Hector can see her struggling to mask the disappointment at the meal not quite going as planned, and she forces a smile back onto her face.
"Worst guy I ever met," she mutters wryly. "How about a toast?"
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But, frazzled, she moves too fast, and the wine glass slips from her fingers as she goes to lift it, sending a spray of pale purple across the table - and over her lap. "Oh, SHIT," she snaps, and Hector can hear her voice crack.
Frowning, he reaches out and takes her hand in both of his. He can feel the increased heat of the engine in her palm and knows it for a sign of her agitation, and his thumbs drift over her knuckles gently, soothingly. "We can use my glass," he says mildly, and reaches to lift it between them. "To us."
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He can see her relax, his voice and touch pushing away the frustration in favor of something warmer. She smiles slightly, nods agreement as he makes the toast, and her eyes track his intensely. The conceit of the first date is gone abruptly, and he sees the full depth of feeling in her eyes, everything they have built together in the months that he has been hers.
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"May we live every day as if it were our last," she says softly. "'Cause you never know when your last will come." Before he can respond, she pushes up from her chair and leans across the table to press her lips against his fiercely.
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As always, the oblique reference to how little time they have left makes his heart twist in his chest -- but now it is his turn to push that down and away. It has no place here. This moment is for her - for them - to feel, just for a little while, like they can say anything, do anything... like just for one night they are not trapped in the raging river of fate that is dragging them along.
Just for tonight, he thinks, and kisses her deeply, one hand sliding into her hair. Just for tonight... we have all of time ahead of us...
-----
It must be nearly two in the morning, he reflects vaguely sometime later, as he peers out at the curve of the moon and its position slowly descending towards the west. He's barely been aware of the passage of time; the last few hours have been some of the happiest of his life. Just like she promised... no monsters, no fights, no fears, just them, together, talking about whatever comes to mind, each sentence punctuated by a brush of fingertips against a hand or a cheek, a stolen kiss, a sip of wine...
And of course, the seafood stew, which really is dreadful, but certainly filling.
Karlach leans back in her chair with a heavy, contented sigh. "That was great," she mumbles, and flicks a glance at Hector with a slow smile. "The food and the company."
They've both had a little too much wine, really. Hector's lips have been fixed in a permanent, slightly giddy grin for at least the last hour. All the dark thoughts are far behind him now and he feels as if he is simply drifting, content to be near her, and has been forever, and will be forever still.
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"Lovely having a normal evening amid the chaos..." he says quietly.
She smiles wryly. "Whatever do you mean? We're just two normal people... living normal lives... very, very normally."
But she can't maintain the facade again; her voice cracks just a little, and she reaches out abruptly, putting her hand over his on the table.
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He stirs slightly, the happy buzz fading as he registers something serious and sad coming into her eyes.
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"I know I can't stay forever," she says quietly. There's no attempt at jocular humor this time, no wry deflection or avoidance. Her voice is soft and flat, full of love and full of grief. "Here. With you. In fact, I feel like..." She swallows. "Like I don't have long left at all."
His face spasms with a failed effort to contain the fear that floods through him at those words. Every moment he knows it is on the horizon, and yet hearing her speak of it directly, as something looming even closer than before, feels like a dagger through his heart.
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Her hand tightens around his, pulling him a little closer to her. "We've been through so much," she goes on. "And the worst is yet to come. I have every reason to feel terrified, hopeless... like giving up." She draws a breath and lets it out slowly, visibly struggling to keep composure long enough to finish speaking. "But to be here, with you, in the city I love, in this world I love so much... it's all I could really ask for."
She reaches out, cups her hand against his cheek, running her thumb along the edge of his beard. It's an affectionate gesture, of course, but it also serves to pull his face towards her, to nudge open his eyes so they meet hers squarely. "You hear me?" she says, suddenly fierce, her voice cracking again as the emotion starts to overwhelm her. "*You're* all I could ever ask for. I love you... and I know that whatever else this city will throw at us, we can handle it."
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He is listening with such fervent attention that he feels a muscle start to ache in his neck. And though his instinct, whenever this topic comes up, is to recoil into grief... this time he forces himself only to listen, to let her words flow through him and strengthen him.
Maybe it will end. But it meant something. It meant everything. It will always have meant everything...
He will have that to hold onto, when the pain eventually finds him. As it will, no matter how hard he tries to look away.
"I love you too," he whispers unsteadily, looking back into her eyes, his gaze heavy with all the love he feels for her. In almost every other moment, he is so careful with what he shows, how he controls himself... but not here. There is nothing hidden, not from her.
She smiles, kisses him again, slow and deep, then rests her forehead against his. "Come on," she murmurs. "There's something I want to show you upstairs."
He has to take a moment and breathe several times before he trusts himself to speak. "What is it?" he asks.
She laughs, only a little shakily. "I rented us a room for the whole night. Just the two of us -- alone, finally."
In spite of the emotional strain of the conversation, he feels a flicker of eager warmth go all through him, and she grins at the expression on his face.
"After you," he says, and pushes himself unsteadily to his feet.
-----
He has only ever experienced their lovemaking in camp. And he had never had anything to complain of. She has always been more wonderful than he would have words to describe, no matter where they are. He wouldn't have thought to ask for more even if it had been an option.
But this... gods. A soft bed and her warmth all over him, the same hungry eagerness that has marked their previous encounters, and yet... slow.
They had claimed to each other that they were going slow, that first night back in the shadowlands - but it wasn't really. It was rushed and desperate, full of need and urgency - both from desire and from the necessary limitations of sex in a camp full of other people.
This... this is slow. They have all night, and no one to bother them, nothing to distract. He is free to take his time, explore every part of her as she explores him. And the look in her eyes as their bodies meld together is something he will never forget if he were to live to be a thousand years old.
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He loves her... he loves her... he loves her... and he can feel her on the edge of slipping away from him, but he will carry this with him into the darkness when she is gone.
He loves her and he is losing her and he does not know what he will do without her.
But they have this.
They have this...
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re-evaluated myself and agree with you in retrospect, i am sorry i was an asshole about it. thanks for catching me and standing your ground even though it was unpleasant and I was not receptive.
Hello again. Sorry for the delay in response...I was honestly deliberating how to answer/post your ask. Ultimately decided to handle it how I did your previous one--posting it but making it unrebloggable--because I felt that was most fair (hopefully? please lmk if not). Plus I took some time to articulate my response:
I truly appreciate you re-evaluating yourself and saying this, and accept your apology (insofar as I'm the one to do so). Like I said, I have not been perfect, either. Not too long after October 7th, a mutual of mine was kind enough to DM me & gently call me out on a very harmfully inaccurate post I had not only reblogged, but linked in my pinned post. Subsequently, I went through all the I/P stuff I'd reblogged/posted and realized I needed to do way better. Since then, that's what I've been fumbling to try and to do, though I am well aware I still have a long way to go.
Plenty don't want to hear it (and that's beyond fair imo, because whether or not this is our fault, it's our responsibility) but I think it's inaccurate to deny that avoiding antisemitism in fighting for Palestine has been genuinely difficult for a lot of gentiles throughout this conflict. When white supremacy isn't straight up hijacking the conversation (ex. *cough* J@ckson H*nkle* *cough*) and tricking leftists into amplifying it, it's permeating the groundwater, fundamentally warping the conversation.
The problem is that for the victims of systemic abuse and oppression, the only indicator for trust and safety they have is peoples' actions - and I think you and I can agree that includes reblogging and posting even if some act like that's silly. It's not fair or right to ask people to assume the best intentions from us when we've made mistakes, especially when antisemitism's been a growing problem in our country for the past several years.
idk. I am not trying to lecture or something, just to present my thoughts a bit more clearly, maybe? I struggle with social cues and articulation at times, so I worried about how I came off especially in my first response to you. I am also truly sorry if I was condescending or it seemed like I was attacking you. Emotions have run high through all this, and it's been hard to keep a level head through all the horror, fear, and anger.
I just truly think one of the most impactful, meaningful things we can do in our day-to-day lives to help (yes, even & maybe especially Palestinians) is to make our Jewish neighbors--and Jewish people in general--more safe, which obviously and honestly needed to happen long before October 7th.
Anyways, thanks again for saying this. It gives me comfort and motivation to see another person whose perspective I relate to, admire, and understand making the effort to take accountability and accept nuance like I am. May we both find a way to navigate through this which our future selves can be proud of, and more importantly which does the most good possible for those who are suffering.
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ipsen · 1 year
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1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12 and 13 for Holometabolism
Hoho, boy, here we go. After a read more!!
1 - What inspired you to write/update this work?
I once put in the tags of a post I can no longer remember that there are only two things that fuel the creative process: love and spite, which are ultimately the same thing-- a desire for something better than what came before.
I am not upset that Eto was scrubbed out of her role in TG:re. I am upset because she was ultimately treated as an afterthought by the story, and that most of her efforts are just attributed to Arima. It's one of Tokyo Ghoul's worst habits: giving men more pity and attention than women. And this is a story with really good women characters that fall flat simply because the story refuses to utilize them.
That is ultimately why I made Holometabolism.
4 - What’s the most challenging part about posting new/updated work? Do you find posting stressful or invigorating?
Posting as I go is probably the only way I can motivate myself to continue a multichapter work. I need some extra validation from sources besides myself, because personal passion can only get you so far in life. You must be uplifted by others in some capacity to, ultimately, make it anywhere.
The hardest part about posting is, to me, clicking the post button. Because I just know there's gonna be some formatting error or whatever that I missed and now I have to go back and FIX IT.
Oh well.
5 - How do you decide how long your fics/chapters will be? Do you have a word count goal?
For Holometabolism specifically, I liked to shoot for at least 4k words because that's a nice healthy number for me. It just seems like the longfics I myself enjoy have a similar word count per chapters, and I've just kinda grown accustomed to it.
But usually my process involves a vision, and then writing to get to said vision. I visualized an EtoKen ending for this fic and then went from there (I actually fleshed out Chapter 4 the most before any of the others, and it's the chapter that's retained the most of its original draft form). Word count isn't a generally a factor, but it does help keep me within a certain limit.
I'm all for a word vomit, but constraints are an integral part of quality. Also makes editing much easier when there's less to actually edit. I like editing the least.
7 - What part of this fic/chapter was the most fun to write?
Now here's a tricky question, because I have a lot of parts that I had so much fun, to the point where ranking them is honestly impossible.
I liked Eto and Touka's first conversation in Ch2. They are foils to one another, with similar backstories and personalities, but they approach things differently. Establishing that was important groundwork for their friendship later on in the fic.
Every time Hinami interacted with Eto was a joy. Hinami is this weird cross between Kaneki and Eto, like a strange brain child of theirs since she was influenced by both of them at key stages in her life.
Ch4's climax (haha) is near and dear to my heart. Not my best work by a longshot, but a very important piece that I'll cherish for a long time. Reconciling your ugliness and bearing it in the hopes for something better is something I want to believe I can do too. So I wrote two people doing it (haha).
Ch5's ending!! I loved taking "I am a ghoul" and making it a positive, awesome slogan! I felt bad having to follow it up with Ch6, honestly. SPEAKING OF--
Eto and Furuta's conversation and "rematch"! So much fun. What better to demonstrate her character development than by having her confront someone she definitely hates? Gotta pat myself on the back for that one.
8 - Which line/paragraph are you most proud of? Why are you proud of this?
Tricky question #2, I see. Well, if I have to pick one, then:
“Please don’t die, Eto,” [Hinami] choked out.
Eto pursed her lips. “Why?”
A few tears dropped onto their hands, coalescing into a small puddle on Eto’s knuckles. “Because… Because I’m not ready to say goodbye.” Hinami pressed their hands against her forehead. “Please… Even if you can’t smile, or laugh, or cry… Live.”
I intended this to be the turning point for Eto's character in this EtoKen fanfiction. A sin, to some, to not have the love interest be the one to start the redemption journey.
Hinami is another one of Eto's foils who is also in the unique position of being capable of holding real and sustainable affection for her. It was important to me to showcase that that was what it was: real, genuine love. Because Hinami, besides Kaneki, is the only person Eto would actually believe in 99% of circumstances, since the girl is both similar to Eto and honest with herself.
12 - What do you hope readers will take away from this work?
"You are worth it, even if you don't think you are." "There's always a little bit of hope for everyone." "Even if you can't smile, laugh, or cry... Live."
Life is mostly good, I like to think, and I wanted to underscore that belief with this fic. I want people to know that hope is stronger than despair, and that it is hope for the future and yourself that drives positive change. Something like that.
13 - Are there any cut lines/scenes from this work? Why did you cut them?
I have an entire document dedicated to "scenes that were Good to me, but either didn't flow properly with the story or just contributed very little to the progression of those involved." There's at least one scene per chapter, too.
I might actually post some of them here on tumblr someday, when I'm feeling enough energy to format each LOL
--
That's everything! Thanks for the ask!
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iguessitsjustme · 2 years
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About Youth - Mini Music Analysis
***Disclaimer! I’m just a tiny internet person. I’m not a musician. Please form your own opinion and feel free to disagree with me! I’m not always right. Also this was written before episode 7 and 8 aired and I did not have have the mental energy to update it.
@heretherebedork asked for an analysis of the music in About Youth and this one was honestly the hardest one. I feel like I don’t have a lot to say about this soundtrack, but to be fair, I only went back and rewatched part of episode 6 so I’m basing this off of that. The soundtrack is good, and it fits the show, BUT the show utilizes silence a lot. The soundtrack really does become something more akin to background music. Something you don’t even notice is playing, but it’s there. It reminds me of when I lived close to my older brother, and we would go to a hotel bar to listen to his musician friends play music in the lobby. The music was there, but ultimately, we were more focused on our conversation and our food than anything else.
Overall, the soundtrack pretty calming and it matches the characters and the scenes well. It kind of feels like a less deliberate version of the OFC soundtrack (which as we all know I am quite literally in love with). Which is not to say it’s not deliberate! Just...less. Whoever was in charge of the soundtrack for About Youth knew what they were doing. It’s extraordinarily subtle. For the most part, it’s quiet and it’s calm. So when we have the scenes of Qizhang singing with his band, it stands out even more. The music in those scenes have an impact because they are a direct contrast to the rest of the show. The songs are upbeat, peppy, they make you want to bop your head along to the beat. I also cannot stress enough how much I enjoy the opening song. I pretty much only listened to this song on repeat last week (I only stopped because of a recent album release from one of my favorite artists), and I do actually listen to music quite a lot.
What can I say about the opening song other than I love it. I feel like this song works for the opening really well when you watch the scenes that were paired with certain parts of the opening. This is an opening song that I didn’t skip. Not once. And I typically skip opening songs. It is upbeat, it’s hopeful, it’s beautiful. It tells the story of Qizhang and Ye Guang and it lets us know that they are going to be okay.
This wasn’t much of an actual musical analysis, but I guess I’ll at least give the soundtrack a grade. It gets an A+. Any soundtrack that successfully sets the tone and doesn’t distract from what’s happening in the show is a good soundtrack. Now, I need to go listen to the opening song on repeat some more.
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zeteth · 3 years
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imagine dragging the monster trio to a wedding
I'm back at it again, with more headcannons, because I just don't want to do anything productive. Yey, here we go! (gender neutral) 
(WARNING(S): OOC(because i suck :’’’) )
--luffy--
at first he would whine, but you would use the ultimate weapon, FOOD!!
luffy eyes would widen and he would agree with you, only to regret it afterwards
when you said free food, all that came to mind was meat, but there were only "adult' food there
(seriously, who made sweet gravy?)
it was your friend that was getting married, so luffy was just a lost puppy the entire time
he didn't know anybody, and he just wanted to eat meat
luffy would try to tickle you to make it fun, but you would push his hands away
he would pout, whine, complain, but you wouldn't budge
finally the wedding actually starts, and luffy couldn't be more bored
he's happy for your friend, but he just simply doesn't care
all that's going through his mind is MEEEEEEEEATTT!!!
after the kiss/sealing/or whatever, he asks if you guys could go home
you say "no" because oh i don't know, maybe you would want to talk to your friend???????
luffy whines again, but you say, "You know what, come and greet them with me."
luffy, having nothing better to do, comes along
you say hi to your friend the groom, and luffy doesn't like it
oh luffy
even though he clearly knows that you are his, and that the groom literally JUST got married, he just can't help but get a little jealous
he sends his little glare at your friend the entire time, but also catches the wife glaring at you
he giggles, and taps on her shoulder
luffy and the bride immediately get along, making jokes, talking about how jealous they are, and just everything
your friend and your conversation come to a stop, to find luffy and the bride getting along very well
you sigh
"Luffy, we're going home."
"Awww, wait a minute, (Y/N)! She's about to show me a meme!"
oh how the tables have turned
--zoro--
zoro, i feel like would go if you asked, but this was a special case
sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, yup the wedding was SUPER early in the morning
sure, zoro can wake up, but does he want to?
nah
so, when you wake him up the morning of the wedding, he looks at you with the most dead look in the eye
"What's the point of having a wedding this early in the morning?"
you laugh at him, and tell him to hurry and dress up
you better not leave him alone, he'll just fall back in bed and start snoozing away
once you guys get in the wedding place, he's just dead inside
"Why am I here? I should be in bed right now."
poor zoro
you'll have to try to find some activities to do while waiting for it to start, because if he takes a seat, he'll fall asleep
but once it starts, honestly he's respectful
he tries his hardest to stay awake for it (he might doze off once or twice though)
after everything, you go to talk with the newly wedded couple
i feel like zoro would just be standing there next to you while you talked with them, just staring off into space
he'll be imagining his bed, his sweet, sweet wonderful bed
his warm sheets, fluffy pillow, your warmth just ah~
he'll either somehow take a nap while standing up, or just collapse on the floor (probably the second option, though ngl)
finally, it's time for the bride to throw her bouquet!
a bunch of people (all genders here :) )  gather behind the bride, but you don't
you just think that the throwing of the bouquet is kind of idiotic
oh well, you just wanted to see who would get the bouquet
she throws the bouquet, and somehow...... it lands on zoro's head
I'M NOT KIDDIN (haha you see what i did there? :''') )
everyone thinks it's rigged because... how did that even happen
you laugh at him, and he wakes up and the bouquet falls to his hands
as you leave together, you jokingly say
"So, when's the wedding?"
"Yes."
--sanji--
"OF COURSE I WILL, (Y/N)-KWUN/CHWAN~~~~!!!”
this simp
this absolute simp
honestly, you actually didn’t have to drag him along, he went willingly
when you get into your suit/dress/whatever you wear at a wedding, nosE BLEEDS
NOSE BLEEDS EVERYWHERE
the only bad part about him going is him insulting the food that was offered to the guests
“There are so many ladies here, and thEY HAVE THE NERVE TO SERVE THIS??”
“Sanji, calm down.”
he would storm the kitchen, and start lecturing the cooks
you’d probably have to drag him out of the kitchen, trying to convince him to spare the cooks for the day
reluctantly, he would let you persuade him, but for a price ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
*ahem* a-anyhow, during the main event, he’ll be the most respectful person the earth
he would hold our hand while the groom and bride kiss and congratulate them after words even if he didn’t know who they were
if you converse too much with the groom and get a little touchy (as in a hug), he’ll get jealous 
the dance party would be a blast!
you and sanji would be the best couple at dancing whether it would be just absolutely animalistic, or just classical dancing 
honestly, y’all are just cute
Phew! Another one done! I’m actually really lazy on uploading on my blog, so please give me some asks to boost it. Thanks once again, and I’ll see y’all later! Peace out!
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cas-rivaille · 3 years
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Hi! Can I request a obey me hc where the MC is a leader of a very big mafia gang in the human world?
YES !??!?
(ahaha this def isn't the plot of one of my scripts where i run a mafia gang because i thought it would be cool and it's amazing you requested this)
tags: mentions of weapons, mild swearing, protective brothers and datables (i didn't include luke because it's a mafia gang thing and he's precious child and i want abt to put him in harms way)
a/n: i also didn't write the thoughts for dia, barb, simeon, or solomon because i honestly couldn't think of anything i'm sorry
MC as a Mafia leader in the human world
When you came to the Devildom, you were in another world, rendering everything in the human world useless. You spent so much time trying to adjust, that your life in the human world was almost forgotten.
Almost.
It wasn't long before Lord Diavolo announced you would be going on a trip to the human world. Suddenly you remembered everything you would go back to. If only you were aware of the chaos that would unfold. When you got to the human world, in your town you previously lived in, there was maybe a minute of peace before chaos erupted.
Once you stepped out of the alleyway that Diavolo teleported the group of you into, nearly half the people on the street turned and looked at you. Some of them ran, others pulled out their phones and made calls, and about four or five came rushing towards you asking where you'd been.
You recognized the men that had the gall to come up to you, they were some of the more high ranking commanders. However, your second in command was not among them. The brothers protectively stepped around you, not knowing who these people were. Clearly that was the wrong move.
In an instant the street was clear of citizens and there were members of your gang with their weapons drawn or their hands near their weapon. Diavolo stood behind you, glaring at the men in front. Simeon and Solomon were on edge. The atmosphere was tense. Barbatos was the first to speak.
"I'd advise you stand down," He spoke with a hum in his voice to the men in your gang.
"I could say the same to you," Said a voice emerging from the other side of the street. Slowly the person walked forward. It was your second in command.
"Who are you to be acting like this around our commander ? They disappeared four months ago and show up again like nothing ? Forgive us if we're a little curious," Your second spoke in a teasing manor, eyeing everyone carefully.
Lucifer -
- commander ?
- who ? mc a commander ? of what ?
- who are these people and where did they come from ?
- *protection mode activated*
- the only reason he's not in demon form and ready to attack is bc diavolo is here
- looks at all his brothers and makes sure they understand exactly what he means with one look
- this man is next to dia full on ready to fight
"Who are you calling com-"
You interrupt Lucifer.
"Everyone stand down, this is all just a bit misunderstanding," You say as quickly as possible to stop any conflict. Everyone directs their attention towards you.
"Commander who are these people ?" Your second asks.
"They're my friends, there's no need to be hostile. Everyone stand down," You say, looking around at all the people. They immediately lower their weapons, some of them even holster them. Your second on the other hand, known for standing up to you, doesn't lower their weapon.
"All due respect commander, but I won't stand down until I know they aren't a threat," You second looks you dead in the eye. You sigh. You then direct your attention to the boys surrounding you.
"Guys, back off a bit please. I'm fine. They aren't a threat," You say, tired.
The brothers ease up a bit, but you can still see the tension in their muscles. Diavolo, Barbatos, Simeon, and Solomon stood behind you protectively still, but also stepped back.
Lucifer steps forward and makes eye contact with you.
"What's going on MC ?" Lucifer asks.
"Okay so, gang this is Lucifer, Mammon, Levi, Satan, Beel, Asmo, Barbatos, Belphie, Solomon, Simeon, Barbatos, and Diavolo. Boys, this is my gang," You say while pointing to everyone and talking as fast as possible.
Mammon -
- he eased up on his defensive stance, but he never let your hand go
- as to be expected because you're HIS human
- anyways
- gang ??
- what do you mean gang ??
- like a club or should he be running
- very confused boi but just wants to protect you no matter what
Mammon squeezes your hand lightly. You look at him.
"What do you mean gang ?" He asks.
"I- uh.. well you see, it's exactly how it sounds," You respond.
The confusion on Mammon's face only grows.
"I am the leader of a gang. Here in the human world?" You say while shrugging your shoulders.
The boys all look at you like you've grown a second head.
"You run a gang ?" Mammon says after a moment of silence between all of them.
"Is that so surprising ?" Your second asks.
Leviathan -
- surprising ??
- surprising ??????
- the same mc that would stay up until two am playing animal crossing with him ?
- the same mc that bought him plushies of his favorite characters ?
- mc who would cosplay with him
- how could someone who makes sure he takes care of himself and basically babies him but on a friend level, be the commander of a gang ?
- lowkey thinks it's badass because he is the grand admiral of his own army
- gets distracted and starts fangirling over you
"How long have you been the commander of a gang?" Levi excitedly asks.
"Two years, before I went to the devildom that is," You respond, slightly bouncing off Levi's excitement.
"The what?" Your second asks, interrupting.
"The- oh. Wait a minute," You say and turn to Diavolo.
"Am I allowed to tell them ?" You half whisper to Dia.
"If you see fit. This situation is entirely new to me," Dia half whispers back. Barbatos leans in and joins the conversation.
"I sense utter loyalty to you, MC, if you trust them then I advise we should too," Barbatos speaks quietly.
You turn back to your gang.
"Okay so the reason I vanished for four months is because I went to 'hell' as an exchange student. Now I realize that may sound crazy, but these guys are all demons," You say while roughly gesturing to the brothers, Dia, and Barbatos, "He's an angel," You say and point to Simeon, "And he's a human, but immortal, I think. I don't really know Solomon is the textbook definition of an enigma," You say while waving at Solomon in gesture.
Your gang stares at you, bewildered. The person next to your second starts laughing hysterically. Your second glares at him but the laughter doesn't stop.
Levi, knowing exactly how it feels to be laughed at and not believed, starts talking.
"Need proof ?" He asks. In the blink of an eye he's in his demon form.
Your gang steps back, eyes wide, their hands near their weapons.
Satan -
- there's no way satan isn't dragging you back to his room after this to talk about your gang
- thinks it's attractive as hell, MC in a position of power ? that's the stuff
- takes a moment to register why levi is in his demon form, but feels his wrath and changes too
- steps closer to you
- he's still mad you never told him, but he won't take it out on you
- honestly just wants to know the truth
After Satan changes too, the rest of the brothers join in
Except Lucifer, who looks very displeased. Diavolo laughs at Lucifer's discontentment. Satan smirks as well, knowing he made Lucifer angry.
Your second is the first to speak.
"Okay what the fuck," Is the only thing said.
"MC did explain that we're demons, were you listening ?" Satan asks coyly.
"Right then. So it's actually true ?" Your second asks, looking at you.
"Yes, why would I lie ?" You say back.
There is a moment of silence. No one moves or says anything.
"So I take it this means we can't tell anyone ?" Your second asks.
"No, you cant. But I know you're all more than capable of keeping secrets," You laugh a little. The atmosphere lightens up. Your second laughs with you.
Asmo -
- your laugh is so adorable to him
- not the time thoughts
- he also thinks it's attractive you run a gang
- admires how you were able to change the atmosphere and how these people listen to you
- will totally tease you and call you commander
- joins in on lightening the mood
"Right then, how about we all go get a drink and discuss the events of the last four months over dinner ?" Asmo says.
"Is there even a restaurant big enough to hold all of us ?" Satan asks.
"Yeah, we can use the base," You say.
"Of course, it's still the same as you left it commander," Your second joins in.
"Then it's settled, let's go !" Asmo smiles.
Beel -
- definitely not opposed to having food
- is a little hurt you didn't tell him, but ultimately understands
- he wants to hear about your adventures
- wonders if he can spend more time with you to hear about said adventures
- does this mean you can fight ?
- if so can you train with him ?
"Does this mean we get human world food ?" Beel asks, looking at you.
"Yep !!" You respond.
Beel changes out of his demon form with a smile on his face.
"I'll also show you guys our base of operations and give you a tour. I can also show you where I used to live too !!" You say excitedly.
The other brothers change out of their demon forms.
Your second starts to walk and lead the way to the base. Everyone follows.
Belphie -
- to be honest he doesn't care you're a gang leader
- he just wants to sleep and spend time with you
- if those two things coincide then good for him
- he does think it's cool tho
"So, you're gonna tell us everything right ?" Belphie asks.
"Yes. I'll tell you guys about my life here and then I'll tell my gang about my life with you all," You say.
"Good, as long as things get cleared up," Belphie says and yawns.
----
SORRY IT GOT REALLY SHORT AT THE END IM REALLY TIRED BUT THANK YOU FOR THE REQUEST I HOPE YOU LIKE IT !!
- cas :)
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yes-i-am-a-tree · 3 years
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Heavy Heavy Rain (Sang-woo x Reader)
Sang-woo x reader story (Squid game)
Summary: You find Sang-woo after he had a rough morning and attempt to comfort him
Warnings: none :)
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Today was just not his day. He thought of himself fairly smart, at least smarter than most people, but right now he felt like the dumbest person in the world. 
His morning was the start of the bad luck. He woke up to his neighbors loud music at 7 am. Not only that but he was so tired he left the house with nothing to shield his face and not two minutes down the block he spotted a police officer and, just his luck, It was one of his pursuers asking around if they saw him. 
Afterward he completely booked it from his apartment complex and went at least 10 blocks before he found some rest in the park of the city, trying to escape from the police in case they had seen him. 
And just as he thought things could still go as planned it started to rain. Not rain, no, it started to pour, heavy, heavy drops of water that blasted against any metal surface. And it was especially loud when he took shelter at the local store not far from the park. 
He stayed inside a while just browsing the isles for warmth before ultimately deciding he needed a smoke before then realizing... he had also forgotten his wallet. 
He was so stressed at the moment and kept thinking to himself about how irresponsible he was acting. He never NEVER forgets. Well, very occasionally but it was only if he wasn’t in the right mind. And right now, certainly, he wasn’t in the right mind. 
He was so caught up in his pessimistic thoughts that he didn’t notice his fists clench hard enough you would see his veins, but he most certainly didn’t notice you approach behind him either. 
“Hey” 
At that his head snapped up and focused on your figure. 
“Hey, you alright man?”
When he didn’t answer right away you may or may not have silently panicked. “What if he's creeped out? What if he really just needed space?”
But little did you know he was just confused, and maybe a little disoriented. 
“Ye...yeah, just tired. Had a rough morning” he said nonchalantly, as if he wasn’t avoiding the police. And at the end of his sentence he finally looked into your eyes.
“Hey, I know you” You abruptly stated.
“Y-you do?”
“Yeah, we went to high school together, I remember sitting behind you in Geometry and in Korean History”
At that he paused and deliberated between his memories of high school. It had been so long, he really didn’t remember anyone, let alone someone who sat behind him. 
After he decided he had no memories of high school he focused again on you. His demeanor a lot more enthusiastic and relaxed than when he came in stressed and upset at himself. 
“I'm afraid I don’t remember much back then… What's your name?”
you told him your name, and he proceeded to say it a few times as if rolling it across his tongue would arouse locked memories. 
“Sorry, i've got nothing”
“Figures, you were quite the ladies man, you probably had to learn a lot of names” you said teasingly.
he let out a stiff but gruff chuckle. 
Hoping that you didn’t make him uncomfortable or remind him of bad memories you quickly directed his attention. 
“Hey, you wanna take a smoke? I think the rains’ settled down”
He looked outside. You were right. There really wasn’t anymore rain. Just puddles across the sidewalk and in the street. 
“Sure”
You both proceeded to exit the store and stood some to the far left, where there was some shrubbery that shielded your view from the street, and the wall behind you shielded you from the inside of the store. 
You leaned against the wall and supported yourself as you reached into your pack for a pair of sticks.
You handed him one and slipped the other between your lips and swiftly took your lighter out and lit your cig. 
He watched you from a few feet away as you let out a puff of grey air. He didn’t know it before but you held an attractive quality to him. Maybe it was the way you carried yourself, our attitude and kind nature to look out for others. Or it might have just been his overwhelming gratitude for you to show up and calm him down. 
As your hand went down he went to reach for the lighter but before he could even move you held it just before the cig between his lips. 
He hesitated but ultimately understood and helped steady the stick to light it. 
After both cigarettes were lit, you just as easily slid the lighter back into your pocket and leaned more against the wall.  
Then you both settled and stood for a while, and he went back to admiring you. Maybe you were just his age. Where did you work? How did you remember him?
“Penny for your thoughts?” you inquired, in search of conversation.
He hesitated. “I’m just wondering how you recognized me”
“Oh” you chuckled. “It was easy, your eyes. You constantly look tired. Like you’re carrying the weight of the world or something. In fact, you look even worse than how you were back then, anything I can do to help?”
He didn't expect you to be so forward. How come he never noticed you back then?
“N-no, it’s… it’s fine, just had a rough morning…”
You could tell that wasn’t completely the truth but you didn't want to inquire or seem annoying.
“Hey uh, how far do you live from here?” You asked again, hoping to eliminate the silence. 
he looked at you suspiciously. 
“Oh- wait” you fumbled, noticing his expression, “I was just asking because of the rain, that’s all. I don’t want you to have to walk in wet clothes, you could catch something.” 
At that he could agree, his clothes were still a bit soaked from when he got caught in the rain earlier, and they were indeed sticking to him. 
“My house is very close, do you wanna stop by?, it wouldn’t be any trouble” you offered.
It didn’t take him too long to decide. Going back to his apartment wasn’t an option, and where else would he go? 
“Yeah, that would be great.”
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Honestly, I don’t think Sang-woo is a completely bad person, he was just put under too much stress. I think if the game never happened he would continue being a good person. 
If you want to correct me, or give me constructive criticism don’t hesitate! just please no hate! (it is my first time lol)
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The Road Less Traveled (Fellowship x Pregnant!Reader)
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Synopsis: Left by a man who took you out of wedlock, you discover halfway through the Fellowship’s journey that you are, indeed, pregnant. Not wishing for you to face motherhood alone, the Fellowship conspires, regarding whom gets to marry you and help raise your child, leaving you with a tough choice.
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This was not at all how you saw your life going—both the man leaving you for another woman, and finding out you were pregnant with his baby on a perilous quest, miles upon miles away from the nearest dwelling.
You had been madly in love with this man, unaware he had eyes for another. Your copulating love was taken out of wedlock, a choice you knew had its risks, but Brander had a charming way about him.
You never would have thought he’d leave you. However, one morning, Brander announced the conclusion of your relationship with another woman on his arm.
Heartbroken and enraged, you threw all his clothes from your shack, and took to a horse. Riding swiftly, you headed to the one place you knew hearts were healed; Rivendell.
Upon your arrival, a council of sorts was taking place. One thing led to another, as per usual in your life, and you found yourself on another journey—this time with a higher purpose, and nine other guys.
Things were difficult, but honestly relieving. The fresh air cleansed your soul, as did the healthy relationships you built up with the nine males—proving to you that they weren’t all bad, right on time before you could curse the entire species of XY chromosomes out forever.
However, this was as far as the fun went.
It started with a tiredness the Fellowship brushed off due to your inexperience, and then the lateness of your period. Next, early dawns were spent throwing up in the woods, with whomever was on night-watch holding your hair back, usually Aragorn, Legolas or Boromir.  
You wept slightly when a sparring match with Boromir resulted in a shield hitting your breasts, for they were very tender as of late. The final nail in the coffin was the snubbing of Sam’s usually delicious bacon making you hurl.
Gandalf had taken to speaking with you privately, and asked, in the politest manner possible, if he could assess your womb to find confirmation of another soul.
Legolas approached slowly, crouched down by your side, and spoke responsively in the most apologetic of voices.
“There is no need—I can hear their heartbeat…I am so sorry, Y/n.”
You broke down into tears quickly, and everyone soon knew your predicament that evening. You apologized over and over, and felt utterly mortified. How embarrassing.
They now knew the choice you had made out of wedlock, and were pregnant as a result—something highly frowned upon in human society, and many others in Middle-earth, for that matter. You would no doubt be branded as a “whore” upon your return to society.
You told them all about Brander that night, and opened up to them fully. Jaws were clenched, nervous glances were flashed, and brows were furrowed.
They now had an expectant, first-time mother in their midst, on their way to quite possibly the worst place in the world to take a pregnant woman. Adding onto this, their poor friend, whom they had grown quite close with, was in a horrible situation.
But perhaps it was one they could help with?
Driven by noble blood and true chivalry, the Fellowship started to discuss their options.  
“It’s just awful, what that ‘Brander’ fellow has done to her,” said Boromir, discreetly nodding over in your direction.
You were sat with your head in one hand on a log by the fire, face contorted in misery. Your cheeks and eyes, as well as your nose, were all pink, due to a long while of crying.
Sam sat on one side of you, and held your hand. He reassured you with bright words of soothing promises.
“Don’t worry, Miss Y/n! All will work out! You’ll see! You’re bringing a new soul into this world! That’s nothing to be ashamed of!” Sam would say.
Merry, Frodo and Pippin were on your other side, rubbing your back and holding your shoulder.
“He’s right!” they’d agree, nodding profusely. “You’ll see! This is a wonderful thing. You just can’t quite picture it yet, but you will!”
Gimli, Boromir, Aragorn and Legolas were all huddled in close, standing in a circle. They stood a little further off from the fire, but still caught its glow.
Gandalf was sat on a log himself, puffing away on a pipe. The affairs of human society were not his responsibility, but he offered guidance from a distance nonetheless. He already knew all would work out, but was the only one there oldest and wisest enough to realize so.
Legolas’ arms were folded over his chest, as were the three others’ he stood with. “She’ll be shamed wherever she goes, and her child will be considered a bastard. Truly awful…I feel compelled to help. What can we do?”
“Well, to avoid public slander,” Aragorn spoke up knowingly, “she’d have to be married.”
“Very well and all,” Gimli whispered back, “but were you perhaps not present when she said the scoundrel ran off with another filly?”
“He was not whom I was referencing,” Aragorn mentioned. He threw a studious glance in your direction, and spoke again. “She is a fine young lady, with a strong heart and homely nature. She would make a wonderful wife, and I feel it our duty as her friends to make sure she becomes so.”
“You mean for us to marry her?” Legolas asked, incredulously. His head lowered in shock as he spoke, and a brow arched.
The guys, save for Aragorn, who overlooked it all, glanced between each other tensely, unsure if the alarmed glint in their eyes was competition or fear.
Boromir was the first to speak up.
“I will do it, in a heartbeat!” he said. “You are right, Aragorn—she is a wonderful young lady, and deserves to be wed in time for her child. I will care for them both.”
“Well, now hold on a moment,” Legolas snapped, glaring across at Boromir. “Why do you get to marry her? I am much closer in age to her than you are…figuratively speaking, at least. I should be the one to marry her—we get along best.”
“You?” Gimli snorted. “You will outlive her in the blink of an eye.”
“Oh, and you won’t?” Legolas said back. “None of us implied romance anyways, Gimli. I’d merely be a lifelong friend and guardian for her and her child. I’m the most suited out of everyone here to provide for her—”
“Because you’re a prince?” Boromir interjected, narrowing his eyes.
“Not just because of that,” Legolas bit back, squaring up with Boromir slightly. “But what of it regardless? What does it matter how I provide for her? I plan on renouncing my title and making a life of my own anyways. I might not get the chance for a child of my own, and I can help Y/n raise hers.”
“She’s not some puppy, laddie,” Gimli snorted back. “You both want to store her away in a little cottage or unit somewhere drab. I can provide her with culture! Dwarven culture! Her little one deserves to grow up in grand halls and eat ripened meat!”
Aragorn looked between the unfolding drama, and soon raised a hand before you could become even more distressed. Fortunately, you hadn’t heard a thing of their hushed conversation.
“That is enough,” Aragorn said. “I’d offer to marry her myself, but…well, I do believe you three are better suited than me to provide a stable life for her. It is ultimately up to Y/n. All either three of you can do is offer your hand in marriage to her, and see what she says.”
Glares were thrown between the three potential suitors, as each wondered who’d be the first to turn around and run towards you.
As it turns out, all three turned on their heels at the same. They nearly tripped over one another. However, they stopped almost immediately, for someone on the other side already had the same idea.
“It is quite all right, Y/n,” Frodo said, down on one knee before you, and holding your hand. “The Shire will accept you, and I can just say I fell in love on the road and married you immediately. I have a big house now left all to myself, with many rooms. You can have one to yourself, as can your child. Bilbo did the same for me when I was young.”
You were crying again, but this time out of happiness. Your other hand was placed over your chest, as you smiled down at the kind hobbit with a wavering lower lip.
“Oh, Frodo, that is so incredibly kind, I can only say—”
“DON’T SAY ANYTHING!” Legolas shouted, rushing forwards. He nearly shoved Frodo out of the way, and took his place holding your hand swiftly.
“Y/n,” he began, sincerely, “I’ve always felt that you and I have had a…special bond since beginning this journey together. I can provide you with a cottage in the forest, and true protection. I’m an archer and an elf—your child will learn many life skills with me as their parental guardian. And, furthering this, after you’ve moved on from our world, your child will surely be left behind. I can ensure they are well-cared for up until their own departure!”
“Oh, Legolas, I don’t know what to...” you went to say, holding his hand with both of yours. You were truly starting to get overwhelmed with happiness and relief.
“Oh, shove it, pixie!” Gimli shouted from behind Legolas. He, too, stole the snarling elf’s place, chivalrously removing his helmet as he did so. “Lass, I know I may not be your usual type, or blonde, but I am asking for your hand as well. I can offer you so much in Dwarven society. The women are strong, and you will find ranks in them! Your child will be given an equal chance, no matter the gender, to be themselves! Life in the halls is a true marvel—”
“Enough, the both of you!” Boromir shouted next. He tugged Gimli by the beard and threw him away. “Y/n, you and I are both humans. I understand you and our shared culture better than anyone else here! Please, nothing would make me happier than to provide for you as my wife. Not to mention, the child will look most like me, racially-wise.”
The hobbits all looked between each other with shocked smiles, intrigued by the situation, and Gandalf and Aragon merely shook their heads.
Legolas grabbed hold of Boromir’s shoulder and stood him up. “Race has nothing to do with it! If we’re really going to narrow this down to looks, I am the tallest! That is highly desirable in a husband! Y/n and her child will live a wonderfully secure and safe life with me. You need to back off.”
“Why don’t you make me?” Boromir bit back.
Before a fight could break out between the two of them, Gimli hopped into the middle and added his own string of harsh words.
The three suitors of differing races soon began to bicker between themselves, leaving you sat on the log very stunned indeed.
However, after a long while of listening to them argue over who gets to marry you, you put up your hand and silenced them. Although, it took a good few shouts until they shut up completely and curiously blinked down at you.
“Boys. Boys! BOYS!” Once the attention was on you, you spoke again. “I am so incredibly flattered by your equal devotion, it has truly made me feel better about everything, but...do I not get a say in whom I marry out of everyone here?”
Legolas moved his body slightly, so he stood facing you straight. “Well, whom do you choose, my lady?”
Frodo had backed off entirely, but shared a lipped smile with you, ultimately letting you know the offer was still on the table regardless. Boromir, Gimli and Legolas all stared at you optimistically, leaning forwards as they waited for your reply.
Stumped by so many choices, and considering you didn’t even know this would be a part of your life plan up until five hours ago, you went with the smartest choice; waiting.
“These are all very early days…” you began. “I’m very overwhelmed by all the offers, and still getting used to the idea of motherhood, and now marriage—”
You took a calming breath.
“You’re all so sweet, and I truly appreciate your support, but…could I perhaps sit on it for a while, and return with an answer at a later time? This is a very big decision, as you can all imagine.”
They quickly agreed, and nodded their heads vehemently.
“Take all the time you need!” they said reassuringly, in one form or another.
That night, they all waved sweet “goodnights” over their shoulders to you, and even gave up their cloaks and packs to create what they deemed the perfect “mother’s nest” for you to sleep on.
It was all very sweet, and warmed your heart. However, although half the problem was solved, you were presented with another; who on earth were you going to choose to marry and raise your unborn child with?
Actually, the more you thought about it that night, as you fell asleep with nine friends protecting you as you slept in the middle, like a herd of animals keeping their mother-to-be safe, the more you realized you already knew exactly whom you wanted to live with.
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Part Five. "You guys gossip about boys without me?"
warnings: swearing, mentions of emotional abusive/manipulation word count: 3.2k (not including pictures)
behind the screen (irl dream x f!reader) series masterlist ultimate masterlist
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Y/n dropped her phone on the bed and slowly rolled off and onto the ground with a soft THUD. She grunted, falling harder than she expected but the dull pain now present in her right shoulder felt deserved somehow. Why did she think she deserved it? Maybe because she was an unconfrontational worm even when the person needed to be confronted because he hurt her more than anyone ever had.
She closed her eyes and wiggled to get comfortable on the thin carpet in her room. Laying on the ground was relaxing to her, forcing her gamer back to straighten to how it was intended. It helped her think, being on the floor. She didn't know why but she didn't question it. Just laid on the floor in acceptance with the dirt and forgotten candy wrappers.
Why didn't she want to respond to Peter? Well, years of being with him and even the months of not being with him had taught her that her ex liked to get his way and liked to take his anger out in her verbally when he didn't.
You could say she's heard some terrible things over very simple inconveniences.
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Y/n slowly pattered to her desk and slid on her headphones, finding the discord server Dream said he and George were on. It was a server that a lot of their friends were in, one that Y/n hardly went in since she still hadn't met a lot of them and wasn't super comfortable with talking in it yet.
She scrolled through the various text chats, one for boredom, one for stream questions, one for memes, one for pictures of pets, one for.... discussing the inevitable takeover of rats...? Y/n wasn't sure what that was about but she knew she didn't want to find out. The list went on. She was pretty sure they had made a channel for every possible message someone could ever send.
There were equally as many voice channels, most of them titled with the names of different games for when they only played with each other and didn't stream. Some of them were just random names and she noticed there was one to match the rat takeover text channel. Okay, who was responsible for that?
After what felt like an entire scavenger hunt and with many new questions in her mind, Y/n finally found the voice channel Dream and George were in and clicked on it. It was called memerz-only.
"I'm not a memer, am I allowed in here?" she asked. She hadn't realized how messed up her voice was since she hadn't talked all day.
"Holy shit, Bug, you sound awful."
She scoffed a laugh. "Thanks, Dream. Really means a lot." She did sound pretty scuffed. Her voice was a little scratchy from not talking literally all day.
"You doing okay, Bugsy?" George asked kindly, to which she hummed.
“I just have one quick question...”
“Mhm?”
“This is simple, please don’t elaborate further. There’s a channel on this server... did you guys mean rat as in BadBoyHalo’s dog or rats as in rats?”
Neither of them spoke for a minute before George understood what she was referring to. “Oh! Rats as in rats.”
“Okay, thank you.” 
“Yeah, Quackity—“
“No!” she interupted. “No! I said I don’t wanna know. I really don’t. I’m too afraid to understand.”
“Wha- HA, okay.”
“Good choice, Bugsy. I wish I didn’t know what it’s about. It’s a lot weirder than you’d think.”
“Now that that’s settled,” Dream said with a laugh. “How are you doing, Bug?”
"Neither of you are streaming, right?" she asked, doubling checking the twitch app on her phone to be sure.
"No."
"So I don't have to pretend to be happy and bubbly?"
"No, you can be as mundane as you'd like," Dream said. "We don't mind."
"Yeah, honestly, most of the time when Dream and I are on calls alone it's just us being super boring and hardly talking."
"That's..." she paused to find the right words and decided with, "actually really cute. You guys just enjoy each other's presence."
George scoffed and Dream giggled. "See, even Bug says we're cute, Georgie! Why can you tell me you love me?"
"I'll leave right now if you don't stop," George threatened. "Can we go back to how Bugsy's miserable?"
"I'm not miserable, I just..." she hesitated. She had already told George about why she was having a bad day, but Dream?
She didn't want to tell Karl because she knew he would yell at her. She didn't want to tell Sapnap because she didn't trust him not to tell everyone (on accident, of course). For some reason, it was a different kind of hesitation than with the others that made her not want to tell Dream. She didn't want to tell him because she didn't want to be... embarrassed? Maybe that was it. She thought it would be embarrassing to tell Dream about how her ex-boyfriend treated her like shit and how now he wants to get back together with her. Plus, she knew how everyone else individually would react but Dream was a complete mystery. Maybe he'd yell at her too and say she's stupid for being affected by an ex. Maybe he'd break down crying for some reason? Who knows?
"You don't have to tell us," Dream stated. "Seriously."
"It's embarrassing," she said, tucking her feet beneath her on her seat. As she said the words, she decided they felt right. She was embarrassed. "But George already knows."
Above everyone else, Y/n was okay with telling George about her situation because he and her tended to talk about their troublesome relationships quite often. He always came to her for advice and she to him. They were very similar in their ways of thinking and seemed to have lots of similar dating stories, even if neither of them knew what the hell they were doing. She knew he'd never judge her for thinking unclearly since he tended to do the same.
George hummed, not knowing what to say since she hadn't said much. She could tell he didn't wanna say something that might make Dream more nosey and start hounding her about telling him.
"What hap—never mind. Not my business," Dream said quickly.
"No, I mean, I kinda wanted to talk to George about it again anyway so I guess you can join in on the gossip." Guess my mouth decided for me on this one, she thought.
"Wait, what? You guys gossip about boys without me?"
"Oh my gosh, don't say it like that, Dream," George groaned. "Bugsy and I talk about relationship problems a lot, yes. Not just boys."
"How did I not know this?"
"Because you don't know a lot of things?"
"It's normally George sending screenshots of text conversations with girls and asking me how to let them down gently," Y/n explained with a giggle.
"Or Y/n talking about her asshole ex."
"George! What do you and Karl not get about not calling him names?"
"I'm so lost," Dream mumbled.
Y/n sighed. "Okay, well," she cut herself off with a groan. "It's so embarrassing. Basically, my ex asked me to 'chat' this morning which is code for he wants to get back together—"
"Do you know that for sure?" Dream asked.
"Yeah, we already decided that," George snapped. "Let her finish."
"Sorry."
"So he wants to get back together and I feel stupid for wanting to listen to what he has to say."
"How is that embarrassing?"
"Because he hurt me and I feel like an idiot because him even suggesting that means he doesn't realize how badly he hurt me. It makes me feel like, I don't know, like all the time I spent being upset was for nothing," Y/n explained in a soft voice. "And because his simple, like, five word text made me freak out all day to the point of exhaustion."
"I don't think you should be embarrassed, Bugsy," George offered.
"Have either of you, uh, have you ever considered dating an ex?"
"Didn't you just say he hurt you badly?" Dream asked. "You aren't thinking of getting back with him, are you?"
"No... but I want to stay friends so maybe I should hear him out?"
"Well, I've never gotten back with an ex," he said bluntly. "But to be fair, all my relationships have ended badly or for bad reasons so I've never wanted to see any of them again. Staying friends depends on why you and he broke up, I guess, but..."
"Um, how do I put this..." she trailed off. "He was mean to me."
"Then no? Simple."
"But I've forgiven him and I think he's changed."
"People don't change that easily. Didn't you break up like, a few months ago?" George asked.
"Yeah, but—"
"Honestly I think if a guy was ever mean to you he doesn't deserve any more of your attention," Dream decided. "So, no. Don't even be his friend. Don't listen to a single thing he has to say."
"That's what I told her," George agreed.
"If that were the case, you guys shouldn't be friends," she argued. "You're mean to each other all the time."
"But we know it's a joke," George defended.
"So you're saying if someone is ever purposefully mean to you just once, you drop them forever?"
"Well, no," Dream said. "Not exactly. But it sounds like he was super mean to you since it's why you broke up."
She took a deep breath. She didn't want to go into detail. She was already uncomfortable enough talking about her personal life so much, but she trusted both of them and needed to get it off her chest and they were there and willing to listen. They had already established wanting to listen to her if she wanted to speak and right now, she wanted to speak. Maybe not the full story, but at least some. "He, um, well, the mean things he said, he said because he was trying to get me to see what he thought was the truth about myself."
Both of them were silent for a few moments. "I'm still confused," George admitted.
"Me too... But you don't have to tell us." Dream explained again. She thought it was sweet that they kept reassuring her that.
"I know, but I want to. If it's not too much for you guys..."
"No, go ahead, if you want."
"Uh, he lowkey emotionally manipulated me by telling me I wasn't good enough for anyone and stuff and how he was the only one who could ever love me. The second part he said truly believing that he was being romantic. There are a lot worse and specific things engraved in my brain but that's the gist of what he would tell me. He made me believe that I could never leave him because I could never be loved by anyone else. But he said it all in a way that... he thought he was just... letting me in on something no one else had the guts to tell me."
George gasped. "What?! Bugsy, I'm so sorry, I didn't know it was like that."
"Woah, what the hell? No. Absolutely not. Don't give this guy a second thought. Cut him off for good," Dream said sternly, angry that anyone would say that to anyone, especially to someone like Y/n. "Wait, so, you broke up with him?"
"Yeah. After Karl yelled at me a lot and explained his outside point of view, I finally realized Peter was gaslighting me and emotionally abusing me and stuff so I dumped him. I guess right now I'm just upset by it because I thought we were past this and I was healing and him reaching out affected me again. I'm just emotionally exhausted. Like I said, it hurts to know that he doesn't realize what he did to me."
"I'm really sorry, Bug," Dream said softly. "Gimme his address and I'll punch him for you."
She laughed through her nose. "That's okay. Thanks."
"Yeah, she can go set his house on fire if she wants. She's proven that already."
"Shut up, George," she said with a small laugh.
"Wh......at?" Dream stuttered and George briefly explained.
"Well, Bug, just so you know, in case you weren't aware, you're really cool and sweet and funny and we really like having you around–" Dream started.
"Oh, ugh, no don't do this," she tried to joke but he ignored her as he continued his speech.
"–and you're way too good to be hanging out with either of us, and whatever that asshole was showing you wasn't love. 'No one could love you like he did' because what he was doing was not love, it was abuse." Dream's voice had a certain gentleness to it as he spoke that comforted Y/n and made her believe him. He was blunt but it didn't stab her in the heart like it should have.
If Y/n ever cried, she might have just then from how sweet they were both being. But she didn't because that wasn't something she did. She never cried over anything Peter said, never cried during movies, and didn't cry then. But she did smile very fondly at the Discord screen in front of her.
"Thank you, Dream."
"You know I'm not good with words, but, yeah, what Dream said," George said. "I'm sorry you had to go through that thinking it was normal. Please, please, do not get back together with him and please don't be friends with him."
"He's fine as a friend though."
"Bug. Whether he's fine as a friend doesn't matter, he doesn't deserve to have you as a friend. He treated you like shit, it's okay to be a little cold to him."
She sighed. They were right. "Okay." There was a long pause before, "thanks, guys. Sorry for coming in here and dumping my problems on you—"
"Don't be sorry," George said. "We're the ones that asked you to come in and share. We knew what we signed up for and don't regret it."
"Seriously, Bug, we care about you. You're allowed to, you know, talk about yourself." How did he know that's what she meant by that sentence? The way he could read her mind was heart-warming.
"Also, George knows this but Dream, there's a strict no-telling policy about this kinda thing. Please don't tell anyone."
"I wouldn't even think of it," he promised. "My lips are sealed."
"Good."
A soft animal noise came from one of their mics and Y/n strained her ears to listen. "Was that a cat?"
"Patches has entered the chat," George joked.
Dream chuckled. "Yeah, my cat just jumped on my lap."
"Aw, you have a cat? Lemme see lemme see lemme see!" Y/n begged. "Partly because I would love if we could stop talking about my ex-boyfriend and the other part because I love cats."
"There's pictures of her in the pets channel on Discord—"
"No, no I want a picture of her on your lap. Is she all snuggled up?"
"Yeah, she is."
"PleASE, Dream. I need to see the snuggly cat."
"Fine, fine, if you insist. Give me a second."
A few moments later, she got a DM from Dream and smiled at the picture. His room was dark but the computer screen cast a cold glow over a ball of fur on a lap clad in sweatpants. "Awww, she's so cute."
"Dream, I wanna see it too," George whined. "Send it to the pets channel."
"I'm literally making this my lock screen," Y/n informed, making Dream laugh.
"No, George, it's only for Bug. She's had a bad day so she gets exclusive Patches content."
"What? That is so messed up."
"You know what's messed up, George?" Dream asked. "You never come to me with advice on how to reject girls. We're on the phone for 12 hours a day but you can't talk to me about girls? Do you know how that makes me feel?"
"You'll just make fun of me."
"Why would I? What makes you think that?"
"Because Sapnap and I make fun of you? So obviously you and him would make fun of me?" George said with a laugh.
"....that's fair."
Y/n locked her phone and clicked the home button to admire her new lock screen. "I love her," she whispered.
Dream and George both laughed. "I'm regretting sending you that. You're gonna, like, make a shrine or something."
"What would be wrong with that? She's precious. She deserves a shrine."
"Yeah, Dream, you're the one that feeds her gormet cooked food," George teased with a laugh. "You probably have a shrine."
"That's normal! That's what people feed their cats! That's completely normal!"
"I don't," George countered.
"Then what do you feed your cat?" Dream asked.
"I dunno, normal cat food?"
"Wait! You have a cat too??" Y/n asked. "I feel like we're missing a huge detail and it's that George never told me he had a cat."
"And a dog."
"WHAT? GEORGE! Send me pictures!!!!!"
"I can't right now, it's like three am. They're sleeping. Look in the pets channel."
"You're the worst," she grumbled, clicking and scrolling to find his pets. She saw a lot of cute pictures of other peoples pets along the way but couldn't find George's.
"Hey, do your animals have English accents?" Dream asked, making Y/n laugh.
"What?" George scoffed. "You're so stupid."
"How would that even sound?" Y/n asked.
"Like..." Dream thought, preparing to test out how it would hypothetically sound. "Meow," Dream meowed in his best accent, failing miserable.
"Oh gosh, never do that again," Y/n begged.
Dream laughed into his mic. "That was disgusting. George, I really hope your pets don't have accents."
"They're animals, so probably not. And if they did, it definitely wouldn't sound like whatever that was."
"Oh come on–"
"OH I FOUND THEM." Y/n announced as she found a message from George in the pets channel with the message 'heard we're sharing our pets'. "GEORGE. THEY'RE SO CUTE."
"Are you gonna make them your background picture now?" George asked.
"What, no way! It's Patches!" Dream scoffed.
"Yeah, I'll make George's pets my home screen. Oh, what a good day." As soon as she said it, a metal bowling ball fell to her stomach, reminding her of all the reasons it was, in fact, not a good day.
She got off after a while, feeling the weight of a particular idiot man's stupid simple text catch up with her again. She thanked Dream and George for letting her join, they invited her to always hang out with them, and she went on her way.
Y/n fell on her bed and curled up under the covers as her mind started to wander from Peter to Dream. She was really glad she met him. He was a really good person and he was always so incredibly kind to her. George and Sapnap and Karl were all great friends, so caring and understanding and always looking out for her, but Dream was different and she didn't know why.
Maybe it was because he seemed untouchable still, like he had no reason to hang out around someone like her. But he wasn't untouchable in the celebrity was since he had a large following, because all of her friends did and they didn't seem untouchable. Then what was it? What set him apart from, say, Karl? She trusted Karl with her life and had known him for quite a while. She knew Dream for maybe a few weeks and almost trusted him the same amount.
Why?
She picked her phone up off the bed and pulled up Twitter, deciding to DM Dream since he was already existing in her mind rent-free. Might as well make him pay his rent by bothering him.
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A/N: EEEEEEEE I hope that all made sense lmaaoooo basically yn ex = gaarrbbaaagggeeeee and ruined her self-worth a lot!! not poggers!!!!!!  THANK U GUYS FOR BEING SO SWEET ALL THE TIME ALL FOR ALL THE POSITIVE FEEDBACK ON ALL THE  CHAPTERS!!! I love seeing you guys make predictions and tell me how aljkDFB chapters make you feel bc same :/
taglist: OPEN (at the time) @hydrate-tion @loraleiix @tinaswagbd @charsdummb @smileyyuta @1ghoste1 @cerberus-hellhound @gaysludge @queestionmark @carnations-red @letsloveimagines @the-fictionwriters-hairdo @boiled-onionrings @a-cryptic @fee-btheweeb @letsloveimagines @erwinss @just-a-stan @axths @kayleigh2703 @furiouspockettoad @sometimeseverythingsucks @powerpuffyn​ @itshaileyn @millavalntyne @automaticcomputerpaper @nikkineeky @fivedicksinatrenchcoat @sprucekot @jabby16 @mae-musicbitch @hungoverhellhound @dreamyteam @kuroo-icedtea @stuffforreferences @menacingaesthetic @sapphic-soot @fangeekkk 
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adorerdraco · 4 years
Text
Bugs and Hisses ✧ Draco x Reader
Summary: Halloween with Draco <3 Friends into BOO’s (teehee)
Warnings: mild drinking nothing tooo crazy but not encouraging it !
Words: 5.2K
A/N: this is my first one shot in like a month and i ofc had to do something for halloween even tho im a tad late but its still a halloweekend KIND OF !!!!!!! </3 I HOPE ITS GOOOD
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“No, it’s a stupid holiday.”
Draco crossed his arms in a stubborn child-like way, a scowl on his face as he stared forward towards the front of the class where Snape was giving a lecture on the small but vicious Erkling creatures.
“Come on, please,” you pleaded quietly. Your gaze kept flickering between your easily-irked professor and the pouting blond beside you, hoping that in a few short seconds you would get the answer you were hoping for that way you could get back into your notes instead of possibly getting a detention or losing house points.
In all the years you’ve been friends with the Prince of Slytherin, you learned that he loathed the holiday and any festivities that came with it. Every year, you beg him to go out to one of the many parties that are thrown ranging from small gatherings to full-on blowouts or just do something halloween related with you, but he always refuses. His reasoning, as he put it, was that he was simply ‘too mature to be dressing up as a foul creature.’
You knew he mostly spent the holiday either asleep in his dorm or walking around aimlessly with Crabbe and Goyle to target unsuspecting first-years after the big feast but this year, you finally had enough of his anti-halloween agenda. You wanted to spend the evening and hopefully night with him laughing by your side and showing him how fun everything could be, but most of all - you wanted to see him in a costume.
“Please, if you go I will never ask you for anything ever again,” you tried again once Snape had turned his back to the class. 
Draco pursed his lips as though he was genuinely considering it, his eyes still locked on the back of the greasy-haired professor before he turned slightly to you with a deep sigh. “Fine, but don’t expect this to be an annual thing.”
You gave him a bright smile, holding yourself back from jumping around in your seat and completely pushing aside the desire to throw your arms around him in excitement.
“I promise you’ll have fun.”
He hid the small smile that grew on his face from seeing how happy his answer made you, turning his head down towards his parchment filled with notes that all of a sudden seemed interesting as he avoided your gaze. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was the smallest bit of excited at the thought of spending the holiday with you because he knew that wherever you went or whatever you did, he would be perfectly content with you by his side because for the first time in all your years as friends; he realized only a month ago that the weird fluttering feeling in the pit of his stomach when he was around you or the weird overwhelming warmth that spread throughout his entire body like an ocean of water breaking through a dam - was a crush. He hated it at first, noticing and begrudgingly acknowledging it. He thought it was cliche that he somehow fell for one of his closest friends and mostly, he thought that he was going to ruin the friendship entirely. He wanted to wreck it himself, trying to distance himself from you and being extra mean - but he couldn’t.
He adored your company too much and everything that came with you. He adores your laugh, your smile, your hugs when you greet him and how you somehow give him one each time he needs it the most. He adores the study-buddy system you guys have almost every other week before a quiz or an exam. He adores your bad jokes and clumsy accidents even though those qualities annoy him with anyone else. He adores the way you want him to join you in everything fun you and he especially adores the times when he overhears you talking about him as if he’s your favorite person in the world.
Bottom line, he’s all about you.
So when this season of spookiness came, he was expecting your pleading for him to spend the day with you. Only this time, it only took you a couple times before he ultimately agreed to give in to you.
You were ready to explode with thrill at the thought of what the night held in store for you and you didn’t hide it one bit. When the big Hogwarts Hallowe’en feast was over and every one began spilling out from the Great Hall and into the main foyer, you were searching restlessly for a clean mop of silver hair that almost always stuck out in the mass of students. You weren’t sure if you were able to spot him anywhere in under a few seconds because he was unimaginably important to you, or because his hair was so uniquely bright, or maybe it was how boisterous and loud Crabbe and Goyle always were when they were by him, especially if he was with other Slytherins - but you found him, every single time with ease.
After standing on your tippy-toes several times to overlook the stampede of everyone, you finally spotted Draco leaning across a pillar with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face while he stood in a circle of his House friends that included his two goons and his quidditch teammates. You watched him thoughtfully as you approached, taking slow steps towards the group to admire him from afar and also because they were all slightly intimidating. He looked lost in the conversation, laughs escaping from his upturned lips as he listened to whatever was being said, large pale hands running through his hair every so often when the front pieces of his hair would flop down to his forehead. 
He looked ridiculously good and effortlessly at that.
You weren’t sure if you should interrupt, hesitating a few feet away from them to where they couldn’t sense your presence but you were close enough to see and hear them clearly.
“We’ll see you later tonight then, Malfoy?” One of the boys nodded towards Draco.
“I’ll show up for a bit, I suppose,” he shrugs.
You see him look around the circle of boys, eyes landing on you momentarily and then back to his friends before doing a double-take towards you again in surprise. You tried to ignore the butterflies erupting in your stomach when his smile widens slightly into a short-lived toothy grin while he said a quick goodbye to his friends causing them all to disband and him to start approaching you.
“Are you ready for the halloween of a lifetime?” You ask as he neared.
He rolled his eyes, laughing faintly. “Where am I meeting you, darling?”
The nick name he used so rarely for you made your knees feel weak, a warm blush rushing up your neck and inching onto your cheeks that you knew was going to be very apparent on your face in a few seconds.
“I’ll meet you right here in an hour,” you say quickly.
You didn’t give him time to answer before you turned quickly in the direction of your common room and began rushing away before he could see the effect he had on you that was so clearly appearing on your face.
You didn’t know what the night held for you and Draco or where it would lead you. Unknowing to you, you were both hoping something more could come out of the evening between the two of you. But he wasn’t one to express himself in that department of feelings and you weren’t feeling bold enough to say anything about yours. It was a gray area of hoping that fate could somehow intervene and throw the two of you into what you both wanted without either of you really saying anything - but it was impossible. There was no outcome or situation you had in mind that could lead you into that, so you were stuck desperately hoping that one day things might end up differently.
It was beginning to feel ironic how in your world full of real tangible magic, there wasn’t a magical solution to your problem. You were trapped feeling like a muggle who had to figure things out by themselves, no magic included. The thought of giving him a love potion did cross your mind as a joke, but it wasn’t a genuine or fair option but little did you know, you don’t need a potion for him to feel the same way - because he already did.
Walking into your dorm felt like an exuberant disaster of everyone running around and sitting in front of mirrors with their makeup or dressing into their costumes. It was noisy and filled with chatter and you were in shock from how much clutter everyone was able to make in such a short period of time from when the feast ended to now. A simple spell would clean everything up so you and everybody else didn’t really pay it any mind. 
You maneuvered around the mess of your housemates and towards your bed where your costume was kept in the trunk underneath it, plopping down onto the floor to pull it from the underskirt of your House colored bedding.
“Did he finally say yes?” Your closest roomie friend jumped onto your bed, propping herself up on her elbows and resting her chin on her hands as she watched you dig through your bottomless trunk. 
“Surprisingly, yes,” you answered, hiding the smile on your face. 
She drawled out a teasing ‘ooh,’ poking your arm lightly with her index finger as you shied away and leaned deeper into your trunk. She was the only one who you willingly admitted your crush to as she was the only person you really trusted to not blather it off to someone.
“Will I be seeing you two in the Slytherin common room?” She wiggled her eyebrows. “The boys are throwing a party and I luckily got an invite, you know how they are. So picky with who shows up.”
“You mean they’re pretentious?” You laugh. “But I don’t know if we’ll be going to it. I know Draco obviously got invited but I was thinking we could do other things.”
“Like what?” She questions as if she knew it was going to be something dirty. “I know a few secret spots around the castle-”
“No, get your mind out of the gutter,” you smack her arm lightly. “I honestly have no clue what to do. I didn’t think he’d actually agree because he never does.”
She runs her hands over her face, stifling her laughs of disbelief before she sighed loudly. “I still suggest some broom closets, hidden out of sight.”
You sit up, pushing her from where she was lying while she laughed amusingly at your false horrified reaction that you put on to hide the fact from her that what she was suggestion really was what you wanted. 
“I’ll leave you alone so you can get your costume on,” she smiles, jumping up from your bed and tossing one of your pillows at you as she walked away. You let out a huff, tossing it back onto your duvet before setting your costume down on the spot your friend was lying in.
You stared at it hesitantly, all of a sudden feeling nauseous at the thought of going out later with Draco as if it was some sort of date even though you knew it wasn’t. It was just two friends, hanging out, doing some spooky and fun Halloween activities together and nothing more; so why were you feeling so nervous? You weren’t sure if it was your instincts warning you of something major that was approaching or the fear that what you didn’t have planned was going to bite you in the arse when you continuously told Draco he was going to enjoy himself when you didn’t even know if that was going to be true. You didn’t want to disappoint him and mess it up for you in the future when the holiday came again and you didn’t want this to be the first and last time you experienced it with him. 
The pressure was raining down on you like thick, hard pieces of hail with no end in sight.
As you were getting dressed and doing your makeup for your costume as you liked, (i’m trying to be vague for your own imagination teehee) all you could think about was what in the hell you were going to do once you met up with the Prince of Slytherin. Your train of thought was then derailed into wondering what he was going to be dressed up as or if he was going to be dressed up at all considering the way he is. He was the type to make fun of people who dressed up, that you knew when you ran into him last year as you were walking back to your common room with your friend, both of you in costume and victims of his gentle bullying. He obviously went easier on the two of you since you were there, telling you he was just messing around afterwards and saying he liked yours but once you were out of his sight but still in ear-shot, you heard him and his two minions berating a small group of people that unfortunately passed by them. 
You gave yourself one last look in the floor mirror, letting out a long shaky exhale with your hands clasped together before you started towards the way out of your dorm, through the common room, and ultimately towards the foyer outside the Great Hall where Draco was most likely waiting for you. An hour had gone by since you last saw him, an hour of stress and panic that hadn’t slowed down or stopped.
Your shoes dragged against the stone floors, hugging yourself tightly as you walked nearer towards the spot where you were supposed to meet and as you lifted your gaze - you saw him there, staring right at you with a small grin and just like you expected, no costume.
“Nice costume,” he compliments when you reach him. 
“Where’s yours?” You frown.
“I’m not dressing up. That’s embarrassing,” he shakes his head. 
You scoff, crossing your arms. “You’re the only one not dressed up, that’s embarrassing.”
You don’t know why it was irritating to you that he wasn’t in costume, even if you knew he wasn’t. You figured it was because you were trying to overpower your nervousness with different more consuming feelings, and much to your and Draco’s dismay, it worked. 
You weren’t nervous anymore, just irked.
“I’m staying like this, take it or leave it.”
You rolled your eyes, staring him down and hoping that he would change his mind but he wouldn’t. He was ridiculously stubborn.
In the heat of the moment of a fleeting thought, you decided that if he wasn’t going to be in costume, you would put him in one or at least a hint of one. You pulled your wand out, pointing it onto his striking white hair and with one easy spell, his hair was now a flaming vibrant red.
“Y/N!” He growled, running towards the closest thing that would show off his reflection where he let out a string of frantic curse words. “I look like a bloody Weasley.”
Your laughter caught him off guard, the sound ringing in his ears like music that spread warmth throughout him. You were clutching at your stomach with one hand and pointing at him with the other, giggling wildly at the sight of him with hair that did not suit him at all. He smiled to himself, your glee rubbing off on him abruptly that ate away quickly at his anger.
“You should’ve given me some ratty old hand-me-down robes and I’d look just like Ron,” he notes.
“That’s rude, Draco,” you say still laughing. He smirks, leaving the shiny statue of a knight in armor where he was checking his reflection and back over to you where you were still stuck in between doubling over in laughter and watching him. 
“I’m glad this is funny to you,” he muses. He begins digging into the pocket of his dress pants, taking your vulnerability as a chance for him to tap his wand to the top of your head and before you could react, your whole hair had turned a deep green.
Your laughter immediately ended as you ran towards the suit of armor, your grimacing reflection staring back at you with deep Slytherin green hair and a distorted Draco behind you doubling over just like you were moments ago.
“This looks,” you couldn’t even finish your sentence, the scowl on your face saying enough for you as you turned bitterly towards Draco. 
“Great?” He suggested, his guffawing subsiding into airy chuckles as you stood in front of him. Yours picked up again as you stared up at him, his striking bright red hair looking terribly unfamiliar on him. He was looking down at you, his heart jumping at the sight of you holding back your laughter. “You really do look dashing by the way.”
You swallowed thickly, thankful for the darkness that had settled around the castle and easily hid the scarlet brush appearing on your face. “But my hair is green.”
“Green is my favorite color.”
You opened your mouth to speak, your stomach and heart dropping simultaneously as your mind went completely blank. You pretended to not notice how he took a step closer to you to where he was almost fully against you and he pretended not to notice the way your lips were parted and how your chest was rising and falling a little too heavily as if you were nervous. It was game over for you when his gaze flickered down towards your lips and then back to your eyes, his head leaning down just the slightest like if he were waiting for you to meet him halfway. You were about to get closer to him, about to let your eyes close and give in to what you believed was him wanting to kiss you - but the world had other plans.
“Malfoy! There you are!” Someone boomed, clambering up the steps from the direction of the dungeons. You both jumped away from each other, your attention diverted to the Slytherin boy that interrupted the moment. “Malfoy come on, the party! And you can bring her too.”
You frowned when the boy came up to the two of you, clearly tipsy, dressed as a stereotypical vampire, and over-excited with the fact that Draco was out and willing to participate in Halloween festivities. It seemed like it bothered the now red-head when he looked to you and then back to the Slytherin boy with an apprehensive expression.
The boy, sensing the pause in the air, grabbed onto both you and Draco’s arms and started dragging the two of you towards the Slytherin common room where although the stone walls were thick, the sound of people celebrating inside were easily slipping past the stone slabs. He spoke the password out quickly and as soon as the entrance was open, you were both shoved inside into what looked like the largest party you had ever witnessed in all your years at Hogwarts. It was packed and filled with what looked like half of the school, or at least a huge majority of fifth-years and up. It was loud with music booming from a brand new wizarding-world radio in the middle of the room currently playing a song from the Weird Sisters. It smelled like a mixture of everyone’s perfumes and colognes and like firewhisky. The boy that pushed you two inside quickly passed you two cups of the very potent firewhisky before downing the third one he had in his hand and disappeared into the crowd while screaming for you to enjoy yourselves.
You both stood awkwardly away from the big and rowdy crowd, your drink clenched tightly in your hand against your chest and Draco swishing his around while it was still in the cup.
He wanted to up and run, thinking that someone was going to make a comment about his hair or about him being there, but no one seemed to pay attention to him or that he was there and in a way, he felt relieved by it and less tense by the second. 
“How in the bloody hell did we end up here?” You yelled over the music, putting a hand over his arm that was holding his drink up. You didn’t mean to, but you were glad you did because he glanced down at the contact with a small smile before looking back up to you.
“We got dragged here, remember!” He yelled back. 
“What?” 
“We got dragged here!”
“I can’t hear you!”
He rolled his eyes, bending down towards your ear to repeat himself one last time before you finally heard him over the mayhem around you.
“This is crazy!” You looked around the room, the sight of all the bodies and recklessness being too much as they were all more than likely drunk and oblivious to how stuffy and suffocating the room was becoming.
You looked down at the golden brown liquid sloshing around in your cup, wondering whether or not you should take it, but with the nervousness you felt coming back, it didn’t take you much longer to decide to down your cup and allow the liquid courage to seep into your veins. Draco watched you with amusement, chuckling to himself when you scrunched up your face in disgust from the burn he knew it caused as it went down your throat. He shook his head, deciding to drink his too and it was only minutes that passed before the drink was quickly becoming apparent in your systems. There was something about Firewhisky that always made its mark promptly and it really was courage in a bottle that you were glad was available to you in that moment because you were sure that in just a few minutes you were close to fainting.
You were beginning to sway faintly to the music, the rhythm sounding more loud but distant and more invigorating. You didn’t care anymore if anyone was watching or that Draco was observing you curiously just as he was beginning to lose all sense of holding himself back. He was inching closer to you, his head moving slightly to beat of the song and pure joy etched onto his features when your eyes met his.
“I keep forgetting I turned your hair red!” You yelled up to him, laughing loudly when he ran his hand through it. In your moment of confidence, you reached up and lightly ran your fingers over one of the front pieces hanging over his forehead. He didn’t stop you, his heart hammering against his chest from the drink and his overwhelming crush that was clouding all his senses. “Your hair is so soft!” 
He wanted to pin you up against the wall right then and there. You were peering up at him, just as you were before you were dragged inside by one of his Housemates and as soon as he was about to kiss you. 
“Do you want to get out of here?” He knew to bend down this time for you to hear him to which you responded with a fervent nod. You took his hand in yours, pulling him towards the exit of the common room and he let you lead him into the coldness of the dungeons that bit at his cheeks. It was a stark difference from the warmth inside, the crisp October air being more chilled than what either of you were expecting. It felt nice against your flushed skin and easier to breathe, especially once after the common room closed again and you could hear was muffled talking and music.
Neither of you were drunk and were still aware of pretty much everything, mostly the feelings stirring inside you both that was begging either of you to make a move towards the other. You were just a tad tipsy, and so was he, but it was enough for you to still enjoy the night without the initial awkwardness that oddly settled in between you. It was weird, considering how open and talkative you usually were with each other but there was something about the evening that made it feel like if you didn’t know each other.
“What now?” He asked you with a raised brow, his hand slipping into his pocket.
You smiled, an idea coming to your head that you knew he would love and you didn’t mind doing in the name of Halloween. “Do you want to go mess with people?”
He stared at you with widened eyes, “bloody hell, I love you.”
There was nothing that could have prepared you for his response, your own eyes widening in shock as you stared at him. He felt his face get hot in embarrassment, Merlin, he felt so stupid. He was mentally smacking himself in the head, desperately wishing he could bury himself seven feet under the Earth and staying there until the end of time.
He was about to play off what he said in a joking way, but for the second time that night he was interrupted by a couple that stumbled out of the common room drunkenly snogging each other’s faces off and wholly oblivious to you and Draco standing there in lingering panic. You jumped back into his arms when the couple staggered past you, almost knocking you over in the process of their makeout session and it annoyed you beyond belief. It annoyed you that they were in your way, annoyed that they interrupted you, annoyed that it wasn’t you in their position with the one you wanted. 
You dug your wand out of your pocket, flicking it their way as they rolled onto the wall, still in each other’s hold until the hex that flew from your wand hit the boy causing him to stagger back from the girl and holding his nose in pain. You heard Draco laugh from behind you when bats began to fly out from the boy’s nostrils while the girl screamed and ran away from one of the bats that swept down onto her head. The bats flew out of the dungeon and up the stairs with the boy struggling loudly the whole way up until his panicked screams were no longer heard.
“That was a perfect bat-bogey,” he looks at you proudly. “I feel bad for that poor bloke’s nose.”
“Thank you, thank you,” you bowed jokingly. 
When the sound of the door opened again, you both ran to hide behind a long drape against the wall that didn’t hide your shoes very well and pressed up against your bodies that’s shapes were no doubt visible from the opposite side.
You heard footsteps trail haphazardly down the corridor, their back seemingly facing you and as you both peeked your heads out from behind the drape, Draco nodded towards the boy and pointed his wand towards him. 
“Slugulus Eructo,” you heard him whisper and a stream of green light from his wand hit the back of the boy’s head and as he turned around in surprise while doubling over in pain, his hand clamped tightly over his mouth as slugs began to slip past the spaces between his fingers. When he stood up to run away, you noticed it was the same boy from earlier that stopped you two from the almost kiss and dragged you to the party. You let out a string of giggles as he ran away just like your last victims.
“This is so mean,” you chortle, leaning into him from behind the drape in an attempt to get closer to him. You were feeling bolder when he beamed down at you, feeling happy knowing that although the night was still young, he was having fun. “Thank you for coming with me tonight, I know you don’t like Halloween.” You say quietly.
“You finally convinced me, it’s not that bad,” he grins.
“Why’d you hate it in the first place?”
The question seemed to strike a nerve but the Firewhisky still flowing freely in his veins tore away easily at his defenses so instead of avoiding your question entirely like he usually would, he frowned and let his guard down.
“I don’t hate it,” he answers apprehensively. “My father never let me celebrate it. He never let me dress up. He told me respectable wizards don’t partake in holidays like these.”
His pout made your gut twist in sympathy, your hand instinctively going into his as you squeezed it reassuringly. “It’s never too late to start celebrating. Besides, I don’t see him here stopping you.”
He smiled for what felt like the hundredth time that night, his stained-red hair falling over his eyes as he looked down to his shoes.
“You have a point, darling.”
The door of the common room opened again and what you suspected to be another snogging couple to stumble out from the sound of heavy breathing and multiple shoes scuffling about was something completely different.
“Glad Malfoy stayed with someone else today.” It was Crabbe.
“Yeah, he never lets us go to these parties,” Goyle responds. “Go ahead and thank Y/L/N for freeing us, he fancies her like a fool.”
“Reckon we should go look for them?”
You figured Goyle nodded to him like the blathering idiot he was because in a few short seconds they were running away up the same steps everyone else had. 
You peered up slowly at Draco who was already gaping at you like a deer in headlights. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. The gears in your brain were spinning wildly with happiness, the gossip hopefully being proven true when he didn’t try to deny it. You didn’t realize how close his face was to yours, cheeks tinged with pink from both the firewhisky and sudden shyness and his warm cinnamon breath fanning your face as he looked down at you.
“I can explain,” he finally said.
He didn’t need to; you placed your hands gently on his cheeks, pulling him impossibly closer to you and pressing your lips against his, catching him completely by surprise. His eyes were wide at first, his body rigid and his lips unmoving, but once it finally clicked that this was real and no longer a fantasy that played like a broken record in his head, his lips moved fervently against yours with the rest of his body following. His hands gripped your hips tightly, his fingers squeezing at the hem of your bottoms and his body pushing even further into yours.
Your bottom lip caught lightly in between his teeth as you reluctantly pulled away from him, the both of you breathing raggedly as you searched each other’s eyes.
“I feel the same,” you said softly. “Happy Halloween.”
He smashes his lips hungrily against yours again, his ego growing with each gasp of a delight that escapes your mouth as your hands roamed and tangled themselves into his magically colored strands.
“Very...happy...halloween,” he mutters against your lips in between kisses, a dazy smile adorning your face while he tightened his arms around you.
You just couldn’t wait until next year.
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dansantcaparet · 3 years
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Aerith completely rejects Zack in the Lifestream (Maiden of the Planet): Zack: "Man, you know Aerith. Out of all the girls I've gotten along with, you truly are the best. After that mission, we could've stayed the way we were and might have been able to continue to go out with each other after I returned home. I hate Sephiroth. And I hate Shinra who's been hiding all the stuff they've been doing."
Aerith: "Someone who's gotten along with so many girls can never become a lover." Zack: "How mean. I'm nice to everyone." Aerith: "And that's your bad point. You're not simplistic and awkward like Cloud."
And...
Zack: "But whenever you feel lonely, call me Aerith." Aerith: "Only if I get really lonely. Goodnight, Zack."
So, how anyone can believe that Aerith still harbors feelings for Zack is beyond me. She states multiple times that she loves Cloud more than Zack and that she completely understands he is different from Zack. Actually, Aerith seems to prefer Cloud's type now that she is a mature woman, only being attracted to Zack when she was much younger and inexperienced. Throw in the fact that Aerith rejects Zack's advances in the Lifestream, and the evidence becomes so rock-solid, I really don't see why people continue to live in denial of the facts.
In the game, Aerith clearly states that her relationship with Zack was in the past and that they were NOT serious. From FFVII (at the playground): Cloud: "You were...serious?" Aerith: "No. But I liked him for awhile." Cloud: "I probably knew him. What was his name?" Aerith: "It doesn't really matter." That's a pretty strange attitude for someone who is still supposedly so hung up over her ex-boyfriend, isn't it? She clearly states that they weren't serious and then follows up by saying she doesn't really care if Cloud knows him. If Aerith were still hung up over Zack at this point, wouldn't she be dying to know some news about him? But, from this conversation alone, we learn that, not only are Aerith's feelings for Zack all in the past, she obviously considers her first love to have been a mere fleeting fancy and nothing more. This is confirmed in Maiden of the Planet when Zack is referred to as Aerith's "light taste of first love" and is also confirmed to be "now a very dear friend" and nothing more. This becomes even more apparent in the FFVII prequel, Crisis Core, where the affection level between Aerith and Zack is completely optional, Zack has multiple girlfriends, and Aerith has moved on without him by the end of the game.   Aerith did not act all that concerned when she found out that Zack had been missing for 5 years and was possibly dead. From FFVII (Gongaga): Aerith: "What a shock.... I didn't know Zack was from this town." Cloud: "You know him?" Aerith: "Didn't I tell you? He was my first love." Cloud: "......" Aerith: "Zack.... SOLDIER First Class. Same as Cloud." Cloud: "Strange, there aren't that many who make First Class, but I've never heard of him." Aerith: "That's all right. It's all in the past now. I was just worried because I heard he's been missing." Cloud: "Missing?" Aerith: "I think it was 5 years ago. He went out on a job, and never came back." "He loved women, a real lady's man. He probably found someone else." For someone who is supposedly still pining over her ex-boyfriend, Aerith sure took that news well. All she did was shrug it off, say that their relationship was all in the past, and assume that he had probably run off with another woman. Aerith later follows up this conversation by saying that she doesn't mind that she hasn't heard from him. I'm sorry, but I don't see any indication here of Aerith still being in love with Zack. Honestly, if she were, wouldn't she be going insane over the news that he has been missing for the past 5 years and no one has heard a peep from him? Instead, she acted as though it really didn't matter and you even have the in-game option of making Aerith tease Cloud for being jealous over Zack. Aerith states, more than once, that she understands that Cloud and Zack are different and she loves Cloud more anyways:
1. From FFVII (the date scene):
Aerith: "First off, it bothered me how you looked exactly alike. Two completely different people, but look exactly the same. The way you walk, gesture... I think I must have seen him again, in you... But you're different. Things are different..." First of all, please note that Aerith states that it bothered her that Cloud looked like Zack. She didn't say she was happy about it or even excited. Bothered.
Some definitions of bother: "to give trouble to; annoy; pester; worry" "to bewilder; confuse" So, Aerith was either worried about Cloud's resemblance to Zack or confused by it. Neither of these suggest that she was particularly happy about it. I am sure the "Zack-ness" of Cloud was what initially drew Aerith to him. However, Aerith learned very quickly that Cloud was nothing like Zack, hence her words "But you're different."
2. From Final Fantasy VII Dismantled, an official book which has sections that focus on the thoughts of the FFVII characters, there is a section that speaks of Aerith's feelings for Cloud. She states that she realizes that Cloud is nothing like Zack and that she loves Cloud more than Zack anyways:
"At first when I met Cloud, I believed he was similar to Zack. Little actions, the way he spoke... his kindness. But Cloud is Cloud. I, now undoubtedly, love Cloud much more than Zack. But Cloud is clueless." (FFVII Dismantled, Aerith's monologue in Gongaga, p. 159) This statement alone is enough to completely trump Zack x Aerith. I mean, Aerith blatantly states that she loves Cloud more than she ever loved Zack, which means she is over Zack and has moved on with Cloud. And this is from an official source, people, not some made up delusion that CloTis like to pawn off as truth. 3. From the official novella Maiden of the Planet, Aerith tells Zack that his "bad point" was that he was nice to everyone (in other words, he's a flirt). That and the fact that he wasn't "simplistic and awkward like Cloud". And so Aerith is stating she prefers Cloud's simplistic, awkward behavior to Zack's flirty, womanizing behavior. Aerith obviously prefers Cloud over Zack, and says so quite clearly. And... the ultimate nail in the coffin of this absurd theory: "She loved him [Cloud] much more than her first love."  You can't get much clearer than that! This is the second time that Aerith has confirmed in an official source that she loves Cloud far more than she ever loved Zack! RIP Zerith.... XD
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arvinsescape · 3 years
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YOURE BACK! I hope you’re feeling better and more yourself!!
Can I request a real fluffy one for blurb night where you and Tom meet on a family holiday (you with your fam him with his) and become like pen pals with FaceTiming and texting cos you live on opposite ends of England and he falls for you when he doesn’t mean to? (Bonus points for my main man Harry being a wingman!)
A/N: I am honestly, feeling like a new person!! Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy!!
Warnings: Swearing.
You'd met Tom last year, you were both on family holidays and met in the hotels bar, you met multiple times throughout your two weeks stay. You got on really well, so well you agreed to keep in contact.
"I go home tomorrow." You said as Tom placed a drink in front of you.
"Me too." Tom said as he placed himself next to you and took a sip of his drink. "So, where are you heading back to?" He asked as he watched you take a sip of your drink.
"Manchester." You said and he smiled.
"No way, London." He informed, you'd not actually discussed where you lived yet.
"You still live in London?" You asked in disbelief, you'd assumed he'd live in America now being a huge star.
"Yeah, I mean I have a house in America but I only use it when I'm filming and for holidays. London is where I live." He said, his arm sliding around the back of your seat. "I'm gonna miss you." He said and it was honest, genuine.
"I'm sure you'll forget about me soon enough." You said, a hint of sadness to your tone.
"Oh no darling, I don't think so." He said and you smiled as your brother joined you both, conversation shifting onto something different.
You kept in touch, he texted you an incredible amount and facetimed you at least once a week. You expected it to dry up as he forgot about you, but that never happened. You were currently on one of your face time calls.
"When are you gonna come down to London?" He asked, he was sat in bed, hair a mess from his sleep as he' just woken up. "Also, what the hell is on your face?"
"It's a face mask, need to get rid of those spots." You huffed, face green from your products.
"Oh, I thought you were trying out for the hulk." He teased.
"Arsehole." You huffed through a laugh.
"I know, I'm sorry," he laughed as he shifted his arm to behind his head. You had to stop yourself swooning as his bicep bulged. "Anyway, London." He brought the topic back to where he wanted it.
"Tom, you're not even in London, why would I go there now?"
"I'm back in like a week, meet me?"
"I can't just ditch my job."
"I've already said you should move into our house with the boys." He suggested, he brought this up at least once a month.
"My family though." You laughed.
"Shit, yeah. We need to work something out." He concluded and you nodded, conversation turning to what you had planned for the week.
**
Tom almost felt sad as he ended the call with you, sleep threatening to pull you under after, three hours, Tom realised as he checked the timing on his phone. He dropped his phone onto his bed as Harry knocked on the door and came in.
"On the phone with Y/N?" He asked as he entered, Tom firing a good night text your way as you fired back a good morning, have an amazing day. He smiled at his phone before looking at Harry.
"Yeah."
"You asked her out yet?" Harry teased and Tom furrowed his brows.
"No."
"Oh come on Tom, you are completely in love with her."
"Will you just drop it. I don't think it'll work out. I can't even get her to come to London." Tom groaned and Harry huffed as he sat next to his brother.
"And why does she have to come to London? Why don't you go to her?" He suggested.
"I can't just ask to go to hers."
"Then don't ask." Harry smirked.
**
Tom: Change of plan x
You furrowed your brows as you recieved the vague text message, asking him to explain himself in response.
Tom: It'd be really amazing if you opened your front door for me x
You were filled with confusion, what was he on about? You ultimately couldn't help yourself as you made your way to your front door, opening it. You almost gasped as you were met with Tom, smile on his face and a suitcase in hand.
"Hope you don't mind, wanted to surprise you, changed my flight pattern." Your heart soared, you were absolutely in love with the curly haired boy and this gesture didn't help your situation.
"How did you know where I lived?" You asked in disbelief.
"I remember from when I sent you that bracelet on your birthday." He smiled as you moved to let him in, your hand instinctively grasping the small chain around your wrist.
"How long are staying for?" You asked and he turned around with a shrug.
"As long as you'll have me."
**
Having Tom around was fun, showing him all your favourite things and places. He'd been at yours for almost three weeks, your sofa-bed becoming his own, you wondered when he'd grow bored and head home but he never did.
"Can I ask you something?" Tom pulled you from your thoughts, you were sat on your couch, a bottle of white wine had already been shared between you.
"Always." You answered, feet curled beneath your bum, elbow resting on the back of the couch, head planted in your hand.
"Do you have a boyfriend? Anyone you're talking to?"
"No. You?"
"No, do you have anyone you've got your sights on?"
"Yeah." You admitted, "you?"
"Yeah."
"Lucky lady." You laughed and he joined.
"I'm sure whoever you're gunning for is luckier." He said and you felt a wave of boldness wash over you, what did you have to lose? If he didn't feel the same at least you wouldn't bump into him on the street, right?
"He'll never know, he likes someone else."
"How do you know?" He asked, heart hammering in your chest as you went for it.
"Because he just told me so." You admitted and Tom raised his eyebrows.
"I don't remember him saying anything about who he liked."
"He's a Hollywood actor, I doubt it'd be me he was talking about."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." He whispered and you wondered at what point you'd gotten so close, when the distance between you had become non existent. Faces close.
"Tom?"
"Yeah?"
"We're both on the same page here?" You asked, hoping you hadn't grossly misread this situation.
"Y/N?"
"Yeah?"
"I think I'm in love with you."
"I think I'm in love with you to." You admitted.
"Can I?" He asked eyes flicking to your lips.
"Please." You begged. He smiled as his lips met yours, your heart bursting from your chest as he did. You shifted closer to him wrapping your arms around his neck as he placed his on your waist. You both pulled back for air after a moment. His forehead finding your own.
"I wanna make this work." He said, hand on your cheek.
"Me too." There was no reason why it wouldn't, you'd made enough time for each other as friends, surely you'd make enough time for each other as partners.
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lovebecomeshim · 3 years
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hello! your zutara posting today has finally motivated me to ask this question because I came to atla very late(last year, to be specific) and I Love It Very Much but am 1000% out of the loop as far as why what remains of fandom (at least that I've seen among my friends) is so very strongly zutara. I'm not opposed to it per se I just don't really know what has driven it to apparently be such a popular ship? can you help me understand and maybe convert me a little bit?
Hey!! Your ICON! :D I can try but I’m not sure how coherent I’ll be; however I AM sure someone a lot more competent will be willing to add to this. Either way, I’m glad you asked because my plan was to drag down as many people as possible with me.
*smacks the hood of zutara* this baby can fit so much mutual love and support!
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This got so long, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how to put it under a cut on mobile and it already got deleted once so I’m scared to mess with it lol. Moving on.
I’m gonna start this with a disclaimer that im on mobile so formatting is tricky and I’m also really new to atla in that I only completed my first watch through in like 2019??? So some of my info is all just based on what I’ve picked up from Discourse 👀 so anyway the sparknotes version: zutara was wildly popular from the beginning. To the point where the atla crew internally disagreed on which ship should be endgame. (Ex. Bryke [showrunners] asked the writers to rewrite The Southern Raiders to make Zuko seem less ideal for Katara than Aang [which failed, depending on who you ask]; the animation team purposefully created a visual parrallel between Oma and Shu in the Cave of Two Lovers and Zuko and Katara in the catacombs under Ba Sing Se in the Crossroads of Destiny; etc.)
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The ship was popular enough that Bryke actually chose to display zk fanart at a con for the sole purpose of mocking the fans, but that’s neither here nor there. The entire episode Ember Island Players, while a love letter to/parody of the whole show, was an opportunity to address zutara’s viability as a canon pairing (while, again, mocking zutaras for romanticizing that catacombs scene). Point is! It’s always been popular but with it not being endgame, there’s got to be something that’s given it staying power.
And that’s honestly got to do with three things: their dynamic, thematic cohesion, and potential.
(You know what... you know what, it’s four things. The fourth is they’re so aesthetically pleasing together and individually. Like, they’re just good looking people [specifically when they’re grown but they’re also cute kids] and that absolutely doesn’t hurt) (but it’s not the Point, it’s just nice to point out sometimes)
The dynamic is hard to get into without also looking at the canon pairings, but I think I can do that without unnecessary bashing. It’s just that part of the magic of zutara is really highlighted by what they give to each other that their other relationships don’t.
First off, it’s classic enemies to (would be) lovers. The absolute truest form of it. It’s not too different from how CS started out: a rogue antagonist with a job to do—but no personal vendetta against the future love interest—who is deeply and emotionally invested in his personal storyline (revenge/redemption) with little regard for how it effects other people after his entire life and genuine good nature are marred by suffering, and a fierce warrior girl with a strong moral compass and her own personal investment in stopping him (protect her family and save the world doing it). Obviously frustration and animosity grew between them by the nature of them being on opposing sides, but that just lends itself to the sweetness of their later reconciliation.
The thing is that while they’re wildly different on the surface (he’s a hot-headed prince of a fascist regime who is trying to capture the Avatar to please his father; she’s a nurturing daughter of the chief who is trying to protect and train the Avatar in order to topple his father’s throne) they find out that they have so much more in common both in their experiences and their personalities.
(What follows is an excessive use of the word “both” and I’m sorry about that)(I can edit it. I can do that. That IS an option............)
They both have an innate sense of justice that they are determined to see done (zuko, at the war meeting, sticking up for the Earth Kingdom kid when the guards torment his family, choosing not to steal from the pregnant couple despite his circumstances, abiding by his word to leave the SWT should Aang come willingly, etc.; katara, literally.... at any point). They both have pretty one-track minds at accomplishing certain goals once they’ve put their mind to it, regardless of a lack of support in that endeavor (it goes without saying I guess, but zuko’s entire hunt; katara’s determination to get the earth benders to fight back, her determination to absolutely destroy Pakku until he agrees to teach her, etc.). They both lost their mothers at young ages. Their worlds are war-torn and traumatizing to them both, if in different ways, but that ultimately forces them to grow up too quickly to be wholly independent individuals. They both have issues with their fathers (for WILDLY different reasons, but). They both hold extreme prejudices that they need to learn to overcome (which ties into thematic cohesion)(bit like Lizzie and Darcy in that way but magnified by a million). They’re both extremely emotional and empathetic—which can and often does result in loud outbursts. Katara’s a bit better adjusted and can temper her anger for longer than S1 Zuko can, but they both feel that anger deeply and have no compunctions expressing it (Katara is, usually, more justified, particularly in S1. Again, S1 Zuko is severely maladjusted but at the point when they could’ve feasibly become a couple, he’s so much better off with the way he carries himself). They both struggle with feelings of inferiority in their bending abilities when confronted with prodigal benders like Aang and Azula, but have the work ethic required to double down and become two of the most powerful benders in the three remaining nations. This is a little more minor but it is a parrallel that appeals to some shippers that they both have these alter egos in the Painted Lady (notably fire nation coded) and the Blue Spirit (water tribe coded) that are pretty different from who they are day-to-day and are useful in accomplishing a purpose that they as themselves cannot.
(I’m.... I just realized that this could potentially get very long. Should I have made a slide show with bullet points??????)
Anyway, similar. I know there’s more but there’s literally so much to love about zutara that I’ll drive myself a little crazy trying to compile all the ways they’re similar. (Just gonna say that at this exact moment I went back to add more similarities.... so okay then)
Once they’ve reconciled, we see how all of these things only lend themselves to a deeper intimacy together than they share with literally anyone else. There’s a steady partnership that positions them as the mom/dad of the gaang, while also providing the support necessary to allow the other to not have to carry so much responsibility. A lot of zutaras will point out how zuko is actually depicted doing the more domestic chores that are normally relegated to Katara once he joins the gaang, since the others in the group are two 12-year-olds and sokka. The one that sticks out the most is how he makes tea for the group and then serves them, while Katara is able to just relax with her friends around the fire. Fanon expands upon this a lot to Zuko helping with the laundry or the cooking or whatever else needs doing since he, as a once-refugee, is used to doing his own domestic tasks. Before Zuko joined, Katara was the one mothering everyone, sewing for them, cooking for them, etc. She’s always tending to the needs of the group, and that includes emotionally. She does the emotional labor for the gaang 99% of the time, but when she’s the one falling apart, she’s usually doing it alone and without the comfort that she normally provides for others. Until Zuko. And that’s before they’re even friends.
Which is WHY people romanticize the catacombs of Ba Sing Se so much. Katara is verbally attacking Zuko out of her own righteous anger but also her own prejudice when Zuko, surprisingly, chooses to be vulnerable with her. He’s been on a journey that’s opened his eyes a bit, but he’s never actively chosen to expose the rawest parts of his past to anyone. But for some reason he chooses to do that with Katara of all people. While she’s yelling at him. He sees her humanity, and for once can look past his prejudice and empathize with her. And this time, when she breaks down, she gets to be comforted. Katara normally talks about her mother when she’s trying to explain to someone else that she sees and understands they’re pain, as a form of comfort to them. Here, Zuko uses the exact same tactic. He sees her and he understands. And for zuko? He’s not being shut down. He’s allowed to articulate his pain regarding his mother without being ignored and made to internalize it, and he’s allowed to process how he feels about his scar out loud without being told that he deserved it. And then he lets her touch his scar, something we’ve seen him actively avoid before. He’s completely open to her and she’s completely open to him and all it took was one five minute conversation. She was about to use the little bit of Spirit water that she had, that she was saving for something Important, to heal the scar that still daily causes him pain just because they had, somehow, connected.
Plus there’s the whole parallel to the star-crossed lovers forbidden from one another, a war divides their people—
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And then zuko messes up, he regresses, he gets what he wants and he HATES it. And the sense of justice he had as a child has been restored to him against his will and he can’t think of anything he wants to do more than the Right Thing, so he joins team avatar. Before he does that though, we get to see his relationship with Mai, which is where comparison really comes in. And what we see is Zuko, fresh off of his encounter with Katara in the catacombs, trying to be emotionally honest with Mai... and getting shut down and dismissed. Which is just how Mai is and it’s fine, but not for Zuko. Still, he keeps trying, and he keeps getting ignored or scoffed at or yelled at. Which is really a larger symbol for how he doesn’t fit in his old life anymore, but again that’s about thematic cohesion. He tries to articulate his anxieties about returning home, he tries to make romantic gestures, he tries to explain how morally conflicted he’s feeling—and Mai diverts to some kind of physical affection to shut him up and a parting comment that is pretty much always, in essence, “I don’t wanna talk about this.” So they don’t. On the other hand, once zuko and Katara are friends, we see him again emotionally distraught and caught up in his anxieties about facing Iroh, and it’s Katara who comes to him and listens to him and comforts and encourages him.
Similarly, we have Aang clamming up and getting uncomfortable whenever Katara shows any negative emotion, usually resulting in him making excuses or running away. Or, in the case of the Southern Raiders, lecturing her on how she needs to just let go of her anger about her mother’s murder. People have talked this episode to death and usually better than I ever could, so imma... keep it brief. There’s a serious disconnect between Aang and Katara in his ability to empathize with Katara and her needs that has her tamping down her vulnerability and amping up her anger. He tells her that he was able to forgive his people’s genocide and appa’s kidnapping (petnapping? Theft??), which is blatantly not true but also not an entirely equal parrallel to Katara’s situation, and continues making these little remarks throughout the episode. But it’s Zuko that Katara opens up to. It’s with him that she’s able to talk about the most traumatic day of her life, and it’s with him that she’s able to get the closure she needs, cementing their bond as friends and partners. This disagreement between Aang and Katara is then... never resolved. They just never bring it up and hear what the other is saying.
There’s a fic called The Portraits of Ember Island that has a line that so completely sums up the heart of the matter for why people love their dynamic. For context, zuko has woken up early to help Katara with the cooking and they spend the whole time just letting one another talk, and zuko stops to ask why she always just lets him talk. And so she stops to ask why he’s always helping, and it goes as follows:
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There’s just... so much mutual support! Trust! Intimacy!! And it just continues like that from the Southern Raiders on, listening to each other, advising each other, watching each other’s backs! And then! Literally saving each other’s lives!! I will never be over the last Agni kai. Not ever. Zuko may have been willing to jump in front of lightning for anyone, but he actually did it for Katara. And in a show, that’s the thing that really matters. It’s a fulfilled trope usually exclusively applied to romantic pairings, and it ended up applying to Zuko and Katara. And then she ran out into the middle of a fight with tunnel vision just to get to him.
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Also!! Also Zuko pushing Katara out of the way of the falling rocks at the Western Air Temple!! And Katara catching him as he fell from the war balloon that he fought Azula on!! Before they’re even getting along, they’re the ones reaching for each other. They come to this place of equal ground, as partners, who watch each other’s backs, call each other out but still listen attentively and understand, and provide the support that the other has been sorely lacking up until they knew each other (whether that be from lack of effort or lack of understanding from others, or an unwillingness to accept it for themselves).
Then, trailing along under the surface of this, we see the themes of the show totally embodied by Zuko and Katara as individuals and in their relationship to one another. There’s a YouTuber, sneezyreviews, who has a, like, 2-hour explanation on why she not only loves zutara but also believes that their endgame would’ve actually elevated the writing of atla to new levels particularly because of thematic cohesion and resolved character arcs. It’s the zutara dissertation I never knew I needed, and it’s funny and eloquent and effective, so I’m just going to sum up her section on thematic cohesion to the best of my abilities and then link it for whenever you have the time. And I HIGHLY recommend it, especially if you want a full understanding of what makes zutara so great and gives it such longevity.
Guru pathik has a line that goes something like this: separation is an illusion; things that seem different are just two parts of the same whole. Iroh also tells Zuko something similar: balance and strength are achieved when the different nations come together and influence one another and celebrate what makes them each unique. And this lesson is a massive central arc that both Zuko and Katara go through, moving past a black-and-white, good guys-vs-bad guys, us-vs-them mentality and into a greyer, more nuanced view of the world. Zuko sees the fire nation from an entirely new perspective and while he still loves and hopes for his nations future, he surrenders his blind loyalty to them in exchange for an unflinching loyalty to peace and love. Katara too had to come to terms with the fact that cruel people exist in the earth kingdom and water tribes, while some fire nation citizens are just regular, kind people who also need and deserve to have someone speak on their behalf. And this is honed in directly on how they view each other. They grow in their individual journeys to be open to the humanity in the other and then, once they’ve found that, they’re able to grow more in compassion for others in a beautiful feedback loop. And this is all matched in the symbolism repeatedly and intentionally associated with them in canon: sun and moon, fire and water, yin and yang, Oma and Shu who found love despite their warring nations. Their individual arcs are completed in each other and complement the themes of atla beautifully.
The canon pairs... just don’t. Which, again, is fine. But the very things that give atla longevity and popularity are anchored in zutara. Kat@ang doesn’t accomplish this. They’re... nice. Sweet. Especially when you erase a good portion of their interactions in S3. It could’ve been just a sweet love story. (Personally, the dynamic between toph and aang accomplish the same thing that zutara does, with complementary personalities that fulfill the theme of opposites blending in harmony) M@iko, on the other hand, is less sweet but I think wasn’t even supposed to last. Zuko’s relationship with Mai seems to represent his relationship with his old life as a whole. He can’t be emotionally vulnerable, he’s goaded into abusing his privileges, his agency and opinions aren’t respected. They just don’t have common ground with which to discuss anything that matters, so they don’t. As far as themes, the relationship doesn’t fit with atla. It’s zuko returning to and sticking with what is (on the surface) like him, what’s expected. Fire nation with fire nation. Fluid water bender with the flexible air bender. Like with like, separated from what is different and challenging and complementary.
And all of these things combined of course lead to the potential for the ship. I don’t know how familiar you are with the post-atla canon but... well, miss “I will never turn my back on people who need me”, miss “I don’t want to heal! I want to fight!” ends up living quietly in the SWT as a designated healer who turns a blind eye to the water tribe civil war happening right outside her front door. Which can be fine! People change! Some people just wanna stay inside. I just wanna stay inside! But the potential future for zutara is so much more satisfying, with Katara becoming the most unconventional Fire Lady the uppity old cads who are stuck on the old ways have ever seen. Fanon has her serving as a voice for the other nations within a kingdom at the point of its biggest political upheaval, as a confidante to Zuko who can actually help him while he’s trying to figure out how to move forward and make reparations. They have the opportunity, together, to accomplish what they both have set on their hearts to fight for: positive change that lends itself to harmony and balance. And the steambabies! A popular headcanon is that their firstborn daughter, the crown princess, is actually a waterbender, which causes such an uproar among the people who are adamantly clinging to the old ways. It’s just a future full of potential to be forces for good together, full of trust, intimacy, joy. The exact era of peace and love and balance that zuko announces that he intends to ring in with the start of his reign as Fire Lord is, again, magnified by the very personal zutara relationship. And we love to see it.
tl;dr zutara isn’t for everyone. Some people just don’t vibe with it. Some are nostalgic. Some love the canon they grew up with. Some have been disappointed for years. Some just see themselves in other characters and want their happiness instead. Whatever the reason, that’s fine. But for me, I love the way these two, from the moment they give each other a fair chance, are able to lower their walls and prejudices to see the other for the kindred spirits they are. They see each other’s humanity, and their response is to pour out love and support and compassion. I love that they’re a power couple in battle. I love the symbolism and, honestly, soulmatism that colors their every interaction. I love that they embody the whole storyline of atla in their relationship and how it develops, which is notably why their seasonal arcs always culminate in each finale with how they relate to one another. I love that zuko adopting a waterbending move is what actually saves his life and then katara’s. I love the chemistry! And I love the future they could’ve had, instead of the ones they were given.
So, in conclusion: I just think they’re neat and I hope you do too, at least a little bit. Even if it’s just respectfully from a disinterested distance cause you do you. And now here is the video I mentioned. I’m sorry this post got so long and then I gave you an even longer homework assignment, but I can’t recommend it enough. She says it all better than I can.
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negasonicimagines · 3 years
Text
Revelation; Part One
warnings/kinks: a/b/o (if you’re penis-repulsed this isn’t for you), smut (duh), brief daddy kink, even briefer mommy kink, cum-eating, cum-marking, cockwarming? (does it count if it’s a/b/o?), light bloodplay, borderline somniphilia (consensual), poisoning, suicidal ideation, allusions to cheating, mentions of conversion therapy, vague mentions of s*xual ass*ult (it doesn’t actually happen in the story, it’s just referred to a lot due to the nature of this universe)
uh… this is another one of those stories that’s just kinda Heavy, please be careful & don’t continue reading if doing so is unsafe for you. I have a variety of other works that don’t have such intense themes, which you can find on my masterlist!
request (+details): Omegaverse: Alphas Yukio and Ellie with a beta reader, but it turns out that reader is a late-bloomer omega who goes into her first heat unexpectedly. / Omegaverse: The setting could be anywhere. The three of them waking up with reader burning hot, believing to be sick but is actually going into heat. The reader could be by themselves when it happens and her alphas come home to a omega in heat / I can’t get this omegaverse idea out of my head, and I hope you don’t mind me telling you this. Reader being alone and confused when her heat came, her alphas gone on a mission. During the time they were gone, Reader made a nest of her alphas’s clothes out of instinct on their bed. By the time Yukio and Ellie returned, Reader is a hot mess from trying to get off, moaning their names and begging for her alphas to help her for she don’t know why she feels like this and is scared.)
synopsis: After Wade discovers you're dealing with suicidal thoughts, he takes it upon himself to help you out, leading to one disaster after another.
author’s note: thank you so much to the lovely anon who requested this for spending so much time with me & making sure everything was juuuust right! Fun fact: we pined, started dating, and broke up, started dating again, and broke up again all before this was published 🙃 sorry everybody, it’s been a rocky road for the past… forever.
Standing guard after school for a few extra bucks is a pretty sweet deal, you have to admit. You mostly just sit around with a pair of binoculars munching on your snack of choice, using a gun loaded with tranquilizer darts to drop anyone who threatens the safety of the school and its residents. If given permission, or an order to do so, you can use your bow and arrow to really take down your enemies.
You’re pretty lucky in life overall, you also have to admit, with two alpha girlfriends and a variety of friends and acquaintances, not to mention the advantages your mutation gives you.
It makes you feel even more guilty for what you’re really thinking about right now. Not Ellie, not Yukio, not keeping an eye out for threats, nothing but a simple question:
Would it be more efficient to slit your wrists with the point of one of your arrows, or to fling yourself from the top of this turret? Which would hurt worse? You look from the sharp arrow you hold in your hand to the plush grass below, managed by some of the other students.
It’s far cheaper to pay students to maintain the yard and house, not to mention it gives students like you a way of earning the kind of spending money that other students receive from their parents or from jobs in town. Your post would be snatched up in no time if you were to pass.
Speaking of parents.
Your father’s exact words to your mother were “I hate that you use a highschool mistake to keep me trapped with you forever!” the last time you happened to hear them argue. They were no longer invited to parent-teacher conferences after that.
It’s a fine reason for him to be angry, but, unfortunately, you’re the highschool mistake he was talking about. The one he’s always talking about whenever they fight. Maybe if you were gone, he’d finally be free. Maybe you’d finally be free from his resentment. He, fortunately enough, rarely lashes out at you directly; however… There’s always been a distance.
Would he love you more if you were gone? If you saved him from… Well, you? You’ve always wanted him to love you, to look at you with something other than anger or resentment. Would he finally be proud of you, for owning up to every horrible thing you are and have done by paying the ultimate price? Would everyone?
You’re holding the bladed tip of the arrow right against your wrist, almost like a normal person might hold a bracelet to their wrist -- trying it on for size, without really thinking about it.
Suddenly, though, Wade’s here. And he’s definitely thinking about it. He yanks the arrow out of your hand, accidentally snapping the wood that makes up its length.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“I- Uh, I don’t know,” you mumble, embarrassed, because you honestly don’t. Being alone with your thoughts gives them the space to grow from their poisoned roots into something dark you don’t really recognize as yours.
“You- You don’t know?!” Wade questions, and the unusual severity of his tone stuns you to the point of laughter. “This isn’t fucking funny, what the hell is wrong with you? Why were you-?! What were you-?! What the fuck are you doing?!”
“I’m standing guard. What the fuck are you doing?” you echo dryly, resorting to quips to avoid telling him any more than he already knows.
“I’m freaking out! I can’t kill you for apparently wanting to kill you, so that’s all I can do! I thought you were on antidepressants!”
“I am. Have been for years. They don’t cure depression, they make it easier to manage.”
“Apparently fucking not! Come on, let’s go talk to somebody and get you an appointment with a psychiatrist. You’ve been on the same prescription all these years, right? Maybe you just need your dosage upped.” Wade’s not asking, he’s telling, his hand wrapped around your bicep to pull you along, although his grip isn’t as tight as you’d expect for a man of his stature, let alone an alpha.
Why does he care so much? He’s always so gentle, even when you piss him off like this. Tears well up in your eyes but you blink hard. You know he’s been through worse. That most people here have. You have no right to cry.
Wade yells at a surprised Charles Xavier until an appointment is set up, which goes pretty well. Four days after that incident, you meet with the psychiatrist who agrees that upping your dosage is the smartest decision, frankly, she’s surprised it wasn’t done sooner. And, after about a week of your new dosage level, you’re feeling better than ever.
Way better.
“You… You’d really wanna do that? For everyone to know I’m yours?”
Ellie nods, cheeks darkened. You’re straddling her, and the two of you have been trading heated kisses with Yukio. Who would’ve thought more of the medication you were sure killed your libido before you could even develop one would be what rescued it?
“Of course we would. I know you don’t like to stereotype, but some of the stereotypes have truth to them. We’re… Territorial,” Yukio reminds you.
“I’m… A beta,” you remind her in a teasing echo of her tone.
“Our beta,” Ellie cuts back in. “Absolutely perfect.”
“Even if I’d rather not let you guys, y’know…” Your hand rubs at the space between your neck and your shoulder - where they’d likely mark you with their teeth - nervously. “...today? Or go farther than what we’re doing right now?”
“Of course, baby! The fact that you’ve even done this much…” Yukio trails off, looking over you. Your lips are swollen and still slightly parted as you continue to pant a little. The top few buttons of your (well, borrowed from Ellie) flannel are undone.
“We’re so grateful, and so proud of you,” Ellie continues, drawing your attention back to her. “We’re willing to wait as long as you need, even if that waiting only ends because you’ve decided that being with us like that isn’t something you want.”
“I do. I always have, I just… I don’t know.”
“The feeling’s still there, in your stomach, right?” Yukio wonders.
“Yeah, a little. It’s like… I know it’s not wrong, but something doesn’t feel quite right. Maybe I should just try to ignore it, I mean, you two have needs-”
“Hey. You know better than that, Y/N. We don’t, okay, babe? Not like that. We wanna have sex with you, not- Not hurt you. You understand that, right?” Ellie reassures you.
“I do, I just feel bad for being such a- I don’t know, a tease?”
“We love you. As in, you. If you forced yourself to do something you didn’t want to, just for us, how would we forgive ourselves?” Yukio says what she’s said a million times, but every time it surprises you. You tend to see yourself as only being valuable in what you can offer others— protection, a laugh, some good advice every now and then —you never expect anyone to care for you outside of that. But here they are. Absolutely perfect.
And you were thinking of flinging yourself off a tower a couple weeks ago. Should you tell them? They just think you went for an overdue checkup, which is technically the case. You don’t know what’s worse, hiding it or telling them. You’ll have to talk to Wade, he’s good at giving advice. Might not be good advice, but he’s definitely good at giving it.
“Everything okay, sharpshooter?” Ellie hands gently squeeze your hips to get your attention.
You blink back out of your thoughts, smiling a little and blushing at the nickname.
“Yeah, yeah, of course. Sorry, I just zoned out. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.”
“Everything okay?” your alphas ask, again, in unison. Your alphas. They probably couldn’t handle it if you had a problem they couldn’t solve, the guilt of not being able to provide for you would overwhelm them.
“Yeah, totally,” you reply, because it is, now, especially here with them. Ellie starts to button up your flannel.
“Oh, we don’t have to-”
Ellie gives you a pointed look, then looks down at her crotch, then back up at you. Your blush deepens.
“Yeah, I’m guessing a cold shower’s in order,” Yukio agrees. “El, you can go first.”
“We can’t go together?” Ellie asks.
“Well, I don’t wanna leave Y/N alone. Our brave little beta did a lot more than usual. Don’t want you to feel used, baby,” Yukio explains to you both.
“Oh, duh,” Ellie agrees. You give her a quick smooch on the forehead before dismounting her and allowing yourself to be pulled into Yukio’s arms. Ellie grabs some clean clothes and heads off. As soon as the door shuts, Yukio giggles, and you look to her with a curious, confused expression.
“Now you’re all mine to cuddle.” Yukio gloats, kissing the top of your head. “Mm… You smell really good, babe. New shampoo?”
“Ish, yeah,” you agree, despite the fact that you started using it nearly a month ago at this point. Maybe the body heat you built up from the makeout session made it smell stronger, though.
Yukio keeps sniffing you, but you don’t call her out on it. She’s a little bit quirky, sure, but there’s no need to make her feel self-conscious about it when the tickling sensation feels kinda nice. She tosses in a few soft presses of her lips against your skin, too, so it’s not like she’s the only one who benefits.
Yukio eventually stops this, though, instead requesting to scent you. You’ve told the girls before that they don’t have to ask, but they— especially Yukio —seem to prefer to. You figure it’s likely to reassure them that you not only tolerate but appreciate their alphahood.
“I love you, you know that? Not just ‘cause you make me smell like petrichor. I’m surprised Ellie doesn’t spend all day huffing your scent, I… I know I would, if I could smell it.” You didn’t mean for the sad envy to ring so clearly in your words, but it’s as sharp as a knife, cutting deep enough to make Yukio gasp softly with sympathy as she rubs your wrist against her scent gland, eyes snapping open.
“Well, next time it’s about to rain, we’ll go outside, then. Every time it’s about to rain,” Yukio insists. “Who- Who told you?”
“Wade. I was just curious. He said Ellie smells like a campfire, the scent even clings like it. He even said I smell a little weird. Most betas smell like something, but I’m just… A blank canvas.”
You feel her rumble a bit with a growl, and her arms wrap tightly around you… Protectively? You blush.
“Y-Yukio?” you nervously ask, caught off guard. Ellie’s usually more of the growling type. Yukio’s pretty good about keeping her possessiveness and any other “negative” alpha traits in check. This side of her doesn’t come out often.
“What was he doing that close to you?” she snarls protectively, and if the growl wasn’t enough to get your heart racing, that was. “Sm- Smelling you?”
“Yukes, Wade’s the same age as my parents. Honestly, he’s- He’s kinda- He’s nice to me. We’re friends. I think if he was going to hurt me, he would’ve done it by now. You two keep forgetting I’m just a beta. No one wants a piece of this pie except for you and Ellie.”
“You’d be surprised at the way some alphas… It’s sick, but they- Because betas, you know, they don’t really produce slick like omegas do, and they don’t have quite as much give, uh… So, some alphas, um, they… Just let me hold you, okay?” Yukio requests. “I can’t talk about it, it’ll make me too mad.”
“I respect that. Thank you. I, uh, I didn’t realize that at all, so thank you for helping me be even safer,” you reassure her. She’s trembling. “Do you want me to hold you, instead?”
“No, no, this will make me feel better. I just… I love you. Can you just…? Just- Just say you’re mine.” This is a request Yukio has semi-often. When she feels weak in comparison to other alphas, when she feels overshadowed by Ellie, any time she needs reassurance or is just feeling bad, she’ll probably ask. You get it, being hers (and Ellie’s, of course) makes you feel better, too.
“I’m yours, Yukio. Always yours. You make me so happy, both of you. Happier than- You make me feel so-“ You get a bit choked up. These girls, these alphas… They’re so important to you.
“Oh, no, baby, please don’t cry,” Yukio implores, watching your eyes water. You turn so that your face doesn’t just rest on her chest but is buried in it.
“It’s just that no one ever loved me before you two. No one, ever. Not my parents, not my ’friends,’ no one. I don’t know why I’ve been so emotional lately, I’m sorry.”
“No one at all?” Yukio questions, but that’s the missing puzzle piece, she realizes. You’re always treating hers and Ellie’s love for you like it’s something you have to earn, no matter how much they insist being yourself is enough. She fully grasps now that it’s never been enough before.
She holds you even tighter.
“Mm-mm,” you confirm, shaking your head a little. “You and Ellie just mean the whole world to me. And- And… Wade’s my friend, too. Can I still, y’know, spend time with him?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course. I just- He’s a nice guy, but… I don’t want him to put you in danger. You can handle yourself, though. Can’t you, sharpshooter?” Her fingers trickle up your ribs as she says the nickname, making you giggle and squirm.
“Absolutely, but it is nice to have two strong, sexy alphas take care of me instead every now and then,” you admit, albeit a bit teasingly, blushing softly. You turn back so that you can see her adorable face.
“Really?” Yukio asks, but she knows.
“Really,” you agree with a smile.
“I’m yours, too. You know that, right?” Yukio checks, fiddling with your hair a bit.
“Mhm. It’s nice to hear you say it like that, though.”
“I can think of other ways you might like to hear it,” Yukio flirts.
“Yeah, you think so? Show me,” you tease back.
“I will…” Yukio trails off as she trails her finger along your jaw, tipping your head up to the perfect kissing angle and- “Eventually, little beta.”
“I- I’m taller than you,” you weakly protest.
“Your breath still hitched,” Yukio reminds you with a giggle and a gentle tap on the tip of your nose.
You stutter a little more before giving up, burying your face again and whining.
“I’m sorry, Y/N, I just can’t help myself. You’re too cute,” Yukio half-heartedly apologizes, still chuckling to herself as she strokes your back.
Ellie returns from her shower, inky tendrils of hair ruffled around but with no product in.
“She’s asleep?” Ellie asks, sounding a bit disappointed, but there’s still a significant amount of fondness in her tone.
“She’s not,” you mumble back, and both girls chuckle, Yukio untangling herself from you. You can’t help but pout a little, already missing the bubblegum-haired alpha.
“I know Yukio’s your favorite, but you could at least act a little bit happy to see me,” Ellie half-jokes, and you smile, pulling (though she doesn’t give any resistance) the girl back into your bed. She holds you the same way Yukio did, but you don’t really mind the lack of variety.
“You’re both my favorite,” you argue. Ellie takes a deep breath, likely taking in the way you’re completely embraced by Yukio’s scent.
“I don’t think that’s how favorites work,” she chuckles.
“Out of all the people in the world, you two are both my favorite,” you insist. She takes the hand you have resting on her ribcage and holds it inches from her scent gland. “Please,” you say, before she can even ask. Ellie takes a whiff again.
“Did she leave anywhere untouched?” She wonders.
“N-not really,” you stutter, because now you’re thinking of where she didn’t touch you.
“Well, she’ll have to share a little, then,” Ellie says.
You hum with delight as she scents you.
“You make a new friend?” Ellie questions.
“Huh?”
“You smell… Different,” she responds, looking at you… Well, differently. “Like roses.”
“I have a new-ish shampoo?” You offer, but that just seems to intensify the look.
Your phone rings. It’s Wade. You wriggle out of Ellie’s loose hold on you, answering.
“Hey, you know how I’m your academic advisor?”
“Uh, yeah?”
“Well, apparently, thwarting your suicide attempts isn’t my only job. I also have to tell you when they need you in the office, which is now.”
“Seriously?! I didn’t even throw that pencil at Richard, and even if I did, he deserved it for being such a-“
“Oh, right! Should’ve opened with the good news. Your parents are here to visit.”
“What?! That’s-“ You sigh, not wanting to alarm Ellie any more than you already have. “Okay. I’ll be there. Just give me a second to get dressed.”
“Wow, no shame at all. I salute you. Toodles!” Wade hangs up before you realize he misunderstood you.
“What’s wrong?” Ellie asks.
“Nothing, just… My parents are here.”
“Your… Parents?”
“Kind of have to have those to exist, usually,” you remark, and she snorts.
“I know- I- Well, we’ve known each other for a while, and you don’t really talk about them, so I sort of assumed…” Ellie trails off.
“Oh, um, yeah, no, they’re very alive,” you confirm with an awkward chuckle.
“Right. I’ll go get ‘Kio, and we’ll all go, okay?”
“Uh- Um- Yeah.”
“What is it?”
“My parents, they kind of… They- I love you. And I’m not ashamed of you.”
“But they’ll be ashamed of you,” Ellie understands.
“I haven’t seen them in so long, they don’t even know that I like girls, let alone that I’m dating two, or that they’re both alphas… I want you and Yukio to come with me, but, if they start to- If they’re how they are, I-“
“Give my energy to helping you instead of hurting them,” Ellie uses Piotr’s words.
“Perfect,” you agree, and Ellie smiles back, but it falters. You didn’t mean to worry her so much.
“I’ll go get Yukio. You get changed, okay?”
“Mhm,” you agree, and she heads off to the bathroom. You steal one of Ellie’s band tees and an oversized cardigan of Yukio’s for comfort, finding a pair of high-waisted bottoms to tuck the tee shirt in. You throw on a pair of sneakers, and when the girls emerge from the bathroom, you pop in to freshen up.
Once you’re done, Yukio’s caught up on the situation and the three of you make your way to the front offices.
Wade meets you outside.
“Oh em gee, Y/N, you’ll never believe it, I actually went to high school with both of your parents.”
“Uh… Cool?” You respond, because you’re not entirely sure how to.
“Yeah, uh, I get now that it’s probably not really good news that they’re here, huh? No wonder I found you doing that the other day.”
“Doing what?” Yukio and Ellie ask, though for some reason, Ellie’s is tinged with suspicion, maybe even anger.
“I- Listen, it’s not a big deal, I got my prescription updated and all that good stuff, okay?” You prime them. “I was thinking about killing myself the other day and Wade caught me.”
“Thinking?! You’re gonna call holding the fucking tip of an arrow to your wrist thinking?!”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Ellie sounds as angry as Wade does, but she looks pained. This is why you didn’t tell them.
“Hey, she doesn’t need this right now,” Yukio argues, but she looks hurt, too.
“I mean, I was just considering if it would be more painful than jumping off of the turret,” you mumble, your defense embarrassingly weak.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Ellie decides, and Yukio nods. You three follow Wade to Xavier’s office. Wade breezes in, but you’re practically stuck in the doorway, nervous to look at even the backs of their heads, before they turn around.
“Y/N,” your mom says with a grin, but you know all too well how fake that is. She approaches you, pulls you into a hug, and you want nothing more than to push her away and scrub yourself clean. She doesn’t really love you. The second you speak out of turn, or make a mistake, or give her any excuse, she’ll remind you of your worth. (Or, rather, the lack thereof.)
She slips back into her seat next to your father, in front of the desk where Xavier sits, simply observing.
“It’s been so long,” your father says, but his smile is almost blatantly fake. “Your hair, it’s different.”
“Like you said, it’s been a while,” you say, giving a grimace and an awkward chuckle.
“I don’t think I like it,” he says, like he’s giving his opinion on a sculpture in an art exhibit by some long-dead artist who doesn’t care what he thinks. Like it’s something just… Objective.
“Not sure what to do about that,” you reply sheepishly.
You don’t fully realize that you’re holding Ellie’s hand until she squeezes it reassuringly, three times. A secret code. You step further in to make room for the girls.
“So, uh, I have to ask… Why the sudden visit?”
“Well, we got an e-mail about your medicine, and we wanted to come check on you. Make sure this is the right environment for you,” your mother explains.
“You weren’t sure before you stopped talking to me for two years?” You half-joke, playing dumb.
“Has it really been two years?” A normal person would be asking this rhetorically, and they’d be embarrassed. Your mother, though, is simply trying to gaslight you.
“Longer,” you assure her.
“I thought this place was supposed to provide conversion therapy,” your father says, eyeing your hand, then Ellie’s other hand. “You’re such a fucking liar,” he hisses to your mother.
“Wow, maybe my mom dying when I was young was for the best. Better than this for sure,” Wade jokes, gently elbowing your side. You chuckle, grateful for even the slightest ounce of comic relief.
“You’re even more of a freak than you were in high school.” You squeeze Ellie’s hand tight as your father’s expression darkens even further.
“Funny you should say that, considering-“
“Wade,” your mother cuts him off.
That’s weird, to say the least. You just file that away for later. You have bigger fish to fry, like surviving this visit.
“Y/N, why’d you go for a check-up at all? You barely needed the anti-depressants in the first place,” your mother wonders.
“Because it wasn’t barely. Why else would they raise the dosage?” You ask, and the expression on her face is as stupid as the question she asked.
“Don’t speak to her that way,” your father scolds, like he didn’t just call your mother a fucking liar himself. “You are so ungrateful for everything we’ve done for you, do you realize that?”
“I’m sorry, what have you done for her, exactly? Answer quickly, please,” Ellie retorts.
“El-“ you start, but realize this isn’t anger, but advocacy.
“Well, we sheltered and fed her for over a decade,” your father remarks, smirking like he’s won.
“That’s your job!” Wade argues.
“Mr. and Mrs. L/N… I politely asked that you refrain from visiting the campus, and while I appreciate your concern for Y/N’s well-being, I must ask that you remain respectful of her, her fellow students, and my staff. Causing unnecessary conflict is exactly the reason you were almost banned when you last visited,” Professor Xavier finally speaks.
“Almost banned?!” Wade wheezes.
“Yeah,” you sigh, and Wade’s laughter immediately ceases. “I was cheating in school, according to- To Dad.” The word is poison in your mouth.
“Come on, we all know you’re not smart enough to get those grades on your own. Probably screwing some teacher, just like Mom.”
“That’s enough,” Ellie snarls, eyes glowing orange.
“I never screwed a teacher!” Your mother protests at the same time.
“Oh, that’s right, you just blew Mr. Morin. My bad. Wow, Y/N, you really must be something special for all these alphas to be fawning over you. Maybe I did fuck up once or twice, after all, I’ve heard daddy issues-“
“Well, you visited! Now get the fuck out,” Wade chirps.
“Mr. L/N, must I repeat myself? I know you and Mrs. L/N were interested in a tour. Perhaps a less crowded area would help ease your minds,” Xavier reminds you all of his presence once more.
“That sounds like a great idea,” your father agrees.
“I’m starting to get a bit of a headache, maybe you could show us your room first and I could lie down for a bit in there?”
“I-“ You look to the girls, not wanting them to have to deal with her alone.
“Actually, Miss Phimister and Miss Kitsuna would be perfect additions to a rescue team. The orphanage your friend Russell came from was actually part of a network for mutant trafficking, and we found another hub in Maine. The jet takes off in fifteen minutes, and you two will be back in time for dinner. Better get ready and briefed.”
“But-“ Yukio starts, looking to you.
“Go, be superheroes,” you tell them, and they head out. “Uh, how about we swing by the library first, to give them time to change, and then to our room?”
“You share a room with them? Somehow, I’m not surprised.”
“We were roommates before we started dating,” you correct him.
“Dating… Aw, I bet you really think that’s what it is, too. Having parents in a sham of a marriage really did a number on you, huh?” Your father condescends.
“You know, it’s pretty fucked up how fixated you are on her sexuality. Do you like to picture it, you goddamn creep?” Wade defends you, and your skin crawls. You’d never thought of it that way before.
“Let’s just get that tour started, ‘kay?” You squeak. The sooner you get this over with, the sooner they’ll be on their way, hopefully.
“Good idea, Y/N,” Wade says. “Come on, Textbook, let’s go.”
“You didn’t just call me-“
“Oh, but I did, Textbook. Hey, Y/N, did you know that was your dad’s nickname in highschool? ‘Cause he was so fuckin’ easy to shove in a locker.”
You cover your mouth with your hand, trying not to laugh and failing.
“Just show us the library already, Y/N,” your mother says, pinching the bridge of her nose.
You take your parents to the library, as requested. Wade keeps pace with you while your parents fall back. You can’t hear their exact words, but you know your parents are bickering.
“You never said it was this bad.”
“It’s not that bad. It’s definitely been worse,” you admit, busying your eyes with the paintings that line the walls so that you don’t have to meet Wade’s gaze. You might just cry if you do; you can feel the sympathy radiating off of him.
In these past few months, Wade’s been more of a father than your dad, even more of a mother than your mom, but for some reason that doesn’t make you feel more justified in how you feel about your parents. In fact, it just makes you feel worse, and even if you’ve never actually expressed it, you’re still ashamed of the fact that you wish Wade was your father instead. He actually cares, while your parents are simply legally obligated.
From the day you met, Wade’s always been there for you. If you were to tell your parents what you almost did the other day, they’d just call you attention-seeking and insult you in other ways. All they’d do is make you want to try again.
You and Wade stop at the entrance to the library and wait for your parents to catch up. They do, and you open the double doors to reveal the room.
“It’s like Beauty and the Beast,” your mother gapes.
“I thought so, too,” you agree, attempting a smile, but your parents just ignore you, wandering around the large room. Your mother excuses herself after a few minutes of spinning, saying that the dizziness is making her headache worse.
“All these books and you’re still… The way you are,” your father comments, looking at you with such disdain.
“Winner of the science fair with her loving partners, three years in a row?” Wade questions. “Oh, or maybe you’re talking about the fact that she’s a published poet. How embarrassing for you, I’m sure.”
“Wade,” you protest under your breath, embarrassed. They don’t even know that stuff. After middle school, you stopped telling them about your accomplishments. You figured out that all they’d do is ruin them for you.
“No, no, trust me. It’s more about the fact that she’s slutting around with alphas and won’t even save us the embarrassment of them being girls,” you father spats.
“That’s enough,” Wade snarls.
“Oh, that’s right, we can’t forget that she’s yours, too. I guess anything with a dick is daddy considering I was too busy putting food on the table to play dollies,” he remarks, and you suddenly feel light-headed.
“Seriously, Textbook, I really don’t want to hurt you, especially not in front of Y/N, but I fucking will if you make me.”
“Just go,” you urge Wade, starting to feel a bit dizzy, surely from the stress. You brace yourself on him, disguising it as a touch meant to comfort him. He looks concerned as the edges of your vision start to darken a little.“I- What you’re doing, I appreciate it, but-“
“You appreciate it? You appreciate him disrespecting me, disrespecting our family?!”
“Our family?!” You finally snap. “All I ever wanted was for you to love me, and you couldn’t do that. You just couldn’t. And now we’re a family?! No. No, you…” You start to pant, your face feeling even hotter than before. “You… I hate you,” you manage to get out before your world goes completely dark.
“Fuck yeah, Y/N! I’m so prou-“
But when Wade turns to you, you’re halfway to the ground. He catches you, though, and he catches a whiff of something… Familiar.
Lavender. It’s not just the Wilson scent, sure, but it’d be too much of a coincidence. You smell just like him. You are him, or, rather, made of him.
He’s torn between ecstatic and furious.
“Hey, can we get some help over here?” your father calls out to no one. It’s not a school day, and lots of students are out on missions. He reaches out to you for once in your life, but Wade’s now sitting on the floor, cradling you in his arms.
“No,” Wade argues. “Not yours. Mine.”
“What?” You father asks incredulously. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“She’s. Not. Yours,” Wade repeats, and the more he inhales your scent, the more out of control yet calm he feels. Like he’s in the eye of a hurricane. “My baby. Mine.”
“You’re not saying…” your father trails off as Wade gets up, still cradling you. Wade has to take you to your room; help make you a nest, now. He can smell it on you.
You’re in heat.
He gets to your room quickly, practically tossing you onto your bed. Wait… Isn’t your mom supposed to be here?
And that’s when he hears the sound of pills spilling onto the floor.
He nearly rips the bathroom door off of its hinges. Luckily, your mother spilled what Wade quickly realizes is suppressants, and not your prescription.
“You. You could’ve killed her. You are very, very lucky that my baby-“
“Our baby,” your mother corrects.
“No, you take pills, you can’t even smell her, let alone feel her like I can. It- It’s so much it fucking hurts. I’ll say it again, you’re very lucky my baby is in heat, or your arteries would be emptying in that shower. Now, go. Don’t come back.”
You groan in pain, stirring, and your mother takes Wade’s advice. Wade calls Yukio. Then Ellie. Then Yukio. Then Ellie.
“What the fuck, dude?!”
“You need to turn around. Now. I don’t have the time to explain. It’s Y/N.”
“Is she okay?” Ellie, always skeptical, asks.
“Obviously fucking not, or I wouldn’t be calling. She’s in heat.”
“But-“
“I said that I don’t have time to explain, fucking turn around! I’m on the verge of going fucking feral, Ellie. You both need to get here, now.”
“Wade, get out,” Ellie immediately demands.
“I can’t,” he admits.
“Get out! Shit, Wolverine! We need to turn around!”
“I can’t. It’s not like that I swear, it’s… I’m going fucking crazy, just one of you will do, but someone needs to get here.”
“Wade, go.”
“I would never hurt her! Come home!” Wade barks before hanging up. He returns to your room to find you’ve made a nest instinctively - thank goodness for Yukio’s affinity for pillows and blankets - and now you’re curled up in pain in the center of it.
“Wade,” you whimper. He’s scared to step closer, not sure if he’s what you want, even if you despise who you thought was your father. “What’s happening to me? Everything hurts.”
“I really don’t know how to say this, but… You’re in heat.”
“But I’m a beta,” you argue, wrapping your arms around yourself.
“That’s what we all thought. But… Remember how you didn’t smell like anything before? Uh, let me start over. When did you start on your anti-depressants?”
“I was about twelve,” you confirm, not sure what that means.
“Yeah, I think those were suppressants. That it’s always been suppressants, no matter what the bottles said. Until you got a prescription without your mother knowing. Do you understand why your mother would do that?”
You shake your head, and he approaches the bed, sitting down carefully as not to disturb your work.
“Her boyfriend around the time she got pregnant with you was a beta. We know him as Textbook,” Wade teases, before continuing: “But, what no one realizes is that he was at Niagara Falls on spring break around the time when you were conceived, and she was hanging out with her next-door neighbor the whole time. Her next-door neighbor was me.”
“Oh, so I’m your highschool mistake,” you say, connecting the dots.
“Huh?”
“Ha, well, whenever my parents- Well, I guess not my parents, but that’s beside the point, uh, whenever they argue and it gets really bad, my father- Well, not my father, but, uh-“
“Continue,” Wade urges.
“Basically, sometimes he uses ‘a mistake I made in highschool’ as code for ‘Y/N,’” you explain. “But the truth is, I’m the mistake you made in highschool.”
“You’re not a mistake,” he disagrees. “You’re- You’re one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. Lots of things are made by accident, but that doesn’t make them mistakes! Penicillin, potato chips, Post-It notes, popsicles! They were never supposed to exist but they do and the world is much better off with them in it.”
“You really do have a lot of useless knowledge,” you realize.
“So do you, that’s why our team always wins trivia night.” Wade slips off his boots, joining you in your rearranged bed. “C’mere,” he suggests, guiding your head to his neck.
“S’really you,” you mumble, already weary, and Wade worries for what’s to come. He almost doesn’t even want to let the girls in. He could get you pain medicine, he could probably even find sedatives. Then no one would ever be able to even touch you, let alone hurt you. “Lavender. You never mentioned the lavender, just the sandalwood.”
“I didn't think you’d be impressed,” Wade admits.
“It’s relaxing,” you tell him. “It’s nice to have things in common with someone.”
“You smell like roses, too, not just lavender,” he makes sure you know.
“Yeah, but I think that’s mostly concentrated in an area I’d rather not discuss with you.”
“Well, just make sure that if you do decide to do anything more with them than cuddle, which I can gladly go through the rest of my life without knowing, bee-tee-dubs, that the girls are wearing alpha condoms, especially if one of them knots you. Standard condoms work in a pinch if it’s just for one, y’know, go, but for heats they’re basically useless because of everything I just said. If they hurt you, I will make their deaths look like accidents.”
“S’not like I can get pregnant anyway…” You mumble, embarrassed. “I’m- I’m really glad it’s you. I- I wished so many times that it was you instead of him. Ow, ugh, that one was bad,” you groan, massaging your stomach.
Meanwhile, on the jet, Ellie is furious with herself.
“Yukio, you don’t get it, I smelled her. She smelled like an omega, but I thought- I assumed she was cheating on us. That maybe she didn’t want to be with us like that was because she wanted to- I don’t know, to be on top? It seems so stupid now.”
“Hey, I noticed she smelled different, too. There were other signs we both missed, anyways. Think about how emotional she’s been lately, or how much farther we’ve been going in other ways. How clingy she’s been, too.”
“I guess I didn’t really notice it because I liked her being more open and needing us more,” Ellie admits. “She- She almost fucking killed herself. And I thought cheating was what she was hiding. I- I just-“
“You can’t beat yourself up over it,” Yukio insists. “We’re on our way back, and Wade’s there to protect her.”
Speaking of Wade being there to protect you, he continues to comfort you as the pain gets worse.
“S’too hot,” you complain, and he releases you from his hold, rising from the bed. He knows he’ll have to leave you soon, because you’re likely going to need privacy before the girls get home, but it’s hard to part from you knowing you’re in pain.
“I’m gonna get you some water, okay? And after that, I’m just gonna stand guard outside the door until your girls get here. I know there’s some stuff you need to do, and that’s only gonna get worse.”
“It’s already awful,” you admit, and he chuckles.
“Good luck, kid. I love you.”
Wade gets a case of bottled water from the school’s industrial-sized pantry, bringing it to your room and tearing it open for you before leaving once more. You take one, immediately guzzling it down.
In privacy, you take off Yukio’s cardigan and your bottoms, leaving you in Ellie’s tee shirt and your underwear. You decide to go ahead and free yourself from the constriction that is your bra, feeling a bit embarrassed that you’re not leaving much to the girls’ imagination for your first time together. You eventually decide to undress completely, wondering when the hell your girls are gonna get here.
63 notes · View notes
ragingbookdragon · 3 years
Text
History In The Making
Jason Todd x M!Reader
Word Count: 2K Warnings: Explicit Language
Author's Note: I forgot to put the title in this a few moments ago, but nevertheless, this is still the hill I'll die on and it's still Jason being wooed by a southern gentleman and you can fight me on it. -Thorne
**********************************************************************
The bar was in full swing when he stepped through the door. He smiled at the bouncer beside the stairs. “Evenin’ Jack,” he greeted, and the man nodded.
“Hey Beau. How was work?”
“You know me, ain’t nothin’ changin’ but the weather.” Tipping his head towards the bar, he asked, “Anything happenin’ tonight?”
“Mary’s got a buy one get one going on.” Jack replied. “Already thrown a few drunks out ‘cause of it.”
“Ah, it happens.” He patted Jack’s shoulder. “Lemme know if you need any help, bud.”
“Thanks Beau. Enjoy your night.”
“You too!” he responded warmly, sliding around him towards the bar, slipping between an older gentleman and a young man who looked to be about his age, with dark hair and teal eyes. “Miss Mary!”
The brunette woman spun around, smiled, “Beau! Good to see you!” she set a shot glass on the bar and filled it with whiskey. “Take a shot.”
He huffed a laugh, but didn’t refuse, knocking back the shot with a practiced ease. Handing her back the glass, he asked, “Have any work for me?”
“Oh, quit trying to butter me up. You’re still paying for your meal.”
“Miss Mary,” he lamented, pressing a hand to his chest. “I’m ashamed that you’d think this young southern gentleman wouldn’t pay for his meal.” He smirked at her. “But I would also be willing to pay through service and you know good and well how handy I am with fixin’ things.”
She pursed her lips and pointed a frosted beer mug at him. “You keep on and you’re gonna slip on all that syrup you’re pouring.” That had him laughing and even the young man on his right was too, quiet but still chuckling along. “But I do actually have—”
“I already said no! How many times do you have to hear it!”
“C’mon babe. Just an hour.”
His attention was drawn to the conversation a few people down on the bar and he took in the sight of a young woman and man arguing. He frowned, watching them for a moment and when the man grabbed her wrist, the young man beside him was getting to his feet with an angered expression.
He placed a hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him back to sit down, murmuring, “Lemme handle this, friend.” He walked over and took the man’s hand, removing it from the young woman’s wrist before stepping between the two of them. “‘Scuse me,” he interrupted. “but I believe this lady said she wasn’t interested.”
The man looked him up and down, scoffing, “Piss off, John Wayne, this isn’t your business.”
“Probably not,” He said. “But this young lady said no multiple times and then you grabbed her.” Standing to his full height, he glared down at him darkly. “When someone says ‘no’—they don’t mean ‘keep asking until I say yes’.”
Letting the man go, he added, “Now, I don’t think this needs to be made into a big deal so why don’t I pay your tab for you, and you go on ahead and leave. Because I think you’ve had one to many tonight and it’s going to your head.” The man seemed to think against it before he nodded; he smiled, turning to the woman. “Miss, are you—”
“Look out!” she yelled, and he spun, grabbing the man’s wrist coming at him. Spinning them, he slammed the man’s chest into one of the wooden supports, twisting his elbow up behind his back until he squawked in pain.
“Let go!” he yelled and started thrashing around.
“Shut your mouth,” he commanded, and the man fell silent at the tone of his voice. “Now you listen to me. I told you to leave but you decided to get physical.”
“You’re gonna break my arm!”
“Not if you don’t stand still and shut your mouth like I said.” The man quieted again. “We’re gonna handle this one of two ways. Either I pay your tab and you leave…or I have Miss Mary call GCPD and myself, this young lady, and every patron in this bar will give their testimony that you physically assaulted me and her.” He leaned until the man could meet his eyes. “Which way do you want? To leave? Or spend the night in a cell?”
The man seemed to sober up instantly and he muttered, “I’ll leave.”
“And you’re gonna go home and stay there for a few days.” He corrected. “I don’t wanna see you in here for a week, you hear me?” He grunted and he let him go. “Then get on with it.”
As he headed for the door, he watched him until the door slammed shut and he turned to the woman. “Are you alright, Miss?”
She smiled brightly. “Yes! Thank you! He just wouldn’t leave me alone and then he grabbed me, and I didn’t know what I was gonna do.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t hear you earlier,” he apologized. “I would’ve gotten over here sooner if I’d have heard.” He smiled. “Lemme pick up your tab too as repayment.”
“What? No! You don’t have to do that!” she exclaimed, and he shook his head.
“Nah, don’t worry about it Miss.” He glanced at the bar. “Miss Mary, lemme pick up this lady’s tab too!”
She waved. “Will do! Now come sit down, I’ve got your food ready.”
He nodded at the young woman once more before moving back to his original spot; the older man had left by then, probably scared off by the disturbance and he looked to the young man still in his spot. “Mind if I take this seat?”
The young man shook his head. “Go ahead.”
“Thank you kindly,” he smiled and took the seat, groaning lowly as he slouched just a tad. Mary put a plate in front of him, a Reuben sandwich and some French fries. “Ah, thank you, Miss Mary. I’m starving.”
“I’m sure you are,” she chuckled. “Working hard all day around the city and stopping bar fights in here. You’re running yourself ragged.” Meeting his gaze, she asked, “Want a beer?”
“Just one,” he said. “Well, Jack said you had a buy one get one, so two then, but after that water, please.”
“Mhm.” She acknowledged, placing a beer mug in front of him.
He sipped it lightly picked up his sandwich, biting into it. Part of him wanted to start a conversation with the young man beside him, but the other part told him that whoever he was—he wasn’t interested in talking and he stayed quiet, eating in silence until someone touched his sleeve.
“Excuse me,” they said, and he cleared his throat, wiping his mouth before turning, a smile on his face as he saw the young lady from before.
“Yes ma’am! What can I do for you?”
She smiled. “Well, I’m leaving for the night and I just wanted to thank you again for your help.”
He chuckled and waved his hand. “Ah, don’t worry about it, Miss. I just did what any good man woulda done.” His tone turned solemn. “But I hope you’re not leaving alone. Have you called a friend or family member to come get you? I don’t think that man will be lingering outside but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.”
“Yeah, my roommate’s coming to get me.” She leaned close just a tad. “But I was wondering if maybe…you’d wanna come home with me?”
His jaw went slack for just a second before he recovered with a smile. “Miss, I absolutely appreciate your invitation but I’m afraid that dames…aren’t exactly my taste.”
Her eyes widened and she put a hand on his shoulder. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know.”
He huffed a laugh and shook his head. “It’s quite alright, Miss. As I said though, I’m flattered by your advance. If I liked dames, I’d take you up on that offer.”
She giggled and removed her hand. “Thanks.” It was all she said before leaving him to go back to his food and he pulled his wallet out, handing Mary a crisp hundred.
“Here you go, Miss Mary. For her tab and the fellers.”
She took it from him. “It’ll never cease to amaze me how kind you are, Beau.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “You’d better be careful with how you leave your heart on your sleeve. It’s going to get bruised one day.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” he retorted nonchalantly. “But better to be kind than be bitter. Sometimes people just have bad days and a little kindness can go a long way for that.”
“Mmm,” she cocked a brow. “Still think you should’ve laid him flat.”
He chuckled as she wandered off to another patron and he glanced at the young man beside him. “About that,” he started. “Sorry for putting you back in your seat earlier. But I was afraid that if you got to him first, you were gonna stomp a mud-hole in his ass and walk it dry.”
The young man huffed a laugh. “Oh, I was gonna do a whole lot worse than that,” he replied. “Nicely handled though. Were you trained in self-defense? That wrist grab was impressive.”
“Oh, no,” he said. “I just grew up roughhousing with my brothers and the neighborhood boys in my town.” He shrugged. “You learn to watch for what’s coming after you turn your back.”
“Speaking of ‘town’…what’s a…” he gestured to him.
He cocked a brow, but he was ultimately amused as he offered, “A small town southern man with a massive amount of sugar in his shoes doing up here in upstate New Jersey?”
The young man cackled. “That’s definitely one way to put it.”
He shrugged, teasing, “Just wanted to see if all the rumors about Northerners were right.” He held out his hand. “I’m (Y/N). (Y/N) (L/N).”
“Jason Todd,” the young man met him with a firm handshake. “Though I thought your name was Beau. Everyone’s calling you that around here.”
(Y/N) nodded. “Yeah, it’s my nickname. And either everyone’s callin’ me that because of my obvious good looks or because I’m a southern man.” He elbowed Jason lightly in the ribs. “I’d like to think it’s the former and not the latter.”
Jason snorted. “I can see it being both.”
“Is that so?” he asked, eyebrow arched just enough to portray his curiosity.
“It is.”
“So, I’m guessing your door is revolving, hmm?” (Y/N) inquired and Jason nodded.
“And I’m guessing yours is one way only?”
He chuckled. “It used to revolve, honestly, but then it got stuck one day and that was the last of it going round and round.” He thought Jason was going to fall to pieces from laughing so hard and he glanced at his watch. “Ah, I gotta get going,” he said, standing from his seat. (Y/N) placed another hundred between the beer mug and his plate. “Thanks for chatting with me, Mister Todd. I appreciated your conversation.”
Jason spun slightly on the bar-stool. “Do you ever get tired of calling people Mister and Miss?”
“Funny thing, when manners have been ingrained in you since birth, it’s hard to let ‘em loose.” (Y/N) smiled. “Most people are often surprised at my politeness, but I don’t have an issue with it. I like that they know I’m respecting of them even if they’re strangers.” He nodded at him. “Have a good night, Jason. Stay safe.”
As he turned, Jason reached out and grabbed the sleeve of his dress shirt. “Hey,” he called out lowly and (Y/N) paused. “Do you come around here often?”
“Every Friday night,” he replied with a smile. “But if you’re asking what I think you’re asking, meet me back here tomorrow evening at about seven and I’ll show you a little joint around the corner that serves the best pizza.”
Jason arched a brow and grinned. “It’s a date.”
(Y/N) smirked and put the hat on his head. “That it is.”
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joot-aro · 2 years
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the way I did not even think that the aro = aromantic bc I thought it was just a stylized jot(aro),,, anyway if I may invite you to please talk about ace/aro jotaro :))
HGDLKJFLKJSDFLJ thats fair honestly. fun fact early on making this blog i kinda wanted arojotaro but that was taken so i went for joot-aro. and then when i was changing my twitter url i wanted joot_aro but that was taken (somehow???) and i had to settle for arojotaro
anyway aroace jotaro is probably one of my favorite headcanons ever for so many reasons partly because how well it fits w his character and partly because I am aroace and i like him ™ (i said this so many times that its not a joke anymore. this is how all headcanons should be assigned actually it's way more fun and epic this way). i think in general my fav aspec headcanons are for characters that have a big focus on how much they love/care for other people without really any conversation about romantic love at all. and jotaro is like. one of the biggest examples of this imo. it's honestly a little hilarious if you look at it from a certain angle bc youve got so much of jotaro caring about his family members and the rest of the sdc and the morioh trio but the one person he married he gets zero screentime with and he also divorced her offscreen likejfklrjnejkrnfjke. araki went hey have this character who is filled with a lot of love for people and he cant fully express it to them but it's ultimately what fuels him and motivates him to fight. and also i guess he married this one woman Lmao. im going to develop the relationships between jotaro and everyone else so hard but im going to give the relationship between jotaro and his wife 0.1 seconds of panel time. i am the funniest manga writer alive
also i sometimes think about that stupid interview where araki says "i dont think [jotaro] is interested in women that much" and pass away bc its the closest thing to aro jotaro confirmation im getting and it's only from the second most cursed araki interview ever. like it takes the spot just under the interview where araki confirmed dio is bi. this house is a nightmare
anyway i dont know where i was going with this so if theres one thing you take away from this its that jotaro is totally aroace just trust me bro he has the vibes just trust me
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